Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Stealing Time ❯ Too Sweet to be Vegeta ( Chapter 10 )
[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]
By: Linkin Fantasy 
A night of fun and strange behavior for the men of Capsule Corp.
Anime/Manga: Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Angst / Hentai / Drama | Type: Yaoi | Uploaded On: 01.21.2007 | Updated On: 01.21.2007 | Pages: 6 | Words: 5.8K | Visits: 939 | Status: Work In Progress
A night of fun and strange behavior for the men of Capsule Corp.
Anime/Manga: Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Angst / Hentai / Drama | Type: Yaoi | Uploaded On: 01.21.2007 | Updated On: 01.21.2007 | Pages: 6 | Words: 5.8K | Visits: 939 | Status: Work In Progress
Warnings: Language, barely there hints of yaoi angst
(The alters- had to change from orange to brown because of the wordpad it sucks but everything else is still the same) Envy and self loathing Playful and crazy Anger Sad and confused Loving and fatherly
Stealing Time
Chpt 10
Too Sweet To Be Vegeta
"Dad... dad?" The faint sound of a boys voice and gentle shaking of his body, slowly woke Vegeta from his somewhat peaceful slumber. "Father are you awake?" Came the boys raspy whisper again.
"Huh?" Opening his eyes Vegeta's vision began to come in clear. "What?.. Trunks?" He spoke in confussion.
The boy leaned back a bit to give his father some breathing room and he sighed in relief. "Are you alright?" He asked.
Vegeta sat up a little, leaning his back against the headboard. He turned his head in the direction of the clock, that Trunks was currently blocking at the moment. Vegeta reached out a hand pushing the boys body, by the hip, out of his way. He frowned seeing the dimly glowing 5:00 a.m. "Do you know what time it is? What do you want?"
"I know it's kinda early and I'm sorry but I couldn't really sleep. I was worried about you."
"Worried for what?" He began rubbing his temples with his index and thumb before dragging that same hand down his face to cover his mouth from a yawn.
"Well..." Trunks hesitated knowing what he'd have to say would sound ridiculous to Vegeta, to anyone really. "Well it's just- last night you were acting kinda strange."
"Strange how?" The Saiyan's voice portayed irritation rather than the worry he was actually feeling inside. 'Damnit!, It must have happened again and still I never know or remember a thing about it! Who knows what he saw.'
"You just weren't yourself." Trunks went on.
Sensing the boys obvious hesitation to go on Vegeta encouraged him to go on the best way he knew how, by yelling. "Damnit boy spit it out!"
On Vegeta's command Trunks blurted out what he'd been stalling to say. "You were baking cookies." Vegeta's reaction was one of surprise and utter disbelief but that soon turned into disbelief and humor.
"Cookies?" He laughed repeating the obsurdity. "What is this some dream you had? Or a little joke?"
Trunks was the one surprised now, he'd think his father would remember something as out of character as this. "No, dad, it wasn't a dream and its no joke. I was there and Goten too." Vegeta gave Trunks another look of disbelief and waved a hand for him to go on. So Trunks continued. Figuring the only way to jog his father's memory was to tell him what had happened. "Well after we finished dinner Goten came over and-"
~~~~FB~~~~
Goten looked through the window of the kitchen to see Trunks inside finishing up with dishes from dinner. He tapped the glass twice smiling and waving when his busy lover looked in his direction. Trunks dried his hands off on a kitchen towel and opened the door for Goten. "I'm here." Goten announced unnecessarily upon entering.
"I could tell and I couldn't be happier." He planted a small kiss on his high spirited boyfriends lips. "Can you believe he did it to me again?" Trunks began speaking as he led Goten into the living room.
"Who did what?" The confused half Saiyan asked.
"Vegeta, at dinner he- he practially snubbed me."
"Huh?"
"He flat out told me he didn't wanna talk or listen to me babble on about anything." Trunks explained. "So it was quiet the entire evening."
"Ouch." Goten winced inwardly at the harsh words. Both boys sat down on the couch, Goten reached for the remote but left the T.V off to listen to Trunks.
"I mean he didn't say it exactly like that but I got the hint. I just don't get it and I'm running out of second, third and fourth tries for him." Goten gave him a sympathetic rub on the leg. Trunks sighs and takes the remote from Goten putting it back on the table. "You've got homework right?" He stated more than asked, apparently done with the conversation on Vegeta. Nothing could be done about the man at the moment anyway.
"Yeah." Goten replied defeatedly knowing that Trunks himself was getting in a very "Vegeta-like" mood and wouldn't take any crap at the time. He leaned forwards to grab the bag he'd brought with him carrying his school things and opened it up. Trunks got up to retrieve his already done homework to help Goten with his but not by giving him the answers to Goten's dismay. When Trunks came back Goten was set up and ready for the boy to play teacher.
...........
Upstairs, Vegeta was pacing the room trying to keep his thoughts focused and clear so the voices wouldn't have an opening to come through. He was pacing because what his brain was forcing him to focus on was something he didn't care to think about. However, no matter how hard he tried he couldn't change what was on his mind. That disturbing dream he'd had hours ago before Goku woke him. The figure entering his hospital room, the feelings he'd had during the nightmare. Against his own will he pondered whether or not the dream had any meaning and what was it telling him if it did?
"Ugh!" Stopping at the bed he grabbed a pillow, instead of the alarm clock to prevent being heard, and threw it against the wall. Falling to his knees he rested his elbows against the mattress supporting his head in his hands. "Damn this." His mind was beginning to race with images he didn't want to see. Ones of his father and his brief childhood on Planet Vegeta. "Why? Why am I thinking about these things?" He tried to question himself getting no answer.
He could almost clearly hear his late fathers voice speaking to that demon Frieza, while his younger self was hiding not far away. That conversation was the one he'd held onto for years in his memory. His father spoke so proudly of him to Frieza that day. Telling of his quick mind and burning spirit. How his son showed promise of becoming the greatest Saiyan that ever lived. Frieza in return only laughed, in that same menacing cackle he'd always had, asking to see just how wonderful the young prince really was. What came after that Vegeta didn't hear because they were both heading his way and he had to disappear before getting caught listening in.
The images rushed forwards in time reminding Vegeta of the worst day in his young life. The day Vegetasai exploded and his own life crumbled inside of himself at the same time. The day he was left in the care of his worst nightmare... Frieza.
Grinding his teeth he dropped his fist onto the matress pushing up from the bed and off of the floor. "No- no more of these pointless memories. They have nothing to do with today." He declared and straightend himself upright.
'So foolish' The words started as an off hand thought, or so he assumed, until he realized he hadn't really thought them at all.
You really have no clue do you? How blissful is denial?
'Oh no.'
Sounds like fun.. being ignorant
"I don't hear you, I don't-" The pain began slowly emerging with every thought the Saiyan had.
Don't waste your time trying to fight us anymore Vegeta. We've already told you you can't win.
"Its all in my mind it's not real, you're not real!" In some kind of attempt to get away from the voices Vegeta ran into the closet closing himself inside. He held onto the doorknob as if someone on the otherside would start pulling at it to get in. For minutes he only heard the sound of his own shallow breathing and then....
Hahahaha..
The voice sounded so clear like it was there in the closet right beside him, startled the Saiyan backed himself up against the closet wall.
You can't hide from us, remember, we're everywhere.
Let yourself go Vegeta, Let us out. We can ease the pain.
"No..No!" The pain started to become unbearable now and the dark haired man didn't know what to do about it. He gave the pills a thought, they usually stopped the voices on the outside but he didn't want to be thrown into sleep for another nightmare to jerk him back to consciousness. So he lay in a quivering mass on the floor taking the pain the only way he could, head on. Knowing there was no use fighting it anymore. Eventually he blacked out.
..........
Downstairs both boys had moved to lie, stomachs down, on the floor with their legs up in the air behind them. Goten was nearly finished with his homework so Trunks decided to turn the T.V on and they chatted quielty every now and then.
"Done!" Goten announced and slammed his book closed to emphasize his statement.
"Great, maybe next time you can do it all on your own?" Trunks gave Goten's leg a little tap with his own leg.
"Yeah maybe." He laughed rolling over off of his stomach.
"You just need more work ethic."
Goten groaned, placing the notebook over his face, at the phrase he'd heard so many times from teachers in school and his boss at work. Even his own brother would preach it to him from time to time.
"Well all work and no play makes life boring." Came a familiar voice. Both boys turned their heads in the direction of the source.
"Vegeta?" Goten blurted seeing the man coming from off the stairs and into the living room. He stood a few feet away from them.
"Is everything alright?" Trunks asked standing from the floor.
"Fine, fine, I just got a little bored and hungry up there. Then an idea struck me." The man explained. Trunks immediately noticed something different about the way his father looked and spoke. There was more lightness to his tone and his posture seemed less uptight.
"Yeah what's that?" Goten asked not sure if this idea was going to cause him any physical harm.
"How about some cookies?"
Both boys jaws dropped at the reply and they exchanged a glance of pure confusion and disbelief, then turned their attention back to the Saiyan who was practically smiling at them. "W-- what? Cookies dad?" Trunks had to choke out.
"That's what I said, do you want some or not?" Vegeta approached them both, throwing his arms around their shoulders. "You two are having a night together or whatever you call it, right?"
"Sleep over." Goten offered.
"Right... sleep over, so wouldn't a nice snack be fun?" He let their shoulders go and pushed between them heading to the kitchen whether they followed or not.
"But cookies dad? You don't even really eat sweets."
"First time for everything." He answered his son.
"Fresh baked?" Goten asked even though his interest was long since peeked at just the mention of food, especially a dessert.
"Of course." Vegeta replied before disappearing out of sight.
"Alright! I'm in." Just before Goten took off to the kitchen Trunks held his arm fast, keeping him back. "What?" The hungry child looked over his shoulder bitterly at his offender.
"Goten, doesn't something feel off to you?" Goten looked into the direction of the kitchen as if he could see Vegeta through the wall. Then he turned back to Trunks.
"No not really."
"But the way he talked and baking cookies! You don't find that weird, considering who this is we're talking about?"
"Sorta, but hey why knock it." Trunks sighed at his boyfriend's unconcerned reply. "Don't analyze it Trunks just enjoy the time before it runs out." Carefully removing the shackle of Trunks' hand Goten takes off for the kitchen to find Vegeta pulling baking pans out from the lower cabinets.
Trunks stayed behind taking his time joining the other two. 'It doesn't make any sense that he'd shut me out at dinner and now all of a sudden he's offering to bake.' Once the young half Saiyan got to the kitchen doorway, Goten was turning the oven on and his dad was peeling the paper from the top of a bucket of chocolatechip cookie dough. "Do you know what you're doing dad?" He spoke up alerting the others to his presence.
"Its not rocket science boy, I can read the instructions." Vegeta replied, although the question Trunks was asking was more literal than anyone knew. 'This is too much.' He thought watching the events unfolding. 'Something's wrong I just know it. Is he punishing me or something trying to say I'm a bad son and he'd rather have someone else? No that's crazy.' Though he told himsel it was an obsurd thing to think he watched the two parading around the kichen like it was the most natural thing in the world.
"Got the butter spray." Goten announced spraying the waiting pans. He and Vegeta stood together scooping dough and placing it on the pan. Goten, taking advantage of Vegeta's new attitude, started in on one of his overly told jokes. The scariest part was Vegeta actually laughed afterwards. Trunks stood back astonished.
"Come on Trunks we've got two pans to fill here." Goten walked over pulling the lavender haired boys arm. He whispered in Trunks' ear on their way over. "I know its weird but just try to enjoy it anyway o.k?"
"Yeah..." The teen shook his head of any wrong thoughts or feelings and decided to join them. "Yeah I guess I could."
When Trunks joined them Vegeta patted the boy on his back then handed him a spoon. The young Saiyan smiled and let all his concerns fly away for the time being.
~~~~Ff~~~~
"And after that we all watched a movie, your head started to hurt halfway through the picture and you went to bed." Trunks finished the story. The silence stretched for minutes before Vegeta responded, turning a smug face to his son.
"If what you say is true that means I was there as well."
"Y..eah of course."
"Then why don't I remember any of it?"
Trunks dropped his shoulders in exasperation. "I don't know dad but it's true."
"True," Vegeta scoffed and got out of the bed, Trunks stepping back to give him room. "Its your memory against mine." He pushed his son towards the door and out of it.
"But dad-" Before Trunks could protest Vegeta closed the door on him, locking it incase the boy wanted to be brave and try getting back in.
"I'm fine so stop worrying and get ready for school or go back to bed." He called through the door. Hearing Trunks retreating down the hall, mumbling something incoherent, he slumped against the door, relieved for the privacy. "Damnit!" His fist gently hit the wall beside him. "This is getting out of control now, first Kakarot now- now his son and Trunks. Who knows what ridiculous things are going on that I'm unaware of." He went back to the bed sitting at the edge of it. "I have to find some way to put an end to this before it gets completely out of my hands."
__________
"Hm.." Piccolo grunted in aggitation for the third time in the last twenty minutes and Goku sighed for the seventh time in that same twenty minutes. "Is that all you're going to do while you're here?" The namek asked.
"No, sorry Piccolo. I just can't keep my head clear today."
"Vegeta?"
"No Trunks. I lied to him and about something that could be serious."
Piccolo scoffed. "Is that all?"
"Is that all?! This could all blow up in my face later. You know no good comes from lying. And yeah on top of all that I'm still concerned about Vegeta."
Piccolo smirked unseen before replying. "I forget you're saint Goku, never sees or speaks of evil, commits no sins. With the exception of gluttony."
"You shouldn't make jokes Piccolo it doesn't suit you." Goku responded with no trace of humor in his voice.
"Well you can't just mope about it, either tell Trunks the truth before it blows up in your face and risk his anger, that I'm guessing won't last long,"
"Or?"
"Or shut up and wait for the outcome."
"Gee thanks, but I guess I'll take the latter on this one." The frazzled Saiyan dropped his head into his palms. Both men went quiet for a moment, neither sure what the other was thinking. Goku still pondered over just telling Trunks the truth and Piccolo wishing there was some way to help. After a time it was Piccolo that broke the silence.
"Goku?"
The Saiyan that appeared deep in thought looked up turning his attention towards his alien friend. "Yeah?"
"I'll go with you to see Vegeta if you want. I can't help you with Trunks but if you're that worried we could at least look in on him."
"Thanks but I'm not sure if he'd even want to see me, he was pretty annoyed the other day, more so than usual if that's possible."
Before Piccolo could respond further the phone rang from inside Goku's little stone home. He stood from the front porch, Piccolo doing the same, and went inside to answer it. "Hello?... Trunks." He shared a glance with his green friend. "Iiis everything alright?" He waited. His heart had already stopped inside waiting for bad news. "That's great, make sure Goten doesn't clean out your fridge." Trunks spoke again. "..Yeah sure I'll stay with Vegeta if you want. He's o.k isn't he?...... That's good, well I'll be there as soon as I can, Piccolo too." Trunks said his final words and they both exchanged goodbyes before the young boy hung up. Goku put the phone down and turned to Piccolo with a small relieved smile.
"So far so good, Trunks says Vegeta was acting kinda funny last night but nothing too serious, he just wants us to stay with him and make sure he's really himself today."
"Look at that the day's already looking up for you."
"Ha! We'll see when we get there." Goku half laughed. Soon after that the two left the little home, and most of Goku's worries behind, for Capsule corp.
_____________
Trunks stomped around the room in an unhappy disposition, slamming drawers and waking a half dead Goten from slumber. The boy sat up from his best friends bed rubbing his eyes and stretching. "Hey T' where's the fire?" He asked spotting his boyfriend coming out of the closet with clothes in hand and the top half of his nightwear missing.
"You know this is really starting to freak me out now." He said making no sense to the other male present.
"Huh, what is?"
Trunks finished yanking his school shirt on and paused in removing his night pants. "My dad. I mean I know he's old but-"
"Ha! don't let him hear you say that." Goten interrupted.
"I mean he's been around for awhile right and it just seems too early, to me, for him to be having memory loss problems." Trunks went on and finished getting dressed for school.
"Memory loss, like alzheimers?"
"Yeah. He was acting weird last night right, I didn't just dream it all, you were there!" Trunks voice was becoming frantic and desperate now.
"You mean with the cookies and stuff, yeah I was there..." It took the boy a few seconds to piece what Trunks had been saying together. "You mean Vegeta doesn't remember any of that?" Trunks sat heavily on the end of the bed looking back at his dark haired boyfriend.
"Exactly, and I don't get why and if he does remember he denies it to the moon!"
"Maybe it has something to do with his headache."
"He's been having a lot of those lately." Sighing Trunks glanced at the clock on his nightstand and then back at his bed ridden companion. "Better get ready for school, I'll make breakfast." After that he stood and left the room still trying to contemplate his fathers recent bizarre behavior. On the bed Goten groaned and placed Trunks' unoccupied pillow over his head.
..................
Vegeta sat at the door for countless minutes after having forced Trunks from his room. He wracked his brain hard for answers. All he could come up with was that this problem was some kind of medical disease. 'But how will I know for certain? I can't go to Kakarot's son's work. Then everyone will find out. And what if I'm wrong? What else could it be then?' He tried his hardest to remember the last few weeks and if any head injuries could be the cause of this onslaught of head pains and the voices. He recalled a few injuries during training sessions but he never thought they were anything serious. 'Then what is it? Why is this happening?' He stood up and crossed the room to get a change of clothes.
We could answer that question Vegeta, but you probably couldn't handle it
He froze with the drawer half open and the hand holding a shirt dropped the piece of clothing back down. He'd heard the words, of course he did, they were coming directly from his own brain. As much as he wanted to ignore it he knew very well he couldn't and this time for a reason other than lack of will power. 'This could be my chance then.' He figured what better way to get answers than asking the source. The only problem was he didn't know how to, in a manner of speaking, talk to himself. Then he remembered one of his haunting dreams and how he'd spoken to the ceiling out loud. It seemed beyond idiotic to the proud Saiyan to be talking to a ceiling so he opted for staring in the mirror instead.
Facing himself with as much convincing command in his face and tone he spoke to his reflection. "Tell me, whomever or whatever you are, what the hell you're talking about." He kept his voice low incase either of the two boys could hear him from Trunks's room. Which was unlikely considering how well built and thick the walls of Capsule Corp were made but better safe than sorry the Saiyan prince figured.
It took a minute of weird silence in the room before the same voice rang out in his mind. Even though they all sounded like himself, Vegeta could almost swear that there were different attitudes and ways of speaking coming from each voice that he'd heard so far. Exactly what these personalities were he was never sure and didn't really want to be.
All of this is happening to you because you let it, its your own fault.
A low grumble formed in his throat as he stared at his reflection. "Damn you! I demand a straight answer!" He shouted letting his emotions get the better of him.
It's too soon for you to know anything, you can't handle it.
Vegeta was growing tired of this game quickly and yanked the drawer out of its place in the dresser bureau and grabbed his shirt and pants. He turned away from the mirror for the bathroom but paused in step when the voice spoke again.
It's only going to get worse for you if you don't let us out, let us help and we'll take care of everything.
Vegeta shook his head to dispel the thoughts as comforting as those words were something about the way they were said wasn't right. He remembered the look on Trunks's face earlier and how worried and frightened he was. 'What exactly happened that night, what did I do, what have I been doing? Was it really that awful or just completely out of character?' He made his way into the bathroom, thankful that his brain was functioning at his own will again. He didn't know why the voice shut up he was just happy it did. 'I can't ask Trunks about this. He'd think I believed in his little story, even if I'm starting to.... and why shouldn't I believe it? Strange, unexplainable things have been happening to me lately. Why would baking cookies be so farfetched?' The distraught prince cleaned himself up and dressed.
.............
Goten entered the kitchen yawning but a smile immediately replaced his sleepiness when the smell of fried meat and eggs enticed his nostrils. He goes to stand behind Trunks and takes a peek into the pan, brows raising with question. "Geez that's an awful lot of food even for me."
Trunks answered absent mindedly turning off the stove. "Your dad and Piccolo are on their way I'm leaving it for them." Trunks' distant tone of voice told Goten that he was still hung up on his fathers actions from last night and that morning. So he backed up from his boyfriend to give Trunks room.
"Maybe I could sneak it into conversation, ya know, about the night before around Vegeta, then he'll have to believe you."
The other teen was pulling down dishes and spooning food onto two of them. "No, it wouldn't do any good and it doesn't matter now anyway." He turned to a disappointed Goten with a smile. "Hungry?" He offers the plate of food which Goten happily takes and goes to sit at the little round table in the center of the kitchen. Trunks then makes himself a plate and joins him.
Vegeta snuck quietly downstairs passing the kitchen carefully and heading down the long hallway to the den at the back of the house. Once there he went to one of the large bookshelves and skimmed them at the row of books eye level to him. "No, no." Not finding what he was looking for he tried a lower level on the shelf- not ready to resort to the stepping stool to go to the higher shelves just yet. "Aha!" Luckily he didn't have to resort to facing his hieght deficiency. He pulled out a large brown medical book, hopefully not completely ancient, and took it to his easy chair and sat down. "You'd better have what I'm looking for," He threatened the non-living object while flipping a few pages until getting to the index. He scanned for head trauma, voices, headaches anything that might lead him to an answer for his recent dilema. "Hmm there it is." He mumbled quielty flipping to a particular page about mental trauma.
-Multiple Personality Disorder
MPD is a psychiatric disorder characterized by having at least one "alter" personality that controls behavior. The "alters" are said to occur spontaneously and involuntarily, and function more or less independently of each other. The unity of consciousness, by which we identify our selves, is said to be absent in MPD. Another symptom of MPD is significant amnesia which can't be explained by ordinary forgetfulness.-
"Amnesia, is this why I've been forgetting things and losing track of time?"
-Memory and other aspects of consciousness are said to be divided up among "alters" in the MPD. The number of "alters" identified by various therapists ranges from several to tens to hundreds.
"Tens to hundreds."
-There are even some reports of several thousand identities dwelling in one person.-
His eyes became wide. "Thousands!" His face fell grim at the thought of hundreds or more voices residing within his mind. The few he knew of were bad enough on their own, Kami forbid there be thousands! Shaking away the sickening thought he skimmed further down the page and continued reading. He shook his head with a misunderstanding of every word his eyes crossed. "None of this makes sense, repressed memories- abuse, social interacti- It's all crazy!"
'I've never experienced any of that nonsense.' He affirmed to himself. Feeling at another loss Vegeta flipped a few pages ahead looking for anything that might make sense to him or help him stop the headaches atleast.
"Hey daaad!" It was Trunks calling from out in the living room.
"Now what?" Before he could get himself up to go and see what the boy was bellowing for Trunks called out again.
"We're leaving now," His voice sounded more distance that time. The Saiyan figured he was yelling up the stairs not knowing that Vegeta had already come down. "Um... there's food in the kitchen if you're hungry...."
"We'll see ya later!" Came Goten's voice seconds after.
Vegeta got out of his chair closing the book and crept out into the hall waiting quietly until he heard the front door close. "That's more like it." He took his book down the hall and just as he was about to turn into the living room he heard someone else outside of the front door.
"I wonder if I should knock?"
"Kakarot." The name was spat out between clenched teeth as the Saiyan prince watched the knob turning on the door. He felt a sudden panic then remembered the book still in his hand and quickly searched for a place to hide it. He stuffed it under the couch cushion as far as it could go and covered it with a throw pillow. Not to look conspicuous he ran back up the stairs and into the first bathroom he came across in the hall. 'Damn him what the hell is he doing here, again!' He paced in the small space trying to relax and calm down. 'Oh I know, the boy must have called him to spy on me.' He slammed a fist into his other palm. 'Who knows what he told that clown, what lies he conjured up to make me look bad.'
"Vegeta! Are you awake?"
Better go down and face the music Vegeta, unless you want us to handle it
'No not them again not now.'
What better time than now, you need us, free us...
The pain returned in his head but it went as soon as it had come. The Saiyan prince straightend up with a brash smirk on his face, making his expression look cynical and psychotic almost. He sauntered out of the bathroom and down the stairs with an air of mischief about him.
"Maybe he's in the shower or something." Goku spoke to Piccolo neither noticing the other Sayain entering the room.
"Ah Kakarot, you just can't get enough of me can you." He spoke with a sarcastic humor. "And I see you brought the Namek for my entertainment," He gave both men a look that sent shivers down their spines. "Then let's play shall we."
________________
AN: Apologies for any mistakes I don't have my word processor anymore and the naked eye, no matter how many times I read over this stuff, it misses things. A warning the next chapter might take another long span of time before its updated but it will be done. I always appreciate the love of the readers -Linkin
(The alters- had to change from orange to brown because of the wordpad it sucks but everything else is still the same) Envy and self loathing Playful and crazy Anger Sad and confused Loving and fatherly
Stealing Time
Chpt 10
Too Sweet To Be Vegeta
"Dad... dad?" The faint sound of a boys voice and gentle shaking of his body, slowly woke Vegeta from his somewhat peaceful slumber. "Father are you awake?" Came the boys raspy whisper again.
"Huh?" Opening his eyes Vegeta's vision began to come in clear. "What?.. Trunks?" He spoke in confussion.
The boy leaned back a bit to give his father some breathing room and he sighed in relief. "Are you alright?" He asked.
Vegeta sat up a little, leaning his back against the headboard. He turned his head in the direction of the clock, that Trunks was currently blocking at the moment. Vegeta reached out a hand pushing the boys body, by the hip, out of his way. He frowned seeing the dimly glowing 5:00 a.m. "Do you know what time it is? What do you want?"
"I know it's kinda early and I'm sorry but I couldn't really sleep. I was worried about you."
"Worried for what?" He began rubbing his temples with his index and thumb before dragging that same hand down his face to cover his mouth from a yawn.
"Well..." Trunks hesitated knowing what he'd have to say would sound ridiculous to Vegeta, to anyone really. "Well it's just- last night you were acting kinda strange."
"Strange how?" The Saiyan's voice portayed irritation rather than the worry he was actually feeling inside. 'Damnit!, It must have happened again and still I never know or remember a thing about it! Who knows what he saw.'
"You just weren't yourself." Trunks went on.
Sensing the boys obvious hesitation to go on Vegeta encouraged him to go on the best way he knew how, by yelling. "Damnit boy spit it out!"
On Vegeta's command Trunks blurted out what he'd been stalling to say. "You were baking cookies." Vegeta's reaction was one of surprise and utter disbelief but that soon turned into disbelief and humor.
"Cookies?" He laughed repeating the obsurdity. "What is this some dream you had? Or a little joke?"
Trunks was the one surprised now, he'd think his father would remember something as out of character as this. "No, dad, it wasn't a dream and its no joke. I was there and Goten too." Vegeta gave Trunks another look of disbelief and waved a hand for him to go on. So Trunks continued. Figuring the only way to jog his father's memory was to tell him what had happened. "Well after we finished dinner Goten came over and-"
~~~~FB~~~~
Goten looked through the window of the kitchen to see Trunks inside finishing up with dishes from dinner. He tapped the glass twice smiling and waving when his busy lover looked in his direction. Trunks dried his hands off on a kitchen towel and opened the door for Goten. "I'm here." Goten announced unnecessarily upon entering.
"I could tell and I couldn't be happier." He planted a small kiss on his high spirited boyfriends lips. "Can you believe he did it to me again?" Trunks began speaking as he led Goten into the living room.
"Who did what?" The confused half Saiyan asked.
"Vegeta, at dinner he- he practially snubbed me."
"Huh?"
"He flat out told me he didn't wanna talk or listen to me babble on about anything." Trunks explained. "So it was quiet the entire evening."
"Ouch." Goten winced inwardly at the harsh words. Both boys sat down on the couch, Goten reached for the remote but left the T.V off to listen to Trunks.
"I mean he didn't say it exactly like that but I got the hint. I just don't get it and I'm running out of second, third and fourth tries for him." Goten gave him a sympathetic rub on the leg. Trunks sighs and takes the remote from Goten putting it back on the table. "You've got homework right?" He stated more than asked, apparently done with the conversation on Vegeta. Nothing could be done about the man at the moment anyway.
"Yeah." Goten replied defeatedly knowing that Trunks himself was getting in a very "Vegeta-like" mood and wouldn't take any crap at the time. He leaned forwards to grab the bag he'd brought with him carrying his school things and opened it up. Trunks got up to retrieve his already done homework to help Goten with his but not by giving him the answers to Goten's dismay. When Trunks came back Goten was set up and ready for the boy to play teacher.
...........
Upstairs, Vegeta was pacing the room trying to keep his thoughts focused and clear so the voices wouldn't have an opening to come through. He was pacing because what his brain was forcing him to focus on was something he didn't care to think about. However, no matter how hard he tried he couldn't change what was on his mind. That disturbing dream he'd had hours ago before Goku woke him. The figure entering his hospital room, the feelings he'd had during the nightmare. Against his own will he pondered whether or not the dream had any meaning and what was it telling him if it did?
"Ugh!" Stopping at the bed he grabbed a pillow, instead of the alarm clock to prevent being heard, and threw it against the wall. Falling to his knees he rested his elbows against the mattress supporting his head in his hands. "Damn this." His mind was beginning to race with images he didn't want to see. Ones of his father and his brief childhood on Planet Vegeta. "Why? Why am I thinking about these things?" He tried to question himself getting no answer.
He could almost clearly hear his late fathers voice speaking to that demon Frieza, while his younger self was hiding not far away. That conversation was the one he'd held onto for years in his memory. His father spoke so proudly of him to Frieza that day. Telling of his quick mind and burning spirit. How his son showed promise of becoming the greatest Saiyan that ever lived. Frieza in return only laughed, in that same menacing cackle he'd always had, asking to see just how wonderful the young prince really was. What came after that Vegeta didn't hear because they were both heading his way and he had to disappear before getting caught listening in.
The images rushed forwards in time reminding Vegeta of the worst day in his young life. The day Vegetasai exploded and his own life crumbled inside of himself at the same time. The day he was left in the care of his worst nightmare... Frieza.
Grinding his teeth he dropped his fist onto the matress pushing up from the bed and off of the floor. "No- no more of these pointless memories. They have nothing to do with today." He declared and straightend himself upright.
'So foolish' The words started as an off hand thought, or so he assumed, until he realized he hadn't really thought them at all.
You really have no clue do you? How blissful is denial?
'Oh no.'
Sounds like fun.. being ignorant
"I don't hear you, I don't-" The pain began slowly emerging with every thought the Saiyan had.
Don't waste your time trying to fight us anymore Vegeta. We've already told you you can't win.
"Its all in my mind it's not real, you're not real!" In some kind of attempt to get away from the voices Vegeta ran into the closet closing himself inside. He held onto the doorknob as if someone on the otherside would start pulling at it to get in. For minutes he only heard the sound of his own shallow breathing and then....
Hahahaha..
The voice sounded so clear like it was there in the closet right beside him, startled the Saiyan backed himself up against the closet wall.
You can't hide from us, remember, we're everywhere.
Let yourself go Vegeta, Let us out. We can ease the pain.
"No..No!" The pain started to become unbearable now and the dark haired man didn't know what to do about it. He gave the pills a thought, they usually stopped the voices on the outside but he didn't want to be thrown into sleep for another nightmare to jerk him back to consciousness. So he lay in a quivering mass on the floor taking the pain the only way he could, head on. Knowing there was no use fighting it anymore. Eventually he blacked out.
..........
Downstairs both boys had moved to lie, stomachs down, on the floor with their legs up in the air behind them. Goten was nearly finished with his homework so Trunks decided to turn the T.V on and they chatted quielty every now and then.
"Done!" Goten announced and slammed his book closed to emphasize his statement.
"Great, maybe next time you can do it all on your own?" Trunks gave Goten's leg a little tap with his own leg.
"Yeah maybe." He laughed rolling over off of his stomach.
"You just need more work ethic."
Goten groaned, placing the notebook over his face, at the phrase he'd heard so many times from teachers in school and his boss at work. Even his own brother would preach it to him from time to time.
"Well all work and no play makes life boring." Came a familiar voice. Both boys turned their heads in the direction of the source.
"Vegeta?" Goten blurted seeing the man coming from off the stairs and into the living room. He stood a few feet away from them.
"Is everything alright?" Trunks asked standing from the floor.
"Fine, fine, I just got a little bored and hungry up there. Then an idea struck me." The man explained. Trunks immediately noticed something different about the way his father looked and spoke. There was more lightness to his tone and his posture seemed less uptight.
"Yeah what's that?" Goten asked not sure if this idea was going to cause him any physical harm.
"How about some cookies?"
Both boys jaws dropped at the reply and they exchanged a glance of pure confusion and disbelief, then turned their attention back to the Saiyan who was practically smiling at them. "W-- what? Cookies dad?" Trunks had to choke out.
"That's what I said, do you want some or not?" Vegeta approached them both, throwing his arms around their shoulders. "You two are having a night together or whatever you call it, right?"
"Sleep over." Goten offered.
"Right... sleep over, so wouldn't a nice snack be fun?" He let their shoulders go and pushed between them heading to the kitchen whether they followed or not.
"But cookies dad? You don't even really eat sweets."
"First time for everything." He answered his son.
"Fresh baked?" Goten asked even though his interest was long since peeked at just the mention of food, especially a dessert.
"Of course." Vegeta replied before disappearing out of sight.
"Alright! I'm in." Just before Goten took off to the kitchen Trunks held his arm fast, keeping him back. "What?" The hungry child looked over his shoulder bitterly at his offender.
"Goten, doesn't something feel off to you?" Goten looked into the direction of the kitchen as if he could see Vegeta through the wall. Then he turned back to Trunks.
"No not really."
"But the way he talked and baking cookies! You don't find that weird, considering who this is we're talking about?"
"Sorta, but hey why knock it." Trunks sighed at his boyfriend's unconcerned reply. "Don't analyze it Trunks just enjoy the time before it runs out." Carefully removing the shackle of Trunks' hand Goten takes off for the kitchen to find Vegeta pulling baking pans out from the lower cabinets.
Trunks stayed behind taking his time joining the other two. 'It doesn't make any sense that he'd shut me out at dinner and now all of a sudden he's offering to bake.' Once the young half Saiyan got to the kitchen doorway, Goten was turning the oven on and his dad was peeling the paper from the top of a bucket of chocolatechip cookie dough. "Do you know what you're doing dad?" He spoke up alerting the others to his presence.
"Its not rocket science boy, I can read the instructions." Vegeta replied, although the question Trunks was asking was more literal than anyone knew. 'This is too much.' He thought watching the events unfolding. 'Something's wrong I just know it. Is he punishing me or something trying to say I'm a bad son and he'd rather have someone else? No that's crazy.' Though he told himsel it was an obsurd thing to think he watched the two parading around the kichen like it was the most natural thing in the world.
"Got the butter spray." Goten announced spraying the waiting pans. He and Vegeta stood together scooping dough and placing it on the pan. Goten, taking advantage of Vegeta's new attitude, started in on one of his overly told jokes. The scariest part was Vegeta actually laughed afterwards. Trunks stood back astonished.
"Come on Trunks we've got two pans to fill here." Goten walked over pulling the lavender haired boys arm. He whispered in Trunks' ear on their way over. "I know its weird but just try to enjoy it anyway o.k?"
"Yeah..." The teen shook his head of any wrong thoughts or feelings and decided to join them. "Yeah I guess I could."
When Trunks joined them Vegeta patted the boy on his back then handed him a spoon. The young Saiyan smiled and let all his concerns fly away for the time being.
~~~~Ff~~~~
"And after that we all watched a movie, your head started to hurt halfway through the picture and you went to bed." Trunks finished the story. The silence stretched for minutes before Vegeta responded, turning a smug face to his son.
"If what you say is true that means I was there as well."
"Y..eah of course."
"Then why don't I remember any of it?"
Trunks dropped his shoulders in exasperation. "I don't know dad but it's true."
"True," Vegeta scoffed and got out of the bed, Trunks stepping back to give him room. "Its your memory against mine." He pushed his son towards the door and out of it.
"But dad-" Before Trunks could protest Vegeta closed the door on him, locking it incase the boy wanted to be brave and try getting back in.
"I'm fine so stop worrying and get ready for school or go back to bed." He called through the door. Hearing Trunks retreating down the hall, mumbling something incoherent, he slumped against the door, relieved for the privacy. "Damnit!" His fist gently hit the wall beside him. "This is getting out of control now, first Kakarot now- now his son and Trunks. Who knows what ridiculous things are going on that I'm unaware of." He went back to the bed sitting at the edge of it. "I have to find some way to put an end to this before it gets completely out of my hands."
__________
"Hm.." Piccolo grunted in aggitation for the third time in the last twenty minutes and Goku sighed for the seventh time in that same twenty minutes. "Is that all you're going to do while you're here?" The namek asked.
"No, sorry Piccolo. I just can't keep my head clear today."
"Vegeta?"
"No Trunks. I lied to him and about something that could be serious."
Piccolo scoffed. "Is that all?"
"Is that all?! This could all blow up in my face later. You know no good comes from lying. And yeah on top of all that I'm still concerned about Vegeta."
Piccolo smirked unseen before replying. "I forget you're saint Goku, never sees or speaks of evil, commits no sins. With the exception of gluttony."
"You shouldn't make jokes Piccolo it doesn't suit you." Goku responded with no trace of humor in his voice.
"Well you can't just mope about it, either tell Trunks the truth before it blows up in your face and risk his anger, that I'm guessing won't last long,"
"Or?"
"Or shut up and wait for the outcome."
"Gee thanks, but I guess I'll take the latter on this one." The frazzled Saiyan dropped his head into his palms. Both men went quiet for a moment, neither sure what the other was thinking. Goku still pondered over just telling Trunks the truth and Piccolo wishing there was some way to help. After a time it was Piccolo that broke the silence.
"Goku?"
The Saiyan that appeared deep in thought looked up turning his attention towards his alien friend. "Yeah?"
"I'll go with you to see Vegeta if you want. I can't help you with Trunks but if you're that worried we could at least look in on him."
"Thanks but I'm not sure if he'd even want to see me, he was pretty annoyed the other day, more so than usual if that's possible."
Before Piccolo could respond further the phone rang from inside Goku's little stone home. He stood from the front porch, Piccolo doing the same, and went inside to answer it. "Hello?... Trunks." He shared a glance with his green friend. "Iiis everything alright?" He waited. His heart had already stopped inside waiting for bad news. "That's great, make sure Goten doesn't clean out your fridge." Trunks spoke again. "..Yeah sure I'll stay with Vegeta if you want. He's o.k isn't he?...... That's good, well I'll be there as soon as I can, Piccolo too." Trunks said his final words and they both exchanged goodbyes before the young boy hung up. Goku put the phone down and turned to Piccolo with a small relieved smile.
"So far so good, Trunks says Vegeta was acting kinda funny last night but nothing too serious, he just wants us to stay with him and make sure he's really himself today."
"Look at that the day's already looking up for you."
"Ha! We'll see when we get there." Goku half laughed. Soon after that the two left the little home, and most of Goku's worries behind, for Capsule corp.
_____________
Trunks stomped around the room in an unhappy disposition, slamming drawers and waking a half dead Goten from slumber. The boy sat up from his best friends bed rubbing his eyes and stretching. "Hey T' where's the fire?" He asked spotting his boyfriend coming out of the closet with clothes in hand and the top half of his nightwear missing.
"You know this is really starting to freak me out now." He said making no sense to the other male present.
"Huh, what is?"
Trunks finished yanking his school shirt on and paused in removing his night pants. "My dad. I mean I know he's old but-"
"Ha! don't let him hear you say that." Goten interrupted.
"I mean he's been around for awhile right and it just seems too early, to me, for him to be having memory loss problems." Trunks went on and finished getting dressed for school.
"Memory loss, like alzheimers?"
"Yeah. He was acting weird last night right, I didn't just dream it all, you were there!" Trunks voice was becoming frantic and desperate now.
"You mean with the cookies and stuff, yeah I was there..." It took the boy a few seconds to piece what Trunks had been saying together. "You mean Vegeta doesn't remember any of that?" Trunks sat heavily on the end of the bed looking back at his dark haired boyfriend.
"Exactly, and I don't get why and if he does remember he denies it to the moon!"
"Maybe it has something to do with his headache."
"He's been having a lot of those lately." Sighing Trunks glanced at the clock on his nightstand and then back at his bed ridden companion. "Better get ready for school, I'll make breakfast." After that he stood and left the room still trying to contemplate his fathers recent bizarre behavior. On the bed Goten groaned and placed Trunks' unoccupied pillow over his head.
..................
Vegeta sat at the door for countless minutes after having forced Trunks from his room. He wracked his brain hard for answers. All he could come up with was that this problem was some kind of medical disease. 'But how will I know for certain? I can't go to Kakarot's son's work. Then everyone will find out. And what if I'm wrong? What else could it be then?' He tried his hardest to remember the last few weeks and if any head injuries could be the cause of this onslaught of head pains and the voices. He recalled a few injuries during training sessions but he never thought they were anything serious. 'Then what is it? Why is this happening?' He stood up and crossed the room to get a change of clothes.
We could answer that question Vegeta, but you probably couldn't handle it
He froze with the drawer half open and the hand holding a shirt dropped the piece of clothing back down. He'd heard the words, of course he did, they were coming directly from his own brain. As much as he wanted to ignore it he knew very well he couldn't and this time for a reason other than lack of will power. 'This could be my chance then.' He figured what better way to get answers than asking the source. The only problem was he didn't know how to, in a manner of speaking, talk to himself. Then he remembered one of his haunting dreams and how he'd spoken to the ceiling out loud. It seemed beyond idiotic to the proud Saiyan to be talking to a ceiling so he opted for staring in the mirror instead.
Facing himself with as much convincing command in his face and tone he spoke to his reflection. "Tell me, whomever or whatever you are, what the hell you're talking about." He kept his voice low incase either of the two boys could hear him from Trunks's room. Which was unlikely considering how well built and thick the walls of Capsule Corp were made but better safe than sorry the Saiyan prince figured.
It took a minute of weird silence in the room before the same voice rang out in his mind. Even though they all sounded like himself, Vegeta could almost swear that there were different attitudes and ways of speaking coming from each voice that he'd heard so far. Exactly what these personalities were he was never sure and didn't really want to be.
All of this is happening to you because you let it, its your own fault.
A low grumble formed in his throat as he stared at his reflection. "Damn you! I demand a straight answer!" He shouted letting his emotions get the better of him.
It's too soon for you to know anything, you can't handle it.
Vegeta was growing tired of this game quickly and yanked the drawer out of its place in the dresser bureau and grabbed his shirt and pants. He turned away from the mirror for the bathroom but paused in step when the voice spoke again.
It's only going to get worse for you if you don't let us out, let us help and we'll take care of everything.
Vegeta shook his head to dispel the thoughts as comforting as those words were something about the way they were said wasn't right. He remembered the look on Trunks's face earlier and how worried and frightened he was. 'What exactly happened that night, what did I do, what have I been doing? Was it really that awful or just completely out of character?' He made his way into the bathroom, thankful that his brain was functioning at his own will again. He didn't know why the voice shut up he was just happy it did. 'I can't ask Trunks about this. He'd think I believed in his little story, even if I'm starting to.... and why shouldn't I believe it? Strange, unexplainable things have been happening to me lately. Why would baking cookies be so farfetched?' The distraught prince cleaned himself up and dressed.
.............
Goten entered the kitchen yawning but a smile immediately replaced his sleepiness when the smell of fried meat and eggs enticed his nostrils. He goes to stand behind Trunks and takes a peek into the pan, brows raising with question. "Geez that's an awful lot of food even for me."
Trunks answered absent mindedly turning off the stove. "Your dad and Piccolo are on their way I'm leaving it for them." Trunks' distant tone of voice told Goten that he was still hung up on his fathers actions from last night and that morning. So he backed up from his boyfriend to give Trunks room.
"Maybe I could sneak it into conversation, ya know, about the night before around Vegeta, then he'll have to believe you."
The other teen was pulling down dishes and spooning food onto two of them. "No, it wouldn't do any good and it doesn't matter now anyway." He turned to a disappointed Goten with a smile. "Hungry?" He offers the plate of food which Goten happily takes and goes to sit at the little round table in the center of the kitchen. Trunks then makes himself a plate and joins him.
Vegeta snuck quietly downstairs passing the kitchen carefully and heading down the long hallway to the den at the back of the house. Once there he went to one of the large bookshelves and skimmed them at the row of books eye level to him. "No, no." Not finding what he was looking for he tried a lower level on the shelf- not ready to resort to the stepping stool to go to the higher shelves just yet. "Aha!" Luckily he didn't have to resort to facing his hieght deficiency. He pulled out a large brown medical book, hopefully not completely ancient, and took it to his easy chair and sat down. "You'd better have what I'm looking for," He threatened the non-living object while flipping a few pages until getting to the index. He scanned for head trauma, voices, headaches anything that might lead him to an answer for his recent dilema. "Hmm there it is." He mumbled quielty flipping to a particular page about mental trauma.
-Multiple Personality Disorder
MPD is a psychiatric disorder characterized by having at least one "alter" personality that controls behavior. The "alters" are said to occur spontaneously and involuntarily, and function more or less independently of each other. The unity of consciousness, by which we identify our selves, is said to be absent in MPD. Another symptom of MPD is significant amnesia which can't be explained by ordinary forgetfulness.-
"Amnesia, is this why I've been forgetting things and losing track of time?"
-Memory and other aspects of consciousness are said to be divided up among "alters" in the MPD. The number of "alters" identified by various therapists ranges from several to tens to hundreds.
"Tens to hundreds."
-There are even some reports of several thousand identities dwelling in one person.-
His eyes became wide. "Thousands!" His face fell grim at the thought of hundreds or more voices residing within his mind. The few he knew of were bad enough on their own, Kami forbid there be thousands! Shaking away the sickening thought he skimmed further down the page and continued reading. He shook his head with a misunderstanding of every word his eyes crossed. "None of this makes sense, repressed memories- abuse, social interacti- It's all crazy!"
'I've never experienced any of that nonsense.' He affirmed to himself. Feeling at another loss Vegeta flipped a few pages ahead looking for anything that might make sense to him or help him stop the headaches atleast.
"Hey daaad!" It was Trunks calling from out in the living room.
"Now what?" Before he could get himself up to go and see what the boy was bellowing for Trunks called out again.
"We're leaving now," His voice sounded more distance that time. The Saiyan figured he was yelling up the stairs not knowing that Vegeta had already come down. "Um... there's food in the kitchen if you're hungry...."
"We'll see ya later!" Came Goten's voice seconds after.
Vegeta got out of his chair closing the book and crept out into the hall waiting quietly until he heard the front door close. "That's more like it." He took his book down the hall and just as he was about to turn into the living room he heard someone else outside of the front door.
"I wonder if I should knock?"
"Kakarot." The name was spat out between clenched teeth as the Saiyan prince watched the knob turning on the door. He felt a sudden panic then remembered the book still in his hand and quickly searched for a place to hide it. He stuffed it under the couch cushion as far as it could go and covered it with a throw pillow. Not to look conspicuous he ran back up the stairs and into the first bathroom he came across in the hall. 'Damn him what the hell is he doing here, again!' He paced in the small space trying to relax and calm down. 'Oh I know, the boy must have called him to spy on me.' He slammed a fist into his other palm. 'Who knows what he told that clown, what lies he conjured up to make me look bad.'
"Vegeta! Are you awake?"
Better go down and face the music Vegeta, unless you want us to handle it
'No not them again not now.'
What better time than now, you need us, free us...
The pain returned in his head but it went as soon as it had come. The Saiyan prince straightend up with a brash smirk on his face, making his expression look cynical and psychotic almost. He sauntered out of the bathroom and down the stairs with an air of mischief about him.
"Maybe he's in the shower or something." Goku spoke to Piccolo neither noticing the other Sayain entering the room.
"Ah Kakarot, you just can't get enough of me can you." He spoke with a sarcastic humor. "And I see you brought the Namek for my entertainment," He gave both men a look that sent shivers down their spines. "Then let's play shall we."
________________
AN: Apologies for any mistakes I don't have my word processor anymore and the naked eye, no matter how many times I read over this stuff, it misses things. A warning the next chapter might take another long span of time before its updated but it will be done. I always appreciate the love of the readers -Linkin