Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ The Eternal Treasure of Planet Vegeta ❯ Torn On Both Sides ( Chapter 6 )

Bulma and Vegeta had been fighting all month. Trunks was sick of it. He had tried to be patient, but after all, fighting for so long over things like what colour the new bed sheets in the guest rooms should be was very stupid. Trunks had had enough. He marched into his parents' room to tell them so, but found they were getting along quite well.

"You've stopped fighting!" he exclaimed. His mother smiled at him when he came in.

"Living with this woman is impossible!" said his father. This didn't shock Trunks, as Vegeta repeated that phrase about ten times a day and more. It was always followed by a cocky reply from his mother, but today all she said was, "Trunks, its good you came. Your father and I have something very important we want to discuss with you. There are going to be a lot of changes to our lives." She spoke in a soft tender voice. Trunks was not a baby anymore, and he could tell when something was very wrong. And something was.

"Sure Mom. What did you want to talk about?"

"Lately", said Bulma, "more than ever, your father and I haven't been getting along. You must be used to hearing us bickering. Well, for us it's been more than idle bickering. We've been having real problems living together, so we've decided its better that we separate." She waited as her son digested the information. His face seemed normal, so Bulma continued.

"That's going to mean we'll stop sharing a room, and we won't be spending much time together. Daddy might not even be staying with us anymore."

Trunks looked at his father, who was sitting on the opposite couch. Vegeta was scowling deeply at him. Trunks looked back at his mother and said, "I have to go to school." He got up hurriedly and left the room before his mother could say anything.

Bra, his sister, was waiting at the front door for the school bus.

"What took you so long?" she asked, as he closed the front door behind him.

"I had to eat some breakfast", said Trunks, making up an excuse. He didn't want to tell his sister what had happen because he knew it would shock her. She was only four, and had just started nursery school. Trunks was seventeen and in his final year of high school.

"More breakfast?" said Bra. "You only had fifteen slices of toast this morning! You are a pig!" She looked up at her brother, who was more thrice her height, and tossed her shoulder length blue hair. She looked really cute in a pink blouse with puffed sleeves and a grey pleated skirt. Although simple, the outfit was sophisticated and expensive. Trunks and Bra's clothing was always of the highest quality; Bulma made sure of that. Bra was quite the fashion slayer too, a gift inherited from her mother. She also had a sizable vocabulary for a four year old, complements of her grandfather.

Trunks was wearing a white shirt, navy blue cardigan and grey trousers. He had a patent leather briefcase in his hand containing his books and lunch. He ate so much that he took packed lunch as well as an order from the school canteen. The bus going to Orange Star High School came first. Trunks said goodbye to Bra and got on. He showed his student card to the driver and took his normal place: a window seat near the back of the bus.

He sat down and gazed out of the window. Usually he would have taken out his Game Boy and started playing by now, but he was too preoccupied. He tried to think of a time when his parents had shown they cared about each other recently, but there were none. As the years went by, Vegeta started to drift further and further away from family life, only staying close to Bra. He and Bulma had stopped spending time together, or even talking, and he had begun to leave all decisions about the children to her.

And Bulma, she was not any less guilty. She had become annoyed with everything about Vegeta, complaining about how much housework she had to do, and coming home from work crabby and irritable. She would accuse Vegeta of doing things she very well knew he didn't do, and in time their relationship got worse and worse.

By the time the bus reached the school, Trunks was so lost in thought that he had to be snapped out by one of his friends. The whole morning he was in a world of his own, inattentive to his teachers and friends. At lunch, he automatically wandered to the bench under the cherry tree, his lunch packet in his hand. He had always met Goten here. Goten was already sitting and working his way through his enormous lunch.

"Hey Trunks, hurry up!" he said. Trunks sat down and opened his packet. Goten continued to eat hungrily, until he noticed that Trunks had not even started his meal.

"Aren't you hungry?" he asked. Trunks didn't seem to hear, so he repeated the question. But still Trunks seemed listless. Goten bellowed in his ear.

"TRUNKS!"

"Huh! What- ?" Trunks seemed to be paying attention.

"What's up with you today, man?" asked Goten. He had never seen Trunks looking so strange and distracted. "Aren't you hungry?"

"No", said Trunks, looking at the packet of food in his hands. He held it up. "You want it?"

Goten shook his head. A concerned look came to his face. He was shocked: Trunks had never ever turned down food before. He ate more food than Goten even.

Trunks had sunk into a stupor again. Goten continued to be concerned, but continued to eat his lunch. For the rest of lunch, he gazed at him, trying to lay bare what was wrong with his best friend.

At the end of the day, Goten insisted on coming home with Trunks. He wasn't going to relax until he found out what was bothering him. They reached home, and everything seemed normal. Bra had come home an hour earlier, and was sitting on the kitchen breakfast bar and reading. She looked up and smiled when Goten came in, for she was very fond of him.

"Hi Goten! How come you haven't come here for ages?"

"Hiya bluebell!" said Goten. He ruffled Bra's hair playfully. "Sorry I haven't been around lately. I'm getting bigger y'know, and I've gotta start looking for a wife!"

"That's silly!" said Bra. Her expression was perfectly serious as she said, "If you can't find a wife, just marry me!"

Goten laughed and ruffled her hair again. He went upstairs with Trunks.

~

Trunks was still awake. He was sitting up in bed and looking out of the window. The rain was trickling down slowly across the window pane. In the same way, tears were trickling down his cheeks. He tried to stop them, but they wouldn't go away.

His parents had had another fight today, and weren't talking to each other. Bra had heard this fight, but she hadn't thought anything of it. Vegeta had taken a blanket and was sleeping in the G. Chamber instead of the bedroom.

Trunks put his head in his knees to stop the forthcoming tears. He lifted it again and continued to look out of the window. Hours went by, hours where Trunks felt his heart was breaking. He had almost dozed off when there was a crash outside his window that woke him up suddenly.

He peered outside the window. It was still raining lightly. His sharp eyesight let him see something had landed on the lawn. He looked closer still and saw people getting out. Jumping off his bed, he ran out of his room, across the landing and banged on the door of his parent's bedroom. Bulma opened the door immediately. It was obvious she had not gotten a wink of sleep. Her hair was still in place and her nightie still smooth.

"What's wrong honey?" she asked.

"Mom, something's landed on the lawn. Some spaceship and people got out!"

"What?!" Bulma pulled a dressing gown around her and followed Trunks down. They met Vegeta at the foot of the stairs.

"Dad, something's -"

"I know!" He cut him off. He opened the front door and looked out. Some figures were moving outside. He called a ball of ki to his hand to light up the dark night.

"What the -woman!"

"What do you want, you big ape!?" said Bulma. As she pushed her way past Trunks to see what Vegeta was looking at. Her expression changed from anger to surprise with a microsecond.

Three sopping wet figures, attracted by the light, made their way to the front porch.

The oldest, a youngish lady, spoke in a soft voice.

"Hello Bulma. Guess we're back again!"

Bulma started to cry.

"Oh, I can't believe it! I can't believe it!"

The lady smiled softly, and pushed the boy next to her forward.

"Bulma, can you guess who this is?"

Bulma looked at the boy closely. "This…is Valley? Oh, my darling baby!" She enveloped him in a tearful hug. Trunks looked at his mother in amazement. He had never seen these people before, but his parents seemed to know them very well. Maybe they were relatives he had never met.

He looked at the girl. She was in her early teens, and although the light was bad, he could tell she was pretty. She looked tired though, and she yawned. Bulma noticed her then.

"Who is this?" she asked the woman.

"This is Terra, my daughter", she replied. Terra came forward into Bulma's hug.

"Why are you here?" asked Vegeta brusquely. He had been quiet so far.

"Vegeta, you are so rude!" said Bulma angrily.

"Shut up woman!" he barked. "You didn't come in the dead of the night just for a holiday, did you?"

The woman seemed to sadden. She bit her lip, and opened her mouth to speak, but Bulma stopped her.

"Before anything else happens", she said, "I think all of us should go inside. It's freezing out here!"

They came into the house. Bulma put on the lights. The two children looked around the large front room.

"You two must go straight to bed!" she said. "You are absolutely wet and tired out! Go and have a hot bath and then go to bed! You know your way around?"

Both the children nodded.

"But, our clothes?" said Terra, the girl. She plucked at her t-shirt, which was saturated in rain water.

"Trunks, give Valley a pair of your pyjamas. And Terra honey, go into my closet and you'll find a white nightie with blue polka dots. That'll fit you. And you can sleep in whichever rooms you like!

Goodnight!"

The two of them and Trunks went up the stairs without another word. Trunks looked back; his mother and father were going into the kitchen with the woman.

The two kids seemed to know their way around very well. The girl went straight into Bulma's room. Valley followed Trunks into his room. Trunks took out a pair of grey flannel pyjamas that had `T.B.' initialled on the breast pocket. Valley took them. He seemed a little hesitant around him.

"Uh, my name is Trunks". He thrust out his hand. Valley looked at it.

"I know", he said. His voice was melodic and slow paced.

Trunks was surprised. "How did you know my name? Have we met?"

"In a manner of speaking", said Valley. This didn't tell Trunks much.

"How old are you?"

"Seventeen last week", he replied.

"I'm seventeen too! Which school do you go to?"

"Lemon Star High School", he replied.

"Where's that?" Trunks had never heard of the place.

"Where Orange Star used to be", Valley said.

"Used to be?" said Trunks. "It's still there. I'm a leaver there!"

"There won't be for much longer"

"What do you mean?" asked Trunks curiously. There was a scream from outside. The boys came out to see Bra screaming at a puzzled Terra.

"HELP! BURGLAR! HEEEELP!"

"Stop screaming Bra!" said Trunks. "You'll wake up the whole neighbourhood!"

"Who is she!?" screamed Bra, pointing at Terra.

"She's a guest, she'll be staying here tonight! Why did you wake up?"

"She came into my room!" screamed Bra. "She tried to sleep in my bed!"

"It used to be my room", explained Terra. Her voice was soft, cultured and although feminine had a distinct bass echo to it. "I automatically went into it".

"It's not your room", screeched Bra, "it's MINE!"

"Terra, just go and sleep in Grandma's room on the couch", said Valley. Terra nodded and entered Bulma's room and shut the door. Bra stormed back into her room. But Trunks did not move.

"Who's Grandma?" he asked. The only grandma he knew was his own his maternal grandmother and she didn't have a couch in her room.

Valley didn't answer. He just said, "I'm going upstairs to the first guest room. Goodnight…Trunks". He turned and walked up the carpeted staircase. Trunks stared after him, and then went into his own room.

~

"I can't tell you how wonderful it is to have you here", said Bulma as she pushed a cup of tea across to Nikki. Nikki lifted it to her lip and drank a little.

"I just wish I was coming back under better circumstances", she said.

"Now will you tell us why you came? This is obviously not a social call", said Vegeta bluntly.

"Of course", said Nikki. She took a deep breath and began her story.

"Well, Trunks and I went back with the family after the wedding. I moved into Capsule Corp. and Trunks began to work with Bulma after he had taken care of the androids and Cell. I skipped half my junior year and senior year and went straight to college and got a Bachelor in Psychology. We spent two years renovating the place and rebuilding the neighbourhood. After two years Terra was born, and I stopped working part-time and spent all my time with the kids. Well, they both started going to school. Valley went to Lemon Star High. That's what the new high school was called. Everything was going quite smoothly, I mean both Valley and Terra were doing very well, but then some strange things started happening in Satan City."

"What kind of things?" asked Bulma.

"Well, people started to go missing. At first we didn't think too much of it because people go missing all the time. But soon everyday at least six people would be missing. I started to get scared and stopped sending the children to school. Then one day when we were watching television it went blank. Then the picture came back, but on the screen was a horrible image of people being brutally killed and tortured. Then an awful voice came saying that if the people of Earth did not give up their most precious treasure in two months the whole planet would be destroyed by someone called Scythe.

"Trunks said he didn't know what the Earth's most precious treasure was, but he said he would go and find this Scythe and fight him so there wouldn't be any threat to the Earth. I tried to stop him, but he promised me he wouldn't fight him just yet. He said he just wanted to check his power level. Well, he came back after a day, and he looked scared and ashen. I asked him what's wrong and he didn't reply. He just slept for a few hours then left again. I wasn't awake otherwise I would have stopped him."

Her voice trembled and she stopped the narration. Bulma egged her on.

"Then what happened?"

Nikki unconventionally burst into tears, burying her head in her arms and sobbing. Bulma patted her back and cooed as if she would to a small child.

"Oh Trunks! Trunks, my darling!" she sobbed. Bulma and Vegeta looked at each other in worry. Although they were separated, they were united in the well being of their children.

"What happened to Trunks?" asked Vegeta. He didn't know how to be tactful.

"I don't know! He -he never came back!" She buried her head in her arms again and continued crying. Bulma and Vegeta stared at each other in shock.

~

It was late in the morning before Trunks came downstairs. He had lain in bed for an hour, going over the things that had taken place the night before. Nothing seemed to be making sense, so he made his way downstairs.

The people from the night before were seated on the large kitchen table.

"Good morning darling!" said Bulma cheerfully. Trunks sat down on the table and looked at the woman opposite. She had glossy raven-black hair that came past her shoulders, big black eyes and full red lips. She looked of East Asian ethnicity. She seemed to be younger than her age. The boy sitting next to her was her son Valley. He had her hair and eyes. He was as tall as Trunks, perhaps even slightly taller.

The girl was sitting on the end of the table, looking out of the kitchen window. She was fairly old: no more than sixteen. Her hair was the colour of golden honey, long and sleek. She had inherited her mother's fine facial features. Her eyes were round and dark, highlighting her cheekbones. It was very unusual combination, but striking and beautiful to look at.

Bulma put a huge plate of food in front of Trunks. He stared at it, then back at the strange people in front of him.

"Eat quickly honey, or it'll get cold!" said Bulma.

"Who are they?" asked Trunks suddenly. A great surge of annoyance and anger was filling him.

"Trunks don't be so rude!" said Bulma. Trunks paid no attention to her.

"I want answers!" he said. "And I want them now!"

"You are becoming more insolent every day!" said Bulma angrily. "How dare you speak that way to me?"

"Bulma please!" intervened the woman. She stood up, her head down. "I owe you the truth Trunks. Please, don't be upset with your mother for not answering your questions."

"You'll answer them then?"

The woman nodded. "What do you want to know?"

"Who are you?"

"My name is Nikaisha Sumiya Miyo Brief, otherwise known as Nikki Brief. I am the wife of Trunks Brief. Is that what you need to know?"

Trunks stared at her. "I'm Trunks Brief and I'm not married! How can you be my wife?"

"I am indeed your wife. We met sixteen years ago and were married after I gave birth to our first child".

"That's nonsense!" said Trunks. "Sixteen years ago I was one! How could we have met and had children when I was one? Mom, she's lying isn't she!?"

"She's telling the truth", said Bulma.

"It's impossible!" he argued.

"Nothing is impossible", said Valley. "You told me that."

"Who are you?" asked Trunks.

"He is our first son, Trunks. And Terra is our second. We were going to have a third, but I had a miscarriage."

Bulma gasped. "Oh Nikki, you poor thing!"

Nikki nodded sadly, and went on. "We are not from this timeline. The reason you have not met any of us is because we exist in an alternate universe where most of the world's population is dead."

Things were starting to make sense in a weird sort of way. Trunks said nothing more and started eating his breakfast, not looking up from his plate.

At around twelve thirty Goten came around as usual. He had a big bag of brownies from Chi Chi. Trunks loved brownies and Goten thought maybe he would cheer up after eating some.

"Hey Trunks! Brought you some of Mom's brownies! Maybe we…"

Goten stopped dead in his tracks. He rubbed his eyes, but the vision in front of him didn't go away. Sitting on the couch was an angel. Goten stared open mouthed at her.

Terra was asleep on the couch. Valley came in, Trunks sulking behind. Goten didn't even notice them, he was still staring at the sleeping vision.

"Goten!" said Trunks happily. "Hi, man!"

"Huh! Oh, hi Trunks"

"Hello Goten!" said Bulma. She had just come into the room. "Trunks aren't you going to introduce him to Valley and Terra?"

Trunks sighed with a long-suffering air. "Goten this is Valley, and that's Terra. They're uh, relatives of mine."

"Cool", said Goten. Bulma shook Terra slightly to wake her up. She opened her eyes quickly, being a light sleeper.

"Grandma, what time is it?"

"Its half past twelve", said Goten before anyone else could answer. He sat down on the couch beside her and took her hand.

"Hi, my name is Goten and I think you're the most beautiful girl I've ever seen!"

Terra tugged her hand free. "Uh, thanks -is it Goten? I really have to go and have a bath. Nice meeting you." She got up hurriedly and walked out of the room.

"Nice meeting you too!" called Goten after her. He settled back onto the couch and smiled.

"What a babe!" he exclaimed. "They just don't make girls like that anymore! Did you see her hair? And her eyes, they're lovely!"

Valley smiled. "Terra does seem to have her share of admirers back home."

"She's your sister?" enquired Goten. "Great! Does she like flowers or chocolate or jewellery?"

"If you're trying to get her to like you, she's not into stuff most girls like", said Valley. "She honestly likes guys she can talk to and guys who like the same things she does".

"And what stuff does she like?"

"Walks in the park, sitting on the beach, watching the sunset, classical music, Thai food, adventure parks, rollercoaster rides, horror movies".

"Rollercoaster rides?" said Goten in surprise. "I've never met a girl who liked going on a rollercoaster!"

"You wouldn't have met many girls like her", said Valley. "She's picky though, so don't get your hopes up!"

"I'll make sure she'll like me! She'll be mine in a week!"