Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Unforgivable ❯ Decision ( Chapter 55 )

"Mother doesn't need me anymore. Dad… Dad has Vegeta." The plain white ceiling made a fascinating view. "But Trunks… I'm… afraid. I'm afraid. I love you… but I don't want to be hurt anymore. I can't… I can't take any more pain."

Now the tears came, slipping silently down his cheeks. Scattered memories assaulted him. The verbal abuse his father had lived under for so many years, from both his wife and the man he loved. The physical abuse he'd been through himself. Those last words Trunks had said. All the times his love had called him weak before beating him into the ground. The feel of a razor slicing through his skin. Watching his blood pool, until he was almost too weak to move, and only then getting the bean sliver. The rapes.

He saw his father at the pool, crying his heart out. Lying on that bed, scarred and bandaged, as Vegeta told him his father was dead. Trying to clean his blood from the walls with a tattered paper towel. Saw him slowly come to life under Vegeta's care, saw the sparkle vanishing again when he took his place at his wife's side. Saw the pride in his father's eyes when he'd given Goten the capsule with his clothes after Vegeta had claimed him as part of his family.

Saw Vegeta accepting him, comforting him, offering encouragement. Remembered that strong, warm body pressed against his own as he'd sobbed into the other man's chest. Remembered the acceptance, the way the man had been the father to him his own had never been able to be. And understood, finally, why his father had always been so distant. "Daddy… I'm sorry… I should have been a better son. I should have seen…" He burrowed his face into the pillows, his body shaking as he at last allowed himself to truly cry.

Kuroichi stood just outside the door. I… do I knock? Do I offer comfort? I… I left him. I let Vegeta pull me away… and he… he is no longer truly my son. He knocked.

Goten opened the door. "Kuroichi?"

"Goten… your…. It's your mother…"

"She's been gone about four hours," Goten interrupted quietly. "I've seen her. Someone should probably tell Gohan."

"I… don't know his new number…" Kuroichi admitted quietly.

"There isn't a phone here, anyway," Goten reminded him.

"Actually, there is. Vegeta saw to that while you were sick."

Goten nodded slightly. "Then I guess I'd better call him."

"Goten… I'm sorry."

He met his father's eyes squarely. "There's nothing to be sorry for, Daddy." And then, he collapsed into the arms that opened for him. They mourned together. And together, they tended the old woman's body, preparing it for burial. Only then did Goten approach the phone.

He picked it up slowly, holding it to his ear. Listened to the dial tone. Solemnly, his hand moved, his finger carefully pressing each required key. Then he waited, listening to the ringing.

"Hello?"

"Gohan, it's me."

"Oh, Goten. What is it?"

His jaw clenched at the almost indifferent quality his brother's voice suddenly took on. "It's Mother," he began.

"Look, Goten. I told you, old humans get a little strange. It's nothing to worry about."

"Gohan…"

"Goten, I've got an important meeting this morning. Mom's just getting older, that's all. So stop worrying about it."

"Gohan, she's…"

"Goten, I have to go now. I'll see you in a week or two." Click.

"… dead." Goten hung up the phone very carefully. He walked silently to his mother's room, gathered her body gently. These last few months with her, he'd realized that she truly had thought he was Goku when she'd raped him… had realized that her mind had been slowly shredding over the years. He harbored no ill-feelings toward his mother anymore.

Goten walked from the room, Kuroichi and Vegeta suddenly flanking him when he exited the house. He lead the way to his mother's favorite sitting area. And as his father had done many years before, he blasted a grave to hold the remains of someone he respected. Kuroichi and Vegeta remained silent, though both helped to cover her.

In continued silence, he lead the way back to the house, and into the kitchen. Quite calmly, he began preparing breakfast for them, ignoring the tears that ran down his cheeks.

"You're welcome at our house, brat." Vegeta eventually broke the increasingly uneasy silence.

Goten shook his head. "This is my home."

"Trunks?"

Goten raised teary eyes to his father. And slowly, his power began to rise.

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Gohan: *spluttering incoherently*

Goku: *blinking in dismay*

Trunks: *suddenly looks very anticipatory*

Goten: Geez, my brother's an ass.

Muse: *looks very smug*

Gohan: *notices Muse, SSJ2, advances very threateningly*

Muse: *Yawns, checks script, grins*

All Saiyans: *suddenly nervous* WHAT?

Muse: *grins again, heads towards his bedroom*

Goku: *blinks, suddenly looks woeful* He didn't try to fondle me!

Jewel: Oh, Sephfy-muse is on vacation with him. He's got his hands VERY full.

Goku: *flushes* Oh.

Vegeta: *very smoothly* Kakarot, is that disappointment I hear?

Goku: *flustered* Um, no?

Gohan: I AM NOT LIKE THAT!!!!! *heads towards Muse's bedroom. Opens door. Gapes. Shuts it.* There are some things I should not know about.