Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ What Binds Thee? ❯ Dark Details ( Chapter 5 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

Title: What Binds Thee?
Chapter: 5/???
Rating: R (No plans for NC-17)
Warnings: Yaoi, violence, murder, references to self-harm
Pairing: Trunks/Goten. For now. Hints of others.


“…excuse me, who are you?”

“Mr. Son!” Chris Lee exclaimed, jumping up from his desk and bowing in respect. “I am Christopher Lee, Mr. Briefs’… assistant.” He straightened his tie, watching as Trunks’ companion entered the enormous office. Moonlight spilled in from the large windows overlooking the entire city. The sight was breathtaking, and despite the lights of the city, the sky was clear.

“Yeah,” Goten scratched at his head. “I’ve seen you around a lot in the last few months, on TV and… always nearby Trunks.”

“May I help you, sir?” Chris glanced at the clock behind Goten, realizing it was far past midnight. His wife was probably suspecting an affair.

“Where is Trunks?” Goten glanced back towards the door. “I’ve looked all over the building and I can’t even read his ki signal… um… I mean…”

Chris smiled. “Most of us who work closely with Mr. Briefs know about his… unique abilities.” It was close to the truth. Almost everyone who worked for Mr. Briefs knew about and was terrified by his alien powers. “But, I’m afraid I cannot help you. I have not seen Trunks since early this morning.”

Goten blinked, an expression of shock on his face. “He actually game to work this morning?”

“Indeed, I was quite pleased. For the past couple of weeks, Mr. Briefs had seemed very distracted, but this morning he seemed quite cheerful and determined. It was quite a change of attitude!”

“That’s… good.”

Chris paused. “Mr. Son, might I make an inquiry?”

“…a what?”

“May I ask you a question?”

“Oh, yeah, sure.”

Chris sat down and pointed to a chair across from his desk. Goten crossed the distance of the office and took a seat. Mr. Lee was an attractive man, but there was a suspicious gleam in his eyes that resembled the darkness of a villain. He was a tall and lean man, shady red hair and dark brown eyes hidden by the reflection in his glasses. He couldn’t be more than 25 years of age.

“I noticed a strange figure lurking around Trunks this evening, short and oddly shaped black hair. I called security on him, but the only man who tried to apprehend him is currently in the hospital.”

“Vejita.” Goten nodded. “Trunks’ father.”

“Mr. Briefs… has a father?” Chris blinked, and then shook his head. All the nonsense of alien races and super powers made it seem more likely that Trunks would have been hatched from an egg. “O’course, Trunks has a father… but, what is he doing at Capsule Corporations?”

Goten shrugged, scratching his head again. He was disappointed that Trunks wasn’t anywhere to be found. Vejita’s mysterious behavior was no concern of his. Honestly, did Vejita ever behave normally? “Don’t worry about it, though,” Goten smiled at the employee. “Just leave Vejita alone. He won’t bother anyone. He was probably just looking for a spar.” Why would Vejita want to spar with Trunks, though? Their power levels weren’t even close to one another. “Thanks for your time.”

Goten got up and left. Chris scowled at the door as Goten left. That man hadn’t been looking for a friendly chat. He had been spying on Trunks.

He made a mental note to up security. Trunks’ death wouldn’t do well for business at the moment.

Chris Lee returned to the piles of paper stacked on his desk, and a sense of pride overwhelmed him. Since he graduated college, he’d clawed his way to this office, this desk, this moment.

The world, even the universe virtually belonged to him, and all he had to do was make one very powerful friend… and do a little dirty work.

Capsule Corporations pulsed with power and life, spreading across the galaxy like a plague. Alien employees now outnumbered human employees. Large-scale factories and C.C. branches were built on every other planet that inhabited life.

The media was the most difficult thing to control, but the easiest to bribe. Obviously, there was your local crazed hippie screaming the truth, but no one paid them any mind.

Amazingly enough, despite the violent takeovers and bribery, drug trafficking, murder, robberies, crime rates as a whole has substantially decreased. The government and media were paid to never ask how or why. Humanity overall was satisfied with the results.

The only problem… was Son Goten.

He knew each and every horrible, disgusting detail.

Chris Lee knew that Goten was the same as Trunks, with the powers. He couldn’t handle Goten if it came down to it. But… Trunks could.

He could also not control or manipulate Trunks. He tried, so many times in the past, but the decision to expand Capsule Corporations, taking such passionate control of the universe, and doing so in such an… unclean method it had all been Trunks’ decision.

Chris could only observe, and maybe skim off the top here and there.

This change in Trunks’ attitude he witnessed this evening had him worried. There was a cheerful happiness in his voice, almost contentment with existence. He hoped this would not be followed with a shift in morality and focus.

‘What caused it?’ he pondered, but there was no known answer. He glanced at the clock again and returned to his work. ‘So much to balance; so much to clean.’

**

It was peaceful underwater.

Beneath the surface as he gazed up, the moon seemed to consume the sky. There were no sounds but his heartbeat and his thoughts. Yet, his senses were overwhelmed with everything around him. Trunks could feel the water against his heated skin. He could hear the birds, the fish, and the pure energy of Earth.

None of that interested him.

What did interest him were the two ki signatures nearby. The closer one was Goten, who stood on the river’s bank, waiting for him to surface.

The other one was Vejita, floating in the distance.

Earlier, as Trunks trained, he’d sensed his father’s aura, but he hadn’t believed it, and still didn’t. For the last few days, everywhere he had gone, he had sensed Vejita’s ki in the distance.

It was maddening. It was torture.

At first, Trunks had thought it was his imagination, but as time had passed, he’d realized that was not true.

Vejita was watching him, studying him. Did he suspect the truth of Capsule Corporations? Was he plotting punishment?

This had been going on for months now. Everywhere Trunks went, everywhere he tried to escape, each moment of the day he could sense his father lurking in the shadows, watching, waiting, observing.

Why?

He pondered it day in and out. He was afraid.

But… there was something about this strange situation that almost warmed his heart. For the first time in Trunks’ life, Vejita was paying attention to his son.

Trunk’s lungs burned for the need of air, and he regretfully surfaced. Goten was sitting on the edge, patiently waiting.

“What do you want?”

Goten glared. “You know exactly what I want.”

Days ago, Goten had snuck on board one of the flights to an alien world without Trunks’ knowledge or permission. The problem was that everyone who worked for Trunks knew about Goten, and their close relationship permitted Goten access to everything.

Everything.

He stood by and watched the project underway. He saw the torture, the horror, the corruption, the takeover, the deaths, and the conquest. He had accessed all the files and databases; he knew the mission goals… everything.

Goten had been horrified, and furious. He had screamed, ranted, raved, and threatened to tell Gokou and Vejita all the dark details…

He didn’t. Goten would not betray Trunks.

They sat at a stalemate, silent. The water cooled Trunks’ body and caused his skin to prune.

In the distance, there were ki shifts. Gokou approached Vejita. The two paused for moments, perhaps speaking… then left together.

Trunks didn’t allow it to worry him, although he should have. He rested his cheek on the edge of the stream, feeling the grass against his skin.

The world changed the following day.

**

Vejita attempted to relax in front of the blaring television, steadily growing grumpier with each moment as he watched the horrid human attempts at martial arts in some old movie. The “warriors” made a mockery of him, much as Mr. Satan had years ago.

However, the Saiyajin Prince was kept calm by the presence of Son Gokou sitting as his feet, studying the movie with an almost childlike fascination. Vejita wouldn’t be surprised if some of these attempts at combat ended up in the low-class warrior’s techniques.

Son Gokou had torn the prince away from his troubled son with the promise of food and sex, neither of which he’d delivered recently. Vejita had needed the distraction. Although he suspected Trunks was up to no good, the boy’s sanity had seemed to calm lately. Whatever had been troubling the boy seemed to have passed.

It was beyond Vejita’s knowledge that his mere concern was the reason for Trunks’ change in behavior. For the following days, Vejita had no idea that Trunks’ emotional health spiraled downward as the stalking halted and the midnight check-ups vanished. Trunks only saw his father from a distance… and always, he was with Gokou.

The passion between Gokou and Vejita… it was undeniable.

It caused Trunks to snap.

Goten was the only one who noticed that Trunks fled Earth in an outrage. In only hours, the half-ling prince had landed on a tiny alien planet that only a handful of people - most of whom worked for Capsule Corporations - knew about… and hadn’t bothered conquering.

The population was under a thousand, but they were a thousand innocent, peaceful, and helpless creatures.

It was here Trunks unleashed his Saiyajin rage. The tiny and old planet trembled with terror and shook against the power. With the Saiyajin’s ascension, the death of those innocents and the planet followed.

When Trunks returned a few days later, he learned that the media had reported a comet striking the planet. Had that not been what Furiza had told Vejita so many years ago?

**

TBC