Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Wish For The Past ❯ Visions of the Future ( Chapter 39 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Disclaimer: *listens to evil-inspiring music* Not the kind of evil that makes you want to go sacrifice your friend's goat! *glares accusingly at whatever reader thought that* Just the kind of evil that makes me want to write chapters like the last one. ^_^ I think after the last chapter, several of the DBZ characters are extremely thankful that I do not own DBZ. If I did own DBZ, they wouldn't be allowed to hunt me down for all the evil things I've done and plan to do to them. *gulps as she spots Bardock heading her way* Er... eep... gotta go! *dashes off before the vengeful Saiyan can get to her*

If looks could kill, Vegeta would now be a bubbling puddle of flesh, blood, and bone shards. It would have been a difficult thing for an observer to decide who exactly was the angriest of the three people glaring heatedly at the Saiyan Prince. Goten was upset and confused, not fully comprehending what was going on, but he understood that Vegeta had been the cause of his father's pain. Radditz, Trunks, and Bulma, however, were furious. Unfortunately for Radditz, he was too weak to act upon his impulse to throttle the ten year old boy who stared indifferently out the broken door of the capsule house. Trunks was barely managing to hold onto his rage by a thread because Vegeta was, after all, his father.

Bulma, however, had no such compunctions holding her back.

"You insensitive bastard!" she screamed, hurtling her mug, cider and all, at the spiky haired prince's head. Vegeta managed to dodge the glass, but the scalding liquid splashed all over him. The Saiyan yelped as the burning hot cider splattered onto his face, eliciting a string of curses with enough heat to boil ice.

Giving Bulma his deadliest scowl, Vegeta swore again as he swiped his hand over his face. "What the hell do you mean, chibi onna no ko?" he snarled, one hand clenching into a fist.

Bulma scowled right back at him, planting her fists on her hips. "You know exactly what I mean, Vegetable head!" she seethed. "You practically tore Goku's heart out! Kuso, why'd you have to tell him that!?"

"I refuse to entertain his childish self delusions," the boy growled back, his tail lashing furiously behind him. Folding his arms, he lifted his chin imperiously. "I see no reason why I should not have told him he was the one responsible for his 'grandfather's'" he spat the word out mockingly, "death."

Face turning a dark shade of crimson, the blue haired girl could barely keep herself from physically attacking Vegeta. Only the thought of what had happened the last time she'd tried that held her back. "He's a child, Vegeta!! How the hell would you feel if you just found out you were the reason the only family you'd ever had was dead?!"

Despite the fact that the girl's shrieking voice grated on his ears, Vegeta smirked. "That is irrelevant," he replied casually, spitting contemptuously to one side. "The brat is a weakling to allow himself to be ruled by soft, human emotions. Besides, the old man wasn't his family. He was just some pathetic weakling human who was too stupid to realize what he was getting himself into by taking a Saiya-jin child in. He deserved what he got."

"Why you... you... stupid... stinking... monkey!" Bulma spluttered, unable even with her vast knowledge of insults to find one that could accurately describe her opinion of the ten year old prince.

"Careful, chibi onna," Vegeta taunted, amused by her lame attempt at an insult. "If you keep that big mouth of yours open too long, you might catch a fly. Of course, you already look like a blue haired frog, so catching flies is just the next step for you, isn't it?"

Eyes flashing furiously, Bulma snapped back, "At least my hair doesn't look like a flytrap! Tell me, how often do you have to comb it just to get the dead bugs out?"

Anger flashed across Vegeta's face and he drew himself up to his full height, doing his best to stare down his nose at the slightly taller female. "I am the Saiya-jin no Ouji! You will speak to me with respect!" he barked, his words dripping with royal ire. "And I don't see why you're sticking up for that idiot third-class. After all, he murdered his own 'grandfather', who was even one of your own people, along with who knows how many other worthless humans." Smirking cruelly, he paused for a moment, then added, "Knowing how weak you are, you should be glad to be rid of him. Even a low level such as he is a threat to your pathetic life."

"Goku didn't mean to hurt his grandpa! He didn't know what he was doing! He's the sweetest, gentlest, kindest person I know, and probably smarter than you, too!" She really did like Goku, but the facts were that he had been relatively uneducated until he met up with her, so saying that Vegeta was dumber than Goku, a so-called 'third class', was a tremendous insult. But she didn't stop there. "And I don't know about Saiya-jin no Ouji," she mocked scathingly, putting her forefinger under his chin in a manner usually reserved for dealing with small children. "Chibi no Ouji is more like it!"

Unknown to Bulma, something within Vegeta snapped and his ki began to spike upwards. A vein on his temple throbbed visibly, his eye twitching involuntarily, and his fists clenched and unclenched while his whole body shook with rage. Cocking one of his fists back, energy flaring around his hand, he snarled wordlessly as he prepared to incinerate the creature that dared to insult him in such a manner!

Crack!!!

Before Vegeta had time to even register what had happened, Trunks had phased in between the quarreling duo and backhanded the young prince with enough power to send the black haired boy crashing into the wall. The whole capsule house shuddered from the force of the impact, the wall itself cracked and dented where Vegeta had slammed into it. He slid down the wall to a position that was half sitting, half leaning, blinking in an attempt to clear the stars from his vision. Blood trickled from the Saiyan's nose and into his mouth as the boy stared at the lavender haired demi-Saiyan dazedly. Tasting the blood on his lips, Vegeta raised a shaky hand to his nose, then brought it back far enough to blink in shocked disbelief at the moist redness that covered his fingers. His gaze flickered back to Trunks, this time fully registering the murderous look on his future son's face.

"I thought I had made it clear, father," Trunks stated in a voice so calm and venomous that Vegeta shivered involuntarily. "You will not attack anyone who is not a threat." Stalking forward until he was right in front of the fallen prince, he stared down angrily and added, "Threats to your pride do not count." Not waiting to hear if Vegeta would say anything in response, Trunks growled in disgust and turned his back on the older boy. He knew that if he remained in close proximity to his father's past self he might do something even worse. He, too, was furious with Vegeta for being so cold and cruel to the young Goku, but he also knew that beating the Saiyan Prince to a bloody pulp would not help matters any. Instead, he stalked off to one of the several bedrooms and threw himself into a bed, not bothering to undress. He didn't expect to get any sleep yet, but he hoped that being separated from the source of his anger would help him calm down.

Meanwhile, Bulma was also in shock as she blinked in surprise at Vegeta, who was only now picking himself up off the floor. Father? she echoed incredulously. Vegeta is his father?! But they're nothing alike! How could he be Trunks's father? Unbidden, a vision of the nine year old's face appeared in her mind as he had glared furiously at Vegeta, and Bulma could suddenly see the resemblance. The sharp features, the regally arched eyebrows, the way their mouths were shaped when they were angry, a million small details instantly clear to hindsight, all indicating that a blood relationship between the two did indeed exist. Even with this proof, though, the girl's mind had difficulty grasping the revelation. Vegeta is Trunks's father??

Even though the confrontation had ended, the air was still thick with tension. Uncomfortable with the atmosphere, Goten glanced longingly at the broken door and the stormy world outside. However, before he could even take one step, he felt a hand on his shoulder. Turning his face up towards the person holding him back, he found his Uncle Radditz shaking his head.

"Your grandfather doesn't need any help," the fifteen year old boy stated reluctantly, as though he, too, wanted nothing more than to join his father in the search for his little brother. "If he can't find Goku, I doubt either of us could. We would only get in his way and distract him." Watching his nephew swallow a lump in his throat, tears threatening to form in his eyes, Radditz uncomfortably concluded that it was his job to do something to take the kid's mind away from the situation. Awkwardly picking up the boy who looked so much like his brother, the older Saiyan said, "It's getting late. I'll take you to your bed."

The storm was still raging at its fullest when Bardock stood up stiffly, his muscles protesting against moving after being still for two solid minutes in the cold, cramp inducing rain. He ignored the complaints of his body, grimly setting his jaw as he once again began to search for his missing son. This time, he did not run. If the reason he could not sense Goku's ki was that the boy was injured, he would be more likely to miss him or any signs he might have left of his passage by running through the woods haphazardly. Instead, he walked, casting his eyes and his senses in all directions, attempting to pierce the gloom that the combined might of the storm and night time created.

Lightning flared across the sky, momentarily highlighting everything in harsh blue tones before fading away. Moments later, a crash of thunder rumbled in the distance, vibrating in Bardock's sensitive ears. Bardock ignored both the lightning and the thunder as he plodded stoically through the mud and underbrush, every sense in his body straining to its limits. Goku was out there somewhere, he knew. It was only a matter of finding him.

Another flash illuminated the night, followed closely by another resounding crack that sounded more like a giant boulder breaking under the strain of a some angry god's hammer. For some reason, the thunder just kept on going, thrumming in his ears, rushing, roaring, almost deafening him. Then he realized, his confusion causing him to pause in his search, that it wasn't thunder. The air itself, while being whipped by the constant rain, was not shivering the way it did when thunder rolled through. What? If there's no thunder, then what am I hearing?

A wave of dizziness overtook him and he reached out to put a hand on the bole of a large tree to steady himself. However, instead of meeting rough bark, his fingers passed through the trunk of the tree and he lost his balance. Stumbling, he managed to catch himself before he fell, turning around as he did so to glare in puzzlement at the insubstantial tree.

"What the hell?" he muttered, passing his hand through the tree once more to be sure that it hadn't just been his imagination. No such luck. The tree remained firmly in place, and definitely intangible. All at once, the tree disappeared, leaving no trace that it had ever existed in the first place. Bardock stared at the spot where it had been moments before, then slowly shook his head. "I'm imagining things," he stated firmly, swiftly turning his back on the place where the phantom tree once stood.

Putting the incident firmly out of his mind, the warrior began his search again with renewed vigor. He didn't care how long he was out here or how cold, wet, or miserable it was in this forest. He would not rest until he had found Goku. If anything, the discomfort he was feeling only proved to strengthen his resolve to locate his son as quickly as possible, knowing that the boy was also suffering the same weather conditions he was. A hardened warrior like himself could withstand such things, but Bardock doubted that Goku had undergone the same training he had, or experienced the same things that allowed him to continue on, oblivious to the raging elements. No, if Goku didn't have some form of shelter over his head or, worse yet, if he was injured and lying somewhere exposed to these harsh conditions, there was a good chance that the seven year old's health would suffer severely, and the longer it took Bardock to find him, the longer he would have to endure the icy storm.

It was with great surprise that he found himself once again facing the phantom tree, almost as if the thing had popped up in his path out of thin air. He could tell it was the same tree because it was taller than most of the trees in the forest and because it had a distinctive shape to its top, three separate lobes like a three leaf clover or a club. Frowning, he noticed something he hadn't seen before. On the ground next to the tree was a fourth lobe, split off from the main trunk as though cloven by a colossal axe. Almost hesitantly, Bardock reached out towards the tree to see if it was real. Right before his hand would have met the trunk, the mysterious tree disappeared again. A scowl furrowed Bardock's brow and he cursed fluently. "What the hell is going on here?!" he fumed, glaring at the rain slicked grass that had been beneath the crushing weight of the fallen limb. Not surprisingly, nothing answer his question except the howl of the winds.

With an increasing feeling of frustration, the tall Saiyan took a firm step forward, determined to continue the search for his missing son.

At least, that's what he tried to do. Instead, his foot faltered as another wave of dizziness struck him, accompanied by a sharp pain in his head that drove him to his knees, clutching his head between his hands. He grimaced as the pain and nausea threatened to topple him, then vanished as quickly as it had appeared. Blinking furiously, his eyes focused and, again, he was staring head on at the now-familiar tree. This time, though, he did not question what was going on. He knew. Oh Kami, he knew!

"No! Not again!!" he shouted desperately, swiping his hands across his eyes in an attempt to clear his vision of water and of the sight of the tree. I thought the visions were gone for good! he protested inwardly as he saw that the tree remained where it was, its branches bending against the wind, proving without the need for physical contact that this tree was also a ghost, a figment of the curse of foresight that Bardock suffered.

Almost against his will, Bardock's eyes were drawn to the fallen limb, a thing almost as big around as the Saiya-jin was at the waist. Branches and limbs had splintered off the main piece in every direction, making it hard to see what lay beneath, but he somehow knew exactly where to look. Almost as if he already knew.

There, beneath one of the larger parts of the phantom tree limb, was what his contracting heart had known all along he would find. Mind numb with the glimpse he had caught, Bardock stumbled forward a few steps until he had a clear view of the focus of the vision. All feeling left him and he stopped breathing, his throat squeezing so tight it hurt, his eyes widened and pupils dilated in shock and denial of what he saw.

Broken, bloody, and lifeless, the body of Son Goku lay pinned by the bole of the branch, a long splinter jabbing clear through his side and out his back, blood mingling with the icy rain to become a diluted pink that stained the boy's pale, bloodless skin. The bones of one of his legs had snapped, parts of the bone sticking out through the ragged flesh and torn material of the blue gi that had once belonged to Goten. His face was slack, motionless, and frozen in an expression of agony and turmoil, both mental and physical. Bardock's gut wrenched within him as he realized that Goku was not moving. At first he passed it off as part of the vision, that maybe the whole scene was a frozen moment of time, but then he saw the branches of the tree quiver in the wind and he knew. Knew that it was too late, that his youngest son had ceased to move because he could no longer draw breath.

"No..." he whispered disbelievingly, and yet knowing that the vision was true. The visions had always been accurate, except for the one time when his grandson from the future had stepped in. Even after the vision disappeared again, Bardock kept seeing the body of his youngest son, helplessly crushed by the limb of a tree with three remaining lobes. Sinking to his knees, he buried his fingers in the mud and grass where the ghost of Goku's corpse had been a bare second ago, a choked sob escaping his lips. "NOOOOO!!!!" Gathering breath for another throat wrenching cry, Bardock screamed until his lungs burned for air, then launched himself into the tempestuous night, aura blazing around him as hotly as the grief within him burned, knowing from the vision what to look for in order to find his son's body. "NOOOOOOOO!!!!!"

Please review. ^_^