Hold My Hand
"Come on!!" Vegeta yelled as he shifted from side to side, his disapproving glare piercing, his eyes burning with an almost primal hatred. "You are capable of much better, dammit! You are my son!"
Trunks grunted as he barely avoided Vegeta's fists, trying desperately to avoid his father's advances upon him. But the young man was growing weary, his muscles aching from almost twelve straight hours of training with nary a rest break in between. But he did all he could do to stay competitive with his father, even if it meant he had to push himself beyond his limits.
Vegeta growled fiercely as he levitated backward, staring disgustedly at his son as a trail of golden light followed him into place. This young man, Vegeta thought, could not possibly be his son. Vegeta envisioned his son to be stronger than this weakling before him. This waste of talent and pure Saiyan lineage slumped over in the air, gripping at his side as if he was in pain. Pain? This boy had no concept of the word, let alone the feeling! Vegeta grunted, "You've managed to anger me more than you can ever know, boy. Do you realize that you have not been able to land a single blow upon my body in the last four hours?"
Trunks was silent, panting quietly as he tried to regain his composure. He had listened to one of his father's rants before, saying little, only standing and taking it like a man, because that is what his mother Bulma told him to do.
"He's just acting like a big baby," she had said while working on a new invention, "Just let him say what he has to say and that will be that."
"Are you listening to me, boy!?" Vegeta snarled, "Or are you just standing there, shamelessly moping in your own pathetical excuses? Huh!?"
Trunks looked up at Vegeta and frowned, his nerves being tested by the older man. "I'll be okay. Just give me a few minutes," Trunks said with a sigh.
"He says a few minutes," Vegeta mocked, "Hmph! In times of war, your opponent will not hesitate to blow you away while you're trying to take your precious minutes! Rest is for the weak, boy!"
Trunks only scowled and powered down from Super Saiyan form, slowly levitating to the ground. "I'm calling it quits for the day," Trunks said to his father. The young man was trying his best not to get upset with his father.
Vegeta's eyes widened in shock for a split second before he too relinquished his hyper powered form and landed on the floor as well. "Where do you think you're going, boy," he asked darkly, "If you think you're going to walk out of here without finishing this training, then you are sorely mistaken."
"I'm tired, Dad," Trunks said in an irritable tone, "I'm going to rest. You can train alone if that's what you like."
"You ungrateful little bastard," Vegeta spat suddenly, "After all that I have done for you, you would simply turn your back on me? On this training? If so then you truly are a weakling."
Trunks growled lowly but he remained calm. "Wanting a little rest every now and then is not a sign of weakness, Vegeta. If working yourself dogged works for you then that's fine but I need some quiet time every now and again. So please, just accept it." But as Trunks began to turn around, Vegeta said something that made him stop midway.
"If you turn your back on me, boy, I will make you pay," Vegeta growled darkly, "I'll show you just how much pain one can go through in one instant. You have no respect, let alone any true discipline, so I will have to drill it into you if that is the case. So please, turn your back on me. I welcome it, boy."
Trunks was suddenly overcome with anger. "You shut up, Vegeta! You shut up about me and about who I am! You don't know me, and you never will! All I am to you is some freaking punching bag and nothing more! I'm not like you and quite frankly I don't want to be! So just quit your argument and just leave it at that!"
Vegeta was suddenly overcome with blinding rage as he saw Trunks turn his back to him and walk toward the training pod's doorway. "Very well then," Vegeta growled and instantly transformed into Super Saiyan form and in a flash was in front of Trunks who was not three feet from the doorway.
Trunks gasped as he stared into Vegeta's cold blue eyes, staring emotionlessly back into his. "I warned you," Vegeta said coldly and with unbelievable speed, Vegeta slammed his fist into Trunks' abdomen, emitting a loud gasp and choking noise from the young man as blood trickled from the corners of his mouth.
Vegeta retrieved his fist from Trunks' stomach only to open it and deliver an open-handed slap across the young man's face, sending him bolting across the floor.
Trunks attempted to fight back as soon as he regained himself, only to find his father one step ahead of him, right above him, an expressionless face staring back at him. Trunks transformed into Super Saiyan form but the recent pain that had been inflicted upon him still racked his body and caused him to grip his stomach.
"I don't care if you're my son or not," Vegeta growled as he floated above Trunks, "You will obey me or you will suffer the consequences." In an instant, the hot-blooded Saiyan was gone and in the next reappeared behind Trunks, delivering a devastating kick across the back that caused Trunks to scream in sheer pain.
Trunks had felt something give when that happened. Almost as if something had just suddenly been released and in an instant he was face down on the floor, his eyes seeing the floor, but his body as a whole not truly experiencing anything. He blinked slowly once then shut his eyes, feeling a heavy darkness fade over him.
Vegeta looked on disgustedly at the young man that was now motionless on the floor. He figured that he had delivered the message clear enough and powered down to his normal form once again, slowly returning to a stand on the floor. His head was hot, dripping with sweat and all he could feel was hatred and anger for this defiance. Yet at the same time Vegeta felt relieved. At least he had finally given the boy some discipline, something that he had so desperately needed. "I hope you have now learned not to disobey me when..." but Vegeta stopped mid-sentence when a cold shiver ran down his spine and his eyes widened with horror, his mouth hanging open slightly in fear. For some reason, the Saiyan felt that something inside him had suddenly died as he looked on at the young man lying slumped on the floor. He took a step forward, his hand outstretched slightly from his side. "...Trunks?" Vegeta said in a uncharacteristically small, frightened voice.
The young man did not answer. The only response were short, wheezing sounds reminiscent of breathing and short, whimpers coming from Trunks.
"Speak, Trunks," Vegeta demanded frightfully. But when his son did not respond, Vegeta briskly walked over to his side and kneeled beside him. Vegeta suddenly gasped in horror, his expression wrenched into utter guilt as he realized what he had truly done to Trunks: his spine was shattered.
"T-Trunks, no," Vegeta said hurriedly as he gently turned the young man over to see that his face, once so tanned and vibrant, was now a dark blue due to lack of oxygen. Vegeta gathered him in his arms, trying in vain to not damage anything else on the young man's body, and ran toward the doorway, kicking the door off of its hinges to get out.
"Bulma!" Vegeta screamed violently although his voice shook with tension, "Woman! Get out here now!!"
Bulma quickly ran down the stairs. "What is it, Vegeta? I was just..." but Bulma gasped at what she saw at the foot of the stairs and made a short scream, placing her hands over her face. "Trunks! Vegeta, what happened!?"
"I-I...th-there's no time," Vegeta stammered, "Please, help him. Help him!"
Bulma nodded and led the way toward the doorway. "We have to go to a hospital," she said, "And on the way...you can tell me what happened."
* * *
"When I was very young, I remember when my father, used to hold my hand while we walked through the park. He...isn't too big on emotions. I guess you could say he's a lot like most Saiyans from his time. But...there's always been something about him that told me he loved me and Mom, even though he never tells us outright. I guess...holding my hand was the only thing he could do. That is one of the days I could never forget, no matter how old I get."
* * *
Vegeta sat at the side of Trunks' bed in the sterile white hospital room, trying his hardest to drown out the rhythmic beeping noise of the heart monitor that filled the otherwise silent room. The light from the blinds of the nearby window seemed to flow solely on Trunks form while Vegeta sat in the gray shadows beside his son. They were alone in that room, despite Bulma's hate-filled attempts to keep him out. She had to be sedated and was sent to another room for rest. No one else was around. No one else had been told. And he wanted it that way...at least for now.
The doctors said that there was nothing they could do. Not even the top brain and spinal surgeons could repair his shattered spinal cord, let alone the damage to all of his major organs. When asked how the incident had happened, Vegeta winced, his eyes downcast to the floor, a look of guilt and grief upon his face. He still answered to no one.
However, as he looked at his son lying there on the bed, being kept alive only by the power of a machine, Vegeta literally began to weep. It was a strange sound at first, for him to hear such a thing coming from him. It came from deep within, a sort of rumble that erupted into a pained groaned, muffled by his closed mouth. His eyes began to burn and he savagely wiped the moisture away, his expression filled with disgust at his own showing of weakness.
"I'm...the weakling," Vegeta said as he looked down at the floor. "No true Saiyan would ever do what I have done. I..." Vegeta's voice was caught in an agonizing sob as he vainly tried to fight it into submission. "I...I've failed you, Trunks. I've stolen your future...blinded by my own beliefs. I..." Vegeta sobbed again, laughing in almost hysteria, then settling down once again.
"I was always proud of you. Proud that you were my son," Vegeta said as he looked up at his son's motionless body. The lavender locks of the young man lay across his bruised face, the breathing tube protruding from his parted mouth. Vegeta traced his son's features with his eyes, his vision blurred by the tears slowly forming in his eyes. "No matter how much I tried to separate myself from you, no matter much I tried to detach my feelings, I was always proud of you. I don't care how weak I may have made you think you were...any man that can spar with me and survive...is a strong man." Vegeta grunted, trying hard to swallow his grief and the second sob that tried to emerge. "DAMMIT!!" he screamed as he punched the floor under him, leaving the tiles cracked and broken under his fist. "It wasn't supposed to be this way..." he whispered as he looked up at Trunks again, tears streaming down his hardened cheeks, his face in absolute anguish. "Why couldn't you...why didn't you...live? Why did I have to..."
Vegeta's questions went unanswered by his unconscious son. Instead, the young man lay in the bed, the machine breathing for him, making long inhales and sighs, his only response to Vegeta.
Vegeta suddenly got onto his knees and took his son's hand in his, holding it tightly against his face, "Son...please, wake up. Don't let these pathetic humans determine your fate. You are my son! You are heir to the throne of Vegeta! You are future prince of all Saiyans...you..." Vegeta broke down, Trunks' hand still against his face. "You...you're my son." And with that, Vegeta finally allowed himself to let go, a long sob emitting from deep within as his eyes shut tightly, tears flowing more freely. "Please..." Vegeta sobbed and kissed his son's hand, "Please..." Falling to the floor on all fours, Vegeta began beating the floor viciously, screaming in a fit of rage and sobbing, his emotions ravaged in guilt and anguish, until finally two orderlies came in and tried to help the Saiyan prince off the floor.
"NO!" Vegeta screamed, "Get the hell off of me!! I have a right to cry for him!!"
The orderlies backed off when they realized something was more about the man as shown by the various dents in the white tile floor and stood at the doorway, letting the man cry, watching as he curled himself into a corner, sobbing as he stared blankly at his son on the bed, no longer caring for anything anymore.
"...I killed my own son," Vegeta whispered as he rocked back and forth in the corner, the shadows devouring his entire figure a he looked on at his illuminated son. "...I deserve nothing but my own painful death."
"Come on!!" Vegeta yelled as he shifted from side to side, his disapproving glare piercing, his eyes burning with an almost primal hatred. "You are capable of much better, dammit! You are my son!"
Trunks grunted as he barely avoided Vegeta's fists, trying desperately to avoid his father's advances upon him. But the young man was growing weary, his muscles aching from almost twelve straight hours of training with nary a rest break in between. But he did all he could do to stay competitive with his father, even if it meant he had to push himself beyond his limits.
Vegeta growled fiercely as he levitated backward, staring disgustedly at his son as a trail of golden light followed him into place. This young man, Vegeta thought, could not possibly be his son. Vegeta envisioned his son to be stronger than this weakling before him. This waste of talent and pure Saiyan lineage slumped over in the air, gripping at his side as if he was in pain. Pain? This boy had no concept of the word, let alone the feeling! Vegeta grunted, "You've managed to anger me more than you can ever know, boy. Do you realize that you have not been able to land a single blow upon my body in the last four hours?"
Trunks was silent, panting quietly as he tried to regain his composure. He had listened to one of his father's rants before, saying little, only standing and taking it like a man, because that is what his mother Bulma told him to do.
"He's just acting like a big baby," she had said while working on a new invention, "Just let him say what he has to say and that will be that."
"Are you listening to me, boy!?" Vegeta snarled, "Or are you just standing there, shamelessly moping in your own pathetical excuses? Huh!?"
Trunks looked up at Vegeta and frowned, his nerves being tested by the older man. "I'll be okay. Just give me a few minutes," Trunks said with a sigh.
"He says a few minutes," Vegeta mocked, "Hmph! In times of war, your opponent will not hesitate to blow you away while you're trying to take your precious minutes! Rest is for the weak, boy!"
Trunks only scowled and powered down from Super Saiyan form, slowly levitating to the ground. "I'm calling it quits for the day," Trunks said to his father. The young man was trying his best not to get upset with his father.
Vegeta's eyes widened in shock for a split second before he too relinquished his hyper powered form and landed on the floor as well. "Where do you think you're going, boy," he asked darkly, "If you think you're going to walk out of here without finishing this training, then you are sorely mistaken."
"I'm tired, Dad," Trunks said in an irritable tone, "I'm going to rest. You can train alone if that's what you like."
"You ungrateful little bastard," Vegeta spat suddenly, "After all that I have done for you, you would simply turn your back on me? On this training? If so then you truly are a weakling."
Trunks growled lowly but he remained calm. "Wanting a little rest every now and then is not a sign of weakness, Vegeta. If working yourself dogged works for you then that's fine but I need some quiet time every now and again. So please, just accept it." But as Trunks began to turn around, Vegeta said something that made him stop midway.
"If you turn your back on me, boy, I will make you pay," Vegeta growled darkly, "I'll show you just how much pain one can go through in one instant. You have no respect, let alone any true discipline, so I will have to drill it into you if that is the case. So please, turn your back on me. I welcome it, boy."
Trunks was suddenly overcome with anger. "You shut up, Vegeta! You shut up about me and about who I am! You don't know me, and you never will! All I am to you is some freaking punching bag and nothing more! I'm not like you and quite frankly I don't want to be! So just quit your argument and just leave it at that!"
Vegeta was suddenly overcome with blinding rage as he saw Trunks turn his back to him and walk toward the training pod's doorway. "Very well then," Vegeta growled and instantly transformed into Super Saiyan form and in a flash was in front of Trunks who was not three feet from the doorway.
Trunks gasped as he stared into Vegeta's cold blue eyes, staring emotionlessly back into his. "I warned you," Vegeta said coldly and with unbelievable speed, Vegeta slammed his fist into Trunks' abdomen, emitting a loud gasp and choking noise from the young man as blood trickled from the corners of his mouth.
Vegeta retrieved his fist from Trunks' stomach only to open it and deliver an open-handed slap across the young man's face, sending him bolting across the floor.
Trunks attempted to fight back as soon as he regained himself, only to find his father one step ahead of him, right above him, an expressionless face staring back at him. Trunks transformed into Super Saiyan form but the recent pain that had been inflicted upon him still racked his body and caused him to grip his stomach.
"I don't care if you're my son or not," Vegeta growled as he floated above Trunks, "You will obey me or you will suffer the consequences." In an instant, the hot-blooded Saiyan was gone and in the next reappeared behind Trunks, delivering a devastating kick across the back that caused Trunks to scream in sheer pain.
Trunks had felt something give when that happened. Almost as if something had just suddenly been released and in an instant he was face down on the floor, his eyes seeing the floor, but his body as a whole not truly experiencing anything. He blinked slowly once then shut his eyes, feeling a heavy darkness fade over him.
Vegeta looked on disgustedly at the young man that was now motionless on the floor. He figured that he had delivered the message clear enough and powered down to his normal form once again, slowly returning to a stand on the floor. His head was hot, dripping with sweat and all he could feel was hatred and anger for this defiance. Yet at the same time Vegeta felt relieved. At least he had finally given the boy some discipline, something that he had so desperately needed. "I hope you have now learned not to disobey me when..." but Vegeta stopped mid-sentence when a cold shiver ran down his spine and his eyes widened with horror, his mouth hanging open slightly in fear. For some reason, the Saiyan felt that something inside him had suddenly died as he looked on at the young man lying slumped on the floor. He took a step forward, his hand outstretched slightly from his side. "...Trunks?" Vegeta said in a uncharacteristically small, frightened voice.
The young man did not answer. The only response were short, wheezing sounds reminiscent of breathing and short, whimpers coming from Trunks.
"Speak, Trunks," Vegeta demanded frightfully. But when his son did not respond, Vegeta briskly walked over to his side and kneeled beside him. Vegeta suddenly gasped in horror, his expression wrenched into utter guilt as he realized what he had truly done to Trunks: his spine was shattered.
"T-Trunks, no," Vegeta said hurriedly as he gently turned the young man over to see that his face, once so tanned and vibrant, was now a dark blue due to lack of oxygen. Vegeta gathered him in his arms, trying in vain to not damage anything else on the young man's body, and ran toward the doorway, kicking the door off of its hinges to get out.
"Bulma!" Vegeta screamed violently although his voice shook with tension, "Woman! Get out here now!!"
Bulma quickly ran down the stairs. "What is it, Vegeta? I was just..." but Bulma gasped at what she saw at the foot of the stairs and made a short scream, placing her hands over her face. "Trunks! Vegeta, what happened!?"
"I-I...th-there's no time," Vegeta stammered, "Please, help him. Help him!"
Bulma nodded and led the way toward the doorway. "We have to go to a hospital," she said, "And on the way...you can tell me what happened."
* * *
"When I was very young, I remember when my father, used to hold my hand while we walked through the park. He...isn't too big on emotions. I guess you could say he's a lot like most Saiyans from his time. But...there's always been something about him that told me he loved me and Mom, even though he never tells us outright. I guess...holding my hand was the only thing he could do. That is one of the days I could never forget, no matter how old I get."
* * *
Vegeta sat at the side of Trunks' bed in the sterile white hospital room, trying his hardest to drown out the rhythmic beeping noise of the heart monitor that filled the otherwise silent room. The light from the blinds of the nearby window seemed to flow solely on Trunks form while Vegeta sat in the gray shadows beside his son. They were alone in that room, despite Bulma's hate-filled attempts to keep him out. She had to be sedated and was sent to another room for rest. No one else was around. No one else had been told. And he wanted it that way...at least for now.
The doctors said that there was nothing they could do. Not even the top brain and spinal surgeons could repair his shattered spinal cord, let alone the damage to all of his major organs. When asked how the incident had happened, Vegeta winced, his eyes downcast to the floor, a look of guilt and grief upon his face. He still answered to no one.
However, as he looked at his son lying there on the bed, being kept alive only by the power of a machine, Vegeta literally began to weep. It was a strange sound at first, for him to hear such a thing coming from him. It came from deep within, a sort of rumble that erupted into a pained groaned, muffled by his closed mouth. His eyes began to burn and he savagely wiped the moisture away, his expression filled with disgust at his own showing of weakness.
"I'm...the weakling," Vegeta said as he looked down at the floor. "No true Saiyan would ever do what I have done. I..." Vegeta's voice was caught in an agonizing sob as he vainly tried to fight it into submission. "I...I've failed you, Trunks. I've stolen your future...blinded by my own beliefs. I..." Vegeta sobbed again, laughing in almost hysteria, then settling down once again.
"I was always proud of you. Proud that you were my son," Vegeta said as he looked up at his son's motionless body. The lavender locks of the young man lay across his bruised face, the breathing tube protruding from his parted mouth. Vegeta traced his son's features with his eyes, his vision blurred by the tears slowly forming in his eyes. "No matter how much I tried to separate myself from you, no matter much I tried to detach my feelings, I was always proud of you. I don't care how weak I may have made you think you were...any man that can spar with me and survive...is a strong man." Vegeta grunted, trying hard to swallow his grief and the second sob that tried to emerge. "DAMMIT!!" he screamed as he punched the floor under him, leaving the tiles cracked and broken under his fist. "It wasn't supposed to be this way..." he whispered as he looked up at Trunks again, tears streaming down his hardened cheeks, his face in absolute anguish. "Why couldn't you...why didn't you...live? Why did I have to..."
Vegeta's questions went unanswered by his unconscious son. Instead, the young man lay in the bed, the machine breathing for him, making long inhales and sighs, his only response to Vegeta.
Vegeta suddenly got onto his knees and took his son's hand in his, holding it tightly against his face, "Son...please, wake up. Don't let these pathetic humans determine your fate. You are my son! You are heir to the throne of Vegeta! You are future prince of all Saiyans...you..." Vegeta broke down, Trunks' hand still against his face. "You...you're my son." And with that, Vegeta finally allowed himself to let go, a long sob emitting from deep within as his eyes shut tightly, tears flowing more freely. "Please..." Vegeta sobbed and kissed his son's hand, "Please..." Falling to the floor on all fours, Vegeta began beating the floor viciously, screaming in a fit of rage and sobbing, his emotions ravaged in guilt and anguish, until finally two orderlies came in and tried to help the Saiyan prince off the floor.
"NO!" Vegeta screamed, "Get the hell off of me!! I have a right to cry for him!!"
The orderlies backed off when they realized something was more about the man as shown by the various dents in the white tile floor and stood at the doorway, letting the man cry, watching as he curled himself into a corner, sobbing as he stared blankly at his son on the bed, no longer caring for anything anymore.
"...I killed my own son," Vegeta whispered as he rocked back and forth in the corner, the shadows devouring his entire figure a he looked on at his illuminated son. "...I deserve nothing but my own painful death."