"I hate being dead." Vegeta muttered. He tilted the halo above his head and tapped it, making it ding. "Stupid dollar store piece of crap." He growled.
"Ah! Vegeta, good to see you again!" Enma (O_o spelling please?) beamed down at him. Vegeta rolled his eyes and crossed his arms.
"Well let's see here…Veic…Vefachi...Vefut…Vegeta! You are scheduled for the next plane to heaven. Congratulations! You finally got in!"
Vegeta looked up. Heaven? What did he do to get into heaven? Then again, he wasn't complaining. Anything was better than hell.
"In the meantime, you'll have to go to the waiting room. The next plane doesn't take off for another half an hour, so you have plenty of time to do whatever." He pointed to two large wooden doors on the opposite wall.
"Hn." He walked off toward the door and pushed it open. He was instantly greeted by hundreds of souls bustling around, some hurrying to catch their plane or bus, others just saying goodbye to those who were leaving. All along the far wall of the room were rows of payphones where souls were calling loved ones down below.
Vegeta cautiously stepped in and started toward the gate for his plane. He wasn't even halfway there though when someone called to him.
"Hey you." A voice said from a bench on the wall next to him.
Vegeta whirled around, expecting maybe Frieza or cell or one of his other old enemies, but was instead greeted by…himself.
"Hi. Name's Vegeta. Marai Trunk's father." He held out his hand and Vegeta reluctantly took it. The other Vegeta smirked and let go and crossing his arms over his chest he stood up and gestured toward another room in the terminal. He started walking and Vegeta, curious, started to follow.
"It's the room of Spirit and Time." Vegeta observed. He turned and much to his surprise he saw a large oak door behind them, exactly like the one from Kami's tower entrance. Opening it he once again saw into the terminal, but as he peered around behind the door…nothing. It like something from a cartoon.
"But…how…I thought this place stretched forever?"
"Oh it does." Marai Vegeta replied. It's just that by the time you've wandered out this far you're probably dead, so they have doors to the afterlife set up in different places around the room." He glanced at the door behind them. "They're only visible to the dead, so you wouldn't have seen one if you'd been near it."
"Oh." Vegeta said. Then he scowled.
"What did you bring me here for anyway? It had better be important; I have a plane to catch!"
Marai Vegeta smiled sadly and waved his hand. Two chairs appeared and he motioned for Vegeta to sit down, which he did.
"You've met Trunks before?" Marai Vegeta asked.
"Duh." The other Vegeta snapped. He was his son after all, regardless of whether or not it was the same dimension.
"What was he like?"
The question stunned Vegeta. Uh oh. This wasn't going to be one of those sappy moments was it? Damn it, what had he gotten himself into?
"He was…nice." Vegeta said slowly.
Marai Vegeta rested his chin in his palm. "I'm waiting…"
"He was strong, polite. His mother raised him well."
The other Vegeta stared.
"Well what do you want from me?! You should know better than anyone else that I don't like spilling my feelings to just anybody."
"But I'm not just anybody. I'm YOU."
Vegeta sighed and closed his eyes. He could understand his counterpart's pain. It was tough when you died. People back home knowing they would never see you again and the longing for those left behind. But Vegeta didn't have to worry about these feelings too much; in his world the balls still existed, and he would be wished back soon enough. As for this other Vegeta however the balls in his world were dead, and he would never see his mate or child again.
"Fine." Vegeta said. The other one smirked and leaned forward slightly, listening.
"When I first met him…well, I won't go into that. But when I first knew who he WAS, I'll admit I was pretty skeptical. He was far too emotional and caring; I tried to push him away because I feared he would screw up like kakkarot and let the enemy live long enough for them to try and kill us. But I vastly underestimated him. He uses his emotions to empower him, anger, sorrow, fear, all those things give him strength and courage to get the job done. While the rest of us were just about to give up he kept on fighting, even though everyone else had failed. Against Cell he actually had the nerve to hit me, although I quickly took care of THAT problem." He chuckled and nodded his head, remembering the incident.
"But even then he kept fighting. He's a good man, your son. I suppose he reminds me of me in way. He's seen far too much bloodshed in his short life. He broods over a lot of things, and he's very quite and serious." The he grinned. "Although, I will say one thing about him. For someone who's never met his dad he sure holds you in high regard."
The other Vegeta smiled and nodded his headslightly. "Thanks. I was just…curious, that's all. I've never met the kid. I was kinda hoping he'd turn out better than I did and I guess so."
Vegeta shrugged. "He really is a great kid."
"Hmph." Marai Vegeta said.
Both men got up and headed to the door. Just as they got in a scratchy voice on the intercom called out loudly to be heard over the din.
"Flight 375 for heaven boarding! Six minutes to takeoff!"
"That's me." Vegeta said he hurried toward the gate and glancing over his shoulder saw his double standing there staring off into space.
"Aren't you going up too?" Vegeta asked frowning.
"Who me? Nah. I wasn't blessed with a nice long life span like you, so I haven't done enough good deeds to get up there. Have fun though. I hear they have a great Jacuzzi"
Vegeta wasn't sure what to say. He felt kind of bad for Marai Vegeta, he supposed. Hell sucked, and he would give almost anything not to go back again. But then Marai Vegeta reached into thin air and pulled out a note. He stuffed it into Vegeta's hand and smiled sadly
"Give this to my son if you see him again. You can read it if you want. You'd probably understand."
Vegeta smirked and gave a quick nod. Closing the note in a fist he jogged over to the terminal and boarded his plane. He'd make sure to give Marai Trunks the note, because if there was one thing that child needed it was closure…
***********
"Mom, I'm back!" Trunks shouted across the house. Bulma appeared in the doorway leading from the basement, the new home of her lab. She smiled at her son, the creases in her face showing her age. She combed a hand through her gray-blue hair and hugged her son.
"So dear, how was your trip to the past? Your father still the jerk I told you he was?"
Trunks laughed. "Unfortunately yes mother. Not as bad as when I first went there but close."
"That's nice sweetie." She looked down and noticed a piece of paper sticking from her son's pocket.
"Hey, what's that?" She reached for the note but Trunks quickly jumped back.
"No! I mean um, it's just something the you in their dimension gave me. Nothing special."
"Hm." Bulma said frowning. Her son was lying to her, but she supposed he was entitled to his privacy like anyone else.
"I'm gonna go lie down mom. I'm tired."
"Okay. Have a nice nap!"
"Thanks." Trunks called over his shoulder and he went into his bedroom.
Collapsing on the bed he took the note from his pocket and unfolded it. He frowned at first, thinking it was just some stupid advice that the other dimension's Vegeta had given him, but as he began to read his eyes widened.
"Da...Daddy?"
***********
Dear Trunks
Yeah it's me. Your dad. Look kid, I'm sorry I haven't been there for you all these years. I honestly didn't think I could be defeated by a couple of robots, but I guess it's thinking like that that's gotten my ass kicked before right? I'd give anything to take it back, maybe go back in the past like you and warn them before it was too late. I just wish I could have met you and watched you grow up, been able to hold you in my arms when you were upset or scared. I know what it's like to grow up in so much pain, to feel helpless and scared because you're too weak to do a damn thing about it.
But you're strong. I can sense that. You didn't give up despite all the crap the androids tossed at you and I'm proud of you for that. When Gohan died you kept going, even risked your life to go back and try and change things. I wish I'd had as much courage as you do when I was a kid; maybe I wouldn't have wasted so much time feeling sorry for myself. Really and truly, I just wanted to tell you that I'm proud of you and I love you. It feels weird even writing these words. I don't use them too often. And as for your mother, tell her I love her too. I've told her, but usually when she's asleep and can't hear, so I guess that doesn't count. Tell her I miss and hope she's doing ok. And tell her to stop smoking. Those damn cigarettes will be the death of her yet.
-Love, Tousan
Trunks smiled and held the note to his chest. So, his dad really DID love him.
"Why'd you have to go and die tousan…I didn't even get a chance to know you."
He thought that for a moment he saw someone leaning against the far wall watching him. But when he focused on it nothing was there.
The corner of his mouth twitched he carefully folded up the note and put into his dresser drawer. It would be safe there. Falling back on his pillow he closed his eyes and began to drift.
"I love you too tousan…where ever you are."
A figure appeared faintly above him. A hand reached down and brushed some of his hair out of his eyes.
"You too brat…you too."