Trunks had learned, like Gohan, to inhale his food neatly and politely, no matter what it was. Bulma smiled as she watched her son eat; she could build any impossibly conceived notion, pilot any machine just by looking under the hood, but she couldn't fry bacon. She'd gotten lucky, though, to have a Sayajin child who had to be stopped from eating plastic.
Trunks jerked in his seat suddenly, only a little food spraying from his mouth, turning to face the south wall and cocking his head the way he did when he was feeling for power levels.
"Something the matter?" Bulma asked, setting her fork down and brushing her long hair out of her face.
"Strong power levels," Trunks grunted, and Bulma rolled her eyes; ever since he'd come back from the past, he tended to give the bare minimum of an answer, just like his father had done. "There's no one left alive who's that strong," Trunks set his fork down, wiped his mouth, and reached for his sword. "I'll be back."
"Don't stay out too late," Bulma called after him, and rolled her eyes again at his monosyllabic grunt. Yes, it'd done him good to get to know Vegeta a little bit, but a whole year with a man who hadn't been deflated by the accidental death of his greatest rival was a bit much.
As Trunks flew south, he didn't wonder about how much like his father he'd become; his only thought was that there was no way in hell nine ki's could have dropped out of the sky without him feeling their approach. Trunks wasn't a particularly literally minded person to begin with, though.
~*~*~*~
Twenty years previously, Vegeta stood on King Kai's driveway and snarled at the other dead Z Senshi that had been allowed to run Snake Way.
"Kakarrot, you blubbering idiot, your mate and son are down there on that mud ball with those two things blowing everything to kingdom come, and you cant bring yourself to find a way back?"
"They cant exactly wish us back, spaghetti head." Piccolo glowered, standing behind Goku with his arms crossed over his chest.
"I'm not talking about the Dragonballs, green bean," Vegeta had been bristling and snarling since the moment he'd gotten there, having already flickered in and out of Super Sayajin on accident several times.
"How else would we get back, then?" Goku flopped on the ground next to Bubbles, looking exasperated.
"Vegeta, no. Hell is already a dangerous place, and fighting your way through it is going to take too long. There's no way you could get to the Tree quickly enough." King Kai looked serious for once, his hands folded in his sleeves as he bowed his head.
"You know the quickest way to get Vegeta to do something?" Piccolo rolled his eyes at the god, "Tell him its impossible. Now we have to go with him, just to keep the fabric of reality from unraveling. Thanks, King Kia."
"So where are we going again?" Goku scratched his head, eyes wide.
"Yggdresil," Vegeta grinned, "We're already dead, so we find the roots of the tree and climb up."
"Will that really work?" Goku asked, cocking his head to one side. "Cause if it does, then why hasn't anybody else tried it?"
"You'll have to fight the King of Hel, first, that's why." King Kai sighed, shaking his head.
"Who's he?" Goku cocked his head to the other side, still curious.
"Oh, it changes from time to time, depending on who's dead, who's been reincarnated," King Kia waved a hand airily, looking off into the distance.
"You wanna tell us everything?" Piccolo asked, raising one eyebrow. "Like who might be King of Hel right now?"
King Kia laughed nervously, hunching his shoulders just a little. "Vegeta's father," He coughed, giggled nervously again, and took a few steps back.
Vegeta only grinned savagely, baring all of his teeth. "Lets go," He didn't wait for Piccolo or Goku to follow, merely jumped back onto Snake Way and took off.
"Okay!" Goku took off after him, racing to catch up.
"Piccolo," King Kai caught the Namek's attention as the green giant started after the two Sayajin. "I'll drop Gohan off with you guys when I see him."
Piccolo froze for a moment, hating the cold dread in the pit of his stomach; unlike Vegeta, he was actually capable of admitting that he'd died to save someone other than himself. Piccolo turned and raced down Snake Way, and prayed that they'd be in time.
~*~*~*~
Four years previously, Gohan buckled his seat belt diligently as King Kai revved the engine of his little red convertible.
"Yggdresil?" He asked, popping his recently returned arm out the window.
"They should be there now, actually. They've had to fight their way through Hell in order to get there." King Kai backed out of the garage, and then onto thin air as they left the planet entirely.
"Took 'em a while, huh?" Gohan stretched his feet out and made himself comfortable for the long ride.
"Vegeta's a very determined guy. He's going to have to fight his own father in order to get back to his son." Gohan was silent for a long moment, watching the clouds swirl under them.
"I'd do the same for my daughter." Gohan smiled bitterly. "Videl said she'd name her Pan. She only had the third ultrasound about a week before I died."
"You'll see her soon," King Kia floored the gas pedal, and laughed maniacally as he drove the car straight to Hell.
~*~*~*~
Vegeta cocked an eyebrow at his father and grinned savagely. "So what do you say?"
The King of Hel grinned back; despite the peppered hair and the goatee, it was the same savage expression. "Sure, I'll come with you. Nothing like a new enemy to fight, and all the ones down here are getting a little stale."
"I'm coming with you," Bardock stood up from the root of the Tree he'd been sitting on, stretching lazily.
"Me, too," Raditz jerked his chin at his little brother. "You gotta problem with that?"
"Nah," Goku grinned, "The more the merrier!"
"Nappa, Cabbage?" The King of Hel quirked an eyebrow at his general, who turned and looked at his daughter for a long moment before he nodded to his king.
"We'll come." Nappa folded his arms across his chest as the pretty Sayajin girl stood up and dusted off her armor.
They turned as a group at the sound of honking; King Kai pulled up along side them in his red convertible, grinning. Gohan leapt out of the car and was bounding toward his father and Piccolo in a heart beat, pouncing like he hadn't done since he was six.
"Dad! Piccolo-san! Thank god I caught up with you guys, I thought you'd be on the tree already!"
"We were just leaving, actually," Piccolo didn't return the hug, but he didn't shove the young man away, and looked only a little disgruntled.
"Hey, Gohan! Do you remember your uncle Raditz? He promised he wouldnt try to kill us this time, and that's your grandpa Bardock! And that's Vegeta's dad, but its gonna get pretty confusing because his name is Vegeta, too, and you remember Nappa? I dont think he's gonna try to kill us again, either, and that's his daughter Cabbage! And guess what?" Goku grinned, paused long enough for Gohan to draw a breath, then barged on. "They're gonna come with us and help us defeat the androids!"
"Oh," Gohan's smile froze, "Great," he turned the glassy smile to the group and waved awkwardly. "I'm Gohan," The young man eyed Raditz warily, glassy smile fixed firmly in place at this point.
"The brat, too? What kind of idiot are you, trying to kill your nephew?" Bardock snarled, slapping his eldest son upside the head.
"I wasn't gonna kill 'im! I was just using him for bait. Sorry about that, by the way." Raditz sulked, rubbing the back of his head and glaring sidelong at his father.
"Are we leaving or are we just going to stand around with our thumbs up our asses?" Vegeta snarled.
"I'll take the crown back to Her Highness," King Kai offered, still leaning out of his car window. He caught the circlet as the King of Hel tossed it to him, still grinning savagely.
"Give the half-rotted bitch my best regards," King Vegeta turned and started climbing up the enormous tree, the other Sayajin and Namek following just behind him. King Kai watched them disappear into the roiling clouds, then looked down at the circle of metal in his hands and shuddered.
If there was one person everyone could agree to not get along with, it was the Queen of the Underworld.
~*~*~*~
"What the hell?" Trunks dropped several inches in surprise as he got close to the group of people. They were dropping out of the branches of an enormous tree that hadn't been there yesterday; as Trunks got closer, and the last one dropped to the ground, the tree faded away as if it had never been there. The tree was a bit of a side note, though, as Trunks landed and the group turned to face him.
"Father?" he asked tentatively, but he didn't wait for a response as he looked over the rest of them. "Gohan? Piccolo? Goku? Who the hell are all these people?"
"Is this the brat you've been babbling about?" King Vegeta circled Trunks, glaring him up and down. "Why, in the name of all things holy, is my grandson fucking purple?"
"He gets it from his mother. Rings and moon, you got big, brat." Vegeta circled his son as well, stepping around his father as the older Sayajin stood in front of Trunks with his arms crossed over his chest.
"As touching as this little family reunion is," Piccolo rolled his eyes, "We came back for a reason. Where are the androids?"
Trunks eyed the Namek for a long moment, his expresion slowly darkening. "It took you long enough," he snarled, before snaping his blue eyes around to glare at his father. "I killed them, over a year ago. I avenged your death, and all the other deaths they caused, and you show up a year later wondering where they are? What the hell took you so long?!"
"Hell, honey," Cabbage smirked, and everyone turned to her. "Your daddy fought his way across hell for you, climbed the Tree of Life for you, and you've still got issues. You're Sayajin; beat seven kinds of shit out of the problem, and get the fuck over it."
"You're one to talk, you loud-mouthed cunt," Raditz snarled at her, barely dodging Nappa as the larger man tried to crush his skull.
"Silence!" King Vegeta barked, glaring balefully over his shoulder. When they'd settled, he turned back to his grandson and hit him squarely across the jaw. "Can you fight, boy? Or have you been left on this mudball to yourself for too long?"
"He can fight," Prince Vegeta stepped between his father and son, teeth bared, "If he killed the androids, he can fight well enough to shut an old man up," Vegeta let his savage grin creep across his face, just before he tripped his father and son into a snarling, royal feud, rolling across the grass as they insulted and beat each other.
"Wow," Goku stared at three generations brawling in the grass, "I'm glad we don't do that. Lets go eat, I bet Chi Chi will have dinner ready in about an hour."
"Just you wait, little brother," Raditz warned, and took off after Goku as his younger brother leapt into the air. "C'mon, Dad, the grub cant be that bad."
Bardock shook his head and took off after his sons, shaking his head and smirking.
"Hey, Piccolo, will you meet me at my parents house? I have to go pick someone up," Gohan took to the air as well, heading in the opposite direction of his father, uncle, and grandfather.
"Sure," Piccolo grunted, before turning his attention back to the still-brawling royal family. "You three done yet?"
Trunks pulled away from the brawl, laughing in that desperate way people do to keep from crying. His father kicked him playfully in the ribs, before sprawling in the grass next to him.
"Where's the woman?" he asked, rubbing idly at the grass stains on his armor.
"At home," Trunks jerked a thumb over his shoulder the way he'd come, "You might not want her to cook, though. She hasn't gotten any better at it." Vegeta merely smirked, and cocked an eyebrow at his father.
"I can cook," Cabbage folded her arms across her chest and cocked one hip, glaring. "Does His Majesty wish to dine?"
"I've been dead forty years, and you want to know if I'm hungry? Rings and moon, you're almost as thick as your father. Lets go. Lead the way, brat. You coming, green bean?" King Vegeta cocked an eyebrow at Piccolo, still grinning savagely as he adjusted his armor.
"No. I'll check in with you tomorrow."
"Fuck off, then," King Vegeta leapt into the air, following his son and grandson, Nappa and Cabbage on his tail.
As Trunks led the way back to Capsule Corporation, he didn't think about how similar he'd become with his father; he was a little more focused being literally minded.
A/N; I wrote this before I got worried about finals, and now that its finals week, I'm posting. Its going to be a bit of a wait for the next chapter, though, because I'm on the job hunt, but as soon as things settle down, I'll get back into the swing of things.