Disclaimer: I in no way shape or form own the Dragonball/Z/GT series as a whole. All characters belong to their respective creator.

A/N: I had this idea and I really wanted to try it here on the site and get feedback on it. As you may have guessed, from my other story, I am trying to put together ideas that make you think "What if" or "What did happen during that time?" For this story I want to portray the question of "What if Trunks was there," If Trunks witnessed his father being the murderer he use to be how would it affect him? What would happen later if he remembered? Would it change anything? Read and find out. Rated T for language in later chapters. All reviews welcomed. Enjoy.

Chapter One: I Remember…

"Over there Goten, that's a good spot,"

Trunks pointed to a nearby tree outside the stadium hosting the world martial arts tournament. Straightening his body, he flew down toward the ground, flipping one hundred and eighty degrees, landing on his feet. Goten joined him close by transforming his super saiyan hair and eyes back to its normal state.

"Now we're in big trouble and it's your fault," Goten complained.

"Oh c'mon, that was fun," Trunks replied, transforming from his super saiyan ability back to his original state. "We could have beat 18 if she didn't destroy our Mighty Mask costume,"

"How did she know it was us?" Goten sat down on the long green grass beneath him, bring his legs inward allowing the heels of his feet to touch one another.

"When we turned super saiyan she must have figured it out. If we didn't transform she never would have known it was us,"

"Hm," Goten gazed up at the sky. "But now she knows and our moms' looked very mad at us. What do you think they'll say when they find us?"

Leaning slightly Trunks folded his arms against his chest. His left leg rose from the ground, the back of his heel pressed against the base of the tree.

"I don't know Goten; they probably are going to yell at us,"

Goten looked down at the ground, a lonely pout sat upon his face as if he could almost feel the inevitable coming down upon him from his mother. "What are we going to do now?"

Trunks was silent, his eyes staring toward the arena. He was unsure of the next steps the two could take.

"Well we can't go back inside right now, not with our moms' so mad at us but I don't know where else to go. Do you know where my dad and Gohan went?"

"Uh," Goten looked up at his friend. "No, they just took off so long ago and you wouldn't let me go see how Gohan was...he was hurt,"

"What was the point of going, Goten? Your dad was there and so was my dad. I'm sure he's fine," Trunks replied.

Goten looked pained, worry showing deeply in his facial features. "But what if he's not okay...we should go find him and our dads,"

Trunks stood up straight and dropped his arms to his sides.

"Do you know where they are?" he questioned.

"No...how do we find them?" Goten rose to his feet. "I don't feel them anywhere,"

Trunks gazed up the sky. The annoying sound of a sharp rumble took both of their ears by surprise. Glancing down, Trunks placed his hands over his stomach as the sound caught him off guard again.

"Well can we eat first?"

"Yeah, I'm hungry too," Goten replied, placing his hands upon his stomach as if he was trying to silence the rumbling noises from being heard.

"Why don't we go back to the food court? We're first and second place winners of the Junior Tournament so I'm sure we'll get treated like stars,"

Trunks smiled at his suggestion.

"We can't go there, remember? We didn't have any money to pay them and they might want us to pay for the first meal," Goten replied.

"Oh yeah," Trunks glanced upward, taking the memories of earlier and picking through each scene within his mind. "I guess we can't go back there,"

"So where do we go to get some food?" Goten inquired.

Trunks lowered his eyes to the ground. He concentrated hard, or so it seemed, on finding an answer to the perplexing puzzle of finding a morsel of food to fully satisfy their enormous Saiyan appetites.

"We could always get someone to get us something to eat," he replied.

"But who can we get? Our moms are inside and they are mad at us," replied Goten.

Trunks nodded. "Yeah and I don't want to get yelled at before I eat. They might yell for hours,"

"Hours?" Goten shook his head. "I can't wait that long to eat,"

"Then we better come up with another plan to get something to eat and make sure we don't run into our moms'"

-. -. -. -.

The boys slowly crept along the inside of the holding grounds of the Martial Arts Tournament. Inching against every wall, Trunks glanced outward from left to right and only when the close was clear did he wave his hand back toward Goten, letting him know the coast was clear.

"Why can't we just walk like normal, Trunks?" Goten asked, creeping up behind his friend.

"We can't let people notice us. They could go tell our moms' and then they'll know where we are,"

Goten prepared to respond when the sound of people approaching made his hold his tongue. Quickly he felt Trunks' hand press against his chest, pushing the two back against the wall as close as possible.

"Don't make a sound," Trunks whispered as he glanced upward. The sounds were coming from the opposite side of the wall, the sound of two gentlemen talking amongst one another.

"Can you believe those two punks pretending to be Mighty Mask? Their parents should be embarrassed," one of them spoke.

"I knew they would be no match for that blonde hair girl. They were a joke to begin with. I knew it was kids all along," the other one spoke up.

Down below on the other side of the wall, Trunks gritted his teeth, glaring upward at the sound of the two men speaking about him and Goten.

"Well we better get back. It's Hercule vs. that blonde girl and that should be interesting," said the first man.

"Right, I'm sure Hercule will destroy her with one blow," the other one replied.

The two chibi's remained silent as he and Goten heard the sound of the men's feet running from where they once stood. Soon the entire area was silent once more.

"That was a close one," Goten spoke, running the back of his shirt against his forehead. He moved away from Trunks arm and stood on the left side of him. "Let's go get something to eat,"

Trunks was silent. Goten raised his eyebrow and tilted his head to the side.

"Are you listening, Trunks?" Again. Silence. Taking a few steps, Goten appeared in front of Trunks, staring into the young boy's face. "What's wrong?"

"Those guys were talking about us..." Trunks raised his closed fist. "We could have beat 18 if she didn't find out it was us,"

"Well what can we do now? They won't let us compete," said Goten.

"Let's get something to eat and then we can check out the rest of the fight. Hercule isn't going to win anyway," Trunks replied.

-.-.-.-.

He and Goten hurried over to the food court, smelling the aroma of freshly plated food being presented to customers sitting near an open window. The sound of Goten's stomach growling cut through the air like a swift knife.

"Trunks…I'm really hungry,"

Trunks gazed at the waiter walking in from the kitchen, the door swinging behind him. His eyes fell upon the four trays held above his head on a large round carrying tray. Trunks smiled, looking over at Goten.

"We're going to eat. Just leave it to me. Stay here,"

Silently, he crept into the eatery, his back pressed against the wall. His head moved from left to right to ensure no one had notice his entrance. Feeling satisfied, Trunks scurried over to a small plant and crotched down against it, again ensuring he was not detected. He crawled slightly away from his hiding place, watching the waiter open a nearby stand and place the large brown tray on top.

"There are no customers near those plates…if he moves I might be able to grab the plates,"

Trunks crotched on the tips of toes, preparing to run out and grab the food as fast as he could, hoping he would be able to make it out of there without being caught.

"Excuse me mister,"

Trunks drew his attention from the door to the waiter he was attempting to run up against to see Goten standing in front of him, his knees held close against one another and his fingers tucked between his legs. He was twisting from side to side.

"I have to go to the bathroom," Goten whined, jumping from side to side. "Where is the bathroom?"

The waiter looked dumbfounded, glancing from side to side as if to locate the parents of the needy young child before him. He couldn't find anyone jumping up to retrieve the small boy, sighing beneath his breath.

"It's in the back kid. Go by yourself, I have to get this food to the customers," said the waiter.

Goten looked pained as he rushed past the waiter, walking through the swinging kitchen door. "In here?"

"No No kid, not in there,"

The waiter hurried after Goten, rolling his eyes and mumbling under his breath about lazy parents. Trunks smiled, he saw his opportunity. With quickness, he hurried over to the abandoned trays and lifted them from their setting. He hurried toward the doors, holding the items above his head.

"Hey, that's our food!' a belligerent round man shouted as he rose from his table, throwing the napkin from his lap to the top of the table.

Trunks grinned and hurried out of the door, dashing as fast as he could to the other side of the wall. He tried to make it a point to avoid people walking about, all surprised by the young boy with the tray in his hands but he wasn't going to stop. He hurried over to the tree he and Goten first approached and set the trays down.

"That was close," he brushed his hand against his forehead as a smiling Goten approached tying the string around his pants, holding it against his waist. "Nice distraction Goten, I got some food,"

Goten stared at the food and smiled. Placing his right hand against the back of his head he smiled increased in size. "No problem, let's eat,"

The two sat on the grass and ate as quickly as they could, two plates each. Setting the bone from a piece of chicken on the plate, Trunks sat back and pat his hand against his stomach.

"That was good,"

Goten smiled, setting back against the grass. "What do we do now?"

As the two mustered over what their next step should be, the sensation of enormous power brought both boys to their feet.

"Wow Trunks, do you feel that?" Goten inquired.

Trunks nodded. He could feel the hair on the back of his neck stand up. The walls inside his mouth became dry as he focused on the large energy source.

"Let's go Goten; it's coming from the stadium"

Goten nodded his head took the air, following his friend back into the stadium to find the source of the power they were feeling. The two hovered above the crowd, eyes on the center ring. Their hands shook simultaneously and a large lump appeared in their throats.

"What's going on?" Trunks questioned staring at the members in the ring.

"That blast is too big…he can't hold it," Goten cried out, watching the scene unfold.

The two watched in horror, each one screaming out in protest as the blast blew through the stands, hitting innocent people and obliterating them on contact.

Trunks swallowed hand, landing down on the east side of the stands. He stood against the balcony, his shaking hands gripping the rails and holding onto them with a force that could easily snap the painted metal rods in half. His knees trembled, visibly moving all the way down to the tip of his toes. His blue eyes were open wide, gazing upon the figures standing in the center of the ring. He recognized them with ease although he wished he never saw any of them or the brutal attack created by the one he never thought would raise his hand toward anyone outside of battle.

"Trunks...did you hear me," the sound of Goten's voice spoke. "Isn't that my dad and Gohan and your dad?"

Trunks swallowed hard. "Y-yes...it is,"

His breathing became labored. Were his eyes playing tricks on him? Jumping up, he braced his hands upon the horizontal bar of the railing and propped his body up for a better view although the scene remained the same regardless.

"What's wrong with your dad?" Goten asked, joining his friend on top the railing. "Why did he do that?"

Trunks was silent. Glancing through the lower portion of his eyes, he glanced at the large hole that now emerged from the stands were hundreds of fans originally sat perched enjoying the day's festivities. They were gone, as if they were never there. His eyes drifted further, deep within the destroyed city as the trail left buildings in ruin. The blast was intense, that much was certain, but to him that didn't matter. The only matter he was concerned with was the person who was responsible for the massive destruction.

"Dad..."

Goten blinked his small eyes and continued to stare at the arena floor. "Your dad hurt all those people," Trunks frowned. "Why did he do that?"

The lavender hair child turned his head abruptly toward his childhood friend. Goten was taken aback at the wave of water resting against his friend's eyelids. They stood as firm as a wall despite their liquid nature. He knew almost instantly Trunks was doing his best to keep them from showing his emotions albeit his temper beat his tears to the punch.

"I don't know, okay?" Trunks turned his head forward once more, staring down at his father. "Something is wrong with him. That's not my dad,"

"What do you mean?" Goten leaned forward, catching his balance against the rail so not to plummet forward into a few scared spectators frozen in fear in their seats. "That looks like him,"

"That's not my dad!" Trunks shouted punching his fist against the edge of the railing. Goten watched his friend then turned back toward the arena.

Trunks couldn't hold his composure; his entire body began to shake. As much as he wanted to, he couldn't deny that was his father standing there in the middle of the arena floor having a conversation with relatives of Goten's family. The outfit and the hair were dead ringers for the man he grew up under but something was different but he couldn't place his finger on just what that was.

"Ah, he's going to do it again!" Goten shouted.

Trunks shook himself from his own mental thoughts and watched as his father extended his right arm toward the arena stands, his palm facing outward. His jaw dropped open and the tears he once held in place could no longer be suppressed.

"Dad no!"

His cries went unanswered as he witnessed a single blast created in the palm of his father's hand attack people within its vicinity, obliterating them on contact. He held onto the railing, reeling from the aftershock of dust and debris. He could hear Goten's cry out his name as he too, Trunks figured, was trying to keep from being blown from his current position. Trunks shut his eyes tightly; he couldn't deny what he had just seen. His father was a murderer. A female scream made his raise his head upward. He recognized that voice. Opening his eyes, he was frozen in fear as he witnessed his mother and friends just a few inches from the recently placed hole in the arena stands.

His stared at his mother. The fear on her face, the tears in her eyes. It was as if that was all he needed to witness. His demeanor stiffened greatly. His eyes moved over to his father, the sinister smirk cascading across his face. Trunks was baffled. Did his father take pride in almost killing his mother? Did he see her there? Was he aiming for her and their friends? He couldn't silence the questions as they ate at his mind with no intentions of ever becoming full.

"Trunks," Goten said grabbing his friends arm. "We have to get out of here or he's going to kill us too,"

Trunks shook his arm away. He wasn't leaving. How could he run and leave his mother to perish at the hands of his own father. No, running away was not an option.

"I'm not leaving. Dad almost hurt my mom and your mom and grandpa too,"

Goten looked surprised, tilting his head upward and viewing the presence of his mother and grandfather holding one another in fear. His eyebrows lowered, his hands shaking while forming into tight little fists.

"We aren't leaving," Trunks spoke, his eyes squarely on his father. He pressed his feet against the top of the railing, ready to propel his body off toward the arena floor.

"Wait!" Goten reached out toward his friend. "We can't go down there. Your dad will kill us for sure,"

"I don't care!" Trunks glared at his friend, lines of tears sliding against his cheeks. "He tried to kill my mom and your mom. I want to know why!"

"But Gohan and my dad are down there and my dad is a Super Saiyan so does that mean he's going to fight your dad?" Goten questioned, turning his eyes toward his father.

Trunks shook his head. "No. I want to talk to my father. Ask him why he tried to kill my mom. I have to defend my mom,"

"But Trunks, you can't fight your dad...can you?" Goten questioned.

Trunks was silent. Fighting his father was something he was use to in training but could he take on his father on a level not even he was sure he could compete on? He shook his head. Images of his frightened mother haunted his thoughts. He had to defend her. He was taught to always defend her so did it matter if he had to defend her against the one who taught him the same rule? As conflicting as they assumption was, he realized he didn't have time to fully debate on the correct answer.

"Hey Trunks, look they are gone," Goten pointed toward the arena floor. "Your dad and my dad and Gohan and that other guy is gone,"

Trunks lips trembled. His teeth clenched angrily. "No!" Standing upright on the railing he looked around but all he could witness was the collection of people trying their best to protect themselves and the unlucky groups who suffered greatly for no reason at all. He looked at his mother who wept against the shoulder of Goten's mother. He wanted to reach out to her. Wrap his arms around her waist and help her stop her tears.

"I'm going to go check on my mom," said Goten, hopping down from the rail. Trunks remained still. "Aren't you going to check on your mom too?"

"I'm going after my dad," Trunks replied. He turned his head away from his mother, no longer being able to bear looking at her cry.

"But don't you want to see if your mom is okay first?"

"I know my mom will be okay. Your mom is there. If we go over there we'll just ask why this happened and I don't think they know why it happened," replied Trunks. Goten nodded his head in agreement. "I'm going to find my dad and make him tell me why he tried to kill my mom,"

"And my mom too," Goten added.

"Right," said Trunks.

He looked over once more at his mother. He could see her shaking, the concern worry and pain all visible through her eyes. She hadn't seen him and he didn't want her to see him, not just yet at least.

"Let's go,"

The two young boys took to the air as fast as they could so not to gain any attention to themselves. They disappeared quickly into the sky flying as fast as their energy could take them.

"Hey Trunks, do you know where we are going?" Goten questioned, flying parallel to his friend.

"I'm tired of telling you Goten," Trunks glanced at his friend then looked forward. "To find my dad,"

"I know that but where is he and Gohan and my dad? They disappeared before so how do we find them?"

Trunks held his ground. He hadn't thought of that. So preoccupied with finding answers he didn't realize he didn't have a clue where to actually find his father to gain those responses.

"If he hurts more people then can we find him?" Goten asked.

Trunks stared at his friend. Is that what it was going to take? More people dying at the hands of his father in order for him to locate him. He couldn't stand hearing innocent people crying out in fear and pain before they failed to exist any longer all because of his father. He clenched his hand into a fist and shook slowly.

"That might be the only way..." He shot a stare at Goten. "...but we will keep looking too just in case,"

Goten nodded his head.

The two boys shot away again into destinations unknown, only relying on the sad hope that more people would come in contact with Vegeta so then and only then they could catch up to him and find out the truth.

-.-.-.-.

Trunks sat upright in his bed, puddles of water settled around his body and dripped against his forehead. He inhaled sharply and exhaled just as quickly. He glanced at his bedroom clock, 4:15 am it read in loud red neon lights. He brushed his hand against his hair, also moist with sweat. He couldn't shake the dream that continued to haunt him since the first time he laid eyes on his father and the murderous look in his eyes. He shook his head. He refused to tell anyone what he witnessed, outside of Goten of course. His father was a murderer and yet everyone cheered and celebrated his collaboration of saving the Earth, forgetting he was the reason they were brought to the place of the dead. Well he couldn't forget, he refused to forget the disturbing image. His father was no longer his hero, just a dangerous man who no longer had a son.

To Be Continued...All Reviews Welcomed

A/N: Just a FYI, Goten and Trunks are age 7 and 8, respectively. This takes place just a few weeks after the defeat of Buu which also for this story it also takes place after that party Bulma threw. Just helps the story along better that way.