"Words move, music moves

Only in time, but that which is only living

Can only die. Words, after speech, reach

Into the silence. Only by the form, the pattern

Can words or music reach."

-Burnt Norton

T.S Elliot

Gravity – Chapter 6

I stayed at the inn with Bulma until my hunger had been sated. But I chewed without tasting, despite the quality and quantity of bread – these people obviously knew how to feed a Saiyan, though I assumed they didn't yet know I was one – and I got the feeling I was getting strange looks. I kept running the same line of thought through my head; wearing it down to nothing even as my teeth wore down the bread I forced myself to swallow.

I'd done this. I'd caused this whole mess with a misinterpreted wish; and it was all my fault that the people of this planet that had once been Earth were essentially enslaved by a race that should be long dead. My race. Strangely, I felt a sense of disloyalty as I thought of the Saiyans with such contempt. After all, they were my people; and siding with the humans they'd conquered seemed like its own form of insubordination.

But that was preposterous. I'd grown up alongside humans; lived as one of them, even married one of them. And just because I was Saiyan didn't mean I had to follow them when their decisions were wrong, did it? Were their decisions even wrong?

As you can guess, I was very confused. Especially since I kept running myself in circles with such thoughts.

"Goku, where are you going?" Bulma asked as I got up to leave. I was glad – but a little surprised – that she'd remembered my name when I'd only said it once.

"I have to go... check something out," I said carefully. Now that I'd figured out what exactly I'd done to this planet; I was ready to confront the source of it all.

It was time to face Vegeta.

X

Somehow, I couldn't sense Vegeta's ki. I'd known him so well, but I couldn't discern his ki from anyone else's now. Had he really changed that much? Had I really made him change that much?

I checked the places I most associated with my old life first. Capsule Corp, of course; which I found locked and barred closed, surrounded by yellow police tape that I didn't remember seeing when I'd initially materialized here today.

Bulma had said that the business had been shut down, but I hadn't believed her until I saw it for myself.

I traveled to Triphilim City next. The city Nappa had obliterated when he and Vegeta had arrived on Earth years ago. I found it completely intact, with no sign of the destruction that was supposed to have been wrought here. Which meant Vegeta and I had never fought in the desert not far away – perhaps never fought at all – ...and it meant Nappa was still alive.

I wondered... if Frieza had never existed, and no one had needed to go to Namek to wish back the people who should have been killed in a fight that should have happened... Did anyone here even know Namek – and by extension, their dragonballs – existed? And – a worse thought that sent a chill down my spine – Had I ever become a Super Saiyan if Krillin hadn't been killed in a battle with Frieza that hadn't happened?

Many more thoughts and questions like these raced through my mind until I felt dizzy. It was truly shocking; how much could change just by removing one person. An enormous domino effect had resulted from wishing away someone who had eventually been killed anyway... and the full extent of the change may not have even been brought to light yet. I kept wondering; what else? What else has changed?

I went to the Lookout next. It wasn't too different from how it usually was, so I didn't worry myself over it... until I heard the shouting.

I flew lower, confused, and realized that it was the old Namekian god Kami shouting... at me. Insulting me, and cursing the Saiyan race in at least three languages. I winced at the harsh swears he ranted; calling me a prince's bitch, and much worse. A whore, a demon, a soul-less piece of shit... you get the idea. Of course, the curses were meant for Kakarot, not me, but I'd never seen the gentle Kami so angry; especially not directing such ire in my direction.

Feeling both crestfallen and disgusted, I flew away as fast as I could; Kami's insults bouncing off my retreating back like stones.

X

I found Mount Paozu – my home, and the home of a family that didn't exist here – completely deserted. A wild, overgrown expanse of land that showed no indication of the house that was supposed to stand here, of the memories built and the life that had surrounded this place.

I knelt in the clearing where my home used to be, looking bleakly at the once-familiar forest around me; and I realized I no longer knew it. Either it had changed, or I had, but I was a stranger here now. And for some reason that made me extremely sad. This was where Gohan was born, where my wife and I had lived; it was everything I knew. In the world I'd known – the world I'd destroyed – I'd accidentally killed my ten-year-old son; but this was far worse. Here, he'd never even existed at all; and again, it was entirely my fault.

I left ruefully, suppressing the burning behind my eyes before it could turn into tears.

X

I traveled next to Roshi's island. The Kame house was still there; thank the gods, but when I landed and attempted to greet my old master when I found him, he looked at me first like I was a stranger, and then like I was something nasty he'd scrape off the bottom of his boot.

"I know who you are," he interrupted me as I tried to explain myself.

I stopped with my mouth half-open, fearing the worst.

"You're that Kakarot guy, the one who's always hanging around with that good-for-nothing prince."

"I... I d -" I began. I'd thought for sure that at least Roshi would know me; and I was right, but not in the way I'd hoped.

"Get off my island, Saiyan trash," Roshi growled, "And if I see you back here again you'll get the business end of a walking stick and a Kamehameha to the ass, clear?"

My shoulders slumped and I nodded miserably, taking flight with haste as he brandished his staff at me threateningly.

X

I flew for hours, stopping now and then in the cities I passed and asking about Vegeta's whereabouts. I always got one of two responses. The people would either recognize me – or rather, recognize Kakarot's face and think I was him – and slam their doors; or they wouldn't know who I was, or much else of use. Either way, I got no information on the prince I sought.

"Will no one on this godsdamn planet help me?!" I shouted at the twelfth or thirteenth door that had been slammed in my face. As I expected, I got no response from anyone or anything. I'd never felt so alone; not even when all of my family and friends were dead, because at least I could wish them back. I doubted this planet that disguised itself as Earth even had dragonballs.

And I wondered how I was going to fix this if that was true.

X

Just when I was about to give up, I sensed an enormous energy level flare in the distance. Only a full-blooded Saiyan could produce a ki-signal like that, and it did feel strangely familiar. Not Vegeta's ki. It was my own.

I followed the ki-signature, situations and possibilities of every array flooding into my mind. The ki – Kakarot's ki... it felt awkward to think of that name as being different from me – was not alone. Another high power level was in the same location; vying with the energy and... and devouring it. That's really the only way I could explain it.

Kakarot's ki was frantic, almost desperate, and I wondered if he – I, whatever – was being attacked by the owner of that strange new energy. My own ki only ever spiked and quavered like that when I was in danger.

The ki signals spiraled higher in tandem, and I gave up on flying and teleported to the source of the radiating energies.

I'd thought I had pictured every possible scenario, but nothing could have prepared me for the scene that greeted me. I appeared in a room I didn't recognize, and not far away was a large bed swathed in dark crimson sheets. But that wasn't what drew my attention. I saw...myself...

The power signals I'd felt before were nearing the highest level I'd felt from them, and I zoomed out my range of vision to take in the whole scene.

I nearly fainted with shock right then and there.

So tangled was the pair of completely nude bodies before me that I almost didn't recognize the other person besides... besides me, I guess. But there was no denying that flame of spiked, dark hair. Nor the low, passionate groans tearing from that royal throat as the prince I thought I knew hammered into a body I barely recognized as mine. Somehow, the image had a hard time congealing in my mind, and I quickly left the room at a sprint without them noticing me, a dual, ragged scream of simultaneous release chasing me out.

I leaned against the wall in the hallway; attempting futilely to banish the image burned behind my eyelids and breathing like I'd run a mile.

Piccolo had seemed honest enough when he said Vegeta was... had been... fucking me – fucking Kakarot, I corrected hastily – but I didn't think... I didn't think I'd walk in on them!

The unfeasible image in my mind was still clear as crystal, though; so I wasn't allowed to tell myself I'd been hallucinating... seeing things... Oh, I'd seen things all right... Too many things.

There was something about seeing you own face twisted with raw pleasure and emotion while your sworn arch rival plowed into a body identical to yours... hearing your own breathless pleas for more echoed by a low, baritone panting... that was... unsettling to say the least.

TBC