...........................................................................................~* BROKEN HOME
.........................................................................................................................Rhapsody~*
It was decided that everyone, including Bulma, was to join the search for Trunks. His ki was still undetectable to both Vejita and Goku, so they were to split up and scour every inch of the city and the surrounding areas. It was an unusually chilly summer night, so the kid couldn't have gone very far, since he was unable to fly. Just before they stepped out the door, Bulma gave voice to a thought that had been in the back of all their minds.
"Do you suppose that..." Bulma trailed off for a moment, uncertain. "Trunks can feel your ki's and is hiding?"
Yamcha shook his head. "Why would he do that? No normal kid would want to be all alone like that for such a long time."
"He's not just any little kid," Bulma pointed out defensively. "He's the son of Vejita and I. That alone should tell you something about how 'normal' he is."
"It was just a thought," Yamcha said, holding up his hands. "Sorry!"
"Do you have any idea where he might go?" Goku asked gently. "It would help if we had some kind of search plan, don't you think?"
"I don't know." Bulma glanced over at Vejita, who had been strangely quiet throughout the conversation, then concentrated harder. "He might have tried to follow me. If he did, then he was headed for the ocean."
"He sure picked a nice night to go to the beach," Yamcha commented with a small laugh.
"Do you ever just SHUT UP?!" Vejita demanded, looking close to explosion. "One more brainless comment out of you and I'll--"
"Stop it, you two," Bulma warned with a glance out the window. "Trunks is out there somewhere-- I want to find him as soon as possible." She tied up her hair sloppily and crossed her arms. "Vejita, you're going to carry me. And none of your tricks!"
Vejita rolled his eyes at her bossiness, but consented, and soon enough they were on their way to the shore. Goku was pretty much neck-and-neck to him, being NEARLY as powerful (Vejita would never admit his superiority, not even at a time like this) and Yamcha struggled behind them.
"You might be thinking that you've been completely forgiven," Bulma said into Vejita's ear, tightening her grip around his neck. "But I haven't forgotten that easily. You are not going to have an easy time of this, let me tell you." At Vejita's surprised look, she mimicked his trademark smirk with one of her own. "Ha-- it sucks to be on the receiving end for once, doesn't it? I'm thinking... PINK for the theme... Yes, I've always wanted a nice, girly, floral-themed wedding."
"I should drop you right now, woman."
"Do it and I'm flying with Yamcha or Goku the rest of the way." Bulma smiled when Vejita settled for a nasty look and began scanning the ground below them again. They were on the outskirts of the city now, which was unusual, considering their normal flight speed. "Why are you guys flying so damned slow?"
Vejita scowled. "Kakkarott is acommadating for Yamcha's lack of power. Its sweet, isn't it?"
Bulma looked over Vejita's shoulder at Yamcha, who looked to be fighting a useless battle. "He'll never make it soon enough. Leave them behind, they'll catch up eventually."
Vejita took her advice and sped up considerably. Bulma was terrified in spite of herself-- even at her worst, she never even DROVE this fast.
"Scared?" Vejita asked mockingly. "I could always slow down. I know how humans are."
"Fuck you," Bulma responded appropriately. "Just shut up and fly."
Palm trees swayed in the cool breeze up ahead. Sensing her impatience, Vejita picked up the pace a bit and hurried towards them. Something was tickling at the edge of his awareness, and he was almost sure that it was Trunks. The ki was oddly weak, and flickering. That, above all things, worried the Saiyan. He was thankful that Bulma, who tended to overreact, could not sense ki's. It seemed that hours went by before they arrived at the beach and landed a bit awkwardly on the sand. Bulma tumbled off of Vejita's back, stumbling a bit, and scanned the area.
"Looking around like that isn't going to do much considering that its dark outside," Vejita pointed out as he waited for Goku and Yamcha to land. "If you were a Saiyan you might be able to accomplish something, but unfortunately you have a weak human body."
"You didn't think it so terrible when Trunks was conceived," Bulma snapped.
"Feel anything?" Goku asked when he touched down. "I thought that I caught something, but its--"
"Diminishing and weak," Vejita finished for him bitterly. "Let's get looking."
Vejita and Goku headed off in one direction, leaving Bulma and Yamcha to go the other way. Bulma guessed that Vejita had to be pretty worried if he would leave her alone with the person he had very recently been about to kill because of his closeness to her. In a way, the small gesture made her feel a little better. Perhaps Vejita wasn't so impossible after all.
"Its pointless to look in this direction," Yamcha complained, watching Goku and Vejita leave. "The ki is coming from THAT direction. This is just a ploy to get away from me, I know it..."
Bulma shook her head. "Stop being so negative, Yamcha, its driving me crazy. I don't need that right now. My son is missing." She had started to walk in the other direction when Yamcha suddenly jerked as if he were about to have a seizure. "What is it?"
Yamcha squinted off in the direction Goku and Vejita had gone, trying to make something out in the darkness. "I felt something-- I think that Vejita's ki just jumped a hell of a lot."
"They must have found him!" Bulma started running in that direction, slowed a bit by the deep sand. She didn't stop running into she caught sight of Goku and Vejita standing in front of a cluster of palm trees, silent. "Hey! Did you find him?"
She received no response. She stopped beside Goku, panting, unable to see through the inky blackness of the night. "Help me out here, guys, light yourselves up!"
"Bulma--" Goku started quietly.
"Don't 'Bulma' me!" the desperate girl exclaimed, starting to fear for the worse. "Power the fuck up, NOW!"
She shaded her eyes as a pulsating blue light illuminated arond Goku and lit up the immediate area. When her eyes refocused, she wished that she had never asked him to do it.
"Oh, Kami," she breathed. "No."
Trunks was huddled in the sand, motionless. He looked so... cold. His thin, boyish lips were a dark shade of blue, and his face was pale and colorless. It looked as if he had been there for a little while, alone. When Bulma reached out to touch him, she found that his clothes were still wet. Goku and Vejita were silent behind her.
"Trunks," she whispered hoarsely, pulling the little body into her lap. "Wake up, Mommy's here..." Hot tears began falling onto his still face. The pained expression he still wore broke her heart. "No..."
Yamcha, who had just arrived, gasped in horror.
Goku put a hand on Bulma's shoulder. "Bulma... maybe it would be best if you went home and got some sleep. We can take care--"
"Take care of WHAT?!" Bulma screeched hysterically, brushing his hand away. "My son is DEAD, Goku!" She turned her back towards him once again, and her shoulders began to shake. "He's dead..." The girl finally gave in to uncontrollable, wracking sobs that shook her entire body. It was painful to watch-- Yamcha and Goku both averted their eyes to the sand, their eyes welling up with tears.
Vejita, however, was absolutely numb. The fact that his girlfriend, mate, whatever she was to him was in inconsolable pain registered; his body just didn't react. He could have gone to her and uttered some comforting words, he supposed, but it wouldn't help. He was just as desperate as she was. But he would not shed a tear. Not after all he had been through, and not in front of Kakkarott and the weakling. Never. He hadn't cried when his father had shipped him off to Frieza, he wouldn't cry now... there was no way... The image of Trunks, his first and only son, the heir to the Saiyan throne, cold and lifeless in the arms of Bulma, struck him harder than anything he had ever seen. He had witnessed massacres more bloody than your worst nightmare without blinking, yet this pathetic picture that could be seen in any movie made him want to curl up and die. When Goku made a move towards him, he held up a hand, and the other man shrunk away like Vejita had actually hit him. For the first time, Goku looked a bit SCARED of him... But the price was too much to bear. Vejita began backing away from the tragic scene, his face expressionless, then paused.
Bulma had all but collapsed in the sand with Trunks still in her grasp. She had turned so that he could get glimpsed of her face. It was twisted into an expression of hopelessness and sorrow that he had never seen the equal of, even when her father had passed. Even Vejita could not walk away from her. Not now. She was crying so hard that it was a wonder her small human body didn't break. Some small part of Vejita wanted to go to her and ease her pain, but he was unable to move. Trunks, their son, was dead. Gone. Forever.
Bulma cried so hard that she thought she would die, but unfortunately, she didn't. She was still alive, stuck in this horrible situation with no escape. Trunks was dead, and all because of her. If she hadn't been so damned selfish and had decided to face her problems instead of running away, her son would still be at home, warm and safe. She buried her face in his tangled hair and suppressed the urge to scream. She had often wished that the motionless child in her arms would just go away, but never, not in a million years, had she ever even considered that that very thing was possible. Not like this.
"I love you. I love you Trunks..."
Her voice sounded so small and pathetic... after this, would she ever want to speak again? A fresh round of tears came round, and this time it was actually painful. Her sides and throat felt like they were being torn apart. She squeezed her eyes shut in an effort to stop the crying, but the tears kept on coming.
"Bulma." Goku's voice sounded so far away... "Let go. We've got to get you inside..."
Bulma's head suddenly felt very light, and her vision swam. He sounded so far away... so far...
"Bulma..." It was Goku again. "Get up..."
Bulma kissed her son one last time, and then fainted.
She woke up hours later, on the couch in the den of Capsule Corps. There were faint voices all around her, but she couldn't see clearly quite yet...
"Hey, she's awake!"
A hand passed in front of her face, and Bulma blinked up at the concerned face of her mother. It looked as if the old woman had done her share of crying also-- her makeup was smeared and her eyes were red-rimmed. No woman deserved so much pain their lives... it was all her fault... Bulma made an attempt to fall back out of consciousness, but her mother shook her forcefully.
"Wake up, Bulma!" she called. "You can't escape from this one, dear, wake up!"
Bulma sighed and brushed some damp hair out of her eyes. "Where's Trunks?"
"He's gone, Bulma honey... He's sleeping eternally up in his room, bless the poor child..." A tear fell down Mrs. Briefs' wrinkled face, and Bulma was brought back to sickening reality again. "He's dead. You must stay awake, for Vejita's sake. He won't talk to anybody, and he's so... still."
"Vejita..." Bulma sat up weakly. "Oh Kami, what are we going to do?"
"He's outside, dear." Mrs. Briefs helped Bulma up off the couch and offered a faint smile. "Go to him."
Bulma left her mother and passed through the kitchen, where the whole gang was gathered. They stared at her as she passed, but she ignored them. She passed straight through the doorwall and began crossing the backyard out to the gazebo, where all of this had started. She found it laughingly ironic that the same place where she and Vejita had first kissed would be the place where they would meet once again, for the death of their son.
Vejita was sitting with his back to the house, still and apparently staring up at the stars. Bulma wiped away some tears and stepped up onto the gazebo to sit beside him. He didn't react immediately, but when the human girl wrapped her arms around him and buried her face in his chest, the faintest hint of recognition could be seen in his black eyes.
"That's where Vejitasei used to be," he told her quietly, his voice monotonous. "If we had been there, the brat would have never been able to get outside. The method of discipline there was far superior to anything that they have on this ball of shit."
Bulma sniffled and lifted tear-filled eyes to the stars also. "I loved him so much..."
Vejita finally came back to life. He looked down at Bulma, and she was amazed to see that his eyes were filled with tears of their own, though he didn't let them fall. "No shit. The brat was actually beginning to grow on me. Just think, he had a chance of defeating Kakkarott's pathetic excuse of a son." When Bulma looked as if she were going to sob harder, his expression softened, and he took her chin in one hand. "Don't break apart now, woman. If the kid were here, he would bitch and moan about your crying."
"But he's dead, Vejita," Bulma choked. "He can't bitch and moan about anything anymore."
When she started sobbing again, Vejita did not protest. He simply took her in his arms and fixed his gaze back on the stars, fixed on that spot where Vejitasei had once been.
"I know," he finally said. "I know."
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(A/N): .... Umm... I'm not sure what to say after that, besides that its not over yet. Thank you for all the nice reviews-- I'm happy to know that you guys DO exist! ^_^ So, until next time...
Rhapsody~*
HawaiianBabay@aol.com
AIM Hawaiian Babay
_________________________________________________________________________________________
.........................................................................................................................Rhapsody~*
It was decided that everyone, including Bulma, was to join the search for Trunks. His ki was still undetectable to both Vejita and Goku, so they were to split up and scour every inch of the city and the surrounding areas. It was an unusually chilly summer night, so the kid couldn't have gone very far, since he was unable to fly. Just before they stepped out the door, Bulma gave voice to a thought that had been in the back of all their minds.
"Do you suppose that..." Bulma trailed off for a moment, uncertain. "Trunks can feel your ki's and is hiding?"
Yamcha shook his head. "Why would he do that? No normal kid would want to be all alone like that for such a long time."
"He's not just any little kid," Bulma pointed out defensively. "He's the son of Vejita and I. That alone should tell you something about how 'normal' he is."
"It was just a thought," Yamcha said, holding up his hands. "Sorry!"
"Do you have any idea where he might go?" Goku asked gently. "It would help if we had some kind of search plan, don't you think?"
"I don't know." Bulma glanced over at Vejita, who had been strangely quiet throughout the conversation, then concentrated harder. "He might have tried to follow me. If he did, then he was headed for the ocean."
"He sure picked a nice night to go to the beach," Yamcha commented with a small laugh.
"Do you ever just SHUT UP?!" Vejita demanded, looking close to explosion. "One more brainless comment out of you and I'll--"
"Stop it, you two," Bulma warned with a glance out the window. "Trunks is out there somewhere-- I want to find him as soon as possible." She tied up her hair sloppily and crossed her arms. "Vejita, you're going to carry me. And none of your tricks!"
Vejita rolled his eyes at her bossiness, but consented, and soon enough they were on their way to the shore. Goku was pretty much neck-and-neck to him, being NEARLY as powerful (Vejita would never admit his superiority, not even at a time like this) and Yamcha struggled behind them.
"You might be thinking that you've been completely forgiven," Bulma said into Vejita's ear, tightening her grip around his neck. "But I haven't forgotten that easily. You are not going to have an easy time of this, let me tell you." At Vejita's surprised look, she mimicked his trademark smirk with one of her own. "Ha-- it sucks to be on the receiving end for once, doesn't it? I'm thinking... PINK for the theme... Yes, I've always wanted a nice, girly, floral-themed wedding."
"I should drop you right now, woman."
"Do it and I'm flying with Yamcha or Goku the rest of the way." Bulma smiled when Vejita settled for a nasty look and began scanning the ground below them again. They were on the outskirts of the city now, which was unusual, considering their normal flight speed. "Why are you guys flying so damned slow?"
Vejita scowled. "Kakkarott is acommadating for Yamcha's lack of power. Its sweet, isn't it?"
Bulma looked over Vejita's shoulder at Yamcha, who looked to be fighting a useless battle. "He'll never make it soon enough. Leave them behind, they'll catch up eventually."
Vejita took her advice and sped up considerably. Bulma was terrified in spite of herself-- even at her worst, she never even DROVE this fast.
"Scared?" Vejita asked mockingly. "I could always slow down. I know how humans are."
"Fuck you," Bulma responded appropriately. "Just shut up and fly."
Palm trees swayed in the cool breeze up ahead. Sensing her impatience, Vejita picked up the pace a bit and hurried towards them. Something was tickling at the edge of his awareness, and he was almost sure that it was Trunks. The ki was oddly weak, and flickering. That, above all things, worried the Saiyan. He was thankful that Bulma, who tended to overreact, could not sense ki's. It seemed that hours went by before they arrived at the beach and landed a bit awkwardly on the sand. Bulma tumbled off of Vejita's back, stumbling a bit, and scanned the area.
"Looking around like that isn't going to do much considering that its dark outside," Vejita pointed out as he waited for Goku and Yamcha to land. "If you were a Saiyan you might be able to accomplish something, but unfortunately you have a weak human body."
"You didn't think it so terrible when Trunks was conceived," Bulma snapped.
"Feel anything?" Goku asked when he touched down. "I thought that I caught something, but its--"
"Diminishing and weak," Vejita finished for him bitterly. "Let's get looking."
Vejita and Goku headed off in one direction, leaving Bulma and Yamcha to go the other way. Bulma guessed that Vejita had to be pretty worried if he would leave her alone with the person he had very recently been about to kill because of his closeness to her. In a way, the small gesture made her feel a little better. Perhaps Vejita wasn't so impossible after all.
"Its pointless to look in this direction," Yamcha complained, watching Goku and Vejita leave. "The ki is coming from THAT direction. This is just a ploy to get away from me, I know it..."
Bulma shook her head. "Stop being so negative, Yamcha, its driving me crazy. I don't need that right now. My son is missing." She had started to walk in the other direction when Yamcha suddenly jerked as if he were about to have a seizure. "What is it?"
Yamcha squinted off in the direction Goku and Vejita had gone, trying to make something out in the darkness. "I felt something-- I think that Vejita's ki just jumped a hell of a lot."
"They must have found him!" Bulma started running in that direction, slowed a bit by the deep sand. She didn't stop running into she caught sight of Goku and Vejita standing in front of a cluster of palm trees, silent. "Hey! Did you find him?"
She received no response. She stopped beside Goku, panting, unable to see through the inky blackness of the night. "Help me out here, guys, light yourselves up!"
"Bulma--" Goku started quietly.
"Don't 'Bulma' me!" the desperate girl exclaimed, starting to fear for the worse. "Power the fuck up, NOW!"
She shaded her eyes as a pulsating blue light illuminated arond Goku and lit up the immediate area. When her eyes refocused, she wished that she had never asked him to do it.
"Oh, Kami," she breathed. "No."
Trunks was huddled in the sand, motionless. He looked so... cold. His thin, boyish lips were a dark shade of blue, and his face was pale and colorless. It looked as if he had been there for a little while, alone. When Bulma reached out to touch him, she found that his clothes were still wet. Goku and Vejita were silent behind her.
"Trunks," she whispered hoarsely, pulling the little body into her lap. "Wake up, Mommy's here..." Hot tears began falling onto his still face. The pained expression he still wore broke her heart. "No..."
Yamcha, who had just arrived, gasped in horror.
Goku put a hand on Bulma's shoulder. "Bulma... maybe it would be best if you went home and got some sleep. We can take care--"
"Take care of WHAT?!" Bulma screeched hysterically, brushing his hand away. "My son is DEAD, Goku!" She turned her back towards him once again, and her shoulders began to shake. "He's dead..." The girl finally gave in to uncontrollable, wracking sobs that shook her entire body. It was painful to watch-- Yamcha and Goku both averted their eyes to the sand, their eyes welling up with tears.
Vejita, however, was absolutely numb. The fact that his girlfriend, mate, whatever she was to him was in inconsolable pain registered; his body just didn't react. He could have gone to her and uttered some comforting words, he supposed, but it wouldn't help. He was just as desperate as she was. But he would not shed a tear. Not after all he had been through, and not in front of Kakkarott and the weakling. Never. He hadn't cried when his father had shipped him off to Frieza, he wouldn't cry now... there was no way... The image of Trunks, his first and only son, the heir to the Saiyan throne, cold and lifeless in the arms of Bulma, struck him harder than anything he had ever seen. He had witnessed massacres more bloody than your worst nightmare without blinking, yet this pathetic picture that could be seen in any movie made him want to curl up and die. When Goku made a move towards him, he held up a hand, and the other man shrunk away like Vejita had actually hit him. For the first time, Goku looked a bit SCARED of him... But the price was too much to bear. Vejita began backing away from the tragic scene, his face expressionless, then paused.
Bulma had all but collapsed in the sand with Trunks still in her grasp. She had turned so that he could get glimpsed of her face. It was twisted into an expression of hopelessness and sorrow that he had never seen the equal of, even when her father had passed. Even Vejita could not walk away from her. Not now. She was crying so hard that it was a wonder her small human body didn't break. Some small part of Vejita wanted to go to her and ease her pain, but he was unable to move. Trunks, their son, was dead. Gone. Forever.
Bulma cried so hard that she thought she would die, but unfortunately, she didn't. She was still alive, stuck in this horrible situation with no escape. Trunks was dead, and all because of her. If she hadn't been so damned selfish and had decided to face her problems instead of running away, her son would still be at home, warm and safe. She buried her face in his tangled hair and suppressed the urge to scream. She had often wished that the motionless child in her arms would just go away, but never, not in a million years, had she ever even considered that that very thing was possible. Not like this.
"I love you. I love you Trunks..."
Her voice sounded so small and pathetic... after this, would she ever want to speak again? A fresh round of tears came round, and this time it was actually painful. Her sides and throat felt like they were being torn apart. She squeezed her eyes shut in an effort to stop the crying, but the tears kept on coming.
"Bulma." Goku's voice sounded so far away... "Let go. We've got to get you inside..."
Bulma's head suddenly felt very light, and her vision swam. He sounded so far away... so far...
"Bulma..." It was Goku again. "Get up..."
Bulma kissed her son one last time, and then fainted.
She woke up hours later, on the couch in the den of Capsule Corps. There were faint voices all around her, but she couldn't see clearly quite yet...
"Hey, she's awake!"
A hand passed in front of her face, and Bulma blinked up at the concerned face of her mother. It looked as if the old woman had done her share of crying also-- her makeup was smeared and her eyes were red-rimmed. No woman deserved so much pain their lives... it was all her fault... Bulma made an attempt to fall back out of consciousness, but her mother shook her forcefully.
"Wake up, Bulma!" she called. "You can't escape from this one, dear, wake up!"
Bulma sighed and brushed some damp hair out of her eyes. "Where's Trunks?"
"He's gone, Bulma honey... He's sleeping eternally up in his room, bless the poor child..." A tear fell down Mrs. Briefs' wrinkled face, and Bulma was brought back to sickening reality again. "He's dead. You must stay awake, for Vejita's sake. He won't talk to anybody, and he's so... still."
"Vejita..." Bulma sat up weakly. "Oh Kami, what are we going to do?"
"He's outside, dear." Mrs. Briefs helped Bulma up off the couch and offered a faint smile. "Go to him."
Bulma left her mother and passed through the kitchen, where the whole gang was gathered. They stared at her as she passed, but she ignored them. She passed straight through the doorwall and began crossing the backyard out to the gazebo, where all of this had started. She found it laughingly ironic that the same place where she and Vejita had first kissed would be the place where they would meet once again, for the death of their son.
Vejita was sitting with his back to the house, still and apparently staring up at the stars. Bulma wiped away some tears and stepped up onto the gazebo to sit beside him. He didn't react immediately, but when the human girl wrapped her arms around him and buried her face in his chest, the faintest hint of recognition could be seen in his black eyes.
"That's where Vejitasei used to be," he told her quietly, his voice monotonous. "If we had been there, the brat would have never been able to get outside. The method of discipline there was far superior to anything that they have on this ball of shit."
Bulma sniffled and lifted tear-filled eyes to the stars also. "I loved him so much..."
Vejita finally came back to life. He looked down at Bulma, and she was amazed to see that his eyes were filled with tears of their own, though he didn't let them fall. "No shit. The brat was actually beginning to grow on me. Just think, he had a chance of defeating Kakkarott's pathetic excuse of a son." When Bulma looked as if she were going to sob harder, his expression softened, and he took her chin in one hand. "Don't break apart now, woman. If the kid were here, he would bitch and moan about your crying."
"But he's dead, Vejita," Bulma choked. "He can't bitch and moan about anything anymore."
When she started sobbing again, Vejita did not protest. He simply took her in his arms and fixed his gaze back on the stars, fixed on that spot where Vejitasei had once been.
"I know," he finally said. "I know."
_________________________________________________________________________________________
(A/N): .... Umm... I'm not sure what to say after that, besides that its not over yet. Thank you for all the nice reviews-- I'm happy to know that you guys DO exist! ^_^ So, until next time...
Rhapsody~*
HawaiianBabay@aol.com
AIM Hawaiian Babay
_________________________________________________________________________________________