Chapter 10 – Secrets

Vegeta has seen enough. He knows now that Mirai Trunks has been abused as well.

But who would be strong enough to do such a thing to him? In his timeline, all Z warriors were already dead. Gohan perhaps? Vegeta shakes his head in denial. The pain in Mirai's eyes was fresh; the abuse must have taken place fairly recently.

Vegeta sighs. He has no idea who did this to his future counterpart's son. He closes his eyes and falls asleep in a chair next to Trunks' bed.

Like he once did with Goku, Vegeta bumps into Mirai Trunks in his dream.

"What the…"

"Vegeta! We need to get out of here! It's after the both of us!" Trunks grabs his arm and drags him along.

"Who is?" Vegeta asks agitated.

"Not who, what," Trunks corrects him. A shadow rises up behind them, they can't seem to outrun it.

Suddenly, they run into a huge mirror. The dark cloud remains right behind them, cutting off their escape route.

They have no other option than to look into the mirror… Vegeta watches himself as he tries to save Kakarot from Frieza and Glacier, but to no avail. He falls to his knees, gasping in pain. For a moment, he doesn't remember that this is a dream. The pain of losing his mate rips through his chest. As he claws at his own chest to make the pain go away, he feels blood drip from his hands and wrists. From the corner of his eyes, he notices how Trunks falls down as well, victim to an equally terrible vision in the mirror. Vegeta catches a glimpse of what is happening to Trunks in the mirror, but before it enters his conscious mind, the dark shadow takes control and the world fades to black.

Mirai Trunks wakes up with a headache. The raw emotions from the nightmare are still alive inside of him. Tears of powerlessness well up in his eyes. "Kami damn it," he whispers. "I should never have been so weak."

"What do you mean?" Vegeta looks as rotten as he feels. He avoids the dark Saiyan prince's intense gaze.

"I… can't tell you."

"Why not?"

"Because that… thing still exist. I'm not sure if it's in this dimension as well, but it could be."

"Why is it after you?" Vegeta asks.

"I broke a promise," Mirai almost chokes on his own words. "But it was a promise I was forced to make."

"Trunks, please, show me what's going on. I can help you." Vegeta places his hands on Trunks' cheeks.

"No one can help me," Mirai spits. "I'd rather die than show my weakness to you, especially to you."

"What weakness would that be, Trunks? Hope? Trust me, that wasn't a weakness. What did he say to you? That he'd find a way to defeat the androids?"

Mirai stumbles back on his bed. His eyes narrow.

"You're just guessing," he growls.

"I'm very good at games, Trunks. I can imagine, that when Gohan died, you turned to someone else for help and guidance… But instead you received trauma and abuse. He forced you into things you would never have done willingly."

"This is impossible… You can't know this!"

"We are the same, Trunks. Even in another dimension, my father is not a person to be trusted."

Mirai breaks down and cries as the horrible truth is revealed.

"You're… right… he told me… he knew a way… to destroy the androids. He refused to tell me… unless I'd submit to him. When I did…" Trunks chokes out the words, crying like a little boy. "… he took over my mind… He took over my soul… I was his slave… for years…"

"And soon you developed feelings for your own father, as a reaction to the abuse of your grandfather. You idolized him, even though you hated him for not being there when you needed him most."

"I guess… that's… true…"

"Hence the devil's bond… I'm beginning to understand it now," Vegeta speaks softly. "Come here, Trunks."

Mirai leans forward to be embraced by Vegeta's strong arms. He is still sobbing violently.

"I'm sorry… If I had known this, I'd never let you be part of that victory party…"

"Don't apologize for that, Vegeta. I enjoyed every second of it."

Vegeta sighs stroking Trunks' lavender hair.

"Trunks… I need to ask you an important question. When the king took over your mind, made you his slave… What did he do exactly?"

"He drank my blood. Lots of it."

"Fucking bastard," Vegeta spits. "From what place on your body?"

"My arms, mostly. I remember one time he drained me from a wound on my inner thigh. It hurt like hell."

"I can imagine that… Do you have scars?"

"No. Nothing. After what he taught me about bonding, I checked regularly."

"So he's the one who told you all about bonding…"

"Yeah. I think he told me to emphasize that we were not bonded in any way, that I was simply there to please him."

"The arrogant fuck probably did," Vegeta growls, still angry. "He still has power over you, Trunks. We need to fix that first."

"Hah! You think I haven't tried before? It's impossible! I don't know how he does it, but I'd still answer to him if he'd call." Mirai punches the wall in frustration, leaving a hole.

"I have a secret weapon." Vegeta gets up, offering Mirai his hand.

"Or don't you want to be free again?"

Mirai gets up and follows Vegeta. When they approach King Vegeta's throne room, he pales.

"No way! I'm not going in there!"

"Yes, you are." Vegeta twists Mirai's arm behind his back and pushes him forward. "Don't be an idiot. He's the only one who can help you."

"Whatever he did to me in the past is not considered helpful, Vegeta!" Mirai snarls.

Vegeta stands still, catching his breath. "Listen to me, boy, there's two ways to enter that room. One, you'll be unconscious. Two, you'll be conscious and cooperating. Your choice."

Mirai pauses his struggling, then relaxes his muscles.

"I'm telling you, if you're trying to trick me, I'll hunt you down and have my way with you."

Then they walk through the heavy doors and come face to face with the king himself.

"Father, I need to talk to you," Vegeta tosses aside some guards that are standing in his way.

"Well, then I'd better make some time for you, huh?" The king roars: "Everybody out!"

The guards run off, until there's no one left in the throne room but King Vegeta, Prince Vegeta and Mirai Trunks.

"Have you bought me a present, son?" The king winks at Mirai, who glares back, ready to kill.

"He's a feisty one," the king comments. "Why are you here, Vegeta?"

"We need your help."

"'We'?"

Vegeta points his thumb at Mirai. "He's from another dimension. There, he's my son. Unfortunately, he's the only Saiyan warrior left in his dimension. So he came to seek help elsewhere… here."

"Help for what?" The king raises his eyebrows.

"Someone in the other dimension made him his slave," Vegeta states. "We need your help to undo the mind spell."

"I can imagine someone would want him," the king remarks.

"I'm sure you can," Mirai spits, an unholy fire burning in his eyes.

"How so?" the king asks, not in the least impressed.

"Because it was you who took me!" Mirai is inches away from going Super Saiyan.

"I see," the king leans back and drums his fingers on his throne. "In that case, it will be rather easy to remove the spell."

Mirai powers down immediately.

"Just tell me what to do," he mutters under his breath.

"Someone will have to fight him to regain your freedom," the king states. "I imagine Vegeta is going to do that?"

Mirai looks at the prince, awaiting his reply.

"I will. All I have to do is defeat him?"

"Indeed. But he will choose the kind of battle you fight. Be warned, son. You know he has more tricks up his sleeve than you."

"I don't give a shit," Vegeta says coldly. "Arigato, otousan." He turns around and leaves, Mirai follows him closely.