Hey there!

Wow, I'm doing good, updated two stories in 3 days :O

Without further ado, the next chapter

Enjoy :D

The evening passed by and changed in the early night. The temperatures were still relatively high, but the coolness was starting to gain ground almost unnoticed. Like a shadow that is cast on the ground and grows bigger as the moon moves through the heavens, so did the coolness spread through the air, as a sign of the nightfall.

It was silent, like the quiet night always was. The only sound that broke through the veil of silence that was cast over the property was the cheerful and harmonious singing of the choirs of crickets, who filled the quiet air with their simultaneous songs, repeating the same verse over and over again.

It was in this hour that Gohan found Trunks on the impressive porch that led to the with shadows imbedded gardens of the castle. The young prince sat on the stone railing, with his head supported by his left knee, and he looked at the velvet sky with his bright eyes. If Gohan didn't know any better, he would say that Trunks was carrying an air of solemnity, almost melancholy. But he brushed it of as impossible. Trunks was the eternal optimist. Melancholy was not his thing.

As Gohan approached Trunks, the latter cocked his head slightly to the left, as a sign that he knew Gohan was there. The General silently leaned on the cold railing, next to Trunks, and he too stared at the dark sky. They remained like that for a few moments, letting themselves be awed by the impressive nightfall.

"It still looks the same." Trunks eventually spoke softly, as he averted his gaze from the sky to look absently at the garden. The swans were floating soundlessly in the quiet water of the pond, brushing their feathers and washing their wings. Gohan watched it with silent admiration.

"The castle?" He asked after a while and Trunks nodded aloofly.

"Yeah, the castle." He replied almost in a whisper. All of a sudden a smile crept on his face as he thought about the pleasant memories of his childhood.

"You remember all the summers we spend here?" He eventually asked, his gaze never leaving the magnificent garden. Nostalgic feelings became the best of Gohan as he too began to smile as he thought about their joined childhoods.

"Yes, I do." He replied slowly. "All too well."

"How we played hide and seek in the halls," Trunks began while he thought back at their childhood, all the while looking at the garden absently. "… and how we plucked the flowers from their beds, and how we looked for bugs in the gardens?"

"And how we teased the ducks and swans in the pond and flew to the horizon way past bedtime…" Gohan continued thinking back with fondness.

"And how we got spanked by our mothers when we returned…"

Both men laughed heartily as they thought back at that. One word crept in their heads, something that they had nightmares of as little kids: Fryingpan…

"How could I ever forget those memories…Those were the days." Gohan mumbled quietly, before he sighed deeply.

"Seems like a dream now." The prince said after a while, the melancholic air around him again. This actually startled Gohan a bit. This wasn't the Trunks he knew.

"Trunks, what's wrong with you…You're being awfully out of character." He said with a nervous chuckle, trying to bring it lightly, in which he succeeded, told by the slight smile on Trunks' face.

"Nah, just memories passing me by." The prince decided to answer eventually. Gohan still looked at him with suspicion, but he decided to let him be for a while. He presumed everyone was off-day sometime, even the optimist Trunks. They shared a comfortable silence, like only true friends could before Gohan decided to break it.

"Sorry for the behavior of my uncle. He should not have talked to you like that." The General apologized with a glint of loathing in his eyes as he thought back at the disgusting pig that was his uncle.

"Don't be sorry. Raditz is a rude man, we all know that. It won't make me sleep any less." Trunks replied while he shrugged indifferently, obviously not moved by the insults of Raditz.

"Well, it annoys me… I should not have taken him with us." Gohan said while a frown appeared on his face. Another silence followed between the two men, broken eventually by Trunks.

"You can always… kick him out." He stated slyly, causing Gohan to smirk devilishly at the thought of that.

"I could do that…" He said as he considered his options, while he looked at Trunks with a meaningful expression. As Gohan thought about that and was occupied with imagining the best way to kick him out, Trunks expression became grave again and after a while he spoke again.

"Gohan, I need to tell you something." He said, causing Gohan to stop his train of thoughts while he turned a concerned eye to Trunks as he had heard the tone in which he spoke.

He saw that the prince was carrying an expression that just didn't belong on his face; a dark expression. This Gohan had never seen before and it worried him little. He had known Trunks practically his entire life and he had never shown such expression. How bad could this news be, if it caused Trunks to act terribly out of character?

"This cannot be shared with anyone else but you…this must not be known by anyone, understand?" Trunks said alarmingly.

Gohan only nodded, but looked at his friend with narrowed eyes of suspicion.

"Alright…" Trunks began after he took a deep sigh. "…do you remember what I told you three weeks ago. On the night of the banquet in the palace, to celebrate your victory? Do you remember Gohan?"

"Remember what?" Gohan said as he shook his head in confusion, while Trunks looked at him urgently.

"About my father. My suspicion has not abandon me…he's up to something, and I know what." Trunks replied darkly. "He's planning something and it concerns you."

Gohan looked at him wide-eyed, shock evident on his face. A stream of emotions flowed through his being. Disbelief, surprise, confusion, concern. But what filled him the most was a cloud of doubt; doubt, whether Trunks was right or wrong.

"You know this? How?" He asked as he did no trouble hiding the doubt, that was evidently displayed on his face.

"I overheard my father talking about it with my mother." Trunks replied as he sunk into his thoughts, reliving the scene that led this particular conversation..

"It happened just after you left to go to Alderyn. That night, I decided to visit my mother, as I often do when I'm at court. I didn't know that my father was with mother too, though I saw the door was slightly opened, and when I stretched out my hand to open it fully, I heard my father's dim voice. I fell into their conversation, but I soon understood it was about you."

He paused and Trunks glanced at his friend to determine his emotion. Gohan's face carried a startled but suspicious frown, and yet he was anxious to hear what Trunks had to say. This urged Trunks to go on, while he absently thought his friend would get the surprise of his life… and not in a good way.

"They talked about you… and Braeri." He eventually said, turning his gaze to the ground as he said the last two words.

If Gohan was expecting anything at all about what he was to hear, he wasn't expecting this.

"Me and Braeri…? As in your sister?" He asked, eyes wide with disbelief.

"Yes, Gohan… my sister." The prince replied slowly as his eyes met those of his friend. "You are to mate her."

Very slowly those words dawned upon Gohan. It took him quite some time to grasp the meaning of that sentence and when he did, his innards seemed to clasp together. A sort of nervous panic went through his body like the blood flowing through his veins and the color in his face disappeared almost completely. His face was twitched in an expression that would resemble horrified stupefaction the most and he continuously opened his mouth to say something and closed it again out of lack of words. He looked at Trunks and when he saw the meaningful expression on his face, he knew what his true message was.

He was a dead man.

He didn't know how, but eventually he gathered himself again, and instinctively looking around he focused his attention to the young adult in front of him.

"Are you absolutely sure… absolutely, 100 percent?" He asked in a hushed voice, so that he was certain no-one could hear their conversation.

"I am positive." Trunks replied decisively, in an equally hushed voice as he looked at Gohan with concern.

The general nodded nervously as he bit his lower lips, as if the slight pain would calm him down a bit. It didn't, actually, and in panic he ran a unsteady hand through his pitch black hair as he turned his back on Trunks and started to walk to and fro the incredible stone porch. With his both hands folded behind his neck, he looked at the dark sky, hoping to find the answer to his problems there, but he didn't. A few moments in silence went by, while Trunks gazed at his friend with a grave expression. He didn't know what to say to make the situation seem brighter than it was. And besides, all attempts to make it brighter would be a big lie and Trunks knew that Gohan wasn't waiting for that. So instead, he kept his silence, and he waited for his friend to recover from his shock.

"You know I would say no…" Gohan's rasp voice suddenly came from his throat, while he still had his eyes fixed on the sky. Trunks nodded silently.

"I know you would… that is why I'm here."

"But refusing is just…" Gohan mused aloud, looking for the right words to finish his sentence.

"…out of the question." Trunks finished aloofly, and Gohan nodded.

"Refusing would be rejecting, rejecting would be insulting, insulting would be disgracing, disgracing would eventually lead to…"

"…Denunciation. You'll lose everything…"

"Because I didn't accept the hand of his daughter."

A cold fear gripped Gohan's heart, as he thought that his fate didn't lie in his own hands any more. Either accepting and having to spend the rest of his life with an annoying wench, or rejecting and face the wrath of the king. It wasn't because Braeri was really that terrible, it was more the fact that never in a million years he would choose someone like her. His real objection lay in the fact that he was obviously to powerless to make his own decisions, to powerless to navigate through his own life. Apparently, when he took his oaths, he gave his entire life to the King. Unwavering loyalty was expected from him and Gohan always found this naturally. But now, when the matters where so unconcerned with the reason why he took his oaths, which were dying for the fatherland, exterminating all those against the empire, defending the Saiyan cause at all costs, honoring the ancestors, he found himself being in anger.

Had Bann been right? Was he a puppet of Vegeta? A pawn in the game of one man?

And if he was, to what extend did his own freedom stretch?

As a general, he couldn't make trivial decisions without the approval of the King… he was deemed to follow every order his King gave. But did this also apply on his personal life?

And since when?

'No soul can argue with the will of those who stand above him' was a popular saying in the Saiyan culture. And he had always agreed with that. Children must obey their parents not only because they are their parents, but also because children don't know what is good for themselves… they don't have boundaries yet.

No soldier can stand up to his general, because he needs to be led.

No citizen can stand up to the government because he needs to be taken care of.

And if the leaders, the parents, the governments do not suffice in doing their tasks, it is up to the higher authority to do something about it.

But which authority was higher than the King's?

There were none…

This time he couldn't rely on the bond between his family and the King's. The King's will is his law… It was the rule he had lived by, and now it would break him.

"Why?" Gohan asked all of a sudden, his voice trembling with the underlying rage. "An unblemished record of service, an entire life dedicated to the imperial cause, a loyalty that did not once waver… Tell me Trunks, what have I done to deserve this?"

"Nothing, Gohan…" Trunks replied truthfully.

"Then why the hell does he do this to me?!" The general yelled furiously, not caring anymore if someone heard him.

A deathly silence followed. Trunks gazed at Gohan with eyes wide of shock, but he could not blame him for reacting this way. After all, he knew exactly what it was to not be able to make your own decisions. To be lived. He was the prince, after all…

"Because he knows you'd do it…" He answered softly, staring absently at some point in the distance.

"You'd do it, Gohan. You have given him the space to control your life. Maybe not at once, but gradually you gave more and gradually he asked more. And now, it is too late. It is too late to say no now, because you never said no before. You've always allowed him anything. You didn't approve it, but you allowed it. And suddenly, one day, you wake up and you find yourself completely under the power of your King. You have no will, you have no life… you are under his command. And indirectly, you have not tried to avert that fate. Indirectly, you have chosen this."

"Are you implying that this is my own fault?!" Gohan yelled angrily, furious of what Trunks suggested.

"NO!" Trunks shouted as he shook his head and made his way to his friend. He lay his both hands on the general's shoulders and looked at him with piercing eyes.

"No, Gohan." He repeated, softly and compromisingly this time as he slowly shook his head again. "We've all gone through this… we are all preys of this. Now you see the other side of my father. He is selfish and manipulative and not used to be denied of anything. It doesn't make him a bad man, but now you know his ways. My father is not the person you though he was… he is the King, but he's still a man. He's not divine, not a saint, not perfect… he is a man. Always remember that, Gohan."

Trunks gently tightened his grasp on Gohan's shoulders and slightly shook him to and fro. The general's eyes met those of the prince and read only truth in his eyes.

"He wouldn't forgive me if I refuse, would he?" Gohan asked although he already knew the answer.

Trunks nodded gravely.

"You said it yourself: refusing would be rejecting, rejecting would be insulting, insulting would be disgracing… and if there is something his pride can't take, it's disgrace."

"Why does he do this? What is his purpose of doing this?" Gohan asked desperately, after he closed his eyes when he learned the hard truth.

"I don't know." Trunks replied as he released Gohan's shoulders. "I don't know what he is trying to achieve with this, but I will find out. I promise you that."

Gohan managed to nod thankfully at him, before asking the question that unbeknownst to him would be of such incredible importance in the dim future.

"Trunks…I need to know…if I ever were to oppose the King, would you support me?"

"Always, my brother…always." Trunks said with a determined expression on his face and not a trace of doubt in his heart. "You have been more of a brother than Vegeta ever was a father."

And despite all the chaos in his head, Gohan smiled warmly at Trunks as clear memories crossed his mind.

"Brothers…" Gohan chuckled while he thought back to the past with warm feelings. "That reminds me of something. God, that was a long time ago. How did it go?"

And with smile on his face, Trunks started to utter the verse, a vow they took to each other, being quickly joined by Gohan and in unison, they finished it.

"Born from different roots

But brothers in life and death

Loyal to each other

To you, I am in dept

Where you go, I shall follow

Where you light is, I shall be

And not even eternity can change

That you are family to me

For eternity, my brother"

"The vow… you remember." Trunks said with slight surprise on his face.

"So do you." Gohan replied as he chuckled heartily.

"I know it by heart…I could never forget it, even if I tried."

"Same here, Trunks… same here."

dear gohan

hows going i am fine. look i can wright see i can wright my own letter all by myselve mom didn help. i love you big brother and no mater what your my hiero. Always and forever and i wish i coud be like you. i train much like you told me and im getting just as strong and braif as you.

wright me back i can wread to!

goten

With a lighter heart than he had this entire evening, he closed his brother's letter.

After his conversation with Trunks, he returned to his chambers, which he hadn't been to in a very long time. It still looked the same, not a single object was out of place and he was thankful for that. Taking place on the huge window-sill of his bedroom, he got the letter from under his armor and he carefully opened it. When he started reading, his demeanor changed drastically. Had he entered his chambers with a dark and grave feeling in his stomach, now he felt himself cheering up by the innocent letter of his little brother.

Goten…

As he leaned with his head against the wooden frame of the open window, he thought back to his brother. It had been four months that he had last seen him, but it felt like an eternity.

He would be seven years and four months right now. The last time he saw him was on his birthday. He still smiled at the thought of Goten's broad smile and glistering eyes when he saw the presents Gohan got him.

He was a cheerful little guy, always happy and innocent. Gohan felt sorry he saw him so seldom. His job required him to be away from home almost always, which gave him very little time to spend with his brother. But when they were together, the general and his little brother… man, you'd better watch out.

They would be all over the place, playing hide and seek, catching bugs, sparring in nature… because no matter how small small and young Goten was, he could launch a punch that could knock out a full grown Saiyan and would made his ancestors dizzy.

Gohan always let him win, and Goten would boast about his victory with anyone, saying that he defeated the mighty General Gohan. And Gohan would then wink at that person, urging him to play along, and they did, making Goten even more hyperactive than he was before.

He chuckled out loud as he took another glance at the letter. But as he read the words again, a melancholic demeanor came over him again.

He could write…

And read…

Little Goten could write and read his own letters.

And… and Gohan had not known it until now.

Gohan took a deep sigh. Time sure flew by fast. He had missed more that half of Goten's life. His big brother was absent for the majority amount of time and as we all know, time is not something you could catch up with.

Peculiar…

…When he thought of that, a memory suddenly sprang into his mind. It was a memory of him and Goten, on a peaceful and sunny springday a couple of months ago.

When he closed his eyes, he clearly saw it again. He re-lived the moment.

They had just been swimming and he was currently lying on the grass, with his eyes closed and he was enjoying the friendly sun that was touching his face gently. He could smell the freshness in the air and of the grass, that was tickling his bare back.

And then his brother called, and Gohan opened one eye to see what was wrong. Goten was standing in front of him, hopping up and fro on his feet.

"What's up, squirt?" Gohan had asked as he got up, his upper body supported by his elbows.

"Mom taught me a verse yesterday." Goten said in his own cheerful, innocent manner, which made Gohan smile with affection.

"She did, huh? Well let's hear it." He answered and Goten cleared his throat, trying to act serious, but it immediately lost its effect when he started to recite the verse with a big smile on his face.

"Yesterday is the past, because it has been done.

Tomorrow is a mystery, because it is to come

Today is present, because it's what we do

And because it is a present, I give it to you."

That verse kept lingering in Gohan's mind from the day he heard it. Present is a present… a gift… It was true. Especially when you are a soldier, present is a gift, every day is a gift.

Goten probably didn't even know what wisdom lay underneath those sweet words and rhythmic sentences. But then again, that's why it was so sweet. He had no pretension as he recited it… it was just him.

Gohan turned his gaze to the dark sky and absently stared at it as he thought about his little brother. Suddenly he saw the position of the moon.

Was it a coincidence?

Or was it meant to be?

Because it was almost midnight. And midnight was the time to pray to the ancestors.

He hadn't prayed in a while… a few months actually. Should this mean he should… pray?

He averted his gaze from the moon and tried to avoid looking at it the entire time. But something just made him want to look at it again. Eventually he gave in. While he rolled his eyes in exasperation, he rose from the window-sill and made his way to the door.

If it so desperately wanted for him to pray, then he would pray.

Stupid moon…

He was in the chamber of the ancestors and surrounded by the numerous paintings, the countless statues and he was under the richly colored roof, that portrayed an event which happened over three hundred years ago, to an ancestor he didn't even know.

But right now, he was standing in front of the statue of the beautiful bird. The phoenix, protector of the house of Son. With a clear recognition, he read the line on the ribbon that ran diagonally across the bird's chest and he smiled a little as he thought how well it fit in his own situation.

"From the ashes, I shall arise." He read aloud, understanding the language in which it was written. It was, after all, the Saiyan language.

In piety, he bend his head and he clasped his hands together and he started the pray that he had postponed for too long.

He prayed for the ancestor's well-being in the after life. He especially addressed Bardock and he honored him and thanked him for visiting him in his dreams.

He then prayed for his families well-being and that evil and ill-will would be absent around them. He mentioned his mother and his father, and of course little Goten. He prayed that he would see them soon and asked the mighty phoenix to always carry his spirit to them, so he could always be with them.

Then he prayed for Trunks and he asked the ancestors to look after him in difficult times. He prayed for Bann and that he may be welcomed with warm feelings by his family.

He prayed for old Brand, and asked the ancestors to ease his remaining life a bit… and prayed that he would not be any more unorthodox than he already was.

He prayed for queen Bulmara, lest fear would be absent from her body and lest she would be protected against all those who meant harm.

And lastly, he prayed for himself. He asked for support and he asked for strength and that he may find strength in himself.

He felt his demeanor ease. It was definitely relieving to pray every once in a while. Perhaps he should do this more often.

He looked at the huge phoenix in front of him and he closed his pray with the last sentences, which were always spoken in the Saiyan language.

"Hominog'hai, dun-hè alitheg com'he. Undïethè r'hach lythiä, odrié'ahn um'besqü càthr'on dun upás d'ha phun'dhé hàn comphér adro'ghe. Ques'té cor'hagaí umi'rhè dun rheaé homin garad'ha."

When he was done, he bowed his head one more time, before he was distracted from his ritual by the sudden sound of light footsteps on the marble floor.

A frown appeared on his face as he turned his gaze to the passageway that led to this chamber, where the footsteps seemed to be coming from.

When the person revealed himself and stepped into the ray of moonlight that was cast on the ground through the high windows, Gohan's expression changed from an irritated frown, to a surprised gazed.

Especially since the person wasn't a he…

…but a she…

…very definitely a she…

Oh-oh who might that be?

Translatation saiyan language: mighty phoenix, hear my humble words. Carry my voice to those I dear, stike fear in those I call my enemies and bring hope to those who are my followers. May the blessing of the ancestors be over me if doom darkens my path.

This is always how I imagined the saiyan language. Is it stupid?

So what'ya think about this chapter?

Let me know...

Yoehoe, next chapter is gonna be fun:D gh/vi action again (wink wink)

But if you like, please review