Stolen Hearts Chapter Twenty-Seven
Trunks felt a strong grasp enclose about the collar of his shirt and he was hoisted, with his eyes squeezed tightly shut, far into the air with absolutely no mildness. He began kicking and struggling madly when he became unfrozen at the fact that this really could be the end, and his heart was pounding like a heard of wild horses in his chest.
But the hand did not falter in its death grip.
"No please, I'm too young too die. You don't want to eat me anyway, I'm all bony and gross I swear! I tried eating myself once and-"
"Hush boy, I'm not going to eat you, that's disgusting. Now get a hold of yourself and stop being such a weakling. It's pathetic."
Outraged and shocked at such an admission, especially from a beast, Trunks forgot his fear and his eyes flew open with an intention of turning his efforts toward hitting his captor. Only then did he realize that it was no beast that held him at all, at least outwardly anyway.
It was a man, an elf more precisely, with pitch black upswept hair. He was obviously very strong, and had the build of a warrior, and there were many scars riddled along hid face and body from years of harsh living. There was a mildness, however, in his eyes that proclaimed no devil and Trunks was not longer afraid, only curious. In fact, it seemed most ridiculous to be afraid of this man for some reason, and Trunks felt foolish for the previous hysterics even when this man was certainly as dangerous as any beast.
"There is no beast," Trunks said as more of a revelation then a question.
"You aren't afraid of me?" the man said, his voice deep and rich and slightly disappointed.
"Why should I be?"
"Most people are," he replied as if it were ludicrous for someone not to be scared to death of his presence.
"Well I'm not," Trunks simply stated, with no intent of boasting.
"Confident little thing. You know, confidence can be deadly," the elf said with a smirk as he slowly released his prey, knowing he would never hurt a child. Again.
There was something else though, something he admired in this boy, something that intrigued him. He had little to no contact with other beings in the last 10 years, for he was completely withdrawn into absolute solitude. It was the only place that was safe for his broken heart. As far as he could get from any memory of her, any whisper of news.
He lived in a silent misery that could hardly be called life, but time has a way of dulling things and he had become accustomed to life again. People have an amazing resilience that gives them the ability to adapt, even after times when they are sure there is no way to go on, life finds a way. We can take much more then we believe.
This is not to say he was happy, nay happiness was something that had not graced him with its warmth, he was more…… neutral so to say. Incomplete. An empty shell. Inside there was a cavern begging to be filled, but never able. He missed her every moment, for against his best hopes he was not unfeeling. It's natural to want to be loved. But that loss was so constant it simply became a part of him, a shadowed corner that never quite got sun, even at noontime.
Love. Why was there ever a thing called love? That incomprehensible feeling? That feeling that hurts and yet, you yearn for? He should have never learnt about it.
He was in a purgatory, a lingering state of the torment of existence weighed against the horror of non-being.
The people of the nearby towns had even begun a myth about him being a horrible beast of sorts, and they cursed him and the havoc he wreaked. It was nothing new for him, he had be called a beast many a time before, but was somewhat amusing to have such an infamous reputation, especially with the wide eyed children. They were refreshing because they had not yet been jaded and embittered by the world, perhaps that was why it was so fun to scare them witless.
This incorrigible Fey child before him though was different…..
"Why do you scare people?" Trunks asked as if reading the man's thoughts.
"Because I can. And you deserve it for snooping around here, anyway, isn't that what you came here looking for? A good scare?" Vegeta turned his back on the boy hoping it would take a hint and leave, but noooo.
"Wow this is a neat place you have here," it said following him like a dog.
"I think you should go home kid. This is no place for you."
"Do you live alone?" Trunks continued ignoring the demand.
"I said get out, you nosy brat. I enjoy living alone and that is exactly the way I want to keep it," he growled, being sure this was blunt enough for the kid to get it before he had to throw him down the hill.
"How can you like living alone? Even in such a cool hideout as this….."
Vegeta twitched and observed the boy with a strained, thread-bare attention. It was long since he had seen youth's innocence and certainty. 'This kid must be unfathomably stupid or a masochist.'
He obviously wasn't getting rid of this annoyance anytime soon, so decided to at least throw off its questions with one of his own, mentally cursing himself for feeling it wrong to be violent towards this child.
"How old are you?"
"I'll be eleven in February."
"And you are up here challenging beasts?"
"I am not a child."
"Of course not," Vegeta said with a side of sarcasm, but no surprise.
"I should want to fight in the war, but my mother won't let me. She says it is wrong."
"She is a wise woman."
"I would like to defend my people."
"What if you were killed?"
"Then I would be dead."
"And how would that make your Mother feel? I suggest you leave the worries of war to those much more wizened then yourself," Vegeta said wondering why a child of his age had such intense thoughts..
"I know war is wrong, it is not that I want to fight or die, I just want to...to end the fighting. It would be nice to end fighting without fighting in return, but…… that is where I get stuck."
Vegeta raised an eyebrow. Few children would have formulated such a thought, and he found himself curious about who his parents were.
"What's your name?"
"Trunks. What's yours?"
"Oogly the Boogie Man. Now don't you have something better to do the sit here and talk with the 'beastie'?"
"I don't think you're a beast, we could be friends!" Trunks replied with the questionless acceptance of youth.
"Well you're the first... almost," Vegeta snuffed looking sideways at the boy curiously. Those eyes. Those fathomless blue eyes…… There was something so familiar about them... it unnerved him.
"You are probably just misunderstood. I bet if you went and talked to the people, they would see you were a really cool guy and they wouldn't be afraid of you any more and maybe they would hire you as a body guard or something, cuz I bet you're real strong."
"Is the world that simple for you kid?"
"The world is as simple as you make it. My mom says you have to find something you are passionate about and then focus on just that one thing and it whittles the world down to a more manageable size."
'That sounds like what I've been doing the past 10 years,' Vegeta thought dejectedly.
"Where is your mom? Don't you have a family?" Trunks asked innocently.
Vegeta winced slightly.
"I have no family. Not everyone is as lucky as you kid."
"No way! That's not cool. It's settled then. You have to come to dinner with me. My mom has been a little sad lately and some company will cheer her up. Oh, and she makes the best cider. She swears it is because she always includes a number of rotten apples in the mix, isn't that weird? I wonder if that could be true about people - if the world needs a few rotten people to make the sweetest mix. That would explain the problem of the Gods allowing evil in the world."
"No, no, no. No way kid. I'm not the kind of dinner guest you take home to a Fey household. Trust me, your Mother would be very unpleased with both of us," Vegeta said still amazed at the child's open acceptance.
"My mom wouldn't care! She's cool, she doesn't hate Elves like most Fearies do. And come on, I mean when's the last time you got out of this cave man, be honest?" Trunks giggled, "Oh man, is that a bow? That's a wicked one! I try to use one but I haven't gotten very good at it cuz no one else likes archery very much."
"Faeries usually don't."
"Well I do, so you gotta show me! Pleeeaaase? Come on it will be fun! If you don't want to go to dinner then at least you can show me a few moves, I bet you know tons!" Trunks chattered excitedly while Vegeta found himself looking for an exit before he realized it was HIS dwelling and he shouldn't have to run away from it.
"Why do you want to be better at archery?"
"I'm not sure. I've always been interested in it….Well?" Trunks asked expectantly.
"Well what?"
"Are you going to show me how to get better?"
"No."
Trunks made a frustrated growling sound and scrunched his eye brown trying to conceive of any diplomatic way to solve this situation of displeasure. He couldn't so he did the next most expedient thing. He borrowed Vegeta's bow himself. And he ran.
"What the hell do you think you are doing you little brat!" Vegeta yelled as he took up the chase, appalled that the kid would have the gal to steal HIS bow.
Trunks was surprisingly fast for his age so it took Vegeta longer then expected to catch him, but catch him he did, and he was in such a fury that tearing the kids head off looked like a pretty good option.
"Oh, you are gonna wish you were never born you spawn of Satan," he growled as he tore the bow from the child with one hand and with the other he heaved him into the air to shake him.
But Vegeta stopped sunddely when his eye caught sight of something very curious he hadn't seen before. The Fey child had Elf ears.
'Oh thank the gods he stopped,' Trunks thought cringing in silent fear cursing his plan gone terribly wrong.
"You have Elvish ears?"
Trunks eyes popped open and his heart sighed with relief realizing his would be murderer had been distracted.
"Uh yeah, my dad was an elf."
"Really...?," Vegeta said slowly a lump immediately forming in his stomach for some reason. Those eyes...
"Yea, my mom went through this whole ordeal when she was young that made her get that tired look, ya know? It sucks that the world is so dumb and now I'll never get to know my dad cuz he got killed. That's why I know she would be cool with having you come to dinner, cuz she was in love with an Elf once, so she doesn't have all that discrimination, ya know."
"What...what's your mother's name?" Vegeta choked out not really knowing if he wanted to know the answer or if he was ready, horrified of the change it would make. The lump in his stomach was growing exponentially with every second.
"My mom is Queen Bulma Pendragon."
Vegeta's eyes widened a fraction and he simple gaped. His heart stopped, then began to flip and pound erratically, so much so he though he might die…… No…..it was impossible, wasn't it? He was shocked; shaken to the core, and the first emotion he could hold onto out of the rush of a thousand, was disbelief. He was unable... unable to grasp…..
Could he really be this child's father?
A child he had never seen before. Those eyes...those eyes were Bulma's... His father was an Elf….. what else could it be?
A hundred questions bombarded Vegeta's mind as his turmoil and shock reached its pinnacle. It was just too much...too long. He couldn't breathe!
"Uh dude, are you alright?" Trunks said confused by this rapid transformation of his captor.
"What? Oh, I'm fine," Vegeta said setting the child, his child down, with much more finesse then before. He couldn't stop from shaking though. It was all too much, after all these years of feeling nothing, it all came back with a frightening rush. His world was turned upside down. He didn't know what to say, what to do, even with so many questions……..
"Did, do you know if your mother... misses your father...at all?" He began unsteadily, this was all such strange new territory, and he had no idea how to navigate through it without breaking into a million pieces.
"Are you kidding? Every day! I think she blames herself for his death, but that is ridiculous because she didn't know. I can see in her eyes that she loved him a lot, she still loves him, and I wish there was something I could do to take that pain away, even though she says I already help more then I'll ever know."
Vegeta gulped and squeezed his eyes shut trying to keep his head. He could hear his heart slamming madly against the confines of his chest.
Was it all...was it all just a mistake? Should he have stayed? Was the last 10 years of torment for nothing!? He hated that thought, that it could everything be solved that simply after all the times he had been in pain wishing for it to be different. The years had muddled the memory of that night, of the incredible pain that forced him to make his decision to leave, to let her have a better life…. He couldn't remember those feelings exactly now, and what had caused him to flee into obscurity.
But it had to of been the right choice, Vegeta realized looking at the beautiful child in front of him. There was no way if Bulma had fled with him that Trunks would have turned out to be such. His life would have been very different, harsh, and cold. He would not have the same innocence and purity that he had. It was right for both of them. Bulma might not have the happiest heart because of it, but she was safe, and able to raise her child the best anyone ever could.
But what to do now? Should he still leave them alone? Was that really the best choice now? The child had said Bulma was still in pain, wasn't it his duty to try and take that away? More then duty was his selfish desire. The thought of seeing her again filled him with an incredible love and hope. Gods he loved her just as much as the day they had parted!
She thought he was dead, and maybe it was still the best that she thought that. She was Queen after all and making her way without him, where would he fit in? She should hate him for causing her such pain. He would be a burden as he always was. An enemy.
And how would Trunks like him bursting in all of a sudden as his 'father.' How could he assume to ask him to accept him? A ghost, a murderer, an abandoner? As much as he wanted to know his child would it be too much for him to have his mystery father come back from the grave?
Vegeta sighed. Too many questions with no answer. He felt very tired all of a sudden. He could close his eyes and still know every lash of her eyelids, every pore of her skin, every note of her voice, and every articulation of her smile.
"Are you crying?" Trunks said in a confused shock.
Again Vegeta's eyes snapped open and back to an all too real reality. Why couldn't every thing be fantasy? What was so wrong with that?
"Of course not, I just...I just got some dust in my eye."
"Riiiight," Trunks replied incredulously, but his mind was quick and the world was not as complicated to his mind as it was to others. He put the pieces together, "You…… an Elf……. Are you…..are you my father? How? My mother thinks your dead!"
It seemed the choice had been made for Vegeta. Even if he tried to deny it he had a feeling this child wouldn't take no for an answer.
They regarded each other silently for a moment not knowing what to do next. Vegeta looked at Trunks. Really looked at him. His son. He could see resemblances in his brow, and his lips, and of course, his ears.
"Wow," Trunks finally sighed, breaking the silence, "What a crazy day! I mean, Wow. I don't even know how to process it all."
"Yeah I know the feeling," Vegeta said softly.
"Well it seems to me you have some explaining to do!" Trunks demanded part in jest, part in nerves, "Lets start with this. Hi. My name is Trunks, I believe I'm your son. See? The ears?"
Vegeta smiled and let out a nervous laugh as he dropped to his knee so he could be level with Trunks.
"Hi," Vegeta said extending his hand out to grasp Trunk's, "My name is Vegeta. It appears that I am indeed your father, and I do have some explaining to do."
Trunks smiled, a smile that said everything would be ok, even though it seemed impossible right then. A smile that wiped out the last ten years of loneliness and confusion. It was like they had known each other forever; their bond was so immediate and deep. Trunks ran into Vegeta's arms and held him tightly around the neck.
"It ok Dad, we'll get through this. I know it. I can feel it. It right, its finally all right. I get to know my real dad! It doesn't get much better then that," Trunks said with a few tears of his own leaking out. It had indeed been a long day. He pulled back and smiled at his new father, "But the questions can wait. Right now I want you to teach me some archery!"
Vegeta laughed, and it felt so freeing, it was beyond understanding. How could Trunks just accept all of this so easily and go on to playing? He was an amazing child, and Vegeta already felt proud of him. There was still much unrest in his head of what would come with Bulma, but he shoved the thoughts to the back of his mind. The only way he would make it through this is if he took it second by second, and right now he was going to show his son how to shoot one hell of an arrow
Trunks was surprisingly talented, and with a few tips and pointers he was getting very good. Vegeta saw that with practice he would be unbelievably excellent. He would never miss. Another trait from his father, Vegeta smirked. He had even devised a strange way to shoot, almost backwards, to which Vegeta had said, 'Unorthodox but ludicrously effective,' much to the child's delight.
It was near dusk and the bats began to come out. One flew too close to Vegeta's head and he reached out like lightening and caught it, and cupped it in his hands, tiny and struggling. He broke one of its wings and tossed it into the air, watching it flutter back to earth in a frantic spiral.
Trunks could just make out its high pitched thin twittering on the very limit of his hearing. Before he could think he ran forward.
"Stop," he cried out, "Stop!"
Vegeta ignored him. The bat struck the ground and ceased to move. He nudged it tentatively with one foot then picked it up and shook it. The bat did not stir. Trunks stood watching with hands clasped and tears in his eyes.
"Don't throw it up again, its stunned. You'll kill it..." Trunks' voice trailed away and died.
Vegeta laid the bat down long enough to look at Trunks. He eyed Trunks for a long moment with his eyes dark and enigmatic, then he glanced back at the bat.
"Why?" Trunks said not looking at him, "Why did you torment him?"
"Because I can."
"You should never hurt something just because you can! You should never hurt anything anyway! Would you catch them all?" Trunks shouted passionately.
"I am sorry," Vegeta said quickly before actually thinking of what he was saying. He felt wicked for offending the child so, and more so for hurting the helpless bat, something he never would have even though twice about before….."I will never do it again."
"You will never hurt anything again?" Trunks said wiping the tears from his eyes.
"Never."
"Good," Trunks said, cheerful again. Vegeta wished he could be that quick to get back on his feet.
"Die beast!!" a charging roar sounded. Trunks and Vegeta turned to see the origin of the shout.
Zetes, Shippo, and Madania had finally collected themselves enough to go valiantly in search of their captured friend.
"No, no you guys," Trunks called back to his friends with his hands up, "He isn't a beast at all. He's my……. friend."
"What?" they all said dumbly cocking their heads and trying to process the idea of there being no monster. It was a big step for a kid.
"So if you don't eat children, what do you eat?" Madania was the first to speak.
Vegeta simply shook his head and put his head in his hands.
"He eats our food, and speaking of that we better hurry if we are going to make it to dinner."
"I don't..." Vegeta started, his heart lurching, but his protests were overwhelmed as he was outnumbered by a gang of very hungry kids.
He was in a state of constant upheaval and conflict, as if his guts were in a blender, every step closer they took to Bulma.
AN: OH. Will vegeta go through with it and confront Bulma? And what will her reaction be seeing the man she had mourned for 10 years suddenly alive in front of her? Thanks again