Chapter 20

Gohan dreamed. Which was unusual. Maybe they had given him some sort of drug to sedate him that caused side-effects... It was a good dream though. He was flying. Flying that fun flying that was just having mastered it as a child. Well maybe not quite "mastered" - now he was falling. It was a strange fall though, snippets of his recent trauma, memories he wished he could just forget, rushed by him as he rushed towards the ground. Goten and Trunks were there in some of them, his Dad's and Vegeta's concern for him coloring the flow of them in a way he hadn't been able to sense as they were happening... Funny. Funny that he cared again... He was plummeting toward the ground. He was almost there. Just as he felt like he should be smacking into that unyielding surface, he bolted upright in bed, sweat pouring out of him. Wait? How was he sitting up? Where were the restraints? He wasn't in the make-shift psych ward that Bulma had set up for him, he was back in his own room! This must still be part of the dream then. It looked so real he could practically taste it, except there was no comforting hollowness of the bond he used to have. Adrenaline still pumped through him hard from his "fall" – and he pinched himself, feeling the twinge of pain and wondering if he should be able to feel so alive in a dream, when he couldn't awake...

The door swung open, no knock, and Vegeta barged in, his Dad close behind him. They looked so fucking real – he really did not want to re-live this fucking memory right now. Goten stopped Vegeta, said the words.

"This doesn't seem right" Goten said with an accusing tone.

"Of course it's not right – this whole situation is FUCKED" Vegeta swore. This was the part where he sat up and told them to leave him alone, except, he was already up – he wondered if he could make it out the window in this part of the dream, go back to flying again – when they heard crack and an explosion come from the front yard.

"You boys stay here, Kakarot and I will check it out" Vegeta issued orders. They left the room, and Trunks and Goten milled around, waiting for any news or more explosions. Goten got a strange look on his face, and walked over to Gohan, sniffing the air as he went. Gohan just watched him, curious... at least he wasn't stuck in a drug induced haze that made him relive everything exactly as it had happened... Goten sniffed the air right in front of him – his eyes clouding.

"What?" Gohan finally asked, more playfully than he had expected to, "do I need a shower?"

"No," Goten couldn't help grinning at him, "you smell normal. You smell, sane, now – what happened?" Gohan frowned at him, but the playfulness was still in his eyes.

"What do you mean?" he said. Goten backed up a little, looked at him with a hard gaze. Trunks was standing beside him now.

"What's the last thing you remember Gohan?" he asked, concern filling his voice. He thinks I've forgotten again, Gohan thought to himself. The memory of originally losing it brought back other memories that he was trying to not re-live right now, which made him sigh out loud.

"You don't want to know" he said, trying to laugh at this dream-Goten, but sounding kind of broken instead. Trunks and Goten exchanged a look, then pressed him further.

"No, seriously Gohan, if you know what I'm talking about you better answer me straight, 'cause I am seriously worried right now" Goten chided him. Gohan sighed again.

"Well, lets see, I was waking up in a psych ward after my own father held me down so the Prince of All Saiyan's could mark me, does that about cover it?" he said sarcastically – he was annoyed with this dream now.

"What? Vegeta hasn't marked you yet... What are you talking about, psych ward? I thought that it was supposed to make you better!" Goten was turning red in the face, his anger spilling out of him in a wave of ki that felt SO REAL. Damn it.

"How do you even know?" Trunks questioned him pointedly.

"Know what?" Gohan said as he rested his elbows on his lap and cradled his face with his hands. Sighed again.

"How could you have known that Dad and Goku were going to try marking you? They just finished hashing it out like 30 seconds ago..." Trunks was so cute when he thought hard. Gohan sighed a very different kind of sigh this time, and smiled a little. He looked up at Trunks from his hunched over position, bringing his chin up to rest on one hand (might as well have a little fun with it, since it was his dream), as he gazed into his eyes. He completely dismissed the boys' question, it was hitting him hard right now, the realization that this Trunks was now the exact same age as his Trunks when he had marked him...

"What would you do if I kissed you right now?" he said, tilting his head to the side and letting his tail wave seductively behind him. Goten gasped, but before Trunks could recover from his shock, a voice spoke from the open doorway.

"It doesn't really matter what he'd do, the real question is what I'd do."

Cerulean eyes that burned like the ocean it's self had caught fire drilled into him. Gohan sat up slowly, taking in every bit of that gaze that he could, smiled lazily as he thought out loud...

"Kami, they must have slipped me some really good shit" he said as he continued to stare. Everyone else had frozen for their own various reasons, but that statement brought a few blinks to confused faces. Mirai no Trunks walked towards him, sparing a quick growl at his younger counterpart, and Gohan laughed, rising to meet him halfway.

Trunks just stared as they immediately embraced, and Gohan obviously slipped his tongue into the mouth of this stranger that looked just like him... They were like 3 freakin' feet from him... He tried to back up, hitting a dresser and knocking over almost everything on it, they stopped and looked at him, then the other him spoke:

"We need to go some place more private." Gohan smiled evilly and nuzzled his neck.

"Oh please, after all the other dreams I've had about fucking you, doing it in front of my family hardly even ranks on the list anymore, besides, they all just fade away in a minute" he said, waving his hand in the air and then starting to pull Mirai's shirt out of his pants.

"Honestly, I can't believe I can still dream about you like this without the bond" he said, starting to slide his hands up under the back of his shirt.

"Gohan, stop – hey, look at me – this is not a dream" he said forcefully. Gohan giggled. Trunks had heard that sound come out of Goten now and then – he knew exactly what it meant.

"You always say that" he said huskily as he grinned and pulled him in for another deep kiss. Mirai raised his eyebrows, even in the kiss – Gods, how long had he tortured this poor man without realizing it? He broke away from the kiss gently, and tried to convince him again.

"Gohan, how many other people do you know with a time machine? This is real, trust me." He had not expected Gohan's face to darken like that as a response. He paused for a moment in his arms and then pulled away from him, tears spilling down his cheeks.

"Then where the fuck were you yesterday? Huh Trunks?" he said as he pushed Mirai's chest, making him stumble.

"Where the fuck were you with your fucking time machine when they stole me from you?" he screamed in Mirai's face.

"Shit." Mirai said. Goku and Vegeta had come into the room behind him and had watched the scene unfold, seeing his hasty explanation verified in Gohan's actions, but not sure if there was anything they could do to help them with this.

"You still remember?" Mirai Trunks said, his voice filled with concern, heart breaking. Gohan had turned his back to him and was crumpled against the foot of the bed.

"I want to wake up now" he mewed in an utterly broken voice, speaking to no one in particular. Mirai walked over and knelt down to look at his face, cupped his chin in hand gently, and kissed him again.

"I remember it too, Gohan, because as much as everything in me was screaming to get to you, to save you – the time machine had lost it's charge over the years, and it wasn't ready. I destroyed a city blocks' worth of building around me in the rage of your power trying to break free through me, but I couldn't reach you." Mirai was crying now as well.

"I thought it took a long time to power up, so why did only one memory day pass between then and now?" Gohan said accusingly, arguing with his dream against his better judgment.

"I had already started charging it, a month ago, when I woke screaming in the middle of the night with your memories pouring into me" Mirai whispered to him. Internally, he was amazed at the intelligence his Gohan possessed, even battered and broken as he was. Gohan's eyes widened a little at that, and he stared at him as if waiting for him to attack... It was Mirai's turn to sigh now. He shook his head a little, and kissed Gohan again, the barest brush of lips, just a grazing on the sweetness of his flesh. Gohan's eyes fluttered and closed as he leaned in for more. As they continued to kiss, Mirai could feel the others leaving the room. He broke away from that sweet taste, and willed Gohan to believe him with every fiber of his being.