"Wizard's First Rule: People will believe a lie because they want to believe it's true, or because they're afraid it might be true."
- Terry Goodkind, Wizard's First Rule
––––––––
CHAPTER 24:
End Game
After weathering the storm that night, Trunks returned home to Capsule Corporation where he recovered alone in his room.
For a long time, Trunks sat in a scaldingly hot bath just staring ahead and spacing out as he shivered uncontrollably. Afterward, he dried himself off and changed into a set of ultra-hot blue evening clothes, layered with a high-necked thick gray sweater.
No matter what he did, though, he felt a chill down to his bones. Nothing could stop the trembling throughout his body.
His hands shook the worst, so he hid them, holding them close to his chest with crossed arms inside his gray sweater, leaving his sleeves to dangle at his sides.
He didn't want to see or talk to anybody. However, despite how much he wanted to be alone, he kept his bedroom door open. It was his compromise with his parents, seeing that his mother was hovering around him the whole night, and she was otherwise planning to crash on his bedroom couch to watch over him.
Apparently Bulma had gotten the idea in her head that Trunks might commit self-harm after what he went through that evening.
Trunks learned that his mother had connected the dots between a security-related call and Goten's personal report to her, concluding that Trunks had a mental breakdown in his dorm apartment, which bled into the evening's events that transpired. She had called an overnight construction and design team in to moonlight and expedite the room's repair, though she claimed she was doing it more for Goten's sake, because she would prefer if Trunks would stay home the rest of Holiday Break. She reasoned, he would be "safe" within Capsule Corp, and "supported."
But Trunks generally felt safe and supported around Goten, too. Trunks did not want to consider any alternative other than going home to him.
Despite feeling safe within Capsule Corp, Trunks couldn't sleep well. He didn't want to lie down, either. Whatever he did within his bed reminded him of the girls who had forced themselves on him that night. And he didn't want to think about them.
Every angle of every sleeping position seemed to trigger flashbacks of what he went through, and so Trunks gave up trying to rest. He couldn't force his heart and mind to sleep, and he refused to take any drugs to help him doze off. He was done with sedatives. He never wanted to take one again.
Despite how awake his body was, Trunks felt like he was living within a waking dream. He couldn't maintain a single thought on his mind as he battled a head fog and daze amidst the trembling chill of the air.
The doctors said he was in shock. They also said he was going through withdrawals.
They also said he needed rest, yet he still awaited fatigue while sitting up on his bedroom couch, leaning into its right corner, holding a blue throw pillow, and staring blankly ahead in a stupor.
Nobody slept in Capsule Corporation that night. The clamor even kept six-year-old Bra up.
Throughout the wee hours of the night, his mother continued to check in on him, poking her head past his door. She would see he was still awake, and instead of judging him, she filled him in with details about the entire team that was working throughout the night with follow-up calls, team assembly, construction and artful negotiations to cover up tracks and witnesses.
Thankfully, because of the storm, the cover-up game was fairly easy, and Krillin helped Bulma play by the book.
No one had witnessed the fire. In addition, neighborhood residents had interpreted the bomb sounds as lightning strikes. Furthermore, without any evidence that spoke against methane igniting the building, the case was quick to close.
But, as it was a cover-up, and there were predatory parties involved, all accessory evidence had to be wiped. All tracks needed to be cleaned.
It meant that all associations with Havana needed to be deleted. That was the only way to ensure that no bounty hunter could again follow their trail to use data as evidence for a bounty claim. All evidence had to be wiped in order to fully protect Trunks and Goten from being rediscovered as targets of revenge... especially since the bounties never expired.
Trunks was advised to lay low from being X-1 for a while. Trunks found it easy to oblige.
Even if Trunks did want to go out and continue his superhero capers, both his dad Vegeta and Mai said that the trail on him was too hot, and the people involved were too powerful to take lightly.
The Red Ribbon Army was known for their deceit and tricky tactics. There was too much risk that Trunks might fly into a trap; there was also a high chance the Red Ribbon Army would try to abduct him again, to make good on their claim and investment.
It was also unclear if Goten was also under any direct threat. From the radio chatter that Mai had picked up, there was never mention of X-2, so it was highly probable that Havana either guarded Goten's secret, or never had the chance to get the word out. However, Mai believed that did not matter. Now that X-1's true identity was revealed, any clever bounty hunter would find it easy to connect dots between Trunks and Goten. Trunks needed to lie low in order to protect Goten, too.
The Briefs had to do a lot more to protect Goten. Because they were indirectly ensuring that Goten would stay out of trouble, they had to resort to questionable ethics. Or rather, Trunks certainly did.
Trunks knew that he was overstepping his friend's trust, but for him, he truly felt he was doing the right thing and protecting Goten as a survival tactic when he volunteered Goten's phone password to Mai.
Mai then proceeded to remotely wipe all Havana-related materials from both their phones, their texts, their social media, their emails, and everything else throughout their history that could possibly link them to her.
By the time the first golden sun rays began to stream through Trunks' east-facing window, all the evidence was gone.
––––––––
Goten had stayed up all night. And he knew Trunks never came home.
Goten knew he should care. He did… but… also, he didn't care. He didn't know why.
He felt like he was an awful person.
He didn't know what was wrong with him.
He wasn't feeling himself.
Games didn't help. His phone didn't help.
He didn't want to do anything. And he didn't want to see anyone, either.
After Goten had returned to his dorm after seeing Bulma, he had gone to bed early, and sulked in his bed for hours.
He never sulked before. He didn't know what he was doing.
As he tried to sleep and dream, Goten instead kept smelling Havana's lingering perfume on his pillows, and replaying the day's events over and over in his head.
Goten tried to make sense of everything, but all the truth was tied up in knots. He couldn't unravel anything for a clear picture. He couldn't just let it go and move on. He didn't have any easy answers. And he didn't know what to do with himself.
He missed her so much, and it hadn't even been a day.
He didn't understand why Bulma forced him to let Havana go. He couldn't wrap his head around why everyone around him had been so against them both from the start.
Goten had been happy enough. And Havana was pretty enough.
They got along well. And they had been intimate - and even that was good.
If everything was good, then what made it so bad?
It wasn't like he was making rash decisions.
Goten ruminated on it for the entire night, and was fairly confident he thinking clearly and logically, instead of diving in with emotions. Besides the love that he had for his family and vicariously for Trunks, he was still not sure what it was to actually be in love. So, if he didn't know what that was, then he probably didn't feel it for Havana.
What Goten did feel, though, was a feeling of completion and wholesomeness that nobody else else had ever given him... except his older brother, Gohan, maybe... back in the day.
With Havana, Goten felt seen, and appreciated.
She thought of him as her number one.
As far as Goten knew, nobody else in the entire world viewed him as number one in anything. He never even believed in himself as a "number one" before she came along.
And right as he was ready to embrace being her number one, he was forced to let her go - the one person who viewed him as her favorite person, enough that she even talked about marriage.
-KRIIIIIK- ... -KACHOOM-
Goten heard the front door to the apartment open and close, in the middle of the night, and then a gaggle of voices chattered in the living room, with one of them calling out to introduce themselves as the "Repair Team."
The security guards were among the ki signatures, so Goten didn't have any concern. What did irk him, though, was that the clock said 5:00am and Trunks had still not come home.
At that point, Goten finally did check for Trunks' ki signature, and sensed it in the direction of Capsule Corporation. Finding no need to worry, he let it go, and turned to his side on the bed, trying to shut out the living room clamor with a pillow over his head.
The hustle and bustle within the dorm apartment was a repair team that had been called to fix up the dorm apartment overnight. They worked as silently as they could, using sound barriers by his door to not disturb him, but his sharp hearing still picked up the activity in the living room, and he couldn't otherwise sleep.
Lying awake in bed, Goten thought he'd try to re-find Havana's number by going through his text messages, but did a double-take when he came to realize that the message chains were gone.
He didn't know why they were gone. The only explanation would be that they might have been deleted when Bulma made him block her number. He didn't know for sure, though, because he had never blocked anyone before.
He decided he could send Havana an email instead, since her phone number had been deleted, but when he typed her name into the Send box, there was no Auto-Fill.
He was sure he had emailed her at some point before. At least, he thought he did. It was unclear, since it had been a while, but he was fairly sure she had emailed him a list of gay bars in Orange to recommend taking Trunks to. But, no matter what he searched, and no matter how far back in time he went within his email archive, Goten couldn't find Havana's name.
He thought his mind had been playing tricks on him, but concluded that perhaps his memory was wrong. Maybe he just dreamed it, since nothing came up in his mailbox.
By the time the sun began to rise, Goten realized he had no way to reach out to her.
He also realized the extent of his regret about deleting her number.
He felt... angry.
He felt... resentful.
He didn't know what to do with his feelings. But he still felt them.
Goten concluded that his ending with Havana was not fair. From the beginning, everything should have been his call to make.
Nobody ever stepped in to stop Gohan from being with Videl. So why did people feel it was their business to step in with Goten and Havana?
He wanted to claw back the relationship. He didn't want it to end this way.
He never intended to ghost her or break up with her. And even if he did decide to break up with Havana, at least it could be on his own terms.
He was sick of people making decisions for him. And he didn't want to wait one moment longer to rectify his mistake.
Since he didn't have her number, and he didn't have her e-mail, it left one last option.
He had to see her, right away.
––––––––
That morning, around dawn, Goten snuck out of his bedroom window to fly to downtown West Capital, and landed in Havana's neighborhood.
He didn't remember her exact address, but that didn't deter him from trying to find her house.
After a light jog up and down some blocks, he thought he recognized Havana's street from the street lamps, which resembled antique gaslights.
It was hard to concretely identify her street, despite how many times he had seen it before. The pavement was empty of vehicles, and it looked different without the dozen black cars with tinted windows everywhere. It felt a little empty, as if everyone just somehow packed up and left.
By the time that the morning Saturday sun rose slightly over the horizon, and the city was waking up to smells of coffee and waffles, Goten thought he found the house that should have been Havana's.
But, the moment he walked up to it, he did a double-take.
It was the wrong front door. Havana's house always had a white wooden wood. But this new door had been swapped to be some sort of metallic bronze door that was split into rectangular decorative sections.
And there was movement inside the house, but it wasn't Havana.
For a moment, Goten wondered if his fatigue had been getting to him and he was hallucinating, because he was fairly sure that he was looking at a whole family.
Inside, two teenage blonde girls ran back and forth by the window, and their blonde mother was rounding them up to go to the back room.
The room that should have been Havana's white living room had a green wallpaper, with some pictures on the wall of a full family, a photograph of their brown-haired father holding up a prize fish, and a giant marlin head mounted to the wall.
The house looked lived in, as if the family had been there the whole time.
It didn't make sense. Goten had been here recently to walk her home from a date, and was sure this was the right house. Havana should have been here. But now… she was gone.
Emails, images, photographs of her - everything was gone.
And now, Goten learned it wasn't just the digital data… Even her house was gone.
It was as if she never existed.
He stared at the gaslights on the street, and wondered for a moment what was real.
––––––––
Trunks managed to get a couple hours of sleep in which he re-lived scenes from the day as a nightmare. He woke up in the late morning feeling like a wreck, with a swollen face, and had a feverish sweat that the doctor said was an aftershock and continued withdrawal symptoms.
Trunks didn't care, though. He downed a coffee and changed into an old high school outfit - a long-sleeved high-collared black shirt, with a pair of beige slacks that he could still fit into.
Although he had made it clear that he always intended to go back to Goten, his parents continued to insist and advise him against returning to his dorm room. They both strongly believed that he should stay at Capsule Corporation over the break, to be close with family who could help him recover from what happened.
Trunks had resisted. He wanted to move on and forget about it. It made him uncomfortable to linger on those thoughts, and being forced to stay at Capsule Corp would only feel like a punishment against his choice.
They said he was not in a mentally good place, but Trunks dismissed their concerns.
They said he needed time to process everything, and to talk to someone. But Trunks was obstinate, and refused to consider it. The best way to avoid a problem was to not address it.
Trunks knew that if he stayed at Capsule Corporation, all of the attention would be on him and his mental recovery. Everyone was walking on eggshells because of what happened to him. And he fucking hated it.
He was angry. He was dejected. He was hurt. He was frustrated.
He didn't want to be a victim anymore. He didn't even want to think of himself as a survivor. He just wished he could erase his memories. He didn't want to remember what happened.
Trunks just wanted to get back to Goten, where it could be just like it never happened.
Goten didn't see him as a victim. Goten didn't know about any of this at all, even though all of this had been about Goten.
And more than anything, Trunks needed to know that despite everything that had happened, Goten was safe.
He just wanted to get back to his life as normal, with Goten. And he'd do his best to recover on his own.
He and Goten had planned their vacation to spend time rekindling their bond. And if Trunks just focused on that, then everything would be okay.
If he just had Goten, he would be fine.
At least, that was the lie he wanted to believe more than anything.
––––––––
When Trunks entered their dorm apartment later that morning, his legs were so tired that he dragged his feet in a fatigued daze.
Trunks was well-groomed in his long-sleeved high-collared black shirt, and beige slacks. Despite how pristine he looked, there were dark circles around his eyes, and he looked slightly gaunt.
Trunks had to push past his mother to get in the limousine that morning, but at least the driver agreed to drop him off at the dorm. After Trunks got to South House, he felt he had to drag himself back to his room. Every step was agony as he walked up the entry stairs, and proceeded to the elevator, and walked through his hall.
It all was so much work.
It all was so hard.
As he entered the warmth of his living room, Trunks wondered why he didn't feel like he was home.
Despite his inner joy that he was back with Goten, Trunks felt ragged inside.
His head was rolling in fog. He didn't even notice a security guard trying to get his attention in the hallway as he stumbled into his room.
As he entered and the door closed behind him, Trunks absentmindedly tossed his key cards onto the entry table.
Almost as soon as the cards hit the table, there was a -PANG- as a big fist stopped the front door from closing all the way.
Trunks was startled, and the jolt of his surprise shocked his ki to rattle the rom.
He swung around to meet a dark, well-built and well-groomed security guard with a buzz-cut of coily black hair. The man spoke in a heavy Joizi accent.
"Yuh lost jacket n' wristwatch, suh."
The man held out Trunks' folded letterman jacket, with his wristwatch on top.
"We got 'um back, suh."
"Thanks," Trunks reached up and took the items.
As he re-fastened his watch to his left wrist, Trunks watched the iron front door shut with a -CLANG- behind the security guard.
The door locked itself as Trunks next held up his jacket and tried to focus on his own thoughts. He was tired, though. He felt dazed about it all, and as he looked at it, a face poked through his mental fog. In the recesses of his mind, he remembered who wore his jacket last.
He hypnotically poked each arm through it, and pulled it on slowly, feeling the fabric rub against his black shirt like palms that stroked his skin.
He tried to not think about the hands.
He instead zipped his front, and looked down to the jacket on him. He smoothed the collar and patted the "OS" over his left chest.
And then he noticed the change.
Trunks felt his left shoulder and paused.
The jacket was different.
Stunned, and confused in his daze, Trunks smoothed his right palm over his left shoulder fabric again, and his eyes widened upon realizing what was awry.
There were supposed to be two bullet holes, but they were missing.
Both of the jacket's bullet holes were completely gone, replaced with a new color-matched fabric that was patched into the jacket, and was a dead-ringer for the original material.
Trunks wasn't sure how he felt about getting his jacket back in such good condition. With the bullet holes gone, everything felt covered up. It was like it never happened.
"Did you lose something?"
Trunks jumped at the sudden voice.
As if a wind tunnel skewed light, Trunks' vision faltered as he raised his tired eyes to view Goten, who was wearing a white and green long-sleeved baseball tee that said "GOTEN" in black letters on the front.
Goten had snuck up on him… or, maybe Trunks just didn't notice him coming into the room, as he had been so distracted by his affects.
Goten raised a skeptical brow, and his eyes seemed harder than usual, "Did I hear that right?"
"What?"
"You lost your jacket and your watch?!" Both of Goten's eyebrows rose in question, "How did that happen?"
Trunks just stared at Goten, and barely registered his words in the fog. They drifted by him, and they didn't even matter.
What mattered was Goten.
His eyes stung.
Trunks recognized this outfit on him. He saw Goten's unkempt hair. He looked into Goten's hard and doubting eyes, and felt a dry well of tears.
Goten was alive. Goten was here. Goten was safe.
"Hi." Trunks managed, though he wasn't sure if that was the right thing to say. He just felt blessed and joyful under all the grief and sorrow that sandwiched all of his thoughts.
"Hi..?" Goten's hard expression softened slightly in confusion at Trunks' demeanor.
Trunks distantly felt like he was in a trance as he stumbled forward, toward him. He reached out both hands, "Goten…"
Trunks' actions were unusual, and Goten was perplexed. He not knowing what to make of Trunks' body language.
"What's going on?" Goten stood fast and watched Trunks' extended arms come closer.
His eyes grew hard again as they looked to the newly replaced furniture in the room, and then back to Trunks, clearly gauging Trunks' current state.
Trunks had thought about what he'd say when he got home to Goten, but now that he was there, everything vanished in his head fog.
He thought that when he got home, he would feel calm... but instead, his adrenaline was rising. Trunks couldn't figure out what words to say. He didn't know if Goten could tell the thing that Trunks needed right now. It was what Trunks wanted more than anything right now.
He just wanted to be loved... like how he could love Goten.
He couldn't make out full sentences. It was challenging to come up with a real thought. All Trunks knew was that his feelings were turbulent and clashing and beyond explanation. And within his deepest inner depths, his emotions surged like every color of paint converging into a well of tarry black, and he ached for the light.
Trunks choked out a few words with swollen eyes that ached with his dry tears. He didn't know if Goten would understand. He never asked for anything like this before.
"...Would you… um…?" Trunks asked, with eyes that burned as he lamely extended his arms.
Goten froze, not sure what to do. Trunks' words and physical demeanor were unusual and disconcerting, and Goten was unable to comprehend Trunks' intentions. The unexpected nature of the morning had confused Goten, and had thrown him off from whatever he had been prepared to say.
Goten's face grew concerned as his eyebrows lowered. Trunks thought he looked very much like his father, Goku, when he frowned so deeply.
"You okay?" Goten's eyes betrayed a deep concern as they searched Trunks' own.
Goten's stare was intense, and filled with an unease that gave Trunks pause.
Trunks had been stepping toward Goten, and stopped just short of Goten, with his arms out.
Trunks hesitated, suddenly doubtful as he realized what he had been asking for, and began to pull away to avoid Goten's confused judgment.
Trunks realized he didn't have the strength for this after all. He didn't even realize what he had been wanting to do.
He was unprepared as he felt Goten lean. Goten closed the distance between them and brought his hands to embrace Trunks' back.
It was just supposed to be a hug. But, as soon as Goten brushed against him, it was like a ZAP of lightning JOLTED through Trunks as he SNAPPED back in a massive shock ki wave that reflexively shoved Goten backward, "DON'T TOUCH ME!"
Like opposing magnets, Goten shot back and Trunks reeled with wide wide eyes.
-BABUM- -BABUM - BABUM-
Trunks' voice rasped as he breathed heavily and deeply, with a heartbeat so fast that his eardrums hammered like taiko drums, "Hahhh… hahhh… hahhh…"
The world spun. His heart raced. Beads of sweat pooled at his temples as a wave of panic enveloped Trunks, and shook him like an earthquake deep in his core.
He didn't know what just happened.
It was clear that Goten did not, either.
Goten's eyes were wide with confusion. He was taken aback as he regained his composure, "What was that?"
Trunks wasn't sure what to say, so he stalled with an apology, "Ah, s-sorry…"
Trunks shook his head with bewildered eyes, staring a little beyond Goten as he tried to make sense of his reaction to Goten's touch.
He never flinched with Goten before. It was a part of what made Goten special.
Goten was the original friend - the one who knew all of his secrets... or... almost all of them. His touch had always felt grounding, and healing, and welcome, and Trunks had taken that for granted. Trunks never had to think about his flinch with Goten before. It never mattered before. It was always fine between them.
But now…
Trunks looked down to his hands, and felt his eyes burn, feeling like Havana raped away from him the one thing that had been so priceless and beautiful between them. It was unseen, but it was real. And now it was damaged…
…. It might even be gone.
As Trunks stared at his hands, his head reeled and spun with heart-wrenching realizations.
Havana took away Trunks' comfort with Goten.
She took away his loving touch.
He didn't want to touch anyone. He didn't want anyone to touch him. He didn't want to think about what he had lost with Goten.
He didn't want the hands... They kept manifesting in his mind, and he just wanted them gone.
Trunks continued to stare at the palms of his hands, in a daze with wet eyes, and unaware of the passage of time. He didn't notice that Goten had stepped closer, and inquired again, rephrasing himself to get to the meat of the issue.
"What happened last night?" Goten's tone was intense as he prodded, and his question bore deeply into Trunks' soul.
What happened last night…
He heard the words. He almost visualized them as he drifted in a daze beyond his hands, in which no thought or memory could come to mind.
Trunks was shaken, with distant eyes, and he crossed his arms defensively, and started to rub the upper parts of his arms.
Trunks was embarrassed, and looked to the side as he stepped back from Goten, trying to shake off his feelings of discomfort and tension.
Goten just stared, waiting, and watching. In that span of time, his demeanor shifted. His concern grew to show alarm and pain.
"Sorry…" Trunks looked down and kept rubbing his upper arms, "I'm… um…"
Trunks' fingers dug into his arms as he rubbed them, and he scratched himself in his repetitive motion, not noticing or caring if he was hurting himself.
Goten's eyes grew hard again.
But this time, his eyes were ablaze. This look was different.
This time, Goten looked like he was ready for a fight.
"Where were you last night?" Goten's voice did not question. It was a command.
Goten's energy was striking and foreboding, reminiscent of a warrior prepared for war. His tone was menacing.
Trunks recognized the look. The resemblance to Goku of Legend was uncanny.
And just like Goku, Goten was ready to fight whoever did this to Trunks.
Trunks always knew that Goten had this side of him deep down. Goten was a pacifist, and he tended to avoid conflict, but when the fight got personal, and when he avenged those he loved, he had more power than anyone would expect… enough potential that he was able to achieve Super Saiyan at just seven years old, just to avenge the pain of his best friend.
Who knows what kind of power he'd have if he were to protect the life of Trunks. And Goten had no idea how close Trunks came to never being found again… at least, as himself.
Goten's eyes were wild, as if he were holding back an inner tempest.
And it was clear that Goten did not want a lie.
From how Goten stated his question, it was clear that he didn't actually want to know where Trunks was last night. He could have known that from sensing Trunks' ki.
What Goten was asking was … who hurt Trunks.
… And by the looks of his dark, and angry expression, it was clear that Goten had a certain face in mind.
Goten was smart - smarter than everyone else gave him credit for. He had tendencies to be oblivious, and not notice things… but when he did see things, he put all of his focus on it.
Goten noticed Trunks' flinch, and until it was addressed, he would not back down.
Goten knew that the flinch was a symptom of something big. That flinch had been started by Trunks' abuse. And Goten knew that additional abuse likely made it worse.
Trunks would have never flinched with Goten before.
Goten knew something bad happened to Trunks. This was now a truth for Goten. There was no convincing him otherwise.
It was a truth that could get out of hand if Trunks didn't watch his words.
Trunks needed a story, and quickly, or else Goten might continue down his incorrect assumptions about Trunks' flinch.
Or worse, Goten might start to ask the right questions.
Goten might find out the real truth.
The thought of it terrified Trunks. He knew Goten wasn't prepared for that. He was too innocent and pure hearted. Trunks went through everything that he did so that he could shelter Goten from that dark truth.
The real truth would spiral Goten into a dark, black hole.
And Trunks made a deep, strong promise to himself. Goten Black would not happen here. Not in this timeline.
This Goten would stay pure. This Goten would stay innocent.
This Goten was someone who Trunks would protect, no matter what he had to do.
And this Goten equally tried to protect Trunks, in his own way.
It was clear from how Goten was controlling his ki that Goten was steeling himself for whatever Trunks was going to tell him. He was preparing to take it, and wield it. Trunks could see it.
Whatever funk Goten had been in before this, he had set aside. All of his intentions centered around Trunks at this moment. It was clear that Goten was completely invested in Trunks as his priority. Nothing else mattered, except keeping Trunks safe and supporting him through thick and thin.
This was how Goten showed his love. This was Trunks' Goten of Legend.
Trunks loved this side of Goten, just as much as he loved his adventure-seeking, superhero-posing, game-loving, pacifist side as well.
He didn't want to lie to Goten. He wanted to tell him the truth. And he had to tell him a convincing story.
Trunks knew what Goten was thinking. And he had to steer him away from it.
Goten thought that Vegeta had assaulted Trunks again.
It made sense, and Trunks understood why Goten would resort to that thought. There was history to their "big secret," and Goten was well aware of how Trunks' flinches were directly tied to it.
Goten could have also sensed that Trunks spent time in West Capital last night, at home in Capsule Corporation. He would have sensed Vegeta's ki with Trunks at various points, too.
It was ironic how close Goten was to figuring out the truth, yet how far from it he was.
Trunks didn't know how to answer Goten.
In truth, all of Trunks' memories were behind a veil of a drugged fog. Trunks could remember spots of it, but even Trunks wasn't completely sure where he had been.
He kept remembering Goten's question to him, though. Where were you last night?
Trunks looked to the side, feeling a little flustered, "I, uh… was…."
Trunks' mental fog thickened. He couldn't think of what to say. He couldn't remember what he may have already said, if he had started to say something.
He was drawing a blank.
The truth lurked somewhere in the fog, but he forgot what actually happened. He wasn't sure where truth met lies anymore.
Did he already say anything else about where he was? How much did Goten know? Should Trunks tell Goten he was at a park? At home?
Instead of coming to a rational conclusion, Trunks' head swam with images of his parents.
He remembered his parents told him not to go back to the dorm that morning. They said he was "not in a good mental state." Even his dad, Vegeta, wanted him to "stay in bed" because he was supposedly "withdrawing" from whatever those drugs were.
But he was a fighter, and it hurt his pride that his dad would even suggest he just lie there as if he was facing some sort of weakness.
Was this what they meant, though?
Fuck, the fog in his head was so big. The tide of his panic was rising. His time was running out.
Fuck, he had to say something. Goten was watching him.
He knew his head was spinning too much to get away with a pure lie.
He couldn't lie. Not like this.
So, Trunks went with the truth…
Trunks took a breath, and steadied himself, looking down, and returned his hands within folded arms to scratch at himself again.
"After… yesterday… um…" Trunks began, looking down, "I went out… to go smoke a joint.… um… at the cliffs, and, um…"
Trunks swallowed, scratching his arms, "And I uh…"
Goten watched expectantly, with a foreboding aura.
"... I got robbed."
There was a moment of pause, as Goten was unsure if Trunks would continue his sentence.
Goten was taken aback.
Goten wasn't prepared to hear those words, and his countenance wavered in confusion.
Goten's face was skeptical and dubious as he scrutinized Trunks' demeanor, "You got robbed?!"
Trunks realized it didn't make sense. Of course it was a lie.
Goten would know that there was no way that a normal human could rob or mug Trunks unless he was vulnerable.
Trunks needed to add that part of the story in. He needed to tell another truth.
In a stammer, Trunks continued, trying to find a convincing truth within his words. "Yeah, uh… um… I, uh, fell asleep …"
"You fell asleep…" Goten echoed as part of this thought process.
Trunks looked to the side, glancing for any hints or tips for helping to manifest a different truth.
Trunks needed a reason why he had been left vulnerable, and he couldn't think in his panic.
He felt like he was contorting into warping shapes, desperately searching for an answer. And then all he could see in his head were people bending like pretzels.
He went with his gut response.
"... Doing yoga…"
"Yoga?!" Goten mimed in surprise.
Yoga. Yoga. Yoga. The words chimed in Trunks' ears.
Trunks absentmindedly inquired back, "Yoga?"
Then, Trunks was mortified.
What the fuck?! His inner voice realized his blunder, What does yoga have to do with this?
And then Goten repeated himself, as the word sunk in, and his face contorted in disbelief. " Yoga?!"
Trunks froze like a deer in headlights. He was caught with a smoking gun.
Goten tilted his head, looking Trunks up and down, skeptically, "Since when do youdo yoga?"
Trunks cringed inside.
Oh fuck, yoga… Did he REALLY answer with that?
Fucking fuck face shit goddamnit fuck!
Trunks berated himself and regretted his lie instantly.
He said the lie too quickly, in haste, without proper thought.
His excuse was flimsy and held no ground. It could easily be uncovered with the right question.
If Goten challenged him and asked Trunks to name even one single yoga position, Trunks wouldn't know. What was even one position? Downward dog? Was "downward dog" a thing? At least it sounded stupid enough to be a yoga position.
Goddddsss, Goten was right - Trunks hated yoga. What was he thinking?!
Trunks used to lambaste yoga and used to make fun of every yogi in sight. It was a huge inside joke for them.
Trunks and Goten had even done a prank once in high school, on an outdoor yoga class that met in the courtyard. At the time, he and Goten had poured olive oil all over the class mats, and had snickered from the roof as they watched all the kids hilariously slipping and sliding throughout class.
There was also that time that Trunks and Goten had dressed as yogis for Hallow Night when they were about eleven or twelve, because all they wanted to do was hilariously flog each other with the foam mats as their "Trick."
Trunks made fun of yoga. He'd never do yoga. And Goten knew it.
Of course Goten knew Trunks well enough to catch him in that lie.
Trunks was into a lot of things. But yoga was notoriously not one of them.
Fuck yoga.
Trunks deflected, sobering quickly as he realized how stupid he had sounded. He needed to divert the subject and end the questions.
Trunks thought fast, "Well, I tried yoga!"
"But… yoga?!" Goten was still unconvinced.
Trunks stammered, "E-Everything deserves a second chance."
"HAH!" Goten barked a half-laugh, as his dark demeanor shifted into confused incredulity. "WHAT?!"
Trunks stuttered, "And-and- I-I learned my lesson for yoga..." Trunks held up his jacket, and added a half-truth, "Karma bit my ass… and I got robbed…!"
Goten scoffed, with an expression caught between bafflement and and skepticism.
Trunks knew his lie was obvious, and Goten was obviously having his doubts.
Goten was just a few questions shy of opening the gates of the real truth.
But Trunks didn't know how to tell Goten the real truth. Even if he did want to tell Goten, Trunks didn't even know the words he'd use. Just thoughts of last night kept fleeting away from him, vanishing into the fog.
He hadn't even processed all of his feelings yet. He didn't know how to start talking about them.
All Trunks knew was what he felt.
And he felt the hands.
The hands were still on his body…
Trunks felt a chill wash over his body again, and he felt cold and clammy.
The hands stroked him every time he thought of them. They touched him everywhere, through his waking and nightmare-filled dreams.
No matter what truth or lie Goten knew, there would be no ending to the hands. They would always be touching Trunks. They would always follow him. He didn't think they'd ever really go away.
The permanence of that thought made Trunks wonder if it was time to tell Goten the truth.
In some ways, now that the "yoga" lie was out in the open, maybe... it could be for the best.
Maybe Trunks wanted Goten to doubt him…
Maybe he wanted Goten to not accept his lie.
Maybe he didn't want to lie to Goten anymore...
He knew Goten's eyes were filled with uncertainty and suspicion. He knew Goten was taking his time, in his hesitation, to piece together his judgment, and his choice for his next words.
Trunks knew Goten doubted him. And Trunks knew he was so close to telling him the real truth.
All Goten needed to do was ask the right question.
Maybe Trunks wanted him to ask. Maybe he needed Goten to ask… to help him form his words, and to phrase what he wanted to say.
Trunks' eyes were tightly bound to Goten's gaze, and searched his soul for the right question.
His inner voice pleaded and implored, I would never do yoga, Goten. Please catch me in my lie…
Trunks wanted to tell Goten the truth so much.
He just didn't know how. And he was so afraid of ruining everything.
Goten's firm stare lingered…
And it lingered…
And then… Goten's face softened.
Trunks watched as the darkness and shadows danced and dissipated from within Goten's eyes.
The frost melted, and Goten's eyes warmed as he watched Trunks.
His body relaxed, and his stance eased.
"Yoga, huh?" Goten raised a skeptical brow, followed by an amused smirk as he shifted his weight to his right leg to step back.
Then, Goten broke their gaze to step and touch the new kitchen island, and then as he stared down, beyond the marble countertop, he began to chuckle slightly, bringing his hands to his hips, "Heh… hehe… Yoga … heh… hehehehe…. heheheh…"
With each chuckle, the tension eased, and the fog lifted on their horizon.
Goten shook his head, looking down, and his chuckle grew, "Hehe..hahahahaha," and then he brought his eyes up to Trunks with buoyant warmth.
The storm's eye opened and revealed a breathtaking rainbow, causing Trunks' eyes to widen as his breath caught in his throat.
Goten's smile shifted to a teasing half-grin as he cracked a shot at humor.
"To much meditation?!"
Goten then laughed at his own joke, "Hahahahaha!" and the sight of it spurred Trunks' body to instinctively chuckle in response.
The rainbow had its pot of gold that glistened in their humor, and their inside joke shone through.
More rays of sunlight burst through the dark clouds like waves of energy that lit their world with the light and warmth of their ki. And in that light, the darkness receded for a moment.
In that sunlight, Trunks could see the innocence and pure heartedness of Goten's soul.
And his soul was so beautiful, it took Trunks' breath away.
This was the soul that Trunks vowed to protect no matter what.
This was the sense of wonder and sweetness that Goten brought to Trunks' life.
In that moment, and in that radiance, it was clear.
Goten chose to believe Trunks.
It was a half-truth, made-up lie, yet Goten chose to believe him, because he was that good a friend.
Because Goten loved him.
Goten believed Trunks' words. And so Trunks' words became the truth - or rather, the New Truth.
The New Truth was that Trunks had needed some time for introspection after his mental breakdown the day before. In the New Truth, Trunks wanted to clear his mind from his mental episode, so he drove to the cliffs of Shounen Jump to smoke a joint in introspective contemplation, until he decided to relax doing yoga, for which he removed his jacket and his watch. During his meditation, Trunks fell asleep, and then got robbed during his slumber. After he woke up and realized his items were taken, Trunks felt shaken and violated, and spent the rest of the night at Capsule Corporation dealing with the police report before returning to the dorm room the next day.
It was so farfetched a lie, and so detailed a lie, tangled with just enough elements of truth, that nobody could ever make up that kind of story.
It had to be the truth. Trunks was just ever-so-unpredictable enough that it could absolutely have been the truth. And that's what made it such a good lie.
The "truth" was so ludicrous that hey both lost themselves to a deep guffaw from their guts as tears of laughter each streamed down their cheeks.
"Aaahahahaha," Trunks joined in with Goten's laughter and wiped his wet eyes as if they had emerged from a funny joke, "Ahahahaha!"
For them, that laughter was healing. Their chortles and chuckles lit the room like rays of hope.
And throughout their mirth, as the clouds remained parted for their brief respite and reconnection, Havana's laughing voice echoed once again through Trunks' head.
"What is the truth, anyway?"
–––––––
After their laughter had died down, and their racing hearts had calmed, it felt good for each of them to know the other was safe. Despite everything, they were still friends, and they believed they always would be.
But their friendship was buried under other burdens.
Reality had its way of settling back in, and they had to each figure out their paths moving forward.
Both Trunks and Goten had their own personal demons to face.
That late morning, Goten had fixed himself a breakfast, and was clumsy and careless with his ki.
From the living room couch, Trunks watched as Goten -SLAMMED- an upper cabinet with a powerful slam, accidentally fracturing the door. He also shattered a glass of milk in his left hand with unrestrained strength. And then Goten cracked one of the stove knobs by turning it too hard, and afterward, accidentally bent a pan while scrubbing it in the sink.
Goten was making a real mess in the kitchen, but Trunks stayed out of it.
Trunks could see that Goten was off, and had his own theories about what was on Goten's mind.
Since they had resolved their immediate issue, Trunks resolved to give Goten his space.
While Goten took out his frustration on the cabinets, Trunks sat down on the living room couch to collect himself and his thoughts.
Trunks tried to stay out of Goten's business. But it was clear Goten still had questions.
Trunks felt the best way to handle things would be to roll with the punches, and so he simply waited for Goten to bring up the thought that was on his mind. Goten always wore his heart on his sleeve, so it was just a matter of time before he asked the right question.
Goten joined Trunks on the couch with a lightly buttered toast on a white plate, and a glass of milk. He set it on the new coffee table, and the seemed to forget about it as he leaned back and took out his phone, staring absentmindedly beyond his screen with a faraway look.
Trunks just watched him, failing to notice that he had been staring. He wasn't truly looking at anything, or even thinking anything at all.
He turned his head to Trunks and inquired with haunted eyes, "Hey Trunks… Have you noticed… anything… missing?"
Missing...?
Trunks wasn't sure what Goten was talking about.
Trunks thought that he, himself could have been missing, but his dad had saved him in time.
What else could have been missing?
His head was so foggy, it was hard to think, but then some clarity bubbled among his thoughts, and it spurred his memory of the capsules in his jacket.
Van...
"Uh…!" Trunks patted inside his jacket pocket, seeking the precious capsule he had stashed in a special hidden pocket within his right pocket.
And there it was. It was still there.
Trunks pulled out a capsule labeled "249."
He was suddenly flooded with joy.
It tore open the gates within him, unleashing a knotted mess of stress that swiftly unraveled into streams of relief, like a steam locomotive regaining its tracks.
He got his car back. His car of growth and self-discovery.
This car represented overcoming a challenge to prove oneself to be better.
This was the car that bore a name that Goten chose. He had given Goten that power of the name, because this car was tied to Goten - a snapshot of their camaraderie, and their good old days.
This car… was Van. Not Havana, but Van.
It was his Vanguard that gave him a new Vantage to Vanquish her memory.
And getting this back felt fucking Vantastic.
But something still felt amiss...
He tried to think, and then he heard a whisper of a voice, Two capsules...
The thought fluttered in the fog, and Trunks remembered it was true - there were two capsules that he brought to Havana's place.
Trunks checked his jacket pockets again, and as he patted, he thought again of the hands...
"What do you know…" Trunks said with a distant tone as he blocked out the memory. "... There is one missing…" Trunks looked down to his pocket.
There was a pause, as Goten expected Trunks to continue, but there was silence.
Then, Trunks mused, "... The capsule of dragonweed."
"Dragonweed..." Goten mimicked as he spoke the thought.
Goten looked puzzled, trying to piece it all together.
"Ah, What?!" Goten put down his phone as he realized the significance, and fully faced Trunks, "The dragonweed?"
Trunks refocused on the room, and felt a flare of pride.
"Wait," Goten thought out loud, "... You're not talking about… the college stash?"
Trunks' lips turned slightly upward.
"Aww, man," Goten's face contorted into a small scowl as he spread butter onto the charcoal bread. "That was like, what? A whole plant, right?!"
Trunks's eyes sparkled as his mouth curled up in an impish grin.
"Nope," Trunks' body warmed and churned with his prank energy, "Not even an ounce."
"Your main one's still at Capsule Corp, right?" Goten brought the plate to the kitchen island. "You still keep it inside that condom box?"
Trunks' cunning grin widened in a cunning twist, "Safe and sound."
Trunks was flooded by a surge of sinful, puckish pride.
Trunks barely noticed as Goten leaned forward to scrape some char off his toast.
"How about you?" Trunks gestured to Goten with his chin, bearing a wolfish grin, "Where's your half?"
Goten leaned back to take a bite from his toast. He wiped and covered his mouth with his reply, "Shtill behind my GameShtashion. The resht ish at the bank."
Trunks flashed a knowing smile.
That bitch thought she got away with their $900 billion zeni of dragonweed …
… but she thought wrong.
Trunks' grin was venomous and proud, as he remembered her words as they drifted across his mind like floating seagrape, lost at sea.
"Even the cartel lords know to not travel with all their weed at once."
All this bullshit started over that fucking dragonweed bounty…
Trunks' smile grew into a wicked toothy grin.
… And, in the end, the Seven-Leaf Dragon won.
He fucking WON.
––––––––
He knew he didn't do it alone. No Z Fighter ever truly did it alone.
It took a team effort, from Trunks, Bulma, Vegeta and even his ex-girlfriend Mai… but in the end, they did it. They pulled through.
They all saved Goten.
And they all did it through their love, each in their own way.
Trunks still had Goten in his life. And, while things were rocky, they were likely to be okay. Or at least... okay enough.
In the end, Trunks felt a bit like burnt toast, both physically and mentally. But… the storm never quenched his fire, and his spirit was never broken.
Trunks learned a lot about himself from everything that happened.
Trunks knew that his actions were not all ethical. And he knew the strings that he pulled were not always of pure heart. But he learned that sometimes a hero had to be a villain in order to protect someone he loved.
He also learned where his heart truly lay, and several truths about Trunks that no lie could ever override.
And the following were inalienable truths about Trunks.
The truth… was that Trunks loved Goten. He truly love him as a brother, as a best friend, and maybe admittedly a little more. It was enough to want to fuse with him, and become one with his body, and to be closest to his soul.
The truth… was that Trunks would do anything for Goten. He literally would endure and persevere for him, no matter what, to keep him safe.
The truth… was that Trunks knew he didn't deserve Goten. Despite all his love for him, he knew he had hurt Goten, and his best friend just didn't know.
The truth… was that Trunks had taken away Goten's choice, when Trunks had taken his girlfriend, both in body and in death.
He never meant for it to spiral the way that it had. He had never meant for it to go as long as it did. He had never wanted to get in the way of Goten's life and future.
The truth… was that Trunks had never planned for her to die, despite the fact that both he and his dad had both felt she deserved it for the pain and power-play that she inflicted on Trunks.
Trunks had never killed anyone before. And even though his dad had been his weapon, Vegeta only did it because Trunks had been paralyzed at the time.
Trunks would have killed her, though. He was angry enough at the time. He felt justified enough in that moment.
The truth… was that his heart had been growing hardened, darker, and numb.
In the end, though, it didn't matter whether Goten's fiance had deserved to die.
It didn't matter that his fiance was wicked.
It didn't matter what she did to Trunks, and how she had bounty-hunted him using Goten as his weakness.
If Goten didn't know, then none of it mattered.
It was all covered up; erased; forgotten.
It would never be a "truth" anymore, because that story never happened.
It was all thrown to the wind, washed away by the rain, and crushed on the cliffs.
All the evidence was gone.
Havana never was.
––––––––
Trunks knew he had gone through extreme measures to ensure Goten's safety because he was his best friend and family.
And as a best friend and family, Trunks knew he would do everything in his power to mitigate Goten's weaknesses and be his shield, even if he had to work within Goten's blind spots.
One day, though, Trunks promised to tell Goten the truth. The real truth.
Goten would look back on all of Trunks' efforts to protect him and realize he did everything out of love for him.
One day Goten would thank him. One day.
Until that day, though, Trunks was grateful to have such a good friend and confidant in Goten.
After all, Goten always tended to bring Trunks back from whatever funk he was in. And moving forward, it would surely be no different.
––––––––
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_._._.-.–2/29…–.-._._._
-._._._-._._._-._._._-._._._-._._._-._._._-
Coming out of his daydream, Trunks looked to his best friend who had just finished his late breakfast, and for a moment, the fog lifted.
For a moment, the storm cleared.
And in that moment, Trunks heard a hum in his mind, like a song of the universe... And for a brief breath of time, Trunks was grateful for Goten, and their lives and health, and he felt a little bit like his old self again.
"Hey Goten," Trunks said whimsically, with a far-off look, as he remembered a time when they had been close amid the mushroom sea. When he spoke, Trunks half-spoke words to himself, knowing what future lay ahead for him. It was his promise to his mother.
He would be the president and CEO of Capsule Corporation one day.
But there was something else, too - a promise that Trunks made, in defiance of prying Goten's future away from a potential life of adventure at sea.
Looking at Goten on the couch, Trunks spoke from the heart, and the depths of his soul.
"One day, Goten, I promise, I'm going to take you on a space adventure. The biggest odyssey of our lives."
Goten hadn't expected those words, and didn't understand their underlying meaning. But the words sounded nice, and he smiled a little sadly as he stood up with his finished plate. "That'd be great."
"I mean it," Trunks insisted as he spoke with his hands, gesturing widely, "It'll be the biggest, most epic adventure of our lives."
"That sounds awesome," Goten walked to the sink, where he rinsed his plate.
"Just watch," Trunks turned to look ahead at the wall, picturing their escape from reality. "At the first opportunity, we're going to blow this joint of a planet, and we're going to have our fun out there."
Goten smiled distantly, coming back to reality as he turned off the water. "Yeah. It'll be nice. A real space adventure."
Trunks looked ahead, to the wall, and could envision it - the kind of freedom that they always talked about as kids, and the adventure that Trunks knew he owed Goten, in exchange for taking away his fiance.
"It'll be a big, grand tour of the whole sea of stars. I promise."
Goten softly smiled at him as he looked off and distantly envisioned that promise as being true, "I can't wait."
And Trunks couldn't wait, either.
... But neither of them could have ever anticipated who was destined to take Goten's place.
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終 わり ("Owari") / The End
(AUTHOR'S NOTE: STAY TUNED!)
–2/29/24–
A/N: This is not the end of my postings here. It's just the end of the "Havana" story.
There are a couple epilogues remaining for this story which will support bridging this story to Legend & Legacy (Which is a re-write of "Goku's Humored" hosted currently on AO3, though you can read the original story "Goku's Humored" here on FFnet). I've also left some plot points open for a reason, because they will be addressed in the larger story.
For those who have read L&L first, and then are here, I want to clarify that Havana is NOT the "family drama" that becomes the rift between Trunks and Goten. She simply starts the ball rolling for Goten's decisions moving forward, that lead to the family drama.
I'm going to very quickly glaze over those time skip nuggets in Epilogue 1, and then Epilogue 2 will have the real meat of the ending which I know all of you are looking forward to - A nine year time skip to the future.
Yes, Pan will still be in this story. There's a whole epilogue chapter devoted to her which will include the actual takeaway advice from this story, which directly impacts her final decisions in the Baby Saga within Goku's Humored* (which I will also update with Chapter 76 after Epilogue 2 here is finished).
*Note: Goku's Humored = Legend & Legacy (its rewrite), but it's about 60 chapters ahead in its storytelling, and is hosted exclusively on FFnet.
Since the Epilogues are optional to this story, I'm putting "THE END" officially here.
I also highly recommend people start this story over from Chapter 1, and you'll get a headspin from how it all kind of… loops back to the beginning, by the end. Maybe a few of you might realize that Trunks, in the end, turned out to be exactly like his mom.
If you've enjoyed this story, give a Like or Review! Help others find the story by supporting its stats.
I'd love to hear your thoughts about this tale. The epilogues are going to be a bridge to its sequel, so this chapter is a good opportunity to discuss your thoughts on the novel.
I'll see you in the Epilogues :)