Chapter 19
| * |
A myriad of emotions raced though Mia as she soared away from Sekkai and Tomma. She was enraged for many reasons, but mostly because the boy was proof of her infidelity; proof that she indeed had done something awful by the standards of human morality. She was angry at him for coming, for being that tangible evidence, and deeply troubled at the thought of her mate’s reaction when he figured it out. Her mind was also clearer on all the things that had previously confused her: why the little one hadn’t followed her to judgment in front of Enma-Diao, why the Talisian had distracted her with false information, and why he had kept her alive to ‘mutilate’ her – he had been extracting the fetus. She was upset at herself for not digging deeper on the events of that day. It had been hard, seeing the pain in Trunk’s eyes and demeanor when she had asked, and so she hadn’t pressed. She was alive again, Trunks was happy, their children were happy, so why should they have to discuss painful memories? It was over, done, past. A niggling in the back of her mind snapped her out of her thoughtful stupor. Someone was following her, and after a moment she determined that it was Goten. Not exactly the person she wanted to deal with right now. She was terribly angry with him as well. She pushed her Ki further, speeding up, but Goten matched her. When it became obvious that Goten was not going to stop following her, Mia rolled her eyes and slowed to a stop. She took a deep breath, and asked without turning around, “What? What could you possibly want, Goten?” She crossed her arms. “Just to talk,” Goten said cautiously. “We need to figure out what we’re going to tell everyone.” Mia sighed. Despite her overwhelming want to punch him in the face, he was right. She turned to face Goten, “What do you propose?” she said each word, pointedly, trying to conceal her frustration. Goten chose his words carefully, “We can tell them that a Saiyan from Talis came. Everyone knows what that Talisian did to you.” He watched her screw up her face. “They can make the conclusion that he was...artificially made, for now.” She looked at him pointedly, her lips pressed into a thin line. “But, you’ll need to tell Trunks what happened -” “I think that’s my choice, not yours,” Mia cut in, furrowing her brows. Goten inhaled and exhaled patiently. “He’ll know the moment he meets the boy.” She looked at him cautiously. “What do you mean?” “Mia, even if you were struck, blind, deaf and dumb, you’d know your own children, right?” Mia nodded, looking at Goten as if he was stupid. “Of course I would!” “Right. Their smell, the way their heart beats, the way they move, their Ki all take after both of the parents.” Goten knew he was repeating things that Mia clearly knew, but he was trying to make a point, “You just know when a child is yours. I’m sure you feel that he is yours and you want him, don’t you? The maternal instinct -” “Get to the point,” Mia growled, cutting in. It was concerning her slightly that Goten knew exactly how she was feeling in that respect. She knew the boy was hers, and she wanted to take him and raise him, teach him what he needed to know, and protect him from the things he could not protect himself against. “Have you ever thought that fathers can tell the same things?” Goten looked at Mia, imploring her. She wasn’t meeting his gaze, her eyes darting down to the Earth below as she was thinking. “He’s mine too. Trunks will know that Ty’anu is not his,” Goten said softly. Mia had began to bite her bottom lip slightly. “I don’t know if Trunks will be able to tell that he’s mine, or what kind of assumption he’d make. So...it would be best if he just knew,” Goten put his hands up in submission, “But that’s entirely your decision.” Mia sighed lightly and looked up at Goten, her anger draining into something intangible to her. “What about your wife?” she asked quietly. It was then Goten who broke gaze and looked down for a moment at his feet, kicking one in the air, as if to be nonchalant. “We’ve already...dealt with it. She knows what happened.” “And?” Goten looked back up at Mia. “And...?” he shrugged, “We worked through it.” Goten hated lying, but he didn’t want to discuss his home life with Mia. The two were still another minute, and without a word began making their way to Capsule Corp. Both were lost in their own thoughts. Mia thinking of what story she would feed everyone, and what she would say to her mate later, and Goten dwelled on the memory aftermath of admitting adultery to his own wife. He remembered the guilt, he remembered the conversation, and remembered her picking up their son and visiting her mother for a week. That had been the hardest and loneliest week of his life. Nobody had noticed when she had stopped coming around to visit, as she had never been overly involved with that side of his life. She was a very happy woman who was accomplished in other areas. She respected martial arts and fighting, but did not engage in it at the level Goten did. He loved that difference between them. It was that difference that made it so easy for him to excuse her absence. She had returned after that week, but nothing was the same. The love and trust they shared had been shattered, and they were still piecing it back together. Goten feared that they were piecing it back together all wrong. Vegeta and Trunks were waiting in the courtyard as the two returned. Mia set down first, then Goten, and they were briskly walking towards the buildings. “We’re not in any immediate danger,” Mia started off, “At least, not yet.” She exhaled heavily. “It’s an odd situation. Where is my mother?” “Tending to the little ones,” Trunks replied. “Getting them ready for bed.” Mia made sure that everyone was gathered, including Bulma and Bra, before she shared any information. Goten was silent for the entire conversation, letting Mia be the one to form the story, where the assumption was that Mia’s uterus had been taken, and the only male nearby that had been incapacitated was Trunks. It had been Bulma who made the assumption out loud, and everyone settled comfortably into that story, save for Sekkai. She simply sat back with the faintest hint of a smirk on her lips. It was after the discussion about the situation, and what they would do with Ty’anu now that he was here, that they noticed that night had long set over Capsule Corp. Mia tugged at Trunks’ wrist, beckoning for him to follow and the two flew up and away from the main buildings. They settled on a rocky formation not far away. She didn’t know how to start. Trunks’ eyes were bright, and it was painfully obvious to Mia that he was expecting a very different conversation. She looked down at her knees, wringing her hands together, and opened her mouth. The words sat heavily in the back of her throat, twisting through her tongue and each one stung clumsily on her lips. Her eyes began to well with tears, as her heart rate increased and her breaths became ragged and raspy as she pulled in air after each sentence. When she was finished, they sat in silence with Mia studying Trunks’ expression. He was attempting to remain stoic, but his mind was racing as anger quickly rose in him. He felt equally betrayed by both her and by Goten, and he was unsure of how to react. Why kind of reactions was appropriate for this situation? He had to think of so many things – their children shouldn’t know, at least not yet, and if it leaked to the tabloids, the media would have a field day at Capsule Corp. He just...didn’t know yet. He stood up, and Mia scrambled to do the same. He could tell that she was anxious for a reaction. He wasn’t ready to give her one. Instead, he simply requested that she give him more time to think, which also incidentally gave him more time to find and beat Goten’s face in. She had nodded, obviously doing anything he wished at that point, so he also requested that she not sleep in their bed until he asked her back. They flew back to Capsule Corp, and Trunks set down in the courtyard and began walking into the buildings to go back to the apartment they shared. Mia set down at the top of one of the buildings. She lowered herself to almost a lounging sit – her legs reaching out and below her, while she propped her upper body with her arm. A hand reached down and caressed her mane of hair. She looked up to see her mother smiling down at her. As Sekkai set down, she kneeled and pulled Mia closer in to her, holding her shoulders in an embrace. Night passed slowly.
|
* |