Enough

Chapter 15

Trunks had just sat down to eat, wondering absently why Goten hadn't come down to dinner yet (he wasnever late for a meal), when he felt a sharp pang of fear in his chest. He snapped to his feet, staring blankly in front of him, trying to get a bead on Goten's ki signal as he flashed to SSJ. He could hear shouting around him, but their words were irrelevant. He started to raise his fingers to his forehead as his father grabbed him angrily by the front of his shirt. Before he could complete the IT though, Goten was suddenly right next to him, shaking visibly, with his eyes wide and starting to tear up. He slammed his fist into his fathers' chest to make him let go, it was hard enough to send him flying backwards (knocking over Goku behind him as well), and then he turned to wrap Goten in his arms as he collapsed to the floor. No audible words passed between them, but as Trunks rocked him and stroked his back, he felt the chain of events passing over him through the bond. Goten was sobbing now, so Trunks unceremoniously ripped off both of their shirts and held him tight, the skin to skin contact with his mate slowly starting to calm him.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you, Kakarot" he heard his father's gravelly voice. Trunks looked up to see that Goku had approached them, and had his hand out to touch Goten's back. He drew it back at the look in Trunks' eyes.

"I can tell that you're pretty much running on instinct right now guys, and I know it's hard, but I need you to tell me what's going on... If there's a threat out there, I need to know so I can help protect you... Ok Trunks? I just want to help keep him safe..." Goku said while kneeling beside them. Slowly Trunks nodded his head, but didn't move to speak. Vegeta walked over to them with an irritated sigh and put his hand on Goku's shoulder, telling him to do the same to Trunks. Goten's crying was down to a soft whimper, and he opened his eyes when he felt their fathers join the circle.

All of the snippets of his memories of Gohan began flowing out of him and through to the others. He wasn't sure how he was doing it, or who had started it, but he found he had no control over it once it began. There was Gohan smiling down at Goten from his book, strong arms tucking him into bed at night, wrestling and trying to defeat his giant of a brother on the living room floor as a toddler, the sadness at him leaving to go to school that first day, but the joy of getting to train with him and being taught to fly. His brother had taught him everything he knew... Devastation choked all of them with the strength of it when Goten thought his brother had died fighting Buu, but was replaced with a pride beyond belief as he came back to rescue him and Trunks... Now more recent memories began to flash; seeing Gohan walk through the door of that party, him threatening to murder Trunks for sleeping with him, then actually decking Trunks for getting him pregnant (those all carried a surprising fondness). Then the current of the memories shifted, and he caught a glimpse of the pain in Gohan's eyes as he stared out at nothing while he thought that no one was looking. The uneventful discovery (at the time) of the scotch and the shot glass on the counter after he had taken off when they teased him about the ultrasound... The feeling of looking at him and something being 'off' on several occasions... The memory of waking to find him staring at him as he had slept on his birthday - but now that he relived that memory, he realized that he hadn't actually been staring at him, his eyes had flicked down to him once he noticed he was awake... why would his subconscious point that out to him? How could that matter?

"Why?" rang out in his head as images and thoughts swirled; too recent and fresh for his shocked mind to sort properly. Why had this happened to his Gohan? The power pouring off of him, plaster crumbling from the walls. Why? The gi and picture spread out neatly in the middle of the rest of the wreckage. Why had he just left the bottle of rum on its side? Why did he smell like he had lost his mind? "GET OUT!" screamed in a frigid rage. Why didn't he want his help? Why?!

Goku let go of Trunks' shoulder abruptly. He was breathing heavily, with two tears slowly running down his cheeks as he blinked repeatedly. Vegeta was just scowling as usual, but there was an uncommon look of concern in his eyes. He squeezed Goku's shoulder gently, and his words came out a little less harshly than normal.

"Pull your self together Kakarot, we need to go after your son" he said. Goku closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths.

"Now, Kakarot, it's only been a few minutes since Goten ran from him, there's no telling what kind of state Gohan will be in when we find him... We need to get close, grab him, and IT him out of the city before he can hurt himself or anyone else" Vegeta said calmly.

"Right Vegeta, that's a good idea - I think we should take him out to the wilderness near where Piccolo lives, he might be able to help get him calmed down too" Goku said as he stood.

"Alright, let's go" Vegeta placed his hand on Goku's arm and they vanished. Trunks carried Goten up to their room, stripping them of the rest of their clothes and cuddling him as closely as he could till he fell into an exhausted slumber.

Goku took only a fraction of a second to take in his surroundings before he grabbed onto Gohan's arm and IT'd them all out to the middle of the forest. Gohan stayed on his knees the entire time, not even blinking as the scene around him changed from the total destruction of his apartment to the scenic view of Piccolo's waterfall. Fear stabbed through Goku when he looked into his son's eyes; they were completely empty, like he was looking at a cheap painting instead of a real person. To top off the unease of the situation, his power level was fluctuating wildly from moment to moment. He hadn't needed to transform to reach the level of power associated with SSJ since his power up with the Old Kai - so no one who couldn't sense ki would have been able to tell that he was flashing back and forth from normal power to SSJ2, down to SSJ, then up to SSJ2, back to normal, straight to SSJ3, then back to normal, like a sputtering flame... All as he sat their immobile, not moving a muscle.

Piccolo was beside Goku now, as frozen at the sight of Gohan as they were, arms crossed over his chest. His voice was full of concern and fear as he asked what had happened.

"I... I don't know" Goku answered painfully.

"Whatever the reason, if he's having that much trouble controlling his power, he could burn himself up" Piccolo said to him softly, but with a scowl on his face. Vegeta walked around behind the idiot boy, getting no reaction from him at all, and knocked him out cold with one well placed punch. Gohan's power instantly bottomed out and stayed steady.

"There, now he won't accidentally blow up the planet - I suggest we fit him with some ki restraints as soon as possible" Vegeta growled at the unconscious boy. He could smell it now himself, the thing that Goten described as "going insane" - but Vegeta knew better. As a seasoned warrior, he had experienced 100 times what Goten had in his few short years confined to Earth. That was not the smell of someone going insane, it was the smell of someone being driven insane, there was a difference.