Second Chances: Broken Wings

Three whole months had came and gone since brothers Ryo and Shin were born. Winter was here to stay more likely than not and would most likely go on to be one of the snowiest on record. In the time since the birth of their children however, Goku and Vegeta were able to learn much from Bulma and received help from their friends and family. The fact that Goku and Vegeta were parents had gotten around to everyone...except Chi-Chi. Ever since she did the disgraceful deed of destroying everything of Shin and Ryo's, it wasn't a surprise that few of her now former friends even talked to her. Young Gohan too had changed dramatically since he had heard from Bulma what his mother had done.


Like Goku, Gohan was no longer wrapped around his mother's finger.


Frustrated by his mother's over-protection, the fact that she was denying to see him as a teenager and still treated him like a child, and by the disgusting fact that she could be so rotten to his father and Vegeta, Gohan deliberately disobeyed his mother when it came to visiting his father and spending time with his half brothers. He simply couldn't run from his father just because his mother told him to. No matter what happened, Goku was always going to be his father, and his best friend, with or without Chi-Chi, and she was going to have to face that truth sooner or later. Goku's heart was no longer hers, but Vegeta's, and they had two beautiful boys who deserved to be treated with respect. Gohan knew this. He also knew that his half brothers needed him. Knew Ryo and Shin had done nothing, Vegeta had done nothing, that love was as unexpected as life itself.


The heavy snowstorm that seemed to last for days had finally eased up enough to enjoy it without having to be inside. Ryo and his brother eagerly pressed their little hands against the window, fogging it up as they breathed. They began to point as the white stuff on the ground outside, piled higher than they were tall. Gohan gave Shin a hug, the boy's little tail wrapping comfortably around Gohan's muscled forearm. The teenager gently bounced the infant up and down in his arms, with little Shin laughing there against his shoulder and watching the snowflakes fall. "Look, little buddy. Snow! You and your brother want to play in the snow?" Gohan asked with a nuzzle to Shin's cheek. Shin reached out with one hand towards the window, with his brother bouncing on the couch.


"How `bout it Dad? Vegeta? You guys want to come too? It'll be fun!"


Goku swallowed the last of his hot chocolate with marshmallows and set his cup on the small table next to his chair. He was rocking Vegeta on his lap. "I love the snow. Sure, I'll go. How about it Vegeta?" he asked.


"Can we have a snowball fight?" retorted the Saiyan Prince with a smirk.


"You betcha. Let's just try not to get carried away hm, love?" Goku placed a tender kiss on Vegeta cheek.


"That goes for you too...my baka. Before we go though, we should bundle the kids up."


Ryo and Shin were taken into their room by their parents, where they were then bundled up for the cold and then quickly returned to the living room to sit with their big brother. Gohan couldn't help but to giggle at the little boys' beanies and tiny ear muffs. "Those are cute. They probably look pretty warm too huh. Come here you two - up you go!" chimed the teenager with a boy in each arm.


Outside, the brothers looked in awe at the white world around them. Their eyes twinkled with anticipatory delight and glee, and they nearly squirmed out of Gohan's arms in excitement. Gohan kneeled and took one brother in each hand, and carefully led them into the giant playground that awaited them. Goku and Vegeta watched Gohan, being ever so gentle with their children as they played in the snow, with the tips of their fluffy Saiyan tails speckled with snowflakes. It was almost unbelievable to both Goku and Vegeta just how much Gohan loved Ryo and Shin; he nearly loved them just as much as they did. It was just a shame Gohan's mother couldn't let herself be as accepting.


"Hey Gohan. Why don't you take the boys over there and teach them how to build a snowman? Me and Vegeta are going to have a snowball fight."



Gohan glanced over at his father preparing snowballs. "Ok dad. Come on Ryo, Shin. Knowing your parents, this isn't going to be just any snowball fight." he chuckled and scooped the brothers into his arms.


Goku and Vegeta stood on either side of the wide open snowfield, each having one stack of snowballs in their possession and one in their hand. It was a near stand-off, with Gohan and the twins watching from the side as they began work on their snowman. Ryo and Shin looked at each other then, with blank looks on their faces. "Don't you two worry. Nothing's going to happen to Daddy Goku or Daddy Vegeta. They're just having fun...even if they do take it a little *too* seriously." As if a gunshot had been fired, the snowballs started flying with great speed and accuracy, and exploded upon impact. As he was gathering snow for the first level of the snowman, Gohan could hear Ryo and Shin clapping their little mitten-covered hands together and laughing with wide eyes. "When you guys get bigger, you'll be able to do that too!" he smiled, pulling both brothers into his arms for a hug.


By the time Goku and Vegeta finished their snowball fight, Gohan and the boys were putting the finishing touches on their snowman. The two Saiyans had a seat next to the icy work of art, lightly kissing at each other's bruises. "I thought we agreed not to be so rough this time?" grumbled Goku to his prince who sat in his lap. "We did, until you nearly took my arm off. It was fun though." smirked the smaller bruised Saiyan with a kiss to his mate's lips. Gohan was just finishing wrapping his scarf around the snowman. "Looks like you three have been busy. Looks great!" Goku admired. The boys crashed into his arms, nearly knocking their father to the snow-covered ground. "Be gentle boys. Daddy is kinda sore." he cautioned.


After crawling all over Goku, the boys started to crawl on Vegeta!


"Ah! Easy! Daddy is sore; ow! That's the arm! Kakarot!" he yelped.


Goku laughed aloud, coming to his feet. "Alright you two, that's enough. Daddy isn't a playground. You can play with your toys inside where it's warm."


*************


Spring had arrived, the season of rebirth. And like the myriad of colorful flowers and trees, brothers Ryo and Shin were also starting to blossom. Because of their pure Saiyan blood, they had grown to the size of a two-year-old human infant, as well as learned to walk and talk within a faster time period. While not at all surprising to their full-blooded Saiyan parents, Bulma and the others thought it to be a little more than surprising, not having seen them in a little while. And with the weather cool and comfortable, it was a perfect day to play catch up at none other than Capsule Corp.


The get-together was being held outside, among the beautiful weather and sometimes loud hustle and bustle of the city. Bulma, her mother, Krillin and Android 18, Tien and Chaoutzu, even Yamcha and Gohan, they had all gathered there for what they hoped would be a good time...but with the last time they all gathered having blown up in their faces, they had every reason to be just a tiny bit skeptical.


"Gohan...are you sure your mother isn't coming?" Krillin asked, sitting on a blanket with his friend.


"I..I'm pretty sure. She thinks I'm still at home, studying. It's a good thing she knows not to come in my room when the door is closed. That's the only way I was able to come here. So, hopefully she won't get suspicious." replied the weary teenager, sipping at a can of soda-pop.


Krillin felt a big sweat drop roll down the side of his bald head, not liking the tone in which Gohan had spoken in. He swallowed hard. "I...sure hope your right. Say...how about we go play frisbee? Maybe that will help get our minds off of this..."


"Sounds like a plan. Hopefully your right."



Meanwhile, Goku, Vegeta, their boys, Bulma and her mother were all sitting around a table underneath an awning, watching the others play frisbee and stickball. Goku, holding Ryo, reached into the diaper bag he'd brought, pulled out a small jar of baby food, Ryo's favorite to be exact. "Heh. Mmmm - look son, your favorite! Apple sauce!" chimed Goku to his eager son. Shin reached out from Vegeta's arms towards his brother's opened food jar, and gently whimpered. "Your hungry too? Hey, Kakarot, what else do you have in there? Shin is hungry." Goku equipped Ryo with a bib. "Hm? Let's see..." Goku's apparent stalling as he searched the bag roused a bit of crying from the hungry boy, who started wriggling in his father Vegeta's arms. "Kakarot...?" asked the Saiyan Prince, trying to calm the child in his arms. He was finally handed a small jar of carrots.



"Aw! Look dear, isn't that just the cutest thing you've ever seen?" cooed Mrs. Briefs to her daughter as she watched Goku and Vegeta feeding their boys in a rather comedic fashion - the airplane, the choo-choo train. Both of which seemed to work perfectly.


"Naturally. Huh? Uh oh...G-Goku....Vegeta..." Bulma stumbled suddenly with a rather frightened look on her face.


Vegeta and Goku turned to look behind them and seen her, Chi-Chi, the bearer of bad karma, walking calmly towards them with an unsually peaceful look on her face. Her hands were behind her back as if she was hiding something, a gift perhaps, or perhaps another nasty blade. Krillin and Gohan were at the table in a heartbeat. "Mom! I didn't mean to, I swear! It's just that..." "Save it young man. We will talk in the car - I stopped by to give your father and that monst - I mean, Vegeta, a present for their kids. It's from my father." Chi-Chi pulled a red liquid-filled jar from behind her back. It had a little note attached to it, tied to the jar by a furry red rope of some sort. She handed the bottle to Goku.


He could only look at it and wonder. When he took a closer look, however, he suddenly wasn't so clueless. "Some of your father's speciality juice. Please give him my thanks." the large jar was placed on the table in front of him; he resumed feeding Ryo, and pretended the woman next to him was oblivious. But he could still feel her, hovering behind him, breathing down his neck like some pesky fly. "Do you mind? I'm trying to feed my son." Goku asked with a hint of agitation in his voice. "Don't mind me Goku. After your finished, can I hold him?" asked the pesky fly of a woman. It didn't take Goku no more than a second to rebuke, "After what you did? I think not. Besides...phew, smells like they need a change, heh. You can always do that if you want..." laughed the Saiyan, trying his best not to inhale the sudden putrid stench. Chi-Chi backed off then. Bulma and her mother offered to change the boys inside and were given permission to do so. Krillin took the juice jar inside, following behind them.


But some thirty minutes later, horrid, shrill screaming came suddenly from inside the dome-like Capsule Corp, and out ran Mrs. Briefs, Bulma and Krillin, with the two women each holding a very ill-looking boy in their arms. Like bees to honey, everyone quickly swarmed them before they had a chance to stop and catch their breath. "Goku! Vegeta! Something's wrong!" Bulma and her mother exclaimed, putting the boys into the care of their worried parents. Their little faces were gaunt and pale, their expressions were that of one who is deathly ill...a red ring adorned their lips....Goku's eyes boggled, nearly bursted from their sockets. The juice!


"....! Ryo...? Shin...? You ok little buddy?" Goku choked, watching the color draining from Shin's face. "Shin...? Buddy?"


"Da...ddy." whimpered the child with half-closed eyes. His brother Ryo whimpered the same thing some seconds later, as he limply hung there in Vegeta's arms.


Vegeta clenched his teeth together with such a ferocity that nearly made them crack. He no longer could feel the presence of his sons, even this close to him, or could feel very little of it at the most. His instincts told him to clutch tighter at the small boy in his arms. "Kakarot! We have to hurry!" he commanded, trying to not show the emotion that was so close to leaking from his eyes. Just as they were about to fly off, Bulma suddenly stopped them. "Wait! I heard on the news that the power is out in the direction your heading! The nearest hospital is at least an hour away - you'll never make it!" "She's right. Goku, what about Korin? Can't you get any Senzu's from him?" Krillin asked. "Yeah, but they would take longer to make than they've got. We'll have to use my Instant Transmission. Vegeta! Hang on!" And in the blink of an eye, Goku and Vegeta disappeared into nothingness.


******************


The mystery toxin or whatever tainted the juice proved to work even faster than Goku's technique, however. By the time Goku and Vegeta arrived, it was too late. Doctors confirmed both boys dead, with the cause being that of poisoning. By a highly volatile toxin, capable of killing the patient within days, but because the twins were still infants and their immune systems weren't quite as strong, they were given virtually no chance of survival, as concluded by the doctors. They had been poisoned by what Goku thought was a harmless gift from Chi-Chi's father, the Ox King, but it had been her all along.


Vegeta, too crushed to stand, crumbled to his knees there on the waiting room floor. The jagged, painful daggers of grief tearing at his already mangled heart. Tears flowed from his eyes like blood from a freshly severed vein. His boys were gone, ruthlessly taken away by the one he now wanted to kill in the most painful way possible. His happiness had all but been ripped away from him, just like that. Everything, even his memories. The way they used to smile at him as he held them. Or the way they looked when they were asleep and sucking their thumbs. How they looked when they first started to walk, ever so eagerly towards their proud parents, or the looks on their faces just before the apocalypse known as Chi-Chi hit. Precious, happy faces, so healthy, youthful and full of excitement. Vegeta crumbled to his hands and knees underneath the weight of it all, and filled the entire world with his one heartbroken scream.