Work Text:
“Where the Sun, the Moon, the Earth line up- it is called an Eclipse.”
Eclipse in Mirai timeline
Vegeta had never made secret his opinion that Goku had too big of a bleeding heart. So of course, of all the things that would kill Goku off permanently, of course it would be a heart attack.
Because of the existence of the dragonballs, death was cheap on this backwater mud ball of a planet. But Goku’s was not. No resurrections this time. Not even for their constant hero.
Goku looked… like a pale shadow of himself, his breath dwindling. In this room where sunlight only filtered in, the threat of the Androids seemed distant, unlike the certain oncoming loss.
Vegeta didn’t even think Goku was even aware of his presence. “Kakarot,” he said, alerting the other man to his presence. Goku’s eyes flickered towards him, and there it was, that little tilt of the lips up.
How dare he. How dare he look at Vegeta like that-- like nothing was wrong, like he wasn’t about to--
How could someone like Goku just --fall to some stupid heart disease? When vegeta had claimed his death. When Goku was supposed to die by his hands.
“I always told you your bleeding heart would kill you one day, Kakarot,” Vegeta remarked. Just not in the way they expected.
Weak chuckle. “Guess you… were right.”
Reduced to two-word phrases. Goku didn’t have much time left.
Damn bastard. Always leaving Vegeta in his shadow.
Vegeta gave in. He did the least likely and most useful thing he could do right then, which was to hold Kakarot close. Letting his tail curl around Kakarot’s forearm.
The shadow of Goku’s sunlit smile. He could always see right through Vegeta, whatever the animosity between them. “Thank.. you… V.”
Vegeta’s hold tightened slightly, in their strange embrace. Desperately trying not to think of the hundreds of ways this would be the last time he would see his rival, whatever lifetime it was. It didn’t matter. It shouldn’t.
But ...Vegeta wasn’t one for lying, and matter it did.
Goku’s oncoming death was tragic, of course. All his human friends were mourning him, as they should. Privately though, Vegeta felt… relieved. It would bring Goku some much deserved peace, a peace not afforded to Vegeta.
There was no place anymore for darkness with Goku’s passing. He would keep his body, be able to train in heaven in the Otherworld. It was time for him to step away, to return to the sun and golden clouds where he belonged. Not with Vegeta whose place was in the shadows cast by the moon. In the coming battle against the androids.
It should have been Vegeta and Goku facing them together, taking turns, heckling at each other. But it was just like Goku to spite Vegeta- his entire existence was basically just to spite Vegeta.
Vegeta touched his forehead to Goku’s, his tail tightening. The saiyan gesture for comfort. For greeting hello to someone dear. Also the gesture for goodbye. It had to be irritation, this deep feeling of ache in his heart, because it was too strong to be anything else. It wasn’t fondness. It certainly couldn’t be love.
Goku’s tail flicked his, twining around it. Vegeta allowed it. He would remember this, and he knew in the coming years he would miss it terribly - miss Goku- but there was no point in regrets. Meeting again was unlikely at best, impossible at worst.
Perhaps in another lifetime, or another timeline, they might have had the chance to become something to each other. To stand by each other’s side until the final fall. The Prince and the Legendary, maybe something more. Not this lifetime.
Goku’s voice was the husk of a rasp. “Fight ...well, Vegeta.”
“I will,” Vegeta said. He wasn’t one for lying, but just this once. Goku deserved this. “And you’d better be too, Kakarot. I expect a fierce battle-”
“-when we meet again-”
-Whatever lifetime that might be -
Eclipse in Z
“We make a pretty good team, don’t we?” Goku asked, his words coloured by relief bordering on the hysterical. When Vegeta met those charcoal eyes, the sheer fondness in them took his breath away.
“Hn.” Vegeta allowed a slight upward tilt to his lips. Goku’s expression morphed to one of pure delight. So easy to read. Goku could do that, he had little emotional barriers. His soul wasn’t something he had to guard.
His soul that was bonded to Vegeta’s now, after their fusion.
Goku held out his palm in that common human way of celebrating, as if he expected Vegeta to take it. His expression was hopeful.
Vegeta gazed back, the solemn moment long enough that the Goku’s eyes dimmed a little, his smile uncertain. Something in Vegeta’s chest twinged. Damn it all, but no one had had as much of an impact on Vegeta as this Saiyan before him. No one ever did, or could.
Hesitation was the space of a breath. Vegeta caught the offered palm.
He didn’t expect Goku’s next move. Soft lips brushing his, quick and feather light as though the owner didn’t expect this to be permanent, to be allowed to enjoy this. When Goku drew back, there was a tinge of pink on his cheeks.
“Sorry,” Goku muttered, “I just- I didn’t-”
Vegeta shut him up with a proper kiss. Saiyans never did things half-heartedly, and in some ways, Goku was as Saiyan as they come.
With all the history between them, all the tension, there was no way it wasn’t leading to this moment.
When their lips parted, Goku’s eyes held the light of the full moon, drawing Vegeta in. “Vegeta--”
Vegeta shook his head. He couldn’t help it-- a proper smile broke through the haze of a storm that had ravaged him the past seven years. “Kakarot. You don’t have to explain anything.”
Their souls had been bonded through fusion, after all. Even physically separated, traces of each other remain.
When Vegeta had burned a path through the stars all those years ago, initiating their fateful first meeting, never did he imagine that he would one day know how Goku looked like when he’d just been kissed.
A sense of peace lingered in the air, mixed with the bittersweet knowledge that this might just be their first and last time.
Both Vegeta and Goku had other priorities to see to. Much as they had… whatever this was, with each other, neither of them would turn their backs on their families for this. Both had done it for long enough.
Their lives would keep moving on, and they might just stay in touch, but it was time to go back to ordinary life. At that moment, there was nothing left for either Saiyan to prove.
Somehow they both knew, or believed, their days of chasing the next limit, chasing each other was over. Neither had to say anything - their soul bond spoke for them.
They just had to open this door, didn’t they? All the possibilities, all the yearning. Vegeta shook his head. “You never stop surprising me, Kakarot.”
Goku hummed. “Well, it’s mutual.” A heavy pause. “I’ll miss you, Vegeta.”
Vegeta snorted. “Stop being so sentimental, idiot, this isn’t a goodbye. We’ll see eachother again.”
“Yeah, but it won’t be the same,” Goku said, and the thing is, Vegeta understood what he meant. Understood without words that they would see each other again, but they could never come back to this. What it could have led them to.
Vegeta inclined his head-- a silent goodbye to what they had before, what could-have-beens, and a well-wish to what lay ahead.
“Who knows,” Goku said lightly. “Maybe in the future--”
--time would line up, and we’d meet in the middle-
Eclipse in Super
Jiren’s silhouette loomed in the ring, the last one standing.
“All the fighters from Universe 7 had been eliminated,” The Grand Minister announced. As per the rule of the Tournament of Power, Universe 7 shall be erased.”
Vegeta might have felt fear at various points in his life, but he certainly never acknowledged it. Right then, right here though, he could admit to feeling something eerily similar to fear. Because this time, the stakes were higher than ever before, and Vegeta had something extra to lose.
Vegeta’s newborn daughter, so terribly small, yet her smile lit up his whole world. Trunks and Goten, strong and proud. Bulma’s beautiful blue eyes, glowing in both challenge and faith in him, in their team. The unexpected trust Vegeta had formed with this team of misfit fighters around him, found family after the years of chaos and loss.
Krillin, whose courage eclipsed many, Tien; reliable and level-headed. Piccolo, reserved but true-hearted. Gohan, brave, intelligent and fair. Eighteen and Seventeen, deadly fighting duos who reminded Vegeta of Kakarot and himself. Roshi, whose battle days should be far behind him, yet here he was taking a stand with them.
Goku’s presence beside him, his greatest warrior and trusted partner, the one that began it all.
Well, no one could say they hadn’t gone down fighting, because they did it with literally everything they had.
Goku had asked him once, why saiyans were ready to battle for everything
“We do not take Saiyan lives lightly,” Vegeta had answered him, “But when battle calls, we are proud to fight and uphold everything that makes this us.”
Vegeta lifted his head, holding it high. His tail loosened, relaxed. He was still a warrior prince, no matter that these weren’t the people he had been meant to lead. Vegeta would set the example.
Show no fear. Fear did not have a place here, because they had given everything they had, and so should - could- make peace with what comes next.
Goku stood level with him, the rest of the team (found family, Bulma had called it once-- silly earth term, but Vegeta supposed it was close enough) gathered around them.
“Oh no, Goku!” One of two Zenos - nothing more than children with destruction lighting their fingertips- cried out. “We’re sorry to see you go!”
“Sorry, sorry!” The other one/ Zeno 2 agreed. “Goku and friends go die-y!”
Vegeta supposed they should be grateful for these extra seconds. Goku gave them a small wave, calm as always. Unbelievable.
“Well, guess this is it,” Goku said. “It’s been nice knowing you, Vegeta.”
Flashback to their fight against Cooler, almost in another life. Through various near-death moments, Goku was the one constant. Vegeta could barely remember what came before him.
Sass until the end. Vegeta smirked. In the shadow or almost another lifetime, it would have irritated him. Here, fondness filled the space. “I can’t say the same. Well fought, Kakarot.” Ultra Instinct was not something to laugh about.
“Hee, you too, Vegeta.” Goku grinned, that grin that Vegeta had hated, because he had fallen so hard and fast for it, all those years ago on the plains, and excused it for something else. “You finally tapped into a form I haven’t yet.”
Once Vegeta would have bristled, seeing that kind of remark as mockery. Now he recognised it for what it was: true adoration and pride from his rival. “As if I’ll ever let you surpass me for long, you fool.”
Too much warmth in the last word for it to be scorn. Goku knew this, of course, and his smile softened. Vegeta looked away.
Goku’s tail twined with Vegeta’s, the warm ki of the team around them. Vegeta gave in and leaned against him. Their fingers clasped, as they have in countless instant transmissions, in rarer moments of vulnerability. In a show of two becoming one.
Zeno clapped, bubbly like the children they weren’t. The Grand Minister lifted his hands.
Goku’s hands tightened around his.
As the world began to fade in color and light, Vegeta’s eyes found Goku’s.
They were the hue of charcoal burning, but at this moment, it was all he needed.
Do you have any regrets? Goku’s voice touched Vegeta’s mind. Even on the brink of destruction, he could reach Vegeta.Trust Kakarot to do the impossible.
No, we gave everything we had. Even though we fell -”
---We fell together--
Eclipse in GT
Goku took a step forward. This place felt strange, almost as if it was a part of him, almost as if he belonged here. He reached out and gently brushed off some dust that had collected on the memorial. The writing was very faded, but he could still just about make them out:
Tribute to the warrior who slipped between the spaces of time
In the end, even the good is no memorial left.
Goku’s vision blurred suddenly. They stung with the sudden beginnings of hot tears. Goku rarely cried, and he barely understood the message written on the tombstone, but somehow he could feel the writer’s sorrow as though they were his own, as though they were somehow connected to him.
Something shifted behind him, and a gloved hand gingerly touched on his forearm.
“Kakarot.” Vegeta’s voice. “We should-”
Vegeta never managed to finish his sentence. A shock came over them both -- Goku’s mouth opened in a sudden cry, not one of pain. Whatever coursed through them both was soft electricity-fiery and thunderous, yet gentle.
Images flickering quickly. An aged, dark-haired woman with strict eyes, smiling - a small girl in red T-shirt, holding a scrap of blue gi- a lean, spiky haired figure looking up toward the sky, his gaze lost- a massive dragon carrying a tiny figure into the heavens--
And the rest was lost, as Vegeta wrenched Goku’s hand away.
Both of them stood panting, breath coming out in short bursts. Vegeta’s dark eyes were wild.
“Did you see-”
“Yeah,” Goku confirmed, “You?”
Vegeta took a shuddering breath in. “If we’re talking about the same thing, yes.”
The two of them gazed at each other, one set of charcoal eyes bewildered, the other grim. To his surprise, Goku felt a strong furry tail wrapping around his waist, drawing him close.
Vegeta’s charcoal eyes were burning, fiery, protective. “Whatever that was,” he vowed, “I won’t let it happen. I won’t--”
“-Let it come to that--”
Eclipse in (after)life
"Kakarot, it’s time to say goodbye."
“Wait, what are you talking about?” Goku asked in alarm. Vegeta’s smile at him was genuine. No barriers, no mask. Just sweet and sad.
Vegeta paused, as if he was trying to search for the right words, then gave up. “In the plainest possible way, you're going to heaven, and I'm going to hell." The little smile again. "It's goodbye."
"Wait," Goku's mind was spinning, "Vegeta, no, that - that's not-"
"-fair?" Vegeta regarded him. "It is, Kakarot. Fair doesn't mean desirable, remember."
"No!" Goku's voice grew louder. "Vegeta, you're a good guy, you've been fighting with us for how many years -"
“It doesn’t change the past, Kakarot-”
Goku moved to intercept Vegeta, seizing his wrist. “Maybe not, but you’ve changed!” Goku insisted. “ You’ve gotten better, Vegeta-”
"Tell that to the people I’ve killed all those years ago. Oh wait, you can’t, because they’re all dead.” Vegeta’s look didn’t have enough pieces in it to be called a smirk, and Goku hated it, the way he hated this.
“So they’re all dead, how about the people you’ve saved then, doesn’t that count-”
Vegeta shook him off. "Kakarot, you've fought many battles, but you can't win this one."
"Well I'm going to try!" Goku snapped, because he’s always been a trier and he’s not going to stop now, not least for Vegeta. "I'm going to speak to King Yemma, surely he can -- or maybe King Kai, or -"
Gloved fingers grazed Goku's jaw, and stayed there. Vegeta’s forehead touched Goku’s own, in a gesture meant to calm.
But Vegeta was only ever this tender in gravitational moments. That he was now, at this moment, scared the crap out of Goku.
"Kakarot." Vegeta's words were warm. " I don't want that. A prince doesn't take what he hasn't earned. I still have my pride, you know."
"I know, but that doesn't matter if you have to go be in hell!" Goku snapped. “I’m not going to let that happen!”
Vegeta exhaled. “Unlike every time before, this isn’t in your choice, Kakarot.”
" No! We're meant to be together, Vegeta-"
Soft lips, soft like its owner was not, kissed Goku into silence.
When Vegeta pulled away, his eyes held the universe.
"I’m sorry, Kakarot. I can't follow you this time. Thank you for everything."
Even after all their years together, Vegeta rarely initiated physical contact, so when he did it was powerful to Goku.
“Vegeta, no,” Goku found himself both furious and pleading, “I won’t -”
“-Let you go-”
***Back to where it all began***
Looking down from his high spire upon this Saiyan Kakarot, who called himself Goku. Spiky bangs framing a determined gaze. Vegeta had not been prepared for what he had seen in those eyes that day - apprehension, yes, light anger, yes, but also- excitement.
Looking up at this strange warrior prince who called himself Vegeta, whose power far exceeded anything Goku had ever felt. Hair defying gravity like a crown, arrogance in the line of Vegeta’s smirk. Lethal elegance in every move. You are nothing , those eyes said, but then, those eyes had seen him. Goku could feel there was more.
The fate of the earth hung on the edge. Trapped in between the light of the sun and the pull of the moon, their own eclipse.
“Join me,” (Prince) Vegeta said. “We would rule the universe .”
“No thanks.” Goku (Kakarot) answered. “Not much job security.”
In the end, they were both wrong (right.)
The first strike met, and so history (their story) began.
“Where the Sun, the Moon, the Earth line up- it is called an Eclipse.”
From the beginning
I knew meeting could only
End in parting, yet
I ignored the coming dawn
And I gave myself to you.
- Fujiwara No Teika