The jingling of coins echoed in the room as I placed the sack full of 500,000 zeni on the end table beside the bed, before pulling out a chair and sitting down by the bedside.
Lynn, Zeck, and Pepper were already gone. Apparently, Pepper wanted more cotton candy.
Or just to not be around Tater.
My elbow rested on the arm of the chair as I sat there. Even though I'd come here to talk to him, I also couldn't bring myself to.
It was a complicated relationship we had. Breaking the silence meant reaching out first… It felt like some sort of loss, to be the first one to reach out after all these years.
After our battle, something had changed… no, more like solidified between us. Some thing that'd originally changed during our battle all those years ago had finally… settled.
Tater wasn't my follower, anymore… None of them really were, at this point. Tommy had his own thriving career that brought in tons of money for the Celatian-Saiyan community. Pepper would listen to me when I needed her to, but she rarely listened to me outside of that, and Lynn controlled both of our daily schedules. If either of us tried to overwork ourselves, whether in training, or my research, we'd have a terrifying, angry Lynn to deal with.
Angry Lynn was an absolute force of nature. All fell at the wayside from the horrible power that Angry Lynn brought to the world.
As proved by the fact that Tater's leg was broken and nobody had dared complain. I'm fairly sure that counted under some sort of 'physical abuse' law or something, but the leg had simply gotten wrapped, and none of the doctors had dared say a word in protest.
The silence stretched on, as I watched Tater's prone figure in silence. His head was turned away from me, but I could tell that he was awake and alert, and he hadn't kicked me out of his room yet.
Did that mean that he'd taken the first step?
Or, maybe me coming here before that was the first step…?
Apparently, both cancelled each other out. We sat in silence for seconds… that turned to minutes… that turned into over an hour, neither of us wanting to move or speak, because it'd feel like losing, somehow.
And then, after a long hour of silence, the door to Tater's hospital room opened, and his companion, the tall, dark-skinned girl in sparse, desert-related attire, walked in.
"So…" She started out like she was about to ask a question, but by the time she'd opened her mouth, the question had already been answered. "You still haven't spoken to each other?" She deadpanned.
"Stay Out Of This Cyn." A synthesized voice sounded from the bed. It sounded like Tater was using some sort of device to type what he wanted to say. Had he been holding that the entire time?
"No." She declared, "You lost, Tate. You two fought, and you lost. Again. And yet again, you got seriously injured in the process. Get past all the crap between you two and talk. I'm done with this idiocy." She opened the door behind her once more, "I'm giving you two another half-hour. If you haven't gotten through all of… whatever's between you two, and made nice again by the time I get back, you'll have two broken legs, Tater." The door slammed behind her before either of us could respond to that.
Yup. Tater definitely liked that girl. She had that 'Saiyan significant other' vibe.
Even after she'd left, though, the silence stretched on.
Finally, I decided to throw the first bone. "The community has more money than we know what to do with. I want you to keep the prize money." I told him.
"Screw You." The response was fast, for something typed.
"I'm not asking. Use the damn money and buy something that you'll never get rid of." I told him. I didn't want him to forget this, or move on. He'd broken his limits notably. Then, he'd gotten a massive Zenkai boost on top of it. Then he'd added Ikari Mode to it, and even, eventually, mastered it to the point of SSJP, as he broke his limits once more.
And I'd still beaten him in my base form. No tricks, just pure power and skill. Even after everything he'd done, I was still so far beyond him that not even utilizing the power of the Great Ape could overturn the gap.
Just like the scar on my side and right arm, from when I hadn't been careful enough, and Dodoria had followed us to Celatus, I wanted Tater to remember that he wasn't perfect for the rest of his life.
I took Tater's silence as his agreement. Or, rather, reluctantly giving in. Same thing.
We lapsed into silence again.
This time, Tater broke it. "Why Didn't You Say Anything?" The synthesized voice asked.
"I thought you didn't want anything to do with us. You needed your space." I reminded him.
Tater shook his head. By now, he'd shifted so that he was at least facing me.
"Vegeta."
"You're still blaming me for that, huh?"
"Why Didn't You Say Anything?" The question repeated.
"Tater… I didn't want to take responsibility for them. If we saved them… the entire Saiyan race would've been our responsibility. Everything they did… everything we did, it'd be…"
"A Burden." He finished for me, "One That Would Have Fallen On You."
"Yeah." I nodded. A silent understanding passed between us.
"I Wanted That." I didn't respond, so he continued, "I Wanted To Prove To Them That I Was Better Than Them."
"You figured out Super Saiyan Primal, Tater. You fought me when my power level was over a million, and you still managed to break my ribs. You don't need to prove anything to anybody. Honestly, you never did." I told him.
"Your World." He paused for a moment, "Is Simple."
"Yeah. I make it simple… You sound like it's not your world, too." I noted.
"I Want To Make My Own."
"You still don't trust me, huh? I thought we were past that. Are you seriously still mad?" I asked. Four years ago, Tater had been heartbroken to realize that I'd not told him about what'd happened to Planet Vegeta in time for us to go back and save it, so that he could go back and fulfill his ambition of showing them all how powerful he was now. At the time, in his rage, he'd heaped it all onto my head, lost all faith in me, and even gone so far as to call me a coward.
Realizing what I was alluding to, Tater shook his head, typing quickly on his little screen-thing. "Sorry. Just. Can Not Go Back.I. Changed.Or Grew?"
"Sounds like you've been through a lot." I leaned back in my chair.
"Yes. I Think. I Get It Now. Thank You For Leaving Me To Die."
I laughed. Only a Saiyan would thank someone for that.