In Darkest Knight

Goku was all but bouncing around with impatience, chattering on and on and on about the great feast his wife, ChiChi, had prepared, and at how excited his whole family--including himself--was to finally meet his father and brothers. His friends, Yamcha and Kulilin, shook their heads in wonder; the only time they had seen him this excited was shortly before his fateful battle against Piccolo Daimou, ten years in the past.

J\'onn, the Martian Manhunter, arrived first, along with a young Japanese woman in the garb of a Shinto temple-keeper. Goku froze when he spotted her, and the two sized eachother up warily, each sensing that the other was somehow... different. The moment of tension ended when Goku smiled and waved, intoducing himself boisterously. Rei couldn\'t help but giggle and give her own name, his open and honest manner completely disarming her.

A few minutes later, during which time Goku introduced his wife and son, J\'onn sensed the imminent arrival of the two known Green Lanterns with the four Saiya-jin men. A noticable hush fell over the group as the six approached, then landed. For Goku, it was like looking into a mirror as his father approached. He stood tautly, watching, as the scar at the base of his spine itched mightily. He clenched his fists to resist the urge to rub at it, then stepped forward a short distance. \"Father?\"

\"Son,\" Bardock nodded. Black eyes met black eyes, then Bardock let out an \'oof\' as he was tackled by his youngest birth-son. Goku\'s friends had the decorum to sweatdrop.

Almost a minute passed while Goku tried to tell his father what all he had done since his arrival on Earth, and that he went by Goku now, his tirade interrupted when Radditz demanded, shocked and horrified, where his tail was. \"Oh... it was removed when I was a kid. I kept turning into a giant monkey under the full moon...\" Sadness crossed the man\'s cheerful face, and Radditz wondered now if he had tread into forbidden territory.

Brolly stepped forward and offered a hand, helping both Goku and Bardock to stand. For him, it was like he was suffering from double vision; Goku was almost identical to his father, save for his garb and lack of a tail. Now it came time to introduce the Earth-grown Saiya-jin to his brothers. Radditz saluted crisply, and apologized if he had caused his younger brother any undue pain. Brolly and Goku, meanwhile, locked gazes; something in the back of the taller man\'s brain itched and bothered him, a distant memory of a screaming baby crossing his thoughts. It passed quickly (not quickly enough to be missed by J\'onn and Rei, however), and the two did their best to squeeze the air out of eachother.

\"Ooooo-wow! You\'re really strong!\" Goku chirped brightly as Brolly put him down, having successfully popped his back.

\"Eh-heh,\" Brolly murmured, rubbing the back of his head, a little embarressed.

\"And this is Vegeta.\" Bardock said, stepping back and gesturing to the exiled Prince.

The older man had become more muscular since he had began training with Bardock\'s sons, and his strength had improved, but this didn\'t stop him from being a little intimidated by the tail-less Saiya-jin. \"Hn,\" was his only comment as Goku stepped closer.

The tall man cocked his head at the shorter, then said what had been on the minds of many Saiya-jin before him: \"You\'re awfully short to be a Prince, aren\'t you?\" Bardock facevaulted while his other two sons guffawed heartily. Vegeta\'s face went alternately red, then pale, too shocked really to smack the daylights out of the audacious warrior. Kulilin, fortunately, had a camera, and snapped a photo of the look on the Prince\'s face, figuring it was too priceless to pass up.

\"And who the hell are *THEY*?\" He demanded, the flash from the small monk\'s camera having jolted him from his semi-trance.

\"Oh, these are my friends Kulilin and Yamcha. I\'ve known them since I was a kid.\" He smiled happily, and Bardock nodded faintly to himself; in lieu of other Saiya-jin, his son had formed a pack-bond with the human men. Vegeta wondered idly if Yamcha were part Saiya-jin, because os sps spiky black mane of hair, while Brolli and Radditz wondered if the heap of food on the picnic tables nearby tasted as good as they smelled.

For the next several hours, they all talked and ate, and when the food was gone, Radditz engaged Goku\'s son in a training-game he remembered playing when he was little. Brolli, meanwhile, was taken aside by J\'onn and Rei for a soft, serious discussion.

\"All I can remember is the sound of a baby crying...\" He said softly, looking back at Goku with concern. A sound, almost a growl, emerged from his throat, and his hands clenched into fists until his attention was drawn back to the other two.

\"It is possible that there is a repressed memory here.\" Rei murmured thoughtfully. \"Perhaps if we discovered what it was, it wouldn\'t bother you anymore.\" J\'onn nodded slightly in agreement.

\"How?\"

\"Meet us back here tonight, and we\'ll see if we can pry that memory loose.\" Rei said with a smile, reaching up to pat Brolli gently on the shoulder before allowing him to return to the rest of the group. When he was gone, Rei let her smile evaporate into an expression of worry.

\"You\'re concerned his will might break.\" The Martian said softly, and she nodded. \"I\'m certain he will be able to maintain control until tonight.\"

\"I hope you\'re right...\"

***

Rei stood with ChiChi at the sink, assisting with the mound of dirty dishes generated by five and a half (the half being Gohan, Goku\'s mixed-blood tailed son) Saiyan males, who were presently outside with the rest of the group, sparring and talking. The older woman had been quiet throughout the meal, her gaze shifting between the strangers and her husband uncertainly. He certainly *did* resemble the tailed Green Lantern; in fact, Goku was almost a carbon copy of his father, aside from skin tone, lack of a tail, and a scar on Bardock\'s left cheek. The fact that her husband, whom she had known since they were children, was an alien from a race of weresimian warriors left her a little uncomfortable, though it *did* go a ways to explain many of his peculiarities.

\"So,\" she began, breaking the silence, \"how do you know my husband?\"

\"I don\'t, really. I\'ve followed his career off and on; this\'s the first time I\'ve actually met him.\" Rei smiled warmly.

\"Hmm...\" ChiChi was quiet as she scrubbed at some dried-on soy sauce on a bowl. \"What do you do, exactly?\"

\"Oh, I\'m a student... and I help take care of a Shinto Temple on Cherry Hill, in Tokyo.\"

\"Oh, you must be busy.\"

\"A little, but not as bad as it sounds.\"

\"Hm.\" ChiChi studied the young woman as they worked; Rei had an aura of wisdom beyond her years, the wisdom of someone who had battled incredible odds... and lost. There was both a serenity and a ferocity in the priestess\'s deep violet eyes, which left ChiChi wondering what she was hiding.

Outside, J\'onn watched Gohan play with one of his new-found uncles, tail waving behind him as Radditz taught him a new combat stance. He had felt the unease radiating from Goku\'s wife during lunch, an unease that had only increased while the men talked about the world that had spawned her husband. He turned his scarlet gaze toward Brolli, who was sitting against a tree and noticably wishing he could join his adopted brother and nephew, despite the concern that he might accidentally injure the boy. Vegeta was standing a short distance away, trying to ignore the round and staring eyes of Goku\'s friends, though the tip of his tailwas flicking with annoyance. Bardock was still sitting at the picnic table with Hal and Goku. The youngest of the trio was watching Radditz with his son with a mixture of pride and concern; while he could keenly feel the empathic blood-bond with his older brother, and the pure pleasure he was feeling to be spending with family, he wondered if, had the circumstances been different, he\'d have had to kill the maned Saiyan.

J\'onn carefully withdrew from Goku\'s thoughts as his mind turned to less bleak things, namely the funny picture of his son chewing lightly on Radditz\'s tail while the big man screamed for mercy. After a few moments, Brolli and Goku both came to Radditz\'s rescue, Brolli teasing Radditz for being defeated by a cub, Goku congratulating his son while chiding him for using such a crippling weakness against an opponent.

J\'onn smiled, and prayed that this domestic peace would last forever...