Darc tried to separate himself from her after a while but she immediately grabbed his clothes and pulled so that he wouldn't move away.

Darc noticed this and lowered his head and looked at her. She had her head still placed at his chest and her head was still lowered as well. Her bangs covered her face so Darc slowly glided through her hair with his fingers of his free hand and placed some of her bangs behind her ear.

Now he had a clear view of her face again and Bulma also noticed that and concentrated her gaze on his. But that was only for a short moment and she lowered it again. "Hey...Say. Why is more strength the only thing you are chasing after? What do you see at the end of your road that you neglect so many things while pursuing that goal?", she asked him and her words were soft and quiet. She still didn't understand why he would chase strength so much.

Wasnt it enough to just be strong and live every moment that was precious to oneself? Why would he torture himself so much and keep pushing to become stronger?

"...." Darc remained silent and thought about his own motivations to pursue what he was doing all along. Why was he even doing this any longer?

He already reached a stage where a lot of his enemies had to fear him and all those dangers he was so enraged about meeting after being thrown into this world as a human disappeared into the back of his mind after many years passed by.

And he knew it would still take some time for any event that endangered the people around him to happen. Even then he could solve it easily. So where was his motivation now?

It looked like his mind became accustomed to this world and he took everything for what it was without even thinking why he still chased after power himself anymore.

He just got used to training his body. It became a second nature for him.

"I...wanted to protect my own life. That's why I wanted to get stronger at first. Later...I started to want to protect the people around me. That's also why I accepted the job offer from the GP. To get rid of someone that invaded earth.", he answered and maybe that reason could explain his first desire to get stronger but what was for later? "What I see at the end of the road? Truly, I don't know yet."

Bulmas grip became more fierce "And yet you reject me with those half-assed words? You said things like you can´t keep your social bonds but those words just sound like excuses from you...You always take importance to the people around you. I already noticed that or why else would you bother staying in contact with us at all? Its not such a big deal, you know? What drives you so much to become strong enough to defend against?", she asked and Darc arched his brows up now. He started to smile now. It looked like Bulma calmed down at least somewhat now that she could talk with him a little. But that smile faded shortly after.

"I...Let's just say there is someone that could just erase all existence in this world with a snap of his finger. Maybe I just want to at least be strong enough to do something about it. And until I reach that goal, I don't want to hurt the people around me that deserve better.", he answered her earnestly.

Bulma remained silent at his words "Just....lets stay like this for a while longer, please.", she said to him and now tightened her clinging to him.

Darc nodded lightly "Alright..."

She knew now that he doesn't feel love for her but that won't stop her to keep hoping for the better. She would at some point start to get over it. But for now and at this one moment she would just be selfish and demand this little bit of warmth from him.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

After spending some time comforting Bulma he left her room. It was actually quite hard to separate himself from her because he also found out that the warmth of someone else is soothing to the heart.

Maybe he will regret it later but for now, he made sure where they both stood and that they should just continue to be friends.

Darc then left Bulma to her own devices after she was ready to let go of him go. He helped around the house to get himself distracted. For once he also asked Dr. Briefs about the whereabouts of his parents. He thought it should be a good thing to go visit them.

They lived pretty close by so he decided to go visit them since he was already here in the west city.

----

Darc stood in front of the house and checked if he really was at the right address. After confirming and looking at a piece of paper where the exact address stood he rang the bell.

A little while later a woman with raven black long hair opened the doors and looked at him with her same colored eyes. She eyed him up and looked shocked. Then some tears appeared in the corners of her eyes. The woman jumped at him and hugged him. "My Darc is back!"

Darc only laughed lightly and hugged her back. "I am home, mom."

Then another person came to the door. "Well, if it isn't our lost son. How is work doing? You sure took long enough to visit us here, you know? Get inside first, you two.", said the man with dark green hair and blue eyes. It was his father Truff.

"Hey, dad. Its good to see you too. Yeah, good idea.", he answered to his father and walked with his mother inside the house.

Back inside they started a conversation about how he fared and especially his mother was happy to see her son. She also was pretty surprised by how much he matured in those past years. She did see him over the communication device but she never really saw how tall he became.

When he stood beside his father it was easily seen that they were equally tall. Darc may even be a tad taller.

"Well, my job is going pretty well considering all that researching in space", said Darc to them when they sat down and continued the conversation from before.

"At first I couldn't believe my son became an astronaut and is now even helping in exploring space. We even got in contact with Dr. Briefs and now are working closely together since possible threats for our planet do exist. You won't believe how chaotic everything went at work after we found out we need to improve our standards in technology.", commented Truff about some things.

"I am still not convinced your decision to travel space is such a good one. Well, you are old enough to make your decisions by now anyway so just be careful doing your job. Promise me that, okay?", said Kibini and was somewhat worried as always.

"Don't worry, mom. You should know me better than anyone.", he said with a smile to her.

"That's what worries me most. You always put yourself into some kind of danger without consulting anyone. For example, you were the one that fought against those alien invaders, right? Don't bother denying it since Lite already spilled the beans.", said his mom scolding him.

Darc his mouth twitched after hearing that Lite actually still somehow spilled secret Information he promised to keep quiet about. "Mom, everything still went well. I am pretty strong after all.", he said to her.

Truff only nodded about his strength and he was proud about it. He did get enough compliments about it at work.

With all this talking with his parents, Darc later did find out that some chosen people do know about his activities and vaguely about his strength. He frowned his brows and immediately told his father that they should withhold this information to spread too much.

His father only nodded about it and told him not to worry since only high ranked officials had the authorization to know about it.

They only would spread the information to the public when the time was right. They actually would still hold it back if Darc actually was against it spreading.

Darc also got a medal from the government that was given to him for his services outside of planet earth. Its the same one Goku received for his actions against demon Piccolo.

In the end just a trinket to decorate one's room. But it gave a certain pride in his father's eyes and his mother put it in place easily seen.

----

Later Darc moved back to the Capsule Corporation to stay the night there. He just lay on his bed and stared at the ceiling.

Come to think of it he should probably visit his friends and most importantly should be visiting Kami while he was here. Goku should also be training there right now. If Arkis learned Kai-Kai, he did wonder if like that he could get on the Supreme Kai planet or into the otherworld.

Thinking about all the things that happened lately he thought about taking it easy for now. He felt exhausted and wanted to just relax and enjoy his time right now.

Just like that, he fell asleep in his bed. It was the first time he felt relieved to just fall asleep and be done with the day.