Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Against All Odds ❯ Haunting ( Chapter 25 )

Disclaimer: I don't own DBZ or any of its characters. I just enjoy bringing my own fantasy world to life where Vegeta rules and Goku drools.

A/N: Oh the pain! The suffering! I'm talking about me here, not Vegeta. All this fighting is hard. Give me a lemon and I will make you lemonade. Give me martial arts and I will give you a bowl of popcorn and the Matrix dvd. I suck at this kind of stuff. I was just prancing along writing my little love story, when WHAM, I've got all these extra characters and I have to give them personalities. I mean what kind of relationship did Vegeta have with these people in the first place? Bleh! My head hurts. *wimpers like a pathetic mewling weakling*

Chapter Twenty Five

Haunting

"I always knew you would end up betraying our Lord, you filthy monkey." Ginyu sneered at Vegeta with disdain. They stood stiffly facing each other from across the open field as the wind blew by. To an outside observer it may seem as though both men were bored, but on careful inspection you could see that the warriors were primed for battle.

Vegeta's eyes narrowed at Ginyu's words and his lips twisted as he snarled in response, "He was never my lord." Vegeta spat out the last word like it had left a bitter taste on his tongue.

"The strongest is always the Lord," intoned Ginyu, "If you can not defeat him on the battlefield then you must bow to him in the throne room."

Vegeta tensed and the air vibrated around him. He could feel the blinding waves of pain crashing down on him and his shoulders knotted with the intensity. His pale face flushed with anger as he said the words that he had wanted to say since he was a boy.

"I will never kneel to him again. He is my enemy and I will kill him!" Vegeta's voice rose with anger, but Ginyu just laughed heartily.

"Why, because he made you kill off that slut?" Ginyu scoffed.

"Shut up!" Vegeta roared as he raised his fists and dropped down into a fighting stance.

Ginyu ignored the irate prince and continued with his taunting, satisfied that he found the key to enraging Vegeta. He had been slightly intimidated when the younger warrior first appeared, dripping from head to toe in blood, but he quickly regained his bravado. "I can see why you would be upset by her loss. From what Frieza told me, she was a little spitfire in bed."

Vegeta felt his fury seething inside of him, bleeding into his eyes, turning them red. He tried desperately to block the images of Bulma's tear-stained face from his mind. He didn't want to think about what happened to her before he met her. The agony in his skull spiked and he wavered under the assault. For a moment he feared that he wouldn't be able to stand up long enough to rip Ginyu apart.

"Frieza was pretty disappointed when we made the decision to kill her. But she just got too mouthy, you know. We both know that a woman's place is in the bed chamber, bound and gagged." Ginyu smirked perversely.

"SHUT UP!" Vegeta shouted again and took a step towards the offensive man. The pain swept across Vegeta's vision, dropping a black curtain over his eyesight. He paused, pressing the heel of his palm into his eye, attempting to rub out the darkness.

Ginyu leered, "He said that after they left Primus she was even hotter in bed. You must have taught her some new tricks."

Unexpectedly the pain in Vegeta's head receded like the ocean tide, freeing his mind from its suffocating embrace. He was assailed with a familiar aroma and he felt his gut clench in response to the intoxicating scent. He looked to the side and saw the most mesmerizing sight, an angel, glinting in the golden sunlight, shimmering with forgotten promises. His mate sat on a large red rock, dressed in the scintillating blue gown she had worn to the dance. The sun shone down on her, illuminating her ivory hued skin and highlighting her teal hair. She looked untouched and pristine, like he remembered her.

She leaned over to toy with the gold strap of her shoe and her long hair slid forward to conceal her features for a moment. His heated gaze was drawn to the smooth skin of her calf and down to her painted toes. Vegeta shifted in her direction, the urgency to touch her clawing at his insides. He wanted to stride up to her, sweeping the hair from her face and kiss her until the sun set below the horizon. To hell with everything else, all he wanted was just one moment alone with her. Before he could move to fulfill his desire, she sat up again, leaning back against the rock, propping herself up on her elbows. She turned her face up to the sun, soaking in its warm rays.

Vegeta was awed by her sheer beauty and he felt contentment unfurl in his chest. Her head lolled to the side and her cerulean eyes locked with his causing his breath to catch in his throat. A slow sensuous smile curled on her lips as one eyelid slid down into a sly wink.

He felt an answering smile begin to feather across his lips but reality brutally slapped him in the face and he froze in place. She couldn't be sitting there. He had left her back on Capital World. She was dead and he had murdered her. She was nothing but a figment of his sordid imagination. Hearing voices were one thing, now he had graduated to hallucinations.

"You aren't really here," he whispered. Her lower lip protruded into a sulky pout as her image shattered into glinting fragments of dust and blew away into the wind.

"Of course I am here, you idiot." Ginyu's rough voice drew Vegeta back to the present. He glared at the older warrior desperately trying to remember the last thing that Ginyu had said to him. He knew it was something that he should be angry about, but for the life of him he couldn't remember.

His strained muscles had relaxed while he sat gazing at his beautiful mate, but now they began to tense again as he glared at the ogre in front of him. Most of the blinding pain had disappeared, but he could feel it building again in the back of his skull.

Ginyu stared at Vegeta, a small frown creasing his brow. The prince stood defiantly on the battlefield, still caked in Recoome's drying blood, staining his usually fastidiously clean uniform a deep scarlet color. Even as a child, Vegeta had never been quite right. Most every soldier in Frieza's army had some sort of outlet for their frustrations. Whether it was sex, killing for pleasure or even going to the bar and throwing a couple back, it didn't matter. Every depravity was accepted while you served under the mighty Lord, so you could indulge in whatever fetish that struck your fancy. Anything to get your mind off your job was the company motto. The things you were forced to do while serving under Frieza would torment even the darkest of souls and it was important that the men had hobbies. But Vegeta, he had never participated in any of those activities. He would perform his duties with exceptional skill and then come back to the base and train with unremitting fanaticism. He never broke his routine, he never allowed himself to relax. Not until that woman came along.

"I knew it was only a matter of time before you went off the deep end, Vegeta. You never knew how to have a little fun."

"I wonder why that is." Vegeta hissed.

Both men were pulled back into the memories of the past at his snide words. Frieza had originally taken Vegeta away from his family to punish the Saiyans for their unruliness. It was common practice to take the children of another ruling household as a hostage for good behavior; therefore not a lot of thought had gone into Vegeta's presence at the royal court. However, King Vegeta had gotten the brilliant notion to rebel against the tyrant, thus sealing his fate and his people's. After that Frieza was left with the monkey spawn and no real idea what to do with him. It had been Ginyu's opinion that Frieza should just kill off the brat and his bodyguards. The only good Saiyan was a dead Saiyan. They were nothing but filthy, dirty animals anyways.

The lusty tyrant's first inclination was to sample the virgin wares, but that had ended in disaster. Frieza had no idea how strong the young prince actually was and that oversight cost him millions of credits in repairs to his palace. The Emperor had been impressed by the boy's sheer strength and instead of making him into a concubine as he originally intended he turned him over to Captain Ginyu.

At the time Ginyu Force hadn't yet been promoted to the status of elite royal bodyguards. They were in fact, the top planetary purgers under Frieza. Ginyu's team was the best at what they did and nothing brought them more pleasure than annihilating a world in the name of their Lord. Much to Ginyu's disgust, Frieza ordered him to train Vegeta in the art of destruction.

"It's not my fault you were such a slow learner, Vegeta. I'm surprised you made it this far after the way you behaved on your first mission." Ginyu sneered with malevolent pleasure at reminding Vegeta of his weakness.

Vegeta hissed and his fists clenched at his sides. The first purge mission that Vegeta had participated in had been on a peaceful planet by the name of Merrian. Vegeta rarely remembered the names of the planets he had visited, but he would never forget that one.

Jeice had taunted him endlessly on the way there, telling him with salacious delight that Vegeta would enjoy having his cherry popped. The young boy hadn't understood what the older warrior meant until much later in life.

The mission proceeded normally enough and although Vegeta was disgusted by the chaos, he mindlessly obeyed his orders. It was easy to blast cities or topple buildings from a distance without actually having to look at the people that scurried like ants below him.

After most of the world had been destroyed, the Force had taken him aside, leading him into one of the last standing buildings in an annihilated city. As they walked in, Jeice's face split into a large grin and he rubbed his hands together with anticipation. Vegeta tried to ignore the sinking sensation in the pit of his stomach and schooled his young features into an impassive mask. A skill he perfected over the coming years.

Inside a handful of children were gathered in a large room. Most were younger than Vegeta's ten years, but one or two were his age. They huddled together against the back wall, their eyes wide as they whimpered like helpless animals.

Recoome slapped him heartily on the back while grinning down at him, "The spoils of war, princeling. Eat up."

Jeice laughed gaily as he strode up to the huddled children. They screamed in terror and scattered like cockroaches, but a small boy about six wasn't fast enough to escape. Jeice swept him up into his arms and threw him face first over the back of a wooden chair. Recoome grabbed a little girl about Vegeta's age as well, pulling her down with him to the floor while he shredded her flowered dress.

Ginyu propped himself up against the wall and watched Vegeta intensely, who struggled with his rising fear. The memories of Frieza's clawed hands on the backs of his legs were still fresh in his mind and the cries of the children mingled with his own in his head.

"What's the matter, prince? Don't see anything you like?" Ginyu asked softly while malice burned in his eyes.

Vegeta shook his head frailly, unable to give voice to his terror. Jeice looked up from the struggling boy, whose hips he had tightly clenched in his fists. "Maybe he's too scared to get it up or is he still too young?" The orange alien mocked. The small boy turned his head and his dark brown eyes streaming with tears locked with Vegeta's. The boy's mouth was wrenched open in a voiceless scream and Vegeta felt an answering panic spawn deep inside his chest.

"Stop it!" He yelled with all his might, giving voice to the words the young children pinned under the monsters could not. Recoome paused his brutal mauling of the young girl, glancing up at the Saiyan prince. The room was shocked into silence for a moment as everyone looked incredulously at the fierce boy. A large smile stretched across Recoome's face a moment before he threw back his head to howl with laughter. Soon all the members of the Force joined in the hilarity and the young prince backed away a step before regrouping.

"STOP IT!" Vegeta roared while raising his hand to form a ki blast. For many years afterwards, he told himself that he was aiming for Jeice and that he was unsteady from his upset, but deep inside he knew the truth. His aim was true and his target had been the dark eyed boy whose silent screams called to him. With one blast he obliterating the face of the child, erasing the memories his tear-stained countenance dredged up inside of him. Before the squad could react to his startling behavior, Vegeta struck out again. This time he aimed for all the children as they stampeded like terror stricken animals.

Within a moments time, all of the youngsters lay amid their own blood as their lifeless eyes glared accusingly at the prince. Even the Ginyu Force stared awe-struck at the fearsome child. Vegeta drew great panting breaths as he absorbed the carnage that he had wrought. His stomach roiled in protest and he quickly turned away, leaning one hand on the wall while he bent over to heave his stomach contents onto the dirty floor.

After that Vegeta behaved recklessly on every purge mission that they went on, maniacally raining down terror on the huddled masses, while completely disregarding his own safety. Ginyu was forced to baby-sit the disgusting monkey, constantly watching him to make sure he didn't kill himself while trying to train him to survive at the same time. Often over the years he felt tempted to kill the little bastard himself and return to Frieza with some falsehood of the prince's stupidity. In the end he always stayed his hand. No matter how well you concealed your lie, Frieza always found out.

However, Frieza never said that the monkey prince couldn't be disciplined and Ginyu did so every chance he got. He would have the prince beaten bloody for the slightest indiscretion, mostly by Recoome, since Ginyu refused to touch the filthy beast for fear of catching something. Ginyu often had Vegeta punished because he was laughing at some inane joke made by the other men and soon the prince stopped laughing. He just stopped everything. It was like Vegeta had come to a decision, an understanding within himself. He was even completely unfeeling on the missions, where previously he had basked in an unabashed delight at causing mayhem. The only emotions he seemed to display were anger, pride and unflinching determination to become stronger.

"I learned fast enough to take your job over, Ginyu." Vegeta taunted the man before him. With every memory that Ginyu dredged up, Vegeta felt the pain in his head increase. As he relived that day on Merrian, it felt as though razors were shredding the soft flesh of his brain, ripping away the last remnants of his sanity.

Vegeta had spent three years under Ginyu's tender care, learning the ins and outs of planetary annihilation. Vegeta learned at an amazing rate and his strength at thirteen rivaled most full grown adults. Much to Ginyu's ire, Frieza removed Vegeta from his unit and gave him his own command. Soon the little brat-ling was competing with Ginyu to become the best in the field. With only two men under his leadership, Vegeta easily excelled at his job, shaming Ginyu who needed at least four men to do the same amount of work. His heartless demeanor intimidated the other soldiers and his worth grew in the bloodthirsty warlord's eyes, granting him honors that only Ginyu had previously tasted. In another year at the young age of fourteen, Vegeta became the Commander of the purge teams and Ginyu's Force was promoted to elite bodyguards.

More like chained pets, Ginyu thought more than once. Because of Vegeta, he had lost his freedom to roam the galaxies; instead he was leashed to Frieza's throne, never allowed to leave the lizard's side, unless sent on rare missions like this one. Although Ginyu enjoyed even more privileges as Frieza's protector, he resented every minute of it. His job was redundant and he knew it. The powerful tyrant could easily kill a man ten times stronger than Ginyu, but the Lord insisted on keeping up appearances. A mighty ruler should have all the pomp and circumstance of an entourage surrounding him at all times. It was Vegeta's fault that he was nothing more than a leashed dog, snarling at whomever the Emperor pointed at. Ginyu gnashed his teeth as the old resentment boiled inside of him.

Arrogant was the most common term people used to describe the prince. He completed his missions stoically, trained endlessly, brushing others away as if they were beneath him. Even in Frieza's presence he was barely civil, much to Ginyu's disgust. That was what really galled Ginyu. No matter how badly Vegeta misbehaved, Frieza never killed him. Vegeta would receive his punishment, hardly phased by the torture and then Frieza would send him out once again as though nothing had happened

Then Vegeta had been caught participating in worst possible crime, treason. He plotted against the Emperor with that double crossing bitch and what had happened? Nothing! Freiza had beaten Vegeta bloody, like usual and then sent him off to purge another world. Granted, Vegeta was not supposed to survive the mission, but when he had returned after spending a month ignoring Frieza's commands to report to duty, nothing had happened! Frieza laughed! He just laughed at the monkey's antics, like it was a show purely for his amusement.

Stunned, Ginyu had bravely questioned Frieza about his reaction and the Emperor graciously answered him, instead of frying him on the spot. He said that he felt that Vegeta displayed remarkable intelligence by blowing up the planet, thus avoiding his trap and that it was about time that the prince let loose a little, even he was off brooding on some dingy backwater world.

Ginyu had been enraged. If he had blown up a world that he was suppose to purge he would have been executed, but that tailed freak got away with it. He thumbed his nose at the Emperor for a month while mourning the loss of the blue haired bitch and Frieza chuckled about it. It was so completely unfair.

To make matters worse, Vegeta was still allowed to venture out to other worlds, rarely having to be subjected to the tyrant's whims. It made Ginyu sick. While in Frieza's constant presence Ginyu had to be perfect. Loyal, polished, and schooled in court etiquette. He was never allowed to slip up or it would mean his head, while that dirty monkey got to prance around the universe doing as he pleased.

"Frieza should have killed you along with the rest of your race. It's just my luck to have to serve a ruler with a sick sense of humor. He thought it was uproariously funny to watch you purge hundreds of worlds, the same way yours was purged." Years of Ginyu's hate and frustration spilled over into his words, stabbing Vegeta with every syllable.

Vegeta's growl could be heard all the way to the knoll where Nail sat watching the exchange. Most of the warrior's words were snatched away by the whispering wind, but he could see the tension building in both men as their ki snapped and sparked around them.

"My world wasn't purged. Frieza had to blow it up from space like some sort of spineless coward." Vegeta sneered with equal vehemence and Ginyu stiffened at the insult to his ruler. "He would never risk marring his scaly hide in combat. Is that why you are here Ginyu? Did he send his lap dog off to die?" Vegeta's words were sharp and smooth like a finely honed sword, slicing at his enemy with calculating efficiency.

Captain Ginyu hissed at Vegeta's snide remarks and his muscles bunched in anticipation of shoving the prince's words back down his throat. Through clenched teeth he snarled his reply, "I am not his lap dog, you filthy beast. Frieza will be along any time now so I had better get rid of you. I wouldn't want him to have to suffer your smell." Ginyu's fists clenched as he dropped down into a crouch, but Vegeta's black eyes burning from behind the mask of dried blood on his face stopped him. He had never seen malice and fury in the eyes of another the way it blazed from Vegeta.

"When will he be here?" Vegeta hissed, completely ignoring the other warrior's stance. The euphoria of facing his enemy in battle sooner than expected and the constant pain in his head caused him to waver slightly on his feet. Ginyu cocked an eye, noticing the prince's unstable footing and he straightened. He had witnessed Vegeta's growing strength and although he was confident that he was still stronger, he didn't want to waste his energy if he didn't have too. Perhaps if he kept conversing with Vegeta long enough he would collapse under the weight of the demons that were hounding him.

"Within the hour I expect. He left right after you." Ginyu crossed his arms over his chest, smirking with pleasure. Now that he knew that the prince was ill, he fully intended to sit back and enjoy the show.

The pain in Vegeta's head began building into a crescendo and he desperately tried to follow along with the conversation. Ginyu's smirking visage became a blur and Vegeta ran a hand through his hair as he drew a ragged breath.

"How do you know?" Vegeta latched onto the easiest question and spit it out while trying to focus on the older man.

"He sent me a communiqué right after you left the throne room. He was quite proud of you and it's going to pain me to have to tell him of your backstabbing ways. He thought for sure that you were a loyal subject after the way you took care of that whore." Ginyu watched with narrowed eyes at the effect his words were having on Vegeta. He noticed with satisfaction that when he mentioned the woman, Vegeta seemed to stagger slightly.

Ginyu's words brought memories crashing down onto Vegeta and the pain intensified until he felt like screaming in agony. Something flickered in the corner of his eye and he turned his head sharply to the left. Standing next to him was his mate. She was staring distantly at the horizon as though she didn't see Vegeta. She was dressed in the same clothes that she had worn in the throne room and a small wisp of smoke trailed up from the charred hole in her chest.

Instead of the pain in his head lessoning at the sight of her, it spiked sharply when he saw the devastating reminder of his betrayal. He clenched his eyes shut for a moment, telling himself that she wasn't real. She was nothing more than a pain induced hallucination.

"Did she tell you about Namek?" Vegeta directed his question towards Ginyu, his eyes still tightly shut.

Ginyu snorted softly, "I'll give you one thing. She was one tight-lipped woman when it came to her secrets. We had to get the information from some guy by the name of Jace." Ginyu laughed softly, "A man can only scream so much before he starts begging to tell you everything he knows."

Vegeta's brow knitted as he thought about the brown haired scientist that was always by Bulma's side. He had smelt the man's undying devotion to Bulma and Vegeta knew that it would have taken a lot of pain before he would have shared her secrets. However if they tortured Jace did that mean…

"But Bulma didn't tell you?" Vegeta questioned softly.

Ginyu chuckled again, "Nope, talk about pain tolerance. She sure had a mouth on her though."

Vegeta felt a shift in the wind and his eyes snapped open to stare directly into her sapphire ones. She looked straight at him, unseeing and uncaring. What sort of pain had she endured while in Frieza's care? Is that why she was standing here now? Was she a ghost? Was she tied to this plane, unable to travel to the next world?

Briefly he thought of her message that she had left him. According to her she had an appointment to keep with the God, King Yamma. She shouldn't be here with him. She deserved some measure of peace in the other world.

"Don't you have some place to be?" He asked softly, staring at the beautiful woman that his subconscious couldn't seem to let go of. At his words her imaged wavered in the air, fading into nothingness.

"You're right. I need to kill you off so I can finish up gathering the balls for Lord Frieza." Ginyu's words invaded Vegeta's mind, but he still did not glance at the Captain. Instead he stared dejectedly at the spot where Bulma had stood, barely upright from the waves of pain washing over him.

Ginyu watched the silent man for a moment and a small shiver crawled down his spine. Perhaps Vegeta really was going insane? After all this time, he had finally snapped. Ginyu almost felt a small amount of pity. Over the years he had tormented Vegeta endlessly, but privately he was a little awed by the prince's ability to persevere no matter what. It really was a shame that such a proud warrior would be struck down by madness.

"I should have killed you years ago Vegeta, before it came to this. I always knew a filthy Saiyan couldn't be trusted and now you are just pathetic." Vegeta shifted so his dark eyes pierced Ginyu. Just the slight movement of turning his head caused the world around Vegeta to whirl dangerously and he felt something wet drip down his lip. He slowly raised his hand and brushed away the moisture, feeling a moment of concern when he realized that his nose was bleeding.

Ginyu continued to talk and Vegeta looked back up at him, but his words were drowned out by the roaring in his head. As he watched, Bulma walked out from behind the much larger Ginyu, dressed in the red dress he had not seen since he murdered Magin. Her face lit up in a radiant smile and he almost didn't notice the droplets of blood scattered over her pale countenance.

At her appearance the clamor in his head died down and the pain mercifully drained away, leaving him free to draw a deep breath. She took a step back from Ginyu, inspecting him from head to foot with a smirk of superiority. Vegeta could see Ginyu's mouth moving, but he still couldn't hear the words. Bulma glanced over at him while jabbing her thumb in the Captain's direction.

"He talks too much."

At the sound of her voice, Vegeta almost collapsed in shock. Hallucinations were one thing, now he was seeing things and hearing the voices too along with them. Absently he pondered the annoying question nagging at the back of his mind. Do crazy people know when they are insane?

"He's in our way, darling. You need to take care of him, just like you did Magin."

Almost robotically, Vegeta nodded in agreement. She was right. He was wasting precious time sitting here talking to his old mentor. He had more important things to be doing. He had to prepare for Frieza's arrival. She graced him with another beautiful smile before walking out of sight behind Ginyu once again. As she disappeared, Ginyu's words invaded Vegeta's world with startling volume.

"…nothing but a disgusting, filthy monkey." Ginyu trailed off when Vegeta's diamond hard eyes locked onto him. The prince's cruel lips stretched into a feral smile that caused Ginyu's stomach to lurch.

"She's right. You talk too much." Vegeta hissed.

Ginyu felt the small hairs on the back of his neck stand on end as his mind scrambled for an answer to who she was. Before he could ask the bloody man in front of him, Vegeta launched himself at Ginyu with unnatural speed.

He barely had time to bring up his arms to block the flurry of blows that pushed him back. He was stunned at Vegeta's strength. Frieza had assured him that the monkey prince was no stronger than Jeice, but his Lord had obviously been wrong.

For every blow that he blocked, Vegeta pummeled him with two more. He felt his ribs snap under the assault and he tasted the hot metallic sting of blood in his mouth. How could this have happened? How did Vegeta become so strong? He thought for sure that the warrior was about to collapse on the field, but now he was attacking with a savage fury.

With every blow Vegeta landed he felt the anger rising inside of him. The man before him was responsible for initiating him into his bloodthirsty world. Ginyu was the one who taught him that a gut wound would leave your enemy alive, writhing in agony until they eventually bleed to death. An honorable warrior shouldn't know such things but Vegeta did and he knew so much more. He knew things about pain and torture that he never wanted to know and it was because of Ginyu.

Vegeta spun gracefully in mid air, dodging a right hook carelessly thrown by the Captain. Vegeta's fist connected solidly with the man's side, and the prince cackled vindictively when he felt his enemy's ribs crack. Ginyu grunted and he lashed out with his foot, landing a blow to Vegeta's head. The prince didn't move and only smirked condescendingly before launching his own attack. Ginyu stumbled back, shocked at Vegeta's resilience and at the pain he felt radiating up his leg from connecting with the unyielding demon.

A warrior to the end, Ginyu quickly ascertained that he would not be able to defeat Vegeta in hand to hand combat. He noticed that with every blow, Vegeta became more and more unhinged with battle lust. Desperate to survive, Ginyu waited until Vegeta was directly in front of him, howling with rage. In a frantic bid, Ginyu opened his mouth to begin his special body snatching technique.

Vegeta saw through Ginyu's ploy and he was not fooled. The body that stood before him now, was not the person that Vegeta originally met. Over the years, Ginyu had switched bodies at least three times and Vegeta had the dubious honor of witnessing at least one of the events.

At the last moment Vegeta dodged to the right, stretching out his leg to connect brutally with the side of his mentor's face. Ginyu's head whipped dramatically to the left with a crack, only the strong corded muscles in his neck prevented it from snapping.

Ginyu fell back stunned and Vegeta leapt on the opportunity. His iron fist slammed into Ginyu's breast plate, cracking the hard armor and plunging into the hot depths of his chest. Vegeta's questing fingers wrapped around Ginyu's pulsating heart and with a roar of victory, Vegeta tore it from the bloody hole he created.

Ginyu grasped his chest, dropping to his knees as he watched Vegeta with shock. The prince sneered down at him while holding his still pumping heart in his palm. As the darkness claimed him and he slumped forward his last thought was that perhaps Vegeta was strong enough to kill the scaly bastard that ruled all their lives. As he slipped into the next dimension he carried with him a silent prayer to the Gods that Vegeta would destroy the monster that he had served for so long.

Vegeta watched Ginyu fall to the dust while he clenched the man's heart in his hand. Her familiar scent wafted over to him and he looked over to see Bulma standing at his side. Her teal tresses blew in the wind as she smoothed the red dress down over her thighs. She smiled brightly at him and he answered with his own wicked smirk before he sank his teeth into dripping mass he held.

In the distance, Nail swallowed fearfully. This warrior, this man, that stood before him on the battlefield was not sane. He was a wild animal whose cage someone forgot to lock. Now he was loose and feeding on the terror that his presence evoked. Nail took a step back, intending to flee the scene when a soft voice stalled him.

Bring him to me.

But father…

All will be well, my son.

Nail gulped and nodded slowly. He would obey, but he did not agree.