Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Against All Odds ❯ Powerful Revelations ( Chapter 29 )

Disclaimer: I don't own DBZ. If I did then it would have been Vegeta's life story not Goku's.

Because it's a love story….

But mostly because I'm a dork.

Chapter Twenty Nine

Powerful Revelations

Vegeta gazed up at the patch of clear blue sky that was framed between the walls of dirt that towered around him. A cloud drifted across his vision, casting a small shadow on him before it sailed away on a sea of cerulean. The sky was brilliant and pure so like the color of her…The thought melted away and his eyes fluttered closed.

He heaved a great sigh as he bathed in the soft, afternoon light. The sunshine right after a storm was always the best. It was especially warm and soothing compared to the downpour of cold rain that he had drenched himself in earlier. A distant part of his mind murmured that he should hear the song of birds not the unnatural quiet that permeated his senses. He chose to ignore his instincts that screamed that danger was lurking nearby and instead enjoyed the crispness of the day.

The sunshine heated his skin, seeping into him through the numerous wounds on his body and he breathed in the healing light as his life blood poured onto the parched dust. The barren ground drank the liquid greedily, its thirst thoroughly quenched by the Saiyan's generous gift. There was a muffled clatter to his left as some displaced gravel rolled down the mound of soil, disrupting the silence.

His black eyes opened to meet clear blue again, but this time it was surrounded by a mass of sea-foam hair that hung down around perfect alabaster features.

"Whatcha doing?" Bulma was crouched on Vegeta's chest, much the same way she had been in their bedroom the night of the dance. Her small hands rested on his shoulders and her knees were braced on either side of his hips. Vegeta had to choke back his grief when he realized that he could not feel her delicate weight on his bruise laden torso. She wasn't really there, he did not feel her and he could not hold her.

Vegeta silently stared into her endless sapphire eyes that swept away the anguish in his soul. The part of Vegeta that he held so sacred, the strong, untouchable warrior side of him, cracked a bit. What did it matter now if it wasn't really her by his side, at least she was there, figment or not. She spoke and he heard her. He wanted one last conversation with his mate, before the end.

He rolled his eyes as was his habit. It was pretty apparent to him that he was laying in the dirt, so why did she have to ask such a stupid question. "What does it look like I'm doing?" Still hard as steel, he saw no reason to pull any punches now. She cocked her head grimacing down at him.

"It looks like you are giving up to me." Her words were like a ki blast to the heart. They seared him to his very bones. Leave it to his woman to be as verbally decimating as he.

"What do you know of it, woman?" He snarled in frustration.

"Well I know that you are still laying at the bottom of this hole that Frieza threw you in a few seconds ago and that you haven't gotten up yet. You're just sitting here cloud watching. What's your deal Vegeta?" She crossed her arms over his chest, leaning her weight on her forearms while staring down into his eyes, not allowing him to look away.

"Get off me woman. Leave me alone." Having that last conversation with his mate was looking less appealing by the second. He was having a bad enough day without some harping shrew screeching in his ear.

"Why? So no one will be around to witness your failure?" Her softly spoken words prodded his warrior instincts and he struggled to sit up, only to fall back in exhaustion. Vegeta was certain that every bone in his body was busted and blood loss was making him light-headed. Things had gone badly for him after he had made his reckless declaration of vengeance to the ice-jinn. Frieza had spent quite a bit of time reacquainting the Saiyan prince with the definition of pain and suffering.

"I have enough to deal with without having to listen to your bullshit, Bulma." Unable to dislodge her from his chest he settled for running her off with words, but she didn't seem inclined to leave anytime soon.

"So that's it? You're just going to lay here and die?"

Vegeta looked away, unwilling to see the hurt and scorn in her perfect, pure eyes. That's exactly what he was planning on doing. He couldn't get on his feet anymore, he had tried and he had failed. Frieza was just too strong. Once he had realized that it was impossible to defeat his enemy he had settled for taunting him into anger. There was no way that Vegeta was going to return to being a servant bitch to that monster. He had to make sure that the tyrant was pissed enough to scrap his pet project in favor of someone more malleable to his plan. So every time Frieza had knocked him down he had gotten up again while shooting off some snide comment to the tyrant, usually having something to do with the lizard's parentage. Now it was impossible to stand, Vegeta had no more strength left, but he had accomplished his goal. At this moment Frieza was amassing enough energy to fry his insolent Saiyan ass and finally end his years of enslavement.

"What about avenging your people?

He clenched his eyes shut, wishing he could close his ears to her words as well. His people were nothing but a memory that only he had kept alive. It was time for them to fade away into obscurity. He had to accept the fact that he wasn't strong enough to avenge them. He wasn't worthy enough to be called their Prince. It was better that he die now, so the universe wouldn't be reminded of the failed existence of the Saiyan race.

"My people are dead and there is nothing I can do about it," he whispered.

Even though he wasn't looking at her, he could feel her gaze burning into his skull, reading his mind, scrying his soul. Still persistent to the very end, Bulma abruptly switched tactics. "What about ruling the universe?"

Anger seethed through Vegeta and his eyes snapped forward, locking with hers. "Haven't you been paying attention, Bulma? Frieza has been swatting me around like a rubber ball. Now that he's in his final form, I have no hope of defeating him." Vegeta's voice broke and he quickly looked away from her. "I tried… I tried for you, but I failed again." His eyes clenched shut and his voice dropped down to the barest whisper. "Besides Frieza is right."

"Right about what?" Bulma's voice was equally soft, pitched low to match his. When he didn't respond she leaned closer, prodding him with her words. "About what, Vegeta?"

"I would just be a tyrant anyways. Just like him." Vegeta uttered the words with conviction. He had been molded into a monster instead of the prince that he was meant to be. Visions of blood drenched glory danced through his head. He could taste the fear that he would have evoked in the masses on his tongue. He would have swept through galaxy after galaxy, devouring them like locus until nothing was left. Even Frieza practiced restraint, sparing worlds that vowed to serve him, but Vegeta would have decimated them for the sheer pleasure of hearing them scream. Before Bulma, Vegeta would have crushed the universe under his iron hand and not felt a moment of remorse, but she had done something to him. She had changed him somehow and he resented her for it.

"You could choose to be different." She looked at him with eyes so full of faith that it made him sick. What did she know of the nature of a monster? She put her trust into a demon and he had killed her. She was a fool.

"It's all I know," he ground out.

"So learn something else."

"What the fuck do you know woman? Get off me and leave me in peace." Vegeta was done with this asinine conversation. What use was it to argue with your subconscious? Though he had to admit, he never thought his mind would spew this kind of shit at him.

"No! No, I won't let you give up!" She sat tall on his chest, her small fingers curling around the top of his breastplate. He wished he could feel the soft brush of her cool knuckles against his heated skin, but there was nothing, not even a whisper of air.

Vegeta sighed, exasperated with her. "Look around woman. This is the end. I couldn't call forth the power to kill him. I summoned all my anger and resentment and it still wasn't enough."

Bulma's eyes creased at the corners and crystal tears formed in the depths of her sapphire gaze. "But Vegeta you are looking in the wrong place for the key. It's not hate that gives you power, it's…." She broke off and darted a quick glance over her shoulder, looking at something that Vegeta could not see. Her delicate body shuddered as she turned back to look at him.

"What are you talking about woman?" He cocked his head to the side, watching her antics curiously.

"N-nothing. Never mind." She leaned close, her nose almost touching his as she glared into his obsidian eyes. "I won't let you die, Vegeta. You can't die. I love you." The last words were carried on her soft exhale of breath, fragile and delicate, but strong and strident at the same time.

His gut wrenched as he stared up into her shimmering eyes. How he ached with the need to reach up and bury his hands in her aqua hair. He yearned to pull her close, drinking from her red lips as she curled against his chest. He wanted her in his arms almost as much as he wanted to defeat Frieza, probably more he admitted silently to himself.

"How can you say that after what I let happen to you?" His words were a mere whisper in the wind. A question that scorned an answer.

She shifted her gaze away from his and he felt the ground fall out from under him, so great was his sorrow, his guilt. Slowly, she leaned down to lay her head against his chest, her long hair wisping over his face. He should have felt the caress of her strands against his chin, but his heart throbbed with the realization that he felt nothing.

"There are some things that can never be made better again, no matter how much you try to bury it away in the darkest part of your mind. You know, in the prison where we keep the most unbearable horrors locked away. What keeps you going, what makes you get out of bed in the morning is to think of the one thing that brightens you day, that makes it worth standing up and getting dressed." She paused for a moment, consciously making the effort to relax her shoulders that had become hunched with the barrage of memories that she was reliving. She raised her head to look down into his eyes, searching the velvet depths for a hint of understanding and seeing a flicker. Vegeta had a prison in his mind as well and it was near overflowing with his own torments.

"That one thing that got me out of bed in the morning was you, Vegeta. It will be alright once we are together again." Uncertainty filled her eyes and they darted away, unwilling to meet his. "Unless you are saying that you don't want me now." Her voice was full of tears and her small body trembled.

The growl that vibrated from Vegeta's throat was fierce and deadly. In anyone else it would have struck fear into their hearts, but it merely made his Bulma look up at him and smile. His answer was simple and without words, an answer that both of them understood. She was his and only his. The past did nothing to tarnish her in his eyes.

"You are my mate, nothing will change that." His words were carried with a guttural clip, roughened by his growl, but that did nothing to lessen the impact of his declaration.

She reached up to brush her fingertips against his cheek, her small smile still gracing her petal soft lips. He could not feel her touch, but his heart lightened at the gesture.

"You can't die Vegeta." She begged as hope glowed in her jewel eyes.

"Why not? At least you will be there." The words escaped his lips before he could censor them, but it didn't sting as much as he thought it would to say them.

Again she darted a look behind her before turning back to him. "And what a pleasant place it is too." Her tone was heavy with sarcasm and he grimaced in acceptance.

"I deserve my punishment for the sins I have committed."

"That's right you do." Bulma's sharp words startled Vegeta and he looked up at her, seeking a clue to her sudden change of attitude in her porcelain features. He stared at her silently, a little hurt that she would agree so readily to his self-condemning statement.

"Do you really think they are going to allow you to have even a shred of happiness on the other side?" She allowed the words to sink in a heartbeat before dropping her next bomb. "Do you really think they will let you keep me?" Vegeta's heart wrenched at her softly spoken words. She was right. The point of hell is to make its inhabitants suffer. With Bulma by his side he could withstand an onslaught of punishments and remain unaffected by the torture. The powers that controlled fate would wrench her way from him again, leaving him alone.

"I will kill anyone who tries to take you from me." Strength began to flow through his broken body at his deadly words. He meant every one of them. If he had to stalk through all seven rings to find her, he would and beware to those who tried to stop him.

A small smile fluttered across her lips at his declaration. "I don't think it works that way Vegeta."

"Don't underestimate my resolve woman," he growled. "You are mine." The possessive beast deep inside of him snarled angrily at the thought of someone taking his precious mate from him again.

Her smile faltered as she looked back behind her shoulder once again. This time when she turned back her features were pale and strained.

"I have to go." Her words were simple and devastating at the same time.

"No." He had lost her twice already, both by his hand. He would not allow her to leave him a third time.

"Yes, they are calling my number." Sadness seeped into her pores and flowed out of her eyes.

"I won't allow you to leave me again. I forbid it." His words grew stronger and he felt the rush of power in his veins.

"I have no choice, they are coming for me." Her trembling fingers curled tightly into his breastplate, belying her words. Tears fell unchecked down her ivory cheeks and without hesitation Vegeta raised his arms to hold her against him. They passed through thin air and her fear stricken eyes widened as she looked down at him.

A howling began, tearing up from the abyss, ripping at his senses. Darkness brewed behind Bulma and a bitter stench assailed them. A whirlwind of biting teeth and clawing talons engulfed her, pulling at her hair and shredding her clothes. Bulma clamped her hands over her ears to block out the unholy shrieking and he watched with horror as thin slashes appeared on her unprotected arms. Her crimson blood fell from her pale flesh onto his lean cheeks and droplets splattered onto his cracked armor. Her small body was dragged from his prone form by an unseen enemy and Vegeta staggered to his knees, reaching for her.

"Vegeta!" She screamed in panic, desperately reaching for him, but his hand kept passing though hers, unable to grasp her spectral image. It didn't matter now that she may only be a figment of his imagination. She was his mate and she called to him to protect her. His Saiyan instincts came to bear and his teeth gleamed in the sunlight as he snarled with ferocious intensity.

He pulled himself up off his knees and surged forward, reaching for his lover. His hand closed over hers and just for the barest instant he could feel her warm flesh under his. His fingers wrapped around her small wrist and he pulled her towards him, but then without warning her entire form dispersed into smoke and her fragile hand collapsed under his. The last thing he saw were her cerulean eyes, peering out from the swirling mist, begging him to save her.

Frantically he looked around, searching for where she may have gone, but he only saw the dirt walls of the hole Frieza had thrown him in. The grave he had laid in just a few minutes before, unable to stand on his own.

No.

She could not be gone!

No.

They could not have her!

"NO!"

He screamed in denial. It wasn't fair. How could she leave him again? How could they take her away from him?

Panic spilled through him, but it was quickly chased away by anger. She was his mate. They had no right to take her. An unnamed emotion took root inside of him, growing with every second. The wall that caged his power shook and moaned under the strain as the golden serpent hissed with impatience.

They had to give her back to him. If he had to march into the black depths to find her, then so help him he would. The wall shrunk a fraction and the demons that hounded his soul screeched in fright. The power wound tighter inside his gut, churning with excitement.

He needed her beside him.

Chunks of stone fell from the thick wall and a blinding bright light shone through the chinks, gaining strength with every revelation the cold warrior experienced. The dragon stretched, and the wall bulged with power. The demons that hunted him scurried back, slipping away into the darkness.

Vegeta stood at the bottom of his grave, panting as the waves of golden light washed over him. Sweat rolled off his body in rivers and his muscles clenched in expectation. Blood pounded rhythmically in his head, giving voice to a chanting that resounded in the back of his skull. Louder it roared, the voice of his people, calling to him, cheering for him.

DO IT!

They called. Over and over they cried. Their hope engulfing him. The wall strained and the serpent flexed.

There was only one way to have her back, to return her to her place by his side. So much of his life had been entrenched in darkness. Vegeta had existed for the sole reason of gaining more power. He served a monster that held his fragile soul in his scaly hands and with every passing year he had squeezed it dry, ringing every last drop of mercy from him. The engine of hate drove him on every waking second and even hounded him in his dreams, his nightmares. Never laughing, never crying, never caring, just training and killing, barely even breathing.

The power boiled and more stone fell away. Golden light breached the walls, shining through like a beacon.

Then she had come, with her annoying questions, her flirty laughter and her unwavering reverence for life. She was a flame of light in the darkness. She never questioned her faith in him that he would do the right thing by her. No one had ever asked him, as prince of an entire race, to be the things that he should be. Honorable. Respectable. Noble. She didn't ask it of him, she expected it. She saw the integrity in him not the depravity.

He had to have her back. She was his mate. His desire. His destiny. He would go no further without her by his side. His other half. His light. The whisper of compassion in his dark soul. His reason to exist.

The din of voices hushed and the dragon stilled. The powers of the universe held their breath as they watched the callous warrior who had turned into a man make his final revelation.

HE LOVED HER!

The wall burst apart in a shower of stone and steel and the golden light cascaded over him. The golden serpent inhaled deeply, consuming everything in its path. Vegeta screamed and the dragon roared as the power raced through his veins to the very tips of his black hair, casting it in a yellow glow. The light burst from the wounds on his body, shining out of him in a blinding glow before searing the cuts closed with its fiery heat. It snaked through him, knitting his bones together and making them stronger.

The power shot out the soles of his feet, burrowing deeply into the ground before shooting up in a ring of flame around him. His grave walls heaved and burst as the force of his energy thrust the soil away from him forcibly, creating a wide, deep cavern. Rock and dirt exploded as gold lightning rained down from the heavens. The sand beneath his feet turned to glass as his entire body became a blazing inferno of white fire.

The serpent exhaled, illuminating the darkness inside of the warrior with its power. It moved across the wastelands of Vegeta's mind, merging with the last remains of his soul, purifying the bloody stain that had spread unchecked.

Vegeta welcomed the strength that crouched inside of him, becoming one with it until he was the serpent, the embodiment of power. As the energy spiked through the once desolate warrior, he levitated into the air, distaining the grave that he had only moments ago accepted as his fate.

He floated above the chasm, strands of gold ki twining around him like ravenous snakes, snapping and hissing, waiting for their enemy. Vegeta opened his eyes, the teal gaze of the dragon staring out from his enlightened features, seeing for the first time. Vegeta shifted to the left, his body a subtle ripple of power. The predator tensed as he spotted his prey, the one who would die by his hand, the one who stood between him and his goal.

The resurrection of his mate.

Teal locked with ruby as the two superpowers of the universe faced off.