Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Another Life ❯ Vegeta's Story ( Chapter 3 )

Disclaimer: All original characters are mine and if you take them, God help me, I get a bat, find out where you live and…well let's just say you'll be eating your food though a very tiny straw. And by the way, I don't own DBZ or any of the characters seen in the show, manga, movies, etc. Their bodies might not be mine, but their souls belong to me…

Author's Note: Finally! We get some Vegeta action! I know I said I would wait until I got more reviews, but I was getting kind of impatient, and I figured you would be too. Okay, I think I need to clue you in on a bit of info. In this story, King Vegeta does not look like his son. I know in the series they look just alike with the exception of the beard, but for the sake of my story, I have decided to make him look slightly different. (sorry to all you King Vegeta lovers out there) Vegeta is still his gorgeous self, so on that note, please, enjoy…

Another Life

Chapter 3-Vegeta's story

Vegeta threw the blood-soaked rag he'd been wiping his hands on at the recently deceased Saiyan laying on the training room floor. His muscles burned for release from the torture he was forcing upon his body, yet he called for another awaiting guard to replace the one at his feet. He didn't even feel the usual dull pain that accompanied a stay in the regen tank anymore. He could do this all night with little effort on his part. His mind barely even registered what he was doing as he connected punch after punch with the guard's torso. The guard doubled over, trying desperately to block the blows now aimed at his head. Vegeta grabbed the dazed man by his hair and kneed him in the face, earning him a groan and a sickening snap of cartilage. The prince's elbow swung around unexpectedly and caught the guard unawares in the chin as he tried to recover from the last blow. The injured man hit the ground with a thud, unable to even catch his breath before a gold-tipped boot pressed into his windpipe. He gasped for air as Vegeta ground his boot into his neck, gripping the offending object weakly before eliciting a muffled gurgle and collapsing lifelessly back down on the floor.

The Saiyan no Ouji wrinkled his nose in disgust as he watched blood from the guard's mouth splatter onto the soft ivory leather of his boots. This wasn't helping. Usually, killing mercilessly placated him enough to cool down. But this time, it didn't seem to affect him at all. He sighed wearily and picked up his gloves. No, his mind wasn't in this. His technique was lacking the creative finesse and brutality that it usually held. He turned towards the doors, prepared to go and find some other means of release, when Nappa, his father's personal guard strolled in, a contemptuous look plastered on his features. Vegeta audibly growled as Nappa stood in front of him, obviously preparing to tell him something.

"What the hell do you want, Nappa?" Vegeta turned away before the bald man could answer and motioned for another guard to come forward. The sight of man made him want to pound something again.

"The king has a mission for you." He paused dramatically.

"Well?" Vegeta ground out between punches. He should have killed the bald elite years ago, before he had been revered as his father's personal lapdog. Now Nappa carried the protection of the king, and no one but the king himself was aloud to touch him.

"The king has decided to give you a second chance. He feels that he is being rather merciful considering--"

"Was that before or after he kicked the living shit out of me?"

"I'm not sure. You'd have to check with him on that one." Nappa chuckled at his own cleverness. He never even saw the white-gloved hand close around his neck until he was gasping for air.

"You would do well to hold your tongue, old man. I may not be allowed to kill you yet, but you better believe your carcass will be rotting outside the city gates the second I gain the throne." Nappa choked and sputtered, staring at the prince in utter amazement. He obviously hadn't believed the prince would dare to touch him after the king's decree. "So, Nappa, tell me, what is this mission my father has planned for me?" Vegeta's fingers loosened minimally and Nappa gulped in the small amount of air allowed to him.

"The king wants you to find the third-class soldier and kill him."

"I had already planned to do that. An abomination like that can't be allowed to roam free."

"He also wants me to accompany--" Nappa's words were cut off as Vegeta tightened his fingers around his neck once again. His eyes bulged and his face was slowly taking on a shade of purple before Vegeta let go of him. He collapsed to the floor, his hand gingerly rubbing the skin around his neck as he glared up at the prince.

"I don't need any help. Especially from a blubbering, cowardly, imbecile like yourself. The king knows you would only get in my way. So why send you?"

"Perhaps to add injury to insult, your highness. He knows you'd want to do this alone, and to demand that you have my help shows the level of your incompetence." Nappa groaned as he felt Vegeta's foot connect with his face and knock him onto his back.

"Shut up, Nappa! I don't need your insight in the matter. I was a fool to even ask. The Saiyan no Ouji doesn't need the help of a sniveling elite to carry out so simple a task as killing a third-class soldier."

Nappa wiped the blood dribbling from his nose with the back of his hand. His king had ordered him to help his son whether or not the stubborn prince wanted him to. Nappa decided that things would go better if Prince Vegeta realized his odds. "But Vegeta-sama, it is obvious that this is no ordinary third-class soldier. If you and eight elites couldn't defeat him the first time, what makes you think you can now?"

"Because a Saiyan's power always increases after a defeat, you dim-witted buffoon. I didn't know his power level when I approached him because he kept it hidden. I won't be so naïve this time. I will train harder and I will defeat him. And then I will be every bit as strong as my father. His time to step down will come. As will yours." With that said, Vegeta turned on his heels and stalked out of the room, to the relief of the remaining soldiers in the room who had been awaiting their deaths.

When Vegeta arrived in his rooms, he was shocked to find the voice command used to light his rooms didn't work. "Damn you blasted computers! I said `lights'!" he bellowed. It was then tha he heard a soft, but clear, feminine voice coming from his bedroom. Immediately the lights illuminated the room, then slowly dimmed until he could just make out the well-crafted furniture decorating the room. He moved towards his bedroom, his dark, slanting eyebrows slanting further as he went.

Vegeta stopped in the doorway and observed the sight before him. There was a lump in the bed. More particularly a female lump. He moved closer to get a better look. He could see the swell of delicate curves in her petite frame outlined beneath the sheets. His eyes moved up to her face. Yellow luminescent eyes stared back, occasionally blinking in the darkness.

"Hello, Ouji-sama. Can I get you a drink?" The woman moved from under the sheets and stood up from the bed, the dim light casting a soft glow on her smooth, uncovered skin and long mahogany curls tucked behind slightly pointed ears. She crossed the room and picked up a glass filled with a bright red liquid. The woman moved towards him and held out the glass, swaying her hips ever so slightly as she walked.

Vegeta took the glass from her and emptied it in one tilt. He then threw the glass, shattering it against the wall. The woman jumped back, a terrified look crossing her features. "What the hell are you doing here, Avis?" The prince's voice took on a quiet and deadly tone.

"I-I…Ouji-sama, I thought you would like some company tonight."

"You thought wrong." Vegeta took a step towards the frightened woman. She took a quick step back.

"I just…assumed that you would since you've had such a stressful week. You spent the past few days in the regen tank after your father…well I just thought might need a break."

"As I said before, you thought wrong." Vegeta grabbed the woman by the arm and shook her as he spoke. "Are you the one who changed my voice command?"

"Y-yes. I just tho-I didn't want bright lights to spoil the effect."

"I have never allowed anyone in my rooms without permission. What makes you think that I would grant you that privilege?" His dark eyes bore into hers and frightened the logic out of her.

"I thought maybe you wouldn't mind. I have been spending many nights with you and I was sure that I have pleased you more than any other concubine in the palace. I thought maybe-"

"You assume too much. It seems I have been too generous in the past few weeks. To think that the Saiyan no Ouji would revoke his ordinances for a common whore?" He spat the last few words out.

"But all the time you've spent with me…" Avis' words tapered off as Vegeta squeezed her arm more forcefully.

"You mean nothing to me, Avis. You are a fool to think otherwise. I was merely using you until I tired of you, which apparently, is now." Vegeta yanked her rigid body towards the door exiting his rooms.

"Vegeta, please!" Her voice echoed through the outside corridors. Vegeta stopped pulling at her and turned to face her, his black piercing gaze striking terror into the shaking woman.

"You dare speak to me as a commoner?" he roared as he pulled his hand back. "I am the Prince of all Saiyans! I am royalty! It is my birthright! I will not let a little slut like you try to shame me by calling me by anything else than what I deserve."

"Ouji-sama, I don't understand-" The force of his blow knocked Avis into the wall directly outside the door of the prince's chamber. She slid down the wall into a whimpering heap, cringing when the door slammed shut.

Vegeta threw himself onto his bed without even taking off his boots. That damn whore! Who did she think she was? He had surprised himself by not killing her. Vegeta was getting back up to find another glass when he suddenly realized that there were none. He had broken them all some way or another in his usual fits of anger. Avis must have brought one in.

Vegeta sighed as he allowed him self to think about the red-haired concubine. Avis had indeed been one of his favorites. She had been presented to him as a peace offering by one of the Empire's conquered planets, Arin. They were afraid the Saiyan Empire meant to purge their planet because of the rebel uprisings the people had raised against a few visiting Saiyan dignitaries. They hoped the daughter of their ruler would appease the Saiyan Empire's anger and bring about a marriage that would keep Arin from harm as well as uniting the planets in peace. They were wrong. King Vegeta accepted the offering but purged the planet a week later. Princess Avis became one of the last Arini alive, as well as the prince's royal concubine in the space of a week.

The prince had been rough with her at first, as she didn't take well the destruction of her planet or her demotion from princess to concubine. She was hysterical for most of time and jumped every time Vegeta touched her. But she soon began to adjust to her new life and learned to obey the prince in every thing he said. And apparently she cared for her prince as well. `She is a fool', Vegeta thought to himself. `I can love no one who is unworthy of me.' He wasn't even sure if he could love anyone at all. The idea of allowing someone that much control over him and his supposed non-existent feelings was terrifying. `No,' he thought again. `I can love no one.'

Vegeta concluded that he needed to clear his mind of useless thoughts and decided to walk over to the royal bathhouse to take a much needed bath. While he was passing out of his rooms into the hallway, he noticed a smear of blood on the wall outside his door. Avis' blood. He continued down the hallway, ignoring the salutes of passing guards and reached the bathhouse a few minutes later. He ordered the bathing slaves out and after he had discarded his clothing, he slipped into the nearly scalding water of the giant pool with a sigh.

After a few minutes of soaking, he allowed himself to replay the events of the past week. His fury reignited when he thought of the beating his father had given him after he had failed to kill the third-class soldier. Nappa's words echoed through his head. Injury to insult. He had barely begun to heal in the regen tank before his father had ordered him out again to face his failure. Vegeta had known his father was upset about the third-class warrior defying the throne by helping a dangerous fugitive, especially since he had beat his royal guards as if they were rag dolls. But this anger was different. When Vegeta staggered into the training room his father had ordered him in, he was immediately forced to defend himself as the king began an unrelenting physical assault on his body. Vegeta had barely been able to block the barrage of attacks before he was kicked across the room. The prince had thought his father was finished with him and had tried to get up to return to the infirmary, but the king firmly placed his foot on his son's chest to keep him from leaving.

"You're a disgrace to your title, boy. You will never be king if you continue to disprove your worth. I don't know why I ever held faith in you. Perhaps it isn't my blood that runs through your veins after all." Vegeta struggled to get up at his father's harsh words.

"Father, it isn't true. I am your son." Vegeta rasped out the words, trying weakly to push his father's foot off of his chest. The king balked at his son's words and pressed his foot harder into his battered chest.

"I might have believed that if it weren't for you inexcusable failure today. You let a third-class warrior shame you into defeat. How can you be the Legendary when you're lying half unconscious under my boot? I'm beginning to think that maybe you aren't royalty at all. Maybe you do share the blood of a third-class soldier. For all you know, you might have been fighting your cousin." Vegeta coughed as his father applied more pressure to his chest. It took all of his remaining strength to finally manage to push his father's foot off and roll to his side.

"I am your son, and I will be king one day. I am the Legendary, the Super Saiyan who will become the most powerful being in the universe. The prophecies have ordained it." Vegeta was practically shouting by the time he finished. The king walked around Vegeta's heaving form and gave him a light kick in the shoulder to push him on his back again. He looked down at his son, scowling darkly at him.

"You will be none of those things if you continue to show weakness. Your whore of a mother might have been queen, but that doesn't mean you are my son. That weakling third-class guard that she betrayed me with long ago could very well be your father. If it weren't for the uncertainty, I would have killed you just as soon as you were born. Your mother was almost lucky she died birthing you, or her life would have also been void if I had found no further use for her. I named you heir simply to hide the shame of your mother's infidelity. I might have been better off having a child with a concubine. My son would have been more honorable." With that said, the king had turned on his heels and walked out, leaving a broken and bruised Vegeta to ponder his words.

It had been one of the worse days of his life. To have all of his inadequacies put in front of him and told that he was not worthy enough to have the destiny that should have been his at birth was almost too much to handle. He hadn't let the medics put him the regen tank right away. He sat in his room instead, on his bed, looking at the ring on his hand that was supposed to signify royalty. He sighed and got up to look at himself in the full-length mirror across from his bed. He was a mess, but he hardly noticed the condition of his body as he stared at his features. True, he was much shorter than his father, but he wasn't lacking in any muscle. His angular cheekbones and sharp chin were different from his father's hard straight features, but he'd like to think that he had gotten them from his mother. Vegeta yanked off his ring and hurled it at his reflection, breaking the mirror into jagged shards. Was he that different? His father had brought up this revelation once before, the day the royal soothsayer had prophesied that the prince was to become the Legendary. His father had walked out of the room muttering to himself. When Vegeta had confronted him about his behavior, the king had revealed his mother's treacherous past and told his son that the Legendary could not be born of a worthless third-class weakling. Vegeta had argued that the fact that the Legendary must be of royal blood proved that he was indeed the king's son. But the king had refused to listen.

Vegeta pulled himself out of the water and flared his ki to dry off. He dressed himself and headed for the door, not really feeling any better than before with the exception of being a little cleaner. On his way back to his chamber, he spotted one of the guards hailing for his attention. He stopped in front of him, tapping his foot impatiently. "Well?"

"Your Highness, Avis, the concubine from Arin, has escaped. We're not sure how she managed to get past the guards, but she was spotted heading off in the direction of the spaceport. " The guard looked at the ground, obviously awaiting his prince's temper.

"At ease, soldier. I won't kill you for letting a worthless whore roam the planet. And if she happens to get off planet, well then good riddance. Don't bother me with such useless information again." The soldier hit his chest with one fist and hurried out of the irritable prince's sight. The prince resumed his leisurely stride.

The Saiyan no Ouji sighed as he entered his rooms. He would have to get some sleep if he were to start the day early and get some information on the whereabouts of the fugitive traitor to the throne. Then he would begin training harder than he had ever done before so that he would be prepared in his final bout with the third-class idiot. And now he would have to suffer the company of that obnoxious and intolerable elite trailing his every move; he would surely kill him if the elite insisted on training with him. He would repay his father for that slight as well as many others. He had decided long ago that the only way his father would find him worthy was if he became strong enough to beat him and take the throne away. He would show his father that he was not weak by killing that third-class freak, then he would prove that he was worthy of the throne by killing his father. Such was the way of every king before him and he would be damned if he weren't one to follow tradition. The death of the royal bastard would be an added bonus to gaining the throne. His father would find out that he was the only weakness existing in his son's life. Vegeta was the true and rightful heir to the throne. He was the Legendary and no one, not even the gods themselves, could take that away from him.

Next Up: Kakarrot's on his way to Corgus…will he make it? Bulma is about to be among some treacherous company…will she be able to fend them off? And what about Vegeta? What are his plans involving Kakarrot? Wait and see! Review this to see if you won the Vegeta-Be-Mine Sweepstakes!