Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Dark Majik ❯ The Temptation ( Chapter 14 )

Disclaimer: I do not own DBZ, however this plot and all subsequent original characters are my property and may not be used by other people without my consent (sorry it came to this but badly written knock-off's off this fic are starting to spring up.)

Author Note: *is shamed* this took far too long to update! Sorry my dears!

~*~

To Goku, life was a joke. The kind of joke that no one, except perhaps the joker himself, seemed to find remotely funny or even understand. No matter how many times Goku saw the joke of life being played out he still didn't understand it. To him, life was incomprehensible. Human life had no purpose. They scuttled about their empty little lives on pointless little errands, and for what? What they hell did people think they were getting at the end of it all? Why did they even bother living?

Goku Morningstar frowned as, briefly, a brilliant flash of lightning illuminated him and interrupted his troubling line of thought. He bared his teeth and stepped over the threshold of the bathroom; the soles of his shoes crunching loudly on the tiny fragments of plaster that had been ripped from the walls when he had burst through the door. He suppressed the deep rumbling growl that had been on the verge of spilling from his throat, for the flash of lightning had shown him Vegeta and Bulma crouched together in an embrace of sorts.

Jealousy, like scalding water, burnt inside of him. A slow, bubbling, resentment of the companionship they shared. They had seemed frightened, their wide frightened eyes looking like some sick parody to an image he had in his mind of them in a different life together; a life where Vegeta had won Bulma's affections from him.

Against his will, Goku felt himself beginning to shift into his true form. He could feel black blooming in his eyes, spreading like the jealous fire inside of him. His skin itched and prickled as he fought to stop the change before his tail could burst from his tailbone and before his flesh could change to that blood red shade.

"Well, well. Isn't this cosy?" Bitterness dripped from his voice, staining the air with its putrid smell. Beneath his skin the demon rolled and slashed with it's claws, desperate to burst free and tear the angel into little tiny pieces for venturing this close to his woman.

"Goku!" Bulma's voice halted him in his tracks and held the bitterness in check as he read the relief in her voice. Although his body was practically singing with tension he relaxed slightly when he sought and met her eyes and read the utter need for him in them. He could smell her fear, but it wasn't fear of him. Even though he was towering over her threateningly she had no doubt whatsoever that he wouldn't harm her.

The blue haired woman tried to pull out of Vegeta's arms but the angel held her in check, his own eyes dark and furious as he took in the sight of his greatest enemy standing before over him with blazing eyes. He could feel the very might and power of hell itself bearing down at him in that gaze but his faith kept him steady.

Goku too could feel all of Vegeta's emotions as though they were physical things in the air around him. He could feel his revulsion, his anger…and strangely enough he could also feel a yearning within Vegeta. Something inside of the angel wanted what Goku had, it wasn't envy exactly, it was a faint shadowy wish to be what Goku was and had what he had. The feeling was almost nonexistent, but Goku was able to read it - almost taste it - as it trickled from the angel.

In a way it wasn't surprising, he and Vegeta had been best friends until the separation of the angels. They had spent more time together then apart, everything they did they had done together and they had been equals in every sense of the word. Yet as much as Vegeta refused to acknowledge it, Goku was seen universally to be of higher status. It didn't matter that in heaven Goku was the lowest of the lows, all that mattered was that on Earth the devil was revered, and Vegeta had spent far too much time on the mortal plane of existence for some of that not to have rubbed off onto him.

"Vegeta! Let go of me!" Bulma struggled in the angel's grasp, but her more then ample bulk, weak strength and gigantic stomach hindered her attempts. Despite her thrashing and clear desperation to be free of him Vegeta held her close, not willing to relinquish the only woman he'd ever loved to the dark side. Everything he had done he had done for the good of all mankind - including her!

"Yes Vegeta, let the mother of my child go free." Goku rumbled as he stepped closer to the remains of the bathtub, his liquid black eyes holding dancing pinpoints of hell light in them and his entire body trembling ever-so-slightly with a power that Vegeta had never felt the likes of before.

The threat was clear: Let Bulma go…OR ELSE!

Out of the corner of his eye Vegeta could see the desperation in Bulma's face as she fought to get closer to the Prince of Lies. How could she not see that he was using her? Perhaps deep down Goku felt something akin to love…but it wasn't the pure love that he had been made to feel. His love was a terrible thing, a horrible thing and it disgusted Vegeta to even imagine that his love would fee like.

He wanted to force Bulma to see the truth, for her to realise that for all of Goku's promises nothing would ever come of their relationship. He was a two faced lying bastard who had felt no remorse at slaying his fellow angels during the first battle for Heaven. He had murdered his brothers and sisters in cold blood over something as petty as the Earth!

But somehow he didn't think that Bulma would listen to him. She had a look of complete and utter surrender in her eyes - a look that spoke of an obsession too old and too ingrained in her soul to ever be washed away. The Bulma in this life had known Goku only a few short days and she was already hopelessly in love with him - and it was love. Even Vegeta couldn't deny the emotion that Bulma radiated; she loved Goku with the kind of devotion that the world rarely ever saw.

Until this very moment he hadn't realised that Bulma was lost.

Vegeta released Bulma abruptly and sprang to his feet, using his body to shield the blue haired female from Goku's piercing gaze. Although he was nearly a foot short then the devil he wasn't going to be intimidated by how imposing he was, after all, Goku had no one to back him up while Vegeta had the Lord on his side. He stood there waiting for Goku to make his move, almost trembling with the relief he felt at finally facing his enemy face to face. He'd been waiting for this final fight through all of his mortal lives…

"It doesn't' have to be this way, you know." Goku drawled, smiling indulgently at Vegeta and thinking to himself that for all of the angel's righteous anger and God found strength he looked about as threatening as a small yappy dog.

"Yes it does." Vegeta lowered his head but kept his eyes squarely on Goku, never once letting his guard down. "From the moment you betrayed the Lord, you and I were destined to meet in battle." He dropped into a fighting stance, the familiar pose serving to quieten his nerves to an extent.

Goku's smile stretched into a grin and he chuckled softly. "Perhaps, but it doesn't mean that I want to fight you, now does it? You and I, Vegeta, were once the best of friends…and we could be again." The devil tilted his head to the side, so confident in his own ability that he didn't bother to raise his guard. "Everything I have," Goku continued, "could be yours." His black eyes slid from Vegeta to Bulma and then back again. "All you have to do is join me."

Bulma! He was offering to share Bulma?

For a hellish second Vegeta felt temptation, like a cold monstrous hand, clawing inside of him. Everything that he was guilty of lusting after, of feeling envious of and of being greedy for was something that Goku had and was offering to him. Money, power, fame…Bulma…everything that he dreamed of was suddenly within his grasp.

But at what cost?

Vegeta shivered as the thoughts snuck into his head, planted there, no doubt, by some greater power to keep him on the path of righteousness. He quickly prayed inwardly for forgiveness for almost succumbing to the dark side, and then he allowed the fury he felt at how close he had come to well up side of him.

"Never! I will never join you!" Vegeta spat venomously, clenching his teeth and fists as Goku laughed at his response.

"So you say, Vegeta." The fallen angel bared perfect white teeth at the other in a mockery of a smile. "Once last chance - join me, or die."

There was a silence so deep, so profound that every breath of the inhabitants of the room could be heard clearly. Even Bulma, who until that moment had been struggling to climb to her feet paused and waited, the silence weighting her down as though it was a physical thing. Seconds stretched into minutes and still nothing was said, for when eventually words were spoken it would be either a death sentence or damnation.

Finally Vegeta spoke the one word that everyone, perhaps even himself, was dreading to hear: "Never."

And that was that…

~*~

A/N - Another cliffhanger, I don't know why I write them. I really don't. Please review and tell me what you think! Hopefully I will update this within a week! I promise! Really - I don't then I give you all full permission to email me and yell insults!