Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Dominion ❯ Chapter 9

Dominion

Author: Xero Sky

Date: July/August/September 2002

Pairings: Vejiita X Bardock, Vejiita X Kakkarot, for now.

Warnings: Lemon, lime, language, violence, and ANGST. Maybe all at once! AU, therefore some OOC is probably inevitable.

Notes:

*....* indicates italics. /..../ indicates telepathic speech

Disclaimer: All characters are property of their respective copyright owners. I intend no profit from this work of fiction.

Chapter 9

/NAPPA/

There were few things the big man liked less than waking to a voice crying alarm in his head. As it happened, he was already awake for some reason. Something had woken him a few moments earlier and sent his heart racing, bringing him out in a cold sweat. Unable to pinpoint it, but certain that he would have known through his link with Vejiita if something was wrong, he assumed it was this calling that had woken him.

He vaguely sent back an idea that involved a great deal of physical pain and contained the words "fuck" and "off". Then he turned over in his bed, snuggling up to the warm bodies around him. As long as the king was fine, he was hard pressed to care about much of anything this early in the morning, well before the rise of the sun. That's what he had lieutenants for.

/NAPPA!/

/....../

/Wake UP, you mite-ridden asshole!/

/Tsuri-YA, I hope you know I'm going to strangle you with your own guts when I get up./

/Get up NOW! Something's happened!/

Nappa shot out of bed, his movements surprisingly agile for such a large man. Neither of the twins who'd been sleeping on either side of him was disturbed by this. Instead, the women snuggled up to each other, a sight which made Nappa groan and vow to dismember his lieutenant for taking him away from them.

/What is it?/ he sent, pulling clothes and armor on quickly.

/Come to the courtyard outside my quarters./

/Why? What's happening?/

Nappa automatically scanned for Vejiita's location, as opposed to his well-being, and was alarmed to find him exactly where Tsuriya wanted him to go. He began to run.

/Kakkarot.../

The absolute regret and pain in her tone sent him literally flying down the hallways.

*****************

Bardock woke, cold and alone, panic ripping through him. *Radditz!* he thought, sending out his senses for his sons.

But it wasn't Radditz. It was Kakkarot. And he only knew that because he could barely feel him. There was near-emptiness where his youngest son had been in his heart. Was he dying? *No, dammit!*

Where was he? Bardock scrambled out of his bed, meaning to find him. Unlike with Radditz, he knew that Kakkarot was somewhere nearby. Unclad, he scaled the brightening sky above the palace, looking down, hoping to see something or pinpoint the ki he could scarcely feel.

*There!*

*Kakkarot!* Growling, incandescent with rage, he descended upon those who had hurt his son.

*****************

Nappa rampaged through the hallways, knocking those in his path violently away without even noticing. He crashed through a set of doors and into the courtyard, where he stopped for an instant, taking all of it in.

There was blood...everywhere. Streaks and pools of it bedecked the stone paths, dripped from the trees, and decorated the buildings facing the courtyard like gaudy banners. The crest of the royal house on one wall was obscured by a huge smear which ran almost to the ground. A very quick glance told him why.

Tsuriya lay at the foot of the wall, broken. That was the only word Nappa could think of to describe it. The bones of her broken legs had ripped through her skin. Her arms appeared disjointed, and it was obvious that her back was broken. Through the wealth of blood and the hair matted across her face, he could see the dull shine of her eyes, reflecting the glory of their king.

Vejiita no Ou crouched near the fountain over the body of Kakkarot. The younger man lay sprawled across the grass, the awkward angle of his neck and limbs telling whatever story the blood covering him did not. There was no doubt that the blood decorating the courtyard belonged to both of the fallen.

Vejiita had ascended, and he glowed with rage and power, turquoise eyes feral and, Nappa thought, almost insane. He held one hand out toward the small group of Guards gathering, palm outward not in warding, but in the promise of annihilation. The other hand was laid gently on Kakkarot's chest, in what was clearly a gesture of possession. What had happened here? Had Vejiita done this?

"Vejiita-sama?" Nappa asked, going closer than any of the others dared. Those un-saiyajin eyes turned on him.

"Vejiita-sama, have you passed judgment on him?" Nappa said softly. Vejiita snarled at him, and Nappa held out his hands placatingly, shoving his ki down as far as it could go, demonstrating that he was no threat.

/...he protects him.../

It astonished Nappa that Tsuriya was still alive, much less able to send anything so coherent. He didn't question her words, though he wondered why the hell he wasn't getting anything from the whole and healthy Guards watching this.

"Ou-sama," Nappa said, going down on one knee. "Let me help you take him to Medical."

He wasn't suicidal enough to go any closer.

Bardock, however, had no such inhibitions. The nude saiyajin slammed into the ground from above a few feet from Kakkarot, and he immediately went for his son, only to be knocked away. Unlike Nappa, Bardock apparently had no common sense, and he came back, tail slashing through the air, eyes wild, his power, however much less than Vejiita's, crackling around him.

"You will let me have my son, Vejiita!" Bardock snarled.

"You will not have him!! No one takes him from me!" Vejiita roared, his tail looping around Kakkarot's wrist as he straightened up and threatened his lover's father.

*What madness is this?* Nappa thought. He did not try to move closer while Vejiita was distracted, knowing that such foolishness would get him vaporized.

"If he dies because of you, I swear I will drink your blood!" Bardock shouted, still walking toward the crazed king and his son.

A ki blast threw Bardock against the far wall, but within a second he hurtled back and was at his son's side. Vejiita raised a hand alight with destruction, and Bardock threw himself over Kakkarot to protect him.

"NO, Vejiita!" Nappa shouted.

Vejiita stopped, glaring down at the man between him and Kakkarot. Eyes narrowed with hate. "Get off him."

The low voice sent shivers through those who heard it. Bardock did not move. He lifted his head and glared defiance. "I will not let you kill my son."

"He is already dead!!!" Vejiita howled, and there was no mistaking the anguish in that voice. This was no threat, but a declaration of despair.

*Oh, kami*, Nappa thought. He heard a faint whisper of confirmation from Tsuriya.

"He's not," Bardock said more calmly now, exchanging a swift glance with Nappa. "Help me; let me take him to Medical."

Teal eyes burned into black ones.

Bardock slowly gathered his son in his arms, but didn't move to leave. Not yet. "Help him, Vejiita-sama."

Vejiita stared at him, and at Kakkarot. A moment later, he had both Bardock and Kakkarot in his arms and the three of them were gone from the courtyard.

Nappa watched them go, knowing that Vejiita was taking them toward help. There was nothing more to be done there.

/...*baka*.../

Fuck.

He roared at the morons watching the scene, many of them in uniform and fully knowing better, to help him gather the wreckage of his lieutenant and get her to Medical too.

In a short time, the courtyard was empty. Only the lifeblood left behind gave any testimony to the violence that had filled it minutes before.

*****************

Radditz wept.

He had woken from a dream, a formless dream of despair and longing and rage. Pain had woken him, a ghost of pain wracking his body and making him leap unsteadily from his bed. Promptly falling to his knees, he stayed there, trying to calm himself.

It didn't work. Tears fell from beneath his lids. All this time, he had carried himself well, had faced mutilation and captivity with a brave and angry face. This, though, this was different.

Something had happened to Kakkarot. He wasn't there, and something terrible had happened to Kakkarot.

He didn't have any clear impressions at all, just the wave of emotions, but he didn't doubt their origin. He was here, in this gods-damned hell, and Kakkarot was being hurt again. The thought of his wild-haired, laughing brother in pain again, despite all of Radditz' promises, made him want to tear his own heart out.

The agony in his heart was such that Radditz never noticed the other in the room, silently watching him, or the simple fact that, had he opened his eyes to let the tears go freely, he would have *seen* him as well.

*****************

The King of All Saiyajins sat in the air, cross-legged, his eyes closed. He was meditating, and totally unresponsive to the questions posed to him in soft voices by the people around him. At least the gold had faded from his hair, and the eyes they couldn't see would be black again. There was some small comfort for them in that.

A technician approached the regeneration tank next to Vejiita, hoping to check the gages. A low and terrible growl sounded through the chamber, and the technician fled, knowing far better than to challenge the Saiyajin no Ou. It was clear that no one was yet allowed near the tank. Vejiita had placed Kakkarot's shattered body within it himself. Not being entirely familiar with the controls, he'd allowed Bardock to begin the cycle, but that was all. Now Bardock paced around the unmarked but immutable boundary around the tank, caught between not wanting to face Vejiita's possessive wrath directly again, and his anxious desire to see his son.

There was no way of knowing if the tank would be enough. No doctors had been allowed near Kakkarot, and none were in sight of him now. His neck was broken and many of his bones were crushed, but the tank should, in theory, be able to handle such injuries. The question was whether Kakkarot had received too much damage to survive the treatment. Such things took time, and Bardock didn't know if Kakkarot would heal quickly enough to prevent his slide into death.

He could feel, even from a distance, the constant gentle flow of ki from Vejiita to Kakkarot. If his son was whole enough, it would help him heal. If he was not, it would flow out of him again like most of his blood already had.

The faint spark of life lingered in his son, and Bardock sent as much love and encouragement through his bond with his son as he could. He had tried earlier to send ki as well, but Vejiita was altogether too protective and possessive and freaking insane at the moment to allow that. Cut off from his own son! Unable to do anything about Vejiita, Bardock paced and did what he could from a distance. Other than the thrashing of his tail and his restless movements, nothing gave away the agony in Bardock's heart.

His son. His baby son, the one he'd thought never to see again, the one he'd found being raised as a native on that beautiful, backward planet. He remembered vividly seeing that small, dirt-streaked face raised to his in dim recognition when Bardock found him. Dark eyes under a tousled mop of hair had stared at him as he'd approached and knelt in front of the boy. He hadn't thought the brat would recognize him; he hadn't been able to bear spending much time with the baby who had been marked since birth to be sent away. Yet little arms had snuck around Bardock's neck almost immediately, and a small face had been pressed against his own. A downy-soft tail had twined around his wrist. His son. His Kakkarot.

Almost gone. And Radditz! Both of his sons, just like that.

Bardock almost keened in despair. He was close to losing everything. The rest of his family was already gone. Mother, father, stepfather, brother, and mates had all been swept away by war. And now his sons. And the moment after he knew they too were gone, he would lose Vejiita as well, because he would never in ten thousand years forgive the royal bastard, his almost-son, his lover, his king, for what had happened to Kakkarot.

Gods damn them all.

He turned dark, furious eyes on Vejiita, and waited.

******************

"Will she live?"

"Unlikely. There's been so much blood-loss that she's probably suffered brain damage. The rest of the injuries will heal, but she's gone into cardiac arrest a number of times already, and the brain waves are still irregular. I can't predict the outcome of this one," the doctor said dispassionately.

"Fuck!" Nappa roared. His tail, whipping violently back and forth, caught the leg of a table and hurled it against a far wall, destroying both the table and the equipment that had been stacked on it.

The doctor, who had treated Nappa's people before, didn't so much as blink. "You said that she spoke through your link right up until a few minutes before you got her here. Is that right?"

"Hai. Woke me up out of a sound sleep," Nappa said, although now that he thought about it, it seemed more likely that it was Vejiita's rage that had woken him. If that was the case... Something like shame washed over him.

"Then that may be a good sign. We'll just have to wait."

Nappa nodded and went over to the tank. Inside, Tsuriya lay on a shelf immersed in the complex solution that filled the tank. Her jaw had been shattered and a normal mask wouldn't fit, so a breathing tube had been inserted and her mouth and nose were filled with a foam sealant to keep the solution out. Just that part looked horrible. The rest of it, the broken bones, torn flesh, and misshapen body, looked even worse here, cleaned of the masking blood and seen through the greenish solution. Nappa rested his forehead against the glass and closed his eyes.

/Are you there, girl?/

Some saiyajins retained consciousness within the tank, but most did not. Nappa hoped Tsuriya had not. He didn't want her aware of being trapped in the tank, the strangling tube down her throat, not feeling any pain but unable to move as her bones knitted and her flesh healed.

He called to her softly, hoping to rouse her only slightly, enough to communicate with him without feeling her body. He had to know what had happened. More than that, he had to know if she was all right. If her brain was damaged, she wouldn't be able to manage to answer him. Or so he thought. It would be no guarantee that she would live, but an answer would reassure him, at least.

/Tsuriya.../

He was fond of her. There was no denying it. Her fire, her irritability, her evil wit, and her ruthlessness were all qualities he admired. The care she lavished not only on their king, but on her fellow Guards was something he himself wasn't always capable of. She was, in many ways, his right hand, reliably filling in the gaps for him, making him a better commander and a better Guard to the king.

Vejiita had done this to her. She had served him as faithfully and with as much devotion as Nappa himself. How could any of this have happened?

/Tsuriya, report./

/.../

Finally, the faint hint of a reply, incoherent and unformed, but a reply still.

/You need only wake a little, girl. Don't feel. Don't move. You're in a tank, healing./

There was a long pause.

/...huRTs.../

Nappa snapped his fingers at the doctor. "Pain meds, now. She can feel it."

The doctor didn't question it, but quickly moved to dial in an increased dosage. Delivered directly through the patches attached to her skin and through the tank solution itself, the medication began its work almost instantly.

Nappa waited, then tried again.

/Better?/

/.....hai. Tired./

/I know you want to sleep, but I have to ask you first. What happened with you and the king and Kakkarot?/

/... <pain> <fire> <betrayal>/

The images and feelings flashed into Nappa's head, nearly incoherent and badly jumbled. He took a deep breath to steady himself.

/<calm><safe> Just show me./

At first he couldn't make out anything. Her memories were all stained with pain and strong emotion. Yet eventually, with coaxing from himself, he began to get an understandable sequence of images and impressions.

Kakkarot had woken her from sleep. He had asked her for a spar, saying that he couldn't sleep and wanted to go over the technique she'd showed him that day. <surprise, pleasure, sympathy, trust> She'd led him out into the courtyard, intending to fly to the arena, and he'd....attacked her there?

Nappa queried her again about this part and gotten virtually the exact same response. <shock, disbelief, anger, confusion, trying to make him stop, trying not to fight him> Kakkarot had gone after her rabidly, despite her efforts not to engage him. Kakkarot had pressed the fight, despite the damage she did him, her commands to stop, and the attempts of fellow Guards to get in between them. <outrage, anger> He had managed, early on, to dislocate her knee, and from that moment on he chipped at it, getting in shots at the injured joint whenever he could. One last shot had sent her flying into a wall, the pain from her knee lancing up into her skull. She'd advanced on him, trying to calm him by telling him that if he backed off now, she wouldn't report this. <reason, calm, control, pain, pain> Kakkarot had spat in her face.

And Tsuriya had lost control. <rage>

She was stronger than Kakkarot by a fair stretch, enough to make her loss of control a dangerous thing for him. Full of blind rage and pain, she'd fought him mercilessly, beating him down until a kick to his skull had sent his head too far around on his neck. He'd collapsed to the ground, and within a few moments a horrified Tsuriya had been at his side. All her rage had drained away as she'd seen for the first time what she'd done to him. <sorrow, shame, anger>

And then her blood had run cold as she saw the grin on his face and realized what had happened. <betrayal, used>

A few seconds later, she'd seen a bright flash, and then there'd been nothing but pain and motion as Vejiita had arrived. She had been no match for him. <betrayal! Pain> With a few brutal movements, he'd broken her and sent her body flying into the wall. Once she hit the ground, clarity had come back to her for some reason. Perhaps it was the approach of death that had brought it. Dimming eyes took in the sight of the king and Kakkarot, and she had done her duty, calling to Nappa to come fix it, as he fixed everything. <help, safe, sorrow, anger, pain>

Nappa opened his eyes as his connection with her faded. By all the gods... What madness *was* this?

"She's fully unconscious again," the doctor said. "I don't think you can ask her for anything else now."

Nappa could only nod in agreement. Quite enough had been asked from her, and taken from her today.

Tsuriya might live, or not. A hundred yards away, in a separate room, Vejiita stood on the edge of madness and wouldn't leave Kakkarot's side, while the latter hovered as close to death. And Bardock, who'd surely suffered enough of late, paced like a wild thing, thinking thoughts of vengeance and despair.

Nappa closed his eyes in supplication to gods he couldn't name and hardly believed in. The empire prospered; saiyajin strength grew, the royal house was secure, the ground was steady beneath his feet. And yet he knew, in his bones, that disaster threatened them all now.

tbc