Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Fallen Eden ❯ Old Beginnings ( Chapter 1 )

 

 

Authors Disclaimer: Akira Toriyama is the creator/owner/supreme lord of the Dragonball/Z/GT franchise/brand/universe, I do not make any profit from writing and I stress that I don't make any claims to own DBZ. Any original characters do belong to me, such as Evana.

 

A/N: This is an Alternate Universe DBZ fic, and because of that please be aware that many characters may act OOC, and things will happen that never happened in the series.

 

Fallen Eden

 

Chapter One

 

 

The sweet smell of the grass echoed invisibly all around her, enveloping everything so powerfully. She breathed in the scent, so fresh and exhilarating, it calmed her earlier raging spirit, as the sparse trees she was meandering through thickened. The ground thudded beneath her as she walked in her heavy silver boots, the earth was responding to the beat of her erratic heart with its own rhythm. It eased her, everything seemed to be at peace all around, as far as she could see.

 

She knew the reputation of Saiyans, the rumours that some seemed to enjoy spreading angered her to the core. As a species they were neither warmongering or heathens, though with a few exceptions, as she vaguely recalled her Ki Tutor telling her the many ways of how to pleasure a male, as females could never be expected to finish as anything spectacular, this would be the only way to success. Well, broke that theory into a million pieces. She allowed a small grin, there was no one around to ask what had humoured her, so she allowed herself the privilege. No, she thought, for the most part the image of Saiyans in the space travelling community was far from hospitable, but as the Queen of them, she thought she knew a little better. There was nothing wrong in enjoying the serenity that surrounded her, the breeze, the warmth of the twin suns, and feel of the hard grass crunching beneath her boots, they all encouraged her primal nature. She had thought of flying through the denser part of the forest to test her abilities, but instead she would run.

 

The tall sinewy trees stood broad and wide in this densely packed section of the deep forest, there were small creatures high in the trees balcony, playing, eating small fruits or leaves, and grooming each other. Dashing over massive roots, and ducking under low hanging branches, she relished the moderate speed in which she travelled, making her long hair fan behind her in jet waves, the air slapping into her face almost making her eyes begin to water. When she began to feel pain and discomfort in her lower belly that she could no longer ignore, she began to slow her pace until she came to a complete stop altogether and looked high above her, listening. She was a little surprised at how she was slightly out of breath. She would train in the coming days, to make up for her slackened abilities. She sucked in a lungful of air, and blew it out in one big puff. It wouldn't be long before they came to find her, she wanted to enjoy this tranquillity. She needed to collect her thoughts, the hundreds of people waiting for her arrival didn't phase her, something else was making her edgy. Something was about to happen, and she just could not see a way to avoid it. “Evana.” She turned to the voice seeing the tall, heavy set man she had known for some time. She'd known that he would find her first.

 

“Vegeta.” She acknowledged, leaning her back against a tree close by, her white loose fitting tunic brushing the ground. She tried her hardest to mask any signs of discomfort or fatigue, knowing that the man in front of her would respect the effort. “We have to go. They want to see you.” He said casually as he moved to sit on a thick raised root that came to his knees, he crossed his arms and gazed at her with his dark hazel eyes. “Are you in pain?” He enquired, though his voice wasn't soft or loving, it did hold concern. My best was never good enough to deceive him... She had displayed little to no outward signs of physical injuries, but there must have been something that she had done that had given her away. It pleased her when he was like this, he seemed to take in every movement, every breath, paying full attention to her and her alone. “It is bearable. It was worth it though, do you not agree? He is handsome.” She looked to the ground, her eyes closed, with a very faint soft smile on her youthful features. Vegeta looked at her closely, the underlying pride very evident to his eyes, he thought of disagreeing just to see what her reaction would be, but something took hold of him inside and he decided to let her have this moment to enjoy and bask in the warmth that her pride was giving her. He made a noise in his throat which she took for agreement, “We did well, he will grow to be a fine Saiyan. The Spirits are generous today, the birthing attendants reported that the labour was free from any major difficulties, a feat not many Saiyan women can boast. You have done well,” He paused while he appeared to be contemplating something important, he then added in a softer voice, “I am proud of you Evana, not many could have done what you did today.”

 

She opened her black eyes, looking into his own she was surprised to see that he wasn't smirking or playing with her. Her small laugh cut through the air between them, “My King is feeling very sentimental today,” She sighed before adding with a slight bite in her tone though she couldn't think where it had come from, “I gave birth Vegeta, it's not as though I just saved millions from starvation.” She pushed away from the tree, using her hand to brush her long shining onyx hair off her shoulders. Vegeta looked at her with the smallest angry smirk at the corner of his lips, What... the... hell? Damn female hormones. I'm not going for women in the next life, too many mood swings. He pushed his thoughts aside and put her change of mood down to giving birth 3 hours ago, and so he decided to speak honestly. “How do you know you haven't?, our Son could do many great things, it could end up being one of them, we must only show him the right direction and let him follow it. Our people need a leader, we have to teach him everything we know.” She nodded, but did not say anything. He sighed inwardly as he sensed the chill developing from her. I thought these would stop when she gave birth, dammit to hell! He had in no uncertain terms avoided her the past three weeks of her pregnancy, her changes of mood so severe he had nearly lost his tail on more than one occasion. And he smirked smugly, as he fondly recalled when she had attacked him while he was bathing, in an attempt to cut the jewels from the crown. His smirk faded drastically as he was reminded he still had to put lotion on one of the cuts she had managed to inflict, it had been a close encounter that day. He had not bathed without guards outside his door for 2 months.

 

He dismissed thoughts which would only get him in a foul mood fit to rival her own. He looked at her posture, shoulders forward and arms hanging limply, despite her strong beauty his opinion was that Royals should always look their best. “I mated a slob.“ She looked at him in indignation, fire erupting her her chest. “I just spent 63 hours in labour for you! Forgive me if I don't feel the need to be perfect all the time.” She exhaled forcefully glaring down at him at the same time, too angry for words. He stood up and closed the space between them, lightly touching her cheek he spoke with humour in his eyes and a smirk on his face, “Try any of the time.” He pre-empted her reaction, and caught her flailing arm as it was on a wayward course to his crotch, She must be tired, she'd normally have me on the ground by now. “63 hours Vegeta, 63! As you're feeling so jovial today, here's a joke for his esteemed Royal Highness...” He looked slightly interested with one of his eyebrows raised, and she enjoyed the slight pause she gave before launching her assault. “...You can count exactly how many days it is before you EVER see me naked again, and when you're done, tell me if that remark was worth it!” His face fell as she looked at him angrily, removing his hand and walking as fast as her newly adjusting body was capable in the direction she had come. The dense tree cover made the air moist and clammy, sweat slid down her back, she started feeling slightly light headed.

 

She missed his facial reaction, but she could hear his verbal one just fine. “I'm the King!” he shouted, something in his voice made her want to laugh childishly. “I'm the Queen. So far we're equal.” She started looking behind her to see her mate, but in doing so she caught one of her silver boots under a gnarly upturned root, and she began to fall. Her tired senses weren't quick enough to push out her hands to break her fall, the one thing she thought sardonically in the split second she had was that the King behind her must really be regretting mating her at that precise moment, an Elite who embarrassed themselves completely and couldn't react fast enough was hardly a good role model for the new Heir to the Throne.

 

He was holding her before she hit the ground and he pulled her upright, she adjusted her long hair minimising the damage to her image. She expected to hear him burst out with unrelenting laughter, but he surprised her by making a small attempt at humour. “Watch where you're going, are you trying to impale yourself on a pathetic twig? I honestly didn't know being mated to me was so bad.” She could hear the laughing mockery in his voice as she turned in his grasp and looked up at him, for a very long moment she looked into his eyes. The pain in her abdomen had increased with a burning ferocity. The mirth died in his eyes as he looked at her suddenly exhausted and almost haggard expression. “Childbirth is exhausting, there's no dishonour in admitting it.” She didn't say anything to him, she simply leaned in and rested her head on his shoulder almost as though she couldn't hold herself up any longer, she'd never supposed childbirth would make her feel so...weak.”Take me home...” He breathed in her scent, it was what had captured him those short years ago. He put a hand in her thick dark hair, playing with it quietly. “Sixty..three...too tired to fly.” She whispered breathily. He gazed down at her as he hooked his arm under her knees, his other supporting her back, and he lifted them both off the ground, His blood red cape billowing in the wind, his armour gleaming in the light of the setting sun, his naturally spiked hair barely moving in the gusts of wind.

 

Up higher he rose, through the tall trees balcony scaring those little creatures as he did, they screeched and tried to get away from this strange being that was flying. He hovered when he was just high enough to see the majestic city that lay some miles in the distance, surrounded by lush vegetation. From this distance, the metropolis seemed quiet and inviting, but he knew that inside those high white stone walls that surrounded the Royal city, and all of its many bazaars, training halls, and soldier housing, it was a mass of bodies rushing around, they knew the Prince had been born and the celebration had already begun. Untold quantities of alcohol, and the rare expensive food items would be used frivolously tonight, they would celebrate for days. He held his mate closer as she put an arm around his neck, she only had a short time to rest before she must consult the Council, and introduce their first son to their people. He looked ahead to the cream and gold Palace, and he began to fly. Today was a magnificent day.

 

~*~

 

The child lay wrapped in a silken blanket nestled against his mothers chest, oblivious to the loud cacophony below the open balcony doors as he looked around the room. It's almost as though he's searching for a hidden foe. She thought while she watched his eyes dart around, and fix somewhere off deep into the palace. Evana sat in a richly decorated chair, made from fine craftsmen in the outer reaches of the Shainya Desert, the cushioning was ample and she let her body continue to repair itself after the birth. She would be at full fitness in a day or so, but for now she enjoyed the feel of her young child secure in her grip. She was tired, very tired, but she wouldn't relax her grip on the Heir to the Empire. Motherhood was new to her, it wasn't coming particularly easily, she was a Battle Commander, if someone lost a leg in battle you let them drag themselves to the medics, but for a child, you have to be at their every whim. She didn't know if she had the patience, Add it to the long list of things I don't know, I never thought I'd be here at nineteen. She thought wryly while stroking her Sons black silky hair. “In battle by eleven, Captain by fourteen, Battle Commander at seventeen, Queen and mother at nineteen...” She said very softly to the Prince, she sighed as he took no notice but just looked to the side.

 

“A good history for someone so young.” She looked up, startled that she hadn't noticed her mates Sire in the elaborate doorway. Ah, that's what you've been focusing on. She thought looking down at her son, surprised to say the least as he wasn't yet 5 hours old but it seemed he could sense the presence far earlier than she, and herself being a Commander in the grand Saiyan forces hadn't. She felt a mixture of pride and shame. She let a small “Huh...” escape before she remembered she wasn't alone and looked up to the hulking figure leaning against the door frame.

 

“Your Highness, I didn't see you there, my apologies. Have you come to see your grandchild?” She spoke genuinely, she had always looked up to the old King with admiration, he had been the one to promote her to Battle Commander and defy the council in doing so. “Yes... and to see you. We have things to discuss.” He walked grandly into the room right up to the chair in which she sat and leaned over, he was intrigued by the small cub in her arms, looking up sleepily with pitch black eyes right into his grandfathers. “Good. He has the Vegeta hair. I had hoped he would.” He said proudly, as though fearing of something different. This caused Evana to laugh softly, “Well, would a change be so bad?, every King has had the same hair for at least fifteen generations.” She looked at the old King warmly, smiling in her eyes as she kept her face still while she waited for his response. He looked aghast. “The people rely on it! Its a symbol of the Vegeta House! No kin of mine will have floppy feminine hair, what would you prefer, a King with pink, purple, or blue hair? I've never heard of anything so ridiculous!” She laughed outright at the King who had been her favourite to be taught about at training, he looked down at her and he leaned down again to put his hand on her head, he ruffled up her hair slightly, before leaning down to the young Saiyan again. “No, see? This little cub doesn't think so either, he's a Vegeta down to the bone. Look at those eyes, as dark as the depths of the Forbidden Lakes, and just as dangerous. Let me see his tail, you can tell a good Royal from a bad one, just by seeing the tail.” He spoke gruffly, though none the less his voice held a youthly touch as he looked at the first newborn Royal in 20 years.

 

As he took the young Prince from the chuckling Queen he appraised him, making small noises of approval while he held him with his arms outstretched, his silken blanket falling to the granite floor, leaving the Prince void of any covering. He blinked at the King before he threw him in the air, and spun him around. The Princes tail wiggled frantically, then eased into a slower waving movement. “Hn, his tail wasn't as quick to balance himself as it should be, he may need extra training.” He caught the young Prince again who seemed now to be glaring at his Grandsire, and held him out in front of him proudly. “Still, he is a fine specimen of the Royal line. A good end result to all those hours of hard work you both put in, I'm sure.” He chuckled at her shock and obvious embarrassment, his innuendo perfectly clear. “Here, I'll leave you to prepare for the grand showing of the cub.” He all but threw the Prince into her lap, he made a small gurgling noise that his mother took for happiness at being airborne again, before she caught him easily.

 

“I thought you wanted to talk with me, Sir?” She enquired slightly confusedly as she saw him start to walk away. He paused and turned around slowly to look at her a long moment while stroking his greying goatee thoughtfully, his expression serious no trace of emotion lay to see, “I think your mind is set, and you will leave regardless. The part of me that thinks of you as a daughter condemns you.” He looked at her fiercely, all trace of their previously polite conversation gone. His tone and face remained stoic as he continued, “However the Warrior in me understands your will and desire to go to Planet 315. And I also understand as a Commander, you wont let your team leave without you, however foolhardy leaving your newborn cub. I believe that once you have decided, honour will forbid you from changing your mind, I only hope you make the right decision. Whether you choose to make the right decision for your Kingdom, or your self is down to you.” He had stared into her eyes during his speech, and had been watching for any hint of her decision and what it was that his own Son, the ruling King knew nothing of. He turned and began to leave the room again, though he stopped of his own accord this time, and spoke without looking at her. “Freeza knows the boy is born. Expect to have him land within a solar year.” She had been looking at her son, but her head snapped up at his words, Freeza...

 

She watched the old King leave without another word or glance, and Evana was left to herself and her son. She looked down into his eyes while he looked right back at her, the choices playing in her mind, winding out long paths before her feet but no matter how much she tried, she could never see what lay at the end of either path. And either he seemed to be able to read her thoughts or he was playing, but his small tail wound itself around her arm tightly, the effect was the same either way. She called for a servant to take the Prince away.

 

~*~

 

He sauntered behind a pair of old alien women walking impossibly slow as he glared at their backs. The street was far too busy for him to walk past them, and flying wasn't an option as it would bring too much attention this close to the Royal Palace, either he stayed behind them and died of old age, or he blew them to dust. Choices, choices... He almost snarled as they came to a complete stop in front of him to look at some golden jewellery lying arranged neatly on a stall just to his left. His eyes narrowed to slits, and he glared with a feral ferocity at the one closest to him. I want to kill you.

 

His jade skinned fists clenched tightly, his dark green lips thinned to a line as he imagined every killing blow he knew of, being executed perfectly by his own skilled hands on this old drudging woman. “Are you going to move or am I blessed to stand behind you all day, watching your sagging arse drag the floor?” He asked as falsely polite as he could while he tried to ignore a pair of especially delicious gold earrings, that were trying their hardest to make him buy them. As illogical as he knew it sounded, they just dazzled and no matter how much he tried to ignore them it just didn't work, it was all he could focus on out of the corner of his eyes. So he never saw the slap coming.

 

Five minutes later he was walking up the marble steps to the ship port, throwing his small golden earrings in the air and catching them again. He noticed a spot of black blood on the sleeve of his spotless robes, under which lay his super clean armour. He froze. The small noise of horror was involuntary, but burning a hole through the material with his ki to destroy the blood wasn't. A few more minutes, then you can take off this cheap crap, just focus on the hot bath you're gonna have. He chuckled, relieved that the thing that had tainted his appearance had disappeared, and said under his breath “Or rather, focus on the naked ladies that you're gonna have in that bath.”

 

He waltzed through the port to his small sleek ship, the metal gleamed in the sunlight but it also showed off the dents and slight damage he had taken recently. Last time I hide out in an asteroid field, dammit. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small rectangular box with many buttons. Pressing a green one that had a language written on it that he could not interpret, he lifted the device closer to his face and said, “Zarbon.” while contemplating how that may have ruined his whole effort of being inconspicuous, he stepped on board. Walking through the small hallway into the communications room, he continued to play with those little golden earrings. He went to the corner where he opened a large cream coloured quietly humming box, and pulled out a chilled drink. Sitting himself down into the plush leather seat, he began typing furiously at the console then apparently finishing what he was doing he stopped, laid back and waited. He knew he may have to wait some time if there wasn't somebody there to pick up the transmission. So he closed his eyes and tried to get a bit of sleep, thinking he may as well use the time that's given. 2 or 3 minutes later, a loud, and very annoying beeping issued from the console, startling Zarbon from his relaxed state, leaning forward he pressed the button that had again a name he couldn't read, and looked up at the screen to see the person he'd been communicating with for some time, he appeared to be outside. “Zarbon, I came as fast as possible, what's your report?” The man asked almost frantically.

 

“The new Prince has been born, and Freeza knows all too well the superstitions surrounding this kid. It won't take him long to get here,10 months at the most.” He spoke boredly, as he watched the background on the screen longingly. A black cat wandered around behind the man, sniffing around for a good sunbathing spot.

 

The man looked saddened for a moment before Zarbon broke through his thoughts “Doc, there's things we can do, the universe ain't lost just yet.” The man called Doc looked at Zarbon thoughtfully before replying, “We won't have developed anything capable of stopping Freeza before that time, before he gets to Planet Vegeta. People could die because we haven't worked hard enough these last 2 years, I can't help but feel responsible.” He was troubled, and he let it show completely openly.

 

So different from here... Zarbon thought of the many species he had come across who would rather die horribly than admit something had gone wrong because of them. “Listen, we don't have many options here, either we act now and die, or act later and hope we don't die. Of all the plans that we have talked about, I can only see one way to go forward.” He stopped, watching the Doc's face.

 

When he didn't continue, the man on the screen could only say what he thought, “As much as it pains me, I feel we have no other option either,” He sighed, looking horribly taxed and it was almost as though Zarbon could see the weight being lifted on to the man's shoulders as he said it, “We have to let him take the the Prince. We can't do anything without more time.” Zarbon looked on as this man closed his eyes, and exhaled heavily. “It's the right decision Doctor Briefs.” He tried to reassure his intelligent partner. Briefs nodded and looked at the green skinned man before him, “It's the right decision for us yes, but is it the right one for the boy?” Zarbons face remained impassive as he attempted to move the conversation on, “How is your daughter coming along? The last I heard she'd been hitting the cat with a screwdriver.” This brought a smile to both men's faces as Briefs informed him that it had indeed been a screwdriver and the cat had yet to go near the young girl since.

 

Feeling the urge to bathe grow stronger as he watched the cat lick it's own fur, he concluded the rendezvous. “I shall contact you in 2 weeks,” Briefs nodded in agreement, and just before he was about to cut off the signal a thought crossed Zarbon's mind, “Oh, Briefs? Take a break, no one can replace your intelligence if you die from exhaustion.”

 

Briefs chuckled before the screen went blank. Zarbon pushed all thoughts from his mind except one. It was high time for a bath, and he had no intention of taking it alone.

 

 

 

 

Thanks for reading so far!