Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Feeding Genius ❯ The Bigger Picture ( Chapter 30 )

Feeding Genius

Chapter Thirty

The Bigger Picture

Disclaimer: DBZ isn't mine.

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Faylorn is playing with me. I have no idea why, but he is restraining himself, pulling his punches just at the last, and reigning in his energy, careful not to carry through. Every now and then he will hit me with his full power, but these strikes seem random. There is no pattern to his style. It is unnerving. If I could predict his moves or find a certain preference in his attack then I might be able to fend him off for longer.

Gohan is gone. This I am glad for, but the others still linger. From the corner of my eye I can see them facing off against Master Suh, circling her. Faylorn is testing her loyalties - of this much I am certain - and I am just as interested at the outcome of this test as he is. Perhaps this is why he is taking it easy on me. Could it be possible that he is manipulating my position, occupying me as much as possible while coercing my movements to give him the right direction to watch her? It is a sensible thought, but one that wounds my pride more than I would like. I knew what I was getting myself into when I took Faylorn on. I didn't delude myself into believing that I might win, but I likewise didn't think I would be so humiliated as to only be a secondary concern to him!

However much I dislike this arrangement - and I dislike it a lot - I do not mind being given the opportunity to see how Master Suh deals with this situation. Faylorn and I are locked in a battle of strength, our fingers are twined each within the others, but even though our biceps are straining, sweat is pouring, and our teeth are grimaced, neither of us are actually trying to win the contest. From a distance we watch. We wait.

She looks elegant, her chin is held high. The line of her cheekbones are cut like the finest glass - confident, powerful, in control - but her hands give her away. She is thinking, thinking about her next move and I would sell my soul to know whether she is merely thinking about how to take all four of them down at once, or if she is trying to figure out how to escape the situation without causing anymore harm than is necessary. I know I should be angry at her treachery, but now the first wave is over I find I am more hurt than angry, hurt that she would lie to us - to me. I thought I could trust her, and knowing I was wrong to place that trust in her, that I was affected by her through any other aspect than reason - well - it does not sit well in my stomach.

Now she moves. Her lips crease up into a smirk and I swear I can see her eyes become twice as bright as they were before. Her hair blows in the wind for a moment before she makes her move. Tien is her first target. I am not surprised. He is the strongest, and if she is to either survive, or coerce this group then he would be the logical choice on both counts.

She moves quickly and for a long period of time they are nothing but a blur of arms and legs, each attacking the other with equal, if not excessive, force. She is a very proficient fighter. I know she was once Vegeta's master, but still, being told she was once good is one thing, seeing it with my own eyes and knowing she is still good, is quite another. She is holding her own with a fighter two decades younger than herself, and who has the benefit of constant training. It is something intriguing to behold. I wonder how powerful she would be by now if she weren't forced into a life of servitude - if she were allowed to carry on her training after her capture.

Then almost at once the duel is finished. With a great deal of speed on Master Suh's part, and - it has to be said - a shocking lack of foresight on Tien's part, a debilitating blow is dealt to his midriff. The wind is knocked out of his body and he is gasping for air. A fighter with honour might perhaps let him have enough time to get his bearings, but I am sad to say that Master Suh does not look like she is fighting with honour. Almost immediately she spins in midair and kicks him ruthlessly in the back. Unprepared and unable to defend himself, Tien is flying under her power - his limp body careening through the top of a mountain and out of view.

The others look too shocked to move and indeed I share their amazement. Was she lying to us? Is she really more powerful than she let us believe? Has she deceived us in everything? Were those tears - the ones she shed for a life which had promised so much and which only ended up in degradation, prostitution, and servitude - were they a lie as well?

Krillin is the first one to shake himself out of his shock and with more emotion than judgement he rushes at Master Suh. It appears, however, that they lady in question has a one-track mind. Not only has she delivered what I believe to be a finishing blow on her first opponent, but she is now heading in the same direction, ignoring the others and allowing Krillin to chase after her as she makes sure of her victory.

At this point she dips below our field of vision, and after a while not only does Krillin follow her, but both Chaotzu and Yamcha as well. The distraction gone, and with the tightness and general inaccessibility of the ravine they disappeared into, my fight with Faylorn continues, and this time he does not hold back.

I am glad … but not for long.

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"Watch my lips Vegeta and listen to what I am saying!" she says, standing on the landing pad with the backdrop of the desert behind her and whipping her hair over her face with the anger contained there. "HELL … NO!"

I stare impassively at her. No-mans-land is between us - a gulf that she will not pass and which I will not advance on. She will find out soon enough that I will not be made to change my mind.

"Don't look at me like that!" she accuses. "There is no way I am doing anything other than going home right now, and I am most certainly not going anywhere with YOU in THAT!"

She points to the one-seater pod still on the landing strip. I know this time she is truly angry with me, but I will not pander to her sensitive whims. We are not in her world now - we are in my universe. Playing by her rules here will get us both killed.

"Is it the thought of us leaving your ship behind, or is it the thought of going with me that disgusts you, Bulma?" I sneer.

She shivers, despite the heat, and brings her arms up for comfort. Now I see them… the tears… the tears my actions have wrought from her. "He did everything you asked," she says lowly, in that reprimanding and pained way that always makes my insides twist. "All he wanted was his freedom."

I frown, trying not to let her emotion cloud my purpose. I did the right thing. For my protection, for hers, and for Trunks', I did the right thing. "And I gave it to him."

Her eyes slant and censure me before she even speaks. "You killed him! He did everything you asked him but you killed him anyway! Why, Vegeta, for gods sake why?"

I straighten my back, not in the least sorry for my actions. "He said it himself, Bulma. He was nothing more than a slave to other people's whims. All he wanted was to live, but in life there would have been no freedom for him. In life he would have done anything to survive. He did what he did for us out of self-preservation, nothing else, and no doubt - were he to live - he would have gone straight back to The Consortium. How would he survive after letting us go? How would they spare his life? By extracting as much information from him as possible, that's how. He would have told them everything and he would have done it willingly. So hate me as much as you like for it, but I will hold no remorse for giving him his freedom - the only way he will ever achieve it - and for ensuring my family's protection. After all the lectures I have heard from your lips, after all the times you've asked me to give more of myself to you, are you going to stand there and hate me for actually caring about you?"

The tears are still there, but the confidence in her eyes - in her beliefs - it is fading. She sinks to the floor, her trainers squeaking against the smooth surface. "That you care means more to me than you could possibly imagine," she says, doing anything else but looking in my direction. "But you have to start learning that sometimes the 'ends' don't justify the 'means'. It shocked me."

Now she looks at me, her eyes large and watery.

"It always shocks me when I remember that the man I love has the capacity to kill so easily, and to feel so little remorse in the act. As a reasonable woman, I agree. He couldn't be trusted, but my heart. It cannot condone what you just did. I don't hate you, Vegeta, I don't think I will ever be able to hate you, and that is why it hurts so much."

"I see." Ignoring the battle-lines I walk over to her and crouch down at her level, lifting her chin and making sure she has no escape. "This isn't about me killing him is it? This about how you feel. Don't think I cannot read you, Bulma, or that I have not been around Humans for long enough to know how their own minds plague them. It makes you happy that I care, doesn't it?"

She blinks, releasing more tears and making a small hiccup in her throat as she nods. "Yes."

"So what you're feeling now - it is little more than guilt, isn't it?"

Now she truly breaks down. I remove my hand and the minute she is free she collapses against me, sobbing into my chest. "You're right!" she cries. "I feel happy. You want to protect me, you care about me and I'm happy. You killed someone who wasn't really bad, who had no choice in his actions, and I am HAPPY for it." She looks at her hands, no doubt seeing the blood that stains my own gloves on them. "What does that make me?"

"It makes you," I say, dumbfounded at the lump that has risen to my throat. "It makes you one fraction less innocent, but a whole lesson more aware of how things really stand outside the comfort of your planet. These creatures, these aliens, they are no worse than their situations warrant. They are all the same as I once was - still am. They are all products of a life in which they have had little or no choice but to become what their masters want them to be. If we are to bring The Consortium down then you will need to remember this day."

"But… I don't… I don't want…." she sniffles.

"You don't want to become like me?"

She nods, hugging me tighter in a silent affirmation that she did not mean it as an insult.

"You won't have to," I vow, "but it does mean that you will need to harden yourself and become a damn good actress by the time we make it to Gleya."

Her eyes widen, and she pushes away from me, new anger splashed across her features. "Gleya!" she spits, "but we're not going to Gleya!"

"Yes we are," I confirm.

"I'm serious, Vegeta, I'm going home and I'm going to find my son and nothing, I mean NOTHING, is going to stop me!"

I know she is not going to be receptive of this idea, but for the present we need to be looking at the bigger picture.

"There is nothing I can do about Trunks' predicament right now," I say, broaching the subject carefully. "I have fought Faylorn once. I know what it will take to beat him, and although my vanity would affirm otherwise, I am not yet strong enough to guarantee victory if I were to meet him now."

"But you nearly died… twice! And look," she says, fumbling in her overall pockets and pulling out a fistful of capsules. "We have all the battledroids we need. Surely with your new strength and this army, we'll be able to beat Faylorn and get our son back."

My heart thumps. It feels good to hear her confidence in my power, but I will not allow her to stroke my ego to get her own way. That will surely get us both killed. "The battle will be won," I admit, "but not the war. Faylorn is but one soldier. Should he fall then others will be sent, maybe not immediately, it may take years, but The Consortium will regroup and they will always be there, watching over us, trying to find another opportunity to strike us down, and if we do not look at taking them out of the picture now, when the opportunity has presented itself, then we may never get another chance. The Consortium thinks we are dead and we will be travelling in a Consortium spacecraft, what does that mean Bulma?"

I think she finally realises what I am trying to say. "Anonymity?" she questions, in a quiet but resigned voice.

I reward her dawning realization by rubbing a thumb along her cheek. "And what will happen if we go charging off to Earth to free our son?"

Her head sinks, her face being lost behind a curtain of aquamarine. "They will know we are not dead."

"Exactly," I say shifting our position and forcing her to stand. "Precisely. Do you remember what Koifa said? He said that they want to use Trunks, to integrate him into their army. I have been there, Bulma. Their tactics might not be pretty, but when they have a commodity - because that is what they will look at him as - of such high quality and value, then I swear to you, they will take care of it. So long as The Consortium think we are dead, then they will treat him well."

I look earnestly at her, making sure she can see all the truth in me, and that I would not lie about such a circumstance. "If we attack Faylorn now, trust me when I say it will be Trunks who will pay for it. We have no option, if we want our son back, and for all of this to be over once and for all, we have to bring the whole goddamn Consortium down, or at least," I say, knowing my eyes will glint as I utter the next bombshell, "be the ones pulling the strings."

I am becoming accustomed to her looking at me as though I have grown a second head. She must surely know what I have planned now, but something, some feeling, some delicate human emotion of hers is stopping her from taking me up on it as enthusiastically as I had hoped. I let her go as she paces agitatedly to and fro before me. I have to make certain she understands.

"You know - you can at least guess what I am planning?"

"Oh," she says, laughing dryly. "I understand alright, but I'm not sure whether I want to be the one helping you get it. I love you, Vegeta, you know this, but I also know you. Should we lose, Trunks will be theirs…."

"And if we win?" I prompt, already knowing what she will say, but needing to hear it nonetheless.

"If we win," air escapes her lungs in overwhelmed pants, "you will have everything you ever wanted."

I smile even though it is an effort. "Yes," I agree, my heart and blood racing under the heady thought. "I will."

She bows her head. "I will not keep it from you Vegeta. I would never do that, but know that you have my trust in handling this the right way, and that should you betray that trust… I will NEVER forgive you."

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I do not know how long it has been since I last caught sight of the battle between Master Suh and the remaining members of the Z Senshi. I have had my hands full with Faylorn, but I will wager it has been a fair while. Within that time my own power has been drastically reduced. The punches that were purposefully being restrained before are now making contact at full pelt and I am struggling to even disguise my fatigue. I cannot go on much longer and as the minutes tick by I have less and less willpower to succeed. Within the confines of my own fight I have not had much chance to concentrate on other events, but there have been pauses - pauses at Faylorn's discretion. Pauses to let me know once and for all where Master Suh's loyalties lay.

It has happened three times now, and each time he has stopped the fight, let me catch my breath, but only just in time to have it swept away again. I can see it in his features. The knowledge flashes like a beacon in his otherwise emotionless eyes. Then I feel it, for the fourth and final time, I feel Master Suh's energy cyclone and spike into a great power, and unlike before, when the commotion dulls, I feel nothing but her. Their ki is gone - all four of them. I can't hide from the truth any longer. She has lied to me. She must have, she would not have won so easily if it were otherwise.

Yamcha, Krillin, Tien, Chaotzu… I'm sorry, but at least I will be able to tell you as much in my spirit body.

I will be joining them soon. I haven't got the strength to continue - she has taken it from me as much as Faylorn has. I cannot win, I will not escape with my life and it will all be for nothing.

Faylorn is before me. He is pinning my neck to a mountain, smirking in delight, as the snow melts from our combined ki and cascades over us in great slabs. "Efficient isn't she?" he says, drawing out his words and taking pleasure from my reaction to them. "I was always told she was, but I've never had the chance to witness it first hand - until now."

He cocks his head to the side, a nonchalant gesture, designed to rub salt in my wounds. "Which one of your friends was it this time?" he asks.

I turn my head to the side. He has asked the same question each time one of their power levels has been erased. I did not humour him the first time and I will not give him the pleasure now. I know he doesn't care, but he squeezes my windpipe tighter for my defiance anyway. This time, however, there is no punch to follow it through. It looks like he is still not ready to send me to my fate. He wants to torture me for longer. He is not even looking at me.

"Maek Suh!" he calls, making more snow topple. "Our new Lady of The Consortium. Come to me!"

There is a gap of several minutes, and I use the precious time to catch my breath - to try and recuperate.

She floats into my vision. She is smiling. It makes my stomach turn. "You did well," Faylorn says, greeting her with his free hand.

Outstretched and thrust at her she bows in midair and kisses it. "Thank you My Lord."

He glances back to me with a smug grin. "You were an interesting opponent," he says, "if not powerful enough to be good sport." He addresses Master Suh once again. She has not yet met my gaze, but she is close, and I am confused by the power that I sense from her. "What do you think I should do with him?" he asks her.

She waves an indifferent hand, "Why should I care? He is nothing to me."

That one sentence wounds me more than any punch Faylorn has landed on me. Nothing to her… nothing! I grit my teeth and can't hide my disgust. Faylorn seems to find this amusing. "Aw," he says, inclining his head to me. "I think you hurt his feelings."

She joins in his laughter, finally having the gall to face me, and at once I am surprised by what I see. Her vocal chords denote merriment, but her eyes… her eyes speak anything but. Behind Faylorn's distraction they are imploring with me. For a while I am confused, but as soon as my tormenter has put aside his fake show of amusement and she turns away, I have my answer.

"Now that I think about it, though," she says. "Perhaps he might make a nice pet."

Faylorn's eyebrows physically rise. "Do all Atorians have such peculiar taste?"

"I would not know, nor would I care," she says, "but maybe I could put this creature to good use. Do you think I could break him?"

He smirks at this. "I believe you could, Maek, but I'm not sure my father would approve."

"Oh," she says, running a hand over his shoulder and whispering in his ear. "I have an idea that it will piss him off immensely."

He laughs out loud. "Well you have convinced me." He bows his head. "Very well My Lady, for a job well done, and with the extra satisfaction it will give me to know of my fathers displeasure - you may have him." He then turns to me. "Consider this your lucky day," he snarls. I see his fist pulling back; feel an unbelievable extension to his power and then there is nothing.

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AN - I apologise for the lateness of this chapter. I hope the contents of it will make up for my tardiness. Until next time…