Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Nothing Gold Can Stay ❯ Nothing Gold Can Stay ( One-Shot )

Nothing Gold Can Stay

"Nature's first green is gold,

Her hardest hue to hold.

Her early leaf's a flower,

But only so an hour.

Then leaf subsides to leaf.

So Eden sank to grief,

So dawn goes down to day.

Nothing gold can stay."

-Robert Frost

Times have changed.

Don't ask me why.

I don't know why.

When I was a boy I thought that I would always have my mother and father to take care of me (more or less), Warfrost to play with, and a position of honor ahead of me.

But then HE came.

His greed and his cruelty caused him to enslave the entire Saiyan race.

His fear led him to destroy it.

How would you like to hear about how all of your people-the people that you would one day have be responsible for-were reduced to space dust in less than a mere fifteen seconds?

...Bastard.

There are only four of us left now. Raditz, Nappa, Vaya and I. Personally, I'm glad for their presence. It helps to know someone else feels what I do.

I don't know Raditz well-Vaya is better acquainted with him. Pleasantries and introductions just aren't my style. All I know is that he's the son of a 3rd class soldier, Bardock. The only reason that Raditz is now on the Elite squad is because...well, like I said before, there aren't many of us left, you know?

I wonder if Raditz misses his father.

Nappa was my caretaker growing up. I wish I could say I know everything about him, but I know Nappa about as well as he knows me, which isn't saying much. I mean, sure we know each other's behavioral patterns, but that's nothing, really.

I wonder what Nappa's family was like.

Then there's Vaya...

She is so incredibly beautiful. Intelligent, cunning, cruel on the battlefield, proud, and so mysterious...it's almost as if she can read minds sometimes. I actually wouldn't be surprised if she could. All of her movements are so graceful and...and...

And so attractive.

Wow.

But there is something about her...it's a mystery, eerie, almost haunting...

I am a year and two months Vaya's senior. But when I speak to her, I am the child.

I don't know why that is.

I'll find out one of these days.

I would not change Vaya for anything. But she gets upset when I tell her that she's perfect. She said that Nobody's perfect and she is happy with the way she is.

I asked her who this Nobody person was and what he or she had that Vaya didn't.

She just laughed-a soft, musical sound that seems far away but makes me feel so good inside-and kissed me.

Heh.

I love it when she does that.

She says that she is content with herself and all of the flaws that make her who she is.

Personally, I have yet to find any of these flaws that she's referring to.

I've been inside her mind and explored every inch of her magnificent body. Trust me, I can't find a single thing unsatisfactory.

...Some must feel strange to hear me talk this way.

Ah, yes.

Prince Vegeta, heart temperature: sub-zero.

Very well, then. I digress.

But still...

I wonder if Vaya wishes she had met her parents.

I wonder what happened to Sephiroth.

I wonder how things might have been different.

I wonder why I'm wondering so much.

Man, if my father was here, I would've gotten my head beaten in by now for asking so many questions. I can almost hear his voice..."A warrior doesn't worry about what might have been. What's real, what's now is all that matters!"

Is it, Father? You killed yourself by not thinking or feeling beyond the moment.

And Mother...ah, Mother. If I had to pick my favorite parent, it would have been her. She spoiled me rotten, but she made sure I trained both my mind and my body. Mother always listened to me, and I went to her with every trivial little problem that a child at that age could have had.

It always confused me...she was so strong, and a master of self-control under pressure, but she never fought. I guess it was because she wanted to devote all her time to taking care of me.

Maybe that's why I loved her more than Father.

I miss her.

I remember that Mother and Father loved each other very much (as all Saiyan mates do), but they fought with each other often. Usually it was about me. It was the same old thing-Father wanted me to train so that I wouldn't end up like some weak little third-class soldier, Mother wanted me to study so that I wouldn't end up like a brainless moron.

She used Nappa as an example a lot.

And then there's Sephiroth.

I don't think about him much anymore, because he disappeared so long ago.

But I still miss him, too.

Boy, this is confusing. Frieza sucks.

You know how it is, you think you know everything when you're a kid, but one day it just gets pulled right out from under you and you get your life drop-kicked into a trash can by some sicko lizard fascinated by women's cosmetics. And your life becomes a living nightmare.

Well, maybe you don't know exactly...but you get the idea.

And all the people that I used to go to are gone.

Raditz comes from a different background.

Nappa is an idiot.

But Vaya loves me. She listens, and she understands, which is more than I can say for anybody else. I always feel better when I'm with her.

So what if that sounds corny.

I'm in love. I'm entitled.

When I'm with Vaya, everything just seems like it can't get any better, and I want it to stay that way.

But I know that as long as we are under Frieza's control, life will always be hell. Nothing good will ever last long under his tyrannical rule.

Someday I will destroy Frieza, so that life will be better for Vaya, and for any children that might come to us in the future. But for now, there is nothing I can do.

Times have changed.

Don't ask me why.

I don't know why.

When I was a boy I thought that everything would be perfect forever.

I know better now.