Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ The King and Queen Diaries ❯ Kabau Denka ( Chapter 15 )

Chapter Fifteen: Kabau Denka (Protect Her)

 

 

They had lost too many men. They had less than seven hundred men left. The enemy had about two thousand, but that was more than enough to take over the city.

 

Bulma had exhausted any and all means of killing them. All they had left was a fast-depleting stock of arrows and their dented swords. They were getting so desperate that they were throwing rocks at them, which was entirely too pathetic.

 

The weapons that the enemy had conveniently handed over to them had run out of ammunition. They had decimated their numbers within ten minutes. Their carcasses were piled up in massive heaps of blood, gore, and body parts. The last of their numbers, which was still a large amount, were forced to crawl over the putrid bodies.

 

Bulma continuously flung arrows into the pack of rabid aliens, but her arms were worn out and her energy reserves were all but used up. She was like a machine, doing nothing more than what she had to do. Brolli encouraged her as he too fought the urge to just fall to the ground in utter exhaustion.

 

They had to keep fighting, or they would be dead, just like the rotting corpses in the courtyard.

 

More of her men fell, and yet the enemy kept coming closer. They had carried their long ladders to the next wall, and were yet again trying to scale them. With their numbers so vastly destroyed like they were, they barely had a chance to push them away. Soon enough they were being overtaken, and Bulma found herself in combat with one of the few white aliens that had come to fight.

 

He hissed with his purple tongue and lunged at her with his sword, and she twisted in what seemed an effortless move around him, and as she disengaged her sword from his, she slashed at his back straight through his armor with inhuman strength. He fell dead to the ground, a gaping wound showing a severed spine through his armor.

 

She saw her men all occupied with a battle of their own. She ran along the walls, desperately slicing and slashing and stabbing their enemy behind their backs, uncaring about honor and the codes of war. At this point she was frantic, and she was willing to go to any extreme.

 

She saved countless lives in the next half hour. She did not know how many times she severed off an alien's head just as they were about to impale one of her men on the end of their sword, and she did not even look back to see the smile of appreciation on the soldier's face before she was killing the next creature.

 

But yet again, it was not good enough. She could not even comprehend the hundreds of men she had killed, for she had emptied over eight buckets of one hundred arrows, shot down five or more men at a time with the enemy's own weapons, and with the twenty or so shots she had let loose into the horde, she could not imagine how many she had slaughtered. And to top it off, she was annihilating even more of their men as they invaded their walls.

 

Brolli stayed as close to the Queen as he could, but as he watched her, he grew increasingly appalled and devastated. She was drenched in blood, both Saiya-jin and alien. She had destroyed so many lives this day that it was incomprehensible. Bloodlust had overtaken her quickly and without mercy. The moment after Bardock had been fatally wounded, she had been murdering without thought or care.

 

He knew after this...if they survived...that his Queen would not be able to stand herself.

 

She had confided in him a while back about what had happened the day that they had first been attacked. When she had been abducted, she had told him, she had turned into this monster, as she had called it, and attacked her assailant without mercy.

 

He had the feeling that she was this monster right now.

 

It seemed to him that every time something or someone that she loved was threatened, her survival instincts raged to the surface and did whatever necessary to cease the danger, and in the most violent way possible.

 

Right now, even though she had just betrayed to him that she was so drained that she did not know how much longer she would be able to lift her arms, she was running around like a madwoman, killing anything that came upon her.

 

But they were still coming! How could there still be more? They had killed thousands...so many that it just did not seem right anymore. They were never-ending, they never stopped. They just kept coming and coming....

 

A shocked cry ripped through his thoughts, and as he killed the alien before him, he turned to see his Queen on the ground, sitting up somewhat awkwardly, with an arrow sticking out obscenely from her chest.

 

The scream that tore its way from his throat sounded like a tortured dying man's last cry. He ran, tripping over both dead bodies and living, uncaring in his haste to get to her. Men around him fell and shrieked in utter agony, but he heard none of it as he watched her, her eyes wide and not yet feeling the pain, and his heart cried out for his friend as a strange, garbled sound escaped her bloodied lips.

 

Oh gods...she was their last hope...and she was going to die.

 

He fell beside her, indifferent to the pain in his knees. He took hold of her and felt her collapse against his strength. She stared up at him, still in shock as she grasped at the arrow thrust through her chest, and he felt himself panicking as blood gathered on her lips and spilled over. She choked as she tried to breathe, and he swallowed desperately as he tried to think of something to say.

 

“Bulma...oh gods...what do you want me to do?”

 

She was gasping and choking and her eyes were fluttering. From his position, he could see that the arrow had somehow penetrated through her armor, her supposedly perfect armor that almost nothing could pierce. It not only had gotten through the front of her breastplate, but through the back as well. Blood oozed over his fingers as he clutched at her back, and he gazed down at her helplessly, knowing that she was dying.

“B...B...rol...li....”

 

Their only salvation was dying in his arms. He could not take his eyes off her. What should he do? Was there anything he could do?

 

“S...s...tupid....”

 

He blinked at her, stunned at her remark. Her body shuddered violently, and her eyes went wide as she forcedly drew air into her lungs. She glared at him angrily, blood still pouring from her paling lips.

 

“F...f...f-fight. G...g...g-go.”

 

His eyes went from tearing to shocked. “What? Never! I will not leave you!”

 

The anger grew on her face. He wondered at her strength and willpower, for only she could be mad during her last moments.

 

“Pier...ced...l...ung....”

 

He looked down at her, panicked and not understanding. The last of her guard was attempting to surround them, but there were not too many of them left. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Senaka and Kutibiru, her two favorite guards, and beside them, he saw the dead body of another one who he did not recognize.

 

Her hands gripped his arms with surprising strength. Blood gushed from her mouth as she nearly shouted, “S-stupid! F-fight! I...will...be...FINE!”

 

She flung him away from her, and he stumbled backwards into the parapet. She struggled to sit up with her arms, and the sight appalled him. She had already been drenched to the bone in an astonishing array of colors from all the gore, but now she was gushing blood from her mouth in a rate that almost made him retch. He held back the urge to vomit as she stood weakly, nearly stumbling, blood flooding from her lips and saturating her once-immaculate armor. Her face was drained of all color, he could see her noticeably shaking with effort, and he could hear the wheezing in her lungs from her trying to breathe. She glared at him with so much anger in her eyes that he felt like he had betrayed her. She stood there, standing with the help of her husband's sword, and he gave her a sad look as he nodded, understanding.

 

Forget about me, she mouthed, and just as he closed his eyes and turned away to continue fighting, she fell.

 

**********

 

The room was white and blinding.

 

The pair of eyes that opened squinted in pain at the whiteness around him. What did it take for a person to turn down the lights?

 

The guttural moan he released caught the attention of one of the numerous nurses. She, along with twenty or so others, was tending the wounds of thousands of men, women, and children.

 

“Captain Bardock? Sir, can I help you? Can you speak?”

 

He swallowed and tried to speak, but apparently the wound on his throat was preventing him from doing so. He made some sort of incorrigible sound, and she gave him a look that was of toleration. She was obviously busy, and she needed to tend to him quickly and go on to the others who were not quite so lucky.

 

He shielded his eyes to make her understand. He was thankful that he could at least move, but he was pissed that he could not talk.

 

She understood immediately. “Yes, my lord, I know it is bright, but we need the light. Would you like me to give you something to cover your eyes with?”

 

He nodded gratefully, and then hissed in pain from the movement. He went to curse, but only ended up in more agony.

 

“Oh, my lord, you must not move. Here, I will increase the level of pain medication in your fluids. You should be feeling nothing at all in less than a minute.”

 

Smirking, he laid there gratefully at the wonderful service and would have thanked her once she covered his eyes, but he could not talk and she had already left.

 

He was almost in the land of drugged sleep when a huge commotion jerked him upright. Nearly howling from pain at yanking the needles in his arms and straining the muscles in his lacerated neck, he ripped the cloth from his eyes just in time to see the horror of his life.

 

The Queen was being carted on a stretcher through the infirmary, which was filled to overflowing with dying people.

 

Blood. She was coated from head to toe in filth, and blood stained not only her armor and cloak, but the stretcher itself. Five men were following the stretcher, all practically carrying it as they frantically ran for the regeneration tank room.

 

He could see her body in the throes of contortions and spasms, and her fingers were twitching in the air as if they were reaching for something to grab and hold on to. She was carted away right by him, and he stared in horror at all the blood.

 

How was she even alive?

 

The arrow in her chest had visibly penetrated through to the other side, but someone had broken off the other end to lay her on the stretcher. He could see it lying beside her.

 

Was that hay in her hair?

 

He wanted to follow, he really did, but he knew he would be useless in his current predicament. He flinched when he heard the horrific, garbled screams coming from the room next door only moments later, and he knew that they were removing the arrow from her broken body.

 

“My lord, you must lay down. You lost massive amounts of blood and are going to be very weak.”

 

The nurse that had just aided him only minutes ago was frowning at him. At her words, he suddenly felt the room dip and spin, and he would have collapsed back onto the bed with a painful jar if she had not caught him in time.

 

“There now. You just rest now and recover some of that blood.”

 

Who was she to talk to him about recovering blood?! Had she just not seen her Queen rushed through the room, in death throes?! How could she be so calm when the city was under attack and people were dying?!

 

He would have loved to say these things, but in the next moment, everything went calm and mellow. He watched as she smiled down at him and covered his eyes with the cloth again, and in the next moment, he was drifting in a sea of healing blackness.

 

**********

 

“She what?”

 

Lord Haschell, who had miraculously sustained only a few minor cuts and bruises, stared in disbelief at Lord Brolli, the Queen's advisor.

 

“She had an arrow shot straight through her right lung. I thought she was dying...well, she would have from blood loss and if enough blood had filled her lungs, but she managed to stay alive long enough to get to the regeneration tank. But I really...truthfully thought that she was going to die. She...she looked so angry with me. She called me stupid and told me to fight even though she was choking on her own blood.” He could not help but let out a pathetic laugh. “Even in the view of her own possible death, she still wanted to fight. She still did not want us to give up. She wanted me to fight and forget about her, my Queen.”

 

“Unbelievable,” the older man said, shocked to his core. “So right after she somehow managed to stand, she fell off the wall, huh?”

 

Brolli nodded, still not believing what had transpired only hours ago. “She should have passed out or died after the arrow pierced her lung. I do not know how she did it, let alone talk or stand. She has strength that is unheard of, Lord Haschell. But the moment I turned...she fell straight off the wall. That woman...she has the gods looking after her. She landed right into a cart of hay.”

 

The aging man chuckled, and then flexed his aching right arm. He had never fought so hard in his life, but he knew that today, no one had fought harder than the Queen of the Saiya-jins.

 

“Amazing how right when we thought we were doomed, the men from the station in space arrived.”

 

Lord Haschell let out a loud shout of triumphant laughter. “Doomed! They were doomed from the moment those alien freaks took the King! Our Queen...she is an amazing woman. From what I have heard from her remaining guards, they had never seen so much blood in their lives. Yet she still managed to curse the doctors and scream at them as they removed the arrow in her chest. Kutibiru said that she nearly ripped his face off.”

 

Brolli nodded, recalling everything that had been related to him moments after the fight for Tibernoa had ended. “She is healing now. The doctors have her under strict surveillance. If so much as one little bleep goes off wrong, they will know.”

 

Lord Haschell nodded, and was temporarily distracted as two commanders entered the room. They were in charge of clean up, and wanted to know what to do with the decomposing bodies that littered the city.

 

“Burn the aliens. If we do not get rid of them soon, disease will spread. Any Saiya-jins...if they are recognizable, give them a burial. They deserve it after they have given their lives.”

 

Bowing, the clean up commanders left. The man now in charge sighed laboriously, and then turned back to Brolli.

 

“Are the heirs safe?”

 

Brolli nodded, thanking the gods. “As healthy as can be. They have monitors on the twins, and from what the doctors are saying, they are putting up quite the fuss in her womb.”

 

They both chuckled. “Only fitting for such a feisty woman.”

 

The room fell silent after those words, and quickly became somber. The older man turned to the Queen's advisor, and asked quietly, “How many did you say she killed?”

 

Brolli's face darkened, and he stared out the enormous window they were looking out of. It showed a magnificent view of the city, but now all they could see was the pre-dawn and smoke billowing from the homes that had been destroyed. Screams could still be heard from a mother finding her dead child, or a husband finding his wife slaughtered in the streets.

 

“Over one thousand.”

 

Horror stretched across the Saiya-jin lord's face. A woman, so young, so innocent at times, had killed more than he had in his lifetime in one day. She had, single-handedly, decimated one tenth of the army by herself. It was astounding...it was disgusting.

 

“She will not be able to live with herself.”

 

Lord Haschell was no expert on the Queen like Brolli, but he nodded because he knew that as well.

 

“Someone will have to be with her at all times. She will be on constant watch. We cannot allow anything to happen to her,” the older Saiya-jin said seriously.

 

Brolli shook his head, feeling the familiar sensation that had entered his gut when he had witnessed her fighting. She had changed so much in such a short span of time. Bardock had told him about how nearly child-like she had been before this had all happened. How innocent and gullible and completely carefree. He had also told him that she had been protected entirely too much her short life. She had been forced to bear the burden of a whole planet under siege and had grown up in the span of a month in a way that would make a man jealous.

 

More men came upon them, demanding more answers and asking important questions. Brolli nodded cordially to Lord Haschell and let him do his job as he left his side. There was much that he had to do as well, and on the top of the list was making sure the King's and Queen's guard was reassembled. Many of them had been killed, and for the positions that were left blank, he had to make sure they were filled. Finding a man that was willing to join the ranks of the highest you could obtain with a woman who had served her planet more than anyone on this day would be easy.

 

**********

 

One day later

 

“She is dreaming.”

 

Bardock frowned slightly as he shook his hair out. Exiting one of the very few regeneration tanks, he quickly pulled on the proffered robe and strode over to the tank that held the Queen.

 

He had been one of the special ones who, because of his rank, was lucky enough to be one of the first people to enter a regeneration tank. He had only needed to be in for five hours, and as soon as the healing fluids had drained and he pulled off his breathing mask, he had asked, “How is she?”

 

From what the doctor had just said, she was dreaming. “Nightmares?” he questioned, standing in front of the glass and placing his callused palm over the cool surface.

 

“Hard to say,” the doctor murmured, looking at a few charts and monitors before making some minor adjustments. “She heals...very oddly. Anausian and Saiya-jin blood is very close, but yet, different. Their race is very colorful, as you can tell by her highness's extreme coloring, and ours is always black or brown. It is almost as if whatever our race is lacking, hers makes up for. The heirs...in other words, will be almost like a perfect hybrid...a unique mixture of Anausian and Saiya-jin that will make a being that is...perfect.”

 

Bardock gave the doctor a disgusted frown, as if his blather was uninteresting to him. “So she is healing on schedule then? And the heirs? Are they safe?”

 

The doctor moved beside him and watched the beauty floating before him. For modesty's sake she was wearing a band around her swollen chest and some form of shortened pantalets that only covered the necessary parts. Her belly was much larger than normal considering that she was carrying twins, but she was in excellent shape and had only gained the needed weight to keep the heirs healthy. Her oceanic hair absolutely bedazzled his eye as it caressed her shoulders and back, and her face was so relaxed and peaceful that it nearly made him want to weep. A woman so fair and so fine had saved their city...and he knew that anyone, including himself, would give their life to save her if the need ever arose.

 

“She is healing ahead of schedule, actually. Seems that the hormones and chemicals in her blood from pregnancy amplify her healing rate. Astounding, really. It was estimated that she would be in here at least two days, and it has been less than a day. She should be out by this evening if not sooner.”

 

Bardock felt a warm smile tug at his lips. She was so strong, his queen.

 

“The twins?”

 

The doctor frowned oddly and then sighed. “They seem to be restless. Every now and then the monitors show that they are having some vigorous activity in her womb, and it seems to be disturbing her brain patterns. On top of that, she is dreaming. Her body is healing, but her mind is not.”

 

The doctor suddenly turned to him and looked him dead in the eye. Bardock stared back, stunned at the man's sudden fierceness.

 

“I have heard stories of what...atrocities...this young woman has committed on the battlefield. And I know, just like any other man, that it seems like this angelic creature could no sooner lift a sword than harm a fly. But Lord Brolli has let me know things that are, as of now, confidential. You will undoubtedly be briefed as soon as you are released from the infirmary, but my lord...please make sure that her highness never has a moment to herself. Keep her occupied as much as you can. She does not need to think for a second of what she has done.”

 

Fear crept up the tall Saiya-jin's spine. Atrocities...what she has done.... What has she done?

 

He left quickly in search of Brolli.

 

**********

 

“Bulma.”

 

Her whole body melted at the sound of his voice. His accent, the way he spoke so deep, the slow pronunciation of the two syllables. He always made her whole body weak when he said her name. This time it was different, however.

 

Tears instantly filled her eyes as his warm, muscular arms wrapped around her, swiftly bringing her round body into his. Instantly his face was buried into her hair, and she held onto his broad shoulders as tightly as she could as she wept profusely on his bare skin.

 

“Oh, Vegeta...oh gods, you do not understand! I miss you so much...I love you! I love you, please come back to me. I cannot do this alone anymore! I am so scared, please find a way to come back to me! This war...I cannot do it by myself. There are so many people dying...and our babies! Vegeta, I am pregnant with twins! It will not be much longer before they are here...please, I need you to be there with me when I—“

 

He clutched her closer, shushing her. “Shh, Bulma. I know. I know and I understand. But...you know that I cannot.”

 

Tears rushed uncontrollably down her flushed cheeks. “Please, Vegeta. I cannot be alone anymore,” she sobbed as she clutched desperately at his skin. She knew she was dreaming, knew that this was not real, but she knew that it was the only respite she was going to get. This was her time with Vegeta...even if it was her own mind conjuring up his likeness.

 

He pulled her tighter into his arms. “I know,” was all he said.

 

She sniffed and tried to get her crying under control. She lifted her head, wanting to see his face for as long as she could, for as long as her mind would allow her to keep him. She stroked her fingers lovingly over his skin, caressed his forehead and his eyebrows, kissed his nose and lips, traced the line of his stubborn jaw and lingered down his neck before stopping over his heart.

 

That was when it all fell apart. “I love you...” was just leaving her lips when it was suddenly everywhere. Blood...it was everywhere. His skin split open before her very eyes, leaving horrendous welts and gaping wounds. Broken bones...oh gods, his tail! His body went limp in her arms, like he could not hold himself up any longer. He was too weak...his body, it was visibly starved. He stared up at her as his body grew increasingly weak and she fought to hold him up. But she was not strong enough...he was too heavy, and the blood was making him slippery. She began sobbing again as she lost her hold on him and he disappeared before her eyes. She looked down at her body and she saw that she was soaked in dark red blood. She could even see chunks of his skin stuck to her clothing.

 

She screamed in horror and devastation, her fingers reaching for her face, but she only managed to smear hot blood upon her skin. She looked down at her hands and saw that blood was just pouring from them like a fountain. Shaking in terror, a jagged scream ripped from her throat as she began to run. But she did not know where she was. She was surrounded completely by white...everywhere, that was all it was. White.

 

But wait...there was something. She ran desperately for it, a dark mound of something in the distance. The blood was still pouring from her fingers, leaving trails of death behind her. She cried in dismay at what was happening, wishing and praying that it would all just be over with, when she finally managed to reach what she had been hoping was her salvation.

 

Dead bodies. Corpses of all races, slaughtered and butchered.

 

She screamed until her throat was raw. She screamed until she could no longer scream. Then she collapsed upon the ground, watching the blood spew forth from her hands, blood she knew was from the bodies before her, bodies she knew that she had killed. The world began to spin and the crimson of the blood mixed with the blinding white light of wherever she was. She felt dizzy and sick and she closed her eyes so tightly it hurt.

 

“Vegeta!”

 

**********

 

Bardock listened attentively to the recounting of Queen Bulma's butchery. Brolli told him, in extreme detail, of everything he had seen.

 

Bardock advised Brolli to have a meeting of anyone who even so much as greeted the monarch in the morning.

 

Not even a half hour later, in the room where all strategic decisions were made, Bardock, Brolli, and Lord Haschell stood at the head of the enormous table, surrounded by the generals, what was left of the King's and Queen's guard, all the castle help, and a few soldiers that were being considered for the reconstruction of the two sovereign's guard.

 

Brolli stood fiercely with his hands planted on the darkly finished table, staring at all of the people in the room. He knew that some already had witnessed what the Queen had done, but he also knew that some of them might not be aware of the Queen's delicate state of mind since the loss of her husband. He began by stating the obvious.

 

“We are here because the siege on Tibernoa was not successful. Thanks to the men and women who have fought and given their lives today, we are here. But that is not the reason why I have gathered you all at this time. I know that many of you fought for our planet, and I thank you with all my heart for what you have done.” He drew in a deep, audible breath. “Some of you...witnessed our glorious Queen fighting with her own life to protect our planet...and that is why you are gathered here. Our Queen, as many of you know, is very skilled when it comes to combat, something that she has been taught since she was young. Now I know that for those of you who are not aware of this, that it is a shock.” Brolli felt himself tense at the shocked and appalled looks on some of the men's faces who were not aware. The women just looked stunned. “However,” he barked, making some of the people present jump, “her skills and her knowledge of warfare saved us all, and we need to be grateful to her in ways that I will presently explain to you.”

 

There was a slight stirring of the small audience, and Brolli motioned for Bardock to come forward. The older Saiya-jin cleared his throat, and then glared at all of the men and women, hoping to get his point across.

 

“Queen Bulma has lost her husband, a man who she loves more than any of us can possibly imagine. We do not know if the King is alive or not, but the possibilities of him being alive are slim to none. The Queen is aware of this...and she mourns for her husband with a heartbrokenness that injures even the most hardened soul. She is with child...and not just one child, but with twins. King Vegeta had only known of his wife's pregnancy for a few short months before he was taken away...and had not yet known of the twin heirs. This weighs heavily upon our Queen's shoulders. She not only misses her husband, but cannot tell him of his children. He is not there for her when she needs him, and more than likely...he will not be here when her time comes to deliver the twins.”

 

Some of the women in the large chamber sniffled openly. A majority of the men had their heads lowered.

 

“Queen Bulma was once a very sweet, very openly loving person. Of course she had her stubborn moments, and that was why the King and the Queen got along so very well. Now...like Lord Brolli has explained, she has knowledge of combat and warfare. She has saved all of you, by single-handedly slaughtering a tenth of the army that fell upon us. For those of you who do not know how many men we were attacked by, it was an estimated ten thousand. And for you idiots who are math illiterate, the Queen has killed over one thousand men in the span of a day.”

 

The shocked gasps that filled the room made Bardock's mouth thin in a tight line. “Silence!” he shouted, slicing his hand through the air. “We all know how vile that is, but it was necessary and because of her sacrifice, she has saved us! How is this a sacrifice, you ask? Well, let me explain it to you. If you are a man and what I just said disgusted you, can you imagine how a woman is feeling right now? And can you imagine how the Queen will feel once she is reawakened from the regeneration tank? She is strong, but...we do not know as of yet how she will react.”

 

Bardock glanced over to his comrade and nodded for him to finish.

 

Brolli looked down at the table, and then to the rest of the men and women in the room. He sighed. “We are asking all of you here today, to be very careful and deliberate with the Queen until we are sure that she can handle this trauma. No one is to mention the fight, her husband, or anything you think will cause a harmful reaction to her. We ask all of you to be caring, loving, and gentle with her. She is pregnant with twins, and we do not know when her due date is because of the mixing of two different species, so we also ask that you care for her and her children as you would your own family. She is all we have left...without her, there would be hell on this planet like no one could even begin to imagine.”

 

They all suddenly turned to the sound of a large door creaking open. A physician stood meekly in the doorway, wringing his hands together.

 

“She is awake.”