Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ The King and Queen Diaries ❯ Uxeito Emono ( Chapter 23 )

Author's Not: Well, I like those reviews, so here is the next chapter! Epic ending mwahahaha!!

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Chapter Twenty Three: Uxeito Emono (Waiting Game)

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Brolli was alive.

Bulma stroked his hair as he leaned weakly against her. He was so frail, powerless, and debilitated, that he even had problems forming words and moving properly.

Tears leaked from her blue eyes as he fell asleep against her shoulder, his shuddering movements ceasing.

It had taken three full days for his wound to close, and another day for his body to be replenished. But not everything could be repaired by a regeneration tank, and it was plain to see that Lord Brolli might never be the same.

Several doctors had been discovered amongst the Saiya-jins that they freed from the palace dungeons, and they had given her hope that with rehabilitation, he could regain much, if not all, of his former strength. He had youth on his side, and they had seen the Saiya-jin race recover from wounds far more fatal than his.

She rocked him back and forth against her, her tears falling silently into his long, tousled hair. He slept a lot, as if he couldn't get enough rest. It had been two weeks since he had come out of the tank, and not much had changed.

He struggled to do even the basest of tasks and to even talk. He stumbled through getting dressed, and the words he spoke to her were often slurred. The doctors had explained that he had possibly been dead for long enough for his brain to receive some kind of damage, it could have been the severe loss of blood, or some kind of trauma that they didn't know about. Either way, some kind of harm had happened to his brain, and with those types of injuries...Bulma knew there was little hope.

He was still the kind and sweet man that he always was, but she also knew that he was aware that he was no longer same in every aspect. She watched him grow angry as he attempted to dress himself, bathe, eat, talk. The fury she would observe grow on his features gave her hope though. He knew that something was wrong, so that meant that he knew that he had to get back to being normal.

Many things had changed that fateful night when Brolli had nearly died and she had been almost killed. The spy that they had all feared was now dead, his body torn apart and put on spikes in several different places around the city, his head right in front of the palace. His death had caused her army to kill every alien in the city, and Versai was now completely liberated. Bulma was able to activate the comlinks and reach the stations out in space, only to find out that Lord Haschell had months ago summoned Vegeta-sei's army to return home. She thanked the older man silently, for quite literally, millions of Saiya-jins were returning home.

They just had to wait.

It had been the ultimate fear of King Vegeta when they were first attacked that a majority of their army had been based off-planet, light years away. Most of them would take almost a year to reach the planet, but that year was nearly up. Some of Saiya-jins stationed nearby on a colony based on an ancient asteroid had returned when they had been fighting in Tibernoa, but now they had to wait for the rest of them to return, so that there would be no way they would be defeated.

For now, they were rebuilding Versai. With so many people flooding into the city, it was almost like things were back to normal. They had resources at their hands that they had needed for months. Many of the palace guards and a small garrison of soldiers had been part of the captured Saiya-jins in the dungeons, and they were now training the men in her army to fight even better. Homes were being rebuilt night and day; people were being fed until their bellies were full, and she felt safe enough to walk through her home by herself, knowing that she wouldn't be attacked around the next corner.

That didn't stop the remaining King's and Queen's guards from following her, however.

She was now ten months pregnant. Well, she estimated that she was, because it was so hard to keep track of time with the countless days blurring together over the last half year. Nana kept a close eye on her, murmuring to her every so often that she had reached the Anausian due date, and that at this point, she could give birth at any time.

She didn't have to remind her. It was on her mind constantly, almost as much as Brolli was.

She glanced down at him, brushing a sweet kiss upon his forehead. She did not know how long they had been lying there, but she was content to let him sleep as much as he wanted. She would do anything for him. He had saved her life, her unborn children's lives, and she could never, ever repay him.

He muttered something in his sleep and snuggled in deeper, his face drifting off her shoulder and stopping to rest on her breast. It made her smile and giggle, and the movement made him lazily blink his eyes open. He laid there for a moment before he glanced up, looking at her through his thick black lashes before he tilted his head back to get a better look at her.

"How long was I...I as-s-sleep?"

She brushed his hair away from his face tenderly. "About a half hour."

He frowned, then sat up. He flinched as if the movement hurt him, but she did not rush to his aid. The first time she had panicked at an expression of pain on his features he had nearly yelled at her, saying that he was fine. She could understand why he would be upset, for he had gone from being entirely independent to dependent, and that was not who he was. It made her remember when Vegeta had gotten the Saiya-jin plague, and he had hated himself for his weakness. He had been so close to the brink of death for weeks, so frail that she'd had to hand feed him, bathe him, and clothe him. She completely understood where Brolli was coming from.

"Did...did y-you call...call your father?"

Bulma felt a large smile bloom on her face. His memory seemed to be improving. For days he hadn't been able to remember even simple conversations that they'd had in the past, but things were slowly coming back to him. He had also had a lot of issues remembering things he had done earlier in the day, so it made her nearly deliriously happy that he had remembered their conversation from the prior day.

"Yes, I did call him. The interstellar communications seem to be intermittent, so I didn't get to talk to him for long. I just told him we are invaded, Vegeta is dead, I am pregnant, and that we need his help."

He nodded as he sat up from the bed. Her room had been completely destroyed so she had been unable to use it, and she hadn't been able to bring herself to share a room with Brolli in Vegeta's old suites...so she had taken up one of the guest rooms in the Royal wing of the palace. It was much smaller, but still luxurious enough for Brolli to be stunned the first time he laid eyes on it. The gold trim, the wallpapered walls, the thick, multi-colored carpet, the dark wood furniture, the wide bay windows, the huge, sprawling bed. He had never seen such luxury in his life, and to see what it was like to live like a Queen, like a Lord could, he had been stunned. It had been one of the very few times he hadn't stuttered when he had talked.

"I can't believe that I am in the Palace of Versai."

He had been utterly disbelieving the first time he had laid eyes on the bathing chamber connected to the room. The enormous marble pool embedded deeply into the floor would have been able to hold more than a dozen people. The water that flowed from pipes had made him stare, unable to believe that it was clean water. He had told her about how he and his wife had owned a large wooden tub that they had filled with water from the steam nearby, and they had occasionally heated it up over the fire. He had never set a foot on carpet once before in his life, and the first time he curled his toes into the thick fabric, his face had been full of amazement. He had touched everything the first few days, just trying to make his mind understand that he was living in luxury.

Bulma explained to him that once the war was over, she would give him everything that he would ever want or need. She would bequeath upon him the greatest estates on the planet, make him the richest lord to ever live on Vegeta-sei. She would give him lands on which he could have his own cities, towns, villages. He could have businesses, farms, whatever he could ever want. The look of disbelief on his face had been slightly nerve-racking at first, but then he had let a small smile light up his features.

"I would...would rather b-be with you," he had said, and that had settled it.

If he ever changed his mind, she would make sure that he would have everything any man could ever want, but if he wanted to stay, then she would let him.

He walked over to the wide bay windows and sat down on the seat. He often sat there, watching the birds flying by or the townspeople working in the city.

Bulma was content to watch him as well. His quiet time was her quiet time, and it gave her a chance to think of what was going to happen to their future. Not only theirs, but the planet's.

It was going to be about a month before the Saiya-jin army started returning, and they still had to worry about an evasive enemy. Since the invasion of Versai they had been quiet, more than likely contemplating their next move. They had quite literally killed thousands of their kind, and Bulma wondered if they had done serious damage. She recalled from the battle of Tibernoa that there had been very few of the white aliens, almost as if assassins and warriors from other races had been hired to fight for them. Were they going extinct? Were they dwindling in numbers? If so, it really didn't make sense that they had been so lightly guarded. None of it really made sense.

However, maybe this Lord Frieza hadn't been expecting her people to attack their own city and slay everyone in sight. He probably hadn't even known her location, for they killed every spy that they found. Her men had grown very adept at finding the buggers, and it seemed like the invaders were getting more reckless and careless when it came to finding out information on her army, making it even easier for her to find and kill them.

Either way, they were eerily quiet and it was disturbing. She had her whole city surrounded with guards at all times of the day, the battlements readied and everyone on alert just in case they were attacked. She wished that they would just retreat and give up, but she doubted it would happen. Both sides were so deeply wounded by actions of the war that it would be hard for either of them to accept defeat until they were nearly wiped out. Bulma knew that personally she would give anything to slice the head off the bastard that had caused her so much misery...killing her husband, infiltrating her own camp with a spy she had thought was her friend, destroying the lives of her people, hurting Brolli....

She had to gather whatever forces she could and totally destroy whatever was left of these horrible creatures. She couldn't take any chances that they would come back in the future, when she was gone and only her children were alive to bear a possible disaster. She had to rectify this while she was alive, to make sure that her children had a future free of pain and death.

For now, it was a waiting game.

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Over the next month, Bulma saw significant improvements in Brolli's disposition and health. His stuttering became less and less noticeable every day, and it was possibly because she was helping him learn how to speak again. The doctors had recommended that he try to read aloud from a book to teach his tongue how to move once more. Every night before they went to sleep they read from a book together, each taking turns to read. Brolli watched her tongue and mouth movements, mouthing the words with her, and then read himself, taking time to pronounce the words rather than read quickly as he normally would. Each day that went by he improved, but it still popped up every once and a while when his emotions were high. Bulma doubted that it would ever be completely gone, but he was becoming fluent with speech once more, and the look of happiness on his face each time he completed a sentence with no stammers was everything to her.

His movements and once former grace were going a lot slower. The doctors had suggested he try taking up swordplay once more, for the movements required elegance and balance to perform properly. Bulma was ecstatic at the suggestion, but Brolli was hesitant. He stated that he did not want to practice in view of the other men, for he was embarrassed that he was not his former self, sure of his movements and strength.

Bulma had smiled and brought him somewhere that she had not been in a long, long time.

The sanctuary that Queen Hokora had built for her and Chichi had needed some minor repairs before it had been useable again, but once the grass was cut, the weeds pulled, and the training area swept, Bulma had shown him that it was now his to use as he pleased.

The first time Bulma had closed the doors and locked them, Brolli had instantly felt more at ease. The fact that she was also able to have privacy to help him and not have to worry about what others thought about a heavily pregnant woman training with a sword was wonderful as well.

Bardock, somewhat bashfully after discovering that she was using the training area, had returned an item to her that she had thought was long gone. When he placed the custom made sword that Queen Hokora had gifted her with so many years ago, she had felt tears come to her eyes. He explained that he had retrieved it many weeks ago when they had first originally entered the palace, but with all the happenings and things going on, he had forgotten he'd had it. She had only scolded him slightly before she had nearly run to the sanctuary, delighted beyond words.

Bulma aided Brolli in retraining his body slowly over that month. He had stumbled and struggled quite a bit when they had first begun, but she worked with him slowly. He ended up cut up pretty bad the first few days because he had refused to use a dull-edged blade to train. She had pursed her lips at him in irritation, but had shrugged in the end. If he ended up cutting off something that he didn't want cut off, well...it was his fault.

It was nearing her eleventh month of pregnancy when Bulma really began feeling her body weakening. With her attempting to help Brolli she had hoped that it would strengthen her, but it seemed to do the opposite. During times of depression and weakness it was even worse. She took naps during the day and slept long into the morning every day. Nana and Brolli did what they could to comfort her body, but no matter what they did, she just seemed to get more and more uncomfortable. The massages and soaking in baths seemed to no longer work. Her feet were swelling to what she called "vile proportions", her stomach was so huge that she said she looked like one of the balls the children played with out in the streets, and that was only the beginning. After being awake for only a few hours caused her back to hurt. Oh, and standing! Forget standing for longer than a few minutes. When she waddled down the hallways and went to meetings, she swore everyone was staring at her in horror, wondering if she was going to give birth right then and there.

She began getting frustrated at everyone and if things didn't go her way. She demanded everything be perfect at all times. Even though she had barely lifted a finger in her life to clean, she found herself cleaning her old room in desperation. She wasn't sure why, but she just wanted it fixed. The ceilings were repaired, the broken windows replaced, the furniture cleaned, the furnishings washed.

She began gathering things together almost as if she was possessed for the imminent birth of her children, and it made Nana and Brolli chuckle. Nana said she was "nesting", or preparing everything that would be needed when the children arrived. Bulma didn't care, she just wanted to make sure the damn bassinets matched and that their clothes and blankets and bonnets and shoes and everything were ready for when she finally dropped the brats.

Nana had been horrified the first time Bulma called the babes brats, but then she just began shaking her head as the names continued. She could tell that Bulma was ready to give birth, because everything was getting to the point of extreme with her. Her once calm and collected charge was now mean and short-tempered, frustrated with everyone and everything, even the people she loved. If something didn't go her way, it was the end of the world. Her lady-like manners seemed to disappear overnight, she declared. She knew however, that after she gave birth, things would go back to normal. They just had to wait for the day to come.

The day did come, but not the one they were looking forward to. During one of the annoyingly frequent meetings that were held daily, Bulma had been sitting at the head of the table listening to one of the general's talking about some bland topic when the vidscreen blinked to life. Immediate memories came back as she remembered the last time a similar scene had occurred.

Lord Frieza smiled nastily from the screen, his pointed teeth looking sharp enough to draw blood.

"Queen Bulma...my, how you have...grown. Rather massively, I must say."

Bulma seethed as she stood, slamming both hands on the table in front of her. All of the men surrounding her were already standing, their hands on their swords as if they could kill the creature in front of them through the vidscreen.

"I am so massively large right now because I am about to bring life forward into this world, something that you seem incapable of. You bring nothing but death and suffering, and you shall pay for it,” she snarled.

Bulma's glaring visage suddenly smiled widely at the shocked look that appeared on his face for a brief second. The smirk returned quickly, however.

"I only do what I deem necessary. Of course, you monkeys should understand that. All I am trying to do is find a planet on which my kind can rebuild, seeing as how your former filthy king took away ours."

Bulma felt her expression falter. That was why they were attacking them? The former King Vegeta had attacked their planet and taken away their home, so they were killing the Saiya-jins so they could take over their planet in return?

Anger simmered to the surface at her father-in-law's actions, but what was done was done. However much she wanted to be diplomatic, this bastard had caused too much pain for her to want to try to fix things.

"Is there a purpose to this call? You interrupted a meeting."

A gleeful laugh filled the room. "Oh my, how rude of me. I do seem to do that. Last time I recall that it was in a similar situation. Your poor monkey king had to die...it was almost tragic. And now here we are yet again...about to be in another tragic situation."

Bulma felt terror claw at her throat. His words tore her up inside, but she had to stay strong. She couldn't let him see that his words bothered her.

I will kill you.

In the next moment, Bulma saw two people that she had not seen in over a year. Two guards jerked over a dark-haired man and woman, and a squealing infant.

"Chichi! Kakarott!"

Lord Frieza laughed. "Ah, I see that you know these two. It so happens that we found them on their way to Versai many months ago, but we captured them and brought them here."

Bulma stared at her best friend's face in desperation. Chichi stared back at her, her features sunken from starvation and repeated abuse. They both looked the worse for wear, but nothing concerned her more than the baby crying in the background.

Their baby.

"Release them immediately."

The white creature laughed hysterically once more, as if it was the most hilarious situation ever. Bulma felt her lips pull down in a tight line.

"Well, I can't just release them...you Saiya-jins are just so stubborn. First you don't want to die from the plague we released on your planet, and now you refuse to--"

"What did you just say?" Bulma gasped, her hand clutching at her throat.

The nasty smirk returned on his face. "Oh, that we were the ones that caused the Saiya-jin plague? It's amazing that you didn't figure it out until I just said something. Saiya-jins are ridiculously resilient; did you think that some random plague would actually just start killing them out of nowhere? No, we had our scientists create it and release it onto your planet. It almost worked except for when you discovered a way to combat it. We tried to do it the easy way and just kill you all off before we got here, but you just had to be difficult...."

Bulma stared in utter disbelief at the screen. This creature...this monster...had caused millions of deaths. More deaths than she could even comprehend. He...he had killed Queen Hokora, King Vegeta...her friends, almost had killed Vegeta....

"You animal! What kind of sick, twisted--!"

"My, my! Let us get back on topic, shall we? Currently my spaceship is hovering outside the atmosphere, ready to deploy tens of thousands of warriors to the surface of your planet. We have been waiting for a convenient time to attack the planet with our main army, and seeing as how you just ambushed your own city and killed thousands of my kin, I think it is appropriate that I repay you in kind."

Bulma felt her eyebrow quirk in confusion as the vidscreen blinked out, and then a moment later filled with a view of a city far below. Instantly she recognized Mulani, Queen Hokora's favorite city, a place she had been brought to often as a young princess. The city was green and lush with spring flowers, but it was completely empty. Well, she thought it was empty until the screen moved to show the middle of the city, where she witnessed a devastating sight. Thousands of Saiya-jins were caged, all of them clutching at the bars and trying to get free, but they were surrounded on all sides by their foes and their projectile weapons that they were helpless against.

Bulma clutched her throat as the screen flickered back to the hideous visage of Lord Frieza. He smirked as he saw the pale expression on the Queen's face. "I am not very far away at this moment. In less than a day I will be planning on assaulting the planet at large with my army, for I am done playing games. You have killed everything that has ever meant anything to me, so slowly but surely I will kill absolutely everything that has ever meant anything to you, my dear Queen Bulma. This city, Mulani, I know holds a special place in your little heart. It was a place where your dead mother-in-law once took you often as a retreat away from palace life, is it not? And it was where poor Lord Yamcha first fell in love with you. But he is dead now, isn't he? Poor soul, all he ever wanted was for you to love him, and in the end he paid the ultimate price. I shall pay you for his death as well. I will destroy every major city on this planet! Mulani, Versai, Boadecia, Tibernoa, Burchan...I have already destroyed Jighu and numerous others. One by one I will wipe them off of your planet, and once every Saiya-jin is dead, I will bring the rest of my kind to Vegeta-sei to begin our revival. We will repopulate the planet and bring it to its ultimate glory. And none of you will be there to see it, because you will all be dead. Until our next meeting, Queen Bulma."

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Author's Note: It's coming closer to the end! Review!