Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ The Price You Pay ❯ Chapter Forty-Seven ( Chapter 47 )

Insert standard disclaimer here.

 

The Price You Pay: Chapter Forty-Seven

 

Zarbon walked down the hall that lead to the King's quarters. He couldn't stand to be in the medical ward anymore. Standing in the abandoned room and watching Bulma's body float eerily in the tank was not something he could do for more than a few minutes at a time. He didn't need to guard her anymore. It was too late to worry about avoiding assassination attempts now, not after everything that had happened.

 

He remembered the first time he'd met her and how he'd wanted to kill her. Now, as he planned her funeral, he would do anything to bring her back. Funny how things could change so dramatically only after a few months.

 

Trunks gazed up at the reptilian warrior who held him in his arms. He had an empty expression, his eyes the same striking aqua as Bulma's. Though the med techs made sure that the boy was well nourished and cared for, their very Saiya-jin nature prevented them from providing him with the nurturing he desperately needed. Few Saiya-jins had ever even been exposed to a child this young before. Their habit of growing infants in tanks and then sending them off to strange worlds prevented any attachment they might otherwise have had. It was completely detached, business-like, military. It was Saiya-jin.

 

Needless to say, Zarbon was the closest thing to a true parent Trunks had left on the planet.

 

The child had been disturbingly quiet since the death of his mother. Not that he'd ever been fussy. But now it was as if the young Heir had given up hope too. Zarbon looked in the boy's eyes and could only see a reflection of his own misgivings.

 

Having reached the door to Vegeta's suite, Zarbon stopped and composed himself. None of the Saiya-jins showed any physical sign that they were mourning the loss of their King. But he wasn't a Saiya-jin, and none of them knew what he did. None of them knew exactly what Vegeta would have had to do to Ascend.

 

Two days had passed since the horrible events on Freeza's ship and somewhere deep in the recesses of himself, Zarbon knew what must have happened. Freeza didn't return to destroy the planet as they'd all feared, but Vegeta hadn't returned victorious either. After all the research he'd done, he could only come to one tragic conclusion. The Saiya-jin no Ou had finally discovered how to Ascend. And while Freeza was dead, Vegeta had sacrificed himself to save them all.

 

He opened the door and stepped into the room. The light from the hallway cast shadows on the furniture within, only a narrow band of light penetrating the complete darkness. Vegeta had always preferred his rooms dim.

 

Zarbon stiffly walked into the darkness and placed Vegeta's son face up on the bed. He'd grown enough to not be completely helpless if he were to turn over while lying on the large mattress. And his nap was long overdue.

 

Rather than lingering, Zarbon made his way over to the enormous bay windows and pulled back the black out curtains. The sky was dark, and through the glass he could see billions of stars flickering in alternating patterns. Occasionally a piece of Freeza's ship would burn its way across sky, finally drawn down from orbit by the planet's enormous gravity. A team had already been launched to retrieve the ship's core before it struck planet side and destroyed the whole system.

 

Radditz had been extremely thorough when completing his final mission. None of them knew his whereabouts. It would have been suicide for him to return to Vegeta-sei anyway. He'd practically orchestrated the whole mess with Freeza. It didn't matter that the planet and Heir had been saved. To Saiya-jins, ends never justified the means. Unless they involved intergalactic conquest.

 

Zarbon turned away from the window and sat at Vegeta's desk, noticing the rhythmic flashing of the red light that indicated there was a new message. He stared at the screen. Well, Vegeta certainly wasn't going to be reading it. He opened the console and it blinked to life almost immediately, a message on display. Tapping the touch screen with his index finger, Zarbon sat back and waited for the video to play.

 

~~~~~~~<(((((|||)))))>~~~~~~~

 

“If you're watching this, don't even think about stopping me,” started Vegeta's voice as he appeared on the view screen, “I've already left planet side and am decided on what has to be done.

 

“By now you know that Freeza will not stop until he destroys all of us. I am not foolish enough to believe that after I die his thirst for Saiya-jin blood will be sated.”

 

Zarbon leaned back in his chair.

 

“I'm going to his ship to deliberate terms of battle, Zarbon. The palace personnel have already been informed of how you volunteered to plant yourself on Freeza's ship as a spy. They know you were sent to bring down the true traitor and retrieve my mate and the Heir. They will not harm you when you return.” He paused, as if his next statement was difficult.

 

“Zarbon,” Vegeta stared directly at him through the screen, “there are some things you may not know about the changes that have been happening on Vegeta-sei. Primarily, my part in how Bulma arrived here. And secondly, how I arrived here. Or at least the altered personality you've been experiencing for the past several months.”

 

What?

 

“That's right, Zarbon, Bulma and I are both from Chikyuu.” Vegeta let his words sink in.

 

Zarbon stared at the screen and blinked.

 

How in the hell...?

 

“In our dimension, Bulma and I became bonded by accident during the Khon'daia na. She absorbed half of my energy while I was meditating and an irrevocable link was formed between us.

 

“While I may be from a different dimension than the Prince Vegeta you have watched grow, most of our personality traits are the same. You can therefore imagine how I responded to the news of our bond. The idea of it sickened me. I even contemplated killing her. But I couldn't. Given no other choice, we performed the rituals necessary to solidify the bond.

 

“The same strange attachment that kept me from killing the onna prevented me from leaving outright. But when she got between me and what I thought was my destiny, I decided I needed to take action.

 

“Ironically, Bulma's father is the president of the very same Capsule Corp Freeza encountered on Earth in this dimension. The old man is equally as brilliant as his daughter. Together, we'd been working on a temporary time travel device for over a year. You see, in my dimension, Vegeta-sei, not Chikyuu, was destroyed by Freeza. I thought that if I could go there, aid in battle, I would be able to change something, anything about my miserable fate on Earth. I could have my planet back, my people, my destiny. Fuck, I could just get away.” He scowled.

 

“Unfortunately, I was overly confident in the device and chose to do the preliminary testing on myself rather than using a probe. After Bulma went to sleep one night, I decided to try it out, thinking that I could easily return to our own planet before she woke.

 

“The next thing I remember was being in the royal courtyard on Vegeta-sei, confused about how I'd gotten there, the place between my shoulder blades searing. Somehow my consciousness must have fused with your Vegeta's upon arrival. The only part of the true me that remained was the burn mark on my back, the symbol of my bond with Bulma.

 

“I didn't think she was going to follow me,” he said, his displeasure evident. “The only explanation I can come to is that she must have found my body before the transfer was complete and been sucked into the field herself.

 

“I've attached a copy of the specs for the time travel device. You must give these to her. Of course, being who she is, she knows about interdimensional travel already,” Vegeta grunted indignantly, “but she can escape much faster if all she has to do is assemble the equipment.”

 

Vegeta stared at the camera in a moment of silence.

 

“I do not expect to return. But I don't expect that bastard Freeza to return either. Don't wait for me. Bulma's safety and the safety of the Heir...” He trailed off, some alien emotion choking his words. “Zarbon, they don't belong here.

 

“For everything you have done, thank you.” Vegeta smiled sadly in a very un-Saiya-jin way.

 

Zarbon stared at the frozen face of the man he'd sworn fealty to. He ran a shaky hand through his long hair as the video feed went blank and equipment specs flashed up on the screen. He'd been right all along.

 

~~~~~~~<(((((|||)))))>~~~~~~~

 

A few systems away, Vegeta's body floated aimlessly through asteroid laden space, his form motionless. The battle suit he'd been wearing was torn beyond recognition, a few scraps of material and breastplate barely clinging to the contours of his body.

 

Lingering on the brink of unconsciousness, Vegeta watched numbly as nearby asteroids collided. They were all that remained of the planet and moon; a reminder of the battle he'd barely escaped with his life.

 

The Saiya-jin King still didn't know how he'd done it.

 

Freeza had been intent on sending Vegeta to whatever hell was awaiting him. The radius of the ki sphere he'd planned to use was larger than the small moon. And then something had happened. Some unknown beast within him had stirred and stretched against his body until it felt like his skin could barely contain it. It burst from him with golden light and a self knowledge he'd been lacking for years. The Saiya-jin no Ou had Ascended.

 

Now, floating around in space and contemplating everything that had happened, he almost wished he had died. He wished he hadn't been so powerful, but only powerful enough to stop Freeza. Maybe then he could escape the numbness that so thoroughly consumed him. His link with Bulma was completely severed, and keeping track of even the most fleeting thought was a trial.

 

He stared down at the hands that had defeated the most powerful being in the known universe and didn't feel anything.

 

Was this what his father had felt after his mother's death? Was this what had driven him so mad that he'd auctioned off his son to an evil tyrant? No, it couldn't have been. He could never do that to Trunks. Not even after this terrible pain consumed him. He could never abandon their child—his only link left to the woman he...

 

Vegeta stirred, regathering the parts of himself that remained. He needed to return to Vegeta-sei and attend to the Heir. No doubt Zarbon was taking care of him, but he needed to see Trunks for himself. He needed to know that everything that happened wasn't just a dream.

 

He powered up, hair suddenly golden, and opened piercing blue eyes.

 

Finding the trigger within himself came more easily now. There was no need to force it. That was what had been the problem all along. Ascension wasn't something that could be forced, it was more like breathing, the act of allowing the power to fill him. It was simultaneously a complete self knowledge and sacrifice of self. It was the hardest lesson he'd ever learned.

 

He flexed his fingers, clenching and unclenching them, allowing himself to revel in the sensation of overwhelming power. It was unlike anything he'd ever felt before—pure and alive.

 

But it wasn't what he'd been searching for all this time. It wasn't what he needed.

 

Glowing with the awesome power of the Legendary, Vegeta pictured his home planet and blinked out of sight.

 

~~~~~~~<(((((|||)))))>~~~~~~~

 

Vegeta-sei rotated steadily as its monarch floated miles above the atmosphere, waiting for the largest continent to come into view. He waited patiently, in no rush to return to the palace and the responsibilities that were facing him there.

 

The King sank down into the upper atmosphere, the moisture from gathering clouds beading on his bronze skin. All was quiet in the forest when he finally touched ground. The birds around him had silenced, sensing a nearby predator.

 

Not wanting to alert the other Saiya-jin warriors of his presence, Vegeta powered down, caging the beast within him. It paced in the background of his mind, unhappy about being locked away once again. He took a calming breath, and the beast slowly faded to little more than a memory that he could access at will.

 

The grass felt soft against his bare feet, and he paused briefly to remove the tattered remains of his battle armor. It fell to the ground with a soft clank and he walked on, moving carefully through the brush that would lead him to the royal gardens.

 

He could sense his son's ki. It was strong and lacking any form of distress. He didn't even bother trying to sense Bulma's ki signature, he already knew where to find her. The knot in his chest tightened.

 

Pushing the last branch to the side, Vegeta gazed upon the royal palace. The waves of the great lake broke against the cliff it was perched on, and the red sky reflected across the water's surface. It was a sight he'd seen a thousand times, but now it didn't move him. The palace only represented the embodiment of the reasons he'd come here. Those reasons seemed meaningless now.

 

He padded along, slowly making his way up the rocky hill. The gardens were in bloom and despite everything that had been going on, the gardeners obviously hadn't been neglecting their duties. Flowers were abundant and their fragrance perfumed the air with the spicy scent he could only attribute to Vegeta-sei.

 

Once close enough to be seen from the palace walls, Vegeta flickered out of sight again, materializing just inside the abandoned part of the castle. He was surprised to find that no one was on guard duty. They had gone lax, assuming their greatest threat, Lord Freeza, was never returning. He was suddenly angry. Complacency was never acceptable. And his son still needed protection. If he could enter the palace so easily, so could others. He would kill for this oversight.

 

The Saiya-jin no Ou stalked down the hallway, keeping to the deep shadows the flickering torch light provided. They'd never bothered updating the technology on this side of the palace, but he found the shadows and roughness of the architecture suited him while in this particular mood. Met by the last heavy wooden door, Vegeta phased to the hallway beyond. The lights were brighter here, fluorescent, and he could no longer smell the greasy torches that had lit his way through the dungeons. He'd finally made it to the more modern palace proper.

 

In this part of the palace he was very near the climate control equipment and he could hear the gentle hum of the gravity machinery. The royal and medical wings were still set curiously at 1 g.

 

Vegeta wiped at his face, trying to clear off some of the dirt and dust particles as well as clear his mind. He looked down at his filthy hands and contemplated showering before proceeding onto his next task. But the thought was only very fleeting, an excuse to postpone the inevitable.

 

The medical wing was also abandoned when he got there. Though the small hospital was only for Saiya-jin royalty, there had always been a doctor and a few techs rummaging around or working on paperwork. A few pieces of medical equipment beeped and the automatic lights started to blink on as the motion detectors sensed him. He called out to the computer, dimming the lights. His eyes were still sensitive after being in the dark expanse of space for so long.

 

Bulma's form floated limply in the fluid-filled regen tank. The back lighting made everything within a ten foot radius glow blue, including her naked body. Her skin was remarkably unmarred. Glancing at the attached medical display, Vegeta realized it was turned off. Her vital signs were no longer of any importance at this stage.

 

He hadn't realized how long her hair had gotten while they were trapped on Vegeta-sei, and he watched as it floated around her in slow, undulating patterns, giving her the illusion of a halo.

 

How many months had they been here? How many months had he carelessly endangered her life? Was this the price he had to pay to finally discover his destiny? Given the choice, he decided he didn't want it anymore. He didn't want anything if it meant losing her.

 

Taking one last shaky breath, he walked up and placed his calloused hand against the glass, blinking back some alien emotion. He stood there, motionless, his eyes downcast, and pressed his forehead against the tank.

 

Vegeta?

 

Her voice was weak, barely an echo of a sound. He brushed it aside as an inopportune memory and screwed his eyes shut even tighter, grimacing. Had he finally snapped? Was he finally going crazy? He didn't think he could stand being haunted by her for the rest of his life.

 

Vegeta...

 

He felt something within him wake with a start. If this was a memory, it was a damned persistent one. Unable to do anything but hope, Vegeta opened his eyes a peered through the murky fluid of the tank.

 

Bulma's eyes were open.