Author's notes;; Right-oh kiddies, this is just something I've been dying to write lately, so finally I've at least got the first chapter out of my system (Hurrah!) Well technically it's just a prologue, but anyway. I'll only continue this providing I get decent feedback that requests I write more, otherwise I won't bother... actually, strike that, I'll write the next chapter THEN consider whether or not I should write more.
So yes, reviews please, I'd like lots of them :)
This is an Alternate Reality sort of plot; in which the Saiyan race isn't destroyed by Frieza, in fact nearly destroyed yet saved by something else, just to round it off anyway.
Oh by the way, it's also an OPTIONAL read, this chapter, if you want you can skip right through to the second part :3
Full Summary;; So Frieza didn't manage to destroy the Planet Vegeta, rather something destroyed him before he had the chance. Over the course of 15 long years, Prince Vegeta develops an obscure, somewhat closeted phobia of the thing that destroyed him; a wolfish Saiyan he had to play host to as a child and ended up suffering from it. 17 years after he ran away however, how on earth will he and Prince Vegeta manage when the mythical wolf-Saiyan makes his return to King Vegeta's castle?
Pairing(s);; None announced as of yet, I'll keep you guessing.
Disclaimer;; DBZ of course belongs to Akira Toriyama, however the character Kardok belongs to yours truly :)
OF WOLF AND MAN
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Prologue;; Your Time Has Come
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Two years it must have been now, two years since the whole incident that is. The small figure cast into the darkest shadows by the side of the balcony neighbouring his bedroom would stand arms in a fed-up knot across his chest, a heavy, harsh sigh to bubble up from his throat in the slight reminisce he'd caught himself up in as he graced his right arm with the sensation of his own fingers dancing across the cold skin. It wasn't a smooth texture on his right arm; however it was rough and rippled, then again, if you turned to take a look at it in full light it would appear that nothing was there, although the small boy knew there was something – that something was an accursed scar...
Oh yes, he remembered it all too clearly...
"You're nothing but a disgrace, mutt!" Came a child-like yell, from an equally child-like form. Yet another spat after another evening's training it seemed; it would appear neither one boy nor the other could recount the many times they'd bickered like the small, immature little boys they were, still, beneath the dim lights of the hallway they stood in, in the ominous, reddish glow it gave off as it reflected from the crimson walls, something seemed only too sinister about this bout of arguing.
"Why don't you just get lost, and never come back!" The same boy would cry out savagely again, seeing that no response came from the subject of his shouting; the small, midnight blue haired boy in the darker shadows, resting against the blood-coloured wall on his side, back to his aggressor. He didn't respond again, standing totally stagnant with his arms folded, yet in his stillness, you could just tell it wasn't going to stay that way, not this time.
Now with a few bangs of obsidian hair falling into his line of sight, the other boy still shouted on, that damned prince that couldn't just keep his thoughts to himself. Damn Vegeta "For what it's worth, I'd hope you die out there" He went on, even having the audacity to laugh and smirk at his own words, not knowing how downright hurtful they could be, of course this was a heartless boy we were talking about here, as if the prince of the Planet Vegeta gave a dead moose's last shit about other people's feelings. He just didn't.
Little did he know it would probably land him in a whole mess of trouble, and that's just what it did this time...
No warning came for what happened next; just the low whir in the air as the other previously still and silent boy whipped around came rocketing at the prince with a darkly red aura blazing in utter fury...
"GO TO HELL!" That was the only blood-curdling howl that came from the other as he lunged forth.
The smirk on the prince's face wasn't even given a chance to fade, the sudden onslaught of fiery fists and kicks came that fast and that hard; it was like getting beaten up by an inferno with arms and legs... and boy did it feel utterly agonizing as Vegeta soon found.
The blue-haired boy's fists repeatedly plunged into wherever on Vegeta's body that they could, causing the prince to retch and gag on the bubbling of blood and bile surging up into his throat, the punches were that hard. The prince couldn't even glance fearfully into this beast of a child's wolfish yellow eyes before he couldn't see anything at all, and the pain seemed to vanish.
The prince had passed out... To awaken an hour or so later in a pool of his own blood and his right arm ravaged – burnt to the third degree, and no culprit to this savagery to be found...
Guess that's what he got for being such a brat, such a horrible, discriminating little kid, then again, little kids didn't learn did they? Vegeta never was a wise one, and still, two years after that horrible incident, the young prince still treat some people like dirt, even after having seven shades of shit thrashed out of him by a boy of his own age that he presumed to be a weakling, he was still a horrible little brat. Just as well that the beastly child he knew before was gone, wasn't it? Since that terrible night, neither Vegeta, nor anyone else for that matter had seen anything of Kardok the Howler. The scar that the fiend left on the prince's arm left a painful memory and reminder of how nasty he really was though, still it was a reminder he never heeded.
The rough feel of his arm even brought forth a pang of remorse to shudder through his gut; part of him wished he wasn't so horrible to the little kid his father decided to take in after his parents died; true to form, if his father was accepting of the strange little kid, that was sign enough that he was worthy of Vegeta's acceptance too. But no, Vegeta didn't accept the child for who he was, for there was definitely something wrong with the boy, for a Saiyan, he was very odd. There were many characteristics that all Saiyans had that this one didn't. For starters, where on earth was the kid's tail? Well, he had a tail, just it was in no way a Saiyan's tail – it was sleek and black, the fur of it long and flowing, very unlike the usual Saiyan, monkey tail, this factor sort of made it clear how the kid didn't turn into anything at the full moon either, his form remaining the same humanoid way whilst everyone else turned to monstrous apes; now he thought about it, why did his father even accept the wolfish kid into their household?
His power, of course.
The wolfish boy, named Kardok did indeed embody an awesome power, for a child that was, even surpassing Vegeta's power to the prince's horror; that and, the boy's parents were indeed very respectable and powerful Saiyans, not to mention they were normal in terms of tail and transformation, unlike their unfortunate son.
When Vegeta thought about it, he was just being discriminatory because of how the little kid looked, he was totally fine bar the tail, and that's what threw the uppity prince off, and surprisingly, at times like these, the prince despised himself for it, because of that he'd have to live with this gruesome scar forever, and worse still, he couldn't seek revenge on Kardok for it, not that he'd get it – being honest with himself, Vegeta could admit he probably couldn't surpass the wolf-boy still, not that he could even find him anyway, since the whole incident, none of them had seen Kardok at all, it was like he'd vanished off the face of the earth. Some people just thought he killed himself, and in all honesty he had enough reason to, his life with Vegeta must have been miserable...
Since then, the boy had actually became a myth, a legend... Many had heard of him beforehand; being brought under the king's care despite being the way he was, he was bound to get massive publicity for it. However, after his departure from the King's domain, many people reported that they saw a small figure silhouetted against the bright light of the moon on the distant hills, howling... It was passed off as the figure being Kardok, the wolfish boy they all shunned taking refuge in the mountains with the stars as his only allies. That's also how the now legendary Saiyan gained his nickname too – The Howler.
No time to reminisce and regret though, that age of the Howling Saiyan was long gone, in Vegeta's eyes, that boy was dead.
Or so he'd liked to have believed anyway, although that night something horrific was to happen that would shake the young prince's world forever and shatter the very foundations of the Saiyan society...
The night air seemed to carry a strange feel to it, so the prince had soon noticed as he wandered the grounds of his father's vast castle anyway. He couldn't put his finger on it, but something seemed terribly amiss; he couldn't help but shake the sense while he gazed into the infinite cosmos, as if seeking some sort of answer within the stars themselves. Of course, no answer came, the only response came in the form of faint chatter out in the streets beyond the castle walls, however this was oddly raised chatter... Hm, something must have been going on between the masses, not that Vegeta cared anyway, nor did he care about this sense of impending doom either, he just couldn't seem to shake it as he scanned and examined each glimmer of light to beam down from the sky, each star... until his eyes fell upon the most peculiar sight.
Wasn't that Frieza's ship? It seemed bright enough, but hold, it was moving too fast across the sky, and not bright enough, rather far too luminous to be a ship, yet it was too large to be a star, what on earth was it? It streaked across the sky swiftly, yet slowly enough so it retained its prominence to watchful eyes from the ground; it was a mystifying sight indeed, for nobody had ever seen this star before, or that it didn't seem so distinguished amongst the myriad of neighbouring stars.
The longer Vegeta gazed, the less he seemed to remember where he was, he seemed entranced...
As did the rest of the spectating Saiyan population until a pure horror disrupted the paralleling beauty. In the dark of the night, off in the distance, the fearsome sight of blazing buildings could be seen, the shrieks and screams could be heard all over the globe as the inferno's tendrils seemed to snake across the urban skyline, setting everything ablaze, so fast that Vegeta didn't even know what hit him when he found the flames issuing forth towards his own form; they were after him...
He leapt into the air, instinctively enough and glared down to the wildfire tearing across his father's castle and surrounding grounds, and even beyond into the rest of the city. He was so vexed by it, where on earth had these flames come from? It all seemed so sudden and so violent, so destructive on its blazing path across the small globe; everywhere Vegeta looked, he could see vast seas of flame cloaking the previously illustrious steel utopia. A howl echoed through the air, causing the young prince's eyes to widen as he swivelled about in the air to look upon the beast that seemed to be causing all of this...
A blazing wolf was what he saw; its body pitch black with darkly flames licking out from its elbows, knees and ankles, the same fire burning all too furiously as its mane, as well as its colossal wings that pointed skywards, giving off an ominous light into the dark.
What are you? Nevermind fearing for his very life, all Vegeta could question was what on earth this thing was, little did he know that may well have been his last thought as the wolf shifted towards him, snarling. Vegeta was frozen right to the spot, this beast terrified him, and all he could think as the wolf neared was his final thoughts, those elegiac musings. Only 6-years-old and tonight he was to die.
Drawing in one final breath, the prince would jam his eyes tight shut, bracing himself for the burning pain to drench his small form, only to fall to the ground after one strike, no pain, no feeling, numb.
Was he dead...?