by Talisha Hibdon
Author note: This is an excerp taken from my much larger Alternate Universe fanfiction (which I have not posted yet) and I thought it be a cute little bit to post up now to get me started on Fanfiction.net. The characters are not mine but are Toriyama-sama's, although I wish I could take Vegeta home with me and lock him up in my bedroom (though he'd probably just blow it up ¬.¬ ). Please feel free to review!
P.S. This may explain how Trunks got his sword (ignoring the movie, of course).
A malicious grin spread wide over those painted lips before hideous laughter erupted from the depths of his being just as the ki orb was expanding on his finger tip. The hundreds of soldiers looked at this sight with terror. Only one looked on with rage and accusation in his onix eyes. The orb of death was now moving towards them, slowly but leaving no room for escape for anyone.
"Yes... I understand now..." Bardock whispered into space, eyes blinded by the energy of Frieza's planet destroyer. His son, with the strength and power of the Super Saiya-jin, would destroy Frieza and appease the spirits of his whole race and all other races who had suffered at his merciless hand. He smiled triumphantly as he felt the energy burn into his skin. My son.. lives on..
"KAKAROTTO!"
The ground trembled and the rosy sky darkened to blood black. Saiya-jins and aliens alike looked up in horror at the gargantuan ball of energy coming down from the heavens like an attack from God. Screams rang out. Low class and elitists alike threw up their heads in a howl of rage. They all knew who was the cause of their coming deaths. They vowed to not let their souls rest until the white devil lay dead at the feet of a Saiya-jin.
King Vegeta stood on the uppermost tower of his imperial fortress, looking with an unwavering gaze at their impending doom. His face was angry, like it had always been, but now his eyes were sad and tired. The spark of life had already left them.
"I.. have failed.." the last King spoke with the softest voice he had ever allowed himself to use. "I pray the Eternal Saiya-jin will forgive me.." He then closed his eyes and an image of his son appeared in his mind's eye, a welcomed last sight. "Goodbye, my son. My son. Live on. No matter what, live on!"
The explosion could be seen from many star systems away. It was like a twinkling red star, shining it's brightest before it's death. And even from that distance, Frieza's laughter could be heard from every corner of space.
The guardian was watching over the blue planet called Earth when a small tremble of energy touched the back of his mind, speaking a disturbance in the universe. Kami shivered and looked away from the Earth towards the space surrounding the planet he watched over. He could just see the red planet that was like a ruby in the sky wink out.
He took in a deep breath and sighed sadly. The Saiya-jins had at last met their final destiny. Though they had been a terror to the galaxy for the past couple of decades, he still felt a swell of sorrow and pity for the race. They had been a proud and great people, only to be oppressed, used, and destroyed by the greatest tyrant in the universe. He prayed with all his heart that someday, someone would end the horror and avenge every one of his victims.
"Prince Vegeta?" the speaker on the young boy's scouter came online. Vegeta grumbled a reply, irritated at having his lunch interrupted. "We're sorry to disturb you, but I have terrible news."
"What is it?" Vegeta spat, annoyed that he wasn't getting right to the point. Bodies upon bodies surrounded the clearing where he sat.
"Y-yes sir." The voice took in a sharp breath. "An asteroid collided with Planet Vegeta a few hours ago and was destroyed. Everyone, including your father the King, was killed in the explosion."
".. Oh.." Vegeta swallowed his food slowly. A cold sweat ran down his forehead and his stomach clenched tight, making him want to vomit up the food he had previously found so delicious. His voice did not waver but was only quiet as he spoke again. "Are you sure?"
"Yes sir. I'm sorry to say, but you and a select few are the last of your kind. Lord Frieza sends his personal condolences and deepest regrets."
"Oh..." was all Vegeta could say after a moment.
"W-would you like to send a reply?" the voice over the intercom asked wryly. Vegeta was still for a moment. "Price Vege-"
"No. No reply," Vegeta said at last. The speaker clicked off abruptly - the person on the other line probably was afraid of what the last Prince of the Saiya-jin race might threaten to do. Vegeta felt numb as he stood and walked over towards his ship. He didn't even take notice of Nappa as he suddenly dropped from the sky right next to him.
"V-Vegeta..." Nappa trailed off, eyes wide with shock. Obviously he received the message as well. Not that Vegeta really cared at this point what his body guard thought of anything. All he wanted to do now was leave. He glanced at the bodies of all the people he had killed for Frieza before climbing into his ship without a word and setting the coordinates. The door closed on planet Rame, on Nappa's dumbfounded expression. Soon he felt his ship being propelled through space, towards the location of a planet he had not visited in almost two years. But that planet wouldn't be there when he arrived.
The boy stared blankly out his window as planets and stars blurred past, the message repeating over and over again in his head. Asteroid collided with Vegeta-sei. Asteriod. Collided. Yes, and that asteroid's name was Frieza. Frieza...
Soon he saw the star system where his home world was supposed to be and he felt his heart pound painfully in his young chest. And even sooner did he see a chunk of red earth flying past his ship. Vegeta-sei's earth had been red, as red as it's beautiful midday sky. His ship dove further into the floating meteorites and asteroids, his mouth running dry at the sight.
Suddenly something caught his eye. One of the biggest asteroids, about the size of a small moon, had something still standing on it. It looked like part of a building. Vegeta steered his ship to land on the asteroid, the computer telling him it had some atmosphere and it would enable him to breath.
When he felt his ship crash on the asteroids surface, he just sat there for a moment. He dreaded opening the door and seeing with his own two eyes the destruction, but he knew he had to do it. At last, taking hold of his father's sword that he had left in the ship earlier, he opened the door and stepped out. The air was thin, just enough to breath with, but it still smelt of smoke and dirt. He walked a few yards and looked around him. Pieces of his planet - HIS planet - flew into endless space around him. His black eyes fell on the piece of structure that he had noticed still standing on it earlier. His boot clad feet took him towards it for a closer look.
It was part of a columned archway - probably an entrance to one of the gardens the servants kept for the King - that was only standing on one column as the other half had been blown away. A piece of a wall was sticking up right next to it and he immediately recognized the image on it. King Vegeta's painted features stared out at him, once proud looking but now looking like a sad, angry glare. Half of his face had been broken off and all he could see was his black aged eye and his bearded mouth.
"Father..." Vegeta's little voice called out quietly. At last it had finally sunk in. His home, his father, everything he had let himself care about, was gone. Frieza had broken his promised and killed them all. That he knew for sure. Vegeta held up his father's sword to his gaze, breathing hard, and remembered how grand his father had looked with it at his hips, a symbol of his heritage rather than a weapon of war. Vegeta looked up at his father again, opened his mouth and threw back his head in a long scream of lose and rage. His voice echoed off the other rocks and earth floating by, as if the whole of his race were reverberating his angry shrieks.
The boy fell to his knees before his father's one eye and he felt his heart die and ice cover it, numbing it. He didn't cry but clutched the sword to his body, not caring that it was cutting into his flesh. Nothing mattered anymore. His father, his whole world, was dead. Everything he had done, all the bowing and scrapping, all the killing and carnage, it had not been enough to satisfy the white devil. He had killed him anyway. His eyes were unseeing and his mind was unheeding as darkness swallowed him whole and he knew nothing more.
The Last Saiya-jin Prince didn't know how long he had sat there under his father's image, little body hunched over his father's sword, the only thing of his past he had left. It could have been two hours or two years for all he cared. But at last he felt some feeling return to his body he looked up at the stars. They held no more appeal to him as they had when he was a small child. All he wanted now was his home, but it was something he would never have again.
Vegeta stood up at last and looked at himself. In spite of how much he had denied it before, he was still just a young boy and needed a father. Who else was going to teach him the things he needed to know in life. It was now up to him to teach himself and to remember what his father had had the chance to tell him while he was still alive.
Never forget who you are...
He was Vegeta, last Prince of the Saiya-jin race, born to be King of his race and planet, prophesied to become the Legendary Super Saiya-jin, descendant of the Eternal Saiya-jin himself.
Keep your heart strong and your mind open...
He would never allow himself to feel anything for anyone ever again. If he cared for something it would only get destroyed. He would keep himself at a distance from everyone. Nothing will effect him so there will be no weakness in his heart. And he would listen and learn.
Respect those who are stronger than you are and learn from them...
He would never respect Frieza, but he would continue to learn from him and become stronger, so that one day...
Train very hard...
If he trained enough, if he became strong enough, someday he would be able to bring Frieza, that tyrant that had destroyed so many lives, down to his knees. And then, with all his Saiya-jin strength and glory, he would kill him and avenge his people.
Try to be the best at everything you do...
He would become the greatest fighter in the universe and show everyone the strength of the Saiya-jin race so that it would be remembered and talked about a thousand years hence when his kind were long gone.
The little boy looked at his father's sword again. He couldn't take the kingship now, not yet. So the sword could not be his. He looked up at his father's eye again and allowed himself to smile sadly, something he had never let anyone see, and walked towards the archway. It was at that time he noticed something very peculiar. It was a piece of cloth - something a low class soldier would posses - dyed red. Without really knowing why, he grabbed it and looked at it closely. It actually had been white once but was now completely red with blood, Saiya-jin blood as he could tell by the smell. He gripped it in his fist and grit his teeth.
When he could control himself again, he tied that cloth to the hilt of the sword - it seemed like the right thing to do. Whether it had been a low class soldier's blood or an elite's, all of them had been equal in death. Then, lifting up the sword that was taller than he was, he brought it down into the rock and earth that had once been a part of Vegeta-sei, sheathing it in the ground. It stood there under the arch, next to his father's image, trembling as much as he was.
"There, Father," he spoke aloud to his spirit, hoping he would listen. "I have returned the sword. I can't take it now. I hope you can forgive me. I should have died with you, but I will use my life to do everything a Saiya-jin Prince should. I will get stronger and use my strength to avenge you and our people. And then I'll come back to this spot and take the sword again... when I've earned it."
Vegeta then turned and walked back towards his ship without another glance at the sword or his father's eye. Just as he climbed into it, however, he knelt down and grabbed a handful of red earth in his small hand. He dumped out all the contents of his little food pouch and slipped the earth inside. Then he climbed in, set the coordinates, and was gone with a blast. And he refused to look back.