Disclaimer : I don't own any parts of Dragon Ball series, save for the parts I make for this story.
How trite it is to say you feel like the world around you is crumbling away in this universe full of monsters. But the triteness becomes a bottomless pit of despair that can not be filled by anything when it is your world that's crumbling.
A bottomless pit of despair, that was exactly what Vegeta was feeling like having it in the stomach. The news of Planet Vegeta's destruction had a enough impact to shock the prince. It was especially harsh for the young prince who had been forced to join the Planet Trade Organization as a hostage to assure Saiyans' loyalty to the newly crowned emperor when Cold passed his crown down to Frieza.
It didn't matter if Vegeta had a power level of the over 10,000 the moment he was born. He could fight, yes, better than any other decent Mid-Class warriors, but it didn't mean he could withstand the abuse Frieza and his elite forces rained down to him wholly intact. Loudmouth, prideful personality of his didn't help either. What let him endure it was a promised future for him to leave PTO behind for the throne of Planet Vegeta and a lesson the Queen and Sage Parsla bestowed upon him about Warrior's Pride.
Don't hesitate to repay the favor and spite anyone dishes out to you when the chance comes.
Become strong to the strong and weak to the weak. Becoming weak to the weak means to have mercy upon the weak, for mercy is a privilege the only truly strong may give to the weak.
And most importantly, survive to the last to build up your own strength and win eventually against all odds. You must select the battlefield you will fight carefully.
Vegeta had held on to those, keeping his head down as much as his pride allowed. He had continued to survive, gaining favors for repaying favors and spites for spites from various members of PTO and Galactic Patrol secretly. Sometimes, he survived only because of favors he had earned from low-rank soldiers and technicians and pencil pushers in PTO who lied through their teeth to lessen the brunt of his punishment when Zarbon was about to beat the living light out of him for his defiance.
Nappa, who followed Vegeta around since he had been sent by King Vegeta, was a very proud Saiyan bodyguard whenever he reported prince's development to the king and the queen.
But now, with the destruction of Planet Vegeta and almost all Saiyans' demise, all hopes to escape Frieza's claw was lost.
Cheelai, who hunted down them just to make sure Vegeta was safe, fidgeted after delivering the news.
"For what's worth, I'm sorry."
Nappa closed his eyes in the dazed astonishment standing barely upright.
Vegeta sighed and found his voice after a moment.
"…...Thank you, Cheelai, for finding us to update me."
Cheelai saw a reignited fire in his spirit from his posture.
"You are thinking something up, aren't you?" asked Cheelai.
"You'd better not to know." answered Vegeta.
"My prince?" Nappa fixed his gaze at him, "Is there anything we can do?"
'Is there a hope for Saiyans?'was what he truly wanted to ask.
"Yes, there is." nodded Vegeta, "I don't know if it will do any good, but I have a thought."
He crossed his arms, grim faced.
"But first, you need to leave from here immediately, Cheelai. Everything will go to hell and fast, you will not want to get caught into it."
"What are you going to do?"
He shook his head.
"I told you, you'd better not to know."
"Oh-kay…," she dragged the word out, backing away slowly, "it IS some serious shit, I get it. Good luck, then."
Taking the eyes off of the running girl, Nappa knelt before the prince.
"What's your bidding, Prince Vegeta? What's your plan?"
He was desperate for the prince's order and the guidance it would provid.
His life's mission was to protect the royal family. But the king was gone. The homeworld was gone. Only the prince remained. He was so lost that he was clinging to the last royal blood who was way younger than him.
Instead of explaining, Vegeta tapped the scouter. Nappa understood what it meant at once and smashed his own scouter with a small ki-blast.
Deadpanned, Vegeta just took out the battery in his scouter. Nappa hid his sheepishness with a shrug.
"It is Frieza that destroyed our homeworld." Vegeta answered Nappa's previous question.
"What?! But, but…...!"
Nappa stopped voicing his doubt, for he recalled Frieza's direct order to assemble all Saiyans in Planet Vegeta a month ago. Vegeta had disobeyed the order, making him groan inwardly and worry the aftermath the prince would inevitably face. He had thought it to be his usual defiance. But now he came to think of it, the prince had never once disobeyed the direct order from Frieza until then.
"You, you knew…...?"
"No." frowned Vegeta, "I had my doubt, but it was too fragile to bring up to father. I suspect it from the manner Frieza reigns his forces in when they step out of line to punish me. He had subtly aided and abetted their arbitrariness when he should have intervened. I am the hostage to ensure we Saiyans' obedience; it wouldn't do any good for him to drive us to rebel. However, if it were his intention all along, if he wanted us to rebel to give him the excuse for our extermination, it made perfect sense."
"But why does he want us gone?" Nappa gritted his teeth, "We followed his orders, answered his whims and conquered worlds for him. What does he gain from this betrayal!"
"That, I don't have a clue." closed his eyes, Vegeta massaged the bridge of the nose, "Nonetheless, we must make the rest of our race that survived to escape from Frieza's forces."
When he opened the eyes, it held piercing glints of the thirst for vengeance.
Nappa knew that gleam. He had seen it long time ago when King Vegeta had been plotting to bring Tuffles to the ground. It was the guiding light he had followed gladly and never regretted it, the same light that now Prince Vegeta wielded showing the rocky way for Saiyans to brave through.
To the rocky way that led them to the eventual victory.
Vegeta's voice woke Nappa up from the daydream.
"Set the coordinate of Attack Balls for the outskirt of the galaxy. We must go as far as we can to escape his orbit."
"What about the escape order, Your Highness? Do we have a means of transmitting it?"
Vegeta smirked and showed him a microchip.
"PTO will do it for me."
Nappa looked at the scouter which Vegeta was about to put the battery back in, and laughed out loud.
"Oh, how ingenious of you!"
"No, how ingenious of Queen."
At THAT comment, Nappa stumbled on his way for their Attack Balls.
"Do you mean to say Queen Parsla knew it, too?!"
"She knew," amused, Vegeta snorted, "and survives, ranting up a storm in my head about Frieza's uncivilized patchwork of an annihilation operation."
Nappa let out of a croak, almost choking.
"What."
Vegeta started losing his smirk, catching on his own word.
"Well, it turns out it is inevitable for us to face the ruination? Since the day King Vegeta profaned Lord Beerus for a pillow?"
"What?"
"And my mother is the first Saiyan wizard? Neat, isn't it?"
"What!"
The prince spat out the next speech with a streak of panic.
"My thought, exactly! But she's telling me this now. Why telling me this now? Why not before, MUCH sooner than this crap!"
Nappa calmed down all at once and shoot him a wary glance.
"…Are you feeling alright? It's not a good sign for your mental health hearing a dead woman."
His calm was shattered, however, when he heard it, too.
《"He's quite alright, dear guard. I was sparing the surprise for your beating heart's sake."》
"…...Oh."
He promptly fainted.
Vegeta shouted at him, kicking him up the ass.
"It's not a big shock enough to pass out, you moron!"