LAST "HOPE"
I wrote this ficlet, many years ago when I first started watching DBZ. It's based from one of my first fanfics about Vegeta & Bra's relationship. This was a writing exercise to relieve my writer's block. Though I've lost the original fanfic, these words are what remain.
LAST "HOPE"
By: Yashy M.
Tired from the wander of traveling. Tired from the long search for "hope" in the deep dark emptiness. The light of the stars was the only comfort he seek for. Yet he wished for more, a single sight more. But he received none just complete solitude. He let drop the heavy burden of his eyelids quickly falling into a light slumber. Sub-conscience remembering once being in a world in the growth of great honor and pride, seeing it crash to painful disgrace to defeat, ironically in the end reaching pure happiness. All faded in one breath as quick as it had come and gone. Nevertheless, leaving behind the imprint of its aura, powerful and fresh still in his mind. The worlds that once were washed away changing to an image of a familiar face. It was too blurred to make out her features but he was sure that he had seen her before, many times before. He neared the shadowy figure this time close enough to see her face. The blue streaks of hair flowing in the wind and the immense depths of her blue eyes that seemed to hypnotize him into a baffling spell. How could he forget those eyes, those spellbinding eyes? She was turned sideways not gazing in his direction. As he neared, her attention turned towards him. He saw the grief that reflected in her eyes not the undying fire he knew lay beneath. He wanted no grief, he wanted that mighty burning fire he could never turn from. Not wanted…needed.
Rising from the layers of sleep, he looked around him confused at first. Recognition slowly sinking in awaking to the tranquil stir of his vessel. Alone again…were he did not want to be. He'd seen her again, the one victor that had captured his inner seal and claimed it for keeps. But five years he had not lay eyes upon hers. Five long dreadful years of pain and suffering, having more than he could bear. He reached the rings of a new world's atmosphere landing smoothly on its clear shores. This was the only "hope" he had left—the only "hope" that kept him going day in and day out. A world yet not touched of extermination like his world had. A place where he would no longer lose himself in a blind of remorse.
Stepping a few feet from his ship, he closed his eyes trying to detect his last "hope", making out the very few hints of ki that scoured about. Gradually, the minutes passed till finally he felt what he had been searching for. A stream of light surrounded his body as he leaped into the air heading for the direction of his "hope". He increased his speed his chest filling with a feeling that barely surfaced anymore. Stopping at the base of a worn down entranceway, he released a shallow breath before proceeding any further. His feelings became so fervor to retrieve his lost hope, the last trace of his world of pure happiness.
He raised a strong fist to the wooden door. Not having a chance to strike the wooden surface, the door flew open. The sight before him made his heart leap up to his throat. The young girl's face that now stood before him changed from unforgettable loss to the simplest of joy. Illusions of the small child he'd seen grow from birth poured through his mind as the young girl hesitated before leaping into his strong waiting arms.
"Poppa!" She began to sob into his chest tightening his grip on her for all the emotions that overflowed them. The sooth of his pains finally calmed. Only pure relief and joy rose to the top. One solid tear slid down his cheek as his insides tighten with emotion. "I…I'd…" the shaking of her shoulders grew almost uncontrollable along with her rising sobs. He couldn't bare it any longer as one soft sob escaped his lips. He dropped down to his knees still holding their embrace tighter than before. For all the power he possessed, all the power of the universe he could not let go even if he wanted to at that moment of time. A few moments passed in still silence. Only her quieting sobs echoed in the moonlight's glow.
"I've come for you at last, my child." He ran a hand through her long strands of blue hair so much like her mother's. Her face tilted up to glace at him a smile shining through her tears. He found he had begun to smile too. A real smile, something he had not done so many years ago. She clung to him as if all her life's strength would drain if she let go.
His last" hope", his remaining kin, the child he had grown to cherish and adore.
She held on to his broad shoulders as he carried her into the mouth of the ship. He reached the small sleeping quarters no longer feeling empty and abandoned. He laid her on one of the cots.
"Sleep my Bra-chan, tomorrow we head back, where you belong," he gently stroked the side of her wet cheek wiping her tears away.
"I missed you, poppa." She shut her weary eyes.
"Me too," Vegeta whispered, "me too."
END
Vegeta, Bra, DBZ © Akira Toriyama