I know I am not a good person. Yet I'd begun to think that, perhaps, I am no longer an evil one either.
But while rage is neither good nor evil in itself, what malevolence can be shaped with its dormancy? To what end does an insidious core bide its time?
Years. That's how long I've been waiting for this chance.
That old obsession, the worm in my apple, brought to life once more – although he is not alive. I was made very clear of that fact by the halo over his head and the insufferable, familiar smile on his face, free of cares.
He arrived on a whim and stays for the danger looming over us. His time will run out all the same, no matter that I am becoming a spoke of the wheel that turns towards destruction.
What I've done is a calculated risk.
As the indescribable pain begins to ebb, transforming into raw strength, I know that I've weighed my odds against one another. Yet I also understand that I no longer care about this bet being in my favour or not.
I care nothing of what the god before me thinks I am, nothing for the self-righteous youth who was once a greater warrior than I, and certainly nothing for the fool of a man who will never give up daring to look me in the eye.
They, ever so quick to judge from their high-horse, are telling me to fight this. They don't realize I have always done so – but now, I am free from the suffocating constraints of their morality, of my own conflict.
The earth and craft around us are still once more, the echoes of my screams of anguish gone silent. I am crouched on the floor, wracked with the ache left behind but so very, very alive.
"Vegeta... It's okay, we're here," a familiar voice attempts to soothe. "We're going to help you get back to normal."
I hear him shift, and then another, softer voice halts him.
"No, stop – it's too late..." the god says.
I pull myself to my knees, and then to my feet, unfurling myself from the cocoon I'd made of my body. I can smell the fear and anxiousness of those present, proof of what I've beckoned forth from within.
The stigma on my forehead burns in anticipation and, unable to help myself, I laugh. It has been far too long since I experienced freedom such as this.
In the peripheral focus of my thoughts, I can hear the three persons in the room with me speaking to each other.
"Look at his head. It has an m on it like Dabura's!" the half-blood boy exclaims.
"The m is Babidi's insignia. Vegeta is the new recruit that Dabura was talking about!" the god replies.
Wanting to test myself, though I am already in my ascended form, I let my aura flex as it had done a minute ago. I'm curious about what extent my new powers can achieve.
"Are you saying that Vegeta's against us now?" the familiar fool asks. The god mutters a reply to him, and at that moment I bring my gaze up from the floor to meet theirs.
They gape at me, in awe, in trepidation, and then the room goes dark and I know that the wizard is transporting us somewhere else.
When the shadows clear, the brightness of an open sky and the din of a thousand onlookers blanket our senses. My former companions are caught off-guard, looking this way and that in clumsy movements as they take in their new surroundings. Our wizard has a sense of theatricality – we are situated in the centre of the tournament arena, lingering on the cracked pale tiles that held the contestants of what is but a children's game.
"E – excuse me, gentleman, but the championship has already been concluded," the blond announcer says from where he stands a few feet away from us. "You all look very strong, but I'm sorry. I guess there's always next year!"
"We're just here for a little exhibition match," I say to him, keeping my eyes trained beyond him. In the corner of my vision, I see the man hesitate, but in an abrupt change of demeanour he turns and notices Kakarot.
"Hey, Goku! I didn't see you back there," the announcer blurts, as if I were not standing right in front of him. Then, the man sets up a stride and makes as if he's about to walk past me, like I am no more than air.
When he crosses on my right side without so much as a glance, I realize that every bit of his audacity is intentional. He – like everyone else – cares only for the precious poster boy Kakarot.
"You and your friends have arrived a little too late," the spokesman continues to Kakarot, oblivious to me as my ki spikes.
The hapless human, as well as the other weaklings on the platform, are blown away as I raise my energy with a cry of frustration. The sickening creatures are so blissfully unaware of their own frailty, even as they are scattered like dead leaves across the battleground.
I smile when their startled screams reach my ears, only for the sounds to be overtaken by a powerful, grating voice in my head. With it comes an impulse the likes of which I have never felt before.
"Vegeta, this is your new master Babidi speaking. It's time for you to have a little fun. You can start by killing your friends!" the wizard's words sear in my awareness.
The order jolts through me, along with a feeling that is my own, and I decide I dislike this command.
"I won't. My goal is to fight Kakarot. The – the others are nothing," I tell Babidi out loud, though I am unsure if anyone else can hear his voice. I struggle to speak the words; it seems controlling my own will under the magician is a greater task than I'd thought.
As I regain my willpower from the temporary slip, I hear Kakarot plead from several feet behind me.
"Vegeta. How could you?" he says.
When I turn to face him, I see everyone, including the Supreme Kai, cowering behind him.
I take one good look at Kakarot's boorish, dewy-eyed and disappointed expression and it's enough to rekindle the rage in my heart.
Taking a firm stance, I raise my arm and point a solitary finger at him, accusatory. I was going to get what I was owed, and I had no qualms about beating it from him if he refused to combat me by choice.
"It's time, Kakarot," I threaten, watching him for a moment before I close my fist, reshaping it into a palm from which I can fire attacks.
Kakarot's eyes widen as he understands. "Vegeta, no!" he cries, aware of the danger going ahead with this would present. I am aware of the danger too, and I don't care.
I chuckle to myself as I can almost see the cogs – what few he has – turning in Kakarot's head as he scrambles to come up with words to stop me. Before he can utter a thing, I summon a burst of energy to my extended hand and fire the scorching blast at point-blank. He throws his arms up to defend himself.
Instead of cutting off the beam, I send a continuous stream of energy into it, pushing Kakarot back. His boots slide on the tiles as he maintains a desperate shield to prevent the attack from going awry, into any bystanders. I knew he wouldn't risk such a thing, but then again, he isn't hard to predict. Dead or alive, he does not fear pain.
When Kakarot reaches a point where he refuses to budge any more, I let out a yell and put more force into the onslaught, resuming his path backwards at a faster rate.
In a final moment of desperate resignation, he somersaults from the beam's trajectory, sending the energy careening towards the balconies.
Gohan's nearby cry of horror soon blends with that of the onlookers. The humans have mere nanoseconds to comprehend what is about to happen as they, and everything for almost a mile behind them, is vaporized in the massive blaze of my attack.
A smoke plume and a swath of twisted metal and earth is all that's left as the glow fades.
My eyes graze over my handiwork, admiring the now absent chunk of the tournament stands and the vapour cloud that obstructs the sky behind it. It's been an eternity since I have allowed myself to indulge in such destructive urges and not feel a thing.
Sparks of energy crackle around me, my body humming with the mere sip of potential I allowed it. While I bask in this sensation, Kakarot trembles across the arena, in shock of a long-thought buried side of me being shown. Then he turns, his features contorting into the rage that I had hoped to entice from him.
"Shame on you," he growls, turning to face me. "The Vegeta I know would never have done this."
I smirk. As a man without such demons, Kakarot has a lot to learn.
"Don't do this! Please, don't do this," Gohan cuts in from off to the side.
Kakarot and I ignore him, locked in our stares that communicate more than words can. My rival's expression now holds a wariness, a slow dawning of realization that I'm prepared to follow whatever whim of mine I please.
I have the vague knowledge that one of the humans is yelling at me from somewhere behind my position. When the sound of his voice becomes too grating on my nerves, I bark at him to shut up as I glare at Kakarot.
"How about it?" I beckon to the other warrior. "Shall we commence?" I am, of course, referring to our battle – the very same that has remained unsettled since the day I first laid eyes on him. Kakarot knows this; it is his instinct as much as it is mine. To seize strength, give blood for it.
And then, like the idiot thinks he can stop me or himself, he speaks near blasphemous words. "This isn't the time, Vegeta."
"You'll fight with me, Kakarot. Unless, of course, you'd like more bodies to pile up on your conscience," I say in return.
Kakarot's eyes widen. "Vegeta. Certainly you didn't..."
When all I do is laugh at him because he knows the truth, he sighs.
"How sad. I didn't think you were weak enough to be controlled."
I know he's trying to get a rise out of me, just as I'm doing the same with him, but Gohan doesn't understand and tries to warn his father off. But Kakarot doesn't care.
"Answer me! Vegeta – do you let yourself be a slave?!" he demands with an outburst.
In an almost lazy motion, I raise my arm again, this time aimed off to my right. Before he can react, I once again let loose a colossal blast of energy towards the human onlookers.
A flash of light and the familiar sound of an explosion reach my senses, paired with another rounds of screams.
"Tell me..." I challenge. "Is it slavery when you get what you want?"
It is with this that I know I have him. I watch him clench his fists, on the cusp of transforming, but then –
"Stop! You don't know what you're doing!" Gohan both physically and verbally cuts in.
My anger bubbles and I cast a ripple of energy in his direction. He is inconsequential, but I hold him no exceptional ill will.
"Stand aside!" I hiss, watching him land hard on his back. "This does not concern you! It's between me and your circus clown of a father!"
"Circus clown? Well, that's a new one," Kakarot says. He still hasn't broken eye contact with me, despite my momentary distraction.
The hot sun beats down on us and a trickle of sweat runs down my temple as I watch him ascend, his hair becoming golden and his eyes teal.
I stand up to my full height, prepared to begin when yet one last interruption comes between us.
"No, Goku, you mustn't," the so-called god pleads. "If you fight him, you'll be doing precisely what Babidi wishes. Every injury that Vegeta causes will be sent back to the ship as energy, and Buu will be revived!"
"Tell me, Vegeta," Kakarot says, ignoring the Supreme Kai, "with that stamp on your head, I know Babidi's been giving you orders. Is this one of them? Are you trying to fight me because of him, or is this the same old story between you and me? Which one?"
"Does it really matter?" Gohan interjects.
"Not to you, Gohan, but to a warrior it matters greatly," I say. "And you know this as well as I do, Kakarot – in a day you'll be back to the dead, and I will not miss this opportunity!"
"Whoare you people? Don't you see that the universe matters more than your meaningless squabble?" the Supreme Kai bursts out, at the end of his proverbial rope. But he isn't the only one.
With his words, the edges of my vision redden and my chest constricts. What right does he have to look down on me and call this meaningless? What have the gods ever done for us? I know that he, a faultless deity, cannot try to comprehend what I am, so how dare he snub his nose at the only thing in this universe that truly has meaning?
"Meaningless, huh? What do you know of meaningless?!" I shout, my ki blazing around me and sending debris flying.
"Spend most of your life ruled my another! Watch your race dwindle to a handful! And then tell me what has more meaning than your own strength!" I cry. "I have in me the blood of a Saiyan prince. He is nothing but a joke – yet I've had to watch him surpass me in strength, my own destiny thrown to the wayside!"
Kakarot watches me as I continue on without care of what I'm admitting aloud. "He – he's even saved my life as if I were a helpless child. He has stolen my honour," I say, then meet his eyes again.
"And his debts... must be paid!"
Kakarot narrows his eyes. For once, I cannot predict what he's thinking, though I hope – no, need – him to fight back. My blood pumps with ambition, and the wizard's intentions flowing through me are in league with my own desires. There is no way for me, nor Kakarot, to escape this.
"Babidi!" Kakarot then calls into the sky out of nowhere. "Transport us to a place away from people! If you give me that, then I'll fight Vegeta!"
The god balks upon hearing this, then a determination crosses his youthful face.
"So be it," he says lowly, then moves to stand between us, facing Kakarot. The god spreads his arms out like a shield, as if he actually had the power to stop us.
"If you truly believe this is the right decision, then you'll have to get around me to do it!" he threatens.
I do nothing. I can see that Kakarot's focus has shifted to the small figure in front of him, calculating what should be done about it. The Kai is no bigger than Trunks, or Kakarot's own youngest son.
"Don't do this, Supreme Kai," Kakarot says at length.
"Goku, I'm afraid I have no choice," the god replies.
"Neither do I," my rival retorts. Then, in a slow but not hesitant movement, he raises his arm out in front of him.
I continue to frown, not understanding, until my eyes widen when I realize what Kakarot means to do if the god does not comply.
Blue light begins to gather in Kakarot's palm. Neither his aim nor the resolve in his eyes wavers.
One long, heavy moment passes, and then the god's arms drop by his sides.
"Do what you will. I can't stop you," the Kai says as he moves out of the way.
"I'm sorry," Kakarot says.
"So am I," the celestial being answers.
In a flash we are moved to a place that smells of dust baked in the heat. There is nothing around us but stone formations and flat earth spanning as far as the eye can see.
I take a brief look around before returning my sights to Kakarot. "I trust you'll have no more excuses, now."
"None," he replies.
In the background, I hear the god offering words of resolution to Gohan and proposing a new plan.
"While you two fight up here, Gohan and I will break open the ship's entrance and continue our assault against Babidi and Dabura. I believe we still have a chance at stopping them before Buu's revival. If tampering with the ship's entrance ruptures Buu's shell, it'll still be better than allowing him to reach full power from the energy lost by Goku," the Supreme Kai says, approaching the access point to the wizard's lair.
Even before the god finishes speaking, an odd sensation crawls up my spine, a precursor of something along the network that manipulates my every muscle and nerve.
I find out what that something is when once more, Babidi's dictation rings out in the hollow spaces of my skull.
"Vegeta! Destroy this nuisance. Kill the Supreme Kai! KILL HIM!
The command hits much harder than before, the words echoing in my bones as the pain strikes with it. I know that if I comply without a fight, the agony will cease. But I deflected him once; I can do it again.
"The only way is to kill the Supreme Kai. Yes, KILL HIM Vegeta!" the words demand, washing over with the strength of tidal waves.
I curl in on myself, palms pressing into my face and fingers into my temples like I could drive the voice out. It is a parasite, my body trying to reject the intrusion and losing the battle.
I drop to my knees. "Get – out – of – my – head," I growl out, though it pales in comparison to the force behind Babibi's order.
"You can't afford to let him live, Vegeta!"
One hand digs trenches into the dirt next to where my forehead now rests. In a disembodied way, I can hear my own screams of agony echo in the desert. The brand on my forehead burns; I am desperate to create ruin as the voice tells me to.
"KILL HIM, Vegeta, KILL HIM. By every fibre in your body, I command you to destroy! KILL, KILL THE KAI."
My eyes snap up and meet the round, dark irises of the Supreme Kai, and he understands only a moment after I do what is about to happen.
I know that I intimidated him from the beginning. I saw it when I threatened to blow up the starcraft, or him if he continued to get in my way and now he is before me, apprehensive of what I might do though he knows it already.
He created the embers of our universe, yet cannot comprehend the flames of destruction. It isn't naivety, but as I recall from his earlier attempts to free me from the wizard's first spell, why I do these things will never be a concept within his grasp. But it matters not.
He is the deity of life and I am about to take his away.
My body moves on its own, hand extending in a swift and sudden motion. Energy gathers in my palm in a way that is so familiar, yet involuntary for the first time in my life. It is a mere split second before that energy has left me and hits the Kai.
Gohan doesn't move from his position nearby fast enough, still isn't expecting the man he knows as the father of his brother's best friend to be capable of this.
The god knows his loss of control over the situation was inevitable, as is this moment – he can read every thought in my mind.
I wonder what he is thinking now as he collapses, no stronger than a shadow puppet.
"S – Supreme Kai!" Gohan calls out.
"Excellent, Vegeta! Now, finish him off!"
Gohan is fast enough this time to impede my course towards the mortally wounded god. My mind races a thousand ways, but my body moves of its own accord, that critical part of me no longer resistant to the wizard's commands. Gohan has no part in this, but the boy – no, a man now – who has saved my life will not be spared if he continues trying to stop me.
"Didn't I tell you to stand aside?" I growl at him.
"This isn't you! Look at what you're doing! Please, I know you can fight this!" he begs right before I move to strike him in a quick uppercut.
The blow makes a solid impact, but then Kakarot is in front of me and he knees me in the chest to create some distance between myself and Gohan.
I skid backwards, boots kicking up dust as I lock my gaze with Kakarot's.
"This is between us, Vegeta! Gohan, take the Supreme Kai and get out of here!" he says.
"Dad – I think he... he's dead!" the half-blood replies.
Kakarot's jaw tightens as he looks at me, though he speaks to his son. "Can you handle Dabura and Babidi alone?"
"But – but Dad -"
"The Supreme Kai wanted to prevent Majin Buu's resurrection at all costs. I need you to do that in his stead, Gohan!"
Gohan hesitates, but then there is a sound and he looks over at the ship's door.
"It's opened," he balks, and then Kakarot rummages inside the band on his sleeve and tosses something towards Gohan.
"Take it. It's one of the last two senzu beans, and I want you to be at your best. Don't worry about the Supreme Kai for now – we have the Dragon Balls. I know you can do it, son," Kakarot says.
"Enough of this chatter. Shut up and fight me!" I bark.
"The Kai is done for. Destroy the Saiyan, we need the energy for Buu's revival. Do it now!"
I strike the air where Kakarot's head was, his forearm moving to deflect my attack. He does the same with the next and the next.
"Gohan! Go! Do what you can!" he shouts. I do not take my attention away from him, but I know by the boy's moving energy that he obeys his father and descends into the bowels of the ship.
"The longer we fight, the more energy gets sent back to fuel Majin Buu. I'm not going to hold back, Vegeta," Kakarot growls.
"Just as I would have it! Let's just hope being dead for so long hasn't made you go soft," I reply.
We are no more than lightning on the wind to the golden eye of the sun, particles of sand whipping around us and fusing into crystal motes of glass.
A/N: There probably won't be more than five chapters to this story, but I'm not sure what the exact finished length will be so far - I also don't really have a plan for how often I'll update. I rated it T, just in case, because there might be one or two scenes that are a little dark.
The word 'hubris' has its origins dating all the way back to ancient Greece. In that context, it refers to someone displaying a dangerous amount of pride, challenging the gods themselves with his arrogance and bringing about his own downfall because of it. Divine retribution is given in the form of 'nemesis.'