AN: Takes place in Those Three Years. Mentions a scene from the Bardock-Father of Goku movie where Frieza blows up Vegeta-sei. Thanks to my friend 2016jacb for beta-reading this!
Now initiating 400 times planet's normal gravity.
The flat, monotone feminine voice pierced through the silent confines of the gravity room. Even though it was almost midnight, the occupant of the room was still hard at work.
Not enough, Vegeta thought to himself frustratedly. I must ascend! What is wrong with me?
The Prince angrily fired Ki blasts into the little checkpoints that danced about the room, but stayed careful not to actually blow it up, as he had done several times before.
Idiot, I'm not going to fix your stupid gravity room if you break it again! I'm sick of you treating me as a slave whose sole purpose in life is to fix your toys every other day! the woman had said. She was beginning to get on Vegeta's nerves more and more, especially now that she wasn't distracted with that weakling boyfriend of hers. It seemed that every break he took to eat something he would find himself being talked at by this woman, most of the time with him completely ignoring her. Hell, he didn't even have the slightest recollection of what she had been yammering about this last time. The female species, he thought to himself, what an enigma. If it wasn't for his need to surpass that low-class warrior Kakarrot, Vegeta was sure he would be off this planet in a heartbeat.
Suddenly, Vegeta's acute sense of hearing picked up the sound of a large explosion somewhere near the west end of the compound. There was a second explosion soon afterwards, this one so big that it shook the gravity room itself. What the hell? he thought, and immediately started to exit the gravity room to investigate. What has that woman done now?
He made his way to the west balcony, the place where ha had sensed the source of the explosion to be closest to. He was not surprised to see Bulma standing and looking out over the view.
"What's going on?" he demanded. "Are you doing another one of your crack-pot experiments?"
She turned and gave him a puzzled look.
"Are you telling me you've never seen fireworks before?"
"Fire whats?"
"Fireworks! Oh Kami, Vegeta, you are such a hick!"
"Well excuse me for being raised on a spaceship!" he retorted, angered by her insolent comment. "And you still haven't told me what these firework things are!"
"To be precise, according to the New Oxford America Dictionary," she started, proud of her intellect, "a firework is 'a device containing gunpowder and other combustible chemicals that causes a spectacular explosion when ignited, used typically for display or in celebrations.' They're having them tonight because they're practicing for new years. Here, look for yourself!"
She pushed him up against the edge of the balcony, where Vegeta could still hear and see the explosions taking place. Brilliant flashes of colored light streaked across the night sky. Vegeta's eyes narrowed. He had seen things like this before. He was barely aware of the woman chatting away in the background as he recalled where he had seen these flashes previously. When he was still serving Freiza, he, Nappa, and Raditz were sometimes given orders to annihilate planets all together if the inhabitants were giving them a sufficient amount of trouble. He remembered seeing explosions like these result from the Ki blasts he would send to planets in order to deliver the final blow. He remembered the screams and the smell of blood and carnage that accompanied the death blasts. An odd feeling began to develop in his stomach. What is that? he thought to himself. Every time he had blown up the planets, he had felt a sense of euphoria, had felt some sort of wonderful madness running through his veins. He certainly never felt this sensation before, and, unlike the pleasure the others had brought him, this one made him feel ill. The more he thought about it the more he identified this odd sensation as a forbidden emotion: Guilt. No, he told himself, I regret nothing! The prince of all Saiyans does not feel petty, weak emotions like these. Damn me for being such a weakling! This is the reason I will never be able to ascend, never be able to destroy Kakarrot… But the more he thought about it the stronger the feeling got.
"STOP!" He yelled, and banged his hands down on the balcony railing. He would not feel this stupid emotion. He regretted nothing! Regret was weak and made people soft, and Vegeta could not afford softening in a critical time like this.
"Excuse me?" Bulma said, obviously thinking the comment was meant for her.
"No, not…" But before Vegeta could finish, he was sucked into a strange vision.
Freiza was sitting in his space pod, laughing madly. What surrounded him was the vast emptiness known as space, which was filled with the sights and sounds of a planet exploding. Colorful bursts of light intermingled with stray chunks of rock and wisps of smoke. Vegeta could hear Freiza's wild, mad laugh, and his voice screaming to his henchmen through his scouter: "Magnificent! Extraordinary! These are the most beautiful fireworks ever!" And indeed, if one were to look at them, the ruins of the once mighty planet Vegeta looked like magnificent fireworks.
The vision ended, and Vegeta stumbled back from the ledge. What just happened? How did I see that? The feeling in the pit of Vegeta's stomach intensified and started to make him nauseous. This is unacceptable! The Prince of all Saiyans feels no petty emotions!
"Hey Vegeta," Bulma said, her voice full of concern. "Are you..." But before she could finish her sentence, Vegeta pushed her roughly out of the way and took off running down the hall.
Vegeta was not sure what exactly was happening to him, but he did know one thing. He hated fireworks.