Bra had fallen asleep almost an hour ago; her arms ached, but she didn't want to let go. Even her own shadow seemed threatening, stalking her helpless baby with evil intent. The horrifying memory of their execution haunted her.
It was irrational, and Bulma shook her head to get rid of such fears. Ignoring instincts high-strung by trauma, she forced herself to set the baby down on her crib. There was nothing to fear. The security systems of Capsule Corporation rivaled that of the most secretive agencies of Earth's Military forces. Even more, it wasn't an exaggeration to assert it was one of the safest places in the entire Universe.
That evening, anyway.
Vegeta stood by the window, gazing outside. It was the first time in weeks she managed to keep him home. Since the incident, all the progress they had made in the last few years seemed to have banished. He was again the same rude, belligerent stranger that had been forced to stay at Capsule Corp for lack of a better offer, little more than a decade ago. Gone were the loving gazes and fatherly guidance. Absent for days on end, children and wife were ignored the few hours he lingered at home.
Bulma was aware of her husband's difficulties with emotions. While others assumed he denied and repressed them, she understood that the proud warrior had never learn to address them. Confused and disorientated, he would lash out and hide. Much like a wounded beast, in pain without understanding the source.
She had made great efforts to be patient in the face of unjustified rudeness. She had asked favors from family and friends to keep Trunks occupied and away from his rabid father. There were a few precious employees at Capsule Corp who now had the right to ask for juicy favors after graciously forgiving verbal abuse and barely-not-assaults after crossing paths with Vegeta in the halls or the garden...
At last, Bulma's patience met its limit. After two months without the slightest change, she decided to hit the beast in the snout and drag it home by the tail. Or what was left of it...
"Please, come to bed..." Bulma asked, her voice taunt. Vegeta continued to gaze outside. She felt her teeth grinding together. "You don't want me to yell, Vegeta. Bra has a very piercing voice, and she hates it when someone wakes her up."
The threat was effective, and the stubborn man finally acknowledged her request. At least partially. Vegeta approached the bed, but made no move to sit or to remove his armor; a soldier waiting for final instructions, impatient to head back into the battlefield.
"Please, sit down." Bulma insisted, her voice now soft.
As soon as Shenlong had done his magic, the Z fighters had filled her in about the chaos that had followed the shooting. Words had always failed to make justice to the insanity surrounding their lives, but the renewed fear and distrust on the eyes of her friends as they spoke of Vegeta was more than enough to send shivers up her spine. Even Gohan, so forgiving and understanding, had looked guarded and shaken.
However, it was the only evidence that something unsettling had ever happened. The senzu beans and Dende had healed all physical wounds. There were no demised to mourn. Bra and her were fine. The others had safely subdued Vegeta. They could put all of this behind them. Never mind that there were still violent criminals out there. The very same ones...
"Bra is fine." Bulma blurted out, forcing herself to smile. "Look at her...please." Vegeta did; a mere glance. Insufficient after days of ignoring her existence. Finally, irritation turned to anger. She hopped to her feet, and leaned in so close their noses almost touched. "What's your damn problem!? Are you blaming us for what happened?!"
This time, Vegeta did turn to look at Bra, alarmed at the prospect of her waking up from such a deep sleep. Unlike pure-blooded saiyans, annoyed baby earthlings and half-breeds readily surrendered themselves to prolong periods of wailing and shrieking. And Bra, much like her mother, had some healthy lungs and a very powerful voice.
"...no..."
"Then why are you punishing us!? Why are you ignoring her like this!?"
"Shhhh...!"
"Answer me!"
"I said no..." He snapped. "Stop. Yelling."
"...you are blaming yourself, aren't you?"
Vegeta snorted and turned away. With surprising agility, Bulma leaped from the bed to stand in front of him.
"Don't you dare walk away from me this time." The words sizzled out of her mouth. "It wasn't your fault. It wasn't mine. It's just something bad that happened. I want to move on, like I've always done... And I feel you don't want to do that...Are you seriously going to let a bunch of morons ruin us? After all we have gone through together? I thought you had more balls than that...!"
"..."
"Take off your armor and go to bed!"
If there was something Bulma had never gotten used to over the years was the way her husband and son's eyes glowed at night. It didn't matter how dim the light, it would be reflected back. With Vegeta, an off-putting but otherwise harmless biological adaptation became sinister. He had the bad habit of staring. There was no blinking, no turning away to look from one point of interest to another. The reddish lights would remain fixed on her at all times, the eyes of a predator on its turf, seemly calculating all possible variants to leap for a sure kill.
But even though her very soul trembled, shaken by primal fears, she held that haunting gaze and neither her scowl nor her authoritative finger wavered. Eventually-after one of those long pauses that seemed to devour the minutes -, he sighed and turned around. Sulky but obedient, he undressed and sat on the bed.
Bulma slumped on her side of the bed, trying to ignore how badly her knees were shaking. She picked up Bra from her crib and dumped her-with due motherly care-in the arms of her grumpy companion. Vegeta had enough reflexes to raise his arms as the warm bundle was abandoned to his mercy. Without another glance, Bulma turned her back on them, laid down on her side and closed her eyes.
Vegeta felt the urge the throw the baby and punch Bulma in the head, but he ignored the murderous reaction with an ease born of experience.
A choice had to be made: getting up to put the baby back on the crib and endure more of Bulma's tearful yapping, or stay put. It was embarrassing, but the decision was made even before he was consciously aware of it. He had slumped on the pillows, hugging Bra close to his chest. Years of peaceful cohabitation with Bulma had spoiled him; he found comfort on their shallow breathing, in the steady beat of their hearts, on the warmth and silence the reigned between those solid walls...
The burden of a violent past, however, denied any long-lasting peace of mind. Even as he kept the child pressed against him, Vegeta made efforts to disregard her presence. Eyes locked in the ceiling, memories passed by: the corpses of the people he loved laying in a pool of blood, a hole in their frail angelical faces...
The sorrow of loss had never been so overwhelming. The crippling confusion of seeing something so new to him in a setting that was so jarringly familiar. Heaven being swallowed up whole by Hell's red-blood teeth and shadowy claws as he watched on helplessly. There had been no duel to prepare him; no enemy to conquer. There had been no hope for glory, no satisfying revenge as compensation for his sorrow. It was just death. Sudden, without honor...
And now, it was over. The dragon had done its job; things could return to be how they were before the shooting. Or so they others assured him. And he wanted that, with all his heart. Happiness was still quite a novelty and the thirst for more seemed unquenchable. But it was just not coming back. How could he forget what had happened? It had hurt so badly; such a deep dull aching...
...that's what it felt like to be a victim of a slaughter. To be a victim in a war you didn't even know was happening...
Vegeta closed his eyes and hopped off the bed. He put the baby in her crib and marched out of the room. He had fought by Kakarot's side to destroy Majin Buu; he had made a fool of himself time and time again to keep Beerus content and distracted. He had battled with courage against so many brutes to ensure the survival of the whole Universe...And yet, here, at home, in the face of some weaklings that didn't even knew how to fight, he had been helpless. They had come, destroyed his newly found happiness, and walked away...
Vegeta stopped his quick march and gazed down one of the windows on the long corridor leading to the kitchen. The West Capital never seem to sleep. Cars flied by, lights always blazing, smothering the gleam of the stars in the dark sky. Those humans were safe from gods and demons, but not from each other. How many of them had suffered what he had? And there had been no dragon to give them a happy ending.
"I get you are angry. And you're right to be...But they are humans. And the human world has laws to deal with people like them. That's what civilized people do!"
Krillin wasn't the strongest creature on planet Earth. Yet, his courage rivaled even that of the aliens who had punched and kicked their way into godhood. Vegeta was maddened by grief and rage, and freeing himself from Goku and Gohan's grip to commit mass murder was more important to him than debating the rights and wrongs of vigilant justice. Yet, the small human stood between the enraged god and the fragile structure where the primal suspects of the Capital Bank's shooting were held prisoner.
"You are better than them now." Krillin pressed on, his hands held up in a placating gesture. "If you do this, then you won't be. You'll be like them!"
"We will bring them back!" Goku growled, straining to hold onto Vegeta. "There's no need for this!"
"They are helpless." Gohan added. "Please, Vegeta-san...! This is wrong!"
For some reason, that's pretty much all he remembered of their stupid lecture. Perhaps, that was all he had been willing to take in. Their reasoning was stupid. He didn't give a damn about human laws and justice. Those insects had hurt him and his family. They deserved to suffer before being sent to Hell.
But alas, he had been as helpless to obtain revenge as he had been to foresee and prevent the carnage. The others had reminded him with their attitude that this wasn't his world. Outnumbered, a full-blown war would have been the only alternative to surrender. And such an action would have made far more damage than the shooting itself. He couldn't declare war on Kakarot; it was his world, his rules...
He was to wait until Dende and his dragon rose the death; he was to let Krillin and his co-workers finish rounding up the shooters and their bosses; let the king and his bureaucrats return favors and make-up bullshit to manipulate the people and cover up the news of death; to let the fighting to Bulma's lawyers...
Vegeta had waited and let others do for 8 long weeks. And they still didn't know if the criminals in their power were the correct ones. Some of them had been released for this very reason. Others bought their freedom; because, it seemed, humans' precious laws could be broken if you had enough money to afford it. People spoke of politicians and businessmen being involved. That's all humans did: talk and talk, threw money at each other, and kept on talking. There had been no punishment, and no certainty that Bra and Bulma were now safe...
"Morning!"
Vegeta closed his eyes as light burst into the comforting darkness. He opened his eyes after a moment and a plate full of cookies was already set in front of him. The stupid kids Bulma had picked up from the streets had barged into the kitchen and scurried about, moving kettles, cups and jars from one counter to another, stumbling over one another, barking and yowling. The blue dwarf's irritating voice yapped on:
"Would you like a tea or a coffee? Perhaps some exotic mate?!"
"Silence!"
The noise ceased abruptly. Uncaring of the fear and hurt twisting the children's faces, Vegeta glanced at the clock. Morning had pounced on him. The soothing night was gone, and another long unsettling day had begun...
Vegeta blinked. The blue dwarf was standing in front of him, hands clasp behind his back. The little goblin thought it proper to stand with the regal attitude of an emperor. It was ridiculous...To his merit, however, the brat held his gaze. He was smiling in a way no innocent child should...
"The King of Earth is a dog! And you see how he can't do his job! It's too big for him and we are paying the price of his incompetence!" Pilaf and pointed an angry finger at the saiyan. "I was meant to be the Great Emperor of Earth!"
"...oh...?" Mia and Shu shivered as the saiyan's gritty voice became smooth and teasing. They approached the so-called Emperor, waiting for an excuse to yank him off the table and flee the room.
But Pilaf wasn't paying due attention. It had been so long since he had an opportunity to boast about his grandeur. It was so comfy and busy at the Brief's that it was easy to forget his initial goals! But now that Mia had reminded him, it was his chance to obtain a new and powerful lackey!
"I asked Shenlong for eternal youth, but the dragon misunderstood me and,...well...I was turned into a child." He leaned over to speak to Vegeta in confidence. "But my mind is as sharp as ever! It is unmatched in brilliance and my heart is hard, but kind too. And I have the wisdom of the elderly! I am the leader this world needs! I will give you justice! And execute all those petty criminals!"
Pilaf stared at Vegeta's face. It seemed there was no longer a need to wait for Bulma or her father to unwittingly reveal information about some obscure powerful weapon, or for Mia to marry Trunks and get on their side one of the powerful warrior-freaks protecting Goku! Their time for victory and revenge was at hand!
Vegeta, Mai and Shu stared in wide-eyed shock as Pilaf cackled madly on top of the table. Irritation, however, soon overcame bewilderment and the saiyan stood up to leave the room. Bulma and Trunks would wake up soon, anyway, and he didn't want to be anywhere near the house by then. He needed solitude; time to think...
"Maybe you should take over..."
Vegeta stopped. For a moment, he thought of the tall fierce girl that had fought by their side against the insanity of Zamasu. But she wasn't here...
Mia swallowed when Trunk's hostile father slowly turned around to lay his piercing gaze on her. For an instant, she was afraid an attack was coming. But the glare was not followed by violence. He seemed to be waiting for more...
"I...The King is blind to many bad things happening in the world. The poor, the criminal organizations...the shootings and killing of innocent people..." Mia said, lowering her gaze, but standing her ground. "His family has been in power for almost a century, and nothing has improved...Or not thanks to them, anyway..." She finally looked up, and to her surprise, he was no longer scowling. He looked...almost sad. She risked a smile. "Trunks told me you were a prince...You are a good person. You are strong and you are smart...Maybe you are the change we need."
"...maybe..."
Mai watched in silence as Vegeta abandoned the room. Her heart raced, suddenly thrilled at a possibility she had never even thought of. She had hated the King's entire lineage all her life, having tasted nothing but poverty and violence under their rule. Pilaf had represented her only chance to get close enough to them to rob them of their power. But now...
"...TREASON! I AM TO BE EMPEROR, NOT HIM! DON'T PUT IDEAS ON HIS HEAD AND TRY TO GET ME OUT OF THE PICTURE...! YOU...!"
"Shut up!"
Pilaf flinched violently when Mia whirled around with a snarl. He hid behind Shu. The girl didn't pursue. One brief glare, and she walked out of the room, a satisfied serene smile grazing her lips.