"You must be Tenshi. I am looking for the xiijen mineral," the eighteen-year-old boy said in a gruff, clipped voice. His tail was waving lazily behind him, a mark of his growing impatience as he crossed his arms over his chest. "I was told that you were the one who could lead me to it. Take me to it, and no more of your people will die."

The elderly blue alien woman was shaking almost uncontrollably from her fear. The young man standing in front of her had effortlessly led a purge that had resulted in the slaughter of over half the population of her planet. Now he was promising to spare the rest in exchange for the most precious mineral on her planet.

But one good look into the soulless and ruthless black eyes of the teenager in front of her, and Tenshi already knew that this boy would not keep his word.

As the oldest matriarch on the planet at over 650 years old, she was the sole guardian of the planet's most sacred mineral. She could not hand it over to the teenaged boy in front of her, knowing that he was going to turn around and hand it over to the cruel and sadistic Frieza. The mineral had powers beyond anyone's imagination. May the gods help the universe if Frieza uncovered the true secrets and potential of such a rare mineral.

"The xiijen is a holy mineral," she tried to reason with him, as a last resort. Tenshi shook her head, her pleading eyes meeting his. "Please, son, I cannot-"

Vegeta snarled and backhanded her hard, sending her crashing to the dirt. She let out a cry of both pain and terror as he put his boot firmly on the back of her head.

"I am not your fucking son, you old whore," Vegeta hissed venomously, applying painful pressure with his foot that had the woman in tears on the ground. "And I don't care how holy this mineral is. Frieza wants it, and therefore Frieza will get it. I am offering you a deal. You would be wise to take it."

When he was met with a stubborn silence, the teenager sighed. He raised a hand up to his scouter and activated the communications link.

"Nappa. Raditz. Bring them out so this bitch can talk," he ordered harshly.

Reaching down, Vegeta grabbed the elderly guardian by the hair, brutally hauling her up to her feet. He dragged her with him as he walked for a few minutes, completely indifferent to her weak struggling. He could practically smell her terror, but all that did was encourage him even more.

Finally, he forced her down to her knees. The old woman looked like she aged another 650 years when she saw Raditz and Nappa both standing with almost a hundred completely terrified children in front of them. They were all her descendants, none over the human equivalent of ten years old.

"So, you were saying?" Vegeta asked in a sweet voice from behind her.

"Don't harm them, they are just children-"

"Oh, I know. And believe me, I love children. I will thoroughly enjoy…conversing…with each and every one of your kin for the answers you refuse to give me."

Tenshi was shaking with red tears staining her face. She looked into the eyes of the children in front of her, and didn't know if she had the heart to fulfill her duty and watch them pay the price.

There was a low, throaty growl behind her. The vibrations of it carried Vegeta's brewing and almost tangible rage. How a boy so young could be filled with so much hatred, she would never know.

"Maybe you still need some persuasion," Vegeta snarled from behind her. He raised one hand glowing with ki at the group in front of him, his hand slowly drifting to the side as he tried to pick his target. "Hn. There are so many children. Where do I begin?" he mused out loud.

"No! Don't! I will tell you where the xiijen is…" Tenshi finally said, her voice hoarse with desperation and regret. "Do you promise to leave us in peace?"

Vegeta chuckled and lowered his hand, crossing his arms over his chest. "That was my original offer, was it not?"

There was silence for a few tense seconds. The children all glanced at each other, hope in their eyes that they might live through this yet.

"It's deep in the base of the tallest mountain here. The xiijen is a bright and pure silver color. It is unbreakable. You will find all that you need."

"Both of you, go retrieve it. Now," Vegeta ordered.

"Already on it," Raditz immediately responded as Nappa nodded. They both turned around and took off into the air to go retrieve the rare mineral.

"Well. Now that we've gotten that out of the way…"

Vegeta shoved Tenshi back down to the sand with his boot, and to her horror, he raised one hand and fired a ki blast that killed almost half of the children on sight. The survivors all screamed and started running desperately to escape. Vegeta raised his other hand and systematically fired ki blasts that blew out the legs of every last one of them, ending any possible hope of escape.

"What are you doing!" Tenshi shrieked in horror.

Vegeta snickered as he finally lowered both of his hands, looking down at her in clear amusement.

"What's it look like, you old bat? Business is over. It's time for fun," he told her in a playful voice.

"You promised…"

Vegeta smirked a cruel smirk. "I don't recall ever saying those words."

"Please, have mercy," she pleaded to him, as he started walking over to the closest child writhing in agony and bleeding in the dirt, a young girl.

His face was hard with hatred when he looked back at her, his voice ice cold as he spat out, "Mercy is for the weak."

Vegeta forced the child's head to the side with his boot and raised his hand, which started glowing with ki. He smirked as he heard the child's ensuing screams of excruciating pain while he brutally engraved his new 'V' brand.

After only a few seconds, though, things rapidly began to change.

The teenager blinked in surprise as the alien child changed under his foot. The blue skin had paled and the alien now had blue hair. The screams became painfully familiar, and Vegeta removed his boot immediately. He stared at the girl in wide-eyed horror as he recognized her as his young daughter, pigtails and all.

"Oh gods," Vegeta choked out, no longer a teenaged boy. He staggered backwards, reeling from emotional shock, before looking up around him.

All of the children that he brutally tortured and slaughtered that day were now standing and surrounding him, staring at him with hate-filled, vengeful red eyes.

"Sooner or later, Vegeta," they all chanted in unison. "You will pay for what you've done…"

Vegeta woke up with a violent start, sitting straight up as he gasped for air. The prince looked around frantically, half-expecting to see haunting red eyes staring back at him. The only thing that greeted him was the darkness of his home. He was still sitting upright outside Bra's bedroom door.

He swallowed heavily, leaning back against the door. Closing his eyes, he took a deep breath to bring his heartbeat down. His eyes were hurting from how tired he was, and the pounding in his head told him he hadn't gotten more than an hour of sleep. He raised a hand up and rubbed his eyes, trying to make himself forget the nightmare that had been relentlessly haunting him over the last few weeks.

It was the massacre that sparked his reputation across the galaxies as Frieza's deadliest warrior. The violence he'd inflicted that day had topped anything he'd ever done before, and he had relished in every last second of it. Every scream had only heightened the experience, and he had fed off the terror of his victims to a degree that would have left Frieza proud. Vegeta himself had been proud afterwards, even boasting over the creative ways that he had tortured every last child right to their dying breath, all in front of the elderly matriarch's eyes.

The prince looked down a little, regret thick in his throat. As if the pure flashback wasn't hard enough to relive, it was compounded by the twisted ending his mind kept throwing in. The words the children spoke were the last words Tenshi had told him right before he brutally killed her. Between that and seeing his daughter as a casualty of his mindless violence, it never failed to leave him feeling deeply shaken and unable to go back to sleep.

Once he regained his composure, Vegeta slowly got up to his feet. He turned and cracked the door open to his daughter's room for his own peace of mind. He watched her sleeping soundly for a few seconds to let his mind rid the horrible images of her mutilated body at his feet. Finally, he sighed and closed the door quietly.

Vegeta headed back to his bedroom to get into his training gear, since sleep wasn't happening that night. He entered quietly, briefly glancing at Bulma when he did. She was sound asleep on her side at the edge of the bed with her back to him. He moved in complete silence as he got dressed in the darkness.

Right before he left, though, he walked over to the edge of the bed. He hesitated for a second, before squatting down. He leaned forward and gently rested his forehead in the nape of Bulma's neck as he closed his eyes. She stirred a little at the contact, but didn't wake up. Vegeta breathed in quietly, letting his wife's scent and presence soothe him and rid the dark memories from his mind.

After about a minute, he withdrew and left their room for an early round in the gravity room, his nightmare finally fading to the background.

Bulma was the only one who noticed that Bra was unusually quiet that morning during breakfast. The little girl was a morning person, unlike herself, Vegeta, and Trunks who were all natural night owls. She only needed to come into her daughter's room once and the girl was awake, a far cry from the morning wars that had been waged trying to wake up Trunks to go to school. Usually, Bra talked everyone's ear off during breakfast, but she was just silently staring down into her bowl of cereal. She had barely touched it.

Across from their daughter, Vegeta was oblivious to the world as he slowly ate his breakfast. Bulma looked at him and sighed when she saw his eyes drifting closed as he briefly paused cutting a piece of bacon. She made a mental note to get him the sleeping medication after she took Bra to school, whether he liked it or not.

Sitting down with her own plate of food, Bulma glanced over at her daughter. The little girl was pushing her cereal into the milk, and then watching as it floated back up when she stopped. Over and over.

"You okay, kiddo?" Bulma finally asked, making Vegeta jerk awake. Bulma glanced at him, shaking her head as he picked up his large thermos of coffee.

Bra nodded, not looking up as she rested one elbow on the table, cradling her head in her hand. Bulma frowned.

"Are you sure?" Bulma pressed. The little girl nodded again. Bulma wasn't convinced, but let it go for now. "Did you want me to make you some scrambled eggs?"

Bra shook her head, and finally said, "I'm not hungry, Mommy."

Bulma looked over at Vegeta, and this time, he made eye contact with her. Their daughter had inherited her father's appetite. Though she didn't eat nearly what Trunks did at her age, she still easily ate more than four times the normal amount a human girl at her age would eat. She could normally put down five bowls of cereal in the morning. Bra not having an appetite was more than a bit unusual, and they both knew it.

Vegeta took a drink from his coffee, before turning his bloodshot eyes to his daughter. "What's wrong?" he demanded, his tone harsher than usual due to his exhaustion.

Bra squirmed a little under her father's gaze, before looking down at the table. Her voice was so quiet that Bulma had to lean in a bit to hear her response.

"I don't want to sleep in my room anymore."

Vegeta raised an eyebrow as Bulma said, "Baby, we're going this weekend to get you your new fish tank stocked up with all the prettiest fishes you can find. I know you're not used to the night light that I put in last night, but-"

Bra shook her head and cut in, "It's not the light."

"What is it then?" Bulma asked.

"I'm scared," the little girl meekly confessed. "I keep hearing the bad people in my room at night. They killed my fishies. They said so."

Vegeta exhaled through his nose in annoyance as Bulma gently responded, "Bra, there is no one in your room. It's all in your imagination."

"No, it's not. I hear them, they're there!" Bra insisted. She looked over at her father pleadingly, and Vegeta sighed before leaning towards his daughter a bit.

"Tell you what, kid," he said, his tone losing its harsh edge. "The next time you hear these so-called bad people, you tell them to come talk to me. I will blast them to pieces," he told her in a mock serious voice. Bra couldn't help but giggle as Vegeta smirked.

"Okay," the little girl said, visibly put at ease as she suddenly started eating her cereal.

Vegeta looked over at his wife who flashed him a dazzling smile. He was momentarily captivated, before shaking his head and sighing as he went back to eating his breakfast. These two females had made him so soft.

"Baby, I put the picture you drew on the fridge," Bulma said, making Bra look over. The little girl beamed with excitement.

"Thanks, Mommy! Daddy said my drawing was perfect," the little girl said, her tone clearly proud.

Vegeta chuckled. "Well, you certainly got the size of your mother's head right," he said, glancing up at Bulma with a smirk. She rolled her eyes at him.

"It's because Mommy is so smart, that her brain is bigger than everyone else's," Bra reasoned, as if it was the most logical thing in the world.

Bulma laughed, "Thanks, sweetie."

Their breakfast was much better after that. Soon, Bra ran upstairs to start getting ready for school while Bulma checked her emails on her smart phone. She glanced up at her husband when he finally stood up, before looking down at her phone again.

"How many hours did you get last night?" Bulma asked knowingly.

Vegeta frowned, and turned around to give her his back as he opened the fridge. "Twelve," he sarcastically spat out, digging for a water bottle. He couldn't find one.

"Vegeta, if you ever sleep for twelve hours without it being because you passed out, I'll take you straight to the hospital."

"Hn," he grunted, before closing the fridge.

As soon as the door closed, Bra's family drawing fell to the floor. Vegeta blinked in surprise, before squatting down. He finally stood and turned around, holding his daughter's drawing which was ripped into two pieces now. His brows were furrowed as he stared at the torn drawing of their family.

Bulma briefly glanced up at him, before doing a double-take.

"Vegeta!" she cried out in exasperation. "Can't you be more careful?"

"But…I didn't…" Vegeta muttered, shaking his head in utter confusion as he turned back to look at the fridge, as if he would find answers there. How the hell had the drawing torn? He hadn't even touched it. All he did was close the fridge door!

The prince looked back down at the drawing. Bra had drawn him first, at the far left. The tear had cut him clean off from the rest of his family in the drawing.

Vegeta didn't know why, but he suddenly felt uneasy as he stared down at the two separate pieces. He wasn't aware that Bulma had walked up to him until she took the torn drawing out of his hands.

"I'll fix this before she notices," Bulma sighed, turning from him. She opened a drawer and tucked the drawing away. When she looked back and saw her husband staring blankly at the fridge, she sighed again. "And after I drop off Bra at school, I am getting you some sleeping medication. You're starting to really worry me, Vegeta."

To her surprise, Vegeta nodded his acceptance after only a few seconds.

"Fine."

"Good. You'll feel better after some real rest," Bulma said, giving him a quick kiss on the lips. "Besides. Trunks is stopping by this weekend, and you should be well rested so you can spend time with him."

Vegeta rolled his eyes. "Woman, you hound the boy too much. On this planet, he is a man now. He does not need to be here every weekend. Let him be."

Bulma huffed indignantly, "Trunks is only eighteen! Eighteen-year-old boys need direction, Vegeta, or they'll get away from you."

The prince frowned, suddenly remembering his vivid nightmares that featured him at the same age as his son. He looked away and reluctantly nodded.

"You have a point," he relented, right as Bra ran back in, her jacket and bookbag on.

"I'm ready, Mommy! Let's go!" she yelled out in excitement.

Bulma laughed, "Alright, alright. We're going," she said, heading back over to the table to get her phone so they could go.

Bra ran over to Vegeta, charging right into his midsection. The prince grunted in surprise as his daughter hugged him around his waist, resting her head against his stomach. He frowned a little.

"I love you, Daddy."

Vegeta sighed and put a gentle hand on top of her head, before quietly giving his usual response.

"Thank you, princess."

The little girl looked up at him with a bright smile, before taking off running out of the kitchen. Vegeta's gaze shifted over to his wife who was smiling at him.

"What?" he snapped, turning around and giving her his back as a blush spread over his features.

"Nothing," Bulma chuckled, coming up behind him. She kissed him on the back of his head, and he grunted in response. "I'll see you later."

"Fine," he replied, watching out of the corner of his eye as Bulma left the kitchen.

As soon as she did, Vegeta turned his gaze back to the fridge. He looked at it warily as he once again wondered how the hell the picture had ripped. There was a strange feeling in his gut that was making the hair on the back of his neck rise. He rubbed the back of his neck and frowned, walking out of the kitchen.

He must have been more out of it than he thought…

About four hours later, Vegeta was sprawled out on the sofa, in a deep sleep from the medication that Bulma had given him. She was sitting next to him, an enthralling crime thriller novel in her left hand. She had her right arm resting on her husband's chest while he had one arm thrown back over her legs. The compound was silent, and it was something to take advantage of as she got completely absorbed in her novel.

Bulma bit her bottom lip as she got to the bottom of a page. She raised her right hand to turn the page, when she suddenly got the frightening sensation of someone breathing on the back of her neck.

Bulma immediately got up and spun around, her heartbeat racing, but there was no one there. She looked around in confusion, before raising one wary hand to her neck. Her gaze lowered and settled on Vegeta as she briefly wondered if he was just using his superhuman speed to screw with her. But he hadn't stirred from her abrupt movement, his steady breathing uninterrupted.

"Alright, that's enough of this book," Bulma mumbled to herself, taking a deep breath as she settled her nerves.

She tossed aside the book in exchange for the TV remote as she settled in next to Vegeta again. She gently lifted him up a little and scooted over so his head was on her lap, wanting the reassurance of being closer to him. Vegeta muttered something under his breath, but didn't rouse as Bulma rested her arm on his chest again.

Bulma turned the TV on, and inwardly groaned when she saw that the only thing on TV were the reports on that strange disease, Code V. She bit her bottom lip as she watched the statistics circulating. She paid close attention to a map that they showed, highlighting prevalent areas that were being affected. Her home and West City College, where Trunks was a freshman, thankfully weren't anywhere close. After a few minutes, she decided to access the channel guide, not wanting to hear anything more about the disturbing new disease.

In the split second that the screen went black as the information loaded up, Bulma saw the reflection of herself on the sofa with her sleeping husband.

And standing behind the sofa, leaning over them, she saw a black silhouette with red eyes.

Bulma screamed.

Vegeta was awake and on his feet immediately, his right hand already glowing with ki as he scanned over where he was. He blinked heavily a few times, his hazy eyes settling on Bulma as his brain slowly processed where he was. Finally, he extinguished his ki and cocked his head to one side as he watched her. Bulma was glancing back and forth from the TV, to her side over the sofa, her face drained of color.

He was about to ask what was wrong when Bulma spoke up first. "I saw someone, Vegeta," she said warily, addressing him even though she wasn't looking at him.

Vegeta growled low in his throat. He felt horribly drowsy and sluggish from the medication, and didn't feel up for this.

"Woman, it's bad enough that the girl already thinks there are imaginary beings in her bedroom. As pathetic as that is, she is a child so she has some semblance of an excuse. You, on the other hand, are an adult, and a supposed genius to boot. So don't give me this bullshit," Vegeta sneered angrily.

"You didn't see!" Bulma shot back, now turning her full attention to him. She pointed right at the TV. "There was someone standing over both of us, Vegeta!"

"No one has been here," Vegeta growled, his eyes narrowing. Honestly, it was as though he was just a scrub human with how little Bra and Bulma believed him. "I would be able to smell them."

"But," Bulma sputtered, looking nervously over the side of the sofa again. She turned back at the TV and powered it off, but this time could only see herself and Vegeta in the reflection. Her brows furrowed in confusion. "But, I saw someone-"

"Bulma," Vegeta sighed, reaching up to briefly rub at his eyes. "It was probably just your brain playing a trick on you. You haven't been sleeping properly either because of me."

Bulma took a deep breath, her eyes finally settling on her husband who was looking at her with clear exasperation. His explanation was logical and after a moment, she accepted it and nodded.

"I'm sorry I woke you," she said guiltily, and Vegeta rolled his eyes.

"It's fine," he said in a gruff voice, waving a hand at her in dismissal as he headed upstairs to lay down. He hated when he felt sluggish like this, a reason why he hated taking sleeping medication. But on the flip side, he hadn't seen a thing in his sleep. It was a tradeoff that was certainly worth it.

"Um," Bulma spoke up hesitantly as he reached the stairs. Vegeta glanced back at her and raised an eyebrow. "Would you mind staying down here? Please?"

The prince reached up and pinched the bridge of his nose. Finally, he sighed deeply and walked back over to the sofa. He sat down on it, and Bulma was leaning against his side a second later. Vegeta put his arm protectively around her, shaking his head as he did.

"I thought I only had two children to deal with," he grumbled, before he yawned. Bulma pinched him by his ribs, and he flinched a little.

"If I had a penny every time you acted childish during the last twenty years, Capsule Corp would be worth twice what it is now."

Vegeta chuckled as she turned the television back on. He managed to watch about five minutes before he leaned his head back and closed his eyes. He was out again shortly afterwards, and Bulma eventually relaxed against him.

After all, with Vegeta by her side both literally and figuratively, nothing could ever happen to her.

"Woman, this is completely absurd," Vegeta growled angrily later that night. Bulma ignored him as she continued working on what she was doing. "I cannot believe you are actually doing this."

"Well, maybe if you wouldn't be opposed to Bra sleeping in our bed with us, then this wouldn't be an issue," Bulma snapped at him.

"The child has to conquer her ridiculous fears on her own. Caving into it will only make it more difficult for her to sleep alone later. She has to learn."

"Well, tough guy, guess what? She's a little girl and she needs to sleep. This will give her a good peace of mind, without her needing to sleep with us."

"This is only acknowledging that there is a problem, when there isn't one," Vegeta sneered, watching in staunch disapproval as Bulma synchronized up the old sound monitors. She had put them into the cribs of their children when they were both babies so she could hear them on the other end, and he was disgusted as she brought them out again.

"Oh? And how about your promise to blast away these imaginary bad people? Was that not acknowledging the problem?" Bulma teased, glancing up at him. Vegeta glared at her in response, before looking away.

"Hn."

He spun on his heel and disappeared into the bathroom in their bedroom, slamming the door shut behind him. Bulma shook her head, sitting back as she turned on the sound monitors. For some reason, it had taken far too long to pick up the proper radio frequency. There had been a lot of strange static noise that she had to actually dismantle the monitors to fix.

Truth be told, this was as much for her peace of mind as it was for Bra's.

She put one end on the nightstand by her side of the bed right as her daughter walked in. The little girl was wearing one of Trunks' high school football sweaters, which dwarfed her and came down past her knees. She was carrying her stuffed bear as she walked over to her mother.

Bulma gave her daughter a smile, opening her arms to her. Bra readily settled herself into her mother's embrace, clutching her bear tightly.

"It's okay, baby girl," Bulma whispered in her ear, before kissing her temple. "We're going to set up this monitor in your room, so if anything weird is going on, Daddy and I will hear. So you sleep easy, okay?"

Bra nodded, looking over the sound monitors. The reassurance calmed her, even though what she really wanted was to sleep in Bulma and Vegeta's bed, right between her parents. The little girl though was developing a bit of a pride streak, which was perhaps inevitable given who her parents were. She didn't want to outright ask, telling herself that if her parents could hear her, everything would be fine.

Vegeta emerged from the bathroom a moment later, flicking the light off behind him. He settled his gaze on them, and Bulma nudged Bra towards him. Vegeta bent over, putting his hands on his knees as his daughter approached him.

"Goodnight, Daddy," she said, kissing him on the cheek.

"Goodnight, Bra," he responded, letting her hug him around his neck. "Remember what I said. Anyone scares you, you tell them to come talk to me," he whispered in her ear. She nodded against him and let him go, giving him a small smile before going back over to Bulma, who was extending her hand to her. The little girl took her mother's hand, and they both left the room.

Vegeta watched them leave, before closing his eyes and slowly rotating his head in an effort to crack his neck. He glanced at the nightstand, and by the sound monitor was the bottle of pills to help him sleep. He frowned and picked it up, contemplating. After a few seconds, he put it back down. He had slept for almost five whole hours earlier that day, and he felt considerably better. He didn't need them tonight.

The prince walked out of his bedroom and did a ki scan, glancing upstairs where he could feel Bulma with Bra. He looked around, before engaging in a late night sweep of the compound. He made a stop in the kitchen to chug down a glass of water, all the while straining his hearing. He couldn't hear anything, and finally went back upstairs when he was satisfied.

He stripped down until he was only in his shorts and climbed into bed. Since he had gotten a good amount of rest earlier, he had agreed to give sleeping in his bed with his wife a try. He laid on his back and crossed his arms behind his head. He could hear Bulma and Bra's voices through the monitor, and that helped put him more at ease. He closed his eyes, and was soon asleep.

Some time later, Vegeta yawned and forced his eyes open. His room was dark now, and Bulma was next to him, sound asleep. Vegeta squinted over at the time. 3:12am. He rested his head back, and sighed in relief. Another sleep without nightmares. Things seemed to finally be going back to normal.

He was drifting off again when there was a rustle of static. The prince frowned, and the rustling grew. He opened his eyes and looked beyond his wife at the nightstand. The lights on the sound monitor were flaring up.

Vegeta raised an eyebrow as he rolled to his side, stretching over Bulma to reach the monitor. He glanced down at his wife, making sure he didn't wake her as he pulled the monitor towards him. The prince sat up in bed, bringing the monitor up close to his ear.

The rustling was periodic. Finally after a few seconds, Vegeta realized it was just his daughter breathing. He yawned and was going to put the monitor back, when the lights flared up all the way. He froze, staring down at the device. The rustling was gone.

He then heard an angry voice that wasn't his daughter's, whispering her name.

Less than a fraction of a second later, Vegeta threw open the door to his daughter's room. His teal eyes scanned over the room that was only lit by a small nightlight in the corner. Finally, his sights settled on his daughter. The little girl was standing at the window with her back to him. Vegeta's brows furrowed a bit, a chill running down his spine for no reason he could place.

"Bra?" he asked warily.

She didn't answer him. Vegeta glanced around the room again, and walked over to the little girl's closet. He checked it to make sure no one was hiding there, confusion etched in his features. There was no one alive who could leave the room faster than he had shown up. His sense of smell also said that no one had been in the room.

Finally, he walked over to stand at his daughter's side. Bra was staring blankly out the window. Her blue hair was damp with sweat, and it was only then that Vegeta noticed that it was incredibly hot and stuffy in the room.

He squatted down next to the little girl, losing his Super Saiyan transformation as he did.

"Bra?" he asked again.

His daughter blinked a bit, as though coming out of a daze. She looked over at her father with unhindered fear in her blue eyes.

"The bad people are mad, Daddy," she whispered, her eyes filling with tears.

"What?"

"They're mad that I told you about them," Bra said in complete dismay, before running right into him. She hugged him tightly around his neck and whimpered in his ear, "I'm scared."

"It's alright," Vegeta reassured her quietly. He easily lifted her up against him with one arm as he stood up, using his other hand to rub her back. Bra buried her face into the side of his neck as she clung to him tightly. "There is nothing to fear except this absurd heat in your bedroom. It seems to me that you'll be sleeping with your mother and me until we get that fixed. What do you think?" he asked her lightly, his earlier words with his wife long forgotten.

Bra nodded against him, before squeaking out, "Can I bring Runo?"

Vegeta sighed. "Yes, child," he said, walking over and reaching down with his free hand to retrieve her stuffed bear. He handed it to her, and Bra immediately latched onto it, practically burying it against Vegeta's throat as she tried to hold onto them both equally. Vegeta rubbed her back again as he turned and carried her out of her room.

He walked into his own room, going over to Bulma's side of the bed. Reaching down with his free hand, he touched his wife on the arm.

"Woman," he quietly said, watching as Bulma sighed deeply, before squinting up at him. When she saw that he had their daughter in his arms, she scooted back. Vegeta bent over a bit, lowering the little girl to the bed. Bra instantly crawled into her mother's arms.

"Shh, it's okay, baby," Bulma whispered tiredly, glancing up at Vegeta. He frowned and mouthed to her that he would be right back, and then turned and headed back out.

Vegeta scoured every last inch of the dark compound with a silent stalking that once made him the most dangerous adversary in the universe. Eventually, though, he found himself back in his daughter's room. One glance at the thermostat had his brows furrowing. It was over 90 degrees in the room. He flipped up the controls and turned the air conditioning on, immediately feeling the rush of cool air. The prince then turned around and stared into the darkness of the room, as though staring at an invisible enemy.

After a tense few minutes, he frowned and shook his head. This was absurd. There was no one there. He was wasting his time.

A minute later, Vegeta crawled into his own bed. Bulma was hugging Bra from behind, and the girl had finally fallen asleep with her mother close. The prince protectively wrapped an arm around his wife from behind, settling himself against her.

"What happened?" Bulma whispered to him.

"Nothing. She was frightened, so I brought her here. Go to sleep," he whispered back.

There was silence for a while, before Bulma whispered again, "Vegeta?"

"Hn?"

"Do you get the feeling that something is really wrong here?"

"Like what?"

"I don't know…like we're not alone?"

"No. Stop talking nonsense and go to sleep," Vegeta gruffly said. "You need to stop reading those ridiculous books. They are poisoning your mind."

Bulma sighed, before closing her eyes. "Yeah, maybe."

"Rest, woman."

And so she did. Vegeta stayed awake for hours though, listening to them both breathing.

He didn't fall asleep again until the sun started to rise.