A/N: Thanks for your reviews!

Disclaimer: I don't own anything, only my obsession. It's a healthy one, though. I've only cried five or six times over the fact that the love of my life is a fictional character and won't ever be able to love me.


Nappa awoke with a start when someone knocked on his door. He glared at the door before reaching for his armor and walking up to it. Goku and Bulla were waiting for him outside.

"What do you want now?"

"Do you saiyans do anything other than sleeping?" Bulla said.

Nappa growled. "Watch your mouth, whore."

Before Bulla could answer, Goku cut in. "We were wondering if you could take Vegeta outside so that Bulma can tell him what other things we need. We couldn't find him in his room."

"He's having a training session right now." Nappa said. "Tell me what you want and I'll make sure – "

"Monkey." Zarbon said as he approached Nappa's room. Bulla gasped when she saw that his gloves, boots and chest plates were covered in blood. An awful feeling of foreboding invaded her as the green alien smiled. "Perfect timing. The Prince is in the Training Rooms. You may want to pick him up; I don't think he'll be able to get up on his own." He laughed and walked down the hall. Nappa glared at him and was about to jog down to the Training rooms when the green pretty boy stopped. "And by the way, the Prince will not be allowed tanks until further notice."

Nappa growled and began to walk down the hall. Goku and Bulla looked at each other before following him.

"He won't be able to talk to you for a while." Nappa said. "If I were you, I'd go away and come back when he gets better."

"When will he get better?"

Nappa didn't answer. He just walked across the hall with Goku and Bulma following him. There was a tense silence until they arrived to an ample, round hall surrounded by various doors. He sighed as he entered one and Bulla and Goku followed him inside. Bulla gasped and covered her mouth when she saw the scene that greeted her.


PRESENT

"Bulma told me about the Time Machine a while ago. She was building it for some sort of company that would pay her a lot of money for it, but she was having doubts because if it fell on bad hands it would be a disaster. She built it, though, because she was curious about it, but it wasn't quite perfect. When I tested it, I found that it was lacking various cables that would sustain two atmospheres at the same time. If they touched one single thing, they would be visible, but the machine would fail to work." Dr. Briefs explained, caressing his mustache.

"You mean that if they touch one single thing, they will be visible to everyone?" Vegeta said, dangerously calm.

"No. I think they need to move something to make themselves visible, but I'm not sure. Besides, since the machine can't handle the whole new atmosphere, I don't know if they will be visible by everyone. I mean, if they touch one person, that person would see them, but I don't think that the whole new timeline would. The machine wasn't that potent."

Vegeta pinched the bridge of his nose. Long time ago he would've blasted the whole laboratory and would've killed anything to release himself from all the pent-up anger. But he decided to try and calm down first. It would do no good to hurt the old scientist.

"Can you build the damn thing or not?" he growled.

"I can try."


PAST

There was blood everywhere. The walls, the floor, even the ceiling, which were also cracked and burnt. There, in the middle of the floor, lay the tiny child, still conscious but unable to move. He was lying on his stomach, his eyes – or eye, because one was swollen shut and crusted with blood – wide with pain and fear. Tears ran steadily down his swollen cheeks. Bulla walked weakly up to him. His little face was horribly bruised, and his limbs lay sprawled around him, twisted in unnatural, painful angles. His armor lay discarded in a corner, unharmed, but his spandex suit was soaked red and ragged. What was worst of all his injuries, though, was his little tail. The fur was matted with blood, and there was a knot tied in the middle of it. He didn't look up when three figures entered. Nappa kneeled next to him and Vegeta flinched backwards, his eyes clenching shut. The burly Saiyan grabbed the tiny prince in his arms, went for the armor, and carried him out. Bulla followed in tears, Goku walked behind them with fury in his features.

They entered Vegeta's room and Nappa cautiously put him on the bed. Vegeta sighed and his eyes rolled to the back of his head.

"I can't believe this." Bulla said.

"Daily thing. We're used to it by now." Nappa said.

"We being Radditz and you, right? I doubt Vegeta will ever get used to this." The girl answered.

"More or less. A year ago he would fight and insult Zarbon until they had to tear his tongue off."

"They what?" Goku said, dangerously calm.

Radditz entered then. He seemed agitated. His eyes landed on the little child and he sighed. The small bag they had seen the first time they were there lay on his calloused hand. He sat on the bed and glared at the pair of 'aliens'.

"What the hell do you want?" he growled as he began to remove the child's spandex. Everyone winced at the child's destroyed body.

"We needed some other things for the Machine." Bulla said. "But we can come back later."

"Don't bother to come back at all." Nappa said.

"Do you need help with that?" Bulla asked softly. "I know a bit of medicine."

"He'll be fine." Radditz answered as he finished cleaning his body. "They'll give him a tank soon."

"But the tail – "

"Just shut up." Nappa said. Radditz turned him over so that he was lying on his stomach and grabbed the tail. Unluckily enough, the child gasped and woke up.

"W-what… Nappa? Radditz?"

"We're here." Radditz said. "Vegeta… we need to unknot your tail."

"No!" Vegeta exclaimed. "No. Wait until they give me the tank. They'll…"

"Vegeta… if we don't fix that, your tail can suffer severe damage. Besides, wouldn't you prefer us untying it than those bastards in the infirmary?"

Vegeta looked away and nodded a little. Radditz grabbed the tail softly while Nappa held Vegeta down with all the care he could. Vegeta glared at Goku and was about to tell them to leave, when a sharp cry escaped his lips. Radditz was trying to unknot the tail, but Zarbon had done a job on it. Vegeta trashed, but Nappa held him down, taking advantage of the fact that the prince was in a weak state. Under other circumstances, the child would've broken both of Nappa's arms without breaking a sweat. Some minutes passed before Vegeta was in tears again, shrieking and clawing at the bed below him. Bulla was crying as well, watching as the six-year-old child struggled and cried while Radditz tugged at his tail to remove the knot. The prince howled in pain and finally, Radditz succeeded and released the tail. Vegeta buried his head in the pillow as sobs of pain wracked his little frame. Suddenly, out of nowhere, he got up and punched the thirdclass in the face.

"Vegeta, no!" Goku shouted.

"Leave him." Nappa said. "He won't harm him too much and he needs to release his anger on something." He added as Vegeta began to punch Radditz in the face as he sat on his chest. The thirdclass didn't try to defend himself, and Vegeta stopped after a minute. He swallowed and climbed down from his comrade. He panted and winced once the adrenaline caused by the rage wore off. He climbed back on the bed and clenched his jaw. He knew that at least one, if not all, of his limbs was broken. He lied down and gave his back to them.

"Leave me alone. I'll help you with your machine when they give me a tank." He muttered. He was trying with all his might not to cry.

Bulla and Goku decided to let him be for now. They stepped out of the room and Radditz left behind them. Nappa stayed inside, to be with Vegeta in case he needed anything. Not like they could provide him with much anyway…

Bulla burst into tears the second she stepped out of the compound. Trunks looked at her and frowned.

"Did they hurt you?" he asked.

"No." she said. "When we got there, Vegeta had been hurt again. Horribly hurt. It was terrible."

"Well…" Bulma said. "We fixed a bit with the heat of Trunks's ki but we can't do much more."

"We'll have to wait." Goku said. "He can barely move." He sighed and sat cross legged on the ground. "Man, this sucks. I'm so hungry!"

"Me too." Trunks said. "We should go ask Radditz and Nappa for food or we'll starve."

Goku nodded. "I'll come with you. They won't be happy with us so maybe it'll be safer if Trunks and I ask them."

"Okay, then." Trunks muttered.


"Zarbon, how did the training session with my little monkey go?" Frieza asked, swirling his wine.

"He's getting better, my lord. He stands his ground much better, but he still fails a bit." He answered. "I am afraid you'll need to call a cleaning team to fix the Training Room, sir."

"Poor little thing. He's surely crying right now. I ought to have that camera installed in his room, don't you think?" The lizard commented. "Imagine being able to watch the little ape crying every night in that room of his. Ecstatic."

"Of course, sir." Zarbon said.

"Wait for an hour, and then tell him to get into a tank. After that, he'll be allowed to eat in a regular basis until he screws up." He laughed. "Although it won't be too long before that."

"Yes, sir. Anything else?"

"No." he purred.


Goku and Trunks decided to let at least half an hour pass before they got inside again and began looking for one of the saiyans. They found Radditz training.

"Hey," Goku told his brother as they approached him. Radditz was punching an imaginary opponent. He turned to see them and growled, not stopping his routine.

"You are getting on my nerves." The long-haired Saiyan said as he kicked the invisible counterpart. "What do you want now? Vegeta is not available right now. You know that."

"We were just wondering if you could get some food for us." Trunks said. "We don't know how long it'll take for us to fix the machine and with Vegeta out of it we – "

"I can't." he growled. "We're only allowed to get food on schedule and Frieza lowered our amounts of food after the Tzarin fiasco."

"The-the what?" Goku asked.

His brother sent another punch and sent them a sideways glare. "Frieza gave us one week to purge a planet that would've taken at least two." He said. "Tzarins are stronger than what he told us so that didn't help either." He stopped for a second and straightened up. "Among other things," he continued "the food deprivation was one of his punishments." He spit the last word with a sharp lash of his tail and turned to glare at them. "Nappa and I got our rations cut in half. Prince Vegeta got his rations cut off completely. If we go through the trouble of eating even less or stealing some scraps of food, it will be for him. Not you."

Goku sighed. "I'm sorry to hear that." He said, for lack of a better comment.

"Whatever." Radditz answered, rolling his eyes. He was about to go out, when Zarbon entered the room. The Saiyan growled at him.

"Having fun, monkey?" the pretty boy said.

"What the fuck do you want?"

"Watch that mouth, kid." Zarbon said, amused. "You don't want to end up like your little prince now, do you?" he laughed when the Saiyan growled and clenched his fists. "I came here because Lord Frieza has decided to be merciful. You can eat normally now. The little Prince, too. You can take him to the tanks at 2398." That being said, he walked away, his cape swirling behind him.

Radditz sighed and grabbed his armor, putting it back on. "Seems you got lucky."


"Vegeta." Radditz muttered, shaking the tiny prince.

"No." Vegeta moaned. "No more."

"Hey, it's me." Radditz said, patting his sore cheek. Vegeta's eyes fluttered open and he took a deep breath. "They are going to give you a tank. Come on." He helped the child to sit up and get off of the bed. Vegeta leaned against Radditz's leg and waited until the dizziness cleared. He gave one step ahead. His broken legs protested, but he had run with broken legs before, escaping Frieza. He could surely walk up to the infirmary on his own. With Radditz and Nappa following him in case he passed out again, but without being carried. His tail waved behind him to help him get some balance as he walked out the door and leaned on the wall of the hall. His body protested. It would've been much better to be carried by Radditz, but his pride wouldn't allow it. If he was able to walk, then he'd do so.

"Radditz," Vegeta panted. "Where are they now?" he asked. There was some sort of fear in his heart. What if they had left without him while he was out?

"Outside, waiting for you." The older boy answered. "By the way, Frieza will let us eat normally again."

Vegeta sighed in relief and nodded, trying not to show the absolute happiness that was growing inside of him.