Hi! Been a long time, hasn't it? Sorry about that.
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Big thanks to you all, reviewers and ghost readers alike! Also, as always, BIG thanks to Springandbysummerfall for beta'ing and giving me some pointers =)
WARNINGS: Cursing...duh.
Disclaimer: My couch has a hole in the leather…pretty sure if I owned DBZ, I'd be able to afford to buy a new one, right?
He held the wriggling form in his hand, smirking evilly down upon it.
The creatures large purple eyes silently pleaded with him to be freed, but his grip tightened, taking pleasure in the helpless whimpers and the fingernails that dug into his strong hold on their shirt.
"Pathetic." He sneered as he shook the alien much like a rag doll.
His voice didn't even sound like it was his. The small voice that whispered in the back of his mind told him so, telling him that there was something wrong with him. What he was doing was wrong…he shook his head, ridding the thought out of his head and peered into the eyes of his victim.
So familiar.
He looked deeply into its eyes… and slowly the aliens face morphed slowly into a familiar woman's face. Blue eyes and blue hair, beautiful…
…his mate…his wife…his love…
"Vegeta, don't… Come back…" Her soft voice whispered, making him shiver involuntarily.
The prince flinched and shook his head again, and the face of his beautiful wife faded away and was replaced with the alien who was now pleading for its life in its native tongue.
With a growl, he tossed the small form away from him.
"Leave before I change my mind." He said disgusted…more with himself than anything else.
He watched as the alien scurried away until it was out of sight.
"What was that about?"
Vegeta turned around to see Turles just a few steps away from him, eyeing him questionably. "Not in the mood to play today?"
The Prince snarled at the General and turned away from him, looking back in the direction that the alien ran off to, contemplating sending a ki blast in its general direction…but as he lifted his hand and started to collect ki, the damnable voice spoke to him again, telling him to stop…the sound of her feminine voice made him grit his teeth and had to fight the urge to grab his hair and pull as hard as he could just to shut her up.
He needed to hit something…hard. He twisted around and punched a soldier who was next to him and only felt mild satisfaction when he watched the soldier drop like a heavy stone in water.
Turles watched Vegeta with a wary eye as he marched away. He'd been by the Prince's side ever since Bulma escaped with Prince Tarble. And as the days turned into weeks, he watched the Prince slipping, turning into someone that he wasn't. But to his relief, Vegeta would snap out of it more often than not.
The very first mission they went on after Bulma's escape, Vegeta refused to do anything. He stood next to the war ship, arms crossed defiantly, refusing to participate. And after a heated and public screaming match broke out between son and father, the King simply drained his ki and beat Vegeta to a bloody pulp.
This went on for a day, and when Vegeta still refused to cooperate, Turles watched as the King bent down and whispered something into his son's bloody ear. As the words sunk in for Vegeta, his eyes widened in what looked to be horror and then narrowed hatefully.
The prince stood up slowly and glared hatefully into his father's eyes. Turles could see the pure rage in Vegeta's face. The King obviously had threatened his son somehow, and it was apparent that if the King didn't have control over the boy's ki, he would have been killed already.
Shortly after, Vegeta helped clear out the remaining sectors of the planet and then they headed to their next mission.
And that is when Turles noticed a change in the Prince. Turles didn't really think anything of it at first, Vegeta was purely acting on Saiyan instincts. A smirk here and there while clearing an area, a laugh that was so eerily similar to his father's when doing something particularly bloody or sinister, or even the look of enjoyment when decimating a whole town full of men, women and children. That was just something that made a Saiyan a Saiyan…at least the one's that enjoyed that kind of stuff.
But as time went on, Vegeta, Turles noticed, was full out enjoying the murder and mayhem. He would play with his victims by torturing them to death or maybe make them decide who died first…
This unsettled Turles. Bardock had sent detailed reports about Vegeta… according to Raditz and Nappa, Vegeta never acted this way on missions when in Frieza's army. He'd simply get the job done, there weren't any torture sessions or anything of that nature…
When the changes in Vegeta started, he would snap out of it… but lately he wouldn't snap out of it until he had caused death or destruction, sometimes both. And when that happened, the prince would seclude himself from the others…not that he was a highly sociable person with his men in the first place…
When speaking to him, Turles could see the wildness in Vegeta's eyes. Something that reminded him of a caged beast who was just waiting to be let loose…He seemed unbalanced, which worried Turles immensely.
The General would send reports, stealthily of course, to his brother whenever possible. Telling him where the King was sending them, updates as to what they were doing and Vegeta's state of mind…
Their key person to their freedom was slowly going mad.
He scratched the back of his head and let out a large sigh. Something needed to be done soon with the Prince. He knew that Vegeta was confused and hurt, not so much about what Bulma did, but because she hadn't told him of her plans. But, he had later learned that Vegeta had feared that he would never see her or their cub again, and the only reason he knew that was because Vegeta let it slip when he drank too much ale one evening. That fact, plus being surrounded by Saiyan soldiers and getting a taste a true Saiyan purging mission, had brought out something in the Prince that he had never seen before, since he had been sent away at such a young age. Being with two other Saiyans opposed to being surrounded by upwards of a hundred made a large difference in their influence.
Turles prayed to the gods that his brother and Bulma had gotten the information they needed out of Tarble to destroy the King and were planning something…and soon…for the sake of Vegeta's sanity.
Tarble rubbed his bruised cheek and cursed while he pushed food around his plate. The blue human had done a number on him, and unfortunately the serum she had injected him with a few of weeks ago still was affecting him.
His brother's mate meant business…she was able to get a lot of information out of him with a few punches to the kidney and a couple of hard blows to the face and head. But, he still was holding a lot of vital information from them, and when he refused to talk, Bulma calmly got up and left the interrogation room, smiling at him as she closed the heavy door behind her.
As he waited for the Blue human to return he kept going over his training he received from his father. He knew his youngest son was weak in strength, but he made up for it in mental stamina and sheer stubbornness. Something that his mother had told him he got from his father. His father made it a point to drill him in the arts of interrogation… but simulating being questioned and actually being put in its real life situation were entirely different.
He screamed at himself for giving the human information, but he still had one vital piece of information regarding his father's plans that he wouldn't ever tell. There was no way he'd tell them…he'd take it to the grave, and would laugh as the beast destroyed them all!
With a renewed sense of strength, he sat up straighter in his chair and played with his binders while he waited for Bulma to reenter the room.
When he heard the heavy metal door open, he kept his eyes down at his hands, and smirked. "I'm done. You will not get anything else out of me. You all can burn in hell for all I care, you and my brother-" He looked up and choked on the last words.
His mother sat in the chair Bulma had been sitting. She said nothing, but had a look of discontent and motherly disappointment.
One look from her and he crumbled.
…And now, a couple weeks later, he was still black and blue from his sister-in-law and was now under the ever watchful and almost militant eye of the queen.
It was taking him time to get used to his mother…he had only been allowed little visits with her before she faked her death. The King had drilled it in his head that she was a worthless and dishonorable female who shouldn't have the honor of being called the Queen of Saiyans, and was surprised she whelped two brats with half a brain in their heads. Tarble would constantly catch his father cursing her existence, even after her 'death,' when he disappointed him.
Frankly, Tarble was confused… his mother didn't seem worthless as his father had told him. Nor did she seem dishonorable or stupid… this made him angry. He didn't want to believe that his father had lied to him about such a thing, which in turn made him even more of an angry adolescent.
He rubbed his sore cheek again and stared angrily at the blue human who was eating across from him. The young prince snarled at her silently, but it was cut short when his mother elbowed him and gave him a look that told him if he didn't stop now, she'd make him regret it.
Tarble sighed heavily and defiantly looked at his mother, but decided it wasn't worth the beating he'd get from her and concentrated on his full plate of food.
Turles' frustrated growl reverberated throughout Bardock's war room through the com-link.
"That crazy son of a bitch." His disembodied voice grit out.
"Its an act of desperation..." Piccolo said, getting up from his chair.
Bulma blinked up at her pseudo father. The information Tarble had given them just a couple weeks ago, plus Turles' news about her husbands slipping mental state was not helping her mental state… so much so that she almost felt numb.
"It is an act of desperation. But the King has succeeded with gathering the two most strongest beings in the universe, and Vegeta's mental instability is just an added bonus that helps his cause…" Turles sighed yet again. "This is all making sense now. I've always wondered why the King kept Paragus and his lunatic son around… we just need to figure out what he has planned for both Vegeta and the beast son of Paragus. Has the young prince not told you what the King has planned?"
"No. Just what Bulma and the Queen was able to get out of him." Bardock said. "But I assume he will be using the two to overthrow the Colds. Even before he was King he would talk about ruling over not just our galaxy but all galaxies. And the Colds have control over most of them."
"It makes sense. We've been slowly taking over the planets the rebels have not secured, and according to the mission list we are heading straight into Cold territory." Turles said and then cleared his throat. "Bulma?"
She straightened and looked at the communicator on Bardock's desk. "I'm here."
"I think you will need to meet up with us soon. Maybe you can help Vegeta get back to the mental state we need him in. We are going to a trade planet to refuel and give the men a day or so of leave time in a few days."
Bulma closed her eyes. She wanted nothing more than to see Vegeta, but was wary about it since she had left him, and especially now that he seemed to be losing his mind.
"I will go."
Bulma shivered when another large bead on water rolled from her drenched hair down her back. She sat on her bed in her old apartment on the base ship she and Vegeta shared for a short time before they moved to Utopia.
She stared, unseeing, ahead of her in the darkness of the room, concentrating on the bond between she and Vegeta. She had kept a block on her feelings, only making it possible for him to know she was alive, but unable to feel what she was feeling or catch any random thoughts from her.
It was hard when she first left him. She felt him trying to contact her, to feel her, but she had to stay strong and block him out. She needed to concentrate on the mission, but now that Turles said her husband was acting coo-coo, she was trying desperately to feel him…
Bulma tried doing so while in the shower, but only got snippets and fragments of muddled emotions that she couldn't decipher…and then a flood of feelings hit her all at once. Hate. Confusion. Madness. And morbid happiness… She nearly hit the tile shower floor when she felt as if she got tunnel vision and her eyes were not seeing her surroundings anymore… The dizzying effects of whatever this was made her whole body shake, and she blindly stood up, holding onto the steamed tile as her eyes adjusted to the alien scenery.
Wherever this vision took her to was some sort of desert. Even though she could feel her surroundings and not what her eyes were seeing, she could tell this place was dry and hot. Besides sand dunes, there was the occasional cactus plant and could see heat rise from the brown sand in the distance… her movements didn't match the movements of her vision, and it seemed that she was flying at a leisurely pace through the desert and was then descending to the ground where a few men were congregating…and as the ground got closer she saw that they were Saiyan soldiers, and she recognized the eldest in the group…Turles.
The General turned and looked in her direction, mouthing something that Bulma couldn't hear. The sound of the shower flooded her ears, which made this experience that much more confusing.
Turles continued to talk at her and watched with interest when he pointed to a cluster of sand dunes just a few miles away. He then turned back to face her and handed over a scouter, and was startled to see hands grab them and put them over her left eye.
She watched as a foreign language started scrolling across the screen and gasped when she caught one word.
Vegeta.
She was seeing through Vegeta's eyes.
Bulma sunk to the tiles and watched as Vegeta took off and landed at the dunes Turles had pointed to just moments before. He twisted around to see a mass of aliens huddled together, shaking and scared to death.
Nothing could have prepared her for what she witnessed next.
A dirty, white glove lifted palm up, pointing directly at the mass of men, women and children.
"No..No Vegeta. Don't do it."
Her vision shook, as if he were shaking his head and then looked back at the scared beings. His hand started glowing blue, brighter and brighter and then released the energy in their direction.
The blast blinded her momentarily…but when the dust settled, all that remained was charred sand and smoking parts of bodies.
"NO!" She screamed at the top of her lungs. "NO!" Her breathing became erratic and she felt as if she couldn't get enough oxygen in her lungs.
Bulma regained consciousness some time later, still shaking from the crazed experience she had in the shower. She shakily got up from the now cold wet tile floor, absently got a towel and left the bathroom. She made it to the bed and her legs just couldn't hold her any longer.
So now she sat, drenched and shaking, trying desperately to get into contact with her husband through their bond.
She kept telling herself what she saw wasn't real. But she knew she was kidding herself. She knew what she saw was real. And it only proved Turles' point. She needed to save him before he was lost forever.
A loud knock on the door startled her out of her trance like state.
"Who is it?"
"Me." The gruff, muffled voice of Piccolo announced from the other side of the door.
"Give me a second." Bulma slowly got off the bed and grabbed a pair of sweats and a sweatshirt that was lying on her computer chair and put them on.
She opened the door and Piccolo entered wordlessly, his antennae twitching as he looked at her with his always-serious look. Bulma watched him as he pulled her computer chair out from the desk and sat down, looking at her expectantly and patiently as she made her way back to the bed and sat down across from him.
She was intrigued. Piccolo rarely, if ever paid her a visit in her quarters.
"Where's the boy?"
Bulma glanced towards Trunks' empty basinet and then back to her father. "Chi-Chi has him, she's helping me out."
Piccolo grunted and then narrowed his eyes on his ward.
"What is it Piccolo?" Bulma snapped.
"I saw." He stated plainly and kept her hard gaze.
"Saw what?"
"What you saw, just a while ago."
Bulma shook her head. Piccolo was telepathic, but he usually either blocked everybody out or ignored the things he heard. Plus he was limited in range. If you weren't close to him, he wasn't able to hear you.
"Were you standing at my door?" She stood up angrily. Her patience running thin.
"No. I was in my room when I saw it. It was a powerful blast of psychic energy…I couldn't block it either. I'm sure you figured out that you were seeing through Vegeta's eyes, and now you know what Turles says is true."
Bulma's angry demeanor broke at his words. He just validated something she didn't want to believe. She sat back on her bed and buried her face in her hands.
Piccolo continued. "I'm not sure that you felt the same thing I felt…but something is very wrong with your husband. The madness was radiating off of him, and I can't help but think his father has something to do with it." He cleared his throat, almost nervously. "I used the link through the both of you and saw that you are keeping him anchored to keeping his sanity…but that anchor is slowly slipping, and I'm afraid that if you don't do something he will go insane. And I'm not sure he'll ever come back from it."
"How come I didn't feel what you felt? I couldn't hear or feel anything. I just saw. This doesn't make sense! I have a bond with him, you don't."
He shrugged. "Like I said, it was a powerful blast of psychic energy, and I saw the opportunity and took it."
Bulma slumped down onto her bed. This was just too much.
Piccolo stood. "I think the little prince is still keeping something from us, and I think what is happening to Vegeta has to do with it. I think you should question him before you go to Vegeta."
As he walked to the door, he looked over his shoulder at Bulma. He looked as if he wanted to say something else but thought better of it and left her to herself.
Some time later, Bulma was dressed and was now heading towards her mother-in-law's quarters, determined to make the little shit of a brother-in-law spill the beans, once and for all.
She knocked and drummed her fingers impatiently, waiting for Alina to answer the door.
"Bulma." Alina greeted with a warm smile, but it faded when she got a good look at her. "What is the matter?"
"Is Tarble in?"
The queen's eyes narrowed slightly and nodded an affirmative. "What is wrong? Has he done something to you?" She asked as she let her in.
"The only thing the little shit has done is withhold valuable information from me. I need to speak with him now."
She knew the queen did not appreciate her calling her youngest son a little shit, but Alina held her tongue, knowing that he was more than difficult. He hadn't made their lives easy since Bulma absconded with him and brought him there. He was moody and confused, which made him act out negatively.
"I'll go get him."
Bulma paced anxiously while she waited for Alina to fetch Tarble, thinking only about her husband and if she would be too late getting to him.
"What do you want?"
Bulma turned at the sound of voice and charged him, smirking as his body easily slammed up against the wall he was next to.
"Get off of me female." He spat. "Mother, you're going to let her do this to me?"
Alina calmly sat in a chair and shook her head. "Yes. And you had best come clean son. Because if you don't, she wont be the only one to beat you bloody."
"Listen here short stack." With her free hand, Bulma grasped his chin, making him look her directly in the face. "You're going to tell me why Vegeta is losing his mind. What has your father done to him?"
Tarble looked at her and then away, refusing to tell her.
"Tell me, or I swear to god I will kill you." Bulma grated out in a deathly low whisper.
Tarble looked at her again but still remained silent.
"You don't have to be loyal to him, Tarble." Alina said. "Just tell her."
"What will happen then, hmm, Mother?" He said, baring his teeth. "Why should I help you save the one person who I had to compete with? He was absent throughout my life until now, and I still had to prove myself to Father. He doesn't deserve the name Vegeta. I do."
Bulma let go of his face and backed up, looking at the young Saiyan prince. Alina too was looking at Tarble with confusion.
"What are you talking about?" The queen asked.
"Ever since I could remember, Father would compare me to Vegeta. Tell me I was worthless compared to him, berated me for my weakness. Constantly told me that if I were the first born he would have gladly given me to Frieza instead of Vegeta. I was just getting into his good graces before you two came and screwed things up for me."
Bulma and Alina looked at him in bewilderment. He was crying now as he took a rugged intake of air and shook his head. "I endured so much from Father, but I knew that if I stayed the course I would be the man he wanted me to be…" He looked up at his mother now, his reddened eyes filled with sadness. "You never tried to protect me." He said quietly.
Alina gasped, and right then and there Bulma knew he was just a scared little boy who was lost and confused due to a shitty father, not the hardened wanna be bad ass Bulma had thought him to be.
"My son," Alina walked up to him, but did not try to embrace him. "Know that I wanted to protect you. I tried to, please know this. And in return I was beaten almost to death each and every time. The thing I regret the most was not being able to protect you or your brother from your father. You two have endured two different hells and I am so very sorry for that. But please know that I am here and there is no way in hell I am going to let you go through that again." She lifted her hand slowly and caressed his tear stained cheek. "Now please son, please tell Bulma what she needs to know. If we lose your brother, there is no hope for a peaceful future."
Tarble closed his eyes, looking like he was contemplating what his mother had just said. When he opened them again, he looked directly at Bulma.
"The torque is causing him to go insane. Paragus' son has gone through the same thing...they aren't sure why, but it amplifies his saiyan tendencies… he's almost animalistic, especially when engaged in battle…that's all I know."
Bulma nodded. "Thank you Tarble."
The young prince merely gave her a single nod and then looked down at the ground.
"What are you going to do now?" Alina asked.
"I'm going to meet up with Vegeta, and see if I can get the torque off…let's pray to the gods that he hasn't succumbed to the madness."
The torque seemed heavier than normal. He felt it as it slowly leached his ki from his body. Something his father took pleasure in, no doubt, while he was not on an active mission.
Vegeta tugged at the thick metal absently as he speared another piece of meat with his fork and chewed. The rumblings of the soldiers in the mess hall of the ship buzzed in the background, annoying him. He needed peace and quiet. But even when he was alone, the voices screamed at him, making him want to drive his head into the thick steel walls of the ship repeatedly.
He stared unseeing towards the empty seats in front of him as he ate, earning him questionable looks from the others as they passed his table. He knew he was losing it, and it seemed the more he fought the voices, the voices would come back louder, slowly feeding him lies and contorting his thoughts and reality. He wasn't sure what reality was his anymore….Was he the prince his father turned his back on, giving him to the maniacal Lord Frieza, spending years in the ranks of the Cold Army silently plotting out thy tyrants defeat, who fought and defeated the lizard and became the legendary? Or was he just a crazed psychopath that craved the blood of the victims of purge missions?
Never did he feel the need to maim and torture when on missions…He was all about the quick kill. Sure, if he and his men were in engaged in battle, he'd take pleasure in stomping them, relishing the win, beating them senseless before killing them…but now…now he took absolute pleasure in playing with his victims before he gave them a particularly gruesome and horrifying death. He had skills he didn't even know he had in the dark arts torture, which surprised him…his race was ruthless, and yet, even some of his soldiers cringed at what he had been doing.
But what made this worse was feeling and at times hearing his mate. He could feel that she was worried about him, and she would project her undying love for him, which was happening more often than not as of late. At first he fed off of it, used it to fight the voices off…but the voices were stronger than her connection with him and eventually they drowned her out…although he wasn't sure if it was her or if it was yet another voice trying to fill his already mentally unstable brain with lies.
As he went to stab another piece of meat, her sweet voice drifted into his ears and echoed inside of his skull.
'Vegeta.' It whispered. He felt her trying to nudge her way into him, trying to put him at ease. Up until she had left, he had never heard her voice telepathically, and he wasn't sure why it started now…another piece of evidence that he was going mad.
'Don't listen to the bitch.' The other voice hissed, sounding like a demon straight from hell. 'She is nothing but a stupid bitch. Ignore her. She won't let you have any fun. Just a few more hours and we'll be on our next mission… killing. Maybe we can find a nice female to have fun with...'
He smirked at the last part. It had been a while since he had gotten any action with Bulma… and it seemed like fun…
Vegeta's thoughts then went to his mate and the thought of raping or even just hiring a whore repulsed him.
'Don't be a bitch. She left you, took your cub. She doesn't want you anymore. You're free. Just like your father, she handed you over to the enemy. Just goes to show you, you can trust anybody but yourself. You're better off that way.'
He dropped his fork and dug his hands through his hair and pulled as hard as he could, scrunching his eyes shut. The demon's voice spoke truth. Bulma was just like his father. He trusted her, just as he did his father. And they both hand delivered him to the enemy. His trust in her broke.
Her voice again rang throughout his head. 'You know you can trust me, right Vegeta? No matter what happens, just know you can trust me. I love you.'
Soon the other one started to talk over her, telling him that it was lie. Everything she said was a lie.
He growled loudly. The inner battle was starting to give him a splitting headache. He stood up and struck the table he was sitting at, effectively splintering the wood and breaking it in half with one powerful blow.
"SHUT THE FUCK UP! THE BOTH OF YOU!" He screamed. His chest rose up and down heavily and spittle flew out of his mouth. He turned around, noticing the mess hall had grown silent. Everyone had stopped what they were doing and was now staring at him.
"What the fuck are you assholes staring at?" He roared and stalked out of the room, all the while pulling his hair and talking under his breath to somebody that wasn't there.
beta'd by: Springbysummerfall
