Chapter Eight - Desperation

Assessing the situation in front of her as she returned to the battle alongside Goku, Rosemary dashed over to Vegeta, who had looked to have retreated to some long grass to recover slightly. He was pretty banged up - a huge gash across his right shoulder, noticeable lacerations across his chest that had managed to make it through his armour, she marveled at how quickly he'd gone from near perfectly intact to severely maimed. And yet, despite all of it, he was alive, conscious, and seemingly unphased. What a man Vegeta was shaping out to be - he was going to be a handful to deal with for sure after everything was said and done.

Rosemary examined his scratches and wounds with care, unable to find a part of him that wasn't bruised or cut. Wiping some debris away with gentle swipes of her hand, she carefully traced her fingers over him to get a better sense of his damage.

"My gosh, Vegeta," she said in a sad whisper "You're hurt everywhere…"

Vegeta harshly coughed up a small amount of blood and spit it out away from her.

"Rose," he forced out of him painfully. "I'm fine."

Did he think she was an idiot?

"No, you're not!" she retorted sharply. "You've proved enough, quit pretending to be stronger than you are!"

"This is so sweet it's making me sick." Frieza taunted from afar. "But she cares about you so much, Vegeta, let her tend to your every whim!"

His laughter slowed to a sinister chuckle.

"Maybe you should let her stay right by your side so you can die together, too, how fitting!"

Mockery was not something she liked at all, yes, she could say it quite surely now. What was their relationship to Frieza, anyways?

Rosemary got up from where she had crouched as Frieza continued to laugh at them.

"Don't you mock me!" she cursed at him furiously, darting towards him again.

Before she knew it, she was grabbed by the shoulder by Goku in a single, clean swoop of his hand. He was hoping that Vegeta would be in decent shape for when they returned, but given the condition that he and Piccolo, the next strongest fighter, was in, the situation was looking grim.

Rosemary growled angrily. What in the world was he doing?

"Hey!" she snapped as she squirmed to get free of his clutch, annoyed. "What's the deal, Goku?! I thought you wanted to stop this monster?!"

He tightened his grip on her collarbone. He couldn't let her throw herself away like this.

"You're right." Goku told her in a serious tone, lifting her off the ground to give her a good hard look in the eyes. "I do, but I don't want you to get hurt." He frowned. "I know you're mad, but you're starting to think like Vegeta and act impulsively. Dealing with one of him is hard enough, and this isn't like you at all."

Rosemary's hands curled into tight fists as she hung by his clutch.

"Would you put me down, I'm no play thing! I'm trying to help you!" she replied, writhing to loosen his grip. " I came here to take care of unfinished business, just like you! Please, let me help!"

Goku didn't budge.

"Stay with everyone else." Goku gently commanded her. "Go back to our ship with the others. You're a skilled healer, I can tell, and because of that, I need you alive. Please trust me, Rosemary, seriously. Gohan will lead the way."

Finally letting go of her, Rosemary plopped back on the ground after a small drop and a stubborn jerk of her shoulder.

"Fine." She sneered in defeat, going back over to Vegeta, her head bowed in shame.

Did Goku really plan on fighting Frieza alone? Such talk was enough for her to scold Vegeta, of all people, and now this Saiyan appears from out of nowhere and suddenly demands he handle everything on his own. She wasn't sure if Goku was insane or extremely confident in his abilities, but it frightened her all the same.

"Come," she told him miserably. "It's your turn to use the healing machine."

Vegeta narrowed his eyes on her, doubtful.

"You can't carry me, Rosemary." Vegeta told her dryly. "Leave me be."

"No!" she shouted at him defiantly. "I'll drag you with what little power I have if I have to! I am not leaving you here to die!"

Vegeta knew that she wasn't even capable of that.

"You'll do as I say, Rosemary!" He finally raised his voice to match hers, causing Rosemary to respond with a slight wince. Coughing once again, Vegeta growled out of frustration. "That's an order."

Rosemary held a silent gaze on him for a moment, questioning why he had chosen such a time to be so damn stubborn. She only assumed that he was relying on the Dragon Balls to reunite them afterwards if he had died, but it didn't change that she was leaving her best friend, the person she swore to look after, to die alone. It directly went against her duty, but in the end, an order from the prince was an order from the prince.

A tear escaped her stone-hard stare before she turned away.

"Y-yes, my prince." She whimpered obediently, then went over to Gohan and the rest of the group, Piccolo badly wounded as well. "We must go back to the ship, wherever that is."

"It's with Bulma." Gohan responded dryly. "It's far, but we'll manage."

"Please, take me there."

Gohan nodded affirmatively, taking an unconscious Piccolo over his shoulder, and smiled. Rosemary, still upset over Vegeta's decision, looking back at his heavily damaged body as the group of them took off, then back to the front as they finally flew away.

"Hey, just a moment," she called ahead to Gohan, noticing there was an absence from the group. "Where is Krillin?"

"Sorry, Rosemary..." Gohan told her mournfully. "While you were gone with my dad, we lost him in the fight."

Rosemary bared her teeth in anger and bowed her head.

"Damn it, Frieza!" she boomed to the air. "I hope you die a horrible death to Goku!"

. . .

Frieza held a firm glare on Goku as the two of them stared each other down intensely.

"And just who are you, exactly?" Frieza asked him, intrigued. "You think you're all high and mighty, stopping Lady Rosemary in the middle of such a redeeming moment." He crossed his arms in thought. "You two seem awfully related given your features, should I know you from somewhere?"

Goku managed a slight grin across his readied, serious expression.

"Could be because we're both Saiyans." Goku boasted confidently. "I've been in a different knick of the woods, though."

"I suppose that's my fault." Frieza continued. "But between you and that Namekian, I seem to be slipping in terms of wiping out races." He bluffed, then grinned cockily. "No matter, I will handle you just the same. But first," he pointed a single finger down at Vegeta, then shot a high charged energy beam right through his chest. Goku looked over his shoulder fearfully, to find him bleeding immensely from his left side.

"Vegeta!" Goku cried out angrily. "Man, Rosemary's going to hate me!"

"I'm still alive, you idiot!" Vegeta shouted in extreme pain, grimacing at his wounds. If he did so much as cough once again, it'd be his end.

"Listen well, I'm obviously not going to last much longer." he made a stifled but desperate gasp for air. "Our entire planet, our people, were held under Frieza's reign, understand the weight that this holds for our kind." he breathed hard once more. "Other than Rosemary, you are," he coughed harshly, his lungs screaming to jump out of his body - Gods, maybe he should have let Rosemary take care of him after all, knowing that he was about to die left him empty and unsatisfied with how he'd treated her since she'd found him.

"...The only other Saiyan left. For my sake, she'd better be alive when I return, Kakarot, or I swear, I will make it my mission to kill you."

Goku smiled. He knew Vegeta wasn't much for positive thought or endearment, but he could tell that what he was saying was legitimate and he truly meant it - it might have been the first time he's ever encountered this side of the Saiyan Prince.

"Right." Goku responded firmly with a nod. "She's in good hands, and she's gonna do a great job of taking care of Piccolo, I know she is."

It was almost as if his confidence in Rosemary had soothed Vegeta just then, the warrior's face had loosened up and his eyes closed peacefully. No doubt about it, this new woman meant a ton to him.

He watched as Vegeta had taken his last breath, and passed without a fuss. Accepting that he was on his own now, he turned back to Frieza in a newfound rage - this planet had a massive excess of unnecessary deaths, corrupted dreams and lost brethren. He'd never encountered something so disastrously repulsive in his life, and he thought that Vegeta was evil at first.

"You won't hurt anyone else!" Goku called over to Frieza in a stern shout. 'It's just you and me now."

"Oh, really?" Frieza retorted. "And just what is a monkey like yourself going to do to stop me?"

"You'll see." Goku answered lowly. "You killed my friends, and I don't take to that kindly!" he continued, the ground around him beginning to quiver aggressively.

The air around them bended into heavy torrents of wind, kicking up the bodies of water into a restless fury as well. Goku's pitch black hair furiously rustled as his eyes remained fixed on Frieza, flickering to a new, bright yellow hue.

"What's going on?!" Frieza shouted in a panic. "Yellow hair? You're no Saiyan! Who are you?!"

Goku roared with rage, aflame with a near blinding yellow aura that wildly swirled around every inch and crevice of his body.

Frieza ogled in wonder, yet interestingly worried for his life for quite possibly the first time. Something wasn't right about this Saiyan - as if the yellow hair wasn't already enough to throw him off, no Saiyan should have rivaled his own power, and he had a feeling that this man might have just closed the gap on him.

"I'm going to be the one that puts an end to your torment!"

. . .

Rosemary had a bad feeling about what was going on back at the scene of the fight, frequently and anxiously looking over her shoulder to make sure that they weren't being followed.

Despite being left with nothing of note previously, a purple laser-like beam blipped out of nowhere and quickly gained on her group to her sudden surprise.

"Damn it!" she shrieked as she leaped out of the way, pulling Gohan aside with her. The two of them narrowly escaped the blast with a heartbeat to spare.

Gohan noted the blast as it flew by them in a flash.

"That was close…" Gohan exhaled. "Geez, Rosemary, thank goodness you have fast reflexes."

"Y-Yes..." she modestly trailed off, pausing to see if she could find Goku and Vegeta's life energy sources from where they hovered.

After a brief moment of struggle, there was nothing to be found, leaving her disappointed and worried.

"Gohan, may I ask you something?"

Thrown off-guard, he was left blinking cluelessly.

"Uh, yeah, sure."

"W-Well," Rosemary shyly went on. "If Goku and Vegeta do, um, die… What do we do?"

Gohan rushed over to her, putting a hand on her shoulder while making sure that Piccolo was still positioned securely over his small, briefly toned shoulder.

"Rosemary, it's alright, I know you're probably worried sick about Vegeta…" he told her half-heartedly, surprisingly calm despite having the same feeling of worry for his father. "We can bring him back with the Dragon Balls, everything's going to be okay."

"But-" she managed to say through breaths, "The Dragon Balls… They were turned to stone, were they not? This is why I'm skeptical."

"Oh, well, we have Earth's Dragon Balls, too!" Gohan encouraged. "Yeah, I guess I should have mentioned that sooner, I'm really not used to having someone around that's completely new to all of this… As long as Piccolo doesn't die on the way home, we can use them when we get back! I think that's why my dad wanted you to get away from the fight. You can stabilize him, can't you?"

Rosemary eyed Piccolo in uncertainty. She hadn't given him a proper look over yet - from what she could tell, the Namekian looked to be in similar shape as Vegeta had been when they had left him behind. Considering that Piccolo was unconscious, however, such damage seemed to have a greater impact on him.

"He's in seriously critical condition," she told him. "I can try, but we need to act fast if you expect me to be able to do much!"

"Right!"

After a few more minutes of hasty flight, Gohan, Rosemary, and Piccolo finally arrived back at the ship unharmed.

The planet Namek started to show noticeable instability. The sky was dark with thick clouds and crackling thunder, occasionally striking the bodies of water as the group of them soared over them.

Gohan a looked around to find Bulma, who was nowhere to be seen.

Knowing that they were supposed to be meeting someone else here, the fact that no one was here to meet them was making Rosemary grow more tense by the second.

Rosemary looked over to Gohan, hoping he had some kind of explanation for this.

"Alright, so the ship is here," she commented. "But Bulma's not?!" she growled at Gohan, trying the best she could to remember what Bulma looked like and kept looking around. "That blue haired woman from before, right? You said she was here!"

"She was!" Gohan assured her in fright, noticing that Rosemary's temper had been growing short - they didn't have time to be wasting to look for someone, so she was right to be impatient. He took a deep exhale and shrugged, annoyed. "She gets bored and just does her own thing, she's kinda just along for the ride, you know?"

Rosemary blinked. She did know what that was like, surprisingly.

"Alright," she continued, taking a deep breath. Her anger was being used irresponsibly and she was already remorseful for towing a line. "If I stay here and tend to Piccolo to ensure he doesn't bleed out, can you go find her?"

"I guess so..." Gohan trailed off nervously, the pressure of time growing thin starting to hit him as well. "Will you be fine here on your own?"

Rosemary irritably clenched her hands into fists. She knew she was weaker than everyone else, but she wasn't incompetent.

"Must you guys doubt me so much?" she snapped, lowering her head. "I'm really not all that useless, am I?"

"Sorry!" Gohan slid in quickly. "I still don't know you all that well, I just want to make sure you're okay! Just be careful, then, alright?"

"I'll be fine!" she fussed. "Please, Just hurry!"

Taking a moment to reflect on the exchange the two of them just had, she hoped that she wasn't too mean to the boy. 'You know, he's a good kid…'

"Right!" he confirmed finally, then left her outside of the ship with Piccolo, who lay unconscious on the ground. Rosemary stiffly crouched down to his side, the new chest plate she had been wearing shifting as she bent over, leaving her feeling like she was being temporarily sat on. Annoyed, she squirmed quickly to readjust her armour and took a few breaths - she was about to deal with a wound larger than she'd ever tended to previously.

Almost identical to Ginyu's tactic of impaling his own chest, Frieza took the liberty to fire something cleanly through Piccolo's shoulder, only narrowly missing where she assumed the Namekians heart lie within his body.

She was heavily opposed to the idea of getting close and personal with a massive hole blasted through someone's chest - the first time she saw such a thing, she nearly fainted on the spot. But, she had to do it for the sake of staying alive, her freedom was too close to give up now.

'If I can move small objects with a good amount of control...' she thought intensely, before she went to work. 'Perhaps there's a way I can reroute his blood flow away from the wound...'

She noted every little detail of Piccolo's injuries carefully, squeamish as she spent a great deal of attention glaring at the huge gap in his body, the edges rough with scabbing, loose green skin, and fabric from his clothing. Slowly bringing a shaky hand closer to the wound, she could hardly bring herself to look as she reached out towards it. Finally touching a finger to an edge, she ripped her hand away with an unsettling yelp, tensing up in disgust. She needed to do this, she knew she did, but she had never seen anything quite like this up close before - this was worse than even Goku's prior situation.

"Seriously!" she shouted angrily, slamming a fist to the ground in shame. This was just too much for her to handle. "What is it with blowing holes in people?" she asked the air, then reconsidered. "I suppose it's the most effective way to kill someone..."

She shook her head.

"How did I get myself into this, anyways... Would it have been better to just stay a captive for the rest of my life? Will I even live after all of this?!"

After some insistent reassuring, she pressed on, forcing herself to place a hand gently underneath Piccolo's body. Focusing in on him carefully, she pressed her other hand on the top of his chest a generous distance away from the gaping wound. She imagined all of the tiny, individual veins transporting his blood, the very essence of his life at that moment, to the rest of his body. She then envisioned his blood flowing through those veins, slowly and steadily moving throughout his internal systems, the beat of his heart putting out a small amount of pressure on it to ensure it moved along.

It was strangely meditative for her, and suddenly, the process became more then just thought.

She could feel something, as if her hands were wet, a faint trickling feeling stimulated the tips of her fingers.

Piccolo's heartbeat became more amplified, allowing her to feel how deceptively strong and healthy his heart had been.

'This is so fascinating…' she thought in an exciting wonder, then quickly relaxed to stay focussed. 'This is ludicrous, I can feel everything… Maybe I can circulate his blood flow without having any of it approach the wound like a tourniquet...'

She ended the thought, stayed quiet to concentrate, and went to work.

. . .

Upon instruction from King Kai, the guardian of Earth instructed his caretaker to gather the Dragon Balls. Direly aware that Piccolo's condition was on the line, Kami prayed willingly as he waited in hope that Mr. Popo could find the Dragon Balls soon enough to bring everyone home.

After a great amount of effort, Mr. Popo finally returned with all seven Dragon Balls.

"My lord, please forgive me for taking so long, I just don't have it in me to do this sort of thing anymore…" Mr. Popo remarked as he caught his breath, hopping off his magic red carpet in a hurry.

Kami rushed over to meet with him and set the plan in motion.

"You've done well, Mr. Popo." the elder kindly reassured him. "Come, we must hurry!"

"Of course, sir!" Mr. Popo panted, calling the magic carpet over to drop the Dragon Balls in front of him as he hunched over tiredly. He dramatically flared his hands out towards them.

"Shenron," he chanted between heavy breaths. "Rise to grant a wish for the sake of the universe!"

The Dragon Balls began to glow brightly in response, a gentle humming noise sounded as they began to emit more energy. After a bright flash of light, a long but slim green dragon emerged from the pile before them.

"I am the Eternal Dragon…" it thundered down to Mr. Popo in it's typical greeting. "Master, what is it you request of me at this time?"

"Shenron!" He responded politely. "I ask that you resurrect all of the lives that were taken at the hands of Frieza and his army."

Shenron's eyes burned a red hue in response.

"Your wish shall be granted, Master."

. . .

Back on Namek, the sky had returned to it's dark black colour once again, the dragon Porunga now sitting idly atop an island that had parted itself from the mainland.

Lord Guru had been revived safely, solemnly sitting on his throne at the watchtower. The Namekian elder knew exactly what had happened, he could sense that there was still an evil force at play nearby and sat in prayer, pleading to let it pass peacefully.

Dende, killed where the Dragon Balls had fallen dead, snapped awake as if he had just been in a miserable dream. He couldn't remember his death, but still had the Pickup Station to Heaven fresh in his mind and could put together that for even a brief moment, he had died.

He grabbed at himself in confusion.

"I-I'm alive?" he asked himself blankly, looking around at his home planet once again, now in shambles. "Yes, I'm alive!" he shouted happily.

Seeing the angry black sky in front of him, he turned around to notice that from far away, Porunga had returned to finish his duty on an isolated piece of land.

'Dende,' Guru's voice boomed in his thoughts. 'My son, are you alright?'

Dende stood tall and looked around in confusion.

"G-Guru?" Dende whimpered in shock. "Is that you? You're alive too?"

'Yes, my son.' Guru replied firmly, a soft echo present among the young child's imaginative space.. 'But, we have work to do… You are with the Dragon, yes?'

"Yes, I can see him from here!" Dende assured him obediently.

'Very good.' Guru went on in praise. 'Listen carefully, our people are in your hands now. I have a wish I would like you to make.'

"Yes, of course. What would you like me to say?"

'Alright, listen carefully, my son.' Guru instructed further. 'Please wish for everyone except Goku and Frieza to be moved to the Planet Earth.'

"Yes, sir!" he shouted with determination "I'll see to it at once!"

Without hesitation, Dende flew towards the dragon as fast he could.

. . .

Gohan raced back to the ship in a frenzy, with Bulma fussing uncomfortably in his clutch. The ground was beginning to quiver uncontrollably, every body of water that Gohan flew over was restless and spat angrily at him as he flew overhead. Only one thing was on his mind - flying as fast as he could, knowing he was extremely short for time as he passed by countless geysers of water trying to knock him out of the air. He could see the ship up ahead finally, giving a final last push of his energy to rocket over to the island where the ship was parked.

Rosemary waved to him from the ship's entrance, noticeably crying, he couldn't tell if she had been happy or sad at that moment. Landing as smoothly as he could, he ran over to Rosemary and placed Bulma down. Bulma gave the group a firm nod, and headed into the ship without a second thought.

"Oh, thank goodness... you really made it back!" Rosemary sniffled shakily. She was beginning to think that he wasn't going to return, but thanked whatever Gods up above she could for his sake. "Please, help me get Piccolo inside! I've stabilized him for now, he's actually recovering startlingly fast!"

"That's great!" Gohan approved, scooping Piccolo up and led the way inside the ship. "Let's get outta here!"

. . .

Coughing up dirt as he emerged from the hole Goku had put him in crossly, Vegeta grumbled and cursed belligerently.

"Now whose clever idea was it, burying me like this-"

He paused in realization.

"Wait, I'm alive?!" He vaguely remembered a fierce pain shooting through the left side of his chest, ripping open his heart. He remembered taking his last breaths and everything, pitifully pleading his last wish to Goku as if it were some dramatic film. "Or, wait," he remarked, choosing to explore the area a little before he jumped to conclusions, strolling around the island slowly. "Perhaps this is what Hell looks like…"

He put a hand over his chest, observing that there was no hole there for him to bleed out through. His armour was still significantly damaged, accurately reflecting where he had been hit previously with a jaggedly edged hole right under his left peck.

"This can't be right," he told himself strangely, inspecting his hands for scratches and bruises, but there were significantly less signs of injury than before. "My wounds have been healed, but how?"

He curiously jabbed himself in the abdomen, letting up another heap of mud lodged in his throat and groaned gratefully, curling over in pain. Perhaps he could have hit himself a bit less harshly than he did to prove the point. He chuckled wickedly to himself, his face still planted on the ground as he got over his own punch.

"Ho, so it's true then, I am alive!" he shouted happily. "That means everyone else probably is, too, somewhere."

He heard a clap of thunder, causing him to whip around anxiously.

"If that's the case, then I'm still on Namek." he glared out towards the open sea as it furiously whipped and flailed around. Out in the distance, he could distinguish two distinct flashes of something rapidly appearing in various points in the sky. "And, they're still here."

He observed them carefully, amazed at the speed and energy levels that he was able to pick up.

"This is so bizarre!" he watched, perplexed. "There's still a chance to kill him!"

He charged towards the fight immediately, ready to give Frieza a piece of his mind. He briefly thought about Rosemary, assuming that she had been able to escape with the others.

'Perhaps this is my second chance at a proper life.' Vegeta thought to himself dully. As he rounded the corner of a cliff, he saw a huge glowing mass in the very far distance.

"Is- Is that the Dragon?!" he blurted out, changing his course to chase it down instead. "Looks like the Gods have chosen to be kind to me."

. . .

The Dragon within his reach, Dende touched down on the island sloppily, tripping over himself as he rushed over to the pile of Dragon Balls that kept their exact position on the ground as before.

Approaching the dragon in awe, he greeted it with a bow, hoping the abrupt halt in the Dragon's summoning wouldn't affect the circumstances.

"Dragon!" Dende called out loudly. "I've returned and I'd like to make a wish! I'm sorry to keep you waiting, sir!"

"Very well," the dragon boomed back. "You have one wish remaining."

Dende heard a whizzing sound grow closer, causing him to turn around to decipher what it was. There, approaching him at an incredible speed, was Frieza, desperately racing over to make a wish of his own.

"Oh, no!" Dende cried out, returning to face the Dragon hastily. "Alright, Porunga, I'm ready!"

Goku joined the group of them, attempting to fight Frieza off with a barrage of kicks and punches.

"Hurry up, kid!" Goku shouted.

"Right!" Dende responded, clearing his throat. Chanting in Namekian, Dende pleaded his final wish to the Dragon successfully, and let out an exhale of relief.

'I did it, everyone's safe now…'

"I will grant your wish." Porunga replied in English. "Everyone from Namek will be moved to the planet Earth, except for these two."

Dende gasped in delight.

"Alright!" he cheered. "See you there, Goku!"

Giggling cheerfully, Dende was transported away from the planet by a quick blink of light. Goku gave Dende a wink as he disappeared.

"Frieza!" a familiar voice roared in the distance. Goku turned around to see Vegeta, all flustered that he had missed the opportunity to steal the Dragon's wish from them.

"Oh, hey!" Goku called over to him casually. "Nice to see you back!"
"WHAT?!" Frieza bellowed, enraged. "I killed you! How are you standing there?!"

"Hey, Vegeta!" Goku hollered over again with a wink. "Say hi to Rosemary for me when you get to Earth, would ya?"

Vegeta stiffened up, petrified, then disappeared with a blink of light as well.

. . .

Rosemary hit the ground firmly after falling out of a tree in the middle of nowhere, letting out a short cry of pain. With Namekians now spawning around her left and right, she looked around in severe confusion as they all looked over to her with deep concern after witnessing her fall. She had no idea where she was, nor where all these people were coming from. She looked down at the ground, noticing that the grass here was green instead of Namek's unusual blue. She brushed her fingers over it to see if it was really grass that she was touching, her index finger sliced open gently across a blade of, to her relief, grass.

"Miss, are you alright?" a tall and slender Namekian asked her politely, offering a hand to help her up. "That was quite the fall you just had!"

Rosemary accepted his help graciously, taking his hand as he pulled her up off the ground with ease.

"I think I'm alright, thank you, sir." she courteously replied with a bow of thanks, scanning the area around them peculiarly after a few quick stretches. "If you don't mind me asking, where are we, exactly?"

Not too far away from her, Bulma was pacing the area in a similar confusion, looking around to see if she could recognize anything to pinpoint her location. Seeing Rosemary stand with a Namekian man, she ran over to her in excitement.

"Oh, hey, Rosemary, you're here, too!" Bulma acknowledged, putting a hand on her shoulder in a friendly manner. "I'm glad to see you're alright! What a relief!"

Peeking his head out from a tree above them, Gohan peered down at Bulma and Rosemary happily.

"Hey, you guys are here!" he cheered, hopping out of the tree to meet up with them below. Rosemary remained stiff and tense, unsure what to make of everything she was witnessing.

"Yes, I'm happy to be alive and all," Rosemary spoke out again, estranged. "But what happened to the ship we were in?! What happened to Namek? How did we get here? I… I don't understand! This is all so strange..."

Just then, Dende had approached the group of them with a huge smile.

"Don't worry, ma'am!" he explained joyfully, with Piccolo following not far behind. "I brought us all here with Namek's Dragon Balls!"

Piccolo looked down towards Rosemary, realizing that he hadn't formally met her before now - this woman had saved his life, and without him, none of this would have been possible. She was peculiarly short, much like Vegeta's surprisingly petite build. Noticing his attention towards her growing slowly, Rosemary looked up to Piccolo shyly, bashfully hesitating to say anything.

"I guess you're the one to thank for a majority of this." he told her, his deep voice causing Rosemary to cower away a little. He relaxed his composure, hoping to make her a bit more comfortable. "Rosemary, was it? You saved my life, I owe you my thanks."

Rosemary stared up at him awkwardly. She had saved his life, sure, but what else had she accomplished?

Nodding in confirmation, followed with a respectful bow.

"Yes," she managed to say, honoured. "It was a true test of my skills, sir." she looked around further, hoping to see others that she recognized. "...Is Goku here?"

"Hey, yeah… Good question." Piccolo agreed, surveying the crowd as well. "Goku!" he shouted. "You here?!"

The group of them heard a crowd of others in the distance, catching their attention easily.

Everyone looked over to them, to see Lord Guru surrounded by some other Namekians in a huddle of sorts. They all rushed over quickly to make sure everyone was alright.

"Lord Guru!" Rosemary was the first to call out. "Goodness, you're here too, what exactly is happening, sir?"

Guru gave her an elderly smile.

"Ah, yes, you ask valid questions." he told her whimsically. "We are on a planet called Earth now, we have been relocated here thanks to a wish upon our planet's Dragon Balls."

Bulma and Gohan perked up immediately.

"Earth?!" Gohan repeated in shock. "We're home?"

"Did Goku defeat Frieza, sir?" Piccolo chimed in quickly. "Or was he unsuccessful?"

Guru grumbled.

"They're still fighting as we speak." he answered in a low tone. "The one called Goku decided to stay on Namek to finish the fight that will leave it's mark in our history forever."

"So they're still on Namek?" Gohan clarified, shaking his head in disbelief. "But, how will he make it back?"

"That's not good!" Bulma chimed in, a few beads of sweat dripping from her head. "The planet was about to explode as we were leaving! He's going to get caught in the blow!"

"This doesn't make any sense!" Rosemary followed up frantically. "Why would he choose to stay there?! The planet was in extremely rough shape! Surely, he knew that he didn't have much time!"

As Rosemary tried to understand everything, Gohan teared up quietly. He couldn't tell himself that his father would be able to come home safely, not after everything he had seen back on Namek.

"D-Dad…"

Rosemary looked down at him, growing more miserable at the sight of seeing someone else cry. She truly hadn't seen another person cry in years, it's always been her that was crying. She felt terrible.

Bending down to try and comfort him, she took Gohan into her arms.

"I want to believe that he'll be okay." she told him awkwardly as he sobbed into her shoulder. "I truly think he can do it, Gohan, please, don't be discouraged. You've been so strong with me in my darkest moments, please, stay strong."

Watching everyone despair and question the situation from the distance, Vegeta kept a close eye on Rosemary, admiring her will to help out and comfort wherever possible. The very sight of her holding someone close, with arms that he knew were no strangers to compassion, gave him a stroke of tenderness among an overwhelming wave of envy. He remembered when it was him that she cared to so gently, wishing it was him that she had been embracing at that moment.

He decided it was time for him to reveal his presence, already anticipating a massive surge of happiness from Rosemary as she discovered he was there.

"I, for one, understand his choice." he spoke out in a loud, powerful tone, catching everyone's attention immediately as he approached the crowd. "If he's any kind of Saiyan, he wouldn't give up a good fight. Given that you're one yourself, I'm surprised you even question it."

Rosemary's eyes widened in disbelief, stinging with tears of her own. She immediately whipped around at the sound of his voice. It was really Vegeta, in the flesh, in front of her, despite him being killed in the fight back on Namek. She couldn't wrap her head around any of this. Mythical dragons? Magical wishes? The dead coming back to life? How had she never heard of any of this growing up?

"...Vegeta?!" Rosemary let out a gasp, stepping away from the group towards him breathlessly. "Is this really you I'm seeing, or am I in another cursed dream that I've yet to wake from?"

"You see just fine." Vegeta stood before her proudly with a confident smirk. "Fancy, seeing you here as well."

Gohan and Bulma cowered away slightly as Vegeta came closer. Rosemary looked over her shoulder to find herself alone in his company, confused.

Bulma scowled.

"Yeah, well, I for one could have lived if you hadn't showed up." Bulma retorted immaturely.

Rosemary shot her a look, unable to figure out this woman's reasoning for such a comment, to find Bulma pouting childishly. "You don't exactly have a clean record here, yourself."

Rosemary looked back and forth between Bulma and Vegeta awkwardly, opting to remain silent.

'Just what exactly has Vegeta been up to all this time?' she thought to herself questionably. 'The people here don't seem all that welcoming of him, do they not get along?'

"That's not very nice of you, considering I had a hand in your safety, woman." Vegeta shot back. A cocky grin formed across his face with ease as he recalled the series of events from Namek before he got here, making him chuckle and snicker devilishly. "Yes, nothing will stop Kakarot from fighting with Frieza now that he's become a Super Saiyan, except perhaps the planet blowing up from beneath him!"

"S-Super Saiyan?!" Rosemary stuttered crazily. 'The one in the old legends?!'
Rosemary observed Vegeta in confusion as he laughed carelessly, given their situation. Vegeta gave her a firm but uninformative nod.

Not pleased with the direction the conversation was taking, Gohan got into a fighting stance, ready to take him on at any given moment, causing Rosemary to tense up even further. Rosemary took a few steps aside from Bulma and Gohan anxiously.

"Stop laughing!" Gohan fired back angrily.

"Oh, and why should I do that, kid?" Vegeta boasted, crossing his arms arrogantly. "Once Kakarot and Frieza are through with their fighting and the planet blows up, I'll be the most powerful fighter in the universe! How convenient."

Vegeta's sudden show of his ego sent Rosemary's brain into a tangent. Vegeta always had a lust for being strong and powerful, just like his father, and she was even more surprised that this lust remained as strong as it was throughout the years - she questioned if being enslaved to Frieza's had anything to do with it.

'But why does he have something against this Kakarot person?' she asked herself curiously. 'More importantly, who is Kakarot? The name sounds like that of a Saiyan, Is it Goku he's referring to? The boy seems to understand it…'

"Alright, kid," Vegeta rambled on brashly, taking a few more steps towards Gohan. "Since you and I are the only Saiyans left after the fact, aside from Lady Rosemary over there, how about we have some fun with a little test of strength?"

Rosemary stood there quivering now, immobilized by fear and uncertainty.

'Is he serious right now?' Rosemary asked herself with worry, cowering away from the conversation even further. 'We just got back here, and Vegeta already wants to pick fights with people?'

"I'm not interested, you jerk." Gohan retaliated. "I don't need to listen to you bark at everyone like this!"

'Perhaps I should step in…' Rosemary questioned further. 'It seems I'm the only one here known to tame this man, maybe this should be my responsibility.'

"How can you even think about fighting when Goku's out there risking his life for us?!" Bulma bantered. "How can you be so selfish?!"

Vegeta shrugged nonchalantly.

"It's not like it was my choice for him to stay there." Vegeta countered with a snicker. "And now that I'm the strongest one here, you can lead by Lady Rosemary's example and do as I say from now on."

'Lady Rosemary.'

Agitated by Vegeta's sudden reckless behaviour, Rosemary leapt out in front of Gohan, giving Vegeta her own stare of disapproval. She doubted that Vegeta would try and fight her, it was about time she took a stand for the people that have helped her up until now, and it was about time that she returned to her proper role.

"If I may, my Prince," Rosemary spoke out challengingly, an eyebrow cocked up. "I think you're being rather mindless with your choices." she held her head high with authority. "Speaking of mindless, what were you thinking, telling me to leave you for death like that? Please, consider what you're saying!"

Vegeta looked away from her, somewhat defeated.

"I don't wish to air our dirty laundry here." he responded to her in a calm tone. "Allow me to claim what is rightfully mine first, we can chat later."

Rosemary's stare on him hardened.

"I wish for no harm on anyone here!" Rosemary defended. "Please, I… I've just become free again after all this time… Can we please just relax? All of this fighting and bickering, it's just so unnecessary..."

She sighed tiredly, her head emitting a gentle throb of discomfort. The day had been packed full of tense and demanding tasks so far that she hadn't considered the possibility of growing exhausted again.

"I never said you couldn't." Vegeta told her, annoyed that she was spending her energy trying to argue with him instead of taking it easy. "In fact, if you were wise, you'd back off and take some time for yourself."

'At least throughout all of this, he still considers my well-being.' Rosemary thought to herself, sarcastically.

Gohan rejoined Lord Guru of Namek, requesting that he tell everyone what was happening back on Namek. He didn't want to hear another word of Vegeta's arrogance, and took advantage of Rosemary's efforts to calm him down.

"I'm sorry, child." Guru replied monotonously. "I can no longer sense what is happening on Namek."

Gohan and Bulma looked up at Guru, discouraged once again. Piccolo put a hand on Gohan's shoulder kindly.

"Don't worry, kid." Piccolo insisted. "Goku will make it back."

"How can you be sure?" Gohan asked Piccolo doubtfully. He wanted to believe Piccolo, he really did, but the odds just weren't in his father's favour at the moment.

"I just know."

Despite the constant efforts to keep the mood in good spirit, Rosemary couldn't help but feel a strong feeling of despair among them. She could relate to Gohan, they needed the facts to be sure of anything, but something from within her was also pleading that something was wrong. Reminded of herself at a very young age, she remembered the day that her own father told her that he needed to go - little did she know that it would be his final planetary mission and that she'd be alone for the rest of her life shortly after.

Unsure of how to assist everyone at this point in time, she bowed her head in gloom and took her place off to the side of the crowd and found herself a tree to sit under and relax, as per Vegeta's suggestion. She closed her eyes to rest, but continued to pay close attention to her surroundings so she could jump in if things got out of hand again.

Choosing to shut up for a while to see if anyone was able to obtain more information, Vegeta noticed that Rosemary had finally decided to ease up and take advantage of her first real moments of peace. He debated with himself as to if he should join her, or if she even wanted his company after the brief display of dominance he had shown. Pondering it for a moment further, he decided to give the commentary a rest and joined her, awkwardly taking a seat at her side.

'This is the closest I've been to her this entire time.' He thought harmlessly, taking the sight of her in with more attention. He still couldn't believe it - it really was her beside him. 'I've waited so damn long, it doesn't even feel real.' he told himself. He shifted his attention downwards towards her neck, the very same pendant that he had given her all those years ago still elegantly sat on her collarbone.

Rosemary opened her eyes briefly to see him looking over at her, then turned her head towards him so she would look back at him restlessly.

"You know," Rosemary spoke out sluggishly. "There's still so much for me to figure out about all of this…" she sighed. "I would appreciate it if you could make it simpler for me."

Vegeta placed his arms in his lap, leaning his head back against the tree to follow suit with her.

"Where do I even start?" He groaned.

Rosemary tiredly closed her eyes, unsure of the answer herself.

"I suppose I should ask if I should be happy that we're here." she sighed. "The others don't seem to take to you very well, what have you been up to?"

Vegeta huffed.

"I have my own agenda. I'll leave it at that for now." he replied firmly, his eyes still on the jewel around her neck. "You're safe, process that first. Rest."

Rosemary moaned.

"There's still so much hanging in the balance…" she went on. "I can't bring myself to just ignore everything right now."

"Rose, you're free. Stop worrying."

Rosemary's eyes managed to shoot open in surprise as Vegeta resorted to her old nickname, her eyes burning as she strained to keep them open. Something about it was effectively soothing. After allowing her eyelids to droop, she closed her eyes once again.

"Yes, just like that." Vegeta softly told her in praise, noticing the calm that fell over her face. Letting her rest, he continued to watch over her admirably. She looked strikingly familiar to the girl he always remembered, but with a new, more matured and attractive presence. He had no idea how the two of them were going to interact from now on, but the thought excited him like no other.

Rosemary's breath grew heavy as she finally dozed off. Vegeta leaned in to confirm that she was sleeping, receiving a very faint moaning sound that he knew she used to make occasionally when she was falling in and out of consciousness, a warm smile creeping its way to his face. Rosemary's head slid slightly against the tree, her body now fully relaxed and asleep. He managed a chuckle.

'So determined to fight me, yet she turns out like a light.' he commented cunningly. 'Oh yes, I have real trouble on my hands now.'

Deciding to let her snooze peacefully, he got up from where he sat and took to a nearby rock to observe the crowds of Namekians nearby in silence, awaiting more news on the fight from Namek. Instead, he found himself in the middle of groups of small children playing and older men chatting away amicably. Everyone seemed happy, despite the potential for an all-powerful overlord to come and wipe them all out in due time. Perhaps it was the twenty-something years of slavery affecting him, but he wasn't all that cheerful about it. Taking a moment to reflect, a part of him wanted Goku to win and return, while the other half of him wanted Goku to die so he could resume his reign as the strongest being in the universe. He was tired of his life hanging in limbo, that, he knew for certain.

'Go figure, two of my greatest desires can't be achieved at the same time.' he told himself dismally. 'Damn it, I need him to come back alive.'