"In The Future"

Chapter 9: Sacrifice

Pan thought that she had to be the luckiest person in the world. The thought only came to her mind when she opened her eyes next morning and found Vegeta resting beside her. Though he still sat in the chair, his head had found its home on her bed.

He wore a very neutral expression this time. It didn't give her many clues into what he was dreaming about at this point. Had he been with her the whole time? Had he felt obligated to do such a thing? A very warm feeling came to her cheeks. He may not have been willing to say it verbally, but she knew that he loved her. That was the only way to explain his behavior over the past few days.

He looked so handsome when he slept—just like a well-sculptured statue. Everything about him called her to him—he didn't even have to say anything. She wondered suddenly, why she hadn't noticed these things about him before. What had stopped her from seeing him in such a way?

She listened for his heart beat, but she found it to be a hard task. His heart beat was already slow to begin with, but when he slept it was even slower. Her hand slipped under him to his chest to feel for it. Ba-bump…Ba-bump…Ba-bump. An entire five seconds would pass between each one. She wondered if that was even normal.

She stared at him for a little while longer. If only she wasn't tied up to the machines, she would have bent down to kiss those lovely lips of his. Surely, he wouldn't mind such a thing. His hand wasn't too far from hers—of course it was covered with gloves. When she thought about it, she had never once seen him without them. She wondered suddenly what was under them to have it covered almost all the time.

Her curiosity soon won over and she gently tugged at. She stopped for a moment when a curious thought came to her mind. It seemed like Vegeta and Mickey Mouse had something in common—not only did they have an obsession with wearing gloves, but they also had the widow's peak. She stifled her laughter when an image of them standing side by side came to mind. The glove, she reminded herself. She continued to ease it off until her curiosity was quenched.

She was surprised at what she saw, but then again not so much—they were covered all the time. Not a scratch was on it. His hand was smooth and untouched and in fact a little lighter than the rest of his body. Pan doubted that Vegeta was into getting manicures, but it seemed that his nails only grew to a certain point—not too long, not too short. Another Saiyan trait perhaps? When she placed her hand on his bare ones, she gasped. They were so chillingly cold. Was he sick? Cold hands, too-slow heart beat…

Pan's frantic thoughts were quieted when he began to wake up—at the same moment, warmth returned to his hands.

He looked perhaps a little dizzy when he looked towards her and did not immediately notice the missing glove.

"You alright, Vegeta?"

"Yeah, I'm fine, but maybe I should be asking you that question."

"Well, you don't see me throwing up. I didn't have to go to the bathroom all night."

"That's good," Vegeta said turning his head.

"Are you sure you're alright?"

"I feel like…there's something I forgot to tell you," Vegeta said standing up.

"What is it?" Pan asked curiously, unsure where he was going with this.

Slowly he moved in close vicinity to her. His face was so close to hers that she could feel his breath. She wondered if she was going to feel his lips again.

"I forgot to tell you—how much I loved you and how much our children mean to me."

At this point, Vegeta had gently placed his bare hand on her stomach.

"I know right about now that Bulma is having a heart attack and perhaps pulling her eyes out, I'm sorry for that, but it does not change how I feel about you, Pan. Even if you did trick me into making love to you, I wouldn't have it any other way. Most times when I think of you, I don't attach a face—I listen for your voice, I recognize your smell, but most of all, I sense your essence, your soul—that was what attracted me to you in the first place."

Vegeta had to bend down a little to get to Pan's level, but now he stood up again.

"You're leaving aren't you? That's why you're saying all these things to me."

"Your grandfather has something for me to do—someone for me to defeat."

"What? You spoke to him? I thought you said you didn't believe in all of that."

"I thought you were dead set on disproving me."

Pan shook her head, "Not when it's going to take you away from me. You said you loved me, right?"

"I have to protect you, Pan."

"Where is my grandpa? I hate him. Why is he dumping all the responsibility on you?"

"He's not here and he won't be here until a couple days. By then, it would be too late."

"Who is this guy you have to fight? Let me go with you—I'm still a Saiyan, you know."

"I'm not going to bring a pregnant woman with me into battle. Don't make me have to worry about you; stay here. Stay here and protect our children."

At the mention of their children, she began to second guess her first plan to forcefully accompany him.

"You still haven't answered my question. Who do you have to fight?"

"A being known as Olga. Kakarot says he has come to bring judgment on Earth—to finish what his brother couldn't or wouldn't."

"And his brother would be…?"

"Shenron—

"Shenron the dragon. You're going to be fighting a dragon?" Pan asked in disbelief.

"Calm down, Pan—I'm not fighting a dragon especially one at Shenron's caliber—that would be suicide. Shenron, himself, knew of his brother and knew his intentions, but he didn't have the will to destroy him completely. He was reincarnated as a human, but something unexpected happened; Olga's memories were kept intact and, he has determined that now would be the best time to strike. Earth's defenders have dwindled and he has amassed enough power to eliminate Earth for good."

"So you're fighting a human?"

"I've learned long ago to never underestimate my enemies. Olga has caused not only Kakarot, but Shenron to become anxious. My guess is that given his heritage he is still a threat despite his human form. The fact that he is human in the first place gives me a chance to defeat him and it's the only reason Kakarot thinks I can get rid of him on my own."

"Then why is it…why is it before it sounded like you didn't think you were going to survive? Grandpa thinks you can. I think you can."

"The Sons were always optimists," Vegeta said almost to himself, "The only thing I can promise you right now is that I will protect you to the best of my abilities."

"You just make sure you'll be back for me, Vegeta. Promise me that."

"Pan…Pan, pass me my glove."

The change of subject was so abrupt that she was momentarily speechless. Without a word, she passed him his glove and she watched silently as he deftly put it back on. He stood there for a moment longer before he began to make his way to the door.

"Vegeta!" Pan said defiantly. She had suddenly regained her train of thought.

He paused at the doorway, "I'll come back for you, Pan. Don't worry."

Then the Saiyan Prince exited with no further warning. He had tried to sound casual, but Pan could tell the difference. His entire body had stiffened as the words dropped from his mouth.

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He wondered offhandedly what was so important about his glove that she had to take it off. Was she that curious about things? Sometimes she could be rather baffling. As much as Vegeta had wanted to ask, he didn't think he had enough time to talk about such trivial things.

It had been more important not to leave things undone or unsaid. If he was to die, he didn't want to deal with regret. The one thing that he would deeply regret would be not letting Pan know without any doubt that she was loved and that their relationship had not been in vain.

"Vegeta? Vegeta, can you hear me?"

"Kakarot?" Vegeta said stopping abruptly in his tracks.

He had sounded uncomfortably close, but not only that, Vegeta could sense his ki everywhere around him. He turned and reached his hand out expecting it to be Goku, but was sadly mistaken.

"No, I'm not Kakarot," the nurse said in a confused manner.

Just his luck, it was the same nurse from before.

"Do you need some help, sir, I can escort you—

"No, I don't need your—

"Vegeta?" came Goku's voice again.

"Kakarot, yes, that's my name. Where are you?"

"Are you feeling alright, sir? Did you eat breakfast today? Do you need to see a psychiatrist?"

"No!" Vegeta seethed, but then he took a deep breath when his anger came to a boil. "I was just a little confused—I thought you were someone else."

"Wow, I should have tried this earlier. After seeing your spirit yesterday—Shenron said that your sixth sense was even more developed than he realized. You don't have to be asleep."

"Kakarot, will you shut-up for a moment; as you can see I'm a little preoccupied and—

"Sir, it's okay, just calm down. I'm not this Kakarot you keep talking about. I'm a nurse; remember me, the same one from yesterday?"

"Yes, it's coming back to me," Vegeta said heatedly.

Sensing Goku's ki, but misleadingly talking to a nurse was throwing Vegeta more and more into confusion. He just wanted to look around himself to know for sure if he was near or not. It was at times like this when he wished that he could just see things.

"Oh, I get it. You're blind. That's why everything's so dark," Goku's voice said.

"I thought I told you to…" Vegeta suddenly trailed on the sentence. Don't say anything—the more I talk to him the more retarded I look.

"What was that, sir?"

"You said something about breakfast a few moments ago?" Vegeta asked to the nurse.

"You're not retarded. What's all this about not talking to me," Goku's voice said.

What the hell—you can read minds now, Kakarot?

"Yes, sir, I did. Did you want some?"

"What was that," Vegeta asked completely forgetting what she said as soon as she said it.

"I said: Yes, sir, I did. Did you want some?"

"And we were talking about breakfast, right?"

"Breakfast?! That sounds great, Vegeta!" said an excited Goku.

Kakarot, you're not making this any easier. I'm already looking like a complete idiot. Keep your comments to yourself until I ask for them.

"Yes, sir, we were."

Vegeta could sense the tinge of amusement in her voice despite the sincerity of it.

"Fine, take me to it."

"Alright, sir, happy to be of service."

"I know you're angry right now, Vegeta, but I'm contacting you for a reason. I'm going to help you find Olga. His ki signature will be very misleading. If you look around, I'll tell you when it's the right one."

You've met this Olga guy before then?

Before Goku answered, Vegeta found himself colliding with the very same trash can he had avoided before. He had too many things on his mind. First, just because he was blind, over half of his mind was dedicated to deciphering his environment, second, he had to interact with the woman in front of him before she packed him off to the asylum, third and final, he had to also carry on a conversation with Goku because he insisted on it—something had to give.

He caught himself before he fell all the way to the ground.

"Sir, are you alright? Do you need some help?"

"Do me a favor, Nurse," he could practically feel her mood brighten, "If you see any obstacles in my path, tell me about it before I run into it."

"No problem, sir."

"I only met him briefly a long time ago," Goku answered, "But it was enough. Like I said, I stumbled across something during my time with Shenron. We almost fought, but he slipped away and Shenron, at the time, still didn't want to attack him. He wasn't supposed to have his old memories."

And suddenly Shenron deems it okay to kill him after all these years?

"Shenron's lived on Earth for a very long time and he's very in tuned with the planet. He sensed immediately when Earth's very existence was in jeopardy and at the heart of it was his brother."

Kakarot, do you not see anything wrong with this story? Shenron is practically omnipotent and it seems like he has blank spaces with his brother—his brother. Shenron was actually mistaken about something? No, Kakarot, I'll tell you a simpler reason why I'm stuck with fighting this Olga. Shenron was too weak and allowed his emotions to cloud his judgment. He could have killed this guy centuries ago and now he wants me to pay for his consequences. This is Shenron's fight and he's sending me out to do what he couldn't. He—

"Excuse me, sir, there is a cart coming up."

Vegeta paused from his thoughts to dodge the newest obstacle.

"It's not like that Vegeta. Don't you think if he knew all that about his brother he wouldn't have stopped me the first time I met him?"

"Goku, he's right. Your friend is almost too perceptive for his own good," Shenron's voice boomed violently.

To Vegeta's rather sensitive ears, it felt as if someone had went in and ripped out his eardrums. He completely missed the Nurse's next warning and collided with a group of people. This time he really did fall and also along with the others.

Blast you, Shenron!

For a few moments, Vegeta felt completely helpless. His ears were his eyes and for a moment he really felt blind. He didn't respond to the Nurse's voice or to the hand she held out to him. He didn't say anything to the people he ran into by accident. At the moment, the only thing in the world that existed was himself. At least he could feel his own pulse. He pulled himself by way of the wall in a desperate manner.

Goku could sense this feeling washing over his friend and he tried in vain to explain what his voice had done—Shenron already knew.

"If you want to protect your planet, you will defeat this man or you will suffer consequences born of not doing so. It is not in your best interest to talk against me."

"Stop it, Shenron; he's got your point!" Vegeta barely heard Goku protest over the loud ringing in his ears.

Vegeta could hardly think of what to say back to the dragon when his head was so filled with Shenron's words echoing back and forth. Vegeta felt his hand pulled on—it had to be the nurse. He allowed her to finally have her way with him and she began guiding him to the cafeteria, holding on to one of his hands.

He felt the nurse sit him down in a chair. She was saying something he was sure, but it would be a waste of time to even respond to it. His nose told him that he was in a place that was serving food, but that was all. He was in a very dark room where he was completely vulnerable. If someone had a knife on him, he wouldn't be able to tell until it was too late. A kind of paranoid fear came over Vegeta. He didn't like being so vulnerable—he didn't fancy it at all. He let his head lay on his arms which rested on the table he sat at and waited for his world to return to normal.

It started out as small sounds, but soon he began to hear the many voices around him. His dark world became populated with people once again. He began to `see` again.

He lifted his head up when he heard the sound of a bowl being set on the table.

"Are you alright, sir?" Nurse's concerned voice said to him.

"I'll be fine."

If it had been Pan who had asked the same question, perhaps he would have been more open.

"So you and Pan are friends now?" Goku asked.

You're still there.

"You sound disappointed."

I just need to watch what I think about from now on.

"Everything was so blank just a few minutes ago. I thought I had lost contact."

If Shenron wants me to fix his problems, then he better not pull something like that again. If I can't even make it out of a simple building without running into things, I'll be of no help.

"You want me to tell him that?" Goku asked.

Don't bother. I know he heard me.

The soup that had been set in front of Vegeta was gone in under two minutes.

"U-uh, sir, do you want some more?"

He would have said `no`, but he noticed that she was eager to do his biddings. If she felt like being a servant, then who was he to stop her?

"Vegeta, you could just get it yourself," Goku said exasperatedly.

"Yes, I do. I think there's a Sub Way over there—am I right?"

"Good job, sir, yes there is."

There was that demeaning `good job` phrase again. Suddenly the pleasantness left his tone, "Go bring me twenty—1-foot subs—I don't care what kind. There's a pizza line. Order twenty more large pizzas. The line where you got this soup—bring me fifty more bowls. As for drinks, ten 2-liter bottles of any kind. Do you got that?"

"Oh, you're such a comedian. You can't mean you want all of that?"

"I'm very serious, Nurse. You want to help me out so badly—do that for me."

"But, sir, it isn't humanly possible to eat that all in one sitting. Oh, I get it; you're taking some home?"

"No."

"But, sir…" she faltered a little, "It isn't healthy. Surely you have a diet—

"I don't have a diet! Get moving already."

"N-no diet," said a startled Nurse. He had to be the most well-muscled man she had ever come across. "Yes, sir. I'll be back in a jiffy," Nurse said standing.

"That's more like it."

"You haven't changed at all," Goku accused in a pouty voice.

Yes, Kakarot, and I have Frieza on speed dial. How long is this connection thing going to last?

"Until we find Olga. You know, I didn't know you were blind. I could have sent you a mental image of him and then you could have used that to find him."

But I can't. Let's move on.

"I don't want to intrude—

It's too late for that, Kakarot.

"I guess I'm just curious, but how did you become…how did you become…"

Blind?

"Yeah…"

One too many fights. You and Pan have put your hope into a blind, old Saiyan whose track record in saving Earth is pitiful. The Sons must be made up of fools.

"I never thought I'd see the day when I had more confidence in you than you do yourself. I guess you have changed."

You live in a fairytale world, Kakarot, whereas I live in a more realistic one—of course, our views will differ.

Just then a big stack of pizza boxes were set on the table and then also a pile of sub sandwiches.

"One minute, sir, let me get the other things you wanted."

"Don't take long."

When Nurse did come back with the soup and drinks, she found the pizza boxes empty and crumbled wrappings where the subs had been.

"My goodness! How did you manage to get all that food in your stomach?"

"Nurse, do me a favor."

"Yes?"

"I want the same order—three more times."

"B-but, sir! You can't—what are you going to do with all that food?"

"Eat it. Can you do that for me, Nurse?"

"O-okay."

When Nurse came back with the next installment of food, she witnessed the same phenomena of empty soup bowls and plastic bottles. So this pattern continued until the last set of food had arrived. Even after that, Vegeta asked for the same order two more times—then he decided that he had his fill.

"Is that finally all, sir?" Nurse asked with a permanent tone of disbelief.

"Yes, that's it. I'll leave the cleaning to you—if you don't mind."

"No, sir, I don't."

Vegeta was astonished at her obsessive need to be helpful. I guess that's why she a nurse Vegeta thought to himself forgetting momentarily that Goku was there.

"I don't like hospitals at all, but she makes it seem like a real friendly place," Goku said.

Alright, let's find this guy so I can be rid of you.

"Be careful out there, sir," Nurse said as he stood up.

"I'll try," Vegeta said thinking about a certain unavoidable battle.

"Hey, Vegeta, you're not scared, are you?"

No, but I'm also not stupid.

This time, Vegeta had no problem making his way out of the hospital and into the open air. It was already late morning.

Vegeta took to the sky when he determined that he could do so without being seen. Vegeta's senses was so fine-tuned that he could sense even the weakest ki signature from a long distance and Goku used this ability to his advantage.

Anything? came an impatient thought of Vegeta.

"Nope. Nothing. But don't worry—he's somewhere on this planet."

Comforting news.

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AN: Was it a little confusing? Good. Vegeta thought so too perhaps even more so. As for where I got my ideas for coming up with Olga—I sorta just borrowed a bunch of storylines from DBZ's other major villains and then glued it together. The reincarnation bit; I got that from Majin Buu. The whole, `fought him once and now he's going to be fought again` part came from Frieza coming back two times. The part about Olga hiding until it was the right time to strike came from the Androids and Dr. Gero waiting for a long time to make his next move. And then I just threw some GT into it—the Z-fighters never actually fought Shenron, but they fought enemies that were related to it.

BTW, I always do my `I-got-a-review` dance whenever I get one:

Cheche: I'm excited that you're excited!

Mirai Vegeta: Thanks for the compliment. It's nice to know that my little obsession with writing is to someone else's enjoyment.