Heya! What's up! Sorry for taking too long, guys!
Disclaimer: I don't know anything.
The four people from the future stood awkwardly as the three Saiyans knelt down before the lizard. Frieza smiled.
"Lord Frieza," Vegeta spoke "The mission was a success."
"Well, I didn't expect anything else from my favorite monkey." The overlord taunted. "Why don't you go take a bath and rest for a little while? The cafeteria will be open all night. This is my gift for you, Vegeta."
"Thank you, sir." Vegeta ground out.
"You're most welcome, prince. We wouldn't want any of my ground soldiers dead again because your stomach was bit empty, now would we?"
"No, sir."
That sent a chill down the earthlings' spines. It meant that, at one time, Vegeta had been so hungry that he had resorted to kill a soldier and devour him without caring about Frieza's punishment for it. And he probably had been five at the time.
"You're dismissed."
After they took a bath and filled their stomachs, Nappa and Radditz went to their rooms, Vegeta went to train and the earthlings went outside to check on their machine. It was still intact.
Vegeta entered a training room that had a few soldiers gathered around and glared at them. They all backed off a little and continued their training in silence while the little prince began to perform katas and punch invisible opponents.
The day went on and the night caught Bulma and Trunks working, Bulla trying to comb her hair, Radditz and Nappa sleeping and Vegeta tiredly walking back to his room. When he entered, he noticed Goku looking around, waiting for him.
"Ugh. What do you want?"
"Bulma already knows what else she needs." Goku said.
"I'll get it for you when I get a little rest." He said, climbing on his bed.
Goku nodded and left the room.
Frieza smirked as the screen beeped. Vegeta had entered his room.
He looked tired… and annoyed.
"Ugh. What do you want?"
Frieza's eyes widened. Then he narrowed them, trying to look for someone else in the small bedroom. The prince was alone.
"I'll get it for you when I get a little rest."
He looked back at Zarbon, who was also looking at the screen.
"Am I going blind, Zarbon?"
"No, Lord Frieza." The green alien answered. "I think the monkey prince is going insane."
But then the door to the room opened. Nobody came in. It closed up again and Vegeta closed his eyes, falling asleep.
Frieza bit the nail on his thumb and rested his back against the back of the hover chair.
"Should I bring him here so that you can question him, sir?" Zarbon asked.
Frieza shook his head. He had to investigate a bit first, know what Vegeta was hiding exactly, why, and more importantly, how. If it was nothing, then questioning him could only end up two ways: one where the prince would end up dead because he wouldn't admit it, or one where Frieza would end up sending him into a tank without getting any real answers because the prince didn't really have anything to say. He didn't want to kill Vegeta, and the latter would only create a rumor where people would think that mighty Lord Frieza had been unable to break tiny prince Vegeta.
"No. We'll observe him first."
The next day rolled around and caught Frieza staring out the window, his tail waving slowly. His two minions stood behind him, looking at him warily, trying to decide what he was thinking and how to act.
"Zarbon, Dodoria."
"Yes, master?"
"Let's give a use to that camera. Give the prince a training session the way only you know how to. Then take him to his room."
Both of them smiled and Zarbon called the little prince.
" – I will also need seven of these type of screws and a few glass panels to protect the control panel we're trying to build." Bulma explained.
"Glass? That's preposterous. Use kyvon instead." Vegeta said.
"What's kyvon?"
"It's like glass but indestructible." Radditz answered.
"Yeah, whatever you can get as long as it can be used above the control panel without any trouble."
Vegeta was about to answer when his scouter beeped.
"Good morning, monkey prince."
"What do you want." He ground out.
"Watch that mouth, Vegeta. Lord Frieza ordered that we give you a training session right now. So get your ass moving. Training Room 9."
Vegeta closed his eyes as the transmission ended.
"Everything alright?" Bulma asked.
"I… I'll be gone for a while, but these two buffoons, I hope, will be able to get you what you need in the meantime." He answered.
"Where are you going?" Trunks asked.
"Why the hell do you care?"
"I just want to know if you'll be gone for a long time." Trunks said quietly. "What did they tell you?"
Vegeta's eyebrow twitched as he glared at them.
"I'm going to have a training session." He muttered. "I don't know how long it'll be or if I'll get a tank afterwards."
With that, he turned on his heel and walked back into the compound.
He paled when he saw that Dodoria was there as well. When Zarbon had said "we", he hadn't really thought about it. He tried not to show his fear as he stood before the two smirking men. Their smiles broadened and Vegeta's tail tightened around his waist. He hoped that he would at least get a tank once they were finished, and promised to himself – once again – that this time he would not beg.
"How are you, Vegeta? Did you sleep well?"
"Let's just get this over with." He muttered.
"As you wish."
The little prince took his armor off so that it wouldn't get cracked or covered in blood and left it in the corner. He was being slammed against the ground before he could even turn around. He tried not to cry out as Zarbon grabbed his hair and flung him towards Dodoria, who kicked him into the next wall. Both laughed as the little prince wrapped his arms around his stomach and coughed.
He opened one of his eyes and got up, clenching his fists. Zarbon flew up to him and Vegeta put his arms up, blocking the man's punch, but unable to see his foot going directly into his ribs. As he flew backwards, Dodoria slammed his spiky forearm into his back, making him cry out as the spikes slammed into him.
As he was on the floor, Zarbon slammed his foot into the small of his back, making him cry out again.
"Well, I already have a report for Lord Frieza. You're getting lazy." Zarbon said. "I think he will need to intensify his training regimen. This one isn't working."
His fear intensified and he began to trash. Zarbon and Dodoria just laughed and the former removed his foot. Vegeta got to his feet and began to fire ki blasts at them, but both were unfazed. They smirked.
Zarbon walked up to him and Vegeta dropped into a defensive stance, walking backwards. The green alien smiled and grabbed both of the prince's forearms, slamming him against the wall. He then wrapped his hand around his neck and squeezed. Vegeta began to gasp and the cruel man began to slam his body against the wall he was being pinned against. Vegeta tried to gasp, but he couldn't breathe.
A dent formed in the wall and Zarbon finally threw him at Dodoria. The pink blob caught him with a fist to his stomach and he crashed against the ground. Vegeta coughed blood before Dodoria sank his fist into his hair and began to slam his face against the metal floor. Vegeta began to scream as blood ran down his nose and forehead and his face was slammed again, and again, and over and over again.
When Dodoria stopped, Vegeta saw everything red from the blood seeping into his eyes. The world around him was spinning and he had to clench his stomach so that he wouldn't throw up with every shaky breath he took. He tried to get up but he couldn't find his feet fast enough before Dodoria kicked him back to Zarbon.
This time Vegeta's body reacted and he hovered before reaching the green man. He tried to focus on him and put his arms before his face, trying to protect himself. But Zarbon was faster than him and grabbed his wrist, whirling him around to, once again, crash against the wall. He grunted as his wrist and shoulder snapped. As he lay there, sitting on the ground with his back against the wall, Zarbon slammed his knees against his torso and a set of cracks let him know that his ribs were now broken.
He tried to catch his breath, but Zarbon kicked him, making him land face first on the ground, and turned him around, slamming the back of his head against the floor. Vegeta felt warm liquid running down the back of his neck as Zarbon began to punch every inch of the saiyan's body that he could reach. Soon Vegeta was screaming, his whole body begging for a rest. His ribs snapped and punctured his organs.
After a while, Zarbon finally got up and looked at the tiny Saiyan struggling for air. He was trembling, his eyes clenched shut. Blood ran down his temples, forehead, nose and mouth and the blood seeping from the back of his head and his backside – from Dodoria's spikes – was forming a pool under him.
Half a minute later, he slowly sat up and glared at the two men before him. His eyes widened when Zarbon lifted a hand that glowed with ki. But soon anger overcame his fear and he growled.
"You sick bastards." He said.
Dodoria laughed. "How brave."
Vegeta barely had time to close his eyes before a barrel of ki blasts hit his body. He screamed and tried to drag himself away from the painful blasts that burnt him. He could feel his skin ripping apart and he could see the smoke rising from his body as he finally reached a corner and tried to make himself as small as possible. Soon he was squirming and convulsing as the ki blasts got more powerful, some of them breaking his bones. When the cruel monsters finally stopped, Vegeta realized that tears were streaming down his face. He whimpered in pain.
"Oh, come on. Your already crying?" Zarbon said. "What a pathetic weakling! Why do we even bother to waste our time trying to train such a dirty little shit like you?"
"No wonder his father didn't want him." Dodoria said. "He practically begged Lord Frieza to take him away and turn him into a man."
"And so far we're failing. He's still a little bitch."
Vegeta looked away as he held his destroyed body. He swallowed and tried to regain his breath.
"I-I… I'm not a l-little b-b-bitch. Y-you're the o-only fu-fucking p-pillow biting dirtbags a-around." He reveled in their surprised faces and began to get up slowly. The ki blasts had broken one of his legs and both of his arms, not to mention several other bones around his body and practically skinned him alive. "M-my father wanted me and-and would've n-never sold me out. I-it was Frieza's f-fault."
"Vegeta, you want to keep your tongue I'm sure. Or have you forgotten a year ago when we had to tear it out of your mouth?" Zarbon said.
Vegeta began to tremble in fear. How could he have forgotten that? It was one of the things that made him think twice before speaking in front of Frieza.
Dodoria smirked and walked up to him, scoffing as Vegeta pressed his back against the wall and looked up at him through swollen, fear-filled eyes.
"Maybe we could try that again? Take that tongue out and watch you cry without being able to talk." The man said cruelly.
Vegeta clamped his mouth shut and shook his head frantically. The pink blob laughed and kicked his broken leg, making him fall face first on the ground.
"Or maybe we could tear his tail off." Zarbon suggested. "Then he won't look as disgusting."
Both laughed as Dodoria pressed his foot against the child's back and grabbed his tail.
"No! No." Vegeta gasped, eyes wide.
"Are you pleading, monkey?"
"…"
Dodoria smiled nastily before breaking one of the bones in his tail. Vegeta screamed with all his might and tried to squirm away, but Dodoria kept on twisting the broken tail further. Vegeta's voice went an octave higher and Dodoria lowered his hands to look for another bone, this time bigger and closer to the base.
He broke it. Vegeta screamed again and his body shook with sobs.
Dodoria kept on looking for bones to break for a long while before Vegeta finally gave in.
"NOOO! NO MORE PLEASEE!" he screamed after Dodoria crushed a bone particularly close to his backside. His sobs were making him heave and tears soaked his face. "Please, stop."
"Does that hurt, monkey?" Zarbon said, walking up to him. He closed his fist around the destroyed, tiny tail and squeezed.
"AAAHHHH – god, please! PLEASE-AAHHHH!"
Both men finally released the broken tail and Zarbon cleaned his bloodied hand on his chestplate.
"Enough fun. Get up, Vegeta. We're gonna train seriously now."
Vegeta swallowed before trying to get up, but the pain was unbearable when he tried to move his legs. He fell on his face again and once again tried to get up. His broken arms were the ones that gave in this time.
Trying a different approach, he rolled onto his side and tried to sit up, but his ribs protested and he fell back.
After several failed attempts, he finally managed to, shakily, get on his feet, but a second later he was on his hands and knees, throwing up.
"Fine, then. We'll attack." Zarbon said.
And both men began to beat the broken child mercilessly.
"I did it!" Bulma exclaimed, startling the three sleeping people around her.
"You fixed the machine?" Trunks asked, wide-eyed.
"No, but while you slept, I used the things that the sayians brought that were not necessary for the machine to create an interdimensional communicator." She said. "It must be the stress. Back on Earth it would've taken me months to build something like this up. And without blueprints!"
"Interdimensional communicator?" Trunks asked. "Does that mean that we can call dad from where we are?"
"We will hardly be able to talk to him for long and the connection won't be perfect, but it's built from what I remember of the time machine, so we can connect inter-dimensionally, through space and time. Am I not a genius?"
"That's awesome!" Goku said. "We can call everyone and tell them we're fine."
Bulma nodded. "We'll call Capsule Corp. first." She took a deep breath. "Let's hope this works."
PRESENT.
Vegeta woke up from his nap with a start. Lately, he had been sleeping a lot. Worrying for his family was taking a toll on him and he was surprised that he hadn't destroyed Capsule Corporation yet. He had, however, beaten Yamcha and Krillen several times before being stopped by Gohan and Goten.
He was tired, angry and sorrowful. It had been weeks and they had not returned. He was extremely worried and he was, sincerely, accepting the fact that they wouldn't return.
But then his chest would ache and he would feel a horrible knot in his stomach and his throat and everything in him screamed that they were alive and they would come back. They were with Kakkarot, for god's sakes! Nothing could ever beat him in that timeline. Or that place, for that matter.
And Trunks was also with them! Kakkarot was absent-minded but Trunks would never leave Bulma or Bulla alone with the soldiers, much less Frieza… right?
He listened for a minute or two the phone ringing. He usually never answered, but he was practically alone.
The blonde woman was out with some friends – as if her daughter and grandsons hadn't disappeared all of a sudden – and the old man was in the lab, working on the new time machine that was taking way too long in the prince's opinion.
He didn't know what moved him to get up from the couch and walk up to the table.
"What?" he answered, grumpily.
"Vegeta?"
"Who is this?"
"What the hell do you mean 'who is this'? It's your goddamned wife!"
Vegeta's eyes widened. Her voice sounded extremely distant and a constant "ccshhhh" sounded louder than her.
"BULMA? Where are you? Are you alright?"
Bulma giggled a little. "Yes, honey. I'm fine and the kids are okay, too."
Vegeta relaxed and anger invaded him. "WHERE THE FUCK ARE YOU AND WHAT THE FUCK WHERE YOU THINKING YOU STUPID WOMAN? WHAT WAS GOING ON IN YOUR BRAINLESS HEAD TO EVEN CONSIDER GOING BACK TO MY PAST?"
"Calm down, dammit! We don't have much time, Vegeta. This thing won't last for too long. Look, I'm really sorry. I don't know what I was thinking when I came here… I'm really sorry. But, hey, we're alright and nothing has happened to us." She said soothingly.
"You're an idiot and I hate you." He growled. "When you come back I will fucking rip your throat out in front of those two brats you call children and feed it to your father's cat."
"Yeah, right. Whatever you say, prince."
"Now answer me: Why the fuck aren't you back yet? Has anyone seen you? What's going on?"
"Something very strange happened, honey. We kinda touched your younger self and your friends Nappa and Radditz, and now the three of them can see us. But it's okay because they're helping us to repair our machine because it broke down severely and we can't use it. With their help we'll be done in no time and we'll be back home. Don't worry." She explained, hoping against hope that he wouldn't throw a fit over them getting to meet little Vegeta.
"YOU WHAT? YOU'RE TALKING TO MY YOUNGER SELF AND NAPPA AND RADDITZ? ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND?" He screamed at the top of his lungs.
"It was an accident. They're being extremely helpful and – "
"What did you offer them?"
"What?"
"My younger self and my ex-comrades wouldn't have helped a bunch of morons like you. What did you promise them in return?"
"Uh… Uhm, we…"
"Please. Please don't tell me that you told him you would bring him back with you." Bulma stayed quiet. Vegeta pinched the bridge of his nose and swallowed. "Bulma, you can't bring him back. He is a mass murderer. He is what I was when I first came to Earth and when we met on Namek. And worse, because he is still a little boy with no morals. You can't risk your safety and the safety of others like that. And, if you lied to him, then you are crueler than Frieza himself."
Bulma sighed. "It was not me who promised to take him away from this place, Vegeta. But trust me, he isn't that bad. I know that. I knew that about you and I'm sure I'm not wrong about him either. He's you, but younger and weaker and more vulnerable. I didn't want to bring him along in the first place. It was your daughter's idea, but I think I'm starting to agree with her. Don't worry, honey. We'll go through it together." She said. "If you changed, then why can't he?"
"Stop blabbering such nonsense, woman." He growled. "Just… try to be safe. Okay?"
"Hey, cheer up! We're with Goku and Trunks. We're alright." She said. "I gotta go now. I'll try to keep calling. Just try to relax a bit. We're fine and we'll be back as soon as I fix this machine."
Vegeta hesitated a bit and then spoke. "I told your father to build a time machine as well. If you're not back by the time he's done with it, I'll go and pick you up myself."
"What? No, you c –" A beeping sound was the next thing he heard.
He sighed deeply and hung up the phone.
At least they were alright.
Dodoria carried the sobbing prince to his room and dumped him on the floor.
Vegeta whimpered as pain wracked his body. It was unbearable and he wanted nothing more than to pass out. After staying a minute on the ground, he began to drag his broken body up to the bed, leaving a trail of dark blood behind.
He spent around ten minutes trying to get on the bed, and once he did, he rolled into a tight ball and cried inconsolably into his knees. He was so angry, so tired, and everything hurt so bad… He cried his little heart out, in physical pain, emotional pain… he just wanted to get out of that place.
He thought of his father… He knew King Vegeta hadn't sold him out, because he had said goodbye and told him to be strong right before leaving… But he would certainly disown him now if he could see him. The King of such a mighty race would not want such a neglected, weak, beaten boy who couldn't stand a training session without begging. Who had ever heard of a weeping Saiyan prince? It was disgusting of him to cry.
But what else could he do? He could not fight back. They were much stronger and the more he fought, the crueler they became. There wasn't much he could do about it and he just couldn't hold it in when he was alone. He had to get it out somehow…
He wanted life to be just a little fair to him.
Someone knocked on his door and he tried to stop crying. Little sobs replaced his wails, but he couldn't stop them.
"Wh-what?" he said, trying to sound strong.
"Prince Vegeta." Radditz called. "Are you alright?"
"Leave me, you fool!" he said. "Of course I'm fine."
But Radditz could hear the trembling of his voice and entered the room. He tried to control his anger as he saw the destroyed little boy on the bed and sat down at the edge. Nappa stayed at the door, taking deep breaths not to punch a hole through the wall.
Radditz began with the procedure, taking the spandex off of the battered frame and trying to clean him up and apply healing balms on him as fast as possible.
As soon as he was finished, he got up and left without a word; something Vegeta was infinitely thankful. He was not in the mood to talk.
Frieza could not be happier than what he was at the moment.
Watching the little proud prince crying his little heart out had been the best thing of his day. He hadn't seen Vegeta cry so hard for a long time. He had seen him cry, and scream and beg, of course. But he had always sobbed, and it had been a long time since he heaved such heart-wrenching wails.
And he was almost sure that he did so almost every night… he had been missing out on this beautiful spectacle for a year!
He was about to turn the camera off when someone knocked on the prince's door. He raised an eyebrow and waited.
Radditz and Nappa came in, and the former was carrying something in his hand. A little bag.
Zarbon and Dodoria entered the Throne Room then, but Frieza ignored them.
He watched, with a mixture of amusement and indignity, as Radditz undressed the little boy and healed him.
The saiyans had been stealing from him.
He took a deep breath and turned his hover chair back around to glare outside.
He was thinking about a fitting punishment for them when he heard the prince's door opening from the screen. He turned back around and saw the door of the prince's room open, but there was nobody there.
"Leave me alone." He sobbed.
The door closed.
Frieza turned the screen off and growled.
He looked up at Zarbon and clenched his fists.
"Bring a whore to my room."
Bulma and Trunks stood at the door, their hearts breaking at the scene.
"Leave me alone." Vegeta sobbed.
"Vegeta…" Bulma said softly. "I'm sorry you had to go through this."
"Shut up and leave me alone." He growled. "Go back to your machine, you bitch."
Bulma looked at Trunks and then back at Vegeta. He was curled into a little ball, trembling. She passed a hand through her hair.
After a long moment of hesitation, she walked up to the bed.
"Mom…" Trunks said, warningly.
She sat at the edge of the prince's bed and looked down at him.
"Stay away from me." He said between clenched teeth.
But Bulma didn't move away.
"Vegeta." She said softly. "I know what you're feeling. I know you're not crying only because you're hurt."
"You know nothing."
"But I do. I know about your father, and your planet. I know about Frieza and the other soldiers and what they say to you. You don't have to believe them… and you don't have to be alone."
"STOP IT BEFORE I KILL YOU!" he screamed. But he didn't move, and that was enough to let Bulma know that she was hitting the spot.
She slowly put a hand on his shoulder. The prince tensed but he didn't move. She slowly, very slowly began to rub his back. Vegeta trembled even more and tiny sobs spurted again from his mouth.
"It's alright." She whispered.
She turned him around very slowly, trying not to hurt him. Vegeta didn't look directly at her, but he let her turn him all the way around.
Trunks's eyes widened when she lied next to him and hugged him against her.
Vegeta broke into tears again.
Maybe he had hit his head too hard. Maybe he was in too much pain.
Maybe he was not as tough as he believed himself to be.
But damnit all if Bulma's hug wasn't exactly what he needed.
