Updated 04/16/2018

This is the first chapter I published that I remember being extremely proud of. I had fun re-reading and editing this one. I hope you enjoy it!

"AUGH!"

Vegeta maneuvered to the right, narrowly dodging a meteor as it plummeted past him. He held his palm out behind to shoot a blast at it, listening as it exploded meters away. The saiyan was hovering in the sky of the dead planet, trying to protect his ship from being destroyed by the falling meteors that were showering his head.

So far he had been successful at preventing any more of the flying rocks from colliding with the ship, although there had been way too many close calls. 'Dammit! This shouldn't be a challenge to me!' Vegeta thought, cursing himself for pushing his body so hard during the training session he'd just had. Sweat glistening from his forehead, his arms were still shaking from the strain that 450 times gravity put on his muscles. Vegeta shot at two meteors that were coming at him, but as a result he was unable to dodge one that collided with him from the side. The rock slammed against the saiyan's torso, knocking the spit out of him as he choked back his reaction.

"Damn it!" He coughed with a growl, starting to feel a bit overwhelmed. He shouldn't be having this much trouble in the first place, but there were so many rocks coming at him! "Damn it! Damn you all!"

Down below, on the surface of the planet, stood Vegeta's ship – complete with the Capsule Corp logo on its side. A silence had befallen its interior, everything left as it had been when the meteor shower had started. On the floor was a glass of water Vegeta had been drinking, knocked on its side at the same time that the saiyan had been thrown down from the initial hit. A few meters away was the ship's monitor, still turned on after the call with Bulma…

..

Back on Earth it was nearly midnight, and Bulma reclined against her headboard with a bowl of ice cream by her side. She had spent an hour yelling obscenities through her tears before deciding that she needed to feed herself and her unborn baby. 'Even if I am stressed, I need to eat!' She had thought, gulping down a glass of herbal tea.

It was odd - despite how angry she was with him, all she wanted to do in that moment was reach out to Vegeta. This was such a stark contrast to the fights she'd had with Yamcha, when it had been easy to give the silent treatment until he realized what he'd done wrong. With Vegeta, there was a hopeful voice in her head that told her to give him a call and try to work things out. She couldn't help but think that if they could just work through his issues with expressing himself, they'd be able to sort everything out and move on. 'Just give him a chance!' The voice urged when Bulma had been half-way through her bowl of dessert. Confused, angry, and emotional, the Bluehead began to feel that she didn't care to fight it anymore. If her instinct was telling her to call him, then maybe she really should. She wiped back the tears on her cheeks and made for the phone system, but as she held a finger up to initiate the call her eyes widened.

'Why am I doing this?' She thought, mouth dropping open. No! He was the one who had been such a jerk to her! He needed to be the one to apologize! She hadn't done anything wrong! Shaking her head with determination, the Bluehead backed away from the phone and popped another spoonful of dessert into her mouth defiantly. Despite her efforts, the voice returned…

'He's doesn't understand – he's not used to having these types of conversations! And he too proud to try to call, if I don't do it we'll never talk again!'

Bulma dropped her spoon back into the bowl and looked at the phone. She eyed the big orange square - just a simple click of it would connect her with his ship. With him. Her mind glossed back to a few hours prior, when he had rudely snapped at her for even trying to communicate with him in the first place. 'No!' She thought again. 'He's a total jerk who only cares about himself!' "No!" She yelled, wiping tears from her cheeks once more. It was as if her mind was trying to drive her crazy, and she was getting tired of it! "If he really felt bad he would call me himself! Just because the ice cream is making me feel a little better doesn't mean what he did was okay by any means!"

It was then that Bulma went back at her bowl with full force, eagerly swallowing the rest of it down as she tried desperately to rid him from her mind. He hadn't even attempted to call, himself! Perhaps Yamcha was right, after all. Perhaps he already had become a Super Saiyan, and he just didn't give a damn anymore!

Little did Bulma know that even if she had tried to call Vegeta, he wouldn't have answered. The screen would have buzzed, the sound would have rang, but there was nobody available to receive it.

Little did Bulma know that Vegeta was busy trying to protect his only source of transportation so that he could ever return back to Earth.

Back to her.

..

Vegeta was breathless now, feeling weaker by the second. There seemed to be no end to the giant balls of rock that were coming at him. It seemed that with each meteor he destroyed, at least 2 seemed to take its place. He was tired and frustrated, and with each passing minute he was starting to feel more useless, and more defeated.

'All of this training... all of this time... to find difficulty in stopping some measly rocks!' Vegeta thought bitterly, a vein in his forehead start to bulge. 'What has training accomplished me? If I hadn't been training so hard in the first place, I'd have energy to destroy them all!' He let out a groan, firing at a few meteors he could see in the distance. Perhaps he was imagining things, but the shower finally seemed to be clearing up. It was a slow progress, but he was sure of it. Perhaps he would be alright after all – if he could continue to hold himself up.

And, with how quickly his energy was draining, that was a big if.

The saiyan took the moment to catch his breath. His body bent forward, sweat blurring his view, he let in a deep inhale and tried to force himself to focus. 'How can I be this vulnerable?' He thought, shaking his head. As he was bent forward he took note of a large shadow casting over his form. His eyes widened, registering just how big this shadow really was…

The saiyan straightened back up, looking ahead to see it with his own eyes, and his mouth dropped open. 'No!' He thought. It couldn't be!

Straight ahead was the largest meteor he had ever seen. It was at least twice the size of his spaceship, energy radiating from its core as it flew right at him. Vegeta could only think of it as the God of all meteors, and he watched in horror as it drew closer and closer. 'There's no way!' He thought, panic shooting through his core. This was exactly how he felt when he'd realized he was going to die at the hands of Frieza. It was nothing short of the realization that all was lost, and no matter how hard he fought he'd never be capable of standing a chance. 'I'm too weak!' He thought, raising his palms regardless. He knew it would do no good. He could never summon the ki it would require to even dent this rock, but with the little ability he had left he had to at least try.

The yellow beam ejected from his hand, flying at the giant ball of rock and disappearing into its surface. It hadn't even slowed the damned thing!

'Shit.' Was all that the saiyan could think as he raised his arms to shield his face. He closed his eyes, preparing for the impending crash that would be coming at any second.

He would have let out a yell of pain when it collided with his body, but his lungs were rendered airless before he had a chance. Vision fading as he plummeted down into the dead ground below, his form dented the crust as he sank into it.

..

Bulma's room was dark, and she lay in bed watching the moon that was shining in through her window. She had always enjoyed watching the moon, but ever since becoming pregnant it had seemed to have much more of an impact on her. How hypnotic it was, her eyes glazing of the curves of the crescent form, which was floating in the sky like an incomplete marble. Perhaps it was the saiyan DNA that was forming a life inside of her that attracted her to it so strongly. Perhaps it was her own predisposed interest with space travel. But as Bulma lay and watched, her cheeks swollen from her stress of the night, she started to feel as if a serene blanket had been placed over her.

Her fingertips slowly caressing her stomach, soothing the baby inside as she watched dark clouds flow past the moon, she listened to the silence of the sleeping house. There was no chaotic sounds to distract her – it was just her, her unborn child, and the natural light that offered comfort all the way from space.

She was suddenly feeling stronger than she had all day.

The voice had changed within. Now, instead of telling her she needed to put in a greater effort, it was whispering to her that everything was going to be okay. And this was something she could agree with. 'I'm not going to let Vegeta ruin this for me.' She thought, fingers still tracing over her small protruding belly. 'I've got to be calm and try to make the best of everything… for my baby.'

There was no wind on the dead planet to even blow the dust off Vegeta's body.

He had only been unconscious for a few seconds, and he now lay, embedded into the dirt and crumbles of the planet's crust. Painful grunts escaping his lips every few seconds, the saiyan was on his stomach, a weak hand grasping at the soil below.

How pathetic, pained, and worn out he felt.

'I... I can't win.' He thought, opening his eyes to look drearily at the ground ahead. Squeezing a handful of dirt into his palm, he watched as it escaped through the cracks between his fingers. "D...Damn it all," He breathed, placing his hands at either side of his body and summoning his remaining strength to push himself up off the ground.

Where had any of his training gotten him? Vegeta let out a cough. It was strange – it felt as if every bone in his body had broken upon contact with the meteor, and yet he knew he would have been able to move if he only had the energy. 'It's... not... fair...' He thought, listening to the flying rocks slamming into the ground around him. A meteor crashed into the crust, and it didn't land too far from his head. He closed his eyes, fighting to steady his trembling muscles as he struggled to push himself up further. One his hands and knees now, his mind began to drift over everything that had happened throughout his life.

He'd been entitled to his planet- to leading an entire race of people. And yet he'd been sacrificed by his own father instead.

Losing his home planet.

Struggling to overpower Frieza, and failing.

Kakarot's – the bastard!

… Bulma.

The saiyan slammed a fist down onto the ground below, losing all ability to withhold his own emotions any longer. A single tear dropping from his eye, the saiyan let out a gutty yell. He just couldn't take it anymore! If somebody had asked him to describe how he felt in one word, all he'd be able to say is grief.

He had lost everything in his life that he cared about. He had lost his pride, his ability to trust, his purpose, his parents, his home... And, just when he started to realize that the void was slowly being filled, and he was learning to not linger on the woes of his past, he'd lost the one thing that had somehow worked to heal him so much. He had lost Bulma.

Bulma...

The word itself brought such a deep pain to him that he let out another cough at the thought. He didn't feel as if he had accomplished anything in his months of training, but in the process he had managed to gain some type of alternative home. It wasn't what he'd asked for, and it hadn't been to his consent. A place to live. People that seemed to care about him for no damned good reason, and yet they doted on him as if he was something more than a recurring failure. And, just as he'd gained this, his training had also taken it away.

He had lost the most special gem of all.

Those large blue eyes flashed in his memory. How warm she felt during their encounters together. How truly happy she always seemed under his frame, though he'd never been able to admit before how much he enjoyed to see her like that. She had been his. His Bulma. He hadn't asked for her – he'd tried to even push her away! Yet she had given herself to him, and now she was gone.

If it hadn't been for his pride, he probably wouldn't have lost her. It was all because of that damn pride!

Vegeta felt the ground shake as a meteor slammed into it, even closer than the last. This time he knew it would have hit him if its course had been different by a few centimeters.

'This is how I'm going to die.' He thought, letting out a wet cough. He was going to perish, by hand of a few puny rocks. The saiyan felt so pathetic that he nearly laughed, still holding himself up with his arms. Nobody would know what became of the main who should have been a celebrated ruler of an ancient race. Now even Bulma would know - but it wasn't as if she even cared at this point.

"Well, if that's how it's going to be then fine!" He growled. Taking in a deep breath, the saiyan opened his mouth as another wave of emotion overcame him. "I don't care!" He yelled, shaking his head as more tears threatened his shameful eyes. "I don't care about anything ANYMORE!"

As soon as Vegeta said it, he knew it was true.

He had truly given up. Given up on everything. There was nothing left for him to fight for. It seemed he had been practically born with nothing, and now he was going to die without anything in return. Not even her.

"I'm giving up, you hear me?" He yelled, as if Kami himself could take note of his calls. "I don't care about being a saiyan! I don't care about being strong! I don't care about anything at all!" Somehow, in yelling this, he was feeling well enough to push himself to his feet, his body tightening from the strain. It was as this announcement actually made him stronger – as if yelling had relieved himself of the negative thoughts that had been plaguing him since he was a young child. "I'm just a worthless piece of scum on this pathetic speck of dirt! You hear me?! I'm nothing!" He was living every word he spoke, truth dripping from each word. "Death can take me now! I DON'T CARE!"

He suddenly felt a strange energy take over his body.

It was unlike anything he had ever experienced before.

As if his body was draining of its power and refilling at the same time. Purging. Replenishing. It wasn't exactly a pleasant feeling - it was a force. As if some omnipresent being was viciously drinking the very life from within him, while simultaneously pumping it with a new one. A foreign ki.

It was painful.

He took in a breath, feeling the muscles in his chest pulsating from the process as he shook. His feet pressing hard into the ground, hands balled in fists, jaw feeling as if it would unhinge at any moment. It took all that he had to hold himself up against the pressure, his legs slightly bent at the knees to give himself more leverage. Vegeta let out a loud scream, feeling that he'd implode if he didn't. It was as if his guts were going to be pulled out from within from the shaking his core.

What... What was this?!

His yell lingered. He could hear it echoing around him, drifting away, and yet he continued to call out to Kami as if he would never run out of breath.

And, suddenly, it changed.

Whatever was happening to his body suddenly felt right. Something was awakening from deep inside – a creature that had been dormant his entire life. This was a part of him - a part that he had never even known before. Yet he knew it was the most authentic side of his being that he could ever release. Vegeta could feel every hair on his body standing up from the skin. He could feel his vision growing stronger, even as he continued to yell.

He was becoming the perfect form of himself.

This was unlike anything he could ever recall. It was as if he were discovering water after living a life of thirst. As if he were still laying with Bulma in her room, discovering how it felt to know her body for the first time all over again. Plummeting into a regeneration tank just before taking his last breath of life.

…It was even greater than the first breath he had taken after being wished back after dying…

Vegeta was enjoying this, and he he didn't even attempt to understand what was happening to him. It was right, and that was all he needed to feel. It wasn't until it was over that he began to realize what had occurred. After the sparks of energy stopped flaring, after his soul had ceased its purging, Vegeta stood strong. He felt as if his skin itself was glowing, and he had no doubt about it.

Acting on a new refined instinct, he flew back to the air above his ship. Letting out a primal yell, just as he had a few moments earlier, he outstretched his arms. From his figure erupted a golden energy, which swept across the sky and disintegrated each remaining meteor into a dust. For a moment the saiyan was blinded, stunned by his own power.

His chest was heaving, his blue eyes glowing across the world below him.

'Super.' He thought, a grin stretching across his face.

'I.. am... Super.'