The room was dim, perfectly fitting the moods of the children inside. The aura of the room was deeper than miserable. The soft beeping sounds coming off of the machines were the only noise for what felt like hours.
Since the grim decision had been made to send the prince into the heart of the Kold Empire, Kaeyea had been standing watch outside of the medical room. Her duty was technically to the queen, not the children any longer, but what few Saiyans had dared attempt to inform her of that had been put in their place, and a healing chamber, harshly. It had not taken long for all personnel in the palace to stay away from that entire wing, save the medical staff who attended to the princess.
Inside the room, Takyra remained in her comatose state. There had been no progress since she had been stabilized, and that was something that no one was surprised by. Her mere survival was nothing shy of miraculous. Without the assistance of the healing chambers, she would be lucky to wake up ever.
Sitting at her side were her two fiercest supporters. Roma, her bright red hair tied down into low pigtails, had been uncharacteristically quiet. She had tried several times to get a sentence out, but it had been impossible for her to complete a thought. After all, it had been a traumatic time for her, and she was still just a young child. Even her brilliant mind could not fully comprehend everything that had happened. Every time she tried to deal with it, all she had to do was look at one of her two dearest friends to feel shut down again. Takyra was before her, barely keeping a heartbeat going, and Vegeta…
Vegeta had signed his life away, and that was something none of them were prepared for. When Ginyu had announced the situation, it was already a done deal. The Kolds had already made the arrangements with the king. There had been no way for the boy to get out of it, no matter what. But when he had been told that if he went along with the Kolds his people would be spared, Vegeta had not hesitated to agree.
Hours slowly ticked by, hours that could likely be the last the boy would ever spend in his home. Neither child seemed to know what to say, or if anything at all would be appropriate.
It was the middle of the night when Roma broke the silence. "It's not fair," she softly said.
"Nothing ever is," came the grim reply.
The redhead sadly began to play with her long locks. "Then this goes beyond unfair," she stated, her voice firmer than before. "This shouldn't be your responsibility."
"I am the Prince of the Saiyans," Vegeta recited. "My life is for my people. I will save them. No matter what."
"Yeah, you're the prince, I get that," his friend shot back, "but damn it, Vegeta, we're kids! We are children, alright? Am I the only one in the entire universe that is aware of that fact?"
Vegeta kept his eyes straight ahead, refusing to look at the girl. "My age is irrelevant."
"Your age is actually very relevant!" she charged. "Vegeta, they are targeting you because you are a kid! They would never make a deal with an adult super elite. They're doing this to...to…" Roma could not bring herself to give voice to her final thought.
The prince, however, held no such qualms. "They seek to end my life," he bluntly stated. "They know that the reigning monarch is weak in body and weak in mind. They use those weaknesses in him to manipulate our people. I have been designed and raised to be his absolute opposite. I have been training since my first moments to be a strong leader of the Saiyan people. I will grow to be a threat to them, both as an individual and as a leader of warriors. They do not wish to risk letting me reach my full potential. Therefore, they made what is to appear to be a generous offer: one Saiyan instead of thousands. The throne would have no choice but to hand me over. And when they have me, there will be no protections."
Roma could feel the sting of tears forming in her eyes. "So, that's it?" she demanded. "They demand you, and you're ready to just lay down and die?"
"No!" For the first time since Takyra was hurt, there was fire in his eyes. "I hold no such intentions, girl! I will go in the place of my people, and I will fight!"
"But in the empire…"
"I know!" Vegeta shouted back at her. "I know what they do there! I know what the soldiers are like! Damn it, Roma, I was trained along side you, and I know everything you know. They are going to send me on purge missions and tell me to slaughter the innocent. They are going to throw me into the cage matches and tell me that the only way out is to massacre everyone else in there. They are going to beat me and starve me and torture me, and I know that already!"
"Then why…"
"Because I have to!" he roared. They sat quietly for a moment before he restated his thought, his voice both calmer and sadder than it had been. "Because I have to. Because if I do not go, if I choose the path of a coward, I will damn our entire race. Because my failure to step up and fight this war now will lead every enemy we have ever had to see us as weak and vulnerable. Because our people need to see that there is still hope." His voice dropped near a whisper before adding, "Because if I don't, they are going to come back for Takyra, and I won't be able to save her."
Roma winced at the rare shot of emotion breaking through her friend. She felt guilty for what she had said earlier. Gently reaching out, she took his hand in hers. She offered wordless comfort as she began running her thumb over the back of his hand. Another hour went by, neither one of them speaking. Both of them knew that Vegeta would be best served by getting rest before the morning came. Both were also aware that such a thing would never happen.
Off in the distance, the edges of the sky slowly began to change in color. It was hardly dawn, but it was still a clear warning that their time together was nearing an end.
"What if I don't come back?"
Roma jerked slightly, unprepared for the question. "What?"
"What if I don't come back?" Vegeta asked again. "Takyra is not prepared to take the throne. And that's if...if…" If she ever wakes up, his mind finished when his voice failed.
Roma caught his full message. Even though she was filled with doubt, she felt it was her responsibility, for the sake of both of her friends, to be the voice of hope. "She is going to wake up," she firmly stated. "It takes more than a mere beating to stop a Saiyan, especially a royal. She will rest here for a while, and before we know it, she is going to be back on her feet and just like she has always been." She grasped his hand a little more tightly. "Your sister is strong, stronger than anyone has ever known. If she is called upon to lead the Saiyan people, she will do a glorious job of it.
"But you know what?" she went on in a clear and steady voice. "That won't matter. This is a three year contract. In three year's time, you are going to be right back here in the palace and we'll do everything we ever set out to do."
A cold wave seemed to wash over them both as Vegeta turned his eyes away from the redhead and back toward his sister. He did not bother trying to give voice to his truly deep concern, but Roma could hear his projection clearly.
What if I come back broken?
It was something that Roma had never considered, even for the shortest moment. She had been telling herself from the start that Vegeta was going to serve his contract and return the same boy he had always been: stern, serious, and seemingly closed off, but with a wicked sense of humor and faultless honor.
What if he came back broken?
What...what was broken?
Sadly, there was nothing they could actually run off of. There were plenty of tales of what the soldiers in the Kold Empire became. All of them were monsters, inside and out. It was the only sort of creature someone could be if they wanted any chance at all to survive. The things they did, both on the battlefield and off of it, were horrendous.
There were, however, no stories at all of anyone after serving in those forces. There was no such things as a soldier 'going home'. Not really. There were rare cases where a recruit could visit their homeworld, but those moments were rare, and they were only for worlds that were unflinchingly loyal to the empire. A race like the Saiyans, where there was clearly no firm loyalty, would never be granted such an honor.
No one had ever 'gone home'. Once they were in, they were in until they died.
Roma had been fighting hard to focus on the fact that it was unfair. She had, whether she was aware of it or not, kept herself from thinking about the worst of the worst. Vegeta, on the other hand, had been dwelling on it obsessively.
He had thought of every possible thing his young mind could come up with, every miserable thing that was going to happen to him and that he was going to be forced to do. Getting killed did worry him; he did not want the responsibility of the throne to fall on his sister's shoulders, and that was assuming that she didn't...that she stayed…
As the hours had gone by, he had been more and more concerned with what such a life would do to him. He, too, knew of the monsters that lived in those armies. Knowing he was about to become one terrified him. The Saiyans were warriors born, fighters through and through and not afraid of bloodletting or killing. But the Kold's did not simply want to kill their enemies. They decimated races in the most horrific ways imaginable. Snapping an enemies neck or killing them with a well aimed ki blast was not the same as breaking them on the most fundamental levels.
He was going to do those things. He would be a fool to think they would not change him.
What if he could not change back? What if it changed him forever?
What if he changed in a way that meant he could not be the leader his people needed him to be?
What if he changed in a way that kept Takyra from accepting him again?
Roma drew a deep breath and leaned over, delicately resting her head on his good shoulder. A little more brightness began to fill the sky as she began to speak. "You don't need to worry," she softly assured. "I know what's going to happen."
Vegeta did not shrug her off as he kept his eyes on his sleeping sister.
"When the sun comes up," she went on, "you're going to leave us for a little while. It's only three years, not long at all for a Saiyan like us. You are going to go up against some hard choices, but that's okay. You're going to do what you have to, because you love us, and you'll do anything for us. And when those three years are over, you are going to come back to us. You are going to come home, and we'll pick up right where we left off. None of our plans are going to go away. You'll only be back on the planet for a few seconds before Takyra and I will be pulling you out of your ship and telling you about all of the stupid things we did while you were gone."
Blood red coated the morning sky. Time was running shorter and shorter.
"And no matter what has happened to you," Roma clearly stated, "and no matter what you have done, we will be here. We will welcome you home with open arms and love you like we always have. You are going to come home, Vegeta, and we will be here.
"We will always be here for you. I promise."