A/N: I don't own DBZ or the characters, that honour belongs to Akira Toriyama. I use British English spelling.
Bulma shifted uncomfortably in her hospital bed. Her contractions were far apart so the doctor had sent her parents home and ordered Bulma to get some rest. As if sleep was possible.
She hissed as a contraction hit, tightening across her swollen belly. When it subsided, she picked up her latest notes from the book Vegeta had given her. Translating it had been a slow process as whatever the original language was, it had complex sentence structure that didn't match up with any of Earth's languages. She'd managed to get a quite a bit of it translated recently, but hadn't had the time to study the meaning of it all.
Subject-164 shows impressive skill in combat, yet displays distaste for killing unless in self-defence. The subject is young, and his attitude may improve with age but orders are to speed up this Saiyan's abilities to increase his value. With so few Saiyan's left, such alterations are not ideal if the race is to be preserved, but genetic changes will be necessary in this case.
Genetic changes? Bulma swallowed hard and placed a hand on her stomach. They hadn't mentioned Vegeta by name, but she had to assume the notes were about him. Why else would he have given them to her? And what exactly had they done to him?
Getting the ship through the many asteroid fields to land on a planet proved to be tricky. Vegeta switched to manual mode to guide the ship through. He clutched the guiding stick, sweating even more than he did in combat. This ship was much larger than the pods he was used to, and harder to manoeuvre.
He started to enter the atmosphere of one of the uninhabited planets in the quadrant. He gritted his teeth as he struggled to control the ship's descent. The meteoroids were too large to burn up in the atmosphere and he could no longer see anything but an orange glow around him.
"Shit!" Vegeta swore as he attempted to dodge flying debris. There was a hollow clang and then a screech before a whirring sound began. Vegeta groaned even though he'd known the ship wouldn't make it unscathed. Thankfully he'd got an emergency repair kit on Fekahra. Even so, he could only hope that the loud knocks were mere dings to the ship's surface, and not hull breeches.
He tried to even out the ship's altitude as he neared the surface, preferring to come in at an angle. The sheer cliffs proved perilous and he adjusted the angle several times before landing inelegantly, sending rocks flying before settling into a cloud of dust.
Vegeta let out a shaky breath. He was still alive. For now.
He did a quick systems check and found a minor breech on the port side of the ship. Vegeta put his head in his hands, cursing himself inwardly. Why the fuck did he decide to come to the most dangerous place in the known galaxy for a mission that was much more likely to fail than succeed? In everything else Vegeta had remained strategic, but this... this was a fool's errand and he knew it.
He lifted his head back and leaned against the headrest of his chair. "Focus," he told himself. He knew why he was here. He had one goal. Ascend to the legendary Super Saiyan. Of course, he would also like to stay alive and get off this pile of rocks, but that was priority two. It was ascend or die at this point. It made Vegeta uncomfortable, knowing that this time death was a real possibility, and there would be no being wished back, but if this was the last thing he did in his life, so be it.
Vegeta checked the oxygen levels of this planet. Five percent. Low, but for a Saiyan, manageable for a short period. Gravity was fifty times Earth's. Well, he did say he wanted a challenge...
Vegeta changed into his armour, then ventured out into the desolate terrain to meet his fate.
Tests on Subject-164 are promising to date. Studies have shown him killing without hesitation in 87% of situations. Side effects have been noted. They include frequent headaches, post-killmelancholy,and an excess of adrenaline causing shaking. Side effects seem to worsen when the length of time between kills is longer.
Bulma threw the notes to the side with a groan as another contraction hit. She knew childbirth would be painful but she wasn't even in the worst part yet and it already felt as if her stomach was going to erupt. Maybe the baby would burst out of her like that alien in that movie.
As the contraction went away, she picked up the notes and reread the last paragraph. She frowned, thinking back to how Vegeta was complaining of headaches before she got sick.
Meteoroids plummeted through the purple-tinged sky towards him. Many burned up, but the pock-marked ground was indication enough for Vegeta to guess that a high percentage still fell to this planet's rocky ground.
He powered up, revelling in the ki surging through him. It pulsated around him, making the air crackle with metallic energy that he could taste as he breathed. Vegeta flew into the air, up to where the already limited oxygen thinned to the point that his lungs ached with every breath. As meteoroids hurtled towards him, he fired at them, breaking them apart with his blasts.
He grinned, breathing in short, sharp gasps. There was no greater opponent than nature itself. He dropped down a few metres to get oxygenated air, but a wave of dizziness had him drop further than he'd meant to. He held himself steady in mid-air, barely dodging a meteoroid.
"Don't get cocky," he muttered. Underestimating his opponent had been his biggest mistake too many times.
A large meteoroid approached, and Vegeta started to aim, then realised it was further away than he'd thought.
"Fuck." Vegeta choked on the word, suddenly filled with a fear he hadn't felt in a while. That wasn't a meteoroid. It was an asteroid. And much, much bigger than anything else burning through the atmosphere.
It was hard to tell how far away it was. Vegeta sent a ki blast upwards. It dissipated before it reached the asteroid. Vegeta made to send another up, but was hit on the side on by a meteoroid. He spun in the air, colliding with another. Vegeta tumbled downwards, unable to get in enough air to give himself the strength to right himself.
He hit the ground hard. He had the realisation that this mission was the stupidest mistake of his life - and likely his last - before fading into blackness.
Somehow he'd managed to get sent back to that schielfelkalainfested shithole. The planet had been purged years ago, but there were usually a few survivors and its new inhabitants were having some trouble with a group of them. Frieza sent soldiers, including Vegeta, to sort it out.
Rivers of blood flowed through cracks in the yellow ground by the time Vegeta and the other soldiers were finished. Near the end of the battle, Vegeta stood off to the side, watching the lower ranked soldiers clean up the rest. Sweaty, tired, and splattered with body matter, he folded his arms to hide his impatience.
Too busy inwardly cursing everyone and their incompetence, he didn't notice the ground shake until it erupted underneath him, sending him flying backwards. The schielfelkala reared up out of the newly created hole, its sharp teeth gnashing at the air. Vegeta lay on his back, staring up in horror. He couldn't move. He literally couldn't even breathe - it caught it his throat.
Then she appeared, out of nowhere.
The black and red haired warrior sent a ki blast directly into the mouth of the beast. It choked and spluttered, and she used the time to fire another blast, this time at its underbelly.
"What the fuck are you doing?" She yelled in the common tongue Frieza commanded they use, glaring at Vegeta.
She was beautiful, bathed in the glow of fire and ki. He recognised her as Jalakal - a bipedal race from planet Jalak. Like Vegeta, she was young - barely into adulthood. He found himself enthralled, almost forgetting about the schielfelkalashe was trying to kill.
"Get the fuck off your arse and help me!" She fired a ki blast at his feet in annoyance.
Vegeta came to his senses and scrambled to his feet. He started blasting the beast as well and together they slayed the creature of his nightmares.
When the beast was dead, she threw him a disgusted look, muttering the Jalakal word for imbecile under her breath. At an insult like that, Vegeta would have normally issued a challenge, but she wouldn't have expected him to speak Jalakal, and for once all of that anger he kept bottled inside was gone - or perhaps merely hidden - and in its place was a light feeling that Vegeta didn't recognised.
Subject-164 now kills without hesitation in 99.95% of tests. Objective achieved. However, a noted side effect is that the subject now had a strong need to kill, even when not asked. Symptoms include sweating, dizziness and hallucinations, all of which dissipate temporarily after the subject has killed a sentient being. Side effect ruled as acceptable as time between kills will not be extended for long enough to cause safety issues. Subject transferred to level one purge training.
Those fucking bastards. They'd altered Vegeta's DNA and left him with permanent side effects. Ones that meant he needed to kill to make them go away...
Bulma screamed as a contraction ripped through her. Fuck, was it supposed to be this painful? She pushed the red button to call the nurse, then screamed again as her stomach tightened unbearably. Black spots danced in front of her eyes and Bulma fell back against the pillow, whimpering. As the nurse came in, Bulma let the darkness take over.
Vegeta awoke to a loud rumble and the ground shaking under him. He sat up, holding his head and wincing with the movement. Doing a quick body check, he noted that in addition to the cut on his forehead currently bleeding between his fingers, he also had two or three cracked ribs, a hairline fracture to his forearm, and a deep gash on his left leg that looked like it had almost reached the bone.
He tilted his head to the sky, and fought back a cry of frustration at the site of the rocky mass ahead, now completely blocking out the sky. Vegeta dragged himself to standing, then took off in the air towards his ship. His ki stuttered a few times on the way, but Vegeta pushed through and kept going. Forget the legendary Super Saiyan. He didn't care anymore. His ship was the only way off this planet and it would be destroyed with the rest of this rock when the asteroid his if he didn't get the fuck out of here.
He made it to the ship and fired it up. The engines started, then died with a whir. Vegeta cursed, remembering the hull breech. Grabbing the repair kit, he ran outside to look at it. The breech wasn't large - a little bigger than his arm span. Vegeta glanced up. The asteroid was already too close to out manoeuvre. Still, he got out the welder and started repairing.
By the time he finished, it was too late to move the ship. The sky was black, the planet's two suns completely blotted out. Vegeta stood on top of his ship and stared at the ball of metal and rock about to crush him.
He fell to his knees. Was this it?
Years of torture and torment, all for nothing. Everything taken away from him as a boy - his crown, his family, his people - and then to suddenly have freedom fall onto his lap only for him to squander it by going on a suicide mission?
He thought of Kalyana, sacrificing herself in the desperate hope that he would save the universe - he who had the deaths of billions on his hands!
He thought of Bulma, who saw something in him that wasn't there. Something that might have existed had he lived a different life, but had died long ago.
Finally, he thought of Kakarot, who had stolen what should have been his. Taken his vengeance, and achieved what Vegeta could not. His hatred for the lower class Saiyan burned in his veins, but even then, Vegeta knew he had merely projected his hate of Frieza onto Kakarot. For where else could that hate go? Without Kakarot it would end up back on himself and all his failures. Failure to protect his people, to protect Kalyana from Frieza, and failure to protect Bulma from himself.
Was this what his life had added up to? For his life to end in yet another failure?
"No." Vegeta clenched his fists, then took a deep breath. He stood up, back straight. "It will not end like this!" He cried at the asteroid. "I am Vegeta, Prince of all Saiyans, and I will not die today!"
The world lit on fire as the asteroid approached with its fiery glow.
Vegeta burst into yellow flames too.
A/N: Yay! I feel like cheering for Vegeta. I've put him through a lot… This chapter was fun to write – I hope you all liked it. Thanks once again for all your reviews, it's nice to know my efforts are appreciated!