DISCLAIMER! I still own nothing! I do not own DBZ or SM. I also do not own the Saiyan Language, that belongs to MegaKat and she graciously allows me to use!
Chapter 2: Back Then
~~~~~~~~~~ Flash back 40 years ago ~~~~~~~~~~~
Usagi knelt before the Cold Family of Royals. King Cold sat in the center on his throne, his son Cooler stood to his left beside him glaring down the small group of Saiyans before him, and Frieza stood opposite his brother to the right of his Father, menacingly glaring the Saiyans.
"Seeing as your planet was obliterated by a meteor and you five are without a place to call home I will allow you to continue in servitude to our family. Boys, which of you would like five strong new crew members? They'll do nicely, don't you think?" King Cold looked over the group and then to his two sons.
"Father, I would like to take them all. I could use strong warriors to help conquer more planets to add to our vastly growing empire." Frieza spoke sinisterly as he swished his tail back and forth, evil thoughts running rampant through his mind.
"Please brother," Cooler spoke drawing attention to him self, "You only want them for the Prince and the girl, but who can blame you? The girl would be a nice adage in a crew of nothing but men." Cooler moved down the steps towards the silver haired Saiyan. Those knelling before the Cold family tensed up as they were approached. Radditz, the long haired Saiyan clenched his fist, wanting nothing more than to strike out at them as they approached his leader. Nappa, the tallest and baldest amongst them, lifted his head slightly to watch as the lizard creature stopped just before Usagi as his tail swished lazily behind him. Turles, a Saiyan with wild hair, shook as he tried to control his rage, want, and need to blast them out of the way. Prince Vegeta, the youngest amongst them, was knelt between Nappa and Radditz with Turles at his back. Usagi was directly in front of him, he watched as Cooler used his tail to lift her chin to look at tyrant.
"Do stand little one. Let us have a look at you." He whispered darkly as he eyed her body. He circled her as she stood, her head held high with the pride of a Saiyan. Frieza smirked as he saw her shapely body and well defined muscles. Cooler chuckled, "I do see your interest in her brother. Not only is she strong but pleasurable to look at. I can't help but to think of the other things she could do for us." Cooler dragged his tail lazily up and down her body. She opened her hand signaling for the Saiyans behind her to remain calm, she could hear them growling and cursing under their breath.
"However I can be useful to you, my Lords." Usagi spoke trying to maintain her composure, she had a very good idea of what they were planning for her but she would endure whatever she had to ensure the safety of her Prince.
"And our men." Frieza spoke with an evil glint in his eye.
"Then it is settled. Frieza they will be under your command but if Cooler should ever need to borrow any one of the Saiyans then you must relinquish them." King Cold said as he stood from his throne. "Now that business is concluded we shall return to our tasks of conquering planets."
Time moved quickly and the Saiyans were used by Frieza for every dangerous and deadly mission, almost seeming as if he was trying to eradicate the last of them. Turles had been sent off with a special seed that grew a mighty tree that would suck any planet dry of all life leaving it null and void. He was to send back all of the fruit the tree produced to aide in the strengthening of The Cold Army. Radditz, Nappa, and Vegeta were sent off in a team of three to conquer, destroy, and enslave planets. Usagi was normally sent off on missions away from the remainder of them and usually with Frieza's elite team, the Ginyu Force. Jeice, the red skinned, white haired alien seemed to fancy her but knew better than to even look in her direction; Zarbon had made it abundantly clear that she was off limits to everyone unless Lord Frieza stated otherwise. They had been serving Frieza for years since the destruction of Vegetasai. They knew it had been Frieza, not a meteor or asteroid that had destroyed their home but they played along. One day after returning from months long missions Usagi flopped onto her bed, too tired and exhausted to even shower or even change clothes. She heard her door open as she began to drift off to sleep.
"You had better get up monkey; Lord Frieza doesn't like to be kept waiting." Zarbon called leaning over her as he grabbed a fist full of her hair.
"He dismissed me before I even landed, Zarbon. I did not think that meant I couldn't retire to my room." She spoke through gritted teeth as pulled her off the bed by her hair.
"He changed his mind." He threw her into the table next to her bed. "Now get moving, he is waiting for you."
Usagi ran her fingers through her hair and moved towards the door and turned left heading towards the meeting hall. She heard Zarbon chuckle evilly.
"Not that way, to his private chambers. You're in for a real treat." Zarbon pointed his arm in the opposite direction and moved down the hall.
Usagi had only been to his private room a hand full of times and was not as familiar with the path and knew that Zarbon would have to announce her presence before entering. She could feel her heart hammering away in her chest as she made the arduous journey. 'Is this it? Is he going to kill me now? I can NOT die like this. I have to find a way to keep fighting. I made a pledge to his Majesty that I would protect the Prince at all costs. No matter what, I will survive.' Her thoughts were interrupted as they stopped before Frieza's personal chambers. Zarbon raised his hand announcing their presence. Frieza bid them to come in. As Usagi entered the room she saw Nappa, Vegeta and Radditz already kneeling before the tyrant.
"Aaaahhh," Frieza's eyes dragged up down her body, taking in her dirty and disheveled form. "Zarbon, you can go now. Join us Usagi."
She walked over next to Radditz and knelt before him. Frieza paced back and forth in front of them, eyeing each of them as if they had personally accosted him with their very presence.
"Turles is dead." Radditz took a sharp inhale at Frieza's admission. "He failed in his last mission to conquer a planet I sent him too. And of course, as you know, the fruit the tree of might produces is vital to our men. That being said, we are going to need to use you monkeys more. You are the strongest of my people. Rest up; you are all going out again first thing in the morning. Dismissed!" As they stood to, leave Frieza called out to Usagi, ordering her to stay behind a moment longer. He sauntered over to her, his eyes cold, dark and evil, his tail swished dangerously behind him. Using his tail he shut the door. "You do remember the deal you struck with me, don't you? To keep your precious little prince from harm." He paused waiting for her response; she nodded her head in agreement. "Good. I'm glad you do. Now, first I want you to go wash up and rid yourself of the muck. Zarbon should have let you clean yourself first but no matter, I'll discuss that with him later. You may use my shower, make it quick and don't make me wait." He struck her across the face with his tail. "You know how impatient I get when I have to wait."
Usagi bowed before leaving to rush to the shower. She had vowed to do anything, whatever it took to keep her prince safe. Even suffering at the hands of this tyrant. She showered quickly removing the dirt and grime and blood from her body and hair. She turned off the water and went to grab a towel only to find Frieza standing there holding her towel out to her. She hesitantly took the towel and dried herself quickly and began to wrap herself in the towel. Frieza stilled her movements.
"No need for modesty, I have already seen, touched, tasted and explored every inch of you. I see why you were the most sought after female on your planet; not only are you a true warrior but you are exquisite." He circled her as he spoke to her, circling her like prey about to be slaughtered. He struck her violently across her back, "And that is why I cannot stand the site of you." He struck her again forcing her onto her knees. "Those monkeys would do anything for you." He punched her in the face. "The last precious little female." He tightly wrapped his tail around her throat raising her off the ground. "Tell me Usagi," her name dripping like venom from his mouth, "have you told them what I have done to you?"
"No. . .Lord. . . Frie. . Frieza." She choked out as he tightened his grip on her throat.
"I wonder if they would still care for you, still be willing to die for you if they knew all I had done to you. What I have taken from you." He slammed her into the wall repeatedly causing her to feel weak and light headed. She couldn't tell if it was from lack of oxygen or being slammed in to the wall; but probably both. Frieza threw her onto the ground and mounted her. "Let's see if we can produce the same results as last time. Of course you know, I won't be able to allow it to progress very far." He licked a trail up her throat and bit her ear drawing blood. "Mmmmm." He moaned as he thrust into her. "We should be able to get the same results as last time. You appear fertile. You are my most favorite Saiyan and possession." He laughed evilly as he slammed into her over and over again until he let out a roar signaling he was finished. He stood from her and threw the towel at her, his way of dismissing her from his chambers when he had done what he wanted with her and no longer wanted her around.
As she left the room she was greeted by the sight of Jeice and Guldo. Jeice locked eyes with hers, giving her a look of agony as he looked over the damage Frieza had inflicted upon her. She might have been forced to be a member of their team but she was the fiercest fighter they had and she never gave up. Guldo grunted at her appearance and turned to walk away from Frieza's chambers, leading her back to her room. The trio walked silently down the corridors; Guldo in front and Jeice following behind her. He took his time observing her fresh wounds mixed with her old healing ones from where Frieza had whipped her, her neck red from where the lord had strangled her with his tail, ki burns littering her body, her right eye swollen shut, and the right side of her face bloodied, swollen, and bruising. She truly was strong; she took this abuse for any failures committed by any of the Saiyans. Jeice knew this was a particularly bad round, one of them had died. As they reached her door she walked in, eyes down cast and slammed her door shut. Jeice stood there hand raised and mouth agape, he had wanted to say something to her but couldn't find the words.
"Move on Jeice," Guldo said quietly, the two eyes on the right side of his green head looking at the red skinned warrior, "even if she wanted anything to do with you do you truly think Lord Frieza would allow it. You have seen what he does to her. She is sullied. Let her go." The two men parted ways and walked back to their chambers.
Mean while Usagi stood beneath the scalding hot water, trying to burn everything away from her. Trying to burn away the feel of his touch, his breath, the sounds he made, and things he had done to her. She collapsed to her knees, her body weak and her eyes burning with tears she tried to hold back. She knew Frieza was trying to break her, she had to hold it in, she could not allow him to break her. She, Usagi, was the last remaining female Saiyan and he would not take that from her.
Time passed quickly, missions came and went, and Usagi continued to take her beatings on behalf of all the Saiyans. Frieza grew tired of her strong stubborn defiance. A little over two weeks later, he knew his seed had taken root. He knew the signs as he watched her closely. She had grown pale; she barely ate, and looked as though she couldn't even stand to be in her skin. One day in particular he had gathered everyone to the main hall. He had planned to destroy her, to bring her Saiyan pride crashing down, and he was going to finally take everything from her. He eyed the small group of Saiyans to his left on the hall. He continued on with his meeting, eyeing the group of Saiyans the entire time. Radditz was standing far too close for Frieza's liking and Usagi looked even paler than usually. She had just returned from a mission with the Ginyu force not even 30 minutes before the meeting. She hadn't showered or changed clothes and had only stopped by the kitchen to get something to drink. Nappa stood directly behind Usagi, glancing down at her frequently, and their Prince, their little Prince Vegeta seemed extremely tense, so tense that one would almost swear his was shaking. As the meeting came to an end he dismissed everyone.
"Oh, Saiyans do come see me for a moment. All of you." Frieza's voice was playfully dark. As the other warriors rushed out of the room the four Saiyans made their way before Frieza and dropped to their knees, giving the cretin the respect he wanted. He rose from his chair and moved down the steps, stopping before them. Using his tail he raised Usagi's chin forcing her eyes to meet his. She looked weak, broken, and dying. Her eyes were glazed over and pain radiated throughout them but that damn stubborn pride was still there. He pulled Usagi to her feet; he now knew why the other monkeys had been so close to her, she was so weak she could barely stand on her own legs.
"Tell me," he wrapped his tail around her chest and over her shoulder holding her body to his as held her up right, "do you know what is wrong with her? Well, do any of you?" Frieza looked to the men waiting for a reply. Usagi's eyes cast down to the ground; she couldn't look them in the eyes. She knew what she had done had been done in service and protection of her Prince but she despised herself for it. 22 years, they had been enslaved to the tyrant for the last 22 years and this had happened more times than she could count.
"She's got a brat in her belly." Vegeta broke the tense silence as he stood. "And it isn't the first time you've done this to her." Vegeta clenched his fist as he spoke.
Usagi's eye grew wide as they locked with Vegeta's eyes. She could see the shame in his own eyes. Radditz and Nappa stayed in a kneeling position, heads bowed, eyes locked on the floor as they were too ashamed to look at her.
"Very observant my young Prince. And as it would seem, I don't have to forcibly remove the brat from her belly this time." He placed his hand over her stomach as he spoke. "It seems as though I completed my own personal mission. Making it to where she'll never be able to have brats of her own, thus ending the pure blooded Saiyan line!" Frieza laughed maniacally shoving Usagi away from him as he walked away leaving the grand hall.
With her legs to weak to hold herself up, her head swimming, and her vision blurring, she waited for her body to hit the ground. It never came and she felt herself being lifted up off the ground. Forcing her eyes to clear she found herself in the arms of her Prince. She tried to force herself out of his arms; she didn't deserve this, she didn't need her Prince Vegeta to carry her through the halls of Frieza's compound. Especially after she saw the shame in his eyes.
"You're too weak right now." Vegeta huffed in frustration as she tried to push out of his arms.
"Let us help you." Radditz felt her head for signs of a fever, she was pouring sweat, a true sign that infection had set in. "Why didn't you tell us what was going on? We could have helped you."
"No." She mumbled weakly. "Did this. . ," she shivered against Vegeta's warmth that burned her like a flame, "for Vegeta... To keep him . . . . safe. Promised the King . . . . . and... Queen."
"You're a stubborn idiot, girl." Nappa rolled his eyes as he opened the door for them to exit the great hall. They walked in silence to her room as she shook in Vegeta's arms.
'I can't die like this. I can't die till Vegeta is free, I will die when he is free and Frieza is dead.' Usagi thought as she subconsciously touched Vegeta's cheek and looked up at him through barely open eyes. Her hand slid away from his cheek and fell limply to her side, her eyes rolled back into her head, and her head fell to his chest. Vegeta shook her gently trying to rouse her. Terror filled Vegeta's eyes as he looked to Nappa for help.
Nappa reached over and checked for a pulse and let out a shaky breath he didn't know he had been holding. "She just passed out, Vegeta. We'll take care of her. She's one of us."
As they reached the door to her room an awful smell filled their noses; the smell of death and blood. Vegeta looked down to see his arm soaked in blood coming from Usagi. Radditz rushed into the room and began filling the tub with warm water in order to clean her wounds. Nappa locked the door behind them as they entered her bedroom and pulled a pair of underwear from her drawers that would not rub on her wounds. Vegeta sat Usagi down on the side of the tub holding her up as he and Radditz stripped her down. She woke enough to attempt to fight back as they tried to pull the clothes from her body.
"No! NO!" Usagi pushed against them both and tried to stand and break away from them.
Radditz grabbed shoulders gently shaking her while trying to get her to focus on him. "USA! USAGI! Listen to me! It's Radditz; we're not going to hurt you! We're trying to help you. Calm down!" He yelled to gain her focus.
Her eyes opened just enough to focus on Radditz as his voice made it through to her. She slumped against him as she recognized him, trust taking over as resigned herself to the darkness. Vegeta and Radditz finished stripping her of her clothes. Vegeta felt sick to his stomach as he saw the amount of fresh and healing wounds that littered her body. He lifted her into the tub and gently started pouring water over her wounds as Radditz held her up right in a seated position in the tub. She hissed quietly even though she was unconscious as they tried to clean her wounds. Nappa worked on pulling her hair from the where it was stuck to the wounds on her back. He knew he was causing her more pain as he tried to free her hair. He stood from the tub and grabbed a knife that he knew was hidden by her bedside. He leaned down by her ear and whispered quietly, "Usagi, I'm going to have to cut your hair." He gathered as much of her hair as loosely as he could without causing her pain. He cut her knee length silvery hair to just above her shoulders. They emptied the tub once the water had turned dark brown from muck and blood that had been caked into her wounds and they began to run the shower to quicken the process of getting her clean. Once all the wounds had been cleaned with soap and water they were ready to move her to the bed in order to put salve on her wounds. Using his ki, Vegeta dried her off and scooped her up delicately and placed her back side up on the bed with a towel underneath her. Nappa softly spread the salve on her open wounds as Radditz placed strips of gauze over the wounds to keep them from becoming more infected again. Vegeta knelt at the edge of the bed looking over her pale bruised and swollen face, his face stoic and cold while his emotions ran rampant, inside a war ragging. She looked like this, suffered all of these things for him, to protect him, to keep him safe, the Prince of a now dead race. He was lost in his own thoughts when he felt her hand grip his own. His knuckles white from gripping the sheet of her bed.
"Do . . . it again. For you. . . . Your majesty." Usagi choked on the pain, refusing to scream or show any signs of weakness, a slight cough escaped her lips. Vegeta poured a small cup of water and brought it to her lips helping her to take a sip.
"Try again Usa." He spoke softly as he tucked the hair behind her ear as leaned his ear to her mouth.
"I would do all of this again for you, Prince Vegeta. I would take all of this to keep you safe." She took a deep breath, squeezed her eyes shut, and grabbed his hand tightly as Nappa spread salve over the deepest and newest of the cuts. She opened her eyes again to look at her Prince. "I pledged fealty to you as a brat and to the crown," she hissed as Radditz spread the gauze over that wound, "and future royal generations. To keep you safe your majesty, I would endure pain and torture worse than this." She grunted as they pulled a piece of shrapnel out of one of the wounds on her leg.
"Damn woman! What did he use to do this to you?" Radditz hissed as he pulled another piece of metal from her leg further down.
"Don't know." She huffed through the pain.
"Nappa!" Vegeta barked quietly. "She's suffered enough; give her something to knock her out. NOW!" His eyes landed back on her as she squeezed his hand.
"I'm fine, your majesty." She closed her eyes.
Radditz held up a vial of liquid with a questioning look towards Vegeta as he nodded his head yes. Nappa stopped placing the salve on her wounds momentarily. Radditz poured the liquid into a cup with a small amount of alcohol. He rounded the bed switching sides with Vegeta and knelt beside where her head rested. He placed his hand on her cheek. "Usa," he called softly silently begging her to open her eyes, "I know you are strong, probably stronger than any of us but at least take a sip of this. It's some of the stash that we have left over from Turles; it will at least take the edge off." She nodded her head weakly as he helped her to sit up so she could drink quickly. Once she had turned the cup up and finished the drink she laid back down and almost immediately passed out. Radditz nodded and moved to switch sides with Vegeta but the Prince shook his head no and stayed put help Nappa tend to her.
"I caused this pain and these wounds. I will watch over her first tonight." Vegeta spoke as he took a seat in a chair next to her bed. Radditz and Nappa nodded as they set up cots on the floor of her room. Radditz quietly slipped out of the room and down the hall to the medical area. He brought back some medicine to help stave off any infection that was trying to set in internally. He lay down on the cot and turned on his side watching her light breathing. Vegeta sat in a chair at her bed side, his eyes holding a murderous intent as he watched over the last female Saiyan. Nappa's snores filled the air and the prince and the long haired warriors' eye locked.
"Go to sleep, Radditz." Vegeta leaned back in the chair and folded his arms over his chest.
"It is hard to sleep, your majesty. I'm worried she'll stop breathing." Radditz's eyes immediately back on Usagi's bruised and broken body.
"You need to sleep; that's an order from your Prince." Vegeta glared at him. "I've got her. I'll keep an eye on her."
"She's the closet thing I have to family now." Radditz admitted, worry lacing through his words.
"She is the closest thing any of us have to family now."
Once she had been healed and was back in action Frieza split up the remaining four Saiyans. Nappa and Vegeta remained together as a team, Radditz was sent off to take over the planet his brother had failed to claim, and Usagi was sent to Cooler. Frieza had used her to his fill and had grown angry that he had only been able to crack her resolve.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~ END FLASHBACK ~~~~~~~~~~