Hello, it's me J again. (shoot me, I like to start this way) back to my never-ending story again. Or what it seems to be becoming. I wonder if I'd have been as enthusiastic at the start if I'd have know what I was getting myself into. The again, maybe I would have. I have been getting the nicest reactions, and I would like to thank everyone that bothered for that.
Especially Dunno, for pointing out the Roman emperor I referred to in chapter 10 (I think) was actually king Claudius. Thanks for that, Dunno! How I managed to forget that, I'll never know. I'll be using that particular piece of info when I get to edit that part.
Oh, as for skotticus's comment. I know! (gramma errors) Walking that thin blade-like line between prosaic beauty and my rather poor grasp of the English language. Well, not all that poor, considering it's my second language. But I'm quite well aware there's room for improvement; so don't hesitate to point any error out to me. I guess I've 'bent' the rules of the language a bit in my last chapter. I was afraid I might have when I wrote it, and you proved me right. And I commend you for it. Thanks, I'll try to fix my errors.
Let me just apologise for the time this chapter took. It was just real complicated to write it (apart from my server being down all the time,.. and this site as well!).
I hope you can all forgive me and try to appreciate the effort (a lot of info; a lot of intertwining, it's hard to keep matters clear enough for you readers to follow.) If I messed up all the same, please do tell!
Well, I guess I'd better get on with it. After all *sheepish grin *, I'm already taking a lot longer in telling you this then I though I would (oh yeah, I did actually have a story-line in mind when I started this. Only problem is, I'm not even halfway through it yet.) I guess you all know the drill: read it, enjoy, and review. Preferably in that order. ;)
(16)
(Greek mythology)
Once long, long
ago, a queen bore her husband a beautiful baby boy. As was custom at the time,
they called on Delfi's oracle to foretell the boy's future. The oracle returned
the gravest news.
"This boy will
kill his father, and marry his mother."
Appalled, the king
–not a very nice man- had the child taken far away, into the forest, leaving
him to die there. But not before piercing his feet, to make sure it could crawl
off.
But the future is
set and cannot be changed. And so the child survived. A farmer found the child,
taking it to his master. His master was a wealthy man, with a healthy wife as
well. But alas, their marriage had remained barren of children, and so they
took the little prince in, raising him as their own.
On account of his
swollen feet, the called him Oidipous.
And the child grew
up into a healthy, strong man, despite his child-hood injuries. One day, he
decided to see the oracle of Delfi as well. But the foretelling he got shook
him to the core. "Oidipous, you will kill your father and marry your mother."
The man knew he
could not change the future. But he loved his parents very much (thinking they
were his true parents), and tried all the same.
He decided not to
return home, reasoning that, as long as he did not go near his parents, he
could not very well fulfil this awful prophecy.
And so he turned
to another road, a road that took him to a kingdom he had never been.
A kingdom ruled by
his true father....
The hand that feeds me, chapter 16
Vegeta marched into his room, flopped down on his bunk and smirked at the door as it closed shut with 'bang' that rang finality: back to deaf, dark dullness again. Truth was, he wouldn't be so cocky if he really did have to stay in here a whole week. Oh, no. Most definitely not! His smirk opened into a wide grin as he raised a hand, putting it down the neck of his body suit. The Saiyi-jin's fingers closed on the plastic little card. Smooth, flexible and still in one piece.
As he started to pull the access card out though, he was interrupted by another click from the door. The prince froze, an icy feeling spreading form his gut. Can't be… With a swallow, he forced his hands back down to his bunk.
The door swung open, but it took Vegeta's eyes a few agonising moments to adjust to the light before he finally recognised the tall, blue-furred silhouette standing in the opening. Baka, what were you thinking? You killed them remember? Only one left. And that one's most like shitting himself in fear right now. The Saiyi-jin's anger was quickly re directed, at the Bengaal in front of him. "Shimmata, cat!" he growled. "What are you doing here?"
Chesire cocked her head to the side, not fazed even in the slightest. Then she lifted the leather briefcase she held in her hand. "Taking care of your injuries." She stated, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "I am a doctor, you know."
Vegeta gave her a puzzled frown before smirking. Of course; he should have noticed the guard's surprised glances when he had emerged from Freeza's throne-room. He should have noticed their glance back, almost as if they'd have though they'd have to come in and get him, maybe even carry him out. What? Had everyone expected him the get his head ripped off? Had even Chesire doubted he could pull this off on that baka Freeza? Did everyone think he was too stupid to do it?
The Bengaal scientist roused him from his contemplations as she started waving fingers in front of his face almost frantically. What the hell was her problem? Vegeta sneered as the cat grabbed his head and started moving it about, examining it left and right. "Oh, my Kami! I can't see any damage." She muttered, fingering his temple. Vegeta had had enough.
"Cat! Will you let go, I'm fine."
She stopped only a moment to give him a puzzled frown. "I'll be the judge of that." She stated flatly, turning her attention to his jaw. Of course, it wasn't the prince's nature to let himself be doctored, mothered or bossed around. Clenching his fists to the bunk to keep from hitting the woman, he tried not too raise his voice. Too much, that is. "Look here, you furry piece of rug! I just told you I'm fine so ifth youh cuh juust lefft guh."
Vegeta gave his best scowl, actually considering biting the woman's fingers of.
Luckily for her, she was done. "Well." She stated, pulling her fingers form his mouth. "Your teeth are all there too. Then what did he do?"
Vegeta tried to snort this indignity into inconsequence.
Chesire continued prodding, but she thankfully did start to slow. Finally! Vegeta crossed his arms, glowering at her. "It didn't do anything. Now if you could just stop poking me and leaved me the hell alone? I am perf –auch!"
-"A-hah! I knew it!" the thick-furred scientist exclaimed, no trace of her previous worrying. Vegeta sneered. "Baka, that's just where Mawi kicked me."
-"Oh."
She stared at him the longest time, then frowned, casting a glance back.
"Well, I guess I'd better just bandage it all the same." She grinned. "You mean you actually pulled it off? And in shining colours too! Not a scratch. I have to admit, I didn't think you could do it."
Vegeta smiled smugly. "It was easy."
Giving a mock-annoyed grunt, Chesire studied a wrap of bandage. Finally figuring out how to apply it, she continued in an innocent voice. "So, I heard you had quite a power-jump. Don't suppose you know where you got it?"
-"Where?" She stopped, looking him in the eye. "I mean, did you get it from the tank? I have this theory; after all, my tank isn't like an average tank." She smiled her own smug smile, her canines shining. "I've improved it quite a bit from the standard-model. Added this and that, adjusted the liquid-permeability. Well, that kind of thing."
The prince considered, answering slowly, and truthfully. "I don't know what caused it."
Chesire shrugged, then sighed, returning to wrapping his chest. "I'd love to find out what did. If I could reproduce the effect; think! Maybe it's even possible to take the same procedure twice, or many times. The kind of jumps in power!"
Vegeta didn't answer right away. The kind of jumps in power! What if he could do it again, double his power? And again, quadrupling it…? "Could you find out what caused it?"
The woman considered it, but answered self-assured. "With time, and with the proper means, most definitely. I'd have to run some tests on you though, and I don't think this is a good time to bring this under Freeza's attention…. What?" Vegeta hadn't been aware that he'd been staring, but he didn't stop now that he was aware either. He ground his teeth slowly, until the woman started fidgeting, finally looking behind her to see what had caused his glare. Slowly, he shook his head.
"If you could test me, would you be able to find out?"
She gave a puzzled frown, then nodded slowly. "But how? I mean, it's not as if any of you princes are left running about much. And I can't very well just ask your teachers to turn you over for a while."
Vegeta chewed his lip. Could he trust her?
Then answer was a simple one, the same as ever. No. But he was going to have to trust someone if he wanted to get to the bottom of this. This power. And, on Freeza's ship, it shouldn't be 'could he trust her', but 'could he trust her more then the others'. And that was a simple enough question also. Freeza had lots of scientists aboard; scaled ones, slimy ones, ones covered in eyes, and ones that didn't even look like life forms at all.
If he was going to have to trust any of them, Vegeta would much rather put his faith in a fellow mammal.
There was a way; he could come to her.
Setting his jaw, the Saiyi-jin prince pulled out his yellow card. His prize. He had to show her, but that didn't mean he couldn't regret it. With a sense of foreboding, he watched the Bengaal recognise the plastic card, her eyes widening interest. Interest and need.
The Queen of Vegita-sei growled, snapping her head to the side to scowl at the soldier standing to her attention. The man looked just looked ahead with a serious expression on his face. But she could have sworn; no, she was sure that just a moment ago she'd seen him grinning at her from the corner of her eye. Stupid, sentimental third-class idiots! She was loosing respect she just knew it.
But she could hardly reprimand the man for 'thinking he smiled at her'. So instead her scowl just deepened as she studied the main view-panel. Finding new things to irritate her everywhere she looked, in every detail she could think of.
This was a nice enough space ship, the little thing she captained for this mission: small and agile and fast. Perfectly suited to her favourite battle-tactics. And also –she knew- perfectly suited to whisk her away to safety if things got a little too rough.
It sickened her; there was a time when her soldiers would follow her every command to the letter, fearing her as they feared her husband. Never even doubting a word she said. A time when she got the respect befitting of a queen. But that time was long past now; it had ended three weeks ago.
Stupid, baka –bleeding- baby!
Oh, her men still feared her. They still followed her every whim. They had no doubt she would kill anyone to ever oppose her will. But it was different now. They would still follow her into battle. They would still take her orders. But if things were to go wrong with the Saiyi-jin allegiance, the queen knew perfectly well her men would find a way to get her to safety. It would not matter that she would kill a good load of them for doing so; rather, they would expect no less.
Saiyi-jins –especially the lower class ones- were funny that way. They fought for their pride more then anything, and the royal family symbolised that. That in its elf was trouble enough for the queen. Now, with a baby in her stomach, she also represented family. Pride and family. It was a heavy load for anyone to carry, to have every one of those soldiers look at her as if she was their most precious belonging; as if she was the one thing in the world that needed their protection most. Protection was the last thing she wanted. She was a warrior too; had always been a warrior. She wanted respect, not this, this love.
The woman sighed a little to herself. As hard as pregnancy had been the first time, this one was possibly worse. Where soldiers had looked at her with mild interest before, wondering if she would produce a worthy heir, they now could barely contain their excitement; if her first child was their 'golden one', what kind of miracle would the queen give birth to this time? No, there was no doubt in any ones mind this new child would be as good as the first, if not better. And they wonder why I'm so cranky the queen thought to herself. Her belly was still flat, but the thought of a new child annoyed her all the same. Though she would no doubt learn to love her second long before it was born, right now all it was to her was a threat to her first-born.
A reminder of how she had lost him. And of why they had to fight to get back what was theirs in the first place. But fight they would. The ambush was ready and waiting, ready to take down that terror of the galaxies. Within two days time, this nightmare would be over, and the queen would soon have two children to brag about. The queen smiled evilly. Soon that thing would Saiyi-jins did not take kindly to being played with.
It was ironic, really. The Freeza-thing would get what was coming to it, the Saiyi-jins would get their prince back. And her son? Well, on that very special day tomorrow, he would just have to settle for a lightshow in his honour.
Softly, the queen spoke up to the empty air.
"Happy birthday, Vegeta. I hope you like your present."
"I told you no, it's mine." And that was the end of it. The cat-like scientist was sweating by now, eyes darting to the card in his hand every few seconds. "You don't understand, little prince-ling! I need that card. I must have it." Vegeta sneered at the woman, snatching the card away from Chesire yet again. "Get your own."
The Bengaal ignored him, grabbing for the card again; lunging for it. Vegeta backed up, getting up onto his bunk and retreating till his back was to the wall.
"Can't you see?" the woman shrieked, loud enough to make the little prince wince. "I can get into the supplies-room with that. No more begging at Freeza's mat for every cup. And" her face became pensive. "I can finally get my hand on all the parts I need. Yes." She grinned again, snatching for the card.
Vegeta had had enough of this foolishness. He grabbed her arm, twisting it back on her painfully. "No. You don't understand!" the cat continued loudly, pleadingly. "You want me to run those tests on you, don't you? I need to get equipment for that. You have to give me the card. You have to!"
Vegeta considered, finally releasing her with a snarl. "That may be so, cat. But I need this card to get out of here in the first place. There's no point on getting equipment if I'm not there, is there?" The Bengaal rubbed her wrist with a sour expression, then brightened. "I'll need a few days to gather the equipment anyways. When that's done, I can come and pick you up! It would be saver like that anyway. I can check if anyone's watching over you first."
The idea did not please the prince. "And you expect me to stay cooped up in this place until then?"
"Oh, come on! Don't be such a baby." The woman continued.
She'd mastered her desperation, replacing it with the air of superiority that comes natural to grown-ups. "It's just a few days. Just play some nice games and it'll be over in no-time."
Baring his teeth, the little prince took a menacing step forward. "Don't you dare take that tone with me. I'm not.-"
-"Are you afraid of the dark?"
Vegeta blinked. "What?"
Grinning wildly, the woman cocked her head to the side. "Well? Are you?"
-"Of course not!"
-"Then you're afraid of being alone?"
The Saiyi-jin snapped. "Baka, I'm not afraid of anything. And you would be well advised not to suggest that I am. It's not a case of being afraid, it's just that I don't want to stay here!" If his voice was straining to the end, Chesire chose not to notice.
-"But." And she looked quite serious. "You do want me to find out what made you stronger." Vegeta glared at her, but she just smiled, holding out her hand.
He understood.
What was more important? Chesire's point was the one of reason, but his every instinct told hi, screamed at him, that he did not want to be locked in here these next few days. That he had other places to go. But then again, only low-class soldiers followed their feelings.
He chose the path of reason.
All the same, he snarled as the woman accepted the card with a smile, making her good-byes, suddenly in a hurry. "Well, I guess I'll start putting things in order right away. I know the perfect place to set this thing up. It's a workshop, really. But no one ever uses it."
Vegeta glared at her as she reached the door, all to eager too leave him be now, but he kept his accusations to himself. She half pulled it shut before poking her head out again. "Don't you worry, I'll have this whole thing patched up within days."
With that, she closed the door on him, leaving the prince alone in the dark. Vegeta let out a long sigh. Somehow, he could not shake the feeling he had just made the biggest mistake in his life. Dismissing the feeling, he turned to his wrapped-up chest, letting out another sigh, but this time from annoyance.
"Doctor indeed." He mumbled as he started undoing the knots and tangles; Chesire's attempts at first-aid.
He sure hoped she was a better scientist then a doctor!
