Breaking Through
The Loss
Disclaimer: I don't own Dragonball Z or any of the characters, and am not making any money out of this. Well, is this an original disclaimer or what?
Bulma was lying comfortably in the bed of the spaceship, when she woke up. She tried to turn around, but found that she couldn't, for her Princes arms and tail were wrapped around her. She smiled, as she snuggled closer against his chest. He couldn't possibly realize how much she loved him. But then again, they were bonded, so maybe he did realize it. She was kinda surprised that he hadn't woken up yet, usually, he would have woken up and stared at her with those mysterious obsidian eyes even if she started breathing differently. She turned around, with a lot of effort, until she was facing him. He looked so calm and serene when he was asleep, with not more than a slight trace of his usual scowl. In al those years she had only once seen him asleep before, eight years ago. That night when she had been ill, and he had taken care of Trunks. When she found him, he was asleep on a chair, holding Trunks in his arms. Other than that he always fell asleep after she had fallen asleep, and woke up before she did. She smiled and lightly kissed his lips. He murmured a bit, but stayed asleep. Bulma also closed her eyes again, and fell asleep. But almost the instant she had fallen asleep, a nightmare began.
First she saw a very scary looking man, who was really, really tall, and had black hair, that came to about his shoulders, and piercing onyx eyes. "You," he roared to Bulma, "have taken our Prince away from us! You will be punished and we will have him back!!!"
Bulma shivered violently. Next to her, Vegeta was also tossing and turning. He seemed to be also suffering a nightmare. But Bulma's dream still went on.
Now, behind the man, about fifty men appeared, who looked like Vegeta but older. They all had his hair, and some of them had beards, moustaches, or battle scars. It was quite obvious that they were the other Kings of Vegetasei, Vegeta's ancestors. They came walking to Bulma as a group, with the scary man, which had spoken before, in the lead. Bulma became very frightened and started running away. But it seemed as that she could not get away from them. They would just keep on following her through the blackness that surrounded her. The first man, the only man that wasn't a Vegeta, spoke again. "We will have our Prince back, we will break your bond, and delete his memory's of the past ten years with you. He will not remember you and be our Prince again!!" Bulma cried out in fear and ran away. She ran and ran and ran, until she bumped into a solid chest, that she knew all to well. Relieved, she looked up, and screamed in a high pitched voice. Looking down on her was Vegeta, her Vegeta, but… in a way he wasn't. She gasped when she realized it. It was in his eyes. They were just like the very first time he came to earth. Cold, dangerous and scary. He just kept looking down at her with those eyes, not saying anything. Then, he slowly reached down at her. Bulma started screaming in fear and…
… woke up. In bed. With Vegeta's arms around her. "What? What is it woman?" he yelled, shocked by her screaming and by the dream he had had. "Oh, Vegeta…" Bulma sobbed and burst out in tears against his chest. Vegeta just held her. When she finally stopped crying, he lifted her and sat her on the bed in front of him. "Now, are you okay again? What was wrong?" he asked, shaking her gently. "I had th-this terrible dream… and… and…" she sniffed. "And what?" he asked. "And there were a bunch of scary Saiyans in it, yelling to me that I had stolen you from them and that they would take you back, and… and you were there too, and you didn't remember me and you were scary and you were gonna kill me and…" she cried again. He hugged her comfortingly, stroking her hair. "It's okay, it was only a dream. You know I love you. Just forget about it." he soothed. Bulma got herself together and stepped out of bed to take a shower. She looked back at him and he smiled reassuringly. "It's okay." he said. She nodded and walked to the ship's bathroom.
Immediately after she left the room his expression turned worried. Now what was that all about? This was not just a dream. And in his head, he went over his own dream, the one he just had had.
He had, at first just been standing there, in black nothingness, when all of the sudden he felt a strong ki-signature. It was most positively a Saiyan. He approached it, and looked at the man. It was a tall Saiyan, with shoulderlength, black hair. "Greetings, my Prince." The Saiyan said, as he bowed lightly to Vegeta. "It grieves me to inform you of your fathers demise." Vegeta quirked his eyebrow. "What do you mean? My father was only about a hundred and thirty years old, he should have lived for about another hundred years!" he snorted. "Yes, my Prince, I know. But it seems that after a rather exhausting sparring session with General Nappa, he was weakened, and walked to a regeneration tank, when rebels suddenly attacked him. Because of his weakened state they could overpower him easily and killed him without any trouble. Now Vegetasei has no ruler. You must come back and take your father's place as a king, and destroy the rebels. You can easily choose a new mate amongst the Elite Class Saiyans, and get rid of the alien woman you've had for so far." The man said. Vegeta growled. "I will not 'get rid of' my mate!!" The Saiyan bowed his head. "Of course my Prince. But Vegetasei needs you. You have to take your place on the throne." He said, now a little softer, but still in a demanding tone of voice. Vegeta was just standing there in the utmost confusion. He had to go to Vegetasei to become king. It was what he was born to do. But, why did that seem so hard to him? The other Saiyan just stood there, waiting 'till Vegeta would say something. "Well, soldier…" he began, but was awoken by Bulma's scream.
He comforted her, and listened to her story. It was definitely sure that they both were no ordinary dreams. They were real. And he now had an inner struggle. It was his duty to go to Vegetasei to claim the throne. But, it was clear that his mate would not be accepted there. But hey, who cares about acceptance! I'm a Super Saiyan. He surely would have the power to protect his own mate! It was no choice for the Saiyans. They would have to accept her, for he was their Prince… no, their KING. Vegeta had made up his mind. He waited until Bulma came out of the shower, and went to her. "Woman, I just had message that my father has died. We will leave for Vegetasei now, so that I can take his place." Bulma gasped. "Oh no! Nononononono! Please Vegeta! I'm scared! They'll take your memories away! You'll forget me! Please don't go!" she begged. "It will be okay. I will never just forget you! You're my mate! But I have to become king! It is my duty to my people!" he said fiercely, standing tall and proud. Bulma looked deep into his eyes and beyond, where she read all the love he held for her. She sighed, and kissed him. "Okay, do what you have to do." she whispered. He kissed her head and smiled at her. He then went to change the ship's course to Vegetasei, while Bulma went to their room to change.
***
"Well," Bulma said happily, two weeks later, while cleaning her hands with a towel, "this should be it. It should work just fine from now on. My! Am I a genius or what!" Vegeta said nothing. They had been slowed down with at least three days, because of the malfunction in the boardcomputer. He sighed, but then smirked "Sometimes it sure is handy to have you for a mate. Suddenly I remember why I mated with you in the first place. You're really useful." Bulma ran up to him and hugged him, while tracing his eyebrows with her finger. "I think I'll take that as a complement, even though I have forgotten why I married you. Now, let me see…" Bulma acted like she was in deep thought, "It definitely wasn't because of your pleasant personality, or because of your kindness, or because of your happy moods, or because of your guilt when killing people, or…" Vegeta silenced her "Okay, okay woman, I get the point! I've learned my lesson not to say that anymore." He grinned, and hugged her too.
But all of the sudden he seemed to become stiff. He dropped Bulma and closed his eyes. He growled loudly and fell to the ground where he lost consciousness.
Bulma shrieked in shock. "Oh no! Vegeta! Vegeta! Are you okay?" she yelled while desperately trying to wake him up. When it appeared that this would not work, she tried to lift him, to get him to bed. But of course, Vegeta was way to heavy for her. So she just got a wet towel, and put that on his forehead, and sat next beside him, carefully keeping the towel cold, waiting until he would wake up.
When he finally did, it was already deep in the night. As soon as Bulma noticed Vegeta stir, she immediately ran to him to help him up. But he slapped her helping hand away. "Where are we going?" he asked, in a low, harsh voice, which she hadn't heard him use in years. "Why Vegeta! Have you already forgotten? We're on our way to Vegetasei, for you to become king since your father died." She said, not quite comprehending what had happened. Was he suffering amnesia or something? Vegeta then turned around, and Bulma screamed harder than she thought she could. He… it was true what the man in her dream had said. His eyes were just as they had been before they had fallen in love. Cold, deadly, scary. He had forgotten about her. "Ve-vegeta?" she whispered, looking at him questioningly, hoping for a response that would show he still knew her. "What is it?" he sneered. "Do you still miss your mate? It has already been a day since I killed him, so you must surely have gotten over him by now! Start getting used to your new life, as my servant." He snorted. "Oh, and one more thing," he took her arm and twisted it until it snapped. Bulma cried out in agony. "You will call me Prince Vegeta. But I have already told you that haven't I?" Bulma screamed in pain as he hit her broken arm, and she started babying it. "HAVEN'T I?" Vegeta roared loudly, while lifting her chin with his finger. "Speak up!!!" Bulma sniffed. "Yes, my Lord" she said softly, tears dripping down her cheeks. "Very good." Vegeta smirked. "Now, go heal yourself, and then come back here!" Bulma ran off to the surgery, blinded by tears, while she put a special healing liquid on her arm, and than wrapped it up in bandages. "Oh no. I should have known it; it was that creepy man! He has… turned Vegeta back into the monster he used to be." Bulma sobbed, and was dead scared to go back to Vegeta, so she just stayed in the surgery, sitting on the ground, crying herself to sleep.
***
She was woken up harshly, by Vegeta kicking her side. "How dare you disobey me! I told you to come back right away, you worthless slut!" he growled.
Bulma whimpered in pain, and slowly got up. "Forgive me, my Prince." She said, when she stood before him again, looking as humble as she possibly could. Vegeta seemed to find that enough for the moment. He ripped the bandages of Bulma's healed arm, and dragged her with him back to what used to be their room.
He got on top of the bed, and pulled of his boots. Bulma turned away at the revolting smell of his feet. Yuck! Somebody needs a bath! she thought, slightly relieved that he couldn't hear her thoughts anymore. "Get up here and wash and massage my feet!" he ordered Bulma, who came up to him, carefully trying not to look too disgusted, as she took a small foot bath out of one of the closets, and started to fill it with water. When it was done she put some bathing oil in it and started washing Vegeta's feet. Well, this ain't too bad Bulma thought, as she proceeded to wash his feet. I remember I used to do this all the time, he loved it when I massaged his feet. She sighed But, our bond is gone, broken. It hurts not to have him in my head anymore. It hurts like Hell.
Vegeta relaxed and leaned back. The woman was very skilled, he really had felt a little less tense, and that was all gone now. But, he did have kind of a problem. He didn't know what it meant, but ever since he woke up after his passing out period, he felt strangely… bothered, like… like something was missing… it was a really weird feeling. Vegeta couldn't quite put his finger on it. But it was… queer. Like some connection was… broken or something… Oh well, it was just a feeling. Nothing was wrong. He was perfectly fine. The strongest warrior in the universe, a Super Saiyan who had just killed Freeza, had no worries at all.
***
