The Princess

Chapter 12: Loss

By: senzubean

I do not own Dragon Ball Z in any way. I make no profit from this story. I just wrote it for fun.

"Damn it! Go away!" Potay yelled at his mother as he tried to get away from her. Sala wouldn't leave him be. She followed him wherever he went.

"Potay, honey. Please talk to me!" Sala begged. Tears flew off her face and into the wind.

"No! I have nothing I want to say to you!" Potay screamed, his voice cracking with emotion. He swallowed hard and sped up with renewed determination.

Sala had enough of this. She had tried reasoning with him, now it was time to try something else. She shot after him with tremendous speed, easily overtaking him. She grabbed him around the waist and pulled him to the ground. Potay struggled to free himself to no avail. Sala continued to hold him when they landed.

"Tell me what you saw! Please, Potay! Let me help you!" Sala pleaded.

Potay broke away viscously. He tried to catch his breath, his mother had caused him to hyperventilate in rage.

"It's too late to help me now, Mom. You can't fix what you did!"

"W..what I did?" Sala asked, not understanding what he was getting at.

Potay stood up firmly and glared at her. "Yes what you did! You were never here for us. Never!"

Sala looked at him sternly. "Potay, you know my job is important."

"Yeah, more important than Dad and Grampa and I." Potay said disgustedly.

"That's not true!"

"Yes it is! You know it! Why are you making me insist? Why, Mom?!" Potay huffed and turned away from her. "I can't believe I still care about your feelings."

"Potay…" Sala reached out towards him.

She stopped as she heard Recely and Vegeta land in the field.

"Sala, you're both very upset. Let me talk to him." Recely said as she advanced.

"No!" Potay exclaimed. "I don't want to talk to any of you people! LEAVE ME ALONE!" Potay tried to walk off.

"You know we won't do that." Recely replied sternly, halting him. He slowly turned to face her.

"And why is that? Don't tell me you care about me, Recely. What's some saiyan brat to the Queen of all Saiyans, after all? Its not as if I'm your long lost prince."

"Who told you that?" Sala demanded.

"Grampa." Potay replied. "He told me everything. How you escaped our planet, changed your names to conceal your connection to the saiyan royalty and how the planet was destroyed. How you all chased after the prince for years. How that Polkrif guy is after you, Mom, because of some idiotic prophecy. So why are you all fighting other people's battles? I don't think there is a way to atone for the misdeeds of an entire race of people, so why are you even trying?"

"Were not trying to atone for anything. We can't ignore a threat on the well being of the universe." Recely calmly explained.

"Hmph! I don't see anyone else helping! And I don't care about the rest of the universe. The only thing that I care about is that my father is dead!"

Sala stared at him shocked. "Dead?"

Potay turned to her. "You asked me what I saw Mother. Well, that's what I saw. I saw my father, your mate, slaughtered. That's what I saw." He clenched his fists and swallowed hard. "I watched that monster tear him apart!" He said in a faltering voice.

"What did this monster look like?" Recely continued cautiously.

"Oh no! She's mine! MINE!" Potay yelled and then ran off.

Recely went to stop him from going, but Vegeta kept her back.

"Leave him for now." He said then motioned towards Sala who fell to her knees that instant. Recely ran over and embraced her and let her weep into her chest.

Vegeta looked on for a few moments, feeling regret for Sala. Vegeta rarely felt that emotion for anyone, but Sala was his friend and Tuce had been his friend as well. He then began to walk casually in the direction Potay had run.

It didn't take too long for Vegeta to catch up to him. He'd learned Potay's ki signature easily enough. The boy was sitting cross legged on the branch of a massive tree. It stood alone in the endless stretch of fields far from the distant forest. Vegeta walked right up to the base and stared up at Potay, who appeared to take no notice of him. He studied the young man for a minute or so. He felt his facial features slightly familiar, an echo of his father. He was sturdy, undoubtedly a strong fighter and he was as headstrong and stubborn as his Mother, despite the fact that she, apparently, had never been around to influence his behavior.

"I thought this place was so obvious no one would think to look here." Potay spoke first.

"Hmph." Vegeta grunted. "I don't think like the majority."

Potay glared down at him. "And just who are you?"

"Your Prince." Vegeta answered.

Potay was unmoved. He just continued to glare down at him.

"You should talk to your Mother. It's what's best for both of you."

"I'm not talking to her."

"Why not?"

"Because."

"That is not an answer!"

"I hate her." Potay said simply, adding a shrug for good measure.

Vegeta stared at him. "Hate is a powerful word, boy. You should never use it to refer to your mother!"

"Why shouldn't I? That's what I feel towards her." Potay huffed in exasperation. "I don't see how this is any of your business anyway!"

"Your mother is my friend! That makes it my business!"

"Well you're nothing to me! I refuse to talk to you anymore. Go away!"

"Get down here!" Vegeta snarled in rage and drop-kicked the tree. It's massive trunk snapped. It creaked as it began to topple, then fell swiftly, rocking the earth for miles as it hit the dirt.

Potay stared amazed from where he crouched in the dirt a few feet away from Vegeta.

"Y..you wrecked it." He stammered. "You wrecked it!" He stood up and confronted Vegeta meeting him eye to eye. "That was the tree of life! It was the oldest thing on this entire planet and you…you wrecked it!"

Vegeta crossed his arms over his chest. "Hmph! Nothing lasts forever child. Things happen that are beyond your control. You have to learn how to deal with that. Perhaps I was the cause of that trees death but your mother was not the cause of your father's. Go talk to her. It's harder to learn to deal with tragedy on your own, take my word for it!"

Potay's eyes furrowed. "You wasted your energy and that trees life to try and make me see that point. My mother is completely at fault for my father's death. She was never here for us! Not once! She'd come home maybe twice a year for a few days! That was it! You don't understand. Grampa told me that Polkrif wanted her dead and he came after us to get at her!"

Vegeta rolled his eyes. "You teenagers are all alike. Stubborn as hell! Your mother was as surprised as any of us to find out that Polkrif located your home. She stayed away in order to protect you!" then he added grumbling. "Not the most effective way to protect your children."

Potay continued to glare. Vegeta did the same, having to admit the kid was brave. Obviously, he had proven himself to be a powerful saiyan by his little tree knocking display, but Potay showed no indication of backing down. It was impressive, but also a problem.

Vegeta sighed, knowing he had to resort to a different form of persuasion than he was used to. "Look." He said as solemnly as he could. "Just think about what I said, all right? Don't allow your mother to lose both of her loved ones."

With that he turned and started to leave.

"Who's that girl that came with you?" Potay asked.

Vegeta turned back. "My daughter."

Potay didn't reply, he just walked back to the fallen tree and sat down with his back resting against the trunk. Vegeta watched him for a few minutes then went on his way.

Sala sat staring out of Merifly's kitchen window at her son. He walked slowly up the hill, silhouetted against the setting sun. Lousha and Bra were playing in the yard. The fuzzy little child ran and latched onto his legs and her brothers were soon upon him as well. Sala remained where she was, haven given up on trying to talk to him. Vegeta noticed this and went over to her, laying his hand on her shoulder. Sala looked up at him, her eyes red and mournful.

"He'll come around."

Sala sighed and lay her head upon her folded arms and resumed her vigil.

Potay quickly broke off what small conversation he had been enticed into. He physically removed Lousha from his legs and appeared to be headed around the back of the house. Meanwhile, Bra had become uncomfortable standing off to one side and was headed back towards the front door. Potay did a U-turn and stalked right after Bra.

This did not escape Vegeta.

"Hey!" Potay yelled to Bra gaining her attention.

"Oh hi." Bra said somewhat nervously.

"Look, I'm sorry that I went psycho on you before."

"That's all right." Bra stated meekly, not really knowing what to say to him.

There was a long silence. Bra became more and more uncomfortable with every second.

"You're his daughter, are you?" Potay asked.

"Yeah." Bra replied, a little annoyed that Potay didn't use her father's name.

"You don't look like a saiyan."

"How observant." Bra replied dryly. She didn't understand what Potay was getting at.

"What was your name, again?" Potay demanded.

"Bra."

Potay mouthed it under his breath, took one last look at her, and then went along his way.

Bra stared after him rather bewildered. Her mind told her to shrug it off, that he was acting weird because of what he'd been through. But something told her that there was something else going on with him.

"What was that about?"

Bra started and then confronted her father, who had arrived without her knowing.

"Nothing. He..he just apologized for attacking me, that's all."

Vegeta cocked an eyebrow, not quite believing her.

"I was just going inside" Bra mumbled and walked past her father.

She arrived in the kitchen and four pairs of eyes met her there.

Bra scanned the room quickly, looking for some dark corner to hide in. She had no idea what to say or do. The situation was just so awkward. She wished she hadn't insisted on coming to her grandmother's ship then she wouldn't be there.

"Hey missy." Merifly said cheerfully from the stove "Ever gutted an animal before?"

Bra stared wide eyed at her. "N…no."

Merifly took off her oven mitts and then took Bra by the arm, leading her back outside.

"This is the perfect time for you to learn. I think we'll be needing' another grazer for dinner."

The two passed Vegeta as he was coming back in.

"B..but I'm a terrible cook!" Bra protested, but Merifly would have none of it and they were soon out in the barn. Vegeta couldn't help but chuckle.

"Perhaps someone should stay with them." Letta suggested It had been the first thing she'd said since they'd arrived.

Recely nodded. "That's a good idea."

"No it isn't." Vegeta replied.

Everyone looked at him as if to ask why.

"If Polkrif wanted to kill them, they'd be dead already." He explained.

Argo hummed in compliance. "Junior's right. Those men that came didn't even look for us over here. They must have noticed that there was more than one saiyan living in our house. There were photographs of us all with the locals on the tables and walls."

"We should all leave. The sooner the better. Before Polkrif finds out that he's got all of us saiyans gathered together in one spot, if that wasn't already his plan." Vegeta added.

Recely's eyes widened. "I never even thought of that! He has everyone he could possibly want right here on this farm! We should leave immediately."

"EEEW GROSS!" Bra screamed from outside, startling everyone. She ran across the yard and into the kitchen and all the way upstairs to look for a washroom. Merifly appeared seconds later with a confused look on her face.

"Squeamish for a saiyan, isn't she?"

Vegeta chuckled at that. Argo soon joined, followed by Recely and Letta. They all needed a little laughter after everything that had happened that day. Sala didn't even crack a smile, in fact, she hadn't even realized what was going on, she just continued to stare out the window.