Bloodlines 4
Disclaimer: Dragon Ball Z and Sailor Moon do not belong to me, and I make no money from this fic.
Serenity shivered, tears going down her face again, this time for a different reason than.
Bardock was holding her tenderly, her head cradled against her chest, as they enjoyed their last few days together. Since they had been bonded, it had been almost impossible to get them apart, even though they knew what would happen once they reached Planet Vegeta.
"Gah, talk about your sickly romances," Toma muttered to Seripa, who promptly hit him in the head. "They act so gooey…"
"Yeah, and I remember how a certain mate of mine acted when WE bonded, bone head," she snarled back, trying to keep back her own ambiguous feelings.
On one hand, she was overjoyed that they hadn't lost Bardock, and that kitten was going to be getting some experience with a caring male. On the other- she knew what bonding entailed. Serenity would NOT be able to… enjoy sex with another male while they were bonded. Oh, sure, a female could be raped an impregnated that way. It was another reason that the elites had denounced bonding- males and females could not breed for strength.
"This is one hell of a mess," she muttered, crossing her arms. "Of course, the girl would STILL be mooning over that Endymion guy even if this hadn't happened, she'd still be getting raped… And I don't think the King will give a fat damn about her being bonded to Bardock, so long as she produces. I won't say anything else, might get my head taken off for treason…"
"Who's gonna hear?" Toma answered, and she sneered.
"I know, I know- but damnit, Toma, she's too damned INNOCENT to do this to. I feel like… like I'm sending my own cub to a Furiza."
"Yeah- and the King actually did."
Both of them shuddered, fearing what the Prince would be going through. It was well known the kind of perversions that went on in the Cold Court. Yet, the King had ignored it.
This did not bode well for an innocent outlander in the Saiya-jin court.
"Still, do we have a choice in the matter?"
"Nope."
~*~*~*~*~
Serenity scrubbed her skin ruthlessly. She was going to be meeting the King later that day. She had been informed, abruptly, that she would not be 'married' to him. She was a foreigner, and thus, did not have the right to be married to anyone.
She shuddered. This man, she had been told, had given away his own child to a being that destroyed worlds on a whim. It was terrifying.
What would he do to her?
Maybe she was right, in her first impression that Saiya-jins were brutes?
No; she could tell through her bond with Bardock that it was not the case.
She shivered- the leaders of the Silver Millennium were all decent, caring people who looked after their subjects tenderly, compassionately. While they were not blind to reality, they did their best to make sure they held to their ideals of peace, and their people were almost dared to live up to those expectations.
This led to a people who, out of respect, they obeyed monarchs' laws, and out of love for those leaders, cared for each other. Here was very different.
Her musing was interrupted as a servant, another alien, walked into the bathing room.
"Your clothing is ready, Madam," he, she, it, Serenity couldn't tell, told her.
Nodding, she left the room, wishing she didn't feel like she was heading towards her doom.
~*~*~*~*~
Serenity stood, with her head held high, as she was led into the presence of the King of the Saiya-jins. It was all she could do not to spew up her last meal- terror wracked her with nausea.
The clothing she was wearing was not the typical Saiya-jin armor, but instead a flimsy silk satin gown, which was barely opaque. Her hair was loose and almost trailed the ground, it was so long, and her face was made up like a trollop.
It was humiliating, the looks she was receiving from the others in the court, leering at her like she was a… a…
She couldn't make herself think it, as she finally stood before the king.
He was a handsome man, in a severe way, part of her noted. Yet, that was lost in the sight of the hard lines etched on his face, his eyes squinted a bit too much, and sharp as obsidian.
He's looking at me like a side of meat, she thought despairingly.
She bit the inside of her cheek until blood flooded her mouth, but she didn't break down. She didn't cry as she longed to. But she did shudder, as the King raked his gaze down her once more.
Beside him was a little boy, whose face was so similar to the King's that she knew he must be his son. He glared it her with undisguised hostility, hatred, even.
She held their gazes, refusing to look away.
"She's spirited, this one," Vegeta no Ou said slowly. "Good hips… she'll nurse well, too. She'll breed easily."
Rage mixed with her terror at those words.
"I don't see why you have chosen HER to breed my… replacement, father," sneered the little boy, and Serenity was hard put to keep from throttling him. His tone conveyed such contempt. His eyes were so old, especially for one so young.
This is my stepson… no, not that. I am going to be a whore to this man. A bitch, a mare…
Utter hopelessness welled up inside her, and she wondered if she would be able to find something sharp, a rope, drown herself, anything….
Don't you dare! Screamed a voice inside her mind, and her eyes moved, seeing a familiar group of people- and Bardock.
Her breath caught in her throat, and she knew, at least for now, that she was not alone…
Until-
"Well- let's get this over with, shall we?" said Vegeta no Ou, and Serenity felt a part of her soul die at his tone…
~*~*~*~*~*~
The morning broke, cold and clear, and Serenity wanted nothing else so much as to die. Sobbing, she got to her feet and walked over to a mirror, and looked at what had happened to her body.
Blood ran from numerous wounds, her nipples bitten and mauled, her lips split and bruises, massive, ugly, multicolored bruises, marked her fair skin. Walking this far had been pure anguish.
Serenity had lost her innocence with her Kingdom, but last night had been hell. What he'd done, what he'd done… she bit her lip and whimpered loudly, mentally begging the mirror to be lying to her, that this was all some kind of terrible dream.
Yet the image of the battered, tear streaked face did not change.
With a howl, her fist shot forward, shattering the mirror, slivers of glass embedding themselves in her hand, leaving ribbons of blood. Staggering, she fell to her knees, huddling there on the floor. She hurt, oh, how she hurt.
Serenity knew, that if she were to go to the King's bed again, she'd go insane. This was nothing like the passionate sharing she'd had with Bardock. This was obscene.
She couldn't let it happen again…
Picking up a shard of glass, she stared at it intently; suddenly realizing it might hold the answer. Angling it so that the edge was against her wrists, she pressed down, not even flinching as the edge bit her wrist.
DON'T!
A voice screamed inside her head, and suddenly she found herself stopping, almost flinging the shard away.
Bardock? I'm sorry! I wasn't strong enough. Not for my mother, my Kingdom, or my betrothed...Not you. Please forgive me…
SERENITY! PLEASE!
I'm sorry…
~*~*~*~*~
Bardock ran as fast as he could, feeling the life ebb from the person that had become the center of his universe. Behind him, he could feel the pounding feet of his crew and the royal guards that were following them.
He didn't know how he was doing it, but some part of him was willing strength to her, life to the faltering heart. Crashing through the door, he looked down to see her lying there, naked, in a pool of her own blood.
For precious moments all he could do was stare, until Seripa kicked him in the shins, and knelt in the blood to clamp her hands down on the ugly, gushing wound. Breathing deeply, Bardock started shouting orders for them to get a medic there, and no one thought to disobey. The expression on his face promised quick but painful death to anyone who didn't follow his commands, even those that would normally have taken offense at being ordered by a third class warrior.
No one thought to question, later, why he knew what was going on, or what had actually happened…
No one really wanted to know.
~*~*~*~*~*~
Bardock stood outside the recovery room where his Serenity was suspended in a tank, bubbles ever so often coming from her facemask. She looked so frail…
He pressed his hands to the glass of the window he gazed through, wishing he could be closer to her at that moment.
Never before had he considered killing his liege before.
Never had he wanted to destroy what his people were.
However, the sight of his mate lying in her own blood made flames rage in his mind. Swallowing hard, he got up to turn around.
"Sir? Bardock? You said you wanted to be alerted to the woman's condition?"
Bardock whirled around and grabbed the man's collar and had lifted him two feet off the floor before he could say another word.
"Hey, Bardock," Toma said, hands out in a placating gesture. "He can't tell us anything unless you put him down…"
Growling softly, he did so, putting the nurse back on his feet.
He coughed. "Yes, well, apparently the king, like most of his line, is still incredibly fertile, because the woman is pregnant already."
Bardock rocked back on his feet, wondering why he felt like someone was squeezing his chest. His eyes were wide as he looked through the window as Serenity and back. He could feel the urge to destroy, to maim, rose up inside him. No one had the right to do that to his mate….
Then he throttled the urge down.
"Come on, we are going," he told his crew, not even looking at them as he walked down the halls. They trotted after him in shock.
"You're just going to leave?" Seripa asked, shocked, trying to get him to look at her. He refused to even acknowledge her presence.
"Yes. There is nothing I can do for her now- and if I stay, I'll wind up killing my own king…"
To be continued!
