Vegeta may be a little OOC here to you and I, but the other characters in
this story do not know what he thinks :)
*********************************** and justice for all ***************************************
"I dreamed a dream, that's all." Vegeta soliloquized, and when Bulma cocked her head sideways, he knew that she sensed something was wrong. "Are you still here? Leave my room at once! I'll be down shortly to eat." With an agitated sigh, Bulma left the room. She knew she had seen what she had seen, there was no doubt about it.
'So, a saiyan prince can cry...' She thought of the tear she had seen on the face of the proud prince Vegeta. . .
chapter 3: play dead
With a small bundle of screws between her lips and a screwdriver held in one hand, Bulma surveyed the mini-micro-oven with a thoughtful gaze. Why'd it have to explode? That was a mystery in itself, never mind what was missing from it. Nothing had been made in it for about two weeks, ever since it burnt the muffins Mrs. Briefs had been making. It'd been down here in the workshop for ages, waiting to have the filaments sorted out. And suddenly, KABOOM it had just exploded.
"Hmmmn.." Bulma spat the screws out and brushed them to one side of the table. She tapped a small, burnt out plate with the head of the screwdriver and sighed. "There's no hope for this burn-out." These words reminded her of Yamcha for some reason. She giggled flatly and went out to throw away what had previously been an oven.
Outside, at the back of the Capsule Corps, there were seven trees, six of which had been planted for Bulma by her father, after she had first got the seven dragonballs together. The oldest tree was a sturdy weeping willow, and overshadowed the other trees because of its size and age. The leaves were of a cool green and hung low, some of the tips sweeping against the grass. Underneath this great tree there sat a man deeply engrossed in his thoughts, in the shade of the willow.
"Hey Vegeta," Bulma shouted over as she dropped the oven's corpse into the trash, "what're you doing out here all by yourself?" Bulma knew that he liked time on his own (a/n doesn't everybody?), and she enjoyed teasing him, attempting somehow to get him to open up more. Instead of replying with his usual feigned vehemence, saying something like 'Bah I do not have time for you woman' (which Bulma thought was quite cute), he remained perfectly silent. His eyes were closed.
"Sleeping, huh?" Bulma said to herself as she walked over, her hands on her hips. "Hey, Vegeta. . ." She tried to think of something to say. She didn't even know what had possessed her to walk over to him in the first place. "I erm. . ." He was still asleep? Jeez, for a so-called saiyan prince his reactions weren't that good if he could sleep through that. He was as bad as Goku! She went to tap him with her foot, to try and wake him, but with lightening speed Vegeta grabbed her ankle before it made contact.
"I heard you, woman. I was not sleeping," Vegeta said. There was a sort of emptiness to his voice, as if he didn't care at all. Usually he'd have been calling Bulma every name under the sun and trying to get her to bow down before him. Anxiety crinkled its way across Bulma's forehead as she stood, balancing as Vegeta held her foot. Without warning, Vegeta dropped her foot and Bulma had to use her arms to keep her balance as she started to hop backwards.
"Kami Vegeta, I only came to, erm. . . To ask you whether you wanted anything to eat?" The thought occurred to her as she thought about his behaviour over the past couple of days. "You haven't eaten half as much as I have recently, and your appetite's big enough to feed a family of whales!" She snorted with laughter, but fell silent when Vegeta didn't retaliate.
"OK, what's wrong? You've been acting weird recently..." Bulma was now stood directly in front of him, hands on hips with a mothering tone of voice. Vegeta replied with silence, his eyes still as tightly shut as they had been when Bulma had arrived. "Are you going to answer me? Or am I going to just have to worry?" Bulma quickly put a hand over her mouth and Vegeta's eyes crept open to look at her.
"N. . . Not that I was worrying," she declared, standing up. Vegeta now looked in to her eyes.
'Blood?' Vegeta thought. Why would the woman have blood on her face? He was about inform her that she was bleeding, but as he opened his mouth to tell her so a small explosion took out half of her stomach. Vegeta's jaw dropped, and he rolled quickly onto his feet. Staring wide-eyed at her torso another blast tore her arm like tissue paper. She stared at him with those same pleading eyes, just as in his dream. Surely this could not be!
"What the hell?!" Vegeta searched frantically for the cause, and the woman dropped to her knees, her blood slicking the blades of grass. Vegeta looked down at her as she held out an arm to him. Did he help her? In broad daylight? Or did he find the bastard that had done this? His eyes searched the sky above, yet he could feel no power but his own as it increased with rage.
He decided and hesitantly reached down to grasp Bulma's outstretched hand. He felt nothing but air. Her arm had actually detached itself from the elbow, fresh blood babbling from the raw end. Vegeta's face tightened in disgust. So he had seen and inflicted worse injuries in his time, but now he knew this woman. She was his concern, now.
"Vegeta..."
"Don't worry, I won't leave you here!" Vegeta frantically assured the injured woman as his brain wrapped itself around how to get her out of here. Two sides of his heart fought against each other as he looked down again. He wanted her out of the way so that he could fight whoever had done this; and, although he denied it, he wanted her to be out of harm's way.
"Someone! Anyone! Take the woman!" He shouted. Within less than a minute half a dozen men were jogging towards them, but they seemed to stop in their tracks.
"Shit, it's a trap! He'll fucking kill us!"
What? He wasn't going to kill them. He merely needed their assistance to move the woman from harm's way. He had no reason to kill them, not anymore. This statement confused him even more than the undesignated attack. He'd been here for so long already...
"What are you doing?" A voice said. He couldn't see who had said it and assumed it was one of the men.
"I need to move the woman, she'll bleed to death! Can't you see that?!"
The men around, who had stopped, now all lay dead. The attack had been that fast not even Vegeta had been able to perceive it not detect it. Some of them had been decapitated, others had simply been fried by intense energy. He sensed someone above him. Looking up he saw the silhouette of someone wearing armour like that of Frieza's minions, even himself not too long ago.
"You bastard! Gallict gun fire!!" His legs slid into a horse stance, and his arms were pointed directly upwards. An enormous stream of energy shot from his hands into the air, and moments later the attacker was gone. His lips flashed a quick smirk before he looked around him. All these people were dead. He didn't even kill them himself. Why? Because they hadn't done anything. The woman lay by his feet, her eyes wide and hollow. He closed his eyes tight, and opened them to his horror to see a crowd of about 20 stood watching him with fear and disbelief, still shielding themselves from Vegeta's outburst of energy.
"Vegeta? What... What are you saying? Who's dead? What's that matter with you?!" Vegeta's mind snapped back into reality, and he scanned the apprehensive faces around him. He looked at the ground. There was no blood, no bodies... Only the grass swaying in the breeze, as it had been doing minutes earlier. He hung his head as he thought, then snapped his head up and glared at each and every one of the humans.
"What the fuck do you think you're staring at, huh? Well?!" He jerked slightly towards them, and they synchronously jumped a metre backwards, fearing he might kill them or something. But Bulma stood firm and continued to stare deep into his eyes. Vegeta could sense anger, and anxiety underneath it. "Bah! What are you staring at woman?! Get out of my way!!" He now hated her for this, it was all her fault.
Walking away, Bulma trotted in front of him, causing him to stop bluntly, leg still raised before it had the chance to step. "Vegeta, I know something is wrong... I know you don't tell many people things, but it helps. Please?"
The pleading eyes penetrated him; their eyes met in a fiery stare that brought up more emotion that Vegeta had ever handled, even when pouring his heart out to that dog Kakarot.
"Don't waste your time," Vegeta growled and pushed past her, taking to the air and not looking back at the stares that followed him.
"Vegeta..."
*
Vegeta looked down upon the city. People just living out their lives, oblivious to the fact that he held the power to destroy them all within seconds. He remembered the city he had landed in when he and Nappa had first arrived on Earth, and how Vegeta had watched his former partner destroy the city and everything within a 10km radius with a simple gesture. Vegeta could do that to a planet back then. In fact the last planet he had destroyed was a little larger than this rock, though less densely populated. There'd been planets before then, where hundreds of billions of people had died because of his actions. 'At least those planets kept me rich,' Vegeta thought to himself as he landed on the cliff top, his feet crunching softly onto the gravel and dry dust. This 'cliff' was on the outskirts of the city, leading from an old disused quarry. Hardly anyone came here now; that's what Vegeta liked about here. The serenity, the clear air and miles of open space and the view... *wow* did it give a view, Vegeta thought even after some of the thing's he'd seen in his life. The sky was a deep azure save for the sparse, high chalky wisps of cirrus cloud. The streets were inter-linked into a network, reminding Vegeta of circuit boards he would randomly find around his present lodgings. Vegeta didn't look up as he made his way through the grouping of trees leading to the edge. He liked to sit here, as none of the humans would ever bother him here. Once he had seen two young boys playing here and when Vegeta saw them he tried to frighten them away with a purposely off-target ki blast. This entertained them however, and so he had had to threaten to break their limbs instead. He hadn't seen them since. Other than that, he had never seen another human tread on this ground.
Vegeta swung his legs over the edge and rested his chin in his hands. What had happened back there? He'd seen blood everywhere, like there was some sort of attack, then. Nothing. Fuck all. He had seen it though! He knew he had seen it, with his sensitive saiyan eyes. Come on, he thought, there is no way I could see something that was not real. He thought for hours, not wanting to return and see all of those sniveling humans with their worrying and imposing ways. He hated them. Yet he couldn't help but feel something for them. They were kind to him when he had literally killed their fellow human beings. And the woman's mate at the time, he had killed him and still the woman showed unending kindness towards him, even though it was shrouded in sarcasm and mood swings. Picking up random stones and odd clumps of earth, he hurled them ahead of him, clearing the city by miles, most likely. When twilight filled the sky he felt hungry, but he wasn't bothered. He was fatigued, but he couldn't possibly sleep at a time like this. He hated the humans, but pitied them. He could have destroyed the planet with a simple gesture, yet he couldn't because of these pathetic emotions! A few years before all that had happened, he would have not given Earth's destruction a second thought. He was raised to show no mercy. He was raised to do what he wanted and use his power to achieve his own personal goals. Then, Kakarot came along. He had to come and show his third- class peasant strength, and for the first time the mighty prince was humbled by a vagabond! That dog, that lowly ass-sniffing, dirt eating dog! He came and ruined everything. Forcing Vegeta to retreat. Then being some sort of agony aunt whilst Vegeta lay dying and pouring out his heart and soul. Then the clown reached the ultimate legendary state of super saiyan, all the while peasant blood flowing through his dirty veins. As if that were not enough, Kakarot then avenged his people, Vegeta's people, the mighty fallen warriors of the saiyan race whom Kakarot would never know. And the final ironic humiliation was that Kakarot cared for Vegeta like a friend and brother, when Vegeta saw him as a parasite and a humiliation, as well as an enemy who had stolen his very dreams from him.
He was now stood up, fists and teeth both clenched in anger. He didn't know why, but he powered up and stood, over looking West City. The ground beneath him loosened and gave way, taking a large chunk from the side of the quarry's outer wall, but he didn't care. His power increased as he hovered above where the land had been, and a bright aura shone all around him. Immense power flowed through his veins, as sweet as passion, as he reached a new strength he had not felt before. Fuelled by anger, he sought after something to destroy. Ki followed him in a trail as he took to the sky, scanning over the city for something to annihilate. He saw a particular group of undoubtedly useless humans, syringes imbedded in their veins, several teenage girls presumably selling their bodies to a handful of these losers, giving head or being fucked up the ass around them by other junkies. As he passed over the alleyway Vegeta wrinkled his nose in disgust and embarrassment for humankind. This is how they spent their time? Pathetic, being hooked on drops of liquid and tiny little tablets. He didn't care, he was too worked up. Target practice, he justified. He gathered a small ball of ki, and took aim, poised over the place where these teenagers wasted away their lives. He got an instant lock onto them, and stopped. Why could he not find it in himself to fire this at these low- lives? They were almost as embarrassing as Kakarot's mere presence! He lowered his arm slightly, then jolted it back to being raised again, ready when you are, he told himself. This'll make you feel a whole lot better. He gathered more ki, just for the hell of it, trying to waste time, it seemed. He gathered enough to make a crater out of West City, and just as he rediscovered the pleasures that power could bring a ki bolt fired into the city. He didn't do it. Vegeta didn't have the faintest clue where it had come from. He hadn't sensed another who could gather ki like that, why? He levitated a little higher, head flicking side to side as he scanned the city.
His feet patted the ground as he softly landed, viewing the fire from which petrified humans frantically scrabbled from their inevitable deaths. There were bodies everywhere. Scratching his head Vegeta wondered whether this was an illusion like before. He walked through the fire, using ki to repel the flames themselves although the heat caused beads of sweat to materialize across his forehead. As he walked he stepped on something, and Vegeta looked down to see it was a human hand. His eyes followed the arm to the source, a victim of the blast. The skin was scorched and blistered terribly, and the eyes had presumably been burnt, because the eye sockets were hollow; and the empty gaze stared through Vegeta like Frieza's icy glare before he had perished. There were more bodies, Vegeta could see; the street was littered with corpses of those who had died from the heat, the fire, the smoke, asphyxiation from trampling crowds or most likely the intensity of the ki itself. None of the bodies had eyes, Vegeta noticed. Their empty glares made the prince somewhat uncomfortable, as he began to be convinced that this was real. He could feel things this time, like the heat and the human hand underneath his heels.
He passed the body of a small child, who reminded Vegeta of himself when he had been much younger. This child wouldn't grow to learn life's brutalities, as he had fallen victim to them at such an early age. Vegeta was fascinated by the boy, as his eye sockets were in tact, and the dark charcoal eyes stared at Vegeta with fear and ignorance at the same time. Vegeta briefly considered what could have happened to the boy as he grew, became old and died.
There were countless bodies it seemed. They just went on and on, as if they were coming straight fresh from a conveyor belt. The thing Vegeta couldn't understand was why these people had been killed. Where was the justification? He needed to know, he felt like he needed to know, who had done this, to ask them. This was. . . Vegeta's home, now. He had no where else to go. He had attempted to put his past behind him, with Frieza and his henchmen 'looking after him', as they called it. The missions he was sent on were to destroy planets and take over planets and deliver certain people into the jaws of death, under Frieza's command. He used to enjoy it. Maybe when he tasted death and defeat for himself he realized what life was actually like. It's full of hardships, defeat, and humiliation. And all of this, too, applies to a saiyan prince. He didn't know why, but he felt angry. He was fucking irate! Some bastard had come and made a rather large dent in this rock that Vegeta had began to call home, without even making himself known! The coward.
"Whoever you are, show yourself! I am Prince Vegeta, the strongest person on this planet, and I demand to know who the hell has been shitting ki blasts on my home!!" His fists shook with rage, as he now stood with the flames licking around him, fury enhancing his power even further than before. Someone screamed. His head snapped around to see what the noise was. A young hooker, about 13, dragged herself towards Vegeta, barely able to walk at all. There was a look of fear etched into her faced, yet her eyes seemed to smile as she squealed. Was this girl laughing? Her tongue flapped lazily from her mouth as it barked open, loud raucous laughter screaming from it. She must be insane.
"I am a man of little patience, girl. Get the hell out of here. If he doesn't kill you, then I will!" The hooker subdued her laughter as she fell onto him. Vegeta uneasily pulled away, and she began to squeal again. Vegeta growled and her face was a sketch of confusion and fear, as well as amusement, Vegeta thought. He didn't like it one bit. He fired a miniature genki dama at a nearby building behind the hooker, and she fell to the floor when the explosion ruptured through the street. People ran from hidden corners to see what this second blast was. How'd they get away from the first attack?
"Get away from here. You'll all be killed," Vegeta said to himself more than anyone else. He heard some people laugh, even though he couldn't see anything but scared expressions before him. He had a strong feeling of déjà vu as he felt his energy mysteriously increase. He watched as his arm was brought up to a right angle, beyond his control, and it began to fire random attacks at people and buildings. He had no control whatsoever. He yelled out loud as he tried to decrease his power, to no avail. His eyes were tightly shut, and all he could see in the darkness was blood, dribbling down his lids and dripping into pools among scattered remains.
"What the fuck is happening?! Huh?!?! Someone TELL ME!!!" He opened his eyes to try and get rid of the images that were now in his head to discover that none of the street was a mortuary, and bodies were not lying in a crater of flames. The building Vegeta had fired at was smoking, and there were people running out. The people he had seen in front of him were gone, and the people who were there now were drunks, junkies and yobs wielding flick knives, broken bottles and fists. The hooker was real, she was kneeling ahead of him, squealing with laughter and amusement. She was obviously wasted. Vegeta looked down to see that there was blood on his arm. He sniffed it and alarmingly realized that it was his own! Seeing blood on one of their knives, he lost it. He didn't care whether this was an illusion or not, he couldn't tell nor care! He vaporized the dozen or so who were crowded around him, as if it were a reflex. The people who had run from the building, as well as others who had wanted a little street brawling entertainment now fled in the opposite direction, believing the same would happen to them. Vegeta growled to himself, and cursed himself.
As he flew back, ignoring the sirens that began to fade into his hearing, he noticed something. The physical pain he had felt when he saw the gash on his own arm made him feel good. It made him forget whatever was plaguing his mind, and let him do whatever he wanted, like in the old days, before he came to this planet. He felt. . . alive.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
I'll put up another chapter, if anyone's bothered.
*********************************** and justice for all ***************************************
"I dreamed a dream, that's all." Vegeta soliloquized, and when Bulma cocked her head sideways, he knew that she sensed something was wrong. "Are you still here? Leave my room at once! I'll be down shortly to eat." With an agitated sigh, Bulma left the room. She knew she had seen what she had seen, there was no doubt about it.
'So, a saiyan prince can cry...' She thought of the tear she had seen on the face of the proud prince Vegeta. . .
chapter 3: play dead
With a small bundle of screws between her lips and a screwdriver held in one hand, Bulma surveyed the mini-micro-oven with a thoughtful gaze. Why'd it have to explode? That was a mystery in itself, never mind what was missing from it. Nothing had been made in it for about two weeks, ever since it burnt the muffins Mrs. Briefs had been making. It'd been down here in the workshop for ages, waiting to have the filaments sorted out. And suddenly, KABOOM it had just exploded.
"Hmmmn.." Bulma spat the screws out and brushed them to one side of the table. She tapped a small, burnt out plate with the head of the screwdriver and sighed. "There's no hope for this burn-out." These words reminded her of Yamcha for some reason. She giggled flatly and went out to throw away what had previously been an oven.
Outside, at the back of the Capsule Corps, there were seven trees, six of which had been planted for Bulma by her father, after she had first got the seven dragonballs together. The oldest tree was a sturdy weeping willow, and overshadowed the other trees because of its size and age. The leaves were of a cool green and hung low, some of the tips sweeping against the grass. Underneath this great tree there sat a man deeply engrossed in his thoughts, in the shade of the willow.
"Hey Vegeta," Bulma shouted over as she dropped the oven's corpse into the trash, "what're you doing out here all by yourself?" Bulma knew that he liked time on his own (a/n doesn't everybody?), and she enjoyed teasing him, attempting somehow to get him to open up more. Instead of replying with his usual feigned vehemence, saying something like 'Bah I do not have time for you woman' (which Bulma thought was quite cute), he remained perfectly silent. His eyes were closed.
"Sleeping, huh?" Bulma said to herself as she walked over, her hands on her hips. "Hey, Vegeta. . ." She tried to think of something to say. She didn't even know what had possessed her to walk over to him in the first place. "I erm. . ." He was still asleep? Jeez, for a so-called saiyan prince his reactions weren't that good if he could sleep through that. He was as bad as Goku! She went to tap him with her foot, to try and wake him, but with lightening speed Vegeta grabbed her ankle before it made contact.
"I heard you, woman. I was not sleeping," Vegeta said. There was a sort of emptiness to his voice, as if he didn't care at all. Usually he'd have been calling Bulma every name under the sun and trying to get her to bow down before him. Anxiety crinkled its way across Bulma's forehead as she stood, balancing as Vegeta held her foot. Without warning, Vegeta dropped her foot and Bulma had to use her arms to keep her balance as she started to hop backwards.
"Kami Vegeta, I only came to, erm. . . To ask you whether you wanted anything to eat?" The thought occurred to her as she thought about his behaviour over the past couple of days. "You haven't eaten half as much as I have recently, and your appetite's big enough to feed a family of whales!" She snorted with laughter, but fell silent when Vegeta didn't retaliate.
"OK, what's wrong? You've been acting weird recently..." Bulma was now stood directly in front of him, hands on hips with a mothering tone of voice. Vegeta replied with silence, his eyes still as tightly shut as they had been when Bulma had arrived. "Are you going to answer me? Or am I going to just have to worry?" Bulma quickly put a hand over her mouth and Vegeta's eyes crept open to look at her.
"N. . . Not that I was worrying," she declared, standing up. Vegeta now looked in to her eyes.
'Blood?' Vegeta thought. Why would the woman have blood on her face? He was about inform her that she was bleeding, but as he opened his mouth to tell her so a small explosion took out half of her stomach. Vegeta's jaw dropped, and he rolled quickly onto his feet. Staring wide-eyed at her torso another blast tore her arm like tissue paper. She stared at him with those same pleading eyes, just as in his dream. Surely this could not be!
"What the hell?!" Vegeta searched frantically for the cause, and the woman dropped to her knees, her blood slicking the blades of grass. Vegeta looked down at her as she held out an arm to him. Did he help her? In broad daylight? Or did he find the bastard that had done this? His eyes searched the sky above, yet he could feel no power but his own as it increased with rage.
He decided and hesitantly reached down to grasp Bulma's outstretched hand. He felt nothing but air. Her arm had actually detached itself from the elbow, fresh blood babbling from the raw end. Vegeta's face tightened in disgust. So he had seen and inflicted worse injuries in his time, but now he knew this woman. She was his concern, now.
"Vegeta..."
"Don't worry, I won't leave you here!" Vegeta frantically assured the injured woman as his brain wrapped itself around how to get her out of here. Two sides of his heart fought against each other as he looked down again. He wanted her out of the way so that he could fight whoever had done this; and, although he denied it, he wanted her to be out of harm's way.
"Someone! Anyone! Take the woman!" He shouted. Within less than a minute half a dozen men were jogging towards them, but they seemed to stop in their tracks.
"Shit, it's a trap! He'll fucking kill us!"
What? He wasn't going to kill them. He merely needed their assistance to move the woman from harm's way. He had no reason to kill them, not anymore. This statement confused him even more than the undesignated attack. He'd been here for so long already...
"What are you doing?" A voice said. He couldn't see who had said it and assumed it was one of the men.
"I need to move the woman, she'll bleed to death! Can't you see that?!"
The men around, who had stopped, now all lay dead. The attack had been that fast not even Vegeta had been able to perceive it not detect it. Some of them had been decapitated, others had simply been fried by intense energy. He sensed someone above him. Looking up he saw the silhouette of someone wearing armour like that of Frieza's minions, even himself not too long ago.
"You bastard! Gallict gun fire!!" His legs slid into a horse stance, and his arms were pointed directly upwards. An enormous stream of energy shot from his hands into the air, and moments later the attacker was gone. His lips flashed a quick smirk before he looked around him. All these people were dead. He didn't even kill them himself. Why? Because they hadn't done anything. The woman lay by his feet, her eyes wide and hollow. He closed his eyes tight, and opened them to his horror to see a crowd of about 20 stood watching him with fear and disbelief, still shielding themselves from Vegeta's outburst of energy.
"Vegeta? What... What are you saying? Who's dead? What's that matter with you?!" Vegeta's mind snapped back into reality, and he scanned the apprehensive faces around him. He looked at the ground. There was no blood, no bodies... Only the grass swaying in the breeze, as it had been doing minutes earlier. He hung his head as he thought, then snapped his head up and glared at each and every one of the humans.
"What the fuck do you think you're staring at, huh? Well?!" He jerked slightly towards them, and they synchronously jumped a metre backwards, fearing he might kill them or something. But Bulma stood firm and continued to stare deep into his eyes. Vegeta could sense anger, and anxiety underneath it. "Bah! What are you staring at woman?! Get out of my way!!" He now hated her for this, it was all her fault.
Walking away, Bulma trotted in front of him, causing him to stop bluntly, leg still raised before it had the chance to step. "Vegeta, I know something is wrong... I know you don't tell many people things, but it helps. Please?"
The pleading eyes penetrated him; their eyes met in a fiery stare that brought up more emotion that Vegeta had ever handled, even when pouring his heart out to that dog Kakarot.
"Don't waste your time," Vegeta growled and pushed past her, taking to the air and not looking back at the stares that followed him.
"Vegeta..."
*
Vegeta looked down upon the city. People just living out their lives, oblivious to the fact that he held the power to destroy them all within seconds. He remembered the city he had landed in when he and Nappa had first arrived on Earth, and how Vegeta had watched his former partner destroy the city and everything within a 10km radius with a simple gesture. Vegeta could do that to a planet back then. In fact the last planet he had destroyed was a little larger than this rock, though less densely populated. There'd been planets before then, where hundreds of billions of people had died because of his actions. 'At least those planets kept me rich,' Vegeta thought to himself as he landed on the cliff top, his feet crunching softly onto the gravel and dry dust. This 'cliff' was on the outskirts of the city, leading from an old disused quarry. Hardly anyone came here now; that's what Vegeta liked about here. The serenity, the clear air and miles of open space and the view... *wow* did it give a view, Vegeta thought even after some of the thing's he'd seen in his life. The sky was a deep azure save for the sparse, high chalky wisps of cirrus cloud. The streets were inter-linked into a network, reminding Vegeta of circuit boards he would randomly find around his present lodgings. Vegeta didn't look up as he made his way through the grouping of trees leading to the edge. He liked to sit here, as none of the humans would ever bother him here. Once he had seen two young boys playing here and when Vegeta saw them he tried to frighten them away with a purposely off-target ki blast. This entertained them however, and so he had had to threaten to break their limbs instead. He hadn't seen them since. Other than that, he had never seen another human tread on this ground.
Vegeta swung his legs over the edge and rested his chin in his hands. What had happened back there? He'd seen blood everywhere, like there was some sort of attack, then. Nothing. Fuck all. He had seen it though! He knew he had seen it, with his sensitive saiyan eyes. Come on, he thought, there is no way I could see something that was not real. He thought for hours, not wanting to return and see all of those sniveling humans with their worrying and imposing ways. He hated them. Yet he couldn't help but feel something for them. They were kind to him when he had literally killed their fellow human beings. And the woman's mate at the time, he had killed him and still the woman showed unending kindness towards him, even though it was shrouded in sarcasm and mood swings. Picking up random stones and odd clumps of earth, he hurled them ahead of him, clearing the city by miles, most likely. When twilight filled the sky he felt hungry, but he wasn't bothered. He was fatigued, but he couldn't possibly sleep at a time like this. He hated the humans, but pitied them. He could have destroyed the planet with a simple gesture, yet he couldn't because of these pathetic emotions! A few years before all that had happened, he would have not given Earth's destruction a second thought. He was raised to show no mercy. He was raised to do what he wanted and use his power to achieve his own personal goals. Then, Kakarot came along. He had to come and show his third- class peasant strength, and for the first time the mighty prince was humbled by a vagabond! That dog, that lowly ass-sniffing, dirt eating dog! He came and ruined everything. Forcing Vegeta to retreat. Then being some sort of agony aunt whilst Vegeta lay dying and pouring out his heart and soul. Then the clown reached the ultimate legendary state of super saiyan, all the while peasant blood flowing through his dirty veins. As if that were not enough, Kakarot then avenged his people, Vegeta's people, the mighty fallen warriors of the saiyan race whom Kakarot would never know. And the final ironic humiliation was that Kakarot cared for Vegeta like a friend and brother, when Vegeta saw him as a parasite and a humiliation, as well as an enemy who had stolen his very dreams from him.
He was now stood up, fists and teeth both clenched in anger. He didn't know why, but he powered up and stood, over looking West City. The ground beneath him loosened and gave way, taking a large chunk from the side of the quarry's outer wall, but he didn't care. His power increased as he hovered above where the land had been, and a bright aura shone all around him. Immense power flowed through his veins, as sweet as passion, as he reached a new strength he had not felt before. Fuelled by anger, he sought after something to destroy. Ki followed him in a trail as he took to the sky, scanning over the city for something to annihilate. He saw a particular group of undoubtedly useless humans, syringes imbedded in their veins, several teenage girls presumably selling their bodies to a handful of these losers, giving head or being fucked up the ass around them by other junkies. As he passed over the alleyway Vegeta wrinkled his nose in disgust and embarrassment for humankind. This is how they spent their time? Pathetic, being hooked on drops of liquid and tiny little tablets. He didn't care, he was too worked up. Target practice, he justified. He gathered a small ball of ki, and took aim, poised over the place where these teenagers wasted away their lives. He got an instant lock onto them, and stopped. Why could he not find it in himself to fire this at these low- lives? They were almost as embarrassing as Kakarot's mere presence! He lowered his arm slightly, then jolted it back to being raised again, ready when you are, he told himself. This'll make you feel a whole lot better. He gathered more ki, just for the hell of it, trying to waste time, it seemed. He gathered enough to make a crater out of West City, and just as he rediscovered the pleasures that power could bring a ki bolt fired into the city. He didn't do it. Vegeta didn't have the faintest clue where it had come from. He hadn't sensed another who could gather ki like that, why? He levitated a little higher, head flicking side to side as he scanned the city.
His feet patted the ground as he softly landed, viewing the fire from which petrified humans frantically scrabbled from their inevitable deaths. There were bodies everywhere. Scratching his head Vegeta wondered whether this was an illusion like before. He walked through the fire, using ki to repel the flames themselves although the heat caused beads of sweat to materialize across his forehead. As he walked he stepped on something, and Vegeta looked down to see it was a human hand. His eyes followed the arm to the source, a victim of the blast. The skin was scorched and blistered terribly, and the eyes had presumably been burnt, because the eye sockets were hollow; and the empty gaze stared through Vegeta like Frieza's icy glare before he had perished. There were more bodies, Vegeta could see; the street was littered with corpses of those who had died from the heat, the fire, the smoke, asphyxiation from trampling crowds or most likely the intensity of the ki itself. None of the bodies had eyes, Vegeta noticed. Their empty glares made the prince somewhat uncomfortable, as he began to be convinced that this was real. He could feel things this time, like the heat and the human hand underneath his heels.
He passed the body of a small child, who reminded Vegeta of himself when he had been much younger. This child wouldn't grow to learn life's brutalities, as he had fallen victim to them at such an early age. Vegeta was fascinated by the boy, as his eye sockets were in tact, and the dark charcoal eyes stared at Vegeta with fear and ignorance at the same time. Vegeta briefly considered what could have happened to the boy as he grew, became old and died.
There were countless bodies it seemed. They just went on and on, as if they were coming straight fresh from a conveyor belt. The thing Vegeta couldn't understand was why these people had been killed. Where was the justification? He needed to know, he felt like he needed to know, who had done this, to ask them. This was. . . Vegeta's home, now. He had no where else to go. He had attempted to put his past behind him, with Frieza and his henchmen 'looking after him', as they called it. The missions he was sent on were to destroy planets and take over planets and deliver certain people into the jaws of death, under Frieza's command. He used to enjoy it. Maybe when he tasted death and defeat for himself he realized what life was actually like. It's full of hardships, defeat, and humiliation. And all of this, too, applies to a saiyan prince. He didn't know why, but he felt angry. He was fucking irate! Some bastard had come and made a rather large dent in this rock that Vegeta had began to call home, without even making himself known! The coward.
"Whoever you are, show yourself! I am Prince Vegeta, the strongest person on this planet, and I demand to know who the hell has been shitting ki blasts on my home!!" His fists shook with rage, as he now stood with the flames licking around him, fury enhancing his power even further than before. Someone screamed. His head snapped around to see what the noise was. A young hooker, about 13, dragged herself towards Vegeta, barely able to walk at all. There was a look of fear etched into her faced, yet her eyes seemed to smile as she squealed. Was this girl laughing? Her tongue flapped lazily from her mouth as it barked open, loud raucous laughter screaming from it. She must be insane.
"I am a man of little patience, girl. Get the hell out of here. If he doesn't kill you, then I will!" The hooker subdued her laughter as she fell onto him. Vegeta uneasily pulled away, and she began to squeal again. Vegeta growled and her face was a sketch of confusion and fear, as well as amusement, Vegeta thought. He didn't like it one bit. He fired a miniature genki dama at a nearby building behind the hooker, and she fell to the floor when the explosion ruptured through the street. People ran from hidden corners to see what this second blast was. How'd they get away from the first attack?
"Get away from here. You'll all be killed," Vegeta said to himself more than anyone else. He heard some people laugh, even though he couldn't see anything but scared expressions before him. He had a strong feeling of déjà vu as he felt his energy mysteriously increase. He watched as his arm was brought up to a right angle, beyond his control, and it began to fire random attacks at people and buildings. He had no control whatsoever. He yelled out loud as he tried to decrease his power, to no avail. His eyes were tightly shut, and all he could see in the darkness was blood, dribbling down his lids and dripping into pools among scattered remains.
"What the fuck is happening?! Huh?!?! Someone TELL ME!!!" He opened his eyes to try and get rid of the images that were now in his head to discover that none of the street was a mortuary, and bodies were not lying in a crater of flames. The building Vegeta had fired at was smoking, and there were people running out. The people he had seen in front of him were gone, and the people who were there now were drunks, junkies and yobs wielding flick knives, broken bottles and fists. The hooker was real, she was kneeling ahead of him, squealing with laughter and amusement. She was obviously wasted. Vegeta looked down to see that there was blood on his arm. He sniffed it and alarmingly realized that it was his own! Seeing blood on one of their knives, he lost it. He didn't care whether this was an illusion or not, he couldn't tell nor care! He vaporized the dozen or so who were crowded around him, as if it were a reflex. The people who had run from the building, as well as others who had wanted a little street brawling entertainment now fled in the opposite direction, believing the same would happen to them. Vegeta growled to himself, and cursed himself.
As he flew back, ignoring the sirens that began to fade into his hearing, he noticed something. The physical pain he had felt when he saw the gash on his own arm made him feel good. It made him forget whatever was plaguing his mind, and let him do whatever he wanted, like in the old days, before he came to this planet. He felt. . . alive.
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I'll put up another chapter, if anyone's bothered.