Where I've Fallen
By Poe
Author's Note: VERY IMPORTANT! This fic can get confusing, so I'll iron out the facts. This takes place when Frieza goes back to fight Goku after Namek blew up. That means Trunks hasn't showed up yet, and for the sake of the fic, it's assumed Bulma hasn't had a relationship with Vegeta… yet.
Also, the point of view switches from Bulma to Sana to Vegeta at particular moments. Sorry, but I wanted to try something different and constant P.O.V.s can get boring, no?
Chapter One: Hidden Place
Vegeta was not a man to be trifled with. It was a fact he wanted everyone to be assured of, everyone in the universe. He trained longer than even he thought he could bear simply to make sure that fact never changed. He swore to never let his resolve falter, to always uphold his honor, to always be the best, no matter whom he would have to trample in order to win. And in this unspoken oath was another promise, one that was by no means hidden. He would never love.
Because of all this, it's little wonder that time changed Vegeta from a regal child with an inflated ego into a cold, calculating murderer with not a noticeable trace of kindness in his heart. He had achieved his goal of never letting himself fall prey to petty attachments, ever. He never had made friends, never had a crush, and never had fallen in love. Of course, with such determination and willpower he had to achieve some other goals as well.
Vegeta decided he would become the strongest power in the universe. He would take over the universe and turn the great expansion of space into his tributary state. And, in the process, avoid become anything like Frieza. Fortunately, he followed up on this idea, and tried to treat his servants with a certain amount of dignity. He didn't enslave them, and allowed his planets to be self-governing. As long as they acknowledged that they were his property, he left them some independence.
Eventually he did conquer much of the universe, and ruled far more than Frieza had. He was respected and revered as a great leader, one of great strength and wisdom. Unfortunately, his people also acknowledged his lack of empathy, but couldn't do much about it. Vegeta could never be everything he wanted and be perfect, because his desires were flawed like him. Admittedly, many of his subjects were able to overlook this and things fell into place for the prince.
I guess that's where I come in. I, Bulma Briefs, was living in an exciting, but to me normal, life with my many friends. That is, until Frieza decided to show up. Our archenemy Frieza had returned for revenge after Planet Namek was destroyed. He had begun destroying the planet during a fight with Goku that didn't seem to end. Well, you know the story, he thought that destroying the planet would destroy Goku, but he hadn't counted on losing that battle. Goku tore him in half and left him floating in space.
Frieza's father finds him in space, fixes him up, and Frieza's brand new. It's amazing how that guy just won't die! Anyway, he goes to Earth for revenge, unbeknownst to us. When he arrives, every one of us is shocked and horrified, certainly no one expected him to live.
While we we're all petrified and worried, Goku was being nearly was killed in the fight against Frieza and his angered father. I didn't want to just stand by and watch him get killed, so I looked for a way to save him. That's when I stumbled on the greatest secret in my life.
It happened when I made some minor adjustment to a machine that was supposed to be a spaceship. I figured I could make a missile powerful enough to disorientate Frieza long enough for Goku to pummel him into dust. The engine of spaceship should've been enough to harness that great, revolutionary power, but it ended up being enough for a different kind of power. While making the adjustments, it turned into something completely different, a great discovery that I myself had found.
It was the discovery of the century, and like most discoveries, completely accidental. I had miraculously created the ability to not just leave the world like the spaceship was originally intended to, but perhaps to even leave this dimension. As hard to believe as it was, I really felt I had done it. I was positive could leave the dimension with ease and be transported into the next one as easily as I could leave Earth. The only problem was that, at the time, I didn't have a clue what I had just done.
You can imagine what had happened in the test run.
I remember with great detail and a bit of humor, climbing into the space ship for the first time. I thought I was testing a missile, not a cruise to a parallel universe. My ship, because of this, was positioned in a practice stadium where a test missile could be fired. If anything should go wrong, I rigged up an emergency system that wouldn't require any thought in operating. I wasn't much of a safety freak, but with Goku in jeopardy, my sense of caution was heightened.
When the ship rumbled to a start I smiled with pride. I knew it would work, something inside me told me. Well, it worked for something all right.
Before I could relish what I had done fully, or even understand, I was flung forward. I had put on my seatbelt so I jerked backwards into my chair. I almost hit my head, but swung to the side in order to miss. Sighing a sigh of relief, I looked around the controls to get a glimpse of what was going on.
Everything was in frenzy. Numbers and letters flashed across the screen in a mad, incomprehensible pattern. Dazed, I searched the jumble for familiarity, but found nothing. I felt myself getting weaker, and the world or whatever it was that I was in was spinning around me. Little did I know, I was being jolted into a parallel universe.
The ship chose to land straight in the antechamber of this dimension's Vegeta's main palace. The Vegeta in this dimension was the one that took over much of the universe and defeated Frieza. I bet he was pretty happy.
Anyway, this antechamber is where my story begins. My ship of sorts landed into this massive chamber with a spectacular but explosive entrance. Luckily, the area was vast and gardenlike, much like many of Vegeta's room. In fact, this room was one of his smallest, but still left quite a bit of maneuverability for my ship.
If, of course, it had landed in the center of the room instead of crashing into the side and demolishing one of the sidewalls. Quite a first impression, especially when you're encountering a grouchy Saiyan for the first time.
It's strange the way things work out, even if they aren't for your benefit. While my ship crashed into the left wall of this giant antechamber, it inflicted a casualty on a very irrational and powerful teenager. The ship just barely hit her arm, but it was enough to break it. Her name was Sana, and as if fate had destined it, her power was the ability to create agitate magnetic fields and disable any sort of mechanical instrument she comes across. In other words, she turned my ship's engine to mush.
Inside of the ship, where I was, the lights dimmed and everything whirred to a stop. It didn't strike me as odd, I just imagined that the ship had made a mistake and landed somewhere in the test area, perhaps destroying a good portion of it. This of course was a normal occurrence, nothing to gawk at. Too bad I didn't realize I was in for the ride of my life.
So, to recap, I travel to another dimension, crash into a wall, piss off a power chick, and as a result, my ship is destroyed. Pretty impressive, huh? And all in a days work…
I couldn't believe it. I thought I must've been mad. There I was, walking over to deliver a message for Prince Vegeta when a giant ship appears out of nowhere and heads straight towards me. Can you image it?
First of all, the docking bays were on the left wing of the palace and I was in the right wing. I had never heard of an incident where this had happened in my 2 years of living in Prince Vegeta's palace. The only reason I could possibly imagine this happening would be a misguided murder attempt destined for our beloved Prince Vegeta.
Unfortunately, I couldn't get a glimpse of who was manning the ship; I was frozen when it came at me. Without thinking, I activated my magnetic field, and the ship crashed into the wall before shuddering to a stop. What great fortune it was that I did this; else it would've kept going and injured others!
It did hit my arm and I heard a snap as the collision occurred. My bones take a lot to break, but the ships momentum alone would be enough complete the task. Crying out in pain, I fell to my knees and burst into tears. I knew that if Prince Vegeta found me sobbing like a child he would think it shameful, but the pain was far too great.
I notice the unrecognizable shape of the pilot of that godforsaken ship climb out in the distance, and I glare in contempt.
"Bastard! How dare you break into the palace of the great Prince!" I yell, searching out for the culprit. What I see is not what I expect.
It's not a man as I assumed, but a woman with blue hair and strange clothes. She looks positively confused and she looks around as if she never intended to come here in the first place. I suppose it's possible, but I don't trust her.
"Excuse me," she asks, "could you, um, tell me where I am?"
Her eyes show a great sense of puzzlement. I suppose I'll believe her. "In the palace of the great Prince! Who are you and where do you come from?" I grit my teeth as the pain ebbs and flows, trying to convince myself that I should be used to this.
She stumbles back in shock. "What?! Excuse me? This is a joke, right? I am still on planet Earth, aren't I?" She asks this as though the answer was clearly a yes.
I glare and clutch my painful arm. "Look, I haven't the time for this idle talk, I have to get to the medical ward."
Her eyes widen. "Did I do that to you?"
I roll my eyes and ignore her, taking to the air and flying my way through the corridors. Sure it was rude to leave her behind like that, but I guess I still didn't trust her. If that disorientation act of hers was really an act, then I needn't waste my time. I needed to get to a medical ward and fast; my pain was a blaring indication.
I heard something while I left and caught a glimpse of someone. It was a short man with tall black hair and his typical princely wear. I thanked fate for leaving so soon, had he seen me in tears I could've well been demoted.
The day was fairly pleasant and my chambers lacked its normal polish. I decided a walk was in order when I heard a thunderous crash. It was, of course, normality in a place like this one. I could recall moments in the beginning when this place took some getting used to. Bitter complaints were constant from me and I demanded that my palace be relocated. Dania coaxed me out of it, damn him.
It was that moment that I recalled that Dania was going to update me on the situation between two of my planets. There was tension between them, and the mini war had reached a stalemate. I regarded our electronic communications with great suspicion because Sana's kind could easily disable them. I sent the wench herself, being that her kind is responsible for this mess in the first place, to fetch messages from Dania.
Sana's delay was perturbing, so I resumed my original plan for a walk (more so a pacing, but a walk nonetheless). Within only a few steps out the door I noticed a sight that astonished even I.
A spaceship had parked itself inside the wall of my antechamber. A spaceship. I rubbed my temples with great fervor; this was beyond an annoyance. I don't give people permission to enter any of my chambers; spaceships were most certainly not an exception. Feeling the vain in my forehead swell, I marched over most regally to find and murder who ever was responsible.
On the way over, I gave the area a quick damage assessment and noticed something very curious. None of the other walls were damaged. Could it be that this ship used some sort of technology that made it possible to pass through walls, or perhaps appear from nothing? In any case, someone had some explaining to do.
Oddly enough, I noticed a woman standing there looking positively bewildered. Looking her up and down I gathered she had to be somebody's concubine. Women without a medical, agricultural, or military uniforms were either concubines or escaped prisoners. She didn't look like the escaped prisoner type, so she had to be a concubine.
Storming up to her, I bellowed, "Who engineered this mess?"
She took notice of me and nearly jumped out of her skin. "VEGETA? Thank god! I thought I was lost! Something went wrong with my ship-"
"Vegeta? Why do you refer to me on such familiar terms?" I cut her off, outrage undoubtedly evident on my features.
I felt her hand touch my shoulder in a… friendly gesture. "Oh, Geta, you can be a real funny guy sometime."
Nicknames.
Affectionate pats on the shoulder.
Compliments.
Ships crashing into my antechamber.
Now I was mad. And everyone knew that I, Prince Vegeta, was not a man to be trifled with.
"Wench! How dare you address me so unfittingly! Remove that unworthy hand of yours at once and bow to your King or I will add your head to my collection, am I understood?!"
Internally, I wore a complacent grin. Outside, I was glaring lethally. Being me was an art sometimes, I had to admit.
"Gosh, somebody didn't do their 50,000 pushups this morning, talk about being in a grumpy mood. Say, Veg, where are we, anyway?"
She was obviously incompetent. I had no patience for her idiocy, no matter how fair the day was. "Although it becomes clearer and clearer to me that you are mad and speak of things that make no sense as if they did, I will NOT tolerate your disrespect! Cease these ridiculous nicknames AT ONCE or I will punish you for profaning the royal family of Vegeta!"
Amazingly, the blue-haired woman didn't falter. "Cute, Vegeta, but it's really getting old. Could you just drop the game and tell me where we are?"
"You are on the planet of New Vegetasei in the palace of the Vegeta family. Unless you've been buried in a tomb for the past century, you know all this, and my only purpose in telling you this is to humor your idiocy."
"Palace of the Vegeta family? God, Vegeta, you're a really good actor, has anyone ever told you that? Well, that or there's something in the water. Hey, these people sure dress funny, is everyone in this act? Sure makes me wonder how gullible people think I am."
I have to admit, I was severely confused. Not that it was my fault by any means, this woman was mad! "Are you telling me that you don't believe that you are in my great palace when all you have to do to be reassured is look around?"
"Well of course I don't believe I'm in your palace, Vegeta, I know the story. Frieza blew up Vegetasei years ago and-"
"Your ignorance is disgusting! How could you not know that I, the legendary Super Saiyan defeated and killed Frieza without any assistance as soon as I discovered that he was to blow up my planet?"
"You? Killed Frieza? In your dreams! Frieza's still alive, and there's no way only you could kill him."
I could feel my face tense up in disgust. I was starting to think that the idea that she was buried in a tomb for the past century was the only logical explanation for her stupidity, and it was starting to make me mad. "You want proof? Then come with me."
The proof I was going to show her was the only proof she would need and be seeing for quite a long time. A cell of the dungeons. She had crashed into my antechamber, and instead of apologizing profusely and begging for forgiveness, as she should, she pretended she didn't know where she was. Not only that, but she treated me with disrespect and acted as though she had known me for years. I was angered, to say the least, and I wanted to teach her some respect.
But as I grabbed her arm and was about to haul her off to be incarcerated in the bowels of the castle, I was interrupted. And very rudely, might I add.
A small man, dressed in the garments of a page, had run in and now stood before me, bowing a curt bow. He had obviously ignored the fact that there was a giant ship in the middle of my gardens, and most annoyingly, ignored the fact that I was in the middle of something. But it seemed he had something important to say, pages were a shy and hesitant breed, he obviously thought what he had to say was important if he greeted me like that.
"What is it now?" I asked, clearly frustrated. He winced at this.
"Your Highness, the last messenger was injured, so I was sent to inform you in case anything went wrong."
I glanced at the blue-haired she-devil and saw another amazing thing. It was as though what I just told her was setting in; that this messenger was proof that was I said was true. I saw her stand there in amazement and shock, unable to move. Her blue eyes were wide in disbelief, and her mouth was gaping open. A shaky arm reached up and touched the jewels on my crown.
"You… really… are… Where? I… the missile… Something… went wrong…" she stuttered, as if the pieces of a puzzle had some how began to form a horrible image she could only begin to accept.
I turned to the page, frustrated, and said, "Why is it that when one of my messengers comes along the wench suddenly can't for coherent sentences."
The page turned red. "I don't normally have that effect on women, Your Highness."
"Yes, I'd imagine you wouldn't," I scoffed. The concubine was still staring at me, though occasionally her gaze would dart back in forth between the page and I.
"You're… king…" she said, struggling to form words. I rolled my eyes.
"Yes, of course I'm king, I'd have to go to great lengths to lie about that, now wouldn't I?"
"But that means… Goku… Everyone… They… I…" By this point, she had stumbled back, words seeming too much for her to handle. Now, acting like she had just had the biggest head rush of her life, she took another step backward. She was disorientated, confused, an unable to speak. It was clear what was to happen next.
The wench collapsed in a dead faint, forming a heap on the polished floor.
"She fainted? Already?" I exclaimed, throwing my hands up in frustration, "This wench needs her issues straightened, you can be sure of that."
"If you say so, Your Highness," the page added, hesitantly.
Although, I had to admit, after all this, I wasn't one to talk.