Past Related Future
I.
"I finally did it!" Bulma exclaimed, running into the kitchen to see her family eating breakfast. Hearing her made them all look up to see her holding some sort of small, black device high above her head.
Knowing it was just another one of her inventions that she would forget about in two days, Vegeta went back to eating his multiple pancakes, stuffing four to five of them in his mouth.
Bra did the same, though a little slower. She was never really into technology like her mother and brother; how her cell phone worked could bore her no less, as long as it worked was all that mattered.
Leaving the table, Trunks walked over to Bulma, "What ya got there, Mom?" He asked, looking at the small object with a button on top and a see-through glass whole on the top part, followed by a rectangular strip connected to another object that had a platform for something to come out and rest on.
Bulma smiled proudly, "I've got…a camera!" She looked around to see everyone's reaction.
Vegeta still continued to ignore her while Trunks looked at her, dumbfounded. Bra blinked twice then turned towards her dad, "So, are we gonna do anything today?"
He shrugged, never giving up on his pancakes.
"Uh, Mom?" Trunks began, "No offense, but…wasn't the camera already invented?"
Bulma smiled more, "Of course! I just improved it, is all. It works like a regular camera, only it's more advanced. Here, let me show you…" She held the camera up to her face, squinting her one eye so she could focus with her other.
"I can focus just on your face, Trunks, and only see your face, but…" Bulma pressed down on the button, earning her a small click before she lowered the camera.
Trunks watched as the camera did a few bleeps and then a picture came out, dried immediately. Bulma took the photograph off the platform and showed it to Trunks. He looked at it and his face turned from confused to amazed.
"Wow, Mom, you can see almost the whole room! How'd you do that?" He took the picture from her, eyeing all the little details the camera brought out.
Bulma giggled like she was still sixteen years old and winked, giving the thumbs up sign, "Just a little work from a beautiful genius."
Hearing this, Vegeta snorted and Bra began laughing.
Bulma decided to ignore then for now, "Not only does it show a lot of detail, it's also 3-D. Move the picture around and people and objects pop out." She explained, looking at the picture upside down to watch. Trunks did so and, sure enough, him standing there, Vegeta and Bra eating, and the counters all stood out from the background.
He chuckled, "This is cool, what are you going to take pictures of?" He asked, still searching around the picture.
Bulma shrugged, wrapping the camera around her neck so it hung down on her chest from a soft rope, "Probably just outside; take pictures of the cars and houses."
Before she headed for the door, she walked over to the kitchen table by Vegeta, "But first, I need something to eat." She grabbed the last piece of pancake he had.
Vegeta growled when his fork made a clang on the now empty plate, "Hey! You know I wanted that piece, don't you?"
Bulma only nodded before walking towards the door, taking a few nibbles at a time. Vegeta gave her back a menacing glare before turning his attention to Bra's plate after seeing she still had three pancakes left.
Bra saw this look and knew exactly what it meant. She wrapped her arms around her plate protectively, glaring straight back at him, "Don't even think about it."
Vegeta didn't have time to respond as Bulma stopped in front of the door with her hand on the knob, "Hey, did you guys feel that?"
Trunks finally looked up from playing with the picture, "Feel what?"
Bulma stood still for a few more seconds, "I could have swore I—."
Before she could go on, a loud rumbling arose, followed by a tremendous shaking all over the house.
"Oh!" Bulma screamed as she lost her balance and fell over.
Vegeta and Bra stood up quickly, knocking their chairs over backwards, as Bra rushed over to her mother. Trunks dropped the picture he was holding and spread his feet a little more to keep his balance. He looked around the room crazily, "Dad, what's happening?!"
Vegeta didn't answer him, only narrowed his eyes down to focus a ki level if there was someone near by or if it was an earthquake. Unfortunately, he didn't sense anything.
Bra suddenly screamed, gaining Vegeta's attention. The lights began flickering, hurting the girls' eyes to an extreme. It was like getting blinded over and over. Bulma pulled Bra close to her, letting her scream and cover her eyes into her chest while Bulma just squeezed her eyes shut tightly. Vegeta appeared beside his mate and daughter in an instant, pulling them both to him so they wouldn't have to take in any of the light.
"Trunks, go find out what's happening!" Vegeta screamed over top of the females and the TV and radio that kept going on and off. If he listened, he could only hear half a syllable at a time, but he tried not to focus on that.
Trunks was so confused, he didn't know which was to go first.
"Vegeta, make it stop!" Bulma pleaded, pulling Bra closer.
He gritted his teeth, "Trunks!"
Trunks spun around and finally decided to head into the living room, but before he got that far, everything stopped. The television, the radio, and the lights were all turned off. All four of them were still expecting something else to happen, but even when nothing did, Bra was still shaking.
Trunks walked over to them and leaned down next to the bundled group, putting a hand on Bra's shoulder to try to calm her down. Vegeta still didn't trust whatever happened, so he kept a firm hold.
Finally, Bulma got enough courage to lift her head up from underneath Vegeta's chin to look around, "Wh-what happened?" Her face was flushed and Vegeta could feel her rapid heartbeat against his torso.
Another bright light formed, only this one was constant.
Bulma buried his head into Vegeta's neck again, wanting to scream but found that she had no voice. Vegeta also realized this, for he felt the vibrations from her throat that she was indeed yelling, but he was too deaf to hear, even though nothing came about for him to lose his hearing…unless it happened in a split second.
Vegeta even had to close his own eyes and that's when he felt like he was getting pushed back. Suddenly, he couldn't feel his arms around Bulma and Bra any longer and he didn't know if it was because he really wasn't, or if he had gone numb.
Just like my dream… he thought, feeling a flash of fear cross his mind.
Then…nothingness.
He opened his eyes. He could see again! And he was still holding the girls. He could feel again! He looked around. All he could see, for what seemed like miles, was a dark planet with large gusts of winds that made dirt fly every which way. He looked to see if his family was okay and, sure enough, all three were fine.
"Open your eyes." He commanded all of them. He watched as they all slowly blinked before opening their eyes fully. Convinced that their vision was good, he stood up, letting his arms lift from Bulma and Bra.
Bulma, Bra, and Trunks followed his lead, looking around at the seemingly abandoned planet.
"What is this place?" Bulma asked, more to herself than anyone else.
"I have a feeling we're not in Capsule Corp. anymore," Bra said, turning around to look in all directions.
"Wolf, wolf," Trunks said drying, narrowing his eyes down and folding his arms across the chest. If it were any other time, Bulma would be teasing him about how much he acted like his father.
Vegeta ignored all of them, averting his eyes to his left, right, then to in front of him.
This place looks oddly familiar… he said in his mind, quickly searching through his brain to remember all the planets he has ever been to. Considering there was numerous planets, he couldn't put his finger on it.
Then suddenly it snapped at him. Just like a rubber band, it stung. His eyes got as wide as they could as he took two steps back like he got pushed.
"Vegeta/Dad!" the three of them cried at one, surprised by his sudden motions.
"Are you okay?" Bulma asked, stepping up beside him and putting a hand on his forearm. He only shook his head, but his eyes seemed to be focused to a certain spot in front of him.
"No, it can't…it can't be!" Vegeta screamed before gasping. Sweat formed on his forehead and he felt it slipping down the side of his face and in between his eyes quickly.
Watching him act like this only made his family more nervous about the location they were suddenly at.
"Vegeta!" Bulma screamed, more out of fright than frustration.
"Well, well, well…if it isn't Prince Vegeta," a deep male voice came from behind all of them.
They all turned around quickly, surprised there was someone else with them. And as soon as Vegeta saw him, he knew what he was and where he was at…
The man looked to be about twenty-five or so, for his features were still young looking, sharp. He had a scouter over his left blue eye. His eyes narrowed into such thin slits, it put Vegeta's glaring gaze to shame. He stood pretty tall with his chest pushed out and his arms straight down at his sides. His jet-black hair was pointed in every direction with mo-hawk like hair straight through the center. All of them wouldn't know what to think of him if it wasn't for a small little detail that brought out all his other features…
His Saiyan armor.
After Bulma, Trunks, and Bra got done looking him over and saw that he was only focused on Vegeta, they, too, turned to him.
Yet Vegeta was still all too stunned to utter a word. He took a step back, awing at the young man that stood before him.
The man laughed, "Why Vegeta…don't look so frightened. I'm sure there's no reason for you to be scared of little ol' me," again, he chuckled.
When Vegeta still didn't say anything, the man seemed to get annoyed as the smirk quickly left his face as fast as he appeared in front of them.
"Well? Say something!" he screamed, taking a big step forward. Seeing this, Bra went over to Trunks and stood behind him. He grabbed her hand and gave it a little squeeze, telling her to try to not be frightened.
"Have you lost all your dignity, Prince? Don't you know that by greeting your loyal servants with an open mouth is rude?" The man took another step towards Vegeta and his family, Vegeta still not being able to make any words.
"Why are you so surprised to be back on Vegeta-sei?" the young man finally asked.
Hearing the truth spoken so clearly and abruptly made the four of them gasp and even made the man gasp with sarcasm before laughing loudly and evilly again.
"Vegeta, you have become so pathetic! Just like all of us other Saiyans presumed: you are not what you used to be." Settling that, the man finally turned his attention to the three off to the side, seeming as if he just noticed them.
"And what do we have here? I surely don't remember seeing these three before," he said, licking his lips lusciously as he looked at Bulma.
Seeing this, Vegeta made himself snap out of his thoughts, sensing he had to take action before the Saiyan that stood in front of him got bored and decided to do something.
"Leave them alone, they are of no concern to you," Vegeta announced, finally standing up straight and stepping in front of his family protectively.
The Saiyan snickered, "I never said they were a concern, I just asked who they were." He crossed his arms across his armored chest.
Vegeta growled, clenching his fists tightly, "None of your business."
"Really?" the smirk again faded from his face as he got into a fighting position, "Well I choose to make it my business!" With that, the man flew forward, pulling his arm back, ready to punch Vegeta in the face.
Vegeta didn't even try to block it. The Saiyan hit him right in between the eyes and Vegeta didn't even flinch. The mans eyes got wide for a moment but he quickly recovered as he went for a spinning kick to Vegeta's ribs. Again, nothing.
Then man flew back and rested his feet on the ground. Without a second thought, he yelled loudly into the open something in Saiyan language. It took Vegeta a couple moments to register what he had said, but once he figured it, he powered up immediately.
"Come out!"
"Trunks, stand your ground!" Vegeta yelled behind him, glad that Trunks did so quickly, pushing Bra towards Bulma.
Suddenly, tons upon tons of Saiyans came flying from out of nowhere. Even Vegeta and Trunks' ability to sense ki hadn't come in handy that time. Yet both of them found no reason to go Super Saiyan when they were only fighting normal Saiyans still quite weaker than them.
It was a good reasoning at first, considering one kick or punch sent the Saiyan flying miles in one direction or another.
But the Saiyans soon found a big weakness to them both…
"Daddy!" Vegeta heard Bra scream from behind him. Quickly, he turned around to see two Saiyans holding onto Bra, one for each of her arms. He looked to his immediate right and saw that two others were doing the same to Bulma.
Without even realizing it, Vegeta powered up to Super Saiyan two, causing little craters in the ground where his feet were. He gritted his teeth so hard, a lot of them thought he would crack them. But mostly, they were all surprised to see his Super Saiyan form.
"He's a Super Saiyan?" a male Saiyan asked.
"Man, I thought I would never see one of those," another one commented.
"What should we do now?" a female Saiyan asked.
"Quiet!" a booming voice finally came to quiet all of the curious and awestruck Saiyans. It even made Vegeta jump a little, for it sounded exactly like the loudest voice in his dream. It also had another sense of knowing in the way the male Saiyan spoke.
Vegeta looked to his left and, making his eyes go wide again, saw his father.
King Vegeta walked through the crowd with that sense of pride held in every step and movement he made. All the informal Saiyans moved to the side to let him through, bowing their heads in respect. The king walked to within about 10 feet of Vegeta before stopping and glaring at him.
"Fa-father?" was all he managed to spit out for, once again, he was speechless.
"Don't go stating the obvious, Vegeta," the king said in an impatient tone, "but one thing that is not obvious as of yet is, just what the hell do you think you are doing?"
Vegeta tried to get over his amazement quickly, taking a side-glance to make sure Bra and Bulma were still okay. Settling that, he powered up even more, making a brightly glowing aura surround his body three feet out.
He heard all the scouters begin beeping wildly and the frightened noises all the Saiyans made. This made him smirk in self-satisfaction.
"Wipe that smirk off your face, Vegeta! It's not going to do you any good!" King Vegeta lectured, lifting his right arm to make his cape go swaying behind him.
Even if Vegeta chose to or not, his smirk did disappear.
"That's better. Now…if you know any better, you will stop showing off and power down to your normal state. You will not harm us…when your family is in danger," this time, the king smirked, crossing his arms across his chest, "This is your family, correct?"
When Vegeta didn't answer, he knew he was correct.
"Right, right…and you wouldn't want anything bad happening to them, would you? Of course not," he answered his question for Vegeta.
Quickly in his head, Vegeta thought over ways to get Bulma and Bra free from the clutches of the four Saiyans. As he did, he guessed some others knew what he was up to, for they crowded around his wife and daughter, silently threatening him.
He knew that one rough squeeze could surely kill Bulma. She was a tough human, but that just won't cut it. Bra would be a little tougher since she had half Saiyan in her, but she would still be no match.
It was times like these that Vegeta asked himself why his daughter couldn't take up fighting.
Reluctantly, Vegeta powered down until his hair went black again and his muscles relaxed some.
"Heh, heh, it seems like your time on Earth with these weaklings has softened you, Vegeta. I remember when you wouldn't push your stubbornness and pride out of the way for anyone. And now look at you," King Vegeta shook his head in disappointment before looking at Trunks, "I take it this is your son? He a Super Saiyan, too?"
Vegeta didn't answer, just glared deathly at his father.
"Yes, I am," Trunks answered.
"Shut up, Trunks!" Vegeta yelled at him, feeling his body tense all over again.
"Trunks?" the king laughed exuberantly, "What kind of name is that? That's not a Saiyan name!" he quickly averted his attention to Bulma and Bra.
"What about their names?" he asked.
When Vegeta didn't answer, the king got very annoyed, "If you don't tell me, I guess I'll have to find out for myself," he announced before beginning to walk over to them.
"Don't you dare touch either of them," Vegeta hissed in a voice that made his father stop, "My mate's name is Bulma and my daughters is Bra."
Hearing this, King Vegeta did more laughing as though it were the most amusing thing in the universe, "Well isn't this just an undergarment family! Do you feel left out, Vegeta?"
Vegeta only growled, "What is the point for all of this?!"
King Vegeta stopped laughing and looked at him. By the way he glared, he seemed like he could read his son like a book, looking into everything he had ever experienced.
"Take the boy to the training room and take the females to the cell," King Vegeta announced, never unlocking his glare from Vegeta.
"What?! A cell!" Vegeta screamed, outraged that his family would have to be confined into such a thing.
"Daddy!" Bra yelled again, visible tears shown shining in her eyes and running down her cheeks, "Don't let them do this, Daddy, don't let them!" Bra screamed over and over, trying to wiggle her way out of the Saiyans' grasps.
Vegeta winced inwardly from her pleads, yet he knew that if he tried to go to her, they would only cause harm upon her or Bulma.
"Be strong, Bra! I'll see you again as soon as I can!" Vegeta yelled back over to her, feeling his own wetness behind his eyelids threatening to spill over when he saw his mate and daughter being taken away…and there was nothing he could do. Sure, he had some strategies, but he wasn't going to risk putting his family in any more danger than was necessary. Looking from his right to his left, he saw about twenty Saiyans leading Trunks away to the training cell, probably to see how strong he really was.
Vegeta shook his head, never feeling as helpless as he did right then.
"Follow me, Vegeta," his father said, turning around in a certain grace that made it known he was in high rank. And without knowing what else to do…Vegeta followed.
Without realizing it, Vegeta began getting lost in his own thoughts on the whole situation. Before, he was sure none of them were able to think too well; only hearing the blood pounding heavily in their brain and clouding their vision, just like him.
How had this all happened? Vegeta remembered without hesitation that Freiza blew up his planet with joy. He remembered hearing many of the Saiyan elite's either yelling to begin their fight to ward off Freiza, or the many horrified sounds that came from the frightened ones. He remembered hearing Freiza's laughter and the loud bang and bright lights as Vegeta-sei and all it's people were destroyed in one blow.
Why had this all happened? Was it because of his dreams? He doubted that the second it came to mind. All through his life, he would often have nightmares of his past, like his brain was constantly telling him to not forget what he had caused. Yet he should have known something was up when his dreams began getting weirder and more frequent.
I should have told Bulma. He lectured himself. Truth be told, he had not one clue what she could have done to prevent them, but just being able to confide in her might have been enough; it always worked in the past. This time's different though…
And now look what happened! Bulma and Bra were going to be confined in a little cell for who knows how long. Trunks wasn't any better off. If they sent him to the training chamber to see how strong he was, they meant it. Even though Trunks was a pretty strong Super Saiyan, he grew up being more fascinated in technology than fighting. Plus, these people could work him day and night without breaks; he just hoped that Trunks could take care of himself for a little while until he figured out what to do.
But what was he to do if he didn't even know what was going on? He—.
His thoughts were interrupted.
"Vegeta, pay attention!" King Vegeta criticized, turning his head to the side to see Vegeta out of the corner of his eye, "If you want to know anything, you got to stop daydreaming and face reality."
Vegeta glared at him and mumbled under his breath, "There's no reality in this."
"Oh, yes there is," the king heard him, "There's much reality, believe it or not. I know it's hard to believe, I didn't have the best of luck when I saw myself and all my people alive on Vegeta-sei again, but I have come to accept it."
Crossing his arms, Vegeta looked up ahead to see a huge palace. He remembered it to be his young childhood home. It still stood taller than ever to him with its many balconies either for just show or ones to step out on, the pointed tops for the rooms that were on the top floor, where most were forbidden from, all the closed off windows so intruders could not peek or break in, and the ridiculously large entrance door that would make someone twenty feet tall look short.
"So…" Vegeta started as they quickly entered the palace and walked down the long entrance hall, "do you even know how this all came about?"
"To tell you the truth," King Vegeta said, going to large double doors and swinging them open to reveal a red carpet that lead to a thrown with many pictures of different people and planets on each side, "I don't have one clue."
He continued quickly, walking up the pair of stairs that lead up to the platform that held the thrown and sitting down with his back straight, "One minute I knew nothing and the next I was back on Vegeta-sei with all my people around me. Me, along with all the other Saiyans vaguely remember that we were dead and are now truly alive. It's like not a moment passed and we were all busy, trying to decide which planet to conquer next. None of us aged…" he smirked then, "well, except for you."
Vegeta "hmphed" and continued to stand directly at the bottom of the steps, "That's an obvious reason: because I was never dead in the first place! I didn't die on Vegeta-sei with Vegeta-sei's people. I didn't—."
"Yes, and that's the whole point, isn't it?" King Vegeta interrupted, sitting forward to seem intimidating to Vegeta, "All your people were killed and you couldn't have cared less. All you cared about was keeping yourself alive and staying away from Freiza, because you were scared of him."
Narrowing his eyes, Vegeta put his right foot on the bottom step to mimic his father's actions, "Of course I cared about keeping myself alive! And I was not scared of Freiza! After I can back from Earth, I fought Freiza head on!"
King Vegeta smirked again, "And you failed, am I correct?"
Vegeta tried not to flinch as he thought back of his time on Namek, "Yes, he did manage to kill me, but all the Earthlings brought me back with the dragon balls."
"I'm sure that was a mistake," the king nodded, "well, they brought you back. That's not the point here, the point is…you never destroyed Freiza like you promised me you would."
Hearing that shot back at him, made Vegeta take his foot off the step quickly, like it was on fire. He gaped open mouthed at the man on the thrown, before stuttering out the words, "No…I was never able to. My son finished him off."
King Vegeta laughed loudly at this, "When you can't depend on your son, depend on your grandson," he shook his head, "Vegeta, Vegeta, Vegeta…what has Earth done to you." It was more of a finished statement than a question.
"It has made me realize," Vegeta answered quickly, "that my life doesn't have to evolve around obliterating planets and that I can show affection towards people without getting hurt emotionally."
Again, the king chuckled, "Right…I think that proves my point that you have become too soft," he tugged his lips up mysteriously, "I'm sure we can change that quickly enough, though…"
Vegeta clenched his fists together as tightly as he could, "What are you talking about?"
"You'll see…you'll see." King Vegeta sat back again; deciding the intimidating was done, "Well, I suppose you want to know how things will be arranged around here. To put it simply, your son will stay around the training area at all times, or at least until I say otherwise. You will be sleeping on the third floor and, if you remember well, in the room at the end of the east wing, your old bedroom. Your daughter and mate will stay in the slave cell in the basement at all times. There's a bed down there and a toilet, so they should be okay if you are worried."
Growling, Vegeta jumped over the two steps and grabbed his father by the cape to draw him nearer, speaking right to his face, "My family will not be treated like that. They can all sleep in my room with me."
"I will not allow that, Vegeta," he said, grabbing his cloak out of Vegeta's grasp, "when you were brought here, I assume they were not permitted also, so they will be held accountable as trespassers."
Thinking back, Vegeta remembered that they would make male slaves train countless hours and lock female slaves in the dungeons.
"But they are not trespassers," Vegeta hissed.
King Vegeta shrugged, "I will have one of my servants bring three meals a day down for them so they won't go hungry."
"Let me bring their food down for them," Vegeta said without thinking.
"You?" King Vegeta laughed, "But Vegeta…you're a prince and prince's don't have to do that kind of work."
"I don't care!" he yelled, getting frustrated, "Who knows what things you may have me do and that will also give me some time to spend a moment or so with them. I will take care of them the best I can," Vegeta said plainly, hoping to settle the argument.
The king sighed, also tired of arguing with him, "Fine. Breakfast is served at exactly eight-thirty. You will quickly take that down to them and hurry back so you can be served also. Same for lunch, which is served at noon, and dinner, served at five-thirty. Is that clear? Any other time, I would like to see you training; to see what you can do."
Vegeta opened his mouth to protest, but then closed it.
This may be the best option I have…and I don't want to get anyone mad, they might hurt my family. Damn them!
"Fine. It should be almost noon now, should I get ready to take them down their food?" he asked, anxious to make sure they were both all right.
"No," King Vegeta shook his head and looked to his right to see a clock hanging from the wall with Saiyan numbers around the outside, "It's a little after six."
"A little after six?!" Vegeta exclaimed, "But…I just got done eating breakfast, I remember I was—."
"You're not on Earth anymore, Vegeta," he said sternly, seemingly ashamed that his son was used to Earth ways, "you should know that from here to there, we have completely different time zones."
Vegeta sulked, reluctantly agreeing that it was true, "But they could get hungry…Bulma didn't eat that much and—."
"Well I guess they're just going to have to get used to it, aren't they? I will not let my slaves have any special privileges and that means your family, too, Vegeta. They will be fine until morning, I think they're too frightened to worry about eating much, anyway."
That statement only made Vegeta madder, "Listen, even if I'm not to bring them food now, I would still like to go down to see them right now."
King Vegeta sighed, "Very well, if that's the way you want it. I'm sure you know the way to the dungeon."
Without another word, Vegeta turned around and headed out of the thrown room. Really, he had totally forgotten which way to turn to end up to his destination, but he figured it wouldn't be that hard. If he kept going down one hallway, he was bound to come to a set of stairs.
As he walked right, he noticed all the little things that he once hardly took any interest in as a kid. There were pictures upon pictures all the way down the hall of his direct or indirect relatives, side tables with drawers that held who knew what, expensive looking vases, ones that made him remember how he used to knock them over joyfully and watching them shatter on the ground. He would have smirked out of spite from that thought if he wasn't so dead set on finding Bulma and Bra.
Fortunately, his assumption of finding the dungeon steps by going down one hallway proved correct. Already, he saw that the Saiyans didn't worry too much about taking care of the bottom floor like they did the rest of the building. The red carpet stopped immediately at the doorway down the cold, hard, gray steps with the same kind of walls. He started down them, noticing no change in the scenery. One flight of steps, two, three, four; finally, after he went down the fifth row of steps, he saw a long, narrow hallway with cells on either side.
He walked slowly at first, looking from side to side to see skeletons chained to walls or just dead in corners, spider-webs in every open space possible, and rusted chains that held up the rock hard, five-feet long beds.
Vegeta shuttered mentally, thinking back to his dreams and how the walls closed in around him. The stench was one that matched his dream also; the smell of rotted decay.
Trying not to think of it any longer, he looked directly down the center to see a bright glow coming from the very last cell. Suddenly, he began running as fast as he could until he reached it, gasping as he looked in.
Their cell was just as bad, if not worse, than all the others were. Spider-webs without spiders clung to about two feet all the way across the top of the peeling walls, which alone making it look grimy. A yellowed toilet sat in the left corner, little bugs climbing in and out and all around it. To his right, hung the bed he saw in all the cells with a sleeping Bra rested uncomfortably on it and Bulma sitting next to her, holding her hand tightly.
Hearing his gasp made Bulma look up and run over to him, or at least as close as she could. To keep them from going anyway, red electric bars went vertically all across the cell way, so no one could touch it without a million volts going through their whole body, probably enough to put one with Bulma's power into shock.
"Vegeta, what's going on," Bulma asked, almost in a whisper. By the way her voice cracked, it seemed she could break down into tears any second, but was trying to be strong for herself and especially Bra.
"I don't know," was all Vegeta could say to answer as he looked at Bra. As he looked closer, he saw a thin bloodline forming down the side of her face from the top of her head. Automatically, he realized that she was not asleep, but passed out.
Bulma sniffed, bringing Vegeta to look at her again, "They were bringing us down here and…and Bra kept struggling, yelling for you and screaming that she didn't want to come down here. Eventually, they got tired of hearing her, so they hit her on her head. That's when…anger took over me, but as I was trying to get to her, they threw us in the cell and closed it with these horrid things. Vegeta, I'm so scared," she concluded.
Vegeta's eyes softened, "I know, Bulma, but you got to be strong right now. I can't do anything without putting you two or Trunks in danger."
Wiping at her eyes roughly with her arm, Bulma clenched her fists together and, Vegeta thought, trying to hold herself together, "But can't you just go Super Saiyan and kill all these lunatics?!"
Sadly, Vegeta shook his head, "They're all over the place…I could kill a lot, but word will quickly spread and they know you and Bra are my weakness…that could stop me dead in my tracks."
Not knowing what else to say since it mostly seemed hopeless from her point of view, tears streamed freely down her face, "What's going to happen to us?" she whispered.
Vegeta unclenched his fists as he looked in on Bulma. Kami, why did this happen to her? Why did this happen to Bra and Trunks? If the Saiyans were all supposed to come here again for one strange reason or another, the three of them had nothing to do with any of it. If anything, it should have just been him…and he wished it was only him.
"I don't know, Bulma, but don't cry," he said softly, staring at her between the electric bars, "I won't let anything bad happen to you, I promise. I will do everything I can to keep you as happy as I can," Vegeta took a step forward, standing directly in front of the bars, "I'll bring you food three times a day, possibly more, and come down to see you as often as I can. I promise that, too."
From hearing all that, Bulma showed a small smile, bringing one to Vegeta's face also.
"I love you, Vegeta," she said, almost inaudibly, looking at him with glassy eyes.
The smile never left his face as he brought his hand slowly closer to the bars, putting three fingers through. Suddenly, the silent, straight red bars quickly static-ed, making shooting noises and thin red lines go horizontally.
Bulma took a step back after seeing that and Vegeta's body jump a little, "Vegeta, what are you doing?"
Vegeta looked at her and, without another moment's hesitation, stuck his whole hand through, followed by his whole right arm, making the bars go even more crazy. Ignoring the constant jolts that surged through his body, he touched Bulma's face lovingly, running his hand up and down her cheek.
Bulma closed her eyes and took in a shuddering breath, feeling his hand vibrate some and loving the feeling of knowing Vegeta was near. She opened them slowly to look at him before putting her hands over top of his, moving her head further into his palm.
Beginning to feel the static reach around his heart, making it beat faster and become tighter, he quickly moved his thumb across her lips in the fantasy to kiss her and pulled his arm out of the bars, making them go back to their normal, quiet selves.
Even though the moment seemed too short to Bulma, she smiled widely that Vegeta showed her that affection.
"Take care of Bra," Vegeta said before taking two steps back and turning to his right to leave before someone came down there to find out what all the noise was for.
Bulma only nodded as she watched him walk down the hall again. She kept watching him until she could see him no longer. She put a hand over her heart before walking over to the "bed" Bra was on and sat down on the floor beside her head, wiping off some of the blood with her sleeve and kissed her right eye.
This is going to be one long night. Bulma thought before resting her head next to her daughter's.
Hey everyone! I'd like to thank all of you who reviewed and a special thanks to Rissa of the Saiya-Jin for telling me I made an error in the title. ^_^ It figures I would do something like that and probably wouldn't have caught it if it wasn't for you. =) And Tenshi Sasher for giving me such a great review! I'm glad you like the little extras that really have no meaning that I put in there. Hope ya liked this chapter too!