Past Related Future
III.
Bulma and Bra burst out laughing, unable to control themselves. Bra pointed and giggled.
"Daddy looks so terrified in that one!" she commented, rolling on her back on the ground, holding her stomach.
Her mother nodded, taking that picture and putting it behind the others, to look at the next one.
All morning, the two girls were busy looking through the pictures that were taken earlier, finding something funny in each one of them. Eventually, they came across the one where Bulma was kissing Vegeta on the cheek and Bra was looking up at them.
"This one's really nice," Bra said, taking it from her mother and moving it around in her hands, loving the 3Dness of it.
"Yeah, it is," Bulma agreed, looking over her daughter's shoulder to also watch the picture come to life. A small smile formed on her face, remembering the moment. Sure, it was just about two or three hours ago, but what she wouldn't do to go back to those hours.
Is this how our life is going to be? Bulma asked herself, the smile slowly fading from her lips. Having only five great moments with Vegeta, then only remembering them by pictures? She stole a quick glance at her camera, thanking Kami that she invented it and left it hanging around her neck.
She sighed. Too bad I couldn't have made it better…so it never ran out of film. Oh, what a dream that would be. Bulma smiled just thinking about it. She looked down at Bra, seeing her face still lit up with joy from looking at all the pictures taken. Running her hands down her daughter's hair, noticing that even though it seriously needed brushing, her hair was still as soft and as shiny as ever.
Ah, who needs pictures…with a memory like ours. Bulma convinced herself of this, putting all the pictures down in a messy pile before leaning up against the wall.
Bra looked back, lowering the picture she held, "Mommy? You okay?" She asked innocently, scooting herself back so she could snuggle up against her mother's warm body.
Bulma smiled down at her, wrapping her arm around Bra's shoulder to hug her close, "Yes, I'm perfectly fine, honey. Just thinking that your father should be coming back down here pretty soon with our lunch. I'm getting pretty hungry, how 'bout you?"
As soon as Bulma asked that, a long grrr was let out, which came from Bra's stomach. The little girl blushed, wrapping her arms over her stomach to hide it in embarrassment.
Bulma laughed and nodded, "I'll take that as a yes."
**********
A kick, a back flip, a punch, a roll, another powerful punch…a knockout!
Vegeta smirked to himself. He was quite enjoying himself, fighting all these Saiyans. Usually, the only one he could actually spar with was Kakarot, and it was different to be sparring with others. Sure, practically everyone he was fighting was pretty weak compared to him, but who cared? He was winning big time in this training field, and that's all that mattered to him.
He found it amusing how he kept doing the same things over and over again, and in the same order, and yet none of the Saiyans were able to catch it, therefore, leaving them all knocked out.
"Prince Vegeta!" Someone from behind him suddenly called out. He turned around quickly, ready to take the guy on…only to find out that it was the food servant, who was about twenty feet away from him, standing right outside the castle doors.
He sighed, upset that he got interrupted, "What is it?"
"Lunch is ready!" The guy called back, turning around to go back inside.
"Oh…" he said, looking over his shoulder to see about nine other Saiyans he never got around to sparring with yet. He looked ahead of him again to see that the servant already went inside. Vegeta turned around, powering up to where he was almost Super Saiyan, looking at his superiors with an evil smirk.
"I'll be there in a minute…" he said to no one in particular.
**********
Soon, Vegeta was back down in the cell with Bulma and Bra, also eating his lunch with them. While they were eating, Bra had to show him all the pictures that were taken, often spitting out some of her food when she decided to eat and talk at the same time. If it was anywhere else or at any other time, Bulma and Vegeta would have told her to watch her manners, but since they weren't exactly in the perfect mannerly place, they let it slide.
When Bra finally ran out of pictures to talk about, it was Bulma's turn to talk. She glanced sideways at Vegeta.
"So, you look pretty warn out," she commented, "You've been training?"
Vegeta nodded, "Yeah, with a bunch of weaklings I might add. No one on this fuc—" he stopped and looked at his daughter, deciding to change his words around, "freaking planet is even close to my level of power."
Bulma giggled a bit, "That's for sure…but you look like you worked up a sweat. Any explanation for that?"
"Mostly from moving around so much. If those weaklings can't wear me out, I'll just have to wear myself out." He shrugged and put down his tray, now empty of food, "I can't think of too much else to do on this wasted planet."
"Yeah, I guess…" Bulma said, looking down. She thought, You can always come to see us, you know. But she decided to keep that to herself.
"So, did you see Trunks?"
Now, Vegeta was flipping through the pictures, scowling at a lot of them, thinking that pictures always brought out the worst in him.
The worst in me…pictures bring out the worst in me. His mind told him over and over again. He stared hard at the one picture, seeing how he was leaned against the wall, arms folded with his one foot up against the wall. And of course…he had his usual scowl on. Not only that…his Saiyan uniform.
His eyes only seemed to be focused on himself, not the two females that also occupied the picture. Was that really…the worst in him?
He stared harder at the picture, leaning in closer. The worst in me…just in the picture? The worst in me…it wants…it wants out.
I am the Prince of all Saiyans!
"Vegeta!"
Vegeta jumped, quite embarrassed from it. He turned his head to Bulma, his eyes narrowed dangerously, angry that he got interrupted from his thoughts, "What do you want!"
"I asked you a question!" Bulma screamed back, getting right up in his face, accustomed to the look Vegeta was now giving her.
He sighed, standing up, also dropping the pictures on the ground as he did so, "What was the question?"
Bulma sighed, extremely ticked off that Vegeta wasn't paying attention to her, "I asked you if you've seen Trunks yet?"
"Oh…yeah, yeah I did," was all he said before walking over to the laser bars, suddenly having a strong urge to get out of that cell.
His mate was silent for a few moments, waiting for him to go on. When he didn't, she also stood up, putting her hands on her hips, "And?!"
Vegeta spun around quickly, "And what!? Bulma, honestly, if anything happened to him, don't you think I would be explaining something by now? But since I'm not…I'm sure it's safe for you to assume that our son is perfectly fine."
Bulma was quite taken aback, as her shoulders slumped and her arms fell to her side. Over on the "bed", Bra's eyes also widened from her father's sudden outburst. She wasn't really paying attention to her parents' conversation, but she figured her mom must've said something to tick him off.
"Vegeta…are you okay?" Bulma asked in a more quiet voice than what they were using, not sure if she wanted to take a step closer to him or just leave him alone.
His eyes softened when he saw that he hurt Bulma's feelings and he also slumped his shoulders, "Yes, I'm fine. It's just been a…very confusing day. That's all."
Bulma nodded slowly, eyeing him as if she found that very hard to believe, "If you say so, Vegeta."
He, too, nodded, before taking out the key chain that held the button, pressing it, making the bars disappear, "Anyway, I better get going. Remember, I'll come for you tonight."
Bra jumped up and ran to Vegeta, wrapping her small arms around his waist, "You leaving already, Daddy?"
Vegeta kneeled down at her height, putting his hands on her shoulders, "Yeah, for now. But I'll be back later with your dinner, then after that to get you two out of here, okay? I just got some things to plan out before I just jump right into it, okay?"
Bra blinked up at him with huge, curious eyes, "You're planning something out? Wow, Daddy, that doesn't sound like you."
Bulma giggled as she stepped towards the two, "She's right, you know."
Vegeta growled, standing up and exiting the cell, "If it was just me trying to escape this planet, I would just do whatever came to mind first. But since you two can't exactly fly through space to get back to Earth, a spaceship will come in handy."
The two girls nodded in unison, "Yeah, I guess you're right about that."
"Heh," Vegeta said, pressing the button again to make the laser bars go back up, "Of course I'm right."
He began to walk away, only waving behind him when he heard Bra say bye.
Bra turned back to her mother, staring up at her weirdly, "Was Daddy acting a little strange?"
Bulma stared back down at her, before averting her eyes to the picture Vegeta seemed to be so intense at looking at, "Yeah…just a little…"
**********
Vegeta stormed into his bedroom, slamming his door hard behind him before plopping down on his bed with his arms behind his head. He glared up at the ceiling, and if the ceiling was looking back, it would have died just from the look.
What the-fuck-is wrong with me?! He screamed to himself, more enraged then than he has been in quite awhile. His mind was engulfing him…it seemed like he was no longer thinking the things he wanted to…but what…
Or am I thinking things I want to…?
NO! His mind echoed, trying to get the stupid thoughts from his head. Why am I even thinking this, anyway? There's so reason…
Or is there?
Shut up! Vegeta didn't know what was going on…for the first time in quite awhile, he felt like crying. He felt like spilling his eyes and his guts out until he couldn't cry and thrash and complain anymore. Letting all his feelings out always seemed to make him feel better afterwards, but…why did he have those feelings? How could he express them if he didn't even know what was going on?
"Why did you betray us, Prince?!"
"Prince, why didn't you save us!?"
"We trusted you!"
All the voices from his dream came rushing back to him, making his body jump from the loudly quiet voices that repeated and echoed constantly within his brain. He flipped off his bed, falling to his knees on the floor, grabbing his head and shaking it vigorously, his eyes closed tightly.
"Get out of my head!" He screamed to the air, and just as so, it was like he was talking to the air. The voices didn't listen, they just got louder, blaming him more and more with each passing second.
"I didn't abandon you! I was kidnapped, I had no way of…!"
"Do not lie to us, Prince!"
"I'm not!" He groaned loudly as he stood up on his feet, bounding quickly to the door, flinging it open and flying down the hall, "I need some fresh air…"
Back at his room, King Vegeta stood behind his door, at the opposite side of the hall from which Vegeta fled. He was mostly hidden in the shadows and if one was to just walk down the hall and see him, they would surely have a heart attack.
The king smirked, quite amused and pleased with what was happening with his son.
"You will be the evil prince again very soon, Vegeta…I hope you accept it easily." And with that, the king turned around, his cape flying behind him.
**********
"I'm tired of repeating myself…get up!" Yahei screamed, punching the gravity control panel roughly.
Trunks cracked an eye open where he was once again meditating in the middle of the room, instead of transforming and jumping all around like they wanted him to. Actually, Yutaka wasn't there at the moment, but Yahei made enough noise just by himself. All afternoon, all he said was "get up, get up, get up!" Trunks actually got quite tired of it and had to hold himself back from just going Super Saiyan three and breaking the gravity room and give that guy a painful death.
But of course, he couldn't go Super Saiyan three, so that right there blew the whole idea out the window. Not only that, if he destroyed the gravity room now, the guards would take him somewhere else, and his father expected him to be right there when he did the great rescue.
That doesn't give me a lot of options… he told himself, trying his hardest to block out Yahei's voice.
I wonder what time it is…man, I'm getting really hungry, hearing himself say that, his stomach growled loudly, giving his stomach a tightening cramp.
He twitched. Okay, so maybe that's not the best thing to think about.
"Get…up!" Yahei yelled again, pounding both of his fists into the control panel again, this time making sparks fly.
Trunks heard this and glared at the Saiyan, "Hey, watch it! If you keep doing that, you're going to break it!"
Yahei sneered, clenching his fists tightly when he realized that this kid was telling him what to do, "Oh, yeah? You want me to stop, do you? Then I suggest you…"
Trunks rolled his eyes, "Yeah, yeah, I know, get up. You said that already."
Yahei looked shocked that he was told off like that…especially when he had such control over how high or low the gravity could go. Actually…Trunks got him mad enough that he pounded down on the panel, making a huge dent in the middle. Sparks flew from the wires that were cut off and a long sigh-like-sound was heard, indicating that the gravity room was shutting down.
Looking around at everything that was happening, Yahei looked sheepish, "Uh-oh…"
Trunks gave another death glare at him, standing up and walking over to the door, "Now you did it! Because you didn't get your way, you broke the gravity room, therefore not being able to see me go Super Saiyan. And above that, you'll probably be in deep shit with the king."
Hearing him say this, Yahei now looked terrified, "W-well…there's another gravity room on the other side of the building. I'll just take you to that one."
Now it was Trunks' turn to looked alarmed, "No!"
If my dad comes for me and I'm not here…what will happen?
Yahei smirked, sensing that Trunks didn't like that idea too much, "Oh, yes! That gravity room is much more powerful anyway."
Trunks stood at the gravity room door, waiting for Yahei to open it. Since he couldn't just press a button to make it open, Yahei had to grab the door from the bottom, using all his strength just to open it a crack.
When Trunks saw that he could then get away, he used the tip of his foot to push the door up the rest of the way before doing a sidekick at Yahei, sending him reeling backwards.
"Ha!" Trunks let out, flying out of the gravity room and towards the exit, "Catch me if you can!" he yelled back at Yahei. He could be heard chuckling as he flew down the corridor.
"Why you little…" Yahei said, holding his stomach in pain before stumbling out of the room, determined to catch him.
After Trunks got so far away, he stood upright to land on his feet, now walking around, looking from one side to the next, positive he lost Yahei, "Now…where could he be…?"
Trunks peeked in the first room on the right, but seeing no one in there, he continued on. This routine continued on for awhile, yet he was never able to find his dad. Come to think of it, he wasn't able to find hardly anybody.
Until finally he reached the second floor, he saw a Saiyan walking down the hall, holding a long piece of paper that he was reading carefully.
Trunks cleared his throat, "Excuse me?"
The guy looked up, seemingly annoyed, "What do you want?"
"I was wondering if you knew where my…I mean, where Prince Vegeta was located?" he asked, catching himself before he said dad, not knowing if whether the guy would recognize him and send a whole troop after him.
"Oh…I think he's outside killing himself…or something," was all the guy said before looking back down at the paper and continuing onward down the hall.
"Uhh…?" Trunks questioned, not really knowing how to take that. He shrugged, heading back down stairs and out the door, luckily without being caught.
Once he reached outside, sure enough, he saw his father not too far away, punching and kicking at the air like it was an actual enemy. He had gone Super Saiyan, so a large aura surrounded him, that alone making craters the size of cars.
Trunks raised an eyebrow as he floated over to him, questioning himself if he should interrupt him or not.
"Umm…Dad?" He finally decided on asking.
Vegeta turned to him quickly, eyes cold and ruthless. Before Trunks knew what was happening, Vegeta sent a blast at him, giving him time only to put his arms in front of his face in defense as he landed on his back, sliding backwards.
After this was done, Vegeta realized what he did and who he did it to, making him power down to his normal form.
"Trunks?"
Trunks uncovered his face and glared at his dad, flipping to his feet, "Yeah, it's me. What's up with you?" he asked, deciding to get right to the point.
Vegeta sighed, crossing his arms to his usual stance, "Nothing, I'm just a little stressed."
"Stressed" Trunks asked, hardly believing he just heard the word come from his father's mouth, "How can you be stressed?"
Glaring at him before he turned his back, Vegeta answered roughly, "How can't I be? After everything that's happened…"
Trunks raised an eyebrow, "Dad…are you okay?"
Vegeta turned back around, his eyes once again narrowed dangerously, "Yes! I am fine, why does everyone keep asking me that?!"
"Maybe 'cause there is something wrong!" Trunks yelled back, taking a step towards him, "Dad, don't you think that I, along with Mom and Bra, are just as stressed out about all this as you are? I mean, they're locked in a prison cell, I'm held captive in a gravity room where I can hardly move, and—."
"What's your point?" Vegeta asked, pointing a finger at his son accusingly, "You're not the one that has to make sure no one you love gets hurt, you're not the one that has to make the damn plan of how to get off this planet without getting anyone killed! You're not the one that has voices in his head, telling him to—." Vegeta stopped himself before he said too much. He turned his back on Trunks again, angry with himself for saying that much.
Trunks was just a little more than shocked that his dad exploded like that, especially since it almost sounded like…he was complaining. And he never complained! Well…at least not about this kind of stuff, anyway.
"What was that last part again…?" Trunks asked, almost scared to know the answer.
Vegeta only hmphed, looking straight ahead.
"How did you get out of the gravity room?" he asked, wanting desperately to change the subject.
"I…Yahei broke the panel, shutting the gravity room down…to sum it up in a nutshell. They're going to be taking me to the gravity room on the other side of the building, do you know where that is?" He asked, but went on before he could answer, "I just wanted to tell you that so…you know where I am when you come get me tonight."
Vegeta nodded, "Right."
They stood there in silence for awhile, not knowing what else to say.
"Okay, well…I guess I better go before the whole castle comes looking for me…" Trunks finally said, walking backwards.
Vegeta nodded again, "Right, I'll see you tonight."
"All right…" was the last thing that was said before Trunks turned around and flew back to the building.
Watching him go until he got back inside, Vegeta lowered his arms and sighed.
"Great, now my own son probably thinks I'm a lunatic." He commented, before once again going back to his sparring with the air.
Just eight more hours…then we can all get out of here…
Hello all! Before I say anything else, I wanna apologize big time! I think I wrote tons of you an e-mail like…a month or more ago, saying that I would be updating very soon. Well…even I don't consider this very soon. You all probably know the drill by now, that this story doesn't get updated very often. But I must say, this story is a real challenge for me. It took me around four hours just to write this chapter, and it's much shorter than all the rest (in case you couldn't tell).
Also, I changed my pen name from Majin Launch to Enula, but I'm sure you all knew that too. ^_^ Anyway, hoping you all are still interested in this story…please review and tell me what you think! Okay? Ja ne!