My Secret- 13. All Hopes Lost

"Rye, you have no right blaming me for this. I didn't have any choice in this matter, and now that I finally do, I choose to live my life without you. Besides," he sneered, "you don't need me anymore. You just want this."

Rye stared fiercely at the tsukemono Vegeta held in between his fingers, dangling irresistibly in front of her face. She released a low growl, at which Vegeta laughed.

"It should have been mine. You promised to protect me forever!"

Vegeta continue to laugh in her face. "Oh, so I promised, huh? Well, I tell you one thing. YOU sure haven't been keeping YOUR promise!"

"Wh... What do you mean?" She took a step back. Had he...? But how?

"Yes, Rye, how?" He chuckled evilly, letting the word 'how' roll off his tongue. Bulma stared in utter disbelief. Is the old, heartless Vegeta back?

"For a minute there, you had me fooled. Pretty sly, Ryetherina."

For the first time in twenty-five years, Vegeta saw true horror, the look he used to see often before blasting them into smithereens. This was too much. He could feel his old wounds opening, but he didn't try to stop them. He'll give himself this one exception. She deserved it.

"Rye, we have both changed. I have gone west and you have gone north. If that was our only difference, then that was acceptable, yet it isn't. I've become stronger, both emotionally and physically, and you, you have turned into a pathetic coward. You are no longer worthy of my presence."

"I don't understand, Vegeta." She pleaded.

"Alright then. I'll make you understand. I was on Planet Namek. I was there many years ago on a mission. Then I remembered you. I allowed myself to stray from the original purpose for a just a little while, but what do I find instead?"

Rye gulped. She knew what he saw. Bulma was listening to Vegeta's side with more interest. After all, this latest news surprised her. She had no idea Vegeta even allowed the Dragonballs off his mind for one minute.

"I saw YOU have went on without me. Needless to say, I chose to live forward as well, burying you and the rest of the past deep in the graveyards."

"No Vegeta, you have to understand! Please!"

"Oh I understand all right. Don't get me wrong, Rye. I'm not a bit sorry at what happened. You had your life and I had mine. I knew from the start it wasn't going to ever cross again," he stated like he was reporting the stock market action. Absolutely no emotion attached.

"No! He was just a one-time thing. I still love you, Vegeta. I really do."

"Do you love me, or the tsukemono?" He asked coldly.

Rye hung her head.

"Excuse me, but have I suddenly became invisible?! My arms are falling asleep here!" Bulma spoke up, irritated. "I mean, I know you're having a fabulous reunion and all, but I'll rather have something to eat while watching this soap opera. I'll have you know I haven't eaten ANYTHING since breakfast twelve hours ago!"

"Woman, for someone who hasn't eaten for twelve hours, your mouth sure has enough energy to run ten miles." He chuckled, and then sent a death glare at Rye, a signal that meant 'release her or else'.

"I'm sorry, Bulma, but if there's one thing I learned from you humans, it's that desperate times call for desperate measure. I hate to do this, but I have no choice."

"Oh cut the nice act already. It's way past the point to give you any trusts."

"Very well." She smirked, her face twisted in an identical smirk Vegeta always wore. "Hand over the tsukemono."

"WHAT!" The two said in unison.

Her smirk grew deeper, truly enjoying this new power. "You give me what I want, and I give you want I want. You want to be freed, and I want your tsukemono."

"No way!" Bulma screamed. "I will never! I don't need your help! Vegeta, free me now."

"Hmmhmmhmm... quite shallow, aren't you? Don't you think Vegeta has already tried that? No one can break MY energy bonds, because the power source is my mental strength, and that's..." Her face darkened against the twilight.

"Unmatchable."

"But Rye, you told me yourself that this amulet is useless in anyone else's hand but the given one. What good will it be to you?"

"Bulma, that would be my concern, won't it?"

She was the least bit satisfied with Rye's answer, and she was going to ask more, but Vegeta silenced her with his finger. Keep your anger in tact, he instructed. But she could not. How dare he tell her to keep calm when he's the one who's been blowing up like a volcano all evening! She was tired of getting told to shut her mouth. She was tired of being shielded from the raw truth. In fact, she was beyond furious for being forced to listen quietly to their discussion that made had neither distinct head nor tail while she was practically hanging by her neck.

And in a stunning display of light, Bulma's inner self-exploded, emitting a blinding flash of yellow. It was now Vegeta's turn to smirk, as he dived to catch Bulma, who was nose-diving off the canyon wall.

Rye stood speechless.

"Looks like your bribery failed, Rye."

"But how... how... how?" All hopes and powers were gone from her features. All that was left was the fragile shell of her body.

"You should have known the tsukemono could be activated by a sudden burst of energy. She activated the tsukemono," Vegeta answered, deepening his glorious smirk. Rye's broken look was priceless. "Now it's really useless to you."

"But I was nice and patient with her! How could she have..."

"You still don't get it, do you?"

"I don't get it either, Vegeta," Bulma whispered into his ears.

"As you said, your energy bond was powered by your mental energy, and I stood no chance of destroying it, but I knew there was a way."

"The tsukemono." Rye let the two words slip out of her mouth silently.

"Right. The tsukemono, powered, also, by mental energy."

"But it shouldn't have been able to destroy my bonds! You're mental energy is nothing compare to mine!"

"No, but yours is nothing compare to a normal humans. If there's one thing I learned from living on this mud ball, it's that humans have way too much emotions. Their weak heart and strong morality is what drives them forward and makes them strong. That's why I was confident her burst of emotions added to the activation of my mental energy combined overpowered yours."

"And the bonus to this whole event, is that once the tsukemono is activated, it can only be activated again by the given one. In other words, it's just another piece of trash to you."

"No... no... it... can't be..." Rye broke down, but this time, Vegeta stood watching coldly.

"Vegeta, you were TRYING to get me mad, weren't you?" Bulma said angrily, her cheeks glowing red.

"You should thank me."

"THANK you! I deserve an apology!"

Vegeta laughed wholeheartedly. How great it felt, after everything else. With Bulma tightly in his arms, the couple flew home, towards the sunset, leaving Rye crying in despair behind them.

---

Weth stepped into his temporary room. It was dull and plain blue from the wallpapers to the bed sheets to the curtains.

"I know it's not much, but it'll suffice for tonight." Goten said cheerfully.

Only idiots could be that happy. Weth thought bitterly, yet he said, "That's okay. I always loved blue. Especially my blue hair."

Goten thought it was a little weird for a guy to love his hair, but he shrugged that thought away. "Well, that's good. I hope you have a good sleep, and try not to worry too much about your parents. We'll find them in the morning."

"I hope so." And Weth shut the door. Love my blue hair? He gagged. Gimme a break. He went into the bathroom, and almost as soon as he closed the door behind him, a figure rapped on his windows.

Eagerly, he opened the small bathroom window. "Mom!"

"Weth," she climbed through the window and let herself in. "Change in plans. Come with me." His smile broadened and Weth jumped into the blackness after his mother.

"Boy, Mom, you must REALLY be obsessed with that guy."

"No, not obsessed on that guy. Obsessed on the revenge."

"What happened? I thought you had everything planned out perfectly."

"Weth, humans aren't harmless. I learned that painfully today. They just hide their strength well, either that or they're too naive to see their real power."

"Really? The Sons didn't seem that harmful, and they're half human. They treated me real well."

"Hm. Maybe half humans are easier to handle than full ones. I certainly hope so, for that's going to be your next target."

"Really? So soon? I can't be that little boy again, Mom."

"No, son. No, this time, you and I are going to work together."

"Oh boy! This is going to be great!" She smiled at her son's eagerness. Yes, this is going to be great. Of course, there was much research to do to prepare that event.

---

Oh my, what's going on? Was Weth really not lost? Who is his mom? What's going to happen next? And WHAT HAPPENED TO RYE?! You'll just have to wait 'till the next...no, the last chapter! Personally, I feel I've answered all question except two: why Bulma was crying, who is Weth's mother. All the other should be fairly clear to you by now.

I know I said I'll list the clues at the end, but I'm having a writer block over it. It's interesting how I can write the actual story so smoothly, but the behind-the-scene part is so hard to come up with. I mean, I tried to list the clues, but then I just end up pasting a whole conversation over, and I realized my "clues" won't make much sense if I just list them in bullets. I'm worried that if I write in paragraphs, it'll mean explaining along, and since you said you want to "figure it out on your own", I'm not sure what I should do. *sigh*

As for the prequel, I certainly wasn't expecting any objections! I want to tell you I tried to weave it into the story, but that'll mean I won't have been able to talk about Weth, and I felt he was more important. Besides, it's in a totally seperate time frame, and including the Past really complicated many things. But don't worry; in the next chapter, Vegeta will mention a few parts about the Past, some parts that Rye missed. I think, with the conversation between Rye and Vegeta in the this chapter and between Vegeta and Bulma in the next will give you the general idea. Don't expect much, however, since it's only two chapters. The two chapters that I couldn't weave into the base story...