The history of the Saiyans has caught up with Vegeta, Goku, and their
families. The past can't just be buried.
DBZ don't belong to me. **************************************************************************** ****
Things Best Forgotten Part 1 by NansJns
Running from the darkness, Running from the day, Running from the voices. See no other way.
"Still Alive" by Leslie Fish
Ch. 3: Justice
Vegeta could tell by the feel of the door that it wasn't what it appeared to be. The door looked like wood, but felt like metal. He gripped the knob and ripped out the entire door from its frame. Not surprisingly, an alarm began to blare before the pieces of torn metal even hit the ground. Ignoring the noise, Vegeta, Trunks, Goku, Gohan, and Goten walked into a metal hallway filled with flashing red lights.
"Intruder alert! Intruder alert! Hull compromised. . ." a mechanical voice wailed with the siren.
"This way," Vegeta said as he headed right. The others followed suit.
"What in the world. . .?!" Bulma gasped, and then realized the obvious. "Vegeta! Trunks! They must be here!" she turned and started to run, only to be grabbed from behind by Odan.
"Quiet! They'll hear you!" he hissed. "I told you they were monsters! They've damaged my ship, I won't be able to take off before it's repaired! Not that it matters; they probably won't let me escape alive anyway." Odan's voice was low and trembling, almost like a frightened child's. For a moment, Bulma felt a stab of pity for him, that the very thought of Saiyans terrified him so completely.
"Odan, please!" Bulma pleaded softly, "they won't hurt you when they see I'm safe and that you mean them no harm."
"No harm?! I'd kill them all if it were in my power!" Odan snapped, and mentally he cursed himself for not coming prepared.
"Odan!" Bulma gasped.
"Bulma!" a loud, deep voice echoed across the room, and Bulma turned to see her mate standing in the nearby doorway with her son and their friends. He was seething. "Get your hands off her, Odan!" Vegeta demanded.
"So that's Odan?" Goku inquired lightly, and got a nod from Trunks.
"Oh, yes! I can see what a good person he's become, Bulma!" Odan glared at Vegeta as he spoke by Bulma's ear.
"I never said he'd lost his temper! Now, let me go before. . ." Bulma struggled against his grip.
"And let you run to those murderers? I think not!" Odan shook his head.
"Damn it, Odan, didn't you hear a word I said before?! Kari, Trunks, and Goku and his sons. . .oh no!" Bulma wanted to kick herself; she had just revealed that there were two more half-Saiyans.
"I thought those two looked a lot like that Goku guy. Great; so that makes, what, six? Shit - that's more than we thought," he muttered to himself. He never saw Trunk's foot slam into his shoulder. He simply felt the pain and went flying while releasing a cry of shock and agony. Vegeta was on him a second later, pinning him to the floor. Bulma moved out of the way and fought back tears.
"Please! Don't hurt each other! We have to clear this up!" she shouted loud enough for all of them to hear. Odan would never be convinced that the Saiyans weren't all evil if they beat him up. Odan let out a snarl of rage and his eyes flashed. In an instant, the Saiyans found they couldn't move. "Oh, no, no! Odan! Don't hurt my husband and son!" Bulma could feel the tears going down her cheeks now. Odan pushed Vegeta onto his feet. Vegeta was mentally saying swear word after swear word.
"You might as well let a poison into your veins as let him into your life! He destroys all he touches, him and all his race! It's what they revel in! Death and destruction! It was a day of celebration when their world and most of them died!" Odan declared for all ears to hear. He then looked evenly at Bulma. "You can't save him this time, or any of them."
"No," Bulma whispered. Vegeta wished he could move his arms so he could make Odan stop talking, or at least cover his ears. He could hear the hate, fear, and pain behind Odan's words - they all could. Vegeta had never thought much about his past before Bulma; he knew he would go crazy if he did. Now his past had finally returned to haunt him. Odan leaned in close to Vegeta's ear as he pulled his dagger back out.
"I gave you your life back. It was your choice to throw it away," Odan's dagger flashed silver as he raised it high, then dropped it in a deadly, smooth arc to Vegeta's unprotected chest. There was a horrible, sickening THUNK as the dagger landed. Trunks screamed before he could stop himself. Bright, crimson blood left wet paths as it streaked to the ground where it hit with a soft splash. Vegeta was still unable to move. He could only stare down in horror and disbelief at the hilt of the dagger. . .sticking out of _Bulma's_ back. She clung to him with weakening arms, and he could feel the front of his shirt grow moist with her tears. She had thrown herself between him and Odan in time to take the dagger for him. Odan pulled back in shock and horror. "Bulma, why? Why? For him . . .?" Odan gasped, scarcely able to believe what he was seeing. Bulma held Vegeta with all the strength she had left in her arms. She turned her wet face to her childhood friend.
"I know he did terrible things in the past. . .but he's changed. . .he's a good man now, and. . .I love him," she said weakly. Odan felt a dagger though his own heart and soul. He was confused, hurt, and completely lost. The emotions turned to anger as he looked at the still-frozen Prince of the Saiyans.
"You. . .this is all your fault!" he yelled at him.
"MINE?! You son of a bitch! You caused all of this!" Vegeta screamed in return.
"STOP IT, BOTH OF YOU!!" Goku's voice cut off any further argument. "Bulma is dying! You have to take her to a hospital!" As if to prove him right, Bulma's grip on Vegeta went slack and she fell to the floor very pale. Vegeta snapped from Odan's control and knelt down by her. He quickly gathered up her fragile body into his arms and flew off at top speed. Odan stumbled back, alarmed that Vegeta had broken his control without even thinking about it. His surprise allowed the others to get loose, and Trunks punched him in the arm.
"That's for stabbing my mom!" Trunks snapped as they all flew off to follow Vegeta and Bulma. Odan quietly collapsed onto the floor and fought to clear his mind.
Bulma was vaguely aware of flying, and of the sounds of voices talking over her and doors opening and closing. Eventually, her eyes fully opened and she could see and hear everything with more clarity. The sun was high in the sky outside the window, and the room she was in was clean and pale green. She blinked a bit, and moved her right arm to rub her eyes. She tilted her hand and looked at the IV needle that was stuck in it and taped down. Her fuzzy thoughts finally locked onto the answer.
"Of course. . .I'm in the hospital," she muttered. The was a dull ache in her back, and she had a feeling it would be a lot worse of she wasn't on pain killers.
"Mom, you're awake!" Trunks' happy voice drew her eyes to the left, where he and his father had just entered the room. Trunks held a large bouquet of flowers and Vegeta looked relieved. Trunks ran up to her and set the flowers aside, and Vegeta sat next to her. For the first time Bulma noticed the teddy bear in Vegeta's hand, which had big brown eyes and a bright red ribbon around its neck. Bulma looked at it in amusement and surprise. "I'm so glad you're okay!" Trunks sighed in relief.
"It was Trunks' idea," Vegeta diverted his eyes and handed her the stuffy. Bulma took it and smiled at them. "It's good to see you awake."
"I'll bet. How long was I out?" she asked. "And the flowers are lovely," she smiled at their son.
"Since yesterday evening. I got you here before you lost too much blood, and the blade managed to miss everything vital," Vegeta stroked her face gently.
"We haven't seen Odan since, and his ship is gone. We think he fixed his ship and left the planet," Trunks told her. Bulma nodded gently.
"It wouldn't completely surprise me. . ." Bulma answered.
"I moved my ship so it would take you a little longer to find it. I had something to do before I left," Odan's voice said behind them, and they turned to see him walk into the room.
"Odan!" they all snapped. Vegeta damned himself for not feeling his ki as he approached. He had been so focused on Bulma he had ignored everything else.
"I'm leaving within the hour," Odan told them. They didn't move. "Your love for her is so strong, you broke my mind control. That's really something, in case you didn't know. Maybe you have changed. And maybe those others didn't have any part in what the Saiyans once did. For Bulma's happiness, I'm willing to back off. But know this - there are people out there that hate you even more than I do, and they are far more vicious, deadly, and unforgiving than I am," he said simply. "Goodbye, Bulma," he added gently as he turned to leave. "I'm sorry you were hurt." With that, he was gone. Bulma, Vegeta, and Trunks sat in silence contemplating his words for what felt like a long time.
* * * *
"All right, Mrs. Briefs, come in next week and we'll take out those stitches," the doctor on the other side of the phone was direct but gentle. His secretary was out on break, so he had answered the phone himself.
"Okay then," Bulma answered.
"You know, you're really quite lucky the loss of blood didn't harm the baby," the doctor proclaimed out of the blue. Bulma froze.
"Baby? What baby?" Bulma looked at the phone as if it were a strange creature.
"Don't you know? You're nearly two months pregnant," the doctor replied cheerfully.
"I AM?!" Bulma jumped up out of her seat.
"Yes! I thought you knew! Don't worry, the baby is fine despite your injury," the doctor said. "We told you this while you were in the hospital, remember? Oh, wait. . .you were on heavy pain killers at the time, you probably _don't_ remember. Sorry about that, that was horribly sloppy of us," he added. Now that Bulma thought about it, she did have a dim memory of a doctor saying something about a baby to her, but she was so doped up on morphine at the time she didn't quite catch it.
"Th-thank you," Bulma stuttered, and hung up the phone. After sitting still for a second, she dashed off to find Vegeta, who was in the gravity room with Trunks the last time she'd seen him. Sure enough, they were still in there, and she switched off the gravity with the special, hidden, outside button and opened the door. They glanced at her vaguely annoyed, and suddenly noticed that she was beaming.
"Good news from the doctor?" Vegeta ventured. He knew she was on the phone with him.
"Wonderful news. I'm pregnant again," Bulma answered. Vegeta went into shock.
"Are. . .are you sure?" Vegeta asked, looking at her body.
"That's what the doctor said, and I'm willing to believe his opinion," Bulma smiled, took his hand, and put it on her belly. "We're going to have another baby!" she said gleefully. The shock finally wore off, and Vegeta gave her a crushing hug. Trunks was silent, not sure what to think. "You're going to be a big brother, Trunks. Just like Gohan," Bulma turned to him.
"Yeah! I think I could do that," Trunks nodded, but he still wasn't sure. "I can train him to be as strong as we are!"
"Or her," Bulma piped. They both looked at her. "It could be a girl," Bulma insisted. She wasn't sure she wanted her daughter training like this, but she'd be half-Saiyan and would probably want to. Vegeta shrugged and continued smiling, but Trunks suddenly looked upset. A . . .Girl? Vegeta didn't put good odds on that - most Saiyan children were male. Kami only knew why, but female births just weren't as common.
Odan stared at the face on the communicator evenly. The face, in turn, was grimacing in anger.
"You went to the suspected home of the Saiyan survivors without backup or The Poison?!" the man demanded.
"Sorry, sir, but I wasn't going there to fight - just to check on an old friend," Odan explained. The man heaved a small sigh and forced himself to calm down.
"Well, now that we have an official eye witness that they're there, we can send in our best men. We'll free the universe of those intergalactic butchers yet," the man gave a quick nod.
"For the survival of all life," Odan and the man said together, and then the communicator shut off. Odan sighed deeply and glanced at his picture of Bulma and himself as children. "I'm sorry, Bulma. . .but believe me, this is for the best," he said softly.
End Part 1.
**************************************************************************** ****
I know, short and sweet, but the main story is in Part Two, so be here for Part 2 Chapter 1: Things of the Past and Future!
Comments? E-mail me at NansJns@aol.com! I'd love to hear from you!
DBZ don't belong to me. **************************************************************************** ****
Things Best Forgotten Part 1 by NansJns
Running from the darkness, Running from the day, Running from the voices. See no other way.
"Still Alive" by Leslie Fish
Ch. 3: Justice
Vegeta could tell by the feel of the door that it wasn't what it appeared to be. The door looked like wood, but felt like metal. He gripped the knob and ripped out the entire door from its frame. Not surprisingly, an alarm began to blare before the pieces of torn metal even hit the ground. Ignoring the noise, Vegeta, Trunks, Goku, Gohan, and Goten walked into a metal hallway filled with flashing red lights.
"Intruder alert! Intruder alert! Hull compromised. . ." a mechanical voice wailed with the siren.
"This way," Vegeta said as he headed right. The others followed suit.
"What in the world. . .?!" Bulma gasped, and then realized the obvious. "Vegeta! Trunks! They must be here!" she turned and started to run, only to be grabbed from behind by Odan.
"Quiet! They'll hear you!" he hissed. "I told you they were monsters! They've damaged my ship, I won't be able to take off before it's repaired! Not that it matters; they probably won't let me escape alive anyway." Odan's voice was low and trembling, almost like a frightened child's. For a moment, Bulma felt a stab of pity for him, that the very thought of Saiyans terrified him so completely.
"Odan, please!" Bulma pleaded softly, "they won't hurt you when they see I'm safe and that you mean them no harm."
"No harm?! I'd kill them all if it were in my power!" Odan snapped, and mentally he cursed himself for not coming prepared.
"Odan!" Bulma gasped.
"Bulma!" a loud, deep voice echoed across the room, and Bulma turned to see her mate standing in the nearby doorway with her son and their friends. He was seething. "Get your hands off her, Odan!" Vegeta demanded.
"So that's Odan?" Goku inquired lightly, and got a nod from Trunks.
"Oh, yes! I can see what a good person he's become, Bulma!" Odan glared at Vegeta as he spoke by Bulma's ear.
"I never said he'd lost his temper! Now, let me go before. . ." Bulma struggled against his grip.
"And let you run to those murderers? I think not!" Odan shook his head.
"Damn it, Odan, didn't you hear a word I said before?! Kari, Trunks, and Goku and his sons. . .oh no!" Bulma wanted to kick herself; she had just revealed that there were two more half-Saiyans.
"I thought those two looked a lot like that Goku guy. Great; so that makes, what, six? Shit - that's more than we thought," he muttered to himself. He never saw Trunk's foot slam into his shoulder. He simply felt the pain and went flying while releasing a cry of shock and agony. Vegeta was on him a second later, pinning him to the floor. Bulma moved out of the way and fought back tears.
"Please! Don't hurt each other! We have to clear this up!" she shouted loud enough for all of them to hear. Odan would never be convinced that the Saiyans weren't all evil if they beat him up. Odan let out a snarl of rage and his eyes flashed. In an instant, the Saiyans found they couldn't move. "Oh, no, no! Odan! Don't hurt my husband and son!" Bulma could feel the tears going down her cheeks now. Odan pushed Vegeta onto his feet. Vegeta was mentally saying swear word after swear word.
"You might as well let a poison into your veins as let him into your life! He destroys all he touches, him and all his race! It's what they revel in! Death and destruction! It was a day of celebration when their world and most of them died!" Odan declared for all ears to hear. He then looked evenly at Bulma. "You can't save him this time, or any of them."
"No," Bulma whispered. Vegeta wished he could move his arms so he could make Odan stop talking, or at least cover his ears. He could hear the hate, fear, and pain behind Odan's words - they all could. Vegeta had never thought much about his past before Bulma; he knew he would go crazy if he did. Now his past had finally returned to haunt him. Odan leaned in close to Vegeta's ear as he pulled his dagger back out.
"I gave you your life back. It was your choice to throw it away," Odan's dagger flashed silver as he raised it high, then dropped it in a deadly, smooth arc to Vegeta's unprotected chest. There was a horrible, sickening THUNK as the dagger landed. Trunks screamed before he could stop himself. Bright, crimson blood left wet paths as it streaked to the ground where it hit with a soft splash. Vegeta was still unable to move. He could only stare down in horror and disbelief at the hilt of the dagger. . .sticking out of _Bulma's_ back. She clung to him with weakening arms, and he could feel the front of his shirt grow moist with her tears. She had thrown herself between him and Odan in time to take the dagger for him. Odan pulled back in shock and horror. "Bulma, why? Why? For him . . .?" Odan gasped, scarcely able to believe what he was seeing. Bulma held Vegeta with all the strength she had left in her arms. She turned her wet face to her childhood friend.
"I know he did terrible things in the past. . .but he's changed. . .he's a good man now, and. . .I love him," she said weakly. Odan felt a dagger though his own heart and soul. He was confused, hurt, and completely lost. The emotions turned to anger as he looked at the still-frozen Prince of the Saiyans.
"You. . .this is all your fault!" he yelled at him.
"MINE?! You son of a bitch! You caused all of this!" Vegeta screamed in return.
"STOP IT, BOTH OF YOU!!" Goku's voice cut off any further argument. "Bulma is dying! You have to take her to a hospital!" As if to prove him right, Bulma's grip on Vegeta went slack and she fell to the floor very pale. Vegeta snapped from Odan's control and knelt down by her. He quickly gathered up her fragile body into his arms and flew off at top speed. Odan stumbled back, alarmed that Vegeta had broken his control without even thinking about it. His surprise allowed the others to get loose, and Trunks punched him in the arm.
"That's for stabbing my mom!" Trunks snapped as they all flew off to follow Vegeta and Bulma. Odan quietly collapsed onto the floor and fought to clear his mind.
Bulma was vaguely aware of flying, and of the sounds of voices talking over her and doors opening and closing. Eventually, her eyes fully opened and she could see and hear everything with more clarity. The sun was high in the sky outside the window, and the room she was in was clean and pale green. She blinked a bit, and moved her right arm to rub her eyes. She tilted her hand and looked at the IV needle that was stuck in it and taped down. Her fuzzy thoughts finally locked onto the answer.
"Of course. . .I'm in the hospital," she muttered. The was a dull ache in her back, and she had a feeling it would be a lot worse of she wasn't on pain killers.
"Mom, you're awake!" Trunks' happy voice drew her eyes to the left, where he and his father had just entered the room. Trunks held a large bouquet of flowers and Vegeta looked relieved. Trunks ran up to her and set the flowers aside, and Vegeta sat next to her. For the first time Bulma noticed the teddy bear in Vegeta's hand, which had big brown eyes and a bright red ribbon around its neck. Bulma looked at it in amusement and surprise. "I'm so glad you're okay!" Trunks sighed in relief.
"It was Trunks' idea," Vegeta diverted his eyes and handed her the stuffy. Bulma took it and smiled at them. "It's good to see you awake."
"I'll bet. How long was I out?" she asked. "And the flowers are lovely," she smiled at their son.
"Since yesterday evening. I got you here before you lost too much blood, and the blade managed to miss everything vital," Vegeta stroked her face gently.
"We haven't seen Odan since, and his ship is gone. We think he fixed his ship and left the planet," Trunks told her. Bulma nodded gently.
"It wouldn't completely surprise me. . ." Bulma answered.
"I moved my ship so it would take you a little longer to find it. I had something to do before I left," Odan's voice said behind them, and they turned to see him walk into the room.
"Odan!" they all snapped. Vegeta damned himself for not feeling his ki as he approached. He had been so focused on Bulma he had ignored everything else.
"I'm leaving within the hour," Odan told them. They didn't move. "Your love for her is so strong, you broke my mind control. That's really something, in case you didn't know. Maybe you have changed. And maybe those others didn't have any part in what the Saiyans once did. For Bulma's happiness, I'm willing to back off. But know this - there are people out there that hate you even more than I do, and they are far more vicious, deadly, and unforgiving than I am," he said simply. "Goodbye, Bulma," he added gently as he turned to leave. "I'm sorry you were hurt." With that, he was gone. Bulma, Vegeta, and Trunks sat in silence contemplating his words for what felt like a long time.
* * * *
"All right, Mrs. Briefs, come in next week and we'll take out those stitches," the doctor on the other side of the phone was direct but gentle. His secretary was out on break, so he had answered the phone himself.
"Okay then," Bulma answered.
"You know, you're really quite lucky the loss of blood didn't harm the baby," the doctor proclaimed out of the blue. Bulma froze.
"Baby? What baby?" Bulma looked at the phone as if it were a strange creature.
"Don't you know? You're nearly two months pregnant," the doctor replied cheerfully.
"I AM?!" Bulma jumped up out of her seat.
"Yes! I thought you knew! Don't worry, the baby is fine despite your injury," the doctor said. "We told you this while you were in the hospital, remember? Oh, wait. . .you were on heavy pain killers at the time, you probably _don't_ remember. Sorry about that, that was horribly sloppy of us," he added. Now that Bulma thought about it, she did have a dim memory of a doctor saying something about a baby to her, but she was so doped up on morphine at the time she didn't quite catch it.
"Th-thank you," Bulma stuttered, and hung up the phone. After sitting still for a second, she dashed off to find Vegeta, who was in the gravity room with Trunks the last time she'd seen him. Sure enough, they were still in there, and she switched off the gravity with the special, hidden, outside button and opened the door. They glanced at her vaguely annoyed, and suddenly noticed that she was beaming.
"Good news from the doctor?" Vegeta ventured. He knew she was on the phone with him.
"Wonderful news. I'm pregnant again," Bulma answered. Vegeta went into shock.
"Are. . .are you sure?" Vegeta asked, looking at her body.
"That's what the doctor said, and I'm willing to believe his opinion," Bulma smiled, took his hand, and put it on her belly. "We're going to have another baby!" she said gleefully. The shock finally wore off, and Vegeta gave her a crushing hug. Trunks was silent, not sure what to think. "You're going to be a big brother, Trunks. Just like Gohan," Bulma turned to him.
"Yeah! I think I could do that," Trunks nodded, but he still wasn't sure. "I can train him to be as strong as we are!"
"Or her," Bulma piped. They both looked at her. "It could be a girl," Bulma insisted. She wasn't sure she wanted her daughter training like this, but she'd be half-Saiyan and would probably want to. Vegeta shrugged and continued smiling, but Trunks suddenly looked upset. A . . .Girl? Vegeta didn't put good odds on that - most Saiyan children were male. Kami only knew why, but female births just weren't as common.
Odan stared at the face on the communicator evenly. The face, in turn, was grimacing in anger.
"You went to the suspected home of the Saiyan survivors without backup or The Poison?!" the man demanded.
"Sorry, sir, but I wasn't going there to fight - just to check on an old friend," Odan explained. The man heaved a small sigh and forced himself to calm down.
"Well, now that we have an official eye witness that they're there, we can send in our best men. We'll free the universe of those intergalactic butchers yet," the man gave a quick nod.
"For the survival of all life," Odan and the man said together, and then the communicator shut off. Odan sighed deeply and glanced at his picture of Bulma and himself as children. "I'm sorry, Bulma. . .but believe me, this is for the best," he said softly.
End Part 1.
**************************************************************************** ****
I know, short and sweet, but the main story is in Part Two, so be here for Part 2 Chapter 1: Things of the Past and Future!
Comments? E-mail me at NansJns@aol.com! I'd love to hear from you!
