DISCLAIMER:  (Thanx to ChaoS for thinking this one up when I was having a brain-fart)
                        When I become ruler of the universe, I'll own DBZ, and I'll make Gen Fukunaga grovel at my feet :).  But until that day, I do not own DBZ!

Author bit:  This is something that annoys me.  The italics USED to work but now they don't appear as efficiently anymore… Until I think of something else, go by these guidelines…  The bigger text is what the italics used to be.  And if it isn't, you can probably tell where the conversation is happening between my character and I, it's pretty straightforward.  I'll probably come up with an alternative for the cursed lack of italics in the next chapter… but what gets me is in one bit there IS italics… GRR _
~ This is still my characters method of thought communication though! ~ 
"And this is still normal dialogue"
And this is still remains my characters point of view, until further notice.

Voices (In One's Head) by `InSaNe`/Schizophrenic Eggplant

Part 3.  Chapter 10:  Future Shock.

The guards stand either side of the door.  One is a giant of a man, at least twice my height with a mop of thick black hair perched atop his otherwise bald scalp, and a thin moustache framing his upper lip and stopping half way down his massive thick jaw.  His appearance is imposing, but looking in his eyes I see in those dark irises a two-dimensional quality.  He is used to obeying orders, it occupies the whole of his mind, for there is barely a spark of intelligence or free-thought at all.  He's going to be a tough one, alright…

I know his name…

~ Sure you do.  But I'm certain that will not get him to let us through. ~

Perhaps..

The guard who spoke before in a deep baritone, denying me entrance, is slightly shorter than the other Saiyajin, and is also solid.  His mid-length spiky mane exudes dominance, and scars cover his face and arms indicating he is not a stranger to pain.  I have to think of something, and fast.  Very fast.  Both me and the voice from within form a small plan, and the majority of it – because of lack of time to come up with something – will have to be improvised, but at the same time it must be convincing.  I bob my head a little in respect to these royal guards, and address them.

"I am here to see the newborn prince."  Good for starters, gets the point across.  Both burly Saiyajin eye my cowled figure with suspicion.

"Are you a family member or a doctor?"  The shorter one asks me.  I can't lie at this point.

"No.  I am not."

"Then you're not wanted here!" Booms the larger one, full of authority.  "Go away you little shrimp!"  Now is the time to act fast. 

"The King invited me personally."  The two of them find this humorous to say the least, and try as they might, they cannot stifle the stray chuckles.  

"You mean he didn't tell you?"  Any signs of smiling are soon erased.  They shake their heads.

"No, the King didn't give say anything about a stunted thing in a stupid robe.  I'm sure he wouldn't have missed that out if it were so."  The shorter one replies.  I speak with an air of mystery.

"Of course he wouldn't have told you, a powerful and respected King such as Vegeta would probably keep it a secret from even his personal guards that he invited one such as I."   The suspicion returns, and the shorter one even cocks an inquisitive eyebrow.

"Such as you?  What are you then!  I've never seen your like before, and I've been to a lot of places in my lifetime." 

Most of which probably exist no more…

~ Now is not the time for your sarcastic humour! ~

Who said I was joking..?

"Yeah, who are you?" The taller moustached one mirrors his colleagues stance of folded arms and parted legs.  "Remove your hood, or suffer the consen.. conqu… die."

Hahaha!  He's such a dope.

~ Maybe we can use that to our advantage. ~  

I place my black-gloved hands at the top of my hood, which is near the bottom of my face, and pull it up and over my head, revealing the visage I had decided to take on as part of the scheme.

"Uh.. Kumara, can we ask her to put it back on?  At least I think it's a her, its ugliness is turning my stomach."  The larger Saiyajin leans down to his partner and whispers in his ear, and for that particular Saiyajin to ever whisper borders on impossibility. "Why would the King ask for an old shrivelled up hag?" 

Now I had removed my hood, I could no longer use my normal voice that the muffled protection had distorted. 

Think of Frieza, but try not to sound Exactly like him…

~ Quiet! ~

I can't allow myself to smile at that remark even, now I am un-hooded. 

"I can answer that, esteemed guards."  I speak, adding a trembling vibrato of an elder, with a hint of eccentricity.  "I am a psychic who has long forgotten her name, only known as Future-Diviner."

"Never heard o' ya!  Now its time to carry out my business." The semi-bald Saiyajin extends his muscular bear-like arm outwards and downwards, his palm almost in my face.  "Say goodbye!!"

~ Umm… didn't you say you knew his name?   This could come in handy right now!!! ~

You've got it!

"I'm sure that King Vegeta would be none too pleased if you scorch the carpet, Nappa."  As if he had been physically punched by a relatively large force, the one called Nappa backs up against the wall. 

Wow!!  Saiyajin must be extremely afraid of superstition!  Or maybe it's a Nappa thing.

~ Whatever it was, he's gotten over it fast. ~

Nappa has composed himself, on the outside at least.  The other guard, Kumara, looks me in a mixture of revulsion at my haggard, ancient appearance and awe at having apparently guessed his counterparts name from nothing.

"Can I pass now, please?  It is not only you who has business here.."   Kumara, to my surprise, nods and is about to release the bolt on the door, when an uncharacteristically shy voice is heard..

"Umm… Can you tell me my future first?  Just a little?" I turn my frail hunched body towards Nappa and cock my head sideways, deciding whether or not to bother.

~ Do you know enough about him to do this? ~

Ha!  I'm gonna have to LEAVE stuff out.. there are some things I'm sure he would rather not know.

~ Super.  Well, I'll leave it up to you. ~

OK.. Hey, how does old riddle-type poetry sound?

~ Your choice, if you can pull it off. ~

It seems I DON'T have a choice.  Kumara draws his hand back from the bolt.

"You seem genuine enough, although I never wasted my time seeking psychics, much too busy with the job at hand back in those days.  Think of this as a little test." 

"Yeah, a test." Nappa parrots.

I relax slightly, only slightly mind, for being at such close quarters with these prime examples of Saiyajin males does creep me out a little, and I am really pushed for time and anxious to get on with my task.

"Certainly.  But be informed, take of my words what you will… forget them, or use them to mould your destiny it is all up to you.  I guarantee it will come to light."  I turn to Nappa first, and take a wheezing breath before I begin.

~* Many of proud become so few,

Outliving most but then do not.

To leave the life that you once knew,

Seeking a place with skies of blue,

A slave to him, he'll see you rot. *~

"I am done.  Am I permitted to be on my way?" I ask, turning to Kumara, trying my best to ignore Nappa's complaints behind me.

"That's it?  It didn't make any sense, just some short garbled poetry!!" It's not hard to tell that he's disappointed.  Still facing Kumara but looking at some point in the distance, I ask.

"What did you think I was going to do?  Tell you everything that will happen in your life?  It's not that easy, and where's the Challenge in knowing everything that's going to happen before it does?  And I thought you were smart, Nappa!"  Kumara eyes me with suspicion again, like I had given a terribly false reading just now, then catches the expression on my face and looks down at the floor, trying to hide his face and his shaking shoulders with his hair.  He regains control of himself before Nappa can figure out what's going on, and listens (although impatiently) to what I have to say.

"Honourable Kumara, however much I would like to divine your future, I must implore you that I am greatly needed."  I spin my lie further.  "You see, because the psychic vibes I am picking up from you tell me that you are a much more complex character, and unlike your giant friend, it would take a lot of time for me to squeeze the juice of destiny from such an introspective aura you radiate.  Time I am running short of.  I must perform rites and divination for mother and son.  I know you Saiyajin are not the most superstitious in the world, but I would not be here if my presence was not requested."  Kumara nods slowly, taking in what I had said, but made no move for the door.  It was if he was in his own little world, mulling over the comment about complex characters.  I use an element of a form of fear.

"Besides, from what I can feel from the very air, which tingles around me, your King's temper will be pushed to its limits today.  He is going to be stressed out beyond belief, do you reckon he would even stop to think before disposing of the guards who held up his secret guest who he had called on so urgently?"  I did not need to say more, as lightning quick, Kumara's fingers undid the bolt, and he almost shoved me through.  Even walking down the modern ornate hallway, I could still hear them. 

"Did you hear that Nappa?  A 'complex character'.  I get it now, because you're so simple and easy to read she only took a few minutes, and I was going to take much longer.  Hmm.. I wonder how much she would have said.  More than yours, I bet!!"  I shake my head as I continue on course.

No, Kumara, it would have been less.  "You're toast in five years" doesn't take long to come up with.

~ What??? ~

Never mind.. he dies in a meteor shower….. off planet.

~ Do you know him too? ~

Uhh.. no..

~ Then why- ~

Forget about it.  Can you hear the tone of those voices?  Something's not right, and I think I know what it is.  It concerns Vegeta not having a maternal figure around.  We've got to hurry!

~ It's not far to go now. ~

As I make my way to the royal birthing chamber, I ponder those 5 short lines of poetry which that woman in my head had spoken to Nappa.  I must have pondered too deeply…

It DOES make sense!!  The beauty of it is that the words will come to him as it may happen, no matter how hard, or how long he forgets it.. maybe a line, or only a word.  I know what lies ahead for him, well, in bits and pieces and as I mentioned before, he won't want to know it once he's heard it – no one likes to hear the bad stuff outright, so I disguise it in poetry so it 'sounds pretty'.

~ What bad stuff?  All I heard that was bad was just the rotting bit..  Does that have anything to do with his de- ~

He dies without honour!!!  Would anyone, let alone someone who prides themselves as a warrior, want to be told that!?!?! 

~ I wouldn't…. know… at least, not before you arrived on the scene.  I'm a total stranger to death.  It only happens to my creations, it's one of those things that happen to them, and not to me!   OK, I'll shut up now.  No, YOU shut up.. well at least until we get there.  I want a clear head, if you know what I mean, and I don't want you disturbing my train of- ~

We're here.