Chapter Thirteen – Departure of a Prince
Days went by. Vegeta locked himself up inside the GR to test his new Super Saiyan abilities… only to find out that he couldn't transform anymore.
"There are too many distractions here," he decided. "It's time to get off this pitiful planet."
He took off in his ship to train in the solitude of space.
Tara woke up because of the noise.
*Vegeta…* There was no answer. She ran to the window to see a glimpse of the spaceship right before it disappeared into the night sky. 'Damn you,' she thought. Then she felt two hands on her shoulders and sighed.
"So he decided to run," Trunks whispered. "Don't worry, he'll be back when he's cooled off."
"Do you think so? I'm not so sure."
"At some point, he'll realize he needs you. Just like I did." He pulled her back towards the bed. "Let's go back to sleep."
Tara couldn't sleep anymore and studied Trunks's face while he was sleeping peacefully. She suddenly realized that staying here wasn't such a major problem for him; with the time machine, he could go back to whatever moment in time he thought was right. He could spend years in this dimension and return to his own timeline the very same day he left. The only thing that worried her, was that he would age in this dimension. He'd return to his mother years older. Wasn't that wrong? But then again, he was part Saiyan. He'd probably live almost as long as a pureblood, she estimated he would live for about a century and a half. 'As for me,' she thought, 'I really don't know how long I'm going to last. Pureblood Magicians can grow more than a thousand years old, Saiyans on the other hand tend to last two hundred years max. That is, if they're not killed in battle.' She sighed, softly stroking Trunks's muscular shoulder. 'I hope Vegeta comes back soon. It's not right; he shouldn't be wandering around in space while I'm here with Trunks. He belongs here! Why can't he see that?'
She spent the next weeks trying to contact Vegeta telepathically, but to no avail. 'He's blocking me,' she thought. 'But he won't get away with it that easily.' She wrote down a message for him and teleported it to him, using his ki signal as a beacon.
Vegeta looked at the piece of paper that appeared out of nowhere. 'What the…' He picked it up and read it in the light of repeated lightning.
"You could have a change of heart
If you would only change your mind
Instead of slamming down the phone boy
For the hundredth time
I got your number on my wall
But I ain't gonna make that call
When divided we stand baby
Your night will fall
Got the time, got the chance, gonna make it
Got my hands on your heart, gonna take it
All I know, I can't fight this way
Without you – one night alone
Is like a year without you baby
Do you have a heart of stone
Without you – can't stop the hurt inside
When love and hate collide
I don't wanna fight no more
I don't know what we're fighting for
When we treat each other baby
Like an act of war
You could tell a million lies
That it would come as no surprise
When the truth is like a stranger
Hits you right between the eyes
There's a time and a place and a reason
And I know I got a lot to believe in
All I know, got to win this time
Without you – one night alone
Is like a year without you baby
Do you have a heart of stone
Without you – one night alone
Is like a year without you baby
If you had a heart at all
Without you – can't stop the hurt inside
When love and hate collide"
* Author's Note: Lyrics by Def Leppard, song title "When love and hate collide"; me no own! / altered version – the third line is actually "instead of slamming down the phone girl" and the twenty-first "I could tell a million lies" *
Vegeta sighed. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't get her out of his mind. Was he indeed lying to himself? Should he go back to Earth? He might as well return, since he couldn't transform anymore. Reaching Super Saiyan again seemed to be an impossible mission for now. He folded the piece of paper and put it away. The moment he got up, the meteors started to fall from the dark sky like a deadly hail storm.
'My ship! If it gets hit by one of those meteors, I'll be stuck on this rock forever!' He defended himself and his ship in a desperate struggle for survival, destroying the giant meteor in the heart of the storm and crashing down into the hard ground. Blood seeped out from several cuts as he thought: 'That's it. I could have died! No one would even have noticed! My life would have been meaningless, I achieved nothing. I couldn't even tell the one I love how I truly feel… I'm going back.'
He took off in his ship, punched in the coordinates of Earth and fell down onto his bed. For the first time in years, he slept without having nightmares.
*So you finally realized the truth.* Her voice echoed inside his head.
*I'm on my way… home, I guess,* Vegeta answered. *I don't care about the rules anymore. I know now that other things are more important.*
*Hurry back, Vegeta. We miss you.*
