Part I: Tisha
1.1
After having spent years in cold and hard slavery on Vegeta-Sei and after years of wandering through the infinite darkness of space, the spaceship in which I escaped crash-landed on Earth. Exhausted and hurt from the impact of the crash, I lay there on my back on the cool grass. Sunlight blinded my eyes. Suddenly a shadow fell upon me as someone bent over and looked at me…
Piccolo and I are sitting behind Goku's house, underneath a tree.
"Do you remember my face when I first saw you?" I ask him.
"Hmmm."
"I think that's the first time someone actually scared my consciousness out of me."
"You were knocked out cold," Piccolo grins. "Surely I didn't take that as a compliment. But you had never seen a Namek before. Green people are still completely out of fashion, I guess."
"It seems ages ago," I sigh. "Where I come from… it really is a different world."
"When are you finally going to tell us where you're from, Tisha? We've been waiting for you to tell us for weeks now."
I'm silent for a moment and think hard. "I'm willing to tell you guys where I'm from, but that is not very important. Piccolo, my knowledge can change a lot of things here and I don't know if that's such a good idea."
"We'll find out, won't we? The only thing you achieve by not telling us, is that we get even more curious about your past."
"Hey guys!" Krilllin lands beside us. "What's shaking?"
"Tisha was about to tell me what the story on her is," Piccolo says in a teasing voice.
"Wow, really?"
I punch Piccolo, who grins at me and says: "You're punches are harder to take every time, you know that?"
My expression darkens. "I know," I say. "And alright, I'll tell you my story tonight."
Krillin jumps into the air out of excitement. "It's about time!"
"Don't be so excited," I warn him. "What I have to tell you is… not really that cheerful."
Chi-Chi comes out bringing dinner with her, she's followed by Goku and Gohan. As soon as everyone is seated, I try to think things through, so I'll find out exactly where my story has to begin.
"I was born on Vegeta-Sei. The people of this planet were a proud race and called themselves Saiyans. Fighting and battle was litterally in their blood. Their King, also called Vegeta, had made a treaty with Frieza, the strongest being in the universe. Oh well, treaty… We obeyed Frieza because he would destroy us if we didn't. He sent us to far away planets to sweep them clean, kill all people, so he could sell the planets to the highest bidder."
"But that's horrible!" Gohan cries out.
"I know. I have experienced the way you think and yes, from your point of view it must sound... horrible."
"What about your point of view? Don't you agree with us?" he asks me.
I sigh. "It's different when you don't have a choice. Let me tell you the rest of the story.
I grew up in the palace of King Vegeta and his son Vegeta, Prince of all Saiyans. My father was a so called Saiyan Elite. They were the strongest fighters known among the Saiyan race.
Before I was even born there was decided that I was to marry the Prince… and until I reached the age appropriate for wedding, I served him as a lowly slave."
The look in my eyes darkens as I think back.
"Every other girl would have felt honored, but I never felt that way. I was, in a certain way, different from my own people. They were tough and merciless, I wasn't. They enjoyed fighting and winning, I never did. My parents explained to me that I fell when I was little, hit my head and from that time my personality had changed greatly. I believed their explanation for years, until I visited my parents one day and overheard their conversation. It turned out that my mother wasn't my real mother! My father had had a short love affair with another woman, a Magician. My kindness was in fact my gift from her blood. I was twelve years old at the time and I could barely believe what I had heard. I wanted more information, but knowledge had never been valued as highly important on Vegeta-Sei. The only ones who had access to the libaries and archives were the King and the Prince.
So I begged Prince Vegeta for his keycard to access the library. In the many years I had served him, I never asked for any favours, even though I did everything he wanted me to do. I'll never forget the look on his face; he was stunned that a lowly slave like me had the guts to ask him for something. He hit me so hard I literally flew across the room and hit the wall on the other side of it.
"You should be glad that our wedding has already been arranged," he said coldly. "Don't ever ask me for anything again."
He left me with my hurt pride. The Prince had always been cold and arrogant, but this was a little over the top. Reciprocity was in fact nonexistent in our world… That was a lesson I learnt the hard way, taught by a mere boy only a year older than I was.
After this so called incident I was assigned to the field troops, even though I was only a child. If I had refused, they would have killed my younger half brother. I think the Prince wanted to get rid of me, because he sent me on the most dangerous missions – without his father knowing it of course. He must have been disappointed that I, and the bigger part of my units for that matter, managed to get back to the base every single time.
Vegeta had made one big mistake though. We Saiyans possess the ability get stronger after every fight, no matter if we win or lose. Naturally, the Prince trained himself, but that was nothing compared to what I went through in those years. Besides, I soon discovered my Magical powers, which I inherited from my mother. After four years of living in this hell I reached the age of sixteen and was to marry Prince Vegeta.
Despite the enormous increase in my power I was shaking in my boots when I returned to the palace. I hadn't seen Prince Vegeta in four years, and even though it sounds ridiculous, somewhere deep in my heart I hoped that he had changed. He called me to his private quarters as soon as I had landed. I was wondering what he was up to, since the routine was to go to the throne room, where King Vegeta would be waiting for us.
But I went to his private quarters obediently and knocked. No one answered, so I knocked again. Nothing. Impatiently I opened the door and went in. I was taken by a wave of memories when seeing this room again. The never ending teasing and torturing of the Prince, his critics on my work, it was never good enough. I could even see the crack in the wall where I hit it. For a moment my vision went totally black.
Suddenly I heard a sound and turned around immediately. Prince Vegeta was standing right behind me. The boy I once knew, had become a man, but his eyes hadn't changed and glared at me coldly. All my hope that he would have changed was crushed instantly and I slowly backed away from him. He laughed arrogantly.
"Well, look what we have here. Tisha's all grown up. Guess your brain never developed though," he said and pushed me down onto my knees. "You should pay proper respect to your Prince."
Something snapped inside of me. I think it was then when I finally realized what this marriage would be like with this bastard. I was so furious I totally forgot who that guy in front of me was. I no longer saw the Prince, but the annoying little creature that had abused and humiliated me for years. I saw someone who deserved a good beating… and I attacked him.
He must have sensed what was going on inside my head, because he blocked me like I was a mere child. Still furious I stood before him and said: "It's time to pay, Vegeta. A hit for each humiliation you made me suffer!" Never had anyone addressed him in such an informal way, without his title. I tried to get him mad on purpose – I knew that he would lose his concentration and that I would have a chance to beat him. Indeed he fought reckless because of his fury. Using a couple very ill-tempered magic tricks I managed to take him down. His private quarters were pretty much reduced to a pile of burning debris and I knew it wouldn't take the Royal Guard long to get here. The Prince roared like a wounded animal, mad because of his own powerlessness.
"Well, Vegeta, how does it feel? In your case, the Royal Guard will save your worthless hide. I had to deal with this shit for years, while no one even reached out a hand to help me.
He groaned and said: "You're... just… a… slave!"
"Wrong. I'm a Saiyan Elite, just like you. And the fact that I'm on top of you proves that I'm worth at least as much as you." Incredible as it might have seemed, he still tried to break free, even though I twisted his arm further and further with every move he made. And then I made the biggest mistake in my entire life. I let go of him and helped him up.
"What?" He looked at me incomprehensively. "Why did you do that?"
"To show you something you never showed me before: mercy." I turned around and wanted to walk away, but he grabbed me from behind and gave me the beating of a lifetime. I was dragged away unconscious by the Royal Guard.
I woke up in a prison cell and was convinced I would receive a death sentence for betraying the throne. I did, but fortunately I could escape. During the four years I had been 'sweeping clean' other planets, King Vegeta revolted against Frieza and paid with his life for that. Prince Vegeta was taken by Frieza as his pupil even before the death of the King, therefore it wasn't a big surprise the Prince had become even more ruthless than he used to be.
My father revolted against Frieza also… on the same day I was to be executed. Frieza launched a huge energy blast at our planet and due to the panic I could escape, but only barely. Still wounded from my fight with Prince Vegeta I was in a coma for most of my space journey.
For years I wandered around the universe, without a purpose or whatever. I had lost all hope. In fact I hoped I would die somewhere out there… But eventually I crash-landed here on Earth and was found by Piccolo. You know the rest of the story, but there's more I have to tell you. My younger half-brother was a low-level soldier and was sent to a faraway planet to kill the inhabitants… His name is Kakarot and you know him as Goku."