Disclaimer; Blah blah blah, I don't own DBZ and you know it. I do however, own the vast number of original characters that will pop up during this fic. So don't take em!

A/N; Yay, new fic! Finally my new multi-chaptered fic is here. This is only the prologue, so the other chapters will be longer than this. If you haven't read any of my previous fics, I'm, a K/18 fanatic so this is mainly a K/18 cause I love em, but it also has some K/CC and B/V. So enjoy, and please R/R. ~D.B

And Then You'll Know...

Prologue

They ran blindly through the forest in the black of night, they had been running for hours now and the only thing keeping them going was the screams of the other villagers who had been caught. They ran along side the adults of the village, desperately trying to outrun the elites, though they both knew it was futile. The elites wouldn't stop until every last one of them was in their possession.

"18 run faster. Do you want them to catch you?" the 11-year-old screamed to his sister. Suddenly the blonde girl stumbled, she was sore and tired. She hit the ground with a loud thud and this time 17 had a sinking feeling that she wouldn't be getting back up. He stopped and crouched down next to his sister.

"I want mama" she whimpered. 17 hauled her to her feet and dragged her along.

"Shut up or they'll hear you!" he scolded her.

***

"Exactly how many more are there to go Vegeta?" asked Chi-chi, she was beginning to get board, but from the look on her brother's face, he was only just getting started and that'd been at it for nearly 3 hours.

"God you are impossible Chi, you were clearly a mistake" said Vegeta as he flew through the trees with his sister at his side.

"No, Krillen was a mistake" said Chi-chi and they both started to laugh at the expense of their little brother.

***

"Just stay here and be quiet ok" said 17 as she hugged his sister.

"But I'm scared and I want mama," 18 repeated herself. She never had been very brave. "You're staying here right?".

"Of course I'm staying here, I'm not gonna leave you, you're to dumb to look after your self". That earned 17 a little laugh from his sister.

"You suck" she said

"No as much as you". 18 poked her tongue out at her twin and sighed. They had alway been close and this was just their way of showing it, affection wasn't permitted in the house where the twins had grown up.

The next thing he knew 17 was dangling 3 feet from the ground and struggling to breathe.

"17!" 18 shrieked

"You should have known you couldn't hide from us for long" said Vegeta as he tightened his grip on 17's neck.

"You put him down right now you big bully" shouted 18 and she kicked Vegeta in the shin. He didn't even feel it

"You know little girl, I really don't like it when people hurt my big brother" said Chi-chi and with a tap to the back of the neck, she knocked 18 out. A few seconds later 17 passed out too. They'd fought for as long as they could but as usual they'd lost.

***

"Papa, we're home" said Chi-chi in a sing song voice as she strode happily into the throne room.

"Ah, Chi-chi, did you have fun?" asked the King.

"Yes, me and Vegeta got all the villagers just like you asked" replied Chi-chi.

"That's my girl, now why don't you go clean up, your covered in blood" suggested the king.

"Yes daddy" said Chi-chi and she skipped out the room. A few minutes later Nappa entered the room.

"What can I do for you Nappa?" asked the king.

"King Vegeta," Nappa bowed deeply to his king, "the villagers have arrived".

"Ah lead the way then".

***

18 opened her crystal blue eyes and realised she had no idea where she was and she didn't know where 17 was either. She started to cry and a lady from the village knelled down to comfort her.

"Shhh, it's ok 18, I'll look after you" 18 looked up, it was Astrid, one of her mama's friends.

"I'm scared Astrid" said 18, her shoulders shaking as she cried. The palace doors were pushed open and king Vegeta and his family walked into the courtyard. The 3 children went and sat down in the corner, and king Vegeta said something to his wife then she turned and went inside.

The king made his way over to the 3000 or so people from various villages who were in the courtyard and he ordered them to stand in a line. Once this task was completed he made his way down the line sending each person to either the left or right side of the courtyard. So far almost all of them were on the right the right side with about 60 on the left. Then he got to 18, he smirked and right away 18 knew something was wrong.

"What's your name young lady?" he asked, as he looked her up and down.

"18" she mumbled.

"Well I've got somewhere special for you to go 18," he said then he stood up and walked over to one of his guards. Soon the guard walked over to 18 and grabbed her arm so hard that 18 screamed out in pain, she was sure it would bruise instantly. He dragged her off inside the palace kicking and screaming.

"Where'd Nappa take that girl?" asked Krillen. Vegeta looked at his 11-year-old brother stupidly, he hated Krillen so much, he wasn't like a normal sayian.

Vegeta laughed evilly "He took her to the harem". Krillen gulped, that couldn't be good.

***

The next morning Krillen was lying in bed thinking about all the people he had seen the night before. His father had put most of them in the slave quarters, some went to train to become elites and there was that one girl. Krillen had asked Nappa exactly what the harem was and he was shocked to find out, it made him sick to his stomach that people could be treated that way. And he was even more horrified to find out the both his father and his big brother visited the harem several days a week.

***

In the next room Chi-chi was pulling on her training armour, which consisted of a sleeveless black spandex body suit, white boots and gloves and chest armour, which had the royal logo on it. She opened her bedroom door and walked straight into her best friend, Bulma, her dad was the planets top researcher and Bulma lived in the staff quarters with him and her mother.

"Morning Chi" said Bulma loudly.

"Bulma shut up, if you wake Vegeta he'll kill you" said Chi-chi. Bulma covered her mouth with her hand and both girls giggled and walked off down the hall.

***

17 sat in the corner, and sobbed. He had looked everywhere for 18, but she wasn't anywhere to be found, instead he found Astrid and she had told him that she had been taken away. Now he was sure she was dead. Chi-chi, Bulma and Vegeta all came into the room then. They looked around in disgust, the slave quarters of the palace was possibly the most dirty and unhygienic place on the entire planet. The Royals cared nothing for their health or well-being, and if they did there job correctly their reward was being allowed to live another day. The place they lived in was in actual fact were about 10 big rooms, that were joined by archways, all made of stone. There was hay scattered here and there for them to sleep on and that was it.

"Ok you two, just pick one and let's get out of here. This place stinks" said Vegeta.

"You said it" agreed Bulma.

Their eyes moved around the room, each of them eventually finding one they liked. The 3 unfortunate people who had been chosen were hauled up off the floor and ordered out the room. 17 breathed a sigh of relief, he had not been one of them. He stood up and made his way into the adjoining room, hoping he would find Astrid in there.

He spotted the older woman on the far side of the room "Astrid" he called out when he spotted her.

"What is it 17?" she asked. 17 wiped his face with the back of his hand, trying to remove the tears that were there.

"Do you think there's anyway to get out of here?" he asked. Astrid – who had always been honest with everyone in her life – shook her head glumly. "I don't think so little one. I don't think so". 17's shoulders slumped and he turned to go, "thanks anyway"

***

"No!," she shrieked "You stay away from me". Her blue eyes were shiny with tears and when they started to leak down her cheeks the man slapped her. The sound echoed throughout the room only to be drowned out seconds later by a new sound, that of 18 smashing up against the wall. She sunk to the ground in a sobbing heap. Celius strode over to her and pulled her up by her hair, she screamed out in pain but after that she did what he wanted her to, she was too scared and hurt to do anything else.

She made a promise to herself that night. She wasn't going to be weak any more, she was going to be strong like 17 was, he was never scared of anything. She wasn't going to cry or scream anymore. She would be brave.

***

A/N; I am not new to the world of fanfiction, I do know what I'm doing. I am however still new in the A/U section of DBZ fics, so if you have any tips on how to write a good A/U I would like to hear them. I would also like to know what you though of my prologue, I promise the upcoming chapters are much better than this ok.

Please review.

~D.B