Inevitability
Chapter Twenty-One: Anniversary of Wickedness
The next day was fast to come. Whether it was because she had gone too sleep far too late for the time she had to get up, or she woke up too early for the time she went to bed, she could never be sure. But she just couldn't sleep well... Her bed was as welcoming as ever, as were her soft covers but something was wrong with the heiress... Something not physical, but deeper... Something emotional.
Shaking off the thought, Bulma lifted herself out of the Queen-sized bed she possessed and walked to her bathroom to brighten up, or at least make an attempt to. She was sure in her success as much as she was sure Vegeta would want to stay with her on her planet when he found out that his own nation had been revived. She wondered if he would remember how possessively she had acted about her wish and whether or not he should find out sooner what it was... Would he hate her for keeping that information from him, even though she had committed the selfless act of reviving a race that could endanger most races in the Universe? Would he still hate her if he realized how much more she was ready to give up for him?
The Princess shook her head, letting her shoulder length lavender tresses fall in front of her face as she could not look at herself in the mirror. She could no longer face her own expression as she realized what she had done.
She had doomed the whole Universe if Freeza lost to Vegeta...
A sob escaped her lightly parted lips as she slid to the ground, unable to keep her emotions in track no longer. She needed to cry her pain out, more than ever. She had thought herself mentally strong, but this was too much for her... She had never in her life, not once, been as stupid as she had been when she decided to resurrect the Universe's biggest nightmare after Freeza - the Saiya-jin race.
Bulma, even though her weak moments, was no fool. She had been informed of many things about this race, read some books herself and actually researched their way of living, their customs, their ex-territory, what gave them the power they had in their genes... She knew more of the Saiya-jin race more than any other... She knew their weaknesses and how less they were. She was perfectly aware that once they were back, if they could be - for at that time she still had not known what powers the Eternal Dragon of the Dragon Balls had, - they would be seeking revenge. And in their rampage, they would probably wipe out innocent races, or even worse, make them their subjects, slaves...
The lavender haired princess slid against her tiled bathroom wall, burying her face in her hands in shame. What was wrong with her? In her worst days she had never been even half so unreasonable and irresponsible. She made the biggest mistake in her whole life, and she was even willing to keep the Saiya-jin Prince as her friend, or so she tried to assure herself. But you don't do such foolish acts because of friendship, now do you?
The only thing the female could think of was cry. Cry for her fleeing sanity...
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Clouded onyx eyes snapped sharply open as their possessor regained consciousness. The flame-haired youth sat in his bed and looked around the still dark room. The sun had yet to rise and he was not sleepy anymore. Not that he was when he went to bed in the first place... A smirk crossed the Prince's face. Ah, yes, indeed... The fiery little princess right next door to his.
As soon as his mind calculated what he had done the night before and a while ago, namely the two kisses the two of them had shared, the smirk faded into a firm frown. Something bad, really bad was happening to the Saiya-jin no Ouji. He was, yet again he could feel it, slipping over dangerous grounds. He was not himself the last few weeks... He had experienced anger which he had no idea where came from, and this repulsive lump that rose in his throat whenever the scar faced bastard was near to the woman...
Vegeta shook his head roughly. How did his life become so complicated? He had not to worry only for his own skin, but for that of the odious Earth Princess, who was so repellently weak?! The face of the Saiya-jin twisted into an expression of pure disgust as he realized how he had let the woman work her dark magic over him. He could not believe that he was even capable of being charmed like that... A sigh escaped the Prince's parting lips as he stood up from his bed and went to the bathroom to get ready for a day of hard training.
He was not going to let himself get trapped into a meek human woman, be her royalty or not, work her hellish charms over him, causing his mind to go rampant against his instincts.
He wondered if she was so evil then why did something in the back of his head tell him that he was not quite right with his assumptions...
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Bulma walked out of her chambers as soon as she was done with her morning shower and dress up. Not that it was much of a morning with no sun in the sky, or that she had dressed up in something different than the long trousers that she always had on. Like earlier mentioned, Bulma hated dresses. She despised them deep in her stomach for they were so uncomfortable to sit on and had to be taken care of that she could never offer a cloth! No matter how expensive it might be. It was just not her thing.
She was beginning to wonder what little girls liked to dream so much about being on her place. Did they even realize what their duties would be like? Did they even think about the decisions they would have to make when they grew old enough to be Queens, which needed to be married to get crowned? And what if, like her, they were to be betrothed to someone they only liked as a friend, or did not like at all? What would they do then? Sure, they might not have the money she did, or the power, or the respect... But they could live their life, for Pete's sake! The way they wanted to! Not the way the Kingdom expected them to.
The Princess could still recall how angry her father had become when she had announced that she would not partake in anything that involved boring meetings about the Kingdom, or stupid battle stuff about the peace around there, neither would she dress into those long skirts and other sort of clothing that her maids readied for her. She refused to even do as much as try them on if her mother decided to create such against her will. She was acting like a rebel, yet she did not intend capturing her parents' attention with doing so, neither being interesting to her future subjects... All she wanted was to have some peace before the nightmare that she was sure the Power with capital P would present.
She was even beginning to wonder what Queen she would be, as unwilling to do what she had to she was. A sigh escaped the Princess' lips again as she removed her hand from the door handle that she realized just yet she had left there. She hoped that when the time to be a Queen came, she would know what to do and how to do it.
Having no idea what she could do so early in the morning, the princess decided to go to the Winter Garden around the top floors of the Palace and enjoy the sunrise from there. As she nodded to herself and turned on her heel she just noticed that she was no longer alone in the corridor.
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Vegeta straightened his pose as he put his training boots on and reached out for the nightstand by his bed for his gloves. He had told the woman he would be early with training and that was exactly what he was going to do. But the truth was that he would not go there simply because he had said he would. He needed a distraction from his conscience and everything that had to do with thinking. A mindless day of training would do best to ease his mind off strange topics such as why did he kiss that woman twice after he thought a mistake of it, and if he had begun repeating such minor mistakes what would possibly happen if it turned into a habit of his to repeating any of his mistakes? Disturbing questions that he oddly had no answers for.
Slipping on the gloves on his hands, the Saiya-jin no Ouji made his way towards the door. Yes, that was what he was going to do. Beat the shit out of himself in the Gravity Chamber. He needed to go back to his old ways. A deeper frown crossed the boy's features. Old ways? When did he begin having new ways from which to return to his old ones for? No, he truly needed a break from the woman, her feminine back magic and her weak emotions, not to mention her fragile physical strength. Even though she was a warrior, her race was far too weak to even consider rival his energy.
As he closed the door behind himself, Vegeta finally made note of the familiar energy that had not long before him emerged from the neighboring room. Crossing his arms over his chest, the Saiya-jin no Ouji made sure to keep his mind off the topics that were obsessing his mind currently as he observed her actions. She made no notice of his presence as well until she had to lift her eyes to meet with his. He was taken a little aback by the motionlessness that they held. No fire? No determination for the usual argument? No question? Well, she seemed stunned a little at first before she digested the information from the day before as well.
"Going training." Bulma rather stated with a sigh as she passed by the Prince who had not let his eyes wander off hers not even when her gaze fled his lock. Something was wrong with the woman today. Was it not her mother's birthday today? He wondered if that was what got her so... fazed off today. Or maybe she had some strange thoughts in that complicated head of hers as well? A smirk crossed the Saiya-jin's features. He knew that the Earth princess was weak physically and would never tell her that he though thought very strong of her in mental aspect. She had proved that she was stubborn enough to waste her childhood in a laboratory or a library, something he would never do. His smirk faded.
A growl emitted from the youth's throat. He was letting himself drift off again, into mindless discussions in his mind that he shouldn't even consider in the least entertaining. He was never so sure of anything else in his life than what he was sure in about now - he needed to wear himself off so much as to not be capable of thinking for the rest of the day.
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Bulma walked slowly towards the Winter Garden. Another sigh made it out of her lips as she straggled down the corridor. She was doing that really often today. Sighing, that was. She made note of it as well. What was wrong with her?! First crying her eyes out in her bathroom, then not saying anything to Vegeta as she met him... But then again, what was she to say? She did not even wish to see him in the first place! She did not feel right around him anymore. Or so she tried to tell herself as she pushed her key in the lock of the door leading to the Winter Garden only to find it, strange as it was, already unlocked.
Peering inside, the Princess wondered who could possibly be there at that early hour of the day. Not that there was usually anyone who went in any gardens at any time of the day. And that was the most weird part, yet not the last weird thing about it all. Many questions raced the Princess' mind, many opportunity of who might be behind the door into her sanctuary. The only thing she could do was enter and see who it was...
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Vegeta walked over to the control panel in the middle of the room, where the main engine was placed as well. He typed a few numbers and started his daily training session, though fierier than any other. After all, he did not intend to let himself drift off anymore as long as he was in there.
Yet it was not too long before someone knocked lightly on the Gravity Chamber's door. Shrugging it off, deciding that his mind was still struggling against his brain-numbing training before it even started properly, Vegeta did nothing to acknowledge the annoying sound that was produced mere seconds ago. But when the accident repeated, the Prince angrily shut off the gravity and walked over to the door, swinging it open with the expectations to see that the woman had probably followed him to bug him about anything that might be on her mind again. He was surprised to see a little kid no taller than his abs' level. With a slight quirk of the brow, the Saiya-jin Prince noticed the tail swinging behind the boy's backside.
"Who the hell are you supposed to be and what the hell do you think you're doing interrupting my training?!"
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"Ah, hello there, Princess Bulma!" A familiar voice exclaimed yet none too loudly as the person jumped out of the chair they were sitting in the moment before the Earth Princess realized who was standing before her and smiling at her direction a sleepy smile.
"Weren't you Yamcha's cousin?" Not very much used to the courtesy Bulma ignored how the teal haired girl had referred to her. What was her name again?... Ah, yes, Marron. What was she doing there so early in the morning? And what the hell was she holding in her hand?! Bulma's book?!!
"I was and still am, your highness." The other princess replied in a joking manner but noticed how the other girl's form stiffened as she looked at Marron's hand that held a book, a pretty old one. "Oh... I hope you don't mind your maid told me I can assist myself around the library..." She began unsure of her words. "She said that it was nothing really..."
"Which is nothing?! My library?!" Bulma jumped to conclusions, which would soon turn into wrong ones as she glared at the other woman with matching features to her own. Damn, they looked almost like sisters. Yet they were not related to each other at all, not to mention that they wouldn't even know for each other's existence if it wasn't for Yamcha's crush on Bulma. A depressed look crossed the earth princess' face as she remembered Yamcha and what the fortune-telling woman had said about him...
"What?! No, my lady, there is no such thing! She never meant that, neither did I when I rephrased it... Hm, let me try that again. She said that it is not a problem if I pick a book or two to entertain myself while I stay in the castle. It's not that it is boring around here, but... I get kind of lonely, staying alone in my room for countless hours..." The foreign princess made her way back to her chair and offered Bulma one as well. "Have a seat." She urged the other girl as she sat down herself.
"So... What are you doing here, and who gave you a key to here?" Bulma asked as she herself took a seat next to her fellow princess. She had never liked Marron, for she never knew the girl. Earlier she was too engulfed with her books and studies and now she was finding what a wonderful world was surrounding her, or so she was to believe yet. Another weird grin graced the elder princess' lips.
"I have been visiting here ever since we came. I enjoy welcoming the sunrise from here. It's kind of... magical!"
Well, maybe the world around her was indeed a lot different than what Bulma believed it to be.
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Lunch....
The blond Queen looked around the dinning room, scanning for her daughter's typical lavender locks. She was surprised to find that her offspring was, indeed, not in sight. She shifted her worried azure A/N: I have seen her eyes, I'm sure they are blue. Or at least I think I am... gaze to her husband that was joining her and the other inhabitants after a long and exhausting argument he had with the Board that controlled most of the activities around the Kingdom.
"Dear... I don't see Bulma..." The blonde said slowly as she continued shifting her eyes from one end of the room to the other and back, only to see servants walking around carrying various plates and meals in their hands. After all, the day was really special.
"My lady..." The elder woman heard a voice call from beside her after the girl placed a meal on the table. It was ChiChi, Bulma's personal maid. "I do not wish to worry you on your birthday, but I must say that the Princess was acting really weird this morning when I saw her walking in the corridors. A/N: Just to make you feel better - no, ChiChi had not gotten up before sunrise. Bulma went out of the Garden some time later. Nowadays she won't even speak with me the way she used to... I am getting worried about her, your majesty..." The girl explained slowly, her eyes becoming darker and more concerned.
"Oh, relax, dear, it must be something little. She is a cheerful, or at least temperamental person. That won't last long, I'm sure. I was just wondering where she was..." The door opened with a loud crack as it was probably too old and too heavy for its hinges now. But the sound was enough to alarm the Queen's head to snap at the direction of it, only to get disappointed by the fact that it was only Prince Yamcha and Princess Marron.
"Oh, shoot! I don't even have my family together on my own birthday!" The woman pouted as she looked how ChiChi scurried back to work as one of the other servants scorned her.
"I have been with Bulma the whole day, my lady. We had been talking the whole morning in the Winter Gardens. I left to dress myself properly for lunch, but she chose to stay there some more. Perhaps she is still there." Marron suggested as she seated herself.
"Oh?" Was the only thing the Queen managed to say before she called one of the guards by the door. "Balzar, come here, my boy; I have a little task for you to complete."
"My lady, if I may interfere, I suggest that I go look for the Princess, if that is not a problem, that is." Prince Yamcha half-asked before sitting in his seat as well. The Queen blinked a few times before her smile stretched over her lips wide.
"That would be wonderful, dear Prince Yamcha! Balzar, boy, do come." As the youth with dark emerald eyes and shoulder length dark auburn hair bent over as to hear what the Lady had to ask of him, she stretched her neck to reach his ear and whispered something into it. The guard bowed and left. "Oh, goodie! Now all royalty in my castle will be in one room! That is so wonderful!" The woman exclaimed and could barely set herself in her seat for longer than a mere second.
"She knows most of the servants' names." The King explained as he noticed the weird look Marron was giving his wife. "She says that if we treat them with respect, they will treat us back with equal such." The princess' face turned to a warm smile again.
"What wonderful politics!" She exclaimed before she grabbed her fork.
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Yamcha approached the Winter Gardens with caution. He did not want to scare Bulma if she was willing to spend some time on her own away from her parents and him as well. And the Winter Garden was indeed the most far off place from where all of the above were wandering. He glanced in as he opened the huge wooden doors only to find the princess in question sprawled on the ground below the huge glass top over the center of the Winter Gardens.
Yamcha had been to this place only once before when he was younger, when he wanted to talk to Bulma and perhaps take her out around the castle or something only to have himself brushed off rather rudely by the young princess. With a sigh he approached her slowly, still mildly afraid whether she was just standing on the ground motionless or she had fainted because of some unknown reason or something like it.
"What do you want?" Her distant voice asked him as her eyes remained closed and she did not move any other muscle in her body after she closed her mouth.
"Bulma... Well... Your mother wishes for you to come to her lunch... You are aware that today is her birthday, right?" He asked cautiously, kneeling beside the fallen princess. Her eyes whipped sharply open to glare at the youth by her side.
"Of course I am aware!" She retorted none too gently as she pulled herself in a sitting position, wrapping her arms around her bent knees. "I was just... Forget it." The girl snapped again as she walked towards the dinning room.
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"And you interfered with our sparring session, because..." Vegeta let his voice trail off sarcastically, mocking the servant that dared to interfere with his and Kakarot's sparring time. He had a good few hundred points in advantage to the drastically younger than him boy, but the Prince was uninterested by the age of his opponent. What mattered was that they were cut while they were fighting by this cowering fool!
"Sire... The Queen requested your presence at lunch..." The man muttered, making the Prince grimace at the tone he was using.
"Oh, so she did? And what do I care in this case?" He scoffed uninterested with satisfying the old harpy's whim. He was in no mood for eating. Though his stomach said differently.
"But sire..." Was the last thing before the door to the Gravity Chamber was shut in the servant's face. The elder Saiya-jin dusted his hands off and looked back at his opponent, or at least at the location he had been last been in. When he didn't find him in the air, the onyx eyes of the Prince slid down only to find the boy on the floor, gripping his stomach.
"The hunger...." The smaller creature moaned out, causing a growl to escape from his sparring partner's throat.
"Fine, I got the point, you fucking weakling... Let's go to eat..." The Prince sighed in defeat. Well, it was not that difficult since his own stomach was rumbling in hunger...
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"What do you mean you were going to take me out to the park?! Where were you the whole day then!?" The princess insisted as the heated argument did not settle on their whole way to the dinning room. Yamcha sighed in defeat. The fiery woman he had been talking to continued to be as rampant as ever as he tried to pull out of her head the strange ideas he wondered how got in there in the first place.
"Bulma, I would never want to hurt you. I do not know what has come over you, but I hope that you did not mean that I could actually do anything on behalf of hurting you. I am not capable of such thing, and you know it! I know you do! You just want to make yourself believe that I am the evil one around here. Bulma!" He grabbed her by her arms, forcing her eyes to meet his as she did her best in the past few minutes to prevent that. They had been arguing about Yamcha's conversation with King Briefs a few days ago. "I will not and will never hurt you on purpose neither mentally or physically. Do you understand?" He insisted with his pleading dark brown eyes. A smile graced the princess' pink lips.
"Ow, I know you won't. I'm just so... So.... distracted the past few hours. I do not know what to think or do anymore... I am so confused... I..." She stopped as she looked someone pass by Yamcha's back after what her eyes darkened visibly again. They had the ability to give out her mental and emotional state pretty much, that Yamcha had learnt even from just observing her from afar.
"What? What is it, Bulma, what's wrong?" The boy tried to shake her again, but she said nothing. She shrugged him off, sighing and entering the room after the people before her, after which she plastered a fake grin on her face, approaching her mother to hug her for another year of great ruling of the Kingdom. A sigh fled the prince's lips as well. Something was going wrong with his Bulma, and he intended to figure out actually what got her so worked up.
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The day had flown by so fast for the Earth Princess. After the exchange at lunch, most of exchanging done by her parents and their guests - except for the Saiya-jin Prince, - everyone scattered to their daily duties. Vegeta had been actually called off of his work as a tactician and was now in the acting forces. He had proved to be a great warrior at Freeza's side and had said nothing when King Briefs offered him a "raise", since the King noticed how much the boy missed the real battlefield.
The night there was a party thrown in the ballroom, just like on Bulma's birthday, the only difference being the hour at which it was thrown and the amount of food served. But Bulma was not in a partying mood. She felt still very depressed and confused with herself. The whole day she had seen Vegeta at lunch and before going to the Gardens, she felt so weird around him. As if those kisses were something more than they actually meant to both of them. She was sure that Vegeta had no mental battle with himself as she did right there and then, but she was just... Ugh, the situation was impossible. The guy was acting just the same around her, and she was the one that brought the tension in the first place! She had to give up all that thinking, it was causing her such a headache.
In the morning she had talked with Marron... They had talked for so many hours that both princesses probably could stay silent to everyone for a day or two. A few hours of a conversation brought Bulma to the discovery that Marron was not a bad person at all. Kind of simple when it came to knowing things, but she knew just enough. She was kind, polite and everything that a princess should be like, minus the height of the voice. She was the dream Princess... A sigh escaped the Earth's royal heiress' lips for what time that day... It was all becoming too... Difficult...And why, she wondered... What made it all so difficult?!
The girl lifted her head towards the pitch-black night sky only lit by the stars up there. She had chosen to go outside on the balcony instead of having to bear that noisy crowd that the guest represented in her eyes currently. What could she do about it, on a second thought... Her mother was always the social type, as was her father. Well, partially. Both in difference to her - she was not a part of a crowd. She was too different from all of them, and she didn't feel in the mood to put up her facade of fake politeness around people that do not know her real personality.
"Get a coat, woman. I don't want you sneezing around me tomorrow." A gruff voice behind her said. She heard the person lean against the wall as she sighed an exasperated sigh. Was his job trying to piss her off no matter in what mood she was finding herself in the moment he was around?!
"Leave me alone, Vegeta. I have not come here to have you ruin my mood further any more today." Another sigh, this time from her interlocutor. He seemed to be annoyed just as much as she was, but decided to leave it be for now. His eyes averted forward to the horizon where the sky met the land into a weird dark combination...
During his training, Vegeta had little time to really think of anything, as he wanted to. But now he realized what weakness this woman was really to him. When he was around Freeza, Zarbon or any other of the lizard's henchmen, he needed to think of nothing else but revenge, purging and homicide. When he was around her, a weird feeling rose in his throat, a strange feeling that he had never before encountered. He imagined it could be some sort of... comfort. And he hated to be comfortable around people. Around weaker people nonetheless. He didn't want that comfort, neither did he want her. He needed to get rid of his thoughts as whole, because most of them were leading to her. Vegeta was beginning to worry about his own health as well. He was giving in to this weak creature, that was going to make a mush out of him, if he let her. She was indeed, weakening him, his senses and everything... She was a nuisance that he needed to get rid of. One of them had to leave... And he was certain that if he killed her, he wouldn't slip off the planet alive, no matter how weak the race was.
"What are you doing in here, anyway? I doubt my father or any of the organizers would invite you here." Her voice snapped him back to reality. His eyebrows knitted at her mockery.
"Not that I give a shit what you think, but your mother personally came to invite me to her party, woman. I might be important here just as much as you are." The prince insisted, closing his eyes, letting the light breeze brush lightly against his skin. He liked the nights on Earth, or at least in the "season" they were in right now. The days were not too hot and at night, it was a complete bliss to be outside and feel the wind against your tired body from hard training.
"And you spend the night by being on the balcony. That's some respect." She muttered throwing herself to sit on the railing.
"I could say just the same for you." Her interlocutor noted as he sat on the floor.
"Hey, look! A falling star!" Bulma exclaimed and pointed with her at the direction of something entering the Earth's atmosphere which Vegeta deeply doubted to be a comet or a meteor, which earthlings liked to call 'falling star'. "Make a wish!" She urged him as she closed her eyes and made one on her own. Doing so she missed to see how Vegeta shook his head.
"All you do is making wishes, wench. Why don't you try making some of your dreams come true with your own strength instead of leaving all your pathetic little hopes to some superstition? It is purely foolish to believe that some comet can make your wish come true." The boy snorted as he thought deeper about it. The woman must really be a fool. She knew just as well as he did what a falling star was, and yet she was still urging him to make a wish on that thing.
"Stop being cynical, Vegeta! Let one believe in the few things they have left to believe in..." She muttered as she got back on the balcony.
"It is plainly to believe in something as stupid as..." But he did not finish his sentence. He stood still. Not a muscle moving in his body. Even his breathing had stopped. Bulma looked weirdly at him. She was just as confused as earlier, if not more, even though she was still trying to talk to the guy. As she heard the way he addressed her, not to mention the disrespect he was speaking to her after he did not recognize her as a friend, she couldn't help but ponder what attracted her so strangely to that man. But maybe it was indeed that fact, that he was a man in her eyes. The quiet was becoming quite eerie, so she decided to break it.
"Um, Vegeta... What's going on? What's wrong..." Her voice trailed off as she approached the Saiya-jin in question.
"They came..." The youth muttered, standing back on his feet with a dirty glare in his eyes, hate boiling in the endless onyx pools. There was no need for him to tell her who he meant by his words. She could already tell...
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The doors to the ballroom busted open, startling all of the inhabitants off the room to jerk their heads towards the direction that the sound was produced. All of them "ohh"-ed and 'ahh'-ed as they saw the Lord, Lord Freeza walk into the room, followed suitably by a gang of his henchmen. His face was twisted into a sadistic smirk as he scanned the whole room with his brooding blood red eyes.
"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. I am not here to bust your party, please do act as if I am not present. I have come only to take my doggie and his little bitch."
The lowlife guards behind Freeza began laughing cruelly after his statement. Somehow the Queen just knew that it was not because he was joking...
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IMPORTANT AUTHOR'S NOTE
I want to excuse myself for this chapter was supposed to be beta-read, but I couldn't wait... I don't have much time and I'll do the best I can to finish this fic before I have to move out of town, for it is completely a mist to me whether I'll be able to write there and where, if I will.
I want to ask all of you, if you esteem this fic, even mildly, please give me your opinions on the chapter. And, no, I don't ask that of you of selfish reasons, even though they might be considered such. I do not want to reach a certain amount of reviews or something like that. I just want the chapters to look good, and your words on this inspire me, they're a driving force to me. Of course I would write even if you do not wish to take any part of what I'm asking, you could continue just reading, but I'll be just writing then as well. So.... Well, I'll do my best for this fic, for I have not come this far to give up (to those who have read "Skaters" that might sound pretty familiar, but it isn't; the situation is quite different). If not all of the chapters before them, I want the last ones to be exciting, so I'd build the tension for the climax - the ending. I'd do my best and I promise that. I just wanted you to know that the more reviews I get, I get more confidence in what I can and cannot write. Pathetic, I know, but it's just me...
Yours sincerely, Hope.