Alternate Timeline

Book one: The Saga Begins

Chapter one: Saiyan Royalty

He sat up mumbling something while rubbing his head. He hadn't regained all of his senses, but surly he had noticed he wasn't sitting in....well, wherever he was from. Looking around he asked, in a language I didn't understand unless he was just babbling, "Where am I?"

"As soon as you are capable of fending for yourself, which should be very soon, you may leave for your home. I won't save your life again so be careful were you tread in those woods," I say while setting a bowl of food in front of him. He jumped a bit once he saw I was standing next to him, but relaxed as his senses came back. He took the food and pulled it into his lap while I settled down to eat my own dinner.

"Who are you?"

More talking with words I couldn't understand. Hence I ignored them. But he prodded, asking the same question with a little more frustration and slurring syllables together to form more words.

I swallowed the food in my mouth and pressed a finger to his lips. "Eat," I said and I pointed to his bowl of food. "Eat." Then I pointed to the entrance to the cave. "Then leave."

He blinked at me a few times but gave me a serious look and leaned in close to my face. "If you can understand me, it's really important that you don't play games..."

"Eat," I repeated and tapped the edge of his bowl. "Eat, eat."

"Will you come with me? Will you come with me to the palace?"

I picked up the utensil used to scoop the food into the mouth and held some of it to his mouth. He shook his head and pulled it from my grasp to set it and the bowl on the ground. "Can you understand me?"

"Speak in my language or don't speak at all!"

He took hold of my hands and leaned forward to stare deep into my eyes, searching for something that could only be found there. As invaded as I felt having to be watched under his hard glare, I let him look while I looked deep into the confines of his soul. A whisper is what I began to hear while looking into those eyes of dark charcoal black. A light whisper of a voice talking to no one as it grew louder and louder. Words began to be heard, words I understood coming form his voice, but his voice did not speak. A feeling of airiness filled me, making me feel slightly drowsy and I wondered if he felt the same.

'........ she not understand?........is a Saiyan ......and she can speak, she's not just .............. must live with her, but ............ what language are they teaching .......?'

'You can hear me now?' my mind whispers and he jolts. 'You can understand?'

"How did-" 'How did you do that? Are you talking inside my head!?'

'I would think you are inside mine. You're the one who spoke first.' He blinked and sat back down. The feeling of lightheadedness was gone. As he watched me, and I watched him, it became clear that the connection was lost. Remembering what I had been told about Saiyans, I turned my head away and put my attention back on my food. Maybe if I just shunned him long enough.......

But again the boy set aside food and took my hands to peer into my eyes again, this time I closed them. "I just want to understand you," he pleaded.

"The mind is a private place," I reply. "You don't just jump into people's thoughts! What if I don't want you in there?"

"You seemed to welcome me when I was already inside."

"But you-" I stopped short and opened my eyes. "I can understand you."

"And I can understand you. Why did you pretend you couldn't speak to me?" He set upon his face a rather mean look and held my wrists a little tighter.

"I have reasons," I lied. "Maybe I don't want you here."

"Your the one who brought me here in the first place. I wouldn't have come here had you not brought me."

"And what was I suppose to do? Leave you out there in the wild to die? From hypothermia or an animal attack? Is that what you want, to die?"

"No!"

"Then shut up and eat your food! And when you're done, you can leave."

He was silent a moment and I could feel him glaring at me as I broke my wrists from his hold and turned my back to him. "I think I don't like you."

"I think, I really don't care," I reply.

"Do you even know who I am?"

"No, and I couldn't care less what your name is."

"How dare you speak that way to me! I am Prince Vegeta, and for you to be so disrespectful-"

"A prince are you?" I interrupt. "Well, you are no longer in the safety of your sheltered walls Prince Vegeta," I state coldly, turning to look at him once more. "Mind you, you're in my world now and if you don't shut up, I'll throw you out to the beasts right now." He shook with anger under these words and I half expected him to get up and leave. 'Why didn't he?' I asked myself. 'What is trying to prove?'

"If I wasn't in debt to you," he said with a surprisingly calm voice, "I would slaughter you right now." At his sides, his fists were clinched tightly so that blood was beginning to drizzle from them.

"Debt? I don't care for any debt. Leave now or challenge me if you wish; I'm stronger then you anyway."

"You can't be!"

"Prove it!"

We stood face to face now, him being slightly taller then me since he was standing on my bed. For a moment all stood still as we faced off against each other, measuring the other's fury and strength. Then I turned and marched to the entrance to the cave I had made my home in. "After the prince," I said giving a little bow as he approached.

He growled and twisted his face into a sneer. "Ladies first," he replied. I held my head high and marched defiantly out into the open of the forest surrounding the cave, showing I wasn't afraid to turn my back on him. Once he had followed, we stood across from each other and each took fighting positions. The stand off continued.

He charged and swung a fist at me which was easy to side step. But while my eyes were distracted on watching the fist that was now gliding past in front of me, his other hand swung out form his side and hit my face, pushing me down with him. As soon as we hit the ground, he rolled on top of me and began a onslaught of punches upon my head and upper torso. Blindly, I caught his shoulders with my free hands and hoisted him over my head with my legs. The counter attack didn't phase him.

The fight continued on like this, wrestling about the dusty ground as the both of us struggled to gain the upper hand again after losing it to the other. Punches and kicks were blurred in frenzies of them, neck holds and straddles were all broken free of with determined wiggling, and through all the small ki blasts that were shot, I began to see something: I was really enjoying the fight. Never before had I had the privilege to have a sparring partner; all my training, nearly all my life, was spent alone in the woods. And to have another being grapple with me was a rush.

The fight had started out serious enough, but as we fought it began to take on a less life-threatening feel; neither of us were aiming to actually kill the other now, we just tested the others strength and kept on our toes so as no to far under the mercy of the other.

Rain began to fall and for a moment we stopped; I hadn't even noticed the sky darkening. The water came down hard. In mere seconds the ground was soggy, wet, and muddy. Our feet sunk deep into the ground if we stayed in place too long. "Wanna keep going?" I asked over a loud crack of thunder.

Vegeta took a fighting position as a smirk slipped onto his face. "It's just water," he replied.

Another crack of thunder and a flash of lighting interrupted whatever I was going to say. One of the huge trees of the Vijedi forest caught flame and was quickly extinguished under the downpour, but not before cracking and topping over. I had grabbed Vegeta's hand and pulled him to the side just before it landed at our feet. Wiping mud from my face, I helped Vegeta up and the two of us took off running; neither of us needed to be told that this storm held more deadly secrets then just water. Back in the safety of the cave I called home, we both huddled around the fire to get warm.

"So I guess you're staying for the night then," I said as the flames crackled and danced. Vegeta didn't answer; he only stared into the flames. "Are you hungry?" I ask holding out his bowl of food to him.

"That's twice now," he replied still looking at the flames. "You've saved my life two times in one day."

"It was just my natural reaction to the circumstances. Think nothing more of it then an impulse," I reply.

"Two times? No, I couldn't. It would be against the law. I am truly in your debt now and fate has bonded us. I must return to the kingdom, you must come with me."

"I told you already, I do not care for anything you might need to give me. Your life means nothing to me, I didn't even mean to save it."

"Well, what will you do once I leave?"

"Stay here and continue living, forgetting that you exist, and training by myself," I say.

"By yourself?" Vegeta repeats. "You mean you're all alone out here, with nobody else? Where are your parents? Why aren't they here with you?"

"They're dead."

There was a silence that followed that last line. Vegeta then bowed his head and muttered, "I'm sorry."

"Don't be, I get by well enough without them," I state coolly.

"My mother died when I was a little baby. I hardly remember her at all. All I have now is my father. I don't know what I'd do if I lost him." Another moment of silence passed over us before Prince Vegeta broke it with, "What's your name?"

"I don't have one," I state looking into his eyes to show I was telling the truth. "My mother never named me before she died."

"And your father? Where was he?"

"He died a week before I was born. I don't even know who he was. And I never knew my mother's name, otherwise I might've taken that."

"How long have you been alone?"

"Two, maybe three years now," I reply pulling up my legs.

"And why didn't you come join the rest of civilization? There's an entire city not far from here, you could've found someone to take you in."

"And walk the same path my father did? He was killed in a brutal fight! Slaughtered on some 'mission!' That's why my mother kept me out here, away from people like you. She didn't want me to die; she had already lost her husband to the torments of Saiyan life and she wasn't about to lose her only child!"

"That's why you don't want to go to the palace with me? Because you're afraid of dying?"

I hesitated. I had been afraid of the Saiyans, but how could that be expressed convincingly now? Here I sat with one after saving his life and sharing my food. I was open with him and some of my past. I had even built my home here because the Saiyan village was close by, incase I had ever decided to join them. It felt pointless to fight going with the prince now; he needed to pay me back for saving him and the chains that had locked me away from Saiyans were long broken.

"Well?"

"Maybe I will go with you," I reply.

He smiled. "Into the city? All the way up to the palace? Into the depths of the palace and to my father's thrown?" he asked teasingly.

"And I should follow you into death and beyond it, wherever you may go there I will be beside you," I responded in the same teasing way.

"So when can we leave?" he asked looking to the door.

"Whenever the weather clears, I guess," I reply crawling to the entrance and peeking out. "It seems that may be sooner then I originally thought." Outside the storm had already stopped and the last droplets of water were gliding off the leafs of trees to fall into puddles which sparkled under the bright rays of the sun that shone through the dense forest. "The ground is muddy, but the sky is clear now."

"Mud won't hurt anyone; lets go," Vegeta replied crawling past me into the sunlight. "High noon already? I didn't think that much time had passed!"

"Something wrong?" I ask following behind him as he headed straight into the woods.

"Well, no; but I've been gone too long. My father surly knows that I left again. He'll be furious and I'm surprised he doesn't have the whole Elite Army out here looking for me."

"You father doesn't like you out on your own?"

The prince shook his head. "No, he worries himself senseless. Every time I'm alone."

"Why is that?" I asked.

Vegeta shrugged. "He never tells me why, I just can't go out by myself. I always have to be under the watchful gaze of one guard or another. It drives me insane! I just want to get way, be left alone. It was never like this a year before; I could do anything I wanted and now I can hardly leave the palace. It's like I'm a fragile glass sculpture he's afraid will break or something. Like I'm something of great value to him."

"But you are something of great value to him; you're his son."

"And?"

"And he must care about you. If he didn't, then why would he throw everyone out to look for you?" I stop and put my fists on my hips. "You're not trying to run away from him are you?"

The prince turned around swiftly and looked angry. "Of course not! I care a great deal for my father! And not only that, but I have responsibilities to uphold and duties to fulfill. I can't afford to run away."

"Then why do you leave?"

"I told you, I'm watched constantly. I have guards outside my door every night; a body guard following me wherever I go. I'm always drilled, trained, held captive. The only alone time I get is when I leave like this. And I always come back, always. He just won't loosen up." He turned and started walking again and I jogged to catch up.

"Why don't you talk to him then?"

"Tried it already. He thinks I'm too young to understand."

I threw my hands behind my head. "Wow. I guess no matter which way you look at it life must really suck."

"And what, may I ask, is wrong with yours?"

"Your life has too many people watching; my life has no one there. I do everything on my own; no one to tell me how, no one to show me what went wrong, no one to compliment me when I do a good job. I lay in bed at night listening to the sound of my own breath and feel myself falling into madness because no matter what I tell myself it all boils down to the fact that I'm laying there alone-"

"Okay! I get it! Your life bites too."

There was a silent moment between us as we walked. The prince was thinking something over in his mind, a question perhaps. He would look at me then away again because I was studying him. "If you live alone," he blurted while stopping, "then you must have a lot of free time. So why didn't you give yourself a name?"

I blink. That wasn't a question I was expecting. "Was there a point for me to have a name if there was never anyone to call me by it?" I ask. The prince shrugged.

"But you need a name now don't you? I can't just call you girl, it doesn't feel right. Didn't you ever think of it once?"

"Maybe, shortly after my mother's death. But no, not really. She just called me Child or Baby. She never had a real name for me."

"Would you mind if I named you?" he asked.

I smile and reply with, "that depends, Prince Vegeta. What would you call me?"

"I would call you-"

"Hey! There he is!"

*End Chapter 1*