Chapter 17
The News
Impatience was once more getting to him as Lontok watched him carefully. The man reached back and gently began to rub the fur of the tail, smoothing it out but grinned when he seen the Saiyan relax. Lontok though took a sighing breath. "Seems we're both waiting for news on what's going on."
From behind the desk, the receptionist fingered a leather muzzle and then rose and walked over to Vegeta and knelt down, trying to place it upon the Saiyan. Vegeta though kept moving his head to avoid it knowing what that was for. Lontok looked at him curiously. "What's the matter? It won't hurt you, its just leather that's all. Come now and be a good boy so we can be sure you won't attack."
This caught the Saiyan Prince's attention and a deep scowl crossed his face as he growled. "No, its only used to keep me from talking, eating, drinking, and that sort of thing. No thanks, I've had enough of that humiliation. Besides if I wanted to attack, I would have done it by now, so you wear it yourself if you want to, but I refuse."
Shaking his head, the receptionist then quickly gripped behind Vegeta's head and then found his chin, trying to contain the struggle the Saiyan was putting up. Violently, he tried to pull his head up and away from him only to find he was limited on the uprise and it began to infuriate him. He tried to shake his head this way and that not able to avoid the straps finding their way upon his head. He scoffed, hating having to wear one.
Lontok gripped the muzzle and then to the receptionist. "Sir, he wasn't really making any sound and he was being really good. Why must he wear a muzzle if there is no cause for it?"
The receptionist looked at him. "You're new to Jronia aren't you? Here, silence from a slave is mandatory. He was talking out of line to a Free and so, he wears the muzzle."
Lontok shook his head again and then finally he looked up as a doctor came in and shook his head. The man lowered his head to Vegeta and shook his head but tears filled his eyes. He knew without words his wife and child were dead from the injuries induced by the sudden storm. Reaching an arm around Vegeta's neck, he took the opportunity to hide his face upon Vegeta's back and weep for his losses.
Then another doctor came in and then looked to Vegeta. "Come slave, you've been called for in the room of the boy. The lady wishes your company to say goodbye to her son. He doesn't have much longer."
Lontok looked at Vegeta and then their eyes met and it was then the man knew what was buried so deep inside. This Warrior Prince held in him a quiet and silent strength that refused to be touched by anything. The mysteries of the Saiyan warrior before him still confounded him to no end though as if he was still holding back ageless secrets as Vegeta rose to his feet and then followed the doctor to the room.
He stood in the doorway quietly while the boy lay there limply and pale, Meritha had been crying when she looked up with tearful eyes. Even though he was from another race, Vegeta knew the meaning of family and the deep love and loyalty that came with it, having been seperated from his father when he was just barely five years old. Now he stood there having already seen one person lose their family and this woman as well.
Meritha looked at Vegeta and then looked to the doctor asking the physician to leave them be for now. Hesitantly the doctor left the room and then went on his own tasks with other patients. Vegeta entered quietly looking to her and then down to the boy as he closed his eyes and then looked again to Meritha as if silently asking her permission to do as necessary and she nodded. A light blue aura flared around him making him look as if he were in the midst of a blue flame. Vegeta neared the boy and touched him and after a time, the boy woke up as if he had just fallen asleep and just now woke and he got up and hugged his mom.
Then without further words he flickered over to where Lontok was still knelt down weeping. Vegeta placed his hand on his shoulder and Lontok looked up. "They're gone. There's no bringing them back."
Vegeta pointed to the muzzle and then motioned it off. Lontok complied and Vegeta looked to the man once more. "What room are they in?"
Lontok looked at him perplexed at why the Saiyan would ask such a question. However, he replied to the question quietly. "Room 37."
Slowly the Prince nodded and then took hold of Lontok and then quietly he flickered into the room and Lontok nearly collapsed from the overwhelming sight of seeing the wife and daughter laying motionless in the beds. Slowly the man looked up at Vegeta quietly as the Saiyan walked over and pressed two fingers to the neck and raised a brow. "They're not dead. They still have a pulse, faint and irregular, but its there."
Lontok looked up and choked a moment. "What? You mean to tell me you can determine if one is alive or not just by a touch? How is that possible?"
Vegeta shrugged. "When you've killed many, you learn quickly how to determine if your enemy is dead or alive. There's a main artery in the throat that you can feel."
Slowly Vegeta gave the two bedridden people a bit of his energy and they woke up and then Vegeta backed away. The three of them being reunited again left a sharp pang in his heart that he had fought back for so long. Had he of lost both his parents when he was just born, he wouldn't have felt this way at all, but he remembered his father and he quietly made his way to the door. Lontok looked at him. "Thank you...I'm sorry, I didn't catch your name."
"Vegeta." He answered simply. Then in a flicker, he was gone and before long, without word that he had left the building, he stood harnessed to the cart in the freezing winds once more as Meritha and her son got in the coach. Glad to be away from there, Vegeta cursed himself for showing such a vulnerable side to his war hardened temper.