Chapter 18

Paths Crossed

The night was passed in the same stall with Vakor as the night wore on. Vegeta perhaps had the least amount of sleep as he struggled in a nightmare. Vakor woke to his constant shifting and then looked to the Saiyan warrior, watching him shift, toss, and turn. Cold sweat covered him as he fought a dreamt enemy. However, not long after Vakor had woke, Jerone walked in and then opened the stall door.

Jerone glared down at the Prince and then gave a harsh kick to the ribs. "Get up damn beast. You should have already been on your feet and ready to go."

Vegeta had literally jumped to his feet only to nearly collapse again from the agony that bit his side like a lion on red meat. He held his ribs and growled from the pain. "Pull the damn cart yourself, bastard. You have two hands and legs and you're ribs aren't broken or shattered either."

A club found Vegeta's jaw, whirling him around and back down to the straw. Jerone stood over him a cruel look in his eyes. Tora and Vakor both backed up watching the Saiyan struggle against his Master. "Don't ever disrespect me like that again, you wretched beast. You start on delivering the coal. You slack off at all, you'll get a worse beating than you thought possible."

With a growl Vegeta stood back up again. "Give me your worst. I don't fear you Jerone, I never have and I never will. If you want your 'precious' coal delivered, then you best start respecting me first. Without slaves, this city would be nothing, just a ghost town."

Jerone laughed slightly. "Well then, good thing we catch and break beasts such as yourself then isn't it slave? For backtalking me and for defying your Master, you will be punished."

-Seven Years Later-

A blistering day wouldn't even describe how hot the sun beat down on the City this day. Vegeta pulled the cart quietly hating the fact that he was pulling but hating worse having to go back to a Master's home. His coal eyes reflected that raging disgust, that indignant feeling of being forced to do another's bid. The battles he held with Jerone had been intense and painful as he pulled to the back alley of a store that had ordered the coal delivered.

He parked the cart and unloaded his burden and just as he was about to leave, he looked up seeing another in a tree. He shook his head and then moved forward when this lady dropped down and stood in front of him. In a demanding voice she called to him. "Who are you? What is your name?"

Vegeta let a mean look furrow his brow seeing no collar upon this woman and he thought her another Jronian Free. He scoffed as he answered. "I'm Vegeta."

The female came forward and looked at him then smacked his face harshly. "You're no Prince of mine, Vegeta is much stronger than this. You allow yourself to be commanded like a common beast. Have you no Pride left?"

Vegeta snarled at the last words she spoke. "I have my Pride, and never backhand me again woman. I am who I say I am."

She circled him with narrowed eyes then up in front of him again she tried to slap him again only to find her hand had been caught by Vegeta's own gloved hand, his tail which was unwrapped soon found his waist and cinched tightly it. The female widened her eyes slightly. "You're weak, a pathetic excuse of a Prince."

Vegeta narrowed his eyes. "Do not judge me so quickly woman, you know nothing of my daily fights. If you seen and experienced half of what I do, your views would rapidly change. I'm fighting a silent war and I'll not have it jepordized by anyone, including you. Now step aside."

Blue walked up to him and then scoffed. "At least I don't break to their whims."

The Dark Prince growled, his tail tightened around his waist. "You think me broken female? I'll kill in a heartbeat and not think twice."

Blue rolled her eyes and then and walked toward him. "So then why didn't you? You have more than enough strength to kill them."

Vegeta just glared at her, knowing now for a while this female was a Saiyan as well. Her arrogance and ignorance though was starting to make him edgy and tempered. "I would if they didn't give me these damn shots every month. Plus I don't feel like being shocked every time I charge one anyway. I have other plans of which I will not reveal."

The woman raised a brow then finally stepped to his side. "Well then, would you like a little help?"

Coldly the Saiyan Prince scoffed at her. "No, I'm behind schedule now and that means a beating already thanks to your 'help'."

With that he picked up the cart shafts and growled moving past her. He had nothing to prove to her in the back of his mind. The nightly beatings he received were always harsh and sometimes left him unable to move and that alone flared his temper even more over the years. To those that thought they knew him by a gentle side, really had no idea what was buried deep in the heart of the Saiyan Prince.

Blue followed beside the cart but Vegeta said nothing more as he walked the streets of Jronia. When crossing a particular intersection, a group of people laughed and jeered, a few even threw rocks at the Dark Prince, his brow furrowed but he paid them no mind. However it drew his rage even deeper. Beneath his breath he growled. "Your days are numbered."

He would pass by quietly and then came to the City Hall. There he stopped and began to unload the coal in the designated area while a Free came out and gripped his collar harshly, clipping a leash to it then hauled him to the side and tied him with his arms wrapped around a post and securely bound so he couldn't give much of a fight. His back was bared as the person took up a whip. Vegeta's eyes narrowed, this had gone on for seven years now, a few more lashings didn't faze him in the least.

Quietly, after the few lashings he turned disgustedly toward the cart as soon as he was unbound from the post. The one that had just whipped him, was only given a cold glare of hatred. He hated time limits and if it weren't for the fact he had to soon return, he would have given him a beating if not killed him.

Vegeta had indeed killed many as well. Blue stood by nearly horrified at the lashings as Vegeta looked to her. "That was nothing. The real punishment begins when I get back to Jerone's. Bastard, I should have killed him when I had the chance. Seven years under him is more than enough."

Blue couldn't say much at all, her blue eyes looked at him. "You should have killed him! Why didn't you?"

Vegeta looked at her again and began to pull out. "If I killed him, there would be at least twenty others that would have taken his place and then destroying them would have doubled it. I've been there, I've tried it and I'm not making that mistake again. I'm not even a Super Saiyan yet, but I am becoming quite the escape artist. Soon enough they will know a terror more lethal than their precious Realm Ruler, Syn."

Blue looked at Vegeta but didn't say more. She knew from what she had witnessed that this fight was much larger than just him and Jerone. This was a war that was raging between him and an entire city. Nothing more was said as Vegeta pulled the empty cart back toward Jerone's mines and there his Owner would wait for his arrival, timing him as usual. The slightest of a second off deemed a punishment of a severe kind.

As he approached the mines, he knew without the aid of any time device that he was a few minutes late. Jerone stood up and his eyes narrowed as he motioned the Saiyan Prince toward the mansion he lived in. Vegeta knew exactly what his "Master" was wanting. It was his favorite way of serving his so called lessons. Isolation would make it so there was no one around to help defend him nor to interfere.

Vegeta's eyes narrowed as Blue looked at him. Her eyes were wide as she looked at his gaze, trained like a silent killer's waiting simply for the time to strike. They were cold, unfeeling, bitter, and the rage in them was unspeakably deep. His head tucked ever so slightly knowing what was to come as he braced and stepped quickly for the mansion looming before them. Under his breath, Blue could hear him mutter two words that made her realize just how long he had been in this fight alone with very little to no help. "Nothing changes."