My Immortal

By: Cabalistic

A/N: AHHH! It's been an entire summer since i updated! Sorry everybody and enjoy the next chapter!

Disclaimer: I do not own DBZ

Chapter 17 Labyrinth of Illusions

Vegetsa grunted as the targeted hits landed on their mark. She wielded off the pain and landed a few punches on Korn. She pushed her black tipped red hair back that was cropped short and her dark eyes narrowed. Her tail swished back and forth as she studied her opponent's move.

Korn was silently laughing, as she always did and her eyes sparkled with amusement. She had longer hair than Vegetsa, with purple tips. She brushed her dark bangs away from her face.

They both had a small, petite build but their power had increased since the day they were born. Separated from other beings of their country, they grouped together and never left apart. True, ever since their accidents they didn't remember a thing. But they always stuck together.

She screamed, jumping in the air.

"Gor--" Korn started her signature move, holding her hands behind her back. Vegetsa starting powering up with purple aura while Korn glowed with a golden aura.

"Ay--" Vegetsa concentrated hard because she realized that this was going to be a tough impact.

"Rai---" The power level steadily grew higher as Korn flashed Vegetsa a grin.

"Me----" Vegetsa was basically done, all Korn needed to do was say the final words.

"KAAAAAAAA!" "SONIC FLARE!"

Their beams of power hit each other and at first it looked like a tie. Korn's wavering violet shot against Vegetsa's vibrant red beam. Then Vegetsa gained control and shot more energy into the beam. Perspiration beaded on her forehead and Korn was breathing heavily. Soft beeping made them look up and then look at each other, determination burning in their eyes.

"Stop!" Korn yelled and their beams dwindled then faded.

"So my kiss..." Bulma said quietly, treading between Goku and Vegeta in the undergrowth of vines and leaves, "was the key to immortality?" The sunset had cast a dark shade to her face and made her eyes seem a clear shade of blue. She pushed back her azure hair that had begun to stick to her face because of the hot sticky air.

Vegeta nodded as he cut away a branch. He decided to walk rather than to fly to Freiza's palace on account of their scouters tracking them down. It was quiet then Goku said, "So is the super saiyan the super saiyan? The one of the legends always spoke about?"

Vegeta nodded, smirking at Goku. "The one that would rid the world of icejins? Yeah, that one." His jet-black hair was somewhat limping in the heat.

Goku smiled, pushing back his five-spiked hair, and he said, "I'm sorry Vegeta." He increased his speed, walking in front of him. Vegeta blocked him and growled. "Sorry for what?"

Goku grinned. "Sorry for you believing you were the only super saiyan." Vegeta smirked and crossed his arms with the slight look of doubt running between his eyes. "I never heard of any others." Goku cocked his head and said in an evasive voice, "Maybe they hide it because they don't want you to know."

Vegeta crossed his arms and snarled, "What are you hiding, Goku?" He did his nonchalant shrug and said, "Maybe you overestimated yourself because there is a super saiyan—" he pointed at himself, smirking, possibly trying to imitate Vegeta, "--right here." Bulma looked between the two, confused. Vegeta's first reaction was to stare at Goku with the look of; I thought you were crazy but this proves it. Then he burst out laughing. "You've gone mad, Kakarot." He snickered.

Goku blinked and replied with a look of seriousness running over his face, "No really, I've been one for a while. If you had the right information, you'd be able to see it too." Vegeta's mood changed from amusement to utter hate and rage.

Suddenly Bulma cut between the two saiyans, probably a good time too because Vegeta looked like he was in the mood for an execution. "What is that?" She pointed a pale finger at a dark building that raised from the ground, looking like a jagged piece of the earth's bone. A blackened iron fortress surrounded the building.

The saiyans' looked at it in bewilderment. Goku uttered under his breath, "Gor'athkoar…" The name cut itself into the air and Vegeta turned visibly pale. He clutched a fist so tight at his side, Bulma glimpsed beads of blood drip from his knuckles. "The Icejin's home base." He hissed from the side of his mouth.

He turned to them, not looking at them, saying swiftly, "There is an unguarded entrance underground. That is the only way into the fortress. Follow me." He hovered away, leaving Goku to walk with Bulma.

The undergrowth turned into chips of ice that froze Bulma's feet and spreading an eerie chill over her body. Her teeth silently chattered and she was trembling in fear. Her breath came in visible wisps of smoke, curling from her lips.

The entrance was no where near Gor'athkoar, but surrounded by nothing but ice and cold, with a tiny line of the jagged monument hovering above them. Vegeta shot a beam at a chunk of ice, splintering it into shards. There was ice cold water splashing against the ice as soon as he dug through the ice.

He didn't seem concerned though. He looked over at them. "Bulma, go in first."

She looked at the water, swirling around in anger at their trespass. She uttered under her breath, "Has Fate left you? Water in the winter burns like a thousand flames." She looked up with confusion in her eyes. "You of all people should know that, Vegeta."

His expression did not change. "Watch." He said blankly. He dipped his fingers into the water and swirled it around. For a shimmering moment, Bulma glimpsed a labyrinth of stone cold tiles underneath, then freezing water again.

Bulma gasped then gave Vegeta a puzzling glance. "How is that possible…?"

Vegeta chuckled with half-hearted amusement and said, "The Icejins are masters of illusion." He shivered and added bitterly, "It's another way they tormented me."

It was silent as Bulma drew a breath and said, "Well, here goes."

Goku nodded and said politely, "I'll go first to catch you." He was about to jump when Vegeta shot a hand in front of him and growled. "I'll go first," he snapped, diving in.

Bulma warmly smiled at Goku and hopped down after Vegeta. The scene changed and it grew colder still. It was cold and gray with gray bricks lining thickly on each of the walls. Cobwebs hung on the corners. It was a skinny corridor, lining down with no source of light, growing darker and darker until she was staring at the abyss of nothing. It was like no one had ever been there for a long time.

Vegeta caught her effortlessly and left Goku to collapse on the floor. He squinted into the darkness and chuckled under their breath. "They haven't changed apparently." He turned abruptly to the right. "Follow me." He swerved towards the right and then his image shimmered, then disappeared. Bulma gasped then put her hand up to feel the wall. She felt coolness under her fingertips of stone. She grimaced then stepped in.

The room turned into another long corridor but the walls were sleek black with blood swept over them as though with a paintbrush. She shivered and briskly followed Vegeta as he swept through yet another wall. She was comforted by his presence in front of her and Goku that trailed behind her. She walked in and this time it was a palace. Vegeta had his back pressed against the walls. He put his fingers to his lips as in silence then motioned her over to him. She saw a guard strutting back and forth at a mahogany wooden door with two crude gargoyles on either side. When Goku and Bulma were next to him against the pillar, he disappeared then she heard a choking noise then Vegeta was back. "Follow me." He growled.

The scene shimmered again, changing into a black hallway with cool smooth halls with scarlet blood carpet. She knew why it was bloody scarlet and she covered her lips to keep from screaming. Suddenly another hand covered her lips and an arm wrapped around her. She almost screamed if Vegeta hadn't said, "Shh. We're in the Laboratory now." He winced as Goku entered, nearly toppling over a table of vials.

"Laboratory…?" Bulma asked in bewilderment.

Vegeta's face was twisted into rage and pain as he said darkly. "Look." He shot a ki ball of fire at a lantern and suddenly the dark room had lit up again.

Bulma cried out and clutched Vegeta's arm terrified and horrified too much to move. People hanging in transparent cylinders with suspicious green liquid bubbling within hung with various wires attached to them. They were bloody and sickening, some decaying while still drawing breath by the raise and fall of their chests. They were ripped of their dignity, most of them naked with no show of attempting to cover their nude bodies. They lined up down the wall like a sickening hallway.

Vegeta's face was twisted into bitterness. She touched his arm and he jolted then relaxed slightly, looking at her. "When you said you were tormented…" She began softly, not brave enough to continue.

He forced a half-hearted laugh. "Yeah. This is one of them." Bulma, teary-eyed for the people, touched a cylinder where a woman hung. Feathers grew along her forearms and her feet were hooked and scaly. She shivered, drawing back to Vegeta. He was blank as he explained, "The Icejins have cruel amusement from watching other species deform as they mess up their DNA and perform twisted experiments. They watch their progress and if it is successful, the person would be accepted into the Arkaigosai, a twisted army of creatures that are indeed twisted but extremely powerful, brainwashed under the Icejins rule." He looked over at a Namekian and said grimly, "That one will not survive. The wires are the only thing keeping it alive."

Bulma looked to see a young Namekian the same age as Trunks. His atennas were replaced with black horns and he was no longer green but a pale blue. His flesh was scaly and his fingers were missing. His even breathing was kept track with a steady beeping from the machine.

Vegeta walked over and turned the machine off. The creature stopped breathing and Vegeta murmured, "He's in a better place now."

Bulma, remembering Trunks cried out, "Trunks!" She choked and said tearfully, "Would he be in here?"

Vegeta shook his head with a grim smile and said, "They only put those who defy them in these rooms. If your son is not in here…" He was cut off by Bulma correcting silently, "Our son, Vegeta." He paused then said blankly, "Our son, is not a fool than he will not be here."

Bulma was silent then asked in bewilderment as she looked at him. "What did they do to you?" Vegeta drew a sharp breath then slowly raised part of his hair so his ears were revealed. Her eyes widened as her fingers ran over his smooth ears, pointed like an extinct elf. He parted his lips and she saw his front teeth were filed into points. He chuckled and said, "I am lucky, my changes are easy to hide. And I got away. These people," he trailed his eyes down the line of people, "will never get away and will die connected to cold machines."

Goku was looking at the people, tears running down unchecked in grief. He uttered, "Oh Fate…" He cursed under his breath. He walked to the end of the hallway of torment and then gasped. He suddenly toppled over and Bulma rushed to him.

Vegeta walked to him and said, "What Kakarot?"

Goku, dazed, staring at the ceiling, said, "Look up, Vegeta."

Vegeta looked at the end where two lone cylinders hung and drew a sudden breath. He slumped against the wall, his breath quickening and his eyes bloodshot. He gasped for air as he blankly stared in front of him.

Bulma, puzzled, looked up. Two girls hung in the cylinders, four wires clamped to their heads. The girl on the left had long hair with bangs with shades of violet in her hair, bits and parts of her skin eaten away and replaced with wires and pieces of silver, making her half-cyborg. Her jawbone was missing and replaced with mechanical fangs that curled up on her flesh. Her nails were longer and like claws with dried blood on the tips. Her cheeks had slits in them like gills and her fingers had membrane in between like fins. She had a yellow fin going along her spine. She had no mask for air like the others and bubbles snapped up lazily from the slits in her cheeks. A fin-like tail clutched around her waist as if holding on for dear life. Numbers were engraved into the cylinder. 156, like they took away her name and gave her senseless numbers.

The girl on the right had cropped short scarlet hair. Two green attennas poked from her forehead like Namekians. Bulma sucked in a breath. Some of her limbs were missing; her left arm from elbow down was a mere stump and her right leg was entirely gone. Her tail was black and scaly with an arrow at the end, floating uselessly in the water and small black bat wings protruded from her back. The membrane of the wings had holes in them as through arrows had pierced them. Her elbows had horns on the ends, like a bone extending out from her skin. Two fangs rested on her bottom lip like a vampire's. Her numbers were 134 but it was all the same emotionless numbers with no name.

She looked closely at them and wondered at Vegeta and Goku's despair. Then she looked closer and gasped. Her hand covered her heart and a tear slid down her cheek.

The alikeness was plain to see. To the left was Goku's sister. And to the right was Vegeta's sister. But they weren't the proud saiyans they used to be. Now they were deformed creatures at the feet of the Icejins, begging for mercy in a helpless position, clinging on a thread of life. Who knew? They were probably already dead. And if they were, it was good for their suffering was over.

Bulma sank to her knees, looking upward towards Fate and the ill-fated girls before her.

Both of the girls seemed to be only 6205 sunrises old. (A/N: 17 years old) How could someone suffer so much torture at such a young age without tumbling into hell? She covered her face and wept for the fate of the two girls that hung in their imprisonment above her.

As the prince, the man and the Ograthan woman were embedded in their grief, the girl on the right stirred. Slowly her left wing swished in the green liquid and her head rocked from shoulder to shoulder.

Suddenly her eyes snapped open to reveal their crimson color, focusing in at the scene before her. Her lips parted in a silent snarl as she locked focus on her unsuspecting prey…

A/N: Sorry about the cliffie everybody! But hey I'm updating like three chapters so don't complain!