War of the Quadrants
Chapter 2: Vegetasei
She bit back a gasp as the rowdy crowd of Saiyans seemed to rile up further from Vegeta's proud strut to the palace. Bulma wondered why they were not surprised at her arrival, or her tight hold in Vegeta's arm. Surely they must realize she's not Saiyan. The blue hair and lack of tail were quite obviously un-Saiyan. She kept her eyes locked towards the palace as she slowly started to go closer and closer, until finally they were in front of the gigantic, golden doors that secured the building.
She took a closer look at the thirty feet tall doors, observing the intricate designs that she was positive related to their history. At the top left corner there was some sort of lizard creature that was sending a blast towards a Saiyan in the bottom right. There was a set of lines to indicate that he jumped up to the top right, and then a swirling mist. He then flew down to the bottom left and preceded in decapitating the creature. She closed her mouth, which she discovered to be gaping, as she made a mental note to find out about Vegetasei's history. The battle scene on the door was beautiful and yet showed the intensity of the battle all the same somehow.
Her thoughts about the door were forced aside as the middle cracked open and swung forward to reveal the inside of the palace. She wasn't surprised at how nice it was. The inside of the Administrative Headquarters weren't exactly low budget. But the blood red mixed magnificently with the sun gold made her stare in wonder once again. She didn't know what she'd expected before this. Certainly she'd realized that it wouldn't just be some barbaric, almost third world country like planet where the strong survive over the weak. She knew from meeting the two that they were civilized. But this… this was certainly not included in her thoughts of 'civilized'.
"I see you like it," Vegeta sneered playfully, noticing her impressed look.
"It was a hell of a lot more grandeur than I thought it would be," she admitted honestly, smiling at him as he continued to lead her inside the palace. All the tapestries had the image on the door she'd seen, specifically the part with the Saiyan with the swirling design around him. She couldn't help but notice the large number of palace guards and workers running around and such, a few with scouters on as they talked to an unseen figure. At one point she almost laughed outright as a man was bustling around talking to someone on his scouter, only to find he'd run straight into the man he'd been talking to.
"Computer," Vegeta barked suddenly, startling Bulma a bit as he tapped his own scouter on. "Lower the gravity setting in the palace to Earth standards."
Almost instantly the guards she could see stopped as the scouter started to beep an announcement to them. They then stood still as if preparing for something, and then grinned to each other, bouncing around a bit and teleporting from hall to hall.
Vegeta chuckled. "They always like to test their speed out in such low gravity. It makes them feel like children again. Now, computer, new entry: " He took his scouter off and held it to Bulma like a microphone.
Catching his gist, she quickly said clearly, "Bulma Briefs."
He nodded to her and put the scouter back on, giving it a few more commands in Saiyan before holding his arm out to her again. She complied in taking it as he explained, "I'm going to get you a scouter."
She nodded as he led her around another maze of hallways, which she took note of to remember. After only about thirty seconds, they arrived at a silver door that had a strange language written across it. Bulma assumed it to be Saiyan.
"This is the Science and Technologies department. You're welcome to stop here whenever you like. I know how much you like to tinker with your toys," Vegeta chuckled, giving her a smirk.
She smiled at him in glee as he opened the door to reveal a sinisterly large room filled with important looking scientists running to and fro to different sections of machines and such. A man that looked like the spitting image of Kakorott appeared in front of them, bowing deeply.
"My liege, I thank you profoundly for your promotion and appointment to this department."
Bulma briefly wondered why he was speaking in English. It didn't make sense that he would be speaking in an Earth language on Vegetasei to the King of Vegetasei. "Maybe it's the scouter," she mused mentally, observing as the device flashed and beeped every time he said something. "Perhaps it acts as a universal translator. He must be speaking Saiyan but the translator is allowing me to understand him. And Vegeta. I think I'll look into how that works later…"
"It is you who deserved it, Bardock," Vegeta replied smoothly with authority. "Without your invention we would not have known about the northern alliance. Now at ease, soldier."
Standing straight up now so that he towered over the two, Bardock seemed to refrain from smiling as he looked at Bulma for the first time and observed her appearance. Obviously HE knew she wasn't Saiyan.
"I take it you are taking measures to counter-act, my liege?"
Vegeta smirked at him. "Very good observation," he chuckled sarcastically. The blue hair was definitely a dead give away. That and she had practically 2 muscle compared to the 99 most Saiyans were made of. "But keep it from everyone else. Surely there are rumors spreading by now due to our arrival, but I don't want anybody to think anything is official until she is crowned."
"Yes, sire," Bardock agreed, giving another deep bow.
"Bardock, I came here because I have a special order for you to make. It is for you, and you alone, clear?" Bardock stood up straight and nodded before Vegeta continued. "I want you to make five class A-6 scouters, dark blue, for me, the woman, your son, and yourself. Make a light green class A-5 for Nappa. A-5 is the scouter you made, and A-6 is the new class for your scouter as well, but with a higher priority. That means that when communicating with the other A-6 scouters, the encryption can only be read by other A-6's. Understood?"
"Crystal clear. I should be able to whip those up in an hour, sire."
"Very good. Send the woman's to my quarters as well as mine. Kakorott should be with another Earthling. Give the remaining A-6 to her."
"Very well, my liege." With a small bow, Bardock turned to attend to his new duty.
"So what now?" Bulma asked, feeling a bit timid due to the grandness of the castle she'd seen so far.
"I suppose I shall have to show you around the palace, now won't I?" he answered with an amused look. It'd been a long time since he had something to take his mind off the war for a bit. Though the whole reason she was there was because of the war. Swiftly turning to exit the room, she gave one last awed sweep of the room before rushing after him. Running to catch up in step with him, she walked with him around a few corners until she found herself in front of a golden door about the size of the entrance. The picture on the front was the same, but had colors added in the picture itself, such as the lizard and Saiyan. The ebony hair and brown tail confirmed her thoughts that the revered figure was indeed Saiyan, but the lizard looked foreign. She didn't have enough time to inspect the colors further, for the door soon cracked in the middle and swung open.
"This is our room," Vegeta explained as he stepped into the blood red and gold room. Her eyes widened to three times their abnormally large size as she observed the even larger than king-sized bed that had red curtains around the golden frame that was perfectly centered against at least a fifty foot wall. Standing in the doorway, she realized that the room itself was another fifty feet long, making it a perfect square. She walked in, taking note of the balcony on the right that seemed to be about as long as the wall it was connected to. She grinned with glee as she stepped in, turning left to walk into the unnecessarily large bathroom, complete with a shower, bathtub, and of course: Jacuzzi and indoor pool. The sink had two facets and the pool was about ten square feet. She returned to the main bedroom, looking down at the lush cream carpet that oddly matched the red and gold set-up. Even the furniture was a blood color.
"It's wonderful!" she breathed as she stopped to put her hands on her lips and survey the room completely. With a childish grin, she gave him a glance before rushing over to the bed and jumping on it. As she impacted, the bed bounced her back with a strangely hard retaliation, sending her flying up a good three feet before gently plopping back on the bed.
"Holy shit!" she shrieked as she collapsed in shock on the bed, scrambling off hurriedly lest another incident like that occur. "Why the hell is it so bouncy?" she demanded, giving Vegeta a hassled and accusing look.
"All the better for later," he explained, giving her a seductive grin. Pupils dilating, she quickly decided to disregard the comment and look away to observe another aspect of the room.
"And how exactly would YOU know about extra bounce. You don't exactly strike me as the pimping type," she joked, turning back to give him a playful smirk.
He laughed heartily, assuming the implied meaning of the word 'pimp', putting his hands on his hips and throwing his head back. His eyes became little slits as his mouth opened to let a roar of laughter escape, stopping almost as soon as he started to look at her with amusement.
"I didn't make it that way, woman. This room has been used by the Kings of Vegetasei for generations."
Her eyes widened and she shrieked disgustingly, scrambling away from the bed completely. "You mean…. DOZENS… of… of…"
With a small frown, he waved her off with his hand to silence her. "No you silly woman. The mattress or sheets aren't what make the bounce. It's the frame of the bed. About four generations ago the king installed it, for reasons I'm sure you can imagine. For every king the lay-out of the room changes, including the MATRESS and SHEETS," he scoffed. "But by tradition, all the original furniture, including the desks, drawers, bed frame, and other various pieces of decoration are kept. So there's no need to fret. The only one who's slept in that bed has been me."
Resisting the urge to ask if that made it just as dirty as she'd thought it was before, she quickly shooed the thought from her mind as she relaxed a bit and nodded.
With a smirk, he motioned for her to follow him as he exited the room, earning a jump from her as the doors automatically shut behind them. Her mind wandered back to the golden designs on all the entryways.
"So tell me," she chatted casually as they walked down the hall together. "What's the significance of the picture on the doors?"
"Ah yes!" he started off, seeming to go into a 'story mode'. "It is how the royal family came to be. It was the year the war started when it happened. There was a race called the Icen that had serious disputes with the Saiyans. Since it was before the war, it's not really well known throughout the other quadrants, but they resided in this quadrant. The Cold family, which consisted of King Cold and his two sons, Cooloer and Frieza, ruled the Icen. The Cold family specialized in the sale and conquest of other planets, and used the Saiyans as their dogs to do it. Frieza in particular liked to keep watch over his 'monkeys' as he liked to call us."
"Heheh well upon hearing that Frieza planned to conquer the rest of the galaxy by having the Tuffles eliminate us, a few lower-class Saiyans realized that Frieza planned to eliminate the only threat of stopping him: Vegetasei. So they gathered a resistance force and alerted the planet. Back then, there was no royal family and there were only two classes: elite and everyone else. So the lower class tried to warn the elites about the impending threat, but they were too concerned with the oncoming war and didn't think that the Icens would actually follow up on Frieza's command."
"So there was a great battle, but horribly enough, it was the entire lower class Saiyans versus Frieza. Needless to say, he whooped ass all over the planet, until a Saiyan by the name of Vegeta came along. Legend tells that he fought with a talent that no other Saiyan had ever possibly possessed. Their battle raged for a while, Frieza transforming three times in the attempt to end the fight. But Vegeta kept fighting. Finally, when Frieza turned into his final form, which is depicted in the picture, he thought he would win hands down. He thought rightly so, for then his power level was over one million. But then he made the mistake of taunting Vegeta. Generations of story telling have created fables of how or why, but we know for certain that Frieza somehow managed to kill Vegeta's wife and daughter in front of his very eyes. It was then that it happened."
"Overcome with a rage unmatched anywhere in this dimension, he ascended to a higher level of power and being… becoming something we know as the Legendary Super Saiyan. Witnesses describe his hair turning golden as his aura cracked and swirled around him, shown in the picture as well. His pupils meshed in with the whites of his eyes, and his veins seems ready to burst out of his skin before his transformation was complete and his eyes turned a teal color. He then single handedly defeated Frieza, also maintains his transformation long enough to eliminate the retaliation by King Cold. Unfortunately, Cooler turned out to be much more powerful than Frieza. In their last battle, the two ended in a powerful ki blast fight that ended up consuming them both."
"I thought you said that the royal line started then," Bulma pointed out suddenly. "How did that happen if he was dead?"
"Vegeta had a son. No one knows for sure how, but he survived the battle that day. Many are unclear on how this happened, for Vegeta was a vivacious fighter who for sure would've wanted to be involved in the fight. There is evidence, however, that his father knocked him out beforehand to ensure that such a thing wouldn't happen. It might have been that act that saved the family line and kept the son hidden."
"That son was King Vegeta I," Vegeta explained, stopping on cue in front of an ancient looking portrait of man that looked almost exactly like Vegeta. "The Atrosians ran tests on the son and discovered that there was a gene that allowed his father to transform. And that is what give the royal family such influence: the gene."
"Ahhh!" Bulma observed the portrait pointedly, wondering for a moment if the gene was dominant and was the same one giving them their looks. "So all of the royal family can turn 'Super Saiyan' then?"
"No. There has not been a transformation since the original. But like they say… it could be any one of us," Vegeta smirked. "Since then the lower class Saiyans have been more respected, for it was one of them that turned out to be the most powerful of them all. Elites do not take their stations for granted anymore, for we realized long ago that the power level one is born with is not necessarily a good determination of their future talent. There've been legends among the elites that it wasn't just Vegeta that destroyed Frieza, but a second Super Saiyan as well. But it's been so long, no one knows anymore. If there was a fellow Super Saiyan or a brother or such, history has lost him."
He thought of Kakorott as he mentioned this, wondering if it were possible….
Vegeta supposed he would just have to see.
"So what Vegeta are you? I mean as in first, second, third…"
"I am Vegeta XXIII," he pointed out, motioning down the long and never-ending line of portraits. Her jaw dropped as she walked along the corridor, counting each one until she reached the twenty-third one. "This one is mine."
She giggled as she saw practically no change in his features from the other ones. He looked like a clone of his father to the left, only without the mustache and with slightly darker hair. Looking between the two pictures, she mentally tried to imagine what their child would look like, but found herself grinning as she just imagined a tiny Vegeta running around in circles in their quarters.
Frowning at her mental image, Vegeta growled and decided to move on to show her the kitchen. Waiting for her to notice he was waiting on her, she finally followed in step with him and they made their way down a much larger and more populated area of the palace.
"This is the dining area. However, you, as royalty, can dine wherever the damn hell you please. The Science and Technologies department doesn't like food in there, but I'm sure for you they will make an exception when you start to reveal your talent for the area. You can use your scouter, once you receive it, to order. You can pull up a menu using the scouter as well." He quickly turned on heel and led her through yet another maze of hallways before stopping in a large circular room.
"This is the exact center of the palace. If you're ever lost, there will be arrows directing toward here. This contains a map and instructions on how to reach any part of the building, so just follow that. Now, I'll have to leave you here. I have business to attend to." He left rather suddenly, turning and having his cape swoosh behind him as he left her startled in the center of the room.
"Jackass…abandoning me like this" she muttered, walking around the room bored while trying to find another room to look at. "He DID say I have unlimited access to the palace, didn't he?" she murmured to herself, observing the different possible choices. She could make her way back to the Science and Technologies department, but what was the fun in that?
"Garden… kitchen… parlor? Hmm…" She cursed as she tried to translate the Saiyan. If only she had a scouter with her, she could have it translate for her. "That looks like a good room," she murmured as she observed the map. She briefly wondered what she would encounter on the way there before she quickly memorized the turns. Left… right… left… right. "God damn this place is huge," she whispered, rounding several corners. Right or left? Bah she couldn't remember. She'd just have to guess right. Here she found herself in front of a huge opened door leading in to what appeared to be a library. "Must've been a left, then."
Nevertheless, she decided the library looked like a good place to explore. She stepped in and glanced at all the books. She'd seen books before, but they were becoming fewer and fewer as technology advanced. Never before had she seen so many in one place. Her face saddened as she realized that the majority was written on the war.
"Too long has this lingered."
"I agree." Bulma turned to face the feminine voice. A short but buff female Saiyan gazed at her darkly as the Saiyan looked up from her book. Sitting at a gold table, the woman looked pretty young, around twenty earth years or so. But thinking of this reminded Bulma that Saiyan age was different, meaning she didn't know how much older Vegeta was either.
"Are you… the librarian?" Bulma questioned cautiously. The Saiyan female snorted before standing up and placing the book back on the shelf Bulma had been observing.
"No. I'm Dola, the author of these books."
"All of them?" Bulma gasped, looking up and down the rows of the enormous library.
"Yes. Most Saiyans have to head to war, so I'm the only historian."
"Why books? Why not use an electronic device?" Bulma asked sincerely. "It would probably be faster and it could reach more places."
"Exactly. Electronics can be tampered with. History can be changed that way. Once a book is published, the only way to change it is to destroy it. I find it's better to have no history than to have a false one. At least from a blank history you can start over."
Bulma nodded in understanding. Whoever this woman was, she was very profound and calculating. She also had a strange way about her; the woman had the saddest eyes she'd ever seen. They were black and cold… but worst of all they were empty. Her face was also very pale… much paler than most Saiyans. The Saiyans Bulma had seen so far were pretty tan, almost olive, and yet even the comparatively light-skinned Kakorott was a few shades darker than this woman. Bulma could tell from the haunting and foreboding appearance of Dola's face, as well as the stiff and uncomfortable demeanor, that Dola was a very tragic figure indeed.
"I have to go and file some download the log from the pods now so that I can record it in the log," Dola interrupted Bulma's thoughts, going back to fix the placement of the chair she'd been sitting in. "I'm sure we'll meet again sometime. And you were right, the parlor was that left turn." With that, Dola promptly turned and left.
"Saiyans must not like me very much. They say one thing and then they mysteriously have to be somewhere," Bulma muttered, walking back out into the hallway. Turning a right corner in order to correct herself on the left she should have taken before, she once again was lost. Figuring she should ask someone for directions, she found herself running into yet another Saiyan when she attempted to go through the door on her left.
"Ooof!" she grunted, rebounding back a few steps. "I'm sorry."
"It's nothing," the tall Saiyan grunted. He adjusted his scouter and ran his hand through his hair.
"Do…. Do I know you?" she asked in a spooked tone, observing his face. He looked like Vegeta and yet… not like Vegeta. He had long black, spiky hair that jettisoned down his back and a huge, buff frame. He appeared rather shaken at her sudden appearance, and looked at her like she was a crazy psychopath.
"No. I'm Radditz. What are you, human?"
"Yes. I'm Bulma."
"Right, and what are you doing here?"
"I'm…. I'm marrying King Vegeta tomorrow."
"Okay, I know that. But what are you doing trying to get into this room? This is the men's restroom."
"Oh!" Bulma gasped, blushing profoundly as she quickly backed away from the vicinity of the doorway. "I'm… I'm so sorry! I had no idea… I'm just lost and-"
"You're lost?" At the explanation, his face relaxed considerably and he had a small smirk in the corner of his mouth. "Fine I'll take you back to his highness' room."
"Um… alright. Thank you," she mumbled softly as she followed his lead. "What was your name, again?"
"Radditz. Radditz Son."
"You're related to Kakorott and Bardock?"
"Yes," he answered, humored. "I look nothing like them, though." She nodded in response, looking him over again. He certainly didn't look like Bardock and Kakorott, but how should she know how family Saiyan resemblances work? All she knew was that all Saiyans were muscle. "So I take it you're President Briefs?"
"Yes. Bulma Briefs."
"That explains why you were so lost. Since you're going to be here a while, you need to learn how to read and speak Saiyan. We who work in the palace know how to speak all the languages of the people involved in the war, but others out in the cities and country will not be able to understand you. And if you ever need help from one of your subjects and you didn't have a working scouter, it would be a bad thing not to know how to communicate with them."
"Ah, I figured that. Is Saiyan much different from English?"
"A bit. Obviously I don't find it difficult since I speak it often, so I can't say how hard it will be for you to learn it. If the reports are correct in your intelligence, I suppose it wouldn't take you too long."
"Alright. What exactly do they say about me, anyway?"
"You can see for yourself once you have a scouter. The database has reports on every major figure from every planet involved in the war. You were high priority, too, for your position."
By now they'd wound there way to and fro in what had seemed like an endless jigsaw puzzle of hallways and corridors. He even took her through a large room, claiming it was a shortcut.
"Gosh this place is huge."
"It's not that big once you're used to it. It shouldn't take you too long."
"That's what they told me when I was a freshman in high school," she grumbled, realizing that she did, in fact, learn her way around the school and that he had a good point. She finally remembered where she was at when she recognized the hallway of the King Vegeta portraits.
"There you are!" Chi-Chi gasped, coming from the other end of the hall. "I picked up that scouter for you." Running up to Bulma like she hadn't seen her in months, Chi-Chi giddily handed her the scouter. "These things are amazing!"
"News travels fast in these parks," Bulma noted. "I see you two have been updated on the scouters."
"Yea," Kakorott nodded. "Vegeta wants to see you. He wants to run you through everything for the crowning ceremony. He's already made the announcement public."
"Okay," Bulma agreed. She turned back to Radditz. "Thank you very much for your help. I would've been lost forever!"
"No problem, your highness. I must be on my way now," he related before bowing to her and giving a nod and wave to Kakorott.
"See ya later, bro!" Kakorott yelled with a goofy grin before looking back down to the two human women. "Alright, time to go."
"Oh! Um… alright," Bulma agreed, still uneasy about the whole 'marrying the King of Vegetasei' thing. She began to question what kind of tasks she would have to perform. How different was a marriage on Vegetasei? Would she have to pass some kind of test? What if copulation was part of the marriage ceremony?
"Don't be ridiculous," Kakorott scoffed at her thoughts. "It's nothing like that." Still not completely reassured, she sighed as she allowed him to lead the way back to her quarters. Left… right… left… right. The palace was one big giant maze. Maybe one test would be to find your way to the entrance.
She found herself once again in the gigantic quarters that would eventually become hers. Well… and Vegeta's. "Wow… big room, Bulma," Chi-Chi gaped.
"Yea, isn't it? Wait… where are you staying?"
"Oh…" Kakorott murmured, obviously surprised by the thought. "I hadn't really considered that. Umm. I suppose I'll have a guest room set up."
"No, Kakorott. All the guest rooms are booked due to tomorrow's crowning," Vegeta informed him, coming from the balcony. "I've already checked it on the scouter. She'll have to stay with you."
"B…b…." Kakorott blushed, obviously wanting to protest. "Alright," he agreed, straightening up as he reminded himself that the orders came straight from the king. "Come with me," he ordered Chi-Chi, leading her back into the maze of a place.
"I'll see you later, Bulma," Chi-Chi called nervously as she left, tapping the scouter as a reminder. Scouter in hand, Bulma smiled as she latched it on.
"Good. You have it. Now, about the ceremony," Vegeta mused. "It's not difficult, but it's very tiring. We have to stop once in every major city on Vegetasei."
"That's not so bad," Bulma perked.
"There are 400 of them." Her face immediately dropping, she briefly wondered how long that would take.
"Oh."
"And we have to do this within a day here. Which is about 40 Earth hours."
"But…but…" Bulma sputtered, "That's 10 cities per hour! 6 minutes in each, excluding travel time!"
"Don't be ridiculous, woman. It takes us only a minute from city to city. And they'll be prepared for us, so they'll know we'll only be there a short time."
"Jeez," she huffed. "Well fine. I already frickin married you on Earth. Might as well go through with it here, too."
Pondering what the word "frickin" meant, he narrowed his eyes before motioning towards the bathroom. "There's a walk in closet in there. Go pick one of the dresses on the far left."
"And how many people would have worn it before me?" Bulma questioned suspiciously.
"No one. Each dress the future queen picks is hers and hers alone. A new wardrobe is made every time."
"Damn, I wish they gave me this sort of attention back on Earth," she muttered, heading towards the bathroom.
Here Vegeta took off his scouter and set it on one of the nightstands across the room. He started to walk to the bed before he remembered something, turning back to the scouter and adjusting it. Then he promptly removed his cape, neatly folding it and pressing it into the dresser. Smoothing the folds out, he then proceeded to remove his armor and set it on top. Clad in spandex, he strolled over to the bed before collapsing on it. Keeping to one edge, he turned away on his side from the rest of the bed, towards the balcony, his back to the bathroom and Bulma.
She came out holding a pretty blood red dress that looked like it would suit her nicely. She set it down on a chair that was by the bathroom door before heading over to the bed. Noticing that Vegeta was already in it, she checked her watch to find that it would've been 11:30 PM on Earth. Figuring it must've been bedtime on Vegetasei as well, she shifted uncomfortably as she wondered if she should crawl into the bed as well.
"I'm not going to jump you woman. Now get over here and sleep. We're going to be up all day tomorrow."
Jumping at the sound of his voice, she nervously approached the bed and climbed into the sheets. She turned to her side and stuck to the edge of the bed, her back to Vegeta's.
"Vegeta?" she asked, turning back over slightly to look at him. "I…" She forgot what she was going to say, or what she wanted to say rather.
"What is it, woman?"
"Someone I met in the palace today suggested I learn Saiyan in case I don't have a working scouter and I need to communicate with someone."
"Yes, that's occurred to me. I already have five different languages you should learn in mind."
He'd obviously thought of everything. She signed and quieted again as she attempted to sleep to no avail. She wanted to say something, but she couldn't think of what. The words were lost. She racked her brain over and over as a feeling that she was forgetting something bothered her. Her search was fruitless.
"What's the problem, woman? You're thoughts are jumbling around in my head."
"It's just… well. I suppose…" She paused for a moment and turned back to her edge of the bed. "I guess…thank you. Thank you for the opportunity to end this damn war."
"It is you who agreed, woman. If you'd refused it would've dragged out even longer, or both our quadrants would have been crushed by the North Quadrant."
She thought for a moment, thinking how stupid it was that people found her brave or noble or deserving of thanks just for marrying to win the war. They would praise her for sacrifice. As if she had a choice. As if anybody else would have done anything differently.
How would her life had been if there had been no war? If all this chaos never started all those years back? What would have happened if Vegeta had never come to Earth? Or if the North was never formed? Would her life be any different? Any less chaotic?
She pondered what her future husband would have looked like, or even if she ever would have married. She wondered how much her personality would have changed, how much happier she would have been if none of this existed. What would a normal life consist of? She really didn't know. All her life she'd known the war, and nothing else. She was raised for it, she was born for it, she born into it.
What if she'd never met Vegeta? What if he'd never asked her to marry him, or if he'd never proposed an alliance? All those years of Earth's resistance to extinction would've been put to waste when the North would have swept down upon them and crushed them like cockroaches.
She thought about the man laying in the bed beside her. Already she was feeling some sort of strange attachment to him. Surely it was a chemical reaction in her brain adjusting to the new information that she was married to him. That she would be with him for the rest of her life. That she would have to copulate with him in only a short time. Perhaps her brain was forcing her to become attached, even attracted to him, in preparation for the future. For the inevitable future.
But it could have been worse. He didn't seem all that bad. Already he'd shown some of his more jackass-ish traits, but nobody was perfect. He didn't threaten her or anything. He'd been rather civil to her. And she had to admit he was very attractive. It could've been someone much worse. It could've been a repulsive, non-humanoid alien that would impregnate her with tentacles and weird hybrid eggs. Or a seriously mentally challenged moron. Or just a complete monster.
The thought made her double think her marriage. She knew nothing of Vegeta. He could have killed millions. He could be responsible for complete holocausts.
"This is a war."
The reminder made her realize that indeed, it could've been much, much worse. "I'm very lucky." But more importantly, the people who would benefit from her actions were lucky. Her children. And her children's children.
Vegeta groaned in annoyance at the sense that she was still deep in thought.
"What is it now?"
"I was just thinking about how incredibly important we are." He paused for a moment, and for a split second she thought he was just going to disregard her comment.
"What do you mean?"
"This… our marriage. It's amazing how incredibly important it is. Our actions are going to affect so many things… so many people," she whispered.
"Woman," he growled softly, shifting a bit. "People in positions to change things are always afraid that they are going to change things for the worst. Am I correct?" He wanted to know what was wrong. He was becoming uneasy at her anxious attitude.
"Yes. I always find myself questioning what we're fighting for. If we're right. I mean… what if we're on the right side? What if… we're the bad guys?"
"War is nothing but point of view, woman. You cannot stop fighting. If you stop, then you don't survive."
"But… why have we never asked ourselves exactly why we deserve to survive? What if… we don't?"
He paused for a moment. Obviously her question perplexed him. He'd never really considered any of the things she said, and for some odd reason neither had she. All the events in the past day had confused her, but at the same time had opened her mind to a new perspective.
He turned onto his back to look at her, while she turned around to face him. "Listen. No one deserves to survive. Life is meaningless, and life is lived only to live. Life isn't fair. Those who have more of a right to survive don't, and those who don't sometimes live the longest. Someone is going to win this war. And whoever does will be 'right', regardless of the loser's opinion. We just have to keep pushing forward. It's embedded in our very nature to just survive. You cannot stop to question yourself, for if you do you risk everything. There's a time to question and a time to answer."
"If you question at the wrong time, you risk losing the answer forever. And if you answer at the wrong time, you may never know the question you're answering. So we must just continue to exist. Our actions may end the war. But then again it may not. It may have been easier for us to just surrender, to allow ourselves to be destroyed. But would we really want that? To give up on life? We're fighting for our right to live. We're fighting to prove that we deserve to exist. We're fighting because we have to, because it's in our nature."
Bulma sighed, letting his wisdom sink in. His words calmed her, made her feel secure. They made her feel confident. "Who the hell started this damn thing, anyway?"
"I don't know, woman. But whoever it was is surely burning in hell for it." She gave him a look of admiration before he turned back over to his side. She was very glad that it was Vegeta she married and not some half-wit.
"How did you become so profound?" she asked seriously
"I didn't. Something about you must've spurred me." She smiled and turned back to her side.
"Since you're on such a roll, what's the meaning of life?"
"The meaning of life is to sleep, woman," he growled softly. "Now live to your full meaning. We have a full day tomorrow." She giggled softly. Perhaps she could still obtain happiness with him, indeed.
"One more thing…" She turned back to Vegeta, a motion he mirrored. She looked at his blank and expectant face across the bed. "Well… I know we don't know each other that much. And I know this is a political marriage that's going to save both our planets but… um. I'm glad it was you." Feeling her checks burn, she quickly turned back towards her side of the bed.
The last thing she heard before she drifted off was: "Me too, woman. Me, too."
This chapter feels funny. Please R & R! Was it good? Bad? Pathetically sad? Please let me know!
