Disclaimer: don't own DBZ
Warning: mentioning of rape, language, violence
CHAPTER 8: A WORD OF STRENGTH
Raditz jumped awake. It took a few minutes for him to finally realise where he was. He blinked a few times, let out a soft sigh and looked aside to the bed of his brother. Turles was tossing and turning; the sheets lay in a heap on the floor. Even his tail was lashing furiously back and forth.
'He has a nightmare? It would be really strange if… or…is it just coincidence…'
"Turles?… Turles?…" 'Heh, he doesn't hear me…' Raditz stood up and walked over to his sibling's bed. He leant over him and shook him slightly "Turles?"
"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhh!" Turles jumped up, whacking his head right against … Raditz's forehead. Both brothers fell back, one on his bed, the other between the sheets on the ground.
Raditz rubbed his sore forehead "Shimatta… usubaka…"
"Baka! What were you doing?"
"Waking you up, what else… you seemed to have some mean nightmare…"
"Er… well… maybe not that… 'mean'… but… strange."
"… Did you… see yourself?"
Turles looked to his brother "Huh? How do you know?"
"… I had the same dream…"
"You… you did?" Turles blinked.
"Probably different then… I didn't see you, but… of course, myself. But, then again… not … 'me'… as if… I saw a creature with my body, but … that is a total stranger to me… 'kay, that doesn't make much sense…" Raditz scratched the back of his head (A/N: it's hereditary!).
"Indeed… but I do kind of know what you mean. I saw the same just before you wake me up… But why don't you tell me what happened."
Raditz pulled himself up and sat down on the side of his bed.
"Fine, I will. It was really strange… I was in some kind of red desert, but I didn't seem to have a body, as if I was some ghost or something like that. And I saw myself walking through the upsweeping, burning hot sand…
First I actually doubted it was me, the person wore a dark red armour with spikes and a skull imbedded in the breastplate, a halberd strapped on his back and a sheathed sword on his belt. For the rest, he looked exactly like me. He was coming from a burning village, screams of pain and agony still clung in the air, together with the sound of clashing steel.
He stopped by a … sort of red horse, but … it had a lot of draconic elements, like wings, claws and horns. He patted the creature on its massive neck, then looked off into the distance as if something suddenly caught his attention. It seemed to be something he was waiting for or that amused him, for he smirked and took the halberd from his back, walking towards whatever the source was of his distraction.
You won't believe who I saw standing there… Frieza! Shivering like a leaf when this… dream 'me' stepped towards him. Now that's what I call a dream! If only it could become real somehow … oh well… And I saw him say something, but I couldn't hear it. My dream image laughed and drew the halberd back. But just when he was going to cleave the son of a bitch in two… I woke up." Raditz sighed, "Just when it was getting interesting…"
Turles chuckled "Yeah, bummer, bro… that's the thing with dreams, huh. Strangely though, Frieza didn't appear in my dream. Maybe because you woke me up before my dream image could meet him…"
"Heh, I should have let you sleep then, maybe you would have succeeded in killing the lizard bitch…"
"Yeah, maybe…"
Raditz looked away, leaning back down on his bed. He sighed "I don't get it though…"
"What?"
"The strange things that have been happening lately…"
"Hm… yeah, it's a bit odd… oh, that reminds me, we still have to find this 'Revelations' book!"
"Where are we going to find that?… I doubt this base's VERY limited library has it in its collection."
"Sigh… true… Wait, wasn't it a Chikyuu legend?"
"I don't know… could be." Raditz raised an eyebrow turning his head aside so he could look to his brother "So what?"
"We'd probably find it on Chikyuu-sei then!"
"………" Raditz blinked a few times "And how does Mr. Genius suppose we get to that fucking backwater planet, without a certain slime ball coughFriezacough noticing?"
Turles rolled his eyes "Baka… I … er…… gee… I don't really know…" He scratched at an invisible itch on his head.
"No shit…"
They looked up as they heard a door close by slam shut. "… Seems like the prince returned…" Turles said.
"Returned?… I … thought he had stayed in his room?"
"Apparently not… I think Frieza summoned him again…"
Raditz jumped up "Nani? … That perverted son of a bitch!"
Turles sighed "I know, I know… but we can't really help it, can we…"
Raditz growled some, more to himself than really to Turles and left the room. Turles raised an eyebrow, shrugged and lied back down on the bed.
"Ouji-sama?…" Raditz knocked slightly on the door.
"What?"
"It's me, Raditz…"
"……… What is it that you want?" The voice sounded full of pain, the owner doing a lot of effort trying to hide it.
"I just came to… see if you're okay…"
"I'm fine! Now go away!"
"Ouji-sama… just let me in…"
No reply came, so Raditz decided to enter anyway. Vegeta was lying on his bed, barely wearing any clothes again, but this time, several wounds, some still bleeding, covered his skin over his entire body. Raditz stood there perplex.
Hearing the suppressed sobs, the long-maned Saiyan growled to himself and looked down to the ground. Raditz knew Frieza's meanings of 'pleasure'… that large cut across his back still burned.
"I thought I told you to go away…"
Raditz flinched at the snarled growl. He looked up to his prince's face, which had red streaks running down from his eyes. He didn't seem to be wounded in his face however… somehow, this was a bit of a relief to Raditz. Seeing the rest of his body wasn't though.
"…Ouji-sama……… come, you have to go to the medical bay."
"…… No."
"Vegeta, you have to! … You might even bleed to death or something like that."
"… So? I don't care… at least I would take the fucking lizard's 'favourite sex toy' away…"
"Vegeta…" Raditz went over to sit beside him on the bed "I don't know you like that… You can't be serious."
Vegeta snorted and looked away. His eyes were still shining. Another suppressed sob.
Raditz sighed. "I know how you must feel…"
The prince laughed shortly, but without humour. "Then tell me Raditz, how do I feel, you'll probably know it even better than myself!"
He cringed a bit inwardly at the sarcasm in his voice; he was just trying to help… But he didn't let it show and continued, "No matter what Frieza says or does, you always have to stay who you are… Ouji-sama. He was the bastard that killed your race and you're still our Prince. The true Saiya-jin no Ouji, we are counting on you to revenge us! You can't just give up like that!" Raditz blinked slightly at his own speech, he hoped he got his point across…
Vegeta was looking in front of him, not to Raditz, but he looked thoughtful. "But I … I … can't do this alone…"
"But you don't have to do this alone… I'm here, aren't I?"
He remained silent.
"Look, we're in this together, okay? And Turles too. Yeah, I said it a bit wrong. We are the last of the Saiyans. And certainly you of us three may never give up! But I'll help you with that…"
"He taunts us… He knows we're too weak to do anything against him…" He looks away again.
Raditz sighed. "I'm not going to lie to you, Ouji-sama… I know that I can't protect you from the kisama lizard's raping and taunting; I'm not strong enough either… But one day we will! We just got to stay alive till that day comes. That's why you can't give up, Vegeta."
Vegeta looked up to Raditz "… H-Hai…you're right…" He nodded more confident.
"Now, you have to go to a regeneration tank… Those wounds must be healed."
Vegeta nodded again, a bit less willing now. He tried and stood up, staggered a bit forward but collapsed into Raditz's arms, which caught him just in time.
"I'll take you there…" Raditz took the sheet from the bed, laying it around Vegeta since he didn't have much of clothing on his body (and the corridors are rather cold and not to mention that there are some people who'd better not see the young prince naked) and held him close to himself as he left the bedroom.
Carrying the prince in his arms, it didn't take that long for Raditz to get to the medical bay. He ignored the strange looks from the doctors and assistants and walked straight over to one of the tanks. Raditz pressed the button on the side and the sphere-like tank's door slit open. He carefully laid the prince inside, attached the oxygen mask to his face, closed the tank again and watched the healing liquid slowly fill the small room.
