Dedicated to everyone who has stuck it out with me. I've been too slow with the updates. Feel free to throw rotting fruit. I deserve it!

Also, fighting scenes are not my forte. Sorry, peeps!

Chapter 22: Friends?

Bulma unbuckled her restraints and rushed toward the shuttle's door. There was a nervous, gnawing feeling in her gut that she couldn't shake. Radditz followed her as quickly as he could. He was surprised at how fast she could move when she wanted to.

"Lady Bulma, calm down," he called out.

"I can't! I need to know what's going on down there," she shot back worriedly. "Don't you have an IS (Independent Scouter)?" She demanded.

He frowned. "Well, yeah. But."

"No buts! Don't you want to see what's going on down there?"

"There's no way an IS is going to pick up any visuals, my lady. Their power levels meshing together will cause too much disturbance," Bardock cut in. "We just have to wait?"

Bulma closed her eyes, letting her head drop forward. "What if Arthos beats him? Kills him?" She looked back up at the others, whom were all standing near her now. "We have to stop that from happening."

Her voice drifted through the quiet docking bay aboard Vegeta's flagship, and she could feel everyone's eyes on her. Her friends', Vegeta's crew, everyone! To make matters even more stressful for her, that happened to be the moment Trunks walked in with his uncle Prince Arro. The two boys just stared for a moment. Bulma held her breath, catching Trunks' eye.

"M-mother?" He spoke in a barely audible voice that crackled in fear. "What's going on?"

'He called me mother,' Bulma thought happily, temporarily forgetting that Vegeta was in imminent danger. Trunks called her mother. She rushed over to him, falling to her knees, and threw her arms around the boy.

Trunks hugged her back and buried his face against her shoulder. "Where's my father? What's going on?"

"Oh, Trunks," she whispered sadly. She leaned back and looked him in the eyes. There was no easy way to say it. "He's on Ullia fighting."

"Freeza?" The boy inquired fearfully. He hadn't forgotten what Akira told him. His father wasn't ready to take on the Icejin yet according to her, and the boy trusted the Saiyan woman's instincts, though he'd only known her for a short time.

"No. He's fighting Prince Arthos."

Arro frowned. That didn't sound right to him. He laughed slightly. "Fighting over who gets to kill Yamcha, no doubt."

"Yamcha's dead," Nor filled them in, his voice deadly serious.

(Change scene)

The wall crumbled down over his body, but he didn't seem to care at all. He powered up, disintegrating the rubble around him and shot through the air toward his opponent. His fist connected hard against Vegeta's cheek, and he glared in satisfaction as the other prince plummeted toward the earth this time.

Vegeta crawled quickly from the crater his body made on impact and glanced up at his old friend. Something was very different about Arthos right now. They had just sparred, all out, not three days before, and he hadn't been this powerful. A sudden thought came to Vegeta's mind.

It was a well-documented fact that Riessei, Arthos' home world, had been populated by Saiyans, tens of thousands of years ago due to expanding Vegetasei's territory, and it was obvious the Saiyan genes were still very prevalent in Riessians. They were extremely strong and intelligent. 'Could he be able to turn into the legendary?' Vegeta wondered, surprised.

"Loosing the will to fight already?" Arthos taunted.

Vegeta narrowed his eyes. "Hardly."

"Then can we continue, or do you need a few more minutes to catch your breath? How Akira could have ever loved you is beyond me. Look how easily you're beaten."

'Not going to work,' Vegeta grumbled to himself, getting to his feet. He ignored Arthos as he dusted off his arms and readjusted his gloves. "Now I see why she repeatedly rejected you," he spoke up. "You're pathetic. I mean really," he went on, looking back up into his friend's furious face. "You're petulant, like a child. You never grew up in her eyes."

"Enough! The reason she denied me was because of you! You held her to her word. You should have released her from it when you came back with Marron as your bride," he hissed. "You knew that I was in love with her, but you couldn't stand the fact that someone else would have her, especially me."

Vegeta opened his mouth to shoot back a nasty retort, but he was cut off by his best friend's fist connecting roughly with his jaw, again, from out of nowhere. The Saiyan prince was thrown onto his back, and before he could blink, Arthos was knelt over him, readying a close ranged ki attack.

(Change scene)

Bulma stood in front of her mother. "Do you have any idea where Akira might have gone? Can you try reaching her again with your powers?"

Thealda looked between Bulma and the others. "I can't reach her with my powers. I'm sorry," she told them all. "She doesn't have enough energy."

"Do you have any idea where she could have gone?" Arro asked.

The old priestess sighed, leaning back in her chair. "She could have gone to Briefsei, to the temple there."

Turlis frowned. "What's so special there?"

"It's the original temple of the goddess. She probably went there to seek out answers to whatever questions she has. I really can't say."

Bulma sighed loudly. "Everything is falling apart." Her hands clutched helplessly at the material of her dress, just above her heart. Next to her, Trunks was standing silently watching Ullia through the port window. Bulma rested a hand on his shoulder and attempted a smile. "I'm sure he'll be alright."

Trunks nodded slowly, never breaking eye contact, his own hand reaching up to cover his heart. He wanted desperately to believe her, but something was telling him that things were not going well for his father.

(Change scene)

Marron frowned at the closed door. She'd heard a crash several minutes ago, but didn't dare enter the room. What Akira had said to her an hour ago had stuck. She knew, despite the loss of her powers, that Akira was still strong enough to kill her, and Marron wasn't willing to die just because she was curious. Ansolus came up behind her, nudging her roughly out of the way. She was pushed into the wall.

"Hey! Watch it," she hissed.

He simply glared back at her before opening Akira's door and rushing over to her. "Akira, what's going on?" Ansolus demanded, helping her of the floor. She'd knocked over a chair in the room.

Akira allowed him to help her to her feet and then to sit on the foot of the small bed. Her hand was pressed firmly over her heart, and she was gasping. "Something is happening," she whispered hoarsely. So, she did have a very small trace of power left. She could feel it right now, and her body was unable to cope. "Vegeta and Arthos."

Ansolus frowned, sitting next to her. "What do you mean?"

"I can't be certain, but it's not good."

Marron boldly stepped forward, stopping in front of Akira. "You can still feel your bond with Vegeta, can't you?" She inquired, trying to keep the disgust from her voice. Even after all these years, there was still a part of her that had wished her marriage had been good and that part of her had always been jealous of Akira.

The former priestess glanced up at her through calculating eyes. She quickly reached forward and grasped Marron's wrist painfully, making her yelp. Ignoring everything around her, Akira closed her eyes and channeled her ki into connecting momentarily with Marron's. She felt the dormant power that had been passed down to the blue haired girl by Thealda, and she pushed at it with her mind. Marron cried out, trying to yank her hand free of Akira's grasp, while her other hand flew to her temple.

(Change scene)

His fist impacted with Vegeta's chest, splintering the heavy armor so that it cracked and became ridged. Vegeta groaned as he felt the sharp alloy break through his skin. It cut deep, scraping against one of his rib bones. Above him, Arthos' confident smirk turned malicious, and for the briefest moment, Vegeta thought that this was how he was going to die. Killed by his best friend's hand.

The bitterness and guilt that washed over him was unexpected and so sudden, that he almost gave up. He wanted to lower his power level completely and allow Arthos' fist to sink all the way through to the soft dirty beneath his bruised body, but…

'Don't you dare,' an angry whisper cut through his mind.

His eyes narrowed. 'I know that voice,' he thought frantically. Black eyes drifted shut, and he coughed up blood as another crippling punch smashed into his abdomen. A flash of brilliant blue eyes alight with fire captured his mind, and the prince suppressed a gasp. That woman was in his head! How was that possible? Only Akira had ever had access to his mind! Growling, he reached up, grasping Arthos by the wrist to prevent another hit.

The Riessian prince narrowed his eyes, smirk fading immediately. "Some fight left in you after all, I see. That's too bad, Vegeta. I'd rather hoped you'd just lie back and take it like a man."

'He won't stop.'

Vegeta fought to keep the shocked expression off his face as a familiar warmth engulfed his mind. It wasn't Bulma. It was Akira. 'How in the hell? You lost your powers,' he thought, knowing she'd hear him.

'No time for that. This use of power is.' She paused, and he could almost see her frown in his mind. 'It's tiring, Vegeta.' Those had obviously been hard words for her to admit. 'You must connect your ki to Arthos. I have to get into his mind, or you're going to die by his hand,' she explained.

The Saiyan prince frowned. 'Just how do you expect me to do that? I'm not trained to use ki the way you can.' He succeeded in blocking another potentially deadly blow from Arthos.

He could just imagine that she was growling irritably at him wherever she was when she responded. 'Just concentrate on his ki signature and overpower him, and do it quickly! I'll do the rest.'

Vegeta growled, lunging forward at his friend and catching Arthos off guard. He landed heavily on top off him and wrapped his strong fingers around Arthos' throat. The other prince twisted madly beneath him, fighting for air and control over the battle. Vegeta cleared his thoughts completely centering on Arthos' ki. It was too easy, like locking onto the signature of one's brother.

'When this is over,' she spoke slowly.

(Change scene)

Ansolus held onto the unconscious woman's hand with a worried look on his face. "Find some cold water and cloths," he ordered Marron.

"I don't do servants work," she shot back. "And I still have a pounding headache from whatever the hell it was she did to me!"

"Unless you'd like to take a trip down the vacuum drift, I suggest you do as I say," he responded, eerily calm.

Marron bit back the sarcastic remark she wanted to throw at him and turned quickly toward the door. She couldn't believe this was happening to her. Ansolus glanced back down at Akira.

"If you do not wake up from this, I may kill her," he mused softly. "And I know that would go against whatever plan you've got ahead of us." He shook his head. This poor woman had been through enough, but he had a bad feeling things were only going to get worse, much worse.

Deep in the woman's mind, she was going through hell. She'd stolen what little power Marron had access to, and used it to connect to Bulma through the bond they shared as twins. That had been easy enough. The hard part was getting Bulma to connect with Vegeta. Bulma wasn't trained in any way as a priestess. It helped that she had a growing link to Vegeta that Akira had been able to use to her advantage.

But now! Now, she was swimming through the tortured thoughts of the one she loved most in the universe, and she'd never been more scared in all her life. There was so much rage and hostility massing inside him, and Akira wanted to cry. She'd caused this. She felt responsible for this whole situation. Had she not used Yamcha all those years ago in an attempt to run from her feelings for Vegeta, none of this would have happened. Vegeta blamed himself, but he was wrong.

'When this is over,' she thought to Vegeta. 'You must get on your ship and return to Vegetasei. Leave Arthos here.'

'I will not leave him.'

'He'll kill you then, and I am still honor bound to keep that from happening,' she responded. 'I failed once, and I have absolutely no intentions of doing so again.'

'Listen to her, Vegeta.'

In her mind, Akira smiled softly. Bulma. Perhaps the human girl would be a voice of reasoning with Vegeta. She'd almost forgotten that Bulma was still connected in this link.

'I will distract him mentally from you,' Akira informed. 'Bulma has already ordered my father to land the ship to retrieve you. I can't hold him for very long, Vegeta.'

'I am to just leave him stranded here? He is like a brother to me.'

'A brother that intends to kill you,' Akira stated evenly. 'You have important responsibilities to attend to Vegeta. You have a family to protect, an entire planet to rule, and you must protect Bulma with your life.'

(Change scene)

'Akira!' Bulma couldn't believe what she sensed from the Saiyan woman.

'What do you mean, protect the woman?' Vegeta's thoughts filled her head.

'She is one of the old Emperor's daughters, and technically, she's unmarried,' Akira explained. 'Cooler believes that she is Marron, but if he finds out the truth, he may come for her. Freeza knows, but is too arrogant to care that a union through marriage would benefit him in any way. It's why he forced the marriage between you and Marron, Vegeta. He intended it as a joke, placing one of the heiresses to the empire unknowingly into the house of Vegetasei.'

Bulma stared at the bare floor. She'd never really put two and two together. Everyone knew the story about the twin daughters of the late emperor, but she'd never entertained the fact that it could be her and Marron! It suddenly dawned on her just how much danger she could be in if this information got out. Akira was right. She'd need Vegeta's protection.

'The ship is landing,' she informed them lamely.

(Change scene)

Arthos struggled to get air into his lungs. His opponent wasn't letting up in the least, and he could feel the darkness starting to form at the corners of his mind. All he'd wanted to do was avenge Akira. He'd never meant for it to go so far, but when his eyes landed on the mused bedding stained with blood and sweat, something in him snapped. His secret hopes for their future flashed through his hazy mind and shattered into a million pieces. Yamcha had taken everything, and he'd made the pirate beg, just as he swore he would!

Then, Vegeta just had to come into the room. By this time, Arthos had no longer been in control of his sanity and all those years of playing second best to Vegeta exploded. He was stronger. He was better, and he'd proved it—until now! Now, he was lying beneath his oldest and dearest friend, having the life strangled out of him, and he was acceptant. If he couldn't kill Yamcha and Vegeta for stealing Akira way, then this is where he would die. He'd let Vegeta win once and for all. What else were friends for?

'What have you done?'

Arthos closed his eyes, relishing the sweet tone of the voice in his head. 'I've lost.'

'What happened to the prince I loved? Have you truly changed so much since our time on Merces?'

'Merces was just a dream. It's all you'd allow me.' He'd remember that dream forever, no matter what. It had been the closest thing to having her he'd ever had. She'd remained loyal to Vegeta, physically, but when she'd found out that he'd been forced into the marriage with Marron, she'd sought her comfort in him. He'd been more than willing. She had allowed him to share a dream with her, and for a few short hours, she'd belonged to him.

'Vegeta didn't do anything to you, Arthos. All of this,' Akira explained. 'I caused it all, and I have paid for it. Let me bare your anger. Do not take it out on him anymore,' she begged.

There was a long pause as he considered her words, and before he realized what was happening, he gave her what she wanted. His world went cold and dark, and his body fell limp beneath Vegeta's grasp.

(Change scene)

Vegeta focused on Arthos' face, quickly releasing the hold on his neck. The Riessian prince was still alive, but he was out cold. He backed away from him and let out a ragged breath. The sound of footsteps shook him from his daze, and his men suddenly surrounded him. His eyes drifted through the faces until he meant Bulma's intense gaze head on. She looked horrified and relieved all at the same time. He'd never seen such a look. She knelt next to him and lifted her fingers to a deep gash on his shoulder.

Trunks popped in from seemingly nowhere. "Father, are you okay?"

"I'm fine," he replied, lightly brushing Bulma's hand away from his wound. "Do not fuss over me," he told her. He stood up slowly, refusing any help and started off toward his ship.

Turlis frowned. "What about Arthos, Vegeta?"

The Saiyan prince stopped, glancing back over his shoulder at his unconscious friend. Akira's warning resounded in his head for a second. He turned back toward his ship. "Leave him. We'll contact his men once we're back in orbit."

Bulma, knowing the torment that Vegeta was going through, glanced down at Arthos. He was just as bloodied and bruised as Vegeta. She pulled the heavy cloak from her shoulders, shivering at the biting cold breeze that engulfed her small body, and draped it over Arthos. He'd lost a lot of blood during the battle with Vegeta. It'd help to keep him warm until his men came for him.

Vegeta limped onto the ship and went straight to medic. At the moment, all he wanted was to fall into the numbing darkness of sleep while his body healed in a regeneration tank.

"Vegeta, wait!"

The prince paused at the sound of the woman's voice. "What?"

"What about Akira? We know she's heading for Briefsei for sure. We were linked to her mind."

"That's all we know. She was hiding her intentions," he responded. "She merely wanted us to know she was safe." He thought back to what she'd told him before he'd lost mental contact with her. She's made it clear that she would find her way back to them eventually. There was just something she needed to do before that, and he trusted her more than most. He knew she'd be back. "Let her go do what she must. Right now, I have a war to prepare for, and your identity to hide. If Freeza or Cooler find out about you, they will force your hand." He glanced back at her, pinning her to the spot with his intense gaze. "Make no mistake about that, woman."

Bulma couldn't help but swallow the lump in her throat painfully. Vegeta was right, of course, and she somehow knew he'd protect her from the Colds. Her only problem was she couldn't figure out why? Was it just because of her connection with Trunks, or was it something else?

(End Chapter)

I know… It's been a long time again. Very sorry! I'm trying. I really am. I never meant for this story to take so long in posting!

PANDORA ;-)