Chapter 2 – Where The Lost Are The Heroes
"What the hell are you thinking?" she yelled at the seller, ignoring the shoppers who suddenly turned to see what was happening. Once they realised where she was standing, however, they moved on at a fast pace, determined on getting away while they still could. Apparently it wasn't the first time the vendor had someone yelling at him. "Do you know who that is?"
From within the stall, Vegeta sat up straighter, his eyes fixed on them in a way that sent shivers down their spines. They were so intense, so endless with their rage and hatred. Something was different about him, though. Even though she'd only seen him on a screen, even she could pick up on the difference, so it didn't surprise her when she took a step forward that Gohan bravely moved with her. He must have picked up on what she had, because he was frowning up at her the next moment when Vegeta looked away languidly.
"He won't be a bother to no-one." The vendor smirked and pointed over his shoulder at the Saiyan. "Found him unconscious in his pod, ya know and I haven't let 'im heal one hundred percent. I'm no idiot."
Then…
"What purpose do you have in keeping him back there?" Gohan unknowingly voiced her thoughts and his frown deepened.
"A saiyan heals faster than any other race," Chi-Chi argued hotly and her hands came to Gohan's shoulders, fingers digging in like she was physically able to hold him back. "My Goku was always getting beat up-"
Once more, Vegeta's eyes met theirs and despite his exhaustion being obvious for all to see, hatred caused those dark eyes to harden.
"Then again…" snarled Chi-Chi at his silent interruption. "He deserves to rot here on this planet after all he did to ours. He's the reason my husband is gone." Her eyes held just as much hatred as Vegeta's when they returned to the vendor's, narrowing dangerously. "Make sure he suffers."
"Mom," Gohan gasped and turned to face her, trying to calm his mother down. "That's not what Dad would want."
"I don't care what he would want. That man was too naïve and kind-hearted for his own good and look where it got him." Chi-Chi huffed and turned her back on the stall, folding her arms over her chest stubbornly. "I refuse to even acknowledge that… that… murderer!"
The vendor was at a loss for words until he shook his head and grinned at Bulma, stepping to the side and raising the flap on the tent to reveal more of Vegeta. "How 'bout it? Get ya revenge!"
How barbaric. Bulma could tell that Gohan's thoughts mirrored her own, because he scowled up at the vendor.
"He may be a bad man, but he's still a person," he argued with the same conviction she'd often heard in his father's voice. It was nostalgic to hear, allowing Bulma to push aside her own personal issues with the saiyan. "What you're doing is wrong."
In the tent, Vegeta's eyes narrowed further and Bulma felt suffocated in his presence.
However, she…
She had questions.
"Oh no you don't," exclaimed Chi-Chi when Gohan tried to follow her into the tent. She grabbed the back of his shirt and pulled him back to her, glaring at him. "There's no way you're going in there."
"But, Mom, we can't let Miss Bulma go in there by herself."
"Bulma is a grown woman who can handle herself."
"That's Vegeta, Mom," Gohan yelled incredulously, uncaring for the scene they were creating.
"And you're my baby boy," she yelled just as loudly.
"Shut it, both of you." As always, her voice boomed over theirs and she towered over them both, clenching her right fist. She would've clenched the other, but she'd taken her sunglasses off and would rather not break them. Taking a calmer breath once she had their attention, Bulma continued, "Gohan, your mom has every right to say you can't go in there. That's the guy who murdered all our friends."
His eyes dropped and he nodded. "Yes, Miss Bulma."
Part of her felt bad for shouting at him as his little expression crumbled and she sighed. "Look, I'm grateful that you're willing to defend me, but think about it, kid: this guy has to have some kind of hold over Vegeta, right? Otherwise, he'd be petrified, too."
The conviction behind her words seemed to brighten his mood, thankfully and when Gohan nodded again, it was more enthusiastically. Even Chi-Chi appeared to be soothed by the thought, because she released a breath Bulma hadn't been aware she'd been holding.
"Be careful, Bulma," Chi-Chi warned her. "He's still dangerous."
She grinned, showing confidence and strength that she didn't feel and brushed the hair off her shoulder. "Aren't I always?"
Her words discomforted the other woman, but Bulma didn't give her a chance to reply because she suddenly spun around and strutted into the tent, refusing to let her fear make her pause.
Basic survival instinct screamed at her to flee when she entered the darkened tent, but she stood tall, allowing her eyes to adjust to the darkness and the pause allowed her to take note of several things that calmed her fear. The first thing she noticed was that Vegeta wasn't moving any time soon, not while he was in that state. The next was the familiar thrum of electricity that she could hear coming from the chains keeping him prisoner.
Barbaric.
Bulma didn't care for him. In fact, she'd never felt a hatred so strong before in her life. Not even during the flash sale at her favourite boutique, when some desperate wretch realised she could afford the luxurious clothing of wealthy people and tried tackling her for a dress. However, Gohan's earlier words repeated in her mind, reminding her that what she was witnessing, wasn't what Goku wanted to happen when he spared Vegeta's life. All in honesty, none of them had the slightest clue what the hell Goku had wanted to happen, but this wouldn't have been it.
Maybe it was karma? Maybe the guy outside had every right to offer Vegeta up on a silver platter for others to take their anger out on? After all, he'd done a lot of bad things – that was putting it lightly.
But there was a compassionate side of Bulma that felt like all of it was just… unforgivable. It made them no better than the one sitting in the chains.
Dark eyes never left hers for a moment as she approached him and after calculating the length of the chains and how much he'd be able to move, should he be able to, she sat down in front of Vegeta slowly. The silence was unbearable, but she couldn't come up with a single thing to say to the guy who was semi responsible for the death of her lover and friends.
The tent was small and stunk to high heavens of sweat and blood and pain. Laying around them carelessly were many items and she presumed they were weapons, given the fact a few of them seemed relatively familiar and each was coated in more blood than the last. One even had savagely torn off skin that had caught–
Gross, she inwardly screeched, looking away quickly and diving straight in to take her mind off the weapon.
"How long have you been here?"
Silence.
All he did was stare.
Bulma frowned.
"The least you can do is answer me," she accused quietly.
"I owe you nothing," he spat in return, but then his eyes hardened and he silenced himself from saying more.
Nothing?
Nothing?
"You murdered the man I was going to spend the rest of my life with," Bulma suddenly yelled in response to the pain in her heart, slamming her hands into the ground and leaning forward, eyes spitting fire at him. "You murdered people I care for and then beat the hell out of my best friend and his son. So don't you dare sit there, all high and mighty and refuse to answer me, you damned son of a bitch."
Much to her surprise, a ghost of a smirk showed on his lips. "Let me guess, you're on your way to Namek to wish them all back?"
The rage washing through her began slipping into sorrow and anguish, no matter how hard she tried to hide her pain from him. "Namek is gone," Bulma muttered and her nails scraped through the dirt floor, regardless of the fact that it meant dirty nails. "The dragonballs are gone." Her head lowered and she bit her lip. "My friends are really gone this time."
There was silence from the prince and Bulma sucked in a breath, willing herself to calm down. Losing their only shot at getting them back had crushed her inside, but there was still work to be done, meaning she couldn't sit around crying just yet. That had to wait until she was in bed.
"Then what are you doing away from your planet, foolish human?"
"What planet?" she laughed quietly and without humour. On the dirt by her hands, a single drop fell, soaking the dirt. So much for composure. "It's… not ours anymore."
She didn't see his eyes narrow but noticed him shift as he leaned closer and when Bulma looked up helplessly, she saw the way he looked at the tears on her face, saw the way he watched her eyes.
"Explain yourself."
She swallowed hard, trying to swallow the sob that was fighting its way up her throat. "Not long after you left… some guy came to the planet. No, five guys. They said they'd been sent after you and the bald guy who was with you, but when they heard Goku had defeated you both…"
Thankfully, Vegeta seemed to catch on easily. "They took him."
Her expression crumbled, just as Gohan's had outside. "We barely escaped with Gohan. Goku fought them for as long as he could, he tried to keep them away from Gohan and Krillin did his best to help."
His eyes narrowed further than what they'd already been and they looked outside, looked to the young boy who was trying to see inside the tent. "He wouldn't have survived long in Frieza's clutches."
"Frieza?"
In less than a second, those dark eyes were on hers again and Vegeta seemed to be coming to life again, because he was sitting taller. His eyes were sharper. His arms shifted, the muscles in them rippling. Even in his state, his stance conveyed the royalty in his blood. His regal expression demanded her subordination, reminding her of the ruthless prince who'd been hellbent on slaughtering her friends.
It made her feel inferior – a feeling she despised more than anything, because like hell she would ever be anyone's inferior.
"You mean to tell me you left your planet without knowing who it is you're running from?"
Anger was coming back to her. "We didn't exactly stop to have a chat, you know. Lucky for us, me and my dad had already been working on the spaceship Mr Popo gave to us." As always, she had to chuck in her usefulness and incredible intellect, stating haughtily, "It wasn't even finished, either. I had to work on bits as we travelled and even now, I haven't smoothed everything out."
"How long have you been travelling for?" he questioned, taking in her appearance. "You look as though you have only just left Earth."
She felt like smirking, because that was exactly what she'd been hoping to hear. Appearances always mattered in her mind. "It's been six months," Bulma told him. "The plan was to go straight to Namek, of course, but we had to stop at a planet to get some parts for the ship and it delayed our arrival by two weeks. By the time we got there, Namek was gone."
"Now what is your plan?"
Once more, her eyes fell from his. However, this time it was because she was gazing over her shoulder at the two outside. She looked back to him a second later. "I'm trying to stay positive for them both. Goku wasn't even healed from his battle with you when we were attacked and cities started being destroyed. They said the planet would make a profit and we knew that we didn't stand a chance."
Vegeta didn't seem surprised in the least. "Then what is your plan, human?"
"We decided to try and track Goku using Gohan's ability to sense energy. He was still alive when he left, just unconscious. He's not on Earth anymore, but we don't know where he is."
"He will be with Frieza."
There was that name again. The freaks who conquered Earth said it and now Vegeta had mentioned the name. Who the hell was Frieza and why was her best friend with him?
"Who is Frieza?" she demanded.
His eyes stuck to hers, refusing to break the connection as he stared her down. It wasn't a glare like she'd been expecting, though. No, this expression was scarier because of how harshly honest it was. It caused her heart to leap into her throat, her entire body growing cold.
"Your planet is gone," Vegeta replied. "That is what Frieza does. He sends his soldiers out to conquer planets so that he can sell them for profits."
"So everyone on Earth is…?"
"Anyone who is not deemed as useful will have been exterminated."
"No," Bulma gasped, horrified and her hands clasped over her mouth, holding back the sudden sob that finally broke free. "My mom… my dad…!"
He didn't look away. He didn't blink or shut his eyes. But unlike her nightmares of him, he didn't relish her suffering. If anything, he appeared to be immune to it. "Dead."
"But… But maybe he might've…?"
"No," he cut her off with a growl. "It is not in his nature to spare anyone unless they are useful to him."
She swallowed hard, trying to smother her pain and sorrow. Her entire family… All her friends… They were all dead. She and Chi-Chi were the only full blood humans left. It felt so lonely.
It reminded her of Goku's feral brother's words, how carelessly he'd informed them of his own planet's destruction.
"Is that what he did to you?"
Vegeta's eyes narrowed dangerously, but he still answered, "Yes."
Tears filled her eyes. "You said he would have taken Goku," Bulma recalled. "Does that mean he's okay?"
There was a pause in his reply. "He is alive."
No. Nothing would break Goku. Somehow, he'd find a way out of Frieza's hold. No matter what that Frieza guy pulled on him, no matter what he did, Goku would not break and he wouldn't change who he was. He just couldn't. It would destroy Chi-Chi and Gohan if he suddenly became more like Vegeta. It would break her.
"Do you know where he is?" Bulma asked, her voice almost desperate. "Frieza or Goku, I don't care which. We need Goku to get our planet back."
"You plan on facing Frieza?" Vegeta threw his head back and laughed, only to wince and tense up, his body trying to tremble. "You… must have a death wish." When he looked back to her, one of his eyes was shut tightly, the other just barely able to stay open and his breathing was heavy. "He will kill you on sight, that is if he doesn't take a liking to your… appearance."
Dread ran down her spine. It wasn't the first time somebody had mentioned something along those lines. Her father had always warned her about how a beautiful girl like herself could be preyed on and attacked, since it wasn't exactly unheard of to happen in certain areas of her city. Now, however, when staring a powerful alien like Vegeta in the face and seeing the state he was in… It felt like more than just a warning. It felt like a threat. A promise.
"What do you suggest?" she questioned softly, unable to add any more volume to her voice.
His expression was serious. It was deadly.
"Get me out of here and I will assist you."
