The blasts shaking the palace had servants and soldiers running, some even jumping out of windows.
General Nappa was grabbing people in the panicking horde.
"Have you seen Prince Vegeta?" "Have you seen Little Geta?" "Has anyone seen Prince Vegeta?!"
Prince Vegeta was ducking in and out of doors. Many adults had tried to grab him, but he forced himself out each time.
Vegeta turned into a servant's hallway to cut through one of the kitchens. There was another boom and plaster from the ceiling dropped.
"It's coming from the throne room," he thought. "What is Papa doing?"
He had tried hiding Tarble from his father and succeeded for a month before he was captured. He knew the palace inside and out.
Vegeta jumped in the dumbwaiter.
Vegeta opened the door and found it blocked by a large block of stone. He quickly kicked it out of the way and climbed out.
The throne room was a pile of rubble. Vegeta's eyes darted around the broken columns and shattered marble. He made his way towards his father's throne as more stone tumbled and crashed. He went to cross the room when he discovered a feasting table full of food, now covered in dust.
"Can your miserable little brain comprehend why I'm so angry, Saiyan King?"
Vegeta saw his father on his hands and knees with a purple cat-like man stepping on his head.
"Forgive me because I promised to fulfill your mission in the time you gave me, Lord Beerus, but it took longer than I thought it would."
"Wrong!" Beerus said.
"Father's being humiliated. How can he take that?" he said softly.
"I consider myself a rather flexible deity. I know you mortals have your limitations but there is one thing I cannot tolerate. The callous arrogance of those who do not pay the respect a Destroyer is due."
Beerus then shoved his head deep into the floor.
"I ordered you to find the most comfortable pillow in the universe and I know for a fact you obtained it. Your tenacity was impressive, although your methods a bit severe."
The man pulled his father up by his hair. "I bet you don't even know how many creatures you killed in that raid. Of course, being what I am I could have accepted all that if you'd actually given me the best pillow, instead of keeping it for yourself and try to fool me with the second best."
He then began to beat King Vegeta.
"Papa!" Vegeta charged forward.
Beerus glanced over his shoulder and Vegeta felt a pulse go through him.
He instantly collapsed.
King Vegeta turned his head to look at his son on the ground.
Beerus dropped the king back on the ground and stood. "Well, that little stunt almost makes up for the utter waste of time this was. Whis, let's go."
"Yes, Lord Beerus," Whis said walking towards him.
Then he stopped walking and looked down at the prince's body.
"Oh!" Whis laughed into his palm. "Lord Beerus, you are so merciful. You surprise me."
Beerus looked over his shoulder. "What are you talking about?"
"The little prince is still alive."
Beerus spun around. "What?! That would have dropped Frieza. That's impossible."
He saw Vegeta begin to get his limbs under him.
"Are you trying to stand?!" Beerus stomped over as Vegeta got on his hands and knees. Beerus kicked him sending him flying.
Vegeta landed on the throne. It tilted backwards before coming to rest.
King Vegeta looked behind him. His son was still moving.
"Consider this my greatest mercy," Beerus said.
King Vegeta turned back to him and saw Beerus raise his hand with his fingers touching his thumb.
"That you get to see your son die on the throne." Beerus snapped his fingers.
King Vegeta spun around hearing his son scream.
The prince was almost bent in half backward. His legs were straight, arms twisted, wrists reared back and his fingers clawed the air. The screaming stopped but his body did not relax.
King Vegeta heard an explosion behind him. He looked and saw Beerus had blasted a hole in the ceiling to the outside. He turned his head and smirked as Whis cast his bubble and they vanished.
The king got off his knees and ran to his throne. Vegeta was stiff as a board, unseeing eyes wide with his tongue sticking out of blue lips.
King Vegeta cupped his son's face in his hands. "Gods no… Please no… Please…" Then his face hardened. "No. No gods. This is their fault." He pulled his son's face to his. "Listen to me Vegeta! You are stronger than this! You are the Saiyan of legend! Greater than every Saiyan to come before you! Greater than Frieza! Greater than all the damn gods! But you need to breathe! BREATHE! Fight it, Vegeta! Fight it! Don't give up! Breathe! BREATHE! BREATHE! BREA—"
Vegeta's head suddenly jerked as he gasped.
"Yes, Vegeta! Keep fighting! Keep breathing!"
Vegeta's head jerked again in the opposite direction as he gasped again. The tips of his fingers started to twitch.
King Vegeta picked up his son. "You can do Vegeta! Keep at it! You can beat this!" He ran. "Keep breathing!"
King Vegeta sat in the elite hospital. After almost an hour, Prince Vegeta was still randomly twisting and jerking in the fluid. Suddenly, Vegeta unbent and went completely limp in the fluid. The doctors scrambled as the rhythm of the machines suddenly changed.
"What's happening?!" King Vegeta demanded.
"Checking!" a doctor shouted.
King Vegeta watched his son hang in the liquid. He saw his son's right hand weakly paw at the fluid.
"Sire!" the doctor turned around. He smiled. "He's stabilizing."
King Vegeta walked over and put his hand on the glass.
Prince Vegeta seemed to respond and tried but failed to lift his arm.
The beeping on one machine quickened.
"King Vegeta, please," a doctor put his hand on his chest. "Please step back."
He stepped out of the way and Vegeta's arm lowered.
The beeping slowed.
"Ok… Ok, his heartbeat is stabilizing again."
"King Vegeta," the doctor asked again. "If you could wait in the side room. We'll call you if there are any changes."
King Vegeta took one last look at his son. "…Alright…"
After another half hour, there was an explosion. Then he heard Vegeta scream.
King Vegeta burst through the door just in time to get the remains of a doctor splashed across his face.
The room was destroyed, with one wall collapsed into the next med bay. Body parts covered the floor and equipment.
And his son was screaming, attacking everything that moved. Prince Vegeta lunged at his father.
King Vegeta struggled for his life against his son. The prince was born over twice his power level, and the gap had only grown. But he was crazed, wild like an Ozaru on a moonlit night.
The king got behind him and locked him in a bear hug. He could feel his leg bones cracking from his repeated kicking as he struggled to dodge the flailing headbutts. Suddenly, a doctor climbed the rubble and jammed a needle into the boy's arm. After a few minutes, he stopped flailing and began to moan.
King Vegeta looked up at the ceiling, took a deep breath and sighed.
The king stepped out of the medical shower stall and found new royal robes waiting for him on a table guarded by Nappa. King Vegeta relaxed at the sight of the one man he considered a confidant. They were raised together. Destined battle partners, the supreme general had become a second set of arms to his brain.
Publicly, the prince's power was so overwhelming he would not be able to have a proper partner. In reality, the king had no intention of keeping the tradition. No one would share his son's glory.
"How is he?" King Vegeta asked, dropping his towel. He reached for his clothes.
"Tranquilized."
"How many did we lose?"
"Nine doctors. Five were technically employed by Lord Frieza… their commander has contacted him. Frieza has ordered the best doctors the PTO have to offer to take care of him and to keep him updated."
King Vegeta facepalmed. "Perfect… so much for keeping this quiet…" He lowered his arm. "When will they arrive?"
"About 40 minutes."
The king grabbed his clothes, "Then let's get ready to greet them."
"Oh! Lord Beerus, you are so merciful. You surprise me."
"What are you talking about?"
"The little prince is still alive."
"What?! That would have dropped Frieza. That's impossible."
"So, this is the video our spy collected?" Frieza asked, glaring at the screen.
Zarbon bowed, "Yes sire. Straight from the security cameras of the throne room itself."
"Consider this my greatest mercy… that you get to see your son die on the throne."
Frieza listened to Vegeta scream. "So… you're telling me a child survived two attempts by Lord Beerus?"
"Apparently, sire," Zarbon said. "But our doctor's review of the data suggests the strong possibility of brain damage. He said it is impossible that something he called a "status epilepticus" of that severity didn't do something to his brain."
Frieza moved his gaze from the screen down to a tablet. "Seems his heart has been struggling as well." He scrolled through it. "His file also lists a near fatal dose of adrenalin and other hormones."
"Lord Beerus sure picked an odd way to kill him," Dodoria said.
Frieza smirked and handed an aide back the tablet. "Actually, it's quite simple Dodoria," he chuckled dismissively. "Fear. Lord Beerus tried to kill him with fear."
Frieza looked back up at the video as King Vegeta was screaming at his son to breathe.
"This monkey survived two attacks that would have killed me," he thought. "Either Lord Beerus underestimated my power," he glared at screen. "Or this child will be trouble."
"Make a public announcement that Vegeta has caught an unknown virus from clearing a primitive world, and is in isolation and receiving the best care we have to offer. That planet will be destroyed as a safety measure, as this is clearly dangerous to sicken Saiyans, who have the best immune system in the galaxy."
A few months later…
King Vegeta stormed into the care team's office.
"You've been tranquilizing my son at night! Why?! Why wasn't I told?!"
A reptilian doctor turned to confront him. "Because you have been interfering with your son's treatment time and again, so I went over your head! It's because of you his healing has stagnated!"
"My son does not need tranquilizers!"
"He's barely slept in five months! Whatever mask he has been wearing to stroke your ego evaporates when he sleeps!"
"My son is fine! He has never been stronger and more ruthless! What happened to him was a blessing in disguise."
"The prince's brain chemistry has never recovered! If anything, it's more unbalanced than before. He's overcompensating trying to hide his symptoms. And you and your people's view towards emotions are only making things worse!"
"Saiyan elite do not feel emotions! We are not weak! Watch your words defaming the Saiyan Prince!"
"Your son has brain damage! And his brain chemistry shows he's in constant anxiety and fear." He waved the tablet in his hand. "You can't argue with science! The stress of the shame you are forcing on him is only exacerbating the problem! If you ever want your son to actually heal, you need to relieve that stress before his brain completely scars over! If you don't, you might as well toss him in the trash like your last child and find a new wife! Isn't there a law about a couple producing two defective children? Because fuck it, my child should be able to survive two murder attempts by the fucking God of Destruction without a scratch!"
The king grabbed him by the arm and threw him out of the room. "Get off my planet! All of you! Off! Off! Off!"
King Vegeta chased the entire group into the hallway. "Out! Out! Out! Out!"
"King Vegeta!"
"What?!" he spun around and saw Nappa. He relaxed. "What is it?" he said calmly.
Nappa only extended a piece of paper.
King Vegeta thought he felt his heart stop in his chest as he read it.
"KING VEGETA 3,
IT HAS COME TO MY ATTENTION THAT I HAVE BROKEN MULTIPLE SACRED LAWS OF HONOR. COMPLETE FAILURE CAN ONLY BE DEALT WITH BY DEATH OR EXILE. I SURRENDER ALL TITLE AND HONOR AND GO INTO EXILE BY MY OWN POWER.
LONG LIVE THE KING AND HIS UNBORN HEIR."
"How many have seen this?"
"Just me," Nappa answered.
King Vegeta burned it to ash with his energy.
Nappa stood at attention. "Orders, sire?"
King Vegeta formed his fist as the ash fell from his hand. "We find him and bring him back."
A few weeks later, the two men landed in the middle of a blizzard.
"Holy fucking shit," Nappa said jumping up and down and rubbing his arms. "It's fucking cold."
"I told you the signal was in the northern latitudes," King Vegeta said, dressed in royal furs.
"But this planet is listed as tropical!"
"Low priority worlds are only surveyed every few million years. And this planet had obvious markings of recent glaciation even then, if you read the description."
"What type of fucking planet swings from tropical to glaciers every few million years?!"
King Vegeta touched his scouter, then pulled it away from his ear.
"Damn it," he began to play with the settings. "A local transmission is messing with the scouter communication link."
Nappa turned his scouter on. "Oh, music… Catchy. Flees Navy Dad. Flees Navy Dad. Something anus Flees knee dad."
"Nappa… Just stop…"
"You sure? The lyrics just switched to partial Uni."
King Vegeta put the scouter back on. The numbers began to roll across the eyepiece. "Yes… I'm positive." He looked left after its final beep. "There he his."
They made their way through the blowing snow and discovered a small dwelling with smoke coming from a chimney.
"Scouter says only one person in there," Nappa said.
"He better have killed the previous occupant, at least," King Vegeta growled.
King Vegeta kicked down the fragile plant-derivative door. "Vegeta the Fourth!"
He saw a small form scurry on an upper platform.
King Vegeta grabbed his son and held him off the floor. "WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING HERE?!" he shouted millimeters from his face.
The king then saw something he never thought was possible. His son started to whimper and cry.
"WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?!" King Vegeta wound him up and threw him through the wall, causing the structure to partially collapse.
"Vegeta, what the hell?" Nappa shouted, digging himself out as it caught fire. He followed the path of broken trees and discovered King Vegeta on the ground clutching his stomach.
"Did you really think screaming at a kid that was strong enough to kill you as a newborn was a good idea?"
King Vegeta coughed as he struggled to sit up, "He's -cough- never acted this way before."
Nappa crouched down. "As if these past 6 months have been anything but normal. Here, let ol' Uncle Nappa work his charms. Kids love me."
"Fine…"
Nappa stood and flew off.
Vegeta laid on his back. "It's because you're such a freaking moron. You're just a bad joke without me…"
Nappa followed his scouter and it led him to one of the many trees with needle leaves, its bottom buried in snow. He stood next to the tree.
"Hey Vegeta!" Nappa shouted. "Where are you?!" "Oh…" he said loudly. "I hope the little prince is all right. I'm REALLY SCARED something bad happened to him."
The tree shivered, knocking snow from it. Nappa turned his back knowing Prince Vegeta was peeking through the branches. "The king was SO TERRIFIED when little Geta got sick. I never saw him SO SCARED. He even CARRIED and HELD him IN HIS ARMS. He could have CAUGHT IT TOO, but HE DIDN'T CARE. All he cared about was his SON OVER HIS DUTY and HONOR."
"Nappa…" he heard a soft voice behind him. "Is that true?"
Nappa looked over his shoulder, "Of course. You should know better than anyone I'm a terrible liar."
The tree shook again.
"Come in," he heard louder.
Nappa circled the tree and a hole had been dug in the snow bank. He crawled through and found the prince had cut down the branches to make a cave. Even then, it was a tight fit for the giant.
"Wow, it's actually warm in here. Nice job, my prince."
He smiled at him and the child's face hardened into a miniature of his father's scowl.
"I order you to tell me the truth," he said. "Tell me everything."
"Vegeta, even elite Saiyans feel fear. It's rare, but it's true. Our strength means very little challenges us, but," he leaned in, "We are not Super Saiyans. There are races stronger than us."
"But that's temporary!" Vegeta protested. "Saiyans grow and evolve! We will surpass all and rule the galaxy!"
"That's very true," Nappa said. "But we are not there yet. Vegeta listen, the sickness you got is very rare and very deadly. In fact, you are the only known survivor in millions of years. It even wrecked your body so badly you even got a huge zenkai. Your power nearly doubled." Nappa held his finger in front of his face, "That is how close you came to dying. And you are actually still in recovery."
Vegeta looked up at him, shocked.
Nappa nodded, "I've overheard your father screaming at the doctors constantly. They say you're still in recovery, but your father hasn't taken them seriously." Nappa tapped his head, "Because it's in here. The fever left you wild and uncontrolled like a third-class Ozaru; you were sedated for weeks. Then you were confused which left you crying and screaming, so your father drugged you again."
Vegeta began to tremble. "Is father going to sedate me again?" he asked, burying his face in his knees. "So I can't move?"
"Wait, you remember that?" Napa asked, shocked.
Vegeta nodded.
"Your brain scans said you were completely unconscious."
Vegeta lifted his head. "Well, I wasn't!" he shouted before burying his face again. "It was no different than looking at the moon, but I couldn't get my body to obey me."
Nappa's eyes widened. "You don't just remember your nights, but can control your form?"
Vegeta nodded.
Nappa looked forward. "Well, fuck…"
"But it was harder last time, I almost blacked out transforming. I… I was afraid. I was afraid of myself. And I almost lost my grip. I don't think I was fully in control. I couldn't play."
"You shouldn't waste time on the battlefield," Nappa scolded.
"I just like practicing making noises. I want to be able to talk."
"But why?"
"I… think it would be scarier… if I could talk. Ozarus are supposed to be mindless beasts. What if during battle one actually talked and fought intelligently? An Ozaru can still be wounded because it's nothing but an animal, and can be outsmarted like any animal by a skilled hunter." Vegeta peeked above his knees and Nappa saw his signature smirk. "I want to turn the hunters into the hunted and watch their faces when they realize everything they planned was useless. How powerless they are."
Vegeta buried his face again, "But now I'm the powerless one…" He started to shake. "Please just go. Father can do so much better than me. I'm broken now. I'm scared," his voice cracked, "I'm always scared. I'm scared of everything!"
"Vegeta, you're young. You're barely four years old. You have a century of battle ahead of you. This will heal. It will get better. Let's go home and talk with your doctors. Figure out how to make this heal. But that can't happen if you keep lying that everything is alright."
"But what about Papa?"
"You mean the man you left rolling in the snow after a single punch?" Nappa held his palm out, "Vegeta, you're now the strongest Saiyan in modern times." He formed his fist. "You can take anything you want. Even the throne, if you wanted."
"But no one will follow a weak king. I feel fear. What if my guards strike me while asleep?"
"Wow… you've really thought this through, huh?"
"Papa told me what guards are for…" he answered. "But what's stopping them from turning?"
"Wow… you are so paranoid right now." Nappa shifted. "Vegeta… I don't know if I'm saying this right… but… Stop being afraid of your own fear. …A warrior can still dominate the battlefield without an eye or even an arm. The only thing stopping a warrior from doing that is their fear of that injury and being unable to see past it because of that fear. These emotions you can't control at the moment are from a head injury. But even if it leaves a scar that never fully goes away, you can embrace it and alter yourself around it to make yourself a better warrior." He patted Vegeta on the back, "But hey!" he chuckled, "If you have the patience and determination to conquer the impossible feat of becoming a talking Ozaru, then you can become the strongest Super Saiyan that's ever lived, even if you feel a little bit of fear inside."
Nappa put his arm down. "And you're already well on your way. You really blindsided your father and I with that letter, which was burnt to ash before anyone else saw it. No one knows you abdicated. All this can be forgotten."
Vegeta's voice cracked again, "I just didn't want to disappoint Papa. I thought everything would get better if I toughed it out, but it never did."
"Which is why you need to be honest with the doctors now. If your head isn't healing on its own, you are going to need help fixing it. Which is why we need to go back and tell the doctors everything you just told me, my prince."
Vegeta nodded.
Nappa leaned in smiling, "Does that mean you're ready to go home and get fixed up?"
Vegeta nodded.
Nappa stood up breaking the tree into splinters. "All right! Let's get moving!"
Vegeta looked out over the snow bank. "Papa?"
Nappa turned around and saw the king.
"So… how long have you been there?" Nappa asked nervously.
"Long enough," he answered. King Vegeta walked over and stared down into the hole in the snow.
Prince Vegeta squared his shoulders and looked up at him at attention. "I will agree to return to take my place as heir." He then pointed at his father. "On the condition you no longer interfere with my recovery so I may become the heir required of a Saiyan Prince!"
King Vegeta looked down at his son's hardened, determined face.
"Agreed."
King Vegeta unburied his son's pod, programmed some coordinates, then sent him off.
"Man, I can't wait to get back home and get warmed up," Nappa said.
"Oh, we're not going home just yet," King Vegeta smirked and he began programming Nappa's ship.
"What? Why?"
"We need an excuse for being missing these few months. There's a desert planet nearby with a breathable atmosphere. The story will be we took Prince Vegeta for special training in a place where there could be no collateral damage."
He stood up and put his hand on Nappa's shoulder. "And I think for the crime of plotting a coup with my child," he gave a sickly smile, "spending a couple days in a healing pod upon our return is quite merciful."
Nappa chuckled awkwardly.
A month earlier…
Frieza smiled down at his tablet. "So this is the final composite rendering of that note King Vegeta burned?"
"Yes, sire," a technician bowed. "We used every camera angle that caught a glimpse of the paper."
"Thank you, you may leave."
After the door closed, Frieza began laughing.
"Sire?" Zarbon asked nervously, "May I ask what you find so funny?"
Frieza passed him the tablet to him and Dodoria looked over his shoulder.
"Prince Vegeta has abdicated his throne?!" Dodoria exclaimed.
Frieza continued to laugh, "Poor little Vegeta is so tormented with anxiety and fear he's run away from home! Oh! What lovely blackmail for when the king brings him back!"
A couple weeks later, the three ships land back on Planet Vegeta. Prince Vegeta ran to the crews before the door even fully opened. "Help!"
The crew stopped, shocked at the mangled state of his clothes and armor.
"Prince Vegeta? What's happened?"
"I hit Papa too hard! We were training," he dropped to his knees. "I hit Papa too hard."
"Hey! General Nappa needs attention too!" the crew that recovered his pod shouted.
A Saiyan knelt down to the crying child. "Don't worry my prince, I promise the king will be fine."
Vegeta followed the medical teams into the elite hospital at the palace. He grabbed onto the coat of a passing staff.
He looked down, "Yes, Prince Vegeta?"
"Can I please see my doctors?" Vegeta asked softly.
He nodded, "Yes. Of course. Let me tell them." He hurried off.
Vegeta waited on a bench swinging his feet in the air.
The lizard doctor walked quickly down the hall. "Young prince. It is good to see you again. If you could follow me into an empty room, we can go over your father's and the general's conditions."
Vegeta followed him into an exam room. He climbed on the table as the doctor opened his tablet.
"You will be happy to hear that they will both make a full recovery," he said sitting down on a spinning stool. "They won't need more than three hours in the chamber, then they will be good as new."
"Actually, doctor," Vegeta looked up at him with a stern face. "I want to talk about me."
"Oh… I see. What is it you want to talk about?"
"General Nappa has told me I am actually still in recovery, but my father has been ignoring your advice on my treatment."
"…Yes…" he hesitated. "That is the case."
"General Nappa has convinced my father to no longer interfere. You can confirm once they wake up."
The doctor gave a sigh of relief, "That is good to hear. Lord Frieza was growing quite impatient with the stall of your recovery. Now we can finally work. And I promise we will heal you."
"General Nappa compared my…" Vegeta hesitated. "my… my… my fear…" he stuttered. "To a warrior losing an eye. And I need to adapt as a warrior and overcome. But to do that, I need to tell you everything."
The doctor smiled, "The fact you were able to say the word fear is a great start, Prince Vegeta. And I promise that word will never leave my team. I know how hard that word is for a Saiyan to say. But if it is easier, the special type of fear you have is called anxiety."
"An-xi-ety," Vegeta said slowly. "I will need to ask my father who I am allowed to say that word around."
The doctor nodded. "So, what else did you want to tell me?"
"The machines lied to you. I was awake the whole time I was sedated. I just could not move."
"What?!" the doctor stood. "How?!"
"It felt no different than being an Ozaru, that's why."
"Wait, I thought Saiyans were unconscious during the transformation?"
"Almost everyone is, and only a handful remember anything, like Papa. But I not only remember. I am in full control. I've even been working on trying to learn to speak if we finish before the moon sets."
The doctor set down with a plop. "That… that is incredible. I don't even know where to begin. Would you be willing to undergo testing in that state? The change in brainwaves would go far in understanding what's going on in your brain."
Vegeta nodded. "I've been having trouble the past couple months. It's safer to confirm I'm awake before weaklings like you approach me."
"Yes. Yes." he nodded looking at his tablet. "Oh, I'm writing this in the wrong file. Darn it, give me a moment, Prince Vegeta, before we continue."
Prince Vegeta chuckled as the frantic doctor swiped and poked his screen.
That night, Vegeta was sitting up in his bed drinking a small glass of water.
"Did your pill go down smoothly?" the nurse asked.
Vegeta held up the empty glass, "Yes."
The nurse took it.
"If everyone is finished," King Vegeta said, "I would like a moment alone with my son."
Everyone bowed, and the nurse and guards exited the room.
After the door closed, King Vegeta sighed. Then he looked down sternly at his son.
"Papa?" he asked nervously.
"I'm told you gave quite the performance when we landed. Why? You knew our injuries."
"You destroyed your honor when you carried and held me when I was sick. Now we are even in the public mind."
"I see. Politically astute for a small child. You have a sharp mind." He took a deep breath.
"I'm told you can fully control your Ozaru… and have been practicing speaking?"
"Yes, Papa," he nodded.
King Vegeta smiled. "Prince Vegeta the Fourth," he paused. "I am in awe of you. I am proud, that you are my son."
Vegeta's jaw dropped as he gave a tiny gasp.
King Vegeta chuckled. Then he put his hand on top of his son's head. "And since this is private, don't feel the need to even the playing field. I already know."
"Yes, Papa," Vegeta said softly.
King Vegeta turned and walked away. He opened the door to discover Nappa with a cup.
King Vegeta bristled. "Nappa!"
"Worth it!" Nappa shouted as he ran away.
Prince Vegeta laughed as his father quickly disappeared from view.
One year later…
"Sire," Zarbon bowed. "Prince Vegeta's quarterly medical report has just finished being reviewed by your private physician and is ready to present."
"Show him in," Frieza said, not turning his back.
The doctor entered. "Sire," he bowed.
"So, how is our dear little monkey doing?"
He pulled out his tablet and synced it to the screen. "Quite well. The prince has seen rapid improvement since the start of his specialized cognitive therapy after his Ozaru study." He scrolled to a new page. "But there does seem to be permanent damage that will most likely leave him emotionally unstable the rest of his life. He's currently on a mild antidepressant that was specially developed for him to overcome Saiyan livers."
"What do you mean unstable?"
"Well, he is still exhibiting behaviors not seen in Saiyans, like showing unusually strong emotional attachments and being quite clinging to his father in particular. This neurodivergence seems to be permanent and will most likely cause continuing issues functioning in Saiyan society."
"So, he has a soft underbelly," Frieza said. "What are his improvements?"
"He is now able to enter the throne room without experiencing distress. He is now cleaning and organizing to the same extent he was prior, according to staff, but the doctors feel it is quite excessive and may be a sign of preexisting control issues or OCD. His nightmares are still present, but he is no longer experiencing waking terrors. He hasn't wet his bed in 47 days of this report. His sleeping tranquilizers have been discontinued accordingly."
"What is this section on his power level?" Frieza asked, reading the screen.
"Apparently the nursing staff informally used a sudden drop in power level to predict an oncoming panic attack or other sudden issues, and reviewing records they discovered a steady depressive state of between 10 to 15% that only began correcting recently. His precision and speed have picked back up in training but his awareness of his surroundings has dropped, but that can be interpreted as a drop in anxiety and the resulting hypervigilance."
"So, what you're saying is that under stress Prince Vegeta's power drops and his fighting ability suffers?"
"Um, yes. Fear and anxiety causing a drop of energy is quite common in other species but this is the first time it has been documented in a Saiyan."
"I see," Frieza said. "You may go now. I'll read the rest of the report on my own time."
"Yes, sire," he said surprised. He bowed and left the room.
Frieza smiled.
"May I ask what you are thinking, sire?" Zarbon asked.
"I'm thinking I may have a use for the little monkey after all." He turned his floating chair around, "Dodoria, call ahead and tell King Vegeta I've decided to bring his son into the main army, but this is not the announcement I have ordered his people to gather for. Tell him not to worry for his health. Any continuing treatment will be handled by my own private physicians and he will be in constant communication. I will pick him up personally after my official visit, so have him ready to depart."
"Sire, won't that complicate matters?"
"Did I give you permission to question my orders?"
"No, Sire! Right away, sire!"
"Zarbon," Frieza said as Dodoria ran from the room. "I want you to remove mentions of his medication from Prince Vegeta's medical file. The doctors and chemists will take care of themselves. And also," he smiled. "Make sure the men know they will have free reign with young Vegeta. As long as they do not hurt him. We can't have him getting stronger, can we?"
"Yes, sire," Zarbon bowed while Frieza laughed.
On planet Vegeta, the King was reading the decoded message in the radio room.
"Your Majesty," a guard said. "You're not going to let him take the prince, will you?"
King Vegeta crumpled the paper in his hand. "No. Of course not."
…
It was almost two weeks since Bulma's birthday, and her shoulders and back were sore. She had been going to bed early to avoid the coming conversation, but tonight was not to be.
She opened her bedroom door, only to discover Vegeta already sitting on the side of the bed. He was slumped over with his elbows on his knees. He gripped the first three fingers in his left hand so hard his knuckles were white. It was rare for him to use this technique because it was so obvious. Physical pain helped clear his head when everything else failed, but this meant something was wrong even the GR couldn't handle.
"You've been going to bed and waking up early," Vegeta said.
Bulma put her hand behind her head, "Well, after our cruise so much work built up so—"
Vegeta lifted his head slightly and side-eyed her. "Don't lie to me woman," he hissed. "I know I injured you."
Bulma sighed and sat next to him on the bed. She put her hand across his back and held his wrist with the other. "Don't worry about it," she said leaning into his ear. "It hurts no worse than going to the chiropractor. I don't even have a mark." She ran her hand up and down his lower arm. "Are you ready to talk or was this just about me?"
Vegeta let go of his fingers, and Bulma knew he'd be wearing his gloves the next few days to hide the bruise forming.
"You know…" he began breathing hard, "after that allergic reaction… How the therapist thought the holes in my memory were most likely from a traumatic event even I couldn't handle, based on some random medication the doctors found in the medical files we got from the dragon?"
Bulma tightened her hug, already knowing the answer.
"The time you met Lord Beerus he mentioned?"
Vegeta began shivering, just like he had been doing every night since her birthday.
"Don't force yourself, just tell me when you're ready."
"Promise me you'll never attack Beerus again," he said breathlessly, "and I'll do it now."