Disclaimer: I don't own DBZ or the characters.
Here is the big moment. At the time, writing this chapter had been really challenging, especially since I really sucked at fighting scenes. I still do, not as badly, and it gets the action across. I had been working off of tips from a friend of mine back then, and had some practice since then. When I originally posted, I had also decided to finish of the story Foster Family and then update stories from another fandom where I had one chapter where I actually wrote a fight scene my friend approved of, so my confidence had been restored. Lol…anyways, chapter background finished.
Now…a special thanks to reviewers :D Thank you to Princess Caramel, bval1, DaniellaDBZ4ever, TFSrules, RaiynetheHedgehog, NNP, blonde22, LunarSinner, KimiruMai, threeam inkblot, lintu-lvr4, itachi girl88, Niko8, abbieouji, LegacyPan, and various guests for reviewing the original chapter!
Bulma continued to run towards the throne room, hoping the fight hadn't started yet. Once Vegeta saw that she was okay, she knew he'd be able to concentrate on fighting his father. What she didn't know was that Vegeta already knew she was in good hands with Kakarot and her placing herself in the middle of a fight was not going to help his concentration.
Vegeta barged into the throne room; he was angry and volatile. One word would set him off. The king saw this and smirked. "So, I guess the bitch contacted you," he said. "I'm surprised such a primitive and weak creature like her could bond with a strong Saiyan warrior such as yourself." Vegeta did not grace him with a response and the king's expression soured. "You've gotten yourself in way too deep, son."
"You are no father of mine," Vegeta stated dangerously. "I'm sick of your actions. You are a terrible king. You've hurt my mate; you've hurt mother; you were willing to let Tarble die knowing that he isn't a fighter. How could you treat your family this way?"
"The key to being a great leader is to hold power over your subjects and the only way to achieve that is to make them fear you," the king said. "Your grandfather was weak, and that is why he died. The respect he had did not keep him alive. Now, no one will ever have the gall to challenge me."
"If you believe that," Vegeta started walking closer towards his father's throne, "then you are even more of a fool than I believed." He stopped when he was standing directly across from his father. "I am the one who will be ending your miserable life and freeing the people from your tyranny."
The king glared at Vegeta and stood up. "Boy, you are a disobedient shit and I will make sure you learn your lesson today."
Both fighters crouched down into their fighting positions. Vegeta was studying his father's stance. It was full of unguarded points, but Vegeta wasn't surprised. His father hadn't trained in years because of his weapon. The young Saiyan hoped that this fight would be over quickly.
He phased from his spot, stunning the king with his disappearance, and hit him from behind. The king stumbled forward and turned to face his son. Vegeta was shaking his head, a look of disgust plastered on his face.
"Look at you," he growled. "You're even weaker than the third classes whose lives you've ruined."
The king snarled at Vegeta threateningly. "Shut up, boy. My power level is much higher than theirs."
"Quite true," Vegeta replied. "But power levels don't decide a battle's victor. Strategy is what brings victory, and father, you have no strategy."
"Boy, shut up!" the king shouted as he powered up and angrily charged at Vegeta. Vegeta managed to dodge his father's initial attack easily. He rolled his eyes at how his father was behaving. It almost made him feel dishonored. He let this man run his life since he was a child; he let the people of this planet suffer under his rule, and he wasn't even strong enough to defend his crown.
"Father, this fight is ridiculous," Vegeta stated. "Surrender now and maybe I will spare your pathetic existence."
"Never!" the king shouted as he once again charged at Vegeta.
Vegeta was ready for him and braced himself for impact. He powered up himself and pulled his arm back, ready to punch his incoming father. Before the king could hit Vegeta, Vegeta's glowing fist made contact with his father's energy. The force of their energy meeting blew his father back into his throne, breaking the metallic object. Vegeta managed to stay right in his place, although slightly pushed back on the flat surface.
The king struggled to get up, looking worse for wear after one punch. This truly was pathetic. He hoped that his father would see how useless this fight was for him. If he had surrendered, Vegeta would have let him live and placed him in the dungeon to waste away into nothing, like poor Gine had. Now, he would not let his father walk away alive. He hadn't even needed to transform into Super Saiyan. He started walking towards his father, ready to deal the finishing blast.
"Vegeta!" Vegeta paused in his trek towards his father when he heard Bulma's voice. His eyes widened in slight fear. She couldn't be there right now, not when he was dealing with his father. It was too dangerous, for her and their child, to be anywhere near the fight.
The king saw his son's apprehension and zoned out expression. He used that to his advantage and speedily charged Vegeta, cheaply hitting him in the gut. It was enough of a distraction to make his move. Vegeta turned to face him, ready to attack with a small ki blast when he gasped. His father was holding Bulma with a ki blast aimed at her stomach. He was playing dirty now and Vegeta knew it. His ki blast disappeared as he looked at his father incredulously.
"Don't you dare," Vegeta growled out. His father was pushing his luck. Vegeta's anger was already starting to change his surrounding energy from blue to yellow. "Release her now."
The king started laughing maniacally slightly shaking Bulma in the process. Bulma looked up at the king with a glare. She hated being used against people. When she was a child, thugs would kidnap her to get her father to pay large sums of money. Now she was being used against her mate and that was not okay with her.
"Now where's the fun in that?" the king answered snidely. "If I can't have her, the least I can do is hold her in my arms for a while." He took the arm he had wrapped around her and started sliding his hand up and down her body. That wasn't sitting well with either Bulma or Vegeta.
"Let go," Bulma whispered, though she tried not to. Her heart rate started to pick up, but in panic. Breathing started to become a chore to her. "Let go…now."
The king didn't like being ordered around and was about to scold the woman in his arms, but her saw that her eyes were glossed over and that she was struggling to breathe. He grinned sadistically knowing what was happening to her. His son's mate was having a severe panic attack, and his actions were the cause.
Vegeta also noticed Bulma's reaction. What's wrong? he asked her with worry through their bond.
I…I don't know. Just when he was…touching me…I just feel so terrible, Vegeta. I can't stomach it. I…I can barely breathe.
Woman, you need to calm down, Vegeta told her, now knowing that she was having a panic attack. His father had given him plenty of anxiety attacks when he was younger. Just focus on breathing normally. I will get you away from him.
How?
Vegeta didn't have an answer for her, but he relaxed when he sensed Kakarot's energy. He wasn't too far away, and he would be the perfect distraction for his father. He would be able to make sure his mate was fine before he took his father's life.
"This is a low move, even for you, father," Vegeta snapped bitterly as an attempt to stall. However, he was silently telling Bulma that he had a plan. That little piece of knowledge was helping Bulma start to calm herself. She knew she had to. Stress wasn't good for her or the baby.
"You shouldn't have mated with a weakling, son," the king replied while smirking. "This bitch is too weak. She will be your ultimate downfall at some point. I'm sure you can already see why."
"I am no one's weakness," Bulma stated, the light starting to return to her eyes. The king stared down at her in shock. She looked up at him defiantly. "I may be physically weak, but I know that mentally I am a hell of a lot stronger than you."
The king couldn't help but chuckle. "Well, she's got a mouth on her, that's for sure. Very Saiyan-like. Now I can see it a little more, why you fell for her I mean. However…" he said while squeezing her arm enough for all three in the room to hear a crack. Bulma yelped in pain from the break, but she still kept her angered expression. "You should learn your place."
"I already do," she said looking over to Vegeta. It's with you…always. Vegeta's eyes widened at her kind words. She chose now to say something so warm to him, and he couldn't understand why she wouldn't be focused on her life being in danger. You complete me, and I love you, she told him.
Before Vegeta could respond, Bulma did something very brave and stupid. She elbowed his father very hard in the gut, taking the older man by surprise and causing him to spit up blood. While he was distracted, she managed to slip out of his hold and ran over to Vegeta. He roughly put his arms around her to move her behind him as his father recovered and moved to attack the two of them. Vegeta didn't have enough time to recover after moving Bulma out of the way; he couldn't defend himself.
Which was why it was a good thing that his father got shot in the shoulder by a ki blast. The king fell to the ground and slid into the opposite wall. Vegeta looked to Kakarot and nodded his thanks. While his father was down, he turned to Bulma and quickly checked her for injuries.
"I'm okay, Vegeta," she said putting her good hand on his arm. His hand rested on her face gently pushing her hair from it.
"You shouldn't have come to the battlefield," he admonished her gently. "You took a great risk."
"I needed you to know that I was okay," she told him, still not understanding the bond.
"I already knew," he told her. "I could feel in through the bond. I can tell I'm going to need to explain this more to you later." Bulma smiled in response, but the peace was short-lived when they heard Vegeta's father grumble. "Kakarot," he called to his best friend, "you need to get Bulma to the infirmary. Get her a senzu bean to heal her arm."
"Got it," Kakarot said with a smile and a nod. "And Vegeta…" He and Vegeta exchanged serious glances. "Take him down." Vegeta responded with a two finger wave, a salute between kin, which Kakarot returned before taking Bulma carefully in his arms and flying her to the infirmary.
Vegeta looked back to his father who looked both angry and deranged. His energy spiked higher than Vegeta had expected and he narrowly dodge two large, black energy blasts his father sent his way. Something was wrong with his father's energy, but Vegeta hadn't sensed it before. It felt darker than he remembered it. Vegeta gasped at his realization.
"Dark energy, father?" he asked in shock. "Why would you even tamper with that?"
"Because," his father snarled with a voice that did not sound like his own, "it's just enough to take you out for good."
Vegeta shook his head in disgust. Dark energy was said to be a myth. The energy itself was considered evil and increased the strength of the warrior yielding it, but they had to exchange something for it. It was energy reserved for those who cared about no one and would sacrifice even their closest relative to gain the power. It was dark energy from another realm, and almost nothing could defeat it.
"So…who's life did you trade for this vile power?" Vegeta grumbled.
The king chuckled darkly. "Don't worry, boy. I didn't trade any of your lives. I traded my own soul many, many years ago, back when I killed your grandfather and took the throne. If someone ever had come to me with the power to defeat me, I would use it. You're lucky boy; you will be the only Saiyan other than me to ever see this power. Quite an honor."
"More like degrading," Vegeta retorted, "you sorry excuse for a warrior."
He got into his fighting stance again before he and his father began trading blows of energy. The king got a few decent punches on Vegeta's face and gut, but the prince was still holding his own. It was much harder now that his father revealed this new energy. If he didn't win soon, Vegeta would have to go Super Saiyan. He couldn't take much more abuse. The dark energy was ripping through his skin, and Vegeta was sure he had some broken bones just from the few hits.
Vegeta let his guard down for a split second, and his father managed to get in a good hit. The young prince was blasted across the room by a dark energy beam. He got onto his hands and knees to catch his breath while his father laughed at his predicament.
"Is this the best you have to offer, son?" the king taunted. "All your talk and you're still the weak little kid I used to beat."
Vegeta glared at growled at his father, still trying to forget those difficult days of his childhood. He had never told anyone, not even his mother, how violent his father had been with him. That was when Vegeta lost all respect for him as a parental figure.
"Aw, it's all right, Vegeta," his father cooed arrogantly. "Maybe in another year or so you'd be able to stand up to me, but now you'll be lucky if I let either you or your mate live."
Vegeta was starting to get pissed as his father started writing him off as a weak fighter. He had worked hard to get the power he had, a lot of blood, sweat, and tears. His father just bargained his own life for power which took no effort, and it would yield no results.
"You say I am weak," Vegeta stated, "yet I know I am stronger than you. You sold your soul for power, and that was a mistake. Power must be earned, just like respect. You have neither."
The king looked very amused and crossed his arms. "Oh? And you think you have power over me?"
Vegeta smirked and flared his energy. His father's eyes widened. He couldn't sense energy, but even standing across the room he could sense the force of Vegeta's energy. Vegeta's hair shifted from black to blonde, his eyes becoming teal. He didn't give his father the chance to register his transformation before he powered up as much as he could and formed an energy blast in his hand.
"Yes, father, I do have the power," Vegeta said in amusement, "and you are about to feel just how strong I truly am."
Kakarot got Bulma to the infirmary and set her down on a table while he searched for the senzu bean. Bulma sighed and nervously kicked her feet a little bit as she waited. Then she gasped as she remembered something.
"Bulma, what's wrong?" Kakarot asked her, worried that she was hurt worse than he though.
"When the king came into my room and took me to the dungeons, I saw Nappa unconscious outside the room," she said with tears in her eyes. "Kakarot, what if he…?"
Kakarot used his energy to search for Nappa's energy. It was still pretty strong, as if he were just asleep, so the king must not have done too much damage. "He's okay, Bulma."
"Please," Bulma pleaded, "he's been good to me from the beginning. Can you please go get him? I'll be fine."
Kakarot shook his head. He didn't want to leave Bulma alone, just in case something were to go wrong, but he sensed another energy heading towards Vegeta's and Bulma's room. What's the queen doing out of her room? he asked himself. He shook his head. He couldn't worry about that at the moment. What he really needed was to find the senzu beans, but he couldn't figure out where his father had put them. Bulma just sighed again, worried about her mate and now Nappa. She put her hand to her stomach and rubbed it to quell the energy she felt stirring inside.
Queen Kalina was roaming the halls. She needed to go check on her daughter. That was how she saw Bulma now, and she was worried. When she had gotten out of the bath, she realized that her mate was gone and she was worried about the plan being shot to hell. Her first concern was Bulma since the young girl did not have the power to defend herself against the king; however, when she got to the room, she saw Nappa unconscious and nearly shouted. She got down on her knees and desperately patted Nappa's face.
"Nappa, please wake up," she said in fear. Nappa was her most trusted guard and friend, and seeing him like this because of her mate made her feel like she was stabbed in the heart.
Nappa slowly started blinking his eyes open and saw his queen kneeling over him. He smirked at her and weakly lifted his hand to move her hair from her face. "My queen," he said tiredly, "am I actually seeing tears in your eyes?"
The queen gasped and quickly wiped the tears. She had only cried two times in her life before this moment, both times when she lost loved ones. Nappa grabbed her hand to stop her rapid movements. "A-are you okay?" she asked him. Nappa nodded in response as she moved to help him up. "We need to get you to the infirmary. Can you make it?"
"Of course," Nappa replied arrogantly. "I'll be fine." Just then, the two of them felt Vegeta's energy increase rapidly. Nappa looked down to the queen and saw the fear in her eyes. "Don't worry, my queen," he said. "Vegeta will be fine too."
"I really hope so, Nappa," she whispered. "I really, truly hope so."
"No…" the king said in a whisper. "It's not possible."
"When it is needed the most, the transformation will occur in warriors that are pure of heart," Vegeta recited. "That is something you would never understand, father."
"When?" his father questioned.
Vegeta shrugged. "Does it matter?" he asked. "The fact of the matter is that I can defeat you. It's over father."
The king held his hands up in defeat. "You're right boy. Why don't you come closer and finish me off?"
Vegeta's brow rose in confusion. He didn't expect his father to truly surrender. Vegeta scoffed at how weak his father was acting. He walked closer to his father, a sphere of energy in his hand. The king still would not move. Vegeta watched him carefully trying to tell what his father was thinking. At the last second, a smirk appeared on his father's face. The king disappeared from view, his energy disappearing momentarily. Vegeta froze, searching frantically for his father in the room. The next thing he registered was pure agony as his father shoved a dark lightning sphere into Vegeta's back while grabbing onto his tail and crushing it. Vegeta roared out in pain, loud enough to reach all the way across the castle.
Bulma had taken the senzu bean and her arm healed instantly. She sighed in relief as the pain she had been feeling left her. "Lie down, princess," Kakarot ordered. "You should get some rest. You've had a very trying day."
"Kakarot," Bulma said softly, "please…please go get Nappa. The king is nowhere near here, and Vegeta would never let him out of his sight. Please…"
"That won't be necessary," they heard the queen say. They both looked to the doorway of the infirmary and saw Queen Kalina assisting Nappa.
Kakarot rushed to go help them and led Nappa to a table. The queen wouldn't leave his side as Kakarot forced him to lie down and got an ice pack for his head. He knew a little bit of first aid from his father and mate, especially because he and Vegeta let each other have it quite often. Speaking of Vegeta, everyone except for Bulma tensed and panicked as they heard the prince's anguished cry. Bulma couldn't hear it, but she felt her mate's distress.
"Vegeta!" she exclaimed desperately. She looked to Kakarot who was already out the door.
The queen looked over to her daughter in shock. "Bulma…did you feel him?" she asked. Bulma looked to her with worry etched on her features. When Bulma nodded, the queen also responded with a nod. She was shocked that Bulma could sense her son's pain, especially when they hadn't shown signs of a full bond before. Knowing this made the situation bittersweet. The queen could only hope that things would work out. Then her son and his mate could finally get some much needed rest, before undoing all the damage the king had caused, and some peace for themselves.
Vegeta forced himself to his hands and knees, the pain flashing through his body again causing him to collapse. Electricity was a Saiyan's number one weakness, aside from their tails. His father disgusted him for stooping so low. A fake surrender was a cheap move. All his father had was cheap moves.
Vegeta attempted to get up again, but his father kicked him in his gut. The prince coughed up blood as his father continued to aggressively kick him. For a moment, Vegeta did feel like he did when he was a child. He chose to stare at a spot on the wall, praying for the abuse to end soon.
After a while the kicks stopped and Vegeta registered the sound of his father groaning. He refocused his eyes and settled them on Kakarot who was in his Super Saiyan form beating the life out of his father. Vegeta managed to stand up shakily and hang onto a pillar. Breathing raggedly, his eyes met Kakarot's in silent thanks. Kakarot released his hold on the king who collapsed to the floor looking like a rag doll. Vegeta understood his friend's silent gesture. His father's death belonged to him.
Vegeta weakly limped over to his father's form. The elder Saiyan looked up to Vegeta, his eyes red and his breathing ragged. "Go ahead, boy. Finish me…if you have the guts."
Vegeta grabbed his father by his neck, crushing the bones under his fingertips. He forced him to look into his eyes and said, "You killed my grandfather, beat me, raped mother, belittled Tarble. You threatened the life of my mate and our unborn child. You destroyed countless treaties and lives across the universe, and now your time has come. Any last words?"
"Just a few," the king replied hoarsely. "You are my son, and you are just like me. Remember that."
"Vegeta is nothing like you," Kakarot said forcefully. Vegeta cast him a thankful glance. He really needed the reassurance sometimes. He looked back to his father, hate shining in his eye as he created another blast in his hands. He aimed it for the king's chest and let it go. The king's energy disappeared seconds later.
To be sure, Kakarot got down on his knees and checked for a pulse, heartbeat, and breathing. "He's dead," he stated monotonously. He looked up to his friend and new king. "You did it, Vegeta."
Vegeta shook his head. "We did it, Kakarot." But before Vegeta could say or do anything else, he passed out from the energy lose, returning to his base form.
Kakarot caught him, also returning to base form, and shook his head. "Oh Vegeta, you always overdo it." He smiled at his own comment and started to fly Vegeta to the infirmary. He was going to have to call his father in to make sure everyone was okay after such an intense battle.
When Kakarot got Vegeta to the infirmary, Nappa was sitting up comforting the queen. She had been so worried about her son, but at least she knew that her mate could not hurt any of them again. Kakarot put Vegeta on another free table and nearly got knocked down by Bulma. "Is he going to be okay?" she whispered, her concern radiating off her. Kakarot looked at his friend's battered and bleeding body and smiled.
"Yeah, Bulma," he told her. "This is nothing. He just needs some rest. We all do. Anyway, I'm going to go get my dad to come check everybody out."
"Thank you, Kakarot," the queen said softly. "For everything, especially for having my son's back."
Kakarot just grinned. "No problem, your majesty. I'll be back." He powered up and quickly flew out of the room.
Bulma looked down at Vegeta's sleeping face and stroked his cheek. He unconsciously leaned into her hand. The queen and Nappa watched with knowing smiles on their faces as Vegeta's eyes twitched open. He smirked when he saw Bulma standing over him and took her hand before closing his eyes again.
Bulma smiled at his small gesture, just because she knew he would be okay. "I can't believe we pulled that off," Bulma said in a whisper.
Vegeta nodded. "It was a close call."
"How?" Nappa snorted. "That bastard hasn't been training for over a decade. How could he even keep up with you?"
Vegeta opened his eyes again and forced himself to sit up, ignoring the dizziness he felt. He looked to his mother and Nappa seriously. "He traded his soul for dark energy," he told them. When they gasped, Bulma looked between the three of them.
"What?" she asked. "What did I miss?"
The queen frowned and shook her head. She looked over to Bulma and the young girl could see the sadness in her eyes. "It's a powerful energy, but one only has access to it if they are willing to sacrifice their own soul or the souls of others."
"But that's not right," Bulma said with confusion. "He didn't work for that energy."
"That's what I told him," Vegeta grumbled.
"How did you surpass dark energy, kid?" Nappa asked.
Vegeta smirked and nonchalantly said, "I just went Super Saiyan, that's all. Kakarot too."
All but Bulma gaped at him. Bulma just smiled and kissed his cheek. She had already known about his transformation and was very proud of him.
"H-How?" his mother asked him.
Vegeta's smirk disappeared. This was the part he didn't want to admit to his mother. She and Gine were always friendly with each other, like sisters, and it would devastate her. "Kakarot's mother…" He looked away from her. "She didn't make it."
Before anyone could respond, Kakarot returned with Bardock. "Is everyone all right?" Bardock asked in concern.
"We're all fine," the queen replied.
"Good," Bardock replied before starting his checkup on each individual. When he got to Vegeta he said, "You did well, Prince Vegeta."
Vegeta nodded. "What are we going to do about the trash in the throne room?"
"We'll worry about that tomorrow," Nappa said. "Tonight I think we all need a good night's sleep."
"I'm good with that," Bulma said with a sigh, wrapping her arms around Vegeta. He took his arm and caressed her while Bardock checked him over for any severe internal injuries. He was given a senzu bean to repairs the small breaks in his bones.
Afterwards he and Bulma headed to their room to get some much needed rest. Everyone was able to stay at the palace without fear now that the king was dead. Vegeta and Bulma didn't say much to each other when she started washing the dried blood from his skin. He watched her intently as she helped him remove his torn shirt. Their eyes met briefly before Vegeta took her in his arms and lied her down with him. He lightly pressed his lips to hers, pulling back slowly to gage her reaction, both keeping their serious expressions. Bulma leaned forward to return his gesture while gently stroking the back of his neck at his hairline. When she pulled away, Vegeta pressed her gently to his body and placed his head on top of hers. The two mates both rested their hands on her stomach, his atop of hers, rubbing it slightly and silently saying "goodnight" to their child. They allowed themselves to fall asleep after the hectic day. When they woke up the next day, they knew they would have to start making the changes for their people.
A/N: I hope everyone enjoyed the chapter. It took a couple days to write ;3 I'm sure everyone can picture that salute between kin (it's the same salute Vegeta and Trunks exchanged in the show…that is one of my fav DBZ scenes and I needed to work it in). The next chapter is repairing the damage Vegeta's father caused, and also a few surprises (good surprises for once).