Vegeta's body became aware before he did. His heart woke from its deep slumber, pounding a slow, steady rhythm. His lungs stiffly crinkled in air, like a beetle relieving itself of an old shell, and gently resumed their compressions. All signs of life gradually returned and Vegeta grunted, his eyes opening to pure darkness.

What's going on? he immediately thought, unhindered by the cloud in his brain, Why am I still alive?

Though his body was completely numb, he was entirely certain that he was indeed alive. Having experienced both states, he could tell the two of them apart very well. He knew the experience of dying like a bad habit; could recount the processes of Other World like the steps of an old ritual. This was all very wrong. He could recall no glimpse of the Check-in Station. He did not feel the internal shivers that always came from losing his body.

One moment, he had been slipping away, knowing death was coming. And now he was here.

Only, he had no idea where 'here' was. He waited with cold patience for his body to respond to him, the empty tingle slowly leaving. When the strange dredge at last abandoned his senses, he knew without a doubt that a trick had been pulled. Because not only was he very much alive, but because someone had gone through the trouble of making sure he could barely move. He could feel a squishy substance gluing his legs together, his arms the same behind him, and even his teeth together, filling his entire mouth so that he could only breathe through his nose.

That she-devil! he glowered, twisting around in the darkness, You can't be serious! What hell kind of game are you playing now?!

While the natural thing would be to be happy about still breathing, Vegeta was filled with nothing but restless anger. It still burned in his mind – what felt like only a moment before. He had done exactly as he had agreed. He'd allowed Nevrrest to condemn him, been shoved into that hallway and walked towards his death. He remembered the thoughts that had filled his head.

Bulma. Trunks. The baby. Out of nowhere, his mind had been invaded by thoughts of the home that had adopted him. And then so many foolish emotions that filled him that something had cracked inside and he'd melted under it. Despite the unwelcomed contentment he'd been suddenly bombarded with, through the haze he'd realized that he was going to deeply miss it all once he was dead.

The anger boiling inside him grew as he tightened his abs and sat up, feeling vinyl fabric rub against his forehead. So, that's why everything was dark and the air stifling: he was stuffed inside a bag. His tail rippled against his leg and he realized that whatever that sticky substance was had only partially entangled his fifth limb. He twisted it on itself, feeling over the end. The shackle was still there.

Oh yes, he bitterly determined, There's definitely been no mistake.

Just then he froze as his senses all fired off at once at a realization. He wasn't alone. There was someone else nearby. He could hear soft, heavy breathing.

"It's time," whispered a voice desperately.

His body convulsed with anger. Nevrrest.

The familiar scraping sound of her talons against the floor. "It's finally time…" A wet cough. "Vegeta."

He felt a pull on the top of the sack he was in and clenched his eyes as a shred of light struck him in the face. The light expanded down a line – a zipper being pulled. He immediately sat up into the open air, turning with burning eyes. But his face soon fell into startled confusion as he saw Nevrrest. She was dressed in a robe – a wrinkled, dull robe that seemed hastily thrown over herself. Her face was slack and pale and there was an unmistakable odor of blood about her. Something was even more not right.

She gave him a tired smile, the kind warranted to a friend who had been missed. "There you are," she said, "You're actually here. Just as you should be."

Vegeta stared at the sloppy robe. He'd never seen her wear clothes before. He looked back up at her and jerked with surprise as she stuck a claw into the sticky pink foam that filled his mouth. He growled as he felt the heat of her energy, the foam melting into a liquid glue. He immediately began to cough and hack, irritably spitting it out.

Her feathers flattened wearily, the spark of excitement humming dimly in her eyes. "Sorry about that. We had to take that precaution in case you awoke too soon and started shouting."

"I demand an explanation from you, you damn bird," Vegeta coughed, spitting out more pink goop, "What is going on? Why the hell am I still alive?"

Nevrrest's tail pressed firmly to the floor, as though she were struggling to keep her balance. Her hand rested on the table Vegeta was on, his lower-half still inside the bag. "The conversations I wanted to have with you…" she said sadly, her eyes drifted away, "…I suppose this is what comes of dreaming of one thing for far too long."

Vegeta's teeth clenched and he decided to ignore her for the moment, taking in his surroundings. It was a relatively small, square room with reflective metal walls. Not dim, blurred reflections like his cell, but polished, clear as a mirror. He could see himself and Nevrrest from nearly every angle. He lay on a table built into the wall, emerging from a body bag bearing a symbol and beneath it a single word: morgue. He had been inside a body bag, made for a dead man.

Nevrrest sat next to him now on the table, her right arm pressed to her stomach. "We don't have much time," she said quietly.

"What is going on?" Vegeta said through his teeth. He grunted and kicked the rest of the way out of the bag, the black vinyl thing sliding onto the floor. "This is not what we agreed on!"

"Actually, it is." She lifted her arm and pointed a long finger to the center of the room. Vegeta followed it and paused. Before him, in the center of the room, was a simple contraption of unknown origin. First, there was a long, thin metal wire in the shape of a noose. Second, three tubes with needles on the end hung down, all four objects connected to a base in the ceiling.

"And what's that supposed to be?" he grunted.

"Your death," she answered.

Vegeta frowned at the thing, unimpressed. Nevrrest started to chuckle at his reaction, but then suddenly keeled over on the floor. Vegeta looked down at her with a raised brow as she hacked and gagged several times, leaving a giant, red spray on the floor. Vegeta's mind raced with the possibilities. What was going on? Had she contracted some disease? No. His brow narrowed at that hand that continued to return to her stomach.

He suddenly chuckled and gave a little grin. "Huhuhu…I must say, this is a pleasant surprise." She looked up at him, her gaze twinged with helplessness and fright. "Yes, I am very curious now. What part at this point are we supposed to play in your 'plan'? Oh, and of course…what's under that robe?"

Nevrrest's blighted expression fell, looking like a child caught in disobedience. "I suppose there's no point. This was meant to be." She gripped the collar of the robe and ripped it away. Vegeta didn't move as it fluttered to the side, his eyes locked on the blood-soaked bandages that wrapped most of her torso. It was fresh, he could see more blood seeping through the fabric, dripping down occasionally onto her scales and feathered underbelly.

Nevrrest's armored breast rose and fell with her labored breathing. "It was no exaggeration…those many times when I told you I was a survivor. I've been holding on for hours…like this."

"And why is that?" Vegeta wryly prodded, "What happened to all those doctors in this fleet of yours?" His black eyes glinted. "Or are you perhaps hiding from something?" His gaze narrowed on the wound. "Or someone?" Her beak tightened and he looked up at her, his tiny smile disappearing. "You never told me what happened to Kakarot."

"Kakarot?" she almost smiled, her chest heaving with pain, "Yes, him…why did you have to have another monkey in tow like that? Especially one like him…"

Vegeta's brow narrowed. "That's a poor answer."

Nevrrest laughed, spitting up blood and gasping. "Don't flatter me, Vegeta. That wasn't an answer at all." She lowered herself down next to him, the two of them sitting on the lip of the table like a pair of old companions. "Kakarot is…a relic. He underestimated the strength of Sepis's loyalty to me and as a result…was defeated. Not in the glorious warrior fashion you or I would respect but…" She coughed. "It matters little now. By this time tomorrow, he'll have been absorbed into the Justice's prison system. A cipher."

Vegeta stared at her very carefully, a cross between confusion and intent, and then finally busted up laughing. Nevrrest nearly fell off the table it frightened her so, his head reeled back in a loud, boisterous laugh, his eyes snapped shut tight at the strength of it. "You absolutely must be joking!" he declared, "You locked Kakarot up and expect him to just go away? That's the most hilarious thing I've heard in a long, long time!" Still he laughed.

Nevrrest eyed him with anxiety and frustration. "You think he'll have any more luck escaping than you have? Especially in a day's time?"

"Oh I don't know about that," Vegeta admitted, shifting around and testing the strength of the glue that held his limbs together, "But Kakarot is very gifted at causing trouble." He started laughing again, a mean, throaty giggle. "I still can't believe you thought keeping him around was a good idea. And me…" His gaze was like razors to her. "What's this about my still being alive?" He laughed. "What? Did you get the first death wrong somehow?"

He could see a trembling in her magenta eyes and he liked it. Her jaw tightened. "Got it wrong? …You have no idea." She went into a coughing fit before looking at him again. "From the moment the first pillars of this fleet were put in place…this was planned. This…'the room', as we've always called it, was built for you." Her fist clenched and she shook with anger. "Ever since that sorry excuse for death was concocted by Oom'Bagu and Horkion! There's no way I'd let you die like that."

"So it was all just a performance you put on for your little friends, was it?" Vegeta scowled with disdain, "How pathetic."

"Looking back, I almost agree with you." She narrowed her gaze at him and pointed. "But you have no room to talk. We've both been infected by the same weakness – the desire to be loved."

Vegeta's eyes flashed, the mark on his palm seeming to burn. "Is that what you think?" he clenched his teeth, "That you were exploiting a weakness of mine?"

For the first time, Nevrrest was able to smirk. "Well…it worked, didn't it? I got what I wanted. I got you into this room, and that's all that matters." Her grip tightened painfully on the bloody bandages. "Even if…I die before I save the fleet…this is the only true purpose I have ever had."

Vegeta looked at the covered wound and his eyes glinted again with a realization. "It wasn't Kakarot or just some accident, was it?" He grinned cruelly. "It was one of your 'friends'."

A shiver ran over Nevrrest, a shadow falling over her eyes as her feathers stood on end. "Actually…it was you."

Vegeta started with shock.

The moment had been burning in Nevrrest's mind all while she had waited for Vegeta to awaken, and burned now more clearly than ever as she told him what had occurred. She had lowered her defense to a completely casual level because she knew Misado couldn't harm her anymore. Her energy was lost and soon the avatar would dissipate into nothing but dust. But there had been a blue glimmer that shouldn't have existed and the impossible had happened.

Nevrrest reared with pain as the shoot pierced her chest, blood gushing into her stomach and lungs. In the thralls of disbelief, she had stole a glance over her shoulder. What she had seen had been a vine curled around Vegeta's cocoon, channeling blue ki up from it.

Nevrrest's grip on the bandages tightened. "…The whole point of the whole thing had been to trick everyone into thinking you were dead. Sepis had the final lethal gas replaced with an extra dose of the second which sent you into a death-like coma and entered a false death report. It was perfect. Even Misado's efforts to stop it and reveal the truth were in vain." Her sharp teeth showed through her beak. "But then…in her last moments, she must have communicated with your subconscious and asked for the energy for one final attack. There is no other way – Misado cannot forcefully draw energy from another."

Nevrrest's hand slammed into the table, baring over Vegeta. "So you see now? You did this to me." Her mind flashed between three hours and thirty years ago. "Even as the man you've become…fate still moves your hand to finish what you started."

Vegeta slowly lifted a corner of his mouth. "Me, was it?" he returned, "Ha. A warrior like you should know by now that when we find ourselves in a pathetic state we have no one to blame by ourselves." His brow lowered. "You should never have let your guard down."

Nevrrest gave him a stunned and angry look. "What are you – lecturing me?!"

"As I recall, you're the one who referred to me as your teacher," Vegeta shrugged.

Nevrrest hissed. "Smug little prick…!"

"Well," Vegeta stated casually, "Since you've gone through all the trouble of bringing me to this 'special death' of yours, I suggest you get on with it." He cracked a grin at her. "Before you bleed out, that is."

Nevrrest slipped off the table, leaning forward to glare in his face as he thinly smiled. "You won't be so calm by the time I'm done with you."

"Oh I'm sure," he returned.

He winced slightly as she grabbed him by the hair, dragging him over to the device in the center of the room. She sat him kneeling under it, trembling with pain as she reached up and grasped the wire noose.

"Are you sure this isn't too much trouble for you?" Vegeta smirked.

"Just shut up," she snarled, fitting it over his head.

As the wire tightened around his neck – which felt more like a too tight collar on a dress shirt than an impending doom – Vegeta glanced over to the corner of the room at a bench with a set of jaws in the wall that looked remarkably similar to the ones in his cell. "And what's that about?" he asked with boredom.

Nevrrest glanced over at the corner with bitterness. "It was supposed to be part of it. Were it not for this…injury, I would have chained you there to ponder your fate."

Vegeta only grunted a snort in response, the bit of his tail that had missed the glue flicking about. Nevrrest chose to ignore it, hastily grasping the three tubes and plugging each of the needles into points on Vegeta's spine. With each one he gave little remarks of pain, which gave her some pleasure, but the twinkle in his dark, saiyan eyes still unnerved her. Why was his spirit so high? Where had she gone wrong?

But she refused to accept it just yet. Perhaps he had obtained momentary feistiness, but surely that would all crumble in the next few minutes as she revealed the terrible truth she had in store for him.

She grasped his shoulder from behind, leaning on him for support as her insides thrashed with pain. "You ever spent a long time planning something until you were sure it was perfect?" she asked quietly, "I've spent thirty years devising for you the perfect death. With every world I visited, I would take some time to learn about their various forms of execution. I learned so much, Vegeta. Deaths that were painful. Deaths that were barbaric. Deaths that were cruel. Deaths that were so slow it was hard to say what killed the person first."

She took a deep breath, choking down a cough of blood. "The death I found for you isn't extreme – not the most terrible, twisted, or agonizing. But I firmly believe it's exactly what you deserve. On the world I discovered it on, they called it 'the red death'. In their ancient times, their most vicious criminals would be fed an herb that caused the body to overproduce blood. This would result in a painful swelling of the blood vessels until the capillaries started to burst, flooding your organs, flooding your lungs. It is a death by blood, Vegeta. In a matter of hours, you'll literally drown in it."

She straightened up and ran her hand over the wire and tubes. "This is the perfected version of that abandoned form of execution. These tubes will feed the medicine directly into your spine, where the most blood is made. The item around your neck is a fail-safe. If you struggle too much the counterweights will make certain you're strangled. Also, as you gain weight from the blood-gain, it'll eventually do the same."

"Are you quite done?" Vegeta asked with annoyance.

Nevrrest's eyes turned bloodshot at this retort, her chest heaving. Finally, she snapped, cracking her knuckles across his face, causing saliva to fly out of his mouth. Vegeta was still for a moment, his head bent down and his shoulders bouncing slightly as he chuckled.

"Oh," he sounded, "I'm afraid it's far too late for that."

"Gerh!" Nevrrest recoiled as he looked up at her again, his gaze pinning her with unrestricted ferocity.

"I know what it is you wanted, Nevrrest," he told her, holding her under that gaze, "You made it clear the day you imprisoned me in this fleet. I know you will never be satisfied unless you can send me to my grave without my pride intact." He smiled. "And you want to know something funny? You almost accomplished that goal."

Nevrrest shook, still leering back. "What do you mean?"

He tipped his head and shut his eyes for a moment, the smile lingering thin on his lips. "When I saw you'd come to kill me, I was certain Kakarot must have fallen again. I had feared you would trick him and was certain you were too cunning to leave him alive. But still, to the end I held onto my pride. That was, until your cursed toxins filled me and all at once I could see everything that I had ever considered important. In the face of that, the bare threads of my pride I had left became meaningless and I could only disappear, helpless into death."

His eyes burned up at her again. "But, now I've awoke to this ridiculous fantasy of yours. It amazes me you would throw away the ultimate victory you had for some twisted game of death." He chuckled deeply. "It's honestly nothing short of hilarious!"

He laughed and Nevrrest trembled violently, her eyes wide and full of hate. "Don't you laugh at me…!" she helplessly seethed, "Don't you dare laugh at me like you did back then…!"

It was thirty years ago. The little blecha child's chest exploded open as the beam pierced her from behind, blood gushing up and out her mouth as she fell. The dirt painfully agitated the wound as she struck the ground, but she couldn't even cry out as the blood filled her lungs. She could only twitch helplessly as the red pooled around her and the one behind her laughed.

"Hahahaha! You gotta be kidding me!" laughed the child in the cape and armor, "I gave you the chance to run and that's the best you could do? I've never seen anything move that slow!" He walked up to her and poked her with the toe of his boot. "Man. What a joke. On a whole planet of nothing but weaklings, this had to have been the weakest one of all."

Why…? the chick thought as her vision threatened to go black, Why did this have to happen to me…? That boy…I begged him and he hurt me anyways…

The red cap fluttered as the boy folded his arms and walked away. "Man, Frieza. It's time he sent me on a real mission. This is just stupid."

The chick could see his brown tail flick angrily as he disappeared into the trees. Is that why he did this to me…? I'm stupid…weak…and a joke…? Tears gushed from her blurry eyes. WHY?!

Vegeta gave her a thoughtful expression. "Back then…?" he mused, "Ah, of course. The day we were unfortunate enough to cross paths. Which makes me wonder another thing…" He looked up at the tubes plugged into his back. "You say this is the perfect death for me. I have to wonder why."

Nevrrest coughed, a little blood coming out of one of her nostril holes. "I suppose I find it poetic – the idea of you drowning in all the blood you spilled."

"That's the reason you claim, is it?" he returned with confidence, "I have a feeling it's another reason entirely." The loose bit of his tail rippled. "Truth be told, I'm not certain if I recall that day at all, or if you've merely imbedded the image that strongly in my mind. Still. Drowning in your own blood…" His brow hardened. "Is that not what I did to you?"

Nevrrest felt a surge of blood up her throat as she clenched, it leaking through her razor teeth.

Vegeta snorted softly. "Would you like to know the ironic truth? I never once despised you for your desire for revenge. It's something I understand all too well. Though I served him faithfully for many years…" His gaze grew sharp and intense. "I hated Frieza just as much as you hate me. So I know what it is to spend a large portion of your life bent on revenge." He lifted a corner of his mouth ever so slightly. "However, I was never foolish or blind enough to believe it was for anything more than personal fulfillment." His brow lowered. "This has very little to do with your people, Nevrrest. That has always been the case."

Nevrrest's plume feathers were stiff and erect, casting a deep shadow over half her face. She gripped her forehead, her talons nearly digging into her flesh as she hissed. "What do you know?" she gritted, "You've never once thought of me since that day…so shut up already!"

"Hmph," he smirked.

"Stop that!" she screamed, her eyes bloodshot, "Why are you—?!" She fell to a knee as pain ricocheted through her body, suddenly looking like she was kneeling before him, and gave up another spray of red. "Why…?" she hissed, "Why are you so calm…? Just because of Kakarot? Just because of your damn pride?"

"Because the battle didn't end when you captured me, Nevrrest," Vegeta answered, "It has been going on every moment since. And I'll admit, there were times where you put up quite the fight." His brow lowered intensely. "But I've been a warrior long enough to know when my foe is losing." Nevrrest looked at him with startled apprehension. "Look at you," he almost laughed, "Not only are you barely standing, you've exhausted every resource just to bring me to this point. Kakarot lives – you haven't see the last of him. You're supposed allies are clearly turning against you. You're alone without a prayer. So even if you succeed in killing me now, you've failed in the destruction you promised and will soon meet your own end."

Nevrrest was silent and still for a long moment. And then, to Vegeta's shock, a fanged grin formed beneath her sharp beak. "Heh…hehe…hehehehehe…hahahaha…!" She took a breath, coughed, and then laughed all the more, blood leaking out through her bandages. "Oh is that all?" she asked, her face twisting into a sickly gleeful expression, "A few of my friends are unhappy and Kakarot is gonna stop me?! Ha! That'd be a very nice thought if it weren't for the fact that by tomorrow they'll forget all this and Kakarot won't even remember his own name!"

For the first time, Vegeta's expression fell. "What are you talking about?" he demanded.

Nevrrest laughed some more, pausing to hack, and slapping a hand over her eyes. "Goku-Goku! Kakarot-Kakarot!" she mocked, "I'm so utterly sick of hearing that name! And what a stupid name to begin with – Kakarot Son Goku! I'd bust a gust if I hadn't already!" She giggled and parted her fingers to look at him with a single maniacal eye. "Still, your precious Kakarot is the very one who gave me the idea. After all, even useless idiots have their purpose."

Vegeta clenched his teeth, glaring at her.

"Oh, what's wrong?" she giggled, "Not so calm anymore? Well you shouldn't be!" She coughed, gagged, and laughed, getting to her feet. "So what if I screwed up on tearing you down? So what if I've become a twisted villain! So what if Kakarot is as impossible to stop as you say? I've got a finishing move that can't be beat – an ace in the hole, as they say." She held out her hands to the sides, claws upraised. "The dragon balls."

Vegeta's breathing stopped, his heart beating in his ears, his eyes wide.

Nevrrest giggled, hugging herself. "I never imagined something so perfect would be dropped at my feet. But it was! And it was all because of Kakarot's little stunt at your trial. I learned so much about them! Of course, those sections were screened out of the broadcast for Earth's own protection, but that didn't stop me from hearing every detail, did it?" She held up her sliced hand at the ceiling, gazing deliciously at the mark. "It was then that I got a brilliant idea. Why settle for just breaking your spirit and killing you when I can ask the Eternal Dragon to wipe every trace and memory of you from existence?!

"Ah, but then Kakarot insisted on causing trouble, so I decided one wish deserves another. I'll wish to erase all traces of the memory of him away too! But then I thought, why waste two wishes on a couple of monkeys? I'll just make one wish to repair all the damage dealt to the Justice and a second to erase all records and memory of the entire Saiyan race!"

Sweat rolled down Vegeta's face. He couldn't breathe.

"E-hehehehe!" Nevrrest giggled, her shoulders throbbing with the motion, "It's glorious. This whole mess will be cleaned up in one swift blow. I and the rest of the fleet will return to normal. And that will remain of your people will be a clueless fop lost in the prison system and a few Earthling brats who don't even know who their own fathers are!" She laughed. "And the best part is I'll be free at last! I'll never have to think of you ever again! And no one will think less of me for it!"

She thrust herself into Vegeta's face. "So laugh now, will you?! Go on! Laugh!"

Vegeta smiled. "Uhuhuhuhuh…"

Nevrrest froze stupidly. "You…"

"Well," he confidently smirked, "I must say, I'm actually impressed. That really is quite the clever idea. It might even actually work. That is…if it weren't for one thing. If you can't recall, just look at that mark on your hand."

"Eh…?" Nevrrest blinked, obeying and staring at it.

"When our Blood Pact was made, the terms were quite clear," Vegeta explained, "I agreed to ensure you got the revenge you so desperately desired. And I have done exactly as we agreed." His brow lowered. "And you agreed to never go anywhere near my family again."

"So?" she snapped, "I have kept my word. Your mongrel brats and that blue whore have been left alone, as I promised."

"Yes, and I hold you to that agreement."

"Yes?! What is your point?!"

"That the dragon balls are and always will be located on Earth." Nevrrest's face fell. "Did you forget that is my wife's planet as well? And even if our agreement didn't apply to the whole world, I'm assuming your plan involves using the dragon ball radar and it's in my wife's possession. Without it you'd never find them in any reasonable amount of time." Nevrrest stood frozen, her jaw slack and eyes wide. "Of course, there's always the Namekian dragon balls, but no one but Kakarot even knows where New Namek is. Nor will you have much luck getting the information out of him." Vegeta grinned as she continued to shake. "Oh dear. It seemed you hadn't thought of that. Huhuhuh. What a shame. It seems you'll just have to live with the situation you're in after all."

Nevrrest's bird-like foot shivered in place before taking a step back, the other foot slowly following the motion. She fell back until she was against the table again, her hands braced back against it, her head bowed and beak clenched.

"I…I did say that." A hand gripped her face, hissing. "And I had every intention of keeping it. I swore I would do anything to bring you down, but…I am a warrior of pride and honor. I thought, in all this chaos and madness…you would allow me to keep at least that." She lowered her hand, and looked at him with twisted, insane hate, drooling through her smile. "But you won't, will you?! You are determined to win! Well…I won't let you!" Her grip on the table tightened, cracking it. "If this pride of mine will cost me victory…then…I'll just…have to do away with it!"

She pushed off the table, blood running down her legs from her wound, and shoved her cut hand in his face. "I seal my victory with this final price – I foreswear my pride and spit on our Pact! The dragon balls will be mine! And if your pitiful seed is destroyed in the process…so be it!" She grinned. "I honestly welcome it."

Vegeta's teeth showed, his body clenched. "Now you've done it…" He reared up at her, his eyes blazing. "If that is your price for victory, then you've already lost!" he bellowed, "You pitiful fool! There is nothing in the universe worth more than a warrior's pride! It should be sold for nothing! Not even victory!"

She smirked cruel at his rage. "No, Vegeta. This is why I will always win and you will always lose. Because I am willing to go the extra mile to overcome any foe. Whatever you are incapable of, I will always obtain. You will never destroy me like you sought to do all those years ago."

She tapped her fusion band and the wire around his neck pulled, lifting him into the air and making it difficult to breathe. The tubes going into his back started to pulse and Nevrrest smiled blood. "I may not be able to watch you die because of this wound…but I will return once I am healed and take comfort in the sight of your corpse. And then I'm going to forget you. Forever."

With that the last of her strength gave out and she nearly crumbled to the floor. Eyes half closed, she wandered to one of the walls, pressing her hand to it. She stood there for a full minute, seemingly just trying to catch her breath, but then the wall became like liquid and she passed right through it, coughing and gasping for air.

And despite all that she had said, Vegeta couldn't help but lift a corner of his mouth. "So…it's all finally coming to an end." He looked directly ahead to his reflection in the silver metal wall, dangling and waiting to die.

His smile grew, tight and intense. "Well then…you better hurry…Kakarot. I'm waiting."