A hazy purple mist surrounded two figures. The first was an enormous, looming giant, King Yemma, carrying a torch which only lit the fog a few short feet in front of him. The second figure was smaller and stood back in the darkness of the orge king's shadow. The pair stopped suddenly and Yemma gave a gruff "Here."
A wall stood before Vegeta. It seemed to extend endlessly in either direction. There was a grand gated opening in the wall and an ornate sign that hung above it which read "Souls Labyrinth."
"And what exactly is 'Here,'" Vegeta asked a bit sarcastically. Yemma growled low in annoyance.
"Here, Saiyan, is your Salvation. So I suggest you show a bit of gratitude." Pointing toward the gate, the giant began to explain."What you see before you is the entrance to the Souls Labyrinth. Souls seeking repentance enter and are tested within the vast maze. Those who prove themselves worthy are purified and may enter the Heavenly Ring of Other World. Those who fail shall wander forever in the Depths of Hell."
His Salvation or his Damnation, Vegeta thought with irritation. He was already in Hell. How much worse could it get? With an outstretched arm, King Yemma pushed open the iron gate.
Vegeta stepped forward but stopped at the mouth of maze and looked back as Yemma began to speak again.
"Be warned. Once you enter, you will not be able to turn back. Many obstacles lay in front of you but the most challenging to overcome are the hurdles you carry." Yemma spoke cryptically.
"The fuck is that supposed to mean?" Vegeta growled impatiently. But Yemma simply pointed toward the maze and said in his booming voice "GO."
Vegeta gave Yemma one last scornful glance before turning and walking though the gates. Perhaps he should have thanked the orge for this opportunity but Vegeta knew it wasn't any favor to him that made Yemma offer this "chance." It was only out of kindness to Bulma that the orge hadn't left Vegeta in Hell and technically he could still be trapped in this Labyrinth. So IF Vegeta were to make it out of the fresh hell he now found himself in, thanks did not belong to Yemma. It was her. Bulma. If he would thank anyone it would be her. He still couldn't understand what made her concerned for his welfare.
From the very beginning, when she first offered her home to him, when she first showed him kindness, he never understood why. When they became lovers, it seemed to him an arrangement of convenience. It wasn't planned, it wasn't serious... at first. It started as just a release, a way to relieve the stress they had both been under. They fell into a routine where they both went about their lives and sought each other out when they needed to "unwind." He couldn't remember when that changed, when they started speaking each other out without the sex. It was gradual, he supposed, that they suddenly started sharing the same space, working or relaxing in the same rooms, and eventually talking to one another. It all took a step back when she became pregnant. Suddenly the casual, comfortable, and occasionally passionate relationship they had developed was thrown completely out of gear. They fought and he left thinking that she was holding him back from his true potential to finally surpass Kakarot. And then he died. Not by Vegeta's hand in a glorious battle, not in battle at all, but by an illness that took his heart. It was so wrong. For such a warrior to die in such a way infuriated him but also left him feeling empty.
With Kakarot dead he no longer felt he had a purpose. He began to question what he should do next. He came to wonder if perhaps it was his family from whom Kakarot had gained his strength. If fighting for them had given him the purpose to become stronger. He quickly realized this was not the case. Kakarot was a Saiyan and the love of battle, the drive to become stronger, was simply etched in his DNA. But it did give him the idea that maybe he could have a family, not for love or companionship he told himself, but more as a job. A mission. And besides that, Bulma gave birth to a son and he would need to be trained. So he became a father. He tried to remain distance but he knew it would be a lie to say that he wasn't starting to warm to his little family. And then he died.
Just when things had started to feel comfortable again the androids emerged. Vegeta admitted to himself that he had been thrilled at first. He was ecstatic at the thought of a real fight. So much so that he ignored his woman's warnings and charged out without a care. Fool. He underestimated his enemy and paid the price. He could at least take pride in that it was not over quick.
Lost in his thoughts Vegeta had been wandering though the dark corridors of the Labyrinth when suddenly he rounded a corner into an open space that was all too familiar.
"This is where I died."