Before she could hear the sound of the explosion, she could feel the ground shaking. She and her two friends had been talking about their past, about the good times they had and their crazy adventures they somehow managed to survive through.. All of that halted to a stop when the explosion happened.
Her head snapped towards the direction of the ear piercing sound, she felt her heart drop when all she could see was the thick black smoke. The first thing she thought about was the person who could have caused the explosion. Out of the three, she was the first on her feet. She immediately began to run in the direction of the smoke.
Yamcha was yelling something at her, she didn't care to listen. She had already been running in the direction. What happened? The question repeated itself in her head as she reached the destruction. She could hear her father's voice now, yelling questions behind her. All she could notice was what was left of the GR right in front of her. "Vegeta?" She called out in a yell. There was no way a guy like him could actually be killed by something like this, right?
Her chest tightened when she received no response. What did he do?
She immediately began grabbing pieces, throwing them to the side. Some were heavier than others, she didn't let that stop her. "Vegeta!" She called again, hoping to get some type of relief to know he was not blown up with the machine. There was no way that could have happened, Vegeta was strong. There was no way he'd let this kill him. He'd be too stubborn for that. The silence was deafening on her ears, her breathing was all over the place.
Of course the more time she looked, the more worried she felt. Where was he?
Finally after lifting a large piece, she finally saw a hand twitch under the rubble. Gasping, she quickly lifted the piece on top of him. She fell to her knees, her hands lightly touching him. She had no idea what condition he was in, she didn't want to make it any more worse than it already was. "Vegeta?" She asked again softly.
She didn't realize how stiff her body had become with stress until it was all gone the moment he coughed. He was breathing, he was going to be okay. She wouldn't let him do anything but. Turning her head, she looked at her father. "Call the doctor! He needs help immediately!" She called, her attention immediately going back to the Saiyan.
He was looking at her, or more past her. His eyes were glossed over, as if he was trying his hardest not to lose consciousness.. She lifted him, holding him close to her. He was bleeding and bruised, she knew he was in pain by the soft groans coming from his lips. "Everything will be okay, I'm here." She told him soothingly. It was when his eyes finally closed that she felt that fear once more crawling back. She looked back at her father, he was on the phone. Hopefully with their family doctor.
She hugged Vegeta close to her, continuing to promise him that everything had to be okay. "You better not die, you jerk..."
It was around ten minutes later that the older man finally reached their home. She stayed where she was until she knew Vegeta would be taken by better hands. Yamcha and Krillin had helped pull Vegeta's body from what was left of the GR. She had informed the doctor that his patient wasn't exactly like the rest of them. She wasn't sure how much different a Saiyan could be from a Human but she could hope medically, it wouldn't be much.
While they took him back to the house, she remained at the scene with her father. She found herself biting at her lip. "He always pushes himself like this, when will he learn?" She asked softly, "He could have killed himself this time." Had he pushed the machine's limits? It could only simulate so many levels of gravity.
Her father stepped into the mess, examining the damage closely. "Honestly, I'm not too sure he did this..." He explained as he began digging. "I built this machine to keep up with him," He explained.
She was confused by what he meant, "What else could have caused the explosion?" She asked before her words died down the moment her father lifted up what was left of one of her bots. "How is that possible?" Where were the others? She dug around with her father, "There should be two more..."
Her fear came true when they found the other two in a similar state.
"One must have reacted badly and exploded. The explosion must have set the other two off. Three explosions at once... it must have been too much too quickly for Vegeta." He explained to her before dropping the one in his hands.
Her trembling hand immediately covered her lips to cover the shocked expression on her face. Something she built almost killed him. She almost killed Vegeta. This was her fault. If she would have just been the bigger person and did check ups like she should have, she would have noticed the bots were failing and could have avoided this all together.
"I'll take care of rebuilding the room," He told her, immediately noticing the change in his daughter. "It's not your fault Bulma. Accidents happen. He's going to recover and go back to his usual ways."
She nodded but she knew her father didn't know how bad her thoughts were running. This was her fault. She needed to take responsibility. She took a few steps back, "I'm going to my lab. I need to see where I miscalculated." She told him, ignoring his worried look. "If anything happens to Vegeta, let me know immediately." She told him before walking away. Now that she knew the truth, she didn't think she could look at it anymore.
Her friends had long gone home before she finally decided to leave her lab. Despite hours of looking over blueprints and even the fourth bot that Vegeta had left behind, she was still left as confused as she was when she went in her lab.
Where did she go wrong?
She went inside her home, straight up the stairs. It didn't take much time to find the injured prince. The beeping from the machines keeping track of his vitals were loud and obvious. Entering the room, she quietly closed the door behind her. Walking towards him, she noticed that he was still asleep. On the bright side of things, Vegeta was finally going to get the rest he had been needing.
Not even that could crack the saddened frown on her face. Reaching forward, she lightly touched his forehead. It was burning hot. Was it a fever? Or was his skin naturally that hot? He had never let her get this close to him, this would be her only opportunity to find these things out. Her fingers rose higher to touch his flame like hair. It was softer than she had imagined. "I'm so sorry Vegeta." She whispered, her eyes closing tight. It was hard for her to see him in this state.
She noticed his face didn't hold his natural scowl. Instead his expression was blank. She couldn't tell how he was feeling.
She wanted him to insult her, make her feel inferior to him. Like he always did. She wanted him to demand she get away from him. She wanted him to blame her for what happened. Silence was all she received.
After standing there for a moment, she finally pulled herself away from his unconscious body. Turning away, she noticed a desk only a few feet away from the bed. Walking over, she took a seat. She would stay here and watch over him, just in case something happened. She always needed to prepare for the worst. Whether it was just for a few hours or even for days, she owed Vegeta that much.
She could only imagine the hate the other would feel towards her, she wouldn't fight him on that. She deserved everything coming her way. Guilt had just refused to leave her, no matter what others told her, she couldn't help but feel responsible for what had happened.
The only time she left the room was to use the bathroom. Her mother brought her food when she was hungry. Her mother had offered to watch over him just so Bulma could leave for a bit, get some natural sunlight on her paled skin. The blue haired woman denied her each time. Her mother never pushed but she knew she was worried.
While her mother understood how she felt, Yamcha hadn't when he found out what she decided to do with her time.
Her boyfriend had showed up twenty four hours later, wanting to go out and see a movie. She had told him that she couldn't. While he could enjoy life like normal, she was still punishing herself, reminding herself that she didn't deserve to do such things.
She had to move their conversation out of the room, her fear of Vegeta being woken up. Once the door was closed behind them, she tried to apologize to Yamcha.
"Bulma, it's been a day, no one expects you to stay with him. It's fine to leave him alone. He's not going to die, the doc already cleared him of that." Yamcha had argued.
She shook her head, "I can't leave him. Not until he wakes up." She told him.
He was frustrated, it was written all over his face. "I miss you, I can't see why you can't leave for just a few hours."
Bulma groaned, she knew he wouldn't understand. "I almost killed him Yamcha, I owe him-"
"You don't owe that bastard shit!" He suddenly rose his voice, "If anything, he owes you and your family!"
She found herself frowning back at her boyfriend, she was worried their volume would disturb the Saiyans healing. She needed to nip this bud quickly before their exchange got any more heated. "I can't do this with you, not today. I'll let you know when I'm free." She told him, her patience growing thin.
Yamcha was growing just as frustrated, "You can't be serious Babe." He shook his head, "Why does it feel like you're choosing a stranger over your own boyfriend?" He asked impatiently.
Bulma rolled her eyes, her hands going to her hips. Vegeta wasn't a stranger to her, they had lived together for months at this point. "Seriously? This is the time you chose to be jealous? Over Vegeta? I can't revolve my whole life around you when you want." She told him as she shook her head.
Yamcha actually laughed, "But you can for that bastard? How else am I supposed to feel? You've been distancing yourself for the last few weeks. Hell, you stay in your lab for days and can't even respond to my texts. What am I supposed to do?" He asked before taking a step back. "Whatever, I'm done." He said, shaking his own head. "Don't come to me crying when you realize how much time you've wasted on him."
That's all it took before she was left alone in the hallway. She wasn't sure what had happened, it all happened too fast. She turned back and went back into the room to take her seat back. She didn't have time to think about Yamcha and his jealousy. Her eyes moved to Vegeta's body once more to see that he was in the same state he had been before she left the room.
She wasn't revolving her life around him, she just wanted to fix what she broke. It was that simple. This was the worst time Yamcha could have told her how he really felt. She already felt like shit, how much worse did he want her to feel? He was an idiot and she had no time for that right now.
Resting her head on her folded arms, she continued to watch him. She didn't want to leave until he woke up. She wanted to apologize to him the moment she could.
Never had she intended one of her creations to hurt someone, not even someone like Vegeta. She just wanted him to wake up. She wasn't expecting him to sleep for this long, it only made her more worried. She sighed softly, her lips pressing tight together in concern. Wasn't he supposed to be an elite or something? He had to wake up or she didn't know what she would do with herself.
Her lids felt heavy, the exchange had only made her feel more exhausted. She'd rest for a little, then she would make sure all of his bandages were fresh. Closing her eyes, she found herself falling asleep quickly.