Please be warned that this story does have many dark parts, it is Rated M for that reason, but there are many things that some could consider a trigger. So please read with caution as you have been warned. I will be saving warnings for future chapters that I deem it necessary. Without further ado:

Chapter 2: Vision or Dream?

~Present day~ Beginning/Ending of The Vegeta Saga~

Miles away in his private space pod Vegeta fought for an ounce of sleep to which would not house the hauntingly real images of his beloved Kagome. Instead of memories they had shared, all he saw nowadays were images of her calling out for help, pleading with him to save her. She looked so pained, and yet eerily beautiful, far more radiant than any female saiyan, or any female he'd ever come across.

But for these terrifying images to fill his mind, it tore his heart even more.

He wanted so badly to use these so-called "dragon balls" to wish her back, or for a way to gain the strength to end Frieza's existence before taking his own. This life he lived had lost its worth the moment she had died. He mindlessly killed without thought, when she had been by his side, the very idea that he would have to take another living things life tore at his heart. Now it came as naturally as breathing.

Even if Kagome could be brought back to life, would she accept him after everything he had done? Could she, would she, be able to love him and the beast he had become?

After all this time it still hurt, and he doubted that this pain would ever go away. It haunted him, all these years a consistent reminder of his failure. A hole in his life had taken shape, mainly in his heart, it was if it had been torn from his body; the shredded edges unwilling to mend. He didn't know how to heal, and a part of him didn't want to; for he deserved this pain.

He ran through countless scenarios; fantasies really, but no matter what he thought of the outcome remained the same: she had died when the meteor hit Planet Vegeta.

His mask of indifference fell to show a tired man. He looked as if he hadn't slept, hadn't kept still, in many years. His pain clearly visible in his tired onyx colored eyes.

With his head bowed and arms crossed over his chest, Vegeta drifted into a light sleep as his space pod soared towards the planet earth. Hopefully this time without the tortured dreams.

Sadly that would not happen as she pleads for him to save her in these nightmares.

Vegeta.

Her voice was as soft as silk yet as sultry sweet as honey.

I love you.

His heart ached. Why, why must Kagome's memory haunt him, even in dreams? His love for her was eternal; nothing could ever stop him from loving her. Each day that he was alive was a day he was ready to die. He secretly wished for death; every day was a day he was close to joining her in the afterlife. But first he was going to kill Frieza; he was going to die for the way he treated the saiyans.

Vegeta.

Kagome appeared before him in tattered clothing and chains. She looked older, more beautiful than he remembered her. Blood splattered across the ivory white of her skin, dark circles swallowing her eyes and shadows pulling at her cheeks in the form of darkening bruises, bleeding lips calling his name like a prayer. A torn crimson dress draped over her curved body. Her raven hair a tangled mess as it fell matted over naked shoulders to her waist. She had gleaming gold chains on her wrists and ankles as well as her neck. Her tail, a jet black, was held tightly in a pale lavender scaled hand. Fearful every changing irises of sapphires turn up to a creature that wore a wicked, blood-colored, smile.

It could only be that of Frieza.

"Please save me,"

~On Frieza's Private Ship~

Kagome lay sprawled out on the ground where she had been thrown only moments ago. She wore a red dress, the front stained with dark blood while the sleeves and shirt of the garment had been ripped showing her ivory skin covered in various shades of brightly colored bruises in the midst of forming and healing. Her wavy raven hair fell to her mid-thigh while her black tail lay limp across her waist. Along with the multiple injuries adoring her flesh were smears of blood, the red being her own, the dark ruby-violet belonging to her attacker.

Though it wasn't the worst beating she'd received from Frieza, she'd surely seen better days, after an incident like that she was mildly surprised she wasn't in the medical ward.

She just laid there trying to regain any strength she had left in her body to heal herself. But as she attempted to move towards the bed, she fell against the ground finding that her leg and ankle were sprained, and both wrists were broken. She hissed in a mix of pain and annoyance; this had been her life for the past some odd years. Honestly, she had lost count; the days had long since blurred together, a life confined to living on a spaceship not helping.

Every night that she was continuously held captive, she prayed for Vegeta; for his safety and her rescue. Long ago she had read that the stronger one's desire, the more likely it would happen. She knew not if it worked but hoped it did, she believed in their bond and her love for him.

With a tired huff, Kagome allowed her powers to swirl upwards and caresses the blemished skin, the action causing her body to glow blue as the bruises and pain faded with every passing second. It took several minutes before she could find the strength to move. With a heavy, tired sigh she finally sat up from her place on the floor and weakly looked at the disarray of the room around her.

Furniture had been broken in a fit of rage of her captor as she had once more refuted his advances to her person. And when he had tried to force himself upon her, she had fought as much as she had physically been able. But that hadn't done anything to save her from his greedy hands, in fact, it had only been because of a message from King Cold that he had been forced to leave. If it hadn't been for that, he would have no doubt taken from her whatever he so pleased.

He hadn't always been so aggressively forceful on taking claim of her body, and as it stood now, he would be taking everything from her very shortly if people stopped interrupting him. She could only hope they would continue but knew better.

Kagome fought the tears that brimmed her eyes. She didn't want to die, not yet anyway. She would suffer through it all if only for the hope of seeing Vegeta one more time.

For probably the millionth time Kagome wished that Frieza had never been born.

~Now On Earth~

The earthlings were an exciting bunch, in a way they resembled any other warriors race -his own included-, they had social standing, honor and a will to survive. They stood without fear and trust in one another; it was a fantastic thing to witness.

Their fighting had been similar to a contest of sorts, Vegeta liked the thought but didn't care that to win meant the other had to die. Battle was an art-form, win or lose there would be an honor to each and a lesson to be learned with each new opponent. But each Earthling, even the child who couldn't be older than five, stepped up to the challenge willing to give his life for the planet he called home. He felt honored to see such passion; it had been a long time since he's witnessed it outside of the act of killing.

Each went up against a single Saibamen, small green humanoids grown from seeds, that his people had created to subservient while still being strong enough to use as pawns in battle. But mostly they were used to train some of the weaker warriors.

This gave Nappa, and himself, the opportunity to see the extent of these earthlings abilities while also studying their moves in case they had to fight them. The larger saiyan, although doubtful they could defeat the saibamen, desired to take part in the battling if not to feel their bones crushing and the feel of their blood against his skin.

The three-eyed human, he'd been called Tein by the others, went first and defeated the saibamen with ease yet reframed from making the killing blow. The saibamen was quickly killed for his failures as it was deemed reasonable to do. If you were no use in battle, there was no use for you at all.

Second to go was a man with long black hair with a scar on his cheek, this one had been called Yamcha. Vegeta momentarily marveled at the slight similarities between the human's appearance and Bardock; Kagome's guard. This resemblance was small but still at the thought of anything remotely connected to Kagome a burning ache flared within his heart causing the organ to constrict painfully at the emotional turned physical pain.

The male, Yamcha, and saibamen both died as the saibamen had blown (both himself and the human) up. It was frustrating to watch and then left Vegeta awed to watch the small bald man's power grow in his rage. His anger brought forth the death of three saibamen with a single attack.

Vegeta was almost impressed. Keyword being almost.

The last saibamen was killed by the misplaced Namekian after it had gone after the child, an apparently quickly target.

The beauty in the fighting quickly grew irritating with how obnoxious Nappa acted. He was undoubtedly far too murderous for Vegeta's tastes and was rapidly growing on his nerves.

He attacks Tien and cut off his arm in painful ki fueled punch. The smallest of the fighters, Chiaotzu he believed if the cries of panic were anything to go by, launch onto Nappa and tries to kill him as the little white man exploded. With Nappa unharmed, the three-eyed man became unhinged and even with the rest coming together he dies trying to defeat Nappa.

Vegeta grew tired of the senseless deaths and called Nappa to a halt, even with the saiyan male being much older than him, he was surprised at the fit he threw. But as the obedient subordinate that he'd been trained as the male begrudgingly took a seat.

They were to wait for this 'Goku' but only for three hours and not a moment longer.

When he didn't show, Nappa was free to take out his aggression on the human Warriors, this left him to watch as his oldest comrade tortured the earthlings that stood against him. He forced himself to listen, to play the sadistic prince that he had been groomed to be, but inside he cringed fighting to keep himself from calling out to the large man to stop. He couldn't stand to kill children, never could and probably never would. On missions alone he only killed those he had to, the rest he let escape.

And then, finally, "Goku"/"Kakarot" showed up. Vegeta was amazed to see such a low-level saiyan to have so much honor and strength. The saiyan danced around Nappa causing Vegeta to mentally laugh at the massive Saiyan's growing irritation. They fought for several long minutes with the smaller saiyan being the clear victor yet the rules they set would not let him be the winner until one had been killed. He knew Nappa could never take defeat gracefully but was also somewhat cowardice and would go so far as to beg for his life.

Nappa lay at his feet unable to stand just barely able to reach his hand out to him. His massive body bore the marks of his fight that could have killed him yet the smaller, but taller than himself, saiyan could not take a life, even that of a monster that had to undoubtedly killed millions.

"V-Vegeta.." the large man pleaded.

"He won't be fighting anymore. Take him home and stay there!" Kakarot growled from where he stood across from Vegeta, his orange-clad body unmarked from his "fight."

He listened intrigued by how the saiyan had manipulated his power to become stronger and fast in an instant. But his attention was pulled down to Nappa.

"I-it...h-hur-hurts…" he struggled. "Vegeta… h-help me…" he pleaded with an outstretched hand.

Vegeta took his hand.

"Th-thank you...my prince.." he breathed.

"No problem," he took pleasure in seeing the fear that spread across the man's bloodied face. Effortlessly he throws the man, who could easily twice his size and weight, straight into the air. Victory or death were the rules the saiyan had set, and he would be forced to follow such rules.

"VEGETA! NO!"

"What use are you if you can't even fight? None!" And like that he killed the saiyan with a single energy beam. He did not mourn for him, in fact, it may have been one of the few times that this killing was honorable seeing as Nappa had killed so many without mercy.

Vegeta genuinely looked forward to fighting this "Goku." It might be the first time in a long time since he had fought against a worthy opponent. But he felt he had something to prove to the younger saiyan, that he had to show that he was superior in every way. If he couldn't defeat this low-level saiyan how was he ever going to beat Frieza?

And he tried. It nearly killed him as he fought against not only Kakarot but those of his surviving friends that would disrupt the fighting for a couple of seconds or minutes. It nearly killed him to fight the saiyan, but it was his will for revenge for Kagome that pushed him to stay alive.

"T-Th-This isn't o-over," Vegeta said as he struggled to get out the remote that would call his space pod to his location.

"Curse it all," he groaned while crawling to his ship. He needed to survive to avenge Kagome. He had to endure if not for that reason alone.

Just before he could fall into the pod, he felt the presence of a threat. Turning, he stared wide-eyed at the small bald man that held a sword; no doubt aiming to pierce his heart with the metal to avenge his friends. He didn't blame him, he had caused the human pain, in a way he related to him. Was he not aiming to do the same to Frieza?

He couldn't face Kagome in the afterlife just yet. He hadn't brought their race justice; he couldn't fail her as he had in protecting her.

He didn't know what stopped the man as he talked to the other saiyan; in what looked to be -verbally- a one-sided conversation. Vegeta took the opportunity to fall into his ship. And like that he's ship took off to planet Frieza where he'd be able to get medical attention for the many wounds he had sustained.

Vegeta would join Kagome in the afterlife another day.

~o.O~O.o~

It was a miracle he had made it back to one of Frieza's planets alive. Seeing his condition the medics had rushed him to a healing chamber.

The herbal green water pooled around him, quickly filling the healing tank he'd been placed in. The chilled water soothed the ache within his muscles yet stung as it touched his battered skin. He barely survived, no thanks to Kakarot. But he was thankful to be alive. This way he would be able to get to Namek, and there he would be able to find those dragon balls, and finally, he would be able to bring back Kagome and defeat Frieza.

Hold on a little longer Kagome more magnificent I'll be with you soon enough…

With that final thought, he drifted off into a light sleep where he dreamt of a life where Frieza never existed. Where he and Kagome were happy and lived the life, they always wanted. A life that was full of peace and love…