Chapter 6

Vegeta swallowed, trying to battle his rage. There she was, standing before him, looking ashamed and sheepish. Her head was down, and she was fumbling for words. Tears were trickling down her cheeks.

It only fueled him.

"What the hell do you want?" Vegeta demanded, snarling. His fists were clenched tight. "You had better talk, woman! I'm on my way out to completely destroy a planet. One you know very well in fact, so make it quick!"

Aelia opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out. Her hands were together, each finger intertwined.

"If you have nothing to say, then get the hell out of my way!" Vegeta snapped, ready to push her out of the doorway, but she stood firm.

"T-Thank you," she whispered, bowing to him twice. "You… you actually p-protected me. I never thought you'd protect me-"

"You're half-Saiya-jin," Vegeta cut her off angrily. "You think I want a Saiya-jin quarter-breed with his genetics running around? You're a stupid fool. It has nothing to do with you! Now get the hell out of my way."

She looked stung, but nodded. "Yes, Prince." She bowed again and stepped out of his way, her head down.

Vegeta brushed past, keeping his eyes forward. Damn his heart! Why was it pounding so damn hard? Like he was doing something wrong, but he wasn't, he knew he wasn't-

"Prince Vegeta-sama, where are you going?"

He stopped walking.

He could almost feel her hovering, waiting for his answer.

He silenced the voice in the back of his mind that told him to stop, that this was wrong.

"To Hibi," he snorted.

"Why are you-"

Vegeta turned around, enraged. "To destroy it, you fool!" he shouted. "I just told you I was on my way to-"

To his complete and utter shock, Aelia flung herself at him. She was clutching onto his shoulders, her head in his shoulders and pressed against him for a moment, a moment far too short for the pounding in his chest's liking before she slid down, her hands finding his and clutching onto them tightly, sobbing.

This wasn't what he had in mind the few times he'd allowed himself to imagine coming into physical contact with her would be like.

"P-please, Prince!" she cried out, her tears hysterical now. She shook her head over and over, her hair wild in her face as she begged. "Please! Please, don't do it, don't destroy Hibi, you can't destroy Hibi, you just can't!"

"Give me a damn good reason why I can't!" he roared, jerking his hands away from her so hard she fell forward. Aelia kept on the ground, still sobbing as she reached up for his hands again to beg. He slapped them away once, twice. Again and again as she begged, "Please, Prince Vegeta! You can't do this! Please, oh please don't do this, don't destroy Hibi, it's my home, my only home…"

"GIVE ME A REASON!" he shouted so loud the walls it seemed the walls shook. "Give me a fucking reason not to! Look me in the eyes and give me a damn good reason as to why I shouldn't go!"

His words echoed. His heart pounded even harder, so hard that he thought it must force itself out of his chest. If she looked at him, if she looked in his eyes, if he finally was able to look into her eyes and see them…

If she would only look at him…

Aelia shook her head, sobbing. "Prince…"

Vegeta grabbed her by the shoulders and lifted her in the air above him. "LOOK ME IN THE EYES!!" he screamed. "LOOK. AT. ME!!"

She just shook her head, her eyes squeezed shut with tears.

Vegeta dropped her. He watched her crumble on the ground, fallen. He stepped over her, silent. She tried to scramble to him, but he used his ki to take off running so fast she would never catch up. He heard her scream his title and name in agony, but he didn't look back.

She never looked at him. Not one glance.

Raditz and Nappa were waiting by their space pods when he got outside to the dock. Vegeta shouted the co-ordinates to be set and the three of them climbed into their pods and took off.

The inhabitants of Hibi was gone in less than a day.

When Vegeta and the others arrived home the next morning, he was greeted with a sobbing, enraged Samphire.

"How could you?!" she shrieked. "How could you… you just go and do that?! Are you so goddamn heartless?! You fucking bastard, are you really that fucking heartless?!"

Vegeta stared at her with cold, empty eyes. "I don't have a heart for anyone," he snapped softly.

Samphire slapped him, letting out a scream of anger. Vegeta merely laughed in her face.

As for Aelia, she was veiled in dark black, her eyes as usual downcast.

Vegeta passed her, hoping to come up with some wise-ass remark about how surely her mother had died along with the rest of them, but he didn't. Instead, he kept his eyes forward, not at all looking at Aelia. He would never speak to her ever again.

Less than a week later, Vegeta and the others would be deployed to the fifth planet Leung for Freeza's pleasure grounds, which was a full year and a half away in distance, not half as close as Hibi or Jiu. Raditz, however, would take a detour to the planet Earth to look for his brother, Kakarot. At Raditz's death, however, Vegeta and Nappa too, would disappear to go to Earth. No one knew why, but Nappa would never return to Freeza's empire. Vegeta would be heard of only once, and then the excitement would focus on the Planet Namek and Vegeta's open rebellion against Freeza.

To everyone's surprise, Freeza would be defeated. And the moment the empire began to dissolve was when Aelia finally left.

***

Three years passed since Hibi had become barren with the death and destruction of its people. Three years since the collapse one of the largest empires that the galaxy would ever see. The remnants of Freeza's empire were busy trying to regain whatever control they could have over the situation. However, much to the surprise of everyone no one returned to try and take control of the empire that was no more, or even conquer. Not even Vegeta.

She was surprised when she heard that Vegeta was on this planet. It seemed ironic that he would go to the place where he had first really been defeated to try and settle. For what reason, she knew not, and it was rather obvious that he hadn't taken it over or destroyed it. Maybe it was because of the sheer beauty it had to offer? This planet, she had to admire, was incredibly beautiful. The fact that Kakarot hadn't destroyed it made her happy in a sense. Not even his Saiya-jin instincts to destroy and kill had won him over enough to destroy this place, she thought to herself. She could see why. It was more beautiful than even the tropical paradise Hibi had been.

Her scouter blinked faster as she flew. His power level was definitely locked on. Kakarot, she had been told, was the most powerful being on the planet. Second to him was Vegeta, so all she had to do was find the second most powerful being and she would find him.

Why had Vegeta decided to settle here? There had to be good reason. Maybe he was ruling and some of the things she had taught him ended up sticking after all. No, that couldn't be it. Maybe he was just waiting for the day to become stronger than Kakarot? Now that she could see. It probably drove him crazy, the thought of Raditz's younger brother being stronger than him. Kakarot was only a third-class Saiya-jin; being weaker than that must be a thorn in the Prince's side.

Her smile faded. She mustn't forget why she was here. Never before that day had she felt so much pain and confusion. He'd saved her and destroyed her both in the same day. She never knew why or how he could save her from potentially being raped by Freeza one minute and then rush off to destroy Hibi the next. She would never understand it. But despite it all… he had still done it.

She remembered him clearly screaming at her to look him in the eyes. She didn't know why he had insisted on that. She had been his fiancée's attendant. Servant. Slave, practically. She was not worthy to ever look upon the Saiya-jin prince's face. That was the first thing she had ever been told when she was taken to his planet to serve Samphire. No matter what, they said, she must never look at the Prince or the King's faces. They were superior to her, and if she wanted to maintain a life with them and not be discarded as fodder, she must never look at them. So why would he demand it? Why?

There were so many questions and none of them had good answers, but she did know one thing: Vegeta would finally see her look at him today. Because she was there to try and kill him. And if she didn't look at him, well, she wouldn't be able to kill him. Killing, she knew, required being able to look at one's target.

She was no warrior. It didn't matter that she was half-Saiya-jin; she wasn't a warrior, and this was asking to get killed, but she had to try. For Hibi. For her mother. For her people.

She knew she would die trying to kill him. She was prepared for it. Ready, even. Maybe, if was able to talk before she died, she would tell him the truth. She would tell him that she had loved him, and would've done anything to remain at his side and help him. That that was the real reason she had been teaching him to read and write as well as take care of Samphire. She had adored Samphire, but she'd loved Vegeta in spite of his anger and rage despite it all. And she could have lived her entire life in peace with it, if only to be near him and help him.

But now… it was too late. And she would have to avenge her people and come to peace. At least then if she were dead she would not be in love with the man who murdered her people. And she would take him down with her, if she could.

The scouter stopped blinking, pointed downwards. Aelia looked down at the strange buildings below. He was inside! Why was he inside, she wondered? Maybe he lived there?

Dropping down from the sky, Aelia approached the windows quietly, lowering her power level so he wouldn't sense her. It was nighttime; if she could catch him off guard, there might be away to get around his strength and finish him. There surely must be a way. People were probably too intimidated by the concept of a power level to even focus hard enough to do so more often than not!

As Aelia rose quietly to look in the windows, her heart stopped. There he was wearing a modification of the Saiya-jin armor she was so used to. He was shouting, but not in anger. More like frustration. Her target was in sight.

Preparing her mind quietly and focusing her own inner ki on the vitals that every being had, Aelia was getting ready to strike when the blue haired woman entered the room, carrying a small child, an infant. She could hear the woman shouting through the window, also frustrated.

Her heart broke in more ways than one when she realized just exactly what was going on. That woman was carrying Vegeta's son. Here, she realized, he had made a family.

That was why this planet was in tact. That was why Vegeta hadn't left to try and claim the remnants of Freeza's lost empire, or seek power on his own. He must have found a part of himself here and decided to remain and create a family.

Aelia hugged herself tightly, weeping softly into her arms. There was no way now. No way she could kill him, or even try. He had a family. If she did that, she would be just as bad as those she had watched and despised in the past for killing innocents. And even though Vegeta was far from innocent, his son certainly deserved to grow up with his father. And since she couldn't do it... she cried.

After a few minutes Aelia moved away from the windows and stood. She wiped her eyes gently. Her mind was made up. She would respect the new life Vegeta had made, no longer an agent of Freeza's ruthless army, and put his actions in the past. The Vegeta who had destroyed Hibi, after all, was not the father to an infant child. Therefore, she would not attempt, even if she would fail miserably, to kill the Vegeta of now. And he would never know, ever, that she had been in love with him.

Smiling sadly to herself and forcing to ignore a sadness that was as deep as this planet's oceans, Aelia floated high in the air and once she reached a good enough altitude, took off at full speed towards the area where she had landed in her own space pod, giving the new home of the Saiya-jin Prince not one glance before leaving Earth – and him- in peace.