"NO!" She screamed, feeling it catch in her voice.
She could not believe it.
It couldn't be true. It couldn't!! Bulma could not be dead.
But her heart had known what her mind had told her before. She was too late.
Vegeta would never have given up, have dropped the ceiling like that unless… unless… the person he was trying to save was dead.
She could not believe it. Would not believe that Bulma had died. Not now.
The pain was too much to bear. It was like losing a sister, a best friend, a very part of herself. She screamed, slamming her fists on the steering wheel of her capsule car and denting it.
The tears flowed freely from her face as she continued to punch everything in sight. She tore up the seats, breaking her nails on the hard plastic. She ripped up her bag, she smashed her capsule case. But nothing would ease the pain.
It's just not fair!!!
A scream that was not her own cut through her misery, shocking her to the very core. Vegeta…
He yelled and yelled. Consumed with his own pain, shaking with the injustice, the anger, the inability to stop Bulma from dying.
It was too much to bear. Something had to give.
Bulma gasped, watching from the hovercraft as there was a flicker of gold. Had Vegeta's hair been blonde?
He shook as if possessed, face turned to the ground. "I will not let you get away…with…this!" The flicker of gold came back, flaring around him as he yelled once again, "I won't let you get away with this!!"
It was then. Golden fire was a conflagration of light, spinning and leaping about his body. The once ebony spikes had lightened almost blindingly and when Vegeta raised his head, those eyes, so full of pain, were solid teal.
He had done it. He had transformed into a Super Saiyan. But at what cost? Bulma thought, remembering the body still lying under the mountain.
Bulma wasn't even sure if Vegeta was aware of his transformation, he was so consumed in his rage. All she knew was that this android did not stand a chance against him now.
The Galick Gun that Vegeta shot obliterated every bit of the green monster. Probably right down to the cellular level, Bulma thought, wondering if just maybe Vegeta had overdone it a bit. Oh well. For what that creation had done, there was no punishment even a Super Saiyan could dish out that would be enough.
The android was gone, yet the damage remained.
As if in a trance, Bulma got out of the car and walked over to the collapsed entrance to the mountain. She's down there…somewhere…I'm down there…
Even though she had no chance of making a dent in the rubble or saving her future self, she began, slowly to remove the rocks. Her tears flowed freely from her blue eyes and her hands shook, but still she kept going. One rock at a time. That's it, Bulma. One stone at a time…
It took her a while to realize she was not alone in her task. Vegeta, golden haired and all, had come and began tossing aside slabs of ceiling with ease. Before long, between them, they had uncovered their close friend.
Her blue hair was splayed across the ground, many parts covered in her own blood. The effect was heart breaking, creating streaks of violet among the blue.
Vegeta's hair faded once again to black as he looked down at the woman's body.
Though younger Bulma could not have known what his thoughts were on, for once they were indeed on the long haired woman. They were on that last moment…those last things she had said to him. "Vegeta, I will always love you. Trunks…he's our son. Tell Trunks…tell him, I love him. Tell him. Follow…his…heart…"
Vegeta was a man of his word and in Saiyan culture the last wish or wishes of a dying warrior were the most important. Though he had not promised before she had died and though she was not a Saiyan, there was no doubt that in heart at least, she was a warrior. He would find their son and tell him all she had asked him to.
Bulma sobbed, great tear streaks running down her face. "It's not fair! I never got to ask! I never got to ask!"
Vegeta turned towards the perplexing blue haired woman, folding his arms and scowling once more. "Ask what, woman?"
She hiccupped and blinked, once again remembering she was not alone. She wiped her face, leaving a rainbow of dirt upon her cheeks. "I never got to ask her about us. About you and me," she answered softly.
Vegeta turned away from the crying female, so she could not see his face, but it didn't matter, his words were enough. "She knew about us. And seemed to think it was the right thing."
Bulma perked up slightly, heart lightening, "Really? How do you know?"
Vegeta shrugged and said, "Apparently we will have a son." He continued in order to avoid acknowledgement of Bulma's gasp. "His name is Trunks and I am to give him a message when I find him."
Bulma nodded, somehow not as shocked by this knowledge as she would have thought. Perhaps she had changed in this world, perhaps the strength had been with her all along, but either way, she knew that coming here had been the right choice.
Vegeta glanced back at the woman he loved and said, "Do not grieve for her." He turned to look at the sky, a grayish blue, and said, "She got what she wanted her whole life. Now, finally in the next world, she will be free."
Together Bulma and Vegeta nodded and spoke as one, "…free to fight."
.
So, tell me what you think. All right? Too mushy? Too dramatic? You name it.
Phwew. Now it's on back to Goku and Trunks.
If you want to follow along, the next and final part is called "Learn to Live."
Which is now up and running.
^_^