Stolen Hearts Chapter Twenty-One
Bulma entered her room just before her serving women came to wake her and find her missing. She still couldn't believe she had evaded discovery this long, other then Chichi of course, but soon she wouldn't have to hide anymore.
Bulma smiled wider as she smelled Vegeta's scent still clinging to her and it revitalized her with the tangible hope that she had found happiness and would live the rest of her life loved in Vegeta's arms.
She let out a girlish giggle and hugged Danae bidding her good morning, for she was unable to keep her glee inside. Peace was hers at last.
Danae raised an eyebrow, she had her suspicions but it was not her place to say, so she acted as if the Princess' state was completely natural.
"Isn't it beautiful today? Just beautiful!" Bulma said still hugging a very uncomfortable Danae.
"Aye madam, that it is. Perhaps you have heard your parents' good news already?"
"No I have not Danae, what is it you speak of?"
"M'lady, all I know is that they have something very important to tell you and I am to get you up and prepared to attend to them as soon as possible," she answered smiling at the courtesy the Princess had shown her by using her name, something she had rarely done before. She liked this new Princess much better. Whatever it was that made her so, she hoped it would stay.
Bulma's curiosity was spiked but her cheer was not dampened as she dressed and hurried off to she what this was all about. It would be good to see them one last time, even if she couldn't say goodbye, at least she could hug them. She would leave them a note to read when she was gone.
Still what was this news? Could her mother be pregnant? That would certainly make them happy, but her mother was past her childbearing years.
"Good morning dear Mother and Father, I do hope all is well with you," she said merrily as she entered, noting a man a few years her elder that she had not seen before standing off to the side.
"It is my lovely child," her mother replied with a brilliant smile, she was very pleased with her daughter's new attitude. It seemed everything was going right for once.
"Your father and I have some wonderful news for you. As you know we have been exploring the possibility of your marriage, and we have discussed it and have agreed that it is in your best interest and the kingdom's best interest for you to be joined with Sir Yamcha here. He is delighted and he will be a good husband to you and a fine leader one day. The ceremony is scheduled take place next Saturday, aren't you excited?"
Bulma simply gaped at her in horror. Every word was a drop of sorrow seeking to hide itself in her plenteous joys, wanton in fullness, begging to be crushed. The downpour had begun.
The reality of her untimely departure was beginning to become real to Bulma, and the affect it would have on her Parents. On her people. What would it look like if the only heir to the Fey throne disappeared with an Elf into oblivion? What would happen?
Why now? Not now... Why couldn't they have done this a month ago when she would have gladly done as they wished and married whomever they threw at her? Why now when she had finally found love? When she had just the night before bound her soul to another. You fool Bulma; you deserve to have your heat shattered at your feet.
But it was not even her heart to give anymore. It Was Vegeta's. That was the knife that cut the deepest. No matter. This changed nothing. She was running away in a few hours anyway. They could deem Yamcha heir, wife or no wife.
"Excited? Excited?! I think I would be more excited at my funeral! How can you say 'we' discussed it and decided, how do you know what my best interest is, how can you say what my best interest is?! You don't seem to bother to think of that, no one seems to think of me. In your eyes I am still just like a child that is lost in the woods. You have never been able to see that perhaps my needs are more important then your wants," Bulma's voice was hollow with anguish as she screamed; she looked strange and distant, out of control. She was terrible again.
Bulma's mother moved swiftly to her side and caught her in a close embrace, actually hurting Bulma's arms as she ground her fingers into them.
"Chichi came and spoke to me last night," Bulma's mother whispered to her, her voice cold and terrible "She had some very interesting concerns about your actions these past few months, and I can't said I was pleased to hear what you have been up to," disgust drenched her every word, "You will NOT make a fool of us Bulma, you will NOT ruin this family, this stability with our people, you stupid selfish child! Forget him this instant! You are not to leave the castle grounds with out an escort. You will be watched. You will be punished. And you WILL marry Sir Yamcha."
What an awful thing that is, as if the ground on which you are standing on is slowly being pulled out from under your feet and beneath is nothing, an empty hole through which you will fall forever. Bulma's mind raced in misery as her mother whispered her ultimatum to her. She was trapped.
Bulma felt something wet on her face. Until that moment she hadn't realized she was sobbing madly. Her face was streaked and soaked with tears that kept coming. She stood there gasping in a wild panic, searching for a way out like a cornered tiger.
"Why must you always torment me so?" her mother continued furious, now loud enough for everyone to hear, "It is ingratitude, perfidy, treachery! Sorrow to the grave! My faith! By the blue!" She continued with almost all the angry expressions she knew.
"Ungrateful?!," Bulma screamed back in a frenzy, "I only ask to marry, to LOVE whom I wish!"
Her mother glared at her with pure disgust knowing full well who this 'love' was. The most unthinkable disgust.
"Really Bulma, just when I think it can't get any worse," Her mother said pained now, but still furious, "And you were doing so well…."
"Let's try to do this with as little hysteria as possible please," Bulma's father interjected between the two raging women, it was clear he knew nothing of Vegeta, "I don't enjoy the idea of you having to marry not out of love Bulma, but as the only heir to the throne it is not an option for you to simply marry who you want to. Love is an illusion Bulma. This union is what matters not some silly idea of true love."
"Yes," Harmonia agreed, "You must make decisions with you mind, not you heart. You are a Princess. You have Responsibilities. People depending on you. Love fades, but obligation does not. There is no reason you cannot learn to love Sir Yamcha in a logical way that is much truer then any fleeting passion," she said as if it were indeed a logical math equation.
"If not for yourself Bulma, for your people," her father added, "You have a duty to uphold. What could be so important that you must forget that, forget them?" he inquired with a skeptical look, and Bulma faltered.
She couldn't tell her father, couldn't bear to see the disgust and contempt in his eyes just as she had seen in her mother's. Bulma had always been closer to her father. She respected him. It was easy to fight with her mother, but not so easy with her father….
And just when she had started to receiver his love and respect. If they were indeed going to try and lock her up and marry her off, there was not point to beg and tell him of her secret love that she was bound to. It would not change his mind. Even if she did tell him it wasn't like he would let her run off with Vegeta, leaving the kingdom to falter.
Maybe she should sacrifice herself for propriety and save them the utter disappointment. All they would see her as was their biggest mistake. As if all their efforts to civilize and salvage her over the years had some to absolutely nothing in the end.
Bulma couldn't go back to that, she just couldn't. But at the same time she could not deny Vegeta, not now. But it wasn't even a choice in the end, for if there was a choice for her, family and people be damned she would have Vegeta. Damn the consequences!
The only hope Bulma had to leave before was to leave in secret, but her mother knew, she knew! Now that was gone and she was trapped. Trapped in the center of a tornado.
She had let herself fall under the spell of her own beautiful delusion thoughtlessly, she really thought she would be able to run away with him. Chichi was right, she would only hurt Vegeta in the end, Bulma thought, hopelessly miserable. Vegeta and she never had a chance, no reason to hope. She had looked into his eyes and saw a world that did not exist, a world she wished she was in... But she couldn't. How she wished she could be free.
Bulma couldn't take their judging eyes any longer and she fled back to her room in a frenzy where she could hate them in silence, overwhelmed. But she didn't even have her solitude for long as there was a timid knock at the door. They couldn't even leave her alone in her misery could they? It wasn't enough that they had won?
"Go away!!" she screamed but the knocker ignored her cry and opened the door slowly.
It was her husband to be.
"You parents said I should look after you, since you shouldn't be alone right now. And I suppose we ought to get to know each other since we are to be married."
"Woe upon that day. Are you so confident? Don't be. And I'd rather be alone right now thank you," she said as bitterly as she could possibly sound.
"I am sorry that you are not happy about thins Princess Bulma, I know it is sudden, but I promise you it can not be as bad as you think. I will promise to always honor and love you."
"You can keep you love."
"Why are you so hostile? I have and will be fair."
For a moment it crossed her mind that if she humiliated herself to him, if she knelt down on her knees and begged him not to pursue this, he might be soothed. But it was evidentially hopeless. He was fixed in a course, like a ball in a groove. Even his conversation was, as if it were a spoken part. It would end according to the script.
"Yes, you will be such a just and noble king. It is easy to be fair when it is over. That is the amusing part. Justice, you can keep that too!"
"Peace Bulma," he said eyeing her with a dangerous look, "You are a very beautiful girl. You make me feel... I want you."
"I am not to be HAD for the wanting!" Bulma spat, boiling with anger and derision at his boldness.
"Not even by your husband?"
"You are not my husband yet!"
"Soon enough, it is all trivialities from here on out. You are mine now."
"Get out!" Bulma pointed at the door and made stabbing movements at it with her finger, trembling so much with anger that her hair began to fall into disarray, "I will never be YOURS!!"
Yamcha simply grinned back at her.
She ran up to him in tottering steps, wanting to slap the smug look off his face. She caught hold of him and began pushing and heaving him towards the door, but he would not move. She tried to spit on him, but she had never practiced spitting.
He in turn took hold of her and easily threw her to the bed. He was too powerful, she even felt his spirit energy swirling around her. Her parents hadn't chosen a know-nothing as heir to the kingdom. They knew war lurked, and they chose who they thought would be a powerful leader.
"Don't act so chaste Princess, I know you are far from it. A whore like you should be honored that a man such as I would take you."
Bulma opened and closed her mouth a couple times in a furiously offended shock. Who was this crude uncouth man and how had he deceived her parents so? She couldn't believe what he had just said to her as she growled in rage and cursed back at him, "Even a whore won't be had by a rat!"
That broke his composure for a moment as he looked like he had been slapped, then his eyes narrowed with lust.
"Calm down my wife, your parents told me to comfort you and I intend to do just that. What kind of husband would I be if I did not please my wife?" Bulma shrunk away as he ran his hand up her thigh taking her dress with it.
"Fie on you! I would have more pleasure from throwing myself off a cliff! Get away from me you barbarian," she screeched and tried to attack him, getting one good scratch down the side of his face, but he held fast.
Fate was bent on punishing her and the man was inexorable. A new freshet of tears welled up and overflowed before Bulma gave in, her last objection being a keening wail that nobody heard. They had locked the door and threw away the key. There was no escape this time.
Bulma felt her heart breaking off piece by piece. Until this lowest of low moments when she was taken against her will by her future 'husband' Bulma had still harbored hope in her head of escape. It was still a distant possibility in her mind. She believed she could still find a way to be with Vegeta.
But now. Now she was broken. And she realized there was no hope. It was over.
'I'm sorry Vegeta,' she thought as her heart constricted in overwhelming pain again at the though of him waiting there for her…….. and she wouldn't come. What would he think? Would he move on?
She had not lived until she had met Vegeta, how could she live when they were parted? She was dumb before the surge of all her sorrows and now succumbed, powerless to withstand the tides of misery the gods swept over her. She closed her eyes with her heart distressed and finally slid into welcome darkness, one last crystal tear falling from her eye.
AN: aw man, Yamcha's just so easy to hate! Bulma, you can't give up now! We'll see in the next chapter, thanks for reading.