Chapter 4

Family Ties

The warrior quietly rode in the back of the cart, locked in a travel cage as he listened to the sounds of the harnesses ahead with the familiar clinks and chinks ahead of him. The slave quietly remained in thought as he dreamed of the time with his family but what a horrendous capture it had been. His daughters had fallen ill, his son shot in the back by a move of cowardice to try to draw him out. Now separated from his wife and two ailing kids he wondered what had become of them, aching for something to let him know they were okay.

Too weak to really put up much of a struggle, he quietly remained in thought, planning, trying it out mentally and discarding one after the other. Silently the warrior lifted up to test his strength, but was still too weak to really fight. He would be forced to obey their whim until he gained back his strength and because of that, his head dipped, his heart sank, and his eyes closed. Why didn't she run when he told her to, especially with the two kids? He blamed himself for not better protecting them, but then he had been doing well until his foot was ensnared by a trap with razor like teeth. It had crunched through bone and flesh, and it was not until he'd been caged that he'd been able to reset it.

The gaunt figure would play the situation over and over in his mind, trying to find what went wrong. The images flooded his mind, tormenting him with such pain and madness that he had to finally speak out. "I want to see my family. Where are they?"

Tojar looked back to the caged Saiyan and rose a brow then turned ahead again. "Its best to forget them ol' boy. You probably will never see them again. You know it's against the rules to have family, especially as a slave."

Vegeta though was adamant, he wanted to know what happened. His devotion so strong that his heart literally ached from the separation as he began to thrash the bars holding him prisoner. "I need to see them. You know where they are, take me there. Let me see that they're okay."

Tojar stopped the team of slaves pulling and looked back at the fiery gaze of the Saiyan. He knew how that slave felt, how much one cared for their blood. "If you go to them Saiyan, you may as well end up dead, or worse beaten more than you are now until you do finally lay motionless. They are no longer your concern."

He though would not stop. The Dark Prince had lost everything once, a home, his family, and during his being seperated if any of the Saiyans he'd met were even alive now. He had to know for his sanity, for the sake of his family, he had to find out. "They ARE my concern! They are my family. They are all I have left to hold on to. Do not tear that from me, not now."

Tojar hung his head lightly. After the hell the Saiyan had been through, he had to admire the fact that he was not giving up on his family in spite of his own being barely able to stand let alone walk. He turned the slaves toward a large mansion and when they stopped, Vegeta was let out. The Saiyan staggered out, and braced to the cart's side but it was then that the warrior straightened up. He could not show being weak, not in front of those that had taken his family. Led to the room, he was stopped before entering the heavy, creaking wood doors. As Tojar came up to him, the guards let them through. The sight before him was heart wrenching.

Vegeta's heart jumped to the throat as he seen what lay before him, his two daughters lay before him like ghostlike skeletons. Tears threatened his black gaze that had not sobbed tears before now to choke him. Putting on a gentle smile he neared them. His oldest looked up at him and then quietly he moved toward her side, gently sitting down and brushed back her ebony hair. Piercing black eyes peered up at him, clouded, dimmed by illness, fatigue, and starvation. It was almost too much to bear, but they were his kids and he was not about to leave their side. His hands wanted to tremble but for them, he held steady. He had to remain strong.

"Father, I'm so glad you could make it." Kilimajra wheezed through a painful breath, but it would not dim her delight to see her father there for her. The whispered tone only drove in the fact that she was suffering. Blugeta, on his right side looked up to her dad as well but she was too weak to speak. The smile on her face though spoke all that needed to be spoken. Vegeta's steady, war calloused hands trembled like a leaf. However he nodded to the guard that motioned him out and as he stood before the guard, they shut the doors so they would not hear the conversation.

The man had been watching the Saiyan for some time, glad to see someone taking a stand against the cruelty of Jronia. At the sight of the heart breaking reunion, he could only imagine the turmoil that the slave before him was enduring. The agony wracked black eyes before him seemed to tell of hardship after hardship with no end in sight to the hell they were putting the warrior through. "Vegeta, I have sought out doctors for the kids. They say it's a rare poison and venom mix. There is no cure for it."

The Saiyan clenched his fists. "What of the healing magics, antidotes, someone finding what will cure it? There has to be something to help them. I just can't sit back and accept that there is no cure. It's naturally made, there has to be a natural cure to it. I know enough to know that much."

The guard forgave the anger found in the slave's voice. He understood the outrage of the horrendous sight only to be given the crushing blow on top of it. "We've tried magics, but it only worsened their condition. As of now there is no known antidote for it, and the plants that may neutralize it are thus far, unknown. I'm sorry, but they do not have much longer."

As the Dark Prince looked up at the guard, there was such fierce anger in them that it seemed impossible the Saiyan Prince could contain it all. Himself battered and starved, it killed him inside to see his kids this way. The guard flinched at the gaze warranted by the situation, but Vegeta respected the fact that the guard told him the truth. For that, he contained the inner pain, the hate, and rage that burned violently within. The doors opened and once more Vegeta stepped to the sides of his children.

Kilimajra coughed, her small body seized with agony as Vegeta brushed her hair back and tried to soothe her and Blugeta. Talking softly, he finally eased them into resting and it was then that Kilimajra would finally talk again. "Father, tell me of our people, the Saiyans please? Sister and I would like to hear it again, but this time how an honorable soldier was cared for."

Vegeta dipped his head, his chest tightened as he looked toward her and nodded. "They were honored in memory that they would always guide us if we listened. Some died in battles, others of old age, but they were forever carried in our hearts that they fought to better all of us, and not just a couple. We carried on their fight and made sure that it was finished that they may rest in peace."

Kilimajra smiled in thought as she looked over and took her sister's hand and then looked again to her father. "I want to go like that father, I want a warrior's death worthy of our people. Can you give that to us daddy? Can you take our pain away so we can rest?"

He stood strong, steady. They were asking Vegeta to end their lives so that they did not hurt any more. He was the Prince of Saiyans, he was a Universal Warrior. Vegeta had no choice but to uphold their dying wish, to die like that of a true warrior. "I can do that for you if that is your wish daughter."

She nodded her confirmation and Vegeta quietly placed a hand on each chest as Blugeta agreed. He looked to Kilimajra, whom through her short life shown him joy and what gentleness was all about. Gazing with compassion and love to Blugeta, whom now was four, had shown him the wild spirit of a Saiyan child once more, the pride and honor he held with both his kids. They were his beloved and now because of the hunters were slowly being taken from him. He would begin to gently drain their life energies to nothing, and he watched as they fell peacefully to sleep. With no pain suffered in their deaths, Vegeta was left completely shattered. Never more would he hold his kids anymore. Never more would he see their eyes beam up in awe and wonder at the world they lived in. Their laughter silenced, the proud Saiyan muttered a prayer in the native and very elusive Saiyan tongue in the privacy behind closed doors. Then he turned from the room, his head lowered, his shoulders sagged, and inside was numb. He had incinerated their bodies with a final blast in respect and honor to them that they died like warriors.

When he exited into the hallway, he watched as the others silently stepped aside. Whips and clubs were dropped, voices hushed, and with limping step the Saiyan Prince proceeded forward. They cleared the way for him and as each person made eye contact with the now grieving father, none had the heart to advance upon the slave to taunt like they had come to do. This was an unspoken moment, that would be honored by all here. No guard would even joke about this moment but instead speak of it in respect and dignity that it deserved. The hunters that had done this were slain one night in an attack by an avenging Ghost. No one though looked at the Saiyan slave the same way again. He had stuck the battle between himself and the Owners that cruelly treated him, never attacking their families or kids that were innocent. To have his family attacked like this was unheard of, even for the meanest of people, save for the Shadow Dragon, Syn.

The rest of the trip back to the Training Stables was in silence. Tojar's gruff hands came to rest upon the Saiyan's shoulders and a new respect between slave and Trainer was given. Through this tragic moment, the cold and ruthless Trainer was forever changed. Tojar cared more about this slave than any other that had crossed his path before. In all his years he never yielded to a slave and allowed them to have much emotion, but when he looked at the Saiyan, he coaxed him in a more private room to allow the Saiyan his dignity. The moment he stepped inside, Vegeta's eyes closed. When the lock clicked into place, the Saiyan that had never cried before, now wept.