Author's Note: Thank you all so much for you wonderful support!
When I was originally getting ready to post this chapter, that was as much of a note as I had. However, as I have spent a couple days trying to update and meeting technological resistance, I also wanted to thank you for your patience.
Enjoy the day!
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"Bulma," Gohan hesitantly began, "I'm not sure that's the best idea."
The heiress' features were completely unreadable as she studied the teenager before her. "Look, Gohan," she said, her voice far softer than her expression, "I am well aware of the fact that Yamcha and I broke up, like, ten years ago. Hell, the last memories I have of him are from about a year after we broke up for the ten millionth time. But you need to understand, Gohan, that as far as I'm concerned, Yamcha's the romantic figure in my life. And right now, kiddo, I really need to be held by someone who loves me. I know Yamcha well enough to know that, no matter why we broke up, he still loves me."
Gohan, who had averted his gaze while she had been speaking, continued to stare at the quilt he was sitting on. "I love you," he softly said.
Bulma couldn't help but smile at his words. "I know you do, honey," she tenderly said, wrapping her arms around him, "and I love you, too. But not in the same way that I love Yamcha."
The hybrid's head snapped up, and he locked his eyes with hers as he broke away from her hug. "You love him?" he shouted, not meaning to raise his voice but unable to do otherwise. "Bulma, you can't be serious. I remember the three months it took us to get to Namek extremely well, and not one story you told about him sounded like you loved him."
"Oh, what would you know?" she dismissed with a wave of a hand. "You were six years old at the time, and I remember that like it was yesterday. Well, technically, I remember it like it was three weeks ago, but you get my point. But how could you have known what a story of love sounded like?"
"Bulma, I was young. I wasn't stupid," he pointed out. "Even back then I was fairly certain that stories of a lover don't start with the phrase, 'the last time I saw that moron…'."
"Oh?" the heiress countered, crossing her legs and leaning forward. "Then tell me, Casanova, what it is that stories of a lover are meant to start with."
"They start with…" That was as far as Gohan got in his argument before he realized three things. First of all, it was probably against his better judgment to be using stories that Bulma could not remember. Secondly, he knew that he really should not be referencing the secret (albeit very interesting) stories that he had overheard Bulma telling his mother over tea, at least not if he didn't want to be torn apart by the irritable Saiyan. And finally, it dawned on him that her stories almost always started with, "You'll never believe what that son of a bitch did today." Apparently, Bulma Briefs did start her stories of lovers with insults.
Though in Gohan's opinion, the stories about Vegeta were a lot more interesting that anything he had ever heard her say about Yamcha…
"Look," Gohan said, a tired sigh escaping his lips as he changed tactics, "I just don't think that it would be a wise decision to tell a man who has been pining for you for ten years that you love him, especially since you have absolutely no idea what he has been doing for the last ten years."
Bulma bit down softly on her lower lip as she really considered the boy's words. "I guess you're right," she relented, shaking her head. "I should probably wait until I get a few things sorted out before we start dating again."
"Dating?!?" Gohan cried out. "Bulma, you can't do that!"
"Why not?" she shot back, her voice indignant. "You just told me that he's been pining for me for ten years, and when I checked," she pushed on, holding up her left hand and pointing to her fourth finger, "I am still up for grabs."
The poor teenager put his face in his hands. Everything had gotten so out of control so fast that he couldn't come up with a way to resolve the situation.
"You don't know what's happened over the last twelve years," he simply said, his voice muffled by his hands.
"What?" Bulma demanded from him. "What happened, Gohan? What is so damn important about the last twelve years that that the very idea of me dating Yamcha has you downright horrified? I mean, is he married?"
"No!" Gohan automatically responded as he jumped into defensive mode.
"Am I?"
It was such a simple question, one that should have a simple answer. But nothing about Bulma and Vegeta's relationship had ever been simple, and Gohan was at an honest loss on how to respond. He held no knowledge of them ever having an actual wedding, nor did either of them wear wedding bands. But they did refer to each other as husband and wife, and they had been in relationship with each other for over ten years. Eight of which were good!
"I honestly don't know," Gohan finally said, refusing to meet her gaze. Before Bulma could get another word in, the teenager held up a hand to silence her. "Look, your love life is an area that I am hardly the right person to be asking about. You've never actually talked that much to me about things that didn't involve science or my dad doing something stupid, and that's okay. It just means that I'm the wrong one to be talking to about that subject."
Bulma rose what little eyebrow she had at his statement. "Well, wouldn't you at least know if I got married?" she asked. "I mean, who gets married without telling anyone?"
"People keep all kinds of things to themselves," Gohan defended. "After all, I was four and a half before you even knew I had been born, let alone that my dad was expecting his first kid."
"Touché," the heiress consented. Knowing that she wasn't likely to get any more information from the clearly stressed out boy, she decided to change topics. "So, I hear that you've got a girlfriend. I bet she's a cutie," she said with a wink.
Gohan, while embarrassed about talking his own love life, was just grateful for the subject change. "Yeah, she is," he answered, scratching the back of his head in classic Son fashion.
"So tell me everything about her," Bulma practically squealed, getting comfy again on the bedspread. "Come on, I've got twelve years of gossip to catch up on. Don't keep me waiting!"
…
It was 8:32 in the evening when Bulma was healed. It was 8:33 when Vegeta felt the overwhelming urge to fly to back home as hard and as fast as he could. He had felt Bulma's energy level rise swiftly and dramatically, and he knew what that meant: she was healed.
Trunks had noticed only seconds after his father did, and had perked up instantly. Father and son exchanged a swift glance at each other before abandoning their meal and taking to the sky in two golden blazes.
At 8:34, Goku figured out what was going on as he sensed two Super Saiyan powers making a beeline for Capsule Corp. Abandoning his spar with Piccolo mid swing, Goku placed two fingers on his forehead. Even he wasn't fast enough to catch up to Vegeta when the prince had a head start, and he had a terrible feeling that the prince had to be stopped before he reached his destination.
As Goku was preparing to teleport away, Piccolo mentally informed Gohan of the situation, asking if all was well. Gohan had immediately responded, telling his mentor that the heiress still held no memory of the past twelve years. The Namek lunged toward his Saiyan counterpart, and just barely managed to grab on to Goku's shoulder before he phased out of sight. And at 8:35, the met the princes head on.
Piccolo had shoved himself to the side the moment they reappeared and braced his body, knowing that it was going to hurt like hell when the younger prince, with all his Super Saiyan energy, collided with him. But Piccolo remained confident that, if nothing else, he could bring the boy to a grinding halt.
And that's exactly what he did.
Goku, on the other hand, knew damn well that he couldn't just 'stop' Vegeta, nor was he dumb enough to try to. With almost no time to gather his bearings, he barely shifted to the left and extended his right arm. Vegeta had been focusing so much on getting to his destination that he didn't even notice Goku until it was too late, and that was exactly what the younger Saiyan was counting on. Goku grappled on to his prince, spinning both of them as they slammed into the forest ground.
"DAMN IT!" Vegeta hollered, struggling to get up. "The next time a member of your family does that to me, I'm going to kill them!"
"Vegeta, please calm down!" Goku begged, refusing to let go of the grip he had Vegeta completely locked in.
The smaller Saiyan glared up into Goku's eyes. "Kakarot," he growled, "if one more person tells me to calm down, I cannot be held accountable for my actions. I felt it, Kakarot! I felt her heal! Now get your fucking arms off of me and let me see her!" Vegeta ascended to level two, trying to force his way out of the grip.
Goku wasn't even a second behind in his own ascension. He quietly thanked Dende that Piccolo had tagged along to help. He was having a hard enough time restraining Vegeta alone. He wasn't sure he could have kept the temperamental prince at bay and restrained Trunks at the same time.
"Vegeta, I don't think you should go over there just yet," Goku calmly grit out, not caring for the struggle his captive was putting up.
"Why the hell not?" Vegeta grunted, refusing to give up his fight.
"Because she doesn't remember you," Piccolo's voice shouted from above.
Both Saiyans snapped their heads up. While Goku had been somewhat thinking about that, he had really come to stop Vegeta's seemingly ballistic flight out of instinct. He had never seriously thought that his oldest friend wouldn't remember. His arms loosened up, allowing Vegeta the perfect opportunity to get away.
But Vegeta did not take it. He was so stunned by the news that he powered down, staring blankly into Goku's chest as once again he had no idea how to handle his emotions. He seemed vaguely aware of the fact that Piccolo had knocked Trunks out, and a small part of him was grateful that the boy hadn't heard that news.
That part was dwarfed, though, by the burning sensation in his chest that he had spent almost three weeks repressing. All the stress, all the turmoil, all the pain and agony that his family had been going through finally felt like it was about to swallow him whole. He tilted his head to the side, not far enough to actually look at Piccolo, but just enough to let him know that he was being addressed.
"Take the boy to Kakarot's house," he calmly stated, his unseeing eyes seemingly fixed on a random tree. "If he wakes up before I return, tell him to remain there until I come for him."
While the Namek wanted to know where the prince would be returning from, he didn't dare argue with him at the moment. It was more than obvious that the Prince of Saiyan's was about to snap, and Piccolo knew that he had to remove Trunks from the vicinity immediately.
Slowly moving his head so that he was once again facing Goku's chest, Vegeta spoke once more. "Kakarot, if I can lock on to the energy of someone, could you teleport me there?" he quietly asked.
Goku let go of the prince entirely and took a step back. There was something about Vegeta's voice that just sent shivers down his spine, and it took him a moment to figure out what it was. Normally, when Vegeta was only slightly agitated and chose to keep his voice level, it was low and gravelly. But when Vegeta had first come to the Earth, when he was still evil, his voice was slightly higher, and had more of a rasp than anything else. And Vegeta's tone was just as it had been thirteen years earlier, with barely hidden insanity that had once consumed the prince.
"I…maybe," Goku finally answered. "You would have to let me read your mind though, Vegeta."
"That's fine," the prince replied, his eyes still blank and his voice still raspy. "I will permit you into my mind just far enough to know where we are going."
Goku took another step back. "Vegeta," he softly said, "can you at least tell me where you want me to take you?"
"Far away from the Earth," the prince distantly replied. "That is all you need to know."
The younger Saiyan swallowed hard. He had a bad feeling about letting Vegeta go wherever it was he wanted to go, but just as Piccolo had seen earlier, it was obvious that Vegeta was only minutes away from completely losing it. With a shaky hand, he put a hand on his prince's shoulder and raised two fingers to his forehead. "Have…have you found the energy signal you need?"
Vegeta mutely nodded, and allowed the younger man only far enough into his psyche to sense that one energy. The prince never even blinked as the world began to dissolve around him as Kakarot took him far, far away from his adopted home.
…
When they landed, Goku immediately let go of Vegeta and looked around. The world before him was disgusting. Everything seemed to be tinted a sickly shade of greenish yellow from the polluted sky. Crowded streets were filled with beggars, whores, and creatures that looked like they were engaged in seedy activity. From where he was standing, Goku could see nearly a dozen people injecting various drugs into their bodies, not caring at all that everyone could see them.
"What is this place?" he asked, coughing from the heavy, foul air.
Vegeta tilted his head to the side as he vaguely remembered the details of the world they stood on. "A rest stop on the way to hell," he replied. "There's nothing here but thieves, whores, and criminals. Every activity that one can do here is abominable. This is the homeland of sin."
A sinking feeling formed in Goku's stomach, dreading the answer to his next question. "Then why are we here?" he quietly asked.
He had no time to prepare for the powerful blast that suddenly tore through the packed crowds. People screamed and tried to flee as poorly constructed buildings went up in flames and the scent of burning corpses began to fill the air.
"Because I need this," hissed the prince, releasing a second blast into the crowd. His eyes flashed teal, but he still had not ascended.
Goku stood back, horrified at what he saw. "No," he whispered. "Vegeta, please don't do this…"
A third blast destroyed almost all that was left in the area, and Vegeta took to the skies, heading for his next victims. Wasting no time at all, he tore through the shanty town he had located, causing as much carnage and chaos as he could. He was so consumed with tearing the world apart that he barely felt the fist slam the side of his head.
"STOP THIS!" Goku screamed, already in stage two. "STOP THIS RIGHT NOW!"
But the prince did not stop. He didn't even slow down. It was almost as if Vegeta couldn't hear him. He simply continued to tear people apart and set their world ablaze. Goku struck the prince again, once more sending him flying, but it didn't help. Vegeta couldn't feel the pain from the blow. Instead, he used the momentum to send himself through a still standing shelter.
Tears began pouring down Goku's face as he flew after the prince. He wasn't sure why Vegeta hadn't powered up yet, but he planned on using it to his advantage. Racing as fast as he could, Goku opened his arms and once again trapped the prince in his grip.
Vegeta didn't even falter. Still able to move his arms below the elbow, he used one hand to jerk the back of Goku's pants down only a few inches as the other dug hard fingers into his tail scar, releasing a jolting energy. Goku howled in pain and collapsed, passing out from the pain. The poor Earth raised Saiyan had never thought that Vegeta would use that one vulnerability in a fight.
But this was not the Vegeta that Goku knew.
Almost an hour later, Goku found himself being kicked gently in the ribs. The tall Saiyan groaned as he slowly opened his eyes, his nose scrunching is disgust at the pungent odor around him. Suddenly, his eyes snapped open as he remembered where he was and what was going on. He frantically looked around, and was horrified at what he saw.
The entire planet seemed to be on fire. There was nothing but flames and corpses as far as the eye could see. The greenish yellow sky had taken on a violent orange and black tint as the flames and smoke rose higher and higher. Dismembered and charred body parts lined the streets, and the only sound that could be heard was the fire ravishing the lands.
Nothing had survived.
Shaking with every movement, Goku staggered to his feet before he saw his prince beside him. Vegeta, who had left his house seventy minutes earlier completely clean in khaki pants and a blue shirt, was covered in blood and gore. The blank look in his eye was gone as he looked at the younger Saiyan. "We can go now," he quietly said, his voice back to normal.
"What did you do?" Goku whispered, unable to tear his eyes from the scene before him.
Vegeta glanced to the side, watching the world burn. "Calming down," he simply stated, giving a mild shrug with his words.
Horrified, Goku looked at his prince. "By murdering people?" he asked. "By massacring and entire planet?"
Again, Vegeta simply shrugged. "So I blew off a little steam," he casually replied. "What's the big deal?"
This time, Vegeta did feel it as Goku's fist collided with his cheek. "FUCK!" he yelled, grabbing his face. "What the hell was that for?"
Tears once again began to roll down Goku's cheeks as he stared at his companion. "You don't even care?" he hoarsely whispered. "You annihilated every living thing on a planet, and you really don't care?"
Still rubbing his sore cheek, Vegeta knew damn well that he owed Kakarot an explanation. After all, if not for the younger man, Vegeta would have been unable to even reach this world in the first place. "Look, Kakarot," he calmly said, "I know that you like to think that every life is precious, and that everyone in the universe has redeeming qualities, but that's not even remotely true. I had you bring me here because I have been to this world before, and I knew what it was. No one here was ever going to do good with their lives. You don't come here to live. You come here to die. The only creatures that set foot on this planet are ones who already know that there is no hope left in life." Again, the prince offered a small shrug of consideration. "Really, I just sped the process along."
Goku shook his head, still in a state of disbelief. "Then why were you here?" he croaked out. "How could you have been here if the only people who set foot on the world are ones that want to die? Hell, when were you here?"
Vegeta looked back at the burning world and bit his tongue. That was one part of his life that he could never tell anyone, not even Bulma. Never would he let any of them know that there had been a time in his life where all hope had seemed lost, and that there wasn't a point in trying anymore.
And he certainly would never tell them that it was just after the battle on Namek.
"I am no longer a threat to your world. Just take us back to Earth," he quietly asked, looking again at the younger man. "I have a son I need to look after."
Nodding along shakily, Goku placed two fingers on his forehead and signaled for the prince to come near. Taking one last glance and the now dead planet, Goku felt two more tears grace his face.
Armageddon had never looked so real…
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