It Never Ends
C-22
Soyna's view.
Goten lay gasping on the floor. Vegeta glowered down at him. "Don't you even dare think of pulling another stunt like that again. Next time, I will remove your head from your body!"
He held his throat. He hadn't seen it coming. He was being cautious, as he knew that he had upset him with tearing off her shirt and all. Junior hadn't been mad at him. He just laughed. "I should be the least of your worries. You pissed off my sister and Vegeta. I don't need to get upset. I'm the mild mannered one, remember."
He thought that was a good sign until he felt his throat being nearly crushed by Vegeta. He was totally unprepared for the attack and was stunned by the ferocity of it.
He wasn't even supposed to spar with Soyna today, not that he would probably get too, he was supposed to be studying today.
Junior laughed lightly and offered a hand to help him up. "You are getting off so easy," he said. "If he had saw you last night, you would be surely dead."
He grunted. Damn, his throat hurt. Getting off easy? He hardly thought so. He knew that Vegeta would be hunting him down and would most likely hurt him again for tearing off her shirt. It didn't matter that he didn't mean too. She MEANT to tear off his Gi. Why wasn't he getting mad at her? He didn't mean to see her without her shirt. She PURPOUSLY tore off his clothes!
He should be mad at her. But then, he did taunt her. He was asking for some sort of retaliation. He never thought it would be something like what she did. It was after all, Soyna, he was sparring with. She was usually such a serious fighter.
He groaned as he stood beside Junior and coughed. Junior was still chuckling at him.
Usually she was such a serious fighter, indeed.
............
Trunk's was in a bad mood and he could see that so was his father.
His reasons for being in a bad mood was the fact that everyone seemed to be against him seeing Pan, even Pan herself, who was always busy with her training or school or sleeping.
And the fact that when he sneaked into her room last night, he could hardly get a response out of her! She just mumbled in her sleep and cuddled with him. She told him to be quiet or he would wake up everyone.
He didn't know why his father was in a bad mood but he could take a wild guess. He knew that it was about Goten and Soyna. It had to be.
He himself thought the situation was quite funny actually. Soyna didn't seem too upset. But then, he didn't understand why she was so important to his father. He never asked or pushed the question. He knew that he wouldn't get an answer out of him anyway.
He was not happy with his forced separation from Pan. He did not like that at all. She seemed to want him around, but then she would fall right asleep! Things would have worked out so much better if dad hadn't found them in bed together.
He wondered if that was another reason, he was in a bad mood?
A blow in the jaw forced him to concentrate on the battle again. His father was not holding back and he was about too let him take the advantage today.
............
Bulma smiled as she looked at Soyna.
She knew that Vegeta was quite upset with her and Goten over their last sparing match. Everyone else thought it was funny.
Poor Goten looked so nervous walking around the house, and he had every reason to be. She saw the venom in Vegeta's eyes when she laughed about Benot running into the house crying out that they were 'sparing naked' in the back yard. How she quickly donned her tattered shirt to try to silence Benot and how quickly the anger flared in her husband.
She wished she had a camera.
Soyna was watching Trunks and Vegeta fighting. They both looked frustrated and they both looked like they were not really concentrating on each other. They were fighting, but more like going through the motions of frustration.
She was still holding that batter brochure in her hands. Bulma had seen her staring at it a lot lately. She knew that the new tournament seemed be offering a grand amount of money. She also knew that is now why she was entering. She said, she was doing it for her boys, but she was hiding something from them all about it.
She could see it.
"Everyone is tense around here today," Bulma said and was shocked to see her jump slightly. Soyna was usually the one that startled her.
She looked over at her. She folded the brochure and put it in her back pocket.
"Are you okay?"
"Fine," she whispered.
"You sure. You look like you need to tell me something," Bulma said. She was going to find out what she was hiding today, whether she liked it or not.
She turned her head to the side. "No." She was going to walk away. Like she always did.
"I can see something is bothering you. Why won't you tell me what it is?" Bulma said. "At least tell Legen. He worries so much about you."
She stopped and sighed. "The tournament is coming soon and I don't know what will happen there."
"What do you mean? You are stronger than any other woman on this planet! You will win!" Bulma said.
She smiled. "That is not one of my worries."
"Then what!" Bulma said. "I am not letting you out of my sight, until you tell me. I will be such a pest and you know I can be! What are you worried about at the tournament? Is there anything I can do?"
"There is nothing that can be done. I have told you all before, I shall take care of this fight." She said.
Bulma stared at the woman that was her granddaughter. What was she implying with that? Take care of what fight? She couldn't mean that...!!
"You can't fight alone!" Bulma said. "You have Vegeta and Trunks and Goten and..."
"It is MY fight!" She yelled. "I will kill him!"
"Why didn't you tell any of us!" Bulma yelled.
She grit her teeth. "It is MY FIGHT! I can't help if you are all blind and can't read any of the signs."
"I won't let you fight alone! They nearly killed you last time!"" Bulma said. "What if they kill you? What about your boys!"
"I AM doing this for them!" She snapped. "I will do what has to be done so that they don't have to suffer!"
"Quit being so stubborn!" Bulma roared back.
She growled. "I will do what HAS to be done."
"Even if it kills you!" Bulma yelled at her. "How stupid is that! We can all help you!"
Soyna stormed out of the room.
Bulma sighed. This didn't look good.
...............
Vegeta growled. Why was the woman stopping their match? Damn it, she should know better. Of course, after hearing what she said made him even angrier. Did she ever plan on telling them that Krad was the one putting on this tournament? She was going to get herself killed! How did she know that he was going to be there? How could she?
"Where did she go?" Vegeta growled.
Bulma didn't know.
Vegeta growled. He couldn't feel her. She was hiding from them. She didn't want to be found. He really wished he knew how she did that.
...............
"She will come back on her own!" Vegeta grumbled. "No point wasting our time looking for her."
Junior collapsed into his chair with a look of defeat. "I wish she would have told us that she knew he was coming and this tournament was his way of testing us."
Goten bit his lip. He knew where she went, but he didn't dare say anything. He had promised her that he would not tell anyone where she went to be alone. He was sure that was all she wanted to do, was be alone.
He felt the uneasy gaze of Vegeta on him. As if it were his fault that she was gone.
"Krad," Trunks whispered. "I was hoping we wouldn't have to deal with him again."
"Well, he already know that there are Saiyians here. You didn't tell him that your father was Vegeta?"
Trunks shook his head. "It was not something that we brought up. Why?"
"When he found out in my time, he was rather perturbed, to say the least," Junior sighed. "He was upset about some grudge about taking over a planet that was supposed to be his or something stupid like that."
Vegeta looked away and out the window. Goten noticed that he would do that when there was any mention of his former life. The life, when he was the other part of Vegeta that no one talked about anymore.
"I told you, I don't remember any Krad," Vegeta growled.
"It could have been your father," Junior said. "He wasn't specific and we didn't think it was important enough to ask."
Vegeta grunted.
"But we know now that he is going to be at the tournament. We should be more prepared that we already are," Trunks said.
"No you don't!" Bulma interrupted. "You are not getting out of going to work to enter into some tournament. There are enough of you to take care of him, without you running my company into the ground!"
"Mom," Trunk's whined. "But..."
"Don't you talk back to me!" Bulma snapped. "Soyna is adamant enough that no one should get in her way of destroying Krad. She will have Vegeta there and Junior and Goten. There will be other there. Marron is competing and so is her mother. I don't think that they will any problems taking care of them. You both know that they like to use a sneak attack. Well, they lost that now, don't you think!"
Trunks looked defeated.
"Don't you have to be leaving now?" Vegeta growled.
Goten jumped. It was directed at him. He nodded, "Yeah, I should get home. I guess it's going to be a rough month."
From the look on Vegeta's face, he was certain that it was going to be a rough month indeed.
............
Goten didn't go straight home. He knew that he should let her brood in peace.
But he went to that little piece of paradise that he had saw her nearly crying in. He didn't need to feel her to know that she was there. He just knew that she was.
When he landed, he tried to be as quiet as possible. He didn't want to upset her further.
She was leaning against the tree, her back to him. "Go away." She said when he started to walk towards her.
"Everyone is worried about you," he said and kept walking towards her. "I didn't tell anyone about this place, but I thought I would check on you."
She turned. She looked angry.
"Get lost! I come here to be alone!" She snapped. "I don't need you around!"
"Bulma told us what you said about Krad," he said. "You don't have to fight alone."
She rolled her eyes. "I know that I don't HAVE to fight alone. But I want too! I am not giving any of you any choice in the matter!" She moved away from the tree. "He is mine to kill. He destroyed everything that was valuable to me!"
He stood there and stared at her for a bit. How was he going to respond to that?
"Now! Leave me alone! I need so peace before I go back home. I do not want to get angry at my children!" She yelled.
"You never told us how he hurt you," Goten said. "You just said that he killed your husband. What else did he do?"
Her eyes grew wide for a moment. She was startled by his question. What else did he do to her? What was she not telling them?
"What aren't you telling us!" he spoke his thoughts.
"It is none of your concern!" She growled.
"I think it is!" He said. "You can't run away everything there is a painful question."
"I am not running!"
"Then why do you come here all the time!" he yelled back. "You hide here! You can't hide from me! So tell me, or I will not leave you alone!"
Her eyes narrowed.
"Tell me!" Goten demanded. "What did he do to you?"
She looked like she was going to defy him and not say anything, but then she let out a sigh. "I don't like to even remember those times."
"You obviously are dwelling on them." He said.
She shrugged. "Maybe I do," she said. "It keeps me focused on the hatred that I feel for Krad. Instead of my husband." Her voice a whisper.
"What?" This is not what he expected to hear at all.
She sat down cross-legged in the dirt. She looked up at him. "Do you want to hear this or not?"
He sat down in front of her and then waited for her to start to talk.
............
He didn't interrupt her as she spoke in a low soft voice that was full of sadness. He knew about the hope that Krad had brought them. She elaborated and told him that they were planning on helping them plant new crops and build new cities. Make life on earth, back to the way that it once was and even better.
Right from the beginning they were plotting to separate Soyna and her husband. "I so trusted Krad and his generals. I had no idea that the only reason she was there was to try to seduce my husband away from me and draw me towards him. The death of my father was part of that too."
She had sighed heavily. "I spent all my time, trying to nurse my father back to health, even risking my own health with the children in my stomach. This was time that one of Krad's generals moved into comfort my husband." She sighed heavily. "She wasn't even that pretty, but he still went to her."
He could hear the pain in her voice as she mentioned this. "Krad wanted, not just my children for his army, but me. Especially when they found out how strong we all were as compared to the saiyians they used to fight. He did not know that I got my saiyian blood from my father, after all purple hair and blue eyes are not a saiyian trait that you see very often. He thought I must have got that blood from my mother who was no longer around. He wanted to push me away from my family. Make him trust him."
She took a long deep breath.
"It almost worked too."
He sat in silence. He could see how hard this was for her to say. It was almost killing her by how uncomfortable she looked.
"When I saw... that," she sighed. "I lost control. My father..." she paused here, "even as sick as he was, stopped me from loosing complete control. He felt how angry I was. He could hardly walk, never mind stand, but he came to me." Her voice grew even softer. "It was my fault that he died because he had to come rescue me from myself. If he would have stayed in bed. If only he would have stayed in bed."
She blamed herself for her father death. Her eyes were watering again. She blamed herself.
"He nearly died that day because of me!" She said angrily. "He was so ill after holding me back from nearly destroying both my husband and that wretched woman. I got her later though. She was one of the first that I killed when Krad showed his true colors."
Did Junior know about this betrayal? Brennen, in the past, had only been mentioned in good light. Did she just do that for the sake of the boys? When they said that Brennen saved them, were they just saying that?
"My father died three weeks later," she whispered. "I would talk to no one but Junior until Krad pushed himself into my life. He showed up when I buried dad here," she said looking at the earth beneath the big tree. "Everyone else stayed back from me. Brennen still did not dare to approach me. But Krad did. I still get angry at how easily he manipulated me!" Her fist punched the dirt, raising a could of dust. "He offered me a shoulder to cry on and I took it over the members of my own family!"
"I was almost glad to see that it hurt Brennen."
"It took another week before I found out what Krad's true plan was when I refused his offer on going with him into space to join his army, my children and myself. I was still not talking to Brennen but I was contemplating it as he had not seen that woman since I caught him."
"Krad lost his temper and in his anger betrayed his plan to me by saying that he would poison my brother too, if I did not go with him."
"That is when I saw him for the man that he was and saw how scheming he was," she said angrily. "How he so easily manipulated us all. He misjudged me though. He did not realize my strength. Being just a woman, he thought I would be easy to control, and if he controlled me, he could control my brother. Especially with our father gone. He didn't know how wrong he was. He thought that I was dependent on the men in my life. He didn't realize that I was not dependent on them. I just loved them and they cared for me. I didn't need them to live, as he thought. He thought that I only fought for fun. He didn't know how devastated the androids were to the planet and how father wanted to be prepared, just in case. He misread me rather badly, in that area."
"I forgave Brennen for what he had done. After all, it was a trained seductress that he sent after him," she sighed. "Well, I partial forgave him. I was still angry at him but I was willing to look at him as we prepared to drive Krad off of our earth."
"I did not count on the whip being poisoned. Father was not poisoned in such a way. He was given it, in drink form. He didn't even know about it until a couple of hours after he drank it."
"They may not be strong, but they had the technology and I, being the last fighter left, was not in the greatest shape to fight him. I was so large with child, that I got rid of some of the lower army and that wretched woman, but I couldn't get to Krad as much as I wanted too."
"We were guarding our house, with the modified time capsule in it. Krad pulled out his whip and did this big speech thing about, how does it feel the be the last of a dead race, crap. I taunted him and then he lunged that whip at me. I didn't even dodge it. I realized that I should have when it hurt. A simple leather whip wouldn't hurt. I felt the pain almost instantly and the weakness immediately."
"Junior came to rescue me. He stood in front of me. You must understand, that he was only a ten year old boy then. He was not as big as he is now, he was almost even scrawny for a kid. But he stood in front of me and he fought off a couple of the fighters, until one, sprayed that poison in his eyes. I know that he sometimes blames himself for not training and being strong enough to protect me."
"I had regained some of my strength and was able to scoop up my brother and drag up both back into the house. Brennen and grandma were there. They had the capsule ready to go."
"I don't remember what happened to grandma. I really don't. I think she was using one of their own weapons against them. I do know that Brennen threw us into the capsule and randomly punched in numbers. I know that he was able to..."
She stood suddenly.
"I am here now!" She said defiantly. "I won't let him even be able to think about having any of us for his precious army and he won't be allowed to have this planet!"
He sat still as she started to pace.
"Tell me what happened," he said. "Maybe then, your nightmares will stop."
She gave him a glare and continued to pace.
"Brennen had time to bandage my brother and my wounds. It was quick. The whole time, he was talking and I was listening." Her hands went into tight fists. "The last thing he did was say that he was sorry about hurting me and gave me a kiss, before they broke in!"
"I couldn't even speak to him! I couldn't say anything as he punched the last numbers in the console and the lid began to close. He was dragged out. I didn't see him die, but I know that it was not a pleasant death."
"What did you want to say to him?" Goten asked. He knew this was the key part of the story for her. The reason for her fury.
She stopped her pacing. "I know that he didn't sleep with that creature," her voice was that soft whisper again. "I know that I just caught a stolen kiss. I know that he loved me. He saved me and Junior from certain death. I never got to tell him that I was sorry."
She turned her back to him.
Goten stood and gently put his hands on her shoulders. Trying to comfort her. He heard a brief sob, she was trying hard not to cry. She was reliving it, as she was telling him the story. He was almost sorry that he had asked.
"I'm sorry," he said. "That was really none of my business."
He was not expecting what came next. She turned around and pushed herself into him. Her arms pushing against his belly and her head resting against his chest. He instinctively wrapped his arms around her.
She wasn't really crying. She was just standing there in his arms. Smelling her hair and strong scent that was bringing thoughts that he knew that he shouldn't have into his head. Not right now anyway.
He held her for about five minutes.
"Soyna?" he asked as she pulled away. She looked drained and tired. Weak, almost.
She didn't look at him. She looked at the ground.
"Are you going to be okay?" he asked. He took a step forward, hoping that he could hold her again.
She looked up with the saddest green eyes that he had ever seen before. "I cannot go through that heart destroying time again, Goten. It will destroy me." She began to levitate now. "I am going home to be with my family. You go be with yours."
He watched her go and was tempted to follow, but thought better of it. He went home to his family with the painful story running through his head.
.............
A/N
Now, we understand Soyna a little bit better. She is opening up a little, isn't she.
Hopefully the next chapter will be out soon, for all my hungry fans. What twist will I add next? Heh?
Soyna