Chapter 3:

Audax Regis

She followed the maid through the palace, to the dining room were King Vegeta, her hostage taker, or, as he liked to call it, 'host', was waiting impatiently for her. She walked through the long corridors, through the high halls and over numerous staircases, she came across paintings, statues, mirrors.. oh so many mirrors. Videl genuinely admitted the castle was an extraordinary beautiful place, but it lacked the warmth and coziness that would have made it somewhat like home. The grandeur, the impeccability, the sheer size of it made the palace an extremely distant and cold place. But something else lingered in this place.

The marble statues looked like real people, but at the same time held an empty, almost death expression, sending chills down her spine by the mere sight of them. The men on the paintings always seemed to be watching you, no matter in which angle you looked at them… never turning their gaze away.

And then the mirrors. There was always one in each room, and several in the big halls. They reflected the light of the chandeliers, the glistering of the gold and silver, the ever shining marble. But they seemed to be different. All the mirrors in the castle were different than normal ones, even the man's height mirror in her own room. They always seemed to reflect things somewhat darker than they were. Even the Ivory Lady, with her white attire and make-up, was gray in those mirrors. Literally gray. Whiteness became grayness, like the reflections were always a little bit darker than reality.

And then the incredible size of the castle! Every sound of movement, every swish of clothing, every footstep on the marbled floor echoed through the space of the large rooms, and they repeated and repeated themselves, until she couldn't help but look behind, to see if she wasn't followed by something other than her own sound.

The palace summoned feelings inside of her. Fear was inspired by the ever watching eyes of the statues and paintings, confusion by the mirrors that always reflected reality a little darker than she was used to, suspicion by the echoes that followed her through the entire palace.

There were dark secrets in that palace, a silent force that she could not comprehend. Something very deep, profound, mysterious was hidden under all this distant beauty, something that, quite frankly, scared the shit out of her.

She could only hope that she would never be alone in the palace at night. She could keep her head cool during the day, when the rooms were lit up by the sunlight, but she could imagine that she would completely lose it in that place when she couldn't depend on her vision any more. No, she'd rather be locked in her room than be alone in the darkness of these halls.

Eventually Videl and the maid reached the dining room, where two guards were standing on each side of the two-door entrance. At the sight of the Ivory Lady, they bowed ever so slightly and they opened the two doors. Videl cautiously walked through them. She wasn't surprised when she saw that the dining room was very opulent and beautiful, yet cold and distant.

There, at the head of the table, tabbing his fingers impatiently on the top, was King Vegeta, who observed her curiously, and yet in whose eyes lay something she could only call ominous.

"It is rude to keep your host waiting." He stated after the guards had closed the doors of the room.

"It is also rude to keep people as a hostage." She replied venomously, while she looked upon the King with contempt. He was after all the one who kept her there, who humiliated her with his power over her and who stole the freedom she had been denied of her entire life. She had every reason to loath him.

However, the King couldn't care less. He had her completely under his power and she couldn't do anything about it.

"Do not see yourself as hostage." He began with a smirk while Videl took place on the other side of the table. "See yourself as my guest."

"A guest who is forced to stay here for an uncertain amount of time." She sneered back.

"Come, come… you really have nothing to complain about. You are treated as an honour guest."

"Do you always treat your guests this way? Locking them in their room, putting them under constant supervision? Even at night?!" By now, the mere sight of the King smirking boldly at her made her seethe. How she would just love to wipe that arrogant smirk off his face. But instead of slapping him right across the face, she kept her cool and without permission she collected food on her plate, as breakfast was stalled on the table already.

"I thought you'd like some company." He replied as he too started to eat his breakfast.

"Some company… The man that keeps me company is someone I have never seen before!" Videl huffed.

"And that's for good reason…" Vegeta mumbled before he took a sip of his tea, gaining a suspicious eye from the princess who had heard the barely comprehendible mutter. She, however, chose to ignore it. She wouldn't give him the satisfaction of talking about it when she desperately wanted to know who guarded her.

"Why have I been called here?" She started instead, disgust very evidently on her white face as she saw her 'host' eating his breakfast. For a King he had lousy table manners.

"I wanted to enlighten you with news about your father." He replied between the baits. To her dismay, she immediately shot her gaze at Vegeta and she unconsciously looked at him wide-eyed, with a glint of hope in her blue orbs. The King saw this and after he stopped eating and wiped the corners of his mouth with his napkin, a smug smile appeared on his rough face. Videl growled and scolded at herself for looking to eager for Vegeta to continue, and she averted her eyes from his and started to stare absently at the tablecloth.

"I have sent four messages in which I have made my demands clear. He hasn't responded to any of them." He drawled as he tentatively watched Videl's reaction, which didn't come as she still stared at the tablecloth, an blank expression on her face.

"It has been over four months since your abduct, Princess. I would let you go, if only your father conceded my demands." Having said that, he finally summoned a reaction in her, because a frown appeared under the layer of make-up while she clenched her teeth.

"And what are your demands, if I may…?" She asked through her clenched teeth.

"He grants me the victory and the Saiyans will win this war. We will go into history as the absolute victor. Furthermore Earth shall pay 987 billion in gold bars to Vegeta, it will have to retrieve all our former colonies plus a few of its planets its conquered from us, it will not be allowed to keep an army consisting of more that three million men and a fleet of 51 starships and it has to surrender half of its asteroid mining facilities, as well as taking the full blame for this entire war." Vegeta stated in a monotonous voice.

Videl immediately jumped up from her seat and looked at the King with eyes that could spit fire.

"Are you out of your mind?!" She started yelling vehemently. "How could my father ever concede those preposterous demands?! They are way to severe and you know it!"

"It as always been this way, little girl." Vegeta mocked, empathizing the last two words. "But I guess you wouldn't know that. Perhaps you should learn more about politics, before you jump to your conclusions. I know your father would have demanded the same things as I do if I were in his shoes. Would you deem them as severe if it were the other way around? I think not."

"I doesn't matter anyway!" She yelled with tears of anger in her eyes. "My father would never comply with those demands. NEVER!"

"Not even for his precious daughter?"

Ouch… that was a stab in her heart. She hoped she was wrong. She hoped that she was awfully wrong and that her father was writing a message to Vegeta this moment to comply with those demands so that she could go free. Otherwise, who knew what would happen? Perhaps she had to spend the rest of her life here… perhaps, even, the King would discard her. Perhaps he would kill her…

NO! No, she would keep faith. She would return eventually, they would set her free eventually. And if they didn't, she would seize her freedom herself…

"Your wishes, King, shall never be granted." She said as she tried to remain calm, but her breaking voice proved that she was anything but. She sent a ferocious glare to Vegeta, before she turned around and walked out of the room fast-paced.

Vegeta, who had remained calm this entire confrontation, watched her with a thoughtful expression on his face as she went. When she had closed the door with a slam, he kept on thinking and musing about the next course of action. One thing was certain, however: the princess must never escape if he wanted to end this war. After all, she couldn't succeed her father if she was kept here. The house of Satan would have no heir when it was time for the heir to claim the throne. An absent person could never take the crown.

With that though crawling into his mind, he raised his ki slightly and he waited patiently.

After a few minutes, the doors revealed a young man, unmistakably a Saiyan as he had a furry tail curled around his slim waist. The young man closed the door behind him and when he turned around he looked at the King with a stern expression.

"You signaled, my lord?" He said as he stood upright before his King.

"Yes." Vegeta confirmed as he rose from his chair and started to walk up to the young Saiyan. "You have been keeping a close eye on our captive, and I can only commend you for it. But I have to ask one more thing of you."

"Anything for my King." The Saiyan replied faithfully.

"When guarding her, don't loose her out of your sight for one moment. Watch her every second of the night. During the night she is most likely to escape. We must keep her here by all means… For the sake of the homeland." The King demanded decisively.

"She won't escape. I guarantee that." The Saiyan replied confidently.

"Good!" The King replied as he lay a hand on the young man's shoulder. "I have immense faith in you…"

He squeezed his shoulder a bit as he looked at him with confidence.

"…Gohan"

The young man called Gohan smirked at the king.

"You won't be disappointed." He stated equally confident, causing the King to smirk as well.

"Excellent. Go rest now, you will need all you can get."

And with a bow, Gohan left the room again, leaving the King by himself. When he was gone Vegeta's smirk disappeared and it made place for a concerned frown.

If anyone could handle her, it was Gohan. He had the strength, he had the concentration, he had the precision and he had the resourcefulness to retrieve her if she ever managed to escape.

Yes, Gohan was perfect for the job. He was the only praetorian who could keep his head cool in situations like this, who could restrain himself from raping her if his hormones got to him, the only person who was skillful enough not to be seen by her.

The only way to truly frighten her, and to let her give up all hope, was to drive her insane… She would hate Gohan, oh she would hate him so much. But it didn't matter. As long as she feared it didn't matter. And the only way she could fear him, was when she was completely powerless… when he remained the Praetorian of Darkness.

He could only hope that Gohan wouldn't fall for her. It would be the end of all.

Little did he know however, that had already happened…