Bulma watched horrified as the wormhole collapsed. Shocked, fuming, and terrified, she screamed at Vegeta like a madwoman.
Why did you do that? Why would you do that!?
He grunted quietly to himself and let her rant inside his head unopposed. When he's satisfied the wormhole has been completely obliterated, he stood on the threshold of the ramp a few minutes more to watch the dying sparkles of color fade like a dispersing nebulous cloud. When nothing more to see remained, he stepped back inside the ship, closed the ramp, and allowed it to seal behind him. As he returned to the bridge, he rubbed his wrist idly, trying to put feeling back into his fingertips. He had almost overdone the blast that destroyed the wormhole – the implosion had come very close to destroying his ship along with the space anomaly.
He allowed Bulma to wear herself out, and when she was finally silent, he answered her.
Did you want another of Freeza's ships to follow them through? They can defend themselves from a single pod. They cannot defend themselves against an army of pods.
She knew he was right, but she was still upset.
We can never follow them. And they can never come back… She whispered.
He didn't know what to say so he remained silent. Instead, he punched in coordinates to the meteor. Rendezvousing with the other ship was meaningless, now. Even if they recognized it was he in the strange ship and allowed him to dock, theirs was a cargo ship that had been captured long ago. It was scarred by use and battle, and it was ancient. Even in this solo ship, Vegeta would be able to return to the meteor much quicker. Something told him he needed to get there fast… much faster than he would be capable of even in the ship he had stolen.
There was nothing more he could do; the ship he had taken was the best out of limited options and he had entered the most direct route that wouldn't kill him on the way. He scrutinized the path he had chosen. Shouldn't kill me on the way, he amended.
Bulma heard what he had said to himself – what he had thought was said to himself - and started squawking at him again… Something about just having lost a planet and all the people she had ever known and loved in one day, and then something about refusing to stand idly by and watch literally the last being she knew in the known universe kill himself.
He sighed and tried as best he could to ignore her. He had chosen this, he reminded himself.
And if he were completely honest….
He didn't mind.
It was annoying and completely ridiculous – but it wasn't intolerable. After the confusion, fear, and utter nothingness he had felt when she had withdrawn from him – and worse, the near shattering of their minds when he had almost lost control of his ki - he welcomed her presence in any form.
Even if she was a ridiculous human with overdone displays of emotion that flipped flopped in every direction from moment to moment.
Gently pushing and holding her voice to the side, he considered. She likely had fallen back to her more human traits of over-talking and unfocused emotion because of their almost break of mind-to-mind contact. It had shaken him as well, he could admit – to himself.
But, he wondered, if she had fallen back to her old human ways as a result, did that mean he was more like himself before she had corrupted his thinking? He wondered how long it would take before he unknowingly yet completely pissed her off without even trying…..
He grinned.
He put his feet up on the consul and tilted the chair back. He had a few days before he would reach the last known location of the meteor. It was a free falling object and even after calculating its anticipated travels, he would likely have to hunt for it before finding it. That was part of the genius of being on an object that was forever moving. Even when you knew to look for it and had a relative idea where to start, it was still difficult to pin point.
Vegeta had an advantage, though. He had mental contact with one of the passengers, and could thus sense her ki from thousands of kilometers away. Even from here – half a galaxy away – he could tell in what general direction she was.
It was inconceivably calming – and the closer he got to her, the more he felt his tension fade.
The ship he had stolen was not provisioned for long space flight. As there was little food, it was a simple decision to allow his body to fall into a semi-stupor. A few days would be enough for most of his broken bones and lacerations to heal. He would have to eat immediately upon his return, but he was unconcerned. In the past year, Bulma had learned to anticipate this need; he often returned from purging Freeza's planets with injuries.
The days drifted by in a timeless haze. He was somewhat aware that he had semi-woken at some point during the trip to correct his flight path. He wasn't certain if that was because the ship had been violently shaking due to its close proximity to a star and had actually roused him, or if Bulma had made him wake. It didn't matter – though it didn't escape him that he was getting better at remembering those things he should be incapable of remembering. Moments of pseudo wakefulness during a healing sleep was one of them.
Drifting again, unaware of time or environment, his body jolted with an electric zap. Painfully and suddenly awake physically, his mind tried to catch up. When his ki refused to flood through his muscles, he was momentarily confused. Another electric zap launched him to his feet. Dropped low in a fighting position, awareness was slow – but when it finally broke through the fog of his stupor, confusion fell away and icy fear took its place.
Outside the view screen, hundreds of asteroids hung in space in clusters like an enormous swarm of lazy, fat bees. Vegeta threw himself at the console and wildly pressed buttons, eyes flying over the numbers and symbols that appeared. He was close to his programmed destination. Dropping into the pilot seat with hands shaking and blood rushing in his ears, he forced himself to take a deep breath and focus.
His eyelids fluttered as he reached out with his senses. Almost immediately, another jolt of electricity twisted its way through his body. He shuddered as the pain coursed through him. Breathing hard, his hands danced over the controls, guiding the ship on an impossible path through the asteroids at a suicidal pace. Desperation fueled his fury and in the same second he saw the right asteroid come into view, he had kicked the hatch off their hinges and launched himself towards it.
Without ki, he couldn't direct or slow his approach. He plummeted to the surface like a screaming falling star, and crashed into the upper crust of rock - and through it - into the caves below. With a terror he had never known fueling a kind of strength he'd never before possessed, he rose from the cascade of caved-in rock caused by his body when he crashed. If there was pain, he did not feel it. Above him and a kilometer away, his ship collided with the asteroid with such force, the entire meteor quaked.
He ran further into the belly of rock, unaware of the cracking ice that had formed a crystalline coating on his clothing and in his hair, or of the dozens of capillaries that had burst in the vacuum of space. He ran until he stood before them – those who had dared to harm her….
Bulma stood naked and chained to the rock overhead. Her wrists were bound above her - torn from shackles that bit into her flesh - and her shoulders strained against her own weight. She sagged against the cold metal cuffs, weakened and bloody and barely able to reach the ground with the tips of her toes.
When he burst into the cavern and saw her dangling there, all his strength evaporated and he fell to his knees. Helpless, he couldn't look away. He deserved this. Not her. This was his world. Things like this happened to him. She… she was the only part of his world that didn't belong in it.
She stumbled and lost her meager footing. It sent her in a slow spin and she struggled to regain a foothold. As she twisted, her eyes met his and his heart froze in his chest. It was not the dull look of defeat and pain he would expect… in her eyes was pure, searing, enraged defiance. It both thrilled and terrified him. His Saiyan soul felt triumph for her refusal to submit.. but an as-of-yet undefined, more gentle part of him – a raw part of his spirit he hadn't known before her and hadn't quite fully grasped yet – despaired. The more strength she showed, the longer and more severe her punishment would be.
He was the first to look away. Yet another failure.. though she was the one chained, she was stronger than he. He couldn't even bear to look at her.
Instead, as he stood, his eyes flicked to the corner; scouters and armor removed to save them from being splashed with blood. He then fixed a deadly gaze to the electric whip clenched tightly in the dead man's hand before shifting to the dead man's face.
Jeice's arrogant façade faltered under the frozen weight of Vegeta's murderous stare. His orange skin paled and he seemed uncertain for a moment. Burter barked a mocking laugh at his cowardly friend, and Vegeta shifted his focus. It was Burter's turn to shift uncomfortably.
As if willing it could destroy it, Vegeta's eyes fell back to the whip.
Free from his glare, the friends remembered themselves and replaced the cocky grins they had been wearing. It was Jeice who spoke first.
"Oi – Vegeta! Thought you'd be happy to see us! We've been looking for you, honest! It was only a matter of time, eh mate? Sorry it took so long.. but, ya know. Stuff."
Burter nodded. "Yeah – you didn't really think Freeza forgot about you, did you? He knows it's you who's been destroying his compounds –"
"-But if you come with us quietly-"
"-And beg for forgiveness, Freeza would be delighted to welcome you home! After all – he knows you were just some puppet dangling on the strings of this bitch, here." Burter tossed his head in Bulma's direction. "Assuming the stick-man told us the truth… but why would he lie? He was dead either way and he knew it."
Slowly, he grinned. "So. How did she do it? Control the mighty Prince?"
Jeice giggled. "Yeh! How'd she do it?"
When Vegeta was silent, Jeice shrugged, unsurprised that the Saiyan would keep such a thing secret – while he could. "No matter, eh? We thought you'd wanna take revenge for it. As you can see, we've started without ya! Sorry, mate." Jeice winced sympathetically. "We kinda got carried away… not much left for you."
Vegeta didn't bother to look at either one of them as they steadily, warily approached him from either side. Let them believe he despised the woman who had controlled him. Let them believe the rage they had seen was because they had stolen revenge from him.
Just don't let them believe the truth…
Despite all her efforts to stay silent, Bulma's labored gasping behind him filled his ears.
He needed to end this quickly. The sooner he left, the faster Bulma could be released. She'd be paired with another warrior. It would be distasteful to share brain space with a third – intolerable, really – but he would endure it as long as was necessary. She would survive and eventually, he would come back for her and dispatch anyone who shared a telepathic link with her. No matter how long it took. No matter how far he must go.
Burter pounced on him from behind, yanked his wrists behind his back, and forced him to his knees. When Vegeta did not offer resistance, Burter sputtered angrily.
"Awww. He's broken! It's not fun if he refuses to play!"
From in front of them, Juice tilted his head and narrowed his eyes suspiciously to consider. He glanced at Bulma from over Burter's shoulder, still hanging from manacles, and back to the subdued Saiyan. It didn't make sense. Vegeta never surrendered. The ape was full of uncontrollable rage and he always found excuses to attack regardless of the outcome. He continued to study the woman for a moment before shifting his gaze back to Vegeta. Slowly, he grinned.
"I've got me an idear.." he purred.
Burter looked over his shoulder briefly before turning back to Jeice.
"I go first this time. You killed the last one before I got a turn."
It was so subtle Jeice almost missed it – but he saw it in Vegeta's eyes. A flinch.
Jeice's triumphant smirk was deliciously wicked.
"Ah! No, mate. I've got a much better idear than 'that.'"
Burter frowned.
"What's better than 'that?'"
Jeice winked at Burter.
"Oi! Listen here, Saiyan." Jeice paused to let Vegeta's imagination stew.
Though Vegeta hadn't struggled, Burter continued to hold him tightly while Jeice slowly circled around them. When he stood in front of Vegeta again, Jeice turned to face him. Using the whip's handle, he forced Vegeta to look up.
"You're going to use this here whip, monkey. On her."
Vegeta's body went rigid before he pulled his head away.
"No," he forced.
Jeice nodded and started circling again, but stopped when he was directly behind them.
"I thought you might say that," he said wistfully. "So… I'll give you a choice."
Taking his cue, Burter hauled Vegeta to his feet, spun him around, and shoved him towards his orange counterpart all in a single movement. Staggering to a halt, Vegeta watched as Jeice delicately tucked a strand of blue hair behind Bulma's ear. Everything in Vegeta's body screamed at him to attack the monster who threatened the bleeding woman. He trembled with the need of it. Bulma must have known; though she was weak and growing weaker with every moment, she found the strength to look through the sweat-crusted curtain of her hair to meet his eyes with her own. Her look begged him not to act on his animal impulse. Even now she protected him and he could do nothing but watch her suffer for it. Vegeta fought against billions of years of evolution and stayed standing where he was.
Jeice, well aware of exactly what he was doing, smiled. "Either you do it….. or we will," he whispered darkly.
All the air in Vegeta's lungs evaporated and his insides turned to water.
Bulma's gaze didn't waver. She looked directly into his eyes and simply nodded once.
Something within him quaked. A pain deep in his chest rumbled and nothing he had ever known could have ever prepared him for the onslaught of emotion that erupted and tore through him like a tidal wave. There was no defense. A high pitched whine burst through his slightly parted lips only briefly before his frozen vocal chords stole even that from him, leaving him to scream silently.
"Please…" She whispered.
He recoiled. I cannot…
You must.
I will not.
If you refuse, they'll kill me.
If I do, you will die.
I know...
Her eyes filled with tears. "I'd rather it be you," she forced through bleeding lips. Please..
He was dizzy and his hands shook uncontrollably. He almost dropped the whip Jeice had shoved in his fingers unnoticed. He couldn't breathe. The blood was crashing in his ears. Where was the air? Why couldn't he breathe! The collar around his neck was an icy burn. With each heartbeat, it drained him. The more his body fought to find the strength, the more life it took.
Growing impatient, Jeice sighed. "You did hear me say you or us, yeh?"
Vegeta's grip on the whip handle tightened until he could feel the bones of his hand creak, but still it did not shatter. It was made from the same materials as his collar; his own strength served to reinforce the instrument. When blood squished from between his fingers, Jeice moved forward to take it from him. Vegeta stepped back and shifted so his body shielded it from being snatched away. Satisfied, Jeice smiled and waved his hand in the air as an indication to continue.
Twisting his wrist to activate the electricity, the whip buzzed to life.
Always on his purging missions, a part of him withdrew into the furthest recesses of himself and allowed his body to function without conscious thought. It wasn't out of guilt, empathy, or morality. It meant nothing to him to extinguish life.. but neither did he draw pleasure from killing those who were so much weaker than he. Does one find pleasure in stepping on ants? It was a chore; a means to an end – something that had to be done. After years, he had grown bored with it, then restless, and finally, resentful that he would be forced to bother with it at all. His missions were always completed quickly and efficiently simply because he did them without wasting time on torture. In a single blast of ki, he would lay waste to entire cities. He never concerned himself with chasing after individuals unless there was a strategic need. He only did as much as was necessary to elicit what information he needed. Then he quickly dispatched any who remained.
Here, now… he wouldn't allow himself to withdraw.
He wrapped himself as tightly as he could around Bulma's consciousness and braced himself against her resistance. He would not leave her alone in her pain.
I regret nothing. She said softly. From the moment Radditz landed on Earth until now.
He didn't respond. He had too many regrets to number.
The only thing he had done right was to demand that she kiss him.
The whip sizzled as it arched and cracked and fizzled with blue heat when it came into contact with Bulma's flesh. She thrashed and swung from her restraints as her skin split and blistered, and though his own skin remained unmarked, he felt every synapse in her body explode with electricity, fire, and agony as though it were his own.
The whip hissed angrily as he struck her a third time. Sweating and shaking violently as pain twisted through his body, he nearly lost consciousness. This human pain was new to him; it was a living, feral thing – enraged and hungry, greedy and cruel. It was pain from one who was unaccustomed to it.
And still, Bulma refused to cry out. Between lashes -when she could manage it despite swinging and twisting from her chains - she held his gaze with her own, forgiving him as every stroke ripped her flesh. But the light in her eyes was fading.
Enough… Enough! He couldn't….
Falling to his hands and knees, he wretched bile when his empty stomach had nothing to offer.
"Is that all…?" Burter asked behind him, disappointed.
Panting, Vegeta bared his teeth but lacked the will to lift his head.
Slowly, Jeice squat next to him and leaned over to whisper in his ear.
"We didn't say you were finished, monkey."
Vegeta swallowed to force moisture in his throat. "No," he whispered through cracked lips.
"What was that?" Jeice grabbed a handful of Vegeta's hair and cranked the Saiyan's neck backward. Face to face, he hollered. "What did you say to me, you pathetic ape?"
Hauling Vegeta to his feet, he thrust Vegeta towards Bulma. "You will continue! Or she will die!"
Vegeta clenched his teeth. "She is dead already.."
Confused, Jeice shifted his attention to the bloody piece of meat hanging from the ceiling. It was such a shame. She had been exquisitely beautiful… that blue hair had once fallen down to her waist like silk. Now, it hung in stringy ropes, caked with blood.
Something gurgled as she gasped for breath. So. Not dead, yet… but certainly dying. Vegeta was right – she had little chance of survival at this point unless she received care. Well, that was no fun. But it gave him an idea.
"She doesn't have to die, mate. We have regen pods on our ship. We had planned on putting you in one… but first…" Jeice traced a finger down Vegeta's cheekbone in an intimate caress that ended with an iron grip on his jaw. With one hand still tangled in his hair and the other under his chin, Jeice forced Vegeta to look up at what had once been the perfect flesh of a gorgeous woman. He sucked on Vegeta's earlobe and took it between his teeth briefly before letting go to whisper. "I want to see the way a monkey 'loves' his woman…"
Vegeta's muscles jerked but Jeice maintained his tight, painful grip. Chuckling suggestively, Jeice continued as if there hadn't been an interruption. "Isn't that how you Saiyans do it? 'Love' them to death?" He paused before taking in a breath as if realizing something. "Oh.. oh that's just you…"
Jeice released Vegeta and stood. Tilting his head, he looked down at the Saiyan with false sympathy. "Such a pity you couldn't fuck her, mate. But this is practically the same thing for you, no? It ends the same way – with a bloody corpse!"
Laughing, Jeice sauntered over to Burter and the two grinned at each other.
"That's not very nice, Jeice. You should never accuse a Saiyan of loving. Everyone knows they're too primitive to know how."
"Oh, yes. How insensitive of me," replied the smaller of the two warriors. He turned back to Vegeta. "But shouldn't we give him a chance to prove us wrong?"
Jeice crossed his arms over his chest and smirked at Vegeta. "Here's the offer, mate. Show us what a Saiyan's 'love' is worth… and we'll put her in a pod before its too late, yeh? Or, you can stand there like an idiot and let her bleed to the kind of death no pod can heal. S'up to you.."
As an afterthought, Jeice added, "Oh. Did I forget to mention that there's only one functioning pod?" He cackled.
The implication was crystal clear. One pod meant only one of them would survive. To save Bulma, Vegeta would have to beat her to death - and hope Jeice would honor his word and put Bulma inside a regen tank before her death was permanent. If he did nothing… let her die… she have no chance at all – and he would be beaten near to death and thrown in the tank just so he would be strong enough to survive Freeza's 'love' when he was brought back.
Vegeta's eyes narrowed to slits. Snarling, he lunged at Jeice.
Plucked from the attack by Burter before he could reach Jeice, Vegeta roared.
Jeice tsked and shook his head. Shrugging, he smoothed his hair. "Well, it was worth a shot, eh Burter?"
Burter grunted. It was more difficult to hold the struggling Saiyan than he would care to admit. He tossed Vegeta back towards Bulma and curled his lip in distaste. "He may be a monkey, Jeice, but he knows we were sent for him, not for some bitch."
Jeice sighed, annoyed. Looking at Vegeta, he dropped all pretenses. "Fine," he paused. "She means something to him. For that, I want to see him beat the life out of her."
Frowning, Jeice chewed his lip to consider. Vegeta wouldn't do it without incentive. He couldn't save her no matter what he did.. but maybe he'd do it to save himself?
"New deal, Saiyan. You know what I want. Make me happy and I'll make sure your trip to the regen pod will be a… relatively painless one."
Vegeta lunged at Jeice's throat.
At least… that's what he was screaming at his body to do.
Instead, his feet refused to obey.
No. no no no nonononononono….no no NO NO NO!
Trapped inside his own body, he was forced to watch himself turn away from Jeice and Burter. Like a wild animal in a cage, he threw himself against the bars, screaming, clawing, yowling, spitting, kicking, and fighting desperately to regain control of his traitorous body. He was helpless as his own arm brought the whip down to crack against Bulma's back.
A wordless howl full of anguish and rage filled his lungs, and though it wasn't freed from his lips, it reverberated from all corners of his mind. He raged against her control of his body – how dare she! How DARE SHE! The betrayal and torment was complete. This was supposed to be his death! He was supposed to be attacking Jeice! Provoking him beyond control – beyond the capabilities of the regeneration tank. How dare she force him to do this! And for what!? So he would survive!? What kind of existence could he have after such an act? To be forced to destroy a part of himself… the only part of himself that was whole…
Something within him broke. It seared the back of his brain, surged within him and filled him until it overflowed. The collar around his neck started snapping and popping and the cave around them started to quake. Vegeta felt the very cells in his body vibrate. The pain… his body felt as though it had split limitlessly and existed in overlapping planes of every dimensions all at once. No mortal can suffer this.. his very soul was flying apart!
Something in his mind buckled. The feeling of being torn apart atom from atom dissipated and he fell into himself all at once. Reeling back, he dropped to his knees, hands pressed to his ears as though holding his brain in place.
Panting, his arms dropped to his lap as he blinked up at Bulma. Pain momentarily forgotten, she stared at him, incredulously at first - and then anguished at her failure to save him by sacrificing herself. The whip lay at her feet where he had dropped it. Dumbfounded, he lowered his gaze to stare at his hands – hands he slowly held up before his face. Somehow… he had broken her control over his body.
He laughed madly, even as Jeice's foot buried itself into his gut. Control was his again!
"What are you laughing at!?"
Spitting up blood, Vegeta both gasped for air and coughed as he cackled. She was still alive, but she didn't have much time left. He pushed himself to hands and knees. The only way to save her was to make her valuable. They hadn't known how she controlled him; they didn't know about the telepathic link. That left only one thing -
"You fool…" he wheezed. Jeice responded by elbowing him on the base of his skull. White stars exploded in his vision, but Vegeta still laughed.
"Do you know what she is..?" he croaked as Jeice kicked him in the teeth.
Jeice sneered. "What is she then, mate? Besides dying!"
Burter and Jeice took turns kicking. Vegeta grinned.
"She… designed the collar…"
Vegeta was cut off as his voice box was shattered by a punch. Jeice looked momentary confused until his eyes flicked to the collar around Vegeta's neck. Vegeta watched Jeice's expressions shift as his thoughts raced, and the Saiyan knew the moment understanding clicked. The collar suppressed ki – which is what they had just witnessed moments ago. Realization exploded over Jeice's features. She had used the collar to control Vegeta.
As Vegeta choked through a crushed windpipe, he saw the truth dawn in Jeice's eyes. Such genius was much, much more valuable than just another warrior – even a Saiyan Prince.
Vegeta lost consciousness, certain that he had secured his place in the regen pod for Bulma. At least he had one less thing to regret.
Vegeta, she whispered gently. Vegeta. You have to wake up.
She caressed his cheek and turned his face towards her. His eyes fluttered.
She leaned down and took his lower lip between her own in a soft kiss. He jerked in his sleep and his breathing shifted. He was waking.
He was still weak and groggy, and as yet unable to form thoughts or words, so she sifted through his confused, half-formed emotions.
Be calm, she said softly. Everything will be alright.
She ran her fingers through his hair and waited for him to become more alert. When he blinked at her, confused, she smiled. He tried to turn his head to better look at her and nearly screamed. Through their telepathic link, even she could feel his body on fire.. she nearly lost him to unconscious again but for her voice insisting he stay with her.
That collar barely allows you enough ki to survive when you're healthy. But now…
She swallowed a lump in her throat.
You're dying, Vegeta.
That got his attention. He rallied enough strength to break through the pain – just enough to focus on her words. She knew he wouldn't be able to do it for long.
I'm in the regeneration tank, she stated. Which means you are not. They left you in the caves.
He managed to open an eye and look at her. He understood – but it lasted only a moment before his gaze started drifting to the painted clouds above her. He was completely out of it; his thoughts bubbled forth without control or direction and the complete lack of a filter – though endearing because of how absurdly sentimental they were – was awkward. He'd be furious if he was thinking clearly and knew she had a front row seat… Right now he was noting that the tree branches behind her head formed a thorned halo around her; coupled with the rays of sunshine sifting through the canopy to caress her skin, he thought she looked like she were a glowing, ethereal sea goddess wearing a twisted crown. When he grinned and tried to tangle his fingers in her hair to see if she rippled, she decided that was enough.
Vegeta. I'm the same loud mouthed pain in the ass harpy I've always been, not some shiny, blue fairy. Snap out of it.
He sucked in a breath and recoiled, but a healthy mix of anger and embarrassment didn't quite bury the arousal he had been feeling.
Well.. she supposed that suited her purpose...
Huh. Come to think of it, every time anything significant happened between them, it seemed to happen here in her magical place..
Bleh, now she was getting distracted which meant she was losing Vegeta again. Maybe she should have just let him keep thinking she was a mermaid. She sighed. No. She owed him the truth. But for him to understand it, he needed to divorce himself from pain.
Vegeta. We're in your head right now so it will be harder for you to disconnect body from mind.. but you have to do it, do you understand?
He closed his eyes and tried to take in her words. When he started drifting again, she shook him. The hot stab of agony was so powerful, she almost lost her grip on his mind. But it jolted him back to wakefulness… His eyes shot open and he glared at her angrily. Though they were unfocused, she knew he was with her.
But then his gaze softened. Slowly, he reached a hand to her face and lightly caressed her jaw. She grasped his hand in her own and smiled down at him.
How…? He croaked. She knew his mind remembered his voice box was shattered, and it was difficult to speak, even in his thoughts.
Leave your body behind, she said. And before his eyes, her flawless flesh disintegrated. Where porcelain skin had been, it became tattered and bloody. Where a curtain of turquoise hair had tumbled, stringy and lifeless chords of gore-matted hair hung lifelessly. It lasted only a moment to show the truth behind the façade.
The pain is in the body.. She murmured. Your mind can rise above it. It's still there, but push it aside.
Slowly, his cuts, lacerations, bruises, breaks, punctures, and pain faded away. It seemed difficult for him, but Saiyans were much more in tune with themselves than humans were; body and mind were more sensitive to each other.
That was what she was counting on. And so. Here goes.
You told me once that ki was the essence of life – that it could force someone to live though their body was dying.
She knew he remembered. It was when she had asked what would have happened to her had he forced himself on her. It was so long ago, that day she had first returned to the cave after receiving his DNA. She had smelled like a Saiyan in heat he had said, and he had nearly raped her. He hadn't though, but he had told her precisely what his ki would have done to her had he succumbed to his instinct to breed - And all the while she died in agony yet lived, he would be in rapture while she would be forced to feel his ecstasy…
He flinched, recalling his precise words to her.
The point is, Vegeta…. She cut in; she didn't want him to dwell overmuch on what he had said. The point is, it applies to you as well. Only instead of killing you, it's going to save you.
His eyes seemed to sharpen and his gaze cut right through her. Silence hung on the air.
I cannot. You would die, he stated.
She shook her head. I'm in the regen pod on their ship. Protected. Even if the whole asteroid exploded, I'd live. And so would you. You just… you have to let go of your control.
He needed to lose control of his ki for it be strong enough to overcome the collar's suppression.
He said he only lost control of his ki when overstimulated. From experience she knew there were only two times when that happened. When he was emotionally overwhelmed – or when he was irrepressibly, physically aroused.
His expression didn't change.
I will not take that risk.
I will, she countered.
He frowned at her. There is no way to anticipate the intensity of the shockwave. You'd be a fool to sacrifice yourself for me.
Then I am a fool… but so are you. I'm doing nothing for you that you haven't already done for me.
He blinked as her in surprise, but regained composure quickly and frowned at her.
No.
She scowled at him. Now's not the time to be stubbornly resistant. She sighed and rested her forehead on his shoulder. Yep. She should have let him think she was a sea goddess.
Wait.
She panted, suddenly nervous. Would he notice?
As carefully as she dared, she trickled through his pain-weary defenses. God, this was so wrong.
But it was the only way to save him.
Slowly, like a whisper, she tapped into his memory. Saiyans relied on their sense of smell, and like humans, memory was tightly bound with scent. All she had to do was trigger it –
He stiffened and tried to push her away, but it was too late. Her heart was pounding in her ears and her anxiety – over his refusal to allow her help, her betrayal by forcing him to accept it anyway, and mostly…. her real and true desire for this man – prompted a surge of adrenaline. It twisted through her and came out of her pores like nectar. The scent of her fear and longing; a scent that so tasted like her need he remembered…
He surged and all at once, she was suddenly trapped as his arms and tail wrapped around her body. Her head shot up - and there to meet her gaze were two savage, black chips of fiery volcanic glass.
You failed, little one he snarled, teeth bared.
He flipped her onto her back and pinned her to the ground. Like that night so long ago, she was completely under his control. This time, she wasn't trapped only in his embrace. This time, she was at the mercy of his mind. Naked again because he willed it, she found her legs wrapped around his hips and her hands held above her head by her wrists. With one hand around her throat, he squeezed until her breathing was labored. Like she had been that night, she was at his mercy. Trapped in his animalistic embrace, she was full of fear and want. The sound she remembered – a sub-sonic, low chuffing noise she could feel as well as she could hear, rumbled from his chest. The sound shot through her middle and tore open the primeval beast inside her gut. She thrashed against his hold, painfully in need of him to fill her.
He relaxed his grip on her throat and caressed her jaw with the pad of his thumb before turning her head to expose her neck. He watched her pulse dance under the flesh and bent down to taste it. When she shuddered under him, he made the noise again.
Whispering against her skin, he spoke in a soft, velvety voice, You forget I could resist you then. How is it you think I cannot do so now?
She whined when the calloused tips of his fingers traced a clavicle. When he reached the soft skin of her stomach, she shivered. His feather touch around her hip became an iron grip as he clutched the muscle of her buttock.
Her eyelids fluttered but when she found focus, his face was millimeters above hers. She reached for his lips to capture them in her own. He moved as she did, and managed to keep himself just distant enough to prevent her kiss. Her eyes hardened and she tugged at the grip holding her hands above her head. When he released her, she captured his face between her outstretched fingers and held him in place. This time when she reached to kiss him, he met her lips with his own. She teased him with the tip of her tongue until he bit her lower lip to make her gasp. When she did, he thrust his tongue into her mouth.
Minutes later, he released her lips to trace his tongue down the flesh of her neck, biting the salty skin – sometimes lightly, sometimes with pressure enough to break through. The taste of her blood made his own a frenzy of screaming, feral lust. Bulma squirmed in a mixture of pleasure and pain, gasps erupting from behind teeth she tried in vain to keep clenched shut.
With her hands tangled in his hair, she arched her back and pushed her breasts toward his eager mouth. He encased the nipple and bit down, lapping a crimson rivulet as it left a tear-stained path to drip on the ground.
It was then he shuddered, suddenly dizzy. Bulma cupped his face and pulled him up to her. Panting, they held each other's eyes. The heat of longing was trapped in his gaze, and when the entire world quaked around them, he didn't look away.
It was happening. From wherever his body lay broken on the rocks of the cave, his ki was fighting against his collar.
Neither of them moved.
Please… She whispered.
His eyes took in all he had done; the bite marks and the bruises from his grip. He traced a set of teethmarks with a finger. You said the mind could leave the body behind.
She lightly caressed his face. He closed his eyes and turned into her touch, but looked back at her when she pulled her fingers away. We can bypass the flesh, but we are limited to what we understand. We are physical beings living in a tangible environment. Even here, the mind makes what happens real.
The look in his eyes gave her a chill.
Even my thoughts forbid me! Am I never to touch you?
When she spoke, her voice was barely louder than a breath. I'm not as fragile as you think, Saiyan. Because she was insane, in lust, hell – because she wanted him – she leaned in and gently pressed her lips on his neck where his jaw met his ear. She licked it and blew on it, making his skin pebble. Even for humans – pain is suppressed by – and can augment - pleasure.
She took his earlobe between her teeth and sucked briefly before drawing back to murmur, You can't hurt me if it pleases me…
When he looked at her with an unfathomable expression, she tilted her head back to lick his lower lip. He sucked in a breath. She parted his lips with her tongue and used it to flick the roof of his mouth where his very sensitive scent organ was located. He lost it. With his tail hairs sticking out in every direction, he quivered like his blood was made from electricity.
She shrieked when he sank his teeth into the meat of her neck, just above her collar bone. She raked her nails down his back uncertain whether she was encouraging or fighting the animal he had become. His mind penetrated her own and billowed out like a heavy fog, suffocating her thoughts until she - like he - was nothing more than instinct.. until there was no separation between want and action, pain and pleasure.
His vision exploded as her blood filled his mouth. His saliva glands ached as they filled and constricted again and again, injecting venom each time he tensed and relaxed his jaw. The pain of his bite quickly combined with a thrilling rush of ecstasy that thrummed in time with the pulsing of his teeth. The sensual agony tore through her veins like a liquid drug, burning away the parts of her that couldn't withstand it, leaving only the parts of her that were him. He was like a tuning fork vibrating in a frequency her body couldn't resist.
Pressing her down with his weight of his chest, he forced her to arch her back using his tail around her waist, and he rose to his knees. Frantically, he grabbed her hips and angled her upwards to meet him, only releasing her neck from his teeth to howl as he sank his body into hers. Her body quaked as he filled her, and her walls clenched tightly around him in violent release.
His tail tightened, keeping her body bowed, and his hands on her hips held her in place as his muscles flexed with every overwhelming thrust. She wrapped her legs around his hips and locked her ankles together to allow his hands the freedom to grasp and clutch as he wished. With her shoulder blades in contact with the ground for traction, she stroked his back, his shoulders, his sides – anywhere she could reach, desperate to feel every inch of his skin. He moved his hands to cusp her buttocks, allowing him to surge deeper.
When he heard her throaty moan, he felt his body – his real body somewhere far away – rumble like an angry storm building. The electric current of his ki was crashing through his veins, ripping through muscle, and tearing a hole right through the oblivion that had so come so close to claiming him. It thundered through the electronics of his collar, causing it to spark and fizzle as it fought a losing battle. The rocks rumbled and echoed through the caverns of the cave and cascaded throughout the meteor..
Under him, Bulma thrashed as another crescendo crashed through her. Her eyelids fluttered over unseeing eyes and her flesh was flushed with exertion. With her head thrown back, her tangled and sweaty hair became a halo of blue fire that fanned out from her head, minus a few stubborn strands that greedily clung to her skin. Her glorious voice sang out and ravished his eardrums. His own sweat dripped from his brow, and his throat burned from the harshness of his breath and the strain of guttural cries on his vocal chords. The beast within him was growing stronger, fighting to shatter through the last of bit of resistance and be free..
Not yet…. He needed more.
He resisted the aching in his teeth; the desire to bite. He knew the taste of her bursting in his mouth would destroy the last of his control. Instead he covered her mouth with his own and hungrily forced his tongue inside. Gliding his hands upwards, he gently eased her to the ground. He forced his pace to slow and discarded his frenzied in-and-out tempo. He wanted to feel every soft fold, every spasm, every gasp.
It was excruciating.. and utterly magnificent.
He was defying billions of years of Saiyan evolution to forego release just to feed his insatiable lust to touch and be touched. And she indulged him. As he kissed and sucked whatever flesh his mouth could find, her hands caressed the terrain of his body – everywhere she could reach, her fingers left a path of flame. As he held her body close and breathed in her intoxicating scent, she trailed hot kisses over his face and neck and buried her hands in his hair. As he chuffed and growled in the soft, sensual way of a Saiyan lost in pleasure, her breath trembled as she found release one last time. Escaping with her warm breath over his face was a sentiment that didn't need words to be understood.
Shocked, his control broke. His body shuddered and he spilled himself into her.
Somewhere in the distance, a firestorm of ki has ruptured, and the foundation of rock has started to crumble. It's so violent and complete, even the ground on which they lay tangled in each other's arms begins to quake.
And still, he didn't release her; wouldn't let her escape the words she had felt but hadn't said.
It was an accident – letting her feelings slip through. It had lasted only a moment and honestly, the spill of emotion had surprised her as much as it had shocked him.
She didn't know what to think or feel and now wasn't the time. Knowing that the time would never come, sadness tore at her gut.
She pushed against him but he only tightened his grip. Without the distraction of his kisses, his hold is just shy of painful. She stopped wiggling. What was the point? Sighing, she gave in and looked into his eyes. She owed him a chance to ask.
The question doesn't come. Instead….
Once or twice before, he had looked at her the way he was looking at her now. There was so much there, it was a bottomless, timeless, forever look that was alien and terrifying. It was as though he were looking for … something… in her that was too profound for her to bear.
She wanted to give him – whatever it was that he was looking for – but she didn't think she was capable, even had she the knowledge or the strength. It was inhuman, this thing he wanted. It was beyond anything known to mortal beings.
Feeling as though she failed him somehow, she simply rested her forehead against his jaw and kissed his shoulder. She had wanted to give him something he'd be able to remember, something buried deep in his subconscious, just outside of conscious thought. Something of hers that couldn't be forgotten despite what she was about to do.
Now that she knew he would live – she had to ensure he'd stay that way.
It had taken Jeice and Burter only a few minutes to discern that she was a weakness for him. She made him vulnerable and he was unable to hide it.
The only way to save him now was to ensure she could never be used against him again.
She hadn't promised that she would never do this, but it felt like utter betrayal….
He sensed something was – different. When she actively started shoving his thoughts – his memories of her – into a tight corner in the deepest parts of his mind and began barricading them behind the strongest telepathic wall she could form, he tore himself away from her, holding his head. Yowling and dropping to his knees, he stopped thrashing only to scream at the sky. When he was out of breath, he slumped over, a look of horror, hurt, betrayal, and rage on his face. He looked at her once, his eyes imploring her – begging her – why? Before even that, too, was swallowed up and stashed away.
A sob broke through her clenched teeth and her vision began to blur.
When she had either altered or wrapped his memories of her in a tight cocoon, she probed his mind to ensure not a single memory remained. She could mask her identity, her influence, and her importance, but she couldn't take the memories completely away without making him unstable; too many events had occurred that had fundamentally changed his life and his thought patterns. Too many holes would cause his mind to frantically fight to fill those empty places. He' either go completely mad or the mental shield holding the memories at bay would burst open. The first she couldn't bear. The second… she couldn't survive doing this a second time. If he didn't kill her himself, he would certainly bring notice to them with whatever reaction he was bound to have when he discovered her betrayal. And even if they escaped notice and he didn't kill her, it was only a matter of time before she'd be used against him again. That alone was worth preventing.
But the real danger wasn't any of those things. Removing his memories of her meant she had to withdraw from his mind completely. Though she patched and reinforced the places in his mind where she had resided, she couldn't – wouldn't - do that for herself. Her memories of him still existed, but without his living mind moving and breathing in tandem with her own, she felt like half of herself. It would take time for that to heal – if it ever would. But to be without him completely was… impossible. She knew she was being selfish and cruel, but in a way, remembering him would be her punishment for making him forget.
The real danger was that if he ever remembered – if her mind were to suddenly be flooded with his again - she knew with every cell in her body that she couldn't separate them again, no matter the cost. She wasn't strong enough. So all of this would be for nothing.
Shaking with the effort of suppressing her emotion, she fought for control.
It was done.
She withdrew from his mind leaving only the impression that he needed to get onto Freeza's ship.
As for her own fate –
She opened her eyes and had to blink to clear her vision. Her eyesight was much more sensitive with Saiyan DNA, but she still couldn't see in utter darkness and her eyes needed to adjust to low light. She was floating in the regeneration pod, and the only lights were from the soft glow of the consul tracking her life-signs. She focused on the display. Her anticipated recovery time showed that she would still be in the pod when – according to Jeice's mental estimation - they reached Freeza's fleet.
Good. That gave her time.
She waited until she felt Vegeta's presence on board. She hadn't been certain she would be able to sense him with their minds separated, but thanks to his genetic contribution, she had inherited more than just telepathy. His ki seemed very erratic, but it was a wonder she could sense it at all. He must have severely damaged the collar he was wearing. But he still wore it.
Her entire reason for being on board was because Vegeta had said she had invented the thing.
The problem was, he wouldn't remember saying that. And, with the amount of time she had to infiltrate the minds of Jeice and Burter, she would ensure they wouldn't be around to explain it in detail, either. She knew they were leaving the 'big reveal' for their arrival, and had only made vague allusions over their scouters. She couldn't have them say anything more. And she owed them for what she had been forced to do to Vegeta.
Hmm. Maybe she'd infiltrate their minds, discern their greatest fears, and use those fears against them. She'd drive them crazy and make them throw themselves out of the airlock or something. It wasn't very creative, but it would work.
Their absence would be a mystery. Maybe Vegeta would claim he did it. Well, she'd never tell! But that meant when they landed, everyone would wonder who she was and where she came from. Vegeta's ki explosion had been monumental… no one was left – that meant whatever story she wove would be the only truth anyone would have. Vegeta would play up the vague memory syndrome. He'd hide under the side effects of the collar and he wouldn't contradict her, even if he wished to do so.
But, as the only survivor - living or mechanical - she needed the collar around his neck to prove her worth. As the inventor of a collar that could suppress ki – her survival was secure. She'd be closely watched for a while, but eventually, maybe…. If Freeza went back to the moon, they'd figure out a way to reopen the wormhole.
She could find her friends since she had nothing else.
Vegeta may not remember her, and he may not contradict her - but he would remember everything else. He'd even corroborate her story - the collar, any effects she decided to attribute to it…. Because it would shield his own secrets. Especially the secret regarding telepathy used to exert physical control over his body. With her mental blocks in place, he wouldn't recall anything more than the physical control someone had over his body. It had always been distasteful to him and he wouldn't dwell on it. He wouldn't need to, though – the collar was enough. The very thing that made her valuable to Freeza would ensure Vegeta hated her.
It was another layer of protection for him, even if it put her at risk. She needed to stay away from the Saiyan – and more importantly, she needed the Saiyan to stay away from her. For that, she needed Freeza.
Her heart twisted in her chest. How cruel to realize she loved him now.
The liquid in the regen pod hid her tears.
