Nightmares
"Look at me, Mom!" Bulma called as she ran through the freshly cut grass. She was holding a kite and slowly the wind started to pick it up. Soon it was sailing high overhead, its brightly colored tail dancing in the breeze.
Mrs. Brief clapped for her daughter. "That's wonderful, sweetie!"
Bulma beamed, proud of herself for her small accomplishment. She knew the physics behind flying a kite were fairly simple, but the joy of getting one up in the air and holding it there was untainted by her scientific knowledge. Sometimes seeing the colorful diamond leaping through the air was all it took to lift her spirits along with it.
Bulma let out more string, allowing the kite to soar higher in the sky, above the treetops. She laughed in delight as it rose. "Look how high it can go!"
This time, there was no applause. Bulma turned her head to see why, figuring her mother was simply distracted with setting out the picnic. Her eyes widened when she saw a man dressed all in black throwing her mother over his shoulder and motioning for a second man to go after her. She recognized them instantly as the men who tried to kidnap her the first time. Now her mother was down for the count and she was all alone, helpless.
She backed away from the tall man who was advancing on her, a malicious glint in his eyes. The string of the kite slipped from her hand and it was carried away by the wind. She glanced over her shoulder at it, wishing she could escape so easily. She turned back and was startled to see that the man was right in front of her, reaching around to grab her in a bear hug she couldn't break free from. Her breathing faltered as she lost her senses in panic.
All she could do was scream.
"What the hell are you screeching about, girl?"
Bulma was jolted awake by the gruff voice of a very tired, very irritated saiyan boy. She sat up in bed and wiped the beads of sweat from her brow as she looked over at the silhouette of the flame-haired boy standing in her doorway. She could see the white of his long canines as he snarled at her. Instead of feeling fear, she was strangely comforted by his presence.
"I had a bad dream," she mumbled, somewhat embarrassed.
Vegeta rolled his eyes and leaned against the doorframe. She could see his tail twitching behind him and knew he was rather annoyed. Probably she woke him up, and she knew he didn't like anything waking him up prematurely.
"Did I wake you up?"
"Hn."
"Sorry." Bulma rested her hands in her lap and wadded her bed covers in her fingers.
He grunted again and pushed off from the wall to go back to his own room. If she was done making noise then he could go back to sleep and hope she didn't have another 'bad dream' and wake him up another time.
"Wait, Vegeta?"
He paused and turned to look at her over his shoulder.
"Could you stay with me a minute?"
She could see his indecision as he clenched and unclenched his hands. His tail flicked a little more and then his shoulders rose and fell with a sigh of resignation. He turned on his heel and strode over to the edge of her bed. "What do you want?"
Bulma's gaze moved down to her hands. "I just don't want to be alone right now."
Vegeta felt something strange stirring in his chest as he watched her fidgeting. He was completely overcome with a need to protect her, even if he could only protect her from her inner demons. He sat down on the edge of the bed and leaned back against the headboard. "Stupid girl, you're more trouble than you're worth."
"If you say so, Veggie," she murmured as she wrapped her arms around him and rested her head on his chest.
His body went rigid as she cuddled with him. He had no idea what he was supposed to do or if he even wanted her so close to him. He growled faintly, but she either didn't hear it or didn't pay attention to it. When her breathing slowed he finally allowed himself to relax a little. If she was asleep she wouldn't notice him leaving her alone in her room. With that in mind, he started to carefully pry her arms off of him so he could get away from her.
When he was finally liberated from her hold, he softly padded out of her room and closed her door before going down the hall to his own room. He certainly wasn't going to spend the whole night with her if that's what she wanted. He crawled into his own bed and curled around a pillow and soon sank into sleep.
In the morning Vegeta got up at his usual time despite missing a considerable amount of sleep during the night. He shook the tiredness from his head and went downstairs to the indoor garden to do his morning training. None of the Briefs were awake yet so he didn't worry much about hiding his power. He flew through the garden, shot small ki blasts, and raised his power high enough for a visible aura to surround his body like blue fire. He performed his kata for over an hour before the sound of the doors opening startled him. He immediately dropped down to the ground and started stretching.
"Oh, good morning, Vegeta," Dr. Brief greeted him as he walked by. It was time for his morning bike ride around the garden.
"Hn."
"You know, I never did thank you for saving my wife and daughter a second time," the old scientist continued. He looked down at the boy and smiled warmly. "I know I told you to let the police take care of it if it happened again, but you handled it better this time."
Vegeta scoffed and stood up. "If you think letting those scumbags live is an improvement."
Dr. Brief shrugged, not wanting to argue with his houseguest. He would never agree that killing was justified and he probably would never convince Vegeta to adopt his convictions. As long as he refrained from ever killing again, it didn't matter what the boy thought was right and wrong. Besides, it wasn't as though he was going to have any more reason to kill. "Regardless, thank you."
"Hn."
Seeing the conversation was over, Dr. Brief went on his way to where he parked his bicycle. There was no use pushing Vegeta to talk when he clearly had no interest in talking. He learned early on that that was one thing the boy resented.
Vegeta sneered when the old man was out of sight. How it was preferable for lowly criminals to be allowed to live was beyond him. He only had the satisfaction of knowing the man would never make a physical recovery and the woman was probably ruined mentally. He hadn't ended either of their lives in the literal sense of the word, but they would wish they were dead. In some ways, he thought that was actually better justice, to make them live with the pain for years. The nagging thought that he was taking excessive pleasure in someone else's suffering came again, but he brushed it aside and finished his stretches.
'Now what do I do?' he wondered. He couldn't train more with Dr. Brief in the indoor garden. He raked his hand through his hair and left the garden to go to his guest room. He could take a shower and then figure out what to do.
At breakfast, Bulma never came downstairs to eat. Vegeta didn't bother asking why. More often than not since she got out of school she slept in later than when breakfast was served. Mrs. Brief sat down at the table across from Vegeta and sipped her coffee while he wolfed down his tall stack of pancakes. She noticed he was eating more than he had before he left, probably because he wasn't getting enough to eat while he was out on the streets.
"Are you going to play with Bulma today, honey?" she asked him when he paused to take a drink of orange juice.
Vegeta grunted noncommittally and resumed eating. He could do that if he couldn't find anything better to do or if she wouldn't leave him alone otherwise. He could safely assume he had another two hours of free time to kill before she woke up. Until then he would have to find something to do on his own. Not that he minded; he was used to solitude and even though he liked the Briefs, he wasn't opposed to having time alone.
He went upstairs to his guest room and sat down at the desk. He put on his scouter and pushed the button to send a transmission through to base. He needed to at least know if he could make a connection or if there was still some kind of interference. He waited a few minutes and was rewarded with the connection going through, finally.
"Prince Vegeta?"
"Yes."
"Have you gathered the materials you need?"
"Yes. I'm not at my space pod at the moment. I wanted to see if I could get a transmission to go through. Why has there been interference the past few days?"
"There were solar flares in our star system."
"Hn." Vegeta sat back in his seat and rapped his fingers on the desk. "I can go to my pod now. I will put a transmission through in half an hour."
"Yes, sir."
When the connection was cut Vegeta realized he really didn't want to go work on his space pod. He had no desire to leave the compound, now or ever. He sighed and rubbed his forehead. 'It doesn't matter what I want, I need to do this.'
He grabbed his ID card off the nightstand and went downstairs. He hesitated when he walked past the kitchen. He could hear Mrs. Brief inside already preparing lunch. She would probably want to know he'd be leaving, if for no other reason than to tell the girl when she got up. Clinging to the reasoning that he was merely preserving his hearing in the future, he went into the kitchen. No one would yell at him – hopefully – if they knew his whereabouts. Sort of. He wouldn't tell them exactly where he was going.
"I'm going out," he announced to the blonde woman.
She turned from the stove and smiled at Vegeta. "Ok, honey. Will you be back for lunch?"
"Hn."
"Have a good time!"
Vegeta left the compound and headed for the field where his space pod was waiting. He was so close to finishing it, it wouldn't be long before he could leave the mudball for good. Then he would be back to his old life of slavery. But at least he would be growing stronger.
"Where'd he go?" Bulma whined after her mother told her Vegeta went out for the morning.
Mrs. Brief started setting the table. "He didn't say, sweetie. Could you get the tea out?"
The blue-haired girl trudged over to the refrigerator and pulled the iced tea out and took it to the table. She'd been up for a little over an hour and she was bored out of her mind. She wasted the first half hour with a shower, but after that she couldn't find anything to keep her mind busy long enough to wait for Vegeta to return. At least he said he would be back for lunch, and since that was going to be served soon he would be returning shortly.
"How did you sleep last night?" Mrs. Brief asked.
Bulma sighed and collapsed into her seat at the table. "Alright. I only had one nightmare."
Mrs. Brief frowned as she went to the stove to get the pot of macaroni and cheese. She hated seeing her daughter so miserable. She was so tired and she couldn't get a decent night's sleep since she was consistently haunted with dreams about being kidnapped. She was more sure than ever that she would have to send her daughter to counseling. She needed help even if she wouldn't ever admit it.
Bulma wanted to tell her mom what Vegeta did for her when she woke him up, but she didn't think he would appreciate her spreading that story. She could never figure out why he didn't like being recognized for the good things he did for anyone, but she would respect his wishes and keep her mouth shut, just this once. She was more afraid than anything that if he found out she told anyone he wouldn't do it again. She wasn't willing to give that up. She slept soundly for the first time in weeks after he came into her room and stayed with her. She felt secure with him at her side, as if he could chase away anything that might harm her.
'He's like my big brother,' she thought happily. She always wanted a brother. He was more than a friend to her, in her opinion. Much more. He was family.
She was still thinking about her 'brother' when he walked into the kitchen. He had grease smeared on his face and shirt and didn't look too happy. Not that he ever looked terribly cheerful, but his face was contorted in a particularly sour expression at the moment. He stalked over to the table and took his usual seat next to Bulma. He didn't bother acknowledging her as he started serving himself.
"Hey, Veggie," Bulma greeted him. "What've you been up to? You're a mess."
He cast her a withering glare before shoveling macaroni and cheese into his mouth at a superhuman speed. He was definitely not in the mood for small talk. He spent the past three hours trying to fix his space pod and barely got anything done. The technician's directions were unclear at best and misleading at worst. He wasn't sure if he was being deliberately confused so he would make mistakes or not. Either way, his space pod still wasn't finished and he wasn't very pleased about it.
"Oh I see," Bulma said with a knowing nod of her head. "You're going to be Mr. Grouchy for the rest of the day because something didn't go as you wanted."
Vegeta rolled his eyes at the childish nickname she gave him. He really, really wasn't in the mood for her stupid comments. It didn't help that he was tired because of his interrupted sleep the previous night. He blamed her for that. No wonder his cognition wasn't fully up to speed when he was trying to decipher the instructions given to him by the technician at base. Stupid girl.
"Alright," she said, "if you won't answer that question, then at least tell me what you're planning on doing this afternoon."
His lip raised in a snarl at her incessant questioning. "Training."
Her face fell. She had hoped he wouldn't give that answer. "Oh. Well, you can train me too, right? I haven't been practicing much since you left because we spent all our time looking for you, but I don't think I've forgotten anything."
"Whatever. Just shut up!" he snapped.
Bulma huffed and cast him a scowl before turning her attention to her food. It was getting cold while she tried to get the stubborn boy to talk more. She took a few bites of her food, all the while watching Vegeta out of the corner of her eye. He really was a grouch. But that was what older brothers were supposed to be like, right? She smiled again. She wondered if he thought of her as his little sister. She hoped so.
"By the way, Veggie," she whispered. "Thanks for last night."
"Hn."
As soon as he was finished eating Vegeta shoved his plate away and stood up to go train in the indoor garden. He didn't know how else to vent his anger. He stalked out of the kitchen and through the halls of the compound with Bulma trailing after him, still trying to make friendly conversation though he steadfastly refused to respond.
The two children spent the afternoon training. Bulma made very little progress and kept interrupting Vegeta's training to ask questions and have him show her what she was supposed to be doing multiple times. After a while he became so frustrated with her he stormed out of the garden and went outside to train in the yard, thinking he would be able to escape the girl there. But luck wasn't on his side as she again followed him and continued pestering him until he gave up and walked her through the short kata he was teaching her step-by-step. While she worked on that he moved a safe distance away from her and started going through his own kata. He was not going to let her distract him. Not when he was feeling so much pent-up aggression that needed some kind of release. If he was to stop himself from going out and killing hundreds of civilians he had to force himself to focus on his training for a while.
Bulma quit long before Vegeta did, but he refused to go back inside with her to watch a movie. He was only interested in continuing his exercise. Finally she left him to his own devices and didn't bother him again until dinner time when her mother sent her out to call him in to eat. Reluctantly, he followed her inside and sat down at the table. He had worked up quite an appetite with his extended workout so he wasn't too upset to interrupt his training for a home-cooked meal.
Bulma nudged him with her elbow when he finally slowed down in eating. "So are you done training now? Want to watch TV with me?"
Vegeta sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. She was relentless in her attempts to get him to spend time with her. His body did feel heavy and sluggish after his intense physical exertion all afternoon. Rest wouldn't be such a bad idea. "Fine."
Bulma beamed at him and finished eating with renewed fervor. She could hardly ever get him to watch TV. He said it was a stupid waste of time to watch some fantasy played out in a little box, but she didn't mind. She liked a few shows and didn't care that it was a waste of time. It wasn't as if she was a bona fide couch potato that wasted the whole summer away sitting in front of the idiot box and eating junk food all day long.
"So let's go!" she said excitedly as she slid off her chair and tugged his arm in the direction of the door.
He growled at her and pulled his arm away from her. "I'm still eating."
Bulma frowned and stamped her foot. He took forever to eat. It was ridiculous. She was tired of waiting for him to be done. "Fine," she relented. "Come up to the recreation room when you're done."
"Hn."
Satisfied with his answer, Bulma went upstairs to the rec. room by herself and turned the TV on. She laid down on the couch and got good and comfortable while she watched a movie that was playing on her favorite channel. She knew as soon as Vegeta came he would demand she sit up instead of 'sticking her disgusting feet in his face.' She giggled when she imagined his grimace and the way he wrinkled his nose when he smelled her feet. She didn't think they smelled all that much, but she thought it was funny that he seemed to think otherwise. He was probably exaggerating anyway.
A few minutes later Vegeta joined her on the couch and, as she predicted, he demanded she get her feet away from him. She sighed dramatically before sitting up and propping her feet up on the coffee table in front of the couch.
"What are you watching?" he asked with a sneer when a bunch of pink elephants started dancing around on the screen.
"It's a movie," she replied. She kind of agreed with him that this part of the movie was stupid, if not creepy.
Vegeta crossed his arms over his chest and scowled at the TV for the remainder of the movie. He was afraid he was losing brain cells watching it, but he told her he would watch it with her, so he was determined to stick it out no matter how badly he wanted to leave. It wasn't that he was against going back on his word over something so trivial, but he didn't want her throwing a fit and pestering him further.
By the time the movie ended, Bulma was exhausted. Her recent lack of sleep was catching up to her and she could hardly keep her eyes open. It was only a few minutes after 8:00PM, but she felt like it was midnight. She yawned and stretched her arms over her head after she turned the TV off.
"Now what, Veggie?" she asked through her yawn. It was hardly understandable.
He shrugged and stood up. "I've wasted enough time. Go to bed, girl."
She nearly fell over when he told her to go to bed. Was that him actually showing that he cared about her? She was obviously too tired for her own good. Normally he wouldn't have mentioned anything about it in any way, would he? She didn't think so. "I don't want to go to bed."
"You're hardly able to stay awake, you stupid girl."
She yawned again, proving him correct. "I know that, but I hate sleeping. I always have those stupid bad dreams that wake me up anyway."
Vegeta snorted and grabbed her shoulder and whirled her around to march her out the door and down the hall toward her bedroom. "They're just dreams."
"And they're scary," she protested.
He rolled his eyes. "You don't know the meaning of scary."
"And I suppose you do?"
He hesitated in responding. If he said he did, then he would be admitting he experienced fear. Having fear was a weakness he would never admit to having. If he told her he didn't know what it meant, then she would use that against him and continue arguing when she really needed to shut up and sleep instead.
"I have dreams that wake me up all the time," he told her. He never said they were 'scary.' He figured that he successfully evaded telling her he was scared of stupid old memories that haunted him in his sleep.
Bulma already knew he suffered from terrible dreams on a regular basis. She'd seen it more than once. She rubbed her arm absent-mindedly as she remembered the first time she went into his room when she heard him crying out in his sleep when he was having a bad nightmare. He broke her arm when he lashed out at her. That had to have been one heck of a nightmare. She didn't think he was scared of anything. He always acted so calm, even when he came to save her from being kidnapped. Well, not calm. He was thoroughly ticked off. But he wasn't scared. Not even when the creeps started using guns against him.
While she was recounting these things, they reached her bedroom door. Vegeta opened the door and shoved her inside, not really caring if she fell over from the force. She wouldn't get seriously injured and he was tired of dealing with her. He was still feeling angry with everything after his horribly frustrating morning.
Bulma caught herself before she fell over and spun around to glare at Vegeta, but he was already walking away. "Goodnight, Vegeta!" she spat.
"Hn."
After sending Bulma to bed Vegeta went to his own room. He didn't have anything better to do, so he sat at the desk and put his scouter on. He pushed the button twice and numbers started racing across the screen. Most of them were negligibly low, but he did find two higher than average power levels on the planet. His interest piqued, he decided to find out who they belonged to later. He pushed the button again to turn it off and leaned back in his chair. He was actually bored. He had nothing to do.
'I could train more,' he thought. 'But I've already trained for hours today.'
He didn't realize how obsessive he was becoming with his training. He used to do it out of necessity, but now it was to pass the time. Then the more he trained the more he wanted to keep doing it. Even when his body was exhausted he wanted to keep going. Even when reason told him he'd trained enough he couldn't get thoughts of training out of his head until he did it.
'Can never train too much,' he told himself as he stood up and went downstairs. He turned to go to the indoor garden, but then he changed his mind and went outside to train in the yard. When he stepped out into the darkness he felt tingles running down his spine. He recognized that feeling well. "A full moon?"
He looked up at the sky and a shudder ran through his body. The moon wasn't full yet, but it would be within two days. The blutz waves weren't strong enough to make him transform, but he could feel an increase in his power. His tongue slid over his canines as primal energy coursed through him. His tail unwound from his waist and slowly curled and uncurled behind him.
Vegeta could hear his pulse rushing in his hears; his body felt ready to make the transformation. He hadn't allowed himself to transform since coming to the mudball. When he saw how short the lunar cycle was he made sure to stay out of the moonlight when there was a full moon. He couldn't take the risk of losing control of himself. He was mostly able to reign in his primal mind as an oozaru, but sometimes it slipped. He never knew what he might do when that happened: destroy all life, his own space pod, any chance he had to get off the planet, or even the planet itself with him still on it. He would rather not transform unless he had Nappa with him to make sure he didn't do something he would regret.
His eyes dilated and his senses all heightened as he stood in the pale moonlight. A low growl rumbled in his chest. He needed to move. He leaped over the gate and bounded through the city, bouncing off buildings and launching himself high in the air to land again on the ground and continue on his way. He felt aggression building and wanted desperately to engage in a challenging fight, but he knew no one on the planet could possibly be strong enough. He thought his body would burst with all the energy inside if he didn't relieve it somehow.
He jumped to the roof of a building and kicked into the air, blasting out of the city to find a secluded location where he could blow off some excess energy. He landed an hour later in a desert and immediately started to power up. A bright blue aura ignited the air around him. He screamed as his power rose and whipped around him like a cyclone. He never felt so powerful before.
When his power hit the maximum he phased out and threw a ki blast into a mountainside, completely destroying it. He started throwing kicks and punches and threw attack after attack until the ground was shaking with explosions. He was completely remodeling the landscape. He laughed as the mountains crumbled into rubble and the ground cracked and split below.
Hours passed before he wore himself out. He didn't stop until his vision was blurring and sweat dripped down the nape of his neck and stung the cuts on his back from flying debris. Panting, he lowered himself to the ground and smirked when he saw the extent of his destruction. The area looked more like a crater than a desert now.
"See what you're up against, Frieza?" he slurred, "You won't stand a chance against me. Not when I've ascended. You'll see."
He fell to one knee and then collapsed face down. Despite his fatigue, he laughed. He laughed long and hard until he choked on the dust. He was insane and he didn't care. He was stronger than ever and he knew he would never be strong enough. But he would keep feeding himself lies to make life bearable. He raised himself up on his elbows and groaned as a wave of dizziness hit him.
'Maybe I overdid it a little.' He laughed again, weakly this time. He fell down as he slipped out of consciousness.
His eyes cracked open. It was still dark aside from the moon and the stars. He knew not much time had passed. His vision was still hazy as he pushed himself to his knees and ran his hand through his mane. He was a little disoriented, but that was normal for him. He exhaled slowly and rose to his feet. He nearly collapsed to his knees before he found his balance.
"Note to self: Do not repeat," he grumbled. When his vision cleared and the dizziness passed he rolled his shoulders back and took a few tentative steps. His weakness was ebbing so he figured it would be safe to fly to the compound. He lifted off the ground and headed back at a safe pace lest he use up the last dregs of his energy and fall to the ground.
By the time he made it back to Capsule Corporation it was after four in the morning. He landed on his balcony and pulled his shirt – now tattered – and shorts off and crawled into bed. He was almost asleep when he heard a bloodcurdling cry in the room next to his. He heaved a deep sigh and rubbed his hand over his face. Maybe the girl would wake herself up.
The screaming didn't last much longer. When it stopped Vegeta curled up and shut his eyes. Finally he could get some sleep, though he would wake up in an hour and a half at the latest. His eyes opened again when he heard his door opening and he cursed himself for not keeping it locked.
"What are you doing here, girl?" he asked. He wanted to sound threatening but his exhaustion mellowed his tone.
Bulma jumped when Vegeta spoke to her. "You're awake?"
"Hn."
"I didn't wake you again, did I?"
Vegeta rolled onto his back and glared at her even though she couldn't see it. "What do you want?"
"I just – I wanted to make sure I didn't wake you up," she said as she turned to leave.
Vegeta kicked the covers off and sat up. "Don't lie to me. What do you want?"
Bulma froze in place and self-consciously rubbed the back of her neck. She hadn't counted on him being awake and now that she was in his room she felt rather childish for coming to him because a dream scared her. She took a shaky breath and explained, "I had another nightmare. I was wondering if I could stay here with you."
He stared at her blankly for a moment. "No."
"Why not?"
"You'll bother me."
"I promise not to."
"Go back to your own room and keep your promise from there."
"But Vegeta!" she whined. "I can't sleep when I'm scared."
"What am I, your security blanket?"
She blushed a brilliant shade of red and was thankful he couldn't see it. "I don't feel scared when I'm with you," she mumbled.
She could hear him muttering in an alien language as he shook his head and lied down with his back to her. He wasn't telling her to get out anymore, and he seemed to have left enough room on the bed for her. Taking that as an invitation she went over to the bed and got in next to him.
"Thanks, Veggie."
Vegeta didn't hear her. He was already asleep. Bulma heard his slow, steady breathing and reached the conclusion that it was safe to move a little closer to him. She still didn't touch him, not wanting to accidentally wake him up. Before long she fell asleep too.
Vegeta woke an hour later. It was earlier than usual. He was confused; why would he wake up early after a late night, especially after he thoroughly wore himself out? Then he felt the bed shifting and heard someone murmuring something. He couldn't understand the words, but he knew the emotion behind them well enough: fear. He rolled over onto his back and scowled at the ceiling as if it were to blame for his misery. He allowed Bulma to toss and turn for another minute until his patience ran out.
He caught her flailing arm and yanked her over next to him and wrapped his arm around her to hold her still. He snarled when she nuzzled into his chest and instantly calmed down. He was about to yell at her for disturbing his sleep when he realized she hadn't woken up.
He released his breath and rolled his eyes. 'Idiot girl. This is going to have to stop soon or I'll probably kill her.'
A/N: Yeah right, as if 'Geta could ever hurt Bulma on purpose. But he'll never admit that.
Thank you all so much for the reviews on the last chapter! I loved them all. But I am always a little surprised at the aversion readers have to Vegeta killing. He isn't exactly a teddy bear... oh well. One talk with Dr. Brief isn't going to be enough to convince him killing is wrong when he's learned that killing is not only acceptable, but expected for his whole life.
I was going to write another chapter today... but that didn't happen. But I have finished chapter 32. For those of you wondering why I don't post all the chapters I have finished so far, I only do one at a time because I want to stay several chapters ahead. It's easier for me to edit them when I know where they're going and it guarantees I'll always have another ready, meaning regular updates for you. If I catch up to where I'm at in writing I might not be able to update for indefinite periods of time. As always, review!