Hey there groovy people of the internet! I know the last chapter was pretty strange and probably somewhat confusing. If you enjoyed it you're in luck because you're in for more! If it's not your cup of tea then hang in there, I promise the next chapter will bring everything into prospective. So for now just buckle your seat belts and keep your arms and legs inside the ride at all times.

The Monster Within

Medon…

The word rang through Vegeta like a distant bell. He had begun running through the complex, reaching out for Bulma with his kai. Rounding a sharp corner Vegeta found himself facing a dead end. Turning to retrace his steps, he froze, sucking in his breath when a hiss when he saw the bastard meuhvache before him, glaring down at him.

Without a moments hesitation Vegeta leapt forward. As his feet left the ground time seemed to slow down all around him, the sound of his own breath the only noise reaching his ears. He was leaping and yet before him stood glass; separating him from Bulma as she was being tortured, separating him from Bulma as her glass cage closed around her, separating him from Bulma as the flames of the inferno rose to the skies. As his fist flew forward the glass shattered, breaking the silence all around him. As the glass wall within his own mind shattered all the sounds of the world around him rushed forth. His ears no longer heard glass shattering but instead it was bones breaking, the bones of the bastard meuhvache's face breaking to pieces beneath the force of his blow. Nearby other meuhvaches were bellowing, surrounding him from all sides.

As his toes found the floor time seemed to speed up, bypassing normal flow completely as it whirled by. Fists and weapons assailed him from every corner of his vision. The first few blows he calculated carefully but as they continued to fall he felt his muscles began to react of their own accord lashing out to block blows before he even saw them coming. The soldier within him took over, crushing skulls and dismembering limbs from their bodies. For a moment Vegeta felt as though he were looking down on his body, watching a monster murder it's assailants. But as the chaos dissipated it was his hands that were soaked with blood, his fists that ached from the force of his deadly blows.

He felt his gaze pulled to the bastard meuhvache, bellowing an pathetically sad sound as it's mangled arms twisted violently while it's face gushed blood from where pieces of its crushed skull pierced its skin. But as Vegeta looked down upon it flashes of Bulma's maimed and disfigured back danced before his eyes.

Vegeta watched as the monster within him dragged the bloodied body into a nearby infirmary. Mounting the body within a healing tank Vegeta watching with ghostly apprehension as his arm violently yanked the breathing apparatus from the tank before the doors closed with a hiss, locking themselves shut. As the tank began to fill with healing waters the beast cried out with a look of utter terror in its eyes, the whites of its eyes nearly swallowing the retinas whole.

For a moment Vegeta felt his fingers twitch, reaching for the shut off switch, but only for an instant. As Vegeta raised his head watched the water rise he came face to face with his reflection. The slightest turn of the head would cause it to vanish, leaving only the panic stricken meuhevache before his eyes. At just the right angle his reflection danced across the features of the meuhevache, blending their two faces until a hideous cold-bloodied monster formed.

As the healing waters surrounded the meuhevache its wounds began to mend, the blood turned the water a murky red, but Vegeta knew once the water surpassed the beast's head it would slowly drown; as the healing waters floodied it's lungs it would ever so slightly heal the damage it was causing. The creature would be drowning, but at the same time it would be healing just enough to prolong it's death. It would be pure agony, but a fate this creature surely deserved.

As Vegeta watched the meuhevache squirm pathetically within the tank he found his thoughts drifting. This monster was not unlike himself. Meuhevachador had once been a free planet, with no inhabitants but the natives. Then science came calling. The reptalthian ambassadors came offering peace in exchange for aid. What they gave was servitude, ensnarement. Countless meuhvache had died constructing this very arena, which had spanned across what had once been their fields and their homes. Every individual was given a choice, die trying to protect a planet that had long since lost or live. He had seen it countless times before.

And yet every warmonger was a hero to someone; a hero to those whose life was spared because that monger had killed the enemy before the enemy could kill them. But at the same time every enemy that fell was another life dying; another parent, another spouse, another sibling, another child. To the planets they conquered Vegeta was a monster, a cold bloodied killer. But to Frieza and his men Vegeta was a hero, a protector.

As he tilted his head ever so slightly his reflection once again danced around the glass, fusing with the monster within and as the cold red eyes of the reflection gazed up at him his mind's eye was taken back in time. All the people he killed flashed before him - surrounded him - their broken limbs and bloodied bodies clawed at his flesh. The sounds of their screams and anguish filled his ears and threatened to tear his mind apart. As the rubble of the buildings he destroyed fell around him he lost his balance and stumbled. But as he stumbled his hand caught the cool glass of the tank to steady himself and the images were gone. The monster within was barely able to keep it's snout above the water, and soon enough the water would flow freely into it's lungs.

It was a monster who deserved to die, Vegeta thought resolutely, just as I too will one day die for my evil.

Unable to bear these thoughts any longer Vegeta quickly existed the room. Once in the hall he put a hand on the wall to steady himself as he took several deep breaths. Each breath brought a sharp stab of pain piercing through his heart. Clutching his chest with his free hand he knew he had to escape this place, it was driving him mad.

As he collected himself a ball of black fuzz caught his eye amidst the carnage that remained in the hallway. The husk of black fuzz was just barely visible beneath several dead bodies of meuhevache. Vegeta moved toward it, knowing full well what it was, but a faint scent drifted past his nostrils and he stopped short.

Bulma.

Casting around wildly he sought more strands of scent. He had taken a corner that lead to a dead end, but he now realized it was merely were 3 hallways converged upon a lift. The doors of the lift were barely discernable from the rock wall but with a sharp thump the walls rumbled apart to reveal the lift. Stepping up onto the lift another whiff of Bulma's scent lingered in the air.

With the push of a lever in the center of the lift it ascended, floor after floor whizzing past. Then Bulma's scent came again, this one more recent. Halting the lift he gave the wall a sharp thump. As the wall drifted apart he found himself looking over a crowd of creatures. Every door in this hall was open and every creature free. Bulma's scent was stronger now. Pushing his way through the crowd Vegeta felt a crunch beneath his feet. Glancing down he took note of small bits of computer parts.

"Halt Saiyan" a creature before him commanded. It's skin was of a dark green hue with numerous antennae dangling from every limb. It's head was needle shaped with two large white globes for eyes on either side.

Vegeta strode by as if he hadn't heard, continuing to shove the mass of the creatures from his path. When a hand grabbed his shoulder he swore he merely blinked and he held an arm in his hand. As bright orange blood doused his saiyan suit as all eyes in the hall turned toward him. His own body had responded faster than his mind could render the flow of time. Dropping the limb with a snarl he continued forward, this time the crowd parted before him as no one dared to touch him.

What the hell are standing around for, he wanted to scream but he knew why. There's nowhere to go.

As the scents of those alien creatures filled his nostrils Bulma scent was lost to him, like a leaf carried away by the wind. But even as his nostrils flared wide and he closed his eyes to the world around him her scent was lost among the masses. Dropping down into a crouch Vegeta surrendered his senses and focused what kai he could retain on the scents around him. The bright lights of the facility made complete darkness impossible, even when he closed his eyes, but as he took deeper and deeper breathes the world plunged into darkness. Scents reveal more than the eye can see, but when he closed his eyes and relied on smell alone the life fled from this accursed place.

"Prince of Sayians" a voice rang through the darkness, "Vegeta."

"Bulma?" Vegeta questioned, slowly opening his eyes. At first the brightness of the lights made her image blurry, but within a few blinks her figure was clear. She stood before him clear as day, but his nose told him he was alone. The scents that had been so strong at first had vanished, like the sweet smell of a summer's gentle breeze.

My mind conjured those scents, he realized, I smelt what I thought I saw.

As he stood a scowl took hold of his face, his coal black eyes looked down his nose at her apprehensively. Her face was pale and polished, much like that of a porcelain doll. Her brilliant blue eyes that were always ablaze with passion were cold and lifeless. As she stared blankly at him a drop of blood rolled down her cheek and fell to the floor, a crimson tear. Her saiyan armor was drenched with blood from her hands to her elbows. Her white saiyan boots had left a trail of bloody footprints behind her.

"Vegeta."

Even when her mouth moved to form the words Vegeta knew them to be distant, somewhere far away from here.

Then he blinked. A quick jerk of his eyelids to wipe the dust away before it settled, to refresh his eyes so they would not tire. But as the world went black for that single moment Bulma disappeared and a small child took her place. Alarmed Vegeta dropped instantly into fighting stance, but as their eyes met he froze. The muscles beneath his skin clenched tightly, his pupils dilated abruptly in surprise, and even his heart felt as though it skipped a beat.

A mane of flame red hair fell softly around her small face, her blood red eyes staring into the depths of his soul.

Medon.

As he stared transfixed into those pools of crimson red he felt himself being drawn in, the world around him faded into nothingness and only her eyes remained. His mind tingled with the sensation of drowning, waves of red water swept him under, holding him down until his lungs burned with need. He kicked his legs savagely but the distant light of the surface slowly faded away. Unable to bear it any longer Vegeta sucked in a deep breath, the red water swirled around him and he felt it rushing into his lungs. For an instant, the briefest instant, Vegeta opened his eyes to his reflection in the glass facing him. For an instant he watched himself drown in the healing tank he had locked himself in, in the healing tank he had torn the breathing apparatus from. For an instant he was ready to pay for his crimes, for his evil, for his sins.

But as the red water flooded his lungs he was able to take another breath, and another. Each breath brought the light above the surface closer, each breath brought air closer. His heart pounding he took in rapid shallow breathes and finally, when he thought he could not take another breath of crimson water he felt his head burst from the water. Inhaling a deep breath of air the world exploded all around him. He felt his body fall to the floor, he saw Bulma's porcelain face leaning over him, he watched as another drop of crimson rolled down her cheek and dripped from her chin, watched as the drop fell between his eyes, felt it's impact upon the bridge of his nose.

As the drop spilt into two and rolled down his nose, each droplet found it's way to the corner of his eyes. As they dropped down from his skin to his eye he felt himself instinctively blink, as one would when a drop of rain found the eyes. But as he blinked the red droplets spread across his vision and his world turned red. Bulma's face looming over him came alive with hues of red and shades of black. She rose her hand, as though she were about to strike him, and without hesitation the back of his hand found her face. As his hand collided with her porcelain features the skin of her face shattered like glass, cracks rupturing as her face fell to pieces. But instead of blood it was sand that poured out, flowing as freely as time.

As her broken form fell to the floor he felt himself rising. Every muscle felt alive and blood pulsed through his veins with new vigor, and new strength. Clenching his fists he felt power within himself again, as the air around him crackled furiously. He could feel it, coursing through his veins, working his muscles, feeding his heart, darkening his soul.

I am free.

His sinister laugh echoed throughout the halls as his signature smirk once again graced his lips. The crackling in the air around him increased tenfold as he reached deep down within his abdomen, summoning forth all of his strength. As his fury tore from his throat he felt his mind seized by wave after wave of tingling sensations that shot down his spine and over his skin. He felt the skin of his scalp grow heavy as new bulks of hair shot forth as his power surged through him.

His fists clenched sharply as bursts of power shot through his arms, springing to life in the air between his fingers. His smirk grew dark and deadly as he flung the ball of power through the air where it collided with a nearby wall, bringing it crumbling to the ground.

Fools.

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Stay tuned for the next chapter of Dragonball Z!