'Face to Face'

Chapter Twenty-Two: We Are The End

'All my bones are dust,

And my hearts filled with rust,

These hands will always be rough,

I know this won't count for much.'

Alexisonfire: Rough Hands

Blood filled his mouth and the coppery taste of it only spurned him on, only fed the burning in him that he could never quite satiate. He roared into the silence, clenching his fists at his side as he forced himself to power up, dragging every essence of himself to the forefront, practically feeling his blood boiling in his veins, and he grit his teeth, ignoring the mental images that haunted him so much at times like this. He pitched himself off the ground and flew into the ever-dark sky of the abysmal planet. He kept his eyes squeezed shut as the wind screamed against his face, and again, he tried to forget the images that were seared into his mind.

He had passed out again, and when he woke he was furious with himself. He had only a month to go until the androids would appear, and he still hadn't reached Super-Saiyan. He couldn't understand why it seemed so easy, so natural for Kakarot, and he ignored the voice in his head that hissed Because he's the only one that can do it.

It was not true, the boy from the future had been super-saiyan, and it was clear he was no descendant of Kakarott's. There had to be something to it he was missing, some movement, some technicality he hadn't grasped yet. He refused to think that it was him that just wasn't capable.

He picked himself off the ashy floor and stormed over to his shuttle, he needed to eat and think. And then he was going to reach Super-Saiyan.

His supplies were beginning to run out as he gorged his way through them, and the fact made him realise that the space capsule might not have the stats to get him home.

Home? Get a grip of yourself. That pathetic planet Earth is NOT your home, nothing on it means anything to you. You do not belong there. He grit his teeth, and checked the stats of the pod, working out that he had precisely enough fuel left for the rest of the month. He would make it back just fine. And he would make it back as a Super Saiyan. He would be the one to defeat the androids and he would be the most powerful Saiyan. He would reap the rewards of becoming what he was born to be. His mind unwittingly flashed up an image of a blue-haired beauty and Vegeta let out a furious cry, storming from the shuttle and setting up the bots for his training. He refused to let himself think about her, or feel anything, but somehow, she was always lurking there on his periphery.

He grit his teeth again. That had to stop.

He had trained non-stop for four days and his body ached all over, he was covered in cuts and bruises, and there was a large lump forming on his head, where he inadvertently flown into a wall of rocks.

Nevertheless, Vegeta was nothing if not determined, and he pushed himself on, though every movement he made caught his breath and made his heart strain with effort, his vision was blurry, and his mind was all over the place. He was just lowering to the ground, accepting that he needed sustenance, when there was a sudden perk of ki in the atmosphere and a second later something had hit him suddenly in the back and bowled him over.

He was slow to get up, too slow, because whatever had hit him had already gripped his neck and pulled him roughly to his feet, before a long silver tail wrapped around his waist and squeezed. A second later, Vegeta's most hated voice was whispering in his ear.

"Well, well, look what I've caught myself here. Vegeta," the tail squeezed again and Vegeta could not prevent himself from wincing as a rib cracked under the pressure, "did you miss me?" the tail spun him around and Vegeta snarled.

"Frieza! How did you get here? You're dead!"

Frieza grinned wickedly, "Well let's just say I have friends in high places. And what of you, monkey, last I saw you were playing house with the human whore."

Vegeta snarled again and finally begun to struggle in Frieza's grip, he gripped the tail around him and Frieza shrieked in pain, flinging Vegeta far away from him again. His battered body seemed to bounce off the ground uselessly.

"So how was it Vegeta, how was the earth life like? It looked so mundane and dull to me, though the girl was like an animal in heat. Perhaps that why you liked her so?" Frieza hovered over him, speaking delicately, taunting him.

Vegeta pushed himself up, and croaked out, "I didn't like her, she means nothing to me." he struggled to his feet and Frieza watched him with amused disdain.

"Well then you won't mind to find out that I decided to sample your life for myself?" his voice was barely a whisper now, and the traces of the evil, debased, sadistic Frieza Vegeta knew so well was beginning to come to the surface.

Vegeta clenched his fists. "What are you talking about you fool?" he snarled.

Frieza's grin was pure evil. "I played house with the little whore and your brat. I don't think she liked me much." He paused and watched Vegeta's reactions carefully.

Vegeta froze, unable to stop himself leaping for Frieza, his teeth bared and his ruined fists aimed for his enemy's head. Frieza screamed with derisive laughter as Vegeta missed his every blow, and Frieza flew higher, circling over Vegeta like a bird would to its prey.

He lowered down again when Vegeta's knees gave way to exhaustion. "No she didn't like me very much at all. Not that she had any choice, not that she could stop me from taking what I wanted!"

"What did you do to her!?" Vegeta screamed up at him, his heart pounding frantically as every word Frieza said unleashed a myriad of images of Bulma, his Bulma, left to Frieza's lecherous violent hands. He closed his eyes as his brain burned with them, and Frieza cackled loudly, slapping Vegeta sharply across the face with his tail. The blow threw Vegeta backwards, and his body crumbled into the floor again.

"She made so much noise, she screamed so much, and Vegeta, there was so much blood." Frieza hovered over him again, his voice becoming more sinister with each second.

Vegeta couldn't move his body; he was paralysed by the images reeling round his mind. He groaned into the dirt as an image of a broken, bloodied Bulma sprung to mind and his heart thumped painfully against his chest.

"There was so much mess. I hope you don't mind too much, but I had to kill her after that. The brat too."

And that was it, Vegeta's rage burst through, and he sprung to his feet and screamed violently, his eyes still squeezed shut as his heart seemed to expand in his chest, his blood begun to boil again, his muscles stretched and his head throbbedd and ached as if it was expanding, and when he opened his eyes Frieza was gone, and his father was stood in front of him.

"Push Vegeta! You are the Prince, the ruler of the Saiyans, you must become the Super! Forget the whore, she is gone, she is nothing, forget her and push! VEGETA!" his father roared at him as Vegeta leapt at him blindly in his rage. His body was working of its own accord as he pummelled his father to the ground. He could see nothing but flashes of blinding blue eyes and he could feel nothing but sheer fury. He was moving without limitation, he was flying with immeasurable speed and grace, and his body was stronger than ever. He screamed again as he sunk one last punch into his father's face, before he stopped and slunk back to his knees, his rage giving way to a silent fury.

He stayed silent for a while, before he eventually opened his eyes, to find his fist buried into the ground. He leapt up again and stared around for his father, for Frieza, for anything, but there was no sight of anyone. There was only dents and crumbled boulders and dusty ash and dried blood. It took him a moment to realise his hand was glowing.

He pulled it out of the dent and stared at it, bewildered, for a moment, before he realised what had happened. He could feel it. He was better than ever before, he was stronger, more powerful… he had ascended. He was a Super-Saiyan.

long time, no update! i'm sorry it has been so long again. i'm really beginning to lose the plot (literally and figuratively) over this story. i do intend to finish it, but it won't be carrying on for much longer. i did intend to follow through all the Android saga, but now i think i'll end it with Vegeta's return to Earth as the androids appear, and perhaps offer some sort of epilogue to it. i'm really sorry to those who have been very loyally and kindly reviewing and who expected much more, but i'd rather end it differently, then spend the next few years umming and ahhing over it and never finishing it!

so thanks to all my reviewers, you are all amazing. if you're a general fan of my writing then i do have some one-shots on my profile that i would really appreciate any of your comments on!

so, as usual, please review! thanks a lot. x