Disclaimer: I don't own anything :)

Bulma turned the machine on and it lightened up with a slight purring sound.

"Okay. Listen to me because this is extremely important. Once we land on that timeline, this one is not going to stop. It will continue happening without us. We have to know exactly how much time we are there, so that we can land back ahead." She said.

"Can't we just land at the same exact spot we left?"

"No. That would create another timeline. We have to land back in our timeline at the time our timeline is happening."

"This is giving me a headache." Bulla said.

"Bulla, this is important. It's… two in the morning. If we stay there for five hours, we have to get back at exactly seven in the morning. And not only that: we can't miss even one second. The machine has clocks, so that'll help, but…" she got interrupted as the unmistakable sound of Goku appearing suddenly startled the three of them. "Goku? It's two in the goddamn morning! What on Earth are you doing here?"

He grinned and scratched the back of his head. "Hehe, hi Bulma. Hello, kids."

"Hey, Goku."

"Uhm, listen… We ran out of salt and I wanted my midnight snack, but I've been looking for salt for the past two hours and – "

"Goku, if Vegeta was here he would shout your ears off. You can't just Instant Transmit into somebody's house at two in the morning."

"Sorry!" he said, grinning. "But then why are the three of you awake?" he said, pointing at them.

"Oh, we were just…"

"We wanted to go to daddy's past and see what was it all like." Bulla said excitedly. Trunks and Bulma facepalmed.

"Oh." Goku's silly face turned serious all of a sudden. "I don't know if you should do that, guys. Vegeta's past… I mean, he worked for Frieza. And I fought Frieza, and he's not… he's not someone to mess with. He's not only evil, he's – "

"Frieza? That's daddy's guardian?" Bulla asked.

"Well… I wouldn't call it guardian." Goku said. "Frieza was more like his master."

"Master?" Bulla asked. "As in… master and slave?"

"Well, I wouldn't call it a slave. Vegeta was a soldier, but…"

"In any case, Goku" Bulma said, not wanting him to slip and tell Bulla too much. (Of course, that was stupid, considering she was about to see everything for herself.) "We are not going to alter anything. We'll just be onlookers. Nobody will notice us."

"Bulma, I don't know. It's Vegeta's past we're talking about. It was not all finding dragonballs and fighting dinosaurs and stuff, you know…"

"What if you come with us?" Bulla squealed. "I know you're curious as well."

"Chichi will kill me." Goku said. "Besides, it's Vegeta we're talking about. He'll be angry with me for the rest of my life."

Bulma laughed. "He's already angry with you until hell freezes over." She said.

Goku laughed nervously. "Well… I guess she won't mind a couple of hours without me, huh?"

Trunks sighed. "We better get going now." He said. "The earlier we arrive, the better. If we are lucky, Dad will still be training when we get back."

"Right." Bulma said. She got into the enormous capsule and the three younger people followed her inside.

Various screens were installed around them with numbers, graphics, bars… things that gave Goku a headache. There was a set of buttons next to Bulma and she pressed a red one. The screens began to glow and change. Bulma typed something and the machine began to beep. She continued typing and the three other people inside looked around the capsule. Numbers changed and disappeared. The bars and periods in the graphs changed height, colors, width, length… More beeping sounds spurted into their ears and Bulma continued typing things. She sighed when she was done.

A computerized voice spoke:

'It's 2:37:53 a.m. Present Year. Please type the day, month, year, coordinate, and exact hour in that order, in which you wish to land.'

Bulma sighed. The hour was glowing next to her, along with the year and coordinates. "Vegeta mentioned once that Frieza's Planet number 1 was located in the 122.111.012 South. I think that would be a good place to start. And we want to land…" she made calculations of the year and typed everything. "Ready?"

"Yeah!" they said excitedly.

'Preparing to leave in 3… 2… 1…'

Everything became dark suddenly, and their surroundings began to morph. They found themselves surrounded by cold. Bulla began trembling immediately. They all looked up when they saw it: Frieza's enormous base. White and pink. Impressive technology. They walked out of the capsule as the computerized voice spoke the exact time and place. Bulma took a mental note of the time: 2:38:12. She began walking up to it.

"It will take a lot to find dad." Trunks said.

"No. I think I can feel his energy. It's extremely weak compared to the one in our timeline, but it's there. Inside the castle." He said.

"Well, then lead the way." Bulma said, excited about seeing Vegeta. As they began to walk, she began to talk. "Okay. If my calculations are correct, Vegeta should be around six."

"Sixteen?" Bulla asked, confused.

"No. Six. Six years old." Bulma said.

"Six? Why is he here?"

"Vegeta-sei got destroyed when he was five."

"And he became a soldier when he was five?" She yelled, surprised. "That's sooo wrong on sooo many levels!"

"It's not that bad." Goku said. "Saiyans are bred for battle so I guess he was kinda used to it. I'm sure King Vegeta trained him since he was able to walk." Goku said.

"I know. But six?"

"Dad started training me at that age." Trunks said.

They finally arrived at the fortress and trespassed the closed front door. It was quiet and dark. The halls were intermittently illuminated by dim lightbulbs that gave an eerie atmosphere. Their footsteps were the only thing sounding in the first floor of the enormous infrastructure they were currently observing. Bulla absentmindedly linked her arm around Trunks's as she stared wide-eyed at everything.

"It's almost three in the morning in this planet. Considering Frieza had to find a planet that could sustain life, this planet also has a sun, maybe more. It means there is daytime and nighttime and people are probably asleep right now." Bulma said.

"Vegeta is awake." Goku said. "I can sense him. He's up high. Maybe third, or fourth floor."

He grabbed Bulma and Trunks grabbed Bulla as they began to fly upwards, going right through the floors and ceilings, until they heard a muffled voice. It was pitched, like a little kid. Goku landed, still amazed. They just had to think if they wanted to be solid or not in order to be so. The hall they had landed in was completely dark, except for a light coming from around the corner. They walked over there and the voices became clear.

"I told you I'm alright." The childlike voice said.

"Vegeta…" a teenager voice said, filled with worry. Goku recognized it immediately. As they finally reached the corner, he found out his suspicions were right. There was a tiny version of Vegeta, with flame-like hair and cute bangs, talking to a shorter and younger version of Goku's older brother, Radditz. Bulma gasped as she saw both of them. One of them had kidnapped Gohan and shared the blame of Goku's death with Piccolo. The other one was her husband in the body of a tiny six-year-old. But what was off was how he was. He had a swollen right cheek, and the parts of his body that were visible – his neck, arms and part of his chest – were covered in welts and bruises. Bulla almost ran up to him to hug him. Her eyes watered as the little kid glared up at the other teenager.

"I don't need your pity, Radditz."

"Why… why did he do it this time?"

Vegeta shrugged. "You were on a mission, Nappa was running some errand for Ginyu, and Frieza was bored." He said, his voice filled with hatred. "Now leave me alone."

Radditz swallowed. "If you want to talk about it…"

"Do I look like some weak whore? If you want somebody bitching around go to Planet 142. I heard Frieza brought a new whore cargo some days ago." He said, walking away. Radditz tried to follow him. "Don't follow me! I want to be alone!"

He passed beside them. His posture hadn't changed. Bulla almost burst into tears when she realized he barely passed her knee. They began following him and realized that the lights of the hallway turned on as Vegeta passed. They were automatic. Suddenly, they heard footsteps behind them. Bulla was the first to turn. Goku, Bulma and Trunks followed suit.

"Oh my God! What is that?"

"That's Frieza." Goku said.

"THAT is Frieza?" She gasped.

But Vegeta just stopped and rolled his eyes. "I thought I told you not to – " he turned around and saw the lizard. His eyes widened and his face became white. "M-m-master F-Frieza." He whispered. It broke the women's hearts to see so much fear in the child. He started quivering as the lizard slowly stepped up to him.

"My, my, Vegeta." He purred. "It's so late. Couldn't sleep?"

"I – I… I was…" his voice was trembling. He was looking at the floor trying to think of something.

"If you feel so eager and full of energy, you could've just told me, my little monkey. I can give you another training session. I would've thought that, since you were crying so much and begging me to stop, you were tired." He said.

Vegeta's eyebrows furrowed at the prospect of another training session with Frieza. He swallowed. "I was going to my room."

The lizard chuckled and approached him. He stopped right in front of Vegeta, and the small kid could smell his breath and feel the cold radiating off of him. "Are you sure? I am available right now."

"I… was going to sleep, m-master. If you don't mind."

Frieza tsked-tsked and tilted Vegeta's head up with his finger. Vegeta flinched. He swallowed and Frieza looked into his eyes.

"Maybe I should accompany you to your room." He said.

"No… I – "

"No? Are you telling me no, monkey?"

Vegeta's eyes widened even more. "N-no. I – I didn't… I mean…"

There was no way around it. If he said no, he'd be punished. If he said yes, he'd be punished. And if Frieza entered his room and saw how singed it was from all of Vegeta's tantrums... he didn't want to think about that one. He remained quiet and looked down again. His cruel master tilted his head up again, this time with the tip of his tail. Vegeta hated that tail, especially so close to his neck. He trembled even more and looked into Frieza's red eyes.

"Your room is actually my room. I own everything around here including you. Is that understood?"

"Y-yes, Master."

There was a communal gasp. Nobody expected Vegeta to accept that Frieza owned him.

"Maybe I should teach you a lesson."

"But-but I… I didn't… I…" he looked pleadingly at Frieza, but the lizard chuckled and crossed his arms.

"Go to your room while I think of a fitting punishment for you. I'll be there in a second." He said cruelly, walking away. Vegeta watched him leave before breaking down. He clenched his tiny fists and put them over his eyes as tears streamed down. He began sobbing and his body shook badly. He almost hyperventilated as hatred, rage, sadness and desperation settled in his cute little features. He even thought about not going to his room, hiding in Radditz's room… tying to go out of the base and hide behind some bushes. But decided against everything. It would be healthier for him to face it. If he hurried, perhaps he could clean around his room a bit.

"It's not fair…" he whispered. "It's not fair. I didn't do anything." He began walking away. "Please, please, please." He whispered. "Don't let him hurt me anymore." He whispered, sobbing.

As he walked away, Goku sighed and turned to Bulma. She was cleaning her tears with the back of her hand. Bulla was doing the same.

"I can't believe it." The younger woman said. "He's only six."

"Come on." Trunks said. "Let's follow him."

They watched as Vegeta entered his room and followed him inside. The prince looked around, still sobbing. The walls were singed and cracked, and the floor had spots of various substances, including blood. There was nothing in there apart from a rock-hard bed covered in a thin, ratty blanket. There was no pillow. One automatic light bulb was on the ceiling and there was a pair of doors that lead to his closet, which had a few spandex suits. He trembled badly and climbed on his bed. He backed off into the corner and hugged his legs, resting his forehead against his knees, crying.

"I want to hug him." Bulla said. "He's so alone."

"I know, but this already happened, Bulla. He's with us now." Bulma said, smiling, although her eyes were extremely wet.

Vegeta's head shot up as the door slid open. Frieza stood there, smiling. His harnds were behind his back, and Vegeta cried harder. He hugged his legs tighter.

"My, my… You are crying again? What a pathetic little ape you are. What would King Vegeta say if he saw you like this? I'm sure he wouldn't regret his decision of handing you over to me, hmmm?" he said cruelly, knowing how Vegeta was still touchy about that. Vegeta tried to stop crying, but couldn't. "Oh well, I guess it's a good thing Vegeta-sei no longer exists. What would they say if they saw that you are such a weak kid?"

Bulma sighed. It was not a secret that one of Frieza's most horrible tortures was the psychological. It could be seen in how Vegeta acted daily.

"I'm not weak." He muttered between sobs.

"Oh?" Frieza said. "Why don't you come here and show me how strong you are?"

Vegeta looked away. Frieza chuckled and finally revealed what he was carrying behind his back. It was a whip. Vegeta stared at the dreaded coiled tool with a mixture of resignation and depression. "Do try to be silent this time, Vegeta. The soldiers are sleeping."

Vegeta had finally stopped crying. He just stared blankly at Frieza, with his known scowl adorning his little face. Frieza smiled and uncoiled the whip with a crack. The sound made everyone jump, including Vegeta. He swallowed. Frieza, however, decided to make a prequel. His tail shot out and struck the small kid in the side of his head, knocking him off of the bed and onto the ground. Vegeta, with the side of his head now bleeding, backed off until his back hit the wall. He hit him once more in the stomach. He coughed and gasped in pain, his tiny arms wrapping around his midsection. Frieza laughed and wrapped his tail around Vegeta's neck. The bruises around it hurt a lot when he squeezed and lifted him off of the ground. He gasped desperately as the tail almost cut his circulation.

"Ooh, my little monkey. I always miss you so much when you leave." He pulled his arm back, and struck. Vegeta gasped and tried not to scream as his belly was now bleeding. "I like how much you cry." Swish-crack. "It reminds me how your father wanted to get rid of you so badly." Swish-crack. "A poor little prince who got disowned by his own father." Swish-crack. "You lost your kingdom." Swish-crack. "Your family." Swish-crack. "Because you are weak."

Vegeta couldn't hold it this time. He uttered a slight cry of pain.

"No!" Bulla shouted suddenly. "We have to stop it!"

Trunks grabbed her wrists and looked at her. "Hey, hey." He said, looking into her tearstained face. "We can't affect the timeline. I think we should move out and wait until Frieza leaves the room."

Goku nodded and turned to Bulma. She was crying, tears spilling down her cheeks as she watched. Frieza had not stopped. If only, his blows were becoming stronger. Vegeta was crying now, unable to stop his whimpers and cries. He was bleeding all over, his clothes practically nonexistent, and he was trembling badly. He was clutching Frieza's tail, trying to pry it off his neck, although he was lacking strength with every blow, and Frieza was still swishing his whip. Goku grabbed Bulma's elbow and pulled her away as Trunks held his sister close while they crossed the wall. They left the room, but the horrible sounds of the whip and Vegeta's whimpers and moans of pain, along with Frieza's insults still reached their ears.

Bulla sat on the floor at the other side of the hall, pressing her back against it. Goku sighed and sat beside her.

"Hey, it's alright. It already happened."

"That's what makes it worse. The fact that Daddy had to go through it."

"Maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all." Trunks sighed, sitting in front of them.

"He's a monster." Bulla whispered. "He's no guardian…"

"No." Bulma said. "He's a tyrant."

Vegeta finally passed out and Frieza released him. The bloodied child landed on the floor on a puddle of his own blood, trembling and sweating. The tyrant chuckled, coiled the whip and turned to walk out of the room, oblivious of how four people were glaring deathly at him.