A/N: Thank you for the reviews, everyone

Disclaimer: Nope. No DBZ in my belongings yet.

"Get up."

Vegeta swallowed and once again tried to get on his feet. He realized he couldn't move his left leg. He unsteadily put all his weight on his right leg and looked at Frieza. The lizard surrounded him.

"Your stances are good but unsteady." He said. "Your punches are strong but lack speed and your kicks go way too high or way too low, monkey. Get into a defensive stance again."

Vegeta tried. His left leg didn't answer, his right hand couldn't be clenched into a punch and he couldn't lift his left arm above his navel. He blinked a few times but found himself on his knees again. Frieza growled and punched him. The child flew across the room and landed against the far wall with an anguished cry. He opened his one good eye to see that Frieza was walking up to him, his expression blank. He put both his hands flat on the wall behind him, trying to ignore the pain that caused to the fingers in his right, and pushed himself up. His tail would've waved to help him keep balance, but if he moved it he would see stars from the pain.

"I said, get into a defensive stance."

Vegeta tried again, leaning on his good leg and forcing his right hand into a fist. He decided to ignore his other arm, but Frieza noticed.

"Are you going to leave your left side unprotected, prince?" he purred. He thrust his foot forward and hit the little prince on his face. Vegeta felt the crack-pop of his jaw breaking and dislocating as he landed on the ground. Frieza's tail wrapped around his throat again and lifted him up. The prince gasped desperately. "You are useless."

He was slammed against the ground again and again until he couldn't move anymore. His own cries muffled his bones breaking. Frieza released him and kicked him on his side, making his body roll across the ground. Vegeta was about to start pleading, when the door of the Throne Room slid open. He breathed out a small sigh of relief and closed his eyes, praying that the person that had just come in would keep Frieza busy for a while. He cringed a bit when he heard somebody laughing. They were laughing at him.

"Lord Frieza, Captain Ginyu is on line 3."

"Thank you. Take the prince to his room, will you? And call somebody to clean the Throne Room."

The random soldier grabbed the back of Vegeta's torn and soaked suit and walked out of the room. Vegeta would've fought, but he had no energy left. The soldier got to Vegeta's room and threw the prince inside without a word. He then walked away. The prince whimpered when he hit the ground and trembled in pain.

Bulla and Bulma had woken up suddenly with the sound of the door, and the scene that greeted them didn't help the matters. A random man with some sort of helmet was holding Vegeta by the back of his suit. He threw the child carelessly to the floor and walked away, leaving a whimpering little prince on the ground. A puddle of blood was quickly forming below him. His tiny face was swollen and he looked like he couldn't move at all. He swallowed and turned his head around, so that his forehead was now against the cold floor. Very slowly, he put his hands at his sides and the women could see how one of his hands was completely destroyed. He began to try to drag his body across the floor, but Bullma stopped him. She lifted him in her arms and carried him to the bed. He winced when his back made contact with the hard structure and he began to cough, blood leaking down the corners of his lips.

"I… don't need your help." He whispered when Bulma tried to help him to sit up so that he could cough more comfortably.

"I know." She said softly. "I just figured I'd help you since I'm already here."

"I'm not weak." The child said suddenly, as if he was trying to convince himself.

"I know." Bulma said, looking through her pockets. "You are the strongest child I've ever met."

She withdrew a capsule from her pocket and read the number. She then pressed the top button and threw it to the ground. Vegeta didn't even flinch when it exploded, revealing a few bottles of water with ice inside of them. Bulma picked one up and took the tap off. Vegeta watched her with interest.

"I had forgotten about these. I often carry bottles of water in my pockets since I'm always down in the lab and it will just be a lot easier to take them out in a capsule than carry them around." She explained. She gave it to Vegeta.

He grabbed it with his good hand and looked at Bulma with wide eyes. Why was she helping him? He couldn't help but wonder if the water was poisoned. Vegeta was almost always thirsty, and while back at the palace he would just have to say the word to have tons of guards with golden cups full of water surrounding him, here he could almost never get a sip. And it was in moments like these, when he was so full of pain, that a sip of water would've been extremely welcome. He smelled it before taking it to his lips. After the first gulp went down his dry throat, he couldn't help but swallow it down entirely, ignoring the constant pain in his esophagus. He stopped when the bottle was half empty to get some breath. He cleaned the water running down his chin and looked up at the two women. They were smiling at him. He snarled and finished up the rest of the bottle before giving it to Bulma.

"Hide it. Nobody can see it." Vegeta said. "They'd kill me."

"You're not allowed to have water?"

"It's not that I'm not allowed." Vegeta said. "We can get water during breakfast, lunch or dinner or from the taps in the bathrooms and training rooms, but if they find that bottle they'll think I've been preserving it and that would be considered stealing." He said. He lied down and sighed. "I'm going to sleep now."

PRESENT

"So you're telling us that Bulma, Bulla, Trunks and Goku are with Frieza right now?" Krillin said. "The same Frieza we met on Namek?"

"Yes." Gohan said. "Only many years before that."

Goten seemed confused, but he didn't want to ask. His brother had told him Vegeta's story once, but he only knew details. He was a soldier, a murderer, working for some guy named Frieza. He had been told about Vegeta's arrival with Nappa, the fight with Goku, the trip to Namek, Frieza's soldiers, Frieza himself and the fights that had taken place until Goku arrived to, as usual, become a super Saiyan and save the day. Gohan seemed to cherish that story more than the others because it was the first time anyone had seen a super Saiyan. Goten knew that Frieza was sadistic and stuff, but just now the situation was kicking in: Vegeta lived with the same guy that had tortured everyone back on Namek, including the prince himself.

"Why would they do that?" Krillin asked.

"They didn't want to be with Frieza. They wanted to see what Vegeta's past was like." Gohan explained.

"My question remains." Krillin said.

Vegeta appeared suddenly. He had been in his room, but he now walked downstairs and across the living room, up to the window next to the door. He looked outside, as if waiting for something.

"You two should head back now." He said. "Talk about this somewhere else."

Yamcha was about to complain but the other three men, being a bit more perceptive, could see the worry etched across Vegeta's features and decided to leave. The prince needed some time alone.

PAST

"Wake up." Radditz growled. "If Vegeta wakes up before you, he'll get angry."

Goku and Trunks stretched and looked up at the boy who was putting his armor on.

"Aren't there baths in here?" Trunks groaned.

The Saiyan boy glared at him. "Why? Does the little princess need a wash?"

"Now, listen here…" Trunks began, but Radditz cut him off.

"We only get baths after missions." He said. "Once in a while they put wet towels in the Training Rooms but that almost never happens."

His scouter began to beep and he picked it up off his bed.

'Oi, thirdclass.' Nappa's voice came in. 'Wake up.'.

"I'm up, chromehead." Radditz answered. "Have you seen the prince yet?"

'He isn't answering his scouter. I'm going to his room. Meet me at the door.'

"Right." He cut the transmission and turned to look at the two men in his room. "I'm going to Vegeta's room."

Goku and Trunks decided to follow him, so they all met outside Vegeta's door. Nappa knocked. Nothing. He was about to knock again, this time harder, when a shy voice answered from behind the door.

"He isn't waking up." Bulma said. "You might have to come on in."

They barged inside and Nappa cursed. He walked up to the prince's bed.

"What happened?" he demanded.

"Frieza came in last night and they had a training session." Bulla said.

"Damn that lizard." Radditz said.

"I don't get it." Trunks muttered. "He had a tank just… yesterday, didn't he? Why is Frieza beating him again?"

"It wasn't a beating per se." Radditz said, once again ridding the child of his destroyed spandex. "Frieza likes to train him a few times a week."

"Well, he surely looks as if he had gotten a beating." Bulma said. "That's no way of training a child."

"If Frieza beats him hard," Nappa said "nobody else will beat him harder."

"That's – "

"We hate it as well." Radditz said.

After getting him into a new spandex suit, Vegeta slowly opened his eyes. He groaned and put a hand on his forehead. His little tail twitched and he closed his eyes again. He tried to sit up and Radditz helped him, keeping a steady hand on his back. Vegeta swallowed and sighed deeply. He was hurting a lot, but he had to go and have some breakfast. Nappa handed him his armor and he put on his gloves and boots. Nobody said anything and the silence was growing thick. He finally jumped off of the bed and walked away without another word. The two saiyans followed him and Bulla, Bulma, Goku and Trunks decided to head outside so that Bulma could do some more work around the machine. Sometime later the three saiyans brought them food.

Nothing particularly interesting happened for the rest of the week. Their days were a routine: the girls would sleep with Vegeta and wake him up after he had horrible nightmares to give him a bit of water and calm him down. The boys would sleep with Radditz and they would barely say anything to each other. Vegeta still got beat up every day, various times a day, either by punishments or training sessions. Frieza visited him sometimes at night, which totally freaked the girls out. In the day, the injured kid would still push himself and, in his free time, he would train with Nappa until he passed out and got a good nap. Bulma worked relentlessly on the machine, sending her friends and the saiyans back and forth to deliver messages and get tools to work on it, but the damage was worse than what she thought, and each day she was getting more and more frustrated.

That night Radditz and Nappa stopped to dump some food and water on the floor for them.

"Prince Vegeta is in a tank." Nappa said.

"About time." Bulla answered.

"He got into a tank because we're going on a mission tomorrow." Radditz explained. "He always gets healed before we depart so that he'll give everything."

"The mission is tomorrow?" Trunks asked, a bit alarmed.

"Yes. We depart at 5581." Radditz answered. "We need to discuss how the pods will be arranged. There are three pods for each of us and one more which is carrying the payment for the people on the planet." He explained.

"That's perfect. Then each of us will go in one pod." Goku said.

"No shit." Radditz ground out. "We have to decide now who will go in which one."

"Wouldn't it be better if Vegeta's here to decide who he wants to share a pod with?" Bulla asked.

"He doesn't really care, as long as we're ready for depart when he wakes up" Nappa said.

Goku spoke up:

"Well, since Bulla is the smallest of our group," and weakest, "she should travel in the pod with the payment."

"I don't know." Radditz said. "It's a day long trip, and while we'll be in stasis, I don't know if any of you will fit in a pod with Nappa or me."

"What do you suggest we do?" Trunks asked.

"The payment's just a few chests. Four or five, so I think two of you could fit in that pod."

"But that would be uncomfortable." Bulla said. "I doubt that pod will be in stasis."

"It will. All pods always go into automatic stasis once they leave the base, no matter whom or what is inside." Radditz answered.

"Okay. I think Goku and I should go in the payment pod." Bulma said. "In case anything happens, Goku can protect me."

"Well, then I should go with Vegeta." Bulla said, happy.

"Now you just wait. I'm not sharing a pod with him." Both Trunks and Radditz said.

"Why not?" Bulma asked.

"Well, for one thing, both of us won't fit in there." Trunks said.

"Not to mention the pods have only one seat, so someone's gonna have to sit on my legs and that's not gonna be purple-hair over there." Radditz growled.

Now Trunks was in a dilemma. Someone would have to sit on Radditz's legs for an entire day, and that'd either be his sister, his mother, or him. He didn't know what would hurt his pride more. He sighed and punched the bridge of his nose.

"I guess I'll have to travel with Vegeta then."

"What?" Bulla exclaimed. "Trunks! You're my brother! Brothers are supposed to protect their sisters from mean boys!"

"What's wrong, sweetie?" Radditz said, smirking. "Afraid of bad boys?"

Trunks glared at him. "You stay away from my sister." He growled.

"Gee, Trunks, I don't know." The younger boy teased. "A girl in a skirt sitting on my lap… You know how these things are."

Trunks growled and began to power up, but Goku put a hand on his shoulder.

"Remember we have a deal with your prince." The oldest Saiyan said.

"Whoa, cool don. I was just joking."

"It's settled, then." Nappa said. "Blue-hair and the Bardock clone will go in the cargo pod. Little blue hair will go with Radditz and purple hair will go with the prince." He said. "Come on, Radditz. We have training to do."

Radditz nodded and followed him inside.