As soon as Vegeta powered down, Goku and Trunks could feel their senses returning to them, and began to retaliate, finally finishing off the remaining members of the Ginyu force. They were a bit roughened up and panting, but at least the biggest threats were over, so they quickly ran to the outside of the castle to meet up with Bulma and the saiyans.

Inside, Bulla turned her back to her father as he gave Frieza one last glare, and finished him off with a ki blast to his head. The image of the lizard completely destroyed and trying to beg brought him comfort, albeit it was bittersweet. He didn't know how Bulla would react to the memory of his true colors. Once they were home, he knew she wouldn't be that understanding, but for now, the main thing was to go outside and get out of there as soon as possible. He wrapped his arm around her shoulders and the two of them walked out of the throne room, not saying a word. Bulla didn't even know how to feel, so she didn't say anything and did all she could to ignore the blood covering both of them.

Bulma didn't have much to work with, so she ha simply cleaned Vegeta's face and back as much as she could without him crying out in his sleep, and applied a few creams that would heal him a little. She had devoted a whole team at Capsule Corp to create them for her husband, for when he arrived injured from training or sparring with Goku, so she knew they would work. She had also offered some to the other two, but they had denied, their pride taking over. Now she was just hugging Vegeta to her, rocking him softly. It seemed to be working, for his pained expression had been replaced with a sleeping face and his whimpers of pains had considerably lessened.

She looked up and her face quickly turned into a mask of horror.

"Oh my God! Vegeta, Bulla! What the hell happened to you two?"

"Are you guys alright?" Trunks asked them.

Goku just looked at Vegeta, and the older saiyan looked back at him. During his fight with Ginyu, Goku hadn't been able to process the energies inside the Throne Room, but now that he had had a little more time, he had realized what had happened in there. What Vegeta had done to Frieza. And Vegeta knew that Goku knew… but none of them seemed upset. One glance communicated more than what any of them could say in words, and Goku simply nodded slightly, before Vegeta took his eyes off of him and turned to look at his wife and ex-comrades.

"This isn't our blood." He simply stated.

"We're okay, mommy." Bulla said, her voice a little choked.

"Okay." Bulma said. "We better head back – "

"Is Frieza dead?" Radditz asked quietly, looking up at Vegeta from his spot on the floor.

Vegeta looked down at him and then at Nappa. He swallowed.

"Yes. Now get up. Let's get back home." He growled.

"Are-are we taking them with us?" Bulla asked in a whisper, but the saiyans heard her nonetheless.

Vegeta looked at them. He didn't know. He had hoped that they would take the decision themselves and everyone else would roll with it. If they hopped in, or if they stayed. Frieza wasn't there anymore anyway, so they'd be free. Of course there were always Cooler and King Cold… He had told Bulma that none of them, not even his younger self, could come to the present with them, but now he wasn't so sure about what he wanted. His younger self and his comrades were extremely dangerous, and very evil… but he couldn't leave them to be. Especially not in the state the younger boy was. Seeing the state of the little kid had reminded him of Frieza's tortures, and how he had wished for it to end. If he left the three saiyans alone in the past, there was a very high chance of other soldiers finding them and trying to kill them.

Or another of Frieza's family members.

He took a deep breath before locking eyes with his wife. She had a reassuring gaze. If the three saiyans turned out to be trouble, the Z gang would always be able to control them. Besides, he knew, even if he had turned stone cold as the years passed, how much support his comrades had given him when he was young. At the age his younger self was in, he still cared for Nappa and Radditz, and he would probably need them in his new life.

They would figure something out.

"I guess we have to." He said. "These two fools wouldn't last a day alone."

"I don't think we're going to fit into one machine." Trunks said.

Vegeta thought for a moment.

"Bulma, is your machine ready?"

"Yeah. I mean, it was missing a few cables but I guess we could get them real quick and – "

"Me, Kakarot, Radditz and Nappa will go in that one. In that case, if anything bad happens we are all able to fight back and try to fix it. You and the kids will go in the other machine." He said.

"Fix it?" Bulma said. "None of you know the first thing about technology."

"I watched your father as he built the new one. I think I would manage if anything went wrong." He said.

"Let me come with you. That way if anything happens I'll help." She answered.

"Fine. Then Radditz goes in the other machine and Bulma goes in ours." He said.

Nobody complained. Bulma handed Bulla the little kid and they all jumped into their respective machines.

As soon as the machine landed, Trunks took Bulla, Radditz took Vegeta, and they all flew to the lookout. Dende would be the best shot at healing Vegeta fast.

"Oh, no. No, no, no. No." Dende said as soon as they touched ground.

Piccolo glared at Radditz, even if this younger version hadn't been the one responsible for him losing his arm all those years ago. Even if it had grown back, it had hurt like hell.

"You idiots. You realize what you've done?"

"Dende." Bulla said. "Please, Vegeta needs help. Frieza tortured him really badly and he's lost a lot of blood."

Dende, even though he disapproved of them brining the saiyans, took the child into his arms. It could've been an evil prince, but he was still a little kid, and he needed help. He laid him on the ground and knelt before him, surveying the damage. He took a deep breath.

"He's pretty messed up." He said softly. "What did Frieza do?"

"He punished him for trying to escape. Well, for stealing cables and acting weird, basically." Trunks said as he also knelt before Dende. Bulla did the same.

"What happened to his tail?"

"Frieza burnt it with his ki." Bulla said softly, her voice cracking a little.

"Goodness. Okay." He said, before placing his hands on top of him and beginning the process.

The prince didn't wake up after the healing, so Dende called Mr. Popo to pick him up and place him in a room where he could rest. Then he turned to Radditz.

"I could heal you, too."

"Okay."

…

"Y-you're not my master." Vegeta said as Frieza slowly walked over to him.

"Yes, I am. Can't you see that you have nothing else? You're a sad little monkey orphan. No mother, no father, no planet. You have nothing. Only my base, my ship, and me." Frieza answered as he forced the small kid into a corner.

"You're nothing to me."

"Oh, really? And here I thought that I was the one controlling everything that happens in your life… including when you get pain." Frieza said. He extended his hand, and Zarbon walked over to him, placing the whip in his bony hand.

Vegeta's eyes widened and he stared with dread at the shining, sharp nails embedded into it. God, how he hated that whip.

"Do your worst." He said nonetheless. "I don't fear you."

"I know you do. You have every reason to fear me." He said, before his tail whipped out and caught Vegeta around the wrists, lifting him up so that he was hanging. Vegeta thrashed and growled, trying to free himself from the tyrant's grasp, but it was no use. The more he fought, he tighter the tail got, wrenching his skin open and grinding the bones in his wrists together. Frieza then pulled a chain downwards and tied a pair of cuffs to the prince's wrists, chaining him to the ceiling. "Ready? I'm thirsty for some begging."

Vegeta tried not to cry out as the first strikes bit into him, but it was a real struggle. Frieza was hitting harder each time, and as the whip began to land on previous wounds, the prince lost his will. He cried out as the tyrant lashed out on him, destroying his back and spraying blood around the room. Each strike earned a scream from the tiny saiyan, who was now struggling to keep his tears at bay.

It went on for what seemed like hours, until Vegeta didn't have the strength to scream anymore. The lizard had gone downwards, striking the back of his legs, and then turned around to whip his front, catching him in the face a few times.

Vegeta felt like he couldn't breathe. His chest was pressing down on his lungs and it felt like his body was on fire. He whimpered when he felt a cold finger tracing the open cuts in his back. Frieza licked his finger before his eyes caught the furry appendage.

"That was fun." He said. "But I am still very hurt. You said I meant nothing to you, when you are like a son to me. I adopted you." Vegeta would've answered, but nothing came out of his mouth besides choked whimpers. "Maybe you still feel compelled to hate me because of your race. Saiyans were such brutes. But I can do you a favor and separate you from that piece of crap that you call race."

Vegeta realized what Frieza was saying and he mustered the strength to talk.

"P-please…" he said.

"Oh, don't beg me, my little monkey. I'll gladly do it."

He grabbed the tail and yanked hard, making Vegeta cry out. He yanked a few more times, laughing at the prince's pain, before releasing it and rounding him so that they were face to face. He smiled at Vegeta's pained face before returning to his back. He pressed a hand to it and Vegeta screamed.

"Oh, that hurts?" he asked. "Then I suppose this will be hell."

He punched Vegeta's injured back, and the little prince shrieked in pain, before Frieza did it over and over. He sank his fists into his back as he laughed, blood spraying on his face. Finally, he heard the glorious sounds of Vegeta's sobbing.

"Oh… Did I upset you? I'm sorry. Now you know how I feel about your tantrum early in front of my men, where you claimed that you didn't belong to me and that the day would come where you'd kill me." He said. He unchained Vegeta and the prince fell to the ground, coughing blood and shaking horribly. "Maybe now you wont be such a loudmouth." He punctuated his last statement by stomping hard on Vegeta's tail, breaking various bones.

Vegeta's eyes were already closing, before he heard Frieza's words.

"Zarbon, Dodoria. I don't think he's learned his lesson. Remember what we did a few weeks ago when he insulted us? Maybe we should do it again. Get rid of that stupid tongue, and no tank for him until further notice." He said.

Vegeta cried out in terror as he felt two pairs of hands gripping his destroyed wrists and pulling them behind his back. He tried to thrash, but the pain in his body was enormous and his broken tail made it unable for him to move his legs. A rough, giant hand grabbed his chin and forced his mouth open, and he felt to fingers invading his mouth…

He woke up in a cold sweat, gasping and shaking terribly. He looked around and felt even more panicked about the unknown surroundings. He slowly calmed down, though; when he realized that he was completely healed. He swallowed.

Someone opened the door slowly, and his whole body tensed. A tiny green man entered, followed by Bulla.

"Where am I?" he said immediately.

"How are you feeling?" Dende asked him.

"Who are you? Where am I? Where's Master Frieza?" he asked, his voice trembling at the last question.

"My name is Dende, and you're in my lookout. Bulla and the others brought you here so that I could heal you." he said softly.

"And Frieza's gone." Bulla said. "You're safe. We made it back home safely."

Vegeta looked at her and didn't know if he wanted to believe her.

"Where are Nappa and Radditz?"

"Radditz is outside. Nappa… isn't here yet." Bulla said. "But I could call Radditz for you, if you want to talk to him."

"Okay."

They both stepped out and Vegeta took a deep breath. Was it real? Was he really free? He tried not to get his hopes up, but it was hard. It all made sense. He wasn't dead, or in the base, and he was completely healed. There was no sign of any of Frieza's minions anywhere… He closed his eyes.

Maybe he could dare to hope that it was real, if only for one moment.

…

"Radditz, Vegeta wants to see you." Bulla said.

The saiyan nodded and got up, walking over to the room where Vegeta was. Bulla sat next to her brother and sighed heavily.

"Still can't sense them?" she asked.

"No." Trunks said. "Maybe the machine wasn't that finished after all.