Kress sat alone in the space pod. It had been months since he'd fought Captain Ginyu and won. Prince Vegeta had given him new armor, brown and black, and some time in a healing tank. He almost couldn't remember the last time he hadn't been covered in someone's blood. He was clean, his belly was full, and he was starting to feel more like himself again.

He was supposed to be unconscious right now, but he hadn't activated the sleep gas. He… he couldn't. He didn't want to sleep… ever. Sleep always made him feel like he was dying.

I can't die. I am death, he tried to tell himself, but he was still too afraid. Afraid of sleeping, afraid of dying, afraid of displeasing Prince Vegeta. Afraid of failure. He hated how pathetic he was, how weak he was, even if the weakness was of his own engineering.

'Uncle Raditz…' he thought, but clamped down on those memories. "Love is a weakness. Weakness must be destroyed. I am the destroyer of weakness," he chanted to himself, until the memory went away.

He was a weapon. He had to be cold. Ruthless. Unfeeling.

Somewhere, deep inside his mind, he was crying out, calling out for someone, anyone, to come and help him. Deep inside him, he was screaming.

But on the outside, his face was a cold glare. He was strong, despite his attempts to weaken himself with that device. And once it was removed…

"I am the destroyer of weakness," he said to himself again and again, until exhaustion forced his eyes closed.

He was a little boy again, screaming in the closet. It was so small, he couldn't get out, he was trapped, he couldn't breathe… 'HELP ME!' he screamed, and his father was there, pulling him out, telling him he was okay… and then he was Oozaru, and his father was being crushed beneath his feet, and his mother was screaming, and he ate her…

He was lying on the table, his Uncle was cutting into his chest, so carefully, 'Almost done,' he assured him, but before he could finish, Kress lunged, tearing into his throat with his teeth, blood going everywhere, Vegeta standing behind him, laughing at Raditz's screams…

He was floating in space, next to a star, the heat of it pressing against him, but not burning him. The voices, the screaming voices, they wouldn't stop, and he crumbled the star from within, feeling its explosion wash over him, willing it to destroy him completely, to make it all stop, but it couldn't, he was too strong… 'Help me…' he prayed…

Kress's eyes snapped open, his face covered in sweat. "I am the destroyer of weakness…" he chanted to himself. "I am the destroyer of weakness… I am the destroyer of weakness… I am the destroyer of weakness…"

He wouldn't fall asleep again.

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"Prince Vegeta, it's been a while, my pet," Frieza's slick voice hissed over the scouter's speaker, and it was all Vegeta could do to restrain himself from crushing it into a million pieces.

"I found him, Lord Frieza," he said, schooling his voice to sound as humble as possible. "He was hiding on planet 5426."

There was a pause. "Planet 5426. We had some colonists disappear from there. I sent the Ginyu Force to investigate, but they haven't reported back yet," Frieza said, his tone probing, as if trying to see if Vegeta had anything to do with it.

Vegeta smirked, but kept all emotion from his voice when he spoke. "I didn't see the Ginyu Force, but there were quite a few dead colonists when I found him," he said. "Do you wish for me to go back and look for them, my lord?"

Another pause. "No, come back to me, my pet. Bring me the other monkey's corpse. My men will be having some fun with it before we hurl it into space," Frieza ordered.

Vegeta kept the smile from his voice. "Already on my way, my lord," he said, and cut the connection.

Frieza, you bastard. Your corpse will be what gets hurled into space. And I'll watch it float away…