Painful Good-bye

Vegeta woke everyone for dinner that night with King Vegeta, Kakarot close behind. Upon entering the Usagi's quarters, the tall warrior gasped, all the color draining from his face. Not saying a word, he turned on his heel and staggered out of the room. "Where did you find the dresses?" Vegeta asked, satisfied that someone could unnerve his rival so easily.

"These are our princess forms during the silver alliance," Haruka told him. She had a short, yellow dress with no shoulder straps, revealing a well toned body that screamed fighter. Hotaru had on a black dress that came to her knees, two thin straps holding it up. Rei, had a long red dress with flames running up and down the sides and a slit that came up to her knee. Her back was exposed and her hair was done in black wavy curls. The last person in the group made Vegeta growl protectively. Usagi had a white dress, crescent moons on her hem, the sleeves coming up to right below her shoulders, exposing not only her back, but had quite a bit of the front revealed. Her hair was piled on top of her head, a few strands curling around her neck, drawing attention to it.

Vegeta was dressed in his black body suit, but had on a long purple cape that flowed behind him. The only thing he didn't have was the royal crescent mark and it was for good reason. He had ordered his hair cut short, so that he didn't look so much like his father. Kakarot was also dressed in a black body suit, armor, and long blue cape behind him. This showed his place beside Vegeta as his protector, though neither needed it.

"I have only one question before we leave who are the two other women?"

"This is Haruka, Sailor Uranus and Hotaru, Sailor Saturn."

When they stepped out of the room, Usagi glanced at Kakarot and saw his clothes. She had to admit that he was attractive. 'He reminds me of the pictures I saw in those history books, only he doesn't seem as innocent and naive... What am I thinking?'

Walking down the halls, Kakarot took the back of the group, while Vegeta took the front. This discouraged any attempts to approach the women.

Vegeta seemed to know where they were going, a sad and distant look in his eyes; however as always, he was very quiet. "Geta?" Usagi asked coming up beside him. He looked at her and gave her a stiff smile. "I know I haven't explained much about my past, but I'm willing to listen to yours if you want to hear mine. You look like you have a lot on your mind."

"I'm fine, Rena. There are a lot of things that remind me of a time that I'd rather forget." Usagi wanted to know more, but they entered a large dining room, the noise drowning out any reply Vegeta might have said to her. As the six strangers entered the room, all talking ceased.

Bardock looked at the leader of the small group, noticing that he had cut his hair. 'Why did he do that?' Vegeta turned to look at him, a smirk on his lips, as if mocking Bardock. 'There's something about him and it has to do with King Vegeta.' The more he looked back and forth between the two saiya-jins, the more he began to see what was under everyone's noses. 'That's it! He's the future son of King Vegeta.' He had no proof, but a simple blood test would solve that problem. 'Then Goku must be the son of myself or Turles. Which one is it though?' He could easily figure that out from the DNA they received from him and that meant he could figure out Usagi as well. What spooked the general, was that both Usagi and Kakarot looked at him like they could read his mind and intentions.

King Vegeta observed the two new women and white cat next to Usagi. Usagi had given Artemis a bath and washed all the dye out of his hair. To say he was upset was an understatment as he tried to scratch everyone that tried to get him in the water. "Who are your companions?"

Vegeta bowed to the King, showing more respect than he had when he first arrived. "This is Princess Haruka and Princess Saturn. They arrived here the same way we came, but have yet to figure out how this process occured."

A few Saiya-jins surrounded the four women, wanting to get a better look at them. Vegeta and Kakarot snarled, almost throwing a few of the more persistant Saiya-jins. Haruka's stance was deadly and she meant business if one person other than Usagi or Hotaru laid a hand on her.

'Interesting. This group guards each other carefully, but one seems to be a bit isolated from the group.' Vegeta kept closer to Rei than the others did, knowing that she was more or less on her own until Usagi decided to forgive her. Rei looked at him gratefully, but said nothing.

The group noticed a short woman beside Vegeta, a strained smile on her lips. What seemed to bother Usagi and Vegeta was that the King didn't seem to notice it; the woman was hiding it from him. "This is my mate, Eclipse, from the planet Saturn. The planet use to be our home, but we went our separate ways and found each other by chance."

"There were two planets of Saiya-jins?" Vegeta asked him.

"Yes. Do they not exist in your time?"

Vegeta looked at Usagi, who shook her head no. Everything was destroyed during the silver alliance and the only ones to remain were the people he saw in front of him and her court back at home in the present. "I'm not aloud to tell you that."

Vegeta's shoulders seem to drop a little, but he picked himself back up in determined pride and walked up to the queen. To the surprise of Kakarot, Vegeta did something for the first time in his life. Vegeta put himself down on one knee and bowed before the Queen of Vegeta-sai and Saturn. "I am most honored to meet you and there isn't a day that goes by that I haven't thought about you or the king while I was away from my home planet. Stay strong and proud." When he stood, he was seeing straight into her eyes and a connection hit both of them. She could have sworn that she saw tears in his eyes, but he turned away before she could be certain.

They all sat at the table where the king, queen and the two high ranking generals sat and discussed politics and the upcoming war. "Bardock, any word on how much longer we have?"

"About another year before he arrives."

Everyone was eating except for Vegeta, which did not go unnoticed by Usagi or Hotaru. Not wishing to stay in the dark any longer, Usagi looked up at King Vegeta, "Which enemy are you discussing if you don't mind me asking or knowing?"

"Frieza."

A gasp of terror came from Vegeta, but you couldn't see the fear on his face. "Please excuse me," he said, pushing away from the table. "I need some time to think about getting back home." Without another word, he quickly walked out of the room, leaving Kakarot very confused and concerned.

"That's a bit suspicious," Turles commented. "The minute we mention that lizards name, your leader walks out of the room."

That did it, Usagi who had been sitting closet to Turles stood up and punched him so hard, he flew across the room and smashed into the next table. A group of common soldiers laughed at him. It wasn't everyday they saw the general get hit, let a lone by a woman. "Vegeta has been through hell because of that freak! If you ever call him a coward again, I'll make that Ice-jin look like a saint!" Kakarot was impressed. Not many people could hit a Saiya-jin, yet she did, and it looked like it hurt.

Turles picked himself up out of the mountain of food on top of him and advanced on Usagi, his anger rising with each step. She could feel the hatred radiating from him in waves, but King Vegeta stood from his position and motioned for the Saiya-jin general to stop. "If you're to call anyone a coward general, then have the pride and honor to say such to his face! Second, you're growing soft if you allowed her to break past your defenses and strike you down."

Turles trembled in rage, but grit his teeth and sat back down. 'I'm going to get her!'

Kakarot leaned closer to her, "Watch your back Usagi. Don't look at me like that!" Usagi bit back a protest, realizing that he was concerned and not trying to control or pamper. "I'm only saying this as a friend that knows from experience about what he's capable of. Not only does he hate being humiliated, but you just made him appear weak and incompetent."

"I'll take that into consideration," she ended the conversation and began eating the food on her plate. She wanted to go after Vegeta, but she couldn't without being rude to King Vegeta and his mate. King Vegeta respected the quiet blond woman, but she seemed depressed and aloof from the party that surrounded her. Eclipse excused herself from the table; her body hurt and she felt very, very tired all of a sudden.

King Vegeta allowed her to go and looked at her with concern, but said nothing. "Bardock!"

"Yes, your majesty." He rose from the table and faced the king awaiting for his orders.

"Inform them of the rules and help train them for the arena. Turles, you will join him." Turles didn't like the idea of training any of them, but orders were orders and he rose from the table and bowed.

"Yes your majesty," they said in unison.

"One other thing. I want everyone of them, except for Geta, to be informed about the ways and cultures of the Saiya-jins. You may begin tomorrow."

Bardock turned to the five remaining people at the table, "Come. I will show you the training rooms."

They stood, but King Vegeta suddenly grabbed Usagi by the arm and turned her shoulder to face him. "Where did you get this mark? And this time don't brush off my answer."

"I've always had it, but don't know anything about it. Geta hasn't explained it to me, except that it's a birthmark and he can recognize me by it."

The king glanced at Bardock and Turles. "Take the others, but Usagi will stay with me until I'm done talking with her."

"Wait a minute!" Haruka demanded. "We're not letting her out of our sight unless..."

"Enough!" Usagi ordered. "Do as he says. He won't hurt me."

They reluctantly did as she told them and left Usagi with the King. He dismissed the dinner and led her down several halls until they were in a set of well furnished rooms that had plenty of space and privacy. "Sit down."

Unafraid, she did as he commanded and crossed her arms. He approached her softly and lifted her face to get a better look at her eyes and searched for something. He seemed to find it as he let go of her and stood back. Her eyes held purity, innocence and something else close to fear. "Tell me who you are and your parents. I already know who the father is, but I want you to say it."

"I have to go; Geta said we can't tell you about us." She didn't make it to the door before King Vegeta moved in front of it, blocking her path. "Please, let me go. I don't wish to fight, but if you force me, I will."

"Why not? You wouldn't hesitate to fight any of the others, so what makes myself different?"

He rested against the door, waiting for an answer, but she closed her mouth and turned her head away from him. 'She's a stubborn one. I can see who she gets it from.'

"Talk to me. You're my daughter, but I want to know who your mother is. She couldn't be Eclipse." Usagi wanted to give in to his questions, but she forced herself further into her shell, not wanting to get close to anyone.

"You know nothing about me and I never said I was your daughter."

"You didn't have to. Do you want to know what that birthmark means? It is the royal mark of of Veget-sai. Every member of the royal family is born with it and that is how we can tell our children apart."

"I don't know you!" Usagi shouted, jumping up. "I barely remember Vegeta!" She covered her mouth in shock and backed away.

"Don't you mean Geta? I figured there was something about him he wasn't telling me. His hair gave him away before he cut it. That's another trade mark of the royal house, because every male has been born with that hair style since I can remember. Stop fighting and tell me the truth Usagi."

"I can't tell you what I don't know. My memories are blocked and I can't remember anything." King Vegeta knew she was telling the truth and sighed. Pushing off the door, he pulled up a chair and sat in front of her. "You're not use to talking to anyone are you?"

"I use to love talking to everyone."

"Why the change?"

"I don't want to talk about it."

"Vegeta's a full blooded Saiya-jin. Are you?"

"No."

"Who's your mother?"

"Dead."

He gritted his teeth, knowing he wasn't getting anywhere. "I'm not going to tell everyone if you decide to talk to me and I'm not letting you leave until I get the answers I'm looking for."

Usagi's head hurt and she only wanted to get some rest. "All I know is that Vegeta is my half-brother and that you are both our fathers."

Usagi gave up trying to fight arguing with her father, when something happened. "Don't despair child." With a gasp, Usagi jumped up and looked around the room for some unseen person making the King edgy.

"Mother?" A figure appeared in front of both King Vegeta and Usagi. She was tall with long, silver hair and a crescent moon on her forehead. She walked up to Usagi and gently carressed her face and sadly smiled at her.

"I'm here, child. Don't hate Rei. She's truly sorry about the past, but doesn't know what to do to make it up to you. Let her go through this Arena, but know that she will do anything for you. You can't remember because you have blocked anything that meant something to you, completely from your mind. Open your heart again Usagi. You don't have to right away, but the people around you now, mean you no harm and only wish to be your friend. Trust your brother and your sister." Queen Selinity turned to look at King Vegeta and gave him a bow. "It's been a long time and my mission is over. I am going to rest now. Take care of my daughter. She needs the love that only you can give her." Selinity faded away, Usagi reaching out in desparation.

"No! Don't leave me mother!" Usagi sank to her knees, watching her mother disappear for the last time. King Vegeta didn't understand what had happened, but the girl in front of him, started to cry with a shattered heart. He laid a hand on her shoulder to let her know he was there, but she shrugged it off and stood to face him, tears running down her face in a stream. "What do you want? You've seen me at my weakest and I know how much you hate weak people."

He did hate weak people, but something told him, she was far from weak. "I never said you were weak. If my son thought that of you, do you think he would risk his life to protect your own?"

He attempted one last time to get close to her and this time she didn't pull away and hugged him. When her mother had left, all her memories began to flood back. She had seen her father once, before the destruction of her family. "My name is Princess Serenity, your future daugther. We some how ended up here in the past by an enemy who has the ability to manipulate time. Kakarot and Vegeta seem to know who it was and said that we needed to train harder. I don't know what my mother meant by a sister. I only knew about Vegeta."

"Who is Kakarot?"

"The one called Goku. I don't know who his father is."

"I want you and Vegeta to stay here in the royal chambers until you go back to the future."

Usagi looked up startled. "Are you sure?"

"Did you expect less?"

"He's going to be upset that I gave away who we are."

"It's not your fault. I figured it out when I saw your birth mark. If he wanted to keep it a secret, he should have told you to cover your shoulders."

Usagi was tired and wanted sleep very badly. "Do you mind if I get some rest?"

"No. Use this bed, mine is the room next to yours. I will keep my word and not say anything about who you or the others are."

Vegeta knew where the training rooms were and began to work out, trying to clear his mind of horrifying events. They had no idea how awful that monster was and they gave him to be a slave. 'Why?'

"Do you want to talk about it?" Vegeta looked up startled, seeing the Queen walk towards him.

"No."

"I'm not going to condemn you. You know Frieza don't you?"

"Yes."

"Can we beat him?"

"No."

The queen sat down and looked at him. He wasn't tall, but he was strong and proud, as any warrior should be. "Can you?"

"I can now, but I couldn't when I first met him. In fact, it wasn't I who defeated him, but a third class warrior."

He heard a bitter and angry tone in his voice and regret. "You wanted to kill him."

"Of course I wanted to kill him. Kakarot has never known what it was like to live in slavery, constantly being beaten and sneered at for being a weak, trained monkey. He's been raised on a planet, wiped his memories out by accident and has had love, friendship and a family his entire life. Can I ask you something?"

"What?"

"Would you give up your son to Frieza?" She thought he was joking, but his eyes shook with emotion as he waited for her answer.

"Did your mother do that to you?"

"No. She died giving birth to me along with another complication."

"I would never give up my son to a monster like Frieza. Death would have to be my way out before I would ever do something that dispicable."

He smashed the wall in frustration and lost the will to keep fighting at that moment. "I need to go." A hand laid on his shoulder, and he looked up to see kind black ones smiling at him with affection and warmth.

"Let the past go, Vegeta."

"How..."

"You think I wouldn't know. I heard how your hair looked like his before you cut it, then your display at the beginning of the dinner. And, your scent is similar to your fathers."

His pride wouldn't allow him to tell her how he felt at that moment and he turned his head away, to be gently turned back to face him with her tail. "I don't know what happened, but I'm sorry if I did something to hurt you in the future."

Tears came to his eyes, and he touched her face. "Mother... I..." he never finished when she gasped in pain and sank to the floor in a pool of blood.

"Oh god!" She screamed in agony.

Vegeta, scared to death, picked up his mother and ran to the med labs as fast as he could. "Don't give up!"

Eclipse felt very weak and tried to hold on long enough to give birth to her son. "I'm glad to know that you grew up nice and strong. I told your father you would be, but he thought I was dreaming."

The doctors rushed to get her set up to have the babies. They offered to take the babies out by surgery, but she snapped at them. As much as Vegeta wanted to argue with her, he let her do as she wished, knowing he was the same when it came to his pride. She screamed in agony as she tried to push the baby out.

King Vegeta came running into the lab room and latched onto his mate's hand. "He's coming."

She pushed hard and the doctors told her the head came out, then the shoulders followed by the feet and tail. He started to cry and they handed him to a tech. "You're not through yet my queen."

"What?" King Vegeta asked.

"We took a look at her readings and there's still another heart beat." The queen didn't have much energy left to do another child and live herself, but with one last effort despite what she knew her mate would say if he knew, she pushed hard. For a minute she shoved and they heard another cry as a baby girl joined the little prince."

Her head went to the side and her breathing was hard. "Call them Vegeta and Hotaru. Vegeta after his father and Hotaru after my mother. I'm so sorry." She turned her tired, dull eyes at her son from the future and touched his face. "Promise me you'll continue to be strong. Did you ever become the legendary Super Saiya-jin?"

"Yes."

"Can I see it? Please. I can see it in your eyes that I'm going to die."

He nodded and ordered all the doctors out of the room. King Vegeta followed the order and held his mate's head in his lap. There would be no time to put her in the regeneration tanks and save her; she had about two minutes to live and it took at least thirty minutes to kick in and start healing them. Smoothing her hair out of his way, he brushed her soft skin.

Vegeta began to call forth the power he had no need for, and started to scream. The room was shaking, but he controlled the change and pushed over to Super Saiya-jin and stopped. He could have gone further, but they had no need to see him like that. He walked up to his mother and held her other hand. "Mother. I never had the chance to tell you, but I love you."

"I love you too Vegeta, even if I never had a chance to hold you when you were born. Promise me something."

"Anything."

"Train the Saiya-jins. Train them to be able to defeat Frieza."

He knew he shouldn't have, but he couldn't deny her promise. "I promise mother."

The last few seconds she looked at her mate. "I hated you so much when I first came here, but it's not so bad now. You were so fierce, but you couldn't stay that way when I defied you with no fear. Promise me something as well."

"What?"

"Don't give my son or daughter to Frieza. Promise me!"

"I swear to you, I won't."

"I love you." Her hand went limp in their grips and they felt and saw her die. King Vegeta only sat there holding his mate, in shock and pain.

Prince Vegeta, who had always blocked the death of his mother from his mind, because he never met her, began to tremble in sorrow. "Mother." He blasted out of the window and flew until he was in the middle of no where and began to power up to his fullest, not caring any longer about his pride and who witnessed it. "MOTHER!"

Pluto and Neptune were watching the time stream together when they jumped up startled. Things were beginning to change and they knew that if the Z warriors were to remain the same with their full powers intact they would have to be pulled out of the time stream along with the sailor senshi and Mamoru. With the wave of her staff, Gohan, Goten, Trunks, Bra, Pan, Piccolo, Ami, Makoto, Minako, and Mamoru appeared in front of her confused.

"Plans have changed. Until the others return from the past, you are to stay in the time stream."

"What's happening?" Ami asked.

"The time line is being effected and events that made the Saiya-jins on Earth as strong as they were and Vegeta, will not happen the same way. We need theirs and the senshis' full powers later, so I am breaking the rules. Until I return you to the changed time line, you will be unaffected in the other time line. And, unless one of the senshi or Saiya-jins die in the past, they too will remain unaffected."

"Ami, Makoto, Minako, and Mamoru, have you made your decisions about what I have asked?"

"Yes. We're going to train and get stronger." The girls said.

Mamoru looked at Pluto with uncertainty in his eyes. "After you left, I tried to change into Tuxedo Kamen and I can't. I forgot that the only reason I could do that was a need for protecting the moon princess, but I no longer have that mission and live to protect the earth and the senshi combined."

"You have another transformation that was far stronger than that form, Mamoru. Because of your need to keep your identity a secret you stayed as Tuxedo Kamen, but you had another form. You knew this when Queen Beryl had you under her influence."

"You mean as Prince Endymion?"

"Yes."

Mamoru began to concentrate and started to fluctuate between his normal form and the Prince of Earth. His clothes vanished, to have the armor and sword appear on him, with a long flowing black cape with red lining it. "I've forgotten about this form and I miss it. I also remember the past completely now."

"What do you mean?" Pluto said.

"I never belonged to Usagi. When I did the change just now, the past came rushing back and I remember her father coming to the moon and said that the only way she could marry me is if I beat her and the royal family in battle. Her father and brother were no one I wanted to fight and I didn't love Usagi anyway. It was a marriage arranged by our parents. After a while, we became use to it and were going to accept the fate destined to us and learn to live with each other without fighting. I'm sorry if I ever hurt Usagi and I'll back down if she wants upon her return."

Pluto nodded and sighed. She wanted to be angry with him and the other senshi, but it wasn't her place to be and smiled. "Maybe that won't happen. By the time she comes back she shouldn't be the same person she was before she left and after she came back."

"She came back?" Makoto asked.

"Yes. She was Serena, your roomate."

"What?" They screamed. "She was under our noses the whole time?"

"I have another surpise to reveal as well and hope Usagi won't mind."

Rini appeared out of the mist and smiled at the girls that were her friends. "Hi!" Luna appeared in front of them and she blinked in surprise at the group of people.

"What's going on?"

"Luna, you must remain here until further notice. The girls can explain to you what has happened and they will be training with these warriors."

"Who's training who?" Mamoru asked.

Gohan pointed to Ami. "Her and Bra." Pan looked at him in surprise when he ruffled her hair. "I know this is confusing dear, but if I train you, I will be too soft and we can't afford that."

Goten grabbed Makoto, while his best friend Trunks, took Minako and Pan. Piccolo scowled and couldn't believe he was training people again and took Neptune and Prince Endymion.

"I want you two to change back like the others and train as you are. If you transform later, those forms will be much stronger."

Pluto turned to walk away in the mist. "Wait," Ami shouted. "Aren't you going to train with us?"

"No. My responsibility is to keep an eye on the time stream. Rini, choose Goten and Makoto to train with. You may want to get to know them." She didn't reveal why and disappeared.

Michuru remembered something that she thought she should tell them. "Don't go through any doors in this place; you may end up in a time and place you may not want to be in. Pluto will find us when the time comes and can fight as much as we want without worrying about destroying anything."

"I'm not worried about it," Goten said. "I can feel Pluto even when she's not in front of us."

"Let's split up then," Piccolo ordered. "The less we know about everyone else's training the better we are."

Everyone waved good-bye to each other, not knowing when they would see each other again.