Cora flew through the cool air towards her small family. That had gone better than she'd hoped.

When she'd first gotten the idea to go to her brother, Turles had refused outright. He was certain her brother would kill her on the spot. But she'd insisted. Her gut told her that somehow, it would work. Tarble had told her that Vegeta had his own family now, that he'd mellowed out a lot since getting out from under Frieza. And Tarble himself had been so nice to her and her family, so hospitable and accommodating, if ultimately useless, that she'd felt it was worth taking her chances with her other sibling.

Admittedly, the reason Tarble had been so nice to her was because he had no recollection of his older sister.

Tarble was just a baby when Cora had hightailed it off planet, but Vegeta had been a lot older. There was no love lost between the two siblings. Cora resented him from the day he was born. For ten years she had been the only child in the royal family, pampered and waited on hand and foot, and then he'd come along, and it was as if his birth had wiped out her very existence. Suddenly there was a boy, an heir, strong and healthy, and her father was pleased, so excited to take his precious namesake under his wing.

It had never bothered her before that her father showed little interest in her. She just assumed that he was not particularly affectionate or interested in kids – it wasn't a strange thing for Saiyan fathers, or even mothers for that matter. But when Vegeta had come along, her father had no problem taking him everywhere, following his progress in battle skills, teaching him the ways of royalty, addressing him as my son. And she'd realized that it wasn't that her father was unaffectionate, it was that he was unaffectionate to her.

Logically, it should have made her hate her father. Now, as an adult and parent, she could see that. But as a child, she'd hated her brother. She would try to undermine him in silly, childish ways, hiding his things, ruining his ceremonial outfits, putting worms in his bed. Anything to wipe that smug smile off his stupid face. When Frieza had come for him, forced her father to hand him over as essentially a hostage, she could barely hide her joy. Serves him right, the arrogant little prick, she'd thought. Sucks to be the heir now, doesn't it?

Oddly enough, if Vegeta hadn't been taken she might not have ended up running away. She couldn't rebel against him when he wasn't there, so she began to do more dangerous things. Sneaking out of the palace late at night to go to sleazy bars where returning fighters would hang out and get drunk. She'd met Turles one of those nights. He'd been sitting in a corner, alone, and as she turned from the bar their eyes met.

Then he'd winked.

They would see each other, night after night, whenever he was on planet. It seemed harmless at first – they were just talking. She wasn't really serious about him. How could she be? She was a princess and he was from a low-class family. His mother wasn't even a fighter, she did something at the markets for the love of the gods! He was lucky she'd even looked at him.

But then he'd told her about his plan to get out from under Frieza, and she'd seen him in a new light. He was ambitious, smart, creative, brave and strong. And handsome. So, so handsome.

One night after he'd let her in on some of the details of his escape plan, she'd said, "You're so lucky. I wish I could get away from this stupid place."

"Come with me," he'd said.

At first she'd said no. It was insane! Yes, she was sick of the rules and believed, now, that the strict Saiyan class system was ridiculous and illogical. She wanted to be with him. She resented her father, who had continued to ignore her existence even after Vegeta was gone. But she couldn't just leave!

Then her father had suggested she marry Nappa.

Two weeks later she was in Turles' spaceship (well, he'd stolen it), waving goodbye gleefully at Planet Vegeta as they rocketed away from her father, from Frieza, from the whole galaxy. As far as she was concerned, she would never see the red planet again.

Then Frieza blew it up.

At first she thought her brother was dead. She had grieved, and was shocked that she grieved. No matter what, Vegeta was still her brother and he was so young. It was just cruel.

They were the last two Saiyans, until they weren't. There were rumors going around, in planets on the edge of Frieza's grip, that there were a few survivors. And then they weren't rumors but corroborated reports of three survivors who were still working for Frieza, including her brother and Turles' erstwhile nephew Raditz. And of course, Nappa.

When she'd heard the news, verified it, she'd wanted to contact her brother. Turles tried to talk her out of it, saying that her brother was probably angry over her escape and would reject her, or worse, hand them over to Frieza. Turles still had a bounty on his head for deserting the tyrant's forces.

"Frieza will kill him! There's no one to stop him anymore!" she'd yelled.

"Frieza will kill us both if we go anywhere near that ship!" he'd yelled back. "Or Vegeta will kill us! Either way we're dead."

"We may not have to get too close. Maybe there's a way we could contact him, discreetly. No one would find out."

"There is no way."

"There has to be!"

"No."

"If you wanted to find a way, you would. And I want you to find a way! Consider it an order!"

"An order?!"

"Yes, an order! From your Princess! Or have you forgotten?" She'd summoned her most haughty glare. It was a pretty bizarre about-face in retrospect. Suddenly she was obsessed with her brother, determined to save him, as she saw it. Perhaps it was because he was her only family now (she'd assumed Tarble was dead too), or because her entire race had been annihilated in one swoop and she felt a compulsion to save what remained of their line and their heritage. She never really knew. All she knew was that she wanted her brother away from Frieza at any cost.

Sure enough, Turles had found a way to make contact anonymously. Still, he was scared at what might happen if they went straight for Vegeta, who'd acquired a nasty reputation working for Frieza. Instead, they decided to go for the next best thing. Unfortunately, that thing was Nappa.

He'd refused to even bring up the idea of escape to her brother, telling her instead that she was a disgrace to their race (what race?! She'd wanted to scream at him), and that only cowards ran away (yes, because being Frieza's slave was a sure sign of courage). She'd wanted to try again, with Nappa, with Vegeta himself, even with Raditz, but Turles had had enough. They'd tried, at great risk to themselves, and now it was time to give it up. Her brother was alive and as well as he could be living under Frieza's thumb, and that would have to be enough for her.

Her last thought as she descended at the spaceship where her mate and daughter were waiting for her was Damn Nappa.