Kera:
A few days later, Kera and Piccolo were having a little training fight with Reyak watching them and Menka meditating a little apart, Menka suddenly snapped her out of her concentration.
"Mum! Dende called in!" Menka came flying towards Kera. Her hair, which by now fell to her shoulders, Kera braided into a long plait, as she also liked to wear it. Smiling, Menka hovered in front of Kera.
"Did Dende find out anything?" Menka nodded. "Does he want Vegeta to come too?" Another nod. "Can you please give him ..."
"I've already let Uncle Vegeta know."
Kera smiled and gave her daughter a kiss on the forehead. Ever since the children knew that she and Vegeta were brother and sister, they had immediately called him 'Uncle', which Kera thought was very cute. "Thank you, sweetheart." She turned to Piccolo. "I'll be flying then."
Piccolo pressed another quick kiss to her forehead too, and she said goodbye to Reyak and was about to fly off, when Menka held her back by the arm once more.
"Mum, Dende said he sensed something dark in you, didn't he?" Uncertain, Kera nodded. "It's getting stronger."
During the flight, she feverishly pondered what Dende might have found out and what Menka's statement meant. She was so curious and excited that she slowed down far too late over the palace platform and stumbled on landing. Before she fell lengthways, two arms had caught her.
Irritated, she looked into Vegeta's dark eyes. "Hey ... thanks," she murmured, unable to take her eyes off his face. He held her close and she breathed in his scent. Had he always smelled this good?
Without thinking, she put a hand to his cheek and stroked it with her thumb. Then her thumb moved to his mouth and traced the line of his lips. Vegeta closed his eyes and moaned softly.
"There you are!"
Startled, Kera lowered her hand. Why had she been on Vegeta's cheek? He had caught her so she wouldn't fall, but she hadn't moved since, had she?
Dende walked slowly towards her. Vegeta let Kera slide to the ground. He looked as irritated as she did. What had Dende seen?
"Is everything alright with you? You look a little ... pensive."
"We ... are just very curious to see what you've found out," Kera replied, hoping that Dende would accept that excuse. The young Namekian nodded, but his expression remained sceptical.
"Come along." He led them through the palace to the small garden inside. He pointed to a large rectangular table on which lay some books and scrolls. Kera and Vegeta sat down next to each other on one side of the table, Dende on the other. He almost disappeared behind the mountains of paper.
"It wasn't easy to find out anything. Saiyans don't like to keep records."
Vegeta made a snarky sound. "We are a race of warriors. Stories were passed from mouth to mouth."
"Which makes it hard to find out anything when hardly anyone of the people exist anymore," Dende returned.
Kera raised her eyebrows in surprise. She hadn't expected such a quick-witted remark from Dende. Even Vegeta seemed surprised for a moment, because he didn't reply.
"Be that as it may. I found something."
"Now don't make it so exciting," Kera said, realising how she would have preferred to slide around uneasily on the chair.
"When the twin's sister gives birth to two lives, the two dark ones will rise and she will conceive of her brother to give birth to Chaos to enslave the universe." Dende looked back and forth between Kera and Vegeta expectantly.
"Uh ... what?" was the only thing Kera managed to get out.
"Don't talk so pompously. Explain to us what this means," Vegeta demanded in a tone that brooked no argument.
"It is a prophecy," Dende explained. "I have found similar prophecies among other races on other planets. With the Saiyans, however, it seemed to have a special meaning."
"Now don't let me pull every word out of your nose!"
Dende sighed. "All right. Before you were born, there must have been magically gifted beings among the Saiyans. Two of them stood out in particular. A woman and a man. They were a couple and very powerful together. As long as they worked well with the Saiyans, everything was fine. But the power seemed to have gone to their heads. They destroyed other living beings with an ease and for the basest of reasons that even the Saiyans were uncomfortable with. They came up with a plan to destroy them. They managed to kidnap and capture the man. The woman wanted to free her lover, but the situation was hopeless. She made the decision to release both their souls from their bodies so that they could survive."
"Such a thing is possible?" asked Kera sceptically.
Dende nodded. "It is the darkest of magics and not without risks and pain. She seemed to have managed it, for both bodies were lifeless shortly afterwards, without any of the Saiyans laying a hand on them. Here the record of what happened ends. All that was left was the sentence underneath: 'The restless souls will not stop until they have found bodies of royal origin to take over.' Then follows the cryptic prophecy I have already shared with you."
"What makes the one who wrote this think that souls will seek bodies of royal origin? That seems like a very vague guess to me," Kera said.
Dende shrugged his shoulders. "I suspect artistic freedom here. Unfortunately, that's also the only thing I've found on the subject."
"Now, will you also explain what all this has to do with us?" At Kera's stern look, Vegeta added, "Please."
"I can only tell you my thoughts based on these records. I have no proof whatsoever. The souls of those two mages, or whatever they were, entered your bodies when you were born." Sceptical silence met him. Dende sighed. "This prophecy, in my opinion, speaks of two sets of twins, namely 'the sister of the twin' and 'the two lives'. So there is a pair of twins and the female part has twins again. That would apply to you, Kera."
Kera took a deep breath. "Assuming that's true, it could also mean that Reyak and Menka carry those souls inside them, right? After all, it is said that when they are born, the two dark ones will rise."
"True. But the fact is that I sense this dark presence in you and Vegeta."
"Menka told me earlier that she also senses the dark presence and that it is getting stronger," Kera said quietly. She herself felt nothing, which made the whole situation seem even more unreal to her.
Dende sighed, "I'm sorry I don't know more."
"Can't Kakarrot go to ... Gine again and question her?" asked Vegeta. Kera was sure she had heard a hesitation. Had he meant to say 'our mother'?
"That would be possible, though we would have to wait a little for that. Goku can't just walk into any part of the Underworld. He needs permission from King Yemma and I'm afraid he won't give it to him again for a few months."
Silence spread over them as they each pondered their own thoughts.
"Suppose it's true. That Vegeta and I ..." Kera searched for a word, "...are possessed by a dark presence. How do we deal with it then?"
"I don't know," the little Namekian admitted quietly. "If Menka is right and the presences have become stronger, then it could actually be that the alien souls are awakening. Perhaps they have simply been asleep until now." Dende didn't seem very convinced. "I trust Menka's judgement. She can detect energies much better than any of us."
After another moment of silence, Vegeta spoke up. "Would that explain our memory lapses? Because those other souls then take control?"
Dende nodded. "That would be an explanation."
Vegeta cursed. "I don't want to share my body with another soul. The Prince of Saiyans ..."
Kera rolled her eyes. "It's alright, prince. You think I want that?"
Grumbling, Vegeta folded his hands in front of his chest.
"All we can do is keep our eyes open, I'm afraid. React to any possible signs of change. You might not want to be out on your own in case you start having lapses again. Let's just hope it's all conjecture and none of it comes true," Dende concluded his musings.
Kera rose to her feet. "Thank you, Dende." She hugged the Namekian briefly and then set off with Vegeta.
They flew slowly side by side. "Do you want to talk?"
"About what?"
Abruptly, Kera stopped hovering in midair. "About what? Were you not listening to Dende just now? And we didn't even talk about being siblings." Vegeta had been off the face of the earth after the event in the Underworld. He hadn't responded to any of their calls and couldn't be found on the estate.
Vegeta had flown several yards away before he noticed Kera had stopped. He came back and hovered in front of her.
"I don't want to talk about it."
"Why not?" Vegeta didn't look at her. "You're angry." She noticed him clenching his fists. "You think I'm not? For years we were lied to about our origins. And then there was no one left to tell us the truth. Who knows, they probably would never have told us, just to make sure none of it got out to the public. The one you thought was your mother was not your biological mother and they told me that my mother had died. Both lies. The one who was my father, I could never call him that because I didn't know. We have two brothers who are now both dead. You don't have the sole right to be angry." Kera noticed her talking herself into a rage.
Vegeta put his hand on her shoulder. "It's alright. Sorry." He pointed to a small patch of forest below them. "Let's land there and talk."
Kera followed him. Under the shade of the trees they settled down and talked. At first haltingly, then more and more fluently, they told each other how they had felt when they had found out that they were twins and what this prophecy might mean.
Vegeta tended not to believe this humbug, as he called it, Kera was unsure. Some things seemed to fit, but she could be wrong. One could tend to interpret things in such a way that it matched the prophecies.
Her head felt heavier and heavier as time went on. Eventually her head slumped on Vegeta's shoulder and she fell asleep.
When she awoke, it took her a moment to realise where she was. It was not her room in the hut in the forest. The outlines she could make out in the dim light did not match the familiar surroundings. The next thing she registered was an arm wrapped around her waist, pressing her against the body behind her. Next thought: It wasn't Piccolo and this someone wasn't wearing anything. Next thought: she wasn't wearing anything either.
Panic-stricken, she sat up. The body next to her stirred and now seemed to be going through her thought processes as well. Just as quickly it jumped up, ran to the window to open the curtains and turned back to her.
Kera slapped her hands over her mouth and let out a strangled cry. It was Vegeta, standing naked in front of her, staring at her in confusion.
"What ...?" She shook her head. Tears streamed down her face. "Dende was right," she whispered.
Vegeta came back to the bed. Briefly his eyes slid to her breasts, then he tightened and looked at her. "What's the last thing you remember?"
"Our conversation in the forest. I got tired ..."
"... And then we woke up here." Vegeta looked at the clock that stood on one of the bedside cabinets and had just jumped over to nine o'clock. "We're about fourteen hours short."
Kera was preoccupied with another question. "Do you think we have ..." She couldn't say it.
"I don't know," Vegeta whispered.
She knew what he was feeling. Feeling so helpless was gnawing at both of their self-confidence.
Kera stood up. "I really need to get home." She looked around the room but couldn't find her things. Naked, she went into the adjoining bathroom. She didn't find anything there either, so she took a towel and put it on. She re-entered the room and went to the door. Vegeta, still transfixed on the bed, looked at her questioningly. "I'll be in touch after I talked to Piccolo."
Kera opened the door, when suddenly Vegeta was standing next to her. "Kera, this is just so ..."
"... fucked up?" Vegeta nodded. "I know." She wrapped the still naked Vegeta in her arms.
"What is the meaning of this?"
Startled, Kera and Vegeta pulled apart. Bulma stood beside them in the hallway, looking furious.
Vegeta pushed past Kera. "Bulma, darling, I can explain."
Kera felt heat rising in her face. She had never felt so humiliated. Why was this all happening?
"All bad explanations start like this."
Kera swallowed. "Bulma, please, we don't know what happened."
"You both come out of a room naked. I haven't seen my husband since last night. What could possibly have happened." Bulma breathed heavily. "How could you do this to me!" She took a step towards Kera, lunged and slapped her across the face. Kera barely felt the pain, but she looked down at the ground, concerned. "Get out of here. I don't want to see you anymore." There was a second slap. Vegeta had also received a slap in the face. "And you, get out of my sight."
Vegeta looked to the ground as well and walked down the hall without another word. Kera muttered another apology and then ran out. Mentally, she contacted Piccolo, who had already been worried because their connection had been as if blocked. She explained to him in terse words that they had blacked out again after the meeting at Dende's and had woken up earlier at Bulma's house. She left out that Vegeta and she had been naked when they woke up. She was going to Dende's house to get checked out. She needed to know if she had slept with Vegeta without her knowledge.
Vegeta:
Slowly he walked down the hall and opened the door at the end of the hall. The room beyond was dark. No one had opened the curtains and only a narrow strip of light stole through the gap between the two fabrics.
Vegeta closed the door quietly and then leaned against it. His legs felt heavy, his whole body seemed to be pulling him down. He gave in to the urge and slumped to the floor.
Still naked, he drew his knees up and wrapped his arms around his legs. He put his head down.
What was happening here? Why was it happening to him of all people? He knew he wasn't the perfect husband, not a model family man. However, he would never cheat on Bulma. And then with his sister, too. That was absurd. How could Bulma even think he was capable of that?
He wanted to get angry, angry at someone else, but he quickly realised that the anger wasn't going away. He just couldn't stand himself anymore.
Could it really be that he was sharing his body with another soul? A dark soul? One that was gradually growing stronger and displacing him? Making him a spectator in his body. A prisoner. He had to do something. He couldn't just stand by and watch.
Vegeta let a fist thunder on the floor. He felt the concrete crumble under the carpet. Inwardly he knew this wouldn't solve any problems either, but somehow he had to release his frustration. He hated feeling helpless. It didn't suit him.
He took a deep breath. Kera had more or less forced him to talk. About his thoughts and feelings. He had resisted and then talked after all. It had felt surprisingly good in retrospect. Maybe that was a possibility. He would try to explain everything to Bulma. And he had to stay calm.