A/N: Alright, I warned you that this story gets dark and we are headed right into territory! Tough it out to the end, okay? Hang in there and trust me. And thank you to a guy 1013, lmamc (no, he doesn't, but he grew in canon…so expect him to grow here too!), maxridelover (hopefully I surprise you here, we'll see…), anime pryncess (you have great instincts, but TRUST ME and it will all be fine, I promise), Kitty in the Box (yes, yes, yes, and yes…and good instincts!), Guest (gracias!), and Kgvision (thank you so much, I appreciate the feedback and hope you enjoy this!).

Trunks knew better than to argue when his father pulled him out of bed, no matter what time it was or how cheerful he may have seemed at the time (sometimes, he was just frowning on the inside because he wasn't going to bother to move his facial muscles on the outside…at least, that was Trunks' theory). So when he felt a hand grab him up by the collar and lift him like a lioness would her cub, he shook himself awake before he landed near his closet.

"Dress to spar," Vegeta said shortly. "I'll expect you inside the Gravity Chambers in two minutes."

"Aw, man…" Trunks said good-naturedly, yawning. He knew it would slightly annoy Vegeta for him to even complain as a joke, but instead of lecturing the boy on respect and work ethic, Vegeta left without a word, leaving Trunks only slightly surprised. So it was going to be one of those nights…

Well, that was fine. Trunks almost considered waking up his mother…almost. Because whenever she was aware of the after-midnight training Vegeta sometimes dragged him off to, she put as much of a stop to it as she could. But then… Trunks decided it wasn't worth it. Bulma had gone to bed at a halfway-normal hour tonight, and Trunks knew that she needed her rest. Her projects for his father and all of her other side-projects (the ones she made sure Trunks knew about 'just in case') meant that even Trunks noticed how little she slept. And he wasn't supposed to notice things like that.

Besides, Trunks thought as he put on his boots, he sort of liked getting this time with Vegeta. Even if they were punching each other instead of talking…this was something that was just between them, and so it was special.

Especially since Vegeta never invited Geta to this kind of thing. Geta was always obnoxious and ruined training, which sucked because he had to train with Geta a lot.

Trunks zipped to the Gravity Chamber and found his father standing there in the middle of the room. The gravity was so high that Trunks knew his legs and arms would be shaking with exertion before long.

Really should've woken Mom up…bummer.

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Vegeta wasn't going to pull his punches tonight. Even if the boy wasn't on par with him offensively, he was at least durable enough to withstand a good beating.

He studied his son as he trotted over to him, looking far too upbeat for the situation. Bulma loved to whine about how Trunks was infuriatingly like him, but Vegeta had to admit that he saw the Woman in the brat through-and-through. Rarely was it endearing…and this was not one of those times.

"Get in a stance, and none of that sloppy footwork that I've been seeing lately, boy. You're fighting a Saiyan and you come ready to fight a Saiyan."

And Trunks moved exactly how Vegeta wanted him to, so well-trained was he. Laziness often curbed how often he was willing to show what he could do, but the prince would not tolerate that tonight.

His mouth curved up into a smirk. "Let's go."

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TWO YEARS BEFORE

"Why does my father hate you?" Geta asked the King as they went to dine at some formal function. When Vegeta would refuse to attend these things, dismissing them as 'trivial', Geta's grandfather would demand that Geta attend in his stead. The King said it was to solidify that Geta and only Geta would succeed the Prince as the challenger and upcoming heir to the throne.

But Geta knew that didn't really matter. Only the person who killed the King could become King, so a line of succession was mostly a formality. The royal line was just so powerful that there were no other potential challengers.

Someday he would be honored to kill the King and become King himself.

"Vegeta hates me because I did something he could never forgive," his grandfather responded, unemotional. "He hates me because I chose another to sacrifice instead of him and he knows that I spared him. If there is anything a Saiyan hates, it is mercy."

Geta wanted to ask how the King had shown the Prince mercy and what he had needed to sacrifice his own son for anyway, but he knew that that question would be pushing too far and he was not powerful enough yet to fight his grandfather if he made him mad.

"You must be the same way. Mercy is a shameful thing and you should never give it or be subject to it. It is humiliating to the true warrior."

"I understand," Geta said. The mystery of Vegeta's hatred was forgotten in dreams of being a ruthless warrior to make the royal line of Vegeta proud. He would never be like his half-breed brother, Trunks, who definitely was the kind to be merciful. And then a thought occurred to him… "If the Prince hates mercy, then why does he spare that alien woman and not kill her like he should have?"

That didn't follow the logic.

At this, the King took on a very ugly expression, which only darkened the longer he answered the query. "My son spent too much time far from home and he was bewitched by the rest of the universe, in certain ways. I hope that his time here will stamp it out of him. Eventually, he will realize his error. And once he comes to that conclusion, he will rid himself of her and will stay here to do his duty."

The King sounded so sure that Geta immediately felt reassured and said no more about it. Prince Vegeta already fought all the time with the blue woman (verbally only, the alien had no physical prowess)…he would get rid of her, Geta knew that he would. His father always said that she was the reason that Trunks was so soft. Geta just had to be patient.

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Geta was sure that the Prince knew he had left the Gravity Chambers before he returned there, Trunks coming close after. He wasn't foolish enough to think that Vegeta didn't know exactly where he was, but that didn't matter. Geta wasn't considered "worthy" of the Prince of All Saiyans. His blood was pounding furiously in his veins once he realized that Trunks was with him because he asked him to be. It was the only explanation this late at night.

Trunks, the half-spawn who wasn't trained as well as Geta… who was only a pale, human version of Vegeta… who was born to a weak woman… this was who the Prince chose to spar with.

Geta wanted to scream, to rip his hair out from the roots. He wanted to go in there and kill them both. Then Vegeta could see his face last thing before he died and acknowledge him.

But he wasn't powerful enough to do it.

He wasn't powerful enough.

For the first time in his life, Geta didn't want to be himself. He didn't want to be the perfect clone created to succeed Prince Vegeta. He was empty, even though he had done everything right! HE was a Saiyan to be proud of! And yet, all he saw in his father's eyes was the mirror of a failure that he couldn't do anything to overcome. Vegeta wouldn't let him overcome it.

He clenched his hands until his nails bit into his palms, scoring them with blood. And because he wasn't powerful enough, he moved out of the shadows and towards the royal wing, where his bed awaited him.

But the rage wouldn't cool.

His feet didn't take him to his bed. Instead, he found her as if it was automatic, as if he had never intended to go to bed at all. She was sleeping away peacefully, long hair pooled over one slender shoulder. Geta was calm, so calm as he listened to those even breaths and looked at every inch of the fragile woman. She was beautiful, he supposed. And she was soft and kind and patient, he had seen her with Trunks—like it was her job to make herself the most important thing in his half-brother's life just because she gave birth to him.

What would that be like? She and Trunks were the only ones on the planet who really knew. And Geta despised that glimmer of longing he felt at the wondering of it.

He felt so calm, so purposeful at his next action, as if he had been called to it.

His hands were in her soft, fascinating hair and he snapped her neck.

She never even woke.

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Trunks was getting thrashed from one end of the Gravity Chambers to the other and was beginning to hope that Vegeta lost interest soon when his father's face changed mid-fight. His movements halted and Trunks followed suit, furrowing his brow.

"What?" his said through a bloody lip.

Vegeta didn't answer, but his face continued its evolution into an expression that Trunks had never seen before. Whatever was in the lines of his face, it made Trunks' heart nervously pound. Something was wrong. Something had to be wrong.

Trunks struck out in his senses, wondering what he had missed.

Then Trunks didn't feel it. His mom.

Wordlessly, and with a note of panic, Vegeta disappeared with Trunks in tow. And as they arrived and Trunks scanned his parents' room frantically, he saw Geta was there, with his mom and she was still sleeping. What was he doing here?

"Mom!"

He saw her, but he didn't sense her! How could it be possible?!

He was frozen, but his father went over and touched her, turned her over… but she didn't wake up.

"Mom?" Trunks looked at Vegeta, thinking in a crisis. Vegeta remained stiffly hovering over his mother, his hand resting briefly on her neck. "There's something wrong with her, she should have woken up. I'll get help!"

He knew that the medics on Vegeta-sei didn't like him much or his mother either, but he would make them come see her. He turned and jetted towards the door, before running right into his father. The older Saiyan was blocking his way, immovable force itself.

"What? I need to get help!" Trunks yelled impatiently, not caring if he made Vegeta mad. "We need to help her!"

But Vegeta just stood there, his expression empty, but pointed. It was like he wanted to tell Trunks something, but didn't want to say it out loud. Trunks didn't understand him.

"Geta!" Trunks cast out desperately for the only other person in the room. "Get help!" Trunks didn't know what Vegeta's problem was, but maybe he would let his brother leave. But at Geta's name, Vegeta came alive again with an inordinate burst of power and animalistic rage unlike anything Trunks had seen on his father's face. It contorted it horribly, and he launched at Trunks' brother. What was he doing?

"Dad!" Trunks blurted out, fear making him slip, not that Vegeta even seemed to hear him over the murderous intent. Why wouldn't he get help?! "Forget him, what about Mom?! She's—"

And then this strange force of cold wisdom dropped Trunks' stomach further than his feet and a darkness descended. Trunks couldn't feel his mother at all. She was here, but where was she? He looked back to where she lay, her neck bent.

Trunks knew. But he didn't want to know.

"Nonononononononononononono…"

His father and Geta were behind him, but he was with his mom, touching her face, but she wasn't moving and shewasdeadshewasdeadshewasdead…

Everything went still and he felt a horrible, searing burn clawing at his throat as he pulled his mother closer, clutching her to his heart. And she was still cold, rigid.

The burning was everywhere.

You don't have a mother?

It was a lifetime ago, but the words came racing back into his mind and Trunks suddenly knew that Geta had done this. And he screamed and screamed and screamed.

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Vegeta was going to kill him. He didn't care what his father thought. All that was in him at the moment was a madness—a dark insanity that told him to destroy.

He wouldn't kill the boy like the boy had done Bulma. He would make it slow—and that was all that Vegeta knew as he descended upon the defiant clone, the boy his father called grandson.

Geta was not able to flee and only managed one feeble swing before Vegeta pounded him in a mindless frenzy. But he only was able to beat him half to death when an energy that he didn't recognize hit him like a wave.

Trunks had been screaming—he was still screaming, except the screams echoed and the ground trembled around them. Vegeta looked at his already-bruised son and saw him with his dead mother plastered to his chest as he keened and Vegeta knew the energy came from him.

"Noooooooooo!" Trunks screamed, his mother sinking to the ground like a broken doll as he released her (Vegeta felt an odd pang in his chest) and clenched his fists, tears streaming down his face. The air was suddenly moving so fast that Vegeta couldn't take a breath as it whipped through them. Geta whimpered on the ground as it flattened him further. What was this? And then something changed about the half-human boy…he…he flickered.

Vegeta watched, slack-jawed as his son's devastated eyes shined into an immortal blue and his hair stood up on end and a current passed through it, like a field of golden grain on Earth, and blinded the room

The power was beyond anything Vegeta had ever felt—beyond himself, beyond Frieza. He was in awe at this small being that seemed not to be a child anymore, but some god fallen to Vegeta-sei. It nearly hurt his eyes and the air now still and compressed, like the power was drawing everything in to it.

And then, Vegeta knew with an instinct that may have been borne of his heritage—it was the Legendary—the Super Saiyan.

Trunks was the Super Saiyan.

Before Vegeta could feel anything about that unbelievable truth, Trunks set pupil-less eyes on the boy clone and passed sentence on him. His half-brother would not kill the Woman and live.

"You did this," the golden god snarled and again, his voice reverberated in a deep and inhuman rumble. "You killed my mother. I will never forgive you for what you've done."

Vegeta anticipated the sweet comeuppance. And so he stood by and watched as Trunks approached his half-brother, who was immobile with terror at the overwhelming presence.

But as Trunks moved, Bulma's beautiful and still form came into view from behind him, alone unaffected by the magnitude of Trunks' ki…never able to feel anything again. And Vegeta felt that pang again…except it resonated this time, until it was painful. It wasn't a physical pain, but it was there nonetheless.

"I would think that you'd be pleased," Vegeta scowled, watching Bulma examine his armor with professional fascination and patiently answering her questions about the newest design work. "Your son is the blood of royalty, being trained by royalty, with an unusual ability just waiting to be honed. And yet, here you are, dismissing his latest boost of power."

"I didn't dismiss it!" Bulma scoffed, tapping a finger on his chest. "But I already knew our son was amazing. I've just been waiting for you to catch up."

"Hn. Don't exaggerate."

"I'm not," Bulma said seriously, peering at him with unblinking blue eyes and coming nearer to his face, as if imparting the most important of secrets. "I'll always be proud of Trunks, because he isn't powerful because he can kill, Vegeta. My boy is a protector of the innocent. It's in his nature. And on my planet, that makes him amazing."

It's in his nature…

Vegeta's eyes were fixed on Bulma and he became sick with the memory of her, telling him that Trunks wasn't a killer. And how he had laughed at her, because Saiyans were killers. They didn't defend anything that couldn't defend themselves. And Trunks wouldn't stay her pure boy, so she'd better get realistic. She'd better not fight it.

And Vegeta recalled eyes that didn't believe him, that defied him openly…eyes that wouldn't ever open again…

"Trunks!" Vegeta bellowed. "Don't."

Trunks did stop, and it was a credit to him because Vegeta knew that he would have never stayed his hand at his father's prompting. Trunks' depthless gaze was turned to him now, waiting…waiting for some reason why he shouldn't. And he looked even more like a stranger.

"Your mother wouldn't have wanted it," Vegeta said hoarsely, betraying what composure he had with the slightest quiver. "Even Saiyans have honor. I honor your mother. Do not take your revenge, not now."

"I want to!" Trunks cried furiously and the room trembled. But Vegeta wasn't going to be cowed by his own son, even in the face of this obscene amount of power.

"And what would the Woman want?" Vegeta asked, trying to sound angry in order to deflect Trunks from Geta, to make him see reason. "You knew her as I did. Leave your mother's killer to me." Vegeta would take on the price. His hands were soaked in blood already.

Trunks hesitated, knowing the truth behind the words, and he couldn't do it. Damnit, his mother was right. The boy couldn't even enjoy killing in these circumstances. And the boy howled in fury, releasing, and the light faded around him until he was just Trunks again, the magnificence of his form swept away into nothingness. The quiet seemed deadly and the boy stared at his mother again, hatred rising in his eyes.

"You never knew her as I did," Trunks said. "And I will get my mother back." And then he gathered up his Bulma's body in a careful flash and disappeared without another word, like Vegeta had done so many times before to the both of them.

Vegeta then realized that no less than six palace guards and Nappa were crowding at the door, with varied expressions of awe and fright, and had parted quickly to let Trunks pass. All he saw was Nappa, the Saiyan Elite charged with Bulma's protection. "You," Vegeta hissed. "You have failed."

Nappa fell prostrate, begging at his sire's grave pronouncement. And it was only because even Nappa seemed genuinely saddened by Bulma's fate that Vegeta didn't blast him on the spot.

"Don't speak," Vegeta commanded. He wanted the fool out of his presence until he knew what to do with him. "Take the clone to a regeneration tank. And remain there with him until I give you leave. Do NOT remove him from the tank. And allow no one else to remove him either."

"Yes, Your Highness," Nappa said gratefully. And he swiftly took the half-conscious Geta from the room, not bothering to be gentle as he was to hurry.

"Go back to your posts!" Vegeta snapped to the guards, who were motionless still. "And say nothing of this to anyone. If I hear even a whisper of these events, it will be counted as treason and the offender will have death. Am I clear?"

"Yes, Your Highness," they all said before moving back to their positions, likely the nearest guards in the palace. Vegeta knew the tale would spread. But he couldn't deal with that tonight.

And then there was numbness, a kind that he didn't want to feel. He would do anything to make it stop, to make it so he didn't have to think about Bulma gone. But he couldn't remove it, he couldn't reverse it.

He went to the Gravity Chambers, the ones that she had constructed, their sprawling rooms and bots and the gravity now capable of 750 times Vegeta-sei. And she would never enhance it again.

Terrain adaption. He changed it to the terrain she had found him in that same night…the boiling black sand and hazy sky. He sat and he attempted to meditate, but thought of her, coaxing him to bed. He sensed Trunks in the labs, in her office. And he remembered his only fond memories of the place, when he took her on her desk, when she kissed him and laughed at him, but also delighted in him…

She stayed with him and gave herself to him even when his people hated her, when he said she was useless, when he took her and Trunks from all they knew and brought them here.

And he felt he owed her something, in his numb, awful state—he needed some kind of vengeance for her. He needed something to make this stop.

Vegeta stood up and left. He would go to Trunks later, not yet. In the chaos of his newborn emotions, a plan was formulating slowly. Where Trunks fit in to this, he didn't know yet. But he knew the first step.

"Vegeta…I was hoping you'd come to explain the enormous clatter I heard earlier. It woke me and I could not return to sleep. I almost came to investigate, but I was confident you had things well in hand."

The King was at his couch, polishing a sword as if it was any other night. His sly voice spoke enough of the things he didn't say.

"You know she's dead," Vegeta said dully. "And your pathetic clone did it. While I was gone and while she was sleeping. You know already."

The King didn't deny it. "You know I had no use for the alien girl you bedded. Don't expect me to mourn with you. What did you do with your heir who slay her?"

"He's not my heir!" Vegeta spat. "And I will deal with him. He will never rule anything if I have any say in it."

The King sighed. "And I expect you intend to have every say in it… that's why you're here, isn't it? I'm impressed it took you this long. Had I known, I'd have arranged for the little bitch to meet her end long before—"

Vegeta was on him, choking him against the wall and the King sputtered a laugh as he gasped for air.

"You won't have long to enjoy her death," Vegeta said. "You will go to a far worse place, I'd imagine."

"Tell me," the King panted, and Vegeta loosened his grip. He would say what he wished and then it would be over. "Tell me how you did it. I felt that ki and only a legend could speak of such power. All that I dismissed as a fantasy. Hate me as you will, but you have achieved everything I set out for you. Everything I saved you for when I sent Tarble to Frieza. My trick paid off. You will destroy Frieza and save the Saiyans, because he never got his hands on you. I chose. Remember that, Vegeta, when you sit on my throne. Remember."

Vegeta plunged a hand into his father's chest, "You will look up from hell and see that I learned from you. A son for a son, Father," Vegeta told him. And with that, he pulled forth the King's heart, blood spraying them both before his father collapsed to the ground, gone before he hit the floor.

"The King is dead," Vegeta said to no one. "Long live the King."

A/N: I fully expect you to hate me right now, but seriously, don't panic. I must remind you of two things: 1. Remember the name of the series! I've also left some clues earlier on in the story as to what will happen. 2. This IS a Vegebul and Trunks story. That hasn't changed. The next chapter will be mostly Trunks POV…and he's really gone through the ringer, hasn't he? But he's not a child anymore, he's actually the most powerful being on Vegeta-sei and the boy HAS A PLAN.

Tell me what you thought because a lot happened in this chapter. I know this was probably a difficult one to read, but there's no prize without a journey. Thanks so much for reading!