Dragon Ball Z: Dynasty
Written by: Feraligreater328 and StevenBodner
A/N: This chapter is smaller than most because tone of 123 is a lot different from these specific parts, so I wanted to present them where they could be digested on their own.
Also, I saw some people asking and can confirm that Chapter 125 will end the flashback. Just so people aren't in suspense, the next few arcs with go like this: brief trip back to Earth, the Brothers in Space Saga, and then we will approach Buu!
I look forward to all of your continued viewership~ And thank you for bearing with me. Making up something entirely new is a lot more taxing than just fanfictioning existing materials. So I appreciate all of the support! :)
Chapter 124: Vegetas: II, III, and IV.
In the private chambers of King Vegeta II…
Prince Vegeta III and his newly-returned fiancee-to-be Cassava walked silently and grimly into the chambers of King Vegeta II. Both of them had faces of stone as they kneeled before the wicked old fossil's bed. In all public appearances, Vegeta II often wore a suit of armor of his own design that made him appear as he had in his youth, a hulking brute of a man who could crush any that dared stand before him.
Here in private, however, seen only by a scant few attendants (all of whom had their eyes gouged when called to his service) and two guards (both of whom had been brutally conditioned to follow the despot's every order) Vegeta II's true form was revealed.
A man of nearly 200 years, the old king laid in his bed a shriveled, paranoid husk. His gaze was a hateful sneer that cast a dire shroud over those whom it fell upon. And with these two, that gaze was truly a sight of profound horror. That is why Vegeta II allowed them in his room. He lived rent-free in their minds, stem-to-stern. The boy, his heir or some such, couldn't make eye contact with him. The boy was weak and spineless, but he cut a figure similar to Vegeta II and that was good enough for the furious relic. The girl...he couldn't quite recall a relationship with her. He knew she was strong and had that Alpha-type ability that he wanted. But otherwise... what was one lab rat from the next? Only fools named the animals kept in their pens. A wasteful effort by those bogged with foolish emotion.
Vegeta III spoke. "Father..."
Vegeta II raised his boney hand. "Silence whelp. The tremors in your voice disgust me."
Vegeta III immediately shut his mouth, bowing his head in shame as he always had. The old man had never been a kind figure to Vegeta III. A mere word from him was enough to render the prince's mouth as dry as a desert. It was an emotion he never outwardly shared, but the likes of Nappa, Paragus, and Parsl had gathered enough of an idea from their time at their leader's side. Vegeta III was terrified of his aged father. So terrified that he couldn't bring himself to look the man in the eye.
He was no soft touch, but he knew of the despicable things his progenitor was capable of. He knew of the Tuffle camps. He knew of the cleansings. And he knew why the Warhammer, a living trash heap of undesirables in Vegeta II's society, was allowed even a gasp of breath. Vegeta III trembled, fearing even now as he and Cassava sat here, that something would go wrong and he would face his father's wrath.
The prince looked over to Cassava. He knew what his father had done to her as well. They had shared a bath the previous evening in an effort to form some level of connection beyond hatred and malcontent and Vegeta III caught sight of his wife's bare body. He couldn't think of a single foe that could have done such horrors to this Cassava next to him.
But, then again, this would be the first time Vegeta II had ever met this Cassava.
Vegeta II could feel a lump in his throat as he saw Cassava kneeling there. Her body was rigid, her eyes were slate, her lips formed a perfectly straight line. He thought to himself. 'How can you just sit there like that?! Do you not see whose room we're knelt in?!'
And then, Vegeta III remembered the conversation he and Cassava had the previous night and the lump slid down. 'Of course, you do. You know exactly what obstacle sits on this road, don't you Cassava?'
Vegeta II sneered. His beard, in spite of the gray and in spite of his age, was a properly trimmed mass of hair that reached down to his gaunt chest. Not a single strand was out of place and he admonished his son. "I see you have finally managed to tame that creature sitting next to you. Excellent, now the process of siring a worthy heir to my rule can commence. Under my scientific guidance, perhaps IV will produce the satisfactory results that III found too challenging."
Vegeta III flinched at the coldly scientific berating of his "loving" parent. His hand, clasped atop his knees, trembled and squeezed the fabric of his pants. He counted the blessings in his head that the man before him was so old that his vision had degenerated in spite of medically enhanced modification.
Cassava, meanwhile, spoke bluntly. "I'm sure you'll be a loving and caring grandfather, Majesty."
Vegeta II's temper immediately flared. "WHY DOES THIS THING SPEAK IN MY PRESENCE?!"
Vegeta III shuddered and looked at his fiancee-to-be. Cassava's face remained unchanged. Vegeta II's voice came to life, burning with hatred and offense. "You stupid, stupid boy! When I picked the sow to be your mother, the first procedure done was the removal of her tongue! You cannot remain in control should you allow the malcontents and detritus of society a single, smart-mouthed comment!"
Vegeta III simply bowed his head. Cassava sat firm. Vegeta II's frail form was shaking in his bed. He snarled. "GUARDS! I SAY GUARDS! COME AT ONCE AND BRING A PAIR OF RAZOR-EDGED SHEARS!"
No answer. Even in a shouting volume, the King's voice was quite a bit weaker than it once had been. He snapped his fingers at his son. "Boy! Fetch the guards! Now!"
Vegeta III nodded. "Yes, sir."
He stood and walked over to the door, opening the hefty wooden frames and beckoning to the two guards posted outside. They were Vegeta II's only two guards, both conditioned since birth to wordlessly obey. Vegeta III was sure that they had names, but he had never had the privilege of hearing his father utter them out loud. The two guards rushed in and bowed to their master. Vegeta III did not return to his spot. Vegeta II didn't notice, nor did he care. "Produce a set of freshly sharpened shears and remove that creature's tongue. She will not need it for her future utility."
The two guards nodded and immediately walked over to Cassava. One grabbed her hands and forced them behind her back, wrapping his massive hand around them in a binding ring shape. With his other hand, the guard thrust his fingers into Cassava's mouth, forcing her jaw open and pulling her tongue out as far as it would stretch. For years after that, Cassava would taste the sterile gel on the guard's hand and grimace. For this moment though, her face still remained blank as she stared at Vegeta II and memories began to play through her mind.
The other guard produced a pair of shears and opened them, hovering them around Cassava's restrained tongue. The guard looked her in the eyes dispassionately and then began to snap the scissors down...
A blast came shooting across the room and nailed the guard right in the face, blasting away skin and hair and sending him crashing to the ground. Startled, the other guard unhanded Cassava and turned, only for a purple beam to lance straight through his chest, leaving a burning hole where lungs and heart used to be. The guard fell to the ground, dead. Vegeta II snarled. "BOY! HOW DARE YOU?!"
Vegeta III's head was down as he stood there, arm extended and glowing with energy. He heard his father yelling, but the sound was muffled. He couldn't make out words. He watched as Cassava stood, bending over to pick up the shears that had nearly mutilated her. She snapped them a couple of times and then whipped them into the other guard's throat, slitting it open and killing the nameless brute. For the first time since he was a child, Vegeta III managed to steal a look at his father's face. And then he immediately turned and walked to the door.
His hand reached up to the wooden bar and pulled it down, sending it crashing into the slots that held it in place behind the heavy, wooden barriers. And then he leaned his swaying body against it as he felt a sick feeling broil in his stomach.
An outsider would have called this guilt. The traitorous prince couldn't bear to watch his father's noble life expire. But... that just wasn't the case. As they had bathed together the previous night, and as Cassava had opened up to Vegeta III, that scornful woman had shared some truly dark and twisted things with Vegeta III. Things that had been done to her in the name of science and better understanding of the Saiyan condition. Things that his father had done to better equip his lofty desires of an army of brutal killers that would be used to overthrow the likes of King Cold, Lord Beerus, and beyond.
Oh, did King Vegeta II have ambitions!
But... those ambitions had left a mark on a truly twisted person. One who now stalked towards Vegeta II with violent intent. Vegeta III had looked into her eyes and within them he saw a lust for violence and harm that countless others had seen in their last moments. Every hateful impulse in Cassava's body seemed to be building to this day. Vegeta III's stomach lurched and he kept his back to his father, not wanting to witness whatever it was that Cassava might do.
Vegeta II had not experienced this before. In his prime, he was an intimidating wall that none would dare approach for fear of the immediate shuffling of their mortal coil. In his old age, that fear stuck and he became a brutal legend and a hushed-tone myth among his people. However, unbeknownst to the narrow-minded king, a new boogeyman had taken his place in every Saiyan's closet. If the king had bothered to keep up with anything outside of his castle and his research, he would be quivering as shadows began to flicker from beneath Cassava's feet. He would have turned tail as they enveloped her body. And he would have attempted a fearful flight away as they began to form a shape around Cassava, one of a larger and more formidably intimidating figure.
Cassava walked towards Vegeta II with the silhouette of an entire other person shrouding her in black and red. Unlike her, this silhouette had a cracking smile going across its face. It was almost like it could smell the royal blood about to be spilled. Vegeta II snarled. "You will pay for your insolence!"
He produced a remote from the sleeve of his robe and a suit of armor hidden behind a curtain lunged forward. The chest compartment opened its shutters and Vegeta II prepared to leap in, only to watch in shock and horror as the giant (and far more Saiyan-like) black hands grabbed the armor and ripped it in half. The two sparking sides fell to the ground and Cassava stepped onto the bed. Vegeta II tried to sit up, but Cassava stomped her foot onto his chest. She glared at him with something that registered far above even the darkest hate.
Cassava rubbed her prosthetic over her remaining organic wrist. She felt the cuff tightly locked around it even though that cuff had long since been removed. She felt the thick strap pulled between her teeth to muffle her cries. She felt needles and scalpels and scanners and all other manner of instruments piercing and slicing through her skin. She heard the sounds of her family screaming as they all faced their turn on the table, vivisected for insight into the nature of Cassava's gift, most of their final shrieks damning her for getting them forced into this.
All of these thoughts swirled in Cassava's head as they had for a couple decades now, but that was not what finally caused that switch to flip. Cassava thought about all of her lovely friends... the tragic lives they had been forced to live... and then the black Ki hands wrapped around Vegeta II's throat.
They squeezed.
Tighter.
Tighter.
Ever tighter.
The King struggled.
She stared blankly and furious somehow at the same time.
His eyes bugged.
His lips gasped.
He clawed at the hands, though his flesh merely phased through.
The struggling lessened.
…
…
…
*SNAP*
19 years later…
Cassava sat in the veranda of the royal bedroom. The site of what she and her erstwhile husband had done. Surprisingly enough, regicide with a side of patricide did not put any level of spark into their married life. As a matter of fact, once his father was gone, Vegeta III's ego and head had swelled ever larger with each passing day.
For a moment, he started to think that he was on handshaking terms with the real players of the universe. King Cold pitied him enough to indulge in that...but now there was a new player in town. And this new little imp did not give a single, solitary shit about humoring a lowly monkey. Cassava never bothered to learn his name...
(Frozone...?)
(Frosty...?)
(Freezy...?)
She didn't care. She didn't have it in her to care. For Cassava's worst fears had been realized since the day the arrogant, but quite small Vegeta III had taken power. She was alone.
There was no love in her life. No comradery. Just a husband who had no use for her beyond her once per month trip to have her portion of a potential child harvested and a bunch of indifferent servants. And even that first thing had stalled for the longest time.
Malignant. That's the word the doctors had used.
Cassava's DNA was malignant, infected by the same force that generated her Alpha-type powers. It attacked Vegeta III's weaker contribution and tore them to shreds before any fertilization could take place. The birthing chambers weren't pouring anything living down the drain, just sterilized goo with a vaguely violent feel emanating from it.
But, after that new fellow showed up...
(Shiver...?)
(Sleet...?)
(Frostbite...?)
... a "miracle" happened. It finally took. They adjusted some chemicals in the tank. They made it a point to let Vegeta and herself know that it would most likely suffer a slightly stunted growth, but they finally cracked the formula. Cassava was going to be a mother. And that thought filled her with dread. A child that she would have to care for. One that... would have that face.
The face of torture and torment.
The face of loveless loneliness.
The face that stole away both lives that Cassava had grown to love.
She turned in her chair, finally acknowledging the nursemaid. "What do you want?"
The nursemaid, a part-Tuffle scientist named Nion, one of her bastard in-laws though Vegeta III would never acknowledge his father's half-breed side projects, handed over the swaddled infant. She spoke coldly and with a distinctly Tuffle accent. "King Vegeta is off-world. His orders were to give you the child."
Nion left without acknowledging Cassava any further. She was a cold woman, but at least she didn't linger. Cassava glared down at the swaddled infant and scowled. "Yeah, I bet. Now I have to raise this thing. Care for it. Teach it to use powers I know it doesn't have. I bet he said to give this ugly, hateful thing to me! I-"
A small hand emerged from the swaddled cloth and tightly gripped Cassava's index finger. The cloth gave way to reveal a baby that was, indeed, nearly identical to Vegeta III. This baby stared up at Cassava for a moment and then, bright as a ray of sunshine, it smiled and giggled at her.
And he continued to do that in spite of the silence from his mother. He smiled and giggled and held onto her tight, only stopping when a droplet rained down and landed on his cheek. Cassava looked at the name embroidered onto the cloth: Vegeta IV.
And she cried, long and hard. She pressed the baby to her chest, squeezing him tight as a feeling of love blossomed into her heart, despite her best efforts to suppress it away.
And she cried with tears of love and joy as he embraced her back.