The End Has Come! A King's Sacrifice!
Babidi couldn't believe this had happened to him. Centuries upon centuries searching, planning, regrowing his power and gathering his minions. Had it really come to this? Dying on some backwater planet, his triumph just beyond his fingertips while the damnable Kaioushin and her champion stood over him, laughing? His vision began to blur as his breaths came shorter and shorter. This was it; this was the end. Yet somehow, just barely, his glassy bug eyes caught a flicker of… pink. His eyes locked onto that color and his vision began to clear. He focused on it with all of his strength, calling on his magic to keep himself alive, even if he lacked the strength to heal himself. Then, he began to laugh. A high, wicked, awful sound that brought an end to Gohan and Xī's joy and made them look up as pink smoke began to coalesce into a humanoid form.
"No," Xī whispered as her eyes went wide with fright. "No, no, no!" She threw her hands forward and fired blast after blast of Qi into the smoke, blowing holes into it that were quickly sealed as the smoke continued to form, taking on a solid shape. Gohan, still recovering from firing the Ryuuhameha, could only watch. His first thought wasn't of his failure, or of the battle he knew was to come, or of the fate of his planet and the universe itself. All he could focus on was the shape the smoke was taking. He hadn't expected the destroyer of worlds to be so… round?
OoOoOoO
Goku cried out in frustration as she threw a kick to the side of Vegeta's head, making him stagger away. They had both foregone any attempts at blocking or technique and were both just slugging each other as hard as they possibly could.
"Ohhh, great," she muttered when she noticed the shockingly powerful and incredibly evil ki that had suddenly appeared from nowhere. It could only be Majin Boo. Even Freeza's ki hadn't been anywhere close to this level of pure evil. "You sensed that, too, right?" she asked Vegeta as he snorted out blood onto the rocky ground. "We've got to stop, Vegeta! I was stupid to let this go on this long!"
"Oh, no you don't!" Vegeta snarled as he shot his hands forward, grabbing Goku by the halo and yanking her face down into an upraised knee. "Nothing will distract me from this battle!" He roared as he drove a fist into Goku's stomach. "I will have my victory!" He went for another gut punch and Goku countered with a left hook that made him spin around.
"Enough already!" she snapped at him as she drove an elbow into his kidney. "Majin Boo is free now! Don't you get it? If we don't stop now, it's going to kill everyone on Earth, including Bulma and Trunks!"
"I don't care about them! I don't care about anything!" Vegeta insisted bitterly as he threw back a kick into Goku's chest, nearly hitting her in the throat. "This is my only shot to defeat you, Kakarot, and I won't throw it away!" He thrust his hand forward and let out a roar. "Big Bang Attack!" Goku brought her forearms to absorb the blow with a grunt, letting it drive her back.
'Damn it!' she snapped at herself as she threw out her arms, making the blast explode before answering back with a ki volley of her own. 'I have to finish this soon but I don't know if I can risk burning up that much of the time I have left on Earth!' On the other hand, if Majin Boo couldn't be stopped, it didn't matter how much time she had left. 'Just hold on, guys,' she thought to Gohan and Xī. 'I'll figure something out!' She couldn't stop thinking about that ki, though. She couldn't even begin to imagine the horrible monster that would produce that sort of ki. It must look like something out of a nightmare!
OoOoOoO
"Boooo-hoo-hoo-hoo-hooooo!" The rotund, caped being in baggy pants with yellow boots and matching oven mitts laughed in a high, cheerful voice. Gohan just gawked at it. What the hell was he even looking at? He would have laughed if he hadn't been able to sense his ki. His awful, monstrous, nightmarish ki. Gohan took a step back instinctively as Majin Boo continued to laugh, bouncing from one foot to the other.
Xī, meanwhile, was fighting every inclination to collapse to her knees in despair. How had she allowed this to happen? Why was this happening to her? Was there… nothing she could do to stop it? Was it just fate for Majin Boo to destroy everything? No. No, it couldn't be. She wouldn't let it. Not as long as she was still breathing. This wasn't over yet.
Speaking of breathing, Babidi was doing less and less of that, having expended precious air on his undeniably well-earned maniacal laugh. "U-uh, Majin Boo," he wheezed, snapping his fingers to get his creature's attention. "N-not that I'm not happy that you're back and all, b-but could you heal me? I'm sort of… dying."
Majin Boo cocked his head to one side curiously, studying Babidi. Why did he look so familiar to Boo? And where, Boo wondered, was the rest of him? "Who you?" Boo asked.
"Oh for…" Babidi groaned before he felt one of his hearts stop and forced himself to smile. "I-I am Babidi," he explained. "I-I am your master! Y-you remember Bibidi, don't you? I'm his… s-son, yes! So you have to do what I say?"
Majin Boo's mouth puckered up in thought and he let out a contemplative "Hmmmm…" Then, after a few moments' contemplation, he came to his decision. "Boo want cake!"
"Y-yes, yes!" Babidi promised profusely. "Once you've healed me, I promise there will be cake!" Boo grinned from cylindrical ear to cylindrical ear.
"Okay!" Boo agreed cheerfully, holding a hand out toward Babidi. His hand sparkled like it was covered in pink glitter, which he rained down on Babidi by shaking his hand. It was… unpleasant, watching Majin Boo's healing magic, and it seemed to be just as unpleasant to experience it. Babidi cried out in pain as new bones, organs, sinew, skin, and blood burst out of the burned lower half of his body, contorting and twisting before assuming their natural shape. It was clear that a creature who existed for the sole purpose of destruction was not the most capable or gentle of healers. Babidi struggled weakly onto his legs before realizing that his knees were the wrong way around. He gave an exasperated sigh before he shrugged as he regenerated his clothes with a quick magic spell, figuring that it didn't matter much since he floated most of the time, anyway. Backward knees were a small price to pay to have the most powerful engine of destruction that the universe had ever known at his beck and call at last.
"Thank you, Majin Boo," he sighed with relief as he dusted himself off before pointing at the Kaioushin and Gohan. "Now then, I command you to ki–"
"No!" Majin Boo declared emphatically, crossing his arms over his little vest and pouting.
"Excuse me?" Babidi asked, wondering just what the hell Majin Boo meant by "no." He was the master! Boo didn't get to say no! How many of his minions could possibly defy him in one day?
"You said Boo get cake if he fixed you!" Boo reminded Babidi as he shook a mitt in his face. If Boo had individual fingers he would probably be jabbing one of them in Babidi's face. "Boo wants cake!"
"W-well I don't have it on me!" Babidi sputtered out in exasperation. Was this actually happening to him?! Gohan and Xī, for their parts, were mostly just… stunned by what was happening. They were also trying to figure out something resembling a plan but, mostly, they were stunned. "Just wait a little while and–"
"No!" Majin Boo whined, stomping his foot like a petulant child. "You said you give Boo cake! Boo want cake now!" That was when Dabura arrived, shaking some frost off of his shoulders.
"Ah, Master," Dabura sighed, trying to make himself look a tad bit more presentable despite his torn clothes. He stopped for a moment to look at Majin Boo, his mouth slightly agape. The creature who had laid waste to the Kaioushins… not what he was expecting. "Congratulations for resurrecting Majin Boo. I apologize for my tardiness. Did you know that this planet's moon has a woman's face on–"
"Oh, Dabura," Babidi greeted with another sigh of relief. "Just in the nick of time, as always." Then he turned to Boo and pointed at Dabura. "Make cake out of him, if you like." Boo looked at Dabura, who flinched under his gaze instinctually before looking at Babidi.
"Y-you can't be serious!" he stammered out in disbelief. Make cake out of him? What did that even mean?! "Master Babidi, I have served you faithfully and unquestioningly!"
"And I appreciate that, I truly do," Babidi assured him. "But now that I have Boo, you're… what's the word?" he tapped his chin thoughtfully before grinning with melodramatic remembrance. "Ah, yes! Expendable."
"Expendable?!" Dabura echoed in a fury before he turned his attention to Majin Boo. "I'll show you expendable!"
"Boo make you cake now!" Majin Boo declared cheerfully, clapping his hands eagerly. Dabura snarled as he flew up into the air, raising his hands high overhead.
"So you're hungry, fat boy?!" he bellowed in an offended fury. "Well then, let's see you eat this!" He flung his hands down and the air was filled with a thousand, ten thousand, a hundred thousand razor-sharp blades. Swords, spears, axes, knives, all of them flying straight down at Majin Boo. Boo only let out an excited little coo before he opened his mouth impossibly wide and… ate the blades, just as Dabura had taunted him to do. His stomach was filled with jagged little metal pokes stretching out his stomach and making him look not unlike a pufferfish before they were instantly gone and Boo returned to his normal shape. "Wh-what?" Dabura asked in confusion.
"Boo's turn!" Majin Boo cheered as his antenna suddenly flipped forward, pointing at Dabura. A bolt of pink lighting shot from the antenna and struck Dabura, who cried out in agony before he was… turned into a Dabura-shaped stack of cupcakes, all of which fell into Boo's absurdly open mouth. Majin Boo gave a satisfied burp and patted his large stomach once they were all gone, grinning proudly to himself.
"That does it," Gohan muttered in disbelief. "This is officially the weirdest fight that I have ever been in."
"Very good, Majin Boo, very good," Babidi told his monster encouragingly, like a parent with a child who was learning to read. "Now then," he turned his eyes to Gohan and Xī and pointed at them while smiling a smile most unpleasant, "Kill them." Boo turned to look at the pair… and grinned.
OoOoOoO
Krillin let out an alarmed cry as he and Piccolo were suddenly no longer stone, taking in a few deep gulps of air now that he could breathe again.
"Oh man," Krillin panted as he doubled over, holding onto his knees. "That was… the worst. I'm saying that as a man who got blown up."
"Yeah," Piccolo agreed as he rolled his neck and gave it its obligatory crack. "That could have gone better." They felt the Earth tremble under their feet and the pair turned toward what could only be the kis of Goku and Vegeta beating the shit out of each other.
"Nope," Krillin muttered with a shake of his head, "We are nooot fucking with that."
"Nope," Piccolo agreed. They turned to the other direction and sensed what they could only describe as… something much, much worse. Could that be Majin Boo?
"On second thought," Krillin admitted as he gestured back toward the direction of Goku and Vegeta's ki, "Let's go fuck with that. That seems much more manageable."
"Yep," Piccolo concurred as they flew off toward the fight. The Namekian was curious, though. Why had Goku and Vegeta even started fighting? Why weren't they with Gohan, facing… whatever the hell that was?
OoOoOoO
"Okay," Launch muttered warily as the group stood huddled outside the Budoukai arena. "Everyone sensed that, right?" The group nodded, exchanging nervous glances. Whatever that new power was, it was like nothing that they'd ever experienced before. Even Perfect Cell was dwarfed by whatever they were sensing, both in its power and its raw, unbridled evil.
"It feels like it's evil incarnate," Tenshinhan observed, a cold shudder passing through him at the prospect. Was this what Suno had said Goku and the others had gone to deal with? Some monster that was going to destroy the universe?
"Well, I'm not waiting around to find out," Lazuli decided. "I say we all head up to the Lookout for the time being. We're pretty much the only people on Earth who know it exists and it's isolated enough from everyone else that we'll be safe." The others muttered their agreements and started to take off before Lazuli noticed that Lapis and his family weren't following. "Hey, bro," Lazuli said with Marron bundled in her arms. "Are you coming or what?"
Lapis shook his head. "Sorry, sis, but… that's a terrible plan. Whatever this thing is, the last thing we need to do is to have all of the highest powers on this planet collected in one place like a big target. The safest thing for us to do is to spread out." Lazuli gave her brother a suspicious look and he sighed, stuffing his hands into the pockets of his duster jacket. "I've already talked it over with Amy," he explained. "We're taking the kids back to the house. We're out of the way and we'll be able to ride this thing out."
"What," Lazuli scoffed, "You're just gonna run away?"
"Yes," Lapis replied bluntly. "Yes, I am going to run away! Because it's the smart thing to do, sis. We are not the heroes here. We were probably never gonna be. I can't save the world, but I can save my family." Behind him, Amy popped the capsule for the family minivan and everyone piled into it before Lapis hoisted it up onto his shoulders. "See you on the other side, sis," he muttered before flying off. Lazuli watched her brother fly off before taking off to follow the others. Even though she didn't agree with him, at all, she couldn't help but wonder. What could she and the others do… against something like that?
OoOoOoO
Gohan let out a cry of power as he charged up to Super Saiyan 2 again and flew at Majin Boo, throwing out a ki-charged kick that crashed into the side of his head. Unsettlingly, the creature's head had conformed around Gohan's shin before he hopped away. He unleashed a barrage of blows against its bulbous belly, making the monster jiggle and giggle, denting its pink hide. He brought his hands up to its belly, charging his ki into them.
"Masenko!" he cried, blasting a hole through Boo's stomach and sending him staggering back. He recovered his footing and, almost instantly, Boo's skin popped back into place from where Gohan had hit him and the hole in his stomach was instantly repaired. "Crap," Gohan grumbled, "Why do I always have to fight the regenerators?" He barely had a chance to plan how he might be able to overcome Majin Boo's regenerative properties when he was suddenly right on top of him, smiling down at Gohan with that nightmarishly childish face.
"Boo's turn now!" Boo declared merrily before punching Gohan once in the chest. That singular blow sent Gohan flying back and crashing through a mountain, burying him in the rubble. Gohan groaned under the rocks, his hair momentarily flickering red. Gohan normally wasn't one to swear, but…
"Fuck," he groaned out, collecting himself before he started shoving rocks out of his way. "Fuck, fuck, holy fuck." That singular strike had hurt more than probably anything Super Perfect Cell had done to him. Did he have any chance? Maybe not, he admitted to himself, but he had to keep fighting. His mom never gave up when it seemed impossible. He sure hoped she'd finish up with Vegeta soon, though. He shook his head to try and clear the more-than-mild concussion he was no doubt suffering and tried to lock onto Majin Boo's ki. Thankfully, since it was so frighteningly enormous, it didn't take long. He took a steeling breath and put his fingertips to his forehead, preparing to throw himself back into the fray.
OoOoOoO
Xī found herself alone for the moment, face to face with the monster who had taken everything from her. That awful laughing, smiling face that had continued to haunt her in her sleep for five million years. Yet he was here, now, free and alive in front of her. There was only one thing to do. She was the last of the Kaioushin. She had to fight. She held her shuang go aloft and let out a battle cry as she swung it, attempting to fire a kiai from her eyes to distract Boo, trying to knock him off-balance so he'd be open for her strike. The kiai caught Majin Boo directly in the face, causing it to warp and distort grotesquely as the blade sunk into his gelatinous figure. To her horror, though, the sword was ripped right out of her hand and absorbed into Boo's being, taking the last remaining connection she had to her long-dead friends. Boo's head reformed and he grinned maliciously at her, his eyes flashing pink before he fired his own kiai, sending her flying away to crash, bounce, and tumble painfully across the ground. He hadn't even touched her and she was already covered in scratches and bruises, pearlescent blood already beginning to seep into her godly garments. Xī struggled to her feet and tried to summon up her Qi, but Boo was already there. He drove a fist up into her gut, making Xī give a choked gasp of pain as she was lifted off the ground, high enough for Majin Boo to deliver a devastating headbutt, rendering her unconscious as it sent her flying off again. She hit the ground lifelessly like a rag doll, splayed out and defenseless.
"Awww," Boo whined petulantly, "Broken already?" Then Gohan was in front of him again, kicking Boo as hard as he could in the face again.
"You'd better hope not," he snarled as he pulled his leg back for another kick. "Because the only thing that's gonna break here is gonna be–" Boo caught his leg effortlessly and never stopped smiling. "...You?" Gohan finished weakly before Boo swung down, smashing him hard into the ground. He lifted Gohan up and smashed him down again, and a third time, and a fourth, before spinning him around overhead and tossing him away again. Gohan bounced painfully a few times before managing to right himself and land on his feet, grimacing as he put weight on his left leg, the one Boo had grabbed. That was definitely less a limb and more just a series of hairline fractures and muscle tears by now. He couldn't let it get to him, though. He had to just grit his teeth and keep on moving. He pulled his hands down to his side and gathered up all the energy he could muster before thrusting them forward. "Kamehameha!" he roared out, blasting Majin Boo's head clean off. Gohan was allowed maybe a second of satisfaction before Boo's head popped right back onto his shoulders again, though it grew back the wrong way around so that it was looking at Gohan. And just to make things even more horrifying, Boo was smiling at him.
Xī let out a weak groan as she watched Majin Boo's torso turn around away from her, facing the same direction as his head as he started skipping merrily toward Gohan again. She forced herself back onto her feet, staggering as she tried to charge at Boo from behind. She fired a Qi ball from her hands at Boo but he swatted it away with his antenna, not even looking at her before that same antenna snaked backward to wrap around her throat and fling her forward, sending her crashing into Gohan and knocking them both to the ground in a tangle of limbs. Gohan, the sturdier of the two, got to his feet first, trying to shield Xī from their enemy. He tried to power up as much as he could and charged at Majin Boo valiantly, drawing all his power back into his fist. If only he were strong enough to use the Ryuuhameha…
Buu pulled his own hand back, charging an enormous ki blast in his hand. He swung forward just as Gohan reached him with his fist, the blast millimeters from his face. Gohan's reaction time was just fast enough… to realize he was about to die.
OoOoOoO
The gang was gathered safely on the Lookout, everyone exchanging wary glances as they wondered just how "safe" they could actually be. When Suno realized that she couldn't sense Gohan's ki anymore… she fainted dead away, collapsing to the white tile floor in an unconscious heap.
OoOoOoO
Goku let out a snarl as she kicked Vegeta hard in the face, knocking him away again. They had both torn their gis ragged, shirtless, shoeless, and furious as blood trickled down from cuts and darkening bruises covered their bodies.
"Okay," she growled, "That's it." She spat out a mouthful of blood spitefully onto the desert floor as she balled her fists. "You want me to go all out? Give it everything that I've got? Is that what you want?!" Vegeta's eyes, which had been wide with fury, now narrowed in contempt.
"You dare?!" he spat venomously, every vein and muscle standing out as his face nearly purpled in rage. "You dare hold back on me?! Yes, Kakarot," he insisted, "I want everything you've got!"
"Okay!" Goku snapped at him. "You got it!" She brought her fists down to her sides and tilted her head back. A scream of power suddenly burst out of her and her aura began to grow, raising around her like a raging inferno as bolts of lightning shot out from her body and arced violently across the sky. At first, Vegeta thought that Goku was just bluffing. She had to be. How could she still be stronger than him?! Then the ground began to shake under his feet as she continued to scream and her ki rose, higher and higher.
"Oh…" he barely managed to whisper. He'd made a mistake. He was completely frozen in place as he watched Goku's hair slowly begin to grow longer.
"Galick Gun!"
"Kamehameha!" The purple and blue beams, striking Vegeta and Goku respectively, didn't cause any actual damage to either fighter, but they did make them flinch and get their attention.
"Goten?!" Goku asked in horror as her Super Saiyan daughter came flying toward her. What was she doing here?!
"Trunks?" Vegeta muttered in vague confusion, wondering why his son had dared to show his face. The children hit their respective parents like miniature missiles, tackling them as hard as they could and shoving them away from one another.
"Goten," Goku warned, "You have to get out of here! Go back to your mother, this isn't safe!" Goten shook her head stubbornly, shoving up against Goku's abs with all her might.
"No!" she insisted. "You and Trunks' dad gotta stop fighting! Mama says fighting doesn't fix things! Please, just stop!"
"Out of my way, boy!" Vegeta snarled as he shoved Trunks off of him. Trunk stood his ground and came right back at Vegeta, wrapping his arms around his father's waist and flying as hard as he could. "This is my fight!"
"No," Trunks protested. "I'm not going anywhere! Dad, you've gotta stop! This isn't you! Just tell me what's wrong!" Vegeta ripped Trunks away from him and threw him away again.
"This is me, boy!" Vegeta snarled in contempt. "This is who I really am! Who I was always meant to be! The only thing that's 'wrong' is that you're standing in my way!" Trunks got to his feet and splayed his arms out wide, putting himself between his father and Goku.
"I don't believe that!" Trunks told Vegeta, his voice thick with heartache and worry. "You're my dad! You're not a murderer!" That made Vegeta chuckle bitterly and he sneered at Trunks, advancing on him. "Something's wrong with you! Let me help you, please!"
"Goten, get out of my way, now!" Goku ordered her daughter. She shoved Goten out of the way but was stopped as Goten's tail wrapped around her ankles and her daughter yanked back as hard as she could, tripping Goku and making her fall hard to the ground.
"I'm not going to tell you again, brat," Vegeta growled as he loomed over Trunks, "Get out of my way!" Trunks shook his head furiously as tears ran down his cheeks.
"Dad, please!" he begged desperately. "Tell me what's going on! Why are you like this? Is it something mom did? Is it something I did?" He chewed his lip, trying to bite back the tears even as they continued to flow. "I-I'll train harder, I promise! I won't ask for anything, ever again! Just come home, please!" Vegeta didn't respond. "D-dad?" Trunks asked, his tone pitifully hopeful. Then Vegeta's face twisted up in rage and he pulled back a fist to strike his son.
"Vegeta, no!" Goku screamed as she ripped away from Goten's grip, rocketing toward them. But something made Vegeta stop before he could have dealt what would have surely been a killing blow. Something Trunks did. His son didn't flinch and he didn't run away. It was the way his son looked at him. He didn't look scared in the way he had when Vegeta had struck him without warning during training. He didn't even look at Vegeta the way Vegeta had looked at his own father when his father had hit him as a child.
Trunks was looking at him… the way he had looked at Freeza when he was small. That look of sheer, unbridled, hopeless, heartbroken terror.
OoOoOoO
Vegeta was fifteen years old. At fifteen, he had already slaughtered hundreds of millions of beings in the name of his Lord Freeza. He was as ruthless and merciless as he would ever be. He was standing alone in the dark in his private suite on Freeza Planet 225. He had already begun to suspect that Freeza was the true culprit behind the destruction of his homeworld and the death of his people, rather than some act of cosmic chance. Lacking any token of remembrance or family heirloom to swear by, he had bitten into his own palm and painted the Royal Saiyan crest on the wall in his blood. Then he bent down on one knee before it, pressing his bloody palm into the floor.
"Father, mother," he intoned softly as he looked up at the ceiling. "He will pay for this. For what he did to you, to our people, to our home… to me." He raised his hand up toward the crest, squeezing it into a fist as blood ran between his fingers. "By all the Gods. By this Royal blood. I swear it."
OoOoOoO
Vegeta's hand dropped slowly to his side and all the anger went out of him. "By the Gods," he whispered. "What have I become?" Had he really sacrificed everything, had he really become the very thing he had once sworn to destroy, just for the sake of power? Had he become this… creature, who would kill his own son, just for a battle?
"D-dad?" Trunks whimpered, his body still trembling with terror. Goku was in front of Vegeta then, her fists still up and ready for a fight. In the air above them, Piccolo and Krillin had finally arrived, still having no idea what the hell was going on.
"So," Goku asked testily, "Are we still fighting or what?" To Goku's surprise, Vegeta shook his head.
"You're right, Kakarot," he muttered softly. "We have to stop Majin Boo. Now." He held out a hand toward her. "Give me a senzu so I can fix this mess." Goku let out a sigh, visibly relieved as she picked a senzu out of the pouch on her hip and flicked it toward Vegeta, who caught it in his hand and popped it into his mouth. As he chewed on it, Goku turned to the two children, looking down at them admonishingly.
"Now look," she told them, "What you did was very brave and I'm proud of you for sticking by your friend, Goten. But it was also extremely dangerous! You both need to get out of here and go back h–" Goku's lecture was stopped by Vegeta punching her in the back of the head as hard as he possibly could. She collapsed forward, falling between the two children as she dropped out of Super Saiyan 2, knocked out cold.
"Damn it, Kakarot," Vegeta muttered mostly to himself as he shook the hand he'd just punched her with. "Why is your skull so hard?"
"H-hey!" Krillin exclaimed as he and Piccolo flew down toward Vegeta. "What the hell was that?! What's going on here, Vegeta?" He asked before noticing the tattoo on the other's forehead. "A-and… uh… wh-what's up with the ink?" Vegeta scoffed at him before turning his attention to Piccolo.
"Get Kakarot and the children out of here," he told the Namekian. "This is my mess and I need to fix it. I need to atone for my mistake." He turned to fly off before Trunks grabbed his pant leg.
"D-dad, wait," Trunks stammered as he looked up at his father. "After you go do… wh-whatever you're gonna do, you're gonna come home, r-right? Mom said she was gonna take us all out to dinner if you won the Budoukai, remember? I mean… I know you didn't, b-but I did!" He sniffled, wiping his nose with his forearm. "I-I bet mom would still take us if you… if you asked her really nicely." Vegeta looked down at his son and tousled his hair, giving him a warm and genuine smile. Not a smirk, not a sarcastic grin, but a smile. It looked alien on his face and it made Krillin and Piccolo uncomfortable.
"Trunks," Vegeta said softly as he moved his hand to the back of his son's head. "You're my blood. My only son. My prince. Yet I haven't held you once, since the day you were born." His smile turned into a frown and Vegeta actually looked… ashamed of himself. The expression was even more foreign than the smile had been. "I'm sorry for that. Come here, son. Let me hug you." Trunks swallowed once and nodded, blinking back tears as he let Vegeta pull him closer and put his arms around his father's legs, putting his face against Vegeta's stomach.
Goten sucked her thumb awkwardly, not quite sure what she was supposed to do here. She felt like she should still be angry with Trunks' dad for punching her mom from behind but she just… wasn't, for some reason.
Vegeta closed his eyes slowly and carded his fingers through his son's hair. How had it taken this to make him hug his own child?
"You've made me very proud today, Trunks," he said earnestly, his tone still soft as he spoke. Trunks looked up at Vegeta again, his eyes wide and his mouth hanging open slightly in shock. Vegeta smiled down at Trunks before letting out a soft, regretful sigh. "I only wish I could see the man that you'll become." Then his mouth returned to the far more natural shape of a smirk. "I only know that he'll be a better man than me."
Trunks' brow furrowed in confusion. "What do you m–?" he started to ask before Vegeta's hand came swiftly on the back of his neck, knocking him unconscious. Vegeta caught Trunks gently before he hit the ground and held him up gently. Goten gave a startled cry and started to protest when Vegeta dealt her a similar blow, catching her carefully in his other hand. He handed Trunks to Piccolo and Goten to Krillin.
"I couldn't risk them following after me," he explained. "They're too brave and foolish not to try." He turned to leave before catching himself. "Tell Bulma… I'm sorry." The pair nodded and Vegeta prepared to leave before catching himself again, smirking just a little. "And," he added, "Tell her and Suno that they have my permission to arrange for Goten and Trunks to marry." The girl had impressed him today, both with her skill in battle and her loyalty in standing by Trunks' side to stop his and Kakarot's fighting. Krillin rolled his eyes and flew off with Goten under one arm and Goku slung across his shoulders in a fireman's carry.
"You know you can't beat that monster," Piccolo observed once he and Vegeta were alone. "It's suicide." Vegeta chuckled bitterly and shrugged.
"Maybe not," he conceded. "But I'd like to take a stab at it anyway." Piccolo turned to go, carrying Trunks under his arm. Vegeta almost left before one last thing stopped him. "Piccolo," he said, giving the Namekian paused. He couldn't remember Vegeta ever having said his name before. "When I die, will I see Kakarot again?" he asked. Piccolo only shook his head.
"Go–" Piccolo paused for a moment, deciding to give Vegeta the courtesy. "Kakarot," he corrected, "Lived her life nobly, protecting others and fighting evil. Because of this, she'll get to keep her body when she returns to the Otherworld and continue to train. You–" Vegeta cut him off with another bitter chuckle.
"Not so much, hmm?" he asked. Piccolo nodded.
"You will go to Hell," he explained bluntly. "Where your soul will be purified and you will be reincarnated. The person you are now will cease to exist." Vegeta frowned a little at that.
"I always thought I'd go to Hell," he admitted, "But that sounds much less exciting than the one I was promised." Then he shrugged. "I suppose it can't be helped. A few domestic years and a noble sacrifice don't undo decades of genocide." With nothing more than that, he flew off toward the sky in a streak of golden light, toward the gathering stormclouds on the horizon.
OoOoOoO
Xī gave a groan as she pulled herself through grass, trying to figure out where in the hell she was. In the briefest instant before Boo could have blown Gohan and her to smithereens, she'd managed to grab him and move the pair of them away with her Instantaneous Movement, making Boo and Babidi think they were dead. However, she was far too battered to go to her original destination, which was the Sacred World of the Kaioushin. In fact, she was fairly certain they were still on Earth. She reached up and grabbed the low-hanging branches of a tree, wincing and hissing in pain as she pulled herself up to her feet. Where the hell was Gohan? She had been able to save him… hadn't she?
OoOoOoO
As Vegeta came upon the site of Babidi's spaceship, he glowered down at the ship and raised a hand toward it, blasting it with a beam from the tips of two fingers. The bolt of yellow ki came down from his hand like lighting, striking the ship. He kept pouring it on until he was completely certain that the ship was destroyed. One way or another, that little green bastard wasn't getting off this planet. It was only then, as he looked contemplatively down at his hand, that Vegeta realized he couldn't sense Gohan's ki.
"The boy died fighting the monster that I unleashed," he observed regretfully. He bowed his head in a moment of mourning, still looking at his hand. He had often derided Gohan for being soft and for not taking his training seriously enough but he had been a true Saiyan, in spirit if not entirely by blood. He had been a skilled and powerful warrior and he had been brave, even when he was younger than Trunks was now, to stand up to Vegeta. True, Gohan would almost certainly be resurrected with the Dragon Balls once this business was finished, but that did not make this right. It did not undo what he did. "This horror that I have wrought," Vegeta whispered as he continued to look down at his hand. "I have to make it right," he declared resolutely before flying off again. As he flew toward that unspeakably vast, unfathomably evil ki, Vegeta recalled the times when his father had spoken to him as a boy. When he had tried to teach Vegeta how to be a King and what a King must do.
Sacrifice, his father had often spoken of. More than strength, more than courage, more than wisdom, a King's strongest quality had to be his willingness to sacrifice. As a boy, Vegeta had not known what he had meant by that but he'd been too afraid to seem foolish by asking. As he grew older, Vegeta assumed that his father had meant a willingness to make sacrifices of others. That resources, lives, all things were acceptable losses in the pursuit of an ultimate goal. Glory, peace, victory. It was only now, in this moment, that Vegeta realized what his father had truly meant: the willingness to sacrifice oneself. That there was no higher calling for a King than to die in service of his subjects.
Well, Planet Vegeta was gone. The Saiyan race was all but extinguished. But, Vegeta realized, Earth had been his home for a decade now. Bulma, his wife, practically owned most of the planet. His son had been born here. This was his planet now. These were his subjects. He would defend them as a King should. Vegeta realized in that moment that he was fighting for something other than himself for the first time in his life.
It felt… pretty good.
OoOoOoO
Boo was laughing and dancing merrily as black clouds gathered overhead, hopping from foot to foot with his hands on his hips. He was very proud of himself and how easily he'd defeated his enemies. He'd been carrying on like this for several minutes now and Babidi's giddiness at the Kaioushin's death had finally worn off.
"Majin Boo," he said to the creature, trying to get his attention. "Maj–… Majin Boo!" he said again, growing more irritated as Boo continued to dance. "Boo… Boo, over here, look at me! I command you!" Boo persisted and Babidi rubbed at his temples with both hands, groaning to himself. He finally picked up a rock off the ground and was half-tempted to throw it at the big pink idiot before casting a quick spell on it that turned it into a snickerdoodle. Or, at the very least, it looked like a snickerdoodle, which would hopefully be enough to get Boo's attention. Babidi whistled and waved the cookie in the air, which finally got Boo to stop dancing, his permanently-closed eyes locking onto the cookie and his greenish-blue tongue licking his lips. "Thank you," Babidi groaned. "Now then, why don't we go out and cause some more chaos and destruction? I'm sure this planet's just full of sweets that are yours for the taking!" Before Boo could render a decision one way or the other, Vegeta's golden form pierced the darkness of the clouds and came crashing down into a standing position not ten feet away from them. Babidi was quite confused by his appearance. On the one hand, his clothes were very badly torn and what fabric remained was covered with scrapes, dirt stains, and still-damp blood. On the other hand, Vegeta himself looked perfectly fine. Really, quite strange. "Ah, Vegeta," Babidi said smugly, feeling much bolder now that he had the invincible Majin Boo at his side. "Did you finish your little game? Come back to grovel at my feet now that you realize that it was only my power that allowed you t–"
"Shut up," Vegeta said offhandedly as he blasted Babidi without even looking at him, sending the shrunken spellcaster flying off with a startled and terrified squawk. "This isn't about him," Vegeta explained, now addressing Boo as he got into a fighting stance. "This is about you." Even with all of his decades of experience fighting countless species, Majin Boo was… something different.
"Ooooh," Boo cooed excitedly as he clapped his hands. "We fight now?" he asked. Vegeta smirked. And he'd called Kakarot a clown.
"Yes," he assured the beast. "We fight now." Then his face twisted up into a snarling fury as he threw himself at Boo, throwing out a roundhouse kick to the head. Boo's head retracted into his chest and Vegeta swung his heel down in an axe kick, turning Majin Boo's torso into a U-shape. Boo's head sprang back up and he seemed disoriented for a moment. Vegeta pressed the attack with a barrage of ki blasts, blowing holes out of the abomination and sending him staggering back, his cries more startled than painful. Vegeta slammed his palms together and sneered, electricity coursing up and down his arms. "Final Flash!" He bellowed, the golden beam of light roaring forth from his hands and blasting Boo before arcing off into space. He hadn't taken the time to charge it properly, he knew, but he needed to press whatever advantage he could. On top of that, it had reduced Majin Boo to a pair of yellow boots, so maybe it had done something after all.
The very instant this thought had entered his brain, Majin Boo reformed out of those boots with a loud "Pop!" and a delighted squeal. Vegeta rolled his eyes as Boo pounded one fist into the other mitt, grinning. Of course not. It hadn't been able to kill Cell, why would it fare any better against this new, more obnoxious regenerator?
"Laser pretty!" Boo declared enthusiastically. "Boo's turn now!" He covered the distance between himself and Vegeta in an instant, swinging one of those yellow fists wildly. It was only Vegeta's far superior martial arts experience that allowed him to evade the incredibly telegraphed blow as he ducked under Majin Boo's punch, driving his fists into Boo's jiggling stomach. He swept Boo's disproportionately tiny feet out from under him and grabbed Boo by the cape, swinging him around and around before slamming him hard into the dirt. He flew overhead and rained down another barrage of ki beams. This time, though, Boo dodged them. He was getting smarter.
Boo came flying toward Vegeta with another telegraphed blow, this time a kick with an enormous windup. Vegeta barely managed to deflect the blow, catching it off his palms and flipping Boo end over the end, making him pinwheel through the air. He raised his hands overhead and locked them together, swinging with all his might and sending Majin Boo crashing into the Earth with an axehandle blow. Vegeta came flying down after him and just managed to catch the flash of something pink, bringing up his forearms to catch a ki blast. Only, he realized, it wasn't a ki blast at all. The creature's arm had stretched out impossibly wrong and his hand grabbed Vegeta by the forearm, yanking him back down to the ground and swinging him away. Vegeta flipped through the air and landed on his feet, bouncing once before skidding to a stop. He'd been extremely lucky so far, he knew. Majin Boo had yet to land an actual hit on him and Vegeta so far had the advantage in actual skill. Vegeta's greatest skill against his enemy was that his enemy was stupid. So, Vegeta decided to see if he could increase his advantage.
"Come on!" he taunted as he beckoned Boo closer, weaving between his punches as the great pink beast resumed his attack. "Is that all you've got? You big, pink punching bag!" Vegeta drove his fists into Majin Boo's gut, over and over, before jumping up and driving his knee down into Boo's head. "This is the greatest evil in the universe?" He taunted. "You're nothing but a fat, stupid, joke!" Vegeta threw a punch at Boo and his fist was instantly swallowed up by Majin Boo's yellow fist. Boo's head popped up out of his torso again and for the first time, his eyes were open wide and he was glaring. Then, to Vegeta's horror, Majin Boo's power actually began to grow. He'd been holding back before.
"Boo not fat!" Boo howled angrily as steam whistled out of the holes along his arms and the top of his head. "Boo stocky!" With that, Boo drove his fist into Vegeta's stomach, sending him hurtling up into the dark sky. Boo was there when Vegeta reached the apex of his climb, smacking him down with a foot. Vegeta hit the earth hard enough to bounce off of it before Majin Boo came crashing down onto his back, sitting on him with the force of a falling asteroid. Boo hopped off of Vegeta and kicked him away, making the Saiyan King roll across the dirt in agony. In four hits, Boo had managed to do more damage to Vegeta than Kakarot had done in their entire battle. Boo prepared to continue his attack charging over to Vegeta and leaping up to drop all of his weight onto him again.
"Taiyoken!" Vegeta cried as he threw up his hands in front of his face, blinding Boo and stopping him in midair. Vegeta rolled away and got to his feet as quickly as he could while rubbing at his eyes. There was only one thing left to do, he realized, only one possible way for him to even stand a chance of destroying this creature. He brought his hands down to his side and closed his eyes, taking a long breath as he readied himself for the moment. It was going to hurt, he knew. But it was, perhaps, no less than he deserved. He opened his eyes with a burning look of determination.
"Why you stop fighting?" Boo asked as he stared at Vegeta curiously. "You give up?" he wondered before grinning wickedly. "You make Boo hungry! Boo turn you into cookies! Or maybe fudge!" Vegeta laughed at that, grinning at Boo as his aura suddenly flared into a great, swirling inferno around him.
"Oh, I'm not done yet!" he promised. "But you're about to be! I'm going to crush you," he declared, "And scatter your ashes to the wind!" Vegeta's ki grew and grew as he gathered up all of his energy, the wind whipping around him from the power he was generating like a mighty hurricane. 'This is a good death,' Vegeta told himself. 'A King's death. Trunks, Bulma,' he thought with a smile, 'I do this for you. Kakarot,' he added, 'It seems your faith in me was not misplaced after all.' Then he threw back his head and roared as he poured out all the power inside of him. Every ounce of his strength, burning through his ki, his genki, through everything. He pushed out every last drop of energy until there was nothing left. Majin Boo screamed in shock and even just the smallest bit of terror as the raging inferno that was Vegeta bloomed out into an enormous, glowing, golden dome. All the while, Vegeta screamed, raged, and roared. It was lion's roar, it was a thunderclap. A mixture of pain, rage, and fury. He screamed until there was nothing left. Until he was nothing left. Until King Vegeta, last of his bloodline, destroyer of worlds, died to save the world he had come to love.
OoOoOoO
Piccolo and Krillin stopped and turned to stare in amazement at the enormous dome of ki that could have only come from Vegeta. The force of it blew back Piccolo's cape and Krillin's hair. It stretched on for miles in all directions, pushing back the sea and devastating the land. It was simply breathtaking.
"Vegeta…" Krillin whispered in astonished disbelief. Then, despite everything, he found himself tearing up at the other's sacrifice. "Vegetaaaaaa!" He cried out, a tone of almost heartbreak in his voice. He would never have even dreamed he could feel regret and pain for Vegeta's death before yet now…
OoOoOoO
Even from high atop the Lookout, those gathered could see the light from Vegeta's atonement down below. It was as if a second sun had sunken into the Earth. Bulma looked down from the Lookout's edge and felt a cold, undeniable ache in her chest.
"Vegeta…?" she whispered.
The King was dead.