Vegeta came out of his gravity room and went to the kitchen to grab some food. In the morning he had a fight with Bulma, about the Christmas decorations. Every year, she insisted that they decorate the tree and the living room together and every year he told her that he was not interested in this stupid Earthly custom. He hated all those damned holidays, what humans were so keen to celebrate.
Trunks stormed into the kitchen, throwing his backpack on the ground, sit on one of the high chairs at the counter and pulled one of the plates towards him. Just as he wanted to pick up a sandwich from it, Vegeta pulled the plate back saying:
“Get your own food, boy!”
Trunks looked at his father, then sighed and went to the fridge, pulling out boxes full with food. When he settled back, Bra also appeared and hopped on a chair.
“How was school?” She asked, looking at her brother.
“Terrible as usual” Trunks shrugged.
“Uncle Gohan says its fun. I cannot wait to go next year!”
While she said that, she pulled a plate in front of her and she began to eat. Vegeta throw her a somewhat angry look, but there was no other indication that he wanted her to get her own food. Trunks already accepted the fact, that his little sister had a slightly other treatment from their father as he. Though he had to smirk, thinking about the fact, that she will have it much harder than he, when she wants to start dating. Or even when she wants to wear some sexy clothes. Vegeta couldn’t care less what Trunks wore, but knowing him, he will disapprove every garment, what reveals too much skin when it was about his daughter. And as Bra was almost an exact copy of Bulma in every perspective, her choice of clothing would cause much argument.
The prince looked at his two children and for the thousandth time he asked himself how would his life turned out, if Freeza never came to planet Vegeta.
“You really want to know?” He heard a voice suddenly.
He looked around, but there was nobody else in the kitchen, apart from the 3 of them. He concentrated on the Ki, but still, apart from them, he could only sense Bulma’s familiar energy in the lab.
“Do you want to know?” He heard the voice again and before he could do anything, he felt as he was pulled into a vortex and everything became dark.
*
When he opened his eyes, he was on Planet Vegeta, there was no doubt about it. He stood in the middle of the throne room. It was a huge space, with pillars holding the ceiling and white tiling. As his eyes checked out the paintings of the royal family members on the wall, he looked at the throne and to his shock, he saw himself sitting there. Well, not exactly himself right now; he looked much younger. He was 15, which was impossible, as his planet was blown up when he was only 5.
“King Vegeta! Kakarott is back.” A saiyan appeared, who looked like Nappa.
Vegeta was sure, he WAS Nappa.
“What the hell is going on here?” He asked, but nobody looked at him.
He became angry and wanted to grab Nappa by his armour, but his hand slid through his body. It was so unexpected that he lost his balance and almost fell over.
“Who the hell is Kakarott?” He heard his younger self asking.
“He is Bardock’s son Sire, the one who was sent to Earth 10 years ago.”
“O, I remember. What the hell took so long for him to destroy a primitive planet like that?”
“I’m not sure my King. But he came back with a strangely big spaceship. Can I send him in?”
“Yes.”
Vegeta looked shocked as the 10 years old Kakarott walked to the throne room and knelt before him. Well, before the other him…
“You may rise” King Vegeta said and Kakarott slowly stood up.
“I’m terribly sorry for coming back so late. My spaceship was broken when I arrived and although I killed half of the population within a year, I had no means of transportation to come back. It took me years to find somebody who could build me a new one.”
“I see. Though according to our database that planet was inhabited with creatures, who had a low level of technology. How was one of them capable to build a spaceship?”
“Turns out humans were not so primitive after all. But none of them was much of a fighter. I took the liberty to transport some of them here, to work as slaves. If you don’t like it, you can simply dispose of them.”
Vegeta was astonished by the scene playing in front of his eyes. Kakarott had a cruel smirk on his face and there wasn’t any trace of the goof, who he met on Earth. As for himself, well… he pretty much looked similar to his real 15 year-old self, apart from the fact that he was king now and not one of Freeza’s slaves. Just as he wanted to grab Nappa again, the scene changed and he found himself on an another planet.
*
There was no doubt, that it was one of the planets, what the saiyans invaded. Bloody bodies were shattered all over the place, sometimes it wasn’t even a whole body, just pieces of it.
“Please, spare my life!” One of the survivors cried and although Vegeta couldn’t tell what race it was, the creature was a youngling.
“I said if you ask nice enough, I may let you go” he heard himself.
He realised that the guy in the armour who held the alien by its neck was himself. Though it seemed that some years passed as he looked older now, about 20.
“Let’s see how fast he can run!” Kakarott suggested.
He was also older around 15 and his eyes… they were crueler than the last time. Vegeta never thought that he could be like that, even if he would have returned to Planet Vegeta, once his mission was completed. Both saiyan had strange blue blood on their clothes and some smeared their faces as well.
“Ok” King Vegeta nodded and he let the creature go.
The youngling jumped up and began to run, but as the ground was full with bodies, he tripped almost straight away and fell to the ground. While he was trying to get up, King Vegeta stretched out his hand and burned him with an energy ball.
“Pathetic” he laughed, like he was mad.
There as Vegeta looked at Kakarott, he has seen something on his face as the younger saiyan looked at the bodies before they left the planet. It almost looked like regret, but he composed himself so quick, that it was not easy to tell. As soon as they arrived back to their home planet, King Vegeta took a bath and changed into clean garments. The planet’s inhabitants, couldn’t even put up a decent fight, so apart from some bruises, he wasn’t injured. The king went to his bedroom and as he looked at the woman who was standing at the windows, he asked:
“What the hell are you doing here Catsea?!”
As Vegeta looked at the female saiyan, he easily guessed that it was the queen. She had a fine garment on with the logo of the royal family. She was pretty with saiyan standard, with her long raven hair what reached until her hips. The shorter tufts defined gravity, like every saiyans hair and she also had onyx eyes. Her Ki was impressive, at least compared to the other saiyans living on the planet and her face revealed that she was also from a noble bloodline.
“I just wanted to know if you need me tonight” she answered, not daring to look at him.
“The only reason I keep you as my mate is to have an heir, but as you seem to be unable to do even so much, I just might dispose of you myself” the saiyan said, with an evil smirk on his face.
He stepped closer to her and she backed away, until she hit the wall. It was clear that she was afraid of him and despised him as well. It hit Vegeta, that this was pretty normal among saiyans. They only mated to make sure the race won’t die out, it wasn’t for love or any of those trivial things. While mates remained fateful to each other, it was only because according to the rules on the planet, whoever cheated, got executed straight away. That rule came for the pure need to retain order. But there were more than enough planets with concubines for saiyans, in case they got bored from their mates. Some nobles even kept their own harem on the planet, because men could have sex with another women in case she was not a saiyan. At least with those species, who were proven to be not compatible with saiyans; meaning no offspring could ever come from their intercourse.
“But… if we don’t spend the night together, how am I supposed…”
Catsea began, but couldn’t finish as King Vegeta grabbed her throat and created an energy ball in his other hand. The woman began to tremble, for which the king looked at her with disgust and throw her to the ground so that she slid a few meter on the tiling.
“Get out of my sight!”
Vegeta couldn’t believe his own actions. Ok, it was not his action, but it might have been if not for Freeza. He remembered now, that his father executed two of his previous wives according to the others. His first wife died because after a year she still couldn’t bear an heir, the second died, because although she gave birth to a baby, it was so weak that it was a shame. The boy died before they even had a chance to ship him off to a planet to destroy it.
He heard some noise from below and stepped to the windows to look out, while his younger self occupied the bed. As he looked down, he saw the internal court, what was also similar to a botanical garden. Saiyans tended to bring back plants from some invaded planets what seemed to be useful. In this garden they tested, if the plant was able to survive on their planet or not. In case yes, they planted it. Actually not the saiyans themselves; they had slaves from other races who were forced to do all kind of labours. Within a second Vegeta realised where the noise came from; Kakarott was there, playing tag with some of the slaves’ children. That, has taken him aback, due to the recent happening. Kakarott seemed like a cruel saiyan, the perfect warrior just a few hours ago and he enjoyed killing. Yet, on the other hand there he was, playing with slaves. Sure, he couldn’t really play with saiyan children as those were constantly sent out on missions, still… it was unexpected from the saiyan, what he had seen before. But not unexpected at all from the Kakarott, he originally knew. Maybe it was indeed regret what he saw in his face back at the spaceship.
*
The scene changed again, but this time Vegeta felt that only a couple of days passed. It was early in the morning, the sun wasn’t even fully up on the sky as he watched himself walking towards the laboratory. He had no idea, why he was going there, it’s not like the king mixed with the scientists, especially since those were also slaves. Saiyans were warriors, not scientists, hence they bought all the technology what they possessed and in order to maintain or build machines, they kept some members of advanced races alive. As he entered the room with himself, his eyes fell on the only person, who was working at this early hour. It was a woman, with blue hair and blue eyes. It was Bulma! Vegeta had to blink twice, to make sure he was seeing it right. Sure, this Bulma was only 19 years old, yet she looked like she already lived much longer. While she was still beautiful, her eyes were full of sorrow. It filled with hate as soon as she looked up and saw the king entering the room. And something else; it was fear. Even when Vegeta first met Bulma on Namek, she never had such an intensive fear in her eyes as now.
“Did you repair my spaceship?” his other self stepped to her.
“It will be done within an hour…” she began, but couldn’t finish as the king stepped to her, grabbing the neck of her shirt, pulling her close.
“It should have been done yesterday and yet, Radditz informed me, that it’s not done” the king said, while he grabbed her wrist with his other hand and squished it.
Bulma tried her best not to cry out in pain and she shut her mouth tight to avoid screaming out aloud.
“Please, don’t hurt my daughter!” and old men with white hair stepped forward.
The king looked at the man, then back at Bulma. An evil smirk appeared on his face, while he said:
“Maybe you seem to forget what happens with those, who are useless for me.”
“I…” Bulma began, but she couldn’t finish as King Vegeta pushed her away so that she hit the wall with her back and she ended up on the floor kneeling.
Vegeta knew what will happen even before it happened and he cried out, but nobody could hear him. The king stretched out his arm and hit the old man with an energy ball, turning him into a pile of ash. Both Vegetas looked back at Bulma, observing her reaction. She looked at the place where her father stood just a moment ago and she screamed, while tears were falling from her eyes. She trembled from the pain and rage what she felt.
“You have one hour!” the king said, then left the room.
Vegeta was too shocked to leave and he remained there, watching the still trembling Bulma to get up and go back to the engine displayed on the desk. She grabbed a wrench, but her hands were shaking too much to be able to work and as her tears were still flowing, she had trouble to see clearly as well. Yes, even before Freeza arrived, saiyans did nothing else but kill and terrorise other races. Sure, Vegeta might have killed more under his order, than he would have as a free saiyan, but that didn’t change the fact, that saiyans were monsters to begin with. And without Freeza, he might have indeed ended up to be the Vegeta, whose actions he just saw. That Vegeta never knew what compassion was and never felt any regret. His feeling were limited to hate, rage and anger, nothing else. For the first time ever, Vegeta realised how much he changed since he came to Earth. Now, that he accepted his new home and his feelings, it hit him hard to see, how he could have ended up.
*
When the scene changed again and he saw himself enter the laboratory again, he wanted to get away. Whatever his other self wanted here, he never wanted to know. Yet, he was unable to move as he watched the happenings. A year or two passed since the last time as his other self looked still quite young.
“Have you repaired the healing tank?” the king asked, stepping to Bulma.
This time Bulma looked at him with more hatred then at their previous encounter, but this time there was no fear in her eyes, as she felt so much hate, that nothing else remained apart from that one feeling.
“Not yet, but…”
The king stepped to her and looked at her, up close, asking:
“Do I need to remind you, what happens if you don’t keep the deadlines?”
Bulma bit her lower lip, but held his gaze. Suddenly the king began to laugh like he was mad and said:
“O, I have forgotten that there was nobody else to kill. You have nobody left, since I killed your pathetic father. In this case I just need to find you some other punishment.”
“No!” Vegeta called out, but once again his voice faded to nothingness.
He had a clear idea, what the king will do this time. It appeared, he knew himself more, than he was willing to admit. The king grabbed Bulma and pushed her to the desk, making her lying on it on her back.
“You are not so bad looking for a filthy low life!” the king laughed and ripped down her shirt, while pressing himself to her body.
Bulma shut her mouth tight, desperately trying not to cry out. She couldn’t prohibit her tears fully and one escaped her left eye, rolling down on her face.
“Aren’t going to beg me to stop?” the king asked.
“That would have no sense; you are a monster, you won’t stop anyhow!” she snapped, looking straight into his eyes.
None of the Vegetas had any doubt, that if she could, she would kill her oppressor with cold blood. But she was too weak, even to push the king off from herself. The king began to rip off her short, yet she remained rigid. Not begging, not even trying to defend herself; she knew it would have been in vain.
“You are no fun at all!” King Vegeta grunted, then he stepped away and left the room.
Bulma remained on the desk for a minute to making sure he already left, then she slid down and remained on the ground. Now that the king left, her tears were falling and she was shaking while she cried. Vegeta was so absorbed in the scene, that only then did he realise that a tear also escaped his eye and he was also shaking from the rage that he was unable to do anything. He couldn’t stop himself and protect Bulma, the women who he loved, the women who has seen something buried deep inside him and took the time to slowly change him. He was sure that this king, he, in this strange other dimension had nothing good inside him. He was beyond redemption. As he saw the scene changing again, he panicked. He wanted to get out of here, he wanted nothing to do with this king, with this life.
*
“Daddy! Were you listening at all?” he heard a familiar voice and as he looked up he saw Bra, looking at him curiously.
He felt like he just awoke from a dream; from the most terrible nightmare he ever had. Sure, he had nightmares all his life as those, who he killed haunted him even now, but it was the first time that he was haunted by himself. By the king, who he might have been.
“Dad?” Trunks also asked, looking a bit concerned.
“Are you two done with eating?” Bulma asked, stepping inside the kitchen.
As Vegeta looked at her, then looked at his children, relief spread inside his body, knowing that he had them, knowing that he wasn’t the man, who he just seen.
“Yes!” Bra answered and Trunks nodded.
“Good. Let me get the ornaments from the attic and then we can decorate the living room.” She smiled and left the room.
Vegeta went after her and caught up with her on at the entrance of the attic.
“Vegeta?” she asked curiously.
Without saying a word, he hugged her and kissed her lightly.
“Are you all right?” She asked, surprised by his action.
“I’m all right” he answered, then added: “I’m all right, because I have you, Trunks and Bra.”
Bulma wanted to say something, but couldn’t as Vegeta’s lips sealed hers. Vegeta knew as he felt her kissing back, that despite losing his entire race and losing his home planet, he had now everything what he ever wanted.
