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Hope Leaves	By : pegarsus9 Category: Dragon Ball Z > General Views: 2544 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: Disclaimer: I don't own DBZ or its characters and make no money from this story. Blah.

Chapter List
- 17
- 18
- 19
I think I may have broken a record for how long I took to get this out :( Just one chapter and an epilogue to go after this though. I may be slow, but I'm determined, I always finish what I start. Hope you enjoy the last few chapters, and let me know what you think :)

THIS CHAPTER: Who will survive the explosion, Vegeta or his double? Will either one escape? Bulma, Trunks and Goten are presented with the difficult task of making sure none of the intruders manage to escape earth, that is, if they can find them alive.

"Forty Six and Two"

...Up, down, digging through, my old muscles, looking for a clue.

I've been crawling on my belly, clearing out what could've been

I've been wallowing in my own confused and insecure delusions

For a piece to cross me over, or a word to guide me in

I wanna feel the changes coming down, I wanna know what I've been hiding in,

My shadow, change is coming through my shadow

My shadow's shedding skin, I've been picking my scabs again...

-Tool

What he saw was himself, his own body lying on the ground, badly burnt and possibly a corpse. 'Have I left my body again? Have I died?' Vegeta wondered out loud. What had been going on before he'd awoken here? There was an explosion which had busted his eardrums, making it difficult to hear anything. But before that, what happened before that? There was a battle, and then he'd had a discussion... with the other version of himself. Whom was now lying on the ground showing no signs of consciousness. So that's who this was. With a great deal of effort, Vegeta fought back the dizziness and sat up, intending to investigate whether the double was actually dead. A pulse was the first thing to check for, and though there was one, it was very faint. 'Hey... you,' he stammered, barely able to hear his own voice. 'Are you awake? Can you hear me?'

A few minutes passed by before the prince began to stir weakly, eyes cracking open ever so slightly to focus on his other half, staring down from up above. Then his lips began to move. Although it was impossible to hear the whisper with his ears, Vegeta could hear the prince's voice in his head. 'The only reason I existed... was to protect you. It was you who created me for that exact purpose, although you weren't aware that you'd done it. While I've sorely wanted to see you perish from the moment I was blessed with this this physical body, it seems that when the time finally came, I couldn't carry out my desire to kill you. Perhaps this is the nature of what you created- I was never meant to exist of my own accord,' the prince concluded bitterly.

'It doesn't make sense,' was the only reply Vegeta could come up with. It felt rather pathetic. All of this, everything hat had come to pass, was culminating in this single pathetic moment. As the last light was going out of his eyes, the prince made a final statement, perhaps more confusing than anything else he'd said or done. 'Soon I'll be gone... and you'll be someone else. A few seconds later, there was only silence and ashes. Lifeless eyes stared up at him from the double's corpse, and something twisted in his chest. Despite the horrific things he'd done, the fact remained that this monster lying dead on the ground was really himself. This was the face from within, whose purpose it was to see the outside world all those times when the eyes he'd been born with had failed. And now it looked like the imposter had tried to kill him by setting off that explosion, but then failed in his resolve and shielded him from the blast instead, giving up his own life. There wasn't really any other explanation, was there?

'He sacrificed himself for me,' the confused saiyan wondered aloud in shock, an eerie memory of the prince's disturbing confession overpowering him suddenly.

'Perhaps this is the nature of what you created...'

Although he had the pressing feeling that there were far more important matters at hand right now, Vegeta couldn't help but allow his mind to start racing wildly, to search desperately for some logical meaning in all this madness. Thoughts galloped through his mind like stallions, charging towards the finishing line, behind which lay the answer to the burning question; what was truth of the self?

Is that how it really was? Asked the small voice in his head. How many days, weeks, months did I spend closing my eyes, shunning the world to sleep inside a prison that existed in my head? How much of my past did he have to live out in my place? I created this thing that couldn't exist apart from me, and yet from the minute it had it's own separate form it wanted to destroy me. No, more than that. It wanted to destroy everything and everyone that was part of my life. But if he is really just me seen in another light, and I am he, then all those things he sought to destroy- this world, my family- they're a part of him too. So in truth, one side of me wants to live this life, this normal, sane, human life here on earth, but the other side wants the destruction of myself and everything I've ever valued. Is that something to laugh at or to cry about? How much hatred and self loathing do you have to harbour until it gets to the point where you have to disguise, it not only from those who know you, but from yourself? Until all that hate takes on a life of it's own and tries to end you because you can't finish the job yourself?

Bulma, Trunks, Bra, Goten, and whoever else... do I really wish their deaths, and my own? When Goten told me that everyone had been fooled easily by the double's act, I wondered if they really didn't know me at all. What a stupid thing to wonder. How could anyone know me when I don't know myself?

For a few moments, Vegeta tried to steady his breathing. This was too much to realise all at once, and there was something he was missing, something that mattered more than any of this, more than the fact that a part of himself had literally just died in this burnt out hole. Closing his eyes, he tried to see it. For a long while there was just darkness interspersed with occasional flashes of images too brief to decipher, but eventually it came to him. Either Bulma or Goten had told him that Bra was safe and was now at the lookout. That's where he had to go, he had to go to her. It was going to be an interesting venture indeed, what with his eardrums busted and the obvious consequences that would have for his sense of balance as soon as he tried to do anything. Like stand, much less fly.

'Well,' he said aloud, feeling that strange twisting in his chest again as he addressed the double's

(his)

corpse, 'the world and everything in it has clearly gone mad, so there's no point sitting here thinking about it. Best to just leave and hope I end up in the right place. It wouldn't be the first time, right?'

Of course there was no answer. Feeling like he couldn't stay in this place and look at the body for another second, Vegeta took off very quickly, soaring through the dizziness and into the crisp air with frantic determination. Even the pain spreading through his body and the trickle of blood leaking from his ears faded into the background, becoming a blur along with everything else not pertaining to his goal. There was little sense of direction, of anything other than the feeling that Bra was out there, and that it had seemed like years since he'd last sensed her presence or known for sure that she was alive. The thought crossed his mind that whoever was at the lookout would most likely doubt his identity, but it didn't matter. The details didn't matter, nothing mattered. A dense fog thickened the air for miles around the lookout, making his vision useless, but even this he barely noticed. When he landed on the stone tiles which led to her resting place, there was a vague sensation that someone was shouting at him or running towards him, even though he neither heard or saw those things. Of course other people were here, but they were like fragments of a dream, clouded and slow behind his eyes.

Slowly he was putting one foot in front of the other, feeling that he was just meters away from her life force, but also that consciousness was becoming more and more difficult to maintain as waves of dizziness returned full force. A sudden, jolting impact struck his knees; had he just fallen?

'Not important. If you can't walk you can always crawl,' something answered, as if he'd asked the question out loud. So he clambered along on his knees until he was kneeling at the door that closed off the bed chambers, remembering almost fondly the time he'd spent here with his son from the future. Successfully reaching and turning the door handle took several clumsy swipes, but eventually it swung open, revealing several beds, one of these being occupied by a small, delicate sleeping form. Now that he was finally here, something other than dizziness stopped him from going forward. Had he really meant to come here? Wasn't that just something he'd wanted to do, but decided against because she might not even know who he was? It would frighten her, because she'd think he was the look-alike

(himself, we're the same).

Had he even considered this before? Reaching up to touch the back of his head, Vegeta wasn't surprised to feel the thick wetness there. Yes, that was definitely a head injury, so it would make sense that his thoughts wouldn't make sense... if that made sense. After pondering this for a while, he looked up to steal a glance at his daughter, to find that she'd woken up, gotten out of bed and was staring back at him in horror, frozen stiff like a rabbit in the face of a predator. The look on that face, that youthful, innocent face, brought on feelings that triggered flashes of some memory, something that he'd been remembering not so long ago when he'd been stuck in the world of the past. Sitting on the couch in front of the TV in one of the very small rec rooms just a few days after that incident with Jeice. Staring without seeing into nothingness and wanting the couch to swallow him.

'Bra...' he began, wanting to banish that look on her face as if it were a terminal illness. He'd seen so many of his past victims look like that. 'I know you're afraid, and I'll leave if you want. I thought I'd just... check that you were in bed. You know whenever you kids do anything wrong, your mother screams in my ear about it.'

What? He'd decided on saying that after all this time apart from her? It was easy to imagine Bulma's voice right now, just what she'd say had she heard. You always make stupid jokes at the most inappropriate times, you know that don't you? To which he'd probably reply, You and I differ in our opinions of what constitutes an inappropriate time. There is never an inappropriate time. The sound of Bra's choked sob jolted him from these silly thoughts and he forced himself to look at her, though seeing fear and mistrust in her eyes was a special kind of torture. The small rosebuds of her lips opened and closed repeatedly for a minute or so until she finally croaked something out. The damage to his ears meant of course that her utterance was inaudible, but it was easy to read her lips.

'...daddy,' she'd said, before launching herself out of bed and running to him, throwing her arms around his waist and burying her tear stained face in his chest, making Vegeta wonder if he was seeing things or had finally passed out. All he'd had to do was speak and she knew him, she remembered. Which meant she'd really always known him after all. Perhaps the dreaming was far behind now, and he was finally awake. This was real, without a doubt. His arms wrapped tightly around the fragile little body as delicate, shaking hands lifted up to touch his face. They felt warm and soothing against his cheeks, which were cold and wet with tears. He couldn't feel himself crying, but he must have been. Then again he couldn't feel much of anything apart from her warmth and his happiness- yes it was happiness, that she knew who he was. Wide, wavering opals stared up at him, overflowing with emotion. That was something that had always fascinated him about his daughter, the fact that one could see into her so easily just by looking into her eyes. The opening and closing of her mouth and the shaking of her body continued as she tried to form jumbled words and sentences through her tears, but he couldn't find his voice to tell her that it was alright now, that she didn't have to say anything. Instead he moved a hand in slow circles over her back in hopes that it would sooth the girl, and very slowly it did. As the shuddering of her shoulders ceased and her eyes finally dried up, Bra relaxed into his chest happily, eventually falling asleep.

They stayed like that for a long while, and though Vegeta would have been content to stay that way forever, it was about time to go make sure that Goten and the rest of his family were alright. There was still one more loose end in need of tying up, and it went by the name of Lennon. Somehow he managed to tuck the sleeping child back into bed without waking her (no easy task in his current state) and stumble back outside into the foggy haze choking the air around the lookout. It was then that he realise who it was that had been trying to get his attention or something like that earlier. Dende was sitting perched at the edge of the lookout, staring down at the earth far below them. Seemingly knowing Vegeta was there without even turning his head, the young Namek stood up slowly and turned to approach him. Not sensing any mistrust or threat, he walked slowly towards the boy to meet him halfway, hoping to be offered the benefits of his healing abilities. It would certainly speed up the entire process.

'Trunks wait!' Bulma cried after him, staring over at Goten in desperation as she began to massage her temples in an outward gesture of the helplessness she currently felt.

'This is messed up,' Goten said sadly, worry plastered all over his face as he looked down at Brie's corpse. 'We don't even know where to look. Or where we are...'

'I know Goten. I know.'

As Bulma stumbled after her son and Goten stumbled along after her, none of the group had even the slightest inkling that they were being watched from not so very far away. Lennon was wedged in between some bushes and Myrrh pressed up against his back awkwardly. Despite the uncomfortable position, the older man was sniggering in an incredibly self satisfied manner.

'It's just as well my friend, that saiyans are fucking idiots! Humans too, so it would seem.' Lennon hissed quietly. 'We've got a free ticket out of here! Come on, they're out of sight, lets get to the other ship,' he urged, but it did little to hurry Myrrh along. The rotund man just stood there with his head hung low, staring at the ground stupidly. 'Uhhh... remind me where we left it again boss?' he mumbled sheepishly. Lennon sighed and slapped a hand to his forehead. 'Fool. Just follow me already, if you can manage that.'

The pair plodded off in silence in the exact opposite direction their pursuers had taken. Some time later, when they were only a few minutes away from reaching their destination, Lennon decided to break the silence as his associate was being uncharacteristically silent. Which was a nice change that he ought to have been grateful for, truth be told.

'We really have had quite good fortune, considering all the interference in the last few hours. First those meddling kids, and then Asael showed up. Even after doing away with him, that maniac returns back from beyond the grave just to follow me around. It's a miracle we're not dead and that Vegeta had that wonderfully stupid idea to drag us into the rift- Good, this seems to be the right spot here. Even the marker is still where I left it. Convenient. Now stand aside,' he commanded, finally finishing his spiel. Normally the scientist wasn't so talkative, but his associate's unresponsiveness was unnerving his somewhat, given the rather delicate situation they were in. At any moment, one or another of the saiyans could find them.

Reaching into his coat, the old man took out the same hand held device that he'd used on the cave entrance earlier, quickly punching in a few codes. The ground began to shake and shift, and then to physically open up, but nothing tangible seemed to be emerging despite the disturbance of the soil. Myrrh peered up from under his brow in confusion, wondering what on earth he was supposed to be seeing as he watched Lennon key in more codes out of the corner of his eye. A mechanical sound began to emerge from thin air, and to his surprise a small platform extended from nothingness, revealing a limited view of the inside of a ship. Which must have meant that the exterior walls were invisible. Incredible, he thought to himself, not daring to say anything out loud as he followed his companion inside. Lennon wasted no time in initiating the ships take off, and within a few short minutes they were soaring into the air at speeds nothing short of alarming.

'We don't have time to mind the speed limits this evening. Make sure to remain in the safety restraints at all times. I can't say this is entirely safe, but the worse that could happen is we spontaneously combust, hahaha,' Lennon cackled madly, finding something terribly amusing about this dangerous situation. Probably the fact that he thought he was getting away with everything so easily.

'And that my friend, should be the least of your worries,' Myrrh said in a very low voice, or at least that's who Lennon thought he was.

'What's that? Speak up, I can't hear your mumbling over the engine.'

'Oh, never mind,' came the mysterious reply. 'Time tells when time comes.'

Upon hearing this nonsensical statement, Lennon first grew very still, then turned to stare at his associate in suspicion. Philosophical statements were hardly the oaf's style. On closer inspection, he noticed a crucial detail about Myrrh's appearance that he'd missed earlier. No, not missed, because Myrrh had never actually raised his head to make eye contact, nor had he raised his voice, carefully disguising the change that could now be heard when he spoke up- Asael was stubborn but he wasn't stupid. He hadn't even revealed his name to the humans, judging by how they'd referred to him as 'the doctor' or something odd like that. Lennon had learnt to always be vigilant when the troublesome being had been alive in the distant past. The smallest mistake or oversight could prove fatal... and well it may. There were some things even death couldn't change. Glittering green eyes peered up at him from the face of the possessed body with an expression which could only be described as malicious joy, and Asael's unnerving laughter slowly began to fill the ship, growing louder and louder. It was the sound of reality dissolving, of the end fast approaching.

Doom had followed Lennon straight through the front door, but it would not depart that way.

Thick fog swirled over the ground below, suffocating everything in its path from the tallest tree to the smallest blade of frozen over grass. All was at the mercy of its pale, obscuring embrace. Fortunately Vegeta didn't need to see clearly to find who he was searching for as he had only to track Goten's and his son's energy signals. Now that he'd enjoyed the benefit of the young namek's healing abilities at the lookout, this was an easy task. Once he'd located them he made a swift descent, surprising all of them by appearing so suddenly. After the shock had ebbed away, he was met with three sets of wary gazes.

'Don't worry, it's only me,' he huffed, though he couldn't blame them for being suspicious.

'But what about-' Trunks stammered before he was cut off.

'Dead. The imposter is dead,' Vegeta confirmed. Not that imposter was really the right word, but what else was he supposed to say? Before anyone else could even begin to question him, the air around them filled with the sound of a distant but still very loud explosion, and their heads all snapped sideways in the direction of the sudden noise.

'Bulma, stay here with Goten. Trunks, you follow me,' he ordered, not missing a beat as he took off towards the explosion. Fire could be seen rising from the ground and tainting the mist with a reddish glow once he'd reached the spot where the bang must have come from, and he descended cautiously, holding his palm out behind him to signal Trunks to be careful as well. As he edged closer, hanging tentatively in the air to avoid the searing heat of the fire, two blackened bodies also became visible in the flames, one rather large and one smaller. Even though no defining features could be made out from this distance and through the flames, it was quite obvious that the burnt corpses belonged to Lennon and Myrrh.

Coughing from the smoke, Trunks tried to speak. 'How- how did we not see their ship. There's no way we wouldn't have...'

'It doesn't matter now son. They're both dead. It's over.'

'What do you mean it's over? What about that other guy? He fucking dangerous dad, he possessed Brie's body and now she's dead, we saw her corpse! Sure, he could have died when she did, but it's more likely that he just slipped back out of her body right before she kicked the bucket. Maybe he even killed her himself. And since her body was nowhere near this ship, it means he's probably out there somewhere, alive, or- or whatever the hell he is.'

'Listen Trunks. There's nothing we can do about the other doctor. He's not exactly a living being. We can't seek him out, he has to come to us. All we can do is be on our guard,' came the very unsure sounding reply. Obviously Trunks was right, and Vegeta sincerely hoped the doctor would come to speak with him again soon, peacefully or not. There were many vital questions to ask, but in particular, he needed to know why his other self had said that the reason Lennon came to earth in the first place was to obtain information from Vegeta... information about the doctor. However, right now the doctor wasn't his main priority, hence why he was trying to get Trunks to drop the issue. First and foremost in his mind was Bulma. As soon as he'd seen her face again after departing from the lookout, horrible images of what his other self had done to her filled his head. The whole incident with Goten was threatening to creep into his brain as well. How was he supposed to just go home to her now, after all of that? Even if he could live with the knowledge that he'd essentially caused the terrible assault that she'd suffered, could she live with him? A discussion with her about the matter was inevitable, but it was going to be extremely difficult. Just the thought of the most likely outcome of their fateful discussion made his heart sag with defeat.

...I wanna feel the change consume me, feel the outside turning in

Change is coming, now is my time

Listen to my muscle memory, contemplate what I've been clinging to

See my shadow changing, stretching up and over me

Soften this old armour, hoping I can clear the way

By stepping through my shadow, coming out the other side

Step into the shadow, do what it takes to move through...

NEXT CHAPTER: While Lennon, Myrrh and the prince have all met their deserved fates, whatever became of the doctor? Now Vegeta realises he may have been the cause of all the disaster, will he choose to stay with Bulma and his family, or leave to stop more harm from coming to them?
- 17
- 18
- 19
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Hope Leaves