Much Like Suffocating
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Much Like Suffocating
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WARNINGS AND DISCLAIMERS:
instead of just reading it? (Insert
standard disclaimer here: I don’t own
Vegeta, Goku, (any other characters mentioned herein) or the show they came
from DBZ DBGT or just plain DB.)
ALL RIGHTY. *rubs hands
together and looks up terms for the list of warnings: *
already screaming. You can read
it. I swear It’ll be chocked full of
lemony goodness. LEMONS (Not talking
about the fruit here, either. I’m
talking about the sex ones; although how did it come to be a ‘lemon’ anyway?)
Gasp): bondage, shady professions, and
graphic descriptions. (Hopefully
graphic anywho.) Also, dirty language
doubtlessly. DARK.
As always I strive to keep folk in character even when they are not
‘themselves’ in the canon-sense. If
you’re reading this and you’re like they are so not in character, give it a
chappie or two and see if you still think that.
I tried very hard not to write this.
bunny (the plot bunny) until it went away.
And you see how far that got me.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~****
This
is what Vegeta said. This is the story
that he told, as he sat there and watched Goku, watched him stand up under the
weight that was put on him. Felt like
as ans and an idiot. Felt like he
should have done something differently, should have realized back then what he
knew now, and hadn’t. Had been an
idiot, had been full of himself and the promises of his father.
there was the promise that ‘One day Goku would be a Super Saiyan, and he will
destroy Freiza.’ But that was what he
thought then. This was the truth:
Ten
years ago, Bardock came to him and told him that he had found his son in a
whorehouse. Reminded him, the arrogant
Prince of Saiyans, that there had been a vision regarding Goku’s future, that
one day he should have been a Super Saiyan.
Reminded him that it was the Prince’s duty to save his people.
so he blithely told Bardock they would save Goku.
‘Yes’
he had been told. ‘Yes’ they
would. And then he was sent out on a
transport, left to be picked up by the asshole and carted off to that same
whorehouse. Left to be tortured, left
to be ridiculed. Survived it.
asshole maggot. Met him and saw that he
was Bardock’s son. Saw that he was
powerful, naturally powerful.
And
then Kakarot left. Was taken by
Bardock.
Vegeta
had seen it then. Had realized that he
had been lied to and wondered just how Freiza must have laughed his ass off
when Bardock came to him and offered him a prince for a pauper.
day he would have his intestines strung up and watch him hang by his own
entrails. Swore to kill him, to
annihilate the bastard.
That
would come.
But
first they would play along. They would
keep this knowledge a secret. Thettlettle Prince of the midgets undoubtedly already knew what he had said, because
he was telepathic, and Goku was undoubtedly screaming out the whole story in
his mind, over and over again like a drum beating the tribal chant of war.
Freiza
did give him a choice. As much a choice
as he gave anyone. Held him down and
pressed a sword to his throat. Told him
he could live, and suffer—suffer endlessly, Freiza promised—or he could take
the cowards way out. He could take the
sword and kill himself. Either way,
Freiza told him with a grin. Either
way, it was his decision.
And
Vegeta had lived. Had not broken.
his tooth. Realized only after they had
him strapped down that his suffering was not the sort that he had thought it
would be. But he was young, incredibly
young, and foolish. Had forgotten the
hell from which ‘Kakarot’ had been taken.
Forgot that Freiza’s greatest joy was degrading and depraving the
innocent. And he still had not
screamed.
Choked
on his own blood, he had closed his eyes, had sworn on his very soul, that one
day Bardock would die for his betrayal.
This
is what he told Goku. The Truth.
kicked off by the ‘rescue’ of the Saiyan Prince that Bardock had so kindly
sacrificed. Vegeta expected a
fight. Expected he would be told to go screw
himself, that he was lying, that he was wrong, that all of it was a lie and he
was still drugged out of his mind.
Expected that Goku would fight him and hate him and side with his
father.
Expected
Goku to point out that Bardock had sent him to save the Prince, had trained him
and taught him to raise his power level.
Why would these things be done if Bardock had betrayed the Prince?
would immediately declare a blood-feud on him?
Good
questions. Unfortunately, Vegeta had no
answers. Had no patience to think about
them. Was tired and hurting, and hating
everything around him but this idiot that hung his head and promised that if that
was all true—if it was true—that he wouldp.
And
Vegeta felt a pang go through him.
Understood that he was using Goku.
Felt a momentary shame that was shoved away by the pain in his skin.
him, and at Bulma, and he felt sick again.
Would make that maggot pay.
~~~***
Bulma
bit her lip and stared at the little Prince of Juro. He was tapping his hands against the table so rapidly that it was
denting the metal top. That annoying
gesture was driving her out of her mind—what little of her mind she had left,
that is. Chichi sat at her side, tilted
her head to one side and smiled in a vague way. Must be great to be so superior to everyone else that you didn’t
even have to condescend long enough to be annoyed.
But
that was Chichi, that was just the way she was.
Then,
there was a new comer. A tall kid with
baggy pants and no shirt that carried a pail of tools around and chewed on a
stick of mint. Gave them a cocky grin
and a ‘hiya’ but didn’t say anything else.
He was Saiyan. Probably mixed
with something, because he had a swagger that was definitely not Saiyan.
him, so she didn’t have to stare at the drumming fingers and the dented table
and wonder just what the hell the little Prince was gleaning from the Prince
and Goku’s mind that made him so anxious.
Knew
that he wouldn’t tell, because that was the code of honor.
the way of the Juro.
“Oh,
no,” Krillin mumbled, “Oh, they don’t want me do it, do they?”
“Do
what?” Bulma asked. Wished she had
gum. Gum would be good.
Maybe that guy had some mint. He
had ogled her in passing, she was sure he’d fork over some mint if she gave him
the proper view. (Ah, the many uses of
the breasts.)
“Nothing,”
Krillin replied. Stopped drumming his
fingers and curled his small hand into a fists. Looked pissed—and that was odd only because the Juro weren’t
exactly infamous for their anger.
“Dammi!” he said, “I have to go pray.”
Got up and walked away. Stormed
off, more like it.
Chichi
helpfully untilted her head and said: “They only pray when they believe their
morals have been compromised. What must
he had heard to make him question his own morals?”
“I
don’t know, Chi.” She walked toward the
same exit the boy had used, heard the Spider-bitch-princess turn in her chair
and felt those cold black eyes on her.
“His
name is Gohan,” she said, “He is a mix.
A half-breed and he is Goku’s nephew.”
There was an odd smile on her face, and Bulma sneered at the blind
woman. Knew that somehow, Chichi would
know that she had. But didn’t care,
because even if the Spidey-princess was naturally a blood-sucking monster that
lived in dark corners, she wasn’t a vengeful sort of person.
Bulma
got lost in the corridors of the damn ship—some Saiyan idiot must have designed
this, because her people wouldn’t have made something so confusing.
engine room, half covered in dark smudges of grease and still smiling, still sucking
on that mint stick—or maybe it was a new one.
“Lost?”
Gohan asked.
“Terribly.”
He
gave her another cocky grin. “I find it
hard to believe that a Cat is lost.
They never get lost.”
“When
faced with the absolute ignorance of the monkeys, I guess even we can get lost
sometimes.” She cracked him a grin, and
then continued on. “Now could you
please just point me in the general direction of the kitchen.”
cute. Perked her ears up and new that
all the monkeys were vulnerable to that.
They thought those ears were just so cute that they could gag and die.
“I
can show you,” he said. Took her arm
and turned her around so she was facing the way she had just come from.
She
grinned. Flipped her tail from around
her waist and let it flick back and forth behind her like a pendulum.
“Bardock
put me here,” he said, “He’s my grandpa.
Asshole. Told me that I had to
help him.” There was something
unpleasantly annoyed about this statement, and seeing how her people were the
ones the phrase ‘curiosity killed the cat’ came from, she figured, why not live
up the reputation.
“You
don’t sound like you like Gramps too much.”
Gohan
shrugged it off. “We’re not
friends.” Refused to say more, but
there was more to say.
It
would bother her until he fessed it and and he probably knew that he would have
to resist her advances as she attempted to figure out why he was not so fond of
his father. Everyone that she knew of,
knew Bardock and respected him. He was
an imperial sort of person, that more or less lorded over you and demanded your
complete agreement in all things.
“And
here,” Gohan said when they hard returned to the metal table that was set into
a wall like a booth, “Is the kitchen.”
He set his bucket of tools on the floor and wiped his dirty hands on his
pants. “I trust you know the way around
from here.”
“Yeah,”
she said. Narrowed her eyes at him, and
laid her ears flat back against her head.
He didn’t seem too worried about that, but then he was a crossbreed, he
was probably more than used to people giving him glares.
shit beat out of him for the audacity of being alive.
What
a beautiful world they lived in, where icejins tried to kill them, and they
helped out by killing each other.
~~~***
Krillin
wiped the tears out of his eyes, and pressed his palms together again.
cold, hard metal floor. Was praying for
forgiveness. Was trying to atone by his Gods the way he was never going to be
able to atone by any mortal standard.
He had been in Bardock’s presence for years. Had helped the General ‘cure’ Goku by revealing parts of the
man’s damaged mind. His kind naturally
distrusted the Saiyans, planet-purging monsters that they were, and yet, he had
spent all this time in the General’s presence.
Had been at his side for ten years and he had never once suspected.
being lied to. Was so used to his own
people, was used to those with gifts being honest and good that he could not
even have thought that someone was so basically corrupt and evil that they
would betray their own Prince.
He
was a Prince. He could not imagine any
member of his race attempting to subvert and destroy him.
For
ten years he had stood by the generals side, handed him access to Goku’s
fragile mind and for ten years, Bardock had known where the Prince was.
nothing about it. Ten.
He
knelt there and prayed the Gods to forgive him. Because he could not bear the thought of going before the Saiyan
Prince and asking for that forgiveness.
He would. Would offer his life
for the pain he had not prevented.
The
tears welled up in his eyes again, and he felt ashamed.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*******
Gk: No sex
at all.
Vegeta:
OI! Plots!
Betrayal!
Gk: *sighs *
no sex.
Bulma: I’m
working on it.
Gohan:
GASP! I’ve never been in a Card
ficcie before.
Gk: *cough *
what about ‘The Meaning of Pride?’
Gohan:
Alright, I’ve never been a ‘good’ guy in a Card ficcie before.
Gk: *cough*
Gohan: If Krillin
stops crying, he can read my mind.
Gk: *cough
* And is he going to find anything?
Gohan: WHY
DO YOU KEEP COUGHING?!
Gk: Vegeta’s
playing doctor! You know, turn your
head and cough?
Bulma:
GASP!