Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Fall of the Mighty ❯ Distortion ( Chapter 33 )

~Split All Ends Up They Shan't Crack~

It has been a long time. I would like to apologize. I will try not to take sooooo long! I am sorry everyone!! Please forgive me!! My dear dear Dark Serapha has kept me very busy lately and I know that is not a good excuse but… It will be worth it when you all see what we have been working on. Thank you all for your patience. I am sorely grateful and I will strive to keep up my work this time.

Also.

A tragedy has befallen us here in the DBZ fan fiction world.

As one who is normally unmoved by death, I still feel something should be said. As an author and as a reader I feel a connection with all of you even if it is small and unspoken. I respect and hold you all in my regards.

Shadows of the Past was and still is my inspiration in writing and is the beginning and basis for my presence now. The author of that powerful and brilliant story is gone. Taken before her time should have come. There is no good reason for it. But that means little in the face of reality. All one must do to know what kind of person Alithiel was is to read her story. She was talented and strong-willed. She was bold and passionate. She had a beautiful and wealthy soul. I feel diminished by her absence.

May eternal rest hold her in it's embrace.

Her memory will live on in my heart.

And her story in my mind.

May she never be forgotten.

And may we meet her again someday.

A Psalm of Life

Tell me not, in mournful numbers,

Life is but an empty dream! -

For the soul is dead that slumbers,

And things are not what they seem.

Life is real! Life is earnest!

And the grave is not its goal;

Dust thou art, to dust returnest,

Was not spoken of the soul.

Not enjoyment, and not sorrow,

Is our destined end or way;

But to act, that each tomorrow

Finds us better than today.

Art is long, and Time is fleeting,

And our hearts, though stout and brave,

Still, like muffled drums, are beating

Funeral marches to the grave.

In the world's broad field of battle,

In the bivouac of Life,

Be not like dumb, driven cattle!

Be a hero in the strife!

Trust no future, howe'er pleasant!

Let the dead Past bury its dead!

Act, -act in the living Present!

Heart within, and God o'erhead!

Lives of great men all remind us

We can make our lives sublime,

And, departing, leave behind us

Footprints on the sands of time;

Footprints, that perhaps another,

Sailing o'er life's solemn main,

A forlorn and shipwerecked brother,

Seeing, shall take heart again.

Let us, then, be up and doing,

With a heart for any fate;

Still achieving, still pursuing,

Learn to labor and to wait.

- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

~And Death Shall Have No Dominion~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The prince might stay with Kaky today, considering what they were doing last night, but who knew? If she were to escape, she had to do it soon.

"I thought that, since I am still new to the city, you might be willing to show me the sights." Taigar added hopefully.

Spice relaxed a little and put on a small smile. "Why not? I could use a little fresh air. Be right back." She reappeared with a pair of sunglasses on and a green flannel tied around her waist. "What do you want to see first?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

*Distortion*

Tong arrived at the waterfall with a dark expression still covering his face. He had gone to Capsule Corp and only found that annoying little freak. He had been hard pressed not to give that twerp another black eye after how tense he already was. But, then again, he probably couldn't have. Nigel might not be a seasoned fighter like everyone else around here but he had been taught more than Tong had before he had blown off Trunks' and Vegeta's training for less strenuous forms of entertainment. All Nigel could possibly ever care about was making everyone else's life miserable, especially Tong's. The young man stood and seethed silently before finally turning to search for the elusive Namik. He was nowhere to be seen.

A deep voice rose up behind him and he nearly jumped out of his skin.

"You have successfully destroyed the harmonic balance here. I don't think I could concentrate even if my life were dependant on it now."

Tong jumped and spun around in surprise. "Jeez! Don't do that!! What?!"

"There is nothing but your nervous energy filling this glade. You cannot learn to meditate if you cannot control your emotions. You must be calm."

Tong grimaced. "I don't know if I *can* be calm now."

Piccolo just gave him his usual flat look and turned, walking away. "Fine."

Tong ran to catch up. "Hey! Wait! Where are you going?"

Piccolo kept walking. "If you cannot concentrate for lessons then I have no reason to be here. I will go somewhere where the air is clearer."

"Hey!" Tong followed, annoyed now. "You said you would teach me!"

"You said you would take the lessons seriously." Piccolo shot back.

"I am!" Tong was still trying to keep up when the green giant suddenly stopped and faced him.

"Then we will start, but you will calm yourself."

Tong glared in irritation. "Yes! Jeez! I'm calm!!"

Piccolo just shook his head as he thought about what he was going to have to deal with.

Goku's glazed eyes blinked in sudden confusion as Vegeta climbed unsteadily to his feet and turned his back on him. "W…what?"

Vegeta did not reply. His eyes were dark and haunted, not focusing on anything and his hand swept lightly over his pained side absently before he turned to stride away, his gait unsteady and almost sporting a limp.

Goku pushed up from the tree with unsure alarm and a groan. "Vegeta!" The prince still did not acknowledge him. He had almost reached the tree line surrounding the clearing, his ki dropping away, concealed perfectly. As soon as he was out of sight he would be gone. Goku was moving before he had even consciously realized it.

The prince was lost in a whirlwind of dark thoughts. Wnwanted and unclear they circled him mercilessly even as he locked them away. He needed to get away. He needed to distance himself. It would all fade again if he moved away from it. It would stop if he was away. It would stop…

He snarled when hands on his shoulders suddenly halted his progress. His mind was too preoccupied for clear thought but even if it wasn't, his reaction would probably have been the same. He whirled, his face falling into an angry twisted sneer. "Don't touch me!!"

Goku caught the fist that flew at him with a practiced move despite his surprise.

The prince was never one to give in after being thwarted.

Goku desperately tried to capture the other fist but their scuffle quickly escalated.

The taller Saiyan kept a firm hold on the wrist in his hand throughout it all. When a sharp *crack* finally came, sending his head up and back from a sharp punch to his chin, he managed to grab hold of the prince's other fist and held tight. "Damn it, Vegetaaaah!" The tail end of his yell morphed into a yelp as his feet were swept from under him and they both fell to the ground continuing the struggle. Vegeta fought against him viciously and it was all Goku could do to keep his grip. "Vegeta! What the hell is wrong with you?!"

"Get the fuck off me!!!" Was the only reply he got.

"No!" Goku yelled right back at the enraged ouji and his temper broke free. This had gone too far! Why was Vegeta acting like this? Anger at being treated this way flooded Goku. He was worried! Was that so wrong?! Was it so wrong that he wanted to help?! Was it so wrong that he cared?! Because he *cared*! He cared, damn it! And he did not want Vegeta to hurt like he was and now he was leaving?! What did he mean?! Why? For how long? Would he come back? What did he mean about that dream? That dream… Vegeta had dreamed he had killed him? …and now he was leaving… Like hell!!

Goku suddenly turned serious. Up till now he had taken everything Vegeta had thrown and the smaller Saiyan showed no sign of slowing. He would not take any more.

Vegeta fought and writhed trying to force his opponents grip to break. His ki rose as he used every tactic at his disposal and was rewarded by grunts of pain and effort from the man trying to hold him.

Then he was free.

It was so unexpected that it threw off his strategy completely.

Then the breath was forced from his lungs and he realized that he was now on the receiving end. He shifted instantly to block but his eyes finally met Kakarott's and he was that brilliant, unshakable look of determination. He found himself locked to it. Damn you! Just let me go! Rage pushed away the darkness and Vegeta found his will again. Rage at his own inability to control the situation. Rage at these weak emotions that he had allowed to control him. Rage at the universe for doing this to him yet again. Rage at the cause of it all who railed against him right now and would not stop! Would not leave him be! His body was weakened and stiff and pained but his rage was fresh and strong. It brought with it a flood of ki that shot up and rose around them…but another's ki clashed against it.

They wrestled and rolled and Vegeta's energy shot up suddenly. Goku realized that he had to stop this now or it would get completely out of control and he wouldn't be able to. He seized his own power and searched desperately for an opening. 'I won't let you do this again!!'

Fury and ki rose up and a baleful glare met a fiercely resolute stare for just an instant.

"Get awa…!!"

Vegeta's snarl was cut off by the sickeningly loud impact of Goku's charged bare knuckles. The larger opponent quickly flung the smaller beneath him and pinned him, his ki glowing golden around them both. He stayed that way, staring down grimly and trying to regain his breath. It took a moment to realize his ki was not clashing with the other's anymore. "I'm sorry, Vegeta." There was no response. The prince's eyes were closed where he laid sprawled limply beneath him.

He sat in darkness. The gloom pressing in on him relentlessly. It was a void of nothingness in which he was the sole occupant. It was a place he would have normally felt at ease in. He would have felt content in the solitary quiet. Free from everything. Everyone.

But he wasn't.

The dark felt cold and desolate.

But it had always been that way.

Hadn't it?

It had never changed.

He had always been more comfortable here.

Hadn't he?

Just him.

Alone.

Always.

A slithering hiss emanated from the echoing inky depths. "Not alone, my princeling. I've always been here with you."

He shivered at the slinking voice that seemed to caress the very air. "You are not real." His voice sounded hoarse and shallow.

"Oh?" The reverberating hiss turned amused. Pale white talons rested on his shoulders from out of the darkness and that silky voice whispered into his ear. "How many years have you been saying that? If it were true wouldn't I have faded away after all this time?"

He could feel the poisonous smile that hovered at his ear but he did not flinch away from it. His face reflected the bleak despondence of his icy surroundings unblinkingly. He just stared unseeing into the dark.

While hands slid further forward on his shoulders and down over white and gold armor. Pink carapace arms taking him in their light embrace, purple claws clicking over the hard chest plate. "I am very real here, I assure you, my precious princeling."

His head lowered, his face isolated and remote. Weary despair rang clear in his words. "Leave me be."

"I can't." One clawed hand glided up along his throat and turned his unresisting chin to the side. Nothing materialized before his eyes from the darkness but the press of cold dead reptilian lips was unmistakable. He did not fight it this time. He did not even blink his still vacant eyes. Why fight anymore? It made no difference. The touch pushed him back and he fell. Fell through the shadows. His body dropping weightlessly through the infinite black. Falling away from that shill clammy grasp. "Oh, my little prince." The voice whispered sympathetically, still at his ear. ""It has been ages since I've seen you like this. Has life forsaken you again?" The hiss echoed as if off of cavern walls, it's soothing tone mockingly clear. "Has the world made you weak? Made you feel?"

He finally closed his eyes against the voice. "Leave me be."

"I will never forsake you, Geta. I will always be here. When everything else is gone I will still be here. I will be here to watch when you reach the bottom. I will see you weep in agony and scream in despair. I will hold you in my arms and rip you apart. …Just as it was always meant to be…" It whispered with surety that was chilling. Then the voice was gone and the void was truly empty as he plummeted though it.

Obsidian eyes opened to he light of day. White glowed all around bright and blinding. They closed again against it's alien presence after such a long time in the dark. Squinting open again to ward off the brilliance. He still felt as if he were falling. His head spun and he blinked until the white faded into clean solid walls. He rolled and his stiff neck cracked painfully. His whole body seemed to come to life with rebuke. He hurt all over. He wondered absently if he'd spent another night with that girl but the past events came back to him. Shit.

With a numb movement he threw back the blankets and rolled to sit up. He found he was clean and dressed in a pair of his navy blue gi pants. His lip curled disparagingly as he looked down at himself. 'Great! Just how long was I out? Baka! He couldn't just leave me be!' He closed his eyes.

'What did you expect? Did you think he would just let you walk off?'

He growled at himself. 'Yes! Just leave me alone!' But he knew that was foolish.

That inner controversial voice snorted disgustedly. 'Listen to yourself. Pathetic. Weak and pathetic. You deserve this.'

Now Vegeta snarled and scowled. 'Fuck off! I don't need to take this shit from anyone and not from you either so fuck off!!'

Goku padded along on bare feet walking down the hallway from the bathroom in a pair of cotton boxers with a damp towel tossed over his shoulder, intent upon seeking out his kitchen and stilling his shifting, grumbling stomach. A sound made him stop. It was unmistakably Vegeta. He continued forward and peeked into his open bedroom door.

"Oh, you're up."

The prince was scowling angrily and staring off into space but as soon as Goku spoke his eyes snapped to him, his voice clipped. "And fuck you too!!"

Goku blinked. "Um…yeah… Do you feel ok? I didn't mean to hit you so hard before." He wasn't sure what else to say.

Vegeta just glared at him as if he could erase his existence if he willed it hard enough. The taller man stepped further into the room. "We need to talk."

"Do we?" There was nothing in his expression beyond dark anger.

"Yes." Goku stopped a few feet from him. "Vegeta… Tell me what's wrong."

"There is nothing wrong!" He snapped.

"Then what was this all about?! It's not nothing. I want to know. We… I'm not going to let you just walk away from me. You made me a promise. I won't let you break it unless there is a good reason."

The prince just stood and pushed past him heading for the door.

"Vegeta!" All he got was a growl. "Vegeta! Don't walk away from me!"

Goku chased him into the hall. "Vegeta! What do you mean you are leaving?!"

The prince continued to ignore him. Goku moved along with him and came up to his side. He reached out to grasp the other's shoulder but Vegeta pulled away.

"Don't touch me!"

Goku flinched and then his face hardened. "No! You are not doing this to me again! Don't turn away! You always turn away!" He grasped the prince's shoulders and spun him around to face him.

"Kakarotto! Let go of me NOW!!" Vegeta stiffened and rage bloomed on his face.

"No! You are not going to do this! What's the matter?!"

Vegeta glared. "I will do as I please! There is nothing you can do to stop me!"

Suddenly something inside Goku that had been pulled tight after all this time, after all the things that had happened, after all the emotional turmoil he had been through…something snapped. His grip tightened on the prince's shoulders and he growled low. "Like hell there isn't!"

Vegeta stared into the taller man's harsh features and hesitated before hardening again. "Let go of me! I'm warning you!"

"No, Vegeta! I will not put up with this! You will not walk away! You will explain this to me! I am not letting go until you do!"

Vegeta roared with fury. "I do not have to explain anything to the likes of *you*!!!"

Goku froze. Did Vegeta just say that? Did his prince just say that? His oujisama? His lover? His love? Did he…? Did he still see him that way? Was he nothing more than a low-class, idiot, brain-damaged, moron to him? Still? After all this time? After all that they had done and gone through? After Vegeta had…had promised?

The prince snarled again, realizing what he had just said, and wrenched out of his grip, stretching painful muscles and aching ribs to begin walking away from him.

Goku just stared with his jaw hanging open. He stared after the Saiyajin no ouji. A horrible pain flared up in his chest. He felt like he had been cleaved in two. How? How could he do this to him? How could he…? 'No!' It hurt! It hurt worse than anything he had ever felt in his entire lifetime! More than anything in this world or the next! Anger blossomed deep inside of him. It bubbled up and overwhelmed him. How could Vegeta use him like this and then just walk away? How could… Vegeta saw him as nothing! He was nothing! Not even worthy of an explanation! Not even worthy of the prince's disgust anymore. He would not stand for that! He would not take this! Not from *him*!!

Suddenly Goku's aura burst from him in golden light. A huge power radiated from him. His eyes fazed to aqua and his hair bled to gold. With a sharp yell he launched after the retreating Saiyajin.

Vegeta felt the eruption of energy behind him. He closed his eyes for a split second as he continued to retreat. 'No.' He did not want to turn and face the other…but he could feel him coming. There was no other choice. He had to leave. He needed to… He just barely took hold of his own energy and turned to look over his shoulder when the golden form of his mate slammed into him. The impact slammed them both crashing to the ground. Vegeta grunted but managed to control himself as Kakarott carried him downwards to impact wooden flooring. Fucking bastard! Just leave me alone! Just get away! He didn't want to deal with this. Damn it all to hell!! Vegeta was jolted from his inner cussing by the very real impact of Kakarott's fist. He called his energy to himself and threw the other off. "Kakarott! Leave me alone! This is my last warning!"

Goku pulled up to face off against the prince. His brow was furrowed and his eyes were hard and unblinking. "Or what, Vegeta? You've already done all you could possibly do to me. What else is there? Again! You are doing this to me again? I'm glad I was able to amuse you all this time." He gave a bitter laugh. "You really had me fooled. I actually thought that I meant something to you now. Go ahead and laugh, Vegeta. You always enjoyed laughing at me so much."

Vegeta gripped his fists at his sides, his anger rising. There was no way to cut things cleanly. There was nothing… Nothing… He had to leave. He had to go. Things had already gone so horribly too far. How could he have let his weakness rule him so long? He would not let it go any farther. He would not allow… He would not… So be it. He raised dark cold eyes to his onetime foe, his onetime ally, his sparring partner, his comrade, his lover, his weakness. So be it. "Took you long enough. I had begun to think you were more intelligent than that but you proved me wrong. Just a poor fool. A sad excuse for a brainless warrior. You did amuse me…for a little while. But I've grown tired of this." He drew up and raised his chin in prideful disdain, speaking calmly and clearly.

Goku clenched his fists and closed his eyes tight as the words flowed over his ears. It hurt so much. He said it so easily. "Why, Vegeta?! Why are you doing this to me?! I don't understand!! You promised! You swore!!"

"Hn. You have no one to blame but yourself. You believed me." The prince spat snidely.

"Why?! Why would you swear to me?!" Tears brimmed in Goku's eyes. Something was wrong here. It didn't feel right. Why was Vegeta doing this? Vegeta had lied to him. He had tricked him, ridiculed him, looked down on him, but he had never done anything remotely like this before. He had led him on for weeks, months… No. There was something not right here. If this were all just a plot, just a way to torture him, then Vegeta had gone too far out of his way to do it. "If all you wanted was to hurt me, to crush me like this then why do it this way? You could have just fucked me when you first found out how I felt and walked away. It would have been the same! Why now?! Why put so much effort into it?! You've lied to me since the beginning…but…you don't lie, Vegeta. You have always been nothing but blatantly truthful no matter how it hurt anyone. Why would you lie now?"

The prince just stared coolly, only disgust on his face. "Because it was so easy."

Goku stared. It had been so long since he had seen that expression. The prince had not been like this in years. It felt so wrong! He hardened and grimaced. "I don't believe you. Why don't I believe you, Vegeta? Tell me what is really happening. Tell me I am wrong. What are you doing, Vegeta?" Goku squared himself as if readying for a battle. He looked almost thoughtful. "This isn't you. I've seen the real you. I know I have."

Vegeta growled and then chuckled with a nasty smirk, seemingly not phased. "You are a fool, Kakarotto."

"I probably am." Goku admitted. "But I still don't believe you." Then, quicker than Vegeta could react, the taller Saiyan placed his fingers to his forehead, appeared before him, and slammed into the prince, carrying him down the hall and through the open front door, into the pleasantly warm midday air. Outside the ouji grunted and snarled, catching himself and throwing Goku off again. He powered up and braced to attack but the larger man took the offense and came at him again.