Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Slave ❯ Escape ( Chapter 23 )

DISCLAIMER: I do not own DBZ or any of the characters from it.

A/N - Okay, this is for 'Hard Love' who gave me that childish flame - I know who originally did that song; it was one of my favourite songs as a child. I have one of their albums. The fact of the matter is that chapter 22 was inspired by the Marilyn Manson version - not the original version. As for calling me a sicko, well if you're so innocent that you don't understand that bondage is a very common fetish then you probably shouldn't be reading something like this. Why don't you go and read something by lavendergoddessv? Her stuff is probably more your kind of thing since your so opposed to anything remotely alternate. - I must say though that I'm impressed that you managed to read up to chapter 22 despite your 'hatred' of my fic. Now THAT'S dedication!

Oh and I'm sorry for how long it's taken for me to update this fic! For the past two weeks I've had university exams so I've been very stressed and I've gotten very little sleep. But the first semester of my first year of uni is now over so I have 6 weeks of holidays in which I can write slave! I hope you can all forgive me for the length of time it has taken for me to update - but I also write 4 other fanfics, have to update my website and work part time.

Thanks to Nikoru for beta reading!

~*~

Brolly felt a wave of hopelessness wash over him as Ilandra led Bulma away. How could he have let this happen? He shouldn't have been so concerned with himself and his own mission…he should have been more attentive to Ilandra's sly currying of Bulma's favor. If only he'd listened to King Vegeta and had killed the whore when he had had the chance! If only he had just said 'to hell with it!' when Ilandra had threatened to expose what he really was.

But it was too late now. Far, far too late.

~*~

Vegeta stared with hollow, emotionless black eyes at what remained of his father. Although composed on the outside, he couldn't help but feel a twinge of regret for his father's death on the inside. He wouldn't mourn his fathers passing, it was not fit for a Saiyan Prince such as himself to show any outwards signs of emotion, and yet he couldn't help but feel a sudden wave of heaviness settle upon him - he had been close to his father as a child and would miss having his father by his side incase things went wrong.

The Saiyan Prince shook his head abruptly and pulled the sheet back up that was covering his father's corpse. He was thinking like a weakling! He didn't need his father to dole out advice to him anymore; he had been trained to take over from his father since he was a small boy, and he was ready for the position and responsibility that went with it. He was no longer a hotheaded young fool as he had been when he was younger. He was ready for this.

"My father shall have a warrior's funeral, and then we shall bid farewell to the body in the traditional Saiyan style." Vegeta turned to the royal adviser who was hovering nearby, emanating a sense of hopelessness. "Inform the people of his passing," Vegeta continued, his tone commanding the young man's attention. "Say nothing of the true nature of his death, but instead tell the people that he was killed in battle." The Saiyan Prince paused and clenched a hand into a fist, his ebony eyes sparkling. "I suppose after all that he was probably fighting for his life when he was killed."

"Yes, my Prince." The royal adviser bowed, and then hesitated near the door. "Is it true that this was the work of Frieza?" he asked, his voice shaky.

"We don't yet know who was the cause of my father's death. Until we have found the culprit I want these rumors concerning Frieza to be crushed. I will not stand to have such an uproar in my kingdom." With that Vegeta waved a final dismissing hand at the royal advisor, and the lower classes saiyan scuttled away with his tail tucked firmly around his waist.

Alone at last, Vegeta turned back to his father's body and watched as the white sheet covering him very slowly bloomed a brilliant shade of scarlet. Everything that had happened still seemed so unreal to him, it was hard to believe that this thing in front of him had once been his father. One second he had been chastising Zucchini, and the next moment a babbling Saiyan guard had come stumbling in muttering apologies at the interruption to deliver to him the news of his father's death.

The news had hit him like a physical blow, for although he had been threatening to kill his father for some time now he couldn't imagine life without him. His father had made a lot of stupid decisions in his life, not least allowing King Cold to live and spawn children, but under all of it he had been genuinely concerned for the fate of the Saiyan people. Now Vegeta had to make sure that he did everything he could to also ensure the safety of their race.

Perhaps Frieza was behind his father's murder and perhaps not, all Vegeta knew was that sooner or later their kingdom would go to war with Frieza's empire, and he truly dreaded that day.

If it wasn't for Bulma's ki enhancing technology they wouldn't stand a chance against the lizard lord, and truthfully even with it Vegeta wasn't sure they stood a hope. It must have been fate that of all the concubines he could have chosen that day he had picked her, it must have been inked in blood by the gods for him to have found the one person who could be the salvation of his people. Bulma knew nothing of her importance, but sooner or later she would come to realize how much the Saiyan people need her.

~*~

"Do you really expect to just take a ship and leave?" Bulma asked as Ilandra pulled her along a darkened narrow hallway. "Won't they be looking for any suspicious activity now that the king is dead?" The small human stumbled as they reached a metallic staircase, and Ilandra plunged down without any thought to Bulma's safety.

"Oh, they'll be looking for suspicious activity aright, especially if Brolly has gone and squealed on us." Ilandra laughed throatily. Her claw like hand kept a firm grasp on Bulma as she continued to stumble down every other step. "But even if they do chase us they won't get very far. My father has a fleet of ships waiting to escort us back to our base on the largest moon of the planet Arbitral, once we are within range of the fleet there will be nothing that these Saiyan scum can do to prevent our escape." She shook her head, and a few stray lavender strands fell across her face.

Bulma kept quiet as they threaded their way in silence through he narrow catwalks, hallways, and staircases of the maintenance level of the castle. From the thick coating of dust on the floor that billowed up with each footfall, Bulma guessed that not many people knew of or ventured down to this level of the castle very often. It was eerie and yet strangely calming to be surrounded by such a complete lack of noise.

"How much further is the space port?" Bulma finally broke the silence, unable to keep quiet for such a long period of time. She was picking up some really creepy vibes from Ilandra; maybe she was imagining things but it seemed to her that Ilandra was purposely keeping her as close to her body as she could. It was silly, and Bulma knew she was probably being paranoid, but she couldn't help feeling that there were more things that Ilandra had kept hidden form her.

"Not far now," The pretty lavender haired demi-lizard whispered back to her reassuringly. She stopped near a steel door, opened it, then slipped inside, pulling Bulma through behind her. Before them stretched another dimly lit hallway. "This hallway will lead us out of the castle and straight to the space port. The hallway itself is about five hundred meters up ahead, so we're going to have to crawl through a very small shaft to reach the docking bay." Ilandra spoke in a hushed whisper, as though she was afraid that someone might overhear them.

"What is this place?" Bulma couldn't help but wonder why, if the Saiyans had built a tunnel that ran directly from the castle to the space port, that no one bothered to use it. She glanced at Ilandra who was creeping forward into the murkiness of the tunnel.

Ilandra let go of her arm and turned to face her, smirking ever so slightly. "It was a secret tunnel that King Vegeta II had built so he could slip out of the castle at night to visit his mistress. This was a long, long time ago of course - several hundred years in fact. It's quite ironic that you and I are using it for an escape route." Ilandra chuckled and her smirk broadened. "No one even knows that this tunnel is here anymore. Or if they do know about it they've most likely forgotten where it leads."

"How did you find this place?" Bulma frowned in annoyance as Ilandra dissolved into a fit of giggles.

"Being a spy of Frieza's I was naturally curious about any secret passageways that the castle might contain. Unfortunately, all of the passageways in the main levels of the castle were in use by our current king, well," Ilandra smirked in after thought, "the till recently current king." She chuckled again at this then continued. "But once I consulted some ancient writings and historical books I did find mention of a few secret entrances into and out of the castle from this maintenance level, and, to my delight, I discovered that two of them were still usable and showed no signs of being used. It's not surprising considering that very few people ever bother to actually come down to this level."

Bulma nodded silently, then frowned as something struck her. "You said that King Vegeta II had to sneak out to meet his mistress? Why is that? Vegeta said that it is now lawful for concubines to be kept."

"Ah, I thought you'd ask about that." Ilandra thought for a little while and then continued. "The Saiyans like to think that they are a very traditional race, but as a matter of fact, time has shown that the royal family has a history of changing the laws to better suit their own needs. The law that made it lawful for the royals to keep concubines was only put into place about a hundred years ago, so it is in effect a very new law to the Saiyan people, yet they accept it as though it was always this way." The ice-jinn nodded to herself as she crept along the hallway. "Yes, I'd wager that the royal family would probably change any law they could as long as it benefited themselves. Another thing of interest is that it was not always a law for half-breed Saiyans to be killed. That law was created when one of the royal princes decided that he didn't want his half-breed brother to inherit the throne. Instead he created that delightful law, and had his brother put to death."

"Wow, Saiyans really are a cheerful bunch aren't they?" Bulma said sarcastically, her voice echoing back to her.

Ilandra merely chuckled and slowed her pace. With a small grunt she dropped to her knees and pulled Bulma down to the ground. "From here on we're going to have to crawl. It isn't a very dignified way to make an escape, but I figure that as long as I can get you free of this place then it'll be worth it."

The ground felt powdery under Bulma's hands as she crouched on the floor, very dry and dusty. The temperature around her was slightly cooler then the maintenance tunnel and she began to shiver despite herself. With a small nod Ilandra put a finger to her lips, signaling that Bulma should remain silent, then she began to crawl forward, Bulma following close on her heels.

The hallway narrowed into a small shaft almost immediately, and Bulma felt a strange sense of confinement settle upon her. She had never been claustrophobic in her life, but the knowledge that she was crawling through a tunnel of what felt like dust had a very unsettling effect on her. She could imagine the tunnel collapsing with a rumble and being trapped under a crushing and smothering mountain of the horrible dust.

"Calm down Bulma, I can hear your breathing from here," Ilandra commanded, her voice sounding harsh even though she was merely whispering quietly. Bulma gulped air into her lungs and managed to calm her breathing down. It was funny, but until Ilandra had brought it to her attention she hadn't been aware that she was breathing so loudly.

Bulma kept quiet and put her head down as she shuffled slowly along behind Ilandra's lithe form. The spy moved with surprising grace despite the small confines of their surroundings, and Bulma couldn't help but feel clumsy as she followed awkwardly in her wake. While Bulma tripped on small piles of dust and hit her head on small overhangs of rock, Ilandra easily missed these things and kept up a steady pace.

"I don't understand, how is it that I'm able to see?" Bulma frowned as she realized that she could quite clearly see the path ahead despite the fact that they had long ago left behind the lighting in the maintenance tunnel. Strange as it seemed, it appeared as though the dust that they were crawling through was giving off a faint blue glow.

"Truthfully I don't know. The texts mentioned something about a rare kind of lighting being employed, but it didn't specifically mention what kind of lighting was used." Ilandra paused ahead as though looking around. "It is odd isn't it? It's almost as though the sand is glowing, and yet the light doesn't seem to be brighter closer to the sand, it seems more equally distributed." Ilandra made a sudden movement and began to move again.

"It's a pity that we're leaving, I wouldn't have minded studying this." Bulma reluctantly began to follow Ilandra, not entirely trusting the Ice-jinn's explanations as to why Frieza wanted Bulma, but still desperate enough to be rid of the Saiyans that she put her trust in. It wasn't as if she didn't like Vegeta or how he had her feel physically, but mentally she was beginning to fade around him. He made her feel as though she were only useful to him as a scientist and as a whore. Obviously Vegeta didn't have any real emotions for her at all, and she didn't feel that much for him in return…but she would miss him.

When she'd told him that she wouldn't leave him, she had been telling Vegeta just what he wanted to hear in an effort to please him. The old Bulma wouldn't have lied to him; she would have told Vegeta straight out that she would leave him in a flash if she could. Maybe that was part of why Bulma was so disappointed in herself - she was losing touch with the old Bulma. The Bulma who had once been so determined to bring down the entire Saiyan regime was now almost gone; after all, the biggest challenge of Bulma's day lately had been planning her next outfit to catch Vegeta's attention.

"We're almost there!" Ilandra's voice sounded from up ahead, and Bulma realized with a start that she had been lagging behind. She increased her pace and quickly caught up to her liberator and, sure enough, she could see the glaringly bright white of man-made illumination from around the silhouette of Ilandra.

~*~

"Prince Vegeta!" Brolly gasped loudly as he burst into the throne room, his heart thudding loudly in his chest from adrenalin and fear. Although he knew that Vegeta couldn't beat him in a fight, he was still his Prince, and he had grown up protecting him. If it did come to a fight with Vegeta, Brolly knew that he would have to allow himself to be defeated. His Saiyan pride could not let him knowingly kill his own prince.

The prince in question was standing in front of his father's throne, looking at the elaborate chair as though he couldn't decide whether he wanted to sit in it or run from it. He made no sign of having heard Brolly as he continued to stare straight ahead.

Loathe as he was to disturb Vegeta in this time of unrest, Brolly knew that he had to warn him of Ilandra's deception and of Bulma's defection. "My Lord." Brolly spoke louder this time, and his voice reverberated around the throne room powerfully.

Vegeta jerked as though he had honesty not been aware that he was there, and he slowly turned around to look at the man who he considered to be merely a lowly soldier. "Brolly?" Vegeta's voice was as loud and demanding as ever, but there was a note of sadness to it that made Brolly hesitate before speaking.

He knew that the king and Vegeta had been close when the prince was younger, and that as Vegeta had grown they had drifted further apart, but he also knew that despite this apparent rift in their relationship they had been about as close as a father and son could be. They had trained together, fought together, and led the Saiyan people together.

It was to be expected that Vegeta was taking his father's death hard. For the prince, no matter how tough he might seem on the outside, had in his own way loved his father.

"My Lord, I have news about your father's death." Brolly tried to keep his voice level as he bent one knee and gracefully bowed before the man who was soon to be king.

"News? What news? I did not know there had been any more developments?" The prince strode forward, his ebony eyes flashing as he jumped to conclusions. "The murderer has been caught? Who was it?" His voice rasped at the thought of being able to execute his father's murderer.

"No, my Lord, the murderer has not been caught, we have however identified who it was and what their motive was." Brolly straightened to his impressive height and watched as Vegeta swallowed before nodding for him to continue. "The concubine Ilandra killed your father…"

"What? That's preposterous!" Vegeta scoffed, clearly not believing what he was hearing.

"Please my Prince, just listen!" Brolly begged. Without waiting for permission he plunged head on into his explanation, hoping that his prince would not kill him for being the one to deliver the horrible news. "Ilandra is the daughter of Frieza. Your father knew this for some time and had been trying to arrange her death. However, all attempts had thus far failed. She was far stronger then any of us had anticipated. If you don't believe me about Ilandra's parentage you have only to look at her physical resemblance to the creature. She has his eyes, his skin, and the correctly colored hair." Brolly swallowed hard as Vegeta's eyes glazed, and he nodded.

"So Ilandra killed my father? A mere whore managed to tear the king of the Saiyans to pieces?" Vegeta closed his eyes and took a deep breath, when he opened them again his eyes had returned to normal. "So have you apprehended her?"

"No, Prince Vegeta. There is more to tell." Brolly put a hand to his head as he felt a strange fearful feeling tighten around his chest. He had never feared anyone in his life before, but he feared Vegeta's reaction to the news of Bulma's betrayal. "Ilandra has managed to escape and has taken a hostage with her."

It must have been the tone in his voice because Vegeta's head jerked up, and he stared at Brolly with a knowing look in his eyes. Someone Vegeta knew what he was about to say, it was written across the Saiyan Prince's face that he knew precisely whom Ilandra had taken with her.

"The hostage is Bulma." Brolly spoke as calmly as he could, but even still he saw Vegeta jerk as though he had been physically hit.

"Bulma!" Vegeta spat her name with something akin to desperation, and when he met Brolly's eyes something dark and sinister slid through them. It was then that Brolly realized just how obsessed with Bulma Vegeta truly was.

~*~

A/N - I know you all hate cliffhangers but the next chapter will be out really, really soon! I promise! I'm on holidays now so I'll be able to write chapters a lot more often! At least a chapter a week! Please review and let me know what you think of the developments!