Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ A Life Mistake ❯ Nightmare Be Thy Name ( Chapter 1 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

It was supposed to be an ordinary day.

The sun was shining brightly on this miserable mud ball of a planet I called home. Birds were chirping, the wind was blowing, and not a single cloud was in the sky. It was another picture perfect, ordinary day on the planet Earth.

Sometimes I would get jaded with the same routine everyday. My day would always end up like this: up, shower, get dressed, eat, fight with Bulma, spar with Kakarotto, eat, spar with Kakarotto, go home, eat, watch television, go to bed, and do the same thing all over again tomorrow. That's how it always was.

And I always assumed it was the same with Kakarotto.

Ever since the defeat of Majin Buu, that's how things have been. Life's been dull, pointless, and uneventful. I didn't imagine things would change so fast. I couldn't imagine. I was jaded by the bordeom of my lifestyle. I never did see beyond those eyes. Gods, I still have that hideous chill.

And for crying out loud, this is Kakarotto we are talking about. The guy that "saves the world" and is always the "hero" and is "loved by all." Mr. Happy-Go-Lucky. Always smiling, always laughing, always optomistic. Nothing could phase this guy, right?

What a fool I had been.


So it was another day. Sunday I believe.

Bulma was grouchy in the morning, the usual thing I expected out of her. Later on I knew she would become that cheerful ray of sunshine I've come to love... that tends to annoy and nag me every second of my living days. Oh well, that's life.

The boy is up, eating his breakfast and is probably going to go out to the mall with Kakarotto's younger kid. Probably go out and try to get girls. Bra eating her breakfast as well, getting ready to go out with Pan on their double dates with these two quarterbacks from their school. She already knows that if anything happens to her, I would kill them. She doesn't care. Peh. Teenagers. I'll never understand them.

After breakfast, I get on my training gear, drink a fresh glass of water, and off I go to Kakarotto's house. I swear that sounded like this movie I watched once -- Wizard of Oz, I believe. Dammit, no more late night movies. It takes less than a couple of minutes to reach Kakarotto's house. I mean, it's pretty easy to spot it. It's the only dome-shaped house in the vicinity. Only an idiot and nature lover like Kakarotto would put his home in the middle of nowhere.

Immediately, I can sense his ki and by the way the day was going, I had a feeling he was finishing up his breakfast by now. Then he would sense my ki as well, instant transmit his sorry ass out of the house, greet me with his stupid grin and friendly cheer, I'd mock and sneer at him, and then we would spar until lunch. Then we'd eat the food the demon spawn he calls wife makes, spar again until dinner, and I go home, he goes home, night falls, and we wait ti'll dawn rises to fight each other once more.

Only thing is this day wasn't ordinary.


He walks out of his house instead of instant transmitting. His head is down and I can hear the screams of his wife bellowing and shouting and yelling on top of her lungs. She's barking about all the things he has done wrong in his life. She's nagging about how he is an idiot and doesn't what her children to end up that way. She's verbally slapping him in the face of being a hero in the hearts of others but a loser in the hearts of family.

But this wasn't new. I've heard her outbursts more than once, and sure as hell they've been worse. Even I knew she didn't mean those outbursts. I'm sure Kakarotto knew that too. But that's not the point. It was just the sight of Kakarotto leaving his house through the door with his head down. This wasn't ordinary. Ever since the defeat of Buu, I haven't seen him walk out of his house quietly. Quietly. That's the thing that got me at first. This isn't right. Can't be right. Something is wrong.

He's walking away from his house, not even noticing my presence. His form is hunched, his eyes are not seen but I can feel their enegmatic aura from them. Even from high above in the air, I can feel them. Either he is that damn powerful or that damn... I don't even know what he is feeling right now. I follow him high above, watching and waiting in hope he doesn't do anything stupid. Stop it Vegeta, don't say a sarcastic remark about that right now. I let go a sigh of relief as I see the Super Saiya-jin merely sit ontop of a boulder miles away deep in the forest.

I know what I have to do now. I have to help Kakarotto. I don't know why though, but something inside of me is telling me to do it. I got the perfect plan to help out, though. It's risky, but I have to look into his eyes. They are the windows to a person's soul, after all. It is just... I'm afraid of what I'll see. I've never, ever seen Kakarotto like this. He looks depressed, defeated, and... tired. I'm truely afraid now.

I'm truely afraid of what I'll see. And that's a lot coming from me.


I land on the ground, wondering what is wrong with my friend. Before we fought Buu, I wouldn't even fathom of calling him a "friend." But right now, he needed one. I could feel it. We are Saiya-jin. When one of her kin is in trouble, we all sense it. It's instict. We can't fight it. Slowly I walk up to the prone figure, who just to be dead of happiness, of innocence, of everything he stood for.

I seriously think he's tired of it. What that "it" is I can safely assume it is life itself. But only those orbs of black fire can answer everything. Words won't have to be exchanged. Hopefully they won't be exchanged. Saiya-jins can tell automatically from a pair of eyes. I swallow my pride, my fear, and my anxiety now that I am only a few inches away from the kneeling form of Kakarotto.

I'm in front of him now. I don't know if he can tell I'm here or not. I clear my throat. This is do or die time. If I want to figure out what is wrong with him, it's time to start a conversation to gain his attention. Great. Looks like words will be exchanged.

I whisper softly to start off. "Kakarotto?"

He doesn't answer. He's still the way he is.

My voice is louder now. "Kakarotto? What's wrong?"

The idiot still ignores me! A deep growl escapes my throat as I yell on top of my lungs, "Kakarotto! Tell me what is wrong you third classed idiot!"

That caught his attention for sure. I watched as his head moved upwards, so quick it looked like he was in a car crash and just experienced whiplash. He locked eyes with me, those black orbs of fire staring straight through me like he was watching away my entire life. He said something to be, but I couldn't hear what he said. Everything was blocked from my senses.

I couldn't speak anymore. Couldn't speak, couldn't hear, couldn't feel. Couldn't do anything. All I could do was see. Looks like that old saying on Vegeta was correct. When a Saiya-jin is troubled, no words have to be spoken. True, no words did have to be exchanged when I locked onto those eyes of his.

I wasn't expecting to see the true engima inside those eyes.


Hate. Anger. Defeat. Despair. Hope. Faith. All in two sets of eyes.

But the one that got me the most was one this: Fault.

I see Kakarotto smile gently. It still doesn't rip me away from seeing the real him.

"So now you know the truth," he states. Seems my hearing has returned. I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing. I recall what he said before. It isn't a question. He knows what I'm learning. I'm getting a lesson about life through his eyes. No words, just... thoughts? Emotions? I don't know. But I'm experiencing something I thought Kakarotto couldn't even comprehend.

He slips off the boulder, coming face to face with me. I can see such responsibility, such error, such a burden in his eyes, I want to peel away. But I feel like I am being tempted by Medusa herself, and in a few moments I was about to become stone. Kakarotto knows what he is doing, and I don't know if he's enjoying this or not. Right now I could give a damn.

"Thing about it is, Vegeta, your the first person to understand everything," he starts again, moving forward slowly as I walk backwards unintentionally, "and nothing at all."

"What are you implying?" I ask, trying not to lose my balance and break my concentration.

"The truth about me," he states again. I trip backwards, landing on my back. Kakarotto kneels and towers over my form, his eyes filled with a new emotion. One I thought I would never see. He whispers in front of my face, "I think you are afraid of what I am going to tell, Prince Vegeta."

I'm too stunned to reply.

"Vegeta, it's very simple," he reasons with me, standing up but still locking eyes with me. His height makes me feel like a dwarf and him a giant. How true it is, not just height wise and fighting wise, but mental wise. "No one can understand this, but you probably can." He sighs, his form looking so old, so mature, and so exhausted it appears that the mighty Goku is sick and tired of something. I'm sure its life, but something else tells me its something more. Just what it is, I'll probably never know.

A long pause ensures. He blinks, and casually explains who he is.

"I am a mistake, Vegeta. A life mistake that is apart of a dream that only I can stop."

"Will you stop this dream of yours, Kakarotto?" I whisper with uncertainy. I don't know how I got my voice back, but I did.

He smiles. It's not the smile everyone else sees. It's something more. It is apart of the true self that no one is ready for. Not even me.

He calmly turns around and walks back into the facade.

"Someday Vegeta," he whispered. "But not yet."

I see him smirk, an image that I won't forget.

"Not yet."


He loses himself in the thickness of the forest. Night begins to fall on this day. He won't be found tomorrow, or the next day, or the next. The others will try and find him, but he'll come out when he feels like it. On his own time, on his own game, on his own mentality. He'll make an excuse that everyone will believe, but only I will know the truth. Only I.

I still can't believe what I had experienced. It was too much, but not enough for my senses. I wanted more. I wanted to learn what he knows. I want to. But I can't. My mind won't take it. My spirit? Of course. We are one in the same. But my mind cannot grasp the ideas, the worlds, and the presences he knows and feels around him.

He called himself a life mistake. And I... am I the opposite? Am I a life truth? Accuracy? Nonsense. It's like everyone in life is perfect, and he is the only one that is flawed. But for some reason that sounds right. Everyone considers him perfect, but he's flawed. But not everyone is perfect, right? Wait, let me think this over...

Gods, I'm too perplexed, I can't even get up from the ground.


It was supposed to be an ordinary day.

That's how everything else went.

Seems life wanted a change.