Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Danger in the horizon ❯ Love can mean pain ( Chapter 38 )

Chapter 38 - Love can mean pain

Note: I don't own DBZ

Once again, very special thanks to: Sue (As I said at FFN, I would consider a Radditz/Amanda story, I don't really mind if no one but you reads it! Oh and BTW, the name I write under at Dark Fiction is a bit of a mistake, I didn't include my pen name and Kaji quite brilliantly just used some of my email address) and the wonderful Jadedbest (I'm not sure why you keep missing the updates, I guess I'll have to check the update list again to see if you are still there).

There is another chapter to come, so please look out for it tomorrow evening.

Amanda found the note that Victor had left for her on the work bench, and read it several times, not quite understanding why her ex husband was deigning to ask her to see him at work. After all, work was work, personal matters were always to be kept quite separate, but the note indicated otherwise. It had been hastily scrawled, showing urgency. Amanda wanted to shrug off the foreboding feeling but couldn't. Victor never acted in such a rash manner before and she strongly suspected that he knew something. However, Amanda decided to get everything out in the open and inform Victor of her new relationship regardless of what he may or may not know. She knew in her heart that it would hurt him deeply, but as in all matters of the heart it was always better to be straight to the point, not let him believe that there was still hope for him to reunite with her.

Victor had been pacing like a caged tiger in his office, waiting for Amanda to finally come to his office. Via the closed circuit cameras, he had seen her arrival and knew that she would come up to his office soon. As he heard her footsteps advancing towards the door, Victor took a few calming deep breaths and settled himself on his chair, trying to look as nonchalant as possible as Amanda somewhat timidly knocked on the door. Her blond head peeped around the door as it opened before the rest of her body followed, an expression of puzzlement on her face as she moved forward and sat in the chair directly across from Victor whose expression was blank, further raising her suspicions.

After making herself comfortable Amanda got to the point, as bluntly as possible, a steely gaze fixed on the man who was once everything to her. "I got your note, Victor. What's it all about?"

Victor smiled without warmth as he regarded Amanda across from him. She was just as beautiful as always, but now had that unmistakable glow of satisfaction radiating from her lightly tanned skin, displaying, well to him anyway, her wanton behaviour to the world. He brushed his hands through his thick blonde hair, imagining that it was Amanda's golden tresses and for a moment he could almost feel her firm body, naked underneath him. He shook his head to dislodge the erotic vision and returned to the matter at hand. "I want you and me to try again, Amanda. I never stopped loving you."

Amanda momentarily looked away from him, looking instead at her shoes in contemplation. {Well old girl, it's now or never…..time to spill the beans about Radditz}

"Well?" Victor queried, showing his impatience for an answer.

"It's too late Victor. I loved you very much, once and in a way, I still do. But with you, work always came first. There was no room for me in your life." Amanda licked her now dry lips nervously as she prepared to tell Victor of her undoubtedly earth shattering news. "Victor, I….."

Victor cut her off, viciously spitting out the words. "I already know about your little rendezvous with that man staying with the Briefs. Cavorting like a cheap slut for all the world to see, Amanda." Victor calmed himself with supreme effort before continuing, "I will have you back, Amanda. I forgive you for your indiscretion, but I can't allow it to happen again. Whatever you had with this man will cease to be. We can take it slowly, day by day, but you belong with me."

In an instant Amanda rose to her feet angrily, her internal fuse burning away rapidly, the physical force of standing up sending the chair once underneath her clattering to the floor. Victor had been spying on her and Radditz, intruding on the very special moment between them in the garden. "How dare you spy on me! I don't belong to you, Victor!" She yelled, advancing towards his desk and laying her hands upon it, her face full of rage as she glared at a non-plussed Victor. "I am with another now, you had your chance and blew it. From now on, I will only speak with you in a work capacity." Amanda narrowed her green eyes, the colour becoming icy as she regarded a strangely calm Victor. Everything about him seemed very evil all of a sudden to Amanda, like he was plotting something. This was not the Victor she thought that she knew so well.

"If you ever, ever try to do anything that will jeopardize this relationship, you will regret it, Victor." She hissed between clenched teeth.

Amanda then stormed out in a flurry, kicking the previously fallen chair in frustration as the adrenaline in her blood refused to dissipate. She felt the need to smash something to relieve the pressure inside her veins.

Victor watched her leave, a cruel smile in place as he rose from his chair and set the other chair back into its rightful place calmly. "Ahhh Amanda, that's where you are wrong. He will never have you, never."

The body of Lisa was starting to decompose, the stench slowly winding it's way through the small craft, lurking around to assault Zarbon's sensitive nose. Swallowing heavily and with a piece of sheet torn from his bunk bed securely fastened around his mouth and nose, Zarbon descended into the bowels of his ship to remove the body from the engine room. Lisa's eyes regarding him in all their glassy glory, her skin now mottled and swollen from her death. Revolted, Zarbon nudged the corpse with his booted foot, reluctant to touch her with his bare skin but realised that there was no other way to get the corpse to the airlock to jettison it into space. His lip curled in disgust, Zarbon hefted her dead weight into his arms and ascended to the airlock, then unceremoniously dumped her on the floor. For a moment Zarbon almost felt some pity for Lisa, and gently closed her once warm brown eyes, before stepping away and sealing the door behind him. "Farewell." He murmured quietly as he activated the outside door, the vacuum of space sucking the body out to forever float among the stars.

Zarbon watched for several moments as Lisa's corpse floated away gracefully, before turning away, a grim look on his face. In Zarbon's mind, Lisa had been lucky. There had been no torture for her, no real pain; her death coming swiftly as he had broken her neck and crushed her windpipe. If Freeza had caught up with either of them, it would not have been so easy. He shuddered as he remembered the scores of unfortunate creatures who had fallen foul of his icy lord; they're suffering beyond the comprehension of most men.

With haste, Zarbon stepped into his shower, eager to wash away the stench of death clinging to his skin, ruthlessly raising the heat to an almost unbearable temperature in his desire to be clean again. Regardless of how much he scrubbed, the tinge was still there, mingling in with the smell of all the other people he had disposed of in his long life, all in the name of Freeza. It was something that only he could smell, and for some reason Zarbon felt real shame for the very first time in his long life.

Was it because he most likely was to become another one of Freeza's victims, finally understanding what it was like to be the prey instead of the hunter?

His family, if had still had one, would have been greatly shamed by his behaviour. This was not the way his people lived. They were warriors, not ruthless mercenaries working for the most despised race in the universe, the Icejins. If it had not been for certain circumstances, Zarbon would still have been living on his own planet, with his own people, with a wife, a family of his own, not purging planets, killing innocent people and raping women. Bracing himself mentally, Zarbon glanced at his much-altered appearance in the mirror, disgusted with what he saw looking back at him. His skin had healed quickly, due to his biological makeup but now Zarbon was able to glimpse inside of himself, seeing for the first time the monster he truly was inside and he was truly sickened.

When he finally returned to the cockpit, Zarbon breathed a sigh of resignation. He had pored over star chart after star chart and still had found no safe place to go to. His only options now were to let Freeza catch up with him and kill him or run for the rest of his life. Or were they? For some reason an old Earthling saying came to him, like a bolt of light. Someone on Station Delta had murmured it as they had tried to gain the confidence of a fellow work mate in some scheme to get them a much-wanted promotion. As far as he could tell, humans could give any agent in Freeza's employ a run for their money in the ways of subterfuge. They were always looking for the sneaky way to get things done, never exposing themselves completely.

He repeated the phrase inside his head. He had never understood the phrase until this very moment.

The enemy of my enemy is my friend…….

There was one other place to go, if he could hold out long enough. The enemy of his enemy was there.

That place was Earth.

Radditz slowly backed away from an obviously distressed and enraged Vegeta not wanting to be in his way when the dam finally burst and his power was expressed violently towards him. "I said, what have you done to her?" Vegeta hissed softly, his tone dangerous, his eyes flickering over the men standing in front of him before returning to rest his gaze on Bulma, her breath coming out in shallow bursts.

Kami paled slightly at the rage beginning to erupt from the Saiyan prince. He for one did not really want to be the one to explain what had happened, but as he was responsible Kami decided to bite the bullet and reveal all. "All of you, leave now." He ordered, his tone broking no dissention from Goku, Radditz or Piccolo.

"But…" Goku spoke up, worried for the safety for the Guardian of Earth, not willing to leave him in the clutches of Vegeta. Goku had every idea of what kind of beast Vegeta could become when he was sufficiently pushed, remembering the very first sparring session in the badlands. If it hadn't been for the sensu beans he would still have been recovering.

"But nothing, Goku." Snapped Kami, momentarily losing his cool. "I gave an order, now leave!" He calmed slightly and smiled crookedly at a bewildered Goku. "I will be fine. Go."

Reluctantly, Goku followed Radditz and Piccolo out of the room, making sure that he remained close to the door in case anything unfortunate happened. Goku was hurting almost as much as Vegeta, Bulma was a very close friend, more like a sister really and he for one did not like to see her in such a pathetic state lying there, a mere shadow of her normal self. "I'll be outside the door, Kami. I will know if anything happens in here." He replied firmly.

Even after they had departed, Vegeta did not lower his power, instead he was prepared like a cobra ready to strike if Kami's explanation was not to his liking. His life mate was dying, he could feel it and felt that he could do nothing to prevent it making him completely useless. "Explain, old man." He growled at Kami as the wizened Namek approached him calmly. "But don't fuck with me or you may regret your actions." Vegeta revealed the small energy ball firmly clutched in his gloved hand, the blue orb crackling with great power. "This is enough to extinguish life in this building easily. Don't force me to use it." He snarled, baring his teeth like a rabid wolf.

Kami stopped his advance and stood several meters away, his heart almost in his throat. "I have been giving Bulma instruction for several days now to expand her mind power. Through my position as Guardian I discovered her untapped potential and decided that she would benefit from my teachings." Vegeta remained impassive, not even glancing at Kami, instead keeping his fathomless black eyes on the ailing woman beside him on the bed. Kami swallowed to get the lump from his throat and continued warily. "One of her powers is the ability to access a persons most traumatic memories, no matter how well hidden it is and project the images back at the person, forcing them to relive the moment."

"That does not explain how she ended up in this state!" Spat Vegeta as he sprang forward and grabbed at Kami's robes, pulling him close enough for him to feel the heat from the energy ball as Vegeta brought it close to Kami's face, smirking almost insanely as he did so.

Kami could feel the cold wriggling of fear run through his veins but continued giving his account of the terrible events of the morning. "As I said Prince Vegeta, Bulma can project the images back, but she had not yet advanced to the next level. This morning we began as normal, but………..Bulma was able to access something in my subconscious mind, a memory terrible enough for me to block it out. She was not skilled enough to be able to let it go back to my subconsciousness, instead it was placed back into my conscious mind, forcing me to relive it."

Kami could feel Vegeta's hand tighten impatiently on his robes and the energy ball be moved ever closer to his face, the heat almost scorching his skin. "A, as we were both connected by the mind, Bulma experienced every moment with me. You are bonded to Bulma by the mind, so you also experienced some of that pain, although only a small part of it, because if you had been exposed to it's full force, you would also be in a coma." Several seconds passed before Vegeta's grip relaxed and he absorbed the energy back into his body. Kami slumped slightly as Vegeta released him and understood in one terrifying second how scared he really was of this arrogant powerful creature standing proudly in front of him.

Vegeta turned his back on Kami and stood beside the bed, a gloved hand hesitantly reaching out to wipe away the blood from Bulma's mouth, his gentleness shocking Kami somewhat as Vegeta's thumb grazed Bulma's full lips. She looked like a pale statue carved from marble, calm and fiercely beautiful but inside Vegeta knew that she was screaming inside her gracious façade with the burning pain. As Vegeta continued his ministrations in clearing away the blood he questioned Kami. "But that is only part of the story, isn't it you second rate god?" Vegeta murmured. "Why train her at all? Or is there some grand plan you have in mind?" Kami did not reply. "Answer me damn it!" yelled Vegeta, spinning violently on his heels, his ki rising rapidly and manifesting as blue flames.

Kami stepped back from the force and stumbled with his words in his haste to expel them from his mouth. "Bulma is more useful than you would ever have thought Vegeta, I, I believe that she is the key to your ascension to Super Saiyan."

"You lie!" Vegeta howled as he lunged towards the quaking Kami, ready to kill, no matter the cost. "You are lying to save your own worthless hide!" Kami dodged the first blow showing surprising nimbleness for his advanced age. "It is the truth, Prince Vegeta." He puffed with the exertion. "Kill me if you must, but remember if you do, there are no dragon balls and you will not be able to revive Bulma if she did die."

Vegeta halted abruptly. "Blackmail." He snarled with a disgusted curl of his lips, still seething at the Namek puffing in front of him.

"No, not blackmail, Prince Vegeta, common sense. Without you, Earth will surely perish. Without Bulma, you will most assuredly not ascend and go instead to a worthless death at the hands of Freeza." Kami stopped in his passionate rhetoric and looked compassionately at Vegeta for a few seconds, seeing the great attachment to Bulma reflected in his black eyes if even for only a few brief seconds.

"Will she die?" Vegeta hoarsely replied, almost revealing one of his most painful fears.

"No. Bulma's mind has been burned, badly. Bulma needs help, your help, otherwise she will remain as she is, in a coma. I know of your pride, Prince Vegeta, but you must do as I instruct."

"Agreed, old man. But one false move and I will vaporise your worthless arse in a heartbeat, got that?!" Vegeta venomously replied, his eyes hardening once again.

Kami moved towards the bed and rested his palm on Bulma's cool forehead, judging whether or not it could be done. Bulma's condition had stabilised somewhat, but there was still a great chance that what he was about to propose would fail.

{It must not fail}

Kami turned to the stony faced Vegeta and spoke to him, his tone gravely serious. "You must connect your minds again. I know that you are able to do that. Once you have your minds connected, you must let your shared memories flow through, but only the most soothing ones, good memories if you will."

"And how the fuck is that supposed to help?" Snapped Vegeta, irritated that he had been forced into this. It was not his doing that brought Bulma so close to death, but if he did not participate in this bizarre ritual that Kami was proposing, then he would lose her, and as much as he did not want to admit it to even himself, Bulma was very important to him.

{How can I do this? I was not able to save my people or my father. How can I save my mate?}

Vegeta turned his attention back to Kami, brushing aside his inner terror - that of losing her."You caused this, you will be the one to fix it."

"No I can't. This is because you are her bonded mate, and no one else can do this but you." Replied Kami simply. "It will take much of your mental power to achieve this, but you must not give up. She needs you."

Vegeta looked at the deity in front of him, searching for any signs of trickery and finding none. "Leave us." Vegeta finally responded, accepting his role fully. Now he understood why Bulma had been so very secretive about this training. It was dangerous to the uninitiated and in her case had rapidly spiralled out of control. Kami backed away cautiously towards the door leaving Vegeta alone with Bulma. As he exited, Vegeta reminded him of his fate if all efforts failed, his voice lowered to a guttural snarl. "I will kill you, dragon balls or not if she dies, remember that."

Amanda stomped back to her workbench, her good mood having disappeared with the heated exchange with Victor, her bonding wound throbbing unmercifully. Angrily, she picked up her bag and purposefully strode over to her supervisors office to the intrigued stares of her fellow work mates. They had all heard the raised voices coming from the vice presidents office, giving them much to gossip about during the next break over the water cooler. Ignoring the looks, Amanda requested that her somewhat bewildered supervisor approve a leave of absence of about a week. She had a great deal of time off stored up and as it was not that busy, Amanda felt that the best idea was to get out of Victors sight for a few days at least until both of them calmed down. Amanda's supervisor approved her time off and suggested that she leave the building as soon as possible, noting that she seemed very agitated and would not have been of much use as a worker anyway. He had overheard the argument also, but he chose to ignore it. After all, what divorced couple didn't fight like wild animals?

Breathing a sigh of relief, Amanda departed the building and decided to wait for Radditz to return to the main house, sitting on his bed feeling exhausted despite the early hour of the day. {What the hell is with Victor anyway?}

Amanda regretted her harsh words spoken in unseemly haste in her meeting with Victor. It was true; she did love him, but only like an old friend. She could not fathom what had forced this change in him. It could not have possibly been her involvement with Radditz, after all they had been divorced for some time now and Victor had more than ample time to try and win her back.

Still, his creepy manner had unnerved her. Victor had appeared strangely possessive, a trait that had never risen before, even during her brief marriage with him. Then she recalled that he was already privy to her secret liaison with Radditz. Drawing her knees up to her chin and hugging them close to her body to comfort herself, Amanda's imagination ran riotously through her head, making her somehow believe that Victor had in fact seen everything, every intimate moment shared with Radditz. Her face burned in shame and slowly tears trickled down her face as she gently sobbed, thinking that she had driven Victor over the edge of sanity.

Kami found himself enveloped by two very worried men, namely Goku and Mr Popo, as he emerged unscathed. Radditz and Piccolo stood some distance away, trying and failing to look unconcerned with the crisis at hand. "What happened, Kami?" Goku questioned impatiently, but showed his relief at Kami's healthy appearance. He had heard the raised voices, and felt the surge in Vegeta's power.

"I have left Vegeta with Bulma. He is the only one that can help in this matter and all my hopes rest on him." Kami replied softly, leaning on the cane offered to him by Mr Popo. "Please do not be concerned with my well being, it is Ms Briefs that your prayers should be with. I am the undoubted cause of this tragedy and so I must bear the full weight of my rash actions."

"You are a stupid old fool." Growled Piccolo. "In doing this, you could have caused my death as well as your own. Did that not cross your mind at all?"

"It did Piccolo." Kami replied, rubbing a hand over his sweaty face and looking at his Namekian counterpart sheepishly. Piccolo had a very good point. If he had died, then Piccolo would have also departed and there was no doubt that Vegeta and Bulma would have met the same fate had the situation been more dangerous. But now was not the time to throw accusations around. There were more important issues at hand. "Now, if you gentlemen will excuse me, I must rest. I suggest that you go and focus on your training. I will inform you if there is any change in Ms Briefs condition." With that, Kami somewhat crookedly walked away supported by both a cane and Mr Popo, to rest up for a while or at least until Bulma was well on her way to recovery, very much shaken by his close encounter with a Saiyan Prince named Vegeta.

"What now then, brother?" Rumbled Radditz, outwardly eager to leave in case Vegeta decided to take out his frustrations on him. Privately though, Radditz was just as concerned as Goku about Bulma. Goku had paced relentlessly in the corridor outside during the quick discussion between Kami and Vegeta, occasionally rubbing his eyes to stop the tears from falling. Bulma was his best friend and had gone through many adventures with him, and over the years the two had developed a close bond with one another. Radditz knew that although Bulma was undoubtedly not his soul mate, he also felt sorrow at her injuries and wished that he could help.

Goku scratched at his spiky locks for a few seconds as he thought. Bulma was in good hands, there was no way that his dear friend was going to leave them all without a fight. "Well, I suppose now is as good a time as any to meet your sister in law and nephew." He replied. "I guess Vegeta is going to be occupied for a while with helping Bulma and because you are pretty much alone in that big house, it would be good for you. Anyway, the mountains are a good place to train, wouldn't you say Piccolo?"

Piccolo uncrossed his arms and replied quietly. "I guess I can see how the kid is doing, that is if your wife hasn't made him soft already. And I would rather be as far away from that disgusting and incompetent fool Kami as possible anyway."

"Well, Radditz?" Goku cocked his head to one side and observed his tall brother muse over the offer for a few moments.

Radditz peered down at his excitable brother, wondering once again how it was that they both had the same blood. Goku was so annoyingly childlike sometimes that he had to resist the impulse to crack him on the head with his massive fist to bring him into line with acceptable Saiyan behaviour. "Fine as long as we can continue training. One thing though, I wish to pick up my mate on the way." Piccolo rolled his eyes in revulsion at Radditz's comment, thanking the Supreme Kai that he was asexual and did not have to go through such messy entanglements.

"Oh good! Chi Chi will be happy with some female company. Let's go." Goku chirped happily, eager to get home, eat some great food and indulge in some quality time with his son, not to mention the prospect of "horizontal sparring" as he called it with his lovely wife. He had not forgotten that Bulma was to all intents and purposes close to death, but in his heart knew that if anyone could bring her back it was Vegeta.

It was so very obvious that Vegeta cared for her deeply, despite his constant attempts to resist showing any real concern. Today, Vegeta had revealed all, displaying his affection for the whip smart and beautiful Bulma. In Goku's simple mind, he just knew that everything would be okay.