Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Lost in the Darkness ❯ Life's Way ( Chapter 4 )

Lost in the Darkness

Part 4

Life's Way

Disclaimer: You oughta know it by now. If you don't… I don't own DBZ. Some dude whose name I can't spell or pronounce does.

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"Send those three to the fields." Zeke snapped. Vegita looked at the man in surprise but didn't say anything. The three children were drug off as King Vegita was pulled forward.

"Please don't do anything stupid, Otousama." Vegita whispered softly.

It was almost as though the king had heard his son's plea. He turned to look at Vegita and with sad eyes he mouthed, "I'm sorry, my son. Remember that I love you and I'm proud of you." And he turned back to face his captors.

The king lunged at The head overseer, baring his teeth. The man jumped back in startled surprise as the king clamped his teeth down, ripping out his throat. Blood gushed from the wound and the head overseer of the plantation fell to the ground, dead. Zeke yelled, "KILL HIM, YOU FOOLS!" Gun shots rang out. The king collapsed.

Radditz, Vegita and Terra watched with large, horrified eyes. "Otousama!" Vegita screamed. "No! Otousama! Get up! Get up!" His voice dropped to a whisper. "Please, Otousama. Please wake up."

Zeke gave a low shout of rage. "You IDIOTS! How could you just STAND there and watch, you fools! You were supposed to kill him before he killed Alan!"

The men didn't move, watching Zeke carefully. He could be just a little mentally… unstable… at times. Vegita looked at his father's still body. "Otousama, no." A tear ran down his cheek.

A hand fell on his shoulder. He looked up in surprise, seeing Radditz looking at him. "He wouldn't have survived here." Radditz told Vegita with a sigh. "He was too much of a king. He died honorably, at any rate."

"But- no one cared! It's like we're animals!" Vegita argued.

"To them, we are." Radditz looked at him, sadness written on his features.

"But, that's not right." Terra told him, looking confused.

"No, but what do you expect? They are barbarians, not men." Radditz led them towards the fields. "Now come on- and don't look back."

And so died the mighty king of all Saiya-Jins.

~*~ ~*~ ~*~

It was late when they were told where they would be sleeping and what the rules were. Vegita didn't think anything sounded better than sleep at the moment. The pendent around his neck felt heavy but he didn't care. It was all he had left of his family. He and the others stumbled into what the master called a "House" Vegita, personally, called it a "Tiny shack that not even a dog would live in". They had to stay there anyway. Of course, it would be his luck that it was raining that night.

Radditz grabbed three pallets and pulled them near one another. "Stay near me." he ordered. "We don't know what the others here are like and I don't plan on finding out when one of us is murdered."

The trio fell into a deep sleep.

~*~ ~*~ ~*~

It was barely dawn when the Saiya-Jins awoke the next morning. Golden rays of light warmed their tired, wet, and cold bodies. Radditz immeaditly stood and began to stretch, urging the others to join him. "If you don't," he warned, "you'll get all cramped up from cold." That caused Vegita to join him almost instantly, but Terra looked on with amusement. At least it was amusement until she tried to stand ten minutes later.

"I told you." Radditz pointed out when she complained. "It's not my fault you didn't listen." Terra made a face.

"Now you know better." The prince pointed out arrogantly.

"I would punch you if I didn't hurt so much." Terra snarled. Vegita smirked and Radditz laughed. "No comments from the peanut gallery, Radditz." She added when he opened his mouth.

"GET UP YOU PATHIC LAZY SLOBS!" The new overseer snarled, brandishing his whip. Vegita growled, to low to be heard, luckily. Radditz, who had heard, glared at him until he shut up. Vegita glared back but said nothing.

~*~ ~*~ ~*~

It was hot in the fields, in the sun. It didn't bother Radditz or Terra, but Vegita didn't like it. It wasn't as hot as Vegita-Sei in the summer, but it was winter there now and Vegita had been looking forward to the cooler temperatures. Both he and Radditz had shed their shirts due to the heat. Terra would have done the same but the humans had a little word called modesty and refused to let her do it.

"It's not like I'm a woman. I'm SEVEN for the love of Kyria!" Terra complained later. (A/N: Kyria is the Saiya-Jin goddess of war in my story.)

"So? You're a GIRL." Vegita snorted in contempt.

"Yeah, you got a problem with it? Didn't think so." She snarled. Radditz raised and eyebrow.

"And people told me that I was immature at seven." He mumbled. It was lunch break and no one quite knew what to do. They didn't have any food and it wasn't likely anyone would share.

"Hey! Are you three new here?" A deep voice called. The speaker was tall with royal blue skin and was hairless.

"Yes. We're SUPPOSED to have lunch, but, well…" Radditz trailed off, unsure what to say.

"Ah. That explains why your wandering about like fools. Come with me." The man waved his hand. "My name is Jepen, by the way." He added as an afterthought.

"I'm Radditz, cactus-head there is Vegita and the girl is Terra." Radditz replied, following him closely.

"Hm. It's nice to meet you." The man continued down the small path. "Tyri should have lunch nearly done. She can cook well even if they do serve us trash." The man smiled.

"What planet are you from?" Terra finally asked, unable to keep her curiosity under control any longer.

"I'm from Noritz-Sei. I'm a Noritz-Jin." He shrugged. "My planet was one of the first to be captured by the earthlings. We've been slaves for almost seven generations."

"SEVEN GENERATIONS?"

"Yes, child."

~*~ ~*~ ~*~

The three Saiya-Jins followed Jepen to the little hut he shared with three other families. It was so full it was hard to move. "Do they assign sleeping assignments here?" Radditz asked. "We are the only people in our… Cabin… if you want to stay there."

"Could we? Wow! No people to try not to kill… when can we move in?"

"Wait- who all would be moving in?" Vegita asked. "It won't hold too many. I'm already worried the roof'll collapse."

"Just me, my wife, Sira, and my son, Baata. He's four."

"Oh. Okay then." Terra finished everyone's thought. "So, where is you son? I thought he'd be in the fields."

"He works up at the house." Jepen explained. "They've made him a little server or something. I don't really know."

"Jepen? There you are!" A woman, Vegita assumed it was Sira, walked out of the house. Her skin was a royal purple instead of blue and She had white hair.

"I've brought guests." He said, quickly telling her of the day's events. Her face lit up in a smile when she heard about their offer to let her and her family stay in the small shack they called (however unlovingly) home.

~~*~~ ~~*~~ ~~*~~ ~~*~~ ~~*~~ ~~*~~

Riul was to be sold. There was no way around it. Kakarotto couldn't believe what Alanya was saying at first. Bardock stared at her in shock, unable to blink, or move. For a moment he even forgot to breath. "They can't do that!" Turlis yelled after they had returned from the fields and received the news. "It's not fair!"

"It's not like they care, little one." Alanya told him. "He's just another slave to them."

"But, shouldn't you and Zarbon go with him?" Kakarotto asked.

"No. Just him. Zarbon will grow up without a father. Maybe even without a mother. It makes little difference to them." Alanya sighed. Zarbon, as though sensing her distress, began to cry.

"Hush baby." Kakarotto cooed, lifting him up. Alanya had enough to cry over with trying to comfort Zarbon too.

"I'm sorry, Lana." Riul told her. "There's nothing I can do. Master," He spat out the word as though it was a curse, "won't listen. I've tried. All I got was a whip for my pains."

"I'll give HIM a whip for your pains." Bardock snarled. His hand went to the ki collar around his neck. He ran his fingers around it and tried to pull it off, only to get a strong electric shock for his trouble. Bardock let loose a few sizzling Saiya-Jin curses before trying a second time and getting an even stronger shock. If the curses he had used before were sizzling, these were murderous.

Kakarotto waggled a finger at his father, telling him, "If Kassan heard you, she'd skin your hide."

"I know. That's the only reason I'm glad she's not." Bardock sighed. Alanya shook her head, not knowing what to tell any of them. It seemed that Turlis and Kakarotto were having more problems about their mother being gone than anyone thought.

~*~ ~*~ ~*~

"Be careful, you idiots!" A man yelled, pulling Riul onto the large cart. "You know the boss doesn't like damaged merchandise." Riul bristled at being called "merchandise" and probably would have tried to kill the man if Alanya, Zarbon, and the three Saiya-Jins weren't watching.

(A/N) I caught an error. I don't believe it. I said this was part three. I've corrected it and if I confused anyone, my apoligies.