Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Slave ❯ Falling ( Chapter 37 )

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

A/N - Meh, sorry it took so long, but you're probably all getting used to that by now. Feel free to email me and shout insults and threats - it does kinda spur me on!

~*~

"One and the same, now and for ever." The priests voice rung out through the temple, echoing faintly amongst the pillars. The audience seemed to draw a collective breathe of relief as the ceremony was drawn to a close. Dutifully the audience repeated the sacred words, the different accents giving the simple phrase a rather lilting and mysterious tone to it.

"One and the same, now and for ever."

Vegeta sighed with relief. The wedding had taken almost three hours, for despite his attempts to speed the ceremony it had proceeded with all the speed of a Terran tortoise. The seemingly unending droning of the priest had been almost as bad as the monotonous tone he'd used. Zucchini had trembled the entire time, at one point he'd been certain that she had been about to pass out and her colour had faded to a chalky white. She was staring at him now with the same emotions that he was gazing at her with; fear, repulsion and distaste.

They turned as one and faced their audience, both fixing emotionless masks on their faces as they began the slow walk forward, heads held high as row by row the congregation knelt before them and recognized them as their new leaders. It was a breathtaking show of respect but, Vegeta suspected, no more then that. He and Zucchini were not loved by the people as his own father and mother had been, nor were they as revered or as respected.

Not yet, anyway.

Vegeta suspected that once his war plans were unveiled his people would be far more admissible to him as their leader. Nothing inspired a Saiyajin like war. Their entire lives revolved around training, fighting and waging wars against other cultures. In the same way that the humans had evolved to become great artists the saiyans had evolved into warriors. They were made to fight - driven to it by their primal instincts.

The entire audience to their wedding was now on their knees with their eyes downcast. They had reached the last row of people and now, Zucchini moving swiftly, turned around to face the lowly crowd. For a moment both he and his wife watched them warily, then Vegeta stepped forward and flicked his hand upwards in a rising motion.

"Get up! You are saiyan warriors! Not lowly servants!" His voice, rough and grating tore through the temple and the crowd straightened, staring at their knew leader with confusion. A few of them frowned stupidly, while others were slowly nodding with understanding.

"From this moment on your entire lives will be spent readying yourselves for the inevitable battle against Frieza's troops! From this day forth every saiyan will be required to do at least Three hours of training a day!" Vegeta strode forward and grabbed the nearest saiyan woman. "Look at yourself! You couldn't even defeat a human!" He let her go and stood back, frowning ferociously. Mutters began in the crowd but quickly dissipated as Zucchini also stepped forward.

"Your King is right! Our race has become weak! It is no wonder that Frieza has set his beady little eyes upon our race!" Zucchini took her place beside Vegeta and looked down her nose at the high-ranking members of saiyan society. "Once our race was unstoppable!" Mutters of agreement were heard and she continued. "Once we controlled the majority of the known universe! Our armies consisted of super-Saiyajins! Unstoppable killing machines that were feared and revered across the world! Now…now we haven't seen a super-Saiyajin in several millennia! All we have our memories!"

"Three hours of training is will become mandatory! All saiyan will be required to enlist in the Saiyajin army - any saiyan failing to do so will be punished according to the old ways." Vegeta met Zucchini's eyes and they smirked at one another with a sudden understanding. Still in sync they turned and strode into the waiting luxury transporter, the door closing behind them abruptly silencing the menagerie of emotions that were flowing from the temple.

~*~

Bulma twisted her hair nervously around her finger, her other hand tapping on her leg as the Ice-jin doctor smiled calmly at her, shuffling the papers on the desk and trying to look calm. Next to Bulma, Ilandra was staring straight ahead with an oddly pleased stare, her heart pounding in her chest as she replayed what the good doctor had just said.

"Are you…I mean…could there be a mistake?" Bulma's whispery voice trailed off and she cleared her throat loudly before attempting to speak again, her fingers tapping faster on her leg. "Are you…sure…absolutely sure that the baby is a saiyan?" Her wide blue eyes pleaded with the doctor to take back what she had said.

"Oh yes," The ice-jin leaned forward and flashed a razor blade smile, "the test was quite conclusive. It appears that your species, my dear, are able to copulate with almost every other alien species within the galaxy. It's astonishing really, but yes, it is most definite that the child is a saiyan." The doctor looked at the paper and then looked back up again, a sneaky gleam in her eye. "It's a little boy too, how nice."

Bulma whimpered fearfully and clutched her stomach, shaking her head as the whispery voice laughed manically behind her, insanely pleased with this development. She opened her mouth and tried to speak but no words would come out. She could hear a rushing sound in her ears as her heart pounded faster, her eyes rolled wildly as she imagined what Vegeta would do to her, if he ever caught her, now that she was pregnant. With a lurching rock the room spun crazily and the rushing sound in her ears drowned out the voices of Ilandra and the doctor.

"I don't want a baby…" Bulma muttered wildly, lowered her face into her hands as sobs racked her body. "I don't want it…" Her voice cracked and Bulma began to cry in earnest, frightened of the tiny life growing inside of her and what it might do to her.

Ilandra exchanged a look with the doctor and scooted closer to her lover, wrapping a concerned arm around her shoulder and pressing her head against Bulma's affectionately. She smoothed Bulma's hair back and snuck a glance at the doctor again as she began to speak in a calm even voice.

"Its okay Bulma, everything is going to be fine. You'll see…"

Bulma's hear jerked up and her eyes blazed at Ilandra. "No! I won't see and I don't want to see! I don't want that monsters child growing inside of me!" Her voice cracked and she whimpered again, shaking her head as tears ran freely down her skin.

"You're just upset Bulma, you don't mean that!"

"I do! I do mean it!" Bulma pulled away and rubbed her eyes as her crying began to subside. She lowered her flushed face into her hands and breathed evenly for a second or two before she looked up once more.

"You don't mean it!" Ilandra insisted. "You wouldn't hurt a tiny baby who hasn't done anything wrong! It's not his fault that his father is a sadist who gets off on raping slave girls." Ilandra's voice also broke, but with something other then fear. She moved closer to Bulma again and put her hand on her leg, gently comforting the distraught mother-to-be. "I'm going to take you to the med-bay, Bulma. I want you to get check out so we can make sure that you and the baby are in perfect health."

Bulma nodded slowly and sniffed. With Ilandra's gentle hands guiding her she stood up and they slowly began making their way out the room. Pausing on the threshold of the door Ilandra nodded at the doctor thankfully and then continued to slowly walk her love to the medical bay, a new plan beginning to bubble away in the depths of her mind.

~*~

Frieza chuckled as his daughter knelt before him, her glimmering white flesh sparkling under the throne room's harsh lights. "So, my daughter, the woman is carrying the bastard prince's child." Frieza waved away a slave who was carrying a tray of iced delicacies and stretched contently.

"Yes, my father." Ilandra straightened from her position and smiled wickedly at her sire, their fiery red eyes meeting in perfect understanding. "I had her sedated at the medical bay and the treatment to inseminate one of her eggs with your seed has already begun. The doctors have assured me that the process is infinitely quicker with some of the recent technologies we gained from the people on planet Ramah…"

"Yes, yes." Frieza waved his daughter silent and studied her for a minute longer. "So you've decided not to take the child out of her and put it in an artificial womb? Can I ask why?"

Ilandra's mouth twitched and she glanced about the room suspiciously, despite knowing full well that only insignificant slaves were present. "She's ill father, I don't want to cause any more trauma to her then I have to. It's enough that I'm implanting her with another embryo, I don't want to have to have to put her through an even more complicated medical procedure." The princess sighed and rubbed her forehead theatrically. "When the time comes I will explain what I have done…"

"I don't doubt that," Frieza inclined his head and chuckled before spitting out his next venomous phrase, "my only concern is what the girl will do when she finds out what you've done to her!"

Ilandra began to shake her head, "Father…"

"Because if what you say of her current mental state is true she may well turn against you when she discovers your betrayal." Frieza moved closer to his daughter and squeezed her shoulder affectionately. "Not that I doubt your ability to handle one little girl."

Ilandra looked into her fathers blazing eyes and smiled coldly. "Leave her to me, father. When the time comes she will welcome the birth of both the children, she just needs a little time to get used to the idea of having them." She tossed her lavender hair and stepped away from her father, flippantly shrugging as she continued to speak. "She is quite young you know." Ilandra looked around the lavish room with a feigned interest.

"Yes," Frieza slyly inserted himself in his daughter's line of vision and smirked. "Zarbon was telling me that she looked like a child. It is concerning, my daughter, that your tastes in women are becoming younger and younger…"

"Enough!" Ilandra snapped, glaring at her father with an annoyed look on her usually beautiful face. "Her age is not what attracts me, it is who…" Ilandra trailed off and made a frustrated sound. "I cannot explain it to you. You wouldn't understand what it's like to love someone."

Frieza inclined his head and stepped aside as he let the subject go. "True, I haven't been with anyone who I have loved, but I believe I know what you're talking about." The ice-jin yawned and swaggered back to his throne, seating himself with a small grunt. "All I ask is that when the saiyan child is born you hand him over to me."

"Oh don't worry, I have no interest in allowing that animal's child to be raised by my beloved Bulma." Ilandra smiled haughtily, bowed swiftly and then stalked away, her high heels clicking loudly on the polished marble floor.

~*~

A/N - Not much to say, my chapters always get out late nowadays! Just review tell me what you liked, what you hated. I myself don't think my writing style was very fluent in this chapter. The last scene in particular seemed a little haps-hazard but I couldn't seem to articulate what I wanted to write about, so I guess you get what I did write. Sorry!