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    Chapter 01 ► Chapter 02     Chapter 03     Chapter 04     Chapter 05     Chapter 06     Chapter 07 Bulma slipped in her white robe with a yawn. Massaging her neck to rub the numbness out of her muscles, she took a glimpse at the sunlight pouring through the half-closed shutters. The soft scent of soil and flowers had threaded their way inside the house, courtesy of the kind nature of Flerowei. She definitely liked the place much more than Vegitasei. The lush vegetation here was the exact opposite of the stony bareness of the capital. She sometimes wondered why the Saiyan people had chosen to build their main town at the edge of a dusty desert surrounded by massive mountains instead of picking up a green peaceful location like Flerowei. Then she guessed, Saiyans were just Saiyans and they certainly didn't see the point of sweetness.

Bulma had come here with the hope that she would find a cure for Trunks. He had been poisoned with a plant and she had the firm belief that only a plant could reverse the damages done by a plant. Therefore, she had considered that Flerowei’s flora would be a good start for her research. She had asked her Dad to come too. He was no biologist of course, but he was still a cunning, curious scientist and, most of all, she enjoyed having him around.

He had flown from Earth with Bulla and Bulma's stay in Flerowei had turned out more like a nice family time than like working time. Far from the political pressure of the court, she was actually feeling like getting some vacation.

She was missing her son though. She had been missing him ever since Saiyans had got a grip of the kid’s life, but it had gotten worse in the previous year. He had been away a lot, either looking for Goten, or on awful dangerous missions. She had nearly lost him on the last one and she was craving to have him back and safe by her side.

It won't be long now, she repeated to herself like she did every day.

Her only concern was the wedding. She had been the main designer of this union. The relationship between Vegitasei and Earth had been going down the hill over the years and she had grown worried at the prospect of her homeland's invasion. Picking up an Earthling to be the next Queen of Vegitasei had stood as the best solution to guarantee peace in the long run.

When she had suggested the idea to Vegeta, he’d given his Royal agreement on the condition that Trunks would accept his mother’s plan as well. And Trunks had. Bulma was aware that he hadn’t given it much thought at the time. Goten had disappeared and Trunks wasn’t exactly himself. He had been willing to act according to a Prince's duty but Bulma was pretty sure that he had no clue about what he was getting himself into. Now she was praying that the marriage would work out smoothly. As far as she knew, Gohan had said the girl was nice and it was a good point to keep in mind.

The voice of her daughter in the distance snatched her out of her musing. She realized that it was already late. She had obviously overslept. She exited hurriedly her room and came across a young Saiyan female.

“Good morning, Your Majesty,” the girl greeted her in a soft voice.

“Good morning, Ochu. I'm awfully late for my call with the King. Would you get me a coffee, please?”

Ochu meekly bowed her head and walked away. The maid was unusually short and frail for her race, but she was also unusually graceful and gentle and it was a perfect match for the Earthling Queen.

Once in her office, Bulma frantically shoved the mess of her desk aside to clear her access to the computer and turned it on. With a glance at the clock, she quickly calculated that Vegeta was on the verge of going to bed on the other side of the planet. With some luck, she would catch him in flight.

She was surprised to find him still fully dressed as his picture appeared on the screen. “Not in bed, yet?” she asked.

He huffed with a tired smile. “And what about you? Just out of bed, I bet.”

Bulma couldn't repress a chuckle. “Good guess. You look exhausted though. Maybe you should slow down.”

“Today was a rough day but don’t worry for me,” Vegeta shrugged. His words were meant to quell her concern but Bulma knew better. She had learned a long time ago that this man was incapable of admitting his weakness and there was nothing she could do to change that.

“Any news of Trunks? Did you talk to Goku?” she asked.

“Trunks’s fine,” Vegeta replied with an unaffected face.

The way he managed to hide his every emotion still amazed Bulma after so many years by his side. He acted unconcerned while she was dying to see their son. “I wish I could talk to him. He was so devastated about Goten’s death. Bringing his body back must be hell to him. When will they return? Three weeks or so?”

Vegeta shifted nervously. “They didn’t schedule their departure so far. I’ll let you know when they do.”

Bulma stuck her chin in her palm with a dreamy smile. “I can't wait to have my two children around. I'm looking forward to our trip to Earth to get Trunks' bride. A good old celebration will do us some good after all the dramas.”

She was interrupted by Ochu entering the room with her coffee. The queen took the mug and drank a sip from it while the maid silently left the room.

“And how’s your work doing?” Vegeta resumed.

She shrugged. “Our research for Trunks' cure is turning rather disappointing so far but we’re testing something new today. I have good hopes.”

She had said that in a halfhearted tone denying whatever expectations she was claiming to have though.

“Huh, you got to try anyway. We can't leave him like this forever. This poison has eaten all his former strength away and you know how much he's going to need it back,” Vegeta reminded her.

She rubbed her eyes in a weary gesture. “Don't worry. I won't forget anytime soon,” she sighed. “Do you want to speak to Bulla?” she carried on.

He shook his head. “It’s too late now and I still have some business to handle. I'll talk to her next time. I’ll call you back.”

“Fine. Good night, Your Majesty.”

Bulma's picture disappeared and the screen turned black. Vegeta stared at it blankly, suddenly seized by an unusual feeling of loneliness.

Bulma and he had always been a team. The best team Saiyans could ever hope for to rule them. While Kakarott had been the one handing him the Crown, Bulma had been the one teaching him how to wear it.

However, power had worn out their passion.

They still cared for each other and they even had sex once in a while, but they lived separately most of the time and he could feel that Bulma missed her homeland more and more over the years. He even suspected that she had a lover on Earth.

He hadn’t been willing to check that intuition though. He considered that standing by his side had cost her enough to grant her a secret garden and if he had to be totally honest, he hadn’t been the most faithful husband either.

Either way, if Bulma was fooling around with someone else, Vegeta trusted her not to embarrass him with a bastard. It was the most important thing. The rest only belonged to them.

That twisted, unspoken arrangement had never altered the strength of their connection but lately, their closeness seemed to fade away all the same.

Bulma had been shaken up by Goten's death. She was getting tired of the brutality of the Saiyan world. Her Earthling side was taking the upper hand and she longed for tranquility. She was no longer interested in Vegitasei's matters and Vegeta even wondered if Trunks' wedding hadn’t been a way for her to ensure her own succession.

She was silently drifting away.

Seeing their team slowly falling apart affected Vegeta more than he would ever admit, but deep down, he understood and accepted her move. Thus, little by little, he had stopped telling her about the serious, ongoing matters of Vegitasei while she had stopped demanding to be part of any political issues.

For that reason, she had been served up the official version of Trunks’ trip. She was sure that he had left with Kakarott to recover Goten’s corpse that had been eventually discovered on Planet Prius and that they were about to come back with the dead body.

She didn’t know that Goten’s body was indeed still nowhere to be found and that Trunks had decided to go to Prius in a last attempt to find a trace of him.

Now, while Kakarott was supposed to watch their son, he had let the kid loose in the most unfriendly part of the universe, Outer Space, and Vegeta had to lie to Bulma, telling her that Trunks was fine although he might as well be dead.

The possibility stung Vegeta’s heart and he started to tap absently his fingers against the table.

In normal times, Vegeta wouldn’t have any doubt about Trunks’ ability to take care of himself but since his last mission, some fucking unknown poison was coursing through the youngling’s veins, turning him into a weak pain-ridden being. He was vulnerable while the Crown’s foes had never been stronger and to make it worst, Saiyans had no authority whatsoever in Outer Space.

What the hell went through Kakarott’s head to leave the boy on his own? The question was haunting Vegeta. He had always granted Kakarott more trust than he had ever given to anyone else. Kakarott had always been his most reliable ally, but Vegeta had recently come to doubt everything and everyone.

He had become aware that something was brewing in Vegitasei.

It had all begun with Goten’s disappearance. Although Vegeta had claimed the boy had simply been killed in the crash of his ship, some details of the story didn’t quite hang together. Kakarott’s family had been so focused on looking for him that they had overlooked some oddities in the facts.

First, the ship had been rerouted from their original path and the staff of the air fleet’s control hadn’t notified the abnormality until the connection with the crew broke off permanently, very far away from their assigned route. Vegeta had tried to know why no one had signaled the unusual drift of the ship, but he still got no clear answer. The two soldiers who had kept in touch with Goten’s ship were gone. Plain and simple. Vegeta had given orders to have them sought but it had been nearly one year and he had little hope to get ahold of them by now. They had left reports but none of them mentioned the reasons why they had ignored the change of route of the ship.

The second weird detail of the story was the fact that, of all people, pirates had eventually picked up the pieces of the ship. Pirates could sometimes lurk at the fringe of the Kingdom, but they were too afraid of Saiyans to go very far inside Vegitasei’s territory. Yet, the last recorded location of Goten’s ship was far from the borderline. Pirates weren’t supposed to wander in that area. Which meant that either the ship had kept going after the loss of the connection with Vegitasei and had crashed somewhere near the borderline where Pirates eventually came across the remains, or that, against all odds pirates had, for some reason, been bold enough to go get the wreck of the Saiyan ship in the middle of Vegitasei’s territory – without being caught or spotted. Both possibilities perplexed Vegeta.

He still couldn’t say what had exactly happened that day when Goten went missing, but he knew for sure that it was no accident.

Then, there had been Kenam. He’d sent his son to this lively trap and Trunks almost died there. He came back crippled and if it hadn’t been for Gohan being around by sheer luck, there would be no Prince of Vegitasei anymore. The scientists had sworn the planet was a peaceful, safe place when Trunks had been assigned to that mission but all their reports turned out to be totally wrong and Vegeta couldn’t believe that it was all due to some misjudgment.

Vegeta had pissed many people by choosing an Earthling as consort and it was no secret that some Saiyans didn’t take it well to have hybrids as heirs to the throne. An underground group called Saiyan Flame was even claiming to end this heresy, but all this unrest had never stood as a real concern. As a matter of fact, no one had enough might to overthrow Vegeta’s family, especially with Kakarott and his sons by their side. The current royal bloodline was way above any other fighters and for that reason, Vegeta hadn’t pictured that his authority would ever be openly threatened.

He was starting to seriously reconsider his position.

He hadn’t come to the point of believing that Kakarott could be part of a plot against him, yet. 

The connection they had forged as they had fought Freezer was too strong and too personal. Even though they had somehow grown apart over the years, Vegeta knew the bond was still alive and unaltered. Furthermore, Kakarott was a straightforward nature. He liked clear things and the subtleties of politics scared him off. If he wanted Vegeta down his throne, it would be done by now.

Yet, the moron could have been played. Trunks’ disappearance was too great of an opportunity for whoever wanted to question the royal line of succession, especially while he was about to wed an Earthling woman. It couldn’t be a simple coincidence.

What if Goten’s crash had just been bait? A first push to have Vegeta’s power crumble down?

Vegeta had never checked out Kakarott’s acquaintance and Bardock had suggested that his son might have lost his mind after his kid’s death. What if some sly bastards had taken advantage of Kakarott’s grief to use him against Vegeta?

Kakarott had helped Trunks to obtain the Council’s permission to travel to Prius in search for Goten instead of joining his future bride on Earth. And the warrior had also volunteered to go with his Prince. Did Kakarott have some ulterior motives then?

Vegeta's fingers stopped thrumming the desk and he closed his fist tight at the realization that he was somehow getting stripped of everything. His wife and his son seemed to be already out of reach. What about Kakarott?

The question knotted his guts.

Standing up, he wearily unclasped his armor to take it off. He dropped it carelessly to the ground. Its weight had become so familiar that he nearly felt naked without it but he didn’t need his official shell to go see Kakarott. What he needed was honesty and the best way to get it was to be himself. He needed a bit of truth for once and Kakarott was certainly the only person able to provide him that.

Vegeta headed to an elevator hidden behind a curtain. Pressing his palm against the control pad, he opened the doors of the cabin and stepped in.

Few people knew about the King’s private elevator which made it a useful way to discreetly roam the Palace. No one saw him in or out of his apartment when he used it.

As he reached the lowest floor, Vegeta entered a dim narrow corridor leading to the prison. The soldiers assigned to this place were selected for their loyalty to the Throne, but each time Vegeta crossed one of them, he couldn’t help but wonder if they wouldn’t end up babbling about his night visit to jail.

The guards saluted him like they usually did though. One of them trotted meekly in his wake, waiting for him to ask for whatever he needed.

“Where is he? I bet you put him in the best cell.” Vegeta mumbled without a single glance at him.

“The Royal one, Your Majesty,” the soldier confirmed sheepishly.

The Royal cell was reserved for high-ranked or Royal prisoners. It was larger and more comfortable than jail should be and when he had become King, Vegeta had ordered that it shouldn’t be used anymore since he deemed that high-ranked or Royal Prisoners should on the contrary get the most rotten cell as possible.

However, it seemed that the guards couldn’t bring themselves to deny Kakarott some regards even if that meant troubles for them. Vegeta couldn’t quite blame them and he didn’t word any disapproval.

The soldiers unlocked the door and let him in.

The Royal cell was indeed wide and clean. The prisoner even had a table and a private water closet at disposal while the leftovers of a meal more plentiful than an average inmate’s dinner were lying around. In the back of the room, a large bunk was fixed to the wall.

Kakarott was fully awake, sitting across the bed with one ankle dangling above the ground and his other leg folded in front of him. He was wearing a stern, daring expression, and his eyes locked on his visitor as soon as he came in.

Vegeta clenched his jaw. The warrior had obviously sensed him coming. “Leave us alone and close the door,” the King ordered coldly.

The guards packed behind him immediately obliged and as soon as he heard the door slammed shut, Vegeta reached out to grab a chair and drag it to him. He sat down and crossed his legs as calmly as possible.

Kakarott stretched out his arm to show the ki-suppressor bracelet around his wrist. “Seriously?” he asked in a resentful tone.

Both men were aware that such a toy would never be enough to keep Kakarott under control, but he hadn’t removed it. Vegeta felt somehow relieved to see him so respectful of his authority.

It was absurd all the same though. Vegeta couldn’t deny it. Having Kakarott in that jail was a pathetic joke, but he had screwed up and Vegeta was the King after all. “Seriously. That’s proceeding. I remind you that you’re under arrest,” he replied in an unaffected voice.

Kakarott huffed. “Bullshit. You’d better apologize when Trunks shows up,”

Anger overwhelmed Vegeta at the nonchalant statement. “How can you be so sure that he will? You’ve seen him! He needed a stick to walk when he came back from Kenam. A fucking stick, do you hear me? Like an old man, while he’s barely twenty –“

“He’s much stronger than you give him credit for. He left with the will to find Goten and you of all people should know what willpower can do,” Kakarott cut off.

“Willpower never cured poison,” Vegeta spat.

“Willpower can rule bodies and you know it better than anyone,” Kakarott shot back.

Vegeta grunted dismissingly and looked away to keep his composure.

“There’s something more to it,” Kakarott stated.

Vegeta frowned wordlessly, turning back to his companion out of curiosity.

Kakarott was still gazing at him instantly. Studying him. “You’re not only angry. You’re afraid,” he eventually claimed.

“The hell are you talking about, now?” Vegeta hissed.

Kakarott straightened to sit on the edge of the bunk and put his feet back to the ground. “Last time I saw fear in your eyes – What’s going on, Vegeta?“

Concern had taken over the tease in his tone and Vegeta couldn’t bear with it. How was it that a buffoon like him could read him so well? Was he so obvious? “I’m not afraid,” he snorted.

Kakarott scowled in impatience. “Say it. Is it about Trunks?”

Vegeta pinched his lips in hesitation. For the first time in his life, he was wondering if he could trust Kakarott and it was chilling. If not Kakarott, could he trust anyone at all? He squinted at him guardedly. “Did anyone suggest you the idea of sending Trunks away in Outer Space?”

Kakarott’s eyes widened in shock. “How dare you ask? Should I remind you that I was the one to go and get him on Kenam? If it hadn’t been for me, he would have died here without a doubt!”

Vegeta remained unaffected by his plea though. He shook his head and leaned closer to him. “That doesn’t mean anything. Gohan was on Kenam too and the reason why you went to rescue them was to save your boy first and foremost. But maybe someone lured you into thinking that Trunks could – I don’t know – somehow find Goten in Outer Space.”

Kakarott’s features broke into an offended expression. “I’m not stupid, Vegeta. Goten’s death was a hard blow, but I can still think straight. I know the dangers of Outer Space and I would never endanger Trunks by sending him alone out there.“

“Even to get a chance to find a trace of your own son?” Vegeta questioned warily.

“Even for that,” Kakarott replied forcefully.

“Then what happened on Prius? How come my son has found himself wandering through Outer Space with no protection and no connection to the Saiyan world?” Vegeta resumed.

Kakarott clasped his hands in unease. He felt cornered. Vegeta wouldn’t like the truth but the way he doubted his warrior’s – his friend's loyalty was too hurtful and Kakarott had no other choice than to explain himself. “I never told him to go to Outer Space. It wasn’t the deal. He was supposed to stay on Prius and investigate while I checked his ki regularly,”

“His ki?” Vegeta grunted. “His ki is stuck inside him since he came back from Kenam. Who are you trying to fool?”

“That’s not true. I trained him during our trip. Ask his whiny of a Second about that if you don’t believe me. He was able to fly again. His ki was weak but it was alive nevertheless and it was enough to keep track of him,” Kakarott retorted grumpily.

Vegeta slowly leaned back in his chair, mulling over Kakarott’s arguments. “Why didn’t you just go with him?”

Kakarott frowned and looked down at the floor. “I had noticed that people wouldn’t talk to Saiyans. Let’s face it Vegeta, we’re not the popular type, so – Huh”

“So you thought ‘Hey, Trunks looks so Earthling, not to mention he’s so weak. That’s my luck to have him asking questions in my place.’ Is that it?” Vegeta cut off bitterly.

Kakarott nodded meekly.

“Which implied that he had to stay incognito and have no one to protect him by his side,” Vegeta added in exasperation.

Kakarott rubbed his head awkwardly. “Yeah, that was the idea and I keep thinking it worked. He would never have left Prius without telling me if it hadn’t been to follow a serious lead.”

“A lead?” Vegeta huffed. “Seriously? A lead to what? And even if he had any piece of information about what happened to Goten, what does it change if he can’t turn back to share it with us.”

Kakarott bowed his head in defeat. “I know. I screwed up. I lost track of him. I’ve been caught off guard when I felt him flying away from the planet.”

The confession was a bit too much for Vegeta and he had to rub his face with both palms to numb his urge to strangle the moron plain and simple. “Caught off guard,” he repeated in a disbelieving grumble.

Glaring at the prisoner, he resumed. “I trust you to keep my son, heir to the Saiyan Throne, safe and you get caught off guard, is that it?”

Kakarott pouted meekly. “Well –“

“What ship? Who was with him then? Did you even care to investigate a little?” Vegeta interrupted him in a frustrated roar.

Kakarott lifted his hands as if they could shield him from the fury he was facing. “Of course, I did,” he hastily confirmed. “I searched the security system of Prius Harbor and I figured that he went on a dingy ship with an Earthling girl. See? An Earthling girl isn’t dangerous, is she?”

Vegeta scowled in suspicion. “An Earthling? In Prius? Quite unlikely. Did you identify her?”

“Yeah. And I put a big reward on her head. I hope we can get ahold of her pretty soon,” Kakarott nodded.

“Great. I hope you specified you wanted her alive,” Vegeta groaned.

“I did and I asked Teeb to stay on Prius to check out for any news of the bounty hunters. These guys are dreadful trackers. It shouldn’t be long before we found her and know a little bit more about Trunks,” Kakarott concluded.

Vegeta pouted in disbelief. “Outer Space is vast though. So, who’s that girl?”

Kakarott caressed his chin thoughtfully. “Huh, that’s the weird thing. She was part of the group of people that got banished from Earth after they stole the dragon balls and prevented us from using them to beat Freezer.”

Vegeta’s face froze in a worried frown. “Are these people still alive somewhere?”

“They should be since they wished for eternal youth,” Kakarott pointed out. “Do you think she would want to harm Trunks as a sort of retaliation for what happened to her?”

Vegeta closed his eyes and inhaled deeply. “Who knows? As if the enemies I have on Vegitasei weren’t enough.”

“You have enemies on Vegitasei?” Kakarott jumped.

Vegeta opened his eyes and considered his companion. Sometimes he craved to be like him. Careless and free. Going from a planet to another without questioning his doing. Kakarott had been away so much that he had never realized how oppressing it could be to wear the crown and he had remained the same after all these years.

Vegeta missed the time when they were fighting together with no other worries than winning the battle. He missed the true connection they had then. He missed Kakarott.

He leaned forward to him and beckoned him to reach out. As the warrior obliged in confusion, Vegeta grabbed the bracelet and opened it with a pressure of the thumb. The golden band dropped to the ground and Kakarott rubbed his wrist with a hiss at the strange sensation of his ki getting unleashed.

“I’m going back to my apartment. I have more space than I can use over there, so if you’re fed up with your four walls, you can instant-transmit yourself to me and get a true bed and a room with a window.”

Kakarrot looked up at him in excitement with a wide grin. “Really?“

“Nobody must know though,” Vegeta cut off as he stood up.

“Of course not.”

“The council would be very, very pissed,” Vegeta added with a smirk, heading for the door.     Chapter 01 ► Chapter 02     Chapter 03     Chapter 04     Chapter 05     Chapter 06     Chapter 07