CHAPTER 4
Dende rubs his chin thoughtfully, his gaze never leaving Bulma’s trembling form.
She hadn’t quite gotten over the shock of what had happened.
All this time, as Vegeta sought to calm her and his own racing heart, his mind raced with questions, all to which he had no answers to. Why does she have this power? How long has she had it? How was her youth restored? Why am I getting weaker?
“Mr. Popo?”
The black genie paused lifting his half full watering can up to look over at earth’s young guardian. “Yes Dende?”
“Do you perchance have any information to the sudden gain of Bulma’s powers?”
Popo thought, his mind remembering back to a time when Kami had been the Earth’s guardian. He nods once, his expression passive. “I do believe so… It happened around the time of Bulma’s birth.”
Vegeta’s ears pricked, fists clenched in anger. “WHAT DOES HER BIRTH HAVE TO DO WITH WHAT’S HAPPENING NOW?!” he cries, motioning to the very still form behind him.
Dende held up his hands in a non-aggressive manner, hoping to ease the raging prince’s emotions. “Vegeta, please, allow Mr. Popo to explain. This all occurred long before I’d become the guardian and I am just as eager to figure this out as you are.”
Oblivious to the others, Bulma looked to the heavens above, her hands folded at her lap. Like the night of her supposed attempt at suicide, her eyes clouded to a dull blue. Through parted lips, a voice that isn’t hers spoke in a thick Scottish accent. “Ye dinnae need to explain young God. I am fully capable of explaining myself.”
Throughout the entirety of the look out, a heavy silence blanketed itself over its few inhabitants, all attention focused upon the woman in their company.
The blue haired beauty rose with a royal’s grace, strolling towards them regally. “Ye ‘ave many questions and I know yer confusion. I cannot appear to you physically for I ‘ave grown weaker in these past few days. My life is nearing its end so you must listen to my words and heed them with caution.”
Vegeta opened his mouth to speak, only to have the pale hand of his mate covering it.
“I do not tolerate interruptions. This information ye are all about to receive will be the deciding result of your very lives.” With that said, Bulma took a slow step backwards, waiting for the three witnesses to signal their readiness.
Clearing his throat, Dende crossed his arms over his chest, looking to either side of him once. “You may continue.”
“Long before either of ye were born, many thousand years ago, the world was at war. When I was a young lass, I was called upon by the gods of earth. It so happened, that I was born destined to help end Earth’s pain and bring peace upon all nations. Forging their abilities together, the gods granted me immortality and I became the first known guardian. I was able, within the span of several hundred years, to destroy the evil that had poisoned the mind of humans, but in that time I’d become corrupt. How could I keep such a heavy task to meself? I had no choice, but I allowed my mind to be seized by the very evil that I’d sought to abolish. Several more years passed, and I traveled from place to place, hoping to discover my true purpose…it was at this time that I was confronted by the greatest of evils. She called herself, Xenon, the devourer of worlds. She’d come in search of a species, hoping to attain a power she thought to be rightfully hers. She was, after all in legend, the true mother of the saiya-jin.”
Vegeta could feel a cold shiver traveling up his spine, muscles stiffening with a hidden fear. He could remember faintly as a child, being told of a legend that had been passed among his people since their beginning. It was a story of a goddess who vowed revenge against them for defiling her, producing a legendary being that could surpass her strength with ease.
She’d threatened to devour the saiyajin if that one child were to be born and not given to her in homage of creating them. Of course, the legendary resisted and became the ruler of vegetasei, thus beginning a new generation with which his own blood is spawned from.
The prince closed his eyes briefly, reminiscing his childhood and the story of his people’s history, still listening to the words of Bulma’s possessor.
“I told her that any remnants of her people were surly not to be found here and I bade her to leave this planet. She fled, searching elsewhere in vain for what she desired. Peace had been restored, but knowing that she may return someday, I took my abilities more seriously. Alas, it was too late and because I’d allowed myself to be corrupted in the past, I was to go in search for someone to take my place.
It just so happened that the gods pitied me showed me the path of redemption, it was there that I found someone. She was a young woman in labor, lost in a storm with no knowledge of how she would return home. She begged for my help and I knew then, I’d found the key.
She made a bargain with me when her child was born, in exchange for my assistance, the baby would someday inherit my power. The baby’s spirit was strong and I knew I’d chosen well… It is this day that I pass on my guardianship to Bulma. Xenon has returned and threatens to consume what little of the saiyan race is left.”
She turns to the prince, her expression stern. “Vegeta, prince of the saiyajin, mate to Bulma Briefs, I warn you that your people are in danger. Bulma is the key to your survival and I will be here long enough to show her how to unlock her power. Someday, she shall become far stronger than I and it is you and your people who will make it happen. Tomorrow, at dawn, I will come for her. In her absence, you must live… Live for as long as you are able… Xenon is here…”
Upon the last utterance of her speech, Bulma’s body is thrust upward, levitating till the tips of her toes barely touched the ground. The presence of the mysterious woman left her body as a flash of light, draining itself from her open mouth and releasing it’s hold on her.
Bulma fell into Vegeta’s open arms, both mentally and physically weak from the ordeal. It was strange, but she’d been completely aware the entire time, scared that she had been left with such a burden. Luckily, she is reassured by the gentle nuzzle of her mate’s face in her hair. Perhaps being young again and saving the world isn’t so bad, considering that the saiyans have become a part of her life in more ways than one.
She will defend them with her life if she must.
*****
(Later that day, in the evening: Capsule Corp.)
The prince lies in his bed, cradling the nude form of his mate. Once they’d returned earlier that day, he’d taken her to the master bedroom and shown her how he loved her. If he is to die so soon and she wouldn’t be returning in time, he wanted to leave his legacy.
Feeling an overwhelming sense of dread, he held her tighter, strong arms circling her waist and resting his palms over her stomach. How could he ever tell her how truly much she means to him when faced with such a dilemma?
Silent tears are shed beneath hooded eyes, His inner turmoil suddenly pushing to the open. How would he fair in her absence? Would he survive?
The room is filled with a soft golden light. He does not fear this presence, but he resents the fact that HIS mate had been chosen. Of all people, why her? He looks down to gaze at her restored youth, remembering a time when she’d been so young such as this… There are good things that come with such offerings, but at the price of perhaps loosing his remaining people. Still, his tears fell. He ignores the small hand resting against his backside, knowing that the time had come all to soon.
“I wish I could have the pleasure of killing you for doing such a thing… but what good would that be when my own life hangs in the balance?”
“Your love her deeply,” came her reply. “Your tears are more than enough proof.”
He turned his head to look at her, teeth bared in threat. “You’d best watch yourself woman. If anything should happen to her!”
The woman shook her head, golden eyes twinkling. “I promise you that she and the gift you have bestowed upon her shall remain unscathed. But, there will be a time when she must fight alone and I will stress that point to her once the time is right. For now, it is time. We mustn’t stall any further… Time hangs in the balance.”
Slowly, the prince of saiyans rose from bed, fully aware of his unclothed state. He glared, daring her to say a word in his presence. Thankfully, she did not. All the better, he knew deep inside he felt like curling into a little ball and crying his heart out. Such emotions are for the weak and perhaps when he is alone he shall consider it… For now, he must show this woman whose status is higher. Technically, he is king due to siring two children, but for so long he’d been called prince, he feared changing his title, hating the assumed mockery the others may place him under. For now, he must lay low until the threat of Xenon has passed. He knows all to well that the beast of a goddess knows that he is royalty; she may even come for him first.
Stepping back, he reluctantly allows the woman to bath his mate in golden light, transporting them to an area on Earth where their training won’t be interrupted.
Softly, his spoke to her, his expression stern. “Take care of her. She matters to me…”
Before disappearing, those golden eyes met onyx, and with a great air of respect for him, she bowed her head. “You have my word, Vegeta no Ou…” (translation: 'King Vegeta')
To Be Continued…