The Princess

 Chapter 8: How She Survived

By: senzubean

I do not own Dragon Ball Z in any way. I make no profit from this story. I just wrote it for fun.

"Yes Bulma. My answer wont change no matter how many times you ask." He replied calmly, without any of his usual exasperation or crankiness.

"Oh." Bulma mumbled and stared at her lap. Abruptly, she raised her eyes to Recely, who was sitting directly across from her. "Then where the hell have you been?" She snapped nastily.

"Bulma!" Vegeta scolded.

"You told me she was killed when you were five? Obviously you were mistaken about that! So, where the hell was she?" Bulma snapped right back at him.

Vegeta was about to tell her that he didn't care. That it didn't matter. But his mother stopped him before he could.

"You have a right to know, Vegeta. I'm surprised you didn't ask."

Vegeta stared at her for a few moments, noting her pronunciation of universal words with a saiyan accent. A voice that he'd all but forgotten.

"How did you survive?" Vegeta eventually asked. "You looked dead to me."

Recely smiled. "You were very young and couldn't tell the difference. I was very close to dying but was lucky to have Sala and Tuce nearby. They helped me to a rejuvenation tank."

Sala snorted. "Yeah right, we were all lucky. Lucky that the Ginyu were a bunch of morons. They had scouters and everything and they didn't even check for escapees!"

"Well, I for one am grateful that they were unprofessional about it. But of course, they still managed to get what they came for." Recely replied and looked at her son. "I wish I had not have listened to Zorn and taken you with me right away. I had a gut feeling that leaving you at the Palace was a mistake." Recely stopped talking and tried to battle the sobs bubbling up from her throat.

"Taken me where, Mother? You know that Frieza would have tracked me down. There was no safe place from him."

"There was." Recely disagreed. "Zorn located it. After I was healed enough to leave the palace we all went to Planet Yuisgro. It's a very small planet in the Ghourdlo system."

Vegeta cocked an eyebrow. "I know that system. It was on Frieza's prospective planets list. But there was no Planet Yuisgro catalogued."

"Frieza's men were unable to locate it. Very few astronomers had. It was commonly mistaken for a moon orbiting the largest planet in the system. Yuisgro is a farming planet with only a few thousand inhabitants. The citizens lead simple lives with very little technology and before we came there, they had absolutely no means of defending themselves against invaders that pillaged their lands. As a handful of elite saiyans, we were welcomed with open arms."

"A hidden planet...." Vegeta mumbled in disbelief.

Recely slowly nodded. "Yes, Dearest. Frieza did not know about it, and he never found out. Of course we did have safe guards in case he ever did. I'm glad that we were never forced to leave. We've become quite fond of the people there." Recely smiled to punctuate that fact. Then her face fell back into solemnity. "But we never forgot about you, Vegeta. We followed you, looking for an opportunity to sneak you off back to our new home. The proper opportunity never arose and the older you got the harder it was to keep up with you."

Vegeta blushed a deep crimson, embarrassed at how many successive occupations he went on as a teenager and young adult.

"There were many times that we were so close. It almost drove me insane. That time on Frieza's ship...."

"Y..You were on Frieza's ship." Vegeta asked hesitantly, he thought carefully for a moment. "It was you there! I heard you! You yelled out my name!"

That was one instance Vegeta could remember in crystal clarity, despite the fact he had just been woken up by the commotion outside the cell he had been put in. That instance had always plagued him. He'd though he'd dreamt his mother calling out to him in that desperate, piercing voice. Now he understood what had happened. His mother had been plowing through the ship, fighting all of Frieza's men. She'd risked her life for him.

Vegeta went pale. "Y...you were actually there...that close." He blinked a few times trying to regain his senses so that he could continue in a more dignified manner, trying to ignore the gaping stares of his wife and children.

"Why?" Vegeta managed to articulate.

"Why was I there?" Recely asked she swallowed hard and lowered her eyes. "Your father believed that I was dead and I wanted to keep it that way. I was sure if he knew that I had abducted you from him that he'd seek us out. Then I learned how badly you had been adjusting to life with Freiza's, how you'd almost been killed. I wanted to get you out of there as soon as possible, so I went back to your father and demanded his assistance." She looked back up at her child sorrowfully. "He complied willingly and he and his best warriors accompanied me to Frieza's ship. Your father took his army to Frieza while I went to retrieve you." She explained carefully. "Th..They served their purpose well..your father and the elite." Recely clenched the cloth of her pant legs, unsuccessful in holding back her tears. "I knew what would happen to your father. I tried to convince myself that with all those elite with him he would have a chance, but I knew better. So did your father but he went anyway, knowing he was going to die. But I was wrong about him not wanting you to live with me; he wanted us to go to that planet together.I... I'm sorry that I took your father away from you, Vegeta." No longer could she hold back her sobs and she quietly hunched over in attempts to hide her actions. Sala got up to comfort her but was halted as Vegeta abruptly rose.

"B..but you didn't retrieve me. How did you survive Frieza's punishment?"

Recely tried to control her sobs and answer but Sala replied instead.

"Frieza wanted to make her suffer for such a traitorous act against him. Instead of killing her outright, he sent her to a recently occupied planet. It was devoid of practically everything necessary to sustain life. She was only there for two hours before Zorn was able to retrieve her and bring her home."

Vegeta stared at the floor silently. Slowly, his fists clenched and a low growling emanated from his throat.

"It all seems so simple." He practically snarled.

"It does, doesn't it?" Recely sobbed. "I'm sorry, Vegeta. I broke my promise to you."

He looked at his Mother's small body, wreaking mournful sobs. He struggled to set his face back to its natural form, the natural scowl that both he and his son had been born with. Eventually he released all the tension in his body. Although still angry at how everything had happened against his poor mother's attempts, he resigned to the fact that it was all in the past and, taking a deep breath, prepared himself for the future. He looked down at his mother as she wiped her eyes and suddenly felt a wave of fear pass over him.

"I..I'll go prepare a guest room." He announced and quickly disappeared down the hall. Trunks, Bra and Bulma all gaped at him, shocked.

"Vegeta!" Bulma finally exclaimed and ran after him.

Bra and Trunks just stared after them. Bra whimpered slightly, never seeing her father this upset.

Recely desperately wiped her eyes and slowly sat up, taking deep deliberate breaths.

Sala went back to her place on the sofa as soon as she was convinced that Recely had been consoled.

Everyone was silent save for the occasional gasp from Recely as she continued her attempt to control her emotions.

"I'm hungry." Trunks eventually stated quietly. "Is anyone else hungry?" He didn't wait for an answer and was in the kitchen seconds later fumbling with pots and utensils.

Bra, Sala and Recely sat in the living room, all staring at invisible points on the floor and walls. No one was making a sound.

Bra soon found her attention drift over to her grandmother. She studied her curiously. She loved her grandparents on her mother's side. She had always wondered if she would have loved her saiyan grandparents too. From the little information her father told her about her grandfather, Bra concluded that he was not the kind of person she would have liked to spend time with. Her father had not given her any information whatsoever about her grandmother though. He said he didn't remember. Now her grandmother was there for her to learn about directly. As she looked at her, relaying her speech in her mind, she decided that she did feel love towards this woman.

As soon as Bra had finished that thought, Recely's curiosity had also gotten he better of her and looked over at her grand daughter.

Bra quickly averted her gaze and blushed, embarrassed that she'd been caught staring.

"How did you get that bruise?" Recely asked forcefully. It was a tone that did not seem to indicate a request, or concern. It was as if were a demand. So, Bra promptly answered.

"One of those assassin guys did it earlier today."

"What?" Recely exclaimed. "Why was I not informed?" She continued and stood up.

"Vegeta took care of him." Sala replied.

Recely grumbled, slightly distressed at that fact. "Who was it?"

"Dobser." Sala said.

"The concealer?" Recely stated. "Polkrif has deployed his best even at this stage." She added gravely.

Sala chuckled. "Look on the bright side, he's already lost some of his best. If you ask me, things are working in our favor."

"I wouldn't say that just yet, Sala." Recely disagreed. "His best...." She looked down at Bra, who was trying her best not to appear terrified in reaction to this conversation.

"What kind of power do you possess, Bra?"

Bra looked at Recely embarrassed. She knew that compared to the rest of her royal family, she did not come close to measuring up. "I don't know why he would want me dead. I haven't reached the level of Super Saiyan."

Recely growled softly in displeasure. Not at Bra, but at Polkrif's belief in a power that was non-existent. Unfortunately, Bra could not read minds. She tried to sink as far back into the sofa as she could, feeling completely unworthy of the saiyan race.

"Vegeta! What is wrong with you?" Burma demanded and grabbed her husband's arm as he pulled all of the linen out of the hall closet. "You can't just leave your poor Mother in there to deal with this by herself. You need to talk to her." She pulled on his arm trying to get him to comply.

"I can't. I don't know what to say." He wrenched himself out of hr grasp and went into one of their many guest rooms and started to make the bed. Of course, having never made a bed before it was proving to be difficult.

Bulma watched him struggle, disturbed and worried by his drastic change in behavior. He was acting as if he was shy,or afraid.

Vegeta spat a curse as the corner of the bed sheet slipped off as he tried to secure the opposite one. He reached over to readjust it and Bulma caught his hand and held it.

"You didn't act like this when you found Sala. Why is your Mother different?"

Surprisingly Vegeta did not immediately dismiss her question. He stared at her hand in his then gently squeezed it and looked at her face.

"As a boy, Mother did for me what you did for me as an adult." Vegeta explained. "You cared about me. In my entire life, only you and my Mother took care of me and asked for nothing in return."

Bulma started to tear up, "Vegeta..."

He caressed her hand between his thumb and palm. "You don't know how much I appreciate what you did for me, Bulma. I have never understood why you chose to help me in the first place. I didn't deserve it. I decided a long time ago that I had to repay you for giving me that chance and so I've tried to be a better husband and father and I know that I'm not trying nearly hard enough. But you see, with Mother I can't repay what she did for me. I can't be a better son for her. I can never reclaim the innocence that I possessed as a child and it was that innocent child she loved, not what I became with Frieza. So, tell me. How I am to say that to one of the two women I love so much."

Bulma wiped tears from her eyes. " If Trunks or Bra ever destroyed a planet, would you stop loving them?"

Vegeta scowled. "I don't see how that question is supposed to help? Trunks and Bra would never do that."

"Just pretend if they did."

"I can't pretend that, they would never do such a thing."

"Fine!" Bulma spat in frustration. "Then what if they did something you objected to? Would you stop loving them?"

Vegeta sighed exasperated. "I could never stop loving the children."

Bulma smiled. "That's because you're a parent and you love them unconditionally."

"Hmph!" Vegeta spat annoyed pulling his hand from Bulma's. "There was never a question as to whether Mother still loved me or not. My question is whether or not I deserve her love and the answer is no!" Vegeta got up off the bed and crossed the room to an open window.

"I need some time alone, Bulma. Take care of my mother for me." With that he disappeared into the night air. Bulma was left kneeling on the bed, holding her hand to her chest.

"Vegeta...."

Back in the living room, not much had changed. Recely and Bra had started to converse, but it was broken up with lengthy breaks of silence.

"Hey Recely," Sala asked during one such break. "Where did you leave the ship? These earthlings aren't used to anything other-worldly."

"It's alright. I left Letta with...Letta!" Recely jumped off the sofa.

As if on cue, a ruckus broke out in the kitchen.

"Let me go!" a voice yelled from the kitchen, coupled with the sound of dishes and pots smashing and clanging to the floor.

"Not until you tell me who you are!"

Recely, Sala and Bra ran from the living room to inspect the disturbance. There was Trunks trying to wrestle down a wriggling and contorting opponent. The door to the back yard swung freely in the breeze, indicating that Trunks had caught his prisoner outside.

"Let me go! Or I'll kick your ass!" the adversary, a female exclaimed.

Sala burst out laughing.

"Just try it, Letta! I dare ya!"

Letta growled viciously. "Shut up Sala! At least I'm not stupid!"

Sala scowled. "That's it. I've had enough of you. Kill her, Trunks."

"Huh?" Trunks and Letta mumbled simultaneously.

Recely sighed annoyed. "It's alright, Trunks. It's just Letta. She's part of our family."

"Oh, Sorry." Trunks exclaimed and let Letta drop to the floor.

Letta jumped to her feet. "Just Letta?!" She exclaimed, appalled. "Just Letta who chauffeurs you around the universe! Just Letta who creates all those fancy technologies for you! Just Letta who gets left alone in the middle of nowhere guarding a huge, inconspicuous space ship wondering what the hell happened to her family!"

"I'm sorry, Letta. We've been occupied here with something very important. " Recely replied over her sister's escalating voice.

Letta shrugged. "As long as you're safe. What is this place anyway?" She scanned the room and looked right at Trunks.

"Say...you look awfully familiar!"

Sala, Trunks and Bra were all floored. Only Recely maintained her air of calmness.

"Who do you think he looks like?"

Letta studied trunks intently for a second or two. "Well, he looks like a twisted version of Vegeta. His face is practically identical, don't you think?"

Recely smiled. "Yes. Vegeta has been living on this planet ever since Frieza's demise. He did not die as we had believed. This is his son, Trunks."

Letta stared at trunks wide eyed.

"I can't believe it." Letta stated quietly and turned to Recely. "How could we have made that mistake?"

Recely returned a defeated look not having an answer.

It was early morning, the sun had not yet risen. Vegeta landed softly in his backyard and stared at his darkened home. He did not want to return, but knew that he couldn't just ignore the situation. His mother was the one person he had been thankful wasn't around to see his past misdeeds. Why did she have to come back right after he'd finally put his terrible past behind him?

Why couldn't she have come back when he'd wanted her to?

He leapt up onto the balcony as naturally as if he'd stepped through a doorway. He turned and leaned over the rail and decided to ponder some more before venturing into his bedroom where he would undoubtedly be lectured on how rudely he had acted and how his wife did not appreciate the awkward position he had put her in. For once in his life he was actually sorry to inconvenience her but he doubted that he could make her understand his point of view. Not without divulging intricate details of his past and he wasn't willing to go there.

His shoulders slouched and he heaved a heavy sigh.

"Hello, Vegeta."

He started and quickly turned to the dark corner where his mother was standing. She pushed herself from the wall and walked into his view. Vegeta froze in shock at her sudden appearance, knowing that he had to do what he did not feel ready to attempt. He desperately searched his mind, trying to pick something, anything to say.

"Is something troubling you, Dearest?" Recely prompted, sounding a tad hurt because of her son's refusal to acknowledge her

"Of course!" Vegeta was surprised to find himself practically yelling. The anger he felt taking precedence over the many other emotions enveloping him at this point. It was the natural choice, the emotion he was most experienced in dealing with. "How could I have been so blind? I didn't see you before my very eyes!"

Recely looked at him sympathetically. "That was my fault not yours. You weren't expecting me to be alive. It was my responsibility to reunite us and I failed." She lowered her eyes to the ground. "I should have tried harder."

"Tried harder? You should have stopped trying altogether!"

"You are my son, I would have never stopped!" She sighed. "If I had've known there were such a thing as Dragonballs in this universe...I would've gone after them and wished for you to come back to me."

"Would you have asked the dragon to abolish me of evil?" Vegeta demanded seriously getting to his point as quickly as he could.

Recely's eyes narrowed in frustration. "Why would I? You're not evil."

"Hmph!" Vegeta scoffed in disgust. It was obvious that his Mother held the opinion that Bulma said she would. He felt an uncontrollable urge to fly away again. The only thing holding him back was the fact that Recely was sure to follow.

"You were never evil!" Recely argued forcefully.

"Not even when I was destroying the people of the planets I was sent to occupy? Not even when I destroyed the inhabitants of planets Frieza didn't order me to? I enjoyed it Mother. That's just fact." Vegeta glared sternly, desperately trying not to falter. "I..I failed you. I tarnished your memory with the blood of innocent victims. What kind of Legacy have I created for you? How can you still love me after I destroyed your pride?"

"Pride?" Recely erupted. "Pride! Do you mean pride as a saiyan? I had no pride in that sense but I did have pride as a mother! I destroyed my own sense of pride when I failed to protect you! What kind of mother is inept at protecting her child? An unfit one that's what! I never wanted a legacy I wanted my son! I don't care what you did. If you destroyed a planet tomorrow I still wouldn't care." Recely yelled the last part of her statement more forcefully than the rest and looked up at her son with a tear-streamed face. "If anyone should be angry it should be you."

Vegeta gaped at her for a few moments, remembering her well concealed fiery temperament that rarely surfaced, but was violent when it did.

"It wasn't your fault." he replied meekly.

"I should have seen it coming sooner. I should have taken you away when your father started mistreating you" Recely replied and fell to her knees mournfully. "Nappa was right. I was just a foolish little girl from the woods."

Vegeta stood there, staring at her as once again, she struggled to control the upsurge of emotion. Unable to bear the sight of her any longer he turned his head to the gradually illuminating sky.

"Vegeta," she stated calmly. "I don't want to argue about this anymore. It's a waste of time. It doesn't matter whose to blame. It doesn't matter what happened in the past. What matters is our future together. Forget about trying to determine whether or not we deserve each other. The fact is we are meant to be together." She looked up at him with desperate red eyes. "Promise that you'll do this for me. Because I don't want to leave you again."

Vegeta watched as she tried to keep her face from contorting into mournful sobs. He still felt unworthy of her but decided that if there was a way to repay her for the anguish he caused this promise would be as close as he would come.

"I promise ,Mother. I would be honored if you became a part of my family." With that he extended a hand to her. Recely smiled and took it. As soon as she was off the ground she flung herself around Vegeta's neck and started to sob into his chest.

Vegeta stood there helplessly. Again, not knowing how to react. Wondering if all this hugging was going to become a frequent event and if so, just how he was going to maintain his warrior's air.