thequeen8

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

Recely winced. Not because she was in pain but because she had inflicted pain on her child. Prince Vegeta rolled across the floor and slammed against the wall. Recely felt incredibly guilty. She didn't like training her son this way. She liked using words better but she had to train him in the Elite tradition, which was experience training.

The King had insisted she do this a week ago. He had told her that children who were trained properly at the Prince's age grew into extremely talented and powerful warriors. Recely didn't think the method mattered very much, but the King insisted and she knew that if she disregarded his wishes she wouldn't be spending any time with her child anymore. Besides, Recely thought and glanced at Nappa, who was monitoring the session, it's better than that ass-hole beating my little boy.

Vegeta lay on the floor motionless. It was the third time he'd trained with his mother and his father had been right. The prince did expect a more nurturing kind of training from his mother. He did have a very rude awakening.

Recely's heart ached, she wanted to comfort him, but she just couldn't with Nappa watching. For Nappa had the largest mouth of any male saiyan on the planet. Recely swore there was actually an old gossipy hag inside his massive exterior.

A few minutes passed and Vegeta did not get up. Recely was getting worried; he usually stood up quicker.

"Get up, Prince." Nappa instructed. No response. Recely panicked. She was sure she hadn't hit him that hard, but her son wasn't showing any signs of life.

"Get up, Prince, stop wasting time." Nappa ordered forcefully. Recely turned her neck and shot a warning glance at him. Nappa appeared shaken by the gesture. This somewhat surprised Recely. Nappa had always acted like he was better than she was. Humph, coward! He's seen the wounds I gave the King.

That's it! Recely decided. Enough of this. I'm the queen and his mother and I'll train him in the way I feel is best for him.

"I said this is enough." Recely replied, took her son by the hand and led him out of the room. As she had suspected, her mate had not listened to her opinions at all the week before and had not rewarded their son for his exceptional behavior in any way. She decided that it was time for her to give him that reward.

Nappa shrugged and casually followed. He figured if the King had a problem he could take it up with his queen and not him, since it wasn't his decision to end training five hours early.

The King had returned from his meeting with Frieza in a bad mood. This wasn't unusual; Frieza always set King Vegeta in a bad mood. To make his agitation worse he'd found Nappa sweet-talking some ladies in the palace sitting room upon his return. The King demanded the young warrior why he wasn't training the Prince like he had been ordered and, of course, Nappa obediently told him who had cut the training session short.

So, the King immediately went to find his mate and voice his displeasure, but was stopped on the way to her chambers by the racket emanating from the prince's.

The King flung the doors open causing the laughter to cease. Prince Vegeta, his saiba man and Letta, who had obviously come for a visit, stopped their jumping on the bed and stared at the unwelcome guest.

"Hello, Papa." Vegeta said unconcerned. His mother had given him permission to play.

"What the hell do you think you're doing? That bed is for sleeping not jumping!"

"It's my bed and my room and I'll do what I want in it." Vegeta saucily replied.

The vein in the king's forehead throbbed as he tried to contain his rage in front of Letta, who was slowly creeping off the bed.

"Letta, go find something else to do." The King said calmly. Letta quickly finished getting off the bed. Thankful for the dismissal; she hurried out of the room.

"But we were playing!" Vegeta protested in frustration. He rarely had a playmate and was angered that the privilege was being taken away. He didn't understand what he'd done to make his father angry. It was his mother who stopped training early, not him, and she said he could do whatever he wanted for the rest of the day.

"I don't care what your mother said! You know better, Vegeta. You know that I expect you to train by yourself when there is no one around for you to train with." The King angrily interrupted his son's excuse. Then he folded his arms and waited for a better excuse and an apology. What the Prince had to say did not please his father.

"But Mama said..." Vegeta began again in a meek voice. The King grabbed him by the front of his shirt and hoisted him into the air at arms length.

The Saiba man was angered by the king's rough treatment of Vegeta and lunged at the offender. Vegeta screamed for him to stop too late. The King batted the creature away with his free arm. It bounced off the floor then lay still, unconscious. Vegeta wailed in horror, he was too young to be able to decipher between unconscious and dead, so he feared the worst.

"Shut up!" The King said shaking him. "It's your own fault! What did I tell you about that thing?"

"Why are you constantly disobeying me?" the King demanded, still holding the child by the shirt.

"I wasn't disobeying." He took a deep breath about to attempt his explanation one more time. "Mama said that since I've been training so hard all the time and being so good that I deserved a break for today. Just for today, I promise I'll train real hard tomorrow, Papa. So, I didn't disobey you 'cause you didn't say that I couldn't. And as for Mysaiba, Mama said that I could play with him for just a little while. I was going to put him back outside before supper."

"You are the Prince of this planet, Vegeta. Someday you will be King. I'm getting sick of explaining this to you! You need to train every single day, no breaks! As King, I don't get breaks from running this Kingdom."

Vegeta's lip quivered in frustration. "But I did train today, we just stopped early. That's not so bad is it?"

"You said that I was the Prince and someday I will be the King and the King doesn't get breaks."

"Good, you were listening after all. You have to train everyday, all day. Breaks will make you weak. The Prince of all Saiyans can't be weak."

"Maybe I don't want to be the Prince of all saiyans then." Vegeta blurted out in anger.

With that the King threw his son off the floor, hard. The Prince cried out in fear rather than in pain. He pushed himself into a sitting position, took one look at his father's furious face and instinctively slid backwards across the floor. Which was a big mistake.

"Little weakling!" The King spat disgustedly at the Prince's retreat. "You don't deserve to be my heir!"

The King walked over to him slowly then kicked his son in the face, sending him flat on his back. The King then placed his foot on the Prince's outstretched tail. Vegeta didn't move or complain. He instinctively knew that he should remain perfectly still in this situation.

"You can't take back that little slip of the tongue with more words, Vegeta. You're going to have to prove to me that you're a worthy heir to my throne."

The King shifted his weight to apply more pressure to his son's tail. Despite a small gasp of surprise the Prince emitted he made no reaction. His father himself told him that to attack a saiyan in his weak spot was dishonorable. Vegeta had always considered his father an honorable man, the fact that he was acting in this way was worse than the pain he was inflicting.

"Papa, I'm sorry, it was mistake to say that! I promise that I won't ever complain again."

The king scowled at little Vegeta. He had told him that he didn't want words and that was all he was fighting back with. He wanted to see the anger he showed in his infancy, the power he had used to defend himself. The King put all his weight on his son's tail, popping the tiny vertebrae and inflicting pain that the child had never imagined possible.

"Papa stop, please!" Prince Vegeta cried out. The King furiously kicked him across the room. He slammed headfirst into the wall, leaving a massive dent, and lay motionless but not unconscious. The King waited for Vegeta to get up and attack him. He'd done more than enough to enrage the child. He didn't understand why the boy's defensive instincts hadn't kicked in yet.

Instead of Vegeta getting up he lay on the floor and began to sob uncontrollably. He knew that he shouldn't, that his father would find it completely unacceptable behavior, but he couldn't help it.

The King picked him up by the front of his shirt again then slammed him against the wall, eye level with his face.

"What the hell is the matter with you? I've been training you for months! " the King demanded. This wasn't the kind of Prince he wanted as his heir. "Are you afraid of me?" He added accusingly. Surely, if the boy was afraid of him then he'd be afraid of Frieza. That wouldn't do at all.

"B..b..be..cause..you..you're..m..mmm..my ..Papa." Vegeta choked out between sobs.

"So, you'll surpass me someday, everyone will expect you to kill me. I expect you to kill me!"

The King looked at his son's blood smeared face and was completely disgusted at the tears washing that blood away. Saiyans did not act like that. They didn't admit to the things the Prince was admitting to. Love? That was not considered important to saiyans. If the King's father had attacked him like that at the Prince's age he would be all over the man. The King wanted his son to be the perfect Saiyan not the sentimental weakling he was fast turning into and King Vegeta knew exactly who to blame for that.

He let go of the boy and he dropped limply to the floor. Vegeta looked up at him expectantly, wondering if his roundabout proclamation of his love had any effect on his father.

"By refusing to challenge me you refuse the throne. I don't have time to waste on uncommitted Princes, Vegeta. Therefore, you must die!"

Prince Vegeta tried to protest but he could not make the words he was thinking audible. He shrank back against the wall terrified as his father powered up and extended his arm towards him.

Prince Vegeta closed his eyes whiting for oblivion. He heard a crash and thought it was all over, but soon realized that he could still fell the stabbing pain in his tail and knew that he was still alive.

He opened one eye and saw his Mother standing over him, scowling in the opposite direction of him. He looked over and saw a gaping hole in his bedroom wall revealing the pink sky outside. His father was no where to be seen.

Moments later the king reappeared outside, hovering just outside the hole in the wall. He growled in rage and lunged at the Queen. Recely growled herself and lunged right back. The two locked in hand to hand combat, punching and kicking each other in midair. Vegeta was terrified; he'd never seen his mother in a fight. She was attacking the King like a savage, clawing at his face and ripping open his flesh. The King was having trouble holding his own against her, something overtook her body. She'd never fought with him like that before. She grabbed him by the neck and flung him backward over her head. He landed on the floor ten feet away. Recely then whirled around and flung a massive power ball at him. He had tried to rise off the floor but the ball hit him on the chest and shoulder. He slammed back down to the ground and lay there stunned.

The commotion was enough to gather a small crowd. They watched dis-believingly as the queen tore out of the room holding her severely injured child. Then they were even more surprised to see the king stagger out of the room after her, barely able to stand.

No one dare speak to him. The king seemed to be in a world all his own. Slowly he looked at them.

"Don't you people have work to do?" He demanded in a weakened voice. Everyone departed quickly and the king continued his way down the hall, leaving a small trail of blood behind.

Recely stared at their son through the glass of the rejuvenation tank. Tears streamed down her face. The Doctors said that he would be fine in a day or so, but she still cried.

Why would Vegeta do this to him? She wondered. How could he be so cruel to his own son?

"You're careless, woman." The King said as he walked in the infirmary. The doctors moved out of the way and tried to look busy, but listened intently to what would no doubt be a juicy conversation. Perfect material for gossip.

Queen Recely turned and looked at him unimpressed. She couldn't believe that she had ever been afraid of him. She thought she would never have the power to beat him, but now she knew that it was possible.

"You should have finished me off when you had the chance. Do you really think I'm so hurt that I couldn't kill you?"

Recely stood in front of the rejuvenation tank protectively. "Come any closer and I'll finish you off."

"Try me!" Recely snapped back. "I'll rip you to pieces if you attack our son again!"

The King remained silent and glared at her. Blood dripped from his scalp to the floor and he took deep breaths through clenched teeth making himself look threatening despite the appearance of his bludgeoned body.

"What are you contemplating, Vegeta?" Recely demanded. "Are you thinking about destroying your son and I and getting yourself a more ideal family?"

"Damn it woman! Can't you see that I love you both!" the King erupted cringing internally at his confession. Love, the emotion he despised, as it was not ideally saiyan. He would never admit it to anyone else but his queen. He considered himself a flawed saiyan because of it. "I love you!" He repeated distastefully. "I the King of the saiyans loves his child. No saiyan loves their child! Don't you understand that? To do so is a show of weakness. You made me weak, woman!" Spat the king. " You made me weak and you're making our brat weak. That's why I push him so hard, I don't want him killed."

"And yet you attempted to kill him yourself?" Recely spat back, indicating his hypocracy and letting him know that she thought his speech was a load of garbage.

"If you had minded your own damned business you would've seen that I was just trying to provoke the brat. He's only been training for two months, Recely, I don't expect him to be a warrior yet. I just wanted him to fight back!" He yelled, then clamed down. " I don't understand why he wouldn't defend himself."

"You are an idiot Vegeta. A person only defends his or herself against things that they see as a threat. Vegeta didn't see you as a threat. He understood that you were angry with him, but he didn't expect you to harm him like that."

"Damn! He's already weak, and this is only the beginning!" Complained the king, clenching his fists.

"You don't get it Vegeta. You broke your bond with him today. Why would he do what you say? You don't respect him and yet you demand he respect you. Well, I've got news for you. He won't respect you, ever! He won't listen to anything you have to teach him. You didn't even consider that, did you? All you cared about was what everyone would say about your so called perfect saiyan genes if the Prince turned out weak!"

The Speech didn't have the desired effect on the king. Perhaps it was because he truly was an idiot and that he truly didn't care. But it was more likely the Kings injured pride.

"Didn't you understand me, Recely, he's already weak and the only person to blame for that is you with your low class heritage. That combined with your incessant coddling of him. I've made my decision. I guess I am an idiot, for if I were wise, I'd destroy you or at least exile you from the planet, but I won't. You will remain in the Palace, but you will not have free access to the prince. The only time you are henceforth permitted to be with him is in my presence unless I tell you otherwise."

Recely growled in rage. "That's not fair Vegeta! He's my son too, I have aright to be with him whenever I wish!"

"He's the prince and can not be spoiled by such unnecessary and frivolous privileges as those you grant him."

"Play time is necessary for children! It's how they learn!" Recely replied furiously.

"He's the Prince! Maybe that's how weaker saiyans learn but the elite have better education methods!"

Recely glared at him and decided to drop this conversation. She would never convince him to allow little Vegeta time to himself. Besides, she had a much larger problem to deal with now.

"Undoubtedly," The King replied and chuckled almost evilly. "But, be fore-warned that your defiance of my order will come with a price. One that Prince Vegeta will have to pay."

"Price?" Recely spat through clenched teeth. She scowled at him so much that she could hardly see through the slits of her eyelids.

"Yes, the price of cleansing him of all the weakness he's doused with every time you're together. I think I've done a good job of cleansing him of it today. He'll remember, and contrary to your belief he will respect me. He knows I mean business now, and he'll respond to the training better."

Her eyes popped open, appalled that he'd punish her disobedience by harming their child.

"I'm truly sorry Recely. I love you both. That's why I'm doing this. It will be hard on the both of you now, but when he's fully trained it will be worth it. He'll defeat Frieza and the three of us can be together for the rest of our days, safe and free!"

" None of this will ever be worth it!" She spat venomously and ran out of the room.

Recely flung open the doors to her chambers then whirled around and slammed them as hard as she could behind her. To her disappointment, they didn't shatter.

Letta heard her come in and ran to meet her. She'd heard the fighting from the prince's room and had been worrying frantically ever since the noise stopped.

"Is Vegeta all right?" Letta demanded in extreme concern, her eyes puffy from tears.

Recely looked down at the little girl, but instead of seeing her sister, she saw another possible blackmail object for the king's use.

"Get your things together. You're going back to school immediately." Recely said in the nicest voice that she could muster, which was not nice at all.

Recely walked into her sitting room and collapsed into a chair. She tilted her head back and breathed shallowly.

"I..I'm ready." Letta said nervously and stood in front of her sister very concerned. Recely had never yelled at her before.

"Good, now listen carefully." Recely said as she leaned forward putting her face at eye level with Letta's.

"You are to stay with the scientists. You're never to come back here. Do you understand?"

"He was never nice to us, Letta. The King was the worst thing that could've possibly come into our lives. He'll use you against me like he's using Vegeta against me now."

"Is Vegeta all right?" Letta repeated her previous question. She didn't quite understand why her sister was so sad and upset.

"He's fine." Recely lied. Physically he would be fine, but mentally, Recely knew that he had already been traumatized beyond repair and somehow she had to prevent that from happening to him again.

The liquid surrounding Vegeta slowly drained from the isolation tank. He wanted to open his eyes and breathe on his own, but he knew that he was supposed to wait until the doctor told him that it was safe to remove the breathing mask. It didn't take long for this to happen and he was allowed to stand up. He almost fell down again. His tail still hurt tremendously even after his treatment.

He stepped onto the cold floor outside the tank and felt goosebumps appear on his bate arms and legs. He wanted a towel but he was afraid to ask. His father was there waiting for him. Vegeta stared at the floor afraid to look at him.

"Are you all right?" His father demanded in a tone that masked the concern he had for his child.

The King turned his back to him and walked away. Beana promptly went over to the Prince and wrapped him in warmed towels and gently guided him to the doctors waiting for him by the examination table. They would decide whether the he needed more time in the tank or not. After about ten minutes they determined that no more treatment would be necessary and gave instructions to Beana concerning his care for recovery. They also assured the King that Prince's ability to transform would not be harmed.

The King then ordered that his son be taken to his bedroom. Vegeta couldn't remember exactly what had happened to him. All he could remember was his father being angrier than he had ever been before and stepping on his tail. After that it was a blur. But after Beana got him settled into his bed and comfortable he noticed that something was different about his bedroom. It was clean, it didn't look like there had been a battle in there, but something else was different. It took the Prince a few moments to figure out just what it was that was odd about his little space in the world.

He gasped as he realized the door to his mother's chambers was missing and his father entered the room from his own. "Where's Mama?" Vegeta wailed just as his father entered the room through the doors adjoining to his chamber. "What did you do to her?" Prince Vegeta accused as the man advanced on his son and the very nervous nursemaid.

Prince Vegeta remembered what had happened now. His mother had saved him. She attacked his father and won. No one attacked the King, and no one had ever won; therefore, he feared the worse for her.

The King ordered Beana to leave, and after that was done he turned to his upset child and scowled at his pathetic expression in disgust. "I sent her to some appointments on my behalf." The King replied. "I didn't do anything to her."

"You've both lost the privilege of each other's company. When you redeem yourselves, I'll replace the door." The King replied matter of factly.

Prince Vegeta started to pant and looked from the wall to his father then back. He started to whine and tears rolled down his cheeks. He didn't want his mother taken away from him.

"SHUT UP!" The King bellowed making the Prince start and stare at him terrified. "Enough of that pathetic whimpering! Saiyans don't go on like that and you're the Prince for pity's sake! You have to set an example for our people."

Prince Vegeta stopped crying and changed his expression from one of fear to one of rage.

"Because, neither of you take your position on this planet seriously. Until the two of you start behaving the way I want you're not to see each other. Do you understand? If you want to be with your mother then you had better start paying attention to what I tell you and try harder. Because if you don't, Vegeta, I swear I'll exile her."

"I have a responsibility to my planet and my people," The King replied, ignoring the question his son had posed." and that responsibility involves training you to be a good king and the best Saiyan of all so you can get rid of Frieza! That way we can all be free. None of us are free, Vegeta. Don't you want to be free?"

"But why me? It's not fair!" Vegeta yelled in frustration. He didn't understand why he alone out of all the people in the entire universe was the one destined to destroy the ruthless Frieza.

"As I just said, Prince, you are the best." The king replied as calmly as he could, his paper-thin patience was wearing very, very thin.

"No, I'm not, there's plenty of people stronger than me. I'm not strong enough."

"Not yet. But you're very young and have time to get strong." The King sat on the bed facing his son and took a hold of his face gently but firmly so that he had no choice but to pay attention and make eye contact with his father as he spoke.

" I was the strongest saiyan ever born." He replied mechanically. Everyone knew on the planet knew that. The probability of him being the strongest saiyan of his peers later was almost definite. "But father, what about those races that are stronger than saiyans to begin with?"

"There are stronger warriors than you now. But you forget, Vegeta, that you are very, very young. Yes, you were born phenomenally strong, the strongest saiyan ever born in the history of all saiyans. There was only one other saiyan that possessed such natural strength and that was the super saiyan. Don't you understand Vegeta? You will be the next super saiyan, I know it!"

Vegeta's eyes widened in surprise.
"You will be the strongest saiyan of all. Then if you keep training with great determination you'll surpass Frieza and become the ruler of the entire universe."

"You will rule the Universe Vegeta, because you are the best. But I need you to train harder."

"Not hard enough." The King disagreed." There must be nothing else on your mind but training. You need to cast off any desire you have for anything else and strive for perfection in fighting. You need to forget about toys, and play. You will have time for such things when you are ruler of the cosmos, my son."

The King stood up and looked down at him. "You don't need anybody but yourself, Vegeta. A good warrior relies on no one. That is the way Frieza works. He cares for nothing and no one. Mimic that behavior, son. Care for nothing and no one until you have everything."

Vegeta looked at the bedcovers and sighed. His father didn't understand he didn't want everything, there was only one thing he wanted and he was sure now that he'd never be able to achieve it. The Prince did not share his Father's ambition, but he still wanted to please him and make him proud.

"Now, go to sleep. You need to rest in order to recover. We have to recommence your training as soon as possible."

Recely angrily tossed books from the shelves in her sitting room the next morning. She wanted to rid herself of everything the King gave to her. She was enraged.

She looked over at the wall where the doors to her child's room used to be and threw one of the books at it.

It wasn't enough for him to just threaten me! Recely complained internally and biffed more books across the room.

"The Prince requested the care of his saiba man be entrusted to you. I took the liberty of reseeding it." He held out the container and growth formula to the queen. She took it from him and stared at it.

"Tell the Prince that I will keep it safe." The queen said understanding that Vegeta feared for his friend's safety with his father around. She had seen the creature unconscious the day before and guessed who had rendered it so.

She then brought it to her desk and locked it in the top drawer. She then attached the key to her mother's necklace for safekeeping.

"At least I can do something for him." Recely said depressed and began to pick up the books she'd thrown around.

Chapter 7

Fanfiction Index

Chapter 9