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"That's why I needed Babadi... To set me free. By releasing the evil in my heart, he has freed me of these petty attachments."
Vegeta chuckled wickedly, raw power coursing through his veins.
"And I have to say, it feels pretty good." The electrical current enveloped him like an old friend, a blanket in the blistering cold. It was safe, familiar. And the fool had the NERVE to question him!? This was what he truly felt, what he pushed down for so long as he assimilated to the Earth and its weaknesses. He shot through the air, uninhibited by insecurity and untethered by the soft ground beneath his feet. There was only the heat of battle. The need that only fighting and surpassing Kakarot could achieve. This was his thrill, his prayer returned . The blood and sweat marred his handsome face, and the fight he'd dreamt of for 7 years came to fruition. It was worth it. The bloodshed, the violence, the loss of self.
A small price.
The aftermath of what Vegeta had done still played in Goku’s head, repeating the same devastating scene of the psychotic Saiyan hurting innocent lives. Lives that he had fought hard to protect. They’d promised each other a good old fashioned battle, a spar, to see who held the mantle of Earth’s strongest. He’d been excited to fight with Vegeta again, the only man whom he truly considered being his true Rival and friend. Even if their reasons for duelling differed by a large margin, He wouldn't pass up the chance to fight with the Prince again.
This… This wasn’t how it was supposed to go. His return was meant to be joyful, euphoric, not this. Not with him having to fight a corrupted version of the man he missed more than life itself. While his legacy naturally went to Gohan, he trusted Vegeta to continue where he left off in the things that only they could understand as Saiyans. If not for him, then for the preservation of the Saiyan race he spoke so highly of. It was a punch in the gut to see him abandoning not only his morals, but all the things life on Earth had taught him.
"How does it feel to know that the moral high ground grants you nothing but the ache of my fist?!" The wind whipped as he struck out, almost as if it were flowing with the ferocity that made him. Whether or not it made contact was irrelevant, for he hadn't ceased moving. He would get his reciprocity, the fight he so desired. "To know that not even the mighty Kakarot can pull the damned from the abyss!"
"Talk all you want, Vegeta," He growled in a heated manner, swiftly dodging the first few punches, "I’m taking you down!”
The betrayal he felt when Vegeta allowed himself to he controlled, stung more than anything he could ever fathom. He felt cheated, humiliated and furious that the Saiyan with so much steaming pride, could allow himself to be given power that he never earned. And now this is what it had come down to, a fight to knock some sense into the bastard’s wayward mind.
‘So much for Saiyan pride...’
The battle Goku desired was not what he was given. Instead he found himself fighting a knock off, a cheap imitation of the man be once respected. Losing his pride in such a cowardly way for a little strength, it bothered him to no end. The Prince had never let anyone in his life help him before, and now this... Why would Goku listen to some foreign drivel after Vegeta had easily given up his pride to obtain a mediocre power boost?
Then it hit him.
'Vegeta's pride!' He had an idea, but he had to make calculated moves for it to work. Goku teleported behind the man, planting a kick of his own.
"Why bother? Haven't you realized that you don't have any pride left to defend?!” There was no contrary, no evidence to suggest that the Prince of all Saiyans was anything other than an agent of darkness. Babadi's magic had reached into the deepest parts of his psyche. When the evil in his heart felt the caress of liberation, it could not help but deign to break free, to gain the means he so desired to live again! So many years he spent by the wayside, assimilating to the Earth and its ways, forgetting the mission that ruled the deepest parts of his wicked soul. How could he? How could he ever live, knowing that he would always be a step behind the man who ignited his fire? To live in the cold and shadow while the low class Saiyan burned brilliantly, the same man who took Vegeta's mistakes and made them into his own successes.
This new power, it lowered the curtain and allowed Vegeta to see himself with brand new eyes. To see Kakarot in a new light.
"And what do you know of pride?!" The Majin rasped, before planting his hand to the ground to gather the momentum he needed for a counter. His muscles seized, burdened with the exertion of the fight.
"Pride huh? That's rich coming from someone who threw away their own pride for power," He planted his feet against the ground, dust rising under him, ''Who's the one without pride now!?"
"You've never had pride any to LOSE!" Roared the Prince, aura crackling with rage. He raised his hands as he pulled the energy from his body, forming a brilliant golden blast.
" FINAL... "
Goku knew that pose better than anyone, having seen it in action many times. If Vegeta wanted to play it like this, then he would oblige.
“You took the easy way out, you coward!”
He planted his palms together and inched his feet apart. His wrists locked together as he pulled them back, a cerulean orb forming in his hands.
"KAAAAAAAAA MEEE, HAAAAAA, MEEEEE..."
The anger and his righteousness was far more sturdy than Vegeta seemed to understand. No matter how much the wayward Prince told him to beckon or bend under him, Goku would not falter.
"You want me to break at your hands, well that's not going to happen, Vegeta!," his voice began to grow, louder, "I'LL NEVER BOW DOWN TO YOU!"
"THEN DIE! " How beautiful they were together. But much like with all beautiful things, Vegeta felt the need to rip it to shreds. The energy at his palms was hot, casting a pink tint over his arms with the sheer temperature of it. It grew and grew as he fed the orb his hatred, his humiliation, and every bit of the resentment that festered over the seven years his opponent had chosen to remain deceased.
And then he let go.
"FLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!!!!"
"I'm already dead, Vegeta!," his voice held a sting of malice, "and I’m not going to let you win! Not with power you didn’t earn and NOT when you can’t fight me like a ‘TRUE WARRIOR!’!"
"HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!,
The sparking jet streams mingled together, casting a green hue at the center of it. It was all too indicative of the struggle that had consumed both Goku and Vegeta for more than a decade. If there ever was such a thing as fate, it had quite the sense of wonder. Their battle had brought forth many unwavering emotions that not even words could capture.
Always trying to get the upper hand, find the space left open and crawl through. For every punch taken, two would be returned. One push for every pull. Vegeta's pride and Goku's justice.
If Goku wasn't busy trying to stop the mania that had overtaken his former rival, he would be in awe of their artistic creation, the beautiful contrast that was created by their heated battle.
But Prince or not, he was not about to bow down to him, not in a million years. The heated rage of the madman he ONCE considered a friend, only escalated his inner resolve, amplifying it beyond the desperate charade he put on when trying to calm Vegeta.
No pain, no gain
Their voices crackled in tandem, the screams of effort heard for miles.
It was already too late, Goku knew this more than he wanted to admit. The sheer determination to best him was planted into Vegeta's, psyche long ago, back when they first met and he couldn't see it changing anytime soon. The weight of the blast reminded him of the heavy burden he carried as Earth's hero. It left him with nothing but a title. He was a warrior, but in the twisted amalgam of Vegeta's thoughts? He was no Saiyan and he knew it. And yet here he was, trying to save a man who didn’t want to be saved. A man who proved himself rotten to the core every time he began to believe otherwise. Vegeta was no longer making concessions, no longer listening to anything but his bloodlust. But still, he persisted, INSISTED on believing.
Goku was as selfish as he was selfish, he’d own up if confronted. Even if Vegeta was the one who let his pride dwindle to nothing, the younger Saiyan felt he was to blame. But none of that mattered. He had to try. Try to save his home and the ones he cared about, and even though the truth of their battles were swindled from them by a false prophet, he couldn't watch as his world crumble any longer.
His feet sunk into breaking rock, arms keeping him at bay, long enough to state his piece,
"You want to go all out? Fine! I’ll show you my trump card!"
He removed a hand from the attack he was pushing to Vegeta and placed two digits to his forehead, disappearing and reappearing at the cliffside. He scaled a wall, jumping from rock to rock until he was up higher and away from the wayward prince. He began to tense up his muscles, eyebrows knitting together as Goku began to call upon an energy buried deep below where it could be sensed.
And just like that, the veil before Vegeta’s eyes fell.
The mountain range that surrounded the warriors began to buckle and shift. Goku knew that this would give the Prince another reason to despise him, but he wouldn’t let him have his way. Trying to persuade Vegeta to knock off his rampaging, psychotic episode included him reaching deep within himself to unleash the power he held hostage. Pieces of the landscape he stood upon shuddered and cracked in two, fragments hitting the ground of the very earth he had died to protect. His howls voice grew in ferocity, shaking the very foundation of his world and the inner turmoil that kept festering inside himself.
'WE'RE WASTING PRECIOUS TIME! WE SHOULD BE FIGHTING TOGETHER, NOT AGAINST EACH OTHER!' His thoughts were screaming with tremendous anguish. There was nothing he could do to bring Vegeta back, not without this. He furrowed his brows, body tensing as a golden aura began to form around him, brightly showering the young man with debris, momentum rising from the gravity and overwhelming power he was harnessing. In a shower of light, flecks of energy began to dissipate, signaling the most frightening inevitability of this encounter: Change.
Vegeta called upon the anger and indignation in his heart once more, unwilling to watch as a reminder of his folly took shape.
“BIG BANG…”
Even Vegeta's words seemed to fall on deaf ears, completely overtaken by the screams of anguish that came roaring out from Earth's former hero. Sudden flashes of memory assaulted the low class, images flickering before his very eyes. Old things, long forgotten with time and adventure. He wanted to grasp these moments and hold onto them forever, never letting go of the lessons learned and the path chosen.
Goku screamed in agony, his head feeling like it was going to explode- the blast that enveloped him feeling like nothing compared to this. It felt like light was eating him from the inside out. Everything he was holding in. The joy, the pain, and all that followed, he released it. Then landscape disintegrated, leaving nothing for Vegeta to foist his hatred at. All that remained in the space once occupied by the mountain was a golden shell tightly nestled around his form. It then dispersed, leaving behind a bright, empowering figure who seemed to appear right before menacing Prince.
The figure smirked, long golden locks swaying from the heated aura that surrounded him.
"Thought I’d let you get away with attacking me while I was transforming, didn’t you?" The Saiyan tsked, before tightly locking his arms around Vegeta.
"Now you're going to get the punishment you deserve." Goku shoved Vegeta against a the cliff, fist tightly gripping at the collar of his spandex suit.The Prince snarled, and as a creature of habit, he took a cheap shot. He brought his feet up and slammed them into the ascended Saiyan’s gut.
"Not without a fight, clown!" While his sense of self unraveled with each minute, his sense of adventure did not. Like a true warrior, Vegeta would rise to meet this challenge, even knowing that the bar had risen from above him, to the very heavens themselves. The Prince was truly a masochist at his core, willing to try the things that were not meant to be tried.
"You talk too much," Goku’s husky voice crooned, laced with malice. Vegeta had gone to a place that not even he could reach, falling victim to the ever-present chaos that wreaked havoc on his unstable mind. His will stood strong, even as he stared death in the face, unrepentant of his crimes against Kakarot's precious humanity. The Prince didn’t seem to get it, but Goku was no quitter, and he’d prove that once and for all.
Goku leered at the shorter male, leaning over him with a domineering expression,
"Like I said. You'll pay for your actions, Vegeta," he reeled his arm back, "Starting now."
Golden locks swished as he planted a firm fist into Vegeta's abdomen, twisting knuckles into sculpted abs. His opponent’s form flew back, stopped only by his will to stay upright.
“S.. See… if you can put enough force in the next punch to kill me.” The Prince growled, wrenching his hand from his abdomen. He tried to keep a handle on the wheeze that was driven from the blow, to no avail.
The heat around Goku’s form seemed to fester into something greater with each word that slipped past the Majin’s parted lips, lips he had once dreamed of in passing, but judging by the Prince's, acidic tone, he was going to need to use extreme measures to knock some sense back into the older man.
He couldn’t give his rival a chance to escape. They didn’t have time, Buu was still on the rise and he needed to force Vegeta to revert. A blinding, golden light formed in the palm of his empty hand as five circular rings flew up into the air. He quickly pressed his foot into Vegeta's gut, keeping him at bay while he controlled the floating rings with his skillful hands. Suddenly he flung his arms around and grunted as the golden circles flew towards the Prince, each one clamping around limbs and his neck before tightly holding him in place.
"Time to talk."
The ki rings burned at the corrupted Prince’s forearms, the sheer light of their rays enough to cast a glow upon taut biceps. His face twisted in utter rage as he strained.
"What does this make you, Kakarot? My executioner?" Rasped the Prince, a choked off laugh bubbling out from his lips. A heavy sheen of sweat glistened on his skin, highlighting the bruises and bloodshed. He was a patchwork of this righteous conflict, black and blue and red splattered across the canvas of his body, borderline intoxicated by the fool's attempts to reach out to him.
"Don't be a fucking idiot, Vegeta!" His voice cracked a smidgen, revealing his distaste for the word that Vegeta let slip. If it was death that Goku wished, the Prince would be much farther along than he was already. This wasn't about killing his rival, that couldn’t be farther from the truth!
The ascended Saiyan’s ki flared, heat whipping against Vegeta’s marred skin. Goku’s heart was hammering in his ribcage, the word "Executioner" repeating in his mind. He lifted his hand and firmly slapped the prideful man in the face.
“Oh, I’m an idiot alright…” Vegeta wanted to laugh, but he found he couldn’t due to the blood gurgling in his throat. His aura began to twist and shift, muscles pulling taut against the energy bindings. Static crackled in the air between them, winds picking up around him with each and every breath he forced out.
“An idiot to have trusted YOU!” Bitterness painted the mosaic of his words, written in blood and splattered on the wall.
"You walk around this world like you have something to prove," he sneered, aqua hues boring into Vegeta's own, "but all you've done is prove your incompetence!" A balled up fist struck against the rocky cliff, narrowly missing Vegeta's face.
"I came here to see my family, see you after seven years," he growled, knee pressing into his gut, "and what do I get in return? A wall of dead innocents, an ancient magic creature threatening my home, and having to knock sense into you! You selfish prick!"
“Hgrrk…” Vegeta spat blood, the wind pushed out of his lungs by the knee in his abdomen. His world went hazy at the edges. Goku kept his knuckles buried into the rock face, inches away from the Saiyan he’d went out of his way to make amends with.
"You think I'm your executioner? Don't make me laugh! I'm here to SAVE YOU, ASSHOLE!"
“Come now Kakarot, are you so naive, so naive to think that your presence could have brought anything but pain?” He shot back venomously. The acid of his tone bit at skin and coursed through veins, poisoning the air and sizzling at bone.
“YOU THINK YOU CAN COME BACK FOR ONE DAY, AFTER THOSE SEVEN YEARS, AND EVERYTHING WILL BE ALRIGHT? UNTOUCHED AS YOU LEFT IT?” His eyes were shrouded in fury and forced into the light by the sun’s rays. His heart is cold, his heart is ice. But the ice has cracked, and the floodgates have opened.
“Tell me, were you watching? Did you see the days following your little sacrifice? Were you standing beside me, laughing your little head off as I sat in that room pondering your true motives for going?” Wondering if he’d played a role in his exit. Knowing that he hadn’t, but unable to help thinking about it anyway.
“I…” Started Goku, but his companion would not have it.
“Left with no one to give my pursuits meaning. Crowned me the strongest pureblooded Saiyan, title holder who never earned the title. Did it tickle you pink when you learned about the tournament? Knowing that after you got it all out of your system that you could prance back to Otherworld after giving me just a taste of what I have missed out on?”
Ki gathered at his fingertips, despite the fact that it had nowhere to go. Nowhere to run, just like himself.
He spat at the man’s feet.
“You should have saved yourself, Coward.” And just like that, it was out in the open.
Goku slowly pulled his fist from the crater beside Vegeta’s head, arm falling limp at his side.
“You missed me that much, huh?” He said tiredly.
Vegeta met his gaze, perspiration mingled with the faintest glimmer of angry tears. He suddenly looked very exhausted.
“I suppose I did.”
Vegeta clasped at his throat as the vice dissipated, so caught up in his newfound freedom that being pulled into an embrace by his rival caught him off guard entirely.
“Let go of me, Kakarot.” But still, he persisted.
‘You abandoned me.’ His mind sneered. And as if picking up on this, Goku’s arms around him tightened.
“You and I, we… Hah, really need to practice talking these things out.” Panted Goku, his golden locks beginning to shimmer and fade. Vegeta went limp in his arms, but he didn’t descend, his hair still shining gold.
“You’re giving me the means to kill you.”
“Yep.”
“I could end it all right here.”
“I’m listening, but I can’t find it in me to really care. I just keep thinking.”
“Oh, so you think? I didn’t anticipate I’d live to see the day that the mighty Kakarot thinks.”
“It’s been a bunch of years, but I know what it sounds like when you’re asking me a question. I’m thinking about what could’ve been Vegeta. If we talked.”
“It wouldn’t have made a difference.” Came the hiss.
“You’ve got me there. I wouldn’t have changed a thing about my decision. But it would’ve been for different reasons.”
“It doesn’t matter, Kakarot. None of it matters.”
“But it does. I wouldn’t have tried so hard if it didn’t Vegeta.”
“It’s too late for all of that. I made my decision when I let Babadi in.”
“It’s not too late. You’re always going on about how we’re the last two Saiyans. Now's the time to put your money where your mouth is. We can take on Majin Buu as a team. Don’t you think it’s worth a shot? Even if we lose?”
“Speak for yourself, the Prince of all Saiyans is no loser.”
“Hehe, you’ve still got it.” He grimaced, body starting to ache from being in one position for so long.
“You know… I can forgive you, but only if you’re willing to try. We don’t have to do this anymore.” The sincerity in his words halted everything around them. Vegeta’s arms came up hesitantly around the man and Goku couldn’t help but smile. Guess he was right, Vegeta never had hugged anybody before. He was kind of like a caged animal. Violent, angry, and maybe even a little afraid. But willing to try to try his hand, see what it brought him.
The earthling pulled back a little, cupping his partner’s cheek.
“I wouldn’t be a fool to try and kiss you, would I?”
“You’d be a fool for a lot of things, but not that.” And just like that, his lips met Vegeta's in an intense, somewhat awkward kiss. Lost in the primal hunger that plagued them for so long, they didn't deign to avoid things like teeth clacking and the haphazard slot of their bodies. Not that it mattered. This was the battlefield, careful intimacy couldn't be expected here.
They broke away from each other, both men trying to catch their breath.
“I meant what I said. We can try again, even if it’s for a few hours.” He leaned into the prince, holding tight with the knowledge that something had finally gone right today.
"You're right, we can certainly try."
"We'll face this together. You and m-"
He felt the initial blow when Vegeta struck him on the back of the neck, sending all the color out of his vision. The Prince lowered his unconscious form to broken rocks and climbed to his feet, but not before pressing his lips to his rival’s forehead.
“Promises promises, Kakarot.”
That pink blob of waste was still out there the stench of his wicked energy starting to crawl across the horizon. He could feel his son and Goten approaching, along with Gohan and the Supreme Kai out in the distance, and if the weak pulse of their ki was any indication, they weren’t holding out well.
He spared the fallen warrior a final glance.
“... I think I understand you now.” He said fondly.
The Prince then took to the sky, ready to fly to his fate.