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"Everyone on Earth will be killed! You hear me!? Bulma! Trunks! Everyone!" Kakarot yelled at the dark prince, trying to get him to see sense. His words were heavy with a truth Vegeta didn't wish to face. Around him, the orange clad warrior's golden aura pulsed, and the wind whipped at his wild hair.
The prince bore his teeth, threw himself at Kakarot, and pummeled the other Saiyan. "Grr...grr...shut up! Shut up!" Over and over he sent a barrage of hits at the other last remaining Saiyan in the universe, as if by doing so could destroy the veracity that Kakarot had spoken. "Remember, I've sold my soul to Babidi! I keep no loyalties! I have a Saiyan heart that depends on strength alone! They're nothing to me!"
"Liar!"
The word echoed in the prince's mind, shattering his reality. With a violent scream he sat bolt upright in bed. The desert and rock formations that had once surrounded him had faded away, replaced by the dark of the bedroom back at Capsule Corp. This was the first night's sleep since the World Tournament and Buu, and already he was plagued with nightmares from the demon he had allowed himself to become. He looked over to the place next to him, an empty space where his mate should have been sleeping. Except this was not his room, and she was in their bed a few doors down the hall. Unspoken, he had taken this guest room for the night. He didn't feel worthy of her presence, and since returning to the land of the living, she hadn't looked at him the same way she had these past ten years or so.
There was a light knock at the door, but he didn't need to hear it to sense his wife's familiar ki standing on the other side of it. For a long moment, there was no movement, then the door swung quietly open and she padded in a pace. It had been ages since she donned her her old tee shirts for bed. In their stead, she had begun to wear more sensible silken tops and bottoms or short nighties. Tonight's little number was a light pink spaghetti strap tank and matching long bottoms. After all this time, she still never failed to stun him with her beauty.
She flicked the light on. "I heard you cry out. Nightmare?" Bulma's voice was gentle, and for the first time since coming home, her features showed a hint of that same love and care he had known so well. When he had first arrived at Capsule Corp years ago, he had struggled with nightmares. Even back then, she expressed concern for him.
He nodded, not meeting her gaze. She paced over to the bed and found a place on the edge. She took a deep breath in after a moment. "You want to talk about it?"
"There's nothing to discuss." His voice was more cutting than he meant. He had been exiled here by is own actions, yet she still came to him to soothe his fears. He didn't deserve her sympathy or forgiveness.
"Nothing? You can't just keep shutting me out." Her words were ice. Shutting others out, that was something he did so well. He had been doing it just fine until she waltzed into his life. Then she pushed his heavy doors open, and for the first time, he had begun to feel something other than cruel hatred and wicked mirth. He could go back to that man again, couldn't he? After all, that was what he had wanted when Babidi took control. He could go about his life pretending to care.
"I'm not." Liar! The echo of Kakarot's voice resounded in his mind. He squeezed his eyes shut as if to block him out once more. Stupid clown. Clown. A clown that knew his heart.
Brows furrowed, she gripped the sheets on the bed in anger. "You know, I thought we had a good thing going. But then I saw what you did down in the stadium. You allowed yourself to be controlled! All so you could win some grudge match with Goku? Grow up!" His dark eyes cut up to her, wide. Each word sliced through him, but old wounds reopened do not heal so easily. He knew she she spoke the truth, every bit as much as Kakarot had. It would have been so much easier if he really didn't care. "Goku told me everything."
He bore his gaze into her, fighting back. "It was not a grudge match. You wouldn't understand. My pride-"
"Your pride? You know what? No, I don't understand, nor do I want to if it made you become...that!" She spat back, hot tears stinging her eyes. "That was not the man I fell in love with, the one I married!" Once again, he couldn't bare to face her, turning away from her. She was right. The Prince had allowed himself to become a monster. He had also given up his life to save those he loved. Still, he knew that wasn't enough. He had not been redeemed by this action. He wondered if he ever would. He was still so sure that it had been a mistake that he had been brought back to life. A sick joke played on him for what he had done.
His head sunk low. He couldn't bare to look at her.
A soft touch was at his shoulder. "I'm...I'm sorry."
"No, you're right. I made some very wrong decisions. And I can't take them back." He was shaking with sorrow and rage at his actions.
Gently, Bulma wrapped an arm around her prince, and pulled him in to lean on her breasts. He was the one who had wronged her, yet here she was, comforting him as she had always done. "I don't deserve your empathy, woman." He wanted to gaze up into her beautiful azure eyes, but feared he might break. "I have wronged you and our son. You both deserve better."
She nodded, feeling her hot tears fall upon his neck. The two sat in silence for a long moment, until she broke it. "You're right, we do. Which is why I know you can do better. A truly evil man does not show remorse for his actions. I never believed that you were, and I'm heart broken to think that you did." He nodded in response, fighting desperately to keep it together. How could she forgive him for such atrocities? How could she keep looking past his sins time and again?
"You knew who I was when you fell for me." His words were hollow.
Her warm breath brushed his skin as she pressed a kiss to his temple. "Yes, I did and I still know who you are. I'm just sad that you don't yet."
Finally he opened his eyes and looked up at her. "I wish I knew, Bulma." Each word was slow, barely above a whisper. This man who radiated confidence to the rest of the world had been brought low by his own sins.
Unwrapping her arm from around him, she pulled back and took his hands into hers. He brought his head up to gaze into those eyes he had become lost in so many times. "Then I will just have to show you, won't I? I have always beleived in you, since the moment I invited you to live here. I saw how you worked with Krillin and Gohan, I knew you had it in you to do the right thing. Even when you were at your most selfish and arrogant, deep down, I knew why. Because I could be the same way, especially when I was hurt." She paused, looking away, "And you were hurt far more than anyone could imagine."
Lightly, he rubbed a rough thumb over her soft hands, hands that always fit so right in his. They were calloused from years of fighting, years of building up walls to shut others out. Bulma had shattered those walls and placed herself into his heart No matter if he wanted to erase her from it, she had burned herself into it, branding him forever a different man. Even if he let her go, left her to let her to live a better life, his would be forever incomplete with out her. And he let himself ignore this, over what? His pride? No not pride, he wore the word like a badge of honor when it truly was hubris.
He was a liar, Kakarot saw that truly. The prince had lied to himself over and over since that day had started, and those lies, his arrogance and hubris, all of this had sewn the seeds of his own self destruction. Kakarot had a way of looking into others and seeing what they could not. He too had a hand in changing him, showing him mercy and forgiveness, something Vegeta had never witnessed before in his life.
He was at a crossroads: become the man Bulma believed him to be, or to leave them and let them live better lives without him. Selfishly, he wished to stay no matter what. He needed his family, this much had been made clear by his actions. They made him better do better. But did he have the strength to live up to what this amazing woman believed he could be?
Leaning in, he took her into his arms and caught her lips with his, holding her there as if his very existence depended on her. It wasn't a kiss of passion, nor of need, but something more, as if he was melting into her very soul, trying to see himself as she saw him. When they finally released, breathless, He gazed into her azure eyes, transfixed. He didn't deserve her, their family, his home, not even this-what was it, fourth chance now? So many mistakes.
For a long time they sat in silence, but he never let her go, afraid she might mist away like some ghost. Then she moved to get up, pulling at his hand and heading towards the door, flicking off the light. "Come on, let's get some sleep. You never did sleep well by yourself." Once again, she stunned him. He was unworthy of that space, yet here she was leading him down the hall, back to their bedroom. In moments, she was wrapped up in his embrace, his mind and body relaxing back into slumber.
Talk all you want, Vegeta. But you better convince yourself first! Yes, Kakarot, was right, he had better convince himself. He had to believe that for once, Vegeta, the price of all Saiyans, could think of something other than his own selfish ambition and pride. Because this life, he knew, was his last chance. And he wasn't about to blow it again.