Once Upon a Dream

Part Ten

Chieftess Raven was an average size, solidly built woman. Her long midnight hair was in a single-braid down her back and she had lines between her brows from constant frowning. Her muscles were developed nicely and made her look intimidating to all those smaller. She liked it that way too.

She did not stand to greet her visitors as they approached her but looked them over with no small amount of distaste. Her warriors were hostile as well.

"Good afternoon Chieftess Raven," Gavin said politely as he kneeled before her. "I hope you are well?"

Her voice was deep and commanding and it sent waves of authority around the room. "Cut the crap Gavin and let's get down to business. I thought you said that it would be easy to get the king to let us rejoin them, that it would take no trouble at all. Did you lie Gavin?"

He shook his head, a little embarrassed. "Raven, the king understands but he will not allow your people back within his nation without dropping your weapons. Permanently."

She laughed then, a harsh bark that made Trunks shudder. "Surely you jest! Vegeta-oui is a romantic fool. We should roam the land free and untamed as it should be. You must feel the urges inside of you? The ones for wide open spaces and raw meat? It is as we should be."

"No," Gavin strongly disagreed. "We have come a long way, Raven, we should not regress."

"I knew that you did not fully understand where my people and I stand." She shook her head. "How sad for you."

"I would like to know personally what is such a big deal? Why not just let Chieftess Raven's tribe out in the open like they want to be and you can just return to the city. It would solve both your problems."

Both people turned to look at Trunks, shaking their heads.

"It would not work. The Ningai are frightening the city people. Every civilized saiyan on this planet are secretly afraid of war. We must get you to join our society." Gavin spoke as if it were the only way. Raven did as well.

"Our ancestors would be ashamed! We are *not* pacifists afraid of a little blood, we are warriors and will always be until our race's time has come to an end. The old way worked for hundreds of years, why change it now?" She stood, eyes flashing. "We will be united, Gavin, under the old way and no other!"

She walked towards him and stood, defiant as ever. "Now leave, weakling, and take your little friend with you. Our day will come and when it does, you should be ready."

All of the guards' voices rose in a cheer and the door of the throne room was closed to them for the last time.

"This is terrible," Gavin frowned. "I have no idea what they mean, but it sounded like a threat. Our peace is at stake."

"Maybe they were just trying to scare you." Trunks suggested. Gavin stared at him.

"You don't really believe that." He spoke matter-of-fact.

"No. I don't."

"We must prepare! I can not let my people just give in to them!"

"Listen," Trunks grasped him by the shoulders. "It's not that simple. One, you can't use brute strength because the Ningai are trained in all sorts of weaponry. Two, you could not train an army large enough to take them. This calls for cunning, for stealth. However, what we do may change the lives of your people forever. Do you really want to do that?"

Gavin held his head high and nodded with certainty. "I see no other way. I must inform the king then take it upon myself personally to see to the plans. I would like for you to aid me, if you don't mind of course."

Trunks smiled. "It's no problem. Sad to say, but your people need all the help they can get."

Gavin sighed. "Unfortunately you are right. We may not make it through this if it comes to a full-out war."

"If it does, we will just accept it; handle it. It's all we can do."

***

Vegeta came by the restaurant just as Kat flipped the sign in the window that evening. He looked weary and thoroughly frustrated and they were all surprised that the prince was not being dragged along behind him. Katrinka was the first to speak, and she did it bluntly.

"Where's Vegeta-ouji? Was he too much for you V-chan?" She said this with a smile, even as she rested her aching feet on top of a chair. There would be tons of blisters tomorrow.

"I don't trust that brat," He said. "Something's not right here."

Bra nodded in agreement. "We're all missing something major and I know who's behind this." She was fairly certain anyway. It was enough.

"Who?" Goten asked, interested. Kat and Vegeta wore similar expressions.

"Gavin, the little sneak."

There was a moment of shocked silence and then it was broken by Kat's disbelieving laughter. "Come on now Bra-chan! Gavin couldn't hurt a fly!"

"You say that, but you don't really know him." Bra pointed this out. "You've just met him yesterday."

She leaned across the table, her weight on her arms. "You're twelve for Kami's sake! What do you know?"

Bra met her, stare-for-stare. "I know enough!" She glared. "You're just too blind to notice. When he turns on you, don't come crying to any of us!"

"Bra! Kat-chan!" Vegeta caught their attention. "This isn't worth fighting over. By the way, where is the boy?"

"You mean Trunks?" Goten asked. "He went with Gavin someplace."

The disapproving frown was immediate. "I don't like that."

Bra crossed her arms. "Neither do I."

Her father stood. "Well, we really need to gather up the baka and the onna. We can figure all of this out, later."

"Later is good." Kat agreed.

The walk to the palace was uneventful seeing as all of the citizens were going home to their families or their beds. The streets were eerily quiet, nothing made a sound. Then, almost to the lake crossing, something fell and broke into pieces. They all looked around, trying to place it, but they saw it was only a clay mug that was set on the window sill of a nearby house.

Kat licked a finger and held it in the air. "No wind." She kneeled low the ground and pressed an ear to it. "No vibrations of any kind."

"What the hell are you doing all of that for?" Vegeta asked, impatient to leave.

"That cup fell all on its own."

"And?"

She looked at him for a moment before she rolled her eyes. "INANIMATE OBJECTS JUST AREN'T SUPPOSED TO BREAK IF THEY FEEL LIKE IT!!" She quieted for a moment. "It's a omen. Something bad is about to go down."

Vegeta frowned fiercely, as if thinking really hard. He nodded once, very sharply, and motioned toward the lake. "It's the castle! We need to get there quick!" He began to run, the others close behind.

"Why Vegeta-ojisan?" Goten questioned. "What's going on?"

"I think our problem has just begun."

***

They didn't bother with the boats, but flew right over it in a blinding rush. If Vegeta felt it was important enough to prevent, it must have been. He rarely got into other people's problems.

They ran into the throne room and stopped, frozen in their spots. The sight that greeted them was anything *but* normal.

For one, Goku was no where to be found. Since he was playing 'court jester' it was strange that he wasn't present. When he entered from another side door with a large turkey leg in his hand, it wasn't that weird after all.

"Kakarott!" Vegeta bellowed. "This wasn't a time to feed your bottomless pit of a stomach! Look!"

Goku blinked at the scene and his look sobered instantly. He finished his snack and frowned. "He wasn't like that before I left. I swear it."

Kat ran up to the dais and checked the still form of the king for a pulse. There wasn't one as far as she could tell. "The king is dead!"

There was a large puddle of blood pooled around his body as well as a large, ragged hole in the center of his abdomen. Kat examined it and made an observation.

"The murderer used a katana and disemboweled him. Just gutted him completely like a pig."

Bra grimaced. "Nice description."

Vegeta kneeled by the dead king and bowed his head. "It's begun."

Kat nodded. "You're right."

"What are you guys talking about?" Goku asked. "What has begun?"

"It is tradition for the king's firstborn son to kill his father to assume the head position." Vegeta sighed. "Now I know where it came from."

"So you're saying that Vegeta Jr. killed his father?" Bra asked.

"Exactly," The voice spoke loudly and calmly from the shadows. Everyone spun and took notice of the murderer in question.

Prince Vegeta, newly titled king, walked towards them with the weapon still red with his father's blood. He stood tall and proud, not once ounce of guilt clouded his mind. He smirked then, the already unholy light in his eyes becoming deeper as he halted near his father's prone figure.

"Nice work, isn't it?" He said with some satisfaction. "Now the saiyan race can become what it should have been all along."

Camell ran into the room suddenly, from a door off to the side. He froze in his tracks and eyed his father's corpse. "Father..." He whispered brokenly before he ran over and collapsed to his knees, sobbing.

"Why?" He asked his brother, not comprehending. "Why did you kill your own father? He helped to give you life! What would mother say if she were still alive?"

Vegeta's expression hardened. "But she isn't, is she *brother*?" He spat it out with a growl. "You shouldn't be here. You are too weak to be a part of the royal family!"

"What are you saying?" The older Vegeta turned his eyes to him. "You would kill your own brother because he doesn't fit your ideals for this empire?"

Vegeta nodded once, deadly serious. "In a heartbeat." He turned to his brother then, suddenly all smiles. "You should have been here for the performance, it was most entertaining. I started with a long horizontal slash across his stomach, it really cut deep." His smile grew wider as he remembered. "He begged me not to kill him, in fact, almost literally on his knees. I answered him with another slash, this time vertical."

"Stop!" Camell cried with his hands over his ears. "No more!" But his twin went on, his voice raised significantly.

"He began to sob, like the pitiful creature that he was, even as he struggled to keep his insides from spilling out. As I came even closer and held the blade up to his throat, he began to scream. High and shrill. Another slash shut up him up forever."

Camell still cried where he was next to his father's body. It looked at his brother with a mix of sadness and confusion. He just did not know him anymore.

Bra ran over to him and tried to comfort him but it seemed to be doing no good.

"You are a complete and total monster," Kat shook her head. "You could have been a much better person."

Vegeta merely smiled and absently ran his fingers along the katana's blade. "So much blood," he whispered. "So much."

The main doors opened with the loud bang of them hitting the opposite wall. Gavin and Trunks ran in wildly, looking around.

"What the hell happened here?!" Trunks asked in a shocked voice.

Everyone looked at Vegeta, then at the corpse, then at the new king again. Camell remained in Bra's arms, sobbing away.

"You killed the king?" Gavin asked in an amazed voice. "How could you!"

"I know of your visits with the Ningai. Chieftess Raven told me herself." His dark eyes glowed unnaturally. "You and the other-worlder should know that you can not change destiny!"

"Other-worlder?" Gavin asked. "What do you mean?"

"Why, he hasn't told you yet! He and his strange friends are not of this world *or* of this time!" Vegeta finally resheathed his sword and hopped onto the large throne. He settled himself and sighed. "I will truly enjoy this."

Camell stood suddenly and stepped away from Bra. "I will *not* let you get away with this. I can't forgive you for what you've done!"

Vegeta rose and pulled his katana free in one easy motion. He cupped his left hand and beckoned, aching for another bloodbath. Bra ran out between them and held out her arms.

"You can't Camell! He can use a weapon but you can't. Am I right?"

The boy growled slightly in anger and grief. "He must be punished for all that he has done!"

"You will only succeed in getting yourself killed!"

Kat frowned and pulled her orb from her pocket. "Please," she said to it. "Help Camell to be victorious. Help him to defeat his brother." And she made her blade appear and handed it to Camell.

"Take it. It will help you."

He nodded, a determined look on his face. "I thank you."

"Little brother, you can not win." Vegeta smiled evilly. "But I will enjoy watching you try." He crouched low to the ground, his blade in a firm grip. "Shall we begin?"

His brother crouched as well, a sad look on his face. "I don't want to fight my own twin! This isn't right..."

"But you want revenge," Kat said. "You heard his answer, he'll kill you first if you don't defend yourself."

"Isn't there some other way? There has to be!"

The expressions were miserable. Kat shook her head. "He's not the same as he used to be. Look into his eyes! You can't save him."

Tired of the discussion, Vegeta ran at his brother with loud and primal scream of rage. Camell was momentarily stunned and that cost him precious seconds. The sharp edge of Vegeta's katana cut across his upper arm, through his shirt, and left a deep wound. Camell looked at his arm then at his brother's eyes. His gaze hardened. He really was different.

The younger brother raised Kat's blade high over his head, leapt into the air, and brought it down upon the other's head. But the katana rebounded off of some invisible barrier.

"How did he get so good?" Camell asked aloud. "He fights as though he had been studying from birth!"

Kat frowned with a discovery. "That's because it isn't his knowledge. You can't win! Run Camell!"

Vegeta eyed the cut on his brother's arm. "It's too late." The blade turned straight out in front of him and his speed astonished them all. Camell could not get out of the way and his plunged the weapon straight into his stomach and on through to the other side.

"Camell!" Bra screamed as the boy doubled over in pain. Vegeta pulled his katana free and wiped at the blade with his fingers.

"Warm, just like our father's."

Camell collapsed to the ground, his face deathly pale as his eyes slowly closed, where he lay still. A look of profound sadness and heartbreak was still on his face.