LOVE'S TIMELESS JOURNEY
By: Lisa Starr

Many, many ages ago, there lived a legend. A legend foretold, a legend realized, a legend turned into a myth. A myth of a timeless love that could never die. This is his story. This is their legend. This is their myth.

"Prince Vegeta, your father is dead. You are the King now." Nappa the head guard of the Royal Vegittasei guard looked to the young Prince whom he had served since his birth. It had been foretold, to the now dead King, that his son was the legendary, the one foretold to lead the people out of darkness and lead them to the light, to be the hero they so desperately needed. The boy had been born fierce and strong. His father had held him up on the day of his birth and proclaimed him to one and all as the legendary. Now he had come full circle to his destiny. He had grown strong and brave of heart on conquering missions to unite the universe as one. He had traveled from planet to planet taking them and showing them the wiseness of the Saiya-jin rule. He had been on Chikyuu when he had gotten the call to come home. His father lay dying, a casualty of the Saiya-jin enemy, the evil warlord Frieza. Frieza despised the Saiya-jins. For years he had coveted the universe,wanting to take it as his own to hold it in the palm of his evil hands, but Vegittasei and the Vegeta's young and old had always stood in his way. Nappa could not of course prove it, but he knew that King Vegeta's death came from the treachery of Frieza. He looked at the boy,no, young man that stood beside him somberly. On Chikyuu he had taken a wife, a beautiful, intelligent woman, the graceful Bulma. She was kind and loyal and everything that a great King would need in a wife. Where he was tough she was soft, where he was brutal, she was kind, balancing out his nature with her own. She stood now beside her husband, tenderly caressing his arm. Nappa had no doubt as to her loyalty. She was a fine Queen for Vegittasei.

"Alright Nappa. Since I am King the first thing I want to do is hold a great banquet to honor my accension to the Vegittasei throne. I would show my mate to all the great leaders of the universe, proclaim her beauty and honor to them."

"Yes, my King. I will see it done."

"Make sure you invite Frieza. I would have him know that I will not be trifled with, that he will join us willingly or be taken by force. I will extend this hand to him. If he chooses to take it we abort a war, if he does not, well then he will learn the power of the legendary first hand."

"My King, is it wise to invite that evil viper to our table. He is likely to bite us while our heads are turned."

"I have no fear of him. I am the legendary, Nappa. I can certainly protect my planet and my Queen." He turned to his wife and took her hand. "Come, woman. I haven't gotten my fill of you yet."He spoke huskily into her ear, his deep voice full of passion and promise. Truth be told he would never take his fill of her. She was his equal in everyway, mind and spirit. What she lacked in strength she made up for with the genius of her mind. She was his forever and he would never let her go.

Bulma blushed. They had barely even had one night together since their joining. He had brought her to his planet and joined together with her in front of most of the planet. They had just united in marriage, now they were Queen and King. She drew in a shaky breath. When she had imagined her Prince Charming, she hadn't realized it would have been so literal. Still she couldn't complain. She loved him more then her life and she truly believed that nothing could seperate them, not even death. He drew her to their room and removed their clothes from them in mere moments. His hands threaded through her long, silky, blue hair as his mouth laid waste on her body, claiming it as his own. When he finally took her she cried out with the overwhelming completion she felt at having his body so connected to hers, that it could be this way. Vegeta felt her warm tightness surround him, heard her cry of release and lost himself to his passion. He cried out her name as he found his own release, spilling himself deep inside her. Again and again that night they came together, spending their passion,yet unable to fully quench their need for each other. That need only grew with each mind-numbing time they made love.

"We'll always be connected Vegeta, no matter what." He looked at her and smirked.

"Yes woman, we belong to each other and nothing will ever take that away." He gathered her in his arms and held her close to him, pleased with her loyalty.

The night of the banquet rushed upon them, and that night Bulma found herself filled with a great dread. She sat next to her husband as he greeted dignitary, upon dignitary, finally coming to the evil and jealous Frieza.

Bulma listened as Vegeta offered his truce to the evil warlord.She shuddered at the look of cold maliciousness on the lizard's face.

"Frieza, I offer you the opportunity to join with us and become a part of the great Saiya-jin monarchy. You are not strong enough to battle us. It is your only hope for peace."

Frieza had no interest in peace, but he was wise enough to realize that Vegeta spoke the truth, he was not strong enough to take on the whole of the Saiya-jin army. He had devised a plan, an evil plan, worthy of an evil being. It had taken root when he had first laid eyes on the Saiya-jin King's beautiful young wife. He had a plan to lure the King away from his home and to his death. Then he would take the young Queen and force her into marriage and take her husband's place as ruler of the all the worlds. He smiled coldly at Vegeta.

"I am a wise leader, King Vegeta. I would never dare presume that I could beat the Saiya-jin army in battle, so I accept your offer, and offer you a gift in return for your genorisity."

"What is that gift, Frieza?" Vegeta doubted it would be anything he would be interested in.

"On the planet Namek, there is a legend of the magical dragonballs, surely you have heard of them. "

"Yes, I have heard of them. They grant any three wishes you desire."

"Yes, King Vegeta. That's right. I am pleased to say we have located them and stored them in a safe location on Namek. They await you as we speak."

Vegeta sat up. They had found the dragonballs? He could wish for anything. Immortality for himself and Bulma. In his excitement he failed to notice the strangeness of the situation. All he cared about was getting a hold of the treasure and having his wishes granted. Nappa saw the young King's excitement. This was not right. He pulled the King aside.

"Sire, this is not normal. I beg of you, don't go with him. He cannot be trusted."

"Relax Nappa, don't be such a coward. I am the legendary, I will not be harmed on this trip."

"But King, the planet, the universe. You need to be here to rule."

"My Queen will do just fine in my absence." His heart thudded painfully at the idea of a seperation from her, but he realized that after the wish was made, they would spend eternity together.

"I accept your offer Frieza. We will leave tomorrow. "

Frieza smiled in glee as he saw the seeds of his plans bear fruit. That had been too easy.The boy was too cocky and arrogant. It would be his destruction. He looked at the Queen and felt desire shoot through him. Soon she and the universe would be his.

That night, Vegeta made love to his wife again, over and over, trying to take his fill of her to last him on his journey. He instructed her on all the things she would have to do as ruling Queen and by the early morning light he instructed his most trusted guards, Raditz and Kakkarot, to look after his beautiful Queen and keep her from harm. Nappa had prepared himself to accompany his monarch. He had a terrible feeling about this, but Vegeta was too sure of himself and his power to be disuaded, so the best he could do was accompany

his King and protect him with his life.

It took them three long months to make the journey to Namek. As they landed they saw Frieza and his captain, Zarbon had already arrived.

"Alright Frieza, where are the dragonballs at?"

Frieza and Zarbon happily pointed the way to a huge slab of stone they had erected to house the dragonballs in. Unbeknownest to Vegeta, once he stepped inside, a trigger would be activated and he would be sealed inside the make-shift tomb for all eternity. Worse, the dragonballs he had believed to be in there would be no where to be found. He would be at their mercy.

"My King, I would beg of you again. Please, don't go in there. We cannot trust them."

"Nappa," The King snapped,"Do you have such little faith in my abilities that you would think I couldn't blast my way outof there if I needed to?" Still he realized the inherent danger of what he would do. He instructed Nappa to wait for him, telling him to kill Frieza if anything did go wrong. With that he entered the make-shift tomb in search of the magical dragonballs. To his dismay, the trigger was released and he found himself locked in the tomb. He atempted a blast, but instead of blowing apart the rock as he had hoped it, it rebounded off and hit him square in the chest, knocking him down and mortally wounding him.

"Bulma. I'm sorry." With that the legendary Saiya-jin lay dead.

Outside Nappa had witnessed the betrayal, and upon his King's entrapment he turned and fired a blast at Frieza. He had to free his monarch. Frieza laughingly batted the blast away.

"Nappa, Nappa, I am surprised at you. Didn't you realize that Vegeta could blast his way out of that rock."His tail encircled Nappa's neck and squeezed slowly, "Oh, I'm sorry. Did I forget to tell you that I had that made of a special stone that cannot be broken by energy. This is the most indestructible stone in the whole universe. Prince Vegeta will find that out soon enough." He closed his eyes and laughed maniacally. Finally the last Vegeta was dead. Victory was his. Nappa shut his eyes as Frieza slowly strangled him. He had failed his King.

Meanwhile, while all this was happening on Namek, Bulma had reigned as Queen well and wisely in her husband's steed. The people were content and happy and Vegitaasei had continued to thrive under her rule. Kakkarot and Raditz were loyal to her to the fault. Yet she missed her husband every night. Missed his body, his touch and loged to feel him close again. She lay in her bed alone at night and prayed for his safe return. The night of Vegeta's death she lay in bed, caressing her rounding belly. She had found herself with child not long after he had left. She was three months gone and would be close to six or seven when he returned. He would be in for a surprise. She smiled and hoped he was safe, then closed her eyes and fell asleep, too exhausted from her day to even try to stay awake.

The next morning she was awoken by Kakkarot who carried horrible news.

"Queen Bulma, the King is..is.." He could not go on. The look on her face. She knew somehow what he was going to say, that her beloved husband had been killed.

"Was it Frieza's treachery?" She asked softly.

"Yes, my Queen. Even now he seeks the throne of Vegeta, but he will be unable to attain it. There is nothing to fear."

She nodded and laid back down on the bed."Do you think Kakkarot, that you could run things in my steed? I fear I am exhausted and this news you have brought me, well I will need time to accept it."

"Yes,Queen Bulma, I will happily do this for you." He left leaving the queen alone. She attempted for a time to oush the overwhelming grief away, but in the end she couldn't. Her beloved was dead and she would never be held by him again, never hear his voice. She felt her heart break and her grief knew no limits. She sobbed endlessly and refused to leave her room for days on end. Finally she emerged prepared to take matters into her own hands.

"Kakkarot, I must go and retrieve the body of my beloved King. He must be brought home to rest on Vegittasei soil."

"My, Queen, you are in no condition to travel alone. Let me at least go with you."

"No, you must stay here and run the kingdom whle I am gone. I must do this on my own." She squeezedhis hand and left on her journey. First she traveled to Namek, where the deed had been done. The friendly Namekians told her of the trick and how it had been accomplished. The make-shift tomb however had disappeared. One Namekian in particular belived it had been taken to one of Frieza's holdings. So she travled to three more planets, finally coming to Planet Yardrat. She asked the gentle natives if they could help her and to her surprise they knew of what she spoke of.

"Yes, Lord Frieza brought this huge slab of rock to this planet several months ago. He said we should use it to decorate our city square with."

Bulma was about to cry out, to claim her husband's body, but she was doubled over in pain. The baby. She had been traveling for six months and it was time. The gentle natives of the planet helped her and she soon delivered a fine young boy, whom she called Trunks. Every night that she was on Yardrat, she would take Trunks to the stone that held her beloved husband and repeat to him the story of how his fathe had come to be. She would vow that one day he would grow up and take revenge upon Frieza for all they had lost. Several months passed and Queen Bulma felt more like returning home. She had told the natives of Yardrat her story and they had agreed to give her the stone so she might return it to Vegittasei and lay her husband to his proper rest. They had a special technique that they could use that would instantly teleport them back to the palace on Vegittasei. Queen Bulma wanted one more night alone with her son and dead husband. So they agreed that they would travel back to Vegittasei the next morning. She laid out next to the stone that night and wept until she exhausted herself.

While she slept, she dreamt of a young man. He looked so much like Vegeta, yet he had her eyes. He informed her that he was the future self of the baby that slept next to her. He had been sent to her in a dream to help her find a way to return Vegeta to the living and give him immortal life. She dreamt of the dragonballs of Namek. How they were real, but that Frieza had not really found them. All she would need to do is locate them all and make her wish. Since Vegeta had not died a natural death, the dragon would have no problem bringing him back to life. She awoke that morning with reknewed spirit. Now she had to find a way to gather all the dragonballs . She had the natives of yardrat teleport the make-shift tomb to Namek, rhen she had them teleport her to Vegittasei where she might leave Trunks and come up with a plan.

Once there she was informed by Kakkarot and Raditz that they had captured Frieza on Namek searching for the dragonballs, returned him and imprisoned him in the deepest part of the dungeons. Queen Bulma wanted to confront the monster that had taken her husband from her and once there she was struck by a brilliant idea that could only have come from a mind such as her own. She would just have to allow Frieza to believe he tricked her.

"If you release me, I will show you where the dragonballs can be located. I know exactly where they are. " He had no real plan to do this. Once she freed him he would make a run for it, gather the rest of the balls and wish himself immortal.

"Alright, I will release you, but I shall hold you to your promise." Queen Bulma realized that he would attempt to trick her, it was however a risk she would have to take. She released him from his dank cell and allowed him to go. She ran to the throne room and told them what she had done.

"How could you release the killer of your husband? That is outrageous." Raditz was beside himself with anger.

"You don't understand. With the Yardrats," she nodded to the small group that had accompanied her home,"I can teleport to Namek, await Frieza and wait for him to get all the dragonballs. Then Kakkarot can grab them and we can wish our King back to life."

Raditz and Kakkarot agreed to the plan. Queen Bulma left her beloved Trunks with Raditz and she and Kakkarot were promptly teleported to Namek. While they awaited Frieza's arrival, they hunted themselves for the dragonballs and found two on their own. They hid them next to the stone that held Vegeta's body and continued looking. Another three months came and went, while they waited for Frieza to get there. They lived among the Namekian natives and lived simply, still trying to locate as many balls as they could on their own. Queen Bulma missed Trunks terribly and she forced Kakkarot to learn the teleportation move so that he might teleport them back each night to see her small son.

Finally Frieza arrived and Kakkarot and Queen Bulma followed him across the planet to his hiding place. They were shocked to see that he had found all except the two they had themselves collected. While Fireza was out looking, they grabbed the balls he had left behind. Kakkarot flew them both back to the site of the stone. They watche din awe as the balls began to glow and a monstrous dragon appeared in the now darkened skies.

"I will grant you three wishes. What is your first wish?"

Bulma and Kakkarot looked at each other.

"We wish young King Vegeta to be returned to life."

"It shall be done."

Bulma's heart quickened as a bright light emanated from the stone and watched in awe as it shattered into a thousand tiny pieces. There he stood amongst the rubble, and he was glowing yellow. His hair was completely yellow, his eyes the color of teal. She stared in awe at him. His eyes found hers and he smirked. He walked to them and took his wife into his arms.

"You have restored me to life. My heart and soul is yours forever but only after I kill Frieza with my bare hands. I will avenge my honor. "

Bulma nodded, overjoyed that her beloved husband was with her again.

"Frieza is here my King." Kakkarot's head was bowed in respect to Vegeta, for he truly was the legendary.

"Yes and he's on his way here now. Finish with the wishes woman. Wish us both eternal youth."

Bulma happily did so. An eternity of loving Vegeta. She couldn't believe it. She turned her head as Frieza came upon him. He was in shock that they had gathered the dragonballs before him. He had thought he had come up with the perfect plan to trick them all. He stared at Vegeta who stood,glowing yellow, smirking at him arrogantly. How had he broken through the stone?

"You're pathetic Frieza. Did you really think you would be able to defeat me? I am the legendary, the one foretold. I am the one who is going to kill you." His smirk was replaced by a cold mask of arrogant contempt. He flew up at the stunned warlord and punched him sending him straight back to the planet. He hovered over him for a mere moment then raised his hand, preparing a ki blast that would finally end Frieza's reign of terror.

"No, please I beg of you, don't kill me."

"Go to Hell." He fired the blast and ended Frieza's miserable life for good.

His hair returned to its normal black color, his eyes their normal piercing black. He walked to his wife, gathered her in his arms and Kakkarot teleported them all back to Vegittasei, where the King met his son, and he and Bulma still live ruling the universe together. Frieza, well Frieza is only the King of the underworld now, but those dragonballs are still out there, so I guess you never know.

THE END