Status: Daily Updates

The Bond

The Loss

Rilan was giving it everything he had.

His new form was amazing, and he had never been stronger. But it wasn't enough. Frieza was just too strong. Frustration bathed him, and he threw out everything he could. Frieza blocked or dodged it all, and slowly, Rilan began to feel insignificant, like a small creature looking up at a massive mountain with no hopes of reaching the top because he just wasn't good enough.

Vegeta and Katima were suddenly there, and Rilan barely registered this fact, too intent on damaging Frieza. His new body was so controlled however, that fighting with the two Saiyans was like something he had been doing all his long life. But there was something more. He could sense something between the two of them, like now it wasn't just the bond that was linking them together.

Frieza took them all on, laughing all the while, dodging or blocking every hit. He was merely testing out his new body, not even trying. It made Rilan seethe inside, made his head throb with anger. How dare he. How dare he play them for fools!

"Ah," sighed Frieza while he battled, "I grow tired of this game. Enough."

With a mighty blast, he sent all of them flying away from him. They all managed to recover before hitting the ground, however, and all surrounded Frieza, ready to continue their vein efforts.

"You are all so stubborn," Frieza muttered, smiling at each of them in turn, "I know you realize that it's pointless. You all know I'm stronger than the three of you combined. So why continue a fruitless effort?"

"It's called karma," Katima snapped.

Frieza turned to her, "Karma?"

"What goes around, comes around," Katima panted, narrowing her eyes, "And when yours comes, its going to be monumental. I just hope I get to see it."

"You won't," said Frieza, raising a hand and shooting out a blast.

Rilan let out a yell as Katima was consumed by the light, and her smoldering body fell to the ground. However, though landing hard, she shakily got to her feel, wiping blood from her mouth.

"Still standing?" Frieza laughed, "You Saiyans are like-"

Frieza's snide remark was cut off as Vegeta slammed a kick into the back of his neck. When Rilan saw Frieza cave with the blow a bit, he felt new hope bubble inside him. This new form wasn't invulnerable after all.

"Fool!" Frieza shouted and smacked Vegeta up side the face, making him soar away and land with a mighty splash in the water.

The prince was not beat, however. He resurfaced and launched upward, a battle cry erupting from his lungs. Rilan joined the effort, racing ahead and taking Frieza off guard. He landed a hit on the back of Frieza's head, making him sail down to meet Vegeta's attack, which was a mighty knee to the gut. Katima was back, and she slammed her shoulder into Frieza's side, making him jerk a few feet away, but it wasn't long before he recovered and smiled back at them, not even a scratch upon his face.

"You don't understand it, do you?" he laughed, "You can't defeat me! I'm the strongest in the entire universe!"

"You have too much faith in yourself," Rilan said, smiling, "Your arrogance will be your death."

Frieza whirled, and his tail smacked the side of Rilan's face so hard that he was sent crashing into the ground. He lay there for a moment, his body laced in pain, but he forced himself to get back up. They had to keep going until Goku was ready.

"You were one of my best."

Rilan flinched when he heard Frieza's voice behind him. He turned and clenched his fists, ready to defend himself. Frieza wasn't smiling anymore, glaring at Rilan like he were an unpleasant insect that had been come across in his soup.

"It seems that my men are no longer trustworthy if so many can simply turn against me without a second thought," Frieza said darkly, "But fear is the greatest thing to ensure obedience. So I will learn from this. From now on, no one will ever disobey me ever again. And you're death will be the shining example!"

"You keep talking about how we just don't understand," said Rilan, taking a brave step forward, "But it is you who are blind. All that you are doing is killing yourself."

Frieza grabbed his shoulder with one hand and pressed his other to Rilan's gut. An energy wave was released, cutting a hole through Rilan's middle, just like what had been done to Leir. Rilan felt his body return to normal. He felt pain pulsate from the wound to the rest of his body, making him shake as Frieza stepped back. He dropped to his knees and looked down at his mortal wound, blood dripping down from the corners of his mouth.

The energy within him sort of leaked out. It felt like the dam had just broke, and everything was flowing away. He landed on his stomach, laying there with his lungs and heart trying valiantly to keep going despite the fact that the host of the body had given up.

Rilan closed his eyes, a slight smile clinging to his lips. It was a shame that he didn't get to stay around to see Goku hand Frieza's ass to him. He really wanted to witness the battle of the century.

*scene change*

"Rilan!"

Katima clenched her fists, her fingernails digging into her palms, blood trickling from between her knuckles. He was gone. Killed with as much effort as squashing a bug.

"No," Katima shook her head, "We can't win."

"Don't say that!" Vegeta snarled at her, "He isn't unbeatable- he has to have a weak point!"

With a cry of anger, Vegeta shot down to the ground, heading straight for Frieza.

"Vegeta, no wait!" Katima yelped, following suit.

They collided into Frieza, beginning their battle once more with new gusto. Now Frieza actually had to focus on dodging and blocking, and every so often, one of the Saiyans could break through. But even the punches that landed did minimal damage. It was weighing in on Katima, making her fight even harder out of her desperation. She recalled how different her life could be if she had never gotten involved the day Vegeta landed on Earth.

However, despite being in a battle of life and death, Katima wouldn't have done it any differently.

Katima threw out her punches and kicks with all of her heart, Vegeta at her side, and their bond linking them together. Their emotions weren't too different from one another at that moment. Desperation, anger, fear…

"Enough of this," Frieza muttered, and slammed a punch on Katima's face and a kick in Vegeta's gut.

Katima landed rolling, and slammed into someone's legs. She groaned and opened her eyes to see she had collided against Piccolo, who held down a hand to her. She took it and he pulled her to her feet. Katima turned, ready to attack again, but Piccolo grabbed her arm

"It's pointless, Katima, stop it, you're going to get killed," he said.

Before Katima could reply, she saw that Frieza was looming above Vegeta, who had landed at the edge of the island. He was getting to his feet, ready to continue the fight, but Frieza reached down and wrapped his tail around the prince's neck, lifting him up before Frieza's eyes.

"Vegeta!" Katima shouted, making to rush forward, but Piccolo twisted her arms under hers,

putting her in a wrestler's hold.

"Stop it, Katima, you can't do anything!' he begged.

"I have to help him!" Katima wailed, but she was so weakened she couldn't even fight against Piccolo.

"The mighty Prince of Saiyans!" Frieza bellowed, laughter in his voice, "What a joke!"

He proceeded to punching Vegeta like a sand bag, making the Siayan howl in pain with each hit. Katima felt her gut twist in horror, and her heart begin to ach. Not Vegeta- not like this! Slowly, Vegeta's hands which had been clenching the tail about his neck, fell limply to his sides, and his shouts of pain turned into small gasps with each punch. Katima not only felt his energy level fading, but his signal through the bond as well.

She twisted wildly against Piccolo's grasp, shocked to feel tears begging to leak from her eyes.

"FRIEZA STOP!" she screamed, "PLEASE! PLEASE STOP!"

Frieza ignored her, continuing to laugh mercilessly, punching on and on.

Katima shut her eyes tightly, tears pouring down her face, her teeth gritted so hard that she wouldn't have been surprised if a tooth chipped. She couldn't stand it. It simply wasn't physically possible for her to comprehend Vegeta getting so terribly hurt. There was no words to describe her feelings. Saying that she simply couldn't handle this wasn't good enough.

Frieza tossed Vegeta to the ground, his limp body skidding toward them. Seeing him mere feet away gave Katima a burst of energy and she tore out of Piccolo's grasp and collapsed on Vegeta, clutching his shoulders and looking at his blood- covered face. He was still alive, but barely. Slowly, his eyes opened, and Katima felt her heart skip a beat when they met hers.

"Vegeta," she breathed.

"This is very touching and all," drawled Frieza, "But I do believe you're blocking my shot, girl."

Katima turned, shaking violently in her rage, locking her gaze on Frieza who smiled down at her.

"Go on now, Saiyan," said Frieza, "Run along, I promise your turn to die will come."

"Death will not be a good enough punishment for you," Katima breathed, "You should have to die a thousand times for your arrogance!"

Frieza laughed and raised a finger, "Words do nothing to sway me girl, I thought you learned this by now…"

A red lights formed on Frieza's finger tip, and Katima braced herself for her death, wondering what it would be like to pass on.

But it never happened.

There was a gush of wind from behind her, and she was suddenly aware of a new, very potent power level. Katima slowly turned her head and felt her heart kick into over drive, joy flooding her system.

"Goku…" she breathed, hardly daring to believe it.

Goku strode toward them, patting his son's head as he went by, a serous frown upon his face. The power radiating from his body was phenomenal, like something out science fiction. It was like static in the air, tickling Katima's skin and scalp. Goku stopped beside her, looking at Frieza with a dark glare.

"I've been waiting to meet you, Frieza," Goku said, his voice like ice.

"K-Kakarot…"

Goku and Katima both looked down at Vegeta, who had his hand reached out, "L-listen to me…"

"Vegeta, stop," Goku said softly, "Don't talk, you need to save your energy."

"N-no!" Vegeta cringed in pain, "You h-have to lis-listen! All my life… Frieza has h-had me under his boot… He t-took me from my family when I w-was a b-boy, and said if I… that if I didn't do as he asked that he would kill my father, and then he went and k-killed him anyway!"

Katima felt pure shock bubble through her as she watched tears form in Vegeta's eyes and tip out of the corners of his lids. She felt her heart twist in sympathy, and could feel the terrible sadness that the prince felt when remembering his dark childhood.

"It's his fault that I'm the way I am!" Vegeta cried, "You are a Saiyan, Kakarot… please… you have to make him pay for what he has done to me, to us! You have to end it here! Promise me!"

Goku had emotion swimming in his eyes as he nodded, "I promise," he said softly.

"Won't you just shut up?"

Katima turned just in time to see a red beam cut through Vegeta's chest. Something seemed to slam into her, like the world itself had just shut off. As the last of Vegeta's power level faded to nothing, her body ceased up. Agony like nothing she had ever felt, like nothing she had ever thought possible, flooded her veins, all that there was before her was Vegeta's body in a world of darkness. Katima was aware of her lungs pumping out a wail of pain, but could hear nothing but a faint ringing in her ears.

It wasn't possible. Nothing should keep going, why was the air still flowing around her? Why was she still knelt on solid ground? Everything should have gone with Vegeta. The world, the universe, and anything beyond that shouldn't be in existence without him. She shouldn't be alive, shouldn't be staring down at his body. It simply wasn't possible, simply was allowed to happen. It violated every aspect of Katima's new life. Vegeta was her everything, and now, with the silence through the bond, she didn't know how to live.

Katima grabbed Vegeta's torso and hugged it to her own, still feeling the scream vibrate through her but unable to hear it. She inhaled the last of Vegeta's scent, tainted by blood and sweat. Why him? It should have been her! It should have been her heart that have been severed by Frieza's attack. Without him on the other end of the bond, Katima felt like she had lost her entire purpose. It was like life was frozen, like it had been shattered like glass.

The world rushed back to her, and she was aware that Goku and Frieza were off fighting somewhere, their clashing powers lighting up the sky. Gohan had a hand on Katima's shoulder, and Krillin and Piccolo were behind him, staring down at her in sympathy.

"We have to go, Katima," Gohan whispered.

Katima wasn't even capable of replying with a proper word. She let out a shriek and pushed her nephew away. With the a burst of energy, she blasted up into the sky, not sure where she was flying. She could hear her name, but ignored it, her mind too scrambled to register who it was. No one followed her as she left the fight behind her. One thing that did click was that Goku was probably going to win that fight. His power has skyrocketed. But it didn't matter.

Nothing mattered.

Katima kept flying blindly until the brunt of whatever was happened began to subside. She actually could focus on the ground instead of seeing it as just a blue blur beneath her. To her mild surprise, she became aware that Vegeta's body was slung over her shoulder. She must have grabbed him when she took off. She knew it was just an empty shell now.

Looking back down, she saw Goku's ship that he had arrived here in. Katima descended, glancing at the bodies of Burter, Wes, and Guldo nearby. How strange that they had battled here just hours ago. It felt like a decade had passed.

The hatch to the ship was still down and Katima slowly stepped up into the interior, which was rather bland except for a large machine in the middle. Katima went to one side and gently set Vegeta down and stared at his lifeless face.

She couldn't think straight. Vegeta, dead. She slowly sat down and took one of his limp hands in both of hers, tears flowing forth. The pain was unbearable. It was deep, bone crushing and sickening, but there was no wound to blame for it. The mere fact that Vegeta was gone was the cause. This was the fate that Guru had warned her about, the fate worse than death, for Katima would far prefer being dead to this.

It was the end of everything to her.

A darkness slowly enveloped her and she backed away from Vegeta and leaned against the machine in the center of the ship, hugging her knees to her chest. She was just seeing Vegeta, his face, his voice ringing in her head, his laugh when he was winning in battle. She was reliving the moment in Frieza's ship, seeing his bare torso, and the strong look of determination on his face. She remembered him sleeping, how peaceful his face was, how vulnerable he looked.

Then she saw him die, the light piercing his heart, taking him from her. She couldn't comprehend it, this silence in the bond she had become so accustomed to. It was like the life before Vegeta could not have possibly existed because of this emptiness that now consumed her.

It could had been hours, it could have been heartbeats that passed. Katima couldn't move, couldn't breathe. She stared at the ground but was only seeing Vegeta's face, hearing his voice in her ear. And as Katima was swimming in the darkness, she wondered… was this love? Did the pain that was now swallowing her the result of her falling in love with Vegeta? Perhaps… Perhaps it wasn't Vegeta's near death that had changed the bond. Perhaps somewhere along the way, the bond that let her see Vegeta's goodness had made her fall in love with him.

But no, it wasn't the bond that did it. It it had been the bond, she would have loved him the moment that it had been planted. No, she now knew when it happened. It was when she was watching him sleep. It was then that some part inside her had fallen in love with the Saiyan prince, but she didn't even realize it until now, until it was too late, until he was gone…

There was a nudge in her mind, something that seemed to want her to pull out of the darkness, but Katima ignored it. She didn't even have nay tears left to shed. She felt like an empty shell, like she was slowly shriveling to nothing….

"Katima…"

Vegeta's voice was calling to her, and Katima cringed at it, the mere sound of his vocals burning her like fire. Why did her memories tease her so? It was like she could feel his hands on her shoulders, the smell of his hair thick in her face…

"Katima!" Vegeta's voice shouted at her.

"No…" Katima moaned, shaking her head at the darkness before her, "Make it stop… please stop…"

"Katima, listen to me!" Vegeta called to her, "Open your eyes!"

"Stop toying with me!" Katima cried, cringing and throwing out her arms.

But when her hands collided with something softly solid, she froze, her breath catching in her throat. Slowly, Katima became aware that she was not surrounded by darkness, but that she had been clenching her eyes tightly shut. She opened them a crack, seeing a pair of knees in front of her own. Katima let out a wild gasp and looked up to see Vegeta's face.

"V-Vegeta…?" she breathed, looking at her hands on his newly healed chest and then up to his dark eyes which were fixed upon her own blue ones.

Was it possible? Was her mind just playing some sick joke with her? No… his presence was back in the bond, the feel of his mind touching her own. He was looking at her with concern in his eyes, a thoughtful frown on his lips.

"Can you stand?" he asked.

Katima allowed him to lift her to her feet. Her back was pressed to the machine, her hands still on his chest, his hands on her elbows.

"What happened, are you okay?" Vegeta asked.

Katima couldn't take it. She let out a wail and threw her arms around him and hugged him to her, burying her head in his chest, inhaling his scent, taking in the feel of his muscles, of his very being. She didn't know how it happened, how he was alive again, but she didn't care. All that mattered was that he was there, that the bond was whole again, that she was complete once more…

There was mild shock echoing through the bond from Vegeta. He didn't understand why she was clinging to him, didn't know why she was shedding tears of joy. But she knew he could feel her emotions pumping to his mind, knew that he could sense how grateful she was that she had him back. Katima wasn't at all comfortable with physical contact that wasn't violent, but with Vegeta it was different. It was like she was meant to touch him, meant to hold him in her arms.

"Katima…" Vegeta awkwardly pressed a hand to the middle of her back, "What happened? I died, but… how am I alive?"

Katima took several deep breaths, and slowly released her hold on him, looking up into he eyes. He was slightly red in the face, looking down at her with confusion in his eyes.

"I don't know," Katima murmured, trying to resist the urge to grab him again, "It… it must be the Dragon Balls," yes that made sense… Piccolo was back, therefore Kami was back, "The Earth's Dragon Balls are back, they must have wished…. Yes I can feel them!" she stiffened at the feel of so many life forms returning to existence across the planet, "They wished for everyone Frieza killed back to life."

Katima turned her attention to the hatch and yelped in shock at what was outside. The entire place looked like it was falling apart. The sky was blood red, and there were plumes of lava erupting upward in the distance, and as she watched, a energy level was rocketing toward them.

It was Gohan, and he was carrying two people with him.

"Katima!" Gohan greeted as he landed inside the ship.

He set down Bulma who looked shockingly no worse for wear. However Piccolo had a nice clean hold in his shoulder, and was out cold, fading fast. Gohan carefully sat him down and looked back up, smiling at Katima.

"You're okay! I didn't know what happened when you just too off-" Gohan was interrupted by Bulma's wail.

"What is Vegeta doing in here?" she gasped, hiding behind Gohan.

Vegeta got that smug smirk on his face again, and Katima felt her heart throb. It was so good to have him back, it was like her life had been restored in one breath.

"He's with us," said Katima, stepping forward, "What's happened? The planet looks like its falling apart."

"It is," said Gohan, "Frieza threw a blast into the core to explode the planet when he knew he couldn't beat my dad."

"I can feel Goku's power," said Katima, eyes widening, "I-it's amazing, how… how did he increase so much?"

"I have to see this," said Vegeta, and flew out of the ship at top speed.

"Ah, damn it," sighed Katima, "I have to follow him," she told Gohan, "Get out of here."

"But what about you guys?" asked Gohan.

"Don't worry about us," said Katima, looking out at Vegeta's retreating figure, smiling, "I've just come to a sort of realization, kid. So don't worry about me, I'll be fine," she ruffled his hair and then jumped out into the air of the dying planet, eyes glued to Vegeta's back.

Yes she had come to a realization. Where Vegeta went, so would she, and whatever happened didn't matter, so long as she was by his side.
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Song for this chapter: My immortal by Evanescence