Disclaimer: I don’t own DBZ or any rights to it. Maybe in an
A/U I do, but not here.
“My choice?” Bulma studied Vegeta as he moved towards her again. He seemed restless and eager to hear her choice.
“Yes…your
choice. Pain or Pleasure?” Vegeta circled around her and paused behind her,
“Mmm? So what’s it to be?”
Bulma
frowned, staying down here was the obvious choice but if she stayed down here
then all her people would die…but if she went up she’d return to Lord Kendal
and her own personal hell, but the people would be safe. Bulma sighed, as much
as she hated Lord Kendal she couldn’t bear to see all the people suffering.
“Up.
I want to go up. I’ll brave this cave maze of yours Vegeta.” Bulma turned
around and raised her head, her defiant azure eyes locking with his emotionless
cobalt ones.
“So
be it.” Vegeta’s eyes seemed to swell with blackness that surrounded a spell
bound Bulma who try as she might was unable to tear her eyes from his. The
blackness expanded until all Bulma could see and feel was the dark, “You have
one day Bulma my sweet…one day…” Bulma felt the darkness pull away form her and
with a shriek she realised she was falling down…down…down…
Vegeta
dropped Bulma down the shaft that would lead her to the entrance to the caves
and shifted back into his human form. For a man who’d just thrown the woman he
loved down a black hole he looked pleased with himself. Vegeta laughed and crouched
at the top of the hole, wanting to listen to the woman’s screams when she woke
up and realised what she’d gotten herself into.
The
woman would never make it out, of that he was certain. In fact, once she was
awake she would probably beg him to take her back to the safety of his throne
room.
Bulma
groaned and sat up rubbing her head, she blinked her eyes to dispel the
darkness around her but nothing happened.
“Umm…Hello?”
Bulma voice echoed back to her. “Great. I’m alone in a big black hole.” She
stood up and waved her hands around hoping to feel a wall, she took a step
forwards and dropped to her knees as a wave of nausea swept over her. She
moaned and held up a hand to the lump and the gash on her head. She had no idea
if it was the bump on the head or simply disorientation fro the darkness but
walking seemed to be a skill she wasn’t quite up to at the moment.
She
sat in the darkness for what seemed like a long long time, before finally she
crawled forward a little way and then paused again. How could Vegeta have just
throne her down a hole? Probably forgot that mortals are prone to dying, Bulma
thought nastily as she crawled forward. She paused as she heard a strange chittering
sound to her left.
“Hello?”
Her voice echoed back to her. “Is anyone there?” Bulma moved towards the sound
and heard the chittering things screech and run away, “Great.” Bulma was about
to move on when she heard a whoosh of air and something large landed in front
of her. She held her breath as the giant creature growled and, snorted and then
with a clicking of very large nails or talons began to walk towards her.
Bulma
curled up as small as she could and closed her eyes as she heard an
unidentifiable sound that resembled a breath of wind. The talons and footsteps
stopped and instead Bulma heard normal footsteps coming towards her. Terrified
she uncurled herself and crab crawled backwards.
“Who’s
there?”
The
footsteps stopped and Bulma held her breath, straining to hear any sounds she
could in the darkness.
“Who
do you think?” A voice whispered into Bulma’s ear. She shrieked and moved away
from the voice, not getting far before an arm lashed out and grabbed her,
pulling her back into a rock hard chest. “Calm down, Woman!”
“Vegeta?”
Bulma paused in her struggles, “Is that you?”
“Although
I’m tempted to say no, the answer is yes.” Vegeta moved his arm behind her to draw
some symbol in the air and a golden glow formed around them. Bulma tore herself
from Vegeta arms and scrabbled away form him, glaring at him as he calmly
brushed himself off and stood up, offering her a hand.
“Oh
I’m sorry…did I scare you?”
“Did
you scare me? DID YOU SCARE ME!” Bulma
ignored his outstretched hand and got to her feet, aggressively striding
towards him to deal him a slap across the face, “How dare you do that to me!
You throw me down here, knowing full well that with out light I can’t find my
way out and then you come down here to scare me!”
“Well
actually…” Vegeta glared at her and rubbed his cheek, “I only came down here
because some of the nastier little creatures were getting a little too close to
you.”
Bulma
suddenly remembered the huge beast with the claws that had landed in front of
her and had scared away the chittering things.
“That
big…thing was you?” Bulma frowned, what the hell had that creature been?
It had been huge and had had talons. Of that she was certain…but what kind of a
beast was that big?
“Yeah.”
Vegeta grinned suddenly, “I’ve saved your life twice now – if you end up
staying down here with me you’re going to owe me your life twice over. I could
order you to do anything once you’re one of us and you’d have no choice.”
“How
nice.” Bulma looked around her and saw several caves leading off all around
her, “If you don’t mind, I’ll be off now. And if you don’t mind, I’d like to
have some light.”
“Aren’t
you curious as to what creature I can turn into?” Vegeta began to circle Bulma
again, “I’ll give you a hint. I supposedly like to eat maidens in my animal
form…Maybe I should eat you.” Vegeta gave a wicked grin and slowly moved
closer, “Come on, guess what I am.”
Bulma
took a step back but he grabbed her hand and kept her near him, “Um…a demon?”
Bulma tugged at her wrist, “There I guessed! Can I get moving now?”
“Wrong,
but a nice try.” He let go of her and raised an eyebrow, “So you’re still going
to try to brave my maze are you?”
“Yes.”
Bulma turned and strode away, “And no more games Vegeta. Fair is fair.” Bulma
turned down one of the caves and disappeared from Vegeta’s sight.
“Yes
Bulma. Fair is fair.” Vegeta grinned and morphed into his animal; with a final
look in the direction she had gone in he leapt up into the air and flew out of
the hole, his giant wings cutting through the air
with ease.
“Stupid
Vegeta thinks he can out smart me.” Bulma turned down yet another passageway
and stamped her foot in annoyance as it ended in a dead end. “This isn’t fair!”
Bulma kicked the wall and walked back down the twisted corridor, this time
going right instead of left.
“How’s
she doing?” Goku lent over Vegeta’s shoulder and stared down into the image
that floated in the water, “Oh…she’s in the stone maze. Not bad for a mortal.”
Goku ignored Vegeta’s growl and walked back to lounge against the wall with
Chichi.
“You
know Vegeta,” Chichi’s voice was coaxing. “Maybe you should have just let her
go. After seeing this place she’s bound to want to eventually want to come
back.” Chichi rolled her eyes when Vegeta didn’t answer, “You know ignoring me
isn’t going to do you any good, I’m just going to keep talking wether you want
to listen or not.” Chichi paused again and grinned at Goku when Vegeta remained
silent, “You know the real reason she’s upset? It’s because of the curse. You
should have just taken it off…”
“No!”
Vegeta stood up and banished the image of Bulma in the water, “It’s a mater of
pride! I’m not going to take off the curse because she wants me to! Those
people deserved it, next time maybe they wont be so contemptuous of the Fey.”
“Yeah
but Vegeta, is it worth losing her over?” Goku asked quietly.
“I’m
not going to lose her Goku, no mortal has ever made it out of here.” Vegeta
flopped on his bed and stared at the ceiling, “Just go away.”
“There’s
a fist time for everything, my King.” Chichi and Goku walked from the room,
knowing full well that Vegeta was right.
The
poor woman didn’t have a chance in hell of making it out of here in one day.