Disclaimer: I don’t own DBZ or any rights to it. Maybe in an
A/U I do, but not here.
“What a weird place!” Bulma lent up against the wall, careful to avoid the glowing lichen that was attached to it, and sighed, it seemed like she had been walking for hours and had gotten nowhere, “If only I knew which direction I was heading…or how far below the ground I am…” Bulma looked up at the ceiling as if it somehow held the answers to her frustrated questions, “Oh man…I should never have yelled his name…” Bulma began walking again, thinking up all the nasty names she could think of to call Vegeta the next time she saw him.
“So
she still wouldn’t give in huh? Well I don’t want to say I told you so, but…”
Chichi paused for effect and the narrowed her eyes and smirked, “I told you
so!”
“Shut
up.” Vegeta paced around his room like a caged animal; occasionally he would
stop and glance into the viewing pool and snarl.
“You
should just take the curse off…it would make things a lot easier. You know I
bet if you took the curse off she’d stay with you.” Goku shovelled more food
into his mouth as Vegeta whirled around and stalked up to him,
“I’m
not going to undo anything I’ve done! I’m not backing down!” Vegeta banged a
fist onto the table and glanced up at Goku, “Besides she not going to get out.”
Goku
and Chichi exchanged a look.
“If
you say so…” Chichi tossed her hair and yawned, “How much time does she have
left anyway?”
“Three
more hours.” Vegeta smirked again as another fey woman came through the door,
wearing a tight black and purple lace dress.
The woman could have been
mistaken for a human looking fey…if it wasn’t for the pointed fangs in her
mouth, or the cat like pupils and the pointed furry ears, not to mention the
black furry tail that agitatedly lashed back and forth and she prowled up to
Vegeta and bowed.
“Sire.”
The woman stood up her eyes darting from Vegeta to Goku to Chichi and then back
to Vegeta again, “We have news from above ground.”
“Well
what is it Isabelle?” Vegeta paused his pacing and looked at Isabelle
expectantly,
“Sir,
the humans have begun retreating from their lands. This morning the residents
in the lords castle evacuated and the villages were gone a few hours later.”
“Excellent.”
Vegeta rubbed his hands together and he motioned for Isabelle to sit down,
“You’ve proven yourself to be very useful Isabelle.”
“Thank
you sir.” She bowed her head again, her tail delicately curling around her
waist.
“It
is a truly unique gift you have, in all my years as ruler you are the first fey
to ever have been immune to the pain that sunlight causes our kind. You must be
very proud of yourself.” Vegeta tilted his head to the side as Isabelle
squirmed under his gaze, unsure of how where this conversation was heading.
“I
am sir.”
“Good.
I have one more little job for you my little day-walker. My future wife and
your future queen is currently in the hallways of the pit, she is still on her
futile quest to solve the maze. But that’s beside the point. I want you to
follow her, keep her out of trouble and keep her safe, do you understand me?”
“Yes
sir…but aren’t you worried she might escape? The hallways of the pit are very
close to the exit! What if she finds the way out?”
“She
won’t.” Vegeta waved a hand signalling Isabelle to leave; he missed the
sceptical look that was exchanged between Goku, Chichi and Isabelle.
“Stupid
Vegeta.” Bulma rubbed furiously at a stain on her dress from a close encounter
with a lichen-covered wall, “I should have let myself get eaten by those furry
snakes.” She gave up on her dress and
began walking again, steering clear of the lichen this time, “I could have been
a herb lady or a midwife but nooo! I had to go and work in the castle with Lord
slut-whore. This is all my parents fault, fancy selling your own daughter to a
place like that.”
A
noise behind Bulma stopped her dead in her tracks, slowly; ever so slowly she
turned around to confront whatever monster was behind her this time. Bulma
squinted into the darkness but didn’t see anything.
“Guess
it was my imagination.” Bulma stared to walk again, when she reached a branch
in the corridor she stared to turn right but then stopped and turned left,
Bulma stopped again and slowly went back to the right cavern, she walked in and
looked up. Sure enough far above was a glimmer of light.
“Alright!”
Bulma hitched her skirts up and began to scramble up the cavern wall; behind
her Isabelle paused in the cavern doorway and shook her head slowly.
Bulma
had found the way out.
Vegeta
was not going to be pleased…
“What
do you mean she is almost out?" Vegeta spoke through clenched
teeth, or rather, through clenched fangs.
“She’s
climbing up the cavern wall as we speak.” Isabelle cringer and backed away as
Vegeta roared.
“Did
it not occur to you to stop her? Damn it all! We only have a few minutes till
she becomes Fey! Do you have any idea what will happen if she changes near the
exit and gets sunlight on her?” He clenched his fists and gave a grim little
smile, “No it’s not your dault. You were only following my orders and I never
told you to stop her should she try to leave. At least you came back and told
me though.” Vegeta gave Isabelle a condescending pat on the head and strode out
the room with Goku and Chichi in tow.
“Oh,
thank God.” Isabelle sank to the floor, relieved to still be alive.
Bulma
pulled herself up over the ledge and laughed in relief when she saw that she
had only a few metres to walk and she would be outside the horrible cave and
away from Vegeta. Bulma took a step forward and faltered as she remembered
Vegeta’s words:
“I
won’t keep you here, but I won’t take you back up. You have one whole day left
before you become Fey, once you’re Fey you cannot leave the underground with
out my permission, it’s just the way things are. But, if you manage to make it
out of here before time is up, then you may have your freedom and I will never
bother you again. None of us will. This will all be but a dream to you, and as
an added bonus I’ll return you to your frightfully friendly Lord Kendal and
lift the curse.
Bulma
took another faltering step and paused again, did she really want to lose
Vegeta? Lose his memory? Bulma shook the thoughts out of her head, of course
she wanted to leave, it was the only way to get Vegeta to lift his curse. Bulma
took a third step, gasped and fell to her knees, this time for a whole new
reason; pain.
Her body felt like it had acid running though its veins and her lungs burnt with each breath she drew in. She could feel her heart thundering and deep inside her she felt something change. Bulma turned onto her side and threw up bright red blood, and while she wondered where the pain had come from, some sane part of her mind knew.
She
was too late to escape; she was turning Fey.