Dragonball: Rewritten

Chapter 31: Cell Saga

Frieza gawked at the sea of dead soldiers before him. Amongst them, he zeroed his attention right on five particular bodies. The Ginyu Force. All slaughtered. All dead. As if they were nothing but simple playthings for this practical child before him.

He sneered at that lavender-haired Saiyan, his tail lashing behind him. His purple-pink ki radiated in furious waves from his half-mechanized form.

Another Saiyan. Another damned, bloodied Saiyan, and he wasn't even golden-haired like Son Goku was.

Beside him, his father shouted, "How dare you! You will pay for this!"

That eerily familiar smirk grew wider. He raised an eyebrow. "Oh? Considering your track record lately, I doubt that will happen."

"My son annihilated your whole race, monkey!"

"Ah, yes, that. Not wrong. And yet..." Frieza's ki nearly exploded at the haughty way this Saiyan child gestured down the front of his body with one hand, chuckling under his breath. "... here I am." The last shreds of Frieza's control began to unravel as that damned Saiyan lifted the tip of his sword at him. "How about I give you one last shot at killing a Saiyan." Those piercing blue eyes flickered over towards King Cold. "Or maybe your dad can do what you can't—"

Two beings appeared out of nowhere, blocking Frieza's view of the Saiyan. The disorienting sight of two people appearing out of thin air galvanized Frieza, knocking him out of his frenzied, angered state.

The moment he realized who these two beings were, that anger returned in spades.

"You."

***

Vegeta brought his fingertips down from his forehead, releasing Goku's hand soon after. He glared right at Frieza and King Cold, ignoring the happy cheers of their friends and family not far away from them.

Behind him, he vaguely heard Goku say to someone, "Go back with the others."

"What?"

"This is his score to settle. Not yours."

"But I can help—"

"Appreciated, but unnecessary." He felt Goku's ki recede behind him, along with that other ki—the one Vegeta zeroed in on when he teleported the two of them back home to Earth. "He can do this on his own."

"But—"

"Trust me." Vegeta smirked at the sound of Goku's proud chuckle reaching his ears. "It's not needed. Not anymore."

He shut his eyes tight, bending his elbows, his hands turning into tight fists.

A tilt of his chin to the sky. The ki inside him burned like a calm flame.

Teeth gritted. Fingers clenched tighter.

Goku's face, back on Yardrat. The struggles they endured. The frustrations and anger. The disappointment, disagreements, despair, confusion and hurt and that look, that damned look on Goku's face when he said—

Vegeta threw himself into the flames of his ki.

The roar of the Oozaru escaped him, bellowing out from deep inside.

That flame transformed into the familiar all-encompassing inferno, the burning embers and incomprehensible heat threatening the edges of his sanity. His brain rejected the pain. His body rejected the pain.

He tapped into the water needed to cool the flames down. The image of Goku's sweet smile. The sound of his laugh. The way he felt in Vegeta's arms, above Vegeta's body, below his body, looking at him like he was the most important person in the universe. Not like before. Not like he looked after Namek. Different. Better. Healthier, all thanks to Vegeta's help.