Somnium enim Fortuna

Capitulus Unus

Somnium Vita

Disclaimer: I do not own DBZ or any of its characters, just this story.

I was ten years old the first time it happened, but it was many years before I knew what exactly was happening. The first night I was in a beautiful place. I was standing on the rocky ledge of a tall waterfall with water the color of my own hair, which, of course, is the most beautiful color in the world. The trees that sheltered this beautiful place were the deep dark red of a burning fire and the breeze that blew through them brought to my nose the sweetest scent I have ever smelled. I'll never forget the sensation of diving into that glorious water; the memory of it has stayed with me, giving me a place of quiet and peace to escape to in my mind whenever things were going badly. I saw many places, although not all were as wonderfully beautiful as the first. I never told anyone of these wonderful experiences, after all, they were just dreams, weren't they?

I lived a perfectly normal life outside of my dreams. Perfectly normal for the rich genius daughter of a genius scientist, that is. My father had made a fortune with his capsule technology, so when I was born, the only life I ever knew was one of privilege and comfort. I was a pampered little thing, protected from the harsh realities of life. But when I was seventeen I had the first dream of them.

When I opened my eyes that night I was standing in a deserted throne room. It was the largest room I had ever seen, possibly bigger than my whole house. My footsteps echoed through it as I walked around. It looked as if the room was being set-up for some great banquet or the visit of some important dignitary. Or maybe, I thought, I was seeing the court of some handsome young king as they prepared for dinner. I giggled at the thought that he would see me, fall madly in love and demand I become his queen But before he could some bitter rival would set about to have me killed, and my dashing young king would come save me at the last minute. Then we would be married in some fabulously expensive, beautiful wedding and live happily ever after.

That silly fantasy kept me occupied for a whole five minutes. Then I shook it from my head and began exploring again. I happened to pass close to one of the windows and had to stop still. The landscape outside was so harsh and angry that it took my breath away with the starkness of it. It had an almost deathly beauty that fascinated me even longer than my silly fantasy had. I stood there at the window for a time, watching as the blood red sun set over the distant hills. I don't know how long I stood there before a slight noise began to penetrate my mind. It slowly grew louder and I recognized it as the sound of voices raised in what could only be rage. I had no desire to be found by someone in the throes of anger so I skittered across the floor as fast as I could and hid quickly in a dark corner.

Just in time. The doors across from the throne flew open and a man hardly older than me stormed into the room. I could almost literally see the clouds as they swarmed around his head. The first impression that I had of him was that this was not a man to be messed with. The second impression that filtered through my worry of being discovered was that this man was pretty fucking handsome. And his body, well, let's just say I hadn't ever seen such a fine specimen before. I was leaning forward slightly, trying to watch him as he stalked across the room. When he reached the first set of tables he whipped around and I almost didn't make it back into my shadow, but I was certain he hadn't seen me. He glared angrily at the man who had followed him; I hadn't really paid attention to the older man when he walked in, but I could see that he was obviously the younger one's father. They were both dressed in some type of armor, so I wondered if they were soldiers.

They glared angrily at each other for several minutes before the young one spoke.

"I already told you that I don't care what the fuck you promised that damned lizard. If you expect me to be his servant then you can kiss my ass!"

"And I told you that I'm tired of listening to your whining boy! I will hear no more on this subject. When he gets here you will do as you are told. Be prepared."

With that the older man turned and swept out of the room, leaving me alone with the angry young man. He stared after the door for several minutes, clearly trying to rein his temper in. I continued to watch him from my dark corner, feeling a little more nervous of discovery with ever moment spent in his presence. He turned after a time and walked over to the banquet tables, pulling out a chair and slamming it down on the ground with enough force to shatter the offending furnishing. Clearly he hadn't yet managed to calm down. I leaned back into my corner, prepared for a long wait. I never knew how long I would be in any one place, but I had a feeling I was no where near done with this episode.

I was just beginning to relax in my hiding spot when I realized that not only had the young man's destruction stopped but I couldn't hear him anymore. I thought perhaps he had left the room and I hadn't noticed. I leaned forward slightly and just about died of shock when my eyes connected with his. He smirked the evilest smile I had ever seen at me then reached out and grabbed my arm, yanking me from my corner and shoving me indecorously towards the middle of the room.

"Well, what the fuck are you doing? Are you a spy for him?" he asked me angrily. I didn't know who he was talking about, probably the same 'him' he had been referring to with the older man.

"I don't know who you mean." I told him in a voice which, regretfully, wavered uncontrollably. The obvious fear I displayed only seemed to delight him further. He didn't reply to me, I think he believed me but he didn't want to let me off that easily. I tried to steady my resolve as he stepped closer to me. All thoughts of appearing brave fled from my mind when he wrapped his hand around my throat. I knew then that he was going to kill me, and he'd do it without even a second thought. Just as I felt myself suffocating I opened my eyes and there I was, back safe and sound in my bed at home. I was never more relieved to be out of my dreams in my life. I had dreamed of many strange things over the years, but none that had terrified me to the degree this one had. I could only hope this was the last time I would have that particular dream.

Unfortunately for me the lifetime of that hope was somewhat short. It was not quite a year later that I was opening my eyes to find myself in what was someone's personal bedroom. It was empty, for which I was relieved. I stepped quickly to the door, intending to make my escape. I pulled the door open and discovered that I was actually in an apartment. It was much the size of my own suite of rooms at home, except that the furnishings were stark and plain. I had personally decorated my room to my own opulent tastes and I couldn't imagine living in a place such as this. I made my tentative way across the living room but my eyes were drawn to the large window that occupied one of the walls. Outside I could see nothing but darkness and small points of light. After careful inspection I came to the conclusion that I appeared to be on some sort of space craft and was indeed looking out into the vast reaches of space. I was entranced by the myriad colors that the stars could take. It was wonderful, looking at them from aboard this ship rather than through my telescope at home.

I'm afraid I spent more time looking out the window than I should have. I was still lost in my reverie when I heard the door in the wall opposite slide open. I quickly ducked behind the couch next to me, intending to make my escape from these quarters if I was lucky enough and the person just walked on into their bedroom.

"One day I'm going to kill that fucking bastard!"

"You wish; Prince Vegeta is the one who'll kill him. And I'll be very happy when he does. Just let me get in a couple of hits before you totally annihilate him."

"You weaklings will be lucky if you're even still alive by then. Now get the fuck out and leave me alone."

Fuck! I knew that voice. I couldn't be back with that maniac, could I? I inched forward a tiny bit, intent on seeing the speakers. I could just barely make out the face of the first speaker, it wasn't the same man I remembered but he was dressed in much the same manner the man had been. Clearly these were his co-patriots. Well, this was fucking great. It was only a matter of time before that man realized I was here.

"Fuck Vegeta, just because Frieza made you kiss his ass toda-"

The man never got to finish what he was saying as Vegeta, for that was undeniably who the man was, hit him so hard in the stomach that he flew back through one of the other doors. I watched this with wide fearful eyes. I had instinctively known the man was dangerous but I had no idea he had so much strength. I wanted out of the room desperately but there was no way I could make it past the three men and outside. The second man shook his head and picked his companion up.

"Nappa, you're a mindless dimwit."

They walked outside, the smaller man dragging his companion along behind him. I wanted to breathe a small sigh of relief; after all, this meant they weren't going to be fighting violently around me. However, this now left me with nothing to distract Vegeta from my presence. I felt it the minute he realized I was there. It was like a subtle thickening of the air.

I thought he would command me to show myself, but instead he walked silently over to the couch, reached over it and dragged me up, pulling me over the couch towards him. I was trying very hard not to tremble, but the man scared the hell out of me.

"You again?"

He had released my arm but was now holding me near him by the front of my shirt. I couldn't force myself to breathe in enough air to respond to him. Once again that cold smirk crossed his face as he looked at me. His eyes roamed over my body. I was wearing one of my tight fitting sleep outfits, just a pair of dark blue shorts and a white tank top. I was starting to catch my breath a little but the look in his eyes was making me nervous. I was even starting to wish he would just threaten to kill me again and stop staring at me like that.

"So, are you one of Zarbon's whores then? Did he send you here to spy on me? I'm not a fool…and as intriguing as your looks are, I wouldn't want anything that Zarbon has put himself in."

I was blushing furiously by the time he finished this little speech. My desire to hurt this arrogant little prick almost overwhelmed me.

"I am no one's whore you moronic jackass!"

He stared at me for another moment before another smirk crossed his face.

"Well, the little slut has some spunk. Whoever would have thought? If you're not a whore then what are you? And why are you in my quarters?"

"I'm a human and I don't know what I'm doing here…I just...found myself here…"

The explanation sounded lame even to my ears.

"Didn't get enough of my magnificence last year, is that it? You came to find me, hoping I'd fulfill you're dirty little fantasies? Well, you might have exotic looks, but that doesn't mean I'm going to lower myself to anything as weak as you."

I fumed silently at the renewed insults. But there really wasn't anything I could say to that. I had no explanation to give him as to how I was in his room. And what's more, I had finally remembered who I was talking to. This man could kill me easily.

"Although…"

He released my shirt and stepped back, looking me over once again. The look in his eyes still confused me. It wasn't the angry bloodthirsty look I'd seen before he tried to kill me the last time. The look, however, knocked my breath away just as effectively. He reached for me again, pulling me tight against his body. I was about to ask him what he was doing but when I opened my eyes, I was back in my room. I breathed a sigh of relief. It was just another dream. Dawn was just breaking through my windows and as I reached out to close my blinds something made me stop. I could see my knees were developing bruises, as if I had smacked into the back of a hard object. I let my eyes drift from my knees to my outstretched hand, and sure enough, there were his hand prints splayed across my white skin.

A/N: Ok, so that was the first chapter. Let me know what you think. Should I continue? Was it worthless crap that I should toss into a trash bin and never look at again? Let me know. Thanks in advance for any nice comments, and boo in advance to any not nice comments. scampers off to work on TCDB