I'm baaaaaaaaaaaaccccccccckkkk 

My Possession

"Once you get out of here, you're going to have to stop fighting me and start working with me."The reoccurring voice echoed through his mind every moment of each day. Ironically, that was the last Vegeta had heard from him lately. This was never a good sign, however. The shadow appeared every time Vegeta had strayed away.

It must've known that Vegeta would soon make another destructive mistake.

The constant wind beating against him suddenly made a weary change and took a breath from its blow. Vegeta felt his next obstacle in the chill of his veins and stomped on the break as quick as he could.

The car came to a screeching halt.

"Ow! Dad, what are you doing?! You can really hurt someone if you stop like that without warning them first!" Bulla scolded from the passenger seat.

Her voice became a white noise to the rest of his thoughts. Fear began to boil inside him and his heart was beating louder than the crackling engine. The shadow had taken its form, but not in the way that it normally did. For this time, he didn't have to use scare tactics with its presence. It had Gohan.

Gohan stood with an unusual malevolence in his stance atop a windmill. Bulla looked up at him with confusion. Her day of shopping was taking a nasty turn of events. Her father, on the other hand, seemed to be expecting it the moment they started on the road.

Her glazed stare searched for answers while Gohan coldly glared back down at them.

"Gohan? Why is he here?" she asked quietly.

For me… Vegeta answered to himself.

A moment of time went by at the wink of an eye. All of a sudden, he and Gohan, or what was supposed to be Gohan, was all that remained. The choking cough of the engine faded off into the mountains. Bulla was being carried away from the whole ordeal, which soothed his anxieties for the shortest time.

Though a twisting feeling of apprehension tangled his stomach, Vegeta was not expecting anything out of the ordinary. This was a familiar pain. One he had dealt with before. He could do it again, even if the misshaped figure had somehow gotten a hold of his family and friends.

Just then, an unfamiliar inquisition came up from the imposter's lips.

Gohan's mouth slyly curved with cockiness. "How is… you father?"

"What?" Vegeta's eyes grew with bewilderment.

To Vegeta's puzzlement and, at the very least, his relief, this was not the work of the shadow. He knew exactly how his father was, unfortunately.

Gohan's tone shifted into a disgusting child-like cackle as the Saiyan body levitated into the air. His stone face and confident stance showed a possible threat, but from Vegeta's stand-point, the whole thing became ridiculous.

Vegeta chuckled under his breath. "Finally, one of the Tuffles returns!" Vegeta said sarcastically. "You almost had me concerned… almost…"

Vegeta's smirk revealed more than his poise. The darkness in his coal eyes hid a tiny sigh of relief once he knew for sure the darkness would not be joining them that night.

The Tuffles and their common misconception of their past was a repetitive joke to Vegeta. "Gohan" rambled of the mistaken history. Saiyans, Oozaru species to be specific, had come down to their planet and destroyed every bit of the Tuffle race, then after, claiming the planet as their own.

All words became a blur until "Gohan" began to mouth off about Vegeta's father. Characterizing him as a 'monster' that was responsible for the whole mess. For a moment, Vegeta felt pity that this small, annoying creature had no clue. His father hadn't been apart of it at all, let alone be on the same planet at the time.

It was the other monster, the scaly, slithering piece of scum that all knew as "Freeza." The disgusting lizard was a minion to the mass responsible for Vegeta's earlier downfall. And yet, no one knew these behind-the-scene details that make up the most important part of the puzzle. In fact, the perfect cover up by calling the Tuffle planet "Vegeta" was an ironic joke among this shroud of darkness.

Should he cut the babbling alien off before ever making a fool out of himself in the eyes of him? No, Vegeta would let the possessed Gohan finish until the fight. Fighting was easier than explaining. The same sentence muted "Gohan's" until the presence of the future threat was no longer relevant: "If only he knew."

A gust of wind brushed upon Vegeta's back. The other one had arrived.

"Hey, Vegeta!" cried Goten. "I've come to the rescue!" The Saiyan landed gracefully onto the plateau with a wide grin.

"Don't butt in, Goten! This is my catch, you here me?" Goten's annoying voice was dubbed down to a whisper. Vegeta was great at putting unwanted presences in the back of his mind.

"Wow, you're in a bad mood today, aren't you?" "Goten" walked over to the edge of the cliff with wide eyes. "Wait, you're not seriously going to fight my brother, are you?"

"Gohan" slithered a sly smirk and narrowed his eyes at the new guest. "So, we're brothers now," he said to himself. "That sounds about right."

A twitch of suspicious ran across Vegeta's spine. With a quick swing of his hand, he lured the young "Goten" away from the sight. "Fly away, boy!" he scolded. Then, the well-anticipated suspicion had finally emerged.

Goten flew up but did not leave the scene. "So THAT'S how it's gonna be!" he grimaced. A blinding light sprang forth from his once bare hands and made its target on Vegeta's back. With no hesitation or a slight trace of surprise, Vegeta swiped the blast away with little effort.

The sparks rose into the night sky and bloomed into a giant blast.

Goten continued. "I told you I was coming to the rescue; sorry if you thought I meant yours."

A disgusting chuckle was heard from baby Gohan. "Nice going, brother," he smiled approvingly.

"Thank you," "Goten" sneered back.

"Goten, not you too!" the sudden change of events were starting to overwhelm him.

Looking into the eyes of a former, some-what ally, was the last thing Vegeta remember before a whirlwind of confusion surrounded him. The red and back swirls devoured him in matter of seconds.

While in the heart of the midst, Vegeta began to question his being. Was this real, or a metaphor his mind had created? He could see the outlines and traces of "Gohan" and "Goten" amongst the cyclone of gust. He could also feel the blood dripping down his body crevices with its cold embrace.

He couldn't take the pressure much longer. His body bulged with a vast burst of power. Rays of energy flew out of the tiny cracks that were the only fortunate means of escape.

Between the engulfing sounds or the cyclone, Vegeta began to hear a voice speaking to him; saying the words he had heard way too often.

"That's it, Vegeta, get angry. Push all of that hatred built up inside you to the surface and reveal my victory!"

And so, Vegeta did. Of course, it was always the easy way out. While Vegeta pushed his hatred to the top of its peak, he realized his habit of his downfall.

"To hate is easy, to love takes courage." That meant nothing to him before. That is until it actually became physically impossible for Vegeta. This time, it was not the overshadowing demon begging him to hate the ones he cared for, it was Gohan. That is why the shadow did not emerge from its hiding place that night. He knew someone else would do it for him.

So many times the shadow would be at every beck and call, pleading Vegeta to do his worst. "Smash his head in, Vegeta," it would say. "Keep you're grip up, good, he's suffocating." Every time, Vegeta would give in and do it. Why? Because it was always to the easy way out.

Life was hard when he would go against what he was expected to do, especially what he was created to do, what he did naturally. Sometimes it became tiring when temptations beat on his back night and day. Every morning Vegeta would wake up with nails in his feet trying to fight the temptation of death and destruction.

There was one time when Vegeta did throw up his hands and give in, but he refused to let that person be the shadow. No, he left his fate in the hands of another man… Babidi.

"Fool! You don't know what humiliation is!" his own voice rang in his head. The memory of beating Goku's face in with all his might danced in his head like a joyful remembrance.

"ME! A WARRIOR ELEITE!" the voice continued. "At my fingertips I had the power to destroy entire worlds! I am a Saiyan of royal blood! The last of my kind! And on my shoulders rests the glory of an extinct warrior race! Whole civilizations once trembled at the sound of my name! But you didn't, did you… you Kakarot?! And at your hands, your COMMON hands, my honor and my pride, the foundation of which I always stood crumbled at my feet! It was at your hands that I first suffered my great humiliation. Toppled by a piece of low-leveled trash! And imagine the disgrace I suffered when the strength I had worked my whole life to acquire was surpassed by a mere child! You're half-breed son succeeded, where I had failed. It is time to take back what is mine! I will not live my life as your second!"

And that was way the hatred of Goku in the rivers of Vegeta's blood was so great. Goku had made Vegeta's only purpose for life so much harder for him.

Years ago, Vegeta was told his options. 'Destroy what we say to destroy… or be destroyed.' That was it; there was no other life for him. Fortunately, they had equipped him perfectly for the job. Being the first made, he WAS the strongest. He WAS elite amongst his kind. At times, Vegeta would think, "this might not be too bad, if I am the best, I have something to live for… to look forward to."

And then Goku took that purpose away and claimed it as his own. That was when Vegeta addressed the question if people just lived to take his life away. Did he really have to fuck this life up too? It certainly was humiliating to be a failure wherever he went.

Though the torture of being second best was tough, it was better than trudging through the impossible path of his life before destruction. The life he had similar to his present family with Bulma and Trunks. With the shadow urging him the other way, he was afraid the majority was right. Peace and tenderness was too hard for him.

Vegeta would give in a second time. The best decision would be to pursue a reachable goal, to be the number one instead of number two; even if it meant hurting others.

The tension in Vegeta's body grew to a tremendous amount. At that time, a strange sense of cool ran through his blood. The feeling of a fresh liquid danced around his wounds and covered him, almost making him whole. Vegeta raised his power even more to welcome the parasite.

"I give up." Vegeta thought as Baby began to subdue him. "I'm ready to listen, now."

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"It's been years, Shanti," said the Supreme Kai calmly. "Wouldn't you think this guy is dead by now?"

The tree branches whistled in the cool breeze while the Supreme Kai rested himself on the soothing grass. Across from him sat a familiar angel with overcrowding garments still covering the depths of his detail.

"No…" the angel answered after a long thought. "He's there. Though it is faint, I can feel him out there."

The Supreme Kai tried to give a sympathetic smile to his old friend, but there was not much he could agree with.

"But that's your own intuition," he shyly argued. "You have to use reasoning in cases like this. If only you gave out more detail or, best yet, a NAME!"

"I know! I know!" Shanti raised his voice back. "But you have to understand by now that I can't. If word gets out… I'm positive they will find him before me."

A haunting chill went over them as the whistling wind came to a strange halt.

The Kai chuckled after the wind kicked up once again. "There's a reason to why I keep asking you."

Shanti's eyes shifted across the terrain and then back to his friend.

"… He could be the man we see every day… and not even know it."