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Child of Desire

Chapter Seven: Star of Glory

Vegeta had to undergo a complete session on a regen tank after Dodoria's rage had finally been spent. Nara's struggles had been successful in pulling him back from the brink of death but the beating had been so brutal and merciless that a full cycle on the healing machines had been in order to restructure crushed bone and scarred tissue.

Nappa couldn't deny he felt a sense of relief after having examined every inch of the boy while he still lay on a bunk of one of the medical bays. He had been sedated so that they could run priority tests on him and ensure a rather agitated Frieza that the Prince was back to normal, no permanent damage wrecked on his system and no consequences to worry about for the future. After the medics had calmed their master's snappy questions and quenched his concerns, the Ice-jin had been happy enough to drop the topic and allow Nappa to finally take the boy's body out of the infirmary. The Saiyan now carried him in his arms, his slender body still feeling oddly frail after the near-death experience and his expression making him look as if he were nothing but an eight year old. It reminded the bodyguard of the very first time he had had to carry him ten years ago, after having suffered a similar beating from a pack of high ranked soldiers seeking fresh meat to haze.

After entering Vegeta's private quarters, Nappa lay him down on his bed and was surprised to see his eyelids immediately flutter open to reveal drowsy eyes. His face was still unreadable. None of his usual irritability or bitterness rose to the surface. Instead his expression was vacant and hollow as he stared at the ceiling. Slowly and steadily his drowsiness disappeared and left way for eyes that looked completely awake, albeit distant as they continued to gaze into nothing.

"You are alive, my Lord and for that I am pleased." Nappa's voice was toneless as he towered over his prince with a stony semblance. He wasn't surprised to see no indication that Vegeta had heard him. Perhaps there was no one else that knew the child as well as he did, so he knew what to expect or not according to his demeanor. Even through his flicker of worry at the state he was in, his sense of relief was overpowering. The boy was healthy, his body was healed, and he was breathing regardless of whatever his mind was trying to process. That is all that mattered to him. In the midst of growing up and learning, his ward's life was still flaming inside his chest, and spared from what he thought would be certain doom. Instead of falling to his demise his heart now beat, the hope for the future, and the cornerstone of their lives. His child of many desires.

Nappa turned to leave but stopped before reaching the gate.

"I believe you will be glad to know that Dodoria did endure a whip to the face from Lord Frieza's own tail. He will have to make up for his insolence for a very long time of that I am sure." The older Saiyan smirked, brows drawn together in pleasure at the thought of Frieza's lapdog having to squirm around for quiet a while.

As he pressed the button to exit, Nappa halted abruptly, knowing he needed to let Vegeta know everything he had found out while being watchful of him the two full days he had spent unconscious on the medical bay. He didn't flinch at the thought of issuing the words.

"She got killed".

No movement, no sound, nothing at all that Nappa could detect under his keen Saiyan senses.

"And the female warrior got transferred to Quadrant 4".

Having delivered the news in as acrid a tone as was possible; Nappa shut the gate and headed to the room next door. "Come on my brat. Let me have it". He muttered while snickering under his breath.

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Six months total slowly unfolded while the Saiyans remained parked at Frieza's headquarter. After the Dodoria episode, it had taken nearly one week before Vegeta had emerged from his chambers, a visage of twisted muted malice, a shift on his eyes that had made even Radditz shiver from head to toe. He had been quiet, more so than usual, unresponsive to his subordinates trivial comments or questions and going through the motions of sparring with as much fierceness as he could exert.

On occasions he would resort to pounding both Radditz and Nappa until both were forced to flee the scene, flagrantly turning their backs on the enraged prince who did nothing but yell at them at the top of his lungs. His voice carried on shrill profanities, in Saiyan and as many languages as he knew, which he screamed until his throat was sore, insulting both soldiers with vulgarities he had picked up from port to port since joining Frieza's army.

The behavior carried on, mixed with his refusal to join them at the mess hall, for he didn't eat during a period of one entire month, surviving on random ration bars and water, dragging his body straight from his room unto the training ground until he could move no more and then back in, drenched in sweat, covered in blood.

Nappa snapped one afternoon, after the Prince refused a meal he brought over from the dining hall, throwing it against the wall and laughing maniacally.

"I don't want it". Vegeta's smirk made his fangs flash through his lips, his eyes still glittering even under heavy malnourishment and the sunken shadows that surrounded them.

Nappa's voice was a heavy growl; deeply emitted from the pits of the warrior's mangled soul. "You have the power to do with you as you wish, my Lord, and you are aware you can do with us as you desire as well. Tear and degrade your own body or kick and beat our own, but your fist will never take away my words when I pronounce you a dishonor to the race I protected and a disgrace to the throne of Vegita-sei."

He had given his back to the Prince, who had remained immeasurably silent for weeks to come, until one morning he appeared into the dining room, quietly taking a seat in front of his fellow Saiyans.

For three long months Nappa had had to run to the medical bay at night with him on his arms, Vegeta's frame shaking from a sickly fever that scorched his skin and made his teeth clatter. It usually happened while he was asleep, rendered helpless to unending nights of nightmares that piled one atop the other. He and Radditz had lain awake for hours on end, silently taking in their master's shrieks and groans which came and went, agonizing night after agonizing night, until Nappa was forced to grab him and seek attention, countless times. After recovering the medics still had nothing much to say about his condition, deeming it a mystery of the mind, a place not even they could go with their technological prowess.

The last night Nappa had had to sweep him from a suffocating nightmare, he had brought him back and thrown him in his bed, eliciting a moan from the curled up 17 year old.

"Weak…my Lord of Vegeta-sei. Weak little princeling. I never once believed Frieza until today". Nappa gritted his teeth and turned around, for once actually beginning to lose faith in who he had deemed a most precious treasure, the prime of the Saiyan world.

A moment dragged on in silence.

"What did you just say…" For once, Vegeta's voice wasn't laden with insanity or mockery. Instead, it was a grave tone of command, serene and alert, an echo of a man that was strong and sharpened in war.

"Vegeta…"

Nappa's sentence was cut short the moment Vegeta sprung out of his bed and dashed forward towards the older warrior, stopping mere inches away from him. He fixed Nappa with a hair-raising stare, issued from behind proud, cold eyes, exuding an insurmountable amount of control, something he hadn't seen in the boy even before the excruciating months of waiting had come their way. It was the kind of control and temperance Nappa remembered from the great heroes of the old age, which had led Vegeta-sei into triumph and splendor once upon a time.

"You, do not talk to me as an equal ever again soldier, much less as an inferior. I am Prince Vegeta, Lord of Saiya-jins, Star of Glory, King of Moonlight and pride of my ancestors as was pronounced upon my birth. Neither you nor anyone else will ever live to take what's rightfully mine away from me."

Nappa looked at Vegeta's smaller frame, and wasn't able to move a single muscle, struck and trembling after listening to his master's powerful command. Before he knew it he was on his knees, his head lowered and his fist drawn to his chest in significance of utmost respect and reverie.

"Forgive me my Lord. You are always and forever".

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Radditz and Nappa were ready to put on their training gear for their morning work out. It was their sixth month of going through the same routine and both exchanged friendly banter regarding a few new techniques they were trying to develop and add to their fighting range. The morning was cool and damp on Planet Frieza and it made for a perfect environment to train. It didn't seem like a day that would turn out to be any different from the rest, but they had long made their peace with that idea.

Their talk was abruptly interrupted when Vegeta stepped in, fully clad in fresh armor and wearing a pink scouter over his left eye.

"Nappa, Radditz, I expect to see you both on the hangar bay in ten minutes".

They both looked at each other, eyes widened and a smirk slowly spreading over their features.

"What for…" Radditz couldn't finish.

"Lazy or slow, which are you? Mid-level mission, Ficah System. We depart now". Vegeta issued a final glare before leaving, dark eyes commanding, scowl dignified, and mind focused.

Even in the midst of loss and servitude Nappa and Radditz turned to look at each other, a genuine grin cracking their hardened faces and the cry of the warrior finally rising within their blood. It definitely looked like the time of waiting and training was up as was the war of a child that had suffered the pain of growth both inside and out.

They knew not to expect high-level missions just yet, but slowly and surely they would come. There would always be a grand world that was too strong for the weak ranks and for which Frieza would turn his eye in the direction of the Saiya-jins. Yes, in time it would surely come. For now they had their work cut out for them and they were both more than eager to follow in the steps of their leader, the man that carried the pride of their race atop his shoulders.

Nappa frowned but his smile did not falter. "Heh Radditz how fast they grow…"

The younger soldier nodded, a lopsided grin in place. "Yes … how fast..."

The bigger Saiyan chuckled and grabbed a bag of supplies before flinging it over his wide shoulder. He waited until the younger man was ready and packed as well, his eyes glistening with excitement and his face fresh with enthusiasm. The moment to live or die had knocked on their doors and they couldn't wait to answer.

Before closing the gate, Nappa turned to bid their room one last glance. He then turned and followed Radditz out into the destiny that bound them all together before issuing his last words.

"It's time to fight"

- End -

A/N: To those who have read this story, thank you. Whatever comments you may want to make, feel free to leave a review or PM me, as I look forward to anything you have to say. This is my first multi-chapter story which happens to be centralized on Vegeta growing from a child to an adult. I am now working on developing B/V stories, which I hope to publish soon enough.

Caprice