Music, always music: Seriously, what BETTER music to listen to while writing (or reading, in your case) this than "The Dragon theme" from DBZ soundtrack? Duh, I wonder :D Especially the first part. Go for it :D

Chapter 10: A dream

I looked around a little: it was just like I had imagined from the books. It looked a bit like Earth - a desertic part of Earth, with lots of sand and a little bit of grass - but the sky upon my head was emerald green instead of blue. I did not see any Namek around, but I did not fear them anyway. The books I had read did not describe them as an hostile people. I meant no harm to them, thus they would do me no harm either. I knew it would take several hours for the Saiyans in the ship to recover from my homemade paralyzing gas. If I was lucky, this was enough time for me to do what I had to do. I wish I could've incapacited them for a longer set of time, but then the capsule would've been to big to fit in the radar, so that would have to be enough.

I turned on the radar with the button that was actually meant to turn it on, and looked at the green screen very carefully.

I was the goddamn luckiest woman in the Universe.

Seven dots shone in the same area. This would be far easier than I could've ever dreamed of: the fact that they weren't scattered around the planet was a real blessing. A faint smile lingering on my lips, I started to walk, following the signal on my radar.

It took me about thirty minutes to see what seemed to be a village: several white houses were gathered together, and I could even see some Nameks outside. I nearly laughed at their sight: they were the incarnation of the stereotype that comes to Earthlings' mind when we think "alien". They had bright green skin, no hair and pointed ears, and they all wore the same white robes. I lost my desire to laugh, however, when I realised that the signal from the Dragon Balls was coming from the village itself, not simply from around the village. That may mean trouble: I had expected them to be hidden in secret places, where I could steal them without being seen, not just in the middle of a village, where I would surely be seen. I was afraid that the Nameks would refuse to allow me to use the Dragon Balls. It was their treasure, their possession: what if they did not want to share?

If I had done all this for nothing... Hell, I didn't want to think about it.

By the time I reached the village, all of them had left their house to gather outside, staring at me with wide-opened eyes. They had probably never seen an Earthling before in their lives, and even I saw a child that seemed to be afraid of me. I smiled shyly to them and stopped a few meters away from the row their were forming before me.

"Hi," I said, "I... do you... understand my language?"
"Yes," one of them, a very tough-looking one, replied. "We do. Who are you and what are you doing here?"
"My name is Bulma Briefs."

My own name sounded weird to my ears. I had spent so much time being called "woman", so much time being insulted, that I wasn't used to hear my name anymore.

"I'm an Earthling."
"So the ship that just landed up in the plains is from Earth?" the Namek asked, frowning.
"No," I said, "It's... it's from planet Vegeta."

I didn't know if they had ever heard of it, but when they started to whisper hastily, I got my answer. Yes, they knew the Saiyan race, and they knew it meant bad news for them.

"The Saiyans are incapacited for now," I immediately added, "Paralyzed by a gas of my conception. Their ship will be sent back to their planet if you allow me to do so."
"Are you insane? Why did you bring these blood-thirty creatures on our peaceful planet?" one of them barked.
"I mean no harm! You don't need to tell me how Saiyans are, they've ravaged my planet and like so many others, I've, I've... I have been captured and made a slave. My life was Hell because of their monstruous king, and you have no idea what I went through to get here so that I could ask you... please, please, lend me the power of your Dragon Balls. I need the wishes to be freed from this life, I beg of you!"

The first Namek, the one that looked like a warrior, glared at me very severely, and I knew this was bad.

"Porunga is not to be summoned unless there is a true emergency," he said stiffly. "Your desire to be freed from the Saiyans does not constitue an emergercy."

His cold answer took me aback.

"But I-"
"You come here accompanied by Saiyans to ask for our dearest treasure? Who do you think you are? The legends are true - Earthlings are indeed cocky creatures."
"Nail, Nail," a rough, almost rusty voice said from the back row. "Give that young lady a chance. Cleary, she's come a long way..."

I saw other Nameks stepping aside to allow him in the front row: he was bigger and much, much older than all of them. He was surely the Elder I had read about, the one that spawns every other Nameks.

"Elder," I said, bowing my head in hopes of showing them that I did not want to disrespect them. "Please, I know I'm asking a lot from you, but-"
"Look at me," he ordered, "Look at me in the eyes. Show me that you are not trying to fool us."

I obeyed. My eyes were a bit wet, I was scared out of my mind that they would refuse, and yet I simply dug my gaze into his, just like he had asked me to do. He stood still and silent for a moment that seemed like eternity to me, then he said:

"I see... please bring her what she asked for. We shall summon Porunga."
"But, Elder-" the warrior named Nail protested.

One simple glance over the shoulder from the Elder, and the other Namek shut his mouth. Seven Nameks left the small crowd I had unpurposely gathered: when they came back, each one of them was carrying an orange, shiny ball that was about as big as a basketball ball. I blinked several times, staring at the magical artifacts in surprise. I hadn't expected them to be so huge - perhaps it was a good thing that I didn't have to gather them by myself after all. Very carefully, the balls were put down on the sand, where they started to glow very gently. The glow intensified and became unbearable for my eyes as someone spoke in Namek language, and I had to close my eyes. When the golden, brilliant light faded away, I carefully opened my eyes: the sky was as dark as a sea of ink, and upon me stood the most impressive being I had ever seen.

"Woh..." I whispered, even though I didn't intend to speak.

It felt extremely powerful: its strength was so great that I took a step backward. When I had seen Vegeta as a Super Saiyan, I had seen a Messiah of the Saiyan people, but there, before my eyes, was the God of the Namek people.

Really, Porunga would smack down Vegeta's Super Saiyan form with a slap of the back of his hand.

"I shall grant you three wishes within my powers," the deep, slow voice spoke.

The Namek who had agreed to summon Porunga for me looked at me, waiting for me to speak my wish.

"My first wish - I want the Saiyan ship that landed here to be returned to its planet right now," I stated.

Porunga listened to the translation of my wish: his eyes emitted a red glow, and he spoke again:

"You wish has been granted. State your second wish."
"I wish..."

I was about to wish for planet Vegeta's destruction, like I had said to Trunks, but I stopped in mid-sentence. I thought Trunks' words about how unfair this would be hadn't meant anything to me, but now I realised how they had actually gotten to me. For some reason, I remembered the Saiyan female playing with her little girl outside her house, the one I had seen when we were taken to the palace. There were women like her and children like her on that planet, and they were innocent - Trunks had been right. Saiyans had taken innocents lives, way too many innocent lives, but did I really have the right to do the very same thing just to get my revenge?

"State your second wish," Porunga repeated with a hint of impatience in his voice.
"My wish..."

They were ruthless and you aren't. And you musn't be.

I smiled.

You lost, Vegeta. You haven't destroyed me. I'm still Bulma. I still have mercy - even for you.

"Please take me away to the world where I am happy with my soul mate and our son."

Porunga's red eyes flickered yet again, and I knew, before he spoke, that it had worked: a soft, comfortable warm wrapped itself around me, and the Nameks and their planet disappeared.

It was the night. I was laying in a warm bed, and I could feel an arm, tightly wrapped around my waist. I lifted my left hand to my face: a golden ring shone softly to the light of the moon. I smiled. No more tears, no more fear, just happiness. In this life, I was married to a man who loved me. The smile still on my lips, I turned my head so that I could look at the person holding me.

It sent jolt through my entire body - and not in a good way. I shouted, pushed him with all my strength and put myself as far away as possible, falling on the floor on the process.

It was Vegeta.

"What the hell is wrong with you, woman?" he grunted.

He barely opened his eyes, and yet his face was scowling.

"If that's still a nightmare about Maji-"
"What the hell's wrong with me? How can you ask me that?" I screamed in hystery. "Y-you..."

Tears flowed on my face: it was so unfair! Why was he still here, why was I still in his bed? I had done so many things, I had abased myself before him, I had taken terrible risks to outsmart him, I had begged an entire village... and yet, Vegeta still managed to win? Was there no way out of this, were my efforts in vain? Was Trunks nothing but an illusion after all? Or did the Namek make a mistake in translating my wish?

No matter how you twisted it, this was not what I had wished for - not by any stretch of imagination.

"After everything I've... I've..."

Vegeta sat up in the bed, staring at me.

"What's the big idea? Come here-"

He extended his arms to bring me closer: I immediately backed away, my eyes throwing knives at him.

"Don't touch me! I've had enough, I'm so tired of being-"
"Bulma, what in the world are you ranting about?" he asked, turning on a light next to the bed.

I froze. Bulma? But Vegeta... Vegeta never knew my name, he never cared for my name. It was only at this moment that I realised that the man sitting on the bed wasn't the Vegeta I remembered. The Vegeta who had been so cruel to me never had those scars on his chest, at least not that many: he never knew my name, and never looked so genuiely concerned by what was happening to me. For that matter... this wasn't Vegeta's royal apartments, either. It was... it was my bedroom, on Earth. The decoration had changed, but I could still recognise it. Why was Vegeta on my planet, in my room?

My eyes wandered around, and fell on a picture on the wall. It caught my attention and I took a few steps towards it. On the picture there was a child, a boy around eight or nine years old, with stunning blue eyes and lightly purple hair.

Trunks?

He was sitting on a couch with... a slightly older version of me, with much shorter hair. I was smiling happily to the photographer. On the picture, I was sitting on Vegeta's lap: his face looked relatively neutral, though with some effort, I could see that he was almost smiling. A family picture, a happy family picture. But why? How? This couldn't be true, right? But then, as I looked at the photograph... for the first time, I noticed that Trunks didn't look only like me. Though he was obviously taking a lot after me, with my blue eyes and my father's hair, that boy had Vegeta's facial structure. The same chin, the same mouth. He even had that same haughty look.

And then, it all made sense to me. Trunks' first words, his answers that sounded almost like enigmas.

I am nothing. Nothing but a dream that barely had the time to be formed before it was forced faded away.

The war means you will never meet the man that will be my father.

Don't think all the Saiyans are the same.

Trunks was Vegeta's son. A half-Saiyan who was kind-hearted and who did not want me to be guilty of a massive murder. Trunks didn't tell me that his father was Vegeta because he knew I would refuse to be brought into this version of my life if Vegeta was a part of it. But Trunks said we were happy, why in the world had the Saiyan king-

He's not the king, my own voice laughed in my head, he's the prince. Look at him, he's different.

I frowned. Had I finally become truly insane to be hearing my own voice like that? The voice in my sounded so... happy, cheerful and carefree. Just like I used to sound before the Saiyans took my life away from me. And then, it hit me that all that time, I had expected to just pop into a wonderful life. I didn't think I would end up merging with my other self, but my reflection in the mirror proved it. My hair was way shorter, my face looked older, and my eyes looked so much more alive than they did on planet Vegeta.

"Woman, for fuck's sake, say something before I start thinking that you actually snapped!"

I'll show you my Vegeta, the one you wished for. Just look at him.

And then, as I agreed to lay my eyes on him again, I was overwhelmed by a warmth I had never felt before. Memories that didn't feel like mine but that were supposed to be mine flowed in my mind. That Vegeta was never the king of his race, and he'd never, ever done anything wrong to me. Although he was once evil, he had changed through the years - I had changed him. He had even given up his life for me, did everything in his power to save the world... only for me and our son.

He loved me, he cared for me. I knew it in my heart and soul.

"Bulma?"

Warm thumbs wiped my tears away, and two deep onyx eyes met with my blue ones.

"I'm sorry," I whispered, allowing his arms to bring me closer. "I had some sort of a nightmare..."
"Tst, woman - only you can have a mere dream and freak out like that."

I closed my eyes. The hands that had hit and held me so many times were now caressing my hair ever so gently, the body I had tried to push away countless times now felt more reassuring than anything else in the world.

My wish had truly been granted.

End of the story: Yup, that's the end ^^ told you she'd actually end up with Vegeta :D I knew the final scene from the freaking beginning ;) give me your feedbacks, I love them!