Quest: Cure

Chapter 13 - Cure

"Those fucking bastards!" Piccolo growled. Dangerous - they didn't know dangerous - he wanted to kill the bastards. He knew whom Kami meant - the Kais. He didn't know why they didn't want Vegeta to be cured, but the careless idiots had forgotten Bulma. He was positive they never expected Vegeta to tell her - well fuck them.

"What's going on, Piccolo?" Bulma demanded.

He held up his hand for silence. "I can't explain yet. Just don't say anything. Think about something else - math formulas - anything." She stared at him in shock and her mouth snapped shut but she seemed to do as she was told.

He reached for the phone and dialed Goku's number. He hoped they weren't being watched right now and didn't dare use his ki to signal the Saiyans for fear of attracting the Kais' attention.

"Son," he snapped as soon as Goku answered. "Get your asses here this instant. I don't care if you are in the middle of something. Now!" He didn't give him a chance to respond and hung up.

"Come here," he commanded Bulma, now silent. She obeyed immediately, apparently recognizing how serious this was. He put his hand on her arm, hoping Kami could help him shield her thoughts from the fucking Kais. "You're coming with us."

An instant later the Saiyans appeared, a tear-stained Goku supporting a weak, dazed, barely-standing Vegeta. Vegeta glanced at Bulma before quickly hiding his face in Goku's chest. He frowned with worry at Vegeta's reaction and low ki, but also felt a perverse relief - at least they were dressed.

"Don't say anything," Piccolo said, trying to hide his concern about how bad his friend was. "Just take us to The Lookout."

Goku wiped his eyes and blinked at him in bewilderment, and then the scene changed and they reappeared in front of Dende.

"What did he say, kid?"

Dende beamed. "Muri said yes - they are being gathered right now."

Piccolo wanted to breathe a huge sigh of relief, but they weren't out of the woods yet. "And the memory block?"

"He will also take care of it - and make sure it doesn't come back," Dende said calmly. The kid had definitely changed - he had understood what was needed on his own.

"Good." He turned to the Saiyans. "Goku - you and Vegeta have to go to New Namek right now."

Goku looked at him doubtfully. "But it isn't safe..."

::Bastards. Fucking bastards.::

Vegeta reacted at those words, looking up at Goku and then turning his head to look at him. Piccolo just nodded - the prince recognized the phrase, and given time could possibly break through the block on his own. Time they didn't have.

"You have to go there for Vegeta's sake," he insisted.

"How will endangering the planet help Vegeta?" Goku asked hesitantly.

"Son, you have to trust me on this," Piccolo said, frustrated. Goku had given the Kais too much control over his life - his block was probably going to be the hardest one to break through.

"It will be okay, Goku," Dende said reassuringly. "We'll be safe. I even have a ki for you to focus on."

He could see Goku fighting with himself, but knew he would do anything for Vegeta. But damn it, he had to hurry. He didn't trust them - the Kais could be working against them right now. What he really needed was for Vegeta to convince him. He was afraid the bastards would realize what was going on and take more control over Goku to stop them. A ship would take too long to arrive - Instant Transmission was the only hope.

Piccolo could tell what Vegeta had been trying to do with the ki-restraints, with little success - the self-enforced weakness was gradually killing him. Right now he was only on his feet because Goku was supporting him. He looked at both Saiyan's eyes and knew he was looking at death.

"Damn it Goku! Don't just stand there staring! Do you want Vegeta to die? Go! Now!" he shouted.

Goku finally nodded numbly and after placing his hand on Dende's shoulder for a moment held Vegeta tighter and vanished.

Goku reappeared to find himself surrounded by Nameks. And on the ground in front of him were...

"Dragonballs?" he asked, bewildered. Why were there dragonballs here? He looked around in confusion. They were looking at him. Was this a trap? 'It isn't safe.' One of the younger ones reached out to touch Vegeta and he flared his ki in warning.

"Son Goku," said an older Namek calmly.

He just nodded and shifted so he could better shield Vegeta from the higher kis.

"You are in no danger here. Your friends have asked us to help Vegeta. We are gathering the dragonballs right now."

"Who are you? How do you have dragonballs?" he asked. He wanted to believe they were telling the truth - he could feel Vegeta fading - but why didn't he think it was safe? There were children here...some were Goten and Trunks' age. They couldn't hurt him. He didn't know what to do - but...dragonballs?

"You may not remember me - you were only here for a very short time. I am Muri - we met before when you came for Dende. I am the keeper of New Namek's dragonballs. Please - remove the restraints from your companion. They are not needed here and he is much too weak. He will require all of his strength when he is healed."

Healed? Vegeta could be healed? They wouldn't have to die? He desperately wanted it to be true. Goku moved to remove the cuffs with relief, then hesitated.

::Vegeta?::

::Take them off, Kakorr.::

Goku almost smiled. He hated seeing his prince helpless and maybe there was some hope now. Anything was better than having Vegeta's blood on his hands. He pressed his thumbs against the cuffs, raising Vegeta's ki until it was safe to remove them. Even so, Vegeta's power flared wildly around them, nearly staggering him from its force, and buffeting the Nameks who were too close.

Vegeta quickly got it under control and looked at him with serious black eyes.

::Vegeta...I don't understand what is going on. How come they have dragonballs?::

::I don't know Kakorr. There is something wrong. I think Piccolo has realized it and that is why he sent us here.::

::I don't remember Muri...::

::He remembers you, though.:: Vegeta hesitated - Goku could feel him assessing the situation, analyzing what little they knew in order to make a decision. Even though he didn't want to - he would take any risk to help his prince - he was prepared to take them back home at his prince's order. ::Kakorr - I will talk to him. Piccolo wouldn't betray us.::

He turned and approached Muri. Goku trailed behind, still not comfortable with whatever was happening, but glad Vegeta was strong again and willing to follow his lead.

"Someone affected our memories," Vegeta said to the Namek, a statement, not a question.

Muri nodded. "Yes. The block can be removed - and will be. However, I believe it is safer for both of you if you can wait until the dragon is summoned."

Vegeta turned to look at Kakorr. He could feel his lover struggling with the idea of other dragonballs; he wasn't sure if they were even real. He could hear the whispers of 'Not safe, not safe' in Kakorr's mind - it was echoed in his own, but he chose to ignore them. Kakorr was fighting against the warning by clinging to the hope this was not some dream.

Vegeta, now that his ki was returned and he was faced with an unknown enemy, found himself filled with a calm certainty - he was able to concentrate. The cuffs could be put back on, but this was probably his last chance. And he had to remember Piccolo had promised to help him and had sent them here.

He looked at the Namek patiently standing before him. He wished he had Kakorr's ability to read someone...but Muri's ki didn't feel threatening. He would trust in Piccolo. "We will wait," he said.

_____________


"Takarato Poporunga Pupiritoparo!"

Vegeta craned his neck up. Porunga was fucking huge. He could feel Kakorr standing close behind him, his presence comforting and reassuring. He wouldn't have admitted it to anyone else, but he was...afraid. This had to work - he didn't want to return to hell, especially since he knew he wouldn't be able to prevent his lover from joining him.

He nearly growled at these disturbing thoughts, but stopped himself. He couldn't think about that now; this was not the time. He had to be calm and focused when the dragon granted his wish.

Summoning the dragon was just the beginning, apparently. His healer - he had been assigned his own personal healer, which had amused him for some reason - did not want the dragon to choose how his mind should be repaired. That was Vegeta's responsibility.

Iyasu insisted an instantaneous healing would be worse in the long run because the dragon saw the world differently than he did, and the choices of a dragon wouldn't be his own.

"Porunga might remove a memory that is very important to you."

Vegeta had found it difficult to take Iyasu seriously at first - he looked too much like a little green alien in some movies he had seen with Trunks. He kept expecting him to whip out a glowing sword. However, he soon realized the Namek was a powerful healer with a gentle bedside manner - his presence alone was reassuring.

He stumbled over the thought of being able to erase parts of his past..."I can remove memories?" What if he was able to forget all the times he was raped? Or what he had done to Kakorr...?

"Only you can make that decision," the healer said seriously.

Restoring someone to life was easier.

No - nothing in his life was easy lately, but he should be used to that by now. The dragon would be asked to make it possible for him to remove the brainwashing and heal himself.

Muri spoke his wish, and it seemed like the dragon hesitated a moment before answering. And then Vegeta felt... something... ice... fire... crawling through his mind. He was being pulled free, uprooted, falling... He desperately clung to his bond with Kakorr as strands of his mind were twisted and pulled until the memories became too intense and he collapsed.

Time seemed to turn liquid, freezing and melting, trapping and freeing him from images of the past. He was vaguely aware of Kakorr touching him, speaking to him, but sounds of the present meant nothing. He felt crushing pressure on his throat, quickly relieved, until all that remained were memories.

It was the past - his own history brushed and shoved him, pinning him down for a moment before releasing him as the memories were saved and moved aside. He was able to see how he had been bound... tied... He searched for the tangles Frieza had made; the ends strangely clear to his eyes. Threads of horrible events were pulled out of the knot of his mind, studied, cherished for their lessons, and woven back into what he was. He had chosen to remove nothing - his past was not being erased or changed...just...eased. The damage Frieza's doctors had done to his mind - he lit each strand of lie, burning them away, destroying them all.

He could feel his web shifting and changing and he saw the design building and strengthening. He recognized the heavy, ugly cords added by Frieza; they were coiled around him, choking him, blocking him from those he cared about and considered friends. He pulled on the ropes, feeling pain as they were ripped free, but the empty spaces were filled by the silk of Radditz, braids and twists of Kakorr's family and Piccolo, strands of Bulma, the shining ribbon of his son, and the gleaming golden velvet of Kakorr.

His own threads changed, becoming lighter and stronger, making an intricate pattern, twining and coiling with the others, remaking him. He studied what he and the dragon had woven, looking for flaws and weakness or hidden threads of Frieza. Gone. He was gone. The memories were still there - he could look at them with ease - but the pain was no longer strangling him. He hated the lizard for what he had done - would destroy him again in a heartbeat - but he had no more control over him.

He was free.

TBC