Don’t kill yourself, Vegeta. Listen to your god first. "Goku?" Yes. Bulma’s death was not normal. She shouldn’t have died, but I fear that there is another plot, just made against you. It seems that my brother Piccolo has convinced the Fata-sisters to cast a spell upon Bulma, or rather said upon you two. To lift the curse and get Bulma back to life you must defeat each of the Fata-sisters. "How do I do that? I bet they are all immortal, just as all you fucking gods and nymphs are." Watch you tongue, Vegeta!! And yes, you are right, they are immortal. There are three of them. The first sister you must defeat in strength. The second in wisdom. The third I cannot tell. "And how do I find these witches?" I will send Juunanagou to guide you to their cave. From there, you will be on your own. It is your only chance to free Bulma’s soul. Will you do it? "Yes, of course. Thank you." Trunks eyed his father suspiciously when the man got up, lifting his mother’s body, softly lying her down on the bed. He planted a soft kiss on her still warm lips, brushed a strand of hair out of her eyes, and softly left the room, Trunks close behind him. "Toussan? What happened?" But his father did not answer him, but walked out into the gardens, sat under a tree at the pond and closed his eyes in silent meditation. Trunks stared at him, but did not dare to ask it again. Suddenly he felt two hands on his shoulders. Surprised he turned around. "Juu-chan!!" "Tsk, tsk. You shouldn’t address a goddess so informally." She playfully scolded. They both sat down on the rim of a wall. "What is going on with Toussan?" he asked her, confident that she would know. And surely enough, she did.

***

"So Juunanagou will arrive here shortly, to show your father the way to their cave. From then on, he will be on his own. I’m afraid that you are not allowed to help him." Trunks clenched his teeth. "But what if he can’t do it on his own? What if he will need my help?" Juuhachi shook her head. "You cannot assist him in this, Trunks-chan. You will have to have some faith in your father. This is something he’ll have to do alone." She stared into his eyes with a stern look, trying to convince him not to try and do something foolish. Trunks stared back, but finally bowed his head in defeat. "Okay, you win. I will stay here." Juuhachi nodded contently. Suddenly Trunks grinned. "Did you just call me Trunks-chan?" he asked, a playful tone in his voice, while he grabbed her hand. She just smiled at him, glad he felt better now.

***

"Juunanagou." Vegeta said, already feeling the presence of the god near him. "Yes Vegeta. I am here to guide you to the Fata-sisters, but that you already know, don’t you?" "Yeah." "All right, let’s go then." He jumped into the air, ready to blastoff, but stopped when he saw that Vegeta was by no means getting ready to follow him. "What is it?" he asked, surprised about the King’s behavior. Vegeta looked at him, and growled a little. "That…. Piccolo…" he wasn’t planning on feeling Piccolo’s wrath again, so he left the bastard-bit out, "…took away my power to fly." Juunanagou laughed. "Oh! If that’s all!" and he shot a little beam at Vegeta, which looked like a ki-blast, but was not. Vegeta was overjoyed as he noticed that his ability to fly had come back. It was like the return of an old friend. "Come on, let’s go now!" Juunanagou urged him on. Vegeta’s face sobered, and after a brief glance to his son, he blasted off after Juunana, the red flare of his aura trailing behind him.

When they finally stet foot on the ground again, they were but in the middle of nowhere. They were standing in a desert, which was not hot, and all Vegeta could see was cold sand, the color of it somewhere between gray and brown, and, at his feet a small brook, only and inch deep with crystal-clear water that flowed over the rocky bottom with a soft tinkling sound. It was the only sound in his surroundings, which were too silent to be natural. Then, Juunanagou’s voice broke through the silence. "I can’t go further than this, Vegeta, You’ll have to do it on your won from here." Utterly surprised, Vegeta turned around to face him. He forgot to keep up his snarling tone, as he spoke to the god. "What? But… but… There’s nothing here!" Juunanagou looked at him as if he was searching something. Finally, he seemed to have found it. "Just follow the brook, and it will lead you to it. Whatever you see, or think you’re seeing, don’t leave this stream. It ends in the cave of the Fata-sisters, which I have described to you, so you will know when you’re there." Vegeta’s eyes narrowed, for he did not think this enough information, but the moment he opened his mouth to speak, the god vanished, letting one more thought echo in Vegeta’s head. Sorry, Vegeta. I can’t say anything more. Good luck! Vegeta snarled, but eventually shrugged it off, and began to follow the brook. "This’d better not take too long…" he muttered.

At that moment, to his left, a cave appeared; looking like Juunana had described the cave of the fata-sisters to be. Vegeta almost went over to it, but then remembered what Juunanagou had said. He firmly shook his head. He would not go in there. According to the god, there were dangers in there, which Vegeta was not sure he could master. So he walked on, following the brook all the way, occasionally dropping to the ground to drink some water. One, two days later his next test came. There was a lion standing right in front of him, roaring loudly in an attempt to scare Vegeta away from the brook. But, since this brook was the King’s only point of orientation in the emptiness, he knew that if he were to be chased away, he would get hopelessly lost. So, as the lion slowly approached him, Vegeta started powering up. But this lion was no normal beast, and it attacked even before Vegeta could focus his ki into a blast. Stuck in this position, there was only one thing to do, and he grabbed the lion by the tail, throwing it to the ground, and immediately jumped ontop of it, pushing it to the ground, and then quickly breaking it’s neck. Panting, the King stood over the beast, giving it one last glance before he ki-fried it, and ate it.

Trunks bowed over his mother’s body, grabbing her hand and giving it a small kiss. The hand and the rest of her body were frightening cold, as her soul had already traveled to the ‘other side’, to Hades. But Juuhachigou had explained to him, that by a lucky twist of fate, his father could be able to bring back her spirit, by defeating three demon-sisters. He slowly sighed as he turned around to Juuhachigou, who have him a small, reassuring smile. At least she was there to comfort him a little. He laid his mothers hand back on the bed, as he walked out, and softly closed the door.

Vegeta once again dropped by the side of the brook, as he drank its sparkling water. He grunted. At least he wouldn’t have to die of thirst! That really would have been a death unworthy of a king. No, Vegeta had other concerns. Food, most generally. Three days had passed since the lion, and he was very hungry. He really needed food, and fast. He walked on, and on, and on, until he suddenly saw a cave, identical to the first one he’d seen. Just as he began to wonder if his mind was playing tricks on him, he heard voices inside. And as he listened closer, they couldn’t possibly be the voices of some demon-witches. These were clearly the voices of young girls. While his mind told him to walk on, his hunger forced him to call out. Immediately the voices stopped. Then, softly, unsure a girl answered. "Who are you?" "I am King Vegeta of Ithaca." He heard a lot of whispering, and then, slowly, the girls came out, all carrying food. Apparently they had just been cooking, and Vegeta’s mouth began to water at the sight of all that food. "I have been walking along this brook for three days straight, without any food. Would you girls be so kind as to give me some of your food?" he asked, way politer than he normally would, but these girls happened to be the only ones with food out here, so he had to be nice. The girls giggled shyly, and came closer, offering him the food. He ate until he thought he’d die if he’d eat one more bite, and then approached one of them, the richest clad girl, and grabbed her by the arm to thank her for everything. But she hissed, and to his surprise her body began to change. Her arms turned into roughly feathered wings, her mouth and nose grew together as a beak, her eyes narrowed and her foot tore out of her shoes, changing into claws. She was turning into a vulture, a vicious vulture, ready to attack him. With a deafening shriek she jumped him, and attacked him using her newly grown beak and claws. He quickly managed to throw her off, just in time to swat of another vulture. He rapidly did five backflips to get at a safe distance, and immediately shot a huge beam into the group of metamorphosing girls. After an enormous explosion, there was nothing left. Not of the cave, and not of the group of vultures. With a sigh of relief, Vegeta turned around and followed the brook again. It couldn’t possibly be far anymore.

And indeed, less than tree hours later, the brook ended. In front of Vegeta lay a huge boulder, half covering a well, from which the water of the brook sprang. But, to his great surprise, behind the brook lay, instead of the cave Juunana had said it to be, a temple, completely made of a ivory whit material. The King looked up in awe. This temple was even larger tan the famous palace of Menelaos, and more beautiful than any temple he’d ever seen. The pillars were in a Corinthian style, and the frieze contained the most beautiful figures describing old myths and legends. It didn’t look like the liar of demons at all. More like a house for the gods. Slowly Vegeta entered it, being careful not to make a sound. When he came into the temple, he found himself in a great hall, which was completely empty save for a large stone slab. He went over to it, and bowed slightly down to read it. Here’s what it said:

Any other visitor would have been intimidated by these words, and would’ve thought about turning around, but this thought didn’t even cross Vegeta’s mind. This was his only chance to get his beloved back, which he would not let go. Confidently, he strode towards the door behind the slab. As he burst in, he was majorly surprised. The first fata-sister, Bia, stood before him, but she was by no means the cackling old demon-witch he’d expected. Before him stood a young woman, with dark brown hair and eyes, in a white dress much like the dresses the rich women on his island wore. "What, King Vegeta? Don’t tell me you're surprised by what you see!! Surely you knew that us nymphs can do anything with our powers!" Vegeta immediately recovered, as he snarled at her. "Of course I knew, you stupid witch!!" She just grinned. "Well, let’s fight then." And without another word she attacked him. Vegeta quickly jumped aside, dodging a punch while in the same movement blocking a kick aimed for his head. Bia laughed. "Very good, King Vegeta!" and jumped up to the ceiling to the spot where Vegeta had been hovering just seconds ago. She then swiftly turned around, barely blocking Vegeta’s elbow, which was flying towards her neck. She caught it, and threw him into the wall. Vegeta pulled himself out of the wall, hiding his snarl, instead he smirked at her. "That all you got?" She just smiled.

This time, Vegeta took the offensive, shooting ki-blasts all around the room, Bia barely dodging them. Smirking, he sent a few more, and while the witch was busy blocking and dodging then, he suddenly appeared right behind her, and backhanded her with all his strength, sending her flying into the floor. Now, it was her turn to growl, as she whiped some blood from her lip. "Bastard" she hissed. He just chuckled, and flew over to her, shooting ki-blasts, and kicking her harshly. Ten minutes later, he stood over her body. "Well, I sure hope your demon-sisters will be more of a challenge." He snickered, while kicking her to the far wall. She suddenly grinned. "You really think you’re done with me, don’t you?" He cursed. "What the Hell do you mean?" he shouted. The witch chose that moment to vanish. Immediately after, Vegeta felt a stab of pain in the side, and found himself flying into the wall. He pulled his body out of the wall, and scanned the room with his eyes, searching for his opponent. But the witch was nowhere to be seen. She had cast a spell making herself invisible. "What the…" Vegeta never got to finish this sentence, as Bia began a vicious assault of punches, kicks and ki-blasts onto the King. And Vegeta could do nothing to defend himself, because he could not see the attacks coming. He was mercilessly pummeled into the ground.

Finally, finally he got an idea. He would seek her out by her ki. He would sense where the demon was, and would fight her that way. So, the king closed his eyes, concentrated, kicked backwards, and was rewarded with an angry scream and a satisfying crunch. And this way, eyes closed, completely focused on his senses, Vegeta defeated the first fata-sister. He had proven himself superior to them in strength. He left the groaning witch on the floor, knowing that she was immortal anyways. He then walked into the hall again, and heard a soft chuckle as he walked over to the next door. Curious as to what he would find, he walked into the room, and was shocked again. "Is this some kind of bad joke!" he yelled.

Before him stood the exact same woman as before. She laughed a little. "No it’s not. Bia and me are twins, and Ero is our older sister. I’d thought that you’d react like this." He sighed. "Well then, I don’t like you, you don’t like me, let’s get this over with." She giggled as she walked over to him, tracing his jawline and lips with her rank fingers. "Who said I don’t like you?" she murmured. He snorted, and pulled out of her reach. "Stay away from me, you witch! Just test me and then I can leave after I beat your stupid sister." She smiled as she took a step back. "Fine." With a wave of her hand, the scene around them changed. "I am going to test your wisdom. If you solve this, you get to go to Ero. If not, your soul is eternally mine, and you will never see your beloved…" she searched his mind for a moment, "…Bulma again." He growled. "The deal is on, but stay out of my head." She giggled again. "Whatever you say. This is the room where you will be tested for your wisdom. Through that door will come two women, who have a problem, which I will test your capability of being a righteous ruler with. So you just sit down on the throne, and be a rightful King." He grumbled, walked over to the throne, and sat down on it. Sophia walked over to a corner, where she, after a while, became one with the wall. When she had become invisible, the doors burst open, and two screaming women came in, carrying a baby, leaded by a man that looked so much like one of Vegeta’s guards on Ithaca, that he felt a shudder go through him. He had to keep reminding himself that the entire scene, including the persons, were all a spell, cast to test him. "My King," the guard said. "Permission to speak." Vegeta nodded to him. "Speak."

"These two women came to the gates this morning, fighting over…" the man snatched the baby from the quarreling women, "…this child. They asked if you could solve their problem. I said you had no time for such small fights, but they insisted so… so I brought them here." He guiltily looked up at the king, his look telling that he was unsure if he was going to be punished for bothering the king, or not. But Vegeta hardly paid him any attention anymore. He extended his hands for the baby, and the guard quickly shoved the squealing thing into his arms. Vegeta looked at the baby. He could see why the women were arguing so about the child. It was a beautiful baby, with black hair and bright blue eyes. They made him remember his own son when he’d been so small. He then looked at the women. Maybe this wasn’t going to be so hard after all. One of the women had dark hair, with blue eyes, like the baby, the other woman also had blue eyes, but her hair was blonde. "The baby looks more like her, you’re blonde." He told her. The woman shook her head in denial. "No, my King, I dyed my hair. It is really black. The proof is in my eyebrows, they are still dark." That was true, undeniable. Further more, there was nothing to prove that the baby must be of either one of them. Then an idea came to him. "We can ask the doctor!" But the dark haired woman shook her head. "Peleus was born without a doctor, or a nurse. I gave birth to him at home." The other woman got mad. "I gave birth to him at home!! Though I now wish I had just gone to the doctor." Vegeta desperately looked from one woman to another, but could not see anything, not even a look exchanged, which would prove who was the real mother. Of course, the black-haired woman was crying, and the blonde on screaming, so Vegeta had a tendency to give the child to the black-haired woman, but she might just be a great actress, so that wasn’t the right thing to do.

Suddenly, a great plan popped into his head. He called for the guard to take the baby, and grabbed an axe. "Fine. I will cut it in two, and then you can both have half of it." The black-haired one nodded. "Good. Then no one will have him." But the reaction of the blonde one made Vegeta finally pick. "Oh no! Don’t kill my baby! Then let her have him, but don’t kill him!!" The other woman then smiled, and nodded as she reached out for the child. But at a nod from Vegeta, the guard held it out of her reach. Vegeta then spoke to her. "This child is not yours woman! A real mother would’ve loved it so much, that she would rather give it away than have it killed." He then grabbed the baby, and gave it to the blond woman. "You have proven that he is yours. Take good care of him." She smiled, and then the scene around him faded. Sophia became visible again, and cursed. "Damn! I’ve had the souls of so many men and women, and sent them to Hades because I thought them boring, and I just knew that you would be different, that your soul would be great. But nooooo, you had to be the first one to ever defeat me. Bia has been beaten before by that… What was his name again? Ahhh….. Hercules, but he was such a dumbass that I defeated him easily with this problem. I couldn’t keep his soul though. Goku wanted it back because he was his son and all. And I wanted your soul so much!!! Why did you have to be this damned intelligent!!!" Vegeta smirked, and with a sigh Sophia opened the door. "Well, you get to go to Ero. I guess she’ll like that. She’s never been visited by a mortal before. Only gods. Anyways, you just go now. Get out of my room!!" Vegeta left the room to end up in the main hall again. "Temper, temper." He chuckled.

"You can say that again." A voice sounded behind him, almost causing him to jump. He spinned around and growled a little, angry that she had surprised him. Ero looked indeed older than her sister did, by what this was caused he did not know, for she looked astounding. Her hair was long and red., her skin slightly tanned, and she was wearing a red dress with a white cape. As soon as he looked her in the eyes, he knew he shouldn’t have, for she effortlessly and thoroughly read his mind. "I never knew that the minds of mortals were this easy to read." She smiled as she went through all his memories. First of his childhood, then of Bulma, then the birth of Trunks, and the failure of his plan to try to prevent himself from having to go fight. Then Vegeta’s genius trick in the Trojan War. Next all his travels and the seven years on Lunch’s island, and his joy, followed by intense sadness at his arrival on Ithaca, a sadness she and her sisters had caused at the order of their father, Piccolo. Then she saw his arrival in their temple, and the fight with her sisters. She pulled away and smiled. "I’m happy that you find me so beautiful, Vegeta. And I’m also glad that you like the remodeling I’ve done to our place." Vegeta snarled. "Can all you stupid witches read minds or something?" she smiled and nodded. "Well, what is your test?" he asked impatiently. "Just as Bia’s name means violence, and Sophia’s means wisdom, my name is distracted from Erao-ero, which means longing for a loved one, an intense desire for what is missing. I will test your love for Bulma. This I will do in two different ways, which… Oh, you’ll notice." Vegeta cursed, and internally grumbled. More stupid tests… she giggled. "Yes Vegeta, more stupid tests." Vegeta jumped, and carefully kept his mind blank, though he could not get this yearning feeling for his Bulma, thugging at the corner of his mind, out of his head. He looked back at the witch, who suddenly dropped her evilness, and looked like a complete innocent, beautiful girl.

She walked over to Vegeta, pushed him down, and sat on his lap, which he allowed as a part of the test. She then began stroking his face and hair, as she told him that she had this beautiful peninsula, with trees, and waterfalls, and thousands of flowers, and animals. She described the landscape and the palace, and how beautiful it all was, and Vegeta had to admit that it sounded wonderful. Ero then told him that she wanted him to marry her, and become King of all that beauty. She leaned her head against his shoulder, and told him that she loved him, and that she would be his Queen. Vegeta kissed the innocent girl sitting on his lap, but as soon as their lips met, he remembered another kiss, a better kiss under a lemon-tree in the garden of a beautiful palace. He then remembered an island, his island, and a boy and a woman… BULMA! Bulma. Whatever he did, wherever he went, it was always for Bulma, his love. He shoved the witch off his lap in a harsh gesture. "Get off me!!!" She changed back into her earlier figure, drenched with evil. "You were almost there!" she hissed angrily. He shook his head, as if to clear it. "I love Bulma. She is my only love." He answered sternly, as if lecturing her. "Remember that I’m only here to save her." Ero laughed and shook her head. "I was trying to make you forget that fact! But," she went on, "It is clear that I did not succeed in that. Now I want you to prove your love for her to me, but.. you have to figure out how by yourself. As soon as you’ve convinced me, I will give you the power to restore her soul." Vegeta gaped. "But how? I love her to the depth of my soul, but how do I prove that? You’ve read my mind, you’ve seen it!! Why do I have to prove it?" She just smiled and said nothing, as Vegeta marched back and forth in the room, and finally closed his eyes, and floated above the ground in silent meditation.

* * * * *