They had been on this planet for at least a month now. Purging the life from the entire planet was taking longer than they had thought, the native race that lived here was stronger than expected. Night was approaching as the sun began to sink below the horizon- Vegeta had run off to go investigate the rest of the cities and natives, leaving Nappa and Raditz together to set up camp and collect resources for the next couple days they would still be on the planet.

Currently, the two of them were sat next to the campfire they had set not too long ago waiting for Vegeta to come back with more information. It was quiet, the subtle crackling of the fire and the woosh of the wind were the only sounds to be heard in the desolate plain- that and their own thoughts, but even those were beginning to get boring.

“Hey, Nappa?” Raditz spoke, breaking the dull silence.

“Hm?” Nappa hummed in response.

“Let’s run away together.” The long-haired warrior stated simply.

Nappa looked over at his companion, “What do you mean?”

“I mean let’s run away together!” Raditz repeated, putting his hands up for emphasis. He sat back slightly as he explained more, “Let’s escape this all together, run away from it- start a new life together, just the two of us.”

“I don’t think we could do that, Raditz…” Nappa mumbled, looking back to the small campfire. “I like the idea and all, but I don’t think Frieza would just let us go without a fight.”

“Fuck Frieza!” Raditz huffed, crossing his arms. “Who cares what he would do? That’s why it’s called ‘running away,’ we aren’t asking his permission.”

Nappa didn’t respond, keeping his eyes on the warped flames as he thought. He sighed then, “Alright, let’s do it.”

“Wait, really?” Raditz asked, surprised.

“Yeah, I wanna run away with you.” Nappa nodded, glancing over at the saiyan next to him. He smiled slightly. “I want to start a new life with you, away from all this.”

“Yeah! It’ll be great!” Raditz said, his tone lighter than before. “We’ll run away to somewhere far away - where Frieza and his men can never find us - and we’ll start a new life! We’ll be happy together, grow old together, start a family even.”

“I don’t know about family, I think just us together is enough for now.”

Raditz crossed his arms, “Family wouldn’t be right away, it’d be in a long time- obviously!”

“Oh of course, how silly of me.” Nappa said sarcastically, rolling his eyes- chuckling softly as he heard Raditz scoff. He shook his head, taking a more serious tone, “But in that case I suppose a family would be nice.”

Raditz agreed, “Yeah, it’ll be great!”

“Mhm,” Nappa hummed.

They sat quietly for a moment, just listening to the fire and thinking. 

Raditz looked over to Nappa again, “Hey, since we’re going to run away together, promise me something.”

“That being?” His companion asked.

“Let’s die together, okay?” 

Nappa thought for a moment, a little surprised at the request. Then he nodded, “Of course, I promise.”

“Good.” Raditz smiled. He said, jokingly, “I’d have to kill you if you didn’t.”

“Well, I’m glad I agreed then.” Nappa laughed. 

The two of them continued to talk as the sun set and night took over, painting the sky in a beautiful ombre of blues and deep purples as little white specks flickered throughout. The clouds seemed to vanish within the dark pool above, leaving the shadows to soak the land. 
The fire dulled and burnt out as time passed; soon they settled in for sleep, assuming that Vegeta would be there in the morning to report what he’d found. 

From then on time passed; the days seemed to drag and slip into years. Mission after mission, planet after planet, again and again- the pattern was on loop. Like they were trapped in repeat. But, when on a planet that they had been tasked to eradicate life from, a way to break that cycle was found.
And the key to that? A past long forgotten, and a simple trip to a planet a year's time away. 

Earth, that was the key.