Authoress' Note: This one turned out a bit different than I had anticipated. This could be seen from either Vegeta or Tarble's perspective, hence the misleading title.

In any case, this is just a 'what-if' considering these events may or may not happen in the story. I merely write this for entertainment purposes. I did like how the scene just concluded without much resolution between the royal brothers, and it left things open-ended enough to write a made-up continuation of the scene.

Also, I was so into writing that I started loosely throwing around a made-up Saiyan's language in this story. If there's any confusion of what these words mean, I posted a glossary at the end of this chapter. I promise there's nothing too complicated being thrown around.

A Prince's Lament

One-Shot

Vegeta's breathing was ragged, his body immobilized due to the paralysis dart that Tarble administered while his defenses were down. How dare the pathetic, disgraceful, and dishonorable bastard stoop to such treachery? If he could move, he would have slowly tortured Tarble for his absolute betrayal before granting the weaker Saiyan death for his stupidity.

And yet, right at this moment, the odds were truly stacked against the elder royal who had previously written off the younger man as a waste of royal blood. He had been like Kakarot when he came to Namek all those years ago—too kind-hearted, soft, and it was such a huge disappointment.

Now, Tarble's mood and distinct personality had evolved into something similar to his own, and if the elder royal had to be honest, it was quite frightening that his brother was capable of such devious actions. If he truly had the power as well as the cunning, oh, there was no doubt that he would have carried out his plans and committed regicide long before now.

Vegeta realized that he could get out of this situation alive; however, the price he would have to pay would be great. He would have no choice but to set aside his pride to try and negotiate with the younger brother. And yet, was Vegeta already too late? Tarble was already on the very edge of insanity, and the younger royal only needed just one final push before he tumbled over the absolute pit of despair.

'I can't believe Tarble's not even listening to me, but what can I do to encourage him not to kill me?' Vegeta thought to himself while staring up at the younger man whose eyes glowed a dangerous red hue despite being rendered disabled visually.

Silence seemed heavy between the two royals—one that served an evil despot while the other had been exiled due to not wishing to fight. For the longest time, Vegeta had thought that Tarble was a disgrace to the crown—a disgrace for his morals. Now, he wondered if his father had sent him away due to another reason; one that he had never asked his brother.

Even though Tarble was angry due to his actions, Vegeta knew that his brother had unresolved issues—issues that were eating him alive the longer he clung to them. He knew that it would be a risk, but the elder prince felt as though he had to try and bring his brother away from the brink, even if it did cost him his life.

As he laid there, Vegeta wondered how their father would view such a situation. No, the man probably would have been rolling in his grave if he saw such a display of weakness from them both. Their mother on the other hand...

"Do you ever think about how mirasta would feel if she saw this right now?" Vegeta questioned; not realizing the younger royal's expression suddenly changed from anger to sorrow, the glow in his eyes weakening somewhat. What hatred Tarble had towards his brother was displaced by the way his brother spoke in a more thoughtful tone than the usually smug and cocky one he normally would address them with.

It was no mistake that Vegeta had spoken of their mother without addressing her as their queen. Their father had always seemed to demand that both royal princes addressed her as their queen instead of the maternal figure they looked up to as children. Their mother however never liked being addressed as their queen all the time—their mother had always preferred to be called their mirasta out of the king's earshot.

"I... I haven't until you mentioned her..." Tarble hissed, trying to muster up the hatred to remain angry at his brother for all that he had done to him over the years. He did not wish to have this conversation of her with his brother, but apparently, this was happening, and the younger prince did not like it. "She's dead, so why would you bring her up?"

"I was just wondering if I would see her again after I died," Vegeta glanced at Tarble, who seemed oddly hesitant around his elder brother all the sudden. Earlier, the prince had denounced his younger brother's existence, but now, he was bringing up a woman who died not long after Tarble was sent away from their home world.

"Of course you would. Why the hell wouldn't you mention her?" Tarble angrily asked his older brother. It was as though Vegeta was secretly taking delight in the younger prince's anguish.

"Because mirasta told me something back then..." Vegeta sighed. If he could move right now, he would be shaking his head. He truly was casting aside his pride long enough to talk whatever sense he could back into the younger royal. "Before I left, she was standing outside of my space pod. I was hoping that taristo had been there, but he was too busy trying to pacify that egotistical bastard."

Tarble snorted. He had no respect for the man who technically banished him from their home world long ago. "What the hell did she say?"

Vegeta took a deep breath, not in the least comfortable at what he had to say to his brother; however, now that he mentioned it, he had no choice but to follow through.

"I'll only say this once," Vegeta glared slightly at his brother, "so don't take this the wrong way."

"Knowing you, I shouldn't have to," Tarble spoke to the elder royal in disdain. "Well? Out with it already."

"Pinelve rokisu disu gaizen..." Vegeta all but muttered.

For several moments, neither royal said a word to each other. Tarble's fists trembled at the idea that their mirasta had told that to Vegeta of all people. He would have preferred it if he had heard this phrase from her instead, but sadly, she had long since perished along with the rest of their race when Frieza destroyed their planet.

"You're... you're lying! She wouldn't have said that to you!" Tarble was about to dismiss those words that Vegeta had said with no affection when the prince chuckled.

"I figured you wouldn't have believed me... considering the history I had with Frieza..." Vegeta saw tears in the corners of Tarble's unseeing eyes. While he said it without any true sense of emotion that she said it with, the words still had an impact on the younger royal. What red glow was left in the young man's eyes dissipated completely.

"Damn it... If... if mirasta were alive... she would have reprimanded me for my actions against you..." Tarble felt one of the tears slide down his face, completely unhindered as those words his brother said had a deep impact on the younger man. "She... she was the reason I didn't want to fight in the first place..."

"Come again?" Vegeta was perplexed. He had thought that Tarble did not wish to fight mainly due to his pitiful power level.

"Back when I was old enough to start training, I happened to overhear mirasta and taristo arguing..." Tarble spoke with frustration in his tone. "Mirasta didn't want me to end up like you and end up in Frieza's hands, but taristo..." The prince's voice broke off as his head fell downcast.

Unbidden, the memory washed over Tarble, and his mind went back yesteryears—back to when he was but a child who knew nothing of the hatred and strife going on around him.

_______

The royal palace's halls were empty, save a young boy who approached his parent's bed chambers late that evening. Young Tarble had not been able to sleep ever since his elder brother Vegeta had been shipped off to the stars along with his royal guard Nappa hours earlier. As he drew closer, he heard the distinct voices carrying on from within—voices filled with anger: one out of sadness, the other trying to justify his actions.

"...still can't believe you sent Vegeta away from this world!" the woman's voice—the one Tarble recognized as his mother—lashed out with grief. "You handed him over to a monster!"

"Endris..." his father—King Vegeta—had tried to pacify his mate; however, she was beyond reasoning. "I had no choice..."

"No choice? You always had a choice! A choice between keeping our family together and separating them!" Endris all but shouted at the king. Usually, the leader would not take such accusations lightly; however, this was against his own mate he was arguing with, and he truly was afraid of the anger he was facing at that moment. "The last thing I want is for Tarble to be like Vegeta..."

The moment the younger boy's name was mentioned, a small gasp escaped his lips. Why would his mother not want him to follow in Vegeta's footsteps and fight? It is within their blood after all to fight. Tarble recalled the number of times he wished that he could have trained with his elder brother; however, his mother had kept him at her side, almost afraid of something that he did not realize.

"That whelp? I plan to start his training tomorrow," King Vegeta spoke regally. The notion made Tarble happy that his father did see potential in him, that he could be of use despite his low power level. "He is at the stage where he needs to learn how to do what he's supposed to in order to survive. I even plan on assigning him his own bodyguard when the time comes..."

The sound of skin slapping skin echoed from within the bedchambers, halting the next words that that King Vegeta was about to mention.

"How dare you!" Endris' voice was absolutely cold. A frown crossed the boy's lips. Why was his mother against this? "I thought that you were devoted to me, but apparently, I was wrong... you're devoted only to the power you want your sons to obtain..."

"Endris..." the king realized his folly too little, too late. Tarble barely moved out of the way when he heard the doors suddenly open. He quickly hid behind a pillar and saw the soft light spilling out in the hallway, his mother's figure fully silhouetted.

"Don't you dare follow me or I will kill you," Endris threatened. "If you dare train Tarble, I will never forgive you. The last thing I want is to lose my youngest son to Frieza as well!"

Tarble saw something slip down his mother's face as he drank in the sight that would forever scar his psyche—his mother, the usually strong and confident woman, was crying. She was absolutely livid at her mate, and the threat she held against their father was all the more reason to fear what the woman would have done if she had carried out the threat then and there. Instead, she ran down the hallways past the young prince as the king emerged seconds later; however, he did not give chase to the Saiyan woman.

King Vegeta knew that if he had, Endris would most certainly kill him, and he would not bring himself to harm the one he cared about, especially since she was right.

He had made a mistake giving up Vegeta to Frieza. However, what King Vegeta's mate had no idea was that he was ensuring that the despot was pleased by the services that they provided.

Even if the price was that of their firstborn son.

"Endris..." The king rubbed his reddened cheek that she had slapped—even if she were beyond the years of combat, she was still a force to be reckoned with.

'Mirasta...' Tarble thought to himself as he stood there motionless. He realized that the woman had an objection regarding his own plans, and he knew that Frieza was a force to be reckoned with considering how his kind served the despot. Due to this confrontation that he witnessed, the young prince realized became convinced that if he did learn how to fight, he would end up having to go to that demon lord and serve him.

That night, without his father knowledge, Prince Tarble had silently decided that he would not become a warrior out of fear of disappointing his mother's expectations.

When the young prince did speak his mind, it was not without hesitation. Without even a goodbye to his mother, Tarble was sent away from their home world to the silent void and to alien world far beyond their home.

_______

Vegeta realized that Tarble had made the decision not to fight not because he was weak, but because the younger prince considered their mother's feelings. His father had told him that his younger brother refused to fight—how could the proud king be happy giving his eldest son to a monster and try to do the same to try to placate Frieza? Had this happened, there was no doubt that would have given the tyrant another bargaining chip, and thankfully, Tarble somehow knew well enough to avoid that scenario at any cost.

"Idiot," Vegeta scoffed at his brother. He felt the paralysis starting to wear off, but he remained still. The last thing he wanted was for the younger prince to try shooting him up with more of the crap. "You know if you had joined Frieza's ranks, you wouldn't be as pathetic as you are right now."

"Don't remind me," Tarble wished that he could glare at his brother, but the only thing he could do was huff in his direction. He felt another tear run down his face as he used the back of his hand to wipe it away. The fabric of the glove absorbed the moisture as he realized that he had been crying in front of his elder brother. "Ungh... I feel like crap right now and it's your fault."

"Really? I thought you felt like crap after I blasted you in the side earlier," Vegeta sadistically cajoled, deciding to take a jab at the younger prince's vulnerability.

"If you're talking about when you hurled one of the androids at Cell, then I have every right to leave you here drugged up for the rest of the night while I contemplate whether or not I should kill you," Tarble warned, a slight tinge of redness returning to his eyes. Even though he was not as angry as he was earlier, he still was not pleased at Vegeta's previous actions.

"And if you did, you'd sooner disappoint her," Vegeta countered, once again reminding Tarble of their discussion.

"Leave mirasta out of this!" Tarble hissed at the bastard of a brother he had to deal with. He did not need anymore reminders of the woman who had tried to keep him from experiencing what Vegeta had endured. Even though he did not wholeheartedly like the idea of turning down training to appeasing her wishes, he did so in order to avoid a similar fate that would befall him otherwise.

"On one condition: let me handle Cell after he absorbs that other android," Vegeta spoke almost though he was attempting to make a deal with the devil.

"Seriously, you're never satisfied," Tarble shook his head. "The answer is still no."

Vegeta growled at the idea of his ultimate battle being denied all because of his younger brother's cautious nature.

And yet, somehow, he managed to talk Tarble down to a stalemate of plans.

Even though his life was still in jeopardy, Vegeta would bide his time until his brother's guard was down.

Fin

_______

Wow. This one turned out to go longer than my usual one-shots. I suppose if anything, I tend to write more when I'm deeply inspired, and I'll be honest when I say that I was writing this more to explore the relationship between Vegeta and Tarble and how much it has become strained it has become.

I wonder if Aqua is truly aware of what horrors she is about to unleash if things continue to spiral out of control. I suppose I'll leave that to the original writer of the series to decide.

_______

Chibi's Shameless Saiyan Language Glossary

Mirasta – Mother

Taristo – Father

Pinelve rokisu disu gaizen – I am devoted to you forever

_______

Time to reflect on what I wrote a bit, starting with the obvious question: who the heck is Endris?

Alright, I ended up using an original character in this, one I kind of borrowed from one of my stories. I honestly couldn't just leave her a nameless queen arguing with King Vegeta. It would ruin the flashback leaving her without a name because I was trying to convey a powerful scene that determined Tarble's future.

You're probably wondering: but it's not a vegetable name!

Oh, it is a vegetable name. When I was trying to think of a regal name for King Vegeta's mate, I went and decided to look up vegetables in different languages.

Going with the Japanese word edamame, this means green soybeans, and so, I took this and came up with Endris. Yeah, I could have made her name a little closer to its roots but considering we would have had an Edame or Edama, I decided to switch the letters a bit. Plus, I think that Endris sounds more intimidating considering she's a Saiyan woman who should not be crossed.

Is Tarble crying a hint that I went OOC with him? Nope.

This is one of those rare moments that I delve a bit deeper and share an interesting fact about myself. When I was younger, I used to date a Taurus man, but that was years ago when I was still very emotionally sensitive.

We only dated officially for five months, but then, he did something that was so soul shattering and cowardly: he broke up with me—right before my eighteenth birthday. The way he did it? He did it over the phone. If he had been a proper man back then, he would have said it directly to me face-to-face, but instead, he took the easy way out.

Even though he was compatible with my sign, when he broke up with me, I did not take this well. What made it worse was that we worked at the same job, so I did everything I could to avoid him while working. Because I had only worked at the job for four months and the managers were not doing anything about this situation, I took matters into my own hands and spent more time outside away from everyone else.

Due to my emotional state, I never was promoted to a higher-level position, but then again, it was my first job, and I was making minimum wage at most. I would later learn how to tamper my emotions better, though there are still times where that resolve would be tested.

Getting back to the discussion about Taurus's, even though they're prideful, they do have their limits emotionally. Considering our younger prince being a walking doormat, he seems loyal to his elder brother, even though he is insecure at times. That insecurity and constant abuse he endured slowly chipped away at his usually calm demeanor, which more than likely deepened the resentment he had towards Vegeta.

Personally, I find it easier writing about Tarble more than Vegeta—the elder prince does remind me of people who like to lead and take charge; however, knowing Vegeta's personality a little better after reading the horoscopes regarding family, it's no stretch he would resort to psychological warfare against his baby brother.

Surprisingly, this one-shot turned out differently than what I was trying for at first. Originally, I was going to write something regarding Vegeta, but instead, I found myself leaning more towards Tarble as I wrote this. Hence, the title could be interpreted for either prince, considering both have some form of lament to deal with.

Now to address the biggest question: why did you throw those words into your chapter that don't really play much of a point in this one-shot?

Honestly, the second I wrote mirasta down and began monologuing, I felt it was only right to leave it unchanged. The way the royals reference their mother in this manner is more in terms of absolute respect. Their father was against them addressing her in that manner, and this is a direct insult to the woman who birthed them. You would think he would have been alright with honoring her as their queen, but truthfully, she finds this demeaning that they cannot convey themselves naturally around her.

Any child would prefer to say something along the lines of, "Hey dad, mind if I go to the store?" Instead, they're expected to say something like, "Your Majesty, I wish to go to the store." I truly think that King Vegeta is pushing his kids to be a bit too respectful in that regard, but that's royalty for ya.

Closing these post-story notes, I will admit that the flashback was added as an afterthought. It would explain the dynamics of why Tarble was reluctant to train, and why he was ultimately sent away. I had originally written something like this previously that wasn't published, but I felt that one-shot was way too fragmented.

Said unposted one-shot was about Future Tarble reflecting about his horrible life during the whole thing. I felt that I was painting him as a forgotten prince who looks back with resentment over his life choices. Even though I did not post this, it did give me the inspiration needed for writing another one-shot that I did post.

With that said, I hope that this inspires your own writing @Espeon804.