Authoress' Note: Months ago, I had attempted (and mostly failed) at writing a sniplet. It was not until last night when I was sleepy that I started to revisit the idea. I sometimes come up with ideas when I want to fall asleep, but tend to be stubborn at it until my idea's down on paper. When and if the ideas come, I always have to write it down immediately as I start imagining the possible scenarios.

A little warning: please do not read if you didn't read @Espeon804 OTES-Book 4 Chapter 15. If you didn't read that chapter yet, go and read 'cause there's some spoiler stuff ahead.

With that said, here is a long awaited completion of a challenge.

A Prince's Reflection

Tarble sat at the edge of the lookout. To anyone else, the thought of being that close and peering over the edge would be terrifying since there was nothingness all around. Yet, how could a fear like that pale in comparison of losing someone that was the opposite sex? It's true that he could not see Kauli, a female Saiyan, but he was drawn to her feisty attitude and her warrior spirit.

Any Saiyan who saw this in someone of the fairer sex would be drawn to her like a magnet, wanting nothing more than to court her in order to protect her from the dangers of the world. He knew of her story, knowing that her adopted father died protecting her from Chille's senseless killing. He would know what it was like losing a mother and a father who sired him, but could care less of his survival.

The fear of losing someone who could show him even the smallest form of happiness is what Tarble had faced before. When he was sent away from the world that had taken him in begrudgingly, he had tried to reason with the attackers, but they snorted and laughed at his feeble attempts. They drove him away with only the tablet that he had obtained from Gure as the last physical memory of her.

Even if he could not see the images that were on there anymore, or the files that he had saved on its surface, it was the fact that it was the last thing they shared together that meant more to the prince than anything else. For Vegeta to destroy the last reminder of her was as though he disgraced the very memory of happier times for the younger prince.

Joining up with the remaining survivors of that cataclysm that Frieza caused was not in anyway the way that Tarble imagined it would go. He had thought Vegeta would have been pleased to see him, but he was quick to dismiss the younger prince since he was pathetically weak. Even as the years went by, he was seen more as a burden to the other Saiyans. Vegeta would personally use him as a punching bag not only physically, but verbally tearing the man down with the overbearing pride he carried.

It was not until Tarble stepped foot in the Room of Spirit and Time that he lashed out at Nappa, demanding the former general to try and kill him. Such a demand from the Saiyan Prince made him hesitate, especially since such a request was never uttered.

_________

"I demand a more complex training session! Starting with you trying to kill me, right now!"

"I never tried that with Vegeta before-" Nappa tried to explain to the prince, not in the least bit pleased at being asked such a request.

"I am not Vegeta! Nor will I ever try to be! I'll be a Saiyan prince in my own way, one far better than that bloody idiot!" Tarble demanded with a coldness in his voice aimed at Nappa. "Have at you!"

The hesitance in Nappa's body language as he shifted into a fighting stance, preparing to come at him with everything he had, it was obvious that he was being forced to fight. He lunged at Tarble, his fist coming faster than the Jinkouman that he easily annihilated some time ago. The prince blocked the blow as he seemed dissatisfied.

"Is that all? You aren't even trying!" Tarble barked as he attempted to punch the general in his ribs. He was quick to dodge as the blow grazed him the slightest bit.

Nappa gritted his teeth, a snarl escaping his throat.

The prince was trying to get under his skin, to attack recklessly in abandon. Normally such a tactic would work, but he was trying not to overwhelm the younger prince. Even if he was a burden, even if he was not as strong as Vegeta, he had more to prove, and to what end was he trying to prove now? That he would get angry enough to follow through such a trivial thing and kill Tarble?

Their survival with numbers is far more important than this, but the stubborn, envious young prince was driving him back with blows stronger than what he displayed earlier. Tarble was trying to prove himself, but to what end would it be too much? Nappa was hit in the face by a blow so hard that finally, he decided that enough was enough.

Before Tarble could get another in, he found himself nursing a hard jab in his gut as he coughed. He was breathing hard when he felt Nappa preparing a powerful blast.

"You really want this?" Nappa angrily demanded.

"If I can't overcome this, then I'm not worthy of being a prince!" Tarble snarled. "Hold back and I'll kill you myself!"

That ultimatum... it held promise as Nappa realized that the prince would NOT hesitate to kill if he did not take him seriously.

"You want me at my best?! Fine! I'll give it to you!" Nappa roared as he swung his arm back, energy gathering rapidly before it was launched straight at Tarble. The prince, not wanting to back down from the very challenge that he had requested, found himself on the receiving end of the energy blast that the general had thrown.

One energy blast without a single bit of holding back. Tarble's arms strained as the general gave everything into it. Trying to kill the prince. As Tarble struggled, his mind went back to the past where he was weak. Where he was nothing but a coward. Where he was too powerless to save anyone that he cared about.

What was the point in having such a title if he was not even worthy of the blood that flowed throughout his body? It would have been easier if he had been born of the third class and knew of their struggles, their hardships. Instead, he had to be born among nobility that flaunted their status as if they were more important than those who toiled harsh and brutal missions in order to earn their keep.

He had not known a brutal moment until he was forced to flee, was forced to fight Frieza, and all because he had to in order to survive. It was during this that he had lost his life, half-expecting to never again walk this plane of existence until he was suddenly taking in another breath of air on Earth itself.

From that day, he had been treated poorly by his eldest brother, cast within the shadows that illuminated Vegeta. He had used his status as an excuse to take his frustrations out on him physically, verbally, and psychologically. The younger prince slowly was warped by such ill-treatment until he finally snapped and would have killed the elder had the others not interfered with the attempted regicide.

Then, Vegeta foolishly tried to offer Kauli to that monster Cell. That angered him because he truly thought she was stronger than he is. She stood up to Vegeta's insults, even hurling back creative ones that he honestly wished that he could have come up with and said without the fear of being hurt.

Kauli...

She was everything that Tarble was not and honestly, it was such a fresh breath of air knowing such a low-class Saiyan like her exists. To hell with his status and how others view him: he was falling for her, and he knew his father would be rolling in his grave if he heard about his younger son having feelings for what was considered a commoner on their home world.

If he was forced to choose between his status and her, he would choose the latter because there was something about her that made him question how he was living. He didn't care about her living on Earth or even if she acted more human than Saiyan. Those qualities were based on the kind of upbringing she went through, and in a way, he too had his own upbringing.

Still, the thought of Vegeta hurting her, threatening her life...

...it was something he wouldn't forgive himself of IF the elder prince DID anything to her.

Scenarios started playing in his head; scenarios he never imagined would happen. Like a chess game he was watching from his own perspective, not liking where this game is going.

Vegeta was something that he was not, and that made him hesitate.

Super Saiyan.

How could he measure up to one? Kakarot, Raditz, his brother, Gohan, and even Future Trunks were able to reach such a power. Was the royal house capable of generating another legendary within? Or was he truly a lost cause?

Still, the thoughts of Kauli or anyone else getting hurt or worse plagued Tarble's mind. The thought of Vegeta being the catalyst of this made him angry as he imagined the worst-case scenario. Even though he was blind, he could still imagine it happening: Cell killing Kauli while he was unable to save her while Vegeta just watched, not willing to save her...

NO!

That horrid thought sent a fiery rage through the prince as he roared in pure anger, his power rising as all he could feel was a deep seated hatred burning within him. If he could see, he would have noticed the golden aura flaring around him as he roared loudly. The blast that Nappa had tried to kill him with was sent flying over his head as it flew until it collided further away into the void with a thundering roar.

For a few moments, Tarble was struggling to rein in that power he finally reached for himself. It was so much.

And yet, it was what he thought he needed if no one else would listen to him.

_________

The approaching footfalls from behind brought Tarble back to the present.

Without needing to hear a voice, the younger prince growled, not in the mood.

"What do you want now Vegeta?" Tarble rudely snapped at him.

"How long have you had feelings for her?" Vegeta questioned.

"Her?" Tarble could not believe his luck. Was the elder prince aware of his affections towards Kauli?

"It's obvious how you reacted earlier that you care about her," Vegeta snorted.

Tarble growled, but he did not wish to engage in combat again over something so trivial. He was still angry at the elder for destroying the tablet, his last connection to his childhood friend when his guard was down. Vegeta would never understand that kind of friendship.

"There's nothing wrong with caring about someone," Tarble replied to his brother with a bit of bite in his voice.

"Really? Is that why you took her back to the ship after I abandoned your stupid ass earlier? I honestly wouldn't have left her side to come back up here to sulk. I could have killed her."

"You won't." Tarble answered.

"How do you know?"

"Because if you kill her, I'll send you to hell personally." Tarble threatened.

"You should watch what you say because one day, that kind of weakness will get you killed," Vegeta warned before he walked off.

Maybe it would. Maybe it would not. In either case, after what happened earlier, it was obvious this feeling that Tarble had in him had made obvious what he felt about her.

Even if he tried to deny it, he was still afraid to admit it.

He loved her.

And he hoped that he could win over her affection.

Fin

Alright! I finally finished this long overdue challenge!

I started writing it early this morning, so here are a few pictures.

While I was writing, I did change my ideas as I typed it out, so some of the content is a bit different from the rough:

Ironically, the first thing I wrote was a conversation between Vegeta and Tarble, the former's comment of how Tarble tries to deny his love for Kauli and trying not to reignite another battle was rather odd to gravitate towards. Sometimes though, I have to have something to anchor it together, and even then, this didn't make its appearance until close to the end of the sniplet.

This was the second thing I wrote that was the beginning of the story, but I changed it slightly to expand upon Tarble's inner turmoil of wanting someone, but he is uncertain how he would measure up to her standards. As you can see at the top, this whole thing is right AFTER the grudge fight in Chapter 15.

This is expanding on his past, his exile, and how his life changed.

There was more (another four), but by this point, I was starting to change the context of the story a bit more.

Plus, I didn't like how my Kindle's camera captured these writings at about 1 in the morning. Yeah, I am a lazy writer, but I wasn't gonna go find my camera at that hour from my backpack, especially since I was falling asleep writing this.

Heck, I didn't even write Nappa's reluctance until I sat down at the computer and borrowed a bit of the element from the chapter to write how Tarble forced the general to fight. I had to convince myself to write it, so when I reached that point, I had to think about it this way:

You want to fight. I don't wanna do it. Yet, you're pissed off at me, trying to kill me, and threatening me when I'm trying my hardest not to give in.

Then again, if it's an order, fine. Don't say I never warned you not to push me that far 'cause now, I can't promise ya if you're going to walk out of here alive.

Kind of twisted logic writing like that, but at least it worked.

As to why I cut it short of Nappa's reaction, I'm sure he would have been like: 'You had it in you all of this time. Now I know that if you can do it, then you are capable of doing more than Vegeta.'

Anyway, hope everyone enjoyed this post sniplet rambling.