"What is it dad?" Goten asked looking up at his father.
"I need you to get away from here. Go find the others and stay with them. It'll be your job to protect them from now on."
"What?" Trunks asked. "What are you talking about, Dad? Are you going somewhere?"
"I want you two to get out of here. Find someplace safe that's far away. As for Buu," Vegeta could taste the blood in his mouth and feel the bruises on his stomach, but nothing gave him a more bitter stomach ache than having to say these words to his sons. "I'll fight him alone."
"What? You can't do that dad! How are you gonna fight him alone? You're hurt!"
"Yeah, Goten's right. You'll just get yourself killed if you fight him alone. Goten and I will fight him with you! We're not scared! Are we Goten?"
"No, we'll take on Buu with you!"
"Stop it!" Vegeta hissed and refused to look at his sons and show signs of weakness in front of them. "Both of you stand no chance. You'll just get yourselves killed, and then what would your mother's do? Bulma, Karat, they'd be heartbroken."
The boys stayed silent a moment, leaving Vegeta to think again of his words. "I haven't been the best of father's. I've put my own needs ahead of those of my sons. And yet... somehow... I manage to raise two of the finest Saiyans I have ever known." He turned to his boys and knelt down. "Come here my sons."
Trunks and Goten hesitated before approaching Vegeta. Once in arms length he grasped them both in his arms and held them tight to his chest. These boys were his world. Why had it taken him so long to understand that? They were his future, his pride, and his love, all wrapped up into two super Saiyan packages. He would do anything, ANYTHING, to protect them.
"Boys, there's something you must know." He smiled genuinely for the first time. "You've made me proud, my sons." When their heads tilted up in twin like stares his hands chopped at their necks, not killing them, but knocking them out cold. Their golden hair switched to normal and they fell at his feet.
Piccolo landed a few feet away from him and Vegeta sent him a nod. "Take these boys and that monk, and get as far away from here as you can."
"Okay, but what about you? You'll die, you know that."
"Yes, I'm fairly sure of that myself. However, I've finally come to understand what Karat has been doing all her life." He looked to his sons. "When you have something so precious to you, you'll do anything to keep it safe."
He turned his back letting Piccolo pick up his boys. Meanwhile he eyed the distance and listened for Buu's high pitched, childlike laughter. "There is one thing I'd like to know. Will I see Rikku on the other side?"
Piccolo turned to him. "I won't pretty it up for you Vegeta. Rikku has spent her entire life protecting this world and it's people. While you spent the majority of your life, destroying, and fulfilling your own needs. Even if Rikku were to request to be taken down below, I doubt they would grant her wish. Rikku's purity, her heart, is one is a billion, maybe even more. The other world wouldn't want it tainted, not by anything, or anyone."
That's what he figured, but for some sick twisted reason it put him more at ease. He didn't want false hopes. It was better this way. He would protect his legacy, and be done with this life. Karat, as much as it pained him, would have to live in the afterlife without him, and he without her.
"Fine. Now go."
Krillen caught up with Piccolo sensing Vegeta's mad power in the distance. "What's Vegeta planning, Piccolo? He's crazy if he thinks he can beat that monster alone."
