Rights: All rights belong to Akira Toriyama, Toyotarou and Toei Animation
This is based on the manga cannon, so there may be some discrepancies with the anime.
WARNINGS: This story is very, very dark, with a large amount of violence, gore, and sexual references, including references to non-consensual sex.
"Hello there, Gemuse," Beerus greeted casually, arms folded across his chest as he approached, "You're looking much improved."
"Bulma," Vegeta hissed, moving to place himself between her and the advancing god, "go inside."
"What? No!" This was the behaviour she was having problems with. The protective attitude that insisted that Vegeta knew better than her what she should and should not be involved in. The tendency to use himself as a human, well, saiyan shield, and not allow her to witness or even know about dangerous things.
"I'm staying here."
"Bulma…" Vegeta growled.
"Oh, let the woman stay," Beerus came to a stop in front of Ternyp, looming over Vegeta, "she may as well hear what I have to say. After all, any threat to you naturally involves her, does it not?"
Bulma could almost hear Vegeta's teeth grinding as she moved to get a better view of the proceedings.
The electric charge between prince and god was palpable, anger, loathing and fear making a toxic combination between the two as history roared to the forefront of their minds. A history of pain, of torture, to himself and to his friend.
Beerus merely smirked.
"What is it you want?" Vegeta bit out eventually.
"What do I want?" Beerus thought for a moment, looking into the distance, "Well, I don't really know, do I? I want Gemuse to be gone forever, but on the other hand I want him to suffer forever. Yet, here we are at the end of the journey, and I know this will be my last chance to inflict my remembered agony on the toxic piece of rotten flesh there."
He jerked a clawed thumb to indicate Ternyp.
"So I thought I'd better make the most of it."
"No."
The word left Bulma's mouth before she had a chance to consider its worth, but she didn't regret her objection. Instead, she reinforced it.
"No."
Stepping around her husband, ignoring the cavernous width of his eyes and the horror in his expression, she confronted Beerus with her hands on her hips.
Just like with Lord Zeno not that long ago.
"You will do no such thing."
"Bulma, please—" Ternyp interrupted, somehow managing, despite the injuries to his limbs which remained unhealed, to arrest her arm. But she shook him off, ploughing ahead without fear of the consequences. There were some things a righteous human being simply had to do, and this was one of them.
"I won't let him hurt you anymore."
"But Bulma, this isn't your fight," Ternyp protested.
"I watched you tortured, I saw you killed, I watched you in agony as you were revived. You have been victimised in my own home, where you were supposed to be safe and cared for. And, as Lord Beerus himself points out, my husband is being threatened because of this whole situation. I would say that I am very much involved."
"Bulma…" Vegeta choked.
"Listen up, big guy," she poked a manicured nail into Beerus' ribs, "I'll tolerate no more of this. You're to leave Ternyp alone."
"How about….no?"
"I won't take 'no' for an anwer," she objected, "You've gone far enough; too far, in fact. And I'm going to put a stop to it."
"And how do you propose to do that?" Beerus questioned, tracing a finger over his chin as he contemplated her.
"I…" Bulma faltered, refusing to wilt under his vindicated gaze, "I'll think of something…I'll tell my mother not to cook for you!"
Beerus merely raised an eyebrow at the threat, "Surely you jest? I am hardly going to throw away my chance of revenge for the sake of food."
This coming from the god who had threatened to destroy their planet over an argument about that very thing.
"Revenge? Revenge? Tell me exactly what Ternyp has done to you. Ternyp, not Gemuse."
"He may not have possessed Gemuse's memories until recently, but he has the same soul. That makes him identically culpable. I should highlight that his soul, rather famously, cannot be cleansed of its vile nature."
She was never going to win this argument with him, particularly since Ternyp himself seemed to be of the same opinion.
"Even if I were to accept your statement, which I don't, you've already tortured and killed him! Why isn't that enough to satisfy you?"
"Nothing will ever be sufficient to redress the pain he wrought onto me!"
"You don't need more vengeance," Bulma considered, "You need psychological help."
"Bulma!" Vegeta gasped, tugging at her shoulder, but unwilling use his strength on her, "Stop! You can't confront him!"
Beerus was already purple, but she thought he might have turned a darker shade at the implication of his psychological issues.
"How dare you even suggest that I—that I—?!"
"You need help," Bulma reiterated, "And you need to stop blaming poor Ternyp here for your problems."
"You overstep your bounds, woman," the God of Destruction growled.
"I have every right to say whatever I want," she insisted, "including that you are a sick and twisted villain in the same vein as the one you hate so much. You're exactly like Gemuse."
Beerus reeled back as if struck, though no one in proximity to him had the power to do such a thing effectively. Vegeta pulled Bulma forcefully behind him, using his body as a shield as the deity turned apoplectic.
"I am nothing like him!" Beerus roared, spittle flying from his mouth as he pointed violently towards the convalescing saiyan, "We are completely different! You have no idea of the things he has done!"
"So?" Bulma hit back, peering over Vegeta's shoulder as he hissed at her, "You tortured him! Nothing gives you the right to deliberately inflict pain on someone else!"
"Have you never felt it, then? The bubbling lava of loathing within yourself, begging for an outlet? That feeling that if you could only make them scream, your world would be fixed?"
She had to admit that yes, she had experienced that feeling at many times during her adventures, and later on the sidelines. She had especially become aware of it when Vegeta's old tormentor had appeared in their own backyard, in his sanctuary, alongside a grinning Goku.
Vegeta had been more composed about the situation than she was.
"Yes, of course. I feel it right now, towards you. But that doesn't mean I'm going to act on it. I'm better than that."
"Hmph," Beerus folded his arms, "So you think you're better than me?"
She held his gaze with a steely expression, but had enough sense not to answer.
"And if your mother was raped and slaughtered in front of you, would you ever stop desiring the inflict pain on the perpetrator?"
Bulma glared at him defiantly, even though she wasn't sure herself of her own answer to that. She was fortunate that nothing permanent or traumatising had happened to her family members while she had known them. The closest she could come to that was with Frieza, but even then, it wasn't the same. Frieza had never…that is, as far as she knew Frieza had never sexually assaulted her husband. Vegeta certainly didn't act as if he had.
And although he had killed Vegeta (twice, but that other time did not count), this act was not done in front of her, and she hadn't known the saiyan well at that point, regardless.
"Yes, you think on that one," Beerus instructed, turning back to the upright figure on his lounge, "I have more important matters to attend to."
For Bulma, the following series of events seemed to happen in slow motion. As Beerus turned toward his victim, raising a hand to begin his assault, Bulma didn't even think through her objection. She simply flung herself forward, grasping the God of Destruction's wrist and tugging with all of her might. He ripped himself free easily, regarding her as one might an insect as she stumbled forward, before neglecting her entirely in favour of his prey.
She didn't stop to consider it. She didn't heed Vegeta's warning.
No, she simply reacted to the threat, the threat of Beerus pursuing yet another torture session in front of her, the threat of him harming Ternyp even more, perhaps even setting back his recovery.
"No!"
Ignoring Vegeta's cry of alarm, she spun on the spot, driving her foot upwards, firmly into Beerus' groin.
Apart from that one, enigmatic episode in the carpark, this move had never phased her alien husband. There was no possibility of it hurting Beerus, or even stalling him.
But it did redirect his attention.
And she didn't even see him move as he reacted to the attack.
SMACK!
She hadn't seen Vegeta move, either, as he practically teleported in front of her to take the blow. He was a blur of blue and black before her vision as he vanished, slamming into the pool cover with a mighty splash, water spraying out everywhere.
Bulma gasped as a waterfall drenched her, material clinging to her form, heavy as she shivered. Beerus was similarly soaked, but he was indifferent to the water or the cold, quite unlike the cats he looked so much like.
And he was focused on her.
Smirking, he raised a hand again, commenting, "Good shield-work, but I won't let such an attack stand."
"Vegeta!" she gasped, searching for help as Beerus advanced, looming over her forbiddingly.
Nothing emerged from the rippling water which sloshed about her pool. She could only see a dark shadow at the bottom, image undulating as the surface swelled.
She was alone, and helpless.
Beerus struck.
And for the third time, another body intervened.
But this time it stayed put, plaster tricking down its forearm as it hovered in front of her.
"Ternyp!" she gasped, staring at him as it became clear he had taken the blow on his arm, and possibly re-broken it.
"I won't let you hurt her," Ternyp warned, feet a few inches off the ground as he floated between predator and prey.
"How noble of you," Beerus sneered, "placing yourself between the maiden and certain death. Don't worry, I haven't forgotten about you. You will receive your just deserts momentarily. But I have business with Bulma here, first."
"No," Ternyp replied, resolute, "You have no business with her. Whatever damage you want to inflict in retribution for what was a negligible assault, I will take."
Beerus blinked.
"You…are volunteering to absorb all of my ire?"
"Yes."
Bulma shuffled to the side, towards the pool and its unmoving, sodden lump, before a hand arrested her.
"Ternyp!" she hissed.
"Do not leave my protection."
"But Vegeta—"
"Will survive." He didn't even turn to face her, intent on staring down Beerus, who watched them with interest.
"But he's your prince! Whatever happened to fealty?"
"You are more important to him than his own life, therefore you are my priority. Stay behind me."
Biting her lip, Bulma remained, counting down the seconds as she wondered just how powerful a blow her husband had taken for her. How much he had been prepared to endure, to give up, for her sake. To even give his life, not that it was exactly news for her.
The fact that they had not been on the greatest of terms recently meant nothing to him. It meant nothing to him when she was in danger.
And it meant nothing to her now that her husband was drowning.
But the notion of trying to pull him out herself was ludicrous, despite her own desperation. She would never be able to lift Vegeta out of the pool without assistance.
And Ternyp was very occupied.
"It just seems…unlike you," Beerus commented, "to sacrifice for the sake of others, particularly a virtual stranger."
Bulma thought they had graduated to at least acquaintances, but she held her tongue.
"You know nothing about me, Beerus," Ternyp countered, "You know only of how my past self lived his life. I accept responsibility for the things that he did, the acts that this body has committed, that my soul has committed. But do not expect me to be of the same inclinations."
Bulma's breath came in shallowly as she waited, hands twisting in front of her, sweat lubricating their movements. There should have been Western music playing in the background, and a rolling, bouncing tumbleweed passing by the pool area as the pair stared down each other. The thought might have amused her in alternate circumstances.
"Where is the anger, Gemuse?" Beerus said suddenly, seeming to deflate in spite of his once-formidable rage.
"I'm sorry?"
"The anger, the evil. Where is it? Every time I have tested-
Tortured.
"- you, none of that has shown in your face or in your energy. You merely reacted as…well, as one of Frieza's victims when I gave him an impromptu performance review."
"He was my commander," Ternyp acknowledged, "but I believe you are searching for something which no longer exists. I'm sorry that you aren't able to settle your score with the real First One. He is gone."
Bulma worried at her lip, wondering why they were taking so long, why Ternyp wasn't rushing straight to his prince's aid, given how close they had seemed to be.
Suddenly all of Beerus' malicious aura dispersed, waving her short hair and making her shiver as cool air flowed through her damp clothing.
"He is, isn't he?" Beerus conceded abruptly, "you have made no move to attack unprovoked, no inappropriate comments, have shown no signs of fury nor perversion. Every move you have made was to protect, or to defend. You gave the equivalent of your life for this universe, and now you offer to take pain for another, one you barely know."
Beerus' hand dropped to his side.
"You are not…you are not Gemuse."
And with that, he turned away, heading towards the gate as if nothing had occurred, tail swishing behind him contemplatively.
Not another word of anger, no frustration, no disappointment, and certainly no hint of an apology.
He simply left.
"Ternyp," Bulma began urgently, looking off towards the water, but he was already moving. Disregarding all safety precautions and notions about not getting his casts and accessories wet, he plunged into the water, using his ki instead of swimming. It took only a moment for him to emerge, broken arms, one lacking plaster completely, supporting her downed husband.
Vegeta was motionless against Ternyp's breast, water cascading from his limbs, hair sodden like a waterfall as his head slumped backwards.
"Vegeta," she gasped, hands to her mouth as Ternyp lowered the drenched and stationary form onto the bricks.
Squatting down beside her beloved, she took in his white-washed features, his blue-tinged lips and the large cobalt circle near his eye. The socket which supported it appeared to have caved in, purples and reds decorating the edges of his enormous bruise like Christmas lights. His hand was glacial as she took it, trying to warm it with her own heat.
"Honey?"
He remained still, sun shimmering off his drenched skin as Ternyp raised a palm over him.
This was where fealty came in, where love and care (eschewed by saiyans yet experienced still despite their best efforts) came to the fore. Ternyp would be setting back his own recovery to heal Vegeta, but the idea of not doing so never seemed to cross his mind.
He wouldn't have known about the sensu beans, anyway, but Bulma was glad they were not going to waste the precious time to retrieve them.
Instead, Vegeta was healed immediately, his shattered face snapping into place almost audibly, colours disappearing as his tea-like hue returned. Eyes snapping open, he was upright instantly, hands wrapping around his mid-section as he projected a lungful of water like those super-soakers Trunks had been fond of.
Then he gasped loudly, and sat back on his hands, panting as he observed his surroundings.
"Where…is Beerus?"
Vegeta would, of course, know exactly where Beerus was, so the question was really in regards to why he wasn't present.
"He left," Bulma explained, "Apparently he's started to see reason about Ternyp."
"See…reason?"
"He understands that Ternyp isn't Gemuse."
"Oh."
"Alright, Keh Gresh?" Ternyp asked, giving Vegeta a gentle pat on the back, capturing his attention.
"Fine…you shouldn't…have healed me."
"It was my duty as a saiyan to do so," he replied easily.
"Even so, you've surely set yourself back, especially...since you're wet. Dr Green…was rather insistent about that."
"You needn't concern yourself with it," Ternyp answered, "I will endure whatever I have to, so long as those I care for are safe."
Vegeta let out an explosive breath, drawing his knees up to his chest and lurching forward, swaying as he made it to his feet. Bulma darted to him, placing a steadying hand on his elbow, which he shook off, reassuring her that he was 'fine'.
Not that she believed him.
The prince then turned to his only self-proclaimed subject, squatting down once more to place his arms in a position ready to lift.
"Hey!" Bulma arrested him, "Are you sure you're up for that?"
"I told you, I am fine. I have just been healed."
"Even so," she tried to stall, but he ignored her, hefting his load with a grunt.
"I can fly," Ternyp commented idly, turning away from Vegeta's pectoral, grimacing at being carried bridal style, even though that's how his prince had carted him around every other time. Surely a fireman's carry would be worse.
"We need to get you dry," Vegeta remarked, heading towards the back door with a determined gait.
Bulma followed the pair inside, watching as Ternyp was deposited, still seeping water, onto her carpet as Vegeta left in search of towels. He gave her a baleful look, and she had to admit he looked rather like a sullen child with the sodden hair taking a great deal off his usual apparent height. The saiyan god really was rather small, at least in comparison to what she had been expecting from a universal terror. But, then again, weren't the rulers of the omniverse children, overseen by another child? Wasn't Frieza also rather lacking in the height department?
Not to mention her own husband, but she rather liked not needing to crane her neck to kiss him, or having to stare up his nose when she yelled at him.
It was fortunate that the moment she realised that a white, sodden garment wasn't the best way to conceal things, and she could see more of Ternyp than she desired, Vegeta entered with the towels.
Somehow, it was more embarrassing for her to see the silhouette of his assets, rather than his naked form after the bout with Zeno. But that had been a crisis situation, and she had been understandably distracted by the protruding bones, without giving thought to his general physique (which was actually rather glorious!). Cheeks pink, she excused herself hurriedly with the excuse of calling Dr Green for help with his casts.
It took her a few minutes to realise that she might have been similarly exposed.
She decided to take her dinner in her bedroom that night.