Happy New Year! Was shooting to get this out on the first day, but I decided the middle and end of the chapter needed more refining. Some references to obscure scenes in the DBZ anime as well as to Japanese and Slavic folklore and mythology. Thank you for reading!

AnonymousDBZFan,

Merry Belated Christmas to you too and a Happy New Year! :D Your review was a great belated Christmas gift, lol. Gosh what an affirmation, that you had an easy time envisioning the characters. I am so, so pleased that you like what I did with Raditz, but what you thought of my depiction of Nappa is the absolute best. I really didn't expect that kind of reaction and it's so great to hear!

Aww man, I'm tickled that you like Zeema! I was nervous about creating original characters going in (and there are a number of them here, very unlike the first story). Not only did I find it daunting to come up with OCs, but I wanted to be careful about giving them too much "screen time". It's a fanfiction after all, and personally I like my fanfiction to center on canon characters. I want to show OCs just enough to drive the plot and play off canon characters. But, I've found it to be true that every character should be likable, even the villains. I don't know if I'm quite pulling it off, but I'm happy to hear that I seem to be on the right track with Zeema. :D Thank you! I'm glad I could give you a chapter with all the drama and feels. :)

Consequences

A short distance from the coastline, the three Saiyans sat on driftwood logs around a campfire, a large, earthenware jug nearby. On either side of the prince, Nappa and Raditz listened to him recap the events on Namek as they drank from palm-sized cups made from hollowed out gourds. Touketsu hadn't touched his drink, simply staring into his cup as he spoke.

"When I faced Frieza, he revealed that he had three other forms, each more powerful than the last. I faced him in his final form." He idly rolled the cup of liquor between his palms. "Before Frieza killed me, I asked your brother to defeat him in my stead. He became the Super Saiyan, and he did." Touketsu looked to Raditz. "Kakarot showed me what even the lowliest Saiyan was capable of. It was he that reawakened my belief in the Super Saiyan and the pride for our people. He challenged me in ways I couldn't imagine, and I hated him for it," he hissed. "But…I believe it was because of that clown that I pushed myself to also make the Ascension. So. You will show your brother some fucking respect, understand?"

Slack jawed, Raditz nodded. "Yeah. I…alright." He never thought Prince Vegeta of all people would hold a Saiyan commoner in such high regard, much less his brain damaged, Third Class little brother. Kakarot had become a Super Saiyan, the first in a thousand years. Maybe his old man saw something in that twerp that no one else did at the time. Raditz cleared his throat. "And, uh, I'll show you the respect you're due, Vegeta," he said, shame in his voice. "I was wrong. You're Saiyan. You're our prince, and you're well within your rights to kill me."

"Tomorrow," he said blandly as looked back to the campfire.

Nappa chuckled, his spirit lightening as he poured himself another. Being defeated by that Third Class Earth Saiyan didn't seem so shameful now. "You're in trouble now, Raditz," he said as he handed the jug back to the long-haired Saiyan. "Vegeta's Controlled Oozaru form can squeeze the shit out of your spirit."

Touketsu blinked, straightening. …Controlled Oozaru?

"Yeah, how do you reach that form without a full moon, Vegeta?" Raditz asked as he topped himself off. "Do you like, use some sort of Power Ball technique without actually releasing it?" Touketsu slowly looked at him, silent as Raditz tipped back his drink.

"You're not gonna tell us, are ya?" Nappa chuckled, downing his own drink. "That's ok, we'll figure it out. It's been on my mind ever since you revealed it that first night we squared off."

"A transformation that houses the very spirit of the Oozaru. Now that's a form worthy of any Saiyan," Raditz mused.

Touketsu's blank gaze was back on the campfire, the orange flames illuminating his pale face and reflecting off his horns. Those times he'd lost control, those memory lapses…he'd gone into some Demon Oozaru state? Without a full moon even being present? And how could he not have been aware that it was happening? It was typical for Low Class Saiyans to lose self awareness and suffer amnesia after the transformation, but he was an Elite! He'd always had perfect control over his Oozaru form.

"Do you understand now that the beast was always in your nature? I trust you have at last learned that an animal can never have dominion."

Touketsu let out a shaky breath at Zhernobog's words. It was only when Tosho was again embedded into his brain that he lost control over the Demon Oozaru.

"You don't think he could be strategizing as well?"

"So Vegeta," Raditz asked, and Touketsu started. "How did you end up in Nav without being dead?"

"…I can cross between planes," he answered distractedly.

"While alive?"

"Well. I suppose I am something of a demon now," he said mechanically.

"What brought you to Nav?"

"…Training," he rasped.

Nappa and Raditz looked at each other. What was eating him? "Uh…ya gonna drink that, Vegeta?" Nappa asked, nodding to the cup.

"Yes." He shakily brought the drink to his lips and took a sip, wincing with distaste as the pungent liquor knocked him right out of his ruminations. "This shit's awful," he choked out. "What the hell is it?"

"Shojo," Raditz said. "Or maybe it was shochu. I don't know, I can't quite remember what it was called."

"What's it made from?"

"Fermented seaweed."

"…Well that explains it."

"Tastes as good as the sake at Susmir, if you ask me," said Nappa.

"Your tastebuds are as dead as you two," Touketsu muttered. He chugged the rest of his drink and suppressed a cough. It tasted like poison and burned all the way down, but at least it did the job. He looked up at Nappa and Raditz, his concerns sweeping away in an undertow of powerful alcohol. He stifled a chuckle; they looked like overgrown cherubs with those halos hovering over their heads. "When the hell did you two boneheads learn how to brew booze anyway?"

"Some really old-school guy showed us. Planet Japan I think he said he was from," Nappa answered. "Uh, what was his name, Raditz?…Haida? Yoshi?"

"Hideyoshi," Raditz said over his cup, and he smirked. "That guy's another person when he's drunk." He glanced at Touketsu and leaned over to casually refill his cup. Vegeta had always been guarded, but on the rare occasion he got drunk he spilled like a party foul. Raditz wanted to know more, and the prince's story wasn't quite adding up; the timelines given were all over the place. "When did you see my brother ascend, Vegeta?"

"After I came back."

"Didn't…didn't you say you destroyed Frieza?"

Touketsu answered by chugging half his seaweed shochu. He didn't want to dwell on the fact that he'd wished Frieza back. "Your clown brother defeated him. I didn't say he finished the job."

"And then uh, you became a Super Saiyan?"

"Yeah, you told me that during our first match," Nappa interjected. "Can we see it?"

He knocked back the rest of his drink. "I can't go Super in this form," he grumbled.

Raditz refilled his cup "Sooo…when did you become a Super Saiyan?"

"Another life," he grumbled before taking another drink. Raditz raised an eyebrow. Ok, maybe he had enough. He wasn't making any more sense. "Hey where did…whereju find Saiyan armor?" Touketsu asked as he turned to Nappa, his speech already a little slurred. "I sure as shit didn't see anything like that at the armry." Nappa had discarded his armor before his death, and ever since Nappa emerged from the flames Touketsu had been wondering where he'd found such a thing.

"Oh well I was issued a new set when I got here," Nappa said. "When I was killed in the arena the first time an' I walked outta the fire to go to Susmir, my armor had changed to this," he said with a shrug.

"Huh. Other World's bizarre."

"I opted to keep the set I died in," Raditz said. "There was a huge hole through it, But when I walked out of the fire the first time I was benched, the damage was gone."

Touketsu grunted, his eyes casting down. Saiyan cultural dress had been replaced by the PTO well before Vegeta was born. Some Saiyans personalized their armor, modifying the broad shoulder guards into simple straps that more closely resembled traditional Saiyan wear. In spite of the armor's sullied history, Vegeta still closely identified it with his people. Ironically, it seemed he had to die and burn before he could wear it again. He took another good swig.

"That burned you up, huh Raditz?" he asked suddenly. "That mission to Rygal…ss..seven?"

After a moment, Raditz answered by chugging the rest of his shochu. He re-filled his cup with a shrug. "I don't know."

"My ass. You went on and on about it in the 'rena. Those Saiyan rites meant a lot to you, huh?"

"Of course! At the time, anyway. I don't know. I don't give a shit now, really. It just got all dredged up again during our match," he said, aware now that it must have been a result of Vegeta's demonic energy. He looked at Touketsu and flicked his chin towards him. "What was your first mission with your father like?"

Touketsu shrugged a little before knocking back the rest of his drink. "Nothin' noteworthy. Some job on a planet of squid people. Can't even 'memberits name."

Nappa frowned. "It was Planet Calmara."

"The king didn't share any new techniques?"

"No. It was work. He was jus'…going through the motions with the whole rites thing," he said with a derisive wave of his hand. He looked at the jug by Raditz and gestured to it.

Raditz and Nappa glanced at each other. The shochu seemed to be hitting the prince a little hard, but neither wanted to be the one to tell him 'no'. "You remember Rygal-7, though?" Raditz said as he handed the jug to him.

"Yes. 'Cus we were nearly wiped out." He gripped the jug by its handle and hefted it over his shoulder, turning his head to drink straight from it. The liquor leaking from the corners of his mouth, he chugged before lowering it with a huff. "Look, Radis," he slurred, his speech growing slower. "No one ever…taught me n..n-anythin'. I learned 'erythin' on my own, so don't go *hic* foistin' y-yor daddy issues on me." He inhaled deeply through his nose before continuing. "'K? Your father didn't share some secret technique with a favorite, he came up with a hypos - hyposes…theory when our backs were 'gainst the wall. That's it."

Raditz was silent for a moment. "Hn. Yeah, alright." He snickered. "Yeah, I remember how you referred to him as a scientist."

"…I was jokin'," he grumbled.

"You don't joke."

"Shut up!"

Vegeta had barely been five standard cycles at the time, and he and his entourage had returned roughed up but triumphant from their mission. After receiving a very public heroes' welcome, he proudly announced how he'd implemented Bardock's discovery to turn the tide. He then turned to Bardock and told him he was 'an average fighter but a brilliant scientist.' In truth, the boy prince was genuinely impressed. Who but a scientist could have known that one's ki could be used to compress a planet's atmosphere into an artificial moon? The Low Class warrior couldn't generate the power to accomplish the feat, but he'd banked on the possibility that the prodigy prince could.

"You sure pissed him off with that backhanded compliment," Raditz chuckled as Touketsu poured himself another. "Before he left for his next mission I overhead him tell my mother that you were a smart-mouthed brat."

Touketsu's head snapped up in surprise. "Thatso? Then your weak father was also a coward. I can s-see now where you *urp* get it from."

Raditz smirked and took another swig. "He also said you'd be the planet's greatest leader." He looked at Touketsu. "He mentioned how none of the Elites listened to his idea. That didn't surprise him, but he was surprised when you of all people did listen. You saved their asses." Raditz's tone softened with respect. "My father saw a bright future for the Saiyans in you."

Touketsu looked away. "Wasn't blessed with foresight, then," he grumbled. He took a drink, brooding. "He musta' seen where we'were headed, though. 'Ventually."

"What do you mean?" He asked before taking another drink.

"He challenged Frieza."

Raditz choked, coughing as Nappa straightened in surprise. "He…he what?" Was this the booze talking?

"On Namek, Friezer told Kakrot that he'd beenina skirmish with your father." He chuckled. "I take it back, Radis. Yor third class father was no coward, he was justn' idiot. Like your brother. Ha ha ha!"

Raditz gaped while Nappa rubbed his bald head, reflecting on the poisonous agreement the king had made with the deceitful Frieza. "I tried to talk him out of it, Vegeta," Nappa muttered.

"Hn?"

"I tried to talk you father outta makin' that deal with Frieza."

Touketsu looked away as he topped himself off. "That deal to relinkush me, you mean?" he asked, his voice low.

Nappa nodded. He put his cup down and leaned forward, forearms on his knees. "Yeah. After Frieza made the request, your father held a meeting with his chief wartime advisors. I told 'im to give Frieza the finger and prepare for war. For cycles I thought he made a mistake until you confirmed that lying lizard wiped us out. I didn't wanna believe it for a long time, but the king was right. We wouldn't 'a stood a chance."

"Think he made the right choice, then?" Touketsu asked quietly before taking another drink.

"You survived, didn't you? I get why it pissed you off, Vegeta, but it was a sacrifice for him, too. He was given' up his heir and the most powerful Saiyan born in a thousand years. But listen," he said, lacing his fingers together and leaning towards him. "Your father always did play things close to the vest. Now if Bardock was part of some rebellion, the king must have formed-"

Touketsu snorted and began chuckling. He leaned away and propped an elbow on his knee, rubbing his eyes with a thumb and forefinger as his derisive laughter began to resemble a different sound. He sniffed once and sighed. Frieza himself had revealed to him that his father stormed the ship to take him back. The rash move sealed Planet Vegeta's doom. "I'll take your word for it, Nappa," he said quietly.

Picking up on the prince's abrupt sullenness, Raditz tried lightening the mood. "Soooo, Vegeta," Touketsu slowly looked over to him, his bleary eyes unfocused. Raditz raised a mischievous eyebrow. "The princesses seemed to know you pretty well."

His nose wrinkled at Raditz's lurid tone. "Whatryou insin- *hic* sinu…What?"

Raditz snorted. Vegeta always was a prude. Or maybe he simply wasn't into women. He never talked about his sex life. "Come on. You were staying at the palace how long and you're telling me you didn't once try to hit any of that?"

"Thinkin' with yor other head again, are you? Trus' me when I say you don't want their attention. They'll eat you."

Raditz chuckled, bobbing his head. "Nice."

"Iz really not, Raditz."

"What about you and the queen?" Nappa asked with a knowing raise of his eyebrow.

Touketsu knocked back his drink. "Whatabout me an' the queen?"

Nappa's smirk broadened. "Heh, heh. You'd been stayin' at the palace, actin' as the new executioner…cozzyin' up to the queen in the Imperial Box every night, amiright?"

Touketsu gave him a withering look. "Yora ffool," he slurred. "I have no interest in the queen, an' there's nothin' goin' on bahtweenus."

"That's not what the guys at Susmir were sayin'."

"What?!"

"Come on, Vegeta! We know ya got high standards so it's ok to say you were fuckin' a goddess!"

"I wasn't!" Touketsu blurted, the flush over his cheeks quickly flooding his entire face.

"What the hell, you've got someone better than a goddess, Vegeta?" Raditz laughed.

"So what if he does?" Nappa grinned. "He could have a whole harem if he wants. Not everyone's like your old man, the poor sap."

"My parents weren't Bonded!" Raditz snapped, his cheeks burning with shame. "That was just a stupid rumor, Nappa!"

Nappa mockingly held his hands up in supplication. "Yeah, yeah. Whatever, Runt," he chuckled.

"Well I'm layin' the rumors 'bout me to rest," Touketsu interjected. "The queen an' I are not a pair."

"Oh." Nappa rubbed the back of his head and shrugged. "Well is there a man that-"

"I'm not gay, Nappa."

Completely flummoxed, Nappa threw his big hands out to the sides. "What's wrong with you? What, are you a monk now?"

"I ss... simply have more pressing concerns," Touketsu grumbled, squinting at the cup he was holding eye level as he carefully refilled it. "I'm hafta keep up with my…" He suppressed a burp. "Trainin'."

Nappa and Raditz shared knowing looks, Touketsu softly cursing when the remaining shochu suddenly came out too fast and sloshed out onto the beach. In spite of his external changes, Vegeta was apparently still the self-denying workaholic.

"Look, Vegeta," Nappa began as Touketsu chugged his drink, "I'm gonna share some wisdom with ya."

"Tch. You share wisdom?"

"Live as much as you can while you still have a body. Battle's almost everything, but it isn't everything, ya know?" Touketsu was upending the jug over his mouth, nothing but a trickle coming out. "You were right. I was way too hasty an' I wasn't thinkin' straight when I leveled that city we made planetfall in. Shoulda nabbed me some women first," he said with an animalistic grin. "Fucked their brains out before razin' the place-"

The earthen jug shattered when it hit Nappa's face, sending him tumbling off the log and onto his back.

"I've had enough listenin' to the asinine drivel comin' outta yor mouth, Nappa!" Touketsu shouted as he stood, stumbling back and nearly pitching backwards over the driftwood log behind him.

Nappa's surprised expression melted into a frown, and he got to his feet. "This have to do with what I said about crossbreeding with humans? Well what would it 'a mattered if I fucked 'em and killed 'em? No hybrids. Problem solved," Nappa said stonily.

"Idiot," Touketsu glowered up at him beneath his brows, his head lowered. "We'were on a mission. Like I woulda stood by tappin' my foot while you raped a buncha Earth females for kicks."

The crackling of the campfire and the gentle lapping of the waves filled the silence between them. "Why were you so against it, huh?" Nappa rumbled. "Were you really afraid of our offspring bein' stronger than us?"

"I FEARED NOTHING!-"

"Or was this your hangup about takin' women?" Raditz's eyes widened a little as he looked from Touketsu to Nappa.

Huffing through his nose, Touketsu stood there wavering on his feet. At the time he shot down Nappa's proposal he was a power hungry madman. Simultaneously caring nothing for his dead race but bristling at the notion of muddying his royal bloodline, his sole objective was to stand alone and hold power absolute once Frieza was destroyed. He wasn't about to risk his newfound throne by siring half breeds with the potential to topple him. At the time, he had no idea what it actually was to be a father, to feel the pride in witnessing his young son grow in power.

His opinion towards Nappa's proposal hadn't changed, but the reasoning behind it had changed profoundly. Memories of a too vivid nightmare began creeping back into his mind. The notion of taking his own Earth woman against her will was appalling to him. Touketsu's voice became strained. "Some of us…have a shred of honor, Nappa."

The prince was drunk off his rocker, but en vino veritas; he was speaking his truth. Nappa relented. "Alright. Alright, I get it," he said apologetically. "You had responsibilities an' standards an' all that. You're the son of the king, after all. Wouldn't have been…honorable for royalty to have half breed children."

Touktesu just stared up at Nappa, his eyes bouncing with nystagmus. His movements stilted, he turned his back on his cohorts with shuffling feet. Fool. It was my 'half breed' child that sent Frieza to Hell…And that's where Frieza should have stayed. Were it not for his misguided decisions he'd be himself again, not standing here communing with the dead.

"I've tired of your company," he said, the fatigue in his voice evident. He turned around unsteadily to look at his cohorts, focusing with all his might to articulate his slurring speech. "We'll meet again in the arena. Come at me…with everything you have, and do your absolute best to kill me. Anything less…would be an insult to my honor. That's an order. Understand?"

They both nodded. "Yeah. Of course," Raditz said quietly.

"I understand, Prince Vegeta," Nappa answered. He crossed an arm over his chest and bowed, Raditz standing and following suit.

Touketsu was about to call Nappa a bootlick, but he didn't. Instead, he simply nodded. He was about to leave when he stopped and looked to Raditz. "Your nephew. Gohan. He also managed the Ascension." Raditz's jaw slowly dropped open. "You're dead, and I may as well be. But the Saiyan race still lives. It lives on without us. Know this."

Touketsu took unsteadily to the sky and blasted off towards his cave, the ensuing contrail of energy spiraling in a circle every so often.

"It will be all right," Marenna whispered. "Let it go." He was drowning in the ice-cold oceans of her blue eyes.

Let her go…

"Let her go!" Trunks shouted.

"Don't tempt me, boy, I just might!" Touketsu laughed, the high winds buffeting their hair about.

Eyes wide, Bulma desperately entwined her fingers into the shaggy hair of Touketsu's forearm. "Vegeta," she gasped, her voice hitching in terror. "Don't…."

"Touketsu".

"Gah!" He jerked awake when he felt someone touching his forearm.

"You were having a nightmare."

He looked up before scooting away in shock as the figure stood. "Wha," he blinked, disoriented. He felt like absolute hell. His skin was slick with sweat beneath his armor and everything was spinning. He forced his eyes to focus. Was he hallucinating?

Marenna stood in front of the cave mouth. The light of the waxing crescent moon shined through her white kimono, her lithe, feminine body visible beneath. The shoulders of the flowing, gossamer garment were painted with flowers in dyes of pink and red, their watercolor petals trailing down over her breasts. Red berries in beads of garnet and rubies likewise dotted the shoulders of the kimono, trailing down the garment like drops of blood.

"What are you doing here?" He asked in a low voice.

Head unadorned and barefoot, she stepped towards him. "I wished to see you. I was glad you attended the dining hall tonight."

"Don't get used to it," he said gruffly. Steeling himself, he stood with a grunt. He found his balance and eyed her curiously. That's a different look for her. His unsteady eyes began trailing down the bright red beads on the kimono when he turned his head with a soft gasp. A…VERY different look. He could clearly make out the goddess's nipples beneath the gems embroidered onto the sheer robes. He cleared his throat, his face growing hot. "I was humoring my men, since they don't know how to mind their own damn business. I won't be going again."

She sighed and stepped up to him, ignoring how he stiffened slightly. "Can you not set aside your pride? For the sake of your health? You're not well. I can sense that in your energy, never mind your appearance," she said critically, her eyes scanning his bedraggled form. "You reek of Inimicus alcohol, Touketsu. When is the last time you've even bathed?" His face was stone when he slowly turned his head to meet her eyes again. "You can't keep neglecting yourself and expect your spirit to maintain its strength."

"I don't need you hovering over me like a mother hen. Now how long have you known where I lived?"

"Since your banishment."

He stood wavering on his feet, a growing sense of violation pushing through his blossoming hangover. "Spies," he said quietly, nodding to himself. "You watched me through your palace of mirrors, and then you enlisted your daughters to spy on me. You told me they would 'check on me', conveniently leaving out that they would do so without my knowledge! Just how often have they been-" He broke off, his eyes narrowing. "You sent those three into the bathhouse."

"I did not, Touketsu-"

"You want him back," he hissed dangerously. "You sent your daughters in to drain me and draw out Zhernobog, and when they failed you tried to finish the job that night in the courtyard!"

"I told you, I was not. Nor were they. It is not possible to draw Zhernobog from you. I am sorry for that night, Touketsu. For the both of us, I am sorry." He paused in his accusations, scowling a little when her voice became strained. "They should not have touched you. They were not supposed to be there. I have a connection with my daughters, as all mothers do, but I cannot know where they are all the time."

"You want to keep tabs on everyone don't you?"

"I only wished to be apprised of your welfare."

"You didn't seem too concerned about my welfare, much less Creation when I became the Demon Oozaru that night in the arena."

"I knew Zhernobog would not emerge, Touketsu. His strength is not great enough, and he won't risking showing himself so long as I'm present. I can drain him of whatever power he currently has."

He crossed his arms. Why wouldn't the queen of this vampiric lot be able to do that? "He'll stay weak. I've devised the perfect technique that utilizes the dark ki while starving that leech."

"You seem to be the one starving." He frowned. "My daughters said you've taken to hunting on kingdom grounds after the tournament."

His jaw clenched. Back-stabbing brats! "Going to fine me? Perhaps consider getting better security if you don't want-"

"You've also cannibalized an Inimicus, and obliterated another." His mouth snapped shut. "That is a grave violation of Nav law," she said with a condemning scowl.

Silence hung between them for long moments as a fresh wave of sweat broke out over his skin. He'd been caught. He snorted once before breaking out into a nervous, throaty chuckle. "Got me," he quipped, his chin titling up and his eyebrows raising playfully. "So. Come to take me in, Marenna? Well, I won't 'go quietly' as they say." He stepped lazily back and slowly assumed his battle stance, swaying on his feet. "You'll have to fight me first. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't looking forward to a rematch."

"You believe you stand a chance against me? Much less in your current condition?" His expression hardened. "Your health is poor. I anticipated you'd attempt to breech kingdom walls to hunt so I kept the barrier modified for you to allow passage, but preying on those animals will only get you so far." He blinked in surprise. "Please, Touketsu. Attend Susmir from now on. You cannot thrive by poaching and draining souls, and you run the risk of being found out for destroying those Inimcus."

His brows drew together, some of the tension leaving his body. "Hasn't the almighty Queen of Nav already found me out?"

"…We can keep this between us," she said softly.

Slack jawed, Touketsu relaxed his battle stance completely and straightened. She'd been enabling him and looking the other way when he'd committed crimes. "Why are you doing this? Why are you trying to preserve my life?" He stepped up to her. "Marenna, did you not consider that if I die, Zhernobog would die with me?"

"Existence doesn't end with the destruction of one's body. It is your soul Zhernobog is bound to."

He looked at her incredulously. "Right. My soul will be sent to Yemma, and the kais will be notified. They don't know Zhernobog is attached to me, but if they obliterate me they'll destroy him too, won't they?"

"Touketsu, I never wished for you to share his fate," she said emphatically. "Would that I could destroy his bond with you. But only trial by fire can destroy a soul bond, and not without destroying one's self in the process. It is certainly not something I wish you to go through…Nor I."

Gods seemed to love speaking in metaphors. Then again, Marenna was an inherently cryptic, secretive being. "Alright, Marenna. Doubtless you gods are capable of speaking every language in the universe, so how about you speak to me as a mortal: Blunt and to the blasted point. Why do you continue to help me?" She said nothing. "Is it out of guilt? Pity? A fucking crush? Why?"

Her mouth worked, but the words seemed stuck in her throat. "I…because…" her voice sounded small, fragile.

"WHY?!"

"I love you."

What? He blinked. He did demand she be blunt. The word "love" had not ever been a part of this particular mortal's vocabulary. As a demon however he hazarded to say that he may now understand. When he managed to forge a portal back to the woman he left wounded, he'd felt an inextricable emotion. As intense as hatred yet so different in the way its buoyant softness enveloped him, it was then that he'd opened the door across space and time and sent his uncorrupted self back to her and his son.

Yes. He understood.

…This could be bad.

Sobering, he took a breath and spoke firmly. "Marenna. I walk my path alone, I told you this."

"It was never my intention. I only wished to save you from a life of imprisonment," she said, her voice cracking as she stepped close to him. He stiffened but held his ground when she rested her hand on his armored chest, the sleeve of her kimono sliding off her shoulder. "I've fought against these feelings. But ever since I bathed you…touched you…" Her eyes dropped down from his guarded face, her taloned fingers tracing idly over his armor before looking back up. "I've been fighting a losing battle."

He almost choked when he suddenly felt her cool fingers trailing over his bare skin. He glanced down; her now ephemeral hands were pressed right through his armor. "It pains me enough that we are apart," she said, and his wide eyes shot back up to meet hers. He shuddered in shock over her forwardness when she leaned in, hands like a winter breeze sliding up and down the naked flesh beneath his vestments. "I cannot bear the thought of you dying, your soul destroyed."

"I'm not looking for a mate, woman," he said defensively, the words coming out in a rush as he leaned back.

She paused a moment, her oceanic eyes stormy with lust. "We need not be husband and wife," she whispered, sapphire lips drawing close to his. "I need only your body…and your spirit, my love."

He snatched her by the wrists and pulled her hands off of him. Breathing unsteadily, he stared at her. "You won't have them, Marenna," he rasped. "I don't want anyone, and I don't need anyone, understand? I want only control of my power." Her brows furrowed, her lustful facade beginning to tremble and fracture.

"Why didn't you drink it!?" She shrieked, surprising him as she wrenched her fleetingly ghostly arms from his grasp. She took in a gasping breath of abject grief, tears spilling over to freeze onto her cheeks. "The bonds to your old life could have been severed! The bond to your wife, the pull to your old family, the drive to fight in the arena. All of this, all of this could have been avoided and you could have lived a quiet life with me in the palace!" she cried as she completely shattered like ice.

He gaped in shock at her outburst. What the hell had gotten into her!? He scowled. "That's not me, Marenna. I won't run from who I am. I told you already that I'm a warrior and a fighter, and I will not be still. It's why I ultimately decided to walk out of Zhernobog's prison."

Her bleary, blue eyes suddenly flashed like the fires of Kalyna Bridge. "You walked out only because I let you!" she spat. His eyes momentarily widened at the surprising venom in her voice.

"You can walk out now." He snarled, the shadow pulsing over him briefly as he raised a hand dripping with dark ki to her face. "Unless you want to make your presence here worth my while and fight me. I won't suffer any more of this clingy weakness from you, woman. It's embarrassing-"

His hand was violently knocked away by her staff, the object having instantly manifested in her hand. The staff now held behind her, she leaned forward in a battle stance. He narrowed his eyes at the abject vitriol in her's, blood dripping from the deep laceration in his palm. He clenched his burning hand.

"I was long burdened with guilt over what my husband did to you. I blamed myself for his escape. Ignorant though you were at the time, it was you that invited him into your life and broke his bonds." She shook her head. "Your presence has now compromised my rulership. I've been breaking my own laws to protect you. It was a mistake to invite you to Nav."

"Going to start owning those mistakes, woman?" he asked gruffly. He took a step towards her. "You're a queen. A fucking goddess. Start acting like it!"

Her ice blue eyes hard, she straightened. Her staff withdrew to disappear back into her hand, and she readjusted her kimono as she proudly titled her head up. "Wiser words you've never spoken, Touketsu. From now on, I will treat you for what you are: Inimicus. If you are caught trespassing onto palace grounds again, you will be punished. If you are found guilty of destroying a single soul in Nav, be it Familia or Inimicus, you will be punished. And whenever comes the night you are finally defeated in the arena," she paused, her eyes cold and unfeeling. "You will burn." She dissipated into a whirl of snow and was gone.

"Crazy bitch," he huffed, unnerved by her bizarre behavior. Since he'd met her she'd had respectable restraint over her emotions. This was uncharacteristic of the aloof queen. He strode out and took to the sky. He would not stay here a moment longer, not so long as the powerful and apparently now unstable goddess knew of his whereabouts.

Touketsu flew low along the coastline, and before long he dropped down with a splash in the shallows along the cliffsides. Vision spinning, he braced his arm up by the entrance of one of its many caverns, seawater rhythmically rushing in and out past his submerged calves. He was beginning to think that rotgut was not meant for mortal consumption; he could barely sustain flight now. A wave of nausea hit him, and he swallowed the bile. To think his two underlings could now drink him under the table just because they lacked bodies. Ridic-

He whirled around and promptly threw up the little amount of nourishing food he'd eaten in nearly a year. He heaved again and again until his stomach was completely emptied. Catching his breath, he wiped his mouth. He was severely regretting hanging out with those fools for as long as he did. Head pounding and stomach feeling as though it had been sucker punched, he staggered into the cavern.

The beachside caverns turned out to be a part of a vast network of underground caves. Stalactites and stalagmites gradually gave way to tree roots as he traveled further inland, and he eventually came upon a tangle of thick tree roots that reached the bottom of the dirt floor. The winding roots weaving and interlocking together like the carved ribbon animals of Viking motifs, it looked like a living throne.

Seeing the shaft of light above, he climbed towards it. He emerged out from the partially split base of a massive oak tree, its trunk tattooed with an old, spiraling scar left by a lightning strike. Adorned with golden foliage, its curling, lowermost limbs reached all the way to the ground as the topmost ones disappeared into the cool, white mist of Nav's dawn. He turned to look up at it, its sun-yellow leaves fluttering down around him like flakes of glittering gold. The distinctive tree made for a good landmark.

Unable to find a freshwater source, he ate snow to slake his parched mouth and forced himself to hunt. He didn't have an appetite, but after throwing up everything earlier he knew he should eat something. He stopped several times to throw up some more, his stomach wringing out what little water he'd ingested until he was dry-heaving. He wouldn't seek out Inimicus to drain; after finding out he'd been losing himself to an amnesiac, Oozaru-like transformation it was best to avoid using the dark ki whenever possible. He'd tough this out.

Several hours later he was sitting among the tree roots of his new subterranean sanctuary, slowly feeding on the hind leg of a small deer. He stopped eating when he felt his stomach lurch. Hand trembling, he tossed aside the partially stripped femur to let it and the rest of the animal rot. He had to rest. Shaking from the alcohol withdrawal, he reclined his aching body back, armor and all, and soon passed out.

Bulma lay tangled in the sheets with her husband, sweaty and basking in the afterglow of their mutual orgasms. Ever since that night when she'd finally opened up to him about her trauma, their love life had soared into a new level of open vulnerability and trust. Who would have thought that Vegeta's impromptu drinking session with her ex could have lead to that?

"Vegeta?"

"Hn?"

"Have you ever thought about…trying again?" He was silent. She lifted her head from his chest. "I've been thinking about it. A lot. And well, I kinda wish I had another."

He looked to her. "That is what you wish for? Are you certain?"

She looked into his eyes with complete conviction, and nodded. "Yes. Yes, I am."

"Well…you don't need to summon the dragon for that."

Her sparkling eyes could have lit up the dark of the room, a warm smile spreading across her face before becoming playful. Her hand dipped below the sheets. "Well, I'll still need to summon THIS dragon," she said, trailing a finger over his member. It twitched, and his breath caught in his throat when she cupped him. "I have to gather the balls first, though," she said huskily.

"…Vulgar woman," he breathed before tangling his hand in her hair and crushing her mouth to his.

Touketsu opened his eyes, panting with need and loss. Grimacing, he reached down under the lamellar crotch guard and readjusted himself. Bulma. She haunted his dreams and hovered in his mind's eye even as the Nav queen implored him to forget. When he almost allowed Marenna to kiss him in the courtyard, it certainly wasn't out of desire. It was a yearning to move on.

His mind went to the goddess's alluring body and her relentless attentions, and he growled in frustration as his hands covered his face. It was like his body and spirit were going in different directions. The queen was obsessed with him, but he was seemingly still obsessed with Bulma. It was embarrassing. He was glad his cohorts couldn't see him now.

"What the hell, you've got someone better than a goddess, Vegeta?"

He sighed when Raditz's words, forgotten until this point, kicked their way up from the depths of that drunken night. He snorted mirthlessly and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"So what if he does? He could have a whole harem if he wants. Not everyone's like your old man, the poor sap."

"My parents weren't Bonded! That was just a stupid rumor, Nappa!"

Touketsu was willing to place a wager that Bardock and Gine were Bonded. They were Low Class Saiyans, after all. The shared psychic link made Bonded Saiyans receptive to each other's pain and distress, alerting them to come to each other's aid. He could see how it was advantageous in battle for weak, Low Class warriors. Still, the permanent commitment to one another seemed a steep price to pay for a slightly increased survival rate.

His hand lowered from his face, his eyes slowly opening as his brows drew together. In spite of the insatiable drives of the awakened Oozaru within him, he was hungry for none but Bulma. Yet, he couldn't take her on Mount Eroso. He could feel her pain, as much as he tried to ignore it. It was like empathy on a profound, neurological scale.

Touketsu sat bolt upright, a prickling panic overtaking him. Had it not just been his conscience? "It can't be," he whispered. He got up and began pacing back and forth like a caged tiger. "It isn't possible. I'm an Elite, the Saiyan prince, the strongest born in over a thousand years! I could not ever fall to the Bond. And to a human? It's not possible." He shook his head, his face faulting. "It CAN'T be!"

He finally lost his weakening grip on denial. Asleep or awake he was thinking of her. He was receptive to her pain. He wanted no one else. He was mated to her. Bonded. Bound across space and time…

…For all time.

He stopped pacing, a hand coming up to cover his appalled mouth. Bulma was therefore Bonded with Vegeta. What did that make him, then? He shakily drew his hand away. "What have I done?" he whispered. He was a vestige. His fingers raked up over his scalp to grip ever tightening handfuls of hair. "What were you thinking? Just…what the FUCK were you thinking?! You know the folly of attachments and you allowed that to happen?! WHY?! What the hell is WRONG with you?!"

He'd condemned himself to be forever trapped within a one-sided Bond. He'd never be able to move on. His legs buckled and he tripped forward onto the tangle of roots before him. Gripping them, he began hyperventilating. The dark light strobed through his darkening body, his aura beginning to weep from his form. Detach. His body shifted from gray to black, his aura from hot to cold as he struggled to subdue the growing anguish. He flipped over, his knees drawing up as he gripped his head.

Desperately he tried to reach the Void Transformation, to push the runaway emotions down, to stop thinking, stop being. His focus compromised by the night of alcohol abuse, he couldn't. It was like trying to dive to the bottom of the ocean only to be buoyed back up through the surface and scorched by the truth. He could release all the trappings of his former life: Objects, people, his old name and title, all of it. But the Bond would never release him.

He cried out, his nails digging into this scalp and his tail flailing about as his aura bled from his body. The snakes hiding amongst the roots of the trees emerged in a panic, some sliding over his body in their haste to get away. The serpents burning, freezing, and disintegrating in his chaotically shifting aura, he didn't notice. He remained in that fluctuating state for hours, his agonized aura eating at the tree roots. Aboveground, the oak's golden leaves slowly bled to crimson as the shadow beneath it grew long and daylight disappeared.

The war horn sounded.

Dude's night out! It's all fun and games until the alarm goes off and you have to go to work, lol.

Hope drunk Touketsu Vegeta wasn't too difficult to read. For the drinking scene, I drew inspiration from Japanese folklore about the Shojo, ape-like creatures that live on the beach and love to drink. They brew a special wine from seawater, and if a good person drinks it, it's a life-giving elixir. If a bad person drinks it, it's a foul-tasting poison.

Elements of the last part of the chapter were inspired by myths of the Slavic God Veles, the horned god of the underworld (Nav) who lives at the base of the world tree. In one tale he turns into a snake and climbs up the world tree to steal possessions (sometimes a son) from Perun, his brother and the Slavic god of thunder. Perun strikes him down and drives him back down into Nav.

Thank you for reading!