Happy Father's Day. :) I pushed to get this chapter finished and out today; I felt it relevant.

Discoveries

The blizzard had begun to lift, breaks in the clouds here and there revealing the stars. The princesses floating ahead of him, Touketsu trudged through the snow with the effigy clutched in his right hand. He actively avoided tuning into the familiar ki signatures residing on Earth. He hoped to find a hotspot soon; he needed to get to a quieter place where he could safely learn more about Demon Sign.

He brooded as he walked on. Tapping into the ki signatures of an old life and believing he was stranded on the planet had triggered a fast downward spiral. In that moment of crumbling sanity, it was Kakarot's ki that had begun to stir an old need within him, a need that shoved away logic. It was a rabid need to prove his worth to himself, to restore his pride. It was then that he recalled something he once told himself:

"Your resentment towards Kakarot isn't worthy of you. Do NOT allow yourself to succumb to the promise of power. It will enslave you."

He felt like a hypocrite. Easy to impart such wisdom when he wasn't in the midst of that internal battle. This resentment, this pull for revenge he harbored against Zeygorn and Zarkala...it was identical. If he'd had his way and returned to Nav, if he'd pursued his thirst for revenge against them, Demon Sign could have been triggered. He needed to get this under control.

Zeema slowed and fell in step with him to his right, her eyes ticking down to his right hand every so often. He glanced at her suspiciously, his grip around the effigy tightening. She reached for his hand.

"What are you doing?" he said as he jerked back defensively. The other princesses stopped and looked over their shoulders.

"How did you get your hand back?" Zeema asked innocently.

The tension went out of his shoulders, and he walked on. "New technique."

"Oh. Well, I'm glad you're whole again," she smiled. He snorted and shook his head. Whole. Unable to circulate Life Force, he was basically the walking dead. "So...you feel ok?" He slowly turned his head to Zeema, his eyes narrowing.

"I'm fine."

"Are you?" Likha asked over her shoulder. "Because your energy signature feels kind of weird. Like, more than normal."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Positive or negative, ki signatures indicate life force," Kuma said. "Yours was always low, yet you gave off negative vibrations that were really high. Almost like they were separate from one another. Now, the negative vibrations are so high that I can't feel your life force at all."

"Right," said Likha. "Does that have something to do with why you weren't using flight earlier?" He glared at her.

Zeema fidgeted, tapping her fingertips together as she approached him. "Touketsu? Is something wrong?" Her sisters turned to him, and he slowed to a stop. He stiffened when Likha and Kuma drifted over to him.

"Something happened after you healed yourself, we could tell." Likha asserted. "Your energy signature dropped to nothing, you weren't using flight, and you were completely pissed off."

"I'm always pissed off-"

"What happened!?" Kuma demanded.

His mouth still partially open with his interrupted dismal, he closed it and released a slow breath of resignation through his nose. "I've lost connection with the Life Force."

Their brows drew together as they looked at each other. "After healing yourself?"

He shook his head, his eyes drifting closed with a scowl. "I used the dark ki too many times-"

"Dark ki?" Kuma echoed. Her face intense, she drew closer. "What's wrong with you? I mean, what is happening? Touketsu…you said 'nothing is safe while I'm here', we heard you. What did you mean? Were you talking about this planet?"

He dropped his eyes. He'd been all but convinced he was speaking to no one when he admitted that in his despair. "Technically everything is at risk no matter what plane I'm on, let alone what planet."

"Plane?" Likha exclaimed as she flanked Kuma. "Why? Are you planning on taking over the universe and Other World or something?" She leaned in front of him when he looked away, trying to meet his eyes. "Because killing yourself seems like a funny first step in your diabolical plan." He looked sharply at her, but she showed no hint of sarcasm. "What's going on?" she asked quietly.

"I'd like to be 'going on', if you don't mind," He grumbled as he pushed past them. "Now are you going to help me find this hotspot or are you going to nag me to death?"

"You were Saiyan, once," Kuma called out after him. He stopped, the wind and snow blowing past his rigid form. "You were changed into a demon, you pretty much confirmed that. Does all this have something to do with it?"

"How were you changed, Touketsu?" Zeema persisted.

The muscles in his jaw flexed. Marenna hid a lot from others, including her own children. Did they know how corrupt their father actually was? Marenna had advised him against letting anyone know of his connection with Zhernobog and his status as an inter-dimensional fugitive, but it hardly seemed to matter anymore. He squared his shoulders; it was high time the naive princesses learned their parents were not the benevolent gods they thought they were.

He turned back to them. "Zhernobog. Zhernobog made me what I now am."

He was met with differing expressions of bewilderment. "Who now?" Zeema blinked.

"Zhernobog?" Likha tested the strange name, her face crinkling like she'd bitten into a lemon.

He looked between the three. "Yes," he said incredulously. Three pairs of blue eyes stared blankly back at him. "Your father?"

Kuma frowned. "This Zhernobog is not our father, Touketsu. But if he made you what you are, then if anything he's yours."

His jaw dropped open as he stalked back to them. "How dare you. He is nothing of the sort! That parasite destroyed my life, turned me into this thing. He follows me, feeding off the negative energy I generate and using it to build his army. If I don't watch what I do or even how I think, he could grow strong enough to overpower me. He'll then proceed to suck the life out of absolutely fucking everything!"

They all looked appalled. "Touketsu, why the hell didn't you say something?!" Likha exclaimed.

"Does Mother know?"

Touketsu snorted in disgust at Kuma. "Of course she knows!"

"Why wouldn't she have told us?" asked Zeema

"Why? She put a charm on this doll to spy on us, and she tasked you three to spy on me. She keeps it a secret from her people that you have to prey on mortals to survive, and she chose not to tell you how she's been breaking her own laws on my behalf. Why the hell would she tell her own daughters that I have a parasite attached to my soul, let alone that she was once married to that son of a bitch!"

They looked shell shocked to hear this. Zeema's face broke out into a giddy grin. "Mama was married?! Wow! Ohmygosh ohmygosh ohmygosh," she tittered, fanning herself.

"Huh. Didn't think Mom was ever the relationship type," Likha mused, a lascivious smirk on her face.

"She must have wanted to forget about the guy if she never brought him up," Kuma said with a dismissive wave of her hand.

"She wanted others to forget," Touketsu growled as he turned and moved on. "I won't stand around talking about their relationship any longer."

They trailed after him. "What made you think he was our father, Touketsu?" Kuma asked.

He shrugged a shoulder. "Your mother and he were married, and Zhernobog shares similar traits with you three. He's attracted to negative energy, and he can drain others of their life force."

Zeema pouted. "We can't help the way we are."

"I guess I see your point, though," said Likha. "Mom doesn't need mortal men."

Touketsu snorted. "Your mother's quite the secretive one. How are you so certain Zhernobog isn't your sire?"

"Gods and goddess don't need to go through the round-about way you mortals do in order to reproduce," said Kuma. "We were born from The Fire of Life."

Touketsu stopped. "What? The fire in the arena?"

"Yes. Mother told us she entered the Fire of Life, and when she walked out, we followed."

"And you believe her?" Touketsu asked.

"We all remember the night of our births very clearly," said Likha. "We walked out of the Fire of Life, and Mom was there waiting for us."

"I was first!" Zeema chimed in proudly.

"We all knew she was our mother before she told us," said Kuma. "We have a connection with her that made that knowledge instinctive. We met Zeygorn shortly after, but we knew on sight that he was not our father."

"Yeah, he immediately asked to marry us. Ugh." Likha said with a roll of her eyes.

"Really?" Touketsu asked dryly.

"Yup. He asked Mom for her blessing, and she said he could ask us himself."

"I couldn't marry someone I wasn't in love with," said Zeema.

"He was and is so not my type," Likha said. "I like my men with hot bods, but not literally."

"I resented him for even asking that!" Kuma said. "Gross. We were just born, for gods' sakes. How creepy could you get? At least he never bothered us again."

Touketsu snorted. "Couldn't have the queen so he went after the princesses, huh?"

"Tch, yeah," Likha rolled her eyes. "I think he's always carried a torch for Mom, though."

Touketsu shook his head once in before continuing on. "Or he's trying to work his way back up the hierarchy. Must burn his ass that they were once kings and are no longer regarded as such."

"He told you about that?" asked Zeema.

"Yes, he mentioned that at Susmir. Said he 'endured the fires of purgatory' like the next fool."

"We don't know much about Zeygorn's mortal life, but we know that before he became a fire daemon he was once three separate people," said Kuma. "I'm guessing he spent a lot of time in his hells before he was appointed Nav's Royal Executioner."

The guy sounded no different from the next criminal. Funny that the gods would grant him such a prestigious position. "How long has he been living at the palace, anyway?"

"He doesn't," Kuma answered. "It's home to the royal family alone. That's why it was so unheard of when Mother invited you to stay with us."

"Yeah, Zeygorn is totally jealous of you," Likha said. "It probably doesn't help that you also beat him twice."

Touketsu looked away thoughtfully. "Hn." Perhaps the title of Royal Executioner was not as honorable as it seemed.

The sky was beginning to lighten. Gliding easily over the snow like ghosts, the princesses had split up in search of a hotspot up the steep mountain sides. Touketsu walked through a trail left by a pack of wolves, the family's tracks single file and looking as though they'd come from one animal. It was then he noticed something glinting in the disturbed snow. It looked like a piece of gold. Curious, he made his way over to it.

A strip of pink underlit the clouds beyond the mountain range. Dawn was approaching. Aways ahead and high up the side of the mountain, Zeema spotted a shimmering in the atmosphere. It was as though heat waves were emanating from the ground, although there was no heat to be had. Her eyes lit up. "Yay! I found one!"

With his free hand, Touketsu dug around the snow covering the gold piece. It was several linked, rectangular plates that resembled a belt. Digging a bit more, he grasped it and pulled the object from its frozen tomb. The effigy dropped from his right hand, and for an instant he lost the ability to breathe.

"Guys! Hey guys!" Zeema called. "I found one! I found a hotspot!"

"Touketsu! Zeema found one!" Likha shouted. "This way!"

"Touketsu?"

Touketsu stared at what was in his hands. It was armor. Saiyan armor. Or at least, a modified version of it. He let himself collapse into a sitting position in the snow, his eyes roaming over the cuirass in awe. "How?" He murmured reverently as he inspected it. "How did such a thing get-" he got his answer before he could even complete the thought. There, stamped on the inside of the armor was an insignia: A small C within a larger one. Capsule Corp.

This wasn't just any mountain. He was on Mount Eroso. He'd been wearing this very armor the night of his abduction. Not being of him, his garments had been left behind when the Kagemazoku reached through his own shadow to claim him body and soul. Buried and moved about by avalanches and uncovered by spring thaws, the armor had come to a rest here. He gripped it hard.

"Touketsu! What are you doing? Let's go!" Likha exclaimed as she and her sisters flew to him.

"Come on, if we hurry we can make it to the hotspot before dawn breaks." Kuma said urgently.

"Touketsu?" Zeema asked as her bewildered sisters gathered around him. "Hey, what is that?"

He fought the frown pulling at the corners of his mouth, his eyes growing hot. "Armor. I lost it here, a long time ago."

"It's yours?" Zeema asked softly. She and her sisters looked at each other. "Do you want to bring it with you?"

His brows drew together, his eyes not straying from the object. "That's possible?"

"With the Night-Day Effigy you can bring things from the Physical Plane back to Nav. We use it to bring back souvenirs all the time."

"Just don't try bringing your 'souvenir' back onto the Physical Plane if it's a small animal," Kuma smirked. "Its fluffy little body won't be too lively. Right, Zeema?"

"Shut up," the blonde grumbled.

"It's dawn," Likha announced, her eyes on the sun breaking beyond the mountains. Touketsu's head shot up; he'd ceased listening to them until he heard that. "Well," Likha sighed. "Looks like you're going back to Nav after all, but only for a minute. You can use the hotspot immediately, but remember it will bring you back to the night side of the last planet you visited on the Physical Plane.

He looked back to the armor that Bulma had created, and he thought of her and how he'd nearly succumbed to Demon Sign here. His grip on the physical symbol of his former life tightened. He was going back to Nav, but he was far more aware of the situation now. He wouldn't give in to his desires for revenge against Zeygorn and Zarkala. For the safety of all that he cared about, he wouldn't. I have dominion.

Zeema watched him looking at the armor. He seemed really torn about it. "If it's armor you want, we can bring you the set that you left underground. Supernatural objects can exist on either plane. Just lie low and wait for us."

"The chest plate was wrecked, Zeema." Kuma said.

"Oh, right." She looked back to Touketsu. "Well," she said with a shrug, "then you should bring that one."

He looked up at her before returning his attention to the lost relic in his hands. What would it matter if he kept it? It was just an object, and a practical one at that. "I suppose," he began quietly, his thumb stroking the gold plate of a shoulder strap, "that I am in need of a new set."

Twin sets of blue eyes, still and lifeless.

Black holes and destruction.

His own reflection.

Darkness, emptiness, resignation, lifelessness.

The cries of a newborn.

The laughter of a girl child.

Touketsu's eyes cracked open. Rubbing his face, he raised his head. His acute hearing could pick up on the sound of ocean waves crashing some distance away. He scowled at himself when he realized he'd fallen asleep during his meditation again. Sitting cross legged and leaned up against the wall of a mountain cave, he was clad in mismatched Saiyan and Nav armor, the effigy tucked under his belt. True to their word, the princesses had retrieved the surviving belt, tassets, and wrap from beneath the oak tree.

Earth's hotspot had fortunately taken him here to the Luna Mountains rather than the Necropolis within Nav's highly populated kingdom. While the Necropolis was a reasonably quiet place to hunker down and wait for the princesses to bring the remains of his armor, the remote mountains were far preferable for quiet reflection. He mulled over his near catastrophic visit to Earth while he waited for them…and avoided tuning into Zeygorn's powerful ki signature.

He'd resumed his ruminating after the princesses returned with his affects, but he'd soon succumbed to exhaustion. He sat up where he was, his gear rustling, and he placed his hands on his knees. He was picking up where he left off. Before he went anywhere, he wanted to better understand what he was dealing with. Touketsu thought back. What other wisdom had he given Vegeta after setting him free?

"Recognize it when it's coming, and to hell with whatever crap Zhernobog may have told you."

"Recognize it," he murmured. Meditating on a mountaintop could get one only so far. He needed to actively engage with the triggers behind Demon Sign in order to recognize its approach and build his resistance. Tentatively, he tuned in on Zeygorn's ki far in the direction of the kingdom. He felt a dangerous rage flare, and in response his body went flat black as he resorted to the emotionless state of the Void Transformation.

He released it with a gasp, a bloody liquid aura briefly erupting from his pale form. He withdrew contact with Zeygorn's ki signature, and his aura extinguished. This could no longer be ignored: it had become near impossible to maintain the Void Transformation. It was almost as though the form was balling up the power of the emotional Oozaru within him, contents under pressure.

He shook his head. The Void Transformation should have been the ultimate achievement in detachment, the loophole in using the dark ki. It had no give and take with emotion, and therefore generated no negative energy. The incredible discovery flew in the very face of the dark ki's nature. His brows drew together. Wait. Was he detaching himself from these emotions, releasing them, or was he actually doing the opposite: Was he hanging onto every shred of them? Burying them like a predator caching its kills? If that were true, he didn't want to consider how much negative energy the form had been generating. He knew one thing for certain: He wouldn't use the Void Transformation again.

He had to face these emotions without being affected. He needed to examine them as an observer: a scientist observing bacteria under a microscope. He closed his eyes and meditated on nothing but his breathing, each passing second its own singular existence. His mind cleared, he again reached out to Zeygorn's ki. He acknowledged the rage he felt, the desire to engage him in combat, to avenge his honor, to prove himself superior. He acted on none of the feelings, allowing them to pass through. He opened his purple eyes, took a breath, and withdrew from Zeygorn's energy signature. His eyes faded back to crimson.

As Marenna had trained him, he reflected on his mental state. Doing so could be the key to understanding Demon Sign's nature. Rage. It naturally triggered his Berserker form, and that made some sense. The berserker was the very nature of the Oozaru, and Raditz himself had described Demon Sign as a 'controlled Oozaru'. Still, rage didn't always lead to Demon Sign. He needed to dig deeper. What triggered his rage? Was it the desire for revenge? He certainly wanted revenge against Durian, Zeygorn and Zarkala.

He frowned. He hadn't felt a desire for revenge against Nappa or Raditz, but he had most definitely entered that fugue state that indicated Demon Sign's presence. Was battle lust the trigger then? Survival instinct? Possibly. They did both turn out to be challenges. It could have been survival instinct that triggered Demon Sign and saved him from execution.

But no. He'd experienced Demon Sign when he threw those Luscepian boys into the bonfire. They were never a challenge. In fact, that was why he was so pissed at them. Yet, he also felt…threatened, somehow.

This wasn't adding up. What did Nappa, Raditz, the Luscepian kids, Zarkala, Zeygorn, Durian, and Kakarot all have in common? Resentment. He resented Kakarot for making him feel inferior, driving him to restore his honor.

He opened his eyes. "That's it. That-" he broke off, shaking his head in frustration. "I experienced Demon Sign right before I was executed. What the hell triggered it?" What had been in his mind at the time? He slowly straightened.

No. THEY WON'T HAVE MY PRIDE!

His very nature was working against him. Pride. That was the catalyst behind the rage. In every instance his pride felt threatened one way or another, insulted, attacked, and the animalistic Oozaru rose up to defend and avenge it. He dropped his eyes. Damn it, but then what of Donomast? His pride never felt threatened by that fool, and he'd been in the Detached transformation when he shouldn't have felt anything. How could rage have taken a hold? What had been the chink in his dark armor?

He thought on it before shaking his head in resignation. He couldn't make the connection, but he needed to move on. He began to get up when his eyes dropped to his armor, and he stilled. Bulma. This armor…it was a tactile symbol of the old life that continued to haunt him. He'd been tortured with the knowledge of the one-sided Bond right before that fateful night in the arena. It had affected his mental state, lead to his rash actions that culminated in near execution, and ultimately ended with him losing connection with the Life Force. He put his hand to the armor.

He'd rationalized pragmatism as the reason for bringing it back with him. Subconsciously, he was still clinging to the past, along with all his regrets. Like the most powerful libation, the comfort of that old life cocooned him in a haze of nostalgia that ultimately only filled him with a pining loss. A longing for who he was, for what he had, for what could have been. It all created anguish and cultivated negative energy for Zhernobog to feed upon. This armor compromised his mental strength, and he couldn't afford that.

He got up and yanked the armor off over his head. Gripping it by one of the shoulder straps, he strode purposefully to the cave mouth and wound his arm back. He hesitated for one second before chucking it with all his might. It went rocketing through the dark, overcast sky to drop into the ocean beyond, and a stab of loss lanced through him. He angrily pushed it down. Stop it. He was done with the past, and he was moving forward to train in peace. With his true ki completely asphyxiated he wasn't sure if he could ever rehabilitate, but he'd find a way.

He descended the mountain back to the hotspot near its base, marked by a Dosojin statue of a man and a woman and a notable lack of snow. Pulling the effigy out from under his belt, he turned it light side out towards the space as he closed his eyes. He took a moment to clear his mind.

Just a short detour. I'll find the next hotspot quickly and be on my way. He took a breath and stepped back onto Earth. His eyes snapped opened in bewilderment when his taloned feet met plush carpet.

This was no cemetery or mausoleum, nor was this a necropolis, temple, crossroads, or mountaintop. It was a bedroom. Ahead of him, gilt bars of swirling designs guarded the large bay window of a spacious reading nook. To the far right wall was a door, a mirrored vanity next to it. A nightlight sat atop it, a porcelain lamp in the shape of a white stallion; its silhouetted form appeared dark against the soft, pink lightbulb glowing behind it. There was an array of childish objects strewn about the rose-colored carpet, stuffed animals in the forms of winged horses and fairy-like dolls.

To the left of the room was a twin bed covered in a comforter of pastel blue and pink. It was emblazoned with a pair of female cartoon characters, one a redhead and the other blonde. A light shown through the blanket, and there was a noticeable lump beneath it. The lump stirred and the blankets were quickly thrown off.

Touketsu flinched when a flashlight shined on him. Two pairs of eyes, one red, one blue, and both stunned, stared at each other. Touketsu's brows furrowed, transfixed by the sight of his wife in the body of a little girl.

Bra screamed.

Down the hall in their new master bedroom, Vegeta jerked awake. The sound of his daughter's scream and the spike of fear in her small ki had sliced through his dreams.

"Hm? What is it?" Bulma asked groggily.

"Bra," he answered gruffly, immediately relaxing when her ki went back to normal, though it felt shaken. "Another nightmare."

This had been par for the course lately. Ever since she'd turned five a few months ago her nightmares had really picked up…for him as well. He kept having dreams about battle without honor, a pervasive sense of shame filling him upon awakening. Part of him wondered if these were more buried memories of his time in hell.

"Could you go check on her?"

He glanced at the clock on the nightstand. 4:00 am. Still monitoring Bra's ki, he closed his eyes and lay back down. Those muscle relaxants Bulma insisted he take helped a lot. He was so drowsy that he was inclined to go back to sleep. "Why don't you?"

"I need my beauty sleep."

He rolled his eyes beneath his closed lids. That was always her answer when she didn't want to roll her lazy ass out of bed. "What makes you think I don't?"

"I went last time, Vegeta," she sighed tiredly. "Please?"

He huffed and rubbed his face. "Fine," he grumbled. He sat up and swung his legs over the side of the bed before pulling on a nearby discarded pair of boxers. Scratching his back, he crossed the room to check on his daughter.

What in the hell was a hotspot doing in a kid's bedroom!? Touketsu hunkered down in the closet, having dashed in with Super Speed the moment she screamed. He'd incorrectly assumed it was the exit. Curious, he reached out and examined the frightened ki of the little girl that looked like Bulma. Her minuscule ki signature was unique, yet it was a combination of his wife's and his own. I have a daughter, he realized in awe before his brows quickly drew together. I could have had a daughter…He stiffened in alarm.

The disorienting sensation of his own energy signature was approaching. Touketsu submerged his already invisible ki, and his body darkened to jet black as he detached himself from the combination of jealousy and battle aggression. Considering all the shit he'd been going through on Nav, it was tempting to throttle himself.

Vegeta yawned again as he trudged up the hall to his and Bulma's old bedroom. He arrived to find Bra sitting up in her bed, staring at her closet before her attention snapped to him. Vegeta glanced around the room, ignoring the mess of toys strewn about the floor as he stretched out his senses. On the fringes of his mind, he felt an almost imperceptible, tiny ki. He threw an index finger out to his right.

Bra gasped when the dusky little moth fluttering by her lamp was fried on the spot. Not detecting anything out of the ordinary, Vegeta walked to the reading nook where the old patio once was, now an extension of the room. Ensuring that the window was secure, he walked over to Bra where she was sitting up in bed.

"Another nightmare, princess?"

"There's a monster in my closet."

Vegeta sighed. "Bra, we've been through this over and over. There are no monsters in your closet."

Shadow Cast lightening, Touketsu sneered in annoyance as he listened in. What the hell, neither of his kids had Saiyan names? How the hell could he let that happen? For a hot second his thoughts swung back to his wife's alluring body and playful ways. Ok, he supposed he could see it…

"No, there is!" Bra insisted. "Go check." In the dark of the closet, Touketsu tensed.

Vegeta growled. From the beginning Bulma had been indulging her, checking for imaginary monsters in her closet and under her bed. Vegeta always hung back and observed the ridiculous little ritual, but he refused to engage in it himself. He wouldn't lend credence to his daughter's baseless fears.

"No, Bra. I did a ki sweep, and there is nothing in this room much less monsters." He frowned at the flashlight she held in her hand and noticed the vintage Little Golden Book lying on her bed. On the cover was a cartoon drawing of a princess in a yellow dress dancing with some sort of bipedal buffalo thing. Bra may have only just started Kindergarten, but she was an advanced reader. "Staying up late reading again?" He said gruffly as he snatched the flashlight out of her hand.

"Daddy!"

"Have you slept at all?" he snapped. "It's late as hell, Bra. No wonder you're imagining things. You're over-tired." Bra dropped her head. She'd awoken from a nightmare about her parents and Trunks getting in the hover car and driving off without her, and she took to reading for self-comfort. Up until recently she'd been running to her parents' room whenever she had a nightmare, but she could see how annoyed her father was about it. He never berated her for weakness, but she knew how her father felt about such displays.

She fidgeted with the hem of her pink, chibi strawberry patterned pajama top. "I had a bad dream," she confessed quietly. I was afraid to go back to sleep, and then…and then I thought I saw a monster."

Vegeta sighed. He picked up the book, tossing it to the floor before sitting down beside her on the bed. "They're just dreams, princess. You remember what your mother told you about dreams, yes?"

"Dreams are just the brain's way of sorting out information," Bra recited verbatim.

"Right. And sleep is required in order for your brain to operate at peak performance. You're denying your body adequate rest because of groundless fear, and that's making you imagine things."

Her little face crumpled, and with a sigh Vegeta pulled her next to him. Sniffling, she wrapped her arms around him. She must have been dreaming when she saw that monster, because like her nightmares it was disturbingly mixed up. It looked something like…A little sob escaped from her and she hugged her father tighter.

Vegeta sighed again, his face softening as he looked down at the top of his daughter's head. He rubbed her back as she shuddered against him. "Remember that your grandfather was the king of a brave warrior race. You are the Saiyan princess. Don't you forget that," he said softly.

Her face still buried against him, she nodded and squeaked in affirmation.

Vegeta smiled a little. "Alright child, that's enough. You need to sleep. Come on, lie down."

"Ok," she said in a small voice. She lay down as he got up, and he pulled the covers up to her chin.

"Goodnight, princess," he said softly, placing a hand on her head.

"Goodnight, Daddy," she whispered as he turned and left the room, gently closing the door behind him.

Touketsu let out a slow breath. It would be easy to blow out the window and make a run for it. He could have done so before, but he realized he must harbor some concern about using a burst of dark energy so near the fragile girl. It could also blow his cover. Vegeta and quite possibly the other Z fighters would be on him in seconds. The confrontation could quite possibly incite Demon Sign, and he did not want to risk that.

He'd wait for the girl to fall asleep, quietly melt his way through the window, and slip out. He resigned himself for the wait when, tentatively, he stretched out his senses. His eyes drifted closed. His wife and son were alive, their energy strumming peacefully as they slept. So close, but forever beyond reach. He felt that crushing weight on his heart, those feelings of guilt and loss.

No. I have dominion.

He focused not on himself, but them. Only them. He lay down on his side, his head resting over the crook of his elbow, and he allowed his family's energy to comfort him.

Some elements from my own childhood in the latter part of this chapter: The stallion nightlight (which was actually my granddad's, but I was in love with it), and the Little Golden Books. Thank you for reading!