Happy Halloween!
This will be one of the longer chapters. Rated M for Monologues. :P
To AnonymousDBZFan,
Oh my gosh I want to say again how very much I appreciate your reviews. Just everything you've been getting from the story, your anticipation of where it will go, the characters' motivations, everything. It means so, SO much to me, and it's enthralling to hear from you that I managed to create OCs that you care about.
In a fanfiction I never want to see OC's dominate, but by the same token OC's need to have enough presence to add to the story and help it propel forward. Making them compelling and sympathetic characters is a way to achieve that. Originally, the princesses were indeed going to be 2 dimensional minions and straight-up villains. When I revisited what I'd written, I found them annoying and off-putting. I concluded that If I felt that way, easily anyone else would feel the same. I didn't want that. I think a person should be able to empathize and identify even with the villain. After a few revisions, the gals found their identities. :)
-àAlso can I just say the part where Vegeta was realizing he'd inadvertently hurt Bra and remembering Trunks near death as their talking about it hit me real hard.-
Reading your words, I'm really glad I wrote this part in. It was a last minute detail, but I saw a strong parallel between Vegeta's mistakes with Bra and those he made with Trunks. Seeing as how that mistake was the catalyst to where he is now, I felt it important to include once I recognized it. Thank you for your feedback! Speaking of things that nearly weren't, It is so heartening to hear your positive feedback on Remmnya and her story. It was nearly scrapped, and your feedback tells me I did something right by keeping her in. Thank you so much!
I am thrilled that I could give you a surprise at the end of this chapter, but at the same time I feel bad for letting you down about Marenna. There is a bit more to the story, and all will be revealed in this chapter. Thank you for sticking out this lengthy, highly symbolic and psychological ride…and we still have 5 more chapters after this one ; I love hearing your thoughts each and every time. Happy Halloween!
The Ice Queen
The Imperial bedchamber had more in keeping with the courtroom than it did with the rest of the palace. Dark to the point of being claustrophobic, the walls of obsidian reflected the room's furnishings like scrying mirrors. The floor was of black stone, veins of silvery mica running throughout like paths of stars and impregnated with inclusions of glistening garnet. They looked like drops of blood gone cold.
An immense fireplace of blue-green fire illuminated the room with ghostly light, as did an ornate candelabra and numerous candles. The carved ebony chairs and couches were upholstered in dark burgundy velvet, mirroring the colors of the roses that accented the room. The sprawling, gothic canopy bed of ebony was carved in intricate patterns of intertwined dragons, the beasts locked forever in battle. It was enshrouded in deep red drapery, its curtains closed.
Behind the curtains and hovering over the bed in a faceted prism of scintillating magic, was the black and white Night-Day Effigy. Intended as a wedding gift for Vehsna, it awaited patiently in its prison. The effigy briefly pulsed in soft lights of green, pink, and blue.
The magical coffer shimmered.
Touketsu grunted as he came to. Warm water was trickling through his hair and over his head and face, down to the ice-cold floor beneath his cheek. His concussion receding to nothing, the pain of his numerous other injuries came roaring back. He felt water being poured over his broken legs, and a soft gasp escaped his lips when the bones shifted and began to mend.
"I warned you that Zeygorn would make you suffer," a gentle voice sighed.
His eyes cracked open. A warm, wet cloth was being pressed to the burn over his right wrist, the shackles and collar gone. His other wrist was tended to, and he felt his long hair being gently moved aside. He heard the 'tsk' of a disapproving tongue. The cloth was pressed to his back in increments, and the burning pain of his flogging disappeared. It was the Water of Life, his wounds washing away.
He groaned when he was rolled over, and the damp cloth was gently pressed over his still swollen right eye. He blinked, his half-lidded eyes gazing up at the raven-haired woman tending to him. "M-Marenna?"
"Shh." His eyes drifted closed again as she finished cleaning his face before tending to the burns left by his collar. He lay still, his body aching from internal damage. She gently wiped the wet cloth over the wounds on his torso, and he grunted when he felt his broken ribs partially reset. There was the trickling sound of liquid being poured into a vessel. He was pulled into her lap, his head resting in the crook of her arm to tilt against her breast.
"Drink," she urged. He felt lukewarm stone press to his lower lip. He opened his eyes and looked down at the translucent jade bowl, half expecting the swirling dark libation she had once encouraged him to take. He saw only milky, pearlescent water, steam rising from its surface. "Please drink," she implored softly. "You're still injured."
He glanced up at her and tentatively sipped from the offering. He soon took the bowl from her, drinking greedily. He didn't notice that she had her hand on his face. "It pained me to put you through that in the courtroom, but I did so to save your life."
He stilled, lowering the bowl from his lips warily as he sat up. "Where's Bra?"
Her hand went to his chest. "She's fine."
"Where is she?!" He got to his feet, the bowl overturning with a clatter as Marenna disintegrated into whirling snow. The snowstorm quickly went through the bars and onto the other side of his cell. He ran to the cage bars and gripped them. "Why are you dragging Bra into this?! This is all over a rejection?!"
"It's not as simple as that," spoke her disembodied voice.
"It is very simple. You're simply delusional! You rigged the whole trial, and you're forcing Bra into marriage with that three headed creep!"
"I confided in Zeygorn. He worked with me and supported me. When he made the request, I decided it best to give my blessing. There is an unspoken rule of fair exchange, and it's important I ensure his continued loyalty."
"You have no right!-" He released a strangled cry when a bolt of frigid energy blasted through the supernatural bars of ice, fusing his hands to them.
"As Bra's new mother I will see to it that she's treated with utmost respect," Marenna's disembodied voice spoke.
Unable to pull away, Touketsu's eyes widened as a wave of rimy frost raced from his hands' point of contact throughout his body, petrifying him and rendering him speechless. He stood frozen in place, his breath coming out in short pants.
"You have difficulty listening, Touketsu, but you must this time." Marenna rematerialized on the other side of his prison. "You deserve to hear the truth. You are right. I've kept many secrets. How can a ruler be seen as anything but perfect and strong? You," she said, her hand resting over his fingers curled around a bar, "You were my burden to bear, but it proved too great. I needed to confide in someone. I'm sorry that I didn't confide in you first."
His brows drew together.
She shook her head sadly. "If only the Drink of Oblivion could erase the burdens of gods. I loved my husband. It is why I turned a blind eye when his ambitions were becoming apparent. It is why I appealed to my peers to have him imprisoned rather than destroyed. Regardless, I was left to rule alone. I resented Zhernobog for the void he left behind like an open wound, a wound that fast became septic. My denied love and lust were only fueling my resentment and anguish. I struggled to be a detached and impartial ruler, but I was failing. I was the executioner in those days…and I found myself wanting to do so much more to the Inimicus."
His hands still frozen to the bars, Touketsu balked when she drifted right into his cell to stand between his arms.
"I had to get away, to distance myself from the growing desires that conflicted with my responsibilities. I left for the Mortal World, and it was in the mountains that I found him," she said as she leaned close, her sapphire eyes hooded with lust. "A dark man attempting to escape his sins, the kind of men that were judged in Nav. It was he that helped me slake my denied love and lust. He provided an outlet for my anguish. He sated me. He cured me." Her mouth quirked up into a small, sad smile. "But in the end, my resentment consumed him."
Touketsu's eyes widened.
"Yes, the Yuki-onna. I had heard tales of the Snow Woman in my youth."
"Marenna is the most fearsome Zimadevushka of them all, a goddess of winter and death."
"I wished to have a piece of him, to remember the conquest over my pain. I transmuted his remains and his garments into the Night-Day Effigy, our combined energies endowing it with properties from both our planes. I returned to Nav," her eyes briefly dropped, "but I was not sated long. My passions returned, only stronger. I was so tempted by the flesh of those dark men in the arena that I finally requested a replacement executioner, and I retired from the position. In secrecy, I returned to the Physical Plane again and again to placate my growing addiction."
Touketsu's eyes dropped when Marenna idly traced a slippered toe over the skeletons trapped beneath the floor of ice. She sighed.
"I used the Night-Day Effigy to bring many back with me. My passions continued to grow as I visited the Physical Plane, affecting everything around me. Mortals' winters became longer, colder, and more violent. They became afraid when the remains of respected men from their communities were discovered, ignorant of the darkness in their souls. They made attempts to appease the gods. This god," she said, placing a taloned hand to her chest. They offered me many sacrifices, but not true ones. No one missed criminals."
She stepped closer to him.
"Mortals became more desperate, and one night I found them. Three babes left to die in the snow. They were left for me. At the sight of them, I felt a different sort of love." She smiled tenderly. "I wrapped their little hands around the effigy and brought them back to Nav. I knew they were doomed to die, but I couldn't let them go." Her brow furrowed, and her voice cracked. "I was so lonely. Divine energy can only be transferred to pure vessels, and my babies were so pure. I carried them into the Fire of Life to burn away what they were and start anew."
Touketsu's brows pinched together. The princesses...they were mortal.
"Energy can be neither created nor destroyed, Touketsu, it can only be converted to another form. What happened I could not have foreseen, but it was miraculous. My children each became a vessel for the feelings that plagued me: My love, my lust, my resentment. Separated from those passions, the anguish I still carried was tempered to a dull, tolerable sadness." She smiled a little. "I could live with that. Thanks to my daughters, I was freed at last of my torturous, ardent drives, and my addiction left me. Unfortunately, it was inherited by my children.
His brows furrowed with a terrible realization. No. This is what's to become of Bra?
"Knowing how I once was, I knew I needed to keep an eye on my headstrong children. As I no longer needed the Night-Day Effigy, I put an enchantment on it and gave it to them as a birthday gift. If I hadn't had a connection with my daughters and the effigy both, it wouldn't have been possible. It wouldn't have been possible for you, either. Even my magic has its limitations."
Trapped, he stiffened when she wrapped her arms about his waist in a gentle embrace. She rested her head on his shoulder.
"I'm so sorry, Touketsu," she sighed against his skin. "I will always share a bond with my daughters, but I could not have predicted where their actions would lead us. The moment they tasted you, I found out: I hadn't severed my bond with Zhernobog, I had merely displaced it into my children. I was in denial over what was happening to me. Small at first, the feelings of love, lust and resentment that I had divorced from myself were growing in strength. My lingering sadness again flared into anguish. These feelings were aroused for only one…but not for Zhernobog. My daughters, my vessels, they aroused these feeling for his vessel." She leaned back to look in his eyes. "You."
His eyes were wide, his brows drawing together.
"The others were only substitutes, only bodies, but not you," she said placing her hands upon his chest as she looked lustfully into his eyes. "You're so much more. I cherish you. I won't take your life. I'll never let my resentment go that far. I'll heal you every time. I will keep you. Forever. I love you."
Appalled, he attempted to move his stiff jaw. Marenna lifted just enough of her magic to allow him to speak. "I'll n-never f-feel the same, woman," he shuddered through numb lips. "I'm b-bound to Bulma."
"The Drink of Oblivion will break it."
He stared, alarmed. He barely shook his head. "No," he whispered. It's a Saiyan Bond – a soul bond. Y-you said only t-trial by fire can destroy a soul bond?" Her brows furrowed. "You were wrong. N-not even the Fire of Life destroyed yours. It just displaced it. N-nothing can destroy this. I may forget Bulma on a c-conscious level, but I'll never want you. Never."
She regarded him silently. "Your soul bond with Zhernobog would have been destroyed had you burned that night. The Fire of Life cleanses mortal souls of negative energy. Zhernobog would have been separated from you, and I could have imprisoned him again even into a simple object." She placed a hand on his face, her cobalt eyes filling with pain. "But I'd have lost you. The drink will work."
He shook his head. "I r-refuse."
She pressed her body to his, her lips drawing close. "And that is why Bra is so important," she whispered, her words cold upon his mouth. "She will be the vessel for my woe." His eyes widened in horror and fury.
Touketsu pressed his lips in tight refusal when her mouth descended upon his, his eyes squeezing shut as he growled in violation. Huffing through his nose, he opened his eyes to glare at her. She could have delved her ghostly tongue right past his unyielding lips, but she didn't. Sapphire eyes slowly opened, reluctant acceptance in their depths.
"You do not want me," she spoke against his mouth. "I accept free will, but after tonight…I will be free of the anguish that comes for violating that." She pulled away. "Bra will take that burden from me. Without my sadness and guilt holding me back, with only my passions at the helm, I will have you at last," she spoke, her words growing intense as she embraced his face. "Without remorse, I will pin you down and pour the Drink of Oblivion down your THROAT."
His eyebrows drew down, his countenance hardening with resolve. "A…alright. Alright. Y-you can have me. Right now. In exchange you b-bring Bra afterwards."
"I cannot have you when your heart is unwilling. Not until Bra takes my anguish."
"Then I'll drink it!" he hissed. "I'll drink it. J…j-just bring Bra to me first. I c-can't send her home if I forget how. G-give her the effigy, let me send her home-"
"My dear. I will not have you risk being discovered and destroyed by the gods. They're searching for you. They'll find you if you dare create a portal again."
"…The..the hotspot-"
"I won't allow my daughters to leave this planet again until they are back in my good graces. As their mother I must stand firm, and as queen, I must follow through with my decrees." Her face softened, and she caressed his face. "Touketsu. This satisfies all, don't you see? Queen Zarkala and your Familia will see Prince Vegeta punished for his crimes. Creation will be safe from both you and Zhernobog. I will be freed of my anguish. Bra will be loved, and she will live on with a new life. You will keep yours…and I will keep you."
His expression was hard, but his eyes became pleading. "Marenna don't do this," his words spilled out in a rushed whisper.
"Thank you for giving me another daughter, Touketsu."
"Don't do this-"
She disintegrated into a flurry of snow before disappearing completely. The chill began to leave his flesh when she did, the petrifying power leaving the bars of his prison.
"Marenna?" he whispered into the darkness. Nothing. "…Marenna," he rasped, his voice cracking. Tears of helpless desperation began to well in his eyes. He gripped the unbreakable bars hard as he pressed against them, his face contorting. "MARENNA!"
Fists collided against the bars again and again, the assault giving way to kicks and sloppily thrown projectiles. Each attack was punctuated by grunts, curses, and screams of rage. The bars held fast, the energy thrown at them dispersing harmlessly across. Exhausted, Touketsu finally let himself collapse to his knees. Bringing a hand to his face in helpless frustration, he slumped over into a sitting position, his back against the bars and his knees drawn up. Beneath his hand, his face began to crack.
"She is formidable, isn't she?"
His eyes flew open at the unmistakable baritone. Scrambling to his feet, he summoned Svaroken as he looked around for its source. "Zhernobog," he hissed. "Show yourself!"
"Not yet, Touketsu."
He scanned the floor of the dim room, noting the weak shadows cast by the dark light of his ki blade. "What's the matter? The lighting doesn't do it for you? Trust me when I say nothing can make you look less ugly."
Zhernobog chuckled. "We have our reasons for remaining where we are."
"The reason being that you're weak?" he snapped, blade at the ready.
"Well, it cannot be argued the power you've gained. We've been nothing short of impressed."
Touketsu's scowl darkened. "Cram your flattery. What do you want?"
"We wish to give you some advice."
He spat on the floor. "Keep it. I've suffered enough advice from your ilk."
"Then please indulge a query of ours, Touketsu. You know we are joined. You wished to keep us locked away as Marenna did. She opened the door to your prison out of guilt and grief, and you accepted her invitation. Why?" Touketsu thought hard. He didn't know how to answer without appearing weak. "Why, Touketsu?" Zhernobog gently prodded.
"I refuse to let you dictate my life. I won't suffer your burden, bastard."
"It is a calling."
"Whatever the hell you want to call it, it's yours, NOT mine. You can kiss your calling goodbye. You're not going anywhere so long as I'm locked up in here." He smirked. "Looks like we're cell mates."
Zhernobog outright laughed. "Just who are you trying to bluff, Touketsu? Whether your imprisonment is self-imposed or not, you are not one to be caged for long, we know this. You wish to escape, and we have unwavering faith that you will succeed." Touketsu's eyes widened when he noticed a creeping shadow in the shape of a pair of hands crawl down from the tops of his shoulders. "And when you do, we will be waiting for you with open arms."
With a cry of disgust Touketsu's dark energy pulsed, purging the shadow off his body along with his blade. Panting in repressed panic, he whirled about, scanning his body. "You'll be waiting a long time, asshole!" he shouted into the air. "You won't catch me in that form again! Not ever! I have dominion, and I'll never allow you to gain the upper hand!"
"So willful," Zhernobog chuckled condescendingly. "At least in words. There is more than one way to obtain a goal, son."
Touketsu bristled at what he called him. "What are you talking about?"
"How has your sleep been, Touketsu?"
His brows drew together. "What?"
"When you returned home to our realm, after you had released your earlier self, you mused much on your actions."
"I…was meditating."
"You were ruminating. Obsessing. Regretting. Repressing. You left us gravely weakened, but the negative energy your thoughts produced helped us, however small the offering. We consumed what we could, though doing so did leave your body drained. We are pleased you had a good rest."
Touketsu's brows drew together. They've been feeding on me…
His chronic exhaustion hadn't just been the effects of his low Life Force. It was them.
"Your mind did not stop producing negative energy as it wandered the realm of dreams, and we continued to feed. We gained little energy, but we learned much more about you. You share a mental connection with two others. Both with your mate and your other self. You could witness their happiness, their contentment and wholeness in the lives they shared with each other…and that made you MISERABLE. Didn't it, son?"
Touketsu stared out into the dark of his cell. No one was there. He nonetheless felt Zhernobog driving Tosho into his heart.
"That helped us. As we gained strength, we gained more influence over your mind. Your resulting nightmares produced more negative energy to fuel us. Your last stand against us was indeed devastating. We are nowhere near as powerful as we were. However, we don't need to be. You have a strong sense of pride, don't you, boy?"
Touketsu swallowed.
"Your pride gave us an opening. It's your pride that demands power to defend it. So…we simply gave it to you."
"I don't want anything from you."
"You accepted it nonetheless."
"Before I realized what the fuck was going on! So. I am regressing into the Demon Oozaru, but it was YOU all along. You've been exploiting my Berserker form in order to accomplish it!"
"No, Touketsu, we are not affecting a regression. This will be a new form, one that embodies the very spirit of the Demon Oozaru."
What? "This…Demon Sign. It's a new form?"
"It is a precursor. In order to fully realize it, you must give yourself up to it."
"As if I would do that. You admitted how weak the lot of you are now, so I don't believe for a moment that you can influence my mind let alone my body. When I realized that I lost control to Demon Sign while in my Berserker form, I put a stop to it. I detached. I developed the Void Transformation. I felt nothing, you got nothing. No power, no influence, NOTHING!"
"Your dark ki and the negative energy of your emotions are intertwined. Don't you find it…unnatural that your Void form can separate the two?" Zhernobog feigned waiting for an answer. "Tell us, how proud did you feel the night you consumed that man's soul?"
Touketsu scowled. "I was in my Detached form, I felt nothing."
"Yet Demon Sign emerged. Would you like to know how?"
Indeed, he did. "Tell me," he demanded quietly.
"Demon Sign first began to manifest through your Berserker form in defense of your pride. Your 'Detached form' is quite opposite in nature. Everything has its shadow, Touketsu, everything has its opposite. What is the shadow side of pride?" Touketsu's eyes lowered.
"Vegeta! Prince Vegeta, please!" shouted Taca. "His Familia need him to move on! You destroy his soul and they'll be stuck in purgatory!"
"They don't need a creature like you to move on," he growled in his deep voice.
He blinked and saw Bulma being held out at arm's length, her bobbed, blue hair whipping about as he threatened to drop her.
"Well," he began calmly as the blue light strumming through his markings picked up speed, "You couldn't handle babysitting a child in life, why could you in death?"
"You FAILURE!" he raged as he backhanded Raditz across the face.
He knew what it was. He'd felt it when the girl he was responsible for disappeared, and he redirected it at Raditz. He'd experienced it when he projected his rage onto Donamast and drained his soul out of existence. It drove him to volunteer to execute Kunthar every night for Remmnya and her child. He'd felt it that first night at Susmir, when he listened to the young Familia contenders explain why they were here. He felt as though he was being attacked, and his pride bristled before he responded with aggressive dismissal. He'd responded that same way to Zarkala that first day in court. He experienced it during his trial today.
…He felt it when he left Bulma the fateful night the Kagemazoku claimed him. His brows drew together.
Zhernobog's voice was a gentle whisper by his ear. "What is the opposite of pride, Touketsu?"
Touketsu worked his mouth a few times, struggling to get the word out. "Shame," he rasped.
Zhernobog let the answer sink in. "Good boy." Touketsu shut his eyes, shame filling him even now over how clueless he'd been.
"You don't free yourself from your feelings when you enter your darkest states. Not in your Detached form, not in your Void form. You push those darkest emotions away from yourself and deep down…to us. Our dear, dear boy, our savior. That is exactly how we became aware of your miraculous existence to begin with. After you'd lost your home and freedom, you funneled your anguish straight to our world and announced your presence to us all."
Touketsu was struggling to stay standing. He couldn't win. He couldn't win against this…
"It is not your Berserker form, but your darkest forms that lend us the most power. Your Void Transformation balls up and suppresses an incredible amount of it. We received it and held onto it, releasing it back to you when you gave us the opportunity. Your give and take with it has been strengthening Demon Sign. You are being honed into your new form. Have you not noticed how much more powerful Demon Sign has become since learning your Void technique, how much more difficult it is to keep it contained and controlled? That is because you're not meant to control it, BOY."
Touketsu's eyes snapped open. "You said you had some advice to give me," he hissed. "Out with it!"
"Surrender to your power, wholly and completely. It is the only way you'll win against Marenna. When you are ready to receive, we will be able to release back all the energy you've suppressed. It will be enough to affect your transformation. You will descend into your new and fully perfected form."
Touketsu snorted. "This will help me win against Marenna? And what of you? You're as transparent as ever, Zhernobog. Accepting power in exchange for freedom isn't power at all. You think you can hijack my mind and body from the inside? You think you can again use me for your agenda? You're wrong. I am in control now."
"Indeed, you are at the helm. But when it comes time to watch that child burn," Touketsu's brows furrowed, "you will find that you have a choice to make…Prince Touketsu."
"DAMN YOU, LEECH!" he shouted out into his cell. "I'll cut you out like the cancer you are. YOU HEAR ME!?" Zhernobog didn't answer, and Touketsu felt his presence recede back into nothing. "I'll cut you out," he hissed.
His head snapped up when he heard a heavy door swinging open. There was the slow sound of leathery wings flapping, and with a quaking rumble Zeygorn's heavy feet met the floor, the collar and attached shackles in hand. Touketsu readied himself to fight when a swirling snowstorm suddenly descended in front of the three headed dragon.
Touketsu tensed Shit.
The storm coalesced into Marenna, and she drove her staff into the floor. A wave of white energy sped through the floor and up Touketsu's body. His back went ramrod straight, his arms going to his sides as the magic bound him in delicate, spinning threads of barely visible energy. Marenna phased through the bars, Zeygorn following as the magically imbued ice shrank and melted around his form. The prisoner glared at the ice queen as Zeygorn moved behind him and clamped the collar around his neck.
"Thank you, Lord Zeygorn," she said, her eyes on Touketsu's as his hands were cuffed behind his back, the attached chain rattling. She touched the collar, and her magic spread throughout the restraints.
He reigned in a wince at the icy energy, and his stomach dropped when he felt the magic chain away his power. "Marenna. Marenna, listen to me," he began, the desperation creeping into his voice. "Your desires have corrupted you. Don't you see where your secrets have brought you!? The truth will come out-"
"Shhh," she hushed with a finger to his lips. The prince's eyes snapped wide when frost covered his mouth before quickly becoming a thick sheet of white ice. "We shall keep this confidential, my love." She laid a hand on his heaving chest and patted it comfortingly. "I know this will be a difficult night for you in the arena, but you won't endure it long. After Zeygorn weds Vehsna, you will drink. You will forget. And then…" his eyes followed her hand as it trailed down his abdominals to the wrap at his waist, "You will be mine." Zeygorn looked away jealously as Touketsu's eyes rose back up to hers. "Please escort the prisoner to Volkfangr, Lord Zeygorn. It is time."
Zeygorn looked back to her and bowed his heads. "Yes, my queen," he grumbled. She disintegrated into snow and disappeared. His heads snapping angrily down at Touketsu, Zeygorn yanked him backwards by the chain on his collar. The three heads snaked down around Touketsu's huffing, outraged face. "Time to go, father-in-law."
Touketsu was dragged along by Zeygorn through the corridor to the Volkfangr Arena before emerging through the Imperial Box. The stands were filled with spectators, the contending Inimcus and Familia lined up for battle as every night. Touketsu's eyes widened when he spotted his old compatriots below. The Saiyans were outclassed in power by Marenna and Zeygorn, but they were the only ones here aside from himself that knew of the effigy's properties. They could help put a halt to this.
The prince attempted his rusty telepathy. "Nappa! NAPPA! You big oaf, listen to me!" Scrambling, he tried Raditz without any luck. Touketsu quickly realized that the bigger problem was less about his skill and more about his situation; bound by the shackles, his projected thoughts were being caught like pebbles through a sieve.
Touketsu's telepathy attempts were disrupted when he was roughly jerked by his chain before soaring through the air at breakneck speed. Zeygorn landed in the center of the arena before forcing his prisoner to his knees. Touketsu looked around for his cohorts "Nappa? Raditz!" He couldn't see them now, but they could now see him.
"Aw shit," rumbled Nappa.
"Fuck," Raditz hissed. "They found him." They looked at each other uncertainly. What had become of Bra?
Sweating from the heat of the massive bonfire to his right, Touketsu looked up. Queen Zarkala stood across from him, her two grim-looking sons by her side. Zarkala walked up to him as her sons hesitantly followed.
Touketsu looked up at the silvery queen, his vision swimming with furious tears that he fought to dam. The queen looked down at him, eyes cold, but her lip began to twitch in smug satisfaction. She placed her hands on either side of Touketsu's face and tilted his head back further, the links of his chains clinking. Izo and Chisto shared uneasy glances behind their mother.
"I thank you for your show of humility in the courtroom, Prince Vegeta." She gave him a small smile. "Seems even you know your true place - kneeling and begging for mercy," she said, playing off the disgusting words he'd told her before breaking her neck.
His teary eyes flared, and she increased her pressure in response. She couldn't hurt him in the slightest, but the act indicated how very much she wished to crush his skull in her hands.
She leaned in. "Do you feel helpless? Powerless knowing that your young dependent will burn, and you cannot do a thing about it?" Her eyes briefly flared purple. "Good," she hissed. "At last you feel what I did. You will be tortured by this forever while you languish in prison."
He finally blinked, and the tears spilled over. He closed his eyes when she pushed a thumb beneath an eye, and he scowled with a grunt when she roughly wiped away a tear. Disturbed, her sons gently gripped her by the arms and encouraged her to step away. She blinked as though coming out of a spell. "I'm through with this creature," she announced and allowed her sons to lead her back.
Touketsu's closed eyes screwed tight as he continued to push against the binding haze of his bonds. "Nappa! Raditz!" Touketsu screamed out uselessly to his cohorts, his mental voice ragged with desperation. "HELP ME! They're going to destroy Bra! Tell them she can be sent back!-" He flinched and curled in on himself when he was suddenly engulfed in a blizzard. He squinted up as it receded and contracted inward to condense into Marenna's form. His heart was slamming in his chest.
It was beginning.
"People of Nav," Marenna announced as she held up her hands, her image projected above and her voice amplified throughout. "Before we begin the tournament, I have a very important announcement to make. Tonight will be different from all others. The felon Prince Vegeta was at last captured and a new trial held. Since his first offense of desecrating the memory of his Familia, he has also been convicted of numerous other crimes including kidnapping. He brought his own daughter from the Mortal World, trapping her here and effectively sentencing her to death."
Nappa and Raditz looked at each other as the crowd buzzed. It was the effigy. Marenna knew that, right?
"Oi! Queenie!" Nappa called out, hands around his mouth. "She got here with the doll! Give it to her and take her to a hotspot! She'll be ok!" Nappa was barely heard among the assembly, Marenna's amplified voice ringing out to drown out his.
"To save this poor child from painful dissolution and to sever memories of her father's toxic influence, I have decided to adopt her. I will carry the girl into the Fire of Life to bestow upon her the power of my divinity, allowing her to be reborn as a goddess and my youngest daughter Vehsna. I will then officiate her wedding to Lord Zeygorn, Royal Executioner and now newly ordained Royal Advisor. As part of Prince Vegeta's sentence, he will bear witness to the loss of his daughter."
Nappa and Raditz stared in shock.
"Rather than being executed, Prince Vegeta IV will instead be sentenced to life in prison so that he can reflect on his sins. Upon his eventual death, he will hopefully arrive at Check-In Station a more learned, humble, and compassionate person. His spirit will return to Nav in due time as part of his spiritual sentencing. She looked at Queen Zarkala's family and nodded. "May you emerge victorious and find peace."
"MAY YOU EMERGE VICTORIOUS AND FIND PEACE" the crowd roared in unison.
Raditz ran his hands up into his long hair. "Holy shit…"
The two Saiyans pushed their way to the front, eliciting sounds of protest from the other Inimicus. They began banging on the barrier, sending white shock waves throughout it.
"Stop! Stop the fucking ceremony!" Raditz yelled.
"Marenna! Ya don't hafta do this! She got here with the doll! Find the doll and give it to her!" Nappa shouted.
Touketsu's eyes widened in hope at the sight of his men. He then did a double take when he saw figures approaching from his left. No, he thought, attempting to stand before Zeygorn gripped his shoulder and pushed him back to his knees. No, no, no…
It was Marenna's daughters, their expressions cool and somber. Likha was in the lead, and frozen in slumber in the red head's arms, was Bra.
Touketsu's eyes were wide. She'll wake up as someone else. She'll be defeated in spirit, a shell married to a monster! No. MY GIRL!
"Mmmph!" He got up and lunged forward in a panic. Zeygorn jerked him back by his chain and raised a fist to strike him.
"Wait," Kuma said, calmly holding out her hand to him. She looked to Marenna as Touketsu was allowed to straighten. "Mother, allow me and Zeema to help reinforce the prisoner's bonds." She looked at Touketsu. "We're gaining a sister tonight, and his carrying on is an affront to the ceremony." Absolute fury and betrayal were branded in Touketsu's eyes.
Marenna considered. "You all have a long road ahead in gaining back my trust and the trust of the people," she sent telepathically. "Your attendance tonight is a good start. You wish to continue?"
The three princesses nodded. "Yes. Please, Mother," Kuma answered.
"Very well," Marenna said. They approached Touketsu as he looked desperately at Bra before his eyes went to the goddess cradling her. Likha gazed back impassively.
"Don't worry."
He blinked at Likha's voice. Zeema and Kuma moved to either side of him.
"Just play along," Zeema said telepathically.
They each placed a hand over his shackled wrists, and the bonds began to glow. "You can step back, Lord Zeygorn," Kuma told the dragon. "We have him now." The Jozop head glanced at Marenna, and she nodded. Zeygorn bowed his three heads to the princesses and stepped back.
Nappa and Raditz went Super Saiyan 2 as they took to punching the barrier. "Stop, damnit!" Raditz shouted. "STOP!" Cracks began to form beneath their fists.
"We're weakening these bonds enough for you to break them," Kuma spoke quickly as Touketsu stared straight ahead. "The three of us put a Spell of Wasting on the barrier as soon as Mother put it up. With enough power it can be broken through. We did the same through the effigy to destroy the magic encasing it. It's in our mother's bedchamber, so Likha will escape back into the palace with Bra and retrieve it. Be ready to fight as soon as you're freed, got it? If we can meet Likha and Bra at the hotspot, you can escape too. Blink twice if you understand." Touketsu complied.
Kuma and Zeema continued to secretly weaken the bonds, the metal becoming colder but more brittle. Touketsu felt his repressed energy begin to seep out, and he dug deep to connect with the dark ki. The shackles shimmered once as though the metal was flashing under a torch. Likha approached her mother with Bra in her arms, and Marenna outstretched her hands to take her.
Everything happened at once.
The barrier shattered as Nappa and Raditz barreled through, the hole left behind quickly sealing up. Touketsu's spirit bolstered at the sight of his cohorts coming to aid, he pulled at his weakening bonds as he flared his aura. The weakened restraints rippled and shattered, the metal melting and the ice covering his mouth evaporating when his power was unleashed.
Surprised, Marenna whirled around while Likha turned and flew towards the Imperial Box with Bra. The redhead threw her hand out, and with a blast of her magic punched through the compromised barrier. She dove through with her young charge before it immediately sealed back up, and she disappeared down the entryway connecting back into the palace.
His body darkening in rage and his eyes flaring purple, Touketsu turned on a surprised Zeygorn as the crowds roared. The shadow expunged from his body to change his aura into a miasmic purple, his eyes going Oozaru red. His body bulged outward, the veins popping out against straining muscles as he unleashed a roar of unbridled rage.
Touketsu drew back a fist wreathed in violent, purple ki and punched Zeygorn directly in the solar plexus. The fusion was rent asunder in an explosion of power, and the three stunned and weakened dragons were sent flying apart.
A big hand landed on Touketsu's shoulder. "Vegeta! That bitch took Bra!"
Bra.
Touketsu snapped out of Demon Sign, aware now that Nappa was shaking him. "She took her!"
"She's with us!" he shouted back over the din of the stands. The stunned dragons beginning to get up, Marenna summoned her staff and aimed at the three Saiyans.
Zeema and Kuma jumped in front of the Saiyans and threw up a barrier, barely shielding them from Marenna's attack. Their magic pushing hers back, they levitated towards her. Marenna could scarcely believe that her two daughters were holding their own against her, but her maternal pride was completely overshadowed by her sense of shock and betrayal. Heartsick, she began to lose her footing.
Some distance behind the princesses, Touketsu, Nappa, and Raditz stood back to back as the recovered dragons surrounded them. The three Saiyans took their battle stances, Touketsu facing Yudoch, Raditz across Ajadzo, and Nappa facing Jozop. Touketsu's body darkened as his Berserker aura exploded around him.
"Nappa, Raditz," Touketsu sent. "I'll take the snake, you each handle the others. Aim for their throats and take their heads off." They nodded. This was grim. Demon Sign had weakened the three dragons after their fusion split, but they were still more than a match for Nappa and Raditz. Touketsu was now on more even footing with a single dragon, but not all three.
His eyes widened.
"When I land a punch on you, it isn't just your body reacting. My energy is channeled into you and feeds the power you already have. In fact, if you so much as come in contact with my aura, your battle fury is bolstered. This isn't something you can tap into, because it doesn't come from you, get it?"
Touketsu grabbed each of his compatriots by the arm, and they both flinched in surprise when his talons punctured through their flesh. Touketsu released a feral cry, his aura flaring around him as he channeled his toxic power into their bloodstream.
"Gah! Vegeta, what are you doing?!" Nappa shouted.
Raditz cracked a pained smirk, the rage of Touketsu's dark aura like gasoline over the fires of his own power. "Strategizing, Nappa.
Eyes on your targets, men!" Touketsu shouted, his aura flaring more wildly. "Push your power beyond what you have, and lose yourself in it!" They did as ordered, and the dragons rushed in. Touketsu released them. "ATTACK!" With a roar Nappa and Raditz ascended, Nappa to the hulking, glowing green form of the Legendary, and Raditz to Demon Super Saiyan 3. Like unfettered junkyard dogs, they went after their opponents.
The princesses successfully pushed Marenna back, deflecting her attack and releasing their barrier into a concentrated offensive. The queen was struck and driven back, completely encased in a prism of her daughters' icy magic. It had taken everything out of Zeema and Kuma, and their hearts shattered over what they'd been pushed to do. They dropped to their knees in exhaustion and remorse.
Eyes white and roaring in a berserker rage, Nappa delivered a double axe handle over Jozop's spiky crown and sent him crashing through the opal floor. Raditz phased behind Ajadzo and snapped a side kick into his back before phasing in front to drive an elbow into his face.
Conjuring his bardiche axe of nerve disrupting ki, Yudoch was suddenly in front of Touketsu. His weapon came down, and the demon prince sidestepped as it drove into the floor.
"Svaroken!" Touketsu brought his dark ki blade down over Yudoch's wrist, and the naga reared back with a roar of pain. He was abruptly silenced when Touketsu performed a reverse spin and the blade sliced off the naga's head. Body and head hit the floor, the stumps of the wounds cauterized. Significantly stronger after his training in the fire realm, Yudoch didn't die this time.
Yudoch's venom-like ki seeped from the stumps and cleared away the blackened flesh as though acid had been poured over it. The naga pushed himself up on his elbows and began feeling around for his head. The head flipped over just as Touketsu grabbed it by its long neck, and he swung it down with a crack into the opal floor. Nappa stomped down on the body with both feet.
Kuma and Zeema looked back up at their mother encased in ice. They tensed when it began to fracture. In the next instant the entire thing blew outwards, sparkling fragments of ice and snow briefly whirling around before disappearing.
"Oh no," Kuma whispered. "Mother's going after Likha and Bra!" she shouted over her shoulder to the Saiyan trio.
Touketsu's head snapped up before looking over at Nappa, still in his berserker state and stomping on the headless, motionless naga repeatedly. His body going jet black as his hands lit up with dripping blue ki, he punched his bodyguard.
Hiya-te draining his energy, Nappa lost hold of his transformation, the same happening to Raditz when he tapped out his reserves subduing Ajadzo. "We have to get into the palace!" Touketsu shouted to Raditz as Nappa shook his head and blinked.
Kuma threw a blast towards the Imperial Box, temporarily creating an opening in the weakened barrier. "Come on!"
Touketsu glanced at the unconscious dragons. They'd bought themselves some time. He and his entourage followed the princesses, Touketsu leaping up and through the hole in the barrier. The group disappeared through the entrance as the barrier sealed back up, the entire assembly at Volkfangr roaring in upheaval behind them.
Marenna: "I won't take your life. I'll never let my resentment go that far. I'll heal you every time. I will keep you. Forever. I love you."
Touketsu Vegeta: "…I need an adult?"
Couldn't help myself. I love TFS. AnonymousDBZFan, you called it: Marenna has become a stone-cold yandere. XD
A few of my favorite songs came to mind while writing Marenna's slow descent into madness. One of them is "Kalyna" by Ukranian band Go_A (a complete coincidence that the burning bridge in this story bears the same name). The song has an increasingly passionate tempo and is basically about love lost.
watch?v=5gOia6qznyQ
Another song was Marilyn Manson's cover of "I Put on Spell On You" (originally written and performed by Screamin' Jay Hawkins). The way it goes from stalky and obsessive to straight up desperate and crazy reminded me of Marenna's path (ps, the 1922 Nosferatu-inspired video is pretty fun.)
watch?v=VDEwl4r9-6k
It wasn't my original intention to emulate GOT in this (though I listened to a lot of the soundtracks), but I now see a lot of Daenerys Targaryen in Marenna. Aside from them both being queens and closely affiliated with three dragons, they both start idealistic and later go nuts.
While this story really grew around the Slavic mythological tale of Dazbog and Morana, I was also inspired by the Russian folktale of Dobrynya and Marinka, which parallels the former in some ways. Marinka works closely with the three headed dragon Zmey Gorynych. Sometimes he's depicted as a warrior with the name Tugarin Zmeyevich, whom Marinka refers to as a "dear friend."
Thank you for reading!