Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Dominion ❯ Epilogue

Dominion

Author: Xero Sky

Date: July 2002 - January 2003

Pairings: Vejiita X Bardock, Vejiita X Kakkarot, Bardock X Turles.

Warnings: Lemon, lime, language, violence, and ANGST. AU, therefore some OOC is probably inevitable. References to consensual incest between adult siblings. References to rape.

Notes: /..../ indicates telepathic speech

Thanks to Legendary Chibi Vegeta for beta-reading and generally being a bad influence.

Disclaimer: All characters are property of their respective copyright owners. I intend no profit from this work of fiction.

Epilogue: Part Two of Two

Turles stripped the leaves from a long blade of grass and stuck the end of it in his mouth to suck at the sweet, pale stalk. The taste was at once both exotic and familiar. It might as well stand for Vegetasei itself. The air, the plants, the animals, the patterns of saiyajin life all spoke to him, stirring up feelings he'd almost forgotten, threatening to make him feel normal again. Yet he couldn't accept it all that easily.

He'd been gone for too long. He'd been the eternal stranger for too long, a synthesis of saiyajin pride facing off against the galaxy.

How strange it was to be in a place where the only scents were comfortable and familiar and saiyajin, where saiyajin blood was spilled only in training or by accidents, where the din of war and the hell of the slave pits had never been heard. Vegetasei…

Vejiita had pardoned him. They were not friends, but they were family now. He'd even sworn fealty again, as much from resignation as anything else. There wasn't much else he could have done. Now that Bardock was a solid reality for him again, an active presence in his mind and in his other senses as well, he simply could not strike at his nephew's mate. The House of Vegeta was entirely safe from him now that he belonged to it.

He had to laugh at that thought. His armor, back up in the cottage, was now embossed with the seal of the royal house. He was Lord Turles at the very least; there were a plethora of other titles due to the uncle of the king's bond-mate as well. It was all too bizarre to comprehend.

He knew how long it had taken him to go from slave to lord. The abruptness of the change made it all seem unreal.

Turles sighed and mentally shrugged. Dwelling on it would do no good. He had a little time before anyone had to know about him, in any case. It was easier to deal with only the immediate family and the Royal Guard knowing. At some point it would have to be announced, but not now. As for his power, his ascension and the level of it, that was going to be kept secret until the war began.

He grinned somewhat ferally. He and Vejiita were in complete agreement about one thing: the icejin race had evaded extinction too long. He'd been able to give the king a fuller picture of the state of things outside the saiyajin empire than he'd ever had before. The absolute cold rage that his reports had sparked in Vejiita had done a great deal toward easing his relationship with the proud king. He also knew more about the systems on the far side of the borders than Vejiita's scouts did. It was clear to him, at least, that war was coming.

Once they were engaged, Turles would reveal himself. He could hardly imagine the horror that another ascended saiyajin, more powerful than the other two, would cause among the icejin and their allies. Kula was personally the most powerful of his kind left, now that he'd finally killed his father off. And Turles knew he was no match for any of the three of them now.

Vejiita had been cautious, shepherding his people, aware that his own power wouldn't have been enough to save them all in the face of total war. The whole race had come so close to extinction - it took Turles' breath away. It had also scarred the young prince, making the precious burden of his people weigh on him in ways Turles had never suspected. He understood Vejiita better now. In some abstract, unspecific way, he forgave him.

It didn't bear close scrutiny, and it wasn't worth dwelling on now.

He watched the waves crash on the black sand of the beach, and thought about better things. More specifically, he thought about Bardock. He'd watched the whole ceremony through his brother's eyes. It hadn't been like watching the viz or anything that focused; it had been like being there himself, with his attention flickering from one thing to the next. A rare experience, and one he treasured. It had been an act of pure trust on Bardock's part to let Turles see so clearly through him. Turles had lost hope of ever knowing such sweetness again more times than he could count.

Bardock…

They had been together almost every moment since Turles had come out of the regeneration tank. This afternoon apart, with Bardock at the palace and Turles here at the cottage they were sharing on this isolated, otherwise deserted stretch of coast, was the first separation they had suffered, and they hadn't even truly been apart then. He could feel his brother's approach even now. He was only a few miles away.

It was almost unbelievable being able to see Bardock, to hear him, and to scent him again. They had retreated to the cottage not long after things had been settled between himself and Vejiita. He had been overwhelmed with everything, and Bardock had decided to take him away from it for a while. Turles was grateful. It was quiet here; other than his brother, there was only the wind, the shore birds, and the surf to greet him. Being with Bardock was everything he had ever wanted.

Yet there was a strangeness between them, an awkwardness that troubled him. Bardock was hesitant with him, and he often didn't know what to say to him. They were too courteous and too careful with each other. It wasn't anything like the easy love and familiarity they had once shared. He knew that it was all new and strange, and that he had to give it time, but it still gnawed at him. Why wasn't it the way he knew it should be?

He hadn't slept much last night. They slept in the same room, on narrow beds at opposite ends of it. He had spent most of the darkness listening to his brother's slow breathing, marveling at that simple proof of life. Yet he wanted more. It wasn't physical closeness he craved, but some…connection that hadn't yet been re-forged between them. He was missing something.

Turles heaved a deeper sigh and let himself fall back in the thick grass. He was being stupid, he supposed. Maybe it was just hard adjusting to all this, especially since Kakkarot and his mate were all over each other all the damned time. They were like a pair of freaking oozaru or something, fucking for the fun of it, over and over and over… It led one to certain thoughts, and he wasn't sure about those yet. He didn't know what Bardock thought, either. They were both being a little bit guarded about some things.

He let his eyes close, trying to focus on the surf. He hated the distance between himself and Bardock. Maybe he had idealized their bond too much while he'd been gone. Maybe that was all it was. But he hated it. The ghosts of his long isolation in the depths of space, his pervasive loneliness… They haunted him, seeping into every space between himself and Bardock. He ached for something he couldn't name. There wasn't any use in denying it.

Surf, gods-damn him. Think of the surf. Water crashing on the shore. Wind playing lazily through the trees, whispering through the grass. The sound of those insane shore birds squabbling and courting each other in the air…

The sound of Bardock's boots touching the ground on either side of his hips, and then the solid weight of his brother coming down on his thighs.

Dark eyes shot open in shock.

Bardock was so vividly handsome against the deep sky that he took Turles' breath away. It was a few moments before he noted the tender smile on his bond-brother's face and realized that all his recent thoughts had been as clear to Bardock as to himself. He'd gained any number of psychic tricks during his captivity, but a few days with Bardock had undone his damned defenses. His cheeks flushed with the realization of what Bardock must have caught from him.

"I'm sorry," he said simply. Then he paused, at a loss for words to tell Bardock that he didn't mind, really, that he would accept whatever he could get from his brother and be happy for the rest of his damned life, as long as they were together.

"Hush," Bardock said softly, laying a finger gently on Turles' mouth. "You need to understand something, Turles. I've waited for you ever since the day I thought you were dead. I always knew I would find you again; I just didn't think it would be in this life. I will never let you go. I will never let anything separate us, not even our own demons. Do you understand me?"

Turles did, but he couldn't accept it. Nor could he look away from those midnight eyes.

"Then I'll have to show you," Bardock said. He leaned down, shifting himself so that he lay full-length beside Turles, and brushed his lips gently across his bond-brother's mouth.

Such a gentle touch. Turles' eyes fluttered shut as he parted his lips without thinking, his arms twining around Bardock to draw him closer and deepen their kiss.

They had been lovers occasionally in the past. It was not uncommon among bonded brothers, nor badly thought of. They had not touched in this way, had allowed none of their feelings to be expressed this way, since their reunion.

It was a tender kiss, gentle and slow. They took their time, exploring each other, letting tongues touch and feel, letting mouths nibble and embrace.

After a time, his mouth tingling with the heat, Turles drew back to look at his brother. "Bardock... I…" he began, faltering at the adoration in Bardock's eyes.

"Shh …" Bardock said softly. "I know."

Turles shook his head. "No, let me say it." He sat up, bringing his brother with him, and took Bardock's face in his hands. "It nearly killed me when I let you go, but I did it for the right reasons. You don't know what happened to me, or what I did. I don't want you to think I'm the same Turles I was before. I'm… I'm not. I love you, Bardock, but you don't even know me anymore."

Bardock reached up and curled a hand around one of Turles', then kissed his brother's open palm. With a smile, he let go of his hand and embraced him, simply holding him for a long time. He sent comfort and love through the bond between their minds, not seeming to mind that Turles was still holding the door partly closed between them. He moved to nuzzle Turles' throat and breathe deeply of his scent.

"Not know you? You're the moon in my sky, the shadow at my back: my other self," Bardock murmured. "I could no more deny you than I could my own heart, Turles. But I know you won't believe me. You're as stubborn as I am. So, you see, you really leave me no choice…"

Turles smiled for a moment at his brother's words, then gasped in shock as sharp teeth pierced his throat. He thrashed, trying to throw Bardock off, but strong arms held him. There was a moment when he could have powered up and made Bardock let go, but it flashed by almost more quickly than he could recognize it. Pleasure took hold of him, soothing the pain away as Bardock drank from him, pleasure and surrender to the simple reality. He relaxed in Bardock's arms, feeling their bond throb and spark as Bardock ripped it wide open.

/I claim you, Turles. I bind you to me as my mate now and forever. Do you accept me?/

The words resonated in Turles' mind. Claimed. He claimed me. Mate. His eyes drifted shut as he listened, as he felt Bardock's presence double and redouble within him. Even if he had wanted to deny it, the truth compelled him. As Bardock relinquished his flesh, Turles reached up and drove his own teeth into Bardock's neck, completing the inevitable. Liquid bliss flowed over his tongue as he wondered how he'd ever thought things could have ended differently between them.

Bardock felt the pain, the brutal fact of his flesh being breached, transmuted into pleasure almost before he could react to it. Turles' mouth was on him, scalding and desperate, licking at his flesh and drinking his blood like the sacrament it was. He accepted Turles, accepted everything about Turles. He needed him, craved him. The one unforgivable thing that Turles could have done, he had turned away from. He'd been willing to suffer his own death rather than take Kakkarot's life. If Bardock had needed any proof that his brother's heart was still his, still capable of being repaired, it had been offered to him in that one act.

He had bound Turles to him, and himself to Turles. There would be no more separations, no severing of what clearly was meant to be.

With a flush of purest pleasure, he felt Turles' mouth leave his claim mark to begin worshipping his skin, the warm tongue darting here and there to sample him. Nothing in his life had ever felt so right as the doubled sensations reaching him from his own body and from Turles.

His brother's mouth was an astonishment, a delight… No, wait. Not his brother. Not any more. By saiyajin law, by custom, and by the needs of the heart, choice had superseded mere accident of birth. Turles was his mate now. Before every god Bardock had ever heard of, Turles was his mate.

He took Turles' mouth again in a deep kiss, a lover's kiss. Everything he felt now spilled over, translated into soft movements of a warmth mouth and a slick tongue. The kiss was invasive and complete. He ravished his mate's mouth without force, making Turles moan and arch into his embrace. The occasional trysts of their past were as nothing compared to this.

In a blur of passion and heat, Bardock tasted his lover, lavishing damp kisses on warm flesh. His hands stripped clothing away without troubling either of them, parting simple fabric to reveal the glorious saiyajin below. He let his palms kiss every inch of silky skin, then pressed his mouth to every scar, abolishing past pain through present pleasure. Turles writhed beneath him, eager for him, holding nothing back.

Bardock laid his mate down in the grass, then sat up to pull his armor off and discard his own clothing, paying no heed to it once it was gone. His whole world had narrowed to the saiyajin beneath him, to the love and lust that pulsed in his mind as much as in his body. He possessed Turles' heart, his mind, his spirit: the need to possess his body overwhelmed him.

He pressed into a hot, silken embrace, muscled flesh striving against muscled flesh for the sheer delight of it. Arms stronger than his own, yet more suppliant, pulled him closer still. Legs twined and untwined. Tails wrapped and caressed.

His mate's arousal was pressed against his own, and Bardock moaned in appreciation. Needing to taste, he slid down and took it in his mouth, enjoying the delicate hardness of it, the scent of lust, and the satin feel against the roof of his mouth. The sensual pleasures of providing pleasure enraptured him. He was not cruel. Turles' sex was vulnerable between his teeth. That magnificent body, limbs flung wide, the soft begging sounds, and the subtle, foreshadowing taste in his mouth made him lick and suckle, his slicked fingers pressing into hidden places, invading until they brought Turles his reward.

With a roar, Turles came in his lover's mouth, his aura flaring into life around them briefly and his eyes flashing green with the force of it. How long had it been since the simple act of satiation had been transformed into love? How long since a cherishing body and heart had brought him such pleasure? He could scarcely remember.

Bardock gave him little respite. His own need was overwhelming him. He readied his mate as best he could, then pressed into him, sliding his thick flesh into that heat before the last tremors of orgasm had subsided.

Turles groaned. It was not the pain that struck him the hardest. There was definite pain, but it was a fleeting thing, something that Bardock strove immediately to soothe with soft kisses and gentle touches. It was the slow, loving penetration that meant the most, the complete invasion of his body by the one he loved.

He was a gentle lover, willing to surrender himself completely. Yet he hadn't allowed it for years, for decades. It had never been safe, never prudent. Revealing himself that way would have brought pain. Yet that was all in the past, now. The various rapes of his slave years had nothing to do with this, with himself and Bardock. This was freedom, release through the safest, most cherishing of captivities, and he needed it. Oh, gods, he needed it.

Bardock filled him, then withdrew, leaving a void behind that he could bear only because it wouldn't last long. He arched up and licked the slow stream of blood away from his mate's claim mark, delighting in the taste. It was enough to bring his own arousal surging back. He moaned as his lover drove in again and then began a slow rocking back and forth, making certain they were both ready. Turles wrapped himself around Bardock, enjoying the earthy freedom of sweating flesh pressing against hot skin.

"Go on," he said roughly, lifting his hips up and wrapping his legs tighter around Bardock's waist.

Bardock licked his neck and began moving slowly and then faster, each stroke as hard and full as he could make it. It didn't take long before Turles was certain he was going to lose his mind. Liquid fire rolled up his spine with each perfect touch against his sweet spot. His own erection needed nothing more than the friction between them; through their bond, Turles knew the delicious feel of tight heat wrapped around his aching member. His tail wrapped the base of Bardock's and yanked downward, making Bardock yowl and push in harder.

Bardock bared his teeth at Turles. It was as close as he could get to laughing now, with all his breath stolen away. Perfection grasped and stroked him, and yet with Turles he knew the pleasure of each invasion and retreat. His captive tail bushed out and knotted with Turles' own, the tug of war between the two tails matching and speeding the pace of his hips. Nails left vivid lines down his back, making him shiver, and he bit at the luscious flesh beneath him, growling. Fire pooled in his belly and lightning streaked up his spine.

/…always love you…/

Turles whispered his name and Bardock climaxed, just like that, pulsing out into loving heat. Shuddering helplessly, he clasped his mate close and thrust into him once, twice, almost a third time before Turles whimpered and shouted and came too. The sudden slickness between their bellies and the trembling of their muscles tormented his sensitive flesh delightfully, making him gasp in faint protest before Bardock pulled away.

He didn't go far. Turles wouldn't have let him go in any case. As soon as he moved, a thick tail slapped around his thigh, keeping him close. He settled down in the springy cushion of grass next to his mate, twining limbs and tail around Turles and beginning the slow, rumbling purr that Turles soon echoed back to him.

They lay there for some time, listening to their bodies and the idle thoughts that flashed through their bond.

/How long have you been planning to do that?/

Bardock licked Turles' neck idly. /Bind you? Since the second I knew you still lived./ Smug satisfaction radiated from the elder of the pair for a moment before faltering until dark eyes were hidden behind darker lashes. /Do you regret it?/

/Never,/ Turles said, rolling over to look at him. /Never meant to leave you, never will again./

The mates smiled at each other and kissed lightly. /Do you forgive me? For Radditz and Kakkarot?/

/I do,/ Bardock said. /Kakkarot will, since Vejiita has. Radditz, on the other hand, will get you back one way or another. If there's one thing that bastard's good at, it's revenge. In fact, you'd better let me fondle that tail now, since you'll end up losing a chunk of it sooner or later./

/??? But he already forgave me./

Bardock smirked. /I know. Imagine if he hadn't./

Turles laughed and twined tails with Bardock. "You're proud of them, aren't you?"

"Of course I am. One is mated to Vejiita no Ou, and the other's in a position to cause some real trouble now. Besides which, he did everything he could to protect Kakkarot, and how could I fault him for that? Brothers have to stick together."

Turles grinned and stood up. "Speaking of which, come with me."

"Where are we going?"

/To get a shower, baka. Half the grass on this continent is stuck to my ass now./

Bardock got to his feet and gathered his things. Then his tail whipped through the air to crack his mate sharply on said ass. When Turles yelped and turned to glare at him, Bardock was smug again. "C'mon, quit being so lazy. After all, you've got some hard work ahead of you."

"Doing what?!"

Bardock lifted a few feet into the air, his tail waving behind him. "If you think I'm going to let you and the brat be the only ascended ones in the family, you're sadly mistaken. First a shower, then we're going to train, Turles, and when we're done, you're going to fuck me senseless."

"That won't make you ascend, smart ass. You know that."

"Yeah, but one day I will, and in the meantime it'll be fun trying. That is, if you're up to it…"

With that, Bardock launched himself across the sky, and Turles took to the air just a few feet behind him. Their laughter echoed behind them as they chased each other through the skies of Vegetasei. They were still young enough and in love, and that was all that mattered. Perhaps it was all that had ever mattered.

Above them the faintest streaks could be seen as the day turned towards evening. It was the last night of the Fall of Souls. Across Vegetasei, as the sun disappeared and the first stars came out, saiyajins lit the candles of their house shrines one last time, in the hope that some loved one, long ago lost and never forgotten, would find their way home again.

~~The End~~