Escarot

I didn't sleep much that night. And understandably so.

I went to my room after Whis finished talking, and I sat on the edge of my bed with my hands hanging between my knees as I looked at the wall until the sky outside went black.

I had no idea how…. how to deal with this. I mean... How was I supposed to deal with this? HOW THE FUCK, was I supposed to take this? I had been preparing to help Broly, to steer him away from the path he was originally destined to take, but… I never prepared to face the adversities I thought he would face.

I chuckled, though I can’t say this doesn’t have a silver-lining, I am glad my little brother won’t have to… deal with this. 

If I have to be the monster… then so be it. I’ll walk it so he never has to step foot on it. Broly deserves a life where he isn't defined by a genetic lottery of fucking misfortune, where his power doesn't make him a prisoner to madness or a weapon for others. I’ll be the one who takes all the heat. I just hope that by the time he’s old enough to understand the universe, I’ve found a way to make sure he’s safe, regardless of what I become…

I was going to protect Broly. And that… counted for something.

"My… aren’t you a depressing one," a voice chimed from the balcony, breaking the quiet.

I jumped, my hands flying up in a defensive posture as I spun around.

Whis was standing in the corner of my room, his staff resting lightly against his shoulder. 

"Whis," I breathed, letting my hands drop. "What are you doing here?"

"Not much," Whis replied, stepping into the room with a faint, knowing smile. He looked at my bed, then back at me. "You haven't slept a wink. Haven’t you?"

"I was just... thinking," I muttered, looking back down at the floor.

"I can see that. Let me take a wild guess, you were thinking about your brother," Whis said as he walked over to the window, looking up at the sky. "And you were thinking about becoming a monster so he wouldn't have to."

My throat tightened. "How?" Not only that… how was Whis aware of… Broly’s possible situation.

"Angels are known for being intuitive, Escarot. We need that skill to tend to our Gods." Whis turned around, his expression shifting from amusement to something surprisingly serious. "Your protective instinct is admirable. But you are making a fundamental error in your thinking."

I blinked. "What do you mean?"

"You are overcomplicating things," Whis said, his tone softening as he walked away from the window. The base of his staff tapped the floor with a dull click, and the sharp, stinging sensation of the green static on my skin faded into a cool, pleasant numbness. "You are awake, exhausting your mind over things that haven't happened yet."

I stared at him. "But my power—"

"Your power is a matter for tomorrow," Whis interrupted gently, holding up a finger to stop me. "Right now, your only duty is to rest. If you stay awake all night brooding, you won't have the focus required for the training I have planned for you."

He turned back toward the balcony, his long robes swirling gracefully. "Go to sleep, Escarot. Rest your mind, and leave the worrying to me."

"And if I can't control it?" I asked, the words slipping out before I could stop them. "What if I close my eyes, lose control in my sleep, and go on a rampage right here?"

Whis paused at the edge of the balcony, looking back over his shoulder. The faint, knowing smile returned to his face, entirely untroubled.

"Then I will simply tap you on the head and stop you again," he said lightly, as if discussing nothing more serious than a minor nuisance. "It really is that simple. Your power might be… impressive, but rest assured that Lord Beerus or myself could stop you with a single finger, so while we are here, just rest."

With a soft breeze, he stepped out onto the balcony and vanished.

I sat there for a moment, the absolute absurdity of his casual reassurance washing over me. I was losing sleep over a cosmic apocalypse, and the strongest being I had ever met treated it like a bad dream he could just slap away, because… well, he could, and oddly enough... It worked. The suffocating weight left my chest....

He was right... as long they were here. I had little to fear.

I was decades away from being an actual universal threat.

Beerus and Whis

"He finally went to sleep," Whis said, his staff glowing faintly as he monitored the energy coming from within Escarot’s quarters. "He was on the verge of a meltdown before I arrived."

Beerus sat cross-legged in the air, idly tossing a piece of fruit into the air and catching it. He didn't look back at the palace. "Mortals and their dramatic stuff. They always think they're the first ones to discover tragedy."

"So… what now?" Whis asked, turning his head to look at the God of Destruction. "We have been on Planet Vegeta for far longer than intended."

"I suppose," Beerus said, catching the fruit one last time, before biting into it with a loud crunch. "We’ll leave in a month."

Whis raised an eyebrow, a knowing smile tugging at the corners of his lips. "A month? And I suppose you believe a month is enough time?"

"It should be enough to give the brat a basic foundation," Beerus muttered, swallowing the piece of fruit. "Just enough control so he doesn't accidentally vaporize his own people…” he yawned. “These new urges will start to manifest soon enough. The bloodlust, short temper... he'll have to learn to manage that on his own."

Whis's expression shifted, his tone dropping into something far more serious as he stepped closer to the railing. "Are you entirely certain about this decision, Lord Beerus?"

Beerus grinned, his tail flicking lazily against the stone. “Why do you ask, Whis?”

"You know why," Whis continued softly. "He’s a threat to the stability of Universe 7. Ultimately, the duty falls to you to erase any mortal who poses such a catastrophic danger to the balance. If he fails to rein… this new power of his, if the madness takes him, you will have to destroy him."

Beerus scoffed, tossing the core of the fruit over the edge of the terrace into the streets below.

"If that happens, I'll destroy him," Beerus said, though there was a distinct lack of his usual dangerous edge. He uncrossed his legs and stood up, stretching his arms high above his head with a wide yawn. "But… as you have so lovingly pointed out for the last several million years… I am an incredibly lazy God, so who knows..."

Whis chuckled quietly, resting his staff against his shoulder. "My, my... If I didn't know any better, I'd say you've grown quite fond of him, but that's impossible right?"

"Exactly," Beerus snapped, turning his back and walking toward the indoor chambers, his ears twitching in annoyance. "I just don't to go through the trouble of finding another chef this good... Now shut it, I'm going to sleep."

Whis watched him walk away. "As you wish, Lord Beerus."

Tomat and Paragus

Tomat chewed thoughtfully on her jerky, her gaze drifting out toward the endless field of stars beyond the viewport. She didn't say anything for a long moment, which was uncharacteristic for her, after all, she always had an opinion to share. Usually, by now she'd be complaining about the engine noise or the quality of the ship's water recycling unit.

Paragus noticed the sudden quiet and glanced over, tapping a failing button on the radar screen. "Are you hungry again?"

"Always, but it's not that," Tomat said, tossing the half-eaten jerky onto the console. She turned her pilot chair around to face him fully, crossing her arms over her chest armor. "Eh, fuck it, I’ll just go out and say it, I'm pregnant again."

Paragus froze, his hand hovering over the navigation deck. He blinked, looking between her face and her midsection, his brain temporarily short-circuiting. "You're... what?!"

"I mean… we haven’t really stopped sharing our bed… since you killed our squad to save food, it was bound to happen," she snorted, rolling her eyes. Then, her expression shifted, as she leaned forward, resting her elbows on her knees. "I've been thinking… Now that Escarot is the King, do you think we could use his royal authority to get us a better incubation pod from the med bay?"

"How are you pregnant?!" Paragus blurted out, genuinely baffled.

Tomat gave him a flat, incredibly dry look. "You fucked me, multiple times… we have two cubs, you should know the HOW by now… this fucking moron, I swear…"

Paragus coughed violently, his face turning a slight shade of crimson as he nearly choked on his own saliva. "I—that is not what I meant, Tomat! I mean how did you manage to get pregnant on this tiny ship while we are stranded out here in the middle of nowhere?!"

"I think that actually helped, not much to do here," Tomat huffed, waving her knife dismissively. "But enough about that, the point is, the King's family shouldn't be using the standard Low-Class garbage pods. If our oldest boy is running the whole damn planet, we should be getting access to the absolute top-of-the-line, state-of-the-art medical equipment. I'm talking about the premium liquid-filled pods with all the new shit."

Paragus let out a heavy, exhausted sigh, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Tomat... our eldest has a lot of problems on his hands, we shouldn’t bother him… and yet, your immediate priority is using his royal decree and power for a prenatal care upgrade?"

"Why wouldn't I?" Tomat said, crossing her arms again and turning back to the window with a smug look. "It would be nice to have a little leverage for once. Those BASTARDS at the brats area, are incredibly rude to the lower ranks. Let's see them talk back to the King's mother!"

Paragus shook his head, as a small, amused huff escaping him. "Let's just focus on... figuring out how to return to planet Vegeta."

“You think it’s going to be a boy or a girl?” Tomat asked.