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The plateau hummed with the aftershocks of sparring. Goku and Vegeta stood panting, while Beerus lounged nearby, critiquing their form with his usual boredom. A few yards away, Trunks—exhausted from a grueling week at Capsule Corp—was fast asleep, his head pillowed against a moss-covered rock.
Movement stirred near the treeline.
A creature stepped into the clearing. It was iridescent, scaled in shifting hues of violet and gold. Roughly the size of a house cat, it moved with a liquid, predatory grace that didn't match its "cute" appearance. It began sniffing the air frantically, its snout twitching as it looked every which way.
"Whoa, look at that!" Goku grinned, powering down to base form. "Its kind of cute. Hey, little guy!"
Goku took a step forward, hand outstretched, but a blur of purple skin intercepted him. Beerus had lunged across the clearing, his face the sickly, sun-bleached shade of a forgotten raisin. He grabbed Goku by the collar of his Gi, hauling him back with a violent jerk.
"Don't. Move. A muscle," Beerus hissed. His golden eyes were wide, fixed on the small dragon. For the first time in history, the God of Destruction was visibly trembling.
Vegeta crossed his arms, his brow furrowed in irritation. "Its a lizard, Beerus. Have you finally lost your mind, or is Earths food starting to rot your brain?"
"Shut up, you fool!" Beerus whispered, his voice cracking. "Vegeta, remember what I told you about the Primordial Weavers? The entities that existed before the Divine Calendar began? The ones I told you were either extinct or locked away in the Primordial Plain?"
Vegetas expression shifted from annoyance to realization. "You said they were equal to—or greater than—the Gods of Destruction. The apex of the multiverse."
"That 'thing' is a hatchling," Beerus hissed, his grip on Goku tightening so hard the Saiyan winced. "And even as a babe, it could erase this entire galaxy if it felt a momentary whim of spite. I can feel its energy... it's like staring into a sun that hasn't been born yet."
Goku blinked, looking from the terrified God to the sniffing dragon. "But it looks so happy."
"That's because it found something," Beerus breathed, his tail twitching in pure terror.
The dragons head suddenly snapped toward the mossy rock. Its eyes locked onto the sleeping form of Trunks. It let out a high-pitched, melodic chirrup of pure delight—a sound that vibrated in the very marrow of the onlookers' bones.
Before Beerus could even scream a warning, the creature launched itself. It was a blur of light, crossing the distance in a millisecond, and slammed directly onto Trunks chest.
Trunks spluttered awake, his eyes snapping open as he felt the weight on his chest. He looked down, seeing the happy little iridescent thing sitting on his chest, and immediately went off.
"What the...!" Trunks yelped. He jumped up with such force that the creature went tumbling to the ground. A few yards away, Beerus looked as if he were about to have a heart attack, watching the dragon get tossed aside like a common housecat.
Trunks, completely oblivious to Beerus's terror, groaned and rubbed at his face. "How did you... no, no, no, just no!"
Meanwhile, the tiny dragon hadnt missed a beat. Before Trunks could react, it scrambled back up his chest and sat there, clinging to his shirt and chirping excitedly right into his face
Trunks growled, reaching up to grab the creature firmly by the scruff of its neck, between its small, sparkling wings, vaulted to his feet. He pulled it off and held it at arm's length.
"No, shoo! Go away!" he commanded, his voice full of exasperation. "Just how the hell did you even find me?"
He pivoted sharply and deposited the tiny dragon on the moss-covered rock he had been using as a pillow. Keeping his eyes locked on it, he slowly backed away, hands held up defensively to catch it if it launched again.
The creature simply sat down, cocked its head to the side with disarming innocence, and let out a soft, questioning chirp. Falsely assuming the thing would stay put, Trunks turned his back to leave.
Promptly, the thing launched again.
Trunks heard the air cut and twisted around on reflex, only to get the iridescent dragon square on the face, clinging to it. He tried one more time to pull the persistent creature off, but after a second of struggling, he gave up in pure annoyance. He stopped fighting and folded his arms over his chest, mimicking Vegetas signature stance.
"Fine! Just stop suffocating me," he told the thing. Taking the hint, the dragon released his face and proceeded to climb up until it was perched perfectly on top of Trunks head.
While all this unfolded, Beerus was having a full-blown meltdown. He was hyperventilating, his eyes wide and unblinking, watching Trunks manhandle an entity he considered far more dangerous than Zeno himself. Whis just floated nearby, a small, intrigued smile on his face. Goku was just watching, fascinated. Vegeta was simply... processing.
Huffy and frustrated, Trunks finally noticed the dead silence hanging over the clearing. He turned to look at the stunned group—Beerus, Goku, and Vegeta—who were staring at him in various states of shock.
A deep blush spread across his cheeks. Half annoyed, half angry at being stared at. The tiny dragon shifted on his head, settling in like a hat. "What!" Trunks snapped.
Trunks waited for an explanation, but he didn't get an answer from the stunned trio. Growing more annoyed by the second, he started to approach the three men.
As Trunks stepped forward, Beerus literally squeaked in fright. The God of Destruction lunged sideways, grabbing a very confused Goku by the shoulders and pulling the Saiyan in front of him to use as a living shield.
Trunks stopped right there, bewildered by the display. "Would you mind?" he asked, gesturing pointedly at the iridescent thing perched on his head.
Beerus shook his head violently, refusing to go anywhere near the creature. Vegeta just stared at his son in pure disbelief, his jaw slightly slack, while Goku—being Goku—just blinked with wide, curious eyes.
"What the hell is wrong with you? Do something!" Trunks snapped, his patience at an end. On top of his head, the little dragon chirped again, sounding remarkably smug.
Trunks sighed and rolled his eyes upward, trying to catch a glimpse of the creature sitting on his hair. He shifted into a heated rant. "I have no idea how he found me, or how he even got here! Last time I saw him was on Planet M-2," Trunks grumbled, recalling the frantic journey he took with Pan and Goku.
"Just why?" he addressed the dragon directly, his voice rising. "First, you almost bit my hand off when I was only trying to help you out of that thicket, then you completely messed up our plans and delayed us, and now youve followed me all the way home!"
Beerus made a strangled, wheezing sound. "Bi... bi... bit..." he stammered, his grip tightening so hard on Gokus that he was almost strangling the Saiyan. The thought of a mortal surviving a bite from a Primordial Weaver, let alone scolding it, was more than his mind could handle.
Trunks turned his gaze back to Beerus, watching the Gods terrified trembling for a moment before looking at Goku with a deadpan expression. "Just how hard did you hit the idiot?" he asked, genuinely convinced Beerus had suffered a traumatic brain injury during their spar.
Despite his sheer terror, the insult cut through Beeruss panic just enough to spark his legendary ego. He puffed out his chest, arching his back in his trademark show of authority, attempting to regain some semblance of dignity.
"I am not an idiot, you insolent brat!" he shrieked, his voice hitting a comedically high pitch. He tried to look imposing, but the effect was entirely ruined by the fact that he remained firmly crouched behind Goku, using the Saiyans bulk to hide every inch of his purple frame.
Beeruss hands are still white-knuckled as they clutch Goku's shoulders, peeking out from behind the orange Gi with only one wide, fearful eye visible.
Trunks just stared at him, unimpressed, while the dragon on his head let out a soft, rhythmic purr that vibrated through his skull.
Vegeta, whose eyes hadn't left the iridescent creature, finally spoke up. His voice low and unusually strained. "Trunks... you said it tried to bite you. And you... yelled at it?"
"Not tried, it did!" Trunks huffed, reaching up to adjust the dragon like a sliding hat. "I told you, the little brat nearly took my hand off. No idea how something so tiny can have a bite like that. I had to give it a piece of my mind before it calmed down. It took almost a week to heal!"
Beerus let out another pathetic wheeze at the word 'brat,' his knees actually knocking together behind Goku. He was torn between wanting to Hakai Trunks for the insult and wanting to flee to another universe before the tiny dragon decided to stop purring and start erasing reality.
He pointed a trembling finger at the creature and Trunks, his eyes wide with disbelief. "Don't you dare lie to a God, boy! If you had truly been bitten by a Weaver, there wouldn't have been enough of your soul left to fill a thimble! You wouldn't have survived, let alone be standing there complaining about it!"
Trunks, already thoroughly annoyed with the 'idiot' Gods dramatics, looked at Beerus with a flat, deadpan expression. "Look, I don't know what kind of bedtime stories you've been listening to, but it wasn't that big of a deal. I found him stuck in some shimmering vines on Planet M-2. When I tried to help, the little brat snapped at me. It hurt like hell and my hand glowed for an hour, but Im still here, aren't I?"
As if taking offense to the pointed finger, the little creatures head snapped toward Beerus. It let out a sharp, metallic hiss and snapped its jaws at the air in his direction. Beerus pulled his hand away with another terrified shriek, nearly toppling Goku over as he retreated further into the Saiyan's back.
Lowering its slender neck from its perch atop his hair, the creature leaned down and started to affectionately rub its head against Trunks cheek. Its scales felt surprisingly warm and smooth, like polished gemstones, as it nuzzled him with rhythmic, cat-like nudges.
Trunks flinched slightly at the sudden contact, his "tough" facade wavering. "Hey—cut it out! That tickles," he grumbled, though his voice had lost its sharp edge.
The sight of the creature acting like a needy housecat caused Beerus to let out a sound that was half-sob and half-hiccup. He watched, horrified, as it rubbed its face against the half-Saiyans jawline. Goku was just beaming at the display.
"See, Beerus?" Goku said, patting the Gods trembling hand on his shoulder while subtly trying to pry the tight grip off his neck. "Hes just a friendly little guy! He really likes Trunks."
Beerus stuttered, his ego flaring again in affront. "F... f... friendly?! That is a Primordial Weaver, you absolute simpleton! It warps reality with a—" He broke off in the middle of his own rant, his eyes widening as the logic of Trunks' story finally caught up to his panic. "Hold on... glowed? Your hand glowed?!"
Trunks shrugged, looking entirely unimpressed by the Gods dramatic shift in tone. "Yeah. It was like a bright white light for about an hour. It didn't even leave a scar, so?"
Beerus began to sway on his feet, his eyes glazed over as he processed the impossibility of what he had just heard. Slowly, his fingers went limp, finally leting go of Gokus neck.
Goku, who had spent the entirety of the God's rant frantically tapping at the chokehold and clawing at the purple hands to get him to loosen his grip, gasped for air.
Beerus looked as if he were about to fold in half, his knees buckling. Neither Goku—too distracted, gasping for air and rubbing his sore neck—nor Vegeta, standing with his arms crossed and not caring the least for the drama-prone deity, moved an inch to help.
With no one to catch him, Beerus lost the last of his strength and planted his backside firmly on the floor with a dull thud. He stared up at the dragon on Trunks' head with the expression of a man who had just seen the end of the universe in a childs drawing.
Trunks watched the God of Destruction collapse into a heap on the grass and let out a long, heavy sigh. He looked at his father and Goku, but seeing as no one was going to actually help him get rid of the creature, he decided he was done with the whole conversation.
"Fine. If youre all just going to stand there and lose your minds, Im going back to sleep," Trunks muttered, sounding completely drained.
He turned on his heel and trudged back toward his mossy rock. The little dragon, still firmly perched on his head, chirped in triumph and settled its weight more comfortably into his hair as if it had found the perfect nest.
Trunks reached the emerald-colored stone and flopped back down, leaning his head against the moss. He didn't even bother trying to shoo the thing away this time; he simply closed his eyes and crossed his arms.
"Just... wake me up when the 'end of the world' is over," he grumbled into the silence of the clearing.
As his breathing evened out into a light doze, the "Apex of the Multiverse" curled its tail around his ear, let out a rhythmic, vibrating purr that resonated through the plateau, and closed its own eyes, looking for all the world like a content kitten on its favorite human.
Vegeta stood perfectly still, his arms crossed tightly over his chest as he stared at his sleeping son. He finally shifted his gaze down to the God of Destruction shivering on the grass.
"Beerus," Vegeta said, his voice low and gravelly. "Didn't you say something about these beings only allowing their own kind to touch them? That any other soul would be extinguished upon contact?"
Beerus, still sitting on the ground, could only watch the scene with a hollow, haunted stare, his mouth hanging open in a silent scream. He swallowed hard, his throat clicking. "The glow..." he whispered, his voice trembling. "The bite wasn't a kill-strike. It was a Soul-Bind. The boy didn't just survive it... he's bonded to the damn thing."
He let out a faint, pathetic whimper, watching the creature's scales shimmer in synchronization with Trunks' breathing, realizing that the most dangerous power in the multiverse had just become a permanent member of the Briefs' household.
Nearby, Goku—who had finally managed to stop coughing—wiped his mouth and stood up. He watched the peaceful, shimmering dragon nuzzling into Trunks' hair and his eyes lit up with his usual, reckless curiosity.
"So, if they're buddies now," Goku said, his voice cheerful and completely back to normal, "does that mean I can finally pet it?"
"DON'T YOU DARE!" Beerus shrieked from the floor, but Goku was already wandering toward the rock with a big, goofy grin on his face.