The mechanical breathing of Toji's Vader suit echoed through the empty corridors of the Imperial Palace.
Each step was measured, deliberate - a product of both the damage to his right leg and the sheer determination driving him forward.
His cape dragged slightly on the polished floor behind him, a shadow trailing a shadow. With each step, he maintained his balance through subtle telekinesis, compensating for the nerve damage that made his right leg unreliable.
None of that mattered now.
Only one thing occupied his thoughts: Megumi.
From the moment consciousness had returned in that medical chamber, his son's ki signature had been the first thing he'd sought.
Even through the pain, even through the shock of his transformed condition, he had felt that tiny, familiar flicker of energy somewhere in the palace.
Now he moved toward it with singular purpose, ignoring the palace staff who flattened themselves against walls as he passed, their faces masks of fear and awe.
Lord Duskborn had returned from death, more terrible than before.
The corridor ahead curved gracefully, leading toward the royal wing. As Toji rounded the bend, a figure stepped into his path, having followed him, intercepted him, is blocking his way.
Freeza.
She stood perfectly still, her white hair cascading over her shoulders, her violet eyes fixed on his mask. Her expression was unreadable, a complex mixture of emotions carefully controlled.
Toji halted, the mechanical breathing filling the silence between them. For several long moments, neither moved nor spoke. They simply regarded each other - empress and lord, woman and man, mother and father.
Finally, Freeza stepped forward. She approached until she stood directly before him, close enough that she had to tilt her head back slightly to meet the eyepieces of his mask.
Without warning, her hand flew up, aiming to strike his helmet in a slap.
Toji's prosthetic hand shot out with inhuman speed, catching her wrist mid-swing. The metallic fingers closed around her delicate wrist with just enough pressure to stop her, not enough to harm.
"I am not in the mood for your games," he stated coldly, his modulated voice cold.
With a casual flick of his wrist, he threw her sideways into the wall. The impact cracked the ornate paneling as Freeza slid to the floor, her eyes wide with shock - not from pain, but from the ease with which he had manhandled her.
Before his battle with Dragon Slug, they had been near equals in their base forms. Now, even in his damaged state, he had tossed her aside like a doll.
Toji moved to walk past her without another word, his focus returning to the ki signature that called to him. But as he passed, something caught his eye - a glint of light from the floor where Freeza had landed.
He paused, looking down.
There, in her open palm, lay the necklace he had crafted on that jungle planet - the pendant made from a fragment of her bio-armor. The one he had worn as a reminder of her, even after she had abandoned him and Megumi.
It was cracked now, damaged during his battle with Dragon Slug - him having protected it even during his near death.
He had forgotten about it entirely after achieving his Imaginary form, lost in the power high and subsequent destruction.
Toji stood motionless for a moment, the mechanical breathing steady and unchanging. Then, slowly, he crouched down before her, a tower of shadow bending toward light.
His prosthetic hand reached out, fingers closing carefully around the broken pendant. He lifted it from her palm, examining the crack that ran through its center.
Freeza made no move to stop him, her eyes tracking his every movement. She didn't speak, didn't attempt to explain why she had it or how she had found it.
She didn't need to.
Toji rose to his full height, the pendant clutched in his mechanical hand. Without a word, he continued walking, moving past her toward his destination.
Freeza remained on the floor, watching him go, equally silent.
No words were needed between them. His taking of the necklace spoke volumes - despite everything, despite his cold demeanor and her attempted slap, the bond remained.
He still loved her, still wanted that connection.
And she understood that his coldness wasn't rejection. It was pain, exhaustion, and the overwhelming need to see their son.
Her attempted slap hadn't been anger alone - it had been fear of losing him, rage at his recklessness, pain at the thought of him leaving her and Megumi forever.
Toji continued through the palace corridors, his stride more purposeful now, the necklace clutched tightly in his mechanical hand. Guards and servants scattered before him, sensing the dangerous energy that radiated from his form.
As he approached the massive doors of the Sovereign Chamber, two elite guards crossed their weapons, blocking his path.
"Halt! The Emperor is not receiving visitors at this time," one announced, his voice wavering slightly despite his training.
Toji didn't break stride. "Move," he commanded, the single word carrying more menace than a thousand threats.
"We cannot allow-" the second guard began.
Toji's patience, already thin, snapped completely. With a casual gesture, he sent both guards flying into opposite walls, their weapons clattering uselessly to the floor.
The massive doors before him were sealed - ornate barriers of precious metals and ancient technology designed to withstand even planetary bombardment.
They might as well have been paper.
Toji extended his remaining organic hand, channeling his telekinesis. The doors groaned, then buckled, then burst inward with a thunderous crash that echoed throughout the palace.
Inside the Sovereign Chamber, King Cold looked up from his throne, momentarily startled by the dramatic entrance.
But his surprise quickly gave way to a pleased expression as he recognized the dark figure standing in the doorway.
"Lord Duskborn," Cold greeted, his deep voice carrying across the vast chamber. "I am pleased to see you ambulatory once more."
Toji stepped forward, his focus immediately fixing on the small bundle in Cold's massive arms.
Megumi.
"Your son has been most... distressed in your absence," Cold continued, cradling the infant with gentleness. "For three days since your return, he has cried himself to sleep repeatedly, calling for you in his own way."
Cold rose from his throne, carrying Megumi with careful movements. "I have been personally attending to him. The Cold Dynasty values family above all else, and this little one is my grandson."
Toji remained silent, the mechanical breathing the only sound betraying his presence. His eyes, hidden behind the mask, never left his son's form.
Cold approached, holding Megumi so the child faced Toji. "He has been inconsolable. The imperial caretakers could do nothing to calm him. Only my presence seemed to provide any comfort, perhaps because he senses our blood connection."
As Cold drew closer, Megumi's eyes suddenly widened. The baby had been listless, exhausted from crying, but at the sound of the mechanical breathing - that familiar, rhythmic sound he had come to associate with safety and love - he suddenly came alive.
With a strength that surprised even Cold, Megumi launched himself from the emperor's arms toward Toji, his tiny hands reaching desperately.
"Dada!" The word burst from the infant's lips - his first word ever spoken.
Toji caught his son with his organic arm and prosthetic, the shock of hearing Megumi speak momentarily stunning him.
The baby immediately pressed himself against Toji's chest plate, tiny fingers clutching at the black armor as if afraid his father might disappear again.
The emotion that washed over Toji was overwhelming. His knees buckled, and he sank to the floor of the Sovereign Chamber, cradling his son against him.
Inside the helmet, tears slowly streamed down his scarred face.
The feared Lord Duskborn, the man who had destroyed an ancient dragon, reduced to a vulnerable father on his knees.
He had feared, in those dark moments when consciousness had left him, when he felt death approach twice during his battle against Slug, that he might never hold his son again.
When he first awoke and felt himself wrong- incomplete, damaged, he feared before Whis showed him his being, that his damaged body might make him unrecognizable, or worse, that Megumi might fear what he had become.
Yet here was his son, clinging to him, and those worries washed away, like a mountain has fallen off his shoulders.
The relief brought him to tears.
Megumi pulled back slightly, looking up at the expressionless mask. Despite not being able to see through it, despite there being no visible tears, the baby somehow sensed his father's emotion.
With uncanny intuition, he reached up, tiny fingers touching the area below the helmet's eyes.
"Don' cry, Dada," he said.
Toji froze, stunned. Megumi was far too young to be speaking in sentences, yet here he was, not only recognizing Toji's emotional state but attempting to comfort him.
But of course, his son has always been special.
In many ways at that.
King Cold observed the scene with quiet interest, his massive frame towering over the kneeling Toji and the tiny Megumi.
"Your son is remarkable," Cold commented softly. "His development exceeds even Frost Demon standards. I believe we are witnessing the emergence of something truly unique in the universe."
Toji barely heard the emperor's words. His entire world had narrowed to the small being in his arms, the son who had somehow reached through the barrier of his mask to touch his soul.
In that moment, everything else - his injuries, his quest for divine ki, Freeza - all of it faded to insignificance.
This was what mattered.
This was what he would live for, fight for, become a destroyer for.
Megumi smiled up at him, a perfect mixture of his features and Freeza's, innocent yet somehow aware beyond his years.
"Dada back," the baby declared with satisfaction, patting the chest plate of the Vader suit.
"Yes," Toji replied, his modulated voice softer than it had been since he donned the helmet. "Dada's back. And I'm not going anywhere."
Behind them, unnoticed by either Toji or Cold, Freeza stood in the shattered doorway, watching father and son reunite.
Her expression remained carefully neutral, but her hand moved unconsciously to her chest, where a pendant similar to the one Toji had taken hung- one fashioned from a broken piece of Toji's former Helmet.
The scene before her stirred emotions she still struggled to understand - pride, jealousy, longing, yet she still felt that she wasn't ready.
But she knew she was more than before.
She turned away silently, leaving father and son to their reunion. There would be time later for the three of them.
For now, she would give them this moment.
Toji needed this.
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(Author note: Hello everyone! I hope you all liked the chapter!
Yeah, I believed a chapter focused on Toji's mental state and what he worried most about - his son - during his near death fight, the first time where he was truly near death since his transmigration, since even against Freeza he always had equal ground, or was superior to her.
Dragon Slug was the first to ever truly overpower him truly before his awakening. It is also why Toji during his power high was so set on breaking Slug down completely, since he made him feel more fear than ever- the fear of never seeing his son again.
Well, I hope to see you all later,
Bye!)