sʏɴᴏᴘsɪs: ᴠɪʟᴛʀᴜᴍɪᴛᴇ ᴍᴀʀᴋ ʀᴇᴍɪɴɪsᴄᴇs ᴀʙᴏᴜᴛ ʏᴏᴜ ᴀꜰᴛᴇʀ ᴄᴀᴛᴄʜɪɴɢ ᴀ ɢʟɪᴍᴘsᴇ ᴏꜰ ʏᴏᴜ ᴅᴜʀɪɴɢ ᴛʜᴇɪʀ ɪɴᴠᴀsɪᴏɴ. [Question mark lmao????]
ʸᵒᵘⁿᵍᵉʳ ˢᶦˢᵗᵉʳ ʳᵉᵃᵈᵉʳ!, ᴹᵃʳᵏ ⱽᵃʳᶦᵃⁿᵗˢ, ᴴᶜˢ ᵃᵇᵒᵘᵗ ᵗʰᵉ ᴹᵃʳᵏˢ. ᴺᵒᵗʰᶦⁿᵍ ᵐᵘᶜʰ ᵉˡˢᵉ ʲᵘˢᵗ ᵐᵉ ʸᵃᵖᵖᶦⁿᵍ. ᴼʰ ᵃⁿᵈ ᵍʳᵃᵐᵖᵃ ᶜᵒⁿᵠᵘᵉˢᵗ, ˢᵒʳᵗ ᵒᶠ ᵇᵘᵗ ⁿᵒᵗ ʳˡʸ
Note:This was gonna be a list of headcanons, but I was so tired and too full of ideas that I just started yapping. So half of this makes sense, and the other half may not😔
You weren't really one for fanfare, so it surprised Mark to see you in such an outfit or superhero costume to be more specific. Back on Viltrum, you had little care in things like appearances. It was always father or someone on the council telling you to clean up or look presentable enough to represent the prestige and dignity of your line and the empire.
You would scoff at their insistence but eventually gave in by the end of the day. It was those small things that annoyed him the most about you.
To think that they placed all their hopes in the future of their lineage onto that. He thinks it might be because no one really raised you. Debbie was around for a bit, but you didn't really remember her, if at all.
You were around three when father killed her. He claimed to have done so because he could not bear the thought of her existence possibly softening you, especially in your pliable years.
Apparently, he did not have the same grievances towards Mark. He had won him over to his side long ago when he was still a preteen. He was closer to father than he was to you. Father used to attempt to create small events or opportunities for the lot of you to bond once you began to understand everything around you, but your brattiness and the lack of their presence went unchecked for too long by that point and nothing they did interested you.
The only ones you seemed to listen to at any degree were Thula, Kregg, and Conquest, and that was if you were being generous. It did not amuse your father in the slightest, but he never tried to change anything about it either. Mark noticed you tended to gravitate towards Kregg the most when it came to guidance or really anything else, he didn't care about it much, just grateful that you were at least going to the one that had the most patience within the empire.
He caught a strange feeling in his chest when he once thought you were coming to him for something. A request or advice, he did not know, but he caught you going around the empire asking around for him. He hid for a bit, avoiding you, until he had to get back to his duties, and you inevitably found him.
You had asked him why Conquest was named Conquest. A simple question. An unexpected one. An irritating one. He was confused at first, but once you started running your mouth about how much you disliked it and Viltrums customs, there was a ringing in his ear and a warmth that crept up on him.
You went through all that trouble just to waste his time about something stupid, something stupid that the two of you couldn't even laugh about and have a conversation of. You hadn't spoken to him in years, and that was what you brought his attention to? He scoffed and rolled his eyes, pushing you aside as you did the same and ran off the other way, your attention no longer on him.
He felt embarrassed to even consider the thought that you would seek him out for something as mundane as advice or a little chat. What did he know, though? He didn't even know you, just that you were his little sister. The kind that his friends and mother on earth told him he'd have to play with and protect. It was a lie. You were nothing but a stranger to him. Someone for you to spend your time with when you were bored.
The spare his father had around.
A spare that lost meaning or purpose over time the more you diverted from their culture and their lack of disciplining you.
Within the next few years Conquest, or "Connie" as you had dubbed him, seemed to be the one you followed around and trained with. Everything you learned, you were learning from him.
Eventually father took an uneasy notice and had Thula and the others around you more, in an attempt to train you or keep you obedient. Mark couldn't really tell. He sometimes caught a weird glint in father's eyes when you passed by with Connie in tow, he didn't want to assume but perhaps it was akin to the look he had when another kid on the playground had a toy he wanted, jealousy.
It was comical how father held such frustration at such a trivial issue. Suddenly he wanted to be your precious father now that another threatened the position that was rightfully his?
Never mind all that, he could care less what father really wanted to do with you in the future, the empire would be his anyway.
You'd eventually started warming up to him and father once you started to mature a bit. Nothing too drastic, small steps at first. You'd ask how his day was, and he'd give a mundane answer, not thinking that you were being serious or actually cared.
He'd never asked you the same. He always knew what you were doing since you were always on Viltrum. You were never permitted leave, nor did you ask for it. Not many places You'd even be able to go being viltrums most valuable asset. They couldn't afford you being injured, as invulnerable as you were.
You did know how to fight and were given regularly scheduled sparring matches with the council, but nothing passed that. You recently took a liking to Kregg and his methods, which annoyed the man himself, as he wanted his time spent working with the actual heir of the empire. Though he'd never dare voice his qualms about your requests.
You were left to your own devices for the most part. The empires archive had access to all the knowledge they've accumulated from conquered planets, and you would spend some time there, if only to just have something to do. You'd watch things and read. Nothing too groundbreaking or concerning enough for them to intervene.
They should've guessed your change in mood and approaches were due to you seeking out a greater understanding from your home planet, earth.
You snuck up on Mark one day. You should've expected the punch he gave you across your face from startling him. He nearly thought you were trying to cull him, to further solidify your spot within the empire. It wasn't too far off from what they used to do before their numbers dwindled. He wouldn't have thought you were capable, but he didn't put it above you possibly committing regicide.
"Fuck!" You yelled out after you held your nose and blood leaked out uncontrollably. You felt a weird crack in your cheek as well but didn't pay it much mind as it wasn't what was currently bleeding.
"Hello to you too, jeez." You winced. The casual way you went about it and newfound vocabulary made him falter for a second.
"Don't do that again." He huffed, moving his fingers into a fist and holding it to see if he had any damage. Of course he didn't, but your face felt so solid for being the only time he ever laid a hand on you. He felt odd seeing you try to wipe up the mess off your face, guilty perhaps.
Why should he though? If they still went with old viltrum customs, the two of you would've been sparring every day since the moment you survived your short-lived infancy. At around four if he had to go by earth unit's.
The council had actually brought this up recently. Had discussions about how you should be given more opportunities and educated how Mark was no matter how valuable you were. You were still a viltrumite, after all. They couldn't afford for you to be a brat forever.
Father and him were going to have to start looking for marriage candidates for you soon enough. They couldn't just let you be another planet's problem no matter how much they wanted to.
"What do you want?" He asked, trying to speed up whatever it was you wanted with him. He didn't have time for your shenanigans today.
"Let's hide for the day." You simply replied. That made him quirk a brow. What did you mean by that? Had an enemy gotten into the empire and threatened you somehow, and now you were trying to warn him in some way? You kept glancing around the corner of the tower you had found him at.
"Why, what's wrong?" He suddenly grabbed your shoulders and squared them so you would face him and explain.
"What? Nothing's wrong, it's what humans call 'hooky'. We should do that. Give Kregg a heart attack at not being able to locate us, and we can gorge on snacks or something. Do anything but whatever you were supposed to go to for today." You laughed just imagining it and covering your mouth from how amused it made you feel.
His defenses were shot down once you explained, and now he was stuck standing there with you, thinking about what could've possibly led you to do this and why you wanted to include him in it.
"Ugh c'mon Mark. I know planning another planet for extermination is boringgg. Let's just hang out for today and forget about everything." You swatted at his arm, which was crossed on his chest.
Now that you were this close to him he could get a better look at you, your face already healing but still holding the baby fat you'd be shedding over these next few years.
"Find someone else to play with, I have things to do." He rolled his eyes and got ready to fly away until you grabbed his leg to keep him from escaping.
"No! Everyone else around here either has a stick up their ass or will tell on me to dad." You whined.
"Please?" You begged. You never asked Mark for anything till now or ever went out of your way to talk to him much or even share anything personal. He'd deny it till his death, but he couldn't have possibly said no to you with that look on your face and with how civil you were being. It was rare for you to ever make sense, much less approach him for anything. That had to count for something, right?
"What do you have in mind?" He sighed, floating down to be standing next to you as you took another glance around the corner to make sure no one had seen either of you.
"Uh. Let's raid the food storage!" You said. Very obviously, not having planned out anything at all and wracking your brain for something worthwhile to do. The food storage was a good ten minutes away if you were to fly, but you didn't want to do that.
"Quality control." You had said. You proposed a ridiculous idea of bypassing your soldiers and security through every type of measure to test and see if they'd even notice the two of you or what you were trying to do. It wasn't too bad of an excuse you came up with. It was really just a way for you to see how much you could get away with doing, but it made things more exhilarating.
Though it would take much longer to get to your destination if you were to do things your way. You had the rest of the day to put it to the test, so he shrugged and just went with it. It was the first time you'd spent more than two minutes near each other, and within the close proximity you held throughout the whole ordeal.
He didn't really remember how the two of you actually managed it, but you completed your objective and gorged on flörk cakes and whatever else you could find.
Truth be told, you saw the eyebags that had started to form under Mark's eyes from doing all those time-consuming meetings. The moment you watched the movie that gave you the idea to do this, you went to him right away. Having seen a whole bunch of other movies in the past months, you felt a twinge of concern whenever you saw Mark.
You knew how he felt about you, could feel it in your viens but it didn't stop your worry. He was about the only one on the planet that gave you the time of day besides Connie and Kregg. Father never summoned you. Probably didn't even care about you. The dads in the books and movies didn't act like he did. Maybe he wasn't even your father, but then again you probably wouldn't be as prized if he wasn't.
You weren't as naive or dumb as the others thought you to be. You knew your purpose. Figured it out soon after those lessons Thula and Anissa were tasked to give you. Even more so with the talks you would eavesdrop on between father and the council.
At least Mark would be reasonable and try to back you up on their plans for you, even if he never talked to you or seemed to care that much. At least he cared.
That's what you thought, at least. He'd actually only ever have the council rethink decisions concerning you when it'd include him or leave him to deal with you. He didn't want to be stuck on babysitting duty when he could actually be trained to rule the empire. You didn't need to know that, though.
You'd duck and crouch as soon as Thula or Lucan got close to finding you. It went on like that until the two of you found a place to rest. It was the first time in a while that Mark had gotten actual sleep, as was evident with the disappearance of his eyebags. Your goal was achieved, and now you didn't know what to do besides stare at his sleeping form from atop the rock plane the two of you had settled on.
He looked different like this. No annoyed stare to look back at you or a terse comment for you to pretend to not hear or brush off. You just stared at the sky that was now beginning to darken to start the three-day-long night. Your blouse was still stained from earlier, but you could take care of it later. You didn't really care either way. The sting you felt from his punch was welcome.
You'd never sparred with Mark before and being able to feel how strong he was intrigued you. You were able to take the punch with little issue and now you were annoyed that father and his small council refused to let you fight or train with him.
You watched on as the stars kept still and thought about how much they restricted you. It's wasn't fair. Mark got everything, and you were supposed to just what? Be the empire broodmare, and that was it? It was stupid the more you thought about it.
You were just never meant or expected to be useful except for being their easy way to maintain their population and ensure their legacy would live on? You were supposed to accept it and then let your children carry out the empires duty, and you'd just die without having done anything significant?
It was laughable how none of it would benefit you. Sure you'd never have to worry about the threat of dying in battle or having to preserve your image through conquering planets, but the big nothing burger that was your future was as interesting as your father's mustache.
Everyone of them hated that you got a free pass of not ever having to experience a real fight, you knew. If the way they looked at you and whispered to your father about how it would only make you weak was any indicator. Only a handful of them, like Connie and Kregg, actually had a point of you being capable of defending yourself and having at least a few kills under your belt.
The rest were just assholes who were angry at the fact that they'd never have the chance to pummel you like they can Mark. Mark never showed an interest in killing you, but you heard how others would attempt to goad him into instigating a fight with you, if only to gauge your strength.
It irritated you the more you thought about it, so you stopped thinking. Instead, you thought about the picture that you found a few days ago. One you came across while snooping through your father's personal office, the one connected to the huge meeting room within the main tower.
It was of your mother, Debbie, holding your infant form. You didn't pay much thought as to why he had it but rather on whether you'd wear the same small smile once you had your own offspring. Maybe you'd ask Mark about her some other day, but for now you'd sleep and leave tomorrow's consequences for future you to worry about.
Mark got chewed out as soon as he went back and belatedly joined whatever meeting his father was having with Kregg and a handful of others. He didn't miss the suspecting glint that was sent his way by the two of them and braced himself for what they'd have to say.
The soldiers kept their gazes straight ahead, but he could feel them as father gave him what was basically a scolding. The first he'd ever had to endure that wasn't related to combat. He zoned out halfway and gave you credit for being right on that the previous day's activities were uneventful and probably a waste of his time.
But that was the last time he acknowledged your words. You didn't approach him for a while afterward for anything. He figured father caught onto your involvement with him missing and had you put on a tighter leash. You didn't look the slightest bit comfortable or care free in the glimpses that he caught of you anymore. You were indifferent.
Every other time you did manage to get his attention or steal him away for a few seconds you were back to the aloof girl you were when you were scarfing down Tung Kernels in the food storage as a victory treat after zipping past the gaurds. Which one was the real you? He wondered from time to time, but it wouldn't matter, would it?
In the end, you remained as the bratty princess that could care less about the empire you were supposed to be helping revive. Perhaps that's why no one really mourned you once you were assassinated by the coalition of planets. If you were weak enough to be bested by them, then you never really deserved to live to begin with. At least that's what they reasoned to your father after he'd managed to wipe out half of their military forces for killing you.
Your gaurds waited for a moment like this. Didn't even try to help you once they realized you were being attacked. They wanted to see if you'd be able to hold your own, a stupid decision on their end. Your father had those soldiers killed for that. There was nothing he could do now that you were dead, though.
Connie though, he'd flown over as fast as he could once the news reached them while they were having their meeting. He'd nearly managed to save you, but the coalition was prepared for reinforcements trying to prevent it and had him struggling a few seconds before they succeeded. You lasted longer than the coalition initially thought, but they still managed to pin you down long enough before they could inject you with every possible thing they thought had a chance at killing you.
Connie recounted the events after he managed to kill every last one of them that managed to weasel their way into the empire just to kill you and get rid of the chance of their race repopulating.
"She called for you two." He mentioned with a look of defeated sorrow unbefitting that ugly scarred face of his.
Nolan tensed at that, hardly noticeable to anyone watching but enough for Mark to sense. Mark though, he could only think back to the few times you cared enough to talk about how you weren't in any rush to grow up.
"I'll probably die a lame death." You said once.
"All viltrumites are ugly or have been so far." You shrugged. "Do you think my offspring will be too?" You passively asked, not actually expecting any form of answer back. "God, I hope not."
"Hey, make sure I don't end up with someone ugly. It'd only make it harder to y'know." You mentioned another time. "You kinda owe me at least that, being my brother and all." You sighed. "Cause I know father sure as hell won't care."
Had he ever held your hand before? When it was warm, at least. Your cold hand was stiffer than the last guy they met as a potential partner for you, the rigor having set in long before they had you here being autopsied.
"Are you still a virgin?" A mindless question you'd asked to fill the silence. "What's conquering a planet like?" Another.
You were just a sheltered princess the empire kept emotionally and socially stunted, and the coalition killed you regardless. Couldn't chance it. A cowards victory. They lost a whole lot more with that stunt alone.
The other versions of him, the other Mark's, recounted some bits and pieces of their versions of you in the time they had to kill talking to each other. That was the only way he was able to identify you now in your gaudy hero costume, suit, or whatever it was the humans called it.
He didn't like the handful that called you a bitch and voiced their want to kill you if they ever saw you. Didn't pay mind to the ones that kept quiet once the topic of you came up, and didn't care about the ones that were indifferent to you and found you a nuisance.
When this whole thing started, that ugly fuck Angstrom had came to him with an offer, a chance to help him rebuild the empire. He couldn't possibly refuse, now that their best chance at that, you, was gone.
He might not even have to pay Angstrom back for this opportunity, not if he just took you. Sure, he was supposed to help him with leveling out some cities and killing a whole bunch of people, but why do that when you were just a couple feet away from him fighting another Mark?
You actually put up a good fight, you'd have greater odds if the coalition ever tried to get rid of you again. By the way you addressed his other counterparts, he guessed you didn't like your version of Mark all that much.
No worries. He could play nice. You always did when you were around him. The only problem was how he'd deal with everyone else reacting to you. It should go over well, considering you could hold your own against them and seemed to be more strategic and cunning than his version of you.
Yes. You'd fit right in with everyone else in the empire the way you are now. He could worry about convincing you to birth an entire generation later. For now he'd just follow along with Angstrom's plans and patch you up.
Oh right, the lot of you had just been teleported to Angstroms desert dimension after another one of him had punched you through a portal. You yelled something before it happened, but he didn't catch it. He had all the time in the world to get to know you now.
He'd have to rush over your childhood and whatnot, but at least now he'd know you. He didn't realize it till now. His delayed grief made him wish he knew who you were. You were a stranger to him, not just you ,but his own you.
But you didn't really have to be anything, did you? You were his sister.
That's all that really mattered, wasn't it?
Guys, sorry if this sucked ass but I had no clear direction and wrote the rest of this in one day so yeah. Hope it was readable lmao, I did not beta read this shit.
Also, apologies if the layout sucks. This is my first time having an actual full drabble/fic idea on here, so idrk what I'm doing.
I also wrote most of this within the past few hrs, this was in drafts and after watching the new eps I got back to it and was like. Why not?