Indulgence;; Thragg does not indulge in anything. He is the emperor of Viltrum. Every action he takes are special decisions made for the continuation of the Empire. Or at least, that is what he has always told himself.
04.10.26 Masterlist
He has never taken a lover. Never desired one. The very idea of mingling with lesser species had always been repulsive to him. Reproduction was a duty and a responsibility he left to others. Viltrum’s population would be restored through careful selection and breeding. Never for personal desire.
He had once considered the possibility himself, distantly. A last resort. A necessary evil if Viltrum demanded it. But even then, the thought had sat poorly with him, something to be endured. He did not want to have children with other species.
Thragg does not waste time on incompetence. He does not surround himself with weakness ither. The only ones permitted in his presence are those who have proven themselves worthy, his generals. Even then, his tolerance is thin. Failure is rare among them, but when it occurs, it is burns a rage in him.
Thragg hates keeping unnecessary annoyances.
Which is why you make no sense.
By all logic, you should have been killed the moment you stood before him. You are not a Viltrumite. Not even one of the species deemed useful enough to conquer and integrate. You are smaller, more fragile. A thing he had initially assumed would struggle to survive even the most ordinary conditions of Viltrum.
He had thought you would die easily.
You did not.
At first, it was nothing more than curiosity. A brief delay before an inevitable end. He had told himself as much when he allowed you to remain. Observed you.
You did not behave as expected.
There was no trembling fear, no desperate attempts to flee, no instinctive submission. You spoke when you wished and moved where you pleased within the boundaries he set. Not defiance, but not quite respect either.
He did not understand it.
He still does not.
You are not particularly useful. Not in any ways that matter. You do not possess strength that could aid Viltrum, nor knowledge that would benefit its expansion. By every standard he has ever upheld, you are unnecessary. You are useless.
Yet, you remain.
At some point, hours turned into days. Days into months. Then years, stretching on in a way that should have irritated him, should have driven him to correct the mistake he made in sparing you.
He never did.
He tells himself it is still curiosity. That you are an anomaly worth observing. A fleeting indulgence, nothing more. Like a rare mineral discovered on a conquered world, something admired briefly before being discarded once its novelty fades.
You are… aesthetically pleasing. He can acknowledge that much. Many species place value on such things, assigning worth to appearances the same way they do to precious stones or metals. It is illogical, but he understands the pattern.
That must be it.
A simple explanation.
It should have ended quickly. A few hours at most, perhaps a day if his curiosity persisted.
It did not.
Now, you linger at the edges of his empire, an exception to every rule he has ever followed.
Kregg had stood at Grand Regent Thragg’s side for longer than most could claim. Long enough to understand the usual life under his rule and what what expected of Viltrumites. Thragg always spoke about purpose, to not entertain distractions. He did not hesitate and did not change without reason. He always drilled it into every Viltrumite. They were too great of a species to play around.
Kregg knew what Thragg valued. Strength. Loyalty. Purpose. The continuation of Viltrum above all else, just as it had been under Emperor Argall. The doctrine had never wavered. The universe belonged to them. It was not arrogance. It was fact, reinforced through conquest and survival.
Curiosity, however, was another matter.
Kregg had seen it in others. Age brought it, in small and often inconsequential ways. A passing interest in lesser species, a fleeting fascination with foreign customs, habits picked up and discarded just as quickly. Viltrumites were not immune to oddities. Even he could admit to moments of intrigue.
But Thragg had never been like that.
Not once, in all the years Kregg had served him, had he witnessed anything that could be described as genuine interest. There was no room for something as unfocused as curiosity.
Until you.
At first, Kregg assumed it was nothing more than a brief oddity. A momentary lapse in judgement, perhaps even a calculated decision that simply had not yet revealed its purpose. Thragg was not careless. There had to be a reason you still lived.
Kregg told himself that reason would become clear.
It did not.
Time passed, and you still remained.
That alone was enough to bother him, though he would never voice it. Instead, he did what he had always done. He obeyed.
Thragg’s orders regarding you had been… specific.
No one was to approach you unless directly instructed.
Not out of protection, at least not in any way Kregg could easily define. It felt more like a boundary. A line drawn sharply, not for your sake, but for Thragg’s.
You were to live out your natural lifespan.
The wording had been deliberate. Not “protected,” not “preserved.” Simply allowed to exist, untouched by any hand but his. If anyone else so much as harmed you, it would not be seen as an attack on you, but as a direct act of disrespect toward Thragg himself.
Kregg had heard the unspoken conclusion in that order.
The punishment would not be quick.
You were also granted freedom.
Full movement across Viltrum, unrestricted access that no outsider had ever been permitted. You could walk its cities, its strongholds, its open landscapes, as though you belonged there.
Only the research facilities remained closed to you, those were too important.
Everything else was open for you to wander.
You were weak. That much was obvious to any Viltrumite who so much as glanced in your direction. You did not carry yourself like a warrior, nor did you possess the physical capability to become one. By all established standards, you were beneath notice.
And yet, no one dared to look at you for too long. You were seen as a pet, Viltrumites seemed to enjoy having lesser beings under them and Thragg did nto seem like an exception.
Kregg had seen the way others adjusted in your presence. The careful avoidance. Even the most battle-hardened soldiers understood the implication of Thragg’s commands.
You were not to be touched, not to be acknowledged beyond what was absolutely necessary.
It was not protection in any sense. It was just possession, that much was obvious.
Kregg did not question it.
But he did observe.
He watched the way you moved through Viltrum without fear, or perhaps without understanding the weight of the position you had been placed in. He noted the absence of resistance in you, the lack of tension that should have been there under Thragg’s rule.
You did not act like prey.
You did not act like property either.
If anything, you acted as though none of it mattered.
Thragg noticed everything. Every weakness. Every deviation. Every flaw that could be corrected or erased.
So why not you?
Kregg had considered the possibility that you were simply a passing indulgence. A rare deviation Thragg allowed himself before inevitably discarding it. A curiosity that would fade with time, as all insignificant things did.
But the years continued.
And you were still there.
At some point, Kregg stopped trying to rationalize it.
There were questions he could not ask, and answers Thragg would never give. That was the nature of his rule.
So Kregg remained as he always had. Loyal. Observant. Silent.
And when he looked at you, he no longer saw just a weak, misplaced being that had somehow avoided execution.
He saw a variable.
One that had already altered the course of something that was never meant to change.
A/N ;; Old draft I decided to publish with the new season of Invincible airing. Also, I did not like the show's interpretation of Thragg.. that is not my fine shyt. Thank you to everyone who sent me messages! Life got busy but I am trying to write again! Also, it's been a full year since I posted my first Thragg fic.. I will get on that.
