Title: Arguing With God
Summary: Immediately following the defeat of Cell, a divine spirit comes to claim Vegeta's soul once and for all. When Goku, Gohan and Bulma try to save the Saiyan Prince, a trial ensues and all of Vegeta's sins are revealed to the Defenders of Earth. Now, the Z Fighters find themselves conflicted over whether they truly believe that Vegeta should be saved even as they fight for that very end. But even with true belief, how can they truly change the mind of a God?
A/N: Okay, so this is a sort of weird philosophical thing. Basically, I'm messing around with these ideas about redemption and all that. I mean, Vegeta lived and became a main character for the rest of DBZ canon because he was so popular. But it got me thinking about whether he truly deserved to have been accepted by the Z Fighters. I feel like the end of the Cell games marked a critical point in the evolution of his character, which is why I'm starting there. Basically, a God shows up seconds after Cell is defeated to kill Vegeta and send his soul to Hell once and for all, but Goku and Gohan try to intervene and convince the God to give him another chance. For their sake and Bulma's, the Z Fighters try as well, and a trial is commenced, but during it they learn of all the horrible things Vegeta has done and could very likely end up doing. I'm really sorry about how this prologue is written. I tried to make it make as much sense as I could, but it's hard when you write about literally divine beings. The narration is meant to come off as pretentious. This is my first DBZ fic.
Prologue: Unrest on the Highest Heaven
Were any mortal to see, hear, smell, or in any way physically or mentally sense the scene where our story opens, their internal organs would melt within the confines of their bodies and the liquid mass would leak out of every one of their orifices slowly, boil, and build in heat and force within the confines of their physical shells until their skulls ruptured and the rest of the liquidy mass burst out like a volcano erupting.
You see, this scene is too awesome for any mortal to be able to perceive. Everything about this scene: the sights, the sounds, the smell, the atmosphere… Everything. For not only were the seven Highest Gods of the Universe all assembled there along with numerous heavenly servants, but six of them were fighting with one another, bickering and shouting over each other with great anger. One angry God can level entire galaxies, here were six. Six Gods who were very, very upset.
But let's say that you are not a mortal, but one of, let's say, the Heavenly servants. And we were dealing with the methods of mortal perception. Then, perhaps, I could explain it to you in a way you might understand.
Now, reader, I am assuming that you have come upon this story because you are a fan of Dragon Ball Z. As a fan, you know that after a mortal dies in Akira Toriyama's fictional world, after a person dies, they go to Other World, which is for the most part ruled over by the Kais, starting with the four Kais of North, South, East and West, then the Grand Kai, and, mightiest of all, the Supreme Kai.
The Supreme Kai is a humble underling compared to the deities we are dealing with here. And the Supreme Kai Planet is a long-forgotten but still very putrid sewer compared to this plane of being. We are surveying Katriel Lulani, the Highest Heaven of this universe where the seven highest Gods, the Iris Hila, live in their heavenly palaces. The Iris Hila are made up of the Queen, Mena Diamond, and her six children, calledthe Mercuries: Sapphire, Amethyst, Ruby, Amber, Topaz, and Emerald. Actually, they're called a lot of other things too, but they are essentially the crown of the Universe, each one of them a jewel.
Now, considering the fact that we're discussing a universe popular during a point in time where the three biggest religions are Christianity, Judaism, and Islam, and how almost every major religion of this era tells you that there is one God that is all knowing, all-powerful, and completely at peace, the concept of what is going on here might confuse you. But just know that in this realm of existence, that's not the case.
A religion that does teach of events like the one here is almost completely dead, but thankfully, certainly not forgotten. I speak of what is commonly referred to as "Greek Mythology." In Greek myth, as well as various other pagan legends, their Gods and Goddesses were often fighting, arguing, and competing with one another. To say that the marriage between Zeus and Hera was tumultuous would be a gross understatement. The two war deities, Athena and Ares, were sworn enemies; Athena being a force of strategic warfare, and Ares being the force of unpredictable violence. Aphrodite's infidelity against Hephaestus with Ares led to the humiliation of the War God and Love Goddess. And don't forget about the Apple of discord. The point is, these deities often did not get along.
Now, this is a more in tune with reality here. These deities argue. But unlike the Gods of Greek Myth, these deities are not patrons of particular things such as wisdom, the sun, the hunt, the earth, etc. Rather, each of the six siblings has a domain of random planets and star systems assigned to them, and their powers to interfere with planets under their sisters' domain is severely limited. Furthermore, their own powers even in their own domain are not absolute. They can affect fate, but not dictate it, and free will is a factor that they cannot render obsolete. So, while they can arrange for things to happen, they cannot dictate the results absolutely. As a result, they can come to a head.
Mena Diamond, the overseer of them all, is their leader, but even she is bound by justice, and cannot completely control the actions of her children. As a result, there have been more than a few times where turmoil has been produced on Katriel Lulani, hence the need for the Thelred Hall, their place to voice their conflicts and appeal to the wisdom of Mena Diamond.
Now, a debate was being raged within the Hall: a sparkling, shimmering hall sectioned off into seven parts. The largest held the elevated throne of Mena Diamond and had glittering white decorations. To the right of her dais was a green section with trees, with her eldest and favorite child, Emerald, sitting on a golden swing. Next was the yellow section filled with clouds where Topaz perched, then an elegant orange parlor where Amber sat in an over-stuffed armchair, then the red silk-strewn open bedchamber with the giant four-poster bed where Ruby lounged, Amethyst stood in a purple library, and Sapphire was sunbathing on a rock in the middle of a blue pond. All of them were yelling.
The situation involved the conflicting interests of three of the sisters in regard to a particular mortal who the Gods had been trying to get rid of and/or reform for several years. At least, some of them were trying to get rid of him. But two, Ruby and Amber, wanted him to continue to live.
The mortal in question was Vegeta, one of the few remaining Saiyans in the Universe. It had all started several years ago when it was decided that the Saiyans needed to be wiped out. The Saiyans were a ruthless warrior race who were native to a planet under Ruby's domain. As such, they were Ruby's children. But they were also heartless, violent barbarians and it had been decided that the planet needed to be destroyed in order to maintain some semblance of peace in portions of the universe. Ruby, being their God, naturally loved the Saiyans deeply despite their sins and barbaric nature. She had begged them all to spare the Saiyans, but could not save the race as a whole.
Out of love for Ruby, the Iris Hila had given her a few consolations. First, they allowed a small number of Saiyans to live. For another, Emerald and Amethyst had blessed one of the surviving Saiyans with a pure heart. Third, it was decided that one of the surviving Saiyans would destroy the being who destroyed their planet; one of Amethyst's sons named Frieza. Fourth, the Saiyans would get to once again ascend to their legendary powers. Fifth, that the last of the Saiyan race would play a key role in saving the Universe. And finally, that there would be further descendents of the species.
One of the surviving Saiyans was their prince, Vegeta, and Ruby had wished for him to be the one to defeat Frieza. But Vegeta was evil and committed numerous atrocities. The deities arranged numerous times for him to have chances to change his ways, including an encounter with the pure-hearted Saiyan, Goku, but it did not take. Finally, they gave him a final chance to change using the most powerful means at their disposal: they gave him a child. But it was no use. Even though Vegeta had stopped destroying planets, his selfish, cruel nature remained, and his fate of becoming a hugely destructive force once again became more and more likely. So they decided they also needed to arrange for him to die. And they did. But no matter what, Vegeta seemed to manage to cheat death every time and now Goku, one of the only people capable of keeping him in check, was dead instead.
It was then decided that they could not leave things up to chance any longer. They needed to kill him directly.
Ruby, naturally, was fighting for his life, but it did seem to be in vain. If it had not been for the fact that Amber was supporting her, she would have been silenced by now. Not that it really meant all that much. Everyone knew that Amber was only supporting Ruby to spite Emerald. The two of them always fought like cats and dogs.
Amethyst and Emerald were the ones who most wanted Vegeta destroyed once and for all and Amethyst wanted to be the one to do it. The reason for this was that out of all of them, Amethyst had lost the most children at Vegeta's hands.
Sapphire and Topaz also agreed that Vegeta should be destroyed, but opposed the idea of Amethyst being the one to kill him directly. Vegeta currently resided on Earth, a planet under Sapphire's domain, and Sapphire wanted to do it.
"My planet is the one under the most immediate threat from Vegeta, it should be me that disposes with him!" Sapphire insisted.
"No, it is my right!" Amethyst shot back. "I am the one who has suffered the most as a result of Vegeta's actions, I deserve to be the one to serve justice to him and avenge our lost children!"
"He is one of the last surviving Saiyans, you must give him more time! I do not want my people to truly go extinct!" Ruby cried out.
"Yeah!" Amber added. But nobody listened to them.
"Amethyst, in order for you to take direct action on my planet, you would need to appear to an Earthling with a completely pure heart. Goku is dead, and I feel his loss greatly. At least let me grant myself some relief by eliminating a threat to my planet!"
"You mean the way you've been doing that so far?" Emerald replied. "The last four death tries were orchestrated by you, Sapphire, and you failed every time."
"None of those were direct actions. This time we're talking about a definite solution." Topaz argued.
"It's not fair!" Amethyst cried. "The only reason Earth still exists anyways is thanks Emerald and I. We were the ones who gave you Goku, Kami, and the Dragon Balls. If not for that, Earth would probably be destroyed by now. How many of your children were saved thanks to our actions?"
"Yeah, Goku, Kami, and the Dragon Balls have saved Earthlings, but let's not forget that they've lured threats there as well!" Sapphire growled. "Earth was almost destroyed by King Piccolo, a child of Emerald's!"
"If it were not for us, Earth would have been destroyed years prior to that by Goku. He was going to come to Earth anyways and it was I who decided that he should be the one who was given a pure heart. If I had picked Vegeta, Cormetton would still exist. I probably would have a few billion more living children. But I took that chance for you, and look where it has gotten me. You owe me." Amethyst said.
"You think I can't do it because you think I'm weak!" Sapphire cried out. "'Poor Little Sapphire, so weak, so inept! We had better hold her hand or she'll screw everything up!' I'm sick of you interfering!"
"That's enough now!" Mena Diamond cried out. "I've had enough. Amethyst, you're not going to kill Vegeta."
"Oh, thank you Mena!" Sapphire said tearfully. "I won't waste any time!"
"You're not going to kill him either, Sapphire."
"What?"
"Mena… you don't mean…" Ruby began to say.
"No, Ruby, I don't. Vegeta is going to be killed. But neither Sapphire nor Amethyst will do it. That duty will go to Emerald."
There was a collective gasp.
"Oh, what a surprise!" Sapphire sneered sarcastically. "You always favor Emerald on everything, it's not fair!"
"You're right, Sapphire, it isn't. But it was Emerald who lost the last two planets Vegeta destroyed and it was Emerald who gave Earth its new guardian."
"But in order for Emerald to make a direct action on Earth, she'll need to appear to a pure-hearted champion. Goku's dead!"
"But his son isn't, and he has saved the Earth from Cell. It should be no problem for her to appear to Gohan. She will be the one to do it. No more is to be said on the matter."
It was forbidden for any of Mena's children to disobey her. The decision had been made, and that was that.
Vegeta was going to die and his soul would be sent to Hell once and for all.