Disclaimer: I do not own DBZ, or Terence...
Quick Pronunciation Note:
Tsumoya
Karo is pronounced Sue-moi-yuh Caw-row.
Chapter 2
Veritas
"Auribus
teneo lupum.
I hold a wolf by the ears."
-Terence
The ability to leave this place was a luxury he did not possess. Something clouded his mind, keeping him still... His sole place was that imperceptible in-between, not quite awake and not quite asleep. He could not describe the place where he rested… It was that place beyond the eyelids, separated from the sensation of a living body.
For a long moment, only one thought was able to voice itself within this irritating void: I don't want to be here.
He waited.
No dreams came to him in this place without definition… But voices did, ones he didn't recognize. He listened to them at first, comprehending but confused. Why were they saying these things? Who were they talking to?
"End it now, Bulma, before he wakes…," a cold voice was insisting. This one was strangely familiar- yes, it was the man he had met the day before (had it only been a day? Or a week? A month?). It was the one who had been frightened…
Of him?
In turn, that fear had instilled itself in him. He didn't understand why the man had come to be afraid of him, and that scared him, because he rarely misunderstood anything. And if he did misunderstand something, he could work it out. This… he could not. Try as he might, he just couldn't comprehend it.
Like Piccolo…
He forced the memory away. A woman was talking now. He assumed it to be 'Bulma.'
"He won't wake unless I let him. If we do this, Yamcha…"
Is that the man's name? Yamcha? Where have I heard that before?
'Yamcha' said, "We have to do it. And quickly… The demon's not going to wait around long before he comes searching. And we're going to be prime suspects."
What demon? There's a demon after me?
"Well if you had done it out at the mountain maybe we wouldn't be in this situation now."
"Right in front of the kid?"
"He'd understand! He's the reincarnation, after all. He knows that our fight isn't an easy one."
"What if he doesn't understand? You think Goku would ever understand why we're going to kill his son?"
…Goku…?
His next thought was one of clarity… and shock.
They're going to kill me?
He wasn't certain of what to do. They were going to kill… him? What for? Why?
Why?
Yamcha was speaking, alone this time. He was speaking to him. It was eerie… and frustrating. He could not reply to the man's words. Could not defend himself.
"Kid… You'll go with the demon, won't you? You'll kill us. You'll be our end. Even if you are the son of… of Goku. We couldn't let you live, kid. Could never let you live. So, if I'm the one to do it, don't think ill of me, kid. I don't know if you're a bad person or not at heart… But I'm sure of this. Anyone who sides with that monster is just as much of a murderer as he is. I've killed people before… I hope that your master will be the last one I slay. But I can't do that when you're around. You're going to kill us, when the time comes. No matter what Karo says. So now, while we're in control… We have to make this decision. You can't get in our way."
It's not fair… You don't know me. Murder… That's what humans do. They hurt each other. I don't hurt people… Me and Piccolo never touched anyone.
Who's a demon? I don't know any demons. My master? Piccolo? Do you mean Piccolo?
…You can't mean Piccolo.
Piccolo never hurt anyone.
"I can't waver on this. After all the people that have died… The thousands that that monster has killed." Yamcha's words overflowed with hate and sorrow, genuine emotions- impossible to fake. "Piccolo's destroyed thousands of us. You must be blind or a murderer, kid – siding with the likes of him."
You lie! You lie! Piccolo never hurt anyone!
His protests went ignored. Yamcha continued. "He said you were just an experiment, but I think you've become more than that. The idea that that bastard could love, though… That's impossible. But you're important, somehow. He's wasted a lot of time on you. It's time that we took advantage of that."
Disheartened by his inability to protest, he felt his will dissolve. Slowly, listlessly, he absorbed the words, giving halfhearted response. Piccolo… love? I don't know. I'm not even sure what love is.
I'm not sure I care anymore.
Why is this happening to me?
He had grown weary of listening; Yamcha's words faded away. He lingered, sifting through recent memory. Why am I here?
The fire, Mount Paozu…
That was my home, wasn't it?
I thought home was with Piccolo. In the forest.
But… This was before. A woman… She pushed me away, told me to run. Mother.
The fire consumed it all… And I watched. Waited. I couldn't run. Not until the light, and the explosion.. Then I ran, ran as fast as I could.
Just like I ran from Piccolo.
…It's all the kid's fault.
If he had been awake, past this frustrating half-sleep, he probably would've been crying by now, surrounded by these memories. Partially in fear. Partially in hate. And partially… Partially because he was alone, helpless.
He was surrounded by his would-be murderers… and he couldn't do a thing.
"So are there other secrets, kid? …Get the hell away from me."
For a moment he hated Yamcha. The man who didn't listen. Who hated with no basis.
And then he hated Karo. The reason for his master's anger. Why he had ended up at the mountain in the first place, and where he had realized…
The fire.
It was Piccolo.
He felt an unsteady mirth at the edge of his consciousness- if one could venture to call this state consciousness. The laughter that accompanied his realization both saddened him and terrified him.
Piccolo killed my mother.
And I knew all along. Still, I looked up to him. I laughed at him. I fought with him. I listened to him. I worshipped him.
I… loved him.
So here's the big question, Gohan:
Mother or Piccolo?
Is Yamcha right? Would I side with Piccolo, blood-stained Piccolo, murderer of thousands? Even if I knew of his dark deeds?
Am I a murderer, too?
A child's voice was slowly rising to the forefront in his mournful debate. If he had bothered to look deeper, he would have come to realize that it was his own.
"Mr. Piccolo would never do these things. He could never harm a fly. He's Mr. Piccolo!"
He killed Mother.
"You're silly. Mr. Piccolo's the nicest, best teacher around… He'd never do that."
He killed her! He did! Don't you see!?
"No, no- you're so silly. Silly, stupid boy."
I don't know where I'd go. Piccolo's everything… He's always been everything. I don't know humans. I don't understand them, I fear them even... Why would I go with them?
Humans mean nothing to me.
So does that mean I'm a murderer?
He gave a sigh, feeling eternity slip past in this ethereal semi-awareness.
I don't want to know.
Something else was nagging him – there was another verity that he was supposed to know.
He sat, and waited.
Nothing came to him.
What was it? Was it something to do with the mountain? Something past Piccolo?
…Still nothing.
I don't care… And I don't want to know, he resolved angrily. I'll just sit here and wait. For death. Death at the hands of strangers.
He wasn't even sure of that anymore.
Finis
So, there's chapter 2. I have a few more tweakings to do with my plot line (characterization, etc.) and this chapter may be replaced if I find any mistakes, but other than that I'm set to write the rest.
Evil QuickEdit! I spend 20 minutes going through and tabbing (since it so lovingly resets it everytime I upload a document) and then it jumps right back. What's the use in a working indent button if it keeps jumping back!? Rrrr...
Thanks for reading! Review responses will be on my Livejournal. Go to my author's page and look at the profile - towards the end I have a link to my Memories (it's the last link there, I believe). Once you go there, you can go through to "Review Responses" and find "Non Omnia Moritur- Chapter Two Review Responses." If you can't get there for some bizarre reason, follow my homepage link to my actual journal and look for an entry on the 30th of November.
Thanks for reading! (Please don't switch back, tabs... You know you
love me...) (Great... They didn't work. Ok, to hell with indenting.)