Chapter 2
FOUR YEARS LATER (2 MONTHS AFTER THE DEFEAT OF CELL)
Tien settled down Indian style on the snow-covered mountaintop. Straightening his back and resting his hands on his knees, palms up, he closed his eyes to meditate. A small anxiety nagged at him as he tuned himself to his spiritual awareness. With a grunt, he dismissed it.
Just because the brutal flashbacks had thwarted his previous six attempts at a higher enlightenment, didn't mean that it would happen every time he tapped into his subconscious…
Concentrating, he was somewhat relieved as the familiar displacement of his soul gave him the sensation of being lighter, grander, dispersed… In tune. He saw the higher planes in his mind's eye with their great, swirling auras, promising new capabilities and strengths to the human warrior. He reached for it… Held his breath…
"Nnnghh!" Without warning, he was yanked him from the holy realm with all the force of an avalanche. Tien was flung mercilessly back into his body, flipping it to the frozen ground. He felt the snow crunch in his hands as he clawed at the mountain, trying to regain his sight. But sight would be the last thing to return. It always was.
With his consciousness in shackles, Tien knew he had no other option but to watch the replay of his wicked past. He waited for the blacks of his eyelids to illuminate with cinematic memory. Silently cursing, he only hoped it wasn't as bad as the last time…
A low murmur rustled through the dimly lit tavern as he and Chaotzu sat down at the bar. People stared disapprovingly, while the smattering of large, tame mountain cats growled at their unwelcome presence. It was expected, but no less aggravating.
Strangers, thieves, trouble…
Tien snarled and glared through slitted eyes at the prejudiced minorities sitting about the room; with their plaited hair, tipped ears and suspicious, dark-skinned faces. Damned inbred Caídos, he thought bitterly. So puffed up. He recalled briefly their folklore. Caídos. The Fallen. As though they were angels incarnate. They believed themselves to be literal descendents of a mammalion God - a pure people, a perfect race. And they loathed outsiders. Even those that were just passing through.
Well, he thought darkly, who are we to disappoint them? Feeling his scowl turn into a sinister grin, Tien swung on his stool, and faced their little audience. He rested his elbows lazily back on the counter. In sync with his thoughts, as ever, Chaotzu did the same.
"You have five minutes to get us a meal, provisions, and ten pounds of gold," he said loudly, staring them all down. "If you're late, I'll blast this dive to the next dimension." Oh, how they hated him. He could see it in their eyes. He took note that no one moved, and it was only moments before the town muscle burst through the swinging doors, his flexed form rigid with ire. "Rumors talked of a three-eyed man, and his pasty midget sidekick who were wandering around, robbing local communities," the burly man purred as he crouched down into a fighter's stance, his slivered caramel eyes making him look like a demon. "You made a mistake in coming here." "Is that right?" Tien asked, so anxious for a fight he could barely stay still. "And who's going to stop us?" "Domingo," he seethed, tapping a finger to his chest. "A name I'm sure you'll remember." Tien snorted as he sensed the man's low ki level. Highly disappointed, he came to the conclusion that it wouldn't even be worth fighting him. He cocked his head at Choatzu. I'm not going to bother, he sent telepathically. Freeze him, will ya? I'm sick of this place, already.
Chaotzu smiled, and then his face narrowed in concentration. Domingo's eyes widened in brief panic as his body involuntarily stiffened and tipped over, crashing to the wooden floor. Before his friends could retrieve him, Tien had materialized by his prone side, and lifted the man up in the air by his neck. The confident, fuming expressions of their little audience opened in fear. Tien started laughing at the sudden change of mood. Cowards…
"I changed my mind," he called out to them. "You now have four minutes, or your pathetic champion dies." He smirked with satisfaction as they started scrambling to collect what he wanted. It pleased him greatly as a bag of food and flasks of wine were tossed at his feet in minutes, and he was doubly delighted when a heavy sack clanked to the floor before them. Chaotzu retrieved the items and grinned up at Tien. "It's all here." The man in his grasp began to struggle as Chaotzu released the psychological grip he'd had on him. In one half-spin, Tien hurled their hero like a discus, splintering him through the tavern wall and into the street. He followed him out, only to see that the town champion had lost consciousness from the impact. Tien spat, disgusted. "You're a disgrace to the class of fighters," he jeered at the limp man. It suddenly made him furious that this person had tried to stand up to him, when he was so obviously weak. It was people like this that cluttered the brute profession. And so it was that Tien felt wholly justified in what he did next. Ignoring the growing pool of spectators, he brought his foot up, and dug his heel in the man's spine between his shoulder blades until he felt it snap. "Better for you to do needle work for the rest of your life, rather than impersonate one of us." Then he and Chaotzu turned to walk away when an ear-piercing wail sent shivers up his back. "FATHER!" He turned to see a girl break through several grasping hands to collapse over the maimed man. She was hysterical, maniacal and belligerent all at once. Couldn't have been more than 13. The sight unsettled him, and though his mind told him to keep walking, he couldn't pull himself away. When her tear-streaked face lifted, the youth homed in on him, and without warning, she sprung. She crossed the distance between them so fast that her attack actually caught him off guard. She swiped at him, scratching his face before he caught her by the hand and dangled her at arm's length. She hissed and spat at him like a frenzied kitten. "Leave her alone!" A woman cried from the spectators, her voice saturated with emotion. "You have what you want!" Tien looked up and was taken aback by the Caídos hot, penetrating eyes that bored straight into a conscience he'd been trying to bury. A familiar ache formed in his chest, and he fought it the way he always did. With violence. He threw the girl into the crowd with ease, her impact knocking several others down. A couple of their mountain cats roared and leapt at him, and he batted them aside with the ease of a flyswatter smashing flies. Then he lifted his hand and sent a well-aimed ki-blast at the tavern they'd just been in, engulfing it in flames. "Let's go, Tien," Chaotzu said, tugging on his pant leg. He pursed his lips, reigning in the fury. One of these days that pang would go away - the one that seemed to surface whenever he inflicted hurt. That's what Master Crane said, anyhow. And damn it all, he thought he'd almost become numb to it, until today… Tien dug his nails into the flesh of his palm. Why was he so weak? He could never become like the great Tao pai pai until his soft heart was completely callused. There was no room in the soul of an assassin for remorse. None at all. Frustrated with himself, Tien turned on his heel with Chaotzu en tow and they walked out of the village, unmolested, with nothing but cries and laments left in their wake. He kept telling himself that the Caídos had had it coming. Those bigots needed to be taught a lesson, and it was a good thing he showed up to give it to them. Yeah. Good thing…
"Tien!"
As his awareness returned to him, he felt small hands gripping at his shoulder.
"Tien, come back!"
He moaned and grimaced at the cold. Half of his face was probably frozen. He rolled over on his back and opened his eyes to see Chaotzu's worried expression hovering over him like a blanket. "It's…over, Chaotzu," he choked, weakly lifting himself up on his elbow.
"I felt your ki rise," he sputtered. "Was it another flashback?"
With Chaotzue's help, Tien sat upright and exhaled a shuddering breath, wincing at the memory he'd been forced to relive. After a moment he nodded.
Chaotzu's voice softened. "Was it from the time you broke Yamcha's leg after he was already unconscious?"
"No."
"Was it from the time you snapped Bee Man's arms in half when he forfeited the match?"
"No."
"When you gave Felipe the Strong's mother a concussion for calling you a cheater?"
"NO!"
Choatzu stepped back, stunned at his sudden aggression. Tien imagined he would have felt bad for snapping at his friend, had his chalice of guilt not already been filled to the brim.
"It…" he cleared his throat, and forced the words past the lump in his throat. "It was Domingo, Chaotzu."
The eternal child went silent. Rumor had eventually made it back to them that once the Caído fighter regained enough strength in his arms, he committed suicide by blowing his brains out. He'd preferred death over paralysis, and Tien couldn't say that he blamed him. He might have done the same, had their roles been reversed.
It wasn't the worst offense in his history of evil, but it was damn close.
Tien snorted bitterly. "He told me that I'd never forget his name," he said, squinting against the glare of the reflecting ice caps. "And he was right."
He felt a reassuring pat on his shoulder. "Let's go back to the cabin, Tien. You shouldn't be out here in the cold like this."
Reluctantly, Tien nodded.
.
Tien sat quietly in front of the fire, sipping at the tea held absently in his hand. The feeling had just barely started to return to his frost-bitten face, and he welcomed the pain. Anything to distract him from his own crimes against humanity that he couldn't undo.
After tidying up somewhat, Chaotzu came and joined him. His concern was almost palpable. "What's happening to you, Tien?"
Without taking his eyes off the dancing flames, he shook his head. "I don't know," he said quietly. He had avoided analyzing his latest troubles, hoping they would just disappear. But they hadn't. Perhaps it was time to talk them through. "Ever since Cell was defeated, it's like I've reached a plateau in my training."
Choatzu looked at him thoughtfully, and nodded. "Maybe it's because for the first time in many years the earth isn't threatened. You don't have the incentive that you used to."
Tien shrugged. "Maybe…" Then he felt his face scrunch in consternation. "But why the flashbacks? I thought my soul was cleansed when I died to save the earth, Chaotzu. What more does fate want from me? What's done is done!"
Chaotzu, as always, was a perfect bouncing board for his thoughts. "Perhaps it's not a form of punishment. There has to be something triggering them."
No sooner had Choatzu said it, than Tien drew the parallel. "Emptiness," he whispered after several moments.
"What?"
"It's emptiness," he said more firmly, feeling his eyes widen at the promising thread. "Do you remember that feeling back when we studied under the Crane Master? The sensation that something was missing?"
Chaotzu looked back at the fire, a far away look in his eye. "I do," he said quietly. "It was the spiritual ache of going against our nature."
"Hurting the world instead of helping it," Tien said.
"Hmmm." Choatzu glanced at him then, his wide unchanging eyes almost accusatory. "But you're not hurting anyone now, Tien."
"No. But I can't shake this feeling that I'm running away from life, even though it's finally safe to live it. I train because it's what I do. It's what I've always done," he said, and then shook his head sadly. "I don't know anything else."
Chaotzu went quiet for several moments at that, and Tien could only assume that the child-warrior was contemplating his own destiny. Finally, he spoke. "I've been thinking lately about…my empire."
Tien's head shot in his direction. "You have?"
Chaotzu nodded. "I think it's time I returned."
Tien was almost speechless. "I…never thought you considered it your responsibility…"
For a moment, Tien thought that he saw Chaotzu's perpetually circular eyes crinkle. "It's what they created me for, wasn't it?"
"Yeah, but…" Chaotzu's origins flitted across his mind. He was spawned into existence with dangerous magics by an evil and impotent emperor. The child came with immense potential, and inhuman powers as a form of insurance that he would never be dethroned. He was to grow to be a great man… And that was the glitch in the whole experiment.
Chaotzu didn't grow.
Tien was raised in the palace as a help to the guards. His people had been slaughtered by the emperor when he was a baby, and yet they salvaged him for his anomalous third eye. So naturally, having grievances of his own, it wasn't a tough decision to make when he overheard the mages talking about killing the freak child and starting over. Being dubbed a freak himself, he had bonded with Chaotzu on the few occasions they'd talked. It was an instant friendship.
Tien remembered the night they fled that foul kingdom. He'd only been eleven. Then they'd sought out the Crane Master. And by some act of God or the Devil, the man took them in…
He swallowed. "Well, you're certainly strong enough to take it back," he finally managed. "Do you really feel it's your destiny?"
Chaotzu's eyes glistened slightly, and he locked stares with him. "Yes."
For some reason, that statement felt like a blow to the gut, making him immensely sad. Chaotzu was his comrade, his best friend, his confidant… He couldn't imagine a life without him, yet it looked like their futures were headed in opposite directions. He sighed heavily. "I see."
Chaotzu smiled sadly at him. "And you should start a family, Tien."
Tien felt his eyebrows lift at the suggestion. A family… With a wife, and children to raise and love and protect… The more he thought about it, the warmer it made him feel. "Yeah…" Then he snorted. "Maybe it's time I patched things up with Lunch."
"Maybe you both can come and live in my kingdom," Chaotzu suggested happily, and Tien found himself smiling. Perhaps he could do all this without losing his best friend. For the first time since the day they defeated Cell, he felt an honest joy swell his chest.
"I'd like that, Chaotzu," he said, envisioning his beloved Lunch in his arms as their children roughhoused with the little emperor. "I'd like that very much."
