AN: Just wanted to do a quick shout-out thanks to everyone who's read this fic, doubly to those who left me nice reviews, triply to Zalgo's Jinchuriki, daughterofrisingsun, Jafrar, and Emotionally crippled reader, who logged in to do so (that meant I could respond and say thanks personally!). Though this fic is over, I'd still love to hear what you think of it – and if you have questions, I'd be happy to answer them! ^U^
Time continues to pass at its immeasurable rate. He finally relents and lets the attendants play with his hair, since they have been pestering him about it for ages and he's finally had enough. They use this opportunity to put it in ten million tiny braids, which he keeps in exactly long enough to make them happy (too damn long) and then takes out, swearing that he's never letting them do it again (he thinks they have a pool going as to how long it will take to wear him down again).
Nagi receives a few more visitors – not just people running Snake Way but actual visitors. She huffs about inconvenience and valuing her privacy, but he thinks she's secretly pleased. She's a vain creature, and enjoys the opportunity to show off and play hostess. He gets the feeling that it's an opportunity that's going to arise more often as word of her new dietary habits spreads.
And, one day (does he really need to say it at this point?), he pulls Nagi aside and asks her about the thing he's been thinking about since he saw Kakarrot again, as he stares at the clouds that are the roof of hell. She blinks at him.
"I… don't know. I'll have to ask King Yemma."
He nods and waits while she makes her call, and can't supress a shiver when he hears the Judge of the Dead's booming voice, though he can't make out his words, or Nagi's for some reason (crazy afterlife rules). At the end of the conversation, she nods, hangs up the phone, and turns to him. "It won't be a problem."
That surprises him. "What, not even getting back?"
She smirks at him. "Not where we're going, no."
He tilts his head to the side, confused, so she explains to him, after which he's no longer confused – he's stunned.
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The most surprising thing about heaven, he thinks, is that there are saiyans in it. As in, more than one. As in, quite a few actually, gathered in the same general area of their own volition as much as outward influence. Most are from the era before Frieza found them and their culture started to go rotten, but a few are more recent. He thinks he sees his mother in the distance.
It's… a big place, heaven is, and a little strange, the landscape seeming to alter as he looks, sometimes a green, grassy place with a blue sky, other times a far more familiar scarlet desert under a red sky, and sometimes a blend or the two, or something else entirely. To be honest, he's glad Nagi walks with him most of the way as he looks for a specific person. But he walks the final stretch to the figure lying propped against a tree on his own.
Bardock looks almost exactly like he remembers him, a rugged saiyan in worn armor, chewing on a long blade of grass. He's picked up a red bandana somewhere along the way, though, and he seems… at peace, with none of the barely-restrained aggression or cold distain he remembers his father carrying. And… it's odd seeing him, there, looking so like he does in Raditz's memories, even though it's been so long since he's seen him, odder still when he realises they look about the same age now. Bardock has always been such an impressive figure in his memory, with so many accomplishments to his name – it's easy to forget that he wasn't much older than Raditz when he died.
The man opens one eye as he approaches, removing the stalk of grass from his mouth (a habit of his that mother said had gotten father poisoned on more than one occasion).
"Hey there, brat. What took you so long?" his tone is neutral, but it's a friendly sort of neutral, more curious than accusatory.
There's no compulsion to answer honestly - Bardock's a spirit, the same as him - but he does anyway. "I was scared."
"Of me?" Bardock raises an eyebrow.
"Hell yes!" he's always had more respect for his father than just about anyone, but that has never negated the fact that the man is fucking terrifying.
"Heh," his father closes his eye again and smirks a little, "Then why did you come?"
He sits down beside Bardock, shrugging even if he can't see it. "I've had enough of being a coward."
"Mmm," Bardock nods, then abruptly changes the subject. "That your woman you came with?"
He doesn't ask how his father knows Nagi is there when there is no way he could have seen her from his position (father always found out (everything (always))), he just shrugs. "More like I'm her man."
His father snorts a bit at this. "She's not from around here, is she?"
"No, she lives… somewhere else. A sort of between place."
"I take it you won't be staying, then?"
"No."
Bardock nods again, then opens his eyes and sits up, looking straight at him, "Then let's talk while you're here."
And they do. He tells his father about serving Frieza and hell and Snake Palace and the peach, and Bardock tells him about Kanassa and what transpired afterwards and heaven, and they're both surprised to learn that the other already knows Kakarrot can go super saiyan. It turns out that it was his mother he'd seen in the distance, because Gine eventually joins them, and the three of them remember Vegetasei together. It's a quieter meeting than he'd imagined, no punches or anything, and while it doesn't feel like the most saiyan thing in the world, it feels… satisfying. Right.
At the end of it, he leaves his mother and father sitting under the tree together, tails quietly entwined, and goes to where Nagi is waiting for him. She's sitting on the ground, chatting with some other spirits. He's pretty sure he hears her mentioning something along the lines of the merits of crushing an opponent as opposed to roasting them while he approaches.
Nagi smiles at him as he walks up to her and offers her a hand up. "Finished?"
"Yes." He smiles at her-
And abruptly he realizes he can't feel the peach pit anymore – hasn't felt it for some time, in fact. It's fully integrated and, even if it wasn't… there's nothing to be scared of anymore. It's a liberating sensation. He grins at Nagi and she smiles back, linking her arm through his. "Shall we leave, then?"
"That sounds like a wonderful idea, your highness."
She laughs at his formality and swats him lightly, laughing more at the obviously false wounded look he sends her for doing so.
And together, they go home.
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And that's it. I enjoyed writing this fic – beyond a few struggles with keeping the tense consistent (I usually write past-tense, not present), it came fairly smoothly and easily, and didn't require much editing. It was a joy to write, and I hope you've had as much fun with it as I have!
Remember waaaay back in chapter one? Ta-da, have a Bardock! A lot of the fics I've read that feature Bardock have him ending/showing up in hell. Now, considering what his life was probably like, I can understand this. However, in the scene at the end of his movie, where Bardock is talking to Kakarrot in spirit after having died trying to save his people and planet, Bardock's presence is depicted by sparkly beams of white light, and he sounds incredibly at peace (to me at least (and yes, this is the dub I'm talking about for the voice, but I'm pretty sure all the versions include those sparkly beams of light)). That, in combination with Kakarrot telling Bardock 'it's not too late for you' in that vision, implies to me that Bardock wound up in heaven.
A short chapter, but then, some things don't take many words to say. Thanks for reading, and, to those of you who did, for your lovely reviews! ^U^