Chapter 11, Fallback.
He needs to blink.
To clear his sight to accept what's not in front of him anymore, to clear his senses, so that they return to 'normal' mode, and to clear his mind of his previous thoughts, Whis feels like he needs to blink.
He simply, for his own good, needs to blink, and so he does.
He blinks once. Slowly so, keeping his eyelids pressed together for a fraction longer than he normally would. And then he blinks a second time. After slowly opening his eyes, to see if the first blink did what it was supposed to, to find that it in fact didn't, he blinks a second time.
This second blink, he takes more care of, because he doesn't want a repeat of the last blink, where nothing about his senses and being stuck in thoughts from seconds ago, changed. With this second blink, he's going to compose himself like he should, and get himself to the point where he needs to be.
All right, one second, he thought, he actually believed that Goku would charge for him to start a fight, and he duly prepared himself to engage in a real uninhibited fight, and then the next second, he finds himself all alone in the Son living room. However, that shouldn't stay stuck in his being, to the point where he feels paralysed even to bring himself to the actual present.
Seeing as he knows what happened, because he saw it happen in seemingly slow motion, for his type of vision, he should effectively be able to put it behind with no trouble in any form. Only, he isn't really able to compose himself enough to effectively regain himself. It's that he'd been on the brink, so close, that he even folded his sleeves back.
He had not been expecting what happened to happen the way that it did. For one thing, he'd been hoping to have a little fun with Goku, and for another, it looked too much like he was going to get to have a bit of fun with Goku, and so yes, the need to blink is pressing in his system, so that his system is rehabilitated to an earlier point in time, when it was just 'plain and normal.'
In the second that Chi-Chi told him about Goku being beyond furious, his mind already claimed this as the best day of his life for getting teased with the idea that he would get some good fun out of Goku. He even got little tingles of excitement running through him in that second, because that would've certainly highlighted the fact that he got to spend time with Chi-Chi, who has no actual and tangible need of him, but chose to entertain him honestly in any case.
Oh, he lets out a long breath, he really has to snap out from that particular moment, because it's no more. That moment isn't lingering anywhere inside the living room, but in his mind only. He has to let it go… as he's had to do so many things in his lifetime. Ah, the struggling burdens of being an angel…
Encouraged by the last thought, he easily accepts to let go of what never happened, allowing the blink that he is still holding to wash over his sight, senses and thoughts, in order for him to return to the normal angel that he usually is; genuinely unaffected in the core and lamentably unexpectant in expectation.
Clearly, he lets out a disappointed sigh nonetheless, he's not going to get anything that fun today. He'll have to accept that his day with Chi-Chi is over, and that he has to return to his own home, to his own version of Goku. That is the thought that he opens his eyes with.
'All right, Whis,' he softly says to himself, drawing himself up to a proper posture to indicate his new resolve to go ahead. 'It's quite clear that you have nothing left to do here.'
Any foolish person would be able to put together that Goku didn't want him to be anywhere near Chi-Chi, and since that is the case with his wife, it would be infinitely wise to assume that he has overstayed his welcome in the man's house. Even if that wasn't the case, the fact that he's not here with an actual member of the family in their own home, should be enough of a giveaway to leave.
'Except,' he comes to the quiet realisation, 'you don't have your staff, which means that you can't quite go home without it.'
The truth is, his power is not limited to his staff. He has powers that extend beyond his staff, but he doesn't like to go without his staff. No angel should go without their staff, more for convenience and quick access to external factors, than its actual abilities. While yes, he does have perfect capability to manage without his staff, his staff does make things a lot easier for him.
'I suppose I'll have to call my sister now,' he says to himself again, already beginning to chuckle at the thought of his sister hearing his story.
His sister, will no doubt have a word and three others to say about his behaviour, as she always does when he calls in a favour from her. It's the natural way that she is, Vados. She says what she feels without holding back, and once she hears about how excited he'd been to finally engage in a fight that could probably help him stretch his muscles out a bit, she'll have her say whether he wants to hear it or not.
Oh, his dear sister, there isn't a thing about her that he would change, he fondly thinks as he lifts his hand just the slightest to touch his right index finger to touch the green button on the device on his exposed wrist, for the way he started folding his sleeves back a few moments ago.
At once, not even after he's fully lifted his finger off the button, a response in the form of a soft, yet a smidgeon high voice, sounds in the air.
'Whis?'
With a smile, he thinks that it's always wonderful to hear her voice. It must be something that comes with him being an angel, and all the somewhat restricting attachments that come with the job, but something about his older sister's voice being on the ready to hear him out at any given point, has always filled him with goosebumps.
'I need your help,' he confesses. 'Are you busy?'
Between them, no niceties and pleasantries are exactly necessary. She's his older sister, and they have an unspoken understanding, that even not being close to each other, they can communicate without words. Which is how by the sound of her chuckle on the other end, he knows without her saying so, that yes, she is busy, but being busy will not impede her from helping him. His sister really doesn't bow down to anything. Poor Lord Champa, he has such a hard time with her.
'In that case,' he chooses to carry on, 'can you locate my staff for me?'
Even as he asked the question, he imagined her facial expression towards the question. That crestfallen look that she gets on her face, when she wants to sympathise and reprimand at the same time, is most probably the expression that his has sister on her face right now. That suspicion, is confirmed when a question from her reaches him.
'What did you do?'
'Oh, nothing big,' he replies. 'It's only a small misunderstanding.'
On his part at least, he finds nothing of Goku's behaviour anything of consequence, or even significant enough to be called a ripple.
'I always say that you are too nice, Whis,' his sister sternly reproaches.
Of course, he tries his best to hold in an amused chuckle, he didn't expect any less from her. His sister, primarily for the reason that she's older than him, never does him the service of sparing him from reprimands. She secondarily does it out of sheer protection as well, so that she takes care of him as she ought to; he's always found that touching.
'I swear, Sis, I'm not in a jam,' he fluidly tells her, to assure her that she has nothing to worry about.
The truth is, even if he was stuck in a jam (which wouldn't really be jam, because he's Whis and that's enough for any situation to stop parading itself as a jam before dispersing to something less than air), he wouldn't mind it. It's like he told Chi-Chi, he looks for more excitement in his life, that he unfortunately doesn't get often.
A short hearty laugh from his sister brings him back to the conversation, out of the mild entertainment in his head.
'And even if you were,' she says, sounding all-knowing, 'you'd just delight in it, wouldn't you?'
For an answer, he emits his own chuckle. She's not the only one in the family that can chuckle her answers out.
'I thought so,' she seems to be affirming it more to herself. 'Just hold on while I find your staff.'
Well, he thinks, thank goodness for sisters, because he wouldn't have liked to locate his staff by himself, and then head over there to get it himself. He very well could've found his stick on his own, without the help of his sister, but out of respect for Goku's fury, and his possessiveness over his wife, -as he has every right to feel- he chose to involve his sister to help him out. Because his sister has her staff, she can easily transfer his staff back to him, but if he has to locate his staff, which is not in close range of him, he would have to directly go to where it is, because summoning it from so far away, would be impossible.
'Don't I always say that you should toughen up a bit more?' she asks him.
'I know,' he agrees, moving his head from side to side. 'I know.'
'Honestly, Whis,' she insists, 'I mean it, you can't always give people what they want. You should try tricking them into believing what you want them to believe.'
Well, that would certainly be interesting, except, he is not like that. He may choose to withhold information and knowledge at certain times, but attempting to deceiving people, is not part of his makeup at all. He would never want to stop being who he is for any reason.
'That way, I'd be you, not me,' he plainly explains in a delayed response.
'I suppose,' his sister says through a small laugh, 'and ah! I found your staff.'
Thank goodness, he breathes in his relief.
'Can you transfer it here to me?'
It's a rhetorical question, because he already knows that she can, and that she will, whether he sounds out the question or not.
'I can,' she answers, pulling the verb, 'but an explanation of why that woman has it, would be nice first. I've seen her before, haven't I?'
It's just like her to want an explanation first. This time, however, he is more than willing to give her one. At least concerning Chi-Chi.
'Chi-Chi,' cheerily comes out of his mouth. 'She's Goku's wife.'
That should give his sister a trigger into remembering where she could've seen Chi-Chi before. It's only that he's really itching to get to the really important part. He feels like that now that introductions have been made, the part of the story that matters to him, is what he should announce to his sister.
Giving off the sound of thoughtfulness, his sister lets out, 'Hmm.'
That's it, he can't hold it in anymore; he just needs to, needs to burst it out to his sister already.
'She's also a friend of mine,' he announces with pride. 'What do you think of her?'
He just be pleased to the fullest if his sister gives him her approval. Seeing as he's never had a friend before, her approval means the world to him. Especially because it seems that certain people seem to be against the idea of him and Chi-Chi being friends. So far, he's counted Goku and Lord Beerus, but he also has the hunch that Bulma and Vegeta are not pleased with the idea of a friendship between him and Chi-Chi. A vote of support from his sister, will certainly even the odds for him, personally.
After a small pause on both of their ends, his being of waiting, and hers being of measuring Chi-Chi up, his sister finally lets him know that, 'Well, if she's married to that man, she's impressive. Really Whis, how do you handle him?'
Who, Goku?
In his opinion, Goku has an unusual gift of only provoking two emotions in people; either someone can love Goku and get attached to him for being the person that he is, or someone can absolutely hate him for being the person that he is. With Goku, the way he's observed it, someone can never be on the fence or indifferent towards him. It's actually quite peculiar, but that is how it is concerning Goku. The part of handling him, however, is not even an issue, because compared to Lord Beerus, Goku is a base warming up exercise than the training session that Lord Beerus is.
'He's much easier than Lord Beerus,' he answers honestly, 'that's for sure. Which reminds me, he might come to you for training.'
All these thoughts of warming up exercises and training sessions, just put it at the forefront of his mind, what Chi-Chi told him.
'Is that so?' his sister asks thoughtfully.
He knows that tone, and because he knows that particular tone of hers, that he wants to know, 'What are you thinking, Vados?'
In a typical secretive-Vados manner, she lets out a sound that could be described by three different sounds, an elegant snort, a sophisticated chuckle and a quiet sigh. He's never been able to understand how she manages to do that, quite honestly. It's always been a wonder to him, how she can flawlessly combine three sounds together, while making them sound as classy and tasteful as they can possibly be.
'Oh!' suddenly leaves her mouth in surprise.
If she'd been going to tell him what her thoughts are on Goku wanting to train with her, she sure won't do it now. Something else has her attention apparently. He wonders what that something is.
'What?'
Sounding impressed, she tells him, 'I believe that he's bringing your staff back to you.'
Oh! Now that's interesting. That's quite interesting indeed. He wasn't expecting that.
He wonders, will they have another unpleasant confrontation as the one from the previous day? He'd much rather not have to exchange masked threats with Goku, for Goku's own sake, and Chi-Chi's too.
Nonetheless, Goku's already transmitting himself to here, and he'll just have to find out what their coming face to face will produce. But at least for Goku's arrival, he'll have to pretend as though he just started to talk to Vados.
Precisely on time, Goku appears exactly in front of him. The first thing to stand out about him, is that he doesn't look as angry as he did some time back. If he's to be accurate about Goku's expression, he would have to say that Goku is doing his best to not appear bothered, to the point where he looks unwelcoming in his own home.
That's admirable about Goku, Whis takes a brief second to appreciate, at heart, he's not a mean person, and so he can never truly be mean without a valid cause to be. It makes him smile with genuine warmth that Goku is like that.
'Oh, sis,' he says to his sister while he looks at Goku. 'No need to locate my staff after all, it's right here in front of me.'
'Honestly,' his sister sounds out as though she is irritated. 'All right, we'll talk later.'
'Bye,' Whis happily bids her, and then uses his hand to cover his device with his purple shirt, before giving Goku all of his attention.
'I see you've brought my staff,' he acknowledges, adding a grateful, 'thank you.'
At least this way, with how Goku is the one who came to him, instead of him crossing boundaries and going to wherever Goku had been with Chi-Chi to retrieve his staff. He's quite thankful that he didn't have to do any of that, because it might have done more damage than good.
'You're welcome,' leaves Goku's mouth, only, it sounds forced.
Strange, he would've expected Goku to toss him his staff, and yet, he still has the staff in his hands, as though he is reluctant to hand it back to its rightful owner. Perhaps, he needs to say something in order for the handing over. Perhaps, Goku wants to make an exchange; a word about Chi-Chi to him, for his staff.
Well, Whis tells himself, if that's the case, he better speed this exchange along, so that he can get back home and forget this little bit of the day for a while, through Lord Beerus' tantrums.
'And Chi-Chi?' he asks only to provoke the assumed 'exchange' to happen. 'Where is she?'
Without a doubt, Goku feels triggered. The look on his face says it all. If his expression were writing, it would read, 'You have no business asking about my wife, when I clearly previously told you to stay away from her.' He supposes that in a sense, Goku is entitled to feel that way, to react that way, even to walk to the door as he's doing, to hold it open, however, Goku really shouldn't worry about him and Chi-Chi being friends.
'She won't be back for a while,' he answers, adding a flaccid, 'I'm sorry.'
In measured steps, Whis walks to the door, to leave as he is being silently asked to, but when he reaches Goku, he pauses to carefully peer at him.
'Are you, though?' he poses to the black haired man.
His, 'I'm sorry,' was much too mechanically spoken, lacking in all authenticity, for Whis to believe that he means it from the depths of his heart. Interestingly enough, Goku confirms the lack of sincerity in his apology, by merely staring at him, as though daring him to keep probing and see what he will get as a response.
Ah, this Goku.
'In any case,' Whis decides to resign on this matter, because if he keeps this up, he'll be tempted into thinking that he can have some physical fun with Goku again. 'I have to be leaving. Until next time, Goku.'
Because yes, there will be a next time.
26Chapters
He knew that he'd find Lord Beerus in some tone of restlessness when he got home, and that is exactly what greets him as he appears on their small and perfectly comfortable home. Not too far from where he suddenly appears, is Lord Beerus pacing at a fast pace.
Had his pacing pace been moderate or slow, Whis would've immediately known that the god is disturbed by something, and sitting to meditate wouldn't do the trick of relaxing him enough to stop being anxious, and rather think rationally about the possible options available to him. But with this fast speed, Whis knows exactly that Lord Beerus is restlessly impatient. With him, or rather, his absence up until now.
Oh well, Whis slightly shrugs to himself as he glides over to the god, he supposes that Lord Beerus' impatience couldn't be help.
'What's this?' he raises an eyebrow while looking at Lord Beerus coming to a stop. 'You? Exercising?'
Possibly knowing that Whis is only teasing him, as an attempt to relieve a dollop of his impatience, the god gives him a look of mild destruction, which almost immediately disappears off his face, to make way for a passive expression.
'I was thinking,' he says.
Hmm. That was not the answer that he had been expecting.
Knowing Lord Beerus the way that he does, he expected a hostile and yelled response, about how he's been gone for ages, and leaving him all alone.
Hmm, he wonders…
Narrowing his eyes with the same wonder that he feels, he provokingly asks, 'Were you now?
'Yes,' Lord Beerus growls his response as though he was just attacked without a cause. 'I was thinking about that fatso, Champa.'
And the lie makes it out of his mouth, Whis says in his head, knowing very well that, no, Lord Beerus had not been thinking about Lord Champa. Well, at least not in the way that's he's trying to pass it off. If he'd been thinking of his brother, it would've been some time before Whis even sat down with Chi-Chi on Earth, and it would've been for the sole purpose of using his brother as an excuse to give to his servant.
In a setting where Lord Beerus hadn't made it blatantly clear that he has a case of apparently incurable jealousy towards him and Chi-Chi spending time together, Whis would've been inclined to believe the concoction about Lord Champa. However, despite not believe his Lord, he should at least humour him.
'Lord Champa?' Whis quietly asks.
The god first folds his arms across his chest, and then pulls a frown to say, 'I don't trust him, and because I don't trust him, I think that he may be planning on picking up his training to try and reach my level of strength.'
And the next lie makes its way out his mouth, Whis continues to tally. Whis is curious, how many more lies will keep coming out of his Lord's mouth?
'Not according to my sister, he isn't,' Whis decides to counter him.
He only really wants to see how far Lord Beerus is willing to take this charade? At the moment, Lord Beerus is closely resembling Bulma. Bulma, as he's come to learn, can be direct when it suits her, but when she doesn't want to come across as a selfish person, she disguises what she wants with excuses and all other sorts of things.
Likewise, Lord Beerus, (at times, including now) instead of coming right out and saying what he wants, he's honestly inventing a lie, that will not make him seem like he truly is and feels. Well, Whis would like to see how far this can go.
'Champa is my brother!' he outrages, throwing his hands in the air too. 'I know him better, and if I think that he's training, it's because he is!'
Well, on the subject of brother and brother, Whis cannot disagree, nor interfere, but he can disagree with the lie that Lord Champa has resumed his training. Lord Champa, just happens to be lazier than Lord Beerus, and even if that had somehow miraculously changed, his sister would've updated him with a list of complaints that she heard from Lord Champa as they began their training. But, he doesn't feel like arguing about that, so for now, he'll just have to let Lord Beerus have the last word.
'All right,' Whis shrugs, 'if you say so.'
'I do,' he nods, 'so you'll need to start training me at once.'
Ah, there it is! That's the entire point of this charade, and he's finally gotten to it. He always knew that sooner or later, they would get here, and so pushing himself to act the slightest surprised, Whis leans his head back to look at Lord Beerus from a further than before angle
'Excuse me?' Whis sounds out.
He swears, the way that Lord Beerus closes his eyes as though to find the strength that he doesn't have, anyone would believe that this is the hardest thing for him to say.
'You heard me,' the god says, sound tired. 'I will require constant training from this second onwards. I cannot allow my fatso twin to catch up with me.'
Hmm… Constant training he says?
'Constant training?' Whis asks for specific clarity on that.
He asks that through a laugh that is nothing close to being amused, and either his laugh or his question has the quick effect of Lord Beerus opening his eyes, but one of the two things does, because something brings him eye to eye with the god.
'Where is this coming from?' he poses to Lord Beerus. 'You can hardly stand to walk to the bathroom, and now you suddenly want to train constantly? You're being suspicious.'
'I'm not being suspicious!' Lord Beerus quickly retorts. 'I simply want you to train me again!'
Hmm. Is that so?
'No,' Whis evenly answers.
For his jealousy, Lord Beerus would invent such lies, to such an extent? Well, that is highly unfair. Over the years that he'd slept for decades at a time, Whis has always been alone, and now that he has found someone to be his friend, Lord Beerus is attempting to take that away from him? That is hardly fair in any manner, and until the god confesses with his mouth the reason for this invention, they will not agree with each other.
Lord Beerus' look of disbelief, speaks louder than his single syllable question, 'No?'
'Yes, no. I believe you are up to something,' Whis tells him, 'and until you tell me what it is that you are really after, I will not move my feet to train you.'
Lord Beerus' fallback, is blatantly unjust. That's the truth of the matter, and Whis will not stand for it, if Lord Beerus is going to be dishonest about it.
The god's ears suddenly bend at the tips to show just how enraged he is starting to get, and then he shouts, 'You are my servant!' to him.
And he has to do everything that he's told, is what doesn't leave the god's mouth, but the words are loud and clear in the air. Whis can hear them, and so can Lord Beerus.
'Exactly,' Whis argues just as strongly. 'I serve no one else.'
When he thought to see how far this would go, he didn't believe that it would lead to him beginning to get upset, just as he did yesterday. Not even Goku's expressed anger had made him want to feel upset, but the difference between Goku and Lord Beerus, is that he expects some type of courtesy from the one that he's been serving all these years.
Lord Beerus is behaving as though any time that is spent away from the planet, with Chi-Chi particularly, is a moment where Whis is plotting to kill him and become the god of destruction. Really, the lack of freedom that the god is affording him concerning this one topic of a friend, is enough to make him feel betrayed, and in feeling betrayed, he can pull out the rightful defence to get upset.
He doesn't like getting upset, to be honest, because in being upset, he resorts to using his strength. In situations where he feels himself getting too upset, he always makes an outlet for him to leave that particular scene, in order for him to cool down.
'Now,' Whis breathes out calmly as is per his nature, 'if you are done being dishonest and jealous, can I get you anything?'
Getting chores done, is a sort of therapy for him, that he quite enjoys, most especially when things are not going right. If Lord Beerus can hand him something to do, he'll be sure to let go of how upset he is beginning to feel, and he and the god will get back to regular terms.
'I want you to train me!' Lord Beerus continues to insist. 'If you don't, I'll be behind on my strength. Can you imagine me, the god of destruction, weak and defeated?'
This Lord Beerus really, Whis lets out a small sigh.
'Lord Beerus,' he starts to remind the god, 'you know as well as I do, that by god and angel privileges, you will never be weak, not for as long as I am your servant.'
Clearly annoyed to be reminded of the truth, Lord Beerus mumbles something that Whis doesn't manage to catch.
'What was that?' he wants to know.
Lord Beerus looks at him in the eyes to give his response, 'I said, I want to start training again, and it's your duty to serve me that way.'
'And I said,' Whis clears in a stern voice, 'if you are done being dishonest and jealous, tell me what I can get you.'
This is going on for far too long, and he's honestly starting to get bored with it. They've already established that Lord Beerus is only acting this way, as a way of trying to keep him from leaving the planet, even though Lord Beerus would never agree to that being the truth. And since they've already established the obvious, Whis would like to stop entertaining this any longer.
Again, Lord Beerus looks at him pensively, as though trying to see where the disconnection between them happened.
'You've never disobeyed me before,' he finally gets out of his mouth. 'It must be something you're picking up from new company.'
Whis, for his part, laughs. Well, no, he lets out a single laugh, that he hopes he doesn't let out a second time, because if he does, he'll be reluctantly forced to knock the god out. He really hopes that he doesn't let out a laugh like that for a second time.
'Lord Beerus, first of all,' he raises his index finger, 'I do disobey you when I know your intentions are loathsome, and secondly,' he makes a second finger join his first, 'that 'new' company as you refer to her, has a name; Chi-Chi. I would prefer it if you used her name from now on. Now, one last time, if you done being dishonest and jealous, can I get you anything?'
'No,' the god quickly retorts, 'I'm not done being dishonest and jealous!'
'Oh!' Whis lightly exclaims. 'Well, carry on then,' he encourages, gesturing with his hand, 'but I'm afraid that I will not be your audience this time around. Excuse me, Lord Beerus,' he bids just before he vanishes on the spot.
Chapter 12, Family.
