Chapter 24 - Solace

The assortment of goodies Goku had piled together for Reinyn filled his arms well past his head so that he could scarcely see his next step. Yet somehow he managed to make the trek from Warrior of the Dead cafeteria to the waiting area his young charge was assigned to. With a precariously balanced kick, Goku knocked the door open, and strode forward. "I'm back." Not surprisingly, Reinyn didn't bother to verbalize a greeting. "We have meat and fruit and water. I'm not sure what kind of meat and fruit. They're from some corner of the galaxy that I'm not familiar with, but they're good. I've tried them all at some point or another." Goku attempted to drop his load onto one of the ornate tables losing only a couple of oblong green melons, which rolled lackadaisically across the floor.

"Reinyn?" Goku said. He wasn't just being ignored though, Reinyn was gone. Roland, the caseworker who had left him to contain Reinyn, had taken over the silent glaring in the room. Goku knew he was in trouble for abandoning his post, but what was he supposed to do? "I apologize for losing him, but he promised me he'd stay put. The kid was starving."

Roland smirked condescendingly and shook his head at Goku. "Actually, Reinyn stayed put. Decisions have been made, and his situation is resolved. You can go back to whatever it is you do normally. I won't be filing a report about your delinquency since there was no harm done, and I prefer to avoid the paperwork. Try to be more diligent in the future." Roland paused on his way out the door, looking down his nose at the food Goku had brought. "Clean that up before you go, please."

Goku stared at the pile of food, pointless impotent good intention. "What do you mean by resolved? Is he back with his family?"

"That's none of your concern, is it?" Roland said.

"This place could get really boring. At least you finally made it."

Goku didn't turn to face the owner of the voice intruding on his solitude. Since shaking Yamcha and his wife, he'd been mourning his son, fighting bitterness and anger. The lures of the afterlife, the soft grass and the gently lit blue skies didn't tempt him or assuage his spirit. "Piccolo, I'm not in the mood." His oftentimes adversary, Piccolo, was in the afterlife with him, safe in heaven. Unfortunately, his son wouldn't be able to enjoy the same privilege. How damn ironic. Goku felt a painful laugh building in his throat and he could barely hold it in. "Just. Go. Away."

Ignoring Goku's strangled request for privacy, Piccolo took a seat near him and relaxed, seemingly oblivious to the raw grief he was intruding on. "Took you a long time to find that kid of yours. I would have thought you wouldn't want to let him out of your sight for at least a few years. So where is he?"

"Look, I'm only going to say this to you once, so listen close." His jaw muscles tensed, and his hands balled into fists, Goku leveled Piccolo with his most intimidating stare. "Never speak of my son to me again. Don't torment my wife about him and don't ever try to taunt me. If you do...I..."

"You'll what?" Piccolo returned Goku's stare without flinching. "So, I take it you didn't find your kid? You decided to hide over here in the corner and cry about it? I thought you were stronger than that. How disappointing."

Goku didn't bother to try warning Piccolo again. What good would it do? They'd been dancing this number for nearly ten years now. Piccolo's taunts and sarcasm and disdain would rain day after day, and Goku just let it roll off him until Piccolo found the line and crossed it. Today, Goku was ready to fight. There wasn't a line to cross or a bit of good will to exhaust. "I told you to leave it alone."

Piccolo arched an eyebrow, actually a little shocked at how quickly Goku was taking his bait. Finally, the potential for some excitement had found its way into his afterlife. "You got a problem with me talking about your iddle baby boy? Why don't you shut me up?"

"You'd like that, wouldn't you?" Goku said. "You want to spit your venom and brawl because you're bored..."…and you were heaven material. Goku closed his eyes and let the taunt tension go. It just wasn't worth it anymore. Piccolo could spout venom for the rest of eternity. There wouldn't be a fight between them today or ever again. "For your information, we found my son, but it's still up in the air whether he's joining us or not. I won't be helping you get your jollies by kicking your ass. The fighting ends here. This is heaven, a place of peace, and you aren't welcome in my afterlife."

After all the hassles and inefficiency he'd experienced at the hands of the afterlife, Goku didn't expect instant wish gratification, but for the first time since his death, he was pleasantly surprised. With a low pitched thump and a flash of blue light, Piccolo ceased to occupy the patch of grass on his hill. Goku blinked his eyes in disbelief. Just because he didn't want to deal with him, Piccolo couldn't touch him anymore?

Looking up at the perfect soft blue sky, Goku let himself feel warm and safe and pleased. Sometimes things worked out after all. Shrugging off a particularly cold winter, tendrils of hope sprang anew in Goku's heart. Things could still work out. How could an afterlife that let Piccolo in, exclude his son? It just wasn't possible, was it?

"Who is she? What does she want? You said she's looking for Reinyn, but why?" Chichi hissed surreptitiously to Krillin. Never taking her eyes off the super-tall alien, Omea, she hiked Goten higher on her hip. Maternal instincts humming, Chichi tried to gauge any threat their new guest might pose. What was Krillin thinking, bringing tall strangers around who might want to kill them all again?

"Look, she's not dangerous," Krillin groused. "If she had a fighting aura or an attitude I wouldn't have helped her."

"Ah, you are afraid, uncomfortable," Omea said. She dropped to her knees, trying to come to Chichi's eye level as she had with Krillin. "I mean you no harm, sincerely. Is your son, Reinyn, present? I would so like to speak with him before making myself at home in this spirit world."

It was really a reasonable request, asked of a reasonable person, but finding her son wasn't a simple task in life or death. Chichi felt a hitch in her throat as she responded. "You don't seem overly dangerous or anything but my son isn't here yet. I'm looking for him myself."

With a sigh, Omea rocked back to rest on her ankles. "Well, I suppose we could look together. At least this place is helpful, yes?"

Krillin laughed and looked to Chichi disbelievingly. The afterlife was lumbering, useless, anything but helpful. "I think she's serious."

"Interface please," Omea said. A tuft of perfect afterlife grass shifted into fluffy clouds. Omea brushed at the vapors revealing a small thirteen inch screen. "Hmm, it didn't work when I tried the search engine for an individual, but the species/racial/ethnic engine was very helpful. I found humans anyway."

"How did you do that?" Chichi asked. She let Goten down and crowded next to Omea to get a better look at the screen, her cautious instincts forgotten. "Who taught you how to use this?"

"There's an afterlife orientation every Friday. I learned there." With a determined glint in her eye, Omea skipped through the FAQ's and the articles meant to help the recently deceased get on with their deaths. "You see, there's a search feature, and you move through their filters. I want to find a person not a place or a thing, so I touch here." The screen shifted at Omea's touch, filling with new filter options. "Since we are all dead, I can go with deceased soul."

"No," Chichi said. She stopped Omea's hand on the way to the screen. "He was alive last I heard. There was a mistake, a snafu. Maybe that's why your search failed."

"I can't believe you can just GOOGLE people in the afterlife," Krillin said. He wasn't sure whether to be disturbed or impressed. When the screen filled with a picture of Reinyn, frowning and grim, Krillin settled on impressed.

Reinyn: Human Saiyan Hybrid

Status: Living

Location: Earth

"He is alive," Omea purred. "How lovely. I hadn't even thought that was possible. I wonder where Earth is? Is it part of the afterlife?"

Chichi couldn't speak, shocked as she was by the information on the screen. Had they sent her son to Earth, to the living Earth or just some part of the afterlife that was Earthlike? Omea reached out a hand, touching the link for current video, and Chichi's heart leapt. It was just her son, her Gohan, crouched insignificantly on a hillside. He seemed so alone there, and Chichi wished she could hug him again. She would hug him until he gave up and accepted her love. She could love him harder than he could hate her.

"It's reality, not a spirit world," Omea said quickly. "See the imperfections, the wilted grass and the light rain. Have they sent him to the other reality then? This is perfection itself."

Perfection? Sending her baby into another reality's living world was anything but perfection. Chichi cringed inside. Alive but alone, her son was yet again beyond her reach, and damn it, he needed her. It wasn't that she wished her child dead either, but he didn't deserve to be alone anymore. "This isn't acceptable."

"Don't be selfish, human-Chichi," Omea said. "Reinyn will live, and he will bear the light. This brightens my death. I think I can relax and enjoy this ending now."

"Selfish? He is my son, and he doesn't deserve to be alone anymore. Who do you think you are, coming here and telling me I'm selfish?" Chichi almost shouted. "You aren't part of this family, and I don't know how you know my son, but..."

"Silence!" Omea rose to her full height, effervescent playfulness and politeness replaced by a haughty pride. Looking down her nose at Chichi, Omea laughed. "I will not be screeched at. Your son is not alone, just because you aren't there means very little. You were never there, not for the majority of his life. He is a guardian, a sentinel, a noble spirit who understands survival. He does not need his mother. Be thankful he is alive. Life is everything."

Krillin refused to let Omea intimidate with either her height or newly developed attitude. Goku was MIA and Krillin wasn't going to let an orange alien get cheeky with his best friend's wife. "Lady you don't know what you're talking about. You have no right to talk to her like that. Back off."

"I will back away as you ask, but I do not recant my statements. Be happy for your child's life. I have wished him only the best since I have known him." Omea strode away, her long legs carrying her quickly from the irritated humans. She hadn't planned to cause strife among them, but she wasn't good at holding her tongue, and after serving her race for many years as Fluorer she was used to her opinions being honored if not always agreed with. Few would have agreed with the decision she made in the moment of her death, but the boy who took her life, Reinyn, lived on. Somehow Omea felt that fate was honoring her last-second gamble. She could only hope that he would live in the light, and live well.

The world had never seemed more dark and foreboding, to Reinyn's experienced eyes. He had been abandoned by the powers above, abandoned to a life he shouldn't own and had no idea what to do with.

At least he'd had a chance to sate his thirst and fill his belly. The fish from the creek had been muddy flavored and strong, but Reinyn had hardly noticed while sucking them down raw. Funny thing about finally having a full belly, it didn't help him with his problem of purpose, or lack there of. The drizzling rain had long since soaked his hair and pants, running rivers over his exposed chest. He was cold, but not cold enough to seek shelter. Besides, moving would be silly when Piccolo was so close, and getting closer. Maybe he should have banked back his aura, hidden, but he needed guidance right now, someone to tell him what he was supposed to do with himself. Piccolo was the closest thing to a chain of command he had in this reality.

For Piccolo's part, he hadn't been looking for Reinyn to return, but when it happened, it was impossible to miss. That kind of power, distinctly Reinyn, gold and fierce, had been like a strobe light flashed into a dim room. The only other possible owner of said aura was safely tucked away with his books in his home right where he belonged.

Piccolo found Reinyn, soggier for wear, but otherwise unchanged from the last time he'd seen him. Much like his unexpected exit, this new arrival left Piccolo somewhat conflicted. A dangerous child that didn't really belong here was back to cause trouble and pick super Saiyan fights. But at least he wasn't dead. "You're back."

"Yeah, the afterlife kicked me out until such time as I get myself properly killed." Even as he said it, Reinyn knew he didn't want to die particularly. Death offered two completely unappealing options, Hell or Heaven with the folks. Maybe he didn't know what to do with himself and his life, but he wasn't anxious to get back to his afterlife either. "Don't worry I'm not going to ask you to kill me or anything."

"Good, I don't make it a habit, killing my students." The situation with Reinyn suddenly seemed larger and more complicated than before. Before, the kid had been a temporary visitor, a child to be pitied and helped and eventually bid farewell. Now, Piccolo had a sinking suspicion that his plan to train and fortify this kid wasn't going to cut it as a permanent lifestyle. "This is a long term situation, then?"

"As long as my life," Reinyn snapped. From the look Piccolo was leveling him with, however long that was, it was going to be a bloody inconvenience. Well, forget him and his stupid questions. He didn't need directions from a useless, low-powered, pea-green, nobody. Rising from his crouch, Reinyn pushed past Piccolo. "Don't look at me like that. This wasn't my idea or my decision."

"No, I don't suppose it was, but you have to make some decisions now. What are you going to do with yourself?"

What am I going to do with myself? Reinyn wanted to shout at Piccolo for reiterating his recurring internal monologue. "How am I supposed to know what I'm supposed to do with myself? This isn't my reality, my world. There's nothing to tie me down, nothing to keep me from wandering this wilderness for the rest of my useless existence, unknown."

"Except that I defeated you, and you belong to me," Piccolo said. "Isn't that how it works in your universe, on your world?"

So he remembered the rules, their arrangement. Reinyn half-expected Piccolo to have conveniently forgotten the tie that bound them together, but he was relieved to hear him reiterate it, to accept it. "So what do you want me to do?"

"Oh no, it's not going to be that easy," Piccolo said. "You still have decisions to make, but I'll help you figure out the questions. Now follow me."