Chapter 22

Judith stared in disbelieve… she had become an onlooker to her own past. She stood some way away as her recurring dream played itself out in front of her.

"NOOOO!" a woman was screaming. "JUDITH!" she screamed. 'Hey, that's my name.' The 5 year old Judith looked back at the woman. 'I think I know her.'

"Mommy!" she was screaming back at her mother. Judith looked toward her mother and saw her being held back by two shin-jin, but they were having difficulty restraining her.

"Please do not take her!" her mother had started begging. "She's just a child!" she yelled.

Someone was holding her, carrying her away from her mother. Judith struggled as best she could, trying to break free. She looked up at the man that was carrying her, his face was disturbingly familiar to her. He appeared to be a Kai, a Supreme Kai! She had noticed his green potara earrings and white hair.

Her mother had managed to break free from her captors with a swift kick between the one's legs and an elbow in the others stomach. Judith redoubled her efforts seeing her mother running toward her. Judith's struggling did not have any effect on the man holding her, instead, he painfully tightened his grip on her. The man was looking at her mother as she ran towards them. Judith saw his eyes glow with a strange purple light. She turned just in time to see her mother floating of the ground toward them and then she was slammed into the ground in front of them. The impact had caused the ground to crack.

"Please…" her mother tried to speak, but her ribs were broken with the force that her body had hit the ground.

"Do not dare grovel at my feet human!" the man screamed angrily before kicking her mother away causing her to fly over the ground and come to a screeching halt next to another body. Judith recognised the body immediately. "You may have fooled the deity god," the man spoke in a clear voice (that voice sounded familiar) and pointed to the dead body lying next to her mother's, "but your sly nature will have no effect on me!"

A loud noise cracked through the air and a flash of white light shot through the sky. "Let her go Demasu." Judith saw none other than the Grand Minister. "You know the laws that govern you. If you insist on continuing down this path, I will have no choice but to have you destroyed." His voice was serious. "As it is, you have already murdered your fellow supreme Kai," the Grand Minister glanced at the dead body, "hence, causing his paired destroyer to perish as well. Surrender now and retain at least some dignity before your end."

"I truly cannot believe it! Am I the only one that realises what an abomination this child is!" Demasu howled in rage. "How can you expect me to sit by and idly watch as this-" he held Judith up by the scruff of her shirt, "-this thing is allowed to live." Judith saw the Grand Minister look down at her, and she noticed his face soften slightly. " She is the embodiment of everything I have suspected to be true and that it that humanity does not deserve life, they are an evil species that thrives on deceit! And if I must die to prove it, then so be it!"

Judith watched as Demasu raised his hand, now glowing with some purple energy, above her. "Now, you die, Karito." He said as he brought his hand down with blinding speed, aiming for her neck. The 5 year old Judith closed her eyes, waiting for the blow… but it never came. Instead she fell to the ground and immediately ran to her mother's limp body. She looked back at to where Demasu had dropped her and saw none other than a younger version of Lord Beerus, gripping his wrist in a painfully tight grip. "Your journey ends here Demasu…" Lord Beerus spoke as a lifted his palm to Demasu's face.

Demasu looked Lord Beerus dead in the eyes, no sign of regret or fear in his face as he spoke his last words. "This world is a disease. A shining example of the god's failure". As he finished Judith saw his eyes flash purple again and Lord Beerus spoke: "Hakai."

Judith watched as Demasu disintegrated into nothing, his scream fading as his body disappeared. Everything went quiet. It was an unnatural silence.

And then suddenly her mother's agonizing scream shattered the silence. Judith looked down, only to see that it was her touch that was causing her mother's pain. A sea of black had started to spread across her mother's arm where her hands had been. "No! Mommy!" Judith yelled, here vision turning red as the blood swelled to her eyes. Judith could do nothing but watch as her mother's soul was devoured.

"Judith." Her mother said through clenched teeth. "Never forget… who you truly are…" Her mother winched in pain but continued to speak. "Live without regret… be strong… give what you can give… and t-" the sea of black had reached her mother's neck and was starting to move across her face… "Take the love that you deserve…." She squeezed her eyes shut as the last remnants of her soul was mercilessly being devoured. Her mother had reached up and cupped her daughter's check. "I will always love you Judith…" Her eyes turned black and her hand fell to the ground lifelessly. Judith saw herself collapse onto her mother's lifeless body.

Lord Beerus started to walk toward Judith. "Hold on Beerus." The Grand Minister ordered as he touched down next to the destroyer. The Grand Minister looked at Judith's pitiful form, lying between her dead mother and father. The Grand Minister made his decision. "Not the child. I will take her." He said. Had he known what his act of charity would cause such want and despair, he would simply had let Lord Beerus do what he was born to do… and left him to destroy the child.

"Off-course I mean no disrespect to your judgement Grand Minister, but are you sure?" Lord Beerus asked carefully, a sweat drop appearing on his head as he questioned the lord of the angels.

"Yes." The Grand Minister simply replied and walked toward Judith's small body. "There has never been one like her in all existence, and there pro[ably never will be again. A destroyer for a father and a human as a mother." The Grand Minister picked her up and held her in his arms. "Better to keep her close than leave her to her own devices. People will not accept her. They will judge and condemn her."

Suddenly the ground started shaking. Judith regained consciousness just long enough to look up at the Grand Minister. He smiled down at her caringly and gave her a reassuring smile. Judith felt the scorching heat from the raging inferno, the flames was swallowing everything in their path, they left nothing alive. Judith lost consciousness again.

"It would appear that Demasu's last attack had some effect after all." Lord Beerus said boredly.

"Shall we go Beerus?" the Grand Minister said as Lord Beerus placed his hand on the Grand Minister's shoulder disappearing in a white light and they were traveling through space. The Grand Minister looked down at the child in his arms, which was restlessly stirring in her sleep. She was mumbling a name that the Grand Minister could not make out. He tightened his grip on her small body as he continued to Lord Beerus's planet. Judith looked at her childish body cradled in the Grand Ministers arms. "Za…..ma…..su." the 5 year old Judith mumbled. "Za…..za…..ma….su. Zama-!"

…. Planet Venera …

Fizz had been a split second to late, he had attempted to catch Judith as she fell. Instead he now hovered above the large gaping hole and swung his staff once, aiming at Judith's energy signal that he could fortunately still sense and a moment later she came floating out of the darkness in a bubble of blue light.

Much to Fizz's distress, he noticed a large gash running along Judith's head, blood was gushing from the angry wound. She must have hit her head while she fell, Fizz mused looking back into the dark abyss and could only faintly make out some jutting rocks. He immediately started flying toward the cabin where he would tend to Judith's injuries.

… Judith's mind …

Judith watch astonished as her own past played itself out in front of her eyes. They were inside Lord Beerus's temple slash home. The Grand Minister had laid her 5 year old body down onto something that might have been a couch, Lord Beerus was lounged on a similar looking piece of furniture opposite her.

The 5 year old Judith had woken with a start and had hit the Grand Minister on the nose, a result of her small body jolting awake. The Grand Minister , off course, had not even felt it, and only smiled at the small child.

"Who are you and what do you want?" the Little Judith demanded, and adult Judith could not help but feel slightly impressed that she was so demanding at that age.

"Calm down child." The Grand Minister cooed.

"Where am I and where is my Mother!" the Little Judith yelled, angered at this strange individual's tone of voice.

"Now now." The Grand Minister tried again. "I know you must be confused… and probably a little scared?"

"I am not scared!" the Little Judith exclaimed defiantly. "Answer my questions blue person!" she ordered again.

"She's quite the feisty one, isn't she?" Lord Beerus commented from his couch.

"You're name is Judith, correct?" The Grand Minister asked innocently.

"Yes." She answered, eyeing the Grand Minister suspiciously.

"Well Judith, I am the Grand Minister and that…" The Grand Minister pointed over his shoulder toward Lord Beerus. "… is Lord Beerus." The Little Judith quickly looked between the two, her eyes remained only a second longer on Lord Beerus, and the Grand Minister quickly picked up on her curiosity. "He does look funny doesn't he?" The Grand Minister asked smiling.

"Hey! What do y-" Lord Beerus started but swallowed the rest of the sentence after he met the Grand Minister's murderous glare.

"He reminds me of something I once saw while I was visiting your planet…" The Grand Minister continued. "What was that adorable animal called?" He scratched his head, pretending to think.

The Little Judith quickly answered, but it was not the answer the Grand Minister was looking for. "A Cat." She said flatly. "And your sad attempt to trick me into trusting you will not work." The adult Judith almost started laughing at her 5 year old's boldness as well as her attempt at an angry glare.

"Well she certainly has her father's arrogance." Lord Beerus remarked boredly.

The Grand Minister regarded her for a moment. "Well then Judith. You certainly don't like beating around the bush, do you?"

"Don't try and trick me with your fancy talk!" the Little Judith exclaimed, the fact that she was indeed still a child painfully clear despite her brave facade. The adult Judith watched as the room they were in turned dark and a black aura started emanating from her small body, her eyes started to well up with blood and the floor started to crack.

"Enough." The Grand Minister said calmly as he placed his palm squarely in front Little Judith's face. Almost immediately his hand started to glow as he spoke.

"All that you are. All your unforeseen sins and hidden causes, whether in old memories or new, everything shall be hidden from you. This vessel of memories shall serve as your soul protector in life and by taking my name, your life and strive shall be bound to my conscience."

As the Grand Minister spoke, Judith watched on as her 5 year old self's eyes went blank and she floated in mid-air, staring into nothing. The Grand Minister spoke three final words before her small body floated down back to the couch-like furnishing.

"Jiu zheyang ba."

Judith watched her child version moan as her mind was contorted and split, memories locked away in the deep recesses of her conscious.

… Planet Venera …

Fizz watched Judith anxiously. He had managed to heal all her injuries with a swift wave of his staff (and a fresh change of clothes were added), but it seemed that the trauma she suffered to her head was worse than it had appeared and he was slightly concerned that she had not yet regained consciousness. He had laid her down on a recliner in front of the fireplace in the living room of the cabin. He really did not want to go into her room, especially now, knowing Zamasu was here and what had-

"NO!" Fizz said out loud, stopping his thoughts from going further down that particular rabbit hole. "Anything but that."

There was no way for Fizz to tell in what sort of condition Judith was in. He could see her as clear as day and even touch her, but he could not sense her life force, not even faintly. Her Ki had disappeared. Off course that was not the case, she was still very much alive, but only her 'owner' would be able to sense her now, and in her case, that was Zamasu.

Judith shifted slightly, her eyes moving behind their closed lids. All Fizz could do was watch and wait.