The Horse with No Name
There's a monster in his arms.
And for a long time Goku sits together with him atop the podium, both of them slowly dying and so impossibly weak that even a gust of wind would be enough to finish the job. Despite this, Goku rubs soothing circles into his son's back. He pretends Gohan is still a boy. That they're on Earth. That none of this happened. It's only due to Goten's persistence that Goku woke up at all but it hadn't been in time to stop Gohan from making his wish. And now the dragon balls are scattered and the only reminder they have of this awful incident is all the death that's followed them throughout it all.
There's a hitch of breath and Goku knows what to do. After all, this marks an opportunity too good not to take advantage of. With a quick strike to the neck, he incapacitates his son and admittedly savours the moment when Gohan slumps forward. Asleep.
A mass of weight in Goku's arms with no further ambition to cause harm.
Gohan's head lolls backwards when Goku does somehow find it within him to stand. The stairs are another matter entirely and he struggles with each, darkened step in a weary stagger. It's near the bottom that Goten stares up at both of them from where he'd been left with Vegeta now sprawled over his back instead of Goku. He's using the Power Pole to support both of them, wincing but nonetheless relieved when Goku smiles tiredly at him.
Goku idly wonders where Piccolo is amongst the debris or if he's even still with them at all. He scans the pitch black, startling when he hears the rustling of shifting rubble from the rear.
Shin's outline draws into focus the closer he comes. There's an unreadable quality about him, about the way he looks at how Gohan anchors Goku down.
Then his eyes meet Goku, who attempts another smile, grim.
"So…" Goku manages through his ruined larynx. "What… now?
The future comes and goes in the ominous way that the futures does, the present remains and only the scars – the physical and otherwise – remains to remind them of the past survived. Time draws forward as it must. We are all passengers, even the divine.
Chapter Fifty-Three
Circles
"Does it hurt for you to look upon me?" the Ivory Tree had once asked.
"No," Gohan had rasped, lost within the wondrous Realm of the Almighty for the second first time. "Where am I? Who are you?"
The tree had sat silent, golden zigzags running down and through the leaves in occasional glimmers. Only if Gohan had known then for what was to come.
"Then you are ready."
"I don't understand. Who are you? I-"
"The snake which cannot cast its skin has to die. As well the minds which are prevented from adapting; they cease to be just that. You are the skin no more, my child."
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Isn't it funny? The words that refuse to leave your mind no matter how hard you try to forget them?
"Please… Let us do our own… Revelation."
Such arrogance.
Such desperation…
Over the impossibly beat of the dragon's energy, Gohan had thrown his head back and spoke the archaic words of the ancient and most divine.
"Divine Dragon, I summon you on this auspicious day for you to grant my wish. Hear my voice and carry my will across this existence!"
"What is your wish?"
"I wish—"
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"Oh, Gohan…"
How you must hate the circle you have journeyed.
Gohan… Gohan… Gohan—!
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"Get up… C'mon… Gohan…"
Gohan curls away from the light best he can but his body won't cooperate. His arms and legs are cement, his head so painfully heavy. In his tiredness all he can do is squeeze his eyes tighter and will his dreamlessness to return, and that this voice would—
"Oi! I said get up!"
He feels the sting as his face snaps left, the world suddenly opening up into the bright, unsaturated blues and purples of somewhere unfamiliar. There's an immediate, plunging ache running down his temples from being thrust into reality. His eyes refuse to adjust. It's dizzying. Gohan breathes out slowly, settling for simply raising his head when the rest of his body still refuses to budge. When he does finally manage to focus, the wry smile of one Trunks Briefs stands only a few feet away.
"Well, good morning."
Trunks…
There's a rush of dread. Gohan remembers the last time seeing him. He remembers watching the kid's life bleed away the moment the Z Sword gorged him, the tears, the pleas of mercy for his father… Desperately, Gohan tries to take a step backwards, the proximity to this undead person is suffocating, but he only panics himself all the more when neither of his legs responds.
"Don't bother," Trunks says, leaning against a table behind. "You aren't getting out of that. Besides, unless you think you can take both your old man and Rixas then there's no point even trying."
Gohan stills, assessing his situation.
He looks down. His entire body from the neck down is submerged in what could best be described as smelted gold; a syrupy liquid that seems to have a stream of its old mind. It ripples, bubbles popping, but doesn't sway whatsoever when Gohan tries his best to push against it. It's a prison, he realizes, as though the tank had been perfectly sized with him in mind.
Around, the room itself is not unusual in the fact that Gohan's been in many identical variations of it already. Overbearing purple curtains sweep from one side to the next against dusty blue walls and marble flooring. The furniture is ornate, the framed art even more extravagant and reflecting of propagandistic legends promoted by the Kai. If he couldn't have guessed his location from that alone, the smell of burning incense is the next giveaway.
So, he has to assume that he's on planet Geo, if not that it would have to be the Realm of the Kai but Gohan highly doubts he'd be welcomed back there anytime soon.
That doesn't explain Trunks' being here.
He should be dead. No, more than dead. Obliterated. Yet he doesn't even have a halo.
Gohan's voice is below a whisper, hoarse. "How long?"
"A while."
He hears banging in the next room over, of voices raised.
"They're arguing about who should be the one to wake you. Also over the stupid stuff like what should be said to you, what shouldn't be, what they should ask you…" Trunks tells him, twirling short hair between his fingers in a bid to feign disinterest, "It was getting really boring so I came and did it myself. It's not like we don't have a hearing to attend or anything…"
Short hair… Gohan looks at him properly. The last time he'd seen Trunks it'd been long. The kid had obviously been into the Room of Spirit and Time before Gohan ventured to Earth for the dragon ball, but now he looks even different to that. Older once more. Really, barely a kid at that.
How long is a while?
Trunks catches Gohan staring. "Surprised I'm here?"
Gohan ignores him and stares outside of the half hidden window. It's snowing, which only happens in early spring time here on Geo. During his last visit – when he'd massacred the Council – it'd been encroaching into autumn and he'd experienced the whiplash of bipolar temperatures after suffering the blizzard on Earth only moments prior. So how long has since passed?
He calculates. How many weeks are there in a year here? How many per season…? Two… three, four… Shrewdly, he also considers Trunks' short albeit noticeable growth.
"Four months," Gohan grasps.
Trunks' face sours and he stands to draw the curtains over the window fully, having realized what just happened. "You're such a pain. And seriously? Not even a 'sorry, Trunks, for butchering you like a common hog'?"
Gohan feels his brain throb. Four months. He's been asleep for that long? What's the last thing he can remember? The wish, and then his father… and then… nothing. His face contorts in concentration, with it offering up nothing aside the painful, vivid memory of having Quell die on top of him.
"Jeez, don't look like that."
He's in front, hands on hips, analytical. Whatever transpired in that head of his must have led him to some sort of conclusion because soon enough Trunks is by his side. He presses the hovering lights adjourning Gohan's tank, somehow with the unexpected knowledge of how to expertly operate what must be a Kai designed device. There's no complaint from Gohan however, and the golden liquid around him begins to drain downwards in a gurgling motion. A bagged bundle is thrown towards him. He catches it awkwardly, arms wobbly from the lack of use.
Inside the bundle, robes. Gohan wastes no time, disliking the exposure.
"I can't imagine turning up in just your underwear would buy you any favour," Trunks says, moving towards the door, "I'll be outside—"
Said door suddenly crashes open and into Trunks' unsuspecting face. He's floored. "It's been pushed forward!" Rixas declares, emerging from the other side at haste. "We've gotta' wake him u—!"
It's almost comical. Rixas seems to turn to stone when his eyes meet Gohan's, the door slowly returning to a close in his stead. Trunks rises at its side, rubbing at his nose unhappily. "Pushed forward?" he repeats, "What do you mea —ow! – what was that for?"
Rixas gives him another slap across the head. "Get out, you impatient little idiot."
"Well, you guys weren't gonna' do it any time soon!"
The door slams behind, rattling in its frame and leaving in its wake a looming silence Gohan isn't sure how will break. This leaves Rixas staring once more, gold unreadable. He's in formal robes, a sight rare in its own right and perhaps only ever observed a handful of times just to placate Quell. Does that mean Rixas is attending the hearing? Has he had his anonymity stripped? Do the Kai know his iden-?
Air is compressed from Gohan's lungs when Rixas swiftly embraces him, his face burying into the crevice between Gohan's neck and shoulder. "Mori."
Gohan is so at a loss at how to react that his body responds on its own accord. He returns the hug, holding his brother so tightly that he hopes to lose himself in the moment. Wouldn't it be easier that way?
He'd been so sure in making the wish he did but wouldn't it have been kinder to himself – easier, even – to follow through with True Revelation just to fulfil the ambition of dying?
There's disappointment when Rixas pulls back. He wipes at his own budding tears, laughing. "I'm so happy," he says, "I shouldn't be because of what's next but I'm just, y'know – after this long being alone – by the Almighty, I'm relieved you're here." He presses a fierce kiss to Gohan's forehead. "All we've gotta' do is get through this next bit and then we can breathe a little easier, all right?"
But it was barely forty or so minutes ago that – in Gohan's mind – he'd just made his wish, that he'd tried to murder both his father and little brother and that he'd accepted the inevitability of his own death. He'd said his goodbye to Rixas after all.
But then again, Gohan didn't make his easy wish, the right one. This is his own undoing.
"Mori, are you listening?" Rixas asks in a tone that indicates that he must have been saying something that Gohan indeed was not listening to. He wipes at the wetness accumulating on Gohan's cheeks. "Please," he says, "I need you to hold it together, just for a bit. Please. If this doesn't go well you know what could happen, you know what they'll want to do to you—"
"Execution," Gohan supplies. It's an occupational hazard.
"I won't let them," Rixas breathes out, "I'll recreate what you did in that chamber tenfold, brother, before I let them touch you."
"Don't be rash," mutters Gohan.
"Then don't put me in that position. Don't make me rip them apart for you because I will."
"I'm not connected to the Almighty so it won't hurt yo—"
"Shut up. Don't."
"Maybe I want to be execu—"
"Shut up." Rixas wipes at Gohan's face again, furious. "Don't do this now. We don't have the time because those utter assholes have moved the hearing up which means you need to sort yourself out. I know it must be surreal for you and that your head must still be scrambled, but you gotta' at least pretend to be sane for the next hour or so."
Gohan stares until Rixas elaborates further.
"I need you to buck the fuck up."
"…And how do you expect me to do that?" Gohan hisses back, finding a sudden strength from who the hell knows where because he's still exhausted, even after sleeping for four fucking months straight. "I – just minutes ago, I… Haed, he… I… Rixas, I don't even – Quell."
A silence hangs between them. Rixas breathes out a long, deep breath, releasing him in order to pick up a cloak from the discarded bundle packaging. "It wasn't supposed to be like this. It was supposed to be tonight."
Gohan begrudgingly snatches the cloak. His fingers are shaking. "You're asking me to live… after everything."
"Don't misunderstand me, Mori. I'm not asking." After watching Gohan struggle for a few seconds, there's another sigh. "Here, let me do it." He fastens the buttons along the front, hands pausing when he's finished. "All you have to do is stand there in the chamber. Don't speak. Let us be your strength today and when this is all over then we will have a discussion in full about everything. It's not that I haven't wanted to wake you up each and every fucking day but it's been forbidden—"
"By who?"
"You know by who."
"The Kai?" Rixas doesn't respond and Gohan breathes out a waspish rasp, sardonic. "The Kai…. Really? What happened to avenging Famis? No? Oh, well by all means. Let's all abide under their jurisdiction despite knowing they murdered one of our own!" It feels good to be angry, to be cruel. It gives him something to do with all these wretched feelings. "And why bother with the hearing at all? This will be no more than a kangaroo court—"
"Calm down."
"Just let me die and be done with it."
Rixas breathes out two torrents through his nose, eyes thin.
"Rixas." Gohan holds his gaze. "Remember why Quell is dead," he says as levelly as he can, "Remember that it is this brother under your hands right now who caused his death. Allow justice to be undertaken or at least grant me the fucking mercy of… of… the Kai if you're itching to serve them!"
Rixas shoves at his shoulders. "We've had months to anticipate your shitty reaction," he snaps, "Don't use Quell against me after everything. Don't try to manip—"
"You don't get it!" Gohan shouts back, "I'm so tired! All the time! This – in my head – it's always there! This evil! I'll never escape it especially now after what I've done, after the people I've killed. There's so much blood on my hands and I can see it. If you loved—"
"No! You don't get to say that! If you're remotely remorseful then you'd get over your cowardice," Rixas seethes, "This isn't about repentance but about escapism. And you – If you loved me you'd stop being so selfish and push through this hearing. Swallow your fucking pride like I've had to and allow us to beg for your life!"
Heat rushes up Gohan's face. Frustration as opposed to sadness has the tears gather. Why won't Rixas spare him this kindness? He must understand – the pain – the horror of the situation. They say time heals all wounds, but that presumes the source of the grief is finite. "I can't," he hisses through his teeth. "Please… Please…"
Rixas surveys him for short time under a veil of silence. "If I can survive this then so can you," he says ultimately, passing Gohan a pair of fresh boots. "Remember what Quell would say. 'Always smile. Don't let anyone read your thoughts and don't let anyone know what you're against and what you're for.'"
He has to shield his eyes. Everything is so bright. Fluorescent, unnatural lighting highlights all the colours Gohan had forgotten. Whilst under the influence of the sandstone and the Almighty the world had shone with a beauty all its own, but now under the layer of reality the colours appear gaudy and entirely unappealing to look at. There is nothing beautiful about any of this; from the overarching ceiling, donned in what the Kai like to believe as majestic paintings of battles of past, to all the new furnishings they've used to replace all the old pieces Gohan himself vanished in blood. Yes. It's funny how things work out, isn't it? This is the exact meeting chamber Gohan slayed the Council in; the location chosen most certainly a calculated move done to elicit certain reactions from whatever Kai dregs they've accumulated for this hearing.
The docks are full of onlookers. Quiet murmuring falls into silence when both he and Rixas emerge together through the very same door Gohan once asked Eyrelle to open for him. There's the wonder if she made it through all this unscathed, though he doubts it. Now that he understands the weight of guilt he realizes that she had little intention of surviving this. She would have died with the pleasure of knowing she will return to Famis. Gohan has no such luxury. But the Unknown sounds pleasant too. His sleep had been dreamless. He hadn't minded it. So long as he doesn't have to be here.
Rixas guides Gohan's elbow subtly and ushers him into a seat mid-centre a long, polished table that reflects Gohan's own dark expression back at him in tones of brown. He allows himself a moment of surprise however when he spots, from under his halo, that his hair has since turned blond. Very strange. He'd contemplate the reasons if he could bring himself to care. Instead, he drags his attention across the room, combing through each of the attendees should he recognize any.
And he does.
Beerus looks about ready to tear him apart, and by his side is Whis who conversely gives Gohan a warm smile and tip of the head. Gohan doesn't know which one he dislikes more.
Around the table there are several kais Gohan doesn't recognize looking at him, whispering amongst themselves without discretion whilst oozing with both self-importance and loathing. Amongst them are a few faces Gohan has seen perhaps once or twice before; other gods, all with varying heights of reputation. None had responded favourably to Gohan's call for action when he'd announced Revelation. Yet, there is no loathing to be seen from them – no evidence of condemning for what Gohan did here – just curiousity. It's a reflex that Gohan straightens his back. They're appraising him.
He recognizes the God of the Skies, an avian-like woman not dissimilar to the natives of Geo; she's a brash person with a penchant for expressing frustration with Kai direction. She sits next to the God of the Void of Passing, who in turn sits next to the empty seat Haed would have taken should he have still been with them. Next to that however is an unfamiliar face Gohan's never once seen; not a kai, no, he's clearly another god of some kind.
The way he grins in Gohan's direction is unnerving.
"Haed's successor," Rixas whispers into Gohan's ear.
God of the Underworld.
This one looks rather human-like all things considered, with the foremost difference being the ears as is usually the case. They sit below immature antlers; spikes if they could be called that, and then fade into dark scales along his neck, which presumably continue under his robes.
Gohan doesn't break eye contact with this newly anointed god if only because then he'd be forced to remember Haed – or rather more so what he did to Haed – and that's far more disturbing an image. Fragments of bones, deconstructed bipedal sludge…
"You know the truth. Think of Revelation. True Revelation."
Gohan'd just been with him. He'd just seen him, just felt his flesh under his nails… Whatever sort of expression Gohan just made seems to please this God of the Underworld. He laughs, leaning down against one hand and drinking in the visage of Gohan's suffering.
The last to sit down is yet another person Gohan had left for dead. After seeing Beerus' spectacular recovery Gohan berates himself for not expecting the expected.
"Apologies for the delay," the Supreme Kai greets in Celestianese, before then switching to the Common tongue for some unfathomable reason. "I hope you are all well. If the Council and guests would be so kind to use the word of Common today that would be appreciated. Those present in the stands are not all speakers of our mother tongue."
"No meeting has ever been performed in such a lower language!" roars one kai.
"You ask us to quash tradition?" asks another.
"How absurd!"
"Why should we degrade ourselves just to allow a mortal audience?"
"Do you not think there has been enough change recently, Supreme Kai?"
This time, the God of the Skies speaks, all too amused. "Lest you be reminded that such change guaranteed your new position, Respectable Kai. Perhaps you should thank Lord Mori yourself now that he is here as without him you would still be overseeing – what was it? – the Deific Records Hall?"
"You go too far!"
Grimacing, Shin glances around the room and at the chaos that's budding like that of a new fire. It's obviously not the start he was after. A clattering of a chair falling has him turn a sharp right, the discourse quickly coming to fine halt in steed.
"Is your pride more important than the matter in which we have gathered here to discuss?"
She's mousy, this fresh, petite kai, with a whispering voice that carries as though her words had been shouted. Standing, she couldn't be much shorter than the Supreme Kai yet she seems to appear taller. There's a quiet authority. The quality of a leader.
Gohan realizes that this will be the person to decide his fate.
"Lord Mori of Revelation," she continues without looking at him, and in Common at that, with a dreamy sort of element to it, "Consider this is your accountability hearing after the actions committed in Year 780. The purpose of today's summoning is to evaluate how to proceed under the legislation in order to fairly and justly conclude this chronicle of events." There's a pause and her eyes indolently scan the seating above the meeting chamber. "Whilst many present today are here to observe in order to document history to add to our wondrous and impressive archive, some are not. To those guests, please be reminded that this is a place of divine law making and should be respected as such. Audible reaction will have you removed. Physical reaction will have you disciplined; potentially by capital punishment should you attempt to break the wards."
Gohan hears Rixas softly release a held breath. He's looking up there, at the place Goku Son – Gohan's father – must be. Gohan feels his own hands dampen with perspiration. He also spares a look, although he can't see anything through the shimmering wall. It's been warded so only one side is able to see the other.
Dad…
The last thing Gohan remembers is him…
God knows how he survived after everything Gohan threw at him. It hadn't been for a lack of trying. He looks at his now damp hands and releases a shuddery gust of breath, only recollecting himself when Rixas gives him a kick under the table.
Remember where you are, he'd say.
The kais are talking amongst themselves once more, with some of the gods occasionally voicing up as to encourage a flow of conversation in spite of recent heat between them. It's hard to concentrate, to listen despite himself being the topic of the discussion. Gohan is still four months in the past and apparently the only one drowning in a situation long since suffered. It's inexpiably dreamlike. It's wrong. Even before all this, Gohan wouldn't be sat down here at the table, he'd be in the balconies eavesdropping and cheering Quell on when one of the moronic, boot-licking kais would try and argue with him.
But now… Gohan feels nauseous. His head thuds. What would happen if he vomited on this brand new grand and divine meeting table?
He notices it from the reflection of the table, that the new God of the Underworld is still staring at him, and it's with such a shit eating grin that Gohan feels about ready to ruin the meeting chamber a second time.
The vibration of voice next to him breaks the stupor.
"You all may be unfamiliar to my and Mori's understanding of how the these meetings work," Rixas bites out, frustrated for some reason or another, "But I can assure you all that we are both acutely aware to the underhanded politics that run rife—"
"My lord," the Supreme Kai interrupts, "I doubt my colleague's ambition was to cause offence—"
"No, it was exactly that," says a kai to Shin's left, hitting the table with a firm fist, "The Gods of Revelation are juvenile. There is no space in this divine circle for adolescent gods who grow bolder and more reckless with each generation. No other universe has them so what—"
"And no other universe has a God of the Void of Passing," barks the God of the Skies, "Nor do they have my role. Should our job security be threatened also, Respectable Kai?"
The kai frazzles, her ears burning red. "N-No. I am not—"
"We are not here to debate the role of the Gods of Revelation." Shin stands. "We Kai have spoken today of respecting tradition so let us do as much and allow the conservation of the role."
"He allowed our predecessors no such respect," snaps another kai, most definitely in gesture of Gohan. "Had I been present for that meeting that day then—"
"But you weren't," Rixas growls, "And that's fortunate, isn't it? Because that means you were allowed to survive another day despite having a hand in murdering one of our own, Famis!"
"Lord Mori committed war crimes!" the same kai stresses, "We mustn't overlook this!"
"And you unlawfully executed my brother!"
The God of the Void of Passing mutters through twitching lips, eyes unfocused and bouncing between the table and floor. "E-Executing g-g-gods without so much as a h-hearing… T-Troublesome. N-Not Good."
"Troublesome indeed," the God of Skies hums, turning her weighted attention to Gohan. "Yet the Kai are not the only one guilty of such a sin. Lord Mori, do inform us of your rather impromptu decision in laying waste to Lord Haed, our previous and …beloved God of the Underworld."
"This is not necessary," the Supreme Kai interjects at speed, "Lord Mori has only just been unconfined from the Gold Emollient less than thirty minutes ago. And with the hearing being moved forward – by ten hours at that – it is hardly expectable for him to—"
He stops when the dreamy, softly-spoken kai raises her hand. "I too am curious, Lord Mori," she says to him, gently. "The turbulent relationship between the Gods of Revelation and Lord Haed is well documented, though none ever mustered up the daring to kill him, until now. What inspired you?"
Rixas audibly holds his breath.
"Inspired… me…" Gohan mulls over, pensive.
"Let it go, Gohan," his father had guided in the sands of Hell, "It's not a weakness to love. To feel." He recalls the bloodied figure drawing closer. The desperation there. "That anger, that hatred. Use it."
And then Haed had died without so much of a complaint. He'd anticipated Gohan carrying on his good work after all.
Gohan swallows, and then smiles his best at the kai. "I suppose him running his poniard through Quell would have something to do with it. He who cast the first stone… and all that…"
Her eyes twinkle. "I see."
"Madame Council Woman, Lord Haed had been revealed to be influencing both the Gods of Revelation and the Council," Shin adds in direction of her, "Playing both sides effectively against one another to serve his own objectives. He'd been grooming Lord Mori for as long as he'd been in contact—"
Gohan blanches. "What?"
Rixas kicks him under the table, less subtly this time. Why is the Supreme Kai here defending him anyway? One of his biggest regrets is not murdering the foul, underhanded slug.
"It is in my very detailed report that I elaborated on the matter of Lord Haed's disloyalty to this Council, and also on his irreprehensible conduct in twisting Revelation nefariously."
"That's all well and good," Beerus replies dryly, "If not for your bias for the mortals of course, but that aside I'm sure the report is telling. Yet, it still has to be revealed to what even Lord Haed's ambitions were. Or are you finally going to enlighten us, Lord Mori?"
Furiously, Shin turns to him. "You don't need to answer that, my lord. Not yet—"
"True Revelation."
"Mori!" Rixas hisses under his breath. "Don't'—"
"And what's that supposed to mean?" Beerus sneers, "True Revelation? Feel free elaborate on that because I don't believe for a damn second that that's what you wished for. You mustn't have been that influenced by him then."
Gohan tries to reply but Rixas snatches at his arm, standing. "We're in attendance of a hearing, not a cross examination. Use the facts you've already accumulated instead of digging for more. Whatever Haed's goals were doesn't matter because they clearly weren't achieved as you just pointed out, Beerus—"
"It's 'Lord Beerus', and 'Lord Haed' even posthumously," Whis candidly points out, "Let's remember our manners in the Kai Chamber."
"Lord Beerus," Rixas bites out, "It's in the record that the Supreme Kai wrote. And if you read it like even I did, you'll find the Kai body accepts that Lord Mori was coerced by Lord Haed. The fact that he didn't follow through on whatever creepy shit – uh, deeds – Lord Haed had in mind is in itself a testament to my brother's opposition to evil."
"Evil," Beerus scoffs.
"Yes. Evil." He sits. "Also… Let it be known to the respectable Kai that Lord Beerus is prejudiced against Lord Mori because, simply, he kicked his ass."
Beerus rises like a phoenix. "HOW DARE YOU?"
There's an eruption of voices and to Beerus' horror; laughter. Gohan can't bear any of it. But in this chaos Rixas manages to drag Gohan's ear into proximity. "Don't throw yourself away!" he spits, "Use your fucking brain. If we get through this without an execution order then we can next aim to reinstate your divinity." Around, the meeting remains loud and several different kais are attempting to regain order. "Mori, listen to me. If your death is the only thing you can give them then they'll take that as is, right now. Survive this, reinstate divinity and then the day you do die – millennia from now, and after me – you can find your way back to Quell."
But Gohan has been fighting for so long.
"Goku is up there," Rixas continues, "For God's sake, if not for me then at least for him."
Gohan brushes a hand through his hair, teeth grit.
There's banging at one end of the table, a book turned gavel being the culprit. The mousy, head kai clears her throat and the room is silent once more. "We cannot deny the bias of our attendees today," she says, looking between Beerus, Rixas and even the Supreme Kai. "But let us examine the overlying fact of the matter; the Revelation itself. Or lack thereof."
The table turns to Gohan once more.
"Lord Mori, what was your exact wish?"
They're itching to know, all of them, Rixas included, who looks at Gohan with brimming anxiety despite the attempt at a front he's putting on. He supposes the wish's effect might not be so obvious to those who don't know.
So he tells them, using the exact language used; the ancient, dead words Haed had educated him with before Gohan pulverised him.
Blank faces stare back, including Rixas'.
It is Beerus who is the first to crack. "In Common, you punk!"
But this is what was asked of him! Gohan's brows furrow. "That's the exact w—"
There's a sigh.
"How underwhelming."
It's the new God of the Underworld.
Knowledge of the language would be fundamental in securing the job so it's not surprising he understands. He hums, leaning back in his chair, rocking on the hind legs before giving Gohan a most disappointed look. "I thought it'd be something more interesting than that."
"I don't adhere to sensationalism," Gohan responds.
"That could be argued. Otherwise we all wouldn't be here in the first place." He smiles darkly. "Think about it."
There's something coded in what he's saying but Gohan is not mentally equipped to deal with this right now, though his attention lingers on this man even when Shin speaks.
"Lord Mori," he acknowledges, "Did you or did you not make a wish in regards to the abolishment of ki as you originally planned?"
"I did," Gohan reveals, dragging his eyes away from that smirk. "I achieved Revelation—"
"Then it didn't work," Rixas interrupts, bewildered in an almost hopeful way. "Ki remains. The mortals—"
Gohan's hand rises, he along with it.
Whatever hope Rixas has is quashed visually in an instance.
"Ki is interlinked with mortals at birth," Gohan begins quietly, "With varying levels of potential growth depending on the power born to them. This is conditional to race, sex, sometimes magical factors, and other hereditary influences."
Beerus growls. "Yes, we know that—"
Gohan leans forward. "This energy will slowly diminish," he says with ultimatum. "Every generation from now will experience slight degeneration until the day when ki will be completely extinguished from mortal existence."
There's silence, and in it Gohan retakes his seat.
The first to find her voice is the head kai. "How many generations?"
"I've allowed for fifteen hundred years by the Almighty's measurement system."
Around the table, everyone seems to have broken out into counting. He watches them do their conversions before huddling into groups of indiscreet muttering. It's slowly escalating.
"That's around about four to five hundred Earth years," Gohan whispers over this to Rixas, "…Just for when they ask."
His eyes are fixed forward, furious.
Had Rixas thought he hadn't made the wish? He wonders if he'd just signed his own death warrant.
"How am I expected to organise the archives on this?" calls forth one kai.
"How will this affect the Kai? The Sacred World of the Kai uses ki to—"
"Supreme Kai, this was not in the report!"
"Does this mean more or less passing through to Otherworld?"
"By all that is divine! How will the other universes look at us?!"
Even the other gods are talking amongst themselves, most appearing appeased by this information. Perhaps they'd assumed the worst, whatever that could be. The Gods of the Skies is unabashedly regarding Gohan as she talks about him, feathers gesturing.
There is also noise pollution filtering downwards from the stands, the wards only doing so much to contain it. Gohan had expected it.
What he hadn't expected is what happens next.
Through the upheaval, the Supreme Kai is quite suddenly by Gohan's side. He's lowered, close and proving far too tempting to ring his neck for what he did in regards to disconnecting him from the Almighty. "Is that wise?" Gohan hisses at him.
Shin ignores this. "I am relieved with your patience," he tells Gohan, overtly pleased for whatever reason, "This is better than what I expected."
Even Rixas seems disturbed.
When the Supreme Kai smiles at Gohan the latter actually shuffles backwards, just a bit. "Perhaps you will not like what will come next but please understand that this is the only way. You reminded me last time, should you remember, how I was spared on a number of occasions by you. Let me return the favour, Gohan."
And then he's walking back to his own seat, bypassing the flurry of reactions to Gohan's disclosure.
Wait, how did he just refer to Gohan?
"Trust him," Rixas instructs in spite of his own cindering anger. Gohan stares at him. Since when did Rixas place faith in a kai? "If not for him then you'd already be dead," he adds as if absolution. "Shin gives a shit."
Gohan bites the inside of his mouth. "I should have let you kill him when I had the chance."
The meeting continues and by this point Gohan has regained a bit more sense of self, whether that's from being forced into an environment where he's always had to be cautious, or if it's because the longer he's awake the further away Hell seems, he's unsure. But it's exhausting to pretend that he's not at a breaking point.
As the kais talk about the practicalities surrounding Gohan's Revelation and how they're going to have to refocus their work, Gohan reflects back to the reaction in the stands.
He closes his eyes.
"Before you strip us of our power… please, give us the opportunity to change ourselves. Don't deny us mortals our pride or our autonomy. Please… Let us do our own… Revelation."
Vegeta…
Gohan is giving him this small chance. If they are able to change their ways in this timeframe then he'll spare them the culling of power. The wish will be overturned if the abuse of ki halts, as promised by the dragon.
"There must be a way to reverse this," blusters a kai, "Surely the Super Dr—"
"The wish has been made," says the head kai, the Madame Council Woman, "Lord Mori's will has been made known and the landscape of the universe will change in accordance to Revelation. Our duty as the Council is to not work against this but alongside it to spare as much damage as we possibly are able to."
"But—"
"Balance is delicate. Balance is absolute." She levies her gaze at each and every god sitting at the table. "We are not a collective of kais, my Respectable Kai, but an order of individuals that must maintain Universe Seven with the strength of everyone present here today. This includes the godly divine and their whimsy."
Ah.
Gohan understands now.
He sees the new God of the Underworld turn to him at that exact moment, brimming with misplaced energy. Rixas on the other hand doesn't bother to hide his fear. He looks pallid. His leg is restless next to Gohan's.
The Kai are frightened of mutiny.
A revolution following Revelation.
The gods and Kai have always shared a tense relationship, save for Beerus who has been interlinked with them as is his role. But this had only come about because of the Destroyer Rebellion many a millennia ago, when they – across all the universes – became frustrated with Kai leadership and revolted. It earned them status in the Council, but it also earned them a kai jailer. A link of souls.
Gohan stares between Shin and Beerus, suddenly very aware how easily all this could crumble.
This is about more than just Gohan's fate. This is about maintaining the balance between the Kai and gods. If they convict him then that could throw everything off balance and cause havoc, perhaps even make a martyr out of him. But if they allow Gohan to live in spite of murdering the Kai people then that's an emblem of weakness, a loss.
He brings his hands together, interlocking his fingers. This war is very much far from over, and Gohan has thrown himself dead centre of it.
Quell…
He'd know what to do. But instead…
Gohan swallows the lump in his throat, remembering it. The hand loosening in his hair, the fear, the empty—
"Then prolong it!" Rixas shouts at Gohan's side, surprising him. Another kai is shouting something in return. Oh, everyone's arguing again. Several are appealing to the head kai but she's sat, eyes closed, deeply unhappy.
This is less of a hearing and more of a children's debate club.
"If a decision can't be made today then give us more time to organise ourselves," Rixas continues. His voice is loud naturally and so it perfectly carries over the others', encouraging them into an easing silence. "But don't shove him back into the Gold Emollient! If you hadn't done so in the first place then we would have known the wish earlier instead of throwing out half guesses, checking star maps or badgering creatures of oracle!"
"No. We will not delay," replies the head kai, "Otherwise we will be navigating a circle with no end."
Circles…
What was it Haed had said? "Let us traverse this circle together. I had been the first Revelation and I shall be the last."
Mori too...
"How you must hate the circle you have journeyed… Poor, precious Gohan," he'd said, in the place belonging to nowhere. "What a mess you are."
Yes. Circles.
Gohan's life spins in them.
"Assess the facts, Respectable Kai, Lord Mori slaughtered our colleagues at this very table," presses the most persistent, "Let it be seen as justice for Lord Famis' death should you so wish, but does that not call for the same punishment? The kais slayed were done so with the Z Sword and so were erased as a result - this is arguably worse than what I urge for Lord Mori's fate – this is crueller than what was done to Lord Famis, even."
"My brother was poisoned!" Rixas retorts, slapping the table. "That is no easy death!"
"But it is death, not destruction," adds Beerus. "He ascended to that plane of yours. That cannot be said about the kais."
"This is true," agrees another kai. "Lord Mori also enacted other notable crimes. He stole Kai relics, had his Zealites murder the kais guarding them and also, as aforementioned, took the life of the God of the Underworld."
The head kai nods. "Indeed, these indiscretions are mounting, Lord Mori. Do you have anything you would like to add?"
"Lord Mori," Shin says quickly, "Was coerced, as the document states—"
"That does not strip all liability, Supreme Kai," she replies, "Lord Mori still performed such actions."
"I performed them to serve Revelation," Gohan bites out, offended to have his autonomy questioned. "Do not doubt that."
"Which was manipulated by H—Lord Haed," Rixas barks, "Do not doubt that."
"I am the Almighty's will!"
"No, you're not! You aren't even connected to the Almighty!"
Gohan spins with the heat of someone stung. "Then what does that suggest of my divinity? Does that even make me a god? Should the Respectable Kai even need to hold me to the standards of a hearing?"
A shock of fear makes Rixas flinch. "Of course!" He turns back to the rest of the Council. "Of course. That goes without saying."
Yet, most stare back at a loss.
Gohan leans back and assesses the damage, feeling vindictive. "Was this not even considered? How ridiculous."
Whis covers his mouth, speaking first. "Oh my… A loophole. How will this change things, I wonder."
"He's… right," Beerus gets out, grin both vicious and hungry all at once, "The punk is practically mortal at this point! Why not execute him here and now? I'll happily assist—"
Rixas is up again. "I dare you."
"Big brother isn't here to protect you these days, is he? That one next to you made sure of that. Are you sure you want to do this, brat?"
Gohan feels his body go numb at the accusation, though that doesn't extend to his mouth. "I refuse to shirk responsibility for my actions so I'll face whatever punishment you deem fit, Council."
The head kai doesn't look away from him, not once, even when others lean over to make their requests. He holds the gaze. He's not sorry for the massacre and for that he'll happily pay the price.
Then he can be free.
"Supreme Kai," Rixas appeals, "What is it you wanted to add? Please."
As though dispersed from thin air, Shin is now sat with a wad of papers towering as his fort. There's a tuft of white Mohawk which bobbles as he talks. "I am just now collecting my evidence. Please be patient, Lord Rixas. Ah… I do struggle reading her notes…"
The kai to his right sounds to be spitting mad. "We know Lord Mori committed the crimes. He just now admitted it! Why waste time with all this?"
"Lord Mori is a danger—"
"Even sitting in his presence could prove fatal," adds another, dramatically at that, "I'm frightened he might turn on me next!"
Some of the gods laugh, but none more so than the God of the Underworld. "What little faith you have in your god protectors here," he chides, "Though it is true that his strength is reputable. I felt it myself during the Revelation. A great power indeed."
"He is no god!" returns the first kai, "Another thing admitted. So now we must serve justice in the name of our predecessors."
"Mori is a god," Rixas attests, "He may be disconnected to the Almighty but that does not—"
"Yes, it does," Shin interrupts.
Rixas' jaw swings and Gohan, for the first time, wants to laugh. Trust him, that's what Rixas had now just asked of Gohan. What a fool.
"Here I have – in front of me – years worth of documentation by Lord Mori's doctorial team." Gohan straightens up at that. What is he doing? Why does he have those? "These reports here," he starts with a flourish to his right, "Are by the Realm of the Almighty's own Spire Hospital. The medical history supports the testament I acquired by one of the specialist doctors who worked with Lord Mori. Doctor Hezk was Lord Mori's personal—"
Gohan realises he's standing when they all turn to him. His arms are shaking.
"Don't," he warns.
The Supreme Kai doesn't look away. "It's the only way."
"Then don't."
Rixas tries to drag him down but Gohan is a pillar. He'd rather die here and now than have all his history spread across the table as though it's common tabloid fodder. If Beerus saw it… If anyone found out about that Mori had once tried to kill Quell…
And now Gohan's succeeded in doing just that. His throat clogs.
It's a deadlock.
Neither moves, the room silent.
Finally, the head kai coughs. It's a purposeful, weak sound that makes herself known. "My lords, my Respectable Kai, let us move to the private boardroom so I can assess if the information should be public knowledge or not."
Upon leaving the meeting chamber Gohan suffers the heat of every pair of eyes on his back.
The boardroom is intimate in comparison to the grandness of the meeting chamber. Gohan, Rixas and the Supreme Kai surround a personable desk near the centre, standing backs against the army of bookshelves brimming with thick, dusty hardbacks and Kai knickknacks. In the dim light, the head kai continues her journey through the notes Shin gave to her, reading at a speed even Gohan cannot contend with. The papers glide in opposite directions when she's done with each, bobbing along the air and landing after she's finished the one following.
"Why did you not bring this Doctor Hezk to the hearing?" she asks the Supreme Kai, eyes still grazing the documents. "She would have been invaluable."
"Her attendance would not have been welcomed, I feel," the Supreme Kai says carefully.
They stand in prolonged silence. Gohan fumes more as papers scatter at his feet.
"I was due at that meeting," the head kai then says without so much as looking up.
Shin startles. "What meeting?"
She gestures to Gohan absently. "The one fated to become the 780 Kai Council Massacre. I was unable to attend due to my chaperoning of Lord Beerus in Universe Two but I had been scheduled to attend. How fortunate I was away otherwise I would not be here to preside today." There's one document which has her pause. "Lord Mori, it lists here that you had the Z Sword in your possession long before that of your reincarnation. How did you manage so when it'd been stuck in its hold—? Ah, I see, it says you lifted it in your mortal form. So that means you must have had it charmed to respond to you only. You'd simply been storing it in the Sacred Realm of the Kai. I understand…"
She's mumbling, still pushing through the documents.
"I do wonder to what would have happened should I have been there for the meeting," she adds in a vague voice, ringing backwards, "Especially considering I was the one to green light Lord Famis' assassination."
Rixas physically jolts.
Gohan feels the air evacuate his lungs.
She looks up at them both, for the first time smiling. "I do hope this is not too much of a shock to you both. Are you angling to finish the job you started, Lord Mori? This would be a most promising time to do so. There is no one to stop you. How about you, Lord Rixas?"
"You bitch," he seethes.
Rixas is shaking, fists curled and ready to cause damage.
"Remember where you are. Please, my lords," Shin urges, "And Madam Council Woman, this is hardly the time or place for such divulging of information! Do you have no sense of self-preservation?"
"Lord Famis was a dangerous man," she replies, "I have no regrets, even if it had a hand in the deaths of my colleagues. Should he have been alive then perhaps there would be no universe for there to have been a Revelation in name of. I understand your absence of remorse, Lord Mori, because I too do not regret the action I took in the name of what is right.
"And once more, I must consider the risks of allowing one of the Gods of Revelation his life. Tell me, Lord Mori, are you also a dangerous man? Should I be concerned for my life? For the universe's?"
Swallowing his fury, Gohan sneers. "You have my files. You tell me."
"I believe you are very dangerous."
"Then there you have it."
Rixas jaunts forward. "Mori—"
"Shut up. It's done."
"I also believe that you will prove invaluable in the near future," she adds, startling both of them. "You are not an ignorant person, my lord. You must understand the atmosphere of the room we just now left. Hostile. Frustrated. Ravished for Change. The gods are unhappy, though they seem rejuvenated by your return. You are not insane, as they feared, and your Revelation seemed to present from somewhere sound of mind. Should you die you will indeed become their rallying point. Should you live, quite possibly the same." She hums. "Is that why you are so intent on winning his favour, Supreme Kai?"
"Amongst other reasons," he replies.
"Your bias."
"I owe Goku Son a debt, and I also owe Gohan Son a debt." The name change is obvious enough to warrant explanation. "This is the point of my evidence," he says in regards to the litter strewn across the floor, "I too believe Lord Mori is a dangerous character, yet my experience with one Gohan Son is a different case entirely."
"They are one and the same as it so stands."
"Gohan Son is the reincarnation of Lord Mori. Legally, this makes them two separate individuals, void of whatever crimes one another commits. Though, yes. I admit, the lines have been blurred and the two became amalgamated in an unorthodox, perilous fashion. It is difficult to view one without the other."
Inquiring, she peers between the last of the documents and Shin. "What is your end, Supreme Kai?"
"Madame Council Woman, as said, if you have Lord Mori executed then you will be fanning the flames of war with Lord Rixas here heading that resolve. Yet, if you allow him to live then you will highlight Kai weakness."
Even Rixas is curious. "What are you suggesting?"
"Lord Mori is a dangerous man but only when such influences amplify his wrath. Lord Haed may be dead, but the Almighty will forever be a threat so long as Lord Mori is susceptible to its ambition."
"Revelation has already been achieved!" Rixas exclaims, "Once done then the unit can rest. We're free now!"
But Shin pushes on. "When the time comes that Lord Mori is to return into divinity he needs to be mentally resilient enough not to be coerced once more. You have read the materials, Madame Council Woman, you have seen that Doctor Hezk refers to his lordship as unstable many a time. The mortal life of one Gohan Son was not ready to attain divinity. He'd been a child. He'd been immature. He'd been mortal. This unsupervised ascent is what caused him to go mad and warp into this dangerous creature of blurred lines we see today."
Gohan raises his eyebrows. What a sales pitch.
However.
"I'm no child now," Gohan says, "And I am not mad—"
"The words Doctor Hezk chose for the report are 'mentally overwhelmed'," the head kai tells him, brandishing said report. "It also suggests that you forwent your mental health sessions with her. She mentions that your improvement stagnated once you accumulated a number of memories you deemed suitable. However, despite regaining more over time you became disinterested in maintaining your meetings and seemingly abandoned this therapy of yours. Is that correct?"
Gohan feels the room shrink thrice times smaller. "I didn't need babysitting."
"Yes, you did," Rixas adds, betraying him for whatever movement is happening now. "You went off the deep end. You became obsessed with alc—"
"Be quiet!"
"And then came the subsequent cleansing," the head kai mumbles, flicking to another page. "I understand your train of thought now, Supreme Kai…"
Gohan doesn't.
She brings delicate hands together, leaning a chin on them as she considers Gohan with such a deep, protruding scrutiny that he begins to feel dirty.
"Go-han Son," she tests out, watching for his reaction.
A shiver shoots down his spine.
"Don't say that name," Gohan orders weakly, attempting to overcome that sinking feeling in his stomach, "That is not for you to say."
"Mmm… Yes, it rather does strip you of your authority, doesn't it?" Her eyes close and she releases a long breath. "I think we are at a stalemate in terms of positioning. One wrong move either side will have the entire board in chaos. I do not want a war between the kais and the gods, and I'd like to imagine that you, Gods of Revelation, who must be tired and in mourning, would also like to avoid such a thing."
Rixas' jaw clicks. "If you try to kill my brother I can't promise I won't destroy this entire planet, and then you most slowly and gruesome of all."
"Yes, my point exactly."
The chair scrapes backwards and she stands.
"Madame Council Woman?"
"Supreme Kai, if you would be so kind as to dismiss the attendees today then I would be most grateful. Tell them that I have decided to delay after all, and that until that day, Lord Mori of Revelation will be somewhat free to live out his life without divine disturbance (unless you are to count his incensed older brother)."
Gohan's stomach churns uneasily.
Shin bows. "Yes, thank you. This is most wonderful news."
"No, wait." Gohan is blocking the door. "Are you going to sentence me back to the Realm of the Almighty?" he asks, panic building. He can't be trapped there again. He really would rather die than live surrounded by the memories of Quell. "If so, I'd rath—"
"No," she says, voice a wisp, "Until the next hearing you are not to have any relation with that of the divine. You are to return to Earth. Return to mortality. Return to a world without influence and temptation. And so allow for the Kai to bear witness to the truth of your character as one Gohan Son, the reincarnation of Lord Mori of Revelation. For right now, as we assessed, you are no God of Revelation at all in your current state, therefore you have no place in the Realm of the Almighty."
"NO!" Gohan cries out, feeling a whir of energy stir in his gut. "There is NOTHING for me on Earth!"
"Go-han Son, should you follow protocol then perhaps one day you will be reinstated and welcomed back… so long as I do not continue to find you dangerous, of course."
"You're banishing me!"
"This is true. You cannot be executed nor can you be pardoned. For now, I believe it is best for you to continue your meetings with this Doctor Hezk." She gives Gohan another rare, awful smile. "I shall expect the reports to be punctual and forthcoming. After all, we cannot place enough value in good mental health, can we?"
Gohan stares.
Earth.
After all this…
It's Earth again.
"How you must hate the circle you have journeyed… Poor, precious Gohan."
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Greetings from Shanghai! I'm in the middle of uprooting my life once more so it's been chaotic to say the least, but I had to make sure this chapter got out! Now, for those who read my first fic you will know how much I detest a heroic sacrifice in media. I think it's lazy writing for a redemption arc, especially for male characters who's worth is so often showcased through violence, strength or power. I always knew Gohan was going to survive this and that he'd have to face consequences for his actions. It makes me think of Napoleon and the constraints thrust upon him after his deeds. There are laws to be followed. Bureaucracy. Politics. How romantic it would have been for Gohan to die in a blaze of glory, reds and gold. Yet instead, we get dull greys. I have a feeling some readers won't like it but this is what felt most realistic to me.
The wish itself. Well, I wanted to show the duality of Gohan's character, as whilst he got his Revelation he did end up compromising. I like to think of it as a first for a DBZ "villain" win haha. The wish didn't exactly come out of nowhere as a character did mention the possibility of these some chapters ago.
As always, thanks to Kags for being my beta. She has been wonderful in keeping me on track. Good egg, that one.
All right. Well, I hope you enjoyed this chapter as much as I did writing it. It was great to have no action for once. Things are very busy my end so I'll try my best to get back to reviews best I can. Please drop some feedback on this chapter! Cheers so far to those who have reached out. Catch you on the next one.
