Number Thirty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Having Courage
Thick pillows of fog push through Thirty-Two's lips, dissolving quickly. He pants, bent in half, hands trembling against his knees, watching as an impossibly bright light from above illuminates the surrounding landmass. Thirty-Two has to shield his eyes, although it doesn't feel enough—everything is too much. Too bright. Too loud. His chest is a turbulent ship upon rocky waters. More than shapes and colours, the world is alive with… with… a feeling Thirty-Two doesn't know how to catalogue. Even with his hands pressed against his eyes, Thirty-Two just knows who is in the ship above.
He feels it—just like how he feels him.
Goku.
Despite suffering a great number of injuries, Goku doesn't let that stop him, and he's somehow found himself by Thirty-Two's side as the ship descends. Thirty-Two can somehow feel this. Feel Goku without touching— feel his Goku-ness.
His energy, Thirty-Two realizes.
It crackles in the back of Thirty-Two's mind, loud and hot. It's ever present, even as the ship creaks in its landing, deafening with the whirring engines drawing near. The ship's legs stretch into the snow, the belly following, and then finally, after a pregnant moment, Thirty-Two recognizes the sound of doors hissing to an open.
And then, everything becomes worse.
Thirty-Two is even more overcome when Lord Hailer's artic measure of energy discharges from the ship. Like a firework in the night, it's vulgar and earsplitting and so colourfully unnatural, and along with Goku's energy, it's all too much for Thirty-Two to register. Both energies prevailing together in such close vicinity is enough to make him lightheaded, unwell perhaps.
In order to steady himself, he forces his eyes open, instantly wishing he hadn't. Goku's arm is protectively across his chest, a shield between Thirty-Two and the approaching Lord Hailer, who is of course flanked by his men. Thirty-Two recognizes several of these soldiers, and they stare back through their scouters, not hardened enough to entirely mask their apprehension. Gazes flicker between Thirty-Two and Goku, unsure on how to digest the situation; the Super Saiyan stands before them, and beside him, the Saiyan beast that destroyed Central.
Conversely, Lord Hailer's attention is only for Goku. He stops shy of forty feet away, his eyes thinned with callous edge. Lord Hailer never plays with his food unless in statement—and who is left to need such a statement? All aside Goku are dead. Lord Hailer has survived his enemies.
When Lord Hailer's attention eventually drifts to Thirty-Two it's then that Thirty-Two remembers protocol. Like a tonne of bricks, he drops, falling to a knee, head bowed—or, at least, he tries to bow. Goku has him by the elbow, seizing him upwards.
"S-stop it! Get up!"
Thirty-Two snatches himself free and flails to the ground, so fast that his knee knocks against his forehead.
"You think he's anything less than mine, Super Saiyan?" Lord Hailer asks smoothly as Goku tries to jostle Thirty-Two back to his feet. Thirty-Two refuses. If anything, he sinks lower.
"Get up!" Goku once more demands of him, "Get up!"
"Thirty-Two, you may rise," Lord Hailer eventually says, and only then does Thirty-Two do so, pointedly keeping his attention on his lord as opposed to the stream of gold energy next to him. In the word of Common, Lord Hailer addresses him with the aim of having all in attendance understand. "You have brought upon a massacre on our base of operations, Captain. I hope now all those who once doubted me can understand the necessity of the Saiyan race's annihilation."
"Yes, my lord."
"But it is not so simple with you, is it? Death… You cannot understand that salvation of it… Or now, can you?" He turns in gesture of the dragon. "Has your wish been granted?"
"No… Lord Hailer."
"A just punishment I would say, for harbouring the dragon balls from the master you were supposedly devoted to." He progresses forward and takes Thirty-Two by the front of his jumpsuit, a blur against snow. In the Southern language, he sneers. "This is why your people will always be duplicitous scourge."
Thirty-Two dangles several feet off the ground, his heart in his mouth. Lord Hailer was never supposed to see the Dragon because, by this point, the wish should have already been made and Thirty-Two should be dead. Now, looking into those ice cold blue eyes of his lordship, he can only fantasize about such a reality.
Lord Hailer's fingers pinch at Thirty-Two's skin. "You are yet another traitor. A failure of our Empire and of the Youth Program you championed. How long have you had the dragon b—?"
Then, ridiculously, a hand grips at Lord Hailer's wrist. "Let him go."
Goku doesn't even reach Lord Hailer's chin, and yet he dares stare him down? Never mind build difference, can Goku not sense Lord Hailer? That power? Thirty-Two doesn't even know how to communicate the incredulity. How is Goku so stupid? So arrogant? So connubial to the concept of throwing his life away for his childish dream?!
A thumb maneuvers up and presses into Thirty-Two's trachea. "I see. So you mistakenly believe this is your property," Lord Hailer states over Thirty-Two's gasping. "Yes, you do have the habit of taking things that are not yours, don't you, Super Saiyan? The lives of my brother and father being one such thing, as you must recall. But now, I have this, which was once yours but is now most certainly not. What a fortunate twist of fate. For me."
And then, Lord Hailer snaps his neck, killing him.
To exist and then not has always been such a short, sweet reprieve. There is an addictive quality to the submersion of black, as though this lapse is the only time Thirty-Two can feel at peace with himself. There is no thinking. No feeling. There is no sense of self. The moment could be both eons and seconds as there is no in between—for Thirty-Two drifts in the in-between, and death hangs above with bat-like wings, shuddering in anticipation for the habitual brightness.
There's a flash of white, and with it, Thirty-Two's awake.
He coughs, a vicious mouthful of blood spurting. Over it, he churns and heaves, his lungs reanimating with painful vigor. The loud energies of Goku and Lord Hailer return like a pipe across the face, and so desperately Thirty-Two wishes to be anywhere else but here, slumped in the dirt and suffocated by everything.
Thirty-Two hears the poorly concealed intake of breath from the surrounding soldiers. They've just witnessed a miracle, after all. They know all his monstrous secrets now. How he is an immortal saiyan monster.
There's then a print of warmth against his arm. A hand, Thirty-Two realizes. Goku's. It might as well be around his throat. It drags him back onto unsteady feet, as though Thirty-Two had simply taken a silly tumble instead of a plunge into salvation.
"You think it's funny to mess with people like this?" Goku spits, his energy almost too painful to witness. It's like surfacing the sun. Thirty-Two can't even bear looking at him. "What the hell is wrong with you bastards? Why do you think it's okay to use and throw away soldiers like they're nothing! They're people!"
"Bastards?" Lord Hailer echoes softly, clearly amused. "I presume you are referencing not only myself but also my dearly departed younger brother, Lord Frieza, a person you slayed with illicit… superciliousness. You took my kin and in turn—," blue eyes settle on Thirty-Two, "—Thirty-Two has fallen into my ranks. Yes. Such irony was gifted to me when this creature became the possession of the Empire. I only wish I'd known sooner about your connection, and for such secrecy, Thirty-Two will pay his due. As will you for your delinquencies. As will all those who have ever and will ever oppose the will of the Frost family."
"Did your men here oppose your precious family?" Goku returns with an equal bite of contempt. He next addresses the small congregation of soldiers. "How long will it be until he turns on you like those he abandoned here!"
"The weak are kindle to the fire," Lord Hailer answers on their behalf. "They will make the Frost stronger through sacrifice. Their energy will be eternal through me."
Thirty-Two scours the crowd. The soldiers aren't as practiced at masking their emotions as Thirty-Two. Fear is so easily recognized in the eyes of the beasts living on the edge of a blade. Whilst they're useful to Lord Hailer now, that time is borrowed, and they know that. So easily it could have been them left to rot instead of their brothers and sisters.
Thirty-Two, too, knows his worth to his lordship. Immortality is the prize Lord Hailer has always sought. The Tree of Might gives him power, but it does not give him eternity—unlike Thirty-Two, who holds the key to such a desire.
So, why would Lord Hailer leave Thirty-Two to the Tree of Might?
"Don't you see how crazy all this is?" Goku asks, squeezing Thirty-Two's shoulder. "You're a means to an end for him. You're worth more than this—all of you! It doesn't matter what you've done—you're still people, people who deserve a chance at life! A real life! He came back for the dragon and that's it! To him, you all mean nothing!"
Suddenly repulsed at this, Thirty-Two breaks free of Goku. His tail flickers waspishly as he comes to stand, so impossibly hurried to put space between the two of them.
Lord Hailer raises his chin, watching Thirty-Two awkwardly return to him. "Sentiment is where logic and order go to perish," he says, "And Thirty-Two is vastly aware of the fact. He remains to be a true servant of the Frost. But… a desperate heart will seduce even the strongest of minds."
When Thirty-Two stumbles, Lord Hailer's claw-like nails scrape along Thirty-Two's scalp, catching the hair. He drags him further downwards.
"Cace is dead," Lord Hailer says into Thirty-Two's ear. "You're the reason for it. Your connection to this heretic—the blood in your filthy money veins—had your handler murdered in service. I sent him to deal with your transformation, and he died for it, despite dedicating his life to you and the countless other worthless lost children he raised."
Thirty-Two bites the inside of his gums until he tastes blood. Whilst he doesn't know what he's feeling, he knows that he feels it in abundance.
"This day," Lord Hailer sneers, "is the end of your life. The rest is posthumous. Even if you live, you shall not."
"Goh—!"
"Be quiet, Super Saiyan." Thirty-Two feels those sharp nails draw back, his hair released. "You have done enough damage. Worry not, Thirty-Two… I still have intention on giving you your salvation—which I can assuredly wager that the Super Saiyan will not."
"He's lying!" Goku shouts, his energy hotter and redder and even more impossibly brighter than before. "He'll never help you—he's only using you! Don't be a fool, Gohan!"
Thirty-Two closes his eyes and clears his mind, pushing away the crescendo of heat in favour of snow. Simple, white and light, cool to the touch. Thirty-Two feels it land on his lashes. If he stays still for long enough, maybe it'll bury him and the numbness will take even the worst of the pain.
"Thirty-Two," Lord Hailer whispers. "Now, it is time for you to kill the Super Saiyan."
Thirty-Two opens his eyes to see a canister being presented to him. It's open, and the contents smell of apples, Lord Hailer above with eyes which smile darkly even as his lips remain still.
In the end, Vegeta had been right… Lord Hailer wishes for Thirty-Two to take Goku's life, after all.
Thirty-Two takes this canister. The swill of liquid shines even in the darkness, which is strange, yet even stranger is the sensation of energy emitting from it.
"Don't drink that," Goku breathes out with urgency. "You know what that must be. Don't do it."
Lord Hailer presses his hand against the canister gently.
"The Super Saiyan is powerful. You will need the help of the Frost Empire's fallen."
"Murdered, you mean! You are not like them, Gohan! You don't want any of this. I know you don't! I know you hate all of this—fighting, killing, war,—you don't have to do this! Make the wish and we can leave. I'll—."
"Thirty-Two will make no such wish for you. He will reassign his gift to me."
At this, Goku laughs. It's a dark and unbefitting sound. "The only person who can make a wish about immortality is me, Hailer. And even if I wanted to, I wouldn't be able to do squat because I don't speak Namekian."
The silence is thundering.
A chill slices past Thirty-Two, cutting into Lord Hailer.
Daggers ride the wind, merging into a campaign of energy which pools around Lord Hailer like a silent storm. Thirty-Two sits in the eye where time has stagnated. He looks up at his lord with morbid curiousity, and then towards the other soldiers, whose formation has shattered like splintered wood. They watch with open fear. One who daringly flees pays the price when a jet of red energy smites from above, Lord Hailer's finger still pointed to the heavens. Another gust of hateful ki blusters, sentencing all aside Thirty-Two, Goku and Hailer to their rears.
The clawed hand closes over the canister, and Thirty-Two allows it to slip from between his fingers. There has been a change of plans. Lord Hailer himself intends to see Goku to the next world, the realization cemented only when Lord Hailer finishes the innards of the canister in one long swig.
Terrifyingly, a further flash of energy engorges him.
"I shall see to the end of your life," Lord Hailer reveals lowly. "Slowly. Agonizingly. Grotesquely. I shall have Thirty-Two watch, and then, I will have him consume your remnants like the beast he is. I'll make him eat every last bite. Even down to your bones. To your eyes. To your manhood."
Thirty-Two gazes back at Lord Hailer, horror lodged in his throat.
Worse yet, Lord Hailer smiles, warm, the skin dimpling into crow's feet. "Thirty-Two, the fear makes your eyes luster like wet jewels. Whilst this honesty does not suit you, it does please me when in the face of the Super Saiyan. Look at him. Show him your fear so that it burns into his memory as I pluck his bones and wring his organs. LOOK AT HIM!"
Thirty-Two's body isn't cooperating, and so he's manhandled, turned to look Goku in those determined, steely eyes. In the end, compared to Thirty-Two, Goku's stronger in every way.
"And when you are dead, Super Saiyan," Lord Hailer drawls in a loud whisper, "I will plant him in my orchard. If he cannot give me my immortality, he will become my infinite source of energy. He will feed my trees until the end of time, choking on the soil and the memories which will haunt him. He will remember how he consumed the flesh of his father. How he served me instead of you. How in the end, he hadn't the strength of self. He will regret ever having you for kin, and he will regret having ever crossed me."
Thirty-Two imagines himself in a coffin of earth, eaten by the worms that would hole themselves in his flesh. There is a comfort at being in the dark, at being alone. But is isolation ever alone when you are in attendance? On the Capsule Corporation ship, Thirty-Two had hated the companionship of his thoughts—and Lord Hailer knows this, knows what he needs to do in order to make every second of Thirty-Two's existence unlivable. Thirty-Two's going to relive this day forever and ever. Even when Lord Hailer becomes a dark mark in history, Thirty-Two will live beneath his trees.
Alone.
The world grows far away in a shaking, foggy peephole.
He's always been alone.
Waiting.
He recalls the rectangular window of his Youth Program bedroom, remembering how he'd fantasize about Goku breaking through long after the memories of his mother had frosted over. The fantasies had grown darker. Goku went from holding him to killing everyone else in a bloody display of vengeance.
Aside Thirty-Two, the dirt will only home insects and roots that'll lead to evil.
He'll be alone.
Not even waiting.
Forever, Thirty-Two will have to suffer the encore of his bad decisions. In the darkness. Awake and aware and eaten by more than just bugs. The deaths of those he once knew will reel in his mind like those saturated cartoons he'd watched aboard the Capsule Corporation ship. Ytvl. Pyrak. Bulma. Goku… Thirty-Two doesn't know what this feeling is but—
Alone.
He'll be alone.
Alive but dead.
Alone and consumed.
Alone.
The flesh of evil power.
Festering and alone.
"Gohan."
A lighthouse cutting the fog, Goku watches Thirty-Two unravel into fears which spiral the hurricane. The golden life burns as a ray of artificial hope—but it's something beautiful to look at, so Thirty-Two does, knowing that for an eternity to come, he will only have the dark.
The background noise of shouting soldiers and Lord Hailer's melodic voice balances beneath the sun.
"Gohan," Goku says. "It's going to be okay."
A lie.
It's never going to be okay. It never has been up until this very moment. Thirty-Two's life has been an eclectic spasm of evil instances, one after the other, building into him becoming the fertilizer that will help rape the universe.
"Hey… You've gotta' trust me."
The world could be entirely comprised of just them. Behind Thirty-Two, an explosion takes place. Men screaming into the night. Lord Hailer needs not for the weak and the cowardly and for those who dare flee.
"You're going to be okay." Goku smiles, and for a moment Thirty-Two is tempted to believe him.
There's a pause, and then, Goku dares a step forward.
"You can't give up now," he adds, smirking, further disjointing Thirty-Two from the situation. "You're the same guy who tried to saw his own hand off just to escape us, right?"
The Capsule Corporation ship floor. Sheenks. Restraints. The lingering echo of Bulma's teasing.
Against all odds, Thirty-Two breathes out a single laugh.
It feels like years ago.
"The dragon is still waiting for your wish," Goku goes on to say softly. "Or did you forget?"
Thirty-Two starts in realization. The dragon.
Overhead, the Dragon of Dreams indeed awaits such a wish, suited with a disgruntled expression.
But…
What should Thirty-Two wish for?
He turns to see his lordship realign the offcuts of his men into a shaky formation, his face stained with those who betrayed him to fear. When he turns, it is to gesture Thirty-Two to the front of the squad.
Thirty-Two's boot takes a step on its own accord.
But then…
"Captain," Lord Hailer says when Thirty-Two's pace slows to a halt.
His entire body is in civil war with itself.
Head down. Eyes front. Follow orders. A number doesn't have a choice.
Walk, his brain demands.
He flinches.
"Have courage, Gohan!" Thirty-Two hears as a ghost in his ears. Courage, Ytvl had said—but how could Thirty-Two have such a thing? Thirty-Two's life is a necropolis of brutalized hopes.
He turns briefly to look at Goku, to see him remain with silent confidence, his teal eyes unwavering.
"Captain Thirty-Two," Lord Hailer bites out, ice-cold.
Thirty-Two sees the groove set out for him. The headstone of the platoon.
His foot shivers, but does little else to continue the journey.
Whilst he's never been a loyalist, he has always been scared.
"Fuck Hailer." Pyrak's voice will never leave him. "Fuck those Frost fucking fuckers."
"Thirty-Two, I order you into the fold."
Thirty-Two rubs at his temples furiously. A fierce strike of pain erupts across his skull, as though his own body is policing against such disobedience. Walk. Walk. Walk. It wants him to do as told. To join the other soldiers.
Head down. Eyes front.
He'd been raised better than this, than to be contrary.
"Thirty-Two!"
He once had quite the spotty record for following orders; his past is rich in indiscretion. There are the many treacherous actions against his most beloved Frost Empire.
That'd been years ago. In the face of his Cace and Lord Hailer, he'd long ago given all that up.
He'd become an extension of them—armed with the hope of salvation to escape it all.
"Thirty-Two!" Lord Hailer this time shouts. "Thir—!"
Goku will never give him salvation. Lord Hailer will give prolong his suffering.
"Thirty-Two!"
"You could just come along with us. Join us on Earth after, like Vegeta did. You could start again." Just before the disaster at the Youth Program, Goku had said that. He believes in fresh starts, doesn't he; Goku? He believes in never succumbing to negativity, in being better. He'd never let Thirty-Two give up.
"Thir—!"
But he's so tired.
"THIRTY-TW—!"
Why can't Goku see how tired Thirty-Two is? Please. Please let him rest. Please. He's tired and sad and he doesn't know how to get better without getting out.
Goku doesn't know what it's like to have guilt fester, or to cry yourself to sleep every night for years because you think the people nature programmed to love you gave up on you—because they somehow know you're evil.
How can Goku profess he loves his son? He doesn't know his son.
"THIRTY-TWO!"
And Thirty-Two's too much of a cowa—.
"THIR—GOHAN! I DEMAND YOU JOIN THE FOLD!"
So suddenly, Thirty-Two freezes—and then burns. Snatching his eyes upwards, he seethes, a flash of pink heat casting out in a fiery aura.
"Don't…" he breathes, furious. And then he screams. "DON'T YOU CALL ME THAT NAME!"
…
Silence.
Bewilderment is not an emotion Thirty-Two ever expected to see on Lord Hailer's face.
"What…" he manages, air a torrent through thinned nostrils, "did you say?"
Thirty-Two's chest bounces, his anger deflating at record speed. The snow crunches underfoot as he retreats, his self-preservation sobering him very, very quickly. He only stops when his back bounces into something firm. That something firm pulls Thirty-Two backwards.
"I think you have your answer there," Goku says with an unrecognizable quality to his voice. It sounds brighter.
"You…" Lord Hailer seethes.
Darker, Goku continues. "There are two things you can't kill in this world." He clenches Thiry-Two's shoulder. "The first is Gohan, of course… and the second is spirit. For as long as there are monsters in the world, there is the spirit of those who want for peace. I killed your brother not because he destroyed planets and murdered the innocent, and not because I am the ally to good, but because he took mercy and threw it back in my face. He laughed in the face of change. I did not want to hurt others, unlike you. I do not thirst for blood. Tonight, I will take my son, and only if you step in the way of that, will I put you down."
The power radiating from Lord Hailer isn't even quantifiable however. Goku's strong but Lord Hailer is otherworldly. He really will play with Goku and pick at his bones. He might make his men takes turns with him, just to show Thirty-Two how meaningless this stance is.
"G-Goku…"
Lord Hailer, regardless, remains livid.
"Insubordination warrants death, Thirty-Two," he finally says, silkily. "A shame that it cannot be yours. Soldiers, aim take aim."
In front of him, Goku stiffens in anticipation.
"They're sheenks lined bullets," Thirty-Two tells him, grabbing his arm. "No, you—!"
"This is your last chance, Thirty-Two. I may forgive such rudeness as hysteria."
Goku stretches a leg defensively.
"Gok—."
"Have faith."
In who? Him? God?
"Gohan. Remember. It's not just us against the world."
"Fire!"
And then, in that moment, the air fills with it—fire, not from the astras, but from a colossal sphere of ki that dropped from the sky. The explosion swallows up the soldiers and then Lord Hailer, with Goku dragging Thirty-Two just far enough that the white is shy of consuming their feet. The snow is vaporized, the dirt and debris equal in death. Rubble falls like rain as a pair boots come to land directly next to them.
How hadn't Thirty-Two noticed?
"The dragon or the ship," Vegeta pants upon arrival, "Which will be our ride out of here?"
"The dragon," Goku replies. "We'll distract Hailer while Gohan—whoa, whoa, whoa!"
But it's too late. Thirty-Two's already delivered a right hook into Vegeta's stupid face. Vegeta stumbles before falling into a mound of debris, clearly not entirely healed from his fiasco with the sheenks.
Vegeta spins, cupping his cheek. "What the hell!"
Thirty-Two's still furious at his forced transformation, and when his words don't do him justice, the flickering of his tail is enough.
"Oh boohoo, you became a great ape," Vegeta mocks. "What did you expect to happen when you wave your tail around like a white flag?"
"Enough," Goku orders, stepping between the two when Thirty-Two goes to finish what he started. "There isn't time for this. You'll just have to settle this later when—."
"When we're dead?" Vegeta barbs. "Not you, of course, Captain."
"Vegeta." Goku drags him back to his feet regardless. "Knock it off." There's a brief moment of solemnity. "Piccolo's dead."
"I guessed as much. I bet it was in a blaze of glory for him, wasn't it? Always too soft for his own good when it comes to the brat."
Thirty-Two's anger is drained and instead replaced with discomfort. "I didn't ask any of you to come here," he defends. "I specifically told Goku to stay away."
Vegeta scoffs, his anger fizzling away in equal measure. "Yes, well. As I said to you earlier, Kakarot is a dog and a bone. His stupidity is only rivaled by his pigheadedness."
When turning to Goku, the earnestness is too much to take in, his smile warm. "It's a family trait, I think."
Thirty-Two feels his face heat, and he has to look anywhere else.
Goku laughs.
"Oh… What do I see here? The entire remaining population of saiyans, all lined up like ducks, just for me."
The humour dies, and all three turn to see Lord Hailer emerging from a cloud of dust. He is not alone, encircled by a mass of soldiers that must have poured like sewage from the ship. They mount the terrain and topped buildings, encircling them like vultures to prey. Leading the charge is Lord Hailer.
"Vegeta, as backhanded as expected," Lord Hailer greets, cool. "Is this who you now choose to associate with, Thirty-Two? Have you a sudden new lease on life?"
Thirty-Two watches Goku's eyes comb over the moderate number of men, before settling on Lord Hailer himself. Vegeta has Thirty-Two's left, cracking his neck and then his knuckles. His ascension into the Super Saiyan form is swift.
There's the strange assumption that Thirty-Two will join them in this insanity. That he'll stand by them after everything. Lord Hailer isn't to be crossed—why can't they see that?
"Get to the dragon balls," Goku tells him. "Make your wish."
Frustrated at the lack of clarity, Thirty-Two snaps. "For what exactly?"
"You're the genius, right? I think I'll let you make that call."
"And what? You're going to take on all these armed soldiers, as well as Lord Hailer?"
"Yes," Goku replies at the same time as Vegeta's "No".
"I was just the fastest," Vegeta then informs, gesturing back from the tallest spires of Central.
There, Thirty-Two notices, a small army on the approach: Lord Hailer's army, the last Thirty-Two knew. Surely, they aren't turning on their lord. How could they when Lord Hailer is… is… so monstrously powerful?
Why is everything changing so fast? Is this really happening? Is Thirty-Two really going to do this?
"Hey, don't sweat it," Goku says, somehow recognizing Thirty-Two's influx of fear. "We've got this."
Thirty-Two turns away, swallowing the dryness at the back of his throat. "You're a fool…"
"Maybe so… but, tomorrow, you'll wake up and, one way or another, all this will be over."
"I always wake up."
"Many of them won't," Goku says, referencing the soldiers making the hike to reach Lord Hailer and his collective. "People work for people, and Lord Hailer doesn't understand that. He's hurt so many. Know you're not alone in this, even if you have to wake when no others do."
The approaching forces make something in Thirty-Two's stomach flip, an anticipative feeling if compared to the dread he's been plunging through all day.
"But I refuse to die today," promises Goku. "I'll be there when you wake up."
Thirty-Two stares directly into the sun.
When the first shot is fired, Thirty-Two realizes that this is indeed a coup, and that Lord Hailer will need to deal with more than just Goku, Vegeta and Thirty-Two.
"Go to the dragon," Goku says ultimately. "The rest is up to you."
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A bit later than anticipated but life has a way of being, well, shite. Apologies! Anyway, we're really creeping towards the end of the story now, which is both deeply sad and relieving. Expect some fireworks in the next chapter. Lord Hailer is here to party!
Thanks for ALL the support.
Not long left.
