Agony and Acceptance (Korado)

Walking through the streets of the Plant, not far from the heavily guarded palace of the capitol, Zerori was… to put it lightly, in a very conflicted state. From what she’d heard over the course of time, the conflict that Yangcong had started came to a conclusion but the one whom had claimed the throne was an unexpected surprise. Rosemary, a fellow half demon like herself, had managed to claim the seat of power and from what she could tell… things weren’t so bad.

Then again, she didn’t know much beyond what her mother had decided to tell her. Months ago, after meeting Hazel and Derry, Zerori had intended to go find Ise and try to talk to her Father - hopefully get him that medicine before it was too late. However, before such a thing could happen, her mother had interfered with an absolutely LAME command.

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”Daughter, have you made any progress with your friend to find your father?” Zriracha had asked suddenly, an oddly stoic expression on her face.

“Uh...not recently,” Zerori grimaced. “But there’s all these weird fuckin’ clues and I think he’s probably not even here. I’m going to Earth, but first I have to find Ise and-”

“No,” Zriracha interjected, cutting Zerori off without any chance to get a word in edgewise. “I’ve made it clear that you could do as pleased if it got results but you’ve made poor progress. Not only have you slacked off in training, but you’ve been distracted as of late.”

“Wait, WHAT? What the fuck does that even- this is MY mission, ain’t it?!” Zerori snapped, uncaring of how it elicited a cold look from the Satyr woman. “Ise’s father doesn’t have much TIME, Mom-”

The area around them suddenly chilled to a freezing temperature, Zriracha words likely the cause, ”Silence.” Her eyes flared dangerously, prompting Zerori to swallow and quiet. Quietly, Zriracha continued, “The wheels of fate are in motion and you are NOT prepared… We are not prepared. Until such time as we can assure that you can hold your own AND withstand the effects of your newest contract - you’re to stay on Plant.”

Without much more to be said on the matter, Zriracha opened a portal of her own with little effort and gestured with her chin for Zerori to enter it. Looking between her mother and the portal, Zerori struggled with what to do.

She wanted to stay, go against her wishes and find Ise… but with all the unknowns and her recent failures still haunting her, Zerori just scoffed and stomped through the portal - Zriracha following behind her closely before it closed off.

---

Months later, marginally stronger, Zerori had had enough of hiding in the shadows and acting the part of a coward. She wanted to see how the world had changed around her and reconnect with her friends. Had they thought she’d abandoned them? She missed Ise, Azoth, Rosemary… Zuqetta. Hell, she missed Yangcong and his weird attitude.

Snuck away from the secretive nook her mother had made, Zerori had returned to the Capitol - stomping through the streets to look for someone that could help her get inside the palace without causing more issue than usual. Chaos aside, Zerori wanted to err on the side of caution just so that her mother didn’t sniff her out within minutes.

Alas, nothing was ever that simple.

In the process of approaching the palace entrance, cloaked in a new coat with a hood that threw her face into obscurity, Zerori would suddenly freeze mid-step and give a short intake of breath. “U-Ugh, what is-” She muttered, bringing a hand to her chest as a suddenly twisting pain began to slowly rise in severity within her body. At her side, her other hand clenched tightly in a fist, trying to fight off the pain to little avail until suddenly she was brought down to a knee with a cry. “AUGH!”

Around her, various Saiyans that had been going about their business turned to observe the sudden breech in peace. Some shared looks of concern while others approached with clear suspicion.

Heaving with breath, Zerori looked up to notice the new attention before she exhaled sharply and forced herself to rush off - doing her best to ignore the pain. Attention focused on escape to figure out what was happening to her, Zerori didn’t notice the slightly glowing runes along her body pulsated in time with the pain she felt until she was throwing her back to a wall in an alley that was thankfully vacant.

Zerori grimaced, “What the fuck is happening now?!”

Unbeknownst to the young hybrid, a rather tragic event had taken place - leaving the contract she’d made months ago come to a painful conclusion.