Hurts Like Heaven

Just when Taori was about to give up on the ghost and start trying to figure out how the heck he could get back home, the nearby flora began to shift and rustle as someone approached. Taori expectantly turned his head towards the approaching figure, his heart skipping a beat. Had he finally found him? It had been so long since the two of them had last seen each other, and yet - wait... That wasn't him. 

Taori blinked a few times in surprise as the figure that arrived to meet him wasn't Garrick, nor was it an unfamiliar person, either. It was... "Amara?!" he exclaimed. He took a step back in shock as he laid eyes upon his wife's cousin. What the heck was she doing here? He stared, wide eyed and slack jawed at the young woman for a good few moments as she asked her question. It was hard not to notice the bright, shining halo over her head as she spoke, which was a telltale sign that she, unlike him, was not merely a visitor to these realms. She was a permanent resident.

"I... I, uh..." he stammered, at a loss for words for the first time in quite a while. What was he supposed to say after accidentally stumbling on both his dead cousin-in-law and the information that his cousin-in-law was dead at the same time? He took a moment to recompose himself, inhaling a deep breath up through his nostrils, then, more calmly replied, "Who did this to you, Amara?" There was a clear hint of anger in his tone as he started to come to grips with the fact that she had, somehow, died. "I know you had people after you, the last time I saw you. Was it one of them?"

Amara seemed quite... Relaxed for someone who had just died. Well, Taori supposed that may have made some sense: the afterlife didn't seem to be that terrible of a place. It seemed more like a quaint, relaxing area to retire to after your life had been spent working hard. But, still, he couldn't see himself being all too comfortable knowing he had left everyone else in his life behind to fend for themselves. Did Amara not have anyone she cared about that she was leaving behind? Or did she just have so much faith in them that she was certain they'd all be fine without her?

"Recycled...?" Taori asked, puzzled. Must have been some afterlife thing he didn't really understand. Hell, there was pretty much nothing about this whole thing that he fully understood. What was he even doing here? He listened intently as the girl explained what exactly had happened to her, and felt a slight surge of anger well up in his chest as he heard a familiar name.

"Yangcong..." he grumbled, his eyes darting down towards his feet as his fists clenched. That old, rotten bastard just couldn't stay down, could he? After all the trouble Taori had gone through to have him arrested and put away, Rosemary had just let him escape? And kill his wife's cousin? So much for that mind control thing she'd pulled on him. Clearly her power wasn't nearly as absolute as she seemed to think.

"I'm sorry," he replied after a moment. "You shouldn't have gotten mixed up in all that. He was our responsibility to take care of, and... Well, clearly we failed you." Still... Amara had managed to take him out with her? That was impressive, considering the old fool's strength. "Is he around here, somewhere?" Taori asked as he raised his head back up. "I'd sure like to give him a few licks myself, if that's possible."

Huh... So, even death wasn't truly the end, apparently? That was a bit of a sobering thought. Taori had been under the assumption that once you died, you were supposed to just sort of... Hang out in the afterlife. Forever. And that, apparently, everyone who had ever lived had been someone else, previously. He briefly wondered who he and Alpinia were in their past lives, although dismissed the thought fairly quickly. There wasn't much point in thinking too hard about all of this - he could barely even wrap his head around the concept of an afterlife in general, let alone all this other stuff.

And, well, at least Amara didn't totally seem to blame Yangcong's insanity on the Saiyans. Taori had felt partially responsible for allowing the madman to run free and do whatever he wanted, but it seemed the Kingdom wasn't the only group giving his defeat or capture their all. Ironic, then, that the old man would meet his end against a sole Saiyan fighter, when so many wanted him dead for his deeds. And it was comforting as well to hear he'd been dragged off to the deepest pits of Hell for all he had done.

Good riddance.

"Finally," Taori said with a chuckle of relief. "A prison he can't escape from. I hope when his soul withers away, he's recycled into someone who can add something of value to the galaxy." Still... It was too bad Taori never would get the chance to beat the hell out of him with his own two hands. He'd been too weak to do it before, but soon... Well, soon he'd have enough power to have easily stopped Yangcong in his tracks. At least, if he was able to keep up the latest results of his training.

"You seem rather... Alright with dying, though," Taori commented. "I'd have expected most people to be a little more, er, distraught with the fact that they'd been killed. Especially someone as young as you - you barely got so much as a quarter of the life you could've had." He certainly wouldn't be resting so easy whenever he finally bit it, even if it was much later on in his life.

"Should I tell Alpinia for you?" he asked, "She'll be upset, I'm sure, but I think she'd like to know what became of her cousin. She really adored you, you know - I'd have brought her with if I knew you'd be here."

Yangcong as an Arcosian... Now that was something Taori definitely didn't need to see. The old fool had caused enough trouble with just the powers of a Saiyan, but with the natural might of one of those space lizards? It was doubtful Amara would have been able to stop him if that were the case. It was doubtful anyone could have stopped him, really. Azoth was fairly benevolent, by Arcosian standards, and even he had quite the short fuse. An Arcosian who was an actual madman? They could destroy the entire galaxy. Taori shuddered at the thought.

At least Amara seemed to be taking things well enough. She really wasn't nearly as upset as Taori would've expected her to be, so he supposed that was helping him not be all too upset himself. He'd steeled himself to the deaths of the people he knew quite a long time before, thanks to how frequent they'd been back in the hotter days of the war, but he'd never quite been able to detach himself completely whenever a comrade died.

He'd never shed any tears over their deaths, but each of those days, he'd simply spent a long time alone at wherever he could get some alcohol. Taori would just sit there, drinking and... Thinking. Sometimes he felt like he spent too much time thinking.

The Saiyan blinked himself back into the present, and replied, "Alpinia is quite the sentimental one. She talks an awful lot about both you and uh, Delia? I think that was her name. She'd be glad to hear you're doing alright up here - might be some good comfort." He somewhat hesitantly accepted the strange, round stone that Amara offered, and couldn't think of any use Alpinia might have for this 'gift,' but he supposed it was better than nothing.

And then, Amara mentioned her father, and Taori recalled the reason he'd even come up here in the first place. "Garrick?" he asked, his tail swishing up in anticipation. "You mean, you haven't seen him up here, either? I came here hoping to find him, actually..." Well, that was disappointing. If Amara had quite literally the rest of her existence to spend finding the guy and she couldn't manage it, what chance did he have?

"Damn. I could really use his advice, right about now." Taori sighed. Amara might be wondering why Taori cared so much about finding Garrick, so he figured he ought to briefly explain. "Might sound strange to you, but he was probably the closest thing I had to a father, back in the day. My own old man... Well, we're not exactly on speaking terms."

"Last I heard from her, she ran off in the hopes of becoming a... VTuber? Whatever that is," Taori explained to Amara about Delia. That girl had never seemed quite right. But uh, more power to her, Taori supposed. It wasn't like she was causing anyone problems the way she was. Except for her parents, maybe, but they'd be fine. "Anyway, I'm sure Alpinia will appreciate this, uh," he glanced down at the rock in his hand. "Strange, glowing rock from another dimension." Maybe it was special in some way he couldn't quite understand? Probably. There was a lot he didn't understand anymore.

As Amara listed off all the places Garrick could possibly be, he furrowed his brows. "Or...?" Was she implying that... He may possibly have never...? No, no. That couldn't be. He'd have had no reason to fake his death. The afterlife seemed to be nearly as vast as the galaxy that housed the living, so it was surely possible Garrick was simply somewhere Amara had not yet looked. He'd never have just abandoned the war and all of his comrades like that if he'd been given the choice not to. It didn't make any sense.

Taori couldn't keep himself from chuckling as Amara expressed her doubts that she'd ever quite live up to the legacy her father had left behind. "You're starting to sound an awful lot like me," he commented with a smirk, though it was more a smirk of understanding than one of smugness. "There's a whole lot of uncertainty down there," he continued. "People are starting to look at me for answers, and I've never had to do anything but take orders from others up til now."

He let out a sigh, and crossed his arms. "I'm built for fighting, not so much... Thinking. Garrick, though, he was good at that. Always outsmarting everyone, one step ahead of the competition. Can't say I can really hope to live up to that, but I'm sure trying." He paused, then shook his head. "Ah, but I shouldn't complain to you - I'm sure you miss him twice as much as I ever could. He was your father, after all."

Well, despite the rock's 'interesting' glow, Taori had no real reason to believe it was dangerous in any sort of way, so he shoved it into his pocket for the time being. Alpinia would probably think it was pretty and put it on her dresser, and that'd likely be the extent to which it held significance. Although, it being a gift from quite literally beyond the grave might add it some special credence. "You know how to do magic, too?" Taori asked with a raised brow. He still couldn't tell the difference between magic and ki - and, as far as he could tell, he was fine with just ki. Magic seemed foreign, unfamiliar. None of the Saiyans he'd known for most of his life had used it, so, why bother starting now?

"You're not the first person to ask me that," he mused as Amara briefly suggested trying to go and take the crown for himself. Per Saiyan tradition, anyone who was strong enough to defeat the ruler of the Kingdom in single combat would rightfully be crowned the new ruler of the Saiyans, so he technically could just walk up to Rosemary and challenge her to a fight, but... Well, there was the whole issue of his power level. "I almost wish I could," he replied, "But she's just... On another level with her strength."

It pained him to admit it, but these were simply the facts. "I'm still going to have to get stronger if I want the chance to make any real change." He was getting there, though. Just a few months prior, he was a mere speck of dust compared to Rosemary's power, but now? He could actually put up a fight, though not one that he'd have much hope of winning. "Actually, that's what I came up here to ask your father about - what should I do in this sort of situation?"

He looked Amara up and down, and tilted his head. He'd never really thought much about the expectations that must have been placed on her, being the daughter of nobility. Alpinia had had similar issues, though she didn't like talking about it all too much. Must have been tough for kids like them to grow up in such a large shadow. Taori had hated how his father never seemed to think he'd amount to anything, but he could see it being similarly awful to have a father who expected far too much of you.

"What do you think, Amara?" he asked. "You're probably a fair bit smarter than me, too. What would you do if you were in my shoes?"