A Shoulder to Cry On

Tarch PL: 150,000.  Energy Setting: 10,000

Sleeping wasn’t easy in eternal daylight. So Tarch was delighted when he found a nice shady spot to just lay down and relax for the first time since coming here. How long had it even been since he started his little search? A week? A month? No more than a month for sure. Despite all the friendly faces he’d seen in his time here, the teen still felt an immense sadness weighing him down. Without his family to support him, being living or dead, he just felt so empty. How did Kon do it? Was she just naturally a loner? How does anyone do it for that matter? Kayen was a strong woman, and she practically deserted her family according to Nero. Nashua loved her family, but here she was a million miles away and still going strong. Of course, they were all older than he was. Here he was not even fourteen yet and running away from home. As a light sleep finally took hold of him, his last thoughts were of home, and what h could have been doing if he had just stayed on Earth. A small tear traced his lid.

“Hello!”

With a loud and fearful cry, Tarch bolted upright, his senses going on high alert. “Wha! Who’s there!” he called out to the empty open plains. No one answered. He couldn’t even sense anyone nearby. That was when he heard a familiar laugh inside his head. Kiko?! Tarch wiped away his tears, ecstatic to be hearing another friendly voice.

“Kiko! Oh thank… well, you! I’m so happy to hear from you!” For once Tarch didn’t even care how that may have sounded to the little blue goddess. It was probably the first time since he saw Nashua, but once more on Namek, Tarch was overjoyed. The only problem was he didn’t know how best to go about telling her why he was here. “W-why am I on Namek? W--well you see…” he took a deep breath. The joy in his mental voice soon faded back into his usual downtrodden tone whenever someone asked him why he came to Namek. “Yeah… I do have a wish but… Oh jeez. I dunno… It’s a long story. If you were here I’d tell you everything… it’s just… a lot…” part of the problem was he knew he couldn’t concentrate on keeping a stable telepathic conversation while so overcome with all the emotions he felt in West City. If only she really could be there right now. Tarch would probably hug her and never let go.

“Hold still? What?” Why did he need to hold still? Kiko was a shinjin sure, but was there really something she could do all the way from Vegeta? No way. Maybe she was mad at him for not telling her what was wrong? Tarch did feel a little guilty. Maybe he should have just swallowed his pride or fear or whatever it was and just told her what happened. Then, it happened.

With a clumsy flourish, Kiko actually appeared right in front of the teen in a burst of light. Of course, she then fell face first right into him. This was incredible! He needed a friend and one just so happened to fall right into his lap, literally! Tarch was beside himself. Without a word, he would pull the kai to her feet then into the warmest hug he’d given anyone. He wouldn’t talk, wouldn’t move, just stand there crying onto this poor blue girl. Now he had two people he cared for here to help him. It was the best worst feeling in the world. On one hand, he had the support of his friends, but the fact that he needed them so badly still hurt. Finally, once the pain in his right arm would grow too uncomfortable, Tarch would pull back.

“S-sorry,” apologized the now red-faced teenager, “I just… I’m so happy to see you. I didn’t think you would come all the way to Namek.” Tarch gave a happy sniffle, wiping away any errant tears that didn’t make it onto Kiko’s unfortunate shirt. “I’m here because… well, I want to wish for my mom to be brought back to life. She was killed by a little guy that used to be my best friend.” Despite his tragic story, Tarch couldn’t help but laugh. He was far too soaked in joyful bliss though with a heaping portion of grief mixed in. His body just didn’t know how to react. Heck, his cocktail of happiness and sadness was so potent he couldn’t make the tears stop. “I’m sorry… I’m just really happy to see you… but sad about my mom.”

Did she not understand? Was Tarch being too vague? No, having his mom killed by his best friend was pretty cut and dry. Then he remembered that Kiko was, in fact, a goddess. Deities probably didn’t see life and death the same as mortals. Tarch definitely would not hold that against her. Though this did raise a few more questions. Did shinjin even have parents? How were they born anyway? God, having a friend like Kiko was the coolest. Even at his low points, Tarch felt blessed to have someone like her in his life. Someone who could take his mind off all the hardship and focus on far more fun things. Though he did have to clear up some of her concerns.

“W-well I did talk to her once. I know she’s in heaven and likes it up there. But I also know it’s very lonely. I also can’t talk to her on my own. So could you check on her for me? Let her know I’m okay and that I’m doing my best to bring her back!” He finished with a teary but determined smile. He then jumped slightly as he remembered something. There was another thing she might be able to do while she was here. Mr. Oboe tried his best, but maybe an actual goddess could do it better?

“Oh! Also uh… Can you uhh…” Tarch hesitated a moment before brushing back some of his hair, specifically a lock covering his left eye. He removed the bandage to show the damaged eye, “can you heal me? I got pretty badly hurt. I’m mostly okay, but my chest, arm, and eye are still messed up.” He remembered back when they first met how she healed his twisted ankle. Granted, these injuries were a bit more grievous than a little bit of leg pain. Still, it was worth a shot right?

As the little goddess worked her magic, Tarch did indeed start to feel better. The large bruise on his chest slowly faded away, as the bandages on his arm felt dryer. Yet as she healed him, he couldn’t help but noticed the pained look on Kiko’s face. He may have been imagining things, but did healing others hurt her in exchange? She didn’t seem hurt last time she healed him. Of course, that was just a twisted ankle. This was the result of mortal combat. As she finished her healing, Tarch went to unwrap his bandages. That was until a sudden thought struck him. What if she didn’t get it all? Then she would just be putting herself through more pain for him. He could not let that happen.

So instead he ran his fingers underneath the bandages, not letting her see for herself. “That feels much better! Thanks, Kiko!” He wasn’t lying. Though he could still feel the gashes on his arm and the vision in his left eye was still dark, the pain had eased up immensely. Perhaps he could take some time to shift the topic before she grew suspicious.

“So I got a question for you. How are Kai’s born? Do you have a mom and dad like mortals or is it different for you guys?” Though he did remember Basil’s words about her being as much flesh and blood as he was, there was still an obvious difference between her and other people. Maybe she was born from eggs like the namekians? Or somehow created artificially like bio-androids?

Well, this explained a lot about who Kiko was and why she had no idea how Earth worked when they first met. Even better than that, it helped Tarchtake his mind off of his recent tragedy. At least for a moment. The conversation did eventually circle back to parents and how Shinjin didn’t really have anything like that. That certainly made this harder for Tarch to explain. It also made him feel both lucky and unlucky to have and then lose that feeling. Now how did he describe it to a goddess?

“That’s insane,” Tarch chuckled weakly. “So I guess that means you were a gold fruit. Does that mean you could live for a hundred thousand years instead?” He sighed, unable to imagine what that would be like. Seeing the entire world live and die and change in the blink of an eye. “Crazy,” he repeated breathlessly. “Most people I know only live to be somewhere near one hundred. At least on Earth. I now some aliens live longer or shorter. Humans are...” he stopped. Was he really about to go into how babies were made? No. No, he was not.

“Well, instead of being born from fruit, we have parents. Like if that fruit took care of you and taught you everything. Kind of like your teachers I guess. But if your teachers were the fruit. And they love you. Oh jeez, this is tough.” Despite the heavy topic, Tarch was at least entertained by his own failing words. Maybe he was going about this all wrong. “It’s like if Brand or Bravo or even Basil were your fruit and your teachers. That’s like what my mom is. And now…” He sniffled, wiping his eye with his sleeve. This quickly went from frustrating to amusing to depressing all in a manner of minutes. “Would you be sad if any of them died?” he asked, perhaps incredibly inappropriately. This whole situation just sucked. He wanted to be home with his mom. He wanted to still be friends with her killer. He just wanted things to be okay again. “I’m sorry that’s a dumb question. A-anyway I promise I’ll try not to get hurt like that again! Promise!”

What a sour turn. Despite the overwhelming evidence that this was completely unlikely, the idea that his mother’s soul could actually move on was a sad thought. The possibility of even Kiko losing someone was somehow worse. She could live for millions of years but as soon as her friends actually die and pass on or whatever, she has to live those millions of years without them. The idea as incomprehensible as it was was enough to bring a cold shudder down Tarch’s spine and a warm tear to his eye.

But hey! Now Tarch knew how old Kiko was. He knew physically she was around his age. But a small part of him always thought she just aged super slowly. Did she still age super slowly? That could be a little weird. Actually, it was kind of funny to think about. Tarch would be getting taller while Kiko stayed short. That brought him out of the heavy mood blanketing him.

“Hey! I’m thirteen too. Well for a few more days anyway. So I got a question then. If you’re thirteen now, but you live for a million years. Do you age slower too?” It was a pretty irrelevant question all things considered. But after all the doom and gloom that came with his mother’s death and the idea of soul recycling, it was nice to have something much more light hearted to talk about. He needed someone he could both laugh and cry with right now.