Heart and Soul | INVITE

    It was quiet, even if only for a few minutes. There was nothing but the tick of his digital clock and the whir of his laptop's fans and the glow of the screen to stimulate what senses he had left. He rested one hand on a raised forearm while tapping away with the other almost autonomously while lost in thought. One question was still haunting the forefront of his mind- what now?

    For better or worse, he didn't have much time to think on that question before jolting upright from his slumped position in surprise at the sound of a familiar voice breaking the quiet anxiety surrounding him. He managed to work up enough courage to turn around and look at Belle, though his fingers reflexively had clenched with his heightening worries about the child he'd thoroughly traumatized hours ago. Part of him braced in anticipation for another gut-wrench. Maybe she'd come to ask to go live somewhere else that wasn't with her uncle's murderer. He would understand if that was what she wanted, but the former saiyan found himself more confused with her request. Stay awake? With him, of all people? It took a few moments to process.  "...Y-Yeah, sure." He lacked the guts to so much as think of saying no.

    He'd turn back to his computer to resume his work, now with Belle at his side, but... He felt like he should say something. But what was he supposed to even word- "sorry I brutally murdered your eldritch monster of an uncle after he tried to blow up the planet" was just plain insensitive, wasn't it? Sorry for being weak and cowardly enough to die in the first place, sorry for every bit of pain he and he alone had put on her, even if it was never his intention. His pixellated mouth curled in anxious thought. His problems were small in comparison to everyone else, let alone the greater good he pushed himself so hard to appease.

    "I- uh, i-if you wanted to talk about anything t-to get it off your chest so you can sleep or something, f-feel free." Carro managed to form some words, though he internally started screaming at himself moments after, thinking he was sounding too pushy and dismissive. "O-or, er--! not is fine too i-if you don't want to!" Both of their emotional wounds were still fresh, but the last thing he wanted to do was tear open new ones. Still, his urge to at least try to be the responsible adult and do something overrode that crushing shame and pain from the events that unfolded prior.  

    "Wh-- no, of course not!" Carro finally pried his sights off his computer when Belle asked if he was mad of all things. Why would he be mad? Fear and unease were the dominant emotions festering in his head still- worry over everything that could have gone wrong and gotten Belle hurt, and the repercussions he faced now for his kill.

    Before he could talk about how she had nothing to be sorry about or how it was his own fault and she shouldn't be sad because of that, the child began to speak of the man he'd murdered hours ago, causing Carro's face to twist in a mixture of pained sympathy and anticipation, bracing himself for the pain of finally getting his comeuppance and well-deserved hatred for killing her family. But before that, the child began to explain her past interactions with Kalabas and her parents. 

    Carro cringed in disgust as she explained the conditions her own parents forced her though. The pressure to be "strong" wasn't unfamiliar to him, but forcing a child to be a soldier, of all things!? No child should ever have to worry about losing everything they loved, let alone be forced into a damn war. While he was a pathetic pacifist, Carro wasn't against berating those excuses for parents if he ever met them. Though she said Kalabas believed in her- he was a comfort back then, it seemed. Carro still found himself skeptical of the past incarnation of her uncle- even if he did believe in her, was he still forcing her into a set of shoes that didn't fit or not?... That didn't matter, as it became abundantly clear that her uncle had committed much more harrowing atrocities seconds later.

    Instinctively Carro moved an arm to block the phantom image's blast, pixellated eyes going wide in alarm before another telepathic vision of an Arcosian flickered into existence-- and before he could process what he saw, it was all gone. Carro remained motionless for a few moments, as if there were still lingering phantoms in the room. The sound of the scarred child's sobs quickly snapped him back to reality. The arm he'd used to shield Belle from the imaginary attack hovered in the air for a moment beside her with clear hesitation. Carro managed to steel his will and move to rest his metallic palm on Belle's shoulder in an attempt to comfort her.

    "D-don't be." He finally spoke up as Belle tried to apologize. "None of this was ever your fault." Even if he couldn't be forgiven, Carro had to at least try to ease Belle's suffering to make up for just a bit of his own faults. "Clearly they all had problems with their eyesight, or else they would have seen that they had seen your strength long ago." Carro half-joked with an awkward shrug, though his smile was genuine despite the exhaustion in his eyes. "Strength is hardly just about muscle, though that seems to be all those dummies on Vegeta seem to think is worth it- it's not." How else would someone with a measly power level like him defy death itself if that was the case, let alone be deemed fit by Earth's people to lead them? "S-seriously. You've... u-uh, clearly been through a lot. But y-you're still here and trucking through it, aren't you? That sure sounds like power to me. Strength isn't about how hard you can punch- it's about how many times you get up back up afterwards." Even after everything they'd both been through, that had been one steadfast truth in Carro's life that kept pushing him back to his feet- maybe it'd do Belle good too to hear it aloud.

    "S-Seriously, you wouldn't believe how many people I've met that can kick a mountain in half but act like total babies when it comes to dealing with tough stuff." His tone turned teasing again in an attempt to lighten the mood. Though he was battered from his own trauma, Carro liked to thin he still had his way with words. "You're more worthy of love than any bloodthristy empire of idiots can ever dream to be. Always." Kalabas sure was getting the short end of the stick by abandoning his niece, but... Carro's smile briefly faltered though as his thoughts drifted. Was he really any better than the man he'd killed right in front of a child? He wasn't sure anymore.

    Problem solved- Belle seemed to be mostly better now! Doing something right was a nice change of pace. But before he could pat himself on the back, she spoke up again to call his own troubles out, causing the faint smile on his face to flicker away. The last thing he needed to do was add even more problems to cope with onto Belle's plate. Though his gaze softened when she tried to assure him that it wasn't his fault right back, he frowned and averted his gaze. He wished he could believe that lie. Carro's shell was going to be a lot tougher to crack.

    Belle spoke of her uncle's continued betrayals, and how people would keep killing and hurting him until he learned to be better. So that meant he was a part of the problem, being the most recent killer to add to the pile. How was Kalabas supposed to learn better when he kept dying? Could he even learn better? Echoes of his past, naive hopes to save even the worst people still hoped so, but now he wasn't sure. His eyes darted up again as another phantom image flickered into the room. It was an arcosian, lovingly accompanying Belle. But before he could fully process the scene, Carro's wiring ran ice cold as he saw a familiar figure appear. His grip on Belle tightened at the sight of the warped Vocado apparition- for a second he thought it was real, that the monster had returned from the grave to take everything away from him like that hateful gaze he held before he died threatened. He managed to still his shivering when the two forms vanished into smoke as the ghostly saiyan struck down the arcosian's image.

    Belle spoke again, now about Sensoa and his murder of Tarch, causing Carro to grimace at the memory of the child's body. He'd been one of the first on the scene then. Still, Belle tried to convince Carro that it wasn't his fault and he showed strength of his own that day by sparing the demon, but his gaze didn't change. That just made his recent murder of Kalabas worse, as the exact opposite of what he'd done to quell Sensoa...

    Wait- how did she know about Sensoa in the first place?! He didn't have time to think on that much before his expression sunk further in worry and concern when Belle spoke of some mysterious, terrible thing she did. There still was a lot for him to do to fix the poor child as she now blamed Vocado and herself for his own bloody death.

    "I-it's not your fault- I promise! If you hadn't given me that radar, we'd... we'd be a lot worse off."  Even if his life was the price to pay, Carro came out of the battle knowing his enemy and what they planned to do. "...Belle. Do you know what Vocado wanted to wish for?" He softened his grip to pull himself back. "He wanted to wish for something horrible, that much I'm sure you can assume. Something so awful, something that should never, ever return to this galaxy. A Tree of Might." Maybe her parents, if they were any bit as imperialistic as Vocado, had mentioned it. It certainly was in every history book he'd seen in his schooling days.

    "It's this terrible plant that drains the life out of an entire planet. Nothing lives- it might as well be destroyed. And it turns all that energy into an ugly fruit- they'd literally be eating the energy of a planet to power themselves up! And then they'd go to the next planet with that energy boost, and the next, and the next. If I didn't die then, we would have no idea. He could have tricked us! Or killed even more people before we knew something was going horribly wrong!" A lot had gone horribly wrong in spite of that, and it all weighed heavy on Carro's heart. But it could always be worse, right? At least no planets had been destroyed or anything- maybe after this was all over, he could take a vacation to Namek or something.

    "And to answer your question from earlier... Y-yes. Vocado was one of the ones who did it." He uncomfortably glanced aside when speaking of his own death. Bloody memories resurfaced before he shook his head. "But he's dead now." He should have felt relieved. Thankful that his evil was wiped by his hands, that they were one step closer to fixing things. Carro only felt disgust welling in his soul. 

    Carro's somber expression remained unchanging even as Belle expressed that Vocado's death was a good thing. Why did he feel so sick if that was the case? He didn't have time to ponder on it for long before the child caught an accidental slip in his words. Vocado was only one of his two murderers. Atop Kalabas, she suspected "a saiyan with no tail and red hair." Given the fact that Kalabas was all but confirmed as one of Vocado's cronies, Carro found the new worry that this redhead was another lackey he wasn't yet aware of festering in his head. It couldn't of been Scallio she was talking about, either. "N-no, it wasn't either of them!" The robot hastily confirmed. "It..." Carro cut himself off. He didn't think telling Belle was the best idea. He didn't want her running off for revenge or something and getting killed as well. "...It was someone just as bad as Vocado. Someone worse. I don't want you to ever meet him."

    Thankfully, the topic shifted away from his own demise and onto the actual problems to worry about- Belle's own traumas. The more he listened, the more he felt like his own troubles weren't worth the worry he kept giving to them, and the sorrier he felt for the poor toddler. When the phantasms returned with a new flood of sights and smells, Carro's grip on Belle's shoulder reflexively tightened. Expression blank with widened eyes, Carro found himself not only seeing the horrific accident of Kalabas's death, but haunting reminders of his own demise. The nightmarish smell of blood and death coming from a hole where his heart was, the howl of ki, everything going dark and numb with pain unlike anything he'd felt before.

    Carro seemed to be in a trance for a few moments, frozen even after the sight faded and Belle continued to speak. He shook his head, managing to snap himself back to attention to listen to Belle. Carro quickly latched onto the other train of thought brought with the dreadful shock brought by Belle's words with her story from Namek. What horrified him even more, though, was the fact she seemed to be bracing herself in anticipation afterwards- like she was expecting to be attacked. "Belle..."

    A metallic arm reached out to wrap around the suffering child's shoulders for comfort- he would have gone and pulled her into a hug if it weren't for the lingering worry that he'd be pushing his boundaries with that.  "What you wanted to wish for was... not good, sure. But," There was no disappointment or anger in the President's tone. A bit of shock still lingered, though it was more sorrowful than anything else. "...You're trying to make things better, are you not? And you're sorry, too. S-sometimes thats all we can really do, and that's enough. 'sides, it's not like the Dragon actually granted it?" Mingling with his somber tone was now Carro's determined, hopeful flicker- something not even death itself could ever extinguish.

    "You've been stronger than anyone could ever be in your heart- stronger than Vocado, Oboe, or even me- for so long..." Carro sighed. He knew the exhaustion and that line in the sand too well. "...And even the best of us get so, so tired of it. Bad things happen to good people for bad reasons, and that's just how it is sometimes. That's frustrating beyond belief- believe me. I know." A small, yet honest smile formed on his screen. "If willpower alone was enough to punch people in the face, I'm sure everyone who made you feel bad would be punched all the way to the edge of the entire galaxy right about now!"

    His shoulders slumped as he looked astray. "...But sadly, it isn't." Bad people did things for bad reasons, as he'd expressed earlier. It wasn't supposed to be fair or just. No words could truthfully assure Belle that what happened wasn't completely unfair and undeserved even though it happened anyways. "That doesn't mean everything's just gonna always be awful. The universe doesn't care, but people do. The good ones. Like," Carro threw an arm in the air for emphasis. "You would not believe how much Earth's gone through over the centuries! By all means, we should be very extinct with all this unfair bullcrap when our average citizen is useless in combat!... But here we are. Heck, even when the actual stupid Empire Vocado wants to revive attacked Earth centuries ago, we kicked their butts to kingdom come when no other planet could." It was almost comedic, really. Planets full of species that knew how to fight fell, and yet the tiny blue marble of peace-loving humans was the one to tear its enemies a new one.

    "The people who want nothing but fire and pain are loud and horrible. But there's so many more good people, even if they're quieter. Like, uh... me, I hope? I'm sure you've met a lot of friendly folks here on Earth too e-even if--" Carro shook his head, cutting off his own self-depreciation.

    "Whatever. Case in point, you're super strong in the heart, the people who hurt you are stupid and its their loss for missing out on being good and being friends with someone as great as you, and we're all gonna pull through this. It's gonna get worse before it gets better, but it's gonna get better. I promise." Carro didn't know it for a fact, but he believed every word he said regardless. He'd make sure his friends and family got the peace and prosperity they rightfully deserved, no matter the cost.

    For once, Carro felt something other than heartache or exhaustion, stunned into silence with Belle's hug. A weak, but genuine smile spread across the former saiyan's screen before he quickly returned the gesture. he'd nearly forgotten what it felt like to do something good for once. With the past months spinning his moral compass every which way, it was gratifying to finally feel like he'd done something undoubtedly helpful with nothing but his choice of words.

    The restless President, however, found a whole different rush of emotions overrun in his mind with Belle's words following. Now it was his turn for his pixellated face to turn a flustered red. Him, of all people, to be seen as a parent!? He'd surely make a terrible father, being busy and working all the time, constantly running off into danger with a plate far too full. And even then, outside of his parents and Sulfur, he'd seldom heard the phrase "I love you."

    "A-ah, uh, i-it's nothing! I'm just, er, u-uh, doing my job! President and all. Y-yeah." Carro took compliments as well a broken vending machine refusing a bill of Zeni. "B-but I'm happy we met too. I'm not going anywhere." Though he constantly feared a second death, Carro wouldn't make that easy for anyone to accomplish ever again. There was still so much he had left to lose that wouldn't be taken from him without a hell of a fight.

    After their little moment, Carro found himself twiddling his fingers in awkward thought. What was he supposed to say or do now? "It is getting pretty late... And unlike me, you need sleep." He was in desperate need of emotional respite, but Carro no longer had a need nor a capability for physical sleep. "Is there anything else I can do to get you to sleep easy? We still got snacks in the kitchen, a-and I'm sure Daisy or Cola could use some attention, too!" Just for a few minutes, he'd make an effort to not think about the crushing pressure of the future to focus on what he could do now to help this moment.