Once they were at Enma’s Gate, Trunks finally put Tomas down.
-Where the hell are we, what are you gonna do to me?
-ME? Do something to you? Just who do you think I am? I don’t hurt people Tomas, when are you gonna get that into your little head?!
-Hum, well where are we anyway?
-We’re at Enma’s Gate.
-Who’s gate?
-E-n-ma, boy, nobody ever told you who Enma was?
-Nope.
-Well, basically, when you die, you get in a line, or rather your soul gets in a line, and it queues up for a looonnng time until it gets where we’re going.
-And where are we going?
-Let me finish. We’re going to see Enma, see, towards the end of the line there’s a gate, that is most of the time open because people die every second in the universe, get it?
-Yeah, get on with it already.
-Hum, I guess even if you agree to talk to me, you’re not that much of a friendly guy. I don’t want a comment on that.
-Hum.
-Anyway, Enma is the the guardian of the gate and the soul judge, it takes him a lot of time to process all the souls that come by, he has to look in his book, find them and decide with help from the book if it’s heaven, hell or recycling, with some special cases like my dad that could keep his body. Most people are just souls that stay there or that get recycled if they’re not too evil and get a second chance, it’s all pretty complicated. In the case of suicides, you get recycled after wondering in the nothing for a few years, I mean, suicide is still condemned, you’re not evil, but you’re not good either , although you’re not judged too harshly because they know that if you killed yourself, you probably had some problem.
-So my brother was.....recycled?
-Nope, not yet, some time ago I went to see him.
-To see him!?
-Yup, and we talked,..... “talked” being the keyword here Tomas.
-.......
-I was prepared to try and get along with you on my own, but knowing you’re a strong head, I still thought up a backup plan.
-A backup plan?
-Yeah, but first we have to go to see Enma, you can’t go wondering here and there without authorisation.
-I bet you can.
-I’m special, I’m buds with the higher places.
-Whatever.
Once at the great judgement office which was mainly one very big office table with one very big dark pink, black-bearded man sitting behind it, Trunks put Tomas down again........on the table( see how big!?).
-Hi Enma.
-Hum, Trunks, whatever are you doing here , again?
-I told you I might come, and you just might get that vacation of yours.
-Now that’s more interesting, as long as you don’t reek as much havoc as the last time you and your dad were here.
-Don’t worry, I’m a lover, not a fighter, at least not always.
-You’re a problem maker before anything else.
-Don’t be so harsh, I feel like it’s my dad talking. So you want that vacation or not?
-I do, I do, I’m listening.
-Good, this is the boy I told you about, whose brother I asked you to keep for me?
-Yes, I remember, he’s still there.
-Alright, then I’ll need a pass for this young man and I want to know where he is.
-You mean I’m gonna see my bro?
-Give me a sec Tomas. So Enma?
-Hum ( very suspicious look), I guess.....but if the Grand Kaioh here’s about this, it’s gonna be my head.
-I’ll cover for you.
Enma gave Trunks directions and a pass for Tomas.
-Don’t be long, and after this, he’s going in the nothing without his body, like the others.He’s definately being treated too nicely for a suicide.
-Yeah, yeah, we’ll be off now.
Trunks was flying around heaven, obviously knowing the place quite well.
-How.......how do you know where you’re going?
-You don’t wanna know.
-Hum, who cares anyway!
-There’s my good ol’Tomas, as moody as ever, this is gonna be fun!
They finally got to a place with much grass and plants, it seemed quite a pleasant place to Tomas, certainly the place he’d like to be when he died.
-Now, wait here for a sec, I’ll be right back.
Trunks put Tomas down again and went for a quick fly behind a hill, then came back about 5 minutes later.
-Now just stay here and wait, I’ll be back later.
-I’m fed up waiting, what am I waiting for anyway!?
-See that spot over there?
-Uhum.
-That spot is what you’re waiting for. See you.
-Hey don’t leave me here, I can’t go back on my own.
But Trunks had already left. Meanwhile the spot was getting bigger , and the more Tomas watched it coming closer, the more his guts were getting tight, at some point, he pretty much knew what he was looking at. Finally what had been a spot was in front of him, and Tomas could not believe his eyes.
-Laurent?
Laurent was there, in front of him, a light and tender smile on his lips.
-Hi kid.
Tomas could take no more, he ran into his brothers arms, crying his heart out.
-I thought I’d never see you again.
-Well....you shouldn’t have, I guess we’re both lucky in a way.
-But.......but why?
-Tomas, I’ve had a long talk with Trunks, and I was very sad at the fact you thought he was responsible for my death.
-But.........but you said it, you said it before you.....
-....I know what I said, but I shouldn’t have said it.
-So you take it back? You didn’t mean it?
-No, I don’t take it back, I did mean it.
-But then.....
-I shouldn’t have said it to you. I should have know at your age you wouldn’t understand.
Laurent was cuddling his brother, holding him close as he gently stroked his hair. Tomas had a tense look, he didn’t understand.
-That day I said: “Do you remember that kid, Trunks? The guy who beat me up that day 5 years ago?.....Now that I understand why, I’m glad he did it.......”.
That is what I said that day, ney?
-Yeah.
-Well now I think you’re big enough for me to explain what I meant.
You see, just after Trunks hit me, I started thinking really hard about why Marianne had told me he coudn’t be helped, I did some research, turns out Trunks was, at the time, the unique victime of a sickness called Red Hate. I don’t know exactly how it works, but his family being so famous I did hear about it. All I know is that this thing stopped him from communicating with people, he never talked to anyone except his sister, he often cried, even his folks could do nothing, the sickness has no known cure, so he was just stuck in his own world, or rather out of ours. So when he could do something good, he did it , and that’s what he did with me that day.
-But he hit you, he broke your arm.
-And what was I doing? Threatening to hurt a baby, threatening the whole damn place! Tomas, I was gradually turning into a criminal, you start by hurting the most defensless thing, a baby, when you’re 14, then what, you kill someone 6 months later? That’s why he did it, he shocked me so strong it made me realize what I was doing was wrong, was bad, for the people around me, but mostly for me.That day, he saved my soul. It took me some time to understand, but by the time I got it it was too late, I couldn’t correct myself anymore, I’d ruined every chance of a good life I’d been given, and I was ruining yours too...
-That’s not true!
-Yes it is! How can stopping you from having a nice loving family be anything but a selfish wish that goes against everyone of your interests!? Trunks tried to make me see I could still get that good life and family, that help that so many tried desperately to give us, and that I should take it, whereas he desperately needed help that nobody could offer him. When I realized that, it was too late for me, even if I had decided to become an honest member of society, I would have been a failure, because I was disfunctionnal from the start, but you, you could still have what Trunks had tried to offer in his own way, and I knew that if I stayed, you’d never get it.
Tomas was crying endless streams of tears, he felt so bad, so shocked.
-So.......so..it was...was all.....be..because of me? It was my fault?
-No, I did it for you, not because of you. I did it because I love you, and it was the best thing I ever did. I’m glad my “life” finally served a purpose, giving you a better one. Don’t blame yourself little brother, you couldn’t have prevented it, it’s not your fault, I’m the one that put myself in the situation in the first place, this situation where nothing else was left to do, and I won’t ever regret my decision.
Tomas’ tears had dimmed down, he was still shaken, but in the middle of all that, he finally got it, and now he felt more ashamed than he ever had in his entire life.
-I......blamed him.
-I doubt he will hold a grudge, you should listen to him, he has so much to offer. Kinda like a big brother ney?
Tomas had stopped crying , but at that he cast his head down.
-Noone will ever be able to replace you.
-Don’t see him as a replacement, see him as another big brother. We’re very different people you know and he really would love a little brother of his own, or so he told me.
-Actually, officially, I’m his son.
-Haha, good one, he’ll never cease to amaze me. Tell me, how is the house where you live, I’m curious?
-Well, if anything, it’s huge, I bet you could stick a 100 people in there and we’d still be comfi. Trunks’ dad is odd, but I like him, he’s the only calm thing in the house, or “so it seems” according to his wife. She’s very smart, and Trunks’ little sister is a cute kid, I guess the 2 most intriguing people , not counting Trunks, would be his gorgeous girlfriend Lalania and his “cousin” Pain.
-I haven’t heard of that one.
-She’s this girl, long black hair and a very firery temper, she’s the same age as me and....
-Oh, that one, yes , Trunks told me about that one.
-What did he say?
-Oh nothing....
-Come on!
-Nothing
-COME ON!
-......no......
-.......
That was the last anyone ever saw of Laurent , he had had a short life, but some wisdom had been brought to him at it’s very end and thus his body and soul, the second one 2 years later, disappeared gladly and it was in a cleansed state he reached his new life, no memory to avail.
disclaimer: all dbz caracters belong to Akira Toriyama and all fictionnal ones to me