Beyond The Impossible

Imperial Palace, Earth

Noriko Null wakes up with a terrible headache and feeling exhausted.

It takes her a few seconds to realize she’s in her own bed, and a couple more to realize she’s naked.

Still groggy and with a terrible taste in her mouth, she sits on the bed and looks around.

<Where are my clothes?> she wonders out loud, not seeing them anywhere.

<You took them off.>

Moving on pure instinct, Noriko pulls out a Genius Gun from the hidden compartment of the night table and points her at the man sitting on the chair next to the bed, while covering herself with the other hand.

<What the f##k are you doing in my room, Gilgamesh!?> she yells, ready to delivery a full-power blast with a twitch of her finger.

<You didn’t look comfortable sleeping on the kitchen’s floor.>

<What?>

<You drank too much. I was worried I would have to find a doctor.>

Noriko puts down the gun, then uses the new free hand to massage her aching temple.

<That stupid Dionysus wine… I thought that after the Nexus upgraded my nervous system I wouldn’t be as susceptible to it.> she admits.

The awkward silence of sharing this embarrassing moment with a near stranger requires a few seconds to work up the courage to ask:

<I didn’t do anything… embarrassing under the wine’s influence, did I?>

<Define “embarrassing”. You started by complaining about how you missed the body you had when you first woke up in Heaven, then took off your top to show me your breasts.>

<Oh my God.> she sighs, deciding to bury her head under the sheets.

<Then you talked about how you ruined all of your relationships and how badly you need to have sex. Then you complimented me on my body and threw up on me.>

<I think I wanna die again.> she whimpers.

<Then you tried to initiate sex, but when I said no you started to cry saying things you made me swear I would never reveal to anyone.> he continues.

<That’s it, I’m never going to leave this room. I’m growing old and die under this blanket without ever looking at another person.>

<Then you went to the bathroom, threw up again, and passed out on the kitchen floor. I didn’t know it was possible to handle alcohol this badly.>

<It’s not the alcohol, it’s the psychotropic chemicals Dionysus puts into his wine.> she corrects him, then timidly gets her head out of the sheets to ask him a direct question.

<Why didn’t it have any effect on you?>

<Perhaps because I’m a demigod. Two-thirds god and one-third mortal.>

<That… doesn’t make any sense, Gilgamesh.>

<Why not? My mother is a goddess and my father was an Ur mortal.>

<Wouldn’t that make you half-god and half-mortal?>

<That’s not what my mother told me. Are you going to be alright, Null?>

She tries to pull herself together, wrapping the sheet around her body as she sits on the bed.

<Are you really trustworthy enough to never, EVER tell anyone what happened?>

<Null, you rescued me from an eternity of boredom. Of course I will keep my word.>

<I’m going to regret asking, but… what things did I make you promise not to tell anyone?>

<That you feel you don’t deserve what you have and that you will never find true happiness, when even Heaven couldn’t figure out what you want in a mate. That you’re afraid people are giving you so much power you’re afraid you will turn into the same kind of monsters they cheer you for killing. And how you actually care about whether people think you’re attractive but can’t admit without being judged shallow.>

<Oh. Wow I really went off the deep end there, didn’t I?>

<For what it’s worth, I think you’re too hard on yourself. But I know a thing or two about becoming what you hate… if the wine had the same effect on me, I might have confessed something similar.>

<Except the body image stuff, I guess?>

<Yes, you were quite enthusiastic about that when you asked me for sex. Are you sure you are alright, Null? Your face is definitely redder than I recall.>

<Can you also… not tell to anyone about we talked about sex? Like, to anyone? Ever?>

<If you wish.>

<Now please leave. I need a shower in the worst way, and I need to get dressed to go to work.>

<Of course. This world has so many things I wish to explore.> he says, getting up from the chair and walking towards the door.

<Gilgamesh, wait. I forgot to thank you.>

<For what?>

<For not… taking advantage of me in a moment of weakness.>

<Basic decency: you were clearly not yourself. In my younger days, when I was wilder, I wouldn’t have hesitated to take you. But I’m striving to become the hero people think I am. Surely you understand how that feels.>

<I do. And I didn’t believe anyone else would.> she admits.

She watches him leave the room, and the first thing she does is recover her N-Phone from the floor and register a message.

<Note to self: throw every single bottle of Dionysus wine on the planet straight into the Sun.>

 

Asgard Station, Null Zone

One of Kari Zel’s duplicates has been keeping guard in front of a high security door, scrolling through the news feed on her phone to see what she lost while stuck in Heaven.

<You know you don’t have to do this, right? The cell is secure enough.> Noriko Null tells her, approaching the door.

<No offense Nori, but I trust myself more than I trust your robots. And being here really doesn’t cost me anything.>

<If you say so.>

<Are you going in?>

<In a moment. There’s something I have to ask you, Kari, now that we’re alone. But you have to promise not to tell anyone… it’s a little embarrassing.>

<Is this about me dating your duplicate in Heaven? Don’t worry, I don’t recall sleeping with her. Unfortunately.> Kari says, whispering the last word.

<That’s a relief. But no, that’s not what I wanted to ask you. It’s about Gilgamesh.>

<What about him?>

<Do you think it would a bad idea if I asked him out?>

Kari Zel has faced a dragon and seen rivers in space, but hearing this question is the most unbelievable thing she ever imagined.

<What!?>

<You know I have the worst luck in my love life, and I don’t have your amount of experience.>

<Nori, you’re twenty-eight. You hardly need my advice!>

<Let’s say that I do. What’s your opinion?>

<Well he’s a hunk of a man, we both saw that.>

<Kari, can’t you be serious for once!? It’s not like that at all!>

<Yeah, sure. Listen, Nori, if you want to have fun, just go for it and enjoy the ride. But if you’re looking for something serious… I don’t know, you tend to make the worst possible decisions when you’re on a rebound from a failed relationship.>

<I do not!!!>

<When you dumped Todd you went out with a guy who turned out to be working for your mother, when Voron left you fixated on that Nobel Prize guy, when that didn’t work you went for that athlete you just pretended to love to prove yourself you could still feel human, then when you broke up with him you dated Kylon despite the fact the only thing you two had in common was hating your mother, and now you want to date an immortal demigod just because he helped capture your mother and he’s hung like a…> Kari lists, counting on her fingers as she goes.

<First of all, he’s not immortal. Second, who I date has absolutely nothing to do with my mother! Third, if you bothered to have a serious talk with Gilgamesh, you’d find out that he’s deeper than you think.>

<Uh-uh. And how many of these “serious talks” did you have with the guy?> Kari asks.

<One, but that’s not the… Oh God, I really am a wreck when I’m on a rebound.> Noriko realizes.

<That’s what happens when your hormones take precedence over that big brain of yours. Just don’t rush these things, Noriko, and for the love of Gaea don’t go anywhere near Aphrodite or Dionysus when you’re in this state.>

<That’s the last thing in my mind, I assure you.> Noriko says, then unlocks the security door by placing the palm of her hand on a sensor.

The door, with its twenty inches of titanium behind a one inch layer of Neutral Matter, opens very slowly. One by one, seven different forcefield are deactivated when Noriko and Kari pass through them, only to be re-activated behind them.

Eight Nullbots stand at attention, moving aside to let her pass to approach the holding cell.

On the other side of yet another six different forcefields and targeted by four independently powered laser cannons, Leiko Tanaka is resting on her bed.

<Nice of you to drop by. I see you brought your lap dog with you.> Leiko greets her, without even looking at her visitors.

<Mother. Judging by your charming attitude, I assume your natural and rotten personality has resurfaced.>

<The little brain worm you infected me with is still there, crawling beneath my skin. It’s becoming crowded in here.> Leiko replies, and once she stands up Noriko has a chance to look at her closely.

The right side of her body is still ravaged by the Drylon seed: her skin is charcoal black and chitinous, with a bulging yellow eye growing out of her palm.

Only the modified handcuff attached to her wrist is preventing the transformation from proceeding any further, cutting her access to the vast telekinetic powers she demonstrated in Heaven.

<Your version from Heaven convinced me you were worth saving, mother. You’d be better off trying to make peace with her rather than antagonizing her.>

<Is this what having Abyss in your head feel like? Feeling her scratching away at your soul?>

<It used to. Until I grew strong enough to tune her out. Perhaps you’re not up to the task.>

<You’re not hearing any voices?> Kari intervenes, preventing Noriko from teasing her mother any further. She has even less sympathy for Leiko, but she knows that putting her in a corner will not make her more cooperative.

<Why should I answer to you?> Leiko asks, crossing her arms. Noriko notices that it takes her some effort: she can’t fully control the infected arm.

<Because I’m the only person in the universe who can separate you from the Drylon DNA.>

<Why would I want you to do that? Even right now, you’re unable to lift a single finger against me: nothing created by the Drylon can hurt me. And once I get rid of this contraption of yours, I will get access to more power than you can imagine.>

<Remove that contraption, as you call it, and not only your genetic code will be completely rewritten to turn you into a full Drylon. Your mind will be overwritten as well.>

<I thought you would be happy to see me dead.>

<Better you than a Drylon running loose. Just answer the damn question, are you hearing voices?>

Leiko hesitates before answering. But she has to admit her daughter is the only way out.

<Since we returned from Heaven, the parasite has been silent. Even Kronos doesn’t speak to me anymore.>

<Kronos? What does he have to do with you?>

<He was sure that me going to Heaven would somehow bring him back. Was he lying, or did you meddle with his plans as well?>

Noriko and Kari share a worried look.

<The Soul of Kronos. Can’t be a coincidence.> Noriko says.

<Is that still in the Empyrean?> Kari asks.

<What are you two talking about?> Leiko wonders.

<We found the Soul of Kronos in Heaven. It’s still in the Empyrean, the last part of Heaven that remains… accessible only from this base. I thought it would be too dangerous to bring it here.>

<That may be the smartest thing you have ever done, Noriko. If Kronos really is all-knowing as he claims… that soul may be the only thing he needs to return.> Leiko says.