Gensomaden Saiyuki Fan Fiction ❯ Choices ❯ Two ( Chapter 2 )

Hakkai found that he had been separated from the others. He was in a small room with two doors. He tried to open the doors, but they were locked. At least he could now move by his own will and was not forced to do anything he didn't want to.

The Goddess of Fate. Why did she want to kill Gojyo? Sure, he had heard everything about half-breeds bringing bad luck and all that, but was that enough to kill them? Apparently she thought so. Hmph, for the last couple of days he almost had had the urge to kill Gojyo himself, he could be a real pain in the butt.

Hakkai could feel how his irritation over Gojyo's behavior rose, and he started pacing the room back and forth, muttering things he would like to tell Gojyo if he ever saw him again. If he ever saw him again… Hakkai's head started to ache, what was happening? He sank to his knees, rubbing his temples with his fingers. Gojyo was his friend, wasn't he? He didn't seem to be able to think clearly.

The laugh he had heard in the hall sounded above him.

"Cho Hakkai. What's your problem?"

"How do you know my name? And why do you want to kill Gojyo?"

"It's easy enough to draw a man's name from his mind. And as for killing the half youkai…" He could almost hear the shrug of her shoulders in her tone as she simply answered, "I hate half-breeds, and I like to kill, so why not combine the two feelings?"

"But, what…?"

"Enough chit-chat. You're one of them who hold Sha Gojyo's life in your hands. I'm going to give you your choices."

"What choices?"

"Son Goku, Genjo Sanzo and you, will all have to make a choice. If any one of you choose yourself before Sha Gojyo, he dies. You have these two choices. If you choose this…"

The right door opened and Hakkai was on his knees again. Inside his mind the memories of Cho Gonou's killing stood more vivid than it ever had since it actually happened. The blood, the bodies, the innocent men, women, children, the screams, it was like he was there once again. He had to get away from those memories, they hurt so much. There was no place to run, he couldn't get away. He screamed, only to see the worst memory of them all taking place like in reality in front of his eyes. Kanan, with a knife in her hands, stabbing it into her own chest.

Hakkai lay on the floor sobbing. He tried so hard to hide these memories, but this was more like reality than memories. How could he stand this, he didn't want to live through what he had done again.

The images disappeared. The demi god's voice was heard over his own sobs.

"If you choose the right door, this is what you'll be seeing every day for the rest of your life. But Gojyo will live. If you choose the left door…"

The left door opened and Kanan came through it.

"Gonou?" She took a hesitating step towards him. "Gonou!" And then she was in his arms, crying.

"I thought I was dead. Did you save me, Gonou? Can you forgive me?"

Hakkai embraced her, felt the familiar scent in his nostrils, recognized her body against his in the embrace. Her voice, so sweet and kind. He never wanted to let go, but… He lifted his head.

"How can this be? It's some kind of trick, right?" he asked the goddess hovering somewhere above him.

"No trick. I have the power to make dead humans live again, if they are loved enough. This is what awaits you if you choose the left door. A life with your beloved sweetheart, but Gojyo will die."

Kanan was gone. Both the doors were closed again, but through them, he could still feel the different futures.

"I'll leave you now, to make your choice. When I return you must walk through one of the doors. If you don't, Gojyo dies, and you'll get the living nightmares to deal with."

Hakkai was left alone, wildly staring at the two doors.

---

Goku looked around. The others had disappeared and the surroundings had changed. He gasped, it was too familiar not to recognize it. Once again he was in the cave, bars in front of the only opening. The only thing that was different from those 500 years was that the chains with handcuffs lay beside him and not around his wrists.

He sprung to the bars, shook them in terror. Not again!

"Let me out!" He screamed.

The bars were unbreakable; he already knew that. Outside the cave there was the same view he had had for those long, lonely years. The years between something he couldn't remember and Sanzo, his sun.

He tried to call for his nyoi-bou. Nothing happened. Slowly, he stepped backwards from the cave's opening. When he felt his back reach the wall he slid down to the floor, his eyes wide open in fear. He draw his knees up and hugged his legs tightly, bent his head over the knees, trying not to let this nightmare overwhelm him.

When the Goddess of Fate came to give Goku his choices, she found him sitting in that position, not moving, breathing in short gasps as if breathing were something dangerous he needed, but hardly wanted to do.

"Are you afraid, Son Goku?" Her tone was mocking, and it made Goku come back to his senses. He raised his head, looked around, trying to see the source of that voice.

"You're the one that's afraid, not showing yourself!" He spat the words out.

"I'm not a person who takes unnecessary risks," the voice said calmly.

Goku snorted in a Sanzo-like way. "Like I said, you're a coward." He rose slowly. "You said Gojyo's life depended on us, so what do you want me to do? I'll fight whoever and whatever you want me to, and I'll defeat everyone, to save Gojyo!"

The goddess laughed. "Oh, dear. You don't know yourself very well, do you? What if your choice would be to fight your beloved Sanzo to the death, to save Gojyo?"

Goku took a step backwards. "No…"

Another laugh from the demi god was heard. "That would have been a fine choice, but I don't want you to choose between each other. The choices must be something more personal."

"Choices. What do you mean?"

"I mean that every one of you must make a choice between your happiness and Gojyo's life. If Sha Gojyo is to live, all of you must choose him before yourselves."

Goku shivered and said in a faint voice. "This cave… Is it part of the choice?"

"I don't understand why Sha Gojyo calls you a stupid monkey. You caught that one right on."

"You mean that if I stay here, Gojyo will live, but I can choose to walk out of here if I don't care what happens to Gojyo." Goku's voice was trembling with rage now.

"Exactly. I'll be back soon and then you'll either put on those handcuffs, and stay here alone, or let me take you back to the village. This time I'll make sure they treat you with respect and take care of all your needs. You know what happens to Gojyo in each case."

"You can't do this to me… to us! Give us some fair choices! Let us fight to be free!" Goku was shouting, but there was no answer. The Goddess of Fate had already left.

---

Sanzo sat on the floor, leaning against the wall, smoking a cigarette. It was his last one, and he wondered how long it would be before he could get some more.

When the others had disappeared and Sanzo found himself alone in a quite big and well-lit room, he had picked up his cigarettes immediately. He let the nicotine flow down his lungs while he was thinking. When he was younger he had been told a lot of stories about the gods and demi gods. There wasn't much he could remember about the Goddess of Fate, though. He knew that she hated half-breeds for some reason, and that she was an evil goddess with strong power, with which she could control other people's destiny if they came to close to her. He also knew she herself was fated never to leave this castle, but this was about all he could remember.

Something in the room changed and he knew he wasn't alone anymore.

"What is it you want, you bloody goddess?" Sanzo didn't bother to look up to try to see her; he knew it would do no good.

"I'm here to give you your choices, of course." The demi god didn't sound at all surprised that Sanzo had felt her presence. "The three of you will get choices that may save Sha Gojyo's life."

Something struck Sanzo's memory when he heard her say 'the three of you'.

"That's right. I've heard a half-breed can be saved from your hands if he's got three friends that chose him before themselves."

"So you already know. Well, never has a half-breed managed to get away from me, and I have no doubt Sha Gojyo will be mine for the killing."

Sanzo blew out the last smoke from the stump of his last cigarette and then threw the stump on the stone floor. He smirked.

"Maybe so. But tell me, have all the other half-breeds you've killed come to this castle together with three companions?"

"No, of course not."

"Did you just kill them then, or how did they got that fair chance you were talking about in the hall?"

"I let them all name three people who they thought might be their friends. If they didn't come up with three names, I killed them. If they did, I brought the people here, and gave them their choices. No one have ever chosen the half-breed."

"And if only one or two of the half-breed's companions would choose the half-breed, he would still die, right?"

"Absolutely right. All three must choose the half-breeds life, to save him."

"If someone choose Gojyo's life before his own, but the others don't, what would happen to that person?"

"Oh, the choice stands. You choose, you live with the consequences. Do you want to know your choices?"

Sanzo shrugged. "I have to, don't I?"

"Well, if you don't care what happens to your partner, you can just walk out of that door." She pointed at a big wooden door, that suddenly appeared in the wall, still closed.

"If you do that, I'll give you the Seiten scripture and you can continue your journey or do whatever you want. But, if you for some reason really want Sha Gojyo to live, this is what you must do."

Someone was suddenly standing at the room's center. Kougaiji? He looked as surprised as Sanzo as they stared at each other.

"What…?"

Kougaiji was interrupted by the goddess's voice. "I'll explain everything to you later, Kougaiji. You don't have to fight right now, so please just listen."

She spoke again to Sanzo. "Genjo Sanzo. Your other choice is to give the Maten scripture to Kougaiji and bow to him, promising to be his loyal servant for the rest of your life."

Both Sanzo and Kougaiji looked thunderstruck.

"Never! I'll never honor anyone else but myself!"

Kougaiji smirked. "Right. That would be the day. Genjo Sanzo would never do a thing like that."

"I'll take you back home now, Kougaiji, but in a little while I'll bring you back here again."

Kougaiji disappeared.

"Don't bother to bring him back. There is nothing that could make me bow to anyone else." A vision of Gojyo flashed through his mind, but he quickly put it away.

"I know you won't. But it's all part of the game. I have to bring him back so you can make your choice properly. When I return to you, you'll either walk through that door, with both the Seiten and Maten scriptures, or you'll bow to Kougaiji, giving him the Maten scripture."

With that she was gone.

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