The Godly Discussion

I feel something touch my shoulder and my tail immediately shoots out, wrapping itself around the neck of whoever it was standing beside the bed. 

My eyes open and I see Salza trying to pry my tail away, his face turning a darker shade of blue. 

"C-Comman-- Can't.... Bre--"

I quickly release him and he drops to the ground, coughing and breathing heavily. 

"My bad..." I said quietly before looking towards my left and seeing a sleeping Lila. 

Seems like we fell asleep together...

She... actually looks quite peaceful when she's sleeping... I never noticed that before...

"What the hell, Commander?!" 

I give Salza a heated glare and motion for him to be silent. 

He almost looks as though he wants to argue, but he lets out a sigh and drops whatever retort he was about to say. 

"Lord Cooler wishes to see you." He says. 

I look back towards Lila, staring at her sleeping form for a few more seconds before carefully removing her from my side and laying her head down softly on the pillow. 

Salza and I walk out and he looks at me with an annoyed expression. 

I sigh and close the door behind us before saying, "In my defense, you know I'm a jumpy sleeper. But... I apologize for almost crushing your windpipe."

His expression holds for a moment before he finally lets it fall. 

"I suppose I should have known better, that much is true." He admits before a grin plasters itself on his face. "So--"

"No."

I immediately start walking to the Control Room and Salza runs to catch up with me. 

"You almost killed me back there! The least you can do is let me live vicariously through you!" He exclaims. 

"Goodbye, Salza." 

"Then at least tell me how long you've been learning French!" He says, his tone growing more desperate. 

I look at him with a bewildered face and ask, "What?"

"Your French, the way you annunciate, you speak it as if you have spoken it your entire life." He replies. 

Really? I honestly didn't notice. 

I suppose my wish to speak all languages had included perfect pronunciation in all languages as well. Seems like those dragons really like to cover all their bases. 

I look at Salza for a few seconds, pondering over his request before a smirk makes it way onto my face. 

"A magical wish-granting dragon taught me." I tell him, giving him the honest-to-Astral truth. 

"Fuck you."

He looks at me with narrowed eyes and I chuckle at him before walking away. 

Hey, if he doesn't believe the truth, that's his problem. 

I walk into the Control Room and see Cooler standing in the middle of the room, staring out into the endless abyss of space in a brooding manner. 

"Sort everything out yet?" I asked as I leaned against the doorway. 

"In a matter of speaking." He replied. "What are we doing, Zyleth?"

"Uh, having a conversation while standing on a ship that's in the middle of nowhere space?" I guessed literally, not really understanding the question.

"That's not what I meant." He says. 

"Then do you mind being a little specific?" I asked him. 

He turns and looks at me, his face empty and emotionless. So he's pretty much almost at a hundred percent. 

"We have the ability to rival gods, literal gods. And yet we do nothing but chase after petty titles and conquer irrelevant planets as if they actually mean anything." He explained. 

I tilt my head at him curiously. 

This is starting to sound like an evil villain monologue. 

"And what do you think we should do?" I asked him. 

He stares at me for a moment before turning back around towards the viewing port. 

"For the first time in my life, I have no idea." He answers. 

Ah, an existential crisis. 

I suppose when one like Cooler realizes that their power rivals the very beings that made the known universe, it makes everything they're doing feel a bit inconsequential. It makes sense that they start to question the point of the things they do. 

"Well, Lila told me that there are two different types of gods." I said as I walked up and stood beside him. 

It was a lie, she didn't really tell me anything, but it doesn't really matter at this point. 

"And what are they?" He asks. 

"Creation and Destruction. Gods of creation, create and defend life. And Gods of Destruction, well, you don't need me to tell you how they operate." I tell him. 

He hums before asking, "And which one do you choose to be?"

"Me? I choose neither." I replied. 

He turns and looks at me with a confused face. 

"I thought you said--"

"I said that there were two types, I never said that I chose either of them." I said with a smartass smile. 

He rolls his eyes and cracks the first smile that I've seen him do since I've gotten here. It was small, but it was there.

"Alright then, what did you do if you didn't choose them?" He asks. 

"Oh, I went with the "fuck-both-your-factions" faction." I answered simply and I could just feel his stare digging into the side of my face.

"So you chose neither?" He asks. 

"I chose myself." I tell him. "Even Lila abandoned her station as Supreme Kai after we had a small talk."

"Of course you did." He shakes his head in amusement before saying, "I shouldn't be surprised. You were never one to be satisfied with being normal."

"Where's the fun in being normal?" I asked him. 

Cooler and I fell into a comfortable silence as we continued to stare out the view port. I could tell that he was pondering over what I had just said. He always was a loud thinker. 

"What path do you think I should take?" He asks. 

"You know damn well that I'm not the one who can make that decision for you." I tell him. 

He chuckles and says, "I'm well aware, but I'm curious about your opinion. I'm simply looking for your input."

My input, huh?

I guess Lila wasn't wrong about him valuing my opinion. 

"If I had to give my opinion, I'd say that you should aim for being a Destroyer." I say, giving my honest opinion. 

"Really? Care to elaborate?" He responds. 

"Honestly, Cooler, you just seem to be the perfect candidate for it. The way you run the Cooler Force pretty much sums it up." I tell him. 

"Being a Destroyer and running the Cooler Force is a little different, don't you think?" He asks. 

"Seems pretty much the same to me. At least you aren't petty enough to destroy a planet over their food being too greasy." I replied as I let out a sigh. 

"Excuse me, what?" He says, his head snapping to me and his face wearing a bewildered expression. 

"Don't worry about it." I wave off, shaking my head. 

I turn and walk towards the door, looking back at him when I was about to step out. 

"The choice is yours. Ultimately, you're the one who's having this problem, so I can't really say anything meaningful." I said before walking out of the room, leaving behind a few more words. "After all, I have no strings on me." 

____________________

As Zyleth left the Control Room, Cooler turned back towards the view port and stared outside with a storm of thoughts raging inside his mind. 

"No strings..." He muttered softly. 

Eventually, he walked back towards his desk and sat down in his chair, staring at all the data pads that have been sitting there since he'd returned. 

He picked one up and looked at it for a few minutes before suddenly placing it back down. 

"Their food was too greasy...?"

____________________

I returned to my quarters after our discussion had ended, seeing that Lila was still sound asleep in my bed. 

I carefully crawl in beside her and she instantly searched me out, pressing her back against me. I wrap my arms around her and she lets out a satisfied sigh. 

"What did you guys talk about?" She asked, surprising me. 

"You were awake?" I asked.

"Have been since you left. It's was... cold and uncomfortable without you. I couldn't fall back asleep without you." She replies. 

"Sorry." I apologized, pulling her closer and holding her a bit tighter. 

"It's fine." She says as she places her hand over mine. "Is everything alright with you and Cooler?"

"Yeah, everything is fine. Just going through a little existential dread." I tell her. 

"I know what that's like..."

I grab hold of the hand she'd placed on mine and intertwine our fingers, choosing to say nothing else to her. 

We stay in this comfortable silence and slowly drift off to sleep once more. At least that was supposed to be what happened, but the door to my quarters suddenly alerted us to someone trying to enter. 

I groan in frustration before politely asking, "WHAT?!"

The door opens, revealing Cooler standing on the other side. 

"Your--" He suddenly pauses, looking at the state of Lila and I before continuing on without questioning it. "Your ex-teammates are awake. I assumed that you would like to accompany me to question them."

I let out a sigh and begrudgingly climb out of he once again. 

"You wanna come with?" I asked Lila. 

"No, I think they'll have enough on their plate without someone new being in their business." She says, giving me a smile and softly brushing her fingers across my knuckles. "Come back soon?" 

I nod and stand up, exiting the room with Cooler. 

"So, you and--"

"Not... a... word..."

He holds his hands up in surrender and doesn't speak for the rest of our little walk.