4"Faker…"
The King of Heroes felt his form slowly disintegrate inside the void of the Grail, the physical body that he had inhabited for the last ten years finally giving up. The pain of the gash in his chest and his missing arm gave way to the nothingness of being consumed.
In the seconds before darkness engulfed him, Gilgamesh allowed himself a moment of regret.
For losing to a mere Faker.
For allowing these vile vermin to continue infesting the garden that was his by right.
Heh. If there was even a single of these mongrels worth a damn, I might even have allowed for this putrid world to continue on a little longer.
GALACTIC FEDERATION HEADQUARTERS, PLANET TURO
The Grand Councilwoman came into view, her face a mask made of disapproval, discontentedness, and the general feel of a very, very disappointed headmistress of a British all-boys school in a Charles Dickens novel. Now, Jumba Jukiba might have exactly zero clue as to what most of all that meant, but he had vague memories of being a giant disappointment to his parents (not that this had anything to do with his choice of profession mind you) and that exact feeling was what made him fidget in place as the powerful head of the Galactic Federation looked down on him with a stony glare.
"Read the charges!"
"Dr. Jumba Jookiba- lead scientist of Galaxy Defense Industries- you stand before this council accused of illegal genetic experimentation."
The quiet mumbling of the crowd turned into outrage at the disgusted tone of Captain Gandu, who recited the charges at the command of the Grand Councilwoman. Jumba knew, even if he didn't really care, that experimenting on genetics was… frowned upon but he also tended to not concern himself with what the small-minded rubble "thought" and it had generally worked out for him until the Special Ops team burst into his lab and seized all of his life's work.
So it was a genuine surprise for him when his throat felt dry as the container of Experiment 626 was brought in by the maximum security mini-ship.
"How do you plead?"
It's time to showcase your superior intellect, Jumba Jukiba. To use your cunning, evil genius to get out of this!
"Not guilty!" he said indignantly, crossing his arms in front of his chest. "My experiments are only theoretical- completely within legal boundaries."
"We believe you actually created something."
"Created something?! Ha! But that would be irresponsible and unethical! I would never, ever-" Later, Jumba might be a little willing to admit that this was not his finest debate skills exhibited, but there was only so much he could do as the blue, furry creature came into view in its containment tube- "make more than one…?"
And as 626 began growling profanities at the audience and attempting to break through his cell, Jumba Jukiba had no choice but to consider the possibility that he might not be able to get out of this one.
Why are you crying?
Could it be that only now you regret having taken my side?
He can't breathe. He opens his mouth, his lungs burning for lack of air, but only thick sludge fills his throat.
That's not it. I am not crying for that.
Who would understand you after I am gone?
He is sinking down this endless ocean of filth.
Who would march forward by your side?
My friend… when I think that you will live all alone henceforth, I can't help but shed tears.
He grits his teeth.
My friend.
All alone.
He had been defeated by a Faker. Defiled by the mongrel in the Grail.
He, Gilgamesh, had had to admit defeat before a mere human reaching for an impossible dream.
My friend.
Who would understand you after I am gone?
His pride surges. If he is to die, he will die with the dignity befitting a King.
He will not waste away.
He will not succumb to the will of something else.
He is the adjutant of humanity.
And he will decide his own fate.
ON GANTU'S SPACESHIP
626 eyes the plasma canons aimed at his head.
They are locked on his genetic code and will shoot within a nanosecond of his moving outside the designated area.
He gathers spit in his mouth and lets it slowly dribble towards the floor.
The canons follow the line of drool and 626 may not have a concept of satisfaction, but he supposes this is a pretty good feeling.
Close to malevolent glee but not quite evil revelry.
The guard before him continues to have his back turned.
So 626 continues to experiment.
He will not be confined in this place.
He is made to destroy everything he touches. He is a monster.
And he will decide his own fate.
HAWAII, EARTH
Mahalo nui ia Ke Ali'i wahine
'O Lili'ulani 'O ka Wo hi ku
Ka pipio mai o ke anuenuehi
Na waiho'o lu'u a halikeole'e
E nana na maka i ke ao malama mai
Hawai'i akea i Kaua'i
Lilo allows the wave to take her to shore. She can swim, if she wants to, but this way is quicker. She sprints to her bag and grabs it without stopping, even when she trips a couple of times.
'O Kalākaua he inoa
'O ka pua mae'ole i ka lā
Ka pua maila i ka mauna
I ke kuahiwi 'o Mauna Kea
Ke 'ā maila i Kīlauea
Mālamalama i Wahinekapu
A ka luna o Uwēkahuna
I ka pali kapu o Ka'auea
Ea mai ke ali'i kia manu
Ua wehi ka hula o ka mamo
Ka pua nani a'o Hawai'i
'O Kalākaua he inoa
She doesn't really have time for it before her lesson, but she can't resist snapping a picture of the sunburned tourist. She isn't entirely sure why, but she simply must have him on her wall.
'O Kalākaua he inoa
'O ka pua mae'ole i ka lā
Ka pua maila i ka mauna
I ke kuahiwi 'o Mauna Kea
Ke 'ā maila i Kīlauea
Mālamalama i Wahinekapu
A ka luna o Uwēkahuna
I ka pali kapu o Ka'auea
So she snaps her picture and sprints toward the dance hall, pulling on her hula dance outfit over her swimming suit. The peanut butter sandwich for Pudge is safely in her bag, so she rushes toward the hall.
Mahalo nui 'ia ke Kuini
'O Lili'ulani Wo ka 'o hi ku
Ea mai ke ali'i kia manu
Ua wehi i ka hulu o ka mamo
Ka pua nani a'o Hawai'i
'O Kalakaua he inoa
Who would notice her being late anyway?
Puloki is not being paid enough to do this and he knows it. He knows it because this is a community dance centre and he is volunteering, so he is literally not being paid to deal with screaming children.
He can't say that he dislikes Lilo, in fact he likes her very much. She has an impeccable sense of rhythm and her grace while she dances reminds him of her big sister, back when she used to go to his own dancing school. Nani was a gifted student and her baby sister was much the same.
He has to remind himself of the fact as he watches the front row of small children slip up on the puddles she made on her way in like they are cartoons, with complete resignation written all over is face.
"Stop, stop!" he orders, as the music players stop and the adult dancers help Mertle, Elena, Teresa and Yuki up. "Lilo, why are you all wet?"
"It's sandwich day."
He frowns in confusion, an emotion that Lilo never has any trouble causing in him.
"Every Thursday, I make Pudge the fish a peanut butter sandwich." she explains with a sigh, as if dealing with- well, as if dealing with a child.
"Pudge is a fish...?"
"And today, we were out of peanut butter! So I asked my sister what to give him, and she said a tuna sandwich! I can't give Pudge tuna!" she yells, her agitation increasing as she goes, before abruptly stopping to glance towards the fish tank. "Do you know what tuna is?"
There is no answer that will make this situation any better and he knows it. So he opts for honesty. "Fish?"
"IT'S FISH!" Lilo screams, going into meltdown. "If I gave Pudge tuna, I'd be an abomination! I'm late because I had to go to the store, and get peanut butter, 'cause all we have...is... IS STINKIN' TUNA!"
"Lilo. Lilo, why is this so important?" he asks gently after a minute, giving her time to collect herself.
"Because Pudge controls the weather."
Instantly, the world goes into slow motion as everyone exchanges confused stares and he knows, he knows what's going to come next with terrifying certainty.
"You're crazy." Mertle The Terror says matter-of-factly and Moses Puloki can only mildly be mad at Lilo for lunging on the red-headed bully and biting her arm. The infernal screech forces him to take action however as he pulls Lilo away from Mertle, although not before the small girl lands a final slap on the other one.
"Please! Please! EVERYBODY CALM DOWN! Girls. Shh…" Mertle and the other girls hide behind him as he puts Lilo down in front of him, separating them. "Lilo…"
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry! I won't do it again!"
Her panicked voice breaks his heart. He really doesn't want to do this. "Maybe we should call your sister."
"No! I'll be good! I want to dance. I practised. I just want to dance! I practised…"
My head…
Wait. He doesn't get headaches. He is perfect. Headaches are for mongrels and disgruntled wives.
"He is waking up!"
And yet, it's an undeniable fact that his head hurts as if someone is using it as a temple drum. He, the son of the Heavens, is barely able to open his eyes because even with them closed, the light is just too much.
"Are you alright? Sir?"
He opens his mouth to order the mongrel to remove their paws from his person, but his tongue feels swollen and dry.
"Call an ambulance!"
Be silent!
He does have a way to remove the annoyances from his surroundings. They will wish for mercy, but he will grant them none, because his head hurts and they won't shut up and he feels like he may actually have to suffer the indignity of puking-
Wait.
What the f-
"Sir, sir, can you hear me?"
Gilgamesh most definitely can. He hears people asking him if he is okay, he may be about to throw up for the second time in his life and what he is most definitely not hearing is screams of anguish and pain, the one thing that could possibly fix his foul mood.
He feels a frown forming on his face and oh gods it makes his stomach churn even worse.
"He is awake! Stand back, give him space!"
Yes, give him space, space to summon his treasures, space to slaughter all imbeciles in his eyesight-
With gargantuan effort, his own body heavy and refusing to obey, he tries to lift himself up and when he fails, strong hands and a soft "take it easy sir, the ambulance is on their way" support his back and he feels his skin crawl, because the mongrel has dared to touch him without permission, has dared to defile his body with their vile touch and he will ensure they are the first to die-
Finally, finally he feels a pang in the back of his head, the Gate finally obeying his will and he pushes the offending hand away and he opens his eyes as much as he can and he opens his mouth to curse them all to the depths of Irkalla-
This is not the Gate is his last thought as the golden light of the sun finally snaps his meagre hold on barely-there consciousness and it's all he can do to turn to the side and throw up instead of doing it on himself.
BACK ON GANTU'S SPACESHIP
626 can't help the chuckles that spill from his mouth. Those fools thinking they could keep him in check with such a basic entrapment would be almost offensive if it wasn't so convenient. And to share the specifics of the trap with him?
The whale-head might be of high rank within that joke of a military force, but 626 could recognize a fellow mean-spirited bully when he saw one. He could understand, even respect the need to gloat over the defeated, chained foe one has surpassed, the pettiness of it, but to reveal such a crucial detail?
626 held no respect for fools.
Entering the ventilation system and taking advantage of its direct connection to the power grid was easier than it should be. Crippling the ship and then making a direct line to the airlock, with the laughably convenient existence of not one, but several police cruisers.
He picks the red one, because red is what colours everything else in his world.
He contemplates not leaving for a few moments- he could go back, he could kill them all, he could crushthemcrushthemcrushthem like he was made to do. It would certainly be a beautiful way to showcase just how far above he stood in comparison to the Federation. How easy it would be to slaughter everyone, take over the bridge and fly back to the mothership… He could have the Federation on its knees and begging him for mercy within the next two hours, but he is weakened for now. Not at full strength.
And what makes the decision for him really, is the whale-head's stupid face twisted in rage as the monster he was mocking and gloating over managed to escape his hold within one minute and ten seconds. It almost makes up for the sheer offence of underestimating the ultimate lifeform enough to leave escape pods on the same ship that was meant to hold him until he reached his prison.
626 suffers no fools, and he suffers no offence.
So he laughs and curses as his ship leaves Gantu's, and he gleefully makes sure to fly right in front of his eyes.
The fools think that they can stop him.
Give him a cruiser worth a damn and he would have the entire armada at his feet.
He opts to humiliate them instead. Pettiness is a feeling 626 can get behind, he thinks, as he engages the H drive.
HAWAII, KAUA'I ISLAND
Nani is not having a good day.
She did not have a good day when, after two days of trying to clean the house for the social worker, somehow it was just as dirty as before.
She did not have a good day when, after waking up early in the morning to cook a meal that would, at the very least look appropriate for children, she ended up burning through the small amount of food stored, leaving her with an even bigger mess and a weird sludge in the pot that she was pretty sure was sentient by now.
She did not have a good day when she was running to the school to pick up Lilo, after yet another complaint from her dance teacher, only to find her long gone, leaving her in an almost desperate sprint to reach her home before the social worker came to find her little sister alone and locked out of the house.
You better be home!
And somehow, miraculously, her day got even worse when, in her mad dash to return to the house before the social worker arrived, she run into not one, but two different morons. And frankly, Nani could have probably dealt with the tourist with more grace, had she not just narrowly avoided being run over by some stupidhead who couldn't read traffic lights.
"Are you completely stupid?" she screamed in his face before shoving him to the side. She could almost see the roof of her house just around the corner and god help Lilo if she wasn't home already, because this time she really would feed her to the-
"Insolent wench, you dare-"
He grabs her wrist and pulls her back with unexpected strength, but Nani is nothing if not a boiling pit of hot rage and stress, so she thinks nothing of kicking the bastard straight at the shin and spitting another curse at him as he keels over and she picks her pace back up.
Since my baby left me I found a new place to dwell…
Oh no, no, no… "Oh, Lilo! Lilo! Open the door, Lilo!"
"Go away."
And because the universe apparently just loves to fuck with Nani's sanity, she returns to a door that is, quite literally nailed shut, Elvis Presley playing loud enough she could hear it from the bottom of the stairs and a social worker minutes away from finding her with her head through the doggy door.
…You make me so lonely, baby…
"Lilo! We don't have time for this!"
…I get so lonely…
And because it will be a cold day in hell's deepest pit before Nani's life is anything but disastrous, Lilo gives her the look she has come to hate- the look that says she is not going to be cooperative in any capacity. Nani feels her temper rise before her little sister has time to open her mouth.
"Leave me alone to die."
Oh, just give me time you brat! "Please Lilo, the social worker will be here any minute now!"
She might as well be talking to a brick wall, because Lilo simply raises the volume and continuous to mouth the lyrics, refusing to even look at her.
And Nani's rage explodes.
You still can find some room
For broken-hearted lovers to cry away their gloom
She grabs the hammer, barely suppressing the urge to throw it at the deck, and instead dislodges the first nail of many.
Don't make me so lonely, baby
Don't make me so lonely, I get so lonely I could die
And she makes sure to express her frustration at the little menace pretending she can't see her struggling to get inside.
The bellhop's tears keep flowin'…
"You are so finished when I get in there!" she screams and then grunts with effort, her elbows screaming at her as they rub on the old wooden floor, but she needs to use all her strength to pull the nails out. This is going to bruise she thinks stupidly, and she will need something to cover her bruised elbows tonight for work, because the stupid tourist trap won't let her pull a jacket over her arms-
Well, they been so long on Lonely Street
They ain't ever gonna look back…
"Oh, I'm going to stuff you in the blender, push puree, then bake you into a pie and feed it to the social worker! And when he says, 'mmm, this is great. What's your secret?' I'm going to say-"
She hears the shoes hitting the steps before she feels them on her shins.
Of-fucking-course.
"-love. And… nurturing…?"
She doesn't know how convincing she sounds exactly when she jumps on her feet, hammer still next to her head. She hopes it's not as bad as she thinks it's gonna be. She can pass it off as playing between sisters. She can-
"Hi!" she says cheerfully, hiding the hammer behind her back. "Uh… You must be the, uh…"
"The stupidhead."
OF-FUCKING-COURSE.
Nani is not having a good day at all.
A/N: Thank for reading all the way to the end of the prologue! Shout-out to my friend TTY7 for all her patience in hearing me ramble on about this story, as well as her help in making this readable. You rock!