Goujun shivered as the flames leapt high around him, the intense heat doing nothing to warm the cold emptiness inside him. He was exhausted, far more than the physical exhertion could account for. His very soul was weary, almost to the point of breaking.

The righteous fury that had been gathering since the revolt had broken out in the Jade Emperor's audience hall, the helpless fury that had been building since Tenpou had taken him hostage (neither willing to truly hurt the other, not yet, not while there might be another way) had been expelled, had served the one purpose he could give it.

It had been the only thing he could do for these three honourable fools once the end of the siege had come, once the building had been breached and capture was so near. It had been all he could do to make sure their souls would pass on, pass through the wheel of reincarnation, pass beyond where Heaven's Armies (his army) could reach them. No torture, no eternal seals, none of whatever evil punishment Litouten had planned for them. Let karma be their judge, not that madman. He fiercely hoped the fast-spreading flames were destroying Litouten as well, and he hoped that the man would suffer for a long time in agony, unlike the three who had died here in the heart of the blaze. His targetted and focused flames had consumed them instantly, and he shivered again as he watched their bodies turn to ash in the inferno that swirled around him.

He folded his bare (clothing burned off, torn by his shifting form) arms (wings) more tightly around the unconscious child he sheltered. Like Goujun himself, Goku was immune to the supernatural fire (dragon fire, his own soul's fire). Unlike Goujun, he remained mercifully unaware of what had just happened to those he loved, oblivious to how they had died. Now Goujun instinctively protected this child who could not die, while forcing himself to watch and acknowledge the totality of what he had done, even knowing that if Goku awoke in this form it would mean Goujun's own death as well.

Death would come for him in its own time (to let him follow them, to free him to truly join them at last), and he was not afraid of it, had never been afraid of it, and would not fear it even when this grief-madness was done tearing him apart. He only hoped for a little more time to fulfill his responsibilities to his soldiers, to his people, to the truth that must be told (but not the whole truth). He would leave certain things unsaid, if he could. Most kami tended to forget that he had such power over all the elements, particularly over fire, thinking it somehow incompatible with his nature as a creature of the sea, instead of understanding it as aspects of Yin and Yang, two parts of a whole.

Those who had the right to know who created this fire had known, and were now gone. He would not acknowledge to anyone else what he had done.

A shame that such a thing had happened (that it needed to come to this, there was no other way) that he could only save one (whom he could not set free). If only he was not forbidden to exercise his powers over rain and wind and storm in Heaven (forbidden to kill), he could perhaps have summoned the elements (the essence of fire fueled by rage and love and desperation) to put out the flames in time, and he could perhaps have saved them all for the Army (his army no longer, damn Litouten for an usurper) to deal with according to Heaven's laws (corrupted beyond any claim to justice.

Dragons were meant to serve nature's laws first.

At last the ceiling collapsed to provide a way out, showering burning debris around them. The flames and heat could not hurt him, but the falling beams and sharp splinters could, and did. He roared, not at the pain that lashed his face and back and wings (arms), but at the realization that, wounded, he would now be unable to carry the unconscious child to safety.

"Leave him with me," came a gentle but commanding voice over the crackle and hiss of burning books and furniture and walls.

"Lord Bosatsu," he acknowledged, once he had shifted fully back into his secondary form, his man-shape. Narrowing his eyes, he bowed only a little, without any attempt to stand from where he crouched protectively over Goku. He could not trust or respect anyone in Heaven now, not after what had happened, what was still being allowed to happen just beyond this blazing building.

An elegant eyebrow arched wryly at the slight, but the bodhisattva smiled at him, and there was a trace of sadness in hir eyes. "You have been very crafty. A credit to your race." Se gestured at the roaring fire surrounding them, furious flames throwing sparks that had already consumed most of the scant gown but left hir skin and hair untouched. "I wasn't sure you had it in you, but this is more than I dared hope for." Goujun bared his fangs, but se shook her head and interrupted him before he could find words.

"I thank you for it. But I'm sure you know there will be consequences if it is discovered that you did this. And dragons cannot lie. How will you defend yourself?"

He growled, his patience long since worn to fraying threads. "Do not threaten me." He had almost nothing left to lose.

"Of course not," Kanzeon frowned at him. "Surely you can acknowledge that you'll need someone to take your side and speak for you in the investigations that must follow. You can't protect the kid when you can't even protect yourself from what's to come. This isn't quite over yet."

"Blackmail," he hissed.

"No, you idiot," the Bodhisattva snapped. "An alliance. I owe you much gratitude. You have done what I could not, to ensure their freedom from Heaven. Now let me do what you cannot. I'd really rather not have to force you."

Flames reflected in hir eyes as se faced down Goujun's glare, waiting calmly while he struggled to master his unstable form (mind) once again.

The heat would be unbearable, deadly, to anyone in Heaven other than the three gathered here now in the heart of the fire. But the unnaturally fast-devouring flames would not burn much longer, and the ruins of this last refuge (Tenpou's beloved library) would soon be overrun by soldiers blindly obeying Litouten's commands for violence.

"He is only a child," Goujun rasped. "He has suffered more than enough."

"I agree. It would be best for him not to be found. Let it be assumed that he was burned as well, his ashes mixed with those of the others." Kanzeon crouched and combed a hand through a pile of soot, then raised blackened fingers to hir lips. Closing hir eyes for a moment, se sighed heavily before continuing. "There will come a time when my nephew will need Goku again. I will restore the child to himself but take away his memories of what has happened here, and keep him safe until that time."

Goujun growled once more, though the sound was almost lost in the roar of a wall of bookcases tumbling down, spilling bright-burning paper and smoldering wood around them. Finally he nodded and withdrew, climbing over the burning rubble with taloned feet, leaving the child to be gathered into the bodhisattva's arms. Light flared to rival the flames as Heaven's power coalesced into a new diadem around Goku's head.

"You should go," Kanzeon reminded him gently. "I'll make sure it'll be assumed that you escaped from those who took you hostage as soon as this... 'unfortunate accidental fire' provided the chance. Do what you need to pull yourself together, before you return to prove you survived. I don't think you want your men -- or the Jade Emperor -- to see you like this."

His throat closed on any words he could offer in reply, but that was probably for the better. He closed his eyes for a moment, and when he opened them again, he was alone with the dancing flames and swirling ash and soot.

Alone with the icy pain in his heart that the fire's heat could not touch.

Letting the transformation into his most primal form overtake him completely, he leapt into the sky on a strong updraft from the dying blaze. He flew as swiftly as his injured back and damaged wings would allow, flew beyond Heaven's reach, flew until he could fly no more.

Then he finally fell, keening, to the sea.

-end-

--

The "canon" version (from Journey to the West, trans. Anthony C. Yu, 1977):

On the crime of the dragon who became the ikkou's transportation:

The Bodhisattva and Moksa took leave of Wu-neng and proceeded again halfway between cloud and mist. As they were journeying, they saw in midair a young dragon calling for help. The Bodhisattva drew near and asked, "What dragon are you, and why are you suffering here?" The dragon said, "I am the son of Ao-jun, the Dragon King of the Western Ocean. Because I inadvertently set fire to the palace and burned some of the pearls in it, my father the king memorialized to the Heavenly Court and charged me with grave disobedience. The Jade Emperor hung me in the sky and gave me three hundred lashes, and I shall be executed in a few days. I beg the Bodhisattva to save me." [Ch 8, pp 193-4]

[...] Hearing this, the Bodhisattva said, "That creature was originally the son of Ao-jun of the Western Ocean. Because in his carelessness he set fire to the palace and destroyed the luminous pearls hanging there, his father accused him of subversion, and he was condemned to die by the Heavenly Tribunal. It was I who personally sought pardon from the Jade Emperor for him, so that he might serve as a means of transportation for the T'ang monk...." [Ch 15, p 321]

On Heaven's failed attempt to kill the Monkey King through supernatural fire just before giving up and having Buddha imprison him:

"...It would be better, therefore, if this Taoist [Lao Tzu] takes him away and places him in the Brazier of Eight Trigrams, where he will be smelted by high and low heat. When he is finally separated from my elixir, his body will certainly be reduced to ashes." [...] Truly time passed by swiftly, and the forty-ninth day arrived imperceptibly. The alchemical process of Lao Tzu was perfected, and on that day he came to open the brazier to take out his elixir. The Great Sage at the time was covering his eyes with both hands, rubbing his face and shedding tears. He heard noises on top of the brazier and opening his eyes, suddenly saw light. Unable to restrain himself, he lept out of the brazier and kicked it over with a loud crash.... [Ch 7, p 167]

--

Written: 2005 June 22