1 The Song of an Angel

By ssj Kinara

Disclaimer: I don't own DBZ, yada yada, don't sue me. The only thing I do own is my so-far-nameless character in the city. You'll figure it out.

This fic takes place in Future Trunks' timeline about a year after Gohan was killed by the androids. Now, I want all of you to review so I know people are actually reading this. I take constructive criticism, not flames. Okay, enough of me just read my story.

* * * * * * * *

Chapter One: The Attack



Sunlight. It shone everywhere on the beach, illuminating the sand and accenting the ocean. Trunks Briefs lay on his back, watching the glorious scene before him. Oolong, Puar, and Yamcha were running in the surf. Chouzu had convinced Tien to help him build a sand empire. ChiChi was applying suntan lotion on her back as Roshi sat reading. Piccolo hovered above the sand, meditating, yet oddly contented. Goku and Krillin were laughing like children as they swam in the glistening salt water. Trunks' parents, Bulma and Vegeta lay next to each other basking in the afternoon glow.

"Trunks!" The young Saiya-jin prince turned toward the voice calling him. He saw Gohan, his best friend and mentor running towards him, waving both arms in the air, and calling. "Trunks! Trunks! Trunks!..."

"Trunks!"

The boy sat up in a cold sweat, awakened from his sleep. It was dark, and he was in his own room, in his own bed. It had been a dream, another dream of his long-gone friends.

His mother, Bulma, stood above him looking scared. She had been the one calling his name, trying to wake him. Solemnly, cold-hard reality set in.

"Trunks, get up, we need to go!" his mother urged, grabbing a pair of pants and a Capsule Corp. T-shirt for him.

Sleepily, he glanced at his old digital clock. Two-o'-clock am. He groaned.

"Trunks, don't you dare go back to sleep. There's been an Android Warning."

"What?" suddenly the boy felt very much awake. "But, Mom, they already destroyed most of the city! They wouldn't come back, would they?"

"No, there was an attack in the city just east of here. They might get bored and decide to come here, too. Now, hurry! We need to get to the shelter."

She didn't need to tell him twice. By the time Bulma had finished her statement, Trunks already had on his pants and was yanking on his shirt.

"Come on!" Bulma took his hand and led him down the stairs and out of the building as fast as she could.

Outside, it was pandemonium. As was required in an Android Warning, all the lights in the city were turned out and the only light came from flashlights. Everyone was in the street, running in the same direction: toward the City Android Shelter. People were carrying pets and backpacks, because they knew that they could be in the underground shelter for days.

Being the stronger and faster of the two, Trunks pulled Bulma through the crowd. He could have flown them there, but he knew that at the entrance there wouldn't be an inch between people to land in.

The entryway looked like a normal subway entrance, but everyone in the ruined city knew where it was. Police were everywhere, making sure that everybody stayed safe as they all filtered into the small entrance.

The officers rushed Bulma and Trunks in with the rest of everybody. The stairway leading down was narrow, but everyone was in a hurry so it wasn't long before they passed the steel and iron doors and entered the large cement room lined with steel that was the shelter.

There were already hundreds or people in the shelter, huddled in groups, but there was still a lot of room left. Trunks and Bulma took a seat against the cold wall. He laid his head on her shoulder and let her comb her fingers through his long, lavender hair, just like she had when he was young.

Even when he was a child, though, there still wasn't peace. He was too young to truly remember even when they had built this shelter. It was meant to hide and protect all of the city's inhabitants in case the Androids 17 and 18 came to play their game of destruction again. Trunks figured it made everybody feel safer having the shelter there, even if it was next to useless.

"Mom?" he asked after a minute. "Do you really think they'll come back to destroy the rest of the city?"

"No, I don't think so," she said. "But it's better to be in here and cautious then out there and possibly dead."

Trunks knew all too well that his mother's words were very true. Every day people lived in fear, fled for their lives, and died at the hands of those synthetic monsters of Dr. Gero's. He had been too young to remember when they had first showed up, but he knew the story well. The pair had come to a town southwest of South City wreaking havoc on the citizens. All of the Z- fighters had fought.

Only Gohan had escaped with his life.

Afterwards, Gohan had taken Trunks under his wing, teaching him all he knew about fighting while fending off the androids. It had been a year since Gohan had lost his life in a battle against those demon creatures.

"I miss Gohan..." he murmured quietly.

"I know. We all do, honey," said Bulma. They were silent for a minute.

"I had another dream," he started again, "that everyone was alive...Goku, Krillin, Piccolo, Gohan...and Dad."

Bulma tensed up. She always did at any mention of Vegeta.

"Will I really get to meet him if that time machine of yours works?" he continued.

"Yes," she said, "and Goku, especially Goku. He had a certain mood about him. He was silly, even dumb at times, but you had to love being around him. He was an angel, a spirit of peace."

Trunks smiled slightly. He always liked hearing about his mentor's father. He seemed to have everything this generation lacked: peace, love, and humor. Why did he have to catch that stupid virus?

"As soon as they let us out of here, I'm going to check on that town. I'll see what's left, and if anyone survived," said the half-Saiya-jin.

"That's nothing less then I expected from you, son," Bulma smiled. "Now go to sleep. I'll wake you when they say we can leave."

"Mmhm," was Trunks' answer. From across the room, he saw the officers close and lock the heavy iron doors. The room was now completely full, except perhaps for a guard outside, hidden from view.

Nearby, a woman was humming a lullaby for her infant child. As he listened, he let it lull him to sleep. Maybe he would dream of the old Z-team again.

* * * * *

Trunks woke from his dreamless sleep the next morning. The huge iron door was open, allowing the dreary room a comfortable glow. He glanced around the room and noticed that some police officers were waking the sleeping people. That could only mean that the danger had passed and they were now allowed to go back to their homes.

Gingerly, so not to wake Bulma, he stood and headed to the door; careful not to accidentally kick anyone sprawled on the floor.

He spoke to the officer at the door. "Is the warning over?"

"Yeah," the officer answered. "I was on watch and saw the pair fly by around 5:30 or so myself."

"Good," said Trunks. "Could you tell my mom I've already left when she wakes up?"

He smiled. "Sure thing, Trunks." Nearly everyone in the city knew the Briefs, be it from his grandfather's crazy experiments, his own crime fighting, or just because they lived in the biggest house in the city. Yes, the Androids had left the city a skeleton, a shadow of what it used to be, but Capsule Corp. still stood mostly in one piece. "So, are you going off to save the world again?" He joked.

"Yeah," said Trunks, leaning against the wall to let a sleepy-looking couple walk past. "Sure, then we can all live happily ever after."

"Right," chuckled the officer. "Seriously, though, go and kick some tin-can android butt, okay?"

"All right!" They both smiled. "See ya!" Trunks flew to the entrance.

"You be safe, kid!" he yelled after the disappearing Saiya-jin.

"Yeah," Trunks murmured, heading east. "I wish there were such a thing as safe anymore."

He could see the smoldering rubble that used to be a city even from afar. The smell of destruction came soon after. Monsters, he thought. Those two must've had a lot of fun last night. There's nothing left!

He stopped mid-flight and began to survey the destroyed city. Half a building, the skeletons of a few houses, and a fragile-looking, bent skyscraper with a good part of the top blown off seemed to be all that remained. The streets were covered in rubble, and not a patch of grass seemed to remain. Even the lake seemed to be destroyed, with boulder-sized pieces from the buildings jutting from the grayish water.

Clenching his fists and trying his hardest to control his power, he set himself down on one of the used-to-be buildings. Under his weight, the fragile building collapsed, nearly taking him down with it. But Trunks took to the air before any real damage could come to him.

Landing on another spot, he tested his weight. It held. "Stupid androids," he cursed them. "How could anything be so evil?"

That's when he heard it. There was a small, scared whimper from behind him. Turning, he saw a girl about his age half-buried in the debris of what used to be a house. She was cut, bruised, and dirty, with torn clothing and dust in her hair. She was dressed in a ripped T-shirt and pajama pants. The only clean part of her seemed to be her ocean-blue eyes. But even those were terror-stricken from last night's attack. Yet, there was something else in the girl's face...no, she wasn't just terrified from the previous night. She was scared of him.

He put on a comforting smile. "Hi."

She leaned back as pure horror filled her damp eyes, as if she was trying to get away from him.

"You don't have to be afraid of me," he said, taking a step forward. She cringed and cried out in desperation.

"I'm not going to hurt you," he said. He figured if he kept talking like this then she might not be so scared. "I'm going to get you out, okay?" He kept taking tentative steps toward her. "Did you see me fly? Is that why you're scared of me, because the androids flew, too?"

She was crying uncontrollably now and was leaning forwards. Her hair shadowed her eyes, but Trunks knew he had hit he nail on the head.

"Hey," he said soothingly. "I'm not an android." He had reached her side and crouched next to her. "Look," he said. He outstretched his hand and put it where she could see it. Her teardrops fell on his skin, but he kept talking. "I'm warm. I have a pulse. I'm as human as you are. I can just fly, and I use that ability to protect our race from those demons. See? Touch my hand, feel my pulse, I just want to prove to you that I'm real and that I'm going to help you."

Sniffing back her tears she leaned back her head and stared at his hand before her. Trunks stayed still and didn't say a word. It was a few minutes that seemed like an hour before she turned her eyes from his hand and to his face. She nodded, nothing more.

Trunks took this to mean that she was beginning to trust him now, and smiled. "Don't worry, I'll dig you out of here." He started to move away the debris and rubble that buried her.

"My name's Trunks, by the way. I live in the city just west of here in the Capsule Corp. building. Who're you?"

The girl didn't answer. She just watched him dig. She didn't help him move the debris, but he figured she must still be pretty traumatized from the previous night's attack.

"All right. I'm going to pull out your left leg. Tell me if it hurts at all." He gently pulled her foot from the mess. Besides a small cringe, she made no move saying she was in any real pain. Her pants were torn beyond repair, but were still very much intact. Trunks felt her leg up to her knee, looking for injury. "Well, I don't think anything's broken. You'll just have some scrapes, I think.

"Now let's get your other leg out. Again, let me know if it hurts." He gave a pull at her right leg.

She screamed so loudly that Trunks thought he might have hurt her. He let go as fresh tears welled in her eyes.

"Okay, okay. Wow...Y'know, we'll have to get that foot out. I'll keep digging and you pull it out, okay?" He was worried that he might make it worse, but luckily she nodded in agreement. It took a while, but the girl was finally completely out.

Trunks turned to inspect her injured leg and was surprised to see that the entire leg of her pajamas under her knee was ripped off. Her ankle was swollen and purple. It looked painful.

"You're going to need to get a doctor to look at that," he said, concerned, "before it gets too bad." He looked up at her tear-stained and dirty face. "The closest hospital is in my city. You can come over to my house and my mom can get you some food and clothing. She'll call a doctor and you can probably stay in one of the guest rooms while you recover, too."

He noticed that she was crying again.

"I mean, if you don't have anywhere else to go...I promise you'll be safe with us. So...will you stay with me—us, until you heal at least?"

For a while she made no move. She seemed to be thinking it over, and Trunks didn't want to pressure her. Finally, slowly, she nodded.

He sighed in relief, and smiled. "Good," he said. "I'll carry you, and we can fly back home."

She looked surprised at the thought of her flying, but didn't object as he picked her up. She put one arm around his neck, and he said, "Ready? All right, here we go!" and took off.

She squealed and threw her other arm around him, closing her eyes and burying her face in his chest.

"Hey, don't be scared. I won't let you get hurt," he told her. She gingerly opened her eyes and peered at the ground below her. Captivated by the first time bird's-eye-view, she stared below her, at the ground, in wonder.

Trunks was left to his own thoughts. His heart went out to this poor nameless girl, who had probably lost everything and everyone she had ever loved in that one night. Her parents, siblings, grandparents, and pets were gone. She might've lost a best friend or even a boyfriend. Had she even had one?

He realized he knew nothing about this girl. Even her true hair color was hidden under dust. She hadn't spoken a word to him. He began to wonder if she ever would speak...

His thoughts were interrupted by the sight of Capsule Corp.

"Hey, look! There's where I live."

She turned her attention to the big dome and gasped. Trunks was used to people being awed at the size of his home; it did take up a whole city block.

They landed gently on his front doorstep. He put her down and let her lean on him for support. The lights were on inside, so he knew that Bulma was already home.

He opened the door and they hobbled in.

"Mom?" he called. "We have a houseguest!"

* * * * * * * *



Ha ha ha! The first chapter is done!

Who is this silent girl? Why isn't she talking? Does she have a secret? Only I know, and you have to stay tuned for updates to find out!

Now review and tell me what you think. Go on. Don't be shy. Oh, just review, I say!! There you go.