Chapter One: "Courage don't desert me"
By J-chan and her multiple personalities
Disclaimer: I do not own Dragon Ball Z or any of its characters. They are owned by some animation corporation that I can't spell and don't feel like looking up the name of right now. I didn't create them either, Akira Toriyama did. I do own this story however. I wrote it. Don't use it without my permission please.
*Sigh* I don't get why disclaimers are so important. No one ever actually CLAIMS to own these characters do they? *hmph*
Notes: I'm not totally sure of what happened in the Cell
saga or exactly when Marai Trunks killed the jinzounigen, I did my best
to keep the time line intact. Also, some characters my be a bit out of
character, but I did try to keep them acting normal. Enjoy!
Heart don't fail me now,
courage don't desert me,
don't turn back now that we're here.
People always say,
life is full of choices,
no one ever mentions fear.
Or how the world can seem so vast,
on a journey to the past.
Back to who I was, on to find my future,
things my heart still needs to know.
Yes let this be a sign, let this road be mine,
let it lead me to my past, and bring me home,
at last!
"Hyper drive shutdown. Please fasten your seat belts. We we be landing in five minutes. I repeat; five minutes." The computer announced.
Trunks steeled himself as he waited for the Hope to land. He knew from experiance that it would be a bumpy landing. He was returning from the past for the third time, he had gone to the past twice before. The first time to give Goku the heart medicine, and the second to help defeat the past jinzouningen, Juuhachi-gou and Juunana-gou. The artificial humans 18 and 17.
Unbeknownst to Trunks, Dr. Gero had created yet another cyborg he hadn't known about, Cell. Cell had been put into a growth tank by Dr. Gero because Gero had known that creating Cell would take more time then he had left to live and so put his creation on automatics. Cell had emerged years later, after Trunks had destroyed the jinzounigen in his time, killing Trunks, Cell had taken the time machine to the past where the jinzouningen were still alive in hopes of absorbing them and becoming complete.
The ugly blob had succeeded in absorbing both past jinzounigen before Trunks could kill them and become Perfect Cell. Perfect Cell was defeated by Gohan, who was eleven or so at the time. Gohan had went super saiyan level two and defeated Perfect Cell, Mr. Satan had taken all the credit for it. Then, surprisingly, both jinzouningen had redeemed themselves and joined the good guys.
After fighting the stronger, past jinzouningen training with his father and Goku, and spending two years in the room of spirit and time Trunks had returned to his time and blasted the mirai jinzounigen into oblivion. He smirked at the thought of their dying screams. It hurt to have your flesh burned away by a ki blast, he knew from personal experiance. He'd died and been brought back to life in the alternate time line.
Now at twenty-one years old Trunks had secretly returned a third time to make sure the jinzouningen stayed good, since he had done this without his mothers knowledge - and not having very good technical skills - he had went back and then foreward quite a few more years than he had the first or second time. 32 years to be exact. He had been both happy and sad to find that they had stayed good. Juuhachi-gou even had a daughter now, Juunana-gou had turned into a hermit, and Goku had simply vanished. He had been happy that the world wasn't destroyed, but sad because he now knew how his world could have been if not for the jinzouningen.
He also wondered where Goku was. Trunks knew he hadn't seen all of the Z fighters, new and old, he had felt a few extremly high ki's that he didn't recognize, but he had never seen the faces they belonged to.
Except one.
A girl, the strongest of the middle ranging powers, the strongest female present, had seemed to know he was there. Trunks was sure she hadn't seen him, but she had acknowleged his presence, flying low to his hiding place and actually seeming to stare right through him at one point. She had seemed to completly forget about him when her worlds Trunks had shown up, the two had sat under a tree and talked for a while. Trunks had gotten a cramp in his leg from crouching the whole time.
The Hope landed and Trunks stepped outside into the sun, he looked around, the time machine had landed in front of Capsule Corp. Home. He had never been able to go near Capsule Corp in the past, to many possible witnesses. This one was old and cracked from the various battles fought close by, run down compared to the one in the past, but it was home. Also, the country side was a bit quiet.
Almost too quiet for a city on the brink of recovery from an apocalypse.
It was too bad that his mothers original plan hadn't worked. Bulma had sent him to the past to stop the jinzouningen from destroying everything and save the future. She hadn't realized that that would be impossible to do. It was a paradox, a very annoying one. If the world was never destroyed then Bulma would never have sent her son back in time to stop it from being destroyed now would she? Trunks had failed to save his time but he had managed to save the pasts future. It gave him a small amount of pleasure to know he had at least helped some. Past or present he had saved peoples lives.
Plus, it had been kind of interesting to see how his alternate self would grow up. Trunks knew now that his other self would be a spoiled brat, something he'd never had the privilege of being. The jinzounigen had made sure of that. His parents-- his mother, hadn't had time to spoil him.
"Okaasan! I'm home!" Trunks walked right inside Capsule Corp., calling out to his mother that he had returned. A frown crossed his features when he received no answer. He couldn't have missed it, the house was so still and quiet his saiyan ears could have picked up the sound of a pin dropping in the basement. "Okaasan?"
Trunks looked around the kitchen and found the calendar, it had only been a few days since he'd left, he frowned and squinted at the date printed in bold numbers to make sure he was seeing straight, No, years. I've been gone for three years?!. The time machine was like that. If not programmed exactly correct, the short time he had spent in the past could be a year or more in the present. I hope Kaasan isn't too worried. He began looking for clues as to where, exactly, he could find his mother.
After a thorough search of the house, Trunks still hadn't found a single thing that could tell him where his mother had gone. Well Trunks, what did you expect? That every time she goes out she's going to leave a note? Just in case I decided to come home while she was gone? The second he was done processing the thought he saw a note taped on the refrigerator, mentally slapping himself for not noticing it earlier he plucked it off and read it. He reread it and reread it, getting colder and colder with each line, by the time he'd read it about ten times he was made of ice and ready to kill.
Ossu Trunks-chan,
Thought you'd gotten rid of us ne? Wrong. It takes much more then
a few swipes with a sword and a ki blast to finish us off. We have your
mother, and you'll get her back on one condition.
We want a rematch.
We promise not to hurt her, at least not until you can hear her scream.
Meet us at the place you "killed" us the first time, and we'll talk. Don't
worry about us not being there. We'll sense your ki when you get back from
the past. How did we know where you were? Don't worry, we didn't hurt your
precious Kaasan. It's amazing what one can get out of a person using blackmail.
We just threatened to destroy these blue prints she was working on for
a new time machine and she spilled like a pot of over cooked rice! Looks
like she was worried about you kid.
Your friendly neighborhood terrorists,
Juuhachi-gou and Juunana-gou
His veins were almost literally going from frozen rivers to streams of molten lava. She was worried about me and was going to come see if I was okay. This is all my fault! If only I hadn't disobeyed her. She was right, whatever happens in the other timeline now is their problem. WHY didn't I LISTEN to her? Guilt flooded his thoughts and he crumpled the note he still held in his hands. He would kill those damned jinzounigen if it was the last thing he did. They had gone to far, they'd threatened his mothers life, the life he'd worked so hard to protect ever since he had started fighting. They would pay. They would pay dearly.
And this time they won't come back!
Juuhachi-gou stared at the mess in Dr. Gero's old lab she had found, the place was completely destroyed. Roasted. toasted, and burnt to a crisp. Glancing once more at the husk of broken metal she could vaguely remember a funny little glob floating in what had once been a tube of growth fluid, she thought she recalled the "good doctor" saying its name was Cell.
Suddenly her head snapped up, she felt a strong ki rising, and quickly. She let a slow, sadistic smile creep across her perfect featured face. So, the little boy is back. Slowly she stood, the mess on the floor forgotten. Perhaps he wants to play. "Juunana-gou!" her cold voice snapped Juunana-gou's attention away from his "work".
Looking down at Bulma he smirked. If his sister ever found out he'd messed with the hostage, (and she surely would) he was in trouble. Juu would likely yell at him for going against the plan they had come up with a few weeks ago. The twins had a lot of fun in the past month or so they had been alive. Killing off the humans was always a good way to let out your frustrations. And boy did they have a lot of pent up frustration.
Quickly he dressed himself, leaving Bulma curled up in a fetal position on the floor. "What?!" he whined childishly at Juuhachi-gou who was tapping her foot impatiently in the doorway of the old lab and glaring at her twin. Juuana-gou noticed, with slight amusement that her eyebrow was twitching just like Vegeta's used to before they killed him.
"Don't think I don't know what you were doing. Didn't I tell you not to do that?" her voice had a ring of actual emotion in it.
"Aw come off it Juu! This is a perfect way to get back at him! He won't like the fact he couldn't protect her because he was in the past at the time." he ran a hand through his slightly messy hair as he joined his twin in the next room. That bitch sure put up quite a fight for a human.
"Argh! You're hopeless!" she threw her hands up, "Any ways, that's not the point!"
"Ahh, so that's why you're making such a big deal out of it." he frowned at his sister, she acted so human at times it wasn't even funny.
"I'm not making a big deal out of it." she said defensively. He can be so childish at times!
Juunana-gou didn't say anything. I wish she would get to the point!
Juuhachi smirked, in her book a silent Juunana-gou meant another battle won, "He's back." she said simply, crossing her arms, making an unconscious imitation of Vegeta.
"Trunks is back?" his frown was instantly replaced by a half smile. "I bet he's not happy." the smile slowly grew into a cruel smile..
"Let's go welcome him home shall we?" Juuhachi leaned her head into the next room where Bulma was still laying curled up on the floor, "What do you think Bulma-chan?" she used the chan because she knew it would royally piss off the human woman.
Bulma threw her best glare at the female jinzounigen and let out a steady stream of curses at Juunana-gou, who had joined his sister in the doorway. When Juunana-gou walked towards her she scrambled to her feet and ran to the other end of the darkened room which unfortunately for her had no door. "Chikusho!" she screamed when he wordlessly threw her over his shoulder.
Juuhachi would have laughed at the scene if she hadn't been so wrapped up in the return of the saiyan hybrid. They wordlessly went outside and took off in the direction that Trunks Ki was headed in. The place he had defeated them last time. Juuhachi-gou allowed herself a real smile, He's no stronger than the last time we saw him. Little did he know that they had a "little" surprise for him when he got there. The twins didn't even look back when another jinzouningen joined up with them. Juuroku-gou had been looking at flowers again.
The twins got there ahead of Trunks and took a comfortable seat on a half demolished wall of a building. Juunana-gou tossed Bulma to the ground and kept an eye on her incase she decided to run.
"You're going to be sorry you ever came back to life! My son will blast you to hell and back!" screamed Bulma, getting to her feet, ignoring her nakedness, and whirling to face the twins and Juurokugou.
"Not likely." sneered Juunana-gou, he knew, but would not admit, that Juuroku-gou was stronger then either himself or Juuhachi-gou, and they had reprogrammed the giant jinzounigen to kill Trunks. Seeing as Son Goku was already dead.
Juuroku-gou hadn't resisted, his programming only allowed him to react to Son Goku.
"Oh I think its very likely." spat Bulma, "He killed you once, he can kill you again. If he can kill you two I'm sure he can kill that," she jabbed a finger at Juuroku-gou, "with no problem."
The twins smiled secretively and then looked up as they felt Trunks Ki coming closer. Smirks covering both their faces, the twins jumped off the wall and watched as a bright white light began to grow larger as it neared. "Come little warrior, show us your true power. As pathetic as it may be." muttered Juuhachi-gou as she stared at the aura, which prevented one from seeing whoever was emitting it.
Having a flash of insight, Juunana-gou grabbed Bulma from behind and held her against him. This is the perfect way to hurt that little brat. Kill his mother right in front of him when he can't do a thing about it. Needless to say he was a little bent on revenge.
Juuana-gou had one of Bulma's arms twisted behind her, his other arm was bent around her neck, making it hell for her to move. He relished it as she screamed bloody murder. She even tried to slip out of his hold but only managed to hurt herself more.
He roughly pulled Bulma with him to flank Juuroku-gou's left side while Juuahachi-gou flanked his right. "Hmm Bulma-chan, it seems as though the son you so worriedly were going to "save" by going back to the past has returned, only to come to your rescue." he purred in her ear.
Bulma hissed and moved to slap him, nearly dislocating her arm as she pulled it against Juuana-gou's firm grip. "Don't you dare call me "chan" you baka yarou!"
"Now, now Bulma dear, lets watch our language. We wouldn't want the little tyke to pick up any bad habits now would we?" he chuckled as he referred to Trunks as a tyke. The kid had been fighting them since he was old enough to fire a Ki blast.
"Chikusho!" she muttered, as she watched her son draw nearer to where she unwillingly stood with the jinzounigen.
"Anato mo. You to." Juunana-gou chuckled when her face went red, he could tell she was about to blow up at him.
However, her detonation was postponed as Trunks touched down in front of the twins. His face twisted in a combination of fear, hate, and determination. A deadly combination of feelings in a saiyan. More so for the saiyans opponent.
"Hand over my mother." Trunks said in a voice which was entirely too calm.
Juuhachi-gou smirked, "As you wish."
Juunana-gou flexed his wrist and laughed as Bulma screamed, "Sure boy. We'll hand her over. I'm not promising she'll be in one piece though." he laughed again as he put pressure on Bulma's now broken arm.
Bulma was nearly blinded by the pain, she stared through a gray haze at her son, "Trunks." she whimpered.
"Bastard!" screamed Trunks as a blinding golden light erupted from his body and a tear rolled down his cheek. No one. NO ONE, Hurt his mother and got away with it. He would kill that jinzounigen slowly now. No doubt about it, Juunana-gou would pay. The problem was, that to get to Juuana-gou he would have to go through his mother.
"I may be and I may not be. I don't really remember." answered Juunana-gou with a grin. He was referring to the fact that he and his sister remembered nothing of their lives before they became jinzounigen. "Your mother may have it right though." he paused to rub his head against Bulma's cheek for a moment.
Bulma whimpered at his touch and then scowled at the jinzounigen holding her hostage, "Chikusho!" she yelled with a hint of hysteria in her voice.
"She keeps calling me a chikusho, a beast, and I can't help to think that she was right." he smirked and shifted his hand with which he had been holding Bulma's arm behind her back to the top of her head. Bulma growled at him, he smiled at the womans bravery, "Emphasis on the was." And broke her neck.
Trunks felt part of his sanity go flying out the window, as well as his warriors self control and discipline. None of it mattered now. All he could do now was kill. Kill the worthless obscenities that had murdered his mother. The only one he had had left in the world. Now she was dead and gone. Just like the rest of them. Vegeta, his father, Gohan, his mentor and best friend, Krillen, Yamcha, Piccolo, and so many more. All killed by one of the owners of the two sets of hands he saw before him now. Juuhachi-gou, and Juunana-gou.
Screaming with rage, Trunks shot forward, reaching a level of power that Kami himself didn't know he had within him, and knew no more.
Trunks woke up a while later with his back against the last few feet of a wall he had blown apart during his fight with the jinzouningen. Still groggy and weak from the battle, it took Trunks a few moments to realize that he was clutching something in his arms. Much like a child would cling to a teddy bear, Trunks was holding his mothers cold body like it was a precious gift that he had never appreciated until it was gone.
For a while he just sat there, hugging the lifeless body of his mother close to him. He cried, not loud sobbing or bawling, just crying like a little kid. The tears streamed down his face and he didn't care who saw them.
Then it hit him, something he had failed to notice when he'd gotten out of the time machine, there were no other ki's anywhere. Then he realized what had happened.
Damnit. Those jinzounigen won. They're dead for good now but they still won. After all his years of training. All his hard work. He had been beaten.
Releasing his mothers body long enough to check himself over for wounds, Trunks scowled at an ugly gash one of the cyborgs had managed to give him. It was scythe shaped, and was still pouring blood. I can't have been out that long or I would have bled to death. I'd better find something to stop the bleeding, mom wouldn't want me to die from a stupid cut.
Glancing around for anything he could use as a make-shift bandage, Trunks could only see one thing.
Juunana-gous' bandana.
No WAY am I useing THAT!
Bowing his head in defeat, Trunks picked up his mothers body and headed for Capsule Corp., treading past three piles of blackened ash on his way.
Trunks!>
Trunks' head snapped up.
Trunks!>
His mothers voice.
Just use the damn bandana, it won't kill you.>
The voice seemed etherreal. As if it had been carried on the wind, through time and space, just to reach him. He strained his ears, hoping to hear more.
Hearing nothing, he shook his head, telling himself he was just hearing things, and took half a step before a sharper, more authoritive tone shocked him to the core.
TRUNKS!!> The voice roared, unlike the first, this one he had never heard.
Never heard in this demension.
"Tousama?" his voice was loud, yet it was a mere whisper in the emptyness of the world.
The voice, like the first, had gone.
Deciding not to tempt fate, Trunks once again set down his mothers body. Striding - as well as he could with his injuries - over to the fallen bandana, Trunks picked it up and tied it around his arm, using his teeth as an extra hand.
There. Are you happy now? As soon as the thoughts were out he cringed. Someone up there was not very happy with him at the moment.
Lifting his mothers dead weight again, Trunks lifted off and headed toward home. The absense of voices leaving him with a heavy burden, and a heavy heart.
As he flew, the same thoughts ran through his head over and over again. They won... Every human on the planet is dead... I can't stay here any longer. His last thought rang out in his mind and he made his decision. He would go back to the past. He would not stay in Capsule Corp., not one night would he stay there alone.
Trunks laid his mothers body on his bed and left Capsule Corp. in a flash of Ki. Flying to the nearest funeral home he grabbed a coffin that was big enough to hold his mothers tall frame, he didn't bother trying to pay for it, and flew home carrying it under his arm.
Setting it outside Capsule Corp., Trunks slowly walked back inside to his room. Softly, he touched his mothers face, hoping that even though she had a broken neck that she might, somehow, still be alive. Her skin was stone cold, it had lost its lively luster, and she looked almost twice as small as she had in life. His gaze traveled to her face again and for the first time he noticed that her eyes were no longer a bright ocean blue. They had gone flat and gray. Trunks knew then, instinctivly, that this was the death pallar.
Even worse than the fact she was dead, was the fact that there were no dragon balls to wish her back with. For if there had still been dragon balls she could have been wished back, she had never died before.
Letting more tears slide down his face he dressed her in some of her nicer things, picked her up, and carried her outside to the coffin he had taken. Placing her gently in the satin lined box, he said a prayer, and closed the lid.
He let his gaze run over the various headstones on this side of Capsule Corp., all the Z shensi and their wives were buried here. Quickly reading the names he felt a new wave of sadness. Chichi, had passed away a year or so ago. While he'd been in the past. He felt a single tear roll down his cheek.
As the tear fell to the ground, Trunks felt something like severe dissapointment surge through his gut. Like someone had scolded him in a harsh voice. The feeling lasted for more than a minute, as if someone were trying to scold him and was unable to do it.
And then, just as suddenly as it had come, it was gone.
Not having a shovel, and wanting to get over with his mothers burial as soon as possible, Trunks blasted a hole in the ground next to his fathers grave. Well Kaasan, at least you're with Tousan now. Lowering the coffin into the ground, Trunks sniffed and then scolded himself for doing so. I won't cry. Neither Tousan or Kaasan would want me to cry. Shoving the dirt over his mothers coffin with his bare hands, Trunks held back the raging flood of tears.
Still trying to hold back his tears, Trunks slowly made his way to the time machine. Sitting down in the seat he had left only half a day or so before he typed in the date he wanted to go back to and sat back, waiting for the machine to take off for the time where his wounds could start healing. Trunks intended to go back to about a month or so after Cell had been defeated.
He noticed, five seconds to late, that the flashing date on the screen wasn't 20 years in the past. Trunks couldn't believe it. His hand had been perfectly steady when he'd put the date in, he couldn't have hit the wrong buttons. He just couldn't have.
He was going to the pasts future. Thirty-two years later than he had wanted to go. "Kami-sama I hope everything's okay there." (he had been there for only a few hours and didn't know if he was going back to the exact date he had the last time.) he didn't think he could stand another fight, more death, more pain. I'll kill myself if I have to see another person I care about die. It was back to the past for him. And back to being called Mirai Trunks.
Trunks sighed as he watched Pan spin in a tornado kick, cuffing her
Uncle Goten on the chin as she did so. Pan's long black hair swirled around
her body as she spun to avoid a Ki blast.
He had begun to feel strange for some reason, like he was in two places
at once. Wrinkling his brow, Trunks tried to get rid of the headache he
knew he was begining to get by rubbing his temples. He was rudely jolted
out of his thoughts when suddenly he found himself on the ground with Pan
laying on top of him. His face flushed a bit when he realized her face
was only about an inch or so away from his own. The Ki blast Pan had dodged
earlier flew over them, missing their heads by a few inches, Pan shoved
herself off of him as soon as the danger had passed.
"Baka." she snapped, crossing her arms and tossing her hair over her shoulder with a flick of her head, "That could have killed you Trunks. You weren't powered up anywhere near high enough to survive it if it hit you."
He smirked, also crossing his arms just to annoy her, "Why didn't you just yell at me?"
Pan rolled her eyes, "I did yell at you. You were on Mars for all I knew. I should have just let the blast hit you. Might have knocked some brain cells back in." she cracked her neck before looking back up at him. She was standing too close and had to look up at a weird angle to look her friend in the eye.
Trunks snorted at her comment about being stupid, Me dumb? I'm not related to Goku. knowing that that wouldn't be a particularly good comment to make to Pan he pretended he hadn't heard her last comment and repeated what he'd said earlier. "It wouldn't have killed me."
Just then Goten came jogging over, "What wouldn't have killed you?"he asked tiredly, stopping by his best friend and leaning on his shoulder, "Water..." he groaned.
Laughing at her not-to-bright-but-lovable uncle, Pan lightly socked him in the arm, "The blast dummy. What else would have been able to kill a siayan?"
Lifting an eyebrow, Trunks managed to keep from grinning, "There is your weight." he skittered out of reach before Pan could hit him.
"Trunks!" Goten's support was gone and he fell in a heap between the two squabling saiyans.
Blinking, Trunks looked at his friends body laying prone on the grass, "Sorry Goten." he sweat dropped and put a hand behind his head.
Pan stepped over her uncle, still trying to resume the earlier argumant. Mainly for one reason. She just loved to fight. "Be happy you're not looking at King Yama's face right now." she poked him in the chest, hard enough to force him to take a step backwards.
"Yeah, okay." he acted like he was giving in and walked by her to go help Goten up. When he was beside her he reached out and snatched her bandana right off her head, "Just be happy I'm not gonna rip this into teeny tiny pieces."
Whirling with eyes wide, Pan made a wild grab for her bandana, "Give that back!" Trunks swiftly got out of her reach, making Pan lose her balence and trip on Goten.
Laughing at the sight of Pan with her face pressed into the ground, Trunks waggled the fingers of his free hand at her, "Come and get it." bunching it up in his hand so that she couldn't just grab it from him he darted back a few yards, just incase she got up and decided to rush at him. "Heeeeeeere Panny-channy." he called, teasingly waving the orange piece of cloth at her.
"Trunks!!" she growled and leapt at him only to almost fall flat on her face again when he disappeared from where he was supposed to be. Levitating above the ground she glanced around the area hoping to see where the purple haired perpetrator had gone to. Only seeing her uncle still laying sprawled on the ground with swirls in his eyes, she growled and tried to find Trunks' Ki. She snorted when she couldn't find it. "Damnit. Now my hairs all messed up and I don't have my bandana to cover it with."
Trunks chuckled as he saw Pan try to fix her mussed hair and fly off in the opposite direction he'd gone in. She'd never find him now. Although he couldn't exactly go throw a party at the moment, she was still close enough to hear him if he made too much noise, in an attempt not to laugh he took a deep breath.
Something smelled like strawberries.
Looking at the bandana he held in his hand he unconsciously sniffed it. The scent matched the one he'd just gotten a whiff of. The strawberry smell, he asumned, was Pan's shampoo, the bandana still carried the faint scent of Pan's ex boyfriend, whom Pan had broken up with a few weeks ago. The memory of Tom made him scowl, he had never liked that guy. Not since the first moment he'd laid eyes on him.
***
Trunks hummed to himself as he walked up the drive to Pan's house. They were supossed to go to a movie later that day with Marron, Goten, and Bra. Pan had asked if she could bring a friend.
He opened the door and let himself in as he was used to doing and froze in the door way. There was a guy sitting on the couch. A relatively good looking guy. Wearing baggy jeans and a loose t-shirt.
"Who are you?" Trunks asked the guy, who had long legs stretched out and propped up on the coffee table.
The guy turned a cocky smile on him, "I'm Tom. Who are you and what makes you think you can just waltz into a house uninvited? Panny-chan told me she's an only child."
Trunks narrowed his eyes at Tom, "I'm Trunks Briefs and I'm Pan-chan's friend. I don't need an invitation. Why are you here?" he said. letting an icy undertone enter his voice. He already disliked this guy. Before he could burn a hole into Tom with his glare Pan walked into the room, she was wearing a red cropped tank top and a pair of loose fitting faded jeans.
"Heylo Trunks, I see you've met Tom. He's my new boyfriend." her words made Trunks feel as if he had just swallowed a cup of liquid fire. Boyfriend? She's too young to have a boyfriend. Wait a minute, she wanted to bring a friend. This guys her FRIEND? Let alone her BOYFRIEND? I don't think so!
In that instant Trunks decided to make sure that Tom would be out of the picture. He didn't deserve Pan. Pan was too sweet of a girl to be wasted on a loser like this. Tom will never want to see Pan again after today. Now all I need is an excuse to get her out of the room for a few minutes.
The phone rang upstairs in Pan's bedroom and she excused herself to go and answer it. A faint, moshi moshi could be heard from where the boys sat in the living room. It sounded as if it we're one of Pan's girlfriends from school. It was bound to be a long phone call.
Bingo.
Instantly Trunks dropped his fake smile and glowered at Tom.
"What's your problem?" Tom sneered from his spot on the couch. He was obviously not impressed about Trunks' being the president of Capsule Corp. and he could see that Trunks was a little peeved of the fact he was going out with Pan.
"You." Trunks' eyes were narrowed, slamming his fist into his palm, Trunks looked ready to kill.
However this did not frighten Tom at all. The boy obviously wasn't very bright. "Ah, I see. You like her don't you?" Tom's voice dripped with sarcasm as he slowley got up off the couch and padded over to where the older man stood.
Shaking his head Trunks was no doubt telling the truth. "Yes I like her, I love her, but not in the way you're thinking. I've known Pan since she was born, and let me tell you now you don't deserve her." he had folded his arms and looked very much like his father in a very, very, nasty mood.
Tom snorted, "And you do right?" he rolled his eyes and suddenly found himself high in the air, held by the front of his shirt. "What the hell?"
"I've already told you." his eyes flashed blue green for an instant, "Pan is my friend and I can tell that you'll only hurt her." Trunks' mouth twisted into a sadistic smile as he thought of another possibility, "Or she'll hurt you." (accidentaly of course) Trunks continued with a smirk on his face, "You see, we're different, we're not like humans."
"So what are you?" scoffed Tom, "Aliens?"
Trunks went super saiyan long enough for Tom to see that Trunks wasn't kidding and that he'd better get the hell out of there. Fast.
Trunks set Tom down on his feet, extended a hand, flicked him on the shoulder, and watched with a smirk as the younger man fell down, scrambled to his feet, and reached the door in what must have been record time.
Mission accomplished.
Pan came down the stairs a moment later with a huge smile on her face. The smile shrunk a bit when she saw that Tom was leaving. "Where're you going Tom-chan? You were supposed to go with us to the movie tonight."
Tom turned and flashed her a dazzeling smile. One he had obviously reserved only for the female species. "Uhhh I'm sorry Pan but..." he looked like he wanted to stay and explain but a look at Trunks' face (who was convieniently facing away from Pan) told him he had better get the hell out of there. "Ican'tseeyouanymorebecauseIdon'treallylikeyou." he was half way down the driveway in a space of two seconds and never looked back.
Looking at Trunks for an explaination she blinked and didn't look nearly as sad as she should have.
Trunks shrugged, "I don't know why he left. He just said not to call him, and that he doesn't want to see you again." he let a bit of anger show in his voice so Pan didn't get suspicious about why Tom had really left.
A veil of anger passed over Pans face and it made her dark eyes flash with sparks, Tom must've just asked her out earlier that day or she might've cried, "He did, did he? Well that's just fine with me. If he doesn't want to see me, then I don't want to see him." I supose he just asked me out on a dare. Pan added silently. Sighing she looked at Pan with fake exasperation, "Although it is SO hard to get a date when all the guys are scared of you."
She had always had problems getting guys to like her. They were all scared of her power, not to mention that she had beaten up most of them on the playground daily when they were younger. She growled at herself for even accepting an invitation from that jerk and hugged Trunks' waist quickly like she would her father or Goten. "At least I've got you and the gang."
Patting her shoulder comfortingly Trunks smiled gently, "You'll find
someone someday Panny."
"Argh! Stupid console!" Mirai Trunks had landed the Hope in an old abandoned junk yard and was trying to fix it, the problem was, somehow the the controls had gotten screwed up the circuits were fried . The time machine would probably never work again. Kuso! I'm stuck thirty-two years in the pasts future. I think it would be appropriate to say that this sucks. He yelled at himself as he tried once again to repair the damaged Hope and raised an arm protectively over his face when the console exploded. Damnit.
"At least this world isn't in shambles." Mirai Trunks looked around at the world he had left a few hours before. It was the same one, he was sure, that he had been able to save, only everything was older. At least I saved SOMETHING. He thought bitterly to himself.
He shot a harsh look at the broken remains of the Hope. Well, guess I really AM stuck here.
Out of the corner of his eye he saw something that made his blood boil. Grabbing his sword from its sheath and angrily slashed out the word Hope!! on the side of the time machine. After he was sure he had scraped off all reminants of the word Mirai Trunks put his sword back none to gently giving the time machine a kick as he did so.
He froze when he felt a powerful Ki coming his way, he didn't recognize it. Swinging his head in the direction it was coming from he concentrated while he tried to come up with a mental image. The person was definetly female. So powerful. she can't be a normal human. A new Z fighter? Or a new threat? Not sure if the newcomer would be friend or foe, he drew his sword again and darted behind a junk pile to observe the person without being observed himself.
Pan smirked as she penpointed Trunks' ki in the old junk yard. He had used to bring her there when he babysat her so they could play hide and seek. (at her insistance) Ha! What a stupid place to hide. I know every nook and cranny of that place! You can't hide from me.
Stopping about fifty or so feet in the air, Pan scanned the junk yard floor before calling out to Trunks, "I know you're in there! Come out before I have to hurt you!"
Generally this was a stupid thing to say to Mirai Trunks because he now asoumned she was an enemy. Shifting into a stance that would let him fly out in any direction, he got a good grip on his sword, and waited. Getting a good look at Pan's face he finally recognized her from his last visit to the past, he knew this girl was one of the good guys, he had seen her talking with this times Trunks-- actually he had unwillingly eavesdropped while hiding in a big lilac bush.
Mirai Trunks hadn't seen anything even close to being an enemy and by scanning through the different ki signatures he had known that with Goku gone Vegeta was the strongest being on the planet. Mirai Trunks was absolutly cirtain his father could handle anything that came his way. Asurred he wouldn't need to make any guest appearanes even if an enemy had shown up Mirai Trunks had decided to return home as fast as possible.
Mirai Trunks' main prioraty had been keeping tabs on the jinzouningen, and he had deliberalty hid his ki and avoided the Z shensi, he didn't want to tempt himself by seeing them. He had missed them so much already in the space of a few monthes, he didn't think he'd be able to go home if he allowed himself to speak with them.
Even though he now knew that Pan was no threat, Mirai Trunks kept hidden. The first person he would reveal himself to would be his mother. This wan't like his last trip to the past, everyone knew who he was this time. How was he going to explain having long hair when on his last visit here his other self had short hair?
Letting out an exasperated sigh, Pan ran a hand through her thick, but fine to the touch hair, "Okay fine Trunks. If you won't come to me, then I'll come to you." letting gravity pull her to Earth, Pan folded her arms and tried to ignore the tickly feeling of her hair billowing up in her face.
Mirai Trunks stared, the girl was pretty, yes, she was indeed beautiful. Beautiful but potentiolly dangerous if she told everyone about his being here without his seeing his moth- Bulma, first. Searching her ki, he assured himself she would be no match for him if she did turn out to be trouble. She was much weaker than he.
Pulling off her fighting gloves and shoving them in her pocket so that they didn't stick to her skin in the late afternoon heat, Pan let out a loud huff of breath, "Trunks, come ON! It's almost dinner time and if we don't get back to your house then Goten's gonna get all the food!" she looked around a scrap pile for Trunks.
Nothing.
She had expected the mention of food would bring him running faster than her grandfather could teleport.
"Trunks, this isn't funny, you're thirty-two years old and still play hide and seek?" she clicked her tounge as she kicked at the bottom of a scrap pile, a few peices of sheet metal slid down and crashed over to her left. "That's just sad. The last time we played this I was 10."
Mirai Trunks relaxed, he couldn't see her anymore, she had wandered around a scrap pile as she looked for him. She didn't sound like an enemy anymore. In fact, she sounded as if this world version of himself and her were friends. He was just about to make himself scarce and beat it to capsule corp. when a shadow fell over him.
He glanced at the silouhette of the person. Short, female, and standing in an offensive stance. Jinzouningen!
"I'd like my bandana back now." Pan tugged on the orange piece of cloth tied onto his arm as she spoke, not looking up at his face. She knew what her friend looked like, why bother looking at him?
Her tugging on the bandana had opened the wound again causing pain. Pain which triggered well tuned survival instincts. So used to living in constant fear of the cyborgs was he, that he instantly whirled and knocked her unconcious.
Pan dropped quickly to the ground, landing with a dull thud. Managing a short groan, her head rolled to the side and her eyelids quivered, as if she were fighting as hard as she could not to give into the blackness that was trying to swallow her.
Realizing that they had both mistaken each other for who they weren't, Mirai Trunks knelt down and put two fingers to her neck. Her pulse, strong and healthy, pumped normally in the vein in her throat. She'll be fine in a little while. Picking up her limp form and straightening to his full height, Trunks looked at her for a minute.
Pan had a lot of hair and without her bandana it was always falling in her face, her bangs were sticking to her forehead from her recent spar with her uncle. Brushing a few stray strands out of the way he watched the way the setting sun was picking out the bluish hints in her hair.
Pushing thoughts of his passenger to the back of his mind Mirai Trunks slowly rose into the air and continued his slow pace all the way to Capsule Corp. He needed the time to think.
I know this worlds Bulma will let me stay. I just hope I won't be in the way. He grimaced as he flew, I hope there're no apocalyptic monsters in this world. The same thoughts ran through his head the whole way, but each time they did he treated them like he'd just thought of them, and chewed over them again.
Intentionally avoiding the gravity room and yard, where he had leaned that his father usually dwelled, Mirai Trunks popped his window open with ease using a trick he had learned when he was very young. Once inside, he deposited Pan on his bed, closed the door and went to find Bulma.
Treading quietly down the hallway, avoiding ki sigantures he didn't know and blasting the servo bots, he found his mother exactly where he knew she would be. In her lab.
"Okaasan?" he said softly as he entered the lab. A lab so much like the one his mother had spent countless hours in inventing things and trying to save everyone in her own way... And she enjoyed it too. It made her feel as if she was doing something worthwhile. Like she was helping.
"Yes Trunks-chan?" she hadn't even turned around, assuming this was her present time son. "Could you pass me the inter dimensional stabilizing thingamajig?"
Mirai Trunks stared at the gadgets and parts spread out all over Bulma's work desk, What the heck? A inter-somthing thingy? He was a warrior, not a mechanic. "A what?" his face held a look of absolute alienity.
Bulma turned to point out what she'd wanted, wondering why he hadn't sounded as if he had a clue what it was. He helped her out in the lab twice a week, for heavens sake, and he was the President of Capsule Corp. now, Bulma had retired a few years ago. It was his job to know these things. An instant after he had handed her what she'd wanted she caught a glimpse of his hair out of the corner of her eye. His long hair. Whirling around she stared at him. At her son, who wasn't her son at the same time. "Mirai Trunks?!" she had a look of shocked disbelief on her young face, she didn't even look 50, let alone 60, which was how old she was supossed to be. Marai Trunks was slightly saddened, his mother had shown her age, he supossed it may have been because of the constant stress of living a nightmare..
"Hai Kaasan," he inclined his head a bit and averted his eyes, it was painful to look at her, "It's me." he shifted his weight nervously and scuffed the toe of his boot on the tile floor of the lab.
Bulma was extatic, holding his face in her hands and forcing him to look at her, "But why are you here? You don't look a day older then the last time I saw you! Thirty years ago!" she was griping his shoulders now and giving him a searching look, "What happened?" she knew he wouldn't have come back unless something serious had happened. He had sworn to protect his world, and would do so at any cost.
Mirai Trunks lost it then, his body trembled and he cried out his story to his alternate mother. "I went back, and the jinzouningen were alive again." he paused to glower at an imaginary Juunana-gou mocking him while he sat on the work table. He grunted when his mother made him sit on the floor and wrapped her arms around him in a hug. He looked like he needed one, and badly.
"I'm listening Trunks-chan," she left off the "Mirai" because she wanted
to treat him like her own son, which in a way he was. "Tell me everything."
"I left the time machine back in the junk yard. It couldn't be repaired by a team of the best scientists in the world anyway. The girl seemed just fine and I knew she'd wake up in a few minutes seeing as how strong she was." he took a breath, "So I put her in my room. I didn't know what else to do with her."
Bulma stroked her alternate sons long hair as she thought about everything he'd said. "Oh honey I'm so sorry." she kissed the top of his head, trying to think of something less morbid to ask him about. "What did the girl look like?" she asked, wanting to know whose parents she'd have to explain a possible bump to. There was only a few women she could think of that would be able to fly. Pan of course, and then there was Bra, she had only just a few months ago learned to fly, she still had no interest for fighting though. Mirai Trunks had said that the girl had had a large power level, since Bra was Vegeta's daughter, she could have a high power level, although it would be higher if she trained. Then there was Marron, who had the potentiol to be able to fly, although she hadn't learned how yet. She, like Bra, had no interest in learning to fight.
Mirai Trunks thought back to the girl he had lain on his bed a while ago. "She was kind of short, long black hair, slim, and she was wearing a pair of baggy jeans, hiking boots and a white shirt with a sleevless jacket over it. Now that i think about it her ki felt kind of like Gohans'. I didn't recognize it because I haven't seen him since-" he answered slowly.
Bulma clicked her tounge, and cut him off, he could have just told her what the girl was wearing and she could have figured it out. All three girls had extremly different tastes in clothes. "That was Pan. The reason she felt like Gohan was because she's his-"
Now Marai Trunks cut her off, "Little sister right?" she had to be. She was more then powerful enough, the only other way she could be this powerful was... No way! Marai Trunks realized it before his mother could shake her head.
Bulma bit back a laugh and smiled a bit at her alternate son's obvious surprise to who Pan's father was, "No, she's his daughter, she's eighteen."
Mirai Trunks had half hoped he'd been wrong but his mother had confirmed it. "Daughter?" he choked on the word, "Gohan has a kid? Oh kami! I hit her! What's Gohan gonna say?" he stood up running his fingers through his long hair and hoped that his alternate best friend wouldn't be to mad.
"More importantly," Bulma stood up so she could be at eye level with her son, "What's Trunks gonna say when he finds her in his bedroom?"
Slapping a hand over his face, Marai Trunks groaned, "Kuso!" If she wakes up and my alternate self is there then she might attack him thinking he's the one who hit her!
Suddenly a sound loud enough to burst even a deaf person ear drums shook the house.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! Get away from me you hentai!!!!!!" shrieked a very confused Pan when she saw Trunks leaning over her. Leaping up she saw that she was in his bedroom.
"What? I'm not a hentai! I was just going to see if you were awake and ask why the hell you were sleeping on MY bed in MY ROOM!!" Trunks yelled back. ( can we say brother sister spat? )
Pan stopped screaming long enough to hiss through her teeth at Trunks, "WHY, then did you HIT me and knock me out cold???!"
"What? I never did that! I was still hiding from you when I felt a huge ki go up! You were close to it and then your ki dropped to almost zero. I was worried and I wanted to find out what happened so I came here and I found you asleep in my room! I do NOT think that qualifies me as a pervert!" he stopped yelling and spoke in a softer voice; you know, the one where the guy knows if he doesn't act nice then he's gonna be in hot water. "I'd never hurt you. You should know that by now."
Her eyes flashed blue green, she thought he was calling her weak. Pan had achieved super saiyan a year after they had returned from finding the black star dragon balls in outer space. She had been sparring with Trunks when it had happened, he had made her mad on purpose, he'd known that if she got mad enough she would probably go super saiyan. His plan had played out brilliantly, but Pan had given him a work over for everything he'd said and was still a bit sensitive about it.
"Oh so I'm WEAK?! Well come on Mr. President lets go!" she slipped into a stance and unconsiously lifted a hand to her forhead where a nasty bruise was swelling. The pain of touching it only made her even madder. "And if you didn't give me this then who did?" she pointed to her bruise and then charged at Trunks.
It was either get pulverized or fight back for Trunks, not wanting to be covered with bruises for a meeting he had scedualed tomorrow, Trunks fought back. Powering up, Trunks went super saiyan at the same time Pan did. They exchanged a few blows but in the limited space in the bedroom it was hard to move around.
Suddenly the door to Trunks room banged open and Bulma stood there, fisted hands on hips. She looked VERY authoritive. "What is going on in here?"
A voice from behind her said in a quiet voice, "I did." neither Pan nor Trunks appeared to have heard it.
Bulma's yelling was enough to get both saiyans to power down
"Uh... Just sparring kaasan." Trunks lied.
"Thats what the gravity room is for young man!"
There was a chuckle from behind Bulma. Both teens head shot up. "Who's out there?" asked Trunks, taking a step forward.
The shadowed stranger stood out in the hallway, Pan, always curious, tried hard to get a better look. Failing because the light wasn't on in the hall, she ducked under Bulma's arm and caught the stranger by the arm. "Hey, who are you?" she said as she flicked on the lights.
Mirai Trunks eyes were wide, his cover had been prematurly blown, he raised a hand weakly, "Hello." he offered the short greeting and looked at Bulma as if to say, "Well? What now?"
Pan was speachless. Her mouth moved but no sound came out. Frustrated to not be able to say anything, Pan ran a hand through her hair and finally found her voice, "Trunks?"
Trunks peeked over his mothers shoulder, not expecting anyone but Pan to be out there he came within inches of his alternate selfs face. "Oh my..." his eyes widened as he faced off with... himself with shoulder length hair. "It's me?" his confusion added to Pans and pretty soon both of them just stood there and stared at Mirai Trunks like two fish out of water, mouths open and eyes wide.
"Trunks, Pan, I believe I have some explaining to do. Trunks, go get your father, Pan could you call your parents and Chichi and get them to come over here? I believe they'll want to know about this too." she ushered the gawking man and young woman out of the room and took Mirai Trunks by the arm, leading him to the living room she sighed, "This is gonna be a long night."
Mirai Trunks nodded and stared down the hall in the direction Pan had gone. "At least she's not mad."
"I think she's too shocked to be mad." giggled Bulma.
Indeed it was a long night. Once Chichi, Videl, and Gohan were at Capsule Corp. they insisted she call the rest of the gang before she told them exactly who this young man was and, for those who knew who he was already, why he had returned. As soon as everyone invited was present, Bulma retold Mirai Trunks' long sad tale, she hadn't wanted to make her alternate son go through anymore pain than he already had gone through that day by making him retell it.
Pan watched her friends alternate self sit through the whole thing, acting as though he were reliving every word of the story, and felt a tear in the corner of her eye. What a sad life he must have lived. And to not be able to do a thing about it. It must have been awful.
Looking around at all the people who were about the same age as his mother Trunks sighed, he was a bit irritated at the fact that it seemed they all knew most of the story up until when his alternate self had returned to his own time. He felt sorry for his alternate self, having fought in several battles himself he knew what it was like to feel no hope. But he had never been alone in his battles, not like Mirai Trunks, to have no hope, and to have no help as well, it must have been hell.
Trunks was also ticked because Marron had almost cried when Bulma had told how the Mirai jinzouningen had killed everyone and left Mirai Trunks alive for sport, she couldn't believe her mother and uncle could be that cruel. Mirai Trunks had noticed, but he had seemed to think she deserved it for reasons known only to him. Juuhachi-gou had even flinched, one of her rare displays of emotion, when Bulma told everyone what their alternate selves had done.
Most of the older Z shensi looked as if this were old news, and like they really didn't want to hear about it. Especially Krillen, because he was married to, and had a daughter with, Juuhachi. When Trunks' gaze had landed on Pan he frowned slightly. She was staring at Mirai Trunks with huge, shining, adoring, eyes. Glancing her way every few moments, Trunks noticed she was crying, Pan, like himself, could obviously understand how Mirai Trunks felt. Although she was more emotional about it. Her whole attention was focused on his alternate counterpart and Bulma's telling of the story.
"-and he's staying with us." Bulma finished with a note of finality, as if she were saying that no one was to mention the subject ever agian.
Marron scuffed the toe of her shoe on the rug uncomfortably, "Mirai-san?"
Trunks' other self turned an icey glare on her, "What?"
For the first time Marron was wearing her hair down. Over the last few years, just as she had mysteriously grown a nose, her eyes had changed shape. She could be Juuhachi's twin sister. The only real differences were that Marron had longer hair than her mother and a sweeter expression.
Flinching slightly, Marron met his eyes even though doing so scared her, his icey expression could kill pigeons in midair, "I'm sorry." she lowered her head after apoligizing for her future parents atrocities.
Mirai Trunks' eyes flickered a moment and he looked as if he were about to say something to make Marron feel better, but when his gaze traveled to Juuhachi-gou it was gone instantly.
Trunks glanced at Pan again. She was still giving his future counterpart that same infatuated, "wow" expresion. Trunks pouted inwardly, She used to look at me like that.