The last thing she remembered was staring into the eyes of her father as he lobbed another massive wave of energy at her. Out of instinct she brought both her arms up and crossed them defensively in front of her face. Her eyes stared into the identical ones of her father and she watched as one side of his lips lifted in an eager sort of grin. A grin she knew all too well. The size of the wave combined with its speed and trajectory, she knew she would be knocked off her feet if she stayed where she was. And yet moving to dodge it was not an option. She would not prove anything to her father if she kept on running from his attacks. Standing her ground and facing the blast head on was the only way to get him to acknowledge her as a threat. He would not fight her seriously otherwise. He never said it, never once let on that he didn't value her skills as much as he did his sons, but she knew that he purposefully went easy on her. He always had. And nothing made her more angry because in his eyes she was too weak, too fragile and too green to be truly strong.

Looking not at the approaching blast, but into her father's unflinchingly solid eyes and it was the last image she could recall before an unexpected darkness overtook her. Enveloping her so entirely that she was drowning before she could realize that she was submerged.

Sana!

And then, she was awake. Several different sensations pounded at her senses all at once, "Daddy... ?" her voice was small and instant and before she knew what was happening her body stiffened and she was struggling to open her eyes. A burst of pressure pulsed inside of her head, urging her to sit up and look around for whomever the energy signal belonged to. Slowly her eyes opened to gaze up into a blue, cloudless sky. Underneath she could feel a solid, bumpy surface and her hands scraped at and scooped up handfuls of rock and sand. This was wrong. All of it was wrong. She and her father had been training nowhere near Mount Paozu's desertic area. They were in the mountains only a few miles away from their house. She had been smelling the scent of pine and morning dew only a few moments earlier, so where had it gone? Where had she gone?

Another persistent burst of pressure reverberated through her skull and before she knew it, she was sitting up, her head snapping to the side, her eyes narrowing. Whoever was behind her was getting closer. In that moment she took a few seconds to glance around quickly at her surroundings. Wherever she was, there was nothing familiar about it and that was the truly scary part of it all. Wherever Sana was in the world, she always felt like perhaps she had been there before. It was the interesting part about being born with the ability to recognize life energy from such an early age; everything felt familiar. Everything felt safe, but now? Now all her senses could do was tell her one thing: she was lost.

Already she could feel a presence rapidly approach from behind, but when she began to focus more intensely, she could feel the stab of various other power levels wax and wane at her front, yet far off in the distance. What was going on here? Momentarily distracted by these fluctuating power levels, her pupils moved suddenly back as the singular presence began to feel like it was practically on top of her now. Realizing that she wasn't hurt in any way, she shook off her encroaching feelings of paranoia and panic and readied herself for whatever was coming her way. Standing to her full height, though she made sure to keep her back turned to the new power, she took a breath and at the same time lowered her power level as far as it would go. Then, she turned only slightly to face whomever, or whatever was coming her way.

Looking up into the cloudless sky, Sana watched as the power level revealed itself to be a person and as she gazed upward, she watched the person halt in mid-flight seemingly catching sight of her as well. Although neither could exactly make the other one out since they were still too far away, they remained locked in mutual recognition until the one floating in the air began to descend. Sana's posture stayed pointedly relaxed as she watched the person slowly move down, though her fists clenched in anticipation.

Then all at once her tension melted away when the energy signal she had been sensing since regaining consciousness became clear to her. She sensed that same particular energy signal before. In fact, she knew that signal like the back of her hand. She'd known it all her life.

"Trunks?" she breathed as the lavender-haired boy came fully into view. Sure enough, her lifelong best friend touched down a few paces away. Sana could feel her lips break into a smile and she began to take a step forward before she was halted by the look in his eyes. Instead of smiling and coming over to greet her, he simply titled his head to the side and looked right through her. There was absolutely no recognition or warmth in his eyes at all as he gazed down at her. Clearly it was him. That, she knew for sure. There was no one else like Trunks. So how come it had taken so long for her to decipher the energy signal? And why was it that he looked at her like she was a stranger? He was dressed oddly, too. She'd never seen him wield a sword and yet there he was, with one strapped to his back and he looked so young. The mischievous glint in his eyes that she had come to know so well was noticeably absent. His eyes heavy with a weight so foreign it struck her like a hand across the face. "Trunks?" she repeated and this time it really was a question.

Surprise flitted across his features and he raised an eyebrow, "Do I... know you?"

Sana blinked, her eyebrows furrowing. Then she laughed a bit, but it came out more forced than jovial, "Right. Hilarious, Trunks. Now just what's going on here? Where are we?" She eyed the hilt of the sword peeking out from behind his back, "And what's with the sword?"

Trunks looked just as confused as she felt, "I'm sorry?"

Sana put her hands on her hips, "You get hit in the head or something? I mean, like, more than usual? Why are you acting like you don't know me?"

His shoulders lifted in a weary shrug, "Because I don't?"

This caught her off guard. She hadn't really expected him to actually not know her. How could he not know her? As she searched his eyes, the blatant vacancy as he looked back at her with a look that said she was nothing to him caused a knot to form in her chest. She hadn't expected it to hurt like it did. She looked up, new vulnerability shining in her eyes, "You really don't know me?"

As he looked down at her, his expression became sympathetic but also curious, "Well... should I?"

"You're darn right you should!" she asserted with renewed confidence and stomped up to him, pushing a finger into his chest. He flinched when her finger poked into him and he hopped backward out of her reach so fast, he nearly lost his footing and fell. She raised her eyebrows at this and when a red tint flushed his cheeks it was her turn to look confused. Since when does Trunks blush? "Uh, you okay?"

"Yes!" he answered a little breathlessly, "Yes, I'm fine... so look," he began as he regained his composure, "I'm sorry I don't recognize you. Maybe if you gave me a hint or two, I'd remember. Um, what's your name?"

Sana sighed through her building frustration, "All right, fine. I'll play along," she stuck out her hand, "Hi, I'm Son Sana. Nice to meet you."

"What... Say that again?"

"You got worms in your ears?"

"No, I just... did you say 'Son'?"

"Yes," she answered slowly, "Man, what is wrong with you?"

"I'm starting to wonder," he replied absently, blue eyes darting back in forth in rapid thought. Then he looked back up, "Well. Maybe... maybe she's a cousin... or, wait, perhaps a long-lost niece? I suppose that's possible..." he let out a breath and shook his head, "No, no... that's stupid..."

"Trunks!" Sana's abrupt shout came, snapping Trunks out of his external monologue, "Shut up already and just look at me!"

He did so, but with a considerable amount of apprehension.

"Just tell me what happened to you. And I'll tell you what happened to me."