A Place In Time
Prologue: Somewhere I Belong
By: Caelestis Dulcis
When this began,
I had nothing to say,
And I'd get lost in the nothingness inside of me.
I was confused,
And I let it all out to find that Im not the only person,
With these things in mind.
Inside of me,
But all the vacancy the words revealed,
Is the only thing real that Ive got left to feel.
Nothing to lose.
Just stuck/hollow and alone,
And the fault is my own.
And the fault is my own.
I wanna heal,
I wanna feel,
What I thought was never real.
I want to let go of the pain Ive held so long,
(erase all the pain til its gone).
I want to heal,
I want to feel,
Like Im close to something real.
I wanna find something I wanted all along,
Somewhere I belong.
-Somewhere I Belong, Linkin Park
I was so down in the dumps when she found me. My whole life had fallen apart right before my very eyes and I felt so far past repair. A lost model of android that we had somehow overlooked during the Cell Games had activated itself and resurfaced. It wasnt like 16, 17, or 18, and it couldnt be reasoned withBit was pure machine, and it was the strongest one that I'd ever seen. It had been programmed to do nothing but destroy and because it didnt have any human components to it, thats all it knew how to do. So, town by town it began to ahnnialate the human race.
I had been waiting impatiently for the day that it would come to Capsule Corp., come to our newly-rebuilt city, so that it could meet me. So that I could destroy it with my own hands like I did the other androids after I returned from the past five years before. I would have dealt with it a long time ago, but I was frightened of leaving my mother alone. She was growing so old, and though it frustrated her immensely, I always felt that she was so fragile. Maybe its because I didnt want to lose the last person I had who meant anything to me.
The day came in the middle of September, on an ironically sunny and cloudless afternoon. I still remember the exact time that showed on my watch when I first felt his overpowering ki: 2:26 PM. I looked up, and sure enough, I could spot him over the horizon, quickly gaining speed and getting closer and closer. And I could almost feel the malicious grin that was so obviously on his face.
It sickened me. It, like the others before it, came only to delight in the killing of innocents and the destruction of happy and peaceful towns. I wasnt going to allow it. I had seen enough killing in my life for ten universes full of people, and I was not about to see any more. I was full of resolve that day, more so than I think I ever have been in my life, and as he landed in the city, for the first time in my life I went Super Saiya-jin 2.
In a truly epic battle that lasted for hours on end, I was able to defeat him-I could see when in close-range that this android resembled a male-but not without a devastating amount of damage done to the city. Skyscrapers and shops lay in ruins, cars were crushed under the debris that had been abundant in the west sector especially, where the most part of the battle had taken place. Homes were caved in or even completely gone... and I felt a wave of horrible nostalgia come over me as I peered down at my nearly leveled hometown. I set out trying to protect this city... I had vowed to myself that I would never have to witness it look like this ever again, and look at what happened. I had failed.
Worn out and in a depression that almost brought me to tears, I flew back towards home half-heartedly. It was then that I saw what I believe to this day to be the worst sight of my life... it is an image that I dont think I shall ever be able to erase from my mind, that will be engraved there for an eternity.
I touched down on the scorched yard gently, as if I were landing on egg shells, to see before me the Capsule Corp., before this time one of the largest houses in the whole city, with the better part of its right side completely taken off. Feeling a familiar stinging in my eyes, I ran with all my might to the remaining half of the building, screaming out at the top of my lungs for my mother, looking around for any sign of her. For hours upon end I would not allow my wearied body to give up, but when my voice finally grew hoarse and I could no longer yell for her, I fell to my knees and let the tears flow.
I knew already that the weapon that had taken my home was a stray ki blast. I knew that my mother had been, by me, instructed to hide in her bedroom, which was located on the far side of right half. What I didnt realize until later that the ki blast that had done the damage, that had disintegrated my only remaining parent's body to naught but ash, was my own. I didn't realize it until I began to walk, lost and alone among the remains, that the signature was unmistakably my own.
After that day, I considered my life finished. I couldn't stay in the city any longer; even though they were going to rebuild Capsule Corporation for me, I couldn't stay there where the memories were so haunting any longer. And so I fled the city, attempted to run away from my old life and all of my problems. I ran to a place where they would never find me, to a countryside miles and miles from the city. I'm sure that Vegeta would scorn me for taking the cowards way out and running like I did, but I gave up long ago trying to be strong like my father was. I just wasn't fit out to be that perfect little boy that he would have wished I was.
I wanted to start my life anew, I wanted to forget everything that had happened before. I wanted to forget my mother, forget my home, forget my whole life. I was no longer Trunks Breifs. I was simply Trunks now. No heritage. Without heritage, I couldnt have killed my mother...Without heritage, I couldnt be a Saiya-jin. I couldnt have experienced such pain in my childhood because of my blood. I couldn't have ever known my father died before I even knew him because I had never had one. Without heritage, I would be happy.
But I found out very soon that I was foolish in thinking that I could simply forget who I was. I was infuriated with myself for even thinking that I could forget my mother, my father, my blood. I realized what a great disrespect I was doing them by running away. This frustrated me to no end. I could not bear to forget my heritage, but I could also not bear the guilt that was laid upon me so heavily for being the cause of my mother's death. So I went to seek another solution.
It was a brisk October evening. I sat on the cliff that I always sat on in the evenings when I was feeling alone or depressed; of course, this was almost every night. I liked to gaze up at the many pearly-white stars in the nighttime sky; my parents were up there, looking down on me. It depressed me to think about it, but still I enjoyed it. I liked to talk to them... for me, it was the only way that I could tell them how sorry that I was.
I dont remember quite when it was-well, I dont remember much about that day at all-but one day I got a thought into my head on the ultimate way to be happy. After three months of being completely alone, I had been able to meditate and I had learned much. The single most important thing that I learned, I believe, is that a mortal existence; alone, depressed, overall unhappy, is the only thing that you have to look forward to while you are still living.
On Christmas Eve, I went out to see my parents stars again, as I always did. However, while usually I would take no baggage with me albeit my emotional burden, this time I carried with me my long sword on my belt. I talked for only a short time that night, and I informed them of my plan. I knew that they werent happy with me-I felt in my gut that I was being spiritually tugged by them-but I ignored it. I knew I had to.
"Mom, Dad...I'm doing this as a present to you...and to myself," my strong words spoke to the night sky. Little white snowflakes dotted my violet hair with white and the biting wind nipped at my bare skin, however I couldnt feel it, even without jacket or scarf. "Merry Christmas."
A thud in the snow resounded throughout the trees and cool metal slid almost apprehensively across my chest, then for a split second a searing sensation permeated my body...then slowly ebbed away as I lay face-up in the snowy world.
She was the last and the first thing that I saw...