Disclaimer: I own nothing except the pic used, though I don't own the characters.
Surviving History
Chapter Two – Time and Space
Trunks felt a pang of guilt as he slid back under the console, effectively shielding his gaze from Pan's lithe, still rather short form. She wore her orange training gi, as she often did when visiting to train with Vegeta, only her uniform had been customized to promote her relatively new upper-body curves. She had discarded her trademark orange bandana some years ago and her ebony hair was cut short, reaching no farther than her ears and very reminiscent to the cut her mother once had many years ago.
He could practically hear the pout in her voice as they exchanged a lazy banter, one he could carry on with only a fraction of his attention. Another fraction was diverted to his task under the dash of the time machine, while any remaining cognitive function was busy rationalizing his behavior towards the girl, or rather the woman, that stood only a few feet away. After she had nudged his shoe in what he guessed was frustration at losing his attention, she huffed and seemed to give up the fight.
He knew full and well how much she longed for his attention, but ever since a couple years ago he was finding it harder and harder to be around her. He still couldn't decipher what it was exactly that effected him the most. On one hand, she had practically grown from a bratty little child into a shapely young woman before his very eyes in a very short amount of time. On the other hand, her personality had matured quite a bit as well, though she still harbored that boundless mischief in her bones. She would probably carry that trait to her grave, much like her Saiyan grandfather before her.
In the end, he supposed this new attraction was composed from both elements. But deep down, a small voice inside him always had to berate him. Despite their primitive Saiyan heritage and despite her being mature enough, he still felt that probe of propriety nagging at him that he was still too old to court her. He winced as the thoughts brought on a tight pain in his chest. He had to- He had to at least give her a chance to find someone appropriate for her age. Didn't he?
Pan wasn't making this separation easy though. Trunks had hoped that since she was taking classes at a college, she might find someone there to suit her. But it didn't sound like she was even going that often. Heck, she spent the majority of her time here on Capsule Corp. property, whether that meant entertaining Bulla, Bulma or even Vegeta, she didn't seem to care. Anything to be closer to him and utterly foil his plans of forming a healthy distance between them.
The birth of his decision had been formed some time ago. After their time together in space, and all their familiar interactions thereafter, he had found that they were getting far too comfortable with each other. A certain incident with the family spa trip in the mountains a few months ago came to mind... No- No, he had to keep that ordeal out of his head or he would end up thinking or saying something highly inappropriate.
As if the thought had triggered a spark of karma, he accidentally crossed the wrong wires in the panel he was working on and received a stinging shock for his trouble. What was she saying now? Offering him that damn cookie again? "No Pan, I don't want the cookie." He tried to keep his following mutterings low, but frankly he figured she was old enough to handle a few swear words by now.
"Say, Trunks?" The past few years had managed to soften her high-pitched voice but no amount of time would ever be able to camouflage the mischief he suddenly heard in her tone, not when he had become so attuned to it.
"Hm?" he replied distractedly and rolled his eyes, though he was somewhat concerned with what antics she might be up to.
"What's this button do?"
Blue wire, red wire, white wi- Wait, what? His hands abruptly stopped moving in their task of sorting the messy panel as her words finally registered in his mind. He turned his head in her direction for all the good it did; he couldn't see her for the console encasing him. "What button?" Did Pan honestly not know what sort of machine they were in? Touching any button could pose a potential hazard, but if she were referring to a particular big, red button...
His blood ran cold in his veins when she confessed that yes, that was in fact the button she was referring to. He then felt his body freeze up after attempting to stop her but failed miserably.
The rest was history so to speak. Between his fear and annoyance he had lightly cuffed her upside the head, though his intent hadn't been to hurt her but to get her attention. He had certainly struck her harder than that during sparring sessions in the past.
Trunks now found himself staring at a fractured brown cookie, offered up as a peace offering from the woman that had suddenly single handedly ruined his entire week. Or lifetime, depending on one's perspective.
To say the least, he was livid and trying desperately not to blow an organic gasket. Granted, he had nearly panicked after seeing her limp, unconscious body on the cockpit floor but when he determined she was just fine he had once again felt his ire rising to the surface. Which explained the smart thwack to the head earlier.
The partial cookie was taunting him now and he snatched it out of her hand with a grumble. Why the hell not? the thought thundered in his head. He stomped the few steps over to the console, idly wondering why his body suddenly felt so heavy, tossed the morsel into his mouth and chewed angrily. He typed in an inquiry on the controls and noted with satisfaction that Pan remained silent where she was, attempting to seem as harmless as possible. She wasn't pouting exactly but she seemed to at least be trying not to upset him any further.
"Date: 729," the computer's voice answered his inquiry. "Place: Planet Plant, also known as Planet Vegeta after it is conquered by the invading Saiyans some 57 planetary cycles from now, or 71 Earth days."
Trunks had to place his hands on the console to keep from falling over in shock. "Huh?! You've got to be kidding me! Of all the places to end up, why Planet Vegeta?!" It didn't make any sense. Why were they on planet Vegeta? He could only surmise that there must have been something wrong with the time-space conduit. He would need to take a look at that after he fixed the user interface...
"Really?" Pan exclaimed, a little too vibrantly for his taste as she skittered over to examine the display as well. "I've always wanted to see what this planet looked like."
"No Pan, you don't. Not now. The time we've arrived at is during a violent ten year war. It's no time for us to go sight seeing." Seriously? They just got spat out into a different time and a ruthless planet and the first thing she wanted to do was explore?
"Aww, come on Trunks, the Saiyans are a part of our heritage, aren't you even a little bit curious about them?"
"Sorry Pan, my fear module tends to override my curious module. I'm funny that way."
"...Trunks, you're starting to sound like Giru and it's creeping me out."
Trunks sighed wearily and pinched the bridge of his nose to fend off a headache. "Look Pan, during this time period the Saiyans are ruthless savages. Well, actually I think they were always like that, but you're not missing anything, trust me."
"But Truuuunks." Now she was pouting, with the lip and eyes... But he refused to budge on the matter, he didn't care what sort of face she made. "Just a tiny peek outside?"
"No, Pan," Trunks asserted firmly and gave her a stern look. "The longer we stay here the more danger we're in." He crawled under the dash again but not before aiming a pointed finger at her. "Now stay put and wait while I finish fixing the user interface. As soon as I'm done we're going straight back home." He frowned up at the chaotic mess of wires; it was worse than before. He supposed it didn't matter though, since it would take the fuel cells an hour to recharge enough for another time jump back home.
"Fine." Pan huffed in frustration but dropped the argument and scampered over to the closed hatch, which provided the only window in the pod. She was rendered silent and seemed captivated for a moment, which was fine with Trunks, it gave him the opportunity to concentrate on his work. The peace was shattered all too soon though. "Um, Trunks?" Her voice wavered a little, which set off a few alarms in his mind but he was still mostly distracted by all the loose wires in front of him.
"Busy Pan," he rumbled back at her. Seriously, couldn't she take a hint already? If he didn't fix this then who knew what trouble would find them?
"I really think you should come take a look at this..."
"Not now Pan."
"But-"
"Not. Now."
"Fine!" Pan yowled, threw up her hands in a dramatic display and stomped over to plop down beside him, arms crossed and a scowl on her face. "Three."
"Pan-"
"Two."
Trunks pulled himself out from under the dash and just as he met her gaze and she finished her countdown the whole pod shook. "One."
"What the-?" Before he could so much as sit up, it shook again, and again. Despite the erratic trembling, Trunks scrambled to the window and felt the blood drain from his face by what he saw. A number of burly Saiyans with black, spiky hair and varying heights were ramming the pod, all of them scowling and roaring angrily. Trunks rounded on Pan, who was still sitting placidly beside the console. "Why didn't you-?"
"I tried!"
"Alright, alright! Don't panic, they shouldn't be able to damage the hull too much..."
"I'm not worried," Pan spat. "I'll be happy to go out there and knock them around-"
"No, Pan. You are not leaving this pod."
Her answer was an unpleasant growl and a glare but Trunks ignored her as he crossed back to the dash and knelt down to resume his repairs. It would prove to be a tricky chore with all of the shaking but he didn't want to risk opening the hatch.
He didn't even make it onto his back when the computer's voice sounded overhead along with a warning alarm. "Caution, repulsion units damaged, impact imminent."
Trunks froze as he stared up at the terminal which now displayed a screen with a view to the outside like a window. The pod was perched precariously on the edge of a cliff, and at the bottom was a valley of deadly looking jagged rocks...
"Get out!"
"But you just said-"
"I know what I said, and now I'm telling you to get out! Unless you want to be a new pincushion named Pan!"
"Ok, ok!" Pan grinned and moved to the hatch with Trunks right behind her as the alarm grew more incessant. "Does this mean I get to beat em' up?"
"Pan, do you have any idea what kind of mess we're in right now?" He gave her a stale look. She wasn't taking any of this seriously anymore. He slammed a hand against the hatch release trigger but it did nothing, causing him to raise his face heavenward with a sigh. "Of course."
With one final impact from the brutes outside, the pod creaked and swayed, causing the alarm to blare at its loudest frequency. "Alright, get ready!" Trunks barked and spread a hand at the doorway, an energy beam flaring from his palm and making a gaping, smoking opening where the hatch used to be. There was some startled yelping from their antagonists as the two Saiyan hybrids flew through the hole and the pod proceeded to tumbled its way off the cliff.
They landed on the dry, brown earth and Trunks forced a pathetic whimper into a pained groan as he watched their only hope of returning home crash into the valley of spikes below. He expected it to explode into flames but by some miracle it did not. The fuel cells must have managed not to get punctured.
Dismissing the crash, Trunks turned to face their more immediate threat and blinked apprehensively when he noticed the four brutes staring at him as though he had two heads. Before he could questions them or calm Pan, who was slowly powering up with a scowl on her face, one of the Saiyans spoke up with a sneer. "What are you?"
AN: So I openly admit that Trunks is too old for Pan, from the normal human standpoint, but since they both have Saiyan blood, (which makes them age much slower) I feel that it nullifies any argument against this pairing.(13 years won't mean much when they're still both in their prime at 40-50) Despite that, Trunks was mostly raised to think from a human standpoint, therefore he is going to have a slight mental struggle in this story. I feel that this element is important for keeping him in-character.