(Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot.)

Chapter 4: There's Still Good in this Future

Gohan, after just a few days of entire sleep, awoke one morning, and he withdrew himself from the blankets and reached the door. He quietly opened it and stepped through. He closed it behind him and walked toward the sounds that were emanating down the small hallway. He passed by two other doors before he reached the kitchen where the woman from earlier stood, juggling pots and pans that seemed ready to collapse onto the unsuspecting woman.

The tower swayed, and Gohan came off the ground a bit and placed one hand on the tilting side to stop the rest from falling. The woman chuckled lightly, almost concealed by stack of dishes. "Oh thanks, Trunks." Her face came into view from one side, and Gohan sheepishly smiled at her.

"Mor-Morning, Miss."

"Oh, OH!" With the help of Gohan, the dishes were set on the table, and she finally turned to the boy. "You're up early. Didn't I say, a 'week of rest?'" She joked lightly.

Gohan's feet went back to the ground, and he shrugged. "How long has it been?"

"Three days, but I didn't expect you to wake up and move around like that for another couple of days." She waved her hand after glancing over the apparent burn-free boy. "You saiyans," she smiled, fondly.

Saiyan? What was that? Gohan didn't question her about that, but he did wonder why she let him sleep that long. He looked around the small kitchen, then up at the woman who sorted through the dishes.

"Anyways, since you're up, you can eat breakfast with us. Trunks should be up soon. Why don't you go and make sure he's awake?"

Gohan smiled tightly at her as she turned to the small stove. He didn't have to nod for her to tell him that Trunks' room was the first door. Gohan walked toward the door and knocked. There was merely a groan on the other side. "A few more minutes," came a soft reply, most likely being muffled by a pillow from the sound of it.

"Uhm… Trunks? I'll tell your mother that you're up."

"Mh…" Wait. Trunks straightened up. Gohan? "Gohan! Wait up!" He scrambled up to his feet and basically threw the door open, startling Gohan a bit.

Gohan looked away from the bright smile thrown his way, and he led the way back to Trunks' mother, who glanced at them over her shoulder with a teasing gleam to her eyes. "Morning, boys."

"Morning, Mom," Trunks replied as he sat down in a seat, moving another for Gohan to sit in. Gohan thanked him and took the seat, sitting rather rigidly in it. Trunks' eyes rested on the boy and discovered that he started to compare him to his mentor. It was actually quite a punch to the face really.

He could see Gohan, yet Gohan remembered nothing of him, even forgetting about Trunks' arrival in his timeline. He just couldn't believe Gohan was here, alive and well. His lips pulled down in a frown, forcing him to glance away from the boy. The fact that Gohan was here all this time, and he didn't find him, was really gnawing at him. Trunks frown deepened. "Mom, when do you think Gohan can leave?"

She stopped and brought up a spatula. "I don't know. The damage done to the time machine was extensive. Plus side, we know what caused it." She winked at Gohan, who blushed. He guessed that she meant him. He was about to apologize for it, but the woman waved him off. "Don't worry about it. I'll have all fixed up in no time."

Gohan nodded and stared at the plate already set on the table.

"Oh, Trunks."

"Yeah?"

"Why don't you take Gohan around after breakfast, see if he can remember anything?"

Trunks turned to Gohan. "How about it, Gohan?"

Gohan gave the older one a smile. "Sounds fun."

At that, Trunks' face brightened. His mother smiled and went back to cooking. After the cooking was finished, they all sat around the table, ate, and talked- well the two family members did. Gohan remained silent as he gingerly ate. This was definitely different than living by himself and fending off wild animals from his food. That part wasn't the worst part; it was more of the unknowing and loneliness that followed after dark.

Gohan was the last to finish, and as he stood up to hand the woman the dishes, he looked at the mass amount and offered, unwisely, "Would you like me to do the dishes?"

The woman blinked her blue eyes at him, and she smiled. "You're the guest here, not me, silly." It was probably a good thing that she told him no because he'd probably end up destroying all of the plates on accident.

The boy nodded, and he went toward his seat again.

"Before you two go out, Gohan, there's some clothes on your bed. You might want to change."

Gohan rubbed the back of his neck at the rags that were his clothes. "Yes, ma'am." He left the room after thanking the woman for breakfast, which was possibly the third time, but she didn't really mind.

. . . .

Gohan eyed the clothes before him and wrinkled up his nose at the white garment with its slight ruffles and complicated looking design. He tilted the shirt and tried to put it over his head, somehow managing to put his head in the arm hole and have to take it off for the third time.

(AN: the white shirt is almost identical to what Gohan wore before the Cell Games, but with a few ruffles on the sleeves.)

Finally, he got the shirt settled, and he put on the black pants, grabbing the white socks next. After everything was on, including the black shoes that were oddly pointed slightly, he left the borrowed room and went out to meet Trunks. They were going to have a little journey around the city, which Gohan could only expect to see shambles and destruction for miles- like normal for these places.

. . . .

They had walked around the abandoned city for most of the day, and nothing was familiar, other than the parts he saw when he first arrived. Trunks started up a conversation several times about the unmarked parts of the city. Yeah, surprisingly, there were a few untouched by the monsters, which was never once mentioned by the two boys. Gohan was totally okay with that. They were presently walking in a comfortable silence, just listening to the birds and feeling the light breeze.

Trunks' eyes darted to Gohan, who watched the surroundings intently and curiously. His blue eyes looked the other way again, only to shift back to Gohan, who noticed this time. Gohan lightly smiled. "This place is pretty nice, right here." He gestured his arms around.

Trunks inclined his head slightly. "Yeah, Mother loved this place, too. She said she'd come here for hours and just sit and write down ideas." He glanced up at the blue sky. "She once said, that at night, this place seems to glow."

"Probably with the illumination of the stars. No trees to cover overhead, so more light."

Trunks blinked at him. Gohan shrugged a shoulder slightly, which stung, but he wasn't going to tell anyone that. He'd be fine later.

"Sometimes I remember things." Gohan continued walking, ending up taking the route back to Trunks' house. By the time they neared it, though, Gohan could barely breathe again, yet he hid the weakness from Trunks, even to the point of holding his breath for a long period of time, which wasn't really smart. They made it inside just as Trunks' mother called out from another hallway that was next to the hallway with all the rooms.

"Boys, I'm in here, bring some batteries will ya!"

Trunks yelled back. "Be right there!" He went to a drawer and pulled out the last two batteries. Both boys traveled down the other hallway, the one that Gohan never really noticed before. They went into the first room, which turned out to be just one large one. Sitting at a computer screen, the woman sighed. "Darn it, this thing is junk." She clicked a button, and the computer beeped back at her in response. She made a face at it. "I should have brought the other one instead of this." She shook her head in frustration and typed something on the keyboard, which resulted in letters coming to the screen and images flipping onto it as well. To others, no one would be phased, but to Gohan, who lived by himself in the wilderness, it was something akin to magic. He hesitated to move when the woman typed some more, zooming in on an area.

She exhaled loudly, retrieving the batteries from Trunks' hand. Trunks glanced over her shoulder and asked. "Something wrong with the Time Machine?"

She gave her son a tired smile. "Not really, just a few tweaks here and there." She paused to place the batteries in another foreign object, to Gohan at least, beside her. Now that thing peeped, signaling that it was turning on. Booting up, Gohan read. "Everything we need should be at the house."

Gohan tilted his head. "We're not at your house?"

The woman snickered. "Well, we're at one of the houses."

"How many do you have, then?"

The woman's grin grew wider. "As many as we want." She couldn't help but pick on the young ignorant Son. It was not very easy to put anything past Gohan nowadays, even back then he would get what someone was referring to. She had to seize the chance to see Gohan blink and seem genuinely bewildered.

"What are you implying," he questioned softly, eyebrow raising at the strange woman. The woman went to tease him even more, but her son placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Maybe we shouldn't pick on him any longer." She faked annoyance at his statement. He turned toward Gohan and said. "We live in this house because it's safer than the other one; this place is more camouflaged than the other…" He trailed off, losing Gohan even more.

Gohan's dark eyes traveled to the abandoned computer with the contraption still presently on the screen. "You mentioned a 'time machine' before, what does it normally do?"

The two family members looked at each other. The woman chose to speak up. "It can send someone to the past from the future and back again."

Gohan nodded, studying the layout on the screen closely. "Who are those two… siblings that keep killing everyone?"

Once more, the two older ones in the room shared a look, both uneasy. They refused to respond, so Gohan straightened. He observed the dark room for a second.

"I could only guess they are brother and sister, maybe I'm wrong." Gohan moved his long spiky hair out of the way of his eyes. "Do you know who they are? Because I only know that one's named '17.'" If he hadn't heard the blonde address the other as 17, then he would have thought they were pulling his leg. 17 wasn't the greatest name for a kid, no wonder why they appear to have a great frustration toward humans.

"They're Androids," Trunks' voice nearly gritted out. "They always terrorize and destroy-"

The woman tried to comfort her son, eyes worried, making her seem even older. "It's alright, Trunks." She understood her son's grief much more than he'd ever know. She knew what was making him so emotional, especially now with a younger Gohan standing beside them. It was Gohan no matter what.

Trunks clenched both his eyes and his hands. "They'll get everything in their path… I can't even stop them; I've tried, Gohan tried. It was useless!" Hot tears slipped out of Trunks eyes as he opened them to lock eyes with Gohan's. All of a sudden, Gohan's eyes sparked in recognition, and his eyes grew bigger.

Trunks' blue eyes corresponded with Gohan's soon after he realized what was said. "Gohan, I'm-"

Gohan gave a curt nod. "It's fine, I half expected there would have been another me somewhere." He turned back to the screen, muscles tensed. "I'm sorry for mentioning them."

Trunks wiped his eyes. He opened his mouth to say something that would make Gohan feel better, but he was at a lost for words on the subject, as was his mother. "Well… The Androids- 17 and 18- were created for a specific purpose." He didn't want to tell the other about the reason, so he opted to forget it for the moment.

"They don't like being told what to do," commented the woman, who was clicking on a mouse.

"And they also have been running around Earth since I was young. No one was able to stop them, yet." Trunks paused, waiting for Gohan's reaction. He received none, and he was honestly nervous at what the boy was thinking.

Gohan turned his eyes to Trunks. "You thought that someone from the past could help you?"

Trunks inclined his head in answer to his question. Basically, they were relying on Goku's help, so to answer Gohan's question, it would be a yes.

He saw Trunks emotions within his eyes, swirling and sad. He presented Trunks with a strained smile. "Who knows, it might work. Someone must be stronger than 18."

"18," the others questioned.

"Yeah, she's stronger than 17, haven't you noticed?" Gohan's brow knitted together when they didn't move. The tight smile returned. "It's hard to tell when they're working together." It was hard to calculate their movements let alone who was doing the action.

The sadness evaporated from Trunks' face as he chuckled lightly, breaking the silence. "Only you could know who was stronger so easily."

Gohan fidgeted, knowing that he was most likely thinking about the other Gohan. He changed the subject, commenting about where the house they lived in was located. "Why did you choose this place, out of everywhere else?"

The woman decided to speak up. "It's the one most in tact from the Androids' attack, and it's located in one of the biggest cities."

"Oh, so you wanted to hide, and from what I see, the Androids destroy one place then move on to the next, so they won't come back."

The woman smiled. "Exactly."

Gohan returned the smile back, bigger than usual, but not quite full of happiness. He was glad that things were starting to make sense- not really, just more than before.

. . . .

They had separated, so they could sleep. Everyone laid in their rooms, in their beds, and waited for sleep to come over them. Gohan found himself staring at the ceiling in deep concentration. He discovered that he couldn't fall asleep, so he just thought.

He thought about the memories he received, thinking about the people as if they were truly there. He pictured them and had them move around, yet no sound came through. He frowned, flopping to his side. He contemplated about the place he found himself in. According to the blue-haired, blue-eyed woman, this was the future. The future that was destined to happen. Gohan pushed himself up to sit, hands running through his long hair, which just continued to grow and get in the way.

His mind drifted back to the future. No one was able to stop them, rang through his head, and he let out a shaky breath. I've tried, Gohan tried. Gohan could only deduce that the other him had failed, from Trunks' outburst and the way that the future was seemingly missing this other Gohan. He stood up and paced the room.

The other him must have died. His pacing increased almost to the point of running along the width of the room. What about the people in his memories; did they suffer the same fate? Was this truly their future? Gohan slumped back onto the bed, spread out enough to cover over half of the bed. He clenched the sheets in his hands just as his breathing became labored for no reason. His left hand gripped the white fabric above his heart as he panted loudly.

His breathing returned normal, but brought forth chest pains. Soon the pain subsided, but Gohan was still nowhere close to sleeping. Unanswered questions flew around in his brain, begging for answers. He closed his eyes, trying to push out the questions and empty his mind. He nearly accomplished that, but an image of a human-sized reptilian guy- or what Gohan thought was as male, even if he wasn't too sure of the creature's gender- appeared. The being was literally white-colored, purple, pink, with some gold mainly along his forearms and the bottom part of his legs, and he had black-colored horns. A tail thumped beside him, (pretty in) pink and purple. An annoyed look was on the being's face as he raised a finger high up. A tiny ball of orange hovered over the finger, immediately growing in size. Gohan blinked, and now it showed the being in the same position as before, only this time he was only purple and white. Also, his horns were completely gone.

Yet, the tail remained, now pure white. The annoyed expression morphed into a deep hatred as the orange ball of energy flashed in Gohan's direction. Gohan snapped forward in a cold sweat, and he gulped slightly. He didn't remember falling asleep, but he could tell he indeed drifted off for a bit. He slid back under the covers, waiting for something else to happen. What's next, he could have laughed if he could see the future.

No, he would have probably stopped himself from thinking such thing, if only he could have.

. . .

Gohan awoke in the morning, after many times finding himself ripped away from his nightmares, which never always started out bad. Sometimes they were fair, then they'd sour when you least expect it to. He set his feet on the floor, hands rubbing his head, waiting to get rid of the shakiness. When he calmed down, he went toward the kitchen. No one was up, so Gohan went back to his room, listening for someone to wake up.

It took a long time, but Gohan sensed the woman come out of her room and go into the kitchen. He heard the dishes clinking together, and he knew he was alright to go out and join her, which he did. They greeted each other, the other one told him good morning before the quiet boy could properly sit down. He responded with a morning in return and a faint smile.

A silence hung over them both. Unlike the ones with Trunks, Gohan became stressed and uncomfortable. The female between the two of them started up a conversation. "So, Gohan, how did you…" She stopped herself and didn't continue.

"How'd I survive, you mean?"

"Yeah, I'm just curious, since you know, it's been weeks since you've reached the future." She occupied herself with the frying pan, every once in a while glancing over to Gohan as she spoke.

"Of course. I lived far away from the cities, up where only animals live. I mainly ate nuts that I found, but I caught fish a few times, so I was fine."

"Hm, sounds like you can handle yourself," she smiled over at him.

Gohan shifted, nervous. He'd received so many happy expressions from these two people in two days; it was slightly unnerving. He wasn't used to it at all, being on his own and not remembering anything would do that to someone.

She went back to cooking. Randomly, she announced, "I have a ton of books. If you want to read them, then go into the lab- where the computer was. There's a whole book shelf there."

"Uh-"

"Unless you don't want to?" Can he even read? She studied the boy out of the corner of her eye.

"That would be great." Gohan's eyes lit up some, and he thanked her before he rushed off. He reached the bookshelf and read through the titles on the spine. He was excited to pick one of these up because, for some reason, he thought he should. He picked two out and returned to the kitchen table. He put one on the table and kept another in his hand.

He started with the first page. By the time Trunks was out of his room, the food was finished, and they were all seated, Gohan was half-way through the first book. He placed the books underneath his seat and grabbed hold of the plate to move it forward. They ate, and Gohan just nodded or shook his head as he listened. Trunks and his mother went on about machines and technology that Gohan was practically spinning in circles to wrap his head around it all. They were definitely smart.

It was obvious that if anyone could build a machine that actually travels through time, it would be them. Gohan smiled, truly smiling at the two that he came across. He wasn't angry about being sent into the future; he had met these two, so it was okay, despite death hugging every corner, waiting for you to look away so it could grab hold of you. The frown resurfaced on Gohan's face at the destructive monsters- Androids, he corrected himself.

After breakfast, the woman sent out her son and Gohan to see the other parts of the city. She promised that lunch would be ready for them when they returned. The threat was silent, but still there. They were expected to come home at noon.

They walked along, side-by-side, yet Trunks seemed in a much better mood, pointing things out with vigor. Trunks must have been excited or something, shouting without actually meaning too. Gohan smiled faintly. "What was in that food." He thought he could tease Trunks, so he did.

Trunks' cheeks went bright red. As he stared at the ground in embarrassment, Gohan began to regret the decision to poke fun at the teen.

He stammered out. "Tr-Trunks- I-" He went over to him and went to get his attention.

Trunks gently pushed his hands away, while he grinned. "Who knows, maybe my mother gave me the wrong drink instead."

Gohan flashed a quick smile back. They went back to sauntering through the ruins in peace. Neither one of them said anything. The only sound that was heard was the crunch of their shoes on the littered ground. Trunks suddenly said. "Hey, there's a neat place in the next city. Want to go have a look?"

Gohan shrugged.

"We'll have to fly there."

Gohan paused. He could fly, but he wasn't certain he could keep up with the level of flying that Trunks must have. Gohan nodded. "Let's go."

They took to the air.

. . . .

The "place" was some type of carnival, and it was quite interesting to the young boy. He haven't seen anything like it, or he didn't think he did. They were on their way back from there when it all happened.

(Next Chapter: Memory and Action

Who can guess what happens in that chapter? -Next chapter will be put up within a week if I get a chance to post it.)

Reviews:

MiraiSix (Guest): I apologize for the confusing start, and I'm glad you're interested so far.