"See ya later."
Bulla raked a hand through her unruly tresses as a sudden gust of wind kicked up the dust around her. She could hardly recognize this place anymore.
The ruins of West City. It seemed impossible to reconcile the notion that the wasteland before her was once the place she'd been born, the place she'd called home. Not even the mountains surrounding the city had been spared in the chaos.
The tall, pristine skyscrapers, the more modest dome-shaped houses, the crowded streets bustling with life, had been replaced with endless heaps of rubble overcome with untamed veins of green snaking over the wreckage as far as the eye could see. There was no telling how many were lost amidst the debris.
A small part of her wondered if her father was among them.
Her eyes watered as images of her last moments with the Prince flashed through her mind.
"This is bullshit! I'm just as much a Saiyan as Goten and Trunks- I can help!-"
"Than do as I ask and protect your mother."
Fierce aqua eyes clashed with unyielding ebony. The fifteen-year-old Saiyan Princess grit her teeth, her gloved hands clenched so tightly at her sides they trembled. "You think I'm too weak to fight them, don't you?! What was the point of all my training if I'm not meant to use any of it?!"
"Bulla, come on, you'll get your chance, just get in," Bulma called from the hover jet where she, Dr. Briefs, and her Grandmother were waiting. "The city is burning; we have to leave!"
His scowl deepened slightly, yet he remained still as a statue but for the wind ruffling his wild dark spikes as he studied the aqua-haired halfling. Bulla could see that his patience had already all but been exhausted, and attempting to convince him further would be an exercise in futility.
"I don't give a shit what you say. I'm not sitting this one out!" White streaks of energy whipped through the air around her as she side-stepped the Prince, leaping into the air-
Then before she could blink, a mighty grip snagged her ankle, and she found herself flung into the hover jet idling in their courtyard.
The Prince stood just outside, his dark eyes boring into hers, daring her to test him further. Challenge accepted.
She jumped to her feet, ready to spring into action once more, before her Mother grasped her arm, "Bulla, we have to go; we don't have time to fight about this-"
BOOM!
The Saiyan Princess didn't get a chance to rebuttal as her home was bathed in a shower of blinding white and green, the ground beneath them shuddering from the impact of the blast.
She took one last look at her father; through the haze of smoke that curled around his form, she glimpsed his face, his mouth agape, his dark irises blown wide, full of something she'd never seen in him before.
Fear.
"Bulma, get out of here now!" The Prince yelled out before he took to the skies.
There were so many things about that day she would have done differently had she known it would be the last day she had with him.
"That should do it," Bulma beamed tiredly as she climbed down out of the vessel.
Bulla took a deep breath, sliding her brother's treasured sword carefully into the scabbard at her back.
Bulma pulled her daughter close, running a reassuring hand over the top of her head, "Everything is going to be alright, you'll bring back your Father and Goku and they'll end this nightmare for good."
Bulla hugged her Mother as tightly as she could, mindful of her Saiyan strength. She looked up from her Mother's embrace, her cerulean gaze falling on the only other Saiyan left in the world.
Bulma, as if sensing her daughter's shift in attention, stepped back, "I'll let you two have a proper goodbye," The older woman smiled at the two demi-saiyans, before making her way back inside the remains of the capsule corp compound basement that now served as a small bunker.
Son Goten.
It seemed West City wasn't the only thing that had changed.
She remembered the last time they'd been here together, her a carefree teenager, him just her older brother's goofy friend. She'd never dreamed this is where they would be in five years.
That they would mean so much to one another.
But in this world of darkness, he'd become her light, never giving up, never letting her give up. Even when she'd desperately wanted to.
She took a moment to gaze upon the older halfling, his tall, brawny form swathed in his trademark orange ghi contrasted sharply with the grey skies above. The dark-haired demi-Saiyan ran his hand along the smooth metallic surface of the time machine, resting his hand just below the space where the word "Hope!" was emblazoned in glossy black paint. Hope was in short supply, but perhaps they could change that; they had to at least try.
Bulla couldn't help but fidget with the sleeve of her jacket, or rather her brother's jacket, "This is it, our last chance."
Goten placed his hands gently on the blunette's waist a drew her close; she shamelessly buried her face into the hard wall of his chest. "If only Trunks were still here… I hate leaving you and Mom alone like this. You're all I have left."
"You'll only be gone for twenty minutes for us."
"A lot can happen in twenty minutes." She chewed nervously at her lower lip.
"I'll be right here waiting for you." He smiled down at her, that infectious, beautiful Son smile that made her heart glow. He tenderly brushed her aqua hair out of her eyes as she stood on her tippy toes, winding her arms around his neck and pressing her lips to his.
She melted into his warm, safe embrace, letting the sorrow permeating the very air they breathed fall away until all that was left in the world was the two of them. She wished for nothing more at that moment than for the world around them to freeze, suspending this moment in time forever. For how could she know fear or despair when he held her so ardently?
Bulla broke the kiss with great reluctance, her right hand trailing down his arm, lacing her fingers in his. Her heart clenched at the thought of being parted from him. "I... I don't want to say goodbye to you."
"It's not goodbye, it's... see ya later." He smiled, bringing her hand to his lips and placing a gentle kiss there, and the Princess's heart thrummed with affection for the older halfling.
"See ya later," she did her best to muster up a smile for him.
She pulled away, her fingers still lingering on his until the last possible second as she made her way toward the newly repaired Time Machine.
She secured herself into the cockpit, and with the flip of a few switches, the engine buzzed to life. As the ship rose into the sky, Her Mother rejoined Goten on the ground to see her off with a smile and a wave.
Bulla raised her hand to wave back when she suddenly felt it, that terrible, familiar tickle at her neck. No.
The last thing she saw was Goten scooping her Mother up before a flash of blinding white light flooded her vision.