55- Melting Point
Mid-Summer
Trunks stretched as he walked into his bedroom. It was still early. He smiled fondly as he watched Pan sleep in their bed contently. She had told him that she would probably sleep for the whole day, so he kissed her as gently as he could before he went into the nursery next door.
Takehiko and Takara were still asleep as well, but Trunks knew that soon they would be waking up. He let out a sigh as he watched his children sleep.
It was common for bonded Saiyans to share dreams. Last night, Pan had shared hers with Trunks. Somehow, he knew it wasn't really a dream, though. It was what she had seen before she faced Shenron. It was a future, one without her in it. In that future, Trunks had been a horrible Appa. He had made his children cry, and it made his gut twist as he thought about Takara's crying face.
Trunks hated to think it, but if Pan had died the other night, then Trunks would have too. That's how Saiyan bonds work. When a couple is so deeply bonded, if one dies, the other quickly follows, usually by a broken heart. Then their children would have been left in a worse state.
Trunks let out another sigh as he reached out to stroke Takara's soft cheek. His other hand ran through Takehiko's wild hair.
"I'm sorry," Trunks apologized. He felt like he had to, even though what Pan had seen hadn't been real. He still felt responsible. "I promise never to make you guys cry," he whispered. His heart hurt at the thought. "I'll be the best Appa ever."
It felt like it was such a long time ago when Pan had told him the news. Trunks could still remember that day clearly. It was the day Goten revealed himself to overturn the court so Pan wouldn't have to marry Koba, who Kage was pretending to be. Back then, Trunks' fear of Freiza kept his excitement hidden briefly. Pan had even thought he didn't want the baby! He couldn't blame her, but he was so glad when he was able to convince her that he did. Having a child with her caused an excitement inside of him he had never known. When he found out they were having twins, his excitement grew more.
Pan and his children were the best things to ever happen to Trunks. He wouldn't do a thing differently.
Takara started to stir. She woke up with a small whine as she stretched. Trunks watched her with a small smile as she rolled around until she was sitting up. Her blue eyes found his, and she grinned.
"Good morning, Princess," Trunks smiled at her.
He got her up and ready for the day. By the time he was finished with her, Takehiko was starting to wake up. He was a little fussier than Takara had been. He did not like waking up.
"Hey, little man, it's okay," Trunks soothed him before he got him ready for the day as well.
With both twins dressed for the day, Trunks picked them up and quietly tipped-toed into the main bedroom. "Mama's going to rest today," he whispered to twins as they looked at Pan. "So it's just going to be us three," he smiled.
Trunks exited the room quietly and informed the maids nearby to please not disturb Pan's rest. He cringed as they passed his study. He knew there was a ton of paperwork waiting for him. It had piled up during the week that his Appa was in a coma, but it could go one more day without being touched. The day was for the twins.
Trunks had spent all day with the twins. They weren't even a year old, so what they could do was limited. They were great listeners, though. He couldn't wait until they got older so they could do more things together.
"Is Panny still resting?" Chi-Chi asked softly as she bounced Takara.
It was growing late into the evening, and Trunks had brought the twins into a sitting room where his Eomma and Chi-Chi were.
"Yeah," Trunks nodded. "She's gotten up a few times, but it was just to use the bathroom. She told me she would be sleeping most of the day."
"I'm sure the whole dragon thing took a lot out of her," Bulma frowned as she held Takehiko. "How are they doing?"
"They're sleeping as well," Trunks said. Every time he checked on Pan, he checked on Kalamity and Crescent too. They had been asleep each time. "Goten and Bulla had said earlier that Tremor and Whirlwind were sleeping as well."
Trunks was glad that Pan was getting her rest and catching up on the much-needed sleep. Still, he hoped by the next day, everything would be back to normal. He missed talking to her.
A funny feeling shifted through the air. Trunks felt his back tending. He jumped up and rushed the window and peeked out behind the curtains. Several ships just entered the atmosphere.
"Shit," he hissed.
"What is it?" Bulma asked worriedly.
"Kage," Trunks growled. He turned in his heels. "You two stay here with the twins. We'll handle this."
He rushed into the hall, and in less than a minute, he found Goten and Endou.
"Trunks-" Endou began.
"I saw," he sighed. "Is anyone getting Han and Marron?"
"Dad is," Goten answered. "Should we get the army ready?"
"No," Trunks shook his head.
"What?" Endou's eyes widened. "Won't Kage have an army with him? An army of new androids?"
"Most likely," Trunks nodded. "But it doesn't matter. Kage thinks he has an advantage. He thinks Appa is dead and we're leaderless. I'll meet you guys outside," he told them before he turned to run to his and Pan's room.
Trunks prayed that he wasn't making a mistake by not calling the army. He was following his gut, and it had never let him down before.
Pan was still sleeping as Trunks ran into the room. He rushed to the closet and changed quickly. He was strapping on his sword as he walked over to the bed.
"Panna?" Trunks called as he gently shook her shoulder.
Pan mumbled something he couldn't understand before nuzzling into the sheets. She would be mad that she missed the fight, but Trunks didn't want to force her awake. He leaned over and kissed her head before he turned to leave.
A chirp stopped Trunks, and he turned around to see Kalamity and Crescent fly to the bed. Kalamity was acting twitchy as he chirped up at Trunks.
There was something in his dark eyes that made Trunks ask, "do you want to go?"
The dragon wasted no time crawling up his arm to his shoulder.
"Stay with Panna," Trunks told Crescent. She fluttered her wings at him as if saying she understood. "Alright, let's go," he said to Kalamity.
Marron was shaking as she landed with the Saiyans near where the ships had landed. The plains were flat and dry- Kage must have thought they were a perfect battlefield.
The ship's doors opened up, and Marron watched in horror as soldiers marched out of them. She recognized the bright silver metal- it was the army her mother tried to build.
Those things weren't androids. Androids had thoughts and feelings. No, those things were nothing but machines. They stopped about ten feet away. There had to be hundreds of them.
Kage swooped down and landed in front of them. He wore a smirk on his face until he saw Trunks and Vegeta. Then he snarled.
"I'm surprised to see you alive, King Vegeta," he practically hissed. "I was told you were as good as six feet under."
Vegeta crossed his arms, "why'd you think that? 'Cause of the shitty bomb you hoped would kill Trunks?"
"That was the plan-" Kage shrugged.
"Sorry to disappoint you," Trunks growled.
"Also, I'm not the king anymore. He is-" Vegeta motioned to Trunks.
Kage's jaw tightened. "I guess it was always meant to be this way," he muttered.
Marron hated what was happening. She couldn't understand her mother's need for power or Seventeen's. They are gone- their greed couldn't control her any longer! She had stopped being her mother's puppet years ago- Kage could stop too!
"Kage, stop this!" Marron found her voice as she rushed in front of the Saiyans. "You don't have to do this! We're not them!"
Kage's eyes widened for a split second before he narrowed them at Marron. He snarled, "would you still feel that way if you knew the truth behind your conception?"
Marron swallowed hard. Deep down, she had always known the truth, but she never wanted to believe it. She shook her head quickly as her body shook. "No!"
"Sister!" Kage hissed the word. "We were breed to be just like them! This is our destiny!"
"That's not true!" Gohan yelled as he ran over to Marron and grabbed her hand. "She is nothing like Eighteen!"
Marron was shaking as tears rolled down her cheeks. Seventeen might have been her birth father, but the earthling named Krillin would always be her dad. She wasn't like them. She would never be like them. Gohan's warm hand holding hers was proof enough of that.
"No," Marron shook her head at Kage. "It's not! It's a choice, Kage! We don't have to be like them!"
Kage held out his arm to her. "Join me," he said. "And I'll forgive everything you've done. You'll be welcomed home on Saibogu, where you should be."
Marron tightened her hold on Gohan's hand. "My place is no longer on Saibogu," she told him. "I will never join you as long as you're threatening the ones I love!"
Kage's gaze hardened. "Then you can die with them," he snarled. "These soldiers are made from the strongest metals in the universe," he declared pridefully. "Their Ki is unlimited! They can fight -"
Trunks could feel Kalamity shaking on his shoulder as Kage went on about his soldiers. Kage's soldiers might be new, but Trunks knew they weren't as indestructible as the Android made them out to be. The metal used for those robots was called tungsten. Though it was labeled strong, it was was brittle upon impact.
"Do they burn?" Trunks interrupted Kage's speech.
"What?" Kage raised a dark eyebrow at the question.
"Even the strongest metals have a melting point," Trunks commented calmly. "So yours must have one as well."
Kage was starting to shake. "And you think you have something that could possibly melt my soldiers?"
"Yeah," Trunks' lips curved into a smirk. He could feel Kalamity's claws digging into his shoulder in excitement. "I do."
Trunks raised his arm slowly. Kalamity ran down his arm before he jumped off of it. He soared between them and Kage's army for a moment.
"What the hell is that?" Kage squinted his eyes as he watched Kalamity fly closer.
A shift rushed through the air, one that made the hair on the back of Trunks' neck stand. His heart pounded.
In seconds, Kalamity grew from the tiny dragon he had been into the size of a horse. Kage let out a startled scream and fell back as Kalamity landed in front of him. Kalamity's dark wings stretched out wide, and he glanced back at Trunks as if waiting for the order.
Trunks held his head up as he glared down at the mindless soldiers. These were the soldiers Eighteen had started to build, and the soldiers Kage finished. They had wanted to use them to take over planets. Trunks wouldn't allow any more innocent planets to be raided.
Trunks met Kalamity's dark eyes. "Burn them."
Kalamity turned back to the soldiers. He let out a roar that shook the air before he breathed out a blue fire that surrounded Kage's soldiers.
Trunks watched as Kalamity became his namesake. He had the army in flames within a matter of seconds and their ships. A wall of fire rose in the front line, and faintly Trunks could see the robots falling as they melted. Kalamity was hidden by the fire he had created, but Trunks wasn't worried. He could hear him still roaring and blowing fire.
There was a crack overhead, and Trunks glanced up just in time for Pan to appear with Crescent in front of them. She must have come in a hurry because she was still wearing her silk grey nightgown. Her hair was a mess of tangles as she stared at the fire with parted lips.
"Hey, Panna," Trunks greeted with a smile.
Pan turned to face him with wide eyes. She gestured her arm behind her frantically as if asking what was going on.
"That's where Kage's army used to be," Trunks informed her. "Before Kalamity burned them."
Pan gasped, and her dark eyes grew wider. Beside her, Crescent was chirping like crazy.
"I know!" Pan exclaimed as she looked at Crescent. She turned her gaze back towards Trunks. "You and Kalamity are in so much trouble!" She hissed.
"What?!" Trunks' eyes widened. Crescent flew up to him and began chirping in his face. "What did I do?!" He gasped.
Pan stalked over to the wall of fire and stopped about a foot away. "Kalamity!" She yelled, but he did not appear. "Kalamity!" She screeched as she pronounced every syllable of his name louder than the last.
The dark dragon rolled out of the fire. He stood up straight and shook himself off. He towered over Pan now, and he had an arm of a robot in his mouth.
"Spit that out!" Pan scolded as she pointed to the robot arm. "Don't eat that kind of trash. It might upset your stomach."
Kalamity dropped the arm and bounced over to her. His large face went to nuzzle her, and his size almost made her fall. Pan yelled and grabbed hold of his neck to stop herself from falling.
"Stop trying to act cute," she huffed at him with a frown. "Look at how big you are! You know you didn't have to get this big to take that army down! Who are you showing off for, huh?!" Pan sighed and shook her head.
Crescent fell to the ground. She ran towards Kalamity and Pan, and a shift ran through the air as it had earlier, though not quite as strong. Crescent grew from her tiny size into the size of a large dog.
Pan gasped loudly and looked at Kalamity. "Look at what you've done! You've made Crescent grow!"
Kalamity was practically prancing in excitement as he and Crescent circled each other.
"And when Tremor and Whirlwind see you two, they'll grow! You guys are not supposed to be growing this quickly!" Pan huffed. She turned her gaze on Trunks and narrowed her eyes. "And you let him grow!" She accused.
"I did not!" Trunks defended as he shook his head. He wanted to walk over to her and be closer, but she was close to the fire. He was a good three yards away, and it still felt sweltering. The heat didn't bother her, though. "I didn't know he would get that big-" he pointed to Kalamity.
Kalamity came over to Pan and whined at her. She shook her head and pushed his face away. "No, stop acting cute," she mumbled. "I'm mad at you."
Kalamity huffed and bumped his head against Pan's. She straightened up as she looked into the fire for a few seconds. She met Kalamity's gaze. "Bring him to me."
Kalamity disappeared back into the fire. Within a minute, he was walking back out, and he was dragging a burned Android behind him. Kage looked almost unrecognizable. His face was burned, as was everything else. Kalamity dropped him in front of Pan.
Pan was standing next to Kalamity as they stared down at Kage. The bright glow of the fire was reflecting off of her, making her look golden. She looked enchanting in Trunks' eyes.
Kage let out something between a groan and a wheeze. "What's this?" His voice was weak. His head could barely hold up to even look at Pan. "They've sent the Princess to finish the job?"
Pan's eyes were cold as she glared at Kage. She breathed deeply, and Trunks could feel her Ki spiking. "I warned you," her voice was a low growl. "Now, you will face the worst Kalamity."
Pan took a step back just as Kalamity pounced forward with his mouth opened wide to shred the Android with his fangs.
"She was her father's daughter, but she inherited her mother's black anger. It burned through her sometimes like a chemical fire, brief and devastating and utterly unstoppable."
-Amber Sparks