Past Discovered, Future Written
(Poem and story written by Juu-chan. Sequel to Never Said Goodbye. Title of poem-"Unknown Emotions.")
All these emotions
Rush at me. Emotions
I don't remember
Having. I don't know
What to do. One wrong
Move and you will kill
Me. But I see it in your
Eyes; you feel the
Same way I do.
Unknown Emotions.
One month after Trunks and Juuhachigou admitted that they loved each other. The sky was a stormy gray. Juuhachigou had snuck away from Capsule Corporation and was searching for anything in Gero's abandoned, destroyed lab that might give her a clue to her past when it started to rain…
Maybe I should head back. she thought. Trunks and Bulma may start to worry. Suddenly, something caught her eye and at the same time triggered a memory long forgotten…
Flashback
"Jesse?" a soft voice whispered from inside a small cave, where she had been trapped by a cave-in. The voice belonged to a young five-year-old girl with light blonde hair and pale blue eyes.
"Cara?" a voice whispered back. "Stay still. I'm going to go get help." This voice belonged to a seven-year-old boy with black hair and the same pale blue eyes.
"Don't leave me, Jesse!" Cara screamed, hysterical. "Don't go!"
"Don't be silly, Cara. I'll be right back. And I'll bring help."
When he returned, he was leading an old man, dressed in a white lab coat. Both of them were soaked with the rain that had started not too long ago.
"Cara, this is Dr. Gero. He's agreed to help you if we help him with an experiment he's working on." To Gero, he said, "She's trapped in there."
"All right, I'll see what I can do." the old man said. Cara shrunk back slightly. The man's voice sounded frightening to the small girl…
End of Flashback
Juuhachigou screamed, trying to block out the memory. She didn't want to remember what had happened next. She flew into the air in the direction of Capsule Corporation. She hadn't wanted to remember that. She sent a blast behind her in the direction of what had triggered that awful memory-the crumbled cavern from which she had been rescued that fateful night.
Memories of a past
Self, long ago, long
Forgotten, trigger
Fear-or is it fear?
I can't remember
What fear feels like.
And when I look into
Your eyes, I feel-love?
Unknown Emotions.
Two hours later, Juuhachigou lands outside Capsule Corporation…
"Juu-chan?" Trunks said when he saw the former android's face. "Juu, what happened? You've been gone an awfully long time. We were starting to worry. Juu?"
Juuhachigou remained silent as she walked past him, heading towards the room she had been given when she had agreed to stay with the Briefs family. As she walked by, Trunks thought he saw a tear trickle down her cheek, but it was gone so fast he couldn't be sure. She walked up the stairs and disappeared through the door to her bedroom, shutting it behind her.
"Trunks? Is Juu-chan home yet?" Bulma asked walking into the house.
Trunks pointed up the stairs. "She went into her room, Kaa-san. She seemed awfully upset about something. I hope she's all right."
"She may have found what she was looking for. The past can hurt, Trunks." Bulma replied, fighting back tears of her own as she remembered the night Vegeta had been killed. "But I do hope she'll be all right." Bulma cast a worried glance at Juuhachigou's closed door before returning to the lab to work on another capsule experiment.
Juuhachigou sat on her bed facing the mirror. She didn't know why she was so afraid of her past. That's why she had been in that junkyard of a lab to begin with. She remembered, as much as she tried not to, why Gero had made that cave his lab-he figured that he had less of a chance being caught in his experiments of turning people into "monsters" there than he did at his cabin in the woods. And it had been all her fault, that she knew. She had been told not to play in the cave, but she had done it anyway. Her brother had gone to the nearest place possible to get help for her, and they had both been turned into horrible killing machines, their minds twisted for Gero's evil plans.
Why do you care? A voice whispered in the back of her mind. These puny, weak humans are none your concern. Destroy them like you were made to. They're weaker than you are. You're perfect. You can destroy them if you want to. No one can stop you.
"NO!!!" she screamed, and flew out the window, afraid of what the voice would say next.
Trunks heard the scream and dashed upstairs, into the jinzouningen's room. It was empty and the window was open. Trunks quickly realized that if she was as upset as she had sounded, there was no telling what she might do, so he turned powered up and flew after her.
Fear, love, pain. I
Don't remember
What they feel like
Anymore. Surprise,
Regret; even happiness
Is strange to me. What
Do they feel like?
Unknown Emotions.
Several hours later, one hundred miles away from Capsule Corporation, Juuhachigou lands outside a small cavern, half submerged in water…
After surveying the cave, Juuhachigou flew inside and sat on a small rock; unwanted memories flooded her mind…
Flashback
"What are you going to do?" asked a frightened young girl, strapped to a lab table.
"Just a little experiment I've been perfecting. Don't worry, child, it won't hurt. And your brother will go first, so I can make sure it works." Gero replied walking towards a young boy, strapped the same way as his sister.
"Jesse!!" the girl screamed, tears in her eyes.
"Don't worry, Cara. He promised it wouldn't hurt. We'll be fine."
Gero injected Jesse with sleep medication and pain reliever. He immediately fell asleep. Gero then did the same thing with Cara.
When they woke up, they didn't remember anything.
End of Flashback
Juuhachigou sat there, sobbing, not noticing when Trunks landed on the island and walked into the cave.
"Juu-chan? What's wrong?" Trunks asked, concerned.
"I remember…everything. Everything about my past. And it's all my fault. Everything that happened is my fault." she sobbed, putting her head in her hands.
"Juu-chan…" Trunks began, then stopped. He walked over to her and took her chin in his hands. He tilted her face upwards until she was looking him in the eye. "Juu, it's not your fault. It's no one's fault. It just happened. It was out of your control. It's not your fault." he whispered over and over, hoping she believed him.
She just sat there sobbing, not answering. Finally she looked up at him, tear streaks staining her face. "Yes, it is. I went into the cave that night. My brother just wanted to help me. When he went to get Gero, he was trying to save me."
"It's not your fault. Gero was a mad scientist. If he had wanted two human children, he would have gotten them one way or the other. Gero was a mad-man, destroyed because of his own greed." He wished desperately for her to believe him. If she didn't, she might suddenly decide to go on another rampage. Not to mention, he thought, leave…Wait a second. Why do I care if she leaves? he thought. Because you love her. his mind whispered back.
No, I don't.
Yes, you do.
No I don't.
Yes, you do, brilliance. Why do you think you don't blast her into cyber-space right about now?
Because of Kaa-san.
Whatever.
Finally, maybe to find out for himself whether she loved him or not, maybe to prove to himself that he truly did love her, he reached over and kissed her. Again. She looked up, not startled or even surprised, and kissed him back.
You kiss me and I
Feel something I've
Only felt in my dreams.
Love? Compassion
For another living
Being, a living being
Not related to me?
I love you. Or do I?
I've never felt this feeling
Before.
Unknown Emotions.
Two hours later, at Gero's lab…
Juuhachigou was searching through the rubble again, this time with Trunks, trying to discover more about her past-who her parents were, if she had parents at all, and how Gero had managed to make jinzouningen. Juuhachigou was searching through a pile of rubble at one side of the lab when she stopped suddenly and called for Trunks to come over and look at something.
"What is it?" Trunks asked, looking at a growth pod slightly taller than Juuhachigou.
"This is the pod Gero kept me in when I was recovering from the "operation", or when I was "unneeded". My brother had one just like it except for the number. He was the prototype. I was Gero's ultimate creation."
"So Gero kept you in here until he was ready for you to begin his plan to take over the world?"
She nodded. "Yes. It got annoying, being put to sleep or turned off if we did anything the old man didn't like. So we destroyed him. You would have had to, anyway, if we hadn't." she added when she saw the look on Trunks' face.
"I guess you're right. I just don't like to kill unless I have to. Anyway, what's so important about it?"
"Maybe there's something inside that will tell me a little more about my past."
"You're right." he sighed. "How do we get it home?"
"When we finish looking through the rubble, we can grab this and whatever else we find and take it back to your mom's lab for her to look over."
"Good idea." Trunks replied, and went to another part of the lab to continue his search.
One hour later…
"Juuhachigou!" Trunks called. "I think I've found something!"
"What is it?" she called back, flying over to him.
"It looks like some files on a girl named Cara and her older brother Jesse. They look an awfully lot like younger forms of you and Juunanagou."
Juuhachigou gasped, then replied slowly, "That's because they are us, before Gero made us jinzouningen. Do you know what this means?"
"What?"
"It means that Gero trapped me in the cave that night on purpose!!" she practically screamed in his face.
"Lets get the files and the pod and leave." he replied quickly.
"Okay." She sighed heavily, relieved. They got what they needed and headed home.
I'm trapped inside
Emotions I don't
Know anything
About. What are
They? How are they
Supposed to feel?
What am I supposed
To say when you ask
What's wrong? I
Can't tell you. I don't
Know.
Unknown Emotions.
Another hour later…
"Hmm…Lets see…" Bulma mumbled, looking at the growth pod. She
connected a few wires to the pod and tried the test again. "Nope." She disconnected two of the wires and connected three more. There was a sound like static and the lights in the room blinked off. "That's not it." Bulma said, chuckling nervously.
Juuhachigou's eyes adjusted to the dark almost immediately, due to her programming, but she could tell that Bulma and Trunks' eyes were still slowly adjusting. "I'll go turn on the lights." she said quickly, before Bulma left to do it and hurt herself trying to get to the door.
"Thanks." Bulma said, sighing in relief. "It's the little black box on right beside the door on the left. Don't hurt yourself." she cautioned, but Juuhachigou was already at the door.
When the lights were back on, Bulma began connecting wires to the growth pod.
"Wait." Juuhachigou said. "I have a faster way." She put her hand on the pod and began to analyze it-another thing she was able to do due to her programming. "Connect this wire and disconnect this one and it should work." she said promptly.
"How did you do that?" Bulma asked, amazed.
"I lived in there for a long time, so I learned how to analyze it, along with a lot of other things-because of my programming. What does it say?"
"Nothing, really. Just how you were programmed. Nothing that would lead you to your past. We can always try the files." she added, seeing the disappointed look on Juuhachigou's face.
"All right." She sighed heavily and turned to the filing cabinet they had salvaged from Gero's lab.
I don't remember
What these emotions
Are. I don't remember
Ever having them
Before, though I know
I must have. How do
They feel? How am I
Supposed to react?
How do I show you
What I feel? What
Is love?
Unknown Emotions.
("Emotions Unknown"—Poem by Juu-chan)
Three hours later…
Juuhachigou sighed, disappointed, as she moved down to the last drawer of Gero's filing cabinet. She hadn't found anything but old inventions and plans yet. As she pulled out a file, she gasped. The folder contained a newspaper article on two missing orphans. The children had been of two different ages, but other than that, gender, and their hair color, they looked exactly alike. The article said that the two children's parents had been in a terrible car crash and had died. The children had gone to live in the orphanage, but the boy was very adventurous. One day, the boy had apparently blackmailed his sister into leaving the orphanage with him. The children had not come back and the caretakers had become very worried. A few days later, all of the caretakers associated with the two siblings had died of unknown causes…
Juuhachigou gasped as another memory crashed down on her…
Flashback
"Come on, Cara, it'll be fun. It's just a cave," Jesse said, trying to convince his sister to leave the orphanage. He didn't plan on coming back, but he couldn't leave his sister.
"Jesse, I'm scared. We're not supposed to go near the cave, remember?"
"Cara, if you don't come, I'll…leave without you. And I won't come back," he threatened, knowing that that would get her to come.
"Jesse!! All right, I'll come."
"Good. Come on!"
The two reached the cave, but the roof was too low for Jesse. "Cara, you have to go in. It's going to rain. I can't fit."
"If you're sure…"
"I am. Now go in!"
"Okay…" The girl disappeared into the cave. The next thing Jesse heard was a shrill scream and the rumble of rocks.
End of Flashback
Juuhachigou knelt on the floor, gasping for air, tears again streaming down her face.
"Juuhachigou!!" Trunks cried, and rushed to her side. "Are you all right?"
"I…remember. I remember that night. The night I went into the cave." She broke off and buried her head in Trunks' chest as he comforted her.
"I remember the past…and I wish I didn't."
They stayed like that for a long time, until Juuhachigou felt hesitant hands, strong yet surprisingly soft, slide up her back, taking her shirt with them. She smiled softly and began to pull his shirt over his head. Her fingers brushed against his back, delicate fingers despite the strength he knew they possessed. He shivered. Her touch felt like bliss to him. A shiver from her let him know that the feeling was not one-sided…
Clothing articles littered the floor. The only sounds were the moans and cries of pleasure, male as well as female.
Several hours later…
Trunks looked at the sleeping woman beside him and smiled. Her past had been discovered at last. As had his future-with her.
