Hello, hello! My, my, what wonderful reviews you all have to give! Although, more than a few of you are quite mad at my Minako-murder, -_-;; Well, I warned you! Anyway, if you're still confused, this is just a big AU, where Saiya-jin do not exist, no aliens, no nothing, just the government experiments and whatnot. The idea came from the Jet Li movie, The Black Mask, a really bad action movie. So, um, oh yeah! KokushibyouOni, that is the funniest review I have received, or at least, one of them! I am the Mighty French Maid that Mists! Hahahahahaha!!! Oh no, look what you've created! ^_^;;;
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What's the matter Mary Jane, you had a hard day?
As you place the don't disturb sign on the door
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She unlocked her front door and entered, barely bothering to flip on the light switch. She turned the corner that led to the kitchen, and halted in mid-step, a strangled scream pouring from her lips as she fell to her knees. Reaching forward with trembling hands, she touched the cold dead skin of Minako's cheek, stained red with blood.
Another scream tore through her throat. She couldn't tear her eyes away from the sight.
Trunks had been a few feet behind her when she had first screamed, and had closed the distance between them very quickly. He had hesitated, however, when he had caught sight of Minako's form. He simply reacted, and grabbed Usagi about the waist, carrying her out of the room, and the house. She fought him the entire way, screaming and sobbing, struggling against his grip.
"No! Minako-chan!" she screamed hoarsely. "Let me go! Minako-chan!"
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You lost your place in line again, what a pity
You never seem to want to dance anymore
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He ignored her as best he could, thinking only of getting her away from that place, away from the stench of death. When they reached the sidewalk, her hysteria began to wane, as exhaustion set in.
He put her down, and she buried her face in his shoulder, wanting to escape. "It's not fair," she said softly. "I don't want to do this anymore,"
He held her, running a hand through her hair, but was silent. He had no comforting words to offer. Saying things like 'It's going to be alright,' were just lies. He knew all to well what the pain of losing a friend was, and he knew that it didn't get better, and things didn't suddenly go back to normal, or become alright again. At the same time though, it irked him. He couldn't help her.
"Let's go," he said quietly, pulling away from her. "We can't stay here,"
She nodded morosely, getting into the car.
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It's a long way
down
On this roller coaster
The last chance streetcar
Went off the track
And you're on it
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"Who in the world would want to kill her roommate?" Bulma asked incredulously, pacing the room.
Trunks had come back with an exhausted Usagi, who Bulma had sent to a nearby bedroom, and ordered her not to come out until she had had at least an hour of sleep.
"It was Juuhachigou," he said quietly, looking as though he needed the sleep as well. Bulma knew not to go down that path though. She knew his reasoning. If the androids didn't sleep, then he couldn't possibly.
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I hear you're counting sheep again Mary Jane
What's the point of trying to dream anymore?
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"But, why?" She said, completely mystified. "What does she have to do with any of this?"
"Juuhachigou was looking for the disk, Minako was in the wrong place at the wrong time." His tone was flat and emotionless as he sat down in a chair.
Bulma sighed, halting for a moment to run a hand through her hair. "Usagi-chan can't be taking this well, poor girl doesn't deserve to be around this,"
"She's been through a lot more,"
"That doesn't make it okay!" Bulma said, her voice pitching upward. "She didn't have anything to do with this! She should be having fun and living a life without fear of leaving her own home!"
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I hear you're losing weight again Mary Jane
Do you ever wonder who you're losing it for?
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"Everyone deserves that!" He answered, his normally icy eyes flashing with a different emotion. "And nobody ever asks for things to go wrong! But it happens, and we have to deal with it!"
"I thought that was what we were fighting for, the right to live a peaceful life," she said quietly, her own eyes burning with something similar.
"Fight for what you want, it will always end the same way," He said, ending the conversation by leaving the room.
She sighed again. It was amazing how similar he could be to his father. They both had a talent for making arguments appear out of thin air.
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Well it's full speed baby
In the wrong direction
There's a few more bruises
If that's the way
You insist on heading
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"Did you get the disk?"
"Of course, it was easy," she scoffed. "The only thing I had to do was kill the girl,"
"It couldn't have been her," he said suddenly. "I ran into her at Capsule Corporation, I figured I'd get some information out of her,"
"Is Vejiita dead yet? What about the boy?"
He made a noise of annoyance. "I was about to kill the girl, but that boy arrived," he gingerly fingered a wound on the right side of his abdomen. "He caught me off guard,"
She sneered slightly. "Well now that we have the files, we can kill Gero and do whatever we want, forget about Vejiita"
"No." he said. "We kill them, and eliminate our only threats."
"Then the world will be our playground," she said, a smirk spreading across her lips.
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He pulled his coat on, and scanned the room for his box of capsules. It never hurt to have them. After a moment of searching, he spotted the small white box sitting on a nearby table. He picked it up, checking the contents.
"You're going to fight them?" she said, the inquiry bordering upon a statement.
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Please be honest Mary Jane
Are you happy?
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He turned, slightly surprised by her sudden intrusion. She stood in the doorway, her hair falling out of its normal buns, the golden strands nearly reaching her ankles. Her eyes had taken on that same darkened hue they had earlier.
"Yes," he said, gathering a few more things in hopes to avoid her gaze.
"They'll kill you if you lose," she said, her voice soft. "Would you kill them?"
"They're machines," he replied, still unable to meet those awful eyes of hers.
"It's still killing," she maintained.
"Then yes," he answered, and met her gaze head on.
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Please don't censor your tears
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She stared vacantly out of the window, her eyes following each car as it passed by, but not really seeing.
Bulma watched for a moment, and placed a reassuring hand on the girl's shoulder. "He's going to come back," she said with a small smile. "He has a way of surviving,"
She turned her empty eyes upon her mentor for a moment, and managed a sad smile. "That's what I'm afraid of,"
If Bulma was confused or bothered by the statement, she didn't question it, nor did she show it in her expression. She left Usagi alone again, knowing there wasn't much she could do.
She returned to her gazing out at the street, a single tear sliding down her cheek as another car passed by.
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He returned, bloodied, injured, exhausted, and victorious. Usagi and Bulma met him, and Bulma all but threw him into a bed, telling him he had to recover before he did anything else.
She stayed by his side. He noticed how quiet she had become, and how her eyes remained empty. He wanted to help her. He wanted to change things. No one deserved pain.
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You're the sweet crusader
And you're on your way
You're the last great innocent
And that's why I love you
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A week passed and Bulma let Trunks get out of bed, though she continued to watch him like a hawk, insistent that he not overexert himself. Another week came and went, but she remained vigilant.
He would take long walks with Usagi in the gardens, finding that it was only there he could find refuge from his mother. He supposed she figured Usagi would watch him for her.
"Rei-chan offered me a place to live, with her," she said one day as she stopped to examine a newly bloomed flower.
He was silent, not quite sure what to make of the comment.
"I don't know if I want to go with her or not," she said, looking up from the flower.
"Why not stay here?" he asked.
She looked away. "I feel like a burden,"
"You aren't."
She smiled. "It doesn't make the feeling go away,"
He appeared to think deeply for a few moments, contemplating something he had yet to reveal to her. "I'm going to be leaving soon as well," he said finally.
She didn't ask where, to his relief. "Living with Rei-chan could be a challenge I'm not sure I'm up to." She observed. "But I can't stay here,"
He knew why. Simply being around this place was killing her slowly. She needed to go somewhere completely different, where she could simply forget. He continued to wrestle with his emotions, before finally coming to a decision.
"Why not come with me?" he asked.
There was surprise in her eyes, as she glanced at him again, and she looked harder, almost searchingly. "I don't know," she said.
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So take this moment Mary Jane and be selfish
Worry not about the cars that go by
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Later that evening, she was in her room, contemplating the earlier events. Out of habit, she pulled the ginzuishou out of its velvet pouch and rolled it around in her fingers. It was fading even more now. It was dying, and Usagi often pondered what would happen to her if it did. Would she die as well? Or would she continue to live a half-life? She was beginning to wonder if she cared either way. Trunks was leaving.
She didn't know where he was going, but she knew it was somewhere far from the West Capitol, and that he would not be returning. She could tell by the way he looked at his mother, and the way she looked back. Neither really wanted him to leave.
To go with him…She found herself caught. If Crystal Tokyo really was to be created, even after all that had happened, she couldn't. She would either rule with Endymion, or alone. There was no in between. It wasn't fair to ask someone like Trunks to become the king of a city. He would do it, and he would be miserable. But she wanted more than anything to be with him. He was what made her continue. Just talking with him, about almost anything, calmed her fears and made her heart become steady and strong once more. If she left him, would she even have the emotional strength to rule alone?
She placed the crystal back inside of its pouch, and stood. There was no use debating over things alone. You had to go to the source. If she were going to leave, it would be tomorrow, and if she didn't, she would spend her life with him.
She told him this, and he looked at her as though she had lost her mind. He asked her how she was going to decide, and she calmly replied, there was still an entire night.
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All that matters Mary Jane is your freedom
Keep warm my dear, keep dry
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Okay, here's how it works, from this point on, you have a choice between endings. You get to pick the ending that you want, or, if you are truly brilliant, you read both. Basically, I was torn. Either I had Usagi stay in the present, or go with Trunks to the future. I knew the majority would want them to live happily ever after together, but I thought realistically, she might have chosen to stay in the present, and alone. If you ask me, the way I have written them, they are bittersweet, not happy endings.