Chapter 9: "Questions"
Trunks didn't know how right his father was. Pan was lying in her bed, snuggled up in her blanket, staring at the ceiling and thinking of the past events. She had never been that happy in her life, well in the life that she remembered, that meant the last three months. She had felt like she was in heaven, when she was dancing with Trunks, and when they played 'Here with me' it seemed like this had happened before. She felt so safe in his arms. If he hadn't held her in his strong arms, she was sure that she would've melted. At this evening nothing could wipe the smile from her face, nothing. Not even the fact that she had to go to school the next day. It seemed to her as if a dream she had since her early childhood came true. She finally found her prince, and moreover a real prince. Pan raised an eyebrow at her last thought. 'Wait a minute. Where did that come from? Trunks has never told me that he's a prince, if he's one.' She shook her head. 'Must've been my imagination. But I think I should ask him tomorrow.' With that she turned around and fell almost immediately asleep.
~*~
The next morning, Bulma met ChiChi and Videl for breakfast at CC. It had become a habit for the women to meet at each Monday morning and to talk a bit. It was really quiet in the house. Bulma's parents were on vacation, Trunks was at work, Vegeta in the gravity room, Gohan in the lab and Bra had her first school day after the summer holidays. Through the silence Bulma noticed that something wasn't right with the other two women. "Okay, what is bothering you two?" she finally asked.
"I'm just missing my little baby," Videl told her.
"Yes, today school starts again, and she would be a senior now. If we don't find her soon, she won't be able to graduate. God, we don't even know if there's a school where she is now," ChiChi said.
"Didn't Gohan tell you that I begin to build a portal which connects the dimensions?" The two Son-women shook their heads. "Well, Vegeta told me to do that. And I could see in his eyes that he knows something about Pan. He just doesn't want to tell us, yet. That must mean that Pan's okay, otherwise Vegeta would tell us at once, I swear."
"Are you sure Bulma?" Videl asked.
"Of course," the blue-haired woman told them smiling.
~*~
"Good morning all students of Sunnydale! It's a beautiful morning, well I don't think for you, because school starts again! Whatever, I hope this day won't be too bad for you because it will be warm and sunny all the day and …" groggily Pan switched off the radio alarm. First she wanted to blast it, but then decided against it. Someone could have been angry about it.
"Pan? Are you awake?" she heard Faith's voice from the outside.
"Yeah," she answered yawning and sat up.
"Good, the bathroom's free! Meet ya at breakfast."
The next thing Pan heard was Faith running down the stairs. She let herself fall back into her pillow and growled. 'Why is it already morning? I don't want to get up.' Pan remembered the dream she had in the night. She had been in space with Trunks and another small kid of whom she could just see some kind of shadow. She was also younger than now and Trunks' hair was short… again. 'Why do I always dream of him with short hair? Maybe I should ask him too, if he had worn his hair short for a while…'
"Pan! Aren't you up, yet?" she heard Faith shouting from the kitchen.
"Coming!" she shouted back and got up.
After having taken a refreshing shower, she went down and saw Faith and Dawn already sitting in the kitchen. "Morning," she greeted them. "Where's Trunks?"
"Morning," Dawn said. "He's at the Magic Box, helping Anya while Giles is in England."
'Great, now I have to wait the whole day to ask him.' Pan just wanted to toast a piece of bread as Faith and Dawn stood up. "Hey, what are you doing?"
"Sorry P, but you don't have time for breakfast. We're already a bit late."
Mumbling, Pan grabbed her bag and followed the other to girls. When yesterday had been the best day of her life, this day will be the worst, Pan decided when she left the house.
~*~
"According to your files, if you have any, at least one of you had a troubled past, and we don't know of the past of the other." Faith and Pan were sitting in the office of their new High School. In front of them sat a black and plump woman around fifty. The two Slayers felt more than a bit uncomfortable under the glance of the strict looking principal. "I hope you know that we don't tolerate troublemakers," Both girls swallowed hard, "and I will personally take care of everyone who dares to trouble you. Welcome at Wilkins High," the woman said smiling.
"Wow, that went better than I thought," Pan said as they walked over the campus.
"I can't believe they named this school after him. He was the reason that the Sunnydale High was destroyed and yet they named this school after him. I can't believe it."
"You already said that Faith," Pan said chuckling. "But I think we should go now to the library, getting the books we need."
"I think you're right. But P, think of it. They could at least call it Buffy High, or Summers High or … or Slayers High, but please, not Wilkins High. I know, for a short time he was like a father for me, but what he did was simply wrong and he was a demon. Who names a school after a demon? I mean…"
Pan sighed. 'This will be a long, a very long day…' At that moment he stomach grumbled. 'And I'm starving!'
~*~
"Mr. Travers, here's someone who wants to meet you," a female voice told the watcher over the intercom.
"Who is it?"
"He says his name is… Hey, you can't just go in there! Stop!" At that moment the door to the office was opened and Giles stepped in, followed by the secretary. "I'm sorry Mr. Travers, but I couldn't stop him."
"It's okay Nancy. You can go." The secretary left and closed the door. "Rupert, what a surprise! What are you doing here?"
"You know exactly what I'm doing here, Quentin. I'm here because of the books you're denying to me. I know exactly that you possess them." Giles had a hard time to suppress the anger in his voice.
"Okay Rupert, I admit it. The Council possesses those books. But they're not here right now. We need them on an occasion in Asia and we won't get them back here to England in the next three months. I promise you to tell you at once when we've got them back," Travers told him smiling. "But now Rupert, sit down. Do you want some tea?" Giles sat down and shook his head. "Well, now tell me. How are Faith and … Pan?"
"They're doing fine. A-and they're really strong. The vampires and demons are afraid of them."
"And the young man, what was his name? You know, the one from the other dimension."
"Oh, Trunks. Yeah, he helps a lot."
Buffy just wanted to knock at the door, when she heard the muffled voices from inside. She just wanted to leave, when she heard something that gained her attention.
"I know, the loss of your Slayer…" she heard Travers voice saying.
"Buffy, her name was Buffy. And she was not just a Slayer…" the other voice said.
Buffy looked around and noticed that the secretary was nowhere to be seen. Not longer thinking about what to do, she pressed her ear against the door, trying to listen.
"I know she was like a daughter to you. But Rupert, she's gone now, for three months."
"That was not what I wanted to say. She was not just a Slayer. She was a young and strong woman. Not just physically, also mentally. She had to go through so much, I sometimes don't know how she managed her life. I respected her, fully and I admired her for that. … And yes, you're right. She was like a daughter to me."
Buffy was taken aback. Could they talk about her? She shook her head. It was impossible. She didn't even know this voice. He couldn't talk about her. Suddenly she heard the two men moving inside of the room.
"I'm sorry Rupert, but I have an important appointment. But I will call you when the books are back."
"Okay, I wanted to leave anyway. Goodbye Quentin."
"Goodbye Rupert."
Buffy heard footsteps coming towards the door and she quickly hid behind the desk of the secretary, hoping that they wouldn't notice her. She saw as the door was opened and a man, she guessed this Rupert-guy, stepped out, closing the door behind him. She looked him up and down, but he wasn't familiar to her. 'No, he hadn't been talking about me.' Getting uncomfortable, she moved a bit, but hit her head at the table. Inwardly cursing she hoped that the man hadn't noticed her. From where she hid, she could see that the man stopped and looked around, searching for the source of the noise. Buffy held her breath, silently praying of not being discovered. She almost sighed with relief, when the man turned around and left.
After making sure that he was really gone, she left her hiding place and entered Quentin Travers' office.
"Oh, hello Buffy. What are you doing here?" he asked smiling.
Buffy let herself fall in one of the chairs and swung her feet on his desk. "Who was that? I haven't seen him here before."
"That was Rupert Giles, one of our watchers…" Travers told her absently, while writing something down. Suddenly he looked up. "Did he see you?"
"No, I hid under Nancy's table as he passed by. Why do you ask?" she wanted to know.
"He's the Watcher of Faith and Pan, and he also watches over the Key. Wait a minute, why did you hide under the table?" Travers asked suspiciously.
"Well, I heard my name and…" Buffy shifted uncomfortably with her weight, not exactly knowing what to say.
"You were eavesdropping to our conversation?"
"Well, not directly… God, what would you do if you heard your name mentioned from someone you don't know… and then the things he said… You were talking about me, weren't you?"
"No… no, we were not talking about you… I know this will sound strange, but three months ago his Slayer died, her name was also Buffy. You were the one who was called after her death… Buffy, you know that I would never lie to you, never."
"Okay… So, and he's the Watcher I shall eliminate along with the others?" Buffy asked smirking.
"Yes, it's him."
"Cool, can't wait."
"That's my girl," Travers said, also smirking.
~*~
"Oh my god. I can't believe that I survived this day!" Pan whined, as she entered the Magic Box, followed by Faith and Dawn. She threw her bag on the table and let herself falling into a chair.
Laughing, Faith followed her example. "Come on P, it wasn't that bad. But I can't believe that you ate almost all of the food of the cafeteria."
"Now you're exaggerating. I didn't eat almost all the food. I was just extremely hungry since YOU didn't allow me to have breakfast this morning… And besides, since when do you call me P?"
"I'm just in a good mood, P," Faith said still laughing.
"You? In a good mood? You were whining all the day over the name of the school," Pan told her teasing.
"Faith? Whining? Did I miss something?" Spike, who just came out of the shop's back, asked. "I mean, this is so out of character."
"Yes, she was whining. All day," Pan complained growling.
"Oh please. Can't someone go and get Trunks to make her happy again?" Faith asked laughing.
Spike chuckled and turned around. "Don't worry luv, I'll get him for ya."
Not even thirty seconds later Trunks rushed into the front of the shop with a can of coke in his hand. "Pan? Are you okay? Spike told me that you needed to see me," he asked worried and looked around confused, when Dawn and Faith began to laugh hysterically. "Did I miss something?"
"Don't worry Trunks. Little Panny here is just in a bad mood." Faith stood up and offered her chair next to Pan's for the half-Saiyajin. "We didn't let her eat breakfast," she whispered in his ear as she walked past him.
"I heard that!" they heard Pan saying and Trunks went to her grinning.
He sat down, put the can on the table and put his arm around her shoulder, pulling her close. He kissed her lightly on her cheek and then moved his mouth to her ear. "And what can I do to make you feel better?"
"Let me go patrolling tonight. I feel the urge to kill something," Pan said seriously.
"As you wish my lady," he said, nibbling at her earlobe.
Suddenly Pan remembered what she wanted to ask Trunks. "Trunks, may I ask you something?"
"Sure." Trunks pulled away, facing Pan and taking a nip from his coke.
"Are you a prince?" she asked directly.
Trunks, who didn't expect that kind of question swallowed the wrong way and began to cough hard. It took about a minute till he could breath freely again and he looked questioning at Pan. "How do you know that?"
"Wait a minute, does that mean you are a prince?" Faith now wanted to know.
"Well, I don't know if you really can call me a prince. At least, my father was one. He was the prince of the Saiyajin, when they still existed," he told them.
"But your father's dead, and that means that you are his heir. You're now the prince of all Saiyajins," Pan said matter-of-factly. "Trunks, I have another question for you."
"O-okay, spill it out," Trunks, who was still a bit stunned by the fact that Pan seemed to know about his heritage, said.
"Have you ever worn your hair short? I mean at this length?" Pan asked him, while showing with her hand the hair length of the Trunks of her dream. But from the priceless look on his face she could already tell. "Yes, you have."
Faith shuddered. "Okay, this is getting scary."
"How… How do you know about that?" he asked confused.
Pan shrugged. "I don't know where I got that idea from that you're a prince. It just popped in my head last night. And the thing with your hair, I saw you two times with it, in dreams. The first time as you taught us how to control ki and the second time was last night."
"C-can you show them to me? I mean through our bond?"
"Is that possible?" Trunks nodded. "Okay, I'll try." Pan concentrated and Trunks could see the same pictures Pan saw in her dreams.
It was strange to him, because he doesn't remember of ever having done those things. 'Okay, maybe some things are from Pan's imagination.' "Okay Pan. I think that has something to do with the bond we share. You must have gotten to know about those things through it. I don't know another explanation."
"This sounds logical," Pan said. "Okay, can I now go slaying? It's almost dark outside," she asked impatiently.
Trunks shook his head. 'This girl is impossible… But that's why I love her.' "Okay Panny, you can go. But I want to come with you."
Pan looked at him and finally nodded. "Okay, you can come with me." With that she grabbed a few stakes, tossed two to Trunks who strapped on his sword and threw one last helpless look at the two girls inside the shop, but they just shrugged, before he left.
'Oh god. I'm sure, I so don't wanna be a vampire tonight,' Trunks thought and followed her.
~*~
"Vampires! … Here vampires!" Trunks and Pan were sitting on a swing in a park near the cemeteries. They had already been through ten of them, but they didn't find any vampire, much to Pan's dislike. "Hello-o? God, why aren't here any vampires? There are always some, why not today? Every time I don't need them they're here to bother me and when I need them, they're not there! That's so not fair!"
"Panny, can't we go back? You have school tomorrow and I'm tired," Trunks asked as he leaned back on his swing, letting his head hang down.
"No, I told you I need to kill something. Or to fight something… Can't we spar a bit?" Pan asked whining.
"Uhm, Panny…" Trunks tried to get her attention.
"I mean, don't you know the feeling when you absolutely need this to let out your anger?" Pan said ignoring him.
"Panny, we're getting a guest…"
"Vampire?" she asked all of sudden interested.
"No, no vampire…"
Pan was disappointed. "No vampire?"
"No, but big green slimy demon…" he informed her.
"Cool!" Pan said grinning. She jumped off the swing and ran towards the demon. Before it could even react, it felt a sharp pain in his gut, coming from Pan's boot. Growling it lunged at the girl, but she dodged easily and punched it in the face, letting it stumble backwards. Without hesitating, she rushed forward and punched it again in its abdomen so that it fell to the ground. "Trunks! Sword!" Pan called out and Trunks tossed her his sword. Right at the moment, as the demon got up, Pan swung around and separated the head of the lower body. The head rolled on the floor, but green slime spattered all around the body, covering Pan from head to toe. Grinning Pan walked back and gave Trunks his sword. "That was exactly what I needed," she said still grinning as she walked past her boyfriend. When she was a few meters away from him she turned around. "What are ya waiting for? I want to go home, because I think I need a shower!"
"Have I already told you that you're impossible?" Trunks asked her laughing, when he walked up to her.
"Yes, I think you already did that. But that's why you love me, right?" she teased him.
"Exactly."
"Kiss me!" she demanded.
"What?"
"I said, kiss me."
"But you're all slimy!" Trunks told her, leaning slowly forward so that their noses almost touched and then he suddenly walked away. "First shower, then kiss," he teased her.
"TRUNKS!" she shouted, running after him. "You'll pay for that!"