A/N: Okies hi! Well as Christmas is just around the corner I decided it was
time to start putting out my little contribution to the holiday stories. I
was going to write and post this sooner, but I never got any time. (What
with this thing called real life I'm supposed to be having and all.) I'm
working on this fic still as you're reading this meaning I'm posting before
I've edited and gone over it, which I really didn't want to have to do but
I want to make sure I get this up before Christmas goes by cuz then I don't
think people will be as interested in reading it. if they're interested at
all. The point is, please ignore if there are a few mistakes and such. The
author was really pressed for time. Well, happy reading!
Disclaimer: I don't own DBZ, but maybe if I ask really nice Santa will give it to me for Christmas.
(Um, this is a little convo-intro thing I wrote before getting very far in the story. It's only here for your amusement and has no effect whatsoever on the actual plot line.)
It was a normal, lovely, peaceful day a Capsule Corp., until something unusual happened.
Miari: Hold up. Don'tcha think they know that?
Mel: Know what?
Miari: That the day was normal until something unusual happened. Of course when a normal day is interrupted by something unusual it isn't normal anymore. I mean, duh!
Mel: Shaddap, besides, there are some stupid people out there. And in any case, WHO is writing this?
Miari: Unfortunately, you.
Mel: That's right, so shut your mou- Hey!
Miari: ^_^
Mel: Grr.alright. I'll remember that. Just you wait. And this is a fic about you too.
Miari: x_x
Mel: Well in any case, that's not where the story begins.
Miari: I have a bad feeling about this.
Home For The Holidays (okay, THIS is the story)
CH 1
Miari Trunks stood on the edge of the high cliff, looking out at the dirty sunset that to him was one of the most beautiful he'd ever seen, coming down over the once crystal clear water, now polluted brown. The wind whipped around him, playing with his shoulder-long lavender hair.
"I wish you could see this," he whispered, running his fingers around the smooth, baby-blue jar in his hands. "Maybe it isn't as pretty as you remember, but it's nice. You'd like it. Or at least I hope you would." He sighed, clutching it close to him, holding back his tears. "But no matter. At least. now you're free." He crushed the jar in his hands, letting the ashes scatter to the sea with the wind.
"Good-bye. kaasan."
~~~~
Meanwhile, in the other timeline, it was a nice day at C.C. until.
Mrs. Briefs was outside taking care of her flower garden, trimming the bushes and pulling up weeds. In the not-so-far distance you could hear the oncoming of two demi-Saiyans, probably about to be in a world of trouble.
"TRUNKS!!! GOTEN!!!!" yelled Bulma chasing after them. "You both come back here right now!!!"
"Why would we do that Trunks?" asked Goten. Trunks shrugged.
"I don't know maybe she thinks we wanted to blow up Bra's doll house."
"But Trunks, we did."
"That's not the point baka!"
Their running came to a halt as they crashed head-on into what felt like a human would feel crashing into a brick wall. They looked up, rubbing their heads to meet the angry eyes of the Prince of Saiyans.
"Uh, oh." said Goten. Trunks nodded in agreement, jumping to his feet. Vegeta glared down at them.
"Uh. hi otousan." Vegeta scowled, lifting them off the ground by their gi shirts.
"Going somewhere?" he asked. They shook their heads in unison. It was about that time that Bulma finally caught up with them. Despite being out of breath and tired from running, she still managed to have a very intimidating facial expression.
"You.two. In the house. Now." She turned, Vegeta following, dragging the struggling chibis. On the way back, she ranted, "You know I'm busy and have a lot to do to get ready for Thanksgiving tomorrow. Chichi will be furious with you Goten because she's probably working twice as hard. Honestly, and do you have to torture your sister every day Trunks? You do want to have Thanksgiving right?"
"Yes!" they both answered.
"Well I'm telling you right now that if you keep this up I'll-"
Suddenly, from the distance there was a bright flash out light, bright enough to be noticed even in the daylight of the November morning. Bulma and Vegeta stopped in their tracks and looked over to where it was just in time to see a familiar, yellow capsule drop out of the sky. They looked at each other, both thinking the same thing. Forgetting Trunks and Goten for the moment, they left them behind and ran off to the back of their HUGE backyard amongst an area of tall trees.
They climbed over the foliage, looking around for the large, yellow capsule. Spotting it, Vegeta ran over, Bulma following to see Miari Trunks climbing out of the cockpit, jumping to the ground.
"Miari!" Bulma smiled and ran over to give him a huge hug, glad to see her future son after such a long time. "How are you? What's been going on?" she asked. Miari shrugged.
"Nothing much. I just thought I'd come back for a visit."
"I'm glad. I was starting to think you'd never come back to see us."
"Naw. I've just been. busy." He looked over to Vegeta, who was standing, arms crossed. "Hello, otousan," he said. Vegeta grunted by the way of a greeting and turned to head back to the house. "Well, I guess he's doing alright," he said. Bulma nodded as they started walking back towards the house after Miari capsulized his ship.
"Actually, he's changed quite a bit since you've been gone. He's different. Maybe he won't show it at first, but you'll see."
When they got back to the house, the chibis had already gone inside, sitting on the couch, not wanting to get into any more trouble then they were already in. They stared as Miari came in. They looked at each other, mouths slightly open. Miari grinned at the look of shock on their faces as Bulma laughed slightly. Vegeta chose instead, to retreat to the comfort of his gravity room.
"Have a seat Miari. Are you hungry or anything?"
"No, I'm fine thank you." He sat down in on of the recliners as Bulma also sat down across from him, the two chibis on the couch between them. Unable to hold his curiosity, Goten asked,
"Who are you? And why do you look like Trunks?"
"What? I don't look like him!" said Trunks.
"Yes you do! You look exactly like him! Only he's older."
"Do not."
"Do too."
"Do not." "Do too"
"Do n-"
"Wow!" said a voice from the stairs. Everyone turned to see a three-year old Bra coming down the stairs. "Lookie Marron! Lookie Pan!" she said. "There are two Trunks!" Not far behind her, both other girls followed to see what in the world she was talking about.
"Hey she's right!" said Marron, Pan looking over her shoulder. They came down the stairs, looking between them. As fascinated as they were with the site of Miari, he was just as curious about them. Bulma was about to explain before Goku, Gohan, and Videl appeared in the room, via instant transmission.
"Hi Bulma, hope we aren't interrupting anything," said Gohan. "But we felt Miari's ki so we'd thought we'd see what was up."
"Hi Miari," said Goku, "Long time no see!"
"Goku?" he asked, "How are you alive? I thought you died." Goku laughed.
"Well nice to see you too." Miari's face reddened a bit.
"Oh, gomen. I'm glad you're alive again Goku-san. I was just surprised."
"I know that. Don't take it so seriously kid." Miari smiled. Videl stared at him curiously.
"Gohan, who's that?" she asked. "Is this another one of your muscle-head friends I don't know about?"
"Sorry Videl. I forget you don't know these things sometimes. This is Miari Trunks. He's from the future." She stared in confusment at him, not really grasping what the heck he was talking about.
Deciding Gohan could explain things to her later, Bulma introduced him to the latest additions to the Z-team.
"This is you, and his best friend Goten. He's Goku's second son. And this is Bra, your younger sister. Those are her friends, Pan and Marron. Pan is Gohan and Videl's daughter and Marron is Krillen and Eighteen's. This is Videl, Gohan's wife and Mr. Satan's daughter."
Miari Trunks stared at them in wonder. Gohan was married? To the daughter of Mr. Satan no less. And he had a daughter. And a younger sister? Wow! Of course, he assumed that he should have expected things to change in this time. But, Krillen and Eighteen? Hold up!
"Eighteen?" he asked, a bit nervously despite the fact that he no longer had to fear that she was once stronger than him. Gohan nodded.
"Yeah, but don't worry. She's changed. And they're very happy so I don't thinks there's anything to worry about." Miari nodded, trying to get the concept of the once evil android ever being 'nice'. He couldn't. However, he figured he could trust his friends. Looking down at the chibis, he could definitely see the Bulma in Bra and the mix of Krillen and Eighteen in Marron. Now that he looked between Pan and her parents, he could see the resemblance there too. But Videl looked nothing like her father. 'Thank Kami,' he thought. 'No one would want to see a female Satan.'
"So what's new with you Miari?" asked Goku. "It's been a while." He nodded.
"Yes, it has. The androids are gone of course. So is Cell. Things are getting rebuilt and basically that's it. One of the reasons I came back. I was bored. Nothing to do."
"Well, better nothing then something bad right?" smiled Bulma. "You picked a good time to come. Tomorrow's Thanksgiving here. Is it the same there?" Miari stared at her confused.
"Huh? What's that?"
"You know," said Goten, "That's when kaasan make a bunch of food and you all get together with people and talk about what you're thankful for and eat and eat and eat ALL DAY! Then you get to play around and it's SO fun! It's the BEST holiday ever!"
"No it isn't doofus," said Trunks, interrupting. "The BEST holiday is Christmas."
"Oh yeah!" said Goten, "I forgot about that." Bra giggled.
"I love Christmas! That's when Santa Clause comes." Pan and Marron nodded, eyes big.
"I can't wait," said Pan. "Christmas is soon too."
"Uh, huh," agreed Marron, "This year, I'm gonna stay up and catch Santa." Miari stared at them, still lost. Bulma noticed the look on his face.
"You don't know about Santa?" she asked.
"I don't know anything you're talking about," he said. "Thanksgiving? Christmas? What in the world.?" Everyone stared at him amazed.
"You're telling me you've never heard of Christmas?" asked Goku. Miari shook his head. Bra stared wide-eyed.
"Never?! You've never known about Santa? Who did you think brought the presents?"
"Um.what presents?"
"Bra, why don't you and Trunks go upstairs with your friends and let us talk to Miari?" said Bulma.
"But kaasan!" complained Trunks.
"No buts. Go," she ordered. He sighed and went upstairs, the other kids following.
"And I'm gonna tell daddy you broke my doll house!" said Bra.
"Aww, you're such a baby," he complained.
"Am not!"
"Are too."
"Am not!"
"Are too."
"Am not!"
It kept going back and forth as their voices faded going upstairs. Bulma turned back to him, shaking her head.
"Forgive them. They never quit. So what this about you never hearing about any of this?" Miari shrugged.
"I've just never heard of it. What is it?"
"Well," said Gohan, "Thanksgiving is pretty much like Goten said. You get together with your family and best friends and celebrate what you're thankful for. You also eat a lot. Turkey, ham, cranberry sauce, gravy, pie, cornbread, stuffing, and anything else that you got. We usually spar a lot too. It's fun."
"And then there's Christmas," said Bulma. "We usually get together for that too. But for Christmas you get a tree and decorate it and put presents under it. Then on Christmas morning you exchange presents with everybody. That's a lot of fun too. Santa Clause," she dropped her voice, "isn't real. But he's fun for kids. Supposedly he comes down your chimney on Christmas Eve and leaves presents for kids if they've been good all year. If not they get a lump of coal."
"Didn't you ever do anything like that?" asked Videl. "What kind of future are you from?"
"Videl, his future's different from ours," said Gohan. "Do you remember the story I told you about Cell and the androids?" She nodded. "Well, you remember when I mentioned a person from the future that warned us about them? That person was the future version of Trunks. This is him." Her eyes widened.
"Are you serious? From the future?" Miari nodded.
"Yeah," said Gohan, "So his time didn't have warning. There, we've all died."
"Everyone? Even me?"
"I don't know if you're alive. I have never seen you, or at least I don't think so. But of everyone else who is part of the Z-team here, no one is alive."
"No one? Not even your mom?" Miari shook his head.
"What?!" said Bulma, "I thought she wasn't killed."
"She wasn't," he said, "But she got sick a little over a year ago. It got really bad and since we don't really have any resources for anything.There wasn't much anyone could do."
"Oh, honey," Bulma said, hugging him, "I'm sorry." Everyone nodded, not really knowing what to say.
"Chichi's gone too. Same thing. It was happening to a lot of people." Bulma hugged him tighter.
"I'm so sorry honey. Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm okay," he said, pulling away. "I just don't know what to do anymore. I could help rebuild, but it's beginning to seem sort of pointless. Everyone's dying. There's nothing left over there. There's nothing I can do to help them, no matter how much I want to. I'm not a doctor. Even if I was, there are no materials for anything. I'd even like to take some medicine back if I could. But my ship barely made the last trip and there's no way I could make more fuel or produce the energy to recharge it for enough trips to take all the medicine and doctors for everyone and then get them all back on top of that. I just don't know what to do."
"Man, that's rough," said Goku.
"What do you plan to do when you go back?" asked Gohan. Miari shrugged, repeating,
"I don't know what to do." He shook his head. "I'm all out of ideas. Not that I usually had them. Mostly it was my mother doing all the brain work." He paused, clenching his fist on his knees. "Man! If only she were here! I know she'd have an idea! A way to get us out of all of this!" Bulma knelt in front of him, looking him in the eyes.
"Trunks-kun," she said, "I know I'm not your mother, but I'm pretty close. I don't know fully what it's like over there, but I can tell you: You've done SO much already. Everyone over here owes you everything they have. I know if there was a way you could help you would do it, but the way things are looking, maybe you can't." There was a pause of silence between everyone. Trunks said nothing, turning away from her.
"Trunks," she added, "Stay here." He looked back at her in surprise. "It's like you said, there's nothing left over there. Stay with us here." He looked down, considering.
"I can't." he said slowly, "All those people. I'd feel like I was abandoning them. I can't just leave them to die. Besides, it's my home."
"Trunks, a home is a place that you feel safe and happy, not a place you feel you have to be as a responsibility," said Gohan.
"But it IS my responsibility!" he insisted. "I'm supposed to protect those people. To do anything I can to help."
"But Trunks you HAVE done everything you can," said Goku. "I think you should consider it."
"Please Trunks," said Bulma, "At least think about it. Stay here, just for the holidays. Then you can decide if you want to really go back or not. It's only until January." Her voice became sincere and loving, "If your mother thinks the same way I do, she's say the same. She'd want you to be happy Trunks. Not to live out of obligation." Trunks thought to himself again.
"January.who knows how many more people will be gone by then.Of course with my time machine I should be able to return to the exact time I left if I wanted." Everyone waited, watching the calculations going on behind his eyes. Finally he nodded. "Okay, I'll stay for a while." Bulma and the rest smiled, and she hugged him again.
"Are you done yet?" asked Trunks' voice from upstairs. They turned to look at him and Goten leaning on the stair's balcony rail. Bulma scowled up at him.
"I thought I said go to your room," she said.
"No, you said go upstairs. I'm still upstairs." She sighed.
"Mommy! Trunks won't apologize!" came Bra's yell from her room.
"I didn't do anything!" he yelled back.
"Did too!" said Bra coming out of her room.
"We did not!" said Goten.
"Did too!" argued Bra, Marron, and Pan. The others shook their heads; already know where this was going. Bulma, Videl, Goku and Gohan all stormed upstairs, ready to punish their respective offspring. Miari sighed, leaning back into the recliner.
This was going to be an interesting few weeks.
A/N: Okay, hope you like the start! Please R&R people! I'm working hard on getting this to come out right and I need some support! Think of it as an early Christmas present!
BTW: If any one knows of any site were you can download a DBZ song called Okarei My Boy (Welcome Home My Boy) I would be ETERNALLY grateful if you could give me the URL. I've looked everywhere and I feel I'm never going to find this song on the net. If I can't find it I'm going to probably have to special order it from a store that'll charge me twice what the price is of their normal import CDs and I'm a poor, broke person that don't got money for that. So if you anyone knows of anything, please inform me! Thank you!
Disclaimer: I don't own DBZ, but maybe if I ask really nice Santa will give it to me for Christmas.
(Um, this is a little convo-intro thing I wrote before getting very far in the story. It's only here for your amusement and has no effect whatsoever on the actual plot line.)
It was a normal, lovely, peaceful day a Capsule Corp., until something unusual happened.
Miari: Hold up. Don'tcha think they know that?
Mel: Know what?
Miari: That the day was normal until something unusual happened. Of course when a normal day is interrupted by something unusual it isn't normal anymore. I mean, duh!
Mel: Shaddap, besides, there are some stupid people out there. And in any case, WHO is writing this?
Miari: Unfortunately, you.
Mel: That's right, so shut your mou- Hey!
Miari: ^_^
Mel: Grr.alright. I'll remember that. Just you wait. And this is a fic about you too.
Miari: x_x
Mel: Well in any case, that's not where the story begins.
Miari: I have a bad feeling about this.
Home For The Holidays (okay, THIS is the story)
CH 1
Miari Trunks stood on the edge of the high cliff, looking out at the dirty sunset that to him was one of the most beautiful he'd ever seen, coming down over the once crystal clear water, now polluted brown. The wind whipped around him, playing with his shoulder-long lavender hair.
"I wish you could see this," he whispered, running his fingers around the smooth, baby-blue jar in his hands. "Maybe it isn't as pretty as you remember, but it's nice. You'd like it. Or at least I hope you would." He sighed, clutching it close to him, holding back his tears. "But no matter. At least. now you're free." He crushed the jar in his hands, letting the ashes scatter to the sea with the wind.
"Good-bye. kaasan."
~~~~
Meanwhile, in the other timeline, it was a nice day at C.C. until.
Mrs. Briefs was outside taking care of her flower garden, trimming the bushes and pulling up weeds. In the not-so-far distance you could hear the oncoming of two demi-Saiyans, probably about to be in a world of trouble.
"TRUNKS!!! GOTEN!!!!" yelled Bulma chasing after them. "You both come back here right now!!!"
"Why would we do that Trunks?" asked Goten. Trunks shrugged.
"I don't know maybe she thinks we wanted to blow up Bra's doll house."
"But Trunks, we did."
"That's not the point baka!"
Their running came to a halt as they crashed head-on into what felt like a human would feel crashing into a brick wall. They looked up, rubbing their heads to meet the angry eyes of the Prince of Saiyans.
"Uh, oh." said Goten. Trunks nodded in agreement, jumping to his feet. Vegeta glared down at them.
"Uh. hi otousan." Vegeta scowled, lifting them off the ground by their gi shirts.
"Going somewhere?" he asked. They shook their heads in unison. It was about that time that Bulma finally caught up with them. Despite being out of breath and tired from running, she still managed to have a very intimidating facial expression.
"You.two. In the house. Now." She turned, Vegeta following, dragging the struggling chibis. On the way back, she ranted, "You know I'm busy and have a lot to do to get ready for Thanksgiving tomorrow. Chichi will be furious with you Goten because she's probably working twice as hard. Honestly, and do you have to torture your sister every day Trunks? You do want to have Thanksgiving right?"
"Yes!" they both answered.
"Well I'm telling you right now that if you keep this up I'll-"
Suddenly, from the distance there was a bright flash out light, bright enough to be noticed even in the daylight of the November morning. Bulma and Vegeta stopped in their tracks and looked over to where it was just in time to see a familiar, yellow capsule drop out of the sky. They looked at each other, both thinking the same thing. Forgetting Trunks and Goten for the moment, they left them behind and ran off to the back of their HUGE backyard amongst an area of tall trees.
They climbed over the foliage, looking around for the large, yellow capsule. Spotting it, Vegeta ran over, Bulma following to see Miari Trunks climbing out of the cockpit, jumping to the ground.
"Miari!" Bulma smiled and ran over to give him a huge hug, glad to see her future son after such a long time. "How are you? What's been going on?" she asked. Miari shrugged.
"Nothing much. I just thought I'd come back for a visit."
"I'm glad. I was starting to think you'd never come back to see us."
"Naw. I've just been. busy." He looked over to Vegeta, who was standing, arms crossed. "Hello, otousan," he said. Vegeta grunted by the way of a greeting and turned to head back to the house. "Well, I guess he's doing alright," he said. Bulma nodded as they started walking back towards the house after Miari capsulized his ship.
"Actually, he's changed quite a bit since you've been gone. He's different. Maybe he won't show it at first, but you'll see."
When they got back to the house, the chibis had already gone inside, sitting on the couch, not wanting to get into any more trouble then they were already in. They stared as Miari came in. They looked at each other, mouths slightly open. Miari grinned at the look of shock on their faces as Bulma laughed slightly. Vegeta chose instead, to retreat to the comfort of his gravity room.
"Have a seat Miari. Are you hungry or anything?"
"No, I'm fine thank you." He sat down in on of the recliners as Bulma also sat down across from him, the two chibis on the couch between them. Unable to hold his curiosity, Goten asked,
"Who are you? And why do you look like Trunks?"
"What? I don't look like him!" said Trunks.
"Yes you do! You look exactly like him! Only he's older."
"Do not."
"Do too."
"Do not." "Do too"
"Do n-"
"Wow!" said a voice from the stairs. Everyone turned to see a three-year old Bra coming down the stairs. "Lookie Marron! Lookie Pan!" she said. "There are two Trunks!" Not far behind her, both other girls followed to see what in the world she was talking about.
"Hey she's right!" said Marron, Pan looking over her shoulder. They came down the stairs, looking between them. As fascinated as they were with the site of Miari, he was just as curious about them. Bulma was about to explain before Goku, Gohan, and Videl appeared in the room, via instant transmission.
"Hi Bulma, hope we aren't interrupting anything," said Gohan. "But we felt Miari's ki so we'd thought we'd see what was up."
"Hi Miari," said Goku, "Long time no see!"
"Goku?" he asked, "How are you alive? I thought you died." Goku laughed.
"Well nice to see you too." Miari's face reddened a bit.
"Oh, gomen. I'm glad you're alive again Goku-san. I was just surprised."
"I know that. Don't take it so seriously kid." Miari smiled. Videl stared at him curiously.
"Gohan, who's that?" she asked. "Is this another one of your muscle-head friends I don't know about?"
"Sorry Videl. I forget you don't know these things sometimes. This is Miari Trunks. He's from the future." She stared in confusment at him, not really grasping what the heck he was talking about.
Deciding Gohan could explain things to her later, Bulma introduced him to the latest additions to the Z-team.
"This is you, and his best friend Goten. He's Goku's second son. And this is Bra, your younger sister. Those are her friends, Pan and Marron. Pan is Gohan and Videl's daughter and Marron is Krillen and Eighteen's. This is Videl, Gohan's wife and Mr. Satan's daughter."
Miari Trunks stared at them in wonder. Gohan was married? To the daughter of Mr. Satan no less. And he had a daughter. And a younger sister? Wow! Of course, he assumed that he should have expected things to change in this time. But, Krillen and Eighteen? Hold up!
"Eighteen?" he asked, a bit nervously despite the fact that he no longer had to fear that she was once stronger than him. Gohan nodded.
"Yeah, but don't worry. She's changed. And they're very happy so I don't thinks there's anything to worry about." Miari nodded, trying to get the concept of the once evil android ever being 'nice'. He couldn't. However, he figured he could trust his friends. Looking down at the chibis, he could definitely see the Bulma in Bra and the mix of Krillen and Eighteen in Marron. Now that he looked between Pan and her parents, he could see the resemblance there too. But Videl looked nothing like her father. 'Thank Kami,' he thought. 'No one would want to see a female Satan.'
"So what's new with you Miari?" asked Goku. "It's been a while." He nodded.
"Yes, it has. The androids are gone of course. So is Cell. Things are getting rebuilt and basically that's it. One of the reasons I came back. I was bored. Nothing to do."
"Well, better nothing then something bad right?" smiled Bulma. "You picked a good time to come. Tomorrow's Thanksgiving here. Is it the same there?" Miari stared at her confused.
"Huh? What's that?"
"You know," said Goten, "That's when kaasan make a bunch of food and you all get together with people and talk about what you're thankful for and eat and eat and eat ALL DAY! Then you get to play around and it's SO fun! It's the BEST holiday ever!"
"No it isn't doofus," said Trunks, interrupting. "The BEST holiday is Christmas."
"Oh yeah!" said Goten, "I forgot about that." Bra giggled.
"I love Christmas! That's when Santa Clause comes." Pan and Marron nodded, eyes big.
"I can't wait," said Pan. "Christmas is soon too."
"Uh, huh," agreed Marron, "This year, I'm gonna stay up and catch Santa." Miari stared at them, still lost. Bulma noticed the look on his face.
"You don't know about Santa?" she asked.
"I don't know anything you're talking about," he said. "Thanksgiving? Christmas? What in the world.?" Everyone stared at him amazed.
"You're telling me you've never heard of Christmas?" asked Goku. Miari shook his head. Bra stared wide-eyed.
"Never?! You've never known about Santa? Who did you think brought the presents?"
"Um.what presents?"
"Bra, why don't you and Trunks go upstairs with your friends and let us talk to Miari?" said Bulma.
"But kaasan!" complained Trunks.
"No buts. Go," she ordered. He sighed and went upstairs, the other kids following.
"And I'm gonna tell daddy you broke my doll house!" said Bra.
"Aww, you're such a baby," he complained.
"Am not!"
"Are too."
"Am not!"
"Are too."
"Am not!"
It kept going back and forth as their voices faded going upstairs. Bulma turned back to him, shaking her head.
"Forgive them. They never quit. So what this about you never hearing about any of this?" Miari shrugged.
"I've just never heard of it. What is it?"
"Well," said Gohan, "Thanksgiving is pretty much like Goten said. You get together with your family and best friends and celebrate what you're thankful for. You also eat a lot. Turkey, ham, cranberry sauce, gravy, pie, cornbread, stuffing, and anything else that you got. We usually spar a lot too. It's fun."
"And then there's Christmas," said Bulma. "We usually get together for that too. But for Christmas you get a tree and decorate it and put presents under it. Then on Christmas morning you exchange presents with everybody. That's a lot of fun too. Santa Clause," she dropped her voice, "isn't real. But he's fun for kids. Supposedly he comes down your chimney on Christmas Eve and leaves presents for kids if they've been good all year. If not they get a lump of coal."
"Didn't you ever do anything like that?" asked Videl. "What kind of future are you from?"
"Videl, his future's different from ours," said Gohan. "Do you remember the story I told you about Cell and the androids?" She nodded. "Well, you remember when I mentioned a person from the future that warned us about them? That person was the future version of Trunks. This is him." Her eyes widened.
"Are you serious? From the future?" Miari nodded.
"Yeah," said Gohan, "So his time didn't have warning. There, we've all died."
"Everyone? Even me?"
"I don't know if you're alive. I have never seen you, or at least I don't think so. But of everyone else who is part of the Z-team here, no one is alive."
"No one? Not even your mom?" Miari shook his head.
"What?!" said Bulma, "I thought she wasn't killed."
"She wasn't," he said, "But she got sick a little over a year ago. It got really bad and since we don't really have any resources for anything.There wasn't much anyone could do."
"Oh, honey," Bulma said, hugging him, "I'm sorry." Everyone nodded, not really knowing what to say.
"Chichi's gone too. Same thing. It was happening to a lot of people." Bulma hugged him tighter.
"I'm so sorry honey. Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm okay," he said, pulling away. "I just don't know what to do anymore. I could help rebuild, but it's beginning to seem sort of pointless. Everyone's dying. There's nothing left over there. There's nothing I can do to help them, no matter how much I want to. I'm not a doctor. Even if I was, there are no materials for anything. I'd even like to take some medicine back if I could. But my ship barely made the last trip and there's no way I could make more fuel or produce the energy to recharge it for enough trips to take all the medicine and doctors for everyone and then get them all back on top of that. I just don't know what to do."
"Man, that's rough," said Goku.
"What do you plan to do when you go back?" asked Gohan. Miari shrugged, repeating,
"I don't know what to do." He shook his head. "I'm all out of ideas. Not that I usually had them. Mostly it was my mother doing all the brain work." He paused, clenching his fist on his knees. "Man! If only she were here! I know she'd have an idea! A way to get us out of all of this!" Bulma knelt in front of him, looking him in the eyes.
"Trunks-kun," she said, "I know I'm not your mother, but I'm pretty close. I don't know fully what it's like over there, but I can tell you: You've done SO much already. Everyone over here owes you everything they have. I know if there was a way you could help you would do it, but the way things are looking, maybe you can't." There was a pause of silence between everyone. Trunks said nothing, turning away from her.
"Trunks," she added, "Stay here." He looked back at her in surprise. "It's like you said, there's nothing left over there. Stay with us here." He looked down, considering.
"I can't." he said slowly, "All those people. I'd feel like I was abandoning them. I can't just leave them to die. Besides, it's my home."
"Trunks, a home is a place that you feel safe and happy, not a place you feel you have to be as a responsibility," said Gohan.
"But it IS my responsibility!" he insisted. "I'm supposed to protect those people. To do anything I can to help."
"But Trunks you HAVE done everything you can," said Goku. "I think you should consider it."
"Please Trunks," said Bulma, "At least think about it. Stay here, just for the holidays. Then you can decide if you want to really go back or not. It's only until January." Her voice became sincere and loving, "If your mother thinks the same way I do, she's say the same. She'd want you to be happy Trunks. Not to live out of obligation." Trunks thought to himself again.
"January.who knows how many more people will be gone by then.Of course with my time machine I should be able to return to the exact time I left if I wanted." Everyone waited, watching the calculations going on behind his eyes. Finally he nodded. "Okay, I'll stay for a while." Bulma and the rest smiled, and she hugged him again.
"Are you done yet?" asked Trunks' voice from upstairs. They turned to look at him and Goten leaning on the stair's balcony rail. Bulma scowled up at him.
"I thought I said go to your room," she said.
"No, you said go upstairs. I'm still upstairs." She sighed.
"Mommy! Trunks won't apologize!" came Bra's yell from her room.
"I didn't do anything!" he yelled back.
"Did too!" said Bra coming out of her room.
"We did not!" said Goten.
"Did too!" argued Bra, Marron, and Pan. The others shook their heads; already know where this was going. Bulma, Videl, Goku and Gohan all stormed upstairs, ready to punish their respective offspring. Miari sighed, leaning back into the recliner.
This was going to be an interesting few weeks.
A/N: Okay, hope you like the start! Please R&R people! I'm working hard on getting this to come out right and I need some support! Think of it as an early Christmas present!
BTW: If any one knows of any site were you can download a DBZ song called Okarei My Boy (Welcome Home My Boy) I would be ETERNALLY grateful if you could give me the URL. I've looked everywhere and I feel I'm never going to find this song on the net. If I can't find it I'm going to probably have to special order it from a store that'll charge me twice what the price is of their normal import CDs and I'm a poor, broke person that don't got money for that. So if you anyone knows of anything, please inform me! Thank you!