Author's Note:

I would like to thank everyone who reviewed. You were simply fabulous; you gave me the inspiration I needed to kick me out of my laziness. I know I've said that time and again, but I mean it just as much every time. After all, you're all very inspiring. *smiles* Anyway, I'm actually having doubts about the ending point of this fic. I already have the ending in mind, yes, but I'm also thinking of stretching it to cover the additional part that I wasn't planning to cover originally, which is still pretty long.

However, that additional part will be covered/explained through flashbacks and narration in this fic's sequel, Renascimento, so I'm also thinking of not stretching it out anymore. As for those who have read the original version of that sequel, expect many changes. The first few chapters might have been pretty much the same with the original version, but there's going to be a lot of new things in the chapters to come. I'm evil, I know.

Anyway, here's Chapter Twenty. If you have any questions, please leave it in your review. And as for the question that I was asked, "Will Trunks be redeemed?" by one of the reviewers... you'll know in this chapter. So, I'll let you read on now.

Crimson Tide
Chapter Twenty: Hopeless Resolution

"I warned you, Trunks. I warned you. But you chose to disobey me. You chose to defy my orders. You chose to side with those infidels. I would've spared you. I would've spared your family. But you made the wrong choice. Now, the time has come for you --- and your loved ones --- to pay the price."

The muscles in Trunks' body tightened at those words, but he quickly pushed his fear away. This is it. Now or never, he told himself sternly, sweeping one last gaze at his companions, before he stepped forward and yelled, "THANATOS! THAT'S ENOUGH OF YOUR HIDING! DON'T BE A COWARD AND SHOW YOURSELF!"

It didn't take long for the dark warlord to appear in front of the demi-saiyajins, although he had already recovered from the injuries he attained in his battle with Goku and Vegeta, much to Trunks' surprise. He gazed at the three warriors for a few moments, before he burst into maniacal laughter. "So, you three plan to take me down once and for all? Your efforts will be futile, I'm telling you --- but it would be amusing to see you try."

Boxer dropped into a fighting stance, shortly followed by his older brother. Despite the fact that the former wasn't very skilled a warrior, he wanted to help out in eradicating the alien, nonetheless. Goten, however, did not stir, did not move a muscle. He stood still and without a word, although his raven eyes were blazing like a supernova that was at the verge of swallowing an entire star system, and so was his aura.

"You killed my father," he growled in a low, threatening tone, his eyes locked unto Thanatos' crimson orbs. Everything that happened in the past, caused by the evil warlord who stood in front of him, made the anger inside of him rise like a destructive tsunami. "And you're going to pay dearly for what you've done."

With that, he attacked. He threw punches and kicks blindly, too angry to do anything right. In fact, he was just messing everything up, yet he did not seem to notice it. When none of his physical attacks worked, he jumped up and dove towards Thanatos, his fist charged up with energy and closing in towards his enemy's face. However, the other merely stopped the assault with much ease.

And faster than he could blink, he was down on the ground, exhausted with his successive assault that was useless against the warlord, to his disbelief. As if on cue, the Briefs-Vegeta brothers jumped into action, taking the place of their fallent friend. At first they attacked Thanatos with punches and kicks Vegeta-style, but when they found that their efforts were futile, they decided that it was time to use their powers to the fullest.

Trunks flew to Thanatos' left; Boxer to the right --- and together, they charged. As they did so, they cupped their hands together and charged up separate energy beams, yelling, "KAMEHAME---"

And when they were close enough, they exclaimed, "HA!" and released their beams.

Both beams met, accumulated into a bright ball of energy, and exploded. The brothers shielded themselves from the blast, but it was too late when they realized that Thanatos managed to escape from the range of the beam. He was hovering above them, energy balls charged up in both hands, and with a smirk, he bombarded the demi-saiyajins with his energy balls as a fierce counter attack.

The older of the two managed to dodge the energy balls, but Boxer wasn't too lucky. He managed to evade the attacks at first, but the energy balls caught up with him eventually. His older brother could only look on in anger and frustration, and mutter a curse with regards to the younger Briefs-Vegeta's agility, which he thought was hopeless.

Boxer groaned as the rain of ki-attacks ended, but before he could pull himself together, a hand grabbed him by the head, and he heard mocking words that could only come from Thanatos' mouth. "Looks like you will be joining your father soon. Let's make it memorable, shall we?"

"LEAVE MY BROTHER ALONE!" Trunks bellowed as he rushed towards Thanatos, another energy blast charged up in his hand. However, he did not get the opportunity to fire it, for the Hakaijin warrior ignited his ki-saber and aimed it towards the younger demi-saiyajin's throat.

"One wrong move, Trunks, and your brother will go bye-bye," Thanatos warned with a stern tone yet with a sneer on his pale, alien features. He cocked his head to the side slightly to address the other fighter who was slowly regaining his composure. "The same goes for you, Goten. So if you don't want this kid to die, surrender quietly and bow down before me!"

Panic swept Trunks' face as he was once again faced with a dilemna, once again faced with a difficult choice. He looked into Boxer's eyes, attempting to see what the latter wanted him to do, but fierce, determined eyes in a burning shade of blue that seemed to fear no one, seemed to fear nothing, met him in return.

And that gave the demi-saiyajin the strength and the confidence he needed to say no. "Never," Trunks replied with conviction, his tone stern and with utter finality. "You deceived me once --- used me, mislead me. But that will not happen again. Never again will I become the monster you molded me into. I am Trunks Briefs-Vegeta, Prince of the Saiyajins," he claimed, hoping to honor the title that his father left them, "and I will do whatever it will take to crush you."

"Power, like a desolating pestilence, pollutes whatever it touches," Thanatos began, his eyes sparkling with crazy delight at what he was doing. "It was that power that brought you, that pulled you, to me. It was that power that destroyed you, and turned you into a monster --- the monster you claimed to have become. It was that power that took control of you and shaped your life. As it took control, shaped and polluted mine."

"Yes, and my greatest mistake was selling my best friend, his life, everything and everyone he had in exchange for it. Now I am here to atone for what I've done, and I will personally see to it that you will fall by my hand," Trunks countered, his eyes narrow and his gaze dark. "Now, let my brother go and let's settle our score."

Thanatos smirked. "Very well, then," he mumbled as he deactivated his saber and tucked it back to the belt of his fighting suit. "I'll let your brother go. But not without a little treat."

The demi-saiyajin's eyes flew wide in surprise as Thanatos thrust his free hand against his brother's chest and charged up a ki-blast. With the teenager in such a close range --- and in such a weakened state --- he was bound to be turned to ashes in no time. All Thanatos would have to do was to release the beam.

And without hesitation, the dark warrior released it.

Boxer lay on the floor, a hand on his chest, trying to stop the flow of blood as much as he could. Thanatos hit him with a force enough to render him paralyzed for a while but fortunately, not enough to knock him out.

When he first opened his eyes a few moments back, he could not see anything but the sky that spread above him, and his vision still a blur. His entire body hurt so much, he could barely move. He slowly clamped his hand into a fist and attempted to stand up, but he failed on both counts. The wound on his face --- as well as on the other parts of his body, caused by the blast Thanatos fired that dissipated into tiny pieces --- stung badly. In fact, he felt as if his face was on fire, as well as the rest of his body.

Despite his injuries, he knew that he had to rise up and fight. His body ached terribly, but he was determined to get past all the pain. The battle was not over yet. Not until Thanatos was extinguished. With that thought in mind, he once again tried to get up, but to no avail. Unable to move a muscle, he attempted to see what was going on in the battlefield instead. Upon cocking his head slightly to the right, he was greeted by a sight that he wish he never saw.

Blood. But not just blood, it was all over him. All over the right side of his body --- his arms, his legs, his shoulders, his chest, his abdomen, his face...

And then, it hit him.

He went back to full concentration as he once again tried to clamp his left hand into a fist, but he was unable to. He tried to move his left leg even just a tiny bit, but he too, failed at that. He tried to flex the fingers on his left hand instead, but still, it did not work.

He remembered from a medical encyclopedia he owned that the right half of the brain controlled the left half of the human body, while the left half of the brain controlled the right. At the moment, the right half of his body --- head to foot --- was severely damaged, and Boxer was sure that his brain was damaged as well, because he felt different and somewhat... unstable.

And it only meant one thing.

The younger Briefs-Vegeta went paler than he already was as he realized what had happened to him. He thought that the beam the dark lord hit him with was something to laugh at, as it didn't even manage to knock him unconscious, but he was wrong. He thought that his paralysis was only temporary, but he was wrong.

He was paralyzed for life, unless the Reaper would get him first.

"Boxer! Boxer, can you hear me?" Trunks called out in a very worried tone as he shook his little brother gently, trying his best to snap the latter back into reality. He saw that his brother was alive and breathing --- even conscious --- but there was something simply wrong with the way he looked. "Please, tell me that you're okay!"

However, all Boxer could do was look at his brother helplessly. He wanted to move, but he just couldn't. He wanted to tell his brother that he was all right, so Trunks would stop worrying about him and concentrate on the battle with Thanatos instead, but he just couldn't. He wanted to hug his brother to show how grateful he was that the older demi-saiyajin decided to turn back into the good side, but he just couldn't.

"Oh no... Boxer, not you too! Hold on, don't die! You have to hang on! For me, please? I know I've never been the best brother ever, but I'll make amends for that! I promise! Just... Just don't die on me! I'm begging you! I don't want to lose you too!"

I'm fine, Oniichan. Really. Don't worry about me, I'm just injured and paralyzed. Nothing for you to really worry about, Boxer thought, wanting to say all of it out loud, but he was simply unable to. His body would not cooperate, no matter how hard he tried.

He could only stare.

Blow after blow came on both sides of Goten's face, and before he could even recover from the sudden, successive assault, a powerful force hit him in the gut. He screamed in pain as he crashed, face down, to the ground. He forced himself to get up, but Thanatos pulled him up by his neck, and the more he struggled, the more he had trouble breathing.

When he was at the verge of suffocating, Thanatos threw him back to the ground, and he lay there for a couple of moments, trying to catch his breath. "What's wrong, Goten?" Thanatos sneered in satisfaction, his figure a dark shadow clashing against the bright sky. "Tired already? Are you giving up?"

"NEVER!" came the reply.

It pleased the dark lord even more as the demi-saiyajin pushed himself up once again to fight him. He was about to do another attack when a power level erupted from behind them, which made him turn to see who it was --- as well as Thanatos.

To their surprise, it was Trunks. His aura seemed to have gone berserk, just as he had erupted in anger, for it was swirling around him like a tornado accompanied by mini-lightning bolts that emphasized the intensity of the power he currently possessed. His eyes were glowing in anger, but the evil glint that used to be there was gone.

Using the distraction to his advantage, Goten rushed towards Thanatos and grabbed the warlord's weapon. As soon as Thanatos noticed what the demi-saiyajin just did, he sprinted after him, but he was almost immediately blocked by the other warrior, the older of the two, who fired a massive energy beam right on target.

And as Trunks did so, Goten landed by Boxer's side and crushed the Hakaijin's ki-saber into pieces, letting the debris fall to the barren ground in a heap. He knew that the battle was not over yet, but he was glad that they were able to do something advantageous, something that would even up the odds between them and the alien warlord.

"Goten," Trunks began softly as he landed and turned towards the warrior who was once his best friend, a melancholic look in his deep sapphire eyes. "I'm sorry. I really am. I know that I... I destroyed your life. Completely. But those times... my emotions of envy and hatred got the best of me."

He paused for a moment as Goten looked at him with confused raven eyes, and before the other could ask him questions, he continued with what he had to say. "Leave me, now! You don't deserve someone like me as a friend. You trusted me, but I ruined that trust. I betrayed you. I betrayed the entire team. I deserve to rot in the depths of hell to atone for everything I've done. While my brother... deserves to be saved."

"Trunks---"

"Go."

"But---"

Trunks looked at Goten straight in the eye, blue meeting black once again, pleading that he do him one last favor that could change the fate of them all. That could make the deaths of their comrades count. That could generate hope if he will lose the battle he will soon plunge himself into. "Save my brother, save yourself. You're... you're the only ones I have left. I'll take things from here. I promise you, Thanatos is going down."

"Trunks, listen. You can't---"

"Don't worry. I'll catch up with you once I get rid of that monster. But I want you to promise me that you'll do your best that my brother will live. Promise me, Goten. I want you to promise me."

The two of them regarded each other in silence for a few moments, and then, the younger demi-saiyajin nodded. "I promise. I don't want to leave you behind, Trunks... but I don't think I can stop you from doing what you want. I've never been able to, not even when we were still best of friends..." his voice trailed off, and then, he smiled. "No. We're best of friends. We still are."

"Goten..." Trunks began, but then he knew it was not the time to talk about the matter. He didn't even want to talk about the matter, because he knew it was too late. Nothing, no one, could change his fate. Right from the start, he was doomed. Right from the time when he signed the contract of the devil. "Go, before he recovers."

"I'll be expecting you in Sabrea soon."

"Sure, I'll be there," Trunks told him coolly, and with that, Goten picked up the younger Briefs-Vegeta and flew off, sparing one last glance at the important person he was leaving behind before actually heading off towards the vessel that would take them to Videl's homeword. However, with a pained expression, Trunks said to himself softly, "We won't be best of friends ever again, painful as it may sound. I don't deserve you as my friend. No. You don't deserve me as your friend."

As he once again dropped into a fighting stance upon sensing Thanatos recover from the blast he fired, he added in a barely audible voice, "Sure, I'll be there... but that's not a promise."

While waiting for the starfighter Kibou to reach its fully operational mode, Goten glanced uneasily at Boxer, who was securely strapped in the co-pilot's seat, not moving a muscle. The older demi-saiyajin looked into the other's pained eyes and pleaded, "Boxer, please. For your brother's sake --- and mine --- hang on."

The ship gave off a loud hum, indicating its readiness for flight and even a hyperspace jump. However, Goten felt unable to do so, for the thought of leaving Trunks, his best friend, behind was holding him back. He did not want to abandon his best friend, for he felt that he was betraying one of the people who meant so much to him. He felt like he was leaving Trunks behind to die a lonely death in the hands of the enemy --- and that was something he could not bear to do.

He pushed those thoughts away. "No. He will defeat Thanatos and meet us back in Sabrea. Then we're going to start anew and live a happy life --- the three of us, with your mom, Keeney, Videl, Pan and Oniichan. We will start over and build a future full of hope and love. No, Trunks isn't going to die."

He's not going to die, he repeated to stabilize himself, for he felt his stomach lurch as he envisioned the probable final showdown that was bound to take place between his best friend and the alien warlord who caused so much damage and killed so many of their comrades.

Hoping against hope that Trunks would be saved from the wretched hands of death, Goten kicked the starfighter's engines to life and took off for his sister-in-law's homeplanet, Sabrea.