Hello again, I hope this one didn't take to long to get out! This one, I'm going to admit, is a little sappy, but my reason for it is that everything has been so serious for a while, so I figured that I would lighten it up. So anyway, here it is, enjoy!
~Lady Branwen~
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Girl of My Dreams
Chapter 21
Trunks sat outside in a valley watching water cascade down a waterfall. Birds sang in the trees surrounding him. Rabbits played together in the grass and squirrels hunted for food, being careful to stay away from the rabbits so they wouldn't be pounced on. Life went on as usual in that lush valley. It was the most peaceful spot for Trunks to go when he needed to relax and to think. He closed his eyes and lost himself in the sounds. When he opened his eyes again, he sighed.
"Everything is so nice here and I feel like shit. I'm ruining the scenery."
He got up and walked behind the waterfall into a cavern. Trunks smiled. He and Goten had blasted holes into the cliff and had made the cavern themselves. He touched the wall and looked around. There were three different rooms. There was one for them to sleep, one to hang out in, and one extra room that they had made specially for one particular purpose. It was their ultra secret hideout. The cavern itself might have been a hideout, but the extra room, at least when they were younger had seemed much more secure and impervious to attack. There was a small hole that one would have to crawl through and as they grew they made the hole bigger. But that the small hole belied the grandness of the room it led to. The room wasn't extravagant, but it was huge and Trunks wondered at how he and Goten could have made it when they were so small. They had used ki blasts, but for being so young, they had done an incredible job. To make it secure, they had a huge boulder that they would roll out in the front of the hole and another one on the inside of the room that they would roll in front of the hole as added protection. At the very back of the room they had made another small hole as an escape route.
They had made the cavern after one of their more daring jokes against Vegeta. They had fled Trunks' house in fear for their lives (who wouldn't after Vegeta just used shampoo that had hair straightener in it, courtesy of Trunks and Goten). They stayed within the vicinity just long enough to see the look on his face when he finally came out of the bathroom. They watched as Bulma had tried so very hard not to laugh at how flat his hair was. Then, gathering as much courage as he could, Trunks jumped out of his hiding spot laughing uncontrollably, snapped a picture of Vegeta (using the flash, of course, to blind Vegeta just long enough to let Trunks have a head start), then flew back to their cavern.
A lot of thought went into that particular prank, Trunks remembered, but it had paid off. That picture was now in the family photo album and whenever showed, it would always make everyone laugh. Except Vegeta of course! Not even Trunks understood how he had escaped and he and Goten had hidden from Vegeta for three weeks. Of course, Vegeta got his revenge in the end and had forced them to spend a week with him in the gravity room.
Trunks moved the rock that hid the hole and crawled into the large room. Pan sat against a wall with her legs drawn up and her head resting on her knees.
"How are you?" he asked.
She turned to look at him with tears in her eyes and she let herself fall into his arms as he sat beside her. They sat holding each other for what seemed like forever. Then, finally, Pan slipped out of his arms and rested her head on his thigh.
"I'm so glad that I'm not there anymore." Then she thought of all that had happened.
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Pan felt everyone's eyes on her. There was whispering coming from all over the courtroom. She knew that Charles had to be looking at her, finally taking notice that she had moved away from him. Charles was, in fact, staring right at her, his nostrils flaring, anger was clearly written on his face. Pan felt a familiar fear overcome her and she knew that she was losing her resolve. Quickly, she looked at Trunks, the only person in the world who could possibly help her and give her any hope of getting away from Charles. She saw him with his eyes wide and his lips partly open as if to say something, but was to shocked to do so.
Goku put his arm around Pan protectively. All the attention of the courtroom was focused on her as everyone rumored about why she had suddenly switched sides when she had always been seated behind Charles. Everyone, from the judge, to people sitting at the back of the courtroom, was looking at her. She looked at Trunks again and saw him looking at Charles. Then he looked back at her.
"Run," he mouthed.
Without the slightest hesitation, Pan escaped from Goku's grasp and bolted for the door. No one got in her way until she came to the guards blocking the door. They tried to capture and tame her as if she were a deranged animal on the loose. She felt her arms grabbed and pulled behind her. Bulma saw and immediately knew that being handled like that would bring back bad memories for Pan, so she demanded that the guards let her go. She rushed to Pan. Everything seemed to be in slow motion to Pan. She collapsed on the floor and sat in a daze. Bulma knelt beside her and touched her forehead and talked to her quietly, asking her how she was.
"Bulma's voice is so distant," Pan thought slowly.
"Stay here, Pan" she heard Trunks say.
"Where are you?"
"I'm here."
"I…love you."
"Don't, Pan. Don't pass out, don't give up. Stay with us."
"Where are you?"
"I'm here, Pan. The guards won't let me near you, but I'm right here."
"…"
"She's passing out, get her someplace comfortable to lay on. Move it!"
Bulma's voice came back loud and clear. The people in the room were all talking and crowding around Pan. She opened her eyes and saw Bulma.
Bulma turned and shouted above the noise, "She's waking up!" Looking back at Pan she said more gently, "Hey Pan, it's okay. Do you want me to help you up?"
Pan was still slightly confused about her whole ideal and everything seemed like it was later in the day, although she thought that she hadn't even passed out. "I was only a little lightheaded," she said to Bulma.
"I think you were a little more than that," she answered with a smile. "You've been out for about fifteen minutes."
She looked around at her surroundings and saw that the two guards who hadn't let her out were right behind her, trying to help her to sit up. Goku was to her left, a look of concern was on his face and his hand was on her shoulder in reassurance. Judge Swartz was next to Goku, bending over slightly to get a good look at the situation. Bulma was in the middle, still crouching down next to Pan. Behind Bulma and the judge was Trunks. He was standing and smiled down at her. Next to Bulma was Charles. Pan gasped as her eyes fell on him and she began scooting over so that she could be closer to Goku.
"It's okay, Pan. Don't worry, I'm right here," he said gently. He put his arm around her as she sat up and tried to console her. Pan turned and cried into his chest.
Judge Swartz looked suspiciously over at Charles. Charles' jaw was set, but he kept himself in check and to anyone in the room, he appeared to have a genuine concern for Pan. Goku knew otherwise and saw the anger boiling beneath the surface, just at the point of exploding.
"Come with me," Judge Swartz said when Pan had somewhat recovered. He motioned for Bulma and Mr. Hahn to follow.
When they were all seated and comfortable in his chambers, Judge Swartz began to speak.
"Throughout this case, Mrs. Brief, you have maintained that Ms. Miller does not want to be with her adoptive father. It appears that this incident would concur with your claim." Bulma began to speak, but he held his hand up for silence. He turned to Mr. Hahn. "Now I don't know how you would like to handle this situation, Mr. Hahn, but you can't convince me that this girl," he gestured to Pan, "was not afraid of your client. Whether or not your Mrs. Brief planned for Pan to do something like this, or to make her try to run away or make a scene, that look of fear cannot be mistaken. And in any case, I don't see why she would be siding with them in the first place if she wasn't actually on their side and wants to get away from Mr. Miller."
"Your Honor, I believe that Mr. Son may have forced her to make a scene."
"Is there any evidence for this? She has been in protective custody and there are guards all around the courtroom that would protect her. She has no reason to fear the Sons or Mr. Brief. In fact, judging by the way that she looked at Mr. Brief when she woke up, I think they are in love."
Pan couldn't help but let a smile grace her lips at her good fortune. The judge truly seemed to know and understand what was really going on and not looking at things from the surface. He had been much more aware of her feelings than she had thought. The fact that he took such notice of the way she had looked at Trunks surprised her, but made her happy beyond any happiness she had ever felt before. Though, she felt as if it was all too good to be true.
"Your Honor?" Pan hesitated. "I don't want to be with him anymore."
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"I told him everything, Trunks," she said. "I'm so glad that he didn't send me back with Charles."
"So am I," he replied gently.
They held each other for a long while. Trunks stroked Pan's hair. He thought of everything that had happened, all the terrible situations that Pan had gone through, only to be there together and being happy. Then, doing something that he rarely did in front of other people, Trunks sang to Pan softly. It seemed that Pan understood how self conscious Trunks was and that he had let his guard down for her, and though Trunks thought he didn't sound very good, Pan thought it was wonderful. Soon Trunks got up and led Pan back outside to the fresh air. It was almost dusk. Trunks smirked to himself, as he developed another plan to make Pan happy. He put his arm around her waist and slowly rose into the air to a cliff and set her down.
"Oh Trunks!" she exclaimed after the initial shock of being taken into the air. "We can see the sun go down from here!"
He was a little taken aback at how excited he was. Pan reminded him of a child so excited at being able to do anything because it was new to them. He realized that, perhaps, for the first time Pan was finding out about love and happiness and about seeing and doing things she would not even dare to imagine while living with Charles. He could just imagine Pan lying on her bed reading tons of books to let her mind drift to different times and different places far away from her own so she could forget her troubles. Maybe after her long years alone she had been curious about what love was like and read romance novels, never once thinking that anything like it could happen to her. Trunks didn't much care for those kinds of books or chick flicks or anything too girly in general, but for her, if she wanted to go see a chick flick, he would be more than happy to take her.
"She needs to be shown kindness," Trunks thought. "Even if everything gets a little too sappy, she deserves to have the love that she deserves."
She sat down on the edge of the cliff, Trunks quickly sitting down next to her with a smile, and they watched the sun slowly sink down to the horizon. The entire valley was lit with a golden light and everything seemed magical, alive, and free. The sun disappeared and the moon and stars came out to twinkle above them in replacement. Pan shivered and Trunks offered her his jacket. She took it and wrapped it around herself, but also let Trunks put his arms around her for extra warmth.
"When I first saw you in my mind," she murmured, "I knew that you would give me a different life than the one I had." Trunks looked at her, but didn't say anything. "I wished that I would be able to find you and stay with you forever. I even wished that I had never been with Charles and that I would have lived with you all my life. And when I found out that my mom and dad were still around and your friends, I wished even more that I had been with them. I know I wouldn't have had such a bad life, and I would have been happy."
Trunks smiled, "You know, I think maybe you would have been more stubborn than you are now. I think maybe you would be like your mom. She can be…witchy with a b in place of the w when she wants to be."
Pan laughed and punched him lightly. "Don't talk about my mom like that."
"But maybe it's better this way. Maybe if you would have lived with them all your life, I would only look at you as a little sister. We can't change the past and have everything change for us. My mom told me how when I was still a baby that an older me came from the future and warned everyone about androids that were going to take over the world. Then we found out that even though he was helping us here, that even by changing his past, he couldn't change his present. So, even if we go so far as to change the past and have you being happy and living with your parents since you were born, it won't change things now." There was a pause. "You know…I don't want you to take this the wrong way, but…I'm okay with this path that was set out for you…for us…as long as the judge really decides that you belong with your parents. If he doesn't, then maybe it would have been better if you had just lived with your parents from the start, even if I only liked you as a sister or something. I'm not happy about you being mistreated here, but I'm glad that we're together now and that at least if something bad happens and you can't stay with your parents from now on, at least we had today together."
He suddenly got the impression that he was talking too much and that soon he would be putting Pan to sleep. He squinted his eyes as he tried to decide whether that was his own thought or it was Pan's. "Well, I should take you back now, I guess."
Pan reluctantly sat up and yawned. Trunks lifted her up and flew her to an open window of an apartment building. It was now the new apartment that Pan was staying in while the rest of the trial lasted. It was guarded, just like the other one was, but the best and most important thing was that Charles wasn't in the apartment and was not allowed near Pan, at least until the case was over. She had a feeling that now things would go her way. When she had told the judge everything he had wanted to know about why she had reacted the way she did at seeing Charles and also why she had moved to the other side in the first place, he had seemed to make his final verdict in his mind. Of course, he would not do so until he heard from the rest of the witnesses in case they shed more light on the situation.
"So we still have to wait."
"Yeah," Trunks replied, "but I'm sure that everything will be fine." He kissed her nose and was about to fly away before the guards came, but she grabbed him and pulled him back to her. Obviously she had something to say, but she seemed to be having a hard time getting it out. Finally, she said, "I've been thinking about something lately…Charles, if he can't keep me as his daughter, he might try to hurt me at the end of the trial. If he ends up being put in jail, what is there for him to lose?"
Trunks suddenly got serious. "Trust me, he won't lay a finger on you. Even if he tries, he won't get past me." Pan laughed and hugged him. "What?" he asked, confused.
"You look so serious, Trunks…you look so cute when you're mad!"
She stepped back and looked at him and, by the moonlight, could see him blushing. Pan giggles again and said goodbye to him. She watched as he flew away and smiled to herself, knowing that as long as Trunks was around, she would be okay. She stood for a while in shock at being alone. For once, she didn't have to worry about being quiet or staying out of Charles' way. She didn't have to be his little servant, she didn't have to clean the house and do a spectacular job in order to avoid a beating. She could listen to the radio whenever she wanted and listen to whatever she wanted. Her newfound freedom felt awkward to her, but she enjoyed it and prayed to any God that listened that she would be able to keep her happiness forever.