Disclaimer: Nothing to claim but the plot.
Keep Me From Dying (2/3)And all the roads we have to walk are winding
And all the lights to lead us there are blinding
There are many things that I would like to say to you
But I don't know how
Because maybe… you're gonna be the one that saves me
And after all, you're my wonder wall…
-Wonder Wall, Oasis
Pan sat on the edge of her bed, staring at the television as the events of the past four weeks poured out before her eyes. The police ransacking her home, tearing her father from his family then leaving her mother angry and confused. Goten had tried hiding with Dende, but some International Militia had found him, and from what she'd heard her Grandfather Satan telling her mother, he'd been tortured for the mere attempt of escape. Trunks and Bra had disappeared, and no one knew where they'd gone.
The part that was itching at her brain, the only part of it that made her uneasy, was that she too had not been dragged into custody. Certainly her links to the Saiya-jin heritage were not so small that it would not turn up on a flipping piece of paper. She carried one fourth of her Saiya-jin Grandfather's DNA and if that's what her family and closest friends were going to prison for, then she should too.
And Trunks, Dende, his disappearance had bothered her in a way that she was unwilling to admit to even herself. They'd been a casual thing; no real feelings of love, only physical attraction and a sex drive so strong it saved them from ever having to work on a relationship. It was, ideally, what she'd believed she'd wanted the whole time. Trunks was far from unknown for his tendency for cheating as soon as the game had set a steady pace. It worked well with her ambition to keep a man wondering… You don't play hard to get, they don't like that kind of work. You play hard to keep, because it keeps them on their toes.
She closed her eyes as the news footage changed to her uncle fighting and screaming as men in dark green suits dragged him off. She couldn't watch them inject him again as he went Super Saiya-jin. The way he fell limp to the ground like a rag doll broke her heart more than words could say. She'd never seen anyone in her family instantly that weak. She'd never, in any of their countless battles, seen anyone go down like that in their family ever—they even died with Pride in the Son name.
Trunks had been frantic as he watched the news for hours after they'd first seen it. He was unapproachable as he stared at the pictures of EMTs circling his mother's dead body in the middle of the street just outside their office building. He continuously mumbled about not listening, should have been listening. His hands gripped the arms of his father's favorite chair as they flashed the movements of his father, killing people as he passed. Old people, young people, children… it didn't seem that Vegeta could tell the difference. Pan wanted to vomit, it was the worst she'd ever seen the lost Saiya-jin prince act.
She'd made attempts at talking to Trunks, but he didn't say anything to her. She offered him everything she could think of to take his mind off of it, from sex to food, but she knew deep down that nothing she had would make anything right. Trunks had unknowingly been orphaned in the last two hours and not only had no one had the decency to come and tell him in person what had happened, but now he'd lost the only person willing to openly admit that she loved him. His life, as he knew it, was probably over.
So when he'd decided to go and find Bra, she didn't wait for him to ask her to leave. She just went. She didn't want to cause any more problems.
It took a week for the test results to come back wielding a list of names of women and men carrying the gene. In the week that Trunks had put himself under house arrest, Pan had come to visit him everyday, to help him in the only way he wanted her to. Physically. Sometimes he was rough and angry, sputtering out words incoherently about hate and death. Others he was painfully slow, and he cried into her hair, sobbing about being fully alone now. There was no one who cared about him at all.
And her chest swelled every time he told her. Because at some point in that week, she didn't know what time or what day even, their relationship had changed. It wasn't just sex anymore. It was something else. She'd stay after, whole nights once or twice. She would sooth him and tell him he'd be okay, she'd protect him from the world if she had to. He confided in her, he told her things that he never would have brought up before; it was almost like they were more than friends with benefits.
After her father had been taken and dragged off to prison, she'd been gathered together by her mother and taken to her grandfather's house for sanctuary, were they'd been updated routinely on the status on the prisoners and who they were looking for. So far she knew they were only look for Trunks and Bra realistically. They also had Goku on their list, but no force in heaven or hell had been known to bring Goku home if he didn't feel like it. Comparing this to far worse happenings in the past, she doubted this qualified as bad enough for a voluntary return. Of course, maybe that was why he was staying away.
Pan stood up and turned off the television, it was too much for her to watch anymore.
* * * * * * * * * *
Videl and Pan waited at the table that night when Mr. Satan walked in, his head hung low. Videl's head shot up, a hopeful glance at her father and a sorrowful one in return was all she needed to not ask. Pan however, missed the whole display, and piped up in her father's honor, "So?" she asked, looking from one to the other, scared by their inability to speak, "What are they going to do with Dad and Goten?"
Her Grandfather took his seat rather reluctantly, "I tried my best, girls. I know they don't deserve it, I know they've been saving the world since you were young Videl. I even went as far as to confess to not beating cell," he shook his head, unable to look either of them in the eye, "they wouldn't believe me."
"Don't walk around the problem, Grandpa!" Pan exclaimed, standing up and slamming her fists on the table. She had no problem giving her grandfather a stare down until he was willing to tell her were her favorite half of the family was going. "Tell me. What are you going to do with them, all of them, when they find them all?"
Mr. Satan sighed, "They're going to kill them."
There was silence in the room for a few minutes. Videl appeared to be staring at the floor, though her hand covered her mouth and her shoulders were shaking. Pan looked like someone had just punched her a good one in the stomach, looking right ahead with her mouth wide open and her face stiff. Mr. Satan didn't do anything, in fear of setting off two of the most powerful women he'd ever met.
"They can't do that," Pan said after a long time, "people have been trying to kill the Saiya-jins for years. No one's ever succeeded before. Bullets won't do it, they can go Super," she almost smiled at her realization, "neither will electric chair or gas chamber."
"None of the people you've fought in the past have used lethal injection, Pan," Videl said, quietly. She stopped playing with her hands long enough to look her only child in the eye, "And the Saiya-jin have never, in the history of your family, fought anything on this planet without Bulma Briefs there to take care of things like that. Not even Dende can save them now, Pan."
Mr. Satan chose this moment to speak up, "I was able to strike a deal with them though," both the women turned to look at him, hopeful, "They agreed not to take Pan, because the amount of the gene in her was so small and I convinced them that that meant you didn't have any of their abilities. They only went with it because I'm your grandfather. They'll only let you live, Pan, if you live here under my supervision… you're basically under permanent house arrest."
Pan wanted to burst out about how unfair that was, but before she could even form the words in her mouth, the butler came walking in a Military Official. He was a burly and hairy man, who had a victorious expression on his face, "Mr. Satan," he said, quickly saluting the older man, "The World Army would like to report that we have captured a one Son Goku."
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Trunks and Bra were seated in a cave in the middle of nowhere. Bra was sleeping silently in the corner, while Trunks jumped at every little sound. So when there was a quiet rapping on the bolder in front of their cave home, Trunks nearly bounced out the small hole in the side of the cave that sunlight and air came in through. He came to push the rock out of the way, ready to be captured.
To his surprise, it was only Pan. He reached out and grabbed her arm, pulling her in harshly and just as fast, put the bolder back in its place. He turned and looked at her. He wanted to yell, he wanted to be mad, but for some reason he couldn't bring himself to do it. He wasn't sure why, but he could feel harshly at all to her anymore.
"What are you doing here?" he asked softly, rubbing the side of her face with his palm, "I told you not to come, Pan. I told you to stay away."
"They've got Goten," she said, knowing that he hadn't seen the news in over a month and had had no idea of who was free and who wasn't anymore, "They've got Grandpa Goku, too." She paused and chewed on her bottom lip, "They want to kill you Trunks, all of you. Grandpa Satan can't even stop them. They're using lethal injections and we don't have Bulma and I'm going to lose you…"
Trunks only had a second to wonder if she mean him or everyone, before he moved to silence her babbling with a kiss to the mouth. Her bottom lip trembled under him, before he slowly let her break away. He'd never remembered Pan look vulnerable like this before… almost like a little girl who had to say goodbye to her puppy before she watched it being put to sleep. "Trunks, I'm scared," she whispered, and he knew it was hard for her to admit.
"I know, me too," he replied, just as softly. He laced his fingers with him, casting a quick glance at Bra, who slumbered quietly still in the corner. "Come with me," he murmured, tugging her along into an area separated from the rest of the cave, "It echoes in here," he stated, seemingly as an observation, "How quiet can you be?"
Pan paused for a minute. She had to let the thought process. She knew what was happening. He didn't want to talk about it. He didn't want to talk about the fact that there was no avoid this anymore. If they could find Goku they could find anyone, and Trunks was no exception. It was ironic how they'd started this… this nonrelationship, with no intention of it going anywhere, and now here she was… she didn't want it to end. "Silent."
Trunks nodded, "If I tell you something I promised I would never say to you, would you get pissed and leave?" He let her hand go, and pressed himself up against her, slowly peeling her jacket off her shoulders. She stared up at him, unsure for a moment of what to do. He sighed, "Pan, I'm not sure if it's because I'm dying, or that I'm lonely, or what it really is…" he looked her in the eyes, "but I think I'm falling for you…"
Pan stared at him for a few minutes, before she grabbed him forcefully on the sides of the face and pulled him down to her. He could feel her throat contract, as if she were sobbing, and didn't realize until she let him go that she was, "Don't leave me, Trunks. Please…"
"I wish I could promise that," he said, kissing her hungrily on the mouth, then the jaw, then the neck, the shoulder, and "I wish I could stay here forever… I can't Pan… I wish I could… but I just can't…"
She closed her eyes tight, not allowing tears of any kind to flow, "I know. Just give me now then," she opened her eyes and pulled away from him a little, so she could tuck and unbutton his shirt a little, "The world isn't with us now. Nothing bad is happening right now," she ran her hands flat-palmed from his waist to his shoulders, slowly peeling off his shirt. His head came down again to capture her mouth with his.
He took a grip on the hem of her shirt and pulled it off quickly, tossing it to the floor behind them. His hand reached around to cup the side of her face, holding her to him. When he broke away he rubbed her cheek with his thumb, "You're all I'll ever need. I'd be more than happy to give you now." She whimpered a bit and pushed herself up against him, cutting off his oxygen supply for now, hands wandering down to his belt.
"Just for now."
* * * * * * * *
Videl wasn't sure that she'd ever seen Gohan looking this dismayed over anything in her entire life. His head hung low to his chest as the guard shoved his body around. It broke her heart, because she'd always thought that no matter how bad the world was outside she would still see that Son cheer in her husband's eyes. His soul now, it appeared, had died with his death sentence. She hung her head too as he took his seat on the chair across from her, "So they've told you then?"
"Yes."
She looked up, startled by the Vegeta-like tone of his voice. She reached her hand out for the middle of the table that separated them, and held it there, even when he didn't so much as look at it, "I'm sorry Gohan, I wish there was something I could do. Do they tell you anything else?"
"Yes," Gohan replied, his eyes shifting to her hand, but he made no move for it, "As soon as they find Trunks and Bra, the executions will begin," his gaze then roamed to a spot just behind her, "Dad's going to go first, since he's got the highest concentration of the Saiya-jin gene, and they consider him the greatest threat. Goten is beside himself."
"So is Pan."
His eyes shot to hers, "Does Pan know where Trunks is?"
"I'm not sure," Videl said, feeling suddenly uneasy, "I think she might. She won't talk to me. She thinks I should have a solution for this. And I don't. I can't fix it. The only one who has ever been able to was Bulma… and she's gone now. I don't know what to do, Gohan. I don't know how to live without you. I've forgotten."
"Don't worry about me… worry about Pan, Videl. I don't know how she's going to handle this. Probably not very well."
* * * * * * * * * * *
She woke up that morning with her television already on. Her mother was already awake, seated on the edge of her bed. She stared forward with tears streaming down her face. The daughter shook her mother's arm, and as though she'd been in a trance, her mother snapped to. She had the most pitiful, grief stricken look on her face, as she tried to wipe away tears, "Oh, Pan… Honey, I'm so sorry…"
"Sorry?" Pan questioned, her eyebrows narrowing, "About what?"
Videl merely pointed at the muted television screen.
Bra was being hoisted through an opening between the cave and the rock and handed off to a solider, while several others restrained a massively angry Trunks. Trunks' eyes were bulging and his mouth was open wide, a clear indication that he was screaming. His hair had gone completely blonde and his muscles had grown. The scroll bar on the bottom was a blur to Pan save one message: 'Prosecutions to start at noon today, starting with Son Goku and followed by one Trunks Briefs…'
Oh Dende. The two men who had saved her on so many occasions were about to die by something no one could or was willing to stop. Plans and regrets ran through Pan's head as she jumped to her feet and ran to her closet. Videl stared at her daughter as she scurried around the room, grabbing clothing and other materials. "Pan?" she asked, "What are you doing?"
Pan zipped up her black pants and threw on her black jacket and dug around for the boots Trunks had told her made her look like a war woman on a mission. She sat on the floor and started to tie them up, "I'm not sure mom," she said, standing and giving her mother on the cheek, "but I'm not going to sit back and let this happen like everyone else."
Pan watched the sorrow wash over her mother's face as she nodded. She was about to walk out of the room when she heard Videl speak up, "Pan?"
"Yes mom?"
"I just want you to know," she said, her hands folded tightly in her lap, "that the fact that you're Saiya-jin makes me proud in a way I don't think you'll ever understand."
Pan smiled at her mother, "I'm not going to let them die, mom. If they're going to take the Son family, they're going to take all of us."