Well, my loyal readers, we have reached the end of another story, one that started so small and just grew into the amazing piece you are about to finish reading. While this one hasn't been as long or complex as some of my other projects, it has nonetheless become very important to me, largely due to the praise from you: the fans. I want to thank you now for giving me so many wonderful reviews and getting me to finish off this story, helping it to become a wonderful trip through so many emotions, and, as always, a learning experience for me.

Many thanks indeed to my last reviewers:

animeprincess1452 - I dunno what you were getting at saying it was confusing, but what you said made perfect sense to me. It's true, in the end the best is always going to be Trunks and Goten, because they are so perfect for each other. In the same way, it is a lot about Gohan's feelings as well and how he ultimately learns to let go of Trunks. As we shall see, he doesn't exactly end up all that bad off either !

Candy the Duck - I made someone cry, I'm so happy! Not that it's great to make someone cry...but I have never had such a powerful effect on someone like this before. And yeah, that moment where Gohan talked to Trunks like that was special to me too, glad you liked it.

Quoth Aurora - It's really good to see your review here, and I made you cry too? Cool, that's good that you like the story; hope to see you next time.

Electra Black - A third person cries...wow, this was a lot more than I expected. I absolutely love all you people for being all emotional over my story like this, thanks a lot.

Lord Gale - I noticed it's really hard to make me cry too, and since it did while I was writing it, I guess that I should have expected this. Still, it's a nice surprise to see how affected you all have been by my writing.

KitsuneAkai13 - I'm glad you liked it so much, and the epilogue should tie up all those loose ends, as well as make it all better for Gohan too.

One last note, I decided to dedicate this story to my wonderful little step-cousin: Mitchell, who means so very much to me as one of my very best friends and the little brother I never had and always wished for. Even though I rarely get to see him, I would do anything for him, and he's still the best and most adorable little boy in the world.

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Epilogue: One New Life

Trunks.

It's been years that you have been gone, and I thought after that moment that you left that it was all over for me. I had lost my little brother, whom I adored so much, and then you died too; I just didn't think I would be strong enough to get through it all.

And in reality, I wasn't.

I remember how I had felt, feeling a mix of feelings that night, going off by myself into the mountains to console myself. I remember I sat down on a rock, feeling my emotions take control of me, feeling my mind beginning to slip away into insanity.

It was just too much.

I don't think that mere words can ever express just how strong my love for you was, and still is. Mere words cannot do my love for you justice; neither can they truly describe just how wonderful and beautiful you are. Nothing in this world or the next, I'm sure, can ever tell you how I feel, but I still go on feeling that way just the same.

I am still so glad that I was able to spend those moments with you, those last few hours of your life, giving you so much by just being there when nobody else was. I can still feel you so close to me; I can still feel your arms wrapped around me as if it was just today, even though it was so long ago. You are so perfect, that's all there is to it, and it just isn't fair that you had to die, even though it was the right thing for you to join my little brother in heaven.

Those last few moments, Trunks, I swear I am never going to forget them. I don't know why, of all times, you chose that one to leave. It was the one moment where I could be there for you, not as a lover, but as your big brother, and I don't even know if you meant it that way. It was just the way Fate intended, and before now, I never even thought that it was real.

These last few years have proven that she does, indeed, have a plan for us all. Some of us might not think that we have it all that great, but the things that really matter in life are the ones that we ultimately get, at least on the inside. See, what this world doesn't understand is that everything material we value, all the "stuff", the possessions and the belongings are the ones that matter least. It isn't the point that we spend money on "stuff" and waste so much of our lives in acquisition of it that counts, because it really is all a bunch of nothing. It's like the old phrase goes: "You can't take it with you..."

What all the time I spent with you has taught me, more than anything else, is that we need to value those things that are more important in our lives. All our money and our fancy things don't matter at all in the end nearly as much as those people in our lives and every second that we spend with them. It's family and friends that matters the most, and I learned through losing you to treasure each and every moment I spend with those I love and cherish, because even in a world of technology and Dragonballs, people still die and don't come back.

If I had known that you wouldn't be here today, I might have been more careful, I might have spent more time being someone important to you, instead of always having crazy fantasies about what's under your clothes. But another thing I have learned is to not have regrets, because you can't change what has been done. I don't mean to say that we should forget the past, because the past is what got us to where we are, and what makes us who we are, at least until tomorrow, when everything might change.

I'm glad that those last few moments with you went that way, because I finally learned to give instead of receive; and doing the best thing for you gave me a sense of accomplishment that I haven't felt in so long. I don't have much anymore, especially since you are gone, but I suppose what I do have matters the most. I still have my life, and I still have a lot of people around who care deeply for me.

I didn't know then that it would eventually be this way, I didn't know that Fate was just getting me from one place to another, a place where I could be truly happy.

All I knew is what I felt at the time.

My emotions were so incredible that night, I just sat on that mountain and cried, I cried for so long until I couldn't anymore. Then my grief turned to anger, my anger built into rage and the next thing I knew I was Mystic again. I didn't even think I could do that anymore, but it was clear that I could and I was so strong then that I might very well have destroyed the entire planet just by the sheer power of my feelings. I stopped, floating in midair as the mountain below me, and several more for miles around had been vaporized. I started crying again, and just let myself fall a thousand feet to the rocks below, the impact barely scratching my tough half Saiya-jin body, much less coming close to killing me.

But I wanted to die, and I felt that nothing could stop me. I cried for many more days, unable to get past the horrible event that was your death, and it consumed me with pain. I finally resolved myself, and retreating to a place deep in the mountains, a secret place that only I knew of, and only one other person ever knew of, I was going to end it.

Standing next to the calm water of a spring-fed pool in a cave filled with so much wonder and beauty, none of it even coming close to matching your own, I just stared. I stared into the water and looked at my own reflection, hating myself for being so responsible for your death and Goten's. I was so weak from crying I knew it wouldn't take much, and charging a small blade of Ki in my right hand, I upturned my left wrist and prepared to cut it.

I knew it wouldn't be long, I knew that in a couple minutes all the blood would drain out and I would be dead. I also knew that killing oneself without a good reason such as saving the lives of others didn't fall well on Enma Daoi, and that no matter how hard I had fought for others in the past, I was almost guaranteed a one-way ticket to Hell if I did it. Not that it mattered, at the time I was so distraught I told myself that anywhere without you, my wonderful boy, was Hell, and the real place might actually be an improvement. I didn't think that it could possibly get better. I thought that my life would just get worse without end, and that it wasn't worth living.

I would probably be dead now, but Fate finally came through and at that very moment it happened. I was no more than a second from doing it, when a voice came out of nowhere telling me not to do it. I thought I must be losing my mind, and then it came again, accompanied by an unfamiliar figure coming out of the shadows into the light in the cave given off by my small Ki torch. Along with that unfamiliar figure came a very familiar presence, a Ki that I thought I would never feel again, and in an instant I was catapulted to my past.

I can still feel the apprehension in my little body, back when I was the same age as you were when you died, when we found the cave. We clambered inside with our flashlights to explore the beauty of the place; resolving to always come here where we needed to go someplace special. For the longest time, we just sat looking around, me and my best friend, before dropping down the flashlights to succumb to our feelings for each other.

He was my first love, and the first person to ever show me affection and true friendship after so many years of having none. We spent so many nights just like that one together, feeling so strong for each other that we thought it could never end.

He was the only person in the world besides me to know that place even existed.

He came back.

Before I could snap out of my momentary reflections, he had me in his arms, and I couldn't do it anymore. The Ki blade I had almost killed myself with went out, plunging us into darkness and I cried in the warm embrace of someone I thought I would never see again. I once said that I didn't care that he was just a human, and as he held me then, stroking my hair in the same way he did all those years ago, in the way only he knew how, I certainly didn't care then.

In his arms I finally found peace.

I will never figure out how all those events fell into place. Why I chose that night, of all nights to kill myself, and why I chose that place of all places to do it. Why he chose that night of all nights to look back into his past, and that place of all places to do it. I might never know why it happened that way, so perfectly and precisely, all I know is that oftentimes things happen this way, and they happen for a reason.

It had been so many years. He was the only real lover I had, even at the age of eleven, and for so long I had thought he was dead. But that night we started right up where we ended, taking off on the same foot we left on so long ago. I guess I was so caught up in you, Trunks, that I forgot how very much I loved him, and how very much he loved me...

- - -

It's raining again.

It's raining just like it was the night you almost died, just like it was the night you did.

I guess the rain always helped, you loved the rain so much and it must have helped to comfort you as you felt all that pain, at least as much as I helped.

The drop straight down to the crashing waves of the sea below is only about three feet in front of me, and I'm so deep in thought the tiniest gust of wind might blow me down it. But I don't care, even though it's been years since I have done so, I know I can still fly just fine. I look downward, and if I squint my eyes hard enough, and concentrate just a little, I can almost see you and Goten playing on the beach.

My thoughts are interrupted by a warm embrace from behind and the soft wisps of breath from my lover as he kisses the back of my neck.

"You should come inside, Gohan," he whispers, "it's cold out."

Normally I would want to stay outside and dream about you more, but something drives me to do as he says and go inside to dry off.

He has that kind of effect on me all the time.

I let myself be pulled into the doorway of our house, and even though it's far away from anyone else, where we can enjoy being together, I still keep in contact with my family and yours. Why? Because along with my lover, they matter the most.

He pushes me suddenly into the door, capturing my lips in a fiery kiss that warms me up almost instantaneously, one that I have to try very hard to break. He ushers me into the house, handing me a towel that he has placed by the door for all the times I spend outside in the rain.

But for one last second, I let my thoughts drift back to you.

Before I go inside, to cuddle in front of the fireplace with him; before we drink hot chocolate, your favorite drink, might I add; before we make love...I think again about you.

Trunks.

I can barely imagine how much you must be loving it where you are, up in heaven. I know that you and Goten are having so much fun, playing together as you should be, doing what you want without anyone to stop you.

I look up in the sky and through a momentary break in the clouds I can see a dot of light from a blue star – your star. I know it has a real name, but I renamed it in honor of you, something to always remind me of you.

As I look at it for the split second before it goes away, I can see you and my little brother. You are running around in a grassy field, laughing and playing, engaged in some game like tag. I watch as you stop and let Goten tackle you, pinning you to the soft ground as you giggle helplessly and then roll back over onto him. Your little game keeps going for a while, until you finally stop and lay next to him, your tails intertwining together and you fall asleep in each other's arms. I think for a second how funny it is that you never grow up in heaven.

Forever chibi.

The wonderful picture in my mind ends just a quickly as it came, and I hope that you two are as happy as you were down here, knowing full well that you are always happy, just so long as you are together. It's a lot the same for me and who I finally ended up with.

I know that you would have liked me to have a good life here on Earth, and I plan on living a nice and long time. But as soon as I do die, whenever that day may come, you can bet that you will be the first person I want to see up there.

You better take good care of him little bro, and for now, he's all yours. As long as you two are together, you can have him, Goten.

Have fun you two.

But someday, when we meet again, Trunks, you will be my boy.

My boy...someday.

The End

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So ends another story; and I am so happy that you were all around to be there with me from the beginning to the end. Thanks for reading.

Until next time.