I don't own DBZ.

A/N: OMG! IT'S THE RABID FANS FROM MARS!!! o____o but seriously, god, is this story THAT good?! o.o I'm really honored… jeez, you guys love me ;; I'm really sorry about the lack of updating… especially since I've proven to be able to update daily _;;; *looks at Digimon fics… and hides them from you rabid fans o_o;;;*

And to Julian1… you've done it again o_o-b go you… just answer me this… copy paste? I HOPE you're not crazy enough to actually TYPE that! o_O

A Different Future

Chapter 18 – Losing It

Another week passed by slowly. The chip was ready to be sent. Now all that stopped Bulma was maternal panic.

"I can't send it. I just can't!"

Gohan was sitting at the other side of the table, just as tense.

"You have to, Bulma. It's Probably our only chance of finding him."

"But you know what they'll do to him, Gohan! I can't let that happen to my baby!"

The warrior grabbed the woman's shoulders firmly, looking into her eyes.

"Bulma, you're a genius. Can't you just put a mechanism that'll shut it off on the flick of a button?!"

Bulma blinked. Blinked. And laughed like the mad scientist that she was.

"That's a great idea, Gohan! I'm off to get that done right away!"

She was about to run off, but stopped at the door. When she looked back at him, her expression was grim.

"Gohan, how… how's my husband doing?"

Gohan was a bit taken aback, but recovered shortly.

"Don't worry, he's fine. We train constantly. He's fine. And he won't say it, but he's worried about your son, too."

Bulma smiled warmly and left again, this time not to return. Gohan looked around; nothing to do. Wait… didn't Bulma fix the gravity room?

Marron closed her locker with a sigh. She glanced at Trunks's locker. It was abandoned ever since the… incident.

"It's horrible."

She looked at the two girls who were talking. She knew them, they were in most of her classes… and Trunks's…

"Yeah, it is."

"I mean, he seemed like such a nice boy. It's been close to a month. And he's still gone."

They both sighed.

"Yep. And he was real cute, too."

Feeling tears starting to sting her eyes, Marron walked away. It's a good thing she decided against putting on make up that morning.

'Trunks… are you alright? Are you even alive?'

The more time passed, the worse Marron felt. The empty seat between her and the window made her feel lonely. Everyone felt that. The teachers sent glances towards the empty seat, as well as students. She even turned to speak to the boy who wasn't there, more than once. It was Trunks's favorite spot, not at the back or the front of the class, located comfortably next to the closest exit out of the school- the window.

'Stop thinking about it!'

It was nerve wrecking. But the record was at Gohan's class. It was obvious he was nervous too. They were talking about the people's connection with the rebellion. The issue was raised of relatives. Even the jocks at the end of class were silent.

"We all know that there're people out there with relations to rebels. But what does that mean about the relatives? Does it mean their opinions are influenced more than others'? Does it mean society looks at them differently? How does it make society look at them."

He wrote those issues on the board and the girls who write everything wrote it down like good girls. Marron, once one of those girls, stared at the blank page of her notebook, emotions boiling inside her.

'Is he a sadist or a masochist?'

"So… several cases have been know, where the results were opposite to each other. Most of the relatives supported the Androids even more…"

The blonde blinked.

'What is he talking about?! He's been pretty much lecturing to us against the Androids ever since he got here. Why'd he chance his opinion now?'

The empty seat to her left served as an unspoken answer.

"…And suffered harsh punishments, and… Yes, Julia?"

Marron looked at her classmate curiously, hoping to understand what was said when she spaced out, something that was happening more and more with each passing day.

"Sir, what about the rebels? I mean, don't they care about their relatives?"

Gohan sighed.

"It is only natural that they do, Julia. What woman wouldn't care for her children? What son wouldn't care for his parents? What father wouldn't care for his family?"

"Vegeta Doesn't."

The Saiyan tensed, glaring at the jock that woke up. He really didn't want to go there.

"well, Vegeta is another matter all together."

"Why? Isn't he human just like the rest of us?"

'Nope.'

"Sir, is he the reason why Trunks was… you know…"

Someone finally asked. Marron didn't even bother to look at the speaker, she simply stood up, crying again.

"You just shut up! You all shut up!"

She rushed out the door, only to run into a bulky figure. Gohan tensed even more.

'What's he doing here?!'

"Careful now, miss…"

16 said, calm as ever. However, Marron was anything but.

"You leave me alone!"

She ran down the hall as quickly as she could.

"Wait here."

Gohan and 16 exchanged glances before he rushed off after Marron.

"Don't let anything happen to her."

The Android said after him.

'Sure, once I find her.'

Marron sat on a bench in the pack, crying her eyes out.

"I'm sorry… so so sorry… I wish you could forgive me, Trunks…"

"What for?"

The tears were still coming down her cheeks as she looked up at the familiar, longed for voice. It's been a month since she last saw those baby blue eyes. Smiled back at that grin. Ruffled those lavender locks just for the tease. Said that name to the actual person.

"Trunks…"

She threw herself at him, not really knowing what else to do or say, not really caring to check whether it was real. Her knees seemed to give way but he was right there to support her.

"I missed you so so much!"

"Same here. Had me worried, girl."

The girl wiped away the tears as a goofy grin formed, a result of her telling herself it wasn't a lie.

"So tell me, what's been up with you for the past month?!"

Like she didn't know. The answer, along with that new glint in his eyes, made her heart skip a beat, and in a bad way.

"Let's just say… I've been enlightened."

A/N: Short, I know, but to be honest that's all I have written down in my notebook. This is about the time my flame for this fic (and DBZ in general, kinda) died out. I can still write, but don't expect it to be in short periods of time. Keep pestering me, I'll write, I promise, just… no more death threats ;;