So the plot bunny came and visited me recently. Here's what it blessed me with.
The Z-Senshi face a powerful enemy years after Goku leaves with Shenlong and suffer massive casualties. Forced to retreat, Pan, Goten, Bra, and their children escape through time. A miscalculation on Bra's part sends them back to the year the Grand Tour took place. Follow them as they navigate keeping their identities and those of their children a secret while simultaneously trying to warn their families of the danger that lies ahead.
I have this on retainer to flesh out into a proper story once I've finished with Stolen Miracles and Dash of Fluff. In the meantime, here's the premise. It's a bit rough, but I plan on doing more with it in the future. Enjoy the read.
This is hopeless…
Pan stumbled, blood dripping into her eyes and making them burn. She was badly beaten, cut up and bruised all over with a major wound to her side and a broken leg… and Valdis had barely a scratch. The senselessly evil piece of shit had the audacity to smirk at her, twirling his long sword like a baton.
"I respect you, girl," he drawled, "this planet is the first to really put up a fight. A pointless fight, but a fight, nonetheless. I will take my time when I destroy this world. Make sure to really cherish the moment."
"What is wrong with you?" Trunks hissed, voice hoarse and breathing labored, "the lives… of the people… that you've destroyed, the lives you've… taken, does it really… mean nothing to you?" the saiyan prince trembled from both pain and blood loss, clutching the sluggishly bleeding stump where his right arm used to be.
"Should they?" Valdis rolled his eyes, "this universe is crawling with people with lives and such, and I'll snuff them all out. One by one. Now," his silvery eyes landed on Pan, "your time's run out, dear girl."
Raising his sword, Valdis charged Pan. The petite quarter saiyan was too tired and beaten down to even think of blocking the blow or moving aside, but even if she'd had the energy, she wasn't fast enough to manage either maneuver.
But Trunks was. Barely.
Time seemed to slow to a dead crawl as Pan looked her death in the face. Regret washed over her as she thought of hers and Trunks' children. She knew her husband would keep her memory alive, but all the experiences she'd miss out on with them, with Trunks, brought tears to her eyes.
I'm so sor— what?!
Pan gasped in pain and shock as a firm hand pressed against her side, just below her wound, shoving her hard. She turned as she fell to the rocky ground, searching for her assailant. The regret vanished, replaced by horror and heartache as she stared into the crystalline blue eyes she loved so much. A scream bubbled up her throat as Valdis closed in…
Trunks had only a moment to send Pan an apologetic glance as she stared up at him in horror, a scream on her lips before sharp cold pain bit into his upper abdomen, cutting through skin, muscle, and organs like soft butter before piercing through his back. The pain was nothing compared to the agony of knowing his Panny would have to watch him die.
"TRUNKS! NO!"
Valdis hummed thoughtfully as he surveyed the situation, "not exactly what I had in mind," he shrugged dismissively and ripped his blade out of Trunks' gut… only to decapitate the mortally wounded Prince in the next stroke.
Warm wetness splashed on Pan's face, and she raised a trembling hand to her face to touch it before drawing it back to confirm that, yes, it was her husband's blood. Her trembling increased as her eyes alighted on Trunks' head, deadened blue eyes still staring into her very soul. She opened her mouth to scream, but no sound would emerge.
There was no surge of rage, no explosion of ki as the quarter saiyan found some as-of-yet untapped reserve of strength… she was completely empty.
Valdis tsked softly and raised his blade to strike again. He was so focused on his prey; he didn't notice the ki signature approaching until it was right on top of him…
Before the blade could come down, a familiar voice roared, "SOLAR FLARE," rendering everyone on the field blind. Strong arms scooped her up and cradled her against a warm chest, but Pan fought with renewed energy, desperately clawing her way to Trunks' body. She couldn't see him, still blind from the solar flare, but she couldn't leave him here, not like she'd had to leave Papa…
"LET ME GO," she screamed, "I can't leave him, I can't leave him, please!"
"Panny, he's already dead!"
"NO! Let me go, let me die," she pleaded desperately, "please… please just let me die… I can't leave him, please, please, please…"
"I'm sorry, Pan-chan," Goten murmured, "you'll forgive me later." He knocked her out and flew off before Valdis could properly recover, suppressing his ki again to keep his movements undetected.
*~*s*~*S*~*s*~*
Uub was standing guard when Goten arrived with an unconscious, bleeding Pan in his arms. He stood back to let the demi saiyan enter the cavern, where Bra was busy programming the time machine for their escape.
The new time machine was Bulma's last gift to them before Valdis murdered her; she'd taken the old model and rebuilt it, making it large enough to transport multiple people through time. She'd started building it the day Valdis laid Vegeta's severed head at her feet, the day their lives changed forever.
"Oh thank Kami," Bra broke away from her work to hug him tightly, only to stop short when she saw Pan's state in his arms, "I… where's Trunks?"
Goten shook his head sadly, "He was already gone when I got there. Valdis was about to kill Panny, there was nothing I could do…"
"Oh K-kami…" Bra whispered, brushing a hand over her friend's bruised cheek, tears blurring her vision. She blinked them away, getting back to the task at hand, "I'm almost done programming the machine, and the kids are already below deck. Just a little while longer and we're out of this hell."
"How much longer do you need?" Uub inquired, voice steely, "because we've got incoming."
All eyes snapped upwards as the madman's approach registered. Valdis' massive ki was coming in hot, and he felt pissed. Goten bit his lip, steeling himself for the fight ahead but, before he could tell Bra he was leaving, Uub beat him to the punch.
"Take care of my kids," the Majin fusion turned to look at his friends one last time, firm resolve ringing in every word, "I'll buy you more time."
"Uub, no!" Bra took a step towards him as he made to depart, "the twins…"
"You guys'll keep them safe, love them, and take care of them, I know you will. Don't be sad, Bra-chan," he soothed, "I'll get to see Marron again soon." He took off in a flurry of pink ki before anyone could say anything else to try and stop him.
"Get Pan settled," Bra snapped back to business at once, "we're not about to let his sacrifice go to waste, let's go."
Goten and Bra zipped into the machine, the former strapping Pan into one of the seats and the latter going to the console and letting her fingers fly over the keys. The glass dome closed over them with a soft hiss and the bluenette began to mutter under her breath about how complicated the new machine was.
"C'mon, c'mon, c'mon… Dammit, Mom."
Just as she completed the last few sequences, Uub's ki, up at his very limit, began to plummet rapidly.
Goten, tending to Pan's injuries, looked up sharply, "Bra…"
"I've got it," she snapped, "I've almost… GOT IT!" Frantic, the saiyan princess accidentally brushed against the time counter in her haste to activate the machine, knocking them a little over a decade off target.
As the cavern began to fizz out, they were treated to one last look at Valdis' face, contorted with fury, before they were torn from the dimension and sent spiraling through space and time.
Swirling blue light poured through the viewfinder as Bra pushed away from the console, almost dizzy with relief, and buried her face in her hands. Her shoulders shook as she sobbed quietly, grieving their most recent losses.
Kami, Bra glanced at Pan, who was still unconscious as Goten patched the wound in her side, she's going to be in a world of hurt when she wakes up. The saiyan Princess wiped her cheeks, forcing her sobs down as a small head of black hair bobbed its way up the ladder that went below deck.
"Tora," she murmured, swallowing the lump in her throat as she beckoned her niece, "come here, sweetie." The 6 year-old miniature Pan came to her easily, thankfully not glancing over at her mother. She silently lifted her arms, and Bra pulled her into her lap for a much needed cuddle.
"We're safe, honey," Bra kissed the top of her head affectionately, "everything's gonna be alright…" I hope…
And boom! There it is. It still needs some work, and I have some other bits and pieces but this is the very first scene I wrote after I got the idea. The first part I envisioned was Trunks getting killed right in front Pan, yeah I know how effed up that is, and the rest kinda built up around it. I'm hoping to make something more of it once I finish my old fics off.
Hope y'all enjoyed it!
*~*CloudSpires1295*~*