Already posted this, but I switched the characters around. This is a slightly different version of "Beyond Time" from Chapter 26.
The Z-Senshi face a powerful enemy years after Goku leaves with Shenlong and suffer massive casualties. Forced to retreat, Bra, Trunks, Pan, and their children escape through time. A miscalculation on Trunks' 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…
Bra stumbled, blood running 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 was 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 savor it."
"What is wrong with you?" Goten growled, 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 son of Goku 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, they'll all get a turn. Now," his silvery eyes flashed towards Bra, "it's your turn, sweet girl."
Raising his sword, Valdis charged Bra. The blue-haired demi 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 Goten was. Barely.
Time seemed to slow to a dead crawl as Bra looked her death in the face. Regret washed over her as she thought of hers and Goten's children. She knew her husband would keep her memory alive, but all the experiences she'd miss out on with them, with Goten, brought tears to her eyes.
I'm so sor— what?!
Bra 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 warm brown eyes she loved so much. A scream bubbled up her throat as Valdis closed in…
Goten had only a moment to send Bra 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 Bra-chan would have to watch him die.
"GOTEN! GOTEN 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 Goten's gut… only to decapitate the mortally wounded hybrid in the next stroke.
Warm wetness splashed on Bra's face, and she raised a trembling hand to her cheek 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 Goten's head, dim brown 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 demi saiyan found some as-of-yet untapped reserve of strength… she was completely empty, sapped of any and all energy. The whole fight had been for naught. They'd barely touched him.
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. Slender but strong arms scooped her up and cradled her against a warm chest, but Bra fought with renewed energy, desperately clawing her way to Goten's body. She couldn't see him, still blind from the solar flare, but she couldn't leave him here, not like they'd been forced to leave the others…
"LET ME GO," she screamed, "I can't leave him, I can't leave him! GOTEN!"
"Bra, he's already dead!"
"NO! Let me go, let me die," she pleaded desperately, "please… please just let me die… I can't leave Goten, please, please, please…"
"I'm sorry, B-chan," Pan murmured, voice thick with unshed tears "you'll forgive me later." She knocked her friend out and flew off before Valdis could properly recover, suppressing her ki again to keep her movements undetected.
*~*S*~*S*~*
Uub was standing guard when Pan arrived with an unconscious, bleeding Bra in her arms. He stood back to let the quarter saiyan enter the cavern, where Trunks 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," Trunks broke away from his work to hug her tightly, only to stop short when he saw Bra's state in her arms, "I… where's 'Ten?"
Pan shook her head sadly, "He was already gone when I got there. Valdis was about to kill Blue, there was nothing I could do…" she trailed off, agonized at the thought of being one of the last few remaining members of her family that still lived. Her father, mother, grandma, and now Goten… all of them were gone.
"Oh K-kami…" Trunks whispered, brushing a hand over his little sister's bruised cheek, tears blurring his vision. Goddammit, 'Ten… we're so fucking close to getting out of here! You weren't supposed to…
The saiyan Prince blinked the budding tears away, circling 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. Pan bit her lip, steeling herself for the fight ahead but, before she could tell Trunks she was leaving, Uub beat her 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!" Pan took a step towards him as he made to depart, pausing when her movement jostled Bra, "the twins…"
"You guys'll keep them safe, love them, and take care of them, I know you will. Don't be sad, Pan-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 Bra settled," Trunks snapped back to business at once, "we're not gonna let his sacrifice go to waste, let's go."
Trunks and Pan zipped into the machine, the latter strapping Bra into one of the seats and the former going to the console and letting his fingers fly over the keys. The glass dome closed over them with a soft hiss and the lavender haired demi began to mutter under his breath about how complicated the new machine was.
"C'mon, c'mon, c'mon… Dammit, Mom."
Just as he completed the last few sequences, Uub's ki, up at his very limit, began to plummet rapidly.
Pan, tending to Bra's injuries, looked up sharply, "Trunks…" Uub-kun…
"I've got it," he snapped, "I've almost… GOT IT!" Frantic, the saiyan prince accidentally brushed against the time counter in his 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 Trunks pushed away from the console, almost dizzy with relief, and buried his face in his hands. His shoulders shook as he wept quietly, grieving their most recent losses.
Kami, Trunks glanced at his baby sister, who was still unconscious as Pan patched the wound in her side, she's going to be in a world of hurt when she wakes up. The saiyan prince wiped his cheeks, forcing his grief down as a small head of black hair bobbed its way up the ladder that went below deck.
"Tora," he murmured, swallowing the lump in his throat as he beckoned his daughter, "come here, hon." The 6 year-old miniature Pan came to him easily, thankfully not glancing over at her mother and aunt. She silently lifted her arms, and Trunks pulled her into his lap for a much needed cuddle.
"We're safe, Tiger," Trunks kissed the top of her head affectionately, "everything's gonna be alright…" I hope…
I think I like it better this way, with the focus on Bra. I need to distance myself from Pan anyway, so hopefully this'll work out. I predominantly left it as is, but I did tweak and edit a little.
Hope y'all enjoyed it!
*~*CloudSpires1295*~*