Disclaimer: I don't own DBZ, DBS, or the characters

Future Trunks X Future Mai

~Prompt 4: First Love~

So much had happened to Trunks in his short life.

He had been born out of a fling; his parents weren't close. Trunks lost one of those parents before he could talk. Death and destruction surrounded his life, though he had been gifted with his father's strength. Still, there was hardly anything he could do against the ones who destroyed his world. Trunks was unskilled and untrained. His mother wouldn't let him out of her sight. She knew as much as he did that his father's instincts were bred into him.

Gohan saw it too.

The man had been Trunks's best friend, taught the boy everything he knew. They fought alongside each other and nearly lost their lives in the process. They made it out, just barely, with their lives, although Gohan lost an arm.

Trunks continued to train on his own, but his strength amounted to nothing in the end. He lost his best friend, became a Super Saiyan, and still could not contend with the Androids. His mother's solution was to go back in time. The woman did the impossible and created a time machine.

Although he agreed to take the trip to the past, Trunks didn't want to go at first. He wanted to stay and fight and protect all that was left. Still, he couldn't do it on his own. After losing Gohan and nearly dying against the Androids a second time, Trunks knew he needed help.

When he made that decision, he became excited. He was going to see Gohan again, though he would be much younger. All of his mother's friends who died would be there, too. And, of course, he would get to meet his father for the first time. That was what he most excited about, if he were being honest.

All he had from that visit were tumultuous emotions that came from the terror of dealing with more Androids that were stronger than the ones he knew and Cell. He was disappointed over how his father behaved with him. He resolved it somewhat given that the man defended him after Cell struck him. Trunks found new strength, power he wielded to save his timeline.

His purpose in life was to protect this world from any new threats.

That was how he spent his time in the years after Cell. He trained to attain the level of Super Saiyan 2 that Gohan reached in the other timeline. Trunks also stopped the wizard, Babidi, from summoning the powerful Majin Buu. Everything had been smooth sailing since then, the people rebuilding their broken planet. Trunks oversaw them as their protector, but he kept himself at a distance.

Of course, fate worked against him, and soon his presence was known.

One day, he had been flying around, and he saw a large group of people cleaning debris in the city. The half-Saiyan smiled and descended to get a closer look. Everyone was working hard, not only getting rid of the broken pieces but also rebuilding. If this was what his actions led to, then all of the pain he endured to get there was worth it.

Trunks was hidden in a tree, focused solely on the people below. He hardly noticed that the branch wasn't the sturdiest, which is how he fell to the ground below. His yelp and crash caused the attention of all the people to shift to him, all pausing in their task. They looked at him and he them. No one said anything.

"Alright, everyone," a soft but powerful female voice spoke. "There's nothing to see here. Let's keep working."

There were a few murmurs, but everyone responded positively to the voice. Trunks found himself enchanted by the voice, and he turned to see a raven-haired woman smiling at the crowd. The woman stood proud and tall, a bright yet cocky smile on her face as she looked down at him. "That means you, too."

Trunks couldn't stop the smile that formed at her invitation. His heart beat excitedly, feeling immediately taken with the confident woman. It was the first time he had ever felt something like this.

For a moment, he caught himself wondering if this was what his mother felt for his father, but he quickly shook it off. That seemed impossible.