Happy new year everyone. Enjoy the chapter.

Chapter 3: Hatred's Logic

"Son Goku…" Trunks whispered, in awe of the man that now stood before him. All his life, he'd been told stories, but to finally see him in person...containing his excitement alone was a lesson in restraint.

"You know him?" Lazuli asked, staring at the newcomer in curiosity. Her question snapped Trunks out of his daze.

"Not exactly. I know of him," he replied.

"Hey, I think I recognize that name," Lapis said. "Yeah, from the World Martial Arts Tournament. Isn't Son Goku the current champion?"

Lazuli rolled her eyes. "I forgot you used to follow that crap. So what's he doing here?"

"Hey there!" Goku greeted, still looking at Trunks with a wide smile. "I felt a really high power over here. That was you right?"

"Um...yes, I suppose it was," Trunks answered.

"Wow, and at your age," Goku said. "And here I thought I'd seen it all. I guess there's always someone stronger. But who was that other guy whose ki disappeared?"

Trunks stiffened. He hadn't expected this. He'd just assumed that everyone would already be on Namek by now, including Goku. Now he might potentially have to explain himself in advance, and he wasn't sure what changes that could make to the timeline.

Sighing in resignation, he began to explain. "That was Dr. Gero, a scientist from the Red Ribbon Army."

Goku's eyes widened. "The Red Ribbon Army? I thought they were done for."

"They were, for the most part. But their head scientist survived, and he held one hell of a grudge. I know you were just a kid back then Goku, but you let a very dangerous man walk away. The creations he could have unleashed given time would have laid waste to this world, and you would have been powerless to stop them."

Goku frowned. "Well, at least you stopped him then. But who are you? I've never felt a power even close to yours before."

Trunks smiled. "I'm just a friendly earthling helping out," he replied, causing Goku's eyes to widen at the hidden message.

This guy knows I'm not from earth, Goku thought in wonder.

Lapis and Lazuli, who were both listening intently to the conversation, raised their eyebrows at the oddly phrased statement. The two continue to stare each other down. There was no hostility, but something seemed to pass between the two. After a moment, Goku smiled.

"I assume we'll meet again?" he asked.

"Without a doubt," Trunks replied.

Goku nodded and rose into the air again. "I don't suppose you know what I'll be up against," he said, taking a shot in the dark. In response, Trunks rose his ki to its maximum without transforming, causing beads of sweat to roll down the full blooded saiyan's face. "Well that should be fun," he said with a nervous smile, before flying off.

When he was out of sight, the two twins turned back to Trunks. "What was all that about?" Lapis asked.

Trunks was silent for a moment. "Remember those two aliens who landed in East City last month?"

"Yeah. You're saying he was one of them?" Lazuli asked.

"No, but he is the one who stopped them."

"Wait, so that guy stopped the Red Ribbon army when he was a kid, won the World Martial Arts tournament, and then stopped an alien invasion just last month?" Lapis asked skeptically.

Trunks smiled wryly. "You could say he has a track record of being right where the action is."

"And you know this how?" Lazuli asked. "Just who are you, anyway?"

Trunks' eyes grew sad and distant. "Just a fan of his, I suppose. For all intents and purposes, I'm nobody."

Lazuli frowned at the answer, not wholly because of its ambiguity, but also because of the lack of self esteem behind it. She decided not to push him for answers at the moment, but she fully intended to break past that wall he'd built around himself.

It had been nearly a week since Trunks felt Goku's ki, which he had begun tracking, leave the planet. He didn't know how or why, but suffice to say somehow, and for some reason, he had ended up spending that entire week in the company of the two people who had been his sworn enemies for years. Logically, he knew he had no reason to hold anything against them. In his world, they were monsters. But they were monsters of a design other than their own. Their monstrous ways weren't learned, or even enacted by their own free will. Their monstrosity was instilled, and in this world, it had yet to be. No, hating them wasn't logical.

But hatred followed no logic but it's own.

Because those eyes, the same ones that would stare at him in amusement, as if he were a bug convincing himself that he might not be squashed, the same eyes which stared into the depths of his nightmares, mocking him for even trying, for daring to think that he could save anyone, especially him, and oh God, they killed him, they killed Gohan—

Trunks took a deep breath and pulled himself back from that rainy night four years ago. He needed to get a grip on his emotions. Lapis and Lazuli were beginning to freak out. Especially Lazuli. He couldn't really blame her. He could tell the way he'd been acting around them since day one was slowly becoming upsetting for the blonde. And yet she still seemed to want him to stick around.

Why was he still here to begin with? Officially it was to teach them ki control, but they all knew that in reality that wasn't the reason. He supposed the two might still feel indebted to him. Which they shouldn't. As emotionless as it sounded, he hadn't done what he had for them, but for the world, something which he was pretty sure they had yet to realize. But why was he staying? It wasn't just so that he could watch out for more androids. He was sure no others had been built—he'd thoroughly checked the ruins of the lab after Gero had initially escaped, and even destroyed the underground bunker.

It was then that he realized. It was them. Lapis and Lazuli, in another world known as Cyborgs 17 and 18. It fascinated him, in the most dark and morbid of ways, how these two unassuming teenagers, who, ki mastery notwithstanding, were so normal, could become the two demons that had terrorized the world for 20 years. How could these two kill billions in another timeline, and then in this one, look at him with eyes filled not with malice, not with mockery, but with concern?

He hated that disparity. It tore everything he thought he knew to shreds, and he hated that. But what really rendered him powerless?

It was that he couldn't bring himself to hate them.

He was pulled from his thoughts by the sound of the trailer door opening, and a familiar ki making its way towards him.

"Trunks?"

He turned around and saw those same concern filled eyes. He swallowed his hesitation and let out a meek, "Good morning," which was quietly returned.

Having had enough of the awkward silence, he decided to attempt a conversation. "You're up earlier than usual," he stated.

Lazuli nodded slowly. "Your ki was fluctuating wildly," she said in response.

Trunks inwardly sighed. That usually happened when he thought about the past, but seeing as he was the only ki sensitive left on earth in his time, he wouldn't normally have to worry about it. It just went to show what vast strides Lazuli had been making in her ki sensing during the past week.

"Sorry I woke you," he replied.

She shook her head. "Don't be. I'm just worried about you."

Trunks was silent for a moment. "Don't be," he finally parroted, but she persisted.

"You're clearly stressed about something. You have been since we met you. Is there something you're not telling us? Is there something else coming?" She paused. "Or...is it us?"

Trunks stiffened. "What do you mean?" he asked, despite knowing.

"Sometimes you act like you have something against us. My brother and I."

He did not want to have this conversation. "It's...not you," he said. "I guess I'm just not a people person." He knew the excuse was flimsy even before she let out a small sigh.

"I wish you'd stop lying to us Trunks," she said, slightly annoyed. "Whatever it is we did, just tell us so we can move passed it."

Trunks clenched his teeth, and the question was out before he could filter it. "What if I can't move passed it?" he asked, and immediately regretted it when he saw the hurt on her face before her expression hardened.

"Then...then I don't know," she said in a shaky voice. "But at least have the decency to tell me what it is!"

"I can't‚" he said solemnly.

"That's not fair," she said. "You can't just come in and become a part of our lives only to hold this over our heads!"

"You're the one who asked me to stay!" Trunks defended.

"Yes, because you saved our lives! Why would you do that for us if you had something against us?"

"I never said I did it for you. You came to that conclusion on your own," he said.

She clenched her fists and shouted, "If that's how you feel then why are you still here!? You can leave at any time!"

The clearing was silent after that as Trunks blinked in surprise, before his eyes narrowed. He turned around and rose into the air, ignoring the small intake of breath he heard from behind him, before rocketing out of the clearing and out toward the horizon.

A/N: Well that was angsty. Not sure how that happened.