Here it is at last! I'm sorry about the delay I had some unexpected things I had to take care of. Many thanks for the feedback guys.
.
I hope you enjoy it!
.
.
"Speech"
'Thought'
.
.
.
The Shadow of Hope
.
Chapter Three
.
.
.
Trunks was lying down staring up at the roof of the capsule shelter. He didn't bother making anything to eat, he didn't have the appetite for it and rather decided getting some sleep was what he really needed. It was easier said than done however as he couldn't get the image of her out of his mind, it posed so many questions and possibilities. Had he made the wrong call? If he had gone to her would he now have the equipment he needed? Would he even be alive?
He took a deep breath and let out a long sigh. 'I guess I'll return home tomorrow.' He thought, resignation setting in and he rubbed at the growing tension between his eyes. 'How will I explain this to mom?' He thought, regretting now that he had lied to her earlier. He took another deep breath and thought about his master, something he usually did when he looked for answers. 'How would you have handled this Gohan? Father? Or you Goku?' His mind drifted onto the people he didn't know, the fighters, the heroes who had protected this planet so many times but had perished in this horrible nightmare. He knew them only by stories told by Gohan and his mother.
The memory of his mother secretly crying alone in the room at night pierced his thoughts and he turned to his side and stared blankly, he was tired, not just physically but emotionally. He needed to sleep and it wasn't long before the bliss of dreamless unconsciousness took hold of him.
.
.
.
It was early morning and Trunks was lying sprawled out inside the capsule shelter wearing only his vest and black trousers which he left on due to the cold. He had one leg up on the wall of the shelter and the other one bent underneath him. A snapping noise, like a twig breaking, filled the camp and made his unconscious face twitch in response. It wasn't enough to wake him however and instead he smacked his lips and turned his head to the side in response. Time passed and it happened again, only this time it was louder. He opened a groggy eye and lifted his head, still not quite sure he heard something. He could see the daylight permeating the entrance to the shelter and could hear the sound of forest birds tweeting. He waited but didn't hear anything and dropped his head back down and told himself it was probably the embers of last night's dying campfire. He turned over on his side and closed his eyes intending to return to his heavy sleep.
-snap-
His sleepy eyes opened wide and he sat up. He leaned across to the entrance but stopped suddenly as the door zip was partially opened. He looked at it for a moment, the memory of climbing into bed last night was blurry and his mind wasn't working very well. He shook his head and unzipped the entrance fully and peered outside. Immediately a flock of birds scattered from the camp as he disturbed them. He blinked in response and then let out a long sigh and ran his hand through his scruffy hair. He checked his watch, it was 05:54. 'Oh man…' He groaned and rolled his eyes.
'I might as well get up.' He thought and gathered himself together. He pulled himself out of the shelter and let out a huge yawn which was interrupted by a loud growl from his stomach. He winced. 'Ah man, better have something to eat before I head home.'
He groggily took his hoodie from the capsule shelter and slipped it on and looked around the camp. His refrigerator was there; only the door was swinging open. 'Wait… I never ate last night.' He thought and then caught sight of his belt buckle and sword perched up against the log neatly. 'What the... when did I…?'
"Rise and shine sunshine." Eighteen said behind him.
Trunks froze, her voice was like a razor cutting through his morning lethargy. He slowly turned around, completely rigged, his face the picture of shock. She was sitting down against the log with her legs crossed wearing his jacket and drinking one of his cans of juice.
Her face was streaked and stained, though she wasn't looking at him, instead her eyes were cast out over the valley. Eventually she rolled her eyes to him, her face blank and if possible, tired. "I was going to wake you earlier but thought I'd let you sleep, you looked pretty tired." She said and put the can down and stood up wiping her hands and the backside of her somewhat dirty white jeans.
Trunks' eyes darted between her and the shelter, 'She was here last night?' His pulse began to race and he steadied himself. "H-How did you…"
"How did I find you?" She finished for him. "You left me alone last night Trunks, I was… hurt, really hurt." Her eyes drifted at the memory and she unconsciously wrapped her arms around herself. "…and angry."
Trunks tensed up. She looked dishevelled, her clothes where a little dirty and her face was streaked and darker around the eyes, no doubt from what happened at the fairground but there was something else, something more off putting, she looked different, on edge and he couldn't imagine it being a good sign.
"But… right then, just when I thought nothing would save me, I sensed you." She said and looked at him straight in the eyes and took a step closer. "You were there."
Trunks stared back at her, still uneasy about the change in her eyes, a subtleness he couldn't quite place. 'She must have followed me back here.' He realised. 'But… that must mean she was here all night.' While he was lazily sleeping, lost in his own world, she was watching him. The magnitude of his mistake terrified him.
She looked down to the ground. "Last night something happened to me, something that's never happened before. I remembered things from my life before Dr. Gero kidnapped me." She looked back up to him, eyes full with the weight of what she'd experienced, but also edged in visceral desperation. "Why didn't you come to me?" She asked, her voice clipped.
Trunks swallowed and his eyes appraised her fearfully. For her to suddenly unload this information, it confirmed his suspicion that something else was going on. Was he right about her not being in control? But he couldn't dwell on that now; he had to think about more pressing matters, like the unstable killing machine standing not so far from him. He knew his life was on the line. He gathered himself as much as possible, desperate for the adrenalin in his body to fully rouse him from his morning lethargy.
"Yes I was there." He licked his dry lips, his mind raced for an angle, an attack, anything that could guide him out of this. "I looked around and waited for you, but you lied. You said you would bring the items you took but you had nothing." He said, deciding to press her. She was trying to lure him into a conversation, something normal people do but he wasn't having any of it.
Her temperament changed and she glared at him. "I never lied, I told you I would give them back if you showed up - you didn't!"
Trunks grit his teeth and clenched his fist. "Well what do you expect when all you ever do is kill and destroy!?" How could he stand here and engage in conversation with the one who killed Gohan, killed his father and countless people on earth? She was the instigator of his nightmares, the one behind so much misery on earth. He had enough of being played, he didn't want to be made to think she was different, it enraged him! He positioned himself into a fighting stance.
"As if I would trust an android, a murderer who gets kicks out of killing people!" He spat.
Eighteen's glare fell and she stared at him flatly. After a moments pause she reached into the pocket of her shirt and pulled out the drive core processor and held it up. Trunks' eyes widened, he knew what it was immediately.
"When I say I'm going to do something, I do it. See?" She revealed, holding it up. She didn't like being made to look bad, especially accused of it. But she also knew she had to do this to show him there was more to her despite what he thought.
He was stumped and angry and was so used to fighting desperately for his life that this weird and sudden change in her behaviour just kept knocking him off guard again and again. Was he right about her? Was she not fully in control of herself? He began to sweat as he tried to figure out what was going on, but these thoughts only annoyed him more every time he looked at her. She was a walking contradiction. He needed her to go back to simply being the big bad enemy, no questions, no ifs or buts. Simply the mindless android that he'd spent his entire life trying to destroy.
"If you had just done what I said I would have given it to you." She stated and then, with her eyes remaining on him, she put it back into her pocket as if making a point.
"Typical! Always demanding, always taking without any thought to others!" He said.
She stepped forward in anger and pointed to herself in defence. "I would have given you the damn thing if you had just done what I said! I would have given you the others too but you're so damn stubborn and won't even talk!"
Trunks got angry, the way she spoke, her manner and sudden flourish of expressions that he'd never seen before. It was too much, she was challenging his perception of her and he'd had enough. She was an android, the same damn android that had terrorised this world and that was that!
"I've had enough of this! What the hell do you want android!?" He yelled.
Eighteen stopped and dropped her arms to her side. She took a step closer to him, her gaze fixed to his eyes, direct and unmoving…
"You." She said simply.
Trunks looked at her, the way she said it, his face turned red. 'She's serious, she's actually freaking serious!' The way she looked at him, the memory of their kiss flashed across his mind and he felt his heart thump in his chest as astonishment slowly took place of his anger.
She stepped closer, only a few feet away from him. "For a while now I couldn't stop thinking of you, and then when I met you by that factory you did something to me, it changed something inside and ever since it's been growing. Last night I… I even remembered my name." She said looking at him.
Trunks stared at her, his mind racing at every word. '…she was kidnapped?' He wondered, getting pulled in. "Your… name…?" He asked despite himself.
She smiled. "Lazuli."
Trunks watched her, the way she said it, her eyes marvelled still afresh with the memory that it drew her entire face into a smile. It was the kind of smile he never thought she was capable of. 'Lazuli? So it's true, this is why she's been acting different.' His mind raced at the thought, but he had to think, he had to do something, he couldn't let her do this to him. Not again!
She stood right up against him and peered into his eyes, the warmth that she'd felt before rose up inside of her again and she marvelled at what was happening. She needed him more than anything. She was about to reach up and kiss him before…
"No…" He said slowly shaking his head. "This isn't happening again." He said and jumped away to the side and leaped over camp fire away from her. Eighteen turned toward him.
"You think that kiss meant something? Well it didn't." He said, poised and defensive.
"Yes it did, I know it did." She said absolute and then grinned. "I also know you felt it to."
Trunks gulped but shook his head determined not to let her have her way. "You don't know anything. Besides, monsters just don't do it for me." He was adamant about widening the gap between them and shook his head at the thought of her getting her way.
"I've been so foolish, being led along in this game of yours." He said, looking her straight in the eye. "I won't play along anymore, it ends now." He threw the challenge down and powered up to super saiyan, his face taking on a fierce snarl.
Eighteen watched him in contemplation. She wasn't used to being rejected, normally because she never put herself in a place to be rejected. After a moment she shook her own head and shrugged, she figured it would come to this.
"You are so selfish…" She commented and looked him straight on, her expression serious and once again, unhinged.
"Very well, if you insist on being this way then so be it, I'll just have to make you see things my way." She said, eyes cool and focussed with her hair falling across her face. Suddenly looking more like the Android 18 Trunks was used to.
Trunks braced himself. 'This is it, this is how it should be.' He told himself, he was tired of having his emotions played with by her. It was easier this way, she was the enemy and that was that.
He prepared himself for the fight but suddenly realised he didn't have his sword. His eyes flashed to it resting against the log, the log that was right beside her.
She followed his eyes to the sword beside her and then back to him and let out a smirk. "You want this?" She said and picked it up, appraising it, although it honestly didn't interest her. It was just a boy's toy as far as she was concerned, although she did wonder if she could have some fun with him…
She threw off the scabbard and held it up effortlessly causing Trunks to take a large step back. His clear fear made her laugh and she took a step closer to him. She did enjoy this, she couldn't help it. "Is this how you do it?" She said and thrust it from side to side like she'd seen him do before in previous fights. He wearily moved back. "Well?" She said waiting for him to comment. Trunks merely snarled at her and settled back into a defensive stance.
She looked at him and lowered her arms to her side, annoyed that he wasn't playing. "This is no fun." She said and tossed the blade to the side like a twig, it spun in the air and the heavy blade pierced the ground with its handle up.
"Let's have some real fun." She said, her voice seductive and sultry as she stepped toward him. He stepped back with every advance she made but made sure he was moving in a specific direction. Just before she got too close he dummied a move to the left but spun to the right and jumped toward his sword. Eighteen however was right behind him. He grasped it and with all of his strength jumped off the ground and blasted off, intent on making space between them, however she was right there with a grin and grabbed his ankle. He looked down. 'Oh no.'
"Going somewhere?" She said with a laugh before throwing him down to the earth, sending the sword flying out of his hand.
Angered he immediately spun around and threw a barrage of energy blasts toward her, intent on creating a surprise screen of energy as he followed closely behind and physically threw himself at her in full attack. Eighteen swiped away the blasts and glided effortlessly between his punches and kicks, all the while watching him with a playful smile.
"Ooh you're getting better." She sang with a giggle.
This made him even angrier and his attacks got faster, pushing himself more and more. She had to block a few attacks now and he had started pushing her backward. Before they reached the forest treeline Trunks made a move; he twisted to her side and sent a kick to her waist which she swiftly glided away from, before flipping over her and sending a barrage of high energy down at almost point blank range. She blocked easily but the blast explosion had burned the edges of her clothes and charred the white jeans she was wearing. However more significantly it had torn the arm of his jacket she was wearing.
As he spun away Trunks saw her shocked face and thought the attack had hit her. He smiled and felt elated as he watched her - any little victory was huge for his fighting confidence, however his smile faded quickly as she immediately glared at him and almost instantly, with inconceivable speed, appeared beside him, and just as he realised and turned toward her she backhanded him across the face, sending him flying down into a crater of dirt on the cliff edge.
"Hey look what you did! I liked this jacket!" She said holding the ripped arm angrily. Trunks was lying in a heap and bleeding from the mouth. He coughed and spat out blood as he picked himself up wearily. That was a hard blow, not just physically, but to his confidence in this fight. He knew he was outmatched, she was playing with him, and that move was a simple reminder of where he stood against her. Regardless of what she wanted with him, he needed to get away. He was on borrowed time and he had to think of something fast otherwise he wouldn't be returning home whether he was dead or… well, right now he didn't want to think about what she had planned for them. He shakily took to his feet and watched her poke at his jacket, completely pre-occupied with the tear on the arm, and completely unaffected by the intense fight they'd just had while he was in quite a deal of pain and exhaustion. He did however feel a slight sense of accomplishment, she was pissed and although his face hurt like hell, he was glad he got to her in some way.
"You know I'm going to have to stitch this up now." She complained while prodding the torn threads to see how damaged it was.
"That's my jacket, I never said you could have it." He said, wiping the blood from his mouth and chin.
She looked at him standing wearily in the small crater looking up at her. There was a look of pride on his bruised face, clearly feeling pleased with himself that he'd made her angry. She was tempted to react angrily but decided to change tack.
Trunks braced himself expecting an angry response but braced as he saw the anger on her face turn once again to that same unnerving seductive smile. "Yes it's yours, but like everything that's yours it belongs to me now - including you!" She said and stepped forward.
Trunks stepped back caught off-guard by her sudden change. He quickly gathered his composure and straightened up. "Too bad, I'm not interested."
"Who said you had a choice?" She said, now only a few feet away from him.
"My choice is I'm going to destroy you." He said, venom in his voice.
She stopped, her confident smile faded and she stared at him. "I see you've still got that nasty mouth of yours even after all the lessons I gave you over the years." She grinned and put her hands on her hips. "I'd rather not do this Trunks but it looks like I'm going to have to fix that little problem with one more lesson." She took the jacket off and lowered her bare arms and leaned forward as if ready to charge him.
"Pay attention!" She yelled.
He jumped back and steadied himself. 'Get ready Trunks, time it right.' He told himself, he had been biding his time. They were in the mountains, if he could gain sufficient distance from her, he could use the trees and mountain valleys as a means to hide and escape. He was going to blast the ground, throw a dust and dirt screen up at her to create a distraction, it was his best chance. He braced as her foot left the ground, his fingers tingling ready to unleash a blast to the ground. He held his breath.
To his surprised she didn't move to his front but swiftly moved to the side around him at lightning speed. He staggered and spun trying to follow her but she was simply too fast.
"Boo!" She said directly behind him and put her arms around his shoulders. Trunks shook from surprise and instinctively tried to swivel and use the ground as a foot boost to launch away from her, but she stopped him. He wriggled and immediately threw an elbow up toward her; she pulled back and blocked with ease and with the very same move sent a heavy blow to his chest, knocking the wind out of him and smashing him into the earth for the second time, creating a long trail of dirt right through the campsite.
She quickly followed at stopped at the top of the crater. "Why are you being so selfish? All I want to do is talk with you, we don't need to fight!" She yelled down at him.
Trunks was in a heap on the ground gasping for air. The heaviness of the blow sent paralysing pain throughout his entire body, his hoodie was torn and in pieces and his body felt paralysed in pain. He lurched forward and steadied himself on his hands and gasped for air as she slowly made her way behind him.
"I'm asking you to listen to me. I don't want to hurt you." She pleaded down to him.
He struggled to turn and could barely look up at her as he slowly began to feel his body respond in the way it should, despite the incredible pain. He tried his best not to seem too hurt by the powerful blow but he was struggling, her speed, she had completely caught him by surprise with that blow. He coughed up blood and spat it out and then, with great effort and a defiant glare looked up at her.
"What? Is… is that the best you got?" He said with forced steadiness.
Her desperate face fell to frustration and then anger. "Don't make me do this Trunks." She said, gritting her teeth, feeling a familiar cold anger rise up and whisper inside her, begging her to give in to it. Afterall she could swat him like a bug, imagine the fun it would be! She squeezed her fist and shook her head. "Stop this. Please don't do this." She pleaded.
Trunks slowly and shakily took to his feet. "There is nothing else to do! You're nothing but a killing machine and I'll never see you as anything else so stop trying to talk to me!" He yelled through the pain, finding his voice more clearly, every second that passed he felt himself regaining some of the strength he'd lost from the blow. The numb tingling in his limbs had subsided at least.
She looked at him, a clear hurt cast across her pale features. For a moment Trunks thought she would burst into tears but just before it happened, her face fell and she stared down at the ground and shook her head. "Why… why won't you listen… I can't…" Eighteen grabbed her head and crouched down; the cold hard and clinical programming began to rise up, intent on overwhelming and smothering her. It wanted to fill the weakness and empty spaces in her will like a creeping darkness from the bottom of some deep well, it rose up and ate away at all the memories and emotions she had been battling to hold onto since last night. She had left his camp just as he had entered the capsule shelter. She needed time to think, her memories were overwhelming. She wandered the woods in the dark at a loss for what was happening. Her programming which seemed like it was made to remove any and all emotions that weren't useful in some way to her destruction of human beings was struggling to dominate her. But like a door being unlocked, the memories of her past and the endless emotions that had been suppressed deep inside came rushing through, unstoppable and it helped her suppress the programming. The difficulty was in dealing with the new emotions which wasn't so easy. That needed time and someone to lean on, someone to love.
She looked at him, tears welling up in her eyes, desperate not to fall back into the black pit. His actions and words made it harder for her to resist. It was goading her, begging her to give in and walk its dark, destructive and lifeless path once again like a cold, dark blanket.
"Y-you don't understand… I'm not… this isn't truly me… I… need help." She tried to find the words but couldn't. She knew somewhere deep inside that her actions had caused him suffering but it was too soon, how could she deal with all of this right now. Was it her problem? Was she being selfish? She shook her head desperately.
Trunks was watching her with wide-eyes, but what she had said had made him angry. "How dare you… how dare you ask for help! How many people cried out for help after watching their loved ones die by your hands? How many pleaded, begged for your mercy only to be laughed at and murdered!"
Eighteen looked up at him and shook her head at his words. The emotions of her time since she was awoken by Dr. Gero had been suppressed, though she could remember most of her and Seventeens actions, the weight and meaning of everything she had done was only now beginning to catch up to her. She couldn't deal with it. She shook her head at the thought, she couldn't handle it right now, she'd only just remembered her own past. She clenched her eyes shut and screamed as the weight of emotions began flooding her mind. "S-stop… just stop, you don't know what you're doing!"
Trunks stumbled back away from her, shocked by what he was witnessing. He had watched her going through some inner torment last night, but this was harder, visceral and he didn't know what to make of it. He unconsciously hobbled back away as she wrestled some inner demons.
'I have to get him to listen to me. I need it, he has to.' She stood up, body shaking. Her eyes descended into a steely determination as she looked at him through the bangs of her now dishevelled and dusty blond hair.
"It seems I was wrong to think I could do this without fighting... without pain…" She said, her voice low and edgy.
She straightened up. "I'll just have to make you understand." She lunged forward and reached out to grab him but Trunks was anticipating it and burst upward in flight while at the same time sent a blast toward her. He flew to his sword and swiped it from the ground as he passed. Eighteen however was right behind him and very much on the attack. He twisted in the air just in time as she threw an energy blast at him and he managed to block it, but it slowed him down allowing her to throw herself into him. The sword however made it a little easier for him as it naturally put a greater distance between the two and gave his attacks more speed. However he was entirely on the defensive and she was relentless and was pushing him around and in total control of where they were heading.
'Damnit!' He was quickly losing control and his defence was a split second away from collapse. She was relentless and had a determination in her eyes he'd never seen before.
She pushed him into the treeline, each swing and push smashed trees from the ground, clearing a path in the forest. She backed Trunks into a rock and he was forced to take to the air, flipping over her with his sword aimed at her head, however she was simply too fast for him and was one step ahead, unbalancing him. She threw a well-timed kick to his sword arm causing him to yell out and almost drop the blade, and then sent a powerful blow to his other arm which he barely manage to deflect by angling his body, avoiding most of the force of the attack. Sensing he was about to be pummelled he desperately shot a quick point-blank energy blast at her and dived backward, and then with everything he had, blasted off toward the dense forest foliage barely maintaining his energy level.
Trunks' body burned in agony, after the blow he received earlier, he was quickly losing power. Merely trying to defend and block her attacks had almost completely drained him of strength and the sheer force of her blows on his limbs had numbed them, making it hard to control his movements. Just as he thought he could escape to the cliff edge below he felt a blast hit him square in the back and he yelled out in pain. A scorching pain shot through his whole body and combined with his own momentum, sent him crashing down against the rocks and trees in an explosion of energy and dirt.
Eighteen followed closely and hovered above the pile of dirt and rocks he was buried in. She noticed his sword sticking out from the side and picked it up, frowning with disdain at the thing. "You won't be needing this thing anymore." She said and then with a quick strike of her hand broke it and tossed it aside. She jumped down into the crater, still reeling from the internal battle going on inside her, wishing for him to just stop, terrified at the thought of him getting away or what damage she was doing to him. The sooner she ended it, the better.
The force of the blow brought Trunks out of super saiyan and he was barely conscious. He tried to open his eyes, but one remained closed, bloodied and swollen. Blood trickled down his face and he could feel a warm liquid trickling down his back and arms, he knew it was blood. He grabbed at the dirt on the ground, trying to pick himself up, but an incredible pain shot through his left leg as he put weight on it. He winced and looked down at it, he wasn't sure but it felt broken. He coughed up blood and looked to the side and as the dust parted he could see her there looking down at him, her face angry and desperate.
'Well Trunks, this is it.' He realised. His strength was gone, he was completely vulnerable, and he knew she could kill him on a whim whenever she wanted. He glared up at her through one eye. He could see her lips moving, talking, but he couldn't hear anything, just a high pitched ringing noise filled his ears. She came up beside him and bent down and then held his dirt covered and bloody face in her hand, moving it from side to side, appraising the damage he had taken.
She had tried to reason with him, gave him every opportunity to be civil but he just plain refused. While it angered her and she was tempted to unleash her fury on him, she didn't want to create even more hostility and difficulty between them, but at the same time she couldn't let him go. She just couldn't.
"That's enough Trunks, it's over. I'm taking you with me." She said. He heard only the end of it, the sound slowly coming back as if from a great distance. He frowned and glared back at her and tried his best to back away from her. She brushed the hair from her dirty face and watched him still trying to get away from her. She frowned in frustration and placed her hands on her hips.
"If you had only listened to me none of this would have happened. We can both get what we want." She said raising her arms in gesture to her flawless logic, not able to figure him out. "Was this really worth it? Are those items that important?" She asked but didn't expect him to reply the way he was. But it was true, she didn't know what he was doing with them, he clearly really wanted them for something but at the same time, he wasn't prepared to engage with her. She needed something, some leverage that would at least calm him down enough to be civil.
Trunks was about to say something, he stumbled to the wall and picked himself up, leaning against it, but then stopped. A sound, something was ringing, only this time it wasn't his damaged ears, it was coming from the camp. His face sank, it was his phone, his mother must be checking on him.
Eighteen looked toward the direction of the sound and then back at Trunks and finally pieced it together. Her face brightened and seeing him in no state to run away, she skipped up the crater edge to the hill and disappeared from his sight toward the camp.
Horror filled his battered face and panic helped pump adrenalin through his body. From the depths of his being he found enough strength to stumble up the crater and peered over at her flying toward the camp where his phone was ringing.
Eighteen took his belt and pulled out the small flip-phone and read the text on screen. "Mother." She spoke aloud and her thoughts raced. 'Was this why he was so uncooperative, was he collecting the items for this mother?' She wondered. Perhaps this was what she needed, if she could somehow use his mother to make him listen...
With a new found hope she flicked it open and brought it to her ear. "Hello~"
"Hey Trun…" Bulma stopped, not recognising the strange voice. "Who is this?" She asked.
Eighteen smiled and fixed her hair. "Oh let's just say I'm eighteen, pretty and the most powerful beauty on the planet." She smiled.
There was a brief silence before Bulma pieced it together. "No. NO! Where's Trunks!? Where's my boy? What the hell have you done to my son you bitch!" Bulma screeched through the phone in full rage and panic. Eighteen flinched and moved the irritating sound away from her highly tuned and sensitive ears. Her reaction was completely unexpected, normally whenever she introduced herself to a human they reacted in fear which was her intent, it made them easier to control, but this... she was enraged and her eyes widened dangerously.
Trunks could hear her as he hobbled closer. He shouted through his sore throat, hoping his mother could hear him. "D-don't listen to her! I'm fine!" He breathed, trying to stagger over to Eighteen as quickly as possible.
A now angry Eighteen glared at the phone. "Listen to me you hag, you will never see your son again, do you hear me? He's decided to come and live with me now." She grinned down the phone but pulled it away again as Bulma sent a tirade back through the other end. Eighteen glared at the phone as she held it a safe distance away from her, and then looked at the staggering Trunks approaching her. "Now I know where you got that nasty mouth of yours."
Trunks desperately tried to grab the phone from Eighteen but she easily moved it away and grabbed his arm. Trunks could hear his mother's cries through the phone. "Mom I'm OK! Don't worry, please!" He shouted making sure he was clear. Eighteen spun him around and twisted his arm up behind his back, his face distorted in pain and he cried out. She put the phone close to him.
Bulma could hear his screams. "Oh no, oh no. Trunks I'm coming, I'm almost there please hang on…" Tears filled her eyes as she stepped on the gas of the flying car, desperately peering out of the window down to the valley below. She was having trouble finding exactly where he was but now she was desperate and moving quicker.
Eighteen slowly took the phone from his mouth to her ear. "Did you hear that? I hope it makes you happy because it was your fault! Consider it the last time you hear your son!" Eighteen shouted down the phone and threw it toward a nearby rock, smashing it to pieces.
She breathed, she didn't plan for that outcome but the old hag had been so rude that she just had to end it. "That's enough of that headache. Now shall we-…" She was cut-off as Trunks threw himself into the air and blasted off the floor infront of her, covering her in cloud of dirt and dust. He then flew off the cliff edge and dropped down toward the forest valley.
Eighteen stood coughing and wiping her eyes from the dust that filled them, after everything that just happened, his little manoeuvre caught her by surprise. She didn't think he had anything left in him. As the dust settled she straightened out and looked over herself and frowned. She was dirty, and she hated that more than anything.
"Oh you'll pay for that." She said, her voice low and hard. She was really frustrated; it should have been easy to simply take him away from this camp and deal with him when he was calm. A little bit of time together was all she needed to have him realise she wasn't going to hurt him, to see that things were different. She growled and burst into the air and took off over the cliff edge, her acute senses scanning the forest floor below, blue eyes piercing and looking for any kind of movement. After a brief moment she narrowed her eyes, she couldn't sense him and panic started to creep inside her. 'Why did this happen? It should have been so easy!' Her patience was waning and now she was worried, after she had been so kind to him how dare he do this to her!
She lowered herself just above the treetops, her desperate eyes darting from tree to tree, looking for anything, a sign, a rustle. She knew he went in this direction, his sudden power down and the condition he was in meant he couldn't have gone far... could he? Her instinct was to flush her prey out but she didn't want to harm him. 'Damnit when I find you…' She seethed, but then decided it was best to change approach. She had spent years luring her prey, humans out of their little hidey-holes while playing games with Seventeen, it was always best to change approach when it came to these situations.
"Trunks, I know you're down here. If you come out now I promise I'll forgive you for what you've just done to me." She said, letting her voice carry out across the valley. She waited patiently, but the only reply she got was the sound of the valley wind across the tree tops, birds tweeting and other general sounds of nature.
Her brow twitched. "Really we both know you can't escape, you're just delaying the inevitable. Come out now and I promise I won't hurt you." She said and quickly spun toward the sound of a stick breaking. She flew across and hovered above, eyes piercing down through the spaces in the foliage like a hawk.
"If you co-operate I know things can change between us. We don't have to fight, really, we can have a lot of fun together." She stopped above a small clearing and saw some bushes rustling. Her eyes locked on to it and she lowered herself silently toward it.
"Trunks… I-I'm sorry OK, I know I shouldn't have spoken to your mother like that. I'm just… I'm not feeling like myself. I need your help…" She pleaded.
Trunks was breathing heavily and blood was pouring down his face. That burst of energy he let out had really spent him; he had blanked out after clearing the cliff edge and plummeted to the ground where the impact coincidentally woke him back up. He'd managed to pull himself behind a tree and take cover in some bushes but he was struggling to stay conscious, his body was screaming in pain. Between the ringing in his ears, his rapid shallow breathing and thudding heartbeat he could hear her talking, pleading with him from above. He was tired, deathly so. It felt like the world was resting on his eyelids, begging him to give in to unconsciousness.
She stepped beside the bushes silently and saw it rustle again. Quickly she pulled the branches aside and suddenly something jumped out the opposite end, she spun to face it but it was a wild boar followed by two tiny piglets that followed their mother running off into the tall grass.
She shook and spun around in desperation. "Please Trunks, please… I promise I won't… I won't kill anymore. I know I've done things… terrible things, but it wasn't me. Please, I just need your help." She begged, her eyes welling up.
Trunks tiredly peered up between a space in the bushes from behind her. She looked around desperately, tears in her eyes. She grabbed her head and again appeared to be going through another inner battle. His battered and bruised head was resting weakly against the tree trunk as he watched her with his remaining good eye. He was tired, so tired and yet there she was, the object of his fear, the target of all his fighting effort in life was begging for his help amidst the trees merely a few metres away from him. The pain on her face, the desperation… maybe it was true, maybe Lazuli really is trying to break through. His head was beginning to drop and his bruised eyes close. 'Maybe we can… change things…' Unable to hold on any longer, he gave into the weight on his eyes and allowed his tiredness to take him.
Suddenly his eyes opened, there was a new sound in the forest, one that didn't belong here. It was the rumbling sound of an engine.
Bulma flew low over the treetops and caught sight of the small campsite, she was panicked and desperate. She lowered down at the small clearing and saw some of his belongings. 'This is it, this is it!' She realised as she identified a safe spot to land beside what looked like a ruined and damaged camp.
Eighteen looked up toward the car as it passed above the trees. 'Is that…?' She shot up above the treeline to see the car landing at the camp. She recognised the Capsule Corp symbol on the car, it was the same one from Trunks' jacket. Her eyes then fell onto the woman driving it, the resemblance was startling. 'That must be Trunks' mother.' She blinked as her mind rushed with the possibilities and then looked back down toward the trees below, her eyes desperate and calculating.
"Well Trunks, if you won't listen to reason, I'll just make you listen!" She yelled down below to the forest canopy and flew across toward Bulma.
Trunks caught a glimpse of his mother's car as it flew by directly above. He was horrified, he knew it was his mother, he recognised it immediately. 'O-oh no…' His mind raced and the weight of Eighteen's threat terrified him and panic pushed through his overwhelming tiredness. He immediately tried to summon the strength to stand using the tree as support. 'Mother!' His mind raced in fear and somehow he managed to hobble through the bushes, desperately trying to make for the cliff.
Bulma quickly gathered herself and fumbled with the latch of the glove box. She reached inside and pulled out a gun despite knowing it was useless however it was either that or nothing and nothing was unacceptable right now. Quickly she pressed the latch to open the glass domed car door but then froze in shock as she realised standing directly beside her was a dirt covered, face stricken, blond young woman whom at first she didn't recognise. She was about to speak but then something in the young woman's pale eyes sent a shiver down her spine and it dawned on her who the strange girl was. Bulma froze and couldn't pull her eyes away from the cold and dishevelled stare Eighteen was giving her. Without looking at her hands she fiddled with the gun while Eighteen merely watched. She clicked the safety switch on the side and lifted it up at her. "W-where's Trunks?" She said, clearly fearful but determined. Eighteen merely stared back at her, tiredness filling her dirty face. A moment of silence passed but Bulma began to get angry and she lifted her arms straighter, emphasising the gun pointing at her. "I said where the hell is my s-" With inconceivable speed the gun was snatched from her hand. Bulma jumped in surprise and watched as an expressionless Eighteen held it up infront of her and then proceeded to crush it in her hand. Bulma flinched back in her seat and watched the blonde young girl toss the gun to the side. "Stay there." Eighteen said and turned around.
Bulma looked at her, lost in shock for a moment but the shock quickly turned into a glare, much akin to her son. "If you've hurt my son I swear I'll destroy you!" She threatened. Eighteen remained quiet with her back toward her looking off toward the cliff edge.
Panic rising in Bulma she looked around the camp before deciding to take things into her own hands. "Trunks!" She yelled hoping he'd hear her. Eighteen winced at the piercing sound of Bulma's voice which was not so far from her ears. She turned around and glared at her, however Bulma wasn't looking.
"Trunks! If you can hear me, run away! Get away from here, forget about me!" She screamed, a flock of birds nestling in the trees nearby took off.
Eighteens glare turned to anger. "Be quiet!" She yelled at her. Bulma flinched as Eighteen approached and braced herself as she stood directly beside the car. Eighteen was in no mood, she grabbed the domed door and closed it and just before Bulma started to complain again she pushed down on the latch with impossible force, embedding it into the metal chassis of the flying dome car, effectively sealing Bulma inside.
Bulma's eyes widened and she immediately began struggling with the unbudging door. "Let me out! Where's Trunks!?" She screamed and kicked at the car dome, only now her voice was muffled and at an acceptable level. Eighteen turned away from her again and brought her attention back toward the cliff edge. She knew he would come.
Trunks used everything he had to crawl to the cliff and stared up at the steep incline. He heard his mother scream from above and it gave him the adrenalin he needed for one last push, he half jumped, half flew up and grabbed onto the side of the edge, "Aargh!" Grimacing with each pull he clawed at the rocky ground for leverage and tried to ignore the pain coursing through his body. He managed to reach the side and finally saw Eighteen standing infront of his mother's capsule car waiting for him, his mother was banging against the window, clearly trapped inside.
Relief came over Eighteen as she watched him emerge from the cliff, for a moment she thought he'd either escaped or died from the damage she'd dealt to him. For a moment they looked at each other, contrasting emotions until Trunks finally spoke out.
"Enough… you win…" He said, desperately pulling himself toward them. His battered face was grief stricken and his eyes welled in suppressed tears. "P-please… just don't… hurt her… I'll do anything you want." He struggled through breaths and tears as he got closer and closer.
Eighteen glared down at him, tears in her own eyes hearing him say that and seeing the desperation in him. "Why did you do this… it shouldn't have been this way. I didn't want this!" She yelled, the conflict, the pain he was in and now using his mother as bait. The rift between them had grown even greater. Seeing how utterly opposed he and his mother were to her, it was not what she wanted, she wanted to get closer, to open up and have him realise that she remembered what it was like before, that she had changed and had been changing. She just…
Her eyes welled up and she stepped forward. "I love you!" She screamed, her voice echoing through the valley as desperate tears fell down her cheeks. "I… need you."
Trunks stopped and looked at her taken aback. Bulma too stopped banging on the window and looked at her, completely stunned.
"I remember… everything, everything I once was… and also, everything I've done since…" She said, battling through tears, pleading for him to understand. "You're the reason I was able to break through my programming." She stepped closer as he struggled to his feet. "You're the reason I remember who I was. I can stop now, I'm in control."
Trunks swayed in place, barely standing. "...let her go, please." He begged, his voice barely a whisper.
Eighteen desperately looked between him and his mother before shaking her head. "No, because you'll leave!"
Trunks stood infront of her and reached out toward her shoulder, taking it and staring her directly in the eyes. "If… y-you truly loved me, you'd understand why I can't be with you. I came… I came to find something that would make this destroyed world a better place for everyone, not just us." He said. "I-if… you truly love me, you'll let us go…" He said through breaths, staring her in the eyes.
Eighteen's eyes welled up as she stared back at him, she was caught between two worlds, an old dark world full of death, destruction and numbness and a new one filled with hope, love and life. She desperately looked between him and his mother who was watching eyes-wide from inside the car. After a brief desperate moment, her face dropped and she buried herself into his chest and cried. Her shoulders shook and he brought his arm up and embraced her genuinely. After a few moments she then slowly put her hand into her pocket and took out the processor. She looked at it and then up at him, his face battered and bruised and impossibly tired, and then she placed it into his larger, calloused hand.
Trunks looked down at his hand, and back at her before she suddenly held him tight and pulled him into a passionate kiss. His eyes widened in surprise before finally giving in. He closed his eyes and accepted the moment which felt like time and reality had separated. He was no longer in a destroyed and desperate world but instead sharing something special with a girl he only now realised he barely knew.
Eventually she pulled out of the kiss, having gotten what she wanted, the connection that she knew was there, and slowly moved her lips to his ear.
"I really do love you Trunks." She whispered and looked him in the eyes.
Trunks stared at her astonished, his cheeks glowing red as she smiled at him and then stood to the side and pulled open the car door. Trunks looked from her to his mother who had seen everything and was staring with her hands over her mouth, astonished at what had transpired.
He climbed inside with Bulmas help and Eighteen stepped closer and took his hand.
"Will you meet with me someday?" She asked.
He looked at her standing as if she were any normal pretty girl, her eyes were tear stricken and, as if for the first time seeing it, also incredibly alive. He smiled. "One day, when the world is different and when people can freely build their lives, there will be a place for you Lazuli. There will be a place for us." He said and squeezed her hand before letting it go with a smile. Lazuli smiled back, tears falling from her face and then reached up and closed the door and took a step back, her eyes never moving from his. The car lifted up and rose over the valley above before disappearing in the distance leaving Lazuli standing alone.
.
.
.
.
The end.
.
.
.
Well there it is!
My intent for this short story was to focus on the specifics of Eighteens programming and the reason behind her contrasting present and future self. I wanted to explore why and I needed a reason, a catalyst to "kick" her out of the programming and into what I perceive as being the real Eighteen. So the idea that love was what she needed to put her on the path to discovering her real self was fitting in my opinion given that in the main DBZ timeline she is loving and motherly.
However I also feel that simply turning them into lovers would have been so unrealistic and it would have betrayed Trunks' character. I mean honestly, how could Trunks just suddenly open up to her after all that she's done? Even if he did feel some romantic inclination toward her which is what I tried to convey, it just wouldn't make sense with him going through with it after all the horrors she's wrought upon the world and to him personally. So to end on a note of hope that something may develop one day in the future, I think that is the better and more realistic conclusion personally. But that's just me, let me know your thoughts on the matter.
Anyway I hope you enjoyed it, it was genuinely fun to write and thanks for all your support and reviews. I currently have a lot of things going on in life so I can't afford to write a continuous story at the moment. Saying that however I do feel there's a lot more to tell and I've left the story open enough that if I get some spare time there's a sequel to be written.
Thanks for all your support guys. I really appreciate the constructive and encouraging comments (and thanks to the guy reminding me how awesome Jesus is! xD.)
Cheers!
Keshin