Chapter 10

A/N: The story continues. I think there comes a time when human beings simple lose the will to keep on living and just pass away, their life energy leaves them. Yes, he may try to save her but will Pan want to keep on living, or is her desire to enter the after life too overpowering? I know this was just meant to be a love story, but it needs to be interesting and I think I've got your attention. I'm glad you like where the story is going, and quite happy I shocked you with the plot twist, it's hard to get an unexpected reaction from readers with popular fanfics couplings because most plots have been redone time and time again. I hope that this story is original in a few ways. Enjoy the chapter. - Funkypunk

Our life could have been so different. I could never understand why you loved me so unconditionally, but you know that deep in my heart I felt the same feelings towards you. Because of you I learned how to feel again, I learned more about myself through you than through any other being I had ever met in my entire life. You gave me a son, a daughter; you helped me become a good man. For that sole reason, I will be forever grateful for your life, you were a beautiful sole and I will mourn the loss of you in my life but I know, somehow, you will forgive me for what I have to do. The suffering must end; I don't want to cause anyone more pain. Enough is enough, farewell my love. Bulma, I will always love you and that is something I know I can never change.

Vegeta stood on the platform, he sensed the body of Pan getting closer to the ground and he tried to respect her wish. He was letting her die, the young talented warrior he had come to care for was realising her doom. A forbidden love between them was revealed and then destroyed. Was the guilt of loving each other so great that one of them must die? Vegeta clenched his fists, it was becoming too much for him to bear. Before he knew it, he was plunging his body down the tower, diving towards her before she hit the deadly impact of the Earth's surface. She should not die; it was as much his fault as it was hers, though she denied it. A loyal man would have simply resisted her at all costs, so he was indeed the one to blame as well, and he couldn't stand also being responsible for her death.

With one last burst of energy he caught up with her and he reached for her, grabbing her by her waist and pulling her into his arms. Her skin was cold, but he could still sense some life within her body, there was still time to save the girl, there was still time to make a difference, though it seemed like a hopeless cause, he couldn't simply just give up hope. Obviously, if Pan was attacked then perhaps more lives were at stake, and not one life should be taken from this emotional mess unnecessarily. Her skin was very brunt from what appeared to be multiple attacks, but it was still soft and reassuring to touch, she was such a sweet creature. Vegeta inhaled her scent, it was delicate, fragile and still very alluring and considering she was in the condition she was, it seemed impossible that she was putting on an act to draw him to her. He was drawn to her without any effort from her, her scent was intoxicating. How could he fight this feeling? His body was telling him he had done the right thing, like it had fulfilled its purpose yet his heart was pulling away in a different direction, towards his wife.

Vegeta felt his feet pad softly against the ground as he landed, then rested Pan's body on the soft grass. She seemed dead, but there was life in there somewhere. Vegeta kneeled over her, looking at her face, willing for her to open her eyes and to take a deep breath of fresh air. He wanted to see her alive again, bursting with fiery energy like he had only ever seen in one other female but she was old and Goku's wife so she didn't really count towards his reasoning. Vegeta leaned in closer and nuzzled his face into her neck, feeling for the comfort of the warmth that was meant to be in her skin. He was searching for some reassurance that everything was going to be okay, that this wasn't to be the end of their lives.

"Pan" Vegeta whispered into her ear, nibbling lightly on her ear lobe playfully, "please, just wake up!" She didn't move, she didn't breathe, it felt like it was now all over. Vegeta could feel a large power getting closer, was it Trunks? Vegeta got up and turned around and noticed a shadowy figure in the distance walking towards him. He could sense the power, but that was not what he feared. He could sense something darker was at hand, a familiar feeling, a feeling close to what he himself use to be like all those years ago before he had ever come to Earth. Vegeta scooped up Pan into his arms, and without further hesitation, took to the sky at the greatest speed he could muster and blocked out the thought of what had happened to Trunks.

Trunks watched his father run away, it was an act to be ashamed of but he didn't follow, his father was afraid of him. So he should be, thought the unstable Saiyan youth.

"WEAKLING! FATHER! YOU WERE THE GREATEST WARRIOR AND NOW LOOK AT WHAT YOU HAVE BECOME!" Trunks cried out towards the sky, his power escalating, his eyes were wild with fury. He knew he had killed her, he had killed his own fiancé but she had betrayed him with the worst possible act she could. She may have felt guilt and sadness but that was nothing compared the emotions that were boiling away in his own mind and heart, she had deserved what she got. Trunks was breathing rapidly, he thought his chest might explode so he lowered his power level; his revenge was to be taken up with his old man, not the entire planet. There would be no reasoning with him; it would simply be one last challenge, one last battle to ease the pain in his heart.

Trunks was becoming so consumed by the thought of the act of betrayal, he was being blinded by the pure raw emotions. His mind was rationalizing the need to fight Vegeta, but in his heart he knew it would fix nothing, the damage was done. But whatever it was that his heart was telling hi, he wasn't obeying it. He was too far gone, lost in his hopeless state of raw power.

Trunks felt a tear emerging from the inner corner of his left eye, though he tried to fight it, it slid gracefully down his cheek and under his neck. He lifted his head and looked up at the sky, he could sense his father's Ki and then, though only for a moment, he felt a slight energy with him. Pan was alive. She was with him, Trunks thought, he has her all to himself, the greedy selfish son of a bitch! He took off into the air, and trailed his father's Ki. She was alive, and somehow that had changed something inside of him. Was it relief? Trunks stretched out his arms before him as he soared through the air, he mind fixated on Vegeta but the thought of Pan living was also in the back of his mind. Did it matter that she lived? Perhaps if he simply got Vegeta out of the way, she would want to be with him, Trunks, and only him for the rest of her life. Trunks smiled at that last thought, yes, that was what he should do. Remove the thorn from his side and claim what was rightfully his, what was pledged to him by her.

"You can run as much as you like father, but escaping from this act of treachery you have committed won't be so easy!" Trunks roared as Vegeta came within sight. Trunks thought he noticed his father slowing down, was he finally going to accept his inevitable fate? Then, his father stopped completely in the air and turned to face his son, cradling the young Pan in his arms. Trunks gasped, she looked dead, she looked fragile, burned and lifeless. It was becoming all too real to him now.

"You see what you have done?" Vegeta moved closer to his son, almost as if he was going to offer the Saiyan beauty back to him "Is this what I have trained you to do?"

"You learned more through Goku that I had ever done through you!" Trunks spat.

"You're so clouded with rage my boy, you have no fucking idea where you even stand in this! If this is who you want to be then fine, take her, kill her if you can!" Vegeta roared, his eyes flashed emerald green, his voiced deepened and he tightened his grip on Pan, "but know this, I will protect her…"

"PROTECT HER?" Trunks laughed sarcastically, releasing his power slowly from within, "you're loyalties should been with my mother but I think it's far too late for her now!"

Vegeta said nothing, his eyes flashed back to black and his power settled. What had happened to his wife? Was she caught in the same explosion that Pan was? Vegeta swallowed hard, he felt his throat tighten in fear. He felt like he wanted to hand Pan over to his son so he could go tend to his wife but then Pan's life would certainly be at a loss and yet, if he did nothing and held onto the young female, Bulma could certainly be beyond any help as well. He was stuck, that same as he was when he was lead into that dark room with sacred water by Dende. He was at a cross road, and no matter which direction he would choose to take, one that he loved would die.