I am known as many things, but to you, I'm your creeping death.

Bubun: Hachi

Trunks buried his face in his hands.

"I'm having trouble… working things in my head. What did you just say?"

Kokoro really wished that he could just abandon Trunks in this layer of the dreamscape, but that would throw everything off.

"The spell… the only spell to defeat Manako requires her to…"

"Kill someone?" Trunks looked up confused, his memories shifting. "You were crying when Hitomi died."

Kokoro felt his heart go cold. "It never happened."

"Yes it did."

"You're getting way off subject here."

"I remember it. We were here, in this place… but white. Everything was white…"

"You remember a lot of things, but most of those never happened to you! Do you understand that? They are past lives, stolen memories and you should not have them!" Kokoro was losing his temper.

"And you shouldn't have lied to us! You brought us here to die!" Trunks was on his feet. He felt dizzy and confused, but this one moment seemed clear. "Take us home!"

"I can't!" Kokoro screamed at him and Trunks went still. "Bringing you in here was the last thing I was able to do. This is Manako's Dreamscape, she controls everything here now. There is no way in or out, except for killing her. You were the only people I could bring because your blood is not of this world. I had no choice!"

"You could have not brought us to our execution!"

"Then the world would have died! I made a choice! It was a terrible choice, but it was one I had to make! This is who I am! This what I do! I am a Yume Mi and I need to protect you!"

"This is not protection," Trunks almost doubled over in pain. He wanted to scream as unwelcome memories shot through his. "You stood by and watched them die…"

"That did not happen!!!" Kokoro screamed again, ready to strike out at Trunks.

He could remember what he was talking about, about standing by and letting Hitomi kill without mercy. That was in the past though, a past that did not exist. Those people he had let die were alive again.

"Take me back to my friends."

"Trunks… you can't speak of any of this to them."

"So why let me go back at all?" Trunks glared.

"Because of what happened a year ago."

"With Hitomi?"

"Listen, there's a lot more to this spell than Manako killing someone. Once she has done that, Nin needs to carry out her spell, and you… and only you… needs to give the final blow."

"… Why?"

"I'm afraid it wouldn't make a whole lot of sense at the moment."

Nin sat a little ways away from the rest of the group, grinding her herbs and concocting a potion. Every once in a while she would look up and try to ignore the various glares and looks of curiosity shot towards her.

She was trying to ignore them so badly that she barely noticed when Gohan walked up to her and sat down.

Immediately Nin put down the bottle she was holding and glared at him.

"What? Now you want to interrogate me?"

"No, I was just curious about what you were making," he said quietly.

"You wouldn't understand it."

"Try me."

"I would never give away my secrets."

Gohan sighed and resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "Well, can you tell me how the spell works then?"

Nin paused, wondering just how much she could say. A part of her wanted to explain things, because a part of her found Gohan familiar. Trustworthy?

Ha, she didn't trust anyone. She barely trusted Kokoro.

"It's a straightforward spell. Upon his signal I speak the words and poor the potion."

"His signal?"

"Kokoro's. He said he'd give me a signal on when exactly to use it," Nin began measuring some herbs she had just ground.

"What signal?"

"He didn't say."

"Not even a hint?"

Nin felt her fingers tightening into a fist. She couldn't concentrate like this.

Gohan was starting to feel her tense up. "Sorry, I can see you're busy."

"I am."

He stood up, ready to leave. "Look, I know something's bothering you."

"Yeah, you," she added some liquid to her bottle of herbs and it all turned purple.

"Be serious."

Nin looked up at him, a calm anger in her eyes. "I am always serious."

"You can tell me what's bothering you."

"Why? Why would I tell a perfect stranger something that was hypothetically bothering me?"

"Because this concerns all of us. If this fails, we all die. You, me, Kokoro, the short, bitter man."

Nin seemed to consider this for a moment. "This won't fail. You don't need to worry about that," a cocky smile spread across her face. "I don't fuck up my spells."

"Then what is it?"

She put the bottle down. There really was something about him. Had she maybe met him before? Wouldn't she have remembered that? "Once you've done as many spells and positions as I have, you get a good idea about what happens when you put certain things together, say certain words."

"And?"

"And this spell is supposed to kill Manako, right?"

"Right."

"But as far as I can tell this spell won't kill anything, but it may create something."

"Create something? To do what?"

"I don't know; that's what's bothering me."

Suddenly Kokoro was standing in their midst, Trunks crouched by his feet, muttering something to himself.

Nin sighed, "Took you long enough, asshole…"

"Trunks!" Gohan, Goku and Goten all yelled in unison.

Goten was by his side almost instantly, grabbing his shoulders. "Are you ok!?!"

Trunks felt dizzy for a moment. He looked at Goten and his heart froze. This is the boy who hurt you more than anyone else, and this is the boy who is your best friend in the whole world.

Two completely different lives clashing in his brain. Which life was which? When did he hate him? When did he love him?

Instinctively Trunks pushed Goten away and got to his feet.

Goten looked up, slightly confused. Was something wrong with Trunks? What had they been talking about?

"I'm fine," he turned to Gohan, then looked over at his father.

Vegeta stood there, expressionless. Uncaring?

Trunks wanted to run at him, scream at him. "Why did you leave me!?!" But he knew that that was a different life.

"We don't have a lot of time left. Frankly I'm surprised that Manako hasn't come back," Kokoro began explaining, ignoring the questions he was getting about his whereabouts. "Nin, is that spell ready?"

Gohan shot a glance at Nin, who simply nodded her head. "A masterpiece, if I may say so myself."

"Well, we'll see."

"Can you tell where Manako is now?" Piccolo asked, walking up to Kokoro.

"I have vague notions…"

"Vague notions?"

"I know she's out there, know she's close…"

"Well that's helpful information," Sederi spoke up, an angry look on his face.

"Leave it Sederi," Vensu protested, but Sederi quickly turned on her as well.

"I will not! I am sick of this! We got dragged into this and are being kept in the dark! If you want our help, you need to start being a lot more straightforward with us!"

In some ways they all agreed with Sederi, but no one really wanted to speak up.

Nobody had time to.

They didn't realize why Goku was screaming at first. They looked over, saw him fall to the ground, holding his stomach in pain. They saw blood pooling off of his arms and forming a puddle, but they didn't know why.

The figure behind him blended so well into the white that they didn't see Manako until she began to speak.

That was a dirty little trick Kokoro.

They saw her then, and the blood on her hand, and they understood. They didn't want to believe it, but they understood. She had stabbed Goku through the back using only her hand.

"Dad!" Gohan yelled and ran forward, punching Manako as hard as he could. She caught his fist, not even bothering to look at him.

I'm in the middle of a conversation, you insolent boy.

She threw Gohan towards Piccolo, they impacted and fell to the ground unmoving.

Your taste in friends really has gone down the drain, a drunken paranoid, an imbecilic alien.

Manako shot a glance at Goten, standing ready to fight. She grinned.

A rapist.

"What?" It was the only word that Goten could think to say.

Trunks, you know what I'm talking about. You remember now.

Cold. Dark. Alone. Fear. Pain.

Kokoro attacked before Manako could say another word, and to everyone's surprise when he punched, she flinched in pain. But a flinch is hardly a victory.

Dec/05

(I've been going through a lot of writing files recently and found this tucked away in some folder. I don't know why I never finished it, I don't know why I don't finish most things, but I know I really won't finish this. I do now that a few days later I started my second semester of college, so I must have gotten sidetracked. I kind of gave up on FanFiction about a year ago. No, that's not right, I more outgrew it. I just want to concentrate on my own writing. Anyway, I felt I should post this because if I'm never going to finish it I might as well post all that I have. If you want to know how it all ended, drop me a line. I'll be more than happy to give you guys a detailed outline.)