Lavender Time

Part Five

The control room was a mess with soldiers running in and out of it. The movement hurt Jaden's head as he sidestepped a grunt. The soldier gave him a weary look, before sprinting off, his arms full of useless papers. The spark of fear that edged the Elysian's eyes brought a smirk to the captain's face.

Already in place in the center of the room were the other three Captains. Rue, with his messy mop of blue hair and a jagged scar that ran down the side of his face and Vollen who looked much like his brother except his blue mane was cut in a shorter style with a patch of hair on his chin. Both men wore the same battle uniform that covered Jaden's own body.

"Ready to face the music boys?" Jaden asked, clapping the brothers on the shoulder in greeting. Both looked grim, what was coming would not be pleasant.

"He's going to be pissed at us." Vollen growled, as the lower soldiers around them lowered the transmitting screen. His piercing black eyes were already glaring at the object.

"Well it's not our fault." Rue hissed, "We need more men."

Vollen's eyes turned their angry gaze to his brother, "More men because of one half blood?"

"Two half bloods." Jaden corrected , the humor he usually took in watching the two bicker drained at the reminder.

A warning alarm beeped from the front of the room, signaling the incoming transmission they had been waiting for. With a quick click a large Elysian filled the screen, his white skin shined under the lights of the ship. He lacked the trade mark hair, but his eyes were narrow slits of black across his face, and his thin lips were pulled down in a scowl. The King of the Elysians looked to be in a foul mood.

As soon as he appeared the room snapped to attention, every soul stood completely still. King Eluse took them all in, stopping on his three captains. "At ease men," his deep voice boomed into the room, they fell into a more relaxed stance but no one was at ease.

"Jaden," Eluse started, "Rue, Vollen. What excuse do you have for me this time?"

"Sire," Jaden stepped forward head held high, "There has been a new development."

"Another one?" Eluse's scowl twitched in irritation, "First the humans were giving you a hard time, and then the half blooded saiyan rodent was the problem. So what is it now?"

"Well Sire," Jaden swallowed, trying to collect his words carefully, "A second saiyan has appeared?"

Black eyes widened slightly at the news, "Another one? Where did he come from?"

"We don't know Sire," Rue added, "but it is nothing to worry about. We have the whole thing under control."

"Under control?" anger edged the King's voice, a terrifying sound that made even Rue take a unsure step back. "One halfling has been dodging you for three years now. What do you think two will do? And what if more pop up where this one did?"

"He's not as strong as the purple haired saiyan," Jaden interjected quickly, "It shouldn't be hard to take him out of the picture."

Eluse squared his jaw and straightened his shoulders, his eyes bore holes into the three men. "No it won't be a problem anymore, because in a few days the reinforcements you've asked for will be arriving."

The room fell into silence as the words registered, before a loud cheer was let out by the Elysian troops. A loud whoop escaped Rue, the smile on the second captain's face was blood thirsty. "Thank you Sire!"

"It'll take three days," Eluse continued, "And I will be arriving with them."

The cheers paused, Jaden licked his lips unsure if he heard right or not. It had been nearly a century since the King had gotten involved with a planet personally. "Sire?"

"You heard me Jaden. And then I'll give Earth 24 hours, if its not wrapped up and ready to sell in that time then I'll know its not a few trouble making half bloods that are the problem. Understand?" Eluse gave the captains a cold hard stare that got his point across.

The three nodded, trying to keep their shock from reading across their faces. Eluse nodded, satisfied, "Three days men." he reminded before the transmission cut off with a deafening silence that filled the entire room.


"I've got a surprise for you."

Goten raised a brow at the mischievous look the other man had plastered on his face. It was a look he knew well, but the surprises that always followed had vastly different endings. The last one in particular still made Goten cringe, when Trunks had made him a robot that he could train with while his best friend was busy with school. Not only could the robot not take a hit from a half powered punch, but it exploded and burned the fist with third degree burns. The only good thing about the whole "surprise" was Trunks apologizing while his mother gently wrapped his hand.

Still, Goten took one small step back before he asked, "What is it?"

Mirai continued to smile as he brought his hands out from behind his back. Revealing an outdated music player, it wasn't the type of thing Goten was used to seeing. Trunks always flashed the newest and most high tech gizmos. Slowly, Mirai's smile turned into a sheepish grin. "It's not much, and honestly the only thing that plays on the radio is human broadcasters announcing safe zones. But watch this…" he pushed a button, and the device turned on spewing the hard trill of a guitar solo.

Goten's ears perked at the sound, his heart accelerated in excitement. "Is that… Black Sabbeth?"

"It's old, I know. But I thought we could use some jams today while we trained. What do you think?"

"What do I think?" Goten squealed, taking the player out of Mirai's offered hand. He raised the volume to full blast and smiled, "I think this is amazing!" The lyrics rang out and Goten hummed along with them, his hands started pulling at the strings of an imaginary guitar, Mirai's laughter played in the background. "How do you even have this?"

Mirai shrugged, "Music is how I train 's nice to have another voice just playing in the background."

Goten paused in his imaginary guitar solo and stared. His mother had been the same way during dinner. He'd hadn't realized how lonely the future was, especially after Gohan died. He couldn't imagine it, having no one to spar with. No one his own age to hang out with, to joke with, to …

"Why didn't you stay in the past?" he asked suddenly, trying to recall if he'd ever been given a straight answer.

"It's not my place Goten." The other sighed, "This is my home, my mother is here, plus it would have been so confusing having two Trunks in one world. I guarantee you it would have been hard on both him and me." He shook his head, purple locks of hair falling into his eyes before he brushed them back. Mirai's face shifted into a thoughtful look, "sometimes I think about it though. I wonder what it would be like, but then I think about what would happen here. Earth probably still wouldn't be standing and I know I made the right decision."

"Still sounds lonely," Goten pointed out quietly. He gently scolded himself with how rude he sounded, his mother would pull his ears if she knew.

Mirai didn't say anything but his smile was back in place, "It's the way things are and I'm ok with that. Are you ready to begin?"

Goten only had a second to look down at the radio, before Mirai sped towards him. He yelped, and jumped back, placing the music player on the ground in a swift movement before settling into a fighting stance. "You're eager to change the subject," Goten teased trying his best to lighten the mood, "Is it because you got a little choked up there?"

"No it's because you need to have better reaction time." Mirai laughed, "and who was getting choked up again? You sounded like someone just ate the last piece of cake." He disappeared for a second, his speed carrying him to Goten's side where he threw a hard punch.

The black haired teen blocked it with laughter bubbling out of his throat, "Was that a fat joke? Did you just say a fat joke to me? Also the last piece of cake being eaten is nothing to joke about."

Mirai rolled his eyes before Goten attempted to punch his chiseled features. They both let out breathless laughs before settling into the pace of sparring. It was a lighter session than normal. With the music playing, a sense of fun eased its way into their movements. They threw cocky remarks at one another and after an hour, when the cd was playing for the second time, they were resorting to dodging each other's movement in the most obtuse and ridiculous ways possible, trying to make the other laugh.

"Alright, I think it's time for a break. Then we'll start the real training." Mirai's hair was slick with sweat when he pulled it back into a ponytail. His chest was heaving, but his blue eyes sparkled with a light Goten had seen on rare occasions.

"Sounds good," Goten huffed, shedding his top layer to the plain dark blue tank top. The sun was high in the sky, and the chill morning air was completely gone. Being out in the middle of nowhere meant there was no shade to protect them. Mirai threw him one of the packed water bottles, and Goten devoured it in seconds.

He took a seat beside Mirai, as the other man fiddled with the radio. It crackled and fizzled for a solid two minutes before he managed to find a working station. Even then the reception was bad as a shrill voiced woman attempted to speak calmly about Elysian movements.

Mirai gulped down his water as they listened in silence. Molly Weathers, from a place called Safe Zone DUNE was reporting. Mirai had explained that humans congregated to safe zones after the first attack. While being in one place made the chances of becoming targets much higher, but at a certain foundation human beings needed each other. The scattered Safe Zones and specks of loners helped with the delayed take over. "Humans when they need to, can live to fight another day. It's something they are good at, and the Elysians can't sell a planet with vermin still roaming it." Mirai had said.

The radio brought up the attack on Timber Village, reading of the numbers, nearly two hundreds deaths and no survivors. According to Molly Weathers, there were less than fifteen human communities left still standing.

Goten felt sick at the news. "Can you turn the music back on?" he asked, reaching for another bottle of water.

He could feel Mirai's eyes on him, studying him, before the other man agreed. "Are you ready to go again?" The tone of Mirai's voice made it sound as if he wanted to say more, but Goten didn't push it.

He nodded, and Mirai moved to switch the radio off when it suddenly crackled. Molly Weather had one last announcement. "This just in, there is an attack happening in Safe Zone Dune. We are under attack. Repeat, We are under attack. Do not come to Safe Zone-" the broadcast cut out. Molly's voice, screaming in fear and disbelief, suddenly cut out. Eerie silence fell over the rock they were perched on.

Goten's eyes turned to Mirai and he waited for the man's reaction. Slowly, blue eyes closed and remained so for a few seconds, as if he was saying a silent prayer for the destroyed zone. When he opened his eyes again, Mirai's voice was deadly serious, "They're increasing their attacks. Probably because they feel threatened now that you're here. We're going to need to increase our training and…"

"Aren't we going to go help them?" Goten asked, a strange feeling of vertigo hit him as soon as he saw Mirai turn his back to return to training. He couldn't really be serious…

But those ice blue eyes locked onto him, serious. "Goten… we've been over this…"

"You can't be serious?" the vertigo corrected itself, surprise and anger pushed it out of the way as Goten's hands balled into fists, "We can't just leave them. You heard what happened to that village yesterday, and now this! There aren't many humans left Mirai."

"And there will be no humans left if we don't know how to pick our battles." Mirai stated, his voice was much calmer than Goten's own. He was a completely different person than the man Goten had sparred with earlier. "We don't know how many Elysians are there? Or if their Captains are there? Not to mention we're still tired from our spar."

The younger saiyan snorted and without another word he began to power up, "I'm going to go and help those people whether you join me or not."

"Goten!" Mirai growled. It was a warning, but Goten forced himself to shake it off. Light as a feather he turned and took to the sky. Behind him he felt a surge of power as Mirai took off after him. A second later the older saiyan was blocking his path, eyebrows narrowed in a look that made him look eerily like Vegeta.

"You are not going there alone Goten. Do you really want to risk killing yourself now when you and I still have a bigger fight ahead of us."

"But there are people dying there!"

"There are still people alive who are hoping that this nightmare will end. And it won't if you get killed. Think about your mother."

"I understand that," Goten said, "But sitting by isn't a better option. I can't just leave those people there to die because I'm too concerned about myself."

Mirai's stern looked softened the slightest bit, but he didn't budge. "We have to play it safe."

A choked laugh escaped Goten, "Safe? When has Trunks Brief ever played it safe? If you were my Trunks you wouldn't hesitate to go."

He regretted the words as soon as they were out of his mouth. Goten bit his lip and turned his gaze down. A snapped retort was fully expected, something twice as mean was what he deserved. But Mirai remained quiet. Guilt twisted the young saiyan's stomach into twisted knots.

" I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that" He said quickly, eyes still downcast, "but... I have to go." His body ducked to the side and he flew past Mirai slowly, waiting for the man to stop him.

When he was safely out of Mirai's reach, Goten jumped to Super Saiyan, the surge of power urged him forward, and he tried to think of Molly Weather's screaming last words instead of quiet man he had left behind.


Goten shivered in the cooling air as he sat on a smooth boulder and watched the remains of the Safe Zone burn. There were hundreds of Elysian troops there, more than he had ever seen in one area. All were busy cleaning out the underground facility that once housed human refugees. By the time Goten arrived, all the humans were dead. He'd felt every single one of their fragile life forces blink out like lights until there was nothing else in the area.

He'd been half tempted to land down there, and take out as many of the Elysians as he could, but Mirai's words echoed in his head with the nagging presence of his mother. To attack would be selfish, it wouldn't do the dead any good, it wouldn't do the living any good. All it would do was get him killed.

He watched the Elysians work for nearly an hour, to ashamed of himself to return back to their sparring spot. Surprise welled up when he felt the pull of Mirai's ki heading towards him. The crunch of boots against the rock's surface clicked in Goten's ears a few minutes later signaling the other man's arrival.

"I didn't do anything," Goten called to him, not daring to look back, "I was too late."

"I'm sorry," Mirai said, and he did sound sincerely sorry.

"Why are you here anyway? Expecting to bring back my dead carcass?"

"Actually no. I knew you didn't fight them Goten, if you had your ki would have changed and I would have been over here in a second."

"Oh," an embarrassed blush touched Goten's cheeks. He was being a complete ass, and he knew it. What he didn't know was why he said those things to Mirai. Why did he have to compare him and Trunks. He knew the two were different people… right?

Blinking back the hot sensation of tears he heard the soft footfalls as Mirai came up behind him and sat down. Together they watched the aliens swarm the fallen compound. It felt like retribution, punishment for being too late.

"I'm sorry," Goten said to combat the awkward silence that had fallen between them. He meant to only say that one thing, but as soon as he opened his mouth a tornado of words stormed out. "I'm sorry I said those things and that I left. I know…"

"Shhh," Mirai sighed, taking his arm and wrapping it around Goten's shoulders in a reassuring hug. "Now isn't the time to apologize. You can do that once we get back home. Alright?"

Goten nodded slowly as he curled into the arm and the warmth Mirai provided. The scent of sweat, oil, and dirt filled his lungs as he sniffed Mirai's tank top. The odor didn't remind him of Trunks, in fact, it didn't remind Goten of anything familiar. It was a smell unique to Mirai. His scent. Goten could even smell the distinctive fragrance of saiyan blood seeping off the other man. Another shiver ran down his spine as it infiltrated his nostrils.

Mirai. Not Trunks. Despite the reminder, his heart still gave a pathetic flutter..

Mirai must have felt his shiver and mistook it for a tremble from the cold. He took his arm back and started to stand up. He patted the dirt off his pants and shirt before offering Goten a hand. "Time to go. We're lucky they hadn't spotted us yet, so let's go home and get cleaned up."

Goten nodded quietly, still not fully trusting himself to talk around Mirai. He knew he would have to make this up to the half saiyan. Taking the offered hand, Goten was yanked to his feet.

Mirai gave him a warm smile that told him he wasn't angry. Some of the ache left Goten's heart at the smile.

He knew Mirai wasn't Trunks, but that still didn't stop Goten from falling for him.


Author's Note: Hello All, Finally done with the extra classes I'd been taken. So I've managed to write a few chapters for this story. I am still completely committed to finishing it, but every time I plot the darn thing out I end up losing my outline and have to start over from scratch. Now, I think I finally have it down. So look forward to a update every week for the next couple weeks! Horay!