AN: I never planned on this being anything but a one-shot. It was just a 'What if..' that popped into my head one night that I decided I had to write. However, I have had several requests to continue the story, and I have decided to do so, despite truly having little idea of where I'm going to go with this. Those of you who enjoyed the cliff-hanger ending may or may not want to continue reading, but if you feel that what happens next must be told, please read on and find out (and I'll find out too as I write it!).

Barely conscious, Trunks didn't hear his mother's footsteps as she ran back into the room. He didn't hear the wailing of the many alarms. He didn't see his mother trembling or the expression of horror on her face. The first thing Trunks was aware of was her anguished scream.

The piercing sound seemed almost to release the eight-year-old from what was almost a trance; he was finally able to feel again, and it was overpowering. Without even realising he had moved, he found himself standing by the smouldering remains of the bed, screaming at the still burning flames, unable to direct his eyes to the true source of his despair, the broken, burned body of his best friend.

Later he would only vaguely remember continuing to yell until his throat was raw, continuing despite the attempts of doctors and police to remove him, not moving from his spot until finally his father dragged him away. He would believe that the trembling he felt as his father carried him came only from himself.

Once he had left the destroyed hospital room, there was nothing. Trunks and those around him were blank. Shock had yet to give way to blame, and the terrible silence as he sat with his family in a white room almost as empty as he felt continued until from the room where Goten lay, a sound of pain so raw that it sent a shiver down the spine of all who heard it came. Chichi.

A cycle seemed to have began for Trunks since the moment he had- since what had happened. There would be silence. Then a scream. The door opened, and the pattern was broken. This time the quiet, tense atmosphere was broken only by a hoarse whisper; "Why…?" Chichi's face was that of a woman broken - the many losses she had suffered in the past had not made this most recent blow any easier. No answer came to Trunks' lips. The feeling that he had made the right choice had vanished with the smoke from the blast.

"He killed our son…his friend…"

"If he hadn't, we'd have no chance of ever getting Goten back."

"How could he do it? Such an emotionless thing."

"Or maybe he only could with extremely strong emotions."

"He killed him."

"He did."

That night Trunks felt his state of shock was slowly fading. He wished it wouldn't, because when his mind was clear it couldn't be denied: his best friend had trusted him. Trunks had killed him. How could he ever have thought that was the right thing to do?

The young boy looked up as he heard someone enter yet another quiet room in the hospital where he sat as the police prepared to speak to him. His mother was immediately recognisable by the flash of blue his eyes caught.

"Trunks. I- I don't understand. Why, WHY would you do that? Yes, he was ill, horribly so, but did you really think blowing him up was putting him out of his pain? I don't get it! Tell me you had a reason, no, tell me you didn't do it, because I can't bring myself to believe that my son has killed his best friend!"

The irony that his mother, the genius, the woman whose words had inspired his actions was one of the last to grasp his intentions was not missed on Trunks.

"Mom…I just wanted him to come back to us after…" A tiny whisper from a voice silenced since that morning.

And with those words, the truth struck Bulma, sending her to her knees as if from a severe physical blow.

"You - I told you, natural causes - you saved him from that. You saved his life, no, gave him another chance at life. You killed him. He'll come back to us. I don't know if I'm upset at you or not. I just don't know what to think."

At the reminder that Goten would, if all went well, soon be back among the living, Trunks burst into tears for a reason he knew was selfish, but couldn't stop thinking about.

"He'll hate me!" he cried, and fell sobbing into his mother's arms, where he stayed until his exhaustion, both mental and physical, took over.