CHAPTER 9:
Jitters & Jubilation
High above the moon Kikarroo's cavernous city, a massive tempest raged in the atmosphere, blocking out the sky. Its relentless downpour created waterfalls that fell through and drenched reflection pools below. Overflow of the pools fell through cracks in the exterior landscape, and continued to fall through layers of cavern, deeper and deeper toward the center of the moon. In the moon's low gravity, the water descended slowly, resembling liquid strings of ribbons that all splashed and pooled before continuing its fall into the cavern's deeper, yet LED-lit, depths. The entire city sounded like a meditation fountain.
Flashes of light burst through the holes in the cavern ceilings. Thunder bellowed and harmonized with the sounds of the moonlanders as they all gathered as an excited throng, celebrating with dance, music, and a collective melodic chant that reverberated in the air.
The moonlanders' hums and twirling dances made it apparent that this storm during this ceremony was akin to a religious experience, as if the Kais themselves were in attendance, observing from the lightning-filled heavens.
The bonding ritual venue was a colossal outdoor amphitheater that was situated at the end of a concourse located beyond the Mystic temple's remote back wing. A set of stairs descended from the temple to an outdoor path within a meditation garden that snaked between two long weaving reflection pools.
A set of additional stairs led down to the lengthy concourse of stone and pink grass that was built at a lower elevation, encircled by numerous rows of stone-carved seating bleachers, as if the venue were a sports arena. The atmosphere was abuzz with energy and a sense of thrill as the seats swelled and pulsed with a pink sea of little excited moonlanders.
The moon was bursting with elation and festivity. Word spread fast around the moon about the "alien boonding." Every moonlander and their families invited themselves to either attend the event or to witness its ceremony through the moon's makeshift image projection system.
When the seating ran out, the pink moonlanders set up a rudimentary form of projection, in which they suspended giant magnifying lenses from ropes around the event location. Through a system of mirrors that were also suspended between buildings, the image of the wedding was displayed against white walls deep among the city's sprawl, so those unable to directly witness the wedding would still be able to watch the big event unfold. Regardless of where the little aliens watched, they all participated in the ritual.
Since the beginning of the procession, the moonlander audience had joined together in their jubilation, harmonizing their voices, and singing in perfect unison to produce a haunting and resonant musical chorus.
Their choral melodies, along with accompanying rhythmic clicks, honks and claps, provided the mesmerizing soundtrack to which Pan "walked down the aisle."
Pan was escorted to the outdoor stage by a procession, headed by a diverse group of religious moonlanders and attendants who each bore symbolic objects, including colorful, warm-hued fabrics, vibrant threads, and an extensive tapestry that depicted the temple's foyer painting of Kais and gods gracing rings to pink hands among clouds.
As Pan walked, four "curtainbearers" surrounded her. They each hoisted white iridescent fabric to shield her pink gown from the audience's view until the grand reveal.
Pan could have never expected this type of wedding experience. From the short turnaround of her wedding, Pan had assumed her wedding would take place in an intimate chapel, where she and Trunks would share rings and a kiss that would be the start of their love story.
The reality of this grandiose display, however, was mortifyingly overwhelming. And despite the layers of fabric and heat that encompassed Pan, she couldn't shake the chill that coursed through her, and she was hesitant to acknowledge an unsettling realization…
Pan was starting to get cold feet.
Everything started to feel so real. Before the ceremony, Pan was able to play off the ritual as a daydream or a hypothetical idea. It was easier for her to disassociate her feelings from the certainty of whatever prophecy the aliens had in store for her.
But now that it was happening, Pan realized that this was it - her final moment, until her life became forever intertwined with an incredibly handsome, yet smug-mug, bigheaded, nerdy puzzle of a royal man-ape.
Pan felt very alone at this moment, and she longed for Grandpa Goku by her side. She had secretly hoped he would be able to walk her down the aisle. However, this moon's wedding customs were vastly different from that on Earth. The Mystic bonding ceremony held a profound religious significance on this moon, so the moonlander Hikarroo told her that her Grandpa Goku would instead be seated in the front row to support her on her big day.
As Pan walked, her gaze wandered to sights she could see above the white curtains that enclosed her. She looked directly upward to observe small pink faces poking their heads out from openings in the moon's surface to get a birds-eye view of the event.
Pan felt a wave of embarrassment wash over her. She thought about both her outfit and the surreal circumstances of the whole scenario. She was told that two thousand spectators would bear witness to her wedding, but from the chanting din that she could hear, she anticipated the crowd was way larger than anticipated.
Pan could not even fathom how to count the number, but she had a hunch that Trunks, with his geeky brain, would be able to estimate the size of the audience. He was such a nerd.
Pan smiled to herself as she mused that Trunks had probably already calculated the number.
––––––––
Seventeen thousand, three hundred.
That was the approximate number that Trunks estimated, as his eyes scanned the crowds. However, that number was only based on the aliens that he could see among the pink moonlanders that flooded the city, ranging from stadium seats, to the windows of the buildings of the city, and among the reflections of the mirrors.
The mirror projection system was fascinating. Trunks could see that more mirrors and lenses projected the event into far-off recesses of the city. From what Trunks gathered, this wedding was a truly religious event on the moon.
Trunks was standing on a raised platform that had been set up in the center of the outdoor arena's bowl-shaped concourse. The altar was dry and decorated with hundreds of white flowers. A coral branch archway stood at the base of the platform's stairs. The stage where Trunks stood had no covering, so it was easily viewable from all angles.
Trunks had arrived at the platform first, and had some time to ruminate on today's event and consider his feelings.
At the moment, Trunks' emotions were stable. He had a panic attack earlier after Goku left his dressing room, but then he reminded himself that he had no true choice in this wedding. And if the Kais had set this up due to prophecy, then money didn't matter. Money didn't matter, money didn't matter, money didn't matter…
Shit, he was thinking of the prenup again…
… or rather, the lack of a prenuptial agreement.
Fuck. No. He was going to think of something else again. He would go back to counting the audience. Money was not supposed to matter right now. This event was religious and outranked Trunks' concerns over his bank account and legacy.
When Trunks decided to propose, he knew it was a decision to which he would be bound. And if he stayed true to his promise - and he would, because he knew he would - then a prenup would never be needed.
Even bringing up a prenup in conversation would only signify to Pan that he had doubts. And all it would do is create strife and her own doubts in him, during a time when they had no choice but to get bonded today. It had to happen, regardless of however Trunks felt. He was about to make a vow before the Kais. This was to be a promise sealed by the gods, to protect Pan from whatever prophecy was going to happen to her. And not just any prophecy… a Mystic one.
Trunks was somewhat familiar with Mystic powers. At least, he had witnessed it as a young boy.
When he was eight years old, he and Goten watched Pan's father, Gohan, use Mystic powers in his fight against Majin Buu. Trunks recalled how Gohan had retained his black hair the entire time - he never once transformed to Super Saiyan. Instead of fighting with his usual brute-force and ki-filled combat, Gohan instead fought calmly, almost as if he were in a trance or meditation. Trunks recalled the energy aura - the air around Gohan was so intensely heated that it crackled and bursted into bolts of lightning. The energy itself had been quintessentially different than using ki. It was not the energy that powered life forms; rather, it was the energy that powered gods.
Lightning crashed above, igniting the wedding stage with bright spotlights through the holes in the city ceiling, and a low thundering rumble shook the platform, as if to confirm the presence of the Supreme Kais who had been the ones to train Gohan.
For all Trunks knew, he could just be imagining all of this. He could easily be connecting dots without truth behind the words. But Goku promised that he believed "one hundred percent" in prophecy. It really was because of Goku's confidence that Trunks was in this situation.
Trunks had chosen to believe Goku. And Trunks had witnessed Mystic powers himself. He knew that the gods were real. He knew that the black lightning curtains were unaffected by his ki. He knew that this Mystic temple was legitimate.
He also knew that the Dragon Ball was here, and the only way to get the Dragon Ball was to get married.
So a prenup wouldn't matter. Pan's share of 4.5 trillion-fucking-zeni… didn't matter…
Fuckkkk, he was not ready for this. Trunks was not ready to get married. He had too many issues - mental, personal, family, work, and now marital issues. And he still hadn't worked out any of his thoughts with Goten yet. And Goku was no help. And Trunks had never truly spoken to Pan other than last night. Pan was too young. Pan was only fifteen.
Trunks felt his life was forfeit. He was born an accident, and he would die punished for being that accident. He was a failure…
No … his thoughts couldn't go in that direction. He wouldn't do that right now. This was his wedding. It didn't matter what anyone else thought of him. It only mattered how he treated Pan moving forward. He wouldn't fail her.
He focused again on the reverberating hums of the crowd which seemed to get louder and more excited. He heard snapping and honks as sections of the crowd reacted to something they alone could see. The rise in energy quickly spread until the entire audience was chirping and hooting with fervor.
The procession had started.
As Trunks turned his eyes to watch the bridal entourage descend the temple stairs, he got a brief glimpse of Pan's dress behind the white sheets that obscured her as she walked in the procession.
His lips curled devilishly. Oooooh, Pan had to wear her most hated color in the world. The thought riled Trunks with impish glee, and all of his other thoughts fleeted away. He couldn't wait to see this.
––––––––
When the ceremony started, Trunks stood to Pan's right as they faced the medium-tall male moonlander, Hikarroo, who had first greeted them in the foyer the day prior. Hikarroo was reciting text from a religious scripture on a large double-scroll that was handwritten.
In his head, Trunks tried to word how he would describe the prayer sounds to his mother, and settled on viewing the prayers as reminiscent of various duck and goose calls that were auto-tuned as sonorous lullabies. It was all very funny sounding. It took a lot of effort for Trunks to control his smile.
On Trunks' left, Pan was also making funny noises as she emitted a medley of different squeaks, following the crowd's call-and-response. Trunks found it challenging to even look at her, because the grin that currently splayed across his face was surely bound to get a slap. He tried his best to hide his amused expression from Pan, so he kept turning his head to either face his half of the stadium, or to simply focus his eyes on the pink individual in front of them.
Upon further examination, Trunks could see that the little pink alien Hikarroo was slightly older than the other pink moonlanders, characterized mostly by his white eyebrows that were bushier than others. The robe that the little man wore for the ceremony was white and iridescent, with a red rope belt thickly tied around his middle. Two loose rope ends hung down his back, and were so long that they curled around each side of the stage, encasing Trunks and Pan with a symbolic red string.
At some point, around twenty minutes into the ceremony, a moonlander approached in reverie and slid two identical red-cloth pedestals between Trunks and Pan. Hikarroo told them to turn and face each other, and to kneel.
Facing Pan suddenly made everything feel less funny, though Trunks still bit his tongue to try to not react to Pan's dress. It was very amusing. But then again, Trunks' dress was pretty funny, too. But hot pink…
Trunks had to dodge his eyes away from hers to fight an oncoming smile. His eyes fell to Goku, who definitely had the camera out. That realization immediately pulled Trunks from his thoughts as he envisioned his future embarrassment looking back on this day. He hoped, though, that they could reminisce with laughter - that this day would be worth everything that was to come.
Trunks just wanted to know how this day would actually make a difference in the big picture that the Kais had in store. Trunks would play along with the Kais' prophecy. Voluntary choice or not, he was now intertwined with Pan's red string of fate.
His gaze returned to Pan, and he felt more prepared to look into her onyx eyes and focus on their depths.
The truth was… she had a natural beauty to her. She didn't need makeup - her skin was flawless despite how she never washed her face at night. Her eyes were expressive and youthful, filled with a sparkle and a lust for life. And her lips… Her lips…
Trunks tried his best to stay focused and unemotional. His thoughts kept trying to creep back to the prenup, to wonder if her lips were worth 4.5 trill- …
…No, he fought the idea, and instead tried to re-focus. Trunks returned his gaze to her eyes. He needed to keep his eyes on hers. This was not about money. It would not be about money. This was about saving the Earth. And if it took 4.5 trillion zeni to save the planet, then it would be worth it. It was a drop in the ocean compared to how important it was to protect the future of all life forms to ever live on the Planet Earth.
As he looked into Pan's eyes, he foresaw her heroism. He saw the soul of a fighter, who was willing to stand by him as he lived up to his duty and his destiny. He saw not a child, but a soul that was still learning and growing, was consistent to her values, and was of a strong mind.
He liked her willpower. She was stubborn, but she had good qualities. And she was a Son. For Trunks, that was paramount above all other qualities - that he could maintain his family ties to the Sons. On top of it all, he decided that he liked the thought of Pan giving him strong children. For that, Trunks knew that his father would approve.
Overall, Trunks was okay with this match. He had noted that he had not once thought of a single ex-girlfriend throughout the whole past day - even Van. Shit, he just thought of her.
Trunks felt emotions swell in him.
No, he wouldn't think of her. Havana was long gone, years ago during the summer when Trunks was eighteen and after they kept in touch, briefly again when he was twenty. If there's anything that Trunks learned from his time with her, it was how good he was at covering up a relationship… or maybe how bad he was, because his mother found out.
He wondered briefly if he would end up covering up his marriage to Pan. At least for a few years, he would have to…
Fuck, this was his wedding. He'd have to think of that later. He was looking in Pan's eyes right now, and he needed to be mindful. He had a habit of daydreaming his thoughts, and this was neither the time nor place for it.
A young female moonlander pulled Trunks from his thoughts as she ascended the stairs carrying a large charcoal-black bowl, which she placed by their feet.
Following the child, there was a succession of different-height pink moonlanders who approached and spun before bowing with gifts and offerings for the bowl. They brought forward various shades of red, purple and pink dried flowers, dried grasses, seeds and a spectrum of pink crystals.
As the storm intensified in the sky above, the audience's chanting became a variation of a previous melody - a new prayer led by the pink moonlander who stood before them.
An older female moonlander, with a tiny spot of short white hair on her head, ascended the steps and stood by the black bowl and held up two beige rocks. She knelt before the bowl of offerings and struck the stones together as flint, creating sparks.
With two strong strikes, she ignited the offerings in the bowl, and it quickly emitted a pink smoke that drafted toward Trunks and Pan.
Within seconds, both Trunks and Pan were enveloped in the pink smoke, and immersed in a sweet and lemony scent.
Trunks felt a buzz run up his spine and his belly and hit his head like a tingly firework.
That smelled incredible.
Trunks' eyes glazed a bit as he felt his head spinning. He tried to focus on his balance as he remained kneeling on the red pedestal, and realized he didn't even have legs anymore. He was floating - in an ethereal sea of clouds. There were shadows dancing, and stars twinkling, and he saw an infinite fractal of pink hands around him reaching up as a light from the heavens reached down for him. The light took the form of Pan's eyes, which were looking at him, equally as dazed.
The fog dispersed in his mind for a brief moment - long enough for him to realize he was still kneeling and watching her. Despite his momentary clarity, he realized was having a hard time retaining his grasp on reality. In the pink smoke, his mind kept wanting to spin off and dream, and he needed something to anchor him. Pan's eyes helped to focus his sight, but he had lost sense of the ground.
He reached out for whatever he could, and found Pan's hands. They were solid. They were real. They were warm. And they squeezed his hands with an unearthly strength, which he was unable to register, because his mind was already spinning off in a cloud again.
Trunks began to wonder if he was drugged, but he couldn't think about it even if he wanted to. He barely knew where he was anymore. All he understood was that Pan was with him. And if Pan was with him, then he was safe enough. As long as he just kept his focus on her eyes, he assured himself, everything would be okay.
Trunks felt his mind flitting away into their inky black depths, enraptured and enveloped in the dark sea. Her body was immaterial; her age irrelevant. As his gaze remained fixed on her eyes, Trunks recognized that today, his vow was not to her earthly age, but rather to her soul.
The thought of it swept Trunks away for a moment, and his head was back in the clouds of pink smoke as his consciousness swayed with the rhythmic chants of the moonlanders. He felt a sharp pressure on his hands, and vaguely recalled that Pan's hands were there too. He never took his eyes off of hers, though. If he did, he'd spin off to another cloud.
Her eyes gave him comfort. Even this strange, alien wedding felt better when he looked in her eyes. They were Son eyes. And the more he acknowledged that she was a Son, the more it dawned on Trunks the true value of Pan… what made her worth $4.5 trillion zeni to him.
She embodied the soul of the family that he had wanted for many years. She represented their values, and their strength of both body and mind, and most of all, she represented… their love.
When he thought of her as the embodiment of the Son family, he realized he did feel love for her. She was just an extension of how much he loved her family.
He could be loyal to the Sons. He loved how Goku and Goten had similar energies and that he knew how to communicate with them. He loved the opportunity to see Goten more. And despite how thoughts of Gohan left a bad taste in Trunks' mouth after the drama from years ago, he still was able to move forward and socialize with him at family holiday parties for the past several years. They never were as close, but Trunks always thought of Gohan as an older brother, almost as a father-figure role.
For many years, Trunks and Gohan were only children, and the only half-Saiyans in the world. It was Gohan who Trunks used as a guiding light for what a better father figure could be like… for him to understand the difference between how Gohan treated him, versus how his father treated him. Gohan was always incredibly important to Trunks, and he felt he lost that several years ago.
Trunks knew what kind of love Pan grew up with, and for a moment he felt a pang in his gut that drew him out of his thoughts. He realized he was feeling… What was this..?
Was this something he wanted the whole time?
The pink smoke swirled around them in a draft of wind, and Trunks could clearly see into Pan's eyes. He realized he did want this. And he was relieved of all tension.
Suddenly everything felt really funny and joyous. He was so incredibly happy.
The joy surged through him as a spasm that opened his senses; he felt like his entire corporal body was expanding and filling with his sense of wonder and celebration of life.
He had no idea why he ever worried about anything at all. There was no way to feel down with such an incredible person standing before him.
Pan, daughter of Gohan, was strong of heart, body and mind. She came from an honorable and legendary line of warriors. She would give him strong children. She also respected his father Vegeta. And his mother loved her relatives Gohan and Goku a lot.
She was a truant, but that was okay. Trunks could work with that; Trunks was more than able to support her and provide her with anything she needed. As long as he kept Pan happy, she could pull him back from whatever mood he was in.
He wanted to make her happy.
He wanted to make those eyes happy.
He didn't even care anymore about the Kais' prophecy for her. He wanted to marry into the Son family. He wanted that family love.
Pan was the answer to his emptiness the whole time. She was right under his nose, and was so close that he didn't even see her.
This wedding didn't feel like a coercion anymore. Sure, Trunks did not know Pan well, but he knew her roots and her family, and he would get to know her, too. As he looked into her eyes, he saw himself gravitating closer to Goku. He saw himself being closer with Goten again.
The pink smoke dissipated away as the contents had finished burning. Despite the drug effects waning, Trunks still felt solid in his resolve as he watched Pan.
Meanwhile, the little pink man reached a point of the ritual in which he went silent, and the audience hushed as well.
The sudden rest within the music pulled Trunks back from his thoughts again. Taking a deep breath, Trunks tried to remain fully mindful as his soberness returned. For the first time in however many days, or years, that Trunks had been looking into Pan's eyes, he finally broke his gaze, and looked to the audience.
He saw Goku again in the front row. The minute they made eye contact, Goku waved to him with his free left hand. The rest of the moonlanders seemed to be in a bit of their own daze, taking a moment of pause for personal reflection and inner prayer.
The silence continued, and was almost deafening except for the thundering and pattering of rain streams.
Upon hearing the patter of little feet, Trunks turned his eyes to the procession aisle, where he saw a small young big-eyelashed moonlander in a white robe scurry down the processional aisle with a white pillow in her arms. Her little stubby legs stopped by the offering bowl, and she placed the white pillow atop the burnt offerings.
There were two gold rings atop the pillow. They glinted with an orange specular highlight.
Trunks watched as the young female moonlander extended her stubby arms toward the rings of the pillow, and then slowly used telekinesis to lift the rings so that they floated in the air, spinning slowly clockwise.
The audience made a series of "Ooooo" sounds that echoed and resounded loudly as a musical overture.
As the rings turned in the air, the sudden reality and gravity set in with Trunks.
He very quickly sobered.
Trunks started to have second thoughts.
He felt his heartbeat quicken. He felt jittery and apprehensive. Last-minute doubts had already begun to consume him.
He wondered if he had been too quick to propose. He questioned if perhaps Pan could have done this ceremony with Goku, or Giru, or literally anyone else. He didn't know how to tell Pan that he wanted to call it all off. He wanted to stop the ceremony. He wanted it all over. He wanted it to never begin.
He had to make a serious choice right now - did he trust himself to stay with Pan Son forever?! Was this really forever?! Why was he doing this again!? Why was he bonding like this?!
Trunks knew that mother was going to kill him. His lawyers were going to destroy him. He was literally about to give away half of all of his assets to Pan. He was the richest bachelor on Earth, worth almost 9 trillion zeni, and Pan Son was about to be entitled to 4.5 trillion of it! Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck!
He saw the rings, which had been suspended in the air, stopped spinning. The "Ooo"s of the crowd also stopped, pulling back to become a high pitched moment of intensity and restrained energy from all the inhabitants of the moon.
Trunks wanted to panic. He wanted to cry. He wanted to spiral. Anything to get him away from his moment.
He was going to run. He was going to just GRAB the Dragon Ball and RUN.
Fuck. But he couldn't. He tried that. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
Quickly breathing shallow breaths, Trunks watched with a looming dread as the rings floated between them. They broke their grasp of each other's hands, and then Trunks watched as Pan put both her palms together and held them out in a cupping gesture.
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. He didn't know what to do. He was feeling a panic attack coming on him again. He was cornered. He couldn't run in this dress even if he wanted to.
Recognizing his emotional symptoms, Trunks closed his eyes for a moment and took a breath.
Opening his eyes, he followed Pan's hand movements and held out his palms. He brought them together, and cupped them underneath the rotating rings. He would be the ramen bowl.
As if triggered by Trunks' movement, the rings descended slowly into each of their hands.
When one of the rings landed in Trunks' hands, he had a chance to get a closer look at it - the ring worth 4.5 trillion zeni; the ring worth a sacrifice of a prenuptial agreement, as Pan was about to marry Capsule Corporation's direct heir.
Trunks took a long steadying breath, examining the ring in his hand, and listening to the "Oo"s of the crowd rise in amplitude and shift into a high buzz of excitement.
Trunks put his dark thoughts to the back of his mind. He was upset that he even let himself think of them. The stupid pink smoke got him all riled up and confused.
… But still, there was no going back; no making different decisions.
He kept reminding himself that this was prophecy. This trap that he was in was the Kais' doing. The ring he held in his hand was meant for him to protect Pan.
The ring was large - about twice the size of a normal ring. It could easily pass as a moonlander's bracelet. It also was warm to the touch, which Trunks may not have noticed if it weren't for the slight chill in the air.
The ring's metal was interesting. Trunks had seen many different kinds of golds from his mother's jewelry collection. He knew of yellow, pink, and peach gold.. But this was different. This was some kind of orange gold alloy. The metal was solid, and somewhat translucent. Trunks could not pinpoint exactly where he had seen a substance similar to it - but he had seen it before - he was sure of it. The answer nagged at him at the back of his mind, and on the tip of his tongue.
The bushy-eyebrowed pink man Hikarroo bowed deeply to the big-lashed pink female who was still gesturing to the rings. Trunks remembered he had seen the female earlier when she had visited his dressing room to chant a song about the ring bonding - Rikarroo, he believed.
Together, the two pink aliens Hikarroo and Rikarroo, who were on either side of Trunks and Pan, began to twirl and sing long droning notes, escalating up a pentatonic musical scale.
And then, the rest of the audience of the entire moon began to twirl clockwise and sing a new prayer - an uplifting melody in a major key, composed of nine slowly repeating notes.
Trunks fiddled with the ring in his hand. He could feel his nervous energy threatening to consume him. He kept imagining the ramen bowl.
Trunks brought his eyes back to Pan, and realized her eyes were still glazed over from the earlier effects of the smoke. He figured it made sense since she was smaller than him, and therefore had less tolerance. What did not make sense to him, though, was the look she was giving him.
Pan was watching him with eyes of wanting - a look that stunned him out from his thoughts.
Trunks had never received that look from her before. It was, however, an expression he had seen many times before, from other women. He was used to it. Just… never from Pan…
Was Pan… actually attracted to him?
He never thought of it when it came to thoughts of her. It just never crossed his mind. He had spent so long viewing her as Gohan's daughter and as Goten's niece, that he still saw her as a little girl. He never once considered that she might look at him and see something more than family… that… she might have seen him as an actual love interest .
But she had the look in her eyes. It was the gaze that was in every girl's eyes right before they approached him to flirt. It was the expression of a girl as she looked in his eyes at the end of a memorable date. He wondered what Pan could possibly be thinking.
The pink moonlander female, Rikarroo, raised her hands again and twirled clockwise as she dismissed herself from the stage. She danced in circles as she moved to the side of the platform and descended down other stairs, vanishing from sight.
The audience went silent once more.
Their officiant, Hikarroo, began to speak again, and this time his voice held a strong air of authoritativeness. His little voice boomed loudly across the auditorium, and echoed off of the city's cavern.
The ceremonial vows were starting.
Hikarroo began, "Foor all here, we witness the boonding of twoo souls to mate under oour religion and law."
The moon erupted in clicks and finger snapping, which bounced off the cavern walls and created a cacophony of rhythmic beats. Trunks looked around to the eerie echoes. I guess this must be how they clap.
One person made a hoot call, and it was clear who it was from the front row. Trunks watched Pan grimace, and suddenly her anguish triggered Trunks to pull back from his reactionary feelings, and to consider her expression.
And then a warm feeling of empathy and understanding came over him, and Trunks could not help but grin.
Pan was also going through her own wedding jitters.
Trunks felt a lot better realizing that was all that this was. He didn't actually intend to run. He was going to go through with this. When he proposed, it was a promise. And Trunks kept his promises… even at the cost of 4.5 trillion zeni…
The little alien Hikarroo raised his hands, and the hall silenced again. "We begin, Ay!"
There was pregnant pause - a momentary wait - a hush as the crowd held their breaths in anticipation.
A crash of lightning and thunder struck overhead. Trunks imagined the bolt as the observing Kais saying "Get on with it already."
Hikarroo gestured between the two, and started. "Tooday we jooin these twoo of Kikarroo with the boond of the Nameless Oone."
The audience erupted in thunderous and exuberant clicks and calls.
Hikarroo brought his hands up, "Twoo rings to boond twoo lives. Twoo rings unite their sides!"
Hikarroo's ears twitched and began to roll in circular motions, almost like he were trying to flap them, or swim. There was a strange static around the platform, and then the air around them began to warm.
Trunks snapped his attention to realize that the moonlander was raising his ki - except it wasn't ki. It was some other form of energy that was energizing their space. The air began to thicken as if it were blanketed by this invisible, yet tangible electrical energy. Trunks had never felt anything like it before - except, perhaps, the electric curtains in the temple.
Hikarroo's mysterious ki continued to increase. "Twoo rings to never kill. Two rings unite one will."
The little moonlander brought his hands down and gestured to Trunks and Pan. "Yoo may nay boond to anoother as long as yoo are bound to life. If yoo have any doubts or oobjections, speak noow."
Fuck.
Trunks swallowed a frog in his throat. He wanted to object. He wanted so badly to end this. But then, Trunks saw Pan shift her knees on her pedestal in front of him. He saw her eyes were down to her dress. She appeared to feel as uncomfortable as he was feeling.
Trunks thought back to his proposal to her. Pan was his choice. She might be the only choice he actually had in his life. The gods must have said his choice was voluntary so that Trunks would believe in his choice.
The gods must have known Trunks well, for he kept silent. At the sacrifice of 4.5 trillion zeni, he chose to not object.
Hikaru's next words were low and haunting, "It is time foor the voows."
Trunks straightened his posture as he continued to kneel on the pedestal, facing Pan. He saw that her eyes averted from looking into his as she faced him. He bit his lip, wondering what she could be thinking.
Hikarroo pointed to Pan, "Choose yoor digit."
"My digit?" Pan's eyes darted to the alien.
"Your finger," Trunks clarified in a compulsive interjection, and then shut up, realizing it hadn't been his turn to talk.
Pan looked to Trunks, then to their little officiant alien, then down to her left hand as she raised it. She seemed entranced by the back of her left hand for a moment. Then her eyes looked to Trunks, then back to her finger, and she held her hand out to him as if he were supposed to take it in his own hand.
Pan shyly kept her eyes locked on her own hand. "You know which one."
There was a buzzing in the audience, and a low pounding of their feet as they excitedly watched the ring ceremony unfold.
Trunks looked to Pan, then to the alien, then back to her hand. He fingered the large metal ring in his right hand.
After checking Pan's face for approval, which she seemed too distant to acknowledge, Trunks slid the very large ring over Pan's ring finger. His hand brushed her own hand in the process feeling a -crackle- of the mysterious energy that invisibly danced upon their contact.
Hikarroo continued, "State yoor name, and repeat - I wish to guard yoor life, from noow until we part soouls."
Trunks paused, realizing that this was the moment of his wedding vow. I'm placing a ring on her finger.
It fully snapped in Trunks' mind that he was, in fact, getting married.
Before, it seemed unreal. It was a concept, a nightmare, something unfathomable, unbelievable. Even as he was standing on the stage, it just felt like an old high school musical production that he would be starring in. It could have been a Student Talent Show in dresses again. It could have been anything…
But this - placing this wedding ring on her finger... it hit him hard that he would be swearing away all other love he could have in his life… for Pan. Gohan's little girl. Goku's granddaughter. Goten's niece.
This was it. The moment.
Trunks heard a camera click. He momentarily wanted to kill Goku. But then again… he didn't want to kill Goku. He wanted to marry into Goku's family. This was what he wanted. This was his choice.
Trunks swallowed as he recited the words, "I, Trunks Briefs... wish to guard your life, from now until we part souls."
The ring that Trunks held glowed with heat then and pulsed once with an orange-yellow glow. As soon as the pulse brightened the metal, Trunks felt a drain on his energy - a riptide current that sucked him out from his palm, and into the ring. Within a split moment, he went from feeling rested and filled with energy, to feeling exhausted and drained of spirit.
It knocked the wind out of him. Trunks didn't realize he was panting until he heard his own rasping breaths. He watched as the glowing ring shrunk and fit around Pan's finger. After it resized, it glowed once more, and then stopped.
A wall of realization smacked into him. His eyes widened as he panted. He recognized it now - the glow. The wish…!
He realized Pan had taken his left hand, and looked down as she similarly placed her ring over his own ring finger.
Pan similarly recited, "I, Pan Son, wish to guard your life, from now until we part souls."
The ring on Trunks' hand glowed, and Pan's eyes widened as she started to gasp for air. Trunks could feel a shift in her ki, and felt a strange energetic river, almost like water, swallow him.
Trunks' body opened as if in a yawn, stretching as wide and extensive as he could. He felt a slow spasm of his body opening and expanding. He felt the emptiness within him flood and fill with warmth and positivity.
What…
Trunks suddenly felt complete again. His strength was restored. But this time, he felt warmer. He felt as though there were light inside of him that he couldn't see, but he could feel.
He watched as the glowing ring fitted to his finger, and stopped its glow. The Dragon Ball glow…
"Each ring now bears a part of each soul. Guard well and prootect each oother in life. Under the Nameless Oone you twoo have been boonded. Ay ay ay!"
"Ay ay ay!" the audience clicked and honked and danced in jubilee as they spun in their seats. The cavern repeated with resonance as the whole moon erupted with high-pitched native echoes of, "Ay ay ay!"
It was at this point when the singing started again, and a cacophony of voices and songs and stomping feet erupted on the moon. It sounded like the end of a stadium game as the audience was cheering and dispersing.
Trunks perked up, realizing the ceremony was over. That's it?!
Hikaroo looked at the newlyweds and smiled. He whispered something low so only Trunks and Pan could hear. "At this time, yoor kiss is vooluntary."
Kiss?! Voluntary?!
Trunks never even thought of it, and he was thrilled to hear it was voluntary. It felt like a shining ray of light. The heat of his joy flooded through his body and tingled with his fingers.
One less task in the way of their Dragon Ball. He was electrified with joy.
Trunks smiled down to Pan, who was just looking at him with those big eyes that he promised himself to. Gods, he only had to make a promise to her eyes, and that was it.
And now it was all over!
Trunks was so proud of this moment. He had no idea why he even was so scared of this bonding to begin with. He had overreacted this entire time.
In the end, all of this was so incredibly easy, just like his gut had initially informed him.
He didn't even need to recite any original vows. They could just go home and act like this never even happened.
He smiled back to Hikarroo, feeling a release of freedom. "No worries, we're all good!"
Pan made a sound of objection, and immediately grabbed Trunks' left arm with her right hand, hard.
The sudden grabbing of his arm triggered a reaction before his mind even understood what was happening.
"Don't touch me!" Trunks instinctively yanked his arm away with such force that he tripped backward on his dress and stumbled, falling toward the fabrics of his train. He caught himself with his ki, and straightened, looking slightly sheepish.
As he straightened his stance, he looked down to see Pan's face. Her eyes were expressionless, almost cold and judgmental. Meanwhile, they were surrounded by the sounds of a joyous audience who was celebrating a successful bonding.
Trunks did not understand Pan's expression, and his mind was reeling; he felt like he had just blacked out and had no idea what he had just said or did.
The little pink moonlander made a little cough and hum, and then gestured back to the concourse, "Toogether yoo are mates. Yoo may take yoor first walk, Ay."
Pan turned first, and her body language made it clear that she had something upsetting on her mind.
Trunks understood why. He bit his lip and looked away from her, realizing he had overreacted. This whole wedding was one big hyperbolic event blown out of proportion.
They walked in silence as they proceeded back toward the temple.
The alien audience was still cheering and singing, but Trunks was feeling an ominous foreboding feeling in his gut. The more steps he took, the more he dreaded talking to Pan. With each stride, it was more and more evident that she was pissed off.
When they arrived at the bottom of the steps that led back up to the temple, Trunks looked behind and saw that they had walked so fast, that the little moonlanders who followed them back into the building had been scurrying so quickly, they had broken out into a run. The way they ran was quite funny.
His thoughts jerked back to Pan when he felt Pan's hand again. This time, Pan wrapped her fingers gently around his right wrist. He still didn't like her touching him, but it wasn't triggering like how she had grabbed his arm so hard and quickly before.
Pan started to lead him up the marble temple steps. "We need to talk."
This was the second time Trunks heard those words in the last two days. And he still dreaded them.
"Pan..." Trunks' tone was pleading. He wasn't sure what to expect. But he noted her body language, and it was anything but happy.
When they reached the temple edifice, Pan burst through the double doors and dragged him along with his wrist into the hallway. He had no idea where she was intending to take him.
She led him down a right turn, then left turn, and then stopped before a white door that had ornate carvings. It was closed on a hook instead of a lock.
Still holding onto his wrist with her left hand, Pan raised her right hand and unhooked the door to swing it open. She marched into the room with Trunks in tow.
When Pan turned on the light, Trunks saw that it was her dressing room. He opened his mouth to say something, but was immediately yanked forward and then around to a wall as she slammed the door shut.
"Pan?" Trunks started, trying to calm her but not knowing what words would be best.
Pan looked like she was going to slap him, and he knew exactly what it was about.
"Pan, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to embarrass you. I know about my touch thing - I know I need to talk about it with you. I didn't mean to mess up the ending, really!"
She pushed him against the wall.
"Pan, what is wrong? What are you doing?" He looked at her face and felt the world spin in confusion and fear. The look in her eyes was wild with fury. He had never seen her look so rabid. "Pan!"
Before he could do anything, she levitated to his height, grabbed Trunks' head and jammed his mouth down to crush her lips.
His eyes opened wide, and his hands flailed wildly as he let out a muffled yelp, "Mmhnmbm!"
Her face was tight against his. Her lips were locked. All of Trunks' thoughts exploded in dozens of layers of confusion at once. She wrapped her legs and arms around him, securing herself against his body as Trunks' arms flailed and he tried to grab down her back.
She continued to kiss him as he gathered his strength and tried to pry her off of him, "Mmhbm! MmHBMM!"
She was too strong. He flared his ki hoping to knock her off of him, but she was steadfast. He grunted against her face and spun them around, so he SLAMMED her against the wall, and tried to pry her off of him.
Her hands clasped his hair tightly, and she pulled his head back and proceeded to change the angle of her kiss. She then used her ki to propel her off of the wall, and to spin him back so his own back crashed against the wall again. Trunks felt the carved patterns poking into his back as she smothered his face.
"MmmmBmm!" He brought his hands up to the back of her neck. He didn't want to do it, but he was about to seriously injure her... She deserved it for forcing this goddamned fucking kiss on him.
Before Trunks could form a ki attack, though, the memory of Legend Goku from yesterday flashed in Trunks' mind. Trunks felt a wave of apprehension wash over him as his thoughts were pulled from the kiss, and instead to a mental image of what Goku would do to Trunks if he found out that Trunks would have attacked Pan after their wedding, all because of a kiss.
Relaxing his arms, but keeping his fingers curled because he wanted to rip her face off, Trunks hesitated and just let his wife kiss him. He did not kiss her back. Instead, rage fueled him inside.
Pan broke away from Trunks' mouth, and pushed herself off from him, landing several feet away. She stood back and tall, with a challenging expression.
Trunks panted for breath and fumed at her.
Pan immediately brought up her right hand and pointed straight to Trunks with rage in her eyes, "How DARE you not kiss me at our wedding! I will NEVER be able to get over that. NEVER!"
"What the FUCK, Pan?! We didn't NEED TO!" Trunks snarled with his claws out, wanting to wipe his mouth. His lips stung from where she had crushed them. "He said it was VOLUNTARY!"
"VOLUNTARY my BUTT!"
Pan picked up a lamp and ripped the cord right out from the wall. She then threw it at him with all her might. It flew in the air with a -FWOO- hiss of air.
Trunks dodged it just in time and looked to see it shatter where he had just been standing. "Are you NUTS, Pan?!"
"This was MY WEDDING! That was MY KISS!"
Something flew by his head, and noticed she had just thrown a large glass ashtray that had been next to the lamp. With a sharp -krakkakak- it exploded into shards of glass behind him.
Right then, Goku walked in and stopped short at the doorway, looking at the broken lamp and shattered ashtray behind Trunks, who was dodging attacks from a very angry Pan.
"Oh wow!" He said delightedly as he clasped his hands in surprise, "You two fell in love already?!"
––––––––
––––––––
–A: 10/24/23–
–F: 7/23/23–