Soul bonding.

One of the great mysteries of the known universe.

It was a barely understood branch of spiritual magic, one that even the Supreme Kai's –the great rulers and arbitrators of the divine realm– would be hard-pressed to describe to you what it even was.

Not that you could blame them, it was… a one-in-a-trillion event, and that waslowballingit.

But the basic concept –or at least, the one understood by most people– was that it was a spiritual connection of the animus, the inner self. A conjoining of multiple souls, binding them even closer than two subatomic atoms… an intertwining of fates. Two halves of one whole… a destined encounter, if you will. That... theoretically, when two people who are meant to meet, regardless of time and space… finally make contact, the primordial forces of the universe conspire to bind their lives together… forever.

Where the many became one… a soulmate.

However, a lesser-known fact about soul bonding –fairly esoteric knowledge, sadly hidden among the dusty scrolls of the Eternal Library– was that the connection didn't necessarily need to be a romantic one.

Oh, it was certainly the most common type, and the one most spoken about in legend and half-remembered myths, but not the only way to cause the spiritual connection to happen.

Because at its core, it could happen to anyone who may inadvertently follow the principles of the "Four Loves." A standardized description defining the four… well, loves you may experience throughout your lifetime. And a common theme among soulmates was that the bonding only happened if you had one out of the… three out of four of these relationships.

Romantic, of course… that was obvious enough.

Familial… typically a connection between a parent and child, but in general could encompass other family ties as well.

Friendship… but only the ones so deep, the individuals were siblings in all but name.

Unconditional… a constant, general, and freely given love for those around you, regardless of circumstances. Yet, the only "love" never to form a soul bond like the other three… but even stranger, it was also the one with the most proof that the spiritual arts could be shaped in nonlinear fashions to fit a need.

This one originally wasn't meant to be taken so literally when it was conceived –it was more of a high-minded concept, like good and evil, than something physical– but ended up being the most researched, and thus, weaponized. Like… one of the Kais of Trunks' old world made a technique called the Spirit Bomb, which allowed you to physically throw that metaphysical energy and kill your enemies by exploding them. The how and why of its creation was a mystery… but it worked.

And that wasn't the only instance of the soul being used to kill someone intentionally. Hell, in another world, an alternate timeline Trunks once used the same esoteric energy to create a mystical blade of light, which he then used to slice an immortal god in half.

That last "love" was a weirdly lethal one.

Anyway…

Soul bonding was a very precious and unique thing, the result of pure love, that theoretically… should embody these principles.

A truly beautiful thing.

What Trunks and Jinx had, however… was none of the above.

Mainly because none of that love nonsense was actually needed to create a bond. A false causality, one might say.

Their forced connection was the result of an incomplete soul-bonding ritual by the Time Witch Towa. One of the many enemies that the Time Patroller had faced off against in his duty to protect the Xenoverse. An old foe that had given him trouble as a young man, but had hardly been on his radar in recent years… mainly due to him facing increasingly more dangerous threats to the multiple timelines, requiring his attention elsewhere.

Not that the swordsman was intentionally negligent in his responsibilities, and leaving Towa free to run amok… but protecting the multiverse meant facing one constant crisis after the next, each one more dire than the last.

It required an unfortunate level of mental calculus to be played.

Did the Supreme Kai of Time send Trunks, her most powerful and experienced fighter to deal with Towa, a universal threat? Especially when she had platoons of junior-time patrollers to face her instead? Or did she send the Saiyan after someone like… let's say, Mechikabura, one of the Ancient Time Lords whose very existence caused the destruction of timelines? Who's master plan was to destroy the Eternal Library –which housed the time scrolls within– rewriting all of reality in his image, and killing the known multiverse in his wake?

And that wasn't even taking into account the dozen other battles taking place across the timelines.

The answer had seemed simple in the moment, especially since the demon goddess had been neutralized with minimal loss.

In hindsight, that was a mistake on their part.

Because this witch was a crafty one, as most magic users tend to be, their abilities were a constant unknown variable.

In the end, Towa's plan was both an old and new one.

While capable of fighting when needed, she was no warrior –had neither the inclination nor temperament for it– thus, leaned on mind-controlled soldiers to do her dirty work. And it just happened –with the recent destruction of her personal forces, due to the failed raid on Tokitoki City– she was in the market for a new enforcer. And who better to fill that role than the Z Fighter, the constant obstacle to her –and many others– ambitions?

Why… turn one of her biggest problems into a solution, and get her revenge?

Nothing would make the witch happier.

Only… her typical methods wouldn't be enough for Trunks, he was too powerful to capture through conventional means.

His god ki alone would tear through most magical bindings, never mind the mechanical ones.

She would have to get creative if she wanted to mind-control him.

But the Time Witch had never been negligent in her research, and knew she simply had to dig deeper, exploring the paths that none before her would ever dare. After all, as an immortal, she had all the time in the world.

And eventually, she had her solution.

Spiritual magic.

Almost nobody used it due to how little it was understood, to cowardly to push into unknown territory, but that also meant most could defend against it either. And the best part? Towa didn't even need to create a ritual from scratch, because a proof of concept had already been created for her. The long-dead wizard Bibidi had used it to enslave the pink blob monster Majin Boo, but more importantly… his son Babidi, had used it to successfully control a Saiyan.

At least for a short time.

But Towa was confident she would succeed where they failed. Fix what was wrong with the ritual and improve what wasn't. After all, how can you compare the powers and the knowledge of mortals to a goddess like her?

Time would pass, and new battles would be fought, but she never relented on her research.

Until one day… she was ready. Towa finally had the means to create an artificial soul bond, one that would bring the Saiyan under her control and dominion..

Needless to say, the ambush to capture the Time Patroller… hadn't quite gone the way she had planned.

Trunks had defeated her before she could finish her attack, cutting through her magic with the Key Sword, and imprisoning her in the Crack of Time.

Unfortunately, just because Towa didn't finish her ritual, doesn't mean she didn't succeed with her magic, after all... the glowing ring on his chest was proof enough. But like most experiments, the unexpected tended to happen... such as the sudden influx of her experimental soul magic clashing with his ascended god ki. The two mighty forces breaking the assortment of time-related artifacts on his body… and distinctly not mix well.

But like most unstable energies that collide together… it caused an explosion –truly, it spoke volumes about the Saiyan's constitution that the three opposing powers didn't just outright kill him– the sheer force of it sending the warrior hurling across time and space.

Through multiple dimensions… until he landed in the cold waters of Zaun.

All this, Trunks and Jinx perceived in less than a second –the soul brand imprinting the witch's memories and knowledge into both of their minds– the moment the blue-haired girl touched the ring on his chest. Their own minds, filling in the blanks of what had happened after the dark goddess had been sealed away.

One might wonder… why would Towa want to share her memories with Trunks? Detail every painstaking motivation and method she went through to entrap him? Potentially provide him the knowledge that he might use to reverse the situation and break free of his bonds?

Because like most villains… she wanted to gloat, to be petty and break him with the knowledge that she got his ass, even if it ultimately hadn't gone the way she had envisioned.

Fortunately, the witch was trapped between Eternity and Nowhere, so the warrior didn't have to look at her smug face.

Unfortunately, he did have a front-row seat to Jinx's sharp grin as she kept glancing at her ungloved hand and him. That… was not the look of a girl who had good intentions. Even worse, a… strange trickle of emotions started entering his mind –he didn't need three guesses to know who it was from– an odd gambit of curiosity, excitement… fascination, of all things. And from the way her blue eyes flickered up to meet his own, there was no doubt that whatever he could feel from her, she could probably feel from him too.

Hopefully, she couldn't read his mind.

Her smile grew wider by the second –a little too knowing, a little too amused – as she moved her palm flat against his chest as if trying to match up the mirrored symbols.

"Hey… Trunks."

'Oh… crap baskets…'

0000000

That right! I'm using abridged Trunks lol

Bit of a short chapter, but one that I felt helped set the groundwork for the Trunks/Jinx relationship.

Fun Fact: Out of all the potential pairings, Jinx is the most like Trunks' mom, Bulma. Both are spunky blue-haired genius inventors. Weirdly, coincidental lol