Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Silver Terror ❯ Aftermath ( Chapter 1 )

Silver Terror

A man can't avoid what he is meant to do

when he's meant to do it

even if he doesn't really want to.

~ System of a Down, `Soil'

Chapter 1: Aftermath

Trunks was sitting quietly, his chin leaning on his chest, lavender bangs partly covering his face. He had his sword on his knees. The well-kept blade shimmered in the light of the little campfire. Was he sleeping? He looked so peaceful…

Marron could not stop looking at him. He was so beautiful like this. She shifted her weight a little in her sitting position and saw Trunks stir. No, he was not sleeping - he was meditating, taking in every sound of the night carefully. He was probably more aware of what was happening around them than she was.

She was getting stiff. Irritably she jumped up, away from the little campfire. Treacherous light - why had she been staring at it? It could cause night blindness, she knew, and they could be found… but she had been so cold, and here, under the foliage of the trees, Trunks had judged that it was safe to build a little fire just to get warm and to eat some meat that had been actually roistered. She climbed in one of the nearby trees and watched out over the forest. Trunks was still sitting in their little camp, unmoving, breathing shallowly. The meditation was probably the only thing that kept him from going insane after the horror he had witnessed. What they had witnessed.

Within half an hour, Trunks had seen his whole family die before his eyes. His mother and his little sister had been among the first victims. Vegeta, teamed up with Goku, had put up an amazing fight, leveling all of Capsule Corp and its surroundings during the battle. The amount of ki that had been thrown around had shocked the living daylights out of Marron and Trunks, who had been one of their happy roadtrips to nowhere. It had changed everything. Marron had made a sharp turn with the capsule car to turn back, but Trunks had bolted out, insisting he'd fly on his own. Marron had given him one look and had abandoned her car to speed after him. They had arrived only minutes too late, when an all-consuming explosion had colored the horizon in front of them an eerie mixture of black and orange. They had known already that they were too late. When they arrived at Capsule Corp, all that was left of it was a crater with charred, almost molten ground. Not even the faintest trace of Goku's or Vegeta's ki… and the enemy had departed already.

Too late…

Marron sighed and felt the wetness of her tears chill her face again. She shivered. Yes, it was a cold night. She doubted if she'd ever be warm again.

Three days after that fateful battle, she and Trunks were the only survivors. Earth did not have that much people left, she gathered. She felt for ki around her, but if anyone should be around here, they were either regular human beings, or people hiding their ki. Or corpses, for that matter.

All of the Z-senshi were dead anyway.

She had seen or sensed all of their deaths. No one had stood a chance. "Mom… Dad… Goten…" she sobbed quietly. Her parents had gone down like any other human, as if their ki levels did not matter. They had been overpowered as if they were insects or bugs, only existing to be squashed. Their death has come as swift as anyone elses on the planet. Goten had done what he could, fusing with Trunks. Yet Gotenks had been no match for them either. Goten and Trunks knew it would be hopeless, because Goku and Vegeta had been beaten in their Super Saiya-jin 4 form, and Gohan had been crushed with his mystic powers mere minutes ago, but they had tried anyway. It had been a last-ditch effort to buy Marron some time to gather the Dragonballs and revive everyone. She had sped to Kami's Lookout, only finding that Dende had been the very first to perish. No Dragonballs, no Kami. And everyone was dead. Things had never looked this bleak before… until she came back and found the bloody mess that had been her best friends. Goten was dead, and Trunks was dying. That last sensu bean she had found in Korin's tower she had given to Trunks, to save his life.

The first thing Trunks had said when he regained consciousness had been: "Why didn't you let me die?"

She felt the same way right now. Why had she kept herself out of sight? Why had she had pressed her ki level down to less than a human ki? It had made her sick, but she had not been caught… yet. She and Trunks were still here.

Repressing a ki down to one or zero was not healthy, it lessened the vital functions and made reactions a lot slower, but on the other hand, not doing it so was even unhealthier.

So they were on the run, hiding, keeping themselves weak, cowering in fear. They were desperately trying to come up with a master plan that would save this world and their lives. Until now, they had been failing miserably. Marron was starting to lose faith that it ever would be the way it was before. She just did not see any way out of this.

The worst of it was that she just didn't know what this was all about. The closest thing this all looked like was one of the planet purgings Trunks had talked about; the ones Vegeta had been doing when he was still working for Freeza.

The people that attacked them were humanoid, but that was about all they knew. They did not talk. Their armor covered all of their bodies and faces. It was silvery, from an unknown substance, impenetrable. They were like faceless killing machines dressed in silver. Their attacks were so powerful… they did not seem to have any weakness at all.

She did not even know where they came from, or who `they' were, or what they wanted… besides the demise of every living creature on Earth.

It was so damn frustrating! Marron wanted to scream and kick and blow things up, and had a hard time restraining herself. She felt as if she was going crazy with the sheer insanity of it all. The world was dying and she didn't even know why. It was so unfair!

They had not talked, when Gohan had pleaded with them. She had heard him talk as she sneaked away to take off for Kami's Lookout. They had not answered any question up until the point where Marron had wondered if they even understood human speech. Or cared to listen to it. It was probably a combination of the both of them. What's the point to try and understand vermin you're going to crush within mere heartbeats? It made a terrible kind of sense, if she thought about it.

I guess nothing is meant to last forever, Marron thought, wiping the tears from her face. I just want… I want… No, it does not matter what I want anymore. I thought of Goku, Vegeta and the demi Saiya-jins as half-Gods, but if even their power doesn't even matter… who am I to make demands?

It was a lesson in humility that ached in Marrons heart almost as much as her recent losses. She had grown up with the notion that her mummy, daddy and their friends were the protectors of the world. She remembered Buu probably more clearly than anyone would have thought she would. It was one of her first memories; sitting with her mother and some others in a capsule aircraft while Vegeta had made his sacrifice. She had felt the fear and the sadness radiating from Trunks' mother, and the explosion. The memories were fragmentary, but she definitely remembered.

One of her next memories was of waking up crying from a nightmare, and that her father had assured her that the evil monster Buu was gone now, that daddy and his friends had chased him away forever. That daddy would protect her forever and ever, that that she didn't have to be afraid, because daddy loved his little girl…

Marron began to sob again as if her heart was breaking.

"You're not much of a night watch, are you?" A soft voice said behind her.

Marron almost screamed when warm arms wrapped themselves around her and hugged her tightly. "Silly girl," Trunks said warmly.

"I'm sorry; I just can't seem to stop crying…"

"You're not the only one," he said, laying his head on her shoulder, seeking support. Suddenly she realized her shirt was getting wet with his tears, too.

"You're crying too…" She touched his cheek, awed. This she had not expected, not in a million years. Not Trunks, the one she regarded as her big brother, her great idol, her secret crush. He was eighteen years old, he shouldn't cry. He was so strong! She turned around on the branch and hugged him clumsily. "We still have each other," she said, swallowing her tears. She decided that if Trunks was losing it, she had to be the strong one for a bit. They could support each other, right? At least they still had each other.

***

The morning dawned crisp and clear in a cloudless sky. Marron could not stop shivering. Her too-low ki level did not do much to warm her either, and most of what she had been wearing that fateful day when she went out with Trunks had been either torn or too cold for weather like this. She had no idea the night could be so cold… They were still sitting in their tree, Trunks had fallen asleep against her. His body warmth had been too comfortable to leave, and it had comforted her greatly. She had slept a little, an hour or two at most, but she did not feel very tired. Just cold.

"Trunks?" she ventured, softly. She did not want to scare him into waking, because then there was no chance what could happen. He was too much on edge to risk anything like that.

"Hm?" His clear blue eyes were instantly open and alert. "What is it?"

"Could we go and try to find a city? We might find some clothes and equipment there… Kami knows we need it. Maybe we can meet up with survivors?"

"Do you think its safe enough?" he asked her, looking troubled.

"I don't know…" She was surprised he asked her opinion, but she did not complain. It made her feel as if he considered her an equal, and she liked that idea. "We just have to do something; otherwise… otherwise… there would be no point, right?"

He avoided her gaze. "I understand. I don't want to sit and hide forever, either… you could have just wasted that last sensu bean if we would. It wouldn't have been worth it."

***

The next night they camped in a half collapsed barn at the east side of a totally ruined village. "I now know what Future Trunks must have gone through," Trunks muttered softly. He buried his face in his hands and made no sound for a long time.

Marron just waited, pulling her warm coat more snugly around her. They had found indeed lots of things. Clothes, food, and things she did not want to think about. If she could use her ki, she would torch the little village and give them a decent funeral pyre. Already the stench of death was horrible in some places, and it had been only four days in a cold environment. This village would be a breeding herd for diseases. Despite her warm clothes, she shivered. There would be no one to bury these dead people… it was so sad.

She was so deep in thought that she did not even hear at first that Trunks was talking to her. Warm, sleepy, and rather depressed she had locked herself up in her own mind - something she had been doing most of the time since this happened. It was probably the only thing that kept her from going insane at the spot.

"We should try to go and find some of my mother's research centers," Trunks said, staring at the cracked floor tiles. "If I'm not mistaken, she kept some experimental stuff hidden in one of the centers south from here. Just in case CC would burn down, she joked." He laughed, but it was soft and mirthless. "Maybe something is still there. Maybe it's something we can use. That's the only thing I can think of to do, Marron."

"At least it's something… I could not think of anything that could help us. My thoughts are going around in circles, ending at the same point every time: our doom."

"Mine too, girlie," Trunks said softly. His lavender hair, usually so shiny and velvet-like, hung pale and lifeless in his face. His eyes seemed too bright and too sad for his face, and they were featured with dark circles. Trunks was only eighteen years old, but he looked old, very old. She wondered what she herself looked like. Probably just as bad.

Marron offered him the last of the instant meal they had dug up in one of the houses nearby. They had heated it on a small fire. It had been the first real meal they had in days, besides some hunting prey Trunks had provided them with.

He smiled at her and took it, eating hungrily. Marron relaxed a little - at least he would eat again. Yesterday had been his first meal, and she had had to bully him into chewing and swallowing. Maybe he had a little hope restored by this new idea? Maybe yes, maybe no…

Tomorrow they would go and hike to the southern research center and explore what was left of it, Trunks explained. From what he knew, most of it was underground, so it should still be standing there mostly. He was wondering aloud what they could find there. A ki-amplifier? An artificial set of Dragonballs? A regen tank? Ki-guns? Bulma had invented and created some pretty exotic stuff over the years, everyone knew that. For a few happy moments, they allowed their imagination to run wild.

"A time machine?" Marron ventured then.

She was not prepared for the sudden shock in his eyes. A flare of hope, but he regained his senses quickly. "I do not think so. It took Future Bulma years to build one, and she had a reason to do it. My mother did not have any reason save curiosity to try and build a time machine. If she would want to, it would be on her low priority list. Don't get your hopes up, Marron, there won't be a time machine to escape our reality in."

Marron shrunk back as if he had hit her. Of course she had hoped it, if only a little. It would have been beautiful if they could leave this reality together this way. There was nothing left for them here, only death. They both knew that. Trunks was now destroying his own hope, projecting his words at her, as if she had come up with the idea of excavating that research center. For some reason it hurt her. A lot.

"Let's just go to sleep," she said softly. "Who takes first watch?"

"I will." He offered. "Sleep well, Marron." He paused for a bit before he added: "And wake up."

***

When they finally reached the Research Center, it was as they had feared: they were not the first to come here. The building was in bad shape. It was barely standing; it seemed as if even the slightest breeze would make the walls collapse. When Marron noted this out loud, Trunks shrugged. "My mother builds her companies stronger than that. I think this building could withstand an earthquake and still be standing proud and tall." His eyes wandered over the domed building. Some of the uncracked windows reflected the light of the dying sun. The glass shimmered as if it was on fire, and the white stone colored faintly golden. For some reason the desolation and the destruction of the place made it look unearthly beautiful. Trunks couldn't stop gazing at it in awe. He stood there for an undisclosed period of time, until the blond girl tugged his coat and asked with a tiny voice: "Trunks? Don't you feel those ki's nearby?"

He nodded faintly and pointed to the east. "They are in South City, ravaging what is left of it. If we're careful they'll never even know we were here. We're safe enough." He smiled at her, and saw her eyes light up a little. Of course he was aware of her hero-worshipping. He was just as fond of her. She was four years younger than he was, but she was brave and intelligent as any other of his own age. She could deal with the present situation as well, if not better, than he did, and he loved her for it. He was immensely grateful that she had been spared from the onslaught. If he had been alone, he would have definitely given up on all this. Not only that, but she was a wonderful girl with a beautiful personality. He loved her as a sister and his friend. Maybe even more. Ever since that fateful day, he felt very closely connected to her.

"Come on, girlie, let's explore the Center."

"While it's still standing," said Marron, a little playful smile around her lips.

He chuckled softly and led the way into the Center. They should be glad that the building was one floor only; otherwise not much of it would have been left. It was a dusty mess, with the crumbled walls and all, but it was still in fairly good shape. The Center looked certainly better from the inside than on the outside. It didn't look as if the Silver Terror had put their heart in destroying this building especially. Of course, it was in the far outskirts of South City, maybe a few low level kibeams had been all they had spent on it. Laziness from their Silver Terror? That seemed unlikely somehow… it would make them almost human.

He shook his head to get rid of the idea, trying to focus on other thoughts. He opened a closet with capsules and read their descriptions - they were mostly things like bikes and capsule houses. Those could be useful later on, he judged. He stuffed them in his pockets and continued his scavenger hunt.

"Hey Trunks!" Marron called from the west wing of the building. "Come over here, will you?"

"Be right there!" He put the last two capsules in his pocket and zipped it off, before trotting over to the west wing. The west wing had suffered the worst damage, he saw: some of the supporting pillars had crashed down, which made the whole room look downright unstable. It would be dangerous to linger here. "It's dangerous here," he told Marron. He sneezed; the air seemed misty with dust particles.

Marron, her furry coat and her hair whitened by dust, was on the other side of the room. "I know," she said almost enthusiastically, "but take a look at this!"

He climbed over a pile of debris and discovered that this part of the wing had been covered by a wall - there probably had been some secret entrance to here. He looked around, but he couldn't really see any traces of it in the mess.

The door had a security lock on it. It needed some code to open, one probably thought up by his mother herself. Trunks thought for a moment and tried to recall her swift fingers dancing over a keyboard. She had used a lot of codes to enter encrypted files, but the one she had used most frequently was… he typed in his mother's birthday. Access denied. Then he tried their wedding day and Bra's birthday. Irritably, he clacked his tongue and tried his last option: his own birthday. If this wouldn't work, it was probably one of those locks that changed codes daily… if that would be true, it would be impossible to get in.

To his surprise, a soft ping sounded to grant them access.

"You got in!" Marron cheered happily, pushing the heavy door open. She looked over her shoulder at Trunks, her blue eyes twinkling with genuine happiness, for the first time in days. She looked beautiful like this, but…

"-Marron!!" he screamed, flaring his ki abruptly to prevent the ceiling from crashing down upon them. Marron screamed too, crying to cover herself from the concrete and mortar raining upon them. When the rumbling was over, they stayed silent for a few seconds, trying to regain their breath. His heart was racing to beat horses, as he kept the ceiling up.

Instantly he knew that he had done something terribly wrong with this action. They would have survived the crashing ceiling, strong as they were. He could have protected her… but now he had sealed their doom. There was a good chance that the Enemy had felt him. A very good chance. If they stayed here, they'd be sitting ducks.

But while they were supporting the roof, something familiar tugged at the back of his mind. It had been something he had seen in this room, from the corner of his eye…

Marron saw him wonder and looked over her shoulder. Her blue eyes widened with recognition. "Trunks, isn't that…?"

Trunks nodded slowly. It was covered in dust and debris, and the design was somewhat more futuristic and slick, but it was something he remembered from old photographs showing a boy with his face… standing next to this machine. When he opened his mouth to talk, he almost choked in it. His voice was shaky and filled with wonder. "Yes, it's a time machine. It seems like my mother built one after all."

2

A strange feeling of deja-vu gave Marron goose bumps as she saw Trunks checking out the time machine. She had seen a scene almost exactly like this before, on pictures her father had taken of Future Trunks. Of course, the circumstances were different, but the dark blue, short coat he was wearing, his clothes, and his hair, were almost exactly the same as that boy from the future. Not so strange; Future Trunks had been of the same age as the boy that was climbing in the machine right now. They had experienced the same pain, and had the same genes. Seeing Trunks here standing next to the Time Machine made her feel a little uneasy, until she decided that the future version of her friend had turned out fine in the end. Things had to be alright in the end, they just had to. They would find a way to put things right again… in the worst case they would stay in the past and help prepare for a dark future. There was no way they could come back here, ever. It would certainly mean their doom. And to be honest, Marron wouldn't want anything more than leaving this place. It meant so many bad memories, so many wounds on her soul, that even getting in the near vicinity of her inner pain would break her down into a sniveling heap again.

So she walked over to Trunks and looked what he was doing. "We have to hurry," he said, his voice ragged. "They must have felt me - there has to be a way to get out of here…" He was sitting in the machine, his fingers flying over the keys with coordinates. "My mother designed it for normal people to use. It's not hard to set up a destination," he said, answering her questioning look. He didn't even meet her eyes, just kept working.

Marron looked at the design of the machine and felt her stomach clench. Did he realize? "…Trunks?" she began.

"What?"

"I think there's only room for one person."

His fingers floated above the keyboard, as if they were frozen. He didn't move at all, his face stricken with terror. It only lasted but a few heartbeats, then his expression changed to resolve and determination. "You should go, Marron."

"No!" She took a few steps backwards, her heart in her throat. "I can't do that, Trunks. I can't leave you alone out here!" Desperation crashed over her. She did not want to leave him, never. He was her friend, her god, her everything. She loved him. How could he ask her to do anything like that?

"I'll be fine Marron," he said urgently, but the pain in his eyes clearly telling he was lying. "I want you to get out of here, alright?"

"No, no, NO!" She was suddenly aware of tears streaming down her face. She did not care. "Don't let me do this, damn you! I'll just sit on your lap or something, there has to be something we can do! I don't leave you alone! I'd rather die! Why don't YOU go?"

He turned his face away, and she heard just the barest of whispers: "Because I value your life too much."

The whole world went silent for a moment. "What?"

And then it happened. He began to cry. "I love you, Marron. I want you to live…"

"…Wwwhat?" Her whole life she had waited for him to say those words, and now the moment was there and she could only stammer like an idiot. It took a few moments before her senses kicked in again, and she finally had the guts to kiss him.

**

Their tears mingled as their lips found each other. Trunks pulled her close, savoring this last intense moment together. They were standing just in front of the time machine, locked in a tight embrace. It was almost as if the world was spinning around him. He really loved her - he had to do this.

And so, while they were kissing, one arm loosened his grip around her. Déjà vu reigned supreme as he remembered his father doing something similar to him, so long ago. So this is how you must have felt, father, he thought incoherently, dizzy with the sweet taste of her lips. I'm so sorry, Marron…

A short, violent hit in her neck, and her body went limp in his arms. For a moment he stood there, savoring her warmth, before he scooped her up in his arms and turned to the time machine.

They are coming, I feel them.

He laid her down on the floor for a few moments, quickly typing in the coordinates. Transpiration made his fingers slippery and his eyes pricked. He felt himself near to the point of hyperventilating with sheer terror. This time not only for his own life, but for the life of Marron. He could save her and go down in that blaze of glory his father would be proud of. He'd go down like a true Saiya-jin. If he could only save Marron…

Please Kami, give me one minute. One more minute is all I need… One last minute…

Yet one minute proved to be too much…

Just as his finger hit the last key and he stepped out of the Time Machine, heat and pressure and pain exploded around him. "NO!" He screamed, and powered instantly up to Super Saiya-jin 2, a level he had achieved during his fight with their Silver Terror. He blinked a few times and found himself standing among the debris of the Research Center, directly opposite to a silver-clad figure. "Go away!" he screamed, over the edge of despair. One of his last coherent thoughts was to lead the Terror away from Marron and the time machine, before he exploded into battle.

From the first blow on that connected he knew he was losing, as they climbed their way up into the air. Every blow he received made his head spin and his teeth rattle. Every blow he received made him lose his focus a little more, and every blow he received increased his pain. He coughed up blood every time a silver-clad fist connected with his stomach. Yes, he was losing. But he had to keep it up, he had to bring Marron into safety, he had to…

Very few of his own blows even connected. The Terror just kept dodging - no expression on the mask. There was absolutely no way how he could read what his opponent would do next, no way to see any weakness. Just plain cold silver. Deadly silver. His speed never faltered, and Trunks could hear no ragged breathing but his own.

"Fuck you!" He cried, swinging his fists in fury, powering up just a little more. It was all he could do to prevent from dying in frustration alone. How could he stall? How could he see only a glimpse of hope in this utterly hopeless situation?

***

Down below, Marron felt her body shiver as she fought her way out of the fogginess in her head. She had to sneeze because of all the dust and there was a pressure on her body… Alarmed, she opened her eyes, only to find that she was three feet down under in the collapsed research center. What had happened?

It didn't take long for her mind to connect to the present again as she felt two enormous ki's battling very close.

TRUNKS!

She worked her way out of the ceiling upon her and found that next to her, if she'd glide down this heap of debris and concrete, the Time Machine was still accessible. It was dented and even more dusted, but it should still work.

She looked up into the sunset-colored sky and had to squint her eyes against the bright energy of Trunks' powerful ki. The armor of the Terror gleamed almost golden in the light of the dying sun. Funny, how she could feel the ki, but didn't see anything ressembling a ki aura around the Terror. Maybe his armor took care of that?

"That doesn't matter!" she muttered to herself, glancing at the Time Machine. "Trunks would want…" He would want her to escape. He would let her escape and warn their loved ones in the past, leaving this accursed place forever. Yet, she could not. She just couldn't bear to get up and hit that button that would take her away. She couldn't leave Trunks to die here… she would hate herself for all eternity.

"I can't do it… Kami help me…" Marron felt fresh tears making trails in the dust on her cheeks as she tried to make a decision.

***

Trunks did not know where it came from. He felt his awareness dancing on a razor edge - the feeling of sweat vaporizing in the air, the soft breeze caressing his skin, the pricking and burning of his wounds. He was bleeding, and his guts were so clenched he could not make out if he was bleeding internally or if he was just tensed to the maximum.

He tried to anticipate every blow, every attack. Most of the time he failed horribly, but his concentration had saved him from much worse. The Terror was playing with him, he knew that. He tried to feel and understand his opponent, reaching out and trying to touch his opponent's soul. Vegeta had told him once that Saiya-jin had a sense of rudimentary telepathy, although some Saiya-jin were better at it than others. Trunks had always heavily relied on that sense while sparring or fighting. Yet for the past ten years he had trained with people he knew and understood. The dead end he felt when reaching out for the Terror was as frustrating as its superior strength. He felt as if he were fighting deaf and blind.

Yet this awareness came so suddenly that it totally blew his mind. For a moment he was so busy registering that he felt something from his opponent that he did not realize what the feeling was. What was it?

Awareness, curiosity.

Awareness?

The Silver Terror turned his gaze from Trunks and looked down.
Awareness?

His heart heavy, Trunks followed his gaze.

Curiosity?

He could not move, as he saw his greatest nightmare occur before his eyes.

One finger, one beam. Straight down.

It was like it happened in slow motion. As he opened his mouth to scream in denial, it just happened. Here, right before his eyes. That beam. That direction.

Marron never had the time to react. Her chest exploded in a red mist before she had even time to cry out. She fell down like a rag doll, all life drained from her in a heartbeat.

Dead. Her beautiful girlish body, limp between concrete and wood, blood slowly coloring the white dust red. It was probably a very small hole, he could not see it from this distance, but it had very much hit home. It had pierced her heart as if it were nothing.
Marron…

Marron was dead.

The last thing he loved in this world…

Oh no, this can't be happening… no… Marron….this is not true, this can't be true… someone wake me up please….NO….Marron get up!! Please Kami, whatever deity is out there and watching us, set this right because this can't be true, this is NOT HAPPENING NOT HAPPENING TO US MARRON IS GOING TO LIVE AND ESCAPE SHE IS NOT DEAD NOT HER TOO… NO NO!

"MARRON!!! NOOOOOOOOOO!!!"

His screams pierced the evening sky.

Nobody said it was easy
Oh it's such a shame for us to part
Nobody said it was easy
No one ever said it would be so hard
I'm going back to the start
~ Coldplay, 'The Scientist'

Rain and Blood

When he came to awareness, he was battling to the death with the Silver Terror. Power, more than he ever contained before, crackled around him. He had not even known that he was fighting, it had been instinctive. His mind had simply blanked out and he had lost himself in pure rage… the sort of rage he had never felt before. It still filled him to the core of his being, pulsing as bright as his ki around him.

Pain, rage and the image of Marrons sweet tear streaked face kept him going.

His defenses were lower now, but he found himself connecting countless more times with the silver armor of his opponent. Strike, blow, dodge, smack in the face. Blood flecks in his spit. Never mind. Pain, lots of pain. Somersault away, kiblasts. Final Flash. Kicked in the head. The fight kept going and going as if they'd fight forever, but Trunks was sick of it. He wouldn't have it… he decided he'd go out with a blast. He'd give that Terror the fight of its life. His fists were raw and bloody, but he did not care. There was more blood upon him, more than was probably healthy, but at this point Trunks did not care that much about health anymore.

Rage and pain were the only things that mattered in his world.

Marron's bleak expression as she stared into the campfire.

Kami, the pain was too much to bear. She had been just a girl. An insanely sweet and lovable and brave and smart girl. Why did this have to happen?

Flashes of his mother and Bra. Bulma teaching her daughter to swim in their pool in the backyard.

Vegeta, coming out of the Gravity Room, a towel around his neck and with a fatigued yet content expression on his face.

Goten, lying in the grass, looking at the stars on a summer evening. A drink in his hands, his usual happy-go-lucky smile on his face.

Marron, all dressed up for a party for one of her friends.

Sweet little Pan showing him her first bike.

All gone. All dead. NO!

He screamed again, desperately seeking something to channel his pain. He could not. The battle was simply not enough, he could not contain his rage enough to channel it all out. The Terror was breaking him apart from the outside, and his pain from the inside. He was fairly sure he was losing his mind…

It wouldn't be long now.

The blows he received grew harder and harder, and his vision was getting blurred and dark around the edges. He had to fight dizziness. It was over, completely and utterly over. In a way, he was glad to see that final blast coming at him. He had barely time to spread his arms as if to embrace it…

***

The rain awoke him. Cold water was splattering in his face, chilling him where he had not been cold before. His awareness brought the inner and outer pain back immediately. Trunks could not make out whether the wetness he was lying in was either blood or rain. Maybe both. It felt as if it had been raining for quite a while now.

Slowly, he opened his eyes. It was late in the night, in the east the sky was already coloring grey with the promise of dawn. He rolled over on his stomach, to try and get up, ignoring the blood that ran over his arms as he pushed himself up. The pain exploded all through his back and shoulders, but he was a Saiya-jin prince, dammit, he would not let himself get down. Some idiot up there had decided he would live, and so he would.

Even his tears were bloody, he thought, for a moment lost in the color of the tears that fell on the charred ruins of the Research Center. His mind was clouded by pain and despair, and he felt himself distracted by everything. It was a fight to stay even conscious.
The Terror…It left me here to die. Am I dying? Kami, I hope so…

After what seemed an eternity he was back on his feet. He swaggered a few steps. His sense of balance was totally off the scale, knees on the verge of buckling. Yet he managed to assess the situation; it was obviously raining, cold water drenching his ragged clothes. The Research Center had been mostly blown apart, puddles of rain between heaps and bits of concrete. Marron…

Marron was lying only a handful of feet away from him. Staggering, he made his way over to her. She was lying on her belly now, having clearly been caught in some explosion that had tossed her over. Kami, she was really dead. She was lying face-down in a puddle of rain. One short, (almost) coherent thought (didn't he know this scenario…?) crossed his mind before he began to cry hysterically, calling her name over and over again as something deep inside of him seemed to snap.

"Marron… please Marron…. No… No…this is not fair… MARROOOOOON!!!"

If he thought he was losing his sanity before, he really felt like doing it now. Blood and tears and rain mingled on his face, as he called out to the heavens, cursing the injustice of it all. Ki quickly filled the emptiness and the rage within him. He powered up and up, taking in more energy than he ever had before. More and more, until something else snapped inside of him - a feeling he recognized from before. Power. Yet it was ever more intense and MORE than he ever would have dreamed of. Super Saiya-jin 3. He had achieved two levels within a week, and yet it would not be enough. It would never be enough…

As the raw power surged through him, he decided there was only one way to end this all.

One way to maybe prevent it. One slight, slim chance to do it. He gathered the shreds of what was left of his mind and cradled Marron in his arms. There was not much left of her pretty face, yet he kissed her nonetheless. "One last kiss goodbye," he whispered. "One last kiss… I'll see you on the other side, but you won't love me. Yet. You will be a little child, devoid of worries and pain, and I'll see the innocence on your sweet face, Marron. That alone will be worth it. I'll see my parents and my sister again. And Goten, he will be alive too. Don't worry Marron…" He began to sob again. "I'll make everything right again. I love you."

It tore his heart apart to lie her down again, alone in the rain. "Kami…" he groaned, unable to tell himself she was up there in Heaven, unhurt and alright. He just could not see it, gazing down on her mutilated corpse. It was just so unfair…

He ignored the trail of blood he made as he made his way to the time machine. Why it had not been blown up he did not know - it was probably fate. Fate, or some Kai, had wanted this to happen to him. As it happened to Future Trunks. The parallels with his own situation were screaming at him; Marron's death, the time machine, him reaching a new level, everything. Standing in a bloody blue coat, holding a piece of coal in his hand, scratching the word `Hope' on the side of the Machine. In the Future, his mother had done so, yet here, she was dead.

Still, he felt an indescribable urge to draw his own parallels with the Future. He decided that in some sick, twisted way, this was the way things had to be. And when Future Trunks had gone and changed the past, Life had tried desperately to put things right again. Life had tried to follow its predestined pattern. And it had succeeded.

"Why me?" Trunks wondered, leaning against the Time Machine, covering his face in his hands. He ignored his pain once more, ignored his drenched clothes. He most certainly did not want to look at it, not wanting to know whether it was blood or rain wetting his jeans and shirt. "Marron…" No, he would not look at her again.

He would turn his back on this world, and step into a new.

But there would be one major difference: unlike Future Trunks, he would not return to his own time again. He refused to, flat-out. He would see Marrons young innocent face and his own almost-innocent happy eyes, and that would have to be enough.

Maybe life would be merciful and he would not even survive the trip to the past. Bulma had always said one would have to be in top shape for it, because a weakened system could do `things' with you. Maybe it would take the last shreds of his sanity away. Or his life.

Yet, judging from the dirty tricks life was playing on him now, he was fairly sure that he would survive and arrive in the past. Three years in the past. He looked at the coordinates and laughed roughly. Another parallel with his future self. It was almost funny.

He seated himself in the time machine, blearily looking at the blood stains he made on the panel while uploading the last data into its computer while a new and eerie thought crept into his mind.

If Life wanted to return to its predestined pattern, would something similar not happen again in the new timeline he'd create? Even worse, would he see his loved ones die all over again? Or would his past self, in the new timeline, experience something similar?

Would Life not just trick him again, torturing him over and over again?

"I… I don't care…" he heard himself say, his voice sounding old, tiny and broken. "I just… I just want…"

To the east, the first rays of sunlight crept over the horizon. The rain had stopped.

A new day dawned on a dead world.

"I just want to get out of here…" he whispered. "Marron… I will see you again…"

And with that, his fingers found the power button.

~End of Part 1~