Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ The Story Of You And Me ❯ Part Seven ( Chapter 13 )

Soft light. Birds in the distance.

Everything's so quiet. I can hear my heartbeat.

Goten.

He's gone, but I can feel him close. Somewhere nearby.

I lazily rub the sleep from my eyes, although I can't imagine I could have been out of it for that long - the sun isn't even up yet. Everything still has that blue haze to it. It's kinda like I'm waking up from the craziest dream of my life, but I'm not sure where the reality ended and the dream began. Through my daze, I can barely remember how I fell asleep.

My eyes sting from accidentally wiping some grit into them from the heel of my palms. I squint to tear it out, noticing that my whole body is a mess, covered in everything from blood, to dirt, to...

Oh.

I sit up and slump back on my hands, trying to focus my mind to clearly recall how I wound up like this.

It's still hard to believe, even now. I can't say that I haven't explored the thought of this happening more than a few times in my life, but I never imagined it happening like this. I figured things between the two of us would eventually go too far some random night after drinking, stumbling into bed together half unconscious, half drunk. I just never thought it would happen when we were both completely aware of it! But now that it's happened, I'm glad we were.

Mist and dew from the forest floor chills my skin. My muscles ache. Neck sore. I reluctantly get to my feet and stretch until I hear that morning crack in my back, balancing against the tree and being careful not to stretch the skin over the soft scab on my chest that's still a little tender to touch. I try not to stare at it, but I can't help it. It means so much to have it - I know my father would think the same, although I'm not sure how he would react to learning that Goten was the one that gave it to me. I wonder if he would care. But thinking back about it, I wonder if he didn't know already.

I touch the darkened purple bruising around it. I feel so strong. My senses are awake and sharply attuned to everything more than they've ever been before.

I decide that I should find him.

I span quite a large area of the forest, being quiet and soft with my steps like I'm afraid to wake someone out here. I've slept outdoors with Goten as a kid all the time, but compared to the concrete world I've been living in for so long, the crunch of dried leaves and branches under my feet is sounding more unfamiliar than I'd like it to be. Even this time away - out here looking for Dragonballs like two kids who ran away from home - we still managed to stay close enough to civilization to get a decent hotel to crash in at the end of the day. I'm starting to wish we had roughed it from the beginning. Maybe things would have turned out differently. Maybe this is what we should have gotten out the open all along. I somehow doubt we would even be in this mess in the first place had we not been letting all of this all build up until now.

I can already hear the flow of the stream where it started, just on the other side of the hill beyond the edge of the forest. I guess we ran a lot farther last night than I thought we did. I quietly look past the last of the big trees and find him exactly where I thought I would. Doing just what I figured he would be doing here.

From only a few feet behind him, I watch quietly so as to not disturb him while he remains crouched down on some rocks in the middle of the water, looking downstream, lost in whatever thoughts weigh heavy on his mind. He wrings out a scrap of my shirt to gently wipe away the trickle of blood dripping down his arm again, moving just enough so that the pale light glitters off the water beaded over his skin. I trail my focus down the hard ridges of muscle on the back that has been molded so far from the little boy I once knew. Over his Fusion markings and down to his tail scar... I don't know why it never occurred to me that even before last night, we've been sharing markings on our bodies that have bound us for longer than I can remember. It's so obvious that this has been our fate all along.

His eyes remain fixed on the breaking ripples over the rocks. His presence balanced someplace between the gentle boy I have known my entire life, and the man I have yet to meet. I can't deny that I haven't stared at him like this before, although now it doesn't seem so... something.

"How long you been awake?" I ask, already assured that I won't startle him - he knows I've been standing here.

"A while. Couldn't sleep," he responds quietly, still idly tending to his shoulder, but not seeming all that concerned about it - his mind is someplace else. He waits a moment before continuing. "Our things were stolen. Sometime during the night, I think." Again, no tone or variation in his softened voice. "Your sword's gone, too."

My sword.

I grit my teeth at my carelessness of leaving it, but I didn't exactly plan on taking off when I originally set it down yesterday. I don't even know why I brought it with us in the first place. Did I honestly think I would need it out here? I guess a part of me still takes pride in having a mastery of my weapon - I have ever since I was a kid. But regardless, even though it's not exactly something I can replace, the fact that any possession of mine is gone - no matter how important to me - couldn't mean less right now. How could I be concerned about anything material in the face of all that's happened?

I walk into the water as I try to grit out its chilled temperature without a gasp, suppressing a shiver from the cold rushing over my naked skin. I stop just beside the large rock he's on until the water barely comes up to the break of my hips. I wait for a sign to show me how he wants to treat this. I'm not even sure myself.

Neither of us says a thing. It's so hard to act on what we feel now that so much has changed.

Our proximity becomes impossible to ignore.

He stops wringing the shirt in his hands, slowly turning the angle of his face, keeping his focus glued to my chest - his mark. Inhaling deeply at the visual proof that it was all real, despite probably telling himself all morning that none of it could have actually happened. His lips part slightly, but he doesn't make a sound, still unsure of what to say or what to do about this.

Ironic, especially since the only person in the world I've ever felt completely open and comfortable with is the one person I don't know how to be around now either.

Gracefully, he positions himself to sit on the rock, smoothly sliding down it to stand in the water with me. But he's hesitant, still unable to take his eyes off the very reality of it.

I swallow hard.

He lifts his hand and runs his wet palm over my wound, rubbing his thumb lightly over the newly formed scab that stings from the pressure, but I would welcome any feeling coming from him. I inhale deeply, holding my breath for a moment, but not flinching from his touch. Black eyes find mine with blazing intensity, palm pressing more firmly to my chest. The significance of such a simple cut is almost overwhelming.

"We really doing this?" His voice sounding as straight forward and as serious as I know he could ever be.

I can only be bluntly honest, despite the pinch in my throat from what I'm about to reply. "Yes."

Our expressions don't change - this isn't something we already didn't know. Deep down, someplace far in our souls, we always felt this bond... there just wasn't a name for it until last night.

He closes his eyes; opening his body to the energy I freely give to him. A tiny smile plays across his lips as the warmth gently surges into his body, giving me his own ki in return. There's something to be said about feeling so right. I know that now. I know what it feels like to be complete. My energy - my soul - is becoming so tightly intertwined with Goten's... I must have been so empty without feeling this, but I can no longer fathom life without him.

Maybe it was always like this. Maybe this has been our destiny the whole time. I've been hearing my father talk about destiny since before I could understand - my destiny to be great, to be powerful, to take something that belongs to me and claim it rightfully as my own. The destiny he never had that I was supposed to live up to. It just never occurred to me that maybe my destiny lies with the power of being connected to Goten... but then again, I can't believe we didn't see it before.

Me and Goten don't exist without each other - we're two parts of a whole, and I've been proven a million times over during the past twenty-four years that I wouldn't make it very far without him beside me. I know that now - he's my reason to fight for the destiny that belongs to the both of us.

We don't say anything. There's no need to.

The soft light peeks out from the canopy of trees as we dry naked next to the edge of the water on the grass, sleeping in the warmth of the morning sun as our minds drift in and out of consciousness. The sound of zippers and buckles of our shorts hanging to dry on the tree behind us is the only thing unnatural heard for miles, I'm sure. I guess it's a good thing we didn't leave them with our bags, or the trip home would be a very... well, bare one. It's bad enough that neither of us has a wearable shirt anymore, seeing how Goten's is now gone, and mine was torn to shreds back when clothes were last on the Concern List. We're down to the absolute minimum from what we started with.

Which brings us to now...

Actually, before right now, I'd almost forgotten all about what brought us out here in the first place, and I'm suddenly reminded that even though all that has happened between us in the past twenty-four hours, the initial problem we caused almost five months ago still has not gotten any closer to being resolved. And me... where does this leave the Trunks Briefs that would still have to face the real world that couldn't possibly understand him now? If anything, things might be more complicated than before.

I turn my head to see his face consumed in thought again, staring to the sky with that look that says there's something's on his mind he's not telling me - his worry can be so easy to read.

"I can't go back, Chibi." Blunt as ever. No point on letting him think I've gotten braver about facing what's waiting for me back home.

"I know."

My breath is weak. I feel that twinge in my throat again like I did yesterday. "Then... what now?"

But I don't need to hear the answer this time.

He reaches his hand over to delicately brush the bangs from my eyes, tracing the side of my cheek, still not exactly sure of how to act from the slightest pause in his actions - afraid to be too bold or too gentle. This is such new territory for us. It's like starting all over again.

He gradually finds the courage to listen to the instincts that are still so new to experience and I close my eyes to the warmth of his increasing touch, telling him that he isn't wrong to assume. I turn my head into the palm of his hand, pressing my lips against his wrist and melting my breath hotly against his skin.

With a swivel of his head to me, dark eyes reflect back every feeling and emotion that has consumed me from the moment we left our apartment. Every single doubt and fear about what has happened. What will. The old responsibilities we can't run from forever, the new ones that we have now yet to face. The fear that nothing could possibly go back to the way they used to be now that so much has changed. And the fear that we know we wouldn't want it to... even if it could. I'm not alone in this.

I know his answer. And he's right.

"But I suppose you're going to say you want to find our stuff first," I knowingly assume, unable to hold back a smile to the simplicity of it all. I can see it written on his face as I'm sure it is on my own. "Not exactly easy to walk into West City like this," I jokingly reference to our present lack of clothing.

He pushes himself back up on his hands, sitting up beside me as the next big task of heading home has now been put on the table between us. But he doesn't give any indication that he was thinking the same route as I with my concern for losing our stuff , only intensifying that same look of worry across his face now that I've said something about it. It reminds me that his worry might be for reasons I can't sense like he can. I could give a damn about the cash and change of clothes we lost, and as much as I wish I had been more careful with my sword, I'm not about to get all bent out of shape over something that's not coming back.

He lowers his voice. "I wasn't sure at first, but I think I can feel a lot of energy coming from somewhere down the river. The same that woke me up last night, but it's moving away from us pretty fast now. It's... it's hard to tell what it is..." he says, hiding his real concern. It's not often Goten displays even this kind of seriousness, and when he does, it's usually not far from the mark. He can sense danger a miles away - it's in his blood to do so.

He continues as he sits back on his hands, trying hard to decipher the feeling coming from far down the path of rushing water in front of us. "It's way down there, but it... it's not good... it's hard to explain. I think we should check it out. I have a feeling it might be where our stuff is."

I expand my energy into the same direction, but my lack of fine-tuning my ki over the past few years has left me blind to what he's feeling, not to mention I haven't been paying attention to shit since we've been out here. "Isn't good how? Like trouble? I don't care abou--"

He suddenly cuts me off with the kind of realization you never want to hear. "We left all of the Dragonballs at the Lookout! In one place! Besides what's already waiting for us back at home, we've now added to our list of things we've fucked up. We lost the Dragon Radar, Trunks. The Dragon Radar."

I've been hit with a safe.

But... but what could the chances be? Who could possibly even know about them?

His voice lowers and he looks serious again. "I'm sure there must still be people left out there who know about the Dragonballs, we can't be the only ones," he answers the lingering question. "Someone could have very well been on to us from the beginning. It's not like we were really paying attention out here," he says, leaving the obvious reason unsaid.

I try not to show the growing concern that I feel gnawing at my gut. "What are you saying?" I ask. He knows more than he's letting on and I'm beginning to wish I had paid more attention to all those Dragonball hunt stories my mom dished out to me when I was a kid. I keep forgetting that she wasn't the only one to ever use it. In fact, I'm pretty sure she didn't even make the fucking thing. But now I distinctly remember her telling me about people out there that knew about them. Of all times to pull a fucking blank...

Goten swings his gaze away from down river to glance at me, his brows furrowing even more. "I mean, there's been a couple of times I've sensed... something, I dunno. It came and went and I thought we lost it for a while. I keep forgetting that nobody's gone looking for them on foot since my dad looked for them as a kid. Your mom is too fast to track when she's in her plane. It couldn't have been that hard to follow us."

My jaw drops. "Why didn't you say anything before we did this, then?" I almost snap at him.

He shrugs. "It didn't seem important at the time. I've had a lot on my mind out here," he says bluntly, looking at me with the kind of implication that doesn't need explained. He looks back to the direction in question. "But now that I think about it... that Six Star ball... it was way too easy to find compared to the others. It makes me wonder..."

Have I not been aware of my surroundings for that long out here? Has this been where his mind has wandered all those times I thought he was regretting what we did?

I attempt to reassure him by hiding the panic in my voice and failing miserably. "But, what are the chances... that someone we came across would even know how to summon Shenlong if they got to all seven? Or even be able to get to the Lookout?" I'm not convincing myself any more than I am him. "And who's to say they could even know how... to..."

"But what if they can? We looked for them as kids. Even my niece can figure out the Radar - it's not exactly that hard to work. If someone can read it and find Dende, they'll be lead directly to..."

Directly to our mistake. Our responsibility.

We're already gone.

And I can't say that I'm not nervous. In fact, my heart feels as if it's going to pound a hole in my chest. I don't know what I'm really nervous about, though. It was probably just a bunch of kids wandering through the woods. Or the owner of whoever's land we wound up on. We just have to find them and get back the most dangerous piece of technology on the planet if used for the wrong reasons. Great.

I'm preparing for the worst, when this will probably turn out to be nothing. But my mind automatically goes back to the last time we were presented with something potentially disastrous that we didn't take seriously. We got wake-up call in Otherworld and that is not something I feel like doing again anytime soon. Granted, I somehow doubt we're going to face the second coming of Majin Buu when we find the source of all this, but I instinctively feel myself ready for the worst. Especially if whoever has the Radar knows what it's actually for.

I wonder if I will remember how to react in a real fight, if that's what this comes to. I may still have a lifetime of training in this body of mine, but I'm in no kind of shape to be doing something drastic if I need to. I can't imagine Goten is much better off. I'm aware he gets to stay at home while I'm at work everyday, but I can't remember the last time he's sparred with his father, much less his brother. Dende knows he hasn't done any training with me in the past few years, save the few times we've gotten back into it out here on this Dragonball search. Are either of us ready to put up a fight for this if we have to? I trust no one at my side more than Goten for something like this, especially now. But it's been so long.

We take off without question, rapidly picking up speed as the sense of urgency becomes more and more apparent, scanning the area below for the slightest sign of trouble. Hopefully, what we're looking for will take some effort to see from this high up.

We don't have to travel far to already feel something's close. Something big.

A part of me wants to pray that this is going to be a lot less painful than the worst-case scenario I'm replaying over in my head, but I can feel the anticipation getting the best of us. That addicting rush of adrenaline we still crave after all this time.

He raises his power level way past what will probably be necessary, probably because he sensed mine already up past the moon. From the corner of my eye, I can see him smiling to himself. The same Goten. After all that has happened, we're still exactly the same.

I feel like a kid again. Maybe this is what we need. Maybe some of our most basic fighting instincts need to be released between two guys who are feeling a bit more Saiyan than human right now. Maybe my body needs to remember what it's like to fight and give into some of my most basic, raw instincts that I haven't gotten the chance to use in a long, long time.

Bring it on.

We cover the span of about twenty miles from where we started, but despite our building confidence, the sense of panic in the back of my mind becomes greater for every inch we close in on whatever we're going to find. The direction this is taking us isn't helping to ease the growing concern either - we're headed straight for the Lookout!

"There," he points in the distance to nothing more than a blur on the horizon. But as we close in, my heart drops like a brick. We stop dead in mid-air.

We're in trouble. The theory of this being a couple of kids who lifted our bags overnight has just been shot out of the window.

Two hundred. Maybe three.

"Who the fuck are they?" I croak out with absolutely no strength in my voice at all. I might as well be paralyzed.

He sounds like I feel. "I... I have no fucking idea, but we're in deep shit."

To put it lightly.

We land on the edge of a rock cliff not too far off from where they march. How have we been so blind to this? They shout directions and orders we can't clearly make out from where we stand, muffled over the trucks and jeeps driving beside their formations. I know my mind has been... occupied... with other matters, but fuck - this is just about a small army we're looking at! An army that clearly knows where they're going and what they've taken from us. This is worse than the worst I was imagining in my head.

He runs his hands through his hair, trying hard to make sense of what we're seeing. "We should... I don't know! We have to get help for this!"

"No!" I snap out, shaking my head without looking away from the sight below us. "My mother can't find out that I took the Dragon Radar. That's not happening, Chibi."

"Well, we can't do this alone. I wouldn't even know how to approach this; unless you have some kick-ass negotiation skills you're not telling me about. I don't think we can just take these guys like we are. They're going to find the Lookout if we sit here for much longer!"

I force myself to say something I can already know I'll feel the regret for later. "We have to try this alone first. Follow my lead."

We quickly make our way down the side of the cliff, running almost straight down the jagged rocks to quickly catch up with the front of the group that, up close, doesn't seem as menacing as they did from a distance. The weapons they carry, on the other hand, only read one thing - they're intending to use as much force as needed.

As we attract unwanted attention to ourselves on our way to the leader, my eye catches a small red patch sewn onto the sleeve of one of their jackets. "R.R..? Goten, what does R.R. stand for?"

But he doesn't respond, simply going right up to the man in the front and making his presence strong and deliberate, making it impossible for them to go any further without actually going through him. I follow along right at his side, although I don't know how effective we're being looking like this - two guys like ourselves, pissed off and wearing nothing but shorts in front of all these men.

The leader halts his group with the raise of his hand. He knows who we are and his face is vaguely familiar now - we've crossed our paths months ago. And Goten was right - he's the one who knew about the location of the Six Star Ball. That same shady guy who seemed so 'interested' in what we we're doing and why we wanted it. How has this fucking guy been with us this whole time?

I speak before he even gets the chance. "I believe you have something of ours," I announce, projecting the kind of confidence I've seen only my dad possess. I surprise even myself. Had I been doing this alone, I might be singing a different tune, but I know whom I have on my side. "And we would like it back!" I hold out my hand to him, just expecting him to hand over the Radar without question and run off cowering home like a girl.

I suppose it has been a long time since I've looked a battle in the eye. I forget how brave and fearless evil can be.

He laughs wickedly, boldly walking right up to me and stopping no more than an inch from my face, despite how I tower over him in size. An army to back him up is probably enough confidence to walk up to anyone, regardless of size.

I stand undaunted. I can feel Goten's power spiking wildly, ready to jump in, all though I'm pretty sure that by the sheer lack of speed from this guy, I could take him myself if I need to before the first shot could be fired. He's completely unarmed.

"You have a lot of confidence for an army of two, don't you think? You boys have provided us with enough service. I think you had better be on your way."

My counterpart is quick to respond, not fazed in the slightest. "I don't think so. We're not leaving here without it, so I'd advise you not to turn this into something it doesn't have to or we will use force."

Whoa... this is the kind of threat I haven't heard from Goten since he nearly charged Majin Buu after watching his mother get killed right in front of him. That might have been a different circumstance, but I know how he can get when his emotions get the best of him in a fight. It's that Son-hidden-anger that this man should be fearing, all though I don't know if Goten would actually let it come out. I've always been pretty certain that Goten wouldn't have it in him to actually go through with killing his enemy - regardless of how extreme the situation is - but I know he wouldn't hesitate to kick the shit out of someone who legitimately deserved it. Kinda like this guy...

The man doesn't react to his statement. Looking at us for a moment and sharply turning on his heel back to his men. Calling for his command with frightening ease. "Shoot them."

Fighting instincts come back faster than I thought. Speed, reflexes... it's all there.

We easily dodge their fire, instantly powering up without fully making a transformation in front of them, as we both know that is something you do not do unless you have to. But fighting - defending yourself for real - is a lot different than I remember. They have weapons. Not swords or staffs, but real weapons that don't rely on how strong you are to use them. Our speed to sense their fire still borderlines on precognitive and saves us from being shot into pieces, but the Radar is still no place to be found.

"That guy... where did he go?!" I shout over the four in front of me taking up every bit of my concentration to fend them off without killing them outright. But if anyone has the Radar, it has to be the leader and he's nowhere in my sight. "Don't let him get away."

But I catch a glimpse to see Goten's got his own hands full. I may have always been more clever one in a fight - being able to weasel my way out of being out-matched with inventive little tricks of the trade - but Goten has a remarkable amount of agility and fighting instinct that allows him to handle even the worst situations ten times better than I ever can. I know I don't have to worry that he's in over his head - he adapts to everything so quickly, as he's making obvious to the group on him that he's barely having to put up a fight against, not even using an ounce of ki yet.

It's been a long time since we've seen some real action like this, but this encounter is proving to be quite a rush.

They're no match for our speed. Their ammo is quickly spent and within the span of a few minutes, most of the men have already gone fleeing into the woods, the others are either unconscious on the ground or begging for their life - not any kind of threat at this point, much less to us.

I begin to search the abandoned trucks for any signs of our stuff, anxious to find what we're looking for and get out of here.

He calls out to me, rooting through the supplies crates and jackets of the incapacitated. "I can't find it, Trunks. It's not on any of these guys. It might be with someone who ran, or..." The desperation in his voice is clear that he's not only worried that we still haven't found what we did all of this for, but that it might still be in the hands of someone who ran off.

"Keep looking! It's got to be here somewhere." I dig through a stray crate left off to the side of one of the flatbeds, open and already searched through from the looks of it. A leather strap hangs over the side... My sword! No, wait... it's just the sheath, but where wo-... -Nnnn!

My breath sharply gasps for another as hot, twisting pain pinches in my gut. Nothing but a strangled choke cries from my throat.

I look down to the sting, afraid to see.

Sharp metal. Cold, pointed steel piercing through my skin. My sword. I grab onto it with shaking hands, too in shock to know what to do.

I-I... I c-can't move.

With one swift yank, it slides back into my abdomen as I feel it's wet blade cut deeper into my back on the way out.

I drop to my knees. Helpless. Afraid. Blood starts spilling almost immediately, pouring over my hands, running down my legs. I've never seen so much blood before and... and I don't know what to do! Oh god... please, I-I.... I can't... I can't... I can't scream. I'm so scared. This... this can't be happening.

A boot to my back pushes my face down into the dirt. I can't fight back. I spit up the building liquid in my throat, splattering bright red over the dirt in front of my face.

"You think you're so smart, you arrogant little fuck! I know what you are," he seethes, grabbing the back of my hair and holding my head up to speak close into my ear. "You're not so fucking strong now, are you? Another one of you will not hold back our reformation. Not this time. I've learned from our mistakes - the Red Ribbon Army will not be destroyed by insignificant interference like the two of you."

Hard to breathe. Nothing but a wet choke escapes me.

Goten!

Walking away from me, my bloodied blade in his hand, his cold dead words wrack my body. "I should have killed the two of you before when I had the chance."

"G-Go-ten!" Barely more that a whisper in my forced breathing, coughing on my blood.

And he hears me.

My hands weakly wrapped around my middle - soaked and warm from the blood pumping furiously from my body - I manage to tilt my face to see him.

Goten!

Everything is quiet. He stops, unable to move from the crushing devastation in his eyes. I can feel nothing but his energy, seeping through every pore of his body, rapidly magnifying his ki to something I've never felt from anyone. His fist clench. Trembling. Breathing rapidly becomes ragged and heavy, overpowering him. I sense his control starting to slip as the disbelief starts welling up in his eyes. Shaking his head. Refusing to accept what he's seeing.

Almost instantly, his power snaps to the limits of his body, shattering a deafening scream over the plains. The ground cracks and crumbles under his feet as the stress exerted upon his body nearly tears him apart. Blue lightening crackles around his growing frame, powering up to levels I've never experienced on my own, ascending to the form I've only seen one other time before now now.

He's.. he's beautiful.

I blink out the tears in my eyes, blurring my vision from seeing him unleash such incredible amounts of energy that recklessly destroys the slightest thing in it's path. Thirsting for destruction. Anger. Revenge. Blind rage that sears through the opposition with no chance of resistance and everything I never thought Goten could ever possess flows freely from his body.

I see him grab my sword from the hand that used it on me, my blood still dripping from the blade. Nothing to contemplate. There's no mercy. I hear desperate, terrifying screams as he brutally slaughters the body before him, ripping into flesh and bone without any hesitation as he wields my weapon with deadly precision, leaving nothing resembling a person behind. A broken Radar crushed into a million pieces at his feet.

The field is leveled, save the burned and dismembered bodies scattered in every direction. So much death. Not a single one left alive.

His body buckles under such force. Exhausted, gasping for air. Ready to collapse. Rapidly dropping out of his transformation and back into the Goten who has never hurt a fly. The clank of the sword hitting the ground. Hands drip of the blood of his kill, afraid of what he's done.

But he remembers.

With every last shred of energy, he runs to me, collapsing to the ground and cradling me in his arms. Sobbing uncontrollably. His bottom lip trembles to where I can barely hear him beg for me to be strong. That I have to be all right, but his words seem so far away.

I feel so cold. I can't stop shaking.

He holds his hand over my abdomen, pressing hard to slow the blood, but too late.

My body feels tired. Weak, shallow breath. I stop shaking. Hard to swallow.

He slides his hands under my knees and shoulders, carrying me in his arms as I soon feel like we're flying straight up. Draining his energy to carry me, his face is stained with tears, still forcing the speed to go faster.

Soft light. Birds.

Everything's gone quiet. I can only hear his heartbeat.

Goten.

Tears stream down his face. So much pain. He's crying.

I want to touch him and hold him. Keep him. Tell him that I love him. That I always have.

Goten!

He doesn't hear me calling his name. Why can't he hear me?

But words won't come anymore. My hands forget the way to his face.

He's scared. I don't want to be, but I am, too.

But I'm not cold anymore. The pain is gone. No hurt.

I think about my sister, holding her when she was the tiniest baby. Her laughing in my ear as I tickle her upside down. The way she would jump in my arms when I would surprise her with a visit home.

My mother's smile. Yelling at me for staying up all night in the Gravity Simulator on a school night. Her tears of happiness when I sat behind my office desk for the first time, carrying on the Briefs family legacy.

Hearing my dad say he was proud of me that day. The smile he tried to hide when I showed him what I had learned with my sword.

The night after coming home from Otherworld when we were a normal family, even if it was just for one night.

And I remember us.

The first night alone together in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, holding each other because we were too scared to fall asleep. Learning to fuse again after so long. The day he moved into the apartment, falling asleep in my bed with me because he didn't have one of his own just yet.

Our kiss. Our mark.

All the memories we haven't had yet that I want to have with him.

I want to look into his eyes one last time, but he doesn't look down. Only his tears fall onto my cheek. So scared and afraid.

It comes so quickly. My eyes never once left him. What it will be like without him in my soul?

< p>I land not soon enough, skinning my knees beyond what would be the normal threshold of pain, falling in mid-motion and sliding to a stop as I hold him in my arms. But I can feel nothing now.

I lay him down. So much blood.

Oh god, please stay with me, Trunks!

Dende is fast at my side, but I can manage nothing but a scream for him to heal him, crying harshly through my desperate pleas to be faster. But nothing.

Why isn't he healing him? Help him. Please help us. I'm so scared... Please don't tell me to deal with our responsibilities now. I don't know what to do!

But there's nothing.

And he says it.

"He is... dead, Goten."

Just like that.

I can't react. I can't scream at him and tell him that he's wrong. That he's lying, but I can't think coherently enough to form the words. He's alive. He has to be.

I grab the side of his head, staining his hair with the red from my hands, pressing my face to his and holding his body against mine. So heavy.

Trunks, please... don't do this.... don't fucking do this! Y-you can't.

There aren't tears to cry. I can't hear the idle apologies or whatever it is being said to me. I'm numb to it.

Glowing orange orbs being brought to me catch my eye - the Dragonballs!

I'm sure I choke out something completely rude and inappropriate to our Guardian once I see them, but I've long stopped caring about what consequences my actions bring. I can't calm my body from the shaking or my mind from the shock. I'm not who I used to be.

The dragon is quickly summoned. The wish made, coming out much more as a hysterical demand than with the respect you should treat something like this. I have no control of what I'm doing anymore.

But it's refused.

'Brought back before?'

'Cell Games?'

'Boy from the future?'

My heart crushes in my chest, feeling what's left of my reality draining away from me. They're lies. This is all a lie!

I gather him in my arms, possessively holding him to my chest. I hear the pleading to stay - to not to go anywhere like this - to leave him here. My body feels empty, filling with a growing strain pulling hard in my chest. We have to leave.

I carry him as I fly away to a direction someplace buried in my subconscious. I don't know where I am even going. Eyes still looking at me with so much pain. He needs to rest.

I'll take care of you, Trunks.

Our balcony.

I carry him into the apartment through an open glass door, lying him down on the bed, curling up behind him. Squeezing my eyes tight to survive the strain suffocating me the more I don't hear him respond.

His body is so cold now.

The pressure in my chest continues to build, ripping at my insides with pain I can't tolerate anymore. Gnawing at my soul, twisting the life from me as I wrap my arms around him tighter, crushing him with the desperation to find the release for this hurt.

Trunks, p-please... it hurts so bad. Please wake up! Please... I-I need you so m-much now. It's killing me.

There's a scream from somewhere, but I can't open my eyes. Someone terrified. She's screaming his name.

With every passing second, I become more and more lost. I sob into his back, crying for him to hear me, but I feel so alone.

Two strong hands are soon placed on my shoulders, pulling me away from him. Pulling us apart. I try to hold on, but my strength is easily swallowed up by the tearing pain within me. I scream, clawing at flesh to keep him.

Don't take him away. Please... no!

Arms hold me back. Holding me down. My body bucks to get free.

Truuuunks!

A hard crack at my neck. Blackness claims me before I feel it.

The break is quick.