Trapped in the Past, Chapter 09

Summary : Realizations are good… but when the person shows up a week later well… things get awkward. M!TxGh

Authors’ Notes: The Mpreg label is an optional point to the story, I shall warn beforehand if it is not your thing. This chapter is also in Mirai’s perspective and takes place in his past.

Thoughts
//Flashback//
.+++. <-Time/scene skip
.xxx. <-Perspective/Time(Backwards or forwards) change

*****

They had been training when the destruction happened. Buildings were destroyed and those that had remained in this already-deserted city had fled with screams and terror. Some of the more wise ones stayed in their shelters and risked losing their lives due to falling rocks for the heightened chance of survival in comparison to running around like lambs to a slaughter.

Trunks watched as a once-magnificent sky scraper toppled over, a large cloud of debris closely following. The androids!

“Trunks! You’re not ready!” His teacher, Gohan protested.

“I’m never ready! How can I be ready if you never let me fight! I need to learn how they fight and just watching you won’t cut it anymore!” Trunks yelled with fisted hands.

“But you’re not even Super Saiyajin! How could you possibly stand a chance against them! They’ll just pummel you to the ground. I… the world… it can’t lose you. I’ll die before you, and the world will need a fighter after me!”

“What world will there be if we don’t try right now! They’re destroying everything in sight, people, buildings and even the earth itself! They don’t care for anything but destruction!”

There was a sad smile on Gohan’s face. “You’re right Trunks…” He ruffled the teen’s hair.

“G-Gohan?” Trunks asked, finding his master’s behaviour to be odd. “Don’t tell me you plan to go out there by yourself! You need my help!” Trunks glanced at the arm that was recently lost. There was no way that he could win… Gohan hadn’t become accustomed to the lack of a limb just yet… Emotions ran through the younger half-Saiyajin as he flung his arms around the man who’s earned the title of master, teacher, father, brother, best friend and… crush. “Don’t go Gohan! Without your arm…” His sight seemed watery and he leaned up. “You say you can’t lose me? I… I feel the same…” Trunks said as he let his hand weave into Gohan’s hair and brought their lips together. This was something that he wanted to do for such a long time, and only now did he have enough courage to do it, and he revelled in the velvety feeling against his lips. Yet, it didn’t last long, because the next feeling that registered was pain. Pain at the base of his skull, and a whisper of pain at his chest before his vision faded, before his world darkened. “Go-Gohan…”

“I’m sorry but I have to do this Trunks; there’s no other way…”

 

.+++.

 

“Gohan?” Trunks said as he pushed himself up. “Gohan!” Something was missing! Something wasn’t right. Something was gone, something had vanished. “Gohan’s ki… I can’t feel it! Why? Why can’t I feel it!” Trunks began to panic. Gohan! Where was Gohan! He remembered. The androids attacked. “Kami… no!” The boy pushed himself off of the ground and shot up into the air. Please no, please! Anything but this! No! He followed the rubble that surrounded him, watched as the damage grew in size and potency. Then he spotted it. A large circle which was followed by a significantly smaller line of disaster. He glanced around frantically, for anything, a sign of movement, and sound of breathing, but he couldn’t find anything. And there, next to a pile of rubble, he saw it… he saw the still body of Gohan. A pool of blood seeped from his stomach and Trunks froze, he dropped from the air slowly. It couldn’t be! No it couldn’t! He took cautious steps towards the man who was his whole life and knelt down to touch the rigid and cold body. No… no! It couldn’t be! “NO!” He yelled to the heavens. “NO!” The anger called on him, it wrapped around him and light began to swirl about him, flashing in front of his closed eyes. When the teenager opened his eyes he saw nothing but white – white fury. Gohan couldn’t be dead! Gohan wasn’t dead! No! It wasn’t true! “Gohan!”

At the yellow aura he expelled, Trunks knew what he had become, but it didn’t matter anymore. What point was there to take pride in it now? The man whom he wanted to approach one day and say ‘Gohan! Guess what!’ and show him the golden hair and the aqua eyes was dead! “Damn you androids! Damn you!” Trunks yelled as he slammed his fists against the pavement in anger and sobbed over Gohan’s corpse.

 

.+++.

 

He had to be strong, he couldn’t show weakness. If he had a weakness, then the life that Gohan had given him would go to waste. Over and over had he recalled their last conversation. Was there any way what he could have prevented it? Was there a chance they could have escaped? Was there… was there…

His mother wrapped her arm around his shoulders. “Trunks, it’s okay to cry… it’s okay to show emotion…” She whispered soothingly into his ear as she pulled her child against her chest and rubbed his back. “I cried at your father’s funeral. It’s alright to cry.”

So his mother had realized it then… she realized that he loved Gohan. “M-Mother.” The sobs had started and cracked his voice. “He… He was everything to m-e. He was a brother, a father, a best friend, a teacher… I loved him. Why! Why…”

“I know sweetie, I know… sometimes there just are things that cannot be explained, sometimes things just aren’t fair, but we’ll still live.”

One day he’d take his mother’s advice, but right now all he wanted to do was cry.

 

.+++.

 

Trunks sat on a rock near land that was just starting to recover from being disturbed four years ago. “Always, I think of bringing flowers with me, but then I remember that you wouldn’t have liked that. All the world needs is its saviour ripping up the beautiful forms of energy. Perhaps one day I’ll find some seeds and plant them here. Would you like that? Then your energy would flow into those flowers. They’ll be beautiful and radiant – just like you were in life.” Here, the lavender-haired warrior laughed. “What type would you like? Perhaps lavenders? You always likened the plant to my hair, and you said you envied it. But was that because I inherited my mother’s straight hair and not my father’s wild Saiyajin hair? The dual black suited you well.”

Trunks gave a soft smile as he traced patterns in the dirt below him. “But I’m not here for idle chit-chat, am I? You’d scold me if that was the case! Do you remember the time-machine I told you that Mother was making? Well, the whole construction wasn’t all that difficult or time consuming, but it was finding the energy and converting it that’s been the problem. But Mother says that it will be done by noon tomorrow, and then I can make a difference. I can create a timeline that Goku won’t die, my father won’t die, everybody won’t die. I can save Earth from the androids with a warning and some medication. And perhaps I can find a weakness that the three best brains in the world couldn’t think of! Then, everything wouldn’t have been in vain, then we can finally live in the peace that’s been robbed from us for nearly two decades. Wouldn’t that be great?” Trunks let out a small sigh and stood up. “But… I really just wanted to say goodbye, in case my trip goes wrong and I end up stuck in the time continuum, or on a distant planet and I’m stuck there for the rest of my living days. We’re messing with time here, and who knows what could happen! But this is also a greeting… in case I don’t make it or my mission goes wrong somewhere along the way, because I know that, eventually, I’ll find my way to you in death. So… just in case, goodbye and hello Gohan.”

With a nod, Trunks turned around and looked to the past.

 

.+++.

 

Where… where was he? The last thing he remembered was everybody cheering. Cell was defeated but at the price of Goku’s mortal life. A martyr once again. No wait, that wasn’t his last memory… he remembered pain, a flash of light, and more pain that raged and seared through his body, pure agony that ripped through him before he entered a dark oblivion. Trunks opened his eyes to see the inky swirls of time as he floated through it. On one end, the place that he was floating away from, there was blackness. Was… was he dead? Was he heading back home? Was he going to Gohan, his Gohan?

As Trunks turned to the other end he saw light and heard chatter, chitter, and clutter. It was giving him a headache…

The next thing he knew was that he was in a line of puffy white clouds. Wait, if he was dead, and he was in a line… no… the androids…

“Trunks Briefs…” A red giant said as he stared at his form (probably a fluffy soul-cloud) “This is odd… you have no cause of death.”

“Look back to Age 767… May 26th I believe it was… although I don’t know if it’ll be recorded…” Trunks said quietly.

“A-Age 767? How can that be? It is Age 785!”

“Enma Daio! Enma Daio! This, and two other books just arrived! And they are writing themselves. However… they are writing themselves at different times!” A skinny ogre said as he handed the books to the giant ogre at the desk.

“Hmmm…. Interesting.” He said as he viewed through the books. “You said Age 767, May 26th? Ahh, right next to Goku, Bubbles, Gregory and K-King Kai! What is going on here!”

Trunks let out a nervous laughter. “Goku IT’d them there?” But, the young warrior suddenly realized something with fear. “Wait!” He called out and jumped up onto the book. “Where’s Cell?” He read over the characters and dread filled him at what he saw.

Goku, Bubbles, Gregory and King Kai (North) all killed by a self-destructing blast by Cell. (from future two)
Trunks Briefs (from future one) killed by a death ray by Cell.(from future two)

“K-Kami… Cell…”

Trunks’ cloud-like body was flicked off of the desk.

“Now see here! Just because you know Goku doesn’t give you the right to go clambering all over my desk! Sheesh!” Enma Daio said with a sigh. “What is it with you people! However, seeing that you were a martial artist who died trying to save not one, but two worlds, I will give you your own body!” With a snap of his fingers, the cloud that was once Trunks’ body changed into the one that the warrior was accustomed with. “You will not be going to hell but–”

There was an orange blur at first before a man came into focus. “T-Trunks? Why are you here?”

Trunks turned at the sound of his name and saw the familiar features that he missed for the past seven years. (Which included the time he was in the hyperbolic time chamber) He took in the now-whole body but met those coal-black eyes and stopped wandering. “Gohan!” He forgot all discipline and flung his arms around the man he owed his life to.

However, Gohan held him at an arm’s distance. “Enma Daio, I need to talk to Trunks.”

“Fine! Ignore the man who granted you a body in the afterlife! What is it with these Earthlings!” The king of all ogres said as he threw his arms up as he relented. “Next…”

“Gohan…?” Trunks said as he blinked at his master. Why did Gohan seem so upset? Was it… was it because Trunks wasted the life that was given to him?

The dark-haired half-Saiyajin guided Trunks outside and sat against a tree. “Trunks, what happened?”

The lavender-haired warrior sat down beside Gohan. “Well… you see… I went back in time so I could find a weakness in the androids… a lot of stuff happened, but now I’m stronger. A lot stronger. However, there was something out there that is a lot worse than the androids and his name is Cell…” So Trunks explained everything that had happened, the numerous timelines, the change in fate, and even his recent discovery of his death. “So right now… I suppose the younger you is facing Cell, but we won’t see him come here, since he came from a timeline that isn’t our current one – since I’m stronger than the other me that he killed.” Trunks noticed the still-present scowl on his teacher’s face. He must be mad that I wasted the life he gave me. “Gohan… I’m… I’m sorry I wasted the life that you gave me. I mean, you sacrificed yourself so I could live…”

“What?” Gohan said and seemed to snap out of a trance. A small smile formed on his face as he laughed in the typical-Son way (as he learned that Goku also had that trait) “N-No, it’s alright… “

Wait a minute… Gohan changed as soon as I mentioned… it was almost as if he didn’t know… “Gohan… you didn’t…” Trunks stood up, took a step back, and shook his head. “You!” He said and pointed with accusation. “You died on purpose didn’t you!” Trunks shook his hair again. It couldn’t be that! It couldn’t be! Trunks wanted to deny it yet his mouth continued to run. “You thought that you had outlived your uselessness and decided that I would be stronger than you!” Tears stung at Trunks’ eyes. Gohan couldn’t have….

But Gohan did. Gohan had. There was no denying the claims, no refuting the logic. His life-long teacher, friend, master, brother, and father only looked at the ground and mumbled. “I’m sorry.”

The salty drops slid down the warrior’s cheeks. “How could you? I told you I needed you! I showed you that I loved you! Yet! Yet you still did that! You still fought a battle you knew you couldn’t win under the pretence that you saved my life! You tricked me! You lied to me!”

His only response was that sad, guilty smile.

The time traveller fell to his knees and brought his palms to his eyes. His whole existence from Gohan’s death until now was a sham, a complete and utter sham! His love was shattered, his heart torn. The pain in his chest now could never compare to the pain that Cell’s death ray had caused, because here, he was being attacked from the inside out. It was a psychological pain turned real, one that could not be healed by death. Gohan had caused a hole in his chest that Trunks wasn’t sure would heal.

“It seems you are being brought back to life.”

Kami… Gohan’s voice sounded so empty. Trunks glanced up to see the fading and twisting world around him before the swirling colours of time brought him back to the past and away from his Gohan and towards the other Gohan.

1 Comment

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  By KatherineMcBride, December 3, 2011 @ 1:52 am

  When is this story going to be updated? I really like it so far! It has a good plot going on.

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