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since 13 June 2001.This fic is based on L Stutzman's fanfic When Hope Dies. Please do read her fanfic first before reading this. It can be found here or here.
"OK. I'll be there in twenty minutes."
Son Gohan hung up the phone. Then he went to find his mother.
ChiChi was in the kitchen, preparing dinner. She looked up when she noticed her only son approaching. "Dinner isn't ready yet, Gohan. I've only just started."
"Err...no, Kaasan. I came to ask you for something," Gohan said.
"What is it?" ChiChi stopped in the middle of washing the rice.
"Remember the boy I told you about the other day?"
ChiChi frowned. "The one you found half dead and took to the hospital?"
"Yes," Gohan replied. "They called me today about him. He's better, although not completely healed yet. And he's completely lost his memory. They need his hospital bed, and now he's got nowhere to go, so they asked if I could take him in."
"Of course he can stay here." ChiChi smiled. It would be nice to have another child in the house. All of her friends were gone now, killed by the cyborgs. She was grateful Gohan was still with her, but she got lonely sometimes, especially when he went off to train. Besides, how could she say no to a poor child who needed a home?
"Thanks, Kaasan," Gohan smiled back. "I'll go get him now." He turned
to leave. "By the way, you'd better prepare a double portion for dinner.
The doctor says he has a very healthy appetite."
Gohan arrived at the hospital fifteen minutes later. A nurse showed him the boy's room, and they went in. The child was sitting up in bed, wearing an oversized hospital gown, with one leg in a cast. The rest of him was wrapped in bandages or stuck with plasters. The boy looked up when he noticed his new visitor.
Gohan smiled as he looked at the boy. He appeared to be around twelve years old, with short pale hair, or what was left of it. His head was bandaged and part of it had been shaved where the doctors had had to apply stitches. The youngster's face and body were still bruised, though he looked much better than he did a week ago. Gohan could also see now that his eyes were blue. When the young man had first found him, the little boy's features had been barely recognizable--just a pile of burnt flesh and broken bones. He had made quite a remarkable recovery in just seven days.
"Hi, I'm Son Gohan," the fighter introduced himself.
The boy smiled, and introduced, or rather tried to introduce himself. "I'm...um...well, I don't remember." He frowned, still trying to remember but failed. After a while he spoke again. "The doctor said you found me and brought me here. Thank you, Gohan-san."
Gohan smiled. He liked the boy already. "You're welcome. The doctor also said that you're ready to leave but have nowhere to go. Would you like to stay with me?"
The youngster nodded. "Yes, thank you. Can we leave now? I hate it here."
"Sure." Gohan handed him a set of his old clothes. "We can leave right
after you get changed."
A few minutes later, Gohan drove the boy home in his car. The boy lay in the back seat and slept most of the journey, apparently still weakened by his injuries. Gohan glanced at his sleeping form through the rear view mirror. Now that his face was free of blood and bruises, the kid kind of reminded him of someone. Gohan strained to think, but couldn't put his finger on it. He shrugged and concentrated on driving.
They arrived at the Son house to find ChiChi waiting at the front door. Gohan got out and opened the back door of the car. He gently shook the boy. "Wake up, kiddo. We're home."
"Huh?" The nameless child rubbed his eyes. He pushed himself up with his arms and slid to the car door. Gohan handed him his crutches. Slowly, he made his way out of the car and to the house. ChiChi met them halfway.
Gohan introduced his mother to him. "This is my mother, ChiChi. Kaasan, this is..." Only then did it occur to him that the boy couldn't remember his own name. "We have to call you something until you can remember your real name."
"How about Goten?" ChiChi suggested, as though she had thought about it for some time. Actually, she had come up with the name just after Gohan left, when she realized that their amnesiac guest would not remember anything about himself, including his own name.
"Goten? That sounds OK, I guess," the newly-christened Goten gave his approval with a shrug.
"Welcome, Goten. Come on in. Dinner's waiting." ChiChi smiled.
During dinner, Gohan and ChiChi found that the doctor wasn't kidding about Goten's appetite. He ate almost as much as Gohan did. The two looked on in amazement as piles of rice and other dishes disappeared within minutes from Goten's bowl. The boy didn't seem to notice anything out of the ordinary. "Thi' --licious, ChiChi-san," he said between mouthfuls. The woman only smiled. Normally she would have something to say about talking with one's mouth full, but she decided to let it pass this time. It almost felt like having two Saiyajin in the house again.
Later, as Goten lay fast asleep in his bed, Gohan and ChiChi watched him. "Doesn't he remind you of someone, Kaasan?" Gohan asked his mother. "He looks familiar. I've been thinking about it all evening, but still can't put my finger on it."
"No, I can't say he does," ChiChi said, her gaze not moving from the boy who was sleeping peacefully in front of them. "Although, he's got beautiful blue eyes." They reminded ChiChi of her friend Bulma Briefs. She was a brilliant scientist who, together with her father Dr. Briefs, headed Capsule Corporation, which had been at the forefront of Earth's technology then.
She had also been the last of ChiChi's friends to have died at the hands of the cyborgs over ten years ago, when they attacked the Western Capital. Capsule Corporation had been destroyed, and as far as anybody knew, no member of the Briefs family survived. ChiChi was convinced that if Bulma were still alive, the world wouldn't be so hopeless in the face of the cyborgs as it was now. Of course, if Goku were still alive, the world would never have needed to live in fear of them. He would have defeated them, just like he had defeated all those who had threatened Earth before. Gohan would not have had to grow up carrying this burden alone.
ChiChi turned her attention to the young man at her side, recalling the days when her son had been an innocent and gentle little boy. Now he was a hardened warrior, the scars on his face and body a testimony of the many battles he had fought against the cyborgs Seventeen and Eighteen. He wore the traditional orange gi of the Kamesennin school, making him look so much like his father it made ChiChi's heart ache sometimes. She blinked and shook away her thoughts. No doubt her son was a warrior, but he would always be her little scholar too--and now they had a newcomer to their little family. The woman turned her attention back to the sleeping child and tucked his blankets properly around him so that only his face, looking so peaceful in his slumber, was visible.
Gohan agreed that the boy's eyes were remarkably blue. It had struck him the first time he had seen them, too. But it wasn't just those eyes which stirred his memory; it was something else. The overall features of the kid, maybe. Gohan decided to let it pass. It would come to him in time, or perhaps Goten would regain his memory and be able to tell Gohan about himself.
He had other things to worry about now. Recently there had been a report about a new cyborg who was even more powerful than Seventeen and Eighteen. Even though there had been no more reports about the third cyborg's attack since then, Gohan was worried, and frustrated. He couldn't defeat the cybernetic twins, even after reaching Super Saiyajin stage. And now, all of a sudden, a third, even more powerful cyborg had appeared. Did this mean there would be more appearing in the future? If so, how could he ever dream of defeating them all by himself? The thought stayed with him as he slept uneasily the rest of the night.
***
A month later, Goten's injuries were nearly all healed. He still could remember nothing about his past, however. Gohan started taking him out to train with him and was surprised by the boy's extraordinary strength. The youth's chi was definitely stronger than any normal person's, pushing Gohan to test him.
He demonstrated a Kame Hame Ha blast to Goten, and was stunned when Goten picked up the technique almost immediately. The blast he produced was even bigger than Gohan's, although of course, Gohan hadn't been using his full strength.
The same thing happened when he showed Goten the Air Dance technique. the boy followed him up into the air and started flying with such mastery of the skill that even the older warrior was impressed. It was as if the little boy had learnt all these skills before; he just didn't know he had them. As expected, Goten could give no answer when Gohan questioned him, making Gohan even more curious about Goten's real identity.
But more importantly, Gohan started to hope. Perhaps he wouldn't have to face the cyborgs alone after all. Whoever this strange boy was, he had both strength and skill to rival his own. Given enough training, he could see that Goten had the potential to become as strong, or even more powerful than himself. Perhaps, given time, the two of them might just stand a chance against the cyborgs. Perhaps.
But Gohan had not dared to hope too much, because he found himself unable to fully trust Goten. There were just some things about him that warranted suspicion. His fighting techniques was just one of them.
One day when they were training, Gohan attacked the boy with a shower of chi blasts. Goten protected himself by creating a spherical chi shield around himself--just like Seventeen. His other techniques were also eerily similar to those of the cyborgs. Gohan couldn't help thinking.... The third cyborg had never attacked since he had found Goten.
But if Goten were the third cyborg, though Gohan didn't want to believe that, then who was it that had tried to kill him and had almost succeeded?
Goten couldn't be a cyborg, he rationalized. He had chi, unlike Seventeen and Eighteen. Although there were no survivors to identify the mysterious new cyborg, it couldn't have been the innocent little boy before him. He watched in the distance as Goten eagerly practiced the new move Gohan had taught him earlier that morning.
Yes, he was an innocent little boy, the warrior mused, most of the time. At other times, however, his complete indifference to the human suffering around him made Gohan worry and the suspicions he kept at the back of his mind resurfaced.
So Gohan took it upon himself to observe Goten carefully, just in case, even when they weren't training. One day, Gohan and Goten were on their way home from training when they came across a wolf in the act of killing a rabbit. Gohan threw a small chi blast and scared the wolf away, leaving the dying rabbit on the ground. Goten stared at it, fascinated. Gohan watched him out of the corner of his eye, disturbed at the boy's fixation with the bloody scene in front of him. Finally, Goten finished off the rabbit with a small chi shot from his finger. He watched intently as the creature breathed its last, then turned away. He wasn't looking at Gohan, but his face was visible to the older boy. Goten wasn't saddened or disgusted at the animal's plight. Instead, he looked almost disappointed.
A few days later, Gohan found a number of dead animals around the house. Immediately, he went to look for Goten, and found him in the act of blasting a nest of young squirrels. Gohan was shocked and disgusted at the casual cruelty his trainee was expressing, and in anger, he hit Goten.
The boy was too shocked to fight back, having never seen Gohan like this before, and just sat on the ground stunned as Gohan yelled at him. What the hell did he do that for, Gohan asked. Did he not feel any mercy for the animals? Goten looked at him blankly.
"I was just curious," he said innocently.
This angered Gohan even more. "How could you be so cruel?!" he cried, pulling Goten up by his collar and forcing him to look at the dead squirrel in his hand. "Think. You were almost like this when I found you. Do you remember how much you hurt?" The boy nodded slowly, contemplatively, and the older boy continued. "Then you ought to know what it feels like for this squirrel. It's the same thing, Goten. The exact same thing.
"Would you want someone to hurt you for no reason? Would you want someone to kill you, just for fun?" Goten didn't say anything, but he noticed the boy paled, so Gohan placed a comforting hand on the child's shoulder and softened his tone. "Remember, if you don't want to be treated like this, you shouldn't do it to others, even animals. They feel pain, too." He gently laid the dead squirrel in Goten's hands, and gazed at him expectantly. Goten looked at it, then looked up at Gohan with an odd statement on his face, as though it was the first time he heard of the concept, and finally nodded solemnly.
After that he never killed animals again.
Partly because of the boy's sporadic lack of feelings, and partly because he didn't want to risk the cyborgs finding out about Goten until he was sure the boy was ready, Gohan didn't bring him out of the house except to the mountains where they trained. But Goten has seen what the cyborgs did on TV. Once Gohan watched him while he stared intently at the television screen, listening as the news anchor reported another cyborg attack.
"Do you understand now why I trained you, Goten?" Gohan asked him, his gaze still fixed on the little warrior to his side. "We must stop them before they kill off everybody on the planet."
Goten just turned to him blankly. "Why?" he asked. That humans suffer and die daily at the hands of the cyborgs was just another fact of life to him. It was neither good nor bad, nor did he see why the situation should be otherwise. He couldn't remember his own past, but even if he did, he'd still be too young to know what life was like before the cyborgs.
Gohan decided that it was time to take Goten out to face the real world--he needed to understand that life was precious. Then Goten spoke.
"You know," he said thoughtfully. "When I killed those animals, I felt like I had been there before, or I had done that before. And there was a feeling that I felt, but I couldn't remember. I thought that if I killed them, I'd remember what it was, and then I might remember who I really am, too." What he said next chilled Gohan. "It's the same feeling I got when I watched that TV report."
Despite all the mystery surrounding Goten, Gohan continued to train him. The boy was like a double-edged sword. On one hand, he might be the key to defeating the cyborgs. On the other, there was a real chance that he was indeed a cyborg. If that were so, then a confrontation with Seventeen and Eighteen might force him over to their side. Gohan knew, though, that if he was going to defeat those bastards, he would need all the help he could get. Goten was a risk he would just have to take.
***
Six months later.
Amid the ruins of a newly-destroyed city, two figures stood. They were bored. The game just wasn't fun anymore--not even when they started letting a human or two escape only to recapture them later.
Eighteen turned to her twin brother. "You realize there are only ten or twenty more human settlements left. What do we do after that?"
Seventeen shrugged. "There are still humans scattered about the countryside, the mountains, and the desert. They'll be a bit more fun to capture." He sighed. "We shouldn't have killed the kid so soon." His sister turned to him sharply. He grinned in his defense. "I'm just bored."
Just then, a thought came to him. "Hey, why don't we pay a little visit to Son Gohan today? Haven't seen him in a while."
Eighteen snorted. "He's probably already dead. Besides, we don't know where he lives."
Seventeen grinned. "Don't need to. We'll just blow up another city, but leave some survivors this time. Then we wait a while. He always comes to the new ruins to try and find any survivors. As if he ever found any." He snorted.
They did just that and they were not disappointed. A short while later, Son Gohan and another flying figure appeared. The deadly twins looked in surprise, not at Gohan, but at his young companion.
"Well, well. What do you know, the little runt is still alive after all. And he's made a new friend. Aww, how sweet," Seventeen mocked. "What's the matter, Trunks? No greetings for your Oniisan and Oneesan?"
The lavender-haired boy blinked. It took a moment for him to realise that they were talking to him. That realization was gone in a blink, as Eighteen wordlessly fired a powerful chi blast at him from her palm. He saw the bright and deadly ball of energy coming at him at incredible speeds, and heard Gohan yelling something, presumably to him, but he was lost in a daze as Seventeen's words registered slowly in his brain. He could do nothing to protect himself.
Gohan's worst suspicions had been horrifically confirmed, but damned if he was going to let those bastards take Goten!
"Goten! Don't listen to them! They're lying!!" He yelled desperately at the dazed boy while moving as fast as he could to get him away from the blast. Unfortunately he was just a fraction of a second too late. The blast hit both of them and they were both knocked away. Eighteen glared in annoyance at the interference. Instead of killing the brat Trunks, she had only injured him. Of course, Gohan was injured too.... She proceeded to finish what she had started, ignoring the Saiyajin warrior.
Trunks slowly came to his senses. Through the shock of the blast he could see the outline of the female cyborg coming towards him, and closer still, he could see her cold smile as something hit him hard on the head. He lost consciousness.
Eighteen opted to use a physical attack instead of chi blast this time. In an instant she had delivered a blow to the boy's head, hard enough so that a sickening cracking sound was clearly audible, and rendered him unconscious. She looked at her blood-spattered hand in satisfaction, then kicked his prone body hard, so the child flew through the air like a soccer ball. While Trunks was still airborne, she proceeded to finish him off by blasting him with chi from her palms into the mountain some distance behind them. The force of the blast was so great, it embedded him inside and caused the mountain to tremble and start to fall apart.
"Goten!!!" Gohan started to rush over to the remains of the mountain, but Seventeen stood in his way.
"Tsk, tsk. How impolite. You're not paying attention to me at all." He then started to hit Gohan. The young warrior fought back, but he was no match for the cyborg. Finally he couldn't fight anymore, realizing he was totally at the mercy of the heartless doll before him.
Seventeen realized that too, and stopped hitting him. Gohan got up with difficulty, just in time to see Eighteen gathering chi in her palm for one final shot at the remains of the mountain. Before Gohan could utter a word, she obliterated the rubble with her blast. It was so powerful the earth shook and dust clouds covered the area for several minutes. When they had subsided, the land where the mountain once stood was now totally flattened. All that was left were bits of rock and grit. No sign of Trunks, aka Goten.
Eighteen smiled, pleased at her handiwork. Quick and straight to the point, that was how she preferred to do it. No playing around like her brother and the now-dead brat. Seventeen had taken his time the day they were supposed to kill Trunks, and look what happened. The brat had miraculously survived, and on top of that he had made friends with Son Gohan, the only person to have ever survived a fight with the pair. Well, not anymore. Trunks was now dead, and soon, Son Gohan would follow him into the grave.
Gohan stood up, despite his injuries. "Goten.... No..." Tears of rage and sadness filled his eyes. "You'll pay for this," he whispered to the cyborgs in quiet rage. He could feel his power rising with his anger, transforming his black hair into rising spikes of gold and his black eyes into a clear, malevolent green.
"Die, bastards!!!" He turned to Eighteen, then Seventeen. The tremendous energy he felt within himself now manifested itself in the form of chi concentrated at his hands, which he shot with all his might at the cyborgs.
He shot another blast, and another, until he felt himself weaken. It was only then that he realized his mistake. He'd acted in blind rage, without any strategy, not channelling his hits to where they'd cause the most impact. Gohan had been wasting his energy, and now he was paying the price.
Seventeen dusted himself off and smiled sadistically. Wordlessly, but still wearing the same sickening smile, he casually fired a small but powerful chi blast at Gohan. Blood spurted from the Saiyajin warrior's mouth as the blast hit his chest, and he fell face-first to the ground.
Gohan was now totally helpless. Nevertheless, he still stared defiantly at the male cyborg who now had the tip of his boot on Gohan's chin. "You still don't get it, don't you Son Gohan? You'll never be able to defeat me. Not even if you're a Super Saiyajin, or if you try to enlist the help of that worthless brat Trunks." Seventeen snickered, and put his foot down, hard, on Gohan's face. "What did you just call him? Goten? Is that what he calls himself now?"
"Don't waste your effort. He's useless, just like his father, that so-called Prince Vegeta." Noticing the look of surprise on Gohan's face, and misinterpreting it, he smiled again. "Surprised huh? So now you understand...you can never beat me." He turned around. "I'll let you live, Son Gohan. You make an interesting toy, especially when you get mad. You fight with such spirit, even though you know you can't win. It's so amusing."
Eighteen stared at her brother coldly. "I want to kill him now. Why do you want to let him live?"
"Think about it." He turned to her. "If we let him live, there'll be something for us to do after we kill all the humans. Besides, you were the one who was complaining about the game getting boring."
"Fine. Have it your way." She threw one last blast at the downed Gohan before promptly flying away.
Seventeen flew after her. "Hey sis, wait up. Tell you what. I'll let you kill all the humans in the next town we find..." They left Gohan there, desperately trying not to fall unconscious, dragging his body slowly towards the rubble where the mountain had once stood.
"Trunks..."
He woke up with a horrible pain in his head. He didn't know how long he'd been there. He tried to remember what had happened but it hurt too much to think.
Images of himself and the cyborgs flashed through his mind. The male cyborg patting his head affectionately. The female cyborg scolding him over something. The run-down building which had been their home. The three of them shooting off ki blasts at the ruins of the human cities. Then the two of them shooting off ki at him. But why...? It was so confusing.
The images began to blur as the pain in his head increased. He tried to see his surroundings, but it was so dark.... The only source of light was a few small cracks in the rocks above him. He tried to move, but every movement he could manage in the confined space only sent jolts of pain through his body.
By some miracle, he had survived Eighteen's attack and the destruction of the mountain. Unknown to them all, there was an underground cave running beneath the mountain. When Eighteen's chi blast had caused the rocks to fall, they had opened the entrance of the cave, burying the young boy inside, but sparing his life. But as far as those above could see, the mountain was gone, and so was Trunks.
Slowly, painfully, he wriggled his way out. Every movement hurt so much he thought he'd pass out from the pain, but if he didn't get out of there he'll surely die. The boy gritted his teeth and continued the long and painful struggle out.
Finally, a hand emerged from the pile of rocks on the ground. Slowly, the rest of his body followed. His whole body was aching badly, but he dragged himself to where another body laid still on the ground. "Gohan..." He tried to reach the unconscious warrior and drag them both to safety--but he didn't get far. The pain in his head was getting worse.
Finally it overpowered him, and the poor confused child slipped into unconsciousness again.
***
He woke up in a hospital bed, his mother at his side. "Gohan!" ChiChi beamed. "Thank goodness you're awake. You've been unconscious for three days. I was so worried." Gohan tried to sit up, but groaned in pain and had to lie down again. ChiChi fussed over him. "Just rest, dear. You're injured pretty badly."
"Trunks..." Gohan whispered.
"Hmm...what did you say?" ChiChi asked, blinking in confusion.
"Where is he?" Gohan asked.
"Oh, you mean Goten? He's in the next room. He hasn't woken up yet."
Gohan tried to get up again, but ChiChi stopped him. "Don't worry, Gohan. He was badly hurt too, but his condition's stable."
At that moment, the nurse walked in. She saw that Gohan was awake. "Ah, Gohan-san, you're awake. That's good. The other boy is just regaining consciousness--"
Gohan sat up immediately upon hearing her words. ChiChi tried to make him lie down again, to no avail. "Gohan, take it easy. You can see him later--"
Gohan ignored her. Already, he was making his way out of the bed and walking with difficulty towards the next room. His urgency was noticed by his mother. "Gohan, what's wrong? What happened back there?"
Gohan turned to look at his mother from the door leading to Trunks' room. "Trunks. That's what his real name is." He then told her what the cyborg Seventeen had told him about the boy. ChiChi was quiet, not quite knowing how to react to the news.
They entered the room together. The boy lay in bed, eyes closed, his head wrapped in bandages. The doctor had told ChiChi that he had suffered a serious injury to his head. They did not know what damage that had caused to his brain.
"Trunks," Gohan said carefully.
The boy visibly stiffened. He opened his eyes, but did not meet Gohan's or ChiChi's. "You know who I really am," he stated, his voice barely a whisper. "They told you, didn't they?"
Gohan nodded silently. Trunks caught his movement from the corner of his eye but said nothing.
"You remember now," Gohan said after a moment of silence.
Trunks nodded, still not looking up. "I remember everything now," his voice quavered. "I'm one of them. A cyborg."
Gohan and Chichi gaped. "Goten!" ChiChi cried out, upset. Had the blow to his head caused this? "Don't say that! You're not--"
"Trunks." Trunks cut her off. "That's my real name. Seventeen and Eighteen are my brother and sister," he said emotionlessly. ChiChi became more upset, but Gohan realised something. Trunks only knew what Seventeen and Eighteen had told him. He still did not know about his real identity.
"They taught me everything I knew," Trunks continued in the same emotionless tone. "How to fight, and how to kill." ChiChi paled hearing those words coming from the mouth of this little boy. Trunks still avoided their eyes.
"It was my first time," he went on. "So I wanted to impress Oniisan and Oneesan. I destroyed the first city I saw. Then I searched for survivors and killed them all. And I...I enjoyed it." He looked up to meet Gohan's eyes. Gohan flinched at the coldness he saw there. But behind the coldness there was fear, confusion, and...shame?
"I thought I did a good job," Trunks continued. "But Oniisan and Oneesan didn't think so. So the next day they took me out for a sparring session. But actually, they wanted to kill me." He closed his eyes, the memories involuntarily rushed through his mind of the day he first learned the true meaning of fear.
At first he had been angry at his siblings' betrayal, but after he realized he was still far weaker than they despite his secret training, anger began to give way to fear, and confusion. Confusion because his Oniisan, who was usually nicer to him, was the one who was more vicious that day.
He remembered begging for his life, for another chance to prove he was worthy of them, but it all fell on deaf ears. Seventeen had tortured him to his heart's content, because it was, as the cyborg put it, their last chance to "play together". Then, whether intentionally or not he didn't know, they left him for dead.
Later, Gohan had found him, taken him in, and let him become a part of his family. But that was before any of them knew who he really was.
Now they knew. Trunks stole a glance at the warrior, then quickly darted his eyes away as memories once again flashed through his mind.
Gohan and himself had been at the ruins of one of the cities the cyborgs had just destroyed. Gohan had sworn angrily that he'd make the cyborgs pay for what they did.
Now that he knew that Trunks, or Goten as he had been called then, was also a cyborg, would Gohan kill him? The fear returned, even stronger now. He didn't want to die at Gohan's hands. On the other hand, though, it would be better than dying at Seventeen and Eighteen's hands.
Suddenly, Trunks felt very much alone. He had just found out that he was a hated killer. His "real" family had never truly cared for him. They would be hunting him down this very moment if they had known he hadn't died in their last encounter, and the only people who had ever treated him like a real family now had a reason to kill him too.
He could never return to being what he had been before; he couldn't kill now, not after living with ChiChi and Gohan. Perhaps it was best if he died now. He had no reason to live...except to take revenge on Seventeen and Eighteen for betraying him and trying to end his life.
Gohan caught Trunks looking at him before those blue orbs quickly darted away. He saw the look in Trunks' eyes as the boy made the decision to make revenge his purpose for living, and it disturbed him.
Gohan placed a hand on Trunks' shoulder, and the boy shuddered involuntarily. "Trunks, look at me," Gohan said sternly, taking his hand away from the boy's shoulder and gripping his chin, forcing Trunks to face him.
"Are you going to kill me?" Trunks' voice croaked in a mixture of resignation and defiance.
Gohan sighed deeply. "Trunks, I could never kill you," he said, looking him straight in the eyes.
"But you know I'm a--" Trunks said. "I killed--"
"You didn't know it was wrong then," Gohan silenced him. "You do now. It was a despicable act but I can't blame you for what you did when you were with the cyborgs." Trunks looked up at him suspiciously. Could Gohan really be so forgiving?
"Besides," Gohan continued, "you're not really a cyborg, Trunks." At this Trunks' eyes snapped open. Before he could ask what Gohan meant, the older warrior's statement softened, and he said, "You're a demi-Saiyajin, like me."
"A wh-what?" Trunks was truly confused now.
Gohan smiled ruefully. "Demi-saiyaijin," he repeated. "Half human and half Saiyajin. Your father," he resumed, "was Vegeta, prince of the Saiyajin and the last of the species, apart from the two of us. The Saiyajin are a race of warriors from a long-gone planet known as Planet Vegeta. Their jobs were to purge life from planets to be sold. My father was sent to Earth, but he ended up defending Earth instead of destroying it. Later, your father came, and he too slowly started to treat Earth as his home. He gave his life to protect it from the cyborgs. That's the short version of the story. I'll tell you the full story when we're both better."
Trunks stared at him. "My father was killed by Seventeen and Eighteen?" Gohan nodded.
"What about my mother?" Trunks asked after a moment of silence.
"She was a brave woman too," Gohan replied. "She may not have known how to fight, but she had the spirit of a warrior, and the brains of a mechanical genius. She died not long after your father's death, when the cyborgs attacked your home in the Western Capital. I don't know why they didn't kill you too, and instead raised you as one of them, but we'll make them sorry they didn't," Gohan said with resolve.
Trunks was still taking all this in. Was Gohan really telling the truth? He had just found out that his whole life had been a lie; was this another one of them? Though he wanted to believe this story, he still didn't dare to. He searched Gohan's face for signs of lies--after all, it would be to Gohan's advantage if Trunks sided with him. Gohan looked back at him.
"By the way, Trunks," he said. "Trunks is your real name. It was given to you by your mother, I'm sure of that. Her name was Bulma. Bulma Briefs."
"I..." Trunks' voice trailed. I want to believe, he wanted to say, but didn't. "How do I know you're telling the truth?" he asked instead.
Gohan looked at him. "When you recover from your wounds, you'll find that you're even stronger than you were before. As Saiyajin, what doesn't kill you will only make you stronger." He saw that Trunks still wasn't convinced. "You've seen me power up so that my ki explodes and my hair turns gold," he said. "That's called the Super Saiyajin stage. Only Saiyajin can do that. It's not easy to achieve. My father and yours were only able to achieve it after a lot of hardship. I promise I'll train you to reach it, too. Only then will we have an even chance against the cyborgs."
"Trunks," ChiChi finally spoke. She took something from her purse and handed it to him. It was an old picture of herself and her friends, taken years ago when they were still young and innocent. One of the people in the picture was a beautiful woman with silky lavender hair and shining blue eyes. "That's your mother," ChiChi said as she pointed her out to Trunks. The boy stared at the photograph, recognising the features of the woman in himself.
"You have her eyes and her hair," ChiChi said, "but otherwise you're the spitting image of your father. I don't have any pictures of him, I'm afraid."
Trunks still clutched the picture, staring at the beautiful woman who had been his mother. His head started to feel drowsy from the excitement and his injuries. His eyelids started to grow heavy and he didn't resist the sleepiness that was starting to claim him. He drifted off to sleep, still clutching the picture tightly in his hands. "Thank you," he whispered, before losing himself to sleep. ChiChi just smiled at him, tears forming in the corners of her eyes at this unexpected reunion.
Gohan sat at Trunks' bedside, watching as the boy drifted off to sleep. He too started to drift away, to the day all those years ago when he had first met Trunks. It had been the day after the cyborgs had suddenly appeared and killed all the remaining Z warriors. Gohan was the only who had survived, almost as though they had left him to bury the dead.
On the day of their funeral, Bulma had showed up carrying a little baby. Everybody had been surprised. They hadn't been in contact for so long, none of them had even known that Bulma had had a baby.
As she paid her last repects to the fallen warriors, Bulma murmured to her son, "So, Trunks, you'll never even get to know your father." And she wept. ChiChi had gone to her side, Gohan following closely behind. "I'm sorry, Bulma," Chichi said, then paused. "I didn't know you and Yamucha had married--"
"We didn't." Bulma cut her off. "I broke up with him a long time ago. Trunks is Vegeta's son," she said to the stunned silence of all those present. "Though I didn't marry Vegeta either," she whispered to herself with a tone of regret in her voice.
Before they had headed off to their own homes, Bulma had walked over to Gohan. "Bulma-san, I...I..." Gohan stammered.
"Gohan," Bulma looked at him grimly. "I want you to train Trunks when he's old enough. You two are our only hope now." Gohan nodded.
"I will," he had said. "I promise we'll make the cyborgs pay for killing Piccolo and Vegeta and all the others." Bulma had nodded solemnly and said no more as she headed off to Capsule Corporation with Trunks.
A year and a half later, Capsule Corporation had been destroyed by the cyborgs in a surprise attack. Gohan had come as fast as he could, but he had already been too late. The building had lain in ruins. There was no trace of anybody left.
He had searched desperately, but could detect nothing, save for some unrecognizable remains--presumably Bulma and her parents. There had been no trace of her baby son.
That day, for the first time since the cyborgs' appearance, Gohan had truly felt despair. Now that his father and Prince Vegeta and Piccolo were dead and could never be resurrected, his only hope had been that one day he and Trunks would be strong enough to defeat the cyborgs.
Now.... Could he ever defeat them now that even Bulma and Trunks were gone? He was totally alone now. The only one that he had had left was his mother, and for her sake, he had to be strong. But after that day, even though he'd achieved Super Saiyajin stage, Gohan had had little hope of defeating the cyborgs, not with him alone against the two of them.
Glimmers of hope had only returned six months ago, after he had taken the strange amnesiac boy with extraordinary powers into his home, never knowing it was a reunion with the ally he thought he'd lost.
And now, as he watched Trunks sleep, Gohan was hopeful again. Surely the gods up there, and maybe Piccolo-san too, was giving him a second chance. Not just to Gohan, but to Trunks as well.
"I'll make good on that promise, Bulma-san. This I swear," Gohan whispered.
That day, hope was reborn for Earth.
Well, that's as far as I'll go with the story. I think it would be great if someone would write about the final battle between Gohan+ Trunks and #17+#18 set a few years in the future when the odds between them are more even. We could have a trilogy! Wow! ^_^
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