Revelation
by Pan no Ojousan
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Pan flew on, back toward her home. She truly hoped her father was okay. Sure, she’d been heated and angry with him during the past half hour, but it was for very good reason. He should be ashamed, barging in and blowing his mother’s house apart like that. Trunks had defended her back there, totally prepared to face the wrath of her father. Pan was completely shocked and pleased by that. She never thought for a second that Trunks would stand up to Gohan. But he did…for her. He loved her; he’d said it himself. Perhaps he had, for a long while, just as she had. But guilt and fear kept him from saying anything. She was glad that Gotenks was the only warrior strong enough to train her to her full extent. Maybe, after he was finished with the house, she could go back and spar some more. If not for the fusion, Pan never would have known how Trunks felt, and Trunks…well, she probably would have spilled at some point. But he was too cool and confident to slip up like that, ever. Pan slowed herself, trying to determine what to do. Bra probably had Gohan all taken care of by now. She could go back and see if Gotenks would train her for his remaining fifteen minutes. But ChiChi’s house was still in shambles, last she knew, and she doubted that Gotenks could finish it in time to avoid her unusual way of punishment. She finally decided to go back. Even if he couldn’t train her, she could at least help fix the house. She turned and went back, trying to go full speed. She needed all the time she could get if she wanted to spar. But did she really want to spar? Maybe she was just infatuated with the freakish fusion…but no, her uncle was in there, too. Then again, so was Trunks, so that didn’t prove much of anything. Pan slowed and finally landed on the small patch of field that the house was built on. Gotenks was working madly, knowing the consequences would be dire if he didn’t get this done. She chuckled softly and walked over to the busy half-Saiyan. He glanced up, surprised by the ki that suddenly appeared in front of him. "Oh, it’s you." "Yeah, it’s me," she said, sounding somewhat hurt. "I came to help." "I’m almost finished," he said, suppressing the anger in his voice. There was no need to yell, he reminded himself. Even though at least half of him was never going to live this down, he turned to face her fully. "Why did you really come here? To plague me some more?" "No," she said resentfully. "I only wanted to spar for maybe ten minutes." "Oh." He scratched his head in typical Son fashion. "I guess, after the house is done." He pointed over to a pile of rubble a few yards away. "Go get some wood out of there and we’ll be just about finished." Pan quickly obeyed, supplying Gotenks with all the tools and equipment he needed to finish the job. He stood back and admired his fine piece of work. True, it looked somewhat…different…but it was a good different, he told himself. ChiChi would like it. He had trouble convincing himself and decided against trying to convince Pan. "You wanted to spar?" "Yes," she said, happily putting down the hammer she’d made. It consisted of a piece of broken wood and a stone. "Unless you had something else planned." Gotenks silently fought with himself for a moment. Pan was already getting his two halves in enough trouble with each other; she didn’t need to cause any more. "No," he said finally, through gritted teeth. "Let’s…just…spar…" She laughed at his struggle to get the words out. "Okay. Don’t go easy on me." Don’t worry, he scoffed at himself. He fazed out of her sight and reappeared above her, swinging his fists down as hard as he could. She blocked and grabbed his wrists, flipping him downward and into the ground. How am I supposed to train her? I don’t know how to help people reach Super Saiyan… Pan took advantage for his momentary distraction to ki-blast him deeper into the ground. He emitted a low growl from his throat and went Super Saiyan, throwing the girl away with just the energy from the transformation. She cursed under her breath. How was she supposed to be any sort of match for him now? Maybe that was the plan… In reality, there was no ‘plan.’ Gotenks only wanted to win, but he didn’t want to hurt her. Not too badly, anyway. He powered up and shot a series of ki attacks at her, and she barely dodged each one. This was starting to get annoying. He had only seven minutes left, and at this rate, she’d stay up for the whole time. He had to admit, she was fast for remaining in her non-super state. Anyone else probably would have been hit by at least one of those blasts. Or so he thought, anyway. It was entirely possible that Vegeta could beat him into the ground, even without going super. Neither Trunks nor Goten had fought Vegeta in a while, so their fusion really couldn’t tell how powerful he’d be in combat. He was brought back to reality when a fist connected with his face, sending him flying several meters back. "I said we spar!" the angry voice of the girl was heard. "Now quit daydreaming and fight back!" "Well, exc-uuse me," he mumbled sarcastically, getting back up and rushing at her. He slammed a fist into hers, blocked a kick, threw a punch, and finally hit her in the side with a ki-blast. She sprawled onto the ground, and he immediately went to punch her into it, but his fist connected with dirt instead of flesh. He turned around to find her standing behind him and smirking. "Not bad," she sneered, contempt crossing her features. "Now, what do you say you start fighting for real?" "If I fight for real, there’s a good chance you won’t see tomorrow," he spat angrily. Why exactly was she doing this? Did she want to die or something? Pan laughed scornfully. "Right. Tell you what: YOU go Super Saiyan Three and I get beat into the dirt." Gotenks stared. "What exactly is your motive behind this?" he asked carefully. "I want to get mad," she said heatedly. "I want to be totally helpless so that I can be forced into defending myself. I have the power in me to go Super Saiyan, I just need it to be revealed." "You’re sure this is okay?" he asked her, concern lacing his words. "I won’t end up hurting you too badly?" Pan scoffed. "How about we go back home first and get a couple of senzu beans? It would make you feel a lot better about this, I can tell." He shrugged. "You’re right, it would. Let’s go." •—¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯—• "Gohan?" Videl’s voice was heard through the intense ringing in his ears. "Gohan, get up. Are you okay?" The half-Saiyan opened his eyes slowly, looking up into the concerned gaze of his wife. "Thank Dende," she breathed. "I thought we might not get you back for a few days…" Gohan sat up slowly as the fuzziness died down. "What happened?" he mumbled, searching aimlessly for his glasses. "Bra said you got into a fight," Videl said. "She told me that Gotenks beat you pretty badly." Gotenks… That was right. Pan had been with Trunks…and Gohan had been yelling…and Gotenks had stepped in and practically killed him. He was just as arrogant and cocky as he had been as a child, only taller and more powerful. And not on his team anymore. "Well?" Videl asked, sounding worried and anxious and angry all at once. "What happened?" Gohan chuckled lightly, turning to his startled wife. She hadn’t expected laughter, of all things, coming from him at a time like this. "Panny thinks she loves Trunks," he began, a twinge of hurt in his tone, "and he thinks he loves her, too. And they seem to think that they know better than I do about these things." Videl bit her lip. Maybe suggesting that Pan talk to Trunks that morning had been a bad idea, after all. "Um, yeah Hon, that’s really weird…maybe you should lie down…" "Don’t tell me you had something to do with this," he said, his voice so much in denial that it pained her to even hear it. "Um…okay, I won’t," she said, trying to seem as though she was just brushing it off, but failing miserably. Gohan collapsed his head into his hands. "I’m destroyed. My little girl…and now you…" "No, Gohan, that’s not it," Videl said softly. "I just thought…maybe she should look into this…if he kept that a secret for a long time, then I don’t see the harm…" "You don’t?" he screeched. "How could you not!? He’s fourteen—" "Years older than her," she finished. "I know. But I thought maybe, since they are part Saiyan and everything, that the age difference wouldn’t be too much of a problem…? I mean, Trunks is gonna look twenty for the rest of his life, probably." Gohan scoffed, turning away. "That has nothing to do with it." Videl was about to respond when the door opened, revealing Pan, Goten, and Trunks. The fusion had worn off while they were on their way here. "Hi Mom, hi Dad," Pan greeted cautiously. "Trunks and Goten are going to train me for a while more, and I thought maybe I could use some senzu…" "We don’t have any more," Videl said. "Your father ate them all." "Not by choice!" he shot at the boys, who exchanged guilty glances. "We’re sorry, brother," Goten said. "Yeah, we were just worried—" "I DON’T CARE!" Gohan yelled. Videl had to practically pin him to the ground with several items of extremely heavy furniture to keep him from murdering the purple-haired half-Saiyan. Pan’s eyes were wide. "We’ll go to Vegeta and ask him." "Yeah," Trunks said, looking terrified. "S-see you later!" "Bye!" Goten shouted cheerfully as he and the others took off again. Gohan growled a few curses under his breath. "I should kill him right now." "No, you shouldn’t," Videl said, glaring at him. "Pan isn’t a Super Saiyan yet, and she really wants Gotenks to get her there. Don’t hurt him at all just yet." If I had my way in the matter, you wouldn’t hurt him at all ever, she added silently. He still glared at the doorway where they had stood. Maybe he couldn’t do anything just now, but he would soon enough. •—¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯—• Trunks cautiously peered in through the window to his mother’s office. Everything made him nervous all of a sudden, and he had a strange suspicion that it had something to do with the fact that he totally expected Gohan to murder him in his sleep. The half-Saiyan was constantly watching his back all of a sudden. Before this morning, he would have been fine hovering in Gohan’s doorway with his two best friends. Now it seemed like his life would be a few decades shorter because of it. "Trunks?" "AAAHH!" he screamed, jumping ten feet into the air. Goten and Pan immediately erupted into laughter. Trunks glared at the uncle-niece combination. "Shut up. If you were me, you’d have reacted the same way." "But we’re not and that’s what made it funny," Pan giggled. He continued to glare at her. "Sorry," she said after a moment. "Go in." Trunks complied, hovering above the window while he tried to get it open without breaking it. He struggled with the latch and decided it wouldn’t be too costly to replace one stupid window. It was soon blasted into several thousand pieces and the three part-Saiyans entered the office, cheerfully greeting the very surprised woman at the desk. "What did you do that for!?" Bulma raged. "If you’d have just used the door like any normal kids, then MY WINDOW wouldn’t be completely DESTROYED on the floor!" "Sorry, Mom," Trunks apologized quickly. "I’ll pay for it." "You’d better!" "Ms. Bulma," Goten said, trying to change the subject before Trunks ended up on another hit list, "do you happen to have any senzu beans around here? We kind of were looking for some." Bulma fished around in her desk for a few seconds before producing a small brown bag. "There. Hours worth of joyful fighting. Enjoy." "Thank you," the trio chorused, leaving the same way they went in. Bulma was left once again wondering what happened to her ideals of normal life. Pan carefully set the bag down near the gravity room, which for once was actually not activated. She turned back to face the boys, who were just finishing their fusion. She actually got to see the last half of it for once. "Cool. I’ll have to try that sometime or something." "Yeah," Gotenks said. "Ready?" "I guess so." She watched in awe as he powered up to level three. There is no way I’m gonna get out of this alive, even if I do go super… Gotenks read the fear and alarm in her expression. "Sorry," he atoned, cutting back to level one. "Is this good?" "For now," Pan replied, a small smirk crossing her lips. Sometimes, she was hauntingly reminiscent of Vegeta. "Now I’m ready." They immediately clashed together, slamming fist into fist. Pan was losing her ground, though, failing to block a few of his swings. Gotenks quickly noticed this and allowed his mind to wander, not wanting to hurt her before she’d gone Super Saiyan. He kept dwelling on the fact that he didn’t know how to train people. But she looked up to him and truly hoped that he could help. He definitely didn’t want to let her down. "Go-tenks," she growled. "You’re not focused." "Sorry," he snapped, still dodging and throwing punches and the occasional ki-blast. "I didn’t know you were so intent on dying." "I’m not," she replied angrily. "I just want you to force me into using my full power!" He landed a punch in her face, and she turned the sudden lurch backward into a flip and kicked him in the face, sending them a few more feet apart. They landed at the same time, sharing Goku’s old ‘battle smirk.’ "So you want me to really hurt you, huh?" he asked after a moment. "Yep," she said; confidently, but not smugly. "That’s why I’m keeping a senzu nearby. If I start dying, get me one of those before it’s too late." Gotenks shrugged. "Can I go to level three?" Pan bit her lip. "I don’t think yet," she said carefully. "I mean, what if you…I don’t know, lose control? What if you try to seriously kill me?" "If you feel that way about it, I’ll stay at level one," he murmured. Pan winced at the slight disappointment in his voice. "How about this," she suggested, trying to whole-heartedly smile. "We can get your…um, I mean, Vegeta to come ‘supervise.’ It’ll be like a real match." Gotenks inspected her expression carefully. There was surely a hidden purpose somewhere…or maybe he was just being overly cautious. She didn’t secretly want Trunks dead, too, did she? Of course not, he told himself. She wouldn’t kill off the both of them. "Sure. Go get him, but fast. I’m running out of time." Pan cringed, thinking that the statement made it sound like he was dying. In a way, I guess he is, she thought as she went to get Vegeta. After the half hour’s up, Gotenks doesn’t get a chance to live until Trunks and Goten decide to let him… She found Vegeta slouched on the couch, seemingly absorbed by a soap opera. She couldn’t help but smile at the sight of the all-powerful Prince of the Saiyans, close to tears over Jennifer and Eric’s breakup. "Hey, vegetable," she said, causing him to jump in surprise. Scowling, he turned off the television. "I need you to make sure your son and my uncle don’t kill me while they beat the hell out of me." Vegeta raised an eyebrow. "What is the purpose of this senseless self-destruction?" he asked suspiciously. "You’re not planning to exact Kakarot’s revenge and defeat me once and for all?" "No," she said, laughing at the ideas the Saiyan prince could concoct. "I’m just training, that’s all. My dad said you’d be way too strong for me to handle." Concluding that she’d successfully inflated his ego, she led the way back to where Gotenks was still waiting and beginning to grow impatient. "’Bout time," he muttered, powering up to level one. "I can go stronger if I want, right?" "Right," Vegeta said, suddenly growing to like this idea. "Brat, you stand over here. Fusion, you stay there. Go when I say." Both parties waited patiently for Vegeta to signal them. "Well?" Pan asked after a few minutes. "What’s the hold up?" "Nothing," Vegeta smirked, relishing his role as referee. "You can begin now." Gotenks fazed instantly out of sight. Pan sighed loudly, angry already. She hated not being able to see her enemy. She stood there expectantly, waiting to be hit from behind or something, when suddenly she glanced up. He was there, hovering and waiting for her to notice him. "Always make sure you’re aware of your enemy’s ki," he said, arms folded smugly over his chest and a triumphant smirk on his face. "Thanks for the advice," she snarled through gritted teeth. "Come on!" Vegeta shouted from the sidelines. "I came here to see a fight, not an imbecilic training session!" Gotenks looked puzzled for a moment. "But I thought it was a training session…" "It is," Pan said, suddenly right in front of his face. She punched him hard in the stomach, but he didn’t so much as flinch. Instead, he ki-blasted her back to the ground. Pan glared up at him from the small crater she’d made. How did he do that? A half hour ago, that same move could… Her eyes widened in alarm. "You liar!" she shouted. "You’re not at level one, are you!? You’re at level two!" "So what?" he scoffed. "You wanted a challenge, so you’re getting one." He kicked the side of her head, sending her crashing back down. Vegeta smirked in triumph. This would be amusing, after all. Watching a spawn of Kakarot get beaten into the ground was always enjoyable, even if another spawn had something to do with it. Pan clenched her fists, gathering energy into them. She pulled her arms back and yelled some gibberish, even to herself, and shot the blast forward. It seemed more comforting to yell something before an attack, she figured. Gotenks easily deflected the blast and fired one of his own, followed by another and yet another. Pan started to panic from the sheer force he’d used. She dodged the first, but the second sent her reeling in pain. Her mind throbbed, and she was in no condition to dodge the third. It struck, as well, sending her flying backward. She landed against the gravity room. At which point, Vegeta hastily called a timeout to move the fight away from his most prized possession. Gotenks continued to dominate in the fight, beating Pan senseless and, every so often, giving her a senzu. She was in extreme pain one moment, feeling fine the next, being humiliated soon after, and returning to the pain. This Super Saiyan training was starting to sound like a bad idea to Pan. Vegeta, however, seemed to be thoroughly enjoying it. Pan was once again knocked into the ground, another variation of crater sizes forming on Capsule Corp.’s property. She looked up, tears of anger stinging her eyes and blurring her vision. Pain was not one of her fondest sensations, and yet it was clinging to her like the world would end if she wasn’t hurt. Her enemy was soon standing over her, completely prepared to beat her farther into the dirt. "Had enough?" he asked smugly. "You certainly look worn out. Maybe after a few more senzu beans, you’ll realize that you’re no match for me." He laughed scornfully, drawing the utmost hatred from the quarter-Saiyan below him. "No, for your information," she snarled, wiping blood off of her face, "I’m not finished. I’m just getting started." She wanted to slap herself for saying it right away. "Just getting started?" he repeated, laughing more. "That’s too bad, seeing that you’re off to a pitiful start. See, my time’s almost up and I haven’t even gotten to my full extent yet." "You haven’t needed to," she said angrily. "I’m too damn weak to be any competition!" Gotenks laughed again. His laugh was really starting to annoy her. "I warned you before we started, didn’t I?" "Not well enough," she growled, trying to kick his legs out from under him. He scoffed, effortlessly ki-blasting her back into the dirt. "Really, Panny, you are too much," he laughed. "STOP LAUGHING!" she screamed, enraged. "I’ve had ENOUGH of your STUPID LITTLE COMMENTS that you might think get under my skin, when in reality, they—" "Get under your skin?" he finished, smirking. Pan sputtered a few nonsense syllables, completely amazed and insulted that he said that. "No!" she finally yelled. "They just piss me off!" "Which, yeah, is the same thing." She growled quietly. "Whatever. I’m still going to kick your ass." "Language, miss," Vegeta said mockingly, bursting into a fit of scornful laughter. Pan shot him a glare, then turned her attention back to Gotenks. Her anger finally got the best of her and she shot toward her opponent, growling murderously. She lashed out at his head, but he easily dodged each strike. She tried kicking him in the gut; still, no luck. Anything she did was either dodged or deflected. Not only that, but with little to no effort whatsoever. Pan was beginning to become very furious. Gotenks knocked her to the ground and pinned her there, smirking in a very Vegeta-like way. "This is pathetic." He laughed at her inferiority. "You know, we could just quit now…to prevent any more senseless beating of the quarter-Saiyan I happen to be practically murdering." "No," Pan said through gritted teeth. "I can’t…I don’t want to give up…" "Yes, you do." Pan scowled. It was true, and there was no point in denying it. She did want to give up. "You only have a few minutes left…it would be pointless to just give up now when I’d only have to take a few more minutes…" "No," he countered, eyes glittering dangerously. "Not quite pointless…" Pan sunk herself farther into the ground, unsure of what he meant. It was entirely possible that Gotenks had a very real infatuation with her, due to the fact that Trunks was in there. But then again, maybe he only wanted to let her live…there weren’t many senzus left…but with his breath on her face, their bodies pressed so close together, Pan couldn’t help but think the former. "What is going on over there?" Vegeta yelled, interrupting the silent but obvious tension. "I came here to watch a fight!" "He’s right," Pan sputtered quickly, pushing a surprised Gotenks off of her. "I mean, uh, we want Vegeta to…be…um, not kill me." She tore herself away from his eyes. What was it in them that captured so much of her? Not always; just this once had she felt like he was trying to trap her just by looking at her. It didn’t make sense…surely Goten’s part of Gotenks had realized what was going on by now…he wasn’t that slow… "Pan?" he asked, causing the quarter-Saiyan to jump in surprise. "Are you going to fight or what?" Pan looked back at him, the intense captivating pull gone, for now. "Yeah," she said uncertainly. "We’ll fight…" Within a minute, she was back on the ground, aching from a ki-blast. She rolled and got back up, finding herself near the gravity room once again. Gotenks nodded slightly, indicating that she could freely move out of the way without worrying about him attacking her. Vegeta was about to call timeout again, but the ‘brats’ took care of it themselves. Pan leapt back into the air, striking again and again at her enemy’s face. She was no match for him, at all. Not even a question. He easily knocked her to the ground again and again. Finally, the few minutes were almost up. Pan was hurting all over, crawling toward the bag of senzu beans while the fusion watched. Just a little farther… "Pan," Gotenks said, looking concerned. "I have the bag, okay? Come on back over here." Pan struggled to get up, but failed miserably and collapsed onto the ground. She gave him a small smile, looking extremely guilty. "I can’t," she said softly. "My whole self hurts too much." "Sorry about that," he murmured, flying over and kneeling next to her. "Maybe I should stick to level one for a while." "Maybe," Pan said, having no intention of ever training with Gotenks again. Vegeta would be a better teacher than him. She gratefully took the senzu from his hand and instantly felt much better. She closed her eyes for a brief moment, silently thanking Dende for senzus. "Pan?" "Hmm?" "I, um…I…" Her eyes flew open again, observing the half-Saiyan combination before her. He was focused on the ground, staring intently at one of the craters she’d left. She mentally slapped herself around for acting like such an idiot. "I don’t know," he said after a while. He turned back to face her, sadness in his expression. "My time’s up. I have to go now." She nodded, as her mouth refused to form words for her. She watched in silence as the fusion wore off, leaving the two boys in place of one. Trunks, concerned, took her hand and immediately left the scene of the battle. He had correctly guessed that she’d been very uncomfortable there and was determined to make it up to her somehow. Goten watched them leave. What exactly was wrong with him? He feared for his sanity at this point. He was there, as half of Gotenks. He knew exactly how much Trunks cared about Pan, but for some reason, he was powerless to stop those feelings from surfacing. He had a strange notion as to why that happened, but he didn’t want it to be true. He wasn’t sure what that would mean about him. He moved slowly to the wall of the building, resting against it and trying to think. Gotenks did like Pan, a lot. There was no denying that. She was a great fighter, if a little weak, but that was to be expected of someone who was still at the normal level. She was capable of reaching Super Saiyan, but he couldn’t get her to feel helpless enough. Or maybe it was something else altogether that would trigger the change. She seemed to care to a certain degree about the fusion, unlike many other people in the world. Goten couldn’t help but remember the strange emotion that he’d felt. Just remembering it didn’t make him…in love with his niece, did it? "Of course not," he said aloud, shaking his head. "I don’t. There’s no way." But it felt so real, his conscience reminded him. He tried to shut out the little voice of advice in his head, but to no avail. It didn’t exactly feel wrong, did it, Goten? "No," he answered aloud. "But it can’t. There’s no way. It’s just impossible, that’s all." Oh. Too bad, the conscience sneered. I’m your conscience, you idiot. I express what you truly feel deep down. And you truly lo— "I do not!" Goten interrupted his thought. "Kami, I didn’t know my own conscience was turned against me! Has Trunks poisoned your mind, too?" You moron! I’m your mind! "Oh yeah." Anyway, truly and in your heart, you lo— "Shut up," Goten commanded. "I don’t want to talk to my conscience anymore. It’s not making me feel any better." "You are insane, aren’t you?" Vegeta asked, looking down in fear at the half-Saiyan he was with. "Why are you talking to yourself? It’s scaring me." Goten took pride in that. He never thought it possible for him to scare Vegeta. Even though he dreamed to scare him in battle, this would have to do, at least for now. "Yep, I’m crazy. A complete psycho. The voices in my head are trying to convince me that you’re the Nacho King of the world, but I think it’s my brother." Vegeta’s eyes widened slightly. "Okay…I’m glad for that…You can go home anytime now." With that, he snorted and walked back into the house, muttering about stupid children who talk to themselves. Goten frowned again once Vegeta was gone. He had some thinking to do, and it was already starting to make his head hurt. •—¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯—• "Pan?" "Yeah?" "I’m afraid of your dad." Pan laughed. "You should be. If he saw you here with me, he’d chop your head into thousands of little pieces, cook them, and try to sell them to my—" "That’s enough," Trunks said, disturbed. "I don’t know if this relationship’s gonna work out, if your father is bent on killing me." "What are you talking about?" she laughed. "He can’t stop me. I’m not a little girl anymore." "To him, you are." Pan frowned. He was right, she was still a child in her father’s eyes. "I can fix that," she said hopefully. "I…um, I think…" "How could you possibly do that?" he scoffed. "I mean, I love you and everything, but that’s not gonna magically make everything okay with everyone." Then, an idea popped into Trunks’ head. It was a stupid one, he knew, and it could take years to pull off. But if his mother was as smart as she claimed to be and could truly build anything they needed… "What?" she asked seriously, seeing the distraction cloud his eyes. "What are you thinking?" "You haven’t been to the Room of Spirit and Time yet, have you?" "N-no," she said uneasily. "Good!" Pan grew worried as Trunks burst into maniacal laughter. "Trunks, what are you saying? I should go there for fourteen years!? I’ll get closed in—" "No, just two," he interrupted, still congratulating himself on what a genius he was. "Maybe you could reach Super Saiyan while you’re there. Then, when you come back, you’ll just have to chill for a while." "How long?" she demanded. "What are you saying?" Trunks smiled brightly. "Ten years, that’s all. I’m gonna build a time machine—Mom said that in an alternate future, she really did get one to work—and then I’m gonna go ten years into the future. That way, when I get there, I’ll only be two years older than you." "But Trunks…ten years…" she whimpered. "I can’t wait that long! I want you now!" He laughed at her little outburst. "No, that’s the greatness of it," he said, beaming. "I won’t have to wait for anything at all, only to get to the future. Then you can just relax and have fun and pretend I died or something so that your dad won’t kill me the minute I get there." "But I’ll have to wait…" she whined. "I want to just be happy…" "Then you can go get married if you want," he scoffed. "I’m doing it." Pan sighed, defeated. "Fine. I go in the Room of Spirit and Time for two years, and when I come out I’ll get to see you again?" "Right," he said, nodding. "By then, if my mom really is as smart as she says, we should have the time machine almost built." That seemed a little illogical to Pan. A time machine, built in two days? She shrugged; whatever. "If that’s what you really want to do, then fine." "Thank you, Panny," he said happily. "I’m gonna go see if Mom thinks she can do it, you can do whatever you want while I’m there." "Okay," she said uneasily, watching him leave the room. This probably was a bad idea. In fact, it was definitely a bad idea. But it would make their ages closer together, and that was the only way…almost… "Damn it, Trunks, why can’t we just work around that!?" she yelled after him, way too late. He was already out the door and probably could have been on the other side of the city by now, even though she knew that Bulma’s office was just on the other side of the property. Pan slumped down onto the couch in defeat. |