Future Pain, Past Hope

 

Future Timeline

Blue eyes surveyed the land as he flew hundreds of feet up. Searching for someone; some survivor of the androids' path of destruction. He had no reason to stay; no one to talk to, no one to take care of -- to care for. The androids had made sure he would have no one. They knew he was getting to strong and they knew he would soon destroy them. Trunks wiped the tears that crested his blue orbs.

Those damned Androids...they killed everything...everyone... Quickening his pace, Trunks continued his search.

He returned home at dawn. Nothing. Not a single person, not even one damn animal! He growled and punched at a near by tree, shattering it to splinters. Those damned things! How could they be so cruel? How could they just destroy everything with no remorse at all? His angered thoughts turned mournful. How could they kill.everything. He fell to his knees, tears gliding down his cheeks, sobs gently shaking his shoulders.

Nothing... no one...


***

Oranges and purples collided in a mixture of reds and blues in the dusk sky. Goten laid back upon the soft grass, his head resting on his arms, eyes fixed on the color swirls above. He let out a contented breath, smiling to the sky.

"Life is so simple -- no complications, no worries, no problems whatsoever." He gave another sigh of contentment and closed his eyes, drifting off to sleep.



Vegeta toweled himself off as he walked towards the house. A curse filled the air and a broken toy flew through the sky. Vegeta rubbed his toe, grumbling about 'stupid ninjen toys' and 'damn brats'.

Continuing his walk, stilling grumbling, he was thrown back by an unseen force, sending him through three trees, stopping him on the forth. Cursing once again, Vegeta pulled himself from the trunk of the tree. Sending a glare in the direction the force had come, his eyes became wide as he took in the silhouette of Trunks' time machine.

He ran to its base and looked up at the glass dome. Growling in frustration when the dome did not open, he flew up. His face paled when he saw Mirai unconscious, hunched over the controls. Without thinking he punched the dome, shattering the glass, and pulled his future son out.

The prince moved the long lavender hair, a sickly like face meeting him.

Clouded eyes opened and looked up at the man holding him.

Dark eyes, dark flame like hair.

"Tousan?" The eyes closed and as soon as the simple word was gone, Vegeta felt a twinge in his chest. He ran inside, Trunks lying loosely in his father's arms. Vegeta set him gently on the couch before yelling for his wife.

A small explosion was heard before the blue haired woman made her way to the living area. Her hair was pulled back, her face blackened by some substance and a wrench in one hand.

She stood in the doorway, her foot tapping in annoyance. "What?" she snapped out angrily.

Vegeta ignored her question and turned back to Mirai. "Do something."

Bulma glared at the man. "I was doing something until somebody started yelling!"

Vegeta turned back to his mate and scowled. "I meant for the brat!"

Bulma raised an eyebrow before looking at the figure on the couch. Her eyes grew wide as she dropped the wrench, running to her future son. "Kami- sama." She put a hand to his head and another on his neck to feel for a pulse. She let out a relieved sigh. "He's still alive."

Vegeta snorted. "Of course he is still alive."

Bulma ignored him. "He's burning up and it looks like he hasn't eaten in days! Vegeta, carry him into a guest room!"

He hesitated, torn between his pride and his son. He growled before picking up the boy and walked out. He complied with her orders for the time being.

 

The calming dark swirled around his body. It was warm yet cold, giving the perfect feel to his skin. He smiled. There was no pain here, no memory of what he lost or what he'd suffered -- just comforting darkness.




Vegeta glanced at the clock on the night stand next to the bed where his son lay. Sighing inwardly he stood and began pacing once again.

Bulma had gone to put Bra to bed several hours ago and Vegeta assumed she had fallen asleep reading their daughter a story. Vegeta almost smiled at his daughter's reaction to the future boy.

She had walked in the room after hearing the commotion, blinked her crystal blue eyes and spoke in a calm, slightly angered voice, "That's not Niisan!" then she had stomped from the room.

Vegeta chuckled to himself. Even at the age of five she can tell such things. He smirked. No human could do that.




Darkness. sweet darkness. Mirai sighed in contentment. Nothing could touch him here in the abyss of darkness; peace and safety were his only companions. Coldness filled the dark, sending needles of ice through his bones. Light burst through the blackness, sprinting in circles around him, turning the air to jagged shards of ice. They jutted out at him, forcing the demi to jump and dodge. Then the attack stopped as soon as it had begun.




Vegeta watched his son toss in the bed, sweat drenching the sheets, his facing showing fear and pain. He took a cloth from a basin, rung out the excess water, and gently brought the cloth across Mirai's forehead and cheeks. "Calm down, Brat," he spoke softly. "Fight your demons, open your eyes, and hurry up about it." Mirai continued to toss around the bed, throwing the blankets from his body.




The pictures continued to swim around him, darting passed his head, some stopping for a moment near his face, some near his chest, but he saw each one, took in the presence of every person, every detail of their face, and every twinge in his heart.

The last picture stopped near his face, ice slowly taking over the edges. He looked at his father. Flame of hair, a stern, arrogant, yet proud look on his face. He reached his hand up to take hold but another, paler hand, grasped of the picture, taking it away from Mirai and closer to the hand's body. Mirai looked from the picture to the hand to the smirking ice like eyes.

His breath stopped short and he tried to back away from his tormentor only to be stopped as his back hit a large block of ice. He looked frantically around trying to find a way to get away.

A soft laughter filled the abyss as the figure floated towards him. "Think you could get away from me, Human?" A smirk graced his pale face and he leaned inches from Mirai's face, hands placed on the ice on either side of the demi's head. "I told you before, you're never getting away. I am constant -- you'll never be rid of me." He leaned in closer, his lips almost touching the others. "I'll always be here, Saiyan, always." He kissed Mirai hard, forcing his lips open with his tongue.

Vegeta pushed Mirai down, trying to still his flailing arms and legs. The boy screamed incoherent words and thoughts, Vegeta catching only a few words but not really understanding.

The screaming stopped and Mirai's eyes shot open, looking at the person holding him. Vegeta looked down and was about to yell something at the boy but stopped when he saw his son's eyes. The azure eyes held a haunted look filled will pain and fear. They held scars from a life filled of fighting and terror, hurt and loss.

Vegeta didn't falter. He had seen eyes that held those emotions; everyday when he looked in the mirror when he lived in space, he saw eyes of the like every minute his emotionless mask wasn't in place. He shivered inwardly at the memories those eyes brought to him. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath before opening them again and looking the boy still pinned beneath him straight in the eye. He spoke with a calm, almost caring tone. "Boy, calm down." Then he let go of the now still arms and legs of his son and stood.

Mirai let out a shuddering breath and scared pants followed. He sat up, pushing his sweat drenched locks from his forehead, and took a deep breath trying to slow his racing heart. Vegeta stood away from the bed with his arms crossed. Keeping his face neutral and his eyes hard, he waited patiently for the other to calm himself and gain his composure before demanding an explanation of his state.

Mirai's short breath continued for several minutes before he calmed enough to breathe normally. Avoiding his father's gaze he took the time to take in his surroundings. He could tell they were in Capsule Corp but where exactly he couldn't tell. He didn't remember the room in his time; of course in his time most of the building was destroyed so it wasn't surprising he didn't recognize it. He gave a quiet sigh of relief. Relief to be out of the abyss where his tormentor waited and relief to have actually made it into and out of the time stream safely.

Vegeta took the other's sigh as a go ahead. "Well, Brat?"

Mirai looked at his father, a mask set in place to hide the emotions clearly shown minutes before. They now held only a worn, tired look. "What, O'Tousan?"

So, Vegeta thought you're going to do it this way, very well. "Why are you back?" He avoided the real question; that would come later when Mirai was ready. Vegeta knew from the familiar look in his son's eye any kind of push would only result in unwelcome distance between the two; besides there were ways around that. "Come to warn us of something else?"

Mirai looked almost relieved his father chose not to ask. "No."

Then what happened to you.

He could read the question in his father's eyes.

Vegeta bit his tongue to keep from shouting out and demanding to know what happened. He took a quiet breath. "Then why?"

Mirai bit back the tears that stung at his eyes. "They're gone," he spoke softly.

"The Androids?"

"Everyone."

Vegeta's heart skipped. He spoke in a low tone. "What do you mean 'everyone'?"

Mirai looked away. "Everyone. Not a single one left. He killed them all.. to get back at me." Vegeta's hands clenched. "I thought I'd gotten him, I thought I'd killed him but ... he came back."

"Who, Trunks?" Bulma stood in the doorway. "Who came back?"