By: Kureeji
With a heavy sigh, Bulma gently shut the door of Chichi's room behind her. The woman was so confused, stuck between her loyalty to her best friend, or Pan. Chichi's wishes clearly were to go peacefully, to finally be together with Goku. She let a small smile grace her face. Who wouldn't miss him? Goku had always had a certain light about him, something that brought anyone's spirits up.
"So, where's Chi---my grandmother?" Bulma jumped as the voice of Pan startling her. She exhaled, putting her hand over her heart.
"You scared me Pan. Lord." Blinking, she tried to calm her heart.
Pan smiled sheepishly, the mischievous glint of her grandfathers dancing in her eyes. "Gomen, Bulma-san." She tiptoed over Bulma's shoulder, spying the door she had just left. "I'm going to go talk to her, k?" She bounced over to the door, no doubt excited.
"Um Pan?" Bulma said hesitantly. "Just go slowly, she has had
a hard day."
Pan nodded, and entered the door.
The room smelled…strange. The moment she walked in, Pan's nose picked up the soft smell of…something. It was a scent she had smelled before, long ago. If she could only grasp it…
"Oh hello, dear." Chichi smiled in Pan's general direction. "Come
on over here." She patted her bed.
Pan didn't move. Something wasn't right…and the smell. Strange.
"What's going on, 'baasan?" She asked stonily, eyes scanning the
room.
Chichi blinked, surely she couldn't know…?
"N..nothing, I don't think Pan." She knew by the look of Pan's face she didn't believe her. And she kept sniffing the air, wrinkling her little nose quizzically. "What do you smell dear?" She asked the raven haired teenager.
Pan didn't answer, but slowly turned her head towards Chichi. She blinked once,
as if something had just dawned on her. Recognition.
The memory swam to Pan like a wisp of smoke, smothering her other senses. The
memory was a bad one, the smell was associated with many buried things. Her
eyes were grave, as she answered.
" I smell…death."
It was dark inside her mind. Dark. Even now she knew the place she was in was
flooded with light, but still, it was dark. And the smell…what a curious
one. She had always known she was different, her young mind would not let her
forget. Her senses were different from the sparse children she met, as if she
was always one step ahead of them, or could feel or sense something they could
not. It was the same with her more normal senses, sight and smell. She could
smell if someone was bad, if a presence was up to no good.
"Pan!" Her mother's voice flooded into the woods behind tonight's "house." With a happy smile, the child ran into the shack, licking her lips, forgetting her thoughts of darkness. Her mother assured her they were only daydreams, and weren't real.
"Yum!" She looked at the deer she had caught. She had heard it, and her mother had looked at her in surprise when she had dragged the animal back for cooking, all by herself.
"Yep! Eat up, Pan." Videl said, ruffling her daughters hair. Just as she was about to eat a leg, Pan sniffed. There it was. That strange smell. A foreboding washed over her, the scent chilled her. She could feel a smothering presence, a force even her senses couldn't pinpoint. With a slight whimper, she caught a glance of something black out of the corner of her eye. A black…person? No, person in a…black cloak. It disappeared. She looked around frantically searching for the being. She couldn't find it.
"Pan what are you---" Her mothers voice cut short, as she bent over in pain. She gasped for air for a few seconds, and Pan grabbed her arm.
"What's wrong mommy? What's wrong!?" She led her to a chair.
Videl huffed a little. "It's the baby, Pan, don't worry, just get me some pillows and blankets…it'll be ok" She smiled a little, face pale.
Pan smiled inside. The baby was coming! Her mommy was going to be ok, just
like she said. She tugged at a pillow and blanket, when the scent assaulted
her senses once again., She saw it out of the corner of her eye, the black cloak…and
a glint of…silver? It was one of those…farm things, those blades…
When she looked back, it was once again gone. She shook it off, and scrambled
back to her mother with the blankets.
"Don't be silly Pan." She told her mind. "What kind of person
would carry around a silver sickle anyway? Everyone knows that wouldn't hurt
the androids." She laughed at her suspicions.
Bah. Figures in black cloaks with sickles.
Chichi watched her granddaughter, startled, a chill running down her spine.
Smell death? But how did she…?
"Why did you not say anything to me?" Pan asked, face set in a grim
scowl.
"I…didn't know dear…" Chichi answered, truthfully. She wrung her hands nervously. Saiyajins…hmmph! As if super powers and monster sized stomachs weren't enough, Kami-sama had to grace them with a sixth sense too? Hah! No wonder they were extinct.
Pan laughed a short bitter laugh. God, how ironic. All her life she had searched for family, and the info was always an inch too far away to grasp. Here was her grandmother, right next to her, in the flesh, and she was unobtainable. How morbidly ironic.
"So you are leaving me too now?" She looked back at Chichi, eyes sad.
Chichi looked away. "I am going to Goku."
Ah, even better. Her super hero grandfather strikes again. She sighed.
"Ok then…" She ran her hand through her hair, a few angry tears streaking her face.
"Pan I want you to understand, no one has really ever left you---"
"Goodbye, Son Chichi." Pan cut her off bitterly. She ran out of the room, slamming the door.
The day it happened, she was with Trunks, as she often was. The sky was a light
blue, clear and happy, and her giggles rang out, twined with his soft laugh.
They were spread out on the grass, looking at the clouds, as he and Gohan had
once done in peaceful times.
"That is not a frog Trunks." Pan laughed, indicating the cloud he was talking about.
"Yeah, I guess not…more like a mountain." His hair tickled her cheek.
"How did you get from a frog to a mountain?" She asked, giggling. "It looks more like Vegeta's hair…"
Trunks laughed his calm laugh. She listened to it rumble in his throat. She was happy, content in the arms of Trunks, being silly. She really hadn't done that in her teen years, they had been spent trying to…stay alive. He played with her hand silently, contemplating the sky. She peeked at him from the corner of her eye, at his small smile, and how shy he was. He had been hard to open up to. She saw the pain of loosing so many others, just as she had, in his eyes. They really didn't ask much of each other, only for one to be able to hold the other when they fell.
It was in the middle of Trunks quiet laughter that she felt it. She felt him
stiffen, his breath suck in. She gripped his hand silently, and as the cool
wind blew, felt her grandmother's ki slipped away. She didn't move, but only
sat, listening to the last echoes of Chichi's ki in her mind, and then listened
to the silent void that filled up her ki signature's space.
It was one of those times, when one was falling.
Trunks held her head to his chest, and rocked gently, while Pan fell.
2 Years later
The red haze of the sun barely peeked over the battered rooftops of Satan City.
It was getting late, but Pan sat on her perch above the city, just as she had
the day she had first met Trunks, the day she had learned who she was.
Her hair was longer now, down to her waist. The black locks blew in the wind, twirling around gently. She ran a finger down the cool stone, caressing it's soft gray lettering, over the symbol that tied them all together: a heart.
It was the tiny heart between her mother and father's name that had started her journey to find out her past, herself. It was only right to end it that way.
She turned gently, and walked back to where Trunks was waiting for her. He said nothing, but just smiled the reassuring smile he had for her. Hand in hand, they started the journey back to Capsule Corp., the cool wind blowing his purple and her black hair together, entwining the strands.
The bracelet sparkled on Pan's wrist, the same old tale, but with one exception.
Added, were two names:
Trunks And Pan
And Between them, was a heart.
Two Lives, One Heart.
Dear Readers:
Throughout the…months that it has taken me to write this story, it changed
and grew a lot.
Originally, I was a "newbie" author(aren't I still, ha ha ha!), with
no experience, and no real idea about what I was doing. ^^ When TLOH started
to pick up, I was so surprised. I never thought I would get more than 10 reviews
for it! I hadn't really sat down and thought about where the story was going
or how it would end. Especially not how it would end. Heck! I was having problems
with starting it, lol!
If you really want to know, this is the only story I have actually finished.
Yep, sad but true! I write so many starts and get caught up in all the possibilities,
what could happen, and have so much fun writing them. It kind of makes me sad
to make them end.
I guess it was really romantic for me in my head to see Trunks and Pan walking
off into the sunset, hair entwined with the breeze, and Chichi's grave standing
proud. I think there is supposed to be some sort of symbolism there ^^ I think
about it like this: Pan is on a journey, whether she realizes it or not. Isn't
that what life is? A journey! She was lost in a devastated world, trying to
find out who she was and where she fit in. I’m not sure if I portrayed
that well, but I tried! Originally, it was just going to be a simple T/P story…I
don't think it ended up like that though lol! Trunks and Pan's romance in this
story is a bit neglected ^^
I think it ended well, I think I managed to tie it up. I was trying to use the
symbolism of the bracelet and all that, hehehe. One thing that inspired this
was this quote:
"Can miles truly separate us from friends? If we want to be with someone
we love aren't we already there?"
Richard Bach
Pan needed to learn that, and that no one had left her at all, they were with her all along.
So did you like it? I'm glad this "newbie" author was able to fool you good enough, into thinking she could write good and knew what she was doing, ha ha ha!
Until I can fool you again, (hehehe)
Kureeji