Two pairs of identical ice blue eyes stared down at her, mixing in with the darkness that was creeping into her field of vision.  She couldn't tell the difference between the two of them now---but that didn't really matter anymore.  They were the same to her, both of them equally as destructive and cruel as the other.  How cruel can one be to murder elders, lovers, small children and pregnant women?  To exterminate the human race like rats, lesser animals with no reason for living and not enough power to defend themselves.  Cruelty wasn't the word, but evil was.  The jinzouningen might have been programmed to kill Son Gokou, but they had no right to kill anyone else on this planet.

She coughed, tasting the metallic taste of blood in her mouth and drew her face into the bravest look she could muster.  She would die with honor, a proud warrior who did her best to protect the helpless people of the city.  "Kill me, kisama!  Get it over with."

The identical eyes shared a look and narrowed at her and what resembled a grin.  For a moment--just a moment--pure, unchanged fear coursed through her veins and her heart slowed to a stop, waiting for the hand of death to wrap its fingers around her throat and end her life.  The jinzouningen flicked their eyes back to her, at the exact same time, and the fear disappeared, replaced by an odd sense of peace that flooded from her heart.

Juuhachi-gou rose a hand and held it over her chest, above her beating heart.  Juunana-gou grinned maliciously at his sister, waiting for her to lunge her hand into Tayhei's chest and pull out her heart, then looked up and stared at something over Tayhei's head.  The other cyborg followed his eyes, and Tayhei could swear that she saw actual fear on their perfect faces.

In the limbo between life and death, a bright white flash caught her their eyes, and they both looked up to see a ki beam hurtling toward them in an oddly familiar fashion.  It caught the female cyborg and she hurtled away from Tayhei, slamming into a nearby rock, causing several cracks to spiderweb away from where her body had impacted.  The entire thing had taken seconds--Mere seconds.

With a heavy head, Tayhei still managed to sit up slightly and view what had happened.  When she saw him, she gasped.  He looked like he was on fire, a brightly glowing golden warrior, far more powerful than she ever imagined one could be.  It was almost as if he possessed the power of the entire universe within the oddly familiar and sharp green eyes that stared down at the jinzouningen with pure and utter hatred.  He had gone beyond Super Saiya-jin, far beyond his former limits to some new, heavenly power.  Her mouth dropped open in awe and her eyes filled with tears.  Every bone and fiber in her body knew it, it wasn't a feeling, it was a fact or life; the jinzouningen would die today, the evil and destruction would be stopped.  People would step from the underground cities into the bright sunlight, children would run in the grass and laugh with joy.  Couples would shout with delight and kiss one another, long and hard in the enjoyment of actually seeing the sun again.  They had been saved.  She had been saved.

Tayhei stumbled to her feet and gazed at Trunks in pure admiration with tears spilling down her cheeks.  It is all over, everything stops now! She shouted to herself, too weak to find her voice.

Trunks turned his eyes to her and winked with a smile before turning back to Juuhachi-gou.  A hand was lifted high, burning with energy and then he held it out to where she was crawling to her feet through the rubble of rock and released.  Juuhachi-gou looked up and saw it coming towards her, a hurtling orb of energy, so powerful it could kill her four times over; her pretty face registered shock, and then she was enveloped in light, exploding instantly into a million shards of evil and machinery.

"NEECHAN!!" Juunana-gou cried, the closest he had ever come to emotion.  He doubled over, looking as though it had been him that was hit and screamed incoherently.  He quieted suddenly, and his breathing was heard in the silence that followed, short and labored.  Then his head snapped up and he glared at Trunks with such a look of pure anger that Tayhei looked at the ground.

Juunana-gou looked over at Tayhei, who had her eyes trained on the ground beneath her, avoiding his obvious rage.  His eyes met Trunks's one last time before he spun himself around and fired a huge amount of energy at Tayhei, who never saw it coming.  It lifted her off the ground with its sheer power, and she was sent skidding along the surface of the earth, flipping sporadically.  Juunana-gou's fury increased as he howled angrily, charging at Trunks in full speed, his beautiful face carved into an ugly scowl.  His black hair flew behind him in slow motion as he flung himself at Trunks, reaching his hands out like claws at him.  "Die, temee!!"

She would rather end her own life than let him die; he was so much more than she ever could be, he had so much more to live for.  Trunks, her love, her friend, her sensei, her savior, her life.  And Yakosoku, who she could actually hear urging her on from beyond the grave, caused her to rise up tall and face her death.  Not enough strength was left in her body for anything but this, nothing came to her mind but doing this.  Tayhei felt her heart stop, then her mind jump kicked itself into action and with her last bit of strength, she raised her hands, firing a huge ki blast at the jinzouningen.  It hit him and he flew several feet into the air before ricocheting down to the earth, creating a small crater where he fell.

The dust settled around the cyborg and he stayed unmoving, half buried in the ground.  She stared across the crater at Trunks, who was looking at her with a frightened expression on his face.  It was only then that she realized she must be dying; her feet swayed gently below her, causing her knees to wobble and she fell to the earth, tasting dust.

Trunks was there in seconds, at her side, holding her up.  "Tay-chan!  Senzu!  We need to get you senzu!" He was screaming frantically, but she barely heard his voice in her ears, drowning in a sea of darkness and the sound of her own heart beating irregularly in her chest.

I gave Bulma the last senzu....There is no more....She mused.  She shook her head, causing the waves of unconsciousness to surface again, tearing her out of vision for seconds before Trunks returned in her eyes again, crying.

"Chikushoo!  What's happening to you?!"  He demanded, and she could sense hopelessness in his voice.  She was dying, and he knew it.  He would not save her this time.  It was too late for that.

"Trunks-kun." She choked out in a whispery, raspy voice, struggling to concentrate on the words that were coming out of her mouth.  "I love you.  Domo arigatou.  For everything."

“What can I do?!” He cried frantically, shaking her gently.

She smiled.  “Just breathe.”

Then she lay her head down on his chest, tears spilling down her cheeks when she realized that she would never touch him again, never hold him in her arms and feel his warmth.  She would never see him smile, his pale hair falling into his face, shielding deep blue eyes.  I will miss you Trunks, sayonara.
 

Trunks sat upright, still clutching her body in his hands.  His chest was aching and his entire body seemed as though it were on fire.  He didn't know what had happened exactly, but he felt as though his heart was being ripped out of his chest.  Dropping her gently to the ground, he stumbled to his feet and staggered away, shaking his head in denial.

"Tayhei." He whispered, turning away from her and closing his eyes.  He could hear his mother, somewhere near, sobbing.  His breathing became labored and he put a hand up to his chest, to try and feel what it felt like when a heart broke.  She was gone, and he had never expected it to hurt this much though, or to feel like this.  Knowing that he would have to spend the rest of his life all alone without her was such a horrible feeling that words couldn't even describe.

She's gone.....She's gone.....He repeated over and over again, trying to make sense of the words.

He sat down on a rock, staring at her body and breathing unsteadily.  How can I face the world now?  I can't do it alone.  He buried his face in his hands, not even flinching when he heard the sound of footsteps behind him.  He could feel his mother's presence.

"Trunks-chan....I'm sorry." She said softly, her voice cracking as she sat down next to him, placing a gentle hand on his shoulder.  “I want to let you know that life does go on.  This isn't the end, but I know it kind of feels like that."

He didn't reply, but felt tears gathering in his eyes.

"But you have to remember, there are still people that love you.  I love you.  And I don't want to lose you okay?  Everyone on Earth is thankful for what you did, but we still need your help.  You are the Earth's guardian now.  Our only protector.  I know you feel you don't want to live anymore...." She paused.  "I know I did.  But it is your duty to be strong, to live.  Tay...Tayhei would want you to." Bulma pointed out.

He remembered how her eyes would mist over with tears when she saw the destroyed forests and cities, the bodies of jinzouningen victims strewn all over the place.  His heart ached to see her face again, even to see her in tears, because even when she was sad, she was so beautiful....

"She wanted nothing more than to have Earth the way it used to be." She continued.  "I don't know about you, but I plan on making that happen for her.  Will you help me Trunks?"

Trunks let his tears fall onto his hands rapidly, as he squeezed his eyes shut, trying to will away the pain.  Bulma put a hand on his back comfortingly and his mind flew back to his childhood when he had nightmares and his Kaasan used to stay in here with him until he fell asleep again.  He knew that she wouldn't leave him to face this nightmare alone, she would be with him all the way, until the day when he would meet up with Tayhei in Heaven.  And until then, he would fulfill every wish that Tayhei had.  He would be everything she wanted.

"Will you help me?" Bulma repeated.

Flashes of Tayhei spun through Trunks's mind: her sharp green eyes, her small delicate hands, the way her lips felt when they kissed, her soft hair streaming across her shoulders as she flew through the air, the way he could feel her heartbeat fluttering like a small bird whenever he took her hand....

Her voice saying 'I love you' seemed to echo in his ears and he reached up and covered them with his hands, shaking his head rapidly, but it didn't go away, just grew softer until he could barely hear it; a whispering voice in the darkness.  He fell against Bulma and she hugged him tightly as he sobbed against her shoulder.

"I will, Kaasan....I'll do it for Tayhei."

Chapter 19
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