Hesitantly, the little girl stared at her, her eyes wide. Mirai Bulma simply could not believe how much the little girl looked like her. She had not been prepared for this: seeing the daughter that she had never been able to have. She had spent so many nights wondering what it would have been like to have a daughter just like this. Wondering what it would be like to have a beautiful, charming daughter that looked exactly like her. It was what she had always wanted: a tiny, adorable little girl that she could sing to sleep at night and take shopping with her around town. She had always longed to have a daughter that she could wrap up in her arms and hold, a daughter whose hair she would brush at night before she tucked her into bed. She often thought of what she could have had if Vejiita hadn’t died and all of the things that they could have shared. But she never thought that she would get to see it happen. She never would have imagined being faced with one of her dreams in such a way. She had gone back into time only to find that all of her dreams and hopes had finally been realized.

As Bulma stared at the little girl, she choked back a sob, tears forming in her eyes. These dreams had finally come true, but not for her. This was not her little girl, and she never would be. She would never be able to hold this daughter in her arms or brush her hair or sing her to sleep. She belonged to someone else. She was someone else’s dream. And it tore Bulma’s heart into shreds.

She and the little girl stared at each other for a long while, both of them struggling to fight back tears. The little girl’s chin began to tremble softly as she stared at her, her blue eyes looked huge and watery, the color of the deepest ocean. Her tiny little body began to quake and she kept gasping back sobs as she stared. After a long moment, in which the older woman found herself completely unable to speak, the tears in the little girl’s eyes finally spilled over and onto her cheeks. She spread her arms out wide, and then ran directly at Bulma, tears trailing behind her.

“Mama!” She cried, and she threw her arms around Mirai Bulma’s leg. Sobs wracked her little body and she shuddered against her, crying softly.

It was too much for Mirai Bulma to handle, and she placed a hand over her mouth, closing her eyes to let the tears slip down. She wanted this. She wanted this life so bad that it physically hurt her. The world was so perfect and untouched here. All of the people that she loved were still alive and well. The cities still stood tall and proud. And there was a little girl here that was hers --- the daughter that she would never get to hold in her arms. As much as it hurt her, as hard as it was, this would never be hers. She would never be able to have any of this. As much as she would like to pick the girl up and hold her in her arms, she couldn’t. She would be completely fooling herself and filling herself with false hope. And it would only hurt her more if she pretended that all of this was hers --- she simply couldn’t do that. Blindly, her hand found its way to the little girl’s head and she smoothed the turquoise hair away from her forehead. Watery blue eyes looked up at her, showing nothing but pure adoration and love.

It took all of her heart and strength to say it. “I’m not your mother.”

She had to force herself to turn away from the little girl’s devastated face, concentrating instead on the bushes that lined the edge of Capsule Corporation. “I’m sorry, but I’m not your mother.”

Her son placed a comforting hand on her shoulder, and when she looked over at him, she found that his eyes were misted with tears as well. She knew that he hated to see her upset. He also probably knew that she would not be able to explain everything to this little girl --- the daughter that she would never have. Because he knew she could not do it on her own and because he always seemed to take care of her, he told the little girl himself. He bent down and crouched on his heels, turning the little girl’s chin to face him. Bulma watched as his features drew into a warm, comforting, soft smile. It was this patient, wonderful smile that he used when he taught students at his martial arts school, or when he ran into children on the street. He was so wonderful with them, so warm and caring. Again, Bulma felt sad at the fact that he would never have any children of his own. Trunks would have made a wonderful father. His sky blue eyes still shining with tears, he gently pulled her away from Bulma’s leg, holding her tiny hand in his.

“This isn’t your Okaasan.” He explained to her in a gentle, patient voice. “I know it looks a lot like her, but it isn’t the same person. This nice lady and I are from the future world. We just came to visit your family.”

“Not Okaasan?” She asked, her chin quivering again.

He shook his head sadly. She watched him for a moment, then turned her eyes to Bulma again. There were still tears in her little eyes and she sniffled softly, looking down to stare at the grass. She looked as though she were trying to understand the situation and failing miserably. Her chin was still quivering and she looked like she was going to burst into tears any moment. Bulma almost said something; she wanted to do whatever she could to soothe the little girl. But in a sudden motion, she wrenched her tiny hand away from her son’s and ran towards the front door.

A boy stood in the doorway there, staring at them with a pensive look on his handsome face. She had been so occupied with the girl that she hadn’t even noticed him standing there. With the way that his arms were crossed and the way that his eyes were narrowed, he looked startlingly familiar. It was Trunks, of course, but he reminded her so much of Vejiita that it was uncanny. She had always wondered what her son would have been like if he had grown up with Vejiita. She never thought that he would have turned out the same way, but she wasn’t prepared for how different this boy would be. He didn’t appear to have her son’s soft heart or wounded spirit. He was simply the boy that Trunks would have been if he had lead a normal life; the usual teenage boy. It made her smile to see him, to see what her son could have been if fate had given them a different kind of life. This boy before them was what she had wanted for her son. His lavender hair fell into his eyes as he stared at them and he made no move when the little girl pushed past him and ran into the house.

Trunks was certain that he might be losing his mind. He had heard a bit of a disturbance and a number of voices outside so he had gone to check it out and make sure that Bra was okay. And when he stepped through the door, he found….himself. And his mother, though he knew that it couldn’t be possible. And yet, they were standing there in his own front yard, talking to his little sister. He had been completely shocked, of course, but recovered quickly. There was no use gaping at them. Obviously upset, his sister had run away from them and past him into the house. That was fine. He would have to comfort her later, but not until he knew what was going on. He simply needed to think of a reasonable explanation about what was going on. Unfortunately, his mind had ceased to function the second he walked out the door. All he could do was stumble out the first question that came to his mind.

“What’s going on?” He asked.

The copy of him had been crouched on the ground, but as he spoke, the man straightened up and met his eyes. He looked a little uncomfortable, and if he didn’t know better, he’d swear he saw the beginnings of tears in his eyes. The stranger ran a hand through his lavender locks self-consciously. The hair was just a bit longer than his own, but there was no doubt that it was the same hair. And the eyes were slightly darker and deeper, but they were still his eyes. It was definitely him. Trunks spent enough time looking in the mirror to be completely sure of what he looked like. And though he couldn’t think of any explanation for it, he was staring at himself.

“I’m….you. From the future.” The stranger finally said and he motioned to the woman that looked exactly like the mother that he had just recently lost. “And this is my mother. We came back in the time machine, just like I did a long time ago. You were just a baby then, I don’t expect you to remember anything about that.”

So that was it. Mirai Trunks had returned again from the future. And he had brought along his mother this time as well. Trunks nodded to himself, but felt immediately saddened. They couldn’t have picked a worse time to come back from the future. So many things had happened with his family lately; he wasn’t sure if they could take another drama or not. But that was the way that life worked sometimes. Just when you thought things could not possibly get any worse, they did. He remembered the night when his mom had told him all about Mirai Trunks as a bedtime story. He had been thrilled to know that he had saved the world --- even if it was the future version of himself. He had always thought of Mirai Trunks as a hero, a great legend that only lived on in his mother’s heart. But here he was, standing in his own front yard, looking into his eyes.

As for the woman….He wasn’t even sure if he could bring himself to look her in the eye. It was simply too soon. His mother had just died, and he certainly wasn’t ready to see the future version of her here. It was comforting to feel her presence again, but he knew that it was not the same person. And because he knew that it was not the same person, it was even more of a disappointment. Again, he thought that the two of them couldn’t possibly have picked a worse time to go back in time. The whole family was still grieving over his mother’s death, and being faced with this Mirai Bulma was going to make the process even harder. Just looking at the soft turquoise hair and familiar smile was enough to make him want to burst into tears. He briefly wondered if his father had noticed that they were here yet.

“I don’t remember anything, but I do know about it.” Trunks told him. “You came to warn us about the coming of the jinzouningen, then came again to help fight them. My mother told me about all about it when I was about Bra’s age.”

Mirai Bulma spoke up. “Bra?”

As hard as it was, he did in fact meet her eye. “Bra is my little sister --- The little girl that just went running into the house. Don’t worry about her --- Her heart mends fast. She will warm up to you eventually. I think she just must have been scared. She must have thought that you were Okaasan.”

The woman nodded and tilted her head. “Where is she, by the way? Your mother?”

Trunks swallowed hard and his heart felt like it had fallen straight to the ground. It was not going to be easy to tell her this. It wasn’t even easy for him to say it. Just thinking about it was still hard on him, let alone saying it out loud. For some reason, nothing ever seemed real until he had said it spoke the words. It was the same with his mother’s death. Coming back home and having to tell everyone what had happened to her was one of the hardest things that he’d ever had to do in his life. He just wasn’t ready. It wasn’t just the fact that his mother had died --- it was the fact that she had died in such an awful, violent way. It was not easy to explain to people what had happened to her because not even he had come to grips with it yet. No one had. His entire family was still struggling to grasp what had happened. He hadn’t even told Bra the whole story yet. Her little ears were far too young and sensitive to hear what had really happened to their mother. Plus, it would be so hard to say those words to her and watch her cry. Just telling her that their mother was dead had been hard enough. He didn’t think he could have handled telling her anything more.

“She….” His voice faltered for a moment, then quickly picked back up. “She was killed a couple of months ago.”

Mirai Bulma looked horrified and she stared at him with wide blue eyes and her mouth hanging open. Obviously she had not expected to hear something like that. She had come here expecting to see everyone that she knew still alive and well. Unfortunately, fate seemed to be working against the woman. She lifted her hands to her chest, clasping them in prayer position. “What? How? Why?”

It was then that Trunks noticed they were still standing out on the lawn and it was already dark outside. Not that he was eager to talk about the situation of his mother’s death, but it might be easier to do when he was comfortable and relaxed in his own home. He was not the best host in the world, but he was going to try and show a lot of courtesy to them. He would invite them to stay at Capsule Corporation with them, and he would put on a brave face and tell them everything that he could. That was what his mother would have done if she were here now. She would have welcomed them with open arms and a smile on her face. And that was exactly what he was going to do.

“Why don’t we go inside and talk about it?” He suggested. “Forgive me for not inviting you in sooner, but it was quite a shock for me to see you here. It’s not every day that I waltz out the front door and find a future version of myself standing in my yard.”

“How did I die?”

It had come as a shock to her. A devastating shock, for she had been looking forward to meeting the other version of herself and comparing notes and diagrams for inventions. She wanted to hear about what the other Bulma’s life had been like --- what her own life could have been like. She wanted to talk about Vejiita and discover new things about him that she had never known; things that she couldn’t possibly have learned during their amazingly short period of time together. Knowing that she wouldn’t be able to do that was like a punch straight in the stomach. At the same time, though….There was a tiny part of her that was secretly relieved. A tiny part of her felt as though she might actually get to live the life of her dreams and be happy once again. She felt terrible for what that tiny part of her was thinking, so she desperately tried to push it away and concentrate instead on what Trunks was saying to her.

They were sitting in the living room of Capsule Corporation; the house that looked exactly like the one that had been destroyed by the jinzouningen. The furniture had been changed and rearranged and there were different pictures lining the walls, but it was still her house. It even smelled the same and she immediately felt comfortable there, remembering the days that she used to sit around on the couch and look through fashion magazines while the boys trained outside. She remembered her and Vejiita’s room and the room that she had when she was a girl. She would have to take a tour of the house later and see what had changed and what had still remained the same.

“Okaasan was killed on a mission to another planet. One of the inhabitants there murdered her.” He paused for a moment and looked down. Her heart went out to him when she saw him struggling for words. “I’ll have to tell you more about that later. It….It just happened and it’s kind of hard for me to talk about right now.”

She nodded empathetically. “I understand.”

“We’re not in any kind of danger, are we? I hate to think of you as the bearer of bad news, but the last time you came back we were in serious trouble.”

Her son smiled at the younger version of himself. “No, you’re not in any danger. We actually just came back to visit. The jinzouningen of the future world have been destroyed, and we are in the process of rebuilding the cities that had been ruined. Both of us needed a bit of a break and wanted to come back to see all of the people that we used to know. Also, Okaasan was hoping to get some information on the jinzouningen of this timeline.”

The boy shot her a puzzled look. “What for?”

She smiled. At least there was one thing here that she could still accomplish. She was half looking forward to speaking with the androids. The other half of her was terrified, but she was going to ignore that part. She had to be brave if she wanted to find out the things that she needed to know. And she felt the jinzouningen owed it to her and the future world to share as much with her as they possibly could. “Well, Trunks told me that the jinzouningen here are not any kind of a threat to mankind. That means that they are a probable source of research for what I’ve been looking into back home. I was just hoping to get some information about why Dr. Gero did what he did and gain some understanding about what happened to our future world. Also, I stumbled upon some old files of Dr. Gero’s and found some things that might be of interest to the jinzouningen of this timeline.”

“That seems understandable.” He said, nodding. “Juuhachi-gou and Juunana-gou aren’t the most friendly people in the world, but I’m sure they’d at least be willing to talk to you. I know for a fact that they don’t remember anything, though. Whatever happened before they became androids is a mystery. Juuhachi-gou is probably the one that you should talk to. She ended up marrying Kuririn sometime after Cell was destroyed and she is the one that I’m most familiar with.”

Her son grinned and let out a little chuckle. “They actually got married?”

“Hai.” The boy told him. They shared a matching grin, their sky blue eyes twinkling identically. “They have a daughter as well. Marron must be about fifteen or sixteen years old by now.”

“What about everyone else?” Bulma asked, eager for some more gossip.

“Well, Gokuu and ChiChi had another son, Goten. He’s a year younger than I am and we’re really close friends. We’ve been through a lot together.” The boy told her, then trailed off, as if thinking of something. “Gokuu would be really happy to see you. I should give him a call.”

Astounded, she stared at him with amazed blue eyes. Her heart was pounding in her chest and she stop the delighted smile from forming on her lips. When Trunks came back to the future, he had told her that Gokuu had died during a fight with cell and hadn’t been wished back. So the news that he was here on Earth now was absolutely amazing to her. She could scarcely believe her ears.

“Son-kun is still alive?!” She cried.