He moved silently through the curtain of flowering branches, lifting a hand to keep them away from his face. It was night and the buds were closed, but he could still smell the sweet scent of them mingling with the scent of the ocean. He walked up the small grassy hill to the edge of the cliff and stood there calmly, taking in the scene before him. Mirai Trunks couldn’t even remember the last time that he had seen the moon so bright and beautiful. It glistened in the smooth netting of black, surrounding by a scattering of sparkling stars. Clouds moved across it in wisps, leaving trails of black and gray behind as they caught the wind. And on the surface of the earth below, the summer moonlight touched everything --- every blade of grass, every wave on the water. Everything was glowing tonight, so brightly that he thought he might have stumbled onto the surface of the moon itself.

He settled down into a sitting position, letting his legs dangle over the edge of the cliff. Almost as if the sea itself were sleeping, the waves had dulled into a gentle lapping at the base of the cliff, sending up only the occasional spray of water. He looked out over the water, admiring the way that the moon lit a sparkling white path across the water; it almost looked as if it were beckoning him to follow it. And he could. He could very easily dive off of this cliff and let himself sink into the cool ocean water at the base of the cliff. He could let his body float out to where the path of moonlight met the black edge of the horizon, and hope to find something more real and more joyful than the life that he had led on Earth. He could give up, give in. All of his pain and suffering could end with just one simple step over this cliff. He could imagine it now --- the thrilling sensation of falling without flying, knowing that he would never open his eyes again. He could do it now, and never have to face any of the pain that waited for him back in his future world.

Mirai Trunks moved his hand slightly, and brushed away the stray strand of lavender hair that had fallen in front of his eyes. He could give up now and never have to suffer again. But the thought of that brought a soft smile to his face. He thought about the girl that he had loved, the Tayhei that he had known in the future world. Her life had been ruined by the jinzouningen as well. The only thing that she had ever loved had been taken away from her, and she had been forced to live her life completely alone for years. There must have been hard times; there must have been times when she stood in a place like this deliberating whether or not it was worth it to jump. But she never had. She had never given up. Although she knew that she would never be able to have Yakosoku back in her life again, she still did not give up. She still loved life; she was still able to look at a moon like this with that ghost of a smile on her face and say how beautiful it was. She never complained, she never wallowed in depression. She simply moved on, carrying every piece of hope and love in her heart. She had kept on living and hoping up until the very end.

And that was exactly what she would want him to do now.

He rose up from his spot on the cliff, his heart feeling surprisingly lighter. A cloud passed over the moon again, slightly shading the world for a moment as it passed on. He took another look down at the sea, and inhaled deeply, wanting to remember the fresh scent of the ocean as it was tonight. When he closed his eyes, he saw a flash of her again, standing at this very same cliff, looking as vivid and real as she had been so many years ago. And then she was gone, just as quickly as she had appeared. As he turned to leave, he cast a glance down at the ground. There were footprints in the soft sand leading into the grass down the hill --- footprints that were remarkably the same size and shape of his own. And although he had no real, solid proof, he somehow knew that his younger counterpart had been here. The younger Trunks was actually following in his footsteps, going through the same changes and experiencing the same loves and losses. Only this Trunks still had a chance to grasp all of his happiness with both hands and never let go.

Kuririn watched out through the window in terror, his body frozen solid. He had known that something was wrong from the moment that he saw that look of shock and fear cross over Mirai Bulma’s beautiful features. His chair stood abandoned and knocked over on its side on the floor; he had stood up so quickly that it had nearly skidded all the way across the room. But now that he was watching all of his most terrible fears coming true, he couldn’t even force himself to budge one inch. All he could do was watch with wide and horrified eyes as Juuhachi-gou’s heart monitor flat lined and the occupants of the operation room began to panic. And then --- as if things had not been awful enough, Juunana-gou had suddenly awakened. Juunana-gou looked absolutely, utterly inhuman as he faced Mirai Bulma. One ice blue eye glared so menacingly that Kuririn was surprised that there weren’t holes singing through the woman’s body. And the other eye had been so badly disfigured by a shard of glass that it was nothing more than a bloody mass of hanging skin and veins.

But then Juunana-gou’s line of vision suddenly changed. Instead of glaring at Mirai Bulma, the jinzouningen suddenly switched his gaze to Juuhachi-gou. And then like a punch straight into his stomach, Kuririn realized what had happened. He had heard them shouting about defense mechanisms and Dr. Gero’s plans earlier, but what they hadn’t taken into account was Juunana-gou. Dr. Gero had created both jinzouningen to be his weapons of death, and as a testament to his cruelty, he had made it so that neither of the jinzouningen would ever become human again. Juunana-gou didn’t come back to life to kill Mirai Bulma or anyone else in the room --- he came back to destroy Juuhachi-gou before she could be changed back into a real human being. That was Dr. Gero’s true protection over his machines. If the one of the jinzouningen’s computer chip was in danger of being taken out, it would automatically signal to the other android that it needed to kill.

With that sudden realization, Kuririn simply forgot about everything else. He forgot about the glass in front of him, he forgot about the fact that Vejiita was there, he even forgot his name. Within just a half a second, he had already crashed through the window and was advancing on Juunana-gou.

A rain of glass fell all around him, seeming to fall in slow motion. The glass hit the floor of the operating room and then bounced back up into the air without any sound at all, rushing past him and glinting from the florescent lights. Everything else around him blurred into a silent rush of colors --- the shining gray of metal, the pure hospital white, and the wine red of blood. All he knew was that his wife’s life was already in serious danger, and she didn’t need any other threats. He advanced upon Juunana-gou without even really seeing him. What he saw was a ghostly shadow of his brother-in-law as he last remembered him; he still looked flawless and pleasant, smiling that sardonic, arrogant smirk as he flipped long, shiny locks of black hair back from his face. He didn’t see the monster with the screaming stitches and one eye. He saw his brother-in-law for what he really was inside: a victim that just wanted escape. Someone that wanted to die. Someone that should have been dead a long time ago.

There was a quick snap from behind him, and then he felt the peculiar sensation of his feet flying out from under him. In slow motion, the floor rushed up to meet him and he was sent tumbling across his smooth surface. He skidded through the glass from the window, and felt no pain as the razor sharp edges cut through his skin. His head hit the opposite wall and everything went black for just a moment; he opened his eyes and saw the room spinning around him. The rain of glass glittered on the floor, already stained pink with blood. In a daze, he looked up to see Vejiita walk past him with his strong fists clenched at his sides. A handsome face angled towards him, dark eyes so deep and angry that they looked like nothing more than two black holes. In his daze, Kuririn swore he could see the depths of hell in those Saiya-jin eyes.

“Stay where you are!” The Saiya-jin no Ouji barked at him. “Don’t move!”

But Kuririn rose to his feet again, staggering through the mess of glass. He couldn’t see his wife --- didn’t know where she was. He could see the examination table, could see Mirai Bulma, the doctor, and the doctor’s assistant, but he couldn’t see his wife. He stumbled again, wondering why his legs weren’t working properly. He had to see his wife, had to help her somehow. He could still hear the awful sound of her heart monitor; could see the thin green line going straight across the screen without any other movement whatsoever. He shook his head to clear it and stepped through the glass again, intent on finding his wife --- on helping her. Nothing else mattered except for that. He just wanted to hold her in his arms and tell her that everything would be okay. He wanted to protect her from all of the things that he couldn’t possibly protect her from. “Juuhachi!”

Vejiita hadn’t minded flinging Kuririn across the room. Really, Kuririn had been practically begging for it for years now. Vejiita couldn’t think of anyone else who annoyed him so intensely. He had to admit that Kuririn was brave though. Stupid, but brave. If Vejiita was that weak and pathetic, there was no way that he would ever even think about taking on a very angry, very powerful Juunana-gou. But the stupid little midget had actually crashed right through the window and gone running after Juunana-gou like an angry little chipmunk, his eyes wide with fury. There had been no doubt that Kuririn had been after blood when he jumped through that window and took off after his brother-in-law. But if Vejiita hadn’t thought to grab the back of his neck and throw him out of the way, he would most likely be dead by now. Juunana-gou was angry and wounded. There was no way that he was going to go down easily. And it seemed as though the psychotic jinzouningen was dead set on killing his sister.

Juunana-gou took a flying leap towards the examination table with his bleeding hands outstretched like gruesome claws, but Vejiita was quicker. He flew through the air and batted the android aside as if he were nothing more than a ping pong ball, slamming him into the wall on the other side of the room. Juunana-gou hit the rows of shelves against the wall with a sickening crack, then sprang forward again before the shelves could even collapse. He took off towards the examination table again, with a wild and furious look in his one good eye. Vejiita didn’t even let him get close this time; as Juunana-gou sailed past him, the Saiya-jin prince whipped out a hand and closed it around the android’s throat. Juunana-gou flailed his arms and would have fell to the ground, but Vejiita held him tightly, squeezing his strong fingers so hard that his knuckles began to turn white. Then Vejiita turned up his elbow and drove Juunana-gou down into the ground with all of his strength.

The sturdy hospital tile cracked and shattered, chunks of plaster flying up into the air. With his hand still tight on Juunana-gou’s throat, Vejiita kneeled down and pressed all of his weight against the jinzouningen. Underneath his strong hands, Juunana-gou struggled viciously, spitting and cursing and kicking. Vejiita hung on tightly still, laughing at Juunana-gou’s pathetic attempts to free himself. The jinzouningen began to scream nonsense at him, his one eye growing wild and dangerous as it skittered mindlessly around in all directions in the socket. And then Juunana-gou did something that Vejiita did not expect.

The android reached out a hand and sent a burst of white energy sailing towards the examination table --- more specifically, right towards Mirai Bulma.

Not again. Not again. Not again! He wouldn’t let her die again. He couldn’t let her die again. He knew that it wasn’t the same woman; he knew that this Bulma was not the Bulma that he had loved. But it didn’t matter. He didn’t want anyone to ever have to die again when he could protect them. No one. Without even thinking, he jumped up and flew through the air. He dove at Mirai Bulma with his arms outstretched and his heart pounding relentlessly in his chest. The woman only had a split second to look up at him in surprise before he grabbed her and rolled to the ground with her. The instrument that she had been holding in her hand flew up and went sailing across the room, the metal flashing once under the fluorescent light.

The examination table burst apart instantly, and a spray of metal, plastic, and flames went shooting through the room. Vejiita turned away from it and covered Mirai Bulma the best that he could, ignoring the still of metal slicing over his back. As soon as the noise of the explosion died down, Vejiita stood and pushed Mirai Bulma away from him and into the corner. He wanted to stay there and assure that she would be alright, but he knew that Juunana-gou was still out there and still dangerous. He turned and stepped through the haze of smoke that was settling around the room now, narrowing his eyes to allow himself better vision. All he could see was the broken remains of the examination table before him, floating ghostlike in the center of the room, surrounded by a ring of small flames and a cloud of smoke.

He listened more closely to the sounds around him and heard a sudden rush of air coming at him. He barely had time to move to the side before Juunana-gou came barreling out of the smoke at him, with a jagged shard of glass held tightly in his bleeding hands. The glass caught Vejiita on the side of his arm and blood went flying up into his face, but he ignored the pain. Instead, he brought the arm up and then drove his elbow straight back into Juunana-gou’s face. The shard of glass fell to the floor and shattered as the android went flying back, his face contorted in fury. Vejiita twirled his body around and sent a hard kick straight into Juunana-gou’s chest, which drove him towards the wall. The wall cracked jaggedly and plaster began to fall, but Juunana-gou still rose up, his one eye glaring icily back at him.

Kuririn clung to Juuhachi-gou’s bandaged body numbly, ignoring the flames and smoke that surrounded them.

He knew that she was dead. He had actually felt her soul leave her body --- her real soul. All that was left her now was nothing more than an empty, but beautiful shell, just a reminder of how perfect she used to be. He refused to look down at her face. His eyes were unfocused and distant, blurred by the sheen of tears that he couldn’t help from coming. She felt so light in his arms, so cold. He had tried to make it to her in time, had tried to protect her, but he had been too late. The examination table had exploded right in front of his eyes, and he had grasped out, as if trying to catch her spirit before it could fly away and leave him again. When he had limped over to her, his body completely numb, she had been laying on her side, completely still. Her spirit had lingered for just a moment; he could feel it as it rose up, moving past him and brushing cool hands against his face --- just the way that she used to. And then it was gone. She was dead. She was dead. And his entire world died with her.

Still dazed, he lifted his head. Something was glinting there in the light of the flames. It was small and flat, about the size of a postage stamp. All along its sharp metal edges were layers of blood and flesh. A computer chip. Her computer chip.

They had taken it out of her. For one brief moment, Juuhachi-gou had been human.

Kuririn didn’t know why, but the sight of that computer chip was what stabbed into his heart more than anything. A sob escaped from his mouth and tears began to pour down his cheeks. He bent his head down and cried loudly and unabashedly, shaking his head in denial. She had been human. Just when her deepest and most desperate wish had finally come true, she had been killed. Just as her soul had finally been freed from all those long years of torture, her own brother had killed her. He sobbed again, holding Juuhachi-gou’s body closer to him as he cried. They had had a chance. For one small moment, they had had a chance to be together again and live the normal lives that they should have rightfully been given. And then it was all ripped away from him. She had been taken from him in cold blood, right before his eyes.

The sobs suddenly stopped. His tears stopped flowing instantly. Gingerly, he set Juuhachi-gou’s body aside, then stood to his feet. Seeing nothing but shades of red, he strode towards the bloody computer chip, which was lying innocently near flames. He stared at it for a long moment, not blinking. Then he lifted his heel and slammed it down onto the computer chip, reveling in the sweet sound of a shatter. Enraged, he kept slamming his foot down again and again, until there was nothing left bust a pile of dust and a cracked hospital floor. He wanted to destroy everything --- everything that had anything to do with that bastard Gero. He wanted turn it all to dust, make it all disappear. He wanted to stop the piercing sound of the heart monitor from invading his ears. He wanted his wife back. He wanted his life back.

He screamed out an incomprehensible string of curses and then turned. Vejiita and Juunana-gou were still fighting in the corner of the room. He walked towards them slowly, barely hearing the crackle of glass under his feet. When he was suitably close enough, he bent his legs down and began to gather every ounce of his energy into his heart. He let his ki flare up within him quietly, his face expressionless and dark with ashes and blood. It was funny. His entire life, he had worked tirelessly to do what was right. He had tried to be fair. He went through great lengths to be able to see the good in people, and to learn to forgive things that had happened in the past. But as he stared at Juunana-gou struggling in Vejiita’s grasp, all he saw was Dr. Gero’s mocking face. He saw the doctor laughing madly, cackling that his plan had worked out perfectly; saying that not only had he managed to kill thousands of people, but he had managed to kill love as well.

The ki within him went shooting up through his arm, which he raised high above his head. He closed his eyes and let it gather in his palm, expanding wider and wider until it was molded into a huge, glowing disc. He opened his eyes and squinted at the brightness of it, then moved his hand back slightly, aiming. Juunana-gou was not facing him now; he had turned his back on him. He could still hear Dr. Gero’s laughter in his ears. He let the disc fly off his hands, following it with expressionless, unblinking eyes. Blood sprayed. Juunana-gou’s body toppled to the ground.