The flight above the world was magical. Even a person as jaded and apathetic as Tayhei couldn’t help but look around her in awe as they flew across the sky. The sun had just crested the hills in the distance, and its blinding rays were trailing lazily over the earth, sparkling and turning as the sun moved higher and higher into the air. It hadn’t begun to grow unbelievably hot yet, though. The sun was bright and strong, but the wind was still cool against her skin, rushing past her face like gentle fingers tips as they flew. She didn’t think she’d ever felt so weightless and free, and had to strongly resist the temptation to spread her arms out like a bird and closing her eyes --- she wanted to know what it felt like to be able to lift off the ground on her own free will, flying up into the sky and knowing that she was in complete control. She envied the rest of them sometimes, knowing that they had command of the skies, while she was still stuck on the ground, merely watching. But for now, she could settle with flying as a passenger, with strong capable hands holding onto her waist.

Ahead of her, Mirai Trunks flew quickly through the air, holding Bra tightly in his arms. She could hear the little girl giggly madly as they went through a tumbling loop in the sky. Her short turquoise ponytail was flying behind her like a little flag, curls rippling in the wind. And just as Tayhei had been tempted to do, Bra was holding her arms out to the sides like a bird. She didn’t blame her for being excited and happy. It wasn’t every day that a little girl got to fly through the air like this, on the way towards an exciting adventure. Mirai Trunks seemed to sense this, and he was doing his best to show Bra just how amazing flying through the air could be. The future warrior dipped and dived and high speeds, with an uncharacteristic grin on his handsome face, thriving on the delighted screams and giggles of his passenger.

In the arms of the younger Trunks, she flew a much steadier course; they were headed straight towards their destination, flying at speeds that Tayhei had only dreamt about. She expected to feel chained and trapped, just as she had the last time that Trunks had carried her up into the air. But it had been different then; they had been chasing after death, flying through a snow storm, and weighted down by grief. She didn’t feel cold and sad this time, and she certainly didn’t feel like they were heading towards something worse than a thousand Saiya-jin soldiers. She just felt warm. And content. They weren’t on Sukuashi anymore; they were here, a place where she was safe. There was something in the way that Trunks’s strong hands held onto her, something in the way that had bent his head down so close to hers. She remembered the way that she had felt when he had first let his hands slide around her waist, quietly gripping onto her with a serious look on his handsome face. She didn’t know what it was exactly, but it made her heart start to ache fiercely in her chest with a feeling that was midway between blinding fear and delicious exhilaration.

He had been quiet ever since they left Capsule Corporation. She could hear him breathing into her ear, gentle brushes of air against her that sent chills running down her spine. But he hadn’t spoken a word to her since they had leapt off the ground and into the sky. She wondered what the reason was for his sudden lack of vocal capabilities, but decided that it didn’t really matter to her anyway. It shouldn’t matter, at least. But as they flew on in complete silence, it began to bother her more and more. She honestly would have preferred him to be calling her names and giving her death threats than having this thick blanket quietness surround them. The silence gave her time to think, and every time she began to think, Trunks managed to innocently wander into her mind. She started thinking about how nice it felt to be held --- how much she really needed to be held. And then she started thinking about how nice it felt to be held by him. How pure and right it felt to have his hands firmly holding onto her waist, his fingers lightly grazing the bottom of her ribcage.

Slowly, she turned her head to the side, lifting a hand to hold the stray strands of golden hair out of her face. His gaze met hers instantly, eyes the exact same color as the sky that surrounded them. There was a stabbing feeling in her chest then, and she suddenly felt as though they were falling, even though she knew that they were still flying steadily through the air. A million questions floated through her head, each quickly followed by an even longer list of fears. Knowing your destiny didn’t make it any easier to live your life --- it just made each moment of each day seem like another step towards something even more frightening and difficult. She knew now that she and Trunks were attached by some sort of invisible cord of fate; it had been this way since before they had even met. But that didn’t mean that she was willing to accept it. It didn’t mean that she was willing to give him her heart, knowing that she would only be hurt again. Love, whether destined or not, always ended in pain. They stared at each other for a long while, with matching expressionless faces and unblinking eyes. Then Tayhei turned away from him, looking down at the ground that was rushing past them.

Knowing your destiny just meant that you had time try and run away from it.

When the tall, thin tower finally came into view, Mirai Trunks sped up. He held onto Bra tighter and rushed through the air, anxious to finish the mission that he was on and get to the hospital. Although he had tried to act positive for his younger counterpart, he had a very bad feeling that something had gone wrong with the surgery. He and his mother shared a very deep connection, and he was almost always able to sense when she was upset or in danger. And at the moment, he could practically feel his mother’s tears. She was upset about something --- really upset about something. He wasn’t sure what was happening with the jinzouningen, but he felt pretty positive that something had happened. And judging by the way that his heart was reacting, he knew that it probably wasn’t something good at all. He didn’t want to scare the others though, especially not Bra. He thought it was best just to not mention his concerns, at least until they reached the hospital and found out for themselves what had happened. He could still feel his mother’s ki burning strong, and that was really all he cared about at the moment. If something had gone wrong with the surgery, it could be amended, but his mother’s life was very important to him.

He changed directions in the air and suddenly began to fly upwards, along the side of the tower. Shooting a glance below him, he saw that Trunks and Tayhei were following close behind. He smiled at them encouragingly, and then turned his gaze upwards, concentrating on the endless line of the tower that disappeared high into the clouds above them. He had to admit that part of him wished that he had gotten to go on this journey with just Tayhei alone, but probably wouldn’t have been a wise idea. His younger counterpart was already incredibly mistrustful of him, and probably wouldn’t appreciate it if he and Tayhei snuck off together again. Plus, although he still had things that he wanted to say to her, it would really only hurt him further to talk to her. It wasn’t healthy for him to dwell on the things that he knew were impossible. It wouldn’t do him a bit of good to stare into those beautiful green eyes. It would only make him wish even harder for the Tayhei that he had loved. And at this point in time, he really didn’t need that.

After what seemed like hours, he finally saw a tiny speck of white looking down at him from the ledge of the tower balcony: Korin. He sped up even further, inducing another round of delighted giggles from Bra. In his future world, he had visited the enigmatic white cat many times; he was pummeled to near death almost every day by the jinzouningen, and had to have some way to recover quickly. Korin must have supplied him with hundreds of senzu beans over the years, but the smiling cat never seemed to mind too terribly. Korin had always been able to anticipate his visits in the future world, so he wasn’t at all surprised to see him now, looking as though he had been waiting all along for them to come. He flew up until he reached eye level with Korin and rearranged Bra so that she was sitting on his shoulders. Trunks and Tayhei appeared beside him, both of their faces expressionless. Korin’s small hand tapped on his walking stick a couple of times in silence, and for the first time, Mirai Trunks noticed that Korin was smiling. In fact, the cat looked as though he were quite upset about something.

“There will be no need for senzu today.” He told them finally in his usual, gravelly tone. His whiskers twitched slightly. “Dende would like a word with you. It’s urgent, he said.”

Mirai Trunks felt his stomach immediately drop. He had been having a bad feeling in his heart all day long, and Korin’s simple words only confirmed his worst fears. If Korin said that there would be no need for senzu beans, that most likely meant that the jinzouningen had not made it through the surgery. He frowned deeply, a crease appearing between his eyebrows. The disappointment of it struck him hard --- not that he cared about the lives of the jinzouningen themselves; he still hadn’t been able to forgive them for what had happened in his own world. But he felt horrible for Juuhachi-gou’s family, and for his mother as well. He knew that his mother had wanted things to work out so badly. That was probably why he could feel her sadness and her frustration so clearly. She had needed this surgery to go well in order to be able to feel better about herself again. And now that the jinzouningen had not made it, she was going to be crushed. His mother hated letting people down. Her entire life in the future world revolved around helping others build their lives back up and giving them second chances. She hadn’t been able to do that here, and it was probably killing her.

“Thanks.” He told the cat softly, then glanced over at Trunks and Tayhei, who were looking just as grim as he felt. They all knew just how damning Korin’s words had been. Even if the jinzouningen were still alive, it still sounded bad. And he doubted that anything good could come from the heavy frown that had been on the small cat’s face. He removed Bra from his shoulders and held onto her waist again, knowing that they were in for another long flight. It would take them awhile before they could scale the rest of the tower and reach Dende. The height of the tower had been made daunting for a reason; they didn’t want unwanted guests. If you couldn’t handle making it to the top of the tower, then you didn’t certainly didn’t belong up there with the Earth’s deity. Together, they all took off into the air again, at a higher speed this time. His younger counterpart flew even with him, his shoulder a mere arm’s length away.

“Something must have happened.” Trunks observed with thoughtful sky blue eyes. He shouted over the rush of wind, his brows drawing together in concern. “It isn’t every day that we’re summoned by a deity. Dende probably wanted to tell us the news before we went to the hospital and caused them even more grief. I just knew that there was something wrong. I’ve had a bad feeling ever since I woke up this morning. It really comes as no surprise, though. The whole surgery was risky to begin with.”

Mirai Trunks said nothing. He just hoped that whatever Dende had to say, he made it quick. If his mother was upset, then he really needed to be there for her. He should have just gone with his first instinct and went to the hospital when he started feeling as though something had gone wrong. Despite the huge amount of strength that existed in his mother’s heart, she could be awfully fragile at times. And he had always been there to comfort her before --- in their future world, he was all that she had. He knew that Vejiita was there with her too, but he didn’t exactly view Vejiita as a likely candidate for comfort. If anything, the Saiya-jin prince was probably telling her how stupid she had been for even trying, and making her feel worse.

Gritting his teeth, he flew onwards.

Dende was waiting for them when they arrived, holding his hands behind his back. Tayhei eyed him suspiciously. He was a Namek as well, though he had not quite attained the height that Piccolo had. Instead of Piccolo’s loose fighting pants and a turban, Dende wore a dark cloak and carried a walking stick. His face was much younger, and much kinder, but still the same shade of deep green. She narrowed her eyes at him when he looked at her, and noted that the expression on his face didn’t change one bit. He was still staring at them with soft, kind eyes and a small frown. He looked as though he had been expecting them this whole time, standing calmly on the shining white floor. In the distance, there were a few grand buildings that created something of a palace, with bright shades of red and blue.

Trunks set her down on the shining white floor, letting his fingertips linger just a bit too long on her waist. He turned to Dende and immediately fired a question at him. He obviously didn’t want to waste any time here. “Something went wrong with the surgery, didn’t it?”

“Yes.” Dende answered quietly, obviously not wanting to waste any time either. His brow furrowed slightly as he looked at them and his kind eyes took on a tinge of sadness, but he remained standing tall and firm. “Unfortunately, both Juunana-gou and Juuhachi-gou died in the early hours of the morning. The surgery itself went very well up until a certain point. But it seems as though Dr. Gero had programmed something in their minds involving a similar situation. As soon as Juuhachi-gou was in danger of being a complete human being again, Juunana-gou awakened with an order to kill. He ended up succeeding in his mission, and was disabled by Kuririn shortly afterwards. Everyone else is alive and well, but a bit distraught.”

Mirai Trunks pressed a hand to the side of his temple, looking distressed and frustrated. His sky blue eyes narrowed in a mixture of sadness and anger. “I can’t believe the surgery failed.”

“It didn’t fail as much as you might imagine.” Dende corrected evenly, moving slightly to hold his walking stick out in front of him. Long green fingers curled gently around the handle, standing out sharply against the deep mahogany colored wood. “Moments before Juuhachi-gou was killed, the last piece of Dr. Gero’s evil programming was removed from her. Mirai Bulma did succeed in changing her back into a real human being, if only for a short while. Unfortunately, Juunana-gou killed her before she could regain consciousness.”

Tayhei couldn’t believe it either; her mind was still reeling in shock from all of the horrible things that Dende was saying. She had known that Mirai Bulma was going to have troubles trying to change the jinzouningen back into normal human beings. A scientist as cruel and evil as Dr. Gero would never allow a way for his experiments to be undone. If what Dende said was true, Mirai Bulma and her surgeon had made incredible progress, but the effort was truly in vain. It was disheartening to know that Juuhachi-gou had in fact been completely human before she died. It just made the ordeal even more of a tragedy. The irony of it was enormously disgusting. It was almost as if Dr. Gero had planned all of this out. Hatred for the evil doctor began to burn like wildfire in her chest. It was his fault that Juuhachi-gou’s family was going to be alone now, his fault that everyone in Mirai Trunks’s timeline had died. He had truly been an awful, evil man. Unfortunately, that evil had been successful. He had managed to carry out all of the cruelty and horror that he had meant to carry out.

Her thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a persistent ringing. Without even thinking, she quickly dipped her hand into her pocket and pulled out her phone, flipping it open and holding it up to her ear. “Yes?” There was a loud fizzing sound, and then a small voice came over the line, sounding very far away. “Tayhei, this is Marron. I just thought you might like to know that we’ve just found the last dragonball. We are on our way back to Capsule Corporation now. We can probably make the wishes there.”

Tayhei’s heart sank slightly. Marron sounded so excited and happy; she obviously did not know what had happened to her mother and Juunana-gou. She knew that the news was simply going to crush the girl; her mother was obviously very important to her, as well as her uncle. It made her think back to the unspeakable horror and grief she had felt when her own little sister had finally died, and the awful pain in her chest that made it feel as though her entire body were engulfed in flames. She didn’t want to have to tell Marron the news. No matter how much Marron had annoyed her in the past, she didn’t want to be the one to break the girl’s heart. Besides, she didn’t even think that she would be able to get the words out anyway. But the girl needed to know, and if she wasn’t going to be the one to tell her, then someone else would. “There’s been a change of plans. Take a detour and come to Kami’s lookout instead.”

There was another hiss of static, then Marron’s voice came back sounding incredibly confused. “Kami’s lookout? What are you doing up there?”

“We’ll be waiting.” Tayhei told her, ignoring the question. Then the snapped the phone shut and placed it back inside the pocket of her shorts, feeling as though she had just sent the girl to a firing squad. She raised her eyes to look at everyone else, studiously avoiding Trunks’s penetrating gaze. She frowned. “That was Marron”

“Why didn’t you tell her what happened?” Trunks questioned her with his eyebrows raised. “She needs to know.”

“She’s driving an expensive Capsule Corporation prototype air car, Trunks. If I told her news like that, she might drive herself into a tree with it. I just can’t take risks like that.” Tayhei told him, trying to sound professional. She didn’t really want to tell him the real reasons; it would just make her seem weak. She placed her hands on her hips and made a strong effort to look nonchalant. “Besides, I really didn’t think she’d want to hear news like that from me. In case you haven’t noticed, she and I don’t get along. I am the last possible person that she would want to tell her that her mother is dead. Well, I suppose Vejiita might be a bit worse. He doesn’t exactly have the warmest personality in the world either.”

Mirai Trunks looked out over the horizon, his sky blue eyes looking sad and tired. He reached down and ruffled Bra’s hair gently, a bitter frown on his face. “It’s strange, no matter how many times I see death, it always manages to hurt. You’d think that after awhile, I’d grow numb to it.”

The future warrior walked away slowly, leading Bra away from them. Tayhei assumed that the little girl probably needed to talk about what had happened, and she felt bad for her. Bra had already seen far too much death for someone her age; she was going to grow up bitter and jaded if things kept up like this. After a long moment, Trunks finally followed after them, sensing that he needed to take care of his little sister. She watched the three of them walk away from her with unblinking eyes, taking in the image of the two very handsome men walking hand and hand with the little girl that she cared so dearly for. Part of her wanted to go along with them and help Bra as well, but she didn’t think that she was ready to talk about it yet. Even though she hadn’t even known Juuhachi-gou or Juunana-gou that well, there was still an awful stabbing pain in her chest similar to what she had felt when Yakosoku had died.

“I don’t think any of us are meant to grow a resistance to the pain of death.” Dende said wisely, remarking on Mirai Trunks’s earlier comment. Then his eyes traveled unmistakably towards Tayhei. “It always manages to hurt, doesn’t it? Sometimes it just hurts because it manages to dredge up the memory of other deaths and other bad times. I suppose it’s inescapable. Some things simply can’t be changed. Destiny is destiny, no matter how you look at it. A person could try to change their destiny and live a different life than they were intended, but what would that accomplish? True happiness only comes from living the destiny that was handed to you from birth. The path that you are meant to follow is always the best path to take.”

Tayhei didn’t know how this son of a bitch knew what she was feeling inside, but she didn’t like it at all. She glared at him fiercely, her green eyes flashing and spat out a bitter reply. “There is no such thing as true happiness.”

“You would say that, wouldn’t you?” Dende said with a soft smile, tilting his head to look at her more closely. “You’ve been afforded so little of it. Or perhaps your life is void of happiness because you decided long ago not to let it into your heart. I’ve watched you for a long while now, Tayhei. You seem to be quite averse to letting love into your life. I understand your feelings, but I have to warn you: do not let what happened in your past affect your future. Scars from the past might still burn at times, but the worst is over. Accept it, learn from it, and move on. If you are going to keep letting your past hold you back from living, then you might as well die right now. There is no point in living if you are not going allow yourself to feel. Love is what keeps us alive in the first place.”

“What happened in the past doesn’t matter.” She replied dismissively, shrugging her shoulders and sending him a strong, cold look. “I’m going to wish Yakosoku back. And then all of that pain and suffering will just go away on its own.”

“I admire your tenacity, Tayhei, but I don’t think that you understood my point. Wishing Yakosoku back to life isn’t going to make the pain go away. Having her there with you is not going to stop the memory of her death from eating away at your soul. The only way to truly rid yourself of all suffering is to let go.” He reached out to place a warm green hand on her shoulder. “You’ve been holding your grief inside of you for far too long now; it’s slowly consuming you; I can see that. You want to allow yourself to love again, but you’re still so wounded from the past that you’ve forgotten how to feel. Wishing Yakosoku back to life is indeed a solution to that, but only a temporary one --- and cowardly at that. And I know you well enough by now to know that you are anything but a coward. You can wish Yakosoku back to life, but in order to make it worthwhile, you first need to start living yourself.”

She crossed her arms over her chest so tightly that she could feel them tingling with numbness. Her green eyes narrowed again, burning with fire. “I am living.”