Clinging to the Past (a DBZ fanfic)

Ch. 23 - Rage Leaves Regret

Mirai stared at her pupil, hardly breathing as she processed what she was looking at. The kid's (she still saw him as a kid, despite his protests) neck had been snapped, and his windpipe was likely crushed by Cell. He wasn't going to survive something like this. She had failed. The one promise she had been somewhat confident that she'd be able to keep had been broken, all because some annoying bug monster had wanted to see her get mad.

"Trunks..." she repeated as she shifted her hold on the boy to hold him a little firmer instead of just hanging from his arm. He was still alive, most in such a condition were, but he wasn't going to be for long. She didn't know if he could register his surroundings, but she brought her other hand up to hold his head upright as gently as she possibly could anyway.

Instead of her palm touching the side of his purple haired head, a little lumpy bag was pressed against it instead.

The Senzu beans. She had almost entirely forgot of their existence despite having snatched them out of Cell's hands just seconds before. It was hard to get out of the taught mindset of 'there are no more Senzu beans left, don't get too injured'.

There was still a chance!

Her eye widened in realization and she immediately teleported herself and her pupil to the ground where the others are, subconsciously locking onto Piccolo's energy to do so. She gently laid Trunks onto the ground and propped up his head to rest on her knee as she opened the small bag of Senzu beans with shaky hands.

Mirai ignored the other's stares and their words as she poured a Senzu into her hand. "Don't worry, kid. Y-You'll be just fine, I'm not letting you die," she muttered as she dropped the bag onto the ground next to her, glancing as his throat. He might not be able to swallow a whole bean, she quickly realized. So, instead of trying to force a whole bean down his throat, she used her knuckles in her now free hand to crush the Senzu into her palm, leaving much smaller bits to hopefully have it go down easier.

She just hoped it went down and did its magic.

"Hey, I'm still here!" Cell called in the distance, sounding annoyed. His voice made her entire being spike up in absolute rage, energy bursting forth though she tried to keep it contained for the moment. Now was not the time, she had to save Trunks.

She was about to put up a force field of her own around everyone, but a certain angry father's roar of anger cut her off.

Flinching at the sound, Mirai looked up just in time to see Vegeta power up and charge at Cell, blasting at him immediately. Ki blast after Ki blast fired away as Vegeta screamed out, anguish clear in his voice. Was he upset at what happened to Trunks?

Mirai shook her head and turned back to the boy laying on her knee. Cell would be distracted with Vegeta, that's fine. Trunks still needs to be saved, so she focused on that.

Curling her hand to make it shaped like a funnel, she brought the crushed Senzu bean to his mouth and poured it in, lightly trying to soothe the crushed pieces down his throat from the outside. She did her best to ignore the twitching and pained motions as she touched his bruised neck, silently telling herself that it was necessary.

It only lasted mere seconds, she knew that, but it felt like she had waited for the Senzu to take effect for forever. But when it did, Trunks' eyes shot open and he sat up just as quickly with a gasp.

She didn't fail them.

Mirai let out a breath she didn't know she'd been holding before she stood up, looking to Vegeta as he continued to blast at Cell. She knew he wouldn't last long.

"Hold onto these," Mirai nudged the bag of Senzu on the floor with her foot, gaining Trunks' attention. "And stay here, with the others." She ruffled his mess of hair before walking past him as she felt Vegeta's energy decline from forcing out so much.