Reprogrammed

Healing and Feeling

Trunks slowly lowered his hands. Both Baby and Rilldo's energy signals had completely vanished. It had worked. Baby had been completely incinerated. It was over.

Trunks breathed a sigh of relief and looked around. There had been quite a bit of destruction, but it could have been a lot worse considering what had happened. And best of all, no innocents had died this time. True, Baby had managed to infect quite a few people, and they were still under his influence, but that would be dealt with soon enough.

"18." He whispered, remembering her.

Taking off, he flew to where he saw her last. His fight with Baby had moved them a ways away from where she was. Unable to sense her energy, he had no idea if she was still alive, and that worried him greatly. He didn't know why the idea of her being dead scared him so much, but it did.

Finally he came across her. She was still lying in the crater Baby had left her in. Landing by her side, a wave of relief swept over him as he noticed her breathing steadily.

Gently he scooped her up, holding her carefully in his arms. "18, 18, wake up."

Her eyelids twitched a few times before slowly cracking open. She stared at him for a moment, seemingly confused, then her eyes brightened with recognition. "Hey." She said with a smile.

Trunks returned her smile. "Hey, yourself."

She stared at him fondly then looked around. "I don't sense Baby anywhere. Did you do it?"

He nodded. "Yes, it's all over. Baby's gone."

He felt her relax further in his arms. "About time." Her gaze shifted to his long golden hair. "You need a haircut."

He chuckled. "I thought you liked my hair long."

"Not that long."

He grinned and turned back to normal. She smiled up at him and reached up, running her fingers through his lavender hair. "That's more like it."

Then she passed out in his arms. Trunks knew she would be all right. She was stronger than this; he knew that personally.

He turned his gaze upon the horizon. "Just one last thing to take care of."

Holding the android tightly, he took off, heading for Kami's Lookout.

(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)

Trunks winced as his mother scolded him for letting her think he was dead. It was strange. Here he was, the most powerful being in the universe, and he was cowering under the wrath of his mother.

"Mom, I was having special training in Other World." he told her.

"I don't care!" Bulma shouted at him. "I'm aware that those kais are capable of communicating telepathically. All it would have taken was five seconds to let me know that you were still alive. Is that so much to ask for?"

Trunks hung his head in shame. "I'm… sorry…"

Dende looked up. "Excuse me, but do you mind? It's kind of hard to concentrate with you making all that noise."

He turned back to 18 and proceeded to heal her. Her wounds slowly vanished as she recovered from her ordeal. Her eyes slowly opened and she sat up.

"Easy, 18." The Guardian told her. "You may be healed, but don't push yourself too hard."

18 stubbornly got to her feet. "I'm fine." She dusted herself off. "Uch, that creep messed up my outfit, and after you just mended it too."

Dende smiled nervously and went to take care of Trunks, healing his wounds as well. Trunks thanked him and glanced at 18. "Feeling better?"