Love, A Game..

Chapter 13

An instant was dragged out to an eternity for Trunks as a beam of searing energy struck him in the middle of the chest and burst out through the armour on his back, burning a hole through the middle of his chest. Indescribable agony infused his body with consuming fire and he didn't have the voice to cry out. Everything turned black and white and for a moment, with terrible clarity, he saw through the storm of dust to where Cell stood, one finger extended to channel his power into the energy beam that tore through Trunks' heart.

The teenager's eyes slid agonisingly, irresistibly shut as night swallowed his soul and Gohan froze. The world began crumbling, falling out from under his feet as terrible, unbearable reality forced itself upon his awareness. His vision turned to impenetrable blackness except for a small circle of light where his beloved Trunks lay.

"Trunks..." he whispered. Wide green eyes shimmered with tears when his koibito didn't answer, didn't move. A small sob pushed itself past the wall of shock that cocooned him.

It was the breaking point. With that single, tiny noise of grief it all came crashing down around him, heavy, solid waves of suffocating grief swamping him, drowning him. Harsh barbed wire was dragged across his heart and salt poured on the wounds; Gohan's soul writhed in supreme agony, the sheer scale of his loss boggling his mind.

His love ... his aisuru ... his sweetheart, his koibito, his ... his lavender-haired angel was gone. A thousand memories of the last three days preyed upon his mind, every second spent with Trunks replayed for his insatiable desire, for his torture. He could relive every word, every touch, ever moment they'd spent together ... he needed the memories, craved them, and yet couldn't bear the pain of them. Trunks was gone ... not just to his own time, but forever ... he wasn't ... he - wasn't ... coming back...

"TRUNKS!"

Dimly through the stifling haze of misted grief that surrounded him, choking, clinging to his deadened limbs, Gohan heard the anguished voice calling as though from a long way off. Only by the grating rasp in his throat did he realise that the cry was his own.

Saline poured unrestrained down Gohan's face as weakness overcame him. He slumped to the ground on elbows and knees with barely the strength to support his own weight, crying his heart out for his beloved.

Then he heard the sound that made his bones turn to ice. Laughter. Cold, cruel, malicious, self-satisfied laughter.

"My aim is still as good as ever, it seems."

Gohan slowly raised his head. The tears still trailed continuously down his face, but his vision was clear. Cell stood in front of a small hollow in the uneven, rocky ground, lowering one arm, his hand relaxing after firing a one-finger beam. There was a smug, callously pleased smirk on the android's face, as he looked at the prone body of Trunks stretched out flat in the dust, that made Gohan's blood boil. He could feel a growl rising in his throat fuelled by emotion above and beyond the realm of fury.

Cell rubbed his thumb and index finger together, still smirking. "A waste of talent," he declared, meaning Trunks. Gohan's growl began to grow more audible. "He had some power, I'll admit, but he was far too soft and weak to use it." Even as the young Super Saiyan's hands began to curl into fists, Cell took the final step, and spat in Trunks' direction.

Gohan's control snapped and pure blind rage exploded into every fibre of his body. His vision went white. A primal scream ripped itself from his throat and his Super Saiyan aura burst into golden flame around him. A tidal wave of fury caught Gohan in its midst, infecting his mind, heart and soul with anger on a scale as he'd never before experienced it. His power level took a flying leap, spurred by the utmost extreme in rage. Lightning crackled around him, infusing the air nearby with a storm of electricity. There was no halting Gohan's transformation. It gained momentum as it progressed, becoming an unstoppable force, an unleashing of energy that made the whole planet shake.

The ground under Gohan's feet was rocking violently, but the eleven-year-old stood eerily still, not yelling any more but no less infuriated. There was a terrifyingly calm quality to his wrath as he fixed Cell with a death glare that made chills run down the spine of the watchers.

"You bastard."

Even through the mess his power-up had made of the nearby earth's stability factor, Gohan's words carried clearly to the android's ears. There was no hysterical rage in his voice, no uncontrolled fury, but the tightly leashed restraint over the unfathomable weight of venom expressed in just those two words was somehow even more terrifying. Not even the supposedly all-powerful Cell could hear such extreme anger directed at him and not quail a little.

Nobody and nothing could avoid the punch Gohan unleashed on the unsuspecting android. It was simply too fast - even for Cell, the demi-Saiyan's movements were borderline dematerialisation. He changed locations in the blink of an eye and all but snapped the android's head off when he struck.

The speed and power Gohan had gained defied logic. And yet the undeniable truth was right there, in the crushed and bloody cheekbone that marred Cell's face. The android gave an agonised howl before a small foot was buried deep in his stomach, cutting off his air, then a punch landed on the back of his neck, an elbow to his throat, another kick to his gut - each one so powerful as to break bones every time, as to make his head spin with sickening agony.

Krillin squinted at the hulking figure of the android, doubled over in pain. Cell had his hands pressed to his mouth, spasms wracking his body, and if Krillin didn't know any better he could have sworn...

"It looks like he's going to be sick!" exclaimed Yamcha.

Weirdly enough, the desert bandit was right. A few moments and some revolting spewing sounds later, Android 18 lay on the ground unconscious in a pile of clear gooey liquid. Krillin's face lit up.

"Look, it's Android 18!" he cried, pointing excitedly. The beautiful blonde cyborg lay motionless, but Krillin was certain she wasn't dead. With eyes only for her, he started to fly over to where she lay, solely intent on rescuing and reviving his love. But before he got very far, he was stopped by someone grabbing his ankle.

"Krillin, what are you doing?" asked Tien, bewildered. He, Yamcha and Goku were all looking at him like he'd completely lost his mind. A blush began creeping across the bald monk's cheeks.

"Uh ... well, gee, she's not really an enemy ... any more ... is she?" he stammered. "I mean, she's an enemy of Cell, but ... uh - not to us ... right?" He was far too shy to say the real reason for his sudden dose of heroics, but the other three were still looking at him funny.

"I understand," said Gohan. The Z fighters all turned to look at him. The eleven-year-old was watching with narrowed eyes as Cell reverted back to his second stage. His voice was no longer harsh with hatred, but there were strong emotions in his words and clear grief in his glittering emerald eyes. "Sometimes you do things that seem to make no sense, that can't really be explained," he continued. "And nobody else can really get why you do those things ... because they've never been in love..."

Even as the Z fighters collectively gaped at Krillin and the short human went bright red, Gohan's Super Saiyan aura flared anew and he growled at Cell. The android was backing away, utterly terrified in the knowledge that he was truly out of his depth. It was all over. The time for Gohan's revenge was at hand.

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There, now please don't kill me..

XD