The tale of two ends,

Trunks had heard it many times before.

Where one life would change on account of another. He had tried to pull it off before to change his future, but it never happened. It was a completely different timeline, and he began to think that you couldn’t change the future, no matter how much you wanted too.

So, with the ruins of cities and towns laid waste, he searched for survivors of the destruction of the Androids. Out of the hundreds he saw, though, there was only a few he could help. With his discoveries, though, he found knew cities that he never thought existed, with people who had never heard of these Androids.

But one coincidence, however, his thoughts gained back of changing life. He discovered a small, ruined island, held up by a hundred-foot escarpment off the coast. It looked like a military base of some sort, with one large collapsed building in the center. But for some odd reason, if it was one, it didn’t have any docks, or any hangers to keep airplanes.

‘Maybe a research center,’ he thought.

He swooped down to the ground and began to walk around the campus. It didn’t seem like anyone was around, like it had been abandoned some time ago. But, little did he know that he was far from the truth.

As he passed the fallen entrance door, and thought that he heard footsteps. He didn’t hear anything else after, not paying much mind to it and continuing on. But suddenly, something pounced on his back yelling, and he felt a knife go through his shoulder blade.

“Die, Android!” someone shouted, ripping the knife back out.

Before the person could stab him again, he transported a few feet away and looked at who his attacker was.

She stood up with the knife up, an angry expression set across her face. She had long, gangly, dark black hair with blue highlights and deep violet eye. She wore torn up jeans with a green tank-top, her feet red with blisters and her arms, legs, and face covered with scrapes and burses. He could tell that she had been here for sometime, probably not knowing that the Androids had been gone for mouths now.

As he took a step closer, her eyes turned from angry to filled with fear, as she dropped the knife and stepped back slowly.

“I’m not going to hurt you, okay? Just stay calm.”

Holding his shoulder, he continued to step towards her, and she continued to step away. She came a foot away from the drop off as he stopped.

“Hey, just stay there alright? Don’t do anything rash,” he said.

With fear that he might transport again to somewhere, she took one more step back, not seeing that it was the edge. A small rock rolled under her foot, and she lost her balance, falling off.

Trunks quickly ran to the edge and jumped off, trying to catch her before she fell into the sea. He just barely caught her ankle before she hit her head, and he flew her back up to solid ground.

Placing her on solid cement, he saw that she had fallen unconscious. He knew he couldn’t leave her there, and that he had to make up his mind fast, because he was losing blood. So, he decided to take her back to Capsule Corporation, to see what his mother had to say about this.

***

Bulma finished up with the x-rays, seeing that everything was fine with this girl, whoever she was. All the MIR scans had turned out normal, and she was about to take a blood sample, just to see if she was contaminated with any diseases.

“I wonder where Trunks found this girl,” she said to herself. She began getting used to it now and then, because there was no one else to talk to, but that was alright. “It doesn’t seem normal that anyone wouldn’t know that the Androids were destroyed, especially the way word gets out around here. And mostly everyone around the world knows, now that they have up a radio station.”

As she took the blood sample and put it into the scanning machine, she sat at the computer desk as the results came in. The girl seemed completely knock unconscious from the looks of it, but truly was on the verge of waking up again.

The door to the lab opened with a creek, and Trunks walked through. His shoulder was now mended with stitches and wrapped in bandages and it seemed that he would be fine. He stepped behind his mother to see what she was working on, seeing the chains of blood being simplified to cells, being simplified to a very rough sketch of DNA.

“What are you working on?” he asked.

“Just you friend’s blood, that’s all. I just want to see if she has any diseases in her,” she replied.

“Has she moved at all?”

“No, not one bit. But don’t worry, she’s just in a state of unconsciousness.” She paused slightly, and soon continued. “You know, Trunks, you still haven’t told me where you got her or where you got that wound from.”

He turned his head towards the girl with thought. He couldn’t really tell his mother where he had gotten his cut from, for if he told Bulma she’d probably freak out. To try to help someone who tried to hurt him? That preposterous! But, he knew it was an honest mistake. If this girl was really by herself all that time and didn’t know that the Androids were dead, she probably thought that anyone who came to that island was one of them.

“Well?” she questioned. “Where did you get that cut?”

“Uh, well,” he said. “I kind of tripped and landed on a piece of metal, which pierced my back.”

“A piece of metal?” she said skeptically, turning her head back to him.

“Uh, yeah! Crazy, isn’t it?”

He was never good at fibbing.

She shrugged, though, and turned back to the computer. Trunks went to the far table and took a look at the x-rays lying there, seeing that she didn’t have any broken bones or anything.

The girl’s fingers twitched, however, and she opened her eyes into the fluorescent lighting. Quickly realizing that she was in someplace different, she sat up and noticed her surroundings. She saw Bulma and Trunks, tables with experimental jars and tools with shots and scalpels and everything. She gasped several times and she moved off the metal table she was on to the wall, where she glanced furiously around the room in terror.

“Hey, take it easy,” Trunks said as both he and Bulma went up to the girl.

She backed up away from them into the corner, sitting on the ground and putting her hands over her face. “No more, no more! Go away!” she shouted.

Bulma looked at Trunks, wondering if he knew anything about why she was like this, but he had no idea and shrugged.

“No more shots! No more experiments! Go away!” she said again.

“It’s alright, we’re not going to hurt you. We promise, no more shots or experiments,” Bulma stated.

The girl lowered her hands off her face and looked up at them. “W-who are you?” she asked.

“I’m Bulma, and this is my son Trunks.”

She looked at Trunks in horror as she questioned. “An...droid?”

Trunks shook his head. “No, I’m not an Android.”

“But.. I saw for myself! You flew!” the girl exclaimed.

Bulma suddenly laughed. “Sorry, but he’s the one who destroyed the Androids, just ask anyone. Now, do you think he could have beaten them if he couldn’t fly?”

The girl relaxed and thought for a moment. “What do you want?” she finally asked.

“What do we want? We just wanted to help you. I thought you were out there on that island by yourself, and you couldn’t possibly survive out there,” Trunks said.

“I was...” she said. The girl stood up, still a little afraid of them.

“Well, if you’re ever going to stay here, we’re going to have to know your name. So, who are you?” Bulma asked.

“Well I.... I don’t have a name,” the girl said, surprised herself that she really never thought of it.

“What? Didn’t you parents name you?”

“I think so... but I can’t remember. I don’t remember anyone calling me anything.”

“That’s strange. Well, what would you like to be called?”

“I don’t know. I never thought of it, to tell you the truth. Maybe you people can name me.”

“Well, Trunks, I leave that to you,” Bulma stated, tapping Trunks on the shoulder and turning back to do her work.

“What?! Me?!” he said with question.

“Yes, you. You found this girl, so I give you the responsibility of naming her.”

He paused for a moment, surprised, and turned back to the girl. He tired to think of a name that would suit this girl, but really never expected it. He looked at her hair, seeing the black with dark blue highlights. Trying to think of something that would resemble it, he said the first thing that came to his mind.

“Solar,” he said.

“Solar? That sounds nice,” the girl said.

“Well then, if that’s what you want to be called, that’s you name. Well, you can’t stay in those clothes forever, so come along and you can pick out a new pair,” Bulma said after saving the blood results to a file so she could inspect for faults later on.

The girl followed her out, but smiled as she quickly turned back to Trunks. She didn’t say anything, but only turned back out and walked away.

After thinking for a moment, he went to walk out as well, and decided that he’d give searching a rest for a day. He thought he would just go outside and think for a while, as he left out into the hallway and shut the door behind.

It had only been a few minutes when he had gone up to the roof and stood, looking out over the horizon. It was a beautiful day, and was turning into a beautiful sunset, as he thought. He was almost zoned out, truly deep in thought, that if anyone spoke he probably wouldn’t hear.

Solar came out of the house door and looked up to see him there. She now wore a green spaghetti strap tank top with blue jeans. She still didn’t wear any shoes, but that was alright. Seeing him looking out to the horizon, she looked that way to see what he was staring at. But because of all the buildings, she couldn’t really see anything.

She turned back looking up at him and said, “What’re you looking at?”

He just barely paid attention that he could hear her, and looked to the ground. “Uh, just the sunset, I guess.”

She scratched her head with thought, but smiled. “Well can I come up there?”

“I.. guess so,” he shrugged. He jumped off the edge of the balcony and flew to the ground. “You sure though? It’s kind of high up there.”

“What’s wrong with that?” she asked with a puzzled face.

“I don’t know. Never mind.” He finally thought that if she hadn’t been around anyone at all, then she probably never heard of anyone being afraid of heights.

He stepped behind her and put his hands on her waste, saying, “Okay, just hang on.”

He flew her up to the roof and set her on her feet, stepping back and going to his place on the balcony railing. She looked at the horizon, which she never saw before, her eyes widening at the sight. Smiling, she went up to the raining.

“Wow, I’ve never seen a sunset like that before.”

“What other sunset could you see on this planet?” he asked.

“Actually, this is the first sunset I’ve ever seen. In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever seen the night sky before either. It’s quite strange, but take my word for it.”

“Yeah, okay,” he replied. ‘Who is this girl?’ he thought. ‘Never seeing a sunset, let along the night sky?’

“Umm, Trunks, I was wondering, how are you able to fly?”

“Well, it’s kind of hard to explain. My father could fly, so that kind of explains it.”

“Not to be rude or anything, but where is your dad?”

“He died fighting the Androids, along with most of our family’s friends.”

“Oh... I’m sorry.”

“That’s alright, I’ve gotten used to them being gone. Besides, got my revenge right?” he said with a slight smile.

“I suppose.”

“So do you know what happened to your family?”

Her eyes narrowed with sadness, but not so much that he would notice. She crossed her arms and didn’t reply, but continued to stare out into the horizon.

He was going to ask again, but decided not to. If she didn’t want to answer, he wasn’t going to make her. It was probably really heart tearing, concerning the Androids most likely, and probably shouldn’t mention it again.

Instead, he decided to change the subject.

“So, Solar, you sure you like that name?”

“Yeah, it’s nice. But what does it mean?”

“Um, well it’s something in outer space. And since you hair reminded me of space, I just thought that that name would suit you.”

“Interesting. It’s a great name. I really like it.”

“You do?”

“Yeah, it’s a neat name, Solar. And that’s what I’m going to be called from now on. Thank you for naming me that.”

“Hey, no problem.”

They both continued to look out over the ruined city and to the fading sunset as the sky slowly turned to dark.

***

Trunks walked into the lab where his mother was working. There was something that she wanted to talk to him about this girl. She had found something in the DNA of this girl, but it wasn’t a disease or anything like that.

“So where’s your friend, Trunks?” Bulma asked, not taking her eyes off the screen.

“She’s on the roof looking at the sky. She said she never saw the night sky before so I just thought she could just stay up there for awhile. What did you want to talk to me about?”

“Well, it’s about her. I found something in her DNA that seems highly strange.”

“Like what?” he asked.

“As you know, every person has four bases that make up DNA, which are set up in twos. This girl has those bases, but she has two completely different bases also. I can’t break them down on what chemicals they are, but they give her a specific trait that I completely missed on her x-rays.” She pulled out from the side a picture of her ribcage which she had enlarged to see and handed it too him. He couldn’t tell what she had been talking about, but soon saw when she pointed it out.

“Do you see her two back ribs, just by the shoulder blades?”

“Yeah, I see them. What’s so strange?”

“Look at them a bit closer. Do you see anything strange behind them?”

“No... I still don’t see anything.”

“Look closer. There’s a fold of bone going up to her spine, Trunks. There’s also another two thin slivers of bone almost a lined with her spine, to my guess.”

“Yeah, but what’s this mean?” he asked.

“I’m not quite sure,” she said, taking the x-ray. “But all I can say is that she has another genetic trait that I’ve never seen in my life. This girl is highly strange to begin with, not having a name and never seeing the sky, and now this. She might not be very good to trust, so keep your guard up, Trunks.”

Trunks nodded. He turned to leave, and said, “Well, goodnight mother.”

“Goodnight, Trunks.”

Walking out the door, he shut it quietly, trying not to disturb her mother from continuing her work.

He went to the house and flew up to the roof, seeing if Solar wanted to come down yet. She still leaned against the railing, gazing up into the sky with a smile. When she notice him coming up she turned to face him.

“Do you want to come down yet?” he asked, hovering right by the railing.

“No, that’s alright. I like it here so I guess I’ll just stay out here for tonight.”

Trunks looked surprised when she said that. “You sure?” he asked. “It’s a lot warmer inside than it is out here, and the temperature’s bound to drop even more.”

“I know. But this is the first time I’ve ever thought staying outside was... safe. So I’ll just sleep out here and look up at the sky.”

“Do you want a jacket or anything?” he asked.

“No, that’s okay.”

“Okay. Well, goodnight.”

She went wide-eyed with that last statement and smiled. “Goodnight,” she said.

He turned and flew to the ground. Looking up at her one last time, he walked to the house entrance and opened the door, soon shutting it behind him.

Solar sat on the cold cement and looked up into the starry night. She was happy now, and knew that she finally found people that she could trust.

The next morning, Trunks got up early just as the sun came up. He went to the kitchen and, groggily, ate his cereal breakfast. Going outside, he stretched in the morning sunlight, and flew up to the roof to check on Solar.

She was curled up next to the railing bars, fast asleep. He went over to her and put his hand on her shoulder, saying, “Hey, Solar, wake up.”

She didn’t wake up. He got this sickening feeling in his stomach as he shook her shoulder, trying to get her to wake up. ‘Maybe it was too cold out here. Maybe I should’ve given her a jacket.’

He turned her over and saw that her face was pale, her eyes under her eyelids unmoving. “Solar, hey, wake up. Wake up,” he said again.

This time her eyes did move and opened. She smiled at him and said, “Is breakfast ready?”

He smiled back as she sat up, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. “Yeah, it is.”

“That’s good,” she yawned. “If you don’t mind me asking, Trunks, is it alright if I walk around this town?”

“Uh, yeah sure. Oh, wait, maybe not...” He was thinking about all the people who would be paranoid with a new person in town, and all the robbers who sprout up now and then.

“Why not?” she asked.

“Well, I have to go with you if you do go. There’re a lot of people around here who are uneasy about newcomers.”

“Will you come then?” she asked.

“I guess so. There’s not much, but there is a memorial a few blocks away that might be nice to see.”

“Okay then, let’s go!”

“What, now?” he question.

“Yeah, why not?”

“It’s just kind of early, ya know. Besides, don’t you want breakfast?”

“No, that’s okay, I can wait to eat.”

“Alright.” He picked her up and flew her to the ground again.

With an excited look on her face, she said, “I still say that’s the best thing.”

“What?” he asked bluntly.

“Being able to fly! It’s the best! You’re lucky you can just off hand.” She turned to one direction the street lead, and continued. “Okay, let’s go!”

She led the way as Trunks followed, heading off into the city.

While traveling through the streets, they saw a couple of whole building that were shelters, filled with happy looking people. The streets were still virtually empty, but a few people lingered here and there. Soon they came across the memorial which Trunks spoke of before, set in the heart of the city.

It was a block of stone, pieces from all the buildings that were left from before into on singular block. Etched in in were words, those to remember the people in this city and all across the world who had lost their lives. Solar stepped up to it and read it out loud.

“‘This memorial recognizes all the victims who lost their lives in this great tragedy. May their souls rest in peace.’ It’s great, to memorialize all the people who died because of the Androids. Wouldn’t you think so?” she asked, turning back to him.

He didn’t reply, but was too much in thought. He thought about all the people he knew; his friends, his father, all gone because of these Androids. It made him sick then, it made him sick now, that those monsters could do all of this. He just thanked heaven that he was able to stop them before they destroyed anything more, and that he defeated Cell before history could repeat itself over... and over... and over again.

Solar knew exactly what he was thinking. Her eyes turned sad with her empathic heart, and she walked over to him. Standing next to him, she put a hand on his shoulder and said, “I’m sorry. Really I am.”

“It wasn’t your fault so what do you have to be sorry about?” he stated dryly.

“I’m sure it wasn’t yours either. You couldn’t help this, these were Androids,” she said.

“How would you know? If you’ve lived on that island, then you couldn’t possibly know about me or my life. And I’d appreciate it if you just stay with you own business and I’ll stay with mine.”

He was beginning to walk away, but was stopped when she continued. “I may not know about you or your life, Trunks, but I do know that there’re probably a lot of people who blame themselves for what happened with these Androids. But you can’t keep the weight on your shoulders, none of them would want that, and you have to let it go.”

He continued to walk on, and she soon followed. They walked back to Capsule Corp. in silence, and Trunks opened the door and stepped in. But Solar stopped, and didn’t enter. Noticing this, he turned back and spoke.

“You can come in if you want,” he said.

“Are you sure? I don’t to be a nuisance or anything.”

“What?! Ha, you’re not going to be a nuisance if you just come in and sit.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah, I’m sure.”

“Well alright.”

She walked in with Trunks shutting the door behind her and sat on the couch. She smiled because of the fanciness it brought out. Really it was a dump, with weathered walls and grungy carpet from it being unoccupied from so long, but in her eyes she saw it really nice.

He walked into the kitchen and said, “You want any breakfast?”

“No thanks. But Trunks?”

“Yeah, what?”

“I’m sorry if I made you mad. Or if I made you feel even worse. Or if I somehow insulted you-” She was interrupted by the laughing of Trunks.

“No need to apologize,” he said, coming out of the kitchen with a bowl of cereal in his hand and sitting in one of the chairs. “Hey, I’m okay, remember? It kind of gets to me sometimes, so don’t mind me if I lose my temper.” He turned his head and smiled, Solar smiling back.

“I’ll try to remember that,” she replied.

Bulma came yawning through the living room and made her way towards the kitchen, not really noticing them. But as she passed, she said, “Morning.”

“Morning, mother,” Trunks said.

“Good morning, Mrs. Bulma,” Solar said.

Bulma stopped dead in her tracks when she heard her say that. She slowly turned towards them and said, “What did you say?”

“Umm, good morning Mrs. Bulma,” Solar said.

Bulma smiled with delight as she heard those words. “Oh, I’ve never heard anyone say that in years!” she yelled.

Trunks laughed slightly, but quickly stopped, and continued eating his cereal. With the up-rise with his mother’s voice on this morning, he couldn’t help but laugh. She was usually in a dull, nonliving stated every morning he saw her, so he just found it kind of funny.

Bulma turned back and went into the kitchen, then making herself up some breakfast. “Oh yeah. Trunks, could you run upstairs to the library and get me my cookbook. I’ve been meaning to bring it in here but always keep forgetting.”

“Sure,” he replied, setting his cereal bowl on the table and running upstairs.

He passed the several rooms and entered the wooden doors to the library. It was filled with shelves of plenty of books, all categorized by letter, but it was still hard to find the book you were looking for. He searched under the letter ‘C’ from cooking, and soon found the book he was looking for. Quickly taking it out, he looked at the cover and saw it was the right one. But he noticed that something else had fallen.

Looking at the floor, he saw that it had been a piece of paper and picked it up. Flipping it around from the other blank side, he saw that it was a photograph. But not just any old photo, it was the only one he’d ever seen of the whole gang.

With his mother holding him as a baby and his father in front, the gang gathered around from a snap shot, seemingly on some sort of picnic. Again, the blames of his conscience began to fill him again, and the weight on his shoulder increased ten fold.

He put the picture back in the bookshelf and walked back to the living room, an empty expression on his face. He handed the book to his mother and walked to the door.

“Where are you going?” Bulma asked.

“I’m going to think for awhile,” he replied, shutting the door behind him.

Solar stared at the door with question, and turned back to the half bowl of cereal. She looked to the kitchen with Bulma reading the cookbook and back to the cereal bowl. She got up, picking up the bowl, and quickly walking to the door.

“Where are you going?” Bulma repeated.

“He forgot to finish his breakfast,” Solar stated, opening the door, and shutting it behind.

Solemnly, he sat on the dock, looking out over the ocean. He always came here, knowing that it was one of the places where he didn’t have to go far to think by himself and sometimes even speak out loud, if he felt like it. It was one of those days, and as the sky turned cloudy, he continued on thinking.

“Why, why can’t I just have a normal life? Why can’t I just forget? I destroyed the Androids and avenged my father’s and friends’ death, but why?” He put his hands on his head, frustrated by his thoughts, and shut his eyes. “It’s not fair. Everything was placed on me, everything the fate of mankind, the planet, everything. But what life do I have now? What more am I here for, to live a miserable life of guilt? No, it can’t be that, I just won’t believe it!” With his anger, he slammed his fist on the fragile wood dock, and one of the planks broke in half with his strength. He looked at his hand, noticing that there wasn’t a scratch on it. “Look at me. I’m pathetic. I can’t even mange my anger over nothing.”

As the rain began to fall, he stood up and looked into the dark sky. Then, it began to pore, but still he didn’t move. “Please, help me. Send me a sign, anything! I just want to know, what am I here for?”

Prying eyes continue to stare at him as he continued to speak, hiding behind one of the near by trees. She still held the cereal bowl in her hand, but paid no mind to it anymore, but only listened to what he had to say. For in her, she knew exactly how he felt. She herself once knew what it was like to not believe in one’s self, not knowing who you were. In truth, she still did. Ever since she was little, she held a deep dark secret which she tried so hard to hide. But with the words he spoke, she couldn’t keep it buried anymore. If she kept it to herself any longer, she would burst into tears, something that she never remembered doing... ever.

She keep out of sight for a few more minutes, but soon she stepped out behind. “Hey, Trunks,” she said, holding the cereal bowl behind her back.

“Huh? Solar, what are you doing here?” he asked, turning around to face her.

“Uh, you forgot to finish your breakfast!” she said innocently, holding out the bowl.

“How, long have you been here?” he questioned flatly.

“Uh, umm, a few minutes.”

“Look, I wanted to stay out here by myself so I can think okay? Thanks for bringing the rest of my breakfast but I’m not really hungry right now-” He was interrupted by the sound of thunder in the distance. It was getting closer as the rain began to gain. “You can’t stay here, it’s dangerous,” he continued. “You might get hit by lightning or something.”

“Okay, I guess. But what about you? Are you going to stay out here?”

“Yeah, I’ll be fine. Now get moving before this storm gets any worse.”

She hesitated for a moment, but turned and began to walk away. As another lightning bolt shook the ground it was much louder than before. She walked jut up to the tree as she turned half way around, seeing Trunks turned around again and silently looking up at the sky. She was beginning to head on her way, when suddenly a defining sound arose above with a bright flash of light.

She became blinded momentarily as she heard a loud cracking sound and a rush of wind across her face. After the light was gone, she opened her eyes from where they had been closed. She saw that she was safely standing on the ground, but surprisingly arms wrapped around her shoulders. The arms quickly let go and she turned around.

“You okay?” Trunks asked, a look of angry expression, but somewhat worry, set on his face.

Solar didn’t answer, but knew that he had saved her life. Some how, he managed her from getting hit by lightning or the fallen branch which had been split in half. Her eyes tightened as they began to fill with tears, and soon she fell to her knees crying.

She couldn’t say it. She just couldn’t say what she hid.

Trunks looked at her in surprise and knelt next to her. “Hey, are you alright?”

She nodded, wiping the tears away with her wrist. “Yeah, I’m okay. Just a little shocked, that’s all.”

“You sure? Well, we should be getting back to the house. It’s not even safe for me here.”

Helping her up, Trunks and Solar left back to Capsule Corp. quickly so they could get out of the rain.

Back at Capsule Corp., however, Bulma shouted out the lab window for Trunks to come quickly. He told Solar to go into the house and that he would be back in a minute, and went to go see what his mother wanted.

Stepping through the lab door, Bulma told him to come quickly to see the computer. When he stepped up to it, he saw the MIR scans from before, but was enhancing closer in to the picture of the back.

“Trunks, there’s something very important I been meaning to show you,” Bulma stated.

“Yeah, what is it, mother?” he asked.

“Take a good look at the markings behind the back. Do you see anything there that looks unusual, and don’t say that you don’t.”

He took a good look at the screen as it closed in on a certain point, and he began to see what she was talking about. It was oval type sections coming from the spine... or around the back of it? It was all in a symmetrical pattern, overlapping at some points. To this was he couldn’t be sure, but with everything that he studied, this definitely wasn’t normal.

“Yeah, I see what you mean. But what is it?”

“I don’t know entirely... well, that was until I matched it with something else that resembled what it looked like.” She typed in a few letters to bring up another picture beside it, showing a bird’s wing. It closed in to a close up, and he knew what it resembled to him.

“It looks like a bird’s feather?!” he said.

She nodded. “Yep, but the question is, what’s a bird’s feather, or feathers, doing in this girl’s back?”

“This is just too strange,” he stated.

“Got that right. Well, you’re going to have to fine out hat this is about, in the name of science!”

“What?!”

“That’s right. Just confront her with these pictures and ask her. She can’t avoid telling you!”

“But I can’t do that, you know it! If she were going to tell us she probably would have.”

Bulma paused, and sighed. “I suppose you’re right. Well, if she says anything please let me know.”

“Alright, I will. Are you going to stay here from the rest of the day?”

“Yeah. I’ll analyze these pictures more so, to see what I can make these DNA stands to be.”

He turned back around and walked back out of the lab, heading for the house. As he opened the door, he saw Solar sitting on the couch staring at her feet. But as he came in, she looked up and smiled.

Trunks smiled slightly back, and went over to the radio on the table in the corner. ‘How can I ask her that?’ he thought. ‘It’s probably really personal, her past, even more than mine maybe, so I just can’t plain out ask her. I mean, sure, go up to her and say, ‘Hey, did you know you have bird feathers in you back?’ Yeah, right.”

He switched the dial on the radio, and with the sudden jump of noise, Solar stood up and looked around the room. Trunks laughed slightly, seeing that she must not have ever heard a radio before.

“It’s just the radio, no need to get all jumpy,” he stated with a bit of a laugh.

“Ray-dee-oh...? What’s that?”

“It’s something where you can get music or peoples voices from. Using frequencies and stuff.”

“Really? How is that suppose to work?”

“Well, it’s kind of hard to explain all the technical things, so all I can say is that it just...works.”

“It’s neat,” she said, stepping over to it and looking at it closely. “I’ve never seen anything like it. You and your mom are really lucky to live in a place like this. I mean truly, you must be very happy here.”

“I guess so,” He went to go sit back in one of the chair and crossed his arms.

She went over to the couch and sat down, listening to the soft music which played. She leaned over to one of the arm rests and rested her head on it, her hands laid underneath it. Solar shut her eyes with a smile on her face, and slowly drifted off.

Trunks remained sitting in the chair, thinking, and soon he found that he had shut his eyes, and went to sleep as well.

***

Solar opened her eyes as the light came into the window. She sat up straight from where she had been sitting with her head bent, seeing that there was a blanket over her shoulders now. She stood up and yawned slightly, turning around to the kitchen.

“Why good morning, Solar. How did you sleep?” Bulma asked from where she had been reading her cookbook while baking.

“Good, thank you,” She turned, looking around the living room, and saw that Trunks was missing. “Mrs. Bulma, you wouldn’t possibly know where Trunks is do you?”

“Yeah, he went to go think for a while. Why?”

“I wanted to say something to him. Could you tell me where he is?”

“I don’t know. He asked not to be disturbed...”

“Please could you tell me?”

“Well alright, but only because of that Mrs. Bulma thing you keep pulling off. He went out to the great cliffs just north of here.”

“Okay, thank you, Mrs. Bulma,” she said, running out the door and shutting it behind.

Bulma laughed, still finding that Solar, the same age as Trunks, in this day and age, would be so polite. But she thought it was nice that she would say that, and turned back to her cooking.

Solar came up behind as she saw Trunks sitting on a boulder, thinking once again. This place was right next to a deep fissure in the ground, falling hundreds off feet in the earth, as a swift current unleashed from it. The best place to think.

She didn’t want to intrude, but she had to tell him her secret. He thought that since he had saved her life twice, that she could trust that he wouldn’t tell anyone. She walked up behind him and put her hand on his shoulder. He jumped up and turned around to see who it was behind him.

“You again! How did you find this place?!” he questioned angrily.

“Your mother told me. Why are you so upset?”

“I come here to get some peace to think, but always seem to be interrupted, no matter where I go!”

“Well what is it that so important to contemplate over? The Androids right?”

He made fists with his hands as he spoke. “You have no idea what it feels like. To have fate on your shoulders all your life, and finally when it seems you’ve done all you can, you still think that there’s more that you have to do, that your life will never be at rest. You have no idea and you can never understand! So just let me be.”

From being so calm, Solar’s eyes became raged with sadness and her face became

angry. “Never understand? Never understand?!” she shouted. “How dare you say that! I thought you were goodhearted, but I guess I was wrong, you’re just a selfish...jerk!”

He stepped back with her sudden anger and she began to say everything.

“You think that you have the world on your shoulders?! Well guess again, Trunks! You can’t even imagine what it feels like! All my life I’ve had that on my conscience, and I still have it! That’s what I came here for, so I could tell you what those x-rays mean. That’s right, I heard you talking about it, and just so you don’t have to ask me, I’ll tell you!

“When I was a little girl, the Androids only existed for a few years. The government had already devised a plan on how to stop them, something that would counter them. Everything they constructed had failed, until one day they were struck with an idea, that if a machine couldn’t beat a machine, than maybe an organic being could. It would have to be genetically altered from that of a human, and had to have all the traits of the Androids, with two added chemicals in the DNA bases. So, they took people in their sleep, including me and my family. Kept in cages, it was the only place where I actually felt safe.

“We were the chosen few who would save the world, as they said it. But with their experiment, they realized by some of the last people that they needed a certain genetic code. That code I had, and they started their experiments when I was only five. I could still hear the screams of others, haunting me whenever I think of it. And I can still feel the shots, and the scientists speaking of their perfected masterpiece, as if I were some sort of... thing.

“I never saw my parent before, until that one last time. I was ten I think, when the Androids discovered the base. First they killed all the scientists, and then they saw me. I thought for sure it was my end, but they spared me, and moved on. They destroyed everyone on that facility... all in front of me, including my parents.”

Tears began to rolled down her cheeks, as she continued in a choked up voice, “I was the one who was suppose to destroy those Androids. It was the only thing that I saw that I could revenge all those people, even the scientists. Everyday on that island, alone, did I think that one day I would get my chance. Everyday with the thought of guilt, that it was all my fault, that if I had never had that genetic code, that no one would have been there. So don’t you tell me that I have no idea, for in truth you’re the one who doesn’t have a clue!”

Trunks stared silent with shock, realizing that he had been wrong. Maybe, just maybe, he thought that the tail of two ends really did mean something. Not to change something to alter the future, but just that a life of one could affect another. Truly, if he hadn’t come back from the other time, that maybe this girl could have defeated the Androids.

But she looked like a regular human to him. Her power level didn’t seem that high either...

Solar, with tears still in her eyes, stepped up to the bolder he was once sitting on and slowly walked backwards up it. “You saved my life once, and now it’s time I saved yours.” She spread her arms apart to each side as she continued to walk back towards the edge.

“W-wait a second, Solar, just stay there, okay?” Trunks tried to say.

But she didn’t stop and continued to walk back. Soon, she came to the edge and whispered, “Don’t wait up for me.” She fell back.

Trunks ran to the edge and went to fly after her. The current was too strong, through, and it pushed him back as she fell out of it. It was impossible to catch up to her, and he just couldn’t do it. The guilt gained for every inch she fell, but not the same that he held before. It was the guilt that if he had just seen this, if he had just listen to her...

But suddenly, something stretched in her back. It moved slightly, and soon, two cuts on the side of her shoulder blades opened, and pair of shinning white feathered wings came out from of her back, reaching from just above her shoulders to her ankles. Rapidly falling open, they glided her to a halt. She looked calm, and soon looked up into the air, the wings flapping once, sailing her up into the air at incredible speeds.

Trunks was already on solid ground as she landed on the bolder. Her eyes were shut calmly, but suddenly she fell suddenly to sit in sadness, covering her face with her hands.

“You see! You see now what monstrosity they made me into?!” she spoke, trying to cover her face and turned.

“... How can this be real?!” he questioned.

“The scientists,” she said. “found a way to mutate my rib bones to connect them to my nervous system. Then, they formed open pores into the wing bones which grew, and with the altered DNA, were able to grow a certain kind of feather, which was light enough to glide, but stronger than any kind of metal.”

‘So that’s why she said that I’m lucky to fly off hand!’ he thought, and spoke soon after. “Why did you tell me this? I mean...now.”

“I heard you talking before. You said you wanted to be told what you were here for, what was your purpose now. Sometimes, all hope can be lost within yourself, as if you feel like no one cares, but that’s not true. You have lots of people who care about you, your mom, and all your friends and father who died. It may be hard to understand, but it’s just gotta be true. I mean, they’re not truly dead, but are just not here anymore. To get to the point, I showed you what I truly was because... because I thought now, your unneeded sorrow would be lifted. That’s why I told you. But now... now that see my own self, I see nothing but a monster ugly to begin with, horrific now.”

“What? Why would you ever think you were ugly?” he said with a slight laugh.

“I know I was. I saw my refection before, and seeing some of these people in your cities, it made me feel even worse. And now with these freakish wings... Oh, what am I going to do! I can’t go back to civilization, not now, not ever!” she sobbed.

“Solar...” he said sympathetically. “You’re not ugly and you never were.”

“How can you say that? I know I’m horrifying to anyone, probably including you.”

“No, don’t say that! You’re not ugly, honestly. In fact, from the first time I saw you, I thought you were kind of angelic, and those wings just add to it.”

“Really? So do you think I’m pretty?” she said somewhat bluntly.

He blushed slightly, and cleared his throat. He tried to continue slyly, although he truly thought that she was more than just pretty, she seemed beautiful, actually, even more so with those wings. “Yeah, I suppose you could, um, say that.”

She took her hands off her face and turned towards him, then smiling. But soon, her eyes turned sad, and she suddenly got up and ran to him, hugging him while she cried. She just couldn’t help it, and Trunks could understand.

“Hey, it’s alright, no need to cry,” he said, patting a hand on her wings.

“It’s not fair, it’s jut not fair!” she yelled with a chocked voice. “Why, why did it have to be me who had to be like this? I wasn’t even needed to destroy the Androids!”

“Well, no one ever said life was fair, you just have to make the better of it,” he stated.

She looked up at him with teary eyes and he smiled, trying to cheer her up. She back away, and whipped the tears in her eyes away.

“No matter how I say this, you’re probably going to disagree. But I can’t go back to that city.”

“What? Why?”

“I don’t really have a reason, but only that I know I don’t belong there. I don’t know where yet, but after seeing that sunset for the first time I’ve always wanted to see what’s passed it, ya know? And now that I can fly, it’ll probably be a lot easier too see it.” She smiled after that.

He smiled back, understanding. If he hadn’t seen anything passed the city, he knew he would want to see the world too. He nodded. “Yeah, that would be a good idea if I ever thought of it. But are you’ll be okay?”

“Yeah, I’ll be fine. Hey, I lived on that island for who knows how long, so I should be okay. Why do you ask, concerned about me?”

“Uh, no-no, just wondering.”

She smiled, and turned. Running back to cliff, she shouted one last thing: “Good bye Trunks! Hope your life will be better off now!”

“Yeah same to you!” he replied, and with one flap of the white feathered wings, she took of into the sky, disappearing beyond the cliff side.

He hesitated for a moment, still thinking, with a smile sill smeared across his face. He turned, and decided to walk home this time, thinking of how to tell his mother all that Solar had said, knowing that it had change his prospective on his life forever.