He crept silently down the dark hallway, careful not to wake the other sleeper in the room next to his. He could hear the regular heartbeat of their body, and the long rhythms of breath. He leaned in and looked at the small body in the bed, the tousled head of hair on the pillow, and the shadows creeping around the curved shape of their body.
He walked past the door, and stopped at the next. He stood outside it for a minute, thinking, gathering his wits. He could hear the child's fast, tiny heartbeat and the quick breaths of a person with small lungs. He put his hand on the cold brass doorknob, and slowly opened it.
Inside was so familiar to him. He remembered the wallpaper, the ceiling lights, the lamp beside the crib, the shelves with books. He took a step inside, and drew in a shaky breath. He blinked once, and turned his head towards the sleeper inside the crib. He ran his hand through his hair, and exhaled.
He leaned over on the crib's walls, looking into the small bed. The child was curled up on his side, sleeping in peace. The intruder reached down tentatively stroked the sleeping child's soft cheek. The baby stirred, and opened a pair of baby blue eyes, blinking in the darkness to see the shape above him.
He picked Trunks up from his crib. He held the purple-haired baby under the armpits, unsure of how exactly to hold him. Trunks looked at him, a puzzled look coming over his pudgy face. The baby didn't understand why he was being held in such an uncomfortable way.
"How the hell do you do this?" he asked Trunks. The baby just blinked. "Of course you wouldn't know...you can't even talk." Trunks blinked again, and the intruder sighed. 'Why can't I do this? I've seen Bulma do it millions of times...' he thought to himself in slight frustration. He brought the baby close to him, and after many minutes of shuffling the baby around, he finally had Trunks cradled in his arms.
He smiled...but it was a slow, small, sad smile. His hard eyes softened for only a minute, then were like ice again. Trunks just looked up at the man and smiled.
"You'll probably grow up to be a great warrior...if you're trained right. But from what I've heard, what I've seen...I don't know anymore."
'I hope you're not trained like I was'
"I'll bet when someone hits you...when you feel pain for the first time, you'll go running back to your mommy and cry. You won't be brave; you'll be a coward. And you'll know it didn't actually hurt that much, you'll just want to put on a show. Be a spoiled brat. You'll earn the name, won't you?"
'Just like I did. You'll run back, tears in your eyes. You won't be worthy of the name, Saiyan Prince'
"And when he beats on you...you'll cry again. You won't be strong, you won't know how. Because you'll be weak, you'll be a coward. I won't pity you when you're lying, bleeding on the floor, too weak to move, too weak to even call for your mommy. Then you'll learn a thing or two about being brave. You'll learn to take the pain."
'I hope you never have to learn the way I did...'
Trunks waved his arms and giggled as he looked up at the man. The man narrowed his eyes for a second. He blinked out the hot tear that had been gathering in his eye.
"You'll do it alone. You'll learn to pull through life alone. You'll learn to live without love, without friends, without everything. Beggars can't be choosers, you know."
'I hope you'll have a friend.'
He sniffled. The tears were falling freely as his words collided with his thoughts. Trunks made a questioning sound, then smiled and giggled, waving his arms around, until he caught one of the intruder's fingers. Trunks gripped it, and then found more fingers to grab onto.
The intruder smiled again as he opened his hands and the baby grabbed on. He tickled Trunks' stomach for a second, and then started thinking again.
"Maybe you'll find a friend. And when you're close to him, he'll leave. He'll leave you in tears again, and you'll run back to mommy. I know you'll cry. I didn't. You won't live my life, will you? I've created a new life for you...and I wish I could live it. I wish I never had to live through what I did, but then again, someone had to save your ass, didn't he?"
'I hope you'll never have to see your best friend die'
Trunks gurgled happily, and gave a little snort as a tear landed on his cheek. The man wiped it away for the baby, and Trunks smiled at his touch. He bounced slightly, and Trunks smiled, then laughed.
"You're going to have everything. A home, good food, good clothes. You'll live in more peace than I did. You'll be happy with whatever pathetic life you decide to follow. But you'll have a Father. I never had a Father. And when I did, he hated me, just like he'll hate you. He'll beat you until you bleed, until you can't move. Because he did it to me."
'I don't want you repeating what I have. I don't want you making the same choices I did.'
"Goddamnit, I hate you."
He held the baby under the armpits again, eye to eye. Looking into Trunks' baby blue eyes...the same eyes he'd seen in the mirror many times before. The child had a head of fine, soft purple hair. He blew his bangs out of his face, and then slowly put the baby back down. Trunks plopped down on the small mattress once again, and looked back up.
'He doesn't understand. I wish he was older...he'll never understand a word I told him. He'll never know what I had to give for him to be able to live in a peaceful world.'
He sniffled, and wiped his eyes. He was being weak, just like all those times before, when he was little. But he didn't have his mommy to run to anymore. He drew in a shaky breath, and exhaled.
He ran a hand through his own silky purple hair, and let his hand drop to his side. He grabbed the collar of his blue Capsule Corp jacket, and hiked it up. He took one glance back at his own young blue eyes, staring at him from the crib, and slipped out of his old room.
