Interlude Four

Future Pan's hand clutched at her round belly as she felt the baby kick. She rested her head on the wall she was leaning against, sweat pouring down her face. Her lips were parched as the sun beat down on her relentlessly. Looking at the sun as a timekeeper, she knew it had been two hours since the contractions started and fear gripped her. She'd been alone in this place for too long and she felt herself losing control of her turbulent emotions. She had started talking to her absent husband sometime during the night, trying to hold on to sanity. She had smiled at the irony of the idea.

So now, she spoke to the only other living being on this dead planet.

Her child.

Their son.

"I'm sorry about all this," she murmured, stroking her belly. "I thought that we should be with your Daddy in case anything bad should happen, but I never thought that they would take you away from us. I hope that your Daddy finds me, but if he doesn't, I'm so sorry about what your life will be like. Those two are pure evil and they're going to try to kill your soul. Don't let them. Think of us when you look in the mirror, think of all our hopes and dreams for you...think of our love for you and for each other."

She wiped away a tear and clenched her hands.

"Don't ever lose hope," she whispered hoarsely. "Don't turn into one of them and do this to another timeline."

Closing her eyes, Future Pan took a deep breath that scorched her lungs, but she'd gotten used to it. She thought of how short a time she'd had with Trunks, but how special it had been. Despite the pain, she began to lose consciousness. Exhaustion outweighed pain at the plateau she had reached. Smiling faintly, she began to dream of him. She dreamt that he was fighting and unconciously, she let him her power. Sighing in her sleep, her hand twitched and then rose, palm out. She began to speak.

"Big Bang...."