Epilogue
"And, unbelievably, that is the story of my life."
"The end," I breathed.
I sighed and slowly saved the rather large file. Finally. I'd finally written it all down. I rested my chin on an upturned palm, feeling the damp traces of wetness along my cheek, and gazed out the window. Such a clear, cloudless day today, peaceful, without any worries . . .
There was a sound knock on the door and a tall figure stuck his head in, once unruly black hair now clipped and shaven.
"Hey, sis!" he called breathlessly, ducking inside. He went immediately to the mirror behind the door and finished tucking in his starched shirt, leaving it open at the collar. "They've gathered outside already and are waiting for you to begin!"
I turned in my seat and gave him a musing smile. "Thanks, Gohan. Tell them I'll be down soon."
"Great! Okay." He slicked up his hair and turned to leave. Halfway out the door, he paused. "Did you finish?"
I nodded in answer, rising to my feet. "The whole story's down now."
Gohan beamed again and for a moment I was reminded of the little boy he once was. I could still hear his delighted squeals when he'd found out we were going to be siblings. So long ago . . . The memory faded and I blinked up at the tall man standing before me. "I'll be down soon," I said again, the words strained.
"Right." Lifting one eyebrow, Gohan shut the door softly and his footballs thumped down the stairs. I listened awhile to the muffled voices, the front door opening and closing periodically, then bent and put on my shoes.
Out of habit I glanced at myself in the mirror. Not a change. Even many, many years after that fateful wish couldn't very much effect my appearance. My two children aged faster than I did. Absentmindedly, I ran my hands through my shoulder-length hair. Years ago I'd gotten tired of the long mess and chopped it all off. Even my hair refused to age other than a few grey hairs. I rubbed the stains from my cheeks and walked out of the bedroom.
Downstairs was crowded with friends and family- new and old. I shifted among them, exchanging words of greeting and sparks of laughter (and glares with those who disliked me.) A hand closed upon my own and I looked slightly up into twin midnight orbs.
"Outside," Vegeta all but ordered, if not for his sparkling eyes. He pulled me through the crowd and the front door banged behind us. I smiled at the glowing faces that sought me out and left Vegeta's side to stand in front of the group. The wide-eyed faces stared up at me, waiting for me to begin.
I sat in the small chair amid the semi-circle of children and the others behind them. Nieces, nephews, grandchildren, and many others dear to me - in each one I could see their parents, and me, and the bond I felt was almost overwhelming. Tilting my head a little, I looked back at Vegeta standing on the porch. His penetrating gaze briefly shifted from me to our two children (children no longer) as they passed by him, and then back to me knowingly.
"Mom, I can't believe you're still telling this story," said Trilku. Bapa made a face at him, a face reflected by his own daughter sitting in the semi-circle, and plopped down to listen. Trilku crossed his arms, looking miffed, but shied up to his wife (Gohan's first-born, ironically), in the back. I glanced one last time at Vegeta, who was in the process of shrugging off unwanted friendliness from Gokou, took a deep breath, and began.
"Twenty years ago," I said, stating each word softly. "There came a young man. His hair was a pale lavender, his eyes the color of frozen glass. This young man's name was Mirai Trunks and his smile could light up the world." They listened in raptured silence as I told them of the mysterious youth. Every year I repeated Trunks's story and every year they'd come to hear it.
I left nothing out, even as much as I wanted to. My betrayal of him, everything that happened those few days so long ago, everything I remembered about him. He had become sort of a legend amongst the children, a hero that had suffered unlike they would ever suffer.
I gave it my best year after year after endless year and it never ceased to amaze me how much Trunks had affected our lives since he left. Gokou seemed wiser; Krillin a little more happy; Piccolo stayed at Dende's side less grudgingly; Vegeta was more protective, but less obvious. And I . . . I . . .
"- to the future. I never saw him again." I finished the tale, a lofty, sad sort of smile fixed on my face at the memories. Then I gave a little toss of my head and got to my feet amid the little ones' groans. "You've been a wonderful audience, but I've got to help ChiChi and Bulma with feeding all of you." They all voiced their protest but I excused myself with a grin and hurriedly sought out a hole in the crowd. I didn't know why the memories still affected me so, why this time hurt worse than all the others. Maybe it was because this was the twentieth anniversary of when Trunks had left us, with no contact from him since. Or maybe it was because I knew I was so unworthy to tell the story. Next year, next year I knew someone else would have to take up the honor. Perhaps Bulma, who seemed to want to.
"There you are." Vegeta appeared in front of me, eyes glimmering unvoiced concern. "Here." He handed me a glass of lemonade and I silently thanked my husband for the distraction.
"More this year," he remarked after an extended silence.
I raised an eyebrow at the offered conversation and nodded. "Our family and friends keep expanding, don't they?"
"Breeding like a bunch of rabbits," Vegeta muttered under his breath.
"Yeah." I held back a chuckle and hid my smile behind the glass. "Or Saiyajins," I wanted to say but knew that comment would send him into yet another rant. His 'old age,' and the tiny grey hairs starting to peep through his dark hair, seemed to make the Prince all the more cranky.
Vegeta startled me again. "The boy would have been proud," he said, voice both gruff and gentle.
I turned to face him. "You're not just saying that, are you?"
He snorted. "I don't 'just say' anything, woman. That boy left knowing that his future in this universe would be none-existent and yet you have made it so that it is not. If he knew what you have done for him-" He cut off, tensing. Sharp eyes swung over the crowd in jerky movements, and I felt the tingling sensation of the ki shield he suddenly brought up around the both of us.
I frowned. "Vegeta? What is it?"
"Quiet," he bit out. I noticed how some of the other warriors had also frozen where they were, on alert. Gokou looked like he was searching for the source of this concern and was conversing quietly with his two sons. Krillin had moved closer to his own family; Juuhachigou's icy eyes were narrowed and I could feel her power steadily rising in preparation. And Vegeta . . . Vegeta I knew was quickly laying out the situation, shifting his weight to one foot should he have to suddenly spring forward. Silence reigned over all of us, but I couldn't tell just what exactly the power . . . was . . .
Then the same feeling washed over me and I laughed out loud. My outburst startled everyone, but I ignored their stares. I ran forward, laughing some more, and waved madly at the light that appeared above us. I couldn't wait to show how much I had been affected, how much I'd grown.
The others joined me as they caught on and we all threw our hands into the sky, welcoming, and
shouts of "Trunks is back!" rang up through the mountains.
THE FINAL END of "Purple Haze Appearing"
A few comments at the end of this loooong journey:
****I KNOW that Gohan would appear to be a lot older than he should have been when Mirai Trunks came to the past in the normal universe; therefore, Trunks should have eventually noticed something was screwed up when he saw Gohan. But I decided not to EVEN go there in this fic! ^_^ By Kami, this thing was confusing enough as it was!
****Hmm . . . Dende got to Earth a little fast ::shrug:: but I needed him there quickly . . . so sue me. ::innocent look::
****The scenes where Ally is contemplating on the cliff, the 'make-up' scene with Vegeta, and the scenes in which Ally is actually falling off the cliff were inspired by the Creed song "With Arms Wide Open." Any similar words were used intentionally. ^_^
****The idea to bring Juuachigou and Juuanagou back to the Ally Universe came from Gabriyel's "Threnody." I had to do some studying on Juuachigou's character for Krillin's Side Story, which also made me appreciate that particular chick some more. Did anyone else notice that Krillin got the most gorgeous female in all of DBZ?? Excluding Ally (kidding).
****The extreme sap in Chapter 9 is dedicated to Elizabeth Knight for inspiring me with her own Ally Universe fanfic "Return to Me." Go read! ::nudges::
****Some people have asked me where exactly all the villains went to and why didn't they ever
show up. My theory is this: In the actual DBZ universe, there are times when Mirai Trunks
effected what happened in the past just by being there, such as changing the time when Gokou
got those heart problems, and all the extra Androids. So . . . in the Ally Universe, I figured Ally
being there could have the same effect. For instance- the Androids didn't act on the whole "gotta
kill Gokou" programming. Android 16, 19, and 20 didn't exist. Cell was never created (or
perhaps died when the laboratory was destroyed). Etc... etc... etc... Of course, this means that
OTHER benefits from fighting all these battles never happen either. I never actually say if
Gohan ever becomes a Super Saiyajin, nor Goten or Trilku. (Or Bapa for that matter. ^_^)
Gokou probably never becomes SSJ 3, etc. Gokou and Vegeta never have a reason to fuse.... the
complications are endless. This was just a big decision on my part and I reckon it worked out the
way I wanted.
Now it's time for me to talk. ^_^ And yes, I can't help it.
It all started when . . .
In the wide world of fanfiction, there is an unbelievable amount of self-insertions. "The Ally Universe" started off as being no different. At the very beginning, I planned on only making it a small romp into DBZ, ending it with Ally going back home. Owari. The End. But then Ally wasn't happy with that and forced me to make her go back. I tried to bring her to riaru once again later and once again Ally won out and ended up staying permanently in anime. No matter what I did, she wanted to stay. It was then that I realized this fic had progressed into something other than a 'self-insertion.'
Oh, the same lifestyle is there. Ally had a normal, four-person family as I do. A brother called Manny and some friends called Tamara and David, like I do. She also went to a school called Mars Hill, and loved to watch Dragon Ball Z and her real name is Alicia too. But that's where the similarities end. My main goal with this fic was to create a character that readers could both like and hate, sympathize with and call an idiot. I tried very hard to ster away from "Mary Sue" stereotypes, except the fact that Ally was the focal point of the story.
Making "The Ally Universe" in Ally's 1st person view was probably the best decision I could have made. This enabled me to see the canon DBZ characters in newer ways (especially Vegeta). It also let me dive into the thoughts of a person looking at what's around her and seeing it in a different way than before. Most all of the other "girl-gets-stuck-in-anime-land" fanfics I'd read involved a 'normal' girl doing precisely what Ally did - getting stranded and hooking up with a canon character. But unlike those other girls, Ally never adapted as easily as they did. Even at the very end of the series, the reader still sees that Ally's doubtful about her situation. And also, a lot (not all, of course) of those other fanfics weren't very realistic. Oh yes, the stranded person keeps secret all that he/she knows about those particular anime characters, but it never can be as easy as keeping a mouth shut.
I think the most likeable characteristic of Ally is that she's not very likeable. I never got tired of writing from her pov, but by the end of the series her faults just seemed to appear more prominent. It was like: hello! This girl's got some serious issues about who she is as a person. Something I really realized at the end was that Ally was definitely self-centered. Where do I belong? How do I keep all this a secret? Do I love Vegeta? Was it all worth the trouble? I believe what she did to Mirai Trunks was terrible. That's why I'm glad that I let Trunks feel like he did at the end (in his Just on the Side story). After all she'd done, it shouldn't've been that easy for Trunks to forgive/forget. He forgave Ally, yes, but it was like they were back at square-one. They had to start all over. Anyways, I talk more about all that at the end of each "Side Story" chapter.
I'm sure you're tired of me rambling on and on and on. Before I finish, let me assure you that this is NOT the end of the Ally Universe, as originally planned. You're probably wondering what the heck the "Just on the Side" stories are. Well, I was reading through "PHA" and I realized that I really didn't go into detail about how the canon DBZ characters felt. Lots of things were left out, unanswered questions, etc, etc, so I decided to write a fic completely for those canon DBZ characters. There will be five "chapters" in all, each told from the point of view of one canon character.
For now,
Ja ne!
~Arishia-chan~