Okay, so this idea literally came to me at random one day and I was like, Huh, maybe I should write it, and here we are. Launch is one of my favorite characters of Dragon Ball, and I was super disappointed when she suddenly disappeared in Dragon Ball Z. Damn you for forgetting about her, Toriyama! She hasn't even shown up in Super! (She probably won't, but a girl can dream, right? XD)

Anyway, this is my version of her backstory; how she could have ended up with her double personality, 'cause I don't think it was from birth.

I hope you like it! Enjoy!

Launch wasn't always like this.

She didn't always have her… condition. She used to be a normal girl. She was a small, happy child, in a nice, happy home. But life wasn't always happy. Launch was too good for her own good. She was too nice, too trusting; too easy to fool, to manipulate. And the other kids always bothered her. Teased her for being so shy, so weak, so boring.

But Launch didn't know how to defend herself. So, she just took it. And she imagined; she imagined someone coming to her rescue—a blonde, tough girl that didn't let anyone hurt her—and somehow, that helped her continue with her life. The blonde girl that she made up in her mind ended up being her hero.

So, she continued living like this. While school was hellish, life at home wasn't bad at all. She loved her parents. They loved her. It was all good.

Until that day happened and everything changed.

Her parents were murdered right in front of her. No apparent reason. Just some psychopath being bored. She'd only been eight years old.

She only clearly remembers one thing from that day.

The murderer sneezed after killing her parents.

After her parents' murder, she began to realize something was wrong. She'd forget things—long periods of time—and she'd be confused most of the time. In the institution she lived in when her parents died, people blamed her for doing bad stuff she couldn't remember doing. And people always assumed she had a twin, or that she worse a wig sometimes or something.

"It's like your alter ego," a boy would tell her, someone who was never mean to her, yet for the life of her, Launch still can't remember his name.

Launch never really understood what was going on. So, when a girl blamed her for her stolen necklaces, Launch had been sad and offended when she'd found out about the accusation, and dumbfounded when she realized that she actually did have those things.

It was as if someone else entirely took over her body sometimes.

"She's got some kind of personality disorder," she remembers that a staff member said that one time; she'd overheard the comment.

"But that her hair and eyes change?" another questioned.

"I don't know. But we need to get her a psychiatrist."

"I don't know what's going on. I don't remember doing the things they say I do, Doctor. I don't even have a blonde wig! It makes me sad that they think it's me… It can't be me."

"You say you don't remember what happened during that time, didn't you?"

"Yeah. I can't remember. It's like… like I'm not even there."

"Does this happen to you frequently?"

"Um, yeah, it does. Every time I sneeze, actually. I never know what's going on. I don't like sneezing. It reminds me of… bad things."

Launch still remembers the day she was kicked out of the institution. The psychiatrist assigned to her had been treating her for months, but then he just couldn't help her. The staff didn't know what to do. Events like the stolen things were happening more and more frequently. So they just got rid of her. Good luck with life, Launch. Never mind that you're just a nine-year-old kid.

So she grew up, in and out of foster homes. It sucked, but she didn't have much options. She had to live by. The foster homes weren't bad, or cruel. They just didn't know how to handle her anymore.

"You have some kind of Dissociative Identity Disorder," one of her foster fathers—a psychiatrist—told her one day. She was fourteen. He was the first person to ever tell her she had a mental problem. "But it's not… normal. There are things… it doesn't quite fit in. It doesn't make sense. The sneeze trigger, the psychical change. It shouldn't happen."

"So what can I do?" Launch asked, small and hopeful that she would be able to do something.

"I'm not sure," he said hesitantly. "I wish I knew, Launch. I wish. I'll investigate, okay? I'll try."

Launch smiled at him. "Thank you." She meant it.

She did leave that house, eventually. But it wasn't because he couldn't handle her—he was way more patient than anyone else had ever been with her. But he'd died. He'd gotten in a car crash. Killed instantly. And Launch was back in the foster system. In and out. In and out. Still forgetting things. What's happening? Blonde girl. A blonde girl. Some kind of Dissociative Identity Disorder.

Dissociative Identity Disorder…

"I was a nightmare to the other me," Launch remembers, her blonde hair blowing in the wind. "Back then, I wasn't really aware she existed. I mean, I suspected, but I wasn't so sure… And I was always doin' whatever the hell I wanted. I just… kind of hated the world, y'know? I would've never learned to live with the other me, accept her… as a part of me, without Master Roshi's help, and I don't think she would've either. That ol' pervert is still good for somethin'."

"Master Roshi is a good man," Tien replies. "I can't even imagine how it must've been like for you. Two personalities, sharing one body…"

"It's hard," Launch shrugged. "I didn't give a fuck. The blue-haired me? She didn't know how to handle it. I have her a lot of shit to deal with. I see it now. But back then, we didn't know… we weren't the same person. Like, we were two different girls in one body. Now, we know, we're the same Launch. Different, yet the same." Her green eyes glance towards Tien Shinhan, takes in his silence, and sighs. "It doesn't make any sense, does it?"

"It does," he says, surprising her. "It makes perfect sense."

When Launch was fifteen, she tried to kill herself.

Tried.

She's always been a happy girl, even back then, but at that point, she just couldn't handle it. She'd been living seven—almost eight—years like that. With a blonde personality taking over every time she sneezed. And while she usually tried to be happy about it, see life in a positive light, she got to a point when she just… couldn't anymore.

She'd already figured it all out. She had a split personality. The blonde girl, the one who used to be her hero? It was her. She was her other personality. She was her nightmare. And Launch was just done with it all.

So she went to this river and tried to drown herself, let the darkness blind her, and she'd though she'd made it.

But then she woke up.

"The sneeze is the trigger," Launch says, big blue eyes looking at Tien.

"What?"

"The sneeze is the trigger," she repeats. "The reason I switch when I sneeze… it's because it's the only thing I can remember from when my… my parents were murdered."

Her voice is lower than usual now. It's almost a whisper. "I'm sorry," Tien says softly. "It must've been hard for you."

Launch shrugged, giving a big, genuine smile. "It's okay. I'm happy now. Thanks to Master Roshi, and everyone else… I'm so glad I met them. I'm so glad I didn't succeed in what I tried to do years ago…"

"What you tried to do?" Tien asks, worried. "Launch, what… what did you try to do?"

"I tried to kill myself."

She woke up in a loving home, with people willing to help her. Even though she warned them about her other self, they accepted her anyway. And she was happy, until she sneezed and her blonde half took over. By the time her original personality was in control, she was far away from the home that had accepted her, saved her.

It was always like that, ever since then. Blue-haired Launch would find somewhere to call home. Blonde-haired Launch would get her guns, shoot some people, steal some stuff, and leave. Launch thought she would forever live like that.

Until she got to Kame House when she was nineteen.

"You're strong."

Launch laughs, looking at the teenager that was kind of like a little brother to her. She adored Goku. He'd helped her a lot. He was always nice to her, never judged her for having split personality. He was a true friend.

"I'm not nearly as strong as you, Goku."

He laughs too. "Are you kiddin' me? You sneeze, and I better be worried 'cause you can sure punch when you're blonde!" But then he becomes serious. "Seriously, though, you are. You still stand strong after everything that has happened to you. Not everyone would have managed to do that."

Launch looks at her friend hesitantly. "You think so?"

"I know so."

Living in Kame House had been rocky at first, with her other half always causing trouble and bailing, but when she sneezed and her blue-haired personality took control, she always came back. Master Roshi, Krillin and Goku always received her with open arms. Somehow, they managed to get on the good side of her blonde personality (it took months, but they managed, and that never happened). It was then when Roshi decided to help her.

It's thanks to Roshi's help—his mental training, his advice, his support and dedication—that both personalities of Launch have finally accepted each other—accepted they're a whole—and can finally work together. She's not cured, but she's as good as she can ever get. At least, her two personalities share the same mind (different personalities, yes, but similar beliefs, same friends, same home).

Launch's truly happy now.

"I guess I gotta thank you, ol' man."

Roshi looks up from his magazine, looking at her quizzically. "For what?"

"For, y'know, helpin' me," Launch shrugs. "We all know I'd be lost in life without you guys. So thank you."

Roshi smiles. "Aw, that's okay, Launch." His grin widens. "Can I cop a feel as a thank you gift?"

She takes out her pistol. "Just 'cause I'm sayin' thanks don't mean I'm lettin' you be a pervert, you ol' man!"

He puts his hands in the air, grinning. "Fine, fine…"

I looked up what kind of disorder Launch could have—or, well, something resembling that, because people do not change hair when they sneeze) and I think Dissociative Identity Disorder is the closest. I'm no psychiatrist, so all the information I have is what I looked up on the internet. Having multiple personalities is a serious thing, so I hope I managed to keep Launch in character while having her deal with her other personality in a realistic way.

I also hope I could explain why Launch's personalities (particularly the blond one) seemed to finally coexist after they begun to live at Kame House. I always figured Roshi helped her with some kind of mental training or something.

Thanks for reading! Hope you all enjoyed. :)