Disclaimer: I do not own Dragon Ball/Z/GT.

A New Future

The time had finally come. In all honesty, he didn't really want to do this, but he knew he had things to take care of. Still, Trunks was happy. After the ordeal with the Androids and Cell, which had resulted in his own death, the world had been saved by Gohan and the Z Warriors. Trunks was glad to have helped play a part in all of this, especially being included in the wish to Shenron that brought back everyone Cell had killed. Not only saving the past, present, and future, but hearing that his father had been an important part of Cell's final defeat was something he could have a lot of pride in. The stories he'd tell his mom back in his time, he really was happy. Still, there were those that didn't want him to leave, but knew they had to. Those people being his parents of this time, as well as his younger self, albeit the baby Trunks was sleeping in his mother's arms.

"Oh Trunks, I'm really going to miss you. I mean, I'll still have my little baby you, but I've really come to love having you here the way you are now. I can only hope we can raise our Trunks to be like you" Bulma sobbed, teary from the fact that she had to say goodbye to an older version of her son.

"It's alright Mom. I know you'll do a good job. I'm glad to have gotten to see you at a time when you could be as happy as you are now" Trunks replied, knowing that in his time, whatever happiness his mother had shown him had to be faked for his sake.

"But I'm not happy! I don't want you to go!"

Giving a weak smile, Trunks replied "I know you don't, but you've got a lot of years with your Trunks. In my time, you haven't had a chance to really enjoy life after the Androids attacked. I want to see how happy the you of my time will be"

"I... I guess that's fair" the bluenette conceded. It was hard to accept, but Trunks was smart and knew how to put up a valid point. That made her happy though, knowing that she was going to be a good enough mother that she would be able to raise a smart child.

Pleased that his mother was finally accepting his departure, Trunks looked to his father. "Well Dad, it really was great to meet you. I have to say, when I first met you, I wasn't exactly proud to hear that you were my father"

"I wasn't exactly thrilled to hear that you were my child either" Vegeta retorted, shooting a glare that made Trunks chuckle nervously.

"Still, I've seen how powerful you are and just what you've done, and I couldn't be prouder. I know you probably don't like me talking like this, but the best thing about coming back to this time was getting to know you" the Saiyan half-breed stated.

Vegeta's glare stayed fixated on Trunks before snorting and turning his back to him. "You're right about one thing. I don't like hearing you talk like that. To imagine a warrior talking like such a sissy is embarrassing". Trunks lowered his head a bit, stinging from the harsh comment Vegeta made, while Bulma cast the Saiyan Prince a dirty look. The pureblood warrior wasn't done however. "I mean really, do you realize how hard it is for me to be proud that my son, now the strongest warrior in his time, when he's acting like such a peasant? Makes me sick"

While there were still a few offending words in his statement, Trunks and Bulma knew that, in his own way, Vegeta was saying he was glad to have met him as well, and that he was proud to call him his son. With these parting words said, Trunks knew he had to move on.

Climbing into the time machine, the future warrior gave his parents one last smile. "I'm really glad to have met you guys. If Mom wasn't waiting for me, I'd definitely stay here". Working the control panel, Trunks set the machine to return him to the desolate future. Only, it wasn't so desolate now that he had trained here and knew he was strong enough to put an end to the Android menace.

Pressing the final button, the heir to the Saiyan Royal Lineage and Capsule Corporation waited for him to travel through time as he had done numerous times before. And yet, nothing happened. This had never happened before. He should have been propelled through time to some point in his own timeline.

"Trunks! What's wrong?" Bulma shouted, knowing that there had to have been something wrong when the machine seemed to turn on, only for it to deactivate.

Opening the glass top, Trunks replied "I'm not sure. Something seems to be wrong with the machine. Would you and Grandpa mind lending me a hand?"

"Of course!" the blue haired genius replied with a perky tone, happy she could spend some time with her son from the future. Turning to Vegeta, Bulma quickly handed him the now wide awake baby Trunks.

As Bulma turned to head to the lab, Trunks bringing the time machine into the garage like opening into the lab, Vegeta looked at his infant child in surprise. Looking to Bulma, he barked "What the hell are you doing giving this to me!"

Not even bothering to look back as she continued on, Bulma yelled back "He's your son! So while I help one version of our child, you look after the other! And don't even try to push him off on someone else!"

Bulma's words wouldn't stop the Saiyan Prince from complaining, but she was already inside by the time his mouth opened. Grunting, Vegeta looked back to his spawn, and was concerned when he saw the child's eyes tearing up. Not concern that there was something wrong with him, but concern that he'd have to deal with it. "If you make this difficult, then I'm going to make you suffer for it"

Regardless of whether or not baby Trunks knew what Vegeta said, he began bawling after his father stopped talking. "Damn it"

Bulma, Trunks, and Dr. Briefs all sat around the same computer, looking at the data displayed on its screen. They had spent a few hours running some tests on the time machine, and the results of those tests were very troubling.

"Inconclusive. What the hell does this mean? It's not saying its working or broken" Bulma pondered aloud.

"I'm not sure. It seemed to start up, but it didn't do the job. It's so odd" Trunks added.

Dr. Briefs, who had been relatively quiet during the entire testing process, rubbed his chin in thought as he looked at the screen. Bulma, who noticed her dad's actions, asked "What do you think Dad?"

Looking to his daughter and grandson of the future, Dr. Briefs replied "Well, I have one theory. There's no guarantee it's correct, but it's the only possibility that I can think of"

"What would that be?"

Looking over to the time machine, Dr. Briefs explained "Now, I don't know everything there is about this machine as it is literally technology years ahead of are time. However, from what Trunks has told us, it allows you to travel through time, and should you do something in the past that would alter the future, the machine returns you to your timeline"

"A hypothetical example of this would be that if you were to go back in time, and say you would kill someone like myself when I was a young lad, that should me that I would not exist, and neither would Bulma because I would never have procreated with her mother. However, when you return to your time, Bulma and I would still be here. It can create an alternate timeline, but always return to its timeline of origin"

"Right. Mom and I made it that way so that when I went back in time to figure out the Androids' weakness, there wouldn't be any accidental alterations that would mean I was never born. Something like that would create an infinite time loop, because while I would have prevented my own birth, I would then never exist to go back and interfere with the past, which means I wouldn't interrupt my own birth. A loop like that could cause spacial and temporal distortions in not only our universe, but many" Trunks agreed, knowing how this process worked. He and Future Bulma did invent the machine after all.

"Precisely. You invented it so that you would constantly return to your timeline, regardless of how many alternate timelines you created. However, this is where I see the issue. You invented this machine to go back in time and return to your time in your own timeline. A process of going back and returning. The time machine's purposes were never meant to go into a future and return to your own past" Dr. Briefs pointed out.

It was an unusual statement, as the idea of going further into the future was never something Trunks had thought about. As Dr. Briefs had said, it was about going back in time, then returning to the timeline of origin's future. "Well, yeah, but we never planned on doing anything like that" Trunks admitted.

"You may not have, but your mother had" Dr. Briefs announced, surprising Bulma and Trunks. "I know my daughter is as smart as I am, likely smarter, so in your time, she came to this conclusion quickly. You see, when you look at science fiction, time travel is at its most dangerous when you travel back in time because of that infinite time loop that you mentioned. The safety precaution of returning to a future that you already belonged to only means the creation of an alternate timeline, keeping you safe from any changes in your own timeline. However, time travel is a danger in and of itself. So if traveling back in time becomes safe, where does the danger go?"

It was only a second before Trunks and Bulma replied in a unified realization "The future"

"Precisely. If you go back in time and change the past, but return to your future, nothing will really change for you. Now, if you go into the future, see something you don't like, and when you return to your time you try and do whatever you can to prevent that thing from happening, what will happen? It can be as simple as seeing what clothes you wear the next day. You see yourself with a blue jacket, go back to your time, and decide you want it to be different and wear a red jacket instead. Where did the future with the blue jacket come from then? In both timelines you had gone into the future, so where did the decision to wear a blue jacket instead of a red jackt come from?"

"I see. Something like that wouldn't create the infinite time loop that traveling back in time causes, but rather meets the problem of an infinite number of futures when only one past exists to begin with" Bulma stated, seeing the dangers in traveling into the future.

"I knew you'd get it. You're already as smart as I am. This is why I imagine that the Future Bulma foresaw such a problem and put a safety feature in the time machine that prevented going into the future, so that such an incident wouldn't occur" Dr. Briefs explained.

"Alright, I understand all of this, but it still doesn't explain what's going on. I'm just returning to my time, not going into a future I don't belong in" the purple haired man pointed out, still trying to get to the bottom of the issue.

Nodding his head to his grandson's curiousity, Dr. Briefs continued. "Trunks, you explained to us that the time machine uses up a massive amount of energy. So much that it can only be used twice before needing to recharge again, correct? Tell me then, after you warned us about the Androids three years ago, did you return to your time immediately?"

"No. The goal was to warn you guys, have Goku and Dad fight the Androids and win, see how you did so, and then use your method to defeat the Androids in my time. I went and told you guys about the Androids, then I went straight to when the Androids were supposed to arrive so I could see how you guys would defeat them"

"Right. You traveled back in time, then forward in our timeline. Two trips. Now, the time machine has recharged over the havoc that has taken place with Cell, but because you expended the energy with those trips, the time machine reset after charging. This meant that it 'forgot' your original timeline and the time you were from, and recognized this timeline and point in time as the origin point. Because of this, it won't go into the future because of the safety feature, let alone recognizing your timeline" Dr. Briefs finally concluded.

Trunks, being the smart man he was, knew very well what this meant. His mistake in moving to the Android fight without a break in his time left him stuck in this timeline. He would never see his mother again. After all he had done to make sure she would be safe. After all he had done to save his people. It all meant nothing now. The mental fatigue and sorrow overwhelmed him as he held his head in his hands. So much time and effort for nothing.

"Would you stop that? Imagine what your father would say". Surprised to hear such a comment, and from his own mother, Trunks looked up at the genius woman. "Look, I know you're probably thinking how you'll never get to see your mom and your timeline will have to suffer under the Androids. I know it sounds harsh, but you need to forget that now. I want you to know you saved us. You saved all of us from suffering like your timeline had to. You saved a lot more people this way. Besides, even if you don't like it, I would really like having you living with us. You father too, even if he would never admit it with that arrogant pride"

Trunks looked at his mother, just thinking over what she said. Despite her comforting words, he couldn't help but cry. Bulma moved in and held him in a soft embrace, just letting him cry into her shoulder. The tears held so much sorrow, the feeling that he lost his chance to save his mother and make her happy. Yet, he was happier than he had ever been. Bulma was right. She was a genius after all. Even though he wished to save his future, he had found a new home and life here. There was a lot he'd have to accept, but living here and now wouldn't be bad at all.

A/N: This is just a set up chapter to explain why Future Trunks will still be in the cast. I feel a bit proud in how the time travel issue was explained here, albeit it is really long winded and confusing. If more explanation is required, just ask, otherwise I can only say that Future Trunks is here to stay in the story and thats why the time travel talk was in there.