This had to be a coincidence, but then again he did notice the similarities between himself and herself. She had that luscious auburn hair that ran in his family, her eyes were a piercing violet, almost like an amethyst, and her skin was bronzed like his, but a hue lighter. Levon thought to himself, but dismissed his previous hunch. However, he soon found himself dawning on a new thought, "Virginia sure does look a lot like mom for some reason." And it was true, if you were to put a picture of his mother next to one of Virginia, it would appear as if they were twins, even though they were not. This whole assumption started after a previous battle the gang had with a new enemy. The Black Cosmos Society appeared to be steamed at the fact that their efforts to stop The Zodiac and rule the universe were failing. They set in motion a new plan to utilize a more stronger force to increase their efforts of winning. This is where the new enemies, known as Splicers came from.

The Zodiac, a group of teenaged superbeings who were blessed with the power of the zodiac, had encountered a type of Splicer a week ago near the docks in town, a Bathelisk. The Bathelisk resembled an aquatic creature with a few modifications, there were about three or four that the gang had to defeat before retrieving one of the Cosmic Gems from the head Bathelisk. After the battle, the gang resumed their human forms and decided to head to Virginia's house for a movie night. Virginia had invited everyone to her place for a Universal Adventures movie marathon, but the plans were soon scratched for the moment when they got word of the Bathelisk at the docks. Everyone had made themselves comfortable in the large living room of Virginia's lavish home. It had been almost everyone's first or second, and even a few third times being there, but they were still curious as to see what was around. Caprice admired the artwork that aligned the walls adjacent to the living room near the hallway, Toro and Aqua gazed at the high ceiling structure for a while, Levon and Aura surveyed the array of books on the shelves nearby and everyone else took a seat in the living room area.

Virginia approached Aura and Levon from behind as they fingered through the book collection, "You guys like what you see? My dad is the one who mostly does the reading in this house, hence all of the books. But there are a few photo albums thrown in there. You can take a look if ya like." Levon took the chance to look through the photo albums along with Aura. He pulled a rustic crushed velvet album, a bit large and dusty and opened the bindings of the tomb.

"Awww, Gina looks adorable in that pink tutu right there. Don't you think Levon," stated Aura as she pointed to a particular picture of a young Virginia in a ballerina tutu and leotard.

The description written to the right of the picture stated that Viriginia was around the age of 5, and that it was a post recital pic of her in her outfit before her big number in her dance studio's production of The Sugar Plum Fairy. The young boy then flipped forward to a section of some photos with Virginia and her parents. They must have been taken a few years ago, 1-2 years top due to Virginia's appearance being similar to her now current look. A few page turns more, and Levon landed on a particular picture of what looked to be a group of kids, or possibly cousins. The description was short, "Me with the family at the ranch." It must have been written by her father, or someone else. There was no name mentioned, but Levon was sure he had seen this photo in someone else's possession and this left him puzzled. Aura took noticed to the blank expression that Levon gave and waved a pale hand in his face to knock him out of his daze.

"Hey Levon, are you alright? You seem out of it for some reason."

"I have a hunch about something, and it has something to do with this picture."

"Is it something bad?"

"No, I feel it's something … like a secret."

Virginia soon got everyone's attention and ordered them to gather around the huge flat screen tv that took up almost the entire wall. Levon wanted to get a quick answer out of her as to why she had a similar picture of his that he kept in his own album at home, but that would have to wait after the marathon.

The time came close to 12:03am by the time the credits to the third and final Universal Adventures movie rolled. The gang slowly unwinded out of their little circle they had somehow created while in the midst of their marathon. Gem was on the vurge of toppling out of the recliner that she was in; her body in an akward position, due to sleepiness. Scottlyn had tried to wedge himself out of the area between the long couch and the recliner where Gem was, that he had buried himself into close to the middle of the second movie. Due to the force that Gem was putting on the chair from leaning too far to the left, it made Scottlyn, the green haired boy had to get a helping hand from Lise nearby who was lying horizontally in front of him during the whole entire night. Levon, who made himself comfortable near Aura towards the middle of the space in front of the large tv, had decided to unwind himself by stretching, and then got himself up to address Virginia about earlier. The fashionista was making her way out of the powder room that was nearby. She had drank one too many root beers, and had to make a long trip to the bathroom before the end of the movie, so she had missed the end. She noticed Levon slowly approaching her and absent mindedly brush a strand of her long auburn hair from her face.

"Virginia, I have a question to ask you?"

"If it's about the bathroom, I suggest you wait a while. I must go and replace the toilet paper before anyone can use it."

"No, not that. Listen, there was a picture I had found in one of your albums earlier."

"And…"

"It's strangely similar to one that I have in my album at home. So the question is, how did you obtain that picture." He pointed an accusing finger in the girl's direction as if she was being questioned for a crime. Virginia's gaze lingered at the blonde boy's finger before drifting back towards his face that held a serious gaze.

"What picture are you talking about Levon? And don't think that I have stolen it, because Virginia Markov does not steal."

He hastily grabbed the girl's right wrist and slowly led her to the bookshelf from earlier. The others in the gang were paying no mind to what Virginia and Levon were doing, most were sleepy after all those hours of staring at a TV screen and watching three two-to-three hour flicks. Once at the shelf, Levon had used his free hand to scan the shelf before rediscovering the rustic crushed velvet album he and Aura had found hours before. He released his hand from Viriginia's wrist and slowly scanned through the book before finding the picture from before.

"There, see it's this one." He stated as he placed a finger on the picture. The young girl gazed at the picture for a while before looking up at Levon once more.

"Oh, this, that's my father and his cousins. I know all of them by name except for this one girl right here," She placed a slim finger on a particular person in the aged photograph. "I have no clue who she is, and I have never asked my dad before who she is, so I assume she's a distant relative of ours."

"Strange, I've seen this picture so many times in my album at home, and I know these people except this guy right here," he points to the young boy standing next to the unidentified female. "The girl right here is my mom, Matina."

"That's my dad, Valor Markov."

"Your dad!?"

"Yes."

"Even stranger. How is it my dad, and your mom are in the same picture."

"I don't know, maybe they're old friends and they held on to the same picture for memories."

"I guess, but another hunch I have is the fact that you look a lot like my mom now that I think about it."

"Me? I look like your mom?"

This assumption was then carried on throughout the week. Levon made a note to ask his mom about this whole ordeal since she was in the picture after all. It wasn't until that weekend that he got the opportunity. His mother was off of work, and was taking the time to bake some goods for a PTA meeting at Levon's school. She occupied herself at the moment, mixing a bowl of wet ingredients diligently into another bowl filled with dry contents. She hummed herself a lighthearted tune, which Levon could recognize as he made his way into the kitchen.

"You know, I never do get tired of that old lullaby. Even if I'm now 15 years old."

His mother turned at the sound of her son's voice, "Oh Levon, you know I can never get that out of my head. I used to sing it to you all the time just to put you asleep when you were little. "

"I know mom. Sometimes I catch myself singing the same thing at certain moments. I guess you can say it's sort of a comfort mechanism, because everytime I sing it, I always have a peace of mind." His mother gave a warm smile at the compliment, and he returned it. However, his face turned serious once his mother had turn back to her work. He held within his hands, a rustic album of his own, one that was a part of his family. Two of his fingers held the spot of a particular page he had come across earlier, the one of the identical photo that he had discovered at Virginia's. He gave a small cough to get his mother's attention.

"Say, I've been meaning to ask you a question for a while. But I wanted to wait until you had some free time away from work." She turned her full body away from her work at hand, her pink frilly apron she adorned was spotted with flour from the mix. You could make out in full detail what she had on while baking. Her long auburn hair, similar to Virginia's, was held back by a pink bandana. She always wore bandanas when doing household chores or cooking. She wore a simple black top that had ¾ sleeves, a pair of light washed capris, and her simple pink house slippers on her feet. Her amethyst colored eyes shone brightly as she looked upon her son.

"Let me guess, it has something to do with that album, am I right?" she stated as she placed her right hand upon her hip and leaned in the same direction.

"Well, yeah. See I was at Virginia's house a couple of days ago. She allowed us to go through some of her photo albums and I noticed a picture in there that was similar to this one."He revealed the contents of the page he had marked and shone it to his awaiting mother. Her slender form hunched over to get a good look at the picture that Levon had pointed out.

"This picture? Oh, those are my cousins and my brother." She gave a cheeky, yet sad smile.

"Your brother….Valor I supposed." His mother stopped dead in her tracks when he said that name. And no sooner had he said it that his mother began to tear up.

In between sobs, "Tell me…how do you know that name Levon?"

"I told you before mom, this picture right here was the same picture I saw in Virginia's album at her place. She told me something similar, stating that it was a picture of her father, his cousins and one girl she couldn't recognize. I pointed out to her, when we observing it, that it was you in the photograph because I remember you telling me about that a while back. Now I want know, is this guy right here, Valor Markov your brother?"

His mother recovered from her tearful moment and gave a heavy sigh," I guess I can't hold it from you any longer huh. I was going to tell you when you were older, but seeing as though your 15, that should be good enough. See, when me and my brother were younger, our parents had a bit of family trouble, which soon left us in the care of foster families. Me and my brother were separated into different homes, and I wasn't allowed to see him because he lived so far away. It was like this for many years, and soon we were able to be on our own. I went through most of my life, not knowing where my brother was and it worried me. I would cry at night, and pray to the gods above to give me a sign as to where he was, but all I got was empty promises."

"Well mom, I think your prayers have been answered. According to this information you have given me, Virginia's father is Valor Markov, your long lost brother. His mother stared at him bewilderment with fresh new tears streaming down her face. She then approached her son and gave him a tender hug.

Days had passed until a special day had rolled around for Levon, his mother, Virginia and her father. After making some phone calls and arranging at day to meet, Levon and his mother made their way to Virginia's lavish home one Saturday afternoon. Levon had pointed out the grand two story home that they were slowly coming upon in their small red four door car. His mother pulled up to the curb of the home before placing the vehicle in park. Both exited the car and made their way to the two large cherrywood doors and rang the bell nearby. No sooner had they rang that Virginia had opened the door, greeting the two with a bright warm smile and kind gesture to enter. Apparently Viriginia was so eager to have this moment between the two families. She adorned some of her finest clothes from her wardrobe, a teal colored ruffled tank, a long lilac skirt and a pair of white ballet flats with tiny rhinestones on the ends. Her hair was done up in its usual way, with a few extra curls and accessories thrown in. The auburn haired teen led their guests to the parlor to have a nice spot of tea and some fresh baked cookies that were made by her stepmother before she had left for work. Levon pulled both his mother's and Viriginia's chairs so that they may sit before taking his own. All three sat around the table, Levon admiring the delectable treats that were set around.

"My, this looks delicious Viriginia. I will have to thank your stepmother for this the next time I see her."

"Oh don't worry, I'll tell Eva you said so later on. I told her the whole plan today, and she was just as ecstatic as I was. Even though she could not be with us on this day, she decided to make these treats as a way of an apology."

"Thank you. Oh, my apologies, Viriginia, this is my mother Matina Thomas. Mom, this is Virginia Markov, your supposed niece.

The two girls exchanged greetings and a simple handshake across the table before Mr. Markov, Virginia's father made his appearance. All three of us glared at our approaching guest, most notably Mom who looked as though she had saw her long time favorite celebrity. Both Mr. Markov and my mom were in a daze as they stared at eachother.

"Valor, is that you?" she stated as she slowly rose from her seat.

"Matina, I can't believe…." No sooner had they uttered those words did they sprang for eachother and embraced eachother in a family loving manner.

"Looks like this confirms it," Virginia said. "And I guess that makes us two cousins!"

Here's a link to the old version on DA: /d6if1bg. In case you care to read it!