After school that day Chibiusa felt at loose ends. She was still too angry and frustrated to go home and deal with her brother, even if her mother was at home. And after the recent chastising from her parents she didn't want to violate Akemi's grounding for a second time.

She started walking to the nearest bus stop, not really sure where she would go from there. And she couldn't stop thinking about the argument with Seiya that morning. As angry as she was she could still admit to the truth in some of his statements, even if she didn't like it. She had questions about all the tangled strands of her destiny, and she knew of only one place where she might get some answers.

Forty minutes later she was approaching one of the smaller shrines in the area. It was surrounded by trees which blocked out most of the traffic noise from nearby streets. Behind the building, near the koi pond, she found the person she was looking for.

"Luna!"

A beautiful woman with dark hair and golden, almost cat-like eyes stood up on the far side of the pond and faced Chibiusa, who ran forward into a warm embrace. She wasn't aware of her tears until the older woman wiped them from her cheeks.

For years Luna and her partner Artemis had, in their feline forms, been the guides and mentors of Chibiusa's mother and her friends. They had been a part of every battle and every turmoil, grooming five young girls into the powerful sailor soldiers that they became. In the end, after years of faithful service, the two of them had been granted human form and given their own lives to lead, but they had chosen to continue as before, only now they guided the next generation.

Inside the small house where she and Artemis lived Luna made tea and served it before asking any questions. After a few moments she noticed that Chibiusa was calmer and more in control of herself, so she felt safe in broaching the subject.

"What brings you here today?" Luna asked, taking a sip of her tea. She watched with interest as a flush stained her young companion's cheeks.

"Why does anything need to bring me here?" Chibiusa replied. "Can't I just want to visit an old family friend?"

Luna patted the girl's hand were it rested on the table. "Of course you can," she said, biting her lower lip to keep from smiling. "But that's not why you're here right now. So just tell me what happened so I can offer appropriate advice."

With a sigh Chibiusa began the story, starting with her parents being called to the hospital for something that neither had yet explained. She went on to describe the rather vicious argument she and Seiya had had that morning, ending with his parting shot of how she may not be able to depend on her friends to fight with her.

"He's just such an immature and jealous jerk!" Chibiusa exclaimed. "Just because I have these powers and he has nothing. . ." Her voice trailed off when she saw how Luna was looking at her.

"Which are you angrier about, Chibiusa?" Luna asked, her eyes regarding the younger girl with piercing intensity. "The fact that Seiya said that about your friends or the fact that a part of you believed him?"

"I didn't -"

"Don't lie. You'd be stupid if you didn't occasionally wonder what you'll do if your friends never awaken to their powers as sailor soldiers. And I know you are far from stupid," Luna concluded.

"But for Seiya to say it -"

Luna cut off her words with a sharp chopping motion of her hand. "Who said it is meaningless," she said. "And if you weren't always so quick to criticize and find fault with your brother you'd realize that."

"I didn't say anything that wasn't true!" Chibiusa protested. "How is that finding fault with him?"

Luna sighed and squeezed the bridge of her nose as if fighting a headache. "You didn't say anything about the altered destinies of you and your parents? Not a word about how he wasn't supposed to have been born? No comments about how that fact is probably why he hasn't shown any sign of powers?" When Chibusa flushed but didn't reply Luna had her answer. "That's what I thought," she said. "And you had the nerve to take offense when he hit back with the words that would hurt you the most?"

Chibiusa, still flushed but now thoroughly chastened stared into her teacup as if all the secrets of life were there to be revealed. Luna sighed and reached out, turning Chibiusa's face to her to look the girl in the eyes.

"Here is something that you need to understand about your brother, Chibiusa," she said, the anger gone from her voice. "He may be the result of the change on your parents' destinies but he's not the only one. Your life now is so completely different from what it was supposed to have been that you can't even imagine."

"I know," Chibiusa said, her voice quiet. "I know all about who I was supposed to be and what I was supposed to have done, including coming from the thirtieth century, which obviously didn't happen this time around."

Luna stood up then. "Come with me," she said, and led her young friend back outside to the koi pond.

"Destiny is like the surface of the water," she said, gesturing before stooping to pluck a pebble from the ground. "It's smooth and calm when everything is as it should be. But make one small change to that destiny -" she said, dropping the pebble into the water. They watched as the ripples spread out through the water, hit the edge and then worked their way back to the center.

"It takes time for all of the ripples to spread out and for the full effect of that change to be known," Luna said. "The full story of this changed destiny hasn't been written yet, and until it is you just need to accept that not everything is as you might wish it to be."

Chibiusa watched until the ripples all disappeared and the surface of the pool lay undisturbed yet again. Only then did she look up. "Is that why Mariko, Rio, Mizuki and Akemi still haven't awoken? Is that part of what's still unwritten?"

"I don't know, but it's certainly possible."

When Chibiusa arrived home neither of her parents were there, but there was a note on the refrigerator saying that they had arrived home from the hospital and where they had each gone since. There was nothing about what time either would be home. She read the note with a sinking heart; the thought of even an hour in her brother's company without the buffer of their parents was not one she relished. But she'd have to face him sooner or later.

Then she heard a noise upstairs and knew that Seiya was already at home. Sooner it is, then, she told herself, and reluctantly climbed the stairs. She stopped outside his partially opened bedroom door and took a deep breath before knocking. Her knock pushed the door open a bit more and she could see him, seated at his desk with his back to her.

"Unless the first words out of your mouth are going to be 'I'm sorry' I really don't want to hear anything from you," he said, without turning around. "And you can damn me for being immature, jealous, and unforgiving all you want, but it won't change anything." He turned around then and she almost took a step back and away from the anger that blazed in his eyes. "I've had enough of all of this. You, destiny, powers, whatever. So leave me alone."

She did take a step back then, away from his door, before turning to flee to her own bedroom. And she was still there an hour later when her mother came home.

She heard her mother's footsteps on the stairs, and then the knock on the door. For a moment she debated not answering but for Usagi to seek her out in her own room, rather than just call her downstairs, was so unusual that she knew something was up. Still, she reluctantly rose from her bed and opened the door.

And suppressed a gasp at how exhausted and drained her mother looked. It was obvious that she hadn't slept and lines of worry creased her forehead. But even so she had a smile on her face.

"Are you busy?" Usagi asked her daughter. "I have something important to tell you, but it can wait if need be."

Chibiusa smiled and hugged her mother. "If you say it's important, Mom, it won't have to wait."

Usagi was surprised at the hug and long, sometimes painful, experience as a mother told her it meant Chibiusa felt guilty about something, but she didn't have the energy to confront the situation at that moment. She simply wanted to inform Chibiusa about Mizuki and then leave her daughter alone to decide how she felt about the situation. And some sleep for herself would not be unwelcome.

They sat side by side on the bed. "So what's so important?" Chibiusa asked.

Usagi took her daughter's hand and smiled. "Do you remember what you said a couple of days ago when you found out Mizuki was coming home?"

Chibiusa nodded. "I said I hoped her being back here would help her awaken to her powers so that she could become Sailor Venus, and you told me that I shouldn't get my hopes up too high, because there wasn't a guarantee." She frowned slightly and worried her bottom lip with her teeth. "You were right, of course. I shouldn't get my hopes up; I should just wait and see how everything happens as the story continues to write itself."

Usagi looked suspiciously at her daughter. "What brought on this sudden bout of maturity?" she asked before realization hit. "Never mind, I can guess. You went to see Luna today." She shook her head. "I'm glad Luna was able to get through to you, but it's still secondary to what I have to say." She took a deep breath. "There's actually a different reason to not get your hopes up. For Mizuki you don't need to anymore."

Chibiusa looked into her mother's eyes, puzzled. When she figured out what Usagi was saying, though, she gasped out loud. "Mizuki. . . Mizuki is. . ."

Usagi nodded. "Yes. Yes, she is." And she went on to tell Chibiusa how it had happened; an armored car being robbed in London and Mizuki taking the Venus crystal from her mother and transforming.

Neither of them heard Seiya's footsteps as he descended the stairs at a speedy pace. Nor did he hear his mother berate his sister for her faults in the bad relationship between brother and sister.

He ran from the house and to the end of the block before he stopped, what he had just heard spinning in his mind. So Mizuki had her powers now, although he was fairly certain that Mariko, Rio and Akemi were still in the dark about their destinies. Not that that made him feel any better, because it still didn't answer the most important question that he needed an answer to: just what the hell was he supposed to become? There was really only one person who could answer that question, though, and he set off on the short walk to his father's research lab.

Mamoru sat in his office at work, feeling every single one of his almost forty years of age. Adrenaline had kept him going the previous night while he, Makoto and Rei had searched for the heart crystal, but that burst had worn off hours ago, leaving him physically and mentally exhausted. Both his administrative and lab assistants had noticed and managed to run interference for him, taking care of the worst of the day's problems.

But mental exhaustion aside he couldn't get his mind to stop analyzing everything that had happened. It was now more important than ever that he work to develop a method to detect a daimon pod before it could do any damage. The scientist in him knew that, but the husband was terrified of the danger Usagi would be in when they did the final experiment. And not only Usagi; he knew her well enough to know that she would tell the others the whole plan, and he knew Ami, Minako, Rei and Makoto well enough to know that they'd all insist on sharing the risk.

He was giving serious thought to laying his head down on the desk for a short nap when a brief knock sounded at the door and his son entered the room. "Seiya?" Mamoru said as his son came in the door. "What brings you here at this time of day?"

Seiya had entered the room in a temper, fully prepared to lay every grievance he currently had with his sister at his father's feet, but when he saw how tired and haggard Mamoru looked the words died in his mouth. He should have expected it; after all hadn't he and Chibiusa passed a long, sleepless night while their parents were out of the house? It made sense that their parents had been without sleep as well.

"Out with it, Seiya," Mamoru said, jerking his son's attention back. "You wouldn't have come here without something you thought you urgently needed to talk to me about, so just tell me."

Seiya, his anger now gone, dropped into one of the chairs and quickly told his father everything; about the sleepless night, the argument with Chibiusa earlier that day and the hurtful things they had both said to each other. "And I overheard Mom and Chibiusa talking, so I know that Mizuki now has her powers as Sailor Venus," he concluded. When his father gave him a look he went on. "I didn't mean to eavesdrop! I just wanted to talk to Mom and make sure she heard both sides of the story."

"I didn't imagine you went to your sister's room to apologize," Mamoru said, fighting to keep from smiling. "And now that you know there are two sailor warriors of the next generation you're wondering where, if anywhere, you fit into all of this."

"Well, yeah," Seiya said. "Shouldn't I wonder? It's not like it'd be totally out of the blue for a man to have powers and be the guardian of a planet, right?"

At that Mamoru did smile. "No, it wouldn't be out of the blue, but even if you're meant to follow me as the guardian of Earth it's not quite the same as being one of the sailor warriors."

"Am I meant to follow you?"

"I honestly don't know," Mamoru replied, sighing as he did so. "None of us knows anything about what's supposed to happen, because so many things were changed. The Earth was supposed to have been frozen in a deep sleep and not be awakened until the thirtieth century, for example. And we know that didn't happen."

"And Mariko, Rio and Akemi still haven't become sailor senshi," Seiya said.

Mamoru nodded. "That could be a part of all of this," he said. "Whatever it was that wrought this change in our destinies was like a pebble being dropped in a pond; we're still waiting to see where all the ripples go and what effect they'll have. The story isn't over yet, not by a long shot."

"So you think I should just be patient and wait and see."

"That's all any of us can do, Seiya. But there is something else that you need to remember."

"What?"

"Even if your destiny is to follow in my footsteps as the prince and guardian of Earth, you'll still never be as powerful as your sister or the other senshi," Mamoru said, gathering his things together. "They are the true protectors of this planet and its people. I've never had the kind of power your mother has, and I accepted that a long time ago. You'll have to live with that as well, when the time comes."

Seiya thought for a moment before giving a nod. "I understand," he said.

"I hope you do," his father replied, opening the office door. "Just do me one favour, please."

"What's that?

"Do not tell you mother that I admitted she's more powerful than me. I'd never hear the end of it!"