CHAPTER SIX

Hours later, Malachite was still shaking. Did I really do all that they said? Did I kill Mina in a past life? Am I the cause of her pain?

Arrow insisted that her 'dad' sing her a lullaby and put her to bed. Malachite sat with her until she fell asleep, amazed that this beautiful, precocious little girl was a part of him. In spite of all that's happened, he thought, this life looks incredible. My future self has everything: an amazing wife, two beautiful children. Why in the world would I want to jeopardize this?

Minako entered the room, a cut of steaming tea in her hand. She handed the cup to him, and stood watching their sleeping daughter for a moment. "Setsuna just called. She'll come and pick you up in two days. My husband won't be back for at least that long, so things won't be awkward for you, at least." She sighed. "Cheer up, Mal. I forgave you a long time ago, and I know that your Mina has, too."

He turned to her, grief stark in his eyes. "How could you forgive me after what I did to you? I'm responsible for millions of deaths! How can anyone forgive me?"

Minako pulled him from the room, shutting the door behind her. Artemis padded up the stairs as she motioned for Malachite to keep his voice down.  "Look, Mal," she said, "that was a lifetime ago, and the guy that killed me wasn't really you. Beryl did things to your mind that no one could have resisted. Ask Endyimon. There was a period when he was under her control, too."

"Endyimon? You keep mentioning him and the princess, but I don't know who they are. Will I meet them?" Minako smiled, relieved that he'd let go of the guilt for the moment. "You already have. Serenity is now known as Serena, the blonde girl that you met the day after our first wedding. Endyimon is also Darien, her fiancé."

Malachite blinked. "Our first wedding?"

Minako continued to smile. "We-well, I-decided that we needed to have a proper ceremony with all of our friends cheering us on. We waited only until Matthew was born, and I could fit into a non-maternity dress again."

Malachite glanced down at Artemis. "When was Matthew born?" he asked.

Minako thought for a moment. "In reference of a timeline that you can understand? He was born exactly nine months after you brought me home from that hospital."

Minako grinned at his expression. "Mina's pregnant?" His heart tightened with the sheer joy of the moment. Mina's pregnant! I'm going to be a father! "Does she know?"

Minako shook her head, still grinning. "Not yet. You can tell her when she comes back."

Malachite's silly expression was suddenly wiped off his face. "Mina's out there, fighting, and she's pregnant! Are they going to be alright?!"

Minako stopped grinning, though the laughter didn't leave her eyes. "She'll be fine. They don't even die this time." She glanced at Matthew as he came down the hallway. "Why don't you spend some time with Matthew while I go clean up."

She gestured for Matthew to come closer, and the boy shyly smiled at this version of his father. Malachite smiled back, finally accepting the fact that this handsome boy was his son.  They went to the sitting room, where Matthew had just finished his homework. Malachite automatically checked it for him, and the two started to talk. Matthew told him all about his schoolwork and his life. Malachite found that he genuinely liked this boy, and not just because he was his future son. The boy was intelligent and charming in a way that his father was not. He had Mina's tendency to mix up his phrases, but he had Malachite's serious attitude and calm demeanor.

"Am I…a good father?" Malachite asked hesitantly after a while.

Matthew gave the matter serious thought, and then answered with honesty, "Well, you're gone a lot, on business with Darien and Serena, but you're always around for Arrow and me. I don't think you've even missed one of my ball games in my entire life, and we know that you love us. I remember that once you cancelled a major trip just to take Arrow and me to Venus for the day."

Malachite blinked. "I took you to Venus? How did I do that?"

Matthew grinned, much more comfortable with him now. "You had powers, too. You can shoot off lasers and things, and you can fly. It's really cool."

"And I took you to Venus? Do I do that a lot?"

Matthew shook his head. "Nah, there isn't much to see. Aunt Amy still hasn't finished restoring the entire atmosphere. Besides, Mom won't let us go planet hopping until we're older. You just snuck us that one time 'cause you thought she wouldn't find out. She did, of course. We can't hide anything from Mom."

Malachite laughed, picturing an angry Mina. "Tell me about it. What about you and Arrow? Do you have any powers?"

Matthew smiled proudly. "Yep. I can do the same things as Mom when she was my age, energy chains and stuff. Arrow," he paused thoughtfully. "We're not really sure what Arrow can do. Mom says she's still too young to be using her powers, but she does sometimes. We know she can vanish and reappear someplace else, just like you, because she disappeared once while Mom was dressing her. She showed up again a second later, floating above Mom's head. It was pretty embarrassing, 'cause we had company that day. Luckily, Mom was able to convince them that it wasn't real."

Minako poked her head in the room. "Bedtime, Matt."

Matthew groaned. "Ah, mom, we were just starting to have fun!"

Minako laughed. "In that case, why don't you take Mal to school with you tomorrow? He can substitute for me while I take Arrow for her annual check-up at the doctor's. What do you think, Mal?"

Malachite nodded, seeing Matthew's eager look. "Mom's a gym teacher at the school. She says that it's the only way she can keep an eye on me while I'm there. She doesn't want me turning out like Aunt Serena, falling asleep in school and flunking most of her classes. I can't figure out why, since it's not like it hurt Serena's prospects. She is going to be queen of the Earth one day, after all."

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Malachite followed Matthew through the halls of his school. Matthew pointed out the gym. "Mom already called the school administrator, so they know you're coming. They think you're Dad's younger brother, Mark. Just take the kids outside and let them play volleyball or something. I'm in your last class, so I'll see you then, okay?"

Malachite nodded, and Matthew waved to a short, blue-haired girl with green eyes. She quickly headed over to them.  "Dad, this is Amelie. She's Sailor Mercury's daughter. Amelie, this is a younger version of my dad."

Malachite nodded politely to the friendly girl. "You remind me of someone," he said. "You look a little young to be in Matt's grade, though."

The girl nodded, completely at ease with strangers. "I'm only thirteen. I skipped a couple of grades," she said casually. "And I probably remind you of my dad, Zoicite."

Malachite hesitated, not wanting to sound rude. "Do I know your dad?" he asked.

The girl grinned. "He's your best friend."

Malachite nodded. "I take it that he was also one of the generals from the past?"

The girl grinned again, pleased with his swiftness. "Yep." She started to say more, but the bell rang.

"C'mon, Ames, we're going to be late."

Amelie rolled her eyes. "You're such a book-worm, Matt." With one last wave, the two teenagers took off down the hallway. Malachite turned and headed for the gym.

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"Finally, it's the last class of the day." Malachite was exhausted. How does Mina do this every day? he wondered.  These kids have more energy than the Energizer bunny. He spotted Matt and Amelie, grateful for the familiar faces. They chatted for a moment while they waited for the rest of the class to finish changing.

"Okay, class," Malachite announced in a loud voice. "I'm your substitute for the day. My name's Mark, and Matt here suggested we play volleyball. Any objections?"

The game was just getting off to a good start when the sky suddenly started to cloud over. Malachite was just beginning to herd the students inside when a gravelly voice called out, "Don't you dare leave, humans. I want your energy!"

Malachite stared across the courtyard at the ugliest creature he'd ever seen. The thing looked like a human that had started to melt. Bits of the creature kept oozing to the ground, setting clumps of grass on fire. The students started to flee back in the direction of the school, but the thing threw gobs of itself at the doorway, which also burst into flames.

"Stop that!" shouted Matthew as he and Amelie ran forward. "Leave them alone, youma!"

The youma laughed cruelly. "You can't stop me, human. Nobody can stop me!" It threw another glob at Matthew, who easily dodged it.

"You're an idiot," shouted Amelie. "We're not even human!" She and Matthew threw their hands into the air, and two funny sticks similar to Mina's, but with stars instead of balls on the tops, appeared in their hands. "Venus Star Power!" shouted Matthew as his stick sent the familiar ribbons of light around his body. When the light faded, Matthew was wearing a masculine version of Mina's uniform. Instead of a tiara and skirt he wore white pants and a golden prince's circlet.

"Mercury Star Power!" Amelie, too, started to change. Liquid ice was probably the best description for the streams that erupted from her stick. They twisted around her body, leaving a blue and white suit in their place. "You hold the youma off while I put out the flames!" she shouted at Matthew. He nodded, and Amelie ran towards the doorway. "Mercury Bubbles Blare!" she shouted, pointing her hands at the flames licking higher on the school walls. Thousands of tiny bubbles erupted from her hands, encasing the flames within them. As soon as each bubble held a tiny flame inside, they all dissipated in a cloud of steam.

Matthew, meanwhile, was facing down the monster. The boy held out a hand, and shouted, "Venus Love Me Chain Encircle!" A chain comprised of what appeared to be glowing hearts suddenly appeared in his hands. He flung the chain at the monster's torso, wrapping it securely so the creature couldn't move. "I could use a little help, Ames!" he called back to the girl.

She ran forward, shouting, "Mercury Ice Blast!" A stream of that same liquid ice shot from her fingers and encased the monster's feet. The monster continued to struggle, and the ice suddenly shattered. It couldn't break Matthew's chain, but it managed to pull the boy towards it, menace gleaming in its eyes.

Malachite was never really certain about what happened next. One moment, he was watching in disbelief as his future son battled a monster several times his size, and the next he was flinging an ball of yellow energy at the youma. All he knew was that nobody treated his son this way!

The ball hit the monster's chest, creating a gaping, smoldering hole where most people kept their hearts. Matthew grinned at his future father. "Way to go, Dad!" he cheered.

The monster, though, was not so pleased. Far from dying from the blast to his chest, the monster seemed to feed on its own rage and grow stronger. It grunted, muscles straining, and broke the boy's chain into a thousand pieces. Malachite tried with all of his might to gather another energy ball, but he couldn't remember how he'd done it in the first place. "Uh oh," muttered Amelie, eyes widened to the size of saucers. "I think we really made it mad."

As the monster pulled a gob of flaming skin from one of its arms, Malachite placed himself between the youma and the children. He might not be able to throw any energy bombs at the creature, but at least he could keep his child safe. The monster lifted the arm, preparing to kill the people before it.

A second chain, much stronger and brighter than Matthew's, suddenly wrapped around the monster's wrist, effectively stopping it. A wider stream of ice also wrapped around the monster's feet, holding the creature in place. Malachite followed the chain to its source, where he saw four winged women floating in a circle above the youma's head.

"Those are our children, youma!" Minako cried as she pulled the chain even tighter.

The blue-haired woman next to her nodded vigorously and sent another stream of ice towards the monster's waist. "Fry him, Jupiter!" she cried.

The brunette in the green uniform shouted, "Jupiter Thunder Shock!" and a lightening bolt shot onto the monster from a crystal clear sky. Stripes of electricity arced across the screaming monster's figure, and he quickly dropped the glob of flaming skin.

"My turn," sang the raven-haired woman in red. "Mars Fireball Ignite!" A fireball erupted from her hands, completely engulfing the monster. When the flames finally resided, the only trace left of the creature was a tiny pile of ash.

The four women drifted to the earth as the other students watched with terror in their eyes. Minako and the blue-haired woman embraced their children. "We're very proud of you, son," Minako murmured.

"Yeah," snickered the brunette. ""You make a great couple." She grinned widely.

"Lita!" admonished Minako, though she, too, was grinning brightly. "They're barely teenagers. Let them grow a little before you start planning their wedding."

Malachite noticed that both Matthew and Amelie were blushing furiously. "Mom!" protested Matthew, but he glanced speculatively at the girl beside him. "Aunt Lita isn't the only person involved in the wedding, you know. Amelie and I get to have a say, too," he quipped. Amelie glared and punched him. Matthew grinned at her as he rubbed his arm subtly.

The blue-haired woman sighed. "Sometimes I wonder if the hospital switched my baby with Raye's," she groaned.

Minako glanced at the crowd surrounding them. "Look's like your identity is going to be common fodder from now on, son," she murmured.

Matthew sighed. "I guess it had to happen sometime," he said as he eyed his awed schoolmates. "I think we can handle it."

As he finished speaking, the whirling vortex that was the time gate appeared out of nowhere. A tall woman with green hair and a long staff stepped through, Artemis on her shoulder, and beckoned to Malachite. "It's time to go," she said in a cool voice.

Minako gave Malachite a brief hug. "Thank you for protecting him," she said.

Malachite smiled. "He's my son, too." He walked over to Matthew and gave him an equally quick hug. "I'll see you in fifteen years," he said. He turned towards the gate. "Say good-bye to Arrow for me," he called as the door slammed shut on his future.