He was holding her hand from across the table, leaning into her intimately. They were smiling. He was looking at this woman the same way he'd looked at her so many times before.

Rei thought back to the conversations she'd had with him before, when she realized it was him who had picked out her birthday presents every year and not her father. Kaidou, her father's assistant, who sent a bouquet of Casablanca lilies every year on her birthday after learning they were her favorite. It was him who called her a kindred spirit the last time they'd spoken. It was him who made Rei think she was special.

She watched from the doorway to the restaurant as they stood up to leave. She watched as he helped her into her coat. She watched as he held her hand again as they walked towards the exit, towards her, smiling at each other as only lovers do.

Rei sat up in bed, breathing hard. She shook her head as if to shake away the bad memories. Today was her birthday, and sure enough when she looked over to her nightstand she found a bouquet of Casablanca lilies. She quickly turned her gaze away, stood up and walked out the room, looking anywhere but at the vase. She didn't notice the music box that sat next to the flowers with a picture of a tree engraved into the wood.

… … …

"Breakfast!" Taka shouted from the kitchen as he bustled around, shaking the remnants from the frying pan into the garbage before laying it into the sink. Two plates full of scrambled eggs sat on the kitchen counter, with another plate stacked high with bacon sat between them. Taka rinsed his hands off in the sink before sitting on the stool at the counter and pulling one of the plates closer to himself.

Mamoru stalked in a few seconds later, towel wrapped around his bare shoulders, his hair still wet from the shower. A T-shirt was slung over his arm.

Taka raised his eyebrows a few times and whistled suggestively, at which Mamoru shot him a glare. Taka merely laughed and pushed the other plate of eggs towards Mamoru, "I thought I'd make us some breakfast before we talked."

Mamoru set his towel on the counter and put his T-shirt on before sitting down opposite Taka. "How kind of you," Mamoru seethed sarcastically, but made no sign of being interested in the food.

"You're welcome" Taka grinned before he started eating.

How Taka could eat while his brother was being held captive by the Dark Kingdom was beyond comprehension to Mamoru, but after spending the last couple of days with the man, he also knew better than to ask. Nothing this guy did made any sense!

After a few minutes of hesitation, Mamoru decided he might as well eat and picked up his fork. Taka looked up at him as he did so and smiled again. They ate in silence for a few moments before Taka finally sat down his fork and started where he left off the night before.

"So you've agreed to help me, and such, it's only fair that I try to explain how Shigo and I came to be in our present situation before we proceed to the planning. I need you to understand what you've gotten yourself into." Mamoru looked up at this but said nothing, so Taka continued. "Shigo and I are descendants of a long line of warriors whose job was to protect the sun. It's said that long ago, the first of our family rescued the Goddess of the Sun from enemies who had kidnapped her from this solar system. The Goddess of the Sun kept him on as her personal guard from then on and his heirs thereafter. You see, my family has a gift of visions, or omens. We can see things, sense things, know things that haven't happened yet but will happen. The first of our family used that power to rescue the Goddess of the Sun, and to protect her afterwards. We were revered in the Kingdom of the Sun, worshipped almost as well as the Goddess herself. My father was the last one to protect the Goddess, and I was to take his place after him. But I never finished my training, as my father was killed, murdered, betrayed by a friend."

He paused then, looking down at his hands, folded on the counter. Mamoru said nothing, giving the man time to collect his thoughts.

"My father, as her prime protector, would meet all of the ambassadors before the Goddess and even handled some matters he thought safer if she didn't participate in at all. An ambassador from the earth came, one we'd seen many times before, one we'd known all our lives, to visit. But something was different this time, his eyes seemed distant, his smile seemed forced. But he was trusted amongst our people, and my father considered him a friend. I don't know if my father saw it coming, I imagine he did and thought himself silly and passed off the visions as dreams or nightmares rather than the omens that they were. I saw it before it happened, but I, too, thought it a nightmare, before I even knew how to use the powers that I do.

In any case, the ambassador from Earth was a traitor, murdering my father and allowing the Dark Kingdom to infiltrate our home. My brother was just a kid at the time, but he understood as well as I did what was going on around us. We survived, hiding in our rooms. No one came near us, but we heard. We could hear the fighting and the screams. We heard the silence that followed. When we came out, we'd found our home in ruins, and our Goddess gone, and to this day we don't know what happened to her. They destroyed everything they could and then left as quickly as they'd come.

I hated the Earth for this, blaming them for what had happened. I didn't know anything about the Dark Kingdom or what really happened that day. I was young, stupid, and hurt. I missed my father and revenge was all I could think of. So my brother and I fled to the closest kingdom to Earth, the Moon Kingdom. There I made arrangements to clean in exchange for food and shelter, and any time I wasn't working I was training. I went over everything I'd ever seen my father do, the times I'd seen him fight, and what little he'd managed to teach me I reviewed over and over again. Eventually I did manage to control my visions, and learned to control the energy and to fight with it.

So when I thought myself ready, I taught my brother to do the cleaning jobs I was doing and arranged for him to take over for me while I went to Earth. Shigo argued and cried, he was so afraid he'd lose me too. I assured him I would be back, and snuck out that night without telling him goodbye.

On Earth I came across a faction known as the Dark Kingdom that was trying to overthrow the kingdom, and I joined them, thinking it a way to extract my revenge. They trained me further in the art of combat, taught me things I never would have come up with on my own, and made me into a weapon. In exchange, I did missions for them. I did things to the people of Earth that I regret, but I didn't know at the time… I…" he licked his lips and shook his head before continuing, "I was good, really good. Eventually I moved up in the ranks to the point where I was taking on missions directly against the royal family. It was on one such mission that I was going to work with a General. I was so proud to finally be able to work with one of them, hoping to show off what I was capable of. But when he came into the room to debrief me of the mission…"

Taka shook his head again. He then looked up at Mamoru and smiled, "Kunzite, the man who murdered my father was the General of the Dark Kingdom army. In that instant, that moment, I realized that everything I'd done in the last year was for the people who destroyed my home. I was working for the enemy. And now, I was about to work side-by-side with the man whom I thought I'd dedicated my life to destroying… but I was helping him, instead!" he finished almost yelling, pounding his fist onto the counter with the last word, smashing his dish into pieces.

Mamoru ignored the broken glass and said nothing. He knew that Taka had more to say, and interrupting him would be unwise at this point. He was upset, and Mamoru could understand why.

Taka looked down at the glass, almost confused as to how it got there. He seemed to remember then, and looked up at Mamoru to find him still looking attentive and expressionless. Taka smiled then, glad that Mamoru wasn't petty enough to care about the dish, and happy that Mamoru was taking him seriously. He picked up the pieces of glass and put them in the trash, wiping up the smaller pieces with a wet towel. When he was finished he sat down again.

"I was silent through the debriefing of the mission, too shocked to do much of anything. I wanted to attack him, to hurt him, to kill him. But I couldn't. I wanted to escape more than anything, too ashamed to think of revenge after what I had done. So once the debriefing was over and we left, I ran away.

I wandered for a while, feeling sorry for myself and ashamed for what I had done. But eventually I realized that I still could avenge my father's death, and possibly atone for what I had done. But I couldn't do it alone, I knew that now. So, I went back to the Moon Kingdom for my brother. I taught him everything the enemy had taught me. He taught me what he had learned from the Moon Kingdom's libraries, things I really didn't care much for and didn't understand. He was smart, really smart. But we were unprepared when the Dark Kingdom came after the Moon Kingdom. There was a ball that day for the princess, and my brother and I were there as serving boys. I was serving drinks to a guest when I glimpsed the queen, and that was then I had my first vision since my father died. I saw a woman with flames for hair surrounded by darkness. I saw her walk slay the Queen Serenity and take a silver crystal from her dead body, I watched the Moon Kingdom fall into darkness.

When the vision ended I was weary, my muscles felt stiff. The people around me stared in concern, but I got up and ran past them towards the Queen. I shouted at the guards as they held me back, screamed to her that everyone was in danger and to prepare for the coming onslaught. The Queen, through her guards, smiled at me. Her eyes—I'll never forget her eyes. When I looked into them I knew that she knew. She knew what was going to happen, she'd known for a while. Suddenly I felt calm, reassured somehow, and so very tired. I passed out, and when I woke up I was on Earth, reborn."

"Reborn?" Mamoru asked without realizing. "Sorry," he said quickly.

"Yes, reborn. Queen Serenity, knowing she was unable to defeat the darkness, chose to delay them instead, in hopes of stopping them in the future. She sent everyone from the Moon Kingdom to earth to be reborn, as the damage to her kingdom by that point was beyond repair. We retained our memories, but somehow many years had passed by us. He believes it was by the power of the Rainbow Crystals. He thinks that the crystals were part of the Ginzuishou that the Dark Queen was after. He believes Serenity broke it into the fragments of the Rainbow Crystals and sent them to earth as well, to try and keep them from the Dark Queen even in this life. That's why we were after the crystals, to stop her from getting them."

"But I saw you talking with Zoisite, and he didn't kill you or seem upset with you at the time…" Mamoru trailed off, knowing Taka would understand where he was going with the statement.

"To them, I am just a deserter. Some guy who choked under pressure and is trying to gain favor again by gathering the crystals for the Dark Queen. They don't remember me from my time in the Kingdom of the Sun, as I was just a boy. Kunzite himself didn't recognize me the day we met again," Taka laughed to himself at the irony. The man who ruined his life didn't even know it. "To Kunzite, I'm just the guy who ruined that mission by flaking out."

"How did they know Shigo was your brother if he didn't join them with you?"

"Shigo went to them after we were reborn to gather information. He announced himself as my brother to try to prove himself on their side. Despite that one mission, I was a very good soldier for them. They let him in easily enough," Taka explained. "I never would've let him go, but it was really our only option once we learned they had reestablished themselves here. We needed to know what their plans were and what they were after. That's how we learned about the crystals, and about Sailor Moon and the other senshi."

Mamoru sat silently a moment, rethinking everything he had just heard and pondering the question he wanted and needed to ask, but was having trouble finding the heart to bring himself to ask it. Finally, with a sigh, he looked up at Taka and asked, "What makes you think Shigo is still alive?"

Taka, however, seemed completely undisturbed by the question. "Because I know he is," was all he said, pointing to his head.

Realization hit Mamoru then. Taka had the ability to know future events. But if he knew the future…

"I can't control my visions." Taka said as if he knew what Mamoru was thinking. "I've never learned to control them, and no one's able to teach me this particular skill. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Other times, it's just late. I knew Shigo had been kidnapped, but I knew the moment it happened, not before. It's sporadic at best, but it always shows me something on those closest to me. I just don't always see it before it happens."

"Can what you see be changed?"

"Yes, of course. What I see is merely the future if every decision made at that moment stays the same, but if I can change someone or something's current course, the future changes. Like stopping someone from crossing the street if I know a bus is going to lose control in a moment and smash into them. The bus will still lose control, but her life will be saved. Likewise if I talk the bus mechanic into re-checking things the day before, the entire incident could be avoided."

"Are you able to see, or, do you know where they have Shigo?" Mamoru inquired.

"Yes, but Zoisite will be back, and he'll bring Shigo with him. There's no need for us to go to him when he's going to come to us." Taka stated matter-of-factly. "Tonight, to be exact. He'll be after another crystal, and the senshi will be there to stop him. But if I don't do something, the senshi will kill Shigo."

Mamoru looked taken aback by this. The senshi? Kill? That just didn't make sense to him. But then again, Taka could see the current future, so who was he to argue with his vision? Mamoru shook his head and stood up. He smiled, offered Taka his hand and said, "Well then, I guess we'd better work on a plan."

Taka smiled in response, taking his hand and shaking it. But his smile was forced, his eyed hinted at something. Something he wasn't saying. Something he was still hiding.

… … …

"Mako-chan, is that you?" Usagi called from under her umbrella. She was dressed for the rainy weather, boots and stockings and a pink raincoat. It was pouring outside, as it had been for the last two days nonstop.

"Usagi!" Makoto called to her friend as she ran to catch up to her. "Are you going to see Rei?" she asked, pointing over her shoulder from where she'd just come.

"Yeah," she conceded, smiling. "I wanted to see if she liked her music box!"

"Music box?" Makoto questioned, looking down in her own arms. There sat a wooden music box just like the one Usagi and Minako had given Rei the day before.

Usagi laughed at the sight of it and she nodded, "Minako-chan and I got her the same thing. We dropped it off last night with her Grandpa."

"Oh, well, she's not home right now. She's having dinner with her father. Apparently this is the only day out of the year she ever agrees to see him." Makoto looked sad when she said that, and Usagi understood why. The girls all knew that Rei hadn't gotten along with her father ever since her mother died.

"Oh," the blonde mouthed, disheartened as she turned to face the same direction as Makoto and started walking. "Where are you headed now, then?" she asked.

"To the flower shop, I want to pick up some fertilizer for my plants."

"Mind if I come along?" Usagi inquired, smiling wide at her friend.

"Of course not," was the reply, and the two walked side-by-side, umbrellas in hand towards the shopping district.

… … …

The sliding door to Rei's room slammed shut behind her. Rei stood there, wet from the rain, almost shaking in anger. She held a box in her hand—a present from her father, but she knew better. She knew her father never took the time to pick out her gifts or get to know what she liked. She knew it was actually Kaidou, her father's assistant, who chose the gift, and it infuriated her. How dare they! she thought before throwing the gift across the room. The box opened mid-air spilling the shimmering red dress and a single Casablanca lily onto the floor. Satisfied, she took her wet clothes off angrily and threw them on the floor as well. Stomping over to her closet she took out a dry robe and wrapped it around herself before stomping back over towards her bed. When she went past the nightstand, however, her stomping caused the vase to fall and Rei was forced to look at it long enough to catch it and set it back upright. It was then that she noticed the music box sitting next to it.

"Rei, is everything alright?" her Grandpa asked from behind her door.

"Yeah, everything's fine." She called back angrily. She picked up the music box and began inspecting it, feeling around the carved tree out with her fingers.

"Is it alright if I come in?" he asked in a gentler tone.

After a pause Rei said yes, and he slid the door open and came into her room, eyeing her warily.

"Rei," he started, looking at her wet hair and her face, red in anger, "Please forgive your father. He is very dedicated to his work and sometimes…" but Rei didn't want to hear the rest.

"I don't care about his work, I don't care about him. I don't want anything to do with that man!" she shouted, turning her back on her Grandpa and sitting on her bed, setting the music box in her lap.

"That music box is from your cute friends, the two blonde girls dropped it off last night for you," he said, changing the subject.

"Usagi and Minako?" she asked, much calmer than before. Her friends had gotten her a present. She didn't even remember ever mentioning to them it was her birthday.

"Yes, here, let me show you," he motioned for the music box. Of course she knew all she needed to do was lift the lid, but her grandpa was trying to cheer her up. She handed him the music box and he opened the lid, letting its soft yet sad melody fill the room.

Rei closed her eyes and listened, letting the music calm her spirit. But something was unsettling about the sound, the vibrations in the air…

Rei's eyes snapped open and she slapped the music box out of her grandpa's hands. It clattered to the floor, shutting the lid in the process.

"Rei, what did you—" he started, but a dark energy began pouring out of the box and towards him. He backed away but it was too fast, engulfing his body.

"Akuryo Taisan!" Rei shouted, throwing a ward at her grandpa. His body, along with the darkness, froze in place. He then slumped to his knees on the ground, unmoving. "Grandpa!" Rei cried as she ran to his side to check him. She could still feel the dark energy within him. Quickly she ran to her wet clothes that were lying on the floor, pulled out her communicator, calling the other girls.

"We'll be there as soon as we can, but there were music boxes all over the city. There's darkness swarming the streets everywhere, sucking the energy out of everyone!" Sailor Mercury responded through the communicator.

Before she even finished her reply, Rei's Grandpa began to stir and she knew the darkness was overpowering her ward. She closed the communicator and called out her incantation, "Mars Power!" before transforming into the senshi Sailor Mars.

She no sooner finished transforming when her ward finally fell to the dark powers it was trying to contain. Her grandfather lurched forward from his kneeling position, writhing in pain as his body was transformed into that of a monster, who immediately charged at Sailor Mars!

Sailor Mars dodged the attack, running out of her room towards the rain-soaked temple garden. The monster was right behind her as she rounded a tree and pulled another ward out, chanting before throwing it at the youma calling "Akuryo Taisan!" once more. The youma, however, was more powerful this time, and it merely stunned him.

I can't use my fireball on Grandpa Sailor Mars thought as she kept running across the garden in the rain, around trees and back again, delaying the youma. She knew that Sailor Moon had the ability to restore him to what he was, but she wasn't sure if she could delay him for that long!

Chanting as she ran, she readied six wards this time, turning abruptly on the youma and charging at him, throwing each at a different part of its body; arms, legs, head and torso. "Akuryo Taisan!" she called once more just as she slipped and fell on the wet grass. Luckily, the wards all hit their marks, and the youma froze in place, struggling against the bindings once more.

Sailor Mars sensed something then, and turned to see a large dark cloud hovering just above the ground, floating towards her and the youma. Realizing the cloud was the energy the darkness had stolen from the people on the streets, she looked on in horror as it grew closer, energy swirling within. I can't let it get towards Grandpa! she thought, preparing another ward.

The whole word went black then, and Rei had to blink a few times before she could see. It was daylight again, and she was at the shrine with Kaidou, who was handing her a book on lilies, claiming it was from her father.

Rei's eyebrow furrowed with annoyance as she took the book. Anger getting the better of her, she then snapped at him, "Why he always treat me like a child, pretending that everything is from father?" Before he could answer, she continued "And who was that woman at the restaurant, are you getting married?"

At a temporary loss for words Kaidou stuttered before replying "I-I have to. Your father wants me to take over the company when he retires, and having a wife looks better for his successor..."

"I thought we were kindred spirits, one in the same? I thought you never wanted to marry? And if it were a power play, why wouldn't you marry me, his daughter?" she screamed, tears building in the corners of her eyes.

Kaidou put his arms on her shoulders then, and leaned in towards her. Their lips met. A single tear rolled down her cheek.

"Mars Power!" Sailor Mars screamed, and the vision shattered brining her back to the present time. Zoisite jumped back from his place mere inches from her.

"So you were able to break free?" he asked, hovering inches above the ground in front of her.

"Fire Soul!" Sailor Mars called, shooting a ball of fire towards her assailant. In the same instant, Zoisite flicked his wrist and palm outward, creating an invisible wall between him and the blast, and her attack vanished into nothingness.

"You silly little girl," he taunted, slowly floating towards her again. "You think you can harm me?" he screamed, throwing his arm out towards her throat. But then he screamed, grabbed his face and jumped back.

"Emerging youth, a dormant lea awakes. The raging color, singing loud, partakes…" Tuxedo Kamen began to recite from where he stood across the garden.

"My face!" Zoisite screamed, interrupting him. "How dare you attack my face for a second time!" he practically growled at Tuxedo Kamen. He seethed, one hand still holding his cheek, the other held out, palm up and open, a glowing ball of energy hovering above his palm, growing larger by the second. When it was about the size of a bowling ball he hurled it towards Tuxedo Kamen.

Tuxedo Kamen used his staff to lunge himself away from the blast area milliseconds before it exploded, chunks of dirt and splinters of wood flew through the air in all directions. He covered his face with his cape as he hid in the dust cloud that formed around the blast area, stealthily getting close enough to where Zoisite stood, currently defending off another fireball from Sailor Mars.

Tuxedo Kamen used her distraction to get close enough to the Dark Kingdom King to lunge his staff at him, knocking him off his feet. He then quickly began throwing razor-sharp roses towards Zoisite's fallen form.

But they never reached their target. A solid gray figure knocked them aside.

The possessed body of Shigo stood before Tuxedo Kamen, eyes completely blank of any emotion, any sign that a person once possessed that body. All that could be seen was the monster within.

"Shigo!" Taka called from behind him, tackling the gray figure to the ground.

The two fought, throwing punches and rolling along the yard, each trying to subdue the other. Zoisite had regained his composure, and was preparing another attack. Tuxedo Kamen took the opportunity to charge at him again, but the youma Sailor Mars had subdued was back up and barreled itself into Tuxedo Kamen sideways, knocking him into a tree. Tuxedo Kamen hit the tree with a loud thud before sliding downwards onto his knees. There he coughed, bent over, trying desperately to get back to his feet.

"Supreme Thunder!"

"Crescent Beam!"

The gold beam surrounded by the power of lightning struck the youma in the chest, sending him flying backwards before falling to the ground, smoke rising from his body where the beam hit his chest.

Sailor Mars ran towards her friends before they could get off another attack, "Wait! Wait!"

"What's wrong, Mars?" Sailor Venus asked just as Sailor Mercury and Sailor Moon caught up with them.

"The youma is my grandpa," she said quietly so no one would overhear. "Please, don't hurt him," she pleaded, looking towards the youma's body as it struggled to stand.

"We'll save him," Sailor Moon said, whipping out her Cresent Moon Wand and twirling it between her fingers. "I promise."

"We'll see about that" Zoisite laughed as he threw another energy bomb towards the girls, but Tuxedo Kamen lunged at him just before, thrusting his shoulder into Zoisite's side, knocking him off balance and sending his attack sideways, exploding several yards away from the senshi.

The five girls sprinted out of the way, further clearing themselves from the explosion.

Zoisite lay pinned beneath Tuxedo Kamen, who was struggling to keep him down. Zoisite was able to free an arm, though, and reached up, forming a knife-shaped sliver of energy in his palm and stabbed it into Tuxedo Kamen's shoulder.

Tuxedo Kamen screamed out in pain as Zoisite rolled him off of himself and floated up into the air, nursing his own bruises.

"Tuxedo Kamen!" Sailor Moon cried, running towards her fallen hero. "Are you alright?" she asked, touching him gently.

He grunted in response, pushing himself into a sitting position while simultaneously sliding back to lean against the tree. "Don't worry about me," he managed, wincing, "Go help the others."

Sailor Moon followed his gaze towards her friends, the senshi were holding off the youma together while Taka and the possessed Shigo still fought on the other side of the garden. In that same instant Zoisite had unleashed another bomb at her comrades, sending them flying back away from the youma.

Sailor Moon got up and ran towards them to make sure they were alright, while Zoisite put his hands out and channeled energy into the youma. A light began to shine from within him followed by another one of the Rainbow Crystals.

"Oh no you don't!" Sailor Mars called, igniting another fireball and calling "Fire Soul!" before sending it towards Zoisite, who blocked it with ease, but the delay was long enough for Sailor Mars to jump in and snatch the crystal. She then quickly tossed it back to Sailor Jupiter.

"Bubble Spray!" Sailor Mercury called out, filling the area around them with a dense fog, clouding them from Zoisite's view.

Zoisite jumped back into the air, eyeing the fog-filled area from above. He could see Taka and Shigo still pummeling each other across the garden, but the crystal was more important. He just had to wait for the fog to clear and…

"Moon Healing Escalation!" Sailor Moon called her incantation just as the fog began to clear, aiming it towards the youma. He was engulfed in bright lights and slowly began to fade back to his original form as Rei's Grandpa. When the light from Sailor Moon's wand faded, he passed out. Sailor Mars was there to catch him and gently lay him down in the grass.

Zoisite, holding his hand to his still bleeding face, seethed in anger calculating his odds. He was now going to have to take on all five senshi and Tuxedo Kamen. Taka and Shigo were still fighting, and they could possibly go on for hours. With the amount of energy he had stored within the possessed shell, Shigo was now quite a formidable opponent for Taka, especially considering Taka would refrain from taking any drastic or damaging measures against his brother. Zoisite didn't really care about Shigo, though, as he had served his purpose already in obtaining the crystal that Taka had. Then again, Taka seemed to be in the business of helping the senshi recently, which definitely makes him a problem.

Zoisite began to channel his energy into a ball again, but this one was different from the others. This one was pure black nothingness, pulsing with energy. He slowly lowered himself to where Taka and Shigo were fighting, quietly, so as not to gain their attention.

"Shigo, please, remember!" Taka panted, breathing hard from the assault he'd just received. Shigo lay on his back a few feet away, hurt, but not excessively. "It's me! You're brother, Taka…"

Shigo said nothing as he pushed himself into an upright position. His face was emotionless, his eyes blank. As soon as he was on his feet he clapped his hands together before pointing his palms outward towards Taka, shooting two jets of black energy at him.

Taka dodged them easily, but Shigo sent two more right after, catching Taka off guard and sending him flying backwards into the dirt.

Zoisite saw this as his opportunity, and lowered himself to right behind where Shigo stood. There he held the black ball of energy out and channeled it into the body of Shigo. The possessed shell cried out in pain as the darkness flowed into his body. His muscles rippled and grew, his body tightened and his eyes changed from the blank grayness to a bright malicious red.

Taka got back to his feet quickly, but not fast enough. He charged Zoisite, sending black bolts of energy of his own but was too slow. Shigo had changed once again, this time into an even more powerful monster. Dark energy seemed to pour from his body before being sucked right back in. He was bigger now, and if Taka thought his words were having trouble finding the brother within him before, he was sure they would never make it through to him now.

… … …

End of Chapter 9!

Well, it's been what, 5 years? Yes, I know. I'm a slacker. So I went through and edited and fixed all 8 of the previous chapters, fixing any past/present tense mistakes I'd made (and there were plenty) as well as a few story line inserts just to make things line up a bit better. I do apologize for the delay, and I'm grateful to anyone who gives this story another read-through. I promise to bring Chapter 10 soon!