Disclaimer: Do not own. Though I wish I did!
AN: Hi. Sorry I haven't been updating...I know I said I would. Sudden family matters occurred as well as a personal matter with my best friend. It's getting better, and I'm okay so, on with the story!
ffgirlmoonie: I understand. It's entirely my fault for not updating in the first place. ;/
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Legend:
'Thoughts'
"Normal"
- Dream sequences/Flashbacks -
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Chapter 10 to Dreams and Wishes
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"So when are you getting your piercing?"
He mentioned about getting an appointment for one sometime soon. "…piercing right here." Leo pointed to just above his ear lobe and then more over to the inside of the ear itself. "And I'm putting one here." He grinned proudly from ear to ear. She looked skeptical for a moment.
"You should get the second after the first one has healed and doesn't hurt anymore." Stephanie paused. It wasn't because she had multiple piercings herself, she only had her ears pierced when she was barely a year old. She was just being concerned for his well being. He was, after all, like family to her.
Leo thought about it for a moment and agreed with her suggestion. "I'm going to be cool and get a girlfriend!"
She rolled her eyes at his logic. 'Typical that a boy his age would assume that.' Sighing, she decided to change topics. "So why did your cousin suddenly move back here?"
Leo held a quirky grin on his face. "Why, are you interested?"
Again, she rolled her eyes. "Why, yes, Leo, I want to elope with him in Vegas."
He held up his hands in defeat. "Okay, okay. I'm sorry I asked." He knew she was serious when she called him by his name. This was her own way of getting her point across.
"Anyway, you don't need to tell me." She took a bite of her spaghetti and grabbed a cup to pour herself a cup of apple juice. She mentally thanked Tina that she always made sure there was apple juice waiting for her in the fridge all the time. It wasn't that she didn't drink anything else, on occassion, she'd drink Pepsi or 7-Up when they eat at restaurants or fast food places. If she's in the comfort of her own home or someone else's, she'd drink apple juice or milk, otherwise she'd settle with water. No, she wasn't some health freak, it was a habit that stuck with her since childhood.
"He used to live here." She raised an eyebrow in question. "They moved away when he was about three and then came back fourteen years later." He sighed, it was a strange thing, to explain in the least.
"Ah." She nodded, not wanting to know more. After all, it wasn't her business to know more than the surface of the situation.
During Stephanie and Leo's conversation, Tina and Jan had one of their own.
"So you are still having those strange dreams?"
He took a sip of his juice. "Yeah. It's really weird, though."
She put her plate down, interested, and leaned over. "What is?"
He shrugged his shoulders, placing his cup down on the table. "It felt like I was actually there this time…" He watched as her face contorted into confusion.
-
"Aha!" And giggling erupted off from the side. He grinned merrily as his Prince, whom was like a brother to him, fell to his knee. They were playing with wooden swords so they wouldn't cause any serious injury to each other. "Had enough, Prince?" He stated in a mocking tone.
"Yeah, yeah." He lied down on the grass and stared up at the sky. "I can't beat someone who's been trained to be the best." The other boy smirked and lied down on the grass beside him.
"I see you've grown closer to Serena's sister." Darien looked at him from the corner of his eye.
"It's not like I have a choice. You're always off running away with the Princess and leaving me with the young girl." Prince Darien had just turned eight, while his companion was seven years old.
"And do you not enjoy her company?" He grinned from ear to ear as he stunned his head knight in silence. It was a wonder that the girl, whom was four years old, had such an impact on his friend. "Worry not, it is my duty to be with the Princess, to protect her and whatnot." They shared the same thought and laughed. They knew how much mischief she could get in. Luckily for her that she had a younger sister that looked out for her at all times.
"Quick! Hide me!" And the little form jumped behind Darien. She peeked out from behind him, squealed, and ran away.
Darien blinked at the body that was currently running away. "What was that about?"
"Excuse me…" She huffed. They whipped their heads around and found the girl that had caught his knight's attention. "Which way did Rena go?"
His knight shifted a finger to where she had run of to. "That way."
She nodded "Thanks." And began running after her sister.
"Ah, so they're playing tag this time. We should join them one of these days." Darien eyed his companion. "Something wrong, Bro?"
"Did you notice that she was limping as she ran?"
"Serena? No."
"No, no." He sighed. "Not Serena."
"Oh. She probably tripped on a root or something." Darien suggested, shrugging. "They are sisters after all."
His knight shrugged. "Maybe." But he couldn't shake off the feeling that something more serious than that happened. "By the way, Prince."
"Hm?"
"She is merely a young child, one, that I may add, is three years younger than I."
"Tsk, tsk, dear brother. Have you not learned anything?" Darien waved his hand in the air in a swirling motion. "Age is merely a number. Look at my parents. They have an enormous age gap."
With a chuckle, the Prince was engaged in another sparring match.
-
"But what has this got to do with a mission?" He grinned cheekily at his cousin. "Are you some sort of special agent?" He laughed at the thought. Here, his cousin, a secret agent.
"I guess you can call it that." She paused. "We'll have to talk about this another time." Tina gestured to the two that had finished their conversation.
"Hey Jan, what high school will you be going to?" All eyes turned on him, waiting for him to answer the question from Leo.
School…what was it that Mom told me? He went into deep thought, only to have it interrupted by Tina.
"Hey, did Auntie enroll you into Daniel McIntyre?" She assumed he would be going to the same school as her and her brother. It would have made the adjustment of moving easier.
"No…Mom didn't say that one…" Strange how he could've forgotten. Jan was so sure his memory improved immensely.
"Sisler? Grant Park?" Leo contributed. There was less than a month left for summer holidays before school would start up again.
Stephanie decided to put in her two cents worth. "What letter does the school's name start with?" He looked at her for a moment and he mentioned the letter T. "Tec Voc?"
His eyes lit up in recognition and nodded. "That's it!" The trio looked at each other, Leo nudging Stephanie in the arm secretly, causing her to scowl and him to cower towards Tina. "Mom said they have a really good auto mechanics program. I'm into that kind of thing since...that day." He wasn't ready to tell anyone outside of his immediate family just yet.
"Well, that's good." Tina frowned slightly.
"Is something wrong?"
"Y'see…our school and Tec Voc has a bit of…" She was cut off.
"A large, humongous, rivalry."
"Okay, 'Lil bro, she gets the point." Stephanie decided to save him as Tina's face frowned at being interrupted.
"Anyway, the teachers know about the rivalry, but they only know what goes on during friendly school tournaments." Tina summed up, hoping to get her point across.
"Maybe it wasn't such a good idea that she enrolled me there…" Now he wasn't so sure. Jan wasn't a coward or anything, but he's never heard of such a rivalry between two school's before.
"Ah, don't worry about anything, 'Cuz. You'll be fine." Leo slapped him on the shoulder. He chuckled as Jan flinched.
He sighed. "How can I be okay knowing all of that?"
Tina got up and stood next to Stephanie, placing an arm around her shoulder. "As long as you stick by her, you'll be just fine." He raised an eyebrow, confused. "Oh, right. I guess we forgot to tell you."
Stephanie, who had been silent throughout the whole conversation, decided it was her cue to speak up. "I go to that school as well." Oh. So that explained why she was quiet.
"Wait, wouldn't that make her your rival as well?" Leo and Tina laughed, as she, Stephanie, looked at the floor. "What's so funny?"
"Oh, nothing. It's just that she comes and visits us when she's off from school." He was still confused. "We don't know this ourselves, but every teacher seems to acknowledge her and anyone she is with. She's like an army all on her own."
"Hey! I resent that!" Stephanie smacked him on the arm, causing him to chuckle in response. "But yes, that is my situation." Jan suddenly grew suspicious of her, he had only known her for two weeks at the most anyway, why wouldn't he be?
'She's got secrets that she's not even telling Tina or Leo. Something is definitely up.' He shifted his gaze to his supposedly new school mate. "And how do I know that I can trust you?" He received a painful smack to the side of his head for that. "Ow! What was that for, Tina?!"
"You idiot! Why would you ask such a dumb question as that? I've known her since the SEVENTH GRADE, when we went to the SAME SCHOOL, you knucklehead!" Tina calmed down when her best friend placed a hand on her shoulder.
"It's okay, Na, it's natural for him to think that way." She paused. "I mean, we hardly know anything about each other." Leo thought it was scary, yet cool, for her to be so understanding. She turned her attention to the disgruntled teen. "You don't have to trust me, just trust them." She indicated his cousins. "Trust them and their judgment. Not me and what secrets you may think I hold."
He lifted an eyebrow. 'That was deep.' Jan felt a slight guiltiness for assuming right off the bat, very slight. His Mother always taught him to never judge a book by its cover, he totally threw that out the window. And he couldn't figure out why.
Jan suddenly lost his suspicious attire and wanted to apologize. "I'm sorry. I was taught better than this. Can we forget this happened and start over?" He held out his hand in a truce manner.
Without hesitation, she shook it. "You don't have to be sorry. Mistakes are a way of growing." She smiled before releasing her grip on their handshake. "Well, Tina, I've got to go. My volunteering and all…"
"Yeah, that's right." Tina held out a lunch bag that was very filled and placed it in her hands. "And no buts this time."
"Thanks." And they hugged. "Glad you finished your plans early today." She punched Leo in the arm and did their funky handshake that ended with them shooting each other, with sound effects, ending in mock hurt from the others invisible bullet.
"Bye Jan." Stephanie gave him a faint smile with a small wave, leaving the trio in the kitchen. Reaching the front door, she began the tortuous routine of unlocking the door. After slipping her foot into her right shoe, she heard shuffling behind her.
"Wait." She looked up with questioning eyes to see him once again. "Uh..." He rubbed the back of his neck, knowing it would be awkward. "Does this mean we're friends?"
She pondered for a moment. "Yes, only if you want us to be..." She drifted off her sentence. "...and no because we're just getting there." And she slipped passed the door, leaving him to think about what she had just proclaimed.
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Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.
It was now 6:01 PM as the clock continued ticking away. Amy sat there, staring at the screen, not contributing to the chat room conversation at all. She had just read the latest post of 3QPrincess' premonitions, as one would say. It was very detailed, yet so unbelievable. Amy looked at the post date:
August 3, 2006 12:47 AM.
"This is so strange. She knew exactly what was going to happen." Amy forgot one simple fact, 3QPrincess didn't know it was going to happen, she just had a dream of what may or may not occur. Which, in most cases, it did.
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Hey, Readers,
It is now 12:35 AM. Some of you may already be sleeping. I had another one of my dreams. I was off to the side, floating actually, in a condo, more-like, rather than an apartment. There was this large banner that read 'Happy Birthday' as I focused on it. It was as if the people just moved in as there were boxed scattered about. I had to laugh at seeing the sight they had produced by trying to find a hiding spot. Then the picture sped up to where there were lots of people listening to what seemed to be a dog larger than a German Sheppard. There was also a black and white cat. I counted everybody, one-by-one. Four standing, the rest sitting. About ten people and four animals. Though, by the way they were listening, they may have not been animals at all. Just before my dream began fading, one looked straight at me and smiled. Then I woke up.
That was the first time I had encountered something like this. No one has actually took acknowledgement I was there, even if it was a dream.
One thing nerved me though... (Amy scrolled down a bit as there was large space before she reached the next bit.)
...It was as if I knew who she was.
-
"Is she real?" Was the first thing that came out of his mouth. Greg pointed to the post date. "I know some people that can easily alter those." She sighed. What would it take to convince him? "Did you guys actually mess up in hiding?"
She blushed as she remembered what happened that morning. "Yes." Greg pondered for a moment.
"She can be very vital to the mission..." He paused. "Why don't you try meeting up with her?" She was already one step ahead of him. She was back in the chat room, taking note that the usual were there.
-
Beeline: hey! where hav ya been icy?
3QPrincess: I would assume she had important matters to tend to.
BarPunk: Well don't leave us hangin', girl! What have you been up to?
IceQueen48: Still adjusting to the new life. I've only been here for about a week or so.
3Q: ...You just moved?
Ice: Yes. Actually we came from Japan.
Peg: Sweet! I always wanted to go to Japan. Is English recommended to learn in school there?
Ice: Not necessarily, but my group of friends and loved ones made it a requirement in our last few months of our high school year.
Bee: so wat brought you to little ol winnipeg?
Ice: We have certain...goals...we found out that we could fulfill here.
3Q: Did you happen to have a party?
Peg: Okay you two! We have to leave. Pronto.
Bar: It's that time again, isn't it?
Bee: chow!
(Peg, Beeline, and BarPunk left chat room)
3Q: To be more specific, a birthday party?
Ice: I read your post, and yes, I was involved in that dream.
3Q: I see...was there some great significance in that meeting?
Ice: Let's just say that it has boggled the minds of everyone in that room.
3Q: I understand that there is a reason for you to keep it a secret.
Ice: Is there, by any chance, a way that we could meet?
3Q: I live in the same area as you, but my schedule is very busy. Perhaps when I have an availability, I will set up a meeting with you.
Ice: You live in Manitoba as well?
3Q: Indeed.
Ice: Have we met? It feels as if I already have.
3Q: There's a possibility, considering that this is a small city. What's your name?
Ice: Amy.
3Q: ...Amy?
Ice: Yes, is there a problem?
3Q: Would would've thought. It's m-...
-
Her screen turned off suddenly, in fact, all of the lights in the apartment turned off. "Greg? Is the power out in the entire building?" He walked over to the balcony, peering through the curtains, and wasn't surprised at what he saw. "What's the matter?" He moved out of the way so that she could see for herself. "Oh."
Greg had pointed to the traffic lights and the sudden bustle of people stuck in traffic. "The whole city would be in total distraught."
Beep. Beep. Pause. Beep. Beep.
"Amy, here." And the faces of her best friends appeared on the Scout communicator.
"Good! So it does work!"
"Of course it would, Meatball Head!"
"I was in the middle of cooking up a new recipe!"
"And I was halfway through a book."
Silence followed as all four 'heads' stared at the image of Mina.
"I guess your secrets out, huh?" Jason chuckled in the background.
Deciding to avert the attention on herself, she brought it back to their problem. "What are we going to do about this power outage?"
"Scouts, ask someone if this is a natural occurrence." suggested Artemis.
"Wait, someone's at the door, I'll get back to you guys. Take it, Jason!" His and Artemis' face replaced Mina's. Artemis was perched atop his shoulder.
"Do you think it has to do with that Orb organization?" Lita was more peeved than ever, interrupting her precious cooking time.
"Here, Luna, take it. Someone's at our door." Serena disappeared, replaced by Luna momentarily.
"Girls, you must go out and observe the town." She suggested, something that the Cat Guardian has been doing for years.
"But-..." Raye was cut off.
"Hey guys! Sorry, it was-...Raye?" Mina paused to look at the fiery priestess.
"As I was saying." Mina ignored the glare with a smile. "We don't have any of our true powers, so we may end up like last time!"
"Raye, Raye, Raye." tsked Lita. "Since when have you been concerned about power?" Raye suddenly blushed, frowned, and then scowled at her in the span of two seconds. Lita smirked in response. "That's what I thought."
"Sorry, Steph was at the door." Serena took over again.
"That's what I was trying to tell you guys." Mina exclaimed, hyper once again.
"Oh. Hold on." Lita left and Ken's face appeared.
He hesitated for a moment. "I guess we're all getting a visitor."
Mina and Serena nodded. "She's going around and checking up on everyone while handing out stuff."
"Very strange how she'd just go about and do that." Lita stared at the bag of equipment Serena now held.
Amy blinked as the doorbell rang. "Guess it's my turn." Greg volunteered to get it this time. "How does she get down here so fast?"
"The power's out so the elevator is out of the question..."
"The stairs, obviously."
"Even I couldn't get there that fast." Mina stated, she was on the track team back in high school. Even she couldn't achieve such a feat.
"Maybe she's just really agile?" suggested Darien, shrugging his shoulders.
Amy shook her head. "Luna? Artemis?" She saw their heads replace two screens. "Do you think Orb has something to do with this?"
A long pause before Artemis took the initiative. "It's a possibility, Amy. But..."
"But?"
"It could also be an everyday occurrence." Confused looks. "Our friend, Stephanie, seemed to be very well prepared for this sort of situation."
An eerie silence followed. Soon after a flash of lightning appeared, causing the rooms they were in to become lit, even for a few seconds. Serena jumped in surprise, hugging Darien, as the thunder made it's presence known. "Well that's strange..." Darien blinked, holding the communicator in one hand. "It's not raining."
At this, all heads turned to look in the direction of their balcony windows.
The sky was dark, due to it being night, as well as the power outage. The moon cast a wonderful glow into their condos. Although they had just witness lightning and the usual thunder that came after. Not a single cloud or drop of rain was in sight.
----
Stephanie sighed and plopped down on the couch in the lobby. "That's good, everyone's got what they need." She leaned her head back and closed her eyes, only to open them again at the sound of small whimpers. 'Why would someone be here at this hour?' It was coming from behind the reception desk. She narrowed her eyes to get a better sense of view in the dark.
Her heart beat faster, what if it was a burglar? That couldn't be. The doors were locked unless you had access to a key. Which the tenants did.
"...scared...Tou-san...Nii-chans'..."
That wasn't the voice of a burglar. It sounded like children. She peered around the desk and could make out two small figures huddled under the desk.
Deciding that speaking in her regular voice, she started with a whisper. "What are you, little ones, doing under here at a time like this?" From what she could tell, they were frightened out of their wits. As her eyes adjusted more to the darkness, she could tell they were crying. Approaching them wasn't something she had in mind, they could just run away from her. For all they knew, she was some sort of stranger to them.
"Look, I won't say I won't hurt you because I know you won't believe me." She noticed the children shuffle under the table more. "How about if I go sit on the couch and leave you here. That way, I can make sure no one will do just that?" As expected, she received no reply. Just the typical sniffle.
She headed over to said couch and kept her eyes open. Peering left and right for any sign of movement that would alert the children of danger. It was about an hour later of surveillance that she didn't realize she had company waiting in front of her.
"May we...?" Her eyes looked over to the children. Same height, but one was cowering behind the other. If she didn't know better, they were twins, both girls. The one in front spoke up, they looked no older than four.
She scooted over to make room for them, but was surprised to find one on either side of her. Stephanie smiled. 'Now where did these little ones' come from? Hm?' Both heads were resting on either of her legs, she knew they'd be numb later, but if it comforted these children, then she would stay. Hopefully she can find their family in the morning.
----
"Rini? Is something wrong?" The group had agreed not to go out a scout, but rather sleep on it. Serena had noticed the sudden change in mood in the pink-haired girl.
"I...I just had this weird feeling..."
"What kind?" Darien was sleeping, so they had some girl time to themselves.
"Pluto told me that I'll know when she sends others to this time."
"Others...?"
Rini nodded. "I think that this time, judging by this strange feeling, it'-..they are someone very close to me."
"And just who might they be?"
She paused. Wondering if she was allowed to say. Looking around the room for any signs that Pluto was going to make an appearance, as she usually did, to stop her.
"My cousins." A confused look flashed across Serena's face. "Abigail and Terisia...Auntie Abby's daughters."
Her eyes were like saucers. If her sister had kids in the future...then she was still alive!
...But where were the kids?
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AN: Um. What did you think so far? And there will be times where I will shorten Stephanie's name to Steph if I get too lazy to type it all out. Besides, there ARE times where it sounds better as Steph rather than the whole name. And just why were those children sent from the future to the past? Why was there a power outage? (And no, power outages do not occur in Winnipeg).
Signing off,
Bchanz