The Darkest Secret

Act Twenty: Split

The following day, Serena slipped down into the basement and into the shooting range. She was careful not to wake her mother up. Now that the original shock was past, she could think more clearly. The blonde realized that she'd been unreasonable last night. She knew her mom loved her; after all, if she had simply been considered a disposable pawn, she would have been either mistreated or given her way without question or love. Her mother had disciplined her, but never too harshly, and she'd been there when she was sad. That kind of thing couldn't be faked. Serena knew that her friends were probably really worried right now. She'd heard the phone ring and let her mom answer it. She was willing to bet anything that it had been Seiya. She knew he'd followed her home last night, and this morning, she appreciated it. He'd looked out for her when she wasn't looking out for herself. Why? Because he loved her.

With a faint smile, Serena started her target practice. For some reason, she always felt better afterwards, and even better, it helped her put things in perspective. As she fired the first shot, she realized something that made the prophecy seem much less frightening. She had two destinies that were guaranteed to come true. Pluto had said nothing about her future as Neo-Queen Serenity being in danger. Maybe there was some clause that could change the outcome of this whole situation. Serena checked her marksmanship. She was right on. As she aimed again, she realized that it was impossible for her to live out two destinies at once, and since her future as a queen was apparently still a possibility, there was something that could save her from eternal torment. She pulled the trigger.

But something didn't add up, she thought absently as she checked her marksmanship again. Perfect again. Destiny was practically guaranteed, but how could she carry out two prophecies at once? There was a missing piece. The blonde checked her ammunition, and the state of the gun to make sure it didn't fail or misfire. It was all good. She aimed and fired again, checking where she'd hit, thinking. She was missing something…even so, it made things seem less terrifying. Things didn't seem as dark as they had last night. She went a few more rounds, thinking over her situation. There was definitely a missing piece of information, but what was it? How was it possible for someone to live two prophecies at the same time without affecting either future outcome unless…? Serena paused. Surely not…but that was the only logical explanation…

The blonde called up a half-forgotten scrap of information she'd once picked up when she'd made the mistake of asking Trista for an explanation on something. She adored Trista, but sometimes her explanations were too lengthy to follow, and extremely confusing. If she remembered right, she asked what the difference between Fate and Destiny was, if there was any difference, and what would happen if something happened to alter it. Somewhere in the midst of the lengthy, detailed explanation, she'd heard something about how two destinies could be laid out before someone by accident. It was rare, but apparently possible. Hmm…what had been the exact words? She fired another shot, and completely missed the target. "Damn," she muttered.

†Ѣ†ѢѢ†Ѣ†

Seiya hadn't slept at all last night, Taiki observed. Honestly, though, he didn't think anyone had slept well, if at all. Even Yaten had the look of someone who'd been awake at least half the night. Taiki hid a fleeting smile. The silver-haired boy had a good heart, even though he acted like a jerk. When it came to those he cared about, Yaten could be infuriating, but also immensely loyal. He would never admit it, but he cared about Serena. And it wasn't just for Mina's or Seiya's sake. How could one not end up caring about the blonde? It had been her love and light that had saved them all from Chaos. She'd saved them from sinking completely into despair. The girl's capacity for love still managed to amaze and utterly confound them. Her warmth was nearly impossible to resist.

It was about ten in the morning. Seiya was about to lose his mind from worrying. No one knew if the hyper blonde was all right, and her mom wasn't talking, either. Serena had taken everything pretty hard. In the end, they all met at Rae's temple. Serena wasn't there. They tried again, but no one was answering the phone. This was getting ridiculous. But considering how Serena was, it would probably be a while before she managed to work through this. Seiya and Amara were both in complete agreement for once; all this waiting was torture, and they both wanted to make sure Serena was all right now. There was some arguing, like Amy insisting that Serena would most likely take a few days to work through this, and Luna saying that Serena had instructed everyone to just leave her alone, but in the end, neither Seiya nor Amara could be stopped.

Halfway there, they got into an argument that, later, neither of them could remember what it had been about. They were still glowering at each other when they knocked on the door. Mrs. Tsukino answered it. It was clear she hadn't slept, either. When she saw them, she sighed faintly and then said, "She's in the basement."

The two followed her down those steps, and were totally confused when she paused in front of what appeared to be a random wall. It turned to surprise when she lifted a picture, revealing a keypad that was clearly part of a security system. She punched in the code, and the wall suddenly swung open, revealing a secret room. Ilene Tsukino motioned to them to follow her in, and they obeyed. When they looked around, neither could stop their jaws from falling to the floor. In this room was a shooting range, every conceivable gun, and tons of bullets for each weapon. In the midst of it all was Serena. The blonde was completely focused on the target. It was obvious that she'd been at this for hours. Her hands were stained with gunpowder, and the targets were riddled with bullets.

"She does this when she's worried or stressed, or sometime when she's thinking," Mrs. Tsukino explained. "This time, I think she's doing it because she's thinking hard about something." She examined a computer screen that Amara guessed was to track one's progress. "Oh, my…she's at sniper level."

"Sniper level?" Seiya asked nervously.

"This room is designed to help her hone her skills with a gun. It measures her progress with various levels. The lowest one is Squirt Gun, basically baby level. The highest is Assassin, meaning she could take down just about anything. Sniper is about one level below that."

"So she would actually be able to do what a sniper does?" Seiya was freaked. And, to be perfectly honest, so was Amara. Both were wondering exactly how someone like Serena could get to that level.

"In theory. She mostly does this to blow off steam or to help her think. She insists that it helps her put things into a better perspective. She doesn't mind target practice, but she loathes an actual battle." Ilene observed her daughter carefully. "It looks like she's relaxed. It's safe to talk. Serena?" she called.

Seiya and Amara exchanged glances. They hadn't considered that Serena could actually get stressed. Though, now that they thought about it, they could see several reasons why she could.

The blonde in question turned. She blinked in confusion when she saw her mom, but when she realized that Seiya and Amara were there as well, understanding crossed her face. She put the gun down and walked over. Her face was relaxed, and held none of the turmoil from yesterday. It was still obvious that she'd had trouble sleeping.

"Are you all right?" Amara asked softly.

"I was a little freaked, but I'm okay now. I've just been trying to think some things through."

Ilene quietly slipped out of the room, giving them some privacy.

"You know we'd never let that happen," Seiya spoke softly.

"I know…and I realized something odd. I was remembering something Pluto told me, about how by some strange twist, two destinies could be laid out before one person. I've been trying to remember exactly what would happen. All I can recall is that the person lives out both, but neither interferes with the other. But I can't come up with any logical explanation but one, and that's crazy."

"What do you think?" Amara was interested, and she also made a note not to underestimate the blonde. It was clear that she had more of a brain than they gave her credit for.

"The only way I see that could do that is if I somehow split into two. Like, you know how I'm half angel, half human? What if I wasn't supposed to be reincarnated like that? I'm thinking that when I fulfill one destiny, the human part of me and the angel part of me will split, like the angel half stays, and the human half somehow gets out." Serena lightly rubbed her temples. "Oww…migraine…"

Amara smiled. Her Koneko would be fine. "Honestly, Koneko, I think the only one who could try and think about that concept without getting a migraine is Trista. Still, that's an interesting thought. Let's ask her about it."

"Okay," Serena grinned. Yes, she was definitely going back to her happy self. "I'd better go get this gunpowder off my hands, though."

Seiya finally voiced what was bothering him. "Do you really get stressed so often that you've gotten to sniper level?"

Serena grinned wickedly. "Dealing with Darien on a daily basis would stress anyone out."

Seiya couldn't help it; he laughed. So did Amara. Even though it wasn't that funny a joke, the whole trio stood there laughing and chuckling for about ten minutes.

"Why are we laughing?" Seren gasped between guffaws.

"No idea," Amara managed.

Seiya was helpless with laughter.