Chapter 21: Institute of Special Children, part 1

After the flashback had ended, the group followed after the ghosts of the 3 siblings to a glowing light. Shane stopped walking and looked up at the light. It looked like God was sending down judgement to those who have sinned. That's what Shane thought. "Hey...where's this light gonna take us?" "To another area," Rukia said. "Don't worry, Shannie, it won't hurt ya." The girl nodded and stepped into the light with the others as they were transported to another location.

The group appeared in a large building control room where a blonde-haired man and a dark-haired woman was speaking to one another. "...Father.." Shane looked to Rukia who was staring at the back of the blonde man. "Dmitri," the woman began. "Are you sure those boys are going to be able to help with Sakura's treatment?"

"I don't believe the condition your daughter suffers from is a mere natural disorder. Therefore, contact with the anti-U-DO waveforms within the U.R.T.V.s will be beneficial for her," he told her. I get it, the now dark-haired girl thought to herself. This is 14 years ago, so...that would be Sakura and MOMO's mom and...Jr. and Rukia's dad, Dmitri Yuriev... "Hypersensitivity to the synchronicity of the U.M.N. We never had diseases like that when the universe was still small." A buzzer could be heard which startled the group (save KOS-MOS and chaos who looked the least bit surprised).

"U.M.N. dive operation. Phase six complete. U.R.T.V. team commencing dive-out, starting from number 660. Now opening dive-pods," a female employee said. Outside of the control room, there was a large room where pods laying on the ground with the 3 siblings inside. All three of the pods opened as the red-haired boy woke up and sat up slowly. He turned to Yuriev and Juli when they walked out of the control room.

"That girl… That girl gave me a message. She said, "Please tell my mother… Please tell my mother that I love her." What else… She said, "I got a seashell treasure box for my birthday last year. If you tell my mother that she'll understand," " he told them as a look of complete shock came over the dark-haired woman's face. "So, the wavelengths matched up…" She walked over to the red-haired boy who had climbed out of the pod and stood in front of her. "You were able to talk to Sakura?" She asked. He nodded slowly.

"So, what's your name?"

"Rubedo. Uh…I mean… U.R.T.V. unit number 666." He watched Juli kneel down in front of him and take his right hand into both of hers. "Rubedo. Please keep telling me the things she says, all right?" A small pause went through them as he smiled. "Yes, ma'am!" He said enthusiastically. In the control room, Shion watched Rubedo and Juli, her eyes softening some. "Mom..." Shane placed a hand on her shoulder. "It's okay.." The woman lowered her head and nodded. Soon, the flashback ended and the group reappeared outside of a large building. "What is this place?" "The Yuriev Institute," Rukia said. "It's the U.R.T.V. development facility." "And the place where both me and Rukia were made."

"Mmph...feels funny here.."

"Yes, it does feel strange, like time has stopped. The people here can't see us?" Shion asked. "Yeah, looks like it. This place is frozen in time at a point when Sakura was alive. But why here? How do we save MOMO?"

"Hmm. It would seem that those three phantoms are the key," Ziggy pointed out the 3 brothers. "They look like they're leading us somewhere."

"Right, we don't have time to wander around. Let's go look for them." The group followed after the three phantoms until a third flashback appeared. The group stood from a distance of the Mizrahi household where Rubedo moved to the window to see Sakura playing a piano with Juli. "Sakura..." She continued to play the piano, unable to hear him.

"She really can't talk in this world."

"That's right. The neural pathways that recognize the outside world and allow her to express herself have been completely severed," Juli explained while showing her daughter how to play the piano. "Her electric potential pulse control was determined to be instable, but neither medicine nor nanomachine-based Glilial supplements had any effect."

"It's weird that restoring her membrane electrical potential didn't do anything."

"Yes… But now your waveform, the particular wavelength you possess, is making up for her deficiency." Rubedo looked to Juli as he blinked at her. My...waveform and wavelength...

--

"I hear my dad is researching treatment for me, too. He's making a Realian that's a lot like a human, and he's gonna make it so my senses are always linked up with it. That way, I won't have to make my mom sad anymore," Sakura told Rubedo as they sat on the swing on the porch of her house.

"Sakura, you sure have nice parents." She smiled some and looked to him. "What about you? Your dad is Dr. Yuriev, right? Don't you have a mom?" He looked off to the side, pulling one knee up to his chest and resting his arm on his knee while laying his head against his upper arm. "Yeah, we have one. Genetically speaking, anyway. She had a healthy ovum with a perfect set of chromosomes. That's all we really know about her," he told the brown-haired girl.

"How come you're not looking for her? Don't you wanna meet her?"

"What's the point? So I can say, "Hi! You're the mother of a bunch of genetically engineered bioweapons"?" The red-head narrowed his blue eyes, feeling a bit upset. He felt Sakura's hand on his shoulder. "Don't say that. You're not a weapon. You're a wonderful boy."

"Oh yeah?" He asked her, his voice sounding almost angry. "The only time we can leave the Institute is when there's a war going on." She looked at him then pulled her hand away, looking at the ground. She nodded to herself and looked to him. "Hey, Rubedo. I have a favor to ask of you." Rubedo lifted his head from his arm and looked at her.

"My little sister is gonna be born soon. She's kind of different from a normal sister," Sakura told him in an excited voice. "I mean, my mom won't be giving birth to her, but… My mother and sister… I want you to look after them for me, okay?"

"Okay! If she's your sister, I'll look after her like she was my own!"

"You promise?"

"Of course! Leave it to me—" Just as he was about to finish his sentence, Sakura kissed him on the right cheek, a look of shock coming over his face. She stood up with a smile and ran to the front door. She turned to look back at him as she opened the door. "Good night, Rubedo. See you tomorrow." She walked inside her house, closing the door behind her. Rubedo waved goodbye then held his right cheek, a small blush coming up to his cheeks with a look of something that didn't feel right about that kiss.

"Aw, Jr.-niichan got a kiss from Sakura-chan, eh?" Rukia started to laugh as she moved out of the way of a bullet barely missing her ear. "Say something about this again, and I swear to god, I'll pierce your ears with a bullet!"

"Oh yeah?" The red-haired girl held out her hand as a dagger appeared and she threw it at Jr.'s foot. "I'd like to see you try that!"

"Oh my god, KNOCK IT OFF!"

Chapter 21: End