A/N: Don't freak out, people, I'm still alive. I'm ashamed of myself, though. The double post is my attempt at asking for forgiveness. Enjoy the chapters.

The first thing Yuki saw when he woke up, was someone looking at him with an expression of concern. He blinked, trying to clear his vision, but someone had taken off his glasses.

The someone grinned, then looked up and said, "He's awake!"

A person that looked like Madoka appeared next to the someone, who looked to be a girl.

"Hey, Yuki!" she said happily. "Good to know one of them's awake! Here's your glasses."

She handed him his glasses, which he put on as he sat up. His head turned in the direction of the someone, the girl, and gasped.

The girl had straight, dark red hair like his own let down to fall at her shoulders, golden eyes, and had a blue streak beside a gold streak running through her hair. She was wearing a sky blue blazer identical to his own, a white polo, a short red tie with a star in the middle, black leggings, and black boots. If it wasn't for the eyes, then this girl could've been his twin.

"Are you all right?" she asked him. "You fainted from shock at the Green Hades."

Looking around, Yuki saw that they were back at the cabin. Gingka and Kenta were still out, lying on mats made out of blankets in front of the hearth. Daylight was streaming through the windows.

"Yuuuukiii," Madoka said, snapping her fingers in front of his face. "She said, are you okay?"

Yuki blinked. "Y-yeah, I'm okay. But I just have one question,"

He turned to the girl.

"Who are you?"

As Kenta's vision cleared, he saw a face peering at him. The face was a boy's, that had bright yellow hair with an orange streak. The boy grinned.

"Good, you're awake!" he said. He helped Kenta sit up.

"DA** IT!"

Kenta looked over to see an angry Lilian with her fist slammed onto a table looking at Frieda, who was sitting back in her chair with a smug smile on her face. A chessboard was on the table between them, and from the looks of it, Frieda had just won.

"Just for the record," Frieda said, checking her fingernails. "I wasn't even trying."

"How is it that you can beat me, but you can't beat Alex?" Lilian asked furiously. Frieda frowned at the mention of her defeat by Alex on the train a couple weeks ago.

Turning from them, Kenta looked over at the boy. The boy was wearing a dark orange tunic, matching pants, chain mail tinted yellow, and brown boots.

Misty looked over, and smiled. "Hey, Kenta! Good to see you awake. That only leaves Gingka."

"Speaking of Gingka," Benkei said from near the hearth. "Is he ever going to get up?"

"Don't worry."

Kenta turned to see a girl with flaming red hair, dark blue eyes, wearing ninja clothing, leaning against the wall with her arms crossed. Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw Yuki talking with a girl who had dark red hair with blue and gold streak, golden eyes, and was wearing everything Yuki was wearing, except for black leggings and black boots.

"He'll wake up soon."

"How do you know?" Kimiko, who was watching the chess game, asked the girl.

"He has been my master for three years now, of course I know," the girl replied matter-of-factly. Then she smiled deviously.

The girl talking to Yuki seemed to realize what the girl was thinking. "Miss Senshi, I know what you plan to do and I'm asking you right now, please don't do it."

"What?" the other girl asked innocently. "I'm just going to pinch one of his pressure points."

She went over to where Gingka was lying, reached behind his neck, and pinched it.

Instantly, Gingka shot up. "Whowhatwherehowwhat?"

Everyone raised their eyebrows at that.

Gingka's eyes fell on the girl.

Then he asked, "Okay, what's going on?"

It took a while for everyone to explain what had happened to the three bladers, who the boy and two girls were, and also told them about the six other bey spirits. Surprisingly, the three of them took it well, and allowed the three spirits to return to their beys.

"By the way, Kiyono," Alex said to the girl. "It slipped my mind until now, but here."

She took the picture out of her hoodie, and the small package from her computer bag, and handed them to her, saying, "Mr. Hagane says happy birthday."

Kiyono looked at the picture, and smiled.

The picture was one of her and Gingka. Gingka had an arm around Kiyono, while Kiyono was hugging her older brother around his middle, and they were both grinning at the camera. When she opened the package, Kiyono saw that it was a blue locket that engraved with the same Pegasus design on Gingka's headband on a silver chain. The picture inside was a picture of a woman that had hair a darker shade of red, and bright blue eyes full of laughter.

Kiyono turned to Gingka. "Who's that?" she asked.

To her surprise, Gingka suddenly looked like he was going to cry. "But Gingka doesn't cry," Kiyono thought. "He never cries."

"Big bro?" Kiyono grabbed his hand. "What's wrong?"

"That's... That's Mom, Kiyono. She... got seriously ill and died. You were only a month old."

Kiyono swallowed hard. "Was the locket...?"

Gingka nodded. "Yep. She never took it off, not even when she slept."

Dazedly, Kiyono turned the picture over in her hand. So that was why she and Gingka didn't have a mother. Kiyono had always thought their mom had died when she was born. At least that wasn't the reason. Tears suddenly swam in her eyes, and she furiously blinked them back, thinking, "I am a Hagane. I don't cry."

Everyone watching the scene wanted to say something, but they all decided that it would be better if they didn't.

"Kiyono," Gingka said quietly. "Dad gave me this before we left."

He handed her a folded piece of paper. When Kiyono unfolded it, she saw that it was a letter, written in a handwriting she recognized perfectly.

Dear Kiyono,

I'm sorry that I'm unable to be there for your thirteenth birthday. I hope that Gingka's coming will make up for it. If you're wondering, yes, this is your father. The incident on Mount Hagane didn't kill me, like you and Gingka thought it did. But I couldn't return to Koma Village, because I had gotten badly hurt. Hokuto was the only one who knew I was still alive, but was under instructions by me not to tell anyone.

"And I guess it slipped your mind that I was still here," Kiyono thought sarcastically. She continued to read the letter.

Trust me, I wanted to give you and Gingka a sign, you especially. You probably hate me for not telling you. But it was for the best. The Dark Nebula thought I was dead, and I wanted it to stay that way until I recovered from my injuries. By believing that I was dead, the Dark Nebula wouldn't try to hurt you. Fortunately, they didn't think of trying it the second time they came to Koma Village. I know he probably doesn't show it, but Gingka is more protective of you than I am, and if the Dark Nebula had harmed you in any way, or even killed you, he would both blame and never forgive himself for it.

This locket belonged to your mother. She had wanted to give it to you when you turned thirteen. Gingka and I decided to give it to you. I know Gingka doesn't have anything for you, but hopefully his presence will be enough. Always keep it with you, because I know that you don't have any memories of your mother.

Once again, I am very sorry that I can't be there. When all of this is over, Gingka can take you with him to Metal Bey City. Happy birthday, Kiyono Mujakina Hagane.

With love,

The Immortal Phoenix (Ryo Hagane)

Even though the letter had ended, Kiyono's eyes were still on the page. She hadn't moved. Concerned, Gingka touched her hand. "Kiyono..."

"I'm okay, big bro," Kiyono replied, but still wasn't moving.

"Do you," Gingka swallowed. "Do you like the gift?" Unknowingly, he surprised everyone with the unsureness in his eyes.

Finally moving, Kiyono put down the letter, and picked up the locket, but she didn't put it on. She opened it and stared at the picture of her mother. A tear swam in her eyes again, but this time, she let it roll down her cheek.

She closed the locket, undid the clasp, and put it around her neck. Then she looked up at Gingka, and said, "Thanks."

Then she threw her arms around him. Gingka stiffened, but then relaxed, hugging her back. Everyone else smiled.

"Um..." Alex said, unsure if she should continue. "I, uh, really hate to break this up..."

Kiyono let go of Gingka. "Go ahead," she allowed.

Alex smiled, relieved. "Thanks. Anyway, I really hate to break the moment, but now that Kenta, Yuki, and Gingka are awake, we need to get down to business again."

Gingka nodded in understanding. "Okay, so what have you guys been doing while Kenta, Yuki, and I were knocked out?" he asked.

"Alex and I have been trying to find out where to go next," Madoka told him. "So far, we haven't found any–"

Suddenly, the earth under their feet started to quake. It quaked for a few seconds, then stopped.

Lilian pretty much spoke for everyone when she asked, "What the hell was that?"

"Oh, this is bad,"

Everyone in the cabin looked over at Alex. She was looking at something on her computer.

"That earthquake just now," she said. "Was the result of a surge of power from an unknown source. And it didn't just happen here, it happened all over the world."

"But where's it coming from?" Gingka asked. "Do you know?"

Alex gave him a Really? look. "Yes, it's coming from Honolulu, Hawaii. Of course I don't know! I just said, it's coming from an unknown–"

Her computer suddenly dinged. She looked at something on the screen.

"I just found out where," she said. "Come and look."

Everyone went over to look at the computer screen. The screen showed a map of the globe, with red circles that gradually got larger coming from somewhere in the northern region of the world, above the United Kingdom.

"The source is coming from one of the islands in the Northern Seas above Scotland, as far from there as you can get. If I could have a little more time, I should be able to figure out how to get there."

"And once you find out...?" Kimiko asked, trailing off.

Silence. Then Gingka finished,

"We'll know where the final battleground is."