The Four Mirrors
Sequel to 'Legacies'
By MMM/AJ

A/N: Hello everyone! If this is the first time you've ever read my fanfiction, then you will probably not understand anything in here. This is the third and final installation of a trilogy of fanfictions centered around Mewtwo and his descendants, as well as the people who play important roles in their lives. If you're interested, please go and find the first entry in the list of stories I have written, which is named "Crossing of the Paths", and read it first.

For my returning readers, we will be starting this fanfiction from the point of view of our good friend Tanis for the first few chapters, and then progressing into the POVs of his sons. This installment of the series is planned to be the longest, I am aiming to reach a minimum of 400 pages with it. Happy reading, and I hope you enjoy!

Prologue – Looking Back

Through a grey, brooding sky came the ominous growling of a storm's first thunder. The toll of toil and worry etched patterns of monotone swirls into the clouds as they advanced on the peace loving sky, preparing to drop their payloads of rain. The world above stirred as similar clouds of brooding doubt swept across the world below. The first of the shimmering aquatic mines dropped from the sky, descending into the unknown. A mountain range and the forests that surround it leapt up towards the falling avenger, whose silhouette was invisible to human eyes. The droplet fell through a shimmering glow, and fell against the smooth glass pane of a window.

"Hmm, looks like rain." Tanis mumbled dully, looking up through the pane at the grey turmoil above. He waved his hand once to close all of the other windows in his house and returned to his heading. The textbook in his hand was brand new, and its cover glinted in the soft glow of the lamp.

The title on the cover had been stamped in white with a noble font: "Looking Back: A critical historical analysis of the cruelties of Ares' Regime". Shakara had brought it to Tanis last week to read, but he hadn't gotten around to picking it up until now. Told him that she had found it lying on the ground in the alleys near the school next door to the building where the Protectorate Summit had been held, and a combination of anxiety and a lack of time had mainly kept Tanis from reading it. The grey light streaming through the windows began to darken and fade as the clouds blotted out the light from the fast setting sun, and Tanis' scowl deepened as he read. He began to worry about Shakara as time passed, she was late getting home from that week's summit meeting, and the textbook's contents weren't exactly improving his mood either. His scowl grew angrier when he came across an even more flagrant passage in the book:

It is unknown where the one named Tanis came from, but historians assume that he was another of Ares' creations, and therefore a kind of brother to Shakara. He was first seen in…

Tanis slammed the book closed in disgust, angered that the humans would rather spread unfounded assumptions than admit to their own lack of knowledge. If they had known anything about his real father, then the book would be singing a different song entirely. He sat there fuming for a few minutes before regaining his temper and picking the book back up. Not soon after, the clouds completed their assault on the sunlight and the sky finally descended into the darkness of night. The thunder grew steadily closer, and soon white flashes became visible blinking in the distance. Dark rings began to form around Tanis' eyes as the deeper hours of the night rapidly snuck up on him during his absorption in the book. There was still no sign of Shakara.

Tanis heard a scream coming from one of his son's rooms and he teleported over there in an instant, leaving the book to fall helter-skelter into the chair. He reappeared in Venius' room, holding an energy sword prepared to fend off any intruder. He saw and felt no intruder in the room however, Venius had just leapt up out of his bed and was crying from a terrible nightmare. The energy blade faded away and Tanis walked over to pick his son up in his arms.

"Humans on the mountain." Venius whispered in terror. "Their bright green goggles are always watching!"

"It's alright now Venius, you're awake and they can't get you." Tanis said, patting his son on the back reassuringly.

"They're….they're still watching me dad…I can feel their eyes in the distance…" Venius said, falling into a frenzied hysteria.

"Don't you remember the illusion field I built around our house? None of the humans can see us, even with their fancy detection technology." Tanis said calmly. "They can never find us here, ever."

Despite his father's words, Venius kept on crying and babbling incoherently for several more minutes, and Tanis held him and rocked him in his arms gently, walking back and forth in the dark room. When the comforting familiarity of his father's arms finally lulled Venius back to sleep, Tanis delicately laid him back in his bed and covered him with his blankets. Venius grabbed his tail and held onto it like a security blanket, sleeping restlessly. Tanis walked out and closed the door as quietly as he could.

Tanis yawned and rubbed his eyes tiredly as he walked back out into the hall. It was beyond count how many times Venius had awoken from nightmares about humans now, and Tanis didn't know what to do about it. When he re-entered the den where he had been reading, he saw Shakara there already waiting for him. She was sitting there in his chair, flipping idly through the pages of the textbook.

"I heard Venius crying when I came in, so I decided to stay out here and let you handle it." Shakara said, taking off her glasses. "Another human dream again?"

Tanis nodded gravely and sat in the chair next to her. "How did the summit go?" he asked, wanting to change the subject.

Shakara sighed and flipped the pages of the textbook again, the pupils of her eyes dilating a tad. "You remember how they banned me from using my powers during meetings last month, forcing me to have to wear these glasses every time I come in? It's not a big deal really, a little blurry vision isn't hard to deal with. Well, they tried to pass a law banning us from using our powers outside of designated areas this time. Thankfully there were still enough sympathizers on the council to keep this from passing, but I'm worried Tanis, very worried. As far as I can tell, human attitudes are on a steady shift against us."

"It's been like this ever since they found those mass graves four years ago, we're never going to live free from Ares' shadow and it's something we're going to have to deal with." Tanis said.

"It's worse than that too, Tanis. A matter came up for the first time in the council today, my ships in orbit caught photos of a single battlecruiser class warship under construction at a human military base in Central Europe. I brought these photos in and proposed a series of economic sanctions against the nation responsible, since non-proliferation laws have forbidden the creation of military spacecraft above cruiser class. The human leaders of the council refused to pass these sanctions however, stating that it was not in their interest to start a conflict. It's like they're turning a blind eye!"

Tanis tilted his head to the side and pondered for a moment. "Shakara, I think you might be overreacting. You know, you still control almost every single warship from your father's old regime. It's not like the humans would try to challenge you, especially since your Protectorate System has been responsible for creating a stable environment of economic growth and reconstruction for years now! There is no sane reason for trying to rebel against you, since you've been helping people ever since you got this power. I'm sure that these people just want to add a little to their own personal security, and if you let them be for awhile then they will probably stop."

Shakara sighed. "You're right, you're right. It would be stupid of them to try and start a conflict with me. But I still get a bad feeling about this. Why would they need personal security when they know that I would personally intervene to stop any war? I can't read their mind to find out anymore, now that the summit meeting locations all have psionic blockers in place. The worst part of it is, if I threaten this nation with military force to halt the construction of their ship, it could be labeled as an abuse of power by the other human leaders. With the trend of sympathies moving as they are right now, it would damage my image irreparably. And since the only other direct option is sanctions, which have already been eliminated, then there's no visible solution to this problem other than to just let them have their ship."

"It's not worth the damage to you to cause such a fuss over one ship anyway Shakara. As long as you keep objecting to the construction of this ship on the strongest possible terms, then the problem will hopefully go away." Tanis said. "It sounds like wishful thinking, but as I see it, it's our best possible choice of action."

"You were always good at wishful thinking." Shakara said, turning and smiling at him. "This is nothing compared to the time when we needed to fly through the Blue River back when it was called the Black River, to reach my father's base while his ships were chasing us." Shakara said,

"Exactly! If we could live through a situation like that, then by the gods we can live through this!" Tanis said cheerfully. "Now give me my chair back!"

Shakara smiled and set the textbook down before standing. "You know Tanis, you never cease to amaze me. One moment you're helping me through my usual spats with the human governments, and then the next you're quibbling with me over which chair you want to sit in. How do you do it?"

"Three things my dear: Green tea, a long read, and silence. Lots and lots of silence." Tanis said, smiling as he got his favorite chair back.

A staccato crash filled the air and bright white light blinked in the windows as lightning struck amazingly close to their house. A few moments later, the sound of Venius crying again echoed down the halls.

"Too bad that that particular resource always seems in short supply around here eh?" Shakara said.

Tanis shrugged and smiled and the futility before jumping up out of his chair and jogging back down the hall toward his son's room.

"Looks like it's going to be a long night." Shakara said, and picked up the textbook to read through it some more.

A/N: It's kind of sad that I have to say this again, but I will.

PLEASE REMEMBER, NO FLAMES!

I wrote this reminder back at the beginning of Crossing of the Paths, and thankfully I didn't have to repeat it again. Unfortunately however, circumstances have dictated that I must re-post this reminder for you to see here today, because apparently someone finally forgot it.

So, kindly remember that all public flames here will either be totally ignored or copied and posted humiliatingly on my personal website. If you have a problem with my fanfiction and wish to voice it, please do so in a constructive manner, or else in a PRIVATE E-MAIL if you're really upset. I have no problem receiving constructive critiques on my writing, but if you feel the need to stoke an open flame, then you will lose all of my respect as a friend and person.

Thanks for reading everyone, I do appreciate your reviews! Just remember to keep your flames to emails please!