Author's Note: You may thank my teachers for this surprise chapter, I have practically no homework! ::dances around the room:: My dog is with me too, I love you, Lola! ::beagle sweatdrops:: Okay, never mind. Anyhoo, read on!
Ayeka sat in the cockpit, waiting. Slowly, the lights came on and the machine came to life. Unlike a Gundam, this cockpit was open, meant to trace a person's moves with the help of a suit filled with special sensors. It was the Preventers' latest weapon, and Ayeka was the key. She needed no powerful reactor or fuel for her suit, the whole thing, every last wire, had been made with materials mined from asteroids. This was key, because now whenever Ayeka stepped into it, the machine responded to her presence and 'woke up.'
She got to her feet and walked out to the test sight. In a month she should be ready, but Setsuna wanted her done sooner. The Senshi of time had been very insistent that the process be accelerated and such, but there'd been setbacks as with any organization. "Ready?" asked a voice over Ayeka's comm.
Ayeka crouched and stared at the open desert. "Ready." A large door opened in the ground, releasing small, pilot less machines that shot harmless bullets. Ayeka ran into them and started hacking away.
Meanwhile, indoors Setsuna and Relena were watching. "If Heero knew we'd revived the Gundams, even for such a cause, he'd be furious," Relena said. Setsuna nodded.
"But it is for a good cause. Earth has been hanging by a thread because people don't see the point of blue skies and open spaces, now we need to recreate the appeal of living on solid ground," Setsuna said as she watched Ayeka finish the exercise and go on to the next test. The fighting was just to hide the true purpose of this whole thing, this was the part that mattered. The two women watched closely as Ayeka stepped several hundred feet from a pile of rocks, parts of an asteroid. Small pebbles and dust flew towards her from the mound, then rocks, then the large boulders.
Finally they were all at Ayeka's feet. Setsuna smiled. "She did it all in one try. She's come a long way in three months. How about we skip the next tests, she's ready, and let her take a brief vacation before going to space?"
Wufei Chang eyed the screen showing the tests and muttered, "Sure."
The suitcase felt so light when it was empty. Ayeka tossed it into the back of the closet and fell onto the bed. She was back, back in Crystal Tokyo. Closing her eyes, she searched for that weak connection she's discovered between her and Odin. It had been rather surprising when he first showed up in her dreams and tried saving her from whatever cruel fate was present. Now she found the connection was as strong as a steel beam, she could even follow where he was going!
Excited, she went out into the hall and crept up behind the luckless young male. She reached forward and covered his eyes. "Guess who!" she said. Odin stiffened when she touched him and he swung around and picked her up. Ayeka felt her feet leave the floor and she gasped. Odin looked into her eyes and set her down. "Od—" he cut her off with a very firm, and passionate kiss.
"AYKEA!?!" screamed a voice down the hall. Ayeka and Odin jumped apart and Ayeka turned to get almost knocked to the floor with the force of Serena's enthusiast welcome.
"How've you been, Sere?" Ayeka asked.
Serena looked at her friend with tears in her eyes. "When she said you might never come back I—" Ayeka put a finger on Serena's lips.
"Shh, I haven't completed my mission, this is just a vacation until everything is set for me to go to space." Ayeka threw her arms around her best friend and said quietly, "Please tell me you will let me go?"
Serena looked fairly crushed. "I guess I can…"
Ayeka grinned and said, "Good! Now, I want to visit the gardens." Odin and Serena walked with Ayeka through the many paths and plants of the palace gardens. The Luna family could've left their beautiful home for the presidential mansion, but had twisted the necessary arms to stay. Ayeka was glad they had, for as Serenity Luna began her third term as President of the ESUN, the pressure was on for the family to relocate. While Serena and Odin were unaware, Ayeka knew that the Luna family was in danger of attack because their home was so open. Even when Heero 'insisted' on tightening security the President had refused. As the purple-hared soldier walked around in the beauty of life at full bloom, she felt a renewed sense of purpose.
Serena left Odin and Ayeka alone to go tend to whatever Ayeka's arrival had interrupted. The couple walked on in silence for a while, then Odin said, "Whenever your name comes up in a conversation with my parents they get angry, as if I was asking if they ever burped." He stopped and turned to face her. "Why?"
Ayeka looked around. She stepped closer and said, "I can't tell you directly, but…" Suddenly she yanked Odin off the path and into some bushes. She straddled his waist and whispered in his ear, "My code name is Terra, and the mission I'm being trained for is 'Rebirth' to restore the planet." Odin stared up at the blue sky, thinking this over.
He took a breath to ask a question, but Ayeka had shifted and he had to restrain himself from letting out a groan. She smiled down at her and said, "Life is full of good things, but sometimes they require sacrifices." Then she disappeared. Just vanished. Odin sat up and looked around.
"Ayeka?" he said, not too loud in case someone awkward came and found him hidden in the bushes. How had she done that? What in the world was she talking about? It was too many questions, and asking his parents was out of the question. Who could he ask? Odin smiled. Rei, Ami, Minako and Makoto were still around.
Ami looked at the riddle and shrugged. Passing it back to Odin she said, "I don't know, but the 'rebirth' part would intrigue Hotaru." Rei looked at the paper Odin had recorded Ayeka's words on and frowned.
"Maybe the Outers will know what it means. (Yes, Serena caved to Odin after he caught her in the kitchen trying to become Princess Selenity. That's a whole different bag of chips from what's going on.) They regained more memories of their past lives than us, but I don't understand why they'd call her Terra. Isn't that some obscure word for Earth? And what made you think to come to us?"
Odin folded the paper and put it in his pocket. "Well most adults are out of the question because they're in on whatever is going on, especially that green-hared woman…Setsuna I think?"
The Senshi straightened. "So Sailor Pluto is involved?" Serena said. The Senshi all traded looks. "Maybe we should talk to her."
"That would be a bad idea," said a voice from the door to Serena's room. They all turned to see Michiru, Hotaru and Haruka standing in the doorway. Haruka smiled. "How convenient for you all to be in one place, this'll make our job much easier." The three came in and closed and locked the door. Michiru went to the balcony doors and stood in front of them. Hotaru sat on the bed with the others and smiled as innocently as any child.
Serena frowned. "What's going on, Uranus?"
Haruka crossed her arms. "Setsuna told us you might interfere with her plans." She checked her watch. "We can let you out in a few hours."
Odin got a sudden sinking feeling in his stomach. Unlike normal anxiousness, this dropping continued to fall. It spiraled down and he could feel his mind start to go with it. "Odin?" asked a voice from down a distant tunnel. He forced his eyes open and saw the ceiling. Serena's concerned face hovered over his. "Are you Okay? You look pale."
He tried to move his arms, but couldn't. Suddenly he felt hot pains all over his body, but they weren't from him… "Ayeka…" he muttered. Serena looked horrified.
"What about Ayeka?" she asked.
Odin blinked and squinted. "Something's wrong, the connection is too strong for the distance she's stretching it—"
ODIN! Screamed a silent voice in his head. He knew it was Ayeka. He tried to send an answering thought down the wire, but it was just bounced back by the piercing wale. She screamed one last time and then Odin felt the connection snap.
All at once he was back in the real world. He looked around and saw Ami and Makoto were the only ones left. "Wh—"
"Awake at last?" Ami said. She came over and helped him sit up. Odin rubbed his head and looked around. Interpreting his look correctly, Ami said, "There was a youma outbreak they had to tend to, can you stand?" He did.
Makoto crossed her arms. "So what was all that about?"
Odin swallowed and said, "There used to be a planet called Terra…"