.N.: Here's another revision done. Hope you like it! Review and tell me!
Disclaimer: I don't own anything except Eve and Zylstra.
Immortal Habit XII: Re;ocation of Trust
Ami sighed as she sat down. It had been non stop work to keep those men from killing themselves. They kept collapsing everywhere imaginable! And Ami as the only certified doctor had to take care of them all. Sure Trista and Hotaru helped but they were needed in other places most the time. Finally, Serenity had come shooed Ami off for some rest. She had been on her way to bed when Mina informed her that there was going to be a meeting later to figure out what to do with the guys and their prediciment with housing. So now Ami sat in the Library waiting for everyone. Ami scanned the dusty shelves of books, none of them were modern novels but ancient texts from many of the universe's cultures. This was Ami's private collection that she had kept growing over the years. She wasn't sure why she had done it, maybe she would be the librarian goddess. She didn't care as she drifted to sleep. Then what seemed like a moment later the doors banged open to reveal the rest of the scouts and Rini.
"Rise and shine, Ami!" Mina giggled as she also sat down by the large wooden study table.
"Screw you, Mina," Ami grumbled as she sat up fully.
"Please rectract you claws, we need everyone alive for this meeting," Trista calmly said.
Ami nodded and blushed, she must be more exauhsted than she thought. Mina just shrugged and leaned back in the chair so that it was on two legs. The rest of the scouts found themselves chairs at the table and when Serenity took her seat at the head the meeting had officially started. Everyone wanted to ask the same question but the scout of the winds beat them all to it.
"First question! How did the guys get like this?" Amara asked.
"I should have told you guys earlier but there wasn't anytime," Serenity began, "I got sick of looking for Selenity so I did a locating spell. Heero and I followed the spell and ended up in an alley with Endymion and Selenity's tattered body. We fought and I was knocked unconcsious and then as I was waking up Endymion started a spell. I scanned the spell and it was too strong for one man, if Heero had been hit full on with that spell he would have died, but he didn't. So I think that some how the spell crossed over and attacked the other guys."
"He's not that good of a mage, though. He must have had help," Eve said.
"He once said that the real mage is Zylstra, maybe he found a way to share her power even in seperate timelines," Serenity said worriedly.
"Great. Is there a counter spell?" asked Rei.
"No. I already checked. The bastard locked this one up good. He locked their magic so only something really tramatic would unlock it and he bound the spell to him, if he dies the spell disappears, if one of the guys die their locked up power is fed to him," Serenity sighed.
"Why isn't he killed?" asked Michelle.
"Only God knows why," Serenity muttered.
She had never understood the laws of black magery. The only spells she knew where the basic white magic castings that everyone in the Silver Millennium knew and the magic rituals of the royal household. Luna and Artemis were the only ones, other than Princess Venus, that were avowed white mages. She could try to unblock the last of Mina's memories but the magic blocking the memories were reinforced by the fact that Mina was happy with what she knew now, just like the rest of the scouts.
"Fine. Where are we going to stay? They know where we are now," Lita wondered.
Lita knew she was right, the Shepherds knew exactly where they wereand they would use their knowledge to their advantage. The mansion had some amazing security but it wouldn't hold under Zylstra's magic.
"I've thought about that. I have four houses in Michigan, each of them have three or four rooms and a lot of couches. We could stay there," Eve offered.
Two of those houses were ones where she grew up. When she was reborn with a few scant memories of her second reincarnation she had searched for the homes of her family. She had been suprised to find both and her grandparent's former homes well intact, she had bought them all fromthe owners and had assigned a crew of caretakers to all of them.
"No, this changes nothing. Endymion already knew we were here, now it's just been confirmed to the rest of the organization. Everything is going to happen here in Tokyo. We must stay here," Trista said crypticaly.
Serenity nodded, it was true. Endymion had known she was there the moment she had stepped off the plane in Tokyo, just like she had known he was there. She had also learned long ago not to question Trista's advice, it was too valuable. This time though she had to ask. She had to know what had Trista, the curiostiy burned in her because even to Cosmos the future was fogged.
"What did the Gates tell you? You have to tell me," Serenity's question was bordering a plea.
But Trista just shook her head. If she told her queen the future everything would change, most likely for the worse. Not that the future was bright and cheery at the moment, having Selenity kidnapped was a blow to their cause. But if they moved to the States they would be to close to Endymion for his own comfort and he would not let his plans be destroyed. This Trista knew and more, so much more.
"What about me? Why'd you bring me here?" asked Rini to break the silence.
Rini had heard the story of how the insane prince had tried to take over Earth many times but no one had ever mentioned that she would play a part in it. Maybe Serenity was going to send her back home now that things had turned for the worse. Not that things were any better in her time but her soon-to-be mother didn't know that.
"You Rini are going to school," Serenity smirked.
Serenity had realized that it was too dangerous in Japan for her future daughter right now and had come up with the almost perfect plan to both protect her and let her fight against Endymion. The only place in the world not effected completely by war was the Sanq Kingdom the country the pacifist Relena Peacecraft once ruled. It was also the home of the Peacecraft Memorial Academy where Shina Shields,the daughter of Endymion and Zylstra, attended school.
"No! Why? Where?" Rini whined, she thought one of the perks of this time hop would be the lack of school, obviously she thought wrong.
"You're going to school because you need to make friends with a girl," Serenity told her.
"Who?"
"Shina Shields, Darien and Zylstra Shields daughter," Serenity said in disgust.
Rini's mouth dropped in shock. Shina was the daughter of those two psychos! Why hadn't anybody ever told her? Shina had been her surrogate mother for the first five years of her life and now she's learning that she's the daughter of the enemy!
"Oh."
"Ami, get that computer out and give us the run down," Serenity commanded.
Ami opened up her laptop a bit groggily and entered the Peacecraft Memorial Academy site.
"Rini you are going to go to the Peacecraft Memorial Academy. I'm going to need a different name than the one you have now. Endymion may check the lists sometime, see your name and you'd be in danger," Ami explained.
"Umm...Serenity? Will you name me?" Rini asked.
"How about Kibou Miraino?" Serenity suggested.
"Hope of the Future? No pressure there," Rini muttered.
"You can live with it," Hotaru grinned.
Rini suddenly realized something. She was the Kibou from the story Shina told her when she was little. It was about a teenager from the future who had to find out information about an enemy organization, trying to take over the world, through the organizations leader's daughter. It was one of the many tales Shina had told her about this particular war she was now involved in. That's why she had never heard about herself in any of the stories, she had been somebody else. Rini decided to cover upher shockwith another question.
"So where is this Academy?" Rini asked, she seemed full of questions.
"In the Sanq Kingdom, it's controlled by Milliardo Peacecraft," Eve answered.
Milliardo had taken over the country after his sister's 'death'. He hadn't changed anything about the place except for the name of the Academy. Prince Milliardo and his wife Lucretia Nion-Peacecraft had just celebrated the birth of their first child,a daughter named Diana.
"Okay so this Sanq Kingdom is where?" Rini asked confused.
"Somewhere in Europe by the coast. Maybe where Greece used to be," Mina shrugged, she had never been great at geography.
"Okay, here's the plan. Rini your going to the Sanq Kingdom to make friends with Shina, try to find out what she knows about what's going and how she feels about it. I'm hoping she'll be on our side. So we have one up on Endymion. You'll contact us by the email address: cosmicpowers@netwings.com (AN:This email does not exsist. I hope.). We'll make sure to reply to you within twenty-four hours but if we don't get out of the school as fast as you can and to the Time Gates, alright?" Serenity explained.
"Right," Rini nodded.
"Good, you'll leave in the morning. Now on to other business. Amara, Eve, are the gundams going to be okay?" Serenity asked.
"Sort of," Amara sighed and gave a meaningful glance at Eve for her to continue.
"The original gundams can be repaired but our's can't be, they took to much of a beating. We're also running out of gundamium alloy, if we get our asses kicked like this again we won't be able to repair any of the damages," Eve announced sadly.
"This is a problem," Serenity nodded.
"I have an idea," Eve said.
"I hope it's good. 'Cause I'm fresh out," Lita said.
"Why not mobile suits? We have more than enough materials to make our own. If we use some ofthe technology we used in the gundams the mobile suits would be above and beyond any ofthe others. They would only be half a step below a gundam," Eve explained.
Moblie Suits were what she had been trained for in the Shepherd Org. She could build one with her own bare hands and the scraps from a bloody battle if she had too.
Serenity nodded, "Is there anything that can be salvaged from the destroyed gundams?"
Eve nodded.
"Good, use what you can in the mobile suits. I want you, Amara, and Jim working on them as soon as you can."
"We can start right now," Amara said.
"Then get going," Serenity said,and grinned slightly when the two women flew out of the room.
"I have an idea," Hotaru said.
"Yes? What?" Serenity turned her attention to her pale friend.
"Jim's been really lonely lately. The only person he really talks to is me and Trista. I was thinking about bringing over the others from the Leyline. And Gene, Suzuka, and Asia can help with training, maybe even take some missions," Hotaru offered.
"That does sound like a good plan," Michelle agreed, she wanted to meet her daughter's friends.
"As long as they don't mind I don't," Serenity said.
"Great. I'll go tell Jim. I think he got that communication gadget to work," Hotaru said and she exited the library.
"I think we've settled everything. Let's go see how the guys are doing," Serenity said.
With that the meeting dipersed but the remaing women stuck together and entered the room where the pilots had been confined to. The first thing they saw was Quatre slumped on the couch. Ami sighed and went to check on him. The other guys were laying around doing nothing. Except for Duo who was singing 'Row, Row, Row Your Boat' in a horrible voice. The girls rolled their eyes and waited for the guys to realize they'd entered.
"I see that you're all having fun," Mina said sarcasticly.
"Shut up, onna," Wufei growled from his armchair.
"Get over it, Wufei, before I shoot you," Serenity growled back.
"You wouldn't kill me I'm to important to you," Wufei smirked.
"I never said anything about killing," Serenity smiled sweetly.
"What do you want?" Heero asked.
"Just wanted to tell you that we're stepping up security and that some trainers are coming soon. We're hoping that you've all come to your senses and realized we're not enemies. As much fun as it was to watch you run into that mailbox I don't want you to get killed. Your mission is to help us, why don't you want to?" Serenity asked.
"We woke up without any memory of the past two weeks and you have us locked in this room," Duo said simply.
"You were in a bad accident! I've told you that, Dr. T has you told that, even Dr. J has told you that! Why can't you get it through your head that we saved you from floating around in space until you ran out of air?!" Serenity screamed.
Everyone was quiet. No one dared answer her. There were too many things that kept them from trusting the female pilots. It was mostly that they had not proven themselves trustworthy yet and that they had no memory of what happened.
"If we can't trust each other who can we trust?" Serenity wondered out loud, "I'm bringing the trainers tomorrow. Rini's going to the Sanq Kingdom for schooling and to try and get close to Darien Shields daughter. Be ready for a proper dinner tomorrow at 6."
Then she left, leaving everyone speechless.
"She's right," Michelle finally said.
"We have to start working together or the Shepherds have already won," Ami agreed as she finally got Quatre to wake up.
Quatre looked at Ami with distrust and moved away from her. Ami bit her lip and quickly exited the room. She had work to do with the new security system.
"See you bright and early tomorrow," Lita said and followed Ami.
Soon all the women had left and the men were once again left in their thoughts. Trainers? They were the gundam pilots, the most deadly men in the world, what was there left to know?
"I think we should give them a chance," Duo said suddenly.
He had seen the way the blonde, Mina, had kept looking at him sadly. He wished he remembered the last two weeks, he was sure he was missing something important, he felt empty. These women held the answers to the missing chunkof his life.
"I agree," said Quatre.
He had seen the tears welling up inAmi's eyes when he had pushed her away. He was sorry for hurting the girl, sorrier than he should have been.
Trowa thought for a second and nodded.
"They're just onnas. They are weak," Wufei agrued.
Heero nodded in agreement. These women were using them somehow. They were good actors but somthing wasn't right aboutthis situation.
"Sorry guys but it's three against two. We give them a chance," Duo said oddly serious.
***The Next Day***
Rei and Lita had gotten up very early that morning to spar. It had been three hours since then and only now did they stop to rest for a moment in the grass. The early morning sun could hardly be seen throught the layer of clouds in the sky.
"It's going to storm," There was was no doubt in Lita's voice a she said this.
"We should probably go in then," Rei said.
"No we've got an hour before it starts."
Rei nodded, knowing better than to disagree with the daughter of the storm god.
They sat for awhile in silence, lost in their own thoughts. Mina's voice cut through the silence like a knife.
"Kinda early isn't it?" Mina murmered sleeply and joined the duo on the grass.
"Maybe to you, sleepyhead. But unlike you who needs as much beauty sleep as you can get, we are always beautiful," Lita teased her blonde friend.
"If I wasn't so tired I'd kick your ass for that," Mina laughed and looked at the sky. "When do you think they'll trust us?"
"I hope soon," Rei sighed, "I miss Cadmus."
Suddenly a thought struck Lita like lightning. The thought made her feel lower than any scum and guilt quickly welled up in her heart.
"Oh no," Lita cried.
"What is it?" Mina asked in concern.
"We're doing what Darien did. We don't love the pilots. Don't you see?" Lita said quietly.
Realization dawned on the girls faces. They were in love with the princes, not the pilots. Just like Darien had loved Princess Serenity, not Serena. No matter how many simularities there were between them they were still seperate people.
"The princes are dead," Mina said in a steely voice.
They were now free to choose who ever they wished to love. They weren't going to do to the pilots whta Endymion did to Serena. If they loved them it would be for who they were not for what they used to be.
***In the Mansion***
In the kitchen Eve, Michelle, Serenity and Heero were eating breakfast. Serenity had made sure the door to the pilots room had been left unlocked so that the guys could come out. She was now trusting them not to run off but the next time they did they were back in the room. Serenity seemed to have kept her talent to eat enough to feed a small army but one of the down sides of pregnancy was morning sickness so she was now the process of puking her breakfast back up. When she came into the kitchen again she had a grimace on her face and was wiping her tongue trying to rid herself of the awful taste. Eve gave her a questioning look.
"It doesn't taste as good coming up, okay? God being knocked up sucks," Serenity complained.
Eve and Michelle laughed while Heero's eyebrow was getting terribly close to his hair line. Not only was his commanding officer a woman but she was a pregnant woman too. This went against everything Dr. J had taught him about the military and what his first teacher Odin Lowe had told him about the great assissain Artemis.
"Don't look at me like that, Heero Yuy, I know things about you that would make your nose hairs curl," Serenity said when she noticed Heero's escalating eyebrow.
'Like the fact that if you would stop the damn Perfect Soldier thing, you and Duo would be planning the next big practical joke,' Serenity thought to herself and repressed a groan when she remembered the black shoe polish around her mothers goblet during a Lunar holiday.
"I know things about me too," Heero replied.
Serenity almost fell off her chair in shock.
"Oh My GOD! He spoke! Someone call the freaking press! Heero Yuy spoke! Is there a full moon tonight?" Serenity asked, her eyes wide.
"Hn."
"That was close. My basic beliefs were really shaking there," Serenity said in mock relief.
It was truly amazing if you could see Heero's eyebrows right now because they were up, up, and away. The others were laughing so hard that soon they would run out of breath.
"Okay, guys, I'm off to pick up some friends," Serenity said and quickly exited.
Once she got outside and around the corner of the house she disappeared in a silver flash.
*** Galactic Leyline Dimension***
Serenity reappeared just outside Starwind and Hawking Enterprises, and small building with a big sign. She knocked on the door and waited for someone to answer. It took awhile but finally a very flushed, and rumpled, Melfina answered the door. Serenity thought this would be a good time to raise an eyebrow.
"Do I even have to ask you if you and Gene made up?" Serenity smirked.
Melfina got redder.
"Hello...uh...," Melfina, if it was possible, got even redder," I..uh..can't remember your name."
"Serenity Moon-Cosmos. I'm here to speak to you and Gene."
"Okay, come on in. I'll go get Gene," Melina moved away from the door so Serenity could get in and went off to find Gene.
Serenity looked around the place was nice if a bit unprivate, she could see the rumpled bed on the second floor. She also heard what seemed to be a video game:
"I want you! I need you! I love you!"
"Liar!"
"Gameover!"
Melfina came back down a minute later with Gene trailing behind her.
"How ya doin, Ms. Moon?" Gene asked cheerfully as he gave her a look over, no doubt he liked what he saw.
Serenity was wearing a pair of black leather flares, a white baby tee with the word 'Angel' in silver on it and a gauzy black 3/4 sleeve button down shirt over it.
"I'm fine, Gene. But me and my friends need help," Serenity said.
"What's wrong?" asked Melfina.
"Five guys in my team have selective amnesia caused by the enemy. They don't remember anything about us, or any of the things we have told them the past two weeks. And to tell the truth some of them are a bit rusty on basic skills like gun handling, sword fighting, and hand to hand combat," Serenity explained.
"What do you want from us?" Gene asked.
"I want you and the rest of your team to come and help us retrain our men and to keep Jim company. He's having a problem opening up to to our universe," Serenity sighed.
Melfina looked at the powerful being in front of her, her eyes told everything she needed to know. The struggle to keep control of everything was wearing the woman down and immense pain surrounded her like a cloak. Serenity only wanted what was best for everyone else and cared nothing for herself. Melfina decided then and there that she was going to help her in any way she could.
"We'll go," the dark haired woman said.
"Wait a minute, Melfina!" Gene said. "Don't you think we should think about this?"
"Didn't you hear her, Gene? They're in trouble. Our best friends are in trouble.So don't you dare say I haven't thought about this," Melfina argued.
"But..."
"But what? What is here that is so special to you? You're always looking for a new adventure, to see new places, find new treasure. Are you so selfish to not want to help your friends because there isn't money involved? Are you willing to make the same sacrifices for friendship that you did for riches?" Melfina scolded him.
Gene's eyes went large as he realized what Melfina was doing. She was yelling, no screaming at him. She had something he had never seen in her: fire, pure white fire that seemed to radiate from her, she had a warriors spirit buried under her pure soul and when she was told that her best friends in the universe were in danger that spirit overrode all obedience and caution in her. In short she was a female version of Gene.
'I guess that's what happens from long term exposure to me,' Gene thought wearily.
"Fine, we'll go," Gene relented, "Just let me call the others."
With that he left to find a phone in a more private area.
"So, did Jim get through to you?" Serenity asked.
"Yes, but he never said anything about crossing through time and space," Melfina said seiously.
"You're with us now. You're going to be doing that sort of thing on a weekly basis," Serenity chuckled.
"Great."
"Suzuka and Asia are coming. They'll be here soon," Gene said as he rentered the room.
"Good, now I guess we just wait," Serenity sighed and sat down on the couch.
The other two agreed and also took a seat. Time went by at a snail's pace with Melfina trying to get a conversation started and failing miserably. Finally, an hour later Asia and Suzuka showed up.
"Nice to see you again, Gene," Suzuka said.
"Yeah, Gene, so what you been up to, huh? Where's Jim and Hotaru? Hey, who's she?" Asia asked.
"I am Serenity, a friend of Hotaru's, I am here to ask assistance to fight someone who will destroy the home that my friends and I have made all these years," Serenity said formally.
"Who do you want us to fight and what is this home you're talking about?" Suzuka asked.
"The man we are fighting is Endymion Darien Shields-Terran and his wife Zylstra and the place we are protecting is Earth," Serenity replied.
"Earth!?" Asia said in suprise.
"Yes, I realize Earth is a long way off around here but we're not going to your Earth, we are going to mine," Serenity exlpained.
"Why should we?" asked Gene.
"Like Melfina said before: they are in danger. Endymion plans on either destroying or ruling Earth and to do it he has to kill the guardians, two of the guardians are Jim and Taru."
"If Gene goes I will," Suzuka said.
Gene was silent for a long time, finally he looked at Serenity and nodded. Serenity's face broke into a rare smile and quickly teleported them into mansion before Asia could ask about getting paid. She put them all in rooms in a corridor near the training room then told them to make themselves comfortable for now and not to wander beyond the corridor before six o'clock and it was only noon.
"Now things are going to get interesting," Serenity smirked before she herself left.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything except Eve and Zylstra.
Immortal Habit XII: Re;ocation of Trust
Ami sighed as she sat down. It had been non stop work to keep those men from killing themselves. They kept collapsing everywhere imaginable! And Ami as the only certified doctor had to take care of them all. Sure Trista and Hotaru helped but they were needed in other places most the time. Finally, Serenity had come shooed Ami off for some rest. She had been on her way to bed when Mina informed her that there was going to be a meeting later to figure out what to do with the guys and their prediciment with housing. So now Ami sat in the Library waiting for everyone. Ami scanned the dusty shelves of books, none of them were modern novels but ancient texts from many of the universe's cultures. This was Ami's private collection that she had kept growing over the years. She wasn't sure why she had done it, maybe she would be the librarian goddess. She didn't care as she drifted to sleep. Then what seemed like a moment later the doors banged open to reveal the rest of the scouts and Rini.
"Rise and shine, Ami!" Mina giggled as she also sat down by the large wooden study table.
"Screw you, Mina," Ami grumbled as she sat up fully.
"Please rectract you claws, we need everyone alive for this meeting," Trista calmly said.
Ami nodded and blushed, she must be more exauhsted than she thought. Mina just shrugged and leaned back in the chair so that it was on two legs. The rest of the scouts found themselves chairs at the table and when Serenity took her seat at the head the meeting had officially started. Everyone wanted to ask the same question but the scout of the winds beat them all to it.
"First question! How did the guys get like this?" Amara asked.
"I should have told you guys earlier but there wasn't anytime," Serenity began, "I got sick of looking for Selenity so I did a locating spell. Heero and I followed the spell and ended up in an alley with Endymion and Selenity's tattered body. We fought and I was knocked unconcsious and then as I was waking up Endymion started a spell. I scanned the spell and it was too strong for one man, if Heero had been hit full on with that spell he would have died, but he didn't. So I think that some how the spell crossed over and attacked the other guys."
"He's not that good of a mage, though. He must have had help," Eve said.
"He once said that the real mage is Zylstra, maybe he found a way to share her power even in seperate timelines," Serenity said worriedly.
"Great. Is there a counter spell?" asked Rei.
"No. I already checked. The bastard locked this one up good. He locked their magic so only something really tramatic would unlock it and he bound the spell to him, if he dies the spell disappears, if one of the guys die their locked up power is fed to him," Serenity sighed.
"Why isn't he killed?" asked Michelle.
"Only God knows why," Serenity muttered.
She had never understood the laws of black magery. The only spells she knew where the basic white magic castings that everyone in the Silver Millennium knew and the magic rituals of the royal household. Luna and Artemis were the only ones, other than Princess Venus, that were avowed white mages. She could try to unblock the last of Mina's memories but the magic blocking the memories were reinforced by the fact that Mina was happy with what she knew now, just like the rest of the scouts.
"Fine. Where are we going to stay? They know where we are now," Lita wondered.
Lita knew she was right, the Shepherds knew exactly where they wereand they would use their knowledge to their advantage. The mansion had some amazing security but it wouldn't hold under Zylstra's magic.
"I've thought about that. I have four houses in Michigan, each of them have three or four rooms and a lot of couches. We could stay there," Eve offered.
Two of those houses were ones where she grew up. When she was reborn with a few scant memories of her second reincarnation she had searched for the homes of her family. She had been suprised to find both and her grandparent's former homes well intact, she had bought them all fromthe owners and had assigned a crew of caretakers to all of them.
"No, this changes nothing. Endymion already knew we were here, now it's just been confirmed to the rest of the organization. Everything is going to happen here in Tokyo. We must stay here," Trista said crypticaly.
Serenity nodded, it was true. Endymion had known she was there the moment she had stepped off the plane in Tokyo, just like she had known he was there. She had also learned long ago not to question Trista's advice, it was too valuable. This time though she had to ask. She had to know what had Trista, the curiostiy burned in her because even to Cosmos the future was fogged.
"What did the Gates tell you? You have to tell me," Serenity's question was bordering a plea.
But Trista just shook her head. If she told her queen the future everything would change, most likely for the worse. Not that the future was bright and cheery at the moment, having Selenity kidnapped was a blow to their cause. But if they moved to the States they would be to close to Endymion for his own comfort and he would not let his plans be destroyed. This Trista knew and more, so much more.
"What about me? Why'd you bring me here?" asked Rini to break the silence.
Rini had heard the story of how the insane prince had tried to take over Earth many times but no one had ever mentioned that she would play a part in it. Maybe Serenity was going to send her back home now that things had turned for the worse. Not that things were any better in her time but her soon-to-be mother didn't know that.
"You Rini are going to school," Serenity smirked.
Serenity had realized that it was too dangerous in Japan for her future daughter right now and had come up with the almost perfect plan to both protect her and let her fight against Endymion. The only place in the world not effected completely by war was the Sanq Kingdom the country the pacifist Relena Peacecraft once ruled. It was also the home of the Peacecraft Memorial Academy where Shina Shields,the daughter of Endymion and Zylstra, attended school.
"No! Why? Where?" Rini whined, she thought one of the perks of this time hop would be the lack of school, obviously she thought wrong.
"You're going to school because you need to make friends with a girl," Serenity told her.
"Who?"
"Shina Shields, Darien and Zylstra Shields daughter," Serenity said in disgust.
Rini's mouth dropped in shock. Shina was the daughter of those two psychos! Why hadn't anybody ever told her? Shina had been her surrogate mother for the first five years of her life and now she's learning that she's the daughter of the enemy!
"Oh."
"Ami, get that computer out and give us the run down," Serenity commanded.
Ami opened up her laptop a bit groggily and entered the Peacecraft Memorial Academy site.
"Rini you are going to go to the Peacecraft Memorial Academy. I'm going to need a different name than the one you have now. Endymion may check the lists sometime, see your name and you'd be in danger," Ami explained.
"Umm...Serenity? Will you name me?" Rini asked.
"How about Kibou Miraino?" Serenity suggested.
"Hope of the Future? No pressure there," Rini muttered.
"You can live with it," Hotaru grinned.
Rini suddenly realized something. She was the Kibou from the story Shina told her when she was little. It was about a teenager from the future who had to find out information about an enemy organization, trying to take over the world, through the organizations leader's daughter. It was one of the many tales Shina had told her about this particular war she was now involved in. That's why she had never heard about herself in any of the stories, she had been somebody else. Rini decided to cover upher shockwith another question.
"So where is this Academy?" Rini asked, she seemed full of questions.
"In the Sanq Kingdom, it's controlled by Milliardo Peacecraft," Eve answered.
Milliardo had taken over the country after his sister's 'death'. He hadn't changed anything about the place except for the name of the Academy. Prince Milliardo and his wife Lucretia Nion-Peacecraft had just celebrated the birth of their first child,a daughter named Diana.
"Okay so this Sanq Kingdom is where?" Rini asked confused.
"Somewhere in Europe by the coast. Maybe where Greece used to be," Mina shrugged, she had never been great at geography.
"Okay, here's the plan. Rini your going to the Sanq Kingdom to make friends with Shina, try to find out what she knows about what's going and how she feels about it. I'm hoping she'll be on our side. So we have one up on Endymion. You'll contact us by the email address: cosmicpowers@netwings.com (AN:This email does not exsist. I hope.). We'll make sure to reply to you within twenty-four hours but if we don't get out of the school as fast as you can and to the Time Gates, alright?" Serenity explained.
"Right," Rini nodded.
"Good, you'll leave in the morning. Now on to other business. Amara, Eve, are the gundams going to be okay?" Serenity asked.
"Sort of," Amara sighed and gave a meaningful glance at Eve for her to continue.
"The original gundams can be repaired but our's can't be, they took to much of a beating. We're also running out of gundamium alloy, if we get our asses kicked like this again we won't be able to repair any of the damages," Eve announced sadly.
"This is a problem," Serenity nodded.
"I have an idea," Eve said.
"I hope it's good. 'Cause I'm fresh out," Lita said.
"Why not mobile suits? We have more than enough materials to make our own. If we use some ofthe technology we used in the gundams the mobile suits would be above and beyond any ofthe others. They would only be half a step below a gundam," Eve explained.
Moblie Suits were what she had been trained for in the Shepherd Org. She could build one with her own bare hands and the scraps from a bloody battle if she had too.
Serenity nodded, "Is there anything that can be salvaged from the destroyed gundams?"
Eve nodded.
"Good, use what you can in the mobile suits. I want you, Amara, and Jim working on them as soon as you can."
"We can start right now," Amara said.
"Then get going," Serenity said,and grinned slightly when the two women flew out of the room.
"I have an idea," Hotaru said.
"Yes? What?" Serenity turned her attention to her pale friend.
"Jim's been really lonely lately. The only person he really talks to is me and Trista. I was thinking about bringing over the others from the Leyline. And Gene, Suzuka, and Asia can help with training, maybe even take some missions," Hotaru offered.
"That does sound like a good plan," Michelle agreed, she wanted to meet her daughter's friends.
"As long as they don't mind I don't," Serenity said.
"Great. I'll go tell Jim. I think he got that communication gadget to work," Hotaru said and she exited the library.
"I think we've settled everything. Let's go see how the guys are doing," Serenity said.
With that the meeting dipersed but the remaing women stuck together and entered the room where the pilots had been confined to. The first thing they saw was Quatre slumped on the couch. Ami sighed and went to check on him. The other guys were laying around doing nothing. Except for Duo who was singing 'Row, Row, Row Your Boat' in a horrible voice. The girls rolled their eyes and waited for the guys to realize they'd entered.
"I see that you're all having fun," Mina said sarcasticly.
"Shut up, onna," Wufei growled from his armchair.
"Get over it, Wufei, before I shoot you," Serenity growled back.
"You wouldn't kill me I'm to important to you," Wufei smirked.
"I never said anything about killing," Serenity smiled sweetly.
"What do you want?" Heero asked.
"Just wanted to tell you that we're stepping up security and that some trainers are coming soon. We're hoping that you've all come to your senses and realized we're not enemies. As much fun as it was to watch you run into that mailbox I don't want you to get killed. Your mission is to help us, why don't you want to?" Serenity asked.
"We woke up without any memory of the past two weeks and you have us locked in this room," Duo said simply.
"You were in a bad accident! I've told you that, Dr. T has you told that, even Dr. J has told you that! Why can't you get it through your head that we saved you from floating around in space until you ran out of air?!" Serenity screamed.
Everyone was quiet. No one dared answer her. There were too many things that kept them from trusting the female pilots. It was mostly that they had not proven themselves trustworthy yet and that they had no memory of what happened.
"If we can't trust each other who can we trust?" Serenity wondered out loud, "I'm bringing the trainers tomorrow. Rini's going to the Sanq Kingdom for schooling and to try and get close to Darien Shields daughter. Be ready for a proper dinner tomorrow at 6."
Then she left, leaving everyone speechless.
"She's right," Michelle finally said.
"We have to start working together or the Shepherds have already won," Ami agreed as she finally got Quatre to wake up.
Quatre looked at Ami with distrust and moved away from her. Ami bit her lip and quickly exited the room. She had work to do with the new security system.
"See you bright and early tomorrow," Lita said and followed Ami.
Soon all the women had left and the men were once again left in their thoughts. Trainers? They were the gundam pilots, the most deadly men in the world, what was there left to know?
"I think we should give them a chance," Duo said suddenly.
He had seen the way the blonde, Mina, had kept looking at him sadly. He wished he remembered the last two weeks, he was sure he was missing something important, he felt empty. These women held the answers to the missing chunkof his life.
"I agree," said Quatre.
He had seen the tears welling up inAmi's eyes when he had pushed her away. He was sorry for hurting the girl, sorrier than he should have been.
Trowa thought for a second and nodded.
"They're just onnas. They are weak," Wufei agrued.
Heero nodded in agreement. These women were using them somehow. They were good actors but somthing wasn't right aboutthis situation.
"Sorry guys but it's three against two. We give them a chance," Duo said oddly serious.
***The Next Day***
Rei and Lita had gotten up very early that morning to spar. It had been three hours since then and only now did they stop to rest for a moment in the grass. The early morning sun could hardly be seen throught the layer of clouds in the sky.
"It's going to storm," There was was no doubt in Lita's voice a she said this.
"We should probably go in then," Rei said.
"No we've got an hour before it starts."
Rei nodded, knowing better than to disagree with the daughter of the storm god.
They sat for awhile in silence, lost in their own thoughts. Mina's voice cut through the silence like a knife.
"Kinda early isn't it?" Mina murmered sleeply and joined the duo on the grass.
"Maybe to you, sleepyhead. But unlike you who needs as much beauty sleep as you can get, we are always beautiful," Lita teased her blonde friend.
"If I wasn't so tired I'd kick your ass for that," Mina laughed and looked at the sky. "When do you think they'll trust us?"
"I hope soon," Rei sighed, "I miss Cadmus."
Suddenly a thought struck Lita like lightning. The thought made her feel lower than any scum and guilt quickly welled up in her heart.
"Oh no," Lita cried.
"What is it?" Mina asked in concern.
"We're doing what Darien did. We don't love the pilots. Don't you see?" Lita said quietly.
Realization dawned on the girls faces. They were in love with the princes, not the pilots. Just like Darien had loved Princess Serenity, not Serena. No matter how many simularities there were between them they were still seperate people.
"The princes are dead," Mina said in a steely voice.
They were now free to choose who ever they wished to love. They weren't going to do to the pilots whta Endymion did to Serena. If they loved them it would be for who they were not for what they used to be.
***In the Mansion***
In the kitchen Eve, Michelle, Serenity and Heero were eating breakfast. Serenity had made sure the door to the pilots room had been left unlocked so that the guys could come out. She was now trusting them not to run off but the next time they did they were back in the room. Serenity seemed to have kept her talent to eat enough to feed a small army but one of the down sides of pregnancy was morning sickness so she was now the process of puking her breakfast back up. When she came into the kitchen again she had a grimace on her face and was wiping her tongue trying to rid herself of the awful taste. Eve gave her a questioning look.
"It doesn't taste as good coming up, okay? God being knocked up sucks," Serenity complained.
Eve and Michelle laughed while Heero's eyebrow was getting terribly close to his hair line. Not only was his commanding officer a woman but she was a pregnant woman too. This went against everything Dr. J had taught him about the military and what his first teacher Odin Lowe had told him about the great assissain Artemis.
"Don't look at me like that, Heero Yuy, I know things about you that would make your nose hairs curl," Serenity said when she noticed Heero's escalating eyebrow.
'Like the fact that if you would stop the damn Perfect Soldier thing, you and Duo would be planning the next big practical joke,' Serenity thought to herself and repressed a groan when she remembered the black shoe polish around her mothers goblet during a Lunar holiday.
"I know things about me too," Heero replied.
Serenity almost fell off her chair in shock.
"Oh My GOD! He spoke! Someone call the freaking press! Heero Yuy spoke! Is there a full moon tonight?" Serenity asked, her eyes wide.
"Hn."
"That was close. My basic beliefs were really shaking there," Serenity said in mock relief.
It was truly amazing if you could see Heero's eyebrows right now because they were up, up, and away. The others were laughing so hard that soon they would run out of breath.
"Okay, guys, I'm off to pick up some friends," Serenity said and quickly exited.
Once she got outside and around the corner of the house she disappeared in a silver flash.
*** Galactic Leyline Dimension***
Serenity reappeared just outside Starwind and Hawking Enterprises, and small building with a big sign. She knocked on the door and waited for someone to answer. It took awhile but finally a very flushed, and rumpled, Melfina answered the door. Serenity thought this would be a good time to raise an eyebrow.
"Do I even have to ask you if you and Gene made up?" Serenity smirked.
Melfina got redder.
"Hello...uh...," Melfina, if it was possible, got even redder," I..uh..can't remember your name."
"Serenity Moon-Cosmos. I'm here to speak to you and Gene."
"Okay, come on in. I'll go get Gene," Melina moved away from the door so Serenity could get in and went off to find Gene.
Serenity looked around the place was nice if a bit unprivate, she could see the rumpled bed on the second floor. She also heard what seemed to be a video game:
"I want you! I need you! I love you!"
"Liar!"
"Gameover!"
Melfina came back down a minute later with Gene trailing behind her.
"How ya doin, Ms. Moon?" Gene asked cheerfully as he gave her a look over, no doubt he liked what he saw.
Serenity was wearing a pair of black leather flares, a white baby tee with the word 'Angel' in silver on it and a gauzy black 3/4 sleeve button down shirt over it.
"I'm fine, Gene. But me and my friends need help," Serenity said.
"What's wrong?" asked Melfina.
"Five guys in my team have selective amnesia caused by the enemy. They don't remember anything about us, or any of the things we have told them the past two weeks. And to tell the truth some of them are a bit rusty on basic skills like gun handling, sword fighting, and hand to hand combat," Serenity explained.
"What do you want from us?" Gene asked.
"I want you and the rest of your team to come and help us retrain our men and to keep Jim company. He's having a problem opening up to to our universe," Serenity sighed.
Melfina looked at the powerful being in front of her, her eyes told everything she needed to know. The struggle to keep control of everything was wearing the woman down and immense pain surrounded her like a cloak. Serenity only wanted what was best for everyone else and cared nothing for herself. Melfina decided then and there that she was going to help her in any way she could.
"We'll go," the dark haired woman said.
"Wait a minute, Melfina!" Gene said. "Don't you think we should think about this?"
"Didn't you hear her, Gene? They're in trouble. Our best friends are in trouble.So don't you dare say I haven't thought about this," Melfina argued.
"But..."
"But what? What is here that is so special to you? You're always looking for a new adventure, to see new places, find new treasure. Are you so selfish to not want to help your friends because there isn't money involved? Are you willing to make the same sacrifices for friendship that you did for riches?" Melfina scolded him.
Gene's eyes went large as he realized what Melfina was doing. She was yelling, no screaming at him. She had something he had never seen in her: fire, pure white fire that seemed to radiate from her, she had a warriors spirit buried under her pure soul and when she was told that her best friends in the universe were in danger that spirit overrode all obedience and caution in her. In short she was a female version of Gene.
'I guess that's what happens from long term exposure to me,' Gene thought wearily.
"Fine, we'll go," Gene relented, "Just let me call the others."
With that he left to find a phone in a more private area.
"So, did Jim get through to you?" Serenity asked.
"Yes, but he never said anything about crossing through time and space," Melfina said seiously.
"You're with us now. You're going to be doing that sort of thing on a weekly basis," Serenity chuckled.
"Great."
"Suzuka and Asia are coming. They'll be here soon," Gene said as he rentered the room.
"Good, now I guess we just wait," Serenity sighed and sat down on the couch.
The other two agreed and also took a seat. Time went by at a snail's pace with Melfina trying to get a conversation started and failing miserably. Finally, an hour later Asia and Suzuka showed up.
"Nice to see you again, Gene," Suzuka said.
"Yeah, Gene, so what you been up to, huh? Where's Jim and Hotaru? Hey, who's she?" Asia asked.
"I am Serenity, a friend of Hotaru's, I am here to ask assistance to fight someone who will destroy the home that my friends and I have made all these years," Serenity said formally.
"Who do you want us to fight and what is this home you're talking about?" Suzuka asked.
"The man we are fighting is Endymion Darien Shields-Terran and his wife Zylstra and the place we are protecting is Earth," Serenity replied.
"Earth!?" Asia said in suprise.
"Yes, I realize Earth is a long way off around here but we're not going to your Earth, we are going to mine," Serenity exlpained.
"Why should we?" asked Gene.
"Like Melfina said before: they are in danger. Endymion plans on either destroying or ruling Earth and to do it he has to kill the guardians, two of the guardians are Jim and Taru."
"If Gene goes I will," Suzuka said.
Gene was silent for a long time, finally he looked at Serenity and nodded. Serenity's face broke into a rare smile and quickly teleported them into mansion before Asia could ask about getting paid. She put them all in rooms in a corridor near the training room then told them to make themselves comfortable for now and not to wander beyond the corridor before six o'clock and it was only noon.
"Now things are going to get interesting," Serenity smirked before she herself left.