-Two weeks later, March 26th, 1999-
Serena sighed as she suffered through an impossible geometry problem. She glanced up at Ryo, who was sitting on the ground across from her, her eyes hopeful. The two were sitting out back of the house, doing their homework on a late March afternoon. "Ryo, do you get how to do this?" she asked with resignation in her voice.
"Nope," Ryo said, also trying to do the torturous math assignment. Serena only shook her head in defeat before turning back to the problem at hand. The two of them were silent for a few moments before Serena said, "I don't want to do this anymore." Ryo looked up at Serena and said, "I don't want to do this either."
"I wish I were as smart as Ami or Rowen. Then we would be finished with this so much sooner."
"Good point, Serena, but if we were as smart as Ami or Rowen, we wouldn't be in geometry. We'd be in a higher math class."
"But, we'd still be finished so much sooner. Those two are super geniuses. I wish I had a fraction of their brains."
"We all do," Ryo said.
"Well," Serena said determinedly and resolutely, "I am not doing this anymore." She set her pencil down on the ground by her book and closed her math book, sealing her homework in between the sheets of the paper.
"You know, me neither," Ryo said.
"I say we go out tonight." Serena paused and then continued, "And bring Mia and Darien with us."
"That's not that bad of an idea," Ryo admitted. In the last two weeks, Darien had talked to Mia about Ryo and Mia started spending time with Ryo. Slowly, they were building their friendship back up to what it used to be. Ryo was much more comfortable around Darien and Mia than he was a few weeks ago. It seemed that Darien had spent some quality "guy-bonding" time with Ryo and the two were becoming good friends. "Well, now that that's settled, let's go ask them."
"Wait! Serena, where are we going? What are we doing, hm? We have to figure these things out first," Ryo said as Serena got up and began to walk away.
Serena turned around to see Ryo standing up and picking up their things. "Oh, right," Serena said sheepishly. Serena's brows furrowed in deep thought as she tapped her chin thoughtfully. A few moments later, Serena's face brightened up. "I know!" she exclaimed, "We could go out to dinner, just the four of us. I mean, we're the only people that are in the house right now. Ami, Raye, Mina, and Lita are out spending some quality girl time together, Alex and Michelle went somewhere that they're not telling, Celia took Heather out shopping, and everyone else, except for you, me, Mia, and Darien, which is the other guys, is out at the movies. That leaves us four in the house, by ourselves. So, I say that we all go out to dinner and then, maybe take a walk in the park afterwards. I don't know. How does that sound?"
"I think it sounds fine," Ryo said. He liked the idea.
"Cool, then let's go ask them." Serena grabbed Ryo's free hand, the hand that wasn't holding their math books, and rushed off into the house. The only time Serena stopped in her mad rush to either find her boyfriend or Mia was so Ryo could put down their books on the foot of the stairs in the main hall.
Serena moved quickly, still dragging Ryo behind her, and finally, she found Darien. Darien was in the kitchen, washing out a cup that he had just used. Serena finally let go of Ryo's hand and as Serena approached Darien, Ryo shook out his hand to get the circulation to go back to his squished hand. "Hey Darien," Serena said, approaching her boyfriend.
"Hey Serena," Darien said, putting an arm around Serena, "How are you?"
"Me? Oh, I was wondering if you were busy tonight?"
"No, I'm not busy. What, do you want to do something?"
"Yeah, actually, I was wondering if you wanted to go out with Ryo and me. We were thinking of dinner since there's no one here who can really cook, except for Mia, but I want restaurant food."
"Sure, I'll go," Darien said.
"Great," Serena said, standing on her toes to deliver a kiss to Darien. "Now I just have to go ask Mia if she wants to come."
"Oh, I'm sure she will," Darien said.
"Do you know where she is?" Serena asked.
"I think she's up in her room. I could be wrong about that. But, go and check her room anyway."
"Ok Darien. I'll be right back you two." Serena ran out of the kitchen, leaving Darien and Ryo standing there, amazed.
"She has a lot of energy, doesn't she?" Ryo asked.
"Oh yeah," Darien said, "And the volume to boot. I can't tell you how many times I almost went deaf after having one of our famous arguments. That was a few years ago, though."
"How did you two meet?" Ryo asked, suddenly curious how the most solid couple he knew first met.
"Well, the first time I met her, she pelted me with her test paper. Back then she wasn't the greatest student. Compared to how she is now. She's improved a lot since I first met her. Anyway, after she hit me with her test paper, I insulted her and she insulted me back. That went on for several months until I found out that she was Sailor Moon and I was captured, after finding out I was in love with her. Then, she undid the brainwashing that I was under when she received her armor and the rest is history." Ryo nodded in satisfaction. "I can see the two of you arguing all the time, constantly."
"We still do," Darien said, "Although it's just teasing now." Ryo laughed.
***
Meanwhile, Serena was trekking up the stairs, muttering the whole time. "Why does Celia have to have so many damn
stairs? I could trip and fall and break
my back if I fell down these steps. Why
can't everything be on the same floor?"
Serena reached the third floor and swiftly moved down the long hallway
towards Mia's bedroom, which was right next to her own.
She slowed as she reached the door, gently resting her hand on the doorknob as she lifted her other hand to knock. A few seconds after her knock on the door, a voice called, "Come in!" Serena opened the door and walked in. Mia was sitting on her bed, reading a book. "Hey Mia, the others and I are going out to dinner. You wanna come?"
"Sure, but who's going?"
"You, me, Ryo and Darien. We're just going out for food, nothing fancy. Maybe we'll take a walk in the park afterwards."
"Well, I'm up for it," Mia said as she rose from her bed. Serena smiled.
"Great, let's go then. The guys are waiting downstairs in the kitchen." Serena bounced out of Mia's bedroom and Mia followed, smiling at her younger friend.
***
Serena smiled as she laced her fingers through Darien's. The couple was walking through the park after
having dinner at a nice Italian restaurant.
Walking a few yards behind them were Ryo and Mia, who were talking
animatedly about memories from the past.
At that moment, Mia was laughing as Ryo retold a story about Cye's
attempts to teach Kento how to cook.
"This is nice," Darien said to his girlfriend.
"Yeah, it is. I totally agree. We haven't done this in a while." Serena took a glance behind her at her past cousin and Mia. "But, those walks were usually a little quieter," she remarked dryly. Darien only chuckled at Serena before they continued to walk.
The peaceful moment was interrupted by a large crash to Serena's right. Serena snapped her head in that direction, and saw a small army of hybrids coming their way, probably about 40 of them. Serena untangled herself from Darien before looking at Ryo. "Ryo, it's time to go to work," she called out.
"Right," Ryo said as he pushed Mia out of the way. "Armor of Wildfire, DAO JIN!"
"I call upon the armor of the Moonlight! Armor of the Moonlight, TO ARMS!" Within seconds, Serena and Ryo stood there in their armor and all thoughts coming from those two were concentrated on destroying the enemy and keeping Mia and Darien safe.
Giving each other looks of confidence, Serena and Ryo charged the army of hybrids, ready to kick some serious butt. Serena smiled, almost maliciously, as she cried out, "MOONLIGHT CRYSTAL ILLUMINATION!" and a beam of energy hit one of the hybrids in the chest, destroying it immediately. Ryo, at the moment, was busy with using his swords to cut through a small group of hybrids that had gathered around him.
Mia watched as Ryo sliced through another hybrid, using his sword to lop off its head. Her face contorted into a look of fear and horror as a hybrid snuck up on Ryo, unseen by both Serena and Ryo, and smacked Ryo on the back of his head with the heel of his spear. Ryo went down and suddenly, hybrids were flooding over him, hurting him. "NO, RYO!" Mia cried out, beginning to move towards him to help. Darien, who hated seeing Ryo get hurt as much as Mia did, grabbed her by the waist and pulled her back down. "No Mia, you can't help them. You'd only get hurt." Mia struggled to get out of Darien's hold as she said, "I don't care, Ryo is getting hurt out there."
"And what do you think you can do for him? You have no way of defending yourself against those things."
Darien was going to say more on the subject when his eyes caught a hold of Serena being kicked in the stomach hard and he watched as she flew in the air, hitting her back against a tree. Darien let go of Mia's waist as his fists clenched and his eyes narrowed in anger. Mia, surprisingly, stayed in place as she watched Ryo get beaten up, her anger at the hybrids and the Negaverse only growing stronger.
Without words or any other indication, Darien and Mia started to glow. Mia was glowing with a white light and Darien's body, if possible, was emanating a black glow. Their anger at the situation in front of them being at its greatest, they decided to take action, not knowing exactly what they were doing. Darien closed his eyes and called out, "Power of Spirit!"
"Power of Soul!" Mia cried out, following suit. With bright explosions of light, Darien and Mia stood there, dressed in sub-armor. Darien's was all black and on his chest was a silver silhouette of a lion. Mia's sub-armor was all white with the same symbol on her chest. With words never used by them before, they cried out their transformation lines. "I call upon the armor of Spirit. Armor of Spirit, TO ARMS!"
"I call upon the armor of Soul. Armor of Soul, TO ARMS!" Each of them went through their own transformation, light of their color surrounding their bodies, creating their armor piece by piece. The last thing to be created in both of their transformations were two identical swords, the only difference the material and color of the handles. On Darien's, his handle was made of black opal and on Mia's, her handle was made of pearl.
Once the transformations finished, Mia and Darien stood there in armor, identical to each other in everything but color. Mia's armor color was a shimmery pearl color while Darien's was black. The symbol on their chests were the same as on their sub-armor.
Ryo and Serena, as well as the hybrids, looked on in surprise at the two new armored warriors. Darien and Mia were just as shocked as they looked at each other, their eyes meeting. When their eyes locked, the world around them faded and visions of the past came rushing in…
***
Queen Morganite screamed in pain. If she thought giving birth was going to be
easy, she was wrong. "Come on, my queen,
just one more push," the royal physician said calmly. Queen Morganite
complied, giving one more push before the head of her baby surfaced. The royal physician smiled, now holding a
baby boy in her arms.
The Queen, on the other hand, was not smiling. "Why do I still feel pain?" she cried out. The physician gasped as the Queen screamed once more, her labor pains still not gone. Handing the baby boy off to her assistant, she said, "Get him cleaned up." Turning back to Queen Morganite, she said, "I think you may be having twins. You're going to have to push."
"Anything to get the pain over with," Morganite said. A few more pushes and 4 minutes later, Queen Morganite was rewarded with a baby girl. Morganite, exhausted after delivering two children, leaned back against the pillows and swallowed deep breathes of air in an attempt to regain her breath. After a few minutes of calming her body down, Queen Morganite opened her closed eyes and looked towards the direction of the door to see the royal physician and her assistant walking towards her, a baby cradled in each of their arms. "Here you are, Morganite, say hello to your children." Morganite smiled as her son was handed to her. Big, innocent, midnight blue eyes looked up at her wonderingly before he yawned; he was just as tired as she was.
Seconds later, her baby girl was handed to her, which Morganite cradled in her other arm. She looked into the face of her daughter, laughing as her daughter's tiny hand grasped a lock of her long, auburn hair. The baby girl looked up in surprise at the sound, her emerald green eyes sparkling with curiosity at what the sound was before she too, like her brother, yawned. Yes, it has been an exhausting day, Morganite thought. As she sat there, just looking at her two children, trying to figure out names for them, her husband, Dominic, burst into the room and looked at Morganite in awe. Morganite's eyes shifted to her husband and she said, "King Dominic, I would like to introduce you to your children: Prince Darien and Princess Mia." King Dominic smiled.
***
-18 years later-
"Ooh, Darien, I hate you."
"No you don't," Darien said to his twin sister, lovingly pulling on a lock of her long, auburn hair. She ruffled his black hair before saying, "I don't know why you have to tease me. It's not nice."
"I tease you because you're my baby sister and it's my right."
"Well, I don't think you should tease me about my beloved. It's not nice."
"Hey, I never said I didn't like Prince Ryo…oh, wait, that's wrong…King Ryo," Darien corrected himself, "I actually think he's a really great person. But, he's going to marry my baby sister, so that means that I have every right to tease you about him." Mia only eyed her brother wearily. "Well, what about you and Princess Serena, hmm?" Darien's face took on an unusual blush.
"What about her?" Darien asked innocently.
"Oh, you know what I'm talking about," Mia said as she shifted her body in her chair. The two siblings were resting comfortably in Mia's bedroom, taking about such things as the people they liked and teasing each other about them. "I saw you looking at her the night of her mother's party."
"I'm surprised you were paying attention," Darien said, "Because I noticed that you didn't remove your eyes from Ryo the entire evening."
"Yes I did," Mia said indignantly, "But only to look at you," Mia finished up. She smiled at her brother as he blushed.
***
-1000 years later-
"I wanna ride on Daddy's shoulders."
"No, I called it first. It's my turn." A 4-year old Darien stuck his tongue out at his twin sister, Mia.
"Fine," Mia said, "I don't like you anyway." Mia choked on a sob before running off. Darien always got to ride on his father's shoulders and all she wanted was a turn. She could hear her mother's voice call out after her, but she ignored it. Tears blurred her vision as she ran through the forest where her and her family were having a picnic. They were all about to go on a walk when Mia and Darien starting arguing about who got to ride on their father's shoulders and that's when Mia ran off. She saw trees and plants move past her vision as she ran. She ran until she couldn't run anymore.
When she stopped running, she looked around the area that she was in and found that she didn't recognize where she was. Instinctively, she called out, "Mommy?" expecting her mother to answer. When she didn't hear her mother's voice, her eyes filled with fresh tears and her lower lip began to quiver. She sank down on the ground, huddling her knees to her chest as she cried. "I want my mommy," she muttered over and over. She sat there in the middle of the woods crying for what seemed like forever to her when she heard someone say, "What's wrong little girl?"
She swiveled her head to see an old man looking down at her concerned. Putting on her bravest face, she said, "My mommy said I'm not supposed to talk to strangers."
"Where is your mommy?" he asked. That question brought more tears to her eyes. "I don't know," Mia said as she broke down into sobs again. Mr. Koji knelt down on the ground and took the little girl into his arms, rocking her gently. "Shh, it's alright, we'll find your mommy."
"We will?" Mia said, looking up into the man's trusting brown eyes.
"Yes, but first, you have to tell me your name."
"'S Mia," she mumbled.
"Well, you can call me Mr. Koji." Mia face crinkled at the sound of that.
"Can I call you grandpa?" she asked, liking that alternative better. Mr. Koji smiled.
"Yes, you can call me grandpa, alright little one?" Mia smiled back and said, "So, can we go find my mommy now?"
"Yes, we can." Mr. Koji stood up and carried Mia off. He had been on his way home from meditating in the woods when he heard the sounds of a little girl crying. Now, he was carrying that little girl off to find her mother, earning the new name of "grandpa".
***
A few months passed after Mr. Koji found Mia and he had desperately searched
for her parents, but, not knowing her last name had been hard and he hadn't
seen any missing children reports for children named Mia. Also, only knowing her name and age made the
search even harder.
One day, however, his search paid off and he found Mia's parents, but there was one problem: they were dead and her twin brother had been placed in a foster home. He then decided to keep Mia and raise her himself. Mia grew up with him, forgetting over time all about her parents and Darien, celebrating her birthday on the day that he found her in the woods, May 28th. Mr. Koji never told Mia about what had happened and had planned on telling her, but the Dynasty's attack prevented him from telling her.
***
Back in the present, Ryo and Serena looked on as the two just stood there with
blank looks on their faces, like they were in a different world. Suddenly, the two snapped back to the present
and looked at each other again, smiling broadly. "Ready to do this…brother?"
Mia said.
"Anytime you are, sis," Darien quipped. Giving each other knowing looks, the two of them prepared to attack…