It has been over a year since I have updated this story.  There really is no excuse for letting it go this long, but I do have an explanation.  In addition to having a horrendous case of writer's block I was dealing with family issues for a better part of the year.  Add to that I had graduation, a full time job in the summer and was then concentrating on trying to fit into some sort of University setting… It's been hectic.  But here I am, alive and well, and picking up this story again.  Updates will be consistent and the story will finish within the next few months, I am aiming to have it done by June at the latest.  I have midterms and finals coming up, but this story has become a priority for me as my muse Evie has made a sudden attack and I have been given no rest in terms of writing.  So here is chapter sixteen, in all its glory.  I apologize for the wait and hope you enjoy it.  Thank you to everyone who has stuck by me with this story and welcome to any new comers.  If you would like to be informed whenever there's an update, please say so in your review and be sure to leave you e-mail address. 

Author: Fate's Child

Date: January 29, 2004

E-mail: MyDochas@hotmail.com

Homepage:  

Chapter: Sixteen

Going Home and Finding Serenity: Conversations and a new Crest

            Duo smiled as he watched his girlfriend bounced up and down in the main hallway.  He had enjoyed the time spent with her, especially since he hadn't seen her for so long.  But he still missed his sister and was anxious to see his cousin for the first time since their deaths.  Excitement bubbled inside him and he resisted the urge to yell about Shinigami finally being reunited with his soul sister.  His mind flashed to when he first met Hotaru.

Flashback

            "Hey D!"  Duo laughed as his sister flung herself into his arms.  It had been a long four months since his sister had left for the moon and he had missed her for every minute of it.  She had been sure to send holo letters every couple of weeks but they had rarely been apart since they were four and it was harder then he'd thought it would be.

            "I missed you Mako."  She smiled happily and hugged him tighter.

            "I want you to meet someone."  She pulled back and he caught a glimpse of pale skin.  "Duo, this is Princess Hotaru of Saturn.  We met on the moon during training.  She's your age-has the same birthday too.  And guess what?"  Her eyes twinkled.  "She's family."

            "What?"  He finally saw Hotaru fully.  She was a little shorter than him with inky black hair.  But her eyes… he gazed into her eyes and curled his hands into fists.  Her eyes were the same startling shade of violet as his.  And there was the same darkness lurking in their depths. 

            "She's your cousin.  Our cousin.  Turns out that Mom and Hades haven't been talking to each other for years because of a slight… misunderstanding." 

            "Oh.  Well then."  He blinked to spiel the image of darkness and smiled.  "Welcome to Jupiter, cousin."

End Flashback

            His sister had returned to the Moon three weeks later, but Taru had stayed.  And in the next month he and Taru had learned that they shared a soul bond, one given to the children of the dark.  Through their parents they'd been "gifted" with the powers of death and destruction.  Two weeks later, Duo was sent to become a part of Serenity's guard.  He slid his arms around Serenity's waist as another memory hit him.  This time it was of their first meeting.  Smiling, he turned her to face him.

            "I can think of something more interesting to do with your energy."  She just smiled back. 

            "Oh yeah?"

            "Yeah."  He smiled as she brought their lips closer together.  And groaned when the door flung open and she pulled away. 

            "Oh. My. God."  He never figured out whose voice it was because in the next second he was pushed off to the side as his girlfriend was glomped into the arms of some very happy senshi.

            "We thought you were dead… I mean, until Mako came back, but even then she said you were different-"

            "But we don't care cause we love you anyway-"

            "No matter if you're the Queen we always knew you could be-"

            "Or the Odango Atama you were when we knew you-"

            Serenity just smiled at the last statement.  Yes, she was different.  Yes, she had lied to them.  But she missed them more then words could say.  This was her second family, her friends, the main reason she fought.  Oftentimes, she thought that she would have lost her faith in humanity if it hadn't been for these girls.  "My hope," she whispered, "my friends, my sisters, my heart of hearts.  Oh, how I missed you."  She somehow managed to put her arms around Ami, Rei, Minako, and Hotaru at the same time and sighed.  "Oh yes.  The world feels right again."  She smiled again and pulled back, managing to push back her tears.  She noted that her senshi weren't as distanced as they pretended to be as Rei coughed to hide the wiping of her tears.  Serenity broke out into a flat out grin when she looked behind them and saw Makoto wrapped in Heero's arms. 

            "Hey there, Ren.  Thought you wouldn't mind missing a hug from me till later.  I'm comfy where I am."  The Jupiter senshi winked and gave a quick grin. 

            "You may get out of hugging her, but there is no way you're getting out of a hug from me, Trio."  The voice had all the senshi moving to a protective stance in front of Serenity that she laughingly pushed through.  They looked between the boy to their right and their friend. 

            "He looks almost exactly like you.  Except for-"

            "The eyes."  Hotaru interrupted Rei.  "His eyes are mine."  Duo turned and flashed a grin at the senshi of death. 

            "Oh yea.  Remember me, Cuz?"  Hotaru looked at him and saw flashes of memory encased in darkness.  She narrowed her eyes. 

            "Oh yes.  I remember you."  And in the next moment she had him pinned to the ground.  "You stupid, boy!  You stupid, stupid boy!"  Lita watched them for a moment before swearing lightly and turning to her boyfriend.

            "You never told me he'd had his memories back."  Heero just shrugged and kept an eye on what was happening in front of him.

            "No time." 

            "Ow…. Hey Taru, let up for a sec, will you?"

            "Put me in a dream sleep so that I can't destroy the planet, will you?  I'll show you dream sleep!" 

            "It's been-" His protest was cut short by her sharp voice. 

            "Yeah, this is me NOT CARING!"  She banged his head against the (luckily carpeted) floor again. 

            "Umm, Hotaru, can you unhand my brother, please?"

            "In a minute, Lita.  You see, you're loving brother decided that since we were too powerful together, Metallia could harness some of our powers and turn us against the Allience.  So he decided, AGAINST MY KNOWLEDGE, to put me into a dream sleep not to awaken until the last possible second when I could destroy the remains of our civilization."

            "Duo, that was-"

            "The smart thing to do, okay?"  He looked up at his cousin, his soul sister.  "I couldn't have done it.  In my grief I would have destroyed too much, I would have let the power go wild.  You, YOU were the one that could control it, harness it to do your will.  I knew you would be the one to keep a clear head, but also that you wouldn't want to be told that.  So I did it against your knowledge."  Hotaru sighed and let him up.

            "It's no fun to be mad at you.  You always talk your way out of everything." 

            "Oh, he doesn't always italk/i his way out of everything."  Serenity's amused voice broke into the brief silence. 

            "Way too much info on my brother, girl," Lita informed.  "Way too much." 

            "So does someone want to let us in on the secret?"  Rei's annoyed voice broke through.  Serenity turned to her and smiled.

            "Of course.  Firstly, this is Duo Maxwell, my boyfriend." 

"Soul bond," Mina corrected.  "Minako Winner."  Hotaru just glared as Rei eyed him suspiciously.  Minako jabbed an elbow into her side. 

"Yeah, yeah.  Rei Hino."  LIta smiled as Ami bowed. 

"Ami Mizuno.  Pleasure to meet you, Duo." 

"Well, I already know you but hey there, little bro." 

"Don't you, "hey there" me, you big… liar."  He glared.  "You said that you were here to stay last time." 

"Um… It was Pluto's fault?"  Lita grinned as he waved away the answer. 

"Either way, it's good to see you.  Really see you."

"Tell me about it."  Her gaze slid to her boyfriend as Heero just grinned. 

"Let's head up to the west wing den and finish this conversation.  The rest of the boys should be back soon enough and I don't want them walking into this."  They all followed their princess up the stairs in silence.  They entered the room and immediately sat down in similar positions to their study sessions at the Temple.  The only difference was that Lita was curled against Heero and Serenity was sitting on the floor between Duo's legs.  A minute later Haruka and Michiru came in and sat on either side of their adoptive daughter. 

            "Okay.  Firstly, this is Lita's brother Duo.  Since Hotaru was cousins of the Jupiter children, Duo also possesses the power of death and destruction.  Second, Heero Yui is from the Silver Millennium, both he and Duo were a part of the Moon Guard.  While the senshi took care of protecting me, the Moon Guard was in charge of watching the barriers of the castle."  All of the senshi shifted their attention to the boy sitting next to their friend.  He sighed.

            "In this life I am one of the Gundam pilots that you should have learned about from Lita.  I am pilot 01 and was trained to have no emotions," Heero went on to give a brief explanation of his childhood and early pilot years. After he finished, Duo did the same. 

"Lita and I grew up on the streets.  I'm assuming that she's told you some of it.  And I won't go into details.  But after she left, I thought she was dead and went back to the Maxwell church.  I eventually stole a mobile suit for Oz thinking that they would leave the rest of the church alone.  They didn't think I could do it," he paused for a second, eyes on old memories, "to make a long story shorter, they killed everyone in the church.  It's known as the Maxwell Massacre.  I was deciding on what I should do with my future when I was approached by a man who asked me to come with him and train, for revenge."  Duo told briefly of his training and then of his meetings with the other pilots  before turning to look at Haruka. 

            "Yeah, yeah, I'm sure you all want to know why exactly I didn't know who Minako and Usagi where. For those of you that don't know," she looked at Ami, Rei, and Hotaru.  "I am the twenty seventh daughter of the Winner family.  I left when I was ten because of family problems.  Serenity visited me, and Minako did occasionally.  But Quatre could only visit me whenever Father wouldn't know.  Father died and Pluto brought me to the past and then changed my memories so I thought I had a different past," she scowled, "The rest you know, until a while ago when she decided to return my memories."  She turned to Michiru and smiled.  "But I did get to fall in love."  The rest of the senshi smiled before turning to look at the aqua haired senshi.

"Me, I'm very… normal.  I had never been to this time before Haruka brought me here."  She smiled again, this time a bit apologetically

"Me on the other hand…" everyone's attention focused to Serenity.  "I am sorry to have kept this from you, my friends, but I was forbidden to tell you… It has been a difficult time for me, trying so very hard to be someone that you oftentimes seemed disappointed in."  Her smile was sad.  "I am the twenty eighth daughter of the Winner family."  She went on to explain a little of her past, and what had happened once she'd returned to her time. 

In the next 2 hours, each senshi told of their real childhood, their real past and hopes and dreams.  Rei looked at her Princess seriously and stood, walking towards her Princess, her friend and kneeled, the other inner senshi did the same, and Lita moved out of Heeros arms to kneel with her fellow senshi.  After a moment of quiet contemplation, Haruka and Michiru did the same, trusting the brunette senshi. 

"Serenity," Rei began, "Before you knew we were your senshi, you went out of your way to befriend us.  You ignored the rumor that I was into dark magic."

"That I was a karate maniac."

"That I was nothing more then a brain." 

"You let Chibi-Usa befriend me even though I showed signs of evil."

"You liked me for me, not because I looked like sailor V."

"And you welcomed us into your team even after we had been cruel to you." 

"But the rest of us, we didn't start as friends, we started as teammate."  Rei spoke again, but turned to look at Ami as her throat grew tight.  The water senshi's lips lifted upward.

"But we should have befriended and loved each other, as you had done, first, before we tried to save the world.  We decided, after Makoto had returned to be friends first, senshi last.  It was our tribute to you, but now that we have you back… it still feels right.  If we have your permission majesty?"  Serenity sat up straight and smiled, knowing what her senshi were asking.  She looked around and noticed the slight smiles on Haruka and Michiru's face.  They agreed. 

            "My senshi, I agree.  In the Silver Millennium it was written on our crest "Serenity for the people".  Our new crest, in this new time shall from this day forward be, "Trust, love, and honour, but always friendship first".  From now on, friendship first."  And with a smile, she raised her hand, and a flash of power rocked the room.  When the senshi looked down, in front of them floated their transformation pen with their new crest written in Lunarian.  The smiled.  Definitely friendship first.

            "And now, my senshi, we have an important agenda to deal with.  We have had more false memories with us.  The first course of order," her eyes grew hard, "Endymion."

***

           Confused looks went around the room.  "He showed up not long after you'd disappeared.  Which was odd because, as you know, we thought he was lost in the battle with Galexia."  It was Ami that spoke, but everyone looked as Serenity winced. 

            "More confession time, guys.  Mamoru wasn't dead.  I knew he wasn't, but as he'd asked me not to tell you he was alive-and at that time I was confused over my feelings towards Seiya… I complied." 

            "But," Lita paused.  "When you…when I thought you had died you said "maybe I can love him".  I was sure you were speaking of Mamoru." 

            "I was.  I thought that in death, maybe I could see what I hadn't in life.  That maybe I could come to love him as I was certain I would be watching over the rest of you and him as well." 

            "He was different when we saw him.  Cold." 

            "He always was a cold basta-"

            "No, Haruka."  Rei interrupted.  "Not cold like that.  Freezing in personality, in anger when he found what was done to Usagi.  There was no…explanation for why he had been gone, all he said was that it didn't matter because we had lost his princess.  But there was no emotion in his words, no devastation.  It was cold."

            "As if he'd misplaced a toy he suddenly had need of."  Minako winced.  "Rei lit into him.  He didn't leave happy either." 

            "I saw him a few times walking around near your house, the school.  I'd follow him but it was like he'd vanish after a while.  I didn't mention it because I thought… as odd as it was I thought I was seeing a ghost, didn't want to believe he'd..."

            "You weren't the only one, Rei."  Minako looked grim.  "I thought I was seeing ghosties too." 

            "Yes, well."  Serenity tapped her fingers against her leg.  "Isn't that interesting.  I think I just figured something out."  Her eyes were burning.  "Firstly, Endy wasn't my love, lover, or betrothed at the end of the Silver Millennium.  What he was, was a royal pain in my ass.  That's all."  Everyone still missing their memories looked pretty shocked.  "Mak-Lita.  Tell them about the youma."  Lita nodded. 

            "Serenity and I faced a youma that was unlike any we've seen since Beryl.  It was made up of the some dark energy matter as those in our first months of battle.  IT was stronger, but definitely a female youma."  Serenity nodded.

            "We've had cardians, circus freaks, and animates."  But only Beryl or those of high command in her army had control over any type of youma.  The only living member of the Dark Kingdom is Mamoru.  I'm assuming that after the battle with Galexia, his memory was… returned as to what had happened in the Silver times."  She looked around the room.  "His plan, I originally believed was to kill me and break up the senshi.  It would make for an easier offensive attack on the planet.  Now, however… I believe it was his mission to kill Makoto and therefore break up the senshi.  He would have done this by revealing himself, and letting you know I knew as well.  You're faith in me would have been reduced, as would your trust." 

            "You can't honestly think that Mamo-"

            "No, Rei.  Not Mamoru.  Endymion.  Think really hard on your memories of him in the Millennium.  Really hard." 

            "No food."  It was Lita who remembered first, slowly.  "Rei, Ami, Makoto and Hotaru followed. 

            "Who would give us fake-"  Ami was interrupted by as a portal opened and Pluto stepped out. 

            "Queen Serenity, Ami."

            "But why?" 

            "Because she thought that Serenity would fall in love with him eventually and that they would create a peaceful kingdom.  But she was wrong.  He was powerful, yes.  But so was Duo.  Serenity feared his powers as they were the opposite of her daughters."  Pluto de-transformed and sat next to Haruka-the farthest from Minako she could get. 

            "But we have other business to attend to then the past.  He is here, in this time."  Pluto turned to Hiiro who relayed what Queen Serenity had told him. 

            "It seems to me that we should let the Preventors handle everything that they can and step in if or when they need us."  It was Lita that spoke. 

            "Sounds like a plan.  I did speak to Seiya and the lights who are relieved we are all alright.  It seems, however, that they were contacted by Mamoru himself two weeks ago who had stated that I had gone missing." 

            "Bastard," Haruka hissed. 

            "Yes.  But what is his goal?  He can't think to take over…"  Ami trailed off as she looked towards her princess. 

            "He's trying to control the Sanq Kingdom.  Or he will, which is what Mother meant about the whole "Relena's unbalanced" comment.  Apparently he's going for the whole seduce-the-Princess thing again."

            "No go.  Miss Queen of the airheads has a major case on Heero.  She beats your Mamo-wail ten to one."  Serenity grimaced. 

            "When he figures out, he'll convince her he can give her what she wants until he has all the power he can get.  He won't be happy because that will take him a year or two.  But he wants power fast.  He thinks to have the Starlights invade, causing panic.  He will then, "call them off" and be reveled as a hero.  She'll believe him then.  A man who could stop an invasion on earth and the colonies… But that plan is shot now and he'll know I'm alive even though it won't be the lights that tell him.  "

            "So why did the Queen want Relena near Seiya?" 

            "Because until Seiya, Usagi Tsukino was completely devoted to Mamoru Chiba."  Ami responded, typing data into her coputer.  "In theory he'll see Seiya as a threat again, which will set off that rather nasty possessive nature he has."

            "So, in theory, she'll-Relena, that is-will see he's a jerk and dump his sorry ass."  Serenity grinned. 

            "Not in so many words, Minako, but yes.  Essentially." 

            "Uh huh."  What y'all aint countin' is that Relena's nutters.  If she thinks it'll get her soldier boy, she'll partner up with her worst enemy."  Duo grinned as Lita snuggled closer to her boyfriend, an angry frown marring her features. 

            "Well, I suppose we'll try to stick Seiya on her anyway-no harm trying.  However, we should also make secondary plans just in-" a crash cut her off and she hissed in annoyance before turning in surprise as Duo stood up quickly and almost sent her crashing to the ground.  "Duo, what-"

            "MAXWELL!!"  Duo grinned sheepishly. 

            "Um, oops?"  At his girlfriend's glare, he backed up slowly.  "I forgot about it completely or I would have dismantled it.  And-"

            "MAXWELL!"  The senshi started as a dirty, wet, Chinese boy stomped his way into the room, a katana unsheathed in his had and murder in his eye.  There was blood on the side of his shirt and he did inot/i look happy at their friend's soulmate-who was, at the moment, trying to hide behind his girlfriend.  "This is the last time you'll-"

            "Oh."  The small exhalation of breath from the fire senshi turned his head for a moment.  He halted his movements and stood frozen. 

            "Marrian?"  Rei seemed to come back to herself as he spoke. 

            "I'm sorry?"

            "Marrian, how-"  Wufei was pale now, his voice shaking, katana tipped towards the ground. 

            "My middle name, yes.  Though I'm not sure how you could have known it."  Rei spoke slowly, her hand not moving from where it rested on her heart. 

            "How are you alive?  How…" 

            "I'm sorry.  But I don't believe I know you."  Her words seemed to break his heart.  Rei tried to ignore the tremble in her body as she watched his seem to deflate. 

            Minako had watched a tendril of light unwind itself from her friend as the boy had stormed into the room.  Had watched as it had entangled itself in his, and flared bright for a moment.  She turned to look at the horrified faces of Makoto, Haruka, Michiru and Usagi.  It seemed that they were still missing some of their memories.  And she knew who exactly who was going to tell her what was missing. 

End Chapter.