The Other Side of Paradise

Part 12

Author:  The rabid obsessive/compulsive journalist.  I mean, Nyneve

Hi everyone!  Well, this is what you've been waiting for!  All of your questions about the weird world the girls have been living in will be answered.  Where did those mobile suits come from?  How come we haven't seen anyone other than our heroes and heroines, and villain?  What about the funky prophesy thingamajig that Raye saw?  Ooh, spookiness!  I just can't stand it!  *passes out*  *revives*  Just kidding.  Don't own the anime.

-Nyneve

PS:  Anyone else for the mailing list?  Anyone?  E-mail me for details!

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The clock struck midnight.  Serenity looked up at the moon hanging heavy in the sky.  A crescent moon, never to wax or wane again. 

"It's official.  It's been five years since that day…"

"How do you think the others will handle it?" Endymion asked, walking into the room.

"I don't know.  All these other times, we've been able to pretend it never happened, to just ignore it.  But now…the boys ought to know," Serenity explained.

"Should we tell them?" her husband replied.

"No.  I believe it would be best if we let the girls do it…"

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Duo lay back in the large, comfortable bed Amy had provided him with in her spare room.  It was better than a linen closet, or a jail cell.  But somehow, he noticed that Amy was acting more and more quiet as the day had wore on.  Right before bed, she looked almost sad as she said goodnight to him.

"I wonder what the deal is?  I'd think she'd be happy, now that this whole deal's been sorted out," he commented to himself.

Another rumble of thunder echoed through the room.  But when he could hear again, he noticed another sound.  Someone was crying.

"Ames?  Is that you?" he called, not really expecting an answer.  He knew that Rini had a room nearby, and figured she was just freaked out by the storm.

"I-I-I'm fine, D-Duo," a weak, stammering reply echoed. 

"Yeah, and I'm a Sailor Senshi," he muttered, climbing out of bed and making his way into her room.  Glancing around in the darkness, he couldn't see anything.  Suddenly, something reached up and grabbed him, knocking him off balance.

"Get off of me you…" suddenly, a light flicked on. 

"Duo?  What are you doing?" Amy asked.  Duo looked down sheepishly at his "attacker", a coat draped over a chair.

"I was just…um…" he stopped suddenly, looking at Amy's tear streaked face.  "Hey Ames, you okay?  I hear you crying before…"

"I'm sorry if I woke you," she whispered, turning slightly red and wiping the tears from her face.  "I'm okay now, really."

"You sure?" Duo asked, taking her hand and leading her back to bed.  She sighed and crawled under the covers, turning her face away.  He walked over to the other side of the bed and knelt down next to it.  "Come on Amy, you can tell me."

"It was a bad dream, okay?  Just a nightmare!  It wasn't real!" she snapped.  Then, her expression softened.  "I'm sorry Duo.  But…something happened five years ago today.  It's hard for me whenever the anniversary comes along."

"You wanna talk about it?" he asked, cushioning his head on his arms and looking at her. 

"No.  But I guess I'd better, so that you know," she sighed.  "First of all, besides everyone here, how many people have you seen in Crystal Tokyo?"

"Um well, none," Duo admitted.  "But we haven't really been out much, so…"

"It doesn't matter.  No one except us lives in this city now.  The rest were all massacred," Amy explained slowly.

"Massacred?  What do you mean?" he cried.  "Who could wipe out a whole city?"

"It wasn't a whole city.  Before the massacre, there were roughly eight billion people on the planet.  After, there was no more than three million," she said.

"What?  Amy, that's like, 99% of the population gone!  How?"  Duo asked incredulously.

"We were starting to trade with people from other galaxies.  It was all right for a while.  Then one federation, from what we know as the Virgo-IV galaxy, started to take advantage of us.  Demanding more items be sold for cheaper prices, starting to send in their military to "keep an eye on the property", and finally starting to gain control in some areas of the Solar System.  We had to fight back," Amy explained.

"Wait.  You're telling me, that even though Serenity's got this awesome power like Hecate said, some merchant group decided to challenge her?  What kind of idiot would do that?" he asked.

"The people of Virgo-IV are no joke Duo!  Mina and a couple of the others had advised against trade with them in the first place, because they're so violent and their leaders are megalomaniacs.  But Serenity wanted to be proud of Earth, of the Solar System, so she started the trade.  It was no surprise when they decided they were going to take control of us too," she answered.  "We couldn't make it easy for them.  We fought back with our powers for a while, then we assembled the military, and then…"

"Then what?" he pressed on.

Amy took a deep breath and looked at him.  "I got an idea for a new weapon we could use to defeat the Virgos.  It was a machine that one could pilot from the inside.  A humanoid robot so heavily armed and so mobile that it would be invincible.  A mobile suit."

"You mean, you invented the mobile suits?" Duo cried, reaching out and grabbing her hand suddenly.

"Yes.  And I regret it every day.  Especially today.  Because it was mobile suits that gave the Virgos enough power to wipe out the planet," she replied softly.  "At first, things went well.  The Virgos had never seen anything like MS.  But after they did, they realized they needed it too.  So, they sent a spy in to steal the designs for a new model I was planning.  One that was going to be the strongest yet.  I called it the Cosmos model, because that was what Serenity was called in her purest, most powerful form.  But it was lost."

"So, that's why Neptune and Uranus were so worried about us being spies.  I understand now Ames.  And I think I get it from here.  The Virgos mass-produced the suit, armed their military with it, and took over.  Right?" he asked.

Amy nodded.  "But that wasn't the worst part.  The MS were mostly winning battles in space.  They couldn't penetrate the asteroid belt, because it was so heavily guarded.  So the Virgos needed a new plan.  They decided to use a bigger weapon.  Something much bigger."

Seeing Duo's questioning expression, Amy pointed out the window.  "What do you see Duo?"

"What do I see?  Well, the clouds are clearing out, and there's a few stars and…oh my god…" he looked up at the moon.

Half of it was intact, but a blood red color.  Smaller chunks of matter orbited around it, and they appeared to be part of the moon.

"Through the use of MS, they managed to take over all of the outer planets, and Jupiter as well.  They drained all five planets of their energy, and used it to power a huge tractor beam.  They moved the moon so that it fell out of its orbit and was trapped in Earth's gravity.  It crashed into the North Atlantic Sea, causing huge tidal waves that sent most of Europe and North America into oblivion.  But that wasn't the end of it.  The impact triggered earthquakes that not only destroyed most of the planet, but released a toxic gas that killed the remaining people," she said finally.

"But how did you live then?" Duo asked.

"After the Virgos had penetrated the asteroid belt, we realized we had to get out.  So the royal family and the Senshi fled earth for my home planet.  We had taken along only four mobile suits, the ones that are stored in the hangar now.  After the massacre, Serenity knew she had to end it all.  I opened a wormhole that led us directly to the Virgo-IV galaxy.  We destroyed it from there, using the Silver Crystal.  Serenity said that was the one massacre she does not regret…"

Suddenly, Amy felt Duo's strong arms around her.  As her tears surged back, she buried her face in his chest and cried, clinging to him tightly.

"I'm…so sorry, Ames.  I had no idea.  I'm sorry I made you bring it out.  I'm sorry," Duo repeated over and over again as he held her close.

"Don't go.  Not now," Amy whispered as she let go of him.  "Stay here."

"I will, don't worry," he grinned, kneeling back down beside the bed and looking at her.  "Even if you fall back asleep, I'm not going anywhere."

She smiled weakly at him, her Duo.  Leaning over, she kissed his cheek.  "Thank you."

Closing her eyes, she lay down on her side.  Soon, she was asleep, with Duo's head on her hand.

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Wufei sat quietly on the grass outside of Lita's room, meditating.  About an hour beforehand, Lita had seemed kind of upset, and told him to go away.  Feeling like it was too late to start an argument with her, he subdued ((AN:  Very, very, very OOC)) and walked out.  However, he still felt as though she was acting weird, so he stayed close by her room to keep an eye on her.

Suddenly, he heard her patio door open.  Opening one eye, he realized he was safely out of sight behind a few bushes, and that Lita would never notice him.

The sound of a chair scraping concrete could be heard as she moved a chair, and was soon followed by the sound of a bottle opening.  She was quiet for a few minutes, when she suddenly started muttering to herself.

"Damn him.  That idiotic bastard who had to go out and get himself killed for no reason.  You moron, Shino.  Don't you get it how I'd be happier if you were still here?" she said.  "But you're not.  You had to protect me.  Since when have I needed protection?"

"Never," Wufei remarked, standing up and looking at her.  She squinted at him, then recognized him.

"What the hell are you doing out here Wufei?  I told you to go away!" she yelled, setting down her glass and standing up.

"You should watch how much of that stuff you drink.  High alcohol percentage, isn't it?" he asked, walking over and studying the bottle.

"I get drunk one day a year, Wufei.  Congratulations, today is the day.  Now will you get lost?  I don't need any of your egotistical shit right now, got it?" she snapped.

"And I was just starting to respect you too, Kino.  But tell me before I go, to what occasion do I owe your drunkenness?" he asked sarcastically.

"The day all hell broke loose on Earth," she answered.  "Haven't you ever had days like that Wufei?  Days where things get so busy that you just go nuts?"

"No.  Explain it to me," he answered, sitting down in another chair across from her.

She opened her mouth as though to say something, then shook her head and smiled.  "Why not?  Maybe you'll learn something.  Here."  She handed him a glass and sat down.

"Today is the day the world was massacred.  That included my husband," she started.

Wufei stared in surprise.  Lita was married?

"Don't look so shocked, I do have a little bit of charm and a good heart if I say so myself," she remarked.  "Anyways, Shinozaki was in the military when it happened.  The bastards from Virgo-IV had managed to suck Pluto, Neptune, Uranus, Saturn, and good old Jupiter dry of power, and used the energy for a tractor beam.  To make a long story short, they ended up crashing the moon into Earth, causing tsunamis, earthquakes, and poisonous gas that killed almost everyone.  That's why we're the only people who live in Crystal Tokyo," she explained.

"But Shinozaki, your husband, he didn't go with you?" Wufei asked.

"Serenity told us to bring our families with us.  'Course, only I was married, and Raye…was stubborn.  I begged Shinozaki to come with.  But he said it was his duty to Earth, to Serenity, to me, that he stay and fight.  He was killed when his barracks collapsed with him inside," she explained.

Wufei thought a moment, choosing his words carefully.  "Shinozaki died an honorable death."

"Yeah, that really matters now.  I don't care whether he died honorably or not.  The point it, he's dead.  And I was stupid enough to love him!" she cried, taking another swig from her glass.

"No.  You were lucky enough to love him," Wufei said quietly, his thoughts trailing back to his own dead spouse.

"What are you talking about Wufei?" Lita asked.

"I was married too.  But I didn't love her.  I couldn't.  Nataku wouldn't let even her own family love her," he explained.

"Nataku?  Isn't that what you call your Gundam?"

"Nataku is my Gundam.  Altron holds Meilan's spirit, because she died to protect it.  To protect me.  Just like Shinozaki died to protect you."

Lita thought a moment, then smiled.  "Wufei, let's make a pact."

"What sort of pact?" he asked warily.

"You already get it that the others are into each other, right?  I mean, that your comrades are in love with mine?" she asked.

"Yes, I've noticed that.  What are you saying…" he retorted, looking at her suspiciously.

"I'm saying, that no matter what happens, you and me are never going to fall in love with each other.  Got it?  Because love is just one more way life screws you," she answered.

Wufei smirked at her.  "Done.  We are no more than allies."

"Amen," Lita replied, clinking her glass against his.

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Quatre yawned and opened his eyes.  Sitting up, he realized he didn't know where he was.

"Oh, wait.  The temple.  Raye!" he cried, standing up and realizing she was gone.  Outside, the sun was making an attempt to shine through the stubborn clouds.

"She's probably divining again," he assumed, walking to the room he'd found her in the night before.  Oddly enough, she wasn't there either.

He checked a few of the other buildings, finding them all empty.  Finally, he returned to the main "house".  Starting in one room, he made his way towards the back, calling Raye's name and looking for any sign of her.  He paused when he found one room.

It was empty, save for a pile of junk in the corner.  On top was a battered, torn book that read PHOTO ALBUM on the cover.  Sitting down, he started to turn the old pages.

The first ones were very old.  They showed a young girl of around ten, with wavy dark hair and the same dark eyes as Raye.  However, somehow he know it wasn't her.  As the pictures went on, the girl grew older, and a young man started to appear with her.  He had fair hair and blue eyes, the complete opposite of the beauty pictured with him.  Quatre started to realize that the pictures were all taken on the temple grounds, but many years ago.  Before Crystal Tokyo, before the temple became ruined.  A sadness welled up inside of him.  He longed to see what the temple had once been like.

Suddenly, as he turned another page, he saw the girl, now a beautiful woman, holding a baby.  Wispy dark hairs covered the child's head, and its eyes were the same color as those of its mother.  More pictures of the baby became visible.  It was a girl, identified by the extravagant dresses she wore.  The photos were no longer shown around the temple, but in a city.

An infant cradled in her mother's arms.  A baby being bathed by her mother.  A toddler on a swing in a park.  A toddler hugging her mother tightly.  A slightly older girl pounding on a piano.  A girl of five blowing out candles on her cake.  And then, the next picture was strange.

It was worn and faded, and seemed burned around the edges.  Pictured in the scene was the same little girl, but dressed in a dark purple kimono.  She was kneeling in front of a tree, sobbing with her eyes closed.  So strong was the look of pain on her face that Quatre seemed to feel the girl's pain.  And it was then, that he recognized her.

The girl in the picture was Raye.

Setting aside the burned picture, he began to look at the other photos.  The scene resumed to those of the temple.  Raye smiling in her miko robes.  Raye patting an old man, probably her grandfather, on the head.  Raye sweeping up the temple steps.  Raye dressed in her school uniform.  But something was missing.  As Quatre paged back through the photos, he realized both Raye's mother and father were missing. 

As he looked on, another man started to appear in a few pictures, although not many.  He looked a lot like Raye's father, with the same fair hair and blue eyes.  However, this man was soon replaced by one much different.  This man was dressed in robes similar to Raye's, but his hair was long, and he was in desperate need of a shave.  Quatre gasped as he came across one where Raye's arms were thrown around the man, as they both laughed hysterically with the old man looking on.  Who was he?

He came to the last page.  This one was filled with pictures of Raye and the other Senshi.  In front of the temple, a park, a car, and all of them just laying on the grass somewhere.  And then, there was one more page, after that.  But it was empty. 

Carefully, he put the photo album back, but held onto the charred photo.  As he stood up, he came face to face with the subject of the later pictures.

"Raye!  Forgive me!  I shouldn't have been prying into your things, but…" his stream of apologies were cut of as she put a finger to his lips.

"It's all right.  I was going to show you anyways.  I just wanted to see how long it was going to be before you noticed me," she smiled weakly, removing her finger. 

"How long were you there?" he asked sheepishly.

"Long enough.  Hey, what's this?" she asked, pulling the burned photograph from his hand.  She gasped and her hand started to shake as she looked at it.

"What is it?" he asked, moving next to her.  He gently reached out his hand and steadied hers.

"I thought I destroyed it.  Where'd you get this?" she asked softly.

"It-it was in the photo album.  Why?" he stammered.

She turned away.  "This photo…Kaidou took it, right after my mother died.  I didn't know he was taking it at the time."

"Kaidou?  Who's he?" Quatre asked.

"The man I would've married if my father had had his way," she replied weakly.  "But he didn't love me.  If he had, he'd never have taken this picture!"

She threw the picture on the ground and stepped on it.

"Your father…the man in the earlier photos, with that woman?" Quatre guessed.

Raye nodded.  "He was my father, but he had no right to call himself that.  He didn't love me.  He didn't love my mother.  The only thing he cared about was politics."

"I'm…sorry.  My father was a politician too.  But I still know that he loved me," he said gently.

"Then you were lucky!  Quatre, my father saw me once a year since the day I was born!  Once!  All he did when my mother was sick was send money.  He didn't even go to her funeral Quatre!  Does that sound like a man who loves his family to you?" she cried, stamping her foot.

"I…no.  No it doesn't.  But you must have meant something to him.  In the pictures, Kaidou seems to be happy with you.  Your father must've at least wanted your happiness…"

"No, I was a tool to secure the reputation of his idea.  Kaidou supported my father completely.  He took over after my father died.  I was just a name to add on to Kaidou's resume.  But that didn't matter.  He married another woman anyways," she explained.

"Then, the other man?  The one with the long hair?" Quatre asked gently.

"Yuuchiro?  Ah, good old Yuuchiro ((AN:  That's the name, right?  Isn't it?)).  Father would've never approved him," she smiled weakly.  "He was a wannabe rock star who happened to have rich parents.  But, he didn't want any of that.  All he wanted was to prove that he wasn't a failure."

"Did…you have any feelings for him?" he asked in an even quieter voice.

"More or less.  I loved him, yeah.  Like a brother.  I knew he had a crush on me, but that passed.  Still though, it was good to know I had someone to…Quatre!" she cried suddenly, realizing how she was making him feel.  She threw her arms around him and hugged him tight.  "I'm sorry!  Here I am, babbling on about something I don't want to talk about, and you probably don't want to hear.  Forgive me!"

He smiled, and touched her cheek.  "No, it's you who should forgive me.  Here I am, acting like a jealous child when I should be thanking God that I have you.  And I'm making it worse by asking you about your past."

"You're not making it worse Quatre!" she exclaimed.  "Don't be so nice.  You're making me feel even more guilty."

"I'm sorry.  I won't do…" again, she pressed her finger to his lips.

"Stop it right there.  No more apologies.  You don't have to say you're sorry for everything, Quatre.  Why don't we head back right now, and forget about all of this?" she asked.

"One last thing though.  Yuuchiro, and the old man…what happened to them?" he asked as she removed the finger.

She paused, and closed her eyes.  "They died, five years ago today.  An enemy of the solar system, the people of Virgo-IV, used a tractor beam to crash the moon into the Earth.  Both of them were killed in the earthquakes caused by the impact."

"I…" Quatre paused as she looked at him.

"What?" she asked.

"I was going to apologize, but since you don't want me to…" he trailed off.

Raye sighed, took his arms and draped them over her shoulders.  "Just say it."

"I'm sorry Firebird," he murmured, kissing her forehead as he led her out of the room.

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Mina sat on her balcony listening to music.  She always felt awkward on the anniversary of the massacre.  She had loved no one, and lost no one.  Strange for a girl who spent her youth obsessing over boys.

She sighed as she switched off the radio and looked over the balcony at Crystal Tokyo.

"You managed to rebuild it fast.  No one would ever know that the moon crashed into Earth," a monotone voice said.

Mina closed her eyes.  "I already knew you were there, Heero.  So why don't you come out?" she asked. 

"Hn," was the only reply she got, but he did emerge from the room behind her.

"Who told you about the massacre?  Serenity?" she guessed.

"The younger.  Rini.  She said she didn't know much about it, but that all of you were sad when it happened," he answered.

"I wasn't," Mina commented.

"Why?" he asked.

"What did I have to lose?  I had no clue where my father was, and my mother hated me.  That was it for my family, except the others, of course," she explained.

"No one else?"

She paused a moment, then turned around to face him.  She moved with such speed that Heero didn't even realize it until her face was only a few inches away from his.

"Are you the devil?" she whispered.

"What?" he asked, hypnotized by her clear blue eyes.

"Why do you do this, Heero?  You, tempt me by making me feel as though you're always with me, and I almost start to believe that you have a heart.  And that I have a place in that heart.  But when you finally come out, you prove that you don't.  That I mean nothing to you.  What is your mission by constantly playing with my emotions?" she asked.

He looked away.  "To drive you away from me."

"I don't understand," she answered.

"You wouldn't," he said coldly.  As he started to walk back inside, he felt her grab his hand. 

"And I never will, unless you explain it to me.  But only tell me if you want to be close to me.  If not," she let go of his hand.  "Go."

He was silent outside, but inside his emotions were a roaring tempest.  He wanted to tell her he loved her, tell her he hated her, tell her he didn't know, kill her.  Not even Relena caused him this much grief.  So how could one girl he barely knew torment him so much?

"Did you ever love anyone Heero?  I did.  Before you," Mina said quietly.  "And I thought he loved me too.  But, he couldn't wait.  He couldn't wait for me to put him first."

"Could you wait?" Heero asked suddenly, turning around to face her.  Then, he realized she was crying.

"I have waited Heero.  How much longer do I have to wait?" she sobbed.

Kneeling down, he reached out to her and wiped the tears off of her face.  Then, his hand moved down her neck, shoulder, and arm down to her hand.  He pressed his lips to it gently, then held it to his cheek.

"I still can't tell you if I love you.  But I…still want to be close to you.  Even though you destroy the balance of everything inside me, the chaos gives me peace.  Somehow…" he answered, tugging her hand gently.

"That's all I want," she murmured, sliding her arm around his neck and leaning close to him.  But just as their lips were about to meet, she stopped.

"No.  You don't need that much chaos.  Don't worry Heero.  If I can wait longer, so can you," she whispered, then stood up and walked inside.

He stared after her, his emotions calming like an ocean after a storm.  It's better this way he thought.  But deep inside, he knew he preferred the storm.

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Trowa stared out the window of Trista's room.  Down in the garden, he could see her, carefully watching over Rini, Hotaru, and Janus.

She'll be a good mom, he thought to himself as she pulled a laughing Rini up off the ground.  As she did, she happened to look up at him.  For a moment, she flashed an enigmatic smile at him, then returned to her duty.

He continued to watch her for a while, then decided to make the best use of the rain's absence.  Pulling on a jacket Trista had given him, he walked outside.

"Hey!" Rini called as he approached, waving cheerfully.  Hotaru smiled and Janus raised his hand in greeting.

"Decided to join me?" Trista asked, walking over to him.

He nodded, then looked towards the three kids, who were busy conspiring by a tree.  Suddenly, Rini stood up.

"Puu?  We decided we wanna play cards.  Inside," she stressed. 

"Alone," Janus added.

"We'll see you later," Hotaru finished as the three dashed off for the palace.

The couple shot a look at each other, then Trowa put his arm around Trista's shoulders as they walked off.

"Today must be a hard day for you," he said softly.

"It is.  But, not as hard for me as some of the others.  I had already lost everything.  All there was left for me was my duty," she answered.

She waited for a response, but Trowa had resumed his usual silence.  And yet, somehow it was his silence that made him so appealing.  It was as though he could reach her best without talking, sometimes without even looking at her.  She had realized it long ago, that just his presence was comforting.  When he was with her, she didn't feel so lost and alone.  The love everyone else had found at one point or another always seemed to elude her.  But not now.  Neither of them were alone now.

The skies above had once again turned gray, and small droplets of rain started to fall down.  However, they just pressed closer together and remained quiet.  But Trista broke the silence when she realized just how many raindrops were falling down her face, like the cold, salty tears she thought she should've been crying.

"The angels will cry in my stead…" she murmured absentmindedly, remembering the line from an old poem she had found in the palace library.

"You've never cried, have you Trista?" Trowa asked.  "Not once.  I can tell just by the way you speak."

"You're wrong.  I did cry.  I cried when I lost you," she answered.

No answer, just like she expected.

"And you've never cried.  I've watched.  Not even when you were a child did you cry.  I sensed your sadness, but," she stared up into his eyes, "never once did those emerald eyes of yours shed one tear."

He stopped, wanting to say something to her, but he just couldn't find the words.  He almost wanted to laugh, at how Trista probably knew more about him than even he did.  Still though, he couldn't ask her to tell him.  Whether he didn't want to know, or whether he didn't want to hear it from the woman he loved, he was never quite sure.  Trista was so much like him in so many ways.  Quiet and lost, in a way that he understood.  But her emotions were strong, so strong.  Even though she never showed it, the sadness and fear seemed to radiate from her very soul.  And it was this sadness and fear he wanted to chase away.

"There's never been anything worth crying for," he whispered, touching her rain-soaked hair.  "Nothing until you."

"I'll never leave you Trowa.  You're the other part of me.  I can't separate myself from you, even if I wanted to," she replied, putting her arms around his waist and holding him tightly.

But even as he began to kiss her neck, he had gone silent.  Again.

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"It's over" Serenity said the following night.  "The anniversary has come and gone."

"I'm glad.  I don't like having to be sad for a whole day," Rini complained.

"You don't have to be sad, Rini.  But you do have to remember.  All those people that died, we can't forget them.  If we did, they'd have died in vain," Endymion answered.

"I know.  But still, I'm glad it's over," she said.

"Me too, Rini. Me too," Serenity said as the broken moon became visible.

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All for now!  R+R+R!!!!  And guess what?  There's a part two to this chapter coming!  Yayishness!!!!!!!!