From Then, To Now, Til Later
Arc 2: Chapter 6: Who Knows?
By: AutumnHime
"Everybody, we have another new student." The teacher gestured for the shadow hovering outside the door to come in. The noise inside of the room increased as the gossip shot sky high.
A blonde girl entered the room, blue eyes direct and
lighthearted, smile wide and engaging. A
few of the boys whistled, causing her to laugh, harder when those whistles were
punctuated with grunts of 'Ow' as the girls around them rained blows on their
head. The teacher ignored the commotion,
and turned to the girl.
"Will you introduce yourself, please?" The teacher asked politely.
The girl bowed to the class. "I am Aino Mina, or, as the teachers in England would say, Mina Aino. It is nice to be here."
"Thank you, Mina," The teacher paused. "Will you take a seat over there by Serena? Serena, raise your hand."
Serena lifted her hand, hoping she and the new girl would be friends, and smiled at Mina as she sat down next to her. Mina smiled back.
Class began, boring as usual.
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Wufei wandered into his class, unnaturally distracted. He could feel Raye's eyes on his back, and knew she was worried, but could do nothing about it. Why had he forgotten everything? Why? And where were the other princesses? He knew where all of his fellow gods were, except for Apollo, but…Wufei's eyes widened. Hiiro. He glanced around the bustling classroom en route to his desk but no familiar cobalt eyes looked back at him.
Instead, he found Duo's eyes burning with an impersonal fire that screamed power. His breath caught, and he wondered how he had ever looked down on him.
Duo sent a thought to Wufei's mind. Hello, Shenlong. Long time no see.
Shinigiami. Wufei sent his own greeting, and bowed his head slightly, a greeting between equals.
C'mon, Wufei, don't be like that…after all, remember what I did to your favorite set of scales! Duo smirked as Wufei immediately glared.
I still have yet to get you back for that.
A sound from behind them caused both to jump. A confused looking Triton stared at the duo. "Are you alright, Wufei?" Triton asked.
Wufei blinked, keeping in mind that Triton had not gone through his own recollection of their past. "I'm fine, Triton." He switched subjects quickly. "How do you like your betrothed?"
"…"
His silence didn't bother his friends much. They knew how to interpret it.
The teacher coughed behind them. "Class, we have another new student." A boy walked in from the hallway. Behind them, hidden in the shadows, Hiiro smirked. Cat had arrived.
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"Wufei, is Cat familiar to you?" Triton hissed in his friend's ear. "He gives me the same feeling that Hiiro does."
"Because we know him, we know them both." Wufei whispered back, eyes fierce.
Triton's single visible green eye widened briefly in confusion once more, and he shook his head as if to deny his friend's obvious insanity.
Wufei sighed. "I'll explain later." He bent his dark head back to his work and tried to avoid thinking about anything and anyone, knowing that he could do nothing about it now.
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A cough distracted Serena from her unsolvable math problem. The blond looked up and smiled warmly at the blue-haired girl in front of her.
"Hi, Amy! How are you today?" Serena asked, closing her book and inviting the petite female whose loneliness was almost palpable to sit next to her.
Amy sat. "Serena, I really wanted to apologize for my behavior. A good friend of mine pointed out that you may have only wanted to help, and that not everyone has an ulterior motive."
"It's perfectly alright. Duo explained that you don't have a lot of friends. I just want you to know that if you ever need one, I'm always willing."
Amy's jaw dropped. "You know Duo?" The disbelief permeated Amy's voice so thoroughly Serena was surprised that they weren't sitting in a fog of it.
"I met him yesterday. He's a friend of my cousin's and wanted to apologize for you and explain, as I said, your actions." Serena looked curiously at the genius. "I take it he didn't tell you what he was going to do."
"NO! I CAN'T BELIEVE HE DID THAT! THAT JERK!" Amy fumed, blue eyes blazing with righteous anger.
"That jerk!" Serena agreed. "I mean, he only went out of his way to find me and tell me that I should keep in mind that you haven't had a lot of friends so that I wouldn't retract my offer of friendship, and he did it all without your permission because he knew that if you knew you would only be mad. WHAT A JERK!"
Amy's jaw dropped again.
"You know that cannot be good for your jaw." Serena remarked, eyes twinkling with good humor.
Amy laughed, the sound soothing and bright, like water over rocks. "When you put it that way, I guess not." She looked back at Serena and the lack of connection she normally felt around everybody except Duo, receded. She smiled. "So Serena, would you like to be my friend?"
"Aren't we already?" Serena replied.
Amy thought about it. "You know, I think we are."
"Good!" Serena exclaimed. "So you can help me with this math problem, then."
Amy laughed, the two bent their heads over the paper, and the day seemed to get a little brighter.
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Unbeknownst to them, a black cat with a bandage on its forehead was staring at them intently, not believing that she had finally reached the end of her quest.
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School was out for the day, and Triton was worried. Wufei had changed. Triton knew Wufei had changed; only he didn't know how.
"…" Triton reminded himself. And he was right, the only thing he could do was to wait until Wufei wanted to talk about it. That might take a few years. At least, Triton thought in consolation for the tough day, Mina is supposed to meet me at my apartment.
That thought caused his green eyes to soften. It also caused Triton to lower his guard, so he was not prepared when he felt a gentle touch on his neck and heard something like an apology. Then the memories came flooding back and there was nothing else.
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Hiiro stepped out of the shadows directly behind Triton.
Unlike with Wufei, he had no way to knock Triton out and thus cause the memories to come back more or less naturally. The God of War would have to do it the hard way, by forcing the memories to the fore without the aid of a physical shock.
"I'm sorry for the pain this will cause you, but Serenity needs you, and needs you trained. And I can't do any of that until you are all awake." He reached his gloved hand towards Triton's neck, and sent a surge of energy through it. "Nighty night, Triton." And Triton collapsed into his arms.
Hiiro slung the taller man into a fireman's carry and maneuvered him to his apartment. He then placed Triton gently against his door and placed a shield around the area so that no one would see the unconscious man until he woke up except for the Ai no Hime.
And then Hiiro disappeared, knowing that the energy signature on the street would cause Duo and company to come looking.
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And unknown to the entire reborn Silver Millennium Court, except for Ares, evil was breaking out of its bonds in the polar ice caps.
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Okay, that's it. Some of you may notice the names switching in between chapters, that would be because I think I use one name and then realize I didn't too late to switch and am to lazy to fix it.
*I can't remember back this far…Did Mina and Serena go to the same school, or was Mina in a private school?
And you may be wondering why Quatre would go to a school different than Serena. Well, since four of his other comrades go to this school, I though I'd make it easy.