Beyond Belief

There's all kinds of ways friends can compromise. Quasimodo would let Mokuba and Rebecca stay with him in the bell tower and in exchange, they would help him with his chores and entertain him by telling him stories about their adventures. Mokuba and Rebecca liked that idea because not only would they be entertaining their friend, they would also be teaching him. That was what made Mokuba confident he could tell Quasimodo the truth about his brother and friends being heroes and their mission in the other worlds. It would seem farfetched in the beginning, but he would still be telling the truth. And he had Rebecca to support him.

Once more, Mokuba was on the roof admiring the night sky. Rebecca was right next to him. She stretched and said, "Feels good to be back here."

"You said it," her boyfriend told her. "It was also great seeing the rest of the gang again. Rini's been able to get a break from helping her fellow Sailor Scouts, Rin's recovering from her sickness, Leon finally managed to beat Maleficent, and Kohaku and Shippo seem to really like working together." He smiled and giggled.

"What's so funny?" Rebecca asked.

"Before I left, Guilmon begged me to bring him along with me. I told him I couldn't because I made a promise. He was sad about it, but I promised him I'd come back to play with him again."

"Did you also promise him Guilmon bread?" Rebecca asked. "I know how he loves his Guilmon bread."

"Yeah, I asked Emily to make some when I got back. I had to stop by the bakery to get it, though, because she wasn't home that day." He looks at Rebecca and asks her, "How has your grandpa been?"

"He's doing good," the blonde replied. "He's just the same with his work." She chuckles and says, "Whenever I come home, he always asks me if I'm getting enough to eat because I seem to come back thin from lack of food. I tell him I'm getting most of my food groups in the other worlds, but not food as good as his cooking." And they both laughed. "But don't worry. I haven't told him I've been coming with you to this world."

Mokuba was relieved to hear that. Then he thought about his brother and hoped he wasn't becoming suspicious. Mokuba was always being brief about what he was doing in the Secret Garden and was careful enough not to mention coming to this world. But he had a feeling it wouldn't last for much longer.

Finally, he said, "Seto doesn't know either and I'm trying to make sure it stays that way."

"Is he getting suspicious?" Rebecca asked.

"I don't know," Mokuba answered. "He hasn't said anything." He sighed and said, "I'm just trying to be careful. I don't want me being here to get in his way of concentrating on his own tasks. I mean, Seto's already got enough to deal with and I don't want to cause any more problems for him." He paused, then lied down on his back. "I guess I kind of hoped that me distancing myself would give him less to worry about."

Quasimodo came to check on his friends. "Hey, guys. What are you doing up here by yourselves?"

Mokuba got up. "Oh, hey, Quasi. Bec and I were just talking about our families."

"Oh," the hunchback replied. "Have you made up with your brother, Moki?"

He sighed and said, "Not really. I mean, we both kind of got over the argument, but I've still kind of been avoiding him so I don't cause him any problems."

Quasimodo sat down next to him. "I can see why you would do that, but I don't think it's good to do that."

"I know," he replied. "But I don't want to get into a conversation with him that will cause me to end up bringing up this place and meeting you because then that'll make me break my promise."

The hunchback understood. He had put his friend in a difficult situation. Still, he thought it would be best if Mokuba talked to his brother about his feelings. Then again, it probably wasn't so easy. Quasimodo often had the same problem with his master about addressing his feelings even though he trusted him. But he also understood that Mokuba was trying hard not to impact their friendship in a bad way.

"Mokuba, how hard is it for your brother?" he finally asked. "You mentioned that he has problems of his own."

"Yeah, he does," the raven-haired lad answered. "Part of it has to do with taking care of me. I think a lot of it also has to do with him being a warrior and the responsibilities he has to take."

Quasimodo was astonished to hear that. "Your brother is a warrior?"

Mokuba realized that he had been thinking out loud again. Now that he had let that detail slip, he knew he had to tell him everything. He looked back at Rebecca and she nodded at him. Mokuba looked back at Quasimodo and said, "Yes. My brother is a descendant of a group of heroes known as the Children of Millennia."

"Children of Millennia," the hunchback repeated, obviously having never heard of them before.

"It would be better if we told you the story from the beginning," said Rebecca. She looked up at the sky and began, "Long ago when the world was young, there existed two divine deities. One was a Goddess of purity and light; the other was a Lord of darkness and evil. According to legend, these two deities used to be friends, but they let their differences get the better of them, turning them into enemies. It wasn't long until the Gods began to clash with each other. They fought endlessly and tirelessly. Finally, the stars could take no more. They used their celestial powers to stop the Gods and seal their divine powers by forcing them to become stars like them. The Great Goddess became the Millennium Star and the Dark Lord became the Cobalt Star."

Unbeknownst to the children and to the hunchback, Frollo entered the bell tower. He was looking around for Quasimodo, wondering where he was. He heard his voice coming from the roof of the tower, but he also heard other voices he didn't recognize. He was about to question the hunchback in a fury, but kept his composure, wondering what they were talking about.

Quasimodo was fascinated by the story he was hearing. "What happened next?"

Mokuba told the next part. "Well, the followers of the Gods still battled with each other on their behalf, trying to fulfill the wishes of the deities they served. But as many eons passed, people started to forget about the Great Goddess and the Dark Lord until a few nations still remained loyal to them. Finally, the two Stars fell from the heavens and landed in Egypt, where their chosen children were born. The children who would be destined to wield their powers and continue the battle they started. The Cobalt Star chose a boy from the outskirts and the Millennium Star chose a girl who was born in the house of a magician in service to the king. That girl's name was Mystery."

Frollo continued to listen, knowing he had heard this story before.

Rebecca spoke up. "They say she was very beautiful. She had long white hair like a blanket of snow, eyes like sapphire, and skin as light as milk. Her name seemed to fit her because she completely stood out from her people." Rebecca cleared her throat. "Anyway, Mystery accepted her destiny as heiress of the Great Goddess Millennia and bonded with the Millennium Star. It dwelled inside her heart and she got all of Millennia's powers."

"Mystery had many other friends who were also followers of the Great Goddess," Mokuba added. "Her love, the prince, was one of them along with a few royal servants their age and a few peasants. The group was evenly balanced with four boys and four girls. They called themselves the Children of Millennia for their loyalty to their Great Goddess. They would often patrol the city and do heroic deeds for their kingdom and as such, the title just seemed to sort of stick with them."

Rebecca continued, "Years passed, and the Children of Millennia came to be the rulers and protectors of the Egyptian kingdom. Mystery and her love became the new king and queen of Egypt and most of their friends became members of their royal court. Life was going great for all of them, but…" Rebecca stopped herself for a second, then said sadly, "But it wasn't to last."

"What happened?" Quasimodo asked.

Mokuba and Rebecca knew that this next part of the story was going to be sad, but they knew they had to tell it. Rebecca gulped and said, "Well, the pharaoh and queen had a baby. But when the princess was born, the children of the Dark Lord invaded the palace and attacked the royals."

"Oh, no," Quasimodo gasped.

"Bakura, the heir of the Dark Lord, and his partner, Max," Mokuba was saying. "They killed most of the royal family's protectors until only a few of them remained. They wanted revenge on the royal family for destroying their village and killing their people. After killing most of the royals, Max and Bakura used Millennia's power to open the border between the world and the Shadow Realm, unleashing a terrible entity born from the will of the Dark Lord himself. That's when the Battle of the Gods began again."

"It was taking everything the remaining Children of Millennia had to stop the monster and save not only their kingdom, but the world," continued Rebecca. "Altogether, the pharaoh, the queen, and their two subjects combined their powers and used the Millennium Star. They won the battle, but the kingdom was in ruins. The queen knew what had to be done. Everyone had to be sent away so they could be reborn and begin new lives; including the princess."

Mokuba wiped his eyes to prevent the tears from falling. "Queen Mystery made a wish on the Millennium Star for everyone to be reborn. It was the only way to save everyone. The Millennium Star granted her wish and sent everyone away to begin new lives. The world was never the same after that."

Having heard enough of the story, Frollo decided to leave the bell tower and return to the Palace of Justice.

Quasimodo dried his eyes. "That's a very sad story."

"There's really nothing to be sad about," Rebecca told him, smiling. "The Great Goddess has new warriors and the princess is alive and well. She was able to grow up and live happily."

"How do you know?" Quasimodo asked.

"We know because…" Rebecca paused, then answered, "Because we've met the princess. She's our friend."

"Really?"

"It's the truth," said Mokuba. "Remember our friend we mentioned who made us those baked goods? She's the princess."

The hunchback laughed in disbelief. "You're serious?"

"Yes," the raven-haired lad answered. "And she has the Millennium Star. She also represents the element of love like her mother, the queen."

Quasimodo remembered Mokuba talking about elements before and wanted to learn more about them. "Speaking of elements, did the rest of the Children of Millennia represent their own elements too?"

Mokuba nodded. "My brother represents wisdom like his ancestor. Yugi represents courage like the pharaoh. Joey represents friendship like his ancestor."

"The other four Children of Millennia represented light, reliability, joy, and hope," Rebecca added.

Another question came into mind. "Mokuba, if your brother is a descendant of the Children of Millennia, then does that mean you are too?"

"That's a good question, actually. I've been wondering the same thing myself." He really did wonder if he could be a warrior of Millennia like his brother. "I've often thought about it since I discovered my element. And I guessed I've hoped of becoming a warrior like my brother." He smiled and thought to himself, Maybe I'll earn my own wings like Seto too.

Rebecca cleared her throat. "There's actually more to the story." Quasimodo looked at her and she said, "After the battle, the Stars were shattered. The Millennium Star was restored and as you already know, it lives in the heart of our friend Emily. As for the Cobalt Star, it was split into ten fragments. And when Mokuba said the world was never the same again, that's where all this comes in. The world was divided into many different worlds."

Mokuba nodded. "My brother and his friends have been to most of the other worlds and have coveted most of the shards of the Cobalt Star. It's kind of their mission: to gather the shards and restore the Cobalt Star."

"What will happen once the Cobalt Star has been restored?" Quasimodo asked.

"That's something even my brother doesn't know," Mokuba answered. "To be honest, I don't know either."

"Do you think there could be a shard here in this world?" the hunchback wondered.

"We've wondered the same thing," said Rebecca. "But we're not sure. But if there is, eventually Seto and the others are going to come to this world to find it."

It was true, but right now, there was no way of knowing if there was a shard of the Cobalt Star in this world. Mokuba and Rebecca hoped that there wasn't. Then again, it probably wouldn't matter if there was a shard or not because either way, the heroes were eventually going to come to this world. Mokuba and Rebecca hoped that time would never come.

Frollo returned to the Palace of Justice and went to his study looking for a book he had confiscated after arresting a group of gypsies. He found it and set it on his desk and began looking through the contents. It was a storybook about the Children of Millennia and their adventures. He had heard about this story some time ago, but hardly had the time to read it all the way.

As he read, he wondered to himself, were Millennia's warriors alive today? If so, then this was a golden opportunity for the minister. He would capture these legendary warriors and perhaps receive a handsome reward for it.