"Rei… Rei. How long have you been in the Animus? Answer me."

Time ebbs and flows differently while coasting the waves of genetic memory. I've seen it all. More of my murderous absentee father than I could care to know. Every thought, memory, and formative event of his entire sad existence.

"How did she get in if you weren't here to activate it from the outside?"

"She must have figured out how to access the override system."

"And she always said she was bad with computers…"

We stand over the bed. Risa is laying on her side, newborn cradled against her bare breast. The baby, me, absently suckles on an engorged breast. It is the middle of the night. The fire crackles. Risa is wide awake, staring up at us with bloodshot eyes.

"What is best for our family isn't what's best for the world," we speak with his deep voice.

Adrenaline courses through our veins. Hands shaking. Sweat beads our brow.

"Since when do the templars know what is best for the world?"

He doesn't want to do this. We don't want to do this. I don't want to do this.

—-

"The Animus can't detect her stream of consciousness."

"What? What's that mean?"

"If someone spends too much time reliving an ancestor's memories, they can suffer severe mental bleeding. Forget their sense of self. Lose their own conscious signature, adapting that of the ancestor whose memories they've been inside of."

—

I'm holding a baby in my bloody hands. They're large, masculine hands. Different than I remember. The baby-me?-is rooting, seeking out the stolen nipple. I can't look at the lifeless woman below me.

I can't do anything. Overcome with grief and paralyzing sobs, I hold an innocent baby. Her shock of raven hair is streaked with blood.

I need to run. Escape with her before I'm found out. The templars need us to save the world.

But my legs are lead.

I offer the babe a bloody knuckle to suck on. She's beautiful. Just like her mother.

Risa…

I didn't want this. I didn't want any of this. But I had to. Kaiou showed me what would happen, in her mirror. I saw…

What did I see? What did she show me? I don't remember… I wasn't there- I haven't seen that memory yet…

Of course I was there. I'm Takashi.

Frigid. Confused.

No, that's not right. I'm-

"So pull her out, then! What are you waiting for?"

"It isn't that simple, Makoto. Separating her consciousness without her mental awareness and consent can have significant consequences."

"Like?"

"At best, she will emerge believing she is her father. At worst…"

"What, Setsuna? What?"

"She could spend the rest of her life in a persistent vegetative state."

She's crying. She won't stop crying. The poor thing is hungry…

We were supposed to sneak out while she was still quiet. Now she's screaming and there's no way I can escape with a wailing newborn.

Soon, they'll realize something is wrong and come prying. I need to escape before anyone suspects. No one can see my bloodied hands.

I'd just as soon die. It's what I want. What I deserve. But her death would be for naught, if I forfeited my life now. Rei and I… We both must live.

And I won't escape with my life while carrying a crying infant.

With considerable effort, I whisper through my crippling grief. "You are destined for great things, little one."

Shaking, eyes burning, I return Rei to her mother's leaking breast.

I've destroyed my family. Forsaken the assassins. Sacrificed it all for the future of mankind.

Rei doesn't understand. If she ever does, it won't be until our fates have realigned to… to do what?

Why can't I remember?

"Rei… I don't know if you can hear me, but Makoto is with me, and we're pulling you out now. Brace yourself!"

Lost in thought, Sailor V stared out the tinted window of her limousine, petting her purring companion.

Four months without contacting Rei was torturous. When the tour first began, Minako was convinced she would be too busy to think about the assassin. Her schedule was booked, after all. Interviews and guest appearances and concerts and flights; she rarely stayed in one country for more than twenty-four hours.

Everywhere Sailor V went, her ears rang from the boisterous cheers of her fans. Her hand cramped from signing so many autographs, and her cheeks were sore from smiling for countless photographs. Each fan seemed to have a heartfelt story about how her music helped get them through a rough patch, like unexpected illness or a death in the family.

The fans. The music. The spotlights.

The idol life used to be all she ever needed. This was her definition of heaven. Aino Minako had everything she ever wanted.

But with every interview where she parroted templar talking points, and every concert, during which she sang lyrics that weren't hers, she felt her spirits draining more and more. The fact that she was nothing more than a templar puppet couldn't be any more obvious, and it was suckig the joy out of everything.

She didn't deserve these fans. Not anymore. Now that she was an inauthentic sell out, brainwashing the people who paid to watch her perform. Who idolized her.

And for what? Some centuries-old scheme to unite humanity in a creepily dystopian utopia called The New World Order? It was all too bizarre and fantastical to Minako.

She sold her soul without thinking twice, all to have her legs and her career back. More important to Sailor V than her career was the unique connection she had with her fans, which she had unwittingly forfeited that day as well.

Her chauffeur opened the limousine door, where her two security and a horde of fans awaited. Minako hadn't felt the car stop, so entranced in her thoughts as she had been.

Ears ringing from the overwhelming noise, she stepped out of the vehicle and into the flickering of smartphone cameras.

"Sailor V! Sailor V!"

The mask did not reveal anybody with peculiar auras. Just fans of all ages and shapes, coming dangerously close to knocking over the barricade separating them from the hotel and its conjoined parking lot.

Minako flashed her trademark smile. She raised a hand to wave at her adoring fans.

By the time she realized what was happening, it was too late.

A flash of movement out of the corner of her eye. Artemis hissing and leaping from her arms. A sudden sting in her side, just above her pelvic bone.

Minako reached for the chained beads wrapped around her waist, but her security had the situation under control. Lance was already wrestling the perpetrator to the ground, while Kenji was simultaneously calling for backup and checking her wound. It was an artificial wound, but that didn't make it bleed any less.

This marked the third attempt on her life during her tour. The other attempts were more private, one in a hotel hallway in Dublin, and another, a private restaurant in Montreal. This was the first time an attempt had been made in front of a large crowd, where at least a hundred devices were snapping pictures of the downed assassin.

For better or worse, it wasn't Rei.

The fans screamed. Some lingered to take photos, others clamored to run away.

Minako was frozen, hand clutching her open wound, staring at the young woman who wasn't Rei as her security handcuffed her. It was most assuredly an assassin; a lithe woman wearing a white hood, wielding a hidden blade, striking from plain sight.

Minako's life should have been flashing before her eyes.

"Aino-san, please get in the ambulance," Kenji insisted. She hadn't heard the approaching sirens, or noticed the flashing lights.

To onlookers, she appeared to be in shock. Artemis knew better. He sat at her feet, gazing up at her with a feline grin as if he knew exactly what she was thinking.

This injury was a blessing in disguise. The remainder of her tour would have to be canceled. She would bide her time until she could sneak away and see Rei.

Minako could barely wait to see the reaction on Rei's face when she revealed her plan.

—-

Black hood pulled low over her bangs, Minako walked as casually as possible down the sidewalk. She was alone. The full moon was high in the clear night sky. Her hands were buried inside the front pouch of her hoodie. As far as she could tell, no one had followed her from her city apartment.

The bandaged wound in her side was tender, but not debilitating. No organs had been pierced. Doctor's orders were simple: nothing more strenuous than walking.

Minako hoped walking was all that she'd be doing tonight. If the assassins refused to allow her entry into Hikawa Shrine, and turned the issue into a physical altercation, she didn't know what she would do. She was banking on Rei, hoping she knew the Shrine Maiden well enough to rightfully assume Rei wouldn't let anyone harm her.

Besides, once Minako shared her intentions, there was no way the assassins would attack her.

Or would they?

Minako stared up the white staircase leading to the shrine grounds. Aside from the crickets chirping, it was eerily silent. Minako stared up into the trees. She slipped her mask on, relying on it to assist her in detecting any sentries stationed in the trees.

Nothing.

Nothing except the tall, glowing verdant form glaring down at her from the top of the staircase.

Minako recognized that color, and the face along with it. This young woman stood beside Rei during her concert at the Tokyo Dome. She was special, like them. A hybrid, according to Kaiou.

Minako assumed this woman was an assassin, like Rei. Hino never struck Mina as the type to go out and make friends on her own. Seeing the imposing figure standing guard at the entrance, wearing the typical assassin ensemble of form-fitting slacks and a white hood, Minako found her suspicions all but confirmed.

"State your business," she called down in a demanding tone. She pulled back one of her sleeves, revealing a strange weapon strapped to her forearm.

It wasn't a hidden blade, as Minako expected.

When she didn't immediately reply, the sentry's weapon sparked a warning. Lightning danced around the woman's fist.

The small sign told Sailor V exactly who she was dealing with…

The room filling with smoke. The streak of lightning. Rei pushing her out of the line of fire.

This was Rei's partner that night. The night Rei saved her life, without explanation.

Minako took as deep a breath as her injury allowed. She concealed her Piece of Eden back into her pocket. If she didn't play her cards right, this assassin would strike her dead where she stood.

"I need to see Rei… please."