Disclaimer: Never have owned.

AN: So, like I said, the next chapter would be posted up right away. Oh, and I realized I like "Sara" better than "Sarah", so I'm spelling it that way.

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Legend:

'Thoughts'

"Normal"

-Dream Sequences/Flashbacks-

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Chapter 16 to Dreams and Wishes

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-

"Wasn't I just in my room?" White, puffy, clouds floated in the blue sky. He was lying on his back atop the grass. It was a wide, open, field with a few trees here and there. Though the one he was beside was the largest of them all. Something landed on his nose and he plucked it off, staring. "Huh?" He averted his gaze towards the tree, which he had come to realize was rather…huge.

Still holding the petal that fell onto his face, he stared in awe. He had never seen anything like this tree before, unless it was in a picture, but even then it was still big. He had a strange, familiar, feeling seep through him the longer he stared at the tree.

"Cherry Blossoms…"

He was now standing and walked up to the tree, placing a hand on it. He gasped as it emitted a soft glow upon touching it. As if he couldn't be more surprised, a set of stairs spiraled around the tree, though only noticeable if you were within a few feet of it. "Right, this is a dream, anything can happen." But that didn't seem to assure him very much.

He was debating on whether or not he should follow the trail. After all, he was supposed to be having some sort of talk with Tina. That's right! She's Xantara! He inwardly groaned. Why did he have to faint?

"Hans…" It was that voice again, but it sounded more familiar than usual. He still couldn't quite place the recognition though. "I'm up here…" Jan hadn't noticed that he had been climbing the stairs while he thought. He was now staring into a pair of familiar cobalt blue eyes.

"Why?" Jan didn't need to ask anything else, but that one word held so much meaning.

The Princess turned around, her face still a blur to him, but could make out a small, sad, smile emitting from her. "I trusted you, Hans, I really did."

He crossed his arms, confused, but irritated. "It seems like I've broken this trust of yours."

She slowly nodded her head and walked up to him. Something she had never done before. She grasped his hands in her own and stared up at him, her eyes the only things he could make out.

"What are you doing?" His question went unanswered.

"The Locket. You opened it once before, yes?" His eyes widened in surprise. "You did."

"How do you know about my Locket?" He was now gripping her shoulders as he expected an answer. "Tell me!"

"I gave it to you." Jan stopped shaking the girl. Upon closer inspection, she was wearing a light lavender dress, very similar to the dress Princess Serena wore, but he didn't know that. She had never broken her gaze upon his own. "You lost your memories prior to opening it." And she turned around, breaking their intense gaze.

"That Locket was the cause of me losing my memory?!" He clenched his fists. "Then why is it in my possession? I should get rid of it."

Her next answer surprised him. "Then you, as well as the others, will never remember me…"

"Is that supposed to be a threat?" Jan watched as she held out a palm to catch a petal floating from the tree.

"That is not it at all. I was merely stating that if you do want to remember, you must keep the locket with you at all times. Not only of the memories you lost, but of the ones from your first life."

First life? She must've been joking. No one can be reborn into a new life, it's not possible. Maybe they can without the memories of their old life… "You're really not helping at all. You're just making me more confused than ever." Something suddenly struck him. "Were you…were you the one that gave me the white rose?"

"I-…yes." He hadn't noticed that they were holding hands once again. When had she done that? "I cannot lie for the life of me, I must always be honest. But I will tell you one thing." Jan stared back at her as she into his own eyes. "You are Prince Darien's knight."

He chuckled. "Me? A knight?" He shook his head, disagreeing. "Now I know you're lying."

Anger flashed through her eyes. "I do not lie." She let go of his hands and he was already missing the warmth and something else that it emitted.

He took note that she was almost a head shorter than himself. "I can see…your hair is…black." For some strange reason, he was starting to see a bit of her features.

Her eyes widened when she heard him whisper. "You've stayed here too long." Her back was facing him once again, but in the next few seconds, she was hugging him.

"What?" He was surprised when he found his own arms hugging the girl back. Ack! What am I doing?! Her face was buried in his chest and he lightly blushed.

"It will be a long time before you remember, but…" She looked up at him to reveal something else he could now see that he had not seen before. "…you must speak to your cousin now. She will understand if you mention your Prince, Darien."

-

"…n! Jan!" She was shaking him roughly as she was annoyed that he could stay unconscious for so long. "Wake up, you idiot!--Huh?"

"Okay, I'm awake. Geez." Jan had stopped her hand that was about to slap him.

This caught Tina off guard. Maybe his skills are returning. She watched him go into a sitting position. She sat down next to him. "What did she say this time?"

"How'd you-…" She waved her hand.

"You kept muttering Princess over and over." Tina smirked. "Having a pretty nice dream, eh?"

He blushed, but fought it down and turned serious. "It was not that nice." Jan wanted to change the subject badly. So he intervened when she opened her mouth to retort. "She told me that if I asked you about Prince Darien, you'd be able to explain." Tina opened and closed her mouth like a goldfish. He chose to continue. "The Princess said I was also his knight or something."

"You're his knight?"

"Apparently." He scratched his head. "Although that's not hard to believe since Xantara is sitting right next to me."

A gasp.

Both teens looked at each other before realizing it didn't come from either of them. They were busted. "I really need to get that lock fixed." Tina was too nervous to look behind them, so Jan did it.

"Who is it? Is it your parents?" She tilted her head to look at him, but found no one sitting next to her. "Jan?" Fully turning around, he was kneeling on the floor. It was his younger sister. This isn't going to look too good with Pluto. Tina walked over to the two, making sure the door was closed all the way, and knelt down to the girls height.

"Are you really Xantara?" There was no use in hiding it, so she nodded. "Cool…"

Tina went serious. "Can I trust you to keep it a secret, Squirt?" The child nodded enthusiastically. "Good. Now give me a hug!" The trio laughed as the two of them hugged.

Jan caught the look he was getting from Tina. It seemed to say, 'We'll talk more later. There's a lot to talk about'. He only nodded his head before she went back to playing with his sister. "Sara, where'd you leave Leo?"

"Cousin Leo is ea-…oh! Mommy told me to get you two so we can eat dinner!" In a blink of an eye, the girl had darted out of the room and back upstairs.

He chuckled. "We'll talk more after dinner, okay?"

"Read my mind." She left the room as well.

He stayed in his kneeling position a bit longer before standing up and turning off the lights, his hand on the door as he closed it. He could hear the scrapes of chairs and clatters of spoons on plates. The evident smell of his mom's best spaghetti wafted through the air as he ascended the stairs. He started thinking back on what happened a few moments ago. Sara was oddly calm when she discovered she was related to a Sailor Scout. "I'll have to really talk to her later."

He stopped mid-step, halfway up the stairs. The last physical trait of the Princess came back to his mind.

Dimples…cute dimples…

----

It was a couple hours after the teen had picked the twins up, along with their Kerplunk game. Darien came home early as well. He was holding a folder as he walked through the doors and kept it with him until he reached the bedroom. Rini made an excuse of dropping by the other girls' places, so it was just the two of them going out for the night.

Looking around at her surroundings, confused, lights moved around the walls, they were also emitting from the games that were off to the sides. "Why are we here again?"

The man holding her hand chuckled like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "We're watching a movie."

Serena frowned. "I know that, but why?" They were now in line to purchase tickets.

He scratched his head, smiling. "I never got you for myself since we moved here."

Serena quickly kissed him and gripped his hand tighter as she leaned into his arm. "Thank you." Those two words meant so many things for them. It represented all that they went through, among others. She looked up at him as he paid for the tickets. "We're actually watching that?"

He smiled sheepishly. "Yes." He pulled her out of the line for the next person to go and purchase their ticket. "Would you want to watch something else?"

"No, no." She laughed. "I'd never thought I'd see the day you would be watching something like this at the movies instead of at home."

He shrugged his shoulders. "I suppose I had a change of mind." Darien didn't want to mention that it was their friend that changed his mind. She was already questioning their relationship because of one person, so he wanted to make it up to his Princess.

"For me?" She stared at the red rose in front of her, admiring its beauty. It never seemed to amaze her.

"Who else would it be for?" And he gently whispered into her ear. "You were the one that made me love roses, red ones…" He tickled her cheek with the soft petals before placing it in her hand. It was thornless, of course. Hand in hand, they walked into the appropriate theater and chose suitable seats. There was no need for popcorn as they had a quick bite to eat before they left.

"In this time?" He looked at her as she continued. "Or both?"

"In this time." Darien thought about it for a bit. "I don't know why or how in the old one."

"You know if you keep giving me roses, I won't have anywhere to put them since they never die out."

He chuckled. "Would you rather have me stop giving you flowers?" She smiled.

"Never." And the movie started just as the lights dimmed.

But then there's that white rose...

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"Hakuya."

"Yes, Sunta?" Her voice held a very sarcastic tone. Something was definitely bothering her.

A sigh. "You almost got me in trouble with Master."

"I'm sorry, am I forgiven?" Now her voice was back to pure sincerity. One that she only used when he was alone with her. Usually when they were training.

"When have you not?" He received a pat on the head as he was really short. Only reaching her waist. "Quit it. You know I hate it when you do that."

She smiled under her hood. Her eyes shown their true color when they were alone. Right now was one of them. "It's why I choose to pat you on the head. Part of my amusement to keep me sane around here."

"You plan to use that technique on one of their own, I presume, but which one?"

"I already know whom to use it on."

"Hakuya, Master may get suspicious of us and our loyalty to him." He followed her to their training area. It consisted of a circular room with one door. One special feature was the black light. It made anything white, as usual, glow. Though for this one, it was only white, no other color glowed.

"Oh, let him be." She waved a hand in dismissal. "We're going to prove him wrong he won't even remember doubting us."

They sat, cross-legged, on the floor. A few moments later they were both hovering high in the air as they meditated. This usually meant that they were entering a state of mind where they can connect and battle each other mentally as well as train each other. In other words, virtual reality.

"I have a new idea for a move."

"As do I, but mine involves advancing one of your techniques and melding it with one of my own."

"Oh, really?"

Sunta formed a certain hand seal that he had learned from her. In front of him appeared a triangle-like arrow. "Now, if I apply this…" He closed his eyes and a green aura surrounded the shape in front of them.

"What's that supposed to do?"

He smirked. And, for once, she was confused. Until he explained the purpose of it. "If we add one more element, it will be deadly."

----

The next day, everyone was out doing their activities. It was the last day before the weekend. Serena looked at the clock just as the doorbell went off. Right on time as usual. "It's open!" She heard the regular open and close of the door, as well as feet shuffling to get their shoes off.

"Aunty Rena! Nee-chan!"

"Rini's in her room!" The twins gave her a quick hug of hello before dashing off to see their cousin. "Enthusiastic as ever." She watched the other girl take the same seat as the day before, although something seemed off. "Aren't you going to work?"

Stephanie wasn't wearing her usual outdoor clothes. "They actually started that vacation pay today, but I thought I'd drop by with the girls anyway." She gave her sheepish smile. "Um. Have you thought about it?"

She leaned back in her chair, crossing her arms. "We have thought about it, but we do have conditions." The girl raised an eyebrow.

"And that would be?"

"Protect them at all costs."

"That's a given, but yes."

"We are still given rights over them."

"Understandable." She tilted her head. "You are their blood relatives, after all."

Serena blinked, but continued. "Most of all, love them."

"I-…" The girl sighed. "That can't be helped." Stephanie shook her head. "I mean, it's already been done."

"Good." She pulled out the folder that the girl left the day before and handed it back to her. "As long as all those conditions are met, you can be their legal guardian." There was silence as she stared at the girl.

"I pinkie promise." Stephanie was holding out her right pinkie for Serena to link with. What she didn't know was that different sets of emotions were running through her. "Serena?"

Serena snapped out of her thoughts and quickly linked her own with hers. "It's a pinkie promise…" They stayed like that until Stephanie unlinked them.

"I won't let you guys down." She stood up and took the folder with her. "I better go and give this to them right away. Oh, I'll be coming around the same time as yesterday. Maybe a little later since I'll be enrolling them into a school."

"You can get the papers through that fast?"

She shrugged in response. "I guess you can say my parents ha--...ve connections." There was a slight hint of hesitance with her reply. "See you!"

"Yeah, see you." The door closed and Serena stared at her hand. Her pinkie was still curved from the promise. "You're acting just like Abby would…"

"Aunty Rena!!" Terri came tugging on her arm, snapping her out of her thoughts.

"What is it, Terri?"

"Nee-chan locked herself in her room!"

"What?"

----

They watched as the car drove away. "And how are we going to get back?" She stopped waving.

"Oh, we won't need to, we'll be staying here."

"WHAT?"

"Take a chill pill, Cuz. She has extra rooms." She noticed him about to protest more. "And Aunty said it was fine."

"Hmph." She didn't know why he was so different when it concerned her best friend.

Maybe he… "Do you like her?"

"Excuse me?" He turned towards her in surprise. "She's okay, but I don't like her like that."

Tina nudge him as she walked by, waving at the manager. "Hi, Mac!"

"Good afternoon, Tina." He leaned over the counter. "You just missed her."

"Oh." She thought for a second. "But Serena is still here?" He nodded. "Thanks, Mac!" Tina headed for the elevator and pressed the button for up and stepped in. Jan dashed into the elevator just as the doors closed. "Thinking about her again?"

He didn't know who she was referring to until he saw the sly smile on her face. "I told you." The elevator dinged and the doors slid open. Together, they exited. "We're just starting to become friends. That's it."

They walked and stood in front of the right door. "Okay, let me do the talking." Jan didn't have time to respond as she knocked on the door, followed by an 'It's open' response. They entered, taking off their shoes after they closed the door. And when they turned around, they were greeted with the faces of six girls. All eyes were on the only male, however.

"Eheh…hi." He waved slightly.

"This is my cousin." Tina didn't want to reveal his name just yet. She changed the subject. "What's going on?"

Mina decided to explain. "Rini's refusing to talk for some odd reason. We've been trying to get her to tell us what's wrong." She was eyeing the teenage boy with curiosity. He was rather cute as well as tall with short, black, hair. He rather fit the profile of tall, dark, and handsome. Just like Darien. "Each one of us has gone through, but little to no success."

"I take it Raye is in there?" Tina noticed the missing presence of the priestess.

Lita nodded. "She's lasted longer. About fifteen minutes now." She took a quick glance at her watch. "She's probably spitting out whatever the problem is to her righ-…"

There was a huge sigh as the bedroom door closed. Raye came out with a defeated look and plopped down onto the floor, sitting on a pillow. "Nothing." Once she was relaxed, she felt an unfamiliar aura and looked towards the boy.

He felt insecure under her gaze, as if she was reading him like a book. "Hello, I'm Tina's cousin." She blinked at his response. "I'll just sit over there." He pointed over to a table near the kitchen, a few feet from the living room, and sat down.

Tina decided to give it a try. "Mind if I go in?" Serena nodded and all watched as she headed in, closing the door.

"I bet she'll last 10 minutes."

"Five. She doesn't know Rini that well." Retorted Raye against Lita's guess.

Amy sighed. "I don't think you should be saying stuff like that. She is-…" She stopped and looked at the boy in the room. Perhaps it wasn't right to speak out loud about their alter-egos.

Serena rolled her eyes at this. "Whatever it is, we'll get out whatever has been causing a problem for Rini." She placed her head on the arm rest. The children had fallen asleep next to her on the couch, cuddling each other. A smile appeared on her face as she stared at the two of them. Someone knocked on the door. "It's open!" She yelled, not realizing she caused the twins to stir.

"Hey…what's going on?" All heads turned to look at the new comer. "And yes, I'm early again, Serena." She laughed at the older girls expression. Stephanie looked around the room and her eyes landed on one person. So, she walked over to him. "Hey. What are you doing here?"

Upon seeing her, he grinned. "I could ask you the same thing." She rolled her eyes, causing him to chuckle. The sound of another door opening and closing interrupted their short conversation.

"No luck."

Raye laughed. "I told you so. Five minutes." Tina ignored that comment and looked at her best friend.

"Hi Steph!"

"Hi, Na, what brings you here?"

"I-…we actually came to talk to them." She pointed at Jan and then motioned to the group. "Though, we're missing a few people."

"If it's that important, I should leave now." Stephanie stretched a bit, but was suddenly pummeled with a weight, two weights, around her legs, thus causing her to laugh. "I thought you two were sleeping?" And, again, all eyes this time were focused on the two children as they giggled.

Tina hadn't noticed them until now, but this didn't really affect her. She was used to seeing children act that way towards Stephanie. Jan, however, didn't. The way the children smiled sent his heart soaring. They have the same dimples… He was interrupted from his thoughts as he felt a slight tug on his pant leg. It was one of the little girls. "Hi."

"Hi, Mister. I'm Terri and that's my sister Abby." As if it wasn't obvious, she pointed to her twin. Terri looked back at him with her big, round, eyes. "I like you." Her sister joined her at her side and observed him with the same eyes.

"Me, too."

"Girls, I'm sure you're scaring the man." Serena had gotten up and joined their little group. The other Scouts were discussing matters that didn't concern her.

"No, no, it's fine." He got off the chair and knelt down to their eye level. Serena and Stephanie raised an eyebrow at this. At least he knew how not to intimidate children. "I'm Jan. Nice to meet you." He held out both of his hands so he could shake each at the same time.

Tina shook her head. He had said his name. She turned her gaze to Serena and hoped she didn't hear it, but was wrong. Her eyes had glossed over in thought, obviously making the connection. Just great. She knew Serena wouldn't say anything until Stephanie was gone. No, she wasn't trying to get rid of her, it just wasn't for her ears.

The twins giggled and tackled him into a hug. "Uh." Jan slowly wrapped his arms around them, patting them on the back awkwardly. It was still strange to him that he'd receive hugs from people he didn't know too well, but since these were children, he let it pass. They have the same shade of blue eyes as her, too. He snapped out of his thoughts as one of the two released him and ran back to Stephanie, they other gripping his hand.

"Yes, Little One? What is it?"

"We really like him, Mama, can he be our Papa?"

"Why…um…I…" Stephanie was baffled. She was rubbing the back of her neck as she blushed in embarrassment. Abby and Terri had only known him for a span of three minutes. She shot a look at her best friend that said, 'I'll tell you later', before turning her attention to the twins. She did not dare look at Jan. If she had, she would've noticed him blushing as well with a small smile on his face. "We'll talk about this later."

Terri went over to Jan and held one of his hands, Abby staying with Stephanie. Serena was staring at the four. Many questions flooded her mind. "Hm?" She turned to look at the teen.

"I just wanted to know where Rini is." Serena hadn't noticed the girl place a hand on her shoulder. She then pointed to a door.

"She won't come out of her room."

Stephanie nodded. "Mind if I go in?"

What could she do that she hadn't already tried? "Go right ahead, though we've all tried with no luck." Serena watched as she told young Abby to stay put with her sister and walked towards the bedroom, pausing with her hand on the door knob.

"And Raye?" The priestess turned to look at her. "I'll last longer than you think." And she disappeared, closing the door with a click.

Serena shook her head as Raye smirked. "I'll be nice and say that she'll last ten minutes."

Jan was in his own thoughts as Terri held his hand. To say in the least, he was surprised. She has kids? Why didn't Tina tell me about this? And if they're her kids… He looked again into the child's face. Dimples and blue eyes that matched the ones in the dream. Could she be the Princess in my dreams? Then again… He changed his gaze to the door that she had gone through. She has dark brown eyes, not blue ones.

A cough erupted from behind him, causing him to jump in surprise. "May I ask what you are doing her-…" He was staring into a pair of midnight blue eyes. Darker than the ones in his dream.

"Darien. Early again today?" Darien. This was him? His supposed Prince?

His gaze stayed on the boy before him. He was only an inch or two taller than the boy. "Yeah. They didn't need me today."

"Darien…Prince Darien?"

He lifted a brow.

"I'm…" Jan gulped. "…your knight from long ago." There was so much staring going on around lately. Just what was up with that? Although, what he said next surprised him.

"Prove it."

Huh? How was he supposed to do that? It's not like he had any special powers or anything. He felt a slight jab coming from his inside pocket. But it's worth a try. He reached into his jacket and fingered the item before pulling it out. "How about something like this?" That probably did it. Serena and Darien were staring hard at the item in his hand. Though they kept telling themselves it was a normal one. Tina, however, knew better after he told her the story. "I don't know, exactly, what it does. But…"

"…It never dies?"

"Yeah."

Darien was having trouble grasping that concept. Deep down he knew that the teenage boy before him was Sir Hans, but it couldn't be that easy, right? "Then tell me something about the past."

"I don't remember much, but I'm assuming that she's Princess Serena." Jan pointed to the girl behind him. "We all met on the Moon Kingdom, if I remember correctly, but that's all I know."

Serena joined the conversation. "Your name is Jan not Hans." It didn't make sense, his name was the only one that didn't match. They had all kept their original names in some form from their previous life.

"I think I can answer that." Tina stepped in. "The letter 'J' can also be pronounced as an 'H'. So…" She left off for them to figure it out.

Darien ruffled his own hair. "I didn't think I'd be coming home to this." He looked towards the living room. "Where's Rini?" The tension in the air seemed to break as the subject changed. Serena sighed as it'd be another short, quick, explanation.

"She won't come out of her room or talk to us. We've all tried to console her to tell us, but nothing has worked." So much for a short explanation. "Steph's in there right now."

"She's here?" Serena nodded in confirmation. "How long has it been?"

Raye piped up at this and yelled from afar. "Twelve minutes!" She stopped pacing. "What? She might beat me."

Darien shook his head. "We'll talk more later after this is dealt with."

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AN: Uhhhh. R&R! I guess. All up to you.

B-chanz