"So I felt something hard when I tried to push myself to my feet, and my hand instinctively closed around it. Next thing I knew I was engulfed in water that somehow didn't make me wet and my clothes. . ." Mariko gestured to indicate the sailor fuku she was no longer wearing. "Well, you saw what happened."

Rio looked distinctly smug but had the good sense to say nothing about how she had been proven right. Of course, Mizuki's elbow in her ribs may have helped a bit with that. They both sat on Chibiusa's bed, their backs against the wall, and had kept silent during Mariko's account of what had happened. Akemi sat in the desk chair, her head bowed, not meeting anyone's gaze. Chibiusa was on the floor, leaning against the foot of her bed, and she seemed to be completely unaware of what was going on. She held the Jupiter pen in one hand, rhythmically clenching and opening her fist around it, apparent mesmerized by the action.

Mariko seemed oblivious to the tension; she wouldn't sit down and paced back in forth in the room's small confines, bouncing up on her toes any time she was forced to stop walking. The rapid flow of words that told her story had stopped, but her smile was fixed and could almost be described as radiant. It was clear that she didn't believe there would be any further difficulties.

Akemi was another thing entirely, as was proved by the glare in her eyes when she finally lifted her head and looked at her friends. Mizuki opened her mouth to say something encouraging but was forestalled when Akemi shot to her feet and snatched the Jupiter pen from Chibiusa's hands. The expression of distaste that crossed her features spoke volumes about her feelings, as did the speed with which she made for the door of the room.

Mizuki and Rio both clambered to their feet, but it was Mariko who laid a hand on Akemi's arm and forestalled the exit. "Akemi -"

Akemi tugged her arm free and vehemently shook her head. "I know what you're going to say and the answer is no. You can't help me with this. And frankly I don't want you to." She swept a quick glance around the room, taking in all of her friends. "If I can't do this on my own it might not be worth doing," she said before departing. They could hear her steps clattering down the stairs, and Usagi's muffled voice, questioning, before the front door slammed with a resounding thud.

Rio, Mariko and Mizuki all exchanged glances. In unspoken agreement they moved as a unit to leave the room, only to be stopped by the sight of Usagi at the base of the small stairway. She shook her head.

"But we can't leave her alone!" Mizuki said, troubled. "It's dangerous and she's vulnerable."

"You have to leave her alone," Usagi replied, sounding almost unnaturally calm.

"But Mizuki's right," Rio put in. "She is vulnerable right now; Chaos knows what she is and she can't protect herself."

Usagi's brow furrowed in puzzlement. "What do you mean Chaos knows what she is?"

Rio looked at all the others in the small room and saw identical baffled expressions on their faces. "That's what happened today, at the shrine," she said. "That. . . wind, for lack of a better term. That was it, or him, if you prefer. Chaos. Sort of. . . I don't know, scanning us would be the best word for it." She glanced again at the others. "Didn't you feel it?"

"No, but I bet your mother did," Usagi replied, eyes on Rio. "She was acting a little strange when we left." She grew quiet and thoughtful for a moment before her expression hardened and she started snapping out orders. "Mizuki and Mariko, find Akemi and stick to her like glue. There may not be any danger until she achieves her transformation but best not to take any chances. Rio, get back to the shrine and grill your mother; I want to know everything she felt or sensed during that attack. And Chibiusa. . ."

Chibiusa's head snapped up as soon as her mother said her name, but the vacant expression in her eyes showed that she wasn't completely with them. She blinked several times, slowly, and stared at her empty hands; hands that had been holding the Jupiter Pen not so very long ago.

"Chibiusa!"

Awareness came back into her eyes and face when her mother called to her. She got to her feet, hands slowly clenching into fists at her sides. Her gazed worked its way around the room.

"Where's Seiya?"

Always this same park, Seiya said to himself as he walked through the gate. You would almost believe that I can't have a good think anywhere else.

And maybe he could think his way through problems elsewhere, but no other place brought the same sense of peace. This park had been a refuge, for both himself and Chibiusa, for so long that it was the most natural place to come to calm his teeming brain. He knew. Like Rio he had felt what was in that wind. Unlike her, though, he knew who the target had been. He just couldn't figure out why.

"Rough day, huh?" The words jolted Seiya out of his turbulent thoughts and he looked up, squinting against the slanting light. The setting sun shining on silver-white hair told him who his companion was even before he saw Helios' face.

"What do you want?" Seiya asked, not even trying to be polite. "Aren't you supposed to be joined at the hip with my sister, or something?"

Helios just smiled, ignoring the rudeness and implied insults. He sat on the bench beside Seiya. "I'm supposed to be helping your sister," he replied calmly. "And right now the best way I can help her is by helping you."

Seiya snorted, but didn't reply. He felt no need, and certainly no desire, to unload his thoughts and feelings. Especially not to Helios. What could some semi-ephemeral priest of Elysion know about anything? He didn't actually live in the real world, and barely existed as a human being. And all of that spiritual guidance nonsense? Totally useless!

"Seiya, are you all right?"

The voice sounded indistinct, like it came from a long distance away, but it was enough to pull him back. Seiya blinked several times, rapidly, clearing the reddish haze that had obscured his vision and thoughts. It felt almost like surfacing from under murky water; the sudden onslaught of pure sunlight was almost painful. Helios was studying his face, concern creasing his brow. "Where were you?" he asked.

"What? I don't -" Seiya's words came to an abrupt end. He had gone somewhere, disappearing into a part of his heart and mind that he had never suspected existed. A dark place, full of anger, hate, and disgust. He didn't understand what had happened; he could readily admit that he didn't think much of Helios, but such negative and abusive thoughts were totally out of character.

Helios, still studying the younger man's face, seemed to understand. "Tell me," he said quietly.

Seiya hesitated, not because he was still reluctant to talk to Helios, but because he wasn't sure of how to put into words the things that he had felt. That and he really had no idea what was happening. He didn't want to discuss it until he knew more for himself, but the odds were definitely in favor of Helios being able to help, in that regard at least. But before he could even make up his mind Helios sighed and stood.

"OK, I can accept that you don't what to talk about whatever-this-is," he said. "Or whatever you think it is. But just remember this; I'm not here solely to help and protect your sister." He laid a hand on Seiya's shoulder. "I am the guardian priest for the entire Earth kingdom, and everyone connected to it. You included." He started to walk away.

"Wait!" Seiya called out, surging to his feet and walking after Helios. When they were walking side by side he continued. "It's not that I don't want to talk about it," Seiya said. "I'm just not sure what to say."

"About?"

Seiya shrugged. "Any of it. Even you have to admit it's been a pretty confusing day."

Helios didn't respond immediately, just continued walking. When they reached the park gate they both turned in the opposite direction from the house, an instinct that their conversation, not over by any means, was best conducted away from everyone else. Helios continued in silence, knowing it would be best for Seiya to speak first. Besides, he had a feeling he knew what was going on in the younger boy's brain and didn't want to frighten him with that knowledge.

"You felt it this afternoon, didn't you?"

Helios didn't pretend to misunderstand. "Yes, I did. I'm not sure who, or what, the target was, though."

Seiya glanced at his companion out of the corner of his eye. "Chibiusa?"

Helios shrugged. "I thought so; I was attacked first, and attacking me is a strike against her. I'm not so sure, now. It could have been any of the girls."

"Mariko. . ." Seiya cleared his throat, slightly embarrassed by the catch in his voice when he said her name. "I was scared it was her," he admitted.

"You like her." It wasn't a question and Seiya's only reaction was a betraying flush on his cheeks. Helios noticed and pressed his lips together to hide his smile. "Akemi was with you when you were struck, though."

Seiya gave that some thought, but shook his head. "No, whatever was in that wind wasn't interested in her," he said. He swallowed. "It was me." Those words were whispered.

Helios briefly stumbled but otherwise didn't react to Seiya's assertion. He was surprised, but in a way not. It was becoming increasingly clear that things were not as simple as what they had first assumed. Whatever was going on with destiny it went deeper, and spread wider, than anyone had first thought.

He became aware of an uncomfortable and expectant silence and turned his head to look at his companion. His first instinct was to deny the possibility that Seiya had been targeted in what had happened at the shrine, but he knew that that would just put off what was now inevitable. Better to confront all of it straight on. "What did you feel, exactly?" Helios asked. "Or as exact as you can be."

Seiya didn't hesitate, saying the first thing that came to his mind as he remembered. "Anger," he said. "Powerful, all consuming anger."

"You mean rage?"

Seiya shook his head. "No, rage would have been uncontrolled. This was. . ." He thought for a few moments. "There was intelligence in command of everything. It was in control of the emotion, not the other way around."

Helios nodded his understanding; it made a certain amount of sense. "And why do you think it was targeting you?" he asked.

Seiya took a deep breath and swallowed audibly. "It got inside my head, my brain," he said, fighting to control the emotional quaver in his voice. "I could feel it picking through my thoughts and feelings. Whatever it was it knows everything that I do. About everything."

"Let's stop saying 'whatever it was"," Helios said, halting and taking hold of Seiya to bring him to a stop. "I think we all know what it is that we're now dealing with."

Seiya nodded. "Chaos."

"Chaos." Helios started walking again, but this time in the opposite direction, heading back toward the house. "Come on," he called over his shoulder. "We've got some help to recruit."

Mizuki and Mariko caught up with Akemi at the bus station near their school. It was the third place they had gone in their efforts to find her, and Mizuki was obviously hot, tired and frustrated. Mariko was as well, just better at hiding it.

"You are not an easy person to track down," Mariko said, walking beside Akemi to their favorite oak tree on the school grounds, Mizuki trailing behind.

"Yeah, well, that was deliberate, you know," Akemi replied, sounding disgruntled. "I didn't exactly want to be found."

"Too bad," Mizuki said, not bothering to hide the anger in her voice. "You're stuck with us. Things are too unsettled right now and without your powers you are the most vulnerable person, so get used to having at least one of us with you at all times." She flopped onto the grass beneath the tree, the subject closed as far as she was concerned.

Mariko sighed and rolled her eyes; she would have been more circumspect in how they approached Akemi, but she couldn't deny that Mizuki got her point across. Akemi blushed and nervously worried her bottom lip between her teeth. Clearly she was feeling uncertain about wanting to be alone in order to figure out where she fit into the big picture.

"Fair enough," Akemi said, sitting down beside Mizuki and taking the Jupiter Pen out of her pocket. She held it loosely, but tension was visible in every line of her body. Mizuki, sprawled underneath the tree with her eyes half closed, looking as if she didn't have a care in the world, noticed but kept her mouth shut. Now was not the time for more bluntness, but rather for Mariko's brand of tact.

Mariko watched the pair of them for some moments, unsure what she could say to make anything better. Everything was still too new for her and she didn't yet feel comfortable with the idea of any of it. She had transformed, yes, but still had no idea what her powers were, or what she was capable of. How was she supposed to help Akemi? One thing she did know for certain, though.

"You can't force it, you know. What happened to me today proves that."

Akemi looked up, not pretending to misunderstand. "So I just wait?" she asked, no longer sounding angry, but infinitely sad. "Wait, while the rest of you need my help and the danger we're all in grows increasingly larger?" She snorted. "How can I accept that?"

"You just do," Mizuki put in, not moving from her relaxed position. "You can't change it, so there's little point in obsessing over it."

"I wasn't -"

"Yes, you were," Mizuki interrupted, pulling herself to a sitting position. "You always do." She looked at Mariko. "It's one thing the two of you have in common; fretting about what you can't control."

Mariko finally sat down. "Guilty," she said with a smile. She met Akemi's eyes. "If I could tell you how to stop worrying I would. But no one can figure that out except you."

Akemi nodded and pushed the transformation pen back in her pocket. She lay down with a sigh, crossing her arms beneath her head. "That's not the only thing I'm worried about, though," she said. "There was something strange about what happened at Hikawa this afternoon."

"Yeah, we know," Mizuki responded, picking a blade of grass and shredding it in her hands. "Rio said that she felt the enemy in that wind."

Akemi frowned slightly. "I don't know about that, but there was definitely something. . ." She thought for a moment. "Something malevolent there. It was totally focused on Seiya."

It took a little bit of time for her words to sink in, but when they did Mariko shot to her feet. "What? What do you mean 'focused"?"

Akemi sat up, caught by the fear she heard in Mariko's voice. Mizuki was also suddenly more alert and attentive to the conversation. "That wind," Akemi said. "I felt it touch me, in my mind and heart, and just as quickly dismiss me. But it – clung would be the best word – it clung to Seiya. Like he had something that the enemy wanted, or needed. Like it could be pulled out of Seiya."

Mizuki felt a chill as she remembered things her mother had told her about Sailor Galaxia and Chaos. "Or possessed from within," she whispered.

Mariko blanched, all of the blood draining from her face as the import of Mizuki's words hit home. "You think. . ." Her voice trailed off as she swallowed hard. She met the eyes of each of her friends in turn and saw her own fear and anxiety reflected there. "We have to get back to the house. Now."