OCWaGH: Chapter 12

About an hour passed by after the meeting at the Sailor Guardian's complex ended, with everyone going off in different directions to spend the day doing what they wanted; as well as keeping an eye out for the enemy, of course.

Ed and Usagi went to the candy store nearby along with Robin and Hotaru. Double D decided to stick with Ami, who wanted to go back to the local library to read the research that was interrupted by yesterday's attack. Erik and Makoto decided to stick around the apartment that she and Ami were assigned to while Scott and Minako went into town to grab something to eat. Rei told everyone she wanted to look around inside the woods nearby, telling them she wanted to find a clearing to set up a teleporting pad in the clearing that would connect to her shrine back in Tokyo; she already contacted both Luna and Artemis for their help with this. Finally, Eddy had to go back home for his brother's arrival, as much as he did not want to see him; he did not tell anyone else about this besides the two other Eds.

Either way, we soon focus on what Rei was doing. She was currently wandering around inside the woods near the Cul-De-Sac, coming back to the area where she and her friends arrived here through teleportation.

"Hmm, this spot should be good enough to set up what we need," Rei stated to herself, "I just need Luna and Artemis to contact me once they made the connections on their end…"

She then glanced toward the direction of the Cul-De-Sac, remembering how bitter Eddy looked earlier when he said he had to be somewhere else today.

"… I should try and find out what's going on with that," Rei muttered before she began to walk back out of the woods.

Once Rei left the woods, she began to walk toward the Cul-De-Sac, around to the entrance where the playground was, "Now, which one is Eddy's house…?"

It was while she was standing there that Rei noticed two teens her age nearby; it was Kevin and Nazz. Rei walked over to them, "Hey there."

Kevin and Nazz turned to see a new girl coming up to them, "Oh, hello there!" Nazz greeted, "I didn't expect to see another new kid today."

Rei seemed a bit confused by that, but brushed it aside, "My name's Rei. I just moved into an apartment complex down the street from here. I was exploring the neighborhood, so I decided to come say hello."

Kevin stared at Rei for a moment before making a small glare. He could not help but feel suspicious about her.

"Well, it's nice to meet you, Rei," Nazz stated with a smile before gesturing to Kevin beside her, "My name's Nazz and this is my friend Kevin."

Rei looked at Kevin, noticing the glare he was giving her, 'Geez, seems like he's in a bad mood too, isn't he?'

"Well, it's nice to meet you two!" Rei said before glancing back toward the houses nearby, "Umm, I'm currently trying to find someone's house…"

"Oh, are you looking for the big house those twins moved into?" Nazz asked Rei, "We met them a few minutes ago when they ran by."

"… Twins?" Rei questioned with confusion, "No, I'm looking for someone else."

"Huh… that's really weird," Nazz said, "I asked that because one of the twins looked a bit like you, so I thought you were their older sister; I guess you're their cousin?"

Rei was now extremely confused by that statement, but continued to ignore the subject, 'I guess I should try and say hello to them later.'

The three teens soon heard a car nearby, which was now driving into the Cul-De-Sac's entrance. The car then parked in the driveway of one of the houses nearby.

"… I wonder who that is?" Nazz questioned out loud, "Never seen that car at Eddy's house before…"

Kevin scoffed a little, "Like it's any of our business to worry about that Dork."

Rei widened her eyes at Kevin before making a small glare at him. While it was true that she just met Eddy yesterday and had a very similar feeling about him for a short time, it seemed like Eddy was not exactly popular with his neighbors.

'At least I know which house is his now,' Rei thought to herself before turning to Nazz, "Sorry, I need to go find my friend. It was nice talking with you!"

It was then that Rei dashed off towards Eddy's house, much to the confusion of Kevin while Nazz waved goodbye to her, "Nice talking with you too!"

As Rei was running over to Eddy's house, we could see Vivian and Joshua walking down the Lane, heading towards the woods nearby, "I wanna see if I can find a cool bird in there for you to look at! Different times mean different kinds of birds, right?" Vivian told her brother earlier. Joshua reluctantly came along with Vivian to keep her out of trouble, though he did get a little excited when she mentioned why she wanted him to go with her; he did have a soft spot for birds because his mom trained some back home.

It was as they were heading in that direction that the two of them heard a loud slam from a sliding door, coming from behind the tall wooden fence next to them in someone's backyard. The twins looked at each other before going over to the wooden fence, hopping up to the top of it to see what the commotion was about. They widened their eyes when they saw Eddy; he had walked out of the back door that led to his room with an upset look on his face. Thankfully, he did not seem to notice the twins peeking at him from the other side of the fence.

"UGH! Why did he have to show up now?!" Eddy started to growl to himself in frustration, "I REALLY don't want to see Evan! I already have enough things to be stressed out about with those dumb monsters and stuff, god dammit!"

He then took in a deep breath, trying to calm himself down, "Man, I hope Rei doesn't learn about my older brother…"

Eddy made an irritated sigh, rubbing the back of his neck in a certain spot close to his right shoulder. He then walked away to his front yard, leaving behind the twins who were still spying on him.

"Did you hear that?" Vivian asked as she turned to her brother.

"Yeah… it looks like they're both here, and it's not just him," Joshua replied.

Vivian then jumped over the fence into Eddy's backyard, "H-Hey! What do you think you're doing?!" Joshua asked in disbelief to his sister.

"I'm gonna go spy on him again, duh!" Vivian said with a cheeky smile before walking off to where Eddy went to.

"Vivian!" Joshua yelped as he jumped over the fence to go after her, making a heated sigh as he did, "I feel like I need some good food to settle down my nerves after this…" he grumbled.

Meanwhile, back with Eddy, he walked out of his backyard from the side of his house, only to see his older brother exiting his car. Evan was a lot taller than his younger brother, even though Eddy finally went through a growth spurt during his last year of middle school, making him taller than the last time Evan saw him. The two brothers had the same hair color and the same eye color, they were both dark blue.

Eddy was a bit hesitant to approach him at first before realizing there was no way out of this. He swallowed his nerves as he approached his older brother. Evan locked his gaze on Eddy from underneath the sunglasses he was wearing, "Hey there, Pipsqueak," greeted the man as he took off his sunglasses. The man wore a flat hat, a grey T-shirt underneath a dark red flannel jacket with the sleeves pulled up a little, some blue jeans, and black tennis shoes.

Rei, in the meantime, was walking closer to Eddy's house when she noticed two kids nearby, spying on Eddy from around the corner of his house while Eddy was walking up to an older man who had exited the car. She narrowed her eyes to the twins as she quietly began to walk over to the two teens without being seen by Eddy or the man, basically walking around the house from the backyard to where the teens were hiding.

"H-Hey Evan," Eddy finally replied to the man, trying his best not to look him directly in the eyes, "I, uh, heard from Mom and Dad you'll be staying here for a while?"

"Yeah, I am," Evan stated with a nod, "It's only gonna be for a few months; at least until things get better for me. You know how it is."

Eddy could feel himself rubbing the back of his neck again, still unsure about what to even say to his older brother.

Vivian and Joshua continued to spy on Eddy and his older brother from where they were, not realizing someone was coming up from behind them, "What are you kids doing?" Rei asked the twins.

"AHHH!"

Everyone jumped from the loud yells that the twins made, especially Eddy. Evan looked to see where the yells came from, only to see the twins and a girl Eddy's age peeking around the corner of his house, laughing a little at them, "Looks like you made new friends while I was away," he stated.

Eddy grew pale in the face at this turn of events; the worst situation he could think of began to happen in front of him, '… I think I'm gonna be sick.'

Rei took Vivian and Joshua out of their hiding place, pushing them towards Eddy and Evan, "Sorry to scare you all, I saw these two kids were spying on you. Didn't expect them to scream like that," Rei stated before looking at the man with him. She could see a few scars around the lower parts of his arms and near his wrists because his jacket's sleeves were pushed up.

Evan could see where Rei was looking, but decided to ignore that for now, "So, aren't you gonna introduce me to your new friends?" Evan asked Eddy.

Eddy stayed silent to him; his whole body began to feel numb.

"… My name's Rei," Rei began to say to Evan with a smile, noticing that Eddy was not going to speak up, "I just moved here yesterday at the apartment complex nearby with a few of my friends. We'll be going to the high school nearby as exchange students."

Evan chuckled, "That's nice to hear," he took out his hand for a handshake, "The name's Evan, and I'm his older brother. Decided to return home for a while; I kinda needed a break from where I was living at."

"I see…" Rei replied to him as she shook the man's hand, "Nice to meet you."

Thud.

Everyone turned to see Eddy, who had collapsed onto the grass in his front yard; he had passed out.

"Whoa!" Joshua gasped as he and Vivian went over to Eddy, "Uh, is he okay?" Vivian asked as she poked Eddy on his shoulder.

Rei looked over at Evan, who only made a sigh, "I'm not surprised he didn't want anyone to see me," Evan stated as he went over to pick Eddy up off the ground, having to slump him over his shoulder, "I'll get him inside and explain what's going on. I don't intend on hiding anything from his friends."

The others entered Eddy's house while Evan went to Eddy's room to lay him down on his bed, "Geez, when did he get so heavy?" he grumbled slightly before walking back to talk with Rei and the twins and sitting in a chair.

Evan noticed the look Rei was giving him, "Sorry if you're confused about that. The two of us haven't seen or talked to each other in a long time, and we haven't been on good terms in the past."

"I see… Guess everyone has family issues, no matter where they live. I'm not a stranger to that kind of thing," Rei commented before looking back to the scars on his arms, "Though I don't think I've personally encountered it like this with substance abuse."

"Heh, you got sharp eyes," Evan stated, looking down at his arms, "I did a lot of awful stuff in the past… But I wouldn't worry about it. I just got out of rehab, and I've been doing good so far; haven't had a relapse or anything."

"That's good… I hope it stays that way," Rei replied to him before remembering something, turning to the twins next to her, "So, who are you two kids? And why were you trying to eavesdrop earlier?"

"Oh, my name's Vivian McGee!" Vivian introduced herself with a smile before gesturing to her brother, "And this is Joshua, my twin brother!"

Joshua froze in fear at his sister's words, 'Oh my GOD, she just blurted out our last name! I hope none of them pick up on that!'

Evan stared at the twin before arching an eyebrow, "McGee? That's also my last name, along with my brother… Guess it's a bit more common than I thought."

'OH MY GOD, THIS IS THE WORST!' Joshua thought in terror, 'Our cover is actually going to be blown!'

"Aaand on that note, I think we should get going!" Joshua started to say as he got up from where he was sitting in a rush, grabbing Vivian by her wrist to drag her away from the living room and out the front door, "Talk to you later!" Vivian said as she waved goodbye.

"… Huh, weird kids," Evan stated before looking at Rei, "You, uh, didn't know who they were?"

"No… I guess they also moved in somewhere nearby," Rei said, scratching the side of her head in confusion.

Rei was looking where the twins exited the house, only for her eye to catch something on the floor near the door. She widened her eyes at what it was; it was the red medal that Eddy used to transform!

'It must have fallen out of Eddy's pockets when he was carried inside,' Rei thought before looking back to Evan, "Maybe I should be going too, but I kinda want to check on Eddy first."

"Heh, okay. You can do that if you want," Evan replied as he got up from where he was sitting, "I need to get my stuff inside, so go check on Pipsqueak for me."

Evan walked out the door to go back to his car, somehow not noticing the red medal on the floor next to the door. Rei quickly got up to grab the red medal before dashing to find wherever Eddy's room was. She quickly found his room and went inside, seeing that Eddy was still asleep when he passed out from stress earlier. Rei walked over to put his red medal on the nightstand next to him, only for her to notice something that made her stop in her tracks. She looked toward Eddy's pockets, only to see his red medal was still with him, hanging halfway out of his pocket; he never did drop it.

"What…?" Rei questioned as she looked at the red medal she found near the door, realizing that this was not Eddy's medal at all, "Why are there two of these…?!"

That was when it finally clicked to her; Vivian's appearance looked a lot like Rei, but said her last name was McGee, which was Eddy's last name, according to Evan… And Joshua looked like Eddy, but not by much. Rei could feel herself start to panic, slowly realizing who those twins could be.

"Oh… Oh my GOD!" Rei screamed as she ran out of Eddy's room from his back door, slamming it behind her as she did.

The slamming of his sliding door made Eddy start to wake up in a groggy manner, "The heck was that?" He questioned with a tried voice before rubbing the sand out of his eyes, "I thought I heard Rei…"

Rei had to press her back up against Eddy's door, trying to calm herself down. She could feel her heart beating faster and faster at what she learned, "A-Are those twins really from Chibiusa's era?! If so… d-does that mean h-he — and I, we actually…?!"

Rei had to put her hand to her mouth to prevent her from screaming again, 'They're my — no… They're OUR kids!'

She then began to rush off to find the twins she just met, 'The others mentioned they moved into a big house nearby. I need to find and talk to them! I need to know what's going on!'

Thankfully, it did not take her that long to find them again; the twins were back at the Lane, standing under the only tree that was located down the strip of land.

"Vivian!" Joshua started to say to his sister in anger, "You NEED to stop and think about what you say to other people here. I know your memory can be spotty at times, but you could have easily given away who we were!"

"I-I'm sorry…" Vivian stated sadly, lowering her head a little, "It really did slip my mind at that moment, b-but…" she bit her bottom lip, "I really miss them. They've both been gone for so long. I-I…"

The twins then heard footsteps behind them, turning to see Rei coming up to them. They both froze in fright, "U-Uh…"

"… Vivian and Joshua, right?" Rei started to say as she came up to them, taking out the red medal Joshua had dropped when he left, "I need to know what's going on. Please, you need to tell me what you know."

Joshua looked at the red medal in shock before looking into his pocket, realizing he dropped it by accident when he left, "… Oh."

The twins made a sigh of defeat, "W-Were sorry for spying earlier, umm, Ms. Rei," Vivian started to say to her, trying to avoid calling her something else, "We…"

"Look, it's okay," Rei stated to the twins, staring at them both in the eyes, "I know Crystal Tokyo exists. That's why I'm asking if something else is going on in the future. Is it related to what's going on in this era?"

"… Yes, there is something bad happening in Crystal Tokyo," Joshua replied, "Ms. Meioh told us that the source of what's happening is here in this era, so we were brought here to help you defeat the Soul Breakers… Well, at least to help defeat the weaker enemies in secrecy; we're all still in training."

Rei could only stand there as Joshua explained why they were here before making a sigh, closing her eyes to reminisce, 'I see, just like what Chibiusa did about a year ago…'

Rei opened her eyes to look back at the twins again, "Listen, I'm not going to tell the others that you or your friends are here; except for Haruka and Michiru, since they're friends with Setsuna," she started to say to them, handing Joshua back his red medal, "And I'm not going to tell you to stay out of trouble, only for you to stay safe when it gets too dangerous for you to handle."

Vivian and Joshua looked at Rei with shock before they both nodded their heads, "D-Don't worry, we understand," Joshua stated, "I'll tell the others you know about us, so they'll know that you won't interfere with our training. I'm really sorry…"

Rei made a small smile at the twins, "You don't need to be sorry about this. It's a weird situation for everyone," she stated before looking back toward the direction of Eddy's house, "You can fill me in on the enemy's motives later, I don't want to put pressure on you two right now. Go on and have some fun today."

The twins looked at Rei again with surprise before nodding their heads, "T-Thanks!" Vivian cheered with a smile before waving goodbye to Rei as she and Joshua ran off, "Bye for now!"

Rei waved back to Vivian before she saw the twins run around the corner away from her, presumably running back to the big house they were staying at. She stood there for a moment, still in shock at the fact she just met her future kids just now, 'I wonder if this is how Usagi felt when she learned that Chibiusa was her daughter…'

"… Wait a minute," Rei stated to herself, "If Chibiusa is still around in the future, who is her dad now…?"

Rei shook off that thought, "Maybe I'm thinking too hard about this."

Author's Note (March 26th, 2024): Finally! Some secrets were dropped in this chapter, but the day isn't over yet! I just cut it off here as it only focused on a few people, so the chapter wouldn't be so long. Stay tuned for the other chapters with almost everyone else!