[Scene: The front of the Midori house. Beryl appears looking quite haggard.]

Beryl: I did it. I saved him. It's safe to return now.

[They return to Zoi's room where Zoi is sitting up in bed in his pajamas looking flushed. Kunzite sits on the edge of the bed and Zoi crawls over and rests his head against his chest. Kunzite caresses his temple]

Kunzite: He's still feverish.

Beryl: He still has a cold…I just got rid of the toxic White Energy that was poisoning his system.

Jeddy: [wide-eyed] White Energy?

Neffy: [chuckling] Don't tell me you can't cure the common cold.

Beryl: [sinks into a chair] I can, but I won't. His body needs to develop antibodies to fight this particular strain of virus. Otherwise, he can catch it again and again, and next time I might be available to come here in time to save him.

Jeddy: So you you have time now? To explain what was wrong with him?

Beryl: [gives a tired sigh] What happened was he picked up an especially nasty human virus that is toxic to Shitennou.

Neffy: Yes, we figured as much on our own. The question is: where, when, how and why?

Beryl: [gives a tired shrug] Viruses survive by constantly adapting and mutating. This one mutated to deliver White Energy directly into the host body.

Jeddy: [nervous] And you're certain we're not in any danger.

Beryl: [nods weakly] It doesn't cross the species barrier. This virus can only latch onto humans.

Jeddy: But Zoi's not human either. He's a Shitennou, just like the rest of us.

Beryl: Zoi is the only one of us formed from a human prototype. Mother elevated him, his cells were replicated one-for-one with Dark Energy. The disease was bonded with Zoi's synthetic human chromosomes…in effect, you have a simulated human made of Dark Energy, contaminated with a simulated virus made of Light Energy.

Chief Midori: [looking Beryl over] You're not human? You certainly look human.

Neffy: You should have seen her before she filed down her horns.

Jeddy: But why did this happen? Why would a human virus contain White Energy?

Beryl: [closes her eyes and rests her head against a wall] The only thing I can think of is that an ordinary human, contagious with a cold, was irradiated with a tremendous amount of White Magic.

Neffy: But that makes no sense. White Energy is healing energy. If Patient Zero was a human exposed to White Energy, wouldn't he automatically be cured of any diseases?

Beryl: Not necessarily. It is a common fallacy. White Energy isn't about healing so much as it is about nurturing. Whoever Patient Zero was, he clearly wanted to get even more sick, instead of better.

Jeddy: Huh? Why would anyone want to get sicker?

Beryl: You'd be surprised. There are a lot of pity junkies out there. [yawns] A lot of people enjoy being sick. Sometimes, it's the only way they can get the people they love to pay enough attention to them.

Zoi: Oh, dear.

[The others look at him]

[Zoi thinks back to the day in the cafeteria, when Minako, giddy with the prospect of being driven home by Kunzite, picked up a gem from the floor and seemed to glow with with energy. Right before she started talking in another language and attacking Kunzite.]

[Zoi is certain Minako must be Patient Zero.]

[But as cold as she's been, he still considers her a friend. He's not sure he wants the other Shitennou to know she's reawaken as a Moon Guardian. ]

Zoi: If someone was irradiated with White Energy, would it reawaken memories from a previous lifetime?

Neffy: [gives Zoi a pointed look] Now there's an oddly specific question.

Zoi: I just noticed people who were sick at school remembering weird things.

[Zoi is certain Kunzite knows exactly who and what he is talking about, but Kunzite is just holding onto to him and keeping quiet. Zoi's heart fills with love, since he is certain he is not protecting Minako for Minako's sake.]

Beryl: I suppose it's possible. But not likely. I think something like that would require a spell, and there hasn't been a serious practitioner of White Magic since the White Queen destroyed the Silver Crystal, over a thousand years ago.

Neffy: [baffled] What are you talking about. The White Queen didn't destroy the Silver Crystal.

Beryl: [eyes snap open] Yes she did…didn't she?

Zoi: What is the Silver Crystal?

Neffy: [ignoring Zoi] Not she didn't. Remember? After Mother killed the White Queen, we searched for the Silver Crystal and couldn't find it. I did a divination, and two alien creatures calling themselves Ail and Ann blinked in and out of existence to steal it and vanish into another dimension. Nobody has seen a trace of it since.

Beryl: [closes her eyes again] Oh, yes. That's right. I must be too tired to remember things properly.

Jeddy: Wait. Why do I have clear memories of Mother destroying the Silver Crystal?

Neffy: Why do I remember "The Bernstain Bears" being called the "The Bernstein Bears"

Jeddy: "The BernSTAIN Bears"? You're just messing with us, aren't you?

Neffy: Nope. There you go. People remember things wrong all the time.

Beryl: [rises] Anyway, I'm drained. I need to go home and get some rest and then do some hunting. [points at Chief Midori] You need to enforce a strict quarantine until your son builds a resistance to this infection. For the next week, your son needs to avoid all contact with other humans.

Chief Midori: Even me?

Beryl: Especially you.

Kunzite: Good. I'm taking him home with me.

Chief Midori: I don't know if that's such a good idea. There are lot more pathogens in a crowded place like Seattle then there are in a sleepy little place like Hen Tie.

Kunzite: I'm not taking him to Seattle.

Beryl: No strenuous activity, Kunzite. I mean it. None. He needs to rest.

Kunzite: Don't worry. I'm not an animal.

[He stands and scoops up Zoi, blankets and all]

[Zoi has to hide a giggle. Then he has a sobering thought.]

[Minako isn't the only one with past life memories.]

[He worries how much Mamoru is starting to remember about being Beryl's slave.]