Cassandra Zoia was abnormally bright for a twelve year old.  Her sense of character was particularly astute, which was why she learned long before anyone told her that it was a bad idea to talk to strangers.  Cassandra's only problem was that no one ever seemed to agree with or otherwise believe her observations.  The most poignant incident in her mind was when she was shopping with her mother, about a year ago, and she spotted a man stuffing several pockets full of merchandise into his jacket.  Cassandra pointed out this phenomenon, but her mother--and the store management--told her to stop making up such cruel stories.  The man left the store, whistling, his pockets bulging with perfume bottles and cosmetics cases, and it was on that day that Cassandra decided to simply keep her mouth shut.  However, she was unable to restrain herself when her older brother Assyrius came home late one evening. He was without his glasses and bedecked in a fishnet top and a spiked dog collar.  Darkly tinted crystal earrings dangled from either lobe, and a black, inverted moon tattoo was clearly visible on his forehead.

"Syrius?" she nearly choked as he sat nonchalantly at the kitchen table, presumably to eat some of the leftovers of the family's recently finished meal.  Cassandra was the first to express concern when he was not in the house at dinner time, but her father and mother shrugged it off, assuring her that he was likely up at the school.  Cassandra refrained from pursuing what was obviously another exercise in futility by keeping the fact that Assyrius had no extracurricular activities (aside from his lab work, which never took him this long) to herself. "Syrius, what happened?"

"Nothin'," he answered, tearing a bit of bread off the still-warm loaf in the table's center and slathering butter on its steaming insides.

"Why are you dressed like that?  Where are your glasses?" she leaned over the table. "Have you joined the forces of darkness?"

"Don't be silly," Assyrius said, biting into the bread.  "It's just a slight fashion adjustment."

"You have!" Cassandra cried. "You're an evil minion of...evilness!  Aren't you?"

Assyrius petted his sister's hair.

"I just can't hide anything from you, Cassie."

"I'm telling Mom," she pouted.

"You know she won't believe you," Assyrius licked butter off his fingers, speaking as though he were making idle conversation.

"Are you gonna kill us?" Cassandra asked fearfully.

"Of course not," he said. "You're my family."

"Oh," she said.  "Still."

A white, fluffy cat wandered by them, pausing a moment to rub affectionately against Assyrius's legs.

"Fluffernutter still loves me," Assyrius cooed, scratching behind the cat's ears.  "Yes you do."

"I still love you," Cassandra said indignantly. "But being evil is bad."

"Maybe so," Assyrius said. "But I rather like it, so far."

Cassandra continued to pout.

"What about Celina?"

"What about her?" Assyrius said. "If she loves me, she'll stay with me, too."

Cassandra looked doubtful. "Okay..."

Having finished the bread and a small helping of soup besides, Assyrius excused himself and started up to his room, though Cassandra was not far behind.

"Do you have any neat powers?" she said, following him as he opened his door.

"I don't know," he admitted. "I haven't actually fought anyone yet."

He sat cross-legged on his bed and Cassandra crawled onto his lap.

"Are you gonna do bad things to people?" she said, huddling against him.

"Most likely.  But they'll probably deserve it," Assyrius said, slipping off the band that held her ponytail in place.  Her hair, blond and streaked with black like her brother's, fell straight down her back.

"I s'pose that's okay," she mumbled, uncertain and sleepy.  He kissed her hair.

"I think it's past your bedtime," he said, picking her up.  She clung to him, surprised.

"You could never lift me before."

"I know," he grinned as he carried her to her bedroom. "Cool, huh?"

He set her in her bed, stroking her hair away from her face.

"Night, sis," he said, kneeling by her bedside. "I won't ever let anything hurt you."

"Okay," she yawned, her eyes already half-shut. He left quietly, returning to his room.  Fluffernutter, along with his other cats Fluffy and Fluffy II, were already curled up on his bed.

"Hey, everybody," he said, petting them.  He stripped off his clothing and threw on boxers and a shirt before climbing into his bed. Fluffernutter nudged his cheek as he lay there, and Assyrius obliged him with a few scratches behind the ear.

"You know I'm still me," Assyrius whispered. "I've just had a little upgrade, so to speak..."

The cat did not comprehend Assyrius's words, only the soft, gentle tone in which they were spoken.  He cuddled against his master and purred.

The cards were arranged in neat rows on the table, face down.  A lamp shed its lurid yellow light over their intricately painted backs, creating an oasis of light in a desert of darkness.  A girl whose silver hair glimmered beneath the lightbulb was bent over the cards, as though waiting for precisely the right moment to turn them over. She raised her head, and her golden eyes caught sight of a sky pricked with stars but lacking a moon.  She had forgotten about the new moon, and upon realizing her mistake, she fretfully put away the cards.  For some reason her predictions were always inaccurate on the night of a new moon.

"Celina!" her mother, Diana, yelled from downstairs. "It's nearly eleven thirty, honey! Get to bed!"

"Going, mom!" Celina answered, clicking off her lamp.  She would try her reading some other night.

Kaitlyn held Reve in her lap, scratching the fur on the back of his neck as she relaxed on her couch.  She had just returned from work, and her mind was not keen to entertain any thought processes, save for how soft Reve's fur was and how sweet a soda tasted after a long day. All she had done since returning home was check on CK, who was still sleeping. Reve had assured her that all was well, so she had settled down to relax for a little while. Unfortunately, her simple wishes were interrupted with the ringing of her phone.  She considered letting the answering machine pick up, but finally summoned the strength to pluck the phone from its cradle.

"...hello?" she said.

"Guess where I'm calling from," Jigoku's voice, sounding almost excited, answered her.

"The fiery expanses of the netherworld?" she said, only half-jokingly.

"My new apartment," he said, as if he had not heard her. "It's on the floor below yours.  The old owner won the lottery or something and she went off to New York."

"Well, that was nice of Omnes," Kaitlyn said.

"I know," he agreed. "I just wanted to call and tell you."

"Er, thanks," Kaitlyn said.  An awkard silence followed.

"Look," she said finally, "I'm meeting Etienne at the cafe in the bookstore tomorrow.  Why don't you come with?"

"Oh, sure," he said, sounding relieved. "What time?"

"About five," Kaitlyn said, recognizing his change in tone and feeling similar.  It wasn't that she didn't want to talk to him, she was just tired.

"Well, see you then," he said, and they said their goodbyes and hung up.

"I'm such a dork," Jigoku moaned.  "She didn't sound like she wanted to talk to me at all..."

"Aw, she's just tired," Omnes, suddenly popping into existence on Jigoku's couch.

"What do you want?" Jigoku muttered.

"You're such a cute little ingrate," Omnes purred. He relaxed against the pillows, folding one leg over the other. "You should be nice to me.  Without me, you'd be nothing, baby."

"But at least you'd be out of my life," Jigoku snapped.  Omnes smiled, and pinched Jigoku's cheek.

"You're so adorable."

"Just go away," Jigoku muttered, rubbing the side of his face.

"As you command," Omnes said, already beginning to fade. "But you know I'm always here if you need me."

"Yes," Jigoku said, "that's the problem."

Meanwhile, across town, in a small bar that had not yet opened for its nightly business, another conversation was taking place.  Five people clustered around a table near the back of the bar, talking quietly despite the fact that the place was otherwise deserted.  Actually, only one of them was doing much talking; the other four were listening attentively, occasionally shifting to more comfortable positions on the pleather upholstery of their booth.  The speaker leaned forward against the table, her eyes unusually bright for one affected with legal blindness, her crystal earrings swinging lightly as she talked.

"Is that clear?" Amethyst said, when she had finished detailing her diabolical plot.  Her fingers tapped a rolled up piece of paper in front of her as she listened for a response.  The four gave verbal assent, and their leader smiled. "Good."

She held up the paper.

"Is this what I asked for?"

"Yes," Pathos answered, taking it from her and unrolling it.  He refrained from mentioning all of the strange looks he had received from asking for a Braille map at the Information desk of City Hall. She ran her fingers over it, her smile unwavering.  Her hand stopped over the enormous laboratory attached to the high school.

"I think this is a good place to start."

Amethyst pulled off one of her earrings and held it over the location, slowly letting it go as it shimmered.  The crystal projected a picture into the wall behind them of a boy with small eyes and dark brown hair.

"Judas," Assyrius said, containing his glee into a small smirk. "What luck."

"You know him?" Peripetaia asked.

"Too well," Assyrius muttered bitterly. "May I handle him alone, Amethyst?"

Amethyst did not respond immediately. She thought over the proposal, recalling yesterday's scene. Although Assyrius was newly turned, so to speak, his rage at this boy seemed to be one of the major fueling sources for his misanthropy.  In respect of that, she consented.

"You may."

Only Harmatia, who was eager for battle, was disappointed by this decision.  Pathos and Peripetaia, while all too willing to help, still maintained somewhat humane attitudes, at least if unprovoked.  Neither of them was especially comfortable with attacking a high school student, for that matter.  Peripetaia excused herself first, with a look to Harmatia that bade her to follow suit. Sullenly, Harmatia obeyed, allowing her complaint to remain unvoiced.  Pathos returned to his place behind the bar counter as he prepared for opening, his mind picking apart Amethyst's plot as he washed glasses and filled ice buckets.  He listened to the last bit of Amethyst and Assyrius's talk as they left the bar together.

"I'll see him after school on Monday... will that be an acceptable time?" Assyrius asked.  He held open the door for Amethyst, who replied as she walked out,

"It's perfect."

Lani held her saltine cracker in her mouth, allowing it to slowly break down into a salty mush.  She reached for another as she swallowed, tearing open the sleeve package.  Food always comforted her in times of stress.  She was sitting on a long, blue-checked couch in her living room, between Azura and Xin.  Roan was lying flat on the glass coffee table before them, wriggling occasionally into a presumably more comfortable position.

"Never heard of anyone like that," Xin said, shrugging.  "There's not, like, some kind of society of villainy going on anywhere, you know..."

Azura had just finished relating Kaitlyn's description of Amethyst, thinking that Xin might, for some cosmic reason, know something about her.  Kaitlyn had called Azura's house the other night and told her the whole story, which she then had told to Lani and Roan.  Their reactions were predictable--Roan was excited; Lani was sick. Later that night, while running an errand for her mother, Azura saw Xin at the grocery store.  She had the brilliant idea to ask him about their new problem, though she felt it would be better to talk about it with Lani and Roan in attendance.  Although she knew the unlikely chances of Xin having any relation to Amethyst, she figured that asking couldn't hurt.

"Then it's a mystery," Roan said, her eyes on the ceiling. "How delightful.  I don't know what you're all so nervous about... it's something to do over the summer."

"Oh, yes, the constant threat of violent death is definitely my ideal summer vacation," Lani grumbled.  She stuffed another saltine into her mouth, and then offered the sleeve to Xin when she saw him wringing his hands.  He accepted gratefully, and began to nibble on the cracker's edges as he spoke.

"Aegis and I will help in whatever way possible," he said. "Rose would help, too, but you know.. she's still a little girl and all."

"I wonder which one of you she calls mommy," Roan said idly, causing Xin to blush.

"Sh..she still calls us both, Uncle," he stammered.

"Aww," Roan sat up.  Lani glared.

"How has she been?" Azura asked gently.

"Better than we expected, considering," Xin said.  "We had a long talk about her father and her mother..and..Sikari, too."

Azura's eyes misted at the mention of Sikari's name, and she blinked furiously, prompting a sheepish hug from Lani.  Roan rolled her eyes, but made no comment.

"We, um..we enrolled her in elementary school," Xin said. "We're hoping she'll make some friends."

"Your parenting adventures are truly fascinating," Roan said, rising. "But if that's the only other thing we have to discuss, I'll be heading out."

"I... really ought to go as well," Azura said suddenly. She stood, smiling with a kind of apologetic embarrassment. "I don't want mom coming home to an empty place."

"Oh," Lani said, "Okay..um.. see you tomorrow."

"Right," Azura waved with one hand, as Roan dragged her out by the other, leaving Lani alone with Xin.

"Sooo..." Lani said nervously. "You want another saltine?"

Lani had seen Xin only sparingly since Riordan's death, and always in the company of others.  Being that he was actually far above the legal limit to do so, Xin had dropped out of school soon after that night, as he saw no need to further the charade.  The awkward tension between them now was palpable.  The feeling of it threatened to overwhelm Xin, so he spoke.

"Do you dislike me now, Lani?" he asked quietly.

"What?  Of course not," she said, blinking. "Why would you think that?"

"I-it's just that.. I haven't seen you alone since..that time I stayed here," he mumbled.

"Well, it's not like I know your address or phone number or anything," she said gently.

"Oh..." he said, not having thought of that before. "Oh.  Uh.. I guess that's a pretty good reason."

"Why don't you write them down?" Lani suggested.  She left the couch and returned a moment later with a pad and pen.  He took them, scribbling down the requested information as his cheeks burned with chagrin.  He couldn't believe himself.  There wasn't much of a chance of her getting in touch with him if she didn't even know where he lived. But, at least now he knew that she wasn't just avoiding him.

"Sorry," he said, giving the pen and paper back. "I'm an idiot."

"Forget about it," she smiled.  She glanced at her watch, noticing that it was nearing the evening. "Say... how about we order a pizza?  Unless you need to be home..."

"Nope. Aegis is off work today--that's the only reason I could come at all," he said. "So I can stay as long as you want me to."

"Great," Lani said.  She picked up the phone, thinking, "If you stayed as long as I wanted to, you'd never go home."

Celina sat down with her cards again.  Outside, only the barest sliver of the moon was visible, but it was enough.  She lay the cards face-down on her desk, focusing as she poised her hands above them.  Celina did not actually know how to read the tarot cards; at least, not in the practical sense.  She could derive an exact, detailed, and most importantly accurate meaning from every reading performed (unless the moon was new), but if asked what each card represented individually, she would need to consult a book.  Celina relied on instinct with the tarot--once turned over, she examined them first separately and then as a whole.  A string of thoughts and sometimes pictures formed in her mind, and from these she deciphered the words of the cards.  The images and meanings became more or less complex depending on the spread she used--for the most part, she only did weekly readings for herself, which required little more than three cards, but when asked by someone else to do a reading she tended to expand that number.

As this was a reading for herself, only three cards, chosen from the Major Arcana, were set before her.  Carefully, she flipped each one over.  Death.  The Lovers.  The Tower.  She let her hands rest on them as the meaning of this arrangement seeped into her mind.  A picture of her boyfriend, Assyrius, formed first, but he was dressed strangely, with an inverted, black moon tattoo shimmering on his forehead.  The rest of her prediction flowed in a dizzying rush, and she pulled away from her desk hastily, almost knocking the cards and the deck to the floor.  Celina breathed deeply, clutching her chest as she tried to make sense of the words and pictures in her head.  Herself in a strange suit--Assyrius with blood on his hands--and people she had never met in her life.  And all of it was tied to something happening on Monday.  As much as she wanted to believe that this was a false prediction brought on by the moon phase, she doubted that a lie could beget such intense imagery.

"Celina!" Diana's voice was penetrating. "Celina, Assyrius is here!"

"Syrius," she muttered, putting away the cards. "Syrius will prove me wrong."

She went down the steps, trying to appear calm.  This facade fell as soon as her boyfriend entered her line of vision--he was dressed exactly as her prediction showed, complete with that eerie tattoo (though, thankfully, it was not glowing).

"Are you attending a costume party?" her mother was asking, to which Assyrius grinned and shook his head, 'no.'

"Syrius?" Celina said softly. "What did you do to yourself?"

"I just felt like a change," he said, looking up at her. "Like it?"

"It's..." she began, swallowing. "Um.. those are pretty earrings."

"Thanks," he smiled. "They were a gift."

"Should I start dinner, or are you going out?" Diana interrupted.  The prospect of being with Assyrius unsupervised was not terribly attractive to Celina just then.

"We'll stay here," she said quickly.  Her mother gave her a nod and a look of private understanding.  Assyrius ascended the steps, and Celina turned wordlessly, walking back to her room.

"So...what's up?" she said, as calm as was possible.

"Not much," he replied, sitting on her bed.  He patted the space next to him. "Come here."

Even his voice was different, she realized.  It was more confident; even a bit deeper.  Celina wondered if he were a pod person gone wrong.  She obeyed, and he wrapped an arm around her waist--a move that, for him, was unthinkably aggressive.

"A...are you sure you're okay?" Celina said, as he pulled her against him.  He let his chin rest on the top of her head.

"I can't recall a time in my life when I've ever felt better."

Celina swallowed thickly.

"Th..that's good," she said, trying to get comfortable. "How has school been?"

"Eh," he answered, running his fingers through Celina's long, silver hair.  Usually this question prompted a detailed account of Assyrius's academic standing, especially with regards to his scientific courses and experiments.  Celina was truly afraid.

"What brought on this sudden..." she cleared her throat, "...attitude adjustment?"

"Personal revelation," he answered.

"That's all?"

"Pretty much," he said.  His tone was guarded, and Celina knew that he was hiding the truth.  She searched his face as she debated on whether or not to push the issue.  His eyes met hers, and the ferocity she saw caused her to break her gaze.

"Don't be afraid," he murmured, cupping his hand under her chin and turning her face back.  She held her breath as he kissed her, his other hand still clutching her waist.  He held the kiss for a painful time, pulling back only when he did not feel Celina relax.

"What's wrong?" he said, frowning at her.

"You're so forward..." she said, touching her lips. "Usually it's me who has to kiss you."

"I thought you wanted me to be more assertive," Assyrius said. "So I am."

"I know.. I'm sorry... it's just," she squirmed a little. "It's not normal for someone to change so abruptly."

"Haven't you ever heard of an epiphany?" he said.  His arm left her waist as he stood, folding his hands behind his back. "That's all that happened, really.  I realized that I was unhappy with my life and I did something about it."

"...and what brought it on?" Celina ventured.

"Dinner's ready!" Diana's call interrupted them.  He turned to her, a thin, secretive smile on his face.

"Come on.  I'm hungry."

Diana kept the talk light during dinner.  She refrained from asking Assyrius about his new wardrobe and attitude.  He was fine with this, and ate heartily; meanwhile, Celina only swallowed a few bites of her meal, her mind too full of noise and questions to focus on food.  Normally her mother would have been sorely offended at Celina's lack of interest in her cooking, but tonight she let it pass. After the goodbye kiss, Diana asked if her daughter needed anything.  Celina shook her head and hugged her mother appreciatively, assuring that a good night's rest would clear her mind.  She went to bed with a sickness in her stomach that lasted until she woke the next morning.

CK finally returned to the waking world on Sunday, and while no new clues were gleaned of her origins, Kaitlyn did feel that it was time for formal introductions.  Thus, she called together Etienne, Jigoku, and the girls, while CK sat at her table, sipping orange juice and spooning cereal into her mouth.   When she was done, she stood by the door with Kaitlyn, holding her hand as they awaited their visitors.

"A lot of people will be here soon," Kaitlyn said. "They might be a bit frightening.  Just try to relax."

"I'll be fine, mommy," CK said. "Is Etienne coming?"

Kaitlyn was surprised that she had remembered his name.

"Um, yes," she said.  CK smiled.

"Wonderful."

They stood for a few minutes more.

"...let's wait on the couch," Kaitlyn said finally, and they relocated.  Reve padded in as they sat down and settled himself in CK's lap.

"Good kitty," CK said, scratching him behind the ears.  He purred, kneading her skirt gently.

"So..." Kaitlyn began. "...can you transform?"

"Certainly," CK said. "Would you like a demonstration?"

"Okay.. um.. do you read a lot?" Kaitlyn said, mildly taken aback at the child's semi-formal speech.  CK gently set Reve in Kaitlyn's lap and hopped off the couch.

"When I have the chance," CK said, holding up her transformation pen.  "Mana Power!"

She went into a transformation sequence much like Kaitlyn's own, and emerged wearing a similar outfit--though all the colors were pastel, for some reason.

"Fair enough?" CK asked.

"That skirt is way too short for a little kid," Kaitlyn frowned.  CK's uniform faded, replacing itself with her normal clothes.

"What can you do," she said, climbing back onto the couch.

Kaitlyn's doorbell rang shortly thereafter, and she rose to answer it, transferring Reve bck to CK's arms.  The cat did not mind this shuffle of possession; he felt, strangely, that CK's aura was nearly a match to Kaitlyn's.  He licked her fingers gently as Kaitlyn greeted Jigoku and Etienne.  The two were half-glaring at one another and half watching the door.  They said hello almost simultaneously, causing them to exchange looks of annoyance.  Sheepishly, Kaitlyn stepped away from the threshold, hoping they would not push each other as they walked in.  Etienne's quick step was about all that prevented the contest.

"Hello!" CK said brightly.  Jigoku stopped, his eyes jumping back and forth from Kaitlyn to Etienne.

"The hell..?  Who is she?"

"Well, she says she's my daughter from the future..." Kaitlyn said.  Jigoku's expression contorted, and Etienne smirked as Kaitlyn held up her hands.

"It's not what you think."

"Maybe it is," Etienne muttered under his breath.

"Please," Kaitlyn said, startling him.

"You have good hearing."

"She's right next to you," Jigoku held back a sneer.  The doorbell chimed again, allowing Kaitlyn an escape from the growing tension.  All five of her friends stood in the hallway.

"Well, that's convenient," she said.

"We carpooled," Jada said, entering first. "So what's up?"

"It's more of a who," Kaitlyn said, directing the group to the couch where CK still sat.

"Aren't you cute," Lani said, patting CK's hair. "Did you adopt, Kaitlyn?"

"Not quite," Kaitlyn said. "She's, ah... my future daughter."

None of them were much fazed by this revelation.

"So who's the father?" Jada said.  Kaitlyn shrugged.  "Have you asked her?"

A nod.  Jada addressed the little girl.

"Who's your father, honey?"

"Daddy," she purred, still petting Reve.

"What's his name?" she pressed.

"Daddy," CK answered again.  Reve sprawled himself across her lap, exposing his soft stomach.  Jada scratched it gently as she pursued her line of questioning.

"I mean, his real name."

"Daddy," CK said, insistently.

"See?" Kaitlyn sighed.

"Fascinating," Roan said. She licked her lips, her eyes traveling the room. "And there's so many candidates, too."

Kaitlyn flushed crimson.

"Can she transform?" Kiera asked.  She was the only one not sitting, having elected to stand away from the group.  She was fixed on CK, and had been studying the small child's movements and appearance since her arrival.  Only then, at what she thought was an appropriate time, did she ask the question on her mind.

"Yes," Kaitlyn said, grateful for the subject change.

"Come and sit, Kiera," CK said, surprising the lot of them.

"How is it you know her name?" Jada said.

"It's logical," Kiera said, obliging the girl's request.  "If she's from the future, then I assume she would know of our group...unless, we, for some reason, don't exist there."

"You do," CK assured. "Right now, anyway."

"Is that subject to change?" Azura frowned.

"Of course," CK said. "Time is malleable."

"How old are you?" Jada said shrewdly.

"To be honest, I'm not sure," CK said. "I think this body looks about eight or nine, though, don't you?"

"I like her already," Lani said, and CK smiled.

"Do you have a purpose for being here?" Kiera asked.

"To find Daddy," CK responded promptly. "And to change the course of the past."

This brought troubled expressions to all of the assembled.

"What do you mean?" Lani said fearfully.

"It is difficult to explain," CK said. "I'm not entirely sure what happened, actually.  You see, I was... I was asleep, when everything went on.  I woke up after the fact."

No one said anything.  They waited for her to go on.

"The world is not in ruins, but... no one is there.  All the people are gone, and all of you," she waved her hands to indicate the girls, "are asleep."

"Do you know who did this?" Kaitlyn said, trying to remain calm.

"A group of people," CK said. "with black moons on their foreheads."

Kaitlyn breathed in deeply.  Once again, she was wrong.  CK reached into the pocket of her skirt and withdrew a purple diamond, cut into the shape of a heart.

"I used the Exitium Heart to travel here."

Kaitlyn blinked, thinking of her copy of the artifact, which was currently locked in her jewelry box. "That thing is capable of time travel?"

"It has many uses," CK answered. "At any rate, we're here to warn you of these people.  Their leader is the last remnant of a group known as the Blackmoon family.  The others are people that she infused with negative power.  They are misanthropes of the highest order."

"That's someone who despises humanity," Kiera said, before Jada could ask.

"Correct," CK said. "They seek the genocide of the human race, and in the current future, they have achieved it.  You all are alive merely because you are not technically human."

"That's news to me," Jada said.

"You mean you don't even know that?" CK said, slightly agitated. "The five of you are all priestesses, like Kaitlyn.  Since you were created by your respective elements, you are not quite human--despite your present bodies."

"You're a smart kid," Lani observed.

"I'm an.. old soul," CK mumbled.  "But that's not the point.  The point is that I'm here to help you defeat this threat so that my future does not come to pass."

"Told you we'd have to fight them," Jada said, making her best effort not to sound smug.  Kaitlyn pursed her lips.

"Well, the hope was nice while it lasted."

"Oh," Azura said, "we asked Xin.  He didn't know anything."

"Wouldn't expect him to," Kiera said, and Azura shrugged with mild chagrin.

"So what do we do?" Kaitlyn said. "We can't just go up and harrass him..."

"We'll have to wait until something happens," Kiera said. "Not a particularly efficient plan, but it's the best we can do, under the circumstances."

"I wish I knew more about them," CK said apologetically.

"It's nice that you know as much as you do," Etienne said. "And even kind enough to tell us.."

"I suppose that, in the interest of dramatic suspense, I could have not told you," CK reasoned. "But, logically, I want to accomplish my objectives as quickly as possible.  Imparting what I know is an obvious step, especially since I already know I can trust you."

"Are you sure you're not Kiera's kid from the future?" Lani said, only half-joking.

"Seriously," Jada said, prompting Kaitlyn to make a face.  "No offense, Kait."

"I am certain, above all else, that Kaitlyn is my mommy," CK said, wrapping Kaitlyn in a hug.

"Aww," Roan said.  "I'm never having kids."

"Roan," Azura hissed.

"What?" she shrugged.

"Aunt Roan does not offend me," CK said, still clinging to Kaitlyn.  They kept up the banter, with only Etienne and Jigoku excluded.  Both of them were alternating between looking at CK and at each other, wondering.  Jigoku considered the little girl's features.  Her hair was a dark purple shade, and pulled back into a high ponytail.  Her eyes were icy blue, but dark like the early night sky.  The bone structure of her face was very much like Kaitlyn's, but then, she was young.  The darkness of her colorings led one to think of a darkly colored parent, although Kaitlyn's eyes were a similar blue and the green of her hair was not light.  He took comfort in this, given his silvery hair and grass-green eyes.  But he didn't honestly think it could be him.  He wasn't sure he wanted it to be him.  He just didn't want it to be Etienne, or anyone else, for that matter.  None of them were good enough.  He wasn't good enough.  But the child had to have a father.  He wondered why she refused to reveal the name.

Thinking about only furthered his growing depression.  He saw that it was having the same effect on Etienne, and he cleared his throat.

"So..what are you thinking?"

Etienne told him.  It ran along the same lines as his own feelings.  Jigoku softened.

"Yeah," he said. "Me, too."

They stared at one another for a minute, the conversation continuing in the background.  Unwittingly, they had formed a small bond, based on the same feelings of insecurity.  It was kind of pathetic, if examined. But it was good enough, and they held no malice in their glances when time came to leave.  Kaitlyn had been watching them out of the corner of her eyes, and she noticed the change, however slight it was.  It eased her, just a bit.  She was not ready yet to devote a lot of thought to the question on their minds.  She cared deeply for everyone who could possibly be the answer.  But her heart was drawn to Etienne, though this was a feeling she had not revealed to anyone, including him.  She had a vague sense that Reve knew--he still traveled the paths of her subconscious often.  Whether it bothered him or not, he did not say, but she actually doubted it did.  He was not the kind to stay quiet about his dissatisfaction. She curled up in her bed that night, holding CK in her arms, with Reve nestled on CK's tummy.

"You're a very mature girl, little Kai," Kaitlyn said, as she stroked her daughter's hair.  CK yawned sleepily.

"I suppose," she mumbled. There was quiet for a long time after that, and at last Reve said,

"She's asleep."

"Oh," Kaitlyn said.  She continued to play with CK's purple locks with a kind of gentle anxiety, making and then undoing little braids.  "Reve... does it bother you that.."

"No," he said, licking her cheek. "I'm with you, and I am not alone.  That is all that matters."

Kaitlyn's hands relaxed.

"Thanks, Reve."

Together, they slept.

Meanwhile, Celina was conducting another reading.  She shuffled and cut the tarot deck nervously, then slowly and deliberately selected and laid out the cards. She did not look at their faces until she had turned all of them over.  A familiar sickness, colored by anxiety and nausea, writhed in the put of her stomach as she opened her eyes.  Death.  The Lovers.  The Tower.  The same cards as last time, in the same order.  The images and words that jolted through her brain also mirrored those of her last reading, though now more lurid and urgent than before.  She covered her face with her hands, her body trembling with fear as a sob lodged in her throat.  When Celina raised her head, something metallic was lying on her desk, glinting in the lamplight; something that had not been there before.  She took it into her hands, holding it beneath the lamp for examination.  At first glance it was a pen, long and thin and cylindrical, with a fixture on the cap.  The fixture was a moon in a circle, carved out of silver.

Her other hand shook as she turned off the lamp, and the pen glowed in the moonlight.  Her eyes caught the moon, which hung impossibly full and fat in the night sky.  Ordinarily its sudden leap in phase would have disturbed her, but the past few minutes had left her somewhat numb.  She felt words on her lips as she continued to hold the pen, and she was compelled to call them out.

"Luna Power!"

The pen responded, and an explosion of silver and gold assaulted her eyes as her clothes melted and shifted.  When it was over, she walked uneasily to the bathroom and stood in front of the full length mirror by her bathtub.  She wore the suit she had seen in her vision.  Carefully, Celina prodded the mesh over her stomach and flattened the pleated, gold mini-skirt around her waist.  She felt as if a store of memories, once dormant, had now bubbled to the surface.  The absurdity of her appearance was lost in its familiarity--this was right, this was natural.  This was something she had been waiting for since birth.  Celina relaxed with the acceptance of these facts, and the suit faded, returning her to her night clothes.  She set the pen on her desk, next to her pack of tarot cards.  She pulled back her covers slowly, trying not to think as she curled up in her bed.  She still did not fully comprehened tomorrow's predicted events.  But she did know that she had to do whatever possible to prevent them.  The responsibility this knowledge carried weighed on her heart as she closed her eyes for a fitful sleep.

"You and me, after school.  In the greenhouse.  We settle this today."

Judas nodded, visibly shaken.

"R..right," he said, not one to back down from a challenge.  Kiera, who was sitting just a few desks away, scribbled the terms of their exchange in her notebook.

"Perfect," Roan said, mashing her fist into her palm. "A nice, enclosed area.."

"Try not to destroy all the plants," Azura said, to which Roan shrugged.

"This is war, woman!" Roan took a dramatic swig of her soda. "There's bound to be casualties."

Azura rolled her eyes.

"Do you have a plan, Kaitlyn?" Kiera said, and suddenly all eyes were on their alleged leader.  Her cheeks burned, and she swallowed the bit of sandwich in her throat.

"Um.." she said, thinking quickly. "Meet by the lab right after school?"

"Why not the greenhouse?" Lani asked.

"So he won't expect us," Kaitlyn said.  Yes, that sounded good. "Then we can go out as a group and, you know..ambush."

"Works for me," Jada said, before anyone else could respond.  Kaitlyn smiled thinly, relieved.  She knew that it wasn't the best plan, but it wasn't bad for a few seconds' notice.  She stared at her watch, wishing the hands would move more slowly.  It was the first time she had ever wished to prolong a school day.

"Let's keep this civil," Judas said nervously.

"Civil?" Assyrius closed the door behind him. "You've been antagonizing me since we met, and now you want to be civil?"

Assyrius laughed harshly.  A moment later he had Judas's wrist, and then his knee hit Judas's stomach, and the taller boy was on the grassy floor.  Assyrius pinned him, grinning maniacally at the shock on Judas's face.

"You're not... Assyrius..." he coughed, heaving.

"You're right," Assyrius said, drawing a bottle from his pocket. "I'm someone better."

He held the bottle over Judas's head.

"Can you guess what this is?" Assyrius asked silkily, unscrewing the cap.

"Acid?" Judas ventured, his throat dry.

"Not just any kind of acid," Assyrius said, letting a drop of the bottle's contents scorch the earth beneath them.  He luxuriated in the fear in Judas's face. "Sulfuric."

Judas squirmed violently beneath Assyrius.

"You're crazy!" he cried. "You're going to kill me!"

"Mm.. yes, something like that," Assyrius said.  He dug his fingers into Judas's scalp and pulled him up by the hair. "Open wide."

Tears mixed with sweat as Judas's body shook, his eyes wide and his irises contracted.

"Was it... was it all me?" he whispered suddenly, and Assyrius paused, disarmed.

"What?"

"The reason you're like this... is it all my fault..." Judas choked.

Assyrius said nothing, momentarily at a loss for words.

"If it is, then I'm sorry..." Judas said tremulously, and his eyes were so sincere that Assyrius turned away.  He let go of Judas's hair, and the boy's head fell, hitting the ground solidly.

"You.. you think you can just say that," Assyrius began through gritted teeth, "You think you can say that and make it better?"

"No!" Judas shook his head, "No, of course not."

"Good," Assyrius said, positioning the bottle. "Because it's too late."

Then the greenhouse door swung open, and several things happened at once.  First, a startled Assyrius dropped the bottle, causing an adrenaline-pumped Judas to push out from beneath him, mostly for the purpose of avoiding the bottle's contents.  The acid soaked into the soil, hissing as it dissolved whatever was in its path, and Judas breathed deeply, clutching his chest.  Meanwhile, Sailormana and the others walked in, looking pleased with themselves.  Assyrius scrambled to his feet, face ablaze with anger.  Sailormana's comrades looked to her to issue a challenge.

"I think you should leave that guy alone," she said seriously.

Lumina sighed.

"What?" Mana said, biting her lip. "What am I supposed to say?"

"Forget it," Lumina said.  "Just forget it."

"Can I help you?" Assyrius interrupted, glaring, his gaze divided between the girls and Judas, who was searching frantically for an escape route.

"Tell us your name and your quest!" Salamando cried. "And perhaps we shall let you live."

"Are you guys part of the Drama club or something?" Assyrius said. "I don't know where else you'd get such tacky costumes..."

"Hey, shut up!" Sylphid said. "We're... um..."

"Champions of justice?" Undine offered.

"Yes," Sylphid said. "That."

"Why are you attacking Judas?" Shade said, stepping ahead of the others.  She stared directly at Assyrius, unafraid, and he twitched slightly.

"That's.. none of your business," he said. A ball of dark blue energy began to gather Shade's hand as she held her eyes on Assyrius's face.

"No?" she said.  Assyrius looked at the others, all of whom were similarly preparing some kind of attack.

"I just want to go home," Judas sobbed.  He had curled up in a far corner of the greenhouse and was clinging to a fern leaf.

"It looks like I'm outnumbered here," Assyrius said.  He smiled mysteriously, walking over to one of the plants surrounding them. "But then again..."

It was then that the girls noticed the vines and branches snaking around their legs.  Understandably startled, they tried to jump away, but only succeeded in tripping over the animated foliage.  The vines wrapped around their legs and pinched their waists and throats, and they cried out, their voices strained and choked.

"Maybe not," he grinned.

"Oh God!" Judas jumped away from his fern leaf, afraid that it would try to strangle him, and made a beeline for the exit.

"Hey!"  Assyrius cried, running after him.  Disoriented, Judas ran for the lab, crying and screaming like a maniac to whoever might hear him.  Assyrius had followed, and with his absence, the girls were released from their bindings.

"I'm gonna kill that little bastard," Salamando hissed, and she ran for the lab, her hands already flaming.  The others heard her battle cry and a pair of screams shortly thereafter, causing them to hasten to the lab as well.

"You're all mad!" Judas was yelling, as he nursed a burn on his arm.

"Salamando!" Mana said, glaring at her in annoyance, "We're supposed to be saving him!"

"I said there would be casualties," she said. "Besides, I got the other guy pretty good." Assyrius's hands were indeed severely burned, and he shook with pain as he stared down at his ravaged flesh.

Mana produced her staff, healing both Judas and Assyrius's wounds.

"Yes," Judas said, as he watched Assyrius's hands return to normal. "Completely mad."

"WHAT did I TELL YOU about HEALING THE VILLAINS?!" Lumina cried to Mana, giving her a venomous look. "Jesus Christ, woman!"

"I don't see why we have to maim them," Mana said, avoiding Lumina's eyes. "Just, you know, stop them..."

The lab door opened before Lumina could respond, and Amethyst stalked in.

"Stop wasting time, Assyrius," she said, grabbing Judas by the back of his collar.  She held up her other hand, and a blast of energy burst from it, slamming all six girls into the lab's walls.

"Urgh...," Lumina clutched her head. "Bitch.."

Judas squirmed and struggled uselessly as Assyrius stood over him.

"This won't hurt," Assyrius said, pressing his hand against Judas's chest. "Unfortunately."

Judas fell limp, and the girls watched as, strangely, nothing happened.  Nothing continued to happen for almost five minutes, by which time the girls were back on their feet, though still unsure as to what to do.  Finally, Assyrius spoke.

"Got it?" he asked Amethyst, who nodded and let Judas drop. He slumped on the floor, unmoving.  She walked to the wall behind her and took off one of her earrings, touching one of the cinderblocks with the earring's tip.  The cinderblock glowed in response, and a seed that resembled a gigantic walnut came out from the wall, hovering in mid air.

"You've got to be kidding," Sylphid said. "What the hell is that thing?"

"I.. it's a Mana seed," Mana said, not quite sure how she was aware of this fact.  She realized suddenly that Amethyst's possession of this seed was a Bad Thing, and she sprinted forward, grabbing it before Amethyst could touch it.  Surprised, Amethyst whirled, her blind eyes glowing.  Mana felt gravity pulling on her, and she fell to her knees, clutching the seed to her chest.  It reacted in her arms and suddenly opened up.  A weapon emerged from it, giving even Amethyst pause.

"A whip?" she blinked.  The whip disappeared and then reappeared in front of Salamando, who picked it up and cracked it against the air as though she had owned it for all her life.

"Figures," Undine said.

Amethyst growled in her throat and extended both of her arms, holding up her hands and flattening her palms towards the six girls.  They slammed into the walls with greater force, with Mana dropping the seed upon impact.

Outside the lab, Celina stood, her face pressed against the window in the door.  She had been watching the fight since its migration to the lab, and she thought that now might be a good time to make an appearance.  She swallowed the fear in her throat and held up the pen, transforming right there in the hallway.  She still wasn't sure what she could do, but she felt compelled to at least try.  She pushed open the lab door and cleared her throat.

"Hi."

All heads turned towards her, except for Judas, because he was still very unconscious.

"Who is that?" hissed Lumina, and Mana shrugged, dumbfounded.

"I.. I'm Sailorluna," she said tentatively.  "Yes."

"I don't have time for this," Amethyst grumbled, picking up the seed.  She drove the sharp edge of her earring into the seed's top, and its brown body turned a charred black.  The seed shrunk to a normal size, and she glowered at Luna.

"Are you going to move, or will I have to do to you what I did to them?" she said calmly. "I won't hurt you if you don't get in my way."

The sensible part of Luna's mind told her that getting out of the way was a pretty good idea.  However, Luna was not feeling sensible.  Power and the words to release it welled up inside her.

"Lunar Boost!" she cried, and a golden, shimmering rain fell on the six battered girls.  Enervated, they stood, and Lumina wasted no time waiting for Amethyst's counterattack.  Searing beams of light shot forth as the lights in the lab dimmed.  The light sliced across Assyrius's mid section and Amethyst's arms, causing her to drop the now tiny seed.  Luna reacted quickly and dove for the seed amid Assyrius and Amethyst's howls.  Once the seed was in her possession, she jumped to her feet and, predictably, ran.  Unlike Judas, her self preservation skills were still intact, so instead of running farther into the school, she made a mad dash for the exit.  Everyone, good or bad, was on her heels as she ran into the street, through cars and pedestrians.

"Where the hell did she go?!" Lumina breathed, glaring at whoever dared give her a strange look.

"I think we lost her," Mana said sadly.

"Damn it," Amethyst said.  She grabbed onto Assyrius's hand, and wished desperately that she could see.

"What should we do?" he asked, looking at the senshi through his peripheral vision.

"Go," she muttered bitterly. "We can't fight in public, it will cause a disturbance.  And that girl escaped, anyway."

"Right," he said, and in an instant, they were gone.  The people, who were at least used to random acts of teleportation, were not moved by this.

"So did we win or what?" Lumina asked, as they retreated back to the school to detransform. "I mean, that girl sure looked like one of us."

"I really don't know," Kaitlyn said, who was more concerned about Judas than anything else. "We have to help that boy."

"Although I'm not usually an advocate of cruelty, I would say that he deserved most of what he got," Kiera said evenly, as she checked his pulse. "He wasn't a particularly pleasant person."

"Lots of people aren't pleasant," Kaitlyn frowned. "That doesn't mean you're allowed to throw acid on them."

Kiera shrugged. "He's alive, anyway.  What shall we do with him?"

"Anyone have any smelling salts?" Kaitlyn said.  The negative answers were not surprising.

"How about we just slap him around a bit?" Roan said.  She cracked the whip again.

"I think he's had enough of that," Kaitlyn muttered.

"Mommy..." Judas coughed, squirming on the floor.

"Or he could just conveniently wake up on his own," Azura said, looking down at him.

"Who are you people?  What's happened?  I want to go home," he said, cradling his head in his arms.

"So do we," Jada said, helping him up. "So let's."

Some miles away, in a small, cheap apartment, a young man stood in front of a cracked mirror. Scars marred every inch of his skin, and he stared at those scars as a tornado of thoughts and emotions swirled in his head.  He thought he had suppressed the person inside him--after all, he had not shown up for a long time now--but suddenly he was here again, full of violence and need.  Everything he felt boiled down to one word, and he whispered it as he pulled on his trenchcoat and took up his scythe.

"Lumina..."
 
 

I suck at writing action scenes. .__.

But hopefully the rest of it was okay.  Tell me?
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