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"How is she?" Darien asked the woman who'd come downstairs. "She's fine, but still unconscious. Where did you find her, again?" she replied. "A couple of blocks from here. Why?" "Well, she keeps —" "Prisma!" A voice called from upstairs. "She's doing it again!" Without a word, Prisma ran up the stairs, with Darien close behind. They entered a room at the top of the stairs. Inside stood Birdie and Avery, watching the young girl lying on the bed. The girl stirred, her head tossing back and forth. "What does she keep doing?" Darien asked. "Shhhhh!!!" The three sisters replied, all of their eyes on Aegea. "Rubeus." she said softly. "Rubeus, no! No, don't leave me. Please don't leave me!" "Rubeus? The same Rubeus who was in charge of you guys?" Darien asked as Aegea continued to mumble. "How many Rubeuses do you know?" Avery replied. "Please . . . . don't leave." the girl whispered, then fell silent. A single tear fell from her closed eye, then rolled along her cheek, and hit the pillow beneath her head. Darien, Prisma, and Avery headed back downstairs after Birdie volunteered to sit with the girl. "What do you make of it?" Darien finally asked when they got back downstairs. "She obviously had some connection with Rubeus. Maybe one like Catsy's...." Prisma replied. "I hope not. It was bad enough with Catsy... But for that poor thing... She doesn't look any older than eighteen." Avery replied, obviously concerned. "I guess you guys never met her." Darien said. Prisma shook her head. "Unh-uh. We knew very little about his past. Although, when we teamed up, he seemed nice; not as evil as he became. When Rubeus and the four of us first joined, he seemed a little sad and distracted." She replied. "A couple of months into the ‘partnership', so-to-speak, he suddenly became evil, and his whole manner changed. So did the plan." Avery continued for her sister. "His eyes changed, too. They went from a beautiful brown to red." A voice said. All three turned to see Catsy standing in the entrance to the room. "I've been upstairs." She said, sitting in a chair. "She sounds a lot like I would have. She thinks she's in love with him." No one asked how she knew. The answer was simple; months before, she had been in the same position. Darien shifted uneasily in his seat, and Catsy's sisters exchanged looks.
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The tall figure stood in the shadows and concentrated. He was injured. He'd make sure that those responsible for his injuries payed. Suddenly, the figure's head began to ring. Someone was calling him, and the sound was horrifying, reverberating between his ears. He recognized the name, but not the voice; he had no idea who it belonged to. But, no matter, it had stopped, and he had more important things to handle. He cradled his injured arm, and limped off into the shadows, necklace about his neck, swinging back and forth. "I think I saw a young man carrying the girl you described in that direction." A voice on the street nearby said. "Thanks," was the reply. A moment later, a twenty-something year-old man walked by the alley carrying a child. The voice that had spoken last made the dark figure even angrier, but the sight of the child comforted him. He wasn't sure why, and decided not to dwell on it. Instead, he went off, limping, to find a hiding place to rest.
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"I'll get it!" Catsy said after the doorbell range. She ran to the door, grateful for a break from the uneasy silence in the room. There was a young man standing on the doorstep. He held a small child with orange-colored hair. "Can I help you?" she asked. "Um, I'm looking for my sister. I was told she's here." he replied. "Uh, yeah. Come on in." Catsy answered, surprised. She led them upstairs, followed by Prisma, Avery, and Darien, who had heard them from the doorway. "Birdie, this guy says he's her brother." Birdie looked from the young man to the girl. There DID seem to be some sort of relation between them. Then her eyes fell on the child in the young man's arms. It was as if someone had melded the Rubeus's and the girl's face together and stuck the end result on a the child's head. The hair color looked like it had been mixed like paint, using Rubeus's color, and the girl's. Upon seeing the girl on the bed, the young man sat the boy on the floor and slowly moved forward. The boy didn't waste his time going slowly. Instead, he ran to the bed and jumped on it. Then he began to shake her. "Jacinth! Stop!" the young man said harshly. The girl began to stir, and slowly opened her eyes. "Mommy?" the boy named Jacinth asked her. She smiled. "Jacinth, darling!" She replied, hugging him. As she sat up, she noticed the others. "Hello, Ashka. Where are we?" "You're in Tokyo." Birdie told her, stepping forward. "My name is Birdie. These are my sister; Avery, Prisma, and Catsy. The young man there is Darien." "Nice to meet you. My name is Lady Aegea. This is my son, Jacinth, and my brother, Lord Ashka. And, if you'll excuse me, I need to find someone." "Rubeus?" Catsy asked. Aegea looked surprised. "We used to work for him." "Of course not. He's dead." Ashka replied curtly. "No, he's not." Aegea replied. "But that's not where I'm going." She began to walk out the door.
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"Sapphire!" Sapphire whipped around and came face-to-face with Aegea. "Aegea?!? You're supposed to be dead!" "I am? And what happened to Rubeus?" "A while after you left, we lost track of you. Wise Man said to claim you dead, thinking that Rubeus would stop thinking about you and his son. Of course, it didn't work. Rubeus became less cooperative, believing that it was the Wise Man's fault that you were dead. Wise Man fed him more dark power, and he completely forgot about the two of you." "The Rubeus DID die in the explosion?" "No, I saw how you two looked at each other. I couldn't let him die without seeing you again and knowing who you are. Once you find him, look into his evil eyes with your beautiful blue ones and kiss him. That should awaken him." "How can I ever thank you, Sapphire?" "You two being together will be thanks enough." He replied. Aegea hugged Sapphire tightly and kissed him on the cheek.
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The shadowy figure leaned against a wall in an abandoned warehouse. His pain was getting worse. . . . BANG! The door to the warehouse slammed shut. Someone had followed him there Probably those Sailor Scouts. Couldn't they just leave him alone?? The figure began to rise and hobble off when he saw the silhouette of a lone girl before him. "Rubeus?" the voice asked him, sounding gentle, and much like the voice that had called to him earlier. She stepped forward and crouched beside him. "You're hurt!" "Aegea, get away from him!" Rubeus cursed himself for not hearing the arrival of the others. ‘Aegea,' he thought to himself. ‘Why does that name sound so familiar?' Pushing the question from his mind, Rubeus stood painfully to face Tuxedo Mask and the Sailor Scouts. The four traitors, and the man and boy from the street. Rubeus felt a hand on his arm. Startled, he turned to see the girl beside him. The one they had called "Aegea" stood there, looking at him with a slight smile on her face. Turning his attention back to the enemy, Rubeus raised his good arm and fired a black sphere of energy at the closest scout. "Nooooooo!" cried the young man, setting the boy down. He fired energy at Rubeus, parrying the attack. "Mars.... Celestial Fire.... Surround!" Mars (obviously) shouted. Rubeus pushed Aegea out of the way of the blast, landing next to her. He fired again, knocking Mars into a pile of wooden crates. Tuxedo Mask tossed a rose and barely missed Aegea. "You idiot!" the young man shouted. "Don't hurt her!" "Venus.... Love.... Chain.... Encircle!" Venus (again, obviously) shouted. "Nooooooo!!!" Aegea yelled as she jumped in front of Rubeus. The blast hit her in the stomach, throwing her and Rubeus into the wall behind them. "Aegea?!" the young man shouted, running forward. Not catching the movement, Tuxedo Mask threw another rose. It hit him square in the back, and he fell to the ground. "Ashka!" Jacinth shouted. Mercury whirled around. "Prisma! Birdie! Take him out of here!" She shouted. "No!" Jacinth argued. He ran off into the shadows, with the four sisters ran after him. While the good guys were discussing all of this, Rubeus sat on the floor, cradling Aegea. "Why did you do this? I don't even KNOW you!" he asked, distressed for reasons unknown to him. Aegea looked up at him and smiled. "Because...." she replied softly, "Once, long ago... We loved each other." "Huh?" Rubeus replied, confused. "I don't remember that. And, like I told Catsy, I don't do stupid things like fall in love." Aegea shook her head, and winced. Although Rubeus put a LOT of pressure on the wound, the blood wasn't stopping. It was obvious that she wouldn't live much longer. Reaching up, Aegea pulled Rubeus's face to hers and kissed him. After a moment, she released her grip on him, and her face hit his chest. Rubeus stared at her, surprised. He looked up into the eyes of the boy. "Daddy?" the boy asked. Rubeus's eyes widened. "Jacinth?" He remembered. Memories were spreading through his mind like wildfire. "What's wrong with Mommy?" Jacinth asked, looking at his uncounscious mother. In his father's arms. "Uh..." "Did those Sailor Scouts do this?" he asked, fire in his eyes. The look on Jacinth's face worried Rubeus, so he gathered up Aegea in his arms, ignoring his burns, and stood. "Come on, Jacinth." Noticing that everyone was busy looking for the small boy at his side, Rubeus, carrying Aegea, stepped over the now-dead Ashka, and walked out of the warehouse, followed by Jacinth. The scouts, Tuxedo Mask, and the four sisters didn't even notice; they continued the search in the shadows. Sailor Mars limped around, wondering who the kid was and why the hell they were looking for him.
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