Chapter I- Confrontation

It was at least half a century later that Makoto, Rei and Makoto would find out that their lives were dull, exceedingly dull. After their assignment was complete they rarely went out and they grew bored of society. As an incentive Serenity got them a shop on an earth city. It was in a prosperous city so their business flourished…for awhile.

See their shop was a magic shop. Through their ordeal they had gained powers. Rei could see the present but only on certain occasions, as you will find out. Minako could see the past but only on certain occasions as well. Out of all of their powers only Makoto’s was the most complete. She could see the future at will. But that had its drawbacks as well. Every little action can change the future so she saw hundreds of different possibilities so she never used her powers. All of their powers had its drawbacks. They hadn’t even attempted to use their planetary powers since the ‘battle of Crystal Tokyo’ so they weren’t quite sure if it worked. Anyway back to the story…the shop was called "Crystal divination."

Minako sat on her plush chair in their shop, reading a soppy romance novel. Nobody came by anymore and it was driving them crazy, especially her. "Tick," went the antique grandfather clock. Time went at a crawl inside the shop while the world went on as normal outside. By her estimation one week had went by inside and she didn’t know what was going on outside seeing as they never ventured outside of their marble walls. But when people used to come in time went back to normal for the sake of mortals. But they lost their immortality with the ordeal they went through. Ami assured them some time before that they could still be reborn but in the shop nobody aged.

"I can’t take it anymore!" she screeched and threw the book she had been reading. It flew through the air and into the doorway of the kitchen. Mina heard it splash in something. Seconds later Makoto stormed out of her workroom, her cloak and mask that they never took off, wet with orange sauce. "Oops," she whispered. "Minako! I was working on a new healing potion. You’ve ruined my work!" she yelled.

Rei came down stairs from her bedroom and into the shop. Even through her mask you could tell she was annoyed. "Can you please be quiet people. You’re giving me a headache! I am trying to finish up a new song I was working on," she said, exasperated. "I really don’t think all of this is worth it. I’m getting bored and our tempers aren’t doing to well. It’s only been a day but I can’t live with people. I used to live in peace before all of this happened," Rei added. Through the silver mask Makoto’s eyes sort of spaced out. "I don’t think we’re going to have to wait much longer…for something to happen," Makoto said. "You had a vision?" Minako asked hopefully.

"No I feel that something will happen, I don’t know what though. It doesn’t matter. I have to go get cleaned up and finish this potion and then work on dinner. I just made a new recipe," she said returning back to the old ‘Makoto’. She turned and went back into the kitchen. "Yay, something fun hopefully," Minako cheered. "Yeah, maybe," Rei said and sighed. Life was getting dull, really dull.

^&^&^&^&^&^&^&^&^&^&^&^&^&^&^&^&^___^

*Elsewhere*

"Um are you sure we’re going the right way?" Duo asked. He was sitting in his Deathscythe Gundam. The whole team had been wandering around for hours in a wasteland on earth. Heero was getting sick of Duo’s mouth. "Shut up or omae wa korosu," she said threateningly. Duo quickly quieted down.

Their radar systems were all malfunctioning and they had no way of knowing how to get to the base they were trying to ‘dismantle.’ Just as with the Senshi, their nerves were short, their tempers hot. "Can we ask for directions somewhere?" Duo asked again. "Maybe if there was a civilization in sight," Quatra snapped. The weather, if not the company he was with, was getting to him too.

Duo sighed and closed his eyes for a moment. "Look a city!" Wufei said. And true to the words of the pilot there was one. They were at the top of a large rise. The city itself was immense. But all of the buildings were old and deteriorating. It was a ghost city, not a soul in sight. "It must have been abandoned for a long time. What do you think it was?" Quatra asked. "Disease," Trowa volunteered. Heero closed his eyes for a moment and reflected on his not so saintly past. "The war," he said.

The Gundams trudged down the hill. "Shouldn’t we leave the Gundams here and go find somebody to ask for directions?" Duo asked. "Hn," Heero answered. They left their Gundams in a large abandoned warehouse. "Split up and we’ll use a signal flare if we find anything or get into trouble. But you all have your weapons," Heero said. Wufei was surprised. That was the longest sentence he said since they entered the service of Queen Relena’s bodyguards.

They all split up into individual groups and went their separate ways.

**************************(Heero’s P.O.V.)**********************

Heero went north, into the heart of the nameless Ghost City. His gun was in his pocket easily accessible. "This is the last time we let Duo repair our Gundams," he thought with the beginnings of a smile. He realized it and schooled his facial expression back to the ‘normal’ cold manner he earned his reputation with.

He walked down the deteriorating streets for what seemed like hours. It was only twenty minutes. He relaxed his hold on his gun as he realized nothing was likely to happen. Then he felt something…a presence. Whipping his gun out he walked turned around in a slow circle. "Who’s there? Show yourself or omae wa korosu," he threatened. A pigeon landed a few feet away from him suddenly. Caught off guard he fired a shot. Then he realized his stupidity at being frightened by the bird.

He breathed in a sigh of relief as the bird, unharmed, flew away. He watched it fly away, it didn’t fly far, it landed on a building in front of him. That’s when he noticed something about the building. It was as battered as the other ones. The sign that was eroded with time read Crystal Divinations and was hanging lopsided over the door. The tenants probably had lived above the shop.

Something about the shop bothered him. "Heero. Man are you all right? Who’d you kill this time," Duo said as he ran up to him. Wufei, Trowa and Quatra were following him.

"We came as fast as we could when we heard the gunshot," Quatra said. "So what happened?" Trowa asked after there was no response. Seconds later there still was no response. Heero stared directly at building in front of him. "Crystal Divinations…what’s bothering me? Wait a minute…" he thought.

The other pilots followed his gaze to the building. "There’s a light in the second story window!" Wufei exclaimed. And sure enough a light was coming from the upstairs window. "I think its coming from a candle, but I thought the city was abandoned," Quatra said. A silhouette was briefly cast over the window. "There’s somebody in there…"Trowa whispered. Suddenly they heard a click.

Heero took the safety off of his gun. "I’m going in," he said. The others nodded and adjusted their own weapons. Heero kicked in the door. Then he gasped at the room. "What is it? Move out the way Heero," Duo said impatiently as Heero was blocking the entrance. Heero moved out of the way.

What made him gasp was all of the wealth invested in it. The floors were made out of marble. There was large chandelier. The sofas were velvet and the furniture was cherry oak. All other accessories (lamps and such) were genuine silver, gold or ebony. That was the basic theme in the room. The one thing that seemed out of place was a large grandfather clock that just begun to tick as they entered the shop. It seemed much bigger inside then it did outside.

Through Quatra’s expertise they said it was a waiting room. It wasn’t that big either. "What is all this stuff doing in an abandoned city?" Heero mused. Duo parted the beads and found the entrance into wherever they were. The inside was a lot plainer but still as expensive.

There was a staircase that led to the room where undoubtedly there visitor was. And there was a door that led to somewhere where Duo could swear he smelled food. The only furniture was nine beanbags also in silver, gold or ebony. Wait there was somebody sitting there. It was a hooded and masked figure bent over a crystal ball in which a live flame was encased. Their mask was black encrusted with gems that looked from their vantage pint to be rubies.

"Umm…excuse me…sir," Quatra started. The figure didn’t look up. "We need a little help," Duo said. Still no answer or even recognition of their presence. *Bang* There was a gunshot. Dust sprayed from the hole in the ceiling that Heero had made. The figure jumped up. "Do not ignore us," Heero said and lowered his gun. Duo expected the figure to be startled. Even behind the nonchalant expression of the clown mask he sensed anger.

"You baka! You made me loose my concentration! Do you know what you did? I almost had it. You made me loose something important!" the feminine voice said enraged. "I don’t like to be ignored," Heero said coldly. "We’re sorry for the hole in the ceiling and apologize," Quatra said with a small bow. The masked figure was taken aback by the act of kindness. "I accept your apology…wait…what the hell were you doing in our shop anyway? Do you know what a door is for? Does privacy ring a bell? Now get out and leave us the hell alone you stupid boys. I oughta-" she stopped as she noticed that a gun was trained on her.

"Now you will answer our questions. Who are you and what is this shop?" Heero asked. The woman didn’t speak. "I suggest you answer him babe," Duo said. Even from five feet away they heard the woman sigh. "My name is Rei Hino. The shop is called Crystal Divinations and if your heads weren’t so thick you would know," she said simply and took a seat at one of the chairs. "Watch it onna!" Wufei said becoming angry with her. Trowa restrained him with one hand and remained silent.

"This is a magic shop you bakas. I work here obviously." "Who is this us you were talking about? Who else works here?" Heero asked. As if to answer his question another cloaked figure ran down the steps. Her mask was gold with orange gemstones. ‘Why do they have hooded cloaks and masks on? Are they deformed or something?’ Quatra thought. "What’s the problem, I thought I heard a gunshot. What have you been up to Rei? Oh shit-" she stopped as she saw weapons trained on her.

Ignoring them she walked up to Rei. "Who are these people? More of your swains? I know these kinds of things ya know I am after all the goddess of love, figuratively speaking," the new girl said happily as if they weren’t in mortal danger. "Leave me alone. They just came in out of nowhere and ruined a vision I was on the verge of seeing," Rei said through gritted teeth. "Is that all? I thought well…it doesn’t matter what I thought. Now if you excuse me I have a romance novel and a hot bubble bath waiting for me upstairs," she said and turned to walk away. "Sit down with your friend," Heero said and clicked the safety off his gun again. "Do it babe. Not that I wouldn’t mind joining you for a nice bath," Duo said with a grin. "Hentai," Rei muttered under her breath.

She stopped and reluctantly took a seat on a beanbag next to Rei. "Now who are you miss?" Quatra asked politely. The woman looked uncomfortable even under her smiling clown mask. "Um…my name is Minako. Minako Aino. But my friends mostly call me Mina but don’t call me that because anyone who barges in like that and threatens me isn’t a friend. So hurry up and get this over with."

"Why is this the only inhabited building in the whole city? What happened?" Trowa asked braking his silence. "What do you mean the only place. Last I checked this city was thriving," Mina said. Rei coughed. *Cough* *grandfather clock, ne* *cough cough. * "Oh yeah I almost forgot about that," Mina said. "Forgot about what, onna?" Wufei asked. Rei stood out of her seat angrily. "Listen here you chauvinistic bastard. You do not come up here insulting us. Next time I hear you say something like that I will personally kick you ass!" she said. Her violet eyes were seething with anger from under the mask.

"Rei calm down," Minako whispered. "You and what army onna?" Wufei asked. "That’s it!" Rei said angrily. Minako restrained her as she lunged to attack Wufei. *Bang* Another gunshot. All eyes in the room turned to Heero. "Will you stop that? That’s my room up there," Mina said, annoyed. "Hn," Heero said. "Can you answer our question?" Quatra asked.

"Umm…yeah. You wanna know why we’re here right? Can you guess we’re hiding? See these men were chasing us," Mina lied and left them to form their own conclusions.

Oz and White Fang had been destroyed but a new enemy had arisen and was trying to reunite both. "Oz," Heero whispered. "Yeah, Oz," Rei said. "So this means you probably don’t know where their base is. We came here for nothing," Heero said.

"I want my fortune told," Duo said enthusiastically. The other pilots despite what they might have said were curious about their own futures. "I guess…It’s the least we can do for not being able to help but can you please introduce yourselves?" Rei asked. "I’m Duo. I may run and hide but I never tell a lie," he said with a wink towards the ladies.

"That’s Trowa with the huge bang. Tell you the truth I think he only has one eye. And that’s Wufei. I think he likes your friend Rei. That’s Quatra over there, he’s loaded and that gun toting maniac is Heero," Duo introduced rapidly cutting the others off. He obviously really wanted his hand read. Minako motioned for them to sit on a beanbag. They did (although hesitantly) and formed a half circle around the beanbags where Mina and Rei sat. "Me first," Duo said and gave his hand for Minako to read. Minako took it in her gloved hands.

Rei and Minako exchanged concerned expressions. ‘I don’t have the power right now but I’ll try,’ the look translated to. "Ok, let’s see," Minako said as she studied his palm. She could actually read palms but it was nothing compared to her visions of the past, when she did have the power to access them that is.

Minako studied the lines on Duo’s hand. Duo’s gaze was on her so it was kind of hard to concentrate. She was glad that she was wearing the mask as she felt her face flush.

"All done," she said a moment later. "And…" Duo said. "Well I can only see the past so this might not be new to you. I felt something…religious maybe then I felt death and pain. I don’t know how those two fit together but whatever. I think you’ve been fighting. Either physically or with yourself. That’s all I got. I told you it wasn’t interesting." Duo’s eyes widened in shock. He had never told anybody about the Maxwell Church. The fires, the screaming, the pain. "She can’t possibly know about that. It was just a lucky guess and about the fighting…anybody can guess that," Duo thought. It was easy to disbelieve in the reading; there was no proof.

Heero however didn’t know what Minako was talking about until she mentioned fighting but immediately wrote it off as a lucky guess. "That’s it so you can all be on your way," Minako said. "Wait, what do you do?" Wufei asked curiously and forgetting his anger. "Me? I tell the present. About 7 minutes into the past or future. I tell what is now," Rei said also forgetting her anger. "I want to get my future read," Heero said surprising all of them. "You’re joking right?" Duo said.

"So who’s going to tell me my future?" he asked. "Um…well…we don’t do the future but…" Rei started. "Maaaakkkooooooottttoooooooo!" Minako shouted at the top of her lungs. Quatra had to cover his ears because her voice was pretty high.

**************(Workroom)****************

"Maaaakkkooooooottttoooooooo!" Minako yelled. Makoto was next door in her workroom/kitchen/garden. It was her domain. There were also many wooden shelves with herbal teas, potions and anything else pertaining to her craft.

"What the hell does she want now? I’m trying to finish this recipe for lunch…that’s strange I could have sworn time shifted earlier. I wonder what they’re doing out there?" she thought. She sighed and put down her pad and pencil. "This better be good," she mumbled. Walking down the door to the ‘divination room’ she was getting worried. "Maybe Minako blew up some of my potion bottles again. Oh no! Maybe that was those booms I heard earlier," she thought. Hurrying her pace she reached the wooden door. After taking a deep breath and trying to control her frustration she kicked open the door…and found herself staring down the barrel of a gun…