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A headstone could tell you only so much:



What it failed to say was 'Here lies Alistair McGill. Prince Eon of the Zodiac Court, Cavalier to Princess Chronos. Here lies Alistair McGill, who gave his life so that those he loved might have a second chance. Here lies Alistair McGill, and with him a piece of those he left behind.'

What it failed to say was so much more than what it said.

Andeon ran his fingers across the deeply engraved letters, smiling at that hidden message. To some it might have been just another quote, pulled from a book by grieving parents. To those who knew him, it was the last advice from a Prince to his Court. It was his last command, his constant reminder that though they were now incomplete, they must carry on. They were alive, and so their mission was not yet finished.

Nothing had been the same for the Zodiacs since they had lost Eon. Serenade had moments where it was impossible to look at her without feeling your heart breaking open, when her eyes looked so distant that you thought she might never return. Then a moment later, against all odds, she would. She would smile and hug one of them, and it would almost seem alright. It would almost feel like it had been before.

It never was. It never would be. For a moment, though, they could all pretend. When Serenade smiled, when Chronos smiled, they could all pretend.

It had been an Elke's idea to have the party here, and it was Elke who had done most of the decorating. It was strange to see a graveyard so spread out, clustered into families the way this one was. Alistair's grave stood alone, a smooth marble headstone upon a grassy slope. The ground had been brown when they arrived, patched with the occasional bright patch of winter-blooming Hellebores flowers. Now it was a mix of pale whites and pinks and reds, rose petals scattered over blankets that had been laid down around the headstone.

The headstone itself was covered, save the lettering, with pictures and flowers. Quickly snapped polaroids of Alistair and the Zodiacs in the months preceding his death. Rare moments of their human lives caught on film and preserved beyond his death. They had been dug out of boxes that had been shoved under beds or stored in garages when their parents had thought them all, save Pisces, to be dead.

In fact, Elke had done most of the decorating. She had hung the pink and red streamers on the tress and tied the white ribbons around the candles that circled the grave. She had placed the vases of flowers and set up the picnic table with various covered plates. Elke had sent out the invites to tell every Zodiac when and where to meet, and had gone out of her way to make sure that Serenade knew nothing of it all. Andeon had spent most of the time taking up Sue on a bet that he couldn't climb the thick oak tree that topped the small hill, and still had dead leaves in his hair from the failed result. Sue, for his part, was watching Andeon in a very Sue-like manner. That is to say, he was watching to make sure Andeon wasn't ******** everything up.

Andeon was just barely not ******** everything up. This was largely due to Sue doing his job extremely well. Without Sue, it was likely that Andeon would have spent most of the morning trying to see if he could light and blow out candles with his mind. Even with Sue present, Andeon had still wasted a good hour trying to convince Elke that such was possible.

The male Gemini gently touched the words that carried that hidden message one more time, before turning his gaze up from the headstone. “Sue, you ready? We have a kidnapping to do. Elke, I think the others should be arriving soon.”

"We aren't idiots, Elke," Sue answered grouchily, his voice filled with that special sort of disgust that was reserved only for her. "At least, I'm not."

That had been his tone all morning, really. Sue was not just his usual surly self, either, but was armed with a special brand of antagonism today. There was a bad taste in his mouth that he couldn't quite clear, a bitter anger and disappointment that was buried too deep in memory to find. Something Zue would have known, but Sue was still fumbling to discover.

It was these faces. Elke had made an extra careful point of showing them to him when she'd set them up, one after the other, narrating each one as she went. Following his admission to her the other day of not remembering anything of Zue's earth life before Barren Pines, he didn't know whether she was being spiteful by showing him what he couldn't possibly remember, or trying to help him by stirring something up - but either way, he had gotten into a foul mood.

Not that most people would recognize it, given his usual behavior.

At least now he had something to do, other than standing around and shouting for order. "C'mon, you," he ordered Andeon, pulling him away from Elke just in time to ruin her snapshot. "Let's hurry up. Elke, we'll be back before you know it!" At least he had the decency to leave on something that sounded like a cheerier note, even if he hadn't been trying for it.

Giselle arrived just as Sue and Andeon were leaving to go fetch Serenade. As always, she was punctual, and she nodded to them amiably as they passed.

It was strange to see Giselle being amiable. Like seeing a glacier in the Caribbean sea. She was capable of it, but she hardly came off as friendly even when she was at her absolute best- Just diplomatic. However, as her memories as Libra returned to her, and they were returning, piece by piece, Giselle was getting used to being familiar with the other zodiacs. It took some getting used to, but she was loosening up around her peers.

She still refused to hug it out with Elke, though.

Reaching the hill where Elke was, she said "How is your history grade?" Then, as an afterthought, "How are you?" Old habits were difficult to break. But as she looked around, she nodded at the decorations, and added "Well done." From Giselle, this was practically a medal of honour with a brass band in the background.

She nodded to Mackenzie as well, not as familiar with her as she was with some of the other Zodiacs. "You play?" she asked, gesturing to the violin. Giselle did not play. She had attempted to play once, failed miserably, and was now in deep denial about her musical ability. However, she could appreciate the talent in a fellow zodiac, especially on a day like today. It was a day that called for music. It was a day that called for plenty of things. Alistair should have been there. Jude should have been there. In a way, they were, but there were still wounds that were fresh in each of the zodiacs' minds. Giselle had dealt with it by attempting to ignore it.

It was time to try acceptance.

It would have been completely out of character for their Captain to be late. Andeon had said, no black! No goths! but Hero Barrett was muted -- black jeans (somebody had gotten her out of slacks?) and a deep navy coat, her cello case hiked up on her back as though it contained nothing. There was Aurelia right next to her: it would have been completely out of character for that not to happen as well.

Hero always did the shake-around. Hero could make McDonald's seem formal. She reached out her hand to Mackie to shake, though Mackie shaking hands was a little different than Hero's, both string players giving each other a nod at what had been the same impulse -- she set down her satchel on one of the blankets, as well as the case.

There was no hesitation before she reached out for Grayson's hand, though her eyes flicked away from his face: her gloved fingers closed around his briefly before she raised them up to peel them off, put them in her pocket, staring down at Elke's handiwork instead. "Appropriate," she said, which like Giselle's well done meant you have won the Nobel prize in gravestone decoration.

It was a little ironic and a little bit wrong that, of all of Team Fixed, Grayson was the first to arrive. True, he had Elke to thank for that, but as he glanced around the chosen place for assembly, he couldn't help but frown vaguely. Very rarely did he actually meet up with Angela, Topher, and Tara; truth be told, he'd spent more time with Elke and Jude than any of them, and it bothered him. He couldn't say exactly why, as he couldn't remember being very close to them, except he knew that they were a team and that meant they should stick together. They hadn't had a proper meeting since Barren Pines, not just the Fixed signs, and he wondered if the others had.

Probably, he thought, a vague smile on his face as the Captain arrived and made her rounds. He shook her hand without any hesitation, a little bemused when she didn't meet his eyes, but otherwise thinking nothing of it. It was the first time he'd properly been around Hero as well, since Denny's anyhow, and he wasn't even sure that counted.

He really needed to make more of an effort to spend time with the other Zodiacs. He told himself this, but he knew after this gathering, he would more than likely just go about his own business once again. Well... perhaps not quite the same; things had changed, between the loss of Sagittarius and the meeting for all of the senshi. Things needed to change, anyway.

One step at a time, he told himself.

"Has anyone seen Topher lately?" Glancing around, he eased his arm from Elke's shoulders, slipped his hands into his pockets. Topher was the Vice Captain, they had probably all seen much more of him than Grayson had... despite them being on the same team, and Topher being the leader of that team besides.

He felt a little guilty about that, too. Well, they all knew he was a slacker. His lower lip slid out slightly, eyes cast to Alistair's headstone, and he thought about that, too.

Things really needed to change.

Grayson looked surprised. "Ah, no, I don't think so? I just haven't seen him lately, and I wanted to ask him something..."

He massaged the back of his neck, looking sheepish. What he wanted to ask was if he had been sleeping through any team meetings, and he wanted to apologize if he had. It wasn't behavior befitting a member of the Zodiac Guard, a thought that had been circling in the back of his mind for a while, but had gained prominence since the mass senshi meeting.

After a moment, he added peacefully, "I'm sure I'll see him soon. It's a nice day."

And he looked up, watching the clouds drift by, with a little smile. It was a good day to remember those they'd lost.

It was true that without the Zodiac tracker Serenade possessed, she had known that they were coming just a few minutes before they barged into her room. The green-haired girl had been at a loss to do; she had gotten up and was dressed rather somberly in a simple white dress, then put herself back under the bed covers. She hadn't intended on going out and seeing all the happy couples today. She hadn't intended on going out at all, though debated on having a little piano practice.

She thought they had come to just visit her and see how she was doing. They were worried about her, she knew, ever since Andeon had been assigned the duty to tell her Jude was dead. So, when they burst in, Serenade had gotten out from underneath her comforter and was seated on her bed.

It was then, rather surprising that Andeon 'kidnapped' her. Serenade was rather amused that she was being carried on his shoulder, and with Zue arguing with him to put her down this instant. She giggled a few times. It was pretty impossible not to laugh at certain times during their argument.

The blindfold was somewhat confusing, although Serenade obliged to keep quiet after a few of her questions did not get through. Instead, she patted Zue on the hand, or at least tried to, (it was really hard to see with a blindfold over your eyes) whenever he got all grumbly with Andeon's driving.

One, two...three. On the third count, she removed the blindfold dutifully.

And stared.

It was hard to say what caught her attention first; the fact that they were at Ally's grave, or that it was really prettily decorated with flowers and pictures, or that the Zodiacs that were there, looking at her expectantly, waiting for her reaction. Serenade stood there, exactly where they had asked her to stop and then there it was.

She smiled.

She smiled at all of them there, all of them who had done this for her, all of them that were here together. Here, at Ally's grave.

Even as she smiled, they would have noticed the tears brimming in her eyes, and it took every thing she had in her to hold it back for as long as she could before she let her tears fall, finally, covering her mouth with a hand with a sob. There were happy tears, there were sad tears, and she repeatedly said 'I'm sorry' as she cried. "I'm sorry, it's really nice, it is, I shouldn't be crying like this, I'm sorry."

"I haven't seen Topher at all, not since Denny's," said Elke, frowning; her tone was a little worried, and her sudden preoccupation allowed Grayson to let go of her unharmed. "He goes to Meadowview, doesn't he?"

Then her mouth shut with an audible click when she saw the car Andeon and Sue were in pull up, and the princess get out. They really hadn't been kidding about the blindfold, had they? Elke didn't know whether to be impressed by their sticking power or irritated by... blindfolding the Princess! She put both hands over her lips to stop herself from spoiling the surprise, and then--

A smile! Yes! That meant they had done well, that the Princess was pleased, and then--

"Don't cry, Princess," said Elke, breaking from Grayson's side to hug her Princess tightly. "Don't be sorry, don't cry, I mean, you can if you want, but today is a happy day!" She rubbed circles on Serenade's back, patted her hair, and smiled over the Princess's shoulder at Pierrette.

When she thought the Princess was feeling better, she backed off a little. "We have food," she said, "and photos of Ally, you can have them if you like, I have more at the dorm room that I was saving to make a photo album for your birthday, but really, Serenade, it's okay! Just like Ally always said, it's all right. Please smile?"