Disclaimer: TOEI animation owns the rights to Starzinger and its characters. No money is being made, so no infringement of the copyright law is intended.

"We should talk to her now," Ragsius whispered to Ugrissa while leaving the dining room.

"Ok, I'll tell her, but please let me apologize first."

Ragsius gave her a subtle nod.

Belamis was heading towards the stairs and Ugrissa, holding Shaina in her arms, hurried to her side. Belamis smiled but Ugrissa couldn't smile back. She was drowning in guilt for what just happened in the dining room.

"Oh Belamis!" Ugrissa's eyes pleaded for forgiveness. "I'm so sorry for asking you for your pet! And for putting you and Jan Kugo in such an uncomfortable situation."

The smiled gradually faded.

Maybe I shouldn't have told anything at all. Belamis was starting to regret what she said about Miu while seated with them at the table. What was the point, anyway? I shouldn't have expose Kugo the way I did… and now she was certain that everybody realized whom she was referring to.

"Don't blame yourself," she slowed the pace. "I talked too much."

Belamis stood at the bottom of the stairs and looked back at the dining room. Her eyes searched for Kugo, who was still at the table with Don Hakka and Sir Djorgo.

She sighed gently and then looked at Ugrissa. This girl, inevitably, made her remember the few dearest friends she once had and tragically lost. For being so young, she seemed clever and, oddly enough, she inspired trust.

"This had to happen eventually," Belamis confessed; her gaze searching for Kugo again. "Jan Kugo and I still have some unfinished business."

"Oh!-" Ugrissa saved her questions and deductions for later when Ragsius, who has been closely behind them, stood next to Belamis.

"I hope my sister here is not bothering you again," Ragsius arched an eyebrow, showing a slight grin. Upon hearing his voice, Shaina hissed at him.

"Of course not!" Ugrissa petted the cat to calm her. "I was about to ask…"

"Ask me what?"

"Belamis," Ragsius looked Belamis in the eye. " If you don't mind, before showing you to your room, we would like to ask you something. It's important and it can't wait."

What could it be? Although she didn't mean to be rude, a slight frown betrayed any attempt to hide her surprise since she had just arrived and they barely know her. "Sure."

"We'll need to explain some things first. Let's talk upstairs," Ragsius lead the way, Belamis and Ugrissa followed him. At the third floor, they turned left, walked down the corridor and stood at the last door. It seemed antique, like the other doors of the corridor, but it opened automatically when Ragsius stood in front of it.

"So, you don't live by Galaxy Energy only after all!" Belamis commented as she entered in the room, so different from the rest of the house. This one had no antiques, but screens and advanced communication systems. "I was starting to wonder if there was any trace of high technology on this planet", she added, when her eyes stopped at the floor to ceiling window across the room.

"Don't put your expectations too high!" she heard Ragsius saying while she stepped in front of the window, delighted with the view: a tempting garden to walk, to be in solitude, to step on the bridge and stare aimlessly at the tranquil waters of its canal. "This is for communication purposes only. For the past eight years, we have used it to communicate with the Royal Palace and, when the energy from the Monster of Light didn't interfere, with our home planet."

"Your home planet?" Belamis took her eyes off the inviting view and turned around, staring with curiosity at both siblings. Somehow she took for granted that they had been born in the Great Planet.

"Actually, it's Queen Hani's home planet too," Ugrissa came closer to Belamis. "Our father sent us to her when our mother died eight years ago. Now that the Monster of Light is gone and the Galaxy Energy has been restored, we all long to go back to our planet."

"Our grandmother has been waiting for this moment since she left so many years ago, to came here, to the Great Planet, to became queen and to maintain the Galaxy Energy." Ragsius said and waited for a reaction.

There was silence as Belamis' blue eyes widened. "Queen Hani is your grandmother?"

"My father's mother, yes," Ugrissa specified.

An unexpected, silly thought crossed Belamis' mind.

Djorgo and Don Hakka. Their jaws dropped, shocked, disappointed at the sight of Aurora falling in love for another man. Having kids. Having an ordinary life, like ordinary people.

A chuckle escaped her. It didn't occur to her that Kugo would react like that. He's not in love with Aurora, of that she was almost certain.

Now Ragsius and Ugrissa look puzzled at her.

"Oh! I've just realized -," Belamis shook her head. "That I had this idea…" this wrong idea. Aurora gave her the impression that a queen with Galaxy Energy should be a mysterious, unreachable, untouchable soul, isolated in a palace and solely devoted to the well being of the galaxy with no time and no room for anything else.

"Never mind" Belamis composed quickly as she wished to get to the part were they would tell her how she could be useful. " Please, continue. What is it that you wanted to ask me?"

The siblings exchanged looks again. This time Ugrissa nodded at her brother.

Ragsius clasped his hands behind his back and raised his chin subtly, showing a more confident, regal poise. His eyes met hers and their sapphire eyes locked.

It bothered her as, one more time, the unwanted memory suddenly became real, just like when she saw Ragsius for the first time. Belamis was seeing that man again, into those eyes… and also in the chiseled features and the blonde curls…

He cleared his throat.

"Belamis," Ragsius materialized again before her. His tone and demeanor, so spontaneous and relaxed before, had turned more formal.

"Would you like to continue your loyal service to Garius? In other words… would you come with us to Ugaris?"

"This is amazing!" Professor Dodge gazed impressed at the data, at how fast the numbers increased. "The Galaxy Energy emissions meters are going crazy!" He chuckled, more than pleased. "Aurora's Galaxy Energy has travelled faster than we've expected. In just a couple of hours it has reached most of the remotest planets of the Milky Way. It'll get to the Solar System in minutes."

"Aurora is very powerful," Unlike Professor Dodge, Dr. Kitty didn't sound so enthusiastic.

"Oh please, don't tell me there's something wrong," He cautiously turned to look at his colleague, afraid to found bad news. While he was monitoring the numbers given by the emissions meters, Dr. Kitty had been following the Galaxy Energy's progress on a screen, which in sync with the data was marking the planets already touched by the Galaxy Energy.

"As you had just said, it has started to spread out to the remotest planetary systems, but something seems wrong with one of these planets," She was staring piercingly at one of the planetary systems on the limits of the Milky Way, toward the outside Universe. She zoomed in on the image and pointed to a particular spot. "According to the data, the Galaxy Energy has got to this region, but not to this planet."

"Hmmm…" Professor Dodge confirmed the same observation and frowned. "A strange phenomenon indeed. Is it inhabited? Because if there are people living there I think we should contact Aurora and Jan Kugo right away."

"I have no idea," Earth's most prominent scientist quickly turned and hurried to the opposite side of the room were she started to click some bottoms on a panel. "We won't bother them yet. I think we should wait until the Galaxy Energy has reached all confines of the galaxy. Meanwhile, I'll get some information on the planet."

"There must be a scientific, logical explanation for this. Maybe this monitoring system has a failure! That's all!" Professor Dodge, optimistic, proceeded to double-check the data.

"Thank you Professor Dodge. I haven't thought of that," Dr. Kitty said, really wishing that there was nothing to worry about.

Don Hakka and Sir Djorgo found Kugo on the other side of the crowded square, surrounded by the boys with whom he'd played with earlier.

"He said he would ask for help," Don Hakka still didn't comprehend what Kugo meant when he rushed out of the house.

"Let's go over there to find out," Sir Djorgo suggested. As they got closer, they saw he was talking to the children. Intrigued, they stood behind Kugo.

None of them had noticed that there was, among the passing crowd, very near them, a bunch of young women giggling and whispering, some staring intently at the three cyborgs.

"You think you can help me?" Kugo asked.

"Yes!" Some boys exclaimed, some others nodded. All of them seemed very eager to help.

"That's great!" Kugo turned around, as one child let him know that there were two men behind him. He just shrugged his shoulders when he saw them and continued, "But remember: this mission is classified. That means it's a secret. You see my friends behind me, right? Well, don't tell them anything, ok?"

"Ok!" They all nodded in agreement.

"Let's go then!" The boys dispersed in different directions.

"And this is how you will "fix" things with Belamis," Sir Djorgo taunted, arching an eyebrow and crossing his arms over his chest.

"A foolproof plan, I bet!" Don Hakka laughed, making fun of him.

"That's between the kids and me," Kugo grinned, as their efforts didn't provoke him, not even a little. When he turned to leave them, a group of gorgeous women prevented his escape.

Belamis froze for an instant, wondering if she had heard him right.

Garius. Ugaris.

But there is no Garius, no Ugaris.

Belamis tensed. Her eyes narrowed. Are these brats trying to fool her? To what end? Distrust set in, turning her instinctively wary.

"You'd better explain yourselves." Her voice was stern. Her gaze was hard.

Ugrissa was taken off guard by the way Belamis took their request. A little scared, she held Shaina tighter and wondered what could be wrong.

Ragsius, on the other hand, seemed to know how to handle the situation. "We were born in Ugaris, but our mother was Isel -"

Belamis gasped. "Princess Isel?!" She immediately took another quick look at Ragsius. He seemed to be in his late teens, so Belamis did some mental math. "Impossible! Princess Isel died more than twenty years ago!"

Every year, except in her household, gariusians remembered Isel and her brother Zeian on the anniversary of their death. People used to bring flowers to their memorial site: a beautiful pair of reflecting pools ending in a magnificent fountain on the grounds of the Royal Residence.

"And Ugaris it's just an old gariusian myth, it doesn't even exist!" Belamis added.

Ragsius and Ugrissa looked confused.

"We honestly don't understand why you say that," Ragsius affirmed with great confidence. "But we are telling you the truth. We are Princess Isel's children and Ugaris definitely exist. I can show you." Ragsius reached one of the controls and began clicking some bottoms.

The lights dimmed, a curtain fell over the window. A holograph appeared in the middle of the room showing a tall, elegant woman that Belamis identified instantly. Princess Isel looked just like in the media imagines she remembered from when she was a little girl: with long, auburn curls, olive skin and enchanting brown eyes. A blonde boy and a little girl – Ragsius and Ugrissa's younger version- were holding the gariusian princess by her hands.

"She's our-"

"I know who she is," Belamis said gruffly. The resemblance was evident. Maybe that was one of the reasons why something about Ugrissa and Ragsius impressed her the first time she saw them. "She's definitely your mother. Ugrissa looks pretty much like her."

"Do you believe us now?"

"What about Ugaris?"

"There you have it."

Belamis came closer to the holograph. Now there was a map of the Great Planet and the planets nearby. Gradually, a part of the image enlarged.

"There's Ugaris," Ragsius pointed towards a tiny, turquoise planet.

"This proves nothing," Belamis was still skeptic.

"All the more reason to come with us, so you can see for yourself," Ugrissa tried to persuade Belamis. "Even though Garius is extinct, its people are not."

Now Ugrissa got Belamis' full attention.

"There are hundreds of gariusians living in Ugaris. That's why we are asking you to come, so you can live with us, your people. "

"Ah?" Belamis was shocked and speechless. Hundreds of gariusians still living?

It was supposed to be good, happy news. A dream becoming true. However, the news triggered a storm of feelings inside her. The fact that there could be gariusians alive somewhere in the galaxy was always a possibility. But a community of hundreds? On a mythical planet?

No doubt gariusians were deceived. Garius' last queen lied deliberately.

But why?

"Hum! My people you say?" She questioned, a hint of bitterness in her voice. "How dare you?"

A tense, short silence followed. Shaina must have sensed the tension, since she meowed, jumped off Ugrissa's arms and hid somewhere.

The quiet moment served Belamis to put her thoughts in order. Ragsius and Ugrissa were young and naïve and she didn't care if he was a prince and she a princess – a prince and a princess she should serve and obey as Garius Royal Army oath dictates- but they needed to hear what she was about to say.

"I've always hoped to run into gariusians some day. I also believed that, if I had survived the explosion, some of my comrades may had survived as well," she paused, as the memory of Garius's destruction was still fresh in her mind. The violent blow, the turbulence, the deafening blast and, at the same time, her mind going blank. It must have knocked her unconscious. Miu's low- pitched sounds waking her up and when she looked out the window there it was… the huge cloud: elements and atoms; Garius' gift to the cosmos. The tears burned her cheeks as she made sense of what happened.

"I tried to contact them and I also searched for gariusians that maybe had left Garius to seek refuge in other planets before the tragedy. I wandered for many months, looking, searching for gariusians, searching for a place to live, a planet like mine because our planet was a jewel, it was paradise. It really was a beautiful planet. And when I finally had a new place to live, I lost it too." She sighed, as if she had ended to tell a long, long story. "You see, a couple of years have passed since that terrible day and I can't just accept blindly your offer. You…" she clenches her fists, her body shakes and the volume of her voice raises subtly as she vents the anger behind the bitter ache. " You may be Garius' last royals but you are not my people. Your people are not true gariusians at all. For me, they are liars, cowards and traitors."

"Ah!" Horrified, Ugrissa gasped at such irreverence and desperately sought refuge in her brother's arms. Ragsius embraced her but kept facing Belamis and, deep in his conscience, recognizing the truth in her speech.

"True gariusians lived, suffered and fought in Garius and for Garius until the end."

Belamis took a deep breath to calm down. She finished her thoughts showing a strong conviction.

"I won't serve and I won't live among those who deceived and abandoned us!"

Ragsius nodded. Ugrissa popped up her head. Her eyes glistened, filled with tears.

"We appreciate your honesty," genuine sympathy could be detected in his expression and his voice. "You are right Belamis. We are not true gariusians, but we feel sorry for what happened to your… our planet." Ragsius sighed and shook his head. "Forgive us if we didn't introduce ourselves correctly when we met you. It's just that I'm not used to see ourselves as gariusians, much less royalty."

"You'd better get used to it then, and you'd better accept who you are," Belamis too was grateful. He listened and cared for her words. A good quality for a prince.

"We were hoping that you could help us with that," Ugrissa released her brother and dared to come closer to Belamis. "We are Ugarians at heart, but we long to love Garius as much as you did. Please, come with us. Tell us what you saw, what you lived…"

Such plea deserved consideration. Since when has she become so weak? Why does she care about this two?

A new holograph appeared in front of her.

Garius.

Belamis easily immerse in it. She could see herself as a child, laughing, running through the green fields counting lilies – there were too many to count- and chasing butterflies. She could also see her mother, singing sweetly behind her. The breeze playing with her long, black hair and her long, lavender dress while she picked up her favorite flowers: white and purple lilies.

"It's Ugaris. This is the planet you have been searching for, Belamis," Ragsius, like Ugrissa, were determined to convince her.

"Garius has come to life in Ugaris," Ugrissa said, referring to what followed: cute and playful purple birds - the ones that became monsters in Garius when the Galaxy Energy became weak- fluttering around a tall, middle aged man, with short, blonde curls. His arms stretched to the sky with a joyful expression in his face. "See?" The man seemed to look at them. "They are still young but you'll see them bigger when you come back!" And then it stopped.

He had the same sapphire eyes, the same chiseled features.

And that voice. She has heard that voice before. It was his voice.

For Belamis, the world seemed to stop. Her eyes narrowed, her heart raced as she recognized him quickly. Not so young as she used to remember him from the videos and photos her mother used to show her.

"Don't trust men, Belamis. They will betray you the moment you put your trust in them."

"A man's love is just an infamous lie!"

Inevitably, her memories traveled back to her mother. No matter how hard her mother tried to hide or disguise the reason behind the tears she shed at night; Belamis knew it was his fault.

"Who is he?"

"Oh, him?" Ugrissa startled at the abrupt question and its urgency. "He's Bellarmean."

Yes, that was his name. Belamis frowned. The old hatred resurrecting.

"He's our father."

What?

Everything made perfect sense when she looked at Ragsius. Of course Ragsius reminded her of this man! The resemblance was striking, but the revelation far even more.

Then she looked at Ugrissa.

Regret came over her. If she just could erase the things she had just said moments ago!

"Do you know him?" The possibility of a connection brought back some brightness to Ugrissa's face.

We all have his eyes.

"I haven't had the pleasure," Belamis muttered, staring at the enlarged man's image. She found interesting to discover how much she despises someone that she have never met. Someone she had always thought was dead.

"Maybe you've heard of him. He was very famous and a well respected aeronautical tycoon back in Garius…"

"There's no way Belamis could know him," Ragsius interrupted. "Our parents left Garius twenty three years ago, remember?"

"Upps!" Ugrissa scanned Belamis from head to toe and estimated that she couldn't be older than 26. "She was just a little girl!"

"Right!"

"Come with us, Belamis. If you come to Ugaris my father can tell you what you want to know," Ragsius wouldn't give up hope. "He can explain to us the reason why they left Garius."

Of course he can explain many things.

She had never needed him. He was never part of her life. She had always detested him for what he did to her mother. But she never, even in her wildest dreams, ever imagined that she would have the chance to see him face to face and to speak for the mother.

On the other hand, Ragsius and Ugrissa were, after all, her people. Actually, they were much more than that.

And she was a true gariusian. True gariusians care for their people.

"You've made me change my mind."

Ragsius and Ugrissa held their breath as Belamis made her announcement.

"I'll go with you."