Author's pov:

One week later after Throttle's death, Jessica and Mericy had gotten some Carbine's stuff from their house since she couldn't yet go back there. Modo and Vinnie were spending time with her if the females weren't around, but Niv had to be with her daughter the whole time. It would soon be Snow's one year old birthday, which would normally be a happy celebration but now everything was so tense Niv knew nothing about the birthday yet. Especially when her mother had been more sick lately.

"We really should make a list of what we need for her birthday.. Right dear?" Stoker said while pushing a pushchair where he had just managed to get princess Snow to fall asleep to her long awaited nap. She really was both of their daughter since it was so hard to get her to sleep from all of that energy she had. "Niv?" Stoker repeated when they were in the Plaza's new store for baby clothes and other baby supplies and he saw Niv looking at one yellow and green mixed shirt with an S in front of it. The View got him to sigh when Niv took the small shirt in her hand. Her mechanical tail was just laying emotionless behind her feet. Her actions told that she thought that shirt to be more Spitfire -like than Snow.

"Honey.. We'll get her back.." Stoker leant against her shoulder, making her smile weakly and put the shirt back to the hanger. "I miss her so much.." Niv sighed while lifting her hands on her stomach. She turned to look at Snow before she felt Stoker wiping a tear from her cheek. "Me too.. But for now, we should concentrate on Snow's first birthday. I have to leave for the secondment soon and we don't have much time in between then when I am supposed to come back before it's already her birthday.." Stoker sighed before Niv kissed his cheek gently.

"I know.. We need to concentrate on Snow too.. You are also leading the searches which has got us more after the Red Tower's transportation.. But.." Niv said before Stoker lifted his hands on her shoulders to look at her into her green eyes. "We'll find her.." Stoker said, making her nod and smile a bit. Then the brown furred male kissed her gently, which got her to answer the kiss too. "Should we go eat something before.. Oh.. I smell someone needs to get her diaper changed" Stoker pinched his nose, making Niv laugh and turn to look at their daughter who didn't bother to sleep for too long once again.

"I.. I saw that light purple dress there at the other store.. You can go ahead and I'll catch you up!" Niv grabbed her purse which was hanging from the pushchair. "Are you leaving me to deal with this bomb?! You know even a Plutarkian has a more fresh odor than.." Stoker gasped but then felt a kiss on his cheek before he saw his wife waving at him a bit far away. "Oh maan.." He sighed when he turned to look at Snow who was giggling to herself while farting with a horrible smell that got him to cough a couple of times. "Like a mother like a daughter.." Stoker sighed before he could hear "I heard that!!" from another floor of the Plaza. He just chuckled while starting to head their way to the restrooms.

Meanwhile Niv was having her arms tightly crossed against her when she felt more tears running along her cheeks. She knew she was still quite fragile and sensitive, but all the latest news, responsibilities and stress had made her feel even worse. She had somehow managed to adjust for the century even if it still was hard sometimes. But then some sudden sound of a crying child got her to turn around after she had headed towards the other children's clothing store to get the new dress for her daughter and her first birthday.

"S.. Spitfire?!" Niv gasped when she saw a nearly one or two year old girl crying on the children's playground. She had fallen over and her crying had got Niv to react in a motherly manner. "Spitfire! Mommy's got you, baby girl!" Niv ran to the girl to lift her up from the ground to start to hush her while swinging her gently in her arms. But then another voice got her to turn around again. "What are you doing to my daughter?! Put her down, now!!" A Brown furred female mouse shouted at her when she was holding a very similar looking brown furred girl mouse in her arms.

"No! This is my Spitfire!" Niv backed up, making the girl's mother start to shout for help. "Help!! There's kidnapping happening! She stole my child!!" The Female shouted when the security guards started to run towards the princess, but when they noticed who she was they started to think more about how they should act now. "Call the Commander in Chief" One of the security guards said to another who did immediately as told while the first one slowly started to walk towards the princess who had started to panic. She held her mechanical tail in front of her and the baby to protect them, which also was a sign of being afraid.

"Spitfire.. Mommy's here.. Everything is alright Sweetie.." Niv hushed the girl in her arms while backing up from the security guard. The Girl's mother was panicking too while being very worried about her child. "Niv! NIV!!" Soon they heard Stoker's voice when he ran there with the pushchair. "Niv! What are you doing?!" Stoker shouted when he finally got to his wife while breathing a bit heavily. Even if he was well trained, running with the pushchair and shopping bags was not part of his training methods till now.

"Honey look! I found Spitfire! She's here.. Everything is alright.." Niv nuzzled against the baby who started to cry in her arms. "Noo.. Everything's alright! Mommy's here darling.." Niv tried to calm her down when Stoker took a step towards her. He had thought everything was alright with her, but the situation wasn't even close to normal. He hadn't known she was still living in the past. She had shown no signs about that even to him.

"Niv.. Honey.. That's.." He started while sighing deeply. He turned to look at the girl's mother to nod at her. The Security guards calmed a bit too while they walked to the panicking mother to help her to try to calm down too. "That's not our daughter.." Stoker said, making Niv turn to look at him in shock. "W- What.." Niv mumbled while turning to look at the baby in her arms. "That's not Spitfire.." Stoker sighed while rubbing his forehead a bit.

"No! What's wrong with you? This is our daughter, Stoker! This is our firstborn!!" Niv said while starting to head towards the pushchair, but when she saw Snow laying in there while sleeping again, she gasped. "That's someone else's daughter, Niv.. Her mother is worried and waiting over there.. Our Spitfire is already 15 years old.. This is not Spitfire.." He felt horrible to break her bubble, he would also wish to be real, but sadly it wasn't. They had lost their firstborn many years ago, because of him and the horrible decision he had to make back then.

"This is.." Niv said while looking at the girl, but when the baby opened her eyes, she saw them being brown while Spitfire had green eyes. She turned to look at Snow again to realize what was real and what not. She started crying while Stoker gently took the baby from her to get her to her real mother. The Brown furred female was angry but relieved to get her daughter back. Stoker apologized hundreds of times before he headed to hug his wife tightly. The Security guards informed about this to Niv's doctor, but then left the topic since the baby's mother forgave them after Stoker had told her shortly why it had happened. She wished them all the best to find their daughter, even if he had just told her that their very much similar looking girl than her daughter was, was missing but didn't tell anything more than that.

"Let's go home, Honey.. We can continue this later.." Stoker said while hugging Niv tightly, making her nod while crying against his chest. Her body was trembling when she felt so bad about forgetting Snow totally for that moment just to misunderstand that girl was Spitfire. They forgot the purple dress on the way since he saw it being more important to get her to the temporary home now as soon as possible since her mind seemed to be more fragile after Throttle's death too. And when they finally got to the hideouts, he had to tell the Queen about what had happened while the doctor checked Niv. After that it was Stoker's time to leave for work even if he was more worried about her that he thought for a moment to stay there with them, but she convinced him to leave. It was for Mars, after all. He was needed there now more than ever.

During the time he was on work, the Queen had talked with Niv while she had got her to make different kinds of easy tasks to keep her busy and not to think about what had happened in the Plaza. It was easier said than done, especially when she felt guilty for forgetting her second daughter, which also made her spend even more time with her now. After she had baked some Peach Pearl pie with her mother and cleaned the nursery, it was close to Snow's next meal. The Snow white furred princess was very precise about her feeding schedule, otherwise there would be small Niv and Stoker storm raging on which was louder than the Freedom Fighters' base full of the fighters!

"That's it.. Good girl!" She smiled when Snow burped against her shoulder after she had breastfeed her. She smiled lovingly when she held her daughter in her arms, Snow looking back at her with her red eyes. Brown hair was short but showing more than it was when she was just born. When Niv gently tickled her stomach, the younger princess started giggling in her mother's arms. Everything had been going alright with Snow, but her parents definitely missed her older sister very much. She didn't even know that she had one. They had obviously told her about it but as that young she didn't understand.

"My love.. I love you, little Snow" She kissed her daughter's forehead after nuzzling her nose against hers. Snow grabbed her other ear to pull one of her multiple piercings that got her to gasp in pain. "No! Snow! Let mommy go! Ouch! Mom!!" She shouted while starting to walk from the nursery to the office in the royal hideout. "Mom! Marissa! Ouch! Some help!" She said while trying to get Snow to let her go but couldn't since she was still a bit afraid of dropping her if she let her other hand go.

"What is it? Oh Snow, darling!" The Queen walked to them from her bedroom to come to help her daughter. "Mom, what are you doing? You should be resting.." Niv sighed deeply but then thanked her when Snow finally let her go. A Teddy bear was much better in her opinion than her mother's ear which was soon forgotten when the princess had got her favorite toy in her arms. "A Small walk doesn't do any harm" The Queen smiled, making Niv just shake her head before handing Snow to her when she lifted her hands to her.

"Keep it small then, right?" She smiled while they walked to the kitchen. "Of course.. How are Snow's birthday plans going on?" The Queen smiled while holding Snow in her arms and playing with the teddy with her. The Little girl was just giggling her arms that melted Niv's heart. "Still open.. We're waiting for the news about Throttle's funeral.. Nobody would be in the mood for a birthday before it.." Niv sighed sadly, making the Queen nod. "And don't even start.. Without our friends it wouldn't be a party.." She continued while taking a bite of a pearl peach that was leftover from the pie which should wait for a day before eating.

"I didn't say anything.." The Queen said which got her to shrug. "You didn't have to.. But ain't the doctor's appointment tomorrow?" She asked, making the Queen turn to look a bit away. "Mom.." She looked at her demandingly while finishing the fruit. Then she turned to look at the clock which was nearly Snow's bedtime. "Yes.. It is.." The Queen said while Niv was washing her hands. "Good.. I may get Marissa or someone to watch for Snow and I can go with you" She smiled while taking Snow into her arms. The Teddy bear was about to fall on the floor but Niv managed to catch it in the air with her tail before Snow would have started to cry.

"You don't have to, dear" The Queen smiled, making her lift up her other eyebrow. "But I want to, and yes I do!" She said when they started to head towards the nursery again, but then suddenly the Queen started coughing. "Is everything alright?" She asked worriedly while changing Snow's diaper. "Yes.. Just dry lungs.. I'll go to drink something now and then go to sleep" The Queen said, making her nod and smile at her. "I can take this to the trash on the way" She laughed while grabbing the dirty diaper with her. "Thanks mom!" Niv laughed while cleaning her hands again before going back to Snow who she had placed on the floor by lifting her up by her mechanical tail gently.

"And now.. You, my little princess. Bedtime!" She lifted the princess up from the floor to sit on the chair where they used to read the bedtime stories. Stoker had left for the secondment with the forces, meaning that soon Mars would be free from the last Plutarkians too after the war was over. Niv would have wanted to talk with him more, but she knew the planet's safety went first now. If everything went as planned, Stoker would come back a day or two before Snow's birthday, meaning that she had to prepare everything for that too alone. Not even mentioning that they hadn't yet heard anything about the funeral's either. But now she needed some quality time with her daughter and a good book to get the younger princess to sleep for the night.

"How about.. Hmm.. The Tales of Bunny Roy?" Niv was squatting down on the bookshelf, trying to think what book she hadn't read a thousand times already in the last few days. Snow was making some baby noises on the chair where Niv had left her to wait for a couple of minutes. "No, wait there for mommy, Sweetie" Niv smiled while holding her mechanical tail in front of the princess to keep her there to not fall on the floor. "What about this? I have not seen you reading this to her yet. This was one of your sister's favorites when she was little" The Queen said, making her get up and turn around.

"Oh.. I remember this.. I liked this too! But this definitely was Harley's favorite.." Niv sighed while her mother handed her a book before she walked to sit on the chair and lift Snow into her lap. "Is there anything more you'd need, honey?" The Queen asked when she was looking around the nursery while smiling. "You, to go to bed.. Nothing more" Niv smiled at her mother who smiled and nodded at her. "Alright.. I'll go.. Good night, both of you" The Queen walked to kiss both of their foreheads and hug them gently before she headed to her own royal bedroom. Niv kissed her cheek and hugged her too before she grabbed the book again.

"This is a good one, baby girl.." Niv nuzzled her nose against Snow's when she placed the princess better to her lap with her blanket, a pillow and the teddy bear. She lifted her legs up to a footstool to support her position while she started reading the book the Queen had found from Harley's belongings. The Book was about a small star, or actually an asteroid that traveled all over the galaxy to find a friend. It had been Harley's favorite from all of the books they had. Even if it wasn't the most ordinary choice of stories for Martian children, she had always liked it for some reason no-one had actually understood why. Only she knew it, right?

"Dear Snow.. Now mommy's going to read you your aunt's favorite book when she was little, just like you are now.. Just like your own sister, mine is missing too.. But they will be found.. Before.. Before you are older! I promise" Niv wiped tears from her cheeks when she opened the book called 'The Adventure of Ceres'. She didn't notice or even think about the title at first since Snow was just giggling in her arms which got her to laugh before she had to hush her to a calmer state to get her to fall asleep.

"Far, far away in the galaxy was a small asteroid which was very lonely.. It traveled all over the galaxy but unfortunately didn't find any other asteroids who the small asteroid would be friends with." Niv started to read the book that wasn't long. It was filled with pictures and had just a few lines as books for young children usually had. Niv made a few additions about space that she remembered her parents teaching while reading the same book to her and her younger sister. "The Small asteroid had a name. Its name was Ceres and it came far away, from totally unknown. It is said that the galaxy is a huge place that no-one actually knows how big it is. Not even Ceres knew it and it had traveled a lot!" Niv read for her daughter who's eyes were about to close finally while listening to her mother's calm breathing and reading even if she probably understood nothing much.

"Those much bigger ones, the planets, were also much older than the asteroid, making friendship more difficult. Planets moved only around their own orbits while asteroids could go wherever they wanted.. And Ceres was one of those who didn't like to stay still! The Small asteroid kept on moving the whole time. It traveled fast. It traveled slowly. Up and down, back and forth. All around the galaxy, passing planet after another, but without finding another asteroid that would be alone like it was. Of course there were clusters of other asteroids, but when Ceres tried to be friends with them, they were always faster than it was or it just couldn't get to the cluster's formation. Also the ages were very much different. Ceres was young and couldn't get along with asteroids much older than it was.." Niv read when she turned more pages while reading. Snow was now finally yawning for the first time after she had eagerly tried to stay awake.

"Sometimes other asteroids collided with each other or with the planets, which made the small asteroid sad, but Ceres still didn't want to stop its searching! Ceres knew it could find a friend with whom it could travel around the universe even more. There had to be more lonely asteroids too than just it. And for Ceres' luck, after many light years of traveling, it finally found another asteroid traveling there all alone. The Other asteroid was called Myrthia, and its location was closer to the planet Neptune. It was far away from where Ceres had started its own journey. And also because of the planet's clusters they probably had traveled across each other without seeing each other at all.. But.." Niv read but then she heard her daughter's calm breathing and sniveling there. Snow had fallen asleep which made Niv place the book on the night table near the chair to get slowly up with her daughter in her arms.

"Just like your aunt.." Niv sighed deeply while placing a loving kiss on her daughter's forehead. When their mother had read that book to Harley and her, Harley usually fell asleep on that same spot too which was close to the book's end. "Good night, dear Snow.. Sleep well.. There's no worries in your world where the guardians are protecting you from the skies.. Your grandfather Darius takes care of that from somewhere there.. Like your aunt Milenia and your uncles Dex and Terry.." Niv prayed for her daughter after placing her to her crib with her blanket and the teddy bear since the pillow was from the chair.

"Good night honey.." Niv kissed her forehead for once more before leaving a night lamp on while she walked out of the nursery, but on her way she turned to look at the book again. "Ceres ended up being friends with Myrthia and they traveled all over the galaxy together.. I remember that, but why does that sound familiar from somewhere else too.." Niv thought before closing the door after her. She headed to the kitchen to have one more cup of tea before she would go to sleep. Stoker hadn't yet seemed to come back which got her to sigh deeply. These coming days were important and remarkable, but she still would need her husband there by her side too. As well as he needed his wife to be by his side.

After getting her tea ready and sitting around the kitchen table, she heard a message's voice in her phone which got her to look at it right away. "The Secondment has been going as planned so far. I hope this won't last for long but we are now seriously close to getting the Plutarkians to leave! Some of us are escorting them to space but I'll make sure this will end now. Kisses and hugs to you and Snow. I hope to be back soon, I miss you already!" She read the message from her husband while taking a sip from her tea. The Message got her to sigh deeply again and place her phone on the table. But then she got another message which got her to turn to look at the phone again. It came from the security lines like the previous had came too, but this one had been more secured.

"Don't move to the next hideout with the servants you are supposed to. I heard from some trustworthy source that one of them is working for them.. Get out of there, now" The Message got her to gasp while trying to act like everything was normal. "And now this.. I hope you are safe dear.." Niv started to pray for her husband too, but then for some reason the bedtime story got back to her mind while she was reading her husband's second message again. How she could get her, her daughter and her sick mother out of there safely without the servants even noticing it..

"The Small asteroid had a name. Its name was Ceres and it came far away, from totally unknown.." Niv said quietly while taking another sip from her tea that was supposed to calm her and help her to get to sleep better. She tried to think of every other possible solution but every time her thoughts wandered back to the story. "The Small asteroid had a name. Its name was Ceres.." Niv thought before repeating it again. "Why does that sound so familiar.." Niv started to wonder before she got a flashback to the views Stoker had shown her when she had woken up from coma.

After Stoker had got the mysterious message for the first time from the Planet of Plutark, Carbine had eavesdropped it behind the doorway in his three leveled house that he had had before the war. Stoker had had the video call in his lab that was in the basement, but when the caller had noticed her which had made him to turn around to see her too there, he had noticed Carbine twitching her nose that got him to end the video call faster and head to the upstairs where she had gone to wait for him.

"Carbine! What is it?!" Stoker had hurried his way to the living room where his niece had been walking around the room nervously. "What did they want.." She had asked and turned to look at him. "Some co-operation and permission to talk with the government.." Stoker had explained making her shake her head. "He lies.." She had said making her uncle lift his other eyebrow.

"Remember Mace?" She had asked and he had nodded right away. "When he got here.. He told me that Plutarkians had attacked his planet.. Ceres.. Where Mars once sent citizens to live.." Carbine had said, making him look back at her oddly. "Ceres? Never heard of.." He had said, making her shake her head. "Me either.. But Plutarkians are no good! They stole everything from Ceres!" She had said, making her uncle think a bit.

"I still need to get this to the superiors.. I have an hour and half to go.." Stoker had said while looking at his niece. Then he had grinned. "You still do that.." He had said, making her smile a bit. "You remembered it.." She had laughed, making him laugh and nod. "Of course I know everything about you.. I have practically raised you.." He had said and then got a bit depressed. Carbine had sighed too and nodded. "Since my parents died.. I know.. I appreciate everything you have done to me" She had said, making him smile again. "So of course I remember every single habit you have.. You twitch your nose every time you don't like something.. That was a good message, I'm sure the caller didn't even notice it" Stoker had said which had made her nod. Then Niv got back from the flashback while her eyes were widened. She saw another one, but this was what she had seen with her own eyes.

"He would bring the water back as well as the kidnapped Harley!" She remembered General Mago shouting at her while being forced to leave the party that was held in the arena's ruins before the attack where her father had died. "Mace kidnapped her.. We have no clue where she is.." Vinnie had blurted out drunk when she and her father, who had also just woken from a coma, had demanded for an explanation to the female general's words.

"No-one could do anything when Mace used the handheld teleport machine.." Stoker had explained to her later outside the ruins, which had made her glare at him deathly. "I felt sorry for you getting brainwashed.. But maybe you still are by their side.. You know what she's worth!! You sold her!!" She had yelled which had made him gasp and take a step backwards. She regretted her words later, but those flashbacks helped quite a lot if it really was true what she was thinking. If she was right about that, there wasn't much time left even for hesitation.

Her tea got spilled over to the table when she quickly got up from her seat, but then sat back down to doubt her thoughts. "The Small asteroid had a name. Its name was Ceres.." She repeated the part from the story. Then she thought about the flashback again. "Remember Mace? When he got here.. He told me that Plutarkians had attacked his planet.. Ceres.. Where Mars once sent citizens to live.." Carbine had said to Stoker who had just looked at her oddly. "Ceres? Never heard of.." He had said, making her shake her head. "Me either.. But Plutarkians are no good! They stole everything from Ceres!" She had said in the flashback which got the princess even more.

"Ceres.. Mace.." She left the mess there to run immediately to the hideout's monitor room. "Quickly! Log in!!" She hurried while placing her palm to the monitor to get logged in. "Ceres, Ceres, Ceres, Ceres.. What?! No information?!" She growled when she tried to search for any information about it. But then she found the same storybook again, along with something else too. "It's a real thing.. Ceres is a real asteroid.." She felt shivers going down her spine when she gulped. "Could it be.." Niv logged out of the monitor while walking along the hideout's corridor. She stopped in the nursery's room to take a peek of her daughter who slept there surprisingly calmly.

Then an idea filled her mind that got her eyes to water again. "I know now how you felt back then Stoker.." Niv thought while she couldn't hold her tears at all. She knew she had no choice even if her idea was based only on her hunch. "I need to try.. This is the only clue.. Only if he really has made that kind of stupid mistake.." Niv bit her lower lip to get the taste of blood into her mouth. That was the way she could get herself to stop crying. She hurried to her and Stoker's bedroom while knowing that there was no time or way to go back now..