One Shot- Separation, desperation, and anxiety
Short summary: When Ariel and Maia's mother decides to take a once in a lifetime job in America, will Ariel understand that the little girl needs her mother's abilities or will she do something to get her mother back in Tokyo? Is Maia's reaction the same as Ariel's? Or does she handle things better? Read and find out.
Authors Note: I do not own Ariel, Gloria, Annika, Hope, Faith, Maggie, Madelyn, or Daisy. They all belong to Angel Raye. I do not own Sailor Moon either. I only own my characters, which can be found in my profile.
Separation, desperation, and anxiety
Ariel Mizuno was sitting on her mother's bed, watching her pack the suitcase. Maia was fast asleep on their mother's bed, which made Ariel happy. She often got jealous of Maia and her cuteness.
"Mommy do you have to leave?" Ariel whined.
"Yes, I'm afraid so. I'll be back in four days." Ami explained gently.
"No! I want you to stay!" Ariel screamed, causing Maia to squirm in her sleep.
"Ariel the little girl needs me." Ami acknowledged her daughter without getting angry with her temper.
"No! She can come here." Ariel choked out as tears began to roll down her cheeks.
Ami set her packing aside for a few moments so she could comfort her daughter. "Ariel the little girl is dying. I'm her last hope. She is too weak to be moved."
Ariel wrapped her arms around Ami's neck, "I want to be with you."
"I do too baby, but this little girl really needs my expertise. You'll be staying with Madelyn while daddy takes on a request from the Queen." Ami reminded her daughter.
"Okay mommy." Ariel replied. Ami sat Ariel down on the bed and started packing again. Ariel watched as her mother moved from the closet to the suitcase. She tried really hard to hold back the tears that had welded up inside her eyes. Ariel noticed that her mother had packed well over four days worth of clothes, but she didn't say anything to her mother about it. Her little mind was going crazy with the possibilities of why her mother was really going to America. Lastly, Ami put a picture of both of the girls in her bag; this only made Ariel think she was really leaving-- forever.
Ami zipped up her suitcase and put it on the ground. She kissed Maia gently on the forehead. She didn't want to wake her up, she wasn't friendly when she was woken up. Ami looked at Ariel. Ariel jumped up and flung onto her mother and started crying frantically.
"I'm going to miss you mommy." Ariel cried.
"I am too honey." She placed Ariel on the bed and looked her into her eyes. She noticed much discomfort in her daughter's eyes, but only thought it was because of her mother leaving for the job. "Daddy is going to take you over to Madelyn's tonight. Take care sweetie. I love you." With that she took her suitcase and went to talk to Greg for a few moments and then left. Ami didn't want to bring the girls to the airport; it would have made Ariel even more hysterical.
Ariel ran out of the room when she heard her mother close the front door. She looked at her father who was watching TV at the time and darted out the door. She ran all the way outside to find only that her mother was no where in sight. Gloria, who was just coming back inside, went over to Ariel and asked her what was wrong?
"My mommy had to go to America to go help some little girl." Ariel sobbed.
"Oh yes, my mother told me something about her leaving." Gloria replied. "Well, don't lose your self over it."
"But I want her to come back!" Ariel screamed.
Gloria backed away from Ariel. She was a hard child to deal with when she was upset. "You're going over to Madelyn's so stop whining. I know if I was your mother I wouldn't come back." With that Gloria walked off.
Ariel stood there in terror, her mother probably left because of her. Maybe she couldn't handle her. Ariel buried her face into her hands and started to cry hysterically. Greg came up behind her and scooped her up.
"Ariel mommy will be back after she gets this taken care of. She's not going to forget you, I promise." He cradled his eldest daughter in his hands and walked back inside with her. He sat her on the couch and explained to her that he was going to pack his things up and then he'd take her and Maia over to Hotaru's. Ariel paid him no attention. Greg left the room worried. He didn't like seeing her overly upset by the matter. Of course, it was very rare for both of Ami and him to be away from their children.
Greg thought about Annika and how she would react in a situation like this. She'd probably do the same thing; cry hysterically. Maybe this would be good for Ariel, it would let her know that there are others watching after her. If anything happened to Ami and Greg, they would both want to make sure that their daughters would be in good hands, and more importantly that they trusted the person and would cope with them.
Greg finished up and went to get the girls belongings. Ami had packed their things up earlier that morning and stuck them in Maia's closet; she was afraid that Ariel would unpack her things and make it harder on Greg. Greg wasn't exactly color coordinated when it came to his daughters' clothes.
He gathered the suitcases in one hand and picked up Maia in the other hand. He then went to get Ariel. Ariel didn't budge a muscle when Greg told her it was time to go. Greg sighed, "Don't you want to go play with Madelyn?"
Ariel didn't reply. She seemed to be in some sort of zombie mode. Greg decided the best thing to do was to call Hotaru and ask her to help him out. Hotaru was over in a dash. She quickly took Maia from Greg's hands and took the girl's suitcases. She then proceeded to her quarters, while Greg dealt with Ariel.
"Sweetie, you have to go over to Hotaru's. Mommy will be back in about four days." Greg explained, as he ran his hand through Ariel's blue hair.
Ariel turned to her father when he said about, "About? ABOUT!" She screamed. "She's supposed to be back in FOUR days! Not ABOUT!"
Greg winced at his daughter's bitterness. Ami had told him to take it lightly with her, that she wouldn't want to cope to begin with. He quickly thought up a better solution to the problem at hand, "Yes sweetie, in about four days she'll be back. She could be back earlier, you never know."
This seemed to lighten Ariel's mood. "She's coming back?"
Greg gave his daughter a funny look, "Yes. Now come on." He held out his hand and Ariel took it. They walked over to the Tomoe quarters. He carefully led the little girl into Hotaru's house and onto the couch. She sat there and stared into space, Madelyn came over and tried to talk to her, but Ariel would not budge. Hotaru looked at Greg worriedly.
"I don't know what to do. She's never been separated from us like this." Greg explained, his face showed much concern. "If she starts to withdrawal completely please contact one of us."
Hotaru laid a comforting hand on his shoulder, "Everything's going to be alright. She'll come around."
"I haven't told her this, but her mother may not be back in four days, it could be longer." Greg brought up. "I won't be back till next week. The Queen's task is pretty lengthy."
Hotaru smiled a little, she could tell that Greg was immensely worried about his daughter. "You probably should get. I'll take good care of Ariel and Maia."
Greg nodded. His four year old, bouncy little girl came up to him and wrapped his arms around his neck and waist. She plopped a wet, slobbery kiss on him, which Greg had to resist to wipe off at that moment. She gave him a hug and then slid down him.
"I'll miss you daddy!" Maia waved goodbye and disappeared up the stairs.
"Well, at least she's a lot easier. I could probably leave that child with a complete stranger." Greg said surprised.
Hotaru laughed. "You really should get."
Greg nodded, he thought about saying goodbye to Ariel, but worried about her reaction. He figured it wouldn't be a good time to bother her. He blew her a kiss and walked out the door.
Maia was up in Emily's room playing with Emily's dolls. Emily carefully showed Maia how to properly hold the doll. Maia took a great interest in this. She didn't play with dolls a lot. She found them to be boring when playing alone, and Jordan wasn't into playing with dolls. Isabella would play with Maia sometimes, but Jordan often got jealous of Isabella. Emily combed the baby doll's black hair and then proceeded to put a diaper on it. Maia attempted to do the same thing, but with little practice and very little patience she just couldn't do it. Emily had to help her.
"You're not sad that your parents left?" Emily asked Maia.
Maia looked at Emily like she had four heads. She shook her head no. "Why would I be sad?"
Emily gave Maia a look of confusion. "I'd be sad if my mommy and daddy left."
Maia wrapped her arm around Emily's small frame. "I don't have to be sad. My mommy and daddy are gonna come back. They love me and Ariel too much to leave us."
"Oh, so you're not sad because you know they'll come back?" Emily asked, as it started to make some sense.
Maia nodded in agreement.
"But what if something bad happened to them?" Emily asked, making Maia go slightly pale. Emily covered her mouth with her hand. She hadn't meant to say that, she didn't want Maia to worry. "I'm sorry."
"It's okay. I don't think anything will happen to them." Maia quickly reasoned.
Emily nodded uneasily. She placed the doll in Maia's hand and then went to her mini 'pretend' refrigerator, where she had the baby food. She took out the little plastic jars of baby food, and went over to her little play kitchen set and took out a baby spoon. She then sat her baby doll in the miniature highchair. She began to feed her imaginary food.
Maia mused at this. Emily had it all set up for her. She had everything she needed for a baby. She wondered how many times Isabella came over to play with Emily and her dolls.
"Are you going to be a mother when you get older?" Maia asked.
Emily looked at Maia with a smile upon her face, "Yes, when I'm a lot older."
Maia smiled back, the little girl had dreams, and she was only six years old. Two years older than Maia, and she was a Sailor Scout and was in school; Maia was not. She was the youngest out of all of them, and had often heard her parents talking about if Maia had a high IQ. Maia didn't show much signs of a high IQ. Maia may not have an outrageous high IQ, but she knew what was like to feel hopeless at only the age of four.
She was glad she wasn't as smart as Ariel, but deep down inside her she felt as though her parents didn't love her the same, even though over and over again they said they loved both girls just as much. Greg, Ami, and Ariel all had high intelligence levels, while Maia did not. She was the odd one out.
Yet, she didn't let that stop her from being her own self, she never tried to push herself into having brains, 'cause she knew it'd be more work then what she was cut out for. She did feel hopeless though when one of her friends ended up hurt in a battle, she couldn't fight because she was too young and Ami didn't want her fighting just yet.
"Girls, its time for dinner." Anthony poked his head in through the door. Emily squealed in delight and ran to her father, he threw open the door and allowed Emily to jump into his arms. Maia did admit she miss doing that to her father, even though she had done it right before he left. "You coming Maia?"
Maia nodded and followed out behind the two. Her little blue curls, bounced on her shoulders as she hopped down the stairs. Maia was surprised when she saw Ariel was sitting at the table. She was grumpy, but she was there. Maia joined in with the family and ate her dinner.
----------
The next day after school, the girls were heading home. Madelyn was trying to get Ariel to talk to her, but she wouldn't. Gloria was getting agitated by Ariel's sulkiness. She went over to Ariel, with a grim look on her face.
"Ariel Mizuno you need to quit being a baby. You're worse than Annika at times." Gloria mouthed off.
"Hey." Annika protested, Hope put her arm around her fragile friend and told her not to listen to Gloria.
"You're mother and father is probably really disappointed in you, and therefore needed a break from you. Stop being a crybaby!" Gloria sneered at Ariel. The other child, except Madelyn, attempted to keep their mouths shut.
"Gloria you quit being a jerk! If anyone's mother wanted to leave, it'd be your mother. Not Ariel's! Did you forget why she went to America?" Madelyn raged.
The other children stopped and turned to Madelyn, she wasn't one to get angry. Madelyn's face was bubbling with pure anger, and slight embarrassment. Ariel stood there, unsure what to think or say. Finally, she bent her head in defeat and put her hand on Madelyn's shoulder.
"She's right Madelyn." Ariel gave in. Gloria's stomach flipped, she hadn't intended to go too far with Ariel. She just wanted her to stop sulking. The girls heard a scream that made them jump. Ariel quickly pulled out her computer and went to typing away, when she found out where the scream was coming from her and the Chibi Senshi's ran toward it.
They all transformed, expect for Emily who was having problems with facing a new enemy. Chibi Kaiousei was trying her best to get Emily over her fears. Chibi Mercury watched the battle unfold out before her. She got them here with her computer, but couldn't bring her self to fight. Gloria's words were playing over and over again in her head. She tried to reason with herself, saying that Gloria was just trying to play another nasty prank, but deep down she felt as though Gloria was right in some ways.
Chibi Meiousei watched Chibi Mercury from out of the corner of her eyes. She had a bad feeling that something awful was going to happen if Chibi Mercury didn't snap out of her self pity and help with the fight. Chibi Meiousei was against using her abilities to help during the fights, she knew she could easily pinpoint the enemy's target, but she didn't want to be depended on in the fights and she knew that Chibi Mercury needed to fight.
"CHIBI MERCURY!" Chibi Mars yelled out, as she was thrown to the ground by the youma. Chibi Mercury didn't hear the young girl, she continued to stare into the oblivion.
"Emily please transform!" Chibi Kaiousei was trying to convince her friend to fight. Emily shook her head no. Chibi Saturn ran toward the two of them leaving the battle at the hands of the others.
"Come on Emily, we could really use you." Chibi Saturn explained, worriedly. Annika was badly hurt, and she knew that by her coming over here to help with Emily could cause someone else to get hurt.
"No! Wait for Maggie, Daisy, and Rini!" Emily spouted off, tears coming out of her eyes.
"Emily you've got to get past your fears and fight with us." Chibi Neo-Moon stated.
Emily shook her head no again and begin to cry harder. Chibi Neo-Moon looked at Chibi Saturn worriedly. Chibi Saturn shook her head and then turned toward the fight against the unknown enemy.
"If we don't get back in there someone else is going to get hurt." Chibi Saturn stated, truthfully.
"Chibi Mercury isn't fighting either." Chibi Neo-Moon mentioned.
"I know." Chibi Saturn looked over toward Chibi Mercury. She was just standing there, with her computer in her hands, her eyes were glazed over and she was emotionless to the fight. How could this be happening? They needed the older ones badly right now.
Chibi Neo-Moon and Chibi Saturn went back into the fight. Chibi Venus was taking care of Annika. The youma wrapped Chibi Saturn into her clothes and begin to drain her of her energy.
"Chibi Saturn!" Chibi Neptune cried out. She attacked the youma, but she just absorbed the attack.
Maggie, Daisy, and Rini were just getting home from school when they saw what was going on. The three girls quickly transformed and joined in on the motionless fight.
"Why hasn't Ariel transformed?" Chibi Moon asked worriedly.
Chibi Uranus shrugged. Emily was falling to pieces as she saw what was happening to her sister. Chibi Pluto went and tried to comfort her, but it was hopeless. Chibi Kaiousei decided to join in on the fight. She snuck around behind the youma and attacked it from behind. Chibi Meiousei knew she had the right idea, she just hoped the youma didn't have anymore surprises left.
Chibi Kaiousei attacked the woman, and seconds later three other attacks zoomed over the child's head. She dropped down to the ground so they wouldn't hit her. The youma dropped a very battered Madelyn to the ground. She turned around to face her new attackers. It was the Princess, Sailor Mars, and Sailor Neptune. Sailor Neptune quickly scooped her daughter up. Sailor Mars went to Annika, while the Princess gathered Madelyn into her arms.
"Who's going to look after them?" Sailor Mars asked, as she moved a strand of Annika's hair out of her face.
"Hotaru will do just fine." The Princess explained.
The youma took this chance to disappear. Chibi Moon sighed in disbelief. The youma had gotten away, but at least it appeared to be weaker than before. Chibi Pluto was still dealing with a very upset Emily. Everyone untransformed. Michiru put her daughter down, she knew she was alright, she hadn't been attacked in anyway, she just wanted to hold her for a couple seconds a let her know everything was alright.
Michiru went over to Emily and picked her up. She then went over to Ariel and helped her walk home. She wondered what had gotten into the child, and why she hadn't ever transformed. Gloria seethed with anger, wondering if Ariel had even paid any attention as to what was going on.
Ariel and Emily didn't touch their food that night. Anthony had to cradle his young daughter through half of the night. Ariel was still in some sort of Trans. Maia had gone to sleep wondering if there was anything she could have done. She hated not being a Sailor Scout; she really wished she was one. Hotaru stayed in the hospital that night making sure that Annika and her own daughter were going to be okay.
The following morning Princess Serenity came by the Tomoe's residence to speak to Ariel. She figured she was having some difficulty with her parents being gone, but wanted to remind her the importance of being a senshi. The two sat down together on the couch, Princess Serenity laid her hand on Ariel's knee.
"Sweetie, I need you to tell me what's bothering you. I know your parents are away, but they have very important tasks to accomplish." Princess Serenity explained, in a soft and sweet voice.
Ariel looked at the Princess as though she had no idea what she was talking about. Princess Serenity repeated herself again.
"Ariel sweetie, Madelyn got hurt yesterday because you wouldn't fight. I need to know what was holding you back so we can work through this." The Princess soothed, she combed her fingers through Ariel's short hair.
Ariel looked at the Princess, she bit her bottom lip, as though she didn't know how to say what she was going to say, but finally spilled out about how her parents hated her and needed a break from her.
"Now, now." The Princess began. "How did that idea ever get into your little head?"
"Gloria told me." Ariel sobbed.
"Oh, Ariel!" princess Serenity wrapped her arms around Ariel, "That's not true. You mom loves you very much. You are such a wonderful Senshi and you always come out on top in school. And most of all, you're her daughter."
Ariel glanced up at Serenity with a small smile, maybe Serenity had a point. She was all those things. And even if she wasn't, her mom would still love her because she was her daughter.
Maia had been listening in on the conversation. The two things she didn't have were always coming out on top, and being a senshi. Maia begin to ponder if her mother and father loved her as much as they did Ariel.
Maia went back upstairs to Emily's room. She found Emily laying on her bed staring up at the ceiling, she was already dressed in her school uniform.
"Are you going to school?" Maia asked.
Emily clutched on to her stomach, "My tummy hurts."
"Oh." Maia replied, not really sure what to say.
Anthony came up into Emily's room. "Emily it's time for school."
"No!" Emily screamed, and begin to throw a tantrum. Anthony shook his head in disbelief. He had such a fragile, scared, sensitive daughter. The fight from yesterday must have still been in her mind. Anthony saw no point in sending her to school; she was too emotional right now.
"Alright, Emily. I'll go to the school and get your work, but tomorrow you have to go to school." Anthony agreed.
Emily nodded in agreement and stopped screaming. Maia was astonished that the child had gotten her way.
"Mr. Tomoe, may Jordan come over after school?" Maia asked.
Anthony looked down at Maia. He was stressed out from having to watch three girls, two who were having problems, by him self. "How about we wait until Hotaru gets home."
Maia's eyes saddened, she nodded her head and left Emily's room. Princess Serenity was helping Ariel up off the couch. The two went upstairs and the Princess helped Ariel get ready for school. Anthony, knowing Princess Serenity was still there decided to go on down toward the school and get Emily's work. Serenity, not knowing that both of the younger girls were still home, left with Ariel.
Maia tiptoed downstairs, Emily noticing that everything was strangely quiet came out of her room. She saw Maia leaving out the door and decided to follow behind her to see what she was up to. Maia ran through Tokyo Palace, making sure she kept herself from any of the grown ups. She had already, nearly ran into Makoto and Minako.
Maia found herself in a vacant area. No one appeared to be around, so she thought. Little did she know Emily was hiding behind a garbage can.
"Come out you stupid youma!" Maia called out.
Emily's eyes went wide with terror. Was Maia crazy? What was she up to? She couldn't take on the youma by herself. Emily went for her communicator, but stopped when she noticed the atmosphere had changed. It was chillier than before. Huge boulders trapped Emily and Maia inside.
"Did someone call?" a voice questioned, with great interest.
"Yea, I did!" Maia answered in a very determined voice. Emily suddenly wished she had gone to school. She didn't want to die now.
The youma looked down at the small four-year old. "You sure are a weird one."
"What's that mean?" Maia demanded.
"Are you ready to die? You have no way to fight. No one to save you, little girl." The youma brought to light the problem.
"Well, I'm determined to fight you at any cost." Maia proclaimed.
"Why do you chose to do this little girl?" the youma asked.
"I must show everyone that I'm important." Maia explained, unsure as to why she was telling the enemy this.
"Oh, you'll be important alright. Only to us. When you're dead, it'll be one less threat." The Youma laughed and powered up.
Maia stood defenseless at the hands of the enemy. What was she thinking? She knew she couldn't fight the enemy by herself. How was she going to win this one? She glanced around; there was no place to run.
Emily tried her hardest not to start screaming. She and Maia were going to die. No one knew they were out, and Emily was too afraid to contact anyone.
The monster wrapped cloth around Maia and began to drain her of her energy. Emily peeked out behind the garbage can. Maia was going to die. She had no way to protect herself. Emily may be her only hope. With her hands shaking, Emily took out her transformer pen. She had to do it before the youma killed Maia. Emily stood up, knocking down the trashcan and yelled out her transformation. She stood there hopeless as to what to do.
Finally, a thought struck her, if she could get behind the youma she could attack it from behind. It appeared to be absorbed in taking Maia's life at this point and paid no attention to Chibi Dosei. She ran over behind the woman, and prepared to attack her, but something stopped her.
The woman had dropped Maia to the ground and had faced Chibi Dosei. This was it; this was going to be the end. Maia didn't appear to be moving at all. Chibi Dosei backed up against one of the boulders. There was no where else to go, and the woman was getting closer to her. Chibi Dosei formed her hands into a little cup, she only had one choice to go with, try to fight back. She powered up and blasted her powerful attack at the woman. The youma fell to the ground. Chibi Dosei jumped up onto the boulder and stood there for a moment. Something came to her mind, her sister was still in the hospital because she had a low energy level, and Maia wasn't moving. If the woman had stolen their energy, then maybe the only way to get it back was to destroy this woman.
The youma stood up, and limped over toward Chibi Dosei, with a smirk across her face. Chibi Dosei jumped up and did a flip over the woman, she had seen Faith, Daisy, and the grown ups do it so many times. She landed on her feet thankfully. She stood up and threw her attack at the woman again. The boulders immediately disappeared, and behind them stood Sailor Mars, Saturn, Venus, Jupiter, Neptune, Pluto, Uranus, and Sailor Moon.
"You're going down Youma!" Sailor Uranus hollered and powered up. Neptune, Pluto, and Jupiter attacked her together Super Sailor Moon used her Moon gorgeous meditation to destroy the youma. Maia jerked awake, her vision was blurry, but at least she could breathe again.
Ami and Greg came running toward their daughter. Ami scooped her up and gave Maia a great big hug. Maia blinked her eyes a couple times, "Mommy?"
"Yes darling, I'm here." Ami said.
"But… what about the little girl?" Maia asked, panting.
"Shhhh.. sweetie, it's all taken care of. Now let's get you to the hospital." Ami walked off with her daughter. Emily quickly untransformed and ran into her mothers arms. Sailor Saturn wrapped her arms around her daughter and hugged her.
"What were you two girls doing alone?" Sailor Saturn asked.
"Maia left the house and I followed after her. She wanted to show that she was important and tried to take the youma on by herself." Emily explained, coughing on her own saliva.
"She's a bizarre child." Uranus commented, leaning against the wall.
"Haruka!" Neptune scolded.
"What? She is." Uranus pointed out. Neptune shook her head, and untransformed. Everyone else followed suit, except for Saturn who was still holding on tightly to her daughter.
"I'm very proud of you, Emily. You saved Maia." Saturn praised her daughter. Emily nodded, but buried her head in Saturn's uniform.
Ariel was ecstatic when she found out her mother was home. Greg didn't have to continue on with the mission, as he had Maia to look after now, while Ami treated patients in the hospital. Madelyn recovered quickly after the youma had been destroyed. Ariel had gone to Madelyn and apologized for not saving her during the battle. Gloria was the only one who had gotten in trouble, her mother had grounded her because of what she had told Ariel. Gloria had refused to apologize to Ariel, which in return made her grounded for longer.
Emily was just glad that everything was back to normal again, no more youma's. And Maia was learning to accept the fact that she wouldn't be as smart as Ariel was. But she'd always be special to Ami and Greg, which is all that mattered to Maia.