Disclaimer: Madelyn, Hope, Faith, Maggie, Gloria, Daisy, Annika, and Ariel belong to Angel Raye. Thank you Angel Raye for letting everyone use your chibi senshi's. Emily, Isabella, Jordan, Lydia, Erin, Chloe, Julia, Maia, and Hailey belong to me. As for those not mentioned they belong to the maker of Sailor Moon.
Chapter Two: Rescue Mission
Back at the Quarters a search party was being called to find the two girls. Daisy tried her hardest to calm down Maggie, but it wasn't doing much good. She was pacing back and forth, throwing her hands up, and downgrading herself. Daisy watched hopelessly as she continued this.
Gloria put her hands on Maggie's shoulder's, which caused Maggie to come to a stop. "You're going to make someone sick if you keep pacing back and forth like that."
Faith held in her giggle that was etching to come out.
"Come on girls, with your families now, and let's go and find Julia and Lydia." Haruka stated. Everyone teamed up within their families, and headed out to go find the two. Hotaru's daughter's had tied their arms around their mother's waist and refused to let go. The two were afraid of the dark. Haruka had no problem with Faith and Jordan being wrapped around her, she had a problem with keeping up with them. Erin and Gloria were doing just fine, Minako was keeping a close eye on Gloria to make sure she didn't do anything stupid. Annika and Ariel were a different story. Ariel had wrapped herself around her mother so tightly that she was beginning to cut the circulation off in Ami's arm. Annika was trying to stay close to her mother, yet was unable to catch up with her because she was walking at a fast pace to find her daughter. Hailey and Usagi walked together looking for the two girls. Usagi was mad at her younger sister, for eating the last of the cheese cake.
"Momma." A small voice spoke.
Rei stopped in her tracks and turned around to her eldest daughter. She saw the look of fear in her eyes and held out her arms. Annika quickly went and embraced her mother.
"I'm sorry sweetie, I didn't mean to leave you back there." Rei apologized holding on tightly to her daughter.
"It's okay." Annika's small voice replied.
Rei smiled, and picked her daughter up and carried her. Annika laid her head down on her mother's shoulder. The two walked in utter silence. Annika was worried about her mother. She knew she was really worried about not finding Julia. Annika hear her mother sniffle, she looked up and saw that she was crying.
"Momma, are you okay?" Annika questioned.
Rei stopped and put her daughter down, she covered her face with her hands and fell to her knees and begin sobbing. Annika didn't know what to do at first. She was frightened by her mother's sobbing appearance. Annika laid her hand on her mother's shoulder and tried comforting.
"I'm never going to find my daughter!" Rei sobbed.
"Mamma we'll find her." Annika said hopeful.
As though on queue Rei and Annika's communicators went off, both answered them at the same time. Ami had found Julia's communicator. It wasn't Julia, but it was still hope. Rei and Annika went and met up with the rest of the group, by the palace park near the forest.
"I believe they're in the forest, it's the last place they could be." Ami suggested. "We split up and look for them."
"What do we do if they're not there?" Michiru questioned. "I could always use my mirror to find them. It'd be a lot quicker."
"Michiru dear that takes a lot out of you sometimes. And now isn't a good time to use it." Haruka reminded her.
"Right." Michiru sighed. She had just gotten over a sickness, and using her mirror would drain her of any energy she had left for a couple of days.
"I'm sure Lydia's mother would want to know what's going on." Makoto pointed out.
"I assure you she already knows." Michiru replied.
Makoto hit her head with her hand, "That's right. She's the keeper of time!"
"That's what got us into this mess." Maggie mumbled.
Makoto looked down at Maggie with a saddened expression. If Sestuna was home more often, then none of this would have ever taken place. Makoto ran her fingers through Maggie's long dark green hair.
"Let's go. We shouldn't waste anymore time." Minako spoke up, she had a very impatient daughter standing next to her, whom was etching to do something Minako was sure.
Everyone went separate ways into the forest to find the children. Gloria disappeared behind a tree and waited for her victim. She saw her mother and little sister continue to walk on. She grinned, and rubbed her hands together.
Gloria watched as Ariel, Maia, and Ami passed by. She didn't want to risk her prank on Ariel. She saw her best friend making her way up the path, she went to make her move, but stopped dead in her tracks when she felt the air around her change. She looked behind her expecting to find someone, but found no one. She glanced up in the tree, but saw no one. Perhaps, it was another kid trying to play a prank on her. She went back to find her victim, but found she was no where in sight. Gloria sighed, she wasn't going to be able to play a prank. She heard leaves crunching under someone's feet, she smiled and looked to see who it was. It was Maggie, Chloe, Makoto, and Daisy all coming up toward Gloria's way.
She knew none of them were in a good mood, but she couldn't pass up the chance to let her prank slide. She knew Makoto wouldn't be happy, but she'd get over it. Gloria went to go out after the four, but something pulled her back and made her trip. She fell backwards and landed on the ground with a hard thud. It knocked the breath out of her completely. She felt a glass shard slide under her back, and then she blacked out.
Maggie, Chloe, Makoto, and Daisy continued on.
"When I find those two, Lydia is going to be in so much trouble!" Makoto began, she was fuming that Lydia had run off.
"Momma, that's not fair." Chloe argued back.
"Sweetie Lydia needs a punishment, if I don't punish her she'll just continue to run off." Makoto explained.
"No, that's not true. And all you need to do is talk to her." Chloe replied back sharply. "All you guys ever do is think of ways to punish us. Not every little thing needs to be punished for. How many times does Lydia run off? This is the first time! All you need to do is talk to her. And try to understand where she's coming from."
"Chloe dear, don't try and tell me how I need punish or not punish my children or Sestuna's. It's up to me on how I deal with things." Makoto said.
"Just like how Daisy chooses to fight in school to deal with things." Chloe pointed out.
Makoto gave her daughter a strained look. "Daisy knows better. And there are other ways to go around things, fighting is not one of them."
"Then you agree that not everything has to be punished for?" Chloe asked.
"Honey listen to me. Lydia is going to get punished for what she's done." Makoto bent down eye level to Chloe's level.
"So you just want to give her more emotional problems?" Chloe stated, almost in tears. Makoto sighed, it was starting to click with what Chloe was getting at. "Momma, you lost both of you're parents, you should be able to talk with Lydia. You don't have to punish her, she just feels abandoned."
Makoto gave Chloe a hug, "Alright, I won't punish her, but the next time she does it, I'll have to."
"Okay." Chloe said, and wrapped her arms around her mother's neck. "Thank you."
With that the little group continued walking. They heard some of the children starting to call for Lydia and Julia. Chloe, Maggie, and Daisy joined in on the calling.
Minako realized that her daughter wasn't calling out; she stopped dead in her tracks and scanned the area. She looked at Erin, who had a blank expression on her face.
"Where'd Gloria go?" Minako asked Erin. Erin shrugged.
"Oh God." Minako said and picked up Erin and walked the path they had just taken. She had to find her daughter. She had a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach. She ran into Rei's family and Makoto's family on the way, but neither of them had seen her.
Haruka, Jordan, and Faith were giving it there all. They continued yelling for the Julia and Lydia, finally they heard someone holler back.
"Julia, Lydia is that you?" Haruka yelled back, not giving up due to lack of breath.
"YES!" one of the little girls screamed back.
"Stay… where you are… and keep calling… to us! We're on our… way!" Haruka hollered through gasp of breath.
The little girls continued yelling back for Haruka. Faith ran ahead. Haruka yelled after her, but Faith didn't stop. Faith ran smack dab into Julia, as she couldn't stop herself from running quick enough. Faith rolled off of Julia and said sorry.
Faith saw Haruka and Jordan standing over them. Faith gave out a small smile and said, "I found them."
Haruka laughed and pulled Faith up. "I see that. Now let's call this search party off and get out of this forest."
Haruka quickly contacted the others and told them the girls had been found. Ami, Ariel, Maia, Hotaru, Madelyn, and Emily had made it to the middle of the forest by this time. Ami quickly took out her flashlight and examined the two girls to the best of her ability.
"They may be dehydrated a little bit, but I think all of us kind of are. We better get them home." Ami explained.
Emily was clutching onto Hotaru for dear life. Her legs were wrapped tightly around Hotaru's waist and her arms were flung around her mother's neck. Nothing could pry the little girl off. Madelyn just held onto her mother's shirt, and stayed really close to her.
Usagi and Hailey were no longer in the forest they were waiting by the park bench for everyone else to come out. Usagi was sitting on the bench, fuming that her team was practically falling apart. She hated having some of her team not wanting to make any contact with the others and keeping things from the team that they knew. Hailey eyed her sister suspiciously. She knew she was upset about the cheese cake, but she had noticed that she had grown crankier. Usagi shot a glare up at her sister.
"You can be a sour puss all you want, but that's not gonna help you in the long run." Hailey retorted.
"Why don't you try running a team you spoiled little brat." Usagi fumed. She would never use that tone of voice or those words toward anyone else, but her own sister.
"I'm not anymore spoiled than you are Usagi!" Hailey replied, a little hurt by her sisters choice of words. "What's wrong with you anyways?"
"Don't worry about it, you're too young." Usagi answered, sighing. When she saw Haruka, Faith, Jordan, Madelyn, Hotaru, Emily, and the two lost ones emerge from the forest, Usagi went right away to scold them. Hailey's shoulders wilted; perhaps everything would have been better if she hadn't made Usagi angry that afternoon.
"You girls can not run off like that!" Usagi began. "Do you know how worried sick everyone was?"
Julia glared at Usagi, but didn't speak. Usagi ignored the little girls glare and continued. Lydia covered her ears and shut her eyes; she didn't want to hear anymore of it. Her head began to spin. Julia looked at her friend worried. Lydia opened her eyes and shot Usagi the most evil look she had ever seen come from the little girl, and then she took off running across the street. The Hino and Kino family came out next. Makoto had talked to Rei about what Chloe had told her.
Usagi was about to storm over toward Lydia, but Makoto stopped her from doing so.
"Makoto you know just as well as I do that the girls need a lecture and then followed up by a punishment. And as the leader of the team, I need to do so." Usagi explained.
Makoto gave Usagi a warm, gentle smile. "Usagi, if our parents punished us all the time when we were kids, do you think we would have learned from our mistakes? Do you think Rei and your mother would be best friends today?"
Usagi shook her head no. Though she was reborn, she had heard a lot of her mother and Rei's arguments. They didn't always get along; they were like oil and water.
"See, our parents never knew about our hard trials we had to go through. We had to overcome them by ourselves. Everything was placed in our hands. And sometimes we just need to take the time and understand each other." Rei explained. "Lydia's had a hard time. Her mother isn't around like your mother always is. You guys are lucky to have your moms around most of the time. Sometimes Lydia just needs a break."
"I guess I can let her off the hook this time, but she can't make it a habit." Usagi finally agreed, with a sigh. She understood where Rei and Makoto were coming from. She knew she'd hate being away from her mother.
"She won't make a habit out of it." Makoto replied assumingly. "I'm sure there was a reason for her running off."
"Well, good luck getting it out of Julia and Lydia." Usagi said aggravated. She wished the two girls would just talk to the other girls. "I'm going home now."
Makoto and Rei glanced at each other. They knew they wouldn't be able to get the answers out of either of them.
Meanwhile, Minako, Ami, and Michiru's families were in the forest looking for Gloria. Michiru took out here mirror when she noticed that all hope was lost. She began to concentrate hard, to find where Gloria was. Hope and Isabella looked at their mother in fear. Hope went to say something to stop her mom from doing what she was about to do, but it was too late, she was gone. Hope and Isabella clung to one another.
Michiru appeared by Gloria's body. She quickly contacted Ami and Minako. They met up as quick as they could with their daughters right behind them. When Minako saw Gloria she went into hysterics. Michiru tried calming her down. Ami went right to work on the child. She quickly stopped the wound from bleeding.
She turned to the hysterical Minako, "Minako-Chan, if you don't cool it off I won't be able to get Gloria out of here. Now listen, I need you to take Ariel, Maia, and Erin to your house and watch them until I get Gloria stable."
Michiru's hands clasped over her mouth in disbelief. "My children. I left them alone." She took out her mirror once more to transport herself to their location.
"Michiru no! You've already done it-" But it was too late, Michiru had disappeared. Ami secretly wished that the Queen had never granted her that power. It would make her physically weak and if she used it too much it could kill her. She had been sick previously, and Ami didn't know what using the power twice would do to her. Ami reached for her communicator. Things were getting way out of hand tonight. She contacted Hotaru.
"Hotaru I need you to have someone watch your kids, I'm going to need you tonight at the hospital. Michiru used that power twice in a row and I'm not sure where she is right now." Ami replied sounding stressed out.
Haruka had overheard and was about to head back into the forest but Hotaru stopped her, "Haruka-Papa, I'll go get Michiru-mama and the little girls. I'm afraid if you go, you'll be more occupied on Michiru-Mama and forget the girls. And besides I need someone to look after my children."
Haruka nodded. The Queen, and Princess appeared just as Hotaru was about to go back into the forest.
"Is everything alright?" Queen Serenity questioned, worriedly as she could see nothing was alright.
"Lydia and Julia have been found. Gloria ended up lost, but I believe she's been found, but now Michiru is in trouble." Hotaru explained.
"Mama, maybe you should call off the high investigation, so they can have their husbands and fathers back." Princess Serenity suggested. The Queen had pulled an investigation the last minute the search was being called. She struggled with calling in all the knights at first, but finally reconciled that she had no choice. She had a bad feeling about something.
"Sweetie we need that investigation. If I don't find out what's going on, then things are going to get worse." Serenity explained.
Princess Serenity sighed, she knew her mother was right, but she didn't like seeing her friends so stressed out.
"I think we should head home now, it looks as though Ami and Hotaru will get everything under control." Makoto said in an exhausted voice.
Julia stayed close to her mother; she knew part of this was her fault. If only things would have been differently, none of this would have happened like it did tonight. She hoped the Queen was right about the investigation; she hated having her father away.
Lydia followed after her sister and Makoto's daughters with her head bent down and her arms crossed. She had a bad feeling about everything that had happened tonight. She knew Gloria was hurt badly, but she couldn't put her finger on why the enemy had gone after her. Lydia knew that she and her sister were the next targets. Lydia had nothing in common with Gloria, so why did they go after her, unless it was by accident. But if the enemy was that dull minded, then would they really be able to defeat the Senshi's? Would the enemy even have a chance? Lydia didn't want them to have a chance, but she didn't understand them.
Hotaru was busy looking for Michiru. She was getting worried, she had a very hysteric Hope on the communicator. When she finally arrived she saw that Isabella was clung to her mother, whom had collapsed on the ground and Hope was just standing there shaking. Hotaru quickly took Hope into her arms and comforted her.
"Don't worry Hope. I'm going to get your mother all better." She gently massaged her temples. "It's going to be okay. Can you help me with your sister?"
Hope nodded. She knew she had to be brave.
"Isabella come on, you need to unwrap yourself from your mother and let me help her to the hospital." Hotaru honestly didn't know how she was going to do this on her own. She couldn't carry Michiru, she didn't even know if she was conscience enough to walk.
"Hotaru." A voice called from behind her.
Hotaru swooped around to find the Queen and Princess right behind her.
"Oh thank you!" Hotaru replied. "I'm so glad you came. I can't do this by myself."
Princess Serenity took the girls away from their mother, and Hotaru and the Queen carried Michiru to the best of their abilities.
------
Meanwhile, Queen Tetsuko was busy speaking with Shiro. He hadn't followed through with the task quite yet, and she was getting uptight about what he was up to. If he kept this up, the Senshi's would soon find them and do away with them.
"What was the point in attacking the Venus girl? She has no relation to the Pluto's. She is fifth on the list." Queen Tetsuko explained.
"I only attacked her; I had nothing to do with the mother of the Neptune's. And I thought by attacking Gloria, it would confuse Lydia, who I assure you is already aware of us." Shiro replied.
"I don't see how attacking Gloria Aino is going to make Lydia Meiou, as you say confused." Queen Tetsuko retorted with sarcasm, as she flicked her hands in all sorts of directions.
"It will get everyone's focus on Gloria Aino. And Lydia won't know what to expect next." Shiro grinned; he thought his scheme was done well.
"Fine then! Do what you have to do, but I warn you, my servant, you mess up and your head is mine." Queen Tetsuko dismissed him.
Authors Note: Please let me know if there are unanswered questions, or confusing in this chapter. I've corrected the errors in the first chapter. Please enjoy. Does anyone have any special request for a Christmas story? Well, that's all. Please review. Thanks for reading. Chapter three will be up as soon as possible. And the last chapter of the 'Lost Imperial Silver Crystal' will be up sometime today.