AN: I realise this has been a LONG timecoming. I'm so sorry I didn't get this part done soner and I am also sorry its short. I'm just trying to work out where this is heading at the moment but so far its heading in an okay direction i think. I just gotta figureout the bad guy and why they want the senshi etc.
"Rei disappeared?" Wufei repeated slowing and Keira nodded trying to wipe away her tears. Wufei threw a dirty look Heero's way that Heero chose to ignore.
"I went to find her because she was late for our sparring lesson and…" Keira broke off and started crying again much to Heero's annoyance.
Heero was quickly loosing whatever patience her had. As much as he didn't want to care about what happened to Rei, he couldn't help it. He couldn't help the way that he felt about her.
"And what?" Heero demanded grabbing Keira by the shoulders and shaking her roughly bringing her to her senses.
Wufei immediately moved to disentangle his daughter from Heero's firm grasp not liking how roughly Heero was handling her. Keira was Wufei's daughter, only he had the right to scold her, if he indeed had any right at all.
"There was blood all over the floor and all her things were strewn about like there had been some sort of struggle," Keira hiccuped trying to stop crying as she clung to her father for strength. Heero breathed deeply trying to control himself and his temper that was getting shorter and shorter.
"Show me now," Heero commanded his voce startling Keira who wiped away her tears nodding. She turned and ran into the palace with Wufei and Heero hot on her tail.
As they ran up the first set of stairs they came across Trowa and Makoto, who was now dressed as Sailor Jupiter. They were breathless, like they had been running and Sailor Jupiter was clutching onto Trowa's hand so tightly.
"Jupiter, what happened to you?" Keira stopped to ask, taking note that both Jupiter and Trowa had sustained cuts, scratches and bruises somehow. There was blood splattered all over them.
"I was attacked on the balcony, the enemy said they were after all the senshi, if Trowa hadn't been there…" Jupiter let the sentence fade away as her thoughts went to the other inner senshi. Keira paled suddenly as the same thought cross her mind.
"Mama," Keira whispered running down the hall at top speed and Wufei ran after her. Heero stayed behind, he needed Rei's room not Minako's.
Jupiter looked over at Heero's expressionless face and her own face went white with worry and fear.
"Heero, you were with Rei weren't you? Tell me you protected her, please tell me you protected her," Jupiter turned her emerald green eyes on Heero who stared back at her blankly.
"Rei's room, where?" Heero asked in monotone and Jupiter dropped her eyes from him in disappointment and pointed up the next set of stairs.
"Up those stairs, Rei's room is the second door on the left"
Heero didn't even thank her, he just went running up the stairs. Jupiter watched Heero go then she turned and threw herself in Trowa's waiting arms, worried for the other senshi, and feeling weak from all the fighting.
"Mako, its Serenity, she's gone, her and Duo have disappeared!" Mercury came running up the stairs with Quatre in tow and Jupiter's eyes near popped out of her head with alarm.
"The Queen is gone?"
"Mama is gone as well!" Keira came slowly into view, her body shaking with shock. Wufei followed her his face full of guilt and fury.
"Rei is gone too," Heero came back down the stairs his voice shaking with emotion that no one expected Heero to have.
"Tell me what happened, now," Wufei hissed looking over at Jupiter who chose to ignore the fact he had spoken to her so rudely. There was more important things to worry about that his manners, or lack thereof. Jupiter could finish punishing him later when they found Minako Rei and Serenity.
"Trowa and I were out on the balcony when this…this creature appeared out of nowhere screaming it was going to get me and all the other senshi, it was so strong, Towa and I fought together and eventually defeated it, then we came looking for everyone else," Jupiter explained her hand grasping for Trowa's needing his strength and calmness and when Wufei turned to Mercury she needed no prompting to relay her story.
"Quatre and I were attacked while in the garden, by a creature that was screaming death to the senshi over and over again, Quatre helped me to defeat the creature by distracting it so I could attack it, but the creature was very strong," Mercury told them looking over at Quatre who nodded his head confirming that what Mercury said was exactly what happened.
"So what do you think happened to Minako, Rei and Serenity?" Quatre asked looking at Mercury then Jupiter whose shoulders were shaking with emotion.
"You should have been with Minako,. Wufei, you could have protected her," Jupiter cried out, spiting her words at Wufei who bristled with rage but said nothing.
"Jupiter its not their fault," Mercury said defending the two young men but Jupiter shook her head, disbelieving Mercury's words.
"Yes it is, if you had both protected Rei and Minako then nothing would have happened to them, you should have protected them!" Jupiter struck out at Heero infuriated by the blank look he was giving her, so unlike Wufei who looked to be weighed under with guilt. Heero caught Jupiter's hand easily, glaring at her silently before throwing her hand away form him.
"You know nothing of how I feel," Heero said clearly with darkness in his voce and Jupiter paused her tirade, not expecting such emotions from Heero.
"Just what is going on here? Who are these men and where is my mother?" a girlish voice demanded importantly and the senshi and pilots turned to see a young girl, probably in her early twenties with two cone shaped buns and long pigtails reaching her lower back. Her eyes were a strange red colour, and those eyes gazed curiously from the senshi to the men with them.
"Small Lady, we think some…some type of creature took her," Mercury told the girl, hating to be the bearer of such terrible news as she bowed her head respectfully, Jupiter did the same, as did Keira. The young girl took a deep breath and began her ascent up the stairs.
"Senshi, I just spotted Neo Queen Serenity and a young man with a long braid sneaking outside the Defence Perimeter," a solider came running into the foyer yelling out the information and Jupiter and Mercury exchanged exasperated glances.
"Or that Duo took her: Jupiter said rolling her eyes, half annoyed, half relieved as the realisation that at least Serenity was safe was a welcome thought. From the look on Mercury's face it was clear she felt the same.
"What's a Duo?" the pink haired girl asked reaching the group in time to head Jupiter's comment and Wufei looked the girl up and down, seeing nothing special about her. She wore a blue skirt and white tip, something like a school girl's outfit in the days of old.
"Who is this kid?" Wufei demanded thinking there was no time to waste on her and the pink haired girl turned to him her eyes wide with shock.
Mercury's mouth practically dropped open, appalled by Wufei's lack of manners, especially considering who he was addressing at this moment in time.
"Kid?" the pink haired girl repeated and Keira was terribly embarrassed.
"Father, she is the Princess of Crystal Tokyo, Princess Usagi, Neo Queen Serenity's only daughter and heir to the throne of the Crystal Palace."