Hello guys! I'm sorry, it took me so long to release another chapter. I had a very busy semester and my friend had lost the inspiration. But at least we came out with something. My winter exams are coming, so I don't know when the next chapter will be written. But we'll try to update as soon as possible.

Disclaimer: I own none of the stories used. "OUAT" and Emma belong to Adam Horowitz and Edward Kitsis, "SM" belongs to Naoko Takeuchi/Toei Animation. My friend and I owe only the OCs.

Hope of a child. The rose blooms.

Boston

Rose, sleeping peacefully, started to slowly wake up as some agitation noises reached her ears. Reluctant, she sat up and rubbed her eyes. She didn't like to wake up for school in the morning. Noticing that none of her friends were in the room, she gazed at the clock on the night table and gasped as she realized what time it was.

"Oh no! I'm late for school!" – Rose yelled and jumped out of her bed.

She almost tripped over Athena in process. She barely paid attention to that, so the cat asked her while she was getting dressed:

"Hey! Can't you be more careful?"

"Why didn't you wake me up?!" – Rose asked back in panic.

They quickly ran out of the house. Rose then noticed two boys picking on a girl. The little girl was crying, while the bullies told mean things to her. This sight made Rose stop, as she remembered how she was treated as a child. "I cannot even tell how many times elder kids mocked me." As the sad memory emerged, she walked to the boys with a determinate pace, and put her hands on her hips as she stood behind them.

"Leave them alone." – Rose demanded as she glared at the boys.

Hearing the low tone, the boys turned around, and as they saw the teenage girl, who was a few heads taller than them, they backed up slightly.

"We did nothing wrong, it's her…!" – one of them said nervously.

"Run!"- the other said, after what the two boys ran away from the tall blonde girl.

Rose glared at them one last time, then she knelt to the little girl.

"Oh, don't cry kid." – she started to comfort her – "Boys are just meanies, they're not worthy your tears."

"Okay…" – the kid said as she quickly wiped off her tears and smiled.

"That's better." – Rose said.

"Please… can you take me to the bus stop?" – the little girl asked.

"Well, I really have to go…" – Rose hezitated – "You're a big girl, right?"

"Please!" – the kid said once more with pleading eyes – "I must take the school bus."

"Alright… Is it far away?" – Rosalie asked.

Luckily, it wasn't. The bus stop was on the neighbor street, so Rose took the kid there. As the kid sat in the bus, she and Rose waved at each other. Athena looked up at Rose and said nervously:

"Rose… aren't you forgetting something?"

"Right! I'm late for school!" – Rosalie exclaimed.

She rushed in the direction of the Junior High School, running even faster than before. Now, she definitely wouldn't make it on time. But then, she saw a familiar figure running in the same direction a few steps ahead from her.

"Emma…!" – Rose yelled as she caught up with her.

"Rose! I thought you at school already!" – Emma said as she kept running.

"I overslept. But hey, I still quit the house before you!"

"Why were you behind me then?" – Emma asked.

"There were… circumstances." – Rose replied – "I'll explain later."

The schoolbell was ringing at the moment when the two girls reached the school gates. Emma and Rose knew they'd be scolded by their teachers for being late. Their ways parted in the school corridors, being in different classes. Rosalie rushed in her classroom, her face red and sweating, her breath irregular.

"Sorry… I'm late…" – Rose managed to say as her knees almost failed her.

"I can see that." – Mr Faraday, the physics teacher replied calmly – "Go to your seat, and don't interrupt my lesson for the rest of it. We'll talk later."

Rose sat her desk without saying a word and opened her textbook. When Emily was answering to a question, Lia took the opportunity to quietly whisper:

"Why are you so late?"

"My sleep was deep tonight." – Rose replied as quietly – "You could've woken me up."

"You're usually ponctual, so I just didn't see the need in doing so. Sorry about that."

At the lunchtime, Emma was eating in a grumpy mood. She has been scolded by her teacher once more, but she was getting used to it. The, she felt someone put his hands over her shoulders. She turned around to see that itw as Miles.

"Oh, hi Miles."

"Emma… I was wondering if I couldn't join you? I can barely find a good moment so we can talk." – Miles said with his charming smile.

"Rose will join me soon." – Emma said matter-of-factly – "If you have anything to say, take the one minute you have."

"Emma, this will never do! I want to know more about you. I cannot stop thinking about you since the day we met."

"Well, I'm sorry for the burden." – Emma said as she got another bite of her sandwich.

"Look, I'm not asking much. I just want you to give me a part of your time." – Miles replied.

"Hmm… I think your sister needs more of your attention than I do." – Emma stated, gesturing in Nikki's direction.

Nikki just paid for her lunch plate and was about to chose a table where she'd sit. Miles sighed, knowing he had to hurry at her side before she noticed he was talking to Emma again. But before rushing to his girlfriend, he turned to Emma once more.

"Think about my words, Emma."

The moment he left, Rose sat in front of her friend with her own sandwich and soda drink.

"Miles really seems to like you." – Rose remarked – "You should give this guy a chance."

"You want me to date Miles?" – Emma asked – "He's a womanizer and all girls are crazy of him. He has choice among them."

"You're afraid to date anyone, aren't you?" – Rosalie asked seriously – "You know, not all guys are like your first boyfriend."

Emma sighed. She didn't like to think about Neal. He really broke her heart and she made herself a delusion that he might've been her true love, that they would stay together always. But that was silly. There was nothing like true love, at least not for her. Emma really loved Neal, she even wanted to introduce him to her five best friends. But he just disappeared without even explaining her his reasons. Now Emma was afraid to open up to another guy, because it would hurt again.

"Miles is attractive, he's cool and all… I'm just not very sure about him." – Emma said.

"Take your time. But not too much time, or some other girl might grasp him." – Rose said half-joking – "So, how did your teacher react?"

"Miss Petunia yelled at me again. Luckily, she didn't assign me detention. She probably thought it won't change my habits anyway."

"You're lucky. Mr Faraday didn't yell, but in the end of his lesson, he put me to detention." – Rose said with a sigh – "So, don't wait for me this evening."

After school, when her detention was over, Rose was walking home with Athena in her arms. (Her cat was waiting for her at the gates.) As they passed next to a playground, they overheard something. It was the same small girl from the morning, who was teased by three boys again.

"You're stupid to believe that!" – one of the boys mocked her.

"No, I'm not!" – the girl protested – "She's real! I know that!"

"She's not! Did you see her?" – another boy asked.

"No, but she exists!" – the girl kept insisting.

"She's silly, like things she says!" – the third boy commented and the two others agreed.

At that moment Rose walked to the tiny group with an intimidating pace again.

"Leave her alone, you nasty fools!"

"Oh no, that's the madam from this morning! Run!" – one of the boys said to his buddies.

The three boys immediately ran away.

"I'm not old enough to be called a "madam", thank you!" – Rose yelled after them after what she turned to the little girl and asked – "You're okay? What's your name?"

"Yes. My name's Carrie." – the kid replied.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Rosalie, but it's Rose for friends." – Rose introduced herself and then showed her white cat – "And this is Athena."

"You're cute kitty, Athena!" – Carrie said.

Rose then noticed that Carrie was wearing a Sailor Light badge.

"Oh, so you're a Sailor Light fan?" – she asked.

"Uh-uh." – Carrie nodded with a smile.

"So… you must like Sailor Rose too?" – Rosalie asked inquiringly.

"Who's that?" – the kid asked.

"Oh… well, she's Sailor Light's friend." – Rose replied, a bit disappointed for not being as popular as her friend was.

The two then sat on a bench and started to chat.

"Do you think Sailor Light's real, Rose?" – Carrie asked.

"The most important thing is to believe. If you believe she's real, so she is. Believing is what makes things real." – Rose answered honestly.

"You're right." – Carrie said with a smile, before asking – "But tell me… you know her?"

"To be honest, I've met her." – Rosalie replied.

"Oh no!" – Athena mentally exclaimed.

"Really? Can you tell the others about her?" – Carrie asked – "They don't believe me."

"Yes, I'll talk to them." – Rosalie replied.

"Rose, what are you doing?!" – Athena mentally screamed again.

Rosalie promised that she would go to her kindergarten when she could and that she would change Carrie's classmates' minds about Sailor Light.

The Doom Tree shelter

Beinion and Adonnenniel observed that they needed energy. Adonneniel suggested to target small kids.

"The youths' organisms produce a lot of energy. It'll be perfect for our tree."

"You have great ideas, Adonnenniel." – Beinion flattered his girlfriend.

He played his harp to summon the Cardian Gigaros. Within minutes, he appeared flying above a bus on its way to Kindergarten and made it stop by punching a hole in the roof. Once done, he proceededa to steal energy from the scared kids.

Boston

In their house, the guardians and Lux saw flash news on tv about the attack. They immediately understood that it were deeds by their enemies. They went to their room, where they wouldn't be heard by the foster parents.

"They changed their target. They're attacking kids now!" – Danielle exclaimed.

"Unbelievable! If we don't stop them quickly, they'll hurt more of them." – Lia stated.

"Emily, can you identify their next target?" – Lux asked.

Emily calculated on her supercomputer and after a moment, she showed the result on the screen to her friends.

"This Kindergarten is probably their next target." – Emily said.

"Hey, that's the Kindergarten Carries goes to." – Rosalie said quietly to herself.

"It could be our chance." – Athena remarked.

"I'll go there tomorrow." – Rose said to her friends.

"Okay, and Emma shall go with you." – Lux instructed.

"Huh? Well… okay." – Emma agreed reluctantly.

"Have more good will, Emma. Don't forget only your Stellar Rod can finish off the creatures." – Lux reminded her sternly.

"I'm very fine with the mission." – Emma said, frowning at her mentor.

Emma had no problem with going to a mission. She just didn't feel at ease on the idea at boarding a Kindergarten school bus. It was just too awkward.

"We rely on you, Emma." – Alex said her.

The next day at the Kindergarten, Rose was trying to convince the kids that Sailor Light and Sailor Rose did exist, while Emma was standing a few steps behind her friend wondering what did they got themselves into.

"I can assure you that both Sailor Light and Sailor Rose are real." – Rose was saying.

"Well, I won't believe until I see them." – one of the boys from the previous day said.

"But you won't see them if you don't believe!" – Carrie exclaimed.

Emma, Lux and Athena exchainged glances. Lux asked Athena how they ended up in this, to which Athena replied that it was Rose's fault.

"I thought her being responsible. She might blow up our cover." – Emma whispered to the white cat.

"Her sudden attachment to Carrie won over her common sense." – Athena stated – "But I still trust her for being careful."

Emma and Lux nodded as they looked back at Rose, who was dealing with remarks of the children. A boy was saying at the moment:

"Grown ups tell stupid stories to hide from reality."

"What an annoying brat…" – Rosalie muttered to herself.

It was at that moment that the kindergarten teacher approached her class and told the kids she couldn't go with them on the bus.

"I'm really sorry. But I have very important business today." – she apologized.

"Good, no need to find some excuses to board the bus." – Rose thought to herself.

Rose and Emma approached the teacher and offered to take the bus with her class if she didn't mind.

"Oh yes, please! Let them come, teacher!" – Carrie pleaded.

"Of course. I expect you girls to be responsible and I hope it'll be a great experience." – the teacher said to the two teens.

The class, along with Emma, Rose, Lux and Athena, boarded the bus which quickly drove away from the Kindergarten school. In the bus, Emma asked to Rose quietly, so Carrie wouldn't hear them:

"Tell me… why do you want to help the kid that much?"

"Oh, well… She was bullied, I just had to help. I can only relate, I used to be bullied by elder kids for believing in fairy tales." – Rose replied and then looked at Carrie who was playing with the cats – "Carrie and I are very alike."

"I see… Carrie's lucky to have your support." – Emma said as she put her hand over Rose's shoulder – "That and the fact we are real, unlike fairy tales."

"But Emma, if you and I exist, why couldn't fairy tales too?" – Rose commented.

This left Emma speechless. She never thought of that. But then, she shook her head as she wasn't about question if fairy tales did exist or not.

"That's different." – Emma replied.

"Why would this be different?" – Rosalie asked – "You and all the other kids should be more open-minded. I dreamed I could be a hero and I became one. Carrie thinks Sailor Light exists, and she's right."

"Uhh… I give up. Seems like you're a hopeless dreamer." – Emma said with a sigh, but with no hint of annoyance.

Soon, the bus drove into a tunnel. At that moment Gigaros appeared and stopped the bus by breaking its front window. Everyone in the bus screamed.

"I'm scared…" – Carrie said as she grabbed Rose's hand.

"Don't worry. Sailor Light will come and rescue us." – Rose assured her little friend.

Athena, Lux and the Emma attacked Gigaros physically, but Gigaros threw the cats back to Rose and punched Emma out of the bus. Now that she was out of everyone's sight, Emma could transform.

"Light Cosmic Power!"

Gigaros was about to drain everyone's energy, but before he could do so, he was interrupted by Sailor Light's speech.

"You coward! How dare you to attack those poor kids! Children are our future!" – Sailor Light said – "I shall punish you in the name of the light!"

"It's Sailor Light!" – Carrie yelled, very excited.

But then Gigaros attacked her, and she had to jump quickly to dodge his attacks. The kids were excited to see that Sailor Light really did exist. Carrie was very happy to see her favourite heroine. Even though Gigaros was a tough creature, Sailor Light did her best to defend herself with kicks or by jumping away. Carrie was encouraging her out of the bus window. All the kids gathered in one side of the bus to watch the fight. Rose took the opportunity to jump out of the window on the other side. Outside, she transformed into Sailor Rose. Gigaros pushed Sailor Light and was about to hit her. But at that moment, he got interrupted once more, this time by Sailor Rose.

"Stop right there!"

"Oh, so she is Sailor Rose…!" – Carrie said with a happy smile.

Sailor Rose then checked if her friend Sailor Light was okay and then prepared herself to use her attack.

"Rose Beam!" – she shouted

She managed to hurl Gigaros backwards, but he was unaffected. He retaliated by sending a spiral of dark energy towards the two Sailor Guardians, hurting them. Sailor Rose quickly stood up and used her attack for the second time.

"Rose Beam!"

But her attack was not working, which made Sailor Rose. But the Sailor Guardians heard Carrie and the other kids shout encouragments to not give up.

"We believe in you! Don't give up!"

"Sailor Light! Sailor Rose! Sailor Light! Sailor Rose!"

Encouragments were good to hear for the two heroines. They stood up, ready to keep fighting to save the kids. At that moment Gigaros was about to attack the kids by draining their energy he came for in the first place. Seeing how the creature was close to Carrie and how endangered the little girl was, something in Sailor Rose completely snapped. "No! He will NOT harm this so precious kid!" – Sailor Rose thought. She started to glow and unleashed a deadly attack.

"Poison Ivy Beam!" – Sailor Rose shouted.

At first it looked similar to her basic attack. But this time, the beam was green and before it hit the creature, it split into multiple thorn-like beams, stabbing Gigaros with the venom turning him into dust. Everyone watched the scene in amazement, including Sailor Light. Sailor Rose looked at Carrie, mentally thanking heavens she was alright, after what she fell unconscious.

"Sailor Rose…!" – Sailor Light rushed towards her friend.

"Will she be okay?" – Carrie asked with worry.

"Yes, don't worry. She's just exhausted. But I promise she'll get all the care she needs." – Sailor Light promised, and then gave Carrie a friendly wink.

This made Carrie smile, and she guessed that Sailor Rose would be ok, since Sailor Light said her so. The kids watched in amazement how Sailor Light lifted the unconscious Sailor Rose and walked away despite the difficulty in doing so.
A few minutes later, Sailor Light returned to her room with the unconscious Sailor Rose (Lux and Athena following behind) being careful fot the foster parents to not see them. Their four friends rushed to them, and started to ask what happened. Sailor Light and Sailor Rose turned back into their normal form, and Rose was then put on the bed. Emma briefly explained how things went, and the mention of the attack Rose used surprised the team.

"Athena, do you know what it was?" – Emma asked.

"There is a story behind that attack." – Athena confirmed – "You maybe don't remember it since it happened so long time ago. It happened when we all lived in the Heavens, when the princess' guardians were not very experienced yet. One day when Rosetta - Sailor Rose - was training, an incident happened that involved the Poison Ivy Beam. This attack is a deadly venom, it could kill anything or anyone good or evil. That day it almost killed everyone, including Sailor Rose herself. After the incident, her mother Gaia sealed that power to make sure it could never be used again."

"Wow, what a story." – Emma said.

"And I thought, out of all our powers, mine were the most dangerous." – Danielle commented.

"But if this power has been sealed, how could Rose use it today?" – Emily.

"Well… my guess is that her anger got the best of her. She grew very fond of the child." – Athena said – "But that's why she passed out, she wasn't supposed to use this attack."

The next day, Rose and Carrie met again at the same playground. They sat on the bench so Carrie could tell her story about the bus attack and the Sailor Guardians. Rosalie listened amused the story she already knew from the mouth of the excited kid.

"Both Sailor Light and Sailor Rose were great!" – Carrie was saying – "I love them both very much!"

A/N: Reviews are always very welcome.

The reason the little girl's name's Carrie is because I heard that Minako's English name was at first planned to be Carrie. The girl has a bond with Rosalie, who is Minako's counterpart. You see the thing. Speaking of this name, R.I.P. Carrie Fisher. :'( Princess Leia believed in a better future of the galaxy as much as little Carrie believes in Sailor Light. You could tell it's a tribute to the actress.

Oh and, the teacher's name Faraday is not a form of self-insertion (I'm a girl ^^), my nickname being July Farraday, but it's a reference to the series "Lost" and its character Daniel Faraday, who was a physician. I loved that guy, he's so cute! 3