Prologue: No Rest for the Weary
The wind
slapped playfully against Setsunna's cheek as she sat in the outdoor café
sipping her tea. Small Lady sat across
from her, wearing a cute straw hat with flowers and eating her chocolate
pudding. Setsunna smiled warmly as she
picked up a napkin and wiped the chocolate on Chibi-Usa's cheek. Chibi-Usa giggled, "Puu, do you have to go
back to the future?" "Yes my dear,"
Setsunna answered trying to hide the sadness in her voice, "the enemy has been
defeated so there is no longer any need for me to stick around here." Setsunna pushed her chair back, stood up,
and ran her hands over her lavender skirt smoothing out all the wrinkles. Chibi-Usa jumped up and wrapped her arms
around Setsunna, "Oh Puu, I love you so much!"
Setsunna held the little girl with pink hair in her arms. She closed her eyes and wished in her heart
for the moment never to end, small lady had come to mean so much to her. When she opened her eyes, though, something
seemed wrong. Chibi-Usa seemed
transparent. She watched in shock as
the little girl disappeared within her arms becoming thin air. Setsunna sat up in bed, dotted with
perspiration and breathing hard. "It
was only a nightmare," she muttered to herself, but somehow she couldn't shake
off the feeling of shock and fear off herself.
Setsunna got up out of bed and put on her red silk robe. She walked into the Kitchen and prepared
herself some green tea, hoping it might calm her down. She glanced at the clock; it was three a.m.
and too late to call Usagi to make sure that Chibi-Usa was ok. After sipping the last drops of tea, she
went back to bed. Only to be haunted by
the exact same dream. She jumped out of
bed this time; the horror wouldn't be warded off by just a little tea. She'd have to go personally and make sure
Chibi-Usa was snug in bed. She pulled
out her transformation stick; it was dead of night so she had better go under
the cover of Sailor Pluto. "Pluto Star
Power Make Up~!" she shouted with force.
The purple light enveloped her body forming her Super Senshi
outfit. Her time staff floated in front
of her face and she grasped it. "Garnet
Orb teleportation!" Sailor Pluto
shouted; it was one of the attacks she seldom used but came in handy every once
in a while when she was in a tight spot.
The Garnet orb emitted a bright light and in a twinkling of an eye she
was whipped away to outside Usagi's window.
She struggled to keep her equilibrium on the ledge, while tapping gently
on the window. She could see Usagi
tossing side to side in her bed, probably dreaming of Mamarou. Luna who saw Setsunna jumped on Usagi and
kept clawing at her until she woke up. Usagi yawned and slowly walked over to
the window. Usagi, who seemed angered
about being woken up in the middle of her dream reluctantly listened to Luna
and then opened the window. Sailor
Pluto entered with an urgent look in her deep magenta eyes. "What's wrong?" Luna asked sensing Sailor
Pluto's uneasiness. "Where's Small
Lady?" Pluto asked quickly. "Why, where
else would a young girl like her be at 5:47 a.m.?" Usagi commented drowsily,
"but in bed." "May I please check?"
Sailor Pluto asked still winded from the nightmare. "Setsunna, have you lost your mind?" Usagi questioned, and soon
after Luna deliberately scratched her.
"Sure you may," Luna answered kindly.
Sailor Pluto didn't waste one second she quickly, but quietly walked out
of the room and began to climb the stairs that led to the attic where Chibi-Usa
slept. The site she witnessed confirmed
her worst fears. The bed had
undoubtedly been slept in, but there was no trace of Chibi-Usa now. "Where is she?" Pluto asked in panic scaling
the room. Usagi's eyes were wide open
now, she kept stumbling on her words, "She… sh.. she… was here… before…"
Chapter One: Troubled Hearts
Sailor
Pluto stood there silent staring at the empty bed. Only one explanation stood for this sudden disappearance, someone
was toying with the future. "No, not
again," she thought recalling the events from last time such an occurrence took
place. Usagi had burst into tears, "Oh,
I should have been nicer to the little brat, I am her mother after all." "Don't worry Usagi," Pluto whispered trying
to reassure her, but really trying just to persuade herself that everything
would be fine. "I'll assemble the Outer
Senshi, you get the inner together," Pluto commanded. "Alright," Usagi managed to answer through her sobs. This decision to act in haste, though, would
prove fatal later on. "I'll meet you in
the park as soon as I can," Pluto added as the quickly walked out of the
room. Usagi pulled out her Eternal Moon
Brooch. "Moon Eternal Make Up!" she
shouted. Her body became covered with
light as she twirled around. When the
light faded Usagi stood there, still sniffling but now in her eternal Sailor
Moon outfit. She pulled out her
communicator and pressed the little silver button in the corner of it,
indicating it was an emergency. Ami was
the first to respond to her plea.
"What's wrong Usagi?" Ami asked.
"I'm sorry to wake you up, Ami, but Chibi-Usa is missing and Sailor
Pluto thinks someone is meddling with the past." "Oh, don't worry about waking me up, I was studying for the next
national exam," Ami commented, "What are we going to do?" "Meet me in the park, Ami, as soon as you
are able." Usagi answered. "Alright,
Usagi." One by one the Senshi responded
to her call of distress. Rei noted that lately some visions about the future
had been troubling, but fearing that she may be off in her prediction had not
mentioned it to the senshi. "Come on
Usagi!" Luna ordered after the last senshi, Sailor Jupiter had responded. Sailor Eternal Moon sneaked down the stairs,
knowing the result would be disastrous if her parents caught her like
this. She opened the door and tiptoed
out into the night with the creamy light of the full moon as her only
guide. "Its so dark, and so cold,"
Usagi whispered to herself. She felt
something brush by her and a dark cloth envelope her. It startled her and she let out a bone-chilling scream. "Its only me, Usako," a resonant voice
reassured her. "Mamo-chan!" Usagi
exclaimed relieved to see him. "Sailor
Pluto stopped by on her way to the park and explicated everything," he told her
as they began to sprint towards the park.
"Sailor Uranus, Neptune, and Saturn were also with Setsunna," Mamarou
added as they came into the park.
Sailor Mercury, who lived closer to the park than the rest of them had
already arrived and sat on a bench making various calculations on her
computer. "I got here as soon as I could,"
Sailor Mars commented as she reached the park panting. Rei could see Usagi crying and went over to
pat her on the back, "Don't worry Usagi, the Sailor Senshi are on the case now,
any Dark Kingdom trash messing with us will be sorry." Usagi nodded, as Mamarou dried away her
tears with his cape. Setsunna and the
whole outer senshi team were the next to arrive. " I thought I could feel a disturbance in the sea," Michiru
whispered to Haruka. Saturn tried to
restrain herself from crying, but a few tears seem to make it through. "Don't worry Hotaru," Setsunna told the
second youngest senshi, "we'll destroy the evil in the future and everything
will be back to normal." After that
last comment, an unwelcome silence fell over the group. "I hope I'm not late!" Makoto shouted as she
ran up to the group. "Nope," Rei said
sarcastically, "we are still waiting for Minako, never thought anyone could be
later than Odango Atama, that must take quiet a bit of effort!" "Please don't Rei," Usagi whispered softly
through her tears instead of her usual shouts for Rei to be quiet. Rei turned red with embarrassment; she
shouldn't have attacked Usagi when she was most vulnerable. "I'm HERE!" Minako shouted announcing to
everyone of her presence. "Good," Pluto
sighed, "Now please everyone listen, I'm sorry to gather you all here at
twilight, but I can assure you that it is urgent." "This morning around three a.m. I had a dream, I was giving
Chibi-Usa a hug, and to my shock she disappeared." "I woke up, and had a cup of tea and went back to bed, only to be
haunted by the same nightmare." "That's
why I rushed over to Usagi's house, to check on Chibi-Usa." "Of course my worst fears were confirmed,
Chibi-Usa is indeed gone." "But who
would come and try to take her in the middle of the night?" Makoto asked. "Well, that was a possibility," Pluto
stated. "Was?" Ami declared, "What do
you mean by that?" "Well, the other
possibility is that someone has been toying with the future," Pluto answered,
"and I paid a visit to Crystal Tokyo before coming here." "And?" said Haruka in a very worried tone. "All that's left, is a bunch of rubble." "Who is capable of such a thing?" Ami
asked. "I wish I could tell you, but I
don't know."
