"WHAT DO YOU MEAN SHE GOT AWAY??!!??" a booming voice
yelled out to the blackness around it.
"I-I don't know, your hi-highness…" the shadow being stammered. " An unexpected force was accompanying her… They attacked and escaped before the extraction was completed…"
"SILENCE!!! I can't believe you couldn't handle a simple
assignment.
"Actually… yes, I found something that will aid us
immensely." The small shadow said, as he raised an appendage. A
"Ah… Mistress 9… How nice to see you again…" The Master
said. He waived an appendage, and a swirling black power formed from the tip.
"Awake… and serve your master once more!" The black power shot from him and
wrapped itself over the black ball of memories. The power shrank on itself,
conforming to a figure as it got smaller. The black power moulded itself to the
figure, and hardened into enamel.
"Yes, Master." Mistress 9 replied, vengeance easily seen in her cold eyes.
"Excellent… we have a score to settle. It's time to visit some old friends…"
*****
Rei woke up in a cold sweat from her nap, and nervously looked around her room. She let out a shaky breath as she remembered her dream, a true nightmare in its true form. It worried her because she seldom dreamed, unless she was searching the fires for guidance. It was the worst dream she had had since she first battled Pharaoh Ninety and his heart snatchers and youma's. She wondered if the dream was a vision, or just an over-worked imagination taking its toll.
She shuddered as she remembered what happened in the
dream.
Rei felt as if she was in another body. She couldn't
move on her own, she just saw and did as the unknown person did. She was on a
battlefield, watching all the other sailors, even herself. They were fighting
something, but she couldn't see what it was. It was as if nothing but the
shadows were alive. The sailor's attacks defeated many of the shadows, but many
more kept coming. One by one, each sailor used up all their power trying to
fight what they couldn't see.
Rei's person turned to where Pluto was fighting a dark
figure. She looked like… Mistress 9! Mistress 9 attacked Pluto mercilessly,
demanding something of her… Pluto wouldn't respond, and kept trying to hold her
at bay. Rei's body ran up to the fighting pair, and saw Pluto being run
through, as she was distracted by the oncoming figure. Rei felt a surge of
feelings come forth as she attacked Mistress 9 in revenge. Finally, as she saw
Mistress 9 explode into dust… The Master Shadow swept over her.
Rei couldn't figure out if the dream was important or not. 'I better tell the others,' she thought, as she called Haruka and told them that they would have an emergency meeting of the Scouts. Haruka, on the phone, agreed and suggested that they have it at her house, where the Outers were already assembled. Rei agreed, and hurried to get dressed and tell the others.
*****
"You're kidding!" Minako exclaimed, a shocked and horrified look on her face. Rei only nodded.
"Gosh… that's horrible! And that'll happen to us?" Usagi asked, glancing to Setsuna for confirmation.
"Well… nothing in time is ever certain. It's always
changing, so the vision that you had might only be one possible scenario, or it
might be only part of one." Setsuna said. She looked around at all the worried
faces, and stopped when she reached Hotaru's.
"What about you, Chibi-Usa?
"Nope. I only know what I was told… and it's strictly on a need to know basis, so even if I knew, I couldn't tell you…" She replied.
"Because it would change the time line." Setsuna finished for her.
'Yeah… If I told you, certain things that need to happen
won't…' Chibi-Usa thought to herself. She felt guilty about not telling the
others, but she had orders. Strict orders.
*****
After the meeting, when the Inner Senshi had left, Setsuna gathered Haruka and Michiru together in the living room. After she made sure that Hotaru was in another room and unable to hear them, she returned to the others.
"So what's on your mind?" Haruka asked, while she sat down on the couch. Her smile faded when she saw the look in Setsuna's eyes. She knew that something was on the older woman's mind, and it bugged her. Since she was the Guardian of Time, Setsuna usually knew how things would turn out, or at least a vague idea of whether something good or bad would happen. But since she looked worried, Haruka knew that something big must have been happening. And if The Sailor Scout of Time was worried, then it definitely wasn't a good thing that would happen.
Setsuna sat down in a plush chair and looked up at the
two. 'God, how do I tell them?' she thought as she saw the smile's fade and
their looks turned serious.
"If she knows what's going to happen, then why would she
not say anything?" Michiru asked. She didn't want to believe that another enemy
had come along, not after they had gotten their lives back on track.
"To protect you."
'Damn, why do I always have to be right?' Michiru thought as she stared at the teen that appeared out of nowhere.
"Hotaru, we just want what's best for you. We don't want to see you get hurt anymore…" Haruka spoke up.
"But that's the problem! You want what's best for me! You're too afraid that I'll get hurt that you won't let me do anything! If I am to learn, then I have to make my own decisions and learn from my own mistakes. If you know what's to happen, then you'll try to stop it, and end up destroying more that you'll even know!! " And with that, she ran out of the room.