Part V
The infested city lay rotting away slowly outside. The day seemed to drag on as death drew nearer to their door. "The only thing that everyone shares." Fighter said mainly to herself as she thought out loud.
Fighter and Healer were sitting in the drawing room awaiting the Princess and Maker. Healer took a sip of her tea as she joined Fighter in staring out the window. "What are you talking about?"
Fighter didn't move to acknowledge Healer's comment. "The one thing that every person must face in life, death. We're all going to die some day. I just don't want to be out on the street and be picked off by some soul hungry demon out for revenge." Her comment was cold, but Healer agreed and saw her reasoning in it.
It seemed that apathy had gotten the best of Fighter and that she was beginning to lose all hope even if she wouldn't admit it to anyone else or even herself. "That's why the Princess and Maker are working on the field." Healer wasn't about to let her attitude get to her too.
"We're just delaying the inevitable." Fighter huffed.
"What do you want us to do?" Healer slammed down her cup into its saucer. "Until they show themselves we have no idea how to stop them."
The Princess entered the room followed by Maker. Fighter and Healer rose and bowed to their Princess. "It has been successful. Our force field is up. There are actually two different fields." Maker explained the nature of the two fields to the other two Starlights as they were seated. "There is one field around the palace to protect us and the Princess. As far as we can tell, no one has been infiltrated so far on the grounds. The second shield is around the entire planet."
"What do we need a shield around the planet for? They're already here!" Fighter questioned, seeing no point in wasting what little energy they had.
"It is so that they can not call for reinforcements. We will not have to take on outside invaders that they may have tried to summon." Kakyuu sat up straighter in her chair as she addressed Fighter's question. "Don't do anything foolish." She warned Fighter.
Fighter rose to her feet. "Are we just going to sit here and wait for our fate?" Before anyone could say anything in response she turned and stormed out of the room.
"She's letting her emotions get the better of her I'm afraid." Maker commented as she turned Healer's now cracked teacup.
The Princess nodded and Healer took back her cup. "She was always passionate about her duties, but now something has snapped in her." She leaned closer to her two companions. "Do you think that blast she received that one day alone has effected her?"
Maker shook her head almost in unison with Kakyuu. "No."
"I know. I was just hoping that it wasn't because of her heart." Healer turned her attention to the doors that Fighter had exited through.
"This is great, just like old times!" Minako commented before shoveling more of her sundae in her already full mouth.
The girls were seated at a corner booth in Crown. They hadn't been there all together in a while. Rei had decided after spending the previous day with Usagi that this was just what she needed.
The warm rays of sunlight penetrated the large window to rest on Usagi's features. She had to admit, they did feel good. The girls had planned to go shopping and then hit the arcade.
Their bags were scattered on the floor around them as their shopping adventure had proven to be quite a success.
Usagi could see the sun setting and beginning to hide behind the mountains in the distance. While looking out the window she noticed two familiar figures approaching the café they were in. 'I wonder what they're doing here?'
"Haruka. Michiru!" Minako wailed. There was just no keeping her quiet today. Everyone else waved and welcomed them over.
"Hey!" Haruka waved and noticed Usagi in the corner. "What's up Kitten?" She winked. Michiru waved a delicate and graceful hello as usual.
"Aren't you going to join us?" Makoto asked, as she got ready to scootch in.
"No, actually we were just passing by and noticed you guys in the window." Haruka pointed to the streets below.
"Hey, do you guys mind if I skip the arcade? I wanted to talk to Michiru about something." Rei asked as she already had begun collecting her things before she received answer.
A rescue effort was made to collect the citizens that weren't infected with the plague that had spread throughout the city. Citizens were rounded up by the hundreds and lead into the palace's safety. Neither the Princess nor her three royal senshi guards were involved in this process.
Maker and the Princess were still monitoring the shields. Since they had no idea if they were actually effective or not, they watched them closely to find any sign of faulter. "Anything yet?" Healer appeared in the doorway to the war room.
Maker looked up quickly to acknowledge her. "No." She continued her work at the control panel in front of her.
The Princess turned around and addressed Healer since she was sure she would want some sort of an explanation. "We can't tell the effectiveness of our shields yet. Since the dark forces have not tried to penetrate them we have no idea of what tactics or maneuvers they might use."
"Well maybe we should stir them up a bit." Fighter came up behind Healer in the doorway.
"What??!!" Healer spun around with a look of utter disbelief on her face. "Why would you want to do that? What if our shields aren't strong enough, we'd just be shaking a hornet's nest and letting it loose on ourselves!" The anger rose in Healer and could now be seen in the flushness of her face.
Fighter just looked at her. No emotion could be made out from her expressionless face. Kakyuu stepped between them. She had noticed the tensions that had been growing between the two the past couple of days and knew that they would no longer stop on their own. "Please, let Maker and I handle this."
The two looked at each other sternly and abhorrence could be seen being passed in their glances. Their stand off however is interrupted by Maker's cry of disbelief. "Impossible."
Kakyuu leaves the quarrelling senshi's side to see what had caused Maker to react this way. She begins to let her eyes wander over the control panels and scanning the monitor. A gasp escapes her lips when she realizes what Maker was concerned about.
The petty argument between Healer and Fighter ceased as they joined the two already at the system's monitor. "What's going on?" Fighter asked.
"Have they penetrated our shields already?" Healer struggled to find what they were looking at. "Are they in?"
Maker shook her head. "They didn't break into our field, they broke out." She picked her arm up to point at one monitor in particular and trace a blinking dot. "They broke out of our planetary shield. That shield wasn't designed to keep them in, but out. They needed to use little force to do so. Now they are heading out into space to God only knows where."
"Do you think they're going to bring back reinforcements?" Fighter put her fist down as the anger rose in her once again.
"If they do bring back reinforcements the shield should be able to keep them out, right?" Healer had doubt in her voice as she seemed to ask the Princess.
"I don't know." She shook her head in response.
"I'll keep a track on them and find out where they are headed." Maker said before turning back to her work.
The car sped along the coastline as Rei tried to keep her hair down and under control as the wind thrashed it about. She could smell the salt in the air and felt a slight mist of the ocean caress her face. This was relaxing despite the fierce wind. Haruka was driving as Michiru turned around to make sure that Rei was comfortable.
The ride to their house had been silent as any word that they may have tried to speak would have just been lost in the wind. When they got out of the car they noticed Hotaru running out of the house followed by her nanny. Now that Setsuna wasn't allowed on Earth Haruka and Michiru had to hire a nanny to watch Hotaru.
Sailor Pluto had broken too many rules and was not allowed to return to Earth of their present time. Cronos had commanded her to stay guard at the gates of time until the time of Crystal Tokyo came to be.
"Rei, you finally came!" Hotaru ran up to the raven-haired girl.
Rei was confused. "You were expecting me?" She looked over at Haruka and Michiru for a bit of help. They just nodded and headed into the house as Hotaru and Rei followed.
"We couldn't say what we needed to discuss with you in front of the nanny." Hotaru explained as they took their shoes off. "You've been getting the visions too, ne?" She struggled with her left shoe.
Rei helped the small girl in removing her shoe while shaking her head. "I should have known that I wasn't alone. I wanted to ask Michiru is she had seen anything in her mirror." The two girls got up and walked into the living room where Haruka and Michiru were waiting.
"Have you told the others?" Haruka asked assuming that Hotaru and Rei were already talking about this.
Rei shook her head. "No, I wanted to see what you knew, I didn't want to disturb their time of peace over a nightmare."
"It's not a nightmare." Michiru explained. "Something is coming and it wants us dead." She pulled her mirror out from her bag beside her. "I can't see anything in my mirror but Hotaru has had visions of our destruction and gone into her trance like state describing our deaths."
Rei looked at Hotaru in shock. She still couldn't comprehend how such a small and innocent child could sense such horrible visions. Rei had similar visions and read the same in the holy fires. "I couldn't get any answers either. I could only see our corpses lying around, it looked like we were sleeping."
"Don't tell the others, we'll fight this alone. There is no need to interrupt them." Haruka said flatly. "We will however keep YOU informed, but only you."
Rei nodded her head and was glad that Haruka and Michiru finally respected her enough to trust her with their confidence.
The day was coming to an end and the sun began to set. Fighter had doubts that it would ever rise again as she watched it disappear. The Princess walked up behind her and touched her on her shoulder. "Fighter?"
Fighter turned and faced her Princess. She looked behind her and saw that they were alone. Kakyuu took Fighter's hands in her own as she watched Fighter's confused expression. "Maker has found a pattern to the flight of the escaped souls."
"What is that supposed to me?" Fighter didn't want to read into anything and wished that her Princess would just say what she meant.
"They are heading towards Earth. There's no doubt about it and there's no way to stop them." Kakyuu didn't want to see Fighter's reaction to this news but couldn't stop herself from looking at her wide eyes.
The infested city lay rotting away slowly outside. The day seemed to drag on as death drew nearer to their door. "The only thing that everyone shares." Fighter said mainly to herself as she thought out loud.
Fighter and Healer were sitting in the drawing room awaiting the Princess and Maker. Healer took a sip of her tea as she joined Fighter in staring out the window. "What are you talking about?"
Fighter didn't move to acknowledge Healer's comment. "The one thing that every person must face in life, death. We're all going to die some day. I just don't want to be out on the street and be picked off by some soul hungry demon out for revenge." Her comment was cold, but Healer agreed and saw her reasoning in it.
It seemed that apathy had gotten the best of Fighter and that she was beginning to lose all hope even if she wouldn't admit it to anyone else or even herself. "That's why the Princess and Maker are working on the field." Healer wasn't about to let her attitude get to her too.
"We're just delaying the inevitable." Fighter huffed.
"What do you want us to do?" Healer slammed down her cup into its saucer. "Until they show themselves we have no idea how to stop them."
The Princess entered the room followed by Maker. Fighter and Healer rose and bowed to their Princess. "It has been successful. Our force field is up. There are actually two different fields." Maker explained the nature of the two fields to the other two Starlights as they were seated. "There is one field around the palace to protect us and the Princess. As far as we can tell, no one has been infiltrated so far on the grounds. The second shield is around the entire planet."
"What do we need a shield around the planet for? They're already here!" Fighter questioned, seeing no point in wasting what little energy they had.
"It is so that they can not call for reinforcements. We will not have to take on outside invaders that they may have tried to summon." Kakyuu sat up straighter in her chair as she addressed Fighter's question. "Don't do anything foolish." She warned Fighter.
Fighter rose to her feet. "Are we just going to sit here and wait for our fate?" Before anyone could say anything in response she turned and stormed out of the room.
"She's letting her emotions get the better of her I'm afraid." Maker commented as she turned Healer's now cracked teacup.
The Princess nodded and Healer took back her cup. "She was always passionate about her duties, but now something has snapped in her." She leaned closer to her two companions. "Do you think that blast she received that one day alone has effected her?"
Maker shook her head almost in unison with Kakyuu. "No."
"I know. I was just hoping that it wasn't because of her heart." Healer turned her attention to the doors that Fighter had exited through.
"This is great, just like old times!" Minako commented before shoveling more of her sundae in her already full mouth.
The girls were seated at a corner booth in Crown. They hadn't been there all together in a while. Rei had decided after spending the previous day with Usagi that this was just what she needed.
The warm rays of sunlight penetrated the large window to rest on Usagi's features. She had to admit, they did feel good. The girls had planned to go shopping and then hit the arcade.
Their bags were scattered on the floor around them as their shopping adventure had proven to be quite a success.
Usagi could see the sun setting and beginning to hide behind the mountains in the distance. While looking out the window she noticed two familiar figures approaching the café they were in. 'I wonder what they're doing here?'
"Haruka. Michiru!" Minako wailed. There was just no keeping her quiet today. Everyone else waved and welcomed them over.
"Hey!" Haruka waved and noticed Usagi in the corner. "What's up Kitten?" She winked. Michiru waved a delicate and graceful hello as usual.
"Aren't you going to join us?" Makoto asked, as she got ready to scootch in.
"No, actually we were just passing by and noticed you guys in the window." Haruka pointed to the streets below.
"Hey, do you guys mind if I skip the arcade? I wanted to talk to Michiru about something." Rei asked as she already had begun collecting her things before she received answer.
A rescue effort was made to collect the citizens that weren't infected with the plague that had spread throughout the city. Citizens were rounded up by the hundreds and lead into the palace's safety. Neither the Princess nor her three royal senshi guards were involved in this process.
Maker and the Princess were still monitoring the shields. Since they had no idea if they were actually effective or not, they watched them closely to find any sign of faulter. "Anything yet?" Healer appeared in the doorway to the war room.
Maker looked up quickly to acknowledge her. "No." She continued her work at the control panel in front of her.
The Princess turned around and addressed Healer since she was sure she would want some sort of an explanation. "We can't tell the effectiveness of our shields yet. Since the dark forces have not tried to penetrate them we have no idea of what tactics or maneuvers they might use."
"Well maybe we should stir them up a bit." Fighter came up behind Healer in the doorway.
"What??!!" Healer spun around with a look of utter disbelief on her face. "Why would you want to do that? What if our shields aren't strong enough, we'd just be shaking a hornet's nest and letting it loose on ourselves!" The anger rose in Healer and could now be seen in the flushness of her face.
Fighter just looked at her. No emotion could be made out from her expressionless face. Kakyuu stepped between them. She had noticed the tensions that had been growing between the two the past couple of days and knew that they would no longer stop on their own. "Please, let Maker and I handle this."
The two looked at each other sternly and abhorrence could be seen being passed in their glances. Their stand off however is interrupted by Maker's cry of disbelief. "Impossible."
Kakyuu leaves the quarrelling senshi's side to see what had caused Maker to react this way. She begins to let her eyes wander over the control panels and scanning the monitor. A gasp escapes her lips when she realizes what Maker was concerned about.
The petty argument between Healer and Fighter ceased as they joined the two already at the system's monitor. "What's going on?" Fighter asked.
"Have they penetrated our shields already?" Healer struggled to find what they were looking at. "Are they in?"
Maker shook her head. "They didn't break into our field, they broke out." She picked her arm up to point at one monitor in particular and trace a blinking dot. "They broke out of our planetary shield. That shield wasn't designed to keep them in, but out. They needed to use little force to do so. Now they are heading out into space to God only knows where."
"Do you think they're going to bring back reinforcements?" Fighter put her fist down as the anger rose in her once again.
"If they do bring back reinforcements the shield should be able to keep them out, right?" Healer had doubt in her voice as she seemed to ask the Princess.
"I don't know." She shook her head in response.
"I'll keep a track on them and find out where they are headed." Maker said before turning back to her work.
The car sped along the coastline as Rei tried to keep her hair down and under control as the wind thrashed it about. She could smell the salt in the air and felt a slight mist of the ocean caress her face. This was relaxing despite the fierce wind. Haruka was driving as Michiru turned around to make sure that Rei was comfortable.
The ride to their house had been silent as any word that they may have tried to speak would have just been lost in the wind. When they got out of the car they noticed Hotaru running out of the house followed by her nanny. Now that Setsuna wasn't allowed on Earth Haruka and Michiru had to hire a nanny to watch Hotaru.
Sailor Pluto had broken too many rules and was not allowed to return to Earth of their present time. Cronos had commanded her to stay guard at the gates of time until the time of Crystal Tokyo came to be.
"Rei, you finally came!" Hotaru ran up to the raven-haired girl.
Rei was confused. "You were expecting me?" She looked over at Haruka and Michiru for a bit of help. They just nodded and headed into the house as Hotaru and Rei followed.
"We couldn't say what we needed to discuss with you in front of the nanny." Hotaru explained as they took their shoes off. "You've been getting the visions too, ne?" She struggled with her left shoe.
Rei helped the small girl in removing her shoe while shaking her head. "I should have known that I wasn't alone. I wanted to ask Michiru is she had seen anything in her mirror." The two girls got up and walked into the living room where Haruka and Michiru were waiting.
"Have you told the others?" Haruka asked assuming that Hotaru and Rei were already talking about this.
Rei shook her head. "No, I wanted to see what you knew, I didn't want to disturb their time of peace over a nightmare."
"It's not a nightmare." Michiru explained. "Something is coming and it wants us dead." She pulled her mirror out from her bag beside her. "I can't see anything in my mirror but Hotaru has had visions of our destruction and gone into her trance like state describing our deaths."
Rei looked at Hotaru in shock. She still couldn't comprehend how such a small and innocent child could sense such horrible visions. Rei had similar visions and read the same in the holy fires. "I couldn't get any answers either. I could only see our corpses lying around, it looked like we were sleeping."
"Don't tell the others, we'll fight this alone. There is no need to interrupt them." Haruka said flatly. "We will however keep YOU informed, but only you."
Rei nodded her head and was glad that Haruka and Michiru finally respected her enough to trust her with their confidence.
The day was coming to an end and the sun began to set. Fighter had doubts that it would ever rise again as she watched it disappear. The Princess walked up behind her and touched her on her shoulder. "Fighter?"
Fighter turned and faced her Princess. She looked behind her and saw that they were alone. Kakyuu took Fighter's hands in her own as she watched Fighter's confused expression. "Maker has found a pattern to the flight of the escaped souls."
"What is that supposed to me?" Fighter didn't want to read into anything and wished that her Princess would just say what she meant.
"They are heading towards Earth. There's no doubt about it and there's no way to stop them." Kakyuu didn't want to see Fighter's reaction to this news but couldn't stop herself from looking at her wide eyes.
