Chapter Eight
"It's
my fault! I shouldn't have left her." Raye sobbed into Chad's shoulder. Gloria
walked over and put her hands on Raye's. The black haired priestess looked at
her.
"I'm
sorry, Aunt Raye. I tried to save her, please believe me."
Raye
nodded. "I know you did, Gloria and I thank you for that."
Gloria
felt her mother's hands place on her shoulders. She nodded and walked away
without being asked. The other Chibi Scouts were devastated, only Faith and
Daisy weren't crying or didn't have wet eyes. Rini tried to be strong but she
felt terrible. She was supposed to protect people and she couldn't protect a
member of her own team.
Gloria
hadn't told anyone that she was Senshi of Loyalty. They believed Annika was.
Raye
growled, "If they harm one hair on Annika's head then I swear I'll hunt them
through time and space. I don't care if their leader's the King of Hell they'll
regret this!"
Serenity
walked over to her friend and wrapped her arms around her. Raye hugged her best
friend close, crying.
Amy
finally broke the silence by saying, "Ariel, time for bed. We can't think
without sleep."
"But
Mommy," Ariel protested, "I was hoping I could find Annika with my mini
computer."
Rini
walked over. "Ariel, why don't you give it to me? I'll try to see what I can
find."
Ariel
looked at her mother for permission. Amy nodded and her daughter handed the
small compact case to her leader. That done, she left and went with Greg back
to their quarters.
The
rest gradually went off to bed as well, except Rini. She went to her room and
started typing furiously at Ariel's computer.
Nothing.
"Damn
it, give me something."
This
continued long into the night. Finally Diana got up and leapt over to Rini's
desk. Yawning, she said,
"Small
Lady, it's two in the morning. You need to sleep."
"Can't."
Rini protested. "I lost a member of my team. I have to find her."
"Rini,
even Raye's asleep."
"Only
because Amy pumped her with a sedative that'll knock her into next week."
Diana
sighed, "Maybe she should have stuck you with a needle too."
Rini
kept typing until finally her cat jumped from her desk and trotted out the
door. A few minutes later, her door reopened and someone closed the computer.
Rini turned.
Her
mother smiled at her.
"Rini,
baby, I know you want to find Annika. We all do. But you'll never be able to do
anything if you don't get some sleep."
"I
can't sleep Mom. I.. I should have been there."
"You
weren't Rini. It wasn't your fault, or Gloria's or Raye's. When something like
this happens, we look for someone to blame. You, Raye and Gloria are blaming
yourselves."
Rini
looked at her mother. It was hard to believe that she was the same woman who
had been the clumsy Serena in the twentieth century. Neo-Queen Serenity sat
down by her only child and hugged her.
"We'll
find her. I promise. But you need to sleep."
Rini
sighed and leaned against her mother.
"Momma?"
The
queen glanced at Rini. Rini looked at her, tears in her eyes, which she had
hidden in front of the younger girls.
"I
miss her already, Momma."
The
queen looked at her daughter with sympathy and opened her arms, "Oh baby."
Rini
fell into her mother's arms and she cried.
*
* *
Gloria's
dreams were haunted by Annika's face when the youma took her.
She
screamed in her sleep,
"I
thought I was a senshi…but I still failed."
She
saw Annika's tear stained cheeks; her fear filled eyes flooded her memory.
"My
job is to protect but I couldn't save my best friend."
Gloria
saw more now, that scream when Annika fell through the ice.
Her
heart squeezed at the memory. She would never stop wishing she could reverse
that.
And
she had run, that made it even more painful, more guilt rising.
Memory
of her best friend's howl when Ms. Ito had stuck her in that dark closet.
Her
inability to do anything stung her harder than anything else.
Now
as she dreamed, she saw her home planet, Venus. Annika's face swirled into
view, her violet colored hair flowing into her same colored eyes. She said in a
strange tongue that Gloria oddly could understand,
"Venus,
the answers lie on Venus, Sailor Chibi Venus."
Then,
a dark woman grabbed Annika and she let out an ear-piercing scream and faded
away.
Blood
spilled.
Gloria
screamed and sat up, heart pounding. Thankfully, Artemis had spent the night
with her parents. Her scream had not been loud. She felt her hand touch
something soft. It was the stuffed Artemis that Annika had given her. She held
it close to her heart.
Suddenly,
she threw the cat down and hissed in a voice so cold it could have frozen
Raye's fire,
"Lady
Phobia, whoever the hell you are, you're going down."
She
looked up,
"Annika,
I failed you with the ice, I failed you when you fell, I failed you with Ms.
Ito. I won't fail you this time."
She
grabbed her henshin pen and left her chamber, determination burning in her
bright blue eyes.
