Another chapter ready to read. I can't wait to get started on my next story. Quick summary of what it'll be about - an error in the time stream causes Rini to disappear. Will Serena be strong enough to save her? I know that it sounds kinda boring, but it'll be good. I hope. I'll start writing it when this one is done.
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Serena sighed again and leaned back on the coach. But before she had time to really think about what was happening, a pink could appeared above her. A single letter dropped out of it onto her lap. At the same time, she could her Rini's cry of "Diana!" 'Diana must have come to." She thought, and opened her letter. Serena could hear Sammy running down the stairs to tell her parents that Rini had gotten the letter. She nodded to Luna, and Luna ran into the kitchen to tell her parents that Serena would come soon. Serena opened the letter and began to read.
Dear Serena (it read),
First, don't let Rini see this. She would be upset that we are writing to you separately. Don't worry though; she is getting a letter as well. And I hope you don't mind, but we have sent Diana along as well. Endymion and I thought that it would help Rini to have her guardian with her. I hope that she isn't much trouble.
I know that you must be scared. Everyone finding out the secret defiantly wasn't a good thing. But, unfortunately, this *is* how it happened. Sometimes, I wish that maybe I could go back and stop the secret from being revealed, but I know that that would destroy the fragile timeline, and no one wants that. Still, don't panic, too much. Just be cautious. And you girls might want to lie low for a few days.
The most important thing right now is to be a real leader. I know that you have to face a *lot* right now, but I know that you can do this. The other girls will have to turn to you for advice, and so will Rini. As I've told her, now is when she needs to listen to you the most. If I know Rini, she would have tried to carry all her problems herself. But now she will ask you for help, and I know that this will bring you closer. Just remember Serena – Luna, Darien, and your parents are always there for you to talk to. Don't you dare try to carry this by yourself. It will destroy you. Talk to them, they will listen and understand. Trust me, I was there.
I understand why you wanted to send Rini home. Heck, I did too. But she will be all right, as long as you are there for her. Just make sure that she doesn't go *anywhere* by herself. In fact, none of you girls should be alone, at any time. Go everywhere in pairs. And I know that you already know this, but I want to make sure. I know that you understand.
I know that this probably hasn't been the most cheery letter, but I hoped that it has helped calm you down. Look on the bright side, now you don't have to sneak around, trying to make sure that know one finds out. You got to admit, that's an upside.
Oh, don't pressure Rini to show you the letter we sent her. She probably doesn't want to tell you that she has to listen to whatever you say, and that you are now the boss of her. Also, we gave her a bit of a report of what is happening here, and we can't let you know that.
Still, be brave Serena. You can get through this. And, eventually, this whole incident will just become one of those stories that everybody laughs at when you tell it.
Best of luck,
Serenity and Endymion
Serena sighed after finishing the letter. Surprisingly, it had said everything that she wanted to her. she needed a huge bit of motivation right now, and that's what the letter had done. But she didn't have much time to think about what the letter had said. Rini's footsteps could be heard, running down the stairs.
"Serena!" Rini called from the kitchen. Serena quickly took the letter and put it in her sub-space pocket. "I got the letter from Mommy and Daddy."
"Okay, Rini." Serena yelled back. She got off the couch and headed towards the kitchen. "What did it say?"
"Everything is happening exactly how it's supposed to. So we didn't totally mess up the timeline." Rini said happily. Serena could easily tell that the smile on her face was masking all the little girl's fear. But, she decided to wait until later to talk to Rini.
"Okay, well, I talked to the girls. Amy is going to Mina's and Lita is going to Raye's. It's best for us to pair up right now. I call them later to tell them that everything is okay. in the meantime, how is everything outside. Do we need crowd control?" Serena fake-chuckled at her last sentence. Everyone else did the same.
"Ok, well, there all a *lot* of people outside. And I mean a *lot*." Sammy said, deciding to speak up. He had been way to silent today, and he wanted to be able to supply information about *something*. "I think our door will hold though. And anyway, worse comes to worse, if they do knock down the door, they will have to deal with at least two very angry Sailor Scouts."
"That's right Sammy," Luna said. "But right now, I want you two girls upstairs. I've seen your grades; we have to fix them. You're going to have the media on you two all the time. We don't want to give them any more ammunition then they already have. So upstairs now, both you." With that, Luna went upstairs, leaving two very shocked girls behind. Sammy doubled over laughing at what Luna meant Serena and Rini would have to do. They had one day to complete all the material they were behind on. Even Ikuko and Kenji were chuckling at how hard Luna was going to be making Serena work. Diana, on the other hand, still wasn't totally sure what was going on. But she just ran after Luna up the stairs.
"Now, you two." Luna yelled from the top of the stairs.
'Oh, boy,' Serena and Rini thought simultaneously. 'This is going to be a long day.'
***
Serena and Rini walked incredibly slowly up the stairs. Neither were looking forward to having to catch up on their schoolwork. The entered Serena's room with quite a bit of reluctance. Luna and Diana were already seated on the bed. The girls grabbed their backpacks at sat at the table in Serena's room.
"Okay," Luna said. "Rini, your biggest weakness in school is English, right?"
Rini nodded. "Math too" she said.
"Okay, we can work on those the most. Now Serena, your biggest weaknesses are math and English as well, right?"
"Right Luna."
"Good, this will make it a lot easier. You can both help each other. Now, we can start with math. It's probably more important right now."
'Luna is never going to change.' Serena and Rini both thought. Both still had strong memories of Luna as their teacher. In the Silver Millennium for Serena, and in Crystal Tokyo for Rini. Both took out their math books and settled down to work.
*****
'Thank god our sub-space pockets have an infinity of space.' Lita thought to herself. She had decided that the quickest and safest way to get to Raye's was to put all the stuff that she was bringing into her sub-space pocket. Luckily, she couldn't feel the weight of all the stuff. She had packed up almost all her cookware, a lot of clothes, her school things, and any special items that she didn't want to lose. 'I guess I should get going.' She thought, rather reluctantly. She didn't want to have to leave, but at least the apartment was still hers, and it would be here when she got back.
'Come on, Jup' She thought to herself. 'You have to go.' Lita walked over to the front door and locked it, then headed towards the balcony. She took in a deep breath and transformed. It didn't take a genius to tell that just walking to the temple would be a dumb idea. Right up there with telling everyone about the Silver Millennium and notifying the newspapers that there's a way to travel through time. She silently climbed onto the fire escape and roof-hoped all the way to Raye's.
Lita arrived at the temple after about 10 minutes of jumping from rooftop to rooftop. She hid in one of the trees when she saw that quite a few people and reporters were already gathered around the entrance. 'Better go through the back door.' She thought to herself. She silently jumped over to the next tree, and continued that pattern until she reached the door leading to Raye's room.
"Raye," Lita called softly, detransforming. "Are you there?"
"Lita!" Raye cried, almost shouting. She pulled her inside, locking the door again. "Good, you're *finally* here. I was worried that the reporters might have caught you. I had Chad bring another bed in here. Oh, Grandpa is fine with you staying here. Didn't you bring any of your stuff?"
"Raye," Lita said, beginning to smile. "Slow down. I brought all my stuff, and found a better use for our sub-space pockets." Lita was about to laugh when she saw the expression on Raye's face – totally confusion. She decided to show her what she meant. Lita reached into her sub-space pocket and began summoning her items. By the time she was done, clothes and other things surrounded Lita. She had left the cookware in the pocket; they would just take up space right now. She started grabbing items to put them away. Raye was still a little shocked. She hadn't even thought of doing that before. 'Now I can hide my comics from Serena.' She thought with a smile. Then Raye realized that she should be helping Lita out. She bent down and grabbed some clothes and began putting them away.
"Raye," Lita said as she sat on her bed. They had finished putting away all here stuff. Raye looked up from her where she was lying on her bed.
"Yes?"
"Have you…have you talked to your…father yet?" Lita hesitated a bit. She knew that Raye and her father didn't really have a…*healthy* relationship. From what Lita knew, he had abandoned her at the temple after her mother had died because he, in some weird, twisted way, had thought that her mother dying was Raye's fault. And since he was such a workaholic, Raye had only talked to him a few times since he abandoned her. Which, as she often stated, was fine with her.
"Of course I haven't talked to him." She stated, rather harshly. Lita chose to ignore it; she was used to Raye using that tone when she was talking about her father. "Why would I? Just because my face is on nearly every TV screen in the world is no reason to talk to him. If I had done that by just becoming famous we wouldn't talk, so why should we talk just because my biggest secret is out there. And anyway, he'll probably want to *save* his *reputation*. *He's* the one who abandoned Sailor Mars, the soldier of fire."
"Raye, calm down!" Lita said, almost shouting. By now Raye had left her bed and was pacing in her room, nearly screaming. Lita jumped off her bed and ran over to where Raye was. She sat Raye onto her bed, and Lita sat down beside her, trying to calm her down. "Raye, it's okay. Just write him a letter, okay? You don't have to actually talk to him. Just, tell him that you're a scout and then to leave you alone. Okay?" Lita stopped talking. She had never seen Raye this…*upset* when she talked about her father.
"Okay." Raye said, calming down. "I'll write him a letter, and clearly state that our relationship has changed, and I still don't want to talk to him. I can deal with that. In the meantime, we should call Meatball Head. She probably got the letter all ready and forgot to call us. That's *so* like her."
Raye jumped off her bed and ran to where she had put her communicator. Lita smiled. 'It's good to see Raye back to normal,' she thought.
*****
"Mom, are you *sure* that you'll be okay with me gone?" Amy asked, for probably the tenth time since she told her mother that she was going to be staying at Mina's until this thing cooled down.
"Yes honey, I'll be fine. And this works out really well actually. I'm going to be working at the hospital most of this week, and I wouldn't want you home by yourself right now. I'm sure that you'll have at Mina's, right?" Amy's mother smiled at her girl, trying her best to stop worrying about her. She didn't want to tell Amy that she was terrified about what might happen over the next few weeks, although see figured that Amy was probably just as scared. Right now they were in the process of moving most of Amy's things into the car. Luckily, the car was in the garage, so the didn't have to fight through all the reporters and fans. Most of Amy's things that were too important to put in the boxes were put in what Amy called a 'sub-space pocket'. They were things like her lab top, pictures, schoolbooks, clothes, and other various important things that Amy didn't want to lose. The result was very few boxes, which was what Amy had planned on.
"Is that the last of them?" her mother asked.
"Yes, I think so." Amy responded.
"Okay then I guess…we should get going." Amy's mother headed towards the driver's side door of the car and got in. Amy followed suit and climbed into the passenger side.
They were both silent until they got on the road. Amy was the first to speak.
"Mom?" She said.
"Yes, hon."
"Umm, what are we going to do about Dad?" Amy was a little reluctant to ask this. She knew that her parents weren't exactly on the best of terms since the divorce.
"I'll…talk to him." Her mother managed to say. She wasn't really happy about having to talk to her ex, but if it meant being able to lighten Amy's load of worries, she would do it.
"Thanks Mom." Amy said, smiling at her mother.
Her mother smiled back. It was nice to see Amy a bit happier. These next few days would be exceptionally hard for her.
"We're here." Her mother announced a few minutes later, trying to sound happier then she actually was.
Amy looked up from her lap. She hadn't even noticed that they were anywhere near Mina's street until her Mom announced that they were there. It took Amy a few seconds to realize that they were in the alley behind Mina's house. 'Good plan Mom.' Amy thought. Now she could be dropped off a lot easier.
A movement to the left caught Amy's eye. It only took her a second to figure out whom it was. "Mina!" Amy called quietly.
"Hey Ames!" Mina answered back. She walked over to the trunk of the car to help unload Amy's stuff. "My parents are totally okay with you coming. We're gonna have the best time ever!"
'Same old Mina,' Amy thought to herself. 'she can be bubbly even in a crisis.' She laughed quietly.
"Ames. Ames. Amy!" Mina was trying to be as quiet as possible, but it was hard to get Amy's attention like that.
"Huh. What?" Amy responded.
"Where's all your stuff? There's only a few boxes here. And I don't see your lab. Don't tell me you left it?!"
"No, I didn't leave it." Amy said, carrying one of the boxes towards the house. Mina was right behind her, carrying another. her mother followed them after locking the car. "I just found a new use for our subspace pockets."
It took Mina a few minutes to figure out what Amy had said. She had never thought that *Amy* would use her sub-space pocket for something other then Sailor stuff. Every time Mina had done that, Artemis had yelled at her. 'Oh well.' She thought. 'If Amy did it, then it must be okay right now. I guess that this *does* count as an exception cause this *is* an emergency.'
"Hello Amy. Hello Dr. Anderson." Mina's mother called from the back door. Her parents had come out to great Amy and her mother. Both Amy and Dr. Mizuno responded with a 'Hello.'
"It actually Dr. Mizuno." Amy's mother said, cheerfully. "My ex-husband was Mr. Anderson, and after the divorce, I went back to my maiden name."
"Come on Amy, let's take this stuff up to the guest room." Mina said. She figured that her parents and Amy's mother would want some time to themselves, probably to talk about what has happened. Mina headed up the stairs to the room next to hers. "Here we are!" she announced cheerfully.
"Great." Amy said. She was still a little worried, but decided that if Mina could fake *that* much cheerfulness (she saw it in her eyes. Pure fear.), then she could at least try to sound normal. "Well, I guess we should start putting things away. Where's Artemis?"
"Right here Amy." He announced, walking into the room. "Gad to see that you got here without any problems.
"Good. Well Ames, I guess we should start unpacking. I'll put away the clothes, k?"
"Alright. I'll empty out my pocket." Amy started pulling out all the items in her sub space pocket, except for the Scout items. Despite the fact that the girls usually regarded Amy as being incredibly neat, Amy decided that for once she would be messy. So, by the time she was done, the floor and the bed were covered with clothes, books, and all the other things that Amy had brought. Except for her lab top. She didn't want it to get hurt. She decided to leave it in her sub space pocket until everything else had been put away.
Mina set to work right away on the clothes. she decided to let Amy handle the books, those were more her thing anyway. Artemis stuck around long enough for Mina to drop a pile of clothes on his head. It was then that he decided that the best, and safest, place for him would be downstairs with Mina's parents and Amy's mother.
They were just finishing putting everything away when Amy's mother appeared in the doorway of the room. "Amy, hon." She said. Amy got up from where she was on the floor and abandoned the boxes that she had been folding up.
"Yes, Mom." Amy said, she knew what her mother was going to say.
"Amy, I *should* get going. Is that okay?"
"Yes, I guess you should get going." Amy tried to sound cheerful, but her mother and Mina could both see that it was drop-dead fake. Amy's mother crossed the room and gave Amy a hug. Amy managed to hide the tears of fear that were running down her face. She knew that she would have to be brave right now, because this was nothing compared to what she would face from the press.
Amy and her mother walked downstairs together. Mina was going to follow them, but she decided to go into the kitchen to talk with her parents again.
"Bye Mom." Amy said when they reached the door. She could feel the tears pooling in her eyes again.
"Bye Amy. I love you." Her mother had tears pooling in her eyes too. She drew Amy into a hug.
They stood like that for a few minutes, neither wanting to break it. "I love you too." Amy said, quiet enough that only her and her mother could hear.
"Bye honey," her mother said, tears now running down her cheeks.
"Bye." Amy said back. She didn't even care that she was crying now. For once, she didn't want to have to be the responsible and rational one. She just wanted to collapse and cry because their carefully created weaved web of secrets was coming unraveled. Now, because of the fact that they weren't safe anymore, she couldn't even be with her Mom.
They broke from their hug, and Amy watched as her mother walked to her car.
"It'll be okay." Mina said, coming up behind Amy. Amy nodded her head as she watched her mother drive her car away. Her mother waved to her from the car, and Amy waved back before going inside.
"Aw, cheer up Ames." Mina said, trying to sound as happy as possible. "It's not like you'll never see her again. Just think of this as a very long slumber party. Or like your Mom is going away for a week. You're with me, Mina. I'm gonna make sure that you have the best time ever!"
"Okay, Mina." Amy said, putting on one of those I-don't-really-want-to-be-here-but-I-will-do-my-best-to-pretend-I-am-having-fun smiles. "Come on," she said, walking up the stairs. "Let's call Serena. We can see of she got the letter yet."
"K." Mina said, "I'll get us some popcorn. Met you in your room."
"Okay," Amy said, and they spilt up in different directions.
'I'm glad Amy is feeling better.' Mina thought to herself as she took out the popcorn.
*****
"Serena" Luna said, sounding like she had crossed the irritation line a *long* time ago. "You should be able to do this problem. It's simple math for a sixteen year old. Just pay attention!"
"Huh?" Serena said, looking towards Luna. She had been staring outside, thinking about what her friends and Darien were doing.
Rini stifled a giggle. She had had Luna trying to teach her for the last hour, now she was at least going to get a break. And now Serena was going to get the standard lecture. One that Serena and Rini both knew by heart, although Rini's "standard lecture" was a bit different.
"Serena, it's your job as a princess to understand your future people." Serena was silently mouthing each word Luna said, perfectly in time. "To understand them, you need to know what they know. Therefore, you have to know what's in these books. And Crystal Tokyo won't be right there the second you finish school. You will need knowledge to build it, and the citizens won't support an unintelligent queen. And you will need to do *something* until that time comes. It could be years before the freeze. Don't think that we're going to let you just sit back and do nothing. You will need good grades in high school, because, like it or not, you are going to further your education and go to university, even if I have to drag you there every single day." Luna stopped for a breath. Rini was, at this point doing her best to stop from laughing out loud from watching Serena and Luna. "And don't think that you'll be able to just marry Darien and then you're all set. Even he's going to school to become a doctor, even though he won't need that as a King. Your friends also have plans, however ridiculous. Lita's going to be a chef, Amy a doctor, Mina a superstar, and Raye, a business women and priestess. So you should have a plan as well. And don't say that it's going to be being Sailor Moon. That cannot be what you plan to spend your life as; those powers are only for when the Negaverse attacks, and right now we're only getting strays. So, now Serena, I suggest you concentrate on that book and learn the material, because you aren't going to get anywhere without.
"Yes Luna." Serena said turning back to her math text. A beeping interrupted her "thinking" however.
"I'll get it." Rini said, grabbing her communicator before Serena could get hers. "Hello? Hey girls!"
"Rini?" Raye looked stunned for a moment. She had forgotten that Rini had a communicator too.
"Hi."
"Hey." Serena said, after getting her communicator. "Hey Ames. Hi Mina. Hey Lita. Hi Raye."
"Hey." They all answered back. Raye seemed a bit surprised that Amy and Mina were there, but Serena figured that it probably was just because they had joined last, and Raye wasn't expecting them.
"So Meatball Head," Raye said, "Have you gotten the letter from Crystal Tokyo yet?"
"Actually yes." She responded, careful not to mention that she and Rini each got one.
"Serena!" they all, except Rini, screamed at her. "You were supposed to call us when you got it!"
"Sorry," she said, kind of holding the communicator away from her. "Rini, why don't you tell them what it says."
"Okay," she said, smiling at Serena. "Well, basically this is what was supposed to happen. So we haven't done anything wrong. And I'm allowed to stay here, so I won't have to go home *just* yet."
"That's great Rini!" Mina said. "We would've missed you if you had left."
"Ya, totally!" Lita said, with as much enthusiasm as Mina.
"So, what have you two been doing?" Amy said, rather curious.
"Ohhh," groaned Serena and Rini at the exact same time. Luna took this opportunity to take control of Serena's communicator.
"Those two," Luna said, referring to Serena and Rini. "Have been catching up on their homework. Seriously, I didn't know that they were this behind. I've had to re-teach plenty of things. And Serena spends the entire time staring out the window. And you four girls should be working as well. Mina, I know that your grades aren't exactly perfect. Thankfully, you have Artemis and Amy to help. Lita, Raye, I'm afraid that neither Artemis nor I will be able to assist you, so you two will have to rely on each other for assistance."
The displeasure of three girls at the idea of spending Sunday doing homework was clearly heard. Amy seemed to be the only one who didn't mind.
"I think that this is a great idea Luna," Amy said. "You know that the reporters are going to try to find out our grades, so we should be improving them. We don't want people to think that the Sailor Scouts are lazy or stupid. This just means working a little bit harder."
"Ames," Lita said, "You're not helping."
"I side with Luna." Artemis said, after gaining control of Mina's communicator. "You girls have to bring up your grades quickly. All this work on a Sunday is technically your fault for not working harder earlier."
The girls all knew exactly what would happen the second that Artemis said those words, unfortunately Artemis wasn't quite prepared. The sound of Artemis's "Mina, that *hurt*!" could be heard just seconds after. Needless to say, Mina took control over her communicator after that.
"Okay, now for the media issue…" Mina began, not quite sure what else to say.
"I think that we should just lie-low." Serena spoke up. She decided that now was the time when she should take control as leader, and there was no sense in avoiding it. "We shouldn't be doing anything to draw attention to ourselves."
"I think that it's a little late for *that*, Meatball head." Raye said. The other girls all silently groaned, sensing the start of a never-ending argument.
"Raye…" Serena started, but the sounds coming from outside told her that she had no time for an argument. Therefore the best thing to do right now would be to ignore Raye's sarcastic comments.
"I'm guessing that school tomorrow probably wouldn't be a good idea, so I think that we should all stay home." Four cheers could be heard, as well as one groan of displeasure. "We'll have to talk about it in the morning. After all, our parents would have to agree as well."
"I think our parents have already put all decisions regarding this in our hands." Mina said, and the others agreed with her.
"I think that too, Mina" Serena said. "So at least that's taken care of. We can talk about it more in the morning. Otherwise, I think that we should all stay indoors and out of sight. Okay?"
"Alright." Raye responded, almost surprised at how leader-like Serena was sounding.
"Deal." Mina said, not at all happy about having to spend a day inside working on homework.
"Okay." Lita said, happy to support Serena's decision.
"Agreed." Amy replied, her cheerfulness masking her displeasure about missing school.
"Good," Serena said, happy that everyone had agreed to her plan. "Then why don't we start our work and will talk in the morning."
"Okay, bye." Said the four girls before there faces disappeared.
"Bye." Serena and Rini both said, and closed their communicators as well.
"Well," Luna said, speaking up. "I think that we should get started on our work now."
Groans could be heard from both the girls as they turned their attention back to their schoolwork.
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How's that for the chapter? Thanks a ton to all the people who have reviewed the story. Your reveiws are really helping:) I'll finish the story soon, then I gotta take a break. I'm spending most of my time writing this, and my grades are starting to reflect that:( Ohh well. Next chapter up soon.
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Serena sighed again and leaned back on the coach. But before she had time to really think about what was happening, a pink could appeared above her. A single letter dropped out of it onto her lap. At the same time, she could her Rini's cry of "Diana!" 'Diana must have come to." She thought, and opened her letter. Serena could hear Sammy running down the stairs to tell her parents that Rini had gotten the letter. She nodded to Luna, and Luna ran into the kitchen to tell her parents that Serena would come soon. Serena opened the letter and began to read.
Dear Serena (it read),
First, don't let Rini see this. She would be upset that we are writing to you separately. Don't worry though; she is getting a letter as well. And I hope you don't mind, but we have sent Diana along as well. Endymion and I thought that it would help Rini to have her guardian with her. I hope that she isn't much trouble.
I know that you must be scared. Everyone finding out the secret defiantly wasn't a good thing. But, unfortunately, this *is* how it happened. Sometimes, I wish that maybe I could go back and stop the secret from being revealed, but I know that that would destroy the fragile timeline, and no one wants that. Still, don't panic, too much. Just be cautious. And you girls might want to lie low for a few days.
The most important thing right now is to be a real leader. I know that you have to face a *lot* right now, but I know that you can do this. The other girls will have to turn to you for advice, and so will Rini. As I've told her, now is when she needs to listen to you the most. If I know Rini, she would have tried to carry all her problems herself. But now she will ask you for help, and I know that this will bring you closer. Just remember Serena – Luna, Darien, and your parents are always there for you to talk to. Don't you dare try to carry this by yourself. It will destroy you. Talk to them, they will listen and understand. Trust me, I was there.
I understand why you wanted to send Rini home. Heck, I did too. But she will be all right, as long as you are there for her. Just make sure that she doesn't go *anywhere* by herself. In fact, none of you girls should be alone, at any time. Go everywhere in pairs. And I know that you already know this, but I want to make sure. I know that you understand.
I know that this probably hasn't been the most cheery letter, but I hoped that it has helped calm you down. Look on the bright side, now you don't have to sneak around, trying to make sure that know one finds out. You got to admit, that's an upside.
Oh, don't pressure Rini to show you the letter we sent her. She probably doesn't want to tell you that she has to listen to whatever you say, and that you are now the boss of her. Also, we gave her a bit of a report of what is happening here, and we can't let you know that.
Still, be brave Serena. You can get through this. And, eventually, this whole incident will just become one of those stories that everybody laughs at when you tell it.
Best of luck,
Serenity and Endymion
Serena sighed after finishing the letter. Surprisingly, it had said everything that she wanted to her. she needed a huge bit of motivation right now, and that's what the letter had done. But she didn't have much time to think about what the letter had said. Rini's footsteps could be heard, running down the stairs.
"Serena!" Rini called from the kitchen. Serena quickly took the letter and put it in her sub-space pocket. "I got the letter from Mommy and Daddy."
"Okay, Rini." Serena yelled back. She got off the couch and headed towards the kitchen. "What did it say?"
"Everything is happening exactly how it's supposed to. So we didn't totally mess up the timeline." Rini said happily. Serena could easily tell that the smile on her face was masking all the little girl's fear. But, she decided to wait until later to talk to Rini.
"Okay, well, I talked to the girls. Amy is going to Mina's and Lita is going to Raye's. It's best for us to pair up right now. I call them later to tell them that everything is okay. in the meantime, how is everything outside. Do we need crowd control?" Serena fake-chuckled at her last sentence. Everyone else did the same.
"Ok, well, there all a *lot* of people outside. And I mean a *lot*." Sammy said, deciding to speak up. He had been way to silent today, and he wanted to be able to supply information about *something*. "I think our door will hold though. And anyway, worse comes to worse, if they do knock down the door, they will have to deal with at least two very angry Sailor Scouts."
"That's right Sammy," Luna said. "But right now, I want you two girls upstairs. I've seen your grades; we have to fix them. You're going to have the media on you two all the time. We don't want to give them any more ammunition then they already have. So upstairs now, both you." With that, Luna went upstairs, leaving two very shocked girls behind. Sammy doubled over laughing at what Luna meant Serena and Rini would have to do. They had one day to complete all the material they were behind on. Even Ikuko and Kenji were chuckling at how hard Luna was going to be making Serena work. Diana, on the other hand, still wasn't totally sure what was going on. But she just ran after Luna up the stairs.
"Now, you two." Luna yelled from the top of the stairs.
'Oh, boy,' Serena and Rini thought simultaneously. 'This is going to be a long day.'
***
Serena and Rini walked incredibly slowly up the stairs. Neither were looking forward to having to catch up on their schoolwork. The entered Serena's room with quite a bit of reluctance. Luna and Diana were already seated on the bed. The girls grabbed their backpacks at sat at the table in Serena's room.
"Okay," Luna said. "Rini, your biggest weakness in school is English, right?"
Rini nodded. "Math too" she said.
"Okay, we can work on those the most. Now Serena, your biggest weaknesses are math and English as well, right?"
"Right Luna."
"Good, this will make it a lot easier. You can both help each other. Now, we can start with math. It's probably more important right now."
'Luna is never going to change.' Serena and Rini both thought. Both still had strong memories of Luna as their teacher. In the Silver Millennium for Serena, and in Crystal Tokyo for Rini. Both took out their math books and settled down to work.
*****
'Thank god our sub-space pockets have an infinity of space.' Lita thought to herself. She had decided that the quickest and safest way to get to Raye's was to put all the stuff that she was bringing into her sub-space pocket. Luckily, she couldn't feel the weight of all the stuff. She had packed up almost all her cookware, a lot of clothes, her school things, and any special items that she didn't want to lose. 'I guess I should get going.' She thought, rather reluctantly. She didn't want to have to leave, but at least the apartment was still hers, and it would be here when she got back.
'Come on, Jup' She thought to herself. 'You have to go.' Lita walked over to the front door and locked it, then headed towards the balcony. She took in a deep breath and transformed. It didn't take a genius to tell that just walking to the temple would be a dumb idea. Right up there with telling everyone about the Silver Millennium and notifying the newspapers that there's a way to travel through time. She silently climbed onto the fire escape and roof-hoped all the way to Raye's.
Lita arrived at the temple after about 10 minutes of jumping from rooftop to rooftop. She hid in one of the trees when she saw that quite a few people and reporters were already gathered around the entrance. 'Better go through the back door.' She thought to herself. She silently jumped over to the next tree, and continued that pattern until she reached the door leading to Raye's room.
"Raye," Lita called softly, detransforming. "Are you there?"
"Lita!" Raye cried, almost shouting. She pulled her inside, locking the door again. "Good, you're *finally* here. I was worried that the reporters might have caught you. I had Chad bring another bed in here. Oh, Grandpa is fine with you staying here. Didn't you bring any of your stuff?"
"Raye," Lita said, beginning to smile. "Slow down. I brought all my stuff, and found a better use for our sub-space pockets." Lita was about to laugh when she saw the expression on Raye's face – totally confusion. She decided to show her what she meant. Lita reached into her sub-space pocket and began summoning her items. By the time she was done, clothes and other things surrounded Lita. She had left the cookware in the pocket; they would just take up space right now. She started grabbing items to put them away. Raye was still a little shocked. She hadn't even thought of doing that before. 'Now I can hide my comics from Serena.' She thought with a smile. Then Raye realized that she should be helping Lita out. She bent down and grabbed some clothes and began putting them away.
"Raye," Lita said as she sat on her bed. They had finished putting away all here stuff. Raye looked up from her where she was lying on her bed.
"Yes?"
"Have you…have you talked to your…father yet?" Lita hesitated a bit. She knew that Raye and her father didn't really have a…*healthy* relationship. From what Lita knew, he had abandoned her at the temple after her mother had died because he, in some weird, twisted way, had thought that her mother dying was Raye's fault. And since he was such a workaholic, Raye had only talked to him a few times since he abandoned her. Which, as she often stated, was fine with her.
"Of course I haven't talked to him." She stated, rather harshly. Lita chose to ignore it; she was used to Raye using that tone when she was talking about her father. "Why would I? Just because my face is on nearly every TV screen in the world is no reason to talk to him. If I had done that by just becoming famous we wouldn't talk, so why should we talk just because my biggest secret is out there. And anyway, he'll probably want to *save* his *reputation*. *He's* the one who abandoned Sailor Mars, the soldier of fire."
"Raye, calm down!" Lita said, almost shouting. By now Raye had left her bed and was pacing in her room, nearly screaming. Lita jumped off her bed and ran over to where Raye was. She sat Raye onto her bed, and Lita sat down beside her, trying to calm her down. "Raye, it's okay. Just write him a letter, okay? You don't have to actually talk to him. Just, tell him that you're a scout and then to leave you alone. Okay?" Lita stopped talking. She had never seen Raye this…*upset* when she talked about her father.
"Okay." Raye said, calming down. "I'll write him a letter, and clearly state that our relationship has changed, and I still don't want to talk to him. I can deal with that. In the meantime, we should call Meatball Head. She probably got the letter all ready and forgot to call us. That's *so* like her."
Raye jumped off her bed and ran to where she had put her communicator. Lita smiled. 'It's good to see Raye back to normal,' she thought.
*****
"Mom, are you *sure* that you'll be okay with me gone?" Amy asked, for probably the tenth time since she told her mother that she was going to be staying at Mina's until this thing cooled down.
"Yes honey, I'll be fine. And this works out really well actually. I'm going to be working at the hospital most of this week, and I wouldn't want you home by yourself right now. I'm sure that you'll have at Mina's, right?" Amy's mother smiled at her girl, trying her best to stop worrying about her. She didn't want to tell Amy that she was terrified about what might happen over the next few weeks, although see figured that Amy was probably just as scared. Right now they were in the process of moving most of Amy's things into the car. Luckily, the car was in the garage, so the didn't have to fight through all the reporters and fans. Most of Amy's things that were too important to put in the boxes were put in what Amy called a 'sub-space pocket'. They were things like her lab top, pictures, schoolbooks, clothes, and other various important things that Amy didn't want to lose. The result was very few boxes, which was what Amy had planned on.
"Is that the last of them?" her mother asked.
"Yes, I think so." Amy responded.
"Okay then I guess…we should get going." Amy's mother headed towards the driver's side door of the car and got in. Amy followed suit and climbed into the passenger side.
They were both silent until they got on the road. Amy was the first to speak.
"Mom?" She said.
"Yes, hon."
"Umm, what are we going to do about Dad?" Amy was a little reluctant to ask this. She knew that her parents weren't exactly on the best of terms since the divorce.
"I'll…talk to him." Her mother managed to say. She wasn't really happy about having to talk to her ex, but if it meant being able to lighten Amy's load of worries, she would do it.
"Thanks Mom." Amy said, smiling at her mother.
Her mother smiled back. It was nice to see Amy a bit happier. These next few days would be exceptionally hard for her.
"We're here." Her mother announced a few minutes later, trying to sound happier then she actually was.
Amy looked up from her lap. She hadn't even noticed that they were anywhere near Mina's street until her Mom announced that they were there. It took Amy a few seconds to realize that they were in the alley behind Mina's house. 'Good plan Mom.' Amy thought. Now she could be dropped off a lot easier.
A movement to the left caught Amy's eye. It only took her a second to figure out whom it was. "Mina!" Amy called quietly.
"Hey Ames!" Mina answered back. She walked over to the trunk of the car to help unload Amy's stuff. "My parents are totally okay with you coming. We're gonna have the best time ever!"
'Same old Mina,' Amy thought to herself. 'she can be bubbly even in a crisis.' She laughed quietly.
"Ames. Ames. Amy!" Mina was trying to be as quiet as possible, but it was hard to get Amy's attention like that.
"Huh. What?" Amy responded.
"Where's all your stuff? There's only a few boxes here. And I don't see your lab. Don't tell me you left it?!"
"No, I didn't leave it." Amy said, carrying one of the boxes towards the house. Mina was right behind her, carrying another. her mother followed them after locking the car. "I just found a new use for our subspace pockets."
It took Mina a few minutes to figure out what Amy had said. She had never thought that *Amy* would use her sub-space pocket for something other then Sailor stuff. Every time Mina had done that, Artemis had yelled at her. 'Oh well.' She thought. 'If Amy did it, then it must be okay right now. I guess that this *does* count as an exception cause this *is* an emergency.'
"Hello Amy. Hello Dr. Anderson." Mina's mother called from the back door. Her parents had come out to great Amy and her mother. Both Amy and Dr. Mizuno responded with a 'Hello.'
"It actually Dr. Mizuno." Amy's mother said, cheerfully. "My ex-husband was Mr. Anderson, and after the divorce, I went back to my maiden name."
"Come on Amy, let's take this stuff up to the guest room." Mina said. She figured that her parents and Amy's mother would want some time to themselves, probably to talk about what has happened. Mina headed up the stairs to the room next to hers. "Here we are!" she announced cheerfully.
"Great." Amy said. She was still a little worried, but decided that if Mina could fake *that* much cheerfulness (she saw it in her eyes. Pure fear.), then she could at least try to sound normal. "Well, I guess we should start putting things away. Where's Artemis?"
"Right here Amy." He announced, walking into the room. "Gad to see that you got here without any problems.
"Good. Well Ames, I guess we should start unpacking. I'll put away the clothes, k?"
"Alright. I'll empty out my pocket." Amy started pulling out all the items in her sub space pocket, except for the Scout items. Despite the fact that the girls usually regarded Amy as being incredibly neat, Amy decided that for once she would be messy. So, by the time she was done, the floor and the bed were covered with clothes, books, and all the other things that Amy had brought. Except for her lab top. She didn't want it to get hurt. She decided to leave it in her sub space pocket until everything else had been put away.
Mina set to work right away on the clothes. she decided to let Amy handle the books, those were more her thing anyway. Artemis stuck around long enough for Mina to drop a pile of clothes on his head. It was then that he decided that the best, and safest, place for him would be downstairs with Mina's parents and Amy's mother.
They were just finishing putting everything away when Amy's mother appeared in the doorway of the room. "Amy, hon." She said. Amy got up from where she was on the floor and abandoned the boxes that she had been folding up.
"Yes, Mom." Amy said, she knew what her mother was going to say.
"Amy, I *should* get going. Is that okay?"
"Yes, I guess you should get going." Amy tried to sound cheerful, but her mother and Mina could both see that it was drop-dead fake. Amy's mother crossed the room and gave Amy a hug. Amy managed to hide the tears of fear that were running down her face. She knew that she would have to be brave right now, because this was nothing compared to what she would face from the press.
Amy and her mother walked downstairs together. Mina was going to follow them, but she decided to go into the kitchen to talk with her parents again.
"Bye Mom." Amy said when they reached the door. She could feel the tears pooling in her eyes again.
"Bye Amy. I love you." Her mother had tears pooling in her eyes too. She drew Amy into a hug.
They stood like that for a few minutes, neither wanting to break it. "I love you too." Amy said, quiet enough that only her and her mother could hear.
"Bye honey," her mother said, tears now running down her cheeks.
"Bye." Amy said back. She didn't even care that she was crying now. For once, she didn't want to have to be the responsible and rational one. She just wanted to collapse and cry because their carefully created weaved web of secrets was coming unraveled. Now, because of the fact that they weren't safe anymore, she couldn't even be with her Mom.
They broke from their hug, and Amy watched as her mother walked to her car.
"It'll be okay." Mina said, coming up behind Amy. Amy nodded her head as she watched her mother drive her car away. Her mother waved to her from the car, and Amy waved back before going inside.
"Aw, cheer up Ames." Mina said, trying to sound as happy as possible. "It's not like you'll never see her again. Just think of this as a very long slumber party. Or like your Mom is going away for a week. You're with me, Mina. I'm gonna make sure that you have the best time ever!"
"Okay, Mina." Amy said, putting on one of those I-don't-really-want-to-be-here-but-I-will-do-my-best-to-pretend-I-am-having-fun smiles. "Come on," she said, walking up the stairs. "Let's call Serena. We can see of she got the letter yet."
"K." Mina said, "I'll get us some popcorn. Met you in your room."
"Okay," Amy said, and they spilt up in different directions.
'I'm glad Amy is feeling better.' Mina thought to herself as she took out the popcorn.
*****
"Serena" Luna said, sounding like she had crossed the irritation line a *long* time ago. "You should be able to do this problem. It's simple math for a sixteen year old. Just pay attention!"
"Huh?" Serena said, looking towards Luna. She had been staring outside, thinking about what her friends and Darien were doing.
Rini stifled a giggle. She had had Luna trying to teach her for the last hour, now she was at least going to get a break. And now Serena was going to get the standard lecture. One that Serena and Rini both knew by heart, although Rini's "standard lecture" was a bit different.
"Serena, it's your job as a princess to understand your future people." Serena was silently mouthing each word Luna said, perfectly in time. "To understand them, you need to know what they know. Therefore, you have to know what's in these books. And Crystal Tokyo won't be right there the second you finish school. You will need knowledge to build it, and the citizens won't support an unintelligent queen. And you will need to do *something* until that time comes. It could be years before the freeze. Don't think that we're going to let you just sit back and do nothing. You will need good grades in high school, because, like it or not, you are going to further your education and go to university, even if I have to drag you there every single day." Luna stopped for a breath. Rini was, at this point doing her best to stop from laughing out loud from watching Serena and Luna. "And don't think that you'll be able to just marry Darien and then you're all set. Even he's going to school to become a doctor, even though he won't need that as a King. Your friends also have plans, however ridiculous. Lita's going to be a chef, Amy a doctor, Mina a superstar, and Raye, a business women and priestess. So you should have a plan as well. And don't say that it's going to be being Sailor Moon. That cannot be what you plan to spend your life as; those powers are only for when the Negaverse attacks, and right now we're only getting strays. So, now Serena, I suggest you concentrate on that book and learn the material, because you aren't going to get anywhere without.
"Yes Luna." Serena said turning back to her math text. A beeping interrupted her "thinking" however.
"I'll get it." Rini said, grabbing her communicator before Serena could get hers. "Hello? Hey girls!"
"Rini?" Raye looked stunned for a moment. She had forgotten that Rini had a communicator too.
"Hi."
"Hey." Serena said, after getting her communicator. "Hey Ames. Hi Mina. Hey Lita. Hi Raye."
"Hey." They all answered back. Raye seemed a bit surprised that Amy and Mina were there, but Serena figured that it probably was just because they had joined last, and Raye wasn't expecting them.
"So Meatball Head," Raye said, "Have you gotten the letter from Crystal Tokyo yet?"
"Actually yes." She responded, careful not to mention that she and Rini each got one.
"Serena!" they all, except Rini, screamed at her. "You were supposed to call us when you got it!"
"Sorry," she said, kind of holding the communicator away from her. "Rini, why don't you tell them what it says."
"Okay," she said, smiling at Serena. "Well, basically this is what was supposed to happen. So we haven't done anything wrong. And I'm allowed to stay here, so I won't have to go home *just* yet."
"That's great Rini!" Mina said. "We would've missed you if you had left."
"Ya, totally!" Lita said, with as much enthusiasm as Mina.
"So, what have you two been doing?" Amy said, rather curious.
"Ohhh," groaned Serena and Rini at the exact same time. Luna took this opportunity to take control of Serena's communicator.
"Those two," Luna said, referring to Serena and Rini. "Have been catching up on their homework. Seriously, I didn't know that they were this behind. I've had to re-teach plenty of things. And Serena spends the entire time staring out the window. And you four girls should be working as well. Mina, I know that your grades aren't exactly perfect. Thankfully, you have Artemis and Amy to help. Lita, Raye, I'm afraid that neither Artemis nor I will be able to assist you, so you two will have to rely on each other for assistance."
The displeasure of three girls at the idea of spending Sunday doing homework was clearly heard. Amy seemed to be the only one who didn't mind.
"I think that this is a great idea Luna," Amy said. "You know that the reporters are going to try to find out our grades, so we should be improving them. We don't want people to think that the Sailor Scouts are lazy or stupid. This just means working a little bit harder."
"Ames," Lita said, "You're not helping."
"I side with Luna." Artemis said, after gaining control of Mina's communicator. "You girls have to bring up your grades quickly. All this work on a Sunday is technically your fault for not working harder earlier."
The girls all knew exactly what would happen the second that Artemis said those words, unfortunately Artemis wasn't quite prepared. The sound of Artemis's "Mina, that *hurt*!" could be heard just seconds after. Needless to say, Mina took control over her communicator after that.
"Okay, now for the media issue…" Mina began, not quite sure what else to say.
"I think that we should just lie-low." Serena spoke up. She decided that now was the time when she should take control as leader, and there was no sense in avoiding it. "We shouldn't be doing anything to draw attention to ourselves."
"I think that it's a little late for *that*, Meatball head." Raye said. The other girls all silently groaned, sensing the start of a never-ending argument.
"Raye…" Serena started, but the sounds coming from outside told her that she had no time for an argument. Therefore the best thing to do right now would be to ignore Raye's sarcastic comments.
"I'm guessing that school tomorrow probably wouldn't be a good idea, so I think that we should all stay home." Four cheers could be heard, as well as one groan of displeasure. "We'll have to talk about it in the morning. After all, our parents would have to agree as well."
"I think our parents have already put all decisions regarding this in our hands." Mina said, and the others agreed with her.
"I think that too, Mina" Serena said. "So at least that's taken care of. We can talk about it more in the morning. Otherwise, I think that we should all stay indoors and out of sight. Okay?"
"Alright." Raye responded, almost surprised at how leader-like Serena was sounding.
"Deal." Mina said, not at all happy about having to spend a day inside working on homework.
"Okay." Lita said, happy to support Serena's decision.
"Agreed." Amy replied, her cheerfulness masking her displeasure about missing school.
"Good," Serena said, happy that everyone had agreed to her plan. "Then why don't we start our work and will talk in the morning."
"Okay, bye." Said the four girls before there faces disappeared.
"Bye." Serena and Rini both said, and closed their communicators as well.
"Well," Luna said, speaking up. "I think that we should get started on our work now."
Groans could be heard from both the girls as they turned their attention back to their schoolwork.
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How's that for the chapter? Thanks a ton to all the people who have reviewed the story. Your reveiws are really helping:) I'll finish the story soon, then I gotta take a break. I'm spending most of my time writing this, and my grades are starting to reflect that:( Ohh well. Next chapter up soon.