Chapter 08 - A Day to Remember
"The labyrinth is still unfinished,
Your myth will return to the sky"
-= Sailor Senshi - L'amour D'amour Moonlight =-
"Aindrea!" shouted Cat, walking through the halls of Fallen College. "Yeh can come out with them, now! Everything's over!"
By her side, Kenneth and Megan walked together, trying to talk about themselves and about their fate as Guardians. It had been a busy night for all of them... and the three had to find the hidden ones quickly, so they could go back to the dormitory, make a bandage on Kenneth and Cat's wounds and try to have some sleep before lessons started.
"So you're also a newbie here?" asked Megan, noticing how that building could be scary at night.
"Sort of. I'm the new janitor, but I'll be able to study at Fallen Technical School, half-period. I got this job for my sis too, 'cause she'll be able to study at Fallen High School while I'm here", answered Kenneth, kicking an imaginary stone on the floor. "But my nights are always free."
"Heh... are you trying to ask me out?"
"Did I succeed?" he winked, smiling a bit. Megan couldn't say that Kenneth wasn't a good-looking guy... and she needed some distraction after all the busy life she had had since she arrived at Mornington, a week ago. Unpacking her luggage was something she was used to, but not something she liked to do.
***
In the meanwhile, far away from Mornington, in a place that few people would know, three young men were trying to calm down a furious lady, dressed in a white suit with blue bow and collar, that stepped hard with her blue boots on the ground. On her forehead, a golden tiara with a blue gemstone made her face more beautiful... even though the three didn't think so at that moment. They would say that it was an ice monster from Mercury what they saw where Sailor Mercury should be standing.
"Easy, Sailor Mercury, PLEASE!" pledged Aleph, using his animated chain to try to stop her from entering the Silver Saloon like a mad hurricane. "We can explain everything after you settle down, I promise!!!"
"Aleph's right, Lady Saphir!" said Firebird, pushing her back to the entrance hall with no effort at all. "There's nothing you can do now, just let us explain..."
"Explain WHAT, Firebird of Shine?!" growled a mad Sailor Senshi, stopping suddenly and staring at the oriental young man with eyes he swore he had never seen before in Sailor Mercury's gentle face. "There's been a long time since I last received any letter from my sister and when I come to visit her, I just sense that her energy is FADING OUT! What, in the name of Serenity, are you doing to her?!"
"If you calm down and sit here a bit, we'll be able to explain everything, Sailor Mercury", answered Moon Fox, offering a chair to her. "You're right, Kyn's energy really seems to be fading out, but... she's not in danger, please believe us."
The blue-haired Senshi took a deep breath and looked at Moon Fox, demanding a better explanation. "So, if she's not in danger, why is her energy fading out?"
"Because she's not in this Timeline", said Aleph.
*Oh, great, Daniel! That was EXACTLY what we needed her to know and the way you said it was PERFECT, congrats!* Thought Firebird, clenching his teeth and thinking all the sort of bad names he had learn in all his decades of life. "Err... how could we explain that in better words..." he gasped when saw the color of Sailor Mercury's face go away.
"I think you still remember what happened in 1995", said Moon Fox, trying to calm himself AND Sailor Mercury down. "After the battle in the Silver Saloon and after we defeated Art."
Sailor Mercury nodded, while some tears began to roll down her face. "You mean that she is in that extra-temporal capsule again? And that she's suffering from lack of energy?"
Moon Fox sighed in relief and his green eyes tried to show some hope to the Senshi. "No. She's just in a deep sleep, while her essence is in another Timeline, helping someone to have redemption for his sins", he said, placing his hand on her shoulder. "Kyn is helping Art in his search for peace."
"But..." she began, a soft smile appearing on her face. "How long will this take and... Why didn't she say anything about that to me?"
"Because she doesn't know what is happening to her, either", said Chronos, appearing on the door, making Aleph, Firebird and Moon Fox try to remember all the bad names they all had learn during their lives. "You don't have reason to worry, though, Sailor Mercury, as your counterpart is about to meet her."
"WHAT?!?!" yelled the four at the same time.
***
"What the...?!", exclaimed Cat, when she saw the blue wall in one of the halls of Fallen College. "If this is yaer job, Amerin, yae can turn it off! We're finished with that wind witch!"
"Catherin?" asked a male voice from behind the wall. "Is that really you?"
"Who else could it be?" she sighed, trying to ignore the pain she still felt on her throat. "C'mon, we still have tae sleep before class starts... -cough-!"
With the agreement of Daniel, Rick and Tieko, Amerin let the wall down and reversed his transformation, even though he knew they were risking their lives doing that. When the wall vanished, the four saw with big eyes a scene they thought it shouldn't be shown before eleven in the night... wait-a-sec, it WAS eleven in the night. Go figure.
Catherin, on the other hand, was on her knees, too busy trying to breathe, to see what was happening between Kenneth and Megan. Aindrea rushed to her side, helping her to stand up, while Tieko gave a sly look to Daniel and Rick. They would have a lot of things to explain when they got back to the dormitory... and there were a lot of things they still had to arrange, like explain to Aindrea's grandfather why hadn't he called as soon as he got to his new house. But those were details they could always manage to fix after a good sleep.
"Kenneth, your girlfriend?" asked Rick, a sly smile on his face. "Take it easy, we don't want this to get rated PG-13 or R..."
"Huh?" he blushed, as they broke apart. "Hm... err... this is Megan."
"Hi", she waved, smiling shyly. "Nice to meet you too..."
"You two, settle down", said Tieko, smacking Daniel and Rick on their heads. "Now that I know that I REALLY know you from that mailing list, I think I don't need to behave so well..." and she saw a couple of eyes growing big at her. "... What? Did I say something wrong?"
"Never mind..." said Cat, being carried by Aindrea. "Let's just go 'home', please... and... I can walk as well, Aindrea, thanks."
They blushed as Tieko, Daniel and Rick looked at themselves and winked once. There were some couples lately at Fallen Institute, thought Rick, smiling at Kenneth and Megan and Cat and Aindrea. But they still had something to worry about. "Did anyone check on Martin?" he finally asked, making some Guardians widen their eyes.
***
Day finally came, for the delight of the students who loved having lessons and much for the despair of those who still wanted to sleep more or didn't like having any kind of lessons at all. Tieko Aikawa was one of those who were in the middle of these two sides. Even though she still wanted to stay at bed, for she was still sleepy after the previous night, something on her heart willed to go to College. It was her first day and...
"... And you'll be able to see Arthur during class time, am I right?", asked Cat, her back leaning on Tieko's door. "Yae're thinking way too loud, Tieko. Should start thinking of keeping your thoughts in your mind. Yae were lucky that nobody else was here tae hear it."
"That was the reason why I asked Kenneth if I could change rooms. With you as my roommate, I don't have too worry too much about that", smirked Tieko, wearing a white blouse and a Fallen College blue jacket. "Did this blue jacket fit me well?"
"THOSE are the words I was willing to hear from yae today. Say... I still don't understand why did yae choose the blue jacket. Fallen Institute colors do include blue, but everyone chooses the red one", said Cat, picking up her backpack. "I still prefer red, but..."
"I prefer the blue one", said Tieko, picking up her notebooks. "Are you going to see Aindrea today?" she asked with a sly look on her face.
"Why does something keep telling me that today is going to be a long day..." sighed Catherin.
Everything was going back to normal as Catherin had always seen. Lots of students walking through Fallen Institute's gate, ready to go to their classes, talking about their weekends at home or something like that... new students arriving with puzzled looks in their eyes, trying to figure out where did they had to go... heh, nothing unusual for a Monday.
Tieko had already been at the boys' dormitory and had time to rush back to the girls' dormitory to change her clothes and pick up her books. Megan was waiting for them at the front door, as she had promised last night, before going home; she was one of the students who lived with her parents and could manage to get on time in class. "Are you ready, girls?"
"Yup", answered Tieko, running down the stairs. "Have you told your parents about Kenneth?"
"Didn't have time to", said Megan, blushing. "But I will... I'll just have to be careful to keep my grades, as this is my last year in High School."
"You need good grades to get into College, right?" said Cat, opening the front door. "Hey, today is cooler than I thought!"
"That's why we're with heavy clothes", said Arthur and Aindrea, standing right before the front door, with their hands in their pockets. "Good morning, Cat. Are you ready to go?"
"Yae know that having lessons after last night isn't the kind of thing I love, but... whatever", she said, shivering a bit with the cold. "Brrr... and I usually say that I know Mornington's weather... who would guess that it would be SO cold at eight in the morning?"
Arthur nodded, while helping Tieko with a scarf around her neck. They were still in Fall, not Winter. That kind of cold weather wasn't typical of Mornington's Fall and that was the reason why Cat hadn't used heavier clothes, just her Fallen College red jacket. She sank her nose into her jacket, trying to heat it a bit, and hid her ears inside her baseball cap. "If the weather continues like this, I'll have tae use earmuffs rather than my cap", she complained, feeling her face hurt with the cold. "What could be worse than this?"
"DON'T ask, Cat", said Rick, reaching them. "Murphy can always have something hidden in his collar."
"Too late, Rick", said Martin, using three coats and earmuffs. "Look above."
"... Snow?!" they all gasped, when the soft, cotton-like drips began to fall over their heads.
"I give up", sighed Cat.
***
An hour later, a loud 'hooray' could be heard through all Fallen Institute, followed by a wild rampage of teenagers that came out of all buildings. "Destiny couldn't be nicer to us", shivered Megan, with a smile on her face. "Due to the weather, all classes were dismissed."
"Yup", said Kenneth, with two coats over his janitor uniform. "All the janitor staff didn't think that it would SNOW today, so nobody had time to turn on the Central Heater. I just had time to turn on the dormitories' heaters, so it must be warm there."
"Don't you have to stay in the Institute now, Ken?" asked Megan, looking shy.
"Heh, no. My duty is to check on the dormitories", he smiled. "Let's go to the boys' dormitory. Everyone must be there by this time."
Megan felt a warm wave coming from her hand that head straight to her heart when Kenneth took her hand in his. Blushing, she smiled and lowered her face a bit, her heartbeats becoming faster than she could ever remember.
Those were moments that she wished that never had an end.
***
At the boys' dormitory, things seemed to be not so cheerful as anyone would expect to be. A pile of coats rested in the corner of the TV room, while everybody had their faces down, a bad statement on them.
"OK, what happened?" asked Kenneth, when he took off the last heavy coat he was wearing, keeping a green jacket over his uniform. "Did something strange appear while I wasn't here?"
"Bradley and William didn't come back last night", said Tieko, with tears on her eyes. "I forgot to check if everybody was here during this morning's breakfast..."
"Easy there, Tieko, the fact of that those two didn't come back isn't your fault", said Arthur, rubbing her back. "The worst part is that they weren't expecting this cold weather, so none of them took heavy coats. I hate to say this, but I AM worried."
"You're not the only one, Arthur", said Martin, rubbing his hands even though the Central Heater was on. "If I can remember, I was the one who had disappeared and here am I. Now, as they didn't carry any kind of communicator with them, how will we ever have a clue of where those two are?"
Suddenly, everyone looked at the stairs. Daniel was coming down, with a depressed statement on his face. On his hands, he carried two cell phones. "We don't have any clue. They forgot to take their cell phones."
"I can go back home to get my car", said Aindrea, much for everyone's surprise. "Hey, I do have a drivers' license. And my car has a heater, so we'll be able to look for them until I have enough gas left. They can't be too far from here, as they were by foot."
"The next town is Crossroads..." said Arthur. "...Where I came from. The only problem is that Crossroads is about 50 kilometers away from Mornington and there are only a few villages through the main road. We won't be able to find them if they took any kind of alternative road."
"Wait", said Cat, with her arms crossed. "Aren't there any places here in Mornington where they could be? We didn't check this town, why are we thinking of going to Crossroads?"
"Cat's right", agreed Rick, snapping his fingers. "We didn't think of checking the pubs nearby. And there's a motel near the Game Center. They must be there. And... Tieko, PLEASE, stop crying. It's not your fault if they decided to spend the night out of the dormitory!"
***
The atmosphere seemed to have become gloomy after Chronos said those words. Lady Saphir, better known as Sailor Mercury, was in shock since then and Aleph, Moon Fox and Firebird weren't in better shape neither.
"Can... Can I see my sister?" asked Sailor Mercury, in a low voice.
"Follow me", said Aleph, also in a low voice. He knew that it was better to take Lady Saphir out of that room before Firebird and Moon Fox demanded any explanations from Chronos. "This way..."
And it was during that kind of situation that Aleph thanked all his ancestors for giving him the gift of Intuition, as he could listen Moon Fox saying something in an angry, very loud voice.
"OK, now that Lady Saphir's outta here, you can start explaining yourself, Chronos!"
"Not so loud, Moon Fox", said Chronos, asking for silence with a gesture. "Everything shall be explained... in its right time."
"I am aware that there were Sailor Senshi in that Timeline, but nothing should ever happen to unite the two groups", said Firebird, remembering some facts from the previous story that Chronos had erased when gave Art the Time-Space Key to travel back in time. "Why are you doing this?"
"Sooner or later, youmas would get to Mornington", answered Chronos, with his hands to the back. "And then Mercury Guardian would awake and, with her, Earth Destiny Kishi would eliminate them. But that won't happen until many lives are taken, for her memory will only be totally restored when some facts in the present time occur like in the past", he stopped for some seconds to walk to the closed window and look outside. "Bringing the Sailor Senshi will help restore her memory without killing too much people. And remember that Tieko Aikawa hadn't Kyn's essence in her body yet, for she was the reincarnation of other person."
"She already was remembering some facts, Chronos. Faster than before." said Moon Fox.
"Yes, but she did it the last time. And what happened? Aindrea Terence, Megan Lightner, Kenneth and Claire Raiden, Catherin McKinnion and Althea Maxwell had to die so that she got total control over her powers", continued Chronos, without noticing that a blue soldier was walking into the room.
"So", a female voice said, making everyone shiver.
"You mean that those Guardians aren't your creation", said Aleph, right after her.
"Tieko Aikawa was supposed to be the reincarnation of Mercury Guardian from the Silver Millennium", continued Sailor Mercury. "She was supposed to be Artica of Mercury, am I right?"
Chronos nodded. And tears of anger began to fall from Sailor Mercury's eyes.
"Where is she?!" yelled Sailor Mercury, losing control of her emotions. "I can remember that TWO girls from Mercury were taken by Sailor Pluto to be trained as Guardians of Time! One would be Mercury Destiny Kishi, and that was my twin sister! The other one was trained to be a minor guardian, prepared to take care of the Destiny Kishi of her planet, Mercury Guardian! Now that you've replaced her by Kyn's essence, WHERE IS ARTICA?!?!"
***
Everyone was preparing themselves to go to the center of Mornington to look for the two missed ones, wearing again the heavy coats that would be necessary to walk on the cold streets of the town. And, when the front door was already opened, the phone rang.
"Oh, great", sighed Rick.
"Go answer it, Rick", said Martin. "Maybe it's one of them who is calling."
"Y're right. Hello?" said Rick, answering the phone and making a strange, funny face after some seconds. "YOU ARE _WHERE_???"
A few minutes later, Rick hung up the phone, laughing. "Aindrea, I guess we'll need your car."
"Why?" asked a puzzled Aindrea, without understanding why was Rick laughing so much.
"Bradley and William did come back last night, but they went out very early to meet a cousin of William and her friends that came from Japan", answered Rick. "They didn't realize that the girl was bringing FOUR friends along with her and they didn't take enough money for a cab and the girls don't have US currency yet."
"I can't believe it..." sighed Kenneth, slapping his forehead. "Wait. FIVE GIRLS?! Coming from Japan? We'll need MORE than one car!"
"Why are you saying that, Ken?" asked Megan, also puzzled.
"I have a younger sister, I KNOW how much luggage you carry!"
Ten minutes later, they were in Aindrea's car, on their way to the nearest airport. For the group's amusement, Kenneth had a strange bruise on his face... made by Megan's small right hand.
"The labyrinth is still unfinished,
Your myth will return to the sky"
-= Sailor Senshi - L'amour D'amour Moonlight =-
"Aindrea!" shouted Cat, walking through the halls of Fallen College. "Yeh can come out with them, now! Everything's over!"
By her side, Kenneth and Megan walked together, trying to talk about themselves and about their fate as Guardians. It had been a busy night for all of them... and the three had to find the hidden ones quickly, so they could go back to the dormitory, make a bandage on Kenneth and Cat's wounds and try to have some sleep before lessons started.
"So you're also a newbie here?" asked Megan, noticing how that building could be scary at night.
"Sort of. I'm the new janitor, but I'll be able to study at Fallen Technical School, half-period. I got this job for my sis too, 'cause she'll be able to study at Fallen High School while I'm here", answered Kenneth, kicking an imaginary stone on the floor. "But my nights are always free."
"Heh... are you trying to ask me out?"
"Did I succeed?" he winked, smiling a bit. Megan couldn't say that Kenneth wasn't a good-looking guy... and she needed some distraction after all the busy life she had had since she arrived at Mornington, a week ago. Unpacking her luggage was something she was used to, but not something she liked to do.
***
In the meanwhile, far away from Mornington, in a place that few people would know, three young men were trying to calm down a furious lady, dressed in a white suit with blue bow and collar, that stepped hard with her blue boots on the ground. On her forehead, a golden tiara with a blue gemstone made her face more beautiful... even though the three didn't think so at that moment. They would say that it was an ice monster from Mercury what they saw where Sailor Mercury should be standing.
"Easy, Sailor Mercury, PLEASE!" pledged Aleph, using his animated chain to try to stop her from entering the Silver Saloon like a mad hurricane. "We can explain everything after you settle down, I promise!!!"
"Aleph's right, Lady Saphir!" said Firebird, pushing her back to the entrance hall with no effort at all. "There's nothing you can do now, just let us explain..."
"Explain WHAT, Firebird of Shine?!" growled a mad Sailor Senshi, stopping suddenly and staring at the oriental young man with eyes he swore he had never seen before in Sailor Mercury's gentle face. "There's been a long time since I last received any letter from my sister and when I come to visit her, I just sense that her energy is FADING OUT! What, in the name of Serenity, are you doing to her?!"
"If you calm down and sit here a bit, we'll be able to explain everything, Sailor Mercury", answered Moon Fox, offering a chair to her. "You're right, Kyn's energy really seems to be fading out, but... she's not in danger, please believe us."
The blue-haired Senshi took a deep breath and looked at Moon Fox, demanding a better explanation. "So, if she's not in danger, why is her energy fading out?"
"Because she's not in this Timeline", said Aleph.
*Oh, great, Daniel! That was EXACTLY what we needed her to know and the way you said it was PERFECT, congrats!* Thought Firebird, clenching his teeth and thinking all the sort of bad names he had learn in all his decades of life. "Err... how could we explain that in better words..." he gasped when saw the color of Sailor Mercury's face go away.
"I think you still remember what happened in 1995", said Moon Fox, trying to calm himself AND Sailor Mercury down. "After the battle in the Silver Saloon and after we defeated Art."
Sailor Mercury nodded, while some tears began to roll down her face. "You mean that she is in that extra-temporal capsule again? And that she's suffering from lack of energy?"
Moon Fox sighed in relief and his green eyes tried to show some hope to the Senshi. "No. She's just in a deep sleep, while her essence is in another Timeline, helping someone to have redemption for his sins", he said, placing his hand on her shoulder. "Kyn is helping Art in his search for peace."
"But..." she began, a soft smile appearing on her face. "How long will this take and... Why didn't she say anything about that to me?"
"Because she doesn't know what is happening to her, either", said Chronos, appearing on the door, making Aleph, Firebird and Moon Fox try to remember all the bad names they all had learn during their lives. "You don't have reason to worry, though, Sailor Mercury, as your counterpart is about to meet her."
"WHAT?!?!" yelled the four at the same time.
***
"What the...?!", exclaimed Cat, when she saw the blue wall in one of the halls of Fallen College. "If this is yaer job, Amerin, yae can turn it off! We're finished with that wind witch!"
"Catherin?" asked a male voice from behind the wall. "Is that really you?"
"Who else could it be?" she sighed, trying to ignore the pain she still felt on her throat. "C'mon, we still have tae sleep before class starts... -cough-!"
With the agreement of Daniel, Rick and Tieko, Amerin let the wall down and reversed his transformation, even though he knew they were risking their lives doing that. When the wall vanished, the four saw with big eyes a scene they thought it shouldn't be shown before eleven in the night... wait-a-sec, it WAS eleven in the night. Go figure.
Catherin, on the other hand, was on her knees, too busy trying to breathe, to see what was happening between Kenneth and Megan. Aindrea rushed to her side, helping her to stand up, while Tieko gave a sly look to Daniel and Rick. They would have a lot of things to explain when they got back to the dormitory... and there were a lot of things they still had to arrange, like explain to Aindrea's grandfather why hadn't he called as soon as he got to his new house. But those were details they could always manage to fix after a good sleep.
"Kenneth, your girlfriend?" asked Rick, a sly smile on his face. "Take it easy, we don't want this to get rated PG-13 or R..."
"Huh?" he blushed, as they broke apart. "Hm... err... this is Megan."
"Hi", she waved, smiling shyly. "Nice to meet you too..."
"You two, settle down", said Tieko, smacking Daniel and Rick on their heads. "Now that I know that I REALLY know you from that mailing list, I think I don't need to behave so well..." and she saw a couple of eyes growing big at her. "... What? Did I say something wrong?"
"Never mind..." said Cat, being carried by Aindrea. "Let's just go 'home', please... and... I can walk as well, Aindrea, thanks."
They blushed as Tieko, Daniel and Rick looked at themselves and winked once. There were some couples lately at Fallen Institute, thought Rick, smiling at Kenneth and Megan and Cat and Aindrea. But they still had something to worry about. "Did anyone check on Martin?" he finally asked, making some Guardians widen their eyes.
***
Day finally came, for the delight of the students who loved having lessons and much for the despair of those who still wanted to sleep more or didn't like having any kind of lessons at all. Tieko Aikawa was one of those who were in the middle of these two sides. Even though she still wanted to stay at bed, for she was still sleepy after the previous night, something on her heart willed to go to College. It was her first day and...
"... And you'll be able to see Arthur during class time, am I right?", asked Cat, her back leaning on Tieko's door. "Yae're thinking way too loud, Tieko. Should start thinking of keeping your thoughts in your mind. Yae were lucky that nobody else was here tae hear it."
"That was the reason why I asked Kenneth if I could change rooms. With you as my roommate, I don't have too worry too much about that", smirked Tieko, wearing a white blouse and a Fallen College blue jacket. "Did this blue jacket fit me well?"
"THOSE are the words I was willing to hear from yae today. Say... I still don't understand why did yae choose the blue jacket. Fallen Institute colors do include blue, but everyone chooses the red one", said Cat, picking up her backpack. "I still prefer red, but..."
"I prefer the blue one", said Tieko, picking up her notebooks. "Are you going to see Aindrea today?" she asked with a sly look on her face.
"Why does something keep telling me that today is going to be a long day..." sighed Catherin.
Everything was going back to normal as Catherin had always seen. Lots of students walking through Fallen Institute's gate, ready to go to their classes, talking about their weekends at home or something like that... new students arriving with puzzled looks in their eyes, trying to figure out where did they had to go... heh, nothing unusual for a Monday.
Tieko had already been at the boys' dormitory and had time to rush back to the girls' dormitory to change her clothes and pick up her books. Megan was waiting for them at the front door, as she had promised last night, before going home; she was one of the students who lived with her parents and could manage to get on time in class. "Are you ready, girls?"
"Yup", answered Tieko, running down the stairs. "Have you told your parents about Kenneth?"
"Didn't have time to", said Megan, blushing. "But I will... I'll just have to be careful to keep my grades, as this is my last year in High School."
"You need good grades to get into College, right?" said Cat, opening the front door. "Hey, today is cooler than I thought!"
"That's why we're with heavy clothes", said Arthur and Aindrea, standing right before the front door, with their hands in their pockets. "Good morning, Cat. Are you ready to go?"
"Yae know that having lessons after last night isn't the kind of thing I love, but... whatever", she said, shivering a bit with the cold. "Brrr... and I usually say that I know Mornington's weather... who would guess that it would be SO cold at eight in the morning?"
Arthur nodded, while helping Tieko with a scarf around her neck. They were still in Fall, not Winter. That kind of cold weather wasn't typical of Mornington's Fall and that was the reason why Cat hadn't used heavier clothes, just her Fallen College red jacket. She sank her nose into her jacket, trying to heat it a bit, and hid her ears inside her baseball cap. "If the weather continues like this, I'll have tae use earmuffs rather than my cap", she complained, feeling her face hurt with the cold. "What could be worse than this?"
"DON'T ask, Cat", said Rick, reaching them. "Murphy can always have something hidden in his collar."
"Too late, Rick", said Martin, using three coats and earmuffs. "Look above."
"... Snow?!" they all gasped, when the soft, cotton-like drips began to fall over their heads.
"I give up", sighed Cat.
***
An hour later, a loud 'hooray' could be heard through all Fallen Institute, followed by a wild rampage of teenagers that came out of all buildings. "Destiny couldn't be nicer to us", shivered Megan, with a smile on her face. "Due to the weather, all classes were dismissed."
"Yup", said Kenneth, with two coats over his janitor uniform. "All the janitor staff didn't think that it would SNOW today, so nobody had time to turn on the Central Heater. I just had time to turn on the dormitories' heaters, so it must be warm there."
"Don't you have to stay in the Institute now, Ken?" asked Megan, looking shy.
"Heh, no. My duty is to check on the dormitories", he smiled. "Let's go to the boys' dormitory. Everyone must be there by this time."
Megan felt a warm wave coming from her hand that head straight to her heart when Kenneth took her hand in his. Blushing, she smiled and lowered her face a bit, her heartbeats becoming faster than she could ever remember.
Those were moments that she wished that never had an end.
***
At the boys' dormitory, things seemed to be not so cheerful as anyone would expect to be. A pile of coats rested in the corner of the TV room, while everybody had their faces down, a bad statement on them.
"OK, what happened?" asked Kenneth, when he took off the last heavy coat he was wearing, keeping a green jacket over his uniform. "Did something strange appear while I wasn't here?"
"Bradley and William didn't come back last night", said Tieko, with tears on her eyes. "I forgot to check if everybody was here during this morning's breakfast..."
"Easy there, Tieko, the fact of that those two didn't come back isn't your fault", said Arthur, rubbing her back. "The worst part is that they weren't expecting this cold weather, so none of them took heavy coats. I hate to say this, but I AM worried."
"You're not the only one, Arthur", said Martin, rubbing his hands even though the Central Heater was on. "If I can remember, I was the one who had disappeared and here am I. Now, as they didn't carry any kind of communicator with them, how will we ever have a clue of where those two are?"
Suddenly, everyone looked at the stairs. Daniel was coming down, with a depressed statement on his face. On his hands, he carried two cell phones. "We don't have any clue. They forgot to take their cell phones."
"I can go back home to get my car", said Aindrea, much for everyone's surprise. "Hey, I do have a drivers' license. And my car has a heater, so we'll be able to look for them until I have enough gas left. They can't be too far from here, as they were by foot."
"The next town is Crossroads..." said Arthur. "...Where I came from. The only problem is that Crossroads is about 50 kilometers away from Mornington and there are only a few villages through the main road. We won't be able to find them if they took any kind of alternative road."
"Wait", said Cat, with her arms crossed. "Aren't there any places here in Mornington where they could be? We didn't check this town, why are we thinking of going to Crossroads?"
"Cat's right", agreed Rick, snapping his fingers. "We didn't think of checking the pubs nearby. And there's a motel near the Game Center. They must be there. And... Tieko, PLEASE, stop crying. It's not your fault if they decided to spend the night out of the dormitory!"
***
The atmosphere seemed to have become gloomy after Chronos said those words. Lady Saphir, better known as Sailor Mercury, was in shock since then and Aleph, Moon Fox and Firebird weren't in better shape neither.
"Can... Can I see my sister?" asked Sailor Mercury, in a low voice.
"Follow me", said Aleph, also in a low voice. He knew that it was better to take Lady Saphir out of that room before Firebird and Moon Fox demanded any explanations from Chronos. "This way..."
And it was during that kind of situation that Aleph thanked all his ancestors for giving him the gift of Intuition, as he could listen Moon Fox saying something in an angry, very loud voice.
"OK, now that Lady Saphir's outta here, you can start explaining yourself, Chronos!"
"Not so loud, Moon Fox", said Chronos, asking for silence with a gesture. "Everything shall be explained... in its right time."
"I am aware that there were Sailor Senshi in that Timeline, but nothing should ever happen to unite the two groups", said Firebird, remembering some facts from the previous story that Chronos had erased when gave Art the Time-Space Key to travel back in time. "Why are you doing this?"
"Sooner or later, youmas would get to Mornington", answered Chronos, with his hands to the back. "And then Mercury Guardian would awake and, with her, Earth Destiny Kishi would eliminate them. But that won't happen until many lives are taken, for her memory will only be totally restored when some facts in the present time occur like in the past", he stopped for some seconds to walk to the closed window and look outside. "Bringing the Sailor Senshi will help restore her memory without killing too much people. And remember that Tieko Aikawa hadn't Kyn's essence in her body yet, for she was the reincarnation of other person."
"She already was remembering some facts, Chronos. Faster than before." said Moon Fox.
"Yes, but she did it the last time. And what happened? Aindrea Terence, Megan Lightner, Kenneth and Claire Raiden, Catherin McKinnion and Althea Maxwell had to die so that she got total control over her powers", continued Chronos, without noticing that a blue soldier was walking into the room.
"So", a female voice said, making everyone shiver.
"You mean that those Guardians aren't your creation", said Aleph, right after her.
"Tieko Aikawa was supposed to be the reincarnation of Mercury Guardian from the Silver Millennium", continued Sailor Mercury. "She was supposed to be Artica of Mercury, am I right?"
Chronos nodded. And tears of anger began to fall from Sailor Mercury's eyes.
"Where is she?!" yelled Sailor Mercury, losing control of her emotions. "I can remember that TWO girls from Mercury were taken by Sailor Pluto to be trained as Guardians of Time! One would be Mercury Destiny Kishi, and that was my twin sister! The other one was trained to be a minor guardian, prepared to take care of the Destiny Kishi of her planet, Mercury Guardian! Now that you've replaced her by Kyn's essence, WHERE IS ARTICA?!?!"
***
Everyone was preparing themselves to go to the center of Mornington to look for the two missed ones, wearing again the heavy coats that would be necessary to walk on the cold streets of the town. And, when the front door was already opened, the phone rang.
"Oh, great", sighed Rick.
"Go answer it, Rick", said Martin. "Maybe it's one of them who is calling."
"Y're right. Hello?" said Rick, answering the phone and making a strange, funny face after some seconds. "YOU ARE _WHERE_???"
A few minutes later, Rick hung up the phone, laughing. "Aindrea, I guess we'll need your car."
"Why?" asked a puzzled Aindrea, without understanding why was Rick laughing so much.
"Bradley and William did come back last night, but they went out very early to meet a cousin of William and her friends that came from Japan", answered Rick. "They didn't realize that the girl was bringing FOUR friends along with her and they didn't take enough money for a cab and the girls don't have US currency yet."
"I can't believe it..." sighed Kenneth, slapping his forehead. "Wait. FIVE GIRLS?! Coming from Japan? We'll need MORE than one car!"
"Why are you saying that, Ken?" asked Megan, also puzzled.
"I have a younger sister, I KNOW how much luggage you carry!"
Ten minutes later, they were in Aindrea's car, on their way to the nearest airport. For the group's amusement, Kenneth had a strange bruise on his face... made by Megan's small right hand.