Chapter Fifteen

            Madelyn crept along the hallways. The Crystal Palace was so silent. It gave her the creeps. She was so used to hearing running feet or conversation. But the whole of the palace was very dismal and depressing. Madelyn was used to hearing all sorts of mischief and life.

            Madelyn was on her way to the hospital wing. The good thing about having less people was that there were almost no restrictions on visitors. But Madelyn shook her head. She wished that her mother was around. She and Ariel had grown up to look like twin sisters to their mothers.

            Madelyn knocked on the door.

            "Come in," Faith's voice answered her. Madelyn slowly pushed the door open and saw Faith sitting up in bed, a bandage around her right elbow and Hope was sitting on the bed, by Faith's left side. Madelyn plopped down on Faith's right side.

            "How's your arm?"

            Faith sighed, "They reattached it. It works but it still hurts."

            "can…can I see? Maybe I can heal it a little?"

            Faith looked at Madelyn and saw sincerity in her eyes. She nodded at Hope.

            Hope slowly unpinned the clasp and unrolled the gauze. Her breath caught in her throat.

            A thick, perhaps inch thick, series of mechanical staples fastened Faith's skin together. The staples would evaporate after her skin grew back but it was a horrid sight. She saw that Madelyn had turned white but the girl reached out nonetheless and gently placed the tips of her fingers on the girl's wound.

            Concentrating, Madelyn's  fingers took on a violet glow but as she poured more power out, the aura changed, grew darker until it was almost black. Madelyn's hand was starting to shake but she bit her tongue in determination and kept it up.

            Faith's skin was beginning to form over the wound, but a thick red mark was left over where the stitches had been. It must have been the scar that Ariel and Madelyn's future selves had been talking about. It was very noticeable but it was not as noticeable as the staples had been.

            Madelyn could do no more. Her hand fell to the covers, limp, and she gasped for air.

            The door opened and Madelyn's older self walked in, dressed in a white nurse's outfit. She smiled.

            "I know my younger self would do what she could. Flex your arm for me Faith."

            The girl obeyed but as she did, she could not hold down the growl of pain that escaped. Madelyn nodded and handed the girl a pill and set a bottle on the side table.

            "We've healed all the outer wounds but your inner wounds will ache for quite a while, probably a month or more. Your nerves are still healing. But take one of those whenever it hurts. If it hurts a lot that one pill doesn't work, take another but don't take another for a good three hours."

            Faith nodded. The elder Madelyn rose but Hope called,

            "Wait!"

            "Hai, Hope?"

            "I…I got another vision from Neptune. She said we need to tell Cosmic Pluto to get the Elysian Senshi."

            "Who?" younger Madelyn asked. But her elder self nodded.

            "Madelyn?"

            The elder girl turned to Faith, "Hai?"

            "Who are the Elysian Senshi?"

            Madelyn took a breath. They had a right to know. And the Cosmic Senshi knew even though the future had not yet arrived. They didn't know how they knew. Perhaps this was how. And she knew that for this battle they needed to know."

            "The Elysian Senshi are the third generation of Senshi."

            "Chelsea's team?" Madelyn's younger self asked. Her elder self nodded.

            Faith gasped,

            "Then…our children?" Inwardly, she said,

            "Sydney's mother…"

            Madelyn's elder self nodded. "I'll tell Cosmic Pluto. Faith I want you taking it easy for a while."

            The girl nodded, without a word as the elder Madelyn left the room.

            Madelyn walked down the hallway, thinking to the past. The thought of winning her mother back was agonizing. The Chibi Senshi had hidden when their parents had been killed. Madelyn's mother was among the last killed. And Hiroshima had been cruel about it.

            She let Haruka, Mirchiru and Setsuna watch.

            Madelyn shook her head. She couldn't dwell on the past.

            "Maggie!"

            Cosmic Pluto turned from the door.

            "Madelyn. What is it?"

            'I know the help we need."

            "Really?"

            "Hai. Hope's younger self told me that Neptune told them to get the Elysian Senshi."

            "The Elysian Senshi…"

            "Hai. You made the time bubble after her parents were murdered. To keep the events concerning future generations the same. We need them."

            "But the laws…"

            "I told them who the Elysian Senshi are. They have a right to know. Besides which, we have already broken several taboos. You need to go get them!"

            Cosmic Pluto took a breath.

            "I'll go tonight."