How Crystal Tokyo Came About

Chapter 13

*~*

"—ei! Rei! Come on, you Pyro, WAKE UP!!!" Serena screeched.

Rei slammed up from the bed and faced her friend. "Jeez, Serena, what gives?" She smirked. "Did you learn how to wake people up like that because that's how your mom always woke you up? Huh, Meatball head?" She asked innocently.

"Rei!" Serena wailed. "STOP TEASING ME!"

Haruka ran in the door and met up with Michiru. They exchanged looks. The old Serena was back. And rarin' to fight.

Trista appeared in the doorway not long after, taking a long look at the shrine maiden sitting in bed, comfortably trading insults with her best friend. The circles under her eyes diminished—were gone—and her eyes sparkled with such an inner vibrance that in an instant, Trista knew what had been done.

And her heart ached for him.

***

Jaedite could barely bring himself to look at her. But she was happy again, and was sleeping normally, so that was all that mattered.

Waving a hand dismissively, he stepped back from the blackness of where he was and wept. Deep, soul-breaking sobs wracked his strong body. He'd done the right thing—but at what cost?

A slender hand reached out and touched his shoulder. "You think it was the right thing to do, Jaedite? Banishing her memories of you and the Moon Kingdom? To free her subconscious of all thoughts of you?"

He looked up at her brokenly. "It was all I could do, Serenity. You tell me what you would have done?"

She knelt down to help him up and looked him squarely in the eye. "The rightness of your actions remains to be discussed, Jaedite. But the reason behind it—your love for Rei… as long as you follow that, all your decisions will be pure and right. And what you have done will not be in vain. Those memories will not be banished from her mind forever. There will be a time and a place for all of that." She finished ominously.

***

The inners sat around Rei's bedside, on pillows and cushions—whatever they could find. Rei was as vibrant and alive as she'd always been, and while they were glad for that, they were worried. What had caused the sudden change in her? What had caused her to change in the first place? Who was the man? And why didn't she remember anything?

The brunette frowned, seeing the puzzle in her head not making any sense. "So Rei, you don't remember anything about Mars or some mysterious guy?"

A small pain triggered in her head as she tried to remember, but she covered it well by assuring them all that her foot was asleep. "No. I don't remember anything about a guy—and as far as Mars goes, all I know is that it's where I lived during the Silver Millennium."

But even that wasn't true; because while that was her home planet, she, like the rest of the inner senshi, had stayed at the Moon Kingdom, with Princess Serenity, so they could protect her better.

Ami looked back down at her mini-computer, glancing at Mina over her shoulder, and shook her head lightly. No change. Rei appeared to be fine, aside from the minor memory loss and previous lack of sleep—that she seemed to have made up from somewhere.

But still, she reasoned, rest would be best until morning. Nothing could work faster and better than rest, and Rei needed to sleep tonight, anyway.

"Ok guys. Everybody out. Rei needs her rest." Ami spoke, in an authoritative tone that shocked even her.

What was even more shocking was that everyone—including Rei herself—complied with her wishes.

While everyone started to file out, Ami walked over by Rei's bed and sat on it. "Are you really ok?"

Rei shrugged, her skepticism on her face. "I don't know. When you guys were asking me about some guy and Mars, I felt like I should have remembered something. I may have forgotten, but I still have an inkling of what it was. But it's like someone just took my brain and blotted out all the memories." She rolled over on her stomach. "We didn't live on our home planets during the Silver Millennium, did we Ami?" She asked quietly.

"No. We didn't." Ami admitted. "We lived on the Moon—"

"—Kingdom. I knew that!" Rei said, smacking her forehead. "But it was like I suddenly forgot." She pushed some hair behind her. "And then, right before I woke up—Ames, I SWEAR I saw someone—and he was crying—and I couldn't help him. I felt so bad that I couldn't help him, but I didn't even know who he was!" The dark-haired girl laughed nervously. "I must sound pretty crazy, huh, Ames?"

Ami had a faraway look in her eyes. "Maybe not so crazy…" She looked back down at her friend, and tucked the blanket up to her chin. "Now rest. We'll talk about it in the morning, ok?"

Rei nodded sleepily, and as if someone had pushed a button, she just curled up on her side and closed her eyes.

The blue-haired genius shook her head, smiling faintly at the sight of the 'whipped' senshi of Mars.

Then, with a purpose in her step, she walked out, closing the door gently, and went to look for Darien.

She had some questions to ask him.

***

End chapter 13

Sorry this was so short. This was a really difficult chapter to write. I had to decide where I was taking it… and I like it. I like it a lot.

Because I'm too lazy to do more author's notes (it's late!) I'm just posting the ones from the "coffee" story. So bear with me.

Oh, and you'll see who I've decided on for the men (guys vs. generals) in the final chapters… which are coming soon… very soon.

I promise.

Ok. Other notes:

Author's Notes:

READ THESE PLEASE! THERE MAY BE SOMETHING THAT CONCERNS YOU!!!

Just so everyone gets this straight, because I get the feeling it confused A LOT of you: the question about the senshi and the generals vs. guys was for *another* story. I am planning on keeping things here the way they are. I was just asking about my other fic, "How Crystal Tokyo Came About," because I wasn't sure where I wanted to take it, and I really trust your guys' opinion. (I really have to shorten that title.)

Ok. This I just decided. We're calling "How Crystal Tokyo Came About," "Crystal," and we're calling "How About A Cup of Coffee," "Coffee." Alright? Alright.

For more news on the fanfic homefront: I am looking for a beta-reader. (ducks at incoming emails) Since my limited email access, I wouldn't be able to send it to you before posting. Which I guess defeats the purpose—but anyway, I'm looking for an editor/reader/PERSON who I can consult for all this stuff. Like the generals vs. guys, whether the outers should be introduced, etc.

I should probably just open a message board. Hmm. Maybe I will look into that.

Another order of business: I am going to set up a notification list for everyone who wants to know when I update. I don't know if it will be specifically Sailor Moon, but if you want to be on it, I'll just take your emails off the reviews. So I'll just assume that EVERYONE who left a review with their email wants to be on it. Leave me a review with instructions saying that you DON'T WANT TO BE ON IT if you don't.

And lastly, check out Fleur's (On ff.net.) work. She's one of my friends and she has a really great multi-chaptered one out there.

Ok that's all for now… don't forget to check out *my* other Sailor Moon fics while you're waiting—especially, Gray Sky Morning—which I just *crosses fingers* finished.