Chapter 12
Darien awoke in bed. He looked around to see unfamiliar surroundings. Darien could barely move from all the pain. Curious of his surroundings, he tried to get up, but a splitting pain came from his side causing him to let out a cry.
"What's wrong?" India asked with a worried look as she came rushing into the room.
"Where am I?" Darien asked.
"You're at my house." India answered. "You should really try and rest; you got really hurt in the battle. Freya came and helped us get you over here."
"What exactly happened to me?" Darien inquired. "I can barely remember a thing. All I remember is a pain in my side and blood everywhere."
India looked down at the floor. She didn't know if she should tell him what happened are not.
Why are still protecting her? A voice inside India asked her that sounded like Nanashi's. I'm not-I'm protecting Darien. India answered, not really sure who she was protecting anymore. "Well," India hesitated, "you were hit by one of Sailor Moon's attacks. When she attacked Dark Moon, her attack was quickly dodged and hit you in the side. There was blood everywhere. We couldn't possibly take you to the hospital and have answer their questions about what happened, or to your apartment with so many people to see the injury."
"What happened after that?" Darien asked. "What about Rini and the Twins? What happened after all this?"
"I don't think Serena could take what she had done, even though it was an accident. She passed out a little while after you were hit. Rini and the Twins were crying a lot. I don't know if Rini will come to see you, though. Right now she's torn between sides and coming here won't help anything. If she does come I'll bring her up to talk to you. Do you need anything?"
"No," Darien answered, "but I am a little hungry."
"I'll go get you some soup and tea. The Twins want to see you, I guess I'll tell them they can come up." India leaned down and kissed Darien softly on the forehead. "Be strong for all of us, even Serena, Rini, and the Scouts, be strong. I love you."
Darien wipe a fugitive tear away from India's eye. "I love you."
India smiled, and walked out the door.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Rei shook Serena softly. "Serena?" Rei whispered with tears in her eyes. "Serena, wake up. Wake up, Serena." She looked at Serena, and then at Rini. Rini sat in a corner holding her legs against her chest. Tears covered her face. Rini hadn't said much of anything since they came back to Rei's temple.
"Would you like something to eat Rini?" Mina asked.
Rini just shook her head. All she did was stare straight ahead at Serena. Her eye were bloodshot, and her face was puffy.
"Serena, wake up." Rei pleaded. "Please, wake up."
"This isn't very good for either of them, especially Serena." Lita commented. "This is just too much stress for both of them. I wonder if they'll be able to fight in the next battle."
"I guess we'll just have to wait for the other shoe to rise." Mina said.
"That's drop, Mina." Ami corrected.
"Whatever." Mina replied. "It's amazing, after all this you still find the time to correct me. As I was saying, I guess we'll just have to wait for the other shoe to drop. That's all we can do for now with them in this condition."
"You're completely correct Mina." Ami said. "They can't fight like this. This is our most vulnerable time. The enemy can strike at any time and we would be destroyed."
"I know," Mina said. "I really thought we were becoming friends before all this. Maybe it was all just a trick."
Rei looked at Serena. She finally decided to just let her rest for the time being. "I think you're both wrong about her. From what I can remember, India has never, ever completely given up on us. Don't you all remember on the Moon Kingdom, even though her heart was broken and she could barely face any of us, she still came and helped us fight. I also remember us always pressuring her to choose between us and Nanashi, the only person that ever truly understood what she was and what she went through. I'm sure Nanashi started to fade a long time before the Moon Kingdom ended. India is not evil-she's just confused. I think in the end, she will help us. In her heart, she knows that even though Nanashi is a friend, she will one day betray her for the throne. India won't let that happen."
"Rei is right." Ami said. "Out there, when we were battling, she had such a look of confusion on her face. She told me that the main reason she couldn't join us was because of her relationship with Darien. She and Serena can't be on the same side with something like this hanging over their heads. She was so troubled when I asked her questions. The reason she came to us as a friend is because she wants to be friends."
"If that is true, wouldn't it be easier if she just joined our side?" Lita asked.
"I asked the same question," Ami answered, "but she didn't have an answer for that question."
"You say the main reason she can't join our side is because of her relationship with Darien?" Mina asked. She nodded if answering a question she had in her head. "What if Nanashi is using her relationship with Darien against us? I mean, it seem they have had their memories of the past long before we did."
"You know you might be right about that Mina." Lita responded. "Just think about it, Nanashi must have known India and Darien would be together again long before anyone else. Before the first battle, she must have been pushing India to join her side because of that relationship. She could have told her that we wouldn't have accepted it."
"And all along, she knew that Darien would fight with India on either side she was on." Rei continued. "Darien, fighting on their side, would confuse us and cause problems with Serena."
"So she told India that Darien could be brought to their side." Ami concluded. "She must have been thinking of this for some time. She must have known we couldn't have won without India on our side."
"But from what you and Rei are telling us, it seems she won't have anything to keep India from joining our side soon, except the constant reminder of the problems her relationship is doing." Lita said.
"She does have back up, though." Mina said. "She can raise our old enemies from the dead. I mean, if she raises too many we will be outnumbered."
"Mina they are old enemies," Rei said. "If you haven't noticed, we have grown a lot stronger since we first started doing this. We didn't even kill most of our more important enemies, like Alan and Ann-just their minions. It isn't the point of being outnumbered, but outmatched. Since we have new and stronger powers we can take on more than one old enemy at a time."
"Yeah," Mina responded, "but what if she raises enemies that only Serena could destroy, or Mistress Nine who only Hotaru could destroy. If she raises too many we will be defeated. Don't you remember Queen Beryl, we died Rei-died! If Serena tries to defeat too many enemies at once with the Silver Imperium Crystal she will die."
"How could you all say such cruel things?" Rini screamed. "How could you even think of letting India join our side? Serena won't die! She can take on anybody, even India."
"Rini try to calm down." Rei pleaded.
"No!" Rini yelled. "She broke my family apart, and you want her to join us. My mother is lying in a bed unconscious, and my father is deeply wounded, and I don't even know if I can go see him. You want me to calm down? How would you feel if this were you? Would you calm down?" With that, Rini ran out of the room.
"Rini, wait!" Rei screamed after her.
"No," Lita said holding Rei back. "Let her go. She needs time alone."
* * * * * * * * * * * *
"This is just great!" Nanashi exclaimed reviewing all that had happened. "I can't wait until the final battle. Now would be the perfect time to attack with all their defenses down. But, I think I'll wait until the perfect time to attack. It will be even better to see them fall ready for the fight, telling them they never even had a chance." Nanashi laughed coldly.
"Anyway, this gives me more time to observe all the problems that are soon to announce themselves into their lives. It'll be fun to watch Serena handle everything. I have some unfinished business to attend to anyway. I have to make sure my future husband is ready for the task. They can go on with their small lives-for now."
* * * * * * * * * * * *
"Hello, Father." Meilin greeted.
"How are you feeling?" Yukito asked.
"Not bad, except for the pain in my side." Darien responded. "How are you two doing?"
"We are fine," Meilin answered quickly.
"She is lying." Yukito informed. "I am fine, but Meilin is exhausted. Lately, she has been using too much energy, and has not been getting enough rest. She is going to tire herself out if she continues like this. She is living in a world of rose colored glasses if she believes any differently."
"I am fine," Meilin insisted. "I do not need to rest, and I'm not living in a world of rose colored glasses."
"Maybe you should go rest Meilin," Darien said.
"No," Meilin replied. "I have not seen you much since we got here, so I want to stay. Can I please stay?"
"Sure." Darien answered. "I don't see what the problem is for now."
India walked into the room with a tray. "Here you go Darien. I hope you can eat something. I'll help you sit up." India placed the tray on a nearby table in the room. She walked over to Darien and helped him sit up, and placed pillows behind his back. Their eyes met for a brief moment
"That is amazing." Meilin said dreamily.
"What is?" Darien asked.
"Even now, you two look at each other with pure love." Meilin answered. "You always look at each other like that in the future. It is great to see that you have not changed at all."
India blushed. "Why don't you two tell us about the future?" She asked.
"We live in a palace on the other side of the kingdom from Neo Queen Serenity." Yukito answered. "The grounds are beautiful. The garden is full of all different kinds of roses, but mostly red ones. In the middle of the garden, is a reflecting pool with a few fish. There is an Olympic size pool at the back of the palace. Leading into the palace, is a magnificent portico. Inside, is a huge ballroom and dining room for balls, that we hold at least once a month there. The kitchen is big, as is the living room. At the back, we have a training room for me and Meilin. We have plenty of bedrooms, each having there own sitting room and bathroom. Some of the bedrooms have their own private balconies, including the master bedrooms. The downstairs has a few bathrooms, too. It is big, but it is smaller than Serenity's."
"There is a legend about you, too, Mother." Meilin said. "Since you were not there at the beginning of Crystal Tokyo, people who remembered you from the Moon Kingdom made a legend. You are known as the Lost Princess mostly, but your official title is Princess Neo as it was in the Moon Kingdom. You are the joint Head of Security-with Father. You are known as the Lost Princess because those who remembered you said that you were lost. They say, after great difficulties in love you had to leave and find yourself again. Only when you did that, could you return to the kingdom and reclaim your love. Obviously, they are talking about you and Father, but no one knows that. It took you years to complete your self-appointed task."
"By the time you returned, Father and Serenity had already married." Yukito said. "To you two, that really didn't matter much at all-I guess that's part of the reason you had an affair. All you two thought about was each other. When you became pregnant, no one thought anything of it or of who the father was because of the legend. Everyone just assumed that you had regained your true love. No one has ever figured out, to this day, who that person is, though, they think soon after you became pregnant our father died."
"You and Father would be together now, but you don't want to cause an uprising." Meilin said. "Neo Queen Serenity is one of the few people who know that you are our parents. Soon after Mother gave birth to us, Serenity became pregnant. Not only would it have been an uprising over the affair then, there would also be a war over succession to the throne. It would be very much like the one that is being fought now, only bigger with a lot more people getting hurt."
"You all got together and decided that Rini would succeed the throne after Serenity." Yukito explained. "I would take the throne in case anything ever happened to Rini or if she did not bear any heirs. I do not think Rini remembers us, but before now we have met her. She has even came to a few of our balls."
"I am the apprentice to Sailor Pluto." Meilin announced proudly. "I might not ever come to the throne, so when Pluto is gone I shall take her place as Time Keeper. In the case that I do become queen, someone else will be trained to take my place."
"That's the reason why Meilin is so tired. Rini has Pluto to help her to come to the future, but Meilin brought us here. It was seen as good training for her or something. She is only a beginner so it still takes a lot of energy from her."
"I have to say, I'm glad you came," Darien said. "I just think all of this is a lot of pressure on you two. It seems we have put too much burden on your shoulders in the future."
"Are you two all right with this?" India asked. "This has to be especially hard on you. You don't even have a whole family."
"At first, it was hard on us when we got old enough to understand, which was only a few years ago." Yukito answered.
"But now we see it was the only way for things to be," Meilin replied with wisdom beyond her years. "This secret would hurt more that just our family if it got out, it would hurt the whole kingdom. Father comes to see us all the time when he can. You were going to wait until later to tell Rini. The only reason we were told was because Father was not there all the time, and you were not married. We needed to know now so there would not be any slip ups on our part to tell who our father really was."
"What about the servants?" India asked. "Don't they know that me and Darien are not married?"
"Of course," Yukito said. "You had to let them know. We only have about five servants anyway because you do not like many people waiting after you. The servants are very trusted friends and understand. They vowed to keep your secret."
"It seems both happy and sad at the same time in the future," Darien said. "It's great to see that you can handle this so well. I just hope Rini can handle it just as well."
"We should really let you rest Darien." India said. "You need the sleep. I'll be back later with something more for you to eat." India leaned down and she and Darien kissed.
"I need to go rest myself anyway." Meilin said. "I feel like I could just fall at any minute. I need the rest more than I am willing to admit." Meilin ran and hugged Darien, careful not to squeeze to tight. "I love you. I hope you feel well soon, Father."
"I hope you get well, Father." Yukito said. "Come on, Meilin. I will walk you to your room." Meilin and Yukito walked out the room and down the hall.
"I'll take your tray down." India said. "Just remember to get better. It pains me to see you lying in bed like this."
"For you, I will do anything." Darien said. Darien held his arms out for India to hug him. She went to him with tears in her eyes.
"Don't worry about me." Darien whispered into India's ear.
"I'll try not to, but it's hard. I love you too much."
They kissed each other one final time. Then India got off the bed, and took the tray out of the room.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Rini stood outside India's house looking at the front door. She didn't know if she should go in or not. Tears formed in her eyes again as she stood there undecided. The things the Scouts had said had shaken her up. What if they were right? What if they did need India to win? Could Rini really ever except the fact that Darien had other children? Was she strong enough to handle everything that happened-and everything that was going to happen?