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Chapter 7: Hidden Memories
~Tokyo Rabbit (aka Bird Killer)
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Grinning, he shrugged his broad shoulders and said, "Nothing."
"Eat!" I commanded, smiling as well.
Last night played in my head again, making that smile spread even wider. I wasn't really sure how it happened, but I'm glad it did. Apparently he was as well.
"You know," I said, taking a sip of my ves tea, "Last night I dreamed."
"Dreamed?"
"It's the first time in forever that I hadn't had a nightmare," I sighed.
He paused, "Rena, what were your nightmares about? The castle?"
I tried to explain them to him the best I could. Half of them where so mottled I couldn't understand or I couldn't remember the morning after. The bits and pieces I did remember-- falling into the stars, leaving behind someone special, glyphs, roses-I had difficulty relaying to him, but he was patient and understanding. Isn't he the greatest?
"Perhaps it is the influence of the ghosts, or even the castle," he said after a moment of thought.
"That sounds reasonable, considering," I smiled as he took my hand into his from where he sat.
A certain hurt came over his face as he flipped it over to inspect the palm. After the rose incident, Darren demanded that Dr. Wo look at my hand and tend to it. In frustration I unbound the bandages when I got home. It took a couple of days for the gashes to heal enough for the ability to move it to come back. The gashes slowly turned into cuts, but they were still evident.
"I'm sorry," Darren said softly.
"Sorry for what? How were you to know?" I chided delicately.
Kissing my palm tenderly, he murmured in it, "I'm sorry just the same."
I was about to tell him that he was being silly, but decided against it. Soon after, 2 came around. Standing on the air and spaceport grounds, I tried not to cry by yelling at myself mentally for being so emotional. It wasn't as if I'd never see him again.
"I promise to come back and visit as often as I can until you can return to Earth," Darren hugged me, murmuring in my loose hair.
"I promise to get better," I wrapped my arms around him tightly, sniffling in his iron chest.
He kissed me softly then looked me in the eyes, "You better, or so help me there'll be hell to pay."
I smiled at him, blinking constantly in my raging war against down pour, "Send reports?"
"I will," and with one last embrace and lengthy, heavenly kiss, I watched him board the jet.
Waving frantically like a loon, I watched the contraption disappear into the sky. I made a promise as well, to solve the letters. Burning with energy, I headed directly towards the largest library located on Phoebe, which so happened to be conveniently located across from my apartment building. Heh heh....
Sitting down at a table with my arms overflowing with document-pilots and then some, I began researching like a maniac. Everything on anything that even remotely had an installment or even mentioned the Silver Court, Millennium, or Royal Family was in front of me. Luckily I had snagged an empty table. That was something I adored about this particular library. The tables were long where several people could sit and have plenty of elbowroom and reading lights for every individual. On the tabletops there where touch screens that only activated when you wished. They gave you access to the UWW (universe wide web), library archives, and so much more.
I only paused my relentless voyage through the tombs once to look at my watch. It was getting really late, but I just couldn't stop myself. Picking the 'Our History' pilot back up something sudden caught my eye. The television in my workspace turned on. My brow furrowing, I pressed the off button, but it remained on.
"--last transmission was moments before the shuttle's signal disappeared completely. Captin Rtu, the pilot of the now missing craft, reported that there were odd differentiations in their instrumentation. We will now play the audio from the craft that was retrieved just before its disappearance: 'fzzt -- our trajectory seems to-- wait, what is that? A strange blue light bzzrt!'
"This makes the fifth shuttle to vanish--"
Then the screen shut off. Another one? It was chilling, how those commercial jets would go missing. No remains, no signals. Nothing. Perhaps the universe was finally collapsing without the Brightest Stars to protect it. A strange sensation came with that thought. It had come with such ease into my mind and made me feel nonchalant. It didn't scare me, the universe collapsing; it was as if it wasn't the truth. Not so simple as the end of existence but something deeper than that.
I gave a little laugh. Such strange and scattered thoughts. The late hour after such an emotional day must have been getting to me, causing random and silly thoughts to protrude into my mind.
Placing the impossible amounts of pilots on the return shelf, I stepped out into the cool night. Stretching, my attention was caught by the ever-present vision of Phoebe's mother star, Saturn; such a beautiful sight to see. It was just as mysterious and eerily beautiful as it's ruler, Queen Eris. She was the same Sailor Saturn who fought by Sailor Cosmos' (or Sailor Moon) side. There was only one other Ambassador who hadn't been reborn at least once, and that was Queen Persephone, Pluto's ruler. Persephone was almost as old as time with the blood of Cronos running in her veins.
A thought crossed my mind. Perhaps the queen of the twin planet knew something. Even if it wasn't something about the Shige Wars, maybe something about the Royal Family that would lead me in the right direction.
My apartment was a welcome sight compared to the endless lists of text. That and it still smelled like Darren, like roses. I wondered if it was from working in the gardens. Looking at my watch, I figured that he was on Earth. It was just after day there, so he must have gotten a small amount of work done before the routine storm.
Yawning, I made a mental note to call the Counsel in the morning for clearance to go to Pluto and speak with her Majesty. I climbed into bed after changing into my pink PJs. My face hit a pillow and a smile spread across my face as my hands swept under the fluffy goodness. Visions from last night replayed in my head, making me feel as light as a feather.
Sighing, I rolled over and opened my eyes to see a blinking light. Brow furrowing, I stretched across the bed and searched for the item. It was my communication pilot. Tapping a couple of the buttons on the touch-screen, I realized I had a new message. It was from Darren!
"Hey gorgeous. Here's my first report on my first day back on Earth," he smiled his knee-weakening smile, "Nothing really cataclysmic happened while I was gone. Everyone misses you though and hopes to see you soon. I agree wholeheartedly."
Rolling on my back, I giggled, watching the message.
"Working in the gardens I saw a few white wisps and thought it might have been one of your ghosts, but nothing happened. It was probably some sand or something," he didn't sound too sure, but I forgave him, "I miss you terribly," he stopped and looked at his watch, "every second of the ten hours we've been apart. See you soon love."
And that was the end. Ug. Tossing the contraption on the floor, I whined, "It was too short!"
I missed him painfully as well, and before I couldn't stand the sight of him. Funny how things can turn out.
*~
Waking early I got dressed and ate a huge breakfast for there was a feeling deep inside of me that told of great discoveries lying in wait for me to come along. Pulling one particular pilot from my workbag, I pressed one speed dial number and a familiar face of a red haired secretary appeared, "Kyosusumu, capital palace of the Silver Court. This is Sana speaking, how my I help you?"
"This is Dr. Rena Lumiera. Please direct me to Queen Diopside. Thank you."
A picture of a woman with short, sandy blond hair replaced the one of the capital secretary. She smiled regally, "Rena, what can I do for you?"
"I need permission to fly to Pluto and hold a counsel with Queen Persephone," I replied, "To research a theory of mine on the Royal Family."
The queen paused for a moment, "As far as traveling is concerned, I may permit that...."
I was about to ask her who I had to call to gain an audience with the Queen of Time, but the picture of Diopside became smaller and moved to the second half of the screen as the first half became occupied with a picture of a woman whose hair was of dark jade and eyes of wise maroon. I shivered slightly. This woman was the oldest being in the entire universe.
"Yes, Diopside?" Persephone, or as she was known eons ago, Sailor Pluto asked the queen of Uranus.
"This, as I'm sure you remember, is Dr. Lemuria, who we assigned to research Our Royal Family," the first queen briefly introduced me. "Yes, and the one we recently banned from Earth," the second ruler replied.
I winced.
"Yes, well.... She seeks an audience with your Grace."
There was a long, awkward pause until Persephone said, "Yes, I have an opening today."
And that was it. The half of the screen that contained the Queen of Pluto blipped to black and Diopside's side filled the full once more.
"Well, there you go Rena," the Head of Travel relations smiled, "Now if you will, insert your passkey so I can confirm it."
I dumbly reached for a transparent, plastic card, my passkey. Inserting it into a slot in the top of the black pilot, a thought crossed my mind, "Uh, I forgot to ask when her opening was."
There was a small beep and the card popped out for me to grab, "Don't worry about it. Good luck."
And that was it. Ug.
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TR- Minna-san! Gomen nasai! Times 1,000! I really am sorry for not posting in so long, but things have been really hectic lately. I was going to double this chapter, but since you've all been so patient and death threats have been minimum, I decided to break chapter 7 into two parts. I'll get working on the second part now!
6-13-03
(Unedited)