Part 2
~Tokyo Rabbit (and don't you forget it!)
~*~
She smiled serenely at me, calming my nerves a considerable degree, "Dr. Lemuria, it is good to see you once more face-to-face."
"Thank you your Majesty," I bowed somewhat awkwardly.
"Now, come walk with me and tell me what it is that you have traveled so far to speak with me about," Queen Persephone stood from her throne of midnight elegance and led me to her gardens of aster, hippeastrum, myrtle, gladiolus, and heather-all flowers telling of the Queen's preferred solitude and timelessness.
"Your Majesty-" I began but she waved a hand gracefully to interrupt.
"Please, call me Persephone. Formalities are unnecessary and take up time, and that is something we lack," she said.
"A-alright, Persephone," I repeated slowly, "Uh-well, I came here to talk about the past."
"Naturally."
"In countless reports, you have said that you have no recollection of the past. How is that? You were there right?"
"Yes, I was. I guarded the Queen of Moon's daughter in the old Millennium, watched her die by her own grieving hand. I guarded the Gates of Time for an era, met the legendary soldier Sailor Moon and her Guards. I then fought by her side, watched her become Queen of Earth and later the Universe. A war came from the darkness and the Queen emerged as the Ultimate Soldier, Sailor Cosmos. The Guards of the Inner and Outer planetary rings fought along side her, as did all others throughout the Court, but now she is missing," Persephone paused, "I do not remember anything of the Shige Wars that took the Royal Family from us."
"Nothing at all?" I asked, near desperation.
"Nothing at all. I know it is due to Queen Serenity, but I know not her reason behind blocking everyone in the Universe's memories. Whether it be by rebirth or by some other means, when the Royal Family returns to us, I suspect that everyone's memories will as well."
"I hope it'll be soon," I said half mindedly, looking at the floral variety.
I felt her eyes on me.
"Uh-well, you know. It seems like the number of natural disasters are multiplying by leaps. It's unnatural. Ships disappearing without any trace, extreme seasons, violent storms that break records.... Everything seems to be ripping at the seams."
"Mm." Was all she said.
"Also, the activities in the Crystal Palace seem to be a result of some sort of reaction to these events. What do you think?"
Persephone was silent for a moment or two then said, "The attack presented by this unknown enemy during the Shige Wars must have been something implausible for Serenity to block all knowledge of it from every being's memories and for it to drive back the Royal Family's efforts to contain it. What I fear most is what I know: it will happen again. Come, let me show you something."
Following the timeless Queen through her palace, a strange, fluttering feeling began to form in the pit of my stomach. She led me through vast hallways and then a slew of tiny, less magnificent ones until we came upon a pair of double doors that looked like they led to a servant's quarters. Persephone opened the doors and stepped aside leaving me to step inside the room first.
What I saw was something I would have never suspected to behind those doors of dark chocolate: a vast room that made any other room in the palace seem almost miniscule in comparison. It was empty except for another pair of doors that were truly gargantuan in size and magnificence. Beautiful carvings adorned the wood that I'm sure were each several tons in weight.
I breathed a sigh in awe.
"These are the Doors of Time," Persephone closed the miniscule doors behind her, "There are only one other pair leading to the time limbo where I spent most of my eternity before meeting Queen Selenity and then later her daughter and heir. They reside in the Crystal Palace on Earth.
"What is so significant about these doors that only members of the Royal Family and myself are able to open these doors. I can travel through time as easily as one draws breath, normally."
"Normally?" I asked in a somewhat small voice, head spinning and stomach churning in awe of what the Queen was showing me.
"I cannot even travel to the time of the Shige Wars. A powerful seal is upon that gateway and not even I, the Guardian of all Time can pass through it. The King and Queen were desperate in their attempts to thwart the enemy."
"Very...." I replied somewhat dumbfounded.
*~
I plopped down on my couch and threw my feet upon my coffee table. The trip to Pluto and back wore me out. What I had hoped to accomplish there was halfway satisfied. I learned that the Queen of Pluto, indeed, knew nothing about the Shige Wars and that I need to solve this mystery faster than I had intended.
'What I fear most is what I know: it will happen again....' Those words frightened me.
But I was also very confused and puzzled over what Queen Persephone said before I left, 'What does stick out in my mind, that might help you is that the Queen always kept a mirror in her chambers. It is an obscure memory that I can't seem to get rid of for strange reasons I do not know.'
A mirror? Why would I look for a mirror? But, being on this case for some time, nothing really seems to make any since so why rule out the unobvious and estranged?
My thoughts were interrupted by a beeping sound. It was my communicator. Taking it out of my bag, I saw that I had a new message, and to my elation it was from Darren.
'Here's my second report on my second day away from you,' he smiled, 'Well, the thorns on the roses have fallen off and they seem to have stop growing, which is good. Also, I heard voices in the gardens one night while I was working late, but no one was there. Strange huh? They could have been a result of lack of sleep. Who knows?'
I would bet anything that they were the spirits of castle rather lack of sleep.
'Also, I need you to check something for me. Vieux-Neo-Queen Serenity had a wedding ring. Currently it's in a museum for me; I need you to check on it and see if it's authentic. Can't say why now,' he winked, 'It's a secret. Hope to see you soon, bye.'
And the screen went blank. Once again, too short. Pressing a couple of touch screen buttons, I began to record my own message.
"Hello, Darren. Here's my report as promised. Today I traveled to Pluto to discuse the Shige Wars with her. As suspected, she knows nothing about them. She even showed me the Doors of Time and told me that that time period is blocked off from any travelers. Queen Serenity did a number on everyone's memories and sealed off a portion of time. Queen Persephone is afraid that whatever caused the Royal Family to take such drastic measures is about to happen again. I'm also thinking the same thing.
"I went to the library yesterday and found absolutely nothing. I'm going to locate Serenity's wedding ring for you and investigate. I miss you, send everyone my love. Bye."
Getting on the UWW, it took me only moments to find the beautiful artifact that the Queen wore for a good portion of her life. Pictures showed me that the ring had a huge diamond and a gold band with tiny moons carved in it. Currently it was being displayed in a museum on Sinope, Jupiter.
Looking at my watch, I figured I had plenty of time to book a jet and view it, seeing how Sinope and Phoebe's time zones were completely different.
*~
"Oh, I'm so sorry but the ring is not here." A short, portly man apologized to me.
I looked at the curator in disbelief, "Not here? Where is it? Your site claimed to have it on display here."
"Well, we did for a short while," he explained, "But Queen Minerva was most adamant on possessing it. She claimed to have an attachment to it and insisted that she keep it in her vaults. We had no choice."
And that was it. I had to call the Queen Diopside and get permission to fly to Phobos Deimos, Mars' castle and talk with the Queen there as soon as possible. Which I did.
*~
The Queen of Mars, Ruby-Queen Minerva, was just as beautiful as the Onyx-Queen of Pluto but different in almost every way. Her hair was the fieriest of reds that reached down to her knees in glistening waves while her eyes were a deep violet. Minerva's gown consisted of red velvets and gold ribbons which complimented her bronzed skin.
"You wish to see Neo-Queen Serenity's ring?" She asked, eyeing me suspiciously, "Why?"
"Dr. Conway, my partner in the Crystal Tokyo excavation, and I have reason to question it's authenticity," I stated, not really sure which reason that would be.
"Why is that?" She asked even more skeptically.
Damn. The one question I really didn't because, as I said before, I didn't know the reasoning. Darren chose to keep that little tidbit of information from me.
"I--uh, well, you see, if it is authentic, then it could hold the key to unlocking several secrets of Crystal Tokyo," I had no idea why I said that, but it seemed to work as the Queen stood from her throne and nodded to one of the Duchesses that were a part of her own Guard, as they were in the past life-Phobos and Deimos from the planet Cronos.
The young woman with raven black hair bowed and left the throne room only to return with a small gold box. Queen Minerva held out her hand and opened the box with a tiny golden key that materialized in her grasp. Once the lid came up she reached inside with both hands (the key remained in the lock) to pull out a smaller box of gold. She beckoned me towards her with a commanding look and opened the box as I neared. Inside was the diamond ring that Neo-Queen Serenity owned.
"It's beautiful...." I breathed.
"I remember the girl I knew in my past lives who was to become Queen and wear this ring," Queen Minerva spoke, "Then I was known as Princess Minerva, daughter of King Ares, and then later Hino Rei, personal friend to the Princess of the Moon. She was dear to me in ways I cannot understand. I suppose it's called friendship, one of the truest forms."
I listened to the Queen's confession intently.
"She was as dear to me as my own life, probably even more so as I forfeited it several times. I long to know her in this life to protect and befriend her as I did in the past. This is the reason I took the ring into my personal collection to watch over it so I could return it to her once she returned to us."
For some reason, I felt my heart swell with endearment at her statement.
"May I?" I asked.
"Yes," she smiled at me, a rare thing to see.
I carefully pulled the ring out of the box and inspected it.
"I really do not know how you will determine on whether it is the genuine ring or not, but I hope you will be able to figure it out," she said.
"Honestly, I really don't know how I'll be able to tell either," I smiled at her, giving her the truth.
She smiled again.
I turned the object over and over in my hands, inspecting it closely, "I suppose I'll need some of my-"
I started to tell her that I needed some equipment to gauge it's age by carbonation and other factors, but I felt something give away as I turned it over in my fingers. Looking down I saw the ring lying on my palm and in an instant a pile of sand replaced the ring.
"What-" the Queen looked at the small pile in disbelief, a slender hand reaching up timidly to clarify what the eyes had seen, "What did you do...?!"
"I-I-" I was at a loss, "I have no idea what happened!"
"How could you?! The one link I had to her and it's gone!" She gasped, temperature rising.
"I-I don't know what happened-I'm so sorry! Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry, your Majesty!" I cried, nearing tears.
The guilt was more painful than the vision I had of myself sitting in universal prison on a prison star. Unsure of what to do, I carefully poured the remains in her shaking hands and thought of running.
"I really do apologize-I have no idea how it happened...." I said, lip trembling.
There were a few tense moments as I stood there ridged and shaking with guilt and fear while Minerva stood there clenching onto the grains of sand, wide eyed and the twin duchesses were peering over her shoulder shocked. I considered again making a run for it.
"Rena is it?" Her Majesty's voice was shaking slightly.
"Yes...."
Slowly I watched the Queen's expression soften somewhat as she straightened herself out, "Is that your real name?"
"No. It's Serene your Majesty," I replied, somewhat puzzled. Perhaps she was asking for mug shot purposes.
She was now looking out of one of the palace windows with a far off look in her violet eyes and whispered, "You remind me of her...."
"May I call you that? Serene?"
"Uh-yes, you may."
"Serene," she looked back at me, all the anger and shock gone from her eyes, "I hope you find the real ring and solve this mystery."
I watched her pour the sand from her hand and then brush the rest of it off on her dress, making Phobos and Deimos smirk.
"Have you been to see a physician yet?" Minerva asked.
"No, your Majesty-"
"Then go to one, get a complete checkup. Contact me with the results and depending on the results, we will set up an appeal with the Counsel for your return to Earth."
"Oh! Your Majesty-"
"Please, Minerva."
"Uh-yes, Minerva. Thank you so much!" I smiled.
She returned the smile, "I hope your travels go well."
*~
"And it dissolved right in my hands!" I exclaimed into my communicator.
'Really?! I hadn't expected that....'
Currently I was soaking in a bathtub filled of bubbles talking to Darren. The storms on Earth weren't due for another half hour so it made actual communication possible.
'What I did expect was for it to be a fake,' he replied.
"Where do you think the real one is?" I asked, shifting my elbow on the side of the tub so I could hold the pilot a little better.
'Around-are you in the tub?' He asked.
I giggled, "Yes, now around where?"
It took him a moment or two to recompose himself (hee), 'I think it's around your neck.'
"What?!" I yelped nearly dropping the pilot into the water.
'If those letters turn out to be from Neo-Queen Serenity, then that ring of yours is most definitely her wedding ring that the King gave to her.'
"But my father said it was a servant's ring!" I cried.
'He may have been wrong,' seeing the rage rise in my face, he added quickly, 'He was a great man, Rena, one of the best, but he may have been fooled like the rest of us. That ring you dissolved-' insert smirk here, '-was discovered way before his time. There was no reason for him to believe your ring was something more. And who knows, I may be wrong.'
"Hmm... Maybe...."
We talked until the reception began to break up due to the storms, but I made sure to fix something that was bothering me before we had to say good bye.
"Darren?"
'Yes?"
"Call me Serene from now on, okay?"
He smiled, 'Okay, Serene. Good night, sweet dreams."
"Good night, sleep tight, Darren."
That night, alone in my bed, I dreamt of mirrors....
@----------}--------------- TR- I'm sorry I worried so many of you about this story, but I really had no idea how to get the transition from ch 6 to the second half of ch 7, so ch7 part one was, in fact, sorta a filler. But I just wanna thank Pia B. for the sweet review! Hee! It made me write faster. And thank you EVERYONE who have reviewed! Your reviews will help me get the next chapter out (which I have outlined) faster! I PROMISE!
(unedited)
6-17-03