Part 7: Friends Go Missing
-November 26th, 1999-
Queen Metallia sat in her palace in the Negaverse, extremely tense and extremely pissed off. She was in her quarters, sitting in one of her lounge chairs, but she was sitting upright and stiff. She was fed up with everything. Those miserable warriors had managed to kill her favorite general, General Talpa, and had destroyed all of the minions she sent after them. And their number kept getting bigger and bigger. The arrival of the Fate and Destiny warriors had been enough for her. Those two girls were proving to be a nuisance equally as annoying as the rest of those insufferable Warriors. Metallia wished she could just get rid of the lot of them, but her powers weren't, as of then, strong enough to face all of them at once. She would have to derive a plan that would destroy them slowly, weaken them up before she fought them. Once they were weakened down, they would be easier to destroy. Cradling her golden treasure in her hand, her secret weapon for defeating the Universal Warriors, she called for one of her generals. A few moments passed and Almandine walked in the room, her dark burgundy eyes radiating with superiority and arrogance.
"Yes, my queen? You summoned me?"
"Well, I didn't summon you specifically, but you'll have to do," Metallia said. "I have a mission for you. Do you think you're able to do it?"
"I am able to do anything you ask of me, Queen Metallia."
Metallia smiled wickedly, her tongue running over her lips. "Good, good," she muttered. "Almandine," she said, "I want you to devise a plan that will start the destruction of the Universal Warriors. Nothing big, but enough to weaken them slowly over time. Those are your orders. Now leave me." Almandine smiled and bowed deeply.
"Your wish is my command, my Queen." She exited the large chambers, leaving Metallia by herself with her most precious object. Holding the golden object in her hands, she held it up to look at. "You, my lovely, are going to be the thing that destroys the Universal Warriors. They won't know what hit them." Metallia laughed slightly as she thought of the day when she would rule the universe, a day Metallia thought should have come 1000 years ago.
***
-November 27th, 1999-
The sound of the slamming of the front door alarmed everybody as they sat down to eat breakfast one Saturday morning. The whole house was present, except for Serena who had spent the night at Molly's house the night before. It was obvious to everyone that the person who stormed in the house was the one and only Serena Tsukino. "I wonder what's wrong with Serena?" Mina asked right before Serena burst into the room. The Universal Warriors all turned to look at Serena. She had tears in her eyes and tear streaks on her cheeks. Her hair was a mess and she was all disheveled. Darien was the first one to reach her, pulling her into his arms and holding her close to him. The moment Darien's arms wrapped around Serena, she started sobbing uncontrollably. Darien looked miserable as he stood there, holding his true love. He couldn't stand seeing her in the state she was in; it broke his heart and he would do anything to make the pain go away. He picked up Serena and walked over to the chair he was just occupying, sitting down on it with Serena situated in his lap. The rest of the Universal Warrior gathered around Darien and Serena. Ryo was standing directly to the side of Darien, his hand on Serena's shoulder, caressing it comfortingly. He was letting her know that he was there for her if she ever wanted to talk to him. Serena could only continue to sob. Everyone stood around Darien and Serena, offering her their strength and sending their hearts out to her. They hated to see their esteemed leader so emotionally distraught. Eventually, Serena had calmed down enough to stop crying and Michelle left the room briefly, returning a few minutes later with a box of tissues. She made her way through the small crowd to where Serena was and held out the box to her. "Thanks," Serena said as she took a few tissues from the box. After blowing her nose and wiping her tears off her face, she began explaining what happened; no one needed to ask her. She knew that they all wanted to know. "Last night, as you guys know, I was at Molly's house, spending the night. We had fun. We watched movies and ate so much pizza, I felt like I was going to explode. We fell asleep around 2 in the morning. I figured everything was fine. And then I woke up this morning." Serena paused and took a deep breath before saying her next words. "When I woke up, Molly was gone, vanished. Like she had fallen off of the face of the planet. There was no note, no nothing that would indicate she had left. It's like she disappeared while in her bed. The only conclusion that I can come to is that she was kidnapped in the middle of the night and I didn't sense anything. I'm supposed to protect my friends, not let them get kidnapped." The phone suddenly rang, interrupting Serena's story. Lita ran to get it. "Hello?" she said into the receiver as she picked up the phone that was sitting on a small table right outside the dining room. There was a silence as the person responded. Whatever the person said must have been pretty bad because Lita turned white as a ghost and said, "I think you should tell her yourself." Taking the phone away from her ear, she walked into the dining room, still holding the portable phone, and handed it to Ami. "Here Ami, the phone's for you." Ami gulped and took the phone from Lita.
"Hello?" she said into the receiver.
"Hi Ami, it's Stacey, Greg's mom. I'm afraid I have some bad news for you."
"What's that?"
"Greg's been kidnapped. He disappeared early this morning without a trace. The police think he was kidnapped. I'm sorry to have to tell you this."
"No, thank you for telling me," Ami said in a state of shock. She hadn't seen Greg for 2 years, right before he moved to the states with his family. Aside from the occasional e-mails and phone calls, she rarely heard from him, but that didn't mean he still wasn't a close friend of hers.
"I'm sorry for bothering you," Stacey said, "I'll let you go now."
"Ok. And I'm sorry for what's happened. I'm sure everything will be alright."
"Ok, you take care Ami."
"You too." Ami hung up the phone, tears coming to her eyes as everything hit her. Dropping the phone on the ground, she ran out of the room, crying. Rowen wanted to go after her, but he hesitated. He didn't know what was wrong, but Ami needed some time to sort things out. When she was ready, she would come to him. Mina looked at Lita, whose face was full of sorrow, and she said, "Who was that Lita? What did they say?" Lita turned to the group, tearing her eyes from the direction that Ami ran off to, and looked at the group regretfully. "That's was Greg's mom. It turns out that Greg was also kidnapped, disappeared without a trace." With that news, Rowen, although he grieved with Ami, felt a twinge of jealousy. He had heard about Ami's ex-boyfriend and although they were only friends now and had half of the world in between them, Rowen was jealous that Greg had had what Rowen hadn't: Ami's full love. Upon hearing that, he stormed out of the room without a word, leaving everyone wondering what his problem was. Margot and Julie left the room and went and sat down on the stairs, both of them burying their heads in their hands. They couldn't believe that all of it was happening them. They knew it was probably going to happen, but they hoped it wouldn't. Well, it turned out that it was happening. What do we do now? Julie asked Margot through their telepathic link.
I don't know Julie, I really don't know. The two girls just looked at each other sorrowfully before heading upstairs.
***
Dinner that evening was surprisingly quiet.
Serena and Ami were missing from the table and the rest of table was
silent as they ate. Darien shifted in his seat
uncomfortably. He had something to tell
everyone and was a little reluctant to do so with the news of Molly and Greg
disappearing. After battling within himself about what to say, Darien decided to tell everybody;
they needed to know. Darien cleared his throat, which
brought him to everybody's attention.
They all looked at Darien and someone spoke. "Is something wrong Darien?" Cye asked from his spot
beside Mina. Darien nodded solemnly.
"I have something to tell all of you guys." The whole group, with the exception of Celia, Margot and Julie because they already knew what he was going to say, waited with anticipation as Darien paused to collect himself. Darien's eyes glanced over everybody, his eyes filling with tears. "I went down to the arcade today to visit Andrew and talk to him about Serena, maybe get advice on how to help her. But, I found Lizzy instead and she told me that Andrew has disappeared, just like Greg and Molly." The whole group was shocked, but Mina was beside herself.
"What?" she breathed, not believing it.
"I'm sorry, Mina, but he's gone, like he's vanished without a trace." Mina slumped in her chair, tears silently running down her cheeks. Cye put his arm around her and pulled her close to him in a hug; she needed him right now. Cye had met Andrew and found him to be a great person; he was one of the only people who Mina would talk to and he had helped her in the past, something Cye was grateful for. He knew there was no romantic interest between the two; Andrew had a girlfriend so Cye had no reason to be jealous of the older guy. The room became silent again with the exception of the sound of Mina's soft sobs. The phone rang once again, breaking everybody out of their thoughts. Heather stood up and ran out into the hallway where the portable phone was. Walking back into the room, she answered it. "Hello? Yeah, she's right here. Hold on a moment." Covering the mouthpiece, Heather moved the phone away from her ear and looked at Lita. "Lita, it's for you."
"Oh," Lita said as she stood up and walked over to Heather, taking the phone from her hands.
"Hello?" Lita asked.
"Lita's, it's me, Ken's mom."
"Oh, hey Delilah, what's up?"
"I have some bad news for you honey."
"What is it?"
"Ken's gone. We don't know where he is. The police suspect kidnap, but there's no clues anywhere to prove anything. I'm sorry to tell you this, but I thought you should know." Lita could feel the tears rising in her throat.
"No, thanks for telling me. Bye Delilah."
Lita hung up the phone and looked at it for a moment, a look of total
shock on her face, before her face crumpled up with sadness and she started to
cry. She clenched her fist around the
phone and threw it across the room. It
hit the wall and promptly shattered into pieces. She ran from the room and Kento moved to go
after her, but Celia stopped him. "No,
stay here," she said, "Ken was just kidnapped.
Let have some time alone." Kento
remained in his seat, his gaze fixed on the direction that Lita had run of
in. His heart went out to her. He had met Ken a few times before
and thought him to be a cool guy. He was happy that Lita had someone
besides him who she could turn to, but now he was gone
and Lita was grieving for his loss. Who knows when Ken will return?
Or the other three for that matter. Kento
finally faced forward, his face long and his appetite gone for the first time
in a long time. The rest of the table was silent with melancholy.
They were all thinking about the missing friends, wondering when and if they
would all return. Suddenly, no one was very hungry for dinner
anymore. Margot and Julie just looked at each other. They knew the
4 would return and they knew where they had been taken to. The only thing
they didn't know and were worried about was whether or not Lita, Serena, Mina,
and Ami would be able to survive until they got back. Until we get
them back, this house is going to be awfully sorrowful, Julie said to
Margot telepathically.
Yeah, I know what you mean. But, you know that this event is going to
set everything else off. This is the real beginning. It all starts
here. That is, if the girls can snap out of the depression they've gotten
themselves. Otherwise, it will be the start of the end, Margot said
back. Julie looked away from Margot and slumped back in her seat.
Margot was right; this was the beginning and if the girls didn't get over their
grief, it would be the beginning of the end. She looked back at Margot
and said, I have faith in the girls.
Everything will work out alright.
I hope so, Margot said back before slowly eating her food again.
The rest of dinner was silent and when it ended, Mia got up to do the dishes,
with Darien's help, and the rest of the house went their own direction,
wondering how everything was going to turn out and hoping that it would be
alright.
*************
Hi all! Another chapter! Sorry, I know updates have slowed down, but I'm trying to remain steady without resorting to a fixed day to update on. Rather, I prefer to update a bit more randomly! It keeps you all on your toes, right? : ) Anyhow, hope this "twist" gave you all a little surprise. Obviously, we're starting to lead up to a big battle with Metallia, but there're still thirteen more parts before the end of book three, including epilogue. And yes, I am still working on the interlude. Its just that sleep is more important than writing right now. On that note, I'm going to say goodnight and go indulge in the first full eight hours of sleep I've gotten this week, rather than the four to five that I have been getting. Don't forget to tell me what you think, ok? And in response to Ninmast and any other queries about beta-ing, I am more than willing to read your stories – when I find time – and review them for you. But I have one small favor. You have to email me, please, with requests and specific questions if you have them. Other than that, remember that everyone gets flames (even FateChica and I) and so A. don't listen to them – you're better than you or they think, and B. be nice! If you've gotten a flame, you know they're not fun, so be constructive, not cruel. Alright, sorry to preach at you. : ) ~DestinyBabe
