Chapter 13
"Raye, what do you mean?" Serena asked, worried, "Good and evil warring inside of Reenie? What do you mean by that? What is wrong with my daughter!" By now, Serena was practically hysterical.
Raye sighed and opened her eyes. "I don't know," she replied, wishing she hadn't seen what she had seen in the Sacred Fire. "I can only see some things and I told you what I saw in the Sacred Fire. Pain. Suffering. Good and evil battling inside of Reenie. I couldn't see which one was winning. I'm sorry, Serena, but I can't give you the answers you want."
Serena stood and
started to walk towards Raye, rage in her eyes. She wanted answers
and she wanted them NOW! Before she could even take two steps, Darien
stood and grabbed her arm.
"Serena, sit down," he told
her. "You know that sometimes Raye sees incomplete visions in
the Sacred Fire. Raye only knows what the Sacred Fire lets her see.
Unfortunately, it didn't let her see what is wrong with Reenie. If it
was important, don't you think that Sailor Pluto would contact us?"
Serena turned
around and launched her anger at Darien. "What if she can't,
Darien! What if something is the matter with Pluto and Reenie, huh?
Then what!"
"Serena, clam down," Lita ordered,
standing to her full height. "Raye already told you that she
can't sense anything else. I think she would sensed something if
Pluto was hurt or injured, just like she sensed that something is
wrong with Reenie. Personally, I don't think anything is wrong with
Pluto."
"You'd be right on that one, Lita," an
unfamiliar voice said out of nowhere.
The entire group turned around to look at the doors that led to the room, which was where the voice had come from.
Standing in the
doorway were two unfamiliar women. They were several years older than
the rest of the Sailor Scouts. The one on the right had aqua-marine
hair that was just a little past the shoulder, while the one on the
left had short blonde hair, cut in a style that suited a man more
than a woman.
"Who the hell are you?" Raye asked,
voicing the question the others were all wondering.
The one with the aqua-marine hair smiled. "We are from the future," she replied in the same unfamiliar voice, letting the other Sailor Scouts know that she was the one who had spoken earlier.
The other woman
nodded. "Michelle is right. Pluto sent us here to bring you back
to the future."
"Is it because of Reenie?" Serena
asked, a pleading look in her eyes. "Can you tell us what is the
matter with her? Is she going to be alright?"
"In one
way, that is why we have come back in time," the one named
Michelle replied. "Bu, we can't tell you what's the matter with
her or whether or not she's going to be alright."
"Hang
on a second," Darien said, holding up his right hand to stop
anyone else from speaking. "First answer Raye's question. You
said that you two are from the future, but who are you? And what
connection do you have to the Sailor Scouts and Reenie, anyways?"
"Alex, care to answer that one?" Michelle asked her
companion.
"We are two of the four Outer Sailor Scouts,"
Alex replied looking directly at Darien. The look in her eyes
suggested that he should have already known that.
"Michelle,
what do you mean that in 'one way' that is why you two have come back
in time?" Amy asked.
Michelle smiled sheepishly and replied, "We have come back in time because of Reenie, but we have also come back in time to make sure that you do not go to the future too soon."
Serena
frowned.
"What do you mean by that?" Jordan asked, not
understanding what Michelle meant.
"If I'm guessing
correctly," Michelle began, "Then Serena was just going to
try and contact Sailor Pluto to see what was wrong with her future
daughter. When she learned what was wrong with Reenie, she was going
to ask Pluto to take her to the future to be by Reenie's side, am I
right?"
Immediately all eyes turned to Serena, who blushed and nodded.
Alex smiled at
Michelle.
"But what's wrong with Serena contacting Sailor
Pluto?" Terence asked.
"Nothing," Alex replied,
"At the right time."
Mina was about to
open her mouth to say something, but before Mina could even get one
word out, Alex informed the group, "Look, if you guys want to
know the truth, that's all we really know. Pluto didn't give us all
the information, either. Besides, that's all you need to know for
now. You can wait to find out the rest until we bring you to the
future."
"Which will be...?" Mina asked.
Alex looked to
Michelle for the answer. She knew that their was a time difference
between the past and the future, she just wasn't sure which was ahead
and which one was behind.
"Raye, when does your concert
finish tonight?" Michelle asked the raven-haired Scout.
"Eleven
o'clock," Raye replied, "Why?"
The
aqua-marine haired Scout ignored Raye's question and to Mina's
question, replied, "Eleven thirty, at Raye's."
"Everyone
got that?" Alex asked. When everyone nodded, she said, "Good.
Now Michelle and I have to get going. We'll catch you guys later. See
ya." And as suddenly as they had appeared at the door, the two
Outer Scouts were gone.
"Well, that was certainly weird,"
Lita stated once Michelle and Alex were gone.
"I cannot
believe that she is going to be Neo-Queen Serenity," Alex said
as she and Michelle drove away from the Cherry Hill Temple in Alex's
yellow sports car.
"People change, Alex," Michelle
laughed.
"That much?"
Michelle smiled. "I guess so."
Alex shook her head
in amazement. They had been standing outside the doorway long enough
to hear Serena's reaction to whatever it was that Raye had told them.
Sailor Uranus could see some resemblance to Serena's future self in
the way that she cared about Reenie but other than that, there were
very few. Their queen was so calm and rarely spoke with a raised
voice. Completely different from what they had seen from Serena.
"Now I can actually believe Raye's stories about the things
Queen Serenity did before she became the Queen of Crystal Tokyo,"
Alex said, smiling.
Michelle laughed and Alex continued to drive⦠where?
Neither of them had any clue.
Sailor Pluto had arranged for Alex and Michelle to get tickets to see Raye in concert later that night, so that was where they were going to have to go in a few hours, but for now, they had free time. . . time to do whatever they wished. Something that was rare for them in Crystal Tokyo.
Lillian Kino lay on her bed, staring at the white ceiling and thinking about her best friend and new queen. She couldn't believe that she might be losing someone again. She had already lost her father and now. . . her best friend?
Lillian sighed. Like her mother, Lita Kino, the Sailor Scout rarely cried. Even at her father's funeral, she had not cried. Lillian had sat staring at the casket, the grief she felt clearly etched on her face. Only one person had ever seen Lillian Kino cry: Reenie Serenity Tsukino Chiba, otherwise known as Queen Serena of the Earth.
Reenie had been walking in the gardens mindlessly when she had heard weeping, weeping that had sounded so heart-wrenching that she knew she could not just walk away. She had to do something to help this person who was, clearly, suffering a great pain.
Thus, Reenie had walked towards the sound and had found her best friend, Lillian Kino, sobbing hysterically. Without even thinking, the princess had run to her friend's side and tried to comfort her, but Lillian could not be comforted. Her grief was too painful. She had already kept it cooped up for so long. She had not cried at the funeral and now, months later, she could no longer hold back the tears she needed to shed, the grief that she needed to let out. Reenie had pulled her friend onto her lap and, as Lillian continued to sob for the father she so dearly missed and could never get back, rocked her friend back and forth as her mother had done for her whenever she had cried.
Finally, hours later, Lillian had stopped sobbing and she and Reenie had talked for several more hours about how Lillian felt about losing her father.
Lillian remembered that day clearly. That was the day that the two of them had become as close as they were today. Before that, Lillian had always been the closest of the four Sailor Scouts to Reenie, whom Reenie had always confided everything in. But after that day, they had become best friends.
The first day I ever let anyone see inside my soul, Lillian thought. She had never even confided in her mother about anything that important.
Reenie, please don't die! Lillian begged silently with her eyes closed, trying to prevent the tears from falling.
But like the death of her father, the possibility of the death of her best friend was grief too great for Lillian to hold back. Slowly, the tears began to slide down her cheeks. She bit lip to stop from sobbing. She knew that people were walking by her bedroom and she did not want them to hear her crying.
Lita Kino approached her daughter's bedroom and was about to knock, her hand inches away from the door, when she heard something that she had never heard coming from her daughter before. From inside Lillian's room, Lita could hear the faint sound of crying. "Lillian?" Lita asked, deciding not to knock on her daughter's door after all but to wait and see if her daughter replied.
There was silence for about a minute or so, then the reply, "Yes?"
"Can I come in?" Lita asked.
Again, silence for a minute or so, then a very quiet "yes".
Lita opened the door and entered her daughter's bedroom.
Knowing her mother was about to enter her room, Lillian sat up and wiped her eyes. The door opened and Lita walked inside, concern for her daughter clearly showing on her face.
"Lillian," Lita said, looking at her daughter for some sign that Lillian had been crying.
Lillian turned her head so that she was facing towards her mother, but would not lift her head to meet her mother's gaze.
Lillian didn't have
to look at her mother for Lita to realize that her daughter's eyes
were red from crying. Immediately, Lita ran to her daughter's side.
"Have you been crying?" Lita asked, forgetting all about
the Healers. The only thing that mattered at the moment was her
daughter. She sat down on the edge of the bed.
"It's nothing,
mom," Lillian replied, still not lifting her head.
"I may not be Amy, but I am certainly not stupid, Lillian," Lita said.
"I never sai" Lillian began, but her mother cut her off.
"You didn't need to," she said. "You lied to me. It's obvious that you were crying from your eyes, but I also heard you when I was outside. You don't have to be ashamed about it, you know? Everyone cries sometimes."
Lillian narrowed her eyes and looked at her mother. "What's up, mom?" she asked, obviously not wanting to discuss emotions.
Lita sighed. She hated that her daughter wouldn't let her in, but she didn't want to push it either. "I just thought that you might be interested to know that the Healers are supposed to arrive in about nine and a half hours," she informed her daughter.
Lillian's eyes widened. "Nine and a half hours!" Lillian exclaimed,"That's sooo long. Will Reenie even be able to last until then?"
Lita smiled. "Actually," the Elder Scout began, "It's less time than Amy thought it would take the Healers to arrive here. We thought that we would have to wait at least a day."
Lillian frowned. Whenever Amy calculated numbers, she was always right. Lillian had never known a time when Amy had miscalculated something. "If she thought that the Healers were only going to arrive in a day or so, then why are they coming here so early?" Lillian asked.
Lita shrugged. "We don't exactly know when the Healers felt Reenie's call, Lillian. For all we know, they could have felt it right after she lost consciousness and collapsed."
Or they could be sensing the urgency of the call, Lita thought. She couldn't tell Lillian that, though. She knew her daughter was hurting enough without needing to know that Reenie could be in more serious condition then they thought.
Lillian nodded. "Is that everything, mom?" the younger Sailor Scout asked.
"Yeah," Lita said and stood. She was only several feet away from the door when Lillian called out her name.
"Yes?" Lita asked, concern for her daughter clearly showing in her voice.
"Do you think Reenie's going to be okay?" Lillian asked uncertainty and worry both showing in her voice.
Lita nodded. "Honestly, Lillian," she smiled, "I do. The Healers are going to get here in time to save her. She'll probably have to rest a while but eventually, she'll be the same as before."
Lillian smiled her thanks and nodded. Although she didn't really believe what her mother had just told her, she had needed to hear something comforting about Reenie.
Lita nodded and without another word, left her daughter's room closing the door behind her.
Kirstein Hino was out walking in the palace gardens, thinking.
As she walked through the gardens, floods of memories came back to her. Memories of a forgotten childhood; memories of being told that she had a duty to protect the princess of the Moon and Earth; memories of being trained; memories of battle after battle against Nemesis. Kirstein sighed and looked up at the moon and stars shining brightly over Crystal Tokyo.
Wake up, Reenie, she prayed as she stared at the moon. We need you. Crystal Tokyo needs you.
Quickly, Kirstein wiped away a tear that threatened to fall. She couldn't cry. Not yet. Not until everything was finally over. Then she would allow the tears to fall. But not now. . . Not now.
"You guys are all coming to the concert later, right?" Raye asked them as they all left the temple.
"Definitely," Mina replied.
"Wouldn't miss it for the world," Jordan said.
"And you guys did get the free tickets and backstage passes in the mail, didn't you?" Raye asked, wanting to make sure that everything had gone as she had planned. She had asked her assistant to send her friends the free tickets and backstage passes a couple of weeks ago.
"We did," Serena said smiling, her arms around Darien's waist and Darien's around hers. Darien smiled down lovingly at her.
"So did I," Terence answered.
The rest of the group followed with similar responses.
"Good," Raye smiled. Then, just before she was going to walk down the stairs, "So, I'll see you guys all later?"
Lita smiled. "Later Raye."
Raye nodded and left. The group heard the engine of Raye's Ferrari start up, then drive away.
Quickly, Terence took out his cell phone and dialed. "Joshua? You can come pick me up. Yes, at the Cherry Hill Temple." He hung up and turned to the others. "Can I give anyone a lift?" he asked.
Lita nodded.
"If you don't mind," Amy said, "I still have some work to check over at the hospital."
Terence nodded. "Anyone else?" he asked looking to his sister.
Serena and Darien shook their heads. "We have my motorcycle," Darien informed him.
"But thanks Terence," Serena said.
Terence nodded and turned to look at Mina and Jordan, the question in his eyes.
Jordan shook his head. "Thanks," the older man said, "But I've got my car here."
Terence nodded and looked to Mina, who smiled and shook her head.
"Thanks Terence but I was planning on hitching a ride with Jordan," the blonde Sailor Scout explained.
Terence nodded. "So," he said, "It's just Amy, Lita and me."
"We'll see you guys later at Raye's concert," Serena said as she and Darien turned and walked down the stairs to Darien's motorcycle.
"We'd better get going too," Jordan said to Mina.
Mina nodded. "We'll see ya guys later tonight," she smiled, then together the two of them left the temple.
Terence turned to look at Amy and Lita. "So, where do you want me to drop you off Lita?" he asked, "Amy already told us she has to go to the hospital."
"Just drop me off at my apartment," Lita told Terence, "I have some baking I need to finish for my catering business. The hospital fundraiser is in a few days and I still have to finish cooking for it."
"Speaking of your catering business, Lita," Terence began, "My company's having a luncheon in several weeks. Would you be able to serve it?"
The tall Sailor Scout nodded. "Sure, Terence," Lita said, "Just tell me the date and time for the luncheon. Remember, my restaurant opening is in several weeks, too."
Terence nodded, then his face lit up as he remembered something. "Hey, what if I have the business luncheon at your restaurant?" he suggested, "It would be great exposure for it. We're having some guests from the U.S., Canada, Brazil and Portugal here for the luncheon."
"That would be fantastic exposure for you Lita," Amy agreed, "You always wanted a chain of restaurants. Who knows? If they like the food, you might be able to start a worldwide chain."
Lita smiled at the thought of a worldwide chain of Kino's, but shook her head. "Nah," she said, "I don't want a worldwide chain. When people are going to eat at Kino's, I want them to get food made by me, Lita Kino, not some chef I hired. I just want one successful restaurant here in Tokyo and I'll be happy."
In the distance,
they could hear the sound of a helicopter quickly approaching.
"Looks like it's almost time for us to leave," Terence
commented, looking at the sky.
"Looks like," Amy agreed.
Lita only nodded.
Greg exited Jordan's room and quietly closed the door behind him. As he did so, Greg sighed. Jordan was the last person he had had to tell about the Healers. As the door to Jordan's room clicked shut, Greg saw his wife coming out of Chantal's room. He smiled tiredly and walked towards her.
Hearing footsteps coming towards her, Amy looked up and smiled when she saw the face of her husband. "Greg, have you seen Kirstein?" she asked.
Greg looked at his wife, surprised by this question and shook his head. "No, I haven't." Then, knowing that his wife was the one that was supposed to have informed Kirstein of the good news about the Healers, asked, "Why? Haven't you told her the good news yet?"
Amy shook her head. "I haven't been able to find her."
Greg frowned. "She wasn't in her room?"
"No, and I have no idea where else she could be."
"Maybe we should check the gardens," Greg suggested. "I think I remember Raye mentioning that her daughter is very much like her. Remember how Raye is so in tune with nature?"
Amy nodded. "You're right," she said. "I don't know why I didn't think of that before. Raye mentioned that to me, too. Something about how Kirstein loves going into the gardens because it helps to clam her down. That's probably where she is. I should go tell her."
"Do you want me to go with you?" Greg asked, putting a tired hand on his wife's shoulder.
Amy smiled at him, but shook her head. "No thanks," she said, giving him a peck on the cheek, "I can go myself."
"Okay, hun," he said, kissing her back on the lips, "If you're sure."
Amy nodded. "I'm sure, Greg," she said and giving him a final peck on the cheek, walked down the hall, away from Greg, towards the palace gardens where she was certain she would find her friend's daughter.
Kirstein was sitting on a bench in the corner of the palace gardens, when she heard a familiar voice calling her name. Her ears perked as she recognized who the voice belonged to and sighed. She knew it was one of the Elder Sailor Scouts and right now she didn't really feel like talking to anyone.
Kirstein stood up to leave, but then heard the voice call her name out and she knew that it was too late. She had been discovered. Quickly, Kirstein wiped away the tears that threatened to fall from her eyes and turned to face the Elder Sailor Scout that had found her.
"Kirstein!" Amy Anderson exclaimed as she saw her friend's daughter standing in the corner of the palace gardens.
Kirstein Hino turned to face Amy Anderson and tried to smile, but was unsuccessful.
Amy noticed this and knew what the younger Sailor Scout was thinking about. "You're thinking about Queen Serena, aren't you?" Amy asked as she neared Kirstein.
Kirstein nodded in reply. Even though she was trying to hide how she felt on her face, it was obvious by the look in her eyes.
Amy nodded in understanding. There had been plenty of times when she and the others had had felt the same away about Queen Serena's mother, Neo-Queen Serenity. "I think I may have some good news for you then, Kirstein."
Kirstein looked up, wondering what Megan's mom was talking about.
Amy smiled. "The Healers are supposed to be coming soon," Older Mercury informed Kirstein Hino.
The younger Sailor Scout's eyes widened in disbelief and Amy couldn't help but smile. The question in Kirstein's eyes was the same one that had been asked of her by the others: You're kidding, right?
Amy nodded. "I'm serious, Kirstein," she assured Raye's daughter, "Lita has informed us that the Healers are supposed to be arriving in" looking at the watch on her wrist "eight and a half hours."
"And Queen Serena will be okay until then?" Kirstein questioned, worried for her friend and queen.
Amy sighed, not wanting to lie to the young Scout. "She will not get too much worse, if that's what you are asking," Amy replied, trying to avoid the actual question.
Kirstein Hino shook her head, knowing what Amy was trying to do. "That's not what I asked, Dr. Anderson. What I am asking is if my queen will be okay until that time."
Amy sighed, both knowing and hating the fact that Kirstein had been able to see through her answer, replied, "Honestly, I don't know Kirstein. Eight and a half hours is a long time. Queen Serena is too exhausted to not become worse in that length of time. But earlier I'd suspected that the Healers would only arrive in several days. Now we are expecting them to arrive in several hours. Her Majesty will be okay until then."
Kirstein smiled at the Elder Sailor Scout, thankful that she had told her the truth.
Amy smiled back, knowing that there was nothing other than the truth that she could have told the young Scout. "I have to be heading inside now," she said, "I have to take over Mina's watch of Queen Serena soon."
Kirstein nodded.
"Are you going to be coming inside, also?" Amy asked.
Kirstein shook her head, no. "I want to stay out here a bit longer," the younger girl replied.
Amy nodded and walked away towards the palace, leaving the younger Sailor Scout in the same corner of the palace garden where she had found her.
Kirstein Hino waited until she could no longer hear Amy's footsteps before she sat back down on the bench that she had been sitting on earlier. She bit her lip to keep from crying and lifted her head to look at the sky.
She's going to be fine! Kirstein thought, ecstatically. She's going to be perfectly fine!
Still staring at the starry night sky, she closed her eyes, finally letting the tears come. However, this time they were not tears of sadness as they had threatened to be before, but tears of happiness.
