Chapter 14
Rodney Kirsta sat in the palace hospital room, a mix of emotions flowing through him. He was confused, sad, angry and anxious. He knew what had happened because one of the nurses had informed him, although somewhat coldly, when he had asked. Rodney was confused, not really understanding where he was and what had brought him there. He was sad because he knew that something was wrong with Reenie Tsukino but didn't really know what it was. He was sad because he knew that he had somehow caused whatever was wrong with Reenie. He was anxious, wanting to know if Reenie was okay. None of the nurses had answered him when he asked that question. Rodney couldn't wait until Reenie got better. There were definitely a lot of questions that he wanted to ask her. Especially why the nurses kept frowning and telling him that he should have respect for Crystal Tokyo's new queen.
What the hell was Crystal Tokyo? Rodney wondered. And what did the nurses mean that he should have respect for it's new queen? Reenie isn't a queen, or even a princess for that matter.
Rodney shrugged. He had a lot of questions that he wanted answers to. He just hoped Reenie could answer them.
Eight and a half hours passed quickly, each Elder Scout changing places on the watch over Queen Serena every two hours.
The Younger CT Scouts often visited with their unconscious friend and queen but finding it depressing, left soon after entering the room. The only Younger Scout to stay in the room longer than fifteen minutes was CT Sailor Jupiter. Lillian often stayed with Queen Serena for more than the two hours spent by the Elder Sailor Scouts. An extra chair had been brought into the room by one of the guards for the young Sailor so that she would be not have to stand for the hours that she stayed by her queen's side.
Everyone at the palace was getting anxious. The tiny blips had disappeared completely from the radar. There had been no signs of anything heading towards Earth for the last half hour.
Lita stood on the balcony and starred at the now clear, blue morning sky, wondering, Where the hell are they? Where are the Healers?
Audiana Trinta and Miceff Loand were in front of the Healers as they passed the planets Jupiter and Mars in a blur. Audiana winced as they passed Mars and Miceff looked over at her, concerned.
Are you okay, Audiana? he thought-spoke to the leader of the Healers.
Audiana shook her head, slowing her flight speed.
Miceff did the same. He knew that the others flying behind them would automatically follow their lead and do the same. She could the sickness even here, several million miles away from Earth.
Something is seriously wrong with her, Miceff, Audiana thought-spoke to the man she loved more than anything in the world.
Who? Miceff
questioned, not yet having the power to sense it this far away, Who
is in trouble?
Queen Serena, Audiana replied in thought-speak.
Miceff frowned. Do you not mean Neo-Queen Serenity? he asked, knowing that Queen Serenity was the ruler of Crystal Tokyo not Queen Serena. In fact, Miceff had never even heard of a Queen Serena.
Audiana nodded and
winced. As they neared the planet Earth, the sickness seemed to grow
stronger. I am quite sure Miceff, Audiana thought-spoke to him, It is
Queen Serena, not Neo-Queen Serenity that is sick. You know that my
senses are never wrong.
Should we tell Hotaru who it is? Miceff
asked the leader of the Healers.
No, the golden-haired beauty replied, I do not think that she is even aware that there has been a change of leadership.
Miceff nodded. Very
well then, he thought-spoke. Then after a few minutes, asked, Who is
Queen Serena?
I do not know, Miceff, Audiana replied truthfully.
I assume it is Neo-Queen Serenity's daughter. Their names are close:
Serenity and Serena.
That makes sense, Miceff said, And unless
they do things differently on Earth than they do on every other
planet we have visited, royal titles are passed down to the eldest
child of the reigning King or Queen.
Audiana nodded and winced again. I just hope we reach Earth quickly, she said, Queen Serena is getting worse by the moment.
Miceff looked to the woman he loved. If Queen Serena got any worse, he didn't know if Audiana would be able to be on the same planet let alone the same room as her.
Quickly, they flew towards planet Earth, slower than before because Audiana grew weaker if she did not have time to adjust to the level of sickness before she reached it.
Julian looked at the radar and yawned. Just half an hour more, he thought glad that his eleven hour work day would be ending soon. Julian had been staring at the screen for the past few hours, hoping desperately that the six blips would reappear. They hadn't and Julian had given up, tossing any hope of Queen Serena's rescue out the window. Julian was just staring at the ceiling waiting for the minutes to pass by, when a beeping noise suddenly echoed throughout the room.
Immediately, Julian
sat up and looked at the radar. A smile spread over his face as he
saw two familiar blips appear on the screen a little past the planet
Mars. Slowly, four other blips appeared behind them.
"YES!"
he exclaimed, hope for his queen being revived. Quickly he ran to the
door of the control room and grabbed the first guard he saw. "Joey,"
Julian called, pulling the guard into the control room.
"What
is it, Julian?" the guard name Joey asked.
"Can you
watch the radar screen for a while? I have something to tell Ms.
Kino."
Joey
sighed and nodded. "Sure," she replied.
"Thanks,
Joey," he said, letting go of her arm. Quickly, he raced out of
the control room and down the hall towards the balcony, where he knew
Lita was awaiting the Healers arrival.
Raye Hino smiled at the large audience of 30 000 and took her final bow. Quickly, she ran backstage where the others were already waiting for her.
Serena was all smiles for her longtime friend. "You were awesome, Raye!" she exclaimed embracing her friend as soon as she arrived backstage.
The others nodded in agreement.
Alex and Michelle stood behind Lita and Amy, a little in shock. In the future, they had heard of Raye Hino's performances but because of Raye's position as Sailor Mars, she no longer performed and therefore, they had never seen one of her performances live. The two future Scouts had been in shock since the beginning of the show when they had first seen Raye skydive, land in the middle of the stage and launch into her first song.
Raye smiled at Serena and the others then looked to Alex and Michelle, a questioning look in her eyes.
Michelle nodded.
The concert had lasted longer then scheduled and it was now 11:15.
That meant that the group only had 15 minutes to reach Raye's
mansion.
"Alana!" Raye called to a girl with
shoulder-length, curly blonde hair.
"Yes, Ms. Hino?"
the girl asked, running towards the group.
"Can you call the
limo to come and pick us up?" Alana nodded.
"Of course,
Ms. Hino." Quickly, the blonde girl left to go and call for
Raye's personal limo to come and pick them up.
"We should
get going, Michelle," Alex suggested. Michelle nodded. The two
of them had driven to the concert together in Alex's yellow sports
car.
"You guys aren't coming with us?" Serena asked.
Michelle smiled and
shook her head. "No," the aqua-marine haired Sailor Scout
replied.
"Why not?" Lita questioned.
"I
drove us over here," Alex replied. "I'll drive us over to
Raye's." Then, "We'll meet you guys at Raye's in ten
minutes."
"See you then," Michelle added as the
duo left.
Lita shook her
head, not believing the two Sailor Scouts. It was almost as if they
purposely trying to avoid hanging around the rest of them. Whatever,
she thought.
"The limo is waiting for you, Ms. Hino,"
Alana informed her employer.
Raye nodded and thanked the young girl. Then, turning to her friends said, "The limo's here guys. Let's go."
Together, the group of eight walked towards the back stage door, where the limo was waiting for them.
Lita leaned against the balcony railing and stared at the sky, thinking. . . about Reenie, about Andrew, the Healers, and her daughter. Lita's thoughts were still on her daughter and Andrew when she suddenly heard someone call her name. Knowing who it was, she didn't even bother to turn around to face the person. Instead, she said, "Hello, Julian."
The guard was
breathless and Lita knew it. She also knew that if he had ran all the
way to the balcony from the control room, then whatever it was that
he had to tell her must be important. "T. . . . the Healers,"
Julian panted.
"Yes?" Lita urged turning to face him,
wondering what news he had of the Healers. "What about
them?"
"They are coming," he replied, still a
little breathless. "They passed planet Mars and are nearing the
Earth."
A smile broke out on Lita's face. "That's great news," she said, not wanting to admit that even she had begun to wonder whether or not the Healers were actually going to show up.
Julian nodded. He thought so, too.
"Do you know
when?" the tall Sailor Scout asked.
"I'm not sure,"
he replied. "It depends on how fast they're flying towards
Earth. Before I'd estimated that they'd be arriving in ten and a half
hours but they seem to be flying more slowly now. I'm not sure as to
why. If they continue to fly at this rate, they should be arriving
here in about twenty minutes."
Lita smiled. She couldn't wait for the Healers to reach Crystal Tokyo. The faster they arrived, the faster they could heal whatever was killing Reenie. "Thank you Julian," the tall Sailor Scout said.
Julian nodded and left the balcony to return to his place in the control room, leaving Lita staring at the starry night sky.
Silently she urged the Healers to fly as fast as they could.
Sailor Pluto stood looking out over the city of Crystal Tokyo on a green rolling hillside. It was a place where Her Former Majesty, Neo-Queen Serenity, had loved to come with Princess Kara and Princess Serena to relax and play.
Sailor Pluto smiled at the memories, for she had often come with the three members of the royal family as their guard or sometimes just as a companion and friend to Neo-Queen Serenity.
She stood on this green rolling hillside awaiting the moment when she would have to open the time portal to welcome Sailor Neptune and Sailor Uranus back to the future, along with the past selves of Lita, Amy, Mina, Raye, Serena, Darien, and the others. Sailor Pluto looked to the starry night sky and sighed.
Five more minutes, she counted off silently. Five more minutes.
During Raye's fabulous concert Serena had completely forgotten about her situation in the future, but on the drive to Raye's place her worries about Reenie popped back into her head. How was her future daughter? For some reason that Serena did not know, she had a feeling that her daughter was getting worse by the second.
If only Michelle
and Alex had told us something about Reenie, Serena thought angry at
the two Sailor Scouts from the future and worried about her future
daughter at the same time, I'm sure that it would't have made a big
difference in the timeline if Alex and Michelle had told us how
Reenie was doing.
"Serena what's the matter?" Darien
whispered in her ear.
"Reenie," Serena whispered back.
"I just have this bad feeling in the pit of my stomach that
she's getting worse by the second. What do you think? Am I just
overreacting?"
Darien grasped the
hand of his only love in his and, deciding not to hold the truth from
her, whispered back, "No, Serena. I do not think that you are
overreacting. I think you're right. I also have that same
feeling."
"What can we do for her Darien?" Serena
cried in his ear. "There must be something that we can do?"
Darien sighed. "I
don't know Serena," he replied, no longer whispering to her,
"I just don't know."
"Know what?" Lita
asked, curious to know what the two of them were discussing.
"What
we can do for Reenie," Darien replied. "I have no idea what
we can do for her."
Raye frowned. "What are you two talking about?" she asked. "Why are you two discussing Reenie? We already know that something's the matter with her."
Darien nodded.
"Yes, but both Serena and I sense that she is growing weaker by
the second. How, I cannot say exactly. I'm guessing it's because
she's our daughter and that gives us a connection to her. It's
because of this I, and I know that Serena feels the same, fear that.
. . that. . ." Tears slid down Darien's cheeks.
"That
we may not get to the future in time?" Mina asked gently,
finishing what Darien could not.
Darien nodded silently, grasping Serena's hand tighter as if holding on for dear life.
Serena stayed
silent, no tears or sign of grief expressed on her beautiful face
expect for the pain she was feeling for their future daughter, which
was evident in her blue eyes.
"We will," Terence
stated, sitting on the other side of his sister in the limo as they
pulled into Raye's drive. "We'll get there in time."
Jordan nodded.
"They wouldn't bring us to the future to see Reenie die,"
he agreed, "Those two Sailor Scouts may be rude, but they aren't
heartless. Neither is Sailor Pluto and she's the one who sent them
here to come and bring us to the future."
"Jordan's
right," Amy agreed. "They wouldn't bring us to the future
just to torture us by watching Reenie die. I agree that we'll get to
the future in time before she dies and I know, Serena and Darien,
that when we get to the future something will happen. They aren't
taking us to the future to attend Reenie's funeral or to watch her
die. I'm certain of that much."
Serena
nodded. Hearing it put that way by one of her closest and dearest
friends, she agreed with them. All of them. She knew that Darien felt
that away also just by the way he was holding her hand. His hold on
her hand seemed to loosen slightly as Amy finished speaking.
"We'll
find out soon enough, guys," Raye spoke quietly, "We're
here. Let's just hope that Alex and Michelle are, too."
"They're right behind us," Lita said. "I can see
Alex's yellow sports car a few feet away."
"Good,"
Serena said, barely able to hold back her tears, "Then as soon
as we get inside, we can get going and see what the hell is really
the matter with Reenie."
Audiana Trinta gritted her teeth as they grew closer to the planet of Earth. As they neared Audiana could sense her sickness even stronger. She could also sense that with every passing second the queen was getting worse.
Miceff could tell that Audiana was having trouble and grasped her hand.
Audiana turned her
head so that she was looking at him and smiled her thanks. We have to
hurry, Miceff, she thought-spoke to the love of her life, I can sense
that Queen Serena is getting worse.
We're almost there, Aud, he
assured her, A few more minutes and we'll be there.
I know,
Miceff, she told him, But I fear that we may be too late to be able
to help her.
Don't think like that, he tried to comfort her, We
will get there in time to save her. We have to. If Queen Serena is
who we think she is, then planet Earth has already lost one queen
before their time, we cannot allow them to lose another.
Audiana nodded in agreement and holding on tighter to Miceff's hand, forced herself to fly faster towards Earth. The other Healers followed the couple, picking up the pace.
Lita was still staring up at the evening sky, when she suddenly saw a dot appear up in the middle of the sky. Not taking her eyes off of the dot, she frowned as she saw three other dots suddenly appeared in the sky.
Could that possibly be them? she wondered, noticing that one of the dots was bigger than the others, Whatever they are, they're coming towards us at an amazing speed.
Lita continued to watch the dots approach and smiled as she realized that nothing or nobody else could travel as fast as the dots were approaching.
Nobody that is, except the Healers, Leta thought to herself knowing that she was right. The Healers were almost at Crystal Tokyo!
Sailor Pluto smiled and raised her Guardian Rod. It was time for her to open the portal that would bring Serena and the others here to the future. She had not seen them for awhile and was looking forward to seeing how they were doing.
As the Guardian of Time and Space, Pluto already knew that Serena, Darien and the others were worried about Reenie. As the Guardian of Time she dreaded Serena finding out what had happened to her future self, but knew that when the Healers healed her, Reenie would need her mother there to comfort her. Serena was the closest thing to a mother that Sailor Pluto could deliver.
Slowly and carefully Pluto spoke the words that would open the Gates of Time, allowing the others to come to the future.
Serena,
Darien, Raye, Lita, Jordan, Terence, Amy and Mina waited silently for
Alex to park her car and then again, waited silently as the two
Sailor Scouts walked towards the group.
"Are you guys ready
for this?" Alex asked the group as Raye opened the doors to her
home.
Serena nodded. She
was ready. She was more then ready.
"We're ready,"
Lita replied for the others.
Alex nodded and led
the way inside. Everyone followed her. She stopped when she stood in
the middle of the living room and turned to look at Michelle, her
eyes asking a question that only Michelle knew or could understand.
The aqua-marine haired Scout smiled and nodded in reply. Alex
sighed and turned to looked at the others. "It's" she
began, but was interrupted by a whirling wind. Michelle and Alex
smiled. Both of them knew what this meant.
The others didn't
though. The two Sailor Scouts could see that by the expressions on
their faces.
"Pluto's opening the doorway!" Michelle
yelled over the wind loud enough for everyone to hear and so that the
others understood what was going on.
The wind stopped
and all was silent. Mina frowned, wondering where the portal or
doorway was. Her unspoken question was answered as a wooshing sound
echoed through the room and a portal suddenly appeared a few feet in
front of Alex.
"Who's first?" Alex asked, motioning
towards the portal with her hand.
Serena and Darien stepped forwards and quickly stepped through to the future.
The others followed quickly, Amy being the last of the Sailor Scouts to go through.
When they had all gone through to the future, Alex and Michelle finally stepped through. As quickly as the portal had appeared in the middle of Raye's living room, it disappeared.
Sailor Pluto
smiled at each Scout as they stepped through the portal. When Alex
and Michelle stepped through, she nodded at the two of them then
lowered her Guardian Rod and whispered the words to close the Gates
of Time. When this was completed, she turned to the Sailor Scouts.
"It is good to see you again," she greeted them, "Although
I wish it were under better circumstances."
"What's
the matter with Reenie?" Serena demanded not even bothering to
say hello. "Where is she? Is she okay? Why are we up on a hill?
Why aren't we in the palace?"
"Reenie is in the
palace," Sailor Pluto replied, answering Serena's second
question first. "And she will be okay." Pluto waited a
second then said, "We are up on a hill because I did not think
that it would be a good idea for us to teleport you guys into the
palace right away. Alex, Michelle and I will use the time that it
will take us to get to the palace to explain what has happened to
Crystal Tokyo since you guys have last been here."
Darien sighed in relief as Pluto told them that Reenie would be okay. The Sailor Scout of Space and Time would not lie to them. Especially because they were to be the future King and Queen of Crystal Tokyo. She would not lie to her future King and Queen. "Can't you tell us what is wrong with her, Pluto?" Darien asked, concern for his future daughter showing in his voice.
Pluto looked to him and smiled. "That will be explained as the three of us explain what's happened to Crystal Tokyo," she told him. "If you guys look out over the city, you can tell that things have changed quite a bit."
Hearing Pluto say
this, the Sailor Scouts from the past turned their heads so that they
could see the damage that had happened to Crystal Tokyo. They gasped
as they saw what Reenie and the others had seen when they had first
arrived. The only difference was that the darkness of Nemesis no
longer hung over the city. Instead, the sun shone brightly in the sky
and the only sign that anything had happened were the huge gaping
holes of destruction. The Crystal Palace glittered in the distance.
"What happened here, Pluto?" Lita asked confused. The
last time they had been here Crystal Tokyo had looked nothing like
this.
Pluto sighed. "One word," the Guardian of Space and Time said, "Nemesis."
The Sailor Scouts
of the past looked to Sailor Pluto, confused. Hadn't they destroyed
Nemesis with Neo-Queen Serenity and the others?
"You guys
did destroy Prince Diamond with Neo-Queen Serenity," Alex
confirmed what they were wondering as they started to walk towards
the city.
"But there were things that we didn't know about
going on at Nemesis headquarters," Michelle told them.
"Things
that even I wasn't aware of," Sailor Pluto informed the group.
"A few years before he died, Prince Diamond had the idea of
going back into the past and getting someone who would not be missed.
He would then take that person as his heir."
"And by
coincidence, that person turned out to be someone that Princess
Reenie knew well," Michelle informed the group of Sailor Scouts.
Alex nodded. "From
what Trista told us, anyways," the sandy-haired Scout added.
"Yes," Pluto said, trying to ignore Alex's remark,
"That person turned out to be Rodney Kirsta."
"Rodney?"
Serena, Darien and Lita exclaimed in surprise.
The three Scouts
from the future nodded in unison. "Yes, Rodney," Pluto
continued. "Apparently, not too long after graduation he got
into a car accident. When he was driving off the cliff someone
appeared and saved his life by bringing him to the future. When they
brought him to the future, they brainwashed him into thinking that he
was Diamond's son and erased any of his memories of what he had had
with Princess Reenie."
"Even when they met up again,
Rodney didn't recognize the princess," Michelle continued for
Pluto. "Even Princess Reenie didn't recognize Rodney at first.
It took Trista to show her who he really was."
Sailor Pluto nodded
as they entered the city of Crystal Tokyo. "And when she finally
did recognize him, she wouldn't let anyone harm him. Not even after
CT Jupiter reminded him what had happened to their families."
"What happened to their families?" Raye asked, wanting
to know more.
Sailor Pluto sighed and motioned for Alex to explain what had happened.
Alex nodded and began. "Prince Rodney attacked two years after you guys left for the future," the sandy-haired Scout explained. "He attacked Sailor Pluto first, which was why we never asked you guys for help, in case you were wondering."
That was exactly what the Sailors from the past had been wondering.
"Then he attacked Crystal Tokyo. Queen Serenity protected the city as best as she could. Unfortunately, that was not enough. Although she fought against Rodney with everything she had with the Emperium Silver Crystal, Rodney won. He won by killing Queen Serenity, King Endymion, King Terence and Jordan. Raye, herself, almost died trying to save Queen Serenity's life. It's a miracle that she didn't."
At this, both Michelle and Pluto nodded in confirmation of Alex's story. It had been a miracle that Raye had survived.
Hearing Alex's
story, Serena looked to Darien. She didn't like hearing that she
would die fighting against Rodney Kirsta, the boy she knew Reenie
loved. She knew by the way that Reenie had been acting in the past
that she had been in love, although Reenie had never actually told
her. Serena had thought it a pity that the boy whom Reenie loved
wouldn't be right for here in the future. Now it was odd. The way
that Diamond had arranged it, Reenie would have her love in the
future with her. That was, if Rodney was the boy that Reenie had been
in love with.
"Princess Reenie used the Silver Crystal to
save Rodney's life," Pluto explained, getting back to telling
them what had happened. "Serena, do you remember when you
changed Game Machine Joe and the others back to their normal selves?"
Serena nodded. She
remembered those days clearly as if they had only happened yesterday.
Especially the look of relief on Amy's face when Greg had changed
back into his normal self.
"And when you used the Crystal
and your Locket to change Darien back to his self?"
Again,
Serena nodded.
"Well, what
Reenie did to Rodney was sort of like that," Michelle told them
as they walked through the streets of Crystal Tokyo towards the
palace. "She knew that deep down on the inside Rodney wasn't as
evil as the dark energy inside of him was making him be. Knowing
this, she used the Silver Crystal to take the dark energy out of
him."
"It took a while," Alex continued for
Michelle, "And Princess Reenie was getting tired. That was
obvious, when she suddenly seemed to get her strength back."
Serena smiled. She knew what had given Reenie renewed strength.
"That sense of
renewed energy didn't last for long, however and soon Princess Kara
and Prince Kenneth were there beside her, lending her there
strength."
"The dark energy left Rodney soon
afterwards," Sailor Pluto continued on with the story. "It
burst out of Rodney and flew towards Princess Reenie."
The others gasped hearing this piece of news. "Is that what is killing Reenie?" Serena asked Sailor Pluto, worried about her future daughter. "Is that evil energy the thing that's killing her?"
The Guardian of
Space and Time sighed. "Yes, Serena. The evil that left Rodney
somehow entered Princess Reenie. The evil is battling against the
good inside of her. The Silver Crystal is helping her battle against
the evil, thank heavens. Had Reenie not had the Crystal helping her,
she would have already been engulfed by the evil."
"But
instead it's killing her," Serena said, not needing Pluto to
tell her that.
Pluto nodded. She hadn't wanted to say it herself and was glad that Serena had come to that conclusion on her own.
And why not? Sailor
Pluto reasoned with herself. She is going to be the Queen of Crystal
Tokyo, after all. "I am afraid so," Pluto said.
"So
what are we going to do to stop this evil thing?" Lita asked
turning angrily to look at Sailor Pluto. "I mean there has to be
a way to stop it. What is it?"
While at the same time Michelle and Alex cried, "It's killing her!"
Pluto sighed and answered Michelle and Alex first. "Yes. The evil is killing her because of the crystal. Because of the crystal Princess Reenie hasn't been engulfed by the darkness." Then, turning to Lita, "Everything that we can do for do for Reenie is being done but in a situation like this, I am afraid that is there not much that we can do. The only people who can help the princess are supposed to be arriving at the palace soon." Looking up at the sky, Pluto smiled. "In fact, if you look up towards the palace you can see five figures flying towards the palace."
Finally they're here! she thought relieved hoping that no one could see through her calm facade.
The group looked
towards the palace and saw five figures land on the balcony where
someone had been waiting for them. From that distance, it looked like
one of the figures was carrying something but they could not see what
it was.
"The Healers are finally here," Michelle
sighed at the same time Alex said, "Finally."
The Scouts from the past frowned and Raye gave a voice to the question that they were all wondering. "Who are the Healers?"
Sailor Pluto
smiled. For a second, she had forgotten that the Sailor Scouts from
the past had never heard of the Healers.
"The Healers are a
group of five very select individuals that have a special power,"
the Guardian of Space and Time explained. "They come from a
different galaxy and a planet called Iounda. The Healers are like
Sailor Saturn, however, unlike Saturn, they don't only heal the
physical wounds that a person may have, but spiritual wounds also."
"That's why Sailor Saturn is not with us," Michelle
told them as they neared the palace. "She is or was, I should
say, training with the Healers to try and make her powers as a healer
stronger."
Alex nodded. "That
was probably what we saw the Healers carrying."
"Most
likely," Pluto agreed, knowing that it was true. She knew that
it was Hotaru's time to return to Crystal Tokyo. Even if Queen Serena
was not sick and the Healers had not been needed, Hotaru would have
been returning to Crystal Tokyo soon.
"So, the Healers are
going to help Reenie?" Serena asked hopefully.
Pluto smiled at her
future Queen and nodded. "Yes, Serena. They are here to help
Reenie. That is why I have brought you and your friends here to the
future. When Reenie awakens it will be very painful for her. Because
of the pureness of good in the Silver Crystal, the darkness that is
battling inside of her will seem like a nightmare when she wakes up.
She will need the comfort of her mother. You, Serena, are the closest
thing that I could get to her for a mother."
"It's
going to be that painful for her?" Serena winced as she spoke
the question.
Sailor Pluto nodded. "It is ten times worse then what happened with Darien or with any of the Seven Rainbow Crystal Carriers," the tall Sailor Scout told Serena truthfully. "I'm not even sure of how she will react."
There was a moment of silence as they stepped onto palace grounds and Serena took in what Sailor Pluto was telling her. What the Rainbow Crystal Carriers had done to them by the Negaverse was like being put through hell. Serena still remembered hearing their screams as the crystal were taken from them. She also knew how Darien had felt after Beryl had brainwashed him because he had confessed to her how sorry he was for doing the things he had done to her in one of their long nightly chats.
Finally, after a few more minutes of silence had passed, Pluto whispered to Serena, "I also brought you here to the future because I thought that it would be nice for Reenie to have her parents here when she was crowned."
Serena looked to the Guardian of Space and Time, a confused look on her face. "Crowned?" Serena echoed.
Pluto smiled and looking up at the Crystal Palace, nodded. "Yes, crowned. Because you and Darien are, well, you know . . . Princess Serena, or Reenie as you know her, is going to be crowned soon. I thought that she would like it if you, Darien and the others were here with her."
Serena smiled. While she didn't like the idea of her, Darien, Terence and Jordan being dead in the future, she did like the idea of being able to see her future daughter being crowned as the Queen of Crystal Tokyo.
Together, the group entered the Crystal Palace of Crystal Tokyo.
Lita stood on the balcony, smiling. She could see the Healers approaching the palace at an amazing speed. A speed that would have been impossible to reach for anyone other than the Healers.
Less then a minute
later, the Healers were stretching out their wings as far as they
could and coming in for a landing on the large palace balcony, a few
feet from where Lita stood. Lita smiled at each one as they landedbut
noticed that one of the Healers (the girl with the golden hair, who
also was the shortest of the five) looked sick herself. She appeared
to be holding onto the Healer with silver hair for strength. Lita
also noticed that another Healer with white hair was carrying Hotaru
Tomoe.
"Welcome to Crystal Tokyo," Lita said.
The
Healers nodded. "Where is Queen Serena?" the man with the
silver hair asked not even bothering to say hello. Lita was taken
aback by the fact that he knew who was sick.
"I
know where she is, Miceff," the Healer with the golden hair told
him. "I can sense her. Come. We must go quickly. I fear Queen
Serena does not have much time."
Miceff nodded. With Audiana still gripping his arm, they walked down the hall towards the Queen's room. The other Healers and Lita followed them.
