Chapter 15
"Pluto, can you take us to her right away?" Serena pleaded the Sailor Scout as they entered the large palace.
The tall Scout sighed. "I'm sorry, Serena but we have to wait awhile. Besides, now that the Healers are here we have nothing to worry. We'll get to Reenie in time. That you need not worry about."
I'm not worrying about that, Serena thought but didn't voice it. Instead, she said, "I know that you wouldn't have brought us here if it were too late, Pluto."
The others were several feet behind them, walking slowly in silence. Even Darien was no longer at Serena's side. He had fallen back with the others, his thoughts on Reenie.
"I'm glad you understand, Serena," the Sailor Scout said.
Serena stayed silent. She wasn't really paying attention to Pluto anymore. She was thinking about the Healers and how badly Reenie must need them if they had come so quickly. She knew that it couldn't have been long since Reenie had been hurt and if the Healers were from another galaxy, then they must have come very fast in very little time.
As they walked up the stairs, that was the only thought in Serena's head: How sick must Reenie be if the Healers had come so quickly?
Kirstein was walking into the palace when she realized that there was one person who must still be wondering what was going on. She shook her head, realizing that no one had probably even bothered to think of this person, yet, if Queen Serena were conscious she would be thinking of very little else.
I have to go and talk to him, Kirstein decided, Queen Serena would have wanted it this way.
Quickly, Raye's daughter walked up the stairs and walked down the hallway that led to the palace hospital.
Rodney Kirsta lay in his hospital bed staring at the ceiling. He was still wondering about Reenie and what Crystal Tokyo was, when he suddenly heard a cough at the door.
Slowly he turned his head to look at the person who was standing there. Seeing a young woman in the doorway, Rodney frowned. He recognized her for some reason. Suddenly, something clicked in his brain. Reenie! He had seen her a few times with Reenie!
The woman smiled at
him. "Got your attention, did I, Rodney?" she asked, her
voice telling him that the cough had been on purpose. She entered the
hospital room and closed the door behind her.
"I recognize
you," he said, frowning. "You were with Reenie. Who are
you? And how do you know who I am?"
The woman smiled and placed some of her long raven hair behind her ear. "My name is Kirstein Hino," the woman replied, the smile disappearing from her face. "I know who you are for one reason: because I know Reenie, or as you may consider calling her, Queen Serena."
Rodney looked at the woman confused. What the hell was this with everyone calling Reenie Queen Serena?
Kirstein saw the confusion on Rodney's face and sighed. "I know you're confused, Rodney," she began, "So, I suggest you relax and let me explain what you need to know, because boy Rodney, is there a lot you need to know."
Rodney leaned back against the pillow and looked at Kirstein, the look in his eyes saying, Tell me what's going on.
Kirstein sighed and told Rodney what had happened to him. She explained to him who Reenie really was, why they were calling her Queen Serena, and what had happened to Crystal Tokyo. As Kirstein told him the story, Rodney's eyes widened in disbelief. He couldn't believe what she was telling him. He was in the future! Reenie was Queen! But there was something else that Rodney couldn't get out of his mind as Kirstein continued to tell him the story. What had happened to Neo-Queen Serenity, King Endymion, King Terence, and Jordan? What he had done to them?
Rodney lay against
the pillows, disbelief and immense grief showing in his eyes. He
waited until Kirstein was finished telling him the whole story before
he finally spoke. When he did their was only one thing he could
say.
"How will Reenie ever forgive me?"
"I
don't think there is anything to forgive," Kirstein spoke
quietly.
Rodney turned to look at Kirstein. The expression in his eyes was asking her if she was crazy. "How can you say that? I kill. . . I kille. . ." Rodney couldn't bring himself to get the words out.
Kirstein didn't need him to finish though, she knew what he was going to say. He had killed Reenie's parents, along with her uncle and one of her mother's closest friends. Kirstein placed one of her hands on his. Looking directly at Rodney, Kirstein spoke.
"I know what you did. I was told by the Older Scouts what you've done. However, there is something that I left out in the telling of the story. I didn't tell you that Reenie was the one who saved your life. I didn't tell you that she used something called the Silver Emperium Crystal to do it."
Kirstein took a
deep breath and continued, "You may be wondering what the Silver
Crystal is. I will tell you. It is a Crystal that is passed on in the
Moon Kingdom's family. When one queen dies, the crystal is passed on
to the next living one and so on. Because of what happened, Reenie
was the queen with the Crystal. She, of course, did not know how to
access the Crystal, so she asked Elder Jupiter, who in turn, wanted
to know why she needed the Crystal. Reenie explained to Elder Jupiter
what had happened to you (about the car accident and everything).
Elder Jupiter was against it, but then Reenie explained to her that
she knew that you, being your normal self and not being brainwashed
by Nemesis, would never have done those evil things.
She also
explained to Elder Jupiter that she knew that, as her mother had done
to people before, the Crystal could be used to change you back to
your normal self and that it could get rid of the evil inside of
you."
Kirstein waited a
moment, then continued on with the story, "The Crystal did get
rid of the evil inside of you, Rodney. You were in pain and it hurt
Reenie to see you like that, but after a while, the evil was taken
out of you. Reenie was exhausted by the effort whenever she uses
the Crystal, it drains energy from her, just so you know but with
the help of her sister and cousin, she stayed standing long enough to
drain you of your black energy. The black energy came out of you and,
unexpectedly, flew towards Reenie and went inside of her. So, in case
you were wondering where Queen Serena is at the moment, she is on her
deathbed. The reason why she is fighting for her life is quite
simple. The goodness and pureness inside of the Silver Crystal was
the goodness and pureness inside of Reenie's own heart. That goodness
and pureness is fighting against the evil of the black energy.
Because there is so much good in her own heart and in the crystal,
the black energy cannot turn Reenie evil, but is, instead killing
her. The good is fighting against the evil inside of her. She should
be okay. We have called five people here known for helping people out
in these types of situations. But in answer to your question, 'How
will Reenie ever be able to forgive you?' There was nothing to
forgive. You were not yourself. You were under Nemesis's control.
Under their evil spell. Reenie does not need to forgive you. She was
the first one to see that, Rodney, so do not worry about her
forgiving you," Kirstein finished, nodded to indicate that she
had finished her story and walked towards the doorway. She was
standing in the doorway, just about to turn and leave when she called
Rodney's name. "Oh Rodney?"
"Yes?"
"Reenie's
mother was not the only one killed. You also killed Jordan's father,
Prince Terence's father and Princess Kara's mother and father."
Silence for a few seconds.
"You almost killed my mother, too. And while Reenie may have thought that there was nothing to forgive, I am not too sure how I or the others feel. Good-bye, Rodney."
With those closing words Kirstein left the room, closing the door behind her.
Rodney lay in bed, tears in his eyes. No longer able to hold them back, he let them fall down his cheeks. Slowly, those tears turned into sobs. As he sobbed, he wondered, What did those evil bastards do to me? What did they make me do?
Whoosh!
The doors to Queen Serena's room blew open and in walked the five Healers, Hotaru and Lita directly behind them. Audiana Trinta, the leader of the Healers, was leaning on Miceff Loand. The five Healers walked to Queen Serena.
Mina, who had been sitting by Queen Serena's bedside, glanced up and saw the five Healers, Hotaru and Lita. The blonde scout looked to Lita, her eyes asking if the five stangers were the Healers.
Lita nodded in reply and Mina stood up and walked away from the bedside.
The five Healers gathered around the bedside. Audiana Trinta stood at the foot of the bed, Miceff Loand stood on the left side of the foot of the bed and Statel Gound stood on the right side of the bed, both closest to Audiana. Josiah Cogtua stood on the other side of Miceff and Amia Jun on the other side of Statel.
The five grasped
hands and, closing their eyes, titled their heads back. Slowly, a
glow began to surround the Healers and a slight breeze started up in
the room. The Healers' hair began to float in the breeze.
"Hotaru,"
Audiana began, "Come join me. We will need help for this one."
Hotaru nodded and walked to Audiana's side. She joined hands with Audiana and Statel and, closing her eyes, titled her head back. The glow quickly surrounded Hotaru. Slowly, the breeze died down until it was only blowing slightly around the Healers. Their hair floating in the breeze, the Healers and Hotaru began to heal Queen Serena.
Audiana, Miceff, Statel, Josiah, Amia and Hotaru opened their eyes and saw a large, wide open grassy field. A few feet away from the group of six stood two people. One of the two people glowing a bright white light, while the other person was surrounded by a dark, black light. The person surrounded by the white light was shooting bolts of white energy at the person surrounded by black light, while the person surrounded by black light shot bolts of black energy. Both of the people surrounded by the lights were on their knees, obviously exhausted. The Healers and Hotaru could tell that they had been fighting this fight for awhile and they knew what they had to do. Quickly, the six of them walked towards the person covered by the white light. As they neared the person covered in white, they saw that the person looked identical to Neo-Queen Serenity, Queen Serena's mother.
"We must help her," Audiana instructed the others, running towards the person who looked identical to Neo-Queen Serenity.
Miceff and the other four followed Audiana and ran towards the person who looked like Neo-Queen Serenity.
"Who are you?" the Neo-Queen Serenity look-alike asked in Queen Serena's voice.
"We are people who are here to help you, Queen Serena," Audiana replied, directly in front of the white light.
Miceff and Josiah stood to Audiana's left while Hotaru, Statel, and Amia stood to Audiana's right. They grasped hands and a silver light began to surround the six of them.
"What are you doing?" Neo-Queen Serenity's look-alike asked in an exhausted voice.
"We are protecting you," Audiana replied, not turning to look at her. "My name is Audiana Trinta and I am the leader of the Healers. We are five beings who have powers to heal not only physical wounds, but spiritual wounds. That is what we are doing right now. We are in your mind fighting a battle for you, Queen Serena. You are weak and are near death outside of your mind. Because of this, we, the five Healers have been called here to help save you. Hotaru Tomoe, the person standing to my right, is one of your Sailor Scouts. She is known as Sailor Saturn, the Sailor Scout of Destruction and Healing. Ahghhhh " The person surrounding in black energy shot a black bolt of dark energy at them and Audiana had felt it hit. "Now if you excuse me, your Majesty, I must return to the task at hand."
The leader of the Healers narrowed her eyes in determination and asked, "Ready, guys?"
"Ready," the five Healers and Hotaru replied in unison.
Audiana nodded and not taking her eyes off the evil being in front of her and the others, closed them. The other five followed her lead and closed theirs, also. They stayed like that for a second and the evil being across from them frowned, wondering what they were doing.
The group of six rose several feet from the grass and with their eyes still closed, sent out a blast of silver energy towards the evil being. The blast of silver energy continued to flow from Hotaru and the five Healers towards the evil being.
The evil being cried out in agony. The weird thing was, the evil being cried out in agony in the same voice that belonged to Queen Serena.
Lita and Mina stood several feet away from the Healers and Hotaru.
They watched in silence Audiana spoke, "We must help her."
"Who are you?" Reenie asked from where she lay on the bed. Her eyes never opened.
"We are people who are here to help you, Queen Serena," Audiana spoke.
"What are you doing?" Reenie asked in a voice that was extremely tired.
"We are protecting you," Lita and Mina heard Audiana say.
"Are these the Healers?" a tired and hopeful voice asked from the doorway.
Lita turned her head to see Lillian, her daughter along with Raye, Amy and Greg, Chantel, Megan, Jordan, Kenneth and Kara. The question had come from the smallest of the group, Princess Kara.
Looking at the young princess, Lita smiled and nodded. "Yes, Princess Kara. These are the Healers."
The young princess let out a relieved sigh and entered the room. Quietly she walked to Lita's side. The others entered the room after the princess and like the others, stared at the Healers and Hotaru in fascination as they continued to heal the Queen.
"-is what we are doing right now. We are in your mind fighting a battle for you, Queen Serena. You are weak, and are near death outside of your mind. Because of this, we, the five Healers have been called here to help save you. Hotaru Tomoe, the person standing to my right, is one of your Sailor Scouts. She is known as Sailor Saturn, the Sailor Scout of Destruction and Healing. Aargh."
It was obvious that the Sailor Scouts had missed a part of the conversation that had been going on between Audiana and Reenie and that something had just happened in the battle inside of Reenie's mind to cause the leader of the Healers pain.
"Now if you excuse me, your Majesty, I must return to the task at hand," Audiana spoke. There was a minute of silence, then the golden-haired beauty asked, "Ready, guys?"
A reponse of "Ready" came from the other five people surrounding Queen Serena's bed. Nothing happened for a few seconds, then the group of six was surrounded by a silver light that was almost blinding.
"What's going on?" Kara asked, curious about why a silver light suddenly surrounded the five Healers and Hotaru.
Suddenly, Reenie cried out in agony.
"Lita, what's going on?" Kara asked as Kenneth asked, "What the hell are they doing to her?"
"I don't know," Lita replied, truthfully. "Only those battling it out inside of your sister's head know what is going on. But remember they're not doing anything to harm her. Remember that they're helping her."
"Audiana," Hotaru began, "I can't do this. I can't hurt her."
Audiana smiled but did not turn to look at Hotaru. If she did the constant stream of silver light hitting the dark light would become weaker. They had been sending out the constant stream of silver energy for more than five minutes by now. "You are not harming her, Hotaru," Audiana told the Sailor Scout, "You are helping her. This evil thing is not your queen. It sounds like her because we are battling inside of her mind, but it is not her. It is the thing causing her harm. It is the thing that is killing her."
Hotaru nodded and continued to let the energy stream from her into the silver stream of energy that was hitting the evil being, who continued to scream in pain.
Fifteen minutes passed, the stream of silver light still going strong. The Healers, however, were getting tired and weaker, while there seemed to be little or no effect on the evil being. It was on it's knees as it had been before when it had been fighting against the Neo-Queen Serenity look-alike, yet it did not seem to be getting tired or weaker.
"We need more strength," Miceff told Audiana. "We are not going to be able to defeat this evil thing without more strength. It's just too strong."
Audiana nodded. "I know, Miceff," she sighed, "I know."
"I can help you," Neo-Queen Serenity's look-alike spoke.
Without turning to look at her, Audiana shook her head. "No," she ordered. "I am sorry, Queen Serena, but you are too weak. To help us now, would kill you. What we need is strength from someone outside."
Jedaite was just walking by the Queen's room with Malachite, Neflyte and Zoicite when he heard an unfamiliar voice come from inside the queen's bedroom.
"-we need strength from someone outside," the unfamiliar voice spoke.
Jedaite frowned and looked to his comrades. The three of them shook their heads in reply to the unspoken question Jedaite was asking. None of them recognized the voice.
Zoicite turned her head and looked inside the queen's room and saw Raye and Amy with Greg and the majority of the CT Sailor Scouts. In front of the large group, they could see Lita's brown hair which was back in it's normal ponytail. Without saying a word to her three companions, she entered the room and lightly tapped Greg on the shoulder.
Not expecting anyone to enter the room, Greg turned around to face whoever it was, obviously surprised. Seeing who it was, Greg quietly exclaimed, "Zoicite!"
"Greg," Zoicite whispered, already knowing about the queen's condition, "What is going on here?"
"The Healers are here, Zoicite," Amy said from where she stood beside her husband. "They're trying to help Queen Serena, but Audiana the leader of the Healers just said that they need help."
"We um, Jedaite, Malachite, Neflyte and I we heard someone say something about needing strength from someone outside," Zoicite explained. "We didn't recognize the voice, so we came to see what was going on. Was that Audiana who had spoken?"
Greg nodded in reply. "It was," he said.
Zoicite nodded, thanked Greg and Amy then left the room to go talk to Malachite, Jedaite, and Neflyte. Quickly, she told them what was going on and who the unfamiliar voice belonged to.
"So, these Healers need help?" Neflyte asked.
Zoicite shrugged. "I am not sure if that is what you would call it," she said. "What I do know is that these Healers need strength. I guess it could be seen as help."
"Then we must give them strength," Malachite decided. "Do you remember when we were back in the past? Queen Serena was the only person who thought that we could be good. It was because of her that the Sailor Scout's didn't fight us. It was because of her that they chose not to kill us. We have an enormous debt to repay to her. The least we can do is lend these Healers some of our strength to help Queen Serena."
Jedaite nodded. "I agree with Malachite," the blonde-haired general said, "It's the least we can do."
"I agree with you guys," Zoicite said, "But how do we lend them our strength?"
"Like this," Neflyte said. He walked away from the group and into Queen Serena's room. He walked right past the Elder Sailor Scouts and the CT Sailor Scouts. He was just walking right past Mina when he felt a hand grab his shoulder.
"Neflyte," Lita began, "Just what do you think you are doing?"
Neflyte looked at the tall, brown-haired Sailor Scout and with absolute seriousness in his eyes, replied, "Helping my queen." Without another word, he shook off Lita's grip on his shoulder and walked towards Hotaru and the Healers. Neflyte stood only a few feet away from the Healers when he reached out his arm out. Slowly, he placed his hand on Audiana's shoulder.
Without coming out of her trance, the leader of the Healers smiled. "Thank you, Neflyte," she spoke.
Hearing Audiana speak, the crowd of Scouts gasped. She had never even opened her eyes and yet she had gotten his name right. How did she know that it was Neflyte who was helping her?
The silver glow
that surrounded the Healers and Hotaru wasted no time. In seconds, it
surrounded Neflyte. The group of Sailor Scouts looked on, still
surprised and a little bit in shock that Audiana had gotten Neflyte's
name right. They had known that the Healers had special powers, but
that was just pretty amazing.
"Um, excuse me,"
Malachite said and walked past the Sailor Scouts.
Jedaite and Zoicite were right behind him. When the three generals were beside Neflyte, Malachite smiled to him. He didn't even seem to notice that Jedaite was standing to his left and that Malachite and Zoicite were standing to his right. Malachite just sighed and reached out his arm. Slowly, he placed his hand on Audiana's right shoulder. Seconds later, Jedaite and Zoicite did the same.
The smile returned
to Audiana's face and she thanked the three of them. Quickly, the
silver light surrounded the three generals.
"What are they
doing?" Kara asked.
Lita told the princess the only thing that she had been told. "Helping your sister, princess."
Audiana felt a hand on her shoulder and smiled. Someone had heard her and was lending her and the rest of the Healers their strength. She waited a moment before speaking. "Thank you, Neflyte," Audiana said.
Neflyte only smiled
in return. He didn't know why, but he knew that Audiana couldn't turn
around. A few minutes later, he felt his friends by his side. Their
presence was confirmed when Audiana thanked them one-by-one. As
Neflyte stood there he could feel his energy being sucked from his
body and into the body of the Healers and Hotaru, towards making the
continuous stream of silver energy.
A few minutes had passed and
Neflyte, Malachite, Zoicite and Jedaite were on their knees, their
energy still being drained from them.
"Let go now,"
Audiana told them, "Too much energy has been drained from you.
You will not survive if you continue."
"Do you have
enough energy to save Queen Serena?" Neflyte asked the leader of
the Healers.
Audiana
sighed and shook her head.
"We are not going to let go until
Queen Serena is saved," Malachite informed Audiana and the rest
of the Healers, "She saved our lives in the past. Now we're
going to do the same for her."
Greg,
Lita and the other Sailor Scouts had been standing in the room as
this conservation had been going on. Hearing Malachite speak the tall
Sailor Scout realized that the four generals were willing to die to
save their queen. She knew what she had to do. She would have been
willing to die for Queen Serena's mother, Neo-Queen Serenity, she was
going to be ready to die for Queen Serena. She was just taking her
transformation pen out of her pocket when she heard a yell come from
behind her in a very familiar voice.
"CT Jupiter Power!"
It was soon
followed up by, "CT Mercury Power!", "CT Venus
Power!", "CT Sun Power!" and "CT S Power!"
A few seconds later, standing in the place of Lillian, Megan,
Chantal, Prince Kenneth, and Princess Kara stood CT Sailors Jupiter,
Mercury, Venus, Sun and S. The five Sailor Scouts walked past Amy,
Greg, Lita and Mina until they were a few feet away from Audiana,
Miceff, Statel, Josiah, Amia and Hotaru.
CT Sailor Jupiter stepped past Malachite and the other generals, placed her right hand over Audiana's and Hotaru's, and called out, "CT JUPITER POWER!"
CT Jupiter's attack flowed from her hand and into the light surrounding Hotaru and the Healers.
Quickly, the other
five Sailor Scouts stepped past the four generals. CT Sailor Mercury
took the place in-between Audiana and Miceff, while CT Sailor Mars
took the place in-between Hotaru and Statel and CT Sailor Venus took
the place in-between Miceff and Josiah. CT Sailor Sun and CT Sailor S
took the place in-between Statel and Amia. Each Sailor Scout placed
their right hand over the clasped hands of the people they stood
between and one-by-one called out their attacks.
"CT MERCURY
POWER!"
"CT MARS POWER!"
"CT VENUS
POWER!"
"CT SUN POWER!"
"CT S
POWER!"
The attacks flowed into the silver light one-by-one
and slowly, each Sailor Scout began to glow the colours belonging to
their planets. CT Sailor Jupiter began to glow a bright green. CT
Sailor Mercury began to glow a rich blue. CT Sailor Mars a dark, rich
red; Venus a bright yellow. CT Sailor Sun and CT Sailor S began to
glow an almost blinding white.
The Elder Sailors, Jordan, and Greg stood there, watching as the CT Sailors lent their energy to the Healers.
CT Sailor Jupiter was the first to appear inside the world that was created in the mind of Queen Serena. She appeared in-between Hotaru and Audiana, her hand on top of their clasped hands. Her attack flowed from her hands into the glowing light that was surrounding the Healers and Hotaru and streaming towards the evil being across from them. About a minute or so later, the other CT Sailor Scouts appeared in this mind-world in the same places as they were in the real-world. Like CT Jupiter's, their attacks flowed into the glowing light that was streaming towards the evil being across from the large group.
Not
turning her head to look at the four generals, Sailor CT Jupiter
spoke to them. "Neflyte, Zoicite, Malachite, Jedaite," she
began, "You can let go now. We're here. This was our job in the
first place, not yours. Let go before it's too late."
"We
have enough energy," Audiana joined in. "Let go now before
it's too late."
Satisfied that the Healers had enough energy to save their queen, the four generals took their hands off Audiana's shoulders and left the world that existed within their queen's mind.
