Chapter 18

"Statel?"

Hearing a familiar voice, the bronze-haired, bronze-eyed Healer sat up in bed and tried to recognize who was speaking. She was still a little tired from lack of energy, so her senses were not as sharp as they normally would be.

The voice repeated the question. "Statel?"

This time the voice was different. Masculine. Statel closed her eyes, trying to place where she knew those voices from and smiled. She recognized the voices now. She knew who was speaking. She knew who was asking for her. "Audiana," she cried out, "Miceff, I'm in here."

Suddenly, two figures appeared in the doorway leading to Statel Gound's room.
"Hi, Statel," Audiana said smiling, seeing her friend and fellow Healer.
"Hi, Audiana. Hi, Miceff." Then, "Audiana, do you know where we are?"

Audiana nodded in reply. "We're in the guest area of the palace in Crystal Tokyo," the golden-haired leader replied. "Miceff and I are just a few rooms down the hall. My guess is that Josiah and Amia are a few rooms down the hall from here, too."
"Can you sense them?" Statel asked, a little bit of how tired she felt showing in her voice.

Audiana shook her head. "I can't, but I couldn't sense where you were until you woke up. It's very possible that Josiah and Amia are still resting and haven't woken up. Until they do, I can't sense them or where they are."
"How're the young Sailor Scouts?" Statel asked, changing the subject.
"They just need their rest," Miceff replied for Audiana. "They're a lot stronger than normal humans in their Sailor form."
"Also, they didn't lend any of their own strength," Audiana added. "They only lent the strength of their powers as Sailor Scouts to help Queen Serena. They will be okay after they sleep it off."

Statel smiled and nodded. "That's good, Audiana. I don't want for them to have been injured or hurt by lending us their strength to help save their queen."

Audiana nodded in agreement. "It is unfortunate that Neflyte and the others didn't listen to us," she said, sadly.

Miceff sighed. He knew how Audiana felt. He felt the same way, but he wished that she wouldn't dwell on it. It wasn't as if they hadn't warned them of what would happen if they didn't stop lending the Healers their energy.

"Miceff," Audiana began, surprising her lover, "I know that we warned them and I know what you mean. But still..."

Statel looked at the two of them, a little confused. She didn't understand what Audiana was talking about but she had some idea that something had been said between the two of them through their thoughts. She knew that the two of them held that power.

Seeing her friend's confusion, Audiana explained, "Miceff feels that I shouldn't dwell on what happened to the four generals. Especially since we had warned them about what would happen. And no, Statel, we didn't use our thought-speak. I could sense how he was feeling."

Statel shook her head and looked to her friend's lover. "You really have to be careful of what you're thinking around her, don't you?" she asked Miceff, jokingly.

Miceff only smiled and nodded in reply.

Audiana looked to her friend, a false look of betrayal on her face. She knew that they were joking.

Seeing the look on Audiana's face (and knowing that she didn't really mean it), Statel and Miceff only laughed.

As Reenie walked quickly down the halls towards the palace hospital, everyone who she walked by turned to look at her. Each one of them were surprised to see their queen up and walking by herself. Reenie was just opening the doors to the palace hospital when she heard a familiar voice calling her name.
"Queen Serena!"
Reenie didn't even have to turn around to recognize who the voice belonged to. She knew even before she turned around and saw Sailor Pluto standing only a few feet behind her.

Sailor Pluto smiled and quickly ran the few feet so that she was standing beside her friend, fellow Sailor Scout, and queen. Together, they entered the palace hospital. "I'm gald to see that you're already answering to that title," she said quietly as they walked past the main nurses' area.
"Guess I don't really have a choice, now do I, Pluto?" Reenie sighed. "I'll have to get used to it sooner or later, and I remember one of the Healers calling me by that. I guess that's what they know me as."
"You're right on that count," the Sailor Scout of Space and Time admitted. "The Healers didn't know who was hurt before they came here. To tell you the truth, we weren't the ones who contacted them. The leader of the Healers, Audiana Trinta, who is the person who called you Queen Serena by the way, can sense those who are badly injured; not only physically but emotionally, as well. We had a feeling that you were both and that they would come. They did. Audiana sensed that it was Queen Serena, not Reenie, that was hurt. Therefore, that is the only name that she and the others know you by: Queen Serena. You are also right by saying that you don't have a choice. That is your title now. You cannot forget that."

Reenie sighed. She only wished that she could. She wished that everything could return to normal, the way it was before she and the others had gone into the past to train and become Sailor Scouts. Thinking this, she looked to Sailor Pluto.

Sailor Pluto, sensing what Reenie thought, smiled and shook her head. "I'm sorry, Queen Serena," she said, knowing that Reenie was thinking that there was a way for things to return to normal. "I can't open a doorway into the past just so you can fix things to the way that you would like them to be."

Reenie sighed and looked to the floor as she and Pluto continued to walk down the palace hospital's hallway, towards Rodney's room. "I know, Pluto," she said, "It's just..."

Pluto nodded. "I know," Sailor Pluto said, understanding how Reenie was feeling. Pluto, too, had experienced the loss of her parents. However, she had had centuries to deal with getting over it and getting on with her life. Reenie had only learned about her parents' death the day before. "Trust me, I know. There are many things that I would change if I could. You aren't the only one to become a queen well before her time, Reenie. Nor are you the only one to have to fight a battle this large by yourself."

Reenie frowned. She had no clue who Pluto was talking about. She had no idea who else had fought such a battle, and besides, she hadn't fought the battle by herself. Kenneth and Kara had come to her aide and helped her to stand on her feet.

Pluto smiled. "You have no idea what I'm talking about, do you?"

Reenie's only reply was a grin.

The Sailor Scout of Space and Time sighed and replied, "Your mother, Neo-Queen Serenity, fought against Queen Beryl a few years before you went into the past Reenie. Of course, she wasn't known as Neo-Queen Serenity then, but as Serena."
"Serena?" Reenie echoed, obviously surprised. She remembered hearing about the battle with Beryl, but didn't know any of the specifics.

Pluto nodded. "Yes, Serena," she replied, "Your mother. She fought against Queen Beryl by herself. The other Sailors had died already, but were brought back with the power of the Silver Crystal after the battle. They appeared by your mother's side and lent her, not the physical power to defeat Beryl but emotional strength to defeat her. With them standing beside her in spirit, she fought against and defeated Beryl."

Pluto smiled and shook her head. "And I can't even count the number of times that your mother wished she could just shed her responsibility as both, Sailor Moon and the Moon Princess. So you see, you aren't the only one who has had to accept your responsibilities early. At least you were raised and prepared for your role as Queen of Crystal Tokyo. Serena wasn't. The first time she transformed she told Luna that she wanted to play Sailor V video games, not live them. You were taught how to be a Sailor Scout. Your mother and the others didn't have that chance, unfortunately. They learned from experience. So, while you may have to face the responsibilities before your time, just remember what I've told you. After all, your mother had no Royal training to become queen or a Sailor Scout and look how fine she did at both?"

Reenie nodded. Pluto was right. Her mother had absolutely no training (unlike Reenie, who had been brought up expecting to someday accept those responsibilities) and she had done just fine as both, Queen of Crystal Tokyo and Sailor Moon.
Suddenly, she stopped as she saw two Sailor Scouts standing guard in front of a hospital doorway. The two Sailors looked sort of familiar and Reenie recognized them as Sailor Neptune and Sailor Uranus. She smiled and knew why the two of them had to be standing in front of that hospital room door. It was just too obvious. Rodney had to be in that room.

A few minutes later, Reenie was standing in front of the two older Sailor Scouts, looking at them expectantly. Both of them stood directly in front of the closed door, making entrance into the room impossible or at least, you had to get through them to do so.
"Um, excuse me, Uranus, Neptune, but may you please move so that I can enter Rodney's room?"

Sailor Uranus looked to Sailor Neptune.

Sailor Neptune looked to Sailor Uranus. Then both of them turned to look at their queen. "We are sorry, Your Majesty," Neptune said.
"We cannot allow you to enter," Uranus finished. "We cannot trust him not to harm you again. As your protectors, we cannot allow you to be hurt."

Reenie bit the inside of her lip. She was tempted to roll her eyes, but instead she sighed and responded, "Sailor Uranus, Sailor Neptune, I am no longer asking the two of you to move. I am commanding you to move as the Queen of Crystal Tokyo."

The two older Sailor Scouts looked uncertainly to Sailor Pluto, who was now standing behind Reenie. They both knew that as the Queen of Crystal Tokyo, Reenie did have the right to order them around. However, as Sailor Scouts, they were also allowed to do almost anything in order to protect their queen.

Sailor Pluto looked at the both of them. The look in her eyes told the two of them to move out of Reenie's way and to let her enter Rodney's room.

Seeing that look, the two Sailor Scouts moved aside, Uranus opening the door for Reenie.

Reenie smiled her thanks at Uranus and shut the door behind her.

He heard mumbling outside his bedroom door and strained to hear what was being said. He knew that two people had been placed in front of his doorway earlier that evening.

Probably to prevent me from leaving this room, Rodney thought. He couldn't get what Kirstein had told him out of his head. He had killed Reenie's family. The one person whom he loved the most.

Suddenly, he sat up straight and looked towards the door. He had seen the knob turning and knew that whoever was outside was coming into his room. He wondered who it was and braced himself to face whoever it was as the door opened and the person entered his room.

As the door clicked shut behind her, Reenie turned her gaze to where she knew the bed would be lying in the room. Her gaze didn't land on the bed, but on the pair of eyes that were staring directly at her. Reenie smiled. She didn't have to look at the rest of the body to know whose eyes those were. "Hi, Rodney," she said, softly. "How are you feeling?"
"Reenie?" he asked, knowing that it was.
"It's me. How are you feeling?"

Rodney didn't respond. He didn't really know how to. What could he say? That he was feeling crappy and guilty for killing her family?

Yeah, he thought, That'd go over real well.

"Do you have idea of what's going on, Rodney?" she asked, walking towards him.

Rodney nodded. Unfortunately, he did.

"So," she began, not quite sure how she should approach what she was going to say. "You. . . um, you know what has happened?"

Looking down at his hands, he nodded. He didn't want to speak unless she gave him permission to. After all, not only had he killed her family but she was a queen. At least, in this time period she was.

"You can speak to me, you know?" Reenie said.

Rodney sighed and lifted his head to look at the love of his life. What could he possibly say to her, other then... "I'm sorry, Reenie. I'm so sorry." Tears were beginning to well up in Rodney's eyes as he apologized. He didn't know how she could ever forgive him.

Reenie sat down on the edge of the bed and placed her right hand on top of Rodney's hands. After about a minute of silence, she spoke.
"It's not your fault, Rodney," she said, softly and slowly. "You didn't do it of your own power. You were brainwashed by Nemesis into thinking that you hated Crystal Tokyo and my family. you have nothing to be sorry for."
"But, Reenie, I ki..." Rodney began, but couldn't even get the words out.

Reenie put a finger to her lips to hush him and stop him from saying any more. "It's not your fault, Rodney," Reenie assured him. "You didn't do it. It was Nemesis's fault. They brainwashed you. They put that evil inside of you. It's gone. I took it out of you and the Healers took it out of me. It's gone now and it's not going to come back, Rodney. You can be sure of that. I'll make sure of that."

Rodney looked at Reenie, a confused look on his face. "Reenie," he began, "I hurt you so much. Why are you being so nice to me? How can you be so nice to me?"

Reenie sighed and smiled at Rodney Kirsta. It was a smile mixed with sadness and understanding. "I love you, Rodney," she said, standing up from his bedside, And I know that it wasn't you who killed my family and Jordan. That was Nemesis." She bent down and kissed him on the mouth, completely surprising him. "I love you," she repeated. Then, "I'll be back soon. I just need to check on my friends. They helped the Healers out and I need to see if they're okay. See ya soon, Rod." With that, Reenie smiled, and turned to walk towards the door. She reached the door and opened it. Pluto, Uranus and Neptune were waiting for her outside. Then, with one more smile in Rodney's direction, Reenie left the room. Again, she shut the door behind her.

Even when the door was shut, Rodney stayed staring at it, amazed by the person who had just shut it. Amazed by how caring and kind she was.

"Josiah and Amia are awake."

Audiana Trinta spoke from out of nowhere. Audiana, Miceff and Statel had been sitting in Statel's room, talking about the battle for Queen Serena when the leader of the Healers suddenly spoke out.
"What?" Miceff and Statel asked in unison, surprised at Audiana's sudden outburst.
"Josiah and Amia. . . they've awoken."
"You're sure?" Statel asked.

Before Audiana could reply, Miceff did for her. "You shouldn't have to ask that question, Statel," Miceff said, "Of course, she's sure. She was sure when she sensed Queen Serena being sick, wasn't she?"
"Miceff," Audiana said, a little bit shocked at her lover's reaction to Statel's innocent question, "Back off. She's only asking if I'm sure." Then, to Statel, she nodded and replied, "Yes, Statel. I'm sure that they are awake. I'm also sure that the two of them are a little confused about where they are."

Miceff nodded. "We should get going then," he stated.

Audiana nodded and looked to Statel. "Are you going to come along?" she asked her friend.

Statel smiled, nodded and quickly got out of bed. Together, the three Healers left Statel's room and headed towards Josiah's and Amia's.