Chapter 21
Sailor
Uranus sighed and leaned against the wall. She and Sailor Neptune
were still standing guard outside of Rodney Kirsta's room. Uranus
kept clenching and unclenching her fists. She had been doing that for
the last half hour or so, trying to make her anger go away. She was
so tempted to just walk inside Rodney's room and pulverize the little
worm.
"You seem a little restless, Uranus," Neptune
noticed, glancing at her cousin.
Sailor Uranus smiled a sarcastic smile. "Funny."
Neptune smiled back. "I thought so."
Uranus shook her head. Her cousin always had the knack for saying something sarcastic just before she was about to punch a hole through something.
"You know you can't, Alex," Neptune said, knowing how her cousin felt. "Queen Serena would never forgive you."
Uranus shook her head in disgust. "I don't understand why. He killed her parents. Her entire family, almost. How can she not hate him?"
Neptune shrugged. "I don't know how," the aqua-marine haired Sailor Scout replied truthfully. "But for some reason unknown to us and to the others, she doesn't. While we question her judgment, we can't do anything against it. Remember, she's our queen now and leader of the Sailor Scouts."
Uranus sighed and nodded. She knew that. She also knew that she couldn't do anything against the wishes of her queen because that would be considered criminal. "I know, Michelle. It just frustrates me."
Neptune smiled and
leaned her head against the wall. "Kind of reminds you of her
mother, doesn't it?"
"You mean the way that I rarely
agreed with Queen Serenity's decisions?" Alex asked, smiling.
Neptune nodded.
"Yeah. A
little."
"But remember, Alex, Queen Serenity's
decisions usually turned out for the best."
Sailor Uranus nodded. She had to admit that her cousin was right. Although she had often (actually, almost always) disagreed with Queen Serenity's decisions, they almost always ended up working out for the best. "Let's just hope her daughter's the same," Uranus commented.
Neptune nodded in agreement. "Let's hope."
Greg sat in his and Amy's room, not quite sure what to do. He wanted to be by Amy's side to offer her comfort, but he had the feeling she had to deal with this alone. He didn't really understand why the Sailor Scouts always had to keep risking their necks to save their leader and Crystal Tokyo's queen. If it came down to it, he knew that the palace guards would have done that. That was why they were the palace guards.
Greg hated to admit it, but even back in the past he hadn't understood why Amy and the others always had to risk their necks trying to save Serena. He knew that one reason was out of loyalty to her. Megan felt the same way to Reenie. Greg sighed.
It has to be a Scout thing, he thought, shaking his head. He hated that this was something that he couldn't be a part of. Megan, Amy and him were a family but that didn't really matter at this time. What only seemed to matter was being a Sailor Scout. It seemed that only they (the Sailor Scouts) could understand what the others had done for Reenie and why.
Greg sighed and ran a hand through his hair in frustration. He wanted to understand. Why couldn't he understand?
Reenie entered her little sister's room and sighed when she saw that her little sister seemed to be okay. At least a lot better then any of the others. Reenie would never have been able to forgive herself if she had been the one to cause her little sister harm.
Serena, who was already sitting on one side of Kara's bed, smiled when she saw Reenie. "She's okay, Reenie," Serena assured her, knowing that Reenie was probably worried about her younger sister.
I know I was over Sammy, Serena remembered. "She's actually just sleeping. She almost woke up a few minutes ago. I think she'll be waking up soon."
Reenie smiled.
"That's good."
"Really good," Darien said
from the other side of Kara's bed.
Serena changed the subject. "How are the other Scouts?"
Reenie sighed. "Not too good. Kirstein took the worst of it."
Serena nodded.
"Kirstein's the one that made the big difference. I'm not
surprised that she took the worst of it."
"I'm
surprised she did," Reenie admitted.
At this, both Serena and Darien looked up. The expressions on their faces were both ones of confusion. "What do you mean?" Serena asked, at the same time when Darien asked, "Why do you say that?"
Reenie sighed and walked over to Kara's bed. Quietly, she sat down on the edge farthest from her sister. Looking down at her hands, Reenie said, "Me and Kirstein haven't always been ones to get along."
Serena smiled.
"Like me and Raye."
"I guess," Reenie said,
knowing that Raye and Serena hadn't always gotten along, "That's
why I don't really understand why she put so much force into her
attack. . . so much of her energy. I could tell that it wasn't only
her energy from being a Sailor Scout. It was like she was trying to
beat the evil out of me with her own spirit. I mean, the other Sailor
Scouts used a lot of their energy, but it wasn't anything like what
Kirstein did."
Serena nodded in understanding. She and Raye hadn't always gotten along. But in the end, out of all of the Scouts she knew that if need be, Raye would put her life down for Serena's. Serena may be the closest with Lita and Amy, but she knew that both of them would hesitate before risking their own lives. Mina would, too. But she knew without even thinking about it, Raye wouldn't give it a second thought. Sometimes that second thought could make the difference between life and death. "I know where you're coming from, Reenie," Serena said, "You don't understand why Kirstein almost gave her life away to save yours."
Reenie nodded, not lifting her gaze. That was exactly how she was feeling.
Serena sighed. "That's kind of how I felt about Raye," she said. Then after a second's thought, "Actually, that's still kind of how I feel about Raye."
Both Darien and Reenie laughed a little.
"Anyways,
Kirstein is just trying to look out for you, you know? That's what
Raye always did for me. Kirstein just wants you to be everything you
can be, no matter what the costs to herself. Also, you're her queen.
I think she realizes the responsibility of that more then anyone. She
knew what she was doing, Reenie. Even though you may not be thinking
that right now, she knew."
"Who knew what?" a
familiar and tired voice mumbled from the bed.
Surprised, Serena, Darien, and Reenie turned to look at Kara.
Reenie almost broke into tears when she saw that her sister had awaken. "Kara!" she cried and wrapped her arms around her little sister.
Kara smiled and hugged Reenie back. "It worked!" Kara said, also happy that her older sister was going to be okay.
Reenie nodded. It had worked. The two sisters let go of each other and Reenie looked to Serena and Darien. "Does this mean that the others should be waking up soon, too?" she asked, hoping that it was true.
Serena was about to nod yes when she was suddenly interrupted by a light knock on the door.
"Yes?"
Reenie asked.
"The others are beginning to awaken, Queen
Serena," a familiar voice called from the hallway.
Reenie sighed and
smiled. "Thank you, Pluto. I'll go and see them soon."
"Very well, Your Majesty," Sailor Pluto said, then
they heard her footsteps walk away.
Reenie turned to look at Kara. "I have to go and see the others," Reenie told her little sister, "I'll be back."
Kara smiled and nodded to show that she understood.
With one final hug, Reenie got up and left her sister's bedroom. She couldn't wait to see the others!
Lita Kino had been sitting on the same rock for quite a while by now. Her feet were almost numb from the freezing water that came from the waterfall. She had been sitting there thinking about everything that her future self had told her. She still couldn't get over it. Andrew dead. The very thought of that was still a shock to her.
I guess I'd better get going, Lita said, standing up. She was curious to see if her future daughter had woken up by now. Her future self had left about an hour ago to go check up on Lillian. After shaking her feet to try and get some feeling back into them, Lita took off towards the palace a run.
Amy
and Mina were just entering the palace when they saw two Guards walk
by talking excitedly. Not quite sure what the two Guards had been
talking about, Mina looked to Amy to see if she had been able to
grasp any of the conversation.
"Do you have any idea what
they were talking about?" Mina asked.
Amy smiled and
nodded. "I think Megan and the others have woken up.".
"What makes you think that?"
"Them,"
Amy said, motioning to the two palace guards who had walked by.
Mina look at Amy, not understanding what she meant.
Amy smiled. "They were just saying that they had to go find Greg and tell him that Megan's going to be okay."
"That's great!"
Amy nodded. It was fantastic news. This way they could go back to the past knowing that their future daughters were going to be okay (for now, anyways). "Come on," Amy said, turning in the direction that the two guards had gone, "Let's go see how they're doing."
Mina nodded and together, the two of them headed towards their future daughter's rooms.
Raye was still sitting in the temple, her eyes closed, facing the fire, when she suddenly felt a wind blow up from nowhere. Immediately, Raye opened her eyes. A vision had just come to her.
The others had awaken, she knew. She had seen it in her vision. She also knew that she had to stop her friends from reaching their future daughters. They were not the ones who they were supposed to give comfort to. While they may have concern for their future children, they were supposed to stay away from them. For now, at least. Until their job here was done.
Quickly, Raye stood up and ran from the temple. She had to stop her friends before they got to their future daughters' rooms!
Amy was sitting in her daughter's room, staring at Megan lying on the bed when she suddenly gasped in surprise.
Did I just see what I thought I saw? she asked herself, not sure. She stared at her daughter and gasped again when the same thing happened. Her daughter's fingers had moved. "Megan?" Amy whispered, wondering if her daughter was waking up.
Megan groaned from the bed and turned her head.
"Megan?" Amy repeated.
Slowly, Megan's
eyes flickered open. "Hi, mom," Megan said, her voice
faint.
"Megan!" Amy exclaimed, wrapping her arms
around her daughter.
Megan smiled and winced a little as Amy hugged her. She still felt a little sore from giving her energy to the Healers to help save Reenie. "Mom, I'm fine. You can let go."
Amy nodded and let
go of her daughter. "How are you feeling, honey?" Amy
asked, concerned.
"Sore," Megan replied, truthfully,
"But you know how it is."
Amy smiled and
nodded. That was true. She, herself, had woken up countless times
feeling sore and achy after long, exhausting battles. "I do."
"How are the others?" Megan asked.
"I'm sure
they're fine," Amy replied. "They should all be waking up
soon. I know Reenie is perfectly fine. She woke up quite a while
ago."
Megan sighed. "That's good," she said, relieved that their planned had succeeded.
Amy nodded. It was a good thing that Reenie was okay. Kara would not have been able to take the pressures of being Queen of Crystal Tokyo. She hadn't been raised to take the pressures.
Megan was about to say something else when their was a sudden knock on the door.
Surprised, Amy
asked, "Yes?"
"Is it okay if I come in?" a
familiar voice asked.
Megan smiled. "Come in, Reenie," the younger Sailor Scout replied. There was the sound of the knob turning, then the door opened and in walked Reenie. Relief showed in Reenie's eyes when she saw Megan lying on the bed, awake and well. "Hey," Megan said, "How are you feeling?"
Reenie smiled and
walked over to the bed. "I don't think that you're the one who
should be asking that question," the Queen of Crystal Tokyo
said, "But I'm feeling just fine. How about you? Are you feeling
okay?"
"I'm a little sore," Megan admitted, not
bothering to hide it from her friend and queen, "But otherwise
I'm fine."
Reenie nodded. For
some reason she felt like she had interrupted something.
"How's
Kara?" Amy asked, wondering how the little princess was doing.
Reenie smiled.
"Kara's just fine," the Queen of Crystal Tokyo replied,
"She woke up a few minutes ago."
"Do you know
anything of the others?" Megan asked anxiously.
Reenie shook her
head. "Not really. I still have to go check up on them."
Megan nodded and Reenie stood to her feet. "I'm happy to see
that you're doing well, Megan," she continued. "I'll talk
to you later."
"I'll see ya later, Reenie," Megan
said.
Reenie smiled, said good-bye to Amy, then she quickly left her friend's room.
Sailor
Pluto stood outside Megan's room, waiting for Reenie to come out. She
didn't have long to wait. After five minutes, Reenie came out of
Megan's room. It was obvious that she had not been expecting Pluto to
be there waiting for her.
"Oh!" she exclaimed in
surprise, "Hi Pluto."
Pluto smiled.
"Hello, Queen Serena.How are Megan and Princess Kara
doing?"
"Fine."
"That's good."
Reenie nodded in
agreement. There was silence in-between the two Scouts for a few
minutes or so, then Reenie spoke. "Pluto?"
"Yes?"
"Where
are Uranus and Neptune?"
"They are still guarding
Rodney Kirsta."
"I have a favor to ask of them. Would
you mind asking them for me?"
Pluto shook her head, no.
Reenie nodded. "Can
you ask them to bring Melissa Austin and Kristy Kirsta here to the
palace?"
"Right away, Queen Serena."
"Thank
you, Pluto."
Pluto nodded and left, heading down the hallway towards the palace's hospital area.
Reenie sighed and prepared herself to enter Chantal's room.
Raye was
nearly out of breath by the time she reached the entrance to the
hallway that led to their future daughter's rooms. She leaned against
the wall to catch her breathe and smiled. The others hadn't arrived
yet, meaning that she still had time to stop them from visiting their
future daughters. Raye was still trying to catch her breathe when she
heard the door from the hallway open. Surprised, Raye turned to see
who it was.
"Hello, Raye," the tall Sailor Scout said,
her voice peaceful.
"Hi, Pluto," Raye said. She had not
been expecting to see Sailor Pluto near this area, and wondered why
the Guardian of Space and Time was there.
"Waiting for the
others?"
Raye nodded. She didn't really feel as though she had to tell Pluto why she was waiting for the others. The look in Sailor Pluto's eyes seemed to tell Raye that Pluto already knew why.
Pluto smiled in understanding, then she shut the door behind her that led to the CT Scouts' rooms and walked away, leaving Raye standing there all alone.
Terence sat in Kenneth's room, staring at his son, praying for him to wake up. He knew that his time in the future was quickly running out and that soon he would have to return to the past. But Terence didn't want to return to the past until he knew that Kenneth was going to be okay.
Still staring at his future son, Terence almost jumped in surprise. What he had just seen. . . could it possibly be true? A sudden groan from the body on the bed made Terence smile; it was true. Kenneth was finally waking up!
Lita had just arrived at the palace, but she could already tell from the excited whispers of the guards that the news was good. She smiled, excited by the fact that it was good news.
With a sudden burst of new energy, Lita sprinted inside the palace and up the stairs. She couldn't wait to see Lillian!
Raye had not been waiting long when she started hearing footsteps coming up the stairway and towards her. Quickly, Raye stepped away from the wall that she had been leaning against while she waited for her friends.
A few seconds later, Amy and Mina appeared at the top of the stairs and as they turned, the expressions on their faces showed their surprise at seeing Raye already there. "Is it true, Raye?" Mina asked, excitedly as she and Amy walked towards her.
Raye smiled and
nodded. "Yeah. It's true."
"Why aren't you with
Kirstein, then?" Amy asked, not understanding why Raye wasn't
with her future daughter.
"I have my reasons, Amy,"
Raye said, knowing that her two friends were about to hate what she
was going to say next. "It's the exact same reason why you and
Mina can't go see Megan and Chantal."
Hearing this,
Raye's two friends frowned. "What do you mean, Raye?" Mina
asked at the exact same time that Amy asked. "What's the
reason?"
"We might as well wait for Lita to come here
before I tell you guys. Just understand that I would be with Kirstein
if it weren't a good one, okay?"
Amy sighed and Mina just nodded; the two of them both knew Raye well enough by now to know that she was telling the truth. Suddenly, Raye smiled and Amy and Mina turned to face the stairway; the three of them could already hear their friend sprinting up the stairs.
Less then a minute later, Lita was at the top of the stairs; she smiled when she saw her friends, but then frowned as she realized that something had to be up if they weren't with their future daughters. "What's going on?" Lita asked as she walked towards them.
Mina shrugged.
"We don't
know," Amy informed Lita.
"Raye just told us that she a
reason why we couldn't go see our future daughters," Mina
replied, "But she told us that she wanted to wait until you
showed up."
Lita looked at Mina with one raised eyebrow, then turned to Raye. The look on Lita's face told Raye that she didn't really give a damn about any reason; she only wanted to see how Lillian was doing.
Raye sighed. I hope I can convince Lita, she thought and opened her mouth to tell them her reason.
Pluto sighed as she walked down the hospital corridor which led to Rodney's room. She wasn't really all that eager to ask Uranus and Neptune to go and get Kristy Kirsta and Melissa Austin, but then again she didn't really have a choice. She had told Reenie that she would do it.
Now if they just don't bite my head off, Pluto thought as she neared the entrance to Rodney's room.
When Raye had finished telling her friends about the vision that she had had earlier and the talk that she had had with Sailor Pluto, Mina nodded; while Amy just had a look of understanding of in her eyes; and Lita had a look that was a mixture of understanding and disbelief on her face.
"So,"
Lita began, "You're trying to tell us that we can't go visit our
future daughters because that's not why we were brought here to the
future. But instead, we have to try and convince our future selves
that it wasn't their faults that Neo-Queen Serenity died?"
"That's not what I'm trying to say,
Lita," Raye informed the taller Sailor Scout, "That's what
I'm saying."
"And Pluto agrees with you?" Mina
asked.
Raye nodded.
"Yep."
"And you're certain that they're all okay,
right?" Amy asked.
Again, Raye nodded.
"I'm sure. I saw it in my vision. They were all waking up,
except for Kirstein. I have a feeling that it's going to take her a
little bit longer."
"Well, this sucks," Lita
said, bluntly.
Raye nodded. She couldn't agree more with Lita; it did suck.
"But we have
to be heading back home soon," Amy said. Then, looking at Raye,
"Do you know when we're supposed to talk to them?"
"Not
really," Raye replied truthfully. "I can guess maybe in an
hour or so, but I can't tell you guys for sure."
Lita sighed and
nodded, then she leaned against the wall near the doors that led to
the Sailor Scout's private wing.
"So, I guess all that we
can do now is wait," Mina said.
Amy nodded.
"I
hate waiting," Lita muttered as she tilted her head back against
the wall.
"Looks like Trista's coming our way," Neptune remarked looking down the hallway.
Turning her in head in the direction that Neptune was looking, Uranus nodded. "Wonder why."
Neptune shrugged.
"Don't know. Guess we'll be finding out soon enough."
"Hey,
Trista," Uranus said as Sailor Pluto neared them.
"Hello,
Alex," Sailor Pluto said, "Hello, Michelle."
Sailor Neptune
nodded in acknowledgement. "Hey, Trista. What brings you down
this way?"
"A favor," the oldest Sailor Scout
replied.
Uranus looked at Pluto, a suspicious look in her eyes. "You're not normally one to ask for favors, Trista."
"It's not for me, Alex. It's for Queen Serena."
Uranus raised her eyebrows, surprised; it was obvious that she hadn't been expecting to say that.
"What does Her Majesty want us to do?" Neptune asked.
Pluto smiled.
"Something that you guys might not be too keen on doing,"
she replied, honestly.
"Just tell us what it is, Trista,"
Uranus said, curious as to what their queen wanted of them.
Pluto sighed and
said, "Queen Serena wanted me to ask if the two of you could go
and bring Melissa Austin and Kristy Kirsta here to the palace."
"Why does she want to talk to those two?" Neptune
asked.
"She was friends with them in the past," Pluto
informed the two Sailor Scouts. "I don't know why she wants to
talk to them. All I know is that she asked if the two of you could go
and bring them back here."
Uranus nodded. "You'll stay here and guard Rodney's door, then?"
"Yes," Pluto replied.
"Okay then. Neptune and I will return as soon as possible."
Sailor Pluto nodded and leaned against the wall near Rodney's door as Sailors Neptune and Uranus left in search of Melissa Austin and Kristy Kirsta.
Amia, Statel and Miceff all sat in Amia's room, each one not saying a word. They were all thinking about Hotaru and Josiah and what the two of them would decide. They were still sitting there in silence, when suddenly there was a knock at the door.
The three of them almost jumped, but after a second or two Miceff smiled. He had been too busy in thought to sense Audiana's presense nearing them.
Without waiting for permission from Amia to enter, Audiana opened the door and entered her friend's room. Seeing Amia sitting up in the bed, Audiana smiled. "Hey, Amia," she said walking towards them, "Sorry I'm late. I had to explain a few things to Hotaru and Josiah."
Amia nodded. "It's
okay, Audiana," Amia replied, "Miceff and Statel explained
it to me already."
"Do you know their decisions yet?"
Statel asked.
"No," Audiana replied, truthfully
walking over to stand by Miceff, "But I should be able to sense
them when they decide."
"Well, I wish they would hurry
up," Miceff said, "This waiting is killing me."
The three girls laughed; not because what Miceff said was funny, but because they needed to break up the tension that seemed to be engulfing them.
Josiah sat in his room, staring at the wall. He had just made his decision and he didn't feel too proud about it, but he knew that it was the right one to make. He couldn't live any other way. If he stayed on the Earth he could still have the satisfaction of healing people, so he wouldn't have to give up that up.
I'm sorry, guys, Josiah thought, knowing that Audiana could hear his thought-speak and would tell the others. But I can live without being a part of the Healers. I can't live without Hotaru.
