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And Absolutely Thanks to Angel Raye and Naoko Takeuchi!
Always Me
Chapter 8:New Dawn
"Celine?" Gloria gasped in an amazed whisper.
"Mama?" The girl asked as she turned and looked at Gloria. Celine looked around a bit disoriented. She recognized her mother and grandmother, as well as the other Sailor Senshi and Cosmic Senshi... But she was confused by presence of what appeared to be other adult senshi... Who are they? She wondered. Strangely though, most of them appeared familiar somehow... She also wondered where the other Elysian Scouts were. Most confusing were two scouts who seemed to be in the outfits of Venus senshi... But how can that be? Celine wondered. Mom, Grandma, and I are the only Venus Scouts... Of the two, the one who appeared to be an adult was even wearing a uniform identical to hers, but Celine was certain that she had never seen her before.
The younger one; however, looked uncomfortably familiar, though older than before... Celine thought.
Celine looked down and saw that she was not in her senshi uniform as she had remembered being, but her school clothes that she had been wearing earlier. She also had no idea of how she had gotten to the training ground.
"Mama?" She asked. "What happened? How did I get here?"
"What's the last thing you remember?" Sailor Mercury asked.
Celine paused for a moment as she remembered:
"Brooke, Taylor, and I were fighting a youma." She answered. "Taylor almost got hit and I got one of its stingers in my arm. I remember it hurt, but that's all I remember until I woke up just now." Celine answered, still intensely confused.
"Are Brooke and Taylor okay?" She asked. "Where are they?"
From the crowd of senshi, Brooke fondly slipped a small smile. Taylor watched and listened in stunned silence.
"They're just fine." Gloria assured her daughter. If what has just happened is what I think just happened... Does that make this my older daughter or is she my youngest daughter now? Gloria pondered briefly. "You'll see them soon, I promise!" Gloria added.
"Don't worry, Celine." Sailor Mercury told her. "We'll explain everything to you as soon as we can, but right now I need you and your mom to come with me to the hospital so we can make sure you're all right."
Celine nodded her head. She hoped she hadn't done anything wrong. She never told her mother, but sometimes she felt like grandma was disappointed in her for some reason... It hurt that her grandmother seemed so disappointed.
"Grandma?" She asked looking at Mina. "Will you come too?" Celine querried shyly.
To Celine's surprise, her grandmother smiled broadly at her. "I promise I'll be right there shortly!
"Okay...?" Mina asked gently. First she would need to take care of Tiffany, but it would be wonderful to have her granddaughter again...
Celine nodded in comforted reassurance and smiled at her grandmother as she went to follow her mother and Aunt Amy to the hospital.
"How is Celine?" Gloria asked Amy several hours later.
"Resting peacefully." Amy assured her. "I gave her a mild sedative so she could sleep for a while.
"Physically, she is in excellent health." Amy said. "I just didn't want to try explaining things to her before we had some idea of what happened, ourselves."
"Well?" Queen Serenity asked. "What did happen?"
"Well..." Amy began. "Based on what we have seen and from what Celine remembers, plus scans Marina took of Dark Venus, I would say that the answer lies in that youma's stinger that Celine mentioned."
"I checked Celine's old medical records and I found the report where I removed the barb from her arm. At the time, I checked the wound and the barb for any signs of toxins or poisons and came up blank." Amy explained.
"Setsuna, Ariel, and I now believe that this stinger infected or perhaps more insinuated Celine with some form of neural parasite.
An embryo which telepathicly linked into Celine's subconscious and fed off of negative emotional energy."
"But how could it have gone so long without being detected?" Rei asked.
"Once it linked into her subconscious, it must have templated itself off of Celine, right down to replicating her powers." Amy theorized. "It was perfectly camoulflaged inside Celine's mind. I doubt that Celine herself would have recognized it as anything but part of her own mind...
"But, being a creature of negative energy, the result was closer to a photographic negative than a copy of the real Celine.
"None of us knew it, but Celine effectively became one person, but two minds. Only the other mind was aware of the duality and was able to use its link to affect Celine's emotional states. It manipulated her fears and insecurities in order to generate anger and hatred in Celine for it to feed on."
"But there were times when Celine seemed content and happy." Brooke pointed out as she remembered the early years of Celine's marriage to Tiffany's father.
"The entity never completely controlled Celine's emotions." Amy answered. "It could manipulate them, but only to a point...
"And we helped create an ideal enviroment for it, didn't we?" Mina said sadly as she recalled what Dark Venus had said: 'You practically GAVE her to me!''
"Well, what matters now is that we may not be able to change the past," Serenity said. "But we have a chance to change the future..." Serenity counseled Mina, putting an arm on her shoulder.
Mina smiled.
"Both Celine and Tiffany will have obstacles to overcome in all this." Amy noted. "But if we are all willing to help them, both of them will be all right."
"Do not worry, Mina." Sailor Pluto said smiling warmly. "Though Celine is no longer a senshi, she still has a great destiny ahead of her. Just as you, Gloria, Minako, and Tiffany all do."
Gloria nodded in agreement but she still had a worry on her mind: "Amy?"
"Yes?"
"If I'm right, Celine is about eleven years old now, right?"
Amy nodded.
"That means she doesn't know her father has died yet..." She said worried.
"She will have to grieve all over again." Amy admitted. "But we'll be here for her. That's what counts."
A few days later, Celine sat on her bed coloring. By discussion amongst Mina, Gloria, and Tiffany, they had decided that while Tiffany would continue to live with Mina, they would close the door adjoining Mina's and Gloria's quarters until Celine and Tiffany adjusted. Then perhaps they would open it again.
Celine looked up at the sound of a knock at the door. She saw it was Brooke standing there. It was so strange to see her best friend all grown up.
Taylor had come by earlier. It had been an awkward visit as Taylor found herself unable to speak. She just hugged Celine as tears rolled from her eyes.
Even with mom and grandma, Celine felt so alone. Her dad was gone, her friends were all grown up...
"May I come in?" Brooke asked.
Celine nodded as she continued coloring.
Brooke sat down on the bed. "It's a real nice day outside, why not come out for a while?" She asked.
"I can't." Celine said. "There's no one for me to play with." She said sadly. "All my friends are grownups now and all the kids here hate me." She said as she remembered her visit to the past and meeting Tiffany and her friends there...
"That's not true." Brooke said as she put an arm around Celine. "They only knew a different Celine. Give them a chance to meet the wonderful person I know...
"And you haven't even met my older daughter, Tara." Brooke added as she searched Celine's eyes, smiling at her. "Come on!" Brooke said getting up off the bed and offering Celine a hand.
"Okay..." Celine smiled shyly. "Brooke...?" She asked.
"Yes?"
"Can we still be best friends?"
"We always will be." Brooke promised.
To Celine's surprise, she had a good time playing with the other kids. She especially enjoyed playing with Maiko, who was now ten years old.
When she came back to her room hours later, she found a note on her bed.
It read:
'I cannot change the past, nor can I erase the pain I have caused you.
I can't make excuses for how I treated you.
But I am sorry for what I have done to you and only hope that you will forgive me.
I think it would be nice if we could be friends.
Tiffany.
As a tear of happiness slid down her face, Celine carefully folded the letter and put it in the heart box on her nightstand.
Gloria peeked around the door of Celine's room as Celine closed the lid on the rosewood box that Minako had given her the day before, and carefully secured it with a little golden lock. Gloria smiled.
Welcome home Celine...
Coming Soon:
Chapter 9: Epilogue