Later, Michiru was seated close to the bed in which her friend lied. They had washed all her cuts using cold water but they had got no reaction, she was silent and unconscious, her eyes still closed.

-I'm so sorry, so sorry. All my words can not express the pain I'm suffering for having done this to you.- she whispered. -I know we haven't been good friends, we left you alone, but you should have called us earlier. We thought you were aware you can count on us.-

A bitter thought came to her mind as a freezing shower. Why should she have known it? They showed them they weren't with her, and that was all.

-Please- she said -Oh, please, wake up. If you do, there won't be anything you have to worry about. We will take care of you, I promise, but please, wake up. We still need you, I need you, Hotaru and Haruka and everyone does.-

She held her hand close, hoping that her guilty would have been enough to awaken her.

She wasn't right.

After a while Mamoru came back from his surgery carrying an entire box of scaring medical instruments. He took a bottle full of a white liquid and connected it to a tiny cannula, than put a needle in her arm.

-This is to try to make the temperature rise down. It is still far too high. I hope that two of this will achieve some kind of effect. After that I'll try to rehydratate her.-

-How can we discover if there are brain damages or not?-

-We can just wait.-

They stood in silence, both terrified. This couldn't be the truth.

The night seemed almost eternal. They spent all of it hearing her weak breathing, their anxiety becoming heavier and heavier every minute.

Suddenly, she started coughing violently. Red stripes of blood coloured her neck.

-Help me- Mamoru said -we have to put her in a sitting position.-

The attack continued, and for a while she seemed to have stopped breathing. Michiru started crying and Mamoru took an oxygen bottle and tried to make her breathe through a mask; after a while she calmed down and rested.

Mamoru was trying to encourage Michiru when his mobile rang.

-Bad news- he said -I've got her tests' results. They are.. Well, crack-brained is the only word I can think of. I can't find a disease that causes such a mixture of different problems all together. I need other tests but I can't do it here. We absolutely must take her to hospital.-

-The Queen doesn't want to.-

-Let's call the Queen. We can use your Aqua Mirror.-

They both came closer to the mirror and soon the beautiful face of their beloved Queen appeared.

-My Queen- Mamoru said -I can't help Sailor Pluto here. I can't diagnose without other tests, we have to hospitalize her.-

-No. We can't. She could have fallen ill during her duties, having taken some strange disease from future or past or from other galaxies, we can't risk our identities to be discovered.-

-My Queen, her conditions are serious. She could be in danger.-

-Don't be silly, Mamoru. Don't you remember she is immortal? Do what you can for her, and first or later she will recover.-

-But, my Queen…-

-Stop it. It's enough.- she said, and disappeared.

Michiru was wordless, and so Mamoru was.

-Why did she behave like this?-

-I don't know, but she is our Queen, we should trust her. Don't worry, Michi-chan. She loves all of us. I have to go to work now. Call me if there's anything new, I'll be here in a moment. Check her temperature every thirty minutes and substitute the phleboclysis when it's empty as I showed you, ok?-

-Fine.-

-Can you please ask Haruka to come here as soon as you go downstairs?-

-Of course.-

-Please, Mamo-chan, don't tell the others what's happening for the moment.-

-Ok.-

He kissed her on her forehead and went out. Immediately Haruka entered the room.

-How's she?-

-Can't you see it using your own eyes Ruka? Where were you?-

-Sorry Michiru. I was… I was terrified. I can't see her like this. I'm not as strong as you are.-

-Well, you must quiet because I need your help.-

-I want to help.-

Michiru was still weeping, she had been crying for the whole day.

-What will we do if she doesn't recover? What if her brain had been damaged permanently?-

-I don't know, but we will find the way.-

-We can't take care of her if her conditions remain like this. We simply can't. We aren't qualified to do that and… I can't stand seeing her like that, too.-

Destiny is often scoffing, but this time its behaviour was cruel. Setsuna came to, but the girls didn't realize it because she still wasn't able neither to open her eyes nor to talk. She didn't hear the whole speech but she was, however, able to hear Michiru's last words: We can't take care of her if her conditions remain like this. We simply can't. We aren't qualified to do that and… I can't stand seeing her like that, too.

She realized what had happened. She was at her friends' house and they were worried because they haven't time to take care of her or, simply, they didn't want to.

-My God, oh my God, I don't want to stay here, I don't want to be a burden for them. If I stay they'll hate me.-

She panicked. She tried to get up but she can't move. Her heart started beating faster and faster. She shouted but no sound came out of her mouth. A unique thought started haunting her: they will hate me. They will hate me.

Her heart was weak, and her organism was too, and this trouble was too heavy to bear. Her blood pressure rose up, far too up, and a little coronary capillary vessel exploded. Suddenly, her heart stopped beating.

AN. As usual, sorry for my bad English. I'm studying a lot to improve but college work requires too much time and time for English isn't enough to do a good job. Secondly, please, review, review, review! I'm in terrible need of your advices.

Thank you all.