One chapter remains before this story's final fight. In it, many Scouts will discuss various things with each other, in various places, before they are asked to a meeting with Abigail elsewhere on the Imperial Palace's grounds. Whereupon, that will lead into the next chapter of this story, the one with its final fight in it.
With no further ado, then, I'll close this, and get back to the story. TUS out.
Inside Serena's Future Imperial Palace Chambers
Moon City, Moon Kingdom, Moon
September 14, 174 BC
After Serena and the rest of her fellow visitors to the Moon City area of 174 BC went back inside the Imperial Palace, Serena and several of them eventually met up with each other in Serena's future Imperial Palace chambers. That was only the case, however, if all of them didn't or couldn't then do so, whichever the case might actually be at that particular time.
Serenity was among those people that met up with each other and Serena in Serena's future Imperial Palace chambers, in fact. Also there were Destiny, Bethany, Amy, Raye, Lita, Mina, Luna, and Artemis, at the very least, if not anyone else as well here.
Serena had asked Rini and Margaret, at least, if they'd not mind joining her in those chambers. But Rini and Margaret had said that they'd had other plans for at least a little while longer. Specifically with Jostara, Miranda, and Abigail, at least, if not also with Hannah, Alexis, Michelle, and Susan, at the same time, currently.
Laura, Shari, and Rocío chose to spend a little time with Martina, Andrea, Jolata, and Denise in the part of the Imperial Palace's grounds that'd later become the Hebron Garden, in due time. Though it might not always be called that, as a matter of fact, it'd eventually be started in that very place, once Jolata quite possibly began it in her own particular time period as Queen.
Mara and the rest of her Monitors who were also Sailor Scouts declined Serena's request to join her and several others in her future Imperial Palace chambers, at least for a little while, if not for the rest of their preparation time prior to their departures for the 10th Century AD. They all did so because they'd wanted to spend at least a little bit of time training with each other in a large clear area just outside the Imperial Palace, after getting permission to do so from King Jason and Queen Eve.
The Earth would shine to at least some degree, if not to a great degree, as they did so here, most likely, in fact. And hopefully, it would actually also provide enough light for them to train by for a while, of course, for all the obvious enough reasons.
Everyone else from the future, if they'd not be anywhere else on the Imperial Palace's grounds, or near enough to them, would most likely be in whatever chambers they'd been assigned since shortly after they'd come to the Moon City area of 174 BC. Those people, in fact, just happened to be Sirashiki and Catrimusa, at the current time.
Sirashiki and Catrimusa proceeded to mainly sleep for most, if not all, of at least the next six or so hours, if not even longer than that, once they'd left the area outside the Imperial Palace's walls behind to a sufficient enough degree again. Supposing, of course, that they each didn't have to sleep even longer than at least the next six hours of time, for all the obvious reasons. Which, in fact, they didn't absolutely have to do, if they didn't really want to do so, at all.
As for Serena and the rest of the sentients in her future Imperial Palace chambers, they met up there with each other just as they'd planned here. Lita brought the food and drink, and Amy brought at least one scroll with her. Raye brought a rather strange musical instrument that looked like a combination piano and guitar with her, while Mina brought a few hairbrushes and other hair-related items, such as hairbands, for instance, to the meeting as well. Luna and Artemis brought nothing except themselves, while Queen Serenity then brought both cats to the meeting on her shoulders. Destiny and Bethany brought each other, and a few mirrors for everyone's use, to the meeting.
Serena was sitting near one of the windows for the chambers as everyone arrived outside them. When Serenity knocked on the necessary door or doors of them, she arose from where she was sitting in them, and she let them in. Raye was the first of the other sentients who'd definitely be at this particular meeting to enter those once and future chambers of Serena's. Then came Lita, with all the necessary food and drink. Next came Serena's nearest sisters Destiny and Bethany. After which Serena began taking the mirrors they'd brought from them both, and setting them on the nearest available table in her chambers. Mina entered moments later with all her hair-related items in a sack she'd slung over her back a while before. Serenity entered with the cats still on her shoulders. After which both cats soon hopped down on the floor again. Amy brought in whatever scroll or scrolls that she'd just brought with her here. Lita soon distributed the available food and drink around as needed here.
When Serena asked Amy why she'd brought at least one scroll with her to the meeting here, Amy answered, "Because, Serena, I would, at least, like to have everyone sign their names on it, if it's at all possible. Yes, I do know that we all left our respective marks on the plaque where the Sailor Scout Garden will eventually be. But I really don't think that it'll appear again for at least a while longer. Meaning at least until the beginning of our Silver Millennium, if not even longer than that here, Serena. I'd like to be able to say that we unquestionably met up with at least a few other Scouts who weren't actually from our own time period, once we get back to the 10th Century AD, from which we ourselves do come, in our lives."
"I see. But what if the Negaversers actually ever find out that we did so, somehow, Amy?" Serena asked this as she and the rest of all her current companions also began to consume whatever food or drink was then in front of each of them at the current time.
"They won't be able to, I think, if we put the necessary scroll or scrolls in a sufficiently secure place, Serena."
"Like where do you suggest, then, Amy?"
"Do you remember exactly where the First Bethlehem Cathedral will later be located, Serena?" asked Amy, between bites of an apricot preserves-covered rice cake.
"I suppose I do, Amy. Why do you ask?"
"I was thinking that we could hide it underground there in the same place where you'll eventually toss the scrolls that you've already actually tossed in your life."
"But that particular place hasn't actually been constructed yet, I think, Amy." Serena said this between bites of a carrot that was now in her right hand.
"So what? We can go there just before we have to return to the exact same place where we all appeared here in this particular time period. We can dig at least a bit of a hole, if not at least a bit of a tunnel or more than that, and then we can bury that scroll or those scrolls there for a time. Then we can hide the hole or tunnel that we'll have just made with a suitably-sized rock or something, so that it's at the very top of that hole or tunnel, and above the scroll or scrolls now in question here. Then we can try to hide whatever we put at the top of the necessary hole or tunnel somehow, if possible. And do this so that it'd remain as hidden, and unknown of, as much as possible and as long as possible, if we can possibly do that somehow."
"And how do you propose to do this, then, if it's somehow possible for us to do that, Amy?" Serena then sipped from a cup of green tea that had a bit of carrot juice in it, just after asking Amy this question of hers.
"I think that Saturn Beta might just be able to hide it for a time with her Amethyst Sailor Star Shield, but with a different version of it. One that she might not yet be aware of yet, but that I think that she might still be able to use, just the same. I think this after having seen her use it at least a few times, if not even more than that, during any number of our previous adventures. And certainly during at least one of them, in fact. If she would say, 'Amethyst Sailor Nebula Shield,' I think that she might be able to cloak the necessary location with some kind of device that had at least enough power stored up for however much longer it actually will be until the beginning of the Silver Millennium, if not even longer than that. The First Bethlehem Cathedral won't be built, if I'm not mistaken, until at least the start of the reign of King David I and Queen Jolata, if not even later than that here, in our very own Moon Kingdom."
"So you think that this might very well be one of Queen Jolata's main building projects in the Moon City area, at least?" asked Lita, between a bite of some roast beef and a sip of some cinnamon-touched oolong tea.
"It very well could turn out to be, Lita. I think I even remember reading at least something that had to deal with her and the beginning of the First Bethlehem Cathedral's construction process in the Moon City area of the Moon. I think I read at least something about it and her about two or three years after Destiny and Bethany were born to Queen Serenity and Prince Daniel, in fact," said Amy. Amy then finished her current rice cake, before she then reached over and refilled her bowl with some vegetable beef stew.
"Will she be the one that actually builds the Rainbow Springs Palace as well, Amy?" asked Mina. Mina asked this question of Amy, just before she took a bit of spaghetti and meatballs and put them between two halves of a submarine-style bun, as well as a few slices of cheddar cheese.
"No, I don't believe so, Mina. That palace will begin to be built, if I'm not too mistaken here, when Queen Abigail I is still a Princess in our Moon Kingdom. And it'll be built some length of time after she discovers the Springs there, and after several of her subjects eventually found that city on the other side of the Moon, if it's not already founded by then under a different name."
Destiny then thought for a few moments, and then asked Amy, "What about when Mount Chrysalis is discovered? Will it be named that by Queen Rebekah II, or will it be named by anyone else in her honor, when it is, if it's not already called that by then?" After asking these questions, she took a sip of some oolong tea that was currently in front of her.
"I don't know that for sure, Destiny. I really don't. Nor do I know when Mount Serenity will get the name that we know it by in our time, or who exactly will call it that in their own lives, once it gets called that for the first time ever on the Moon," answered Amy.
"Could it possibly be first called that in my own lifetime, Amy?" asked Queen Serenity.
"I really don't know, Queen Serenity. If I did actually know whether or not it was, or will be, I still don't really know if I could then tell you that, for all the obvious reasons, of course."
"I see," said Queen Serenity.
Bethany then asked, "Does anyone have any ideas whether or not Laura, Shari, and Rocío will be old enough to be Sailor Scouts by the end of the Silver Millennium?"
"I don't think that they will, Bethany," said Luna.
"But if they are, then what?"
"Then we'll deal with such a situation as the need actually arises for us all to do that, of course, Bethany," answered Artemis.
"And if they're not?"
"Then we do what we can to protect them all and the rest of us, of course, Bethany," answered Raye.
"Even if they may not be the Moon Princess or Queen Serenity, Raye?"
"Yes, even if they're not either of those people, we must do what we can to protect those of us who can't fight for us against our enemies, for all the obvious reasons, Bethany."
Bethany thought about this for a few moments, and then asked, "What if it's still not enough, people?"
Lita soon answered this particular question of Bethany's. And she answered it by saying, "Then I suppose we'll all actually have to hope and trust that God will actually make it quite possible for your mother Queen Serenity to save as many of us as she possibly can save somehow, if and whenever she actually tries to save us all somehow with her Imperium Silver Crystal, Bethany."
"I suppose you're right, of course, Lita. But I really hope that Mother is somehow able to save all of us, of course, just the same. I really don't know for sure if Destiny and I will somehow survive. But only time will tell if we do, I think."
"Just because you may not necessarily appear in a lot of people's dreams and/or visions about possible futures for any or all of us, Bethany, that doesn't necessarily mean that either you or Destiny, if not both of you, will be lost after the Moon Kingdom's end. Supposing that there actually is one, of course, sometime yet in the future. You could possibly survive, and not yet know it for sure, in your life or lives, Bethany. I prefer to think, hope, and pray that you both, as well as so many others that we know of in our respective lives, will somehow be saved sufficiently well by Queen Serenity. At least until I ever have a sufficiently good enough reason to actually do otherwise in my life, as a matter of fact, here," said Mina, in rather short order. Amy finished her current bowl of vegetable beef stew just as Mina said the just-said things in the necessary way to Bethany, as a matter of fact.
Destiny then said, after taking another sip of her current bit of tea, "Bethany, we've each promised to do what we can to protect those who can't protect themselves in their lives sufficiently well, no matter who they might possibly be. And we've each promised to work with each other to the best of our respective abilities as Sailor Scouts, whenever possible. At least among those of us who are actually humanoid in nature, of course. Those of us who are part of Serena's royal Court have also promised to do the best that we each possibly can to protect the Moon Princess and Mother, as you very well know by now. Even if it actually means that we may possibly be lost to each other for the rest of forever yet to come, those of us who are part of Serena's royal Court have promised to protect both her and Mother to the best of our respective abilities to do so, for as long as we possibly can do so." Serena and everyone else who then needed to do so began refilling their plates and their drink holders as needed, of course, for all the obvious reasons, if they'd not already done so by then to a sufficient enough degree here.
"And if they kill me, then what, Destiny?" asked Serena.
"Then our Moon Kingdom is lost, Serena," answered Destiny.
"Because Mother won't stand for my loss, at least, without trying to do something about it to the best of her ability to do so. Even if it may kill her."
"Correct, Serena," said Destiny.
"Are you actually suggesting here that I'll unquestionably be the death of the Moon Kingdom, Destiny?"
"I wouldn't have put it quite that way, Serena. But now that you've said that, I suppose several of us might agree with that particular thought of yours," said Destiny.
"I don't really want to be the cause of the Moon Kingdom's very own eventual destruction, people."
"Then you must actually let Prince Darien go into the air, and not actually try to be with him, if and when he ever gets whisked up into the air rather unexpectedly and rather suddenly."
"I really don't want to lose him, Raye."
"You undoubtedly will have to make a very hard choice, then, Serena. Either to be with him, or to remain behind in the Moon Kingdom, then. You won't actually be able to have it both ways, Serena. I really wish that you could have it both ways, if at all possible. But I really don't think that you actually will somehow be able to do that here, Serena. I really do want you to actually be able to fall in love with someone. Even if it must truly be Darien that you fall in love with, Serena. You deserve at least that much in your life, I think, Serena. Even if we may really fight or really argue with each other in our lives, I still think that we each deserve to have at least one special love in each of our very own lives, if not more than one. And you won't be able to take back your choice, once you finally make it. For when you finally make it, you'll then be forcing your mother to act one way or another. Even if she doesn't really want to have to, she'll still act as she feels she must. No matter what the cost may actually be to her or to our Moon Kingdom, Serena."
"How will I know which choice to make then, if and when the need arises, Mars girl?" Raye finished whatever food and drink that she had left in front of her after Serena asked her that question. And then she set aside all her current dishes and silverware, showing everyone else now present that she was no longer either hungry or thirsty. Or at least that she wasn't currently either of those things, as she was then meeting with them all here.
"Your heart will lead you to act as it then will see fit. Even if your head might then say otherwise, I think your heart will actually lead you to make one choice over another, when push comes to the proverbial shove for you. Even if it ultimately means the end of the Moon Kingdom, Serena," answered Raye.
"What if I see many, if not all of you, at least rendered largely unconscious, if not asleep, and then I act as my heart might lead, Raye?"
"Then so be it, Serena. I really don't know if that's how things might actually happen for any or all of us, of course. But I really do hope that you'll do the right thing, no matter what happens, in your life, whenever possible. I really hope this, of course, for all the obvious reasons, Serena," said Raye, not too much later here.
"Answer me this, then, if you can, Raye. In your own opinion, do you actually think that I will make the right decision at least for me, if not for anyone else at all?" Amy then did the same things that Raye had just done a few moments before, after finally finishing all of her current food and drink. And she awaited a chance for her to sufficiently enough add to the current conversation here again.
"I really have no idea, Serena. But I honestly do think that we can somehow survive the loss of the Moon Kingdom better than the Moon Kingdom could somehow survive our losses, in fact, Serena. Or at least I think that many, if not most or all, of us could do that well enough here, Serena, as of the current time in my own life."
"If I still happen to go after Darien, do you think you'd understand why I did so well enough, somehow and someday, Raye?"
"I suppose I might, Serena. But I can't really be sure enough about such things right now. And I think that'll still remain the case at least for a while longer yet, for all the obvious reasons, of course, Serena."
"Mother, what about you?" Mina was the next of the assembled sentients to finish her own current food and drink, and to set aside the necessary dishes and drink holders as well.
"I think I would, Serena. I really believe that I'd feel the same way that you might feel, if I were you, and your father was actually in Prince Darien's place. But would my very own mother have actually understood me well enough, if I'd been in such a situation while I was still quite young here? I really don't know, honestly, Serena."
"What do you think about us having seen your mother as a Princess, and not as a Queen, Mother?"
"I don't know, Serena. I think it's still too early for me to know exactly how and what I think about us having done that here. Maybe in a while, I'll be able to tell you all here. But right now, I don't really think that I can, in fact."
"Will you miss her again, if and when we ever get back to our own proper time period, Mom?"
"Of course I will, Serena. The loss of one's mother never ceases to affect many people, no matter how long they may actually live in their own lives, Serena. I am no exception to that belief, it seems. I actually didn't want or expect to have to become Queen of our Moon Kingdom for at least a few more years. But when your Uncle Raphael and I lost both our parents, just as we both did, I then had no real choice in the matter. I actually then had to become Queen of our Moon Kingdom in name, and not just in fact, Serena. I was acting like a Queen, but without actually becoming Queen, at least until I heard of her rather unexpected demise so long ago. I had to make my Queenship official in all the necessary ways, once it was quite clear that my parents would not be coming back just as they'd left the Moon behind sometime before. If I didn't, then there might actually have been a civil war, in fact. Which would undoubtedly have torn our Moon Kingdom apart, in due time, I'm quite sure. And if so, I have no doubt at all here that we'd probably have been quite thoroughly destroyed before you all actually came along to us, in due time. That's if the Negaverse would've actually known about us to at least a sufficient enough, if not to a complete, degree by then, I think, my dear Serena."
"And if the Moon Kingdom ends, then what, Mother?"
"All mortal things must end in time, Serena. It's just a matter of when, not if, they will, if they're not eternal in their respective nature or natures, Serena," answered Serenity.
"Because of what Adam and Eve did back on Earth in the Garden of Eden, Mother?" asked Serena.
"Yes, that's so. But God later sent His only Son to save the whole Universe, so that all who truly believe in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life, in actual reality." Luna and Artemis then finished whatever was in their various food or drink containers. And they both did so almost at the same time, with Luna doing so just seconds before Artemis was able to do so. Then they both pushed those containers of theirs to one side of each of them, as needed.
"Even if our mortal bodies do actually not survive, Mother?"
"Yes, even if that is the case, those who believe in His Son will not perish eternally, Serena. They will live eternally, if they do so, and if their names are in the Book of Life that will be opened at the proper time in the Universe's history. Those whose names aren't found in it will know torture and torment such as has never before been seen, heard, or otherwise sensed. And there will never be an end to such torture or torment for them. They will know darkness as they never have before. And they will know other things that they won't have known before in their own existences. Fire will be always around them. And they will never get any relief from it. No matter what. All the lost will experience the same basic things forever, for all eternity yet to come, no matter what kinds of beings they might actually be in their respective existences. They will always have the smell of death on them. And they will never be able to escape that smell."
"And for the saved, what will happen to them?" Serena asked this as she and her sisters then finished whatever food or drink they each had yet to consume, and they put all their containers to one side of each of them, as they each had to do then.
"They will know things that they will never have expected to know, and experience joys, pleasures, and blessings that will never end. They will walk in the Celestial City and all things in and around it anywhere in the Universe, as God might drive them to do in their eternal existences. The entire Universe that they all will then know will be completely perfect, in every single way, without a doubt. They will see God face-to-face, and not be afraid. The things that they will see and the people that they will meet are currently undescribable in complete enough detail here. But I do know that whatever is to come after the end of this mortal Universe of God's, it will be quite unlike the current Universe of God's very own creation, Serena." Lita then finished her meal as well, if she'd not already done so, and she too set all her dishes and drink holders aside again, of course.
"Do you know if the original Skyhorse that we know of in our shared time period is already, or will be, in the Celestial City, as of it, Mother?" queried Serena.
"I think that she is, Serena. But I never actually met her while she was still alive, in actual reality. She left her mortal existence behind in AD 894, if I remember correctly. True, as of the time that we're now in, she's not yet born. And as of the time period that she was yanked out of, so to speak, I wasn't yet born."
"How is she related to you, then, Mother?" asked Destiny.
"Let me think for a moment, if I can, here." While she thought, she also finished her meal, if she'd not already done so by then, and she also set aside all her dirty dishes and silverware as well. She then said, "If I'm not too mistaken here, Serena, Queen Anne IV was my father's paternal grandmother. My father was not only King Francis XII, he was the son of Francis XI, who was once Prince Adrian, and Queen Abigail III, who herself was once Princess Julia. Francis XI was the son of Francis X and Anne IV, who we all also know were actually Prince Balleste and Princess Jostara, prior to their eventual marriage in our own common past. I could be wrong about this, of course. But I really don't think that Princess Jostara has yet met Prince Balleste in her life, as of the time that she was actually at in it, prior to her being brought here by the same exact phenomenon that brought us here as well at least once, if not more than once."
"She appears too young to you, Mother?" asked Destiny.
"Yes, I believe so, Destiny."
The assembled sentients then conversed about at least a few other things in each of their lives, before they all decided to work with their hair to at least some degree by using the hair-related items that Mina and Serena's twin sisters had earlier brought with them. Mina then distributed those items as needed among the necessary sentients currently with her in Serena's once and future Imperial Palace chambers. Of course, simply because they were cats, Luna and Artemis wouldn't necessarily need their fur to be dyed or anything else at all. But the other sentients now present might either need or want their hair to be done in the necessary manners, quite naturally.
For at least the next hour or so, then, the assembled sentients worked with each other's hair exactly as they either wanted or needed to work with them. Including, of course, Serena and her mother.
By the time that they were finishing up their work on each other's hair, then, most of them heard some knocks on at least one nearby door, if not more than one such door. Those knocks had been applied to that door or those doors by Princess Margaret. And she had Jostara and Rini with her at the current time. Abigail had actually chosen to stay behind in whatever place she'd been in with them, Miranda, Hannah, Alexis, Michelle, and Susan. But Rini, Jostara, and Margaret had all chosen not to stay there. For they'd all wanted to be able to spend at least a little more time with Serena and the rest of her Court. Not to mention, of course, Queen Serenity, as well.
Rini soon said, "Serena, you look almost like my mother back home in my own time period right now."
"Almost? Why only almost, Rini?"
"Because you're currently wearing a pink dress instead of a white one, and your current tiara is different than the one that she normally wears, Serena. Your hair is quite similar to hers, but not quite. It now looks almost like many kinds of meatballs do, I think, as a matter of fact."
"So does yours, as well, Rini. Maybe my own hair isn't quite like yours is, but it still quite looks a lot like mine does, if I'm not too mistaken here at all, Rini."
"Princess Margaret here wanted Princess Jostara and I to come here with her for a while, at least, Serena."
"I see. Do you want us to work with your hair, then, Rini, while we're all here for a while?"
"I really don't think that's going to be necessary here, Serena. At least not for me, anyway. I don't know about the others, however."
"I'm fine, Rini. My hair's fine," said Margaret. Princess Margaret's hair was mostly still pink at the current time, for it'd not yet turned mostly purple or blonde, as of the particular time in her life that she'd then been at when she'd earlier been grabbed out of her own time period rather unexpectedly. Some streaks of both purple and blonde hair were now beginning to develop on her head. But her head was still mostly covered by pink hair, just the same. She was currently wearing it mainly in two large buns, but not all of it. She'd let some of her hair hang down right in the middle. And she'd let that hair fall down to about the middle of her back, at the same time, at the very most. The buns of hair were each about one or two fist-widths in average diameter, in fact. Three fist-widths, at the very most, in any case at all, so that she could then allow at least some of it to hang down off her head and at least partly down her back.
"All right, Princess Margaret. If you don't want anyone else to do your hair at this time, at least, so be it. What about you, Jostara?"
"No, I'm fine as well, Rini." Jostara had mostly blonde hair, except where there were some red or brown streaks in it. And it often fell to about the middle of her back, at the very most, whenever she had it down and unbound in her life. However, she wasn't currently wearing it that way. She was now mainly wearing her hair in two somewhat thick ponytails that were tied with royal blue and gold hairbows at either end of them. One side of each hairbow was royal blue in color, while the other was gold in color. And there were stars of either color on it as well. Where the main color was royal blue, the stars were gold, and where it was gold, the stars were royal blue. She was wearing a mostly royal blue floor-length dress with some gold trim on it, as well as a mostly navy blue and silver sash that ran currently from her left shoulder to her right hip. Her Imperium Silver Crystal was in her own locket, which was currently hanging at the bottom of a necklace that mainly consisted of pearls and rubies, whenever possible. She was also wearing a tiara that looked almost like the one which Sylvia Wakefield would later wear, and was currently wearing, in Serena's own time period. But it wasn't her Sailor Scout tiara, as a matter of fact, that she was now wearing here. Instead, that tiara was the one that she most often wore out of her own Sailor Scout state of being, back in her very own time period.
Amy and the rest of her current companions conversed with each other quite frequently while they were still together. And Amy even was able to convince Rini, Margaret, and Jostara, at least, to sign their names to at least one scroll somehow, if not more than one, as well. They enjoyed each other's company as much as possiblews at the current time, of course.
Eventually, more knocks were heard outside Serena's once and future Imperial Palace chambers. Serena went to the necessary door or doors, and then she opened it or them up as needed. When she did so, she soon saw Laura, Shari, and Rocío outside them. She asked, in quite a curious manner, "What's going on, Laura?"
"Do you think that you and your current companions could come with us for a little while?"
"Why, if I may ask you this, Laura?"
"It seems that your presences are desired elsewhere on these grounds, Serena Moon."
"By who?" asked Serena.
"Abigail, at least," said Shari. "It seems that she wants to see you all for a while, if she can. She may have an idea about how to make it more possible for us to return to each of our respective time periods, Serena. But she doesn't yet know if it might be a good enough idea to try it somehow."
"All right, Shari. I'll see if anyone really wants to go with you three to wherever Abigail now is on this Imperial Palace's grounds. Give me a few minutes, please."
"Okay, Serena," said Rocío. Then Serena closed the door or doors now in question here again, for all the obvious reasons. And she went back to where everyone else was in her once and future chambers.
She soon said to them all, "People, Abigail would like to see us again as soon as possible. She seems to think that she may have a good enough idea about how we might be able to get back to our respective time periods. But she doesn't yet know if it might be a good enough idea for us to possibly try it out somehow."
Serenity thought for a moment, and then said, in the necessary manners, "Everyone who can do so, please transform. Let's all go wherever Abigail is in our Sailor Scout states of being. That way, Destiny and Bethany won't need to be connected to each other via a cord. I will go as Royal Sailor Serenity. Rini, you can choose which of your Sailor Scout states of being you can go there in."
"I'll go as Super Sailor Mini Moon, Queen Serenity."
"As you wish. But I'll still remain in control of our group."
"Agreed. Moon is next in line after you, isn't she?"
"Yes, if I'm not too mistaken here, she is. Even though she's not currently a Super Sailor Scout, she is. She won't likely be one at least while she's still on the Moon, if my dreams and/or visions that relate sufficiently well to her are sufficiently accurate in their respective natures here, I think."
"Fine with me, then, Queen Serenity." Then everyone who could actually do so, at the current time, wasted no more time before they transformed into their respective Scout states of being, as was needed or was desired by them all. Luna and Artemis didn't transform, of course.
Moon led everyone to the outside of her once and future chambers in very short order. When she did so, Laura, Shari, and Rocío met them there, of course. Not more than about another five or so minutes later, then, Laura and her two known sisters also transformed into their respective Sailor Scout states of being, even while they were still on the move. One moment, they were each just Laura, Shari, or Rocío, and the next, they were each Twilight, Starhawk, or Nightwalker, as the case might be for each of them in either case at all.
Four chapters now remain for this story, folks. This next chapter is going to be rather difficult for many, for sure. But it will still lead to the Scouts meeting with a few other people that should be able to help them all later on, in any case. Who those are, you'll have to read on and find out, of course. I don't know if we'll see them again in this story's series just yet, mind you. But we just might, if certain things work out well enough somehow in the future for this series, at least, I think.
Until the next chapter, then, I'll close this. TUS out.