Keep Her Safe Chapter Eight
LadyPrin
Disclaimer applies.
Somewhere, shrouded in darkness, where the air was colder than space itself, evil gathered.
Thousands of red glowing eyes peered out of the darkness at one particular pair in the middle of the darkness.
"One of the Princess's guardian's has used her power." A voice said that belonged to the one set of eyes. Their black pupils dilated sharply. "She's somewhere in Tokyo, Japan, but I can't pinpoint her exact location. Her burst of power was too short. And too unexpected."
The eyes looked at one of the pairs that were looking at her from the darkness.
"You're attempt to capture the Princess and her guardian failed. Now, I must do it myself."
With that a portal opened up in the middle of the circle of darkness, just a few feet from the pair of eyes.
The eerie light from the portal illuminated the body that went with the eyes. The long reddish hair, the sickly purplish skin shined slightly, and her long dark purple dress that flowed down and into the darkness around her.
Queen Baryl stepped into the portal and the portal closed behind her.
"Artemis, Artemis!" Rei whispered frantically as she raced through the halls of the palace in England.
She was heading for the throne room, she didn't know why, but she knew that Artemis would be there. And she just had to talk to him.
When she finally reached the doors to the throne room, she prepared herself to use her shoulder to push through the right side door.
At the same time as she should've hit the door, it was opened from inside the room.
Rei saw the guard who had opened the door, but couldn't stop in time from hitting him. And he was too in shock at seeing her rushing at him, to move out of the way.
She hit him straight on, and they fell to the marble floor and skidded all the way across the room, to finally land right in front of Artemis.
Rei lifted her head off of the guards chest and looked at him worriedly.
"I'm soo sorry! Are you okay sir?" She asked.
"I'm. . . . fine, ma'am. . ." He said, as he sat up.
After he shook his head, he stood up and helped Rei to her feet.
He looked over at Queen Ikoku who was standing on the step just below her throne.
"Here she is, your highness..." He said with a slight smile.
Ikoku smiled broadly at him.
"Thank you, Yuko. You may go now." She said.
He bowed to the Queen, then to Rei, and left.
Rei looked to Artemis first.
"Mina, she-!"
Before she could finish there was a quick blinding flash of white light behind her.
It was there and gone in a second. Rei turned around to look, and saw Queen Serenity standing there.
Before Ikoku, Serenity, Artemis or Rei could say anything there was a red flash of light a few feet away from Queen Serenity.
"Fireia!" Serenity cried.
"Mother!" Rei cried.
Fireia nodded at Rei in acknowledgment with a smile, but walked quickly over to Serenity.
"I told you to stay in hiding. To stay safe!" Serenity told her sharply, yet quietly.
"I couldn't. Not with you leaving the moon, not with you vulnerable. And I felt Mina's power flare. I know we'll find the Princess soon, but I'm not going to sit around while you are putting yourself in danger just by being here!" Fireia replied.
"It'll be the death of you, I fear." Serenity said softly.
"Only if I let it!" Fireia replied with a fiery smile.
Serenity smiled and shook her head.
Then turned her attention to the rest of the room, as Fireia took up her post at her side.
With a bow of her head to Ikoku, she turned her gaze to Artemis.
"Report."
Artemis looked from Fireia to Serenity. Uncertainty in his eyes, but it was only there long enough for Rei to catch it. No one else did.
"I don't have much to report, apart from the fact that Luna is tracking Mina down. Luna was in Tokyo when the burst happened. She couldn't pinpoint it, but she's now looking for Mina and the Princess, as well as Ami." He explained. Or more like LIED!
Rei could tell he wasn't being truthful, but knew he had a reason.
She kept silent.
"Okay." Serenity said with a sigh. "The outers are almost done with their tasks."
"I have something to say." Ikoku interrupted.
"Yes?" Serenity asked.
"I sent a messenger to Tokyo, when the Serena was taken. I have since gotten word that the Royal's are searching the other countries for her. I shall send another message telling them that she's in Tokyo. They'll have a better chance in finding her now that they know where to look."
"Thank you, Ikoku! Thank you!"
"Would you like to have a room here, while we wait for word of Serena?" Ikoku asked Serenity and Fireia.
"Yes, that would be nice." Serenity thanked her. Fireia nodded.
A few minutes later when Rei and Artemis were alone in Rei's room, Rei confronted him.
"You know more than you're telling! What is it?" She asked, hands on her hips.
Artemis smiled ruefully.
"I knew you'd notice. Luna has found Mina."
Rei's eyes widened, as her hands fell away from her hips to hang limply at her side.
"I told you already, that Luna was in Tokyo trying to find Ami. Well, she was looking for any bursts of magic that Ami might do by accident, or purpose. Since she was in Tokyo, alert and waiting for it, she was able to pinpoint Mina's exact location. When she got there, she also found the Princess, and Ami." Artemis finished.
"They're all found?" Rei asked softly. She looked out her window, gazing into the distance yet, at the same time looking beyond it. "Now all we need to find is Lita. . ." She whispered.
Then she snapped her attention back to Artemis.
"But why didn't you tell the Queen and my mother? You lied outright to them!" She cried.
"Don't tell me you didn't feel the strangeness surrounding them?" Artemis asked. "You are the Sailor Scout of Fire and Passion! You feel these things whether the fire tells you, or the wind. Don't tell me you didn't sense anything! Look inside yourself!"
Rei sat down on her bed, and stared at the floor, thinking, feeling.
Now that she thought about it, she had felt something strange, something uncomfortable, coming from the two. She couldn't tell which one it was coming from, but she didn't like it.
She looked up at Artemis, understanding in her eyes.
"Now you know why I didn't tell them. And why I'm not going to tell either of them till I find out which one the strangeness comes from."
"Okay, but what are we going to do about Mina and Serena? What is Luna doing?" Rei asked.
"Luna is following the Princess. She's going to make sure that she knows the positions of all three girls. She'll report regularly to me, via the compact computer I told you about, that the Mercurian's created years ago. That way the enemy will not intercept them."
Artemis paused as he stared at Rei who was staring vacant eyed out the window.
Without warning she stood up and walked quickly over to the open window, and gripped the windowsill till her knuckles turned white.
She stared out the window, eyes closed. Listening. . .
Artemis sat there, tail wrapped around his feet, watching. . .
Rei sighed, then turned her head around sharply to look at him.
"We have to go to Tokyo, now, just us." She said.
Artemis stared at the floor, thinking.
"There might be a way. . . But it's tricky, and it might not work." Artemis explained.
"I'm willing. The wind told me we have to get to Serena now. She'll need us soon. And we don't know if we can trust my mother and the moon queen anymore." Rei replied.
"I'll do what I can." Artemis promised.
Artemis was on his little compact computer, but not to Luna.
"Setsuna, we need you to execute plan forty-nine." Artemis told her.
"Is it a must, Arty?" Setsuna asked, her head turning slightly to the left, her long green hair swaying.
"Yes." Artemis answered simply.
"Very well, get into position. I can only do this once."
Setsuna sighed as she positioned herself in a room with no one near it.
"I hope this works." She said as her planet symbol of Pluto appeared on her head.
In a flash of light she transformed into Sailor Pluto, and used her staff of Time to hit the stone floor three times.
"Pluto Portals Open All!" She chanted.
And everywhere, in every dimension, on every world, at every time, portals that lead to everywhere opened.
"Where are we?" Rei asked as she and Artemis stood still in a lavender and light pink cloud through which they could not see.
"We are in Pluto's home, just outside the Time Gate." Artemis replied. "Pluto shall open all the portals she has in her control, so as to confuse the enemy. We are waiting for Pluto to show us which one will take us to Tokyo."
Suddenly Pluto appeared in front of them.
She didn't say a word, just beckoned them to come with her, as she lead the way to the right portal.
Once Rei, holding Artemis tightly, had stepped through the portal, Pluto used her staff to close them all.
Then Pluto appeared back in London, as her Setsuna self, and looked at the sky.
"Good luck my friends!" She whispered.
Back in the palace in London, the women we know as Fireia, was standing with Queen Ikoku and Queen Serenity in Serenity's chambers, going over the message that Ikoku would soon be sending to the Royal's of Japan.
She lifted her head up at the same time as Serenity, as they both felt the power of Pluto flare up all around them.
Neither of them could sense where Pluto was, or who was going through what portal. They just knew that Pluto had opened all the portal's.
Serenity didn't know about plan forty-nine, so this was all unexpected to her.
Yet, she couldn't call Pluto, either physically or mentally to ask for an explanation, or else risk the enemy knowing. She knew she just had to trust Pluto's judgment. She sat back down and started talking with Ikoku, who took the sudden interruption in stride.
Unknown to Serenity, the enemy was in a state of confusion too.
Fireia's eyes moved erratically as she thought, trying to pinpoint which portals were in Tokyo. There were too many to keep watch over.
Silently, and without Serenity ever knowing, Fireia sent a mental message to her minions who where waiting in the darkness.
'Go to Tokyo, and start the war.'
The answers came back.
'Yes, Queen Baryl.'
'And do it. . . In England's name.' She added softly, all the while smiling pleasantly on the outside.