Chapter Eight

Minako let out a sigh as she looked at her dear friend walking around the palace gardens. That was how she had always seen Makoto; walking with Indigo in her arms around the flowers humming to her. It saddened her to see her this way, and she knew there was something she needed to do about it. It had already been a year since the last time Makoto had been on a sort of vacation, or rather left to another time period. Since then, Makoto had stayed within the palace walls and ruled the best she could over Emerald Tower.

"What do you think we should do Rei?" asked Minako, looking over at her friend for an idea. Rei just smiled, as if she knew something Minako didn't and watched the posh girl look at her frustrated. "What's going on in that head of yours?"

"You'll know soon enough," replied Rei, starting to walk away as the red dress swayed around her endlessly in waves. Minako followed behind her.

"What do you mean I'll know soon enough? I want to know now!" She was pestering Rei again and slowly her temper began to rise from the blonde next to her continuing her chatter about how secrets were unfair. She quickly tuned her out and smiled inwardly. Makoto's secret had been found out and now it was going to face her once and for all...

Makoto bent down and looked and Indigo starting to walk, the skirt of her gown flared around her in a dark green haze as her daughter continued to make her steps towards her mother. Indigo's arms were open wide and she gave it her all in her steps towards Makoto's awaiting hands to catch her if she fell.

"Come on honey, just a few more," said Makoto and watched her daughter succeed. She gave out a thrill laughter and held Indigo high above her, watching her squirm with excitement from Makoto's laugh. "You're coming along nicely my dear."

Slowly, she walked with Indigo once again while the memories moved through her mind aboud the past and how the guilt continued to stay in her chest. She loved, yes, she loved him and she was only going to tell herself how much she felt for him and no one else. It wasn't like she was ever going to see him again and yet, the pain in her heart never left her as she moved on day by day.

Looking down at Indigo with those large blue eyes of hers reminded her of the man she had been with and the man she wanted to desperately be with but knew she never could. This was her place, living with her queen and serving her even though she had so many freedoms. She love her life here with her friends and didn't want to leave the security of it.

A sigh escaped her lips as she moved around the garden once again in the same pattern she had always been in. She felt the weight of Indigo asleep in her arms as it always seemed. This is how she normally got Indigo to sleep was by simply walking around in the masks of different fragrances that she sometimes tried to guess but almost always never got right. They were too meshed together for her to figure out what was what.

Suddenly, she stopped. She looked around as if she felt eyes watching her. She shrugged it off and continued walking around. This time, she headed towards the room she was staying in for the time being. Serenity had asked her to stay with them so their children would be able to stay together and play, getting to know each other since their lifetime would be towards each other.

"Makoto." She turned around and looked at Setsuna, give her a smile.

"Yes Setsuna?" asked Makoto. Gently, she placed Indigo in her cradle.

"Would you please follow me?" she asked. Makoto nodded and seemed to sense something was different. She didn't explain anything to her and just had her some with her. This was rather odd. Was there something wrong? Was there an emergency meeting? Did someone want to try and take over the kingdom? Everything had been peaceful for the past while and it looked like everyone was finally living in peace.

"What's going on Setsuna?" asked Makoto. Setsuna pointed to a place on the map.

"It seems that something has fallen from the sky and landed near your tower. Please, go check it out and report back. We will look after Indigo for you. I had Serenity move into the child's room and go lay her with Chibi-Usa," said Setsuna.

Makoto nodded and quickly moved into action. She decided not to transform since there was no need for it until it was needed. The car seemed to move slowly while she anticipated what it could be. Something from space? Perhaps a satellite? If it was, the computer system would have detected what it was. Instead, there was nothing that could be found within the computer system for it knew nothing of what it was. Something was foreign about this thing and she was going to find out.

The car slowly stopped and she moved out, looking around the tower to look for any damage. Nothing was there. Cautiously, she moved into the tower and looked around, walking around the room and stairs and it seemed like it was going to take forever. Finally, she entered her own computer room and made a scan over the entire palace only to find that an unknown object had landed in the woods behind her large garden.

Quickly, she started into a run not caring about the beautiful dress she was wearing any longer and she didn't care about the heels; they were all accustomed to running in them and had already built up her muscles. The garden seemed to fly by her as she quickly ran into the forest, looking at her detector to see the signal becoming stronger. It was something large, but she was still unsure of what it could be.

The forest suddenly stopped and she looked at the large meadow that was in front of here where the waterfall poured down with a roaring sound. She noticed from the corner of her eye a large metal hand and arm that was laying out from the side of the water. Quickly, something triggered and she knew the person inside of this machine must be trapped under the water.

Without a thought, she kicked off her shoes and dove into the water. The weight of the dress didn't bother her since it was light due to the silky material. She saw it, the face of the suit that was laying in the pond. Excitement seemed to get to her and she quickly moved towards it, knowing exactly where to press that would open the suit. From it, she saw the body laying there without life to it. Sadly, she quickly pulled this body up and brought him to shore.

Luckily, he was still breathing but there was a large cut on his forehead and leading into his hairline. With a sigh, and smiled down and started the process of bringing this man back to her palace in order to care for him properly and give a short detailed report.

Someone had messed with the time line and now there was going to defiantly be trouble when Setsuna found out who it was.