Hello all! Please enjoy the next installment!
Korina woke with a start.
Sitting up quickly, she was hit first with a headache and second with a wave of dizziness. She could tell that her body was stiff, aching after expending all of her energy against Diamond.
Where was Serenity?
Finally looking to her surroundings, Korina found herself face to face with someone she had never seen before; a middle-aged woman with dark hair tied back in a braid. Her plain, knee length dress was half covered by a clean apron, and the crisp white gloves she wore echoed Korina's. A nurse?
The woman, stunned by Korina's sudden movement, had a damp cloth in her hand.
"It is for your forehead." The nurse explained as Korina eyed the cloth. She extended her arms, offering it. "You were unsettled in your sleep." Her soft voice was peppered with a slight accent, noticeable most around the "L's".
Noticing that her heart was still beating heavily, Korina accepted the cloth and held it to the back of her neck. Icy cold, it immediately settled her nerves.
She looked around the small room they were in; furnished simply by her bed, a counter with a sink, and a small chair off to the side. No sign of Helios or her princess. The nurse stood silently watching, hands clasped neatly in front of her. A short, long window across the room opened up to a pale orange sky, with odd trees poking up. None of the ebony trunks were straight; they all turned and leaned and twisted into unique creations, exploding into wispy leaves of golden yellows and pinks.
'We definitely aren't in Crystal Tokyo anymore…' Korina thought. Her stare fell back on the nurse, meeting her bright orange eyes. She wondered if the older woman knew where Serenity and Helios were.
"Thank you…" Korina mumbled, handing the washcloth back to the nurse before swinging her legs over the side of the bed.
"Wait, wait!" The nurse quickly scurried to her side, arms out as if to catch her. "You just woke up, child. Please rest longer."
Korina bit back the urge to claim that she wasn't a child. "I need to see my princess." She said instead, steeling her gaze.
The nurse paused a moment, a vague look of understanding washing over her. Perhaps she had her own princess she was devoted to. Wordlessly, she stepped to the sink to prepare a cup of water and handed it to Korina. "Please drink some water first."
Korina impatiently downed the glass as she got up, and then smoothed out the creases that sleep had pressed into her skirt. Picking up her broach from the counter, she left the room.
The hallway that met her was wide and tiled with tiny orange and golden glass stones. Hushed whispers caught Korina's attention, and she turned to see a small group of similarly dressed girls gathered a few doors down. The sound of the door closing behind her resounded down the hallway, and the girls turned towards the noise to see Korina standing there. They quickly escaped away from her glare.
A scowl tugging at her mouth, Korina turned the other direction.
Few doors lined the hallway before her. The door across from her sat open, revealing a room identical to her own, complete with an unmade bed. Years of playing the nurse gnawed at the back of her mind; her hands twitched to switch sheets and fix up the room for the next patient. But she wasn't a nurse anymore.
She had no qualms about approaching the next closed door and knocking. If the voice on the other side was foreign, she would continue to the next. If there was no answer, she would open the door and see for herself. Two doors and unfamiliar patients later, she came across the room she was looking for.
A head of pale silvery hair was cushioned on the pillow, still fast asleep. Serenity's chest slowly rose and fell, calming some of the nerves still ringing around Korina's head.
Even so, it was the other girl in the room that caught her attention. She had jet black hair tied in a low ponytail, and was sleeping in the chair next to the bed with her head leaning against the wall. Clad in a strange black leather outfit with long gloves and tall boots, this girl sleeping next to her princess was raising all kinds of alarms for Korina.
But the sailor collar and the tiara… albeit different from her own, were characteristic of a senshi fuku.
Korina made a move towards them, determined to address this girl and demand to know who she was, when a hand clamped onto her elbow, keeping her in place.
"Don't wake them."
Lavender pigtails flung through the air as Korina spun to face this newcomer.
Immensely taller than her and dressed identical to the other unknown senshi, she looked down at Korina with sharp violet eyes. Her long brown hair was also tied back at the nape of her neck, similar to that of the girl sleeping beside her princess.
A slew of responses jumped to the tip of Korina's tongue, ranging from salty to angry to distressed to simply confused.
The tall senshi seemed to see each emotion dance in Korina's eyes, as her gaze softened to one that was more understanding. "Don't worry, Serenity is in good hands."
Korina peered into the room again, this time noticing a slender, gloved arm stretched onto Serenity's bed, fingers resting against the Princess's arm. Such a simple gesture, filled with enough affection to settle Korina's nerves for now.
She let the tall scout lead her to the wall opposite of Serenity's room, and the two leaned up against the wall in silence.
A long moment passed before Korina finally spoke. "Is my friend okay?" A memory of Helios's scream of pain shuddered through her.
"Yes, our staff is very skilled. His wound was cared for and he will be fine."
Korina wasted no time to jump to her next question. "Where am I?"
The scout let out a small sigh. "I was wondering if you knew. This is the planet of Kinmoku."
"Not Earth?"
"Not Earth."
Korina's shoulders visibly released the tension coiled up within them, relief washing over her. Helios was okay, and they were safe, if only for now.
"It's about time you relaxed a little. Fighter said you tried to put up a fight when you got here, half knocked out already." The scout's voice was laced with the slightest bit of amusement.
"Fighter?"
A long arm gestured to the scout sleeping in the chair. "Sailor Star Fighter. She's the one who found you three out in the gardens."
More relief, this time at the confirmation that Helios had made it here as well. "And you are?" Korina finally asked.
"Sailor Star Maker." The scout bowed her head slightly with the introduction. "The two of us, along with our comrade Sailor Star Healer, are the guardians of this planet's royalty, Princess Kakyuu."
A strange sense of respect settled between them; two scouts devoted to their princesses. Despite their missions being drastically different, at its core they both ran along the same lines. Support, protect, and love.
Which then begged another question. Why does this Sailor Star Fighter seem to act this way towards a different princess?
"Have you met Serenity before?" Though Korina's tone clearly asked a different question. How do you know Serenity?
Sailor Star Maker chuckled. "Years ago, we were great allies. When darkness threatened to consume us all, Sailor Moon was there to protect us. It was her strength that kept all of us going, even in our darkest moments. We owe our lives to her."
Korina nodded, keeping quiet. It had been only yesterday that she found out her princess even was a sailor scout in the past. The last thing she wanted was for anyone else to know how clueless she was. Her gaze fixed on the two sleeping figures in the room before her, wondering about all the details but not knowing where to start asking, or if the answers were even worth it at this point.
Luckily, Maker continued. "We were looking for our own princess at the time, but we didn't have a clue where to look. We were frustrated and quite unconcerned with the fates of our enemies. But Sailor Moon wasn't about to give up on them, and it was that light of hers that saved a lot of innocent lives. We found ourselves growing rather fond of her, especially Fighter." Sailor Star Maker chuckled again, as if reliving a fond memory.
Admittedly, Korina knew little of love or affection. But there was an admiration buried deep in Maker's voice that she could not miss. Suddenly even Fighter's posture seemed more affectionate, more protective. Her mind lingered to Diamond's question the day before. What do you fight for?
Another voice caught her attention, and pulled her back to reality. "Continue what happened!" The voice echoed from the far end of the hall.
Both senshi, equally curious, quietly kept to the wall as they inched closer to the source of the voice. They paused outside the last door on the left, and leaned against the wall just outside of the doorframe.
After a moment, a boy's voice overflowed into the hallway, giving Korina the faintest sense of security. All three of them made it in one piece.
"When we found Serenity in the castle, she was in a coma…" Helios explained to whoever was in the room with him.
Korina shifted her weight uncomfortably. It seems somewhat brazen of him to go out and share their story with complete strangers. She barely trusted these strangers to be near her princess when she was just down the hall, let alone trust them with such sensitive information.
Helios continued. "We would find out later that it was medically induced by Diamond. It was an attempt to alter all of her memories, to make her forget her loved ones and her friends and her future."
She could hear his anger through the cracks in his voice. For someone usually so composed, it was significant.
"His plan was for her to wake up and not question a thing, but to rule by his side." Silence followed the end of his story.
"Is that true?" Maker asked her quietly. "Where are all of her other scouts?"
After a long moment, Korina nodded. "Yes, it's true. And the rest of the scouts are dead." She stopped there, not wanting to offer more information than what was needed.
Maker inhaled sharply, recoiling from the weight of the smaller girl's answer. Korina refused to meet her eyes, refused to see the turmoil settling deep within them. Maker opened her mouth as if to ask another question when a new voice, soft and feminine, spoke from inside the room.
"Did it work?"
"We haven't been able to talk to her enough to figure it out for sure." Helios answered. "She's definitely… confused."
Korina couldn't help the humorless chuckle rise up in her throat, to which Sailor Star Maker looked at her with a confused expression. Hesitantly, she offered her thoughts to the taller scout.
"When the three of us traveled across space to get here from Earth, I tapped into the silver crystal for strength. When I did, I got a glimpse into Serenity's… psyche, if you will." At this point Korina was at a loss for words. Her hands repeatedly swirled around in front of her, looking for the right way to explain what she saw. "Everything was so… scrambled. It's not a matter of her trying to recover her own memories. She's still trying to figure out what's reality and what isn't."
A deep frown tugged at Maker's expression. Until now, Korina hadn't seen such strong emotion in the scout. Something about her reaction reassured her to telling Maker and her comrades about their struggles.
"I wouldn't be surprised if she was hallucinating, or if she thinks she's trapped in a nightmare." Korina said, more to herself than anything. "She's so accustomed to her dream world that reality is overwhelming her."
"So what's the plan? What do we do?" The first voice, the one that caught their attention in the first place, spoke up.
"That's just it." Helios said. "We don't have any plan. Sure we can fight Diamond, but that doesn't bring anyone back. That doesn't fix anything."
In Korina's hands, a silver and ruby broach glinted at the challenge. She held it close to her, watching the waves of power spiral around each other, locked in a timeless dance. This was when the tides turn.
Without warning, she pushed herself off of the wall and entered the room.
"That's why we have to go back." At the announcement of her arrival, all eyes turned to hers. She met Helios's golden ones and offered a small smile, which he returned.
"Go back?"
Korina nodded to them. "To back before all this happened, so we can defeat Diamond in the past."
With the resulting silence, Korina took in the people before her. Helios, looking exhausted, sat on the edge of a hospital cot with a clean bandage wrapped around his torso. The girl closest to him was dressed in an identical fuku as Sailor Star Maker's, leading Korina to assume that this was Sailor Star Healer. The second woman, with striking red hair and an intricately adorned dress, gazed back at Korina with a curious expression.
In the back of her mind, Korina remembered Maker mentioning their princess. Could this be her?
Out of habit in front of what may be royalty, Korina bowed her head to the redheaded woman. "Korina."
"Princess Kakyuu." The woman responded with a slight bow of her own. She motioned to the silver haired senshi. "This is Sailor Star Healer, and I presume you have met Sailor Star Maker?"
At the mention of her name, Maker stepped in from her perch in the doorframe.
Korina nodded, turning her attention back to Helios. "How are you doing?"
"Fine" He reflexively placed his hand on the bandage. "But what's this about going back in time?"
She opened her mouth to answer but quickly clamped it shut again, feeling the weight of everyone's gazes settling on her. Who was she to think that these other people would believe her? Or not think she was completely crazy, talking about time traveling? Was exposing her ability to go back in time even allowed? Was there someone enforcing that?
Korina hated not knowing all of the answers. She barely even understood the powers she had access to, what made her think anyone else would understand them any better?
As if sensing that she was bordering on hysteria, Helios nodded slowly to her. 'It's okay' Korina could almost hear him say. 'You can tell us.'
'You know what you're doing.' She reminded herself. 'Or, at least make it look like you do.'
"I spoke with Sailor Pluto. She was the one who told me about going back."
"Hmm." Sailor Star Healer's gaze fell, lost in thought. "The scout of time? But isn't she dead?"
"Well, yes." Absentmindedly, Korina tugged on her pigtails. "With her connection to the Gates of Time, she was able to talk to me for a few minutes. Maybe it was actually her from the past talking to me." As soon as she said it, she could feel the truth behind it. Whatever time period that Pluto had come from, she had to have known how bad things were getting. But even so, the only reason she would have contacted Korina was because she knew she was going to die herself.
Or was dying at that moment.
Suddenly the rushed nature of the meeting made more sense. Pluto's body, in it's present time, was dying. She literally used her dying breaths to find Korina and give her a plan.
"What's the connection to you?" Sailor Star Maker asked, the connections forming in her head faster than in the others.
Here it was. "I am Sailor Pluto's reincarnation and thus, a guardian to the Gates of Time." Korina said it with a lot more confidence than she felt about it.
Helios's expression changed. It was slight, likely imperceptible to those who didn't know him. But Korina knew him. She could see the surprise well up in his golden eyes. The spark that lit up behind them, as if he were seeing her for the first time. She wasn't sure why she suddenly felt vulnerable, and concerned about what he was thinking. She found herself hoping that this news didn't change the way he saw her.
"But wait..." Maker's voice interrupted her thoughts. "If you're Sailor Pluto's reincarnation, did the rest of the scouts get reincarnated? Are there others?"
This question caught Korina off guard. She hadn't even stopped to consider there being other reincarnations... She hadn't even known that she was a reincarnation until recently. Were there others that she had left behind?
As unsettling as the possibility was, she had to shake it off. There was nothing she could do from Kinmoku. Besides, if there were more scouts, surely they would have shown up by now.
"I don't know." She answered honestly. "But regardless, they would be irrelevant at this point."
There was a shade of disappointment clouding Maker's features at her response, but Korina decided to ignore it.
"Anyway. Pluto explained that the only way to truly fix the timeline is to go back far enough to prevent any of the scouts' deaths, and defeat Diamond just before he becomes a menace. We're supposed to cause a domino effect of sorts... One change in the past will set events on the right course again. Whatever "the right course" means." Korina added the last part on as an afterthought, more to herself than anything, but the comment caught Helios's attention. She noticed him shift uncomfortably at the mention of it, and made a mental note to ask him about it later. He clearly knew something about it.
Healer shrugged. "The idea sounds simple enough to me. Execution is always more complicated, of course."
"Much more complicated." Princess Kakyuu, who had been quietly observing the entire conversation, spoke up. "I know little of the details of changing the past, but I do know that it is dangerous and very fragile. A certain cause may not have the effect you desire."
"At this point, I think any effect would be better than what we're working with now." Korina responded quietly.
"If you're going, then I'm going too." Another new voice resounded from behind Korina, startling her in it's finality. She turned to face the scout that had, minutes before, been sleeping beside her Princess's hospital cot. Drowsiness still played with the girl's facial features.
"Fighter..." Princess Kakyuu murmured, not an ounce of surprise in her eyes.
Sailor Star Healer interrupted Kakyuu before she could say anything else. "What, just like that you're going to abandon our own princess to tag along on the moon princess's mission?" Despite the bitterness laced in her voice, Healer's words lacked the conviction needed to make her sound sincere in her objection.
"She needs help."
"So what? Your duty is to your own princess. You need to get over these feelings from all those years ago." Healer exclaimed.
Fighter paused a moment, deep in thought. "Maybe if we had been more involved over all these years none of this..."She waved her arms towards Korina and Helios, "... would have gotten to such extremes. Maybe we owe them this help. Sailor Moon helped us all those years ago, and what have we done to repay her?"
"She's right, Healer." Princess Kakyuu spoke up, silencing the retort on Healer's tongue. "Sailor Moon was there in our time of need. We should be there for hers."
Korina clenched her teeth together as she listened to their argument. No one bothered to ask if they were okay with this tagalong. These people, barely on a first name basis, shouldn't be assuming that they needed their help. In an effort to find support she locked eyes with Helios, strangely quiet as he listened to the Starlight's banter, but Korina was met with a very different expression.
'It's alright.' He expressed through his small smile. 'We can trust them. We need the help.'
She swallowed her pride. From what she had seen of her own abilities she had nothing offensive moves to fight off an opponent with, and she knew that Helios had little fighting abilities to speak of as well. If their trio was met with an enemy, what chance would they have of getting out unscathed?
"Well?" Someone's voice broke Korina from her reverie, and she looked up to face Sailor Star Fighter. Is it alright if I join you?"
She realized she must have missed the end of their discussion. Korina cleared her throat, glancing between Helios and Fighter. "We would... uh, very much appreciate your help."
Fighter's eyes lit up, determination setting fire in their cobalt depths.
"We should prepare to leave soon. In the next day or two." Korina continued. "If Diamond tries to follow us, then we need to move quickly."
Fighter opened her mouth to respond when a young nurse rushed in the room, appearing flustered. "My lady..." She breathed, meeting eyes with Kakyuu. "The Moon Princess is stirring, I think she may be waking up."
With that, the room was in motion. Helios was quickly on his feet and by Korina's side, as Fighter quickly exited the room with Kakyuu tight on her heels. Nearing a sprint, Korina made an effort to catch up to them before they got into Serenity's room.
"Wait!" She called out. "You need to understand, before you go in there... her memories are scattered, fragmented. I don't want you to get your hopes up for some grand reunion. There's a good chance she won't really remember you at all." Korina explained, mostly to Fighter.
The senshi nodded, a twinge of sadness hiding behind resolve. "Of course."
Thanks for keeping up with me thus far. Reviews would be lovely! Much love :)