Serena waited for Michael to say something, anything, after she and Kyle finished telling him about what they knew about their previous lives and their connection to his. Minus, of course, any mention of the Moon Kingdom or magic. After all, just coming to terms with having more than one life can be a bit unsettling as it was. She knew that, based on her conversation with Mina just before the men had returned to the apartment, he just might be brought into a completely chaotic life sooner rather than later. Still, she wanted to make the transition to be easier for him than it had been for her.
Serena had been left completely alone with no one to talk to for the first part of her venture into the realm of fighting the forces of the Negaforce. Well, no one but a talking cat who had shown up out of nowhere and declared that she was destined to be a hero. At times, even as the others had joined the team, she still had felt as if she had no one to talk to about the fear and confusion that each new stage of coming to terms with just who she was when she was Sailor Moon brought with it.
Michael, meanwhile, was still trying to absorb all that he'd been told by both of the individuals in the room with him. If it hadn't been for the fact that he'd known Kyle for his entire life, he wouldn't even have entertained the idea of all that he'd learned. But the evidence was right there in Kyle's journal that mirrored his own dreams. And now that he really looked at Kyle and Serena, they did look remarkably like those he'd seen in his dreams.
"Alright," Michael sank back into the chair as he spoke. He couldn't believe that everything was actually starting to make sense after spending an afternoon discussing each of their past lives. "Just so I know, this is as weird as all of this will get. Right?"
Kyle exchanged a look with his wife knowing that they had yet to even touch on the truly weird stuff. He couldn't exactly lie to his friend, but he didn't think that he was ready for the truth, just now, either. Instead, he figured he'd bypass the question with a little light teasing and then change the subject. "Why? You don't think you could handle any more? Ready to run scared back to the school that you work at, now?"
"Funny," Michael made a face as he shook his head. "Alright, how about we get back to talking about this lifetime? Are you still planning on trying to keep up with me when we go climbing the old trails or not?"
Kyle thought about their original plan for the day and grinned. "Nope. I plan to make you try to keep up with me."
Off to the side, Serena couldn't help but giggle at the way the men quickly reverted to their brotherly-like banter the moment the conversation had come to an end. She knew that there was still so much that would need to be discussed but, for now, Michael seemed to be taking everything in stride. She just wondered how he'd react to the rest of their telling of the old kingdoms and why they had fallen.
"Well, she did tell Ami that you needed to get to the generals," Lita said as she thought over all that she'd been told of both visits to the unusual woman in the hospital. "She must know something more about, what did she call them? The Benu? And she's already been seen with two of the generals. That's got to mean that they are in the area, too."
"Rei's meditating, trying to see if she can finally locate Malachite, now. So far, she hasn't had any luck using the mat that he sat on when he was in the fire room last week." Mina eyed the door that she knew her friend was behind while trying to sense the man in question. She knew that she'd become very frustrated in her inability to find him or any of the other generals and the more irritated she became, the less likely she'd be successful.
As the two women spoke, Darien was lost in his own thoughts. He found it very suspicious that the one person who seemingly could give him answers regarding the bird monsters from his dreams, as well as her own and the generals' parts in them, would mysteriously disappear just moments before he was to speak with her once more. Could these Benu have found her in the hospital? After all, from what he'd learned already, it would appear that she was in the hospital as a result of an attack by them in the first place.
He'd love to know just what it was that these creatures wanted and why they were attacking men around the city. Fortunately, no one had died, yet, but there were several instances where the men had been pretty close to death by the time they were found and taken to the hospital. These attacks had to stop before someone became that first unlucky person to not survive.
After quite some time, Rei returned to where she'd left her friends and regrettably informed them that she still hadn't been able to locate any of the generals. She'd keep trying but for now, they were no closer in finding them than they had been before the woman had shown up at the hospital.
Serena finished telling Kyle about her conversation with Mina as they got ready for bed after Michael left for the evening. After the two men had gone hiking the mountain trails, he had joined both she and Kyle for dinner as they discussed a few more of his memories that he had been trying to piece together. In a way, she sort of wished that he'd remember something that would reveal that the kingdoms from the past were magical but so far nothing that Michael had remembered had indicated anything of the sort and Serena didn't want to be the one to tell him about magic until he was ready.
After hearing about the attacks in Tokyo, Kyle agreed that he and Serena should return just as soon as possible. Fortunately, Michael would return home at the end of the week which freed him up to return without having to explain to his friend why he was leaving town. Kyle believed that Michael needed something that felt normal to him after spending the last week dreaming of a past that he'd never known he'd had before. Not to mention learning that Kyle and Serena had each been loosely connected to him in that past, as well.
The two men had promised to get together again real soon, at least. Michael just needed some space and time. Both Kyle and Serena hoped that they'd be able to give it to him. In the meantime, they (or at least Kyle) were needed in Tokyo since a battle appeared to be looming on the horizon.
Darien returned to his apartment after his meeting with the Sailor Scouts. He wished, not for the first time, that his own powers of precognition were more direct when he was given warnings and glimpses of the future. He also wished that he had some way to find the generals as well as find out just what part they each would play in the fight against the Benu. Why were they attacking men across Tokyo and how were he and the others going to stop them? He didn't even know how to locate them.
Darien fell onto his couch in defeat since he had no answers and no clue on how to find any at the moment. His only link to them had been the strange woman at the hospital. She'd said that he was in danger but hadn't said just how or why. If only she hadn't disappeared, he may have some answers.
Still thinking about the mysteries of the last couple of weeks which had only become more complicated in only the last twenty-four hours, he was pulled from his musings when the phone rang. Answering, Darien was surprised to hear Wendy Garrett on the other end.
"Wendy, I wasn't expecting to hear from you." Darien thought about his last encounter with the woman when he'd given her his number and asked, "You aren't having car trouble again, are you?"
"No, nothing quite like that. But I guess you could say that I'm in need of a bit of help of a different kind."
"What kind of help?"
There was a pause on the line before Wendy stated, "I've been roped into attending a charity dinner Saturday night at the last minute and I… I need an escort and I thought of you for a couple of reasons."
Darien eyed the phone as he asked, "What kind of reasons?"
"Well, for one I know that you don't mind spending an evening in a tuxedo," Wendy laughed. "Of course, you don't usually have to play nice with strangers while choking down a rubber chicken dinner at the same time."
Darien returned a chuckle since he hadn't thought that his time of fighting as Tuxedo Mask would have qualified him for hobnobbing with the upper crust of society while they used a charitable event as an excuse to wear their finery.
"And another reason would be?"
"You're the only one that I know who has as bad of a social life as I do, lately." Darien heard Wendy continue to giggle as he thought back to the night that he'd run into her after his latest debacle of a first date. "Not to mention, if you run out on me, I can blame it on it being anything other than my own company. So, what do you say? Rescue me from having to show up at this function dateless?"
Darien couldn't explain it, but he didn't mind the thought of spending the evening Wendy at the event. And as she had pointed out, even if Tuxedo Mask were needed elsewhere, there wouldn't be an awkward exit since she already knew of his alter ego. Though he doubted that she knew of the latest danger to the people of Tokyo.
"I suppose I could be in the mood for a stale chicken dinner, this weekend," Darien finally said with a smile after a momentary inner debate.
Hatsu slowly began to wake up and was confused when she found herself in a room that she'd never seen before. As she thought on the last things she could remember, the attack at the reflecting pool as well as her time at the hospital came to mind. She also recalled the head injury that she'd sustained that she had been unable to heal for herself while being treated at the hospital. As she sat up on the bed that was far plusher than she could ever remember sleeping on, even while at the palace, Hatsu suddenly remembered seeing the prince. He'd been in her hospital room. He'd spoken to her.
Looking on the other side of the bed, Hatsu saw that some clothes had been lain out for her and they looked about the right size to fit her. After changing she cautiously left the bedroom and discovered the three generals gathered around a sitting room in what she had to assume was Nephrite's apartment. She waited a few moments before letting them know that she was in the room so she could hear what they were discussing. From what she could tell, Malachite had been added to Nephrite's security team; both giving him a job and an excuse to be close to the powerfully influential man in this time period.
"Are you sure you want to stay with that shelter, Jed? You know that I could hire you, too."
"No thanks, Neph. Not for now, at least. I like working at the shelter. Especially when I see someone get to the point where they come in and say that they won't be coming back. That they have a job and a place to stay again."
"Always the softy," the older man teased but understood his friend's desire to stay where he actually felt like he made a difference. Even so, he was prepared to do a bit more light teasing when he noticed Hatsu had come out of the bedroom where she'd been left to heal from her injuries. "Good morning. Or should I say good evening?"
Hatsu glanced toward the window and saw that the sun was nearly down to verify the fact that it was in fact evening.
"How long have I been here?"
"About two days. I went to tell you that Jed's nosy neighbor got him evicted and found you at the hospital. I knew that with the medicines that they were pumping into you, there was no way that you'd be able to heal on your own. To be honest, I thought that you'd be up and about by this time yesterday. What happened to cause you to end up in there, anyway?"
"I was at the reflecting pool near the building that I left all of you in when the Benu attacked a man nearby. When they saw me, they sent out a bolt of power and knocked me into it." Hatsu tried to use her magic to reach out toward the prince to see if he was nearby since she'd seen him so recently, but her reserves must have been depleted when she was finally able to heal herself while she slept. "You have to return to the hospital."
"What? Why?" Malachite didn't like the idea of returning to the stark and sterile place that was far more like the place that he'd been locked up in for four years than he'd care to think about. Still, the woman looked insistent. Was the man that she mentioned being attacked by the Benu the prince?
"The prince. I saw him. He came to my room."
"What?" Each man leaned forward as if to stand but waited for the oracle of the old kingdom to continue.
"I don't know why but he was there when I woke up once. He was there with a woman. Later, she returned but I was too weak to say more than a few words during either visit. If you return now, between the three of you, you may be able to locate him."
Despite his aversion to hospitals in general, Malachite knew that they were fighting against time with finding the prince before the Benu did. Nodding, the eldest of the generals stood and led his friends on their search for their prince. He hoped that they were finally closing in on his location. Not to mentioned, he prayed that they would find him before their enemies did.