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Gaea - Year 0 of the Second Moon Kingdom, reign of Queen Serenity
"So the others went home, but ... we can't."
Seiya nodded sadly as she watched her friend's face fall. When they had realized the spells were broken, they had tried contacting the others again. The message went straight through to the communicators and the two missing Sol Senshi were able to teleport everyone back to the palace. It took most of their combined power to make the trip and they had passed out almost immediately after arriving. That was two days ago. Yaten had just woken a few minutes before, but Haruka was still unconscious.
The black-haired singer placed her hand on Yaten's arm and squeezed gently. "We'll find another way. There are Kinmokunai in this dimension. Riein-san is trying to contact them now. She thinks that ... she can make the portal generators on the ships work like Goodman-san's powers."
"And what? You said that Dysnomia-san said that we couldn't go home. That this world is moving too fast. What good would opening a portal the size of a ship do?" Yaten's eyes opened wide as she glanced behind Seiya. "The ... twins."
Seiya nodded, glancing over her shoulder. "That's how we knew the spells had ended." She turned back to face the gray-haired woman and saw tears falling down her cheeks. "Don't worry, Kou. We'll get you home to your family. I promise."
Miyo straightened up from where she had been slouching against the wall and stepped over to the bed. "To answer your question, Uncle. The ships generator wouldn't open a portal that big, but it could open one stable enough that we could get through. All we'd really need is the coordinates of home."
Yaten sighed as she brushed the tears from her cheeks. She had been hoping that the difficult part was behind them and that all that would be required now was a simple trip home. "Guess I should have guessed that things are never as easy as they seem, huh?"
"Not when the Senshi are involved." Seiya smiled a little and pulled the gray-haired woman into a hug. "Don't give up hope, old friend."
Earth - February 2011
"I am really tired of seeing snow." Sailor Venus pulled herself up out of the snow bank she had fallen into and sighed. After the pocket reality began to collapse, a strange warrior that looked like Jupiter, and who could only be one of Elara's daughters, made her way through the snow and into the building they had been using as shelter. She told them that they weren't really on Earth and that if they didn't leave then, the planet they were on would likely be ripped apart by cosmic forces.
Of course, they hadn't really trusted her, but what she said made sense. Especially since nothing seemed to be working the way it should. Aura opened a portal where the other woman told her and they stepped into a world nearly identical to the one they had left behind. Only this one ... had Kinmokunai Fleet ships floating above the city.
"I don't think I've ever seen a prettier sight than those," Kageshirou replied, pointing up to the ships from his own snowbank. Someone's communicator beeped a few feet away and the redhead looked up to see Nami fighting her way back to her feet and trying to get the attention of one of the ships. "Looks like I'm not the only one."
Tanetomi sank into the snow, hugging her arms to herself. She didn't even glance up as a figure knelt next to her. "They're ... really not going to be able to come home ..."
Tsuki hesitantly reached out to the older girl and was surprised when the blue-haired girl pulled her into a hug. Returning the hug, the redhead buried her face in the other girl's shoulder. "You know Shi. There's no way that she's going to miss out on driving us all crazy. They'll find their way home. They have to."
Chibi Moon watched the ships flying overhead, hoping that she'd be able to see a familiar white moon appear every time one of them passed, but the clouds were simply too thick. Sighing, she turned toward the woman that was being held by Saturn's ribbons. Gesre had regained consciousness shortly before they left and they had had no choice but to bind her to the Glaive when she refused to leave her doomed creation behind.
Her sister, Ymede, had pleaded with the purple-clad Senshi to save the other woman. Without the reality-warping powers of Cronos, Jupiter was weakened to almost nothing, like most of her generation. To defeat Metallia, the Goddesses had had to draw their powers from their own future children, weakening most of them to the point that they were little more than humans. The strawberry blonde warrior sighed as she glanced from the bound Gesre to Ymede, who had never left her side. "What do we do with these two now? We can't just let them go."
"Well, for starters, they can go back to the Av'Nai, where they were being held until they pulled off that little escape." Tavek smirked at the group, then stepped closer to Gesre. "That is, assuming that you really are here now and this isn't another one of your tricks."
"It's not a trick, Vek. She's lost her powers." Nami smiled at her brother and hugged him.
Tavek smiled down at his sister and quickly glanced around the group. He saw Cyril helping Kageshirou to his feet, but only one of the four StarLights. "Lady Taiki ... what happened? Where are the others?"
Taiki sighed, glancing back at the purple-haired man. "They're not coming. Gaea is ... no longer accessible."
Earth - July 30, 2011
"Six months. Your father has been gone for six months. If he thinks that he can just wander off across the galaxy whenever he pleases and I'll just sit at home, cooling my heels and raising his kids ..." Jinia sighed as she idly rubbed one hand over her swollen stomach. It was only after Taiki and the others returned that she learned that it wasn't her nerves making her sick. As close as the doctors could tell, she was right at 28 weeks and was confined to strict bed rest after telling her doctor that Hikari was born at only 32. Upon learning that, Usagi had insisted that at least one of the Senshi be by her side at all times, since Jinia refused to move into the mansion.
Makoto glanced up from her sewing and smiled a little at the black-haired woman. "But you are just sitting at home, cooling your heels and raising his kids," she replied.
Jinia sighed. "I know. But once he gets his skinny little ass home, he's staying here. No more of this running off and leaving me behind, pregnant ... again. And he doesn't even know ... again. I'm not waiting another fifteen years for him."
"Yes you would," Michiru replied, walking into the room. She smiled a little at the woman on the bed, then glanced to the brunette. "Shift change. You're needed at home, mama."
Makoto nodded, gathering her things and stuffing them into her bag. "Okay. Just make sure she stays in bed. She's been trying to get up and do something all morning."
Jinia made a face at the brunette. "Well, I'm bored. There's never anything good to watch on daytime TV. I don't see how housewives keep from going stir crazy."
Michiru grinned as she handed Jinia a plastic-wrapped package. "That's why I brought movies. And snacks ... as long as we don't tell Mako-chan that they're not good for you."
"I heard that."
Jinia chuckled, sitting up slowly and looking at the package in her hands. "This is ... that stupid movie the boys made in High School! I've been trying to find a copy of it for years to show Hikari, where did you find it?"
"I have friends who know things." Michiru winked at the darker-haired woman, then glanced back to Makoto, who was going through the bag of snacks she had brought. "Sheesh, it was a joke, Mako-chan. I wouldn't really give her something bad for her."
Makoto shrugged, replacing the bag on the end of the bed. "One never knows. I've heard horror stories of your cooking," she replied, smiling. She glanced to Jinia and saw her doubled over on the bed. "Jin-chan!"
Jinia groaned as she glanced up at the two women. "Just a ... just a pain. I swear this kid is trying to-" She grimaced as another pain ripped through her. "C-Call the doctor ... something's wrong."
Makoto nodded, grabbing the phone beside the bed as Michiru tried to get Jinia to lay down. The brunette was glad the kids were all at the mansion as the darker-haired woman screamed at the blood on her sheets.
Hikari nearly ran over several cars as she drove herself and her siblings to the hospital. They had been at the mansion when a frantic phone call came from Makoto saying that the baby had come early and Jinia was being rushed away to the hospital. As soon as she heard which hospital, the green-eyed girl pushed her siblings into a car and started driving. Teleporting was out of the question in their combined mental states, especially since she still wasn't very good, Kai couldn't go very far, Mi-ko's powers didn't always work how she wanted them to and Yo-Ichi had no powers.
Jerking the emergency brake a little harder than necessary, Hikari parked and was out of the car before the engine had even stopped running. She picked up Yo-Ichi and with the other two girls close on her heels, ran into the hospital. She immediately saw Michiru and Makoto arguing with a nurse. "Mako-oba-san, Michiru-oba-san ... what happened?"
Michiru walked quickly over to the three teenagers. "Hikari-chan, your mother ... she just doubled over in pain. We called for an ambulance, but ... the babies came before they got there. Jin-chan ... Jinia-chan didn't ... she passed out. Mako-chan rode in the ambulance with her, but ... they won't tell us anything."
"Wait ... babies? As in more than one?" When the older woman nodded, Kai paled. Pushing past the others, she went over and started arguing with the nurse.
Hikari held on to Yo-Ichi and didn't even notice when Michiru made her sit in a chair. "Is ... is mom okay?"
"They said they can't tell us. We're not her family," Michiru replied. She sat beside the younger woman and glanced over toward the nurse. "You'll ... you'll have to go talk to them."
The black-haired girl nodded and stood. She placed Yo-Ichi in the chair, then grabbed Mi-ko's hand and pulled her toward the nurse.
"I'm sorry, miss, but I can't tell you anything. You are not the patient's family."
"Yes, she is." Hikari glared at the nurse that had been arguing with the others. "I am Jinia Sakuma's daughter and these two are my sisters. These other ladies are my aunts. We are all family. And if you don't start telling me what's going on with my mother, you will regret it."
The nurse took one look at the four green-eyed glares levelled at her and gulped. "J-Just let-let me check on her." She returned moments later, with a doctor and a security guard.
"I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to leave, Miss Sakuma. You're causing a disturbance in my hospital."
Hikari turned her glare on the doctor and saw the older man flinch. With the other three shielding her from the people in the waiting room and only the security guard and the nurse behind the doctor, Hikari shifted into Chibi StarHealer. "That's where you're wrong. I've not yet begun to cause a 'disturbance'. I want to know what happened to my mother and what happened to her baby. And someone had better start talking."
The security guard turned as white as the doctor's coat and took a step back from the desk. "Looks like you have the situation under control, doc. If you need anything else ... I'll be on lunch." He ducked back through the door they had come out of and nearly ran down the hall.
The doctor was trying to look anywhere but at the Senshi and ended up in a staring contest with the older woman. Sighing, he broke eye contact and glanced down at the chart in his hands. "Fine. Come with me, but ... not like that. Seeing one of you in here would not be good for my patients." He glanced up and noticed that she had already changed back. "Not to mention the fact that you took a pretty big risk just now."
"I'll do what I have to." Hikari followed the doctor through the doorway, then glanced back at the other two teenagers. "Aren't you coming?"
Kai smiled a little. "She's your mother. We'll wait here with Ichi." She watched Hikari leave, then glanced at the nurse. "That is, if you don't have a problem with us waiting."
The nurse shook her head, watching the three women until they sat down, then going to notify her supervisor that there was a new vacancy in the nursing staff. She had suddenly found something that meant more to her than her job.
The waiting room soon filled with people, most of them waiting on news of one woman and her newborn twins. Usagi held her own twins on her lap as she waited. The past six months had been hard on all of them, Jinia most obviously, but the signs of worry were there for any that knew where to look. And any of the Senshi that looked at Usagi, didn't have to look far to see her own worry for their lost friends, or for a daughter she had barely known.
Rei sat in the chair beside Usagi's wheelchair and smiled a little at her. "Why don't you and the girls go home. We'll call you as soon as we find something out."
Usagi shook her head. "No. I promised all of them that I would take care of those that were left behind ... and I haven't."
"You couldn't have forseen that Jinia-chan's babies would come early. We've never seen half-Kinmokunai born after all. And Kakyuu-san did say that it didn't take as long with full Kinmokunai as it did with half-breeds." Rei sighed, running her hands through her hair and watching the blonde. With Seiya around, she had slowly started acting like the old Usagi again. They knew she'd never again be the playful young woman she once was, but they held out hope that that woman still lived inside her. Now with Seiya and the others gone and no way to know if they were alive or dead, she had retreated even farther into her shell. "You need to sleep, Usagi-chan."
"No more than you do, Rei-chan." Usagi forced a smile for the lawyer and brushed the hair out of Juliette's face. "I'm not leaving until I know for sure what's going on."
Sighing, Rei leaned back in her seat and glanced over at the others. "You know, you could help me here, Mina-chan."
Minako shook her head slightly. "I can't even get Fu-chan to go home," she replied, motioning to the white-haired woman beside her.
Beside her, Kunzite, given the name family name Tenou, for her resemblance to Haruka, and the given name Fuyumi, for one of the blonde's relatives, frowned. "My baby is very concerned over the fate of his cousins," she replied, placing a hand on her own slightly swollen stomach.
"How do you know it's a boy? You still refuse to see a doctor except for Xan and she said she couldn't tell," Kakyuu commented from her other side.
"Trust her. She's never wrong." Nephlite glanced up from his spot on the floor, where he was playing with Naru's youngest, Atlas. The little boy had immediately latched on to the red-haired Shitennou the first time he saw him, which was a good thing since his mother was holding him at the time. When Naru fainted, Nephlite reached out and grabbed Atlas as Zoisite caught the other redhead. Since then, mother and son had insisted that Nephlite be close by as much as possible.
Kunzite nodded, smiling slightly. "I've been accurate every time since Jade was born. I was four at the time, so I don't really remember, but Beryl-sa- ... Beryl said that I had never been wrong, in over 100 cases."
"Guess we need to buy everything in blue, then," Kakyuu replied, smiling a little. The doors to the waiting area opened and a tall, young Japanese man walked in, a shorter woman that looked like an older version of Jinia, a few steps behind him. Kakyuu frowned as the man walked over to the desk, then was motioned in their direction. Glancing at Usagi, she saw the blonde woman nod slightly as the woman approached them.
"E-Excuse me, but ... is one of you, Kakyuu-san?"
The redhead nodded and stood. "I am Kakyuu. Can I help you with something?"
The woman glanced over her shoulder, then smiled a little. "I'm Jinia's mother, Mari."
