The four princesses sat in a worried huddle in the palace on the moon, watching Ami anxiously. She hadn’t moved for hours, and hadn’t spoken since they had brought her here. She just sat in a chair by the window, gazing out at the Moon Kingdom, watching the light fade as nighttime drew near.
“This is horrible…” Minako whispered to the others, who reluctantly tore their eyes away from their bereaved friend and looked at her. “I feel just awful. As if she wasn’t under enough stress to begin with, but this….”
“Not to mention the way she found out about being a senshi…” Makoto added grimly, and the others nodded. “She must thing we betrayed her, keeping the truth from her the way we did.”
“But we had no choice…” Rei retorted.
“It doesn’t matter, she is our friend and friends are never dishonest with each other,” interjected Serenity. Rei started to protest, but she held up a hand. “I know we were instructed not to say anything, but we should have known this was coming.”
Rei sighed. “I know. I should have foreseen this…..what good is it to be a psychic if I can’t protect my friends from this kind of pain…” she clenched her fists in frustration and closed her eyes against angry tears. Minako touched her arm gently and Serenity put a comforting arm around her shoulders.
“It isn’t your fault Rei,” she said softly, squeezing her shoulders gently. She sighed. “We all should have realized it. And we should have told her about David….that was another mistake. She didn’t find out until it was too late…..” They all fell silent, thinking.
“Poor Ami…….” Minako said, summarizing what they all were thinking. “I wish there was something we could do……”
Just then Queen Serenity entered the room. She stopped a few steps into the room, looking at Ami sadly. Then she walked over to join the four friends, her eyes slightly red from crying. She sat down next to her daughter, who slipped touched her mother’s hand and looked at her anxiously.
“Mama……are you alright?” she asked, the worry evident in her voice. The Queen sighed.
“Yes darling I am alright…..” she said sadly, patting her daughter’s hand reassuringly. “David was very dear to me. He was almost like a son to Ami’s parents before they died, and so he became almost like a nephew to me. It is a terrible thing, what has happened.” She closed her eyes, fighting to retain her composure. “And what is worst of all is that I didn’t see it coming. None of us did. I should have guessed what Metallia was up to, I should have known what she was plotting…” she trailed off, squeezing her daughter’s hand.
“Mama there was nothing you could have done,” Serenity said, squeezing back. “At least we found her before anything else happened. She was so disoriented from grief and pain when we found her…..I don’t know what she might have done if we hadn’t gotten there when we did.” The others nodded solemnly, remembering how Ami had looked when they had arrived on Mercury after Hope’s energy scanner had picked up the strange energy fluctuations there. At first she had been dazed and silent, as if in shock. She didn’t answer them when they spoke to her, only clung to David’s lifeless body and rocked it back and forth as if he were only sleeping. Only when they had tried to take him from her had she come out of her stupor, and then she began crying hysterically and shaking uncontrollably. It had taken all of them to calm her down enough so that she could speak coherently and tell them what had happened. And after finding out what had happened to the generals from earth, their beloved suitors, they had all been in pretty bad shape.
“But it isn’t only that…..” the Queen said, shaking her head. “I will never forgive myself for ordering Prince Endymion to send his generals to the rebel planet. That was the most ill-planned decision I have ever made. I should have known better than to have him send his strongest warriors there. Now not only does Beryl have four new and extremely powerful allies, but we have lost four of our own.”
The four princesses bowed their heads, tears in more than one pair of eyes. For a moment no one spoke, the princesses mourning their lost loves in silence. Then Minako looked up, smiling despite the tears running down her cheeks.
“We will get them back, somehow,” she said, reaching across and resting her hand on theirs. “At least they are still alive. There is still a chance that they may be brought back to us…..”
Makoto and Rei nodded and, wiping the tears from their eyes, reached out to join hands with the others. They smiled at each other sadly, drawing comfort from each other’s presence, and from the knowledge that they were not alone in their suffering. Then Queen Serenity looked back over at Ami, and the others followed her gaze.
“It is she whom I am most worried about,” she said. “The rest of us will overcome this in time, but she has undergone the shock of learning her true identity and lost two people whom she loved dearly all in less than twelve hours. She’s such a soft-hearted, sensitive young woman…..this must have broken her heart…”
“It hasn’t just been broken Mama,” Serenity said softly, watching her friend’s face. “It’s been shattered. Just look at her face, her eyes. She’s devastated. She may never be the same again…” The Queen sighed. “I know…and the worst thing of all is that this battle isn’t over yet. Metallia is still on that planet, plotting her next attack, and we need Ami’s power as a senshi to defeat her. Its going to be harder now, because she drained almost half of Mercury’s natural energy when she used that attack. She was too inexperienced to use it properly, she hadn’t learned yet how to control the energy flow. So much of her energy has been wasted, and most of what she used will never replenish itself, not now. She will never reach the level of strength she might have otherwise. Faith and Hope can train her just as they did you four, but it won’t make much difference. Her powers as a senshi will never be what yours are.” Serenity looked at her mother sadly, then a look of determination came over her face. “It doesn’t matter. We will win because we have to, for the future of our world. There is no other choice.” Then she looked over at Ami once more, and stood up. “But right now Ami needs us as friends, and I am going to do everything I can to help her.”
The others nodded and stood up, and the four friends walked over to Ami. The Queen remained behind, watching her daughter and the four girls who had become as daughters to her with pride. Her daughter was wise beyond her years, though she did not often show it. She was right, they would be victorious, because as long as they were together as a team they would draw strength from each other and from their friendship, the most powerful weapon of all. Despite her grief, Queen Serenity was comforted by the thought, and her heart felt peaceful in the knowledge that her daughter and her friends would keep their universe safe.
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