“Rei-chan!” Serena chortled as she slapped her on the back. “How’s it going!” Rei gritted her teeth. Serena WAS a nice person, and she was either going to get along with her or die trying.
“Great, Serena! What brings you up here?”
Serena scowled. “Luna’s picking up new readings on the Enemy, and she’s called a meeting. She told me to tell you.”
“Serena, couldn’t you have just contacted me on the comlink?” Serena glanced down at her wrist.
“Oh yeah, sorry about that,” Serena sweatdropped. Rei forced a friendly smile onto her face.
“C’mon, meatball head. Let’s go.”
“But how can we hurt that guy Jedite?” Serena mused. “He’s so powerful, he just stopped my tiara in mid-air!”
Rei felt shivers down her spine. What was it about that guy? Every time someone brought him up, she felt something tug in the back of her mind. He was almost…familiar. Like meeting an old friend. Except it was a raving psycho friend who wanted to take over the universe. But something had to account for her weird feelings about him. She decided to ask the sacred fire later that night.
“Hello…earth to Rei!” Serena giggled. “Thinking about some dreamboat hunk!?? C’mon, give us the scoop!” Her eyes glistened with excitement. “It’s Chad, isn’t’ it!! Rei and Chad, sitting in a tree ki-!”
“MEATBALL HEAD! I WASN’T THINKING ABOUT SOME DREAMBOAT GUY! IF YOU MUST KNOW, I WAS CONTEMPLATING OUR MISSION AND OUR NEXT MOVE!” Rei whammed her over the head with her pillow.
“Well! If you’re going to be that way about it!” Serena stuck her tongue out at Rei. Rei stuck hers out back.
“Meatball head!”
“Brat!”
“Ditz!”
“Egomaniac!”
“Awful big word there, Serena. Sure you know what it means?”
“GIRLS!” Luna screeched. “WE WERE TALKING ABOUT THE NEGAVERSE!” The girls blushed.
“Right.”
“Sacred fire, tell me what I’m feeling about Jedite! Show me why I feel this!” A blast of wind shook her, and in the fire a scene flashed before her eyes.
A beautiful white palace shone in the mid-afternoon sun. Rei stood on the steps, looking out into distance at an approaching figure. The figure ran up the stairs and kissed her. Rei gasped. It was Jedite! Could this be the future? Or perhaps the past…Luna hadn’t said much about where they came from. Jedite wasn’t in his normal Negaverse outfit. He was wearing a soldier’s uniform. Tiny medals shone from the left pocket. “I’ve come to say goodbye,” he said. “There is trouble on Earth…Nephrite has been taken to the enemy camp, and we don’t know what they’ve done to him. Lord Darien…” Darien? Serena’s friend? What does he have to do with anything? It must just be coincidence. “Darien has called us into battle once more…I don’t think I’ll be coming back this time. The Negaverse…”
Rei’s eyes opened with a start as her wrist comlink beeped. Irritated, she flipped it open. Ami popped onto the screen, looking worried.
“Rei, it’s time to go. It’s almost 7:00. We’re meeting at Serena’s house to head over to the airport.”
Rei nodded. “Right. I’ll be there in a flash.” She clicked her comlink off and stared into the fire with a distant look in her eyes before turning to the door.
