Shattered Crystals; Chapter 2 By Cruton Rating:G(Each chapter will be rated seperately) Thanks for all of the feedback. I apologize for my inability to spell properly. Anyway, Takeuchi Naoko created Sailor Moon and all related elements, not me. I should have mentioned this earlier: This fic takes place during Crystal Tokyo and all the senshi are the baronesses of their respective planets. Sorry for any confusion this caused. The Imperial mason of Neptune was alive with the usual mix of honor, pride, and religious ecstasy the filled the dwellings of the senshi. This brought a certain amount of annoyance and, at the moment, worry to Kaiou Michiru. That was why she was relieved that it would be Regelas that would greet her, a good solid man who realized that the senshi were still human. For any one else would crack in a second? "Mistress Neptune! Back so?Kami-sama!" ?when they saw one gods, fallen. "Pluto! Is she?" Regelas stopped himself, daring not to finish the sentence. "No, but she might end up that way if you don't stop gawking and get a medical crew here!" Michiru snapped, not in the mood for any dawdling. The senshi of water looked into the operation theater that housed Meiou Setsuna. She was relieved to find out that all Pluto needed was a steady supply of oxygen, but was still worried about her friend. Michiru turned the thought over in her mind. Should she have told Serenity instead of Mercury? Was she right to try to hide it from the queen in hopes of solving this problem quitly without worrying the throne? She was still contemplating this when the firm, yet pleasant voice of Mizuno Ami piped in over the com screen. "Neptune? You there? Your message sounded important." Michiru reached over and pressed the intercom. "Hi, Ami. I'm afraid there's trouble with Pluto. She's.. she's in a coma." She replied, choking back tears. At this, Ami flew into hysterics! " My God! Pluto! Did you tell the que...." Michiru stopped her at this point. "No. The queen can't afford to be troubled with this. Tell me, how soon can you get rid of your responsibilities on Mercury?" "Meaning??" Ami asked, to confused to be worried. " The lest we could do is to know what's wrong Setsuna before we tell Serenity, you're the best doctor I know." Michiru said without changing her expression. " Sounds like a plan. I'll can be there in about a week." Ami then reach over to something outside of the view and the screen went blank. Michiru turned around to look back at Setsuna, reflecting on her current situation. Only then did she let herself cry. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Two weeks later?. Queen Serenity was happy. She couldn't help it. This meeting had been called by Neptune and Mercury. It probably was an emergency. But she couldn't help being happy, because all her senshi, all her friends, were here. Except one. She looked longingly at Setsuna's seat. "Where is she," Serenity wondered, " She never missed a meeting of the senshi before. In fact, she's usually the one who organized them." The sound of doors opening caught her attention as Neptune and Mercury entered both of them wearing a mask of sadness unbefitting of their characters. Mercury took her seat as Neptune moved over to give Uranus a kiss, then taking the marble podium. "My fellow senshi, "Neptune began, " I come before you with dreadful news. Two weeks ago, Sailor Pluto arrived on Neptune mumbling about having to warn the Queen about something. Since then, she has been in a deep coma." "Pluto!" "What!" "How!" "Who!" "Why!" "Why didn't?" "Is she?" "She is in a stable condition, thank Kami-sama," Neptune continued, " I didn't tell any of you except Ami because I didn't to add to your worries until we could give you a cause behind the coma. Ami?" she finished, moving away from the podium. On a look out station on Charron, two workmen saw a blip on their radar screen. Ami ascended the podium, her face marked with grief and tiredness. " Fortunately, Setsuna's mind is still intact, in a way. She still has all her motor functions, but she has no councious thought." On Jupiter, a little boy saw a shooting star. "I looked threw her diaries in hopes that they might have some clue. I found one entry about a condition called temporal coma. In theory, the way it works is?" In the middle of the market district in Crystal Tokyo, a giant ball of flame touched down. That kind of broke up the meeting. Naturally, they transformed. Naturally, they went to the scene of the explosion. And naturally, what came out of the crater was big, ugly, and had a lot of teeth. ____________________________________________________________ Chapter 2 is done. I'm am happy. Please send feedback. Cruton@juno.com Fini. ___________________________________________________________________ You don't need to buy Internet access to use free Internet e-mail. 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