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Chapter 12a: A Meeting of the Royal Council

Artemis did manage to retrieve Chenoa and Kodia, although not without some difficulty and slapstick, with Artemis being the brunt of it... Of course Artemis was very used to it by now. He was after all Minako's guardian. Shortly after they arrived, they learned that Uranus, Mars, Neptune, and Mercury were nowhere to be found and it was a logical jump to assume that they had gone after their daughters.

Then Minako walked in with a truck load of food, grumbling about how people kept harping on her about her weight. However she soon noticed that they weren't in high spirits either... Kodia explained what had happened, and Minako was very upset that they had left without so much as a word to her about it... She wouldn't have stopped them; she would have gone to help. However, Kodia managed to calm her down and then she settled back into her seat, munching on a bag of cookies absently.

Slowly, the other members of the council began to file in... Including Makoto who had attempted to stay even though the others had told her to rest. Setsuna had physically removed her and taken her back to the Medical Ward, but aside from then and those who were on Alcatraz, nearly all were present.

Oddly enough, Usagi was the last to arrive with Mamoru. She went to her seat and began the meeting, "There are a few reasons why I've summoned all of you," she begins, "You will notice that some of us are not here. As most of you probably know by now, Ami, Rei, Michiru, Haruka and my daughter are all missing. I have a pretty good guess as to where they've gone, but we still should probably send some after them. Before we begin discussing these things, I'd like to introduce two new senshi who have been sent to us from the future so we can help them train."

That is when the two step forward and Usagi begins the introductions, "They are brother and sister, Kyoto Hitohana and Ichijin, or Hito and Ichi, as they prefer to be called. Hito possessed powers related to plants, and transforms to Sailor Orchid. Ichi has powers related to weather and climate, and he is Sailor Storm." those who haven't done so already, introduce themselves to the new senshi and the meeting continues with Kodia proposing that the younger ones among them should get a chance to speak... However none of them take the opportunity, or perhaps they were not given the chance.

Chenoa does not pay attention to anything that is going on around her... She is far too concerned with the fact that she still can not access her powers. Her mental powers have heightened now, but she still is unable to access her other powers and she still is unable to transform. During her mental tirade, she shatters a glass, and nearly leaves after this, but Kodia convinces her to stay... Then Chenoa looks up to the queen and says, "My Queen, I am willing to help in any way possible but I must be allowed to stay with Heion. I beg of you to please grant that one request."

Before the queen can answer however, Hotaru speaks up, "Chenoa, maybe we need to talk."

Chenoa looks over to Hotaru and just slowly nods, "Later Hotaru, but yes we do."

Before anything else can happen, Hotaru speaks again, "My Queen it may be good to have Chenoa remain here. She is still weak from the battle with Void and giving birth." she shifts her gaze over to Chenoa and says, "You need to rest Chenoa. Once you are fully rested things will come better."

"So, what is the plan? We must at least aid the others in getting Sarah and Samantha back. There may have been minions of Void's left behind and they are holding them captive." Hotaru stands and looks to the others. "I will go and help. Who will join?"

What no one has noticed the entire time that this is happening, was that Minako is curiously absent from any deliberation in the meeting. She has been too busy thinking about Yahara, something she couldn't seem to stop herself from doing at all... Hotaru's words did break through however, and they sent Minako down on another road she had been traveling down for quite some time... A guilty road.

Minako was once again plagued with images of Enmity's death before her, Mars being harmed because of her own carelessness, the death of Peace, the senseless deaths of the shades... All of them plaguing her mind over and over again, making her go crazy. Then she thought of Yahara once more, and felt her heart break all over again... She began crying right there in the Council Room, and that stopped all activity that had been going on during her reverie.

Artemis was the first one to speak, saying, "Minako? Are you all right?"

His inquiry did not help and if anything made her grow increasingly agitated, "Do I look all right Artemis?!" Artemis reared back as if physically slapped and Minako covered her mouth with her hand and sighed, "I.. I'm sorry Artemis... I... I'm just really stressed right now..." then she looked over to the royal couple on her right and asked if she could be excused from the meeting... This was also a way of telling Hotaru that she should not accompany her on this mission. She was obviously too distraught to be any good.

The queen then told Minako to go ahead and try to get some rest. Minako wasted no time leaving, not hearing Setsuna as she came up behind her...

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Pages Updated On: 14-Aug-2008 - 10:29:32
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