'Ugh. Where the hell am I?' Violet eyes cracked open slowly. 'White. Everywhere. Everything seems so bright.' She blinked in sleepy confusion, and realized she was lying on her back, in a strange room. She tried to lift her head, but to no avail. It was as if every part of her had grown very, very heavy, and impossible to move. Her eyes had already begun to ache from the harsh lighting. 'Ok, so what the hell happened? How did I get here? Oh damn. The demon! I have to warn everyone!' It took every ounce of strength she could find in her body, but she finally succeeded in coaxing stiff limbs back to life. She drew her knees up, wincing at the horrible cracking sound her joints emitted. 'God, how long have I been laying here?' She did a quick once over of her body. Her armor and uniform had been removed. She was now clothed in a loose white shirt, and light drawstring pants. Her wounds had also been dressed, apparently. She tried to push herself up into a sitting position with her arms, but the sudden searing pain that ripped through the left side of her body and down her left arm nearly caused her to black out. Her head spun, and her eyes screwed tightly shut. 'Am I dead? I must be dead. This is hell!' "Rei? Oh God, Rei! You're awake!" 'Can't be Satan, the voice is too beautiful.' Mars eased her eyes open, despite the muscle spasms that tore through her, and was taken aback by the sight that greeted her. 'Mina?' The blonde had obviously not been sleeping well. Her face was pale, on the brink of sickly, and dark circles under her eyes marred her perfect features. The simple white dress she was wearing was rumpled and creased, a sure sign she had slept in it. Even the golden locks Mars had spent so much time running her fingers through looked limp and tired. Minako pressed a soothing hand to her face, gently pushing Rei's bangs out of her eyes. "Listen. I've got to get Mercury, ok? Please, don't try to move. I'll be back as soon as I can." Mars tried to smile, but found the act impossible. She gave Venus the only sign of comprehension she could manage by taking the blonde's free hand with her own and squeezing Minako's fingers. If Rei hadn't been in so much pain already, the smile Minako gave her would have broken her in half. "I'll come right back. I promise." she whispered, sliding her hand out of Rei's and disappearing down the hall. Mars gritted her teeth and slammed her palm into her forehead out of sheer agony. 'I swear to God, it feels like something is crawling around in my wound! I'm about ready to chew my own damn arm off!' Just as Rei began to seriously contemplate the idea, Minako returned with Mercury in tow. The ice soldier set a glass of something that looked suspiciously like pure, undiluted evil down on the end table to the right of her bed, and gave a slight nod to Venus. "Rei, we're going to sit you up now, so you can drink some medicine Mercury cooked up. Please don't punch either of us." the blonde said with a nervous grin. 'Punch her? What the hell is she talking about? Why would I punch her?' Minako looked across the bed at Ami, and nodded quickly. Ami slid one hand under Rei's right shoulder, and the other at the small of her back, with the blonde following suite on the opposite side. "On three." Ami instructed. "One." 'Oh no. Oh hell no...' "Two." 'Wait!' Mars turned pitiful, pleading violet eyes towards Venus. 'Don't do this Mina. Please don't do this. I'm sorry. I'm sorry for any wrongs I have ever committed upon you, please, for the love of all that is pure and good...' Minako winced. "Three." The pain Mars had experienced thus far seemed to be little more than a mere paper cut compared to what she felt now at the hands of her so-called friends. Her muscles screamed in torment as her body was shifted up into a sitting position. Her arm burned as though it were on fire. 'I was wrong. She IS Satan! Punch them? No. When I can move, I'm going to fucking kill them.' "Rei, I'm really sorry. I really am. But we had to do it." Minako explained weakly, quickly maneuvering pillows in a desperate attempt to make the fire soldier more comfortable. 'Funny. That was going to be my excuse when they ARREST me.' Rei thought bitterly between waves of ungodly pain. Ami's hand was suddenly under her chin, gently tilting her head up, and the cup of evil black broth was brought to her lips. Mars took a huge sip of the concoction, and nearly spit it all back out. It was horribly bitter, and it made her mouth numb. She wasn't sure how much more unpleasantness she could handle today. "I know it's rotten, but you need to drink the whole glass." Mercury tried gently. "You won't feel anything after it kicks in, trust me." Rei gave Ami a rather doubtful look, but drank the rest of the sludge anyway, erupting into a violent fit of coughing. Each gasp seemed to strain at her already throbbing torso, so when a hand slipped into hers, she caught it in a death grip and hung on for dear life. After her coughing subsided, Mars discovered that a rather euphoric feeling had begun to wash over her body. She noticed that the horrible stabs of pain were ebbing away into mere pinpricks, and it was much easier to breathe now. She carefully eased herself back against the headboard, and closed her eyes. When she opened them again, the room was much darker. Apparently someone had been kind enough to tone down the lights. What felt like only a minute or two had apparently been much longer. She was alone in the room now, except for Minako, who was curled up in a tiny chair at the soldier's bedside, fast asleep. The horrible crawling feeling suddenly seeped back into her shoulder, but this time, it wasn't painful. Mars shrugged it off as the wound trying to heal itself, and turned her gaze back towards the blonde. 'I should wake her up. I need to warn everyone about the attack, and god only knows how long I've been in this room already.' But she couldn't bring herself to do it. Venus looked so peaceful, and Mars really wasn't sure about how many peaceful days they had left. 'Tomorrow never comes until it's too late.' Whatever it was that Mercury dumped down her throat still gave her the warm fuzzy feelings, and looking at the blonde seemed to make them worse. Everything seemed to be going so horribly wrong, but Rei felt happy. It was confusing, and it was really starting to piss her off. A light twitch across the fingers of her right hand brought her attention to her lap, where she was surprised to discover Minako's fingers still laced between her own. 'She was holding my hand, this whole time. And the chair. I bet she's been sleeping here next to me since I got here. That explains the rough appearance. ' Rei shook her head absently. Images from the dreams she had while knocked out began to creep forward from the depths of her subconscious. 'Kissing her, holding her. I remember now!' She could her Mina's voice in the back of her head, soft, but clear. "Just don't let go." "Never.." Mars whispered hoarsely, her voice cracked and rough from days of non-use. She cast her gaze back on Minako, and slumped down wearily. 'That's why you were so angry when I didn't remember. Oh, god, I'm so sorry.' She brought their entwined hands to her lips and kissed the back of Mina's hand tenderly. 'I'll make it up to you. I swear it.' The blonde shifted slightly with Rei's movement, and blue eyes fluttered open. "Mmm. Good nap." She purred with a warm smile and light stretch. "You feeling better?" "Yeah, quite a bit actually. How long was I out?" "Three days." "Three days? Damn." 'That gives us eighteen days until everything falls apart.' "Any pain?" the blonde inquired. Minako's tear-stained face flashed briefly in her mind, and Mars had to swallow the hard lump in her throat. "No. No pain." Venus seemed to notice at last that she was still holding Rei's hand. A light blush colored her cheeks, and she began to mutter apologies and pull her hand back. Mars tightened her hold on her hand and shook her head. "Don't be sorry Mina. I'm not." she whispered in her raspy voice. The blonde just stared at the wounded soldier, and Rei could swear she saw the light of understanding dawn in her eyes. "Rei...you..." "Rei!" The door to the infirmary room swung open and banged against the wall violently. Venus jerked herself away from Mars guiltily, as though she had been burned. Rei on the other hand barely had the time to recover from her shock when a pig-tailed blonde mass flung itself across her lap. "Princess?" "Oh Rei! You really are awake! I was so worried!" Serenity wailed, blue eyes glittering with unshed tears. She firmly wrapped tiny arms around the fire soldier's waist and hugged her midsection tight. Mars opened her mouth to say something, anything, but for the life of her, she couldn't think of a damn thing to say. She snapped her jaw shut with an audible click and looked back over to where Venus should've been, but the chair had been vacated. In through the door came Jupiter and Mercury now, both looking guilty. Luna and Artemis trailed behind them, and Rei could faintly pick up the black feline's voice grumbling about royal behavior and protocols. "I'm really sorry Rei. I told her to let you sleep, but you know how she gets." Makoto said with a sheepish grin. Mars nodded dumbly, and looked down at her charge, still clinging to her waist. "Serenity, don't kneel on the floor. Come on, you can sit on the bed. " she muttered in gruff affection, shifting her legs over to make room. The Princess gave her a smile that made her stomach do somersaults, and immediately relocated herself to the edge of Rei's bed. Once situated, she took a hold of Rei's hand and refused to let go. Now Mars was thoroughly confused. Not even five minutes ago she was trying to patch things up with Minako, and now here she was, catering to her Princess. 'Yeah. I'm doing a damn fine job at making it up to Venus. It's really amazing how quickly I can screw things up. I think this is a new record, even for me. Where did she go anyway?' Surprisingly, her sweet, naive princess had the answer. "Ah, Venus? Why are you hitting your head against the wall?" All eyes turned to the goddess of love., currently thumping her head against the far wall and muttering to herself. Minako stopped, mid thump, and spun around to face her friends, letting out a high pitched nervous laugh. "Um, helps me think?" she tried lamely. "Leave it to a blonde." Mars teased gently. Venus caught the warm affection in her tone and gave her a genuine smile in return. "Hey!" Serenity protested belatedly, thwacking Mars in the arm. 'Woo! Saved!' Rei cheered internally as the group laughed. That bizarre crawling feeling suddenly started up in her shoulder again, and her left arm twitched visibly. Her attention snapped back to her wound, and she stared at her arm quizzically. 'Now what the hell was that?' Another crawling sensation sent needles of pain this time, and she winced slightly. Mercury noticed Rei's discomfort, and responded by producing yet another glass of black slime, seemingly out of nowhere. With a smile and a flourish, she presented it to Mars. Rei closed her eyes and groaned miserably, causing the others to chuckle. "Yeah yeah, laugh at my pain." she griped good naturedly, downing the glass with much less fuss. She made a face of disgust and placed the glass on the end table. Everyone seemed to be watching her, waiting for something. It didn't take a genius to figure out what. "So. I suppose you all wanna know what happened." she said at last. A silent collective nod. Rei looked around the room, gazing at all the faces of the people she cared about so much. They had all been through so much already, how could she possibly tell them that they would all be dead by the end of the month? She just had no idea on how to proceed, and to be honest, it was making her feel quite ill. Luna hopped up onto the bed beside her, and placed a paw on her leg. "Whatever it is Rei, we can deal with it together." Mars gave her a grateful smile, and took a deep breath for inner strength. "I ran into a scout, one of Beryl's men. It had attacked a peasant, and killed him. I was going to just destroy the beast, but it's uniform caught my eye." "Using standard Martian practices, I questioned him." she paused at this point, unsure on how to continue. "He uh, saw it would be in his best interest to cooperate, I got careless, and he got in a lucky shot, but not before he informed me that Queen Beryl is launching a massive attack against our kingdom, on the night of Serenity's ball." Everyone gasped. "Are you sure?" Luna asked, worry evident on her face. "Yeah. To back it up, I had a vision about it the night before I questioned the scout." Rei replied, a light tinge coloring her cheeks as she recalled what else she had done that night. 'Damn drugs. I feel like I'm ready to float away. I need to focus.' "It's not pretty, and I'm sure at least one of us doesn't make it through." Mars looked at Ami as she spoke, and Jupiter moved to stand beside her protectively, laying a hand on her shoulder and squeezing it gently. Venus frowned, her leader mode kicking in high gear. "There have been rumors about an attack for awhile, but no one was able to confirm or deny. This means that crazy witch had all this time, years for all we know, to build her damn army..." "And we get eighteen days." Jupiter finished quietly. "The kingdom will be finished..." Artemis murmured. "Artemis! Don't say that!" Ami cried angrily. Mars had to fight the insane urge to laugh hysterically. They did seem rather screwed when you looked at it that way. Why was everything so funny all of a sudden? "What about the other Earthlings?" Serenity asked quietly. Everyone understood what she meant immediately. "I don't know." Minako replied honestly, "But I will tell you this. Here on out, we're on lockdown. No Earthlings in, no Earthlings out. We could round up and question the ones that are still here, however. May prove useful." "Oooh, can I question Endymion?" Mars asked enthusiastically. The other soldiers eyed her strangely. "It's the drugs." Mercury whispered helpfully. "Ah." Venus said, nodding in understanding. She looked back at Mars. "No. You may not. I've seen the results of your questioning methods." she smirked. Serenity turned to Mars, a look of horror on her face. "Hey! I wouldn't hurt him!" she cried in defense. 'Much.' "We need a plan." Jupiter said seriously. "But first, we need to tell the Queen." The group fell into a deadly silence.
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