Racing Against Time: Save the King and Queen!

[Crystal Sailor Pluto]

Setsuna pried her face away from Tiger's chest to take a glance at the scene, noticing the distraught expression upon Mako-chan's face. Her cherry eyes fell in great sadness at this, though she assumed that Serenity wouldn't be fairing much better, for her granddaughter had departed as well for D-point.

She felt a cold wind brush past her, rustling the blanket as she kept it clutched about her shoulders while secured in one hand. She shivered, her teeth chattering bitterly as she craved more of Tiger's warmth.

"Please. Let us return indoors." She motioned with her head, moving to hug Tiger's arm that she may pull him along with her. As she gave his arm a tug, she felt a gurgling sensation within her stomach, though she could not quite tell if it was her own stomach growling, or one of the children's. Still, she could certainly feel the ache of hunger within her. "I hate to admit it...but I'm really quite famished."

Setsuna noticed that since Miaka had informed her of her twins, many of the incidences that had occurred throughout this pregnancy started to make sense within her mind. She had already concluded the fact that she was now nearly seven months along, yet appearing as though she were large enough and ready to give birth. Furthermore, she had noticed that she had never felt so hungry in her entire life, and she'd never eaten so much before. Being this hungry was certainly not something she was used to, and it was misery.

A simpleton could figure it out. Two babies equals the need for more food...more nourishment. Why had she not asked herself these questions before? Had she truly been caring for herself as well as she had thought? Or had she been slacking? The gurgling from within her occurred again, making her set these churning thoughts aside as her brow furrowed from the discomfort. "I really need something to eat. Very badly." The last thing she wanted was to sound needy, or to distract her loved ones from the current crisis, but she truly felt her strength begin to wane as her face became pale once more.

She lowered her voice, directing her request to Tiger. "Please, Tiger. Find me something to eat, please. It doesn't matter what."

* *

 

[GS Tiger Eye]

"What?...." He looked down at Setsuna and noticed she looked kinda pale now. "Are you okay?...oh right food!" He gently let go of her and jogged to the gchron and opened up the drivers side and started fishing around and started to kind of panic. "Food food food...snacks....I thought I saw some snacks in here. How about some peanutbutter crackers?" He grabbed the pack of crackers and shut the door and brought them to her. "Here babe."  

[Crystal_Sailor_Jupiter]

Queen Makoto looked at Setsuna in concern. "Setsuna-San, are you alright?" She gently took her arm and watched as Tiger ran off and came back with a bag of crackers. "Why don't we all go back inside, and I'll make all of us a meal, alright?" She looked back at the spot where Neo Sailor Moon and Sailor Snow had vanished. "There's nothing more we can do out here. We're now in a waiting game for those two to come back."


*At the North Pole....*


"Aya-Chan, are we there yet?"

Neo Sailor Moon walked behind Sailor Snow, shivering with cold as Sailor Snow kept typing into the little compact. She shook her head.

"No, not yet. We still have a ways to go." She suddenly stopped as the compact signaled. "Be careful, Neo Sailor Moon. We have company."  

[Tsun-Magical]

Having seen his wife leave the room, Mamoru follows behind, just barely seeing the girls leave as he stands watching from the living room. He gives a sigh at seeing this, seeing Usagi staring up at the sky seemingly in confusion and maybe even hurt. He knew she didn't want to let them go, and definitely not let them go alone. He takes in a breath, seeing the others start to turn to come back in. Stepping outside, he takes his wife's arm, leading her gently and carefully back inside as Makoto speaks of making them a meal.


"Come Usagi, lets go to sit while Makoto prepares food," He speaks softly, guiding his saddened wife into the room and shutting the outside doors behind him as to keep the cold out. He walks with Usagi to one of the seats, helping her to sit as he can tell she is distraught and not quite understanding still what has just happened.


Usagi gives a frown as her question goes un answered, watching Setsuna and Makoto before turning to Mamoru as he comes out and takes her arm. Her blue eyes look up to his, biting on her lower lip to keep from letting herself cry. "Y-yes, Endymion," She gives a small nod, walking with her husband into the room and sitting into the chair. As he lets go of her arm, she moves her hands to fold over one another in her lap, her eyes looking down to them. She wasn't sure of what to do or say, her heart aching as she still didn't feel anything had been explained.


"This is all so ridicuous. Why would they just leave, do they even have a plan?" She mostly mumbles this under her breath, feeling if she had ever acted so rashly then surely she would have been scolded for doing so. Thinking this thought though, doesn't help the ache in her heart, feeling tears form in her eyes and start down her cheeks to fall onto her pale white gown.  

[Crystal Sailor Pluto]

Setsuna tore the plastic open as quickly as she could, shoving a cracker into her mouth immediately as she did so, unaware of Makoto taking her by the arm, until of course she felt the support. "Thank you." She nodded as she waited patiently for Tiger to bring her something.

"Forgive me." She murmured, practically inhaling the crackers until they were gone. She suddenly coughed, getting pieces of the last one stuck in her throat momentarily. Her cheeks turned red for a moment, but subsided once she could breathe again. "By the gods..." She exhaled, pressing her palm against her chest as she started to relax. "...I don't know what's wrong with me. I thought I was starving."

She accompanied Makoto back towards the indoors, now noticing that Serenity and Endymion had also joined them. "I'd be grateful for a meal, Mako-chan." She agreed, just now noticing that the peanut-butter crackers Tiger had fetched for her had only just scratched the surface of her hunger. "I'd be thankful for anything...it doesn't matter." She mentioned, pulling the blanket tighter around her with her free hand.

She despised being like this, but it was simply how life would go sometimes.

* *

 

[GS Tiger Eye]

He walked to the womens side and tapped Queen Makoto on the shoulder. "Its ok. I got her." And he linked his arm around back of Setsunas waist and held her other hand up the steps. "How bout we get back to that little living room so you can rest there huh, babe?" He led her in that room and helped her to sit back careful in her seat. He didn't know what else to do but he thought about the young girls leaving him behind and thought maybe it was better like that. "I think they wanted me here with you Setsu. That you need me right now."  

[Crystal_Sailor_Jupiter]

Queen Makoto nodded as she watched Tiger lead Setsuna away, then made her way into the large kitchen and began pulling out pots and pans. She searched through the fridge and pantry until she found ingredients to make an enormous meal for everybody. She donned an apron, rolled up her sleeves, and began cooking....


*At the North Pole....*


Sailor Snow and Neo Sailor Moon stood back to back, eyes sweeping the landscape for any signs of enemy movement. A few moments passed before Neo Sailor Moon spoke:

"Sailor Snow, are you sure the scanner was right? It could simply have caught the movement of a penguin or something."

Sailor Snow shook her head. "No, someone's definitely here. I can feel it."

A small tremor shook the ground under them. Both looked down at their feet and the ground began cracking and breaking apart.

"Neo Sailor Moon, move!!!" Sailor Snow leapt and shoved her out of the way as large shards of ice sprouted from the very spot where they'd just been standing. Sailor Snow looked over to see a youma standing just behind the ice shards.

"Come and play, little ones." The youma's eyes turned red. "I want to watch while my ice wolves tear you to shreds!" The youma laughed as the shards of ice formed into wolf-like creatures.....  

[Crystal Sailor Pluto]

Setsuna happily anticipated the thought of having something more substantial to eat, and she wanted to express how grateful she was that Makoto was going to provide it. She noticed, however, that the woman had disappeared to the kitchen before she could do so, while the rest of the party also seemed to disperse around the palace.

Setsuna soon found herself back in the sitting room, and settled herself back upon the sofa with Tiger's assistance. She listened to him speak as she got herself comfortable once more.

"I do need you." She spoke to him finally. "I just wish there was more I could do for them." She threaded her fingers together, settling them snuggly around her abdomen and in her lap. "Those two...going all the way to D-point all by themselves. They're only children." She looked back at Tiger as she ranted. "This is their first mission ever...and they have to go through with such a dangerous experience without any elder senshi with them." She sighed in great frustration as she shook her head. "It just isn't supposed to be this way."

* *

 

[GS Tiger Eye]

"No sense in worryin' bout it Setsu." He sighed and got on his knee in front of her and put his hand on hers. "They didnt want me with em." He slid his hand up to her tummy and smiled a little and talked to them real quiet. "Hey cubs. Give mom a break ok? I promise I'll getcha some good eats in no time."  

[Crystal Sailor Pluto]

Setsuna was now distracted by her husband's words, and she tilted her head to the side with a gentle smile on her face, shaking her head in an amused manner. "Oh Tiger." She could already feel herself feeling calmer, not to mention much warmer since the cold flash, coupled with extreme hunger. It seemed that the meager crackers had finally hit her stomach.

"We haven't spoken seriously about names yet." She stated rather suddenly in a soft, deadpan voice. "I suppose...we've just been so busy."

* *

 

[Crystal_Sailor_Jupiter]

Makoto hummed a sober tune quietly as she cooked; as much as a habit for her as it was a distraction that prevented her from thinking of the younger senshi alone at D-Point. A keen beeping at her wrist brought her tune up short, and she lifted her wrist and flipped the lid to the old communication watch given to her by Luna so many years ago.

"Rei-Chan, thank you so much for getting back to me."

"No worries, Makoto. I'm on my way there now. I should reach them shortly. I'll send a messanger when I make contact."

Makoto breathed a heavy sigh of relief. "I'll leave the rest up to you then, Rei-Chan. Take care."

She closed the lid of the watch and resumed cooking, this time humming a much more cheerful and upbeat tune.