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Elke was in a panic.

No, that was too kind a word for it. Serenade had fainted. Not even fainted! Elke knew fainting, since she'd done it a couple of time in science when they were blood typing, and this was not fainting. Plus, this was also Serenade! Serenade was like a brick wall versus fear. She wasn't scared of the dark, or blood, or Hero, or anything, ever.

Now someone was trying to get in, and she was torn between just letting them bang on the door and staying with the princess (as she knew Hero would demand) or going to see what was going on. Because this was so not the right knock to be someone who belonged in the gym! And Giselle had promised to use the right knock. Everyone had. But what if it was someone alive and zombies were going to eat them? Could she really let them get eaten, even if she knew they wouldn't exactly die? The answer to that was obvious. The answer to that was No.

Elke, quietly hyperventilating, shook Serenade once more for good measure (gently!) and went to the door. "Who's there," she called, hands on the end of the shovel that was more likely not to give her broken fingers. Her knuckles, gripping the handle, were white. This was Not Good.

Hero would kill her if someone broke the door. They would supplement the poptarts with Elke Stew, or Elke a la Carte. And then Elke would be dead and not able to protect the Princess!

So, comforted by the fact that she would be able to henshin into Virgo if the person on the other side of the door was a threat, she hurriedly pulled the shovel out and opened one side of the door. Then she retreated to stand in front of her fallen friend. "Who are you," she asked, staring at the source of the unfamiliar voices.

Two things happened at once; Elke opened the door, just as Foramen got rid of it. Elke immediately jumped back as the rift returned the door and it fell over just where she had gotten to; considering that there had been the snick of the lock opening just as Foramen had fired his rift, Astraea decided to roll her eyes instead wearily.

They must have looked an odd team to Elke; a silver-haired, cat-tailed (and eared!) girl. Another, pretty redheaded senshi, the one who'd taken out the door. Sue Gottschalk, whose hair was tufting up. And behind them... two zombies, one carrying the other.

"Where's Princess Chronos?"

This was not Elke's happy day.

Hero and Aurelia and Giselle were gone -- well, Hero, Libra and Capricorn -- and she had no idea that, no matter what, she wouldn't be able to shift into Virgo. That would have turned 'good day' into 'worse'. And there was Serenade, lying prone as Sailor Chronos, unmovable and unawoken even by all the noise.

Abeline thought that Lucas needed to loose some weight, or stop eating whatever was making him heavy. It might have been another student, but she did not want to think about that. As the doors to the gym were, erm... opened, she let out a sigh. Elke looked pretty tasty, she had to admit, but Abeline was not going to be much trouble, since she was barely able to talk, let alone nibble on those tasty legs. Abeline's stomach growled and she rolled her good eye. How embarrassing.

She was pretty hungry, but if she was going to eat anyone, it was going to be that pipe-toting lunatic who had taken to her face. Her beautiful face! still, it was probably going to make the people she was with a little nervous, so she stopped eyeing off Elke's tender kneecaps and glanced toward the rest of the universe, whistling... well... not whistling,making a gurgling sound which was more worrying than anything else.

The gym looked like a somewhat safe-haven, but Zombeline wasn't sure about leaving Lucas there... still, he was heavy and she had dragged him across the campus on her back, so if she didn't put him down soon, she was going to drop him. If zombies could sweat, she would have been quite sweaty by now. As it was, she just smelled.... well... dead. And a little disappointed. Unless the Catgirl was about to explain that Elke wasn't a real person, and actually a walking buffet, so Abeline could eat as much of her as she wanted.... or that by eating Elke, there was a cure to her need to eat people--- like Elke's ribs were made in magical sauce that would turn her back into a living being again--- wait would that make her a cannibal?

The blip on Sue's radar changed, momentarily exploded the entire area, and then sharpened down again into something diamond and sparkling. And at this point, Sailor Chronos woke up.

Serenade Soriano had pink eyes; the first signal that all was not correct was the girl's deep, fathomless blue eyes. It was not Serenade. It wasn't even Chronos. Nobody had any pretense of that. She stood as though she were a much taller woman, and just her very presence warmed you through from the bones outwards. She was glowing faintly, usually not anyone's good idea but you didn't seem to notice -- and she looked a little sad.

To Foramen it was like getting slapped in the face and screamed at: BOW DOWN! To Sue and Elke it was more like seeing some holy object, some grail or relic. Even to Abeline. And to Astraea --

Astraea bolted.

The thing who was in Serenade immediately gave chase after her -- caught her arm as she tried to squeeze past Abeline and Lucas, and drew her back. Astraea burst into tears (Hell froze over; pigs flew; stones wept blood) and tried to turn her face away, but Serenade's hand was stroking her face, leaning forward to murmur something. Astraea simply dropped like a stone in front of her, burying her face in her arms, and she said through her tears --

"Ancient Lady."

And turned her face away.

The first Queen Serenity grimaced, and when she spoke spoke with the voice of a much older woman, echoing a little. Otherworldly. "I'm sorry," she said, and this was to Sue and Elke. "When Charonite cursed the school, I was momentarily waylaid inside the Princess' body." She was reaching down to stroke Astraea's hair momentarily, and paused by Foramen: naturally, impulsively, she wrapped him up in a motherly hug and whispered something briefly in his ear.

Then she continued her walk back into the gymnasium. "Until the curse is lifted, Chronos is gone. But not lost. I'm afraid I spent too long with her, Zue -- but she's fine, I may give you my word."

Sue felt... disconcerted?

There were too many lines in his head right now. There were the ones that came naturally - the ones that spoke of reverence, of hope, of good emotions at this encounter. They were the ones that heard the word Zue and didn't throw up an instant shield of doubt.

But then there was... him. The boy that didn't know what was happening, that was just stubborn enough that he didn't let these feelings rise unexamined. He wanted to know why he felt like he did; what he was seeing. Why this woman was called Ancient Lady, why she spoke of being in the body of the Princess - why she saw him and called him by that alien name. And especially what it was about her that made Astraea start crying.

Sue didn't feel that awestruck himself, that was for sure. He just felt a sort of knotted pit as she told him, Chronos is gone, another gut reaction to throw on the mounting pile that was already pulling him in all directions.

In the end, there was only one thing he could pull out of the mess of his mind. It was a stand-off-ish grouchiness, something to cover up his curiosity and fear, something that did its damnedest not to give into that foreign sense of reverence (even while being so careful not to cross any lines he couldn't uncross.)

"My name's not Zue." Half a beat. "M'am."

Oh, this was going to be harder than Sue thought....

Or the Queen. Serenity was reaching forward to Abeline now, saying: "I see. Metaria's magic. Ugly and simple." She took Abeline's ruined hands in her own, and suddenly they were glowing; the woman was saying, "Opal Crystal of the Zodiac, answer my plea!" and suddenly she was in terrible pain.

It was brief but horrifying; muscle reworking itself, skin. Blood. Her heart beating frantically like a bird in a cage. Abeline's knees buckled again, but Serenity helped her up; and Abeline Froust reworked herself to -- from her zombie form -- to something that was living, once more. Hair. Skin. Teeth. A head. (Thanks, Sue.) Serenity's blue eyes half-closed as she sank down to the floor with Abeline in tow, every moment making her more recognisable, back to the pretty girl she really was. Panting and alive.

Well.

"You're still cursed," said Serenity. "Only your Princess can cleanse you. But I can -- take away some of the evil that Metaria commits. Here. Let me help your friend."

She was laying hands on Lucas now. Lucas had looked pretty crappy before, and he was still unconscious. All of them watched as Serenity murmured underneath her breath, and the same process applied to the sleeping boy -- she knelt up when he was whole again, wiped her forehead, and looked at the rest.

"All right," she said in her musical voice. She went to sit in one of the crappy plastic gym chairs, and gave it the dignity of a throne. "I'll give you what you want most. Answers to questions. Go ahead."