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Characters: Minako

marsmakeup and OPEN
Date: Shortly after the Queen's announcement, Night, Nov. 27
Summary: Sailor Soldier Reunion. Only. Sort of not.
Warnings: Good so far; unlikely to need warnings.

Minako had found her clothing––the volleyball uniform, just like she'd feared, although thankfully the garden was temperate so running around in shorts and an oversize shirt wasn't as bad as it could have been. And she had athletic shoes. That, as she made her way through the underbrush, she decided was a boon.

The cats had been helpful enough, but it wasn't exactly their fault that every time she saw one coming out of the corner of her eyes, Minako's heart jumped in the hope that it was Artemis. And it never was. (She hadn't asked but the cats were all also probably girls. Artemis had a girl's name, but, much to his own constant insistence, he was a boy.) And if they knew where to find Rei, their little scrolls weren't telling.

So Minako set off the old fashioned way: on foot, and shouting. "Rei-chan!" Every so often. She could have, were she clever or thinking more clearly, used the Vine to help her find Rei. Set up some kind of complicated communication... triangulation... Ami used that word, triangulation, and Minako had the sense that it applied here. But she was tired, impatient, and perhaps not thinking clearly at all.

So it was pavemet––or dirt path––pounding for the win. "Rei-chan! Where are you? It's Minako! Can you hear me?" All this, as she was running; she repeated more or less the same material as she made a circuit of whatever paths she could find.

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"O-okay!"

Realistically, Minako didn't have a problem with that. It wasn't very leaderly behavior, staying here and letting Rei come to her, but (she was beginning to think Artemis had been talking to her in her sleep and implanted subliminal messages or something) she was also delegating responsibility. That was important, right? And they were a team and all.

"I'm gonna keep talking. Just follow my voice! I'm near a... a big tall tree with flowers, I think they're red but it's hard to tell for sure. Wait!" She paused, hearing a rustle in the undergrowth, not too far away, "Is that you?"

Rei burst from the undergrowth, though really it was more like 'shoved her way past a low hanging branch.' She grinned as she caught a glimpse of blond hair in the moonlight that filtered through the trees and hurried forwards.

"Yes, it's me! Minako-chan, I'm so glad to see you." The relief in her voice was palpable, and she swept Minako into a tight hug, just to reassure herself that yes, Minako was here in the flesh and she wasn't some sort of illusion or trick of the garden.

"It's such a relief I'm not alone here."

"Rei-chan!" Minako was just as fast to cling to her friend; she was real, she was alive, they were going to be okay, all these thoughts resounded in her head. She needed the reassurance, perhaps as much or more than Rei did. And she was reluctant to let go, but after a moment she did, stumbling back to retake her balance. At least Rei had comfortable clothes that weren't basically panties, she noticed; I might be alone in this.

Maybe a Sailor Soldier uniform would actually be more modest.

"It's really you, I don't know what I would have done without anybody here, when I woke up I didn't know what to do and I didn't know where Usagi-chan was or you were or anybody was and," apparently, she had been just full of feelings waiting for an excuse to be released. "Ah, sorry. So, no sign of Usagi-chan or anybody else, right?"

Rei shook her head, growing serious.

"No. I haven't seen anyone else. Or heard anything on the Vine, whatever it is. It's...kinda creepy, but it doesn't seem to be bad. I don't get the feeling of negative energy from it, anyway. We probably would have heard something from one of them by now, honestly." SHe sighed, then glanced at Minako.

"Oh! Minako-chan! Are you cold. let me give you my jacket!" She peeled off the garment, removing her pen from the pocket before offering it to the other girl.

"Why are you in your volley-ball clothes?"

"It was just what I was wearing last. Well, before I transformed." She shook her head, raising a hand a little. "It's not too bad. Maybe I was just running around enough that I'm not too cold yet." Although now that she was standing still, it was getting crisper and crisper. Maybe she'd take Rei up on the coat, after all.

She looked around the garden; in the dark, it was ominous and strange, just for being not her proper home. "There's something wrong, obviously. But you're right, I haven't seen anything that could really be an enemy. Even that Queen seems nicer than usual." She'd been more like Usagi than Beryl or Nehelenia, for instance. Absent-minded but friendly. "I guess we should investigate, huh?"

"Oh. Strange, very strange. And just let me know, okay?" She smiled at Minako, draping her jacket over one shoulder.

"And yeah, we should. It's our duty, after all. If the others were here, that's what they'd want to do, too. Hopefully we'll figure out what's going on and get out of here sooner or later."

"Sooner," Minako confirmed. At least, she hoped, sooner. The others needed her; her head was spinning from different facts and ideas. She was dead; she was alive. Ami and Makoto were kidnapped; they were dead; they were here; they weren't. But this was a solid fact. "Look for this Queen of Hearts, or look for an exit?"

Either the Queen would give them answers, or, Minako supposed, they could fight her; if they found an exit maybe they could sneak everyone out before the seemingly absent-minded woman noticed. (What would come after that? Minako could not conceive of, but it was nothing a Sailor Soldier couldn't handle, right?)

"I think the Queen of Hearts is going to be our exit, honestly. Whether we have to beat it out of her is the real question," Rei replied, face grim. She didn't necessarily like fighting, but she was used to it by now and ready for whatever was about to get thrown at them.

"I guess we have to find her, then," Minako agreed; Rei's take on it was sensible. "If she's the 'Queen', wanna bet she's got some kind of castle? It's probably nice, too. We find a castle, and we should find her!"

If only the world operated on Minako-logic, everything would be ten times simpler. She looked around, surveying the jungle-like Garden. "... I can't see anything that looks like a castle, though." She did take a moment to look around at the trees; maybe they could climb one of those...? Which one was most likely to support her weight?

"Queens don't necessarily have castles, Minako-chan," Rei had to smile. Minako was brave, a hard fighter, she had excellent taste in fashion...but sometimes she could be a bit air headed. She looked around as well, then nodded to the tree Minako was looking at. She'd been on the team with her long enough to share ideas, after all.

"Want a boost up?"

"That would totally help!" With that confirmation, Minako started for the tree, getting ready to scramble up. At least she was in athletic clothing. This really would have been a pain in a skirt; even if there wasn't anybody around to see her panties, there was always the subconcious worry about it.

Well, Rei could have, she supposed, but that was different.

As she started to ascend the tree, she turned to look back at her fellow Sailor Soldier; "Oh, come on, what Queens can you think of that don't have castles, huh? Betcha can't think of a single one!"

Rei cracked her knuckles and linked her hands together, forming a 'step' for the other girl as she prepared to scramble up the tree. She grinned and gave a nod.

"Ready. And okay, maybe most queens have a castle, but all I've seen so far here is trees and flowers and that sort of thing."

It was almost a coordinated effort; Minako rebounded off of Rei's hand-made step, and launched herself high enough to grab onto a lower branch.

Sure, there were safer ways to climb a tree, but they were also slower, and Minako preferred everything at high speeds. She started scrambling, and once she had gotten fully atop the first branch, paused to look down at Rei again. "It could be a tree and flower castle. I mean, our enemies are weird. We've seen weirder. Like, the future, right?"

She paused, getting herself onto two legs, so she could stretch upward for the next branch; "Can't see anything yet. Branches. Leaves. I'm going to get higher."

Rei peered up into the dark branches of the tree, nodding. She wasn't too put out by that method. You get used to that kind of thing after a while, really. Especially with Minako and Makoto around.

"Yeah. That's true. Crystal palaces and death trees and all that." She squinted as Minako climbed higher, trying to keep track of the other senshi in the dim light.

"Be careful, okay? We don't need you breaking anything."

"I'm always careful!" Minako sing-songed, vanishing further into the branches. Her confidence soared––she couldn't figure out mysteries or use her brain to figure out a way home, but she could at least climb trees with the best and bravest of them!

At least, with the bravest. 'Best' might not have been the most accurate. She gripped another limb and shimmied up to it; would this have been easier transformed? Maybe she could just jump. But something Rei had said had been resonating in her head, and she leaned back down; she could just make out the shine off of Rei's dark hair in the near-darkness. "... Death trees?"

"Yeah, yeah. I know." Rei replied, feeling both exasperated and relieved she had someone to share this with. It would have been far worse if she was all alone here.

"Yeah...You know Ail and Ann...the Doom Tree? Cardians?" She quirked a brow. True, Minako couldn't see it exactly, but her voice should probably convey a decent amount of confusion.

Minako had stopped climbing all together now; what in the universe was Rei talking about? She leaned out of the tree, blond hair dangling like a flag and probably the most visible part of her in the dark, to try and catch a better view of Rei.

"... what are you talking about? Doom Tree? Cardian? And I don't know anybody named Ail."

Rei huffed, getting a little annoyed (and worried). How could Minako act like she didn't know about that stuff?

"Don't tell me you don't remember that! It was right before the Deathbusters showed up. They needed energy and then they left with their tree back into space..." She trailed off as the hoped for recognition failed to materialize.

"Minako, are you okay?"

"Left, with their tree, back into space?" Minako chorused back the details that Rei had provided her; her mind was spinning. "Nothing like that ever happened! Right before the Death Busters, that was when Chibi Usa showed up with those Black Moon guys, remember? And you all got kidnapped, and we went into the future to save you from their stupid UFOs or––you know, whatever!"

It bothered her to realize she was getting worked up about this. But in this strange, hostile place, where Rei was the only friend and partner she had, the idea that Rei was apparently hallucinating some aliens with a spacefaring tree was alarming.

"I'm fine! I'm…" Well, except for that whole business with the fake Sailor Soldier, that Lead Crow. "I'm not great from that last fight, maybe, but it was scary. But I'm sure what I remember! Are you sure you're okay?"

"I know, I know! I remember all about the Black Moon! But why don't you remember what happened in between the Black Moon and the Death Busters?!" Rei was quickly growing aggravated and even more worried. This was stupid. Why didn't Minako remember that? Maybe the queen ahd done more than just bring them here. She crossed her arms.

"I'm fine!"

"You're talking about things that never happened!"

For the moment, the actual objective, climbing the tree to search for the Queen of Hearts' base, was forgotten. Minako wobbled a little, trying to get a better look at Rei. "This doesn't make any sense. It's… it's not an enemy trick, is it?"

… And Rei couldn't be a fake Rei, could she? She knew everything else, didn't she? The Black Moon and the Death Busters. "So you remember the Black Moon, right? And the Death Busters? And the Dead Moon Circus?"

"Dead Moon Circus...? They don't sound familiar." Rei frowned. That didn't make sense at all. Why would Minako not remember the Doom Tree and remember some other villain she knew nothing about?

"That was so recently! It was just before we started high school, come on, you can't forget that. I mean, I know you didn't have to take all the huge scary tests that we did, but you didn't totally forget that, too, did you?"

Or, for instance, the point at which Minako had invaded Rei's school and stolen her signature move? Or there was that whole possessed by the girl-kissing-demon thing but Minako really didn't think that needed bringing up just now.

"But...we haven't started high school yet," Rei's brow furrowed. This was growing more and more worrisome, she had to admit, "We were still studying for our tests."

This was too weird.

"What?! No way, I actually passed those tests, there's no way that's made up! I worked so haaaaaaaaaaaard," the wail comes down from the tree, probably audible for several hundred yards around. It's not fair! She doesn't want to have to take entrance exams again!

After a moment, the panic related to more tests fades, and Minako leans down towards Rei again. "... Say, Rei-chan, when... like, what's the date?"

"I--I don't think you need to take the tests again, Minako-chan!" Rei hurriedly reassures her friend, then pauses before replying with the date.

"...why wouldn't it be?"

"But. That's." She finally shimmies down to a lower limb so she can get a better view of Rei. "That's last year." A pause, while the wheels in her brain turn and turn. "Does that mean, I'm, woah, from the future?"

Leave it to Minako to put it like a cheesy Sci Fi anime.

Rei frowned. Time travel wasn't exactly an unknown to the senshi. On the other hand, this was weird.

"That could be it. But that still doesn't explain why you don't remember the Doom Tree. Hmmm..."

The whole setup was weird, though; "I wonder what Setsuna-san would say about all of this. I bet she'd blow a fuse, huh?" She peered back up towards the higher branches of the tree. "That's a good question to ask the Queen, I bet, when we catch up to her. Which means I should probably keep climbing this tree." The effort from which she had thoroughly been distracted.

"Oh, no doubt!" Rei laughed, imagining the serious Setsuna in a towering rage over unauthorized time travel.

"And yeah. Get up there and find out if there's a castle or not. I still say there isn't one!"

"I still say there," Minako paused to grip tighter onto a limb above her, and scramble for a moment, "is! Because, I can," another pause, and now, climbing intrepidly, Minako was making progress. There were some grunts of effort, distinctly unladylike but very Minako in caliber, and she stuck her head out through the leafy canopy.

"... not see one."

She sounded defeated. But it only lasted a moment before she hollered down: "It could always be an underground castle!"

Rei snickered as she peered upwards into the dim light, watching for Minako in case she fell. Though that was more an Usagi thing to do. How such a clumsy girl had turned out to be a princess and more baffled Rei to some extent. But she loved her, all the same. She crossed her arms and gave a triumphant, and indulgent, grin.

"Maybe. But those aren't exactly common, are they?"

Silence. Then, the noise of Minako's descent, which was possibly even more ungraceful and loud than her ascent had been. "You never know," she declared, pausing as she started to come back into view in the dark. Her white shirt and light hair were easy to see, at least. "It's not like this place isn't already weird as anything."

"So... looking for that Queen lady seems like it's kind of out. For now."

"That's true enough. And we've seen weirder." Rei kept her eyes on Minako, hands on hips now as she waited for her to get down on the ground. Their options seemed to be rapidly shrinking and that was pretty worrisome.

"Yeah. Seems like it," she sighs, "I wish the others were here..."

Minako finally dropped the last few feet, landing with a thump on the ground. At least she was good at landing on her feet––years of running around on rooftops and jumping over things and fighting monsters had given her an aptitude for good landings. "You have no idea how much I wish it too," she agreed, nodding. She looked away, and her posture shifted slightly, becoming almost defensive.

"I thought when I first got here that this was where Ami-chan and Mako-chan had been taken, that this was part of the enemy's scheme, but…" But that idea was rapidly dwindling away. If they were here, they would have responded to her messages, and having all these other people, too? It just didn't add up.

Rei frowned, arms folding across her chest as she looks at Minako, listening. This was troubling her. Something had happened to Ami and Makoto? The future sounded, well, a bit uncertain.

"Minako-chan...What's going on? Is everything okay where--when you come from?" She leaned back against one of the trees, unable to shake the feeling of unease that was coming over her.

In response, Minako just shook her head. "No. There's some kind of enemy who showed up, and they keep saying they're Sailor Soldiers, too. And something happened to Ami-chan, and Mako-chan, they were kidnapped, or… or I'm not sure." She didn't want to say what everyone else had said.

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BECAUSE WHO KNOWS THE DATE IN BSSM?

NOBODY KNOWS.

Re: NOBODY KNOWS.

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