REI
July 2009. Tokyo, Japan.
Setsuna did not smile when she opened the door to Rei and Makoto. She bade them come in and led them to the parlour, where there was tea. They sat on the couches set around a coffee table, and Setsuna poured three cups from the teapot. “Hakura and Michiru took Hotaru to New York, so you needn’t fear them eavesdropping.”
“Should we have anything to fear here?” Rei took her cup with a gracious nod but did not sip it. Already her hackles had come up and she had just stepped inside the door. As much as she hated admit it, Rei wondered if that had more to do with the house than with Setsuna herself. She’d never liked the mansion they lived in, but had always chalked it up to memories of her father.
Makoto glanced between the pair of them and frowned. “We’re here to ask a question, not to accuse anyone of anything.”
As she set the teapot upon a burner, Setsuna pursed her lips. “That may be one and the same, depending upon the question you ask.”
Rei stared at her a moment longer, one nail tapping against the porcelain cup. “We need to know what happened in the Silver Millennium.”
“You don’t remember?” Setsuna smoothed her skirt over her knees.
“Just bits and pieces,” said Makoto. “That Serenity had an affair with Endymion, Metallia and Beryl took over the Earth, and that the Dark Kingdom attacked the castle.”
“And what part of that do you not believe is true?”
“Whichever part you’re being defensive about,” said Rei.
The priestess and the astronomer stared at one another, backs straight and eyes locked. A silence drifted between the three of them in which only Makoto fidgeted. Then Setsuna sighed and reached for her tea. “The full story is a little more complicated, I’m afraid, though what you know isn’t far off.”
Makoto’s fingers clutched at her cup. “Please.”
“Much like Serenity, Endymion was the high crown prince of the realm known as Elysion, which, yes, incorporated Earth at that time.” Setsuna sipped at her tea; she stared deep into its contents, as though through it she saw another world entirely. “In those days, his father ruled--the High King Aethlius. Beneath him were the four lesser kings who controlled different aspects of their society, serving as both cabinet members and guardians of realm and king.”
“Like the senshi,” Rei said with a raised brow.
“Yes, very similar. Some dared suggest that the two were the same, but for their typical sexes.”
Rei sipped her tea as she let that information sink. She shared a glance with Makoto, who had a strange look upon her face. “They were all male?”
“Women were mostly barred from power, there. One exception was Beryl. It was said that she was a companion to Aethlius as a child, as the so-called ‘King of the West’. She went on to become the high priest of Gaea, and regent of the western kingdom until the heir, her nephew, would come of age.”
“Her nephew...”
“Nephrite,” said Makoto, who looked as surprised as Rei to hear this come from her own lips. She bowed her head and stared at her shoes.
“Yes, Nephrite,” Setsuna said. “But then, after Calyce died, Beryl married Aethlius. When he went in turn, she took the throne. It was under her rule that Metallia corrupted the priesthood and the people of Earth.”
Rei pursed her lips. “What of Helios?”
“I’ve wondered that myself.” With a shake of her head, Setsuna sighed. “Without asking him directly, I can only speculate.”
Makoto tilted her head slightly and looked up to their friend. “Why is that?”
The time senshi paused to drain her tea, but Rei took note of the way that Setsuna’s fingers clutched at the porcelain. Eventually, Setsuna said: “Elysion is beyond even my sight.”
Rei shared a glance with Makoto. She leaned forward and put her tea cup upon the table, half finished and cold. “So you have all this information...how?”
“From you.” Setsuna met Rei’s eyes as the priestess blanched. “Your past selves. The five of you spent enough time there.”
They left not too long later, Setsuna claiming a headache. Since their final battle with Chaos, Rei had not felt so shut out from the woman’s good graces. She and Makoto walked back to Rei’s car, brooding. When the doors were shut and their belts on, Makoto snapped: “Well, that was worthless.”
“Was it?” Rei stared at the steering wheel.
“What else?” The brunette crossed her arms over her chest and kicked one heel up onto the dashboard. Rei didn’t even snap at her. “Of course we spent a lot of time in Elysion! Serenity was having an affair with Endymion, they had to be together sometime to do that.”
“If what she said is true, then we should have those memories...somewhere. I haven’t been able to access mine.”
Makoto turned her head to find Rei staring at her. For a long moment she was silent, then she groaned. “You want to go delving into my head?”
“Not particularly, but I may need to.”
“Gee, thanks.” Reaching behind her seat, Makoto pulled the teddy bear they’d confiscated into her lap. “Fine. If you tell me why you saved this?”
“Because objects hold power and it belonged to Zoicite. With the help of that bear, we might have a better connection with Elysion.”
For weeks, the pair met every day at the shrine. Never before had Makoto and Rei spent so much time together, but now they lived almost as sisters. Makoto was gifted at the kuji-in and mantras, Rei found, and soon the thunder senshi was performing them as though she had all her life. Night after night they sat before the sacred fire and searched themselves for some vestige of knowledge, some remnant of what had once been.
“This is impossible,” Makoto said one night and leaned back against the wall. She was drenched in sweat and she fanned herself with one hand.
Rei sighed and shook her head. “I don’t understand. I am able to find other memories! I remember how we used to play by the sea every summer, and the balls and parties we attended. I even remember how Venus used to flirt with that arrogant ass, Iolaus.”
“Iolaus wasn’t that bad,” Makoto chuckled softly. Then she frowned, “Hey--I remember that!”
“See!” Rei threw her hands up. She grabbed the bear that had been sitting in the corner for weeks, now, and brandished it. “This should be helping us! Give me a watch of a missing person or a dead relative, and I can find them, but this bear--”
“Rei.” The door slid open and Rei’s grandfather appeared on the other side. He was carrying her cellphone, and he handed it to her, “Ami-chan says that it’s urgent.”
“Thank you.” Rei took the device with a frown and put it to her ear. “Ami--”
“They’re missing!”
“What?”
Makoto sat up straight, and Rei thought she might be able to hear the receiver. Ami babbled on, “Jun, Zoe, and Bachiko! We thought they might just be hiding, but we can’t find them anywhere and a parking lot surveillance camera showed them leave the hospital. I don’t think they’re going to come back this time.”
“We’ll be there in a minute.” Rei snapped her phone shut and got up. “We need to get to the hospital. This can wait till later.”
