Minako grumbled as the morning light disturbed her sleep.

“How do you feel, Minako?” Artemis fretted.

She stretched and rubbed her eyes. “How do I feel?” she repeated. “Fine. Great, actually. Wait…” Comprehension dawned on the drowsy girl, and she bolted upright.

“What is it? Is something wrong? Should I call for Ami?” Artemis fussed.

“The monster,” Minako said. “What happened? Did I get it?”

“It’s gone,” Luna assured her, entering the bedroom.

Minako sighed with relief. “Why do I feel so rested, though? I thought using my powers again would have been bad on my body.”

Artemis shared a nervous exchange with Luna. During Ami’s last visit to check on Minako, she had suggested that they not tell the girl about her medically induced sleep. Artemis had been particularly averse to the idea of lying to Minako, but he agreed in the end, knowing that her temper would be bad enough once she realized how long she had been unconscious. There was no need to further anger her and possibly cause an unnecessary rift between them all.

“Minako,” Artemis hesitated. “You’ve been unconscious for two weeks.”

Minako didn’t react right away. She stared at the cat, searching for the truth in his eyes. Then, it hit her. “TWO WEEKS?” she raged, jumping to her feet, pulling off the leads monitoring her vitals, and carelessly yanking out her IV with a yelp.

“Minako, stop!” Luna yelled authoritatively. “Ami said you need to wait for her to remove the catheter!”

Minako paused as she reached for the tube attached to her abdomen. “How could you let me sleep for two weeks, Artemis?” she barked.

Looking fearful, Artemis stuttered, “I-I didn’t! Y-you were—”

“You were not asleep, Minako!” Luna interjected, asserting the rehearsed line forcefully. “The damage you inflicted upon yourself was extreme. We couldn’t have woken you, even if we wanted to. You’re not a child, so stop acting like it, get back into bed, and we will fill you in on what’s been going on.”

Luna and Minako stared each other down in silence for a few moments, but it was Minako who relented. She sat back down on the edge of her bed and looked at Artemis expectantly.

“Your skin was still damaged when I woke up,” said Artemis. “Even after the redness died down, Ami said you still had internal dama—”

“Fine! I was hurt. I’m awake now, so bring me up to speed,” Minako snapped impatiently.

Luna jumped onto the bed and sat next to Artemis, her confidence shielding him from Minako’s burning gaze. “The situation is not good. Many citizens are being hospitalized with energy sickness and there has been a notable rise in missing persons reports,” Luna explained.

“You think they’re taking people?” Minako asked shrewdly.

“We're guessing they’re targeting people with high energy as they did with Makoto. We don’t know why, though, or why humans other than yourselves would even have high energy. It’s strange… But I digress. Sailor Mercury has been patrolling in your stead.”

“She has?” Minako questioned in surprise.

“Yes. However, the enemy adapted to their losses by sending out Youma in pairs to—”

“Wait,” Minako interrupted. “Youma?”

“Yes. Makoto heard the monsters mention Jadeite of the Dark Kingdom on two occasions, and since your fight against the alien warriors, all of the enemies have met the physical description of Youma—objects imbued with dark magic to give them form—and they’ve all had the ability to steal human energy.”

“Jadeite? Wasn’t he one of Zoisite’s predecessors? He was out of the picture by the time I returned to Japan, but how can the Dark Kingdom be back?”

“Ami doesn’t think they are,” Artemis answered. “She thinks it’s just Jadeite. Somehow, he alone survived and presumably joined the Blood Moon Alliance looking for allies.”

“That’s our working theory,” said Luna. “Anyway, as I was saying, the Youma have been appearing in pairs, so Mercury hasn’t been able to risk confronting them and exposing your absence. That was until they targeted the hospital.”

“The hospital? Is Rei okay?”

“Thankfully, yes, but it was a close call. Mercury beat two of the Youma, sustaining only a mild injury.”

“Way to go, Ami,” Minako remarked, genuinely impressed.

“Makoto happened to be visiting Rei at the time and tried to protect her from the others.”

“Tried?” Minako scoffed.

Luna frowned at the girl’s jab, but continued, “In the end, it was Rei who defeated them.”

Minako’s jaw dropped. “Come again?” she said.

“We think seeing Makoto hurt in the process of protecting her might have triggered something in her,” said Artemis gloomily. “It must have brought back bad memories—from before.”

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

Minako reflected on this silently for a few moments, before asking with a ring of hope, “So, Rei is awake?”

Luna shook her head with her eyes closed. “I’m afraid not. Ami’s looking after her directly now. She says that since then, Rei seems to have retreated into herself even deeper than before.”

Minako’s face fell. “But how the heck did she beat two Youma, then?” she asked.

“Unfortunately, it seems Rei’s powers have become like yours,” said Artemis. “Ami says that Rei somehow combined the overflowing excess energy with her spiritual powers.”

Shaking her head vigorously, Minako slammed her fist on her nightstand, and uttered through gritted teeth, “I should have been there!”

The Moon Cats jumped in fright, but Luna, asserted, “But you were there, at least in the enemy’s eyes! Since that night, when they lost four Youma at once, they have been far less active. Their belief that you have the Silver Crystal is giving us the time we need to—”

“To do what?” Minako interrupted. “Rei’s in worse condition than ever, Makoto still refuses to fight, Ami can’t risk fighting more than one enemy at a time…”

“But you’re better now, you can help!” Artemis piped up.

“I can’t control my full powers, Artemis! And I’m willing to bet my crystal has a few fresh cracks on it after my last transformation?”

As if in confirmation, Luna and Artemis both dropped their heads.

“Don’t either of you know why our powers are changing?”

The Moon Cats looked at each other uncertainly. “Your powers were always meant to develop over time, Minako, but not like this,” said Luna.

“You didn’t have this kind of power in your past lives,” said Artemis. “This change wasn’t part of your destiny, but as you know—”

“Our destiny’s changed,” Minako finished bitterly.

“I believe that your powers would have evolved in line with Usagi’s,” Luna explained, “but with her and the Silver Crystal both gone, there isn’t a means to stabilize them.”

Minako didn’t respond. She knew Luna’s theory was correct. Their powers had been upgraded in such a way before. Usagi was supposed to be around, and the Sailor Soldiers were supposed to grow alongside her. Without her, it seemed their powers, like their destinies, were coming to an end.

Suddenly, Minako slapped her cheeks with both hands, making the cats jump again. “If my powers are doomed to disappear, I’ll take out as many Blood Moon freaks as I can before they do, Jadeite included!” she announced optimistically. “Bring me my laptop, Artemis. I’ve got work to do!”

The white cat grinned and nodded fervently, then bounded from the room.

“What about Makoto, Luna?” Minako asked disdainfully. “Has any of this had an effect on her?”

“As a matter of fact, it has,” Luna said proudly in defense of her housemate. “I don’t know if she can overcome her mental block, but she’s been training every day.”

Minako raised an eyebrow. "Training, huh?" she remarked with a note of interest.

----------------------------------------

Following the attack on the hospital, management had decided to seal off several floors as a precaution and move the patients that occupied them to other institutions. Investigations into the incident were ongoing, including an inspection of the building's fire safety protocols and equipment, a review of the facility’s malfunctioning security cameras, and the search for missing patient, Rei Hino.

Ami had decided to keep her head down during this time. She had covered her tracks, of course, so no evidence would lead to her involvement, but it didn’t hurt to appear a little more amiable than usual.

This was especially important considering she was technically Rei’s legal guardian. She had already had to lie her way through several police interviews. Firstly, as a witness, and later, as a distraught friend, when Rei was discovered missing from the damaged floor.

Her superiors seemed concerned she might blame the hospital for Rei’s disappearance, so her boss, Dr. Kuga, had been showing up at her lab to check on her state of mind. Ami found this particularly vexing because she had to balance pretending to be upset over Rei with assuaging their concerns that she might sue. Still, in the greater scheme of things, his persistent visits were the least of her worries.

After her lab staff departed for the evening, Ami locked her office door and entered her hidden room. Inside, Rei continued to sleep on the examination table, which had been given cushioning and bedding. Ami checked her vitals, then proceeded to inject a syringe into her IV.

“Just a little longer now, Rei, I promise,” Ami said to her unmoving patient, and moved to her giant computer screen. With the press of a few buttons, the screen displayed a familiar diagram of the solar system. "Just one week to go. We might just make it!"

----------------------------------------

“Hah! Hah! Hiii-yah!” Makoto exhaled, her leg raised, and her brow furrowed in concentration. She was finally satisfied with her efforts. Imaginary opponents no longer gave her pause. She only hoped the same would be true of real ones.

“Wow-wee!” said a voice.

Standing in the doorway was Mr. Mori. “What are you doing here?” Makoto said in astonishment, surprised to see the man there, as well as at the school at all.

“I wanted to set up for my morning P.E. lesson. I figured it might take longer than usual with this thing,” the man explained, indicating to the sling supporting his broken arm as he walked across the large gymnasium. “Never imagined I would find you here, doing martial arts of all things! Those were some impressive moves!”

“Oh? No, not really. I’m just working out, staying in shape, you know,” Makoto insisted breathlessly. Despite some slight bruising on his face, the man was as handsome as ever. Suddenly, Makoto felt self-conscious about her looks, wiping her sweaty face on the sleeve of her karate gi and brushing a few errant hairs from her forehead. “So, you’re back? Has your time off been good?”

“Wonderful. Why don’t I tell you all about it over dinner this week?” Mr. Mori proposed, flashing his pearly whites. Caught off guard, Makoto mumbled something that wasn’t a no, and the man pounced on his opportunity. “Excellent! Friday night it is! See you at recess, Miss Kino.”

With that, he turned, waved, and walked back out the way he came in with a spring in his step, leaving Makoto lost for words.

“Pathetic!” another voice called out, a female one this time.

Suddenly, a figure dropped down from the skylight above, landing deftly in front of Makoto. “Don’t tell me, he reminds you of your old crush, right?” Minako taunted.

“What are you doing here?” Makoto exclaimed.

Minako shrugged. “Luna mentioned you were training, so I thought I’d drop in and see how it’s going,” she said smugly.

“And?” Makoto challenged defiantly, not that she needed Minako’s approval.

“I was talking about your moves when I called you pathetic,” Minako jabbed.

Makoto frowned. “You don’t know what you’re talking about,” she said flatly.

“Really?” Minako replied. “Because from where I was sitting, your kicks were low, your footwork was sloppy, and you were pulling your punches.”

Makoto took a moment to consider whether her old friend’s words rang true, when out of the blue, Minako backhanded her across the face. Instinctively, she threw a punch in return. However, Minako effortlessly caught the punch in the palm of her hand. Then, before Makoto knew it, she was flat on her back.

Minako stared down with her hands on her hips, and announced, "Until you remember how to throw a real punch, I will be your opponent!"