Sailor Moon Silver Legacy

Act VIII: The Calm Before the Storm (Part 2)

Minako grumbled as the morning light disturbed her sleep.

"How do you feel, Minako?" Artemis fretted.

Minako 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."