Title: Coming Home
Co-author: Jessica M. Moonflower
Co-author: Silvery*White*Rose
Rating: PG
Chapter: 3

Disclaimers: As Rose-chan and I have said in the
past, we don't own Sailor Moon. We wish we did.
Heck, we wish we could own Darien, but that's
not going to happen to our utter disappointment!

Jessica M. Moonflower: salud731@earthlink.net
Silvery*White*Rose: silverrose71442@aol.com

Please e-mail us. We really want to hear what you
think about our story. We're nice people.
We don't bite! We'd love to talk to you! ^ - ^

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****A few hours later in the King and Queen's Chambers in 
Cartha****

	Queen Diana was tossing and turning in her bed. She 
had this horrible, almost horrifying feeling that something 
happened to Darien and Rei in their bedroom chambers. She 
tried to brush off the feeling as ridiculous and preposterous, 
but couldn't no matter how hard she tried. The feeling kept 
nagging at her, like a nightmare that kept haunting your 
dreams every night. Finally, not standing the tug on her heart, 
woke up abruptly, causing King Darren to wake from his peaceful 
slumber.

	"What is it, Diana? What's wrong?"

	"Darien, Rei. I think something terrible has just 
happened to them. It's this ridiculous feeling I have and 
it won't go away. I tried to ignore it, but I can't. It keeps 
urging me to go into their bedrooms and check up on them," 
the queen sobbed to the king.

	"Calm down, Diana. We'll go to their chambers and 
check up on them. Okay?"

	"Okay," the queen calmly said.

	The king and queen left their bedroom chambers 
together, and headed for their children's chambers a few rooms 
down from their own. They went to Darien's first and opened 
the door to his room gently. Both the king and queen quietly 
walked over to Darien's bed expecting to see him fast asleep 
in his own bed, only to find it empty.

	"Oh, my God, Darren! He's not here! Rei! Oh, my God, 
Rei!" Queen Diana frantically ran through the open door of 
Rei's room to find that her bed was empty as well. She found 
Rei's favorite teddy bear on the floor beside her daughter's 
bed. She picked up the bear and clutched it closely to her 
chest. The queen cried in anguish for her missing children. 
King Darren was now in the room, grief and worry clearly 
written across his face. He walked over to where Queen Diana 
was and gathered her up in his arms in a warm and comforting 
embrace as she continued to cry over the loss of their 
children.

	"Oh, Darren! Our poor babies! They must be so scared! 
What are we going to do? The kidnappers left no ransom note."

	"I don't know. I'll send a search party out for them 
right away. I just hope the kidnappers won't hurt them," the 
king said in despair.

	The king and queen continued to hold each other during 
the rest of the night in silence, as both of them said a silent 
prayer to themselves, for the safety of their children and in 
the hopes that they'll be returned home unharmed.

	As several hours passed since they had discovered their
children missing, everyone in Cartha had been informed about
the disappearance. Now all that the king and queen could do is 
wait.

	King Darren looked up and out toward the balcony of 
his son's room. The sun was slowly rising and he could see the 
break of a beautiful day, but it would not be beautiful day for 
his wife and himself. Nothing would be the same until his 
children were home safely with them. He knew this and he also 
knew his wife would not be able to take it if they were not 
to come home at all. He would make sure that did not happen. 
He looked down at the sleeping form of his wife on their son's 
bed clutching the stuff bear of his daughter's. She looked so 
sad and scared. He bent down and kissed her cheeck as a tear 
slid down his own face. One last thought as he laid down next 
to her and snuggled close. 'Be safe my children.'

****Meanwhile, as the sun was rising****

	Mina was walking back from the stream near her home 
with some fresh water. She was softly singing to herself when 
she thought that she heard something or someone weeping???

	She stopped and looked around the area. That was when
something caught the corner of her eye. She started to walk 
closer to it to get a better look. As Mina came close, she 
saw that it was a small girl in ripped, wet, and muddy pajamas. 
Her hair was matted, caked with mud, and plastered to her face 
and head. Mina continued to move slowly to the small girl 
as not to scare her away when Mina was close enough she 
enveloped the girl in a tight embrace. She was hoping that 
it would stop her from crying, but also to give her some 
kind of warmth that Mina knew the girl would need. She had 
a feeling that the small child have been through something 
terribly frightening.

	The girl didn't fight or struggle, but only hugged 
her back afraid that she might end up alone again or worse. 
Mina looked down at the small child and smiled. She brushed 
some of her wet bangs from the girl's face and that is when 
the girl looked up at Mina with her bright violet eyes that 
seemed to thank her quietly.

	Mina just held the girl tighter and sat with her for 
a long time. Mina, realizing that it was getting late, knew 
that her husband would be getting worried and would come out 
to look for her. Even though she was still young herself and 
the fact that she and her husband, Andrew, were only married 
a short time she knew that they were meant to be together. 
She had that same feeling with this small child. That she 
was meant to find her and keep her safe. Mina looked down 
at the child and noticed that she had fallen asleep in her 
arms.

	'Yes, I will watch over you. I promise.' Mina thought 
when she heard her name being called. She looked up and saw 
her husband but he was carrying something or someone from 
what she could see.

****Meanwhile, while Mina was with the girl****

	Andrew looked out at the path that lead to the stream 
that his wife, Mina, took to go get some fresh water. He was 
starting to worry about her. She was gone longer than usual. 
He decided then he would go and look for her.

	He was walking along the path when he heard a small 
voice call out.

	"Help me, please," Darien called through all the pain 
he felt.

	Andrew stopped and looked toward where the voice came 
from. He saw a child covered in mud calling out.

	"Help me, please. Help me." Darien tried once more 
as sleep called for him again.

	Andrew ran to the child and picked him up. He saw 
that it was a boy probably no older than 8. He was shivering 
and wet. Andrew saw that he was completely shaking and his 
clothes were a mess. Right there and then Andrew decided 
that he would keep the child safe for he knew he was meant 
to help the boy. As he continued on to find his wife, he 
looked down at the child and knew that he had went through 
something horrible. Andrew looked up and saw his wife on 
the ground with something on her lap that she was holding 
on to. He called out to her.

	"Mina, my love. Are you okay? I was worried."
 
 	"Yes, dear. I was on my way back from the stream 
when I heard someone crying. That's when I found this little 
girl here." Mina gestured to the little bundle in her arms.

 	"I found this little boy on the path of the stream 
when I was looking for you. He was crying out for help. After 
I reached him, he collapsed from exhaustion," Andrew explained.

 	"We better take them back home with us and get them 
out of these wet and dirty clothes and into some drier 
clothes before they catch pneumonia."

 	"That'll be a good idea. We'll let them sleep first 
and then we'll ask them what happened to them."

 	Mina and Andrew continued their walk home towards the 
cottage. Once inside, Mina immediately went to go look for 
some old clothes she and Andrew had worn when they were 
little that they stored up in the attic while Andrew went 
to gather some warm blankets to keep the children warm. After 
Mina found the clothes, she went to work on cleaning off the 
mud on their skin, dress them in warm, dry clothes, and lay 
them in bed. Next, she checked Darien and Raye's temperatures 
to make sure that they haven't caught any illnesses while 
being out on the streets for who knows how long. She found 
that Darien seemed to be all right, but when she went to 
check on Raye, she noticed that she had a fever. She called 
to Andrew to get a bowl of cool water and a cloth to put on 
her head to bring the fever down while Mina went to get extra 
blankets to cover Raye in. Andrew came in with the bowl and 
cloth and Mina soaked the cloth thoroughly into the bowl and 
patted it onto Raye's forehead. A few minutes later, the fever 
went down and she was out of harms way. 
 
 	Darien and Raye were now sleeping peacefully in the 
bed, warm and dry. Mina and Andrew silently left the room to 
let the children sleep. After Andrew closed the door to the 
bedroom behind them, they started discussing about what to 
do with them after they were well rested. 

 	"Andrew, do you think we could raise them if they have 
no where to go?" Mina asked with hope in her eyes.

 	"I really want them to stay with us, too, but what if 
they have parents? They must be worried sick about them."

 	"What if they have no parents? What if they passed 
away, or worse. Got abandoned because no one wanted them? 
I'm not letting those kids back out onto the streets where 
they have to fend for themselves."

 	"Let's wait until they wake up and hear their side of 
the story. We can't assume anything until we know the whole 
truth. After that, we'll decide from there what to do with 
them."

 	"You're right," Mina agreed to the idea.

 	The sound of the door opening interrupted their 
conversation and out popped a head of ebony black hair on 
the other side of the door rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.

 	"Who are you? Where are we?" asked Darien.
  
  	Mina and Andrew looked at each other as if to decide 
who should explain today's earlier events. Mina gently walked 
up to Darien and started to introduce herself and Andrew.

  		"I'm Mina Summers and this is my husband, 
Andrew. You're at our house. We brought you here."

  	Darien seemed like he was in deep thought and then 
he spoke.

  	"Are you the people who helped my sister and I?" 
Darien queried.

  	"Yes. I found you calling for help on the river path 
and my wife found your sister sobbing on the ground on her 
way home from the river," Andrew replied. 

  	"Thank you for helping us."

  	"Of course sweetie! We wouldn't leave you two out 
there in the streets looking like you did earlier." Mina 
smiled down at Darien.

  	"What's your name?" Andrew asked.

  	"Darien."

  	"Darien what?" 

   	Darien looked down sadly.

   	"What's wrong, Darien?" Mina noticed Darien's sad 
expression and was immediately concerned.

   	"I don't know what's my last name. I don't even 
remember what happened to me and my sister, Rei, or where we 
come from."

   	"You mean, you don't know how you ended up on the road?
Who your parents are? Anything?"

   	Darien shook his head sadly.

   	"How about your past?" Andrew added.
   
   	"No. Just bits and pieces that seems all fuzzy when I 
try to think of my past."

   	"Oh, Andrew. He's got amnesia!" Mina whispered to her 
husband.

   	"The poor boy. I'm guessing that his sister, Rei, 
must have it too."

   	"Well, they obviously have no where to go since they 
can't remember where they came from so we should let them stay 
with us and raise them as if they were our own kids." Mina 
looked to Andrew with hope in her eyes.

	Andrew could tell that Mina only wants to help the 
children, but he couldn't help think there was more. Knowing 
full well they were having trouble having kids of their own. 
He also knew how desperately Mina wanted kids so he agreed 
also wanting to help the children they found today near the 
river.

To be continued...


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