Panacea was worried, very worried actually.
 
Suddenly a man in uniform knocked at her apartment door, ordering her to the Crystal Palace on behalf of the Queen. Did she do anything wrong? Confused and a bit worried she stood up from her mat and slipped out of her yoga clothes into her sailor suit.
 
She was only a few meters away from the Palace, her heart racing. What if the Queen would banish her from Crystal Tokyo? Or what if she would discharge from the Sailor Team?
“Don’t worry,” a deep voice suddenly said, apparently reading her mind. “I’m sure it’s nothing bad.” Panacea looked up to her shoulder, gazing at her smiling guardian.
 
“Why else would she call for me?”

Vulpix’s cheerful smile turned into a more serious expression now. He didn’t know what to say. It was the most plausible option after all. “Well,” he eventually answered. “Don’t obsess about it. You don’t know it yet, do you?”
 
Panacea only shrugged at his comment, taking a deep breath. She was standing right in front of the door to the Palace. There was no way back anymore. 'Okay', she encouraged herself. 'You can do it. Everything will be okay.'
The light blond Senshi entered the hall, glancing at the woman in front of her. Neo Queen Serenity. She was beautiful.
 
“Good morning, Your Majesty,” Panacea said nervously and bowed down. “How may I help you?”

Meredith enjoyed the calm afternoons in Crystal Tokyo. Despite loving her senshi life, she couldn't say she didn't like the chance to sit back and relax every once in a while. Training as a senshi was rough, so it was nice to take a breather.

She was reading in the palace gardens when a servant approached, bowing slightly and informing her that the queen wished to see her. Curious as to why the queen would be summoning her on a day that she wasn't training, Meredith closed her book and left it on the bench before following the servant to the throne room. She didn't know why the servant was escorting her - she had lived in the palace long enough to know her way around. 

Inside the throne room, Meredith spotted another woman who she was only slightly familiar with. They had traveled together in the past on a mission for the queen, but they had never really gotten to know each other. In fact, Varuna didn't even know her real name other than the alias of Panacea. Meredith quickly bowed to Queen Serenity and stood beside the other woman, giving her a slight smile. "It is nice to see you again," Meredith said, despite knowing that Panacea probably couldn't recognize her in her regular form. 

The queen suddenly spoke, interrupting their conversation: "Ladies, I have summoned you under urgency. We have reason to believe that Crystal Tokyo is under attack. I am sure you have heard of the crises occurring around the city over the past several weeks. The number of disasters has risen so rapidly that Sailor Mercury has determined that it is sabotage. If we do not find the source and put an end to this immediately, our beautiful city may be at risk of destruction. I have chosen the two of you as my senshi for this mission. You are to locate the source of these tragedies and put an end to their mischief. Will you accept this responsibility?"

Meredith turned her head, meeting Panacea's eye. Why had the queen chosen her, out of all the other reliable senshi? She was just a rookie, someone without much experience or knowledge of the outside world. But maybe with Panacea by her side, this wouldn't be so hard. 

"I accept, your Highness."

Panacea’s heart was racing while she stood in front of the Queen. What would she say now? Would it be something bad?
 
As she waited for her to speak, she heard how another woman was suddenly entering the throne room. Curiously, Panacea looked back, wondering if she knew her. Something about her seemed familiar, no doubts. Was it the hair? The eyes? Maybe the voice? Compulsively she tried to remember who the woman was. Or if she knew her at all.
 
“It is nice to see you again” 
 
So she really knew her! She didn’t know when she met her – maybe on a previous mission, maybe someday in Crystal Tokyo – but at least she now knew that she knew her.
 
Her attention went back to the Queen when she eventually started to speak.
The crisis in the city, Panacea recalled in her mind. It had really gotten out of control. Fires, earthquakes, storms, river floods – it seemed as if nature conspired against Tokyo’s inhabitants. But why? And why did it happen all of a sudden?
 
Focusing back on the Queen’s words, Panacea went speechless when she asked them to find the cause of it. Us?
Panacea didn’t know if she should be happy or worried. Why did she choose them? Of course, it was an honor to work for the royal family, especially when it was such an important matter. But wasn’t she a bit too inexperienced for that? She was on a few big missions, yes, but she always had a big team around her who helped her to accomplish the mission. Now there were only the two of them. And she didn’t know the other woman yet. Was she maybe so experienced and strong that they could handle it as a pair?
 
“I also accept, your Highness,” she eventually said, hoping that her new partner was really as strong as she thought, so that they could really handle the situation by themselves. As she got up from her curtsy, Panacea gave the woman a friendly smile.

Meredith smiled slightly at Panacea, glad that she had accepted the mission. She couldn't imagine how embarrassing it would have been to have accepted the mission only to have Panacea decline. But now they were in this together, and Meredith was looking forward to getting to know this girl better.

"Thank you both. I am eternally grateful for your service. Gather any necessities you will need on your trip. If it's not too much to ask, I would prefer for the two of you to depart tomorrow morning. I wish you the best of luck. Sailor Mercury will equip you with the necessary technology to get in touch with us should you ever need to," Queen Serenity said. Meredith nodded, bowing one more time before leaving the throne room. Once safely outside, she waited for Panacea.

As soon as the other girl exited the throne room, Meredith smiled and said, "You probably do not recognize me. I am Meredith - Sailor Varuna. We traveled together on her highness's last great mission. I admire your bravery, and greatly look forward to working with you on this mission."

Her attention went back to the Queen as she told them that they should already leave the next morning. Already that soon? Was the mission that serious?
Slightly nervous and doubting if she was adequate to the task, she clothed her face in smiles, not wanting the Queen or her partner to see the worries she had inside.
 
“Thank you for putting confidence in us, your Highness. We won’t disappoint you,” she eventually said, questioning her own words as she got up from the slight bow and went back outside.
 
‘We won’t disappoint you’
How could she promise that? You’re an idiot.
 
Being annoyed by herself, she almost didn’t realize that her new partner had just talked to her.
“Oh thank you,” she said, smiling at her partner’s kind words. “Wait, what?”
 
“Varuna?”
Yes, it was her, no doubts. Now that she said it... But why didn’t she recognize her earlier?

“Oh, Varuna, it’s good to see you,” she said sincerely, happy that she wasn’t working with a stranger but with someone she already knew. “We missed you in that maze back then,” she continued, giving her a playful smile. “But at least now we can work together, hm?!”

Meredith smiled, happy that Panacea had remembered her after all. This mission would be a lot less tense if they were familiar with each other and on a friendly basis. "Yes, I am glad we can work together now. I must go gather the necessary materials, but I will see you bright and early tomorrow morning!" Feeling that a hug may be too awkward, Meredith simply waved before turning down a separate hallway to go to her room. She needed to make sure she left the palace with everything in order. There was a long journey ahead of her.

---

The next morning, Meredith was up bright and early. She had all of the necessary supplies and technology from Sailor Mercury that she would need, and she made sure to eat a big, full breakfast before departing. Sailor Venus had given her plenty of money for food, water, and lodging should the girls ever need it. Meredith felt more than ready to go, and she wondered what all the solar senshi had given Panacea for the trip. 

Freshly transformed and full of energy, Sailor Varuna headed to the front gate of the palace and waited for Panacea to arrive.

Waving goodbye to her new partner, Panacea smiled and eventually went back to her apartment before visiting the Inner Senshi.

---

“Hey Vulpix,” she approached him as they arrived at her apartment. “I know you won’t like it but could you stay here while I’m on this mission?”
 
For a while she paused, letting the idea sink in, in hopes she would see any reaction of him. However, his vacant expression made it hard for her to interpret his feelings. Was he angry? Relieved? Or maybe worried?
 
“The thing is that this is a very dangerous mission and I don’t want to put you at risk,” she eventually continued in a serious tone. “It will be even hard enough to look after myself, let alone to look out for Meredith too. You know I’m not very experienced and taking you with me would be an additional danger that I’m not willing to risk.”
 
Being as rational as possible she continued, talking about her limited defensive attacks and her lack of experience, followed by her self-imposed task to protect Meredith by all means and that she couldn’t look out for so many people at the same time.
“Do you see what I mean?,” she eventually finished her speech, looking into the still idle glance of her guardian.
 
Several seconds passed but Vulpix’s look still stayed the same. Why didn’t he talk to her? Impatiently she waited, giving him a piercing look and waited for any kind of reaction.
 
“Fine,” he eventually said after perceived hours of waiting. “I can’t stand it when you go on your own but I guess I don’t have a choice here. But promise me that you will come back. Both of you. Without injuries. Got that?”
 
With relief she smiled, happy that he was so understanding and gave him a hug. “Thank you so much! I promise that we’ll come back. Injury-free!”
 
After the talk with Vulpix, Kiyoko felt relieved – more than relieved. With a good conscience she left the apartment and walked to the Crystal Palace again, ready to get her equipment from the Inner Senshi.

---

Dawn was breaking and even though she was worried about what might come, she kind of looked forward to going on a mission with Meredith.
 
With the communication bracelet from Mercury and the advice she got from Mars, Kiyoko transformed confidently, leaving her apartment and went off to the gate of the Palace.
“Hey Varuna,” she shouted from afar, approaching her with a friendly smile on her face. “Well? Ready to go?”

Varuna smiled when she saw Panacea coming towards her. "Ready as I will ever be!" she replied cheerfully. Despite the possible dangers of the mission, Varuna was excited for a chance to prove herself as a senshi and to make a new friend.

"I have plenty of money for us to use for food and lodging, and Sailor Mercury told me we could use our communication devices to contact each other and the inner senshi. I have been doing some thinking, and I have come up with the reasoning that it would be best to investigate the city. We could ask around to see if the citizens have any information for us. What do you think?"

She tried to hide her excitement, but judging by the rapid outcome of her words, Varuna guessed she wasn't doing a great job of it. She smiled, hoping that it would serve as some sort of cover-up for her rushed delivery. Varuna gave Panacea a once-over. Something was missing...something important to the girl's appearance. It suddenly clicked.

"Hey, where is that adorable guardian of yours?"

Panacea chuckled at Varuna’s excitement. She couldn’t explain why or what exactly it was that made her so happy – but somehow the girl gave her a feeling of kindness and safety - things that had been missing ever since she came to Earth.
Not that Vulpix wasn’t kind – he surely was, and he always tried his best to conjure a smile on her face. But Varuna was different, somehow. Other than Vulpix she wasn’t trying to make her smile. She just did it without even having the intention to do so.
 
At the end, Panacea put the thoughts aside for the moment and gave her a friendly smile back, nodding at her suggestion to ask the citizens for information. “Sounds like a good plan to me,” she said coolly, however, yet with a certain amount of warmth in her voice. “But what about maybe going to the police first? Since this chaos started already a while ago, I’m sure they may already have some reports with information from witnesses.”
 
At first she didn’t even consider it as possibility – why should the police give them permission to look in their files, after all? But then she remembered she was working on behalf of the Queen, the top level of the government. How could they refuse the access under these circumstances?
Yes, working for the Queen definitely had its benefits.
 
In her mind she wandered off the topic, thinking about a possible cause for all the incidents and if there maybe was a small chance that it was only a coincidence that all those things happened at once. But then, as the cheerful voice of Varuna sounded again, Panacea’s focus went back to reality.
 
“Oh yeah, that…” she eventually started after putting the fractions of the things she heard her saying together. “We talked about the mission and everything yesterday and we came to the conclusion that it would be better if he would stay here. The mission from earlier messed us up pretty much and since this is going to be dangerous, maybe even more than the previous mission, I thought it would be better if at least he would be safe.”

Varuna snapped her fingers, smiling broadly. "That is a great idea! I wish I had thought of it. You are a genius! Off to the police station we go, then!" She began to lead the way, walking with purpose as she lead the way to the city. "Oh yes, I understand that," she said in response to Panacea's explanation. "I do hope he does not get lonely easily. It must be wonderful to have a guardian of your very own. I have always wondered why some senshi get guardians, and some do not. But perhaps it is just the luck of the draw." 

They continued to talk about anything they could think of until finally they reached the city. As usual, it was bustling with activity. Children ran throughout the alleys, adults walked from store to store, teenagers gathered in clusters, and different noises of all kinds floated through the air. The smell of vendor food filled Varuna's nose and she smiled. She had always loved the city. While the palace was lovely, nothing could beat the perfect mess that was city life. 

"Do you happen to know where the police station is? I am afraid I do not come here too often to know such things."

As per the rules, this thread will now be moved to the Graveyard with its adjacent OOC thread (if one).