Rei rushed to the study right behind Usagi, her heart thudding in her chest. She was terrified and strangely excited at the same time, she could not explain it, but she did not like it. 
Rei burst into the room, sees Hotaru laying unconscious in the middle of the room and cries out, "Hotaru! oh no! Haruka, chibi-usa what happened to her?! who did this?!" 
Rei's mind was racing, trying to piece things together in her head. who was responsible? who was acting suspicious? it all didn't make sense! 
Seeing Usagi leave the room and head to Hotaru's room, Rei felt she could trust Usagi at least for the moment. "OK!" Rei yelled, coming to a decision. "Nobody leaves the room! and somebody better start talking!"

Usagi found a black leather journal with violet pages inside. Usagi flipped through the pages, frowning when she realized that Hotaru's diary hadn't shared anything of significance as far as who may have been wanting to harm her.

The blonde walked back into the study to join the rest of the girls. Usagi tossed the diary to Rei, saying, "I found her diary, but it's useless in finding out who did this."

Hotoru's Diary wrote:

There’s a party this weekend! I’m so excited to have Chibi-Usa~ coming over to play!! I’ll show her all of my favorite hiding spots and we can camp out and talk about the others. :p Setsuna-mama called Haruka-papa and Michiru-mama in for a ‘secret meeting’ in the living room; they spoke quietly but I get the general gist – something’s not right. :/ I wish evil forces would just leave us alone! But it’s no matter – we’ll destroy it quickly and move on with our lives. I believe in Usagi-chan!


Ami found Setsuna-Mama on the floor in the hallway. None of us know what happened but Haruka-Papa thinks it might have something to do with what they were talking about earlier. The power was knocked out for a short time and Haruka-papa and I decided to check the hallway we found Setsuna-Mama in and the study. We didn’t find anything or at least I didn’t I don’t know if Haruka-Papa found anything or not. As soon as we got downstairs we found everyone in the dining room apparently they all want to eat dinner now. I suggested that we all go into the kitchen and cook dinner together but Usagi-chan found the chocolate cake and decided she was going to eat that well I guess we’ll see what happens I hope we can find out who did this to Setsuna-Mama and take care of everything.

Haruka-Papa, ChibiUsa-Chan, and I have decided to go check the study. The power went out again I’m not sure what we’ll find but I’m hoping it will tell us something about what happened to Setsuna-Mama I’m hoping we get to the bottom of this soon.

Usagi knew one thing for sure. This diary had basically cleared her in the first entry.

"Rei, stop yelling. We can all hear you!" Haruka said sternly. She held Hotaru in her arms. "I didn't see anyone my back was turned to Hotaru and Chibi-Usa when I searched the couch. Though I did find something interesting."

Haruka held up the small syringe she found. "This was hidden under the couch cushion. I think it might have been used on Setsuna or at least maybe used to poison our food and drinks."

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Rei stops her interrogation of the group, when Usagi comes back into the room. "Her diary?! well let's see it!" 
After reading the Diary, Rei stops to think, out loud. "Well it doesn't really give us much to go on. But it does kindof clear Usagi from suspicion... Michiru?" Rei asks. "I think you should share with us what you and Setsuna were discussing in your 'secret meeting'."  Rei finishes and looks expectantly at Michiru, waiting.

Usagi is shocked by what Haruka has found. She thinks back to her dinner of the banana, and even wonders about the cake she had found. Suddenly she was glad she hadn't eaten anything.

"So...we shouldn't eat any of the party food or drink any tea?" Usagi shivers. "Maybe Ami can transform and use her mercury goggles to check and see what's safe?"

Searching in Setsuna's room hadn't been terribly fruitful for the most part until she spotted Setsuna's journal. It might have some clues in it that would give them an idea as to what had happened to her.

Michiru opened it and frowned when she saw that there was only one entry written within, and it gave no help whatsoever.

Setsuna's Diary wrote:

Dear Diary,
It came up at dinner that we should host a party at our place, and I couldn’t be happier. Hotaru is growing fast now, and her relationship with Small Lady Chibi-Usa is heartwarming; I’d love to set up a sleepover after the party for them!
But… despite the happy days at hand, I can’t help but feel there is something stirring… perhaps a talk with Haruka and Michiru is in order…
They agree; we will bring it up tonight, during the party. The girls should be arriving any moment now.

As she turned to talk to Makoto, Michiru heard yells coming from the study. Her heart racing, she ran towards the study. Most of the others had gathered around the small body that had fallen to the ground.

"Hotaru!" Michiru pushed her way past everyone and knelt down beside her daughter who was being held in Haruka's arms. "What happened?"

Rei was yelling that no one was to leave the room, and then Haruka held up a syringe that she had found. A syringe? Where had that come from? First Setsuna, now Hotaru. Michiru glanced around the room at everyone who was gathered there, and felt suddenly unsafe around her friends.

Uncertainty tinged with sadness.

At Rei's question, Michiru answered, "It was to be about the strange feelings that we have been having these past days. Surely you've felt it too? We were going to bring it up and inform you girls that we would be going to our castles to check for anything that is amiss. But now, this has happened..."

Michiru's eyes trailed back to her daughter. And then she looked at Haruka, suddenly worried all over again.

She would find out who was harming her family, and she would have no mercy for them.

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"That's right, Kitten. We're to not eat or drinking anything from this point on." Haruka looked over at Michiru. "Hotaru is breathing, but barely. Same condition as Setsuna."

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"Hotaru-chaaaaan! No! Hang in there!", Chibi-Usa fell on her knees and cried as Hotaru collapsed in front of her.

First her "Puu" and now her best friend... This was too much for her to handle. But determined to save them, she stood up when Usagi returned with Hotaru's diary. Perhaps there would be something in there, anything at all that Hotaru had left to help them...

She read the diary and unfortunately couldn't find anything of significance. However, she was left wondering at Rei's comment on how her entry clears Usagi's name.

Chibi-Usa was desperately looking for something that could prove to herself that she can at least trust her future mom, out of all people. But that did not cloud her judgment. How could Hotaru's natural belief in their princess prove that Usagi can indeed be trusted? Surely everyone believed in everyone before this bizarre situation. Somehow, Rei's seemingly unfounded trust left her with the opposite reaction...

"Haruka-san, may I see that syringe?" Ami stood up from next to Hotaru's body. Hotaru appeared to be in stable condition, and if that syringe was being used to knock out people... "Is there any liquid left in the syringe?"

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Makoto looked closely at the syringe and frowned.

"I don't think there was any liquid in there to begin with... Why would there be no liquid in a syringe? Does that mean it wasn't used, or what?" Makoto wondered. Doctor she was definitely not but she always figured that if a syringe were to be used, there'd be liquid in it. This made no sense to her.

"This is unusual," said Minako. "Is there any evidence of liquid being in it all? There should at least be a drop in there. Unless someone is using it to misguide us."

OOC:

The empty syringe was puzzling and it only brought up more questions, rather than any of the much needed answers.

Michiru remained quiet as she listened to everyone, but she realized that was beginning to feel a little queasy. She frowned and pressed a hand to her stomach. She didn't remember doing anything that would have made her feel queasy. She hadn't even eaten much today, just that cookie she had found in the dining room.

Everyone did say that they shouldn't eat or drink anything until they knew it was safe. Perhaps that single cookie had been a mistake, after all.

But surely there wasn't something wrong with eating a single cookie?

Haruka noticed Michiru holding her stomach. "Michiru?" She reached over and gently placed her hand over her partner's hand that was covering her stomach. "Are you alright?"

Usagi looked Chibi-Usa up and down. She had been trying to figuring out why the two friends closest to Chibi-Usa were knocked out. Was it perhaps because Setsuna and Hotaru are the two friends closest to her, and therefore would have been able to notice if she was brainwashed?

She turned to Haruka next. Perhaps the brainwashed friend was Haruka. After all, it was her daughter and good friend who had gone down first, followed by Michiru quickly growing ill. The same arguement that was just made for Chibi-Usa could be made for Haruka as well.

Usagi kept her suspicions to herself. She instead looked at Michiru with concern, feeling sick to her stomach with worry. Michiru had been in Setsuna's room before she fell sick and found the journal. Makoto had been with her before she fell sick.

Usagi took Hotaru's journal back from Rei, and reread the entry. She finally decided to speak, "Chibi-Usa, what were you saying to Hotaru before she felt dizzy?"

"I was frightened by the thunder and Hotaru was trying to calm me down", Chibi-Usa replied. "We were joking about how these kind of things always happen to us, but in the end we make it through. We made plans about what we would do once this situation passed, when she suddenly collapsed in front of my eyes."

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AkikoUranus wrote:

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"Michiru, what's wrong?" Ami asked. The fact that Michiru was looking obviously ill filled her with concern. It didn't match the previous symptoms- Hotaru and Setsuna had fainted right away- but there was a chance it was associated with Hotaru and Setsuna's fainting. "Are you feeling dizzy? Light-headed?"