A New Dawn

Chapter Four: Old Friends

Queen Onyx gazed into her crystal ball, watching the battle between Sailors Mercury and Mars and her youma, Robota. She smiled demonically.

"Everything is going just as I planned it," she said to herself with pleasure. She relaxed and leaned back into the soft cushions of her throne. "Two sailor senshi! They are so weak. It is an embarrassment to the Negaverse and Queen Metallia that Beryl or any of the others could not defeat them."

Yes, she thought. An embarrassment. But these pathetic little scouts could never defeat her mistress. They could not even begin to comprehend Metallia's power. Metallia was evil. There will always be evil, and there will always be Metallia.

But that did not matter. What mattered was now: her mistress had entrusted her with task of drawing out the Inner Senshi. She had never dreamed that it would be this easy. A few youmas here and there, and suddenly they start popping up like daisies. Now she had two, and only two more to go. Everything was falling into place. Soon the circle would be complete.

Onyx ran her fingers through her wild, jet black hair. She straightened her crown and admired her reflection in the crystal ball. She smiled again.

Yes. Everything was perfect.

And soon she would have her king.

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The authorities came to dispose of what was left of Robota, and soon after the crowd of rubber-neckers dispersed. The two senshi walked back inside Madame Celestia's shop and detransformed. Estelle's eyes widened with surprise as she recognized the person now standing in front of her.

"You're the customer from the store!" she exclaimed, pointing at Sailor Mercury's civilian form.

"And you're the salesgirl!" Dia said with equal surprise.

They stared at each other in disbelief. Finally, Dia held out her hand.

"Dia Shelly."

"Estelle Delacroix."

The two shook hands and smiled at each other.

"You're name sounds French," Dia commented.

Estelle shrugged. "It's supposed to. Grandma thought it sounded romantic, and also I wouldn't have to change it when I took her place. People are weird. They don't want their fortunes told by someone named Jane Smith. They want something more exotic."

"Well, you don't get more exotic than that!"

The two laughed, but then Dia became serious once again.

"So you really want to take your grandmother's place and become a fortune teller?" she asked.

"Yeah. I've never wanted to be anything else. What do you want to be?"

"A doctor," Dia replied automatically. "Just like my mom."

"What about your dad?"

Dia looked down at the floor. "My parents got divorced when I was three," she said quietly, still staring at the carpet. "I don't exactly see much of my dad."

"Oh," Estelle said, a little embarrassed. "I'm sorry. I know the feeling. My dad only visits on my birthday and Christmas if I'm lucky. He's always busy with his job. I live here with my grandma."

Dia looked up and smiled. "So we already have something in common."

"Yeah, I guess so."

"You know what?" Dia asked, cocking her head to one side as if to examine Estelle from a different angle. "I feel like I already know you."

"It's funny, isn't it? Maybe it's fate."

They laughed again and went on talking like old friends.

Luna smiled as she watched them. A tear trickled down her furry cheek.

"Ami and Rei are back," she said quietly, not wanting the girls to hear.

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I know, I know, another chapter that's way too short. But it had to be that way, honest. Chapter five will be longer, I promise. As always, e-mail me with anything you have to say about my story!!!

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