Prologue:
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Author's Notes: (Mercury Bubbles ^ ^)
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1. Amy's story begins now!

2. The Outer Scouts are back in here--and
I apologize for switching to their Japanese
names.....I know, I've been inconsistent with
how I spell everything. Hopefully, you'll know who
I mean.

LOOK FOR END OF CHAPTER, or something's missing.
***************************
Sailor Moon Says:
Ok, so here's the scoop. Greg drew us a picture
showing the scouts and those first set of nega-creep
all coupled up! Turns out that in the Silver Millennium,
that's what happened! Sigh...Isn't it romantic, all our
guardians, destined to love each ? But anyway,
we found out Jaedite is alive, and now he's
kind of an ordinary guy named Jed. And he's in love
with Raye. Who knows why though, she's so prickly
and picky and --

Sailor Mars: Moon-brain, stick to the story!

Sailor Moon (Waaaaaaah) you're so *mean*. I was
doing the story! Anyway, Jed's not the only
general to come back, because Neflite was also
reborn! And as a boy Lita used to love! But
while we learn that, our Enemy the BOSS learns
about our powers and sends someone after us.
*WheW* I wonder whether Zoycite is alive?

Sailor Mercury (blushing): Sailor Moon, I think
that's enough summary! Let the readers get on with
the story, so I can go study! College starts in only
a few more weeks.

*****************************
"Never Give up! I'll give it my best"
This time for sure it's my turn"--
ending song to "Ami-chan's first love"
"Let's go as we are"

*************************************
Present--a few days after Jaedite is rescued.
**********************************

Sitting on the library steps, Amy tried to
concentrate on the geology book she was reading.
Despite the warm late spring sunshine, Amy felt
coated in a frozen mist of confused desires.
Her attention kept wandering as she thought
back over the last few days. Finding the picture,
regaining her memories, and then finding Jaedite
was alive. Her world had spun 360 degrees, and right
back again.

Finally she pulled out the picture Greg had given her, and with a finger
traced the images in it. Though its immersion in a puddle
and the multiple folds had faded the colors, she
could still see how detailed and accurate Greg's vision had been.
Now that she'd regained her memories of her past life,
or at least, more of them than she had ever had before,
what was she to do? More difficult than any quadratic
equation, was this puzzling pull she felt to a man
she knew that had betrayed her.
And even more disquieting was the equally strong
push she felt to run to Greg. He'd always been in the
periphery of her life, and she'd done nothing to bring him
closer. What was it about reliving her past that made
her want to change her present life?
Could she be in love with two people at the
same time? Her face colored with the thought. What
was she saying? She couldn't be in love! Greg was
her dear dear friend, and Zoycite was...gone. And
she couldn't love either of them and fulfill her role
as a Sailor Scout, could she? She pulled
another book out of her bag, forcing herself to study
and stop thinking the useless chilling thoughts.

"Hey Amy, stop this right now!" Serena's sunny
voice teased, as she grabbed the book away. "What's
going on? It's a gorgeous Saturday! We've finally all graduated!
And you're *STUDYING*? No WAY! Come on , after last night
I say we deserve some icecream. My treat. ok?" She pleaded,
holding the book inches out of Amy's hands.

Amy sighed and pulled out another book, on geometry.

"AMY!" Serena said, and snatched that one too. "What
so interesting about triangles!? Come on!"

"Hey meat-ball-head, what are *you* doing with
books? Besides, I thought we were going to get ice-
cream?" Raye said tapping her foot, as Lita
grinned, and Mina winked.

"Your treat remember Serena? You promised!" Mina said.

Serena suddenly paled, grabbed her pockets looking
for money. "Oh no! I forgot to bring money...I'm
broke."

"That's ok Serena, I don't want to go." Amy said. "And
they're not triangles, they're pyramids."

"Oh that's just great Serena!!" Raye yelled sarcastically.
"You mean you dragged us all the way down here for nothing!"

"It's not for nothing, it was for icecream" Serena
said back."And what were you doing anyway? Unless"
Her smile became a smirk "You wanted to spend
the day with Jaedite? Can't bear to leave him huh?"

"Don't be an idiot!" Raye raised her chin into the air,
and looked away. "He could be dangerous, and *that's*
why its not safe to leave him alone."

"Oh so *that's* why you didn't want to leave!" Lita
joined in to tease the dark haired girl. "And I thought
it was his blue eyes."

"Oh yeah? , not all of us are as boy-crazy as you are."
Raye challenged, her eyelids lowering, as she widened her
stance.

Mina giggled, as she tried to stop the
incipient fight. "That's ok everyone, the ice
cream's on me. I've got *big* news! But I want to wait
til we get to the Icecream parlor, ok?"

While the others continued to argue, Serena focussed back
on Amy. Now that Amy was no longer hidden behind her shield
of a book, Serena noticed how shadowed Amy's eyes were.
She hesitated a moment, then called down the
steps to where the others were. "Guys, why don't you go
ahead...I'm gonna see if Darien's around."

"Fine, we'll go find our own cute guys then!"Lita
joked as the three started off.

Serena sat down next to Amy and balanced her head
on her hands, elbows resting on her knees. "What's
wrong Amy? Even you don't like to turn down icecream.
Is it that picture? Your memories?"

Amy's silence and slowly expelled breath gave Serena
her answer. She hugged Amy quickly, and then pulled
her shy friend to her feet. "Amy, it wasn't your
fault! And besides, I'm happy *now*, so why bother
about what happened a life time ago? Everything worked
out!Let's not pass up on icecream today because of something
that's done with ok?"

Amy smiled slightly at that. "I'm just bothered by
the possibility that Zoicite, and the other generals,
could be alive. What will we do?"

Serena frowned. "Heal them I guess. It worked with
Jed, right? And besides, didn't we decide it was just
a fluke he was alive? So stop worrying!"

"But that's all I have, is my worry. "Amy shivered
despite the sun. "That's my duty Serena, to worry
so you and Darien can be happy together."

"And I told you, I won't be happy unless you are.
*AND* I know you love Greg. Missing him is what's making
you sad!"

"love?"Amy blushed.

"AND, he loves you. So you have more than
just your role as a sailor scout, Amy! You've got
a great guy who'd do anything for you!" Serena said vehemently
and a little loudly.

"But Greg and I are just good friends!" Amy protested.
"We're not like you and Darien!" She added, lowering
her voice a bit.

"Only because you're too afraid to see what you have with
him for what it really is, Amy." Michiru interrupted,
almost materializing out of nowhere as a soft breeze
kissed a couple of cherry blossoms their way, "You keep thinking
love is this fairy-tale, miracle romance, and maybe,
sometimes it is." She smiled gently, her sea-green eyes
liquid and luminous "But true love isn't about danger and
excitement. It's a feeling that you share a dream with
someone that only you can make real together." Michiru
gracefully stepped down one step to stand level with them.

Though it looked to the girls as if she'd appeared from
thin air, in actuality, she'd exited the library
seconds before. Under one arm, she balanced a huge
artbook. She'd stopped on the steps to enjoy the
view of the park and the small outdoor stage where she liked
to practice. Somehow though, the winds had picked up
the tail end of the conversation, and carried it to
her.
The two girls swivelled their heads to look at the older
woman, who blushed slightly, bowing her head.

"I didn't mean to eavesdrop, but Serena's voice caries
a bit." She said in her gentle voice. "You said
Greg was the man who drew that picture?" She asked.
She'd noticed that the picture's detail of Amy was particularly
splendid, though everyone else was more roughly done.

Amy nodded.

"Then I would agree with Serena. He loves you."
Michiru added. "Their is more to life than duty, Amy."
She blushed slightly, as a familiar blonde haired figure
roared up to the steps on her motor-bike. "And
everyone deserves a chance for love."

"Yes but Greg and I--we're in two separate worlds now.
And there is no room in mine for more than friendship." Amy said
blushing even harder. "I don't need anything else."

"The world wouldn't be worth living in without
something more than friendship." Michiru added before she
thought, and then blushed a little. A little more evenly,
she said over her shoulder "You shouldn't give up on love so easily."
She waved and glided down the steps to the waiting bike.

"Greg and I? In love!?" Amy said, almost in a trance..

As the pair roared away, Serena turned towards
Amy. Impressed by Michiru's eloquence, Serena did not
want to be outdone. "Yes, Amy. Love is the soft
warm glow you get when thinking about a person
you care about very very much...a person you'd
like to spend every minute of every day with...
a person who makes you want to keep on living
just to see their smile."

As she said this,she waved her arms exuberantly, and
she dropped Amy's books. They tumbled down the stairs, landing
on a very unlucky Darien.

"OUCH!" He swore. He looked up, very annoyed until
he noticed who had thrown the book. His expression softened
as a slow smile crept onto his face.

"Oh no! Muffin!" Serena gulped, as she ran to him.
"I'm *Sooooooooooo*Sorry."

Then he literally did a double take as he
looked at the book. "Geometry in ancient
cultures? Is this *your* book Serena?"

Amy followed Serena down more slowly,
and took back her book. "Come on
Serena, don't we have some ice cream to go
get?..." Her eyes had a determined glint as
her mind turned over the possibilities.

***************
On the mysterious hidden floor of the Stanton
Electronics Tower, Eris Sineheart fingered the small
fragment of jade. Almost reverently he turned
the scrap, his imagination recalling the figurine
to which the fragment once belonged.

To a casual observer, the scrap looked so
unimportant and worthless. Sineheart found
great personal significance in the
object. The piece reminded him of his
start, and kept his humility before him.
Six years ago, he'd nearly lost
everything while trying to gain control
over everything...he smiled coldly
at the games fate could play. Of course,
he'd gained everything back in time.

This time, he didn't intend to make the same mistakes.
He folded the ancient manuscripts before him,
studying more closely the ancient grimoire
that lay open.

Briefly he reviewed the events of Project
Gate in his mind. He'd painstakingly
captured a set of six ancient jade figurines. The
fragment he held came from one of the six, but he could
barely recall which. They all looked alike.
They were all of women, with really short skirts. His
stepson's had been of a girl who's arms
were crossed, head dipped, ponytail flying
to the side. Time had worn down the features,
but one could make out a fiercely determined
look. That was why Sineheart had married Hikari
Stanton, in order to gain access to the prize
jade collection of her son Maxfield.

Early on in Sineheart' life, he'd felt this
draw to gain power, an obsession with magic.
He'd studied physical chemistry, trying to
unlock the secrets of matter at their structural
levels. In his off hours he studied myth and legend.
That interest and fate had led him to the small jade statues..
Legend told him that these statues
were the key to releasing a powerful force.
They had not been easy to procure--the most
difficult was perhaps the one he
stole from the Smithsonian in the United States....
Sineheart twisted his face in a snide smile. That
had brought the FBI down on his trail, since
his method of stealing had been so unusual.

He remembered the first time he'd touched one
of these statues...the piece he held had once
formed the figurine of a girl with long hair.
Fire had crackled at the touch-- he'd almost
dropped it so shocked he'd been. His first
taste of magic, and he'd craved more.

In order to fuel the spell for the Gate,
he'd needed vast amounts of life Energy...so
he'd tricked his wife's Grandfather, wife
and (he thought) his stepson onto taking
the ride of their lives. He'd planned
for the plane to crash into another Jet
streaming into Japan.
At that moment, as it crashed over his
head, he'd arranged the figures in a circle
and smiled...
"Today I release a great power..."He'd chanted
"The sacrifice will be worth
it-- to open the Gate of Power, and break the seal!" Almost
as if he moved without will, he knew what
to do...The statues crackled,
and crumbled, leaving white powder emitting
a strange white glow-- then in the sky, a
pulsating, swirling light appeared.

Then his plan dissolved.
He heard his stepson shout his
name. The questions still plagued him.
Where had he come from? Why hadn't
he been on the plane? Maxfield had run forward
into the circle, dislocating one of the pieces,
and the lights above had whirled dangerously.

Then a woman's voice had yelled out "Halt-- FBI! Everyone
Freeze" As the portal above them exploded
with the screech of something inhuman.

Sineheart remembered feeling himself knocked over the side
of the clearing, into ditch. He felt himself covered by the
strange woman, her body propelled by some unknown
force into his.

He awoke naked, cold and hungry,
in a cave of sorts. Rather than the
warm air of summer, he detected the chill of
snow and frost. At least a few months had passed.
To his right lay the body
of the woman who he would later turn into
the Assistant. He moved over to her, and
surprisingly found a pulse, though neither
of them should have been alive.
At sunrise-- he had climbed back up the hill to investigate.
A huge black spot covered the ground where the
figures had stood the night of his project before. No sign
of life, everything was charred.

The only other human was the woman in the cave, her shiny
FBI badge tarnished and uselessly lying on the
ground. She continued to lay limp,
mostly dead where he'd left her. There
was no sign of his stepson, or
the Gate or what happened. He never did find out.
But he didn't care. He didn't care about anything
but gaining the power he'd but glimpsed the night before.
The next time, he swore, he'd be ready.

He had returned to civilization, easily claiming to
have been on the plane which killed his "family."
Quickly, Sineheart claimed ownership of everything.
The lawyers were satisfied that he was the only remaining heir.
Though it puzzled them that a few people had mentioned
seeing Maxfield after the plane crash. Sineheart's
efforts to locate (and exterminate) Maxfield proved unsuccessful.
Eventually, Sineheart rested assured that his
claim over his empire was secure.

Even though no one else questioned his yearlong absence,
Sineheart found himself wondering
how he'd spent a year without any memory of the events. This
amazed him and intrigued him. Magic was
an unpredictable force just like the market.
For the next few years it was the market
rather than magic that consumed his life.
To that end, he'd arranged to have Sora Tamaguchi
kidnapped before her wedding--and had ended up
finding a far bigger prize. He smiled a mirthless
smile, his green eyes glittering like the scales of
a snake. "Sailor Scouts." He whispered, fingering
the clippings.

He returned the scrap to the black velvet
drawer as he refocussed his mind on the
present. He wondered how his Assistant was faring?

*************************************
PAST: SILVER MILLENNIUM:
***************************************

Princess Mercury, though she possessed more patience
than most, felt like throwing her book at the
Princess of the Moon.

"Serena! What's gotten into you. You haven't heard
a word I've said *all* morning."

"I have." Serena said with a sigh. Her mind filled with
memories of her meetings with Endymion.
How could her mother *do* this? She thought Serena
didn't know that the shields were to come down, but
Artemis had inadvertently let that slip. Ever since
then, her morning lessons seemed so unimportant. "I heard
every word."

"Then you have not understood them!" Amy countered.
"What's wrong!?"

"How can you ask! I'm here, and Endymion's there,
and there's a war on, and!" She broke off, close to
tears. "How could I think about math!
Who cares about triangles anyway!"

"The only triangles she cares about are romantic
ones." Princess Raye added, looking up from her book.
No one could tell, but she'd hidden an illustrated fairy
tale on top of hers. "Like her, Endymion and Beryl."

"These are pyramids!" Amy said exasperatedly. "They
have five points, and exist in three dimensions!"

"Who cares where they exist. And it's *not*
a triangle...Endymion loves *me* and he can't
stand Beryl!" Serena shouted at Raye, as she whipped
around so fast her pony tails lashed out at Jupiter.

"HEY! Watch the hair!"

Amy sighed, as she lost control of the room. Though
the same age as the others, she had so surpassed them in
her studies that she tutored them. Yet today, no one
felt like learning. She was therefore very happy
when Artemis appeared and told her that Queen Selenity
wanted to see her.

* * *
Queen Selenity looked again at the letter
that Neflite had sent her a year ago, his words of warning
so cagily phrased. He might as well have
written "It's all your fault." But of course,
he didn't. And he didn't even know how right
he was. Sighing, she gripped the staff which
held the crystal tighter in her hands, letting her
wings stretch out of her back for a second.

The movement felt good. All the weeks the generals had
been on the Moon, Queen Selenity had instructed her daughter
to hide this sign of their transcendent evolution.

Selenity smiled, thinking that Serena (the preferred nickname
her friends had adopted to distinguish her from her
mother) had taken that commandment in stride. Her daughter
always surprised her with her hidden strength. Not for the
first time, Selenity wondered if Serena might in fact be
the stronger of the two of them? Did she underestimate
her most beloved daughter? Was she wrong to continue
to try and shape her destiny and protect her?

Sailor Mercury's steps upon the marble tile, though they made no more
impact than a snowflake upon a tongue, pulled the Queen from
her internal dialogue.

"Mercury!" She said, welcoming the shy soldier.

"My Queen." Mercury replied respectfully, head bowed, as
she stared at the Queen's reflection in the highly polished
tile.

"Mercury, the Earth Kingdom has requested my permission
for an audience. This means only one thing. They fear
the war is not going well."

Mercury nodded. She had been corresponding with
Zoycite, and had been monitoring the energy readouts
from the fighting in Beryl's kingdom.

"And I know that I have no choice but to raise the
shields for travel."

"Your Majesty?"

"That was why I called you Mercury. I want this to be
a permanent shield. It will not be strong enough otherwise,
if I design it to be taken down."

"Permanent?" Mercury gasped.

"I do not want the others, especially Serena,
to know just yet." The Queen said. "I
will tell her myself when it is done, and when it is too
late for me to change my mind. If you must, lie.
She suspects I'm raising them, but not that I have
no intention of lowering them ever again."

"Lie to Serena?" Mercury asked puzzled as the Queen handed her a strange
device. The Queen did not bother to explain why she
wanted to raise the shields permanently.

"This is a portable version of the Main computer. It is
almost as powerful and Mercury, I trust you will use
it well."

"Why are you entrusting this to me?" She asked puzzled. She
fingered the controls almost lovingly. "Surely Venus, as leader
should be the one --"

"Mercury, you alone of all the scouts possess the talent to truly
use this tool. And I will need you to help me design and improve
the shield,to create the permanent one." The Queen lightly
touched her shoulder, her wings brushing Mercury as she
exited the chamber.

Mercury's eyes widened, and she suddenly understood what
the clouds must feel when rain changes to snow. A face
flashed through her mind, bright green eyes,framed by
redish-blonde slightly curly hair, neatly arranged in a pony tail.
The shield might be the only way to save the Moon Kingdom from the wars
that raged on the planet below, but what would it do to
this slowly growing tie between her and her Earth General?
Frozen in that thought, she didn't move for a long time.
*********************

The Queen paused in the hall outside of where she left
Mercury, to speak to a man who almost merged into the
shadows-- the Moon Kingdom's master engineer. "I wish to commend you on the
computer you created. " She said quietly to break
the silence. "You've outdone yourself."

"Was she pleased?" He asked, his eyes still fixed
on the slight figure in the room behind them. "I've implemented
several of her theories in it." The apprehension resonated
not only in his voice, but in his stance--heels lifted,
leaning forward, eyebrows raised, eyes wide.

"She will be, when she uses it." The Queen smiled, but a sadness filled
her eyes. "Tell her, before its too late."

He looked startled. "Tell her what?!"

"You know very well. Tell her you love her."

"My Queen?" His dark eyes met her crystal blue ones.

"You are one of my oldest friends, so do not say
My Queen to me now." Selenity said, looking deep into
his heart through his eyes. "I'm not speaking as your
Queen when I say this. And do not tell me that
Mercury is only important as someone who appreciates your
work. I know how you created that computer."

He didn't say anything, but kept his gaze even and blank
as a new page.

"Or I should say, not that I know *how*, but out of
what you created that computer." She paused. "You've
altered your heart crystal, and you've given it to her."

He'd often been unnerved by his ruler's uncanny knack
of reading his emotions, but her quick grasp of the magic
he'd wrought surprised him. "By rights, if I'd done that,
I should be dead." He didn't deny or confirm what she'd said.

"And yet, you've found a way." She lightly placed a hand
on his shoulder. "How can you live without your heart crystal?"

"I don't know for sure how long I will last without it.
Without her, though, I would not care." He raised a hand
to forestall any objections she might raise. "We both know a
battle is brewing, and that she's the weakest one.
Selenity, you were right to ask me to augment her powers.
So this was how I chose to do it. And even for you, I will
not change what I've done. "

The Queen leaned over and kissed his cheek. "Would I
of all people ask that of you, dear friend? No, my interest
is only out of concern for you."

"With the help of a crystal I've designed, we can live
without our heart crystals inside of our bodies."

"A crystal?"

He concentrated and produced a small blue crystal in his
hand, that looked remarkably like the silver crystal in its
cut and facets. "I'd been trying to recreate or reproduce the
silver crystal, and though I failed, I stumbled onto these...
it's sort of bonded with my heart crystal, and as long as I
have it, I can remove my heart crystal. I suppose you could
say it transmits the resonances of my heart crystal to me."

Selenity held one up to the light. "It's as if it's
trapped a rainbow!" She said, caught in the beauty. At that
moment, one caught a glimpse of the happy girl she might
have been, rather than the burdened ruler she'd become.
Mother began to resemble daughter, as she suppressed a
giggle. "It's a rainbow crystal!" She began to laugh.

He smiled. "I haven't heard you laugh like that since-- a long
time, Selene." He said the pet name without hesitation
the tension between them melting away with their memories
of the years. "I'm sorry I--" He darkened, not sure if
addressing the old pain in her heart would be wise. What
could he say? That he was sorry that her love had died? That
he had not developed this technique in time to design
a way to stop the tragic attack on her husband's kingdom, the
attack that took his life?

And then just as the moon disappears from the sky at
dawn, her laugh waned.

"It will be a long time before I do so again." The calm
mask reclaimed her. "If ever. But you've discovered
something that may make it possible for everyone else
to have that chance."

"I have?"

"I know that this battle will be the Moon Kingdom's
and my last one. The Seven Shadows will be released,
but you've given me a way to stop them. This rainbow
crystal of yours may be the answer--or at least, part of
it."

"My rainbow crystal? You want to create more computers?"

She smiled mysteriously, hope beginning to blossom,
even as the starkness of her fate confronted her.
"You did this transformation of yours without
the silver crystal-so let's go see what your
theory can really do, when it has enough power."

"What are you suggesting?"Every fibre in his being warned
him that the look of selfless transcendence in her eyes was dangerous.
"Who's heart crystal are you going to alter!?"

"Mine, of course." She said. "And those of seven volunteers."

Their eyes locked and held, their impending self-sacrifice
a bond between them which prevented either one from
dissuading the other. To help those they loved, they
had no choice. "You have a plan, don't you?" He asked.

"I've known the nature of the enemy
we're facing long before you did.
But promise me one thing, Rory." Selenity said, using
her nickname for him.

"What?" He said turning to her.

"Before we...before this battle ends, promise me
you will tell her what you feel? Love should always
be expressed."

"Why? I love her, but love does not always run
in two directions. It's better she doesn't know when
she never asked for me to love her like this. To her,
I'm just an old professor, with whom she can discuss science and magic.
I'll leave the romantic nonsense to the young...like
that general of hers." The undercurrent of
bitterness in his voice spoiled the noble meaning
of the words. He ran a hand through his dark black hair.
He was painfully aware that Selenity could see through
his words like rice paper.

"But a heart that loves without return can grow cold.
Rory, do not become like Beryl." The Queen warned. "Come
we have much work before us to prepare for Metallia."