______________________________________________________________________ ________________

"Oh, Rei-chan, you’re so mean!" cried Usagi, tears stinging her eyes. "WHAAAA!"

"Oh, Christ," muttered Masato under his breath. "Rei-chan, was that really necessary?"

"Oh course it – now wait just one smegging moment," said Rei, eyes flashing. "How in the hell do you know my earth name?"

"Why shouldn’t I? You sure don’t look like Sailor Mars, anyway."

"What are talking about?" she cried, and she suddenly, very abruptly, shut up. "Uh…what happened to my fuku? Uh, guys…"

The others all looked at one another in astonishment. All were back to normal – at least, each was dressed like a civilian, everyone included. They looked around, confused.

"Uh, right. Where are we?" asked Jonathan, pulling Minako closer to him. The place they were in strongly resembled a hospital waiting room, and everyone was seated on a couch or chair. There were no windows, only paintings. Strange, surrealist paintings, of contorted faces, melting clocks and a dude with an apple in front of his face.

There was only one door, and on it was printed in gold lettering ‘The Grand Inquisitor.’

"Now there’s something that sounds familiar!" cried Lucien, looking around. The group was still only ten – Phoebe, Mamoru, Zoisite, Luna, Naru and Artemis were no where in sight. "Have you guys seen the others?"

"Does it look like we have?" snapped Rei, striding toward the door. "She’d better be in here, that’s all I’ve got to say."

She yanked the door open, and the entire gang tumbled into the office behind her.

Celestine looked up from the papers she was pouring over, a smile of recognition crossing her features. Her hair was pulled back in a French braid, and she wore a double breasted blazer over a white shirt, the shade of gold matching her eyes. "Hey you guys!"

They immediately rushed to her desk, a million questions in their words, namely "What the hell is this place?!"

"Jonathan, get a grip," she smiled, obviously delighted to see them all alive and well. "Phoebe must have directed you here, at Breccia’s wish. This is where you get to choose."

"Choose what?" chorused the group, almost in perfect harmony. It was Usagi’s high pitched whine that stood out.

She pulled something out of a desk drawer, and stood the tall glass bottle on the desk. They looked at it, and Masato, the eternal wine taster, looked at it with a professional eye. "It can’t be wine, unless they’ve perfected someway of making the stuff colourless."

"It’s not wine, silly," chuckled Celestine, and she held it up to the light. The others gazed out the window at her back – it looked out over a beautiful kingdom, of sapphire skies and emerald fields, a tall palace rising out of the centre of a sprawling city. "This is water taken from the river of Lethe."

"The river of forgetfulness," said Lucien quietly. "We have the choice to forget or retain our memories, do we Celestine?"

She shrugged. "I cannot pass judgement over this, like I used to. This is your choice alone."

"Where are the others?" asked Usagi, looking out the window, amazed by the simple beauty.

Celestine smiled. "Where you left them. The Dark Kingdom is empty now, a shell with nothing living left at all. Phoebe sent you to me, and she will direct them here, when Zoisite is able to be moved."

"But I don’t want to forget!" cried Minako, and the others agreed.

"To hell with that," put in Makoto. "I just had a bitching time, kicking that bitch’s ass into oblivion!"

"I think that was mostly Phoebe’s doing, but that doesn’t matter. She couldn’t have done it with you and the ginzuishou present." Celestine smiled as the vial shattered, the water running over the desk. The she shrieked as she realised it was getting all over her papers. "OH SHIT!"

"Where do we go now?" asked Ami, looking out at the strange land.

Celestine seemed surprised by the question, as she mopped up the sparkling water. "Home, of course."

"No," objected Usagi strongly, a little of her former persona slipping into her words. "We are going to see the others."

She rolled her eyes. "You guys…oh, well. I have no right to stop you. Go back into the waiting room, and go through the Persistence of Memory. And send the next lot in, would you?" She rubbed her temples. "God, I can’t wait until the holidays. I have so much work to do…."

They trooped out, closing the door behind them. Four kids looked up from the magazine they were pouring over. "See Cartman, she IS in Crack-"

"Shut up, Kyle!" cried the fat little kid, and Lucien smiled.

"Through there, guys," he said, and the kids trotted through the door, slamming it behind them.

"What did she mean by ‘The Persistence of Memory?" asked Usagi. It was Ami, the intellectual, who answered for them.

"It’s the title of a famous surrealist painting, by Salvador Dali. It consists of melting clocks against a desolate background…"

"Like that one?" asked Minako, pointing to the opposite wall.

Lucien nodded. "That would be it."

As Lena – formerly Nepheline Syenite – stepped toward the painting she began to speak, but she was interrupted by a loud crash from the office, like a window breaking. Then the kid who had been called Kyle screamed "Oh my god! They’ve killed Kenny! YOU BASTARD!"

Lucien was laughing again, but he moved to the picture. "Here," he said, and with scarcely a second thought, he opened a dimensional gateway. "This way."

Leucite was stepping through as four men trooped in through the opposite wall, looking confused. The one with an embossed H on his forehead instantly began whining. "I told you, Listy, that that bubble head computer doesn’t know what she’s doing!"

"And she’s creased my suit!" cried out a man dressed in a bright, sharp suit, his long hair swept up into a pompadour. He had two long canine teeth that gleamed alarmingly. The man on his right sighed, and took another bite from his plate of mutton vindaloo. "Kryters, where are we?" he asked an unusual looking man on his left, with a oddly shaped bald head. It was practically angular.

"Well, Mr Lister sir, give the psi-scan a little time to warm up…but I do think we’re going to live through Holly’s new Hop Drive malfunction…"

The guy with the H rolled his eyes. "And we’re all in favour of believing the automated toilet attendant, aren’t we?"

"Come on," whispered Leucite, and they disappeared into the painting.

______________________________________________________________________ ________________

The group could see the gathered others up ahead, and it was Masato who cried out first. "Naru-chan!"

She looked up from Zoisite in disbelief, eyes wide. "Nephrite?"

They threw themselves at one another, and began kissing like they had been away for centuries. They both finally emerged with kiss smudged faces, breathless and bright eyed. Then much to the distress of their audience, they started again from the top.

Usagi looked to Mamoru, and smiled shyly. "Hi."

He looked up from Zoisite, his own eyes brightening. "Hi, odango atama! So, you did make it after all!"

"Was there ever a doubt?" she asked softly. Mamoru looked down at Zoisite, and though he felt love, something made him leave her unconscious form, and walk toward the blonde school girl. He wrapped her in his strong arms, and simply held her. They didn’t part for a long time.

Karl began the long walk to his former lover, and knelt by her side. With trembling arms, he gathered her into his lap, and touched her face like he couldn’t believe she was real.

"Careful," said Phenakite, helping him. "Her back has just been set…kind of. I’m no doctor. We’ll have to take her to the hospital."

"I’m a doctor," he said quietly, holding her as he knew he should. He leant to kiss her lips gently. "Zoi…are you in there? Where are you, Zoi?"

"So she hasn’t regained consciousness?" asked Lucien, kneeling beside her. Then he looked up at Phoebe. "It was a great rebuild – you were great," he said with feeling, and he stood to embrace her warmly. "You did it just the way it should have been done, princess. I’m sorry…you had to go through what you did alone. You never should have been left alone with Metallia, but I…"

"You had to go back to New York, back to Oberon’s mission, your responsibilities. And they’re still there, Puck. It’s time you went home."

"You got that right, Queen of Nemesis, bearer of Angelikarma, daughter to the power of Breccia."

Three voices spoke at once, each the same as the other, all echoing at once. Lucien’s face fell, and he sighed, the well dressed young man becoming the child of Oberon once more.

"I should have known you three would be the ones," he said slowly.

The Weird Sisters smirked, and regarded Puck as if he were a parasite. Their faces were identical, they word the same gauzy blue and white robes, it was their hair that distinguished one from the other. One was blonde, one white-blonde like Kunzite and Puck, and the last raven haired. It was she who spoke to the Puck. They were all young, and all exceptionally pretty. But their light voices were tinged with dislike. "Our lord Oberon wants to talk to you, his servant."

Puck sighed. "I’ll be there in a minute – I have to see this through. Surely you understand…"

"We’ll wait," said the blonde, still smirking. "Won’t we, sisters?"

"Oberon’s through trusting you," spoke up the silver haired woman.

The raven one completed it. "We’re escorting you to New York, Puck."

He turned from the women, and looked at the girl on the ground, sighing.

"She has a broken back?" asked Ami, looking at her. "Then why don’t you heal her?"

"It’s beyond our interference," spoke up Phoebe, and she shook her head as Usagi’s hand slid to her transformation locket, the ginzuishou now firmly set in its former place. "Angelikarma can only do so much – and the key to Zoisite’s healing lies in a much more ‘personal’ force.

"Angelikarma…the word means ‘karma of an angel…’ It gives retribution, but does not heal. Something more powerful is needed for that."

"Like what?" asked Usagi, baffled.

"A power as great as Angelikarma, but not as biased as an entity like Metallia or Breccia. It is the omnipresent, omnipotent, unjudgemental presence."

"What? Godikarma?" asked Makoto with a laugh, not serious. She almost fell over when Puck nodded soberly, and continued for Phoebe.

"Not quite the name, my friend. We prefer to call it Grace – the Grace of innocence."

"There is one problem with it, though," added Phoebe. "It is this Grace alone that can heal Zoisite, but only as much as her anger and bitterness will allow. It is easily tainted by such emotions, by the karma of the one who is using it. Zoisite can be healed, but she alone will choose the extent. Not consciously, but in her heart. Not until she completely forgives herself will she ever walk again."

She laid a hand on the girl’s heart, and slowly, a light grew in the girl’s opening emerald eyes, and she looked up at her former lover, eyes glazed with pain. "Kunzite..?"

"Only I," he murmured, and pressed a rose into her limp palm. As he did so, a strange necklace fell from it, clattering on the floor.

The eyes of the Weird Sisters widened in unison. "The symbol of eternity!"

"So Éowyn IS dead!" hissed the white-blonde, in anger.

"Oh, not really," spoke up a voice from Zoisite’s direction. "Éowyn may be dead, but as for Morganite…"

"Oh, crap," said Puck, but he was laughing. "The damn necklace did work after all!"

"What’s going on?" demanded Karl, looking at Zoisite in shock. She smiled.

"Hey, Kunzite. I was in the neighbourhood, so I thought I’d drop you a line…"

He nearly dropped her. "Morganite?"

"In the flesh," she snickered, then reconsidered. "At least, in someone’s flesh…"

"That’s incredible!" cried Minako, and she turned to give Jonathan a huge kiss, just to celebrate. He quite liked the idea.

"How did that work?" asked Ami, more than a little lost.

Puck giggled like a naughty child. "Oh, when Zoi was dying, Éowyn used her necklace of eternity to meld her brighter life force to Zoisite’s dying one. It ‘accidentally’ left Éowyn in there, too – but for some reason, the backlash must have reverted her back to Morganite, heaven knows why. That’s what you get for mixing magics, I suppose."

"So…"

"Zoisite’s head – space to rent," cried out Morganite, using Zoisite’s vocal chords. Then she winced in pain. "Zoi, tell me when you’ve fixed this dump up, ne? It’s too painful to be in right now."

The girl’s face creased, and Zoisite smiled, back in control. "You’d be lucky."

"Can we do anything about this?" asked Karl, still holding the crippled girl.

Phoebe shook her head, but Puck looked thoughtful. "If we take her to Avalon…maybe, using the necklace, we can extract her soul and life force, and somehow keep Zoisite alive…"

"No way, Puck." That was the woman with the black hair.

"Oh, fuck you, Mona, Selene, Phoebe!"

The two princesses looked up, and Puck looked apologetic. "Sorry, I was talking to those harpies."

"It’s time to go," snapped the blonde, snatching up the necklace. "You ’ve kept him waiting long enough."

They hauled him up, and he sighed. "My three big sisters, beating up their adorable little bro – ain’t families grand?"

"Domestic violence is a crime," chuckled Phoebe. "Take care of yourself, Puck."

"I’ll be back, to see you," he replied seriously, as the floating quartet began to glow with a green aura.

"Don’t go getting into trouble on my account," smiled Phoebe, and waved.

"It would be worth it." That was the last thing he said before he vanished.

Phoebe turned to the others. "So, who wants to go home?"

______________________________________________________________________ ________________

They laughed as they sat around Zoya’s hospital bed, Zoya laughing the loudest. It was cramped, but somehow, Usagi, Mamoru, Ami, Rei, Makoto, Minako, Naru, Jonathan, Karl, Masato and Lena managed to all crowd into the room, with Luna and Artemis skilfully avoiding the watchful eyes of the nurses.

Morgan made a brief cameo, commenting on how lovely Lena looked in that tight blue mini. Zoya instantly shrieked out in protest, and Karl squeezed her shoulders with a laugh. Without a word, they had returned to one another, as had Usagi and Mamoru. No one ever brought up the interlude.

Naru, against her mother’s wishes, still continued to see Masato, and Osaka-san was slowly accepting it. Minako had removed her ring, thus her parents didn’t see any harm in her relationship with Jonathan. Zoya was a little weird about it still, but it was obvious Morgan and Lena had a close friendship. Karl had told her to get over it – and had actually asked Zoya if she wanted to be a man again. She politely declined, pointing out the fact, if he wanted children, she had to be female.

Minako messed up Jonathan’s hair, Usagi ate her donuts, giving Rei the evils as the girl called her a pig. Mamoru laughed and told ‘Odango atama’ to calm down. Naru and Masato tried to eat their take-out chocolate parfaits without Usagi noticing, while Zoya exclaimed over the rose Karl conjured out of no where. Lena stroked Artemis, trying to coax Ami from reading and interpreting Zoya’s medical chart, while Luna smiled. Zoya may have become a paraplegic, and Puck may have vanished indefinitely, but her ward and her friends were the same as always – just healed.

______________________________________________________________________ ________________

Phoebe smiled as she looked out of Celestine’s window, over the Kingdom of Nemesis.

"It’s time for your coronation," said the Grand Inquisitor quietly. "They’re happy, your friends are alive, are well, and are healed."

"I know," she said, and looked at the sky, at the stars. "I may not be allowed to contact them, but I can always feel them…"

"Oh, what the hell," said Celestine, with a smile. "I’ll break the rules – but only on holidays, you hear?"

Phoebe laughed, and threw her arms around Celestine. "What holidays?"

"Well…how about something to do with that watch around your neck?"

Phoebe touched it gently, and sighed. "I do have to get rid of it, don ’t I?"

"Well, I have no jurisdiction over what you do with it, but let me put it this way – if you don’t get rid of it, I won’t let you see the others."

"Abusing your position of power, dear Inquisitor?" asked the Queen sweetly, with a laugh. "Come on, let’s go. My coronation can wait, my mission won’t take a minute, anyhow."

"I’ll just go see if his parole officers will let him out," Celestine said with a laugh. "He still has the Phoenix Gate, and it’s key to the ‘neat and clean’ disposal of unnecessary entities."

______________________________________________________________________ ________________

They all looked up in shock as the room grew hazy around them. "Hey, game over, Masato!" cried Lena, looking around. Indeed, stars were coming out to play in the black oblivion they now stood in – all except Zoya, who sat in a wheelchair, looking confused. She glared good-naturedly at the stunned business man. "If you’re doing this, Massey-sama…"

"I swear I’m not," he protested, and a familiar laugh confirmed it.

"Puck!"

"And Phoebe and Celestine," put in the young monarch, smiling as she walked towards them. "We’ll just cleaning up a few loose ends, and we thought you might want to watch."

"What?" asked Mamoru, surprised.

Puck held out the Phoenix gate. "I’m going to use this to get rid of Metallia, once and for all. Then I’ll get rid of it, too. It’s too much trouble, and Goliath was right. It should be beyond the reach of all who desire it."

"So what are you going to do?"

"I’m going to send Metallia into the space of non-time. It’s a lot safer than just chucking her in the Omni-zone and hoping she doesn’t land anywhere bad and wake up. So I’m going to open a time gate, and chuck them both in. Without a mind to direct either, they will be forever lost in time. Goliath tried to do that to the Phoenix gate ages ago, he didn’t realise I managed to grab it before the warp hole closed."

"So what does the Phoenix gate actually do?" asked Ami, slightly confused.

Puck smiled. "It’s a time piece, it’s how I stopped Kunzite from murdering Phenakite. I went back in time and stopped them. Pluto would kill me if she knew I was playing with it, but once it’s in non-time, it will be beyond even her reach. Just as Metallia will be beyond ANYTHING."

He held it in his hand, and as he chanted, it rose up from his hand. "Deflagrate, muri, tempi et intervallia!"

It exploded into light, and became a fiery gateway. Phoebe threw the watch into it, and Puck chucked in the gate. It then erupted into white light, and coloured sparkles rained down from the empty sky.

"Wicked cool," cried Usagi, and Puck sighed.

"Sorry, can’t stay – my jailers call." The three girls automatically appeared, as if they were listening. "Let’s get you back to Alexander and his training, dearest brother."

He waved. "Stay spooky, guys!"

Phoebe and Celestine turned to the gang as Puck vanished, smiling. "So, enjoying mortality?"

"It’ll do," said Karl, a smile on his glacier-like features. "We’ll get by."

"You will," said Celestine, with feeling. She watched them vanish, go back to reality. She looked at Phoebe, a smile locked on her face.

"You have a coronation to attend." The queen nodded, and went back to her own realm.

The office reformed around Celestine, and she sighed as she pulled out the next file from the ever-growing pile on her desk. That was Nemesis taken care of, at least for now. She had fixed that realm, and now, she had to go and fix another.

She sighed, but then smiled. She loved her job…so many new people, so many new ideas…admittedly, this case had been a little more taxing than her average case, because of her ties to Breccia, but…it was time to get started on the next thick file on her desk. The Dwarfers…

________________ ______________________________________________________ ________________

And as the Grand Inquisitor moved on with her business, already dismissing her last case, her ‘patients’ went about life in Tokyo. Gathered at the café, jammed into one booth, they laughed at the Zoya-Masato argument.

Any one would have thought it unusual, for they had just attended a funeral. But they had just talked to the spirit whose ‘body’ they had buried, and Morganite had complained about the music. She swore she did not tell ANYONE she wanted them to play ‘Candle in the Wind.’

And the girl in the wheelchair, with her doctor boyfriend, had to get back to hospital – a broken back wasn’t something healed in a day. It was not as bad as it could have been, for the Grace had healed her exponentially. But she was still paraplegic – her spinal cord was in shock, so to speak. She had Kunzite once more, however, and that was enough for her.

Suddenly, Usagi looked up, and said "Man, things are good."

No one could argue with that.

Back to the fan-fic page