The End of the Beginning. {1/1}
A Sailor Moon fanfic by Tim Nolan.
e-mail: nomad@cyberverse.com
Please see the comments following the story.
author's notes
1. Warning! There is a small amount of cursing in this story.
2. This story is very much tied in with my previous works.
They should be read in the following order.
Awakening, part 1
Awakening, part 2
Obligations
The End of the Beginning
3. The first part of the prologue happens right after the
ending of 'Obligations'. The second part of the prologue
happens several months after that. The rest of this
story happens almost two years after 'Obligations.'
The Inner Senshi are seventeen and soon to be eighteen.
4. This story is not following the Japanese school system
for when classes are in session.
5. The continuity does not include the second part of
'Stars', the fifth season of Sailor Moon in Japan.
The story presented in 'Obligations' happens shortly
after the Nephrenia arc of 'Stars', but after that,
the anime goes one way and I go another.
6. There are ideas and concepts from the manga involved in
in these stories even though I do generally follow the
anime storyline for the most part.
7. quick translations of Japanese terms
ojii-san : grandfather
hime-chan : princess
onee-san : older sister
***
The End of the Beginning.
There's no time for us
There's no place for us
What is this thing that fills our dreams
yet slips away from us?
There's no chance for us
It's all decided for us
This world has only one sweet moment
set aside for us.
Who wants to live forever?
-Queen, from 'Who Wants to Live Forever?'
Prologue.
Was it the right decision? He considered the question
as his brother cast off the guise he had assumed for this
'visit', as their conversation would have seemed to another
observer, and vanished. His other siblings had only recently
begun experimenting with taking human form, something that
he had been doing for a long time. His experience at it let
him conceal what he had been doing from the others.
The room he floated in was small and dimly lit, with
a cold, bare, stone floor and walls. Several candles provided
the illumination but the flames that topped them didn't
flicker. The roof and a few dilapidated benches were the only
things made of wood until he waved his hand slightly,
dispelling the illusion below him. A bed appeared, one as
old and worn as the benches. He put the staff that was
resting across his knees down next to the occupant and
considered his problems and his solutions.
A long, long time ago, even for them, a cry in the
darkness had made them aware of each other and that it was
possible to communicate. One of their sisters was dying, it
turned out, and there was nothing they could do to help
her. The best they could do was to tell her she would
always be remembered for giving them this wonderful gift.
He hadn't fully agreed with his sibling, however. There
had to be something he could do, and it took some time for
his sister to actually die. She had tried not to show that
it hurt, but the cries of pain she occasionally let slip
still haunted him even now. The problem came from the fact
that her corporeal body was being disrupted by it's
proximity to her largest brother.
Without that link to the physical world, she was
fading away. There was no way for the others to take her
place, or to share theirs with her. He seemingly ignored
the others most of the time, garnering a reputation for
being slow and deliberate as he pondered this problem. In
truth, he had been devoting his time to searching for
something he could do to help her. His solution may not
have been elegant, but it had almost been in time.
The others were still fascinated by their newly
found ability to converse among themselves, and weren't
aware of what he was going to do. It was just as well, he
later realized. They would have tried to stop him, just on
the basis of the risk that he was about to take.
His sister's fate had proved that they could die. Her
spirit, the essence that made her alive, was fading. She
could no longer keep it safe, but if someone else couldn't,
what if something else could? The danger came from the fact
that he was as tied to his body as much as the others. However,
if his sister's essence could be separated from her physical
self, shouldn't his be able to be separated as well?
He settled his thoughts and gently pushed all but a
tiny fraction of himself free of the physical, leaving that
portion as an anchor. The ease of it astounded him, and
resolving to study this more in the future, he willed
himself to his sister's remains. They had already started
to cool, with only the centers of the four largest pieces
still being warm. He could now see that most of her was
lost, but not everything. Some of her essence still remained,
along with most of her power, and he gathered it together
to work with.
Choosing those four pieces due to their size, he bound
some of her energy and an equal portion of her spirit into
each one. Those pieces will survive a long, long time. This
way, part of what was left of her would be in her former
place if she was somehow able to return, or they found a
way to return her to life.
The other four he chose, however, were a tiny fraction
of the size of the others even though they had as much power.
These four he brought with him as he returned to his body,
and was grateful that he was actually able to make it back.
There had been no way to test his theory.
It was only later when he and the others who were the
four furthest out from the center began their watch upon the
outer reaches of the system that he realized what those four
items could be used for. The avatars of those four were a
part of that watch as well, and he fashioned three of the
four objects into tools for them to use called talismans.
The ringed one declined the use of one of them for his
avatar, as he had a premonition that it could be unwise.
Therefore, the other three avatars received the
talismans he had fashioned into items out of their legends
since the avatars still didn't know who they received their
power from. The fourth, however, he fashioned into a
contingency if the ringed one's fears were not groundless.
It would be able to call upon not only the power that was
inherent to it, but also that of the three talismans and
the four other reserves of power. If it ever came to it,
the avatars would be even more prepared for any possible
emergency.
" I was a fool," he whispered, looking down on the
woman on the bed. That same power had drawn one group of
enemies, and would probably bring more. Her first real
suffering on his behalf, aside from the drawbacks to her
long life, had come about because during the attack by
those enemies, she stopped time to give two other avatars
the opportunity to finish their mission. He had known what
was going through her mind as she slammed shut the gates
of time at the cost of her life.
She was, in her view, making amends for what she had
done to them. She knew that they had the other two talismans,
but she didn't have any idea of how to remove their heart
crystals in order to gain access to the talismans. The
Queen's sacrifice long ago had bound the items to their
souls as she sent them forward in time.
Their enemies, however, knew how. By forcibly
manifesting the souls of their victims in the shape of
the crystalline constructs they called heart crystals,
those enemies were searching for the talismans. His avatar
knew that it would mean their deaths, but she had awakened
the other two and sent them into battle. It was the only
way to get the talismans.
One part of her, the practical side that had grown
cold and detached over the years, dismissed it as an
acceptable loss. They would fight on until they were
defeated, and then the talismans would be obtained. The
other part of her, the warm side that was usually
subordinate to the other, finally rebelled, gained the
upper hand, and she gave up her life so that they might
live.
He had brought her back from the brink of death,
employing his own control over time to save her. The
evolutionary path of the humans never intended them to
live more than a few score orbits of their homeworld. He
didn't have the luxury of replacing avatars like the
others. It took most of a human lifetime to train her,
and she had a natural ability far beyond any of the
others he had considered. No, he would only have one
avatar, and had even shown her how to fully make use
of her talisman. The others hadn't even done that,
preferring to pass the talismans down from avatar to
avatar without their knowing the true power the devices
held.
In part, it was his way of atoning for all he had
done to her. She had realized and accepted the dangers
she would face and the pain she would bear, and had
agreed to represent him. What he was about to do was
another part of his atonement. This would be the second
time he had done this, and he would do it again. He owed
her that much, at least. She was his first line of defense
against an encroachment upon the realm of time that he had
first glimpsed when he tried to save his sister.
He reached into himself and took a little of his
own life, using it to restore her to full health like he
had done before. He had kept her from truly dying these
two times recently and brought her back here instead,
although it was trickier this last time. The first time
she had merely stopped the flow of time. He had barely
been able to find her this time amid all the strange
convolutions in the fabric of time around her.
He knew what she had done and took a teacher's delight
in the progress of a student and her technical skill. The
reason why she had done it amazed him. He still couldn't
imagine what it would be like to have that same depth of
feeling, or to have that much capacity to care so much
about the welfare of another.
" Welcome back, child," he softly said to her and
sank into the floor as she opened her eyes.
***********************************************
Ten, twenty, thirty, forty thousand, he finished
counting to himself as he walked away and began to
calculate his tip from this bill and how much he would
have to give to the busboy. This job at a very trendy,
very upper-scale steak house was a godsend for his bank
account even if it was only part time, since he filled in
for anyone who was sick.
" Here you go," he said to the cashier, letting the
older man tabulate the totals on the computer and make the
change. These were probably the last customers of the night,
so after returning the change to the table he ducked into
the kitchen to get a cup of decaf coffee and review his
finances.
He loved her dearly, but Usagi had literally been
eating up his savings a little while ago. His last real
contact in the modeling business had retired a few months
earlier, and the jobs that had once supplemented his
other income were gone. He couldn't condone taking her
over to Mako-chan's too many times, even if the tall
girl told him to do so if things were getting tight.
No, he never liked taking charity very much, but
it had been a tough battle between his convictions and
the cash flow until the manager here had called him. One
of his old friends and co-workers had recommended him
to the management of the new place when they were short
handed. The owners were very particular about the level
of service and weren't hiring just anybody. It had been
hard work, but very rewarding financially, and things
were finally starting to look up.
The manager had dropped by earlier on his way
home for the night and handed him an envelope with the
last three night's pay. He was in the process of adding
up all his tips for the evening when a low whistle rang
out as one of the waiters came into the kitchen.
" Gentleman, I am in love."
The person making the statement was a well known
womanizer, not to mention one of the full time waiters. He
glanced into the mirror by the door to make sure his hair
was absolutely perfect. One of the busboys slightly
opened and looked out the doors.
" No way, Ryo. Not with a lady that classy."
" Five thousand yen says that I take her home, and
I'll pay anyone else twice what they bet if I don't," he
confidently stated, and then looked at Mamoru. " Hey,
Chiba! They're in your section. Can I serve them, and do
you want in?"
" Let me see," he smiled and glanced out the doors.
Somehow, he kept a straight face as he turned back. " Ryo,
I've got thirty thousand yen here that says you won't
even make it to the plate if you'll give me three to one
odds."
" Just to make it to the plate? Shit, Chiba. Don't
make me take your money. I'll ask her out in a second. You're
on, man," the younger man sneered and stepped out into
the dining area.
" Are you crazy?" the cook asked him
incredulously. " That boy needs a four poster bed for
all the notches he's racked up."
" No," Mamoru smiled back confidently. " He won't
even try anything. Watch."
It only took a few moments until the now-shaken
younger man came back into the kitchen.
" They want you to serve them, Chiba-san," he
stammered, beginning to blush.
" And... " he added expectantly.
" I... couldn't. I expected her boyfriend to
frighten me off or something, but he didn't even seem
to notice me. She just looked at me, and I couldn't bring
myself to say anything. That chick is scary."
" Hah!" the cook exclaimed in triumph, since he had
bet against the younger man in hopes of getting the odds.
" Don't worry, Ryo," Mamoru consoled him before
going out into the dining area to see what they
wanted. " You can pay it in installments."
" Good evening, ladies," he greeted them. " It's
very nice to see you today. Is there anything I can get
for you?"
" Yes," the sandy-haired blonde drawled back at
him. The leather racing team jacket with the sponsor's
patches she wore was a splash of daring, stylish color
among the dull earth tones that were currently in
fashion. " Your manager."
" Haruka," he cautioned her. " Don't do this. I
need this job."
" You could quite easily buy this entire chain,
Mamoru-san," Michiru gently reminded him.
" Look, I don't want your money," he protested.
Haruka's eyes went cold and she snapped her
fingers loud enough to get the assistant manager to
jump up and hurry over to her. She held up a hand to
stop his inquiry and began to peel off several ten-thousand
yen notes from a roll of them in her pocket.
" We're hiring this gentleman here to be our dinner
companion for the evening. I assume he can be spared from
his regular duties for the occasion. I also want three
rib-eyes out here in ten minutes with all of the trimmings,
and tell your cook he had better live up to the standards
of the first one of these places in Texas. I eat there
whenever I'm in the area, and the owner is a good friend
and a sponsor. Any problems?" she finished coldly,
dismissing him with her eyes.
" No, sir," he stammered and fled back into the
safety of the kitchen.
" Mamoru-san, please, sit down," Michiru asked
and slid over to make some more room for him. He did so,
but warily. This looked to be another of their recent
disagreements. They were always too polite towards him
for it to be called a fight.
" It's not 'our' money, Mamoru," Haruka began,
meeting his gaze. " It belongs to both of you. We're
just the trustees."
" And you can keep on doing that," he cut in. " Usagi
said she'd ask for it if she needed it, and I don't want it."
" No, Michiru," Haruka cut off the turquoise haired
woman as she began to speak, and then looked back at the
young man and caught his gaze. " We've been nice to you
for long enough. It's been six months, Mamoru. Six months
since we almost lost her. That's enough of a vacation. It's
time you started properly doing your part in protecting her."
" What!" he hissed, unconsciously bending the heavy,
silver spoon he had been slowly twirling between his
fingers. Michiru put her hand over his as he began to
stand up and call her out. She took the utensil from his
hands and put her other hand on his forearm to reassure
him.
" Mamoru-san," she implored him, waiting for the
flush of anger to fade from his face. " We've told you
what we found. We can't do anything with any of the books.
We tried. Ami-chan can almost detect it on a regular basis,
and I'm only a little better. We use magic somehow, but
we can't manipulate it. You're the only one of us who can."
He sighed heavily, keeping his thoughts to himself
for the next several minutes until the food arrived. Ami
and Michiru had been very determined after their encounter
with the magi to find out just what they all could do, and
exactly how they did it. They'd drawn a blank, even with
finding a cache of books related to the subject that were
in one of Setsuna's homes.
It had been during that time that while fighting the
magi that he began to experiment more with his own
abilities, and found out that he had much more control
than the Senshi. He had been meaning to help them more
in their experiments, but his studies at school, his
jobs and Usagi had been taking up all his time.
" We've got a proposal for you," Michiru said
after they had been served. " You're the only one who
has a chance of understanding anything in those books.
You already have the most manifestations of power than
any of us."
A puzzled look came across his face. " Me?"
" Roses, the cane, a ranged attack, two forms,
and some type of pre-cognitive abilities tied in with
teleportation," Haruka ticked the examples off on her
fingers, and then picked up the bent spoon. " No matter
when or how, you always were there whenever Usagi-chan
was in trouble. That's magic in anyone's book."
" What do you want me to do, then?" he asked,
carefully looking at both of them in turn.
" We want to hire you, Mamoru. Setsuna wanted all
of you to be able to go to whatever school you wished
without having to work at the same time. Therefore, we'll
take over your tuition, rent and other expenses in exchange
for your working on figuring out just what you do and how
you do it."
" That's basically the same offer I turned down
before," he said apologetically, and gave them a bleak
smile. " Why should I accept it this time? I told you I
don't want your pity."
Haruka's hand hit his face hard enough to rock him
back in his seat. It hadn't been a punch, but a stinging
slap by the back of her left hand. She stood up, eyes
flashing in anger and looking like she was ready to
swing on him again as she made a fist of her right hand
and drew it slightly back. It was several seconds before
she took a deep breath and let the two pieces of silver
that were the spoon fall to the tablecloth from her
right hand.
" Talk to him, Michiru. See if you can get him to
start thinking straight. If that doesn't work, I'll try
hitting him a few more times."
" You deserved that, you know," Michiru commented
as she took another bite of her steak while Haruka
stalked out. A few moments later, the low-pitched roar
of a sportscar engine sped off into the distance.
" I won't do it, Michiru. Not when it's being
offered out of pity. I had to deal with enough of
that in the orphanage."
Her soft, easy laughter distracted him from the
dark mood his thoughts were in. He had an irrational
need to push back when Haruka pushed him, and she had
been doing a lot of that recently. Usagi had designated
the tall woman the tactical leader of the Senshi, and
Haruka had been quick to try and address her perceptions
of their shortcomings. She had been especially hard on
him, in his opinion.
" Mamoru, we never pitied you," she explained,
filling the napkin of the spare place setting with some
ice and handing it to him. " This isn't the two rich
ones lording it over on you. Haruka and I made a lot
of money even before we had met Setsuna, but we never
felt sorry for you because you never had as much.
" This is about taking care of Usagi, and Haruka
is scared by what happened. We got lucky again, and
that's killing her inside. If it hadn't been for
Minako's sacrifice, you and Rei would be the only ones
left right now. Hotaru wasn't going to hold back, and...
well, we won't outlive each other by any great margin."
" Haruka scared?" he echoed, missing what she
had just admitted.
" We're not using to relying on luck, Mamoru," she
continued after taking a sip of wine and pushing her
plate several centimeters away. " It worries both of
us that it came so close to being over. We spent a
long time getting by on our own when we were dealing
with the daemons, and she's not used to relying on
others, or luck. Haruka is also having a problem because
you don't act as dedicated to the princess as she
thinks you should be."
" That's awfully honest but somewhat convoluted," he
admitted a few moments later.
The turquoise haired woman carefully thought out her
next words before continuing. " She doesn't doubt your
desire to protect the princess, but you don't act as overtly
as she does in regards to it," Michiru explained a few
moments later. " Haruka pretends that she isn't hurt by
what happened, but she spent several nights in tears over
her feelings of inadequacy after we got Usagi back."
" And you?" he asked a few moments later. " How do
you feel?"
" I'm better at hiding it than she is," Michiru
smiled at him and took a last bite of the steak before
taking out her purse and touching up her lipstick. " This
isn't for us, Mamoru-san. It's not a ploy to make you feel
bad. We're concerned for her safety, and you're the only
one who can do this.
" There have been five golem attacks ever since we
beat the magi. We can no longer assume that they are all
gone. Their order has come back from the dead before and
you are our only hope in learning how to fight them," she
said, putting one of her hands over his. " Will you work
with us, so we can do our job of protecting her properly?"
" All right," he capitulated a few moments
later. " I'm glad you explained it a little better to
me. I'm still not fond of doing it this way, Michiru,
but I'll do it."
" Thank you," she beamed in gratitude, and then
got up. He took a quick swallow of coffee and got to his
feet as well.
" Do you need a ride?" he offered as they walked
out to the parking lot. " I may have driven off your
escort for this evening."
" That's all right," she smiled and gave him a
quick kiss on his cheek, the one without the bruise. " It
is sweet of you to ask, though."
She pulled her communicator out of her purse. It
beeped softly as she pressed one of the buttons, and
she put it back. " She'll be by in a few minutes. It
was just a matter of letting off some steam. Why don't
you go on and head home, and we can work everything out
tomorrow?"
He was finally persuaded to leave her, and climbed
into the white and blue AC Cobra that he had been loaned
by Haruka while his car was in for repairs and a rebuild
on the engine. With a jaunty salute, he sped off as she
waved good-bye. He was as bad as Haruka when it came to
cars, it seemed.
Her ride pulled into the lot a few minutes later
and rolled to a stop next to the woman. There was a
slight click as the lock on the passenger side
disengaged and she opened the door.
" Well?"
" He'll do it," she confirmed, taking a seat in
the white and yellow roadster.
" How much did you tell him?"
" Everything," she confessed. " He won't say
anything to the others, though. He's too much the gentleman,
and I needed to use it as a scare tactic. You did cry a few
times about it, after all."
" Michiru?" the tall woman asked hesitantly a few
minutes later as they waited at a stop light. Her voice
was unusual; a soft, tentative tone that made Michiru
realize how much something was affecting her. " Next time,
I want to be the good cop. I don't want them to get to set
in their feelings about me. I do care about them and how
they feel."
" Haruka!" she gently laughed, despite the slightly
worried look on her companion's face. " It would never
work, I'm afraid. It would absolutely ruin my own
reputation for being the sweet, gentle and cultured
one.
" Besides, who's going to believe that I would
hit them?"
End - Prologue.
************************************************
The End of the Beginning.
" Here you go, Hotaru-chan," the young woman said,
setting down the tray that held two cups of steaming
Oolong tea. Ami waited for her to take one, and then
picked up the other and gently blew across the surface
to cool it a bit, enjoying the initial feel of the warmth
of the tea through the ceramic cup.
" Thank you, Ami-chan," she replied to the blue
haired girl with a polite smile. " I still don't know
why you need to keep on doing this, though."
" I do it for almost all of us, Hotaru-chan," she
explained. " We're not precisely the same as everyone
else, and I need to keep the records in case we ever
need the medical information."
" You said almost back there," the raven-haired
girl said, seizing a potential opportunity with a quick
smile. " What would it take to be 'almost'?"
Ami laughed in response, taking a sip of tea
before putting it down and opening her computer. She
tapped a few keys and handed it over to the other
young woman.
" Hit ENTER, and you'll see what I mean."
Hotaru did, and watched the computer flash up a
warning and beep at her in an almost annoyed tone.
< REQUEST SCAN OF SUBJECT: MEIOU, SETSUNA >
< REQUEST DENIED >
< PLEASE ENTER PASSWORD FROM SUBJECT TO CONTINUE >
" It did that to me anytime I tried to get a recording
of anything about her," Ami admitted, blushing. " Trust me,
I tried. I started keeping a medical file on each of us right
after Usagi-chan and I first met Rei-chan. Setsuna-san
thought it was a good idea, but wouldn't talk to me about
why my computer says that every time I tried to scan her."
" I miss her," the other young woman admitted with a
sigh.
" We all do, Hotaru-chan," Ami said, putting a
reassuring hand over one of the other girl's. " There
still hasn't been any sign?"
" No. The financial people keep on getting
instructions that they say are hers. It's good advice
as well."
" That's too bad," Ami responded a few moments
later. " Chibi-usa still hasn't gotten over finding out
that the time keys can work without her. She was certain
that when she got called to return to the future that Pluto
was back."
" I know, Ami-chan," she said flatly. " Chibi-usa-chan
will be back in a few days, too, and her heart will break
if there still isn't any sign of her. What do you need me
to do for this, anyway?"
" Well," Ami started, looking around the sitting
room of the penthouse suite in one of the three towers
that overlooked the large, tree-filled park that marked
the remains of the Infinity Academy. " We should go into
your room. It will be a lot more private there."
" We're on the top floor of the tallest building
for kilometers around," Hotaru laughed. She stood up and
slipped the plain black dress she wore over her head. " The
only people who could possible see me would need to be in
a helicopter, Ami-chan."
Ami giggled nervously, blushed and took a drink of
tea. " I guess you're right, but you'll need to take
everything off, Hotaru-chan. You may have stopped growing
again, and I need to have the most accurate information
possible. You're still a unique case."
" All right," Hotaru replied, managing a small
grin. " At least you won't try and make me wear one of
those silly paper robes like my regular doctor will."
She finished undressing as Ami resolutely kept her
eyes on her computer screen and began typing, her many
years of experience offsetting the difficulty of using
the small keyboard. The scanners were already working,
compiling another set of statistics in the memory, and
she pulled up a window with the summary of the last scan
she had of Hotaru from three months ago.
" I'm a little surprised that this bothers you,
Ami-chan," she said, startling the other girl, and then
risked a mischievous smile. " Don't you want to be a
doctor?"
" Well," Ami blushed again and took the
defensive. " We don't have the normal doctor and patient
relationship that the medical programs train you for, so
it does seem a little strange."
" I'm sorry, then," she replied. " I was never
really modest after the accident. After the first few
dozen doctors prod you for a while, you don't care about
it anymore."
Ami hazarded a glance at her. " You don't even
look like it ever happened."
" I look that way now," Hotaru replied, referring
to the accident twelve years ago where her mother was
killed and she was fatally injured. It was only by the
bargain her father made by selling his soul to Pharaoh
Ninety that she survived the explosion in the laboratory.
" Before, most of my major joints were artificial,
or held together by lots of plastic and metal. Most of the
larger bones were broken and had pins in them. I used to
set off the detectors at the airport when we went to the
orthopedic clinic in Los Angeles for the second and third
operations. I wore those body suits all the time when we
first met because the scarring was so bad after all the
surgeries."
Ami started to express her condolences when her
computer beeped at her.
" This is sickening," she muttered. " I think you
look like you're about sixteen or seventeen, but in the
past three months you've put on another twelve centimeters.
You're already taller than I am, and I don't think you've
stopped yet."
" Yes!" the girl exulted, and then reigned in her
excitement. " I'm sorry, Ami-chan. It's just that I've
always been the shortest one and Michiru and Haruka are
so tall. I didn't mean anything by it."
" That's all right," she responded. " You just
might catch Michiru at this rate. Can you keep a secret?"
Hotaru nodded, picked up her underwear and glanced
at Ami, who nodded in reply before continuing. " Usagi
has been wearing heels a lot more recently, and I've
taken to wearing flats most of the time so she won't
notice. She's the shortest of us now by a total of two
millimeters."
" You didn't tell her?" Hotaru asked as she began
to dress.
" No," was the reply as Ami set up a new program
and started it. " It isn't as important to me as it is
to her. I had gotten just a little bit taller than her
a while back, and then she caught up and passed me. She
knows that I'm almost her height, but not that I've
surpassed it. Would you please change into Sailor Saturn
now?"
Astonishment and surprise filled her voice a few
moments later after Hotaru complied with her request,
a scepter appearing in her hands and a cascade of purple
light falling on her from the ceiling.
" Would you change back and forth a few times?" Ami
asked, getting a puzzled look on her face. Hotaru did
as asked, wondering what was wrong.
" Well?"
" That's really strange," Ami said a few minutes
later. " You didn't gain in height or weight when you
changed."
" What?"
Ami took a deep breath and leaned back in her seat,
motioning for the other girl to join her. Hotaru did so
after changing back. " Perhaps you didn't notice it
because you've still been growing so much over a relatively
short period of time, but we all got a little bigger after
we first became Senshi. It wasn't much, only about a
centimeter or so and a kilo or two, but we all changed
after our first transformation."
" Mine wasn't really normal, I guess," Hotaru
admitted, shrugging. " Not with someone else controlling
my body at the time."
" We don't really know why it happened," Ami
continued. " It may be part of why we're different
from normal people. As Senshi, we're somewhat stronger,
faster, and so on. The extra height and weight might
just be the changes to our skeletal structure and
musculature that enables us to do that."
" That must have been fun dealing with," she
quipped. " I guess it was time for a new wardrobe, huh?"
" You don't know just how much fun it was," Ami
dryly replied. " Ever wear a bra that was just a little
too small?"
Hotaru winced at the thought, causing Ami to
laugh at her reaction before going back to her
explanation. " When I first became Mercury, I was
about a total of two centimeters taller than I had been
a week before that. I had been measured for a physical
as part of my transfer to another new school, so I knew
my height quite well. The rest of us had pretty much the
same results. We all gained a little bit permanently, and
a little more on top of that when we transform.
" I'm one of the least noticeable ones, with Mako-chan
and Haruka-san being at the other end of the spectrum.
They're physically a lot stronger than I am, though, so
that could be part of the reason."
Hotaru went pale at the pleased look that came over
Ami's face after that statement and unconsciously leaned
away from her on the couch.
" Hotaru-chan," Ami sweetly asked. " You do have
a private gym on this floor, don't you?"
" Yes," she nervously replied.
" That's wonderful," Ami almost purred, rising
to her feet. " I was looking for something to occupy
my mind today, and I just realized that you gave me a
new puzzle to try and figure out. I want to get some
idea of how strong you are now and when you're Sailor
Saturn, among a few things. Treadmills and weights to
begin with, I believe.
" I may have had a problem acting like a doctor a
few moments ago, but I'm great at being a research
scientist."
************************************************
The conditions that night were some of the nicest
she had seen in a long time, and she was glad that he had
asked her to accompany him this evening. She slipped from
one shadow to another, carefully avoiding making a sound.
There was only a little bit of light from the stars right
now, so it was a nice change of pace. The hunting in the
park near Usagi's didn't have nearly the challenge that
this place had, and the artificial lights made it so
easy some times.
A gleam of silver ahead of her was Artemis doing
much the same as she, although he had gotten to be
slightly better than her at night work. His coat made
him use more care and skill in planning his approach.
She had realized that she had gotten sloppy one time
they were playing hide and seek a few months ago to
keep their skills honed.
Despite her coloring giving her a distinct advantage
at night, she had been spotted more times than he and had
been the loser that evening. That was why they were now
prowling the slopes of the hill by the shrine. The thick
undergrowth was a natural haven for their prey and would
give her many opportunities to practice.
He had stopped and was slightly tensed. She saw
his ears twitch forward, indicating he had spotted
something. Automatically, she swung out to circle
around on his right and get herself in position. She
was the one who needed the practice here, and he
understood that.
Whatever it was, it had no idea that she was
here. The rustling continued as she crept forward. She
stepped over a dry twig, and carefully avoided some
brittle leaves until she was in the position she
desired. Mouse, she realized, catching the scent as
the breeze swung a little more towards her.
It only took a few more minutes. She had the
patience that a regular cat couldn't match and her prey
soon moved in closer to her. The mouse couldn't see her
in the dim light and she wasn't moving. The kill was
almost anti-climactic.
" Good stalk," he said as he walked up to her. She
shrugged and let the mouse go. It sat in shock for a few
moments before scampering away into a tuft of grass. They
both tensed instinctively, preparing for the chase, and
then smiled at their reactions.
" It wasn't much of a challenge," she sniffed and
examined one of her paws.
" It should never be a challenge," he replied,
sitting down next to her. " Your instincts are still
there, Luna. You're just out of practice."
" You would be if you had my job," she added
somewhat defensively. He flinched slightly at that,
and she realized what she had implied. " I'm sorry,
Artemis. I didn't mean... it's just that she's still
so much work for me."
" I know," he sighed and leaned against her a
little bit. " I have a lot more free time now, and
some nights it is very nice to be able to let instincts
take over for a while and not have to remember."
" I know," she whispered. " I miss that, too."
" I told you I could take some of your nights for
you."
" I... she's still such a handful that I really
wouldn't feel right doing that. Sometimes I feel that
she'll never grow up."
" You've done a good job, dear," he added and
began to groom her behind the ears, right where he knew
she liked it. " Usagi is a light that only shines in the
darkest hours."
" And to think that I wondered just where Minako-chan
came up with all that horrible dialogue that Usagi-chan
copied," Luna teased him before getting serious. " She's
having a tougher time accepting it right now. Usagi has
been very upset ever since Minako-chan saw her changing.
She almost tried using the crystal last night to bring
her back."
" Baka," he growled softly. He got up and began
to walk up towards the top of the hill. " I could have
told her that it won't work."
" Artemis," she called out in a shocked voice
as she followed him. " You mean to tell me that-"
" What would you expect?" he whispered so quietly
she almost didn't hear what he said. She could, however,
easily feel the pain in his voice. " Yes, I tried to
reach her mind. She was as much my daughter as Diana
will ever be. She was my friend, Luna.
" I snuck in to see her the first night and almost
put my entire soul into her in an effort to find out what
happened. I still couldn't find her. I've done the same
thing every couple of months on the hope that we've
somehow gotten lucky.
" That girl looks like her and smells like her,
but we still can't prove that it is the Minako we knew.
There's no sign of Minako. I can't even find any sign of
Venus anymore."
" Oh, no!" she exclaimed. " Artemis, I'm so sorry.
Why didn't you tell us?"
He sighed as they reached the actual grounds of
the shrine but didn't answer her right away. Phobos and
Deimos didn't even stir from their perch as the cats
walked by them after climbing a tree en route to a warm
spot on the roof near the chimney. It was only after
they had curled up in a ball together that he went on.
" I may have been wrong, Luna, and I couldn't...
couldn't bring myself to break her heart like that."
" That's true. It has been tough enough for Usagi
with Minako-chan being gone, let alone the chance that
it might be permanent, " she replied, remembering the
scene on the chartered Learjet after Usagi had been seen
off by Minako's parents. Usagi, along with Michiru, Haruka
and the two cats were supposed to be going to Europe to
see the girl who was being hired to be Minako's double
on the volleyball tour. The strain of having to imitate
Minako and deal with her parents left Usagi so
emotionally drained that she had collapsed as soon
as the doors closed.
Michiru took her into her arms and got her onto
the plane's couch. Usagi wasn't wailing like she usually
did when she cried. This was a quiet sobbing that just
wouldn't stop until she fell asleep a few hours later.
The two women diverted the plane to Okinawa and took
Usagi to a private resort for some time to recover and
regroup. The two cats, along with Haruka, flew back
later that night in order to bring Mamoru to Usagi. She
also took the opportunity to do a light mind-touch on
Usagi's family so they wouldn't miss her for a few weeks
since the black cat was the most familiar with them.
" Her mother would be proud of her," he added a
few moments later. " I think that we've done a good job."
" I think so, too," she replied before resting
her head on him and closing her eyes for a brief
catnap. He was only too glad to join her, and for some
time the only sounds were the branches rustling in the
light breeze.
***********************************************
A small noise woke the child up in the darkness of
the early morning. She stirred and looked up before
breaking into a grin as she recognized the visitor. The
child didn't make a sound, though. She had learned that
the other one would leave if she began to cry out. The
mark on her forehead began to softly glow, giving
everything in the room a pale, golden tint that matched
the child's hair.
" That's very good, little one," the woman whispered,
picked up the child and made her way to a seat on the sofa
by the window. A hand was gently laid over the glowing
sigil as another appeared in response, glowing in a
luminescent violet on the woman's head. The child's
faded after a few minutes.
" You're not needed right now, sweetheart. Rest
while you can."
She always liked this view from this particular
house. The city lights and the darkness of Tokyo Bay
were a wonderful contrast and she used to spend a lot
of time here just looking at them. This was even better
now, she admitted to herself. It had been so long since
she had been able to do this.
The others were like her children in some ways, or
her younger sisters in an extended family. She had helped
raise almost all of them over the years, even the one she
now held. She had long since lost track of how many hours
had been spent like this in the early mornings of the past
in the castle on the moon, holding one of them and looking
up at the blue orb that loomed above them.
Her voice wasn't used to singing this softly and
threatened to break a few times, but she quietly crooned
a lullaby that hadn't been heard for over a thousand
years. The last time she had sang other than this was one
time just after meeting the first of the others here, when
she had walked in on them while they were playing music
together. She knew the words, of course. It was her help
that enabled the composer to finish the piece all those
years ago.
The other two had been startled, but continued
playing as she took over the role of the singer from
Haruka, and put her heart into it as a remembrance of
the glories that she had seen go by and the brilliance
of a young prodigy. They almost applauded as she finished,
but that would have spoiled the moment. They also wanted
her to continue performing with them, but she had
declined the invitation.
Her song tonight had the same effect on the
girl that it did in a previous life, and the child
was asleep in a few minutes. The woman was almost
surprised that she remembered the lullaby since it
had been so long ago. In a way, the others had it
easier. They didn't have to live through everything
like she had to, but had simply slept through a
thousand years.
No, they had it much easier, and on some days the
load was harder for her to bear than on others. The years
weighed heavily on her right now, and two lines of tears
silently made their way down her face.
The faintest of pressures on her shoulder made her
look up in surprise. The translucent form of a woman
stood before her. She had long, golden hair that reached
to her waist, a fuku of white and orange with a blue bow,
and her eyes were very sad, but also sympathetic. This
ghost knew something of her pain, she realized, and she
stood to properly greet her.
A thought silently changed her clothes to match
the style of the other's, a matching fuku but in a
black that seemed to absorb the light where the spirit
was in glowing orange. She nodded once, silently. Words
were not necessary.
Another figure appeared in the room. She was also
not fully there; a diaphanous, young woman who was just
a little shorter than the first apparition. She had
short, shoulder length black hair and her clothes
matched the others, but in purple with dark red ribbons.
The newcomer came over and embraced the woman,
melting into nothingness as she did so. She should have
been sad at her departure, but was refreshed in spirit.
The other one stepped forward as well. An insubstantial
hand stroked the child's hair once, and then she felt
the comfort that the embrace should have brought as
the image dissolved at her touch.
She wasn't alone, she realized, her mood brightening
somewhat. They did remember her, and understood her duty
and the demands it made on her.
" Thank you," she softly spoke and put the child
back into the crib. The blankets were carefully tucked
back in and she gave her a soft kiss on her forehead
before standing up straight. A staff appeared in her
hand, the gem at the top glowing a soft red, and she
vanished just before the door opened to admit a sleepy
young woman who stifled a yawn as she went in to check
on the child.
Her hair bobbed around her neck as she bent over
the crib, it's black color and cut an exact copy of that
of one of the spirits who had been in the room a few
moments before. The young woman yawned again and went
back to bed, still trying to figure out what had awoken
her a few moments ago if the child was asleep.
**********************************************
The calm night at the shrine didn't last long. The
crows started screeching at the same time the cats both
heard a fearful cry ring out from inside the shrine
building.
" Rei!" Luna called out, realizing that the voice
was too high pitched to be either of the men there. Two
lights came on downstairs and they could hear a pair of
footsteps going up the stairs. Artemis was in motion
already, scampering around the rooftop until he was
outside of Rei's window. Luna was right behind him.
They could see the door inside burst open as
Yuuichiro came through with Rei's grandfather in hot
pursuit. The girl herself was sitting upright in bed
with the covers tangled around her legs and waist. They
found that her eyes were wide and unblinking when the
older man threw the light switch.
" Rei-chan!" Yuuichiro called out to her and gently
shook her by the shoulders. His intentions were good, but
it still didn't prevent her grandfather from pitching him
out the door for approaching her in such a state of
relative undress.
" Make some tea, son," he called out over his
shoulder, flashing a brief smile of gratitude at the
younger man to let him know he wasn't in the wrong for
what he had done. They could see that while the priest
was concerned, he wasn't in a state of panic.
" Rei-chan," he softly called to her in a soothing
tone of voice. His hands pressed against the sides of
her head at the temple while he intoned a low chant
that reminded the cats of the mantra the girl used
with her wards. The girl shuddered and relaxed,
slumping against him for support.
" Thank you, ojii-san," she said a few minutes
later.
" A vision?" he asked. " You came out of the
dream in a trance state."
" Another vision," she admitted. A knock at the
door kept her from saying anything more. She
straightened the sheets and pulled them up around
her chest as he got up to open the door. Yuuichiro
came in with the tea and a look of concern on his
face that was mirrored on the two outside.
" Are you all right, Rei-san?" he asked, his
concerns and the presence of the priest making him
use a more respectful form of addressing her. She
nodded at him and gave him a warm smile when he handed
her the tea.
" Could we talk about it in the morning?" she
asked before her grandfather could ask her to explain
what she had seen. " I want... I need to meditate and
clear my mind before I start to forget anything about it."
" I'll go tend to the fire," Yuuichiro said,
moving to leave. Her grandfather nodded his agreement,
but she could see his concern. He turned down the
corridor and the younger man began to close the door.
" Thank you, Yuu-chan," she softly said, getting
a smile back from him. The door finished closing and
she heard a muffled cry from the hallway, and her
grandfather beginning one of his tirades about the
boy being too familiar with his granddaughter as
they went down the stairs. He did tend to be very
conservative in regards to their dating and their
relationship, but she also knew that he was hiding
a smile behind his mustache. The priest had gotten
fond of the young man over the years.
The scratching at the window roused her. She
opened it, and was rather surprised when two cats
jumped in instead of the birds she had expected. Artemis
blushed and politely turned away from her. Luna
affectionately smacked him in the back of the head
and muttered something about his being a peeping tom
while Rei blushed as well. She slid on a robe and tied
the sash before sitting back down on the bed.
" Are you all right, Rei-chan," Luna quietly
asked. " What's this about visions?"
" I had the first one about two months ago," she
admitted. " I'd wake up and have this grave sense of
foreboding, but I couldn't remember seeing the cause."
" And it was worse tonight?" Artemis ventured. The
girl nodded before taking a drink of the tea. She held
up a hand to them and spent a few minutes composing her
thoughts before continuing.
" We've been studying astronomy in my science
class at school. The sun is supposed to eventually cool
off for a long time before partially collapsing and going
nova. It will blow off most of it's outer layers a few
billion years from now. This will destroy most of the
inner planets, by the way," she nervously added, grimacing
despite trying to smile and make it a joke.
" It didn't happen in the future like it was
supposed to in my dream. It was happening now. The final
winter came. Everything was freezing, and we... we all
died."
************************************************
" Thanks for waiting, Usagi-chan," she said, still
slightly out of breath from running to the recently
opened cafe from the bus stop.
" It was no problem," she replied as she looked
up from the cup of Darjeeling tea she was nursing
along. " I'm glad you could make it today."
Naru smiled as she sat down in the other seat
of the corner booth, marveling at the changes she had
seen over the past year and a half. While she had only
been about ten minutes late, the Usagi she used to know
would have had the table covered with empty ice cream
soda glasses by now, or some other calorie-laden
concoction.
" You know, she admitted, glancing around to
make sure that none of the other patrons of the cafe
could hear them. " It is kind of ironic that you chose
this place to meet today."
" Huh?" she blurted as a confused look came
across her face.
" It is called Cafe Luna, silly," Naru smiled,
her blue eyes sparkling in the sunlight. Usagi blushed
in relief before she could prevent it, and then felt
a little pang of loss at seeing the green bow holding
back Naru's reddish-brown hair. She recalled a similar
red one that someone else used to wear who also had
blue eyes and smiled a lot.
" Why do you say that?" she asked, still hoping
that the conversation wouldn't go in a certain way.
Sometimes, she had this eerie feeling that Naru knew
more than she was letting on. It wasn't entirely
explained by the fact that her boyfriend was the vital
cog in the rumor mill, either.
" Your cat," she commented, and Usagi breathed a
sigh of relief.
" Any word from that college?" she asked, hoping
to change the subject.
" That's part of what I wanted to talk to you
about," Naru began, pouring herself a cup of tea and
browsing through the menu for a moment, and then
catching the waiter's eye so they could place their
orders.
" We got our acceptance letters from Nekomi Tech
yesterday, although it is still conditional on our
finishing high school, if you want to call going in
just for homeroom every morning the equivalent of high
school."
" Naru!" she gasped, feeling happy for her
friend. " I'm so glad for you! You both really wanted
to go to the same university, and he's had that one in
mind since grade school."
" I know," the brunette smiled back. " The extra
credits we got from taking the summer classes allowed
us to finish most of our schooling and take the
entrance exams a semester early. I put in for their
business program so I can help my mom, and Umino is
going for the computer courses.
" We met this really nice exchange student when
we toured the campus last week, and she and Umino got
along really well. They were speaking in Greek, for all
I knew while they talked about computers and stuff, but
he thinks that we'll do well there. Can you believe that
the auto club already is already trying to get him to
sign up with them to help computerize their latest
project?"
" He doesn't even have a driver's license yet," she
protested, heartily laughing all the while. " I'm glad
that you got accepted, but I'm going to really miss you.
Nekomi is on the other side of Tokyo, and you've already
said that you want to move into a place near the
university you went to."
" I know, Usagi-chan. We won't be able to see
each other as much for a little while, but you're going
to be awfully busy yourself. You still have the last
semester to finish up and your entrance exams to take.
You're going to be eighteen in a few months and you
need to get some idea of what school you want to go
to."
" I need to make it through this one first," she
moaned. " Haruna-sensei has finally gotten over her
surprise at the change in my grades and is getting her
revenge for the principal assigning her to every class
as I progressed to it."
" The other teachers were afraid of you,
Usagi-chan," Naru giggled. " Haruna-sensei is just
paying the price for complaining about you so much to
the other teachers."
" She'll be the end of me!" they both intoned in
unison in a near-perfect imitation of the teacher they
had in their first two years of high school before
breaking into easy laughter together. The waiter came
by at that time to drop off their meals, and they were
quiet for a few minutes as they began to eat.
" Thank you," Naru said suddenly after releasing
a deep sigh. " I've been a nervous wreck trying to
figure out how to approach you on it, but I did want
to thank you."
" Excuse me?"
" Usagi," she began, clearly not using the -chan
suffix she always used when talking to her in order to
emphasize the seriousness of what she was about to say
and the closeness of their relationship. " I know,
Usagi. I've known for quite some time about who you
also are."
" Naru-chan," she stammered, letting her fork slip
from her fingers and clearly at a loss for words. Naru
reached out and took Usagi's hands in her own.
" I used to be mad about what happened, and that
you didn't tell me. We've been the best of friends since
the third grade, and then everything changed after you
got Luna almost four years ago. Suddenly, you didn't have
the time for me, it seemed. You had a bunch of new
friends, and I figured that was the end of it. People
sometimes just drift apart as life goes on.
" Then, out of the blue, you wanted back into my
life like everything was back to the way it used to be.
That went on for nearly a half a year, and then you're
gone again and running around with Ami-chan and
Mako-chan. The funny thing was that you had been so
close so suddenly, and all three of you seemed to have
forgotten about each other at the same time, and then
remembered about your previous friendship at the same
time."
She held up a hand to forestall Usagi's protests
and took a sip of water.
" It finally clicked, Usagi. I don't know why it
took so long, but I suddenly realized what was going
on with you a couple of years ago, and then I realized
the truth about the rest of them once I thought about
it for a little while. Wherever you were, she would
show up."
" I'm sorry, Naru-chan. I don't know what to say."
" I won't tell anyone, Usagi," she went on with a
little smile. " Not even Umino. I realize how much you've
had to do to protect so many people as well as us, and I
don't hold it against you for not telling me. I'm just
glad that you've taken the time over the last two years
to spend some more time with me, and to not just let
our friendship die. It really means a lot to me, although
I wish you would let me help you with what's been
bothering you so much the last week. I know you well
enough to see that you're hiding something."
" In for a penny," she sighed heavily, and fished
her wallet out of her purse. She flipped it open, took
out a picture and handed it over to Naru. " Do you
remember Minako-chan?"
" Yes," she said, looking at the picture of the
little girl. " She went to Europe to go to school, didn't
she? This is the baby that Michiru-san and Haruka-san
adopted, though."
" No," she forced the words out past the
pain. " That's not right. She died almost two years
ago, Naru-chan. She gave up her life to save mine. We
think she was reborn as that child, but we don't have
any way of knowing for certain."
" Usagi-" she began, slipping around in the booth
and putting a comforting arm around her friend.
" That's not all, though," she interrupted and
sniffled, trying to hold back the tears that were welling
in her eyes. " She's really bright and quickly learned all
of our names. She saw me transform one day last week. I
wasn't thinking and did it in front of her. Now, she's
changed in how she acts towards me. I was her favorite
one, and now she doesn't even remember my name anymore."
A sob finally escaped from her as she began to
tremble. " She calls me Serenity."
Naru blinked in confusion, not knowing what Usagi
was referring to, but the pain her friend was feeling was
obvious. She gathered her into her arms to console her,
and held Usagi while she half-heartedly tried to pull away.
" No... can't cry," Usagi managed between the sobs
she was trying to suppress. " I have to be strong. She
gave me another chance and I have to be strong this time."
" Silly girl," Naru gently scolded her as the dam
broke and the tears began to roll down her face. She
pulled her head down onto her shoulder and patted her
gently on the back. " You can't hold everything in like
that, Usagi-chan. Just let it out, and then we can talk
about it. We've got plenty of time, and you can tell me
all about it."
************************************************
The bell rang, signaling the end of classes for
the day and causing a stampede for the doors. What she
would do next was mainly done just to annoy Sister
Agnes. The old nun had been a monster towards all of
them recently, and she just couldn't take it anymore.
Her locker was just outside the room that the
old prune taught in during the last period, and she
also knew that the teacher would be just beyond the
doors to the walkway outside right now, trying to get
the other girls to behave in a more dignified fashion.
Fat chance of that on a Friday afternoon in early April
when the sun was in the sky, boyfriends were out there
to be found and a vacation loomed ahead.
Fishing the denim shorts out of her locker, she
slid them on underneath her skirt and stepped out of
the lower half of the uniform of Thomas Aquinas school
for girls. Her top came off next, revealing the T-shirt
she wore underneath it to combat the overachieving
air-conditioner in the new building that nearly made
her last two classes the equivalent of a winter
wonderland.
She didn't like the cold in that building and
dressed accordingly, all the while considering throwing
a curse on the ancestors of whichever dirty old priest
came up with the school uniform. Being forced to wear
a short skirt in winter wasn't easy, not when you
preferred the heat of summer. The spring weather was
the most variable, however. It would be warm outside,
freezing inside and difficult to adjust to the change.
The garments went into her backpack along with the
uniform shoes. She stepped into her sneakers and ran out
the doors, passing the old nun in a blink of an eye.
" Good-bye, Sister Agnes!" she called out cheerfully,
scandalizing her teacher and sending her into a fit of
spluttering about the degradation of morals in this age
and what a proper young lady should be wearing. She
herself was far too respectful of other religions to
insult them, but nothing in the Shinto precepts taught
to her by her grandfather said anything about poking a
little fun at a fractious old nun who thought that the
ideal career for her students was joining a nunnery.
Some of the other girls there had a good laugh at
the expense of the teacher as Rei
continued running out the gates and down the low
hill. Her conditioning let her keep up the brisk pace
and to just make it past St. Andrew's before the bell
rang there. She liked the attention from the boys there
at her school's affiliate, but she wasn't in the mood
right now to fend off some of her ardent admirers. By
the time the boys got out of class and off the school
grounds she was two blocks away and around a corner.
Assured of having a peaceful time the rest of the
way home, she slowed her pace to a steady walk and window
shopped at a few of her favorite stores as she went by. Her
wardrobe needed a few new things, anyway, and she liked to
get out and see the displays of the new merchandise. She
hadn't the opportunity to do much of that recently.
A number of things had made her very busy recently.
She had taken one of the preparatory classes for her
university entrance exams despite Ami's offer of help. Ami
was a wonderful friend but wouldn't be as hard on her as
she needed someone to be at times.
Things were also looking up between her and
Yuuichiro. Somewhere, the ice had broken between them.
She didn't know when or where it had occurred. Their
relationship was also a slow one to develop. It wasn't
easy going from being friends with someone to becoming
lovers, which was what it seemed to be heading towards.
Between these things and her duties as a Senshi,
she had been very busy, indeed, but she decided that
she felt good enough today to take a little detour. Going
through the mall up ahead would add a few blocks to her
trip, but she didn't mind. The shop would be open.
The mall she turned into was an old one and an old
design. The newer malls were practically glass enclosed
cities with wide streets. This one was open to the sky
and almost narrow, and it only covered the distance
between the two streets. Some food vendors had set up
carts, resulting in a delicious smell and an almost
tangible warmth that the new malls lacked. The shops
and their customers had been here for a long time in
most cases, and she simply liked it better here.
She darted into one shop and poked her head around
the corner into another. The proprietor of the one she
was in smiled at the game that was played out about once
every two weeks. The clerk at the music store was helping
some grungy looking guys in the drum section, so she
slipped around the corner, went in and sat down at the
bench of the organ by the entrance.
The functions of the switches had already been
memorized, and her fingers flew over the two banks above
the twin keyboard. They pressed down a few keys and lifted
several others. The organ hummed a little as it warmed up,
and then the thunderous opening of the movement filled up
the store. Even the rockers turned, impressed by the power
of the piece despite it's classical origin, and listened
until she had finished.
" That was excellent work," said an older man who
had come out of the office in the back of the store as
she played. " It will, however, take more that cutting
off several opening bars or so of that one to fool me,
my dear.
" That was from Gustav's 'The Planets', but your
selection surprises me. You're more of a Jupiter to me.
The bringer of jollity, you lighten up my store every
time you show up, Miss Hino."
" Jupiter?" she echoed in surprise as she powered
down the organ and reset the controls. Then she laughed
aloud. " No, I'm not a Jupiter."
" Neptune the mystic, perhaps, but anything other
than the bringer of war," he smiled back. " I'm sure that
Holst never had you in mind when he wrote that work."
" I can only hope to be like Neptune," she
cryptically responded and then laughed again, shaking
off the sudden somber look that came into her eyes. " I'm
clearly and definitely Mars, I'm afraid."
" Well, Miss Mars," he said as he extended a hand
to help her to her feet. " Are you going to be able to
get yourself that birthday present you want so much?"
" I'm close, but not that close. I only have a few
weeks until the birthday comes around and I'm about two
months away from saving up for the piano."
" That's too bad, then. I know how much you want
that one we have."
" Yes," she admitted, looking in the direction of
the upright. She had been saving up for it for over a
year now. While it would have only taken a word to some
of her friends to obtain it, she wanted to get it on her
own.
The mirrors at the back of the store behind the piano
revealed something that made her face go pale. She spun
just in time to see a cascade of auburn hair move out of
her line of sight and then she was already on her way to
the door. The owner of that hair had been in the doorway
when she glanced in the mirror.
" I'm sorry, Mr. Tomino," she called out over her
shoulder. " I just saw someone I needed to talk to. I'll
be back in here soon!"
It only took her a few moments to reach the walkway
and begin to run in the direction the other woman had
taken. The walkway was virtually empty with the exception
of the sidewalk area about fifty meters away. The only
ones near her a mother and her two young children. She
slowed to a stop.
A loud sigh escaped her lips as she blankly walked
towards the street in order to have a look around even
though she knew that she wouldn't see her there. The wall
to her right got an accusing stare from her.
Ghosts were supposed to be able to go through
walls, and she had seen a ghost a few moments ago. It
had been nearly two years since anyone had seen that
girl who was in the mirror. A whisper escaped her
without really being noticed.
" Hamaji."
***********************************************
" Do you feel it, too?"
Haruka looked up as a shadow fell across her. She
shivered despite the fact that it was a pleasant morning
and she was wearing a shirt and slacks.
" Yes."
" The seas are troubled, Haruka," Michiru said as
she sat down next to her on the towel. Michiru had
wanted to go swimming in the ocean in order to clear
her mind, so they had driven to this resort late last
night. They only had gotten a few hours of sleep but
they were used to that. Neither of them needed as much
as a normal person, and they had the beach to
themselves at this early hour.
" Just like the wind," the blonde added, glancing
up. The sun was just rising over the horizon and colored
the clouds in tones of orange. " It looks calm, but you
can feel the tension building."
" Something is going to happen today," Michiru
replied and began to dry her hair with her towel.
" Do you still like my hands?" Haruka grinned,
catching Michiru's and gathering her into an embrace.
The other woman laughed gently and let herself get
pulled down onto her partner. The white one-piece she
wore was still wet and left some damp marks on Haruka's
shirt.
" Yes, I still like your hands," she murmured,
squeezing them and remembering that day when they had
felt this way before. To their surprise, it turned out
that they actually had the talismans that they had been
looking for. Neither had realized it because the
artifacts were supposed to be in the possession of
a person with a pure heart. Haruka had said that
particular morning that she thought her hands were
dirty, a metaphor for all the things that she had
done that she felt would have made her unable to have
the talisman..
" I like your heart, too," she added, leaning
over to briefly kiss Haruka. " We'd best be going,
then. I told Makoto that we'd be at her place by nine
to pick up Minako-chan."
" Nine?" she protested, grinning. " That doesn't
leave me much time to drive all the way back to Tokyo if
you take the hour you usually do getting ready. You must
have a lot of faith in my driving."
" I'm the passenger, aren't I?" she quipped, getting
to her feet and helping Haruka to hers. They walked up
the beach and back to the inn with their arms around
each other.
***********************************************
" That's really weird," she agreed with Usagi as
they walked through the park. The morning sun made her
squint a little bit but didn't seem to be bothering the
blonde. It was probably because Usagi still wasn't used
to being up so early on a Saturday morning.
" I know, Mako-chan. Wouldn't you think it was
strange to see someone who died nearly two years ago?"
" She didn't die," she commented as she stopped
to see if there was some way to put down the cover of
the stroller to shield Minako's eyes against the bright
light. She shouldn't have even bothered because the child
was still asleep. " Rei-chan said that she disappeared
without a trace. What I don't like is the day it
happened."
Usagi's face fell for a moment at the reminder
of that day in June nearly two years ago. She wasn't
the only one who had died. Makoto had been among the
vanquished. The child in the stroller was possibly the
only reason that they were alive this day.
" Rei feels that it's related to us somehow," she
explained. " The fire didn't tell her anything conclusive,
though."
" I hate this part," the taller young woman growled,
smacking the fist of her right hand into the palm of her
left in frustration. " I hate knowing that something is
going to happen, and not knowing what."
" Mako-chan," she said as she saw the look on her
friend's face. She pulled her over to a bench that was
shaded by a tree and sat her down. " Maybe it will just
be another golem."
" I hope so," she suddenly grinned. " I could
really stand taking out some aggressions out on one of
them. They're not bright but they are resistant to
damage."
They laughed together at her joke and relaxed
for a few minutes. The child stirred in her sleep and
the brunette looked in on her again with a smile on her
face.
" I owe her a lot, you know,- " she began when
the blonde interrupted her.
" Would you have made the same choice that she
did?" she asked Makoto, indicating the child.
" Yes, Usagi-chan," she sighed. The other had
similar conversations with Usagi recently about the
same subject. It was only a matter of time until she
got around to asking her this question. " I don't know
how she did it, but I would have done the same."
" Why, Mako-chan?" she nearly cried out. " Why
are you all so eager to die for me?"
She threw an arm around the blonde's shoulders
and pulled her against her before going on.
" I'm not all that eager to die, Usagi-chan.
Especially not right now. Still, I wouldn't have anything
now if it wasn't for you, and the others feel the same
way. If there wasn't any other way to do it, I'd give up
my life for yours. We all would."
" Why am I so-" she began to protest when a finger
was laid across her lips, silencing her.
" Stop it, Usagi-chan," she said. " You're our
friend. It's not because you're the princess. You've
given so much to us over the years that we'd do it in
order to make sure that you're all right. We want you
to have some of the happiness that you've given us the
chance to have. You have to stop dwelling on that,
Usagi-chan.
" Enough of this, though. It's too nice today
for talk like that, and too early."
She pulled the blonde to her feet and got her
walking along the path that meandered around the lake
at the center of the park. There were a few joggers out
this early in the morning, but the crowds would only
come a little later in the day. She kept up a flow of
small talk to keep her occupied and to cheer her up
until they came to the cart of a street vendor and
bought two cups of tea.
" Now, Usagi-chan," she added after they resumed
their stroll. " Today is supposed to be a special one.
I want you to cheer up, all right?"
" All right, Mako-chan," she automatically responded,
but her eyes took a few minutes to brighten up. It was too
nice a morning to be down and her natural, sunny disposition
finally came through. " You're awfully cheerful this
morning. Did everything go all right last night with
Hiro?"
" You mean 'my hero' ?" she giggled at the play
on words and then got a wistful look on her face. " Yes,
it did, but he left this morning and won't be back until
the end of the break. His parents want him to go, and he's
close with his relatives in Nagasaki."
" So, would you call your first real date with him a
success?"
" Yes, you little matchmaker. We've seen movies
together a few times before and such, but it was our
first real date last night. I had a good time."
" That's great, Mako-chan," she exclaimed. " It
seems that running into your sempai last month was a
good thing, then."
" Oh, yes," she laughed heartily. " I was so hung
up on him that it was funny, and he made an absolute fool
of himself that day when he saw me pushing this
stroller. He was thinking that she was his child,
and started talking about marriage.
"I needed that, Usagi-chan. I was able to finally
see just how much of a fool I was to have done that to
myself over someone like him. After that, the idea of
dating other guys didn't seem to be so strange, and I
wasn't holding anyone up to a false standard that I'd
built up over the years."
" I'm really glad, Mako-chan. I'm glad you're
finally over him."
The tolling of a church bell in the distance made
the taller girl check her watch and gasp in surprise.
" I didn't realize that it was so late! I've got
to get going, Usagi-chan. The cooking part is done, but
I'll still have to assemble and pack a lot of stuff. Could
you wait here a few minutes for Michiru? I told her to
check the park first before going to my house to pick her
up."
" Certainly, Mako-chan," she agreed, nodding her
head. " Ami-chan and I need to drop by school to see the
test results, and then I'm free until twelve. I'll see
you later."
The brunette scowled at the mention of tests, but
then gave her a quick smile before running off to her
apartment. Makoto had volunteered to do a lot of work
for today and would need the time to get everything
ready.
************************************************
He glared at the book, but it still refused
to give up the secrets that it held between it's
covers. His coffee had grown cold as well. All in
all, it hadn't been a good morning.
This library had almost become his second home
over the last year and a third he had been researching.
Despite his intentions, the puzzle here had drawn him
in. He pushed himself backwards, allowing the chair to
roll back a meter from the desk. His eyes acknowledged
the size of the room and how many books he still had to
go through.
The house was in one of the very affluent
neighborhoods of Tokyo. Michiru had been the one to
discover it while going through Setsuna's records. It
was one of several houses that they didn't know of her
having and was part of a series of safe-houses. The
fact that there were two libraries had caught her eye.
Ami had been called in when they found out what
the second, smaller library had dedicated to. All of
these houses had extensive libraries that were mainly
devoted to reference materials. If you wanted to find
out just about anything, one of these libraries was
the place to go. The one in this house had been a
great deal of help to him.
The second library here was devoted to works on
magic. Michiru and Ami had tried and failed to learn
anything of substance there and had called him in. He
was the closest they had to someone who could actually
manipulate magic. The others used it, but they didn't
know how they did.
His time had been spent going through all the books
and he averaged about two to three hours a day on a
regular basis in addition to going to college. Usagi
had tried to help him at first until he gently sent her
away. She meant well, but was a distraction here.
The selection at the library covered just about
any comprehensive work in the field for the last three
hundred years. Most of the authors were fakes or
charlatans, and only a few were by writers concerned
with rational analysis of the subject. Some were
originals and some reproductions, but all of them
had one distinct drawback.
The problem was that none of them actually could
prove that magic existed, let alone use it. His
conversations with Kunzite when he started had helped
him to prove his theory about that point. That would
mean, according to logic, that none of the books could
help him to learn anything about the subject.
Unfortunately, there were enough kernels of
wisdom hidden among the chaff to make him go through
all of them. His old mentor had been able to guide
him at first, but it was getting harder to contact
him as time went on. He calculated he would only have
a few more conversations with Kunzite until he could
no longer manage to make the connection between the
living and the dead.
Kunzite's power had helped to make the contact
possible. Jadeite and Zoicite were only reachable a
few times until their stones didn't react to him anymore.
Nephrite managed an even dozen. They were only able to
cover the basics that they taught him long ago, but
anything was better than the search through the books
or waiting to remember.
The book that he was glaring at had a very obscure
section that hinted at actually having some real meaning.
He picked up his notes again and studied them, along with
consulting his database on the computer. Ami would come
by once a week and do the work involved in setting up the
cross-referenced system based on his notes that would
really yield results.
His watch chimed, reminding him of the hour. He'd
have to leave in two hours to pick up Usagi and go to the
park. He stood and stretched for a few minutes before going
over to the side of the library that held the books he had
gone through. Something was nagging at him about the book
on the desk.
Somewhere on that set of shelves was the clue he was
looking for. He was getting very close to something
important but he lacked the piece of the puzzle that would
let him get a glimpse of the total picture. All he needed
was a hint of where it was. All he wanted was something
that would prove him wrong.
His next decision was almost one of desperation. Ami
gave him an updated printout of the list of books he had
covered. Taking it out, he cut it into equal sized pages
and taped them together into a rough square. Then he
smoothed it out on top of one of the large tables in the
middle of the room and climbed up so he was sitting
cross-legged next to it.
Several minutes of steady breathing calmed his body
while his meditative exercises calmed his mind. He slipped
off the necklace he wore under his shirt. There was a ring
on it, a plain silver band set with a teardrop shaped
piece of turquoise.
The ring was the only thing that he had that
belonged to his mother in this time. He still couldn't
remember her actual face. Only the photographs came to
his mind when he tried. The ring had survived the fire
that had destroyed everything else in the car.
He was hoping that it would serve as a link to
his mother in the past. She had been rumored to have
the gift of prophecy and he was in need of some kind
of guidance. Maybe her gift had been passed on to him
somehow, and he intoned a brief prayer that it be so.
Closing his eyes, he extended the hand that held
the chain, letting the ring swing to and fro underneath
it. He started in a slow, deliberate spiral pattern that
would bring the ring over each part of the chart.
A strange feeling made him stop at one point and
set the ring down. He only opened his eyes long enough
to make a small mark on the paper with a pen before he
closed his eyes again. The chart was turned several times
at random until he had no clear idea which side was
towards him. After that, he did the same test again.
It took him ten more minutes to repeat the exercise
two more times. He'd kept his eyes closed the whole time
after making that first mark. A bead of sweat dropped from
his hair, a sign of the effort that the concentration on
the simple spell had taken from him. He
didn't yet have perfect faith in this method, but it might
be a start for him.
The marks were all on one section of one page, which
gave him a glimmer of hope that he had done the exercise
correctly. The names were familiar to him, so he took a
few of those books down at random to skim over them for
some hint of why they were indicated.
The fifth book gave him an idea and a reference to
one of the books that he hadn't read yet. He took out the
book that was mentioned and skimmed over it to acquaint
himself with the contents. He wouldn't have the time to
read it today, but a mention of a tribe of Australian
aborigines caught his eye. The practice the book said
they employed was a new one to him, so he wrote a note
to put this new book into his queue of ones to be read
and walked down the hallway to the main library.
Thick carpets muffled his footsteps as he opened
the doors and walked to the computer. It only took a
moment to boot up and give him a list of books that
had the information he desired.
The first one was an old book that was first
published in 1953. The notes on the computer mentioned
that the descriptions were accurate but that the author's
conclusions were in question in view of the decisions
reached in a more recent work. He opened it carefully
because of the old spine and almost jumped when a slip
of paper that was yellow with age fell to the floor.
Endymion-sama,
Please join me upstairs in the observation room.
I'd like to speak with you in private.
************************************************
" Hi, Ami-chan!" Usagi called out, waving at
her friend.
" Good morning," Ami cheerfully replied. " Are
you ready to see how you did?"
" I guess," the blonde grinned. " I've been a
little nervous about this one, but I think that it's
been a force of habit for so long to be worried rather
than actually being worried."
Ami laughed at the humor in her voice and started
walking with her to the bulletin board outside the school
offices. Her sandals tapped out a steady beat on the
pavement until they took a short cut across the grass.
" I'm hoping to have broken eighty percent,
Ami-chan," Usagi said after a few minutes. They would
have normally gotten the test results yesterday, but
there was some sort of delay in getting their tests
graded and the results would go up on a Saturday.
" That would be great if you did," she smiled.
Usagi had come a long way in her studies, although Ami
didn't like to think about the reasons why. This
turnaround had come in the semester following Minako's
death. Usagi was doing much better in her classes, but
her reasons for doing better were a source of worry for
Ami. She should be studying to make herself better.
" Hey," she exclaimed, eager to change the
subject. " There's your new boyfriend."
" Ami-chan!" Usagi complained. " Shino-san is
not, I repeat, not my new boyfriend."
The young man at the board turned and waved as Ami
giggled. He wore the older style of school uniform in
black with a high collar rather than the shirt and tie
that were currently preferred. He had short, black hair
and was taller than the girls, but not by too much.
The gossip said that he didn't have many friends
because of the accident. Shino Takayama had been the
only survivor of a car wreck that had killed his natural
parents. Head trauma had robbed him of his memories of
the time before he was sixteen. He could read and write,
for example, but he didn't remember going to school to
learn it. This was his second semester at their school.
Green eyes were covered with another stigma in the
minds of most of the students at the school. He wore
glasses, and while they weren't as bad as the ones like
Umino wore, they were bad enough. He was considered
different. Usagi had been one of the few to try and
befriend him. They got along well with each other and
even had some classes together.
" Hi, Shino!" Usagi called out.
" Hi, Shino-san," Ami respectfully added.
" Usagi-chan, Ami-chan, " he slightly bowed to
them, more out of respect than formality. Ami had been
one of the others that had looked beyond the gossip,
although a lot of it had been at Usagi's prompting at
first. He had even reminded Mako-chan of her sempai
for about a week. " I'm not too surprised at the
results today."
" As always, Ami-chan gets to put another notch
on her pencil case," Usagi drawled, making her friend
blush. " How'd you do, Shino?"
" The usual," he admitted. " Good in math and
science and I flopped in the arts again. I hate those
subjects. Math has one answer, not all this stuff about
how you feel and if the teacher happens to agree with
you today."
Ami stepped up to look over the lists that showed
the exams for several subjects and was joined by the
others.
" Shino-san," she said. " Second on two of the
lists isn't just good. That's great work."
" Ami-chan," he blushed slightly. " Please, don't
call me that. I'm not used to it and I'd rather my
friends didn't use it when referring to me. Besides,
my scores aren't all that great. Great would have been
beating you out for the top place."
" All right, Shino," she agreed, still looking
down the list. She had forgotten about that part. He had
been adopted by an American serviceman and his wife. Both
of his parents were fluent in English, but his father had
some troubles with Japanese. Shino had picked up his
father's unease with the honorifics being used among
friends. To him, his using the '-chan' suffix while
addressing them was a sign of their friendship." Still,
you did very well on your tests."
She knew something was up when Usagi started
getting that little smile on her face. It had started
showing up as her grades began to improve. Her eyes
finally found Usagi's scores. They were just a little
higher on the lists than she had been looking.
" Usagi!" she yelled as she grabbed and hugged
her. " An 80.2% average. You did it!"
" Congratulations," Shino said, clapping the blond
on the shoulder.
" I told you, Ami-chan," Usagi exclaimed. " I
thought I did good on those."
" She certainly did," Shino added a few moments
later and began to scan the tops of the lists again
before muttering under his breath. " Again? This is
getting silly."
" I'm sorry?" Ami asked.
" Here," he explained, pointing at the
lists. " The spots for numbers four and five are
held by the same two people again, the same ones
who have been there for just about every test this
year in every subject."
Ami and Usagi looked at the test results with a
good idea of what they would find.
4. Michiru Kaioh
5. Haruka Ten'ou
" You two know them," Shino asked. " What gives
here? I know they were a year ahead of us, but there
is no way that they were held back because of poor
grades."
They traded a quick glance that the boy missed.
" It wasn't academic problems," Usagi hastily
began. " Almost all of their school records were
destroyed when their school blew up a couple of years
ago. They were in an advanced honors program at the
Infinity Academy
" When they were going to be placed into the
regular school system, one of the administrators
expressed some misgivings about their achievements
in that advanced classes and whether they had truly
accomplished what they stated. Michiru and Haruka are
both very proud, and they demanded that they be
allowed to repeat the grade that they almost finished
if the school board had any suspicion that they didn't
properly earn it. That's why they're in our grade."
Usagi breathed a quick smile of relief as it
appeared that Shino had bought the story. Michiru and
Haruka had been in an advanced class at the Infinity
Academy that was teaching at two grades above her own,
it turned out, but they had changed their records and
forced their new school district to let them into Usagi's
grade in order to be near her.
Haruka had been adamant about that after they got
back together following the fights against the magi,
regardless of the difficulties. They didn't even seem
to mind that they were repeating old material. Since
they could easily do the homework, it gave them more
time to help take care of Minako, and allowed Hotaru
to only have to take care of the girl during school
hours.
" That was the school in the middle of that new
business district, the Mugen Delta, right? Did they
ever figure out what happened?" the boy asked.
" Gas main," she and Ami said in unison and then
blushed at their timing. That had been the most plausible
explanation for the destruction of the Infinity Academy.
" Takayama!" a deep voice yelled out suddenly,
making them jump in surprise. A group of four of the
school's baseball players were gathered around them. The
other three students there were moving away from the
coming confrontation.
" Let me guess," Ami said with a sinking feeling.
She'd been on the receiving end of their threats
before. " He ruined the grading curve for your class?"
" Hey," Kawaguchi, the oldest, added. " Guess
who's here as well. It's little Ami Mizuno."
" Good," another rumbled. " I can make sure she
regrets that perfect score in chemistry last year. I
didn't get to play because of her."
" Stop it!" Usagi yelled, springing in between
Ami and one reaching for her. He sneered at her and
shoved her back. She stumbled and fell into the wall
by bulletin board. Her head hit the wall and
everything went black.
***********************************************
He spent several minutes considering the note
itself, let alone the implications of the message. The
paper was clearly older than he was. All the time in
the library had made him into something of an expert on
old paper. It was a heavy sheet of a quality that you
just didn't get today, regardless of the expense. The
watermark was of a company that had probably gone out of
business years ago. The ink was even translucent.
The faded writing was another hint of something
being amiss. It was handwritten English, which
automatically excluded any of the Inner Senshi from
reading it. Ami might be able to decipher it given some
time or her computer, and Minako was too young. That
meant that the people who might run across the note and
understand it were either himself or the Outer Senshi.
Hotaru had gotten a good grasp of the language since
starting to learn it a year ago while Haruka and Michiru
could pass as natives of several countries.
Some other concerns were put aside as he decided
to check this out. He knew the room that the note referred
to. The house was done in a style that imitated a famous
mansion in America, even down to the small sitting room at
the highest point of the roof. He and Usagi had spent quite
a bit of time up there enjoying the view and getting very
close to doing some of the things that they had generally
agreed to wait until she turned eighteen to do again.
He checked the security system as he went to the
stairs leading up to that room and found the alarms still
enabled. That was how he had set them after coming in this
morning to start working. Taking a deep breath, he started
up the stairs and into the room at the top.
All four walls had large windows that gave a
remarkable view of the hills and the city below. There
were four chairs, two couches, one coffee table and one
occupant in the room. He stopped and silently stared in
shock despite the clues that indicated that it was her.
" Your Majesty," she greeted him, inclining her
head and making her dark green hair shimmer in the
morning sunlight. She wasn't wearing her fuku. Instead,
she was clad in a sharp looking, dark pink jacket and
long skirt with a white blouse and boots. As usual, it
looked great on her and was a good complement to her
hair and skin color. " Please, won't you be seated?"
" Setsuna," he stammered, sitting down
automatically. " We... We thought you were dead."
" I'm not," she admitted a moment later and
poured him a cup of tea from the service on a platter
on the table. " I don't even know if I can. That isn't
important, though. I need you to promise something to
me before we go any further."
" I'll try," he cautiously replied.
" Actually," she continued. " Two things. First,
you need to promise me that you won't tell any of the
others about this conversation for several days. Nobody.
Not even Usagi-chan."
" I'm sure you have your reasons and believe their
validity," he said. " I can agree with that for the
moment."
" That's good," she said and then broke into a
smile, one of the few times he had ever seen her do
it. " Now, here's the important part. I want you to
stop moping about today. Your daughter will be seeing
you today for the first time in over a year of her
time. She shouldn't see the face that you've been
wearing for the past few weeks."
" I... " he almost smiled at what she said and
the words of agreement died in his throat. He took a
drink of the tea to give him a moment to recover. Try
as he might, he couldn't keep the look of defeat off of
his face. " It's bad, Setsuna. I think I know where we
all went wrong. I pray every night that it's a mistake,
but I just can't get the idea out of my head."
She stood and walked over to take a seat next to
him. One of her hands took his in a comforting grip. " I'm
sorry, Mamoru-san, but I'm afraid that you're on the
right track with your work."
Setsuna stopped for several minutes to carefully
consider what she was going to say while she comforted
him. Mamoru didn't even notice the time going by. He
was in too much pain from what he was realizing. She
used one of the napkins on the tray to wipe away a
line of tears on his face.
" We all have a great deal of power, Mamoru-san.
Power that comes with a great deal of responsibilities.
We have to meet the obligations that our position demands
of us."
" Why her?" he whispered. " She's already done so
much for so many people. They don't have any idea of what
she has gone through for them, and now she has to do
this?"
" Are you so sure that she wouldn't agree to it?"
she asked. " You've seen her give so much of herself. Has
she ever hesitated to make someone else's life better,
and do you think that she's not going to do the same
thing again if it comes down to it?"
He mutely shook his head.
" There's something else, isn't there?"
" Yes," he finally forced himself to admit it and
sighed. " I don't love the princess. I don't love Sailor
Moon. I fell in love with a dear, sweet girl by the name
of Usagi Tsukino. I love her more than I do life
itself. Why do I have to give her up?
" Why does she have to give herself up?"
************************************************
The sound of glass breaking brought her to a few
moments later. The back of her head hurt and she could
feel moisture on her scalp. Shino was curled up on the
ground a couple of meters away and was clutching his
stomach. His nose was bleeding, and Kawaguchi was
stepping on his glasses. She could feel a few tears
running down her face. Sympathy for him, she decided,
or maybe just the pain.
The one who had shoved her was named Takeru. He
was stepping towards Ami, who was standing by her with
her back to him and looking down at her. Ami had her
transformation wand in the palm of her hand, hidden
from the view of the others. Usagi almost gasped in
surprise at the look on her face. She had never before
seen anger in Ami's eyes.
" No!" she yelled out as a movement caught her
eye, desperately hoping that it sounded more like a
command instead of a scream of fear or pain. Anything
to stop her. This wasn't worth it.
Behind one of the ones in the back, Hotaru put
away the Glaive. She had been about to use it to deadly
effect. Instead, she kicked his knee from the side as
she walked past him and he went down screaming. Another
two steps put her right behind Kawaguchi, who had knelt
down and was cocking his arm back to hit Shino again.
She hooked her arm around his and stopped the
blow. He grunted and tried to break free, turning slightly
towards her as he strained against her grasp. Her arm
didn't move. She shifted her weight and brought her knee
up under his chin, knocking him out cold.
The other one who had been watching was already in
flight. Ami had turned back around at the sounds that were
the result of Hotaru's intervention. She could see that
Takeru had frozen in shock as Hotaru simply stared at him.
It was the same look on her face that they had seen at a
planetarium just before she had been possessed. Hotaru's
face promised mayhem and that she was very capable of
delivering it.
Ami took advantage of it by walking around in front
of him and kicking him in between the legs. He'd be in
pain, but it was better than what Hotaru might have done
to the one who had actually hurt Usagi.
" Shino," Usagi exclaimed and staggered over
towards him. Hotaru stopped her before she had even
gone three steps. A warm hand was gently pressed against
the back of her head and the pain receded. It was very
soothing and she could feel the power that Hotaru was
using.
" Wait a few moments before getting up after a
head wound, Usagi-san," she whispered to the blonde. " I
need to make sure that you're all right first. Luckily,
it was just a little scrape from the wall."
She helped her sit down next to him and told her
to stay there for a few minutes before she walked over
to the water fountain. Ami was kneeling on the other
side of the boy and was helping him to sit up.
" You shouldn't have done that, Usagi-chan," he
admonished her and then smiled suddenly. " Thank you."
" Are you all right?" she asked him as he looked
around on the ground. Ami handed him the frames to
his glasses and he sighed in exasperation.
" It's just a bloody nose," he said as he
examined the frames. " I rolled with the one to my
stomach and acted like it was worse than it was. They
usually don't do anything when I'm on the ground,
though."
He inclined his head in gratitude when Hotaru
came back and handed him a wet handkerchief. " Thanks,
Hotaru-chan."
" Shouldn't we tell the school administration?" Ami
asked while he cleaned up his face.
" No," the girl with the black hair smiled. " You
didn't see who was watching the whole thing. Umino's
protoge` saw everything. I talked to him over by the
water fountain. The whole school will know he was
beaten up by a girl before homeroom on Monday."
Shino laughed at that, clearly amused. " I've been
in the same math class as Kawaguchi ever since I got
here. He's tried pushing me around before this, but this
is a far better revenge than ruining his grades."
" Usagi-san," Hotaru quietly said, catching her
attention. She tapped her watch.
" Shino," she asked while getting up. " Are you
going to be all right? I have to be going. I've got an
appointment that I can't miss."
" Yes," he smiled as he stood up. " I'm sorry you
got dragged into this."
" I'll make sure that these three are all
right," Hotaru added. " You're going to be late,
Usagi-san."
" I'd best be going, too," the boy added,
giving a little bow of gratitude towards
Hotaru. " Thank you."
" Bye, Shino," Usagi said as he walked off.
" Does this happen much?" Hotaru asked in a
cold tone of voice.
" A few times," Ami admitted. " It's usually
just some verbal abuse and a few vague threats. I
just ignore them."
The girl took a deep breath and held it for
several seconds before exhaling and relaxing. She
turned to the others. " I guess it's a good thing
that my train was early and I decided to walk to
your house."
" How's your father, Hotaru-chan," Usagi asked
as she picked up her purse and made sure everything
was still there.
" He's doing well," she replied. " I hardly
had a chance to see him this time, but I had only
gone up there to drop off some documents and a few
books he wanted. We had dinner and talked for a while.
That new bullet train line to the north sure is a big
help."
She looked to make sure that Shino had turned
the corner around the side of the building before
continuing. " Ami-chan, stay with her until Mamoru-san
picks her up. I've got a funny feeling about today for
some reason. I'll see you at the park. Now, get going
before you're late."
The two girls complied, walking off towards Usagi's
house to meet her real boyfriend. Hotaru got one boy on
the ground to get up. It only took a single mean look
to give him all the inspiration he needed to hobble away.
The big one, she realized after taking a closer look,
would be out for a while longer. That just left the
one who was still writhing in pain.
" Hello, Takeru," she greeted him as she picked
him up by the front of his jacket and hoisted him to
his feet with one hand. He tried to run and realized
that she was actually holding him a few centimeters
above the ground. " We have some business to discuss
somewhere private."
To his astonishment, she jumped up to the top of
the walkway as lightly as if she was jumping up a couple
of stairs. She didn't seem to notice that she was
carrying a guy who outweighed her by about thirty to
forty kilos. The next jump took them to the top of
the administration building. He began to panic as she
walked around to the other side of the building and
held him out over the ledge to dangle above the ground
two stories below the whole way there.
" You hurt her," she softly declared. He would
have preferred a scream of rage to that quiet
voice. " You made her cry."
Her violet eyes bored into his mind. He couldn't
look away. He wanted to scream. Nothing came out of
his mouth.
" If you ever touch her again, if you ever hurt
her again or cause her any pain, I'll be back. I won't
be so nice, either. The next time you'll be dead."
She released him and he was finally able to scream
as he fell. It was like he had been freed from a spell.
His arms and legs frantically began to move as he tried
to run in mid-air. She smiled at the look on his face as
he fell into the overflowing garbage bin below, imagining
just how ripe he was going to smell.
As she walked away to another side of the building
and jumped down to the ground, another person kept a
close watch on her from the shadows of the air-conditioner
on the top of the gym. It was a much taller building and
gave her an excellent view of what had just occurred and
the fight that had preceded it.
The sun hit her as she stepped to the edge. Her
long, auburn hair glowed in the morning sun that picked
out the gold highlights of the black clothes and armor
she wore. This promised to be interesting, she thought
with a smile.
************************************************
" I wasn't in any danger, Mamo-chan," she
pleaded. " I was with Ami-chan and Hotaru-chan."
" I know, Usako. That still doesn't make it any
easier for me, though. I should have been there sooner."
" Listen," she scolded him and pushed him down
onto the bench nearest the dock in what had become
their favorite park. She bent down towards him with
a stern look on her face and suddenly kissed him. They
held it for a few minutes before she sat down next to
him and spoke in a quiet voice. " This is a happy day,
Mamo-chan. Don't feel like that. If I was in real trouble,
you would have been there. You're always there when it
counts."
" Thank you, love," he whispered pulling her head
down onto his shoulder and putting an arm around
her. " You always can make me feel better."
They stayed that way for several minutes before
noticing another nervous couple had arrived in the same
area. Artemis was about to wear a circular path in the
grass from his pacing in a circle around Luna, who
calmly sat under a nearby tree and waited.
" Seven minutes," he said in response to her
unasked question after he glanced at his watch. " We're
not the only ones waiting for a daughter, either. I
guess we had-"
He sprang forward while Usagi screamed in horror
as a patch of pink clouds suddenly appeared high over
the dock that stretched out into the pond. Normally
they took a few moments to form, and it also was only
a few meters above the water. They had never seen it
happen above the hard, wooden surface of the dock.
She came into existence fifteen meters up in the
air. He was in mid-leap as she plummeted towards the
ground. She had just managed to start to get into the
correct position to take a fall when his arm caught her
around the middle.
They landed in the pond with a thunderous splash
as Usagi came running up along with the cats. She didn't
stop and dove in after them. Artemis nearly didn't stop
either but thought better of it. They had seen only a girl
falling from the sky, and not a girl and a cat.
" Chibi-usa-chan!" she cried out as she broke the
surface near them. To her consternation they were beginning
to laugh as they looked at each other and then he pulled
the girl into an embrace. They were both either unhurt or
too happy to see each other to notice any injuries.
She found the water there was deep enough to make
her stand on the tips of her toes while he had his
shoulders above the water. Usagi made to embrace them
as well until the girl pulled away from her.
" I want to be with my Daddy," she tried to say
to her in a stern tone of voice and utterly failing. The
giggles were giving her true feelings away. " You said
I'm growing so quickly that you won't buy me any new
clothes."
Usagi began to look crestfallen. That was the
moment the girl chose to jump away from her father and
onto her. Both went under for a moment and came up
holding each other and laughing. Usagi gave her a
quick, fierce hug before shoving her towards the dock.
" Here you go," Mamoru said as he boosted Usagi
up to where she could climb up onto the dock on her
own and did the same for Chibi-usa.
" Chibi-usa-chan?" she whispered in surprise as
they stood up. The pink ponytails had been about ten
centimeters longer even before they had gotten wet,
but the biggest surprise was that the tips of the girl's
odango came up just over her own shoulders.
" Mama," she sniffled and threw herself into her
mother's arms for a proper hug. They were both crying as
Mamoru came over and wrapped them up in his arms as well
for a few minutes before nudging them towards the
walkway.
" Small Lady?" Luna ventured from where the cats
now sat, safely away from any of the wet and dripping
humans. Chibi-usa slipped from her mother's embrace and
walked over to them. She knelt down and gave each a kiss
on the forehead.
" Your daughter sends her love and regrets," she
told them as she fondly looked at them.
" I take it there were some problems, then?" Luna
asked politely, but she was plainly hoping for some
information about her daughter.
" I'm probably a grandfather already," Artemis
muttered, half in jest and half in fear. Luna almost
smacked him in the back of his head.
" The last time I went home," the little girl
began as she took a seat between the other two sitting
on the bench. " The transit was pretty bad for both of
us. This one coming back was even worse. Diana would
have had a very tough time with it right now."
" The time-keys are still working, but obviously
not as smoothly," Artemis commented.
" How could you ever guess?" the young girl wryly
added while looking down at the plain, thick white dress
she wore. It was functional but nearly shapeless. " We
didn't even know if anything I took with me to this time
would make it back since the stuff I took forward the
last time didn't survive the trip. Usagi-chan made
this from the drapes, I think, and now it's all wet
and ruined."
" Chibi-usa-chan," Mamoru said, and the girl
turned her gaze from Usagi, who was on the receiving
end of a teasing look, to the two cats. " Diana is
all right, correct?"
" I'm sorry," she apologized to them. " Diana
is fine except that she's having a tough time adjusting
to being able to change into a human. We all thought
that the trip would be too much stress for her right
now."
" Couldn't they send her later?" Luna wistfully
asked. The girl took a deep breath before answering.
" Not... not without Pu. We're conserving the
key's energy. We haven't heard from her and Mama...
Mother doesn't want to force the gates open. This isn't
the first time Pu hasn't answered the door to the gates
in a long time, although she usually tells us to leave
her alone first."
" I'm sorry, Chibi-usa-chan, but we haven't seen
her," Usagi whispered and then sadly shook her head. The
words failed her. The young man had a pained look on his
face as well, but the two girls missed it since they were
looking at each other.
" C'mon, everybody," Mamoru spoke in an effort to
cheer them up. " The car's right over there. Let's go
home and get cleaned up, then we can get this girl into
a mall. I know that none of her old things are going to
fit anymore."
The news of a quick shopping trip lightened the
spirits of both of the young ladies as they walked back
to the car and ignored the glances of curious passers-by
who wanted to stare at them for being so soaked and so
happy.
************************************************
" Pain is a fascinating sensation," he commented
as they sat on the roof of the observation deck of the
Tokyo Tower. The same winds that blew her long hair and
his single, thin braid made the tower gently sway
underneath them.
" I don't have any idea of what you see in it," she
sniffed. " I was human and had more pain than I could
ever want to deal with. Why do you seek it out?"
" I don't quite 'seek it out'," he replied, idly
straightening the collar of the black school uniform
he wore. " It is interesting to experience it, however.
I consider it very insightful."
" We don't needs insights into their minds," she
burst out. " Why don't you just let me take care of it?
The one who was reborn _may_ be a danger to me, but
the rest are no match for the power we've been given."
" Patience, Flare," he said in an attempt to
placate her anger. " There are two of them who have
been reborn and this isn't about defeating them in
battle, or at least not yet. I want them to react in
a certain manner, and that takes more time."
" Are you so sure that they will jump through
your hoops?"
" Actually," he grinned in response, his tawny
eyes sparkling. " This method will be far easier than
my first idea. I used to think that I might just make
them renounce her, but I've seen the error in that
approach. It wouldn't be painful enough to force them
like that.
" They will voluntarily do it, however, when we
give them the right reasons. Keep with the plan about
the genius girl, and light off the first warning shot
later today. All we need to do is to make them realize
the cost of supporting her. If we make it too painful
for them to go on, they'll abandon her."
" And if they don't?"
" They will die, Flare," he declared. " All of
them. Every living thing on this planet will be dead.
Except for her, of course. It will be enjoyable to
watch her suffer over a few eons."
***********************************************
The cool, clear water closed over his head as
released his hold on the rail and let himself begin
to sink into the depths of the lagoon. A silvery
stream of bubbles in front of him told him that
Madison was already on her way down. It wasn't too
surprising she was in a hurry, he grinned behind his
mask and glanced up at the receding surface.
They had spent the better part of seven months
waiting to get all the permits to do this dive. The
site wasn't hot any longer, but many of the ships
were sunk with full loads of ordinance, and that
made it dangerous to be here. Only a fool would think
otherwise about entering the waters off of Bikini
atoll.
Despite the safe readings on their Geiger counter,
he had found himself apprehensive as he prepared for the
dive. The cameras were ready, but the cameraman wasn't.
He didn't think that anyone could be unaffected by being
here. He was about to approach ground zero of a nuclear
blast and see firsthand the fruits of Operation
Crossroads.
Shortly after the second World War, the United
States had moored a number of ships off of the atoll
in order to see what the effects of a nuclear attack
would be on the vessels he was about to film. Most of
them had been severely damaged, and then the second
test, an underwater blast, had finished the job. The
few surviving ships had probably sank after one of
the nearly two dozen more atomic explosions, and the
entire area had been off limits for years.
That was the main reason that they had wanted
to do a dive here. There were several interested
parties who wanted a copy of the tapes. They ranged
from the production companies that made documentaries
for cable TV to the organizations for the sailors
assigned to each particular ship. The area was in
pristine condition from having so few divers allowed
to enter it.
This was going to be one of their big breaks,
he realized as he checked the camera and his gear.
Producers who made documentaries for both programs
about diving and history had been calling them ever
since the word got out that they had been allowed to
make the descent and film the wreckage. He'd start
with the Saratoga, which should be below them.
Madison had stopped about fifty feet below
the surface and he could see her smile despite her
mask. She waved her arm around and gave him the
thumbs-up. He agreed with a nod. The water clarity
was incredible today, and it was bright enough for
him to make a quick measurement with one of the
waterproof gauges.
He gave her a thumbs-up of his own. It was
nearly as bright as at the surface on some of the
days they had filmed they had filmed the Great
Barrier Reef in Australia, and they were a lot
deeper right now. The sun was still rising, he
recalled, and that must be why it was getting
even brighter. This was certainly going to be
a wonderful day.
************************************************
" I think these are done," she decided and popped
one of the shu mai into her mouth. Haruka gasped in
surprise at the temperature and started rapidly exhaling
to cool off the dumpling.
" It serves you right," Michiru giggled as she
handed her iced tea to the taller woman. Haruka quickly
took a drink and sighed in relief before finishing the
dumpling.
" Someone had to see if they were done," she
protested, and tried to make her voice sound like she
was hurt by her friend's comment. She knew she was
failing miserably, so she turned back to the fire,
closed the lid of the steamer and sulked. It had only
taken her a few hours to make the steamer and the
stand out of some spare metal at her garage the
previous morning.
Michiru stood and brushed a few bits of grass
from her pale blue sundress before walking over behind
Haruka. The blonde tensed up at first when she began
to massage her shoulders and neck, but then relaxed
and loudly exhaled.
" You're as tight as a drum," Michiru whispered
as she looked around them. They were at the top of a
hill in a park near her parent's old house. Since it
became a gated community last year the number of
visitors to the park had dropped, and they almost
had it to themselves. The only other visitors were
a few families down by the base who hadn't even tried
joining them at the top.
Makoto and Ami were setting up a tray with plates
and condiments several meters away in the spot with the
better view. The steamer they were keeping an eye on
needed to be on a more level surface, which was the
reason for their being away from the others. Rei was
splitting her attention between watching Hotaru helping
Minako to try and walk on the sloping grass without
falling down and setting up a carafe of hot tea.
She leaned down and straightened the collar on
Haruka's white shirt before giving her a brief embrace.
The other woman leaned back against her for a moment,
drawing in some of the calmness that surrounded Michiru.
They both felt that they were going to need it today.
***********************************************
" They're done, Mako-chan," she said as she set
down the bamboo steamer basket and took off the lid. She
grabbed another shu mai in the process and popped it into
her mouth before the chef, who was smoothing out a wrinkle
in her beige dress, could stop her.
" Haruka-san, I saw you sampling them over
there," Makoto complained in a good-natured way,
waggling a finger at her in a vain attempt to admonish
the taller woman. " If you keep that up nobody will
get any."
" I had to make sure that they were done, and
you have more than enough for everyone, Mako-chan," she
grinned as she picked up the next two baskets, stacked
them atop one another and returned to Michiru and the
fire they had set up earlier that was several meters
away.
" Here you go, everyone," Makoto called out and
indicated the plates and chopsticks in the basket at
her side.
" I guess we should take advantage of this," Ami
giggled as she began to fill her plate with an
assortment of dim sum. " It isn't often that Usagi-chan
is late for a meal like this."
" Well," Makoto shrugged in the direction of the
bottom of the hill and nabbed one of her shrimp har
gow while Ami looked the other way. " They're here, so
you'd better hurry up."
" Look at how tall she is," Rei gasped as she
joined them while they watched them get out of Mamoru's
car at the bottom of the hill. Usagi and Chibi-usa were
in near matching outfits, jeans and white T-shirts, due
to the reasons that Mamoru had explained earlier when
he had called to let them know that he would be a few
minutes late. The pink-haired girl had grown considerably
since the last time they had seen her. Chibi-usa let
out a cry of delight and began to run up the hill towards
them.
" She must be at least ten," she finished, and then
went over to get Minako before putting her hand on Hotaru's
shoulder. The young woman jumped in surprise and quickly
nodded in gratitude when Rei gave her a little push. " Go
on, Hotaru-chan."
" Thank you, Rei-chan," she hurriedly whispered
before bounding off down the hill towards the young
girl. At Makoto's beckoning, Rei picked up the child
and carried her over by the others and sat down. Ami
traded her an empty plate for Minako and set the girl
down by her to begin sharing her own meal.
" At least that part hasn't changed," Makoto
laughed as the girl grabbed a char siu bao from Ami
and began to eat the pork bun. " She still has the
same appetite as her namesake."
They joined her in a slightly nervous laugh
at the jest, but were still a little concerned about
the situation. Each day the child began to look more
and more like the Minako they used to know. They
still had no idea of what was going on with her, or
if she was even the Minako they had known.
" Hi," Mamoru said as he walked up to them
and put down the cooler he was carrying. He took
off his leather jacket before taking a seat. " I'm
sorry we were late, but we had to make a little
detour through a mall on the way. If what I said...
say in the future is correct, she must be making up
for lost time by growing so quickly."
" We can see why," Makoto added, taking the cooler
of drinks and sliding it around so that it was slightly
more out of the way. They all fully remembered the shock
when the future Endymion's image told them that the girl
was almost nine hundred years old. " I can't believe
she's gotten so big."
" It's almost been a year for us," Usagi
continued as she joined them. " And it's nearly
been the same for her."
" Here you go, Usagi-chan," Rei said to her
with a teasing smile as she handed her a plate and
some chopsticks. " There's plenty to go around,
even for you."
" Rei-chan!" Usagi complained as she took
several dumplings and put them on her plate. She
fed one to Mamoru before starting in on them herself.
" Don't say that, Rei-chan," Mamoru said around
a mouthful of food. " Our daughter makes her mother
look like a light eater when it comes to dim sum. My
wallet found that out the last time we went out when
she was here."
" Well, there is more than enough, even for
their appetites," Makoto declared as Hotaru and
Chibi-usa walked up to them.
" Mako-chan," the girl scolded the cook. " I
told you not to go to any trouble like this on my
next visit, didn't I?"
" I guess you don't want any, then?" the brunette
replied in a sweet tone of voice.
" No!" the girl blurted out and then blushed as
they laughed at the look on her face. She recovered
by quickly taking a plate for herself. " Thank you
for doing all this, Mako-chan."
" It was my pleasure, Chibi-usa-chan," she replied.
" So," Ami ventured a question with a broad smile
on her face. " How are things in the future?"
" Ami-chan!" they all yelled, but laughter made
most of them miss timing it correctly. It was an old,
but familiar joke between them about Ami wanting to
know something about the future, and Chibi-usa not
being able to say anything. It had almost become a
tradition for Ami to ask it and for the others to
complain in a good-natured way.
" Actually, I did have one question for you,
Chibi-usa-chan," Hotaru asked a few minutes later. " They
would have gotten you anything you wanted to wear today
when you hit the stores on the way here. Why the jeans?"
The girl thought about that a few moments
before laughing. " I guess I can tell you that part
without causing any problems.
" Thanks to a certain person's penchant for
formal wear," she explained while pointedly glancing
at her father, " the retro-twentieth century look
hasn't been in fashion for years. I haven't been
able to wear anything comfortable outside of my
rooms for months."
" Eeek!" Usagi screeched in mock-horror, not
noticing someone walking up behind her with the next
two baskets of freshly steamed food. " She's turning
into a tomboy like Haruka-san!"
" Is there something wrong with that,
odango-atama?" Haruka asked with a sweetly ominous
smile as she tapped Usagi on the shoulder.
************************************************
Far above the blue waters a figure stood in
mid-air, contemplating the scene below. The islands
were mere dots at this height, and she could even see
the faint suggestion of a curve to the horizon. The
scattering of clouds would have obscured the vision
of her old eyes.
The one place she wanted stood out in her mind
due to what had happened there long before. It was one
of the places where they dared to try and emulate her
own power, and that impertinence galled her. Today she
could finally begin to make them pay for that and all
the slights they had visited upon her in her earlier
life.
Confident of her being in the correct spot, she
rose straight up in relation to it through the remains
of the atmosphere. She went past the gadgets they had
in the lower orbits until she was at the most cluttered
altitude. Here were their satellites with the most
stable orbits, although the greatest concentration was
directly over the equator.
If one of them was pointed at her, they'll
certainly get a show today, she grinned as she began
to call upon her power. It would take just over eight
minutes for it to accumulate and reach her. The stage
was set, the players were in their places, and the
show was about to begin.
***********************************************
The one who was closest to the center was the
first to see what was happening. He cried out a
warning to the others and shared his view with them.
Theirs were the only eyes to gaze upon this. The few
deep space probes in position to see it weren't
looking in the right direction at the right time.
The fierce, blinding radiance of the sun began
to go dark on the side opposite the third one. They
watched aghast as the darkness spread over the space
of a few seconds to cover the rest of the surface
until the only light emitted was on the line between
it and the third one.
It will just miss, she reassured the others. She
was strangely calm for nearly having faced certain
destruction. The nova-bright shaft of light hurtled
along it's path, and the sun began to shine with it's
accustomed splendor over the entirety of it's surface.
It begins, the one fourth out quietly stated
to the others. They watched the brightness of the
beam move through the darkness. The first one out
was well away from it, but the second was closer to
the blast than he. She shivered in fear at the
feeling the energy had.
Such hatred, she cried out in anguish. The bolt
of light illuminated the surface of both the third one
and her daughter as it passed between them and stopped.
The figure floating there in the space between reached
a hand into the raw power and began to glow.
They could hear her laughter as she directed
the energy down towards the planet below. The clouds
vanished in the beam's path, getting blown outward in
a circular pattern as the blast fell from the sky and
slammed into the atoll.
************************************************
The Frisbee caromed off one tree and narrowly
missed the girl before swooping up into the air as
part of her plan to bring it in on her from behind.
Chibi-usa was wise to it, though, and easily evaded
the second attack. Usagi caught it and flipped it
over to her daughter.
" See? Just like that American TV show heroine.
Your turn, Chibi-usa-chan."
" It's a lot harder with this," she replied,
frowning in concentration as she caught the disc. " I
could do it with your tiara."
" Some of us just have the natural talent," she
smiled back. They were about ten meters down the hill
from the others, who were still eating and talking. Dim
sum was supposed to be enjoyed over a long period of
time, with lots of tea and conversation according to
Makoto. The two of them had gotten bored and decided
to play catch.
Her daughter was good, but she didn't have the
same touch as she did. All the practice with her tiara
and an instinctive grasp of it made her a whiz with a
Frisbee. The return throw from the girl was a good one;
fast, hard and level, but easy for her to catch.
" You're not supposed to throw it like the
sidekick," she teased the girl. A quick flick of her
wrist sent it past the girl and off of two trees before
it returned to her hand. She almost laughed at the
exasperated look on the girl's face.
*Mama no baka*, she faintly heard an amused and
distinctly un-ladylike snort in her mind.
" Chibi-usa?" she whispered in shock.
*Not like that, Usagi-chan* the voice replied. She
could make it out to be her daughter's now. *Like this.
Inside*
" Inside?"
The girl pointed to her chest where they would
normally be wearing their broaches if they were in
costume. *The crystal*
*But how...*
*We can hear each other's, remember? I talk to
mine, and you can hear me*
*That's incredible! I'm so proud of you for
figuring that out!*
She could feel the wave of slight discomfort go
through the girl and realized that she must be putting
a lot of her emotions into the link as well.
*Usagi-chan?* her daughter asked.
* I wasn't supposed to find this out, was I?* she
guessed.
*No, it's not that* the girl sent back, and then
blushed. *You showed me how to do this just before I came
back this time. You said I'd need it, and since you've
been broadcasting your emotions at me ever since I saw
you there at the dock, I figured you already knew how
to do this. That wasn't what I wanted to ask you,
though. Can I ask you a favor?*
*Of course*
*I love you, Mama, but could we just be friends
here? I still feel more like we're sisters or cousins
here, and I sort of like being able to be your friend*
*Certainly* she smiled back and let her love for
the girl show through. She was feeling the same warmth
being sent back towards her.
*By the way, Usagi-chan, we shouldn't do this too
often*
*Why*
*It's hard to concentrate on this and the rest of
the world at the same time. Look to your left*
She did and jumped in surprise as she realized
Haruka was standing there making faces at her.
" Earth to Usagi-chan!" she called out again,
waving her hand in front of Usagi's face. " You okay?
You didn't hear a thing I was saying."
She turned and made a face at the girl after she
heard a faint giggle. " I'm sorry, Haruka-san. What were
you saying?"
" I needed to talk with you two for a moment," she
quietly said and waved her arm at the girl, motioning for
her to come over.
" What is it, Haruka-san?" Chibi-usa asked when she
got there. The tall woman wore a more serious expression
on her face now.
" You said back there that you brought nothing but
the dress you were wearing back with you, right?"
The girl nodded and looked back and forth at the
two of them before the woman went on. " What about your
broach? I haven't seen that, and you always wear it."
" I'm afraid that I couldn't bring it this time,
Haruka-san," she explained. " Sailor Chibi-moon didn't
make the trip."
" Chibi-usa-chan!" Usagi gasped in dismay.
" I'm sorry, Usagi-chan. My broach ended up in the
moat while I landed in the garden the last time I went
forward. It took us a month to find it, and that was only
blind luck. We didn't want to risk that happening again
this time."
" Okay," Haruka shrugged. " We'll juggle schedules
to keep someone with you at all times just to play it
safe."
" Haruka-san," she said, moving a step forward and
catching the gaze of the woman. " I may not have my
broach, but I'm not powerless. I just can't internalize
the broach to carry it like I can with the crystal."
Usagi watched in surprise as the girl reached into
a pocket and pulled out her Silver Crystal, or at least
her version of it from the future. They didn't know the
truth as to what it was, and Chibi-usa wouldn't tell
them exactly what it was.
" That's a start," Haruka grudgingly admitted, and
Usagi realized what she had on her mind. She was testing
the girl here in some way. " Still, we can't depend on
you being able to go into princess mode whenever we need
you, so-"
" Can't depend on me?" the girl declared with a
touch of steel in her voice and a determined smile. She
held the crystal up over her head and Usagi felt the
pulse of energy from it. Chibi-usa's form seemed to waver,
and it appeared for a moment that she was wearing a gown
similar to Usagi's when she was the Neo-Queen.
" Pink Ladies' Freezing Kiss!" she softly called out,
pointing forward and a single pink heart flew towards Haruka
trailing a white mist behind it. She easily dodged, jumping
up and over it, but collapsed to her feet in laughter upon
landing.
" That's good, squirt," Haruka gasped out between
breaths.
" What's so funny?" Chibi-usa demanded. It took
Haruka a few minutes to stop laughing.
" I never thought I'd be attacked by a giant, pink
candy heart with icing before," she explained, causing
Usagi to start giggling as well. Chibi-usa tried to look
angry for a few moments and gave up to join in the
laughter.
" NO!" a scream rang out behind them. They turned
to see Rei on her feet, the plate that was on her lap
now on the ground at her feet. Her eyes were wide and
unblinking. The pupils were so dilated that her eyes
seemed to have gone entirely black. Minako picked up on
her fear and started crying as Rei called out again and
collapsed to the ground.
They all gathered around the priestess as she began
to uncontrollably cry. Michiru stepped away and walked
over to Haruka. They looked at each other for a long,
timeless moment to drink in the sight of the other, and
then the spell was broken as Michiru took out the Deep
Aqua mirror.
" Haruka," she whispered, angling the mirror so
the other woman could see it.
" Ami!" Haruka yelled after glancing at it, and
dragged the girl away from the others by the collar and
forced her to look at the mirror.
" Oh, my God," Ami said as her face went pale and
she pulled her computer out her pocket. " The sun...
it's black."
She hadn't even begun to type when the light
dimmed. It grew almost intolerably bright for a moment,
with their shadows swinging around behind them like the
sun had moved before going back to normal. The ground
beneath their feet started to shake a few moments later.
" Earthquake?" Makoto ventured hopefully.
" No," the three Outer Senshi flatly responded
in unison. Ami's computer shrieked out in a klaxon that
they had never heard before. She hit several buttons and
brought up the reasons for the alarm signals it was
giving her. Her eyes went wide.
" I've got an intercept on United States military
transmissions," she announced a few moments later in a
grave tone. " They've gone to DEFCON 1."
" What?" Chibi-usa asked, beginning to feel
worried. She had no idea what it meant, but she didn't
like how Ami had said it.
" A nuclear attack is imminent," Ami
responded. " They're getting ready to strike back."
**********************************************
" I repeat, no EMP. I repeat, no EMP. There was
an awful lot of light and some turbulence, but no
electro-magnetic pulse."
" Acknowledged, Rook. Continue your patrol and
keep your eyes peeled," the controller ordered. " The
skipper will probably have further orders, so sit tight."
" Roger that," the pilot replied.
" They don't know what that was?" Domino asked
incredulously from the back seat. " That had to be a
nuke."
" It couldn't be," Rook explained as he put the
F-14 into a slow, spiraling climb towards a higher
altitude. " Nobody has anything that clean."
" Yeah, and guess who gets to go check it out,"
the pilot of the other plane in their patrol quipped.
" Us," Domino added with a groan.
" He's got a point, Domino," Rook said as he
smiled into his mask. They weren't out here on a
joyride today, and the new birds had the best sensor
systems of anything up in the air right now. " Better
start setting up all your targeting and recording gear,
you two Whizzos. Odds are we're going to have to go
see what that was."
" Thanks, Captain," the weapons officers replied
in a sing-song chorus. The idea of what might be
happening was serious enough to make them drop most
of their usual complaints at the semi-derogatory
nickname that was carried over from Air Force
terminology.
The SuperTomcats they were flying were part
of a test to see the effects of converting the F-14
airframe into a new attack plane that could still
function as an effective fighter. The old Tomcat was
given the same kind of treatment that had turned the
Air Force F-15's into the F-15E Strike Eagle. The
backseater was no longer called a radar operator
like they were in the old days because they had so
many more responsibilities in the new plane.
" Rook," an older, calm voice with a Southern
accent came over the radio. All four men fought
back the urge to salute. " We need you boys to go
see what happened. Washington wants visual
confirmation of what went on. What's your status?"
" Aye, skipper. Give me a moment on the status. What
about the satellites, and what are we looking for?" he
asked while he began to check his readings and calculate
his range.
" Negative on that. Apparently it was bright
enough to blind all of them that were looking. We don't
know anything right now other than there was an explosion."
" Skipper, we just topped off before it happened,
so we've got about twelve minutes at full burn with the
conformal fuel tanks. That won't give us much time to
loiter in the area, though."
" That's good enough, Rook. We're sending the
coordinates now. Four of the Tomcats on stand-by are
being scrambled with buddy tanks to meet you there,
and we'll have a pair of A-6 tankers on the way to
give you a full refill in 5 minutes."
A green light came on in his heads-up display.
Domino had the coordinates and route laid into the
computer. " Enterprise, we have the data. Accelerating
to full burner."
The wings swept back against the fuselage as he
gradually slid the throttle forward and increased power.
The two planes shot forward as if fired from a gun under
the impetus of the new engines.
" Correct course to 195 degrees," Domino added
as they slipped past the sound barrier when the
afterburners kicked in.
" 195, Roger," he replied and tapped the
rudder. " Where are we going, Domino?"
" How's this for irony, Mickey?" he asked
over the intercom to his old partner, foregoing the
use of his handle, and put up a map on the pilot's
display. He glanced down and nervously laughed.
" Think they forgot about one and it finally
went off?"
" Nah," the man in the back responded with a
grin. " That was a Navy operation, remember? The Army
and Air Force might have done something like that when
they did their tests in Nevada, but not the Navy. Maybe
it's Godzilla."
" We'll see," the pilot said and slipped back
into his professional demeanor. The rest of the flight
was spent in silence except for acknowledging status
checks from the carrier. They had been conducting sea
trials for the new planes and went through their
checklists to prepare for combat.
" Enterprise, you sure about those coordinates?" he
asked ten minutes later when he throttled back and slowed
down to subsonic speeds. They went into a shallow dive
to give them a better view.
" Confirmed on the coordinates, Rook," the captain's
voice came over the radio.
" Double checked on the GPS satellites and our
own inertial navigation systems," Domino quietly
added. " We're here."
" What is it, Rook?" the ship's captain asked.
" Captain," he responded slowly. " The look-down
radar shows a tsunami radiating outward from that point,
but no island. The atoll is gone."
***********************************************
" The world is still wondering what happened
today at Bikini atoll," the newscaster began the
nightly news. " Officials from both Japan and the
United States still do not know what destroyed the
island earlier today.
" Also, the tsunami watch had been downgraded
along the coasts of the southward facing beaches in
light of-"
Makoto firmly tapped a button on the remote,
switching it from the TV broadcast back to the feed
from the computer and turned towards the rest of them
in the expansive den of the penthouse suite. " So,
the entire island is gone, and nobody has any idea
of why."
Ami shrugged as all eyes in the room turned
towards her. She entered several codes on the computer
she was currently working on and displayed the
information on the oversized monitor they had been
watching.
" No radiation?" Hotaru asked. " I thought
anything that big would have to be giving off
radiation."
" It wasn't a nuclear explosion," Ami
explained. " There was no EMP or radiation at the
blast site. The only way it's hot is that the
temperature in the area went up. That rules out
a conventional nuclear device."
" What about a fusion bomb?" Chibi-usa asked,
recalling some of her lessons. " I thought those had
a cleaner reaction."
" The current fusion bombs aren't that good,"
she replied, taking off her glasses and massaging the
bridge of her nose. " They use a fusion process, but
they're still 'dirty', as they call it. To have a blast
site without any radiation, they'd have to make a device
that could completely change matter to energy."
She tossed one of the science books she had been
looking through onto the coffee table the others were
sitting around. " If you were able to perfectly use all
the energy in that book like a bomb, the resulting
explosion would have the planet starting to tear itself
apart by now."
" That still doesn't explain the lack of the EMP,
either," Michiru added. She was sitting in the deep bay
window across the room leaning up against Haruka with
her legs stretched out in front of her. " There is a
precedent for this kind of an explosion, however."
" What?" Mamoru exclaimed.
" There was an explosion of unknown causes in
Siberia in the early nineteen hundreds. Trees were
blown from outward from a central point for hundreds
of square kilometers. There were no signs of burnt
trees or, later on when modern scientists explored it,
any signs of residual radiation."
" Just like today," Makoto mused.
" The world's nuclear powers are denying any
involvement," Rei added from her seat on the floor.
Luna was curled up in her lap as she sat cross-legged. " I
tried a fire reading, too."
" And?" Usagi asked, still feeling slightly worried
despite sitting next to Mamoru on one of the couches. Rei
simply shook her head. Usagi sighed and considered the
worst part of it, at least in her mind. " Where there
many people there?"
" The exact numbers aren't known," Ami softly
responded. " The descendants of the original inhabitants
were allowed to start re-settling a few years ago,
though."
They were all quiet for a few minutes after that,
letting the cost of what they had seen sink in.
" Well, we don't have all the information we need
to solve why it happened yet," Artemis started in an
attempt to change the subject away from the grim
reckoning. " Nor do we know how it will affect us. What
else can we try and determine?"
" The data flow is still secure," Ami said. " They
still haven't realized that Setsuna's algorithms are
continuing to break their communication encryption. I'll
have a better idea of what happened with all the
satellites in the morning when they finish transmitting
all the scientific data. The world governments aren't
lying about what happened, either."
" Sorry, Ami-chan," Makoto smiled. " No government
conspiracy theory today to play with. You've been
watching that show too much, anyway."
The girl with the blue hair blushed and smiled
as they had a much-needed laugh at her expense. She
didn't mind it right now due to how somber they all
had been the last few hours. Luna looked up and caught
Rei's eye.
" My fire readings haven't been giving me
anything," the priestess eventually spoke up in a
quiet voice. " I have had some bad dreams about
something happening, though. I had a flashback
earlier today to one of those dreams."
" Dreams, Rei-chan?" Usagi asked, feeling more
than concerned for her friend.
" Like the ones from just before we all met," Rei
added, looking down and refusing to meet any of their
eyes. Hotaru put her hand on Chibi-usa's arm to stop her
from speaking.
" Was I going to destroy the world again?" she
asked, her face deadly serious.
" Hotaru-chan!" Rei gasped in confusion. " How
could you even think that?"
" Wait!" she called out, holding up her hands
for silence. She took a long look around before
continuing. " Something has been bothering me a lot
the past few days. I've been feeling like a rubber band
that has been stretched as far as it can go. I need to
know if I'm going to go crazy again."
" You're not the only one," Haruka called
out. " We've felt it, too."
" Both of us had it the strongest early this
morning," Michiru added.
" But what do these feelings mean?" Mamoru asked,
and then smiled as Usagi stifled a huge yawn.
" I don't know," the blonde said, " and I don't
think we're going to find out tonight no matter what
happens. Ami-chan will have more information in the
morning," she said while standing up and stretching. " We've
been doing this for an hour now and we're no closer to a
solution. Why don't we go get some rest and see what
tomorrow brings?"
" Don't forget practice tomorrow morning,
either," Haruka reminded them and was rewarded with a
chorus of protests.
The others agreed to go home, although it was
very reluctant in Ami's case. At Usagi's prompting,
Mamoru bodily picked her up and carried her down to
his car so she could be dropped off at home. It was
only when Usagi threatened to stay the night with her
did Ami agree to getting some rest while the others
went off to do the same.
************************************************
Jupiter laughed, ducked and brought the sword up
and around to deflect Saturn's Glaive up over her
head. That's the price you pay for those low, sweeping
cuts you like to use so much, she grinned and lashed out
with a kick at the girl's side while she was still
off-balance.
Or, at least, that was the plan. Somehow the shaft
of the Silence Glaive got under her foot as Saturn
shifted the direction of her swing. She brought it up
and tipped Jupiter onto her back before the brunette
could react. Endymion leapt to her defense while Uranus
flung herself at the other Outer Senshi.
Their efforts were in vain. The length of the
haft let Saturn tag Jupiter in the stomach while she
jumped back a step to neatly avoid Uranus.
" Damn," Jupiter swore and stretched out on the
grass, a casualty of war as per their rules. With the
odds more even, it was only a matter of time for Saturn
to deal with the other two by switching to a more
defensive style. The change in pace frustrated Uranus,
making her an easier target for the methodical girl.
Endymion didn't last too much longer after the blonde
woman went down from a leg sweep with the flat of the
Glaive.
" Pax," he muttered and held up his hands after
being disarmed. She grinned and gave him a short bow.
" That's two straight in 'weapons only.' Want to
make it best of five?"
" What's the point?" Jupiter asked, reverting back
to being Makoto and straightening the white gi she
wore. " We haven't been able to beat you in this
category for five months now."
Saturn only smiled before her fuku dissolved
into a pair of sweats and a T-shirt and helped Uranus
to her feet. Makoto also stood and handed the sword
over to the taller woman. The blonde put away her own
sword before taking the one from Makoto. It was the only
other weapon they had that the brunette could use in
practice against the others like this. Regular weapons
tended to be cut in half upon being used to block the
Space Sword or the Silence Glaive.
" Her Majesty is about to speak," Hotaru giggled
and made Haruka blush. When Haruka had started setting
up the regular practices for all of them, she had held
Venus's sword while speaking to them once. In one way,
it was natural for her to do that because the Silver
Crescent sword was traditionally carried by the leader
of the Senshi. Usagi, as the royal princess, had given
it to Uranus to keep until Venus returned.
Michiru had been quick to notice Haruka's usage
of the sword as an additional, and not very subtle
reminder of her being in charge, at least during
practice. She compared it to a monarch making a
pronouncement from their throne, much to the other's
amusement. It was one of the few things that they
could tease Haruka about on a regular basis.
" Hush, Chibi-Hotaru," she growled back before
breaking into a friendly smile that belied her usual
competitiveness. " You should be thankful that this
was only weapons usage. You don't do as well when we
all get to use our powers."
" She's got you there, Hotaru-chan," Mamoru added
as he walked up after retrieving his sword. After he
sheathed the blade, his clothes shifted back to the
sweats he had been wearing earlier. " Of course, that
valley will never be the same after our last bout with
no restrictions. What's next, Haruka-san?"
" Unarmed and civilian," she decided, shifting back
as well. She looked around after an absent-minded tug on
the T-shirt she was wearing. " Go on and start without me,
though. I need to take care of something."
" Yes, ma'am," he jokingly saluted, but she didn't
react to him. Her eyes were already scanning the area as
she slipped into the bushes.
************************************************
" There they go again," Rei protested as she sat
down next to Ami, who was watching the melee between
Makoto, Mamoru and Hotaru get under way again. Ami had
taken off the blue top of her sweats in order to cool
off. The white shirt that was worn under the top was
soaked with sweat, just like her own probably was. " I
get tired just watching them."
" You weren't the first one to get tagged out,"
Chibi-usa complained.
" She does have a point to this, Chibi-usa-chan,"
Ami responded. " We did get in trouble because of our
relying on our powers too much against the magi."
" I know," the girl sighed and shrugged her head
towards the lower end of the clearing. " I'm going to
go down to the vans and get something to drink. Anybody
want anything?"
" Just bring the cooler, I'd guess," Rei said a
moment later. " I think they'll be breaking it up pretty
soon."
" Want to bet on the outcome?" Ami asked her after
the girl had left. Her eyes had an energetic sparkle, but
it was the eagerness in her voice tipped Rei off.
" No way," she said, laughing. " It almost isn't
fair anymore. Hotaru is going to win it, just like she
always does. Unless Mako-chan and Mamoru-san have gotten
a lot better at this, it isn't even worth betting on."
" That's true," Ami replied. " I wouldn't have
even taken your money if you had bet on the outcome."
" Inside info, huh? You did just give her a check
up last week, after all."
" Well," the girl in blue said as she leaned back
against the tree that they were sitting under. " At the
rate she's going, she's going to make the rest of us
look like wimps in comparison."
" She already does that well enough," Rei
sarcastically reminded her, brushing a lock of her
long, black hair away from her face. " She's been
beating up on all of us for some time now."
" Not as a Senshi, Rei," Ami softly replied,
looking around quickly like she was making sure that
nobody was listening to them. " She's the third
strongest in our regular forms after Haruka-san and
Mako-chan. In running, she's second only to Haruka-san.
From what I know of her reaction speed, Mako-chan
doesn't have a chance out there unless Hotaru-chan
makes a mistake."
Rei let out a low whistle and gave her a
worried glance. " Makes you feel kind of inadequate."
" Rei-chan!" Ami complained. " Don't talk like
that. We'll learn to adapt to it, just like we always
have. Remember when we first met Minako-chan?"
" Yeah," she shrugged, thinking back to that time.
Luna had felt that the four of them were getting too
cocky due to fighting one youma at a time and set up
an exercise during one of their workouts. It was the
first four Senshi up against the two cats and Venus. At
the time, they still didn't know much about the newcomer
and were beaten several times by the teamwork between
Artemis and his ward while Luna distracted the girls.
The same thing had happened when they started
working out with the three remaining Outer Senshi. It
had taken them months to learn how to counter the
uncanny level of coordination between Haruka and
Michiru by not making the mistakes that left them
vulnerable.
" We'll be fine, Rei-chan," she said while
pointing to her left. " See over there? That's the
attitude to take about the whole thing."
The priestess actually smiled at what she saw,
despite still feeling uneasy from her vision yesterday.
Both Michiru and Haruka held black belts in jujitsu
and kenpo, so they were qualified to be instructors. It
was just that this student was getting a very early
start.
Michiru was wearing a gi, and was kneeling next
to Minako-chan and showing her the correct stance. As
soon as the girl was able to stand relatively on her
own she had begun trying to emulate the others during
practice. Some of them had laughed at first until they
saw how upset the girl got when she didn't get her time
with whoever was the instructor.
That led to her getting her own gi and her own
lessons. She didn't know much more than a few stances
and still fell down a lot when she tried to move quickly,
but she kept on getting back up and trying it again. Right
now, her hair was pulled back in a braid and she was
frowning while she tried to understand what Michiru
was trying to get her to do.
***********************************************
She grinned in triumph as she left the hospital,
having accomplished the first part of her plan without
a hitch. Her fingers began to undo the braid her auburn
hair was in until it spread around her shoulders like
it usually did. As she turned a corner onto the main
street, her blouse changed back to the black like it
usually was. She didn't like the red color she had worn,
but understood the value of not sticking out in a crowd.
People in hospitals didn't like seeing anyone
wearing solid black clothes, and may have remembered
her. It tended to remind them of policemen or
undertakers. Her hair was unusual enough to stand
out, and she was taking no chances on being
discovered. There would be time later for the
fighting, he had said. We can't jeopardize our
efforts by letting her get a clue as to what was
happening.
Changing the schedule for the surgery department
had been the first part of one of their deceptions. The
computer system had proven easy to get into. Now, Dr.
Mizuno was going to be the first doctor that would be
called in case of an emergency that the staff on hand
couldn't deal with, or if they got too busy.
Busy wouldn't be the word for it, she decided. Chaos,
bedlam, or maybe catastrophe would be better words. She
stepped into an alley, vanished, and emerged in mid-air,
standing high above one of the public parks near the
hospital. It was crowded this morning, and why not? She
had made sure that the sun was shining and the clouds
didn't come near this portion of the city.
Below her, a number of children played. Usually, it
was their mothers with them today, or an occasional
father. Most husbands were good salarymen, and were
resting on this early Sunday morning after working
the last six days.
Decisions, decisions, she mused, looking below
her. Initially, she was going to do it to some of the
older children. It would be part of a payback for all the
insults she had to endure when she was younger just because
she was different. Carrot top was one of the favored
slurs, and it was all because she was a little different
from the others since she had hair that was almost red
instead of black or brown like the rest of them.
Her associate had reminded her that the younger
children would make a better target for their plans,
however. She agreed after thinking about it. Use their
instincts and concerns against them. It would be far
more effective.
There. That sandbox would be a good start. None
of the children were too old, and all of them appeared
to be in good health. She shifted over until she was above
it, and looked underneath the ground. As the municipal
plans had shown, there was the gas line. Eyes narrowing,
she pointed at the line, and a needle of invisible energy
in the X-ray portion of the spectrum stabbed through the
ground and nicked the pipe. An opening was made; the clue
they would eventually find and think was the cause.
Her next task was the hard part. Choosing a purple,
concrete turtle as the center, she took several deep breaths
and calmed her mind. Time seemed to slow around her as she
speeded up her perceptions. Each of the toddlers was
lightly wrapped in a field of protective energy as the
turtle exploded. The blast sent their parents flying, and
cracked the fields around them.
She watched carefully, making sure that none of the
children were actually killed as a result. That would be
too easy on the doctor. Several bits of debris were
vaporized by her before they could strike their targets.
Only the smallest fragments were allowed to hit.
Her work was well done, it seemed, as she looked
over the crater. Some of the parents were hurt, but that
didn't concern her as much. The prospects of some new
orphans would hurt just as much as the injuries to the
children themselves. Below, the crying were just beginning.
A lone siren started up, making her snap her fingers at
the memory of something she almost forgot.
Turning to her left, she looked at one bridge that
led to another district. It would be the most direct route
for ambulances to take patients to the nearest hospital
after the one she visited earlier. Casually, a wave of
her hand blew apart a truck and damaged one of the spans.
Taking all the extra patients to another hospital
would make it too easy. She looked down again to admire
her handiwork, not noticing the tears running down her
face as a tiny part of her helplessly cried out in pain
at what she had done.
************************************************
It had taken her nearly twenty minutes to find a
spot she liked up on the side of the hill. She couldn't
directly see into the clearing below where the others
were currently at, but she heard an occasional shout or
blast of power. They had driven up here early in the
morning in order to have a chance to practice in some
degree of privacy.
They were currently on government land, although
the only way to get there ran through privately owned
property. She didn't ask where the Outers had found out
about it, and she conveniently didn't listen when Haruka
mentioned it. There were just too many things she wanted
to think about today, so she had let her mind wander and
slipped away during practice.
There was going to be another fight soon. She
didn't know who it would be against, but they would be
in battle again. Somehow, she would have to make sure
what happened the last time would never happen again.
They'd hear her if she screamed in frustration
like she wanted to right now, so she settled for sitting
down in a patch of shade a few meters away from the
trunk of a tree. Makoto was right about not liking to
wait. It was getting on her nerves.
She pulled the clip out of her hair and let it
cascade down onto the ground around her. It wasn't in
her usual style, but just falling loose. The hum of the
insects and a bird's chirping set her more at ease as she
thought about one of her problems.
All of them had a destiny to fulfill, but she
couldn't bear to let them do it again at such a cost.
First it was Hotaru, and then Setsuna and Minako. Which
of the others would get the foolish notion that they
could save all of them by sacrificing their life this
time? The other Inners had proven themselves as willing
as Minako, and the Outers were crazy enough to do it as
well.
She sighed loudly and tried to think it through.
That was when someone grabbed her and pulled her over
onto the ground. She screamed as her assailant rolled
over on top of her and forcefully pinned her shoulders
to the ground.
" Baka!" she hissed, glaring down at the smaller
girl with her face only a few centimeters away. It took
Usagi a few moments to start breathing again. " What have
I told you, Odango-chan?"
" Haruka-san," she stammered, feeling ashamed and
like she wanted to cry. They were supposed to be training
up here, and she had been told that Michiru or Haruka
would be trying to surprise her at some point.
She had not, however, actually started to cry, so
she was quite shocked when she felt a tear hit her face
and begin working it's way down her cheek. The woman's
eyes were a swirling mix of emotions as anger and worry
battled each other, and it scared her to recognize fear
as well.
" I'm not going to lose you again," she said in
a low, thick voice, forcing out the words with great
difficulty. " I've come too close too many times, Usagi,
and given up too much."
" Haruka-" she started to say.
" No," the sandy blonde interrupted her, but her
voice was caring and warm this time instead of the
harshness of her first words. " Don't say anything,
Odango-chan. Just don't leave yourself so wide open."
She was about to explain when Haruka suddenly and
quickly kissed her. That brought her to a complete,
surprised stop as the other woman pulled back with that
infuriating grin back on her face, the same one she
used when she was teasing someone she actually liked.
Despite her best efforts, Usagi knew that her
face was looking like someone hit the reset switch on
her brain right now. That had happened the other two
times Haruka had done this to her. While she had
seemingly been joking at those two times, she had
learned enough about the woman over the last three
years to understand one very important thing about
her. She only did things like this to people that she
really cared for.
Haruka still did flirt with the girls who
continued to fall for 'him' when they didn't realize
just what she was at first. There was a point that she
wouldn't go past, however. She might string them along
for a little bit, but she never let it go for too long
in order to assure that nobody was seriously hurt.
" What did you do that for?" she asked a few moments
later. For now, she would let Haruka think she thought it
was still just a joke like the times before. She wouldn't
bring up the fact that the kiss tasted like the tear that
had left a wet trail down the cheek of the tall woman.
" It made you think, didn't it?" Haruka responded,
sitting back and pulling her to a sitting position as
well. Usagi's hair had some leaves and grass in it, and
some of the strands had gotten loosely tangled. She moved
around behind her and set to work on straightening it out.
" Yes, it does," she replied, and then started
working up the nerve to ask something that had been in
her thoughts for a while now. " You haven't called me
odango-chan for a long time."
" You haven't been acting like a child for a while,
so I stopped."
" Haruka-san," she began, forcing herself to say the
words. " Just before this whole thing started and my life
changed, I was at a costume party. Were you the one who
was dancing with me that night?"
" Maybe," the woman shrugged and went back to her
work.
" Maybe?"
" It depends," she said, and Usagi could almost
feel her smile. " Is Mamoru-san still mad at me?"
" It was you!" she exclaimed and laughed, feeling
one less burden about her past lift away from her. This
one wasn't related to her usual memory losses from being
reincarnated, however. She had such a good time for two
dances that she didn't remember most of that evening.
Now, she could get to what she wanted to know. " You
were there the whole time, then. Why didn't you come to
us when you saw us working as Senshi? Maybe, if we were
together, none of this would have happened like this."
The other woman stopped braiding her hair,
presumably to think about this. She did feel Haruka
slump forward a bit and put her hands on her shoulders
in a comforting grip. She began to work at massaging
and loosening up the muscles, although it seemed to be
done by reflex more than intent. When the other woman
spoke, her voice was unusually hesitant.
" We had our own mission, and we knew how important
it was to keep the god of ruin from awakening. That made
us concentrate on our own task. We didn't know that you
were the princess."
" I didn't, either. None of us did, although
Minako-chan said she was the princess at first in order
to protect me."
" Well, you had us confused as well. I didn't
remember all of you and what you looked like back on
the moon. We didn't know what to make of Sailor Moon
at first, either. There was never a Sailor Moon among
the Senshi at the time of the Silver Millennium.
" I remembered Venus and Mercury, but I'd known
them for a while. They were almost as old as I was back
then and were chosen early like Michiru. Jupiter looked
familiar, though. The one I didn't understand was who
was pretending to be Mars when I first saw Rei-chan."
" Pretending? What do you mean?"
" You were too young to remember Mars'
predecessor," Haruka smiled at the fond memory. " She
passed on about five or six years before Rei was finally
chosen, and she started fading pretty badly while you
were still very young. She was this big, burly blonde
woman who looked like the fat lady in an opera, and she
didn't take anything from anybody. Not even me. I knew
her a lot longer, and far better, than I had known
Rei-chan.
" Anyway, that's why we didn't join up with you. The
Inner Senshi were back, but there was no sign of the
princess. As long as it was just us Senshi, we'd stay
apart and take care of our own mission. For all we knew,
you were Saturn, since we didn't recognize Mars. Maybe
we weren't all coming back in the same bodies.
" When we did find out that Sailor Moon was
actually the princess, it was too late for us to do
anything. We still didn't know that you were Sailor
Moon, and you had already left to go against Beryl.
Tomoe-sensei and the Deathbusters chose that moment
to unleash a new generation of daemon eggs as part
of their search for the talismans. We didn't sleep
for a week as we tracked down and fought all those
eggs."
" That wasn't his fault, Haruka-san," she replied,
catching the hint of anger in her voice. She turned around
so they were facing each other. " He did all that to save
Hotaru-chan."
" Yeah, I know," she admitted. " Tomoe-sensei is a
good man at heart. He wanted to save his daughter, and
she turns out to be the god of ruin and the bringer of
the Silence, Sailor Saturn."
" I never knew how much that you had gone
through," Usagi said. " Thank you for sharing that
with me."
Haruka looked away from her and tried to put the
usual bantering tone back into her voice. It came out
bitter instead. " It was nothing, odango-atama. I'm just
good at beating people up. That's my job, remember?"
She wanted to yell at her that she was wrong, but
realized that doing so would be a grave mistake right
now. For some reason, the woman was opening up to her
right now and letting her in behind the defenses that
normally held everyone away. Well, not everyone. Haruka
did confide in Michiru, but never let the others in
close like this.
At the moment, she wished she was one of the
others. Ami's reasoning could figure out what would
be the best thing to say, or Rei's experience at the
shrine would provide the answer. Minako had been one
of their best at understanding people. All she had
right now was herself.
" Haruka," she began, painfully aware of how
important it was for her to not drive her away by
saying the wrong things. Right now, she really wished
that the other side of her, the part that was or would
become the princess, was going to take over like it had
a few times before. " That's not true. We are what we
are today because of what you've done for us.
" You've shown us how to be strong, and how to
make ourselves better. You do so much more than just
fight well. Michiru is only so good at things because
of your support of her. She's admitted it to me, and I
know that she's told you that.
" I've never told anyone this," she admitted a few
moments later after deciding that Haruka didn't look
convinced enough yet. " Just after Hotaru jumped in to
fight Pharaoh Ninety, I looked back at you after I had
finished trying to power up. You looked so sad, Haruka-san.
I've never seen such a look of despair on your face.
" The only thing that I could think was that I'd done
so many stupid things up until then, and that the look on
your face was my fault. I gave the Grail to Mistress Nine.
I gave her the one thing that they needed to destroy the
planet when I could have stopped them.
" Suddenly I realized how much was really at stake,
and how much it hurt you for us to lose. You showed me
that, Haruka-san. I couldn't give up after seeing you
like that, so I tried powering up again, just one more
time, so that I could somehow make it up to you for
giving up the Grail."
" It worked, too," the tall woman replied. " Thank
you, Usa."
" 'Usa'?" she asked. " Isn't that awfully familiar
of you?"
" No," Haruka laughed and pulled her in and hugged
her. It wasn't part of a joke, but rather one that was
warm and comforting. She relaxed as she put her arms
around her and hugged back. " Don't spend all your time
worrying about us, Usagi-chan. You'll only end up in
trouble like that. We'll be all right. Just concentrate
on doing your part, and everything will work out."
************************************************
" Jesus!" the man yelled, looking out the doors
that led to the emergency department. They had heard
the reports, but hadn't believed them at first. They
didn't want to believe them, actually. Nobody in their
right mind would want to.
The sight of six ambulances pulling into the
parking lot, and the sounds of more sirens coming
towards them were tangible proof that it was going
to be worse than they feared. The orderly went pale
at what he saw next, and ran back to begin to get some
help in getting gurneys out into the lot.
" What are you doing?" one of the nurses called out,
holding her hand over the phone she was using to try and
get any of the staff they could into the hospital.
" They just brought in a bus full of kids," the man
yelled out over his shoulder, making the room go silent.
" A busload?" Dr. Mizuno gasped as she ran into the
ER. " What about St. Bartholomew? Why aren't they sending
anyone there?"
" The bridge is out," one of the other doctors
said to her, tossing over a box of surgical gloves. " A
tanker truck is on fire. It's completely engulfed in
flames. We'd better get started. You and I are the only
ones here right now with trauma training."
" This is like a war," she whispered to herself
when they walked out the doors and into the confusion.
Her night had already been difficult due to a suicide
bombing by someone who thought that the destruction of
the island yesterday meant that the end of the world was
near. The man had strapped on several sticks of old
dynamite he got somewhere and walked into the middle
of a mall before hitting the detonator. Only two sticks
went off, but it was enough.
She had worked until two in the morning in surgery,
and had barely gotten home to catch some sleep when the
call came from the hospital. She paused, feeling herself
cringe inside at the amount of suffering she saw. Right
now, she just wanted out of here and away from all that
pain.
" Mizuno-sensei?" one of her friends on the nursing
staff softly called her name as she put the doctor's long,
black hair up into a ponytail. " Are you all right?"
" Yes," she stammered, bringing herself back to the
task at hand. The paramedics had a good start on things
already, and had transported the worst cases. She ran
over to them, calling out instructions as the first of
the medevac helicopters came overhead and gave her an
idea. Maybe they could airlift some of their patients
if the bridge was out.
************************************************
" So, what do they know about it, Ami-chan?" Makoto
asked impatiently as she came into the room after taking
a shower. She still wore a damp towel wrapped around her.
The girl with the blue hair had made a beeline for the
computer when they got back after their workout while the
rest of them got cleaned up.
" Well," she responded, her mind still partially on
the data displayed on the terminal in front of her. " It
wasn't a nuke, just like I thought."
" Any idea what it was, then?"
" Ever play with a magnifying glass when you were
little?" Ami responded, entering some commands.
" Yeah, but not to fry any ants," she said, taking
a seat on the desk by Ami and crossing her legs.
" Well, as gross as it sounds, that is basically
what someone did here. Watch this."
The monitor displayed what Makoto realized was an
image of the sun seen through a filter due to the spots
and a small flare. The yellowish-green circle of light
began to shrink until it went dark for a few moments, and
then grew from a central point again until it was like it
had been at the beginning.
" That was from a solar observatory in Hawaii," the
girl explained, tapping in some more commands.
" How could the sun go out?" she asked, puzzled, and
looked down at Ami.
" It didn't go out, Mako-chan. Somehow, the entire
energy output of the sun, at least on the side facing us,
was directed into a single, narrow beam that passed
between us and the Moon.
" All that energy fried the optical systems on the
satellites, so I don't have a clear idea of what happened
next. I believe that the energy was redirected downwards
to hit the island."
" And that was what destroyed it? If it was sort of
like a big laser, doesn't it have to be on a single
wavelength?" she asked, remembering her science
classes. " The sun puts out energy all over the spectrum
from what I recalled."
" It doesn't need to be on one wavelength. It was
sheer heat, Mako-chan. The island was literally cooked
away in an instant."
" The people, too," Usagi added from the doorway,
her voice sad as she finished tying the sash to her robe
and walked over to the TV.
" The island isn't gone all the way," Ami went
on. " There's an American carrier fleet there already.
They report that the water is about a hundred fathoms
deep, or about two hundred meters, where the atoll used
to be."
They both looked over at her when Usagi gasped in
shock. " Ami! This is your mom's hospital!"
" What?" Ami replied, walking over to her just in
time to see the scene shift to the crater in the park. A
caption on the screen said that the scene was recorded
earlier, but that did nothing to lessen the impact of
seeing so many people lying on the ground, and all the
ambulances.
" Oh, no!" Ami whispered, her face going pale. " I
have to go, Usagi-chan. My mom will need me."
" Ami-chan?" the blonde asked. " What's wrong?"
" She's been having some... problems lately,
Usagi-chan. This isn't going to be easy for her," she
admitted, whirling and running out of the room with an
embarrassed look on her face. They heard her calling out
for Haruka to give her a ride as she ran down the hallway.
***********************************************
" Did you like the movie, Chibi-chan?"
" Any movie would have been fine tonight,
Hota-chan," she laughed at the pet names they used
to call each other and almost skipped down the steps
of the theater.
" Any movie? Why is that?"
" An audience makes it more fun," the girl
giggled, grabbing her friend's arm and turning them
towards the mall since it was still open. They had
the night ahead of them, and she didn't mind having
a chaperone right now.
She understood the necessity for being able to
stay in contact with the others, and was very grateful
when Haruka had said that she needed to be with someone
for only that reason, and not her ineptitude in a fight.
She had practically glowed at the implied compliment,
feeling herself move a step closer towards being able
to be a real part of the Senshi.
" Is it that lonely in the future?" Hotaru asked,
getting a little sad. She still felt guilty about what
their enemies had almost made her do, and the knowledge
of what was supposed to happen reminded her of those
times.
" In some ways," she replied, pushing open the
doors and looking around, getting her bearings. The
ice cream store at the far end hadn't moved. She smiled
before speaking again, but was still a little sad,
too. " There still aren't a lot of people awake, and
definitely not enough for showing movies."
" Chibi-usa-chan," she tentatively began, holding
up her hand so she could talk without being
interrupted. " I know I can't ask you about the
future and what happens, but I hope that I'm there
for you so we can still be friends."
" Thank you, Hotaru-chan," she whispered, resting
her head against her friend's shoulder for a
moment. " When did you get so tall?" she asked,
taking her hand.
" Me?" Hotaru giggled. " What about you?"
" I asked you first," she teased. " Are you
going to regular school yet?"
" No," the girl with the black hair shrugged. " I
still haven't stopped growing, so we don't know what age
to say I am yet. Ami thinks I'm slowing down, so maybe
next semester in the fall."
" So what do you do now during the day?"
" I take care of Minako while Michiru and Haruka
are at school, and get private tutoring three nights a
week. We pretend that it's just to help me out in my
regular schoolwork so the tutor doesn't get suspicious,
but it's hard.
" I need to go to school for the same reasons
you're here, Chibi-usa-chan," she pensively added a
few moments later. " I need to get better at learning
to understand people, too."
" Well, we're both off to a good start in that
regards," the girl announced, and swerved towards the
shop like she planned. " We became friends with each
other. And, since we're both still growing young ladies,
we need some ice cream."
" Chibi-usa-chan!" the owner's voice boomed out of
the shop as they walked up to it and sat at the counter. He
hadn't forgotten one of his best, and favorite customers. You
just don't forget someone with a hairstyle and an appetite
like hers. " Your usual?"
" Yes!" she smiled happily, spinning on the stool
before stopping facing the mall so she could watch all
the people. That had been one of the things she looked
forward to the most, right after seeing her family,
friends and a banana split with triple fudge.
************************************************
The two girls in the ice cream shop didn't notice
a woman they had passed on the way to the mall making
her way up the stairs leading to the third level. She
turned at the top and walked over to a railing from
which she could watch them through red eyes that were
hidden behind dark sunglasses.
She wore a snug black halter top and shorts, much
to the delight of a group of young men who had stopped
to ogle her. Black heels and braided hair completed the
disguise that had fooled the girls so well. They were so
used to seeing her in stylish dresses that resembled
business suits that they hadn't even looked at her twice
when they were only a few meters away from her.
One of the young men, bolder than the rest, worked
up his courage and approached her. She didn't seem to
hear what he said at first, so he began to repeat his
well-practiced line. The woman merely turned to look at
him and coolly slid her glasses down with one hand so
she could peer over them at him.
She held his gaze for a few moments before turning
back to the courtyard below and her contemplation. He
walked away after standing there for a minute. His mind
truly couldn't decide which was the worst thing right
now. It was either the pain he felt from her rejection
of him in front of his friends, or the pain he felt in
a sudden rush of sympathy for her due to the pain in
her own eyes.
************************************************
She was so tired her bones hurt, she decided,
staggering down the hall to her office after taking a
shower. One of the nurses had taken her clothes and
purse there shortly after she arrived this morning. The
rest of the day was a painful blur.
She wasn't supposed to be on call today, but there
had been a mix-up somewhere, and she was the first one
they had called. The fact that they ended up calling in
every doctor they could was of little consolation that
morning. Her hangover wasn't strong, but it refused to go
away until she saw the news.
After that, she got to work as soon as she could. One
of their orthopedic specialists had actually served in the
UN during a conflict when he was younger, and he likened
the situation to a war zone. His summation was far too
accurate for her liking.
The most deviant, mentally diseased terrorist
couldn't have come up with a better plan than what
happened today due to blind luck. She would be eternally
grateful that there weren't any casualties from the
explosion due to a leaking gas main under the park, but
that almost made it worse. Normally, as much as it
horrified her to say it, there should have been some
dead among the injured.
People who had been fifty meters away had been
hit and injured by debris or the concussive force of
the blast. She'd treated industrial accidents before,
and knew something of what kind of a force was involved
in covering that much area. The children close to the
center of the explosion should have been killed.
The sheer number of wounded people had clogged their
facility. The first helicopter broke down on the roof, so
they couldn't fly out any of their patients until a
suitable alternative landing pad had been found. The
closure of that one bridge snarled all the vehicle
traffic around them for kilometers.
Since it was a Sunday, many of the other doctors
were out of town and couldn't get back quickly. They
couldn't make use of the ones who had volunteered because
they hadn't been properly accredited at that facility,
and allowing them to operate would have jeopardized the
hospital's malpractice insurance coverage.
To top it all off, she had been the best one there
for taking care of some of the worst cases. She was proud
of her skill as a pediatric surgeon, and she had saved
several lives today, but it had been like hell for her.
Her fingers shook as she fumbled with her keys, and
finally opened the door. To her surprise, her desk was
neat. All the files were neatly arranged into categories,
and the reason why was sleeping on her couch. She smiled,
looking fondly at her daughter.
She sank into her chair with a sigh of relief, and
slid open the bottom drawer to the desk. It wasn't there,
she realized. She must have finished it last night, or
very early this morning. Truthfully, she couldn't
remember which one it was right now. Plenty more at
home, though.
" Ami-chan," she called out softly, waking her
daughter. " Let's go home, dear."
" Okay, Mom," was the sleepy reply. Ami got up,
collected her mother's coat and purse, and steered them
towards the parking lot. She almost decided to get a
wheelchair, but she managed to get her mother to her
car.
" I'll drive," she decided, taking the keys and
helping her into the passenger side seat. She got in
herself and buckled them in. Those lessons from Haruka
were going to pay off, it seemed. She didn't have a car,
but she had learned to drive as soon as she could.
The drive was a short one, thankfully, and was soon
over. She didn't have a license, or at least one that was
valid in Japan, so she had gotten lucky. Hopefully, her
luck would last the night.
It didn't, however. She went to put her mother's
things away in her room when she heard the sound of a
glass breaking in the kitchen.
" Are you all right, Mother?" she called out,
making her way to that side of the condo.
" What did you do with it, Ami?" her mother asked,
her voice dangerously low.
Ami blushed and stood her ground. " I poured it
down the sink when I came home earlier today."
" Why?" her mother said, walking over towards
her. " If I want a drink-"
" You don't need it," Ami cried out, cutting her
off. " You've had too much already lately, Mother. You
can't go on like this any more. It isn't good for you,
and you're only hurting-"
" If I want a drink in my own house, I'll damn well
have a drink!" her mother exploded, slapping her across
the face. " Get out, you ungrateful child!"
Ami's mind was moving as she watched the blow
come. Her training told her several ways to deal with
it, but then her heart got caught up on the fact that
it was her mother who was hitting her, and all she
could do was to let it land.
" ...only hurting yourself," Ami finished in a
whisper before raising a hand to her reddened cheek. The
girl turned and ran out of the room, and was silent
although she looked like she was about to cry. Her
mother heard the front door close, and not slam,
behind her. She collapsed to the floor, wondering
where everything had gone so wrong.
************************************************
" Good night, Artemis," she called out and
closed the door to her room, taking the little girl
with her. The cat sighed and settled down in his
latest favorite spot in Makoto's apartment. The back
of the recliner gave him a measure of warning before
the little blond terror could reach him. He was grateful
for a place to sleep, although he hadn't realized that
Makoto had her again so soon.
Merely being around his old house proved to be
difficult for him. Her parents had even begun to think
that he had wandered away until he made it a part of
his routine to run into them a few times each week. He
had gone inside once, and the painful memories hit him
so hard that he had to leap out of a window in order to
escape them.
The saddest part for him, though, was that he had
believed that the house would be the hardest thing to
deal with. It turned out that her ghost was haunting
him instead of her old residence.
He had tried staying with her at first. His
discovery that Minako no longer carried any trace of
Venus had been very painful to bear, but the only hope
he had was that she would regain her memories someday.
That hope gave him the strength to keep going on.
It quickly became apparent to him that he couldn't
continue to be with her all the time. Seeing her reminded
him of everything he had lost. Her fixation on him, which
at first he hoped was a sign of better things to come,
soon became another straw upon his back.
Since he knew he couldn't carry such a load, he
had cut back his time spent with her. The Outers were
doing most of the work raising the girl, but they lived
too far away for him to easily walk to their residences.
You can't call it a home when you only stayed there a
few months at a time.
Michiru and Haruka had been in the habit of moving
between several houses ever since they had begun fighting
the Deathbusters. They would spend a few months in one
before going on to the next in one of several houses that
Setsuna had set up for them when they began their
mission. They usually had Minako at nights and during
the weekends, so he wasn't able to see her too often
while they had her.
Hotaru watched her during the school days, and he
would sometimes have her pick him up so he could help
her out with keeping an eye on Minako for a few
hours. While Hotaru still spent a lot of time with
Michiru and Haruka, she had moved out a little over
a year ago into a penthouse suite down near the harbor.
It had been an old office building at first until an
entrepreneur purchased and converted it into luxury
condominiums with an upscale shopping mall on the
lower floors.
Afterwards, he'd get a ride back towards his usual
territory from one of them. The other girls would often
give the Outers a break by taking her for a while at
night, or on the weekends. Makoto usually was the one
who ended up with her for overnight stays, though. She
was the only one who had her own place and no parents
to deal with.
The brunette even opened up her home to him. It
was an ideal place in his mind, and the food was very
good, but he only spent a few nights a week there. To
keep from dwelling on his loss, he had thrown himself
into some kind of work.
Luna would have objected, but he set up a loose
perimeter patrol outside of hers at Usagi's, along with
keeping tabs on the houses of the other Inner Senshi. He
also took up studying with Ami, although his work was
more on the theoretical side. Like the girl with the
blue hair, he had a distinct appreciation of mathematics.
Tonight, though, he wished he wasn't as good with
it. Juggling a complicated formula in his head would be
good at taking his mind off of everything, just like his
hunting forays did. Instead, he kept his thoughts on the
little girl behind the closed door, and the memories of
when they were together.
************************************************
" Usagi-chan! Usagi-chan!" the cat softly cried
out. When that didn't wake her up, she jumped up next
to the sleeping girl on the bed. The temptation to use
her claws was great, but she bravely resisted it and
lightly swatted her on the nose. " Usagi!"
" Huh? What?" Usagi murmured, shaking her head and
waking up. " I was having the nicest dream, too. What is
it, Luna?"
A slight tapping sound on the window itself brought
Usagi completely awake, and she instinctively reached for
her broach.
" That," the cat said, sniffing.
" Who is it?" Usagi softly asked. Someone outside
said something, but she couldn't make it out. She was
about to ask who it was again when Luna jumped to the
windowsill.
" It's Ami-chan," she gasped, pulling back the
curtain with her teeth. " Usagi, open the window."
" Ami-chan?" Usagi called out, throwing back her
covers and going to the window. She could just make out
that whoever was silhouetted by the glow of the streetlight
had short hair like Ami. She drew back the bolt and swung
open the windows.
" What's wrong, Ami-chan?" the cat asked, beginning
to get worried. Hanging around on rooftops wasn't her
style. It was a school night, for heaven's sake. Ami
was usually in bed by now.
The girl didn't respond. All she did was slip
forward into the room and stand there. Usagi reached
over and turned on the light, revealing a miserable look
on Ami's face and a bruise that was beginning to turn to
an ugly purple shade.
" Ami?" she gasped and instinctively reached towards
her friend. Ami collapsed against her, sending both of them
to the floor as she began to sob. Usagi could only sit,
watch, and whispered comforting words to her as her friend
lay with her head in her lap and cried like she never had
before.
************************************************
Stopping only to get her fanny pack from the closet
by the door, the girl ran out the door and down the long
set of steps from the shrine to the street below. It was
nice out this morning, and the light from the sunrise was
clear and steady. She turned left at the bottom of the
hill towards another a few kilometers away.
Doing this on a Monday morning was unusual, but it
was spring break. She'd do her usual weekend routine of
exercises every morning for the next two weeks in order
to make up for lost time. The ankle that she sprained a
few weeks ago wasn't bad, but it did keep her from doing
her normal running, and she'd put on a kilo that she
wanted to get rid of.
You should have said no to Mako-chan a few times
about dinner, she reminded herself, or at least shown a
little more control. She'd eaten like Usagi over there,
and the results showed.
" Stop it, Rei-chan," she admonished herself out
loud. It was too nice a morning, even with what had
happened over the weekend. She didn't have the nightmare
about everything freezing over last night, and felt
amazingly refreshed this morning. Those dreams had been
keeping her from doing her morning jog as much as the
bad ankle had been.
Feeling energetic, she made a turn and took the
steps up to the park at the top of the hill two at a
time. She'd been here a few times before, but never in
the capacity that the designers had intended. It was
called Lover's Park, and was the place that Naru and
Umino had won a contest on it's opening day.
She and Yuuichiro had their own favorite spots,
although, and hadn't come to this place together. Still,
it should have been like any park this early in the
morning. It should have been deserted, or only a few
other joggers going through it. Maybe a couple finishing
up a late night, or enjoying an early morning stroll
together.
What it shouldn't have was a cloud of smoke rising
up from the rubble where the heart shaped statue had
been. A young man was standing there in a black school
uniform, idly twirling a long thin braid of black hair
and looking at a young woman with an exasperated look on
his face that clearly asked if she felt that was
necessary.
The woman caught her eye, though. She wore black
with gold trim and highlights on her clothes and the
pauldrons over her shoulders. Her hair was waist length
and auburn, and it was the same hair that she had seen
the previous Friday.
" Hamaji?" she called out, starting forward. The
woman turned towards to her while the man walked over to
the steps of the dais that the heart used to rest on and
sat down.
" Hamaji isn't here," she said, stopping a few
meters away. " Hamaji went away a long time ago, Mars."
" Mars?" she asked, hoping that it was just some
mistake or a joke. Her worst fears were confirmed when
the woman went on.
" I'm not stupid, Rei," she yelled before visibly
calming herself. " I was never stupid. It wasn't my fault
that nuns aren't very good teachers and I got poorer grades
than you."
" Flare," the man called out with a touch of
reprimand in his voice.
" I know," the redhead called out over her shoulder,
and turned her attention back to the priestess. " Call
the Senshi, Mars. We need to have a talk."
" And if I don't?" she asked, needing some kind of
confirmation that this wasn't just a hoax. She didn't
want to jeopardize their lives if this was a trap, either.
Flare turned and pointed at the spire of the Tokyo
Tower. A painfully bright blast of light from her hand
severed the antennae at the top from it's base. " The next
shot will be at the base, Rei. The one after that be at
the nearest refinery. Propane storage tanks tend to
messy when they explode. Lots of casualties.
" It's that, or call the Senshi. Your choice, Mars."
She reached into her pocket, her decision having
long been made.
************************************************
" Ami! I didn't hear you come in."
" I... I came in earlier," was all she could
manage as she took the offered seat at the kitchen
table. She was able to fit into one of Usagi's school
uniforms, so she had something to wear that made her
look like it was a normal morning. She wasn't really
saying a lie, but didn't say the whole truth, either. She
really didn't like that.
" She's real eager to get to school today, Mom,"
Usagi chirped as she sat down next to Ami. " We have a
test today, and then it's two weeks of freedom because
they're re-wiring the place for the Internet."
" Would you like breakfast, Ami-chan?" the woman
asked turning and glancing over her shoulder. " Kenji
left early for work, and Shingo is still asleep because
he doesn't have school today, so it won't be anything
fancy, but... "
Her voice trailed off as she finally saw the left
side of Ami's face. " Ami?"
The blue-haired girl ran through several plausible
excuses before abandoning them for the truth. Usagi's
mother had always been kind and polite to her, and didn't
deserve the deception. " I got into a fight last night
with my mother," she quietly said. " I stayed the night
here with Usagi-chan."
The woman almost began to cry, but instead gathered
the girl into a warm, caring embrace. " I'm so sorry,
Ami-chan. I'm sure she didn't mean it."
Ami stiffened at her touch, but then relaxed and
put her arms around the woman. It felt good to be held,
although she was guilty that it wasn't her own mother
she had been able to go to for consoling.
The reason that she tensed up at first, though,
wasn't just the embrace. She began to feel something in
her dimensional pocket begin to vibrate. Usagi had felt
it, too, since her communicator was doing the same thing.
Their eyes met through the veil of Ikuko's hair.
" Usagi!" Chibi-usa called out as she ran down the
stairs from her room. She was pulling a light sweater over
herself at the same time. Luna was only a step behind her.
" Thank you, Ikuko-mama," Ami whispered, using the
affectionate nickname that some of them playfully used with
Usagi's mother, especially Rei and Makoto. It was her first
time saying it, though.
" We'll get something to eat after class, Mom," Usagi
called out. " We only have to be there for homeroom and to
take a test."
" I'm going, too," Chibi-usa said and smiled at
them. " I'll get some odango and wait for them at school."
" Odango?" Usagi giggled after they left and broke
into a run. " Is that all you could think of?"
" We don't have time for that," Luna reminded
them. " That was Rei's communicator. She hit the PANIC
button."
" She's at Lover's Park," Ami declared, deciphering
the information on the display of her own
communicator. " Artemis' triangulation upgrade is
working fine on giving us her position."
What is she doing up there? Usagi asked herself
as they turned a corner. It was only about five
kilometers away, but it also probably meant missing
school. She'd have to come up with some excuse for
not being there, and ironically recalled that she
was looking forward to the test today. She'd even
studied.
************************************************
" Good morning, my lovelies," he called out,
sliding open the glass door to the balcony and greeting
his latest botanical projects. It was spring, and they
were eagerly growing. Sure, it meant more work in the
care and proper pruning, but the look on Usagi's face
whenever he gave her one of his home grown roses was
worth it.
He'd been busy yesterday after their workout, and
hadn't been able to do this for the plants. It was getting
overdue. At least his daughter was far better at
understanding the demands on his time than she used to
be. Before, she'd have been crying and fighting in order
to be with him.
She went off with her mother instead, and then was
with Hotaru during the evening. His evening had been spent
in the library. The conversation with Setsuna on Saturday
morning had narrowed down his lines of research. As much
as he hated what was probably going to happen, he had to
be prepared for it.
In the early evening, he had physically moved all
the materials that were now extraneous out of the library.
Then, he spent almost four hours working his ideas and
theories out on paper before he was able to construct
the framework of the actual spell.
A sudden, startling premonition hit him like an
electrical shock. The clippers fell to the floor as he
took one of the roses. Such beauty, and such power, he
reminded himself, thinking of all the things that he was
fighting for. Love and life, concentrated into one potent
symbol.
A black cape fluttered in the breeze as he took a
deep breath and closed his eyes, feeling for the siren
call of his heart's desire. Ground and center, he reminded
himself, recalling his lessons and experiments. Moments
later, the roses on his balcony were alone once more,
reaching towards the light.
************************************************
" No, I don't like it," she responded, the slight
raise in her voice a clear sign of how upset she was. The
noise from the engine starting in the garage below rattled
the windows of the room. " I agree with your reasoning,
but I don't have to like it. We'll see you there."
She took the stairs three at a time after closing
the doors, and vaulted over the railing instead of
bothering with the lower half of them. Haruka had just
hit the remote to close the garage door when Michiru
landed next to her and hopped onto the back of the
motorcycle.
" And?" Haruka asked, hitting the throttle and
tearing out of the driveway and onto the street. The
streets were relatively crowded, so she kept her
attention on traffic as she wove in and out of it.
" Hotaru told Makoto to bring her along," she
yelled into Haruka's ear. It was the only way to be
heard over the shrill whine of the engine as it was
downshifted. They both leaned into the turn, and then
Haruka cursed as she skidded to a stop.
" Damn," she screamed out in rage. The road ahead
was totally blocked by an accident between a tanker
truck and another car. There were several police cars
trying to re-direct traffic.
" Feel like living dangerously?" Haruka asked,
taking out her scepter.
" Don't we always?" Michiru produced hers in response.
" Uranus Crystal Power..."
" Neptune Crystal Power..."
" Make-Up!" they cried out in unison as the blonde
twisted the throttle and swerved to the left among a cloud
of cherry blossoms. She bunny-hopped the curb into a hole
in the oncoming traffic, swung around a bus and accelerated
into the large gap she had seen coming.
As they blew past the accident, Neptune waved to their
friend in the traffic division as he watched them go by with
his mouth open in surprise. They only had to dodge one more
car until they were able to pass the accident and slip back
onto the correct side on the road. Uranus took advantage of
the lack of traffic on this side due to the accident to
really crank up the engine in order to make up the lost
time.
" Tsujimoto, Nakajima, go!" the senior officer at
the site barked, releasing the two motorcycle troopers who
had just pulled up to go in pursuit. None of the officers
saw an unusual, ornate set of wooden doors that weren't in
the brick wall when they arrived close and vanish. On the
other side of those same doors, a woman with long, dark
green hair slid down with her back against the door until
she was sitting on the ground.
She pulled her knees up to her chest and began to
cry. Once again, they were going to need her and she
couldn't be there. Knowing the reasons why she couldn't
be with them didn't help with the pain like it used to.
************************************************
Jupiter and Saturn were waiting for them at the
foot of the stairs leading up to the park. Artemis was
perched on the seat of a familiar looking racing
motorcycle. Minako was in Jupiter's arms, and the
tall brunette quickly handed the child over to the
pink-haired girl. Usagi and Ami quickly transformed.
" I've got her," Chibi-usa said, taking the girl. Her
next words were addressed to the two cats as the four young
women ran up the stairs. " I still wish that I didn't have
to do this. I don't feel very useful."
" I know, Small Lady," Artemis replied as Luna jumped
up next to him on the seat to enjoy the residual
warmth. " Usagi-chan wants her protected, though-"
" And I'm the one the one most out of training
with everyone at the moment," she finished for him. " Don't
they understand that I'm not weak anymore?"
" They do, Chibi-usa-chan," Luna added. " That's why
she wants you watching over Minako-chan. We don't know as
much about what you're capable of, so this way you aren't
limited by what we try and make you do."
" Also, they get to play to their strengths by working
together," Artemis said a moment later.
" Thank you, sensei," she dryly replied, turning her
gaze to the top of the hill.
************************************************
" Rei," she whispered under her breath as she
reached the top of the stairs. Her wings helped her
leap the remaining distance to the fallen Senshi.
" Get away from her!" she yelled at the woman
in black who was looking down on her friend. She pulled
her scepter, pointing it at the woman. Jupiter and
Saturn raced in to take up a position between them.
" I didn't hurt her... much," the woman said,
warily backing away. She held a glowing blade of energy
like it was a sword and kept her eyes on Saturn. There
was no trace of fear in her stance. She was simply
being careful.
" One more," Mercury whispered. Her visor was
already out and running, and her voice was low as she
relayed the information " On the steps. No sign of any
powers. The girl's dangerous, though."
" Well, now that almost everyone is here," the
young man said as he rose to his feet. " Sailor Moon,
would you please invite your friends in the trees over
there and there to join us, as well as the gentleman on
the lamp post slightly behind me and to my left."
His tawny eyes hadn't left hers as he nullified
their trump cards by pointing them out with motions of
his hands. At her orders, Uranus and Neptune came out
and formed their skirmish line with Saturn. Jupiter was
helping Mars to her feet. The Senshi of the red planet
looked only slightly worse for wear.
" Anyone get the number on that truck?" she
grimaced, forcing herself erect.
" Mars,-"
" That's the girl I said that I saw last
Friday," the girl with the sable hair interrupted,
rubbing her hip. " Hamaji was never any good at PE,
so I tried surprising her. She's right when she said
she's not entirely Hamaji."
" We wouldn't have let her hurt Mars," Neptune
added over one shoulder as Tuxedo Kamen landed next to
Moon.
" What is it you want?" she called out to the
young man who was idly playing with his single, thin
braid of hair. The woman in black was standing in front
of him at the foot of the steps in a defensive position.
" You might as well have the other three ladies
and the gentleman come up as well, while you're at it," he
replied. " I don't want to have to repeat myself more than
once."
" You can just tell us now," she said, pitching her
voice a bit lower and firmer.
" Flare, the rest of the Tokyo Tower, if you don't
mind. Establish our credentials."
" Wait!" Mars' voice rang out. Flare paused with a
smug look on her face. Mars ignored the smirk she received
from the redhead and turned to Moon. " She can hit it from
here. Easily. She already knocked off the top of it."
" All right," the blonde conceded. *Chibi-usa, bring
everyone up. Be ready for anything*
The girl responded affirmatively and cut off the
connection between them.
" That was very wise of you," the young man
said. " I only wish to talk to you right now, so there
is no need for hostilities at the moment."
Sailor Moon took another deep breath, her mind
desperately racing. Who was he to know so much about
them? They had been doing nothing but following his
instructions so far, and she liked it about as much as
the others did. She could see the tension building in
Uranus' shoulders and felt much the same way herself.
Beside her, her love seemed to be patiently waiting,
although she could see the same signs of tension in him.
Still, his mere presence helped her greatly. His stability
and strength were a balm to her fraying nerves.
" Your Majesty," his clear voice rang out as
Chibi-usa crested the stairs with the child in her
arms and the cats at her feet. She was clothed in her
formal, white gown and the crescent moon on her forehead
shone in the sun. " It is so nice to see you today, and
in full attire, no less."
He sketched a short but respectful bow in her
direction. She responded with a brief, elegant one-handed
curtsey, not taking her eyes off of him for a moment.
" And to whom do We have the pleasure of
addressing?" she replied, shifting for a moment into the
correct form of speech for royalty in hopes of gaining a
slight advantage over the man. His next words, however,
swept away any such hopes.
" You may call me Sailor Sun."
************************************************
He nervously glanced at his watch, noting that
he was going to be a few moments late today. That would
be unusual for him, so he lengthened his stride in an
effort to be on time for the test. His presence at any
of the classes was merely a formality since he already
had the credits needed to graduate, but he'd never been
late before, and didn't want to break his record.
That detour to the bank had taken a few more minutes
than he thought. After the one class he had to attend
today, he was going to take the train across town and
get some textbooks for the classes he would probably be
taking. He could use the opportunity to get a head start
on his work next year.
His glasses had slipped a bit, so he pushed them
back up onto the bridge of his nose and looked both ways
before running across the street at a break in traffic. He
was making sure to be careful, as always. There was no
need to walk into an accident now, not when things were
looking so good.
To help cover the cost of the books, his parents
had given a him a check that he put into the bank
yesterday. His visit to the teller machine this morning
let him verify that the funds were actually credited to
his account. There was a branch of his bank right by the
train station that he was going to after class on the
way to Nekomi. He'd pull out the fifty thousand yen there.
************************************************
" A Sailor Senshi?" she cried out. " If you're
a Sailor Senshi, why are you doing this? We're supposed
to be protecting these people!"
" No," he coldly pointed out. " You are supposed
to be protecting them. I am laboring under no such
compulsion."
Her blood turned to ice in her veins as she
realized what he was meant. He was no different from
any of the others. All he was eventually going to be
doing was hurting the people she was supposed to be
protecting, and then her friends were going to be hurt
as well.
This time, though, her anger melted the coldness
and fear inside of her as she refused to even think
about it happening again. Not again. Nobody was going
to be hurt this time. Except him.
" Silver Moon Crystal Power Kiss!" she screamed
out, planting the now-extended handle of the Eternal
Tier firmly into the ground and a torrent of silver
light engulfed the two on the pedestal of the ruined
statue as a result of her latest, most powerful attack
through the scepter. It had been so difficult for her
to use before, but now the power easily came to
her. " There won't be any more fighting! I'm never
going to let you hurt anyone here! Never!"
The world went white in the glare of the attack,
making all of them look away momentarily. " Never," her
voice trailed off into a sob as she realized they were
still standing there. A shimmering barrier was holding
back the onslaught of power. Sailor Sun merely stood
there with one hand upraised. He hadn't even broken a
sweat. She fell to the ground, emotionally and physically
exhausted as her attack dissipated. Tuxedo Kamen quickly
knelt beside her.
" There doesn't have to be any fighting, Sailor
Moon," the man went on in a condescending tone of
voice. " My demands are simple for you to meet. If
you do what I say, there's even a chance that none of
these people that you are so eager to protect will be
hurt."
************************************************
The sudden hope that illuminated her face was more
than he ever could have imagined possible. Such hope
didn't have a place in this world, she would soon find
out. The despair that would follow the shattering of
that illusion of hope would be like the finest of wines.
" The people of this planet have forgotten their
place, Sailor Moon, as have you and the Senshi. You have
no chance against me. Absolutely none. I created this
system. I am the source of everything here, but you all
seem to have forgotten your place in the scheme of
things. The whole system is heliocentric, and I'm
here to remind you of that little fact.
" Serenity, you will renounce your position and
forsake your powers."
" What!" Jupiter yelled, starting forward. A
crackling ball of incandescent light appeared in her
hand. She flung it forward at same time as Uranus
drew her sword and leveled it at him.
" Space Sword Blaster!"
Their anger fueled their attacks, but they were as
ineffective as their leader's. Flare stepped forward even
before he bothered to do anything about it. Her sword
batted away the lightning with one swing and blocked the
second attack on her return stroke. The redhead pointed
her other hand at the ground in front of the onrushing
brunette.
The blast wave from her attack knocked Jupiter back
into the others. He could feel Flare's disdain as she
surveyed them one by one. When she spoke, her voice was
low and mocking. " He hasn't finished talking."
" As I was saying," he went on after a few moments
of silence. " Endymion will do the same thing. The Sailor
Senshi will recant their oath of loyalty and give up their
powers. Is that clear?"
" We'll never give up!" the young girl cried out,
shifting her grip on the child in her arms and holding
up a pink crystal. Her form began to glow, but it was
the look on the child's face that caught his attention. Her
eyes, actually. They possessed a coldness that he could
feel from here. The same look was mirrored in Saturn's
eyes as well. " You'll never get the Silver Crystal!"
" This isn't about fighting, and I have no need for
her little trinket," he explained to the girl. She relented
and lowered the crystal, but only after a quick glance from
the man in the tuxedo. " I do not engage in fisticuffs. Your
choices are very simple. You surrender, or this planet will
be destroyed.
" To show you the futility of fighting us and our
power, I will give you some additional time to make your
decision. You can even try and fight back, if it will help
you understand that you don't have a chance.
" On Wednesday, however, another blast will hit
Bikini atoll. If you don't give up by the following
Friday, the city of Nagasaki will be destroyed in the
same way. Hiroshima will cease to exist on Sunday. Your
surrender can save all those people in those cities. You
have only until the next Monday, however, for making your
ultimate decision.
" A week from today, my wrath will fall upon this
planet in New Mexico, and all life will cease to exist. Do
I make myself clear?"
" Yes," Tuxedo Kamen replied, rising to his feet. " But
why do you insist upon hurting the others on this planet? What
have they done to you?"
" Surprisingly little, really. The only real reason
why I threaten them is that it hurts you so much."
" Monster!" Mercury spat out. " What's going to happen
to them when we're gone?"
" Truthfully, I don't know," he smiled at her, sitting
back down and leaning against the broken statue. He
casually crossed one leg over his knee. " It is quite
possible that this planet will survive without you to
protect all of them. That is their one chance, you see.
" If you surrender, they have that chance. If you
don't, they have none. Now, just so you understand the
rest of the rules of this game, let me explain a few more
of the finer points. If there is any sign of an evacuation
beginning from any of these cities, the game is over and
you're out of quarters. No second chances.
" This one little lesson today also has probably
not been enough for you to fully understand the futility
of resistance, so Flare will be making a few more
appearances around the city so she can play for a while."
The redhead must have grinned eagerly at that,
judging from the look on Mars' face. The sight of someone
she once knew acting like that must have sickened her. He
had a distinct feeling that she was desperately trying
to figure out some way of saving her old acquaintance.
" She's been very patient with me up until now," Sun
explained. " Now, she gets to have her fun. When you are
ready to surrender, just come back here and call out for
me. I do hope to hear from you soon."
He laughed once, raising one hand to his forehead
in a jaunty salute before they faded away.
************************************************
" It is certainly ironic that the world will end
on a Monday," Neptune said a minute later, breaking the
uncomfortable silence that was only marred by Moon's
labored breathing after her earlier efforts. The woman
looked around at the others and reverted back to her
regular clothes. " I think he'll keep his word about
the attacks. They're not coming back."
" Usagi-chan?" Chibi-usa asked her mother as she
knelt next to her. " Are you all right?"
" Yes," she smiled at her daughter. After another
deep breath, she changed back and stood with Mamoru's
assistance. " I'm just tired. That attack isn't very
easy for me yet."
" And he shrugged it off," Makoto said from where
she was standing up as well before thinking better of it
and sinking back to the ground, wincing in pain.
" Mako-chan!" Mercury cried out and ran over to
her. She started scanning the brunette.
" Just a sprained ankle," Makoto replied and turned
back to the others. " The question is, what do we do now?"
" If we give up I... I won't..." Chibi-usa began
to cry, unable to complete the sentence. Haruka quickly
interceded, taking Minako from her so Usagi could take
the sobbing, pink-haired girl into an embrace. Mamoru
put his arms around both of them.
" We're not going to let go of you that easily,
Chibi-usa-chan," he consoled both of them. Usagi had
started crying as well in response to the idea of losing
her.
" I don't want to give up," Rei said a few moments
later to Michiru. " But what choice do we have if he's
right?"
" Rei-chan," Michiru admonished her loudly enough
that Haruka came over to see what was going on. " Don't
think like that or we'll never win."
" We're not giving up, Rei," Haruka quietly added. She
was about to say more when Minako started violently
squirming in her arms. Her next words contained a tiny
hint of sarcasm " We just have to convince Usagi of that,
though."
" Senenity," the child called out, still having a
problem with pronouncing certain sounds at times. She
was reaching towards the princess with one hand.
The blonde shushed her and set the girl down on
her feet. She promptly walked over to the trio still
holding each other a few meters away.
" Serenity... sad?" she asked, holding onto Usagi
for stability as much as she seemed to be trying to
comfort the young woman. It was the first time she
had ever put together any words that resembled a sentence.
" No, Minako-chan," Usagi replied, visibly composing
herself. She took an arm from around Chibi-usa and put it
around the child in order to pick her up. " I'm not sad
anymore."
The blonde gently kissed Minako on the forehead and
looked at her watch before sighing. " Haruka-san? We've
still got time to make it there. Can I get a ride to school
from you?"
" School!" Rei barked, feeling an irrational rush of
anger that she tried to contain and mostly failed. " We're
looking at the end of the world here and you're concerned
about school?"
The sudden outburst even got Saturn's attention from
where she was looking out over the city and trying to
figure out where they might be fighting next.
" Rei?" Ami gasped. She was about to say something
until she realized that the priestess already regretted
her hasty words.
" Yes, school, Rei-chan," the princess replied. " I
have a test to take, and no, I'm not running away from my
problems. We'll talk about that later on, though. I need
to think about this right now."
She turned and walked towards the stairs. If she
was the first one down they couldn't see the look of
despair on her face. She couldn't hold it back any
longer.
************************************************
The young lady nervously walked back and forth
in the square. For the fourth time in the last minute,
she glanced up at the digital clock on the bank building.
What she saw made her shake her head back and forth,
causing her auburn hair to gently wave back and forth.
10:03
The old fashioned clocks with second hands would
be easier for this, she decided with a bemused snort. The
digital ones didn't give you any sense that time was
actually passing. Every minute, the numbers would
obediently change, but the effect wasn't the same.
" Maybe some food," she whispered to herself. She
didn't need it, she had long since learned, but she
could still enjoy it. An okonomiyaki shop had just
opened six laps ago, so she went over and into it. She
still had almost an hour and a half to kill, and she
absolutely hated waiting.
************************************************
It turned out that Haruna-sensei hadn't even
been too mad at them for being late this morning. They
had done better than many of the other students. The
class seemed vacant with so many absences. The school
regulations required them to come in at least once a
week despite the construction that was starting that
day. It was a scheduled vacation next week, however,
so that rule wouldn't apply later on.
A good number of her classmates had either suddenly
become sick, or had parental excuses to miss class. The
teacher only slightly scolded her for being late before
handing her a copy of the test. The excuse they decided
to use was a sudden breakdown of Haruka's car, and it
seemed to work.
Ami didn't seem to be very bothered, at least in
terms of the test, but Makoto was another story. The tall
girl seemed absent-minded and spent much of the period
blankly staring at an unmarked sheet of white paper that
should have held her answers.
They made it back to Usagi's by a little after
ten-thirty. Hotaru had bribed Shingo to go off and spend
some time at a friend's under the pretense of the whole
gang coming over for a session of girl talk after the
tests were over. Neither she or Rei had classes today,
she explained to him, although it wasn't that hard to
convince him to go since he had planned to be there
later in the day anyway. Ikuko was running errands, so
they had the place to themselves for a little while.
Mamoru had just brought out tea when they arrived
and took seats in the living room. Ami stopped Makoto
from making a beeline to the security of a kitchen, even
if it wasn't hers, and made her sit with the others. Rei
had left a half hour earlier to get something for them to
eat and returned a few minutes after them with an armload
of bento boxes from one of their favorite places nearby.
" She's awfully powerful," Ami began after they took
some time to eat. Most of them hadn't the chance to have a
proper breakfast and put off discussing what had happened
for a little while.
" No kidding," Rei tried to joke. " How much more
than us?"
" I don't know," Ami apologized. " I don't have
anything to compare her against since we just met her."
" I couldn't determine anything about her power," Luna
added. Artemis nodded in agreement with her but kept
silent. " I can tell the difference between the Inner
and Outer Senshi's powers, for example, but I have no
idea about where hers is from."
" What about him, though?" Mamoru asked. " He
seems to be the one in charge, at least judging from
how she deferred to him."
" Nothing, I'm afraid," Ami went on. " I didn't
get a trace of power from him, even when he erected that
barrier or teleported."
" The barrier was centered on him, right?" Rei
asked. " What if she was the one who put it up around him?"
" Also, there's a pattern to where they're attacking
at," Ami added. " The attacks will be coming in the same
places where the first five atomic bombs were exploded. I
don't know what that means, though."
" Aren't we kind of missing the point?" Michiru
gently asked. " Which one of them is the more powerful,
and where they're attacking isn't the important thing
right now."
Haruka nodded, silently agreeing with her partner. She
also kept a close look out of the corner of her eye on
Usagi, who was sitting next to and trying to convince
Makoto to eat something. That was where she expected
the problem to come from.
" She's right," Luna said. " We have no idea who
this Sailor Sun is."
" Does anyone have any memories about him from the
past?" Artemis asked hopefully. Nobody said anything, and
an uncomfortable silence filled the room.
" I'll fight if we have to," Makoto suddenly said,
her voice low and thick.
" Have to?" Haruka echoed sarcastically. " Who's
thinking about giving up?"
" I am!" Makoto snapped back. " Hiro is in
Nagasaki. He might die if we don't."
" We're not going to lose," the tall blonde growled,
beginning to get angry before Michiru put a hand on her arm.
" What if we do?" Makoto tearfully countered, her
voice starting to rise. " What if we do lose? I finally
find someone that I like; someone that I might be able to
love, and I'm going to lose him like I did my parents. I'm
tired, Haruka. I'm tired of being like this.
" What more do we have to do? When do we finally
get to be happy?" she screamed out before beginning to
cry and slumped down onto Usagi. Haruka closed her eyes
for a moment and turned away from Makoto. The anguished
self-reproach on her face was clearly visible to the
others for a moment before she shrugged off Michiru's
hand and went over to kneel by Makoto.
" I'm sorry, Mako-chan," she began, pulling the
brunette to her and holding her tightly. " We won't lose.
You'll get your chance. I promise."
" Speaking of chances," Usagi began, and waited
until all of them were looking at her before
continuing. " Don't you all realize that he hasn't
given us a choice?"
" He did say we could give up-" Ami began to
speak.
" No!" Usagi shouted, cutting her off. She took
a few breaths and a sip of tea to give her a moment to
regain her composure. " Stop thinking about that. You
can't give up like this. It looks like he's giving you
a choice, but he's not. Don't you understand?" she
finished, her voice trembling.
" Usagi-chan?" Luna jumped over onto the blonde's
shoulder. " What is it?"
" Understand what, Usagi-san?" Hotaru gently added
in a compassionate tone since the pain on Usagi's face
was so obvious. " You said that we can't give up. Does
that mean that you don't want to fight him?"
" No," she whispered, put Luna down and rose to her
feet. " You just can't give up to him in the way that he
wants. To you, to all of you, being a Senshi is so much a
part of you that it's like breathing. If you don't do it,
you'll die. That's what Minako did to save me. She gave up
her life for me.
" I don't have that problem with my powers, but I'm
not giving up. I will not live in a world where my friends
gave up their lives for me. I will not live in a world
where I will not have my daughter."
The telephone rang. Most of them started because
they were paying so much attention to Usagi, who actually
growled at the device before walking over to it.
" Of all the times," she whispered before taking a
deep breath, exhaling and answering in a sweet tone of
voice. " Hello?"
************************************************
He had wanted to go and hug her as soon as she
stood up. The pain was so obvious to him that it hurt
to not to be able to console her, but he knew that she
needed to say this to them. She was determined that
none of them would be hurt again.
Chibi-usa jumped in surprise as well when the
phone rang. She giggled and leaned against him. It was
apparent that Usagi's reassurances were making her feel
much better, and he put his arm around her to let her
know that he felt the same way. He wasn't going to give
her up, either.
" Hello?" Usagi said. Moments later, the slight
irritation on her face gave way to fear. " Naru-chan?"
The other quiet conversations quickly died
down. Usagi closed her eyes, nodded once, and then her
eyes shot back open. " Umino? Tokyo Memorial? Oh, my
god! Naru-chan, I'm on my way," she blurted out and
hung up the phone.
" Hotaru-chan, Mamo-chan, hurry!" she implored
them before reaching up to her broach.
What happened next was certainly something they
did not expect. A radiant gown appeared around her in
a shimmer of white just before she vanished in a flash
of light from the crescent on her forehead.
************************************************
" Miss! Miss!" the proprietor called out to the
young woman as she walked out of the restaurant. She
ignored him and the bill he was holding out towards
her and stretched her arms out over her head.
" There," she smiled as she felt the tense muscle
begin to relax. Her arms came down and straightened out
the black shirt she was wearing. She negligently pointed
back over her shoulder with a thumb and blew apart the
shop she just came out of. That would serve them right
for trying to give her something made out of the batter
left over from last night.
The woman lightly jumped up to the top of a
streetlight to give her a good vantage point overlooking
the square. Five glowing balls of energy were randomly
tossed out, causing little damage but making everyone
else begin to flee in terror at the deafening explosions.
It's a start, she decided, and settled back to wait.
************************************************
" Usako!" he called out just after she left. The
others were surprised as well, or almost all of them. The
exception jumped off of the couch and ran to the hallway,
returning a few moments later with Mamoru's jacket.
" Mamo-chan," Chibi-usa cried out. " Hurry! She
needs you."
" What did she do?"
" Where did she go?"
" She used the crystal," the girl replied to the
questions. " She's at the hospital. Umino's been hurt,
but that's all I know right now. She's concentrating too
hard for me to reach her."
" I know where that is," Hotaru added. Haruka
wordlessly tossed the keys to her motorcycle to Mamoru.
He would have caught them if the ground hadn't
begun to shake.
" Look!" Makoto cried out, her earlier worries
fading as she pointed towards a column of smoke
outside. It looked to be about a kilometer away.
" He did say Flare would be back," Ami added a
moment later.
Rei saw the indecision on Mamoru's face and grabbed
him with one arm and the keys with the other. " Go! We'll
take care this. Go to her."
He gave her a quick smile of gratitude and ran out
with Hotaru in tow. The others ran out as well, leaving a
young girl to watch the child, clean up, and mildly
complain to the two cats about how much she really hated
this part.
************************************************
The nurse could only stare in shock as an absolutely
regal young woman in a white dress that belonged in a
dream appeared before her in the emergency ward. She
blinked, not fully believing her eyes, and suddenly it
was only a worried looking schoolgirl.
" You have a patient here named-" the girl began.
" Usagi!" Naru called out, running into the ward
from the hallway and grabbing the blonde by the arm and
tugging her along towards a room. " It's all right. She's
family."
The nurse didn't fully believe the story, but her
attention was diverted when two orderlies burst in from
the parking lot pushing a stretcher with a very pregnant
and very loud young lady on it.
" Usagi-chan, " Naru sobbed as she closed the doors
behind them. " The doctors say that he won't make it. It
took so long to get to the next train station. They say
that there's nothing more they can do except wait."
" What happened, Naru-chan?" Usagi asked, looking at
the pale figure on the hospital bed. Vulnerable was the
word, she realized. The IV tubes and the monitors clustered
around him made him look so frail. He looked better than
she would have thought with his glasses off, however.
" He wanted to go get some textbooks from the
college. He needed to go to the bank to get the money,
and I was delayed running a quick errand for my mom after
class, so I told him to go on ahead and I'd meet him over
at Nekomi. The police say that he must have been followed
from his bank and the suspect got on the train with him.
" Someone stabbed him and took his wallet right
before the train left one of the stations on the way. There
weren't many people on the train since it was during the
day, and nobody noticed him until the next stop," she
managed to say before the tears started.
" Naru-chan," she whispered, putting a hand on her
friend's shoulder for a moment to reassure her. " I'll
try to do something."
" You're the only person that I could think of,
Usagi-chan," she replied, a ghost of a smile on her lips.
Usagi took a deep breath and turned back towards
the bed. She wasn't too sure of how she even got here,
let alone what to do, but her friend was depending on
her. Her friends, she reminded herself. Umino was still
one of her friends.
She knew what Mamoru had done once to save Chibi-usa,
and she had also brought some of the Senshi back to life
before, so this had to be possible as well. Taking one of
Umino's hands in hers and closing her eyes, she began to
concentrate. Her mind went back to what she had done to
save the others.
She had been perceiving the energy in a person, so
she concentrated on doing that again. Her efforts were
rewarded when she was able to see a slight shimmer of light
in his body. What worried her, though, was that it was such
a tiny, flickering flame compared to the steady bonfire it
should have been, like the one she saw in Naru-chan. Still,
it gave her a measure of hope. Now that she could see it,
she could do something about it.
Drawing on her own power from the crystal, she gently
nudged a little of it towards Umino, and held it in him. The
light brightened slightly, and stopped shaking so much. It
seemed a little stronger.
" I think I've stabilized him, Naru-chan," she softly
said. " I can't heal him, but I think he'll last long enough
for someone who can to arrive."
" Usagi," she whispered in gratitude, wrapping her arms
around the blonde in a joyful hug.
" Naru!" she gasped, feeling the flash of emotions from
the girl disturbing her control and the flame stuttered. She
quickly bore down on it, forcing it to be calm.
" I'm sorry," she apologized and sheepishly pulled
back from her. " I need to concentrate on this, I guess."
" I'm sorry, Usagi-chan. What can I do to help?"
" Could you slide that chair over here," Usagi asked,
realizing that it would be easier for Naru if she made her
do something to take her mind off her anxieties. Her friend
did that and hopefully looked at her again. She smiled at
Naru to reassure her. " And maybe a cup of tea, perhaps?"
************************************************
" Are we rolling?" the announcer shouted to the
cameraman in order to be heard above the noise as thunder
broke out above them.
" Yes!" the cameraman shouted over the tumult,
panning right with the video camera they had salvaged
from the van " This is great!"
" Great my ass," the sketch artist grumbled,
poking his head above the wreckage of the TV station's
van. When the news came in that someone was fighting and
challenging the semi-mythical Sailor Senshi, the media
had descended on the scene like a veritable plague of
locusts.
He normally did safe things, like courtroom
sketches or a little bit of still photography when
things were busy. He'd been in the area, and was pressed
into service to cover this battle. There were few actual
recordings of the Senshi due to the brevity of their
regular battles, and they wanted to get as many
impressions as they could. He never expected to walk
into a war zone.
" Duck!" someone screamed from across the square
as the girl the Senshi were fighting batted away a pair
of ringed spheres. The deflected energy just missed the
crew from Channel Six where they cowered in a long trench
that had earlier been gouged out of the street by the
newcomer as she tried to kill Mercury. Several men in
the trench made a mad dash for the new foxholes behind
them.
" Did anyone have anything on who she was?" the
announcer asked as they ducked under a sheet of flames. This
had been going on for nearly fifteen minutes now, and there
had to be a story behind this girl. There had been little
news about the Senshi since their possible ally, Sailor V,
made a one night reappearance nearly two years ago. He was
sure that this fight would get top billing on the newscast
tonight, but with some luck the feud may keep going on for
a while.
Damn, business is going to be good for a while, he
smiled.
" Go in for a close-up!" he yelled to the cameraman,
who gave him a thumbs-up while complying. " Look at that
smile on her face. This is great!"
She's playing with them, the artist said to himself,
looking at the redhead through his camera lens. He'd seen
that look on some of the psychopaths he'd drawn in
court. This was just a game to her.
************************************************
" Mamo-chan!" she whispered, sinking back into
her seat as the two people she had been waiting for
slipped into the room. Sustaining Umino had been more
taxing than she thought, and she wasn't sure if she
could hold him any longer.
" Where's Naru-chan?" Hotaru asked, nervously
glancing around.
" She's trying his parents again," Usagi replied,
accepting a brief hug from Mamoru and relinquishing the
hand she had been holding. She gave both of them an
apologetic look. " Naru-chan knows about us. That's why
she called me."
" Usagi-san, isn't it supposed to be a secret
identity?" Hotaru said teasingly for a moment before
smiling and taking Umino's other hand. " Let's see here."
Both of their hands glowed in a warm, buttery
yellow color for a few moments before Hotaru looked
back at her. " He's pretty bad, Usagi-san, but between
us we should be able to stabilize him."
" He'll be here quite a while, though," Mamoru
added, giving the blonde a little smile. " You did a
good job, Usako."
" I'll go head off Naru-chan," she decided. " You'll
need the privacy, right?"
Hotaru nodded and closed her eyes. Usagi quickly
gave Mamoru a peck on the cheek and walked over to Hotaru,
gratefully squeezed her shoulder and left them to their
work. The hospital staff had looked in on Umino
periodically, so they would have some time to work.
She walked outside to the main lobby and found Naru
at the last in a line of pay telephones. Usagi's heart went
out to her in that moment at the forlorn expression on the
brunette's features. Her heart had been shattered by what
happened to Nephrite, and it had been slow to heal.
Umino may not have been one of the most attractive
of the boys at their school, but his feelings for her
friend had been honest. He did have a good heart, and
had done much to help her friend get over the warrior
from the Dark Kingdom. She had been fortunate to find
him, actually, and the prospect of losing Umino had
genuinely scared her.
" There's still nobody home," she said when she
realized the blonde was standing there. Usagi went over
and gave her the hug that she hadn't been able to wrap
around her for the thirty minutes it had taken Mamoru
and Hotaru to get here.
" I think he'll be all right, Naru-chan," she
whispered into her ear, feeling tension draining
away. " They're with him right now."
" The doctors?"
" No," she smiled. " Ones who can help him, though."
" Who?" she asked, and then blushed. " Am I supposed
to know?"
" I'll let them decide that when they're done," she
replied, and steered them off away from the emergency
ward. " They need some time to work undisturbed, though."
" I trust you, Usagi-chan," Naru happily beamed at
her. A moment later, though, the smile faded away.
" Naru-chan?"
" Why do people do things like this, Usagi? He's
never hurt anyone in his life."
Oh, boy, she sighed to herself and steered them
away from the exit like she had been planning. The signs
that she had been using to navigate by said that there
was a chapel on the premises, though, and that might be
the right place for this. It should be quiet and empty at
this time of the day.
She led her friend in and detoured into the small
Christian chapel on the left. There was a Shinto shrine to
the right, but she heard low voices in that room. They took
seats in a pew in the back. To her surprise, Naru
genuflected and crossed herself before sitting.
" I'm not," Naru explained before she could ask.
" It's all right," she replied. " Naru-chan, there
are a lot of people in the world, and some of them aren't
good people. They don't care what they do to other people.
All they want to do is take whatever they can, regardless
of the consequences."
Her mind flashed back to the ones she had fought.
Beryl standing over her with the ominous presence of
Metallia behind her. The Wiseman chortling as Black Lady
prepared to destroy the world. Pharaoh Ninety's glee as
she placed the Holy Grail into the hands of Mistress
Nine. Nephrenia smiling from one of her mirrors. Jason
triumphantly gloating as he clutched the crystal in one
hand while her body floated next to him.
She scowled briefly, recognizing the last as one
of Minako's memories surfacing from the depths of her
mind. " They simply don't care. They just take. Umino
didn't do anything wrong. What happened wasn't his fault.
We have to accept that there are selfish and amoral people
in the world. No matter what I do, it won't change that
basic fact."
" You sound like there's something you could do,
Usagi," her friend replied a few minutes later.
" I could, Naru," she replied, sighing and pointed
towards the altar at the far end of the room. " Do you
see that cross up there? I could climb up there with him,
Naru, and give my life for the sins of the world. I could
make everyone perfect, and loving and caring.
" I could do it, Naru-chan," she bitterly went
on. " I would have given up my life, and nothing would
have really changed. At some point, whatever I did would
wear off, and everyone would go back to being what they
were before. Nobody would have changed.
" I had a long talk with my mother about that right
after Minako died. I was going to do just that and make
everything perfect. I understand it now. It hurts, but I
understand all too well now.
" People have to be able to make their own choices,
and I would be taking that choice away from them. I can
only lead them towards enlightenment by example. If I
force someone to be good, they never will be. They have
to learn to do that on their own. If I made them be good,
I would be no different than the ones who hurt other
people."
" You really have changed, Usagi-chan," Naru said
a few moments later. " What happened to the carefree,
happy girl that I used to know?"
" She's growing up," Usagi sadly replied, putting
an arm around the brunette and holding her. " I have had
a lot to think about the last few years. I'm only one
person. No matter what I did, there would be no way for
me to stop all the wars going on. I couldn't end all the
suffering. I can't be everywhere at once. All I can do
is to show them the way."
" Usagi?" Naru asked a little later. " I thought
your mom didn't know about you. I mean, who you are."
" No, not Ikuko-mama," she smiled. " My other
mother. Remember what I told you? She's the one I talked
to about this."
" You live in a strange world, Usagi-chan. I'm not
sure that I could do what you do. Thank you for saving him."
" He makes you happy, Naru-chan," she replied
before smiling. " It was the least I could do." Then,
the smile became mischievous. " You do have to promise
me one thing, however."
" What?" Naru asked, feeling confused.
" Contacts, or get him in for eye surgery," she
giggled. " He looks a lot better without those glasses." Naru
began to furiously blush as the doors opened. Mamoru walked
in, looking tired but pleased.
" There you are," he softly said to them and sat next
to the girls.
" Mamo-chan?" Usagi asked, not needing to say the
rest. Naru looked expectantly at him as well.
" We've got him to where the doctors can help him,
Naru-chan," he answered them. The brunette squealed in
delight and threw her arms around him.
" Thank you," she said, and then pulled back, a
little embarrassed. " Mamoru-san, are you... ?"
He weakly grinned and handed her a rose that he
produced with a flourish of his hand in mid-air. " Why
don't you go to him, Naru-chan? I'm too tired for
bouquets right now, but I'm sure they have a vase that
you can use for this."
She rose with a happy smile on her face and bowed
deeply before taking the flower and turning to leave.
" He looks a lot better right now, Usako," he
added after she left. " He'll probably wake up a little
later on today, or maybe in the morning. We were able
to bring him back from the brink, but it wasn't easy.
Neither of us is used to dealing with anyone hurt that
badly."
" How are you and Hotaru?" she responded, feeling
concerned.
Mamoru stretched his arms above his head before
answering. " She wasn't comfortable with Naru-chan
knowing, so she went outside to rest for a little bit."
" What is everyone else doing?"
" The last I heard," he said while pulling her
to him. " They were just starting to fight against
Flare. She made a dramatic entrance right after you
left."
" They shouldn't have," she replied. She started
to reach for her communicator, her response confusing
him. " He doesn't want us to get killed right now. He
wants us to give up, remember? They aren't in any real
danger."
************************************************
Mamoru was asleep on the couch where they had
left him when they came in. She wasn't in the kitchen
when she looked. Did she leave while I was in the
shower? she asked herself. That wouldn't be like her.
Actually, now it would be. The girl Usagi used
to be wouldn't have left her here alone with Mamoru at
his apartment.
" I'm out here, Rei-chan," her voice softly called
from the balcony. The raven-haired girl grabbed a pair of
cans of soda and walked out to join her friend. They all
had a long, tiring day today, and maybe this would help
her relax.
" Thanks," Usagi said, taking one can and carefully
working a fingernail under the tab to open it. " How are
you doing?"
" A lot better after that shower," Rei replied,
sitting next to the blonde on the old sofa. " He's still
asleep."
" He's just tired, Rei-chan," she pointedly
replied. " He wasn't shot at all afternoon."
" It was only a half-hour, Usagi-chan," she
explained, trying to lightly brush off the earlier
battle. " Mako-chan even admitted that she was enjoying
it after a little while."
" She enjoyed getting beat?" the princess
replied. Her voice was slightly sarcastic, but it
was a joke and not directed at her companion.
" No," Rei laughed, taking a sip of her
drink. " She's as bad as Haruka-san about hating
to lose. What she told me was that it was nice to
be able to cut loose at full power for a change."
" Well, Haruka-san wasn't all that happy when
I ordered a retreat."
" Please, 'strategic withdrawal'," the priestess
laughed. It took all of Michiru's wiles to get Haruka
to disengage from the battle today. Fortunately, the
fatigue affecting Mamoru and Hotaru due to saving Umino
was the worst they had suffered today, as long as one
didn't mind a blow to the ego. Flare had not been
sorely pressed by their efforts today.
That made her remember one of the things that
she wanted to ask Usagi about, though. Her friend was
taking this far too calmly, in her own opinion.
" I'm sorry for snapping at you earlier today,
Usagi-chan. I shouldn't have done that," she began.
" That's all right, Rei-chan. I must have really
startled you by saying that I wanted to go to school to
take a test."
" Well, yes," she admitted and blushed. That part
was also true. " You're the most powerful of us,
Usagi-chan. He wasn't even phased by your attack today.
How can you take this so calmly?"
She waited a few minutes before answering. " I'm
not calm, Rei. I'm so scared that I want to scream, but
I can't afford to do that now. I have to be strong."
" What?" she asked, turning towards her friend.
" Is it wrong for me to want that future that
we've seen? I'm desperately afraid of losing Chibi-usa. I
can't imagine... , no, I don't want to imagine a future
where she doesn't exist. I'm not denying what happened,
Rei-chan. I saw how powerful he was as well as any of
us. All I can hope is that we can get a Planet attack
on him or something, and it works."
" That might be tough, Usagi-chan. We haven't done
one of those yet without Minako-chan, and it takes us too
long to synchronize with the Outers to boost you up for
it to be practical in a fight."
" I know," the blonde admitted. " As well as they
work together, they don't have a counterpart to the Planet
attack. Michiru thinks that because they were so far apart
most of their time in the past that they never developed
a group attack like that.
" Still, I have to believe that we can do it,
Rei-chan. If I don't take this seriously this time,
we might fail. I'm far too aware of the price of failure."
" We'll do it," she replied, putting her hand over
Usagi's and giving her a reassuring squeeze. The pain her
friend was in, and the maturity she was showing in dealing
with it only strengthened her resolve. They would beat
him. They would have to beat them.
Idly, she wondered if the legends of a bird known
as the phoenix were true. Could she rise, reborn from
the ashes like Hotaru if she decided to pay the ultimate
price?
************************************************
He had been surprised Makoto was in a good mood
after the day's events. None of them had been too pleased
about the TV coverage, and the opinions voiced by the
media when they had pulled out of the fight. Usagi had
asked for something that was very difficult for the
brunette to do.
Flare had stopped attacking when she realized what
was going on. She left right after a few choice words. They
had lost the battle, technically, but they won the war. The
fighting had stopped, and the only serious injuries had
been in a restaurant. She had the opportunity to hurt a
lot more people before they had arrived, so perhaps Usagi's
assessment of the situation was correct.
What he had been doing most of the night was
examining the records of the fight in Ami's computer. She
had followed her usual practice of recording the battle,
and although she was no closer to figuring out Flare's
power, he had been able to get lot of information from it.
For all her intelligence, Ami didn't have his
tactical training. He remembered many years of instructing
at the Guard Academy on the moon. While many of those
memories were still vague, the uncertainties had nothing
to do with the subject. He didn't remember his students,
but he remembered the subject.
Flare had taken all their best shots today. Well,
almost, he reminded himself. He wouldn't ask that of
Hotaru or the princess. That left them with only a few
options.
The prince was a crafty fighter, he well knew. While
the extent of Mamoru's gifts still weren't known, it
probably wouldn't be enough in terms of the raw power
needed to stop Flare. Mamoru had a lot in him, but wasn't
able to use all of it in an attack, they had discovered
during their practices.
His attack generally was much on the same power
level as the girls, although he had several ways of
delivering it. They had found out that what he was doing
when he stopped the second golem they fought was using
most of his power in one blast that left him nearly
comatose due to his lack of experience at controlling
it. Mamoru still could exceed his normal level of power,
but only at a great price for a small gain.
Speaking of raw power, Saturn hadn't been there
today, either. She might be able to make a difference,
but he wasn't sure. Usagi's new attack had been the
equal of Hotaru's Silence Glaive Apply as far as they
had been able to determine. They couldn't be perfectly
sure, however.
They both admitted to needing to hold back from
fully exerting those powers to avoid certain
consequences. The last thing any of them wanted was
for Usagi to go too far with the crystal. Nor did they
want Hotaru to approach the level of power needed for
the Death Reborn Revolution.
Power, he decided, was the key. They simply needed
more power. He jumped down from the back of the recliner
and padded over to the couch. Sleeping on it was the
reason that they couldn't do what they needed to do. Makoto
had left her out here at his request, and left her door
ajar. She was tired from her efforts today and didn't mind
the chance to get a few more hours of uninterrupted sleep.
Flare had shrugged off Neptune and Uranus' coordinated
attacks. The other Senshi's attacks had been similarly
ineffective. If Usagi or Hotaru couldn't do it, that left
only the riskier Planet attack. With the Outers running
interference, the Inners would have the time to do it.
The question was would they be able to employ the
attack without Venus. They had tried after her loss, and
they hadn't been able to make it work. Group teleports
were about all they could manage, and those had been
difficult enough.
This was all his fault, he knew. They couldn't do
what they needed to because they didn't have Venus. They
didn't have Venus because of him and his failures to wake
her up from her slumber. She was asleep because he hadn't
trained her well enough, or because he hadn't remembered
something important.
" Venus," he whispered, preparing himself. It wasn't
his Minako he was calling out for. This time, he was going
to find her. Gently, he brushed his consciousness across
hers.
At first, there was only the need for sleep. She was
still young and tired easily. The only things he found
there were the tangled skein of her dreams and a haunting
image of Usagi's sad eyes.
As he feared, there was nothing else. Phase two, he
said to himself and closed his eyes. The crescent on his
forehead began to glow with the painstakingly accumulated
energy from the last full moon. He had let her old crescent
compact absorb what it could in a window at Makoto's while
he had frantically ran from one patch of moonlight to
another on that cloudy night.
He cast his memories back as far as he could. If the
cat could not do this tonight, then perhaps the man could. He
truly didn't remember which he was at first; a man or a cat,
but he did recall Queen Serenity changing them in some of
his earliest memories.
" Luna," he whispered, remembering her as a human and
how radiantly beautiful she had been. Usagi had briefly
changed them into humans during their first battle with
Nephrenia. He concentrated on Luna's glorious eyes, making
his self-image into the one he saw mirrored in hers at
that moment.
The brief shock of pain was worse than he
remembered. His skin felt like it was crawling as his
perspective changed until he was looking down on the
sleeping child.
" Venus," he said softly, picking her up and cradling
her in his arms while marveling at how small she was
compared to him right now.
************************************************
He closed down the computer and leaned back in
his chair to consider some of the things he had just
read in the reports. There was no urgency involved since
it would still be many years before he sprang his trap. He
wasn't planning on repeating Jason's mistakes.
No, he'd be far more direct about it when he
attacked. There would be no convoluted plans or tricks
involved that could, and invariably did go wrong. Most of
them would die at night, or be otherwise caught by
surprise. The ones he couldn't deceive would fall under
the weight of numbers.
One of his old colleagues, Gabriel, had planted a
number of golems in and around the city of Tokyo. They
were part of a plan to observe the Sailor Senshi in
battle. Most of the first batch had already been used,
but he quickly sent in more of them after getting his new
base set up.
He lacked Gabriel's gift at making powerful golems,
but his were more subtle ones that weren't designed for
combat. They didn't attack the Senshi. They merely tracked
them as long as possible when one came close enough to
activate the dormant construct.
Eventually, he would be able to establish a pattern
to their actions, and that would lead to who they were. Given
that, it would be child's play to kill most of them without
a fight. They looked like young girls, and tended to act
like them from what he had seen of them through the scrying
spells. Since he had already had set up the spells on the
golems when he made them, there was no way for the Senshi
to detect that they were being observed like they would
have if he directly watched them through a spell.
Yes, things were going well. He lit up a cigarette
and put his feet up on the desk he sat at. His recruitment
of new talent had already made up for most of his losses
from the debacle at Jason's stronghold, and they would be
far stronger in time. He had plenty of time to make sure
that everything would go as planned.
************************************************
She woke feeling like something was wrong. It
was quiet around her, though. The only sounds in the
Tsukino household were the normal ones of a peaceful night.
The faint howl outside instantly told her what was
going on, and she slipped out of the room and down the
stairs to leave by the pet door. She recognized his voice,
and the pain he was in. He wasn't anywhere she could see,
and it hadn't been too loud. That left only a few options
since he generally wouldn't be doing this on anyone's
property. He would want to be alone, and that left only
one real choice, which she ran towards.
She found him curled up into a small, miserable
ball in the middle of the soccer field. Every few minutes,
he would let out a mournful howl.
" Artemis?" she softly called, keeping her voice low
enough so that nobody else would hear. " Artemis?"
" I blew it again," he admitted, looking over at
her. Defeat was etched into every feature on his face. He
stood, stretched and walked over to sniff at an open bottle
lying hear him. She almost laughed as he made a face and
intentionally tipped it over.
It was funny until she realized that he smelled
like the contents of the bottle.
" You've been drinking," she angrily started before
the absurdity of that statement hit her. " Wait, how did
you even get...?"
" It's easy when you have opposable thumbs," he
announced and walked over to stand downwind of her. He
let out another mournful yowl. " I wish we could cry."
" Opposable thumbs? What are you talking about?"
" I couldn't do it, Luna. I even managed to turn
myself into a human for a little while, but I even then
I still couldn't wake her up. We're all going to die
because this stupid white cat who stands before you
screwed up once again."
" That is nonsense, Artemis, and it's wrong."
" No, it isn't," he politely disagreed. " It's
the simple truth, and I should have drank more of that
sake while I had the chance. It smells too vile now to
go near it. Maybe it would have killed more of the pain."
" We haven't lost yet-"
" And we can't win," he coldly interrupted her. " We
can't win without either losing Usagi or Hotaru. Even if we
win, we lose. The reason for it is that we don't have Venus,
and the reason we don't have Venus is me. Do the math, Luna."
" I am not going to stay here while you wallow in
self-pity and insult me, Artemis," she announced,
disdainfully turning her back on him and preparing to
leave.
" Luna, don't go. Please. I'm the only one I've
been insulting, if you recall," he said a few moments
later to her, giving her a sad smile. She relented and
walked back over to sit by him, but stayed upwind. " I
still can't help but feeling responsible for whatever is
going to happen. I should have seen it coming somehow."
" It's more polite, but you're still talking
nonsense," she replied in a gentle tone of voice. " You're
using hindsight to look at the situation and punishing
yourself for not having been perfect and seen all the
problems before they happened."
He sighed deeply. " I know that in my mind, but my
heart hasn't quite got the message yet."
" So that's why you were drinking?"
" Trying to drink," he laughed. " I brought the
bottle with me from Makoto's. The first sip tasted so
bad that I changed back into a cat. I ended up wearing
more than I drank since I could no longer hold the
bottle and dropped it."
" Was it hard to do?" she pensively asked. He knew
she didn't mean drinking.
" Not as hard as I thought," he replied and wrapped
his tail around her. " I think that we're going to have a
lot of fun a few full moons from now."
" Your mood certainly got better quickly," she teased
him and leaned into him for support and security. He
rested his head on hers.
" You do that to me, dear."
" Now, that is definitely the Artemis I'm used to
hearing," she smiled.
************************************************
" Burning Mantra!" she screamed out, sending a
barrage of flaming rings through the air towards her
target. Mercury cried out as well, sending a blast from
her 'Mercury Aqua Rhapsody' just to the left of Flare as
she avoided Mars' attack. That's it, she grimaced. Let
yourself get herded into this.
" Jupiter Oak Evolution!" the green-clad Senshi
yelled, popping up from behind the bushes she had been
knocked into a minute ago. Jupiter had been letting this
one build up for longer than normal, judging from the number
and brightness of the leaves of energy that flew towards
the redhead as she spun around.
Flare got her arms up to block the worst of it and
was only knocked back a few meters. Catlike, she landed
on her feet.
" Damn," Mars whispered under her breath. This wasn't
what was supposed to be happening. They had been too tired
after the fight yesterday to really finish their discussion
of what went on Monday. Usagi had suggested they meet today
at this park to decide what they wanted to do.
It was either karma, fate, or Murphy's Law that made
Flare attack them when she, Makoto and Ami reached the
park. Like the day before, Flare's sword was blocking or
deflecting their attacks. One thing they had decided on
the way to the park was to surprise her in the next fight
and see if her ability to block their attacks had any
limits.
Apparently, it did, but they were in no position
to exploit the weakness. Ami had tried to hit the panic
button on her communicator before she transformed, but
Flare hadn't given them the chance. None of the others
had shown up yet. Usagi and Chibi-usa were a running a few
minutes late when they had arrived, and Usagi had told them
to go on ahead. They were supposed to be here by now, she
knew. They really needed the reinforcements.
" That wasn't very nice of you," Flare growled,
flinging a bolt of light that caught Jupiter full on,
knocking her to the ground in a smoking heap. Then, she
turned towards the other two and smiled. " Care to give
up yet?"
************************************************
" Look out!"
Screams rang out ahead of them just in time to
give them a chance to dive out of the way as a bolt of
fire tore between them. Mars' arrow, she realized, the
bag of groceries forgotten as she looked at the molten
scar that now ran the length of the street as far as she
could see. The median that they were walking along was
now a low pile of rubble.
She glanced over to see Chibi-usa looking towards
the park from the entrance they were standing near. She
still held on to Minako's hand, thankfully. She didn't
want the child to be hurt.
" Senshi!" was the only part of someone's yell that
she could make out as another explosion made the ground
begin to shake. A bird made of fire rose out of the pall
of smoke hanging over the park. It cried out once before
banking into a tight turn and plummeting down into the
gloom. Another explosion was felt, knocking her and several
others to the ground. She still couldn't see the combatants.
" I'm going up there!" she yelled out to the girl
as a low rumbling began to be heard. It rose in volume
like something that was far away but rapidly approaching.
She flashed a quick smile at her daughter to reassure her
and stood up, reaching for her broach. She knew that
sound. The cavalry had arrived, just like in the movies.
" Are you crazy!" a voice rang out as she was
pulled down to the ground by a young man in a black
uniform. " You'll get killed in there."
" Shino-san?" she gasped out, and then cried out
in shock as a blue sphere passed right over their heads
with a roar that reminded her of the sea. She started to
protest his restraining her when she realized that
normal people didn't run towards a fight involving the
Senshi.
This secret identity stuff really has some
drawbacks, she bitterly decided.
*Chibi-usa-chan! I can't transform right now. He
knows who I am. Can you come over and distract him?*
" Stop biting me!" a shriek rang out on the other
side of the debris. * I can't, Usagi-chan. She's going
nuts over here*
*The poor thing must be scared* is what she sent,
although the picture in her mind of the struggle going
on between the two young girls brought a smile to her
mind.
*Scared my-* her daughter replied, quickly biting
off the last word. *I can barely hold her down. I think
she wants to either get into the fight or to go to you.*
*Bring her over* she sent and began to look around
the rooftops, hoping that her love would be there soon.
Technically, she hadn't been in any real danger yet, so
he might not know what was going on.
" Have you ever seen them before?" Shino asked,
peering up over a car towards the park.
" Who?"
" The Senshi. I've heard stories about them and seen
them on TV, but I've never seen them."
" I've seen them," she admitted. That much was true,
at least. Chibi-usa stood and clambered over the remains
of the median with a struggling Minako-chan in her arms.
*We don't know each other* the girl quickly sent. She
ran over next to them and put on her scared look.
" I'm frightened," she blubbered, huddling close to
them as yet another explosion came from the park. The fight
was still going on.
Minako burst from Chibi-usa's arms as soon as her feet
were on the ground and tried to push her way in between
Usagi and the young man, but ended up falling down instead.
Chibi-usa scooped her up before she could do anything but
begin to cry.
" I'm so sorry about my sister," she began when a
figure in black landed beside them. Somehow, she kept from
calling out his name in gratitude.
" I've got these two, " Tuxedo Kamen said to the
young man, picking up the two girls. " Get her out of here."
He pointed down the street away from the park and
jumped to the top of the building and out of sight.
" He's right," Shino admitted and pulled her to her
feet. He tugged on her arm and they began to run in that
direction. She followed him for a couple of blocks, and
then slipped away and into an alley before he could react.
Her wings unfurled as she changed, and she leapt up to the
low rooftop on her left and started making her way to the
park.
************************************************
They didn't need to count it off or give any
signal. They were beyond such simple means. One moment
they were watching Flare finally break through Mars'
defenses and preparing to administer the coup-de-grace. The
next, Uranus was off like the wind, her feet kicking up a
cloud of the last of the cherry blossoms from the ground.
Her own attack did what they expected.
Flare brought her sword up to deflect it away.
Uranus' shoulder caught her in the chest, driving her to
the ground. The redhead snarled a curse and rolled to her
feet just as the Space Sword came down where her head had
been a moment before.
They began to square off when she silently came in
from behind and caught her off-guard with a brutal side
kick into her lower back. Ignore me at your peril, she
warned her opponent, pulled out her mirror and stuck it
in front of her face. Just because I don't lug around an
obvious weapon doesn't mean that I'm not a threat.
" Submarine Reflection!" she whispered. The
resulting blast sent her flying, but she wasn't on the
receiving end. Her target screamed in pain and vanished,
reappearing about twenty meters away.
Their foe snarled in rage and began blasting away,
carving long, deep furrows into the ground. They dodged
easily, each backing away and to one side to draw her
fire.
************************************************
The diversion had almost worked perfectly. Flare
was so busy trying to hit the other Outers that she had
been able to sneak up within five meters of her.
To her surprise, though, she was noticed. Her foe
dove to the side, rolled out of it, and neatly hit her
partners with two short bursts of energy.
" Sorry about that," she said, turning to face
her. " It's tough giving those two a false sense of
hope. I've been waiting for you."
" Oh?" she replied, bringing her Glaive to the
ready. Flare only smiled and created her sword again.
" Is this how you really want it?" Saturn asked,
looking over the redhead's shoulders. The others were
still down, but Mars was beginning to stir. C'mon,
Rei-chan, she encouraged the priestess. Please don't
miss this opportunity.
" Yes," Flare grinned and attacked. Their weapons
were a blur of ripostes and blocks as they tested each
other for nearly a minute until she was able to lever
her opponent's sword into the position she wanted.
" You know what they say in some Chinese martial
arts philosophies?" she grunted, straining to hold the
position. " They call the sword the queen of all weapons."
She waited until the grin started on Flare's face
and disengaged, but not in the way expected. Using the
two blades on her weapon to trap the sword blade, she
shoved it down towards the ground and brought the haft
of the Glaive around and into her face.
" But the staff is the king," she finished,
disarmed her and jumped back to give a clear field of
fire. " Mars!"
************************************************
Saturn's shout brought her fully to her senses, the
haze fading in the rush of adrenaline. An opening! her
instincts screamed at her, and she got herself up to where
she was kneeling.
" Mars' Flame Sniper!" she cried, bringing her hands
into position just like she was using her own bow back at
home. Saturn was leaping back and away from Flare, her
Glaive held out in front of her and creating a barrier.
Flare was looking straight at Saturn, and hadn't noticed
that she was up. A scintillating beam of energy bounced
off of the Senshi's shield.
This was too easy, she realized. She was a crack
shot, and this shot was mere child's play. She concentrated
briefly, bringing her point of aim onto the redhead's face.
Without warning, all she could see were a pair of largish,
brown eyes on the face of the new girl. Hamaji was a little
nervous at first, with it being her first day at a new
school, and a Catholic one at that. She took it onto
herself to at least be nice to her, and didn't make fun
of her like some of the others. It led to a brief case
of hero worship, naturally.
She sort of liked the adulation at first, since
she was never really popular with most of the other
girls. She had a reputation for being different due to
living at the shrine. While they never became close, or
even friends, Hamaji was never as distant as the others.
She lowered the arrow and let it dissipate with a
frustrated sob.
" Silver Moon Crystal Power Kiss!"
" Tuxedo Smoking Bomb!"
The two cries rang out, heralding the arrival of
the Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Kamen. Flare had the opportunity
to recover, thanks to her hesitation, and nimbly jumped
away, avoiding the attacks. She was about to go back on the
offensive when Sailor Sun appeared behind her.
" Enough, Flare," he said, putting a hand on her
shoulder to restrain her. " That will be enough for today."
The redhead didn't look happy about it, but stopped
anyway. She turned towards Saturn, who had made her way
over by the other Outers. Her sword was brought up in front
of her face and held there a moment before she slashed down
and to her right in a brief salute, and they left, fading
away in the sunlight.
************************************************
The blonde dropped the hair she had been trying
to pin up on top of her head, went over to Rei and put
an arm around her. The girl with the black hair had
been standing there for nearly a minute and staring
into the mirror after she finished putting up her hair.
She gave her a reassuring squeeze. " Rei-chan, come on
and get undressed. A hot bath will make you feel a lot
better after everything today."
Usagi began to undo the sash of the white robe that
Rei was wearing. The action seemed to wake her up at
least, and she pulled away and began to undo it on her own.
" I couldn't do it, Usagi-chan. I had her in my
sights and I couldn't do it."
" Rei," she pleaded with her. " Don't feel so bad
about it. I know that I couldn't shoot you if I had to."
" Thanks," she grudgingly admitted. She went around
behind Usagi, put her hair up for her, and gave her a
gentle push towards the tub. " I'll be all right, silly."
Usagi smiled and turned on the shower before taking
a seat on one of the small, wooden benches. " Wouldn't it
be great to have one these at home?"
" Usagi-chan, that tub alone is bigger than Shingo's
room," she pointed out. One thing these safehouses of
Setsuna's had in common was certain creature comforts,
and this was the most opulent of them. The bath on the
other side of the room could easily hold a dozen people,
and a lot more if they were friendly. She'd seen smaller
ones in some public bath houses.
" I know," she sighed and began to lather
herself. " Still, it would be so nice."
" Yeah, and your father would have to get another
job to pay for the gas bill," Rei laughed and sat down
by her friend. " Or maybe Shingo."
" Hotaru says dinner will be ready in about thirty
minutes," Michiru said after sliding open the door and
poking her head in. " May I join you?"
" Certainly," Usagi smiled, beginning to rinse
herself off. She wanted to spend a few hours soaking,
but thirty minutes would have to do. Michiru smiled
back and came in, slipping out of her robe and putting
it by the door. She already had her hair up in a clip.
" Haruka?" she called out, rapping lightly on a
wooden door as she walked over to the shower. Usagi
and Rei finished and got into the tub to soak. A few
moments later, the door to the sauna opened up and
Haruka came out.
" Dinner in half an hour," Michiru reminded her,
and then playfully sprayed her with a bit of cold
water that made the tall woman jump and the others
giggle.
" I'll get you back, Michiru," she smiled back
and began to rinse off before getting in the tub near
the others. " I wish we had a sauna at home."
Usagi grinned as Rei closed her eyes and sank down
into the water as far as she could without getting her
hair wet.
" Don't mind her," Michiru told them while slipping
into the water. " She's addicted to those things. She
likes to sweat, I think."
" You've got that right," Haruka grinned and
flicked a bit of water at Michiru before her face got
more serious. " Rei-chan?"
" Yes?" she replied, pushing herself back into
a more upright position.
" I'm sorry, but I heard you talking earlier," the
woman admitted. " You did a good job today, and I wanted
to make sure you knew that."
" Haruka," she protested. " I froze."
" Rei-chan," she gently went on. " We were watching
you, remember? You did a good job against her on your
own after Jupiter and Mercury went down. The only time
that you froze was when it wasn't important."
" Usagi-chan seems to be right about their not
wanting to hurt us," Michiru added, giving Usagi a
brief nod of acknowledgment. " It didn't matter today."
" When it matters, you won't hesitate," Haruka
finished. " I have faith in you."
" Thank you," she whispered, grateful for their
encouragement.
" Speaking of when it matters, though," the tall
woman smoothly steered the conversation on to her next
item. " What are you thinking of doing, Usagi-chan?"
The other blonde made a face and sighed. " I'm not
really sure, Haruka-san. We did a lot better against her
today. Maybe if we can get everyone working together on
her at once we can stop them."
" Tactically sound, but I was wondering about
tomorrow."
" I think we should make sure that they're not
bluffing," she decided. " I'd hate to do all this
just because they're good at poker."
" Usagi, should we let them attack tomorrow,
then?" Michiru asked.
" Better tomorrow than Friday," Rei chipped
in. " There are a lot of people in Nagasaki."
" That's what I'm hoping to avoid," Usagi
grimaced. " We'll just have to hope that something
comes up before then, or they make a mistake somewhere.
The alternatives aren't very promising. We either figure
out how to get a Planet attack to work, or I use the
crystal and hope for the best."
" No," Haruka growled. " That isn't a viable
alternative. Hotaru first."
" Haruka!" Usagi raised her voice. " We will
have none of that kind of talk here. I will not allow
you to do that. Do you understand?"
" All right," the tall blonde sighed and slumped
down into the water. " I don't want that to happen
either, Usagi-chan. I don't want to have that happen
to either of you."
************************************************
" I'm ready, Usagi-chan," the girl replied, pushing
her glasses back into place. They always chose the most
irritating time to slide down her nose.
" What about passwords and stuff?" she asked,
recalling what she had seen in some movies. " Aren't
they going to think it is just a prank if it isn't in
the right code?"
" We don't have the codes, Usagi-chan," she explained,
opening and closing a few more windows on the monitor
screen. " They way they make the recent codes there is
no way for me to get those. What will happen is that this
will not be in code, but it will be coming in on their
most secure communications lines."
"So, it's how the message gets there that convinces
them?"
" Exactly," she smiled. " Setsuna's got a back door
that will let me tap their satellite links and insert the
message. Our next window is pretty soon, though. It can't
be very long, either."
" Well," she replied, and leaned over to type several
words into the computer before looking at Ami. " How about
this? Short and sweet enough?"
" Short and succinct would be a better description,"
Ami added, entering in the message. " But it should work,
and at least we tried to warn them. Any signature?"
The blonde thought about it for a moment, and then
tapped in three more letters.
" Are you sure?" Ami asked.
" They're going to have to get used to it sometime,
right?"
" That's true," Ami decided, and hit the ENTER key.
************************************************
" Not a threat?" he chuckled, holding out the bag
of peanuts to her.
" Shut up!" she snapped at him but took a couple. She
was still sporting a bruise on her nose, but the one to her
pride had been the one to sting. " Remember, it is your idea
to play with them like this. I would have killed them already
if it were a real fight."
" I know, Flare," he quickly replied, soothing her ego.
She had been sulking earlier when he went to talk to her, so
he let her cool off for a while before meeting here. His
partner was a skilled combatant, even if she was a bit
overconfident, and he still needed her help. " You've done
well against them."
" Thanks," she grudgingly admitted, and let the wind
take one of the empty shells away and over the edge of the
tower. The last work crews fixing the damage she caused
earlier had left when darkness began to fall. " Why are
we meeting here again?"
The tone of her question surprised him more than
the question itself. Her voice was thoughtful, or maybe
even introspective. Her usual anger was curiously absent.
" I remembered liking it here," he replied and
decided to open up a little more. In part, it was the
desire of his old self to have a friend that made him
do it. If nothing else, he'd get to see how she reacted
to his gesture. " I used to come here before, I think."
" Does what we have to do bother you?"
" It would have at one time," he admitted, and then
wondered why he had agreed to let so much of his feelings
show. Time to turn the tables. " And you?"
" Nothing bothers me now," she flippantly responded,
but had hesitated slightly before saying it. She was
feeling much like he was, he guessed. Maybe she wasn't
such a cold fish after all.
" That's good," he said and regretted the lateness
of the hour. This exchange promised a new level of their
relationship together. " I don't have much time since I
still have to keep up appearances. Take it easy tomorrow
and rest for a little while. Even you need to now and
then, and they'll have to after today."
" Just hit the remains of the atoll, then?" she
asked him.
" Yes, that should be sufficient," he answered her
and watched her leave. It struck him as he faded away
that he didn't even know what she did in her spare
time. He'd have to remember to ask her about that.
************************************************
" Skipper?" a voice accompanied the knocking
the second time.
" Yes," he called out, shaking his head in an
effort to bring himself more fully awake. It was his XO,
but his voice didn't indicate it was an emergency.
" Sir," the younger man began, closing the door
behind him. " We just received an unusual message, and... "
" Go on, Frank," he gently prodded him. " You wouldn't
be waking me up if it wasn't important.
" This came in on the routine dispatches from the
Pentagon," the XO said, holding out a clipboard. He took
it and glanced at the message.
" 'Another explosion imminent. Leave ASAP. Signed,
NQS.' What is that supposed to mean?" he read out the
message and looked at his second.
" It was in the clear and uncoded. Normally, I
would have simply dismissed it as some crank, but it
came in sandwiched between test orders to confirm the
authorization protocols to begin a nuclear exchange."
" What?" the ship's captain exclaimed, biting back
a curse. " Are you sure that this isn't one of the kids
in Communications playing a joke?"
" Yes, sir. I didn't believe it myself, but Captain
Tyler was the officer in charge of that section and he
personally transcribed and decoded the messages. We already
checked with the Pentagon, and they confirm sending
everything else we received. The National Security Agency
is looking into the matter as we speak."
" I've known Tyler for years," the captain
mused. " We went to Annapolis together. He doesn't
have a sense of humor on the job. If he says this came
in with those transmissions, this message did. It will
take the spooks in Washington another day just to decide
what happened, and we don't have that time.
" I want the fleet two hundred nautical miles to
the north of the blast site by sunrise, and that includes
any other vessels in the vicinity. Evacuate any people on
any of the other islands in the vicinity as well. Begin
the air operations at once."
" Are you sure about this, Skipper?"
" Yes," the older man mused. " If someone can break
into those communication systems, we're in trouble. No
matter what happens, the fleet is safer out in open
waters, and we've got a lot of civilians on board we
have to keep safe as well. We can do our job just as
well from that distance."
" Aye, sir," the exec saluted and turned to leave.
" One more thing," the captain called out. " Tell
Tyler to get on the horn to the Pentagon. I'm feel like
I'm going to have a long day explaining this."
************************************************
" I wanted to thank you for coming back tonight," he
started, looking around at the other three women. They were
all sitting in the darkness of the observation room at the
summit of the roof of the mansion. The only light was from
the city below them and a few candles. Ami was to his left
on one of the couches, and Michiru and Haruka occupied the
other. He was in one of the chairs and swirling around a
glass containing a shot of Glenfiddich that he still hadn't
drank from.
" What can we help you with, Mamoru-san?" Ami
volunteered.
" I need someone to talk to about a few things," he
admitted.
" Not just someone," Michiru added. " You
specifically asked for us."
" That's true," he sighed. " I have some ideas
about something that might help us in our upcoming
battle. I can't talk about it just yet, though. I want...
I need to work everything out first, and I need some more
information from you three."
He looked at each of them, waiting for them to
agree before he continued. " Ever since we all met, I
was confused about why the Outer Senshi were more
powerful than the Inners. At first, it was only an
idle thing that I used to consider now and again, but
when I started working in the library here that same
thought started nagging me.
" I made up a list of everything that I knew about
you that might be a clue to explaining it. I knew that
you were active before we met. When did you first become
Senshi?"
" It was about six months before we first heard of
Sailor Moon," the blonde replied, finally speaking as she
mulled over where he might be going with this line of
conversation.
" And that was about the same time that Artemis
told me he first knew of Minako being Venus," Mamoru said.
" Something Setsuna told me made me feel that she
started on the same night that I became Neptune for the
first time," Michiru responded after a moment of thought.
" It can't be the total amount of time that they've
been Senshi," Ami protested, shaking her head. " If that
was true, Minako-chan would have been comparatively that
much more powerful than we were when we first met."
" I see that you've been thinking about this as well,
Ami-chan," Mamoru smiled at her. He really wished that the
real proof of that idea being wrong was here. If it was
only a matter of time as a Senshi, Setsuna would never
have needed their help.
Ami probably understood that as well, but didn't want
to remind the two other women of a painful subject. " No,
that isn't the answer. Usako told me about some of your
first practice sessions together. Minako-chan had a much
different approach than the rest of you about fighting
since she had done more of it than you, but she was still
at around the same level as you."
" If it helps," Haruka spoke up. " We saw Minako-chan
fighting a daemon once-"
" A daemon egg!" Ami gasped. " She never told us
that."
" I don't think she realized it was a daemon egg. It
took her several hits to take it down, but she didn't seem
to be aware of the fact that it was different from a youma."
" Also," Michiru started talking, taking over from
the blonde. " We did fight a few youma, it turned out. They
were probably scouts. Until we got to compare notes
recently we thought it was a defective batch of daemon
eggs since they weren't as powerful as the others and
were acting differently from the others. We usually
destroyed a daemon in one or two hits at most, but these
were comparatively fragile. Haruka got one on a near miss."
" I didn't miss," the blonde pointed out. " It was
a warning shot."
" That helps to explain a little bit," Mamoru quickly
cut in. " But there's a few other things as well.
" When you were reincarnated after Beryl," he said
and saw Ami shudder at the unpleasant memory. " Sorry,
Ami-chan. After that, the Inners were generally the same
for a little while. During the time I was moonlighting,
you managed to boost your power levels for some reason. Right
after that, you all got new transformation wands from Luna
and Artemis and powered up a second time. A little while
later, the same kind of thing happened again thanks to Elios."
" Hotaru-chan did the same for us when we started
fighting Nephrenia," Michiru interjected and grew
thoughtful. " She disproves most of your theories, doesn't
she?"
" Yes," the young man chuckled. " She's the monkey
wrench that is fouling up the gears, if you'll pardon the
pun. If I include her in my comparisons, I can't make any
theories work."
" Did you know she doesn't change in size like the
rest of us when she transforms?" Ami asked them. While
the two other women were slightly surprised, the man
wasn't.
" The subject came up when we were talking once
several months ago. I asked her what it felt like when
she transformed," he explained. " Her answer was not what
I expected. She said that she didn't change inside. It
was more like she was changing clothes rather than
becoming someone else."
" That feeling of being someone else is something
that all of us have felt, Mamoru-san," the girl with blue
hair said after she thought about what he just revealed.
" I've been down that road as well, Ami-chan," he
reassured her and steered the conversation away from what
he was trying to skirt around. He still didn't like what
he feared they would have to do, and this was getting too
close to it for his comfort. " The other thing I wanted to
ask, though, was about the talismans. Is there anything
else to them that we don't know about?"
" You're just full of questions tonight," Haruka
smiled and leaned forward to pour herself a shot of the
scotch. She used a brandy snifter, however, and swirled
the amber liquid around and inhaled it's aroma before
going on. Her voice held none of the guarded edge that
they used to expect from her in response to the implication
of her holding back information. " No, at least not to our
knowledge. Setsuna was the one who knew about them and what
they could do.
" They might have been able to do something together,
but we don't have all three of the talismans. I'm sorry,
Mamoru-san."
" It isn't your fault, Haruka-san," he replied. While
it wasn't what he hoped to hear, every little bit of
information, even the negatives, eased his troubled
spirit. He didn't want to miss any possible alternative
to his plan. " I really wish Setsuna-san was here, too."
" We all miss her," Michiru added.
" You've all been a big help to me, even if it
doesn't seem like we accomplished much," he told them
after looking at his watch.
" Sounds like a dismissal to me," Haruka dryly
observed, stood and pulled Michiru to her feet. " The
morning, then?"
" Yes. I still have some work to do tonight, so
we'll go over it tomorrow," he decided. He'd talk to
them at that time about this. Finally, he took a sip of
the scotch and walked the three of them downstairs and
to their car. After they left, he returned to room they
had been in and sat still for a little while composing
himself.
He took from the same place he stored his cane and
roses a glass jewelry case that held four old, age-worn
stones resting on a bed of velvet. The case was put onto
the table. Next, he took out five glasses and a bottle of
a very fine, old, red wine that he had uncorked a little
while ago to let breathe.
He didn't shake as much this time when he reached
inside of himself and took out a crystal sphere the size
of a tennis ball that glowed a warm golden color. In the
darkness, the glow was all the more noticeable.
" Come join me one last time, my friends," he called
out while drawing upon the power inside the sphere to help
establish contact and power the spell. It unfolded like a
flower in response to his actions. " It is said that power
corrupts, and it does. What they don't warn you about is
how as your power increases, the number of limitations on
that same power seems to increase as well.
" I need you tonight. I have a difficult choice to
make and your guidance would be a great blessing," he
added, and then smiled at the four men who were now in
the room with him. Their near identical, gray uniforms
brought back many memories, and most of them were fond. He
took the bottle and began to pour.
*********************************************
" How are you feeling, Mako-chan?" Hotaru asked
as she eased the minivan into traffic on the freeway.
" A little sore, but other than that I'm all
right," the brunette replied, nervously watching the
other cars in their mad dance for position at a break
in the rush hour congestion. She had never been on the
freeways this time of the day on a school morning and
wasn't fully prepared for it. " Are you sure that you
have a license for this?"
" The same as you do," she laughed, handed a
laminated plastic card over and switched to a creditable
imitation of one of Haruka's racing friends that had
helped them to learn to drive. His heavily accented
English had been a source of amusement. " Hello,
officer. My name is Christine, and I'm visiting here
from the United States."
She even wished him a good evening in halting,
awkward Japanese that made Chibi-usa break into a fit
of giggling in the back seat. Makoto laughed and handed
'Christine' back her license. She had one as well, but
she didn't have a car or much time driving. Nor could
she speak English well enough to pull off the
deception. It was a good thing it was only supposed
to be for emergencies.
" Hotaru-chan is a good driver," Chibi-usa
finally was able to say from the back since she had
recovered her breath. Traffic was easing up now that
they were past the last freeway interchange that led
to the business districts. " Did we get all the right
things at the market?"
" I think so," Makoto smiled. It was nice to have
some volunteers to help her out in the kitchen. It was
also nice to see that Usagi's relative ineptness in the
kitchen didn't seem to be hereditary. The young girl had
good sense in the kitchen.
Speaking of Usagi, she had called them this morning
and set up a meeting at the estate they were at last
night. If she had known about it beforehand, she would
have simply stayed the night there. Maybe she'd have the
time to catch another soak in the tub and loosen up a bit.
" I'm sorry," she said, realizing Hotaru had been
talking. " My mind wandered."
" That's all right," Hotaru flashed her an
understanding smile as she took the off ramp and began
the climb up into the hills. " I wanted to warn you about
something. We'll probably be fighting Flare again soon. I
think she was just playing with you earlier."
" I was afraid of that," she said, unconsciously
pressing her hand against the bruise on her stomach from
yesterday. " She wasn't really getting close to me until
I tagged her and she got her pride hurt."
" Well, she did the same thing to Haruka and
Michiru. She's better than she lets on, Mako-chan. Don't
let your guard down."
" She must be good to hit them," Chibi-usa
agreed. " I can't even get close to them in practice."
" Thanks for the warning, Hotaru-chan," Makoto
replied. " Did you have any special reasons for giving
it to me?"
" I'm just feeling guilty. I'm the only one who
really has a defensive power."
" At least it's not because she keeps on hitting
me," the brunette joked. " I feel like her punching bag."
************************************************
" That was a good job on breakfast, Mako-chan," Usagi
said to the tall girl as she finished putting the cups on
the tray.
" All I did was supervise," Makoto chuckled. " Chibi-usa
wanted to do it on her own today. The only thing I was
allowed to do on my own was make sure she didn't make
any mistakes. Other than that, I was following her orders."
" Well, it still hit the spot," the blonde
giggled. " Will you show me how to make the waffles
like that?"
" The waffles are one of the most dangerous parts,
Usagi-chan," Makoto heartily laughed. " They're like most
things in a western breakfast. One or two of something is
pretty safe, but it's what you put on it that kills you.
Do you know how bad all that whipped cream is for you?"
" I don't want to know!" Usagi complained. " They
taste too good to worry about details like that."
" You'll never change, Usagi-chan," the brunette
told her, picked up the tray and handed it to the
blonde. " Mamoru-san looked pretty tired-"
" Mamoru is pretty tired," the subject of their
conversation grinned as he walked in and poured himself a
cup of coffee. " I was up most of the night, Mako-chan.
Would you excuse us for a few moments?"
" Certainly," she agreed and took the tray from
Usagi and picked up a pitcher of tea before going onto
the den with the others.
" Mamo-chan?" she asked, beginning to feel
worried. He hadn't told her that he was up all night.
" I'm all right, Usako," he reassured her. He
took a sip of coffee before putting down the cup and
taking her hands. His eyes caught hers before he
spoke. " Usa, I need to tell you a few things before
I talk to the rest of them. Would you hand me your
broach?"
She was puzzled but complied. He put it down on
the counter next to the spherical crystal he removed
from his pocket.
" I love you, Usagi Tsukino."
" Mamo-chan," she whispered and put her arms around
him. He stroked her hair once and nestled her head down
onto his chest.
" What I'm going to say in there will hurt us. All
of us, I'm afraid. Yes, I should have told you about this
before, but I couldn't bear to do it. It hurt too much to
think about it. I never doubted you for a moment, Usa. I
would never dream of not trusting you.
" I'm the reason that I delayed. Perhaps it was
selfish of me, but I had to try anything else that I
could think of before it came down to this."
" Mamo-chan, what-"
" Shush," he gently interrupted her and gave her
a brief kiss. " Be patient. You'll learn what I mean. All
I want is for you to listen to everything I have to say
in there, but I had to tell you that I loved you beforehand."
" I'll wait, Mamo-chan," she replied, deciding to
trust him. She knew that he loved her and would never
intentionally hurt her. She accepted her broach when
he handed it back to her and picked up the other pitcher
of tea. " Shall we?"
" Yes," he decided, putting away his crystal and
followed her into the other room.
************************************************
All of their eyes were on him when they walked
in. It didn't surprise him too much since he asked them
to be here. It was understandable that they were curious.
Usagi took a seat and gently pulled him down to sit next
to her.
On his left was a large window overlooking the
gardens and a view of Tokyo that belonged on a postcard.
Luna and Artemis were sitting comfortably near each other
on the low windowsill and enjoying the last of the mild
morning sunshine. Rei was kneeling on a cushion by the
long coffee table and making tea for the others. Apparently
she had volunteered to be mother.
To the right of the table were a pair of small
couches. His daughter and Hotaru were sitting together
on the first one, with Ami and Makoto taking the other
one. Across the table, Haruka was laying across the back
of another long couch and would occasionally make a face
at Minako, who was sitting on Michiru's lap.
He closed his eyes for a long moment to try and burn
the image of them into his mind. They really were his family
here, he had come to understand. There were no others whose
welfare he placed higher than the people in this room.
Usagi handed him a cup of tea that Rei passed over
to her and he took a drink and a deep breath. " I'm very
glad that you've been bearing up so well from all the
stress and pressure that we've been under lately. I know
that what has been going on with fighting Flare has not
been easy to deal with. What I wanted to talk to you
about is that there is a way for us to have a better
chance against her."
"What?" Makoto exclaimed and he looked away, not
wanting to meet her eyes, or those of any of the rest. " Why
didn't you tell us before this?"
" It isn't that easy, Mako-chan," he explained in a
bleak voice. " If it was easy to do, I would have told all
of you much earlier. Will you listen for a little while
before you pass judgment on what I have to say?"
" Of course, Mamoru-san," Michiru called out in
support. The others agreed and settled down. Usagi put one
of her hands on his to comfort him.
" As you know, I've been studying a lot about magic
recently," he began. " I've been trying to learn how we do
what we are able to do. In order to do this, I had to learn
a lot about the basic theories behind just what magic is
and how it works.
" There are two things I need to explain to you and
make sure you understand about this. Aside from Usagi-chan,
who really knows what Queen Serenity did back in the Silver
Millennium during the last battle?"
" She gave up her life for us," Ami volunteered and
Chibi-usa nodded in agreement.
" What she did is one of the most basic forms of
magic," Mamoru went on. " If you give up something of
value, you can get something in response. That has led
to, over the years, the idea of giving sacrifices and
offerings to gods, for example.
" But we can't do anything except our normal
attacks, Mamoru-san," Makoto asked him. " We don't
know anything about magic."
" Actually, one of you already has done this,
Mako-chan," he replied and pointed across the
table. " She did."
" Minako-chan?" Makoto asked, puzzled.
" So that's how she did it!" Usagi gasped. " I
knew what she did, but not how."
" That's correct, Usagi-chan. I still don't know
how she was able to use the crystal, or why she is still
alive, but we know what she did. That leads us to the
next thing I wanted to discuss."
He looked over at the two cats. " Luna, Artemis. I'm
sorry if this is a little blunt, but we made a mistake at
the beginning. We _all_ made a mistake, but I especially
don't want you to think that it is your fault. We were
never meant to be like this."
" Mamoru-san?" Rei asked, nearly dropping the cup
she was filling for Ami.
" This was the hardest part for me to accept, I'm
afraid," the young man continued speaking. " When... when
we were reborn in this time, we should have fully awakened
to who we were in the past. There shouldn't have been any
piecemeal memories of anything like we have now. What hurts
is that we brought it on ourselves."
" Oh, my heavens, Mamoru," Luna gasped. " You don't
mean that..."
" I'm afraid so, Luna," he grimly smiled. " Our
subconscious didn't want to be totally replaced by this
new part of us from the past. What we did to trick the
new part was to place it off to the side and only let it
take control part of the time. Instead of becoming who we
should have been, we transformed."
" It's so damn obvious!" Haruka growled, one hand
clenching into a fist. " Why didn't we see it?"
" Haruka, dear, you've never given in to
anything," Michiru consoled her, leaning her head
back against the blonde. " I knew you before we
changed. Why would you have given in for this when
you never gave in to anything before?"
" It must have happened while we were learning
about this new world we were in, Luna," Artemis said
to her. " We must have learned that it could be that
way so we'd accept it later on when we met the girls."
"It's simple, Artemis," she sadly smiled. " I had
to listen to Usagi-chan going on and on about all the
different manga that she read. The idea of a secret
identity is well established in literature and has been
for years. We both read, listened to radio and watched
television as well as people."
" Mamoru-san, am I the proof of your second
point?" Hotaru asked.
" I think so, Hotaru-chan," Chibi-usa said from
besides the young lady.
" Yes, Hotaru, you are the proof. We should all
be more like you," Mamoru paused to take a drink after
telling her that. " Hotaru somehow understood the point
when she was growing up, or at least on the second time."
" Setsuna!" Ami exclaimed. " I bet that she knew,
and she helped raise Hotaru-chan."
" That's a good point, Ami-chan," the young man
agreed with her. " That is probably true. What I want
to emphasize, however, is that she doesn't think like
you do about it. To her, her transformation scepter is
merely a tool that changes her clothes rather than turns
her into someone else.
" That is the reason why she's been getting more
powerful as time goes on," he went on. " Without that
internal conflict limiting her development, she's been
able to continue to grow at a steady rate. She's never
had a sudden power up like the rest of you."
" How can we do this, Mamoru-san?" Haruka
thoughtfully asked.
" I think I know and I don't like it," Usagi
added. " Not one bit."
" Usako, please?" he implored her. " I'm not
going to ask anything like that of them. Nobody is
going to have to die to do this."
" What is the price for all this, Mamoru-san?" Makoto
asked. " You said that it wasn't easy."
" The whole point of a sacrifice spell is to give up
something of value in order to get something in return," the
man started explaining. " The higher in value the sacrifice,
the more you get out of it. Usagi-chan has already told you
that you can't give up being Senshi-"
" So we give up the other part of us," Rei finished
for him, looking around at the others.
" My god," Makoto whispered.
" No!" Usagi shouted, seeing the looks on her
friend's faces and jumped to her feet in protest. " I will
not allow this! They will not do this!"
" I'm sorry, Usako," Mamoru said, taking her
hand. " I told you this would be painful, but this isn't
the worst part."
" Mamo-chan?" she whispered to him, seeing the tears
on his face. Her anger drained away at the sight of his pain.
" This isn't just your decision, Usako. You see, the
Senshi were never meant to be like this. It's worse for
you, I'm afraid. Sailor Moon was never meant to be at all.
That would be what you would have to give up."
" No," Chibi-usa gasped and began to cry as
well. Hotaru put an arm around her and hugged her.
" What do you mean, Mamo-chan," Usagi finally
asked, still not believing what she heard. If she had
heard it, she didn't want to believe it. She let him
pull her back down onto the couch.
" We've seen the future, remember?" Mamoru bitterly
laughed and looked at his love. "We know that you will
become Neo-Queen Serenity. Diana told us once that Eternal
Sailor Moon's power was the closest to that of the Queen.
You've got nowhere else to go but up, Your Majesty.
" Why do you think that I didn't want to tell you?
The only thing that I can see happening is you agreeing to
do it, Usako. You'll become the Queen, and the Queen isn't
Usagi Tsukino. For me, the price that matters is losing
the woman that I love."
************************************************
She gave Ami an imploring look and nodded her head
towards the door as Mamoru slumped against her and openly
wept. Ami got the other's attention and ushered them out
of the room.
" I have a right to be-" she heard Chibi-usa's
protests cut off as Makoto bodily carried her from the
room.
" Mamo-chan," she whispered to him and let the
tears flow as well now that they were alone. They stayed
that way together for some time and she let him get all
the pain out. He hadn't lied when he said this would hurt.
" Thank you, Usa," he finally told her and sat up. He
noticed the tears on her face and gave her a little
grin. " We must both look horrible right now."
" Men shouldn't cry in public, Mamo-chan," she
giggled, now feeling much better since he was smiling
again. " You don't have the right complexion for it."
" Do you have a better idea now of why I was so
reluctant to bring this up?" he asked and got up to get
some tissues for them.
" I think so," she replied and loudly sniffed. " I'm
sorry that I didn't wait to hear everything, Mamo-chan."
" I understand what you're feeling, Usa. We've
discussed it, remember?" he reminded her and blew his
nose. " I don't want to see them hurt, either."
" What is going to happen to them if we do
this? What's going to happen to us?"
" In terms of everything else, I have the least
to give up, except for what I feel about you."
She smiled at him and dabbed at her eyes
briefly. " I love you, too, Mamo-chan, but why were
you so worried about this? I'll still love you no
matter what happens."
" I never doubted that, Usa," he murmured as he
sat next to her. " I never doubted you for a moment. That
was part of what I was afraid of, however. You've given
so much of yourself to help protect this planet and it's
people that I knew you would do it again if it came down
to it.
" I'm scared of losing you. When we saw our future
selves, when I saw the Neo-Queen, I couldn't imagine you
in her place. She seemed to be colder, or more distant
somehow. As soon as I realized what would happen to you
if we did this, I was sure that my Usagi would be gone
as a result."
" You are not getting rid of me that easily,
Mamo-chan," she playfully scolded him, making him grin
in despite of himself. " Why do we give up less than them?"
" In a way, we have less to gain, and less to give
up. I'll become what Endymion will be in a matter of time. Now
that I know more about magic, I understand more of what he
was doing in the future. I don't have to make any drastic
changes. You don't really have to do much, either."
" Me?" she shook her head. " She was so regal and
beautiful, Mamo-chan. I'll never be like her without help."
" You, my dear," he laughed. " You need to look in
a mirror more often. I can even prove that you're more
like her now than you will believe. Hand me the Silver
Crystal."
She did so, but he made her hold onto the empty
broach.
" Change. Do something. Anything."
" I can't, Mamo-chan. You know I can't do anything
without the crystal."
" My point exactly," he told her, trading her the
crystal for the broach. " Don't you remember what our
daughter was doing during practice on Sunday morning? She
was doing everything she used to, and a far better job of
it as well, and the only thing that she was using was her
crystal.
" This is a crutch, Usako," he explained, holding
up the broach. " You've always had some kind of broach and
the crystal when you were Sailor Moon. The broach has
changed each time you take on another form, but the crystal
stays the same.
" The broach is an interface device, I'd guess, or
maybe it was just your version of the other's wands. It let
you use the crystal at first so you could understand and
accept the concept. It's time to take the training wheels
off, Usako."
" How will I use it, though?" she asked him, looking
at the crystal in her hand. " I was never able to make it do
anything except once or twice, and that was when I was
really scared."
" Mama no baka," a voice said from behind one of the
other couches, but there was only warmth and sympathy in
it. " You've already started."
" Chibi-usa-chan, come out here," the young man called
out. The girl stood up and hopped over the couch to join them,
and took her mother's arm. " It isn't very polite to listen
in on people. Mako-chan was right when she carried you out."
" I pulled rank on them," the girl replied, manifesting
her gown for a few moments to make her point. " This is
important, Father."
" Not that important, young lady," he disagreed and
picked her up much like Makoto had done earlier. " We are
not going to do something that will jeopardize your
existence, and that's all you need to know about what
we are discussing right now."
He returned after setting her down outside of and
closing the door. After stopping at the stereo to put on
some music to give them some background noise that would
prevent her from listening in on them, he rejoined her.
" A princess may beat six Senshi, but a king beats
a princess," she giggled.
" Six Senshi? You play a funny game of poker," he
laughed before growing serious again. " She's right,
though. You have started to use the crystal for more
things lately. Going to see Naru-chan at the hospital,
for example, and saving Umino's life are things that Sailor
Moon was never able to do before. It is time for you to
spread your wings, my lovely angel."
" And what of them, Mamoru? What will happen to my
friends?"
He sighed and looked away for a moment. " They won't
have it so easy, Usako."
" Will they forget who they were? That's the part I
don't think I could bear," she admitted, feeling more than
a little sad. They had already gone through so much already.
" No," he went on. " If they did, they wouldn't
understand everything that they had given up. It doesn't
work that way. They just won't be related to their past
anymore."
" I don't... I don't understand."
" The people they used to be with wouldn't remember
them as being someone they knew," the man explained. " If
you did this, for example, you could go home, and your
family wouldn't realize that you were once part of
them. They'd see you, but they wouldn't recognize you
as Usagi Tsukino, even if someone pointed out the
resemblance."
" That means..." she sniffled, getting ready to
cry again. " No."
" I'm sorry, Usako. We'll remember them because
of how I'll get you to help me to cast the spell for
them. They'll remember each other due to how they're
related since they're all Senshi. But nobody else will."
************************************************
" Artemis, are you coming with me?" she asked, her
voice clearly indicating that this was not a question
despite her choice of words.
" Luna, what's wrong?" Ami asked, recognizing that
the black cat was not in a good mood at the moment. She
was sitting in the doorway to the garden from the room
they had retreated to on the other side of the house after
leaving Usagi and Mamoru alone
and making a brief detour to the kitchen for more tea.
" I am going to go off and indulge in a good sulk," the
cat announced. " I think I deserve a short session of feeling
sorry for myself after that. I completely missed what was
going on inside of all of you. I should have seen it."
" Luna-chan," Artemis scolded her as he jumped up
onto a chair and settled down into a comfortable
spot. " Weren't we just discussing this the other night?"
" Yes, we were," she admitted. " That is why this
is only going to be a short one. I won't be too far away,
so call me if anything comes up."
She turned and bounded off. The white cat muttered
something under his breath and took off after her, calling
her name.
" She was always so stable, it seemed," Hotaru
admitted. " I would have never thought anything could
get to her."
" She is stable," Ami replied, coming to Luna's
defense. "That's why she said it was going to be a short
one."
" I'm more worried about ourselves," Rei said.
" I'm not sure I can do this," Makoto admitted.
" Stop, please?" Ami interjected. " We don't know
enough yet to really make any decisions yet. Mamoru-san
hasn't told us everything yet. We'd just be jumping to
conclusions."
To emphasize her point, she hit the control on the
remote and turned the TV onto a local news station. The
announcer was talking about the weather right now.
" That's a relief," she said, hoping to take their
minds off of their problems right now. She also fished
out her computer and activated it. " It seems to be quiet
right now. I wasn't sure that Flare would attack us today."
" She didn't on Saturday, but we didn't know about
her then," Haruka said. " Do you have anything on the
evacuation, Ami-chan?"
" There's been a lot more communication with the
fleet over the military satellites, so I know that
something is up. I don't know if they moved or not,
though."
" We tried, Ami," Michiru said, trying to keep
Ami's spirits up. Mamoru's disclosure of the price was
upsetting all of them. She could read it on their faces.
She surreptitiously looked at them while they
all pretended to watch the television over the next
twenty minutes. It was really a chance for them to
think about what the young man had said.
To her left, Haruka was going over everything in
her head. She knew that in the end the blonde's answer
would be the same as hers. Hotaru, sitting alone as
Chibi-usa had slipped away earlier while obviously
thinking that they hadn't seen her, would probably
react in much the same way. No, she didn't doubt any
of her fellow Outer Senshi.
Rei had put on her best inscrutable look from her
time at the shrine. It didn't matter. She knew that Rei
had strong feelings towards the princess and her
safety. In all honesty, if it gave the shrine maiden
a better chance of protecting Usagi, she'd do it. The
decision wouldn't be easy, but she would do it.
Ami and Makoto were the ones she was most worried
about. They knew that Ami was having problems with her
mother. The bruise, although starting to fade, was
still quite noticeable and ample proof. Unfortunately,
Ami still wasn't talking about just what the problem
was. All she had said was that her mother had hit her.
She had met Ami's mother several times over the
past few years. She was a respected doctor and a kind,
caring person. The woman was not the type that you
would expect to be abusing her own child. To compound
the problem, she felt that she was too close to Ami to
be able to step in and interfere. It would only take a
quick look into her mirror to determine the truth, but
she wouldn't violate the trust of a friend.
Then there was poor Makoto. The brunette had
long since given up on the pretense of watching the
news. She was simply staring at the screen without
noticing what was going on. Makoto didn't even blink
or turn away at the commercials.
Maybe she was right, remembering Makoto's
outburst the other day. When would they have the
chance to be happy? Or, even worse, had that chance
already passed them by? For all they knew, by this
time tomorrow they wouldn't even remember who they
were today.
That thought made her stop and re-think a few
things. She was willing to give up some of the things
in her life. Her parents would be sorely missed, but
she had dismissed those ties with her past long ago. She
had already prepared herself for losing them. No, what
she couldn't deal with was the idea of losing Haruka.
Ami's computer beeped, making her jump. " It's
starting."
" Are they all away from the island?" Chibi-usa
called out, running into the room.
" To the best of our knowledge," the girl with
the blue hair replied.
" Got caught, huh?" Hotaru giggled at the young
girl and motioned her over to join her on the love
seat. Haruka stood up, walked to the open patio door
and loudly whistled.
" Would they prefer 'Here kitty, kitty' ?" she
responded to some puzzled looks and sat back down next
to her partner.
" No, they wouldn't," Makoto giggled, finally
smiling for once.
" I'll probably do it," Haruka announced several
moments later, sitting back and openly taking Michiru's
hand.
" Probably?" Rei said in surprise and
blushed. " Forgive me, Haruka-san, but I thought
that you among all of us would be the first one to
decide."
The blonde's answer pleasantly surprised her
partner as she merely lifted their joined hands a few
centimeters. " There are some things I won't give up."
" What is it?" Luna called out as the two cats
trotted in. Ami turned up the volume on the television
as the station cut away to CNN giving an update that
something had happened at Bikini.
" How can we really expect to fight someone
capable of doing that?" Makoto asked, her mood rapidly
changing for the worst.
" You'll have a valid chance, Mako-chan," Mamoru
told her. He was standing in the doorway leading to the
hall. " I know it hurts, but you'll have a chance."
" How are both of you doing, Mamoru-san? Rei asked.
" Usagi-chan is going to take another bath," he
said, walking in and taking a seat in a vacant
chair. " She's made an open invitation to anyone who
wishes to join her."
" What about you, though?"
" I'd join you, too," he said, keeping his face
straight. Hotaru groaned and threw a pillow at him.
" Mamo-chan," his daughter complained as well.
" I'm better," he admitted. Sure, it had been a
bad joke, but he had them smiling a little bit. Anything
was better than the mood they were in when he walked
in. " Usagi-chan and I discussed some of the things
that were bothering me, and we feel a lot better about
them. What I wanted to talk to you about, though, was
to finish what we were discussing earlier."
" Where did you get all this information,
Mamoru-san?" Artemis asked him.
" Mainly from the library here," he
responded. " I've been able to get some help
from my guardians as well. They've taught me a
lot of the things that I used to know in the past. My
family was always skilled in magic, remember."
" How much do you trust them, Mamoru-san," Michiru
asked. " I'm still a little nervous about believing them
after what they did to us before."
" Implicitly," he responded without any
hesitation. He placed an empty, gold wire-rimmed
glass case on the table. They could see the four
depressions in the black velvet where the stones
used to sit.
" That's... " Chibi-usa gasped and clapped her
hands over her mouth like she was about to say something
she shouldn't.
" I'll have to remember to tell you about them
sometimes, Chibi-usa-chan," the man sighed. " They
were good friends, but they're gone now. I had to give
them up in order to contact them this one last time for
their advice."
" I'm sorry, Mamoru-san," Michiru offered her
condolences and began regret her earlier remark.
" You used another type of a sacrifice spell for
that, didn't you?" Ami asked. " Is that kind of magic
that common?"
The young man shook his head. " No, but it is one
of the easiest kinds of magic to do. One of the reasons
the magi were so eager to get their hands on the Silver
Crystal is that it has a steady supply of power available
to it. Think of a stream of water compared to a pool.
"By sacrificing enough things, I can gather more
power than the crystal can produce, but I'm going to have
to keep on sacrificing to keep it up. Given that constant
availability, a skilled mage can do a lot.
" Despite that power," he went on, getting more
serious. " I still haven't been able to figure out any
other way of boosting your powers. This is the only
thing that I can think of that is going to give you a
better chance."
" What is going to happen to us?" Makoto asked
him. " Will we still be ourselves afterwards?"
The young man took a deep breath, sighed, and told
them the same things he told his lover earlier. He didn't
mince any words or sugarcoat anything. They didn't deserve
that kind of treatment.
" That's even worse than forgetting," Rei said after
he was done.
" I think that's the point," Ami added. " It would be
less painful not knowing about your past as opposed to
knowing and not being a part of it anymore."
" That's an inter-" Mamoru began to say when Makoto
sprang to her feet and ran sobbing from the room and out
onto the patio. Haruka softly swore under her breath, glanced
at Michiru, nodded once, and ran after the brunette.
" I just put my foot in my mouth again, didn't
I?" Ami sighed.
************************************************
" I'm sorry about spying on you, Usagi-chan," the
pink haired girl said with a sincere voice as she closed
the door behind her. " It's dark in here."
" Saunas are like that," Usagi smiled. Her eyes
were already adjusted to the darkness. " Two steps
forward to the bench, Chibi-usa-chan."
" Thank you," she said, bumping into and then
sitting on the wooden bench. " Why are you still in
here, Usagi-chan? Is everything all right?"
" No, little one. It isn't all right," she
admitted. " I don't like how things have been going
today. I don't feel right about this whole thing. I
feel... dirty somehow."
The girl scooted over until she was sitting next
to the blonde. " Do you want to talk about it?"
" Yes," she whispered. " Rei-chan told me about
Mako-chan. I feel so guilty because they're going to
give up so much. I'd scrub and scrub and scrub, but I
still felt dirty because I get to keep my past and they
don't. Mamo-chan says that it wouldn't do either of us
any good since we're so close to what we are going to be. For
the two of us, it is just a matter of practice instead of
how we think."
" They haven't decided yet, Usagi-chan."
" They don't have to, Chibi-chan," Usagi bitterly
laughed. " They'll do it. I know them. Hotaru did it. Minako
did it. Setsuna did it, too, I think. Now, the rest of them
will. It hurts to think that they'll do this because of me. I
don't want this to happen to them."
" Usagi," she whispered and leaned her head down on her
mother's shoulder. The blonde responded by putting an arm
around her. After holding onto the girl for a few minutes
she began to silently cry.
************************************************
The motorcycle rolled to a stop at a parking place
and the driver took off her helmet. She ran a hand back
through her short, blonde hair and looked down the street
towards the shops. It wasn't hard to find who she was
looking for.
The brunette she was following stood out in the
crowd like she always did due to her height. She was as
tall or taller than many of the men, and often seemed to
tower above most of the women.
One more burden for her to bear, the motorcycle driver
said to herself as she dismounted. Makoto had never been
very comfortable with being different, although she knew
that size wasn't the issue today.
" Enough," she told herself and walked forward. It
was still warm, so she pulled down the zipper on her riding
leathers a little bit in order to cool off. She had been
following Makoto since the late morning when she ran
off. Pausing only to change and get one of her motorcycles,
she had shadowed Makoto.
They still didn't know if there was going to be a
fight today, so she had wanted to be able to promptly
respond and get Makoto there as well. That was the reason
that she'd chosen the motorcycle in the first place.
At this late hour, it was looking like one of the
cars would have been better. The sun was beginning to
develop a red tint as it neared the western horizon. There
had been no sign of Flare or Sailor Sun today.
" It's getting late, Mako-chan," she told her, putting
a hand on her shoulder. " Let's go home."
" Home," she bitterly said and looked away, not meeting
her eyes. " I don't have much of a home to go back to, remember?"
" Utter nonsense, Mako-chan," she snorted and held out
a spare helmet she'd brought with her. " What about us?"
" You've been following me, I gather," she guessed and
took it. She undid her hair so that it was loose and put on
the helmet.
" All afternoon," the blonde replied. " If you'd like,
you can stay with us tonight."
" I'd like that," Makoto whispered and they walked to
the motorcycle. It only took them about a half hour to make
it back due to the freeway, although Haruka wasn't pushing
it. She didn't want to attract the attention of a certain
officer right now, not when she had a passenger.
It was strange having someone besides Michiru sitting
behind her. Her companion was used to what the passenger
needed to do, and understood how to lean into turns in
order to make her own task easier. Makoto wasn't familiar
with this, and had tightly wrapped her arms around her
waist.
They were lucky tonight. They didn't even see a
member of the police force until they stopped at the
gates of the mansion to wait for them to open and a patrol
car cruised by as it made the rounds. Haruka drove up to
and into the garage, but Makoto made no move to get off
after they stopped.
" I feel like I'm giving them up, Haruka-san," Makoto
said in a hollow voice due to her helmet and leaned forward
against her. The blonde could almost feel the tension going
out of the girl as she relaxed for the first time since that
morning. " There won't be anyone left to remember them."
" Mako-chan?"
" My parents," Makoto grudgingly admitted. " Their...
our families disowned them when they married. That's why none
of them took me in after the accident."
" I'm sorry, Mako-chan," she told her and put one of her
hands over the ones clasped in front of her. Makoto started to
pull away, so she firmly held her hands in place until the
girl realized that the gesture was meant to console.
" They'll be so lonely, Haruka-san," the brunette went
on. " I'm the only thing that makes my relatives remember my
parents. I send some letters every so often, and even though
they come back marked as being refused, I know that our
families have to think of my parents when they don't accept
them. I'll be the only one saying prayers for them, or
tending their grave."
The taller woman blinked in surprise and removed her
helmet. Makoto had never told any of them the real extent
of her problems with her relatives. She gently tugged at
the brunette's hands and got her to dismount and take off
the helmet.
The look of defeat that the brunette had worn earlier
when she ran from the house was gone, but what was left hurt
even more. With her hair let down from her ponytail and her
eyes still red and puffy, Makoto looked so small and
vulnerable. It was as if the weight of the world was resting
on her shoulders.
" Mako," she murmured and wrapped her up in a hug. " I'm
so sorry."
Green eyes widened in surprise before she returned the
embrace and clung onto the taller woman for comfort. It was
nice to have a shoulder to lean on without having to stoop to
reach it. " I always hoped that somehow they would accept me,
Haruka-san. I wanted to be part of them so much.
" Once, just after I turned seven, we'd gone to the
family grave so my mother could pay her respects to one of
her favorite aunts. We weren't invited for the funeral, and
my mother was very upset that she only found out about her
passing due to reading it in the obituaries.
" I was full of energy that day, and had wandered on
ahead of my parents. I met an old lady who was so nice and
sweet to me. She even said that I was the kind of child that
she had always hoped for.
" Then, my mom came looking for me," she said,
sniffling. " That was my grandmother, Haruka-san. When she
found out who I was, she turned and walked away like we didn't
exist."
" There's an old saying that talks about how you can't
choose your family," Haruka replied. " I'm very sorry that
you have relatives that are so ignorant of the truth that
they overlook a wonderful person. We may not be blood
relatives, Mako-chan, but we can be your family, too."
" Thank you, Haruka-san," the girl said and pulled
her head back a little in order to look into her sea green
eyes. " That means a lot to me."
" You're welcome, onee-chan. Sisters do things like
that for each other."
" Sisters, huh? I never had any before," she giggled,
feeling a little better thanks to the friendly banter and
the infectious smile on Haruka's face. " It's sort of nice."
" Well, you're all sort of like sisters to us already,"
the blonde grinned. " With the exception of Hotaru-chan, I
can see why Setsuna used to call all of us her little sisters."
" Why not her?"
" I was Haruka-papa to her, remember?" she laughed at
the fond memory. " I still think of her as more like my
daughter, I guess. Come on and we'll get you some dinner
and some rest, Mako-chan. You're tired."
" Am not," she protested, and then blushed furiously
as she yawned in spite of her best efforts. Now that she had
mentioned it, she did feel tired. They set off towards the
bedrooms upstairs. " Why did you follow me today, Haruka-san?"
" I wanted to apologize for something, Mako-chan,"
Haruka reluctantly admitted several moments later. " Now
wouldn't be a good time, though."
" What is it?" she asked. She had caught a brief
flash of the concern in those green eyes when she looked
at her.
" This may not be the best time to say it, Mako-chan,
but I made a promise to you on Monday that I shouldn't have.
I'm aware that I didn't know what Mamoru-san had planned,
and that this isn't really my fault.
" Still, I wanted to apologize. I said that you'd get
the chance to be with your new friend and be happy. It's
beginning to look like that won't happen, I'm afraid."
" I know," the brunette sighed. " I'll get over it,
though. Will you be honest with me about something else?"
" Probably," Haruka replied and winced as Makoto
playfully punched her in the arm right on the same spot
that Michiru liked to hit. They'd learned that one from
her during their practices, it seemed. The two walked into
one of the bedrooms.
" How are you so calm about this, Haruka-san? You have
parents, and you're taking this far better than I am."
" That's only because I've gone through this before,"
she replied, turning one of the chairs at a desk around and
straddling it. She didn't mind the question, but it did
bring up a hint of pain. " Michiru and I distanced ourselves
from them very early on. We didn't want them to get hurt because
of our mission. I guess we've just gotten used to the idea having
to give them up if it became necessary."
" Haruka, how could you be so cold towards them?" she
asked in sheer astonishment. She'd never really thought that
someone wouldn't want to be with their parents if they had
the chance.
" It's not cold, Mako-chan," she replied thoughtfully
as she stood up before leaving. " It was to protect them. We
didn't want them to be hurt, and we didn't want them to be
used as hostages. We were willing to die for the sake of the
mission, but we couldn't ask that of them. That's how much we
cared about them, Mako-chan."
************************************************
You should have been doing your homework, she reminded
herself. The sun had already gone down, and all she had been
doing since coming home at about one was to sit and stare at
the walls. It was hard to work up any enthusiasm for a math
assignment that she may not be around to turn in.
The sound of the main doors of the shrine being closed
seemed to echo inside her mind. What they all were
considering would close off this part of her life. That
fact was painful enough to consider already. Her grandfather
was more her father than her father ever was, and this was
going to hurt him so much.
She had been raised by the old man ever since her
mother passed away shortly after she turned five. Her
father was more concerned with his political career than
his family and had recently been appointed as the secretary
to a powerful member of the Diet and was well on the fast
track to joining that body himself.
" At least this would mean that dinner is off," she
chuckled to herself at the reference to what she dreaded
about her birthday. That was the one time a year that she
saw her father on a regular basis. She dreaded that quiet
dinner at an expensive, exclusive restaurant where there
was little to say to each other.
Not having to go through that again was one of the
few good things she could see about this. That, and having
a better chance to protect her friends. On the other side
of the scales was the rest of her life.
She trusted the fire to guide her, but this was a
decision she could not seek it's guidance on. This had to
be her choice. What complicated matters was that she had
long ago sworn an oath in a past life. That oath bound her
as firmly now as it had in the past, even though she had
only said it in her heart in this existence.
Her heart and her deeds had proved it, her conscience
told her. She shivered at the memory of what it was like to
die as she deliberately reminded herself of the fact that
it was her choice. She had to be honest with herself
here. None of them were very comfortable talking about
what had happened in the chill Arctic wastes, but she
had proven that her oath was still in effect. They all had.
Still, she had to tell him something. She wouldn't
just vanish on him, not after he had done so much for
her. He didn't deserve to be treated like that. She had
just heard the doors to the inner shrine slide shut and
a low chant begin, so she knew where he was.
She went down the stairs and across the hallway. The
socks she wasn't supposed to be wearing inside but still
did in memory of her childhood didn't make a sound on
the wooden floors. The door to the inner shrine was
slid open a few centimeters.
" Ojii-san?"
" Rei-chan?" the old man turned, raising an eyebrow.
She wasn't properly attired; her old, faded pink overalls
and a white T-shirt were not what she was supposed to be
wearing in here. He was in his white and blue robes exactly
as he should have been, and could have declined her request,
but he nodded instead. " Come in."
" Thank you," she murmured and bowed to the flame
before kneeling to his right side. " I'm sorry to interrupt
you."
" What is troubling you, child?"
She smiled briefly, remembering how often they had
started conversations with those words as he saw that she
was troubled. He still could read her like a book, she
realized.
" I'm... sorry, ojii-san," she stammered. " I don't
know how to say it."
" Is it something that you feel that you must do?"
" Yes," she admitted and suddenly jerked her eyes
up to meet his. " How did you know?"
His mustache almost hid the small smile on his
face. " Wasn't I the one to teach you to read the flames,
child?"
She gasped in surprise and tried to get angry at
him. He shouldn't have done anything like that to her, and-
" Wait," he firmly said, holding up a hand. " The
only thing I asked it, Rei-chan, was that if this something
that you were being forced into against your will."
The girl with the black hair took a deep breath and
calmed herself. She hadn't been able to get very angry at
him, anyway. He had the right to know that much.
" You've been doing some unusual things the last few
years," he began. " I trust your discretion, Rei-chan. If
this is something that you don't feel comfortable with
telling me, you don't have to. All I wanted to know was
that you were safe and doing whatever it was of your own
free will."
" And what did it say?" she asked, suddenly curious.
" Whatever dangerous things you were doing, it was
of your own will," he responded with a mischievous look in
his eyes.
" Ojii-san!" she giggled and gave him an impulsive
hug. " Thank you for understanding."
He hugged her back before getting more
serious. " You've always known what the right thing
to do was, granddaughter. I trust you do the right thing
now. I also take it that this means that you will be
leaving soon?"
" And just how do you know that?" she chided him,
falling back into the comfortable routine of her teasing
him.
" I cheated a little bit on those reading," he
volunteered, falling back on the same defense against
the pain as well. " It's the only possibility that makes
sense, Rei-chan. You wouldn't be here saying this to me
if you were planning to stay."
" Soon," she admitted. " I need to ask an important
favor of you, though."
He nodded, indicating that she should go on.
" It's Yuui-chan. This is going to hurt him, and
we've grown fond of each other recently," she candidly
told him. " Will you look after him?"
" Fond?"
" Yes, fond," she said, steadily meeting his eyes. He
held the stare for a moment before closing his eyes and
nodding. She stood and formally bowed to him.
" Thank you, ojii-san," she added before turning to
go. " I'll leave you to your prayers then. I'm going to be
down here later on, so I'll tend to the fire."
************************************************
The regular pattern of light and darkness from
the freeway lights had already worked their hypnotic
magic on her passengers as she took the interchange
towards the harbor and her current home after she had
dropped Ami off at her house. The soft silvery lights
made her realize how much more that the sleeping girl
in the passenger seat was beginning to look like her
mother each and every day.
It was harder to see when Chibi-usa was awake,
thanks to their different facial expressions, but it
was almost painfully obvious now. Each time they drove
under one of the lights, her hair would look so pale that
she kept on remembering the first time she had met Usagi. If
their odango weren't shaped differently, she probably
couldn't tell who was sitting next to her in the van.
A quick glance into the rear view mirror told her
that the other passenger was doing fine. It had been a
difficult day for all of them, and the little girl had
picked up on their unease. Minako-chan had spent most of
the day being a bother, at least compared to her usual
behavior. She had wanted to be constantly held or fussed
over.
It was only after she had exited and stopped at a red
light that she gave in to her emotions and looked at the
small picture attached to her key chain. " Papa," she
whispered, looking at the smiling image of her father. It
was a more recent picture, and it had been taken at a
school festival when she was visiting him last Christmas.
The photographer hadn't been very good, and the
plastic enclosing it was a little cloudy, but it didn't
matter to her. What was important to her was that there
were not any traces of the haunted look he had often
worn after he was finally released by the daemon that
had controlled him for so long. It was an honest, open
smile that made her so happy to see it.
He still didn't remember very much about what
had happened while he was leading the Deathbusters. He
had known that he had done some bad things, and it hurt
whenever he remembered that. The times he had met Haruka
afterwards were not easy ones. She'd lost a friend to
Kaolinite while she was acting under his instructions. The
tall blonde had mostly forgiven him, but he hadn't
forgiven himself.
Further complicating matters was that he remembered
everything after he had been released. She still hadn't
told the others about his disclosure of that fact over
the same Christmas holiday. He had been in a state of
shock and denial immediately after finding out she was
a child again, according to what Michiru had told her
of that time.
Even now, he still blamed himself for what she had
done to stop Pharaoh Ninety because of his actions. She
had never held it against him, and had taken great care
to tell him that the last few times they had spoken. He
had saved her and given her a second chance. Then, she
had saved them and given them a third opportunity to be
together.
His knowing about who she was actually made what
was going to happen far easier to deal with. Most people
never got a second chance in life. She had three with her
father. They both had made sure to let each other know what
they truly had felt towards each other this time. Granted,
it was small consolation when faced with the idea of losing
him, but she was confident in her decision.
************************************************
" She's asleep," Haruka said, referring to the
brunette that she had spent the last hour watching
over. The tall woman sighed as she crested the top of
the stairs and sank into a chair. She glanced around
briefly and caught the man's eye before smiling. " Why
do I have this strange feeling that we've done this
before, Mamoru-san?"
" I have no idea," he replied, smiling as well. He
indicated the couch to his right where Michiru and Usagi
sat together where they had been when he got there a few
minutes earlier. " It was her idea, though."
" What is it, Usagi-chan?" the woman asked, leaning
back and putting her feet up on the coffee table. Haruka
put them back down on the floor after Michiru slightly
raised one eyebrow.
" I'm still none too happy about this," Usagi
began, looking at each of them in turn before going
on. " I want all of you to know that I really don't
like this whole idea."
" I agree with you," Usagi-chan," Michiru replied,
placing a hand on Usagi's. " I don't think that any of
us really like it, but what if it is our only chance?"
The blonde next to her looked down and deeply
sighed. One hand clenched into a fist for several
seconds before she shook her head sharply and looked
up again.
" Regardless of the decisions, we need to discuss
something related to it. Mamo-chan says that you wouldn't
be recognized by anyone who knew you, but isn't there
something we can do for your families?"
" I think what she means," Mamoru quietly added. " Is
that while they wouldn't recognize you, your families would
still have had a daughter."
" Good point, Usagi-chan," Haruka conceded and nodded
her head once in acknowledgment. " I didn't even think of
that."
" They'd be waiting for you to come home, and you
never would," Usagi whispered. " There would be no... what
was that word you told me, Mamo-chan?"
" Closure."
" You're absolutely right, Usagi-chan," Michiru
decided. " Not knowing what happened would be far worse
than knowing you lost a loved one. Did you want us to
arrange something if it turns out to be needed?"
" Yes," she admitted. " I'm not very good at all
the details, and I figured that you might have some ideas
of how we could do this. Maybe if we faked a car crash or
something."
" Not if I'm driving," the other blonde quickly
interjected. Michiru smiled at her partner's protests.
" She has a point, though. Assuming for the sake
of argument that all of us are involved, one car wouldn't
be enough to hold us. A house would work better."
"A house?" Usagi stammered. " But-"
" We've been prepared for this for a long
time," Michiru explained to Mamoru and Usagi. " Money
isn't an object. We've been ready to vanish as soon as
we started fighting the Deathbusters if the need arose."
" The house we spent the Christmas before last at,
I'd say," Haruka added. " It's remote enough to need it's
own natural gas for power. The storage tank is big enough
that they wouldn't be surprised if they didn't find any
remains of us, let alone the house."
Usagi went pale and swallowed, feeling a little
ill. " I don't think I really wanted to know that part."
" So it's just a matter of leaving a trail that
connects us to the house at the proper time, then?" Mamoru
asked.
" Assuming we do this on Friday, on that morning
everyone who is going packs up their bags for a weekend
stay in the mountains. They grab a few personal mementos
and keepsakes that won't grab attention., along with a
few things to leave at the house that won't be missed
when it goes up. Then, they say good-bye, but only for
the weekend, and we off we go. The police will be able
to connect it all together."
" It would be a good time to switch identities,
anyway," Michiru added. " It is getting time we did
that any way to avoid being traced."
" What was that part about keepsakes,
Haruka-chan?" Usagi asked.
" It would be sort of suspicious if a bunch of
people died in an unusual way and took all their
valuables with them. The whole point here is to slip
away and into another identity without being noticed,
Usagi-chan."
" That explains us, then, but what about
Minako-chan?" Usagi asked. " I mean, not ours, but
what about the girl impersonating her in Italy?"
" She's wanted to stop doing this for a while," Haruka
responded. " We can let her go back to her own life, but the
only thing we can do for Minako's identity is to have her
go missing. We don't have the contacts in Italy that we do
here, so I don't see any way to arrange anything else on
such a short notice unless you're up to impersonating
her again."
" I can't," Usagi said, shaking her head. " Almost
all the memories that let me do that with her parents
have faded away. The best I could do is to look like
her if it absolutely comes down to it, and as long as
Artemis isn't here. It hurts him too much."
Mamoru caught Haruka's attention and tapped his
watch. He could see the tears beginning to form in
Usagi's eyes again and wanted to draw this to a close. It
wasn't easy for her to deal with this right now.
" We don't need much time to set this up, Usagi-chan,"
Haruka said. " Once everyone decides, we can work out the
details then. We're going to go and take a walk for a little
while right now and think about a few things."
" Thank you, Usagi-chan," Michiru added, and stood
up to leave. " I know it wasn't easy for you to bring
this up."
" No, thank you. I'm still not very good at this
leader stuff," she tearfully replied.
" You're doing fine, Usagi-chan," Haruka told her
and affectionately patted an odango on the way out. " You
know enough to ask for help."
" She's right, you know," he said as he took the
seat the Michiru had just vacated and put his arms around
her. The blonde leaned against him and let the tears come,
not feeling one bit like the leader they said she was.
************************************************
The flower shop near the train station wasn't
open yet, but she was able to convince the owner behind
the counter to make an exception for her. He was going
to open in a little while anyway, he told her with a
smile after she explained what she needed it for.
The morning sunlight and the sounds of the beginning
of the day warmed her heart and made her feel better. She
always liked the dawn, even when she was a child. She
used to wake up right before sunrise just to listen to
the birds begin to sing and watch the sunrise.
At the gates, she set down the wooden bucket and
nervously straightened out the dress she wore. It was
nothing fancy, but it was more feminine than the clothes
she usually wore. Her hair was out of place as well, but
the slight breeze wouldn't leave it alone and she had
promised herself not to put it up into a ponytail until
after this was over.
She took a deep breath and walked through the
gates of the cemetery. Her feet automatically knew the
path to follow, and she let them take her to the plain,
simple headstone.
All she had to bury was the certificate from the
government that told her that her parents were dead and
one of her precious photographs of them. The plane had
burst into flames upon crashing right after take-off,
and no bodies were recovered. She was bounced around
from orphanage to orphanage by the time she actually
got the certificate, and it wasn't until she was on
her own that she was able to get the headstone.
This was before she had met the others, and the
simple stone in the distant cemetery was all she could
afford. Still, it gave her a place to think of them at. Her
relatives wouldn't let her go to the family shrines.
After a brief prayer, she knelt down and began to
trim back some of the grass and clean the stone itself. The
cemetery staff did a good job, but this was something she
wanted to help out with. When that was done, she set out
and neatly arranged the bouquet in a simple vase she'd
made in one of her art classes.
Next, she set out a matching cup filled with a little
sake, and followed that with a plate with some of the pork
buns that she had made that morning. They were always a
favorite of her parents. Finally, she lit a bundle of
incense before kneeling once again and clasping her hands.
" I still miss both of you," she began. " Mother,
we should be up right now making breakfast while Dad gets
ready to go to work. I still cry some nights because it
hurts so bad. My friends help me out, though, whenever
it gets too much for me to handle alone.
" I'm doing better in school. My grades are good
enough to get by on, and I should be able to make it
into a good college if I do good on the entrance exams,
Dad. You used to enjoy helping me to do my homework
after school was over.
" Mom, you'd be happy to know that I've finally
been dating someone other than Shinozaki. We've been
friends for a long time, and still are, but we've never
been anything other than friends to each other. Hiro, the
boy I mentioned before, seems to be nice, and I think he
likes me.
" I don't know... I don't think that I'll ever know
about how it may turn out," she said, pausing to take a
few breaths. " You never knew anything about my other
life, or if you did you never told me. I'm going to have
to go away for a while, it seems. My friends will need me,
and I can't let them down. Not now, not with who we're up
against.
" Makoto Kino," she managed to sob. " She... your
daughter won't be coming back from this one. I'll never
forget you, though. My memories of you are as dear to me
as anything else from my past life, and I don't think
that you'd want me to let my friends down. You raised
me to stand up for what I believed in, and they're my
family now.
" I'm still a little confused by the specifics,
but the important part is that I'll never forget you. I
won't stop thinking about you no matter what happens to
us. You will never be forgotten.
" I'll bring by some of my friends so you can meet
them after we're done," she added. " They'll remember you,
too, and I'll tell them what wonderful parents you were
to me, even though we didn't get to spend as much time
together as we should have. Haruka even said that she
wanted to thank you for raising me right, as she put it,
although I think that she's as nervous as we are and just
doesn't want to show it. You'd like her, I think. She's
not an easy one to get close to, but she'll do anything
for you once she considers you her friend."
She stood and bowed deeply to the headstone. " I have
to be going now, I'm afraid. It's a long train trip back
to Tokyo proper, and if I don't leave now I might be late.
I love you, Mother and Father, and I hope that I make you
proud."
Makoto knelt to light another stick of incense and
bowed again before turning and making her way back
towards the train station and home.
************************************************
" If you'd look again, I'm sure that you would
find me on the list," she pleaded with the man at the
front desk. " Miss Kaioh told me that she was going to
put me on her guest list months ago."
" I'm sorry, Miss, but I don't see your name
anywhere in her records," the old man replied, trying
his best to be polite. This was an exclusive club, after
all, and they had a problem with people trying to force
their way in. " Is there any other name it might be under
instead of... "
" Mizuno," she repeated, feeling a little
irritated. " Ami Mizuno."
" Mizuno," he said, and suddenly grew thoughtful
before hitting several keys on the keyboard. The monitor
beeped once.
" Forgive me, Miss Mizuno," he suddenly said, rising
from his chair and deeply bowing to her. " You have my
sincere apologies. I was looking for you on the guest
lists, and it turns out you are actually a full member
of the club."
" A member?" she asked, confused. " I'm not-"
" But you are," he smiled at her, opened a drawer
in the desk, looked through an accordion file and took
out a small plastic badge with a picture of her on it. He
handed it to her and bowed again. " Please go through that
door to your right and across the gardens. One of our staff
will meet you there and can help you find Miss Kaioh."
The girl with blue hair followed his instructions
despite her surprise and walked across the lush garden. She
knew the place, since she had been there once with Michiru,
and before that, once with her...
" Stop it," she told herself. To take her mind off
her problems she looked around her. This sprawling country
club was one of the most difficult to get into in all of
Tokyo, and one of the most expensive. Land was always at a
premium, even here in the suburbs, and the cost of just a
golfing membership was over twenty million yen once you
got through a waiting list that was at least seven years
and knew the right people. She had heard some of the
doctors at the hospital discussing it once.
" Miss Mizuno?" a young lady in a white blazer with
the club's crest on it asked her as she emerged from the
garden. At her nod, she went on. " Miss Kaioh is currently
riding right now. She just left about a half-hour ago, so
it may be a little while until she comes back. Would you
like to wait in the lounge and have breakfast, or could
we get a horse for you so you can join her?"
" The horse," she surprised herself with her response
until the practical part of her mind caught up with the
rest. The only time she rode a horse had been when she
was here with Michiru. " I don't have the right clothes
for it, I'm afraid. I guess it will have to be breakfast."
" That's all right," she smiled, and looked far more
her age when she did so." We have a full selection of
riding outfits available for our members, and I'm sure
that we'll be able to find one for you. Your file says
we're to set you up for a full assortment of equestrian
equipment, and the shop is right over there. Would you
please come with me?"
Twenty minutes later Ami found herself seated atop
a slightly eager mare that the stable hand said was a good
choice for her. She wore a set of long, knee-length boots,
beige riding pants and a white blouse. It had been a
little warm that morning for the jacket that normally
went over the blouse.
Following the groom's instructions, she set out at
an easy pace along the trail he told her would take her
to the area Michiru had told the staff she would be at. It
took her a little over a half hour to reach the equestrian
center, and only a few minutes more to find Michiru. As
usual, she merely looked for the center of attention. The
tactic had never failed her yet.
" Ami-chan!" the woman called out to her, waving to
her. She jumped up into her saddle as easily as someone
else might have gotten onto a bicycle and rode over to
meet her. " Good morning!"
" Good morning," she politely responded, and then
grew a little embarrassed. " All I wanted to do was to
talk to you."
" You didn't have to ride all the way out here, you
know," Michiru laughed. " If you hadn't been so unfailingly
polite and told them that it was an emergency they would
have contacted me at once.
" Let's ride a little, shall we? Khalid needs a bit
to warm down properly, and that enthusiast you're on can
use the exercise."
" Michiru-san," Ami protested once they were down
the trail and out of earshot of the other riders. " Why
did you do this? It costs-"
" It costs a lot, yes. What did I tell you that one
time that we were here?"
" You said to come back if I wanted to," Ami quoted
her words. " I thought that you were going to put me onto
your guest list, and then there are always restrictions on
how many guests you can invite each year. I didn't want to
impose on your generosity towards me. Isn't a membership
going a little too far?"
" Not if you saw the look on your face that day," the
woman laughed. " That smile alone was worth twenty million
yen. You took to horses like I did."
" I'm sorry?"
" Poseidon created horses from the sea. I've always
loved riding, and I even compete in a few of the
tournaments they host here each year. You seemed to
have the same reaction to them that I did when we were
here, which wasn't too surprising given the similarity
of our powers."
" Don't you use the Roman name?" Ami asked,
slightly curious.
" No," she replied and pulled over to dismount
near a bench overlooking the golf course about two
hundred meters away. She motioned for Ami to do the
same. " I prefer the Greek names. It seems almost...
sacrilegious the other way."
" Michiru-san, that has to be the first time I
think that I've ever heard you at a loss for words in
my entire lifetime," Ami nearly giggled. They tied up
their horses at a post and sat down together.
" What's bothering you, Ami-chan?"
" The decision," she started, looking down at
the grass at her feet. " I thought that making it would
be more difficult. I feel bad that it's all so simple
in my mind."
The taller woman was silent for a few minutes,
and then reached out to gently run a finger over the
bruise on the girl's cheek. " Are you sure that is the
only reason you came here today? I'd be glad to help
you, Ami-chan, but you have to let me know what is
bothering you."
" That's part of it," she admitted and began to
speak in a flat, tightly controlled voice. " About two
years, my mom started drinking. It wasn't much at first,
only a drink or two, but she never used to do it except
at parties or if she was dining out. This was at home,
though.
" I kept an eye on her, and found that it was
because of her work. She still works in the emergency
ward, and she never liked losing a patient. I guess
maybe she was blaming herself whenever she did lose
one, or there was a tough time at the hospital. It
slowly became more frequent, but I thought that she
knew what she was doing.
" She's a doctor, after all. She's supposed to
know what it can do to you. Last Sunday, I went right
home after we heard about the accident in the park. I
threw away all her sake before I went to the hospital. She
hit me when she found out."
"Ami-chan!" Michiru cried out and immediately put
an arm around her. " I'm so sorry, Ami-chan."
" That's not the worst part, though," Ami went on,
her voice becoming bitter. " I went home last night for
the first time since then. She was gone. Her note said
that she checked herself into a private alcohol
rehabilitation clinic and doesn't want me to see her
until she gets out. I don't even know which one. I can't
find her.
" The last time we will have seen each other," Ami
said as the tears finally began to roll down her
face, " is when she hit me, Michiru-san. It isn't fair."
The woman with the turquoise hair could only sit
and console her. This was truly one of those time when
words failed her. She couldn't think of anything to
say to her, and all she really could do is hold Ami
while she silently cried.
************************************************
He couldn't help but feel guilty as he parked and
made his way to the gate. This place should have been
familiar to him, but it held no special meanings to him,
no matter how hard he tried. You can't learn to cherish
something that you can't remember, he told himself with
a sigh.
After a brief stop at the shop on the premises to
purchase a stick of incense, he walked along one of the
paths, paying close attention to markers that told him
the correct way to go. It was right past a tall pine tree
that he did remember, however. The simple, gray,
western-style headstone was engraved with one word.
CHIBA.
He still felt nothing.
Well, not quite nothing. He did regret not feeling
anything at all. That was all, though. Their faces were
only part of his memories due to the photographs. He
couldn't recall a loving embrace, or a sense of belonging.
Everything started with waking up in the hospital.
The nurses all called him a brave boy for not
crying at the news. He had thought that something was
wrong with him at first. He knew that he was supposed
to be sad if his parents were dead. It wasn't until a
few days later that he was able to cry, and that was
only because he had just found out that Fiore was going
to leave.
Amid that pain was one of his fondest memories,
though. Someone had heard him crying and tried her best
to make him happy, or at least as much as she could do. He
only found out years later during the fight with Fiore that
the little girl who gave him a rose from the bouquet for
her mother was his Usako. If he had only known, he used
to jokingly tell her, he would have grabbed her and never
let her go.
That would have given him something to belong to; to
give him hope as he grew up in the orphanage. He had
sustained a head injury in the car accident, and that
kept prospective parents from ever seriously considering
him. His inheritance let him get out on his own and go
to school on his own. There were no disputes involved in
it, and no other relatives had come forward or had been
mentioned in it.
" Good morning," he said, not really quite sure of
what to say to them. He did light the incense and placed
it in front of the headstone, right by the small plaque
that had their names and dates of birth and death.
" I haven't been here as often as I should have, I
guess," he apologized. " I'm sorry for not being more
attentive to that fact. You gave me life and brought me
into this world, and you cared for and provided for me. I
wanted to thank you for that, at least.
" It's hard for me to think of you. I still don't
have any memories of you except for seeing your pictures
and reading your letters. I don't know what kind of life
you lead. I only remember the photo albums that I looked
at afterwards. I wish I did remember more, and I'm sorry
that we never got the chance to know one another.
" I hope that you were happy together in the time
that you had in this world. The woman who will soon be
my mother-in-law, or at least she'll be the one at one
step removed, did some strange things in the distant past,
and I hope that bringing me into the world wasn't the only
thing that you were here for."
He blushed slightly and sat down on the grass, and
arranged himself so that he was in a comfortable position. He
would be here a little while. " I've met someone here that
I'm going to marry someday, and I hope that you two were as
happy together as we have been so far. I wanted to tell you
about her, and how important she has become to me so you
would know that I'm not so alone anymore.
" Her name is Usagi Tsukino," he began, and settled
down to tell them everything about the one he loved.
************************************************
" So everyone is agreed, then? If you do, it's
the explosion?"
" As long as there is no way to reverse this later
on, Usagi-san," Hotaru told her over the communicator
from where she was standing watch with the other two
Outers.
" Mamo-chan says there isn't," she softly replied,
and cut off the other girl before she could continue
speaking. " I still don't want to know what you decided
to do yet, Hotaru-chan. It can wait for later."
" Still no sign of anything," Rei's voice came
through over the tiny speaker. She was downstairs on the
ground level of the mall along with Ami and Makoto. They'd
already been there for a half hour before the earliest of
any of Flare's attacks so far, but it been quiet so far.
Since the redhead seemed to attack near them, they'd
chosen this place as the battlefield. The mall boasted
three stories of shopping, but also had outside entrances
on the side facing the park they intended to drive her
into. This gave them a vantage point to watch from, which
was what she was currently doing from her position by
the bookstore on the third level.
They also hoped that it would cut down on any
possible casualties. It was bad enough fighting Sailor
Sun's partner, but they also had the burden of not
letting her know that they had a plan in mind for the
next day. They had earlier decided that tomorrow
morning was when they would tell each other what they
would do.
Friday morning would be it, she reminded herself,
and wished once again that Mamo-chan was with her. He
was back working in the library, however. He still had
work to do, he told her, and was only a moment away if
he was actually needed. This was the first time that he
had decided to rely on his abilities like this, but she
still had faith in him.
No, right now she wanted a hug from him. It was that
simple. Chibi-usa, the cats and Minako-chan were there as
well, and she was beginning to feel bored. All around her,
everyone was having fun, and despite knowing the importance
of what she was doing, she wanted to be able to do the same.
She turned and almost hungrily eyed the shelves of
manga in the bookstore. Maybe after this was done, she'd
pick up a few. Rei hadn't been getting as many as she
used to, and she was behind in a few stories she was
following.
A grin came to her as she spotted a familiar face
inside, and she darted over to tap on the window and get
his attention.
" Shino!" she called out, waving and motioning for
him to join her before going back to her vantage point. She
shouldn't have been too surprised since she knew he
frequented this store on his way home from school.
" Hi, Usagi-chan," he said to her a few minutes later
after he was done inside and paid for his selections. " How
has your vacation been so far?"
" Pretty good," she admitted and was surprised at
how easily the lies were coming to her. She took a quick
look over the crowd and the park before turning back and
taking a closer look at him. The jeans and T-shirt he wore
was a distinct change from the school uniform she usually
saw him wearing.
" You look really different for some reason," she
told him. " Maybe it's just the clothes."
" It probably is the clothes," he laughed. " We've
only really seen each other in our uniforms before, unless
you count one school dance."
He turned to look out over the mall as well, and was
almost nervous when he spoke next. "And, if I didn't know
that you were so close with Mamoru-san, I'd say that you
looked very nice today, Usagi-chan."
She blushed slightly, but enjoyed the
compliment. " Thank you, Shino. That's very nice
of you to say that." On the inside, though, she was
much more embarrassed. Part of the reason he must have
said it was her clothes. It was amazing what wearing her
Senshi fuku did to her perceptions of the proper length
for a skirt.
The explosion in the middle of the park caught
her completely off-guard.
" What?" she stammered, and looked to her left. The
stairway was only a few meters away and would give her the
opportunity to slip away and change.
" Gazelles," he said, making her turn back to him
and look to where he was pointing. Neptune and Uranus were
already on their way to the park, easily bounding over any
obstacles in their path. " They're like gazelles."
" Shino, what's happening?" she gasped, suddenly
feeling very confused. He was now wearing his school
uniform. Instinctively, she reached towards her pocket
and her broach.
" None of that, I'm afraid," a voice whispered from
behind her as her wrists were grabbed. She was able to
turn around enough to make out the black tunic that Flare
was wearing.
" I'm... I'm sorry, Usagi-chan," Shino managed to
stammer and trembled a moment before his eyes melted into
a warm golden color. He reached up, took off and tossed
the glasses aside, and was suddenly someone else.
" Shino!" she cried out as she realized who it
was. This must have been what Naru described to her about
how she had been able to determine that she was actually
Sailor Moon. Now that she had seen the transformation
actually happen, she couldn't believe that she hadn't
noticed it before.
" My apologies, Serenity," Sailor Sun told
her. " This won't be settled by fighting, so please
don't struggle, and I'll have Flare release you. Do
you agree?"
She nodded since she really didn't have a
choice. Flare had her arms immobilized, and she wasn't
able to move them.
" Why don't you go entertain the others, Flare?" Sun
suggested. " I can keep an eye on her here."
There was a faint, musical chiming noise and she
was suddenly free. There was no sign of the woman,
although a series of explosions started in the park.
" I don't know why you persist in this," he
commented, turning to look out towards the park. The
smarter people were running away from it, although a
few ambitious ones were running towards it armed with
cameras and video recorders. Even from this distance they
could hear the faint sounds of a harp that she recognized
as Mercury using her newest attack.
" That's because both she and I are holding to a
promise we made each other in both of our lives," a man's
voice called out from behind her. " We swore to protect
the people of this planet together."
" And nothing you can do will stop us," she added,
her voice suddenly confident as she walked over to join
Mamoru where he stood leaning against the wall a few
meters away. He was wearing a pair of light gray slacks
and a plain white shirt, and a red rose that glowed in
an eerie aquamarine blue was held in his right hand.
" Endymion," he greeted the newcomer with a slight
nod. " I'm sure that you see things more clearly than
her. You must realize that you don't have any choice of
winning against me. Why prolong the inevitable suffering? No
matter what you do, it won't mean anything in the long run."
" What gives you the right to hurt all these people
who have never done anything to you?" she cried out,
answering his question with one of her own.
" I do it because I can," he replied. " It-"
" Power means nothing!" she yelled, cutting him
off. " Just because you can destroy them doesn't give you
the right to. What about their right to live their own
life and to make their own decisions?
" If you have to kill someone," she pleaded. " Kill
me instead. Just let them live."
" That sounds so like your precious little
kingdom," he laughed. " It only lasted what... a
millennia? One and a half, perhaps? I'm not going to
give you a noble death here, Serenity.
" It would be far too gentle of me to take you
like that," he declared. " You are going to watch your
planet die, or you are going to watch your friends and
your dreams die. There is no other choice here. The
cavalry will not come riding in over the hill to make
a last minute rescue. You only have two choices. Which
will it be, Serenity? Your friends or your planet?"
" Why them?" she asked him one question that they
had brought up earlier, and she still didn't like the
answer.
" Why not them?" he questioned. " I created this
system. The planets are here because of me. You are here
because of me. You all turned against me, and now you're
going to pay the price."
" Speaking of prices," a woman's voice rang out from
above them. " Get away from them or I'll give you a souvenir
to take with you to Hell!"
" Saturn!" Usagi cried out and looked up. What she
saw scared her so badly she started to shake. The Senshi
of the ringed planet was perched on the edge of the roof
and looking down at them. Dozens of translucent yellow,
green and purple ribbons fluttered and swirled around her
as she pointed the Silence Glaive directly at Sailor Sun.
" Get her out of here," the Senshi growled, not
taking her eyes off of her intended target.
" Please, Saturn, don't do anything foolish," Sun
said, calmly backing a few paces away from the couple. If
he was feeling any fear, his face gave no sign of it. " This
won't be settled by fighting, and you can't hurt me, not
even with that attack."
" I think otherwise," she countered, calling his
bluff. " The stakes are your life, and it's time to put
your cards on the table."
" Well, then," he chuckled. " I'll fold this hand. The
game isn't over yet, however, and the stakes go up
considerably tomorrow. We'll see how well you play the
cards that you've been dealt."
He looked up and nodded at the young lady standing
above them, sketched a short bow to the couple and faded
away.
************************************************
" Mercury Aqua Rhapsody!" she cried out, sending a
barrage of bolts of blue energy against the woman in
black. Flare blocked most of them with her sword when
Jupiter and Mars landed near Mercury but spread out over
a ninety degree arc.
" Burning Mantra!"
" Jupiter Oak Evolution!"
The two Inner Senshi fired as one, hoping to
overwhelm her defense with the sheer number of shots
these attacks fired. They had to hold the line until
Neptune and Uranus could get back into the fight.
It had worked before the other day, but this time
Flare stood her ground, flung out her hand and a
hemispherical barrier formed around her, blocking their
attacks.
" You won't catch me like that twice!" she yelled,
dropped the barrier and fired a blast of light at the one
in red. Mars dodged the attack she had been expecting and
launched a 'Fire Soul' at her without even announcing the
attack. She, like Jupiter and Mercury, had gotten to the
point where they could often make some of their attacks
work like that, but it was still easier and more reliable
to call them out.
She was rewarded by it singing a lock of the
redhead's hair, although she was irritated at herself
for partially holding back. She'd shifted her aim just
before firing.
" Bitch!" Flare shrieked and rolled to her right. She
came up on one knee, let her sword dissolve and brought
both hands together.
" Flame Stream Prominence!" she yelled out, flinging
a wide swath of energy that knocked down all three of them
and tore through the foliage until it crashed against the
outside of the mall, shattering windows and starting
several small fires. As the three girls fell, Flare was
on her feet and jumped in the air, her sword forming in
her hand. She plummeted down towards Mars, screaming out
her name.
************************************************
" Did I ever tell you how much I hate doing this?" she
asked her partner, taking advantage of their hiding to catch
her breath.
" Not in the last twelve seconds," Neptune replied,
smiling. " Haven't you forgotten that this was your idea
in the first place?"
" No," Uranus grimaced. " It is my idea, and I still
hate it. But, I do have to admit that they're doing good-"
" And we're not?" she sweetly asked with a mischievous
twinkle in her eyes, and nudged the other woman in the ribs.
" Hush," she replied, peeking around a tree
trunk. " We have to fool her if we're going to have
a chance to beat her. She's getting sloppy and overconfident
in her attacks, and I want her to be doing the same thing
tomorrow. We're executing well and hitting her right now,
which is all I ask for."
" As long as we get more powerful," Neptune replied,
joining her in watching the ongoing fight. She winced as
she saw the barrier go up and the exchange that followed.
" She's ticked now," the blonde decided. " Get
ready, and remember to take it easy on her."
" I know," she softly laughed, taking a violin
from her dimensional pocket that seemed to be made of
glass. " I helped you come up with the plan, remember?"
She put the violin under her chin and the bow to
the strings. A seething waterspout bore her high up into
the air at her mental command as her target leapt to the
attack. Flare was so intent upon getting Mars that she
wasn't looking around.
Haruka's strategy was wonderfully devious, and
this would reinforce the pattern that they were letting
develop. It was going to seem that despite all their
traps and teamwork, nothing they did could actually hurt
Flare. Using these attacks would make her think that they
had gone all out this time. As long as they ended up
powerful enough to actually hurt the woman, it would be
perfect.
" Submarine Violin Tide!" she called out, beginning
to play and focusing her intent upon the woman in black. A
wall of sound and the water beneath her feet lashed out
and caught Flare in mid-air, flinging her well to the side
of the fallen Senshi that was her target.
Uranus had begun to run forward as soon as Flare
committed to the leaping attack, recalling from years of
training how vulnerable those attacks could make you. She
had a good idea of where Flare was going to land after
Neptune hit her, and made for that spot.
Neptune and Flare hit the ground at the same time,
although the Senshi's controlled landing was far more
graceful. Flare landed heavily but rolled to her feet,
and was just able to avoid a spinning kick from Uranus
by backing away and up against a tree.
" Space Turbulence!" the blonde shouted out while
continuing her spin, directing the attack at her target
from point blank range. Flare was barely able to avoid
the attack that smashed the tree into kindling but not
the second kick that clipped her shoulder and knocked her
to the ground.
" That is it!" she raged, forcing herself to her
feet, but Sailor Sun appeared behind her and laid a hand
on her shoulder like he had previously. Both of them
faded away again, but not before Flare spat at them in
disgust.
" Beautiful, everyone," Uranus told them, shaking
her head in admiration. False hopes indeed, she laughed
inside, recalling how angry she was to hear what Hotaru
had told her of Flare's words in the previous fight.
" Could we have done it any better?" Mercury asked and
got a high five in return from the blonde and didn't even mind
having to jump for it. They left to go meet up with the others
after getting a call that told them what happened back by the
mall.
Inside one of those businesses that faced the park, a
young barmaid with shoulder length, red hair blistered the
air with a selection of curses that should have been far
beyond someone of her years. She shoved aside the remains
of a wicker table and three chairs that had been outside
from on top of her and pulled herself to her feet.
The barkeep himself had already set out a pair of
shotglasses as his first action upon standing. The young
lady carefully poured from a bottle of bourbon that somehow
wasn't shattered along with the windows, and they raised
their glasses in a toast to the first day of business at
the new location of the Cha Cha Maru.
************************************************
The sensation of a set of wards coming apart brought
him to his feet. It was a stretching, tearing sensation
that was unlike anything else. They weren't his own
personal ones around his quarters, but they were inside
the outer defenses.
" Shit!" he growled and took a deep breath to center
himself. He set up a ward over the node beneath the
complex that would keep anyone else from tapping into
it before calling upon the power within it for his own
uses. The summoning room on the third level, he realized,
taking a closer look at the situation through his mage-sight.
Something is on the loose, he gathered. He checked
his own defenses and transported himself to that level
via the network of gate crystals he had for use his own
usage. Probably an imp had taken advantage of a mistake
made by a student and broke free.
The first thing he saw when he emerged into the
hallway was three bodies. One was an apprentice, and the
other two were beginning students. Not an imp, then. The
door to the actual summoning room was still open and give
him a feeling of dread.
" Hello, Matthew," Joshua greeted him as he stepped
into the room. Or, more precisely, what used to be Joshua.
The demon still stood inside the remains of the
protective circle laid out on the floor. Normally, it
kept a summoned demon from leaving the circle.
" Joshua mentioned you," Matthew commented and
readied a spell of banishment that would force it from
this plane. " The Death Phantom, a spirit of great
destructive power is what he said he had encountered
on the astral."
" I have no quarrel with you, Matthew," the thing
said. " The fool who summoned me paid the price for his
stupidity by summoning something he couldn't control in
order to supplant you, and the others attacked me. I merely
defended myself from them, but I was a little carried
away. It has been millennia since I last fed. My not
leaving the circle is a demonstration of my lack of malice
towards you."
" Well, we seem to have a bit of an impasse," the
man replied. " You can't stay in the circle foreve, and
I can't have a demon wandering around indiscriminately
eating the souls of my people. What can you do for me
that will prevent me from sending you back from where
you came?"
" This world is known to my kind, Matthew. Metallia
was only the first to have heard the siren call of the
power of the Silver Crystal and made her way here on her
own. From what I read in Joshua's mind, you are planning
towards taking control of this world for a long time. Do
you really like the notion of needing to deal with
several more like her?"
The man chuckled and absent-mindedly straightened
the cuff of one of his shirt sleeves. " No, I don't care
much for that idea. What is your goal here? You would
have left after having lunch if you didn't have some
ulterior motive."
" The Silver Crystal, of course," the being
smiled. " Your world is too cold for my kind to live
comfortably, Matthew. Your whole universe is not kind
to us, I'm afraid, and is not worth the effort in taking
over. I have no interests in it except for that crystal."
" That trinket is almost more a bother than it is
worth," Matthew declared. " It's essence will not willingly
aid someone that is not of it's own choosing. Jason forgot
that fact and paid the price.
" I take it that you are offering your help in
conquering this world and keeping out any of your brethren
in exchange for my help in getting you the crystal?"
" Something like that," it smiled. " I would be a
valuable advisor to you, after all."
" If I do agree, I'll need your real name,
though. Yours is Death Phantom as much as my real name
is Matthew."
" I can agree to that," it decided and drew shadows
around it to create a hooded, black cloak that settled on
it's shoulders. " You can only use it to banish me from
here since I am not of this world. I'll need a disguise
as well, however. Any who know of me as Death Phantom
will be that much closer to knowing my true identity and
gaining power over me. I'd like to keep it that you are
the only one.
" Judging from our own enemies here, this would be
a good start," the being said as a black crescent moon
that opened downwards appeared on it's forehead. " And
from your name for your organization, and my new role,
why don't you call me the Wise Man?"
The man laughed, reminded of one of the old
definitions of the word. He reformed and corrected
the protective circle and wards around the room with
a wave of his hand, and magically fetched a heart
crystal to his hand.
" I think that we have a tentative agreement,
then. I need some time to think it over, however, and
that will ensure that you can't stray. I'm sure that
you are still a bit hungry, so please amuse yourself
with this for a few hours."
He tossed the crystal into the center of the
room and left to think about the future and how this
would affect his plans for controlling it.
************************************************
" I'm glad you're still outside," she said to
the priestess as she sat down with her on the top step.
The girl with black hair brandished her broom for
a moment and smiled, although it was hardly visible in
the dim light at dusk. " This is the one battle that I
can never win, Usagi-chan. The leaves are invincible."
They both giggled at that and the blonde handed over
the liter and a half bottle of Poccari. The other girl
took a big swallow of the sports drink and handed it
back.
" Thank you," Rei said and carefully looked at
her friend. From the slightly dejected look on her face,
she knew that this wasn't entirely a social call. " I'll
be glad to listen to you in whatever capacity you need
me, Usagi. Just let me know what clothes I should be
wearing."
Usagi simply put an arm around her, lowered her
head onto Rei's shoulder and sighed. " I'm going through
what you had to on Monday when you found out you were
going to be fighting one of your friends."
" I'm sorry you have to do this, too. I never knew
him real well since I'm not at the same school as you
are, but he seemed like a nice boy."
" He was," Usagi confirmed. She looked away at
the last portion of the setting sun for a moment. "I
was getting a little lonely when I first met Shino. Mamo-chan
had started working for Michiru-san and Haruka-san and
was often busy with that and his classes.
" Maybe it was because Shino was a lot like
Mamo-chan that I tried to be friends with him. They're
both orphans, and he didn't have many friends, just
like Mamo-chan. He was nice and polite, and even funny
if he got close enough to you to relax and let it show.
" I think that Hotaru was right, though," she
admitted. " It was probably all part of Sun's plan in
the first place. He knows us, Rei-chan, and he's been
watching us for almost two years. It makes my skin
crawl every time I think of all the times we used to
talk or help each other out at school."
" I know what it is like, Usagi-chan," Rei
began. " You know that I never had many friends at
Thomas Aquinas school, right?"
She took another sip of the drink and held the
bottle out, waiting for Usagi to do the same before
continuing. " Well, Hamaji was one of the girls that
was at least nice to me. When I had a bead on her
during the fight on Tuesday, I couldn't fire at her.
" To be honest, I think that because it wasn't
a real fight like you said was part of it. We won't
be playing tomorrow, and I think I can do it if I need
to. I've had a couple of days to accept it that you won't
have."
Usagi took another sip when she heard someone
sigh. It took her a moment to realize it wasn't Rei and
whirled around.
" Please, just pretend that I'm not here," Haruka
calmly said from a few meters away where she sat, leaning
back against one of the pillars holding up the arch over
their heads. " When you're done with all this worrying,
we need to have a little chat. There's nothing that is
as important, really, so just go on like you were."
" Haruka-san, what are you doing here?" the other
blonde asked. The sarcasm in the older girl's voice wasn't
too hard to miss.
" I kind of knew that this conversation was going
to happen at some point today, and I need to clear
something up right now before it goes any further," she
replied.
" You only get sarcastic like that when you're mad,
Haruka-san. What is it?" the priestess asked her as they
turned to face the newcomer.
" You do understand that nobody is giving up
tomorrow, odango-chan?" she stated while holding up one
hand to stop Usagi from answering. " I'm not making fun
of you, Usagi-chan. We are not going to give up to them,
and they are not going to give up and let us win. What
are you going to do if it comes down to you and him
fighting it out?"
" I... " she stammered.
" Bang, you're dead," Haruka barked, snapping her
fingers and pointing one hand at Usagi like it was a
gun. " Game over, Usagi-chan, just like he said. This
is a fight. You may not get a second chance tomorrow."
" But-"
" No buts, Usagi-chan," Rei cut her off as gently
as she could. " Haruka-san is right about this, I'm
afraid."
" Usagi," Haruka began and took a breath in order
to let her compose her thoughts for a moment. " We were
alone most the time on the outer planets in the
past. There were never many people, and many more
things that wanted to eat them. We didn't have the
luxury of choosing during a fight. When the opportunity
came, I willingly killed whoever I was fighting.
" I didn't like the fact that it had to go to that
point, but once it became an actual fight, I never had a
problem with ending it. Michiru and Hotaru are like that
as well. We'd rather that you never had to get to this
point, Usagi-chan, but we're too worldly to think that
it will never come down to this."
She paused to take a drink from the bottle that Rei
tossed to her. " I ask you again, Usagi-chan. You don't
need to answer, but you do need to think about this. Either
he kills you and everyone dies, or you kill him and
everyone is saved. Maybe that will help you understand
it better."
" Haruka, I don't want to kill him," she sobbed
and slumped forward. Both of them could see silvery trails
of tears working down her face. The woman scooted over and
lifted her face up so that they were looking at one another.
" Usa, I don't want you to have to kill him either,"
she huskily whispered. " I'd give anything to keep you from
ever having to make that decision. We live in an ugly world,
but you can see the beauty in it. I can't see the good
things as well as you can, but I'll do everything I can
to keep you from having to stoop down to our level."
" We all will," Rei softly added.
" The point is, though," the tall blonde went
on. " The point is that it may come to that, and you
can't ignore that possibility, Usagi-chan. You have to
think about it. I don't want to do it, either. Shino was
a good kid. I don't want to have to kill him.
" If it comes down to it, however, I will. For me
it is an easy decision. That's probably the biggest
difference between the Senshi, Usagi-chan. Michiru,
Hotaru and I had to be like that. Setsuna understood
it as well.
" We were fighting to protect both you and the
Silver Millennium. There were only four of us, and that
made us the way we are. We aren't better than the Inner
Senshi, but we are colder than you are. Harder. To us,
the means are justified by the ends.
" Your mother made us promise to make you into the
best queen that we could, Usagi-chan," she added after
pausing to wipe away a tear on Usagi's face. " A crown
is not an easy burden to bear, Princess. This hurts now,
but you need to understand this in order to be strong
enough to be like your mother."
" It hurts to think that way," Usagi whispered, but
her voice was stronger for her next words. " I know that
I'm not much of a leader yet, but I've learned enough to
know when to ask for your help. What do I have to do to
make it through this?"
The raven-haired girl caught the woman's attention,
waggled a finger and pointed at herself before
speaking. " Don't tell yourself that you can't kill
him, Usagi. Remind yourself that you simply don't want
to kill him. Do you understand the difference between
the two and how you were confusing them when you said
that you didn't want to a few moments ago?"
" I think so," she said several minutes later. " I
think that I understand it now."
"That's good," the tall woman said and stood,
pulling Usagi up with her as she did so. " I'll walk
you home, Usagi-chan. Rei-chan needs the chance to spend
some time in there tonight, and I have to get going as
well."
" She's right, Usagi-chan," Rei said and gave her
friend a fierce hug. " It's almost time for dinner. We
can talk more in the morning if you need to."
" Thank you, Rei-chan," she responded, holding Rei
tightly as well. The priestess ran to the shed in the
back to put away her broom before going inside the shrine.
Haruka nudged her in the right direction and they
walked down the stairs and started towards her home.
" Rei-chan didn't know him too well," the tall
woman suddenly said as they turned a corner. " I didn't
want to bring this up in front of her."
" Excuse me?" she asked.
" There's one other person you have to think about
here, Usagi-chan," she explained, doing her best to keep
her voice and words as gentle as possible. " I don't think
that Shino-san would have liked what he's being made to
do to you. Don't forget about him, either."
************************************************
She tentatively stepped through the doorway to the
den and listened. The silence made her nervous for some
reason. She usually didn't play music or listen to the
television while she studied, and she was no stranger to
the quiet. It is because your mother wasn't going to be
coming home tonight, she told herself.
Three hours running a search parameter through a few
credit card companies that she hacked into had not yielded
any results, nor had breaking into the computer records of
every alcohol clinic that she could. No, this was one case
where she was going to miserably fail.
Her mother knew too many people that could be doing
this. All she had to do was to tell one of her doctor
friends that she wanted to keep the matter quiet and her
mother would be admitted under an assumed name to keep
everything quiet. She would probably have made arrangements
to pay them at a later date, or in cash, so there was not
a paper trail for her to follow.
No, her mother was thorough, she realized. It was the
same kind of precautions that she would have taken if she
did not want to be found. Her mother was who she inherited
her intelligence from, after all.
She wandered around the condominium, looking carefully
at each room. In part it was to try and remember everything,
she told herself, and hated the fact that a part of her was
trying to justify lying to the rest of her. No, what she
was still trying to do was to find some kind of clue as to
where her mother was. She had already used her computer
and scanners to record images of everything in the house.
The urge to kick and break something and to scream
was put aside. There was no sense in involving the neighbors,
after all. Instead, she went to her room and threw herself
down onto the bed. After that, she grabbed one of her
over-sized pillows, hugged it and cried for an hour. It
helped a little bit. Afterwards, she was able to pack for
the trip without beginning to tremble and shake. She had
ran out of tears while stretched out on the bed.
The clothes were the easiest part. She didn't have
any real favorites that she couldn't bear to lose, so she
simply packed a few outfits. The same thing went for most
of her jewelry, although she did take a few things that had
special meaning, like the sapphire ring that had belonged to
her mother and was given to her when she was sixteen. It was
too nice for her to wear all the time, she usually thought,
but slipped it on now.
After she was done and had closed the suitcase, she
carried it out and placed it by the front door. This time,
she walked through all the rooms just to look at them and
remember what had happened there during these last four
years. This had been their home for the longest of any of
their other residences.
Finally, she came to her mother's room and walked in. It
seemed empty somehow, but she dismissed that thought. She
opened the door to the walk-in closet and stepped in to
look at some of the things her mother wore. The smell of
the clothes, various perfumes and the potpourri even
reminded her of her mother.
At the back, safely tucked away into a box and
wrapped in plastic was what she was looking for. It was
on the top shelf, and she was barely able to reach it. She
went back into the bedroom and set the box on the bed and
carefully unwrapped it.
It was her mother's wedding kimono. She had wanted
her daughter to wear it when the time came for her own
wedding, and now it looked like she would never have the
chance. She carefully arranged it on the bed and scanned
it with her computer so she would at least have the pattern.
On a sudden impulse, she slipped out of her blouse
and skirt and put on the kimono. She wasn't used to wearing
such traditional clothing and almost didn't recognize herself
in the mirror when she looked. It may not be the real one
that I end up wearing, she told her while she scanned what
she looked like while wearing it, but you'll still be with
me in spirit at my wedding, Mother.
That was assuming she ever could marry, she bitterly
reminded herself. She had the sickening feeling that her
duty as a Senshi might interfere with that as well.
She carefully put the garment away and dressed in her
regular clothes again. There was really only one more task
for her to do. After getting paper and a pen, she sat at
the kitchen table and began to write. The first message
was simple enough. Directions and a phone number of where
she was going to be for the weekend if her mother came back,
or someone was looking for her, like the police eventually
would be.
The second one was far harder. She had spent some
time talking with Michiru about this earlier and decided
to heed her advice. It only took a few words to say, and
was far more simple and elegant than pages of careful
reasoning at saying what she felt and, more importantly
to her conscience, what she would feel.
Mother,
I still love you. I always have and I always will.
Ami
************************************************
They had been enthralled by her for almost an hour
now. She had played them as easily and effortlessly as she
did the violin. Grown men reached for handkerchiefs to wipe
away tears when she wanted them to. She could make their
wives yearn for the passions of their youth a moment later
with the slightest flick of a wrist.
The intensity of her performance rose as she started
building towards her finale, startling many of the audience
as they realized that they were in for something truly
memorable. She wanted to smile whenever that look of
understanding began to show on their faces. Showing them
the beauty and the power of the music and the sheer
delight it gave her to do so was far better than the
applause later on.
On cue, right after she had finished, they would
surge to their feet and marvel at what she had given them.
Their applause was the roar of the waves of the ocean,
building and building as it began to crest. Roses flew
out from them like sea spray.
She bowed to them and it began to dwindle and recede
like a wave returning to the ocean. It grew dark as well,
but it wasn't the lights of the stage being dimmed. That
was only in her memory as she looked over the seats of the
amphitheater from her place on the darkened stage.
Nobody was in the seats this time of night, of
course. The symphony that performed here was not in season,
either. They would start practicing in a few weeks, and she
had to once again turn down the inevitable invitation to
join them.
Eleven hours. Maybe a few more, or maybe a few less,
but it was still only eleven hours. She would no longer
exist. No more fame, no more notoriety. People wouldn't
stop and point her out anymore, whispering about who she
was.
" All those moments will be lost in time, like
tears... in the rain," she whispered, quoting a movie. All
the things that she had strove for throughout the years
and expressed in her art would be gone in what was for
her the worst way possible.
She'd be a laughingstock if she tried to play the
violin like she used to. Any of her new paintings would
earn her the label of being a fraud. You're only imitating
her, the people in the galleries would laugh. No originality.
Plagiarism. It was an ugly word to her. She'd laugh
at the absurdity of the idea of needing to copy someone else
when she was able to see so many things in the world that
could be made into art. Soon she would be guilty of being
herself because nobody else would know the truth.
She had been able to learn, with Haruka's help, to be
able to understand and accept the need to be ready to give
up her old life. That it was to protect her family was
something she fully understood. For that reason, the pain
could be endured. In time, it would go away, even though
it tore at her heart right now.
The doubts came rushing in and surrounded her,
threatening to drag her down into despair. She didn't
want to have to do this, but it seemed that there would
not be any choice in the matter. It had to be done.
Her decision seemed to help a little bit in easing
her pain. She reached into her pocket and removed the
violin and bow that she had used earlier in the day. It
didn't look like a regular one that was made from wood,
but it played just as well.
Like it always was able to, the music drove away the
pain. The road ahead would not be an easy one for any of
them, but she would manage. She had said her good-byes to
her parents in her heart almost five years ago. She would
miss them dearly, but they knew that she had loved them.
Her art would never truly be gone, she also knew. She
was the source of it, she had come to understand. She could
always change her way of using the medium itself to convey
her message. There were a few new styles that she wanted
to explore anyway, and this would be a good challenge to her.
The same thing went to for her music. This would make
her more skilled in the end when all was said and done. Perhaps
in some ways this was a good thing, forcing her to reach and
grow even more as an artist and a person.
Beautiful music filled the night air as she began to
play. The notes were sad, but there was a strength to them
that could not be denied. What was to come would hurt
terribly, she knew, but she would survive. The wave was
going to crash down on her, but when the waters receded,
she would still be there.
She had her friends. She had her music, and she
had Haruka. She would survive.
************************************************
She had previously taken the precaution of waxing
the runners of the sliding door that led to his room in
order to be able to do this tonight. Her grandfather was
loudly snoring in the next room on the ground level, but
she still wanted to be careful about unnecessary noise.
" Yuu-chan?" she whispered, closing the door
behind her.
" Rei?" he groggily replied, forcing his way out
of a sound sleep. " What's wrong?"
" I couldn't sleep," she admitted and knelt next
to him. He made to rise from the floor but she put a hand
on his shoulder to stop him.
" Want me to read you a story?" he asked, and she
could see his smile even in the dim light coming through
the small window as he sat up.
" I just want a hug," she answered.
" Shouldn't you be in the next room for that?" he
stammered, suddenly a bit nervous and aware of the danger
of their situation. Her grandfather was only a few meters
away, after all.
She leaned forward against him and put her arms
around him. " I wanted one from you, silly."
" Rei-chan," he whispered and returned the
embrace. They stayed that way for several minutes
until holding that position became too difficult.
" Thank you, Yuuichiro," she told him. Impulsively,
she quickly kissed him and scrambled to her feet. " For
being my friend, and for putting up with me."
While he still sat there in shock and surprise,
she slipped out of the room and ran up the stairs so he
couldn't see the tears that came to her face.
************************************************
Thankfully, the alarm codes hadn't been changed
recently. It would have been embarrassing to be caught
breaking into her own house, even if she hadn't been
there for a while. Her parents were currently living there.
Technically, they were house-sitting for her. In
actuality, it was only a subterfuge on her part to get
them to live here away from Tokyo. It made her feel better
to have them out here away from the hustle and bustle of
city life, even if it did mean that she saw them less.
She'd been ready to do this for a while, and had
already accepted that this part of her life was over. They
were asleep upstairs, from what she could gather by
listening to the silence that filled the house. Their
cars were here, and no televisions or radios were
playing. Aside from the gentle whirring of the
refrigerator, nothing else was active.
Her route went past the stairs leading to the
second story and the bedrooms. She wasn't planning on
stopping to talk to them. Instead, she walked to the far
end of the house and the closest thing she had to a room
here that was really hers. There was a bedroom reserved
for her, naturally, but it was never used.
No, this was the closest to a place that belonged
to her. It held something that she valued. Lining one
wall of the study was a long display case filled with
pictures, newspaper clippings, and several trophies.
These were hers like little else was. It had taken
her long hours of hard work to learn the ropes on the
track and put in her time until she was actually allowed
to race. Her accomplishments there had nothing to do with
her past life as a Senshi or any other such advantages.
" Easy come, easy go," she grinned as she opened the
case. She took the first one that she had earned and reached
inside the cup to look at one memento of her past. Coiled
inside was a long braid of sandy blonde hair.
She smiled again at the memory of the look of shock
on her mother's face as she got home the night of her first
race with a drastically different hair style and the second
place trophy. That was what she would miss, and not these
baubles. She reached into her pocket and removed the second
earring that was part of her new costume. It was put in with
the braid and the trophy was placed back where it came from
in the case. She had never liked the second earring, anyway.
This was easy for her to give up. She always had the
option of getting back into this later on, after all. A
change of hair color and style, along with a new identity,
and she could race again. It was easier for her than for
Michiru, for example. Sure, she could work in a recording
studio, but it wasn't the same as a live performance. It
was the prizes upstairs that she would miss the most. Not
everyone had such patient and supportive parents.
You're getting to be an old softy, girl, she scolded
herself as she turned to leave the house. She let herself
regret her decision for as long as it took her to reach
her car outside. After that, she was able to drive away
with a clear conscience, fully prepared for what tomorrow
might bring.
************************************************
" Good morning, Usako," he greeted her and took
her into his arms for a hug that both of them needed
this morning. He gasped in surprise and almost fell to
one knee when the girl jumped up onto his back from
behind like she used to do.
" I'm sorry, Mamo-chan," Chibi-usa admitted and
slid to the ground. " I guess that I'm not as little
as I used to be."
" No, you're not," he said and pulled her around
and into a the hug with them for a few moments before
they broke up. " Shall we?"
" Yes," the blonde replied and forced herself to
smile. She turned back towards the house. " Good-bye, Mama!"
" Bye-Bye, Ikuko-mama!" the pink-haired girl
echoed her.
They walked to the park in a degree of silence;
each wrapped up in their own thoughts. The two girls
had only their purses with them while the young man had
a backpack slung over one shoulder. As they entered the
park itself, they were able to see two figures sitting
on one of the other benches by the dock they were at
Saturday morning.
" Haruka-san! Michiru-san!" she cried out, feeling
her heart sink when she realized that they didn't have
any bags with them like they had all agreed to do if they
were going to go ahead with the plan. She didn't really
want them to do this, but she had expected these two to
have easily decided to accept the loss.
" They're in the van, Usagi-chan," Michiru gently
explained to her, realizing what the look of confusion on
her face meant.
" I'll be back in a second," Chibi-usa called out
and ran off, having spotted a familiar ponytail over a
hedge across the park. It turned out to be Makoto and
Hotaru, as well as the two cats and Minako-chan. Makoto
was carrying the child while the cats caught a ride on
her broad shoulders as Hotaru lugged along a pair of
mismatched suitcases, one of which she surrendered to
Chibi-usa.
" Are you absolutely certain of this?" Usagi asked
them when they got there.
" I am, Usagi-chan," Makoto said while Hotaru simply
nodded. The brunette let the cats jump to the bench before
looking around at them. " You're my family now, everyone.
I'm not going to let you down."
" Mako-chan," she began to protest. " What about-"
" There's nothing here for me anymore, Usagi-chan,"
she quickly cut her off, but not harshly. " I'm not going
to abandon my family. I never really realized it until now,
but I have a family again, and I'm not going to lose a
second one."
" Is everything ready, Mamoru-san?" Artemis asked
a few moments later as he settled down on the back of
the bench.
" It is," he replied to the cat. He patted the
strap of the backpack. " I've practiced the ritual a
dozen times, and I'm packed."
" I thought that you weren't going to have to do
this, Mamoru-san?" Hotaru asked.
" We're already what we are going to be,
Hotaru-chan," he said to her. " The spell wouldn't
do us any good, I'm afraid. This is just some things
that I might need today."
" Sorry we're a little late," Ami called out from
where she came through the trees behind them along with
Rei.
" We took the scenic route," the other girl joked
as she set down a suitcase and a traveling bag. Ami was
similarly laden down, but with a backpack and suitcase.
" I don't know what to say," Usagi whispered,
looking around at her friends. " I want to thank you
and tell you what stupid idiots you are all at the same
time."
" Usagi-chan," Rei sharply said her name, walked
up to her and put her hands on Usagi's shoulders to turn
her until they were looking right at each other. " He didn't
give us a choice, Usagi-chan. You were right about that,
and this is our one chance to help protect you."
" Don't you all understand that I love you, and I
don't want to see any of you hurt like this?" she replied
and looked at each of them in turn again.
" It's because of our love and respect for you that
we are doing this, Usagi-chan," Michiru explained. " We
don't want you hurt, either. That is why we choose to do
this. It isn't out of any feeling of obligation towards
you, Princess. We do this because you do love us, and
care about us."
" Will anything I say make you change your mind?" she
asked. Silence was her only reply. She sighed before going
on. " Now that we know that we are going to do this, next
we have to decide where."
" It has to be remote," Hotaru said. " I don't want
any distractions or hostages."
" The mountains?" Makoto wondered.
"No," Luna called out and waited for them to be
quiet. " There's only one real choice. The moon."
" The moon?" Usagi asked. " There's no air."
" We've been in space before and survived," Ami
pointed out. " Remember Fiore?"
"We don't have anything to fear from being there,"
Chibi-usa responded. " I think that the moon is the perfect
place."
" She's right," Artemis added. " Symbolism can be
very important in magic, from what little I know about it,
and there's no better place for us to be doing this
together."
Mamoru nodded. A few moments later, all of them
had agreed, and he and Haruka carried the luggage over
to the van. If they were successful, after she dropped
everything off at the rendezvous point she would drive
the rental to the house in the mountains and set if off
as per their plan. If they weren't, it really wouldn't
matter.
" The far clearing will be safe for us to use,"
Michiru told them as they walked towards it and the set
of barriers that they moved out of their way. " It's
closed right now so it can be fixed up after the cherry
blossom festivals."
" I guess this is the last time we do this, then,"
Makoto declared as she took out her transformation
wand. Hotaru took Minako from her before the brunette
transformed into Sailor Jupiter. The shorter girl handed
the child back, changed and began to put on a nylon
harness designed for carrying children.
" Yes, we are taking her," she responded to several
puzzled looks. Saturn took the child back and slipped her
into her spot on the harness and checked the restraints
that held Minako in place. " Nobody stays behind on this
one. Not even the cats, and I can keep my Silence Wall
airtight long enough for us to come back if this doesn't
work."
" I was hoping that you weren't going to make us
stay behind again," the black cat added, pointedly looking
at Usagi. " We'll stay out of the way in the fight, but
you need us up there to help figure out whatever is left
of the ruins if ithat is needed."
The blonde began to protest as the others began to
transform, but thought better of it and reached for her
broach. A hand caught her arm.
" Mama?" the girl at her side piped up. " I don't
think that is the best idea right now. Mamo... Papa did
say that you needed to start learning to use the crystal
without the broach. Don't you think that this is a good
time to start?"
" You're right, Chibi-usa-chan," she smiled down at
her daughter. She looked around her and saw that they
were waiting for her. " I'm as ready as I'm going to be."
" The last few teleports have been rough,
everyone," Artemis reminded them as he got up onto
Jupiter's shoulder. Luna did the same to Tuxedo
Kamen. Mercury thought about it and brought up her
visor before they linked hands. " Hold on tightly and
keep your mind focused."
" I'll call it," Usagi announced. Mars' hair had
already drifted up behind her, and she could feel her
own doing the same. She closed her eyes to better think
about what she was going to do. It was not easy, but
she maintained her calm and thought about her planned
destination. This was a radical shift of perception for
her, she knew and patiently waited until they had
accumulated enough power to do this.
" Home," she whispered. " Let's go home."
************************************************
This teleport was surprisingly easy. One moment
they were on the Earth and had closed their eyes in
concentration. The next they were standing on the
surface of the Moon in a slight circular depression
that was several kilometers in diameter. All around
them was a clutter of rocks, but they were far too
even and regular to have been entirely natural. Most
were waist height or less, but many were taller than
they were.
" There is an atmosphere over this region," Mercury
announced as they turned to look at the unique view of
the Earth. " It's still a little cool, but easily livable
in. How did the scientists miss it?"
" Welcome to the Sea of Serenity," Artemis told her
and waved a paw around at the broken, scattered
ruins. " Didn't you ever wonder why those same
scientists never saw this up here?"
" The Sea of Serenity," Mercury whispered and
looked around to try and get her bearings. She giggled
once, opened her mouth to speak and closed it like she
had thought better of saying it, but did do a little
bunny hop to test the amount of gravity.
" What is it, Mercury?" the black cat asked,
jumping to her shoulder.
" Almost full gravity, too," she replied absently
and then blushed. " We're not too far from Tranquillity
Base. I was hoping we could have made a slight
detour. I've always wanted to go there."
" Sightseeing, Mercury?" Tuxedo Kamen chuckled
and released the hands of the two girls that were
tightly holding his. " It would be nice to see the
landing site, though."
" Usagi-chan?" Mars asked in surprise, looking
away from the desolation. The blonde had been wearing a
blouse and a skirt when they left, but now she and her
daughter were in their matching white gowns.
" What?" Usagi cried out in surprise. She turned
towards her daughter, who was trying to look surprised
as well and failing. " You knew about this, didn't you?"
" I wasn't sure that it would happen to you," the
girl admitted. " It always does for me when-"
" Enough, Chibi-usa-chan," Neptune interrupted
her. " You just gave something away about the future,
and you were about to give away more."
" Does anyone know where we are?" Saturn asked as
she took off the harness and set Minako on the ground. The
little girl was in a set of blue overalls and shoes that
could take the terrain. Barring a fall, the worst that
the girl would get was a little dirty.
" This was the main garden," Jupiter said. " Beryl's
troops came through from over there where the public
sections were. The city proper was more over that
way. The Guard barracks and the palace would have
been behind us."
The brunette pointed out the places that she
remembered. Uranus frowned slightly.
" Then this is where we were last together,
then," she said and turned around so that she was
facing the direction Jupiter had said the armies were
going. She took several steps in that direction before
stopping in surprise. " I thought that everything was
destroyed."
Only two partial segments of wall were still
standing, and they were ranging from knee to waist
height. Still, it showed them something of the shape
and scope of the building. The broad plaza in front of
it was still relatively clear, as were the low steps
leading up to the plaza.
Chibi-usa gave a cry of joy and raced forward
towards the building. Minako did the same at the best
speed her ability and short legs would allow. Saturn
began to cry as well, and let the Glaive fall to the
ground. She picked up the child on the run and dashed
forward.
" Pu!" the pink-haired girl cried out, hurling
herself into the arms of the tall woman standing there
at the top of the steps in a white and black fuku with
long, dark green hair and an ornate staff in her hand.
" Hime-chan," the woman whispered to the girl as
she returned the embrace and swung her around a few
times.. " I guess that I can't call you Small Lady
anymore. You've gotten so tall."
" That's my nickname, Setsuna-mama," Saturn
teased her as she came up to them and was hugged as
well by the woman who then took the blonde child into
her arms. The others had reached them by then, and Pluto
kneeled before the woman in the white gown.
" Forgive me, Princess," she asked, catching the
eyes of the man at her side and giving him a slight nod
of gratitude. " I'm so sorry that I had to stay away
when you needed me this time."
" Pluto," Usagi replied, pulling the woman up to
her feet. " We thought that you were dead. Why didn't you
come back to us?"
" I'm not so sure that I can die anymore," she
replied, and her face grew more somber. " That scares
me almost as much what was happening to you when I sensed
the timeline being disrupted and came to save you from the
magi.
" The reason why I couldn't come back, though," she
added, looking around at all of them. " There was an
enemy in your midst when I woke up."
" Sailor Sun," Uranus stated. Pluto saw the
question forming in Usagi's eyes.
" Do you play cards, Usagi-chan?" she gently
asked and waited for her to nod before continuing. " You
don't tell your opponent that you're planning to cheat
and have an ace tucked away up your sleeve. If I was
with you, or if I had even told you that I was still
here, you would have acted differently, and he would
have known I was here. Please remember, I have to protect
the timeline as well as you, Princess. If he doesn't know
about me, he can't be as much a threat to time."
" You must have been so lonely, Pluto," the blonde
girl said and hugged the woman. " I wish that it could
have been different for you this time."
" It is going to be different this time, Princess,"
the woman firmly responded and lifted Usagi's chin until
she was looking her directly in the eyes. " I'm tired of
not being able to be there for everyone at the end like
before. I've had to stay away from the fight at the end,
or I've fallen before it was over, and you've all had to
pay the price for it.
" I stayed away when Beryl attacked the Moon, and
you all died. Hotaru-chan sacrificed herself when we
were fighting the Deathbusters. Minako-chan here," she
went on after brushing back a lock of the child's hair
from her face. " She paid the price the last time when
we were fighting the magi. Nobody else is going to be
hurt because of me."
" Minako-chan knew you, Pluto. Is that her?" Artemis
asked. " Do you know if she is the same Minako-chan that
we knew?"
" I'm so sorry, Artemis," she said and walked over
by Jupiter to lay a consoling hand on his shoulder. " This
child is indeed Venus. I used to visit her at night a
lot, and she definitely is still Venus. She isn't our
Minako-chan, though.
" Or I haven't been able to reach her," she added,
seeing the poor cat's heart break at the news. " There
is a Venus in the future, but I don't know if it is
her. I simply don't know, Artemis."
" No!" he cried out and flung himself off of the
brunette's shoulder in a long, soaring leap. " It isn't
fair!"
He sprinted away at his top speed with Luna in
close pursuit for about a hundred meters until he
collapsed to the ground and began to wail out in grief.
She turned back to them as Jupiter began to follow and
shook her head from side to side to tell them to stay
there before curling up with him.
" Pluto, do you know what our plan is?" Mercury
asked her.
" More importantly," Jupiter added. " Will it work?"
" The girls who were discovered to be Senshi when
they were infants or children always woke to their full
power more quickly than those who were chosen as
teens," Pluto replied. " Endymion-sama has the right
idea. This will help you become more like the ones who
were chosen at birth."
" Endymion-sama?" Mars echoed her.
" She's right in calling me that," the man
said. " I need to start thinking of myself as going
by that name more often."
" You're not the only one," Chibi-usa said and
walked over to stand in front of her mother.
*I love you, Mama. Make sure that you tell Papa
that I love him as well*
*Chibi-usa-chan?*
" I have to go now," the pink-haired girl
announced. " Now that Pu's here, I need to return to
my time. I'll miss you all so much, and I don't ever
think that I'll be able to thank all of you for the many
things that you've done for me."
" You're making this sound so... permanent,
Chibi-usa-chan," Saturn commented, beginning to feel
worried.
" Is this the last time, Chibi-usa-chan?" Neptune
asked her, realizing that the girl was having a tough
time actually saying it and hoping to spare her some of
the pain.
" No," Usagi whispered and desperately hugged her
daughter. " Does it have to be the last time?"
" You'll see me soon enough, Usagi-chan," the girl
sniffled. " I'm going to miss you too. I've always felt
so special that I had a mother who was also such a good
friend.
" And a father, too," she added, getting a hug
from him as well. " I wish that it didn't have to be
so soon, but we don't have much time left."
" I love you, too, Chibi-usa-chan," the young
man told her. " And I'm proud of you. We'll be glad to
see you again, no matter when it is."
" You've done well, squirt," Uranus respectfully
knelt down by the girl before grinning and playfully
mussing up her hair. Neptune knelt as well and got a
brief, fervent hug.
" We need to do a trade," Pluto told the girl,
unhooking one of the time-keys from the chain around
her waist. " Yours needs a recharge."
The tall woman knelt as well as they exchanged
keys and embraces.
" Good-bye, Pu."
" Only for a little while. Until then, farewell,
Small Lady."
Chibi-usa gave the child in Pluto's arms a kiss on
the forehead before turning towards Saturn. " Hota-chan?"
" I wish I could know just one thing about the
future, Chibi-chan," she murmured to her as she drew
the now-crying girl in against her. " Since I can't,
though, I'll pray that we get to see each other
again. Thank you for reaching out to me and wanting
to be friends, Chibi-usa-chan."
Saturn reluctantly pulled away and gave the girl
a nudge towards the three Inner Senshi. Chibi-usa walked
over to them and began to curtsy before she broke down
and ran into the midst of them, trying to hug all three
of them at once.
" I'm going to miss you, even though I'll be seeing
you again in a few minutes," she told them.
" Take good care of yourself, little one," Jupiter
teased her, ruffling the girl's pink hair as well. " Don't
eat too many of my sweets, okay?"
" Farewell, Small Lady," Mars said and leaned down
to kiss her cheek. " You'll always be in our hearts and our
prayers."
" We'll miss you, Chibi-usa-chan," Mercury added. She
glanced away to the two cats still huddled together. " I'll
give them your regards."
The girl reluctantly left them to go back to her
mother and father once more. She tightly hugged him again
before going down on one knee in front of her mother.
" Usagi... Neo-Queen Serenity," she addressed her,
holding Usagi's wrists so tightly that she could not could
not kneel with her or pull the girl up like she tried
to. " I need one more thing from you before I go home.
" A few moments ago I said that Father was not the
only one who needed to get used to using another name. You
are the other one, I'm afraid," she said and released
Usagi's hands in order to bring out her own
crystal. " There's only one thing that I've seen
you do that my mother has never done, and only one
thing that you have that she has never had.
" I need to take your broach with me, Mother."
" My broach?" she said, protests beginning to
form in her mind before she remembered what Mamo-chan
had told her.
" There is far more to you than the costume,
Mama," the young girl smiled up at her. The blonde
sighed and took out her broach, realizing the truth
in the girl's words. A simple command made it release
her own crystal into her hand and she extended the
broach down towards her daughter.
She was on her own now, she suddenly realized. No
more Sailor Moon to fall back on, she thought almost
sadly until the revelation hit her. This was exactly
what he had meant by the broach limiting her growth
after a certain point, and she smiled at the sudden
insight.
The girl put her own crystal, more pink in color
than the her mother's, atop the broach. Before her
mother could pull her hand back, the girl folded her
hands around her mother's and reverently pressed them to
her own forehead. A surge of power was felt by both of
them.
" Thank you, Mama," she whispered and stood. The
girl's crystal was now snugly inside of something that
was glowing brightly enough so that nobody could make
out the exact shape of it.
" Moon Prism Power, Make-Up!" the girl called out
and a wave of red ribbons flowed over her, leaving her
wearing a familiar blue, white and red outfit. The broach
was also in a familiar, round shape.
" Sailor Chibi-" the young man began to say but
realized his error.
" No, she's not 'chibi' anymore," Neptune pointed out.
" I still have a lot to learn, Usagi-chan, but
you've taught me so much already," the girl explained. " It
won't be easy to fill your shoes, and I'm going to have
to learn how to be a queen one day as well."
A few meters behind and above them, a swirling
pink cloud appeared.
" It's time," the pink-haired Senshi announced
and ran over to stand beneath it before anyone could
react. She took out the key she had gotten from Pluto.
*Chibi-usa-chan!* Usagi called out to her in her
mind.
*I know that I'm not going to be a good child for
a long time, Mama* the girl replied and sheepishly smiled
as she began to rise up in the air. *But you loved me
anyway, despite the fact that I was a horrible little
monster for so long. It will get better between us, Mama.
Please remember that, no matter what*
*I'm going to miss you so much* she cried out and
opened her heart to her daughter, who replied in kind;
each allowing the other to see just how much they really
and truly cared for the other.
A moment later the girl was gone.
************************************************
" They're breaking up over there," the blonde
observed.
" In more ways than one," Pluto answered her,
looking at the others clustered around Usagi. She and
Uranus had given them a few moments of privacy to step
away and briefly discuss tactics for the upcoming fight.
Neptune was quietly talking to Tuxedo Kamen a few meters
away from them along with the two cats who had finally
come back.
" If she's as tough as you say, this isn't going
to be easy," the woman added. " We don't have much time,
either. All of her attacks have been at noon, local time.
The more time we have to adapt to the change the better."
" You're doing it, too?" the blonde asked, feeling
somewhat surprised.
" I didn't have a family in the sense that you did,
Uranus, but Setsuna Meiou is part of who I am as much as
Sailor Pluto is. I spent a long time as her, learning about
this new world. I may not need the boost in power to change
my mindset, but I'm doing this along with the rest of you.
" I know more than a bit about magic, myself. This
will be stronger if we do it as a group as opposed to one
at a time over a long period. If Usagi-chan was making
the sacrifice also, Mamoru wouldn't have hesitated to. I'm
sure that he's only holding back for her sake."
" You're right as always," Uranus sighed. " If she
knew that, she would do it as well. None of us really want
that, I think. She's the only one of us who had a normal,
happy home to go back to."
" Not even you and Neptune?" she slyly asked.
" My parents weren't able to understand me after I
was six," she admitted. " I think that it was the same for
Neptune. They loved us and supported us, but they couldn't
understand that we were never meant to be part of them. I
only felt like I was part of a family when we were raising
our own little hime-chan."
" I understand you," Pluto replied. " My own flesh
and blood sisters never felt as much a part of me as you
three."
" Thank you, onee-san," the blonde graciously smiled
and gave the other woman a quick squeeze around the
shoulders with one arm. A sparkle of mischief crept
into the smile for a moment. " Does that mean that I
can call you Pu as well?"
" No," the woman quickly responded and stifled
a giggle as Neptune came over with the young man and
the cats.
" We need to get started," the man called out,
getting the attention of the others as well. Saturn
ran back to where they had arrived at to retrieve the
Glaive before joining them as they made a circle where
Tuxedo Kamen indicated.
" This is going to be easier and harder for Usagi
and I than all of you for a few reasons," he started. He
closed his eyes for a few moments and his tuxedo shifted
slightly into a more formal, ornate looking style, but
still in his customary black. He removed and put away the
mask that had appeared. " I can't get used to that shade
of lavender yet, but most of our changes will be simple
cosmetics and how we think about ourselves. Just calling
myself Endymion won't do it all, but it will be a start.
" What the sacrifice will do for you is to force
that change on you. It isn't a matter of cosmetics in
your case. It will only take a few days for you to learn
a simple spell that will let you change clothes back and
forth like what the wands and scepters were for. You won't
need them anymore, and I worked that into the ritual of
the spell."
He looked at them in turn before going on. " I'm
ready."
" We all are," Mars responded, glancing at the
others and not seeing any of them hesitating to meet
her gaze. He nodded and looked at the child that Pluto
was still holding.
" Ar-... ah, Luna, why don't you take Minako-chan
over there so that she's out of the way," he said and
pointed out a spot several meters away. " Artemis,
please keep an eye out from over there on the other
side. I don't think that they'll change their strategy,
but it doesn't hurt to play it safe. Serenity?"
" Yes?" she replied, feeling embarrassed because he
had to repeat himself before she realized that he was
addressing her. At his request, she walked over to stand
next to him.
" Once I cast the actual spell over all of us, your
part is very easy," he told the Senshi. " One at a time,
while you are still in your Senshi form, you say your
planet's name and 'Eternal Power', just like you currently
do. Don't say anything about make-up, though.
" After that, break your wands," he finished.
" Break them?" Jupiter cried out. " They don't break,
Mamoru-san. I accidentally dropped mine off my balcony
onto the sidewalk, and I'm on the third story. It chipped
the concrete."
" They will if you want them to, Jupiter," he
explained to her. " This will symbolically sever the
ties between you and your old life."
" In other words," Mercury added. " It says that
there's no way to go back."
" Is that all there is to it?" Mars asked. When
he nodded, she walked over to the couple. " I'll go first."
Usagi ran into her arms and hugged her, beginning
to cry again for yet another time. She'd lost count of
how often she had cried today. " Rei-"
" Later, Usagi-chan," the Senshi whispered,
interrupting her and steered her back to the man's
side. " We can talk about it later, after we take care
of this."
" I'm sorry, Usako," he said to her and briefly
hugged her. " We have to do this now. I need your help,
remember?"
Joining hands, he began whispering a prayer to the
Light as gold and silver tendrils began to form around
them. The arcane formulae he recited spread them around
to encompass all of them, even the cats and the child.
" Dropped?" Mercury whispered to Jupiter, asking
her about the earlier disclosure.
" All right," the brunette quietly
admitted. " Threw. Right after I lost a boyfriend
due to breaking yet another date to go fight a youma."
" I'm sorry, Mako-chan," the one in blue replied
and patted her on the arm. The threads of light faded away.
" It wouldn't do to have them forget us," Tuxedo
Kamen explained. " I can include the cats and Minako-chan
among the ones who will remember you because of the
common background we have together."
He turned to the Senshi of the fourth planet and
gave her a gentle, almost sad smile. " Thank you,
Mars-sama. It's never easy to be the first one."
She nodded and kneeled before them. Furtively,
her eyes sought out his before she looked down. Once
again, they were trusting each other as firsts. She
gathered and restored her sense of resolve and pulled
out her transformation wand. They laid their hands atop
her head in benediction.
" Mars Eternal Power!" she cried out and closed her
right hand on the wand, and was startled at how easily it
fractured into several pieces.
" I don't feel different," she said, leaving the
pieces at their feet before standing.
" The changes are inside, Mars," Pluto said as she
briefly laid a comforting hand on the girl's arm before
stepping up to the two royals. She went to one knee before
them and bowed her head as well, taking out her scepter.
" Pluto Eternal Power!"
The brunette took her place and did the same as
the others, but gave the couple a warm smile before
bowing her head.
" Jupiter Eternal Power!"
The one who was a Senshi for the least amount of
time stepped up next.
" Saturn Eternal Power!"
A girl in a blue and white fuku followed with a
determined look in her eyes.
" Mercury Eternal Power!"
The last two came forward and kneeled as one. Everyone
smiled a little at that, knowing it to be so much like
them in everything else they did. Together, as always.
" Neptune Eternal Power!"
" Uranus Eternal Power!"
The two woman rose to their feet as the couple let
go of each other's hands.
" It is done," he said and bowed his head.
" He'll have felt that," Usagi decided and walked
first to Artemis and then Luna in order to hold each of
them for a moment. The power levels that she had sensed
during the ritual convinced her that they had just thrown
down the gauntlet. " They'll be here soon."
" Usagi-chan," the black cat said and rubbed the
side of her face against the blonde's in a display of
affection. " You'll do fine. I believe in you."
" Thank you, Luna-sama," she told the cat, put her
down and picked up the child. I never got to say this to
you, Minako-chan, she said inside of herself to the child,
and offered up another prayer that she would get to see her
friend again. I'm going to make you proud of me,
Minako-chan. I won't waste the second chance that you've
given me.
A response was not long in coming. Scant minutes
later a burst of white light from the middle of the
gardens heralded the arrival of Flare.
" So be it," she called out to them, her voice
clearly audible to them despite the distance. " It is
time to pay the price for your refusal of our demands."
" Stay back, Saturn," Uranus growled under her
breath. " Until we see some sign of Sailor Sun, she's
off-limits to you. Pluto, too."
" I understand," the Senshi of the outermost planet
quietly replied.
" This is your last chance, Hamaji-chan!" Mars
called out. This was a part of the ruse and a part of
the feelings in her heart. " Don't make me have to
fight you."
" No, Mars," she responded. " You had your chance
to surrender. From here on in, there is no quarter."
" Nor would we accept it," Uranus shouted. She put
one hand on her hip and pointed at their opponent with
the other. With her best mocking smile, she turned her
hand over and repeatedly crooked the one finger pointing
at Flare in a gesture that was a clear invitation to her
to come and get it.
************************************************
" Scatter!" Uranus yelled and leapt up high as
Flare dropped to one knee and stretched out both of her
hands towards them. The three Inners, recognizing the
attack from the other day, spread out to avoid being a
cluster of targets.
" Flame Stream-"
" Silence-"
" Prominence!"
" Wall!" Saturn yelled, stepping forward and in
front of the cats with the Silence Glaive held out
defensively. Her words drowned out the whisper of her
companion, but her barrier did nothing to impede a ringed,
purple sphere that Flare avoided only at the last moment.
" I do not need to be protected," Usagi protested
as Neptune and Tuxedo Kamen moved a hunk of marble to
form a more secure space for the cats and Minako-chan
to stay in so they would be out of the way of the worst
of the attacks. Saturn had protected them from Flare's
opener, but she couldn't always be on the defensive and
tied down to a particular spot.
" We know, Usagi-chan," Neptune calmly explained to
her. " This may be a ploy to make us expend our energy
before the real fight begins.
" Remember, we still don't know enough about him to
feel that we only have to take her out," she finished and
ran towards Flare as the other Senshi began to
counterattack.
" Usa," the man said to her and helped her
squeeze the child into the space they had made. " I..."
" Just be careful," she told him and sighed.
She knew that he wanted to stay with her, but he also
understood that his flexibility was one of cornerstones
of their strategy against Flare. With a smile, he
followed Neptune into the fight.
" It doesn't get any easier, Usagi-chan," Pluto
gently told her as she moved back to be by her
side. " Holding back when the ones you love are in
danger is the toughest thing that I have ever had
to do."
" I thought that you would have told Uranus no
when she asked you to stay back at first," the blonde
asked, remembering Pluto's earlier words. She also
tried to clear her mind and remember what she felt
like when she did her attacks. If Chibi-usa could do
it with just her crystal, so could she.
" I'm still here at the end," the woman grimly
smiled. " I understand the tactical situation well
enough to understand what she's trying to do. Now, if
she tried telling me to leave, that would have been
another story. I probably would have spanked her."
The resulting peal of laughter sounded very
incongruous on the field of battle.
************************************************
Yes! she cried out in her mind. It was working. The
'Sparkling Vital Pressure' that Flare hadn't noticed on
Monday had just forced her back two steps. They actually
had a real chance.
Sticking to the plan, she fell back away from her
after scoring the hit. As they had expected, Flare was
getting angry and turning to face whoever hit her
last. The same tactics were used by wolfs when they
hunted in packs, Haruka had told them. Flare would
figure it out sooner or later, so they had to press
home their advantage.
Mercury ran in behind Flare as she turned and hit
her with a blast from the glowing blue harp that appeared
in her hands. The redhead screamed in pain and fell to
the ground, and was barely able to avoid an arrow made of
red flames that would have entered her cheek.
" You idiots!" she screamed and rolled to her
feet. " This isn't going to be settled like this. You
don't have any choice in the matter!"
As quick as a cat, she turned and caught Tuxedo
Kamen in the stomach in the stomach with a thin, white
needle of light as he closed to attack in a fashion
similar to Mercury.
" Tuxedo Kamen!" both Mars and the blonde who
wasn't in the fray screamed out, but it was the Senshi
who was caught by another attack from Flare as she
stood and gaped, and fell to the ground.
" Silver Moon Crystal Power Kiss!" Usagi
shrieked and flung a torrent of energy between Flare
and the two casualties. All of the combatants turned
their faces away from the conflagration of power for
a moment.
" Jupiter!" the sandy-haired blond yelled and
reached into her dimensional pocket to take out Venus'
sword. It may not be right to use it, but the brunette
was more familiar with it than Endymion's, and he was
out cold. They had to take her down fast, and their
ranged attacks weren't going to do it.
" World Shaking!" she called out and tossed the
sphere at Flare as a cover for hurling the sword over
to Jupiter. She then whipped out the Space Sword and
unsheathed it, allowing the scabbard to fall to the
ground.
" Shabon Spray!" Mercury cried, trying to provide
some cover for the two with a cloud of mist. She did her
best to keep it tightly centered around Flare because
it would make it easier for the next maneuver.
" Why don't you just give up?" Flare yelled from
inside the fog. With a cry of rage, Jupiter caught the
sword in mid-air and went into the fog on the same
leap. Uranus ran towards it as well.
" Now!" she yelled out and Neptune popped up
from behind the remains of a shattered column with the
Deep Aqua Mirror held before her. Before she could say
anything, however, Jupiter and the sword came flying out
of the mist. Jupiter only flew a few meters, but didn't
move after landing. The sword was flung much further
away in another direction and landed behind some rocks
with clear, bell-like tones.
" Submarine Reflection!" Neptune managed to finish
and dispersed the fog. Her partner didn't have much time
to react, but she didn't need it as she started her
strike and savagely grinned. Flare didn't have her
sword out.
************************************************
Usagi started forward after just missing Flare
with her attack. Her heart was pounding so loudly after
she saw Mamoru go down that she didn't hear Pluto's
cries. She didn't hear Saturn, either, but the hand
that grabbed her wrist and stopped her finally broke
her out of her panic.
" No!" she cried out as Flare neatly sidestepped
Uranus' attack. The redhead's right arm was drawn in
slightly to avoid the attack, and then she swung it
out and over the back of the sword as a continuation
of the circular motion she had started. Before Uranus
could do anything to counter it, Flare grabbed the
blunt back of the blade and plucked the sword from
her grasp.
" Uranus!" Neptune cried out as well and began
to charge at the woman in black, who kept on turning
with the surprised Senshi and placed her left hand
square in the back of her target. The flash of light
was hardly visible, but the Senshi fell to the ground
like she was struck down the weight of a mountain.
" Saturn!" Pluto yelled and waved her forward. She
did as told, releasing Usagi who slumped to her knees. As
usual, the first casualty in this or any fight was the
plan for the battle. Uranus had said to hold back, but
now it was time to change tactics. So far, none of them
looked seriously hurt, with Uranus perhaps being the
exception.
In a few more steps, however, Neptune wasn't
going to be so lucky. She had stumbled when she saw
the blonde go down and was in no position to avoid the
sword thrust that Flare was aiming at her heart. A mental
command activated the Garnet Orb at the end of her staff
and she held it with both hands while she saw Neptune's
eyes go wide with fear as she realized what was about
to happen.
" Gather," she whispered, invoking the power that
was hers as one of the carriers of the three talismans. In
response, both the Space Sword and the Deep Aqua Mirror
vanished in a sparkle of golden light and reappeared a
few meters away from her, the two talismans forming the
other points of a triangle with the Garnet Orb.
She imagined that the same surprised look that was
on Eudial's face was now on Flare's as well, but she didn't
stop to stare like the witch had. Her hand didn't hurt
Neptune as it hit her, but Flare quickly recovered and
slammed the heel of her hand into the Senshi's chin
before Pluto could finish the longer command to shift
over their bodies as well. The shock of being teleported
on top of the blow combined to knock out the Senshi.
Mercury hesitated a moment as Neptune vanished. It
was all the time that Flare needed to raise an arm and cut
down the blue-clad Senshi before Saturn came plummeting
down at her with the Silence Glaive glowing like the sun.
************************************************
" Mamo-chan," she whispered as Saturn released her
and she fell to her knees, still not wanting to believe
what she had seen. The pebbles and grit that Saturn
kicked up in her wake when the Senshi ran forward weren't
even noticed as they hit her in the face.
Neptune staggered back as she was hit and her head
was snapped upwards before she shimmered and vanished.
She opened her mouth to cry out and warn Mercury, but
Flare beat her to it, spinning and shooting the one in
blue as she hesitated.
Suddenly, there was a moment of silence. Pluto had
just finished moving Uranus and Neptune and was turning
towards their enemy. Saturn was falling towards the
redhead and beginning to glow. For one brief moment,
it was ominously quiet.
Crying. It was faint, but she heard crying.
" Minako-chan!" she screamed and jumped backwards,
twisting as she did and landed in front of the opening
to the hiding place where they had put her and the cats
earlier. From behind her a wave of light, heat and noise
swept past, making her whimper in pain as it continued to
escalate.
" No!" she cried, her voice drowned out in the
roaring sound. This wasn't how it was supposed to
happen. The sound and the pain doubled, and then
doubled again. She had to protect them. " No!"
Her eyes were closed, so she was unable to see
the silvery auras that surrounded all of the Senshi,
Tuxedo Kamen and herself. In one last pulse of energy,
the maelstrom around Saturn and Flare cleared away,
revealing the Senshi standing there with the Silence
Glaive bearing down on the woman in black. Flare was
managing to hold a hemispherical barrier that was
blocking it, but only at a great effort as translucent
ribbons began to ghost in and out around Saturn.
The last wave of energy destroyed the protective
nimbus that protected each of them, but they also bore
the worst of the blast. Pluto, since she was standing
and offering the most area to be affected by the
explosion, was dashed to the ground and slid several
meters before stopping. The others were hardly affected.
Usagi managed to push herself to her feet and
turned around. Her back hurt. The pain was like when
she spent too much time at the beach and got a sunburn,
but this was a whole new level of magnitude.
" This isn't quite what you expected, is it,
Serenity?"
She spun around and winced at the pain it
caused. Sailor Sun was standing behind her on the
other side of the barricade they had made for the
cats.
" I underestimated Hotaru's stubbornness," he
said, leaned forward against a marble block, folded
his arms on the top of it, and rested his chin on his
arms. " And her power as well.
" A pity, really. I sort of liked her, even
though I only met her a few times. She can't beat
Flare, you know. Even that new Senshi can't help
you win," he added, pointing over at an unmoving
Pluto.
" I won't let you do this to them," she
declared, forcing herself to stand upright despite
the pain. She'd done an attack earlier without even
thinking about how she would do it, so she decided
to do another and let her power accumulate like it
normally had done back when she was Sailor Moon and
was beginning an attack.
" No," he sighed, leaned forward and quickly
tapped her on the forehead, right on the crescent,
before she could react and the energy dispersed. " This
isn't about fighting, remember?"
" Then what is it about?" she challenged him. " All
you do is say that we've wronged you somehow. I never saw
you until last Monday. We were nice to Shino when he
didn't have any other friends. Why do you hate us so
much?"
" It is about choices, and regarding the last, I
simply do," he replied and began to walk around the
rocks. He stumbled slightly and grinned for a moment,
slightly embarrassed. The sight was so familiar that
she missed the opportunity to attack him like she should
have. She thought about doing it and all she could see
was the friend she had made standing in front of her.
" I think that I'll keep you alive for a while," he
told her as he leaned back against the rock next to her,
acting as casually as if they were old friends. " You
wear your heart on your sleeve so much that it should
be interesting to watch you observe the passage of years
and all the mistakes that they will make as time goes by."
" So, you're not going to kill everyone, then?" she
asked.
" As I said, your friends and your dreams will
die," he responded, glancing over at the fight while
he talked to her. It was much as it was a few moments
ago, but it was also becoming clear that Saturn couldn't
keep this up for too much longer. " The people down
there; their own stupidity and short-sightedness will
be my reward. Eventually, they are going to destroy
each other by fire if they don't poison themselves first."
" Why do you want to hurt me like this?" she
almost sobbed, trying to hold back her tears.
" You usurped my position," he chuckled. " Of
course I... I... I want to hurt you."
She looked at him in surprise as he stammered...
no, forced out the last words, like it was the most
difficult thing in the world. His tawny eyes lost
some of their golden color.
" Of course I... want... don't... want..."
" Shino!" she yelled at him, feeling a spark
of hope. Maybe he wasn't entirely gone like Rei
thought that Hamaji was lost inside of Flare. Rei's
attempts to reach Hamaji may have failed, but that
didn't mean that this would. She had to try and reach
him. "Shino!"
" Want... don't... want...," he continued to
struggle with the words as she took his hands in hers. He
pulled free and ran away from her in a stumbling, awkward
gait that she easily could match, and after he had gone
about fifty meters he slipped and slid into a shallow
gully running across his path. He tried to stand and
stumbled again as she grabbed his hands. She thought
back to one of her earlier attacks, remembering the
things the 'Moon Princess Halation' had done aside
from causing damage. Hurting him wasn't on her mind
right now.
Another idea occurred to her at the same
time. Perhaps she was too worried about using her
powers without the broach to help her. She had been
worried about Flare being too close to Tuxedo Kamen
and had attacked the woman without even thinking about
how she actually did it. Maybe it was that easy, she
realized. Maybe all she had to do was to just think
about what she wanted, and the power would respond.
" Moon Princess Halation!" she whispered, using
the familiar mantra to help her remember what the old
attack was like, but she was concentrating on getting
a similar, but very different result out of it.
Defend, protect, shield, she told herself, trying
to think of all the different ways to say what she was
trying to do. Support, aid, assist, sustain, and nurture,
she added, hoping that it would be enough. She remembered
the happy times they had together and tried to force all
of her will upon the single idea of freeing him.
" Don't... want... don't want... to... hurt
you... Usagi."
" Shino?" she gasped and looked up into eyes
that were now green.
************************************************
She woke up after what felt to only be a few
moments. Instinctively, she'd held on to her staff
despite getting knocked down and knocked out. That
much was good, at least, she told herself as she took
stock of what she remembered. Saturn! the thought raced
across her mind. Still not able to stand, she did manage
to turn around enough to look at the girl.
What she saw she distinctly did not like. Saturn
had Flare in a bad position, but it was still a case of
having the tiger by the tail. Flare couldn't attack her,
but nor could she attack Flare, and Saturn was not going
to be able to hold out like this for much longer.
From what she knew of the girl's powers, she was
right on the verge of crossing the line of calling upon
her full power. The consequences of that would be fatal
for Saturn, and none too easy for them to deal with
either. Not this close to ground zero.
She knew that she herself wasn't enough to make
a difference here. Not when they needed so much force
to hold Flare in one position and an almost equal amount
to have a chance of damaging her. If the redhead was
worrying enough to block Saturn's attack, it would be
proof that she could be hurt by it. The princess was the
only other one who could approach that level of power,
but she couldn't see her.
What other options were there, she asked
herself? Uranus was hurt, she knew, but not the
extent of the injury. Neptune had passed out. The
prince and the other Senshi had been taken down earlier
in the fight, and she doubted that they were going to
be able to get up soon.
Grimacing at the pain, she tried to stand up and
fell again before she could get her staff under her for
support, spots swimming before her eyes. A wave of
dizziness passed over her and her vision got more
cloudy before beginning to clear up.
Think, she yelled at herself and concentrated
on looking down at the hem of the black skirt of her
fuku in an attempt to get back her full sight. Who else
was there? They needed something to throw at Flare right
now, something to hold her down long enough for them to
regroup and attack.
Her gaze fell upon the fortification that they
had hastily erected right before the fight started. Bodies,
she reminded herself and crawled over to it. We just need
to throw enough bodies at her. All she has to do is to
hold her off until we regroup.
" Forgive me," she managed to whisper as she looked
in on the two cats and the little girl before offering up
a silent prayer that if she had a soul, what she was going
to do would not be a black stain upon it. Her conscience
was already condemning her well enough as is for what
she was considering.
************************************************
" Usagi-chan," he gasped out and fell to his
knees. " I'm so sorry."
" Shino, what's happening?" she asked him,
kneeling as well. " Who is doing this to you?"
" It's Sailor Sun. He started right after the
accident," the young man explained to her. " He was
controlling what I could do, Usagi. He made me go to
school with you, and he used me to find out what you
were like, what you did, and who your friends were,
just like he has done with Flare.
" I wanted to be friends with you, though," he
added with a small, sympathetic smile in an attempt to
cheer her up. " That part was always me. You were so
nice to me despite what had happened, and you were so
pretty. I couldn't help but like you, and he took
advantage of that."
" If he's gone, why isn't-"
" He's not gone," he quickly interrupted
her. " While you've been fighting Flare recently,
he's had to give her more and more power, and I was
the only other source. He underestimated Hotaru-chan's
power, and he has to concentrate more on controlling
Flare to keep from losing the fight. His ego won't let
him lose a real fight, and he wasn't paying as much
attention to me.
" You helped me to regain myself, Usagi-chan,
but I can't hold him off for too long," he finished, and
the smile grew more sad. " We need to stop him. I can
only hold him at bay for a little while longer. You'll
have to kill me before that happens."
" No, Shino!" she cried. " I can't! We can beat him."
" You can't, Usagi," he sighed. " He's too
powerful. Hotaru-chan only has a few more minutes
left before she gives up or kills herself trying to
stop Flare. I'm holding onto a part of his power and
keeping him from using it, but only for a few more
minutes.
" He never explained his answers, but he was
right about this when he said that this really isn't
about fighting, Usagi-chan. I can answer you, though. This
is about choices. We have him in check right now, but if
he beats Hotaru or gets me back he'll win. If he gets
just one of us, he's going to kill everyone on the
Earth. The sun puts out enough energy to burn away
the entire planet. Everything will die.
" Don't make me do that, Usagi-chan," he implored
her. " I don't want to be the one who kills everyone that
he liked. You wanted to give yourself up so that your
friends would live. Why can't you let me do it so that
mine can?"
" I don't want to lose another friend," she pleaded
with him. " All my life, everyone has always given
themselves up so that I would live. I lost my mother
that way. Then, one by one, I lost most of my friends. I've
been lucky enough to have gotten some of them back, but
what if I don't this time? I don't want this to happen
again, Shino."
" Do you think that I wanted this to happen,
Usagi-chan?" he replied and gave her a ghost of a
smile. " I lost my parents, but I found others who
cared for me like I was their own. Most of the other
students didn't like me very much, but I met you and
your friends, and you all tried to get to know me for
who I was, and you weren't bothered about what had
happened to me. I even met someone who, if the
circumstances were a little different, I might have
been able to love."
" Me?" she gasped, blushing. " Shino... I..."
" I said might, Usagi-chan," he explained and
the smile grew clearer. " You had Mamoru-san, and you
seemed so happy together. Still, if I could feel like
that about one person, I could probably feel that way
about someone else, too. Suddenly, I had realized that
I wasn't going to be alone for the rest of my life like
I first thought when I got out of the hospital.
" My point is that you helped to give me hope,
Usagi-chan. I would have had a chance, and that's all
I ever could have asked for. I've had a hard life, but
it wasn't a bad one. There are so many people who have
done so much for me. I can save them like this, and I
can save you. The feedback from my death and the loss
of power will weaken Flare enough for you to be able to
beat her."
" I don't want to win like this, Shino," she
cried. " It isn't winning if you die."
" It is, I'm afraid," he said, reaching over to
wipe away one of the tears gathering in her eyes. " You
can only stop one of us, Usagi, but not both. There
aren't any good ways to die, but this is better than
most."
" Why me, though?" she asked, her voice catching
in her throat. Shino sighed and let go of her hand
before glancing around. He spotted something a few
meters away, scurried over to get it and returned to
her. She recognized it as Venus's sword.
" I'm afraid, Usagi," he admitted. " I'm not very
devout, but I was raised as a Christian. Suicides don't
get into heaven, or so I've heard. I don't think that I
can kill myself."
She instinctively moved to embrace and comfort
him. His left hand pressed against the front of her
shoulder, stopping her, and he leaned down towards her
with his eyes half closed.
" Shino," she breathed, her voice not even a
whisper, and tilted her head up slightly before closing
her eyes. She could give him this much at least, she
told herself as she felt his breath on her skin.
He kissed her lightly on the cheek, much to her
surprise, his lips only touching hers for a moment, and
so softly that it made her think of a butterfly. Then,
he stepped back and reassuringly smiled at her before
positioning the tip of the heavy blade directly over
his heart. " Just push as hard as you can, and don't
tell me when you're going to do it."
She choked back a sob and reluctantly put her
hands on the hilt.
************************************************
At first, the newness of her surroundings scared
her as she woke up, but then she felt the familiar shapes
of the two kitties with her and was relieved. She
implicitly trusted them because she felt good when
they were near her.
Luna was furthest from her. She almost couldn't
see her in the sharp shadows inside the hiding place. The
other kitty was next to her, but he seemed to be asleep
just like Luna was. She struggled with trying to remember
and say his name before falling back on the thought that
came to mind.
He was the kitty who was always sad when he was near
her, and that troubled her greatly. He was one of her
favorites, and she always tried to make the sad kitty
happy whenever he was with her. She liked being happy
more than she liked being sad, and wanted him to be that
way, too.
A shadow falling across the opening startled her,
and she cried out before she could stop herself from
doing it. They were supposed to be quiet, she knew, and
the kitties were asleep.
It was only her friend, however, the one who would
sometimes visit her at night and hold her. The woman
whispered something that she couldn't make out, but she
still gurgled happily and held out her hands towards the
woman in an attempt to get her to pick her up like
before. She felt safe in the woman's arms and wanted
to be there right now.
The woman avoided her grasp and gently shook the
white kitty. " Artemis. Artemis!"
" Huh? he groggily said and shook his head. His
movements woke Luna and she began to stir as well, and
slowly opened her eyes. The girl smiled, having been
reminded of the sad kitty's name.
" Artemis," she giggled, calling out to him as
well and feeling pleased with herself for getting it
right. She reached her hands to the woman again and
remembered what the girl who had left earlier had
called her. " Pu."
" I wish it was different, little one," the woman
admitted and affectionately brushed back the hair over
the girl's forehead. " It isn't fair to you to have given
so much, and be called on again so soon."
She turned her gaze to the cats. " I need her wand,
Artemis."
" I... there's only a few pieces left," he stammered
as Pluto forced herself to a kneeling position and used
her staff as a lever to push away the smallest rock
forming the back of the shelter. He closed his eyes
briefly and produced the few fragments that they had
found among Minako's things after they fought the magi.
" As long as it's something. I haven't done this
before," the Senshi admitted.
" What are you going to do, Pluto?" Luna asked while
she looked around for some sign of Usagi. Her eyes grew
sad as she saw the limp forms sprawled on the ground
between them and the continuing struggle between Flare
and Saturn. The former had managed to get one knee up
off the ground, and was trying to get herself to a
standing position.
" Force Venus to wake up," she replied and turned
to the child. She placed the pieces of the wand into the
girl's hands and folded one of her own around them. The
violet sigil of Pluto began to glow on her brow.
" I couldn't reach her," Artemis confessed as he
reigned in his fears. If there was any chance of his
Minako coming back, this would probably be the end of
it. He remembered how disjointed her memories were when
she first awoke to her true identity, and that the same
thing had happened after the victory over Beryl and
Metallia.
If she was coming back on her own, this would
surely disrupt the healing process and she would be
lost forever. On the other side of the ledger, however,
was the fact that they were losing. Usagi was still alive
right now, and both Venus and Minako had sworn an oath
to protect her. He reluctantly nodded in acceptance.
" We're more closely linked with each other than
you were to her," Pluto explained and tilted the child's
head back with her free hand so their eyes met. She made
her sigil fade away and return again a few moments
later. " You remember this, little one. We play the
same game each time we meet, Venus."
The blonde girl blissfully smiled back at the
woman and a golden sigil began to shine on her forehead
in response. Pluto leaned down and touched her sigil to
the child's.
" It is time, sister," she prayed and focused her
considerable will into thinking of just this one
thing. " We need you, Venus. Please come back to us."
************************************************
" What?" she murmured, feeling something strange
as she woke up and took in her surroundings. Gray dust,
she wondered for half a moment before forcing herself to
her feet and falling back down from the wave of dizziness
that was the result of the sudden movement.
When her head cleared, she was able to determine
that the thing poking her in the ribs was the handle of
the Space Sword. Next, she had to find her partner. Her
instincts told her that she was to her left. Her head was
pointed in the other direction, so she lifted it slightly
and started to gingerly look in that direction-
And stopped halfway there.
" What?" she exclaimed, seeing Pluto kneeling down
in front of Minako-chan and holding her hands. Their
foreheads were touching and a glow emanated from their
respective sigils.
The other thing she saw made her think that she had
been hurt more badly than she first believed. She shook
her head despite the pain to make sure that she wasn't
hallucinating. Behind the child knelt a translucent figure
with long, blonde hair and a white and golden fuku. The
apparition had her arms around both the child and the
Senshi in what looked to be a heartfelt embrace.
A moment later, the phantasmal image and the child
melted together in an outburst of golden light. Pluto
collapsed heavily to one side, gasping for breath. The
glow faded enough to make out an indistinct, kneeling
form who began to stand. Luna cried out as the image,
now distinguishable as a person, impossibly continued
to rise up and get taller and taller than the child
should be.
" Venus?" Artemis asked in amazement as the young
woman shuddered and looked at her hands like they weren't
her own and didn't belong there. Her eyes glazed over for
a moment like she was going to faint and she stumbled back
a pace. She recovered her balance and looked down at
herself. A few tentative steps were taken with confidence
that grew after each one was completed. Ignoring the cat,
the Senshi looked around with a sense of rising panic
becoming painfully clear on her face.
" Serenity?" she whispered and screwed up her face
in concentration. " Where are you, Princess?"
" Wait," Pluto groaned as the blonde's head
snapped to the side and she made to run in that
direction. The call stopped her in her tracks. " Help
Saturn... if she falls, all is lost. We'll protect the
Princess." Venus mulled it over for a moment, nodded
and broke into a hesitant run towards Saturn with a
glow forming between her hands.
That's one part down, she told herself and took
hold of the sword. The only thing that would keep Venus
from helping the others like that would be Usagi. She
forced herself to stand and begin to go in the direction
Venus had indicated. Pluto had given her a job to do.
************************************************
He closed his eyes.
She closed hers.
The worst part was that he was right, she
realized. His arguments made perfect sense to her. To
the best of her understanding, both she and Saturn were
roughly on the same level of power. The worst case was
that both she and Saturn would be lost while stopping
Sailor Sun and Flare. She couldn't ask that of Hotaru. She
didn't want to die, either, but it was far preferable in
her mind to put herself at risk instead of someone else.
Unfortunately, that wouldn't work here. She could
only stop one of them on her own if it came down to
fighting. It was either kill Shino now in cold blood or
kill Hotaru later on. Mamoru as well, along with
Chibi-usa. His heart would have been ripped out, and
the daughter who she had come to value so much would
never have the chance to be.
All she had to do to save them was to do something
that contradicted everything that she had come to believe
while she was growing up. She had long since stopped
rationalizing away the deaths she had caused by saying
that she wasn't really killing anybody. The looks of
pain on the faces of the youma, or the shrill cries of
the broken daemon eggs had convinced her of the lie in
the argument she had first used. Instead, she had been
able to get over it by understanding and accepting that
losses in combat were more acceptable. When you fight,
people get hurt, and sometimes they die.
This wasn't a fight, however. Shino wasn't
endangering her like the others had. He wasn't trying
to hurt her friends. He wanted her to do this to him. This
was an act of mercy in that it would keep him from being
the one who destroyed the world. It was murder according
to what she believed.
Every fiber of her being told her that it was
wrong. On the other side of the ledger was everyone
she knew and loved, and the entire population of the
planet. The math was easy, but it was not morally
correct. One of Shino could cancel out all of the
others in this case. Even his wanting her to do it
wasn't enough to tip the scales enough to set her heart
at rest.
Unbidden, the physical details came to mind as
she tried not to think about that part. Drive forward
with your whole body, she remembered from her
lessons. Don't just push with your arms, but with
your entire body. Start with your legs and get the
hips into the thrust as well in order to get the most
power out of the move.
The sword was sharp enough, too. She had been
there when Ami cut a diamond with it while they were
trying to figure out what the sword was made of. It
would be simplicity itself to run him through with such
a weapon, and it was positioned right over his heart.
She mentally shouted at herself make her stop
thinking about that and went back to the ledger. Was
one person worth more than everyone else? This was not
something that just numbers could resolve, no matter
who was on what side of the books. She remembered her
conversation with Haruka and Rei last night and scowled
slightly. They might feel like the ends justify the
means, but she didn't. Usagi let out the breath she
realized that she was holding and took a few breaths.
" I'm sorry, Shino," she whispered, snapped open
her eyes and began to move in time to see the golden
blade of the Space Sword fly past her and plunge into
Shino's chest right above the one that she held onto. He
jerked in surprise and his eyes flew open.
" Haruka?" she gasped and almost turned, but her
eyes met his that shone in gratitude and were caught.
" Thank you, Usagi-chan" he said, not realizing
that she wasn't the one to strike the blow. One of his
hands reached for her and glanced off her arm, and she
let the sword she held slip from her fingers. He started
to smile when his eyes glazed over and he slumped to the
ground.
" I-" he breathed and was silent, laying there and
staring up into space with eyes that no longer saw. She
knelt next to him and gently pushed his eyelids closed.
" I'm sorry, Haruka-san," she said without turning
to the one who had thrown the sword. " I hesitated, and I
shouldn't have."
" I think that we can let it slide, just this
once," a voice other than the one she expected replied,
making Usagi turn around in surprise just in time to see
Neptune lean against one of the larger rocks at the top
of the gully for support.
" Michiru?" she cried out in shock, not really
believing it was her. The other woman had always been
so refined and dignified that the thought of her killing
someone seemed too crude to be considered. Haruka, yes,
but not Michiru.
" How long...?" she wondered aloud. A wave of a
gloved hand cut her off, and the turquoise haired woman's
eyes grew serious.
" Long enough. I saw your shoulders tense as you
started to change your stance."
" Michiru-san," the blonde tried to explain and
was cut off again.
" No, Usagi-chan," she protested. " You're too
good a person to dirty your hands with something like
this. That's our job," she added as she walked over to
her. "The world needs innocents like you as much as it
needs us."
The ground shook beneath their feet and the sound
of an explosion reached them a moment later. " We'd better
get back," Neptune decided as she pulled the sword from
the young man's body, and nearly fell in the process. She
smiled at the blonde. " Can I borrow a shoulder on the way?"
************************************************
Sweat was matting down her hair and her soaked
through her fuku.
She didn't know how much longer she could hold
on. When she had first attacked, she had driven Flare
down to her knees. Now, one foot was on the ground, and
the redhead had just gotten the other one planted as she
began to stand. She desperately tried to force Flare
back down, or hoped for the barrier holding back the
Glaive to break, or something to happen in her favor.
It was painful to have her opponent in a position
where she could actually hurt her but not be able to
disengage quickly enough to attack. She seemed to be
their only chance here, and she wasn't going to win it
this time. Her concentration on holding her attack at
the highest level of power she could reach without crossing
the critical threshold prevented her from looking behind
her to see what was happening.
So far none of the ones who had fallen had gotten
up to help her. She could see Mercury easily enough, and
Tuxedo Kamen was partially in her field of vision. Hurry,
Setsuna-mama, she prayed. Or Michiru-mama, or Haruka-papa,
or any of them. She needed help.
Flare forced herself up until she was standing on
both feet now, and she was losing the advantage of her
position to give her the leverage to hold her there. The
higher the Glaive went, the less strength she was able
to put into it. The redhead was taller than her, although
not by much, but when that was combined with the barrier
twenty centimeters above her hands it was becoming
insurmountable. In a few moments, her only option would
be to end the fight at the cost of ending her life.
" Venus Love and Beauty Shock!" a voice cried out
as a cloud of hearts slammed into the barrier. Saturn
fell back, surprised and too weak to stop herself from
falling as she jerked back by reflex at the torrent of
sound. Flare was startled as well and was forced backwards
a few steps as her shield wavered under the steady stream
of hearts that Venus kept firing at her.
" Venus?" the girl asked as she tried to stand and
failed, unable to find the will to do so. The blonde didn't
say anything but shrugged her head back behind her,
obviously concentrating on their foe. She turned her head.
" Saturn!" she saw Pluto waving and pointing at
the still form of Uranus more than she heard her yelling
over the din. The girl shivered, realizing that Uranus
still was in the same position that she had fallen in. It
must have been bad.
Fear lent her the strength to run back to the two
Outers. There was no sign of Neptune or Usagi. The worry
on Pluto's face made her put aside her questions about
Venus and she dropped to her knees next to the blonde.
" This will have to be enough," she told Pluto and
positioned her hands over Uranus' lower back. They were
briefly outlined in a yellow glow as she channeled
everything that she had left into this before falling
backwards in a near faint. " I'm exhausted, Pluto. I don't
have anything more in me."
" You've done enough," the tall woman smiled at her
as she lifted her up and leaned her back so she rested
against one of the smoother pieces of marble. The Silence
Glaive was placed nearby, and then she pointed over to the
blonde, whose was beginning to stir. " She's moving. You
got us this far, and we'll take it the rest of the
way." Pluto tapped her staff upon the ground and vanished
along with Uranus.
************************************************
" You're stronger than the others," the woman in
black savagely grinned at her opponent. The flurry of
reddish-gold hearts had held her at bay initially, but
she was quickly able to shore up her defenses and start
advancing on Venus. " Almost as strong as Saturn,
actually.
" Still," she sneered. " Saturn couldn't stop
me. What makes you think that you even have the
slightest chance of beating me?"
" I will not lose," was the slow reply, each
word bitten off in emphasis. " I swore an oath to
protect her, and I've served her family for almost
thirty years. I'll take you with me to Hell before I
let you hurt her."
" Then," Flare sneered and suddenly shot a blast
of energy at Venus that knocked her to the ground. " I
would suggest that you get ready to go there. It's time
for this farce to end. No more games."
Her sword appeared in her hand and she took a step
towards the Senshi. Three golden points of light appeared
around her, forming the corners of a triangle. A fraction
of a second later, Neptune, Uranus and Pluto were standing
around her. Neptune tossed the Space Sword over to Uranus,
who caught it and gave Flare a grin that was devoid of any
trace of humor.
" The only one who will die this day is you,
Flare," Pluto announced, detached the Garnet Orb from
her staff and let the rest of the staff fall to the
ground. " Get the others to safety, Venus. We're the
anvil; you're the hammer."
Then, finally, she gave Flare the smile that she
had been saving up for so long. Like Uranus', it held no
trace of warmth. She channeled into it all the
frustrations she had felt from being left out of the
parts of the battles that truly mattered, and all the
pain she had felt as she watched the ones she cared
for get hurt because of her not being there at the end
like had happened so many times before.
This time was different. Uranus and Neptune were
low on energy, but not on the desire to stop this
madwoman. She could carry them along through their link
through the talismans. Nothing was going to keep her away
from this fight, and Flare was now the surrogate for the
others who had hurt her sisters.
" Chronos Typhoon!"
" Submarine Reflection!"
" Space Sword Blaster!"
************************************************
She saw Jupiter staggering to her feet as she ran
around a clutter of larger rocks that were probably once
part of a building's foundation. The blonde just got her
hands on the Senshi to help her back toward the others
when they were thrown to the ground and a nova of light
erupted from the place where the fight happened.
" Hotaru-chan?" she whispered and dragged Jupiter
to her feet and along with her towards the source of the
explosion. She'd get Makoto to stay with the cats and put
an end to this. A few steps later she stopped so quickly
after rounding a rock that was too tall for her to see
over that Jupiter plowed into her from behind and knocked
her down, along with sending the sword she carried flying
from her suddenly weakened grip.
Three of the Outer Senshi had Flare surrounded and
were attacking her with the talismans. Flare was screaming,
and in obvious pain, but she was not down. The talismans
each cast a cone of blindingly intense white light on the
woman in between them, but she kept on moving and trying
to fight back. The Outers were taking hits from the blasts
of power she threw at them, but they refused to back down
and stubbornly stood their ground.
Saturn lay with her back propped up against the rocks
that had sheltered Minako-chan and the cats, but one of
the ones in the back had been rolled aside. She had her
Glaive held across her lap, but her attention was on her
partners, and Usagi turned her eyes back towards the
fight. Something had caught her eye.
Mamoru had been moved, she gratefully realized. One
of them must have dragged him away from the actual fight,
because Flare was still about where she was when Saturn
attacked her.
" Mamo-chan," she whispered, partially closing her
eyes to try and determine how he was. The maelstrom of power
from the talismans blocked her ability to perceive energies
about as much as the glaring light affected her normal
vision, but she was able to find out that he still was
alive, and not as badly hurt as she feared. Then, a shape
walked out from behind Neptune, dragging both Mars and
Mercury along besides her.
" Mina?" she stammered, her voice trembling. Usagi
sprang to her feet and sprinted over towards the woman. She
was crying again, but these were the first ones today that
were caused by happiness. " Minako-chan!"
" Serenity?" Venus replied, startled and spun around
at the vehemence of the hug she was wrapped up in by the
sobbing blonde. Despite her surprise, she still took hold
of the girl and steered her back and away from the
fight. " What are you doing here? Get back with Saturn
this instant! She can do the best job of protecting you."
Usagi dug in her heels to stop them. A tiny
tendril of dread had insinuated itself deep into her
heart. She looked up and caught the eyes of the person
she thought was her friend. " Is that all you remember
me to be, Minako? Am I just Serenity to you?"
" Minako? Who is-" she began to respond and nearly
collapsed, and almost dragged the other girl down. Her
eyes grew wide and lost focus for several moments before
she screamed hoarsely.
" It's all mixed up. That's not right," she babbled,
and her voice took on a hysterical edge. " I don't live
there. I never lived there-"
Usagi pulled away from Venus and slapped the Senshi
across the face. The echoes from the blow seemed to last
an eternity. Jupiter came up behind them and grabbed the
Senshi by the shoulders. " Venus! Stop it right now. We
don't have the time right now."
" I... " Venus paused a moment and her demeanor
returned to normal. " Thank you, Jupiter. Go get Prince
Endymion and get him back by Saturn. I'll get Mars and
Mercury together and try to wake them up. The Outers
can't hold her forever."
The brunette nodded her agreement and went to
pick up the young man, and was glad that he wasn't
wearing his armor right now. He was more solidly built
than he looked.
" I'll help," Usagi added, ran over to Mercury
before Venus could stop her, and began dragging her
back towards Jupiter and Saturn. She gave the blonde
a defiant look that actually made her back down.
" I'm sorry, Princess," the Senshi said softly
as she picked up Mars. " You're obviously not the same
Princess I remember."
" In what ways?"
" Nothing's right, it seems," she explained as
she started moving back towards the others. " All the
things that I remember don't feel like they belong. I
grew up here on the moon, just like you did, but it
doesn't feel right. There's no sense of attachment to
it, and to all the other things that I remember."
They reached the others and found Jupiter had
managed to start to bring Tuxedo Kamen about. Venus
gently set down Mars and helped get Mercury over and
placed next to the red-clad Senshi. Usagi started to go
over to her love when Venus' hand shot out and caught
her wrist. " Venus?" she asked, feeling concerned as
she was drawn in closer to her while Venus looked at
her, then at the two on the ground and back to her.
" Your clothes," she said, looking down at the
gown the princess wore. " I remember this dress. You
had it made especially for the ball to celebrate Mars'
return from her home. Why do I keep recalling you in
such plainer clothes?
" Ones more like ours, but like the ones the
commoners wore," she added, and the sight of her trying
so hard to remember brought a tear to the princess'
eyes. Venus was almost in pain from the effort she was
putting into it, and suddenly brought her free hand up
and covered the crescent on the other girl's forehead
with one of her fingers.
" Is it... " she stammered and tears began to
run down her face. " Usagi?"
" Mina," she sighed, feeling a heavy weight slip
from her shoulders, and this time her fervent embrace
was wholeheartedly returned. " I don't ever want to let
you go," she giggled and happily watched the resulting
smile that she had missed for so long.
" Afterwards, Usagi-chan," she told her, reluctantly
let go of the shorter girl and turned her towards the
others. " We need to get them up so we can put an end
to the battle. It will take all four of us together to
destroy Flare."
" Five," the princess quickly inserted.
" Six," the prince added, rose and came over to
them. He quickly hugged Usagi and then knelt by the
two Senshi on the ground. A glowing hand was placed
over each of their wounds for several moments. " Things
are different now, Venus. We work together as a team. She's
fought alongside you for some time recently."
Both Mars and Mercury's eyes fluttered open as
Jupiter took the opportunity to welcome back the blonde
Senshi with a quick hug before helping the two others to
their feet.
" I'll cover you," Saturn announced and took up a
position in front of them and slightly to the right of
the direct line between the gathered Inners and the
Outers. Her Glaive was held out in front of her in
preparation for putting up a defense. " You just
concentrate on attacking."
Tuxedo Kamen shifted his clothes to his armor
and sword, and took up a position on Usagi's right with
one arm around her shoulders and took her hand with the
other. By instinct, the Senshi took their places around
them, with Mercury and Venus kneeling in front of the
couple and Mars and Jupiter flanking them.
The joined hands of the two royals began to glow
as they called upon their respective crystals for their
power. Usagi waited until she had adjusted to the extra
power he gave her, willing it to stabilize and synchronize
with hers. At her slight nod, the others began to summon
up their own and stretched their hands out towards the
target.
" Mars Eternal Power!"
" Mercury Eternal Power!"
" Jupiter Eternal Power!"
" Venus Eternal Power!"
The four Senshi began to glow in the colors of
their tiara stones, and when they had built up enough
power, they cried out along in unison along with their
princess at an unspoken signal.
" Sailor Planet Attack!"
************************************************
One moment, Flare was continuing to keep up the
barrier that was keeping her alive with an inhuman
determination. The next, she turned towards Pluto and
started to smile, except that something seemed to stop
her from finishing it. Her eyes, however, spoke of
forgiveness, and the oldest of the Senshi knew that
the smile would have been slightly sad, and perhaps a
bit wistful.
The Planet Attack ripped through the space where
Flare had stood and carved a furrow in the lunar soil
clear to the horizon and continued on out into the depths
of space, and there was no trace of the woman in the wake
of it's passage.
Pluto leaned heavily on her staff. Neptune and
Uranus met halfway and Neptune put her head down on the
blonde's shoulder. They traded smiles as Saturn came
running over to them, hugging Pluto and helping her to
join the other two. They simply stood together for a few
moments, simply enjoying being together once more before
they turned to move over by the others.
The Inners were a far more demonstrative group. Usagi
was torn between holding Mamoru or Venus until the young
man gave her an understanding smile and pushed her over to
her old friend, who was still fending off a surprised
Mercury.
" I don't know what that is, Mercury," Venus
protested with a smile. " But I do know that look in
your eyes. No questions or experiments until tomorrow." She
grabbed the blue compact from her, closed it, and handed
it back.
Artemis and Luna jumped up onto their preferred
shoulders as Usagi put one of her arms around the other
blonde. " Venus!" he happily cried out, but quickly grew
serious. " What else do you remember about us?"
" Not much," she admitted to him and looked around
at the rest of them. " I'm sorry, everyone, but I don't
recall much other than your positions."
" Positions?" Jupiter asked.
" Titles," she responded, looking at the brunette
mischievously. " You're Jupiter, for example, but for
some reason, I get this funny idea that your name is
Haruka. It's a good name for a tomboy like you."
Jupiter groaned, but Uranus laughed, and Mars smiled,
stepped up and hugged Venus and the princess at the same
time. " She's our Minako-chan, all right. Nobody else is
as good at bad jokes."
" Venus, would you mind if Artemis or Luna looked at
your mind?" Mamoru asked. " I'd like to find out if one of
my theories are right about what happened to you. It has
some bearing on something we need to do later on today."
" No," she said." But can we all sit down first? I'm
feeling awfully tired, and some of you look like you're in
as good a shape as I am."
" I'll second that," Uranus laughed. " I just wish
we had something comfortable to sit on. We'll be a mess
with all this dust."
" I don't know about furniture," Usagi giggled." But
maybe I can do something about the other part. Hold on a
moment," she added, put one of her hands over Mamoru's
eyes, conspiratorially winked at them, and changed all
of their clothes into what she remembered was their
favorite casual outfit that was up to the conditions.
" Usa?" Mamoru asked, feeling her do something
using magic. She took her hand away from his eyes so he
could see her handiwork. Jeans and hiking boots, mainly,
with lightweight, long-sleeved shirts seemed to be the
predominant choices. She had even cleaned up the fine
dust that had clung to them.
" Pretty good, huh?" she giggled at him. " This magic
stuff is a lot easier than I thought it would be."
" 'Easy' she calls it," he groaned and pulled her
down next to him on the ground, and the rest of them sat
as well, arraying themselves in a loose circle. " You try
doing something that isn't an extension of your
transformation pen and then we'll see if you call it easy."
Luna leapt clear and looked around the circle, not
noticing the compact in Ami's hand. " Don't think that I'm
going to let you go home real soon," the black cat
announced. " Despite the change of clothes and an
apparent bath, you're far too tired for a teleport
right now. You might as well rest for a while," she
added and walked over to sit on Venus' knee as she sat
cross-legged. " If I may?"
" I bow to the expert," Artemis teased her as the
blonde nodded her agreement to the cat's request. The
crescent on Luna's head began to glow, and the sigil of
Venus shone in response. Both were silent for several
minutes in a silent communion. Mamoru reached into his
dimensional pocket and took out his backpack, and passed
around a few bottles of water from it.
" Oh, my!" she gasped suddenly. " Artemis, come in
here and verify this." The white cat joined them in their
rapport, and came out as shocked as Luna a few minutes
later.
" What did you find?" Michiru asked.
" The arrangement of her memories," Artemis began,
and then sheepishly looked over at Luna. " She's better
at this than I am."
The black cat acknowledged him with a grateful
nod. " After the girls defeated Beryl and Metallia,
there was a re-submergence of the old memories about
the past and the Silver Millennium. Since Artemis and
I carefully examined them after we reawakened them,
we're familiar with what we found.
" Her memories of her time in the Silver Millennium
are now in the forefront of her mind, just like the ones
of her time as Minako were right after Beryl. It's like
her personality as Venus is now in control. She still
only remembers as much about the Silver Millennium as
the rest of you do, but those parts of her memories
weren't affected by whatever happened."
" That probably happened when I called out for
her," Setsuna pointed out. " I wasn't trying to reach
Minako. Venus is who we needed."
" I think that you may be right, Setsuna-san," Luna
replied, and looked around the circle with a smile. " The
important thing, though, is that her memories of this
time and life are not gone. They are just disrupted
like all of ours about the past and the Silver Millennium
are. It may take a long time, but our Minako-chan will be
back with us."
" Yes!" Usagi crowed in delight, much to the other's
amusement. Artemis merely jumped up to Venus' shoulder with
a pleased expression on his face like a cat that had just
had a very large bowl of cream placed in front of him. Venus
reached up and gave him a scratch under his chin that made
him happily purr.
Mercury's compact beeped.
" Ami!" some of them laughed and protested her
working. They stopped cold when she didn't get embarrassed
by it, but instead slapped her ear to hastily bring up her
visor. It was solid black instead of translucent blue. The
reason why was clear enough when she spun and stared
directly at the sun.
" No!" she whispered and began to frantically type
at the keyboard of her compact, still looking at the sun
and muttering curses at herself under her breath for each
mistake she made due to the small keys. It beeped at her
several times, was silent for a moment as they waited for
her to say something, and finally displayed something.
She physically took off the visor and looked at the
others. Defeat was written all over her face. She lowered
her head to gaze at the ground in front of her, unable to
look at them and say it at the same time. " The sun's
starting to cool off."
" What?" Usagi shrieked.
" Ami, explain," Haruka angrily demanded.
" I set my computer's scanners to look at the sun
while we were out here," she began, not looking up at any
of them. " I have a better sensor suite than anything in
orbit, and I wanted to get a recording from out where we
don't have to worry about the Earth's magnetic field
getting in the way. The Moon's is a fraction of the Earth's.
" The sun isn't producing as much of certain high
energy particles as it was when we first got her. The
output has slipped a fraction of a percent on average
and is showing no signs of going back to it's normal
state."
" Couldn't it just be part of a cycle,
Ami-chan?" Michiru asked while removing the Deep Aqua
Mirror from her pocket. The blue haired girl shook her
head.
" No," she replied. " The rarest type of particle
probably needs the highest temperatures to be produced,
and that one is down nearly one percent. That's too big
to be a normal fluctuation. Not in such a short period
of time."
" May I?" the woman asked and took the dark visor
and looked at the sun's reflection in her mirror with it
as a safety precaution. She frowned and handed the visor
back to Ami, who absent-mindedly put it back on and
stored it away. " It feels wrong to me as well."
" What's going to happen, Ami-chan?" Usagi asked,
feeling a sense of dread. Was this some horrible
revenge by Sailor Sun for their victory?
" Worst case is that it goes out and we all
die," she glumly responded. " At best, the sun is too
big to cool off quickly and this is a temporary
thing. We'll still be looking at an ice age like
nothing else we've seen."
" The winter I foresaw!" Rei gasped.
" Damn it!" Hotaru screamed and sprang to her
feet, her face livid with rage. The Silence Glaive
appeared in her trembling, white-knuckled hands. " After
everything that we've done and after everything I had
to give up, we're still getting the fucking Silence
anyway and that bastard Pharaoh Ninety is going to win!"
She looked like she was mad enough to use the
Silence Glaive for several seconds before she screamed
in frustration, threw it to the ground and collapsed
in tears. Setsuna waved off the others and went to her,
sat down and held the girl while she sobbed.
" We should have realized that this was
coming," Makoto quietly said. " We saw all the
clues when we were in the future."
" The future is never certain," Venus gently
reminded her. " That was Pluto's favorite saying."
Haruka walked over to Ami, kneeled and put a
hand on her shoulder. " I'm sorry for snapping at you,
Ami-chan," she apologized. " Do you have any idea of
how long it will be?"
" Twenty years, a hundred maybe. I just don't
know enough right now," she sniffled. " I'll start
boning up on my physics and take more readings. I'm
sorry that I don't know enough right now to give you
something more accurate. I can narrow it down in a
little while."
" You're not alone, Ami-chan," Michiru said as
she took a seat near the girl. " We'll be glad to help
you out with this."
" Mamoru-san, too," the girl insisted. " After
seeing how we worked together, I have a few ideas on
how we may be able to combine our powers together on
a much larger scale. Maybe even enough to get us out
of this mess."
" That's the spirit, Ami-chan," Haruka smiled
and hauled the girl to her feet. " We'll get through
this together. Is there anything else we need to do
here right now?"
Ami shook her head and Haruka looked around the
area in order to remember what it was like. They'd
probably return here at some point in the future, but
it was best to play it safe. She smiled and walked
away from the others to pick up something that had been
forgotten.
" Here," she told Venus, tapping her on the
shoulder and handed her sword back to her. " Don't
forget this."
The blonde gave her a warm, understanding
smile. " Do you remember how much you used to want
this?" she asked.
" That particular blade is too damn heavy for
my liking," she chuckled and called the others over
to her. There were things that they had to do down
on the Earth.
************************************************
" Greetings, Father," he said, acknowledging the
presence in the room. " You are welcome to join me if
you so desire."
" Even after all I have done?" the presence asked,
the words coming from the empty air inside of the small,
cold room with bare stone walls.
" Yes, Father," he replied. " We are still willing
to speak to you."
" I'm not sure that I deserve the respect that
title demands," the voice said. " I may have sired you,
but my actions have not been that of a parent."
" In that you are correct," the man admitted. He
waved a hand around, indicating the rest of the room. " I
believe that I know why you are here. You may gain a more
complete understanding of them if you take on their
form. We have found it to be helpful."
A young man with green eyes, black hair and
glasses walked in through the door, wearing black
clothes. A cold and bitter wind swirled around the
tiny shrine and through the open door but failed to
blow out any of the flickering candles. After closing
the door, he took a seat on a bench next to one of the
walls and leaned up against it with a sigh.
" That is the one that you were recently
empowering, is it not?" the other man asked the
newcomer, who nodded. The features on the one sitting
above the bed shifted slightly to take on an older,
more mature look to them as opposed to the indeterminate
quality that they usually were.
" It is his guise, and I am more comfortable with
it for now," he said and paused a few moments to gather
his thoughts. " I will confess that I do not understand
them," the young man said. " Her most of all. She seemed
so weak whenever I looked at her, but her true strength
is concealed in the strength she inspires in others. And,
despite everything I did to her, I feel that she would
forgive me even now for my actions."
" They surprise us every day, Father," the man
laughed; a low, deep laugh full of humor. " She more
so than many of the others. There is much that you can
learn from them with us."
" I'm starting to understand why you have been so
interested in them," the young man replied.
" Since we lost our beloved sister there are but
nine of us left, Father," the man quickly interrupted
with a gentle smile on his face. " Ten including
yourself. Man alone numbers over five billion at this
time, and many times that if you look at how long we
have watched them and how brief their lives are. They
give us so much to learn that we are eternally in their
debt for their diversity."
The younger man nodded, conceding the point to the
one who still floated in the air above the bed. " And that
is why you all stand watch over and protect them, correct?"
" In part, although we only protect them from
interference by others," the older man replied. " Our
avatars are only a few among many, nor do we choose any
who would misuse their power. They can only try and
inspire others to follow their path."
" I see where she gets her philosophy from," the
young man ventured a smile. " An accident, or was it
intended?"
" Their beliefs are why we choose the ones that
we do. That they feel the same as us gives up hope that
they will prosper and survive. It was a fortunate
accident, but an accident none the less."
Time passed as they each considered what had been
said.
" I would ask you about forgiveness as well."
" Do you wish ours or theirs?" the one over the
bed asked.
" I seek both. I would ask her about theirs, but
I now see the wisdom in your approach to dealing with
man through intermediaries. I will not directly approach
them."
" They would be most unsettled by your current
looks," the man chuckled. " I can not answer for them,
but I think that one act may satisfy both parties. Will
you join us in learning from them and looking after them?"
" I am honored that you would ask, child," the
younger looking one said. " I had feared that you would
deny me that opportunity. I will aid you to the best of
my abilities."
" Speaking of that, Father, how do you fare? We
know that you are physically hurt by what transpired
recently."
" I think that it is a minor wound caused by my
overexertion, but I have nothing to compare this
against. Nothing has ever hurt me before, at least
not in the physical sense, so I am not sure of what
is happening. I have tried, and I cannot keep myself
from slowly losing my power."
" You have my condolences, Father."
The young man smiled at that, although the smile
was self-deprecating. " It would be ironic to have
learned so much in losing to them and still gain the
hollow victory that I had mistakenly thought would
appease my pride."
" Do not be too hard on yourself," the other
consoled him. " Our avatars are resourceful beyond
their years. What they have done recently is to find
a way to make even more use of the power we give them. I
will not be surprised if they find a way to deal with
anything short of your actual demise."
" What of their leader, the one who is not an
avatar? Is she not going to be eclipsed in power by the
others due to this act?"
" She will be, eventually. We have agreed to give
our avatars even more of ourselves to give them a chance
to overcome this, but over a period of time so that they
do not become aware of us as the source. They will feel
it is a result of their actions, and not question it
further."
" That is not fair to her," the one in black
responded, shaking his head while sifting through the
memories he had from the time spent observing her. " I
have but a small part of my strength remaining, but I will
give it to her in the same fashion in order to make
amends. I am responsible for their predicament, and I
will do what I can to help."
" You are most kind, Father," he warmly smiled
and started to continue speaking, but stopped when the
young man raised a hand.
" I am not comfortable with that title, I have
decided. To borrow a phrase from the humans, my position
was merely an accident of birth. I would prefer that
once I have earned the trust and respect that the word
implies, you would call me brother."
" Certainly," he smiled in response and stepped
down from his position over the bed. He walked over and
held out a hand to the young looking man. " You have
made much progress towards that goal today, I
believe. Would you like to come with me and meet
the rest? They would be glad to greet the one who
may soon become their new brother." The one in black
nodded, stood and followed him out the door to a new
place and new challenges.
************************************************
They arrived in the park they had left from. Thanks
to the closure of this section, nobody was near enough
to notice the flash of light that heralded their return.
" Thank you, everyone," Usagi said, looking around
at them. They still wore their regular clothes, a clear
statement that things had changed from before. Haruka
looked up at the sky, and noticed that the sun was
almost at it's zenith.
" I'd better get going with the rental van," she
said. " I've got a bit of a drive to the house, and all
I want to do afterwards is sleep through the weekend. You'll
need to show me what I'm supposed to leave up there."
" Be careful, Haruka-san," Makoto told her as
they started walking towards the street where the van
was parked.
" It will probably be best if we get out of Tokyo
for a while," Setsuna added and turned to face
Haruka. " Our summer house where we raised Hotaru-chan
is big enough for all of us and on your way. You can
drop off everyone's personal belongings, and there are
enough spare suitcases to take up some additional
clothes to make it look like we were actually staying
there."
" We'll meet you there, love," Michiru whispered
and went up on tiptoe to give her partner a peck on the
cheek. " We'll walk to the other cars from here. Be
careful."
" I will," the sandy haired blonde replied and
turned to look at the couple holding hands. " Can I
give you two lovebirds a ride?"
Usagi stopped in her tracks, sighed, and put
her head down. Her hand dug into a pocket and came
out with a calling card. " I need to make a call," she
explained and walked a few steps away to a pay phone
located at the joining of two paths.
It wasn't fully enclosed like most of the public
ones, so they were able to hear the buzz of the machine
as she inserted the card and her nails clacking against
the number buttons.
" Hi, Mom," she said. " I just finished getting
Chibi-usa-chan onto the train going back home," she
began. The repeated hypnotic suggestions had made her
family very susceptible to believing that her daughter
was actually a distant cousin, and her mother would
accept this without hesitation.
" It's not an emergency, but she had to go back
suddenly, Mom," she patiently explained. " Yes, she
missed saying good-bye to you and dad," she said and
paused a moment. " Even Shingo," she smiled playfully.
" Listen, Mom," she said a few moments later
and swallowed nervously because her voice was beginning
to thicken and catch in her throat. " I changed my mind
about something. I'm going along with my friends on
that trip."
" No, Usagi!" Rei hissed and started forward. Mamoru
put his hand on her shoulder and forced her to stop. He
shook his head, his eyes sad.
" This is her choice, Rei-chan," he whispered. " We
can't make it for her."
" I'll be fine, Mom," Usagi went on and a tear
worked it's way down one of her cheeks. " It is only
for the weekend, and Ami-chan and Rei-chan are about
my size. I can borrow something from them to wear. I'll
be all right.
" Tell Dad and Shingo that I love them, okay?" she
smiled. " Yes, I'll see you on Monday. I love you too,
Mama," she finished and hung up the phone. At first, she
looked like she was going to collapse and cry, but she
stood up straight and faced them.
" Usagi, why?" Rei nearly sobbed. " You didn't
have to do that. At least one of us should have been
happy."
" This was eventually going to happen, Rei-chan,"
she explained and gave the priestess a consoling
embrace. " We know that I'll have to become the
Neo-Queen sooner or later. This way is best. It
isn't the easy way, but is for the best."
" Haruka-chan was explaining this to me, " Makoto
added, put her hand on the blonde's arm and gave her a
reassuring squeeze. " I think I understand what you
mean, Usagi-chan."
" What is there to understand?" Rei
protested. " Why don't you want to be with them
and be happy?"
" I love them, Rei-chan," the blonde
replied. " I love them so much that I don't want
to see them hurt. I've seen too many of the ones
that I love get hurt because of me lately, simply
because of who I was. Soon, they'll get hurt
because of who I am to become.
" This way they can adjust to losing me
and get on with their life. They'll be safe later
on because nobody will be able to connect me to
them. There are going to be people who will not
agree with us when we create Crystal Tokyo. What
better way for them to try and stop us than to use
my family as a hostage?"
" Why do you have to be so damn right at just
this moment?" Rei sighed into her friend's
shoulder. " What happened to the Usagi I used to know?"
" Wait until our next math class," the blonde
giggled for a moment before growing more serious. " This
hurts, Rei-chan. It hurts more than I imagined it
would. They know that I love them, however. My mother,
the Queen, told me to make sure that I didn't ignore
them as being my family as much as she was. I haven't
done that. I've made sure that they know that I cared
for them, and that they were important to me. This is
as difficult for me as it is for all of you. It is not
the easiest choice, or the happiest. It's the right
one, though."
" I understand, Usagi-chan," Rei sniffled and
let herself be gently pulled back from Usagi by Makoto.
" We'd best be going, then," Usagi said and nodded
at Haruka, who turned and went on alone to do her part
after she was told the items to take with her. The blonde
then slipped under Mamoru's arm and started walking
towards the park exit. She whispered something to him
that was too low for the others to hear. He laughed in
response, the ease and lightness of it making the
others following them smile.
" Are you sure that this is for Minako-chan?" he
asked her with a broad smile across his face.
" Of course!" she cried out, pretending to be hurt
by the words that expressed his sudden lack of faith
in her. " They didn't have ice cream in the Silver
Millennium."
************************************************
" That's twice now," he softly remarked as he
finished going through the motions of reading the
entire paper for the second time that night, neatly
folded it and put it on the table. He hadn't been a
parent for nothing these past seventeen, no, almost
eighteen years now. It was nice to see his son being
so concerned about his sister, but the boy wasn't
being very subtle about it.
" I saw him, too," his wife replied as she kept
on working at her sewing. She had heard Shingo make
his way partially down the stairs as well, looking to
see if they had moved yet from their usual place in
the living room. " He knows that it is well past his
bedtime."
" If it was just Usagi-chan off on her own I
would have been worried a lot earlier than this," he
admitted.
" I know," she sighed. " Ami-chan and Rei-chan
are with her, and they won't do anything too
foolish. I'm sure that there is a good reason
for them to be this late without even calling."
They had been sitting there since about five
in the evening. Usagi and her friends were supposed
to be back earlier in the morning from their weekend
in the mountains. A delay of a few hours would have
been understandable due to a number of reasons, but
they at least had expected to hear from her or see her
by noon. It was now approaching eleven.
" I know who you would have been blaming a few
years ago," she gently teased him with the reminder of
his past feelings. He blushed slightly, embarrassed at
the memory. The fact that Mamoru was four years older
than their daughter had been a source of concern for
both of them. Usagi had really surprised them by
introducing him to them a little bit after her sixteenth
birthday and being truthful with them about his age.
They had heard about her Mamo-chan, as she called
him, but had thought it nothing more than a simple
friendship combined with a dose of infatuation. The
talk on that night had been a surprise for all of them,
and given them a good idea of the sincerity and depth
of the relationship between their daughter and the young
man. Usagi's impassioned defense of him and her calm,
steadfast refusal to break it off had been the first
real sign of her beginning to grow up.
" We were both worried, but you were the one to
get a crush on him," he reminded her and made her blush
as well since it was true.
" I just said that he was handsome," she protested
and giggled as he put an arm around her and pulled her
head down on his shoulders. " He had that same sparkle
in his eyes when he looked at Usagi-chan that you have
when you look at me, Kenji-san."
He chuckled, kissed the top of her head and nuzzled
her hair. They had worried about their girl, but Mamoru
had been exemplary in his behavior. Mamoru had been
respectful of them, properly deferential, and in all
things a fine young man. He wasn't deceptive, nor was
he doing it to impress them in order to earn their
approval.
" Well," he whispered to her and grinned. " If he
is anything like I was, we do have some things to
worry about."
" She was with all of her friends," was her
quiet reply. " Rei-chan and Ami-chan wouldn't let
her get away with anything like that. Some fooling
around, perhaps, but nothing to that extent."
" I trust her to make the right decisions about
her virtue," he said and his smile grew a bit wider as
he felt her barely suppress a giggle. " Yes, I trust
her when I think of her and him together. She's almost
eighteen now, Iku-chan. If it was her and some other
boy, I'd be following her on her dates with a baseball
bat. I can hardly believe it myself, but that's how I
feel."
" I think that you're starting to trust her,
Kenji," she laughed softly. They kissed and she stood
up. " I'm going to try Ami-chan's again. It's closer
to the way they'll be coming home," she said over her
shoulder as she walked down the hall towards the phone
by the front door.
She hit the redial button on the phone and waited
a few moments for the connection to be made. It rang
twice, clicked, and the answering machine started up
again with the same message that she had hoped not to
hear. " Nothing," she called out to her husband and
started to go back to him when the sound of the front
gate closing made her look towards the front door. Two
policemen with grim faces were walking up the path.
************************************************
It was a gray, gloomy morning. The sunlight had
yet to burn through the morning fog in the foothills
to the north of Tokyo. The weather certainly matched
the blonde's mood on this Wednesday morning as she
dejectedly sat cross-legged on an old tree stump that
was about two-thirds the way up the low hill behind the
large house they were staying at. It was on a good-sized
parcel of land with large, lush lawns and a pool in the
back of the house near the base of the hill.
They had gotten there late at night on Friday right
at about the same time as the story broke on the news. It
was morbidly fascinating to watch the coverage as firemen
put out the fires caused by the explosion that had
supposedly killed them. Haruka came in about an hour
later with a few small cuts on her face and arms.
" I didn't even hit it that hard," she had
protested while Michiru fussed over her and Hotaru
healed up the cuts. Haruka had jokingly threatened
to hold a practice session early the next morning in
order to find out what was happening to their powers
when she was teased about losing control, but also
admitted that she was too tired for it.
It was a common problem that night for all of
them. They were tired for some reason even beyond the
level that their efforts earlier during the fight would
have called for. Sleeping arrangements were quickly
made and most of them were out as soon as their heads
hit their pillows. She had spent a few hours cuddling
with Mamoru and talking about what had happened during
the day, and what the future might hold for them before
they fell asleep in each other's arms.
She had almost screamed when somebody crawled into
the bed with them. When it turned out to be a sleepy,
flannel pajama-clad Minako nervously asking if she
could stay with them and seeming to be nothing more
than a taller version of the child she had been earlier
in the day, she quickly relented and let her join
them. Minako was asleep in moments while she and
Mamoru looked at each other and broke into soft
laughter, remembering how often their daughter had
done that to them.
That was a good memory, as was their wake-up
call at noon the next day. Makoto and Setsuna had
woken earlier and went shopping. Makoto had picked
up enough to feed them for several days and promised
a truly lavish meal for dinner. If it was anything
like the late breakfast the brunette assembled they
were in for a culinary delight that evening.
As they gathered around a large table and ate,
the others had a good laugh over what had happened with
Minako the previous night, and Luna and Artemis were
able to determine that she was not regressing on them. It
only seemed to be a side-effect of the disruption of her
memories as everything in her mind settled into place. The
young woman had been a child for quite some time, and it
was only natural that she would still act like one in a
few ways for a little while. Hotaru blushed and admitted
that she had done some things like that as well when she
had her sudden and pronounced growth spurts.
Setsuna had been busy herself while Makoto was in
the market. She had picked up a variety of clothes for
them in order to have more than a few outfits until
they did some more serious shopping later on. The woman
only smiled when they all found out that everything fit
perfectly and asked her why.
After the meal, Setsuna had spent a few hours on
the phone making some financial arrangements. When it
was formally announced that they were dead, one of her
representatives would approach Trevor Edwards, a British
millionaire and philanthropist who lived in Tokyo most
of the year. He had hosted a party that most of them
had gone to once, and had remembered them although he
had mercifully forgotten nearly losing his heart crystal
to the Deathbusters.
Edwards would be asked to administer a trust to
financially help their families, and several of the
companies that Setsuna held controlling stock in would
be used to funnel a large amount of funds into the
trust. Coupled with the settlement of the claims that
would probably be filed against the manufacturer of the
propane tank, their families would not want for anything
for the rest of their lives. Naturally, no amount of
money could replace them, Setsuna explained, but this
would help take care of their families.
That part went well, she reminded herself and
returned to the present. She had asked Setsuna to also
make the arrangements for a pair of headstones for Hamaji
and Shino. They were as much victims of Sailor Sun as any
of the Senshi were. Rei had told her that Hamaji was still
listed as missing by the police, and Shino was never going
to return home, either. Their parents would be left
wondering what had happened to their children for the
rest of their days.
The headstones would be in place in a distant
cemetery in a few weeks. The remoteness would ensure
that there was little chance of anyone making the connection
between the two who had disappeared from the same area of
Tokyo and now were apparently buried together. She would
have to remember to thank Setsuna and to make the time to
go there and pray. They had to be in a happier place now
since they had gone through so much already.
Not like her, she knew. It was no longer a certainty
that she felt that she would be going to heaven. She
looked down at her hands. They were painfully clean,
and the skin was starting to dry out from repeated
washings. No matter what she did, they still felt like
they were covered in blood. Shino's blood.
It didn't matter that Neptune was the one to
actually strike the blow. She knew with a grim
certainty that she had been about to kill her
friend. Haruka had explained to her how the Outers
felt about killing. Distasteful, but sometimes
necessary. Michiru had graphically demonstrated
that she felt the same.
She shivered and leaned her head forward,
her long, loose blond hair falling forward around
her face as she closed her eyes. Before that moment,
she would have sworn on anything that she couldn't
have done that to anybody, let alone kill a friend
in cold blood. She had been able to stand firm on
her belief that she was not like them.
Now she wasn't quite sure. Mamoru had been so
worried that she was going to change as time went
on. She had flippantly brushed aside his worries at
the time, and only two days later had taken the first
step down the path that he was afraid she would follow.
Once again, she felt the blood on her hands. Slowly,
deliberately, she opened her eyes and stared at them. No
blood, she reminded herself. The only sign of red was the
nail polish she was trying out. It is all in your mind,
she reminded herself and started making her way down the
hill towards the house. Any thoughts of soap and water
were forced from her mind as well as she could as she
sought out Mamoru. She knew that she would need his
help to make it past this.
************************************************
" Hi!" she called out as she came through the door
and put her jacket over the back of the chair by the
hospital bed. " How did physical therapy go?"
Umino groaned in response and seriously
contemplated throwing a pillow at her, but he was
too tired to get up and retrieve it if he
missed. " Better," he finally said. " I did a
sit-up on my own for the first time."
" That's great!" Naru smiled and clapped
her hands. She took a seat in the chair right by
his bed and took one of his hands in hers. " The
doctors say that your stomach muscles are healing
up very nicely. You should be able to be out of here
in about a week."
" Now that is great news," he grinned back at
her. " This was no way to spend a summer break. I won't
even miss too much in class," he said lightly, but he
also hid his concerns for her. She had been in here
with him every day when she should have been off having
fun and enjoying her vacation, even though he did
treasure the fact that she cared so much.
" Umino!" she scolded him with a grin on her
face. " You've already completed your homework for
the rest of the semester. Take the time now to rest
while you can."
" That's not a bad idea," he agreed and hid a
yawn behind his free hand. " I'm awfully tired from
therapy. Would you mind if I take a short nap?"
" Not at all," she replied and pulled out a novel
to read while he dozed off. The book held her interest
for fifteen minutes or so before she grew restless. She
put the book down and tapped the controls at the side
of his bed, turning on the television. The sound was
low enough to not bother him but loud enough for her
to hear.
The main stories were ones she had heard earlier
or read about in the papers that morning. She let her
mind wander through a commercial break and only began
to pay attention a few seconds into the next story.
" Scientists have announced an unexpected drop in
the rate of global warming," the announcer was
saying. " While the average temperature continues
to rise, the rate at which it is doing so has dropped
slightly, according to a group of international
experts. It is hoped that the continuing efforts
towards reducing pollution worldwide are a factor
in this, but it is too early to tell. All of the
scientists involved in the report say that more
studies are needed.
" In other news, the Juban region of Tokyo is
mourning the loss of several of it's own. The police
have just released the names of the nine people lost
when the mountain home they were staying in exploded
two weeks ago. Police are still investigating, but do
not suspect any wrongdoing at this time. The cause of
the blast is thought to be a faulty valve on a propane
tank.
" Among them are two of Tokyo's own
celebrities. Michiru Kaioh, an internationally
recognized violinist and painter, and Haruka
Ten'ou, a well known professional racer on the
Formula One circuit. Both lived near Juban along
with the child the couple had recently adopted,
who was with them at the time.
" Also lost was Rei Hino, the daughter of
the secretary to the head of the Liberal Democratic
Party. The other five were all residents of that
suburb and students in local high schools or
universities. They have been identified as Mamoru
Chiba, Makoto Kino, Ami Mizuno, Hotaru Tomoe, and
Usagi Tsukino."
The young woman didn't hear any of the rest. She
put her head down on his chest and began to silently
weep.
The End.
************************************************
All characters are copyrights of the respective
holders.
Please send comments, etc. to the above e-mail
address.
Special thanks to the following...
Naoko Takeuchi, of course.
The depth of her creation still continues to amaze me.
Luna and Artemis for kind words, support, and being
good friends for so long. Through good times and
bad, they have been there.
check out their page at
http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/9897/
for the best Sailor Moon fan-fiction collection.
Greenbeans for so many things, especially for showing
me with her own works all the things I should have
done better in mine.
check out her page at
http://www.kfalls.net/~gbeans
Tamex and Silver, aka Jen Burns and Troy Stanton of
Sailor Moon V fame. good friends with a good story.
Jackie Chiang, sage advice, good fics and for being
as much of an Outer Senshi fan as I am.
check out her page at
http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/3741/
Alex Glover for his wonderful work on manga synopsii.
unfortunately, at the time of this writing, the
status of those is up in the air. check out his
page for the latest information.
http://www.nwlink.com/~kurozuki/manga.htm
and last, but certainly not least, to Andrea Lam, a.k.a.
Chibi-mika at the dolly station on O+-, for being a
test reader and making sure I saw many of my mistakes.
Without all their help, this story would not be as good
as it is.
Many thanks,
Tim Nolan.
6-30-97.
The End of the Beginning
end {1/1}
(
geocities.com/tokyo/ginza) (
geocities.com/tokyo)