Obligations {3/3}


A Sailor Moon story by Tim Nolan in three parts.
e-mail: nomad@cyberverse.com



Part 3




 
	She sat a long time, watching him as he slept
with his head resting in her lap and she softly
stroked his hair. He wasn't used to this problem
they had with their memories, or at least the effects
of a sudden revelation and the emotional stress it
could cause. Mamoru had suddenly started crying again
when they got to his apartment and couldn't stop,=20
much to his embarrassment.
	Her sympathy and explanation of her own
problems regarding the same issue seemed to help
him get over it. They had cuddled for a while on
the couch as a small fire dwindled down, and he had
finally drifted off, much to her relief. The sleep
would help him get over the pain, or at least the
initial shock of it.
	Even in the past, just as today, Mamo-chan
didn't seem to have very many close friends. She
knew of his friendship with Motoki from the arcade,=20
but that seemed to be his only one here. Maybe it
had something to do with losing his parents, or the
time he'd spent in the orphanage. She couldn't imagine
some couple looking to adopt a child passing him by,=20
but he had told her that none had ever considered him
due to the stigma of the head injury he had sustained.=20
As soon as he was able, he had left it to go out on
his own.
	Earlier, he had told her of the few things he
could now recall about his previous life and what it
was like. As the prince, much like the situation she
had been in on the moon, their lives were planned for
them. He never was allowed to have very many friends
due to the political machinations of the various
factions of the Atlantean court.
	His tutors were the ones who had saved him. The
Warlords, the real leaders of the military, had been
assigned to teach him about warcraft. Instead, the
four had become fast friends with the reserved,=20
painfully shy and insecure twelve year old who had
been placed in their care. The boy learned the arts
of peace as well as war, with them showing him what
life was like outside of the palace as well as the
truth of what occurred on the inside so he would be
a far more capable ruler.
	The Warlords had many difficulties dealing
with the old men who had been put in nominal command
of the armies they had forged into one of the finest
units this side of the Guards of the Moon Kingdom. The
king had done it for political reasons, but the four
generals had begun to use the troops to consolidate
their own positions and crush their rivals in the court.=20
Determined to keep anything like this from happening
when the prince ascended to the throne, they had taken
it upon themselves to turn him into a strong ruler to
counter the ill-effects of the current regime.
	The Sailor Senshi were her equivalents to his
saviors. She hated to admit it, but deep down, she knew
she would have turned into a horrible, little monster
of a spoiled brat without them. She never had many
friends either, save the Senshi, but in her case it
was the small population on the moon and the
over-protectiveness of her mother because she was
an only child.
	Often dragged kicking and screaming ( sometimes
literally ) to her duties and studies, the princess
made friends with these young women who changed her
life. Under Mercury's tutelage, her studies improved
dramatically. Jupiter made the exercising and weapons
practice fun. Venus taught her the difference when it
was time to laugh and play, and when it was not. And
then, the new Mars, chosen just a few months before
to fill a vacancy that had been left open for several
years, which was an unusually long time, showed her
by example how she was to act. The newest Senshi was
only a year older than her, but there was a world of
difference between the two that she was eager to make
up.
	The prince who had came to the moon and captured
her heart could have been far different without the
help of those four men. It made the fights they had
with them all the more tragic as Beryl drove them to

capture the crystal, with him fighting to protect her
against the ones who had originally helped them get
together. Today, he had killed one of them, and it
was breaking his heart.

*************************************************

	Ami ran off to get some bandages as Setsuna
continued to sit there, blood falling drip by slow
drip onto the table and ignoring it. Michiru and
Haruka, by virtue of spending more time with her,=20
could read the tiny signs of fear in her and were
truly worried. The most reaction they had ever seen
from her was mild anger or regret, but never fear. The
others were just startled, as the tall woman always
seemed to be able to take anything in stride.
	" Setsuna," Makoto ventured. " What did Ami-chan
say that upset you?"
	 " He specifically said that someone brought him
back, right?" she asked in response, turning a
compelling stare on the brunette.
	" Yes," she replied.
	" He specifically said to ask Kunzite about
the magi, correct?" she asked, writing the word 'magi'
in blood on the glass tabletop to avoid any confusion.=20
At their nods, she scowled and spat out something in a
language that none of them could recognize but was
clearly some kind of oath.
	" It's Spartan, and you don't want to know what
it means, to answer your questions. I know who they
are, the ones who Nephrite said sent him," she said,=20
taking the tweezers from Ami as she sat down and
negligently pulling out a sliver of glass from her
thumb.
	" We're in trouble if they're the ones behind
it. The magi were ancient even before the founding
of the Moon Kingdom, and they've got an old grudge
against us," she stated, looking at the two other
Outer Senshi for a long moment before nodding, a
motion which they returned.
	" I'll be back in a few days after I check on
the time stream and gather some information."
	" You can't leave now," Rei protested as the
woman quickly wound a strip of gauze over a sterile
pad which Ami placed over the cut. Setsuna gave her
a cold, piercing stare as she stood that made the
younger girl back down.
	" I must, Rei-chan," she replied, forcing her
voice to remain gentle. " They understand the basics
of the manipulation of time." Her staff appeared in
her hand just before she vanished.
	" We need her right now," Rei stated, her voice
trailing off.
	" Yeah," Makoto echoed. " How can she leave
now?"
	" Do you think she wants to do this?" Haruka
snapped as Michiru put her hand on the other's arm
to calm her down.
	" She has to," she continued as Haruka wisely
tried to control her temper. " There are nine others
to protect Usagi, but she's the only one who can guard
time. It's simple math, Mako-chan."
	" She wants to be with us more than anything," Haruka
added. " She wanted to be with us in the last battle on
the moon and she couldn't. It hurts her to have do this,=20
to stay away."
	Makoto began to speak, but was cut off.
	" I ordered her away from the fight," Minako
said sharply as she raised her head from the table,=20
her eyes alert. She obviously had not been sleeping. " I
sent her away, Mako-chan, because Michiru is right.=20
Setsuna will be back soon with some more information,=20
just like she said. In the meantime, we've got a job
to do."
	The blonde stood and looked at each of them in
turn.
	" Mako-chan, you go and give Hotaru the rest
of the night off. She's been with Chibi-usa all day
and can probably use it. Ami and Rei, go make sure
everything is quiet at Mamoru's, but don't let her
know you're there. Mamoru will figure it out but won't
mind.
	" You two are the cavalry," she stated, looking
at the two Outer Senshi. " If we have an old enemy out
there who knows who we are, we'll have to be doubly
careful. Be ready to move out if any of us call."
	" What are you going to be up to, Minako-chan," Ami
asked as she picked up her purse and got ready to leave.
	" I'm going to go find Artemis and apologize to him.=20
We need him right now, and it's my fault he's stayed away
for a few days."

*****************************************************

	The feel of the blanket sliding over her arm woke
her with a start.
	" Mamo-chan?" she whispered.
	" I'm sorry, Usako," he smiled at her. He must
have woken up after she had fallen asleep and tried to
cover her as she lay on the couch. " I didn't mean to
awaken you."
	" It's so warm in here," she said looking at the
fire which he had built back up while she undid the top
button on the shirt she wore.
	" The fire light helps, Usako. I need it for this."
	" What's that, Mamo-chan?"
	He turned away instead of answering her, went to
the fireplace and returned carrying a small glass case.=20
For all it's beauty, with a gold frame and beveled sides,=20
the stones that rested on the black velvet inside were
remarkably plain. All four were relatively smooth, but
not from cutting. It was as if the edges were worn off
from years of handling.
	" I found out I had these right after you beat
Beryl," he said, putting the case down on the table in
front of him and sitting in a chair so that the stones
were between him and the fire. She was slightly surprised,=20
since he never used that chair. Normally, he sat on the
couch so she could be by his side. " I don't know why I
got these at that time, but I was able to find out what
they were for.
	" It was right after that time, Usako, when I still
didn't fully remember who I was, when the part of me that
was the Moonlight Knight was helping you. I was here one
night, and since it was a little cool that evening, I had
lit a fire and was trying to figure out why I had this
case. I drifted off to sleep at some point, and when I
woke up, they were there for just a moment."
	He paused a moment to take a sip from a glass of
water before continuing.
	" You could imagine how I felt, since I had no
idea who these four apparitions were," he said, spotting
the perplexed look on her face and smiling. " I'm sorry,=20
I've always been good at geology. Each of these stones
correspond to the names of my four friends. Tonight, I'm
just going to try and use one of them."
	Eyes closed and brow furrowed in concentration,=20
he took several deep breaths before any results happened.=20
Several glowing tendrils of yellowish energy began to
drift around him before wafting on some unseen breeze
to the case and entering the stone that was second to
the left.
	Moments later, a translucent glow appeared above
it, forming into a familiar shape in a few moments. She
gasped at the incredible differences in the man she now
saw in front of her and the one who had tried and come
so close to killing her.
	Kunzite looked very much the same, with long, pale
hair, silvery blue eyes, the gray uniform and white
cape. What was so different was the kind look on his
face, serious, but with a glimmer of humor behind it
where before it had been filled with only scorn and
hatred. The only other time she had seen anything
different on the face of this old enemy was that last,=20
brief moment when he had called out to Zoicite before
dying.
	" Your Majesties," he said, bowing with a flourish
of his cape.
	" Kunzite... " she stammered, searching for some
way to say it.
	" I'm still dead, Princess," he replied, smiling
at her. " Please, don't feel bad about it, nor should
you feel responsible for us being like this. It's far
preferable to what she made us do."
	" If you're dead-" Mamoru began to say.
	" How am I here?" he interrupted. " Remember your
training, Endymion. You may not really be calling my
spirit back from the lands of the dead when you do this.=20
This could just be how you can let your conscious mind
speak to your subconscious. Your mind is providing the
images you see, based on what we taught you in the past.=20
Our mannerisms, our words, our knowledge are all things
you learned in the past.
	" Then again," he smiled mischievously. " You're
doing this by magic, and you might be bringing me back
for a few moments. The important thing is that-"
	" It doesn't matter as long as it works," the two
men said in unison, laughing together for several moments
as she marveled at the look on her lover's face. For this
brief moment, all the fatigue, the pain and the worries
were pushed aside revealing the face she would see on him
in the future.
	" Mamo-chan," she whispered, getting up, sitting on
the floor next to the chair, and putting her hand in his.=20
It seemed to bring him back to the present for just a
moment.
	" Nephrite said to ask you about the magii," the
young man stated.
	" Our old foe," the ghost whispered, the anger
evident in his eyes. " I knew we had never defeated their
master."
	" They've sent forth strange creatures, ones who can
seemingly shrug off all but our most powerful attacks."
	" Remember your lessons?" Kunzite said again, an
image forming behind him of a small courtyard near a round
tower. A young Endymion, clad in a sweat-stained brown
tunic, stood next to Kunzite, who had taken off his cloak
in the midday heat. A short, squat statue stood at the far
end, and was the recipient of several bolts of yellow light
from the young man.
	" Golems!" Mamoru exclaimed, snapping his
fingers. " We used it because they're so resistant
to magic."=20
	" And the magi are the ones most skilled at
using magic," the older man continued in a few
moments. " Jadeite took us there one day to see the
remains of their tower. You can guide the others there.
	" I must go now. My time here is short, I'm afraid,=20
and you've been pushing yourself too hard lately without
enough regular practice at the arts to sustain this for
much longer. Farewell, my prince, and take care of her.=20
She needs your strength."

*************************************************=20

	" What do you think of her idea?" she asked the
taller woman as they walked into the park that was the
scene of their battle the day before. The parks department
had already cut down the tree that Hotaru had pruned, and
a small bulldozer was filling in the gash in the soil as
a truck full of sod waited to disgorge it's cargo on
this clear, cool morning.
	" Luna will whip them into shape," she replied to the
other. " She questioned us enough as is, so she understands
how to do it. As long as they stick to her plan, it will
work. Artemis should have been there, though. Tactics is
his job."
	" She tried, Haruka," she added quickly. " She
said she finally found him early this morning and
apologized. He'll be back around, and Minako won't
be so distracted anymore."
	" She'll be hurt if she won't pay attention,=20
Michiru. Mars almost fried her," she commented as
they walked away from a small group of children watching
the construction equipment. Luna had gathered them together
earlier in the morning for a practice drill after finding
out about the results of the fight yesterday. The black
cat was in no mood for excuses, and had remorselessly
drilled the Inner Senshi in a series of attacks and feints
to use the next time they fought one of these 'golems', as
Usagi had called it, and to sharpen them up in general after
Nephrite gave them such a drubbing.
	 Saturn was the designated target, using her Silence
Wall to block their powered down attacks. Venus was clearly
not into it, even more so than usual for her, and had
nearly been hit by a burst of flame from Mars.
	" Let my try it from here," Michiru said, closing
her eyes for a moment.
	" Are you sure about this?"
	" I think so," she replied, opening her eyes and
looking around her." That one that Mamoru found was
pretty distinctive in regards to how it felt, so I
think I can find another."
	" You're far better than I am at that. I could
barely tell when a daemon was around," Haruka replied
soberly, and then grinned, spying a flash of color out
of the corner of her eye. "You can come out now,=20
Ami-chan." 
	With a sigh of regret, the girl with the blue hair
came out from behind a nearby tree, her computer in hand.=20
	" How did you spot me?" she asked, closing the
computer so that it now looked like nothing more than
a small cosmetics case. Haruka bent down to pretend to
tie one of her shoes as a pretext for flipping the hem
of Ami's long, light blue dress up a few inches before
standing. " Choose wider trees or wear pants, Ami-chan.=20
Trees don't wear pretty dresses that the wind can catch."
	Ami blushed at the compliment as Michiru playfully
punched Haruka in the arm, her normal method of
complaining when Haruka acted like this. She also
noticed that Michiru had just taken out her mirror.
	" Did you find anything?" she asked of the
woman. " I can't find a thing with my scanners." Michiru
smiled as she held the mirror before her, turning in a
slow, steady circle before walking sharply to one side
with a look of satisfaction on her face.
	Haruka looked around to make sure nobody was
watching before jumping lightly to the lowest branch of
the massive tree that Michiru had indicated, settling
easily onto the branch as if she had leapt only a meter
instead of six.
	" It's on the same line of travel, all right," she
said, looking around her and peering up into the
branches. " I don't see anything yet... Wait, I got it," she
said, leaning down and smiling at the newcomer.=20
	" Ami-chan," she said sweetly, causing Ami to look
away for a moment or risk laughing at her tone of voice
and the look on her face. " I need you up here."
	Michiru held her hands together to give Ami a boost
like a circus acrobat, enabling her to jump up and just
reach the outstretched hand of the one above, who hauled
her up on the branch.
	" It's up there, in that notch in the trunk," Haruka
said, pointing it out. " The trunk is too thin up there
to hold me, and probably Michiru as well."
	" It's so nice to be an important member of your
team, Haruka-san," Ami ventured as she realized that
nobody could see them, with the exception of Michiru
below. She reached into her pocket and took out her
wand. " I'd hate to get my dress all dirty and ripped,=20
since you like it so much," she said as she changed
and began to climb up the trunk while Michiru laughed
at the look on Haruka's face.

*************************************************

	He took his hand out and piled the last of the
crystals on the table before the young man, who would
be the spitting image of an angel if he didn't know him
so well. They glowed a bright red, and he could almost
hear a faint, chiming sound coming from them that had
nothing to do with their crashing into one another.=20
	" That should be enough heart crystals," Matthew
said, closing the small sack that, in the real world,=20
could never have held all of them. Here, in another realm,=20
it would be able to hold whatever was desired by the
caster.
	" Thank you," Gabriel replied to the projection of
Matthew that the man sent from another room in the
stronghold, several meters and a world away. " Everything
is set and ready to go, correct?"
	" The trap is ready, in case they show up there. If
they do try anything here, the wards will shunt their
teleport over to the trap as well. You're safe and secure,=20
Gabriel. Good luck."
	He closed his eyes momentarily as the figure in the
suit faded from view and surveyed the grayness around him
to get bearings. It looked featureless to the untrained eye,=20
but with all the power that Matthew had ripped from a hundred
slaves and transferred to him, and the spells that enabled
him to see here, it was seething with information.
	It took him only a few moments to detect the flow of
events and he willed himself against the flow towards the
gates they issued from.

*************************************************

	" He's away?" the older man questioned as he
entered the room.
	" Yes," the younger replied. " We did the
transfer while he was partially in the realm of
time in order to keep the noise down from the crystals.=20
Blood magic is a bit noisy, after all. She might have
heard him if he went in at the start with that much.=20
He's on his way."
	" Good," he replied, looking at the pattern laid
out on the top of the tabletop, clean lines of white
sand and candles of beeswax. His mind weighed the
calculations a few times before he took out a small
paint brush, the kind used for very small details, and
began to carefully thin out a sequence of lines.
	" Jason," Matthew warned.
	" Don't worry, Matthew," he replied, paying close
attention to his work. " I want him to come back, also.=20
He's too valuable to lose. I have to be here when they
arrive, and you have to back me up. He was the only
choice I had for this.
	" She, however, is no fool. Even with all his
power, and that from the crystals, he may not make it.=20
If he wins, it will take him a few years to get back
now. If he loses," he continued, blowing a little more
of the sand away at one crucial point. " This will
significantly delay her return."

*************************************************

	" Hi, Mako-chan!" the girl cried out as she
came into the kitchen with Luna-P floating behind
her, joining the brunette and her mother, who sat on
the counter in a flagrant violation of the house
rules.
	" Usagi... " the girl said in a mock-threatening
tone of voice.
	" Chibi-usa-chan," chided the blonde, who pulled
the girl up to sit with her to kick her heels and watch
Makoto assembling their lunch. " Mom isn't allowed in
the kitchen right now, so we can get away with it.=20
Mako-chan was kind enough to volunteer to cook lunch,=20
as long as Mom agreed to take a break.
	" Now, be quiet, little one," she continued. " I'm
trying to get some pointers."
	" Fat chance," the girl muttered, having been
subjected to trying many of her mother's attempts
at cooking in the present. " At least she'll eventually
learn to cook, Mako-chan. She's pretty good a thousand
years from now."
	Makoto laughed, lifting a lid to stir the
carbonara sauce while Usagi playfully put a headlock
on the girl and mussed up her hair.
	" Now, now, you two," she scolded them, grinning
all the while. " No fighting in my kitchen, or you
won't get any food." In an instant, the two separated
and angelically smiled at her.
	" What are you making, Mako-chan?" the girl
asked a few minutes later, after she and Usagi had
recovered from a fit of giggling after looking at
each other.
	" We're having Italian food for lunch. Pasta
carbonara with saffron, a seafood risotto, grilled
vegetables, fresh bread and a big salad."
	" Ooohhh," the girl squealed in delight. " That
sounds good!"
	" It does sound good," Usagi agreed with her. " And
you'd better watch your portions with this rich food,=20
or we're going to have to start calling you Chubby-usa."
	The two stuck their tongues out at each other
before laughing again and the girl excused herself
to go upstairs to clean up and change.
	" She's really growing up," the blonde said
softly, watching her go.
	" Forget her," Makoto said. " You've really
grown up in the last couple of weeks, and it really
shows when you two are together. What's going on,=20
Usagi-chan?"
	The other girl got down and filled a glass with
water before answering.
	" I got tired of fighting with her, Mako-chan.=20
I'm going... I am her mother, and it's time I started
trying to act like it."
	" That's very considerate and sweet of you,=20
Usagi-chan," Makoto replied, giving her a quick,=20
one-armed hug before starting to chop the olives
and onions for the salad and getting Usagi to start
crumbling some feta cheese.
	" Not as sweet as you for agreeing to fix lunch
today, since I caught you lurking around here. You had
the day shift, I assume?" she dryly asked.
	 " Usagi-chan-"
	" Mako-chan," she interrupted, laughing. " It's
all right. I understand why all this is going on, and
I'm trying to get used to it. Chibi-usa doesn't seem
to mind being under guard all the time, so I gather
I'll have to get used to it as well. Just promise me
one thing, Mako-chan?"
	" What?" she asked warily.
	" As long as you're on shift over here, you come
in and cook more often. You can watch over me just as
well from inside the kitchen..."
	" Hah!" she laughed back at her friend. " She
said you eventually learned to cook, Usagi-chan. No
way."
	" Mako-chan!" Usagi cried out, trying to sound
like she was getting picked on, but soon degenerating
into more giggling. Finally, a few minutes later,=20
Makoto finished her cutting and tossed the salad as
Usagi took the bread out of the oven at her request.
	" How was Mamoru doing?"
	" Sleeping like a baby," Usagi replied, taking
her seat on the counter again near the stove. " We'll
meet tonight at his place to discuss what he learned
and what we're going to do."
	" I hope he's all right, Usagi-chan."
	" He will be. He's just tired," she replied,=20
lifting a lid and stirring the sauce like Makoto had
shown her. " Mako-chan, would you explain to me again
why we're having Italian and this sauce is yellow? I
thought it was supposed to be red."

*************************************************

	She had just finished looking over the time
stream a second time, searching through countless
minute details for any sign or trace of interference.=20
No sooner had she reached the decision that nothing
had been altered in the past, nor was anything amiss
in the myriad possibilities of the present than someone
knocked on the gates.
	Her heart began to race as she considered the
implications of that. Euclidean geometry did not hold
sway over this place, and anyone who wished to contact
her would have to come through the gates, no matter
where they came from. The only permanent access was
from the palace in Crystal Tokyo in the future, and
since Small Lady was in the past, no one else in that
time would contact her that way. They'd talk to her
in that time.
	It wasn't a Time Key, either, she decided as sweat
broke out on her forehead.  The sound and feel was all
wrong for one of those, nor did this have the same
gut-wrenching feel of the occasion she got too close
to herself that one time in the distant past when she
was new to her power.
	The knock sounded again and she realized that
she would have to do something about this. The gates,=20
although they were a powerful construct, were quite
simple, and if anyone had the power to reach them, they
could also force passage through them, given enough time.=20
That was why she was constantly on guard.
	She got up, walked back several steps and faced the
gates, her staff in hand, the Garnet Orb glowing a
reassuring red. A wave of her hand opened the gate. A man
walked through, confident in himself and clothed in
power, a glowing silver ring on his hand. Everything
around her turned gray as he attempted to force his
perception of reality into hers. She let him, for
the moment.
	The scent/feel of blood filled her, stoking
the fires of her anger.
	" Greetings," he said, as she realized it was
the same man who had spoken to her at the bookstore.
	" You're very presumptuous, forcing your way in
here, and given the source of your power and the things
your kind did to my sisters throughout the years. What
makes you think I won't kill you for this?"
	He smiled at her again, but this time the effect
of it faded as quickly as a wave after smashing against
a rock.
	 " I truly wish it wouldn't come to this," he
said, his voice just a little sad. " I wasn't lying
to you. You probably are the most beautiful woman I
have ever seen."
	" It must be tough keeping track after killing
so many people in order to amass your power."
	" Please, Sailor Pluto," he implored her. " Don't
fight me. You can't win. Not here, not now. We... I've
studied you far too long, and I know your power. I'm
prepared for and capable of dealing with anything you
can do."
	She sneered as she motioned around her with her hand.
	" You may have raw power," she replied, " but your
understanding of this is that of a child's if all you can
visualize of this place is flat, dull, gray ground and a
matching sky."
	The butt end of her staff tapped the ground once,=20
and her orb flashed red in the dim light, replacing the
featurelessness with a chaotic assortment of images and
concepts that startled him just a bit.
	" You have more power than I," she conceded with
a nod as she drew herself up to her full height. " A
powerful child cannot hope to withstand me, the mistress
and creator of this realm. Do you truly wish to challenge
me?"=20
	" I must," he replied, gathering his energy around
him as she assumed a combat stance, her staff held out
before her.

*************************************************

	" Hey, furball." she said, affectionately using
one of her nicknames for him as he walked up to the
stairs at Mamoru's apartment, fervently hoping that
he had forgiven her for the outburst the other
night. " I'm glad you came."
	" It's my job," he said, walking past her and
into the apartment to join the others for the strategy
session, shattering her hopes for a quick reconciliation.=20
She came in after him, closing the door, squeezed in
next to Rei and leaned back on the couch.
	" Aren't we grouchy," Luna commented as the
white cat jumped up next to her on the table by the
window, her voice pitched far too low for the others
to hear. " She apologized, didn't she, Artemis?"
	" Don't start, Luna," he replied at the same
level. " Not tonight, not now."
	She sniffed and padded over to take a new spot
a few feet away, but at least didn't insult him by
facing away from him. She was mad at him, but not too
mad, he thought to himself as he caught Mamoru's eye
and nodded.
	" Now that everyone's here," the young man began.
	" Except Pu," Chibi-usa added.
	" Except Setsuna," he corrected himself, " we
can try to figure out what's been going on. We've all
been doing a lot of things the past few days, and it's
time we're all up to speed on it."
	 I'll begin, I guess," Haruka said, " since most
of you know this already. These golems can be beaten,=20
if you're patient and work together. Luna showed you what
to do, and her ideas will work if you hold up your end." She
pointedly looked at Minako as she said the last part. The
blonde ignored her.
	" They're very resistant to our attacks," the young
man continued, " but they're not immune. The ones who
sent them are called the magii, and the golems are after
these objects. " He held up one of the two crystal
pyramids.
	" All we can tell about them is that they are
magic," Michiru added. " As to their purpose... ," she
shrugged as her voice trailed off.
	" I tried a reading on the pyramids, but didn't
get anything. What about the ones who sent them? Do you
know who they are, Mamoru?" Rei asked.
	 They're old enemies of Atlantis, " he replied." That
makes them enemies of the Moon Kingdom, since we were
allies."
	" Let's go get 'em, then, " Makoto said. " We can
deal with their golems now."
	" That's what we need to decide," he said a moment
later. " I know where the magii once had a fortress."
	" He can be the focus of our teleport," Ami
added. " We power it, and he'll guide us to them. It
should work."
	" Let's do it, then," Hotaru said eagerly.
	" Usagi-chan," Michiru asked. " What do you want
to do?"
	" I think we should go," she said, looking at the
others. " I want to get this over with."
	With that remark several conversations started
among them as plans were discussed and ideas exchanged
until one voice cut across the rest.
	" Don't you all see that it's probably a
trap?" Minako asked loudly. " It's been how many
years since they were there, Mamoru?"
	" At least a thousand," he admitted. " Probably
more than that, but it's a place to start, Minako-chan.=20
I'm starting to realize how to recognize magic. Maybe
we can get a clue as to who they are or where they are
now at."
	" C'mon, Minako-chan," Makoto pleaded.  "We
can take them down now."
	" How many of you want to go?" Usagi asked,=20
forestalling the debate that was about to happen. 
Seven hands were raised, with Minako, Michiru and
Haruka voting against.
	" We think it's safe," Luna added.
	" 'Sort of safe' is what I said," Artemis
grumbled. " I'm not against it as long as you realize
that you're there to get information and get out."
	" That's a three to one ratio in favor of
going," Ami reported.
	" That's it, then," Usagi sighed. " Tomorrow
afternoon."
	She wasn't the only one who was startled when
Minako stood and left without saying a word,=20
carefully closing the door in her wake. Artemis
glanced at Luna, and then slipped out the window
to follow her.

***********************************************  

	The man she fought might have been the one who
attacked her in the mall a few years ago as she dealt
with one of the daemons. The attack he used was the same,=20
a turbulent blast of random temporal energy that would
scatter various parts of her across time and space.=20
	Her defense against it was the same when she couldn't
or didn't want to dodge the attack. She would either
deflect his attacks, or wielding her staff like a
lacrosse player, catch it in her Orb and send it back
at him. The first time she did that, only a lucky dodge
had saved him, and he had been far more careful after
that. The strain of catching and returning his attacks
was beginning to show on her face, which had broken out
in a sweat that was beginning to mat down her hair.=20
	She had tried a counter-offensive earlier in the
fight, only to find that much of his boasting was accurate.=20
Whatever his source, his power and control were sufficient
to keep her from taking control of the fight. He wasn't
subtle, but he was more powerful. Try as she might, she
wasn't able to change the environment after that first
time. Fortunately, she consoled herself, dodging a
boulder that appeared above her head, he wasn't too
skilled at that or she would have been long since dead.
	" Time Storm!" he yelled, another blast forming
between his hands and erupting towards her. She took
some small satisfaction in it, because he was apparently
tired enough that he needed to use the name as a mantra
to aid his concentration.
	She dove to the left, allowing the Orb to swing
up behind her and catch it while hopefully her body
blocked his view. Time to startle him again, she
thought to herself.
	A whimper escaped from her, body shaking from
the strain of resisting the attack and holding it
before leaping high in the air. Her staff was lifted
above her head while spinning rapidly, the butt end
glowing violet with her attack and the Orb shining
it's usual red, but crackling black energy around it
signifying his as well.
	" Dead Scream!" she yelled, abandoning any
pretext of calm, boosting the power level to her
limits and flinging the pair of spheres to crash
against his shields as she fell to one knee, panting
heavily.
	Waves of energy cleared away to reveal that he
was driven to one knee, but that was all as her
spirits sank. Stupid, she yelled at herself, allowing
herself to be caught like this. This is supposed to be
her realm, not his. Most of her tactics had been based
on using their own power against them due to the
peculiarities of the world they were in, but he had been
able to hold the environment to his will. She now had
no way to make him destroy himself like she had expected.=20
	" Dead Scream," she whispered, sending several more
blasts against him for cover as she rushed in behind the
glowing spheres. He had reflexively thrown up his arms to
block her volley, and even though they bounced off of his
shields, she was rewarded when the haft shattered one of
his knees as she swung low to avoid his guard.
	He roared in pain as she darted away. She'd gotten
lucky that he had let his concentration slip just a
little. Whatever she had done, however, hadn't interfered
with his spells as several 'Time Storms' flew out at her
and narrowly missed.
	What was even worse was that he was now surrounded
by a hazy globe of translucent blackness that covered his
entire body. He wasn't risking her getting lucky again.=20
The man was using power at a prodigious rate, but it didn't
matter. It was a only a matter of time until one of his
attacks hit, not if. She was overpowered and growing
tired.
	In desperation, she lashed out and snared the last
attack he fired in the next volley and rushed forward.=20
Let's see how good you really are at the important stuff,=20
she cried out in her mind while steeling herself for her
next action. He wasn't as good as she was, but he was
more powerful. It was time to take his power out of the
equation and put this fight back on her terms.
	As expected, he fired another blast at her. She
fired as well, sending the blast she had captured
forward, but not at him. The two attacks met in a
soundless wave of noise, the resultant myriad shades
of glowing blackness rushing out to consume them both.

***************************************************
	=09
	The cat ran after her, calling her name as
she slowed down to a more sedate pace that he could
match and entered the park. He leapt over the fence
and went over to where she stood at the edge of the
sand filled playground. She took off her sweater and
walked over to a set of pull-up bars. A quick tug
verified their stability, and selecting one of a
sufficient height, she jumped up and began to swing
herself around in circles like a gymnast.
	" Why doesn't she see it, Artemis?" she asked.
	" It might not be a trap, Minako," he responded.=20
She considered it a few moments before launching herself
into the air on an upswing to almost lazily complete a
pair of somersaults and a twist, landing lightly on the
sand.
	" A vote," she spat out. " Doesn't she understand
that it won't work?"
	The white cat, now realizing what she was referring
to, was about to reply when a voice cut him off.
	" She's right, Artemis," the woman sitting in the
left of three swings that were behind them said as she
tied up her turquoise hair in a red ribbon.
	" You can't lead by committee," the other added,=20
leaning up against the pole of the swing set, her sandy-blonde
hair silvered in the faint moonlight.=20
	" Michiru, Haruka," the cat greeted them as Minako
went over to sit in the middle swing. " I'm sorry, Mina.=20
I think we should have had this talk a little while ago."
	" Yes," Michiru nodded in agreement. " You should
have brought her over that night, and maybe this could
have been avoided."
	" I could stop her," Minako said, knitting her
brows for a moment as her sword appeared in her hand and
she stuck it into the sand between the two swings.=20
	" Yes," Haruka added contemplatively as she leaned
over across Michiru, picked it up and looked at it
longingly. " You could. You could have as soon as you
had remembered this, Minako-chan. All it would take
is one order."
	" Usagi would let me do it," the blonde whispered,=20
knowing it was true the moment she said it. Usagi still
idolized her for being V.
	" One order," Haruka continued," and every bit of
the resolve and self confidence she's been building
would be gone. She's very strong, our princess, but
she's very fragile at the same time."
	" We have to let her make some mistakes," Michiru
added, putting her hand over one of Minako's where it
rested in her lap. " Otherwise, Minako, she'll never
learn. We were all asked to help raise her and make her
into a queen. She'll never do it if you do this to her
now."
	" I always wanted this," Haruka said, seeming to
abruptly change the subject as she stepped forward and
ran through several exercises with the sword. " I wanted
it so bad I could taste it, Minako, but deep, deep down
I always knew that another would have it."
	She walked over to stand in front of Minako and
reached out, the heavy sword unwavering in her grip and
the point coming to rest delicately against the skin
above Minako's heart.
	" I could have claimed this because I was a better
fighter, but you were stronger than I in the one thing
that mattered. You were better at understanding people
than I was, Minako-chan, and I think you already knew
how this would affect her. If you didn't, you would have
used this by now. We have to let her do this until she
learns that it can't work."
	" It's the only way," Artemis agreed, jumping up
on Minako's lap. He was startled to see a single tear
working it's way down her cheek.=20
	" We don't have time for that," Michiru said softly
as she brushed away the tear and Haruka put the sword
back in her hands. " We still need you, Minako-chan. We're
going into an unknown situation tomorrow. It would be
wiser to wait for Setsuna, but we still have to look
after Usagi-chan. Will you help us with this?"

**************************************************=20

	A coruscating wave of color washed out over
them, and even as it melted him away, she was casting
her perception and control around both herself and
the expanding sphere of the explosion in an attempt
to contain it. If the energy was allowed to continue
expanding, the forces released would rip apart the
delicate weave of the fabric of space and time. First,=20
she concentrated on stopping and controlling the blast
that was reaching her. The rest could follow after she
insured that she would be around to fix it.
	It only took a short time to ensure that she
would still exist, but it was nearly too much. The
fabric near the gates was inherently weak, and the
blast was already beginning to distort the flow.  She
set all her attention and power on fixing it as soon
as possible, praying that she was not too late to
keep disaster from happening.

*************************************************

	" That's the last of them," Usagi said as
she watched the van pull away. Haruka had returned
about an hour after she and Michiru suddenly left
in Minako's wake to give the others who needed it a
ride home. " Hotaru is going with Michiru to take
Chibi-usa home, and one of the others will probably
be hanging around here as well."
	" You're taking this very well all of a
sudden," Mamoru answered, walking up behind her
and wrapping his arms around her waist. " You were
upset with them a few days ago for watching over you
and now you're accepting it."
	The girl turned in his arms, put hers around
him and rested her head on his chest for several
breaths before answering.
	" I don't think we have a choice in it anymore,=20
Mamo-chan. We'll be public figures at some point in
the future. We may need the guards. It's... "
	" Usako?" he asked several seconds after realizing
she had stopped.
	" It's... " she sighed." I just can't stand the
thought of them getting hurt trying to protect me. I
don't need to be as smart as Ami-chan to realize that
we've gotten lucky a few times."
	" That's enough of that," he interjected,=20
stopping her words with a quick kiss and picking
her up in his arms. " If you keep worrying about
tomorrow, you won't get any rest tonight and you'll
be tired when you need to be alert.
	" C'mon," he said, carrying her through the
room and down the short hallway to the guest bedroom.=20
He gently set her down on the bed, left the room and
came back with the nightgown she kept in his closet
and a spare robe. " It's late, Usako. Get some rest
tonight, and it will all work out in the morning."
	He left her, and she could hear him moving around,=20
checking the windows and turning off the lights before
his footsteps came back down the hall and into his room.=20
She sighed and took off the short dress she wore. After
taking off the rest of her clothes and pulling on the
nightgown, she got into the bed.=20
	Mamo-chan was right, of course. It was late, and
she would need the rest for whatever happened tomorrow.=20
She tried to sleep, but it eluded her far into the night
as she tossed and turned, trying to get comfortable and
relax.

***************************************************

	Why, he bitterly reminded himself, did she have
to bring up luck? He was feeling badly enough as is
about his ability to protect her already. She didn't
mean anything by it, he was sure, and probably didn't
even realize the effect it would have on him.
	He'd failed in his job when they did something
to her that night at the concert, even though he had
been the one to destroy that first golem. Later, it was
only because Nephrite held true to his heart that she was
still alive. He hadn't been doing too well lately, or at
least not achieving the level of perfection he demanded
of himself when it came to taking care of her.
	This is getting me nowhere, he growled at himself
and punched one of the pillows across the room. Settling
back down, he closed his eyes and began the breathing
techniques he had learned from one of his teachers
several years ago. It took him far longer than usual,=20
with much of his mind concentrating on keeping the rest
from thinking about anything, but eventually he was able
to calm down and put himself into a slumber.
 	About an hour after he finally went to sleep, the
door knob turned. It opened at the gentle touch of the
figure there, who carefully crept in and looked at him
for some time before reaching a decision. With a deep
breath and trembling hands, several buttons were undone,=20
allowing the silk nightgown to fall down to the ground
around her ankles as she stepped forward.

*************************************************

	" That's it, Sailor Moon!" the girl cried as
a wave of pink light washed over the now deserted
park, destroying the swarm of small cats and stripping
most of the trees bare. The golem they were fighting
had started it's destruction in a gift shop that
specialized in the beckoning cat of several legends,=20
and it apparently had an ample supply of the figurines
in stock.
	It was just like the animals they had fought
while facing the first full-size golem, except that
there were many more of them. Makoto had realized
that the larger golem must be making the smaller ones
out of the materials at hand where it started at, and
also realized that only Sailor Moon had the ability
to deal with so many of them at once.=20
	Jupiter linked hands with Tuxedo Kamen, forming
a barrier around Moon for the moment of concentration
she needed, and the fight was quickly over. Without
the swarm breaking their concentration, they were able
to take the fight to the golem using Luna's plan.=20
Chibi-moon had even helped out, the stream of tiny pink
hearts from her 'Pink Sugar Heart Attack' not really
hurting it from the range she was at, but providing the
distraction the others needed to come in on the sides
and let loose their attacks from close range.
	" Not bad," Uranus commented from where she stood
by the two cats and the floating Luna-P. Much to Luna's
dismay, Chibi-usa had apparently told it to lock on to
her when she was Sailor Chibi-moon. She clearly wasn't
amused by this caricature of her following her around,=20
but was pleased at the girl's performance.
	Artemis was impressed as well, watching them
slowly make a crack in it's chest while keeping their
distance and not letting it attack them. Saturn and
Neptune stood next to him, ready to join the fray if
needed. Luna had asked them not to unless the Inner
Senshi really needed it, so they stayed on the sidelines.=20
The black cat was still upset at the poor practice session
they had the other day and wanted to make sure everything
went according to the plan.
	Using the cover of Mercury and Jupiter's attacks,=20
Moon whipped into her spin and finished it off with her
'Moon Spiral Heart Attack.' The golem cracked apart as
a pink heart burst out from it and it fell into several
smaller lumps of clay . She cried out in delight,=20
clearly surprised at how easy it had been. Barring
the problem they had earlier, it had been one of the
easiest fights they had been in.
	" Well done," Tuxedo Kamen added as he leapt
from the top of the streetlight he was perched on to
come to a landing next to the blonde, who rushed over
to him for a hug and what turned out to be a longer
than normal kiss. Chibi-moon started to run over to
him as well, but was stopped by Neptune gently laying
a hand on her shoulder.
	" Give them a few moments, Chibi-usa-chan," she
whispered. She had seen the look on Sailor Moon's face
and knew what it meant.
	" No sign," Uranus softly said to Venus, who had
come over to them after the fight was over while the
other three of the Inner Senshi gaped at their leader
until Mars loudly cleared her throat to get their
attention. The two blushed, especially Moon.
	Venus sighed. She had been fervently hoping that
Setsuna would show up and they could stop this. Looking
at Uranus and Neptune, she nodded once.
	" Gather 'round, " Uranus said, kneeling down to
save the little girl the feeling of embarrassment at having
to look up at all of them. " Mars, your grandfather is
back, so we can't do it from there. If everyone's ready,=20
let's go now. We know it's west of here, so let's go in
when it's dark."
	" I'm ready," Moon said, determined to see it
through. The others nodded, and as they stood, Venus
came over to Moon and gave her a quick, fierce hug.
	" Thank you, Usagi," she whispered into the other's
ear before moving away.
	" V-chan... "
	They moved into a circle, holding hands to form a
chain, the two Moons each holding onto one of Tuxedo Kamen's
hands. Chibi-usa had argued long and loudly last night to
be able to go along, skillfully using the argument that
she wouldn't be safe if all of them were somewhere else.
	" I'll call it," Artemis announced from the side
where he and Luna sat. " Let me know when you have a
good image, Tuxedo Kamen."=20
	The young man nodded, closing his eyes and standing
still. Auras of light appeared around the others as their
power accumulated and grew. The two long streams of
Moon's hair rose up behind her, and Venus and Mar's
quickly followed suit.
	Tuxedo Kamen nodded.
	" Sailor... " Artemis began.
	Luna yowled in surprise as a black sphere
suddenly shot past her, clipping an ear as it moved
towards the little girl.
	" Luna-P!" she cried out.
	" ... Teleport!"

*************************************************

	" Will you stop following me!" she shrieked
at the young man. He had seemed like an angel when
she first saw him, but now, she considered him the
devil himself. Shortly after that embarrassing
incident at the beach, he had shown up on the train
station platform where she waited for the last train
home with her friends.
	He must have had something to do with what had
happened, but she had no idea what it could be. His
being on the same train could have been coincidence,=20
or at least that was what she thought when she was
with her friends. Now, since she had left them to
walk towards her home, that easy confidence had left
with them.
	Taking the same street from the station as her,=20
he had kept on walking past her first turn and she
had relaxed. Suddenly, right before she reached the
block her house was on, he had startled her, walking
out of the shadows.
	" Leave me alone," she added, not nearly as
forcefully.
	" I still don't understand you as well as I
should," he said absent-mindedly.
	" Why me?" she almost sobbed, dropping to one
knee and offering a heart-felt prayer to the God the
sisters told her to worship. " What did I do?"
	" I don't understand all of you as well as I
should," he replied, his golden eyes betraying his
irritation. " You're going to help me in that. She
has all the others, so I should have at least one
assistant."
	The golden glow took the place of his eyes
again as she began to scream in fear and tried to
run away. A gesture of his hand stopped her in her
tracks.
	" First, though, I'll have do something about
those clothes. They simply won't do."=20

*************************************************

	They appeared in the midst of a circular room
that perhaps thirty meters across with a ledge ten
meters above the floor, the walls rough like the room
was recently hewed from the rock. The domed ceiling
was at least ten more above the ledge. It was brightly
lit, to their surprise. The man was especially
surprised when Luna-P fell from the ceiling above him
to bounce and roll over to Chibi-moon's feet.
	" Damn!" Tuxedo Kamen yelled, rubbing his head,=20
but not angry about the pain. " I was aiming outside."=20
	" It's a trap," Uranus called out. " Jump out,=20
now!"
	" It's not working," Jupiter screamed in frustration,=20
breaking the chain to move and put her back against Sailor
Moon's. " I don't have any power!"
	" Everything's down," Mercury called out, tapping
her earring. " I can't even access my visor."
	" We'll see about that," Moon said, holding her hands
in front of her and raising them up in the air as if holding
onto something.=20
	It was like those nightmares that just kept on happening
over and over that you could never stop, he realized. They
always start so reasonably. Just as Sailor Moon was about to
call out for the Grail, a figure appeared on the ledge above.=20
By some sixth sense, Uranus was in motion even before it
appeared, flinging herself in the way of a bolt of light that
raced from the man's upraised hand, arms outstretched in an
attempt to block the blast with her own body.
	Then it went wrong, just like the nightmares always do.=20
The image of a diving Kunzite was superimposed over her, and
just like that horrible, sickening time in the past when his
father's life had been cut short, the light bent up and over
her. He had been moving as soon as Uranus had, but the angle's
were all wrong for him to do anything and all he could do was
pray that he would wake up and this would just be a horrible
dream and she would be safe in his arms.
	She didn't even make a sound as it punched through her
chest. She merely crumpled to the ground with a surprised
look on her face.
	" NO!" Mars screamed, her face white with shock. Without
saying a word, Neptune's hand slipped behind her and into the
bow at the back of her skirt. With a single step, it rocketed
forward, sending a slender, razor-sharp throwing knife at
the head of the man on the balcony in a perfect, overhand
cast.
	" I'll allow that as a demonstration of futility," he
said as it stopped an inch from his left eye and fell to the
ground.=20
	" Mama!" the little girl cried, falling to her knees
and shaking the still form on the ground as if trying to
wake her up. The young man turned to face the older one,=20
tears streaming down his face from the pain of having his
heart ripped away.
	" Why?" he bellowed. " First my father, and now
her. Why?"
	" They were in my way, your majesty," the man on
the balcony said. " She has my crystal, and I plan on
taking it back." He gestured once, and Chibi-moon began
to cry as her mother's body vanished and reappeared next
to the man. " Please allow me to introduce myself, I believe
the song goes.
	" I am Jason,' he said, bowing slightly as Mercury put
her hand on Jupiter's arm to keep her from trying to rush
the man. He seemed to be talkative, and those were the ones
who may give out some useful information. " My mother said
that was also my father's name, and claimed that he was the
one who led the Argonauts.=20
	" That, however, is of little importance. What is
important is that I am the last of the magii who created
the crystal that her majesty used, and I am taking it
back. I've been watching all of you for some time now,=20
and I know everything you can do. This room," he said,=20
sweeping his hand around to indicate it. " This room has
an anti-magic field that prevents any of you from using
your powers, which you so ably used to dismantle the
golems that we sent to test you in order to get that
information.
	" Thanks to your kind efforts in that field, I
decided that all of you were more powerful than what
I wanted to deal with. For that reason, none of your
powers will work in here. It will mean the end of you,=20
I'm afraid."=20
	The walls shook as parts of them broke free,=20
revealing themselves to be more of the smaller, man-sized
golems like the one from the concert. Bits of rubble fell
off of them as they advanced on the group in the middle
of the room.

***************************************************

	She tried one of her attacks, but the man hadn't
been lying about that part. It didn't work, and she
desperately dodged around the first one that approached
her. What could she do, she asked herself. Her talents
ran more towards analysis than combat, allowing the
others to be more effective against their foes.
	Her opponent had more weight than she, as well
as being made of what would be as hard as stone if she
tried hitting it. Luck was with her as she moved around
the first and hooked the leg of the second, pulling it
off balance and sending it to the floor.
	Why couldn't she be a better fighter, she cried
out to herself as the flailing legs of the second
knocked her down, allowing the first to fall on her
and knocking the breath from her lungs. His plan was
seemingly perfect. Without her attacks, there was
little she could do, especially against these
foes. There was little any of them could do.
	She tried to cry out as the hands closed on
her neck, but she still didn't have enough air in
her lungs. All she could do was to desperately
thrash around in a pointless effort to break free
as spots appeared before her eyes, and then
everything went black.

************************************************=20

	A spin got her around the first one, and the
second would have been surprised if it was a man as
she bent down under it's arms and slammed her shoulder
into it's gut. It nearly drove her back due to it's
weight, but she forced her legs straight, lifted it
off of the ground and shoved it into the next three.=20
All four went down in a pile that sounded like that
one time she dropped a stack of plates.=20
	" Ami!" she yelled, seeing the blue and white
costume under two more of them with arms and legs
flailing. Unlike her, the smallest one of the group
had never been a physical combatant. A leg had come
off of one of the golems in the pile and she scooped
it up as she flung herself towards her companion. Her
initial swing broke the arm of the one holding Mercury
down.
	Her arms had just gone back for another swing
when she heard the clear crack of breaking bone and
Mercury stopped moving, her head at an odd angle as
those two began to rise.
	She screamed in rage and frustration, whirling
into a spinning kick that cracked the head of one of
those in front of her. The pain from her foot convinced
her that something else was broken as well. It
distracted her for a moment, as well as causing
her balance to shift as the knee buckled in an
unconscious attempt to take the strain off of her
foot.
	One of the golems, probably the first one,=20
grabbed onto the pink ribbon at the back of her
skirt and pulled. The fabric gave easily, but it
was enough to send her to the ground since she was
already off balance. Before she could even attempt
to get up, one of the others grabbed her by the ponytail,=20
lifting her head up before snapping it down face first
into the ground over and over until she stopped moving.

**************************************************

	" Now, now," he said, lifting a foot over her
hands on the rim of the ledge and his voice sounding
like she was being scolded. Uranus had given her a
boost that just let her reach the edge in an attempt
to stop him before they rushed her.
	He smashed it down hard on her fingers and she
screamed from the pain, slipping despite her best
efforts and falling towards the ground below. Her
leg caught on the rough wall for a moment, causing her
to start to cartwheel on the way down. She just had a
glimpse of Haruka being shoved back by three of them,=20
and doing damage to them as they stood in her way,=20
preventing her from approaching and helping to catch
her while four more came up from behind.
	A wave of regret hit her in that tiniest fraction
of a second. Oh, Haruka, I never had the chance to
really let you know how I feel, she cried out to herself
as the unusual direction of her fall brushed her arms
away from protecting her head and she struck the ground
moving away from the wall and to one side. Her head was
forced back, the sound of vertebrae snapping clearly
audible to the one screaming her name.

****************************************************=20

	Her father stood over her, his knuckles bleeding
from hitting stone. Mars was on the other side of her.=20
Both had fought like whirlwinds to keep them from
getting to her, but she could hear his cries as he
went down under the weight of several of the golems
and another got in a lucky blow that dazed Mars.
	She screamed in fright as one reached for her,=20
and screamed even louder as it's hands passed through
her. She was beginning to fade away, just like that
time with Nephrenia, but she was much more scared this
time. She had just seen Sailor Moon struck by a beam of
light that killed her.
	I don't exist anymore, she sobbed, watching the
fight around her and realizing her mother was dead. There
seemed to be nothing she could do to help them. At her
mental command, Luna-P came over to her as she tried her
best to will herself solid. There was nothing she could
do about the attacks themselves, but maybe if she could
make herself solid, she could somehow help.
	It came to her just after she solidified, and
just before a cold, hard, stone hand closed over her
throat. A waving hand caught hold of Luna-P and one-handed,=20
she began to tap out the code that Pu had taught her so
long ago. Her vision blurred and darkened, but she
resolutely kept at it. Right eye, nose. Left eye, nose,=20
and the eyes slid shut. Nose again, and her neck was
broken as it's hands released her, reached up and
savagely twisted her head around to one side by the
hair. The final part of the code was entered more by
instinct than reason, her hand sliding up and
pressing against the crescent moon.

*************************************************

	Saturn lurked around the edges of the fray
surrounding Venus, who was darting in and out among
the ones that were going after her and the ones who
had originally been after Saturn. She had jumped over
next to the blonde before slipping away and through
her assailants, causing them to attack the other
Senshi.
	Desperation had driven her to try everything
among her abilities. She could still end it all, she
realized with horror, but shrank away from that option.=20
While there was life, there was hope.
	Life, she realized, snapping her fingers and
rushing one of the ones Venus had tripped up and
slapping at it's knee with her healing power at it's
fullest capacity but imagining the exact opposite of
the healing process. The knee shattered, immobilizing
it, and she gratefully realized the other had seen it.=20
Venus paused a moment as two came in on each of her
sides, and then slipped around one and helped it into
the other. Both landed in a heap, and Saturn quickly
disabled those as well. Then she heard the high pitched
scream.
	" Chibi-usa!" she cried out, racing towards
the girl and abandoning Venus to the remaining four.=20
The girl had one pinning down her body as she lay
face down, and another had just let go of her neck
and grabbed her head. Instead of trying to escape,=20
she just kept touching Luna-P in a steady cadence
as it took hold of her hair.
	Too late, Saturn broke it's shoulder just after
she heard breaking bone and saw the little Senshi
grow still, except for the hand that reached up and
weakly touched the crescent moon that now glowed in
a bright gold. A high pitched beeping began, it's
sounds coming quicker and quicker until it became a
steady whine. Saturn dove for the girl, hands gently
placed over the bruised neck as she gathered all her
energy in an attempt to heal up the damage done.=20
	She prayed it wasn't too late as she let the
energy flow into the little girl and tears ran down
her face. Chibi-usa had been one of her few friends
and she didn't want to lose her.

*************************************************
=09
	" What in all the hells?" he yelled as the sound
began. He just was able to make out it's source in the
midst of the fray that he had, up until that point,=20
been enjoying. That ball, he realized, was making the
noise. A irritated wave of his hand sent a bolt of
light weaving through the melee, clipping the one with
short, black hair as she began to glow, and blew the
ball into a cloud of shrapnel.
	I hope that wasn't a mistake, he decided, drawing
on the power he was getting from the crystal. The princess
should be dead, but still he could only draw on a portion
of the power he should be able to access. That's one more
thing to figure out at a later time.
	" Matthew," he said, reaching out and touching the
mind of his assistant in another part of the old
keep. " I've got her. Go now, and I'll follow when
this is done."
	The other man agreed, and he could feel the surge
of energy as he left along with the extra power that
he had been ready to channel to the Archmage from a
stack of heart crystals. As soon as he was gone, Jason
set up his own spell that would carry him away to
safety, encompassing the body that floated next to him,=20
and primed the spells he had laid on the foundations
long ago in preparation for this day.=20
	His crystal, he smiled to himself, was quite easy
to find on her. A quick wrench of his wrist snapped the
ribbons holding it on her chest and he reached into the
heart-shaped broach and removed the stone. The broach
was dropped, bouncing once before falling to the ground
below.
	" Hearts," he chuckled, turning his attention
back to the fight. That one with the murderous look
on her face, the youngest seeming of the newer group,=20
bore watching. She had some kind of power that she
could use in spite of his spells that kept the others
from using their magic. Better do something about
that. She could be dangerous, he decided, a ball of
white energy forming in his hand as the temperature
around him dropped rapidly.

****************************************************

	The worst of the anomalies had been fixed when
a horrendous, shrieking sound filled her mind. The
sound wasn't anything physical and ended a moment
later, but the message it sent chilled her to the
bone. It had started as the beeping sound that Luna-P
made, but it echoed through time and not space.=20
	" Small Lady!" she screamed, dropping the
threads that had the minor anomalies that remained.=20
They would have to fix themselves well enough on
their own. The Orb on her staff burst into red light
as she oriented herself on the spot in the time
stream where it came from and willed herself there.=20
That point had such a distortion about it that even
her recent assailant should be able to see it
standing out like a beacon in the night.
	She appeared in the chamber in a flash of red
light, the noise from the displaced air clearly
audible to all of them there. At her feet, Saturn was
just beginning to stir while holding the gash on her
shoulder.
	" I healed her neck," the girl gasped out,=20
trying to lever herself up to a sitting position, " but
it was too late. I'm sorry, Pluto."
	She looked at the still form of the girl on the
ground, lying amid the remains of what must have been
a few of the golems. Her fury grew and grew, and the
look on her face seemed to scare those of her friends
that could see her. An older man stood on the ledge
that ran around the circular room, a look of fear
upon his face as he realized who she was. He raised
his hand and vanished, along with the body of the

Princess and a glowing crystal in the other hand. The
distractions had worked. She had been too late.
	As soon as he was gone, the whole room began
to shake and cracks appeared in the ceiling. A
rumbling beneath her feet told her that something
had just exploded deep in the ground below. Loosened
by the shaking, a large chunk of the ceiling began to
fall down towards the ground to her right while the
rest of the wall at floor level broke away, revealing
even more of the golems.
	There was only one thing to do. Vengeance
wasn't an option to her right now. Her hands around
the base of her staff, she lifted it all the way
above her head.=20
	" Temporal... " she whispered as the tears
began pour down her face and the Orb blazed into
a nova of red light.
	Farewell, my sisters.

***************************************************=20

	They still had some of the weaknesses of the
human body. Joints were still more fragile than the
rest of the body. Breaking knees and elbows as she
went, Uranus cut a path through her attackers as she
steadily made her way towards the still body of
Neptune. No matter what happened, she would make
it there, she swore, desperately fighting to control
the berserker fury that was building inside ever
since seeing her fall.=20
 	She had seen the look on Michiru's face as she
fell. She hadn't looked angry as she fell, nor was she
afraid. Regret was the emotion she saw there, as well
as sadness. Choosing one at random and ignoring a blow
to her face, she picked it up by the leg and arm.=20
Stepping forward and to the side, she pivoted
around and released it to smash into the other
three that were left.
	Sitting by her side, holding the cooling
hand, Uranus only looked up at the rumble in the
air when Pluto arrived. The older woman looked
around at the room and the mask of control that
Pluto wore broke. She could feel the color drain
from her own face at the sight of the accumulated
rage of centuries appearing on Pluto's.=20
	It was understandable why the man ran at that
point. If it had mattered, she would have ran too.=20
They never before had seen anything like this from
her. Uranus could see the mad light in her eyes
that signified the rage she had felt a few moments
ago before taking Neptune's hand.
	Revenge would be so easy a path for Pluto to
take right now. She had some idea of what the woman
was capable of. She had stopped time when the
helicopter had exploded over the Infinity Academy. Now,=20
when she was this angry, who could know the limits of
her desperation?=20
	" Setsuna, No!" she cried out, raising her hand
towards Pluto as she raised her staff over her head. The
rage in her eyes been replaced by cold reason; a cold
so hard and sharp that she didn't have to see the unholy
calm on the woman's face as she smiled and the staff
came down.
	" Pluto!"

*************************************************

	The Garnet Orb smashed into the ground,=20
breaking into dozens of pieces that scattered
around the room. Everything seemed to pause,=20
everywhere, for just a long, timeless moment
before resuming.=20
	Venus was caught and born down by the
weight of numbers. Another had Mars by the hair
while a second and third rained blows down upon
her. She was moving too much for any one to grab
her throat. Tuxedo Kamen got his knee up between
him and the last of the ones around him on the
ground and flung it away, scrambling to unsteady
feet.=20
	He snarled at the sight of more golems as the
red shards fell to the ground around all of them.=20
Uranus' outstretched hand fell to the ground in defeat
as more of the golems came up on her. She didn't move
except to stare blankly at the fragments of crystal
that bounced near the two Senshi.
	" ... Fugue!" Pluto finished, collapsing to
the ground as pain washed over her body, the anguish
causing her to go into convulsions. Each of the shards
glowed a moment, releasing a wraith-like image of
Pluto that quickly grew to full size in less than
the blink of an eye.
	" Dead Scream," several of them whispered,=20
ringed violet spheres flying out to crash through
any clusters of golems. Others dove into the fray,=20
their staffs driving them back while the rest
shielded the bodies of the other Senshi. The
masonry falling from the cracked ceiling crushed
several of them under tons of rubble.
	Four of them reached the edges of the room,=20
turned, and describing a circular arc with their
Orbs in perfect unison, took all of them away and
into the welcome darkness as the ceiling gave way
and began to fall.

*************************************************

	" Flare, rise and serve," he intoned.
	She got up from where she lay on the ground,=20
slightly disoriented. Why was I doing that, she
tried to remember, shaking her head. Why was I
trying to be like one of these silly... humans?
	" Yes, my lord?" she asked, brushing off a
speck of dust from her clothes. Gone were the blue
denim jacket and jeans she had been wearing, and
the white shirt. She now wore a tight fitting, black
uniform; trousers and a long-sleeved shirt with a
scandalously deep, narrow cut in the front. Gold trim
subtly enhanced it, blending in with the same on the
black pauldrons that covered her shoulders. Her boots
came up to her knees, the heels making her considerably
taller.
	" Much better," he commented, enjoying the
contrast of the black that reminded him of the deeps
of space and the stark contrast of her waist length,=20
auburn hair. Another part of him, one that heretofore
he had not noticed during his time being human, also
reminded him of the contrast between the color of
her uniform and the swath of white skin it
displayed. " Much better."=20

************************************************

	They came back into existence on the lawn at
the back of a house that none of them recognized. A
small garden and pond was behind them at the back of
the walled property, and a dignified, but opulent
house was in the front, done in the traditional style
with enough real wood for all of them to realize the
sheer expense involved.
	In a daze, ignoring all the Pluto's who were
gathering the fragments of the Orb, Mamoru walked
over and picked up the empty broach. All his strength
left him, and he collapsed on the ground. A few feet
away from him, Uranus was silently weeping over the
body of Neptune.
	" Mako-chan," Mars whispered as she knelt down
next to the green-clad Senshi as the pool of blood
Jupiter had lain in seeped into the grass and stained
her knees. To her left, Ami still lay unmoving, her
head rolled loosely to one side. She could tell without
looking that the girl was as dead as the one she
started to roll onto her back, and then put back
down after changing her mind. Gently, she reached
out and closed her eyes, getting up to do the same
for Ami-chan.=09
	" Setsuna... " Venus whispered as she cradled
the woman's head on her lap. Pluto had stopped
convulsing, but it was clear she was dying. The
duplicates were coming over and re-assembling the
Orb. Each melted into it as it was done, smiling
sadly at the original, and she gained a little
strength each time, but she had done too much.
	" -chance, Venus," she rasped out. " You have
another... chance this way. I could have killed
him... but it wouldn't bring her back. The crystal
can... restore her."
	Saturn knelt down, her hand glowing as she
put it on Pluto's shoulder. She frowned after a
few moments.=20
	" It's working, but she's not getting any
better."
	" Save your energy, Hotaru-chan," Pluto
whispered. " I wasn't supposed to do that, and
I have to... pay the price. That's why I could
do something there... when you couldn't. There's
one thing he can never stop us from doing." She
turned her head, taking in the sight of the
bodies on the grass, and flinched.
	" Look after her, Hotaru. She'll be very sad
when the shock wears off," she said, raising her
hand and trying to point towards the other two
Outer Senshi before it fell unmoving to the ground.=20
The last of the duplicates came to her, completed
the Orb, and melted into it like the rest. Her body
began to glow in a bright red for a few minutes and
then quickly faded from view.
	Venus stood and surveyed the group, reaching
into her pocket for a moment to touch a button on
her communicator. She forced the grief she felt
back into it's place, slamming the door shut on
it, locking it and throwing away the key. She had
an idea, and it would have to come first before
she could express the pain she felt. The old mask,=20
the one she used to wear towards the end of her
career as Sailor V, settled in place over her
facial expressions. This wasn't over yet.

**************************************************

	Jason was back sooner than he expected, Matthew
realized as the older man appeared in the center of
the central chamber of the stronghold. There was a
glowing crystal, obviously the one he sought, in his
hand. Next to him, the still form of a young woman
floated unmoving in the air.
	" That's Princess Serenity, then," he said as
he approached the older man with a triumphant look
replacing a tiny sign of fear that he only recognized
due to years of time with him. " She doesn't look as
imposing as I imagined."
	" No, she doesn't," was the response. " Her mother
I respected, but she is barely a child. She won't be
any bother at all."
	" If she's not a bother, then why is she here?"
	" I'm not sure why she isn't dead," Jason said,=20
taking a drink from a decanter of wine that appeared
in his hand. " She isn't drawing any power from my
crystal, but she's still alive. I hit her full force.=20
She shouldn't even exist anymore, except as a few motes
of dust. I'll examine her at my leisure after everything
settles down."
	" I assume that you're getting everything, then?"
	" Actually, no," he admitted. " That's part of
why I brought her. We, however, have a problem we
need to consider before that."
	" Gabriel failed then," Matthew ventured.=20
	" Worse," he replied. " She used her powers to
get into the trap. She may have rescued some of them."
	" In other words, expect a counter-attack?"
	" Precisely. If any of them survived when I
brought the roof down, they'll be here any time now.=20
Uranus and Venus were among the survivors I saw. They
are two of the three that were active the longest
this time around.=20
	" We have to count on their figuring out where
we are and that they will have to attack as soon as
possible to keep me from using the crystal. If they
attack, it'll be soon. You'd better be going now."
	The younger man nodded and barked several
orders to the servants standing near the one entrance
to the large room. The remaining Senshi would find it
as deadly a trap as   the one they left.
	" Good luck," Matthew said as he began to
leave. " I'll see you if you survive any counterattack."=20
	Someone had to survive and pass the art on down
so that it would survive. As the second most powerful
one here, that was his responsibility if they were
under attack. The art was more important than any
one of them, even the Archmage.

*************************************************

	Sometime during her talk with Setsuna, Mamoru
had gone over and was now seated next to the fading
body of his daughter. Hotaru had joined him until
she was gone, and then reached out and healed the
broken skin and bones in his hands. She rose after
that, going over to Mars to take care of her injuries
as Mars sat by Mercury for several minutes.
	Uranus had finally left Neptune to check out
the house and to confirm a hunch about where they
were. As she had expected, the door in the back
opened to one of the combinations that Setsuna had
shown them. This must have been one of her safe
houses that even they didn't know about. A few minutes
of searching led her to the linen closet, where she
took out several white sheets and returned to the
back yard. It wasn't easy for her, but she picked
up Michiru and laid her down near Makoto, and did
the same for Ami before covering them with the sheets.
	Mars cried a little more at this before settling
down and praying over the bodies and managed to get
most of the chants correct despite the thickness of
her voice.
	" Artemis, I just have the worst feeling about
this," a voice from the other side of the wall stated.
	" It's right over this wall," another replied as
the two cats came into view a moment later. Artemis
stopped in the gate at seeing the shrouded bodies. Luna
came forward a few more steps, sniffing and realizing
whose scent wasn't there.
	" Usagi!" she shrieked, and then to began to
mournfully wail as Artemis came over and sat beside
her, pressing close to reassure her. Out of respect
for her feelings, Venus let her deal with her anguish
as she turned over all the variables she could think
of. She also took an inventory of everything she had
on her and checked all of her powers to make sure
they still worked. Uranus walked over by her, along
with Saturn, and they did the same.
	Seeing this, Mars came over and cleaned the
blood off of her knees with one of the leftover
sheets and some water from a garden hose. After
that, she did the same with her repertoire and
looked at the others. Artemis, seeing them gathering,=20
nudged Luna and the two cats came over to join them.
	" Wait," Mars said as Venus was about to begin.=20
She walked over to the young man who still sat next
to where his daughter had lain, holding the empty
broach in his hands.
	" Mamoru," she began.
	" Leave me alone," he interrupted, his voice
low and thick. Venus angrily started forward at that,=20
Uranus a step behind, but Mars stopped them with a
wave of her hand. Taking a deep breath, she slapped
him across the face as hard as she could.
	" Damn you, Mamoru!" she yelled as loud as she
could. " If you have one scrap of the feelings you
told me you had for her, you'll get yourself up and
over here."
	" Mamoru," Venus added. " We have a chance to
save her. Pluto gave us one more chance. We can't
throw it away."
	He rose to his feet, sighed, and put the broach
into one of his pockets. A few steps brought him over
with the others. Venus tersely filled the cats in on
what had occurred while they were away.
	" They have the Silver Crystal," Mars added at
the end. " He said they were the ones who made it in
the first place."
	" That's an old story," Artemis replied,=20
nodding. " It was hushed up a little bit at first
from what I know, so the origins of the Crystal
were suitably vague. Some said it was made by
Hephestaeus in the distant past, along with Minako's
sword and the Commander's."
	" We do know it was made by the magii," Luna
added. " They were all killed long ago, according to
what we read in the histories. That's why magic slowly
died out, since the magii were the only ones with any
formal training. The art should have been lost over
the centuries."
	" The histories are wrong, then," Uranus said
in her low voice. " Let's go stop this bastard from
using it on us."
	" How are we going to find him," Saturn asked,=20
looking at the others. " We don't know where he is or
where he took her."
	" Yes, we do," Venus replied. She pointed at
the man in black. "Him. She's still alive, according
to Pluto."
	" Of course," Mars exclaimed in surprise.
	" Me?" he asked, puzzled.
	" Mamoru," the priestess gently teased
him. " You always made it to her whenever she
was in danger, no matter where she was at. You'll
be our guide again."
	" What if it's another trap?" he asked, still
dubious. " Look at what we just went through."
	" I don't think they have more than one place
like that," Uranus answered him, her chin resting on
one hand and looking thoughtful. " That place was
pretty messed up when we left. Also, if they depend
on magic for their power, they can't afford to do that
in too many places."
	" What's our plan when we get there?" Saturn
asked, looking at Uranus like she expected the tall
woman to take charge. Uranus sighed heavily in response
and admitted something that wasn't easy for her.
	" It's her show, Saturn. Venus is the leader of
the group since Sailor Moon isn't here. I'll take it
if she wants me to, but only under that condition."
	" Thank you," Venus said warmly, finally managing
to push a smile through the mask she wore earlier.
	" What's the plan, then?" Saturn asked her.=20
	It's pretty simple," she replied. " We go there,=20
kill anything that isn't Usagi, and get out of there
with her and the crystal. Pluto said that it can restore
her."
	" That's not much of a plan," Artemis commented.=20
	" Until we know more about where we're going," she
replied while absent-mindedly scratching the fur on his
back. " That's all we can try to do."

***************************************************

	" Mars," Uranus said as she looked at the red-clad
one. "Come with me, please."
	It wasn't a request, she knew, so she followed the
other into the house and up the stairs. =09
	" I'm very sorry about Michiru," she
ventured. " You're holding up very well."
	" We had an oath," was the woman's reply as
she turned on the light switch at the head of the
stairs. " We vowed that no matter what happened to
the other, the survivor would finish the mission. It
still applies, Rei-chan."
	Uranus stopped at a door and entered a combination
into the pad at the side of the door. Several bolts
clicked and it swung open with a hiss.
	" I'll get this done," she said quietly. " Then
I'll start screaming. You need to have something in
case we lose our powers again. Take your pick," she
nodded towards the room's contents.
	Racks on the walls held spears and bows on one
side, with swords below them, and firearms on the
other. There were several rifles and machine guns,=20
along with what she recognized as a grenade launcher
from seeing too many action movies with some of the
boys who had asked her out and a wide variety of
pistols. There was another, smaller door in the back
with a number lock on it as well. She whistled at the
selection, and took a short naginata down from the wall.
	" My grandfather has trained me in using several
traditional weapons, " she explained. " This will give
me the reach I'll need if we run into any other of
those things."
	" That's good thinking. I'm glad you stuck with
what you know," was the response from the other. " I
was half afraid you'd want a gun."
	" What if I did?"
	" Then I'd let you find the ammunition storage
code," Uranus grinned at her, hefting a large pistol
that looked like a modern, stainless steel version of
an old cowboy gun from an American western movie that
was on steroids." I still can't find it in here. I was
going to bring the .454 Casull. I learned how to use
one in the States from a crazy NASCAR driver. Hurts
like hell to shoot, but it's effective."=20
	A whistle from downstairs broke off the banter
and they left after closing and locking the door. They
found Venus and Saturn downstairs tearing another sheet
in strips that they were tying into a makeshift harness
for their weapons. This time, they were teleporting
with their weapons out. A backpack lay on the counter
next to them that held a few canteens, some sandwiches
and several silvery emergency blankets.
	" You should see the stuff she had up there," Mars
commented. " Enough guns for a small army. No ammo,=20
though."
	" Doesn't matter," Venus grinned. " I've been
shot a few times. They don't work well against
us. Probably won't work against them either."
	" Shot?" Mars and Saturn echoed while Uranus
smiled at the look on their faces, as well as the
one on Luna's.
	" No time to explain it in detail," Artemis
added as Mamoru came in wearing his armor with his
sword at his side. " It has something to do with the
speed of an object. That's why all the shrapnel hasn't
cut you to ribbons yet. A knife does more damage to
her than a gun."
	" We're going along on this one," the black cat
stated. Luna was startled when Venus only grinned and
scooped up both cats.
	" I wouldn't dream of leaving you behind," she
said, leading the others out to the lawn. " We need
those noses."

***************************************************

	They formed another circle outside, this one
much smaller than the one earlier that morning. Artemis
was perched on Venus' shoulder, with Luna on Mar's. All
of them had their weapons out, Endymion's sword in it's
scabbard and the others in makeshift nooses. All the
strips of cloth would have to do is get the items
through a teleport.
	" Concentrate on her, Mamoru," Mars said,=20
repeating her instructions in a soft, compelling
voice. The others kept silent.=20
	" Let us know when you feel her. She's in
danger, and you have to go and help her," she added.=20
Finally, several minutes later, he opened his eyes
and looked up.=20
	" I've got her," he said confidently and let
that old, familiar tugging sensation pull him and the
others towards her. They hastily finished it with
a 'Sailor Teleport' that completed the transit and
came out on a rough trail in a rocky valley. There
was a short, graceful tower at the top of a hill to
the west that the soft light of early dawn was just
touching.
	" She's in there," he said, standing up and
brushing some dust off. " I feel something strange
if I look any closer at that place, so I decided to
bring us in out here where it's safe."
	" That's fine by me," Uranus replied. " It's
only about ten kilometers."
	" Let's start walking," Saturn said, taking
her glaive out of it's sling and putting it over
one shoulder.
	They moved out, Artemis in the lead by about
fifty meters. Luna stayed with the main group. Venus
had arranged it this way in order to let him spot any
observers or traps along the path. They'd used the
same tactic before.
	" Nothing," he said as he slowed to join up with
the main group an hour later and get a drink along with
a hunk of meat from Saturn's sandwich. " It's dead out
there."
	" Nice choice of words," Luna muttered.=20
	" I did see one thing, however," he continued,=20
ignoring her. " There's an opening in the hill at the
top of this trail. Something is bound to be up there."

****************************************************

	They continued their careful advance until all
of them had safely made it up to the top of the ridge.=20
Below them, the path dipped down into a larger opening
than the one Artemis had seen, which was about halfway
up the side of the hill. The one below them was guarded
by a deep pool that allowed only a single, narrow bridge
on the right of the pool as access to the other side. Water
running down from the opening above was the source of the
pool, and it drained off in the direction of a narrow
gorge to their left.=20
	The other side of the pool had a short ledge
that the bridge led to. A large golem paced back
and forth there at the commands of a bored-looking
young man in a brown tunic and matching trousers. He
must have been one of them, at least, because he would
occasionally try to burn some of the flies that had
bothered them on the way up with a tiny jet of flame
from his fingers.
	" He's mine," Uranus said, hefting her sword and
preparing to rush forward. Venus grabbed her by the
arm, dragging her back down behind the bushes they
were using for cover.
	" No, he's not," she hissed, picking up a
water-smoothed rock the size of a handball and giving
it to her. " I've fought a mage before, and I know what
to expect. I'll distract him from sounding an alarm. How
good are you at baseball?"
	" Good enough that the boy's coach at school cried
when they wouldn't make it a co-ed team," she grinned
back. Venus clapped her on the shoulder, left her sword
with them and slipped off through the bushes to get as
close to him as possible. Saturn and Mars gathered a few
rocks as well to use if a distraction was needed. A touch
on the arm made Saturn put hers down as Endymion pulled
out a rose and smiled. She probably couldn't have reached
the other side of the pool with a throw from here, anyway.=20
	He set off after Venus, silently moving through the
cover and catching her where she had stopped. She would
be looking at going several meters through the rest of
the brush before reaching the area where the vegetation
was intentionally cut back. Beyond that was about fifty
meters to the bridge that she would have to cover in the
open before reaching the bridge.
	" I'd rather be the one doing this, you know," he
whispered to her. " I can get him from here."
	" Do you know if he's really there or not?" she
asked.=20
	" Touch=E9," he admitted.
	" I'll start running," she said, pulling a knife
out of her pocket, to his surprise. He didn't think she
was the type. " As soon as I get to him, and if nothing
changes, let fly. Then get over to help me with that
golem." She began taking steady, deep breaths and counting
the time the golem spent walking back and forth.
	Choosing a moment when the golem was obscuring the
guard's vision, she sprang forward, her sandals kicking
up dirt. She was halfway through the cleared area before
he noticed her charging towards the bridge and spent the
time it took her to reach it gaping in surprise. His hand
began to come up when a rock caromed off the side of his
head in a glancing blow. He was clearly hurt, driven to
one knee, but not down.
	The guard reached towards one outcropping of rock
as the golem turned to face the bridge. The stem of a
rose stapled his tunic to the hill below it as Endymion
stood and charged the bridge, Uranus in close pursuit
with Artemis catching a ride on her shoulder and hanging
on for dear life. The others followed, with Saturn in the
rear.
	Venus ran directly at the golem, leaping up and
over it as the young man tore his tunic free. Her knife
entered his chest at the heart as her knees slammed
into his stomach, sending both down in a heap that only
she rose from. The golem had already turned and was
advancing on her with outstretched arms.=20
	Endymion's sword shattered the knee on it's right
side as he came up from behind the golem. Venus was
preparing to use one of her attacks when Uranus came
up and rammed her shoulder into it's waist, sending it
into the water with a loud splash. The golem sank quickly
as she brushed the dirt from her hands and glared at the
cat clinging to her shoulder.
	" I'm not a taxi," she grumbled at the cat, looking
with satisfaction at the few bubbles that came to the
surface of the water. There was no sign of the
golem. " Must have been pretty deep," she commented,=20
smiling to herself.
	Artemis carefully launched himself to a
position of safety on Venus' shoulder, but she
quickly put him down on the ground.
	" We only have a few moments. The mage I
fought couldn't move and fire too well at the
same time, so keep them moving," Venus said,=20
taking her sword from Mars. " Just like Moon in
the exercises, Mars. Don't let them get set up to
fire."
	" It sounds like you aren't going in there," Saturn
panted, trying to catch her breath and pointing at the
entrance.
	" I'm not," Venus replied, pointing upwards. " I'm
going in up there."
	" What?" Mars interjected.
	" Are you sure of this?" Uranus asked quietly.
	" She is," Artemis replied sadly. " She's the only
one with experience at acting solo. You've always been
used to having others with you. Be careful, Minako."
	" I will. We have to change the situation here,=20
Uranus. They've been controlling things, making us
react to them. It's time for them to start reacting
to us.=20
	" If you find her, forget about me and get
the hell out of here. Take her to Stonehenge, in
England. Call out for the Merlin. I've made
arrangements for her. You know the routine, Artemis.=20
You're my cover," she said, giving the cat a quick
scratch and began climbing up the hill with her
sword slung over her shoulder.

***************************************************

	" What did she mean by that?" Saturn asked as
they started through the entranceway.
	" Elementary tactics," Uranus whispered as she
took the point. " If you want to do something nice
and quiet over here, do something very noticeable
over there."
	" If we're supposed to be noticed," Mars
added. " Mars Flame Sniper!"=20
	A bolt of red light raced down the corridor,=20
clipping another man in clothes similar to the guard
outside in the shoulder as he stepped into the
corridor ahead of them. He crumpled in a heap, but
was still breathing. She didn't know what was up
with Minako, but she didn't see the need to kill
all of them like she had done to the sentry.=20
	" Let's go!" Uranus shouted, breaking into a
run as a bell began to ring. Nothing here looked
like it was hi-tech to her so far, but appearances
could be deceiving. They could already be under
observation by hidden cameras.=20
	The tall woman stayed in front of the others
with Endymion right behind, supporting her with his
sword or roses getting any that Mars missed. So far,=20
their opposition had been limited to several men and
woman in identical clothes and a number of the smaller
golems. Saturn kept to the rear with the cats, her
glaive at the ready.
	She had already realized that she wasn't as
used to combat as the two in front, or had as much
time being a Senshi as Mars. Moving at the high rate
of speed she could attain wasn't second nature to her
yet, so she relied on her 'Silence Wall' to protect
her and kept an eye out behind them.=20
	" This way!" Endymion indicated, pointing down
a side corridor that opened up onto a much larger
hallway. At it's end to their left was a set of tall,=20
double doors in an arched doorway guarded by a dozen
of the large golems and several of the acolytes, as
Uranus was calling them. " She's in there. I can
feel her."
	" Usagi!" Luna cried out. " Hold on!"
	 Uranus took a deep breath, holding her
sword out in front of her.
	" Space Sword..." she yelled, allowing the
power to build up higher and higher before she
slashed the sword at them, flinging havoc
towards the doors. " ...Blaster!"

***********************************************

	It only took her a few minutes to scale the
side of the hill and enter the opening the cascade
of water issued from. The opening was too regular
to be natural, she had decided as they approached.=20
The water made her footing slippery as she ventured
further into the darkness.
	As she thought, it wasn't natural. The grate at
the end was easily cut with her sword and pushed aside,=20
allowing her to enter a small chamber. The room was
round, with a door in the opposite wall. In the center
of the room was what appeared to be an old fashioned
well, but with water steadily rising to spill over the
top and flow away down the passageway she had come in
through.
	The other door was not locked, and it swung open
to reveal what appeared to be a good sized kitchen,=20
easily capable of cooking enough to feed a few dozen
people at once. It was unoccupied, but the pots that
were boiling over or the burning smell from the ribs
on the wood flame grill clearly stated that they had
just left.
	" They're in the main hall," a woman yelled from
outside.
	" They're kicking the hell out of the
apprentices," a man added.
	" It'll change when we get there," another
man added calmly.
	Not if I can help it, she said to herself,=20
reaching into her dimensional pocket and removing
the crescent shaped compact. It popped open easily.
	" Moon Power Transform," she whispered, her
clothes shimmering into the blue, white and reds of
Sailor V. If they know so much about us, let's give
them something new to think about. Those colors would
be slightly less noticeable than her usual ones, as
well.
	They had just passed the door, so she nudged
it open and slipped through. The man in the rear
must have been the one to speak last. He seemed to
be older, with a more ornate robe. Her sword easily
pierced his chest, sliding out through the front of
his robe and whatever he was about to say became a
wet gurgle.
	" Crescent Beam!" she said, swinging her hand
slightly and calmly cutting the other two down as
they began to turn. She wanted to go deal with the
voices she heard behind her, but the mission was more
important, she realized as she ran forward and turned
 towards the center of the hill and the probable heart
of the structure.=20
	That's where anything important should be. That's
where she should be. That's where someone was going
to pay for all of this.

**************************************************

	The alarm bells that sounded were the first
sign he had of an attack. A quick glance with a
scrying spell outside the main doors showed several
of the apprentices taking position outside the main
doors to the chamber he was now in, along with a
group of golems. That should hold them off for a few
minutes, he realized. The Senshi had proved to be
very resourceful in dealing with the constructs, who
had never been designed to deal with something like
them in the first place.
	It was almost time, he realized, looking at the
body of the girl on the white marble slab to his left.=20
Later, he'd have the opportunity to figure out the
puzzle she represented, blocking him off from all the
power he should now have from his crystal, which lay
on a pedestal near him, since he didn't need to be in
contact with it to draw from it.
	 Try as he might for the past hour, he hadn't
been able to wring any more power out of it using the
control spell. Logically, all of it should be his. In
case of something unexpected, he had ordered all the
remaining heart crystals brought to him. He now seethed
with the life energy of several hundred people and would
have little trouble dealing with the intruders. The
explosion outside made him look again.
	Most of the golems were torn apart already as four
people rushed towards the doors. Endymion was in the
lead, seemingly eager for revenge. With a countenance
just as fierce as the prince, Uranus was at his side.=20
She was probably the source of the attack that must
have destroyed most of the golems already. Mars
followed them, disabling the last of the apprentices.=20
She'd learn not to take such a foolish chance if she
was allowed to live longer, he surmised. It never
paid to leave an enemy alive unless that was part of
your plan.
	Saturn brought up the rear, along with a pair
of cats. She was the unknown here, the variable in
the equation. Since there wasn't any sign of Pluto,=20
she was probably the most powerful of his opponents,=20
and the one to be wary of.
	He checked his shielding spells one last time
and beckoned the doors to open in front of them as
Endymion cut through the last golem. That's it,=20
everyone, he urged them in his mind, come on in. She's
here, waiting for you to join her.

**************************************************
=09
	He dashed through the doors as they opened,=20
sensing her presence in the room ahead. He didn't
care that it was much like the one in that other
building, circular with a balcony, but done in fine
marble and gold instead of the rough stone of the
other. She was in there, and that was all that
mattered to him right now.
	He skidded to a stop upon seeing the older
man in there, the one who had cut her down.
	" You," he hissed, sword and voice trembling
from the rage he felt. " You are going to die."
	" Usagi-chan!" a black cat yelled, racing
into the room along with a white one, and the two
placed themselves between the older man and the
still form of the young woman. Three other woman
were right behind them and moved to take positions
near the younger man.
	" Thank you for coming here today," the older
man said in a polite tone of voice as the doors swung
shut behind them. The glow of the young man's sword
and the shining red bow in Mar's hands vanished.
	" In a way," he began. " I'm somewhat disappointed
with all of you, walking into a trap twice on the same
day, excluding the cats, of course. It's a wonder your
respective kingdoms survived for so long."
	" I don't need magic to kill you!" Endymion
yelled, charging forward with his sword. Uranus hurled
a dagger she had taken from a guard over his shoulder
at the same time, both attacks ringingly bouncing off
of his shields. Mars took out the pole arm that was
slung across her back, but Saturn waved her off,=20
stepping forward.
	Endymion swung again, and this time the other
man reacted, flicking his wrist like he was idly
swatting at a fly. The young man was flung back and
slid to a stop against the far wall, his sword
clattering off in another direction.
	" Give her and the crystal back," Saturn softly
said in a calm voice as she stepped past Uranus. " Give
them back or you won't live to enjoy the fruits of your
victory. You can't stop me from destroying this place,=20
and you with it."

****************************************************

	She had to fight her way through a good number
of the more skilled magii on the way to the central
room they seemed to be converging near. If they were
counting on re-inforcements, someone was in for a
surprise. The last two she dealt with were only
apprentices guarding an archway with an open space
beyond.
	Below, she could hear Endymion yelling at
someone. She crept forward just in time to look
down and see him flung back by the man who had
attacked them earlier. Mars had the naginata out,=20
a sure sign that their powers were being blocked
again. Luna and Artemis stood guard over the princesses'
body, and the crystal rested on a pedestal near her.=20
Saturn was just walking up to face off with him. She
concentrated and produced a ghostly trace of two
crescents around her fingertip.=20
	Up here, at least, her powers were working. She
was considering the chance an attack would have of
breaking his defenses as the conversation began again.=20
Jason was surely far more skilled than Azarite, and
he had been able to deflect most of her attacks that
one night, long ago. No, she decided, she wouldn't
have any chance of taking him out with one shot.
	" Give her and the crystal back," Saturn was
saying below. What could she do to him if she couldn't
use any of her powers?
	" Give them back or you won't live to enjoy
the fruits of your victory," she continued, and it
struck her. The realization was so startling that
she missed the rest of what the girl said.=20
	They couldn't use any of their powers down
there, but Pluto had done something that now jarred
her memory. She had one option left. She could see
no other way.

**************************************************

	" I'd be glad to let you leave," he smoothly
replied, playing upon the girl's emotions for all he
could muster. Just a few more moments for the
spell. " The only thing, though, is that the crystal
is rightfully mine. I'll let her go once I can make
sure she isn't a threat to me."=20
	" Liar!" Sailor V shrieked from above, a white-hot
beam of light carving a trench in front of the man.
	" Venus!" Artemis called out in relief.=20
	" No!" Uranus yelled, frantically waving her
back as she stepped over the balcony railing. " Venus,=20
get him. NOW!"
	She shook her head as she lowered herself towards
the ground with her chain, dropping the rest of the way
as it cut out, signifying that she had entered into the
area where their powers didn't work, and landed near
the princess and the crystal.
	" I'm sorry, Uranus," she said, straightening up
from the landing with her sword in hand. " He's too
powerful. I'd only get one shot, and it wouldn't work. He's
far better than the one I fought."
	 " Damn," the taller woman swore softly. Their one
chance was gone.
	" As long as he can keep us from activating any
powers," she continued. " We don't have a chance." She
took out her compact, despite the whispers in her head
as part of her realized what she was going to do.
	" We can't turn anything on, but we can turn it
off. He can't stop that."
	The outline of Sailor V shimmered a moment,=20
leaving Sailor Venus, who let the crescent slip from
her hand and drop to the ground. She took a deep
breath and forced the next words out, despite the
pain of what was to come, despite the screaming
from her instinct for survival, and allowed the
sword to fall to the floor.
	" He can't stop this, either," she added as
her transformation wand appeared in her right hand
and Minako stood there in Venus' place, her sigil
glowing on her brow. Venus, she prayed, please let
me do this.=20
	Minako picked up the crystal as Jason looked
on bemusedly, trying in part to figure out her game,=20
but totally unconcerned now that she was no longer
a threat in his eyes.=20
	" My life for hers!" Minako yelled, crushing
the wand in her grip, breaking it as the sigil
vanished.=20
	" NO!" Artemis screamed in despair.
	She smiled as the world grew dark, channeling
the resulting energy into the crystal with all her
heart and soul, with her very life.

************************************************

	She watched the pieces of the wand fall clattering
to the floor.=20
	Another one lost. That was seven now that he had
to pay for.
	Uncontrollably, the rage came, her second-to-last
conscious thought that whatever Venus had done would
require at least a moment of time. Her last thought
was of Michiru, the image of her falling flashing
before her eyes.
	Luna was yelling something to her. She didn't
care. All she wanted was for him to be dead. No matter
what it took, even if it meant the end. That would be
fine by her. She no longer had any one to live for.

***************************************************

	Artemis fell to the ground. She spared a quick
glance, focusing her ears forward and just hearing the
beat of his heart as Uranus went berserk. He had fainted,=20
probably from shock. The black cat didn't even think of
holding it against him. She had practically done the
same upon hearing what had happened to Usagi.
	Holding her sword in both hands, the sandy-haired
Senshi ran up to Jason as one blast of red energy hit
Minako, and another, blue this time, sent Saturn
stumbling backwards to the wall.
	" Uranus!" she yelled, ears flattening as
the woman began to howl in rage after slamming
face-first into his shields. Blood flowed from a
broken nose, but that didn't stop her from swinging
again and again at his shields, seemingly determined
to bring them down by sheer tenacity, if nothing
else. She called her name several more times,=20
imploring her to get away, but was ignored.

************************************************

	Snarling in rage at his oversight, he slammed
a doom bolt into the blonde girl's chest. She was
already dead, but it was some small measure of
satisfaction. He turned off every spell in the tower
that he was personally powering in order to hoard as
much power as possible. He didn't know what she had
done, but he wasn't about to take any chances.
	How did I underestimate her, he asked himself
as he used a minor phantasmal spell to send Saturn
reeling back into the wall, thinking the attack was
real. How could they do such a thing, sacrificing
themselves for another?
	Nike, he prayed for the first time in
thousands of years to the goddess of victory,=20
let me carry the day. He had just felt something
stir deep inside the crystal as Uranus slammed into
his shields and began to rain blows down upon them.

*************************************************

	She could only remember floating in the white
light, and that it was a safe, secure  place. She
had tried to wake up, but it was too comfortable
here and she had continued to sleep away, ignoring
all her other concerns. Finally, distant voices
brought her to some semblance of wakefulness. Before
her were two figures that she couldn't make out. She
tried to focus her eyes on them, but there was no
response. It was like another was controlling her

body.
	" Now, I finally understand what the queen
did."
	Minako-chan, she gasped, recognizing one of
them.
	" Are you sure of this, child?" another
asked. The woman was the same size as her friend,=20
or maybe a little taller, but also seemed to tower
over her. She still couldn't make out any features
on the woman's face, but she seemed so kind and
caring.
	" Absolutely," her friend responded. " She
means so much to all of us, not just me. She gave
us so much without asking for anything in return.=20
I was losing myself in the end, just before I met
her. The strain was getting to me, and I had
forgotten how to even smile anymore, except as
part of the disguise.=20
	" She showed me how to laugh again, how to
love. For that alone I owe her my life, and then
she has saved both myself and the others on many
occasions. The world can survive without me, but
not without her."
	What do you mean, V-chan, she wondered. You
always were there for me, just like the others, no
matter what I did. How could you say such things?
	The next thing she knew, she was feeling the
emotional strain that Minako had spoken of; the terror
of the fights, the exultation as she vanquished her
foes, and the soul-searching afterwards as she looked
at the bodies. Whoever the other presence with her was,=20
it was looking at her friend's thoughts and feelings,=20
and she was along for the ride.
	No, Minako-chan! she screamed, now realizing what
the girl had just done. Why, when you have just as much
of a right to have a life and to be happy as I? 
	" Sister's daughter, do you concur?" the woman
seemed to ask her, but someone else was controlling
her as she tried to scream out her protests, and her
pleas to give Minako back the life she had given up
were not heard.
	Her other self just nodded in agreement, despite
all her efforts.
	" I will allow it," her voice said.
	I will not, she raged.
	" I marveled at the concept ever since we first
saw one of your kind do it," the woman said to her
friend. " I didn't agree with you at first, but now,=20
looking through your love for them, it is
understandable. The insight is invaluable. Farewell,=20
my child. Go with my love, since you have shone me
so much regarding it."
	The whiteness around her grew brighter and
brighter as the power began to flow into her. The
fires of her spirit were kindled again, and then
began to burn even brighter, fanned by the wings
of her friend's love.

*************************************************

	Mars stood in shock for just a second as Minako
was flung backwards by the bolt of light, landing
partially on the marble slab where Usagi lay. The
girl was smiling even after she was hit. Saturn went
skidding past her and crashed into the wall.
	She couldn't think of anything to do. Artemis
was down, although she hadn't seen him attacked. Luna
was yelling at Uranus, who had finally cracked from
the strain. Mamoru was still down for the count, and
their enemy wasn't even hurt.
	This must be the end, she decided, resigning
herself to this fate. She stepped backwards and
helped Saturn to her feet. Words were not needed. Her
eyes carried the message of defeat to the other girl
as they looked at each other.
	" Get him behind me," Saturn said, nodding
towards Endymion. " He's too heavy for me to move.=20
I'll get the cats." They both ran off, Mars dragging
his body back over the smooth floor while Saturn
picked up the white cat and returned with Luna
following her.
	She stepped forward, the Silence Glaive held
high while taking a deep breath, allowing her energy
to build and build. Ribbons began to appear out of
nowhere, snaking around and through each other as
they wafted through the air.

**************************************************

	Something fell across her legs. It was heavy
and warm, unlike the mattress she lay on. What was
her mother thinking, giving her a rock-
	Her eyes snapped open and blinked, adjusting
to the sudden light. She wasn't at home, that was
certain. Sliding her right elbow back, she levered
herself up to see what was happening.
	Minako's head lay across her knees. She wore
the light blue sundress she was so fond of, the one
she had even borrowed a few times. The rest of her
body was supported by the huge piece of marble they
lay on, except for her lower legs, which dangled off
of the side of the slab to her own left.=20
	Both of her arms were stretched wide, with Minako's
left hand lying next to hers, loosely clenched in a
fist. In it was the Silver Crystal. On her face was
that tiny, faint  smile she thought they never saw,=20
the one when she used when she knew she was right.
	Saturn must have seen her move, because she
lowered her glaive without using her power. Behind
her, her love was beginning to stir. She wanted
nothing more than to run to him, but she had some
unfinished business first.
	Carefully sliding out from beneath her friend
and gently setting her head down on the marble, she
swung her legs out and stood up, taking the crystal
and raising it up in the air, snapping his bonds
upon it with a determined pulse of energy. It glowed
brightly and changed into a white, heart-shaped broach
with double wings and a golden crescent moon.
	" Moon Eternal Make-up!" she called out,=20
changing to the form that she should be in right
now, wings unfurling and a golden crescent blazing
into life on her forehead, shining like the sun.

**************************************************

	An angel's voice woke him up, making him
disregard the pain. It was only a broken rib or
two. Nothing when compared to the feeling of hope
that filled him when he saw her standing there.
	" Usako," he whispered, forcing himself to
stand. She needed to see that he was all right. He
know realized what Kunzite had meant. With his
support, with his love, she could move the heavens
themselves. Their eyes met and he saw the flash of
love that was surely mirrored in his own, but touched
with an overlay of sadness.=20
	Instantly, he knew what she was going to do. He
had to get Uranus to safety before she would act.

****************************************************

	Her sword had no effect on his shields, as he
expected. What was a greater concern was the look on
Saturn's face as she ran over and picked up one of
the cats and carried it back over by Mars and Endymion.=20
The young girl then stood straight, her weapon held
aloft.
	The distractions of Uranus and Saturn kept him
from seeing her move at first. It was only when the
spell that linked him to the crystal was shattered did
he realize that she was standing there, holding the
crystal aloft and changing into another, more powerful
form.
	His questions were instantly banished as over
two thousand, five hundred years of control took hold.=20
He could already sense the conflagration of power
raging inside of her and realized that this would be
a battle of raw power, not finesse. The look on her face
wasn't that of the girl he had seen before.=20
	It was like a face he had seen before, long ago in
the past. The crescent moon on her forehead was the clue.=20
That look was one of utter composure; a calm that
transcended centuries. He had seen it before on her
mother, and she wore it now. It was suddenly obvious
why both of them had been named Serenity.
	He let Endymion run up and drag Uranus back behind
the defensive barrier Saturn had erected. She wouldn't
do anything to injure her friends, and he had to keep all
his attention on her. It also gave him time to reach out
and pull every bit of power he could reach into himself.
	Finally, it was time. All or nothing, gambling
everything on one final battle.
	He smiled.=20

*************************************************

	She had struggled at first, but somehow he
had managed to hold on to her and pull her back away
from him. She was kicking and screaming until the sight

of Sailor Moon Eternal finally sunk in and Uranus
collapsed in his arms. She was still awake, but on
the edge of exhaustion.
	They had just gotten behind Saturn's 'Silence
Wall' when all hell broke loose behind them. Jason had
nodded slightly, almost a short bow. Sailor Moon
curtsied in response and held up her hand. At her
unspoken command, the Eternal Tial shimmered into
existence, the handle lengthening until it was slightly
taller than she was.
	" Chaos Conflagration!" he yelled, a quasi-solid
bar of crimson and sable mayhem crashing across the
distance between the two. He grinned in triumph. He'd
gotten the first strike in, having done most of the work
of casting this complex spell well before their attack
had begun. He had set it up to deal with Saturn. It only
took the final phrase to finish the casting and nothing
in existence could stand against that much raw chaos.
	She merely stood there, her staff held out. He put
virtually everything he had available into it, sucking
dry the node beneath the tower and the four that he could
reach from there. The resulting, redoubled blast moved her
back half a step.
	" How?" he screamed. He knew how much power the
crystal had by virtue of the fact that he helped create
it. His first attack should have annihilated her, and
the second should have left the entire valley as a molten
tribute to his victory. The reason he wanted the crystal
so badly was that it's power was constantly there, instead
of needing time to recharge, but he now had more power
than it could ever have. That other girl didn't have
enough energy to make a difference. Why wasn't it
working?
	She finally made a counterattack while he braced
himself for it, anchoring and reinforcing his shields.=20
Disregarding the torrents of energy he still brought to
bear on her, she spun the staff in front of her with
both hands and whirled around, ending with it held
above her head while the angry red glow in the room
faded to a soft pink.  
	" Starlight Honeymoon Therapy Kiss!"

***************************************************

	The first attack had nearly blinded them,=20
making them scream at the sensory overload due to
the light and noise. Reality itself seemed to fluctuate,=20
with colors being tasted and smells heard. It took
several moments before they could make anything out
again and trust it to be what was there. Saturn was
gasping from the effort it took to keep up the barrier
that was surely keeping them alive.
	Luna was howling in pain at the assault on her
senses, but was the first to make out her form in the
middle of the flames.
	" Sailor Moon!" she cried out, hoping to encourage
her.
	" Usagi!" Mars yelled, giddy with delight at the
fact she was still there. She closed her eyes, her sigil
began to glow, and she threw everything she could towards
her friend in order to help her. She gritted her teeth
as Endymion took hold of her shoulders, realizing his
intent.
	Whatever she had been sending, it was like a
trickle of water compared to the flood that tore through
the channel she had established. She had no idea where
he was getting all that energy, nor did she even think
about it. It was all she could do keep the power flowing
without any interruptions.
	Suddenly, the painful red color of the air was
replaced by a soothing pink aura as Sailor Moon attacked.=20
The resulting wave of pressure cracked the marble floor
and walls and knocked Saturn down, but the girl kept up
the life-saving barrier in spite of the distractions.
	The noise and light faded, leaving only Sailor Moon
standing there. Before Mars could even think of moving,=20
Endymion was at her side, supporting her.
	" Usako..." he whispered, still weak from helping
her.
	" Mamo-chan," she replied automatically, keeping
herself from looking behind her by sheer force of
will. " Minako-chan, she's... all right, isn't she?"
	" I'm so sorry, Usagi-chan," Mars said as she
walked up and took her other arm, using the naginata
as a staff for support. The blonde looked around a few
times, still not looking at the body behind her and
counted. She finally saw Uranus, curled into a ball
and crying.=20
	That's when she made the awful realization.
	" Setsuna-san... Michiru-san... Mako-chan...=20
Ami-chan... ," she stammered, looking at the other
two. She sobbed out the next name.=20
	" Chibi-usa-chan."
	Mars looked away, but he met her gaze. He
couldn't lie to her, not now.
	" No," she whispered, standing up on her
own somehow.
	" Usagi," Mars interjected, catching the
change in her tone of voice.
	" No!" she said, stronger this time, shaking
her head back and forth in denial.
	" Usako-," he began, trying to console her.
	" GETAWAYFROMME!" she screamed, a pulse of
white light flinging them away from her as the
pupils of her eyes faded. She had changed by the
time they landed on the ground. Where Sailor Moon
had stood, only Princess Serenity remained, her
eyes blue pools of madness.
	" I'm not losing any more of them! I'm tired
of them sacrificing themselves for me."
	She paused a moment to take several deep
gulps of air while she began to glow.
	" I WANT THEM BACK!"

*************************************************=20

	Her silent grieving was interrupted by the
touch of the ringed one. Around them, all were
silent, exploring the feelings of loss they felt,=20
whether they had lost their avatar or sympathizing
with the pain the others felt.
	" Once again, brother," she said sadly. " Once
again, they give us so much at such a great cost. She
cared enough to give up her own life. I never could
have imagined what it was to feel like that."
	" I understand how you feel," he replied,=20
consoling her. " I was in your position a short
time ago, remember?"
	" Forgive me," she smiled back. "  I was too
busy with my pain and forgot about yours, brother.=20
What enabled you to continue?"
	" She didn't have what they called a good
life," he began. " There was much hardship she had
to go through. She always believed that it would get
better. I truly understood the concept only a moment
ago when I saw all of you in pain.=20
	" She refused to give in to despair. ' Where
there is life, there is hope', she says to herself.=20
Love is truly a powerful thing, sister, but I am
beginning to think that hope is just as strong,=20
if not stronger."

*************************************************

	Everything seemed to have frozen around
her. Mamo-chan and Rei-chan were trying to get up
from where they had fallen when she pushed them
away. Neither was physically hurt, she could tell,=20
but each was very tired. Their energy levels were
severely depleted.
	Energy levels? She started to wonder about
that when the answer came to her. She could see
the amount of energy each person, each object had
in it. The room itself, and the entire countryside
for kilometers was drained. The remaining people in
the room and the cats were low.=20
	Minako-chan!
	She looked over at her, hoping to catch some
glimmer of hope, but the blonde was as empty of life
as the stone she lay on.
	How, she asked herself and suddenly knew. Minako's
energy was inside of her, due to her decision. She
risked a glimpse further out into the world, trying
to see if she could locate the others.=20
	There! she cried out. Suddenly, she was looking
down on them in the yard at the back of a house. All
three of them had suffered injuries, but, unlike
Minako-chan, she could sense that a tiny spark remained
in them. Maybe she could do something to help them.
	Ami-chan would have been proud at her thinking,=20
she decided with a little smile as she moved all of them
from the ruined building and to the house where they
had left from. It seemed to be the best place to work
at. She tried looking for Setsuna, but could not find
any trace of her.
	Another thing she saw was the distortion where
Chibi-usa had last been. There was a faint glimmer
there as she sensed the lessening of tensions in that
spot. It grew brighter, but so very slowly. Did that
mean she would be back?
	A nagging thought made her wonder about her
energy if she could do all of this so easily. She
looked and was shocked. How did she get so much
power? Why, there was enough for her to do anything.
	The crystal, she realized, after a few moments. She
must be making use of it somehow. But, if she used the
crystal, that meant that she would... no, it didn't
automatically mean she would die anymore. She had used
it for other things without dying, so maybe she was
getting better at it.
	She spent several moments considering it. If she
had all this energy, couldn't she just make it so this
had never happened? With Minako-chan's, and the energy
from Mamo-chan and that of the crystal, combined with
her own, why couldn't she just change time itself, and
also make it so that nothing like this could ever happen
again? Nobody would ever have to be hurt or forced to
feel pain and loss. Not just her friends, but everyone.
	" Serenity?" a voice softly called out, breaking
her reverie. She turned slowly, recognizing the voice. A
woman stood there, wearing a white gown and long, white
hair pinned up into odango, just like her. She also had
a glowing crescent on her forehead.
	" Mama?"

*************************************************

	The ringed one looked outwards, and took on
a guise so that he looked like one of the humans. His
brother further out from the center had started doing
that a long time ago, saying that it helped him
understand them better. Perhaps he was right.
	He noticed his other brothers, who were also
further out than he, silently mourning together at
their loss. They all were suffering, really.=20
	" Greetings," he said to the one he sought,=20
noticing a curious lack of emotions on his face as
he sat opposite the figure in what was a small, cold
room with stone walls. The only things in there were
a few old scraps of wood that might have once been
some kind of furnishings, and a block of stone worn
smooth by the years.
	The form his brother chose was one that could
be of any age. If one looked for the signs of age
that the humans showed, they were there. Then one saw
the look of youth on those same features. It was
puzzling, but that was like his brother. Questions
among the answers.
	The one furthest out nodded in response,=20
looking at the staff that rested across his knees
as he floated in the air in a sitting position a
meter above the ground. His avatar's staff.
	" Don't you share in their pain?" he asked. " Your
avatar has been lost, like the others."
	" What will be, brother," he replied
cryptically, " will be. They've lost these avatars,=20
but nothing stops them from replacing them. Our sister,=20
however, is in a distinctly different position."
	" No," he whispered, tears on his face for the
first time, and delighting in the feel while ashamed
of it at the same time. " You mean... "
	" Yes," he nodded. " I grieve for her. Unlike the
others, she has no control over that right now. If
there is a higher power, like we surmise, the matter
is now in it's hands, just like the last time. Pray
for her, brother, like we did for you."
	" I will," he replied, remembering how his
avatar hoped that things would get better. " I'll
pray for you as well. She's not the only one to
have lost someone today."=20

***************************************************

	" Mama!" she cried, running over to the woman
and desperately hugging her as hard as she could,=20
savoring the feeling of security she suddenly felt.=20
It was almost like when she was with Mamo-chan.
	The woman held the girl as she began to cry,=20
hesitantly at first, but rapidly becoming a long,=20
tension-draining bout of crying. It was only after
the woman had given her another tissue for the
twentieth time that she realized something wasn't
right.=20
	 " Is this all a dream, Mama?" she asked, sadly
realizing the truth as she asked the question. " Are
you really here?"
	The woman sighed in response.=20
	" It's real, my little Serenity, but I'm not.=20
This is just a tiny part of me that I left in the
crystal in case you ever needed this."
	" I don't understand," she replied, frowning
and trying to puzzle it out.
	" When I gave my life to seal away Beryl and
Metallia, and send all of you here to have another
chance, I gained an incredible amount of power for a
very short time. You're doing the same thing right
now."
	" But..."=20
	" You didn't give up your life, daughter, but
you're willing to right now, and that's what counted.=20
That's why I'm here."
	" To help me?" she asked hopefully, eyes
brightening.
	" No. You could probably do anything you want
right now, but I'm here to ask you not to," the woman
replied, sadness in her voice.
	" What!" she exclaimed. " I want them back. I
want my friends back!"
	" Darling, don't you understand? You can't have
them back, not like this."
	" WHY!" she screamed, pulling away.
	" Don't you think I wanted you back?" she softly
replied, pulling her back into the embrace. " That's
why I did what I did. I wanted you back more than anything,=20
but I couldn't do it."
	" Mama?" she asked after realizing her mother
had paused for several seconds.
	" I'm sorry, dear," the woman said, wiping
away a tear. " This isn't easy for me, either. Don't
you see that if you try and change time, you'll be
taking away the choices that someone else might have
had? Could you live with that?"
	" Huh?" she asked, causing her mother to smile.=20
	" I was too easy on you back on the moon, I
guess. I should have made Pluto your tutor instead
of Mercury. The reason we did what we could for the
people on Earth was to give them the freedom to
choose their destiny. It's not right to take that
choice away from a person."
	" It's not very fair," she mumbled, feeling
sad.=20
	" There's one other thing, dear. When I was
trying to figure out what to do, I looked at the
possibilities of the futures that could have
happened. Do you know what I saw in most of them?" She
continued after feeling the girl's head shake more than
seeing it, since they were still holding onto each other.
	 " I saw a beautiful young lady in most of them.=20
She was happy, too. Not all the time, mind you, but
generally, she was happy and with the ones she loved."
	" Me?" she guessed.
	" Yes, you. And, I bet you could do the same
thing, if you wanted to."
	" What, see me?"
	" No, Serenity," she laughed affectionately,=20
shaking her head. " I'm hoping you don't try to
change anything and that you go back to the ones
who love you. If you do, you shouldn't look at the
futures that could happen.
	" Let me ask you this, however. If you looked
forward in time, focusing on the futures and the
Crystal, what do you think you would see?"
	" Chibi-usa-chan!" she gasped in shock.
	" Would you deny her the chance to live?"
	" Of course not!" she replied angrily, her
heart breaking at the idea of there not being that
beautiful little girl in her life.
	" That's one of the things that could happen
if you change anything here. Now, do you see what I
mean? If I tried to bring you back, you might have
ended up being unhappy, or not being at all."
	" Yes, Mama," she said after a minute of
reflection. " I do now."
	" That's a wise decision, dear. It's not an
easy one, but it's a good one. I'm proud of you."
	" What about my friends, though?" she asked
her mother several minutes later.
	" Don't you remember what I said a few minutes
ago?"
	" I can't have them back is what you said."
	" Serenity," she scolded her child.=20
	" I can't have them back... like this! There
is a way, then?"
	" You should be able to help some of them. That
little spark that you saw in those three is their
soul. It's the important part of a person. You can
bring them back."
	" You were about to say 'but'," she accused,=20
understanding what was to come and fearing it at
the same time.
	" I'm sorry, Serenity, but there isn't
anything you can do for Venus. She gave up her soul
to help you. That's where all this power you have
is coming from. You can't restore her without her
soul."
	" It's not in me," she said, looking inside
of herself, hoping. Her mother continued to hold
her as she grieved over the loss of her friend,=20
enjoying the feel of holding her own daughter one
last time, despite the sadness of knowing it was
about to end.
	" Serenity," she said, pulling the girl to
her feet. " It's time for you to go back now and
join the real world. You can't stay in here forever."=20
	" I... still miss you, Mama."
	" I've missed you as well, darling," she
replied tearfully. " Don't forget, though, that
you still have a mother here. Don't let that
chance slip by.=20
	" You've made me proud, Serenity. I hope
that you are always happy," her mother said,=20
stepping back away and fading from sight.    

*************************************************

	Luna jumped in surprise as she realized they
were suddenly somewhere else, and not in the ruined
chamber at the center of the tower of the magii. Her
head swam as she adjusted to the change in the
environment, although it was much easier sorting
out smells as opposed to smelling colors. Whatever
he had done to their senses still left her feeling
a bit fuzzy.
	There was a bright, white light that would
have been in about the right position to correspond
to where Usagi-chan had been standing, since they
were all in the same relative positions. Mars tried
to get up, slipped again and reverted back to being
Rei, who just stretched out on the grass trying to
gain her breath.=20
	Using his sword as a support, Endymion had risen
to his feet and was walking over the light. Uranus was
still curled up on her side in a near-fetal position a
few feet away from Neptune. She had stopped crying,=20
but just lay there unmoving. The slow rise and fall
of her side betrayed the fact that she was breathing,=20
but it was the only sign that she was alive.
	Saturn had finally sat up and was stroking
Artemis' back as he lay on the grass. He began to
wake up at this and struggled to his feet, arching
his back and stretching. Luna could see the effort
it took for him to stay calm when he realized there
was no sign of Minako's body. None of them needed
another bout of hysterics from anyone, not right now.=20
She padded over to sit next to him, leaning up against
him for moral and physical support. It would help him
get over it.
	They turned their attention on the glowing
light, sensing that it would be the first indication
of what had happened to the princess.

**************************************************

	It took her a while longer to build up the
courage for what she had decided to do, now that
she realized her error in approach the first time.=20
She used some of the extra energy to restore the
bodies of the three who still had their souls, and
most of the rest sparking the fires of life in them
again.   
	" I'm sorry, Setsuna," she whispered. " I'd
like to help you, but I don't know where you are."
	Another portion was directed at the mote of
light that was her daughter returning to existence. It
would help speed up the process, and she desperately
needed a hug from the little girl as much as she
needed one from Mamo-chan. Finally, after making
sure of everything she had done and that she would
be all right when she went back, she got down on her
knees and prayed.=20
	Rei had told her about Shinto precepts and
prayers. She offered up those along with ones to all
the other deities she knew that man worshipped, amazed
at her ability to remember them all from what the
priestess had told her in their discussions on the
subject.
She prayed to the moon as well, imagining herself in
the tower that Luna had told her of, the one where
the rulers of the Moon Kingdom prayed from. She
couldn't remember it herself.
	She prayed to all of the planets, especially
her friend's namesake, and asked the Earth itself
to help her friend as well. The stars also received
her supplications. Finally, as she stopped, she
stood up and remembered the love and friendship
they had shared.
	" Please give her another chance," she
whispered, putting all the energy she had left
into the effort of helping her friend and shifted
herself back to reality.

*************************************************

	The wind was howling around the deteriorated
building. The cold here was so bad that bone-chilling
wasn't an accurate word. The very stone the building
was made out of was weakened by it.=20
	The mountain the rock was quarried out of wasn't
nearly one of the tallest in that region, but it was
one of the most difficult climbs. An Italian team
had scaled it once shortly after Everest had been
conquered, and quickly spread the news that it wasn't
worth the effort. After that, it hadn't even been
well surveyed, lacking the glamour of the taller
mountains. The thrillseekers gave up on it, turning
to the heights of Everest or the dangers of K2 over
the years.
	He had helped much in making it's reputation,=20
the man sitting on a chair outside the building
recalled, lighting a cigarette. The flame from the
match burned clear and steady in a bubble of calm,=20
sea-level thickness air that surrounded the building
and the caverns below it. He was an incongruous sight,=20
wearing a light, summer suit in the middle of a blizzard.=20
The Italian team lost a couple of members under unusual
circumstances that, to him, weren't unusual at all. It
was a simple matter to cloud the mind at an inopportune
moment.
	The node beneath the mountain was a small one,=20
smaller even then the one under the old stronghold. In
his last moments, Jason had drained this one as well,=20
reaching out across the miles to do so. The node was
just beginning to recover, slowly filling with power
like a lake fed by a stream, but his long-time associate
never would. The Archmage was gone, snuffed out like the
match when he flipped it outside the protection of the
bubble.
	He'd almost consider him a friend, if it wasn't
for the unspoken agreement between them. He had been
waiting for the right time, and Jason knew it. It would
have eventually come down to a confrontation. That was
the way of the magii.=20
	Standing, he brushed a snowflake off of the new
jacket and straightened the lapel. It would be a long
time until the order could recover, but it would. The
crystal that Jason had pursued to the point of obsession
was a worthy goal, but not worth the price in the end.=20
The art had to survive as well as it's practitioners.
	It will be different the next time. He wouldn't
take any chances with them. He had ordered all the
strongest apprentices to deal with the attackers and
slow them down. They hadn't a prayer of success, but
he had done it anyway. There would always be more
coming to them in search of power. It should have
enabled all the journeymen and remaining masters to
get away safely.=20
	It hadn't worked. Something had killed most of
them; sixteen of the twenty hadn't made it out as per
his instructions and were lost. A journeyman was the
last through the gate before screams rang out and the
gate collapsed when the anchor was disrupted at the
other end. The setback was a major one, but not
crippling. He didn't plan on openly moving against
them for some time. Maybe in a century or two. After
all, he had little to fear from death because he knew
how to use others to cheat it. He could be patient.=20

****************************************************

	Sailor Moon stepped back and into his arms, her
costume fading away into her regular clothes. Endymion
was pulled to the ground as she collapsed, unprepared
for her sudden weight and switching back to being the
one she needed right now. Usagi and Mamoru embraced
silently, uncaring of anything else for a few moments,=20
existing in their own, private universe.
	" Usagi-chan!" Luna cried in joy, abandoning
propriety and burrowing her way in next to the girl.=20
Rei looked over at them and smiled. She was so tired
it hurt, but she began to pull herself over to the
trio. She was back, the girl rejoiced in her mind,=20
offering a prayer of thanks as she crawled.=20
	She never made it the whole way, but she didn't
mind, stopping a few feet away, snaring one of Usagi's
hands and holding onto it. It was enough to know that
she had made it back, and Rei clung onto the hand so
hard that Usagi felt that she would never let go again.
	" Rei-chan," she murmured, pulling herself
out of the embrace with Mamoru and into one with
the other girl. Mamoru came over and helped both of
them to a sitting position, kneeling and letting his
love recline against him. " Thank you so very much
for helping me, Rei-chan."
	" But," she choked out, beginning to
cry. " Usagi-chan..."
	" Don't cry, Rei," she responded, brushing
away the tears. " It's not a time for crying right
now."
	She nudged her and pointed, causing the
raven-haired girl to look in that direction and
gasp in shock. Neptune's hands had been crossed
over her chest by Uranus before they had left. Now,=20
the sheets were gone and Michiru's right arm was
stretched out towards her partner. The sandy haired
woman's eyes slowly opened, and her hand reached out
in response. Their fingertips brushed against each
other. A peaceful look replaced the haunted one on
her face.=20
	Rei heaved herself to her feet in a cry of
joy. Jupiter and Mercury's transformations had
somehow reversed without her noticing. Ami's eyes
were blinking at the light while Mako-chan had
turned her head and was looking around. Rei knelt
between them and threw her arms around both, bodily
pulling them up so that they were sitting.
	" Go on," Mamoru whispered, knowing the look
that would be in her eyes right now. He gave her a
quick kiss before helping her to stand up and walked
her over to them, where she fell to her knees and
did her best to hold all three of them.

*************************************************

	Unnoticed in the reunion going on, Saturn
dropped her glaive to the ground since properly
putting it away would take too much energy. She
didn't have it right now. It was a little strange,=20
being alone at a time like this.=20
	Haruka and Michiru were both already asleep. Their
eyes met for a moment so that each could verify the
relative well-being of the other. After that, it was
lights out for those two. Their world was complete
again.
	The remaining Inner Senshi were in a group
hug with Mamoru affectionately looking at his
wife-to-be. Luna had gone back over to Artemis and
was consoling the poor thing. The look on his face
had been so sad before, and now it was even worse
for him with the others back. He and Minako had been
very close according to what she knew of their past.=20
They had been working together as long as any of the
rest. Michiru had once told her that they had started
hearing of her activities just as they got underway
with their own mission.
	Pluto was gone as well, at least as far as
any of them knew. She'd make sure she asked Usagi
about that later on. Would they be able to continue
without Setsuna's guidance and assistance?
	" Chibi-usa-chan," she whispered, fondly
remembering the times she had spent with her. Both
Usagi and Mamoru weren't as upset as they should
have been if their daughter was truly lost. Maybe
she would be back soon, and she could have someone
to be with here.
	She stretched her arms over her head with a
sigh after picking up and putting away the Silence
Glaive. The point of white light Usagi had emerged
from was beginning to fade to the point where she
could make out the shape. It intrigued her, being
shaped like the multi-pointed broach she had once
worn.
	That's what made her walk over to the light. Her
toe encountered something hard that bounced away and
she knelt to see what it was, squinting at the
still-bright light. A watch... no, one of the
communicators the Inner Senshi used was what her
hand found, the brightness keeping her from making
out the color.=20
	The light was slowly fading a little more and
she became aware of something else lying on the
ground. Several things, actually, her fingers told
her as she reached into the brightness. A makeup
case with a mirror in the shape of a crescent was
the first thing she found. The next was a knife in
a well worn sheath.=20
	It's blade was slightly curved, like the samurai
swords she had seen in the pictures in her school
books. That was followed by small pouch filled with
an assortment of odd-shaped bits of metal that
vaguely resemble hair pins. There were a few of those
as well amid all the others. Searching further, her
hands touched something warm as the light vanished.

***************************************************

	" I'm sorry, Artemis," he said as he carefully
picked up the two cats while Usagi extricated herself
from the pile to snuggle in under an arm again.
	" Thank you," the cat said quietly, climbing up
onto the man's shoulders and draping himself across
them. " Thank you for caring enough to ask, considering
the circumstances. We came out of this better than I
dared hope."=20
	Usagi reached up and scratched him behind one
ear. It felt all wrong to the cat, who shook his head
to dislodge it.
	" You seem to be in good spirits," the cat
continued. " I hope this means that the Small Lady
will be all right."
	" She says that she'll be just fine," Mamoru
said, tightening the embrace on the girl in his arm.=20
	" Hotaru healed her during the fight," Usagi
added. " She was going away because of the interference
in the time line that was the result of my existence
being in danger."=09
	" Usagi-chan?" Luna asked in surprise at the
way the answer was delivered more so than the answer
itself. " You mean that..."
	" Chibi-usa will be back, Luna. I wouldn't be
like this if it were otherwise," she finished, her
voice low and level.
	" What was it like, Usako?" Mamoru asked.
	" Being dead? I don't know, Mamo-chan. I don't
think I was dead. I think I was in the crystal," she
pensively replied, but her voice got stronger as she
spoke. " It's all fading, like a dream... but I do
know that my daughter will be back."
	" Your Majesties," Saturn announced loudly,=20
even getting the attention of the three Inner Senshi
who still sat together on the grass. She dropped down
on one knee, bowing her head before them. Her hands
were held up before her like she was offering tribute
to the two monarchs. They gently cradled a child,=20
wrapped in a cloth of the purest white; a beautiful
girl-child with blue eyes looking out from under a
wisp of blonde hair and the orange sigil of Venus
gleaming on her forehead.
	" Your Majesty, please give your blessing to
this child," Saturn began in the traditional form of
presenting a newly chosen Senshi to the ruler of the
Moon Kingdom, addressing her words to Usagi. The princess
smiled broadly, and then her eyes rolled back in her
head as she fainted. Her companion held her, slowing
her fall to the ground as the cat slipped from his
shoulders in the same state as the princess. 
	They had almost adjusted to this, placing the
child in her lap as the princess began to come about
since the infant began fussing and reaching towards
her when a scream rang out behind them.
	" Her hair... " Sailor Chibi-moon stammered,=20
tears forming in her eyes as they turned to look at
her in surprise. " It matches hers... I was supposed
to be their first one... Usagi no baka!"=09

**************************************************

	Michiru and Haruka had been able to verify that
it was one of Setsuna's places later on that evening
when they woke up. Almost four hours after finding out
that Michiru was alive, the sandy haired woman woke
with a start and took charge of everything, getting
them set up in rooms for the night and forcibly
removing Mako-chan from the kitchen. She had gone
in there with the intention of cooking but had
fallen asleep at the table.
	" It was just a little break," the brunette
had protested as she was carried up the stairs and
put into a proper bed. Most of the others had stayed
awake for a little while but had soon crashed. Haruka
was practically humming as she walked, making quick
work of things and calling in a massive order from a
near-by Chinese take-out place.
	" How come you're so energetic?" Hotaru mumbled
as she sat with a cup of coffee in her hand as the
woman put down the phone in the kitchen. The woman
just smiled, looking over at Michiru, who had awoken
a few minutes ago, and began to wash up the rice cooker
that she took out of the original box it had came in.=20
	" Ever so practical, our Setsuna," she drawled,=20
looking at the box. " Every comfort of home, bought
new and stored here until needed. I don't think anyone
has lived in here for years."
	" If at all," Michiru responded, taking a sip of
tea. She wasn't as energetic as her partner, but was
in much better shape then the Inner Senshi. With one
obvious exception, they were soundly asleep. " She
probably has several more houses like this around
the city that even we don't know about."
	" Paranoia," Hotaru commented.
	" Preparedness," Haruka responded, opening a
large bag of rice.
	The door opened as Chibi-usa walked in, carefully
carrying the baby.=20
	" Don't be sad about Pu," she stated, taking a
seat at the table. It hadn't taken them very long to
convince her that she was in error about the
parentage of the child. They had become virtually
unseperable after that, the girl taking the burden
of looking after the child so the others could rest.
	" Why is that, Chibi-usa-chan?" Hotaru asked her.
	" She said that she would always be there for
us," the girl replied, trying to cheer the others
up. " She told me that once."
	" I think she's all right, Chibi-usa," Michiru
said. " She's come back before after something like
this."
	" I hope she does come back," the girl admitted,=20
taking the bottle that Haruka handed to her before
doing a double take when she looked at it. " What
is this?!?" she demanded.
	" Infant formula," Michiru giggled. " It was
in the pantry here when I first opened it up. Right
in front of the tea."
	" What a coincidence," Haruka said wryly,=20
winking at the young girl.
	" Coincidence or not," Hotaru interjected
in a more somber tone. " This does leave us in an
interesting situation."
	She looked carefully at the two women for
several moments, meeting each of their gazes in
turn. She then smiled, cheering up.
	" I'm in," she said confidently, tugging off her
ring and placing it in the middle of the table like a
card player making a bet.=20
	" Not again," Haruka laughed, taking hers off as
well after a moment and flipping the matching ring onto
the table.
	" I don't seem to have much of a choice,=20
Haruka-papa," Michiru added, smiling as she did
the same. She reached out and took the bottle from
the baby and gently picked her up. " You can call
me Michiru-mama. This is Haruka-papa, and this is
Hotaru-mama."
	The three laughed at the joke as Michiru took
the infant around, making introductions before
sitting down again and resumed feeding her.=20
	" What was that about?" Chibi-usa asked.
	" When I was reborn," Hotaru began. "They
made an oath to raise me as theirs. We're doing
the same for her."
	" What about her parents?" the girl responded.
	" I don't know," Michiru ventured a moment
later. " We'll probably talk about that later on
tonight or in the morning."
	" Morning," Haruka added firmly. " None of
them are going to be in any shape to think straight
without food and rest. They don't heal as fast as
we do."
	" I don't have a ring," the girl replied, taking
off the broach from the bow on her blouse. " I'm not
one of the Outer Senshi and I may not be here as much
as the rest of you, but... "
	Her voice trailed off as she hopefully looked
at the others, placing the broach with the three
rings in the middle of the table.=20

**************************************************

	" We have to tell them something," Makoto
insisted firmly but quietly. " We have to give
her the chance at being able to see them again."
	" What, Mako-chan?" Haruka responded. " Here
you go, Mr. and Mrs. Aino. Here's your daughter. We're
really sorry about all this, but we're afraid you're
going to have to raise her all over again. We hope
you do another good job."=20
	" Damn it, Haruka! I don't want her to be
like me. I lost mine, and I don't want her to have
to also. It would be adding insult to injury with
her parents still alive."
	" How could you think of doing this to her!" Ami
softly cried out. " After everything she's done for
all of us, you'd just cut her off from her own family?"
	" Enough."
	" Listen!" the sandy haired woman hissed. " All
I said is that it would be the best thing for
security reasons. I'm not that heartless, Ami-chan,=20
and-"
	" Enough!" Usagi yelled at them.  " That is
quite enough."
	She glared at each of them as she entered the
room where the others sat around a low table
littered with white cartons. They'd started arguing
about ten minutes ago; their anger, more than their
voices, waking her in the room upstairs that she was
openly sharing with Mamoru, regardless of what they
would think. It was about one in the morning, and the
two of them had slept through the entire evening, and
apparently through dinner as well.=20
	" As far as I'm concerned, she is still one of
us," she declared, picking through the smaller cartons
until finding one that was clean and empty. She shrugged
a streamer of hair out of her way as she filled it with
rice. " I appreciate your offer to take care of her,=20
but that doesn't mean that you can just take her."
	" One of the Inner Senshi," Haruka muttered.=20
	" A Sailor Senshi, Haruka," she said flatly
while picking up some of the spicy shrimp and putting
them in her carton. She looked the tall woman straight
in the eye before continuing, steadily meeting her gaze.=20
	" All right, Usagi," she said several seconds
later and looked away, sighing.=20
	" Thank you," the blonde replied, sitting down
next to the woman and warmly clasping her around the
shoulder with one arm before beginning to eat.=20
	" I need your help, Haruka-san," she
admitted. " I'll need all of you to help me out
in the days to come. I'm not going to be perfect
at this, and I'll need your help in making it
through the rough spots."
	" What do you think we should do about Minako,=20
Usagi-chan?" Rei asked, getting up to take a seat on
the couch behind her.=20
	" I want her to have her family," Makoto
interjected. " She deserves that much."
	" I know, Mako-chan," Ami continued, looking
pensive. " Haruka-san is right, though. What do we
tell her parents?"
	 " We can't take her back like that," Hotaru
waved her hand towards the futon that had been brought
into the room. Artemis was curled up next to the infant,=20
silently debating his decision to watch over her as the
girl pulled on his tail.
	" Hotaru-chan," Michiru asked. " You've been where
she is now. Is there any way that you could tell if she
is going to grow up as quickly as you?"
	" That would be a big help," Ami added hopefully.=20
	She shook her head, her short, black hair swinging
around just above her shoulders.=20
	" I'm sorry, but I don't know."=20
	" We have to do something quickly," Rei said. " Her
parents are going to get worried soon. I'd like to spare
them not knowing anything, regardless of what we decide."
	" If I may?" the cat called out from the futon. " In
the Moon Kingdom, the Senshi were never directly
reincarnated. When one was lost, the mark would soon
appear on another. I don't know if it's true or not,=20
but there are old stories of some of them who were
chosen as infants who grew up extremely quickly,=20
like Hotaru-chan."
	" Maybe you weren't an isolated case then,=20
Hotaru," Ami said, closing her eyes to think about
the possibilities.
	" Michiru-san, Haruka-san," Usagi turned towards
them. " Pluto mentioned a winery being held in trust
for me. What kind of financial shape was she in?"
	" What do you need, Usagi-chan," Hotaru laughed
bitterly, feeling a sudden pang of loss. " That's what
she asked me when I asked her how much money she had."
	" There's a lot, Usagi-chan," Michiru
confirmed. " What were you thinking of?"
	" I was never any good at sports," Usagi
said cryptically. " How good was she at volleyball?"
	" Very," Makoto answered. " I saw her in a
pick-up game at one park near her house several
months ago. Some girls from her school were trying
to get her to rejoin the team."
	" Professional, or at least close to that?"
	Makoto shrugged her shoulders.
	" I guess."
	" The European tour!" Rei exclaimed, snapping
her fingers.=20
	" She wanted to be on it," Usagi said sadly. " She
could have, if it wasn't for me."
	" I'll make a call, odango-chan. Her brokers in
Switzerland don't sleep, and one of them should be able
to let me know some more about it."
	Haruka got up and left the room, going into the
library and shutting the door.
	" She said she never told anyone but me,=20
Usagi-chan," Rei asked her. " How did you know she
wanted to do that?"
	She closed her eyes at the question, whimpering
once from the anguish as she looked at the memories
that were still inside her from when she had that brief
moment of contact with Minako's mind. It still hurt to
think of what she had done.
	" She used the crystal, Rei-chan. She did what
my mother did, giving her life in place of mine. I
touched her mind. I felt what she felt."

*************************************************

	He waited in the darkness, watching her go down
and talk to them. The top of the stairwell made a good
spot to watch them from, and the shadows assured him of
not being spotted.
	" Mamo-chan," she had whispered to him, standing
at the top of the stairs as he put his arms around her
from behind. " I need to do this, but I have to be on
my own."=20
	" I understand, Usako," he murmured, giving her a
quick kiss. " I'll be up here if you need me."
	They had spoken of this before they had slept. Minako's
actions made her see this task in a whole new light. Usagi
had never thought that being the leader of the group would
be very hard, but now she knew differently, thanks to
seeing it from a new viewpoint. She had told him of the
significance of the sword that Venus had carried, and
that Haruka had respected Minako's wishes that Usagi be
the leader of the group.
	Now, since that restriction was no longer there,=20
and with Setsuna missing, Usagi was determined to make
sure that the burden that had nearly made Minako break
wouldn't be shouldered by another one of her friends. Her
heartfelt refusal to allow any more of them to be hurt
had finally put an end to their conversation as she
broke into tears, remembering her friend. It had taken
him some time to get her settled down and sleeping in
order to get the rest she clearly needed.
	He heard the conversation pause as Haruka left
the room to go into the library, the heavy door clicking
shut behind her. The worst part for Usagi right now was
that they had no way of knowing that the child downstairs
was actually Minako. She was a blonde, and also had blue
eyes, but that was no guarantee.=20
	He wasn't even very sure of how to console her about
this. He had never had many friends in this life, and never
had been in the position of losing one of them that had been
as close as those two had been. She, on the other hand, was
emotionally devastated by it.=20
	Usagi was also beginning to see the effects that being
a Senshi was having on her friend's lives. She still thought
they did it as a duty, however, and railed against them
giving anything up for her. The fact that they did it out
of love was something she was still missing. They gladly

accepted those chains, and would continue to do so for the
rest of their lives.
	Her crying brought him out of his reverie. She must
have started thinking about her, he decided. It was still
going to take some time for her to get over it. He stood
and walked down the stairs, sitting on the arm of the
couch by her and putting a hand on her shoulder.
	You did a very good job, he said silently, letting
his eyes convey the message to her as she looked up to
him for reassurance.

**************************************************

	They fell silent at the expression on her face as
she came back into the room about twenty minutes later.
	" I talked to one of the lawyers there," Haruka
began, going over to sit next to Michiru, carefully
keeping her face in a neutral expression. " One of the
corporations we have a significant portion of stock in
sponsors a team on a semi-pro league, mainly as a tax
write-off. He'll take the necessary steps on the paperwork.=20
	" I filled in a few things, Usagi-chan. They'll
hire some girl to play on the team under her name who'll
look close enough to her for when we send pictures back
to her parents. Ami-chan can touch them up on the
computer to take care of the rest."
	" That's a good idea," Makoto smiled,=20
relieved. " Thank you, Haruka-san."
	" Haruka," Michiru asked a few moments
later. " What is it?"
	" Two hours ago, the word of a corporate merger
was leaked to the press in America. It would have a
large impact on the financial holdings in the
American and European markets that would have
severely impinged on our own holdings.
	" Setsuna has the system arranged such that
we really don't have to do anything, since management
companies like this one handle most of the
paperwork. We're quite spread out in most areas,=20
with all of it funneling into a number of Swiss
accounts in the case of the holdings that would
have been affected.
	" Ten minutes before I called him, he received
his instructions on how to react to this situation
and the changes that should be made. It was sound
advice, and all the proper procedures and codes were
used in this conversation. I checked her organizational
chart, and this man is at the top in this area. Only
one person has the authority to tell him what to do
on these accounts, and he assured me that it was that
person.=20
	" It was a live call, not a tape or a fax. The
only person he deals with is Setsuna."=20

***************************************************

	" Ikuko-mama!" Chibi-usa cried out, running over
to her for a quick hug before going upstairs.
	" Hi, Mom," she added, putting the groceries on
the table that her mother had asked her to pick up when
she called home earlier in the morning. " Rei's throwing
another sleepover tonight at the temple."
	" Another one?" her mother asked, eyebrows raising.
	" She's afraid of the dark," Usagi quipped, smiling
at her. She still couldn't fool her mother, no matter what
happened. " And she's even more afraid to admit it. Her
grandfather's away for the week on a retreat and she
doesn't like to be alone all the time up there."
	" All right, Usagi-chan," she relented. " You can
go, but only because you're not in school right now."
	" Thanks, Mom," she beamed, putting the milk into
the refrigerator.=20
	" Will the usual gang be there?"
	" Yes," she forced herself to say, burying her
face into the contents of the lower shelf while
pretending to arrange things to clear up more space
so her mother couldn't see the look on it.=20
	" Mom?" she asked a few minutes later after she
finished putting away the rest of the perishable items. Her
mother looked up from the cutting board and the onions.
	" I got these for you," she ventured, holding out
the envelope. Her mother wiped her hands on a towel and
took it. She gasped when she took out the tickets.
	" Usagi! How? They sold out as soon as it opened."
	" One of my other friends knows the owners of the
auditorium. I was able to get the tickets at the same
price that they charge the families of the performers. I
know that both you and Dad wanted to go see it."
	" But-"
	" No buts, Mom," she interrupted her, enjoying
the look of surprise and delight on her mother's
face.  " The neighbor's will watch Shingo tonight
at their place, and I'll take Chibi-usa over with
us. I already checked with them."
	" I'd better get going then, if the dinner is that
early," her mother said, untying the apron strings and
uncharacteristically tossing it over the back of a
chair. " I'll need to make it to the hairdresser, and
get my nails done, and... oh, my!
	" Thank you, dear," she said, stopping in front
the girl to hug her. " Your father will be delighted."
	" No, thank you," she insisted, holding her
mother there for the few seconds she would need to
say it. " I haven't said it as much as I should.
	" Thank you, Mama."

***************************************************

	" We're almost there, Artemis," she said
nervously.
	" Thank you, Usagi," he replied. " She would
have never ran off on her parents like they suggested.=20
This isn't the circus."
	" I hope I don't screw up," she confessed as
they rounded the last corner and walked up to the
door.
	" You were doing pretty good when I tested you
on everything. Will it hold out?"
	" Yes," she replied, sighing a moment as she
remembered looking into her friend's memories earlier
in the day. " I'll make it through. I have to, for
her."
	" Michiru said that the team's scout will be
out by tomorrow to pitch it to her parents. Chartering
that jet sure sped things up. Remember, stress that
you'll get private tutoring. Her parents always
bemoaned her lack of good grades. That will help,=20
and if it works, it's only for tonight and tomorrow."
	 This is it, she thought to herself, taking a
deep breath. She would be alone on this one, facing
one of her most difficult challenges. I'm doing this
for you, Minako-chan, she whispered and reached into
her dimensional pocket.
	Usagi whispered the words, the magic of the
transformation pen changing her form. It wouldn't
have been possible if they didn't look so close to
begin with. The pen was good for detail work, but
couldn't change her too much, say to look like
Mako-chan, for example. Her hair changed, shortening
slightly and spreading out while her whole body
stretched, making her slightly taller. The strangest
part was feeling her face change.
	" How do I look?" she asked, her voice sounding
strange to her ears. The cat just looked away with a
flash of pain on his face. She must have gotten it
right. " I'm sorry," she whispered, taking a key
out of the normal pocket of the light blue sundress.
	" Mom! Dad! Guess what happened!" she called
out, forcing herself to smile as she swung open
the door and bounded in.

************************************************

	It was ironic, she decided. One of the few,=20
fleeting memories of her time on the moon was
listening to Pluto say how much she regretted
that all of the most recent Senshi were grown up
at that time. She had liked doing all the work
involved in raising them, since there was usually
at least one who was a child at any given time.=20
	" She can have the job all to herself," she
whispered, glancing down at the child cradled on her
lap. As nice and sweet as the little girl was, it
still meant midnight feedings, diaper changes and
the whole works during this past month.
	Much like Hotaru, Chibi-minako, as they were
affectionately calling her, was a delightful child. I
hope it's as easy as this, if Michiru and I ever decide
to adopt or... whatever. She shook her head at the
memory, remembering the discussion they had about this
subject while raising Hotaru. Being around a baby had
made Michiru talk about having one someday.
	" Hey there," she crooned as the baby looked up
at her, having woken up from her nap. The girl's hair
was growing rapidly and they'd probably need her red
ribbon in a few months. She scooted back a little and
pulled her up so that she was sort of standing, although
leaning against her chest was a more appropriate term. 
	" Stop that," she protested as the child grabbed
her nose. She held out a finger for the girl to latch
onto, instead. " You're too strong for that anymore. Here."=20
	The offered finger was grabbed and squeezed while
Minako looked around the dim room and at the bay window
behind her. They were currently staying at a mountain
cabin that was one of their safe houses. Hotaru was off
for a couple of days to see her father, leaving just her
and Michiru today. 
	Ami was coming up with Usagi in the morning. She
had been able to verify that the child wasn't a newborn
when they had first found her, but knew little else on
the subject. She had undergone a crash-course in
pediatrics with the help of her mother, so they might
learn something more about her tomorrow.
	The blue-haired girl had also made short work of
creating the identity of the child in the computer
networks thanks to all the passwords she now had since
Michiru had given her access to their computer
system. Legally, she and Michiru were the guardians
of this child; the poor, little waif having been
abandoned by her mother on their doorstep. Later,=20
Minako could take over her old identity, assuming
it was really her.
	There still hadn't been any sign of Setsuna,=20
but her contingency plans were making it much easier
for all of them. Chibi-usa was still moping around
with the others, fervently hoping that this wasn't
the end for Pu. They all were, really.=20
	" Ow!" she said automatically, taking a strand
of hair from the mischievously grinning girl's grip.=20
Looking around, she couldn't see anything that would be
a good distraction for her that was in reach, and she
didn't really want to get up.
	Snapping her fingers, she reached into her
dimensional pocket and removed the other sword. She
had made a rough, serviceable scabbard for it first
thing after Usagi gave it to her to hold in trust for
the child. It was heavy and bulky, but she lay it down
so that the hilt was in reach of the baby's hands.
	Her face lit up at the sight, just like it always
had. The girl loved anything bright and shiny, and
began to grab at it with both hands. Haruka laughed,=20
holding the sword there for several minutes before
putting it away.
	" It's almost time for your bottle," she said
as the girl began to fidget and reach over her own
shoulder, looking at the windows now that her plaything
was gone.
	She was about to stand up when she realized the
room was just brighter than it should have been on
this dark night. The girl's features were tinted a
soft gold from something that was behind her. Minako
was also smiling and cried out happily at whatever it
was.
	It couldn't have been a threat or she would have
felt it. Michiru was asleep in another room, and there
was thirty feet of empty air below that window, and no
ledge for anyone to stand on. There was, however, a
print of a painting on the other side of the room with
a glass pane protecting it. She slowly raised her eyes
to it in order to make sure that whatever it was would
not be aware that she knew of it's presence.
	A young woman floated in the air outside, wearing
a white and orange fuku, and she glowed the same golden
color as her long hair. She was making a silly face at
the child and waving a hand at her. She then stopped and
straightened up, a more serious look on her face as she
slyly winked.
	Haruka burst into motion, spinning as quickly as
she could under the circumstances, her arms carefully
holding the child. By the time she turned around, the
figure outside the window was gone.


The End.


************************************************

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holders.
Please send comments, etc. to the above e-mail
address.

Special thanks to the following...

Naoko Takeuchi, of course.

Luna and Artemis for kind words, support, and being
good friends.
  check out their page at
  http://penicillin.cyber-naut.com/~arteluna/
  for the best Sailor Moon fan-fiction collection.
 
Andrea Hui for more kind words, support and
friendship.
  check out her page at
  http://ctdnet.acns.nwu.edu/~aerdnahu/

Chris Davies for inspiration.
  check out his page at
  http://www/ualberta.ca/~cdavies/hmpage.html

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.=20
  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.
11-22-96.




end. Obligations {3/3}

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