She Said No

by QuicksilverWitch

Summary:

Mukashi mukashi…Once upon a time, a Senshi looked her destiny defiantly in the face and said, “No more!”

When Usagi is asked whether or not to choose between rebooting the Universe or continuing on with her friends and family, she decides that now would be a great time to ask Guardian Cosmos a few questions she has regarding the Silver Millennium. As certain truths are revealed, Usagi decides on another path, one that has great repercussions for the future.

Chapter 1: Prologue: Deceptions Revealed

Notes:

DISCLAIMER: THIS STORY IS HEREBY DECLARED A “FANFICTION.” AS SUCH, THIS MERE AUTHOR HAS NO RIGHTS TO SAILOR MOON, SAILOR V, OR THE SEVERAL MEDIA REFERENCES MADE FORTHWITH, AND INSTEAD IS COPYRIGHT NAOKO TAKEUCHI, MIXXZINE, SMILE, TOEI ANIMATION, AND ALL OTHER PARTIES RESPECTFULLY.

With that out of the way, I hope you enjoy my fic and provide me with feedback, as this is my first Sailor Moon fan fiction.

Happy Reading! :D

~*~*~*~
Prologue
Deception at the Cauldron
~*~*~*~

Being an Account of the Origins of the Three Divine Stones of Power from the Analogues of the Multiverse from the journals of Hades, first Senshi of Time and former Queen of Tartaran, Solar Date 2525 in the Year of High Queen Selenity:

As I look upon the visage of my newborn daughter Setsuna, I fear it has fallen to me to write the history of our people. With Selenity’s rise to power over two thousand solar revolutions ago, I fear it shall be lost, especially since we two are the last of the original Senshi to know the truth of our origins. Origins that have been hidden from the newborn Senshi of the colonies of the Inner and Outer planets, that was hidden from the now defunct planet of Elysian, whose rubble lies between Mars and Jupiter, its descendents scattered amongst the Terrans.

So do I leave the following account for my daughter to reveal to the new Senshi when the time is right:

Once upon a time, the universe was a place of purity, filled with life and love, protected by the Guardians of the many planets and stars.

Then one day, two of the Universe’s most powerful Guardians were playfully fighting, and in their efforts to outdo one another, accidently sent their most powerful attacks toward the binary stars orbiting their home planets, destroying them.

Without the light from the two stars, their planets and their neighbors fell into despair as their homes withered and died. Never before had such a terrible event occurred before in the Universe; the death of a loved one usually meant they would be guided by Those Who Ferried to the heavenly realms. However, such massive deaths were too much for Those Who Ferried, and the souls of the two Guardians’ home system were left to wander in sorrow, fear, and anger at what had occurred.

The other Guardians were shocked and appalled at such a gross misuse of their sister Guardians’ powers, and left them in a bind as well. They had never been instructed how to deal with such a situation, especially with the new independent factor that had arrived most suddenly in their universe.

For the destruction of the binaries had given birth to a new, unknown entity, one who fed upon the fears and sorrow and anger of the deceased whom Those Who Ferried could not guide as of yet, and slowly it grew stronger, corrupting the hearts of many. It eventually gained a name, one that would haunt the two Guardians for eternity and beyond:

CHAOS.

This was not merely an entity who wreaked its havoc upon the hearts and minds of the people, but a conqueror of worlds. As Chaos began to consume many worlds and their people, the Guardians deliberated the correct actions to take. Summoning the two Guardians responsible, they asked them to account for their actions. However, Chaos was strongest in these two Guardians, as their destruction of the binaries had given birth to it, and it set the two close friends upon each other.

Trading harsh words and blaming each other, their brother and sister Guardians were shocked at their irrational behavior, never having seen such phenomena before. Debating how to decide the case fairly, soon the influence of Chaos spread throughout them all, and they too turned on each other.

All but one was influenced by Chaos; heartbroken to see her siblings fight amongst each other, she raised her voice against them.

“STOP!” she cried out.

She was the youngest of them all, the Guardian who had then been called Hope.

“Can’t you see what this new entity is doing to us?” she pleaded, “It is destroying the careful balance our worlds once had! As their caretakers we must find a way to restore that balance!”

Many heeded the words of the Guardian of Hope, and for one galactic year and a day, the Guardians deliberated carefully. However, while they reached many solutions, they implemented none, a sign of Chaos’ influence, as none of them could be compelled to agree to any of them.

Then one day, the Universe spoke to the Guardians, and revealed three remarkable items. These items, the Universe told the Guardians, were the hearts of the binary stars that had exploded, and the third was the heart of a star yet to be born.

“Each item is the Sailor Crystal and starseed of a high guardian, each who will restore balance.” Every Guardian was eager to be the High Guardian chosen, and begged the Universe to tell them whom each High Guardian would be. However, sensing the greed that had amassed within them due to the influence of Chaos, the Universe instead bestowed the items upon several Guardians to protect the items until their true bearers came.

The first item, a sapphire of the deepest blue set in gold, was gifted to a Guardian and her Senshi. “Guard this instrument of my power well,” spoke the Universe, “for within this is the power to judge the Guardians.”

The second item, a most intense silver-crystal, was gifted to another Guardian and her Senshi. “Guard this instrument of my power well,” spoke the Universe, “for within this is the power to cleanse and restore that which has been corrupted or destroyed.”

The third item, a golden gem possessing an inner fire to rival a star, disappeared, for it was the heart of the star not yet born. “This gem, much like its brethren, holds a power of its own. However, unlike the others, this instrument I have given my own power: the power to create and to nurture.

“Go forth, my children, and work to restore the balance!”

So did the two who possessed the Sapphire and Silver Crystals go forth as commanded.

Yet an unforeseen event occurred. The Guardian of the Silver Crystal soon crossed swords with the entity known as Chaos, as did her Senshi. They fought long and hard, but much to their anguish, their efforts failed. Dying in the arms of her sister, Selenity, the Guardian of the Silver Crystal begged her sibling to protect it with her own Senshi and to leave this place to avoid the influence of Chaos. Agreeing to her sister’s final words, Selenity left with her Senshi and a contingent of her people to a far away star system with a young star named Sol.

New with the beginnings of life, she and her people, myself amongst them, eventually established an outpost on the third planet from the star’s satellite, and thus established what would become the Lunarian Kingdom and the beginnings of the Silver Millennium, so named for our young queen’s new mantle.

~*~*~*~
The Galaxy Cauldron
Present Time

Floating through space and time, Usagi wearily opened her eyes, gasping as she saw the renewed Galaxy Cauldron emerge before her.

“Congratulations, young Serenity,” an ethereal voice, sounding like a small bell, chimed from around her. A pulsing light grew, and from its brightness emerged the minute form of Guardian Cosmos. “You have managed to delay the return of Chaos and restored the Galaxy Cauldron, thus restoring the Balance of your destiny. However, now you have a choice; would you have your world reborn with the other fallen stars, or resume from where you and your comrades once lived?” came the innocent query.

Normally, Usagi would have immediately agreed with the second option, but some prompting from around her made her hesitate. For years, she had had many questions—about her former mother, Queen Selenity, the origins of the Silver Crystal, and so much more! Now was the chance, she knew, to get some answers.

“Well…actually, before I decide anything, I have a few questions,” she said timidly, her face unusually serious as she wrung her hands in front of her.

Guardian Cosmos looked at her curiously, “Very well. You may ask!” she beamed, grateful that the Silver Carrier was asking her, Guardian Cosmos, a question!

“Well, you seen, it has to do with…”

A few minutes later, a high-pitched shriek emitted from the tiny Guardian, who promptly passed out in her savior’s arms.

“Oh dear,” Usagi sighed worriedly.

A while later, after patting the cheeks of the passed out Guardian, Usagi used her crystal to try to wake the stressed little one from her self-induced sleep. Rousing from her fainting spell, the Guardian, once calm, cool, and collected, promptly flung her arms around Usagi’s neck and began to cry wholeheartedly into the short white chemise dress that Usagi had awoken in.

“H-how c-could sh-she?” she sobbed, her crystal grey eyes watering with tears.

“What on earth are you talking about?” Usagi asked gently, very bewildered.

Guardian Cosmos sniffed, “Q-Queen Selenity. Didn’t she tell you anything?” she demanded, desperately staring Usagi in the eyes.

Seeing no comprehension, she wailed again and clutched the Moon Queen tighter. “There, there,” she said soothingly, drawing circles on Guardian Cosmos’ back. “Now perhaps you can tell me what has you so upset?”

Sniffling, the Guardian began hesitantly, then like a breaking dam, the story poured forth.

“I am upset, Serenity-sama, due to the injustices done by your mother. She swore she would protect you, swore she understood what she was getting into, and now it appears she did not. If you knew…I will tell you. You see, your mother, Queen Selenity, was in actuality, not the first bearer of what you know as the Ginzuishou. In the early days of the Universe, after the birth of Chaos, the crystal was one of a set of three powerful items. I believe you know them,” Cosmos stated, her usually jovial eyes dark with disbelief and pain.

Reddened eyes focused upon the trembling Guardian in her arms, Usagi looked down at her in comprehension. “Mamo-chan’s Kinzuishou and Galaxia’s Seikinseki?” she said, voice hoarse. Cosmos nodded, “Oh yes. What made them so special was that they were unlike any seen before due to their nature: they were both Sailor Crystal and starseed.”

“What do you mean?” Usagi asked nervously, her mind refusing to connect her knowledge with what Guardian Cosmos was saying. Surely she’s not implying—no. Oh no!

Guardian Cosmos’ eyes began to tear again. “In a moment; there’s something I must first tell you about Sailor Crystals and starseeds. Tell me, have you always wondered why it was you and your friends who became Senshi? I believe Galaxia mentioned something about it to you earlier…”

“Hai; she said that the starseeds of Senshi are brighter than others in the universe.”

“What she speaks is the truth. But did she tell you about the Order of the Senshi? How they are chosen?” Slowly untwining herself from Usagi, Guardian Cosmos floated toward the reborn Cauldron. “You see, while it is true that a Senshi’s starseed shines brighter than others, it is also true that certain starseeds resonate with one another, causing certain types to attract to each other, some stronger than others. This is the reason for Senshi Families—or groups, as you know them—forming across the Universe. It is also true that no Senshi is ever truly alone; their group, their family will always lie in wait for them. It is how you and your friends came to be together, and it will continue into your next lives. All of you are bound to each other at such a deep level, that you will never be truly alone.”

“A scary thought, yet a comforting one,” Usagi said, her thoughts weighing heavily on her mind as she stared at the calm, flowing pool of starseeds below. “But what of Galaxia’s family?”

“She was awakened from the Cauldron too early; it will be millennia more before her sisters and brothers join her. The Wiseman’s actions do prove one thing, however; the Families are sacred, and as such, to purposely ruin a Senshi family—like reawakening one of them before the others, for instance—is tantamount to treason, as it defies the very heart of the Senshi way, the Universe’s way.

“This is what makes your mother’s actions so heinous. In effect, she purposely separated you from your Senshi—Venus, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Uranus, Neptune, Saturn, and Pluto. They are your Starseed sisters, your true family in all but blood! And your mother assumed the Ginzuishou was merely an instrument such as the Talismans that kept Saturn locked away for millennia. It was your Sailor Crystal, your starseed! In essence, not only did she prevent you from becoming a Senshi as is your unalienable right, but abused your soul to a degree that is so horrible I can hardly bear to think about it! She corrupted the purpose of your friends and family, separating them from not only you, but their soul mates, their own families and friends!”

Usagi’s skin turned grey, her eyes dark with horror as she considered her words. “But why would she do such a thing? The mother I remember—she was so kind and gentle to all of us!” Usagi pleaded, the weight of what Guardian Cosmos was relating to her settling heavily on her shoulders.

“Perhaps it was to protect you—perhaps it was so she could finally feel powerful. She was the youngest of three sisters, you know. The eldest was taken in the blast that created Chaos; you knew her as Nehellenia. And, her middle sister...she was the original Guardian of the Ginzuishou, her guardians the ancestors of the Senshi that guard you today, hence their innate devotion to you. They unconsciously feel the call of the promise they made, to keep the Ginzuishou out of Chaos’ hands. However, for whatever reason Selenity did what she did—it is a perversion of what should have been.”

“Oh Kami-sama,” Usagi breathed out in horror, her eyes dark and wild, “So—from what you’re saying, I could have had the power to…the power…” Guardian Cosmos nodded gravely, her tiny, serene face a mask of sorrow and anger. “Yes. Without question, you could have possessed the power to defeat Metallia and Beryl. The purpose of the Ginzuishou is to heal and cleanse, to restore the balance between what you deem “good” and “evil.” For where there is one, the other will be. Always.”

By this time, Usagi’s breathing was unsteady, her eyes unseeing as panic set in. “…oh Kami…we could have all lived…why…why would she…how could she!” she screamed at last, her heart mind clouded by regret, anguish, and utter despair.

How could the maternal figure she had once clung to, done what she had done? To separate the Ginzuishou—her own daughter’s Sailor Crystal and starseed—from her body, and use her very life force, bend it to her own whims—even for what she claimed was the greater good!—Was still unbearably cruel.

“So many things could have been different,” Usagi choked out, tears cascading down her face. “I could have become a true Senshi, with no divisions between us such as my being Princess Serenity always felt like. Being with them, fighting side by side and being normal with them, was the only thing that kept me going with our enemies in the 20th Century. And to know that I could have been with them, prevented Metallia’s destruction of entire civilizations…it’s no wonder everyone kept targeting us,” a fresh wave of tears came from her reddened eyes.

“But you know what hurts worse? That she twisted their purpose,” she spat, ire, dark and vicious consuming her eyes, “They could have been reassured that I wasn’t all they had to live for—do you know how twisted that is?! To be told your hopes and dreams are futile because of one person! How they must have hated me! And I reinforced it!” she screamed, half sobbing as Guardian Cosmos hovered at her shoulder to rub her back in consolation.

“They could have led fully individual lives while still maintaining peace as Senshi! They could have had what Mamoru and I had! And she took that freedom away from them! I took that freedom away from them.”

Wiping her eyes viciously, she suddenly stood, forcing Guardian Cosmos away from her. Licking her chapped lips, she took a deep breath, glaring down at the Cauldron. “Well, listen up! If they can’t be free to live and love the way they want, THEN I DON’T WANT THIS ANYMORE!” she screamed.

Guardian Cosmos squeaked, staring at the heavily breathing Silver Carrier in horror as the world around them began to fluctuate and shudder, sending them both careening to the edge of the Cauldron. Grabbing onto some of the debris from earlier, Guardian Cosmos held on for her life. Craning her head as the world turned sideways, she shrieked in horror as Usagi went over the edge into the Cauldron below.

“NO!” she screamed, “What about the ultimate destiny? Crystal Tokyo? The return of Silver Millennium?”

The world around her shuddered one long, last time, the Cauldron bubbling before giving a large burst of light, then all faded to silence and soft twilight.

“What will become of us now?” Guardian Cosmos said hollowly, her eyes vacant as she tried to accept what she had just witnessed.

Inside the Cauldron…

What would become of them now? Usagi wondered at the same time as Guardian Cosmos.

When she had fallen into the bubbling Cauldron moments before, she found herself immersed in what felt to her like a bubble bath, or a warm hug. It was warm, warm all around her, without any stinging of bubble bath soap of the need to breath for air.

What is your wish? A smoky voice filtered through her mind.

Who are you? She replied as she felt her mind and body begin to fall asleep, her eyes heavy with exhaustion.

What is your wish? The voice asked again, seeming to wrap around her body in opaque, pink tendrils. Coming to a start, Usagi opened her eyes with a jolt, seeing the pink tendrils float lazily from the depths of the Cauldron, wrapping themselves gently around her limbs and tugging her downward.

Letting herself be guided downward, Usagi gave a silent gasp as she found herself floating in the center of several glowing balls of light.

What is your wish? The voice echoed a third time.

Usagi’s eyes became hard and determined. Ah, the voice said with satisfaction, so that is your wish. Farewell then, Silver One, and good luck to you…

The balls of light circled her, before drawing together and intensifying as they closed in…

A large burst pushed her upward, and she was immersed in light.

Mukashi mukashi…Once upon a time, a Senshi looked at her destiny defiantly and said, “No more!”

Chapter 2: New Moon

~*~*~*~
Chapter One
New Moon
~*~*~*~

She could recall the aftermath only in flashes.

—A slow pull downward and one constant stream of thoughts—

Pleasepleasepleasedon’tletherwinchangeitchangeitall…

The pulling sped up, and soon she was free-falling, the pit of her stomach falling out, anxiety consuming her as she fell, the air growing colder around her body, the simple slip she’d woken in eaten up by the heat of the atmosphere like acid, and she was screaming so loud her throat burned.

She finally landed, or so it seemed, not on the ground in a massive crater, not in her bed, not in snow, but inside a body. Her fourteen-year-old body—

—Oh Kami, she’d only been FOURTEEN when she’d been called; who hands the safety of the world to a young, borderline adolescent, child without at least preparing them first?—

Such a strange sensation, the vibrations and fluctuating of both her and her younger self’s minds as they struggled internally for control, one seeking to dominate the other. Panic filled her—had the Cauldron intended for this to happen?—when suddenly, her ears seemed to pop and her mind cleared all too quickly as the mind of her fourteen-year-old self and sixteen-going-on-seventeen self were unexpectedly torn and “sewn” back together in a macabre combination of themselves—

—painpainpainmakeitstoppleaseanything—

When her clouded eyes cleared, she was back in Beryl’s throne room, her cruel, scorned laughter hysterical with the proximity of her triumph, Endymion, his usually ocean blue eyes dark and cold, not a shred of knowing behind them as he held a hand above her, electricity running through the black rose vines he’d entrapped her in.

The rest followed as she remembered: confronting Beryl, her mind—minds—still churning and knitting themselves together; the presence of the girls, her prince, and others, gathering about her to guide her crystal; the simultaneous blast as Beryl’s last shrieks echoed across the barren North Pole, her own feeling of being ripped apart once again—

Holding back a gasp, Tsukino Usagi, seventeen once again, curled further into her crumpled comforter, trying without avail to struggle through the echoes of pain that had passed with her consciousness into reality. With concerted effort, she pushed herself up, hands shaking as she pulled at her pigtails, body curving in on itself to protect her from some unseen force. Looking up from her self-created protective-prison-ball, she grabbed her locket off her night table and, still struggling, jumped off her balcony to the rooftops nearby.

She had spoken no words to transform; Sailor Moon did not need such guides to channel her power now. The unknown force of the Galaxy Cauldron had kept true to fulfilling her wishes those three years ago.

Running across rooftops of the sleeping skyscrapers that led toward Juuban Park, the lone Moon Princess-turned-hero of Tokyo inhaled the humid midsummer night air, her serious visage transforming into relief as the sounds of the city filtered through the red discs fastened to her odangos.

She only halted in her run when she heard a familiar laugh from within the hotel situated, ironies of ironies, across from Tokyo Tower, the place in which Kunzite, confused by the cleansing of the Ginzuishou, had taken his liege back to D-Point and Beryl, his false Queen.

An errant breeze fanned her hair out behind her as she sat down, hands keeping her body propped up on the edge of the Tower. Sighing softly when she noted they still hadn’t repaired some of the scratching and other damages from the attacks all those years ago, she sat on the edge of the roof, legs dangling precariously over the edge. Humming to the tune the orchestra/band had struck up inside, she fixed her ears and her sad, cerulean eyes on the vision before her, her smile a touch bitter.

For within the building across from Tokyo Tower, the Grand D Hotel was hosting a magnificent gala, a benefit for cancer research sponsored by Tokyo U Hospital, or so one attendee’s proclamation claimed as it filtered through the discs.

She let her gaze travel through the high windows lovingly framed by elaborate, connecting balconies, stopping when she saw a pair of figures currently dancing as the new music set whimsically flowed through the night, casting a romantic spell upon the revelers but drowned out to pedestrians on the bustling street below.

Sailor Moon, however, heard and saw all. Inwardly, she cursed the sound magnification of those same red discs.

“Why is it they’re only useful for amplifying whiny crybaby screams and snooping on conversations?”

Her eyes remained, fixed on the lovely couple twirling about the dance floor.

The woman was, without question, gorgeous. Elaborately coiffed raven hair curled magnificently around her heart shaped face, her voluptuous, yet still slender, figure advantageously displayed in a black gown with a sweetheart neckline and plunging back, further enhanced by the large rubies set in gold that clung to her ears, neck, and wrists. Voluminous skirt swirling gaily amongst the others, to Sailor Moon, she was the epitome of beauty.

“Not as gorgeous as Minako or my girls, but still…perhaps a model of some sort; He’s changed his dating standards since returning from Harvard.”

It was then she turned wistful eyes on the woman’s partner, and everything faded away in that cliché moment she had come to abhor.

One look at him, and the woman’s immaculate beauty paled in comparison to the picture of masculine perfection that held the lucky brunette in his arms. On the taller side of the many men who loitered about the ballroom, he cut a striking figure in what appeared to be a custom tuxedo, the fabric advantageously showing off his broad shoulders, muscular physique, and dark haired looks. Blue eyes the color of the deepest depths of the ocean glinted in the low light, enhanced by the green embroidery on the lapels of his tuxedo jacket and his olive skin.

Mamo-chan…

Things had certainly run differently from their first time around; she should have counted on there being consequences to balance the request the Cauldron had fulfilled.

For one thing, instead of fighting the Black Moon Clan as they had after she, her girls, and Mamo-chan had defeated Beryl and Metallia, a new enemy had invaded.

(Well, not much of an enemy perhaps, as much as they were just very confused extraterrestrials searching for a way to help their mother, the Makaiju Tree.)

For another thing, there were now no Senshi to back her up.

It was a miracle she had even survived Ail and Ann as she had, what with the strength of her powers being as meager as they were. That was another downside the Cauldron’s fulfillment had brought about: having to exercise her powers through the Ginzuishou like a muscle. Only by slowly working with it and building its power was it successful in a fight. There had been nights, even days, when she had returned to bed exhausted, sleeping for days to make up the energy loss and the time spent trying to figure out how to reawaken her Senshi family.

So far, Luna’s mind meld had failed, as had her own attempt with a newly powerful Ginzuishou. Scans on Central’s computer showed they were resisting her and the cat’s attempts. They would either eventually embrace their memories, or permanently block them.

She’d been devastated at the time; had they innately known about Queen Selenity’s cruel hand? Did they loathe her in extension, even if she didn’t know about her mother’s deception? Even though they were now truly family?

Was I not enough for them? She’d asked her guardian felines, brought to her knees by the revelation.

And as for Mamoru—well. The Ginzuishou absolutely refused to heal his mind; when she had tried, the power of the Kinzuishou had risen to meet her crystal’s power gently, as if remembering their connection, but had denied her attempts. At least the Kinzuishou is protecting him, unlike with Beryl. I guess with his energy being so close to Metallia’s in origin, it didn’t resist her influence.

Overall, things had not been fun those first few times when she’d had to battle the Cardians alone. Yet, on the brighter side, she and the girls had met one another and become friends again; she still fought with Mamoru when he deigned to visit Motoki; and she’d even made new friends along the way.

Returning her attention to the ballroom, Sailor Moon gasped when a man with familiar grey eyes and long white hair cut through her vision, cutting in and, with a laugh, sweeping the now cheerful brunette away from Mamoru. As he turned toward the balconies in his dancing, for a fraction of a second, his happy grey eyes seemed to catch her wistful blue ones, even as far apart as they were.

Grey eyes widened when they met her own stunned blue gaze before he turned away, slightly unsettled. Unnerved, Sailor Moon felt the hairs on the back of her neck standing on end, power vibrating through her body. Is that—! No, it couldn’t be—

“Usagi-mama?”

Startled by the high-pitched voice that cut through the silent night from behind her, Usagi’s gaze turned away from the ballroom to the petite, drowsy figure of Sailor Saturn, rubbing her violet eyes and yawning, as she plopped down next to her Princess.

“Hey Hotaru-chan. Why are you up so late?” Usagi asked as the young girl leaned into the Lunarian Senshi’s warmth.

“Mmm, Usagi-mama,” she murmured, “I felt you transform. Why are you up so la-ate?” she shot back with another yawn.

“Just thinking, Hotaru-chan,” she whispered, sitting up and wrapping her arms around the tiny girl.

Unlike the events in which the Outer Senshi had joined them in the past, Sailor Saturn—now eight year old Tomoe Hotaru—had been accidentally reawakened when she and her father had both been touched by the Ginzuishou’s healing affects on Ail, An, and the Makaiju Tree, restoring all of them to full health. How her power had managed to surpass the three Talismans preventing such an event remained a mystery to her; yet as she remembered her wish and the words of the mysterious Cauldron, it didn’t seem so impossible.

Now, Saturn was a fully realized Senshi, her eternal sleep and exile at the hands of Queen Selenity ended by her daughter. She had aided Sailor Moon only in her last battle against Ail and Ann, helping the new Lunarian Queen to heal and restore the Tree.

“Does your Otou-san know you’re out so late?”

Snuggling in closer, Saturn shook her head no into the opalescent bow on her sister Senshi’s chest. Sailor Moon sighed, her pale blue sailor collar flapping in the wind as she stood, the younger, yet ancient, Senshi cradled tenderly in her arms. Her skirt a flurry of white, gold, and navy blue about her thighs, she leapt from the tower in the opposite direction of the gala. Pausing for a moment, Super Sailor Moon threw one last glance over her shoulder longingly toward the reincarnated form of her prince and the familiar face she had connected with for merely a moment.

Was that really Kunzite I saw?

Carrying Saturn in her arms, Sailor Moon leapt across the rooftops toward the Tomoe residence and research facility, her latest residence and job location. Although not skilled in the areas of science and mathematics, Usagi did excel in one thing, and that was educating and caring for small children; skills that, with puppy eyes and much pleading from his daughter, had encouraged Professor Tomoe to take Usagi in as an onsite nanny and Nee-chan for his little girl.

Closing her eyes to focus on dispelling their Senshi uniforms, Usagi and little Hotaru emerged from silver and lavender light in their pajamas. Laying the tiny Senshi of Destruction on her bed, she carefully drew the lavender comforter up to her pale face, her plum hair spread around her delicate childish features like a dark halo.

Smiling gently, Usagi kissed her friend and charge’s forehead affectionately before heading next door to her own room. Entering her own room and shutting the door, she curled beneath her own covers once again, affectionately stroking the black cat balled up on the pillow beside her before falling into a deep slumber and the restless dreams that waited once more, thoughts about the leader of the Shitennou far from her mind.

~*~*~*~

She was standing amidst the ruins of the Lunarian Silver Millennium Kingdom, wearing the tattered remains of her previous uniform as Eternal Sailor Moon. From her peripheral vision, she recognized the grip of the sword she’d used against Galaxia clenched in her white knuckled grip. It was a minor fact in lieu of the dark crystal space ship that hovered above Earth.

“Beware! Beware the Dark Moon!” a voice cried urgently.

Her vision narrowed, seemingly penetrating the innermost walls of the ship, cloaked as it was within a temporal pocket that allowed the spaceship’s handlers to see and remain unseen.

Sprawled across the throne present in his reception room, a lithe young man with shaggy white hair precariously dangled a glass of red wine over his lap, carefully drinking to avoid staining the pristine white suite that marked him as the heir apparent to the dwarf planet Nemesis. Amethyst eyes demurely gazed over the rim of the glass at the moving hologram before him.

They were focused so intently as if he were hungrily consuming the innocent young Queen, her once future self.

Not if I have anything to say about it, she thought darkly, recalling Demando’s infatuation with her and the future self she had once been destined to become.

In many ways, while others had viewed Neo Queen Serenity as the epitome of light, love, and happiness, Usagi saw her as the symbol of her friends’ slavery to a destiny that they were forced to follow and in the process, of their forsaken dreams. This had only been reconfirmed when she’d met her future self, having glimpsed the coldness that had transformed the familiar azure warmth she was used to into a gaze she could recall on the face of Queen Selenity.

Analyzing Chibi-Usa’s actions and behavior had clinched it as well; never would she leave her daughter in such a position as to be caught in enemy crossfire as her future self had, nor would she keep the girl looking as if she were six when she was actually 900.

That was cruel beyond words, and spoke volumes about the Neo Queen’s insecurities about her daughter’s innocence, not to mention the girl’s relationship with her husband. No, Sailor Moon thought, wonderful, beautiful Chibi-Usa deserved better.

Refocusing on Demando, she watched as he waved a hand, the image changing to that of a moving picture of her 20th century self, exiting her school. She cringed when he leaned forward hungrily as the light from the setting sun glinting off her brilliant platinum blonde hair, even now, he realized, twisted into the royal White Moon hairstyle.

“Your Majesty.”

Shadows rippled in the corner, and the monotonous, dark baritone of Demando’s advisor, Death Phantom, crooned within the silence of his throne room, “Your commander, young Rubeus, has told me you have forbidden any of your people from entering your presence.”

“Yes, Death Phantom,” Demando drawled, his voice a lilting, icy song.

Sitting the wine glass on the armrest of his chair, he righted himself before fixing a firm gaze upon one of his chief advisors, save for his younger brother, Sapphir.

“However, I have my reasons. I have decided to court the Princess of the White Moon, Serenity, and I needed complete seclusion to study my intended.”

Unknown to both men, Saphir shifted worriedly in the shadows, the invisible form of Sailor Moon studying him intently, his thoughts heard clearly in her mind.

Study Princess Serenity? You have been engaged in such an act for nearly two months, my brother. Why do you seek for more time to do so? Are you truly held by such obsession?

“Yes; a fine choice. With her Ginzuishou, Nemesis could be brought to glory, and you could become the King, just as Endymion,” Death Phantom spat the Terran King’s name, “was in the future. When will you begin courting her?” Sailor Moon shook as Death Phantom’s words hit her, making her pale.

Oh no! There is no way I’m going through that again! I couldn’t stomach being an actual Queen over anything again; I don’t want my girls to be servants! They deserve their own lives! She wailed mentally, nibbling her lip in frustration and yanking at her pigtails.

The focus of the hologram faded out, shifting until two distinctly different maps of the Earth’s surface appeared: one of the 20th Century, and another, this one of a much different earth, where the seven continents of the present were united as one, a world from long ago, now lost to mankind’s memory.

On both maps, five corresponding points flickered in bright golden points of light. Although the shape they formed when connected on the new map was skewed and twisted, its distinct, symmetrical five-pointed star shape was apparent on the old map.

Leaning closer to get a better look at the newer map, Usagi’s eyebrows rose when she saw the golden points flicker uncertainly over vague locations:

High in the Andes Mountains of Peru;
The border between Italy and Switzerland;
Lake Victoria in Africa;
An unmarked island chain south of Japan;
And the ghost-like capital of the Minoan civilization, Knossos.

The seats of the Five Kings of Terra.

“Once we find the palaces of each Shitennou, we can unlock Endymion’s palace in Knossos.”

Crap. So that probably was Kunzite I saw…if he’s here, though, where are the others? Do they remember anything?

Death Phantom chuckled darkly, his wrinkled, half-shrunken hands dancing over the crystal ball in front of him.

“And once we gain access to Endymion’s palace, the Kinzuishou will be ours, and by default, the Ginzuishou as well!”

Dread filled the pit of Saphir’s stomach. “Brother, what have you done?” he whispered, his face a mask of revulsion.

I must prevent this at once. If he had only listened to me and appealed to the Queen for help, our problems would have stopped eons ago. Perhaps…yes, she can help me!

Briskly striding toward his laboratory and private chambers, Saphir knelt beside the inner door to his lab and tapped one of the metal plates gently in different, complex patterns. Popping off, Saphir’s eyes gleamed with hope as he stared at the dusty golden key within his hand. Holding it close to his chest, he called upon the power of the key, and disappeared. Sailor Moon’s eyes widened in comprehension, her ears ringing with the force exerted by the tiny key amulet, which rang louder and louder in her ears until it became painful…

BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP!

Grumbling as she shot up in bed, her hair a venerable rats nest, Usagi pulled a pillow over her face and screamed in frustration.

“Two in one night? GIMME A BREAAAKKK!!!”

Chapter 3: Waxing Crescent

~*~*~*~
Chapter Two
Waxing Crescent
~*~*~*~

Shoulders slumped and bruise-like circles under her eyes, Usagi stomped inside the doors of Juuban Municipal High School, dragging her bedraggled self to her homeroom.

“Damn dreams; damn Black Moon; damn school,” she grumbled, briefcase swinging in her hand.

Sliding the door to her homeroom open, she attempted to get to her seat before the bell rang, stopping to greet several of her classmates along the way.

“Hey! Usagi-chan!” Naru greeted cheerfully from across the room as she and Kuri headed toward Yumiko by the windows.

Usagi returned the greeting with her own cheerful wave and smile, her movements a little stiff.

“Good morning, Tsukino-san!”

“Morning, Usa!”

“Morning minna!”

Usagi’s smile was truly genuine this time as she faced Makoto, who had managed to seize desks for her, Ami, and Minako at the back when they’d first been assigned that year.

“Morning Mako-chan,” Usagi yawned, falling into her seat haphazardly and leaning her forehead against the desk, briefcase on its hook next to her desk. Ami and Minako walked over to them, the latter gushing about a Sempai she’d met at the Grand D Hotel benefit last week.

“—most gorgeous silver hair; I think he knew Mamoru-san, you know, the one who teased Usagi-chan all the time—USAGI-CHAN!!!” Minako squealed, latching on to her in joy when said girl bopped her on the head at the mention of Mamoru’s name.

“Oi, Mina-baka, don’t mention Mamoru-baka’s name in my presence,” she pouted, sticking her tongue out childishly.

Sometimes it hurt, but she couldn’t just out-of-the blue announce her undying love for Mamoru, no matter how much she wanted to. His continued teasing of her for the past few years, save this past one, had been the worst; sometimes she would be spared, and he’d be as nice to her as he’d been in the past. Then he’d get a strange look on his face and go back to teasing and tormenting Usagi mode. Joy of joys.

“—ANYWAY, Usa-chan, you absolutely MUST hear about the boy, nay, MAN, I am going to marry!” Minako beamed, her eyes far away, as she described her “future wedding” to “her silver haired man-toy.”

Usagi bit back a snort as she recalled the extensive research Luna had pulled up on Central’s database about who had turned out to be Kunzite, or, rather, his reincarnated form: Sakurada Gin, younger brother of Sakurada Natsuna, current Superintendent General of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police (and closet Sailor V fan).

Morning grumpiness fading away, Usagi lifted her head and smiled politely to the other people that greeted her.

Before long, the bell had rung, and she and Minako split from their friends and began the long walk to Fine Art III, their first class of the day. Clutching her sketchpad loosely to her chest, she let her mind wander to other things than school as Minako extolled the virtues of her future love toy.

Since the dream a week ago, unknown bursts of dark energy had been emerging in areas around the planet, in particular the five separate locations mentioned in her dream about Demando. When she had charted them on a map according to the order they appeared in, they had formed the shape of a five-pointed star, right over the five main palaces of the Golden Kingdom—just as Death Phantom had said in her dream.

This was very troubling; almost every previous enemy had targeted herself and the Ginzuishou, but now, they seemed to be targeting the heir apparent to the throne of Earth. Moreover, the poor bastard was still unaware of his memories.

Sliding into the chair at her usual art table, she pulled her sketchpad out of her bag and absently began to work on what little she could remember of the details of Endymion’s private garden, the same one they had met in many millennia ago. Solely focused on the pad in front of her, she used a smaller grade HB pencil before switching to a heavier one, fleshing out the structural details in the sweeping, three-tiered fountain and the entrance to the Queen’s hedge maze. Focusing on the statue of Oberon and filling in the details of his august robes, she was startled from her work by a shadow looming over her shoulder.

“Hey, that’s pretty good, Tsukino-san,” a light voice said from behind her as he peered over her shoulder.

Brushing a strand of unruly honey blonde hair out of his Caribbean blue eyes, Higashi Hisui carefully used his thumb to smudge a section of his own sketchpad, slowly creating a gradation on the edge of what appeared to be a dome-capped structure to add some shadows.

“Thank you, Higashi-kun,” she said, admiring his artwork for a second. “What’s your subject?”

Thin golden eyebrows contracted together pensively. “Well, to tell the truth—”

“—always a good habit,” she couldn’t resist replying, a humorous smile playing about her lips.

Laughing, he continued, “To tell the truth, I have absolutely no idea; just…dreamt it up, I guess.”

Abandoning her own work to watch his slender hands carefully use the charcoal and his fingers to bring his dream to life, Usagi watched in breathless wonder as the hazy image of the fallen Lunarian palace slowly took shape.

“Not a very happy image,” he lamented, seeing her sad look, “but I’ve had the strongest urge to commit it to paper lately.”

“I know what you mean,” she murmured, absently sliding her own forward, revealing her own hazy image of Endymion’s private garden.

Careful strokes halted slowly, Hisui’s blackened fingers laid down his tools, carefully picking her pad up at the edges. His eyes turned sad and wistful, one blunt fingernail tracing the rose arch connected to the Queen’s Rose Maze.

“That was always a difficult puzzle to solve,” he murmured absently, eyes intently fixated on the silhouette of Endymion, curled against the large fountain in the center as he read a book.

“Higashi-kun?” Usagi queried curiously, her own blue eyes staring deep into his own.

The hairs on the back of her neck rose, her powers humming in her veins.

No…oh hell, NO! You’ve gotta be kidding me—I’ve known him since elementary school!

Panic consumed Usagi’s mind as she attempted to recall the first time she’d battled the Dark Kingdom. Her heart when cold when she realized Higashi Hisui had disappeared several months after his sixteenth birthday—a few months before she’d become Sailor Moon—in both worlds. Except they never found him in the old world…right?

Then, and even now, they hadn’t been too close; he was a year ahead of her, after all. Yet the timing was too close to pass off as coincidence, and “mitigating circumstances” had caused him to be held back a year…

Sensing her discomfort, he laughed awkwardly and handed her picture back.

“Oh, I was just commenting on how difficult the maze looked.”

Startled, she stared at him, their eyes meeting each other over the large planks of wood that served as their easels. Gulping, he smiled uneasily, realizing his slip up. About to question him, Usagi and Hisui’s gazes broke with the shrill ring of the school bell.

“Ah, well, see you later, Tsukino-san!”

“You too, Higashi-san…”

Usagi gathered her books and sketchpad before exiting the room with Minako, moving quickly down the hall in an effort to calm down from her inner headless chicken dance and reach some conclusion about this new development.

By the time she saw Ami and Makoto waving cheerily to her as they joined her outside their history classroom, Usagi was no more enlightened.

Jeeze, this is like that time Minako got overly enthusiastic with the glitter in art. Where one sparkle pops up, another follows! What’s next, raining Shitennou?

~*~*~*~

Later that day, Makoto propped her head up on her left hand, slouching in Usagi’s direction a few seats away while pondering the taciturn attitude that seemed to permeate her bubbly friend’s personality as of late.

Since their fateful meeting at Juuban Middle School three years ago, not once had she seen Usagi so melancholy and worried as she was today, eyes clouded, more absentminded than normal, and just a tad mopey.

Not even when Rei-chan yelled at her or Mamoru-san teased her had she looked so down.

Mentally resolving to get down to the root of the matter, Makoto catalogued which cooking materials she had at home, her macadamia nut and double fudge cookie recipe at the forefront of her mind—Usagi’s favorite—as she idly recorded Miura-sensei’s notes on the Heian Period.

Perhaps with a little down home cooking, the usually enthusiastic girl would open up…

A nudge from her right turned her attention from the teacher and her thoughts on Usagi. Slipping a folded piece of paper onto her desk, the student next to her returned the attention to the board. Frowning, she unfolded the note and slid it under her desk, careful to keep it away from Miura-sensei’s hawkish gaze.

“Mako-chan, is it just me or has Usagi been all bloom and gloom lately?”

Holding back a snicker, she grinned and penned a reply before handing it back to her seatmate.

“You mean ‘gloom and doom’, Mina-chan? And yes, she has, hasn’t she? Has she said anything?”

A few tosses back later:

“Not a bit; just goes about life like always. It feels really weird; maybe we should say something? As if I, the great V-chan, would never notice such a thing!”

Makoto smirked when she saw the tiny caricature of Minako-chan with the mysterious Sailor Moon’s trademark goggles and flashing a peace sign, (“V is for Victory, after all!” had been inscribed in the speech bubble above the cartoon’s head; that sounded familiar too…).

“True; you might pay more attention to clothes, boys, idols, boys, your acting career, boys, shoes, and, of course, boys, half the time, but your Usagi-senses have unfailing accuracy.”

Pausing to look back at her words, she frowned again when she realized the truth of the last part. Minako-chan’s uncanny ability to tell where Usagi was and what she was feeling was almost out of character, borderline astute, when compared to her usually ditzy, bubbly personality.

Holding back a snicker, Makoto shook her head in disbelief at her own thoughts. Really, Minako-chan being astute, and in tune with Usagi? She, Usagi, Minako, Ami, and Rei were close, but they’d still only been friends for the past three years. That spoke of closeness, but to really read Usagi, Minako would had to have known her for, like, a thousand years, or something…

Frowning as she scribbled the last of her final reply to Minako-chan, Makoto wondered why that particular thought seemed to stand out…

“Anyway, why don’t we take her to the Crown later today? Motoki-nii-san said Mamoru-san was back from his semester at Harvard; maybe some good ole’ Mamoru-baka screaming will help her chill?”

~*~*~*~

Usagi winced. “Actually, minna, I can’t make the Crown today. I have to pick Hotaru-chan up from the Academy, remember, and then hit the market for groceries. Maybe some other time, okay?”

Trading glances, Makoto and Minako clutched each of the blonde girl’s arms, their best pleading gazes at the ready.

“Really, Usagi-chan?” Even Ami’s marine blue eyes were suspiciously big and bright.

Grimacing, Usagi let them lead her out of the school and toward the gates. “Oh come on, I invented that look!” Pouting as they attempted to persuade her, Usagi mused wistfully how going with them to the Crown would have been the only thing she’d wanted in the days before; either that, or attending a Three Lights concert.

I wonder how Kakyuu is nowadays, she thought. The last time I checked, Galaxia was still at Sagittarius Zero-Star, overseeing the other Alpha Senshi…

“You know, Motoki-nii-san said Mamoru-san was back in town,” Makoto brought up casually, having let go of Usagi’s arm a while ago to sling her briefcase over her shoulder.

“Maybe it would be worth it to get in a few jabs now that he’s back from overseas,” Minako added, wiggling her eyebrows provocatively.

Usagi smiled a bit forcefully. “Perhaps.”

“You know, my cram school is near Infinity Academy,” Ami chimed in. None of them caught how her marine eyes, dark with suspicion, didn’t match her bright, enthusiastic tones.

“Why don’t you lot go on ahead, and I’ll walk with Usagi awhile?”

Minako and Makoto traded confused looks. They’d told Ami about their conversation during history, but they hadn’t agreed to this…

“Um, sure,” Makoto said with forced cheer, “see you guys later! Try and come by, okay, Usa-chan?”

“I’ll try, Mako-chan.” Usagi smiled gently. She was so lucky to have such caring friends. If only they could remain this close, and innocent, forever…

As each group split up, Ami and Usagi walked quietly, Usagi sometimes asking questions about her friend’s studies and her internship the past summer to Germany. Ami replied enthusiastically, but didn’t fail to catch the wistful gleam in Usagi’s eyes.

“And what do you plan to do for next summer, Usagi-chan? We leave for University after graduation next year…surely you have a subject you are passionate about? To study in University, I mean.”

Usagi hesitated, head bowed. “Well, um, I haven’t exactly settled on anything…with my part-time job as Hotaru’s au pair and my weekend job at the Crown, things have been a little hectic. I’ve just moved in with the Tomoe family, and I still have things to reconcile.”

Like the emancipation papers Professor Tomoe’s lawyer had sent to her parents, and the bills she still had to pay from her last three months in her apartment. Water and electricity didn’t come cheap these days.

“Usagi-chan,” Ami scolded, shocked at her friend’s negligence, “Why didn’t you say anything? I would have been glad to administer a personality test for you! It’s one of the easiest ways to determine what one is best at, you know.”

“Well, I kinda know what I’m best at, but I doubt it would be fit for an every-day job,” Usagi said nervously. Glancing ahead, she nearly whooped in relief when Hotaru’s school came into view.

“Anyway, I’ll definitely consider that, Ami! Have fun in cram school!” Speeding away from her friend before she could reply, Usagi disappeared behind the glass doors of the Academy before Ami could blink.

Narrowing her blue eyes in resolve and slight irritation, Ami cursed inwardly as she realized Usagi had avoided the real reason why she hadn’t picked an area of study yet.

Was it always this hard when trying to get your friend to admit they were a superhero?

Chapter 4: Earth Prince in Retrograde

~*~*~*~
Chapter Three
Earth [Prince] in Retrograde
~*~*~*~

Somewhere in Tokyo…

…an alarm clock blared to life at the wee hour of 5:30 AM, causing cerulean blue eyes to snap open in anticipation.

Catapulting out of bed, the denizen of the early morning washed and dressed with precision, feeling as if he were part of the Men In Black as he meticulously dressed himself. Checking that his Rolex was snapped into place, white oxford straight, black dress pants immaculate, and last but not least, his green men’s jacket, (a little worn, but well-loved), was secure around his muscular shoulders, he finished by checking his midnight black hair in the mirror.

Seeing not a strand out of place, Chiba Mamoru breathed in deeply, blue eyes flitting over to the clock atop his television set.

6:45 AM.

He had exactly forty minutes, according to Motoki’s Intel, before his beloved Odango raced around the corner five blocks from the Juuban High School and Middle School complexes, and, just like old times, straight into him.

Smiling, he leaned down to smell the vase of red roses he always kept on the side table by his front door, before sliding into his black dress shoes and grabbing his briefcase, the words Chiba, M.D. emblazoned on the gold plate across the front.

Whistling as he made his way toward the elevator, he nodded in greeting to his neighbor across the hall, a young man with (in his opinion) overly long brown hair and smiling grey eyes so light they seemed almost blue.

“Good morning, Chiba-san.”

“Morning, Sanjouin-san.”

Pressing the button for the lobby once he entered the elevator, he eagerly exited, anticipating his reunion with Usagi, briefly bumping shoulders with a pale-haired man.

“Oh, pardon me,” Mamoru apologized, bowing respectfully.

“Not a problem,” the man said pleasantly, offering his own bow, his cold violet eyes watching the raven-haired male walk briskly for the front doors.

Chuckling inside the elevator, the pale haired man teleported to the penthouse suite on the top floor, shaking his head all the while.

“You’re particularly jovial this morning, brother,” Saphir remarked casually, eyes never leaving the newspaper opened on the table before him. Opened to one of the center sections, he eagerly read the article entitled, “Sailor Moon Sightings Across the Globe!”

Sensing his brother sift to the master suite, no doubt to peruse his latest holo-image of the Queen, Saphir made sure to hide the article in his sub space pocket, one of his latest inventions.

He’d have to try reaching his contact again tonight.

~*~*~*~

At the same time en route to the next palace on her list, Sailor Moon, scratching furiously at the bug bite on her thigh, grumbled as she leapt from the top of the tree the Moon’s computer system had teleported her on to into the canopy below. It had been the closest location they could get her to the palace of the General of the West, King Nephrite.

After her frantic pleading to avoid the Crown and Mamoru all in one go from her friends, she and Hotaru had returned to the Tomoe household and had teleported from there to the Lunarian Palace.

Similarly to the Old World, the Lunarian Palace had been restored by the Ginzuishou following the Dark Kingdom’s demise, its facilities fully functional save for its servants and other indigenous life forms, hence Luna and Aretmis’ presence over her current communication system.

The same day, the two Senshi had been given orders to secure two of the Shitennou’s Palaces. In order for the Black Moon to overtake Earth, they first had to find the Shitennou’s stones of power, each of which were locked safely deep within the recesses of their palaces.

It seemed they had some modicum of sense in this world not to imprison the stones inside their bodies as they had in the Old World, for now their current reincarnations, as the two cats’ s cans had found, could not be reclaimed by Beryl, nor ever again.

So far, they had managed to secure Jadeite’s stone, which was currently being held by Guardian Mars, the sprite-like caretaker of the eternally sleeping planet; now, Hotaru was currently finding Zoicite’s stone in the Alps between Italy and Switzerland, while Usagi was in South America searching for Nephrite’s.

“This is ridiculous,” the bug-bitten warrior whined into her headset. “Luna, Artemis, we really, really, have to redesign these uniforms!”

Scratching at the back of her knees, she snarled in frustration, before whipping out her Luna Pen.

“Luna Pen! Turn me into—the Tomb Raider!”

Cackling as the light show began, Sailor Moon emerged with a personalized outfit in the style of Lara Croft, Tomb Raider. By the time the light show had ended, her hair was neatly arranged in Lara’s customary braid, black military tank top, and military grade army pants and combat boots, her tiara, earrings, and choker still in place. Grinning over the rims of her round black sunglasses, Tsukino Usagi, Champion of the Moon, utilized her Senshi powers to jump from tree to tree.

“A most intelligent solution, Usagi-chan, but perhaps you should have thought of that before you left the palace?” Luna’s wry British scold crackled over the headset.

“Yeah, yeah, nag me for it now,” the excited blonde muttered, “just lemme know when Machu Picchu comes up, ‘kay? Jeeze, and I thought Angkor was bad enough.”

“Yes, well, we didn’t realize Jadeite was cunning enough to use that island chain to hide his kingdom in another dimension upon the advent of his death, did we?”

“Oh, shut up.”

“Finicky as ever, Usagi-chan.”

Jumping from tree to tree and sweating profusely under her uniform as she scaled the mountain, Usagi nearly jumped for joy when she reached the precipice of Machu Picchu’s sister mountain, Huayna Picchu.

Looking across the great divide between the mountains, Usagi watched in awe as the sun began its slow ascent into the sky, the mists catching the light as the patron of the Incan civilization and its long ago ancestors rose to embrace the day.

“Remember, Usagi,” Artemis reminded her, “when the sun reaches the steps of the city, you need to channel your energy to unlock the barrier.”

This was the one tricky aspect of locating each of the four Shitennou’s home kingdoms. Each had been hidden in some way upon the death of their masters, their people either enchanted in sleep or lost forever to Metallia and Beryl’s clutches, transformed into the hideous, amoral Youma that had attacked Tokyo and other locations around the world when the Dark Kingdom had tried a second time to conquer the globe.

So far, she’d been able to find Jadeite’s kingdom, locked away in ancient city of Angkor in Cambodia, one of the Golden Kingdom’s major centers of commerce, the arts, and knowledge, it’s only entrance located on an island chain just south of Japan.

According to the Lunarian database, it was also the city in which Jadeite’s parents had met and chosen to raise their son, a fact that had only increased her determination to ensure that everyone enveloped in this situation, knowingly or not, got their deserved happy ending.

Picking absently at a scab on her lip (a “love tap” from a youma the night before last), Usagi grinned when the sun began to peak over the horizon.

“Ten seconds left,” Artemis intoned over the comlink.

“Nine…eight…seven…six…”

Usagi’s eyes narrowed when the green of the flora and fauna began to glow and hum. “Wait a minute,” she whispered as Artemis reached five.

Summoning her crystal, she used her magic to breach the shield.

“USAGI!” Luna’s scandalized voice yowled, “Why the bloody hell did you shoot off so quickly—oh,” she gasped as the ancient seat of power dedicated to Nephrite, Second Shitennou and Lord of the Americas, was revealed with the dawn.

Overlapping with the ruins of the great complex of Machu Picchu was an elaborate palace with five stories of golden stone, thick columns of rock veined with gold carved intricately to resemble the forest around the complex. Bright flowers in scarlet, gold, and a familiar pink flower that ought to have no presence there, poured in rivers from planters beneath windowsills and lining different pathways to the inside.

“Yowza; what a palace! And it seems Mako-chan influences his life even now,” Usagi sighed wistfully. Those particular species of pink roses may have resembled their Terran sisters, but Usagi could remember that Ganymedian scent from anywhere.

“Indeed,” Luna sighed in agreement as Artemis harrumphed in disapproval. Blushing, the black feline coughed and laughed awkwardly, “ahem, yes. Now, Usagi, do be careful; we still don’t know how close the Black Moon is to identifying the locations of the palaces.”

Grimacing, Usagi murmured her affirmative and proceeded to the center of the palace. “Where else but the royal throne room?” she muttered rhetorically, mounting her crystal to its rightful place on the head of her latest weapon, the Crescent Staff.

Similar to her Moon Wand, the staff body was as tall as she was; but similarly to Sailor Saturn, a large, horizontal silver crescent lay atop it, a special place situated in its cradle, a perfect fit for the Ginzuishou.

Entering the palace, Sailor Moon sighed, grateful for the reprieve from the cold. Inhaling deeply, she was surprised to find that even when it had been hidden and left alone for thousands of years, the air was still as fresh as the outdoors; it seemed the ancient architects had known how to encourage air to ventilate the corridors of their masterpiece.

“Okay, so, if I were a throne room, where would I be?”

Encouraging her crystal to find their quarry, she grinned when a silver thread shot out and zoomed down a hallway to the right.

Following the glinting guide through the warm brick palace, Sailor Moon’s eyes widened periodically as she took in the elaborate murals, fauna, and trees that grew in neatly potted planters or in set areas of stone, many of the trees so thick they formed support beams for the palace.

All of it just like Mako-chan said it would be, she sighed wistfully, recalling the longing on the face of her friend.

Sailor Jupiter and Guardian Nephrite, King of the West, had been completely enamored of one another in their past lives. Often times he could be found riding his great dragon Seiryuu in the skies, his lady perched on the neck ridge he was riding before him, sharing in the thunder storms that raged above his rainforest kingdom.

Many times had Princess Serenity sent her on an errand to Earth when the computers predicted storms in those areas, a mischievous smile on her lips as she sent her valiant protector to the blue and green planet, loving how her emerald eyes lit up in not so hidden joy at seeing her beloved once again.

Something that had ended when she’d gone just before the last battle, and found their love nest in Machu Picchu sealed and him waiting for her on the mountain top, a smirk adorning his face and twelve strange beings behind him who claimed names after the great Constellation kingdoms lightyears away from their star system.

This had been but one of her mother’s forgeries; her Senshi had not died on the moon as her hologram had told them once before.

No, Sailor Jupiter had been ambushed by her lover and the minions bestowed upon him by the Dark Kingdom.

He’d tried to fight her at first; but when their eyes had caught, his panic at seeing her life in jeopardy had come through in his blue gaze, breaking Jupiter’s heart to know that her lover had been taken and was not in control of his actions.

This had been the last thing Sailor Neptune had reported to the palace when a frantic Princess Serenity had asked her to use her Mirror.

Visage darkening in melancholy, Sailor Moon once again cursed the folly of her deceased mother.

Shaking her memories away, Sailor Moon paused in her journey to touch the large jaguar that had been engraved into the combined stone and wood walls. Trailing a finger over one of its sinewy muscles, awed at the skill that had been put in to such a picture, she belatedly realized the silver light had led her to the throne room, a domed, circular room with trellises that had vibrant flora and fauna crawling up the sides to the ceiling. Gemlike creations of the plants had been masterfully encased into the amber dome, so intertwined with their counterparts where they met the ceiling you could not tell the difference.

Lowering her gaze, Sailor Moon’s eyes grew sad when she saw that while the King’s throne remained uncovered, a drape had been thrown over the Queen’s. Walking forward to caress the green cotton cloth, she pulled at it slowly, her eyes tearing up as she saw the green jade of his namesake, carefully carved into the planetary symbol for Jupiter, in the headrest of the Queen’s throne.

Just as she reached forward to touch it, a chill enveloped her, her hair standing on end. Whipping her head around, her eyes narrowed angrily when she realized she’d lingered too long and the Black Moon had managed to break past the wards into the palace.

Letting the Luna Pen’s transformation go, she pressed the silver gem at the center of her locket, encasing her body in a semi-visible silver shield.

“Usagi?” Luna whispered from the comm. “Have you found Nephrite’s stone yet?”

Mentally cursing when she realized she’d forgotten what she’d came here for amidst the memories, Usagi studied the thrones again, probing the room with her power. A familiar energy source made her smile when she located it.

“Of course; it’s so obvious,” she murmured, touching the jade symbol of Jupiter and, using her crystal’s power, eased it gently from its setting in the throne.

“Come to Mama—OUCH!” she hissed, clutching the stone to her and rolling away from the next round of negative energy aimed at her back.

“Well, well, well, if it isn’t the feisty little Rabbit,” Rubeus’ drawl came from the entryway, “this is truly a surprise to find you here; our sources said you and your friends had yet to be awakened to your powers. And yet here you are, Sailor Moon,” he hissed, sending a bolt of dark energy at the thrones.

“I’m sorry if I stunned you, Rubeus,” Sailor Moon said breathlessly, crouching behind Nephrite’s throne and keeping her eyes on the mirror off to her left that helped bring sunlight into the room from the windows. If she could get to it—

“Luna, Artemis,” she hissed into her comlink, “Prep for a mirror jump—SHIT! Watch where you’re aiming you jackass!” she threw over her shoulder as Rubeus’ next bolt took out the top of the throne and a chunk hit her right shoulder.

“My Prince said “relatively” unharmed and not dead,” Rubeus said mildly, smirking in bemusement as she rolled away and deflected his barrage with her staff and shield.

“Uh huh,” she rebutted sarcastically, sending a purple blast at him the color of sunset. Twilight Flash, she thought with intense focus, channeling her latest attack.

Snarling and groaning when he flew back into the wall, he shouted at her in rage when she jumped up and went feet first through the round reflective surface, her braid singed by his last blast.

Landing on the floor of the Mirror Room in the Lunarian Palace, she pursed her lips at the snickering Artemis as she struggled to catch her breath and put out her hair.

“Goddamnit, I HATE that bastard!” she shrieked, realizing she’d have to cut off a good two feet of her hair.

Artemis cackled.

~*~*~*~
Sitting in one of the benches outside the park on the way to their high school, Mizuno Ami peered over the edge of her book, glasses catching the sunlight as she studied the area where her friend was supposed to show up. Checking her watch again, she frowned when she saw they only had thirty minutes before the bell rang.

Sighing in frustration when she realized her plans to out Usagi as Sailor Moon had failed, she closed her text, placed it in her satchel, tucked her glasses into her blazer, and began her ten-minute trek to the school.

Checking her watch again, she was startled when she accidentally bumped into a familiar figure.

“Eh? Oh! Please excuse me, Izono-senpai,” she said, her face blushing as she bowed to her victim contritely.

To bump into a fellow honors student no less!

Smiling, the young man returned the gesture before hefting his briefcase over his shoulder.

“Not a problem, Mizuno-san! How have you been lately?” the suave half Japanese half Swiss boy asked happily, his green feline eyes and strawberry blond hair glowing in the morning light.

“I’m fine, if a little worried. I was waiting for my friend Usagi and she appears to be late. How have you been, Izono-sempai?”

“All right; I was waiting for my friend too—Higashi Hisui. I believe he attends the kendo classes your friend Rei helps her grandfather with, yes?”

“Ah yes! I remember him! Didn’t he place first in Literature studies?”

“Yes, he’s quite intent on pursuing Religious studies and Ancient Religious Texts in university. Speaking of pursuing studies, how was your experience in Germany this past summer?”

“Oh, I quite enjoyed it! I was privileged to study under a famous doctor, I believe you’ve heard of Dr. Temperance Brennan?”

“Really!? Wow! Was she as fascinating in person as her memoir reads?”

“Well, I—”

“AMI!!! Sorry I’m late!!” a flustered Usagi cut off her speech.

Ami frowned a little as she noticed Usagi favoring her right shoulder and—was her hair shorter?!

“Morning Tsukino-san!” Izono-sempai laughed politely as Usagi struggled to straighten their school’s navy blazer and skirt set. “Rough morning?”

“Like you wouldn’t believe!” the pigtailed blonde laughed nervously, hand scratching the back of her head. “Hotaru-chan was a bit difficult getting dressed this morning!”

As in, getting back from finding your crystal! What the hell, ZOICITE!?

Checking her watch, Ami gasped in horror. “Oh my! We have only fifteen minutes to the bell! Usagi, why didn’t you call ahead on your cell phone and let me know you were going to be late?”

“Ugh, Ami, you’re beginning to sound like Rei,” Usagi’s disgusted voice floated behind her as she joined the duo in the dash to school.

Behind a tree, a disgruntled and worried Chiba Mamoru frowned as he also noticed her shorter hair and favoring of her right shoulder. Unlike Ami, however, he had already trained as a doctor and saw several familiar signs.

“She looks as if she was hit by something heavy,” he murmured, unsettled and angry that anything or anyone would dare lay a hand on his Odango Atama.

Turning around to head in the opposite direct to the Azabu-Juuban Hospital, he resolved to ask Rei what the hell had been going on since he’d left.

~*~*~*~
Saphir gulped as he reached the pier at the center of Juuban Park.

“Here goes nothing,” he murmured, checking his surroundings to make sure none of the Black Moon Clan minions or other denizens had followed him.

“CRYSTAL KEY! TAKE ME TO THE GUARDIAN OF TIME!”

Chapter 5: Mercury Rising

Notes:

Thank you to everyone who has reviewed within the last few months and beyond; my apologies for my silence! Balancing work and finding free time to write has been difficult, but I am trying to do my best. Sailor Moon Crystal has also been my guilty pleasure as well!

I hope you enjoy this new chapter; please make sure to give me your opinions!!

XOXO,

QW

Chapter Four

Mercury Rising

*~*~*~*~*~*~*

“…and the Sapphire Crystal Carrier held forth her staff and proclaimed: “Only those who seek to protect and serve shall reach their full potential as a Senshi. Such is the Sailor Way.”

 

—from The Account of the Three Sacred Gems, Book IX of the Curatrix Bellator

 *~*~*~*~*~*~*

            There was something clouding the room, and she could feel her throat close up as her face was unrelentingly forced to stare at the perverted computer screen before her. A burning sensation on her forehead brought both pain and clarity as she fought to remember. Yes, this was who she was! She was—

           —tired.

            Gasping for air as she clawed blindly at her forehead, Ami breathed heavily and reached for her inhaler. Shivering as the air hit her sweat soaked body, she pumped the small device twice in succession before placing it gently on her night table. This made it the sixteenth time this week when she’d caught herself dreaming, either night or day, of strange battles and flights of fancy more elaborate than anything she felt her mind could conjure.

            Perhaps it was the knowledge that her best friend was a superhero who fought monsters—perhaps it was her continued acquaintance and deepening friendship with Izono-sempai, of whom she also dreamt of in shocking detail, presenting her with flowers, dressed in an immaculate white and brown uniform, older and more august—she could never decide.

            Turning to look at the tablet she’d converted into a miniature lap top—a prototype and first of its kind—Ami decided to take the time to check on her daredevil of a friend. Flipping open the mini computer, she activated the tracker she’d placed into Usagi’s pink pen. It had taken a while to notice how the pen would randomly appear and disappear in situations where a disguise was needed (not many stewardesses, nurses, bus drivers, and secretaries looked EXACTLY the same, after all), but she had noticed, and slipped a small little chip between the gem at the top and the body of the pen.

            According to her map statistics (and the tracking bug she had placed in Usagi’s hairclip, given to her for her last birthday), Usagi was once again in Juuban Park, and it looked like an unnatural spike in the power grid was in approximately the same location. Frowning, Ami noted the highly dangerous levels that only kept rising before grabbing fresh clothing, intent on studying her friend and her mysterious powers for yet another night.

            Running across town was no mean feat, but in half an hour, Ami found herself winded and settling behind several tall bushes only a few yards away from a truck-like monster that seemed intent on draining one of the power lines for electricity. And held in one of its hands, nearly limp as a doll, was Sailor Moon.

            Eyes widening in fear, Ami felt the chills of half an hour ago return as she saw Sailor Moon struggle to fight the electric shock travelling through her body so she could vanquish the demon dominating her. Shocked, but feeling proactive, she rapidly glanced around her for something to throw at the demon-monster-thing to distract it from harming her friend when a purple bolt struck it across the face, sending it catapulting several yards away.

            “Sailor Moon! Are you all right?” Sailor Saturn begged as she helped her Princess struggle to her feet.

            “I’m fine,” coughed the crispy Senshi, leaning on the young girl, “but watch out for its—”

            Crying out, both Senshi were helpless as wires from the monstrous truck lashed out and enveloped them in a rubber and copper cocoon, electrocuting them until the tips of their fingers probably turned black and blue under their graying white gloves.

            Behind her protective shrubbery, Ami was frozen in shock. Her friend endured this almost every night? It was no wonder she still fell asleep in class sometimes…how did she manage to study and do homework? It was then she remembered all the times in middle school when the homework hadn’t been completed, and Usagi had been much worse than she was now…leaps and bounds had been made, in her estimation…but what had changed?

            Unheard, Luna and Artemis crept silently behind her; they too had sensed the fight from Central Control, and could only watch as their former charge, Sailor Mercury, stood unknowing and afraid as her former comrades fought to kill the monster.

            Rubeus had been clever this time, they knew; he’d sent something that was almost too much for the duo to handle. Something had to be done.

            “Scary, isn’t it?” Luna spoke up, shocking Ami so horribly it took all she could not to fall out of the bushes. Looking down, not for the first time, Ami wondered if this was all a dream. Cats couldn’t speak, let alone in a British accent, could they?

            “Y-yes,” she stammered, gaze switching back to Sailor Moon and Sailor Saturn, who had managed to escape and trap it with its own wires.

            “There’s a lake nearby,” Luna said nonchalantly, “if only someone had the capability to manipulate the water and freeze the demon—wouldn’t that make it so much easier for them to vanquish it?”

            “I—I suppose—how exactly are you speaking, again?” Ami asked, her voice high strung and shaking.

            “You could do it, you know. The freezing strategy,” Luna spoke on, eyeing Ami slyly.

            Cats shouldn’t be able to do this, a more rational part of Ami decided to stir and pipe up from the depths of her mind.

            But neither should your friend be able to transform into an obscenely short skirted outfit and fight monsters every day, that same practical half of her mind reasoned, and who are you to challenge the fact that Usagi’s cat is talking to you? Maybe it’s like witchcraft, and she’s Usagi’s familiar. Ask her about the freezing thing.

            “W-what do you mean, I could do it?” Ami asked her, breathing better under control with that reasoning. By now, the monster was weakened, but had managed to find a ground transformer and had regrouped, loping away into the depths of the park. Behind Ami and Luna, Moon and Saturn raced to follow it.

            “You had a special gift once Mizuno, Ami,” Luna began in a grave voice, “the power to help your friends, to help Usagi in battles such as this one.” From beyond the trees, the body of Sailor Saturn came flying into the lake. A moment later, she surfaced, gasping for breath, but resolute. Hopping out, her uniform clinging to her, she raced back to her cohort.

            “What do I have to do?” she said immediately. All her life, surrounded by her books, her few friends, the weight of her parents expectations, her reputation as an honors student—and she was being told there was more to life than all of that. That she could make a difference, right now. She was no good with construction, soup kitchens scared her, and tutoring usually wound up with people trying to get her to do the work for them. If she could help her best friend in ANY way…

            “Touch your earrings,” Luna demanded urgently as Ami fingered the bubble-shaped, “fake” Sapphire studs Usagi had given her at their middle school graduation party. “What about these earrings? What did Usagi do to them?” Ami demanded, mind working furiously.

            “Never mind that! Do you feel something different about them?” Luna urged quickly, as the cries of Sailor Saturn cut through the dense park. It sounded like she had reached Sailor Moon.

            “NO! SAILOR MOON!”

            Tears came to Ami’s eyes, and without further ado, she touched the earrings; she’d initially thought the vibrations and ringing she was hearing were from the fight and the earth quaking steps of the monster, but no, it was the earrings!

            “Once you do this, there is no going back,” Luna warned her, claret eyes seeming to searing Ami’s very soul, “to be a Senshi is to be a guardian of this planet, this solar system, and this universe, all of it in its entirety. You will engage in these sorts of things on an almost daily basis, endanger your very life, possibly your family. You will lose friends and comrades, and possibly gain them back as soon as they fall. You will be tired and sore, and long for normality, so I ask you again, Mizuno Ami—are you sure?”

            For a moment, Ami wanted to say no, to run away and never look back, to burrow under her sheets and hope that it was all a dream. She was sixteen, though, and before her human friends, her books had been her best friends, whether they were scientific or fantasy or non-fiction. “Bravery is doing the right thing, even if you are scared shitless and you want to high tail it outta there,” one of the books had offered her once, “so show me your gumption and let us protect what is ours!”

            Before she could agree, however, a bright white light and the death cries of the monster echoed throughout the park. Sailor Mercury had missed her rebirth, and a still ignorant Mizuno Ami quivered behind the bushes.

            “What do I do with these?” Ami demanded quietly, the earrings humming louder and glinting in her ears with inner light. Luna smiled. The earrings had recognized the will and determination of their mistress.

            Seconds later, Ami was hidden beneath the veneer of Super Sailor Mercury.

            The battle might have been over, but the important thing was: Ami remembered.

*~*~*~*~*

            It had actually been Usagi’s idea to redesign the Senshi transformation items. She’d remembered how Artemis had once revealed how he and Minako had been serving in London and it had been an all-too easy way for Kunzite to track them down and send his henchmen after his charge. Artemis had been shocked when Usagi of all people had suggested something so astute—so, so Queen Selenity.

            When Usagi had left her parents and demonstrated more willingness to accept her destiny, her experiences with science fiction and fantasy film and manga had surprised the feline guardians with the astute observations she had started making about their modus operandi. It was too obvious, Usagi, (USAGI!?!?), had noted, to have five Senshi outfitted with transformation pens and a brooch, items that could be easily recognized, stolen, or easily broken by their enemies.

            (Unbeknownst to the duo, Usagi was actually recounting the numerous times an enemy had actually had the balls to grab her brooch and squeeze it when the Ginzuishou was inside it; having it connected so directly to her heart and soul, those moments had hurt like a MOTHER.)

            No, she had said, it would make more sense to fashion them into every day things the girls would most likely have on them at all times, things that could also channel their powers out of uniform but wouldn’t be too suspicious, as other girls could easily have them as well. To do that, though, would take Luna and Artemis’ powers, as well as every day objects the girls had on them.

The perfect moment had occurred with the five girls’ middle school graduation:

            Ami had received a pair of Sapphire earrings shaped like bubbles, earrings that could now gift her with the Mercury computer visor in and outside of her Senshi transformation. If the rain made sure she wasn’t soaked and cocooned her comfortably, she never noticed.

            Rei had received a simple, yet elegant red coral bracelet with a jade-colored charm attached in the shape of a Phoenix. If she was able to channel the powers of the Great Fire without straining herself, she wrote it off as the jade stone being a talisman of good luck.

            Makoto had received a rose-colored pendant that mysteriously matched her earrings, a pendant no larger than an inch in diameter surrounded with emerald-colored leaves. If she found herself less prone to static shock and if her plants looked a tad bit healthier than normal, she never noticed.

            And Minako, dear, dear Minako, had received a heart-shaped pendant as well, with a simple gold border surrounding a Swarovski crystal of orange and gold, dainty and accentuated with the Romanized symbol V on the back, the sign of the craftsman, Usagi had explained, knowing it was Artemis’ silent tribute to their days together when Aino Minako had still been “Sailor V.”

            When Ami received all this information from Luna and Artemis, it was just one more new event she had to keep track of in her head. It was all so familiar, yet overwhelming, in a way—she’d done this for over a year, only to die tragically in the North Pole, but it should’ve still been easy for her to take it in stride and confront her princess. Yet something held her back, as if more had been lost…

            Shaking her head to clear her thoughts, Ami looked up when she heard Usagi shout hello to her and wave by the school gates. Smiling, she ran forward and enveloped her blonde friend in a strong hug. Feeling tears coming to her eyes, she burrowed her head into Usagi’s shoulder. “Good morning, Usagi-chan.”

            A bewildered Usagi patted her friend on the back. “Ami-chan?” she said softly, “What’s wrong? You look as if you’ve seen a ghost or something!”

            “I’m okay, just had a bad dream. It was very strange. In it, we—you, me, and the girls—had all gone to the North Pole. And we were wearing the most ridiculous outfits. But the worst part was we got separated. I couldn’t find you. I was so worried!” Ami explained, wiping the tears from her eyes as she smiled at Usagi, who looked both worried and tearful herself. “Silly, right?” Ami probed, testing her friend to see if she remembered anything.

            “Y—yeah,” Usagi replied, tears forming in her own eyes, “b-but, did I find you? Because I would always find you. And the girls. I’d never—”

            Uncharacteristically motherly, Ami cupped Usagi’s cheeks between her hands. “I know you would. Just as I would for you.”

            The warning bell for homeroom sounded, making the two jump apart just as Minako and Makoto raced onto the scene. “Hey! Usually we’re the ones who’re late! Come on!” Minako gasped as the duo raced ahead of Ami and Usagi. Trading giggles and looks of exasperation, the blue and blonde haired girls raced after their friends, their hearts light and feeling better than they had in a long, long time.

*~*~*~*~*

            By lunch, Ami felt calmer than she had in a while, her heart bursting with joy as she opened her palm pilot computer and pressed the tip of her pen into the side to reboot it into Mercury mode. She’d invented it Pre-Beryl, and was delighted when the familiar boot screen loaded, a background with a mermaid waving happily at her when it saw her face.

            “Mercury-chan! You’ve remembered!” Marina’s speech bubble emerged once all systems were fully functional. “My mainframe has been downloading all new data from Control, and boy have you missed a lot!”

            “Update me on everything,” Ami typed into her DOS messenger program.

            “New enemy has been classified as “The Dark Moon Family.” Current members who have presented themselves as active on Terra include:

Rubeus, General of the Dark Moon Army

Subordinate Officers:

Petz

Calaveras

Koan

Berthier

 

Various Youma, most recent to past:

Furaiki

Avogadora

Jamanen

Nipasu

 

Click next page for more -->

            Frowning as she read through Central’s statistics for each Youma, Ami pursed her lips unhappily as she saw each Youma successively become more powerful, and the damage percentages rise as Sailor Moon and Sailor Saturn attempted to find the Star Seeds that had once belonged to the Shitennou. Crystals, the computer said, that gave them the power to protect Endymion and come forth as the Four Heavenly Kings. More importantly, though, what were Star Seeds?

            Marina, hack all satellites and servers—locate term, “Star Seeds.”

            Search commencing, “Ami-chan!!! You look so serious? Whatcha looking at on your palm pilot?”

            Slamming the lid closed, Ami smiled brightly at her four friends, all with their lunch trays loaded with food. “Oh, just some research on the Sailor Senshi. Sightings of Sailor Moon and Sailor Saturn have become more common, and I’ve been fascinated recently by their technology. Just thing what innovations they could have that could be applied to society!” Ami laughed off, causing Usagi to frown while Minako and Makoto laughed.

            Wetting her lips, Ami spoke up again after they had all dug into their lunches. “Say, I wonder if there are any other Senshi?”

            Minako stopped mid chew while Makoto swallowed thoughtfully, “Makes sense, I guess. Could you imagine, one for each planet?”

            “Pretty guardian soldiers who fight side by side,” Usagi murmured wistfully, “always having each other’s backs in battle, no matter the cost.”

            Minako absently stoked her pendant as she swallowed her food. “A family,” she whispered, her finger tapping the gemstone as she stared into her food.

            “Someone to take care of you and makes sure you’re never alone,” Makoto smiled, her mouth holding a melancholy quirk to it, “Well, anyway,” she brushed off the tense moment, “if you could be a Sailor Soldier, which planet would you choose?”

            “Minako would definitely be Venus, goddess of love,” Ami smirked at Usagi, whose eyes lit up with dawning hope and anxiety. “All love crazy and boy obsessed!” She ended, cackling with the others girls.

            Did Ami remember? Usagi wondered, as the three friends laughed at the pouting British girl.

            “Well, then you’d have to be something water based cause you swim and have blue hair!” Minako traded back with a tongue poke, “Maaaaaybe….ooh, which one was the ocean one? Neptune?”

            Ami scrunched her nose, causing them to laugh again. “If only there was a planet named for Athena, goddess of wisdom,” Usagi murmured, chewing on a French fry, “Ami would definitely be the Senshi of that planet!”

            Makoto sipped at her juice absently, “What about Mercury? He’s supposed to be the god of tricks and cunning, right? That’s close enough.”

            “So then who would you be, Mako-chan?” Usagi probed, hoping she would recall even an inkling of having been Sailor Jupiter.

            Makoto swallowed and hummed thoughtfully. “Dunno. I like plants. Is there a planet related to plants, and cooking?”

            Minako rolled her eyes, “I guess you’d have to be Sailor Earth, then!” she proclaimed. “All hail Princess Makoto of Earth!” she said dramatically, bowing down even in her cross legged position on the grass.

            Makoto looked at her oddly. “No…no, that doesn’t sound right,” she said thoughtfully.

            “Hey Mako, you love thunder storms, right?” Usagi said tentatively, hoping against hope that if she knew “Princess Makoto of Earth” sounded wrong, that maybe, just maybe, she might remember something.

            “Yeah? So?”

            “What about,” Usagi licked her lips nervously, “Sailor Jupiter? Isn’t Jupiter the king of the Roman gods and isn’t his signature power throwing lightning bolts?”

            Makoto, Minako, and Ami looked at Usagi in shock.

            “Usagi! You remembered!” Ami praised happily, her words holding double meaning.

            Makoto frowned, “But wasn’t he an unconscionable womanizer?”

            Minako smirked, “At least we can be boy crazy together!” Both girls cracked up at the thought.

            “So Ami is Mercury, I’m Venus, and Mako is Jupiter,” Minako summarized, “so who would Usagi be?”

            “Well,” Ami began casually, “she sleeps a lot, as if her circadian rhythms are off, likes bunnies, and has a lot of crescent moon jewelry. How do we know she isn’t already Sailor Moon?”

            That sent all the girls save Usagi into paroxysms of laughter. “Usagi…SAILOR MOON? HAHAHA!!!!” Minako laughed, slowly calming down, “She’s so tiny and delicate—we’d need to protect…her…all…the…time,” she trailed off slowly, lost in thought.

            “Yeah,” Makoto agreed, also feeling as if the thought, that Usagi would need to be protected all the time, was an important one.

            “Yeah,” Ami agreed, staring into Usagi’s eyes as she raised a hand, and fingered her earrings. For a few seconds, as Makoto and Minako ate distractedly, Ami activated her Mercury Computer across her eyes before deactivating it.

            “Yeah,” Usagi whispered, her eyes growing glassy with tears of joy. “and I wouldn’t wish for anyone else to protect me. I’d be one lucky girl.”

*~*~*~*~*

            From his apartment high above Tokyo, Prince Demando was holding impromptu court with his Generals, Rubeus and Esmeraude, as Sapphir went about arranging drinks. They were studying the latest attack against Sailor Moon and her partner, Sailor Saturn.

            “Marvelous,” Demando whispered, as Rubeus rolled his eyes condescendingly. Yeah, the Moon brat had a great pair of legs, but beside that? Brunettes with fiery personalities were more his style, like that Super Sailor Mars chick in the future. Licking his lips at the thought, he tried to focus once more on Demando’s plans.

            “This droid was very powerful, Rubeus,” Demando complemented. “However, we must make sure the next one matches her, or is even better. Now that we know she is collecting the crystals of the Shitennou as we are, we must be even more vigilant.”

            He eyed the one jewel they had managed to swipe before Sailor Moon, a lovely red gem they had found in the wreckage of Point D, Queen Beryl’s hideout. Conferences with the Wiseman had revealed they now held Jadeite’s soul in their grasp. Smirking, Demando idly wondered if they could use it as a bargaining chip.

            “Esmeraude, instruct the Wiseman to contact Queen Nehellenia; I’m sure she’ll want to be kept apprised of recent events. Tell her we’ll have her young niece on our side by next week, the earliest. By then, Earth will be ripe for her picking.”

Chapter 6: Venus in the Fourth House

Notes:

Just a note on the chapter title!

According to http://www.san.beck.org/Astro-Venus.html, “Venus in the Fourth House” signifies, “…a love of one's parents and family, home, and the environment. Feelings run deep, and loyalties are strong.”

Also: a BIG thank you and many virtual cookies to those of you who gave kudos and positive reviews to my story. It really made my day and kept me confident in this piece!!

I hope you like this chapter--please feel free to comment and review!! <3

Happy Reading!! ^_^

~QW

~*~*~*~*~*~

Chapter Five: Venus in the Fourth House

~*~*~*~*~*~

“The Heavenly Kings became lost on the path; such is the burden of humanity, to be tempted by the Light and the Darkness. Let the Sky Witches see that while we wait for our Kings, we are not unguarded. Let them repent, and return us to the glory of peace and kindness.”

—From The Nazca Scrolls*

~*~*~*~*~*~

 “He feels familiar…as if I knew him a long time ago.” “Do you know this man, Kunzite?”

“Do you know this man, Kunzite?”

“DO YOU KNOW ME, KUNZITE?”

            Sakurada Gin, formerly known as the High Shitennou of the Middle East, Kunzite, was jolted into the land of the conscious, gasping as pain rippled through the wound on his lower torso. He’d been shot there several years ago, close to three now; if it hadn’t been for the young student doctor on call that night, he’d have bled out and died. That young man, Dr. Chiba Mamoru, was just a new attending doctor at the hospital who had happened to be on call that night.

            To Gin, however, Dr. Chiba would always be his lost liege lord, Prince Endymion.

            Curling over in pain, he reached for the pain relievers he always kept on hand for the sore muscles that ached and spasmed even years later. The doctors had said he was fine; they could find no reasons for the pain.

            Gin knew, though. It was because of the memory. The memory of belonging to a wicked Queen with blood red hair, one whose only goal was to see her own great Queen, Metallia, become ruler of the Earth. His planet. Their planet.

            “I’m sorry,” he had gasped in the dream world, “I’m sorry, forgive me. I know you. I know you.”

            He was ashamed of his past self, in both incarnations:

            One where he’d betrayed his brother in all but blood by falling prey to the Red Queen’s foul magics and deception. The one he’d been raised to protect. Who had sworn to always have his back, to protect him, a lower king, even though it had never been asked of a Terran High Prince before, not in the entirety of their planet’s history.

            The second, where he had been commanded to kill him in cold blood, because Queen Beryl, the woman responsible for unmaking and twisting himself and his brothers into facsimiles of themselves, had asked it of him.

            “Endymion.”

            Raising his silver gaze to the bottom corner of his bed, he gingerly pulled up the mattress with his strong arms, revealing a hard cover leather album underneath. The worn black cover had seen better days; Gin could recall every time he’d attempted to burn it, or had thrown it against the wall in anger and despair.

            Flipping open the cover, his eyes searchingly studied the worn newspaper clippings and reports he’d secretly made copies of or found in old library archives. In each one, his Prince feature prominently: an article from 20 years ago about a mysterious car crash; another article announcing prodigy Chiba Mamoru would graduate two years early from Azabu High School; countless others, chronicling the life of his once Lord and Master.

            It was the only way he could remain close without approaching him directly; for Prince Endymion didn’t remember him or the Shitennou, hadn’t even recognized him at the charity ball several weeks ago.

            Gin wasn’t sure if this was a blessing or a curse.

~*~*~*~*~*~

At the same time, across town…

            “No, no, no! That’s not it—her face was more, more—!” Snarling in frustration, Higashi Hisui crumpled up his latest drawing, tossing it arbitrarily across his bed toward the overflowing garbage pail by his desk.

            Ever since his conversation with Usagi in art class several weeks ago, Hisui had developed a fervor to commit his strange dreams to paper and charcoal.

            His parents were worried for him, he could tell; who could blame them, what with the way hundreds of sketches and full colored drawings had been carefully tacked on his walls, covering nearly the entire surface behind his bed and desk? Only the window area and the door remained free.

            Keeping his tongue curled between his teeth, Hisui smirked triumphantly as he perfected the face of the drawing’s sole female figure.

            Perhaps it was his close proximity to his Kendo instructor’s granddaughter; perhaps it was his vivid imagination.

            No one could perhaps say, but one thing was clear: Hino Rei, or at least, an older version of her, was leaning against a marble railing, wearing a gauzy red and indigo dress, although only her shoulders and torso could be seen in addition to her arms. She seemed to be gazing fondly at something in the distance. Around her wrist sat a bracelet, its milky beads shot through with fire.

            “Now the bracelet…hers was more…yes!” Hisui crowed in triumph, grinning goofily at his newest masterpiece. Carefully sliding it into a plastic cover, he attached command strips to it and made his way to the bed. Crouching on it carefully, he jumped, sticking his new piece to the ceiling. “So I can see you when I wake,” he murmured. Leaning back against his pillows, he smiled up at the collection of pictures:

            One featured a maiden with hair of starlight, grinning impishly at him.

            Another had the shy fondness of a woman with blue hair and kind eyes.

            Rei’s was the latest, and he KNEW there was one other he was missing.

            It was the men—his brothers, his mind whispered—that had been there first though.

            One was of Izono’s counterpart, an older, smirking male with longer hair and bright green eyes, a chess piece held between two fingers in a victory sign.

            Another was of a chestnut haired older male, leaning against a wall and rolling his eyes in fond exasperation.

            And the last two, his commanding officers, as different as night and day, but drawn together, because when was one without the other?

            With pale white hair and intimidating grey eyes, the taller male was about the same age as his darker counterpart. Dressed entirely in grey, he would have seemed drab to anyone else. But he was Kunzite, King of the Middle East, and the colors only seemed more regal and commanding against his caramel skin.

            But the other man…a study of what today’s world would have deemed Greek heritage, Endymion, was what the voice of a self long gone whispered to him.

            The name was spoken with the fond joy of a younger brother seeing an older one as he gazed happily at the silver and black clad figure of his Prince. Tall with bronzed skin from sword practice in the sun, Endymion was tall, lithe, and could wield diplomatic words as well as his sword. He was ever the peace-loving lord, always knowing how to soothe the ills of the world.

            Closing his eyes, Hisui succumbed to sleep and the teachings of his past self.

~*~*~*~*~*~

            She couldn’t quite put her nose on it, but Aino Minako knew something porky was going on with Ami and Usagi. Ever since last week, they’d been closer than ever, walking to school together early in the morning, their heads bowed together as they urgently discussed one topic or another. She’d even started getting up earlier and earlier just to spy on them! It wasn’t right, Minako thought with a pout, for her two best friends to get all secret-y without her!

            Mako-chan had shrugged when it started. “They’ll tell us in their own time, Mina-chan. We’re all best friends! They wouldn’t keep something big from us unless they thought it was necessary. Oh! Rei’s birthday is coming up; maybe they’re working on a surprise party, but won’t discuss it with us until they’ve worked out a venue? Hmm, maybe I should butt in and ask about the cake. I could make one that was more tart than sweet since Rei likes tart over sweet…”

            Minako wasn’t so sure.

            Like right now, for instance. They were walking together toward Usagi’s new house—Tomoe or some such—when a loud beeper noise had gone off. They’d completely bypassed the front door and done a 90 degree turn toward the park!

            Trailing behind them, kerchief tied under her nose in a poor disguise, Minako raced after them. She lost them behind some dense trees surrounded by thorny rose bushes—who even put ROSE bushes in a park like this anymore!?!?

            By the time she stumbled through them, pulling thorns from her arms and legs, sucking on a few fingers here and there, her eyes were assaulted by a brief light show, as if someone had taken a camera with the flash turned on and held it right up to her eyes.

            Her jaw dropped to the floor with her knees, a cold sweat forming on the back of her neck.

            Because her friends weren’t there any more.

            Or were they?

            “Mako-chan? It’s Mina. Come to the Hamacho Park ASAP! You’re NOT going to believe this!!”

~*~*~*~*~*~

            “Mercury, can your computer sense anything?” Sailor Moon asked sharply. An obviously shaken Luna and Artemis had called them to the park, blabbering frantically about being contacted by Rubeus and the Shitennou Stones being fakes. How could they be FAKES?! Usagi had felt their power, as had Saturn!

            Moments later, a rustling through the opposite bushes revealed their frantic feline forms. “Moon! Mercury! We tested the stones—they’re all fakes! Except for Jadeite’s stone. The Black Moon has the rest, except for Kunzite’s! They’ve been piggy backing our signals and following you and Saturn when you retrieved the stones,” Artemis gasped, struggling to catch his breath.

            Dread came over Moon and Mercury. “But how? How can we tell if Zoicite and Nephrite’s aren’t real versus Jadeite’s? My computer showed they were the exact same compositional energy in relation to the Kinzuishou!”

            “More importantly, do they know where we live?!” Moon butted in, her panic eclipsing her attention to events. It wasn’t until she and Mercury were flung to the side into a park tree that she snapped back.

            “An impressive little trick, Senshi idiots,” a baritone male voice chuckled, dark winds ripping through their short fuku. Moments later, Rubeus, in all his ginger haired glory, appeared above them, reclining on his side as he smirked down at the two belligerent females.

            “I see you’ve recovered Mercury, Sailor Moon. Forsaking Saturn now?” he spoke carelessly, removing two stones that looked exactly like Zoicite’s and Nephrite’s from his vest, proceeding to toss them into the air and juggle them.

            “Ha, ha, you’re sooooo funny, Red. I’m dying in the streets,” Sailor Moon snarked at him, surprising Mercury. When had Usagi become so jaded? She wondered.

            They massaged the bruises to their ribs as they stood. “Now cut to the chase—you claim to have Jadeite’s stone. Well, so do we. So what?”

            “Didn’t your guardians tell you?” He drawled lazily, increasing his juggling speed and making the Senshi nervous. “They’re all fakes. Including,” he removed his copy of Zoicite’s stone, throwing it to the ground in order to smash it, “THIS.”

            Before she had realized, an agonized scream emerged from Mercury’s mouth, her body diving to catch it before it fell, Rubeus’ task of spreading doubt complete.

            “Mercury, NO!”

            Body scraping the ground as she caught it, she nearly cried in relief when what felt like gravity began to compress her body to the ground. Crying out in pain, she struggled to get up, but found herself immobilized. Why had she fallen for something so obvious? She was REALLY out of shape!

            “TWILIGHT FLASH!” Sailor Moon cried out in panic, her hands before her, pressing the swirling mass of twilight colors against the black energy pressing Sailor Mercury into the ground.

            “Give up, Lunatic! Either give me the REAL stones or I’ll keep doing this all day!” he cackled, assuming a cross-legged position and erecting a green barrier around them, keeping them all inside a controlled area.

            Moon froze. He said REAL stones! So he doesn’t know OURS are fake too!!!!!

            “S-sai-lll-or M-m-oon, d-do-on’t,” Mercury gasped, nodding at Moon while she clutched “Zoicite’s” stone for all it was worth, attempting to stave off the pain.

            From behind the bushes, Minako quivered in fear and disbelief as she watched Usagi sweat, doing everything to push the black light away from Ami, not quite understanding what was going on, before her eyes narrowed in resolve and anger. When it came down to it, the only thing that mattered was that asshole hurting her best friends!

            She clutched her pendant in worried mindlessness, wishing she could smack that ginger haired creep with something heavy, or ring his neck, with—with—a chain, or SOMETHING!

            In between her hands, her pendant started to warm. “How am I supposed to help them?” She panicked. “I want to help them, how? HOW?”

            Her cornflower blue eyes examined the battle, tearing up as Usagi summoned a big ass sword from SOMEWHERE, in order to start hacking at the black energy field. Inside the energy, Ami had one hand to the side, trying to aim what looked like VERY pointy ice crystals at the same point, so Usagi could presumably get through.

            Squeezing her eyes shut, she missed the flaring of light spreading through her fingers. “I would do ANYTHING to protect my friends!”

            Her brain sure felt it though.

            Snapping open, blue eyes flashed golden as the power of Venus surged through Aino Minako once more, unlocking her memories.

            “The hell?” Rubeus yelped, as a bright light enveloped the inside of the green force field.

            “LOVE ME CHAIN, ENCIRCLE!” A furious voice rang, sending a vicious looking chain made of heart-shaped links around Rubeus’ throat.

            “So, think you can mess with my friends, pretty boy?” Sailor Venus hissed angrily, pulling the chain tighter to cut off his air circulation.

            No matter what Rubeus did—energy blasts, his knives—her hold did not waver, each attach brushed aside as the Leader of the Senshi sought her vengeance. As his vision began to fade, Rubeus choked up blood after a white high-heeled boot crashed into his ribs several times.

            Lifting the choking man to his feet, Venus decked him across the face, breaking his nose and sending blood everywhere. Jumping on top of him, chain wrapped in her fist several times over, she punched him again. And again.

            “How dare you, how dare you, HOW DARE YOU!” She sobbed, unhinged by the memories of her past deaths, past battles, all of it, overwhelming her mind without either Luna or Artemis to guide her as they had with Ami.

            Indeed, unlike Ami, whose mind thrived on logic, Minako was a creature of light and, true to her nature as the avatar of Love, passion. Passion requires no logic, only emotion.

            And at this very moment, Minako decided that Rubeus would make the perfect punching bag to release her VERY passionate anger.

            Suddenly, two pairs of arms were pulling the punching Senshi away, the bloody face of Rubeus falling backward to collapse on the ground in unconsciousness, having blacked out from the pain. Crying as she struggled to get to him, to make him pay for DARING to hurt her friends, she was snapped out of it as a glowing tiara sliced through his shoulder, sending him away from her. “Moon Tiara,” she whispered, turning to her right where Sailor Moon was placing her tiara back on her head, the moonstone gem’s shine dying down as its magic faded into dormancy.

            “Princess,” she cried, wrapping her arms around Usagi—no, Sailor Moon’s—neck.

            “Venus,” Mercury’s soothing voice chimed over her shoulder, “Let’s get you somewhere safe.”

            “What the hell is going on here?!”

            Staring at what appeared to be three of her friends cosplaying was a shocked Makoto.

            Moon groaned as she picked up Venus. “Well, hell. Isn’t THIS a fine mess of things?” Shaking her head at the gaping Makoto and the somber Mercury, Moon gave directions.

            “Leave Rubeus; if we’re lucky, he’ll get arrested. Right now, let’s teleport back to my place; the Moon would take too much energy without all of us. Mako-chan, I’m so sorry, but you’ll have to wait for answers.”

            All four of the girls, even the sobbing Venus, gaped at Moon in shock. Moon sighed inwardly. If they thought she was anything like her former self, now was the time to disabuse them of that notion.

            “Well? MOVE OUT!”

~*~*~*~*~*~

            “Of course they were fakes,” Sanjouin Masato murmured from his place in a tree outside the now fallen barrier.

            Watching as the Senshi teleported away and left the beaten Rubeus behind, he jumped down, his expression pinched and thunderous. When Izono’s computer had picked up the attack, Masato had volunteered to do surveillance as the location was nearest to his position at work.

            Worried though he’d been, Gin had been firm: until Mamoru and Hisui were fully awakened, they could not rejoin the Senshi. The Guardian of Time had been firm on that point, stating that if they tried to contact them before those two were reawakened the chances of a happy ending without them were slim to nil.

            It hadn’t stopped him when he’d seen Kino Makoto, his beloved Jupiter, racing toward the area. He’d stepped in to delay her, inwardly puffing up inside when she’d blushed and stammered an excuse before leaving him behind to reach her friends.

            No one had said anything about interfering when they were gone, though.

            Sneering down at Rubeus, he summoned his alter ego’s uniform and reached into his subspace pocket to remove a particular set of manacles, one that removed another person’s ability to do magic from their being by suppressing it. Snapping them around Rubeus’ wrists, he smirked when the slowly stirring man attempted to teleport away, only to find his powers diminished.

            Glancing up, Rubeus paled when he saw the Southern King, the same one who’d last attempted to cleave his head from his shoulders using a VERY sharp tomahawk in the future.

            “My leader will want to have a talk with you,” he snarled, lifting the already bruised man up by his neck.

            Laughing in a manner more habitual with his brainwashed self during the Dark Kingdom, Nephrite disappeared with Rubeus, leaving only the birds and the park animals to be chilled and horrified by Rubeus’ whimpers and moans.