Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction / Sailor Moon Fan Fiction / Crossover Fan Fiction ❯ Reflections of Ruin ❯ A Destiny of Stars, Part III ( Chapter 9 )

Sailor Venus rubbed her eyes once, twice, three times to try to make the hallucination go away. It didn't. She pinched herself, and it hurt, so she pinched herself again on the other arm. That hurt too. OK. That wasn't working. Or maybe she wasn't hallucinating? You were supposed to pinch yourself to make hallucinations go away, weren't you? Still, the verdant plain she was standing in the midst of had to be an illusion of some sort. Ditto for Earth, hanging up there in the air like it was a moon of whatever planet she was standing on.

 

“That must be it,” Venus said aloud, “I've gone to Gaea!” She spun in a circle, and her long, blonde hair twirled around behind her as she did so. Grassy plain, grassy plain with forest in the distance, grassy plain with Sailor Jupiter standing on a nearby rise, grassy plain with mountains in the distance. Nobody nearby for miles. “Where's Vahn when you need him?” Wait a minute. She'd missed something. Something important. Her mind quickly ran over the information it had just absorbed. She looked ahead. Grassy plain, check. She looked east. Grassy plain with forest in the distance, check. She looked south. Grassy plain with Sailor Jupiter standing on a... “Mako-chan!” she called, waving excitedly. “You made it here too?”

 

Jupiter blinked as if coming out of a daze. “M... Minako? Where...” she looked around and seemed to get her bearings. “Where are we?”

 

“Not in Houston anymore.” Venus said, smiling brightly.

 

Jupiter winced. “That's `Kansas,' Minako-chan.”

 

“Whatever.”

 

Jupiter looked up at the full Earth in the sky and shook her head incredulously. “How are we supposed to get back *there*? We can't do a Sailor Teleport without the rest of the team, can we?”

 

Venus shrugged. “Won't know unless we try, will we?”

 

Jupiter glanced at Venus, looked up at Earth, and then nodded. “Right.” She walked over to stand directly in front of Sailor Venus. “Ready?”

 

Sailor Venus closed her eyes, concentrating on the power that coursed beneath her skin: the power she had always felt there, even as a child, long before her awakening, but had not known how to draw upon. She embraced it, and it embraced her in turn. A brilliant golden light sprang up around her. She opened her eyes, and saw that an equally brilliant green light surrounded Jupiter. “Venus Star Power!” she shouted. She was echoed a moment later by a shout of, “Jupiter Star Power!” Then, together they yelled, “Sailor Teleport!” Venus shut her eyes, not wanting to be dazzled by what was to come. Their auras flared, and their energy surged together into a brilliant flash of light, and then...

 

Venus cracked an eye open. Damn. They were still here. “So much for that idea,” she grumbled.

 

Jupiter sighed. “Right. Looks like Usagi-chan is on her own.” She sat down and began to think. “Now what do we do?” she mused.

 

Venus looked around. “Say, Mako-chan...”

 

“Hmm?”

 

“Do you remember us being surrounded by a bunch of giant white eyeless toads?”

 

Jupiter's eyes widened. “That was rhetorical, right?” She looked around. Nope. Not rhetorical. They really were surrounded by great grey-ish white, slippery looking, eyeless toads, each with a vibrating mass of short pink tentacles on the end of its blunt, vague snout.

 

Venus smiled winningly at the toad-things. “We come in peace?” she asked hopefully.

 

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Reflections of Ruin

by P.H. Wise

A Ranma/Sailor Moon/Cthulhu Mythos Crossover Fukufic

 

Chapter 9 - A Destiny of Stars, Part III

 

Disclaimer: I don't own Ranma. I don't own Sailor Moon. Please don't sue me. I'm not doing this for profit.

 

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“Crescent Beam!” Venus shouted, sending a blast of pure golden light out from her forefinger. She swept it across the charging horde of toad-things, cutting a dozen of them down in one move. Through it all, the creatures were totally, utterly, eerily silent.

 

“Sparkling wide pressure!” Jupiter called, and briefly gathered an intense ball of lightning into her hands before flinging it into the mob. It detonated violently several ranks back, sending beasts flying in all directions.

 

It wasn't enough. The ranks of the toad-things reached the two embattled Senshi, taking the fight to hand to hand. For a moment, it seemed as though the two Senshi would be overwhelmed by sheer weight of numbers. Then an explosion of electrical energy sent several frog-things flying, and Venus and Jupiter went on the offensive. Venus leaped over a frenzied, enthusiastic but very sloppy charge, landed on the beast's back and used it as a springboard to launch herself into a spinning flip that brought her down on the head of another beast that had been about to attack Jupiter. She stomped on its head several times until it was solidly unconscious, and then ducked desperately as several of the gray-white things sent blows at her head.

 

Venus and Jupiter were fighting back to back now, each one covering the other one's flank. “Damn!” Venus cursed, now deadly serious. “How many of them are there?”

 

“More than there are of us,” Jupiter replied, deflecting a blow that would have struck Venus, and then sending a tremendous blast of lightning into the horde. About a half-dozen of the monsters collapsed, smoke rising from their electrocuted bodies. “This really doesn't look good, Venus.”

 

Venus looked out across the horde of monsters. It really did look grim. OK then. Time for something a little more drastic. “Crescent Beam Shower!” she cried, sending down a rain of golden energy blasts into the frog-things.

 

Then, from off to the left, there came a tremendous trumpet blast, and a rush of charging men and women in silver armour, bearing shock lances. For a few moments, the scene degenerated into sheer madness as those involved in the fray simply fought to stay alive. Then the ever-silent frog-things wavered, and a great cheer went up from the men and women who had come to the Senshi's aid. Then it was over. The frog-things were retreating, and Jupiter and Venus took deep gasping breaths as they looked upon what sort of people had come to their rescue.

 

One of the soldiers stepped forward. She was tall, taller than either Venus or Jupiter. Her armour was a work of art, at flowing lines and shining silver. Over her shoulder, she hefted her shock lance. She was beautiful, with pale, youthful skin, white hair, powerful green eyes, and... a golden crescent moon upon her forehead?

 

Venus rubbed her eyes and looked again. Yes. The woman clearly had a crescent moon upon her forehead. Of the fifty or so men and women who had come to their rescue, none others bore that mark: only the one. Hopefully, that was a good sign.

 

“Thanks,” Venus said. “Those... things, they were a handful.”

 

The woman nodded faintly. It then occurred to Venus that the woman was staring at her and at Jupiter as if she were looking at a ghost.

 

“Something wrong?” Jupiter asked, not quite as quick as Venus to let go of her suspicions for the sake of a crescent moon.

 

“You are Senshi!” the woman said, and there was reverence in her voice. As her words rolled out across the group of soldiers, the men and women under her command turned, looked at Jupiter and Venus with expressions of awe, and then knelt before them. The woman who had spoke was the last to kneel “I am Captain Ersa of the house of Serenity. Forgive us our surprise, Ladies Senshi. Aside from the Queen herself, we have not seen your kind in many years.”

 

Venus and Jupiter exchanged incredulous looks, neither of them sure exactly what to do. After an uncomfortable few seconds, Venus took the initiative. “I'm Sailor Venus,” she said. “This is Sailor Jupiter. Please, stand up.”

 

The soldiers seemed confused at the title `Sailor,' but did not comment. As one, they rose to their feet, though none save Ersa met the gazes of the Senshi.

 

Venus stared at the assembled soldiers. She recognized them now: they were the Royal Guard. But why would a unit of the Royal Guard be out in the middle of nowhere...? Wait. The Queen? Now that she was trying to gain access to them, memories of that far-distant time began to trickle into her awareness. “Thank you for your assistance, Lady Ersa,” she managed, wracking her brain for what she might have said in such a situation during the Silver Millennium.

 

“You said `aside from the Queen herself?” Jupiter asked, finding her voice at last.

 

Ersa nodded.

 

“Queen Serenity?”

 

“Of course.”

 

Venus's eyes widened slightly at that. She knew that Ersa was watching her carefully, but she didn't care. “Take us to her, if you please,” she said.

 

Ersa bowed deeply. “I would be honoured.” She made a few signals that Venus vaguely recognized as Lunarian hand-sign, though she didn't remember what they meant. Ersa and two of the soldiers stepped out of the group. “It is half an day's journey to the city at Mare Serenitatis in the reckoning of Earth, my ladies Senshi. We will see you there safely.” And off they went. Another officer smoothly took command of the unit of the Royal Guard and led the soldiers along, continuing their patrol.

 

True to Ersa's word, they marched for nearly twelve hours, stopping only one for a brief meal of bread, dried meat, and water. The water tasted sweet to their thirsty lips, and the bread and meat were filling, but little more could be said of the meal. The Moon was a lush place; after two hours of marching the grassy plain came to an end at the border of a dark forest. Undaunted, the party continued down a well worn path, with great gnarled trees growing up on either side. The trees were faintly luminescent with silver and green, and were clearly no Earthly species. Queer noises of strange animals filled the Lunar wood, some cries haunting, others beautiful in ways that twisted the ear, and others simply unrecognizable animal screeches. During the journey, Venus and Jupiter attempted to gather what information they could. Ersa did not know what happened at the end of the Silver Millennium; she had been born here, in the Dreamlands, the first of Serenity's daughters born outside of the waking world.

 

“The dreamlands?” Jupiter asked.

 

Ersa nodded. “It is unusual for anyone to come here in the flesh, much less two of the Queen's much-fabled Senshi.”

 

“Ersa-san, if you don't mind me asking, why are you...”

 

“Leading a unit of the Royal Guard if I'm a daughter of the Queen?”

 

Venus blinked. “You're a daughter of the Queen...?”

 

Ersa laughed. “I am. Forgive me, I am used to dealing with everyday citizens of the Silver Moon and the Moon-Beasts of Nyarlathotep. For all that it may seem strange to you, it is tradition for the Queen's daughters to serve in this way.”

 

Venus and Jupiter both sweatdropped, amused at the thought of Usagi leading a detachment of troops.

 

“Have I said something funny?” Ersa asked, raising an eyebrow.

 

“It's just, our Princess isn't the kind of person you'd imagine, ah, leading troops into battle.”

 

Ersa smiled faintly. “Ah, the Princess Serenity. Though I have never met her, when the Silver Millennium came to an end, the histories say that she was still two years away from the age at which such training would have begun. How fares your Princess in the waking world?”

 

“We...” Venus looked troubled. “We don't know if she's alive or dead. We were in the middle of attacking an enemy when we were pulled here.”

 

Jupiter smiled gently. “I'm sure she's fine. Worried about us, probably.”

 

“I know that, but we should be there with her, not stuck in these... dreamlands.”

 

Ersa looked from Jupiter to Venus and back. “Time does not pass in the dreamlands in the same way that it passes in the waking world, my ladies Senshi. You may return to find that only minutes, or hours, have passed. Does that comfort you?”

 

It did. Venus relaxed visibly, and Jupiter, only slightly less.

 

“It does,” Venus said, and smiled. “Though we still need to get back to her. Do you think Queen Serenity can help us?”

 

“I am certain that she can,” Ersa replied. “Whether she will or no, well, she will do what is best.”

 

Venus shrugged. If it was Usagi's mother they were talking about, how bad could `what is best' be? She cast her thoughts back into their earlier conversation for a moment before speaking again. “You said those things were called... Moon-Beasts?”

 

Ersa nodded, and then ducked to avoid a low-hanging branch. “We have no other name for them and know little of their customs or habits. They make their homes on the far side of the moon. Mind the branch.”

 

Thunk! Venus didn't duck in time, and her head smacked into the branch that Elsa had ducked. She fell flat on her butt.

 

“Minako-chan!” Jupiter said, and immediately went to her friend's assistance, quickly helping the Senshi of Venus back to her feet.

 

Ersa very carefully refrained from laughter, though the corners of her lips quirked towards a smile. “Are you injured?” she asked.

 

Venus shook her head and blushed intensely. “I'm fine. You were saying something about moon-beasts?”

 

Ersa nodded. “Yes. As I said, they live on the far side of the moon, which we call, well, the Dark Moon. As the Lunar month draws towards the New Moon and the long dark, their attacks grow ever more frequent and bold. During the Full Moon, they appear to go dormant. Or at least they're content to remain within the borders of their realm, if they can feel such a thing as contentment.” Ersa shook her head. “They are vile creatures. I once asked the Queen why she hadn't mobilized the armies of the Silver Moon to crush the Moon-Beasts, servants of Nyarlathotep as they are.”

 

“Why didn't she?” Jupiter asked, cracking her knuckles. “Seems like a good idea to destroy a threat so dangerous.”

 

“I thought the same, but what she said made me reconsider.”

 

“What was that?”

 

“We rule now where they ruled once. Where we rule now, they shall rule again. After winter is summer. After summer is winter.”

 

Venus and Jupiter weren't entirely sure how to respond to that.

 

Finally, in the tenth hour of travel, they emerged from the forest and beheld the distant, crystalline waters of Mare Serenitatis, and the great city upon its shores, shining like a jewel beneath the sun: Eternity.

 

The Senshi stared in wonder as they drew near to the city, its great crystal towers soaring up, up, up into the Lunar air, with vast, floating bridges connecting tower to tower. Flying buttresses met towering spires in a strange melding of Roman, Greek, and a totally alien architectural style that they could only call `Lunarian.' Ersa had sent her two soldiers on ahead as messengers, and Serenity had prepared for their coming. The streets were crowded with every sort of human being, though the most common hair colours were white and silver, the skin tones of the Lunarians ran nearly the whole range: some had skin as dark as ebon, some so pale they might have been taken for Albinos. Some bore the same dusky shade as Sailor Pluto, and others were a very European white; In the Dreamlands, where very inhuman monsters quite literally stalked the nights (and sometimes the days), ethnicity was not accounted a matter of great importance. They were Lunarians, and that was enough. The vast crowds parted before the Senshi, knelt down and dropped into a reverent silence as they passed. It was not often that one saw a living Goddess. And there, at last, looming large both in memory and in truth, Serenity's palace stood before them, and they trembled.

 

-----------------

 

The upstairs hallway of the Tomoe home was dark and cool. The sound of rain had stopped, but the wind had not: it howled like a mad thing, and the house creaked and groaned. The temperature was decreasing slowly but steadily as the blizzard took its toll upon the house's interior warmth.

 

Usagi paid the weather little mind, but stared forlornly at the spot where Ranma had vanished for a long moment before looking up at Mamoru and Ami. “Mamo-chan. Ami-chan. Please don't leave me here by myself.”

 

Mamoru embraced her, as ever, lending his strength to her cause. “I'm here with you,” he said. “Always.”

 

“Mamo-chan.”

 

Ami's gaze softened as she looked upon her Princess and the Prince. That had always been the way of it. Her Princess. The Prince. “You're not alone, Usagi-chan,” she said. “Your Senshi will always be with you.”

 

Usagi stopped trembling, and looked up with a smile. “I know.” She swept her gaze across the darkened hallway, filled as it was with threats unseen and strange twistings in the fabric of space and time, and she was unafraid. “I'm ready to go, Ami-chan,” she said.

 

Ami nodded, and looked down at the Mercury computer. “I've connected to the Eternity main system now to help us find a way through the tesseract without getting swept into the other-dimensional space.” She examined the computer display for a moment. “This is very important, Usagi-chan, Mamoru-kun. You both need to follow me exactly. If you step off the path, there's no telling where you might end up.”

 

Usagi and Mamoru both nodded.

 

“Right,” Ami said. “Let's go.”

 

They went. In single file, with Ami first, then Usagi, then Mamoru, they went, and in Usagi's eyes was total, unconditional trust in Ami's ability to lead her safely out of the maze.

 

Ami only prayed she'd prove worthy of it.

 

-----------------

 

The court of Serenity was not at all like either Venus or Jupiter thought it would be. They'd expected something grand and spectacular. Something that spoke to the power of the Silver Millennium. Something that shone with the grace and the might of the Queen. After the sheer spectacle of the city and the approach to the palace, and their journey through the shining corridors of the palace, past servants uncounted and dazzling edifices and paintings of every sort, they certainly had not expected the magnificent gold-embossed double-doors to open into a warm, comfortable parlour.

 

And they certainly didn't expect to find Queen Serenity, as beautiful as they remembered her, and very obviously their Princess's mother, dressed in a very modern simple white blouse with blue jeans, playing *pool*, of all things, with a man who looked like he'd been yanked out of a Sherlock Holmes movie. Two guards in ornate silver armour stood at the door, but that appeared to be the only concession that the room made to royalty. As they walked in, the man was speaking.

 

“... don't suppose even you've seen a shot like that one before, Selene.”

 

The Queen laughed. “I admit your skill at this game is difficult to match, Kuranes, though I never tire of attempting the feat.” She looked up at the new arrivals, and her expression grew more serious. “Ah, my guests have arrived.”

 

THIS was Queen Serenity?

 

“Se... Serenity-sama!” Jupiter said, thoroughly shocked.

 

Serenity nodded an affirmative, and for all that she was dressed like a modern woman, the grace of her movements and she sheer authority in her bearing still screamed `royalty.' “It's been a long time, Senshi Jupiter. You look well. Younger than I'd have expected, but well.” She looked to Ersa, who knelt before her. “Thank you for bringing them to me, Captain,” she said, and though her speech was formal, the warmth in her voice was the sort one usually reserved for family. “You have done well. Dismissed.”

 

Ersa rose to her feet, bowed deeply, and departed without another word.

 

“Ersa-san,” Venus began, but Serenity shook her head.

 

“She has duties to attend to, Senshi Venus.” Serenity glanced towards the man who yet lingered in the chamber. “I was just enjoying a brief game of billiards with King Kuranes, an ally and friend, and ruler of distant Celephais. Say hello to my daughter's Senshi, won't you, Kuranes?”

 

Kuranes smiled and unconsciously twirled his dapper mustache. “Charmed, I'm sure,” he said.

 

The Queen sat down in a comfortable leather armchair, then gestured to the nearby couch. “Please, sit.”

 

They sat. Venus was completely at a loss, and Jupiter wasn't doing much better.

 

“Your majesty...” Jupiter began stiffly.

 

“Such formality,” Serenity remarked. “Please. Call me Selene. The trappings of royalty become so very tiresome after ten thousand years.”

 

Venus and Jupiter exchanged glances. Venus recovered more quickly than Jupiter. She smiled brightly. “Selene? That's a pretty name. If I'm going to call you that, you can call me Minako.”

 

“Minako?” Serenity asked. “That sounds positively Japanese.” She looked to Jupiter. “And what are you called in your new life, Juno?”

 

Venus blinked at that. Juno? That had been... yes, that had been Jupiter's name. Strange. Inanna. Aurora. Athena. Her name. Rei's name. Ami's name.

 

“Makoto, your ma... um, Selene-sama.”

 

Serenity smiled. “I'm pleased to see that the spell worked. Tell me, were you all reborn Japanese, or just the two of you?”

 

“All of us, Selene-chaaan,” Minako chirped cheerfully, drawing out the `a' sound. “Though we don't look it, do we? Well, Rei does a little bit, but none of the rest of us do.”

 

“And have all of you awakened, or just the two of you?”

 

“All of us,” Jupiter said. “Even Uranus and Neptune.”

 

“Don't forget Saturn!” Venus said. “She's adorable. She really, really tries to be like Uranus. She talks like a boy, and she's the biggest tomboy I've ever seen, but she's just so pretty that it makes you laugh to see it. I bet you'd like her, Selene-chan.”

 

Serenity's expression grew clouded. “Saturn has awakened?” she asked quietly.

 

Venus and Jupiter nodded.

 

“That's a problem. But you can tell me all about that later. Right now, I want to hear about Pandia.”

 

“Pandia?” Jupiter asked.

 

“My daughter.”

 

“I thought your daughter was Princess Serenity?” Venus asked.

 

The Queen's eye twitched slightly. “She is.”

 

“Come to think of it,” Venus said, “Isn't Ersa a Princess, too? Are there any more Princesses than that?”

 

Kuranes laughed out loud, and it was startling. Venus had forgotten he was in the room. “I can see that Venus at least is not much changed from the stories you told of her, Selene.”

 

Serenity's annoyance vanished in a haze of nostalgia, and she too laughed. “I remember.” She turned her gaze back to Venus. “I have many daughters, Minako. Pandia, the `All-Bright,' was the private name of Princess Serenity, just as Selene is mine. She was the `utterly shining' full moon.”

 

Venus smiled. “It fits her. Though I don't think Usagi-chan would appreciate it if we called her that now.”

 

“But to answer your question, I have fifty one daughters, Minako. Of those, forty were born here, in the Dreamlands, and while they are of the royal house, they are not the Princess Serenity. There is only one Serenity, and it is she.”

 

"Only one Serenity?" Jupiter asked. "Don't you count as a second?"

 

"Not anymore," Serenity replied. "Though I still use the name out of custom, it is no longer truly mine. I died, Makoto. My immortal body in the waking world was destroyed. Though I am still a goddess here in the dreams of men, the Ginzuishou has passed on to my heir, and I could not reclaim it now even if I wished to: it has joined with her Star Seed. Or maybe it always was her Star Seed."

 

There was silence for a moment, and then... “Fifty one daughters?” Venus asked, amazed at the very thought of it. She looked at the Queen incredulously. She looked like a woman no older than thirty who had never born a child in her life.

 

Jupiter gave the Queen a strange look. "Fifty one daughters?" she echoed.

 

The Queen waggled her eyebrows, and she, Venus, and Jupiter fell into a fit of giggling. It wasn't what they'd expected, no, but Venus and Jupiter couldn't help but like their Queen.

 

When the giggles faded, Serenity finally regained enough composure to ask again what she had wished to know: “Now, tell me of Pandia. Or Usagi, as you know her now.”

 

Kuranes spoke up, then. “Selene, I'm going to step out and let you three catch up. You will know where to find my afterwards, if you wish to.”

 

Serenity nodded to the man, who promptly departed through a small side door.

 

Venus thought about Serenity's request for a moment. “Well, she's sort of a crybaby.”

 

“And a slacker,” Jupiter added helpfully. “She does really badly in school.”

 

“She'd be pretty smart if she weren't lazy,” Venus said, “And we still haven't figured out how she can eat so much and stay so thin.”

 

Serenity raised an eyebrow. “That doesn't sound much like my daughter,” she said. “Although she always was a bit of a crybaby, and she was very bright. But do you have anything at all positive to report about your Princess?”

 

Venus and Jupiter both smiled fondly.

 

“She's compassionate to a fault,” Jupiter said. “I wonder sometimes if she's even capable of hatred. Even when everything is falling to dust around her, she always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.”

 

“She's kind, she isn't self-seeking, she isn't easily angered, and she doesn't keep any record of wrongs,” Venus added. “When she loves, she loves completely. When she trusts, she trusts without reservation. When she hopes, you feel like she could move a mountain to save a child, and when she says she believes in you, you want to move it for her.”

 

Serenity stared at the two Senshi in wonder, and a tear slid down her face.

 

“She saved us,” Minako said. “All of us. We were all alone, you know? She made us a family.”

 

Makoto nodded her agreement. “She's the sort of person who you would do anything for, and you never need to be afraid that she would abuse that.”

 

“I wish I could have known her,” Serenity said, her voice thick with emotion. “Seen her grow. Watched her become this person who has inspired such devotion in her Senshi. She sounds... wonderful.”

 

Minako smiled. “She is.”

 

There was silence for a few moments, and Serenity took the time to bring her emotions under control. When they began to speak again, it was of Mercury, Mars, and Endymion in turn. Of them, Venus and Jupiter had much to say, but soon enough, they too had been discussed in detail.

 

“What of Uranus and Neptune?” the Queen asked as the descriptions of Mercury, Mars and Endymion wound to a close. “How do Marduk and Ishtar fare in the waking world?”

 

Venus frowned. “Well... they're not exactly our allies. They help, but Usagi hasn't been very happy with them.”

 

“Oh?”

 

Jupiter took over, then. “They act as if the ends justified the means. They want to kill Saturn to prevent her from destroying the world, even though she has no intention of destroying the world. Also, for a long time, they were searching for the Talismans, and they didn't care whose pure heart crystal was damaged or destroyed in their search. `Some sacrifices are necessary,' they said.”

 

“They were right.”

 

Venus shot the Queen a shocked look. “What?”

 

Serenity's expression became a sad one. “Sometimes, sacrifices are necessary. Sometimes, some must be sacrificed if all are to be saved.” She looked Venus in the eye. “Or do you suppose that I became Queen of an entire solar system on the strength of my ideals alone? Or that I have maintained my rule over the Silver Moon in this place solely through my good intentions? No. I have done ugly things in order to ensure the safety and security of my people.”

 

Venus wasn't sure what to say. She didn't want to criticize Queen Serenity, and yet... and yet, inside of her was a still, small voice that whispered, `It's not supposed to be that way.' Usagi's voice. “... Usagi-chan wouldn't agree.”

 

“I know. She always was an idealist. I hope it is a long, long time before she comes to agree. Innocence like that should be preserved, don't you think, Minako? Makoto?”

 

Once again, that still small voice inside of Minako whispered. She wanted to tell Serenity that you must overcome evil with good, not evil with evil. She wanted to tell Serenity that Usagi's innocence was not a fragile thing that could be destroyed by an evil world, but a strength that transformed evil into good. What she said was, “Yes,” and Makoto echoed her.

 

The Queen looked at each of the Senshi in turn. “Tell me of Saturn,” she said, and there was a weight behind her words that had not been present before.

 

Venus spoke before Jupiter was able to. “Well, she's a tomboy, like we said. Her real name is Ranma, though that's a weird name for a girl.”

 

Serenity's lips quirked into a smile at that. “Wild horse?” she asked.

 

“How do you know so much Japanese?” Jupiter asked suddenly. “For that matter, how do you understand us at all?”

 

Serenity simply looked at Jupiter, and Jupiter shrank beneath that gaze. “Our kind possesses the gift of tongues, Makoto. We may speak and understand every language of men. You will discover this power in time. Now, I believe you were telling me about Saturn?”

 

There was an uncomfortable silence for a brief moment, and then Venus continued. “So her name is Ranma, and she has a girlfriend named Akane. They had sex for the first time just a little while ago!”

 

“Venus!” Jupiter scolded.

 

“What? It's true! They're in love. What's wrong with them having sex?”

 

“Nothing's wrong, it's just...” Jupiter trailed off as she realized that the Queen was laughing. “Selene-sama?” she asked.

 

“You haven't offended me. Such practices were not uncommon in the Silver Millennium, my Senshi. You, Minako, were infamous in your, shall we say, `openness' in that regard. Uranus and Neptune were together, and there were always certain rumors in regards to the precise nature of the bond between Senshi Mars and the Princess Serenity.

 

Venus's eyes widened, and then she grinned like a Cheshire cat. Rei and Usagi? THAT would explain a lot. Even if it wasn't true in this life, it certainly provided ample opportunity for needling when she got home.

 

“Still, it is good to know that Saturn has experienced at least some happiness in her new life. It will lessen the sting of it, knowing that.”

 

“Lessen the sting?” Jupiter asked, not entirely sure where the Queen was going with this.

 

The Queen only smiled. “You needn't worry. I will take care of everything. I am not about to allow my daughter to suffer harm.” She rose to her feet. “The Lunar day is long,” she said, changing the subject. “Longer, perhaps, than your endurance. You have had a long walk, and I suspect you both need rest. A servant will be waiting outside the door. She will see you both to your rooms. Good day.” And with that, the Queen strode out the same side door that Kuranes has exited from some hours earlier, leaving two bewildered Senshi in her wake to ponder what she had meant by her final words to them.

 

-----------------

 

On the edge of a high cliff overlooking an endless starry void, Sailor Saturn and Sailor Mars - Ranma and Rei - sat side by side, resting from their long exertions. It seemed like hours now since their battle with Cyprine and Ptilol, and they had only now found this safe haven to catch their breaths.

 

“So how do we collapse this `four dimensional space?'” Rei asked, giving Ranma a dubious look.

 

“Mercury wasn't too clear on that. She said I'd be able to do it, she didn't say how,” Ranma replied for the fourth time since she'd explained the plan to Rei.

 

“Well, what good is your plan if you don't even know how to do it!”

 

Ranma ground her teeth, and muttered under her breath about extremely uncute tomboys. That thought brought her out of her annoyance. She considered Rei for a moment. No, not a tomboy, but definitely uncute, and very annoying. She wondered how Akane was doing right now.

 

Rei noticed the other girl's change in demeanor, and her expression softened. “What are you thinking about?” she asked.

 

Ranma shrugged. “Nothin',” she replied.

 

“You're thinking about Akane, aren't you.”

 

Ranma didn't answer, but brushed a few strands of red hair out of her eyes and gazed off into the starry void.

 

“You can't fool me. I'm the Senshi of Mars. I know when someone's passionate about another person!”

 

Ranma looked at Rei slantwise. “You're makin' that up,” she said.

 

“Would I lie to you?”

 

Ranma thought about that one for a moment.

 

“OK, do I have *reason* to lie?”

 

Ranma shook her head dismissively. “Whatever.” God but she hoped Akane was all right. Her thoughts went back to the battle against Cyprine and Ptilol, and she couldn't help but shudder. She still hadn't worked out exactly what had happened there at the end, but at the very least, those two were dead. Though what that Cyprine chick had said at the end made her suspect that they might both be... well, she knew there were some things worse than death. Most of them involved creatures like the thing she had killed in her dream-memory: Y'Golonac. Even as the creature's name filtered through her brain, she felt that old familiar urge to speak it aloud. This time, she bit her tongue to stop herself from even starting. But the knowledge that Cyprine and Ptilol had been killed, even if indirectly, by her actions... it was different from killing a Daimon. That knowledge was a hard thing. It made her feel a little bit hollow, inside. She sighed.

 

It began to grow brighter, as if the sun were coming up over the horizon, but there was no sun, and all either of them could see was an endless starry void before them.

 

Ranma stood up, frowning. “Something's coming,” she said.

 

“You sure?”

 

“Pretty sure. Can't you sense it? Aren't you supposed ta be good with spirits and stuff?”

 

Rei opened herself to the spiritual world, and immediately regretted it. Sheer chaos flowed over her in horrible, rotting waves, like swimming through a river of raw sewage. She gave a cry and fell to her knees. Yet there... ever so faintly, she could sense something. A holy power that chaos fled before. Something pure. Something... familiar.

 

Ranma looked down at her, utterly surprised. “Hey, Mars? You ok?”

 

The light grew stronger, and Ranma bristled, glaring about herself. “OK, I don't know who you are or what you've done to Mars, but you better show yourself right now or I'm gonna...”

 

“You will do nothing,” a commanding female voice said from directly behind the two Senshi.

 

Ranma whirled around, and Rei was quick to follow. A shimmering portal floated in the air, beyond which stood none other than Queen Serenity herself. They each had barely a moment to register the fact that the Queen was dressed very much like a modern woman before the golden crescent moon on the woman's forehead flared brightly, and their worlds faded into pure, blinding light, and they knew no more.

 

-------------------

 

It was not easy sleeping when the sun was shining brightly through the window, but when every Lunar day is twenty-eight Earth days long, you tend to get used to it. Not that either Venus or Jupiter had managed to do so in the single Earth day that they'd spent in the kingdom of the Silver Moon. Still, as Minako, now detransformed, awoke from her fitful sleep in a vast, obscenely comfortable bed with silk sheets, decorated in yellow and orange, she had a vague recollection of having woken up in a similar bed on numerous occasions, and only very rarely alone. Come to think of it, was she alone now? For a moment, as she hovered in the place between dream and wakefulness, she almost thought she could feel the warmth of another person's body pressed up against hers, but the feeling faded as she came more fully awake.

 

Minako immediately began to blush. Had she really dreamed *that?* She certainly *hoped* it was a dream. She was sure she would die of embarrassment if that was a memory from the Silver Millennium.

 

She sat up in bed and looked about. The room looked vaguely familiar, and she had a faint, nagging sense that she should know exactly where she was and in what part of the palace, but it soon passed. It was time to wash up and get dressed.

 

She pulled on a rope near the entrance to her bath, and distantly, she heard a bell ringing. The servants would be along shortly to fill the bath. In the meantime, she would...

 

Rei burst into the room, with Makoto in tow, each of them looking like they had run no small distance. “Minako-chan!” Rei all but shouted.

 

Outside the room, a group of servants looked terribly flustered, and paced back and forth, uncertain of what to do.

 

“Rei-chan? What are you doing here! How did you get here? Is Usagi OK? Is she here, too?”

 

Rei shook her head. “I was with Ranma.” She panted for breath between each sentence. “Usagi sent her to save me, and she did. Serenity... she captured us. Knocked us out with her magic and brought us here. Minako-chan, I've looked everywhere for Ranma-san, and I can't find her!”

 

Minako felt the return of a thing that she had not felt since first encountering Ersa on the plain: a terrible, cold dread in the pit of her stomach. She looked from Rei's frightened face to Makoto and back. “Why would Queen Serenity do that?” she asked.

 

“Queen Serenity is dead, Minako-chan,” Rei said. “How do you know this isn't an imposter?”

 

No. She was sure it wasn't an imposter. She knew Queen Serenity, somehow, and she *knew* that this was her. “It's not an imposter, Rei-chan,” she said quietly.

 

“How do you know that?”

 

“We know,” Makoto said, in the same quiet tone Minako had used.

 

Rei shook her head exasperatedly. “Fine. Even if you know, I can't find Ranma anywhere. Do you know where she might have been taken?”

 

Minako shook her head. “No.” The Dungeons. “No...” The dungeons. Yes, she remembered the dungeons now. Where the truly dangerous prisoners were kept: those that were too dangerous to be allowed to roam free, even in exile. “Yes,” she said, and steadied herself on a nearby chair. “The dungeons. Kami-sama save us, the dungeons!” The initial shock passed, and she met the frightened eyes of her fellow Senshi. They were looking to her for direction. They always did, when Usagi wasn't present. She knew what had to be done.

 

“Queen Serenity did seem concerned when we told her that Saturn was awake. She also said that she would not allow her daughter to come to harm. If she thinks Saturn is a threat to the Princess... it's possible that she's decided to take matters into her own hand.” She glanced at the servants outside the door, then back to her fellow Senshi. “Both of you, transform. We'll get to the bottom of this.”

 

Makoto and Rei both nodded.

 

“Jupiter Star Power!”
“Mars Star Power!”
“Venus Star Power!”

“MAKE UP!”

 

Even as she spoke the words, Minako once again felt fully herself. Power rushed through her, and she knew that it was hers. The Senshi transformation didn't disguise them, didn't put them into an altered form: their untransformed state was the disguise. She was not sure how she knew, but as the power of the transformation washed over her, she was sure that it was true: she knew it in her bones.

 

The light faded, and where there had once been three teenaged girls, three goddesses stood in their place.

 

“Let's go,” Venus said, and dashed out the door.

 

The others were close behind her. As they raced down the long, decorated hallways of the palace, their Princess's words rang clearly in their minds: 'If we all get together, we can find another way. There's no need to sacrifice anyone.' Whether they agreed was beside the point. The Princess had already decided their course: their hearts were set, and only death would break them now.

 

END CHAPTER 09