Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ BSSM: Star Kingdom (Arch I: DeathSong) ❯ The Foe Or Friend? ( Chapter 5 )

Chapter 5

Ami, shocked, leans back against a tree that was nearby.

"Gina? A sailor senshi? How?" Ami asks confusedly.

"Ami, Gina's name was changed to Mitaiyoko. Remember? What does Mitaiyoko mean?" Makoto turns her reply to a question.

Ami runs around in her head looking at name meanings and found the answer quickly. "Mi equals Beautiful. Taiyo is Sun, and Ko equals Child. Why?"

"Well… Mitaiyoko is, or most likely is, 'the new senshi of the stars, Sailor Sun'. She is quite beautiful, I even heard some of the guys in my classes that I have with her are passing notes about her. Child fits in with the fact that she's a child of the Sun, and not the moon." Makoto gives her lengthy answer. Usagi nods in agreement to the fact that she was the talk among the boys right now.

"And her surname is Helio. Helio is Latin for "Of the Sun"." Usagi adds to Makoto's list statements. "Oh and there's a meeting this afternoon at Rei's temple to discuss our new enemy. Minako told me to tell you because she doesn't have any classes with you. And to make up for the difference, she said she'd tell Haruka since I don't have any classes with her." Usagi babbles on.

Just then, the girls see most of the other students walking into the school.

"Usagi, I'll see you at the meeting this afternoon. Now get to Phys Ed." Ami urges Usagi.

Usagi runs to the door and started down the hallway to her next class.

Ami and Makoto hang back to talk as they walk. About two minutes later, Makoto had to go off to her own class and so did Ami.

Now we go back to Usagi…

~*~^~*~^~*~

As the physical education instructor calls out students' names for attendance, Usagi comes sprinting in: Late as usual.

"Usagi, if you insist on being late without…" he starts to scold her but then he sees the pass from the nurse's office. She had gone to check on Mitaiyoko anyway but she wasn't in that room. The head nurse had said that she had come in looking ashen and asked to be released to go home and she was on her way home right now.

"Well, at least I have an excuse to be late." Usagi thinks proudly.

~*~^~*~^~*~

As she walks home with her bag in one hand and her canvas under the other arm, Mitaiyoko tries vainly to erase the image of Meiseiou from her mind. Unfortunately for her, the picture of his darkly tanned skin, dark eyes and blacker than black hair were so vivid with a glowing hatred that she couldn't forget him.

"I'm in a slump and I need to get out… I got it! Read Dragonflight! That always gets me out of a depression." Mitaiyoko mutters as she walked.

Mitaiyoko looks about her for a street sign so she could figure out how much further she would have to walk. She finds one about seven meters from where she was and manages to read it, then she quickly calculates how many more blocks she would have to walk.

"Good. Only three blocks in that direction…" Mitaiyoko says as she pointed in the direction she was facing. "And two more in that direction." Mitaiyoko mutters under her breath as she points north. "Talk about your winding pathways." Mitaiyoko mutters.

She starts walking the three blocks east and two blocks north with nothing to do but make sure she didn't run into anyone and to think about her dream.

"That boy was way cute. What was his name again?" she thinks and immediately the answer pops into her head. "Prince Andrew of Saturn, eh? The older brother of Princess Stacya of Saturn. He and I must have been really involved. Probably as much as Serenity and Endymion back in the Silver Star Millennium… Wait! How did I know that? Let's see… Serenity kept me, Princess Dawn Helios, up to date with Endymion, but how did I, Mitaiyoko Helio, remember that?"

Mitaiyoko gets to the doors to the complex and runs to catch the elevator whose doors were closing.

"*Wait!*" she calls to the elevator.

A man's arm shoots out through the doors just in time for the doors to stop closing and open again long enough to let Mitaiyoko in.

"*Thanks.*" she says to the nice guy. He was tall with blonde hair and had blue eyes that were bloodshot from crying. If she wasn't mistaken, he looked a lot like that Prince Andrew from her dream.

"*You're welcome,*" he says in a semi-cheerful voice that totally contradicted his looks.

"*My name's Helio Mitaiyoko-san. Are you feeling okay?*" Mitaiyoko inquires. "*You can tell me to mind my own business, I'm just thinking you look like you could use a friend.*" Mitaiyoko steps away from him to give him "space" just in case. In the meanwhile, she was looking at him in her peripheral vision so it would look like she was looking at the indicator that told what floor the elevator was on.

"*My girlfriend, Una,*" his voice cracks, "*she just sent me a 'Dear John' letter. That's all.*"

"*Who are you here to see? If you don't mind me asking.*" she asks politely, still looking like she was glancing at the indicator.

"*I'm just going to see a friend.*" he tells her solemnly.

"*Oh. You're here to see Mamoru-chan, aren't you?*" she asks, having finally put together enough pieces, with the help of her empathy, of the puzzle to guess.

"*Yeah.*" he replies.

"*You know? Mamoru-chan doesn't seem like the best person to approach on that kind of topic.*" Mitaiyoko tells the young man as the doors to the twelfth floor opened. Mitaiyoko holds her arm through the doors so that they wouldn't close.

"*I know what girls are hiding when they write the 'Dear John' letters. Believe me. I've seen my fair share from boys giving them to me.*"

"*No. That's okay, Mamoru-chan has broken up with Usagi-chan more times that I can count.*" he says as he moves to step off the elevator.

"*Wait. What's your name?*" she asks.

"*Furuhata Motoki. It was a pleasure meeting you, Helio-san.*" he says as he stepped out of the elevator on the twelfth floor.

"*I hope to see you again.*" Mitaiyoko calls to Motoki as the doors slide shut.

"Just as well, I guess. I probably would have fallen asleep listening anyway. I hope my mom got the school nurse's message okay. Oh well! This isn't the time to think about mom. It's time to read Dragonflight!" Mitaiyoko thinks as the elevator went up the additional floor to get to her apartment.

She walks down the hallway to her apartment and goes inside. When she enters her room, Apollo pounces and practically reads her the riot act for leaving school early.

"*I left with permission! I didn't feel well so I went to the nurses' office and requested permission to leave! Okay!?!?*" Mitaiyoko hollers to get over Apollo's reprimands and mandates.

"*Now can I please read my book in peace?*" Mitaiyoko asks somewhat calmer than before.

"*Fine.*" Apollo grumbles out.

She sets her bag on her desk and her canvas on the easel that her ex-step-dad had given Mitaiyoko for her thirteenth birthday. She walks over to the small bookcase that held all her favorite books from Animorphs to John Carter of Mars, from K.A. Applegate to Patricia Wrede.

She finds the familiar cover of a green sky with a red planet the size of a half-dollar piece and a gargantuan golden dragon with a woman astride the great beast and her white gown flowing in the breeze as if she and she alone, ruled that planet.

"Ah." she sighs in relief and lay down on her bed to read.

'…For to call Kylara and Wyerinth back would be to admit that Lessa and Ramoth were gone…' Mitaiyoko reads as her eyes became too heavy for her to keep open and she drifts to sleep…

…I rummage through my closet, undignified, on my knees, looking for my silvery-black dress that I had worn when my father and brother passed away. I had known that I would wear this dress again but not for my friends… Andrew hadn't worn the beautiful shade of purple with silver accents that so suited him. He wouldn't even wear the slightest tint of gray; only black.

Ah HA!!! Success!!! I back out of my closet, dragging the dress with me.

I put on the dress that fit just as perfectly as the first time I had worn it.

I shut the door for my closet and am immediately confronted with the painting of Stacya that I had done. Tears jump to my eyes, as I realize why Andrew never came into my room anymore.

I look at the northern wall and see paintings of Venessa of Venus in her favorite orange dress that matched the boiling surface of her home planet. Mytira of Mercury was in the deep blue gown that I had seen her wear so many times when she came to the Stars' Palace and reading a book, a thick one at that.

I turn to the eastern wall and see Princess Serenity and Prince Endymion holding each other close while Miria of Mars and Jessica of Jupiter were standing guard.

"No matter how much they guarded them… they all died." I think bitterly.

I turn to the Southern wall and see Ursella of Uranus, with her Space Sword in hand, was standing with Narissa of Neptune, who was holding her Deep Aqua Mirror. Pandora of Pluto, with her Garnet Rod that's in the form of a key and her Garnet Orb atop it acting as her key to the gates of time, stood slightly towards the west wall in front of what I thought of as the gates of time. Then, right in front of me, there was Stacya of Saturn, alone in the purple dress that she loved to wear and enjoying her seclusion.

I had painted them to my walls in my wish to never forget them after I had first truly met all of the princesses, with all of them in the same room and Endymion with Serenity. I'd had to repaint that picture so that I could capture their love for each other.

Then I turned to look at the Western Wall and my heart sank even deeper, were that even possible. There was Clair and the other Zodiacs, Andrew and I, safe in the Stars' Palace while everyone else was on the moon for the grand ball, and doomed to die before their time.

I run from my room, barely able to breathe from choking back tears. When I get to the main hall, I try vainly to regain my lost composure.

I walk as gracefully as possible to Andrew's room, but when I got to the door and knocked, there wasn't an answer.

"Andrew?" I call, hoping he'll answer.

"Go away Dawn!" Andrew yells back to me.

"Andrew! It's been a month! This isn't good for you! You and…" I stressed the word 'and', "I, both, need to face our grief."

I let him absorb this and then continue. "I'm going to the Moon Palace today and I'm going to take you with me." I tell him firmly.

The door opens for me to see a tall, haggard man with tousled blonde hair, blood-shot blue eyes, and tear-stained cheeks.

"Oh Andrew," I sigh as I hold him close. "You can't let this grief ruin your life and ours, but I won't force you to come."

"No, I'll go. You're right. I can't hide from the memories forever, can I?" he asks me as he kisses me on my head.

"Okay then. I'll be right back. I need to get something." I say as I run off to my bedroom.

When I get to my room, I go to my jewelry box and take out a silver ring with two stones; one white stone, moonstone to be precise, and one yellow, sunstone.

I run back to Andrew's room and enter. To my shock and amazed relief, Andrew is wearing the purple shirt with silver trim that I gave him for his birthday last year and the black slacks that he always wore.

He brushed some dust off, straightened the shirt out and says, "I'm ready."

I run to him and hug him tightly. "Stacya would be proud." I whisper.

He jerks slightly at the mention of his sister's name, then smiles gently down at me and says, "She would, wouldn't she?"

"Well, as Venessa would say; 'Gotta book it!'" I say as I raise my ringed hand to the air.

"Star to Moon and Moon to Star! Take us to the planet's moon that is so small from afar!" I shout as I draw a circle in the air then draw an eight-point star inside of the circle. The transport spell was almost done.

"Are you sure you want to do this Andrew? I ask him gently.

Through the circle we could see the moon garden. Also, we could see people lying on the ground where they had died.

"Yes." Andrew answers softly.

With that, I punch the circle in the exact center with my ring. In a gust of wind, we were on the moon.

My jaw dropped as I see the last person I'd expect to see on the moon and alive: Pandora…

… "*Pandora?*" Mitaiyoko called in the small, dark room with plain silvery-blue walls.

"*No. Just us cats and stuffed animals.*" Apollo grumbled half-asleep, having been roused from a sound sleep.

Suddenly, Mitaiyoko's query struck home in Apollo's mind and he snapped wide-awake. "*Mitaiyoko!*" he snapped.

"*Wha?*" Mitaiyoko replied sleepily.

"*Did you say 'Pandora'?*" Apollo asked in a hurried whisper. Mitaiyoko turned over on her bed and looked at him lazily.

"*Yeah. What of it?*" she slowly asked.

"*Never mind. Go back to sleep.*" Apollo answered.

~*~^~*~^~*~

"*So what's so important that you even brought Pluto into this?*" Haruka asks, getting straight to the point.

"*Well… umm… Minako! You tell them!*" Usagi makes her hesitant response. Usagi didn't want to tell Haruka that there was a new scout. Technically, Setsuna already knew about Sailor Sun. Hotaru and Michiru were supportive of a new senshi save for when Galaxia made Animamates of Sailor IronMouse and Sailor AluminumSiren to name a few. Haruka was never sure that she trusted the current senshi, let alone a new one.

"*Fine.*" Minako says glaring at Usagi. "*We called this meeting because we have a few… um, shall we say, problems to solve. Problem One: We have a new scout. She knows that we're princesses, and she has quite a few strong tricks up her fuku sleeve.*"

Everyone except Setsuna and Haruka laughed at Minako's small, miserable attempt at a joke. Setsuna had seen it coming and Haruka wasn't in one of her rare good moods.

"*And Problem Two…*" Minako continues.

"*We have someone new to fight?*" Makoto pipes in her suggestion, looking excited.

"*To say the least.*" Minako comments to answer Makoto's idea. "*His name is Meiseiou and Usagi might not have defeated the yoma he sent without our new senshi, Sailor Sun. We have suspicions on who her civil identify is but nothing concrete.*"

"*So give us the details already!*" Rei says impatiently.

Usagi describes the previous afternoon's incident and the new senshi's performance and disappearance.

~*~^~*~^~*~

We walk to the steps of the palace where Pandora caught up with Andrew and I.

"Have you found any survivors, Pandora?" I ask anxiously. I generalized the question so that I could see if Pandora had found her supposed-to-be-a-secret sister, Carrissa.

"No, but I haven't finished checking the palace." Pandora answered with apology tingeing her voice.

"Alright, then shall we?" Andrew asked motioning up the stairs to the main door.

We walk up the stairs and enter through the ruined palace doors.

I take charge immediately and send Andrew to the Visitor's room on the left and Pandora to the one on the right. I tell them both that I will take the throne room at the end. As I enter the throne room, I go straight to the dais to start behind the throne and there I saw a wire stretched from the wall to the back of the throne. I turn my head to yell to the others, "Hey you two! Be extra careful, I think I may have found a booby tra…" I hear a loud explosion and run for the door. "Oh Lady, NO!"

~*~^~*~^~*~

"*So, now that we know the details, who knows what to do next?*" Rei asks, eyeing all the other senshi except for Haruka. Haruka made her feel uneasy.

There was a minute's worth of silence.

"*Okay. That answers that question.*" Rei mutters then continued, "*Why don't we go walk in Chad and Grandpa's contemplation garden?*"

There were murmurs of agreement and they all got up and follow Rei to the garden. It was an oval shape, ringed with rock, with a 60-foot circumference.

"*There's more than one entrance so we can all go in one entrance or go in different ways and meet up in the center. Just for a fair warning, the paths are really narrow, so you'll have set one foot in front of the other.*" Rei cautions.

The senshi drift into pairs and walk toward different entrances. "*That settles that!*" thinks Ami, "*and no arguments!*"

As they each start up their paths, Haruka calls out with a grin, "*Think you can handle that, Usagi-chan?*" and Michiru promptly elbows her in the gut while trying to smother her own big grin. "*I was only joking, Michi-chan!*" Haruka gasps out as she doubled up, grabs her stomach and tries not to laugh or fall off their path.

The others look on at the pair, each hiding her own amusement as Usagi blushes and frowns.

As Usagi proceeds up her path alone, Rei describes the displays she looks at. "*Careful of that one, Grandfather spent a lot of time on it. The tree is over 100 years old! The one to the other side is one Chad made up. It's okay for a first effort.*"

Usagi admires the ancient tree with its delicate arrangement around a boulder and then compared it to Chad's effort. Tall feathery grasses fronted by tiny delicate blooms with a rock and a stream. "*I like both!*" Usagi calls out to Rei. "*And see, I'm not having any trouble at UUFFFF!*" Rei's head whips around from the next path to see Usagi falling like a huge redwood among the small Bonsai. The others all turn to look as Rei yells at Usagi to be careful where she lands.

"*I'm okay,*" she calls out, "* but what is this? It doesn't look like part of a display.*" Usagi holds up a cord to show as she rises to her feet.

A series of small explosions at the center of the garden begin to pour out smoke.

Rei looks accusingly at Usagi "*Now what have you done?*" At the same time, Makoto was calling to Rei - "*Uh Rei! Has your grandfather been playing with fireworks again?*"

All the girls turn to look to the center where the air was smokiest and beginning to distort. "*I'm getting a bad feeeeeling.*" sings Minako.

As the distortion solidified, Setsuna calls out, "*Nice garden, Rei, but not a lot of cover! RUN!!!*"

Everyone scatters, eager to follow Setsuna's command.

Rei, following the other senshi's suit, was taking leaps and bounds through all the displays.

Rei leaps over a display and knocks a couple of leaves off of one of the small Bonsai. "*Sorry, Grandpa!*" Rei mutters while taking another running leap.

Her foot lands on some of Chad's flowers. "*Too bad, Chad!*" Rei mutters and crawls under the temple floor where almost everyone was hiding.

Haruka and Michiru were hiding behind some trees just outside the garden. Hotaru and Setsuna were behind a bench in the center of the garden; being the strongest of the senshi they tended to want to be in the front line of battle. That and they were on that side of the garden so they couldn't get across to the temple.

"*MERCURYCRYSTALPOWER, MAKEUP!*" Ami calls out quickly. Soon, Super Sailormercury was shimmying backward but keeping eye contact on the distortion.

Super Sailormercury was standing out in the wide open tapping incessantly on her minicomputer, obviously scanning the distortion when a creepy-looking youma pokes out of the distortion/portal while everyone was urging Mercury to run away.

~*~^~*~^~*~

I ran across the expansive throne room, occasionally slipping and sliding when I accidentally stepped on gore or in blood.

I threw open the door and prayed fervently that it was a trap outside that had been tripped. I didn't dare look at the door that Andrew had entered for fear that he may have tripped it. The smell of recent fire and fresh smoke filled my nose. "Please let it be a trap outside!" I thought, staring at the door that Pandora had opened.

Not thirty seconds later, Pandora threw open her door and looks quickly to my door. Seeing that I was safe, she looks across the hall. The spreading look of horror on her face brought a wave of nausea crashing down on me.

I close my eyes as I turn to look across the corridor, visualizing Andrew, unharmed, coming through his door, looking worried at first but smiles warmly at me. I wish violently that this were true and open my eyes.

When I do, I saw exactly what I didn't want to. The charred black door had been flung off its hinges and smoke was billowing out of the top of the doorway.

Not thinking, I ran into the smoky room and search franticly for Andrew. There seemed to be some sort of distortion in the middle of the room but I paid no heed to its possible threats.

I found Andrew, bloodied and unconscious, lying not ten feet from the center of the room.

"No," I whisper and run to his side.

I set his head on my lap and tried to wake him up. No such luck.

Pandora comes up behind me. "He needs help now. Do you have a pocket communicator?"

"Here." I say, forcing the item into her hand, "Call my mother. She'll get help out here."

I grab the hem of my dress and pull out a length of thread from the hem. I then start tearing lengths of cloth out of my dress with my teeth.

"What are you doing Dawn?" Pandora asks while tapping furiously on the communicator.

"I'm going," I answer after making another tear in my dress, "to keep Andrew alive long enough for help to get here."

As I made the makeshift bandage, I heard Pandora cursing viciously at the communicator. "It doesn't look like help will be here anytime soon. I've tried every comm number I can remember and they're all either disconnected or busy."

"Did you try my mother's personal? Oh, one, two, oh, one, three, oh, three?" I ask, not looking away from Andrew.

"I tried it. Busy."

"Give it here. I have a code that'll get us through." I say and take the communicator.

Oh, nine, three, oh, two, five, seven. A code that would get us through no matter what. Only my sister, Clair, and I knew this code. It was our kind of 'Emergency' line. Only to be used in the most dire of circumstances. If you asked me, the circumstances were pretty dire.

"Here. Now try it." I order, handing the communicator into her hand. "It should work now."

"Right." Pandora says and taps in my mother's comm number. "Ah ha! Success at last! It's ringing!" she exclaimed.

"Great. When she answers, tell her where we are." I say then look up at Pandora's face that'd gone white.

"I think we have a problem." Pandora utters, staring at a spot behind me.

"What's wr…" I start but never finish. I turn around to see the distortion was suddenly overflowing with youma of all shapes and sizes.

"Pluto Planet Power, Make UP!" Pandora calls and transforms into Sailor Pluto.

"Watch over him, P." I say, lifting Andrew's head carefully off my legs and stand up.

"Solar Crystal Power, Make Up!" I call and transform into my senshi identity, Sailor Sun.

"Dead…" Pluto starts, aiming for the right flank of the attackers.

"Solar…" I start my attack, aiming my wand at the left flank of yoma.

"Scream."

"FLARE!" I shout and the flames shoot out of my wand. Pluto's 'Dead Scream" and my 'Solar Flare' attacks destroyed the current group of youma only to be confronted with another onslaught.

"Star Wand to STAFF!" I yell. My wand lengthens into a staff and I try to fend off the youma with it.

Suddenly, I was distracted for a moment because of an intense pain that was cut off abruptly and one of the youma got under my guard and got an attack in that hit my stomach and knocked the wind out of me.

I drop my staff and whip out my fans. "SOLAR WINDS!" I scream. The attack blasts some of my adversaries back but not enough to matter.

"P! Get by Andrew! I'll set the perimeter!" I shout to her as I snatch my staff up from the ground.

"STAR CORONA SHEILD!!!" I scream, whirling my staff above my head.

A silvery-opaque dome forms around Pluto, Andrew and I, effectively protecting us from the yoma outside but the yoma that were inside made the saying 'safe from the lions but locked in the bear cage' true.

One youma after another caught me off guard. I was tiring. How much longer until my mother got here with help?

I knocked yet another youma to the ground and Pluto had just bested the last of the youma within the shield.

I stagger and nearly fell to the ground but Pluto caught me and sat me down. Sudden waves of pain radiated from where I'd been hit by a particularly nasty energy ball.

"Looks like you need help now." Pluto says with a grim smile. "Looks like our little friends are retreating back into that portal. You can let the shield down but watch over Andrew just in case they decide to just regroup and attack again."

I nod and the silvery barrier collapses into the floor. I slide my way over to sit beside Andrew and set his head, once again, on my legs.

"Come on Andrew. We have so much to do. You can't leave me here alone. We only have half our senshi and less than that of armed forces. And remember? We're officially engaged in a week. Oh, don't leave me now Andrew." I say quietly and start to cry just as softly.

A groan? Where'd it come from? I look at Pluto first and, seeing that she was fine, I look down at Andrew in disbelief.

"Andrew!" I exclaim quietly.

"Mmm… Dawn?" Andrew groans.

"Oh Andrew!" I say again.

"Dawn, if I don't make it…" he starts.

"Don't be silly. Of course you're going to make it." I say laughing somewhat nervously.

"Na-ko, listen, please. Promise me you won't do anything crazy if I don't make it." Andrew pleads, gripping my hand.

Tears already coursing down my cheeks fell now with renewed purpose. I nod weakly then hunch over Andrew as a new wave of pain flows from the right side of my waist.

I sit up a little as the intense pain abates. "Looks like I already did." I say, smiling through my pain.

"Silly Na-ko." Andrew sighs and closes his eyes.

"Andrew?" I whisper. "Andrew, wake up. Please wake up!"

"Dawn? Andrew? Pandora?" I hear my mother calling from the entrance hall.

Pluto pokes her head out the door and shouts down the hall, "Last guest room on the left!"

I hear quick steps coming down the hall. My mother enters the room just as another spasm of pain rips through my body.

"Dawn!" she exclaims, relief flooding her voice.

"Mother! We need to help Andrew! He's hurt. We need to get home."

Mother looks at me darkly. An intense feeling of dread, more intense than the pain I was in, washes over me.

"What happened? Who died?" I try to joke.

"The Star Kingdom, my dearest. Just as Meiseiou promised. We hadn't a chance. Half the zodiacs and less than that for armed forces… there was no way."

"What happened to Gemini? And Leo? What about Cancer and Taurus?" I ask, panicking but trying to remain calm.

"Gone." Mother says shortly. "I saved them in a way though. Just as I can save you and Andrew."

"Tell me how first." I say, hugging Andrew's limp body gently closer.

"I can send you to the future, with no memories of this time, to be reborn." Mother answers, taking out the ruby pendant.

"He won't remember me?" I ask, carefully standing after adjusting Andrew so he'd be comfortable.

"True. But if you are awakened, and you find Andrew again, say this phrase and I'll restore his memories." Mother answers.

"But you'll be dead." I blurt out faster than I can stop myself.

"True, daughter, but I will be able to. You needn't worry about that." Mother admits grimly.

"Fine but Andrew goes fir- ah!" I exclaim, staggering as another wave of pain passes through my body.

"Sit down." Mother orders and I do so, drawing my knees up to my chin in hopes of easing some of the pain in my side, vain though they were.

"Now, Dawn, here's how you shall contact me to return his memories." Mother says, kneeling beside me, and whispers a small phrase in my ear. "Got it?"

"Yes mother." I answer, tears as much of sorrow as of pain streaming down my cheeks.

I grasp Andrew's hand once more, bringing it to my lips, and kiss it. "Don't worry, Andrew. We'll be together again. Je promise." I whisper quietly.

I watch Andrew as an almost opaque bubble forms around him. The bubble lifts slightly and Andrew's back curves to match the inside of the sphere.

Then as the bubble lifts more, Andrew falls gently through the bubble's wall, leaving a ghostly replica of him inside. The globe zooms away toward Earth, taking my love with it.

"Good bye… Mom." I say, tears still falling down my dusty cheeks.

She merely smiles and nods, looking more ashen by the moment. I turn to Pandora and smile weakly.

"So… this is good bye, huh?" I ask, trying to sound light-hearted through my pain. I hold up a hand to her and she presses her own hand firmly against mine.

"There are never 'good bye's. Just 'until later's." Pandora asserts.

The bubble forms around me, separating my hand from Pandora's by only a few centimeters. "Until later then." I choke out.

Pandora smiles and nods. "The sun will rise again for you, Dawn."

I feel the bubble start to rise. A blissful feeling of blankness floods my mind. "Is this what dying feels like?" I ask somewhere in the back of my mind.

Floating upward, my vision like that in a dream, I see my body tip sideways. Pandora and my weakening mother lay the body flat next to Andrew.

Out of the corner of my dimming sight, I see a strange tentacle start to emerge from the distortion. My head whips back around to face my friend and mother.

"MOTHER! PANDORA!" I shout only to black out…

…"*PANDORA!*" Mitaiyoko shouts, leaping out of bed causing Apollo to go flying across the room, right into the wall.

"*What the…!?!? What's going on, Mitaiyoko?*" Apollo asks, half surprised half asleep and shaking his head.

"*Where would I find the other senshi this time of day?*" Mitaiyoko asks, dashing around the room throwing on seemingly random pieces of clothing.

"*Wha?*" Apollo asks, confusion and sleep clouding his mind and ears. I must be hearing things. I could have sworn that she asked where to find the other senshi.

"*Where would I find the other senshi!?!*" Mitaiyoko repeats, nearly raising her voice to yell at her feline counterpart.

"*Uh… er… oh yeah! Hikawa Temple on Cherry Hill.*" Apollo sputters. Mitaiyoko has to have gone nutters.

"*Great! See ya later!*" Mitaiyoko yells, snatching up her purse as she dashed out the door.

"*Wait! Wait for…!*" Apollo yells, chasing after Mitaiyoko only to run head-long into the slammed door. "*Me.*"

Mitaiyoko was already in the elevator, tapping her foot impatiently while waiting for the elevator to get down to the first floor.

"I know where Hikawa Temple is. It's how I'm going to get there in time that'll be the problem." Mitaiyoko thought, fingering her heshin wand lightly. The elevator doors open onto the first floor.

"Running would get me there quickly. If I can find someone willing, I could hitch a ride." Mitaiyoko thinks, dashing out of the apartment building and onto the sidewalk.

Mitaiyoko runs down the street, not bothering to take the time to apologize to those that she knocked into.

A boy on a motorbike came speeding up from behind Miseiko and skids to a halt ten feet in front of her.

Miseiko continues running until she recognizes the person on the motorbike. "*Hey, Helio-san!*"

"*Kumohoshino-san?*" she asks, awed.

"*Do you need a ride? I'm heading to Hikawa Temple.*" Reisakka asks.

"*Thanks!*" Mitaiyoko answers and gets on the bike, putting the spare helmet on. Reisakka revs the engine and speeds off towards Cherry Hill.

Within a matter of minutes, the two had screeched to a jarring halt in front of the old temple. Mitaiyoko pulls off her helmet and dismounts the motorbike in one fluidic motion and starts running up the stairs three at a time.

"*Hey! Wait!*" Reisakka calls after her, trying to park the bike and dismount at the same time.

"*Thanks again!*" Mitaiyoko calls over her shoulder, nearly missing a step.

Mitaiyoko now left her feet to do the running… well… that and the fact that she heard battle cries coming from the back of the temple. She halts suddenly in her path, behind a tree, taking out the silver and gold heshin wand and thrusting it into the air.

"*SOLAR CRYSTAL POWER, MAKE UP!" she calls to the sky. In a blinding flash of silver light, Super Sailorsun was now in the spot that Mitaiyoko had occupied and she took off running behind the trees to the back of the temple.

The sight that greeted her was not a pleasant one. Super Sailorpluto and Super Sailorsaturn were the only ones fighting now that Super Sailorvenus lay motionless. Sun had to bite back a cry as Saturn was knocked down then Sun sighs as the small senshi stands up and leaps back into the fray.

Where's Moon? She's not fighting. But Saturn and Pluto need help… Fine. They won't help, I will.

With these thoughts, Sun climbed up the tree she hid behind and stood on a stout bough.

"*Why don't you pick on someone on the same skill level?*" she shouts, arms folded over her chest. Well that was lamer than your little speech yesterday. Thought a little voice in Sun's head. Most would think the same way but the line had the effect that Sun had needed. The youma turned its attention to her.

"*I am the one who illuminates the moon and the planets of this system. I am the one sworn to protect this planet. I am the new senshi of the stars, Sailor Sun. In the name of the Sun and Stars, you're going to be nova-dust.*" Sun shouts then cartwheels off the branch into a somersault to land neatly on the ground.

As Sun recovers, the youma forms an energy ball that floats above one of its tentacles. Sun saw this as she managed to stand and whips out the fans from her belt and quickly crosses her arms, the fans sheltering either of her shoulders.

"*SOLAR WINDS!*" Sun shouts as she whips her arms out from their crossed state. A ball of wind rushes away from her. The two balls collide only to negate both attacks.

Sun calmly places her fans back in her belt but then realizes that she'd let her guard down for attacks. The youma had, indeed, sent another energy ball at the solar senshi. She panics and merely ducks for cover as close to the ground as she could get.

Seconds tick away in Sun's mind like forever was passing. Slowly she opens her eyes to find a gigantic ninja star stuck in the ground in front of her, blocking the energy attack. The youma was stunned by the stars appearance as it too had been struck with a, however, normal sized ninja star.

"I really should thank my sister for making me those. Stretchy silver works wonders as weapons, Sailorsun." says a strange and not so unfamiliar voice.

"Stretchy silver?" Sun thinks and a memory surfaces in response.

~*~^~*~^~*~Memory Flash~*~^~*~^~*~

"C'mon Sun! Go easy on me. Aren't I your sister?" asks a gold and silver-clad senshi.

"No, you're not right now, Gemini!" Sun replies with a smile and takes out her fans from her belt.

"SOLAR WINDS!" she shouts and the ball of wind races towards the senshi of Gemini.

"AH! Light SPHERE!!!" Gemini shouts in response and a half-sphere of light forms around her, protecting her from the blast of wind.

"Come on, Sun. Give a girl a break! Training's almost done for today." Gemini pleads.

"Oh all right…" Sun replies, smiling mischievously at her sister and taking off one of her silver bracelets that hover around her arms.

"Oh shit!" Gemini mutters and starts running in the other direction as Sun twirls the bracelet around her right index finger.

"Orbital Rings Ensnare!!!" Sun shouts again and slings the now massively enlarged bracelet at the retreating senshi,

The hoop of silver traps itself around Gemini's legs, causing her to fall on her face with a 'Oumph' and a thump.

"Match, Sun over Gemini." Calls a mechanized voice over the training field. Sun walks over to Gemini, who is now sitting upright.

"Good match, sis." Sun says, offering a hand of assistance to Gemini.

"Yeah, good match but will you please get this thing off me? It's cutting off the circulation to my legs." Gemini almost wails. Sun laughs and assists.

~*~^~*~^~*~End Memory Flash~*~^~*~^~*~

Sun blinks, surprised at the sudden flash of memory, then looks up at the gold-clad boy in the tree.

"*Thanks.*" Sun says, smiling and taking off one of her bracelets from her left arm.

Twirling the silver bracelet on her right index finger, the bracelet expands and stretches to gigantic proportions, perfect for the current youma.

"*Orbital Rings ENSNARE!*" Sun yells and, with a deft flick of her wrist, sends the band of silver flying at the youma.

Surprised at the senshi's change of attack and thinking that the new attack couldn't harm it, the youma didn't move out of the attack's path, hence trapping itself in the band of silver that contracted to make a snug fit and life very uncomfortable for it.

"*Sun! Star Light Lance! Quick, before it breaks out!*" the Ort-Star Prince shouts, jumping down from his perch with the ease of a cat and tosses Sun her Star Wand to her, which she had dropped right before he had shown up.

Sun nods, catching the wand and raises it to the air in her left hand.

"*Star…*" Sun starts, strands of light gather quickly around the top point of the wand.

"*Light…*" Sun continues, bringing the wand down in a wide arc to her right. The ball of light now enclosed the entire star atop the Star Wand.

"*LANCE!*" Sun finishes, snapping the wand to be straight in front of her at shoulder level. The ball of light pulses then shot at the youma, a long beam of light, only to be absorbed into a barrier, three feet from the youma.

"Shit." Sun curses as the youma makes enough leeway in its bindings to throw a small blast her way. She and Ort-Star Prince, who was directly behind her, cartwheel to opposite sides of the blast in near unison, Sun going to the right and Ort-Star Prince to the left.

"*Try again. I'll help this time.*" the Ort-Star Prince says, dashing up behind Sun. Sun nods and raises her wand to the sky again.

"*Elements of the system Sol…*" the Ort-Star Prince says, beginning to glow with a golden aura.

"*Star Light…*" Sun starts again, going through the previous movements.

"*LANCE!*" Sun shouts. The Ort-Star Prince quickly places his hand over Sun's left hand on the wand.

"*Debris ACCENT!*" he shouts and silver energy spirals around Sun's beam of light like threads on a quickly spinning screw.

The very end of Sun's attack was blunt but now the end had narrowed top an extremely fine point. The currently silent youma thought that a variation of the same attack would have the same results as the original version so it continues to shove against the binding silver. Finally, it breaks free, shattering the silver bracelet, but not soon enough.

The now screw-like attack drills quickly through the shield around the youma. The youma lets out one long, blood-curdling scream and disappears in an explosion of darkness. The Ort-Star Prince vanishes, as well, with the sudden darkness.

The darkness fades and Sun surveys her surroundings. Pluto and Saturn had been blasted down in one of the attacks' backlash. Civilians were under the temple's baseboards. Uranus and Neptune were still behind their respective trees and Venus was only just coming to.

Sun quickly walks to Pluto and Saturn and holds out her hands out to them. Pluto and Saturn accept after a brief glance at each other and Sun pulls them to their feet.

"*You were right, P-chan. We did meet again.*" Sun smiles knowingly at Pluto then turns to Saturn. "*Are you all right?*"

"*Yes, Sun-chan.*" Saturn says quietly. Pluto caught a flash of movement out of the corner of her eye and she knew what was going to happen.

"*No! Wait!*" Pluto shouts, starting to move in front of Sun. Sun looks up, sees what was going on and stops Pluto.

"*Star Wand to STAFF!!!*" Sun quickly calls out and her wand lengthens into a staff well over six feet tall. (Authoress's Note 1: The Star Staff is approximately six feet and nine inches tall.) As soon as the staff was its full length, Sun stands and whirls it over her head, her hands and staff quickly becoming a mere blur of motion.

"*World SHAKING!*" Uranus shouts, aiming at Sun.

"*Star Corona SHIELD!*" Sun yells defensively, and a silvery-translucent dome encloses Sun, Saturn, Pluto and Venus, protecting them from the attack.

As soon as the dust had settled, Sun lowers the barrier, her temper flaring like the sun itself.

"*Forget that you can't outrun what you can't outwit, Ursella? Emily knew better than…*" Sun abruptly trails off mid-tirade. She was shocked that she had slipped and used the former names of Uranus and her older sister from her own court.

Sun shakes her head and her eyes rage with fire yet again.

"*I'll be around. Don't expect me next time and don't bother trying to find me.*" Sun says and, by some amazing feat of gravity-defiance, back-flips to the peak of the temple roof.

"Bon te voisis encore, P." Sun calls back in French, only Pluto could understand her, with a sideways-peace-sign salute from her left eye, then jumps down the front of the temple, transforming back to Mitaiyoko Helio on the way.

The moment she landed, Mitaiyoko takes off running. She didn't stop running until she finally realized her cell phone was ringing.

"Hull - *Konnichiwa?*" Mitaiyoko answers groggily, faking a just-woke-up tone.

"Don't you 'Konnichiwa' me." Mitaiyoko's mother replies sternly.

Mitaiyoko curses in Persian. Meiyasei clears her throat sharply.

"What was that?" Meiyasei asks authoritatively.

"Nothing. What did you want?" Mitaiyoko says, dancing quickly away from her habit of cursing in multiple languages.

"If I've told you once, I've told you umpteen times. Don't swear in languages I don't know! Now, why didn't you answer the apartment's phone?" Meiyasei asks crossly.

"Mom, you know I sleep like a rock. You're lucky I heard my cell and it was under my ear." Mitaiyoko lies easily, plugging her other ear against the noise of traffic and continuing to walk home.

"Okay. Are you feeling all right?" Meiyasei asks, finally softening and sounding concerned.

"Yeah, I guess." Mitaiyoko lies again, " Can I go? I'm getting a beep."

"Fine. I'll be home at seven. See you then, sweetie." Meiyasei replies and hangs up.

Mitaiyoko clicks over to the other line as she enters her apartment complex.

"*Moshi moshi? Helio Mitaiyoko speaking.*"

Five Minutes Before At Hikawa Temple on Cherry Hill…

"*Would you two stop it and help us figure out what to do next?*" Michiru asks crossly.

The senshi had returned to the yard in front of the temple, as the back of it was being mourned over by Rei's grandfather and Chad, to discuss the happenings of the last twenty minutes. Minako, sitting on the stairs by Ami, holds an ice pack to her head while Ami scanned her with her Mini Supercomputer. Usagi was munching on cookies. Rei and Makoto were sitting on the ground with Luna and Artemis, trying to discuss possibilities. Haruka stood by the door yelling and getting yelled at by Setsuna and Michiru kept trying, but failing, to get them to stop. Hotaru was standing quietly next to her 'parents', twiddling her thumbs.

"*We would know what we're dealing with if you hadn't tried to attack Sailorsun!*" Setsuna yells, gritting her teeth against tears of rage for having come so close to having her old friend again.

"*She could have been an enemy!" Haruka yells back, rage suffusing her face.

"*Hotaru and I know her! She's a friend!*" Setsuna replies hotly.

"*QUIT IT!*" Rei yells at the arguing duo. The fight stops, along with all other activities, save Usagi continuing to eat.

"*That's better.*" Makoto says and she and Rei turn back to Luna and Artemis.

"*Anyone have a way of contacting Mitaiyoko?*" Artemis asks the senshi.

No one answers. Setsuna throws an accusing glare at Haruka and Ami blushes, then raises her hand.

"*Yes, Ami-chan?*" Artemis acknowledges. Ami blushes more then responds under glares from Makoto and Usagi.

"*I have a phone number. She said it was for her cell phone.*"

"*Call it. Put it on speakerphone. Ask her where she is.*" Luna instructs. Ami takes out a small piece of paper and walks into Rei's bedroom with Luna and Artemis and closes the door. Immediately, all the senshi crowded around the door, pressing their ears against it in hopes of hearing something.

They heard it ring twice then…

"*Moshi moshi? Helio Mitaiyoko speaking.*" came Mitaiyoko's voice, loud and clear to the girls outside.

"*Hello! It's Ami.*" Ami responds.

"*Oh! Hi Ami-chan! How's it going?*" Mitaiyoko asks.

"*Nothing much.*" Ami lies. "*Are you feeling okay?*"

"*I guess. I was sleeping 'til my mom called. Now I'm doing some homework.*" Mitaiyoko replies with a yawn.

"*Okay.*" Ami answers, sounding put out. "*Listen, some of my friends and I are going to arcade tomorrow and I was wondering if you'd like to come with.*" Ami asks.

"*Sure! I gotta go. I'll see you tomorrow in Geometry!*" Mitaiyoko agrees, yawning again.

"*Okay. See you then. Bye.*" Ami replies and hangs up.

Quickly, the girls gathered around the door scatter to their previous positions and act as if they hadn't heard a thing as Ami and the cats walk outside.

"*So where is she?*" Michiru asks innocently.

"*She says she was doing some homework.*" Ami answers, moving to sit on the steps again, sounding confused.

"*But that would mean that she's not Sailorsun.*" Makoto states the conclusion for the new 'fact'.

"*Bah! Ami-chan said the number was for a cell phone. She could be anywhere, just walking home.*" Haruka corrects roughly, throwing a glare at Setsuna.

"*Why would she lie though? We only want to help. Surely she knows who we are by now.*" Usagi naively puts in, hoping to stop the rebreeding argument.

"*She doesn't and she would lie also because she can't trust us, thanks to someone.*" Setsuna replies, glaring daggers at Haruka.

"*Oh, will you two stop!?*" Rei practically screams. "*Haruka-san, you were wrong for attacking without provocation. Sailorsun was only helping Setsuna-san and Hotaru-chan get to their feet. Setsuna-san, Haruka-san knows she's wrong otherwise she wouldn't be this damn defensive!*"

Haruka turns her glare at Rei, who smirks knowingly, and Setsuna subsides.

"*Okay. Sailorsun's civil identity is still in the air but Mitaiyoko is still our number one prospect. We meet tomorrow after school at GameCentre Crown.*" Makoto summarizes. Slowly everyone agrees and starts to filter out of the temple yard.

Setsuna hangs back and glances at the setting sun.

'*I told you the sun would rise for you again. I owe you, twice, my life now.*' she thinks then runs to catch up with the other outer senshi.

~*~^~*~^~*~

"You failed again, brother." states a calm feminine voice.

Meiseiou whirls around to face his sister. The woman had darkest blue eyes and raven black hair that shimmered like real stars had be trapped in the strands, and, like Meiseiou, had a pitch black eight-point star on her forehead.

"You didn't need to remind me, Estella." Meiseiou growls, turning back to what he'd been working on.

Estella smirks. "You know why you've been failing." Estella states more than asks, still smirking.

"It's all because of that bitch, Sailorsun!" Meiseiou shouts in fury, knocking away what he'd been tinkering with. The small object shatters as it hits the floor beside the table Meiseiou was working at.

"My, my. Temper, my dear brother." Estella laughs, mock scolding.

"Don't patronize me. She's stronger than that idiot she had for a sister." A smile plays across Meiseiou's lips as he recalls the day the Star Kingdom fell.

"The Princess of Gemini was the strongest after her sister and was in no way an idiot. Much more powerful when she was fearful of her life. She fought right up until I killed her." says a new voice. Estella and Meiseiou jump.

"Do you enjoy scaring us, Shiranai?" Estella snaps at the shadowed figure in the dark around the two siblings.

"Of course, my dear Estella. Now, what's this about the Princess of the Star Kingdom?" Shiranai asks, sounding only mildly perturbed.

"She's resurrected." Meiseiou answers, now starting to clean up the mess on the floor.

"Ah! Well… We needn't worry yet. She's only strongest when her full court is behind her and we took care of that but the sooner she's out of the way, the better off we'll be." Shiranai advises.

"Yes. That would be best." Meiseiou agrees and Shiranai disappears.

"I think I'll let you get back to your tinkering, Meiseiou. Just remember, if we don't get enough people in our forces, Shiranai won't be happy. You know what happens when Shiranai gets upset." Estella warns with a shudder and vanishes in a small twinkle of silver sparks.

Meiseiou smiles evilly. "Oh I know, dear sister, I know, but the only thing is… " Meiseiou laughs shortly. "that I won't ever have to know again."

Meiseiou holds up and admires a miniature figurine of a cracked and fractured youma. He begins laughing maniacally and continues as and well after he sets the figurine back on the table.

Disclaimer and Authoress's Note 2: Sailor Moon and all attributed characteristics are property of Takeuchi Naoko-kami. I only own Princess Dawn Helios/Mitaiyoko Helio/Sailorsun, Prince Andrew of Saturn (although he could almost be not mine because I just made it so that Motoki was originally from the Silver Star Millennium. Yeah, so I altered that SM's name slightly. I only added 'star' though.), Meiyasei Helio, and Apollo. I've already started working on Chapter Six but I doubt I'll get around to finishing it soon. *sigh* It's so sad that the best among us writers has to suffer from near constant writers block. *grin* Okay. Anyways! There'll be two new characters next chap. One is my b/f's and the other is of my own creation. *readers run away screaming* HEY! I'M NOT THAT BAD, AM I??? Tah-tah!

Sincerely Yours Sarcastic,

~Queen Tessandry de Sanyochisei~