Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ Pretty Soldiers ❯ Act 10 - Moon : tsuki ( Chapter 10 )

       "Today, I only slept two hours before classes. I've found it to be my limit; I simply can't function on only one, and on two, I'm able to at least fake coherency. Last night's haul was minimal, only two items worth pawning, in estimation of two thousand US dollars combined…."
       Crystal blue eyes stared blankly at the reflection in the window. Slumped as she was in her seat, earplugs tight into her ears, Usagi looked like she was nothing more than a drifter. Or would have, if she had not been dressed in a neat, clean outfit of tank top and skirt, thigh-high stockings and flats, her hair tied as usual in their odango. But she didn't even move as people sat next to her, getting up constantly to exchange with new passengers. No one attempted conversation.
       The tape that spoke into her ear in Moriya's voice was one of literal dozens she received in the mail a day ago, sent by the new administrator of the orphanage. Apparently, the box had been sitting in Moriya's old closet, and with only two addresses for notification in Sakakku's office for the redhead in case of death, it had been sent to the name that had been circled in red. According to the most recent tape, she had made her last vocal 'entry' the night before she had been killed.
       But Usagi had only made it so far as the tape that she was listening to for the hundredth time on the bus; one dated only a year ago. It listed what Usagi had come to realize was a sort of self-training the redhead had been putting herself through - her ability to work without sleep, apparently - and the amount of goods she had stolen the night before. But it also described a trip that had sent the odango-haired blonde straight to the bus station, following the directions Moriya had written on a scrap of paper and left tucked into the case.
       She had realized after several tapes that Moriya never referred to anyone by their names, instead using nicknames and vague descriptions. 'Prince' was Mamoru, presumably because of his coldness and wealth. 'Dumpling' was her, of course. Anyone else she didn't recognize. But it made her feel slightly cold to know that her friend had done it to protect them, had the tapes been found. Had she really known so little about her?
       The bus jolted as it hit a bump in the road, though it was enough to shake her from her reverie and look around. When she realized her stop was next, she stopped the tape and lifted the tape player from her lap, standing up. No one, surprisingly, got off with her, and she coughed as she looked up at the hill that rose from the road and its lonely bus stop. It was a relatively peaceful place, in the middle of nowhere, and as she hiked up the hill there was no one to watch her go.
        Behind the hill and several yards into another grove of trees sat the Chiba crypt, most likely a lonely occupant since the road had been merely dirt and stones. Many families still maintained such isolated places, refusing to move their ancestors to more-accessible graveyards. Usagi's family was not one of them.
       A small urn holding wilted flowers sat in front of it, tangled with grass; Mamoru had been here fairly recently. And the thought of the dark-haired prince visiting this hallowed shrine of his, his twice-born soul having lost two pairs of parents, brought the lump in her throat back to life. She herself had both of them, a brother, a large family that tended to write letters and visit sporadically. To have none of them around her, to not remember or know the love of people who shared her blood, was something she simply could not imagine.
       In front of the crypt itself, she knelt onto the grassy ground. "O-ohayo gozaimasu," she began haltingly, silently laughing at herself; she was nervous speaking to a damn stone. "I know you don't know me, respected ancestors, but my name is Tsukino Usagi. Or maybe you do," she amended hastily, holding up her hands in defense, "but this is not my true form.
       "I love Chiba Mamoru, who lives alone as the sole descendant of your blood. At least, I believe he still lives, because I won't let him be dead. But he isn't truly Chiba Mamoru; that is not his true form, as mine is not Tsukino Usagi. As family to Mamo-chan, I think you should be told the truth."
       She lifted crystal blue eyes to the kanji chiseled in the stone, listening to her words softly dissipate into the wind. "A thousand years ago…."

      The next day was the first day Usagi was back in class after a long absence. Everyone stared at her as she walked through the door on time, early even, and went directly to her seat. No one mentioned her absence; no one even said the name "Moriya" in her presence, the redhead's seat empty behind her. Even Naru said nothing, doing nothing more than hugging her tight enough to steal her breath.
       She didn't care. After telling a half-remembered story to a stone building, she felt empty and hollow. If she let herself drift, she thought of Moriya telling her they had no secrets; of the taste of blood in her mouth that wasn't hers. The mention of her name on the Tower that night, a voice she hadn't placed until later, when she had a face to put it to. Already she had been baptized in blood, a princess masquerading as a soldier.
        Through the first half of classes she simply wasn't consciously there, which was typical for her. But usually she slept, instead of staring blankly out of the window next to her, into the sky. And the teachers, in an unusual bit of sympathy, said nothing to her, demanding her attention or reprimanding her on her lack of. They let her be, and she sat in the same pose until lunchtime. Only at the bell did she move, not even taking a lunch with her as she left the classroom.
       In the hallway she encountered Ami and Makoto, both of whom broke into a run towards her once she was spotted. "Usagi-chan, you've come back to class?" the tall brunette asked as she hugged her.
       "I thought I should." Despite her short answer, the sight of her fellow soldiers was enough to elicit a smile from her, and she hugged both of them back. She was slightly thinner beneath her uniform from little food, but it was nothing to worry over. Other than that, she looked fine, and both girls relaxed.
       In a moment, however, they realized the silence that had fallen around them. The students that had been roaming the halls for lunch had stopped in their tracks, staring down the hallway towards the front main doors. Someone had walked through them, letting them close on their own as they came closer.
       It was Chouko Iretsu, obvious by his short stature. But something was wrong with him, and what it was Usagi couldn't put her finger on. His stare was intent on her as he came closer, and he ignored the few greetings that came his way. Ami and Makoto positioned themselves almost too blatantly in front of her, nearly blocking her sight as the dwarven boy continued to walk towards her.
       Between them she could see him, and his focused gaze. He stopped a few inches from Makoto, looking right past her at the odango-haired blonde, who stared right back, puzzling. The smile slowly grew on his face, sad but triumphant, and his whisper was low enough for only them to hear. "Your highness Serenity, perhaps this lonely commoner could have a word with you in the courtyard?"
       Usagi's mouth opened and closed like a fish.
       Everyone in the hallway stared guiltily at the foursome, not close enough to hear his words, thank the kami, but fishing for gossip nonetheless. In front of her, her guards had apparently been stunned by his words as well, as she watched them both stop breathing. "M-masaka," Usagi finally gasped softly, setting her hand against the blue-haired genius's back. "Chouko-kun, you can see me?"
       "And everyone else, my princess," he replied just as quietly. "I ask again a favour of my princess for this to move to the courtyard, and away from these people."
       "A good idea," Makoto mumbled, glancing around at the growing crowd. The artist bowed in agreement, gesturing with a hand for them to follow them before he walked towards the connecting hallway.
       Usagi slipped past her two friends, following Iretsu as Makoto and Ami brought up the rear. Already, people began to whisper what were sure to become ridiculous rumours, but none of them followed as the dwarf led them out into the courtyard and the cloudy day. "I never knew the world could look so beautiful!" he sighed.
       "Chouko-san, how is it you can see? You were born blind, were you not?" Ami queried curiously as they picked and settled beneath a shady tree, well isolated from the rest of the students.
       The dwarven artist smiled complacently, holding out his hands. "Hai, Mizuno-san, but in another lifetime, I could see perfectly."
       "You were reborn too," Usagi whispered in something close to horror. "Kami-sama, you lived in the Silver Millennium!"
       "The light of your holy crystal healed my eyes, Princess Serenity, and revived my memories of that perfect time. I remember being your mother's favourite artisan, and dancing with your court ladies, and seeing you so lovely and fresh on your throne." He took her hand before she could say no, kissing it gracefully.
       Ami looked uncomfortable, touching a hand to her mouth, as Makoto exclaimed, shocked, "But I thought we were the only ones!"
       Iretsu shook his head slowly, becoming absorbed in watching a butterfly lazily spiral above their heads. "Iie. Have you read the newspapers since your holy stone revealed itself? Hundreds of people have been interviewed, claiming memories of a distant and past kingdom, more than a few from our school."
       "But why are you the only one who recognizes me?" The odango-haired blonde looked around them in sudden awareness, frantic someone would point them out. But Iretsu chuckled, lightly touching her on the arm.
       "Don't you remember, Serenity? I had dreams of my past life; they were what I based my art on. All your holy stone did was prove to me that everything was real. The other people at this school didn't have those dreams, obviously, or they would have attacked you once you passed through the doors. They denied themselves the truth."
       Usagi was shivering, and not from cold. Unconsciously she touched the hard lump beneath her top, the crystal now attached to a gold chain as she had asked her father to do. She remembered what Luna said about the powers it held, and she realized just what she had done. "Did….did anyone else heal in the light?"
       "Hospitals were emptied. Plants blossomed and flowered, the night turned to day!" Iretsu sounded as if he had done it himself, so proud was his voice. But Usagi was turning paler and paler, leaning against Makoto as if sick.
       "Some of these people might try and find Usagi," Ami whispered. "If it wasn't confined to the students, all of these poor, confused souls may try and find her…!"
       The bell rang to end the hour, but none of them moved. Usagi lay as if dead, crystal blue eyes gone blank once more to stare sightlessly into the void. Everything was changing so fast that it was almost safer for her to shut down. But as Makoto hugged her fiercely, whispering vague assurances, she finally moved to stand, if sluggishly. "I have to be strong, for Mamo-chan…"
       "You have to be strong for all of us, Serenity," Iretsu added in blunt seriousness, still kneeling on the ground. "Your light was extinguished once, taking us with; this time, make your life happy! I believe in you, my shining princess."

      Waiting in line at the grocery store hours later, Makoto towered as usual over everyone. And of course, she towered over the diminutive Chinese woman who owned the place, rapidly tapping buttons and collecting money like a dervish. The woman had learned enough Japanese to be functional, but for every word she didn't know, interjected Chinese was daily routine for customers. Makoto figured she had learned enough in the few weeks she had been coming here to move to the Chinese mainland, open a store, and basically survive on local Cantonese curse words.
       Today, the woman had a bright, if slightly gaping, smile for the tall brunette, the last customer in line. "Makoto-san, how are you today? Did you buy my fresh ginger?"
        "Iie, Lin-san. Just vegetables today, and some rice." She set the small basket on the counter, and immediately, the contents were whisked out and into a bag, added up. "How is your son today? Better?"
        As she tabulated the price, Lin peered at Makoto over the tops of her glasses. "He is cured, Makoto-san, in the miracle light of days prior."
       The tall brunette took a moment to slowly puzzle out the meaning from the mix of language, before she frowned, deciding that naïve was a good act for the moment. "Miracle light, Lin-san?"
       "Hai, hai! Didn't you waken for the miracle light, when it shone from the Tower? It healed many, many people in the city, Makoto-san! The lame walked straight and tall, the deaf repeated words like chittering monkeys, dead plants blossomed and flowered!"
       Groceries bagged up, the old woman waved a day-old newspaper at Makoto before announcing a price. Peeling off a few yen notes, the tall brunette silently read the headline as it trumpeted the mysterious white light as a miracle cure and a sign of perhaps God. Hundreds of people had been cured of their illnesses; thousands claimed to see a blonde goddess in the middle of the light, like an angel. "For a mixed-religion nation, people are very quick to mention the Christian God," Makoto muttered.
       "Silliness!" Lin scoffed, stabbing a far-too-long fingernail at the paper. "A sign, perhaps, of coming glory, but no 'God.' Do you know, I had dreams since that night, since my boy healed?"
       Oh, shit. Recalling the conversation of earlier, Makoto forced a smile. "Dreams, Lin-san? Everyone has dreams." She took up her bag, setting the newspaper back down as the old woman counted her money rapidly. But she didn't leave, as Lin froze her to the spot with her intent, focused stare, rather reminiscent of Iretsu's.
       "Of a white castle, I walk its halls with bundles of laundry. A lovely maiden and her court always wave to me, friendlier than anyone I've ever known…." Lin's voice became sing song and distant as she spoke, still holding Makoto's folded bills. "Parties simply for the joy of it almost nightly, and the magic!"
       "A-ano…I should be going, Lin-san, my friends are expecting me….!" Backing up hurriedly, the tall brunette shuffled out through the doors as the Chinese woman sank onto her elbows on the counter, chin in hands. Her dream was obviously now her refuge, and Makoto left her to it as she escaped outside.
       It was a short walk to her apartment, and Makoto was dreading it; even the distance away from Usagi had her worried. She had left her in the company of her fellow soldiers, but she feared she wouldn't be there if someone came looking for her, an event she thought more and more possible as she walked the street. Conversations she hadn't been aware of a day previous were suddenly loud as trumpets in her ears; the mysterious illusion princess that only a few could remember, and swore existed.
       She practically ran the last block, clutching her groceries carefully in her arms, and skidded through the doors of her building. Just inside the door she spied the long-haired blonde sitting casually in one of the hall chairs, chin in hand, twilight blue eyes focused on the sliding glass. Somehow, it didn't surprise her that Minako was the first line of defense between any possible enemies and their princess.
       Minako produced a brilliant smile for the tall brunette once she saw her, standing up with a quick swipe at her school skirt. "Mako-chan, you're fast!" She didn't offer to take the groceries, however, and Makoto wouldn't have let her; indeed, the long-haired blonde walked slightly behind her as they went for the stairs. "I was afraid we'd be waiting so long, we'd have to call for takeout!"
       "N-nani!?" Makoto started sputtering indignantly as they climbed the flights of stairs, only to finally realize Minako was kidding. "I would hate to think so! Cooking is my passion; I'm honored to be making food for all of you."
       At the end of her hallway, the dark-haired shrine girl sat primly in another such chair, partnered with a large fern. Her purple-eyed stare was quite unnerving, though it relaxed at the sight of her allies, and she gracefully stood. "I see nothing happened," she commented mildly, meeting them at the door bearing Makoto's name in small, simple kanji.
       "We can't take any chances," Minako replied firmly, and now she finally stepped ahead of the tall brunette, if only to open the door for her. "With all of these wild rumours flying…! Our princess's safety is top priority."
       Rei said nothing, which, for her, was almost worse than speaking her mind. She slipped in behind Makoto, letting Minako close the door and lock it, as Makoto stared at the pile of books taking up space on her coffee table. Somewhere behind them, she was pretty sure she could see a head of blue hair. "Ami-chan, did you bring every book for our year's lessons?"
       "Studying to enlighten and strengthen the mind" was her generic answer, as usual, and the tall brunette passed her by to roam into the kitchen. She knew the exhausted odango-haired blonde was most likely still asleep on her futon, and she let the other three check in on her as she began to unpack her groceries.
       She could hear Rei and Ami arguing passionately about some philosopher as she chopped her vegetables, expertly handling the wok and cooking oil, and mixed some sauce. It wasn't a time-consuming set of tasks, really, but she threw herself into it as she always did, losing total awareness of everything outside of the kitchen. When Minako said something to her, she perceived it only as a strange sound; once it was repeated, she finally classified it as speech. "Ne, Minako-chan?"
       "Is this yours? Usagi-chan knocked it off your dresser in her sleep."
       Considering her dresser was across the room from the futon, it took her a minute of puzzling that particular accident out before she turned around. She froze in the act of wiping her hands on her apron when she realized Minako was holding out her mother's crucifix necklace and well-worn Bible, one wrapped around the other. "….iie. It was my mother's."
       "It's pretty," the long-haired blonde said, softly thumbing through the pages. "You're a Christian, then, Mako-chan?"
       Making a rude noise would have been, well, rude. So she just shook her head, turning away to stir the sauce. "My parents were the delusional ones, not me. I was just dragged along for the ride, in all honesty. No one in the family approved of the foreigner's Christ."
       Minako closed the book after a few more flipped pages, turning her attention to the crucifix. It was an old and tarnished piece of jewelry, and Makoto vaguely remembered the American military soldier who had sold it to her mother at the church, saying something about carrying it through the war. The chain had long since been replaced, the Christ face long since worn smooth and indistinguishable. "Why don't you believe in their God? No one would laugh at you for it."
       "Minako-chan…." The tall brunette sighed, toying with the handle of the wok. How could she explain any of it? "Would you believe in something that took your loving, caring parents away? In something that condemns you to damnation merely for not believing in some messiah? Christians carry around that silly book and start up armies over it, when it could all be a piece of fiction some camel herder wrote up on a long, boring trek across the sand." She expertly flipped the meat and vegetables together, mixing the sauce in.
       As Minako leaned in to look, the tall brunette finally made that rude noise. "And why do we need religion to begin with? All it does is drive people to hate and argue and kill, over beliefs that may or may not be true."
       "But it also teaches love and compassion; every religion has that, in some form," Rei interjected as she appeared in the doorway. "Pantheons devote gods to dozens of different vices and emotions and creations. If anything, I believe the monotheists are taking on more than they can chew by crediting every single event in our existence to one deity."
       "A large workload, ne?" Minako chuckled.
        Makoto waggled her wooden spoon in agreement. "In devoting everything to one deity, they contradict themselves constantly. I can remember reading that book and asking mama why God claimed to be kind and good, but would then be vengeful; why God hated those who loved the same sex, when the human race was created through incest. Why would God allow homosexuals to live, if they were a sin? Why would God allow so many bad things, if God loves His creation?"
       The dark-haired shrine girl regarded Makoto oddly, as if realizing the tall brunette wasn't actually stupid. "Because humans were given free will to sin. They were banished from the Garden of Eden…"
       "Because God wanted to keep them from eating from the Tree of Life." Rei's expression twisted further, and Makoto tapped at the book still in the long-haired blonde's hand. "Read it again, one day. So Adam and Eve wouldn't also eat from the Tree of Life, God banished them from Eden; disobeying His word wasn't the full reason.
       "And for God to deny immortality to his first creations….why then did our queen possess a crystal that gave long-life and possible immortality? Maybe, we're immortal now simply because our queen evaded true death, and gave our souls a chance for another life without forgetting the past life. If so, we deform existence and a major faith simply by living."
       "Or, maybe, this discussion is silly," Ami spoke from behind Rei, adjusting the perfectly round glasses on her nose. "Arguing theology when it has nothing to do with our lives…if gods or God didn't exist, humans would create them. People simply can't accept reality as it is, they have to formulate silly reasons for everything."
       "It isn't silly, if you have faith in the spiritual to lead the physical," the dark-haired shrine girl argued, folding her arms.
       Minako waved a hand back out towards the bedroom, lowering her voice. "Think of the girl sleeping in that room right now, minna. She's as ordinary as any other girl, except for the fact she has a crystal tied to her blood that can decimate planets, heal the sick! Her soul has been born for the second time, and because of all of this, people could decide she is a new messiah for any religion or cult you can name." She shook her head, setting the book on the kitchen table. "Belief, wrong or no, can be a strong incentive."
        "From lack of belief, to the dangers of it," Makoto commented dryly.
        Ami suddenly yipped kittenishly, obviously shocked by something else entirely; no simple conversation would have given her such a start. Everyone's head turning to see the blue-haired genius holding out a hand to a sleepy, groggy Usagi. "Usagi-chan, you're finally awake?"
       "I smelled the food." Rubbing her eyes with her fists, much like a child, the odango-haired blonde smiled wistfully into the kitchen. "The moon is nearly full; it's lovely."
       Minako reached out to hug the girl tight, as Makoto enlisted Rei and Ami's aid in putting the food out onto the table. "Daijoubu, Usagi-chan. Just a few more days." Then, she breathed in deeply, comical as ever, laughing joyfully. "And before we go to our destinies, a feast, from the wonderful cook of Jupiter!"
       "Mou, Minako-chan…."

      The cold Arctic now and again managed to blow full-force through the castle's hallways. Kunzite welcomed the frigid, biting air at this moment as he knelt painfully on the stone floor, showing subservience to the sole body lying in the room. "Endymion-sama…finally, I've awakened to meet you, if alone."
       Over the span of days, everything had returned to the silver-haired general in full. In his mind he recalled the laughing face of his prince, strong and powerful in his black suit of armor. Surrounded by his four generals, his friends since he was a child, he was fearless, never hesitating to wander into danger and let them clean it up.
       Not that Endymion had been a gung-ho idiot; as the highest prince, he was next in line to ascend to the throne of Earth. Since birth he had been trained in diplomacy as strongly as swordsmanship, and he knew his limits. His worse fights were usually to beat some sense into someone badmouthing the crown, or hurting an innocent servant. Kunzite had been proud to be his right-hand man, the silent strength behind the soft-spoken prince.
       And then, his prince had met Serenity.
       Kunzite slowly lifted his head, remembering his own first sight of the beautiful, silvered princess who had captured his prince's heart in company with the soldier of Venus. The Moon was the only kingdom that rigorously enforced its 'No Interference' law with Earth; but the rest of the Silver Millennium regularly knocked on the blue planet's door. They treated Earth as if it were full of inept retards, really, but on this occasion, Venus had 'lent' a contingent of soldiers out for a war that had been slowly growing on the blue planet; in a few years, it would become Beryl's crusade against the Moon.
       Serenity had been lovingly held in Venus's arms, protected by the deceptively fragile looking girl. Off in the distance had been the other four guardian soldiers, interested in other matters, basically useless until someone threatened their princess. It had given Kunzite a long opportunity to watch the two blondes, interested in the princess's childlike, sweet demeanor, and very much so captivated by the authority Venus radiated.
       He remembered laughing as each of his generals described the sailor soldiers, realizing every one of them had been smitten, unwilling to admit it.
       Maybe he would have fallen in love, truly and deeply.
       He had, to tell the truth, the first time Venus had caught his glance.
        But when he had fallen for Beryl's lies in that past life, he had helped to lead the assault on the moon, and he had done nothing as Venus was slaughtered along with the rest of the soldiers. Now, with every single memory full-blown in his brain once more, he felt terrible anguish and guilt; he hated it, yet cherished the sensation. It was quite human, something he had been lacking as of late.
       "Endymion-sama, if you were only awake to instruct me once more…my betrayal is unforgivable, but I pledged my soul to you, my master! It was stolen through treachery, but my true loyalty is to you." The gentle drip of water was his only response.
       Kunzite kept his posture low as he removed himself from the room, feeling once more like basic shit as he left. Every day he came in and pronounced his loyalty, and every day he had the same damn response. It would remain thus until a miracle happened, or Beryl somehow brought him back to life.
       Knowing the odds, he bet on the miracle.
       This far into the castle he rarely wandered, and only now because the memory of his master demanded it. He knew Beryl restricted access to a room only a few yards away, and so, he had respected her wishes so far as to not even come near. But now, his curiousity raged with the awakening of his past life; if he was to be forcibly bound to the piss-eyed bitch, he wanted to know just what her motivation was.
       In silence he crept down the hallway, holding his cloak tight against his body. But as he approached the door just around the corner, he felt the heavy press of magic and evil that was his queen; he shuddered, leaning against the wall. He could hear the swish of her dress across the stone floor, the tap of her staff, like a spider out of a nightmare.
       When he was sure she had entered the room, he turned the corner, his nerves so taunt he nearly screamed with the suspense. He was expendable now, he knew it, and for her to find him spying on her, it was no doubt a death sentence…but he looked inside of the room anyway.
        Beryl was nearly flat again on the floor, paying her respects to the black noxious cloud that hovered above her head.
       "Kami-sama…is that Metallia, grown so strong?" he whispered in growing shock, backing away. Whatever they were talking to one another about was lost on the silver-haired general; finally acting on his most base instincts for survival, he ran like hell.
       Of course, his spying was not lost on the two queens. Despite any efforts he made to protect himself, his aura had given him away. "Your general is insubordinate, Beryl…add it to your list of failures!"
       "Do not worry, my powerful lord and master," Beryl said into the ground, still bent. "He is a disposable body, as were his friends; I don't believe we'll have him much longer."
       "This casual display of arrogance is not wise in my presence, Beryl! As you've yet to find the Ginzuishou and destroy that horrible white bitch, you should be far more humble!" The darkness writhed and trembled above Beryl's head, Metallia's unique way of showing anger.
       After all, free-floating evil energy can't exactly frown.
       The usual shower of rocks came down, hitting Beryl in all of the wrong places. Two bounced right off that one spot in her skull that, without failure, always hurts the worse. She winced, unable to hold it back. "I'm positive that the holy stone will be ours, soon. By saving Tuxedo Kamen's body, I believe we have the perfect spy."
       "But was no evidence or trace of the Ginzuishou found in his body? Beryl! I want no more failures!" Again did the room tremble, quaking with Metallia's displeasure. "Destroy the white princess, and give me the power to darken this pretty blue planet!"

       In front of a mirror, Rei steadfastly refused to cry.
       She was simplistically elegant in a white skirt and red top, her hair pulled back into a loose braid. Her father had remarked on how much like her mother she looked as they had eaten at her favourite restaurant, celebrating her birthday early.
       This year, her father was going to be so busy that he thought ahead for once, and so had taken her out for a birthday dinner early. He hadn't bothered to send his usual gift of a white dress, instead suggesting she pick her own casual clothes. And apparently, she had pleased him.
       But always, the event proved traumatic for her afterwards; it took her the time to wave once to his departing car and to walk into her room before she felt utterly drained. Seeing her father more often as a political celebrity on television than in real life…it was as if she had to take him in enormous, single gulps, gasping from the overload. Nothing remained in him that reminded her of her mother, and it often seemed as he simply used her to personify the dead Mrs. Hino. Every year, a white dress. Every year, the sterile conversation.
       Her fist pressed against her lips, forcing the sobs back down into her throat. She hated going through the emotional rollercoaster of seeing her father, and oftentimes toyed with the idea of simply saying 'No.' Why should she put the effort forth for someone who had dumped her onto a father-in-law to preserve and pursue his political career?
       And of course, she could imagine how well he would handle the knowledge of his daughter being a sailor soldier, if she had the courage and freedom to tell him. "Otou-san, I'm Sailor Mars. In my past life, I was a guardian soldier of the princess of the Moon." This to a man who tolerated her Shinto faith with a grain of salt! At the thought, she surpressed a hesitant giggle.
       The laughter soothed her, and she smiled into the mirror with confidence. She knew her father would enjoy grooming her for marriage to one of his colleagues if he could, using her exotic beauty as barter. And she was beautiful, she knew that; with her long dark hair and purple, slanted eyes coupled with pale skin like porcelain, she represented Asian beauty to near perfection. She was the antithesis to her princess's golden figure.
       With that rather sobering thought she began to peel away her clothes, discarding the outerwear of a trendy teenager. She hung and folded it all neatly, naked as a baby as she traveled back and forth through her room, from closet to dresser. Then she began to wrap herself expertly into her shrine robes, noting - not for the first time - in amusement that she seemed to have adopted a singular colour scheme no matter what she wore.
       Once she slipped on her sandals she left her room, quietly padding to another that lay central to the building's scheme. Through the fusama one could see the dance of firelight; shadows rippled like magical creatures across the paper. She breathed softly, clearing her mind like wiping a slate clean by hand, lightly pushing the door open. When she stepped within the room containing their sacred fire, she was totally open to its will.
       Praying for visions in the flame was a second nature to her, as simple as breathing. It made sense now, as she wielded the same power as Sailor Mars. Already had Jupiter proved she was attuned to the lightning she could call down; now, the dark-haired shrine girl waited for Mercury to realize the flow of water beneath her feet, or for Venus to know the throbbing of people's hearts in love. Or maybe, the two of them were singularly talented in this manner.
       With hands clasped, she began to pray in honor to the fire, paying homage to its power. As she did so, she felt her mind begin to drift and expand, remembering Luna's idea to go to the Moon. Through the slits of her eyes she could see the reflection of the satellite in the sacred mirror, glowing like a slightly misshapen pearl, further solidifying the thought in her mind; as she prayed, she felt the fire respond.
       In the heart of the fire she could see her princess, pure silver and spun gold. Behind her was her planet, giving her unusual hairstyle a shimmering halo. Her smile was so heartachingly innocent that Rei felt herself smiling back, forgetting her prayer for a long minute. And Serenity began to slowly turn and turn in the flames, like a music box ballerina, holding her skirts demurely in both hands.
       Bathed in that gentle smile, the dark-haired shrine girl could recall the perfect kingdom that had been their home a millennium ago. Going the Moon would be like visiting the most holiest of shrines; but how would they do it? Was it a reality to possibly steal a ship from NASA? Luna had never explained to them how they were going to do it, much less how much the cost would be if they destroyed the ship on re-entry. Hell, none of them knew how to pilot a plane simulator at the Crown, much less a real spaceship.
       But, feeling the light of Usagi's, no, Serenity's, smile, she knew it didn't matter. Somehow, in the tiniest corner of her mind, she knew Minako had not been the princess; but it was a subconscious knowledge, the smallest scrap left over from a deeply buried past. It was enough to create hostility in her towards the long-haired blonde, to scorn her masquerade as the Princess Serenity.
       And even if the truth had not been revealed, if Usagi had not released her inner light, Rei would still have died for her.
       She knew every single soldier would do the same.

       It was this conviction that stirred them all as they gathered as Luna requested two days later. Still clad in their civilian clothes, they had walked in silence down the paths of Ichinohashi park, following the wriggling butt and attached tail towards the fountains. Shut off for the night the waters were still, and in them reflected a moon in the height of fullness.
       The odango-haired blonde was the first to arrive at the silent fountain, and she alone disturbed the reflection as she dipped her fingers into the lukewarm water. "I…met Mamo-chan for the last time here, and Moriya-chan…we laughed over silly things…"
       None of them stopped her as the tears slowly flowed down her cheeks. "Every time before when I met him, we argued so harshly, but in truth, I was happy! I was charmed by him, but so scared that he wasn't in return…his eyes, the colour of warm ocean waters captivated me…I could never admit to him the truth…!"
       "Usagi-chan," they murmured as one.
       "I want to meet him again, as Sailor Moon, and tell him everything. I want to talk about lots of things, and laugh with him like before!" Her tears left slowly growing rings of disruption in the water, rippling the faces of her friends as they hovered over her.
       A hand touched her shoulder as Makoto commented, softly, "Sadness doesn't become your face, Usagi-chan. Daijoubu, my princess, all will be well."
       The odango-haired blonde sighed deeply, nodding her head in firm conviction; but saying nothing. In silence, the floor was given to whoever decided to speak next, and it was Minako as she stared upwards. "A beautiful full moon, right above the park!"
       "No clouds. Its age is at 15, at the height of fullness," Ami added, reciting her textbook knowledge smoothly. "Perfect conditions for travelling."
       "Many feminine attributes have been given to the phases of the moon," the dark-haired shrine girl said next, motioning with her hands. Despite her casual clothes, she looked every inch the shrine maiden as she gestured just so, as if calling down the wrath of her gods in the light. "Visions of the future are best done in the strength of the full moon's light. Many believe it to be the Triple Goddess, who represents maiden, mother, and crone."
       Minako coughed finally, holding her transformation pen as one might casually hold a mixing spoon for punishment. She cut quite the disciplinary figure with a hand on her hip, looking like a stern schoolteacher. "Let's transform, minna; we can't do a bit of magic without being our true selves."
       The girls nodded, and at their own pace produced their colour-coded pens, holding them aloft. Usagi touched her brooch, being the first by status to transform. But before she could speak the words to release her identity, Luna stepped forward. "It has to be done properly! To simply transform will expend the magic needed."
       Her whiskers twitched as she strode between them all, standing as they were in a loose circle. Their arms lowered, they listened intently as Luna spoke in the same strange syllables she used to enter the command center, tilting her furred head upwards. With each word, they felt the energy around them; a wind blew up, gently, stirring the trees. A circle of white, like a fairy ring, grew around the black feline, swirling like the sea.
       Sitting primly, Luna smiled imperiously. "Enter the circle and transform like proper soldiers. Then, hold hands; it will bind you all in a shield for safety."
       It certainly looked impressive. Minako, having more of a vague idea of what Luna was proposing, stepped inside first, resuming the upward thrust of her pen. Makoto, who touched her pen's sigil to the star tipping the long-haired blonde's, joined her. Then Ami added her blue sigil, and Rei her red. And they parted like the sea for Usagi, who touched her hands to her brooch in a modest gesture. "Moon Prism Power, Make Up!"
       Pink energy shot upwards, fading to white at the edges. It encased the odango-haired blonde as her feet lifted from the ground, back arched; her transformation was quick, gentle. Minako smiled as she shouted, "Venus Power! Make Up!"
       Golden energy exploded up and out from the long-haired blonde, dark orange fading to yellow at its edge, holding Minako aloft. Her transformation was instantaneous, her civilian identity shed comfortably for that of a sailor soldier. With the second flux of magic, the circle around them grew higher, trembling as Makoto yelled, "Jupiter Power, Make Up!"
       The energy that held the tall brunette was oak green all the way through, holding her gently as her clothes disintegrated. Her uniform wrapped around her like paper, hugging her tight, her antennae sparking out of her tiara. The circle was waist-high on them now, and Ami looked at it in a bit of hesitation before calling out, "Mercury Power, Make Up!"
       Aqua blue surged up from her body, far less violently than the others, fading to ice at its edges. It pulled her off her feet slowly, dissolving her civilian clothing like stop-motion photography. As the persona of Mercury overtook her, the fountain behind them suddenly spat water as if just turned on, then ceased. The circle responded accordingly, lifting up to encase them to their necks, as Rei finally said, "Mars Power! Make Up!"
       Red exploded from her body in much the same way it had Minako, solid throughout with only the slightest fading to pink. Her transformation worked like a roller of paint; they could literally watch her civilian identity roll from her body, followed by the red fuku of Mars. High heels touched the ground as their separate auras twisted together in the air, mixing in with the circle as it finally connected over their heads.
       When they took each other's hands, they could feel the shield click around them, creating the perfect protection. The wind started up again, this time lashing the trees like a full-fledged storm, as a beam of white light pierced the clouds. Luna closed her eyes as the girls seemed to literally explode, flying upwards in their bubble of safety like a fish drawn in on its line.
       They sped in excess of hundreds of miles an hour, feeling the friction as only a mere rise in temperature, the wind only gently ruffling their skirts teasingly. Around them, the sky darkened as they rose through the atmosphere, leaving oxygen behind as they continued to fly up and up, passing into the gravitational pull of the planet and into space.
       Floating in their own controlled sphere of gravity, they drifted away from Earth.
       Though they had glimpsed their past memories of seeing such a sight, the breath caught in each throat at the vision of their planet so large in front of them, smeared with clouds and landmasses. Lightning arced over several spots, and just when they thought it could be no less breathtaking, the sun began to appear around the opposite hemisphere. "Kami-sama, to see such a sight….!" Mars breathed softly, gripping tightly onto hands that returned the favour.
       Luna floated erratically between them all - though they had their own gravity within the shield, it was minimal - paws splayed as she frantically swam to keep herself right side up. "Keep your minds focused on your task! We must land on the moon before you lose concentration on your shield!"
       "Demo sa," Sailor Moon moaned, twisting her head around. "It's so blue and beautiful from up here…Mamo-chan's planet, and look, look, Mako-chan! Lightning!"
        As Jupiter twisted to get a better look, the sphere holding them slowly spun with her. Luna was tossed around, unable to keep herself righted, claws flexing in and out in unconscious terror. "The Moon, the Moon!"
       Fur floated into Venus's face as the black feline drifted backwards, tail lashing angrily. As the long-haired blonde sputtered indignantly, unable to use her hands to push Luna away, the sphere spun around again. "Iyaa, get your butt out of my face, Luna!"
       "Ano…where do we, ahm, land, Luna?" Mercury asked hesitantly, her expression twisting as the poor cat began to frantically flail again, smacking Venus over and over again in the face with her tail.
       "Cats are not meant for space travel!" Luna hissed, finally managing to springboard off the long-haired blonde's face, floating in the general direction of Moon. "And Mare Serenitatis is our destination; didn't I mention that?"
       "…before or after you shoved your hindquarters up my nose?" Venus commented baldly, sneezing for emphasis.
       As they drifted down towards the surface, Luna stated, very much out of character, where Venus would find her hindquarters next, the condition they would be in, and how long they would take up residency. It was also a good thing that she didn't quite finish her diatribe until they were a few feet over the surface, because the sphere simply didn't hold up under a quartet of girls laughing until their ribs hurt. Well…Mercury didn't laugh, but that was more out of confusion of Luna's description and how it could possibly work than the lost humour.
       Without the light, they found themselves sprawled in various positions in the dust, in near perfect darkness. No wind disturbed their scuffmarks, though they breathed the air that shouldn't have existed easily. "Ano, Luna, how can we be breathing?" Jupiter asked.
       "In the Seas, the atmosphere and air were created magically, contained within force fields. I assume the fields that keep the ruins hidden also keep the air within," Luna replied thoughtfully after a moment. She looked pointedly towards the crumbled pillars and buildings in front of them, just barely illuminated by the starlight above.
       "Sou yo…how can these ruins be here, undiscovered by astronauts?" Mercury hugged her bare arms, looking at the ground around them for any other footprints. All she could see were smears everywhere, as if hundreds of people had fled, slipping as they ran for their lives, and the pockmarks of fallen and bounced rocks.
       Moon took a few steps towards the ruins hesitantly, nudging the remnants of a wall next to her leg. "Everything is so quiet…like a tomb."
       The soldiers gathered in a circle, staring out towards the crumbling buildings that bore no trace of the sparkle they remembered. As one they began to walk down what remained of a stone pathway, looking around like horrified survivors of a bombing. "The force field reflected the sunlight as it kept the air in, to moderate temperature," Luna murmured slowly, as if recalling the details of the system. Most likely, she was. "From the outside we always had to look twice, because the kingdom would be hidden by the field. Because we can breathe, the field must still be in place, effectively hiding everything from the 21st century."
       If they looked back, they could see their footprints stretching far behind them, perfect and untouched by breezes of any kind. "If the air is kept breathable, why is there no wind?" the blue-haired genius added in question after another minute's walk.
       "Smaller crystals generated different winds and weather patterns. The field keeping the air pure may still be here, but the crystals would be long destroyed, turned to stone." The feline put out her paw to tap against what was obviously once a beam of wood, knocking on it produce a most un-woodlike sound. "In the final decimation of our kingdom, everything turned to stone in our queen's sorrow, unlivable."
       The rubble of an enormous building was what they found themselves walking into as Luna spoke, their heels clicking on floors that were still in their original marble condition. The remains of walls around them formed hallways and separate rooms, and out of the middle of the mess rose a crumbled, deteriorating spire. "So immense…is this our former castle, Luna?" Sailor Moon whispered, turning around and around as they walked to see every last inch.
       "Hai. The Moon Castle, this once was, beautiful and pristine and white. The epicenter of our kingdom, where everyone enjoyed peace and prosperity." The feline led them towards the destroyed spire, jumping deftly over fallen chunks of stone. Embedded in the rock was the design of the windows, and the carvings once on the wall. Not even Mars or Venus could scratch the surfaces with the points of their heels. "And that ruined spire you see? It was once a lovely tower of prayer, the Crystal Tower. Only our queen was allowed to enter; for any others to cross the doorway was sacrilege."
       "I remember that place!" Mercury gasped, stumbling in mid-stride. "I envisioned it in the gallery that day…"
       Jupiter, with her longer legs and faster strides, passed the others up easily. She was standing next to the ruined tower as the others crawled and hopped their way over the rocks, and as she moved to circle the ruin, she slammed her knee into a piece of rock sticking up and out of the ground. "ITAAAAAAAAAAIIII! Kuso, kuso, kus-o!"
       She grabbed her knee, affecting an odd hopping dance as she swore, still bouncing around as the girls made it to her side. The odd stare she received was enough for her to stop dead on one leg, wobbling madly. "Jupiter…." Luna sighed, in that special tone reserved for adults and authority figures when one does something wrong.
       "Dancing won't bring any spirits back to talk to us, Mako-chan," Venus added; though she sounded close to breaking out in laughter.
       Jupiter glowered, thumbing back at the jutting rock. "I kneed something in the dark."
       Though the rock was hidden in the shadow cast by the spire, their presence seemed to change that. Even as Jupiter pointed out the offending object a soft beam of light seemed to appear at the spot, showing it off as not a fragment of building, but a broadsword buried halfway into the ground. "Someone's petrified sword, from the battle…?"
       "Not here; this was the center of the castle! No one made it this far!" Luna argued, staring in mystification at the weapon. A crescent decorated the handle, doubling as a hand guard, and centered in the guard itself was a circle of what had once been four gemstones. The colour had overall turned into a dull grey, but Luna knew what colour those gemstones had once been. "Soldiers, remove it from the ground. Pull it out!"
       The odango-haired blonde stepped back as her guardian soldiers moved forward to stare at the weapon, buried so deeply as it was. Jupiter, her gloved hand still smeared with her blood, was the first to grip the handle, tugging on it with strong, short jerks. Then Mercury grabbed on, trying to pull it as well, though she was substantially weaker. "Moou, it's petrified into the ground," the blue-haired genius groaned a minute later, shaking her aching hands as Mars took her place.
       "Keep trying! Put your combined strength into it, minna, for the love of the kami; you are guardian sailor soldiers!" Luna chided, pacing back and forth in front of Sailor Moon.
       Both Jupiter and Mars stepped back momentarily, shaking their hands vigorously as well, the sword having not budged an inch. "Venus, why aren't you helping us?" the dark-haired shrine girl demanded angrily, rubbing her aching palm.
       Venus reached out a hand in a trademark pose Disney would have sued over, had they seen it, foot braced firmly, and slowly slid the sword out of the ground. Though she looked just as surprised as the rest of them, there was the tiniest bit of satisfaction, as if she had known it would give itself up to her, and her alone. "A sword entirely of stone!"
        Out of the slit in the ground rose a white light.
       Though the figure who finally formed was unknown to them, the two odango on her head were very familiar indeed.
       She was only a foot or so high, though if she would have risen from her kneel she could gain a few inches. Her slim body was wrapped in a simple sleeveless white dress, tied above the breasts with a large bow and a crescent sigil. What looked like filmy, scalloped wings rose behind her back, and her only other adornment was a pearl and crescent sigil crown across her forehead, and a pair of pearl earrings. "My soldiers, I congratulate you. By removing the holy blade used to protect your princess, you've finally initiated my program to greet you all."
       Now she finally stood, holding out her hands in a gesture of goodwill. "Luna, I am proud that you finally brought them all here! Mercury, Mars, Jupiter, Venus. I once more bestow the blade unto all of you, as the former queen of the Silver Millennium, Queen Serenity."
       Sailor Moon let out what was best described as a cross between a sob and a sigh, pressing her knuckles against her lips. "Q-queen Serenity…my mother, in a previous life?" Her legs gave out beneath her, dropping her into what was a remarkably graceful kneel before the small figure.
       "My beautiful daughter, Serenity. You don't know how happy I am at this moment, seeing you again after so long….!" Her arms reached upward, and the odango-haired blonde felt insubstantial fingers touch her cheeks, her chin. The queen had no more substance than a storm cloud. "Though I tried to call to you through dreams and legends, it has no comparison to having your lovely figure in front of me once more."
       Mercury, in an unusual display of brazenness, reached out to run her hand through the queen, feeling her intangible body. "You can talk to us, Serenity-sama? But how! Your form is nothing but air, how can you be alive?"
       The small queen tilted her head, watching the fingers travel through her body. "Though my body was drained in using the Ginzuishou one last time, I activated the sub-computer to preserve my will, if not my true body. The main computer is inactive, its working parts and memory long sent to Earth to be your contact."
       "….how could you have put yourself into a computer a millennium ago? Computers weren't invented yet!" Jupiter blurted out, beating Mercury's similar question by a spare half-second.
       Serenity merely gave them an amused look, an eyebrow lifting as if to say, well, wouldn't you like to know? "My image is generated by the sub-computer, though for all these years I've stayed formless, preserving its power. Through it, I awoke Luna and Artemis from their cold sleep, implanting directions and fake lives into their brains to make the transition easier on them. I kept in contact via the main computer, unable to speak to them, but constantly aware of your experiences.
       "And to answer your question, my curious soldiers, we were an advanced civilization; in time, I know all of your memories of your past lives will reveal this. Computers are not the silicon-based, noisy hunks of plastic you know now. They're simply what humanity has managed to create this far in their evolution."
       Mercury nodded thoughtfully, as Serenity once again smiled in her gentle way, gesturing all around them. "I know all that remains is ruin, but remember how it once was! When this castle was beautiful and vast, and the winds swept through the flower gardens to create showers of petals inside of the dome. Our created environment was perfection, but my daughter, Serenity, continued to long for the true breezes of the blue planet."
       "I remember now," Mars interjected softly, glancing to her fellow soldiers for verification. "We were supposed to be her court, her guardians, and to follow her everywhere. And then one year, she began travelling to Earth against orders, spying on their first rank prince."
        "Sou yo…I wanted to see Endymion, my strong prince! Nothing could keep me from his side…." the odango-haired blonde added, closing her eyes. She could recall many, many times she had fled to the blue planet in secret, fleeing her guardian soldiers to exchange a secret kiss with her dark-haired prince. And always she was caught and chastised by her four friends.
       The queen suddenly laughed, a spontaneous, happy noise. "You thought I never knew of your trips to that planet, but I knew every single time. Born as you were on the Moon, you were supposed to do your duty and aid the blue planet along, cleaning it of negative elements for a strong evolution. As our holy stone gave us longevity, we had ample time to observe, and I found myself often observing my child breaking a sacred law.
       "And a year previous was so unusual, with strong activity on the sun producing violent eruptions and corona. I'm sure…I'm positive…I have no doubt that through the disturbances of the sun were caused by the evilness that finally invaded Earth, fouling it. A shapeless thing, it wanted the blue planet for its own evil, and it turned its eyes towards our holy stone."
       "Hai…sudden catastrophes on Earth followed, I remember! Venus lent soldiers to the earthen army, to fight the outbreak of fighting and elemental outbursts," the long-haired blonde said suddenly, tapping a finger against her cheek.
       Serenity nodded graciously to the additional information, clasping her hands to her chest. Her gaze fell down, suddenly saddened as she said, "Earth was jealous of us, as well, of our longevity and power. That thing used their souls like puppets, shaping them into evil; it whispered lies into their heads, convincing them that our destruction would lead them to glory! Using a witch woman as its focus, the army came to the Moon, seeking our holy stone."
       All of them remembered the streaks of footprints in the dust. Easily they could picture the ragtag earthen army invading their kingdom, trampling the lunar dust in their wake as they massacred the Moon army. "Though I…attempted to prepare years earlier for any possible attack, we found ourselves beaten back. It was of no fault of ours; the evil had invaded their very spirits, pushing them further than our soldiers were able to go. And even then, Earth's first ranking prince, Endymion, kept trying to talk them back, to convince them to stop their useless war against us!"
       Every soldier looked towards Sailor Moon as she bit her lip, staring down at Serenity in mute pleading. She didn't want to know of her prince's fate again, but nothing she could do stopped the queen from adding, "He died while protecting you, my darling daughter. You screamed his name as he breathed his last, and then, using his sword, you took your own life swiftly."
       "Not swiftly," the odango-haired blonde whispered, remembering her dream, choking on her own blood in a slow, painful death. "Not swiftly at all…"
       The queen looked shaken at that, as if it had never occurred to her that her daughter had done a poor attempt at suicide; indeed, she had never thought much on it. Trying to kill one's self to follow love into eternity wasn't always so cut and dried. "I…never realized it had not been a quick death, my Serenity. But I was already overcome with grief, and as your guardians fell beside you, I invoked our holiest incantation, sealing away the evil with great difficulty and weakness. Our kingdom turned to stone, its magic used in the binding, and tumbled into ruin. The Silver Millennium was destroyed."
       "But, Serenity-sama…why would the Silver Millennium be destroyed?" Jupiter asked curiously. "If it consisted of our planets, they were untouched, they would have survived to continue on!"
       "Iie, Jupiter. Have your schools told you of a great civilization on Mars, or of life on Venus? Everything followed into ruin. Everything."
        Mars was frowning. Indeed, their queen was right; humanity, with all of their probes and spaceships, had never even found the ruins of the Moon Castle. But Jupiter was right as well; their respective planets would have been saved from the earthen army, and should still have been thriving. "That's impossible," she finally said, flatly. "Only the Moon and Earth were so devastated. There's no reason our planets should not be alive today!"
       Off to the side Venus, still holding the stone sword, began to haltingly laugh. "Baka. Don't you feel, inside of you, the power of your planet? Our queen preserved us all, down to the very last. With the living embodiments of our planets cut off, our kingdoms died as well."
       "You mean…without us alive…our planets withered away?" Jupiter gasped.
       "That's not it!" Mercury burst out, the growing horror on her face almost ghastly. "If we died normally, our powers would have been released to our planets, wouldn't they? But our queen sent everything into the future, making it impossible for natural rebirth of our soldiers' souls!"
       Serenity was stone-faced as the truth slowly sank into, Mercury dissolving into tears. Jupiter cried in silence, much the same way Mars did, tears flowing freely down both their faces. Venus held the glitter of those tears in her own eyes, but she refused to let them fall, saying instead, "My queen, you've done a very horrible thing."
       "You don't know what you say, Venus," Serenity stated quietly, looking up towards her reborn daughter, who simply stared back with a hollow set of eyes. "To protect my daughter, to make her and all of you happy again, I sacrificed my kingdom and my life. It was worthy of all of you!"
       "Killing millions of people for our spirits, that would have been reborn again in another fashion?" Mars cried out.
       "And saving possible billions more!" Luna suddenly snapped, her entire body crouched into a defensive posture that spoke, as usual, of her tension. "Don't be selfish Mars, Jupiter, Mercury! Your queen knew that the evil couldn't be contained for very long, and she sent you all to this time to make sure the same catastrophe didn't occur again!"
       Sailor Moon slumped over, holding her hands over the crystal that still hung around her neck. Her sobbing was not silent, but far quieter than they were used to, and the expression on Serenity's face was one of a long-tired soul. To have waited a millennium to see her daughter alive again, and to have her deny her mother over such a tragedy, must have broken what remained of the queen's heart. "Serenity, my daughter…you must use the power of the Ginzuishou to seal the evil away again…prevent the horror of the past from happening once more, give those sacrifices worth! I can't do it anymore, not without my body and soul intact; the only one who can use the full power of our holy stone is the princess."
       "It doesn't matter. She couldn't possibly use its full power; it's lost its brilliance, absorbed into Endymion's reincarnated form," Venus replied. "All of this for nothing, my queen."
       Tears were falling through the queen's intangible form as she frowned, looking up at the peak of crystal between Sailor Moon's fingers. "Its brilliance…perhaps, my daughter's subconscious works when her conscious mind does not. Your prince is protected, Serenity, have no fear of that. Know that when the time comes, only the strongest of faith and harmony can release the stone's true power. Be confident in yourself as Tsukino Usagi, and the soldier Sailor Moon!"
       The soldiers gathered around the odango-haired blonde as she lifted her tear-stained face, smiling weakly for the relieved queen. But her smile faltered almost as fast, disappearing as she recalled what had been destroyed so she could live again. And it turned into a round 'O' of a gasp as Serenity's form began to flicker as a disrupted hologram might, rippling. "Queen?!"
       "-girl…please, find happiness this time, and forgive what I've done. Restore our great castle, and this kingdom, and make it truly your own! -ower fading…I can only speak for so much-"
       She was gone.
       For a long moment they all stared in disbelief, as if unable to accept the fact Serenity had faded away entirely. Sailor Moon began to shake as if cold, gripping the lifeless Ginzuishou between her fingers, before she screamed wordlessly. She buried her head in her hands and was likewise buried in a heap of bodies as her soldiers held her and consoled her, crying along with her as Luna, tail slowly weaving from side to side, merely stared from the outside.

       Beneath the Earth, a similar scene of mourning occurred, though Kunzite did neither cry nor scream. He simply stared, as he had done for several days now, at the coffins in front of him, each one with a hunk of stone arranged neatly in the center.
       With no way to give a proper funeral, and unable to give up what amounted to their spirits, he would daily set them back out. No prayers were spoken; indeed, he hardly ever said a word. He would just stare until the entire scene began to warp in front of his eyes, before collecting the sad little stones and pocketing them close to his heart.
       And without fail, he would then prostrate himself in a different room several hallways into the castle, whispering that same name: "Endymion-sama!"
       He did the ritual as always again today, resting on his knees in front of his master's lifeless body. But this time he shivered, feeling, but not recognizing, the arrival of the sailor soldiers on the Moon, literally walking over the place where his body had fallen. Stepping on his grave, so to speak, it gave him the chills, and he was unable to place the sensation. And so suddenly lost in the feeling, he never even noticed the appearance of Beryl in the doorway.
       The swish of her skirts gave her away, and his auditory senses kicked him in the head for his lax stupidity. Almost immediately he dropped again in a bow, trying not to stutter as he gasped, "Queen Beryl-sama."
       She walked past him without a second look, and he felt the brush of velvet against his head. He looked up as she reached a hand down to caress and touch Mamoru's face, in quite the intimate manner. The silver-haired general had to quell the urge to smack her hand away and wipe away the traces of her touch on his master's face, but that would have been paramount to suicide. He regretted strongly in that moment what he had done, choosing her over his master; and he knew, deep down, there was no changing it.
       "His body has no trace of the holy stone," she said conversationally, slowly twisting a few strands of black hair between her fingers. "It makes him useful in other ways."
       The tone of her voice was enough to put him on his feet, ready and poised to defend the body of his dead master. "What are you saying, my queen? Are you planning to dispose of Prince Endymion's body!"
       Her laughter scratched deep along his brain, and he flinched away from the piss-eyed queen; but it was too late. With a quick gesture she pulled forth the stone he had been bound to, and he felt himself spiral into darkness as she forcibly erased his memory and free will once more. He screamed as he fell, and then, he simply didn't exist. "Your ego betrays you, Kunzite; never forget who you handed that powerful body over to! Pledging loyalty to our great leader bound your soul to us, and no matter how many times you may be reborn, I will find you!"
       If he still had his will, he would have begged whatever god was in the vicinity to reveal how his three generals had escaped Beryl's claws in their second deaths. He wasn't going to be so lucky, as she placed the stone against his forehead, sealing the spell once more. "Now go to the surface once more, and create chaos; surely it will bring the princess into your hands, along with the holy stone. Failure will not be accepted in this last chance!"
       She shoved him upward with her magic, forcing him into a painful teleport. He had no control, no way of knowing where he was going, until the lights of Tokyo once more blinded him. Like a bird caught in a tornado he spun in the air, confused and disoriented as he fell towards the ground. But he finally felt his programming take over, and he conjured a flying sphere to slow his descent, lifting him back into the sky.
       "Chaos, my queen has demanded of me," he mused, watching the skyline with eyes that had become solid pools of colour, empty and pitiless. "What does this city fear the most, that would send them scurrying into the night like rats?"
       Moving the earth would take an immense amount of power, something he was unwilling to do. His talent didn't lie with the dirt and mud. So instead, he cast his powers out towards the sea, stirring it into a frothing mass of angry waves. Faster and faster he played it, until immense waves lifted out of the sea like huge walls of water, and came slamming down on the harbor. He heard people screaming as the sea continued to spray and flow further inland, and he laughed as he played with the temperatures as well.
       Buildings became slick and encrusted with ice, impossibly so with salt water. He played with the elements like a mad scientist, creating thicker and thicker sheets of ice, taking joy in watching the humans below him scream and flee, only to be frozen in place. His joy only increased as he saw the sudden pillar of white light off to his right, spiking down through the clouds into a park that was still too far away to be frozen yet. He could feel the potency of the magic involved.
       And the other way around, the recently arrived soldiers could feel him as well. Shaken and still grieving, they were rocked off their feet by the sensations of the sea hitting land, and they fell into a heap. "Kami-sama, what's happening in the city?" Jupiter yelped as the ground trembled again, with her pressed flat against it. "Is it an earthquake?"
       "It's so cold…! It has to be the enemy again!" Mercury sounded a bit muffled beneath Venus's skirt, and quite embarrassed.
       Whatever Venus said was most likely an agreement, and lost within the bow and kerchief of Mars's uniform.
       They disentangled themselves clumsily, muttering "Gomen nasai!" rather frantically. Luna, thankfully atop the entire mess, snapped her teeth at them. "Hurry, stop talking! You have to search out the enemy and stop the city from being destroyed!"
       She found herself yelling at empty air. Further down the sidewalk she could see them running, and she took the opposite road. Somehow she knew they didn't want her around at the present time.
       And she was right. The girls were pissed, tired, and still quite upset; but they ran hard anyway, pushing themselves to the limit. With no idea where the general was, they simply ran in a straight line, following Mercury as she took the lead, tapping furiously on her little computer. As more clues popped up on the screen she would suddenly change direction, expecting them to follow without hesitancy.
       Before they found Kunzite, however, he found them.
       Without warning, fanfare, or even a whistle tweet, the ground exploded in front of them. Chunks of concrete broke windows, smashed through doors, and threw all five of them backward into walls and across the street. Obviously, the silver-haired general was pulling no punches. "Welcome, Sailor Moon no Princess Serenity! You're a bit late; I've already destroyed a quarter of Tokyo, and I'm well within the time frame to ice over half within a few minutes."
       The odango-haired blonde, still half-draped over a mailbox, twisted around to look up a bit painfully. "It's you…the one who stole Mamo-chan from me!" Her hips wriggled with the effort of sliding from the box, giving the silver-haired general an open panty shot. Once she was upright and collected, however, she was pointing upwards in the beginning of her usual posing. "This is a horrible, horrible evil you're doing! Are you trying to turn our city into the Arctic?!"
       A rhetorical question, perhaps, but he cocked his head thoughtfully. "When our great master revives, the cold environment will be suitable to our needs. And Tokyo is certainly a vast wilderness of protection…."
       "Sailor Moon, using the moon stick is advisable right about now!" Venus hissed from her prostrate position on the sidewalk. A few warbling "Hai" were added in agreement.
       It was a flawless gesture, one the odango-haired blonde didn't even think about; she simply held out her hand, and the weapon appeared in her palm. She pointed it upwards, envisioning an umbrella, of sorts, as she cried out, "Moon Healing Escalation!"
       The energy actually worked that way, much to her surprise. It exploded upwards, spreading across the sky smoothly, and already she could feel the change in temperature. Around her the ice melted, flowing in water form into the sewers, and down hills back to the seashore.
       But this time, instead of being deeply satisfied and invigorated, she felt, truthfully, like utter shit. Her knees wobbled and gave way, dumping her roughly onto the concrete, and she watched helplessly as the moon stick bounced and rolled away. "I feel so tired…."
       "Sailor Moon, look out! Get up, Sailor Moon!" Mars was screaming at her, even as her guardian soldiers flung themselves at the general. "Fire Soul!"
       "Crescent Beam!"
       Kunzite halted in his swooping descent, flicking away the attacks with a foppish gesture. "Is this the power of the great sailor soldiers? Like a whispering breeze those were, insubstantial and weak!" he laughed, not even flinching as Venus' second attack dissolved before it even reached him.
       "M-masaka….what's happening to our power?" Jupiter flung her own attack, though before it even left her fingers she knew it was nothing more than a push of air. "We've all been weakened, are we fighting too soon after our trip into space?"
       Clucking his tongue, Kunzite lowered to the ground again, dissolving the sphere. "Princess, your soldiers have failed you. Now, if you give me the Ginzuishou obediently, perhaps I'll give you back your prince's corpse!" There was no emotion, no love, for the man who had been his master. Beryl had totally wiped him clean, and he seemed to take a perverse pleasure in seeing Sailor Moon's face drain of colour as she backed up on her hands.
       "Iie, he can't be dead….he would survive, if only to pay you all back for the pain you caused him!" she shouted fiercely, and was surprisingly rewarded with the tiniest flicker within his eyes. "He will survive to live out our destiny, together!"
       She scrambled away quickly as he darted at her, reaching for her throat. Grabbing up the moon stick again she pointed it at him, holding it steadily at his body as one would a sword. Backing away again, she could see her four guardians still unsteady on the pavement. "I won't give up, not to you, and not to your master! You'll be sealed away by the princess this time, and nothing will break that strongest seal!"
       "A simpering girl-child like you has no true power to seal us away!" he snarled in return, and flicked his fingers at her. She bent over double as she was pummeled, flung backward several feet to skid along the damp concrete. "I'll bring your corpse back to my master joyfully, and in death you'll know total despair, knowing you've lost!" Another blast of energy shoved her along the rough gravel and stone mix, and she screamed.
       Beneath her uniform, she could feel the crystal pressing uncomfortably into her skin, cutting her as she was flung for the second time. Her head snapped back, hitting the ground so hard she saw stars, and a nauseating wave of black. "Iie…I was reborn for a reason…so many lives were sacrificed so I…so I could win…"
       The thrum of magic danced across her skin.
       "Venus Power!"
       "Mars Power!"
       "Jupiter Power!"
       "Mercury Power!"
       The silver-haired general turned away from the bloody soldier, smiling coldly as the other four flung their arms out at him. "Fighting to the last. I admire that, somewhat-"
       "Sailor Planet Attack!" they screamed.
       Sailor Moon closed her eyes as the first surge of light threatened to make her completely ill. She held the moon stick tight, trusting it to protect her as the magic slammed into her, washing the disintegrated remains of Kunzite over her head. As her fellow soldiers fell unconscious, totally using up their already-low power, she heard something clink onto the concrete next to her.
       When she looked, however, she saw nothing.

       Down through the darkness fell a sparkling stone.
       It lost luster as it fell, until it was completely dead when it finally came to rest within Beryl's palm. Her smile was wicked, not in the least bit surprised. "Poor, pretty Kunzite," she crooned. "Fallen in battle, just like his three stupid friends. All of their power….gone back to its source."
       She raised her arms, throwing her head back in the semblance of the gypsy peasant witch she had once been. Her voice echoed off the stone walls, thundering throughout the cold castle. "Queen Metallia-sama, hear me! Give me the power, the power to force life into this cold body once again! Allow me to mold him in our image, to make of him the perfect soldier!"
       The room remained still, lightless. But she could hear the rush of blood through his veins again, sluggish but beginning to gain speed; his heart began to pump vigorously. Throwing off death was neither easy nor fun, even when magically aided, and he arched his back with a silent scream as life was literally thrust into him violently. Limbs twitched in the aftershocks of the transition, and finally, slowly, he opened his eyes.
       No longer the colour of warm ocean waters, they had solidified into two spheres of black. The expression he wore could only be called complete and utter indifference; no hint of warmth touched his eyes. He sat up, slow and hesitant as a child, and he looked around his surroundings curiously, before he finally settled on Beryl.
       Still clad in the guise of Tuxedo Kamen, he held out his hand. She released the stone, letting it float slowly from her palm and into his, where it was joined suddenly by the other three. As he held them, he stared at her for guidance; already the impression had been locked onto his soul that she was in charge. "Prince Endymion, my handsome Earth soldier. Now you belong to me, Queen Beryl; you will follow my orders to the last breath in your body, ne?"
       "Hai, Queen Beryl-sama," he parroted smoothly.
       "Ara ara, you're a fast learner!" she crooned, stroking his cheek. "As my puppet, your first mission is of dire importance. Recall the intelligence in your mind, and go up to the surface to eliminate Princess Serenity, the little bitch girl of the Silver Millennium. I want her obliterated, so even her pure little soul is completely lost to death, and I desire the Ginzuishou in my hand. Is this understood?"
       In reply, he initiated a teleport, fading from view. But as he did so, she could see the clothes of Earth forming on him, cloaking him in obscurity, and she smiled a vicious, pointed smile. "The blood of the Moon will look beautiful on my throne."