Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ Pretty Soldiers ❯ Act 33 - mugen dix : Hakanai ( Chapter 33 )

       In twos and threes they were coming, an interesting mix of the social structure of Japan: housewives and elevator dolls, school dropouts and greasy-haired punks, businessmen in their identical dark suits and Windsor knotted ties, politicians with the same expensive, cloned style. Little children walking hand-in-hand. Dirty construction workers leaving a trail of muddy footprints to mark their path. So many people, all of them wearing the same faintly confused, outwardly excited expressions instead of the stoic, usually grim faces that their culture seemed to demand, if not outright force.
       At Chouko Iretsu's feet lay a scattering of loose paper, fallen like feathers; views of the three towers, with Mugen dominating despite its smaller size, each one progressively better, until the last. A dismal sight, wretched in the obvious evil surrounding Mugen, its vine-choked tower seemingly straining for freedom as the three surrounding towers, Heaven, Sea, and Darkness, leaned inward to contain it.
       He had dropped them upon seeing the parade of people moving into the Delta region despite its obvious danger, began watching them navigate with difficulty the ruined streets. At first he couldn't understand - why in the world would such a diverse crowd be walking right into the middle of danger, instead of running away? - but as he stood up on his chair for a better look, he understood. How could they help themselves, after all? Their princess had given them the means to anticipate this showdown; just as she had him.
       Without any particular hurry, they surrounded the coffee shop, and many began to climb onto the roof. One of these was an older woman, almost as small as himself, with black hair shot through with gray wound back into a tight bun, and thick glasses hiding beady brown eyes. Behind her was a taller young man, his hair obviously dyed a painful blond, falling into darker chocolate eyes that didn't need glasses. Both of them had the rounder faces and smaller noses he'd come to recognize as Chinese. "Hajimemashite," he said cordially to them all, picking up his last drawing.
       "Hajimemashite, Geijutsuka-san," the woman said, bowing with a clap of her hands.
       "It's been a long journey, obaa-san," he returned, making polite conversation. "What brings you to this place? Surely it's no longer the safest place to be."
       The young man shook his head, tossing the blond hair out of his eyes with an impatient gesture. "Nowhere is safe. All of us know this. Our dreams have shown us the blonde goddess who will protect us from the evil that has invaded our world."
       The woman - most likely his mother - gave him a stern, chiding glare for interrupting, then said to Iretsu, "She will protect us. Here is the safest place in the world; if we are to die, we will die in the holy light of our princess."
       That was an interesting idea for the picture; the rising, diaphanous bodies of the three protective goddesses of the triple towers, their arms spread to capture the crouching, hissing, darker shape between them, beautiful but dangerous. And above all, benevolent and lovely, Serenity would rise. Fanciful and a bit ludicrous - having known Usagi for years, even if mostly by second-hand knowledge, he knew she was hardly the divine goddess her mother had been. But it was his painting, dammit, he could extemporize all he wanted.
       And then the world shook again, hard; turning, he could see the crack yawning wide in front of Mugen, zigzagging through the concrete like a knife through melted butter. From its depths rose a tarry blackness with eyes of pulsating, starry white, and with its arrival the air grew thicker, harder to breathe. "For the love of the kami and all their shades," he heard an elegantly coifed geisha whisper to his right.
       "This is the divine punishment of God for our folly; our sin; our sickness. Repent, and we will be saved, to forever dwell in the House of the Lord…"
       "Believe in our princess! Merciful is she who carries the power of life, the goddess Serenity reborn…"
        "Iie!"
       It was a strange feeling to have so many people stop in their tracks at the sound of his voice; even after so many gallery events, dinners, and other public venues, hardly anyone gave him their full attention when he spoke. Now, he was mystified to see that even the smallest child had turned towards him, watching him like some interesting species of bug. "Iie," he repeated again, a bit calmer. "Never a goddess. Merely a beautiful princess with a miraculous power, who wields it with kindness and belief in the goodness of everyone. We can believe in her, because she believes in us."
        There was the sound of a cork popping.
       Mistress 9 rose from the crack, arms spread wide to encompass the spreading blackness of her Master. Her laughter spiraled into seeming infinity, cresting like the ocean across their faces. That was his painting; that was the evil that knelt between the triple goddess, attempting to break free. And she was indeed beautiful, with her incredibly long black hair, lithe figure, and pale, creamy skin, her eyes a haunting amethyst purple.
       She lifted her hands up to the sky, palms spread, and screamed something unintelligible, sharp and dissonant on the ears. On Iretsu's wrist, he felt a searing pain, and he lifted his hand to see that his wristwatch had gone mad, disregarding time to jump both its arms to 12 O'clock. Around him he could see similar gestures as every time piece did the same thing, leaping ahead - or back, it could be said - to the twelfth hour.
       Above them the sky, already that dangerous shade of green, turned rainbow luminescent, the colour of sunlight on spilled gasoline. This was apparently a good sign, as the woman began to shriek again with triumphant laughter, shouting, "This is the beginning of our world! Master Pharaoh 90! Utilize this spoilt, selfish world, become one with its energy, become our new star!"
       "Where are they? Princess! Tsukino-san!"
       Now people were beginning to scream, facing what was certainly death; and not only their death, but the death of their entire world. The last time, with Metallia's aborted plan rendering them senseless, they had not even been truly aware of their possible demise. This time, they had a front row seat for the destruction.
       But as they watched the spreading darkness, terrified, slowly recollecting themselves for a dignified slaughter as any true Japanese would do, a blast leveled the Tomoe laboratories. Even Mistress 9 seemed taken aback; she turned, her face gone ugly and feral, to see a sphere of white light rise from the ruins, carrying four slim figures clad in familiar short skirts. After it followed a fifth figure, completely self-propelled, trailing long hair the colour of copper wire.
       "Hotaru-chan!? Stop this!" they could hear their blonde princess cry, high above the feral woman she was apparently addressing. "You don't have to do this!"
       "Tomoe Hotaru is no longer here to answer you, Sailor Moon!" the woman laughed, rising higher and higher by a magic of her own. "No longer is that weakling going to bother me! This is the time of our triumph! Our victory! Master Pharaoh 90, bring us to that new world!"
       She lowered her hand, and blasted the sphere of light away, tumbling them through the air. "Just a little longer, and we will be free of your human weakness, your cancerous lifestyle. Don't fight us, Sailor Moon; I'll simply steal that brilliant light and discard your useless body."
       The sky was splitting apart above their heads as below, the ground disappeared beneath a spreading ruin.

      Mamoru blinked again, desperate to stay awake. Through the window he could see again the same heart-wrenching view; the section of the Delta visible to his eyes, gone entirely mad. Now the sky was rainbow slick, which was not a good sign, not that the greenish-black rot colour had been any better. This was the first time he was forced to stay away from the last desperate battle, instead of remaining at Sailor Moon's side. Watching it from far away, unable to do a damn thing, was driving him a bit crazy, knowing that if something happened to his princess….
       He knocked his head back against the wall, a bit harder than intended, but achieving the same affect. The pain sang through his nerves and shot him up with a bit of adrenaline, waking him up further. For a moment his vision and senses were razor-sharp, perfectly normal; then they dulled again, receding into the fog as his daughter siphoned him away.
       Well; not him entirely. His energy, his life force, the spirit that animated him; that was an acceptable answer. And it wasn't her fault, he was glad to do it, but it was still taking a toll. It was nothing like using his mind to force a wound to close, the blood to slow down and stop; this was sharing energy with a person currently incapable of returning it. Setsuna had expressed nothing but faith in his ability to maintain these levels, but perhaps she'd been a bit too quick to assume. Maybe in time he'd be practiced enough to give up so much energy without feeling so lethargic, but now, he was close to passing out.
       But Chibi-Usa did look better, he had to admit that. Her colour had returned vastly a short while ago, and she'd felt warmer, which was excellent, but odd. He was hoping they had found her Ginzuishou and taken it away from the demonic Hotaru, but he had no doubt that, in Sailor Moon's hands, it would have returned to its owner. And yet, it was as if it were being protected from the possible evil of Hotaru's body, even if it had not been freed.
       And in a way it was, though he didn't know it; taking it away from Mistress 9 in the depths of their shared mind and holding it to her heart, Hotaru had surrounded it with her own energy, doing exactly as Mamoru hypothesized and protecting it from evil. She was growing weaker with time, giving up so much of herself to keep Chibi-Usa's spirit safe, but until then…
       He swallowed hard, gripping his daughter's hand unnecessarily tight. What would be the first sign of failure? Would Chibi-Usa cease to exist beneath his touch if the Death Busters won and swallowed his shining princess? Or would everything and everyone be snuffed out all at once, like a multitude of flickering candles hit with a stiff wind? Being the odd man out was giving him far too much time to postulate. At least being out in front, at the very center of the action, gave him no time to wonder ceaselessly about how many ways they could die.
       The world quaked again, and he flinched automatically despite himself. High up within the building, with no real means of escape if the entire place collapsed beneath his feet, he realized dully that if it did indeed fall apart, the possibility of his daughter waking up was defeated. It seemed that no matter what happened, he had to get out of there; complacently sitting on his bed, cradling Chibi-Usa's small body, was tantamount to suicide. He roundly cursed at himself for not considering the problem earlier, and stood up.
       Several minutes passed of sheer hell, where he realized that having to keep at least a hand on his daughter to maintain the link was cumbersomely ridiculous when one is attempting to put on and lace shoes. Not to mention changing shirts before that, when he decided it was probably best not to be caught homeless in a sweaty and dirty Oxford. At least he hadn't had to pull his thicker blue shirt over his head, but buttoning had been a hassle; it had to be skin touching skin, and so he finally propped her against his side, forehead to his cheek.
       Wallet, keys. Turn off the lights, the gas. He finally left, hoisting her into a piggyback hold, managing to flop her arms around his neck, her cheek against his, and marveled at the utter stillness of his floor. It had been quiet before, of course, with most of his neighbors smart enough to leave while they could, but now it seemed completely dead. Not even the electric hum of a television rang in his ears, and he could always at least hear one when he came or left, that faintly nagging buzz just barely audible. "Like a ghost town," he muttered under his breath.
       He eyed the elevator and discarded it as a possibility; it would be just his luck to be in it when the electricity was cut. Though the quakes were not nearly bad enough yet to cause any harsh damage past fallen junk, most modern buildings being built to rock with the earth instead of fight it, falling electric poles were a real scare. So he managed to wriggle and kick the door to the stairs open, silently thanking his physical education teachers for forcing good cardiovascular health on him, and bounded down the steps.
       Somewhere around the third floor he then cursed them for not forcing a bit more.
       On the first floor he sat down, hanging his head as he gulped air, wondering wildly just how much Chibi-Usa weighed. (Going down the steps was supposed to be far easier than going up, for the love of the kami!) Of course, maintaining the rapid pace he'd started out with was not easy downhill when one is trying not to tip headlong due to the dead weight on one's back; not to mention his weak state already from relinquishing so much energy. And he did live fairly high up in the building. If they lived, he was going to talk to the manager about moving down a few floors.
       Of course, now that he was down at street level, he realized, like an idiot, that he had no means of transportation. His car had been impounded the day before he had gone to his fateful destiny atop the Tokyo Tower; he had stupidly failed to slow for a yellow light, been stopped, and consequently screwed when the officer realized he had no real driver's license. He had never bothered with the technicality, as the car had been part of his inheritance, stored for all those years, and he very rarely had used it. It had mostly been for emergencies, and now, in this emergency, he found himself lacking.
       More swearing. His gentleman's club card was taking a real beating lately.
       Looking up, he could see the darkness beginning to spread out from the Delta further, pushing away what gentle gray had been left. Looking around, he saw that he was currently the only witness on his street; miraculously, the traffic had finally passed, or they'd simply parked their cars and curled up to wait somewhere else. The pedestrians had vanished; the only mark of their passing was some scattered junk on the sidewalk, dropped in haste or forgotten. No one wanted to be here, not with the impossible sign of something truly wrong over the horizon.
       Brushing off another wave of dizziness, he turned towards the bay and began to walk.

      "Is this the culmination of their magic? That terrible darkness?" The four soldiers stared, horrified. Next to them, Alex shook her head.
       "Non. That's the one they call Master Pharaoh 90. He's broken through the barrier. But we have to save the others first, before he swallows their bodies!" she said, pointing.
       Scattered nearby were the fallen bodies of the four guardian soldiers, brilliant smears of colour against the gray landscape. None of them moved as the blackness inched closer to their limbs, making a most uninteresting slurping noise; Sailor Moon gasped, clapping a hand to her mouth. "Minna…! What's happened to them!?"
       "Mistress 9 swallowed their souls!"
       The white sphere dipped down, swooping like an elegant soap bubble closer to the fissure. A fissure that was growing, cracking the concrete as it sped backward towards the Infinity tower, as it simultaneously spread out towards the street. Reaching out, Uranus grabbed Venus by the wrist, as well as Mercury, as Alex grabbed Jupiter, Pluto pulling Mars. They were a little desperate to get back up into the air; their combined power snapped them back up above the Ten'nou complex like a rubber band released, so suddenly that the tall red-head was momentarily left behind. She turned; Mistress 9 was gesturing at her, most likely in a maddened attempt at payback.
       It probably would have hurt a lot, had the formal tower of Mugen Gakuen not chosen the moment to completely rend apart behind her back.
       The noise alone was excruciating as untold amounts of steel ripped apart, glass blasted in every direction. Mistress 9's mouth opened in startled panic as the deadly shards came towards her with the force of a train. Alex's cry of pain was rather lost as she tumbled back, protected by the shield she had thrown up, but holding back the pressure of what was practically a bomb was not so easy. She cringed in concentration, dazedly weaving her way up towards the others as the raven-haired woman dismissed the detritus with a spell of her own.
       Up, and up. She landed hard on the roof of Ten'nou, where the others had set down. "Guardian-sama, are you alright?" Pluto gasped, seeing that trickle of blood again, freshly crimson, from her nose.
       "Uh huh…I think once this is over…I'm taking a nice, long vacation. I haven't used my powers like this in way too long." She unconcernedly wiped her nose with her sleeve - the outfit was ruined anyway - and set Jupiter down onto the rooftop gently. "I feel like an out of shape fatty pulling muscles I don't remember having."
       "But such muscles indeed," Neptune remarked mildly, forcing her laughter, which was better than hysteria.
       "Chere, you flatter me."
       Uranus cleared her throat. She had crouched by Venus, touching her cheek in what was clearly a concerned gesture. Not surprising, considering how cold she felt seeing the four guardian soldiers so diminished; though she had once thought of them as children, and still felt they had a bit too much naivete for her liking, they were brave. They had gone into the depths to face the enemy, to give their princess a chance to strike the final blow and save everyone; a lesser person would have fled. "What can we do to stop the Death Busters?"
       Not asked was the obvious: What can we do to save the four guardian soldiers?
       As one, they looked down over the stone barrier, down at the roiling black mass beneath them, spreading further. In a moment it would pass the boundaries of the three towers flanking Mugen, an invisible line that they instinctively knew would be the end of their world if it were crossed.
       As one, they looked up at the sky, with its frightening, unnatural colours. The spell was building towards its climax, which was an event they could possibly not stop; not without coercion, or perhaps complete obliteration of the prime spell caster on Earth. Who they could hear still laughing down below, coming closer; the bitch had gained wings.
        "The battle to save our wold is not our mission any longer," Pluto said softly, though with such conviction it could have been shouted all the same. "We have failed in this. The invaders came under our noses; if we had been true soldiers of the outer system, they would have been destroyed long before arriving to touch the soil."
        "That's not true, Pluto! How could you have stopped them when you were Meiou Setsuna, and not yet Sailor Pluto? This is the only path any of you could have taken!" their princess argued, crystal blue eyes wide with compassion. Pluto smiled thoughtfully, cupping her hand around the heart-shaped knob that held her talisman: the garnet orb.
       It glowed steadily as she continued, "Perhaps, hime-sama. But the battle, the fight, is no longer ours. As the wielder of the three talismans, as in effect the living figures of these three towers, our mission is to now protect. This will be the use of our power; to contain the evil long enough for you, our shining princess, to obliterate it."
       Neptune and Uranus nodded in a queer unison, lifting their own talismans as if to prove Pluto's point. "It no longer matters what happens to us, so long as the plot of the Death Busters is defeated," the tall sandy-blonde stated decisively.
       Pluto executed a magnificent leap that, had the Olympic committee witnessed it, they would have wept and declared the long-jump retired in tribute. She landed neatly atop the Meiou condominium tower and raised the garnet rod up to the heavens, the orb now so bright it could have directed air traffic. From the very tip of the rod itself shot a brilliant beam of white light, and though it seemed powerful enough to disappear through the clouds and into space, traveling until it hit something solid - space debris, a comet, perhaps the oncoming Tau star - it simply stopped at a fixed point directly above what looked to be the middle between all three towers.
       Neptune crossed to her tower, kneeling quickly to brush her fingers against the roof in what looked to be a gesture of respect - or goodbye. Then she lifted her mirror, directing its glass surface up towards the beam of light, and as it caught the reflection, it returned a similar light of its own. As they connected, it seemed that the air grew calmer, and from the Ten'nou tower they could see, like a gentle heat mirage, the shield of their power fall into place between their respective spots.
       Uranus stared at Sailor Moon for a span of seconds that seemed far longer; as if memorizing her face, perhaps, or her figure. Then she said, so softly almost neither of the two could hear her, "We believe in you finally, princess Serenity. Sailor Moon." Lifting her sword, she added, "Tsukino Usagi," completing the triad. Its blade grew ridiculously long to span the space, connecting at the top of the triangle; and if the sensation of the first two was interesting, the completion was miraculous. The city was suddenly visible through what seemed to be the finest of white mesh nets as the shield crossed over their heads and down, anchoring strongly to the ground several metres outside of each tower.
       And they must have felt it painfully as Master Pharaoh 90 collided with those walls. But none of them said a word, not even a whimper; all of them had fallen silent, blank-faced, which meant the shield must have been taking all of their concentration. The barest signal from Uranus that showed her pain was only in the tightening of her lips, white from the pressure.
       "Uranus, Neptune, Pluto!" Sailor Moon gasped, feeling a hand grip her shoulder and hold her steady. "You can't possibly hold in such an evil force! Not alone!"
       "Of course they can't! Not with such weak tactics!" a cruel voice sneered; they saw her hair first, whipping up into view like the coils of Medusa, and then the adult face of Tomoe Hotaru, twisted beyond any recognition of gentleness. The tall sandy-blonde never even flinched, though they were separated by mere metres.
       And for all of her own kindness, even the odango-haired blonde recognized danger when she saw it. She leapt forward with the heart moon rod leveled directly at Mistress 9's heart and screamed, "Moon Spiral Heart Attack!"
       Mistress 9 flinched beneath the power, thrown back by sheer force, but barely hurt. Her dress seemed to make out worse; the already-plunging neckline dropped another centimetre, and the drapery of pears lost a strand, white dots falling into space. But she lifted her head with a snarl, fingers hooking into claws, snapping, "You little bitch! I'll take pleasure in ripping out that bright light you possess and swallowing it whole! Just as I've done to your little friends-"
       The rest was drowned out as a small metal cigarette case, glowing a dangerous magenta, hit her in the stomach and exploded. She shrieked, falling back down below the level of the building, cursing in a language none of them could understand. "She really is a talkative tyke, isn't she?" the tall red-head grumped, looking around for some more projectiles. After all, she hadn't entirely packed for this sort of battle. She pulled out a few small throwing knives strapped to her forearm, frowning; they were too valuable to waste, but also of no use against someone in a borrowed body who could obviously fix it back up.
       She threw up her hands, looked at the odango-haired blonde - who was still holding the heart moon rod out defensively, as if she recognized the fact that she held their only useful weapon at the moment - and asked, "You have any ideas, tsukimidango? Your attack isn't strong enough, not without some backup, and I'm not magic, I'm hardware."
       "I don't know…if I could call on everyone else, ask for their power…but their souls have been taken." The odango-haired blonde faltered on the last word, but kept staring straight ahead, waiting for Mistress 9 to re-appear. She couldn't fail, not with everyone counting on her; and she had won the fight twice already, each one becoming less of a weight on her heart, and yet, a bit heavier in the shoulders. As Sailor Moon, she had accepted this burden. She had to approach this properly, and she recognized the fact that the tall red-head was expecting her to do so. "Perhaps, if we try to release their souls…I could use the Ginzuishou to cleanse Mistress 9 from Hotaru-chan's body?"
       Alex stripped off her jacket, pulling out of an inner pocket a small rectangular box; she turned it over and laughed, muttering something in English under her breath. Tossing the ruined garment onto the roof, she said, "If you cleanse the daimon, the souls of the four might go with it. But maybe not. All we can do is try." Then, as if in afterthought, she muttered, "These are not the clothes I expected to save the world in again. If we die, I'm going to be heartily embarrassed."
       Moon just blinked at her. Sometimes, she really didn't know how to handle the tall red-head, even though much of her quirkiness and attitude was exactly the same as Moriya's had been. But her worldliness, her strange way of viewing their situations, even her habits; sometimes, she wondered just what her newly-christened 'Alex onee-chan' had gone through to come to such a point where she viewed life-and-death as some interesting joke. "You can be very strange sometimes, Guardian-sama," she sighed.
       The tall red-head shrugged, rolling up her shirt sleeves to reveal the small knives on one arm, and a larger, single blade on the other. Just because she was relatively incognito in her new country didn't mean she wasn't still paranoid. "It comes with the job. Trust me, if I wasn't so flippant about every single disaster I've gone through, I'd probably be locked up in some nuthouse in lower New York State by now."
       "Gomen ne," the odango-haired blonde whispered, lowering her eyes. "I won't ask again. That was thoughtless of me."
       "No it wasn't. The day you stop asking is the day I'll start worrying about your relative sanity." Alex quirked a smile at her, winking playfully. "I'm supposed to be the crazy one, not you."
       "Guardian-sama!" she squealed back, laughing. But then she pouted thoughtfully, tilting her head. "Are you our Guardian? You haven't transformed."
       Shrugging, Alex held out her hand for Sailor Moon to take, though her eyes had drifted slightly off towards the edge of the building. Mistress 9 had not re-appeared, which meant she was either busy gloating, licking her wounds, or waiting for them to come down to her, none of which were an appealing option. "It's only clothing, chere. Well…just a teensy bit of magic, maybe, but mostly just clothes. I can fight the devil in a bathrobe and fuzzy slippers."
       Taking the offered hand, Sailor Moon bit back a giggle at the sudden image of the tall American next to her wearing a pink furry bathrobe and floppy-eared slippers, with thankfully normal eyes. (She looked back; yes, they were blue again.) But she managed to banish it astonishingly quickly, concentrating instead on recalling the power to lift them both up and away, knowing now how it was done; when she realized her feet had already left the rooftop.
       Blinking her eyes wide, she looked around to see them both almost ten metres airborne, suspended by seemingly nothing; when she called her power, she could see it clearly as a white sphere, holding them safe. Puzzled, she turned towards Alex, who had released her hand and looked away, surveying their battleground. "How can you do this? You were hurt before…"
       "You need your hands and head free to fight; I just need the hands. You can't go zipping around, not with your lack of real control and concentration," the tall red-head explained as they swooped down, heading for the flash of pale skin that they could see against the backdrop of Master Pharaoh 90's blackness.
       "Hai. I won't fail!"
       Dropping lower, Sailor Moon relinquished her hold on the heart moon rod, sensing rather than seeing it disappear into whatever subspace it went to. Instead her hands lifted to cup around her brooch and the crystal therein, feeling the power respond to her attention. It seemed so odd that she had begun to take the background noise of the crystal for granted; indeed, unless she concentrated, she barely even heard it. Like breathing, or having her heart beat, it had rapidly become some sort of important body part that she mostly forgot about.
       But as they came closer, she didn't use it at all. Merely stared.
       And blinked.
       (Was she seeing things?)
       Mistress 9 had not yet noticed them, or didn't care they had arrived; she was curled over into half, long-nailed fingers scrabbling at what seemed to be air. Her eyes bulged grotesque from their sockets, turning Hotaru's sly, adult face into something entirely terrifying, but it wasn't on purpose.
       The hands that gripped her throat and squeezed hard were not solid, but ghostly. Just enough to exert pressure, to let one know they were there and pissed off. And Hotaru seemed very much pissed as she loomed over her own body, dressed as they had all seen her in her black long-sleeved dress and black tights, her young somber face twisted into righteous anger. She shoved down hard, and Mistress 9 gurgled, falling forward. "You won't do this, not with body, not with my strength!" she cried, and it was an interesting Doppler sort of effect; her lips moved, but the words followed more than several seconds later.
       "Get away from me! Away, you weak…human…spirit!" the elder shouted around the vise on her throat, now flailing her arms behind her rather ridiculously, as if trying to grab a wicked monkey or child on her back. "I'll cast you away into the abyss! Nothing you do will stop the Master's utilization of this planet! Everything will merge with his essence and become our new world! So close to this moment, I can cast off this body and you!"
       "Hotaru-chan!" Sailor Moon held out her hands, as if reaching to grab the raven-haired ghost. "Hotaru-chan, fight the evil! Don't let it consume you!"
       Hotaru looked up, startled. But as she recognized Sailor Moon, Alex slightly behind her, she smiled; it was wistful, but entirely at peace. As if she knew no matter what… "Usagi-san. It's your bright spirit that gives me strength. Yours, and Chibi-Usa-chan's. Both of you shine so wonderfully. This is my traitorous body, so I must return what's been stolen personally. Chibi-Usa's Ginzuishou…"
       "You'll do nothing!" Mistress 9 raved.
       "But I will! I'll take back those lights, I'll rip them from your hands! It doesn't matter if the act kills me, finally, but I'll see them all safe." With that ultimatum, she disappeared into her body, sinking into her limbs as Mistress 9 scratched and ripped at her form.
       The next they saw was the tip of what looked to be a blade slash up and out of her back, as if cutting open a door; Mistress 9 howled long and loud as Hotaru kicked free, her arms cradling what looked to be small balls of coloured light: green, blue, red, gold, and sugar pink. The last held within its depths a tiny, familiar shape; a crystal. She held them tightly as she flew away, over all of their heads, and they could see her release the four lights back to their unconscious owners atop Ten'nou tower. "Minna!" the odango-haired blonde said happily, "she's given them back their precious spirits!"
       Then Hotaru turned back to them one last time, waving good-bye, and vanished.

      Mamoru slid to a sitting position on the curb, wondering at how it was so hard to catch a simple breath. It wasn't Chibi-Usa's fault, but a simple fact of nature; the longer you carry your burden, the heavier it will become. He so badly wanted to transform, to feel the rush of strength and energy that came along with the tuxedo, but he had no idea if he could even summon the power to do it. Nor what would happen to the connection that fed his daughter enough of his life to survive.
       He looked up into the sky, its sickly colour no longer worrisome but scenery, and saw the rising black spire of the Tokyo Tower. He had made it further than he'd expected; another kilometre would put him near Shibakouen metro station. And after that….
       Sighing, he re-adjusted the pink-haired child against his back, though there were truthfully no more comfortable positions left. It seemed ridiculous for him to be walking right back into the lion's den, helpless and burdened, but if the world was going to die, he was going to die seeing his princess one last time. Holding her, if possible. It was entirely logical in his mind to walk the length of Minato-ku if it meant being at her side at the end.
       And no where else was obviously safe; ocean blue roamed tightly along the street, marking the cracks growing in the pavement, running up the ides of buildings. Every quake was worse than the last, growing in intensity as the Death Busters' plan gained in power. Wounding the planet with their magic. At this rate, even if Sailor Moon did stop them, there would be nothing but ruins to save.
       That was when he felt it, a shock of pain strong enough to bow his back; and the world trembled again, shaking in rage at its violation. It was enough that he screamed, unable to stop it, and the planet seemed to echo his frustration and agony, cracking beneath his legs to show him the thick layers of concrete and dirt and rock. Everything around him was tumbling into disarray, falling down and into pieces like cheap building block toys, unable to withstand the momentum.
       When it finally stopped, and there was a blessed silence in its wake, he realized he was crying, silently, but crying nonetheless. And not only at his pain, he recognized dimly, but at the pain of his planet being rent apart by some off-world hack artists unable to share. He felt his planet cry through his body, and realized that his weakness was not only attributed to his link-up with his daughter, but to the destruction of Earth. The destruction, through spirit and magic, of his own flesh. They were not only destroying the physical, but the spiritual as well, completely rendering it useless in a way that Uranus and Neptune and everyone else's planets had not been.
       If he was only feeling it now, it must have meant that their spell was nearing completion. Time was running out; now there was the added fear of his body and spirit being destroyed, not only that of the planet. And calling one's spirit back from the land of the dead when that spirit's link had been irrevocably severed was not as easy as a kiss and a wish. He had no holy stone, no Ginzuishou, to hold his spirit in trust for another to call forth.
       Grunting, he crawled onto his knees, then slowly up to his feet. The scenery had changed; several buildings had collapsed into rubble, leaving gaps like a six-year-old's smile that he could see through. A water pipe had burst in one of them, and he watched the spreading pool of dirty, lukewarm water spill into the street, disappearing down into a crack like a miniature waterfall. Even in the wake of destruction, there was beauty to be seen; and it was a vision he would have never even noticed, had a certain odango-haired blonde not walked into his life.
       He continued walking, though now it was even slower going because of the growing crevices that forced him to circle around. Falling into some of them would have meant agony, if not death, because he would have broken several bones and been trapped for hours. Not to mention his daughter's small body being possibly pulpified.
       Speaking of which, she still felt warm against his back. He tilted his head to the side to press further against her chubby arm to verify it; beneath his cheek, he could feel soft skin and a hesitant warmth. It was even warmer than before, and he hoped it meant that they had at last saved her holy stone. But she hadn't moved, not even a peep during his screaming - he noticed then that his cheeks felt tight with drying tears, having not wiped them away - and if he knew his little rabbit, she would have been up in a flash, demanding to know if he was all right. Warm, but not conscious; a very puzzling matter.
       "Chibi-Usa-chan..."
       "Ne?" he muttered, turning his head.
       A girl stood in front of him, a pale ghostly apparition dressed in the most plain of black dresses and stockings, her hair a fall of the same colour, cut straight at her shoulders. Her eyes were sad amethyst, though kind; and he remembered seeing those eyes before, almost cold. Floating in the air, holding the sharpest of lethal weapons, though this girl held her cupped hands close to her chest. "….Saturn?" he finally guessed, warily taking a step back.
       She shook her head, opening her hands. Across her palms lay a familiar sparkle, highlighted by the solidity of that select skin; indeed, she was so translucent, weaker than weak, because of the sheer effort it took to keep her hands solid enough to hold her prize. It glowed with power, a sugar pink halo, and she lightly tossed it up into the air.
       It flew in the gentlest of arcs, soaring over Mamoru's head; he felt the tingle as it connected with Chibi-Usa's body, sinking back into her where it belonged. Her heart beating against his back was almost thunderous, her rising and falling breath strong and sure. She lifted her head from his shoulder, and asked, sleepily, "Mamo-chan?"
       "Chibi-Usa!" The dark-haired prince all but fell onto his knees to lower her onto the ground, letting her stand on her own. She knuckled her eyes, staring around them with puzzled wonder, only to stop cold at the ghost.
       "Hotaru-chan! What's happened to you!? You've become…"
       "Daijoubu, Chibi-Usa-chan…this was unavoidable. To save your precious spirit is what makes me the happiest of all." Hotaru stepped close, holding out her hand, perhaps meaning to take Chibi-Usa's; but as the pink-haired child returned the favour, they passed through one another, entirely untouchable. "How sad," she murmured, lifting her hand up to the waning sunlight. "After all, I'm finally going to leave this painful world. I never realized this was how it felt to let go…so dreamlike."
       Mamoru said, "But if Sailor Moon casts that evil being out of your body…"
       "It won't matter at all. Long ago, I was fated to die. Now, it's finally arrived to take me in its arms, away from the pain of this world. My father is gone, my mother…" Hotaru shook her head, and they realized that she was so dim, fading so fast, that they almost didn't see the motion.
       Chibi-Usa cried. "No, no, no…not you, Hotaru-chan! My true friend! You can't give up like this! You can't leave me so suddenly!"
       Hotaru drifted back, a very happy smile on her face; it was like the Cheshire's grin, visible even after everything else had faded away. "Gomen nasai, but this is now my fate. Sayonara…Chibi-Usa-chan. My true friend. Your strength, I wished it had been mine, too."
       Mamoru didn't know what to say. All he could do was stare at the space where Hotaru had stood - or floated, if you wanted to be picky - and listen to the growing sound of his daughter's crying, tearing open the hole in his heart. The sad little girl who had spent her life in almost constant agony had still done the most noble of deeds, sacrificing her soul to save that of Chibi-Usa's. It would be a shame to waste time in mourning when there was work to do. "Chibi-Usa…"
       The pink-haired child lifted her head to look around at him, her eyes already red, cheeks blotchy. All she wanted to do was fall down and continue to cry, wishing for Hotaru to come back and laugh in her ear, whispering, "It was only a joke, here I am!" But that would never happen. She had seen the thing that had taken over her friend's body in the split second between consciousness and none, knew what it must have done in taking over, in forcing Hotaru to sacrifice her own spirit to save hers. And if she was dead, surely Saturn was now gone as well, which meant there was no return. No second chance.
       "Mamo-chan, I don't want her to be gone," she whispered thickly, rubbing at her nose, thoughtless as a child at the smear of mucus that spread across her hand. "I don't. I want her back! First Puu, now Hotaru…Hotaru-chan…"
       Kami-sama, he had never thought of it that way. She had woken up after a probable eternity of self-mockery as the Black Lady to see her only described friend dying on the ground, sacrificed for her safety. Pluto had returned, of course, but it wasn't her 'Puu,' nor had they expected her to ever be. Now, another friend was gone, and this one was likely for good. Her friends were just dying all over the place, and the thought briefly brought a very ill timed smile to his lips. Well, at least he could smile at the fact that he was not dead yet.
       Instead, he reached out to hug her to his chest, squeezing her briefly. He could sense her sharp inhale, but not the memories that his touch brought, of her papa holding her on his lap as mama read her a story, hugging her that last time before she'd left for the past. And he couldn't hear her mumble of "Papa," her face pressed into his shirt, but he could feel her mouth move and filled in the blank. "Chibi-Usa, I know it hurts. It always hurts. But think of what Hotaru-chan has done for you…giving you a stronger heart."
       He took her hand, kissing it on the back as one would a princess. "But now we have to return the favour. Sailor Moon has gone to face the enemy…can you help her? Will you come with me to help her fight?"
       Her eyes were ghostly as she stared back at him, uncomprehending. Maybe lost in another time, remembering home…or just too freshly shocked at the loss of one more friend. He watched the colour fill them, the knowledge; with it her face turned down into a baby pout, somehow fierce instead of innocent. "Hotaru-chan did this for me. She saved my spirit. And I'm sitting here crying…iie! I won't do it anymore!"
       She stood back, lifting her hands together. In her palms he could see a heart-shaped brooch appear, her brooch, no longer missing in the darkness. Thrusting it up to the sickly sky, she shouted, "Moon Prism Power, Make UP!"
       The power filled her up, spilled out to clothe her in the familiar fuku of a sailor soldier, pink and white and sugar pink. She did a little spin, smiling, though her eyes were still brimming with tears. "This is my power, Mamo-chan! Maybe not as much as Sailor Moon, or mama, but it's all mine. Are you coming with me?"
       How intuitive; it brought a smile to his face. She knew he was tired, weak, possibly too much so to fight with her.
       But how could he not? This was his daughter, and his princess, his future wife, her mother, was somewhere that way, waiting for them. Even his presence at their side was enough. He opened his hand, looking down into his palm as if he could read the lines and forecast their immediate future, but there was nothing. And he didn't expect to see anything anyway.
       He closed his eyes, touching that hand to his heart.
       When they opened, he saw the world through a mask, and a smiling face. "Let's go, Chibi-Moon. Everyone is waiting for us."

       Somewhere in the vicinity of the same amount of time, Mistress 9 writhed within her stolen body, unmindful of the two staring at her, horrified in varying amounts. She fled higher, screaming mindlessly as the sensation of growth and confinement, of finding her fleshy encasement too small, too…damn…constrictive. Tomoe Hotaru had vacated the body, but had left that tiny bit of herself behind, that lower soul that knew home; and she prayed to a deity that could not be properly named in any Earthen tongue that this would hurt the bitch, badly.
       Lowering to a relatively solid chunk of the second floor of Mugen left standing, Sailor Moon and Alex watched uneasily as Hotaru's grown body was ripped apart. Shreds of skin and offal whipped off into a growing wind, spinning above their heads and up into the sickening sky. The only truly healthy body Tomoe Hotaru had been given in years, and it was gone. Perhaps she, too, was entirely dead, as she had clearly given the impression. "Hotaru-chan," the odango-haired blonde mourned.
       What rose up from the tattered remains was not only daimon, but remarkably improved on the improved models that Tomoe Souichi and Kuromine Kaoli had carried. Like the darkness that flailed and pushed at the force field below them, the daimon of Mistress 9 seemed more fluid and malleable, less true shape than simply energy. But still she resembled a bipedal humanoid, two arms and legs, shrieking as she shucked away every last bit of restraint.
       and then she dove.
       "Venus Wink Chain Sword!"
       "Mars Snake Fire!"
       The first thing they saw was a golden chain, made up of a multitude of heart-shaped links, shining with power. It snapped out like a bullwhip, catching Mistress 9 across the back with a sound reminiscent of a cat o' nine tails hitting a metal sheet wall. Reeling, she caught the second attack; a winding snake of fire and heat that spat, hissing, as it wound around her body and squeezed tight, exploding in a rush of power.
       Then Jupiter and Mercury landed in front of them.
       "Mercury Aqua Mirage!"
       "Jupiter Coconut Cyclone!"
       Mistress 9 was flung backwards, shrieking. But not torn apart, or even seriously injured, though they couldn't quite tell. Venus and Mars landed next to Alex and Sailor Moon, respectively, shaking off what looked to be a bit of grogginess. That was certainly to be expected, after having their souls ripped out. So was the odango-haired blonde's spontaneous cry of "Minna!" and a frantic attempt at a group hug that nearly cracked everyone's heads together.
       "Sailor Moon, daijoubu, daijoubu!" Jupiter managed to say as she eased the strangle hold, "everyone is fine! Now, we have a job to do!"
       "Hai, we've got a world to save!" Venus tossed in, flipping up the victory sign. "After all, the hour isn't paying us!"
       "You mean, 'Time is money'?" Mercury sighed.
       Alex shouted, "Scatter!"
       It was instinctive; the bunching of muscles, pushing them all up and away, off of the jagged platform. Venus threw out her chain, grabbing Sailor Moon's wrist to pull her with as she swung up to the tenth floor of the Meiou complex. Jupiter twisted, elongating her body to aim for a lower level, landing on a balcony of the fifth floor. Mars and Mercury were caught up by Alex's power, taking them to the seventh floor of the Kaiou complex. They watched as Mistress 9's body slammed into the platform, reducing it to powder form and bigger chunks big enough to seriously injure.
       The daimon howled; rising from the destruction, she enunciated its hatred for them all with a second, ear-splitting scream, hands raised with the unmistakable shape of talons. Strangely, a word had not yet passed what were now considered its lips since sloughing off Hotaru's body. Only sounds, but they were enough to get the point across, especially when coupled with a second assault as she sped for the dangling odango-haired blonde.
       "Venus!" she cried, calling forth the heart moon rod with her free hand, "hayaku!"
       An ice storm assailed the daimon, knocking her off course and straight through a window, no doubt wrecking someone's ridiculously expensive condo. Venus took the opportunity to sling them both up and onto the roof of Meiou, out of sight. "This isn't working," Alex snapped, wincing as the wind stun her face, vicious in its growing assault. The lighter pieces of refuse around them were flying around in the spiral, winding their way towards the sky. Soon, if it didn't stop, it'd be taking them with it. "Everything you've hit her with, it doesn't seem to be doing a damn thing. Not even Sailor Moon phased her."
       "The Ginzuishou?" Mercury queried, donning her goggles. "Surely its cleansing and powerful properties could at the very least rid us of that woman, Mistress 9."
       "We thought of that, before she tossed off Hotaru's body like some used condom. Then, she would've just ejected the daimon and probably killed it by deprivation. But now, she'd be wasting too much energy just killing the daimon outright, and we can't afford that, she's the only one who can call forth the Chalice and fix this mess." The tall red-head picked up a broken flowerpot at her feet, shaking the dirt and dead fern out. "Where is she, Mercury?"
       The blue-haired genius surveyed the building, frowning. She could see Venus and Moon atop the roof, as well as Pluto, their distinctive aura shining like stars in her vision. But of Mistress 9, there was nothing; an absence of recognizable aura, much like the blackness beneath them. She switched over to infrared, and swallowed a gasp at the stretching blob of icy cold that grew larger as she watched; the daimon's touch would be frigid. "There, the twentieth floor!"
       Mars stepped forward, summoning her first and simplest power, raising her hand. "Fire Soul!"
       But the daimon swerved tightly upward at the last second, coming into sight as she streaked towards the sky, taking the rest of the window frame with her, the fire shooting straight past and into the condo. Whoever it was had either owned an extensive liquor collection or disliked the idea of flame-retardant material; the fireball that was ignited and belched back at them was ridiculous. It was met by a similar ball of flame, which swallowed the first whole; then, at Alex's command, it went up, playing a game of catch-up after Mistress 9.
       A streak of gold soared overhead to catch on the Ten'nou tower. The two blondes leapt off the Meiou tower and dropped like stones, faster than Mistress 9 could slow her ascent and follow; indeed, they passed her. Snapping tight, the chain carried them in a sharp swing towards Kaiou tower, where Sailor Moon let go to fall somewhat awkwardly between Mercury and Mars; Venus released her magic and landed on the balcony above. "We have to stay away from Pluto and Neptune and Uranus," she reported, watching the daimon. "Already, they look tired from maintaining this shield."
       "Then we don't have much time!" Mars pounded her fist onto the rail, looking fierce. "What other option do we have, minna? We have to call forth the Sacred Chalice, so Super Sailor Moon can fight with a stronger power!"
       Jupiter, alone at Meiou, sent a snap of lightning at Mistress 9, who shrieked.
       Then, a second attack followed, a pink blast of power that was irritating as a flea to the daimon; no more, no less. "Stay back, monster! My power may be small, but I'll use it all the more on you!"
       "Chibi-Moon…!?"
       They all looked up as Tuxedo Kamen dropped gracefully from the sky, his cape an elegant, fluttering shadow in his wake, holding Chibi-Moon's hand. Both of them were encased in a familiar soft glow, the power of her holy stone replenished, a gentle pink in colour. "Sailor Moon, minna-chan…! I've come just in time!" the pink-haired child cried, leaping the short distance to grab up her future mother in a tight hug.
       "Hotaru-san carried your spirit back to you as she did us?" Mars asked.
       "Hai; Hotaru-chan gave me my life, and told me I was strong. I can't allow her sacrifice to be in vain!" Chibi-Moon pulled back, surveying them all with a determined frown.
       Sailor Moon nodded. "Then we'll do it. To defeat the enemy, I'll ask for your power, minna; to fill the Sacred Chalice to the brim. To become Super Sailor Moon!" She raised her hands above her head, visualizing the golden cup; summoned, it took shape between her fingers, its lid obediently falling open.
       "Will I do that someday? Call forth the Sacred Chalice as a proper soldier and princess, to replenish my world? Sailor Moon, this is your amazing power, and mine, someday, too!" the pink-haired child whispered, watching with awe as the cup appeared. Tuxedo Kamen reached to squeeze her hand, and she smiled up at him.
       The glow increased.
       Turning back, she gasped as a second cup began to appear - no, not a second cup, but its reflection, a slightly ghostly image rising above. Everyone stared at it in awe, even as they held out their hands, giving away freely their power - with the exception of their mentor, who had no magic - to fill up not just one, but both of them. Growing solid and substantial, the second cup flew into Chibi-Moon's uplifted hands, as both of their foreheads burned with the familiar crescent moon.
       Sailor Moon tipped hers back to drink of its power and whispered, "Crisis, Make Up!"
       Watching one become Super was amazing enough; watching two in sync was almost too much. The power flooded back over them all, halting even Mistress 9, only to pull back to form a pair of familiar shapes standing nearly on tiptoe, hands clasped between their companionable breasts. Both of them opened their eyes at the same moment, crystal blue staring into sugar pink, exhaling in surprise and admiration.
       Super Sailor Chibi-Moon had the same colour-bled skirt as the older model, though her colours had become yellow and pink; the same as her kerchief. The diaphanous back bow, the double-tiered waistband, the wispy shoulder pads. "I've become…me…" she mumbled, pulling at her skirt, staring at her gloved hands. "I've transformed to a higher level…
       "Super Sailor Chibi-Moon!"

       The battle did not seem to be waging, or even in motion. Iretsu wished he had thought to bring binoculars, or a telescope. All he could do was sketch out his ideas of an epic battle between his angelic soldiers and princess, and their evil, demonic enemies.
       Everyone was restless, unable to sit still. All he heard around him were the sounds of unease, of fond recollection in groups, as if at a summer camp, sporadic crying as their emotions got the better of them. Surrounding him, he had quickly found out, were former castle servants and staff, soldiers, common villagers. In degrees they remembered those last harrowing hours, some days, a few weeks, and as the tales spread, the story knit into a long, winding tapestry of tragedy. He himself remembered almost nothing of that day during the battle; he had been ensconced in the gardens, painting a portrait of a lesser Jovian royal, when Beryl's army had arrived. Being at the front of the castle proper, he had been given time to look up and cry in alarm, splash paint across the faces of the closest soldiers, and be thusly run through like a chunk of beef.
       Over his shoulder, a boy of hardly ten years had been hovering for the better part of fifteen minutes, a silent, critical presence as annoying as a tiny itch one can't reach. His hair was a drab brown, a little too long and in need of a cut, but his eyes were an unusual triple iris of dark green, mint, and lime, tilted like a cat's. And very penetrating. Iretsu could tell every time they moved to follow his hand and the pencil, long limbs and flowing hair taking shape, hands delicate as a bird's lacy wing. He shaded in Mistress 9's skirt, making small notations for later colour, darkening the shadows and folds.
       "Do you believe your drawing will survive this fight?" the boy finally asked, and his voice was surprisingly husky, an older man's vocal cords.
       Iretsu glanced up. "It isn't a concern, because I'll survive to take it with me. My princess would never allow this planet, nor us, to come to harm."
       If his voice was husky, his laughter was even more startling; a deep, rich baritone. Somewhere in the world, a thirty-year-old man was nursing a child's soprano. "Is that your faith? Once, I had that trust in my queen and commander, for they were strong and passionate. But against a devil, they could not protect us. So here we are." He spread his arms wide, looking around with those tri-coloured eyes. "We've lost peace and gained discord."
       "Utopia never comes easily. It doesn't matter what happens now. I believe in the coming peace, that our princess will rise above this world and take her place again on the throne. She radiates joy, and spreads happiness. Tsukino-san…" He paused in his work, looking up pensively at the triple towers. Mugen was gone, no longer a focal point. Seen through the force field, even the ruins seemed to be dusted with sugar, an idyllic scene despite its calamitous destruction.
       He sighed, playing with the pencil. "Tsukino-san is such a gentle soul. For a princess, she fits the role perfectly in every lifetime. But I wonder…is this right, for her to be so strong as a sailor soldier? A queen is not a warrior, but a leader, a guide, inspiration for us all. And she is so tender…so much evil has been thrown back by her power."
       "You wonder if she will eventually change after all of this? After being a hardened warrior?" the boy deduced, resting back on his heels.
       "Perhaps. But my love for her brilliant spirit is so very true. I would follow her into the depths of a spiritual hell, believing in her." How could he not? Ever since she had given him back his eyes and he had seen her beautiful form, he would have gladly cut out his own heart as a gift to her and died smiling. Long golden hair, and those lovely crystal blue eyes…
       He was shaken out of his reverie by the light.
       It was a familiar warmth, tender and loving, sweeping over them like a solid wind. With it came the smell of dew, of fresh flowers, a strong impression of the golden-haired goddess and her younger, pink-haired counterpart, embraced tenderly. Peace took over his body, as it most assuredly did everyone else, and he breathed deeply.
       The power drew back, out of sight, and Iretsu pressed a hand to his heart. He recognized the younger girl as the 'cousin' Tsukino-san had introduced to everyone, Chibi-Usa, though the power told him differently. "How clever, princess," he murmured, "to show such a girl to us as a cousin when she is in fact your heir." And so much power to inherit; he could see it in her eyes, the power of two kingdoms flowing through her blood and body.
       After another minute, they could see the two soldiers rise high into the air, carried by their power as easily as breathing to crest the triple towers. The dark creature Mistress 9 had become shrieked, intending to attack them, and the claws she'd worn grew to nearly sword length.
       Super Sailor Moon held out the heart moon rod, eyes narrowing in focus, though such was not visible to the audience. Next to her, Super Sailor Chibi-Moon held out her own rod, crossing the two at the crowns. Whatever they said to one another next was lost to the crowd, as conversational tone did not carry well in a strong wind and reasonable distance. But there was a flare of power at the end of each weapon that indicated what their words must have been for; as well, their joined shout of, "Rainbow Double Moon! Heart Ache!"
       The attack was brilliant. Even the furthest away had to avert their eyes, shading their faces. It seemed to light up the Delta with its radiance, not quite like the gentle glow that they had released in transformation; this was a decisive power. And it didn't matter where it hit, from the way that the three soldiers holding up the shield seemed to flinch, struggling to maintain it as the combined attack smashed into it.
       But nothing good happened. At least not in the "Yippy Skippy we killed the monster!" sort of way, and not even in the "Possible assault and battery under the law" that they would have expected. The damn creature actually seemed to grow bigger, which should have been illegal in some book. Even more when they tried again, putting so much effort into it the blast was probably visible from not only space, but any passing alien life forms.
       "How is that possible…?! The failure of the Ginzuishou to extinguish the evil?! Princess, don't lose faith in that power!" Iretsu pleaded.

       It wasn't a loss of faith; perhaps a slight wavering, a bit of puzzlement, but not by any means a loss. Most of that came from the group down below, watching the events. "I don't believe that her holy stone could actually give Mistress 9 more power!" Venus gasped, grabbing the railing with a white-knuckled fist.
       Mercury, watching the numbers scrolling down her goggles more than the actual fight itself, followed a particularly worrisome equation off to the side and caught Alex's eye. The tall red-head was staring back at her, vaguely; with a start, Mercury realized she was painstakingly reading the numbers backwards. "Didn't she say something about the crystal having the same power as 'their own'? I was still half-baked unconscious, but that sounds familiar…"
       "Hai; before she swallowed the Ginzuishou," Mars verified.
       "And many other times, the Witches 5 mentioned a light similar to theirs, that Sailor Moon carried!" Venus pounded her first against the railing instead as something vaguely humanoid came flying towards them.
       Jupiter landed somewhat clumsily, her leap buffeted by the rising winds and the remaining tremble of power in the air, next to Mars. The dark-haired shrine girl steadied her as Mercury continued to stare at nothing, Alex stared at her staring at nothing, and Venus began to talk to herself, arguing even, trying to come up with a new plan. Tuxedo Kamen has eyes for nothing and no one but the two girls high above their heads, similar expressions of disbelief on their faces.
       None of the numbers looked good. "Venus, if it stands to reason that Mistress 9 can absorb the power of the Ginzuishou, then Master Pharaoh 90 can as well," Alex said sharply, catching the long-haired blonde in mid-self-chastise, "which means Super Sailor Moon and Chibi-Moon can't do a damn thing with their power. The Sacred Chalice is all we have to hinge our bets on. You have a plan?"
       "Ano….with such odds, there isn't much," Venus confessed, pulling at a hank of her hair in frustration. "Already Uranus and Neptune and Pluto have done all they can in making a shield to contain the evil. Super Sailor Moon and Super Sailor Chibi-Moon have the only power than can defeat everything…but we have the power of our planets to depend on."
       "If we strike at Master Pharaoh 90 with all of our might…." Jupiter murmured, oak green catching a strange fire.
       Tuxedo Kamen finished, surprisingly, "We could weaken them, and give Usa a chance."
       Alex arched an eyebrow, folding her arms as she glanced away at the scene in front of them. Even in a torn skirt and blouse, she looked capable of commanding an army to victory; when her head swiveled back, she looked determined. "It's possible. But we can't do it from here, we're too close. Amorphous entities have habits of growing limbs in the oddest places."
       Mistress 9 was shrieking. Looking up, they saw a gold streak marking the daimon's body, binding its limbs; she strained, trying to free herself. "Her tiara….!? She's using her Moon Frisbee attack to bind the daimon with her tiara!" Mercury gasped.
       "Then we don't have much time! Concentrate, minna; for this, we'll use our powers to lift up high, and attack Master Pharaoh 90 from above!" The long-haired blonde crouched herself, poised to jump. A faint golden glow enveloped her body, and she sprang up off her toes, rocketing up into the sky as if pulled by wires. With the two Moon soldiers off to their left, going directly up left them plenty of room to work with, though Venus went up even higher, to the near apex of the shield.
       Jupiter, Mercury, and Mars followed; Alex lifted Tuxedo Kamen with her, smiling wickedly at his startled oath as she did so.
       "Venus Megaton Shower of Love!"
       "Jupiter Coconut Cyclone!"
       "Burning Mandala!"
       "Mercury Aqua Mirage!"
       "Tuxedo La Smoking Bomber!"
       Venus had chosen an older attack, a wide dispersal of golden beams. As it fell to earth, the spinning fury of Jupiter's attack followed, landing right between the starry nebulae of Master Pharaoh 90's eyes. Mars's attack, also chosen for its spread, rained down, barely cooled by the wet tempest of Mercury's power. Tuxedo Kamen's attack was a ball of energy, hitting what they could suppose was the center of the amorphous mass.
       The flowerpot, now glowing a bright magenta, was a direct hit, ripping a hole that flowed like liquid mercury back into place.
       But that was their best shot.
       Completely dumbfounded, they watched as Master Pharaoh 90 took it all like water, his laughter filling the air. [This is futile, sailor soldiers. In moments, I will be all, and you will be everything with me. Earth will become the newest Tau star as I assimilate it with my power. Your power merely hastens the inevitable! Feed me more, give it all to me!]
       "Are we so weak?! The combined power of our attacks should have…!" Mars gasped, clenching her fist.
       Jupiter touched her hand to her sweating brow, realizing how badly she was trembling with fatigue. She spared a sidelong glance at the others; they all looked just as worn, holding themselves straight with a supreme amount of effort. "We've given up so much to Super Sailor Moon and Super Sailor Chibi-Moon, we're like flies! How can we do anything with such weakness?"
       Apparently, nothing good. Horrified, they now watched as the flowing shape of Master Pharaoh 90 grew larger, infused with their planets' power, slamming into the walls of the force field like high tide on the breakwater. They could hear Uranus, Pluto, and Neptune finally cry out, vocalizing their frustration and strain, and the walls grew almost painfully bright as they put their strongest effort into maintaining it.
       [The force field still resists me? Nothing you do will stop this final act from playing out! This is the culmination of a stronger magic than you can imagine, sailor soldiers!]
       "It doesn't matter!" they could just barely hear Uranus shout in defiance, "we will continue to fight and defy you and your evil! This will be your final resting place across the stars!"
       "No matter what, we'll keep you away from the world, defending our future to the last breath!" Neptune shouted in turn, her lovely voice slightly hoarse.
       Pluto had lowered the rod, bracing it against the roof as her arms could no longer hold the heavy weapon aloft. But magenta still burned in defiance, her stance proud, as she cried, "For Small Lady and the bright, shining future of all of our dreams, this land where our king and queen were born again! That world has no place for you and your insidious nature!"
       Mistress 9 shrieked with victory as she snapped the tiara into two, its golden glitter falling rapidly to earth. The two odango-heads flew clumsily out of the way as she slashed at them, barely missing Super Sailor Moon's arm by the space of centimetres.
       "They can't keep this up much longer," the tall red-head murmured.
       "But what else can we do? Master Pharaoh 90 did nothing but absorb our weak attacks, rendering us useless," Mercury reminded them, turning off her goggles; there was so much power in the air that her vision was obscured by numbers, graphs, and charts. "Perhaps swallowing our power in much the same way as they would the Ginzuishou."
       "How? None of us carry holy stones that give such amazing life. Unless the daimon are capable of eating the lights of stars," Tuxedo Kamen theorized quietly, ocean blue lifting upward instinctively, as if to look upon those mentioned stars. And then he gasped; it was so surprising, so not calm-and-collected Chiba Mamoru, that all of them looked around immediately to see his face paling. They felt the winds die around them, a terrifying stillness descending.
       And then they looked up.

       Iretsu had no words, no possible description, of what had appeared in the sky. None of them did, and it wasn't that they hadn't seen pictures and drawings in their schoolbooks and on TV of such phenomenon. They and all of mankind lived in the ass-end arm of such a spiral; it was something like a bacterium in the gut seeing a vision of the body it lived inside of.
       Finally, someone screamed, a terrible, thin sound in the sudden silence and absence of wind. It broke the spell; like a game of domino, another screamed, and then another, adding and feeding upon the hysteria until there was a swelling of humanity frantic to escape. Or at least, frantic to have it end quickly, to no longer suffer in anticipation of their eventual deaths.
       No one could escape an invading galaxy.
       Of course, it wasn't actually close, from Iretsu's newly keen eyes; the ragged, rough hole that surrounded it looked to be the exit (or entrance) of some sort of tunnel. The galaxy itself was most likely billions of miles away, across unestimated space and time, waiting for the Earth to be drawn into a new home. Because surely, an entire galaxy could not simply up and move itself.
       Then again, hadn't that movie hidden one inside of a cat's collar bauble?
       Maybe it was possible.
       A sensation that the artist recognized as fear shivered up his backbone, a suddenly terrifying prospect of his princess's failure. Of his death, again. No, he did not want to go through that again, that lengthy darkness and confusion, the slow realization of mortality again in another's body. But that was silly, wasn't it? No matter what, death would come eventually. He had just not planned for it to be here and now.
       "We'll die again," the old Chinese woman sighed next to him. "Again, as victims of a war we had nothing to do with, no part in. When the witch Beryl stormed our castle world, we were lambs for the slaughter; now, we are bystanders, Kwan-yin be merciful."
       "But we have belief in our princess - "
       "Iie; you carry that belief now, as we all did once in our queen." Her son looked away from the sky and its forbidding natures, his exquisite calm enviable. "In the mother. She who failed us, unable to stave off the darkness we all feared. And though it is her child who healed me of my crippling sickness, of treacherous lungs and a heart that faintly beat, there's no more belief. Just a vague hope that anyone can save us now."
       Iretsu stared up at him. With a shrug, the boy turned away again to stare back up into the sky, a vaguely musing expression on his face. To him, this seemed to be some fantastical TV show, nothing to bother over, as if changing the channel would solve everything. His mother seemed to be praying to her gods, her head bowed over her hands. And they were an island of calm in a sea of chaos.
       But that wasn't good enough. The dwarf clenched his hands, digging his nails into his palms to the point of drawing blood and pain. "But it isn't like that anymore," he whispered, shaking his head. "Not with her. She grew up as a lovely person, a caring girl, not a faraway princess in a storied castle…no matter what, she wants everyone to live in happiness. She shines like a star in the crowd."
       Nobody was listening to him anymore, anyway.

       "The Tau Galaxy….! Kami-sama, they've opened a door across space!" the odango-haired blonde gasped, crystal blue blurred with tears of pain and sorrow. To have her attack become useless - even powered up! - against the daimon was bad enough, but now, this was a definite sign of their impending failure. She stared up with a stomach-dropping sense of doom, her arms shaking terribly as she continued to aim the heart moon rod.
       Next to her, Super Sailor Chibi-Moon was doing the same, though her arms were far shakier, her body experiencing a very definite sign of burnout. To have nearly died from the theft of her holy stone, and to be miraculously empowered and alive within the span of not even a day was trying on even the hardiest body. And she was merely a soldier-in-training, a princess born and pampered and barely adolescent; her body couldn't take this stress, she was realizing quickly. "But I have to," she whispered to herself, barely moving her lips, "I have to be strong, just like Super Sailor Moon! I was given this power…I was given a second chance by Hotaru-chan!"
       Mistress 9 seemed to have forgotten them, or at least, decided them unimportant. The daimon raised her clawed hands to the sky, mouth opening wide in a screeching noise that wasn't in the least bit intelligible. But whatever it was, it shook the world as power sliced out from her body in a shock wave of energy, throwing both girls backwards through the air as the other soldiers above them shouted in terror.
       [Sou yo! My strongest and devoted partner, bring about this climax! For this, the result of your sacrifices, you will have a new world!] Master Pharaoh 90 crowed. [Speak in words rendered possible by the sacrifice of your tongue to the first of our magic, my loyal Mistress 9! Break these last barriers!]
       "Iie! We won't allow you to take our planet for your own use!" Super Sailor Moon shouted, "Rainbow Double-"
       "Super Sailor Chibi-Moon!" her prince's voice screamed instead.
       "Nani…!?" She turned away to see the empty space beside her, a falling streak of sugar pink far below. But a larger streak of black and copper red intercepted it, catching the limp body safely before she fell into the swirling blackness and was lost. Her daughter was safe, but gone from her side and their dual power attack; alone, she had no chance, except to summon the Sacred Chalice finally.
       The second blast of power slammed into her, knocking the heart moon rod from her numbed fingers, her head ringing. She saw, high above, the four guardian soldiers tremble as they were hit; she saw the white hazy world quiver and go out as Pluto, Neptune, and Uranus screamed their throats raw, falling to their knees in agony. And then, twisting around to witness the last: Mistress 9's forehead exploding with the shape of the black star, the daimon's body falling like a fluttering scrap of forgotten cloth into the larger shape of her Master.
       Without any barriers holding him back, Master Pharaoh 90 swept past the triple towers. Iretsu looked up to see the source of everyone's renewed terror, only to see the blackness rising like an ocean wave over their heads; beside him, Lin and her son heard him say, "Tsukino-san," before they were all swallowed up as surely as the sand. Hundreds of voices silenced in an instant, remade into something new or simply destroyed, the odango-haired blonde didn't know. She hadn't even heard them congregate, had not even seen such a crowd gather to watch them fight; now she felt sick, a terrible, nauseous sensation, that she had failed them.
       "This is terrible," she moaned, looking at her hands dully, forgetting that she had dropped her weapon. "I don't want any suffering! Not if I can spare them from such pain!"
       Above her, she heard the four guardian soldiers shouting, invoking their attacks again. Trying for the impossible. Lightning, icy water, fire, and golden magic flew past her, ruffling her skirt and teasing her hair, only to disappear with no obvious ill effect into the darkness of Master Pharaoh 90. Or rather, Mistress 9; the daimon's body still existed on the surface, like some disturbing fleshy growth, her mouth still opened wide. It was into that gaping maw that their powers went, the daimon's eyes flashing. "Nothing…! Has everyone's power been drained?!"
       Mercury fell past her line of sight, a rag doll for all of the seeming life in her body. She fell onto the Kaiou complex roof, followed momentarily by Mars, her high heel shoes going entirely in a different direction towards the ground. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Jupiter land on the Meiou complex roof, one hand still high in the air as if she were reaching for the sky. And if that were the case, she could easily deduce that Venus had ended up on the Ten'nou complex roof. Tired, worn out, pushed to their limits by a treacherous enemy.
       Down below, far below, Tuxedo Kamen and Alex stood several metres away, their trajectory blown way off course by Mistress 9's last surge to drop them in the middle of the street. Chibi-Moon was still barely conscious in her father's arms, frighteningly pale and almost exactly at the point where she'd been an hour ago. But they had no hurry to get back to the fight; they had nothing to contribute anymore. The dark-haired prince had given up much of his power, like the girls, to the two Sacred Chalices, and the rest to his last-ditch attack. And the tall red-head, as she had told Sailor Moon earlier, was not magic, but hardware; and to add to the problem, she was also currently doubled over on the ground, painstakingly fighting off sickness. She had felt the people die, and it had not been pleasant.
       "I feel so useless," Tuxedo Kamen groaned, unconsciously rocking Chibi-Moon in his arms. "Unable to help Usa…unable to be at her side this third time! Why am I so weak!?" He felt disoriented, nauseous, as Master Pharaoh 90 tainted his planet.
       "It won't matter, not when she's the one with the only power that can stop them." Alex slowly shifted onto her back, staring up into the sky with a dazed look in her eyes. "That power of purification contained within the Sacred Chalice." Closing her eyes tightly, she pressed her palms against her lids, painstakingly rebuilding her broken mental shields, even as she shuddered again at an echo of everyone's frantic fear.
       He stared at her for a long moment, concerned, unable to even think of something to say. Whatever seemed to be hurting her was beyond his ability to help. Looking away, he could see the small, slender form of his princess still high above the ruins, holding out her hands. Summoning the Sacred Chalice to revive the world.
       Which was half-true; she was indeed summoning the Chalice.
       In her hands, the golden cup shone with an unearthly perfection not even the purest gold, shined to a luster, could accomplish. Beneath the lid was a brimful of power, everyone's power, given to her to complete her higher transformation. She had done it, and it had been a failure; Mistress 9 had fallen into her Master to complete the spell, and now, he was free to assimilate Earth. Her friends were too tired to fight any longer, their remaining power left not in their bodies, but the cup. But she knew they'd get up one last time, even if it meant agony, for one final attack that would most likely kill them; the old sacrifice, death on the battlefield.
       And she wasn't going to let them. Not this time. Not ever again.
       She looked down at the darkness below her feet, churning like some hellish maelstrom. This was still going to be a sacrifice, but of only one; and not in the name of war, but of love. Love for her friends and world, love for their happiness and peace. They would have leapt in to continue the fight, one last chance for someone else to strike the final blow, but she would leap in to stop the fighting altogether.
       With a gentle smile warming her face, she looked away, searching out her prince, her Mamo-chan, and caught the flash of black so many metres away. Too far away to stop her, which was good; she wanted him to live, desperately. But she couldn't see the expression he wore, one of confusion at her continued presence in the sky, seemingly doing nothing. She reached out her hand, stretching it towards him as if she could touch his face; but she wouldn't have that, this last time.
       Closing her eyes, she drew her power back into her body.
       The energy that held her aloft vanished, and she dropped, holding the Sacred Chalice protectively against her breast. Dimly, she was aware of the others screaming, of her Mamo-chan's frantic howl, but the fall was so quick, she had no time to truly be sad over it, because she was there, and the darkness was touching her, tasting her, pulling her in and under and away even as she struggled to open the golden cup.
       She failed.
       And there was nothing.

       She opened her eyes, blinked once. Twice. Sitting up in the darkness, she looked up to see a star of white light pierce her prison. A prison she had known for so long, since she had died -
       "Hai. Now you see how long this can be, this severing of spirit and flesh. This is the inevitable climax, death and rebirth."
       "Ano…where am I? Where are we?"
       "Still inhabiting the body of the creature that ultimately killed you. Though she tore your flesh, she swallowed your spirit as food, and so we exist within, a tiny seed. Waiting for this moment in time."
       "This moment…? Iie…iie, they had to win! Chibi-Usa, Usagi-san…!"
       She stared at herself, staring at herself.
       "This is fate, Tomoe Hotaru. I wish it weren't."

       Uranus hadn't screamed. She just wasn't much of a screamer to begin with, as she loved to jokingly tell her partner; she was a moaner, a mover, but not a screamer. All she could manage now was a pitiful groan, her throat hurting already from the one scream that had been wrenched forcibly from her, as she contemplated throwing herself over the edge. It was stupid, the surest sign of madness and obsession, but she was pretty sure Venus had the same thought on her mind. All of them did.
       She looked up finally, dragging her eyes away with an effort from the lost body of her silver princess, to see the flash of green hair across the way. Neptune - Michiru - would surely miss her if she threw herself over, but she would move on. Maybe even find a proper lover that could give her everything in life she ever wanted or needed, spare her from the long nights and muscle-aching tiredness of being a sailor soldier.
       The possibility that Sailor Moon's sacrifice had not assured them victory, and thus a second chance at life, had not even entered her mind."Usagi-chan, Usagi-chan," Venus was gasping behind her, pitifully quiet. "This isn't right, she wasn't supposed to…to…""Sacrifice herself to save the rest of us?" the tall sandy-blonde rasped, storm cloud grey now something akin to dead flesh pallor. "Why is it a surprise? Her lovely heart…she wouldn't want any of you to die, if she could help it."
       Venus blinked at her, then said, "All of us, Uranus. Including you."
       "And him." A careless gesture motioned towards the tiny figure of Tuxedo Kamen, running hard to cross the pavement to reach them, Alex's equally tiny figure following with a smaller bundle in her arms. Chibi-Moon, her Super transformation lost with the cup.
       The tower shook as Master Pharaoh 90 smashed into its lower floors. Both soldiers shouted in surprise and shock, flung onto their hands and knees. Uranus's sword slid sharply away, its handle scraping the tiles with an irritating noise. "What the hell's happening!?" she swore, grabbing the ledge. "With such power inside of him, he should be nearly eaten away and dead!"
       Another slam of the darkness actually had them airborne, thrown back; while Venus landed on her tailbone and elbows, Uranus hit the outer ledge on her side and flipped right over, seeing the dizzying expanse of floors below her feet. It was only instinct that had her hand catching that very ledge, dangling her like some worm on a hook so many hundreds of metres above ground. Somewhat ironically she recalled her escape from death earlier, ending up safely on the ground instead of flat as a Western pancake; but now, she had no blonde princess to catch her. Only air.
       She felt someone grab her wrist - Venus - and attempt to haul her up. It was a painfully harsh grip, abrading her wrist with the fabric of her glove like the coarsest rope, and also useless, as the long-haired blonde was far too weak and tired. She jerked sharply at Uranus's arm, trying to rely on what brute strength she had to yank her up, but the tall sandy-blonde could see her entire body shaking with the effort. Hell, if their positions were reversed, she wasn't sure she could do it either, she'd put so much into the shield.
       "Just let me drop, Venus," she said, with a sharp laugh. "I'll try my own way to blow that daimon to hell."
       "I'm not letting you drop, don't even joke about that!" Venus snapped, kicking her shoe against the ledge to snap off the high heel, then bracing her foot properly to try pulling again.
       Uranus laughed again, feeling so damn empty; their mission had failed. Her faith in Sailor Moon had not died, but was turning to a kind of suicidal trust. If her princess could do it, so could she. It was a chance to make her sacrifice worthwhile, and still, everyone else would survive. Michiru, especially, would continue on. "I don't usually joke about such serious matters. Drop me, Venus, do it! What the hell does it matter if I die too? This was my mission to begin with!"
       The long-haired blonde did the most astonishing thing; she actually let go with one hand to reach and slap Uranus so hard across the face that her head snapped to the side. She took hold again as the tall sandy-blonde turned to gape at her, the blood already rushing to fill in the imprint of a hand across her cheek and chin. "Of course it matters. We're all sailor soldiers, we're all in this fight together! Do you think Usagi-chan would have sacrificed herself if she didn't want us all to live? Including you? Stop being so selfish! Not when Michiru-san would miss you if you died so suddenly!"
       Apparently a good dose of anger was an excellent stimulant; Venus finally managed to pull her up enough to get a leg over, and crawl the rest of the way, and just in time. Instead of knocking the building down, Master Pharaoh 90 had apparently decided to just slime up the sides and assimilate it instead. They had to vacate, and fast. "Venus, arigatou gozaimasu," Uranus murmured, touching her cheek. "It's just my way. But my way isn't important anymore, it's all of us, together, ne?"
       Venus didn't beam at her as she'd expected, not in the wide, laughing smile of Aino Minako. Instead, she just nodded curtly and smiled enough to show her agreement. "Sou yo. We're all sailor soldiers."
       And then: "Ano…your sword seems to be glowing."
       "Glowing?"
       They both turned fully to see the space sword glowing like a beacon, hovering several metres off the roof in a sphere of white light. Uranus felt her skin grow cold, her stomach dropping like a stone. She had forgotten about this last possibility, regarded it as useless, even, with the girl Tomoe Hotaru dead and long gone as the daimon Mistress 9.
       Walking slowly, then running frantically, she grabbed the handle of the sword.
       Atop the Meiou complex, Pluto stared at the separate pieces of her rod, the handle lying forlorn at her feet, the top piece with the garnet orb aloft between her hands. It was glowing as well, a beautiful white light that was lovely to look at, but frightening, as she knew what this meant. And it wasn't fair, not when she'd finally been given a chance to live a wonderfully free life, growing up as Meiou Setsuna.
       That was what Neo Queen Serenity had told her, in that in between time after death and before rebirth; that she was no longer bound to the door as Sailor Pluto, because she had wanted her to live that normal life. Because she herself knew the value of skinned knees and sunshine and embarrassment and growing up. She had summoned Pluto's spirit before it had found a new body, disregarding the pattern as surely as her mother had, and bound it back into the same cycle of rebirth, into the same emerald-haired, dark-skinned form. Just to give her a second chance.
       So she stared at the beacon, and realized that it had been wonderful while it lasted.
       Mars and Mercury didn't know what to say as Neptune held up the mirror, her face pale as a sheet. She had discarded the notion of the god waking up as had Uranus, seeing Mistress 9 completely invade the girl's body and then destroy it. But that had been foolish; it was the soul that mattered, the soul that had carried the power, and if Mistress 9 had taken it into herself, then it had never been vanquished. After all, their souls had survived millennia.
       With a jerk, the talismans released their power.
       Tuxedo Kamen stopped in his tracks in the burnt grass of what had been the Tomoe laboratory's front lawn, staring at the shape forming above Master Pharaoh 90. Behind him, Alex came to a halt as well, a conscious Chibi-Moon stubbornly on her feet next to her.
       All of them witnessed the birth of a girl they had seen die. Her body was taller, fuller, in the peak of health, her skin flawless peach. The same raven dark hair fell to her shoulders, brushing the purple kerchief of a sailor-soldier's fuku, her skirt and knee-high boots in the same matching colour. Her shoulder pads were strangely scalloped, elbow pads as well; her bows were a darker rust red, a marvelous setting for the jagged crystal brooch at her breast. It matched the one on her choker, both of them roughly cut and obviously sharp. For a long moment, her brow shone with the sigil of Saturn, before being replaced with the tiara.
       She stood upright in the air as easily as if she'd just woken up, bring with her the deadly blade they had seen in their dreams; wickedly curved and taller than she was, it gave them all a feeling of terror. And when she looked around, catching each and every one of them with her languid amethyst eyes, they couldn't move; but even from their spread positions, they could hear every word. "I am the messenger from the depths of death. Carrier of the protection of the planet of ruin, Saturn. The soldier of silence."
       Flawlessly, she spun the blade up into a two-handed grip that would bring it down quickly and efficiently to strike. "I am Sailor Saturn."
       The dark-haired prince stumbled back as if he'd been struck, smacking back into Alex. She steadied him as Chibi-Moon whispered hoarsely, "Hotaru-chan? Sailor Saturn is…but that means…"
       "Sailor Moon is…dead?" Jupiter gasped, next to Pluto.
       "Everything we've done to prevent this from happening was useless?" Neptune asked the sky, falling back down onto her knees, the mirror limp at her side.
       Saturn seemed not to notice their despair. With casual, elegant steps, she walked down through the air towards Master Pharaoh 90, who had stopped his spread at her arrival. After all, she'd been pulled from Mistress 9, who had become part of him, which had hurt him rather annoyingly. "This was all fate. You shared the dream. You've seen this climax. Nothing you could do would prevent it." With no interest at all, she eyed the amorphous blob below her. She seemed less a person than a wind-up doll. "It begun so long ago, this mistaken birth. In a different time, I was never to even come here, as a person."
       In a strangely violent gesture, she stabbed the tip of the glaive into Master Pharaoh 90. Surprisingly, he shrieked as if in pain, his entire form shaking like Jell-O; a disturbing parallel to make. But the biggest factor was that he had been hurt, something none of them had accomplished. Not even Super Sailor Moon. "I had been drawn to this planet mistakenly, away from my locked box. And then, my spirit needed a new confinement; I was born into several bodies, never awakened. The walls and a roof were enough."
       "Drawn away…oh, merde," Alex moaned, gripping Tuxedo Kamen's arm hard enough to bruise. He never protested, however. "The Ginzuishou. Its power would have captured their souls, knowing they were….it brought them all along, when they were never meant to be reborn the same, like all of you!"
       "Because Neptune and Uranus remember those past lives, they told us," he replied wearily, unsure if he was tired because of the battle, or simply ready to sit down and die now that Usa was gone. Or both. "Hai. They were pulled here as well."
       "This was all a mistake…I should've paid attention, I should've seen them being dragged along for the ride." He felt Alex release his arm, turning away; he turned as well, to pull her back into a tight hug as he saw her wobble on her feet, Chibi-Moon doing the same to her hip.
       They just held her, radiating forgiveness that she could feel, as Saturn said, "But then I was reborn one last time, into a body that soon approached tragedy. After an accident that nearly killed us, the girl, Tomoe Hotaru, was given a new life as a cyborg. Her father was brilliant, but bloodless; he saw a chance for recognition and accolades if he made his child into a superhuman. It was a jolt that woke my spirit when soon after, he implanted a daimon egg into that same body. I was pushed aside for an invader."
       She paced around in a slow circle, thoughtfully staring around at the ruins. A momentary flash of something - recognition? Sadness? - lit her gaze, then died. "That was the beginning. From there, it has been an unraveling string of fate, leading us all to this eventual climax. Nothing has changed. And so this is the end. I'll bring down my glaive, and bring that blessed Silence and ruin."
       "But what about our future!? We've seen it, it has to be fate as well!" Venus screamed from the rooftop.
       Saturn merely looked up at her. "Then perhaps in seeing it, you've created this fate instead."
       None of them had anything to say.
       Master Pharaoh 90 did. [Are you our ruin? I see the three lights within you; possibly, probably, you've come to stop us. But it's too late! This world is already changing with me, to become me, to become the second Tau star!]
       "I think not," she said calmly. She lifted the glaive high, shouting, "Death Reborn Revolution!"
       A spinning whirlwind of ribbons wound their way out of thin air and around the purple-clad sailor soldier, widening their radius. It was a funnel of negative power, the very opposite of what Master Pharaoh 90 could swallow, and quite appropriate for the god of ruin. It was also spinning like a proper tornado, drawing from the ground and going up into the sky, and it was pulling the amorphous creature with it, straight up through the rip and into what appeared to be space. [This is impossible! Such a negative power, sucking everything up to that space…but we haven't finished yet, this can't happen now!]
       "But it is, you foul creature. Go! Go back to your proper place across the stars. Already you've rendered this planet useless; I'll make sure even you will find it improper once I'm finished." Saturn continued the attack, and Master Pharaoh 90 screamed his rage as he was drawn up and away, pushed backward through the dimensional rip he had labored so hard with his spells and plans to open up. Left in his wake was a pitted, scarred wasteland.
       [What do you mean…you'll truly destroy this planet? A waste!]
       "It doesn't matter. To prevent the enemy from taking this world and subverting it, I will do what I was given this silence glaive to do. I will lower it to strike the ground and bring about the ruin and death of this world."
       She sounded calm at the prospect, and continued siphoning him away.

       Not everything was calm on the inside, however. Hotaru was screaming as loudly as she'd ever screamed in her life, utterly confounded in her attempts to 'knock some sense' into Saturn. The girl was just so damn cool, so damn placid, so utterly like some programmed robot that it was taking a lot of willpower for her not to just kick her and wrestle back control. She was saying things to her own face that she had never even dared say to anyone else, and certainly not in the order she had put them in - some biological functions were just not possible when one's mother was dead and one's father as well.
       And Saturn just stared at her, completely unperturbed. "I've told you, Tomoe Hotaru; this is fate. This is the logical climax of years. Though it is not my own choice -"
       "You don't say! Well, that's a fucking AMAZING observation!"
       "-and I would prefer a happier life within you and us, it simply is no longer optional. This is the Rubicon, and we have crossed it."
       Hotaru vented her frustration again into the emptiness of their shared headspace, wondering if she had driven her father completely into the abyss of madness with her years of doing the very same placid staring act. Of course, she had been glazed over with countless drugs and unblinkable eyelids for that span of time, so she had something of an excuse. Saturn's nonchalance and outright disregard for any kind of emotion - she seemed to think Hotaru was the crazy one for being so emotionally distraught over 'nothing' - apparently stemmed from something much deeper than pharmaceuticals.
       She looked around to see the double-vision sight of the dark whirlwind around their body, sucking up Master Pharaoh 90 like a milkshake through a straw. Grimacing at the thought - she was 100% lactose intolerant and hated milk products in all forms to begin with; now she was going to have even more nightmares of psychic space cows and their self-aware mutant cabbage if they survived this - she snapped, "Crossing does not mean inability to double-back. Just because you've been told this is your duty doesn't mean you can't decide it's wrong and stop!"
       "And why would I do that? The Earth has become infected. Only the Sacred Chalice could heal its wounds in the absence of its true master, and it has been swallowed by the darkness. This is the only way." Saturn turned away, walking into the shadows of their spacious mind, her posture and poise almost eerie in its perfection. Clearly, whoever she had been before she had awakened as the soldier of silence had been taught excellent etiquette. Hotaru felt like a gawky, awkward kid next to her older body; her only lessons in such propriety had been in watching the badly dubbed black and white foreign films, mimicking the dancers and gracious female leads.
       But she ran to catch up anyway, pounding the solid darkness beneath her feet like a tomboy racing to beat the boys and prove herself better. She was wearing her burgundy and green plaid Mugen uniform and thick black tights and the skirt wound around her legs as she pumped harder, finding it strangely hard to match Saturn's slow walk. "Saturn! What do you mean, the Sacred Chalice? Wasn't Usagi-san, Super Sailor Moon, the one who can heal the world?"
       "Only because she could wield the Sacred Chalice. The young princess, Super Sailor Chibi-Moon, could do it. But the cup has been lost, and so there is nothing else they can do. Only the Sacred Chalice could hold the sacrifice of power given from the three soldiers of the outer system and resurrect the life and the spirit of this chosen planet." Saturn hadn't even bothered to turn around and face her, the stubborn bitch.
       So Hotaru put on that last burst of speed to place herself in front of the taller soldier, forcing the other to stop. "Resurrection? Like a messiah? Usagi-san could do it; I have faith in her power and love, just like Chibi-Usa-chan. Why can't you see that it can be possible that she'll still rise free and cast away the evil? She can't fail, not when so many depend on her!"
       Saturn stared at her.
       "Usagi-san has an immense will and love for this planet. I know it! I've seen in her eyes! As the soldier Sailor Moon, she has the power to rise again, just like the Christian messiah after his death, the glorious rebirth. And she'll do it! She'll come back to this world, to stop you from making this terrible mistake!" the raven-haired girl cried, clenching her fists. She thought fleetingly of that bloody and confused religion, when the Son of God rose again after his horrific death. Her father had spent hours raving gleefully about the general patchwork; how the religion so blatantly stole from so many before it, pandering to the most basic bloodthirst in humanity by the ritual sacrifice of the messiah.
       And hadn't he supposedly done it out of love for humanity?
       Yes, she could believe that Usagi could do the same. Because she was an ordinary girl with a beautiful heart and an uncommon power. She was just like that tired messiah, only she was confident in herself as nothing more than a human being, and not a goddess. This was not ritual magic, but internal strength. And she could rise again, just like before.
       She realized suddenly that she was crying, her fist pressed against her mouth to muffle her sobs. "Why does this world demand such pain?" she whimpered, lifting blurred amethyst to the silent figure of Saturn. "People force the others' suffering. Papa did it. Kaoli-kun and her merciless little girls did it. But Chibi-Usa-chan and Usagi-san, they were pure of heart and free of that suffering! And it's because of those people, those pure souls, that this world still deserves a chance to live and breath!" Heedless of whatever social stigma she might've just breached, Hotaru pressed forward to grab the elder's hands, cool within their white gloves. "Onegai, Sailor Saturn; this world is only bruised, not destroyed. Don't do this! Don't be the cause of this eternal cycle of suffering. In this time, you have a choice!"
       "But this is my choice."
       Shocked, Hotaru reared back.
       Saturn stared at her with those depthless amethyst eyes, withdrawing her hands calmly to rest back at her sides. "What you say is lovely, but ultimately the very problem. Suffering exists because of the majority. And this world is bruised, as you say, but as in fruit, that bruise can become a rot. Gomen nasai, Tomoe Hotaru. But I choose my duty, eternal and infinite, as the wielder of the silence glaive. No matter how I could feel, the path has been lain, and I have already begun to walk its steps."
       That very glaive appeared out of the air above her head, and she reached up to take it. Spinning it expertly, she brought it around with one sure swing to level its sharpest tip just below Hotaru's chin, in fact lifting her head just slightly with the pressure. "Do not seek to subvert me any longer, Tomoe Hotaru. Already this has gone on far too long. And we will have an endless eternity after to argue."

       Uranus stared across the span of metres, seemingly kilometres, and saw a flash of sea green. It was difficult to hold onto, as the blackened funnel of Master Pharaoh 90 was drawn up through the air between them, a spinning maelstrom of palpable magic and disaster. But she could see it nonetheless, a tease of colour within her vision.
       At her side, Venus was silent. She seemed drained and defeated, unable to come up with some sure answer to their situation. The Dark Kingdom had killed her, the Black Moon had taunted her, and now, one of their own, a damned sailor soldier, was going to kill them all. A momentary soldier who lived only to be released like some wild animal into the arena, slaughtering the unfortunates before being locked up tight again. What could an existence like that be for her? Alive, awake, only to lower the glaive and die, resurrected into some Möebius whirl of a planetary prison, to do it all again perhaps centuries later. The long-haired blonde felt a pitying terror for the girl, coupled rather tragically with the warring need to kill her before it was too late.
       "I don't know whether to laugh or cry," the tall sandy-blonde said at last, a faint oath beneath her breath. "To have everything come to this waste."
       Venus didn't reply. Curious, Uranus looked up at her, seeing the firm set to her mouth, the narrowing slant of her twilight eyes. "Could we kill her?"
       "Nani?"
       "Could we kill her?" the long-haired blonde repeated sharply, every word bitten off as if it were a personal agony to speak them. And it probably was. She had executed Demand out of necessity, knowing he was massive threat to their security, and because of his attempted murder of their princess. He had been an enemy of the state, so to speak. But this girl was only doing her duty, what she had been given as her burden to bear just as they all had.
       Uranus looked away. "How amazing that you finally see our situation now that it's too late."
       "I had to respect her life, as a citizen of Earth!" Venus's rose like a slap across the face, close to hysteria. "That was my duty! I couldn't let you murder an innocent girl in cold blood, not when we could have intervened to stop your horrific vision from happening!"
       "But you didn't, did you? You and your damn morals didn't stop it! You rushed it faster to the climax!" Uranus snapped back, whipping her head around to match angered eyes. "If you hadn't been so damned childish, we could have prevented this, most of it, all of it! Do those morals warm your heart, Venus? Will it warm your soul in the afterlife!"
       And here was the end of the world, and they were fighting, really fighting. Venus slapped her across the face again, but this time Uranus was prepared, and she caught that wrist to throw her across the roof. Following quickly, she was held back by a quick roundhouse, though clumsy, and then a punch that nearly took off her nose. She swept her leg low to trip, Venus leapt over it, but she caught her in the gut with a quick elbow jab.
       The long-haired blonde fell onto her ass and leaned back onto her arms, kicking both legs up into Uranus's ribs, her lower torso lifting off the roof with the effort. Uranus went flying. Gasping and coughing, they stared at one another with self-righteous fury until Venus snapped, "I always had trust in Usagi, in our princess, that she would do the right thing even as we failed. Can you say that? Or do you trust in no one but your selfish self, Ten'ou Haruka?"
       Uranus jerked as if she'd been hit again.
       Trusting in someone else had been impossible since the day she could remember. It was herself against a world she didn't trust, because it was inherently duplicitous. A world that didn't except someone who went against the grain, who demanded to change what could and couldn't be. Smiling liars everywhere, wanting her only as some sort of voodoo doll for the screaming hordes, not caring about the mind behind it.
       A world that by and large did not accept a woman with hungers as common as a man.
       She could see that life like a tunnel, a long and dark path that conspired to swallow her for all those years, the various obstacles in her way hidden until she hit them. It was a small space allotted for her, barely wide enough to swing her arms at her sides.
       Until she met Kaiou Michiru.
       Then there had been light. Dim at first, barely informative, but just enough to show her the obstacles still in her way; and as time went on, even brighter illumination to show her that they were quibbling problems, easily stepped over. Nothing to worry about. The tunnel had widened; life had taken on a new vibrancy she had never truly realized until now. Even the largest obstacle of all, that vicious reminder of her gender, was weak in the wake of Michiru's gentle laughter and even gentler touch.
       And there had been trust. Trust in herself, in the aqua-haired beauty. They were partners against the evil, understanding one another when Haruka had never dreamed of finding such a person. But it had been coloured with her old paranoia, her sureness that at some point, Michiru would leave her, because she was not perfect, not whole, not man. Just a confused woman. She had never seen the truth because she continued to lie to herself excellently.
       Seeing Usagi's crystal blue eyes shine with unabashed goodness and trust in the same of everyone had broken another wall down, expanded the tunnel. This was a girl in whom all things seemed possible, a goddess come down to earth to walk as simply as the common people. To find out that she was a sailor soldier, the reincarnation of their beautiful princess, was a miracle; to know that even after seeing the darkness of mankind, she could still cry passionately on their behalf….ara, it was simple marvelous. To love her as her prince would have been to love the stars in heaven, to warm one's soul as only the purest elixir of the gods could accomplish.
       Her eyes widened as she realized: "Sou yo…I do trust in her. And to see her selfless act of sacrifice was the biggest despair."
       "Because it failed," Venus whispered faintly.
       The air had grown thin, easier to breathe; automatically they stood up, running to look over the edge of the roof. Master Pharaoh 90 was very nearly gone, thrust back through the ragged hole above their heads to his galaxy. But the sky still looked sick, the sea withdrawn as if to avoid the cancer he had spread; despair.
       Saturn had dropped to the last remnant of the Infinity building, oblivious to the sharp metal cutting through her boots. She stared up and around at them, and at the sky. Lifting the glaive, she stood poised for an eternity, most likely summoning her power, preparing to die at the epicenter of destruction for the kami knew what time. Or perhaps that was the simplest part of the power that caused such complete destruction; the sacrifice of her body and life to the blade's wicked cut. Perhaps she had to die for it to work.
       Mars didn't see any of it; she was seeing an earlier memory, of dim grey vistas and bodies lain waste. Of the same slender, raven-haired girl lifting the very same weapon to rain down upon the ravaged Moon Kingdom a cleansing destruction. And none of them would survive this. Their bodies would be swept up into the power and scattered like ash to the four corners, Earth becoming just another dead rock floating in space.
       Chibi-Moon was afraid. Holding her father's hand, and Alex's arm, she was afraid with the knee-knocking realization that they were going to die. Until now, there had been the possibility but not very much fear; not when Sailor Moon had been alive to save the day. Sailor Moon had been the anchor for her throughout the battle against the Black Moon, because she knew that somehow she'd win. She had that immense power, just as her mama and papa had told her.
       But now she was dead, beyond helping them, and they were going to die.
       She felt Alex shift next to her and she looked up, seeing a mixture of terror and regret on the tall red-head's face. "Again," she said ever so quietly. "It's happening again."
       They didn't hear the glaive's impact. But they felt it.
       The wind picked up, rolling over them like a tornado. Tuxedo Kamen moved to hug both into his arms, protecting them from those battering winds selflessly. On the rooftops, the girls were thrown nearly flat, hearing the shrieking wind as it tore apart the buildings beneath them with its fury, uprooting trees and the greenery that had grown so violently. Some of those vines lashed them as they flew past, drawing blood.
       And in the middle of it all, Saturn stood, a benevolent, musing smile on her face.

       The world was dying, and so was she.
       Hotaru stared desperately at the figure of Saturn as she held her calmly at bay, oblivious or uncaring to the trembling of their headspace. Their body was going to be torn apart soon, ripped into pieces like Osiris - and wasn't there some irony in that? - as the sacrifice for this primal magic. "Saturn!" she pleased again.
       "Iie."
       Throwing up her hands, Hotaru did the only thing she could; she turned and fled, running helter-skelter through their shared mind. Everything was falling apart, crumbling like some great Roman amphitheatre after so many centuries, revealing the inner layers of its foundation. She fled through her own memories, almost all of them terribly sad, some painful. Her mother smiled at her, already faint and distorted by time, but still lovely. Always lovely.
       Abruptly, she ran right into one of Saturn's.
       It wasn't intentional; one minute, she was simply running to escape the other's quicker footsteps, and the next had her surrounded by what she could recognize simply as palace walls. All royal buildings have that look about them of palatial comfort above the masses, no matter if stone or brick or mud. She was in a palace and she was staring at herself as a child of perhaps seven, dressed in a light violet gown with a silver band circling her forehead, holding what looked to be a fine silver mesh over her hair, studded with amethysts.
       She wasn't at home, she was visiting Jupiter as part of their customary, yearly public relations tour, which was why the walls had patterns of green instead of grey and purple. She was the crown princess, still so very young, but due to inherit the throne within the year, as Saturn recognized women at the age of nine. Her walk was slow and perfect, despite its agitation, one hand lifting her skirts with grace as to not drag the fabric across the floor. She was talking to an elderly man who was suited up as the Royal Knight of Saturn, what Hotaru would call a General of the Army, who was apparently pleading with her to stay put.
       This was the eve of the war. This was the war which had destroyed Saturn before Uranus and Neptune could intervene, its own sailor soldier subverted to destroy the planet. But even the Silence, as they called it, did not prevent a planet's soldier from being chosen, unless every single bloodline had been decimated.
       But the glaive had not yet been lowered, and the princess was arguing to go back to Saturn and stand at her father's side. She was to be queen in a year; she should have been there to fight back the enemy as well, as a strong monarch would do. Saturn was her planet; if it fell, it would be due to her failure. To hear a child say this chilled Hotaru; so strong was she in her conviction that she could very well make this man agree with her. Anyone, really. This was no child, but a damned woman in a tiny body.
       The monarch of Jupiter, however, decided to overrule her, and send her even farther away, to Mars. Jupiter was too close to the fighting; it would be ironic and irresponsible to keep Saturn's princess with them, only to have her die if the enemy invaded them as well. And so the entire entourage was placed onto a luxurious star cruiser and sent away, with plans of making it to Mars and to relative safety. No enemy, they reasoned, would hazard going through the asteroid belt, and the kingdoms had long ago fashioned a small artificial wormhole on both sides to entirely avoid the problem.
       So they left, and the princess damned them all.
       They had barely cleared the radiation field when the princess felt it; a warmth unlike anything she'd ever known in her few years. The elderly knight was the only witness to the sigil of Saturn etching itself upon her brow, and the power that came with it in a spontaneous rush to enfold her, strengthen her, and change her. In need of a sailor soldier, it forced her growth and maturity, and she found herself no longer a headstrong eight-year-old, but a fourteen-year-old. Now she had no choice; she knew her father was dead, because he had sworn to her that he would be at their guardian soldier's side; he had been her lover since the queen had died.
       Going back to Saturn they had found the most shocking evidence of all; a destroyed ruin of a planet, its beautiful and startling rings beginning to form from the debris. Sailor Saturn had arrived just in time to win the war, but not that most important battle, and no victory could soothe her tortured heart. In an instant, a princess had been denied her kingdom. There was simply nothing left for her to even pretend to rule. And to hear it from Neptune's lips that it had been the previous Saturn, her father's lovely blonde lover, who had been tricked into Silencing the planet….
       But she had no more tears to cry.
       The decision to have herself locked into the planet had been an easy choice. Alone, saddened, desperate for the solitude, she had been the master planner, deciding that the power of Saturn was simply too dangerous for another to wield. The spell locked both body and soul together, so that whenever she was called forth to perform her duty, she would consequently die but return again as Sailor Saturn. And again. And again. Safely hidden away from the universe and its upsetting lives. It had been a simple and elegantly perfect plan.
       Hotaru reared back as the span of time washed over her, the knowledge that all those years and decades and centuries had gone by as she had slept within her planet. She had been alone in the darkness, unable to wake up and walk away, knowing that she had time and damned time to spend in such a fashion. What did that do to a person? Even Pluto could have been naughty and stepped out of space-time to stretch her limbs; and still, trapped by the door, she was able to walk and move and jump and breathe and laugh.
       "Kami-sama…"
       So much time, and then finally, the trip of the lock, freedom to move and stand, breathing the air. Only to have it end within minutes as she brought the glaive down again, and then again, and for the last time down on the surface of the moon, watching everything disappear. But her soul had not gone to sleep as it was supposed to, the power of the Ginzuishou called her with it, as it had taken all of its children, to that possible future.
       Saturn, staring at her. "Don't feel pity for this. I chose that path of duty."
       "But it's so terrible…I could never do it."
       "The power has to be locked away. No one else can be trusted with it; that was my most solemn promise to the past."
       Hotaru slid down, falling onto her knees limply. The terror of living that subhuman life, trapped within the darkness; no, she could never chose that. And yet a similar existence had been given to her by a perverse father and a cruel enemy, her body not entirely her own, sacrificed to science and a horrible mistake. "But I don't want this. I want another chance at life, the life I never…happiness and sunshine and best friends and ice cream! That's what I want instead of this darkness."
       She looked up. "That's what you want, too."
       Saturn appeared incensed. "Don't tell me what I want, Tomoe Hotaru! What I want is never important, not anymore. The duty of a sailor soldier is everything. I chose this unselfish life."
       "Iie, it's not unselfish, but entirely selfish what you've done. You couldn't face life alone, without your papa or friends, so you allowed this prison! You locked away your planet's shining spirit like a pretty glass bauble so no one else could see it, all the while pretending it was so wonderful, so completely selfless! Only one mistake was made, and you've forced yourself to pay for it for so long, so very long…."
       "How dare you say such things to me!"
       Light flooded their eyes, stopping them cold. Turning to see the most amazing sight; a beam of narrow white light stabbing Master Pharaoh 90's earthbound remains like a sword, cutting through even the raging power of the oncoming Silence. And then it sharpened, took shape, forming a familiar body with long flowing hair, her arms stretched high above her head as if reaching for the sky, her power throwing back the daimon. "Princess….Sailor Moon!?"
       "Usagi-san!"

       It had been so very cold inside of the daimon. It had swallowed her whole, alive, like some oyster on the half shell, rendering her impotent. The cup had vanished from her hands, as well as her Super transformation; she had been merely Sailor Moon, trapped and dying as his laughter shook the world.
       She had sunk down into the emptiness, limp as a doll, unable to even open her eyes and fight the weakness assailing her limbs. [Sailor Moon, I feel your strong spirit. For giving your power to me so easily, I will make sure you are remembered in our new world, as you have now helped to build it.]
       "Iie…that was not my intent…" Had she even spoken those words? She wasn't sure that she could. So tired, so sleepy. She had come for a purpose into this darkness, and she couldn't remember why. Vague promises flashed through her mind; smiling faces unfinished mocked her memory. Why was it so hard for her to remember these things?
       So cold.
       As she dropped, she mused on the process of deterioration; in a normal situation, her heart would cease beating, her lungs working to draw in air, blood no longer flowing through her veins. It would all sink to the bottom like a sponge, colouring her rear extremities purple. And then the slow rot would set in, organs slowly expanding their gases, flesh drawing tightly over the bones. Shrinking to show the teeth and gums, fingernails seeming to grow. And then after more time, the bones becoming brittle, falling to dust.
       Now where had she gotten that information? She was hardly the morbid type.
       "…a fascinating process, not always due to climate…"
       It was rather disturbing an idea, her body becoming some tanned, leathery corpse.
       "…yes, but medical science has reached that point of preservation…"
       Had it been overheard in discussion?
       "…ara, but you forget, ancient civilizations reached it ages ago."
       Laughter. It echoed in her mind, and she saw that memory, a sunny day at the Crown parlor, a ridiculously carefree day. Ami and Moriya arguing over the achievements of the modern day, Ami passionate in her defense of medical science, Moriya easily countering her with ancient marvels. Rei had not wanted to join them, of course, the snob. Usagi had simply sat and nursed her soda, listening to her best friend and new ally debate like old hands. Within weeks, one of them was dead.
       But Ami was alive.
       Rei was alive, Makoto as well, Minako…
       Mamo-chan! Chibi-Usa! Haruka-san, Michiru-san, Setsuna-san…Alex onee-chan…
       Their faces rose up again, and this time, she knew them all as they smiled at her, beckoning for her to come back. And further, she could see her mama and papa, even her irritating little brother, Naru-chan and Umino, Chouko-kun, Rei's benevolently smiling grandfather, Ami's wry, gentle mother and slightly distracted father. And two she knew were Minako's parents, though she had never met them.
       All of the people she had to save, a mere fraction of the world.
       Master Pharaoh 90 sensed her struggling, and pushed down harder. [Don't fight this, Sailor Moon! Soon, everything will be perfect. The world will be born anew.]
       "Iie!" she said, this time with strength. "This world is happy the way it is! Maybe not perfect, but certainly happy! Master Pharaoh 90, stop this!"
       She fought, kicking her legs, moving in what she thought was an upward direction. The darkness weighed down on her limbs, attempting to hold her steady as it sapped away her power and life, like some liquid through a straw. [No, this is the climax of years! Nothing you do will prevent this from occurring. Give me your light!]
       Ohh…she felt so tired. Maybe this was the better way, just to give up and float. Her head lolled as she sighed, feeling everything slip away again as he exerted pressure, unable to fight back without her Super transformation giving her strength.
       But then the world shook around her, and she gasped as Master Pharaoh 90 howled. She was tossed upside down and around, spinning helplessly as if inside a cyclone, her head jerked back and forth so hard it felt as if her neck would break. Her mind felt clear again, however, even as she tumbled around, and she fought to regain control, to gather the strength to do what she remembered; to open the Sacred Chalice inside of the daimon.
       [This negative aura is defeating me so easily…truly, this creature must be that light of ruin! After all this time, it has come to defeat our master plan!]
       Flailing, she dropped even further.
       "The light of ruin….!? Not the god of ruin, not Sailor Saturn! Hotaru-chan! I'll break free, I'll stop that Silence from coming!" she swore, though there was a hint of desperation in her voice. The Sacred Chalice wouldn't come to her hand, so thoroughly was she entombed within the darkness, and without it, she would remain. She kept concentrating fiercely, trying to summon that power, her hands held high.
       A flash of gold between those palms; the shape of the cup indistinct.
       She concentrated harder, struggling.
       "For everyone…!"
       Her prince held her body in the cold of the Arctic, his mouth warm against hers. He had brought her back to life, because he loved her...
       "Onegai! Come back!"
       Laughing in the immense ballroom of the Crystal Palace, Makoto had told them a dirty joke.
       "Sacred Chalice, I command you!"
       In front of the Dome, Haruka was close enough to kiss, his, no, her, eyes darkening to the colour of the stormy sky. He could have easily been her prince, if they had met first.
       "Now, to my hand! I am Princess Serenity, I am Sailor Moon, and I command you!"
       The explosion of golden power took her by surprise, forming the Sacred Chalice in its entirety. Quickly she opened its lid, and the power of her friends, her allies, rushed out to envelope her in their warmth and love, transforming her into Super Sailor Moon. It expanded past her and punched a hole through her prison, clearing a path for her to follow.
       And when she opened her eyes, it was to witness the outside world.
       She felt dirt beneath her boots; the hard earth. Looking around, she found herself standing in the ruins of the Mugen greenhouse, the lovely roses and flowers now shriveled and black, utterly dead. Most of the walls were gone; and she had a clear view of the whipping wind, and the oncoming devastation. Her heart sank as she saw the cause. "Hotaru-chan!?"
       Saturn turned, smiling. "You've survived the daimon, Super Sailor Moon. A lovely miracle. But now you can witness the final step; the inevitable Silence."
       "Hotaru-chan…iie, Sailor Saturn…why are you doing this? Master Pharaoh 90 has been defeated now! Surely there's no need to cleanse Earth!" Gathering her courage, she leapt up, trusting in her power to carry her up and over, closer to the purple-suited soldier.
       "But does it matter when Earth has still been wounded? It's better this way. And this is my duty, to bring about this climax." Saturn floated higher, away from the odango-haired blonde, as if she feared her touch. "After so long, silence is beautiful to me, and this world will resemble that."
       Inside, Hotaru moaned. "Silence has never been beautiful."
       The power whipped at Super Sailor Moon's body, flinging her back and away. "Iie! I refuse to accept that! Surely your concept of beauty is of sunshine and happiness, of the laughter of friends; that's my beautiful world."
       Saturn frowned at her, gripping the glaive tighter. "I have no friends, Super Sailor Moon. How can I have such a concept of beauty?"
       "We're your friends!"
       "You were Tomoe Hotaru's friends."
       "That doesn't matter! Friendships are easy when you have a caring heart. All of us, everyone, has that. Your world of lonely darkness doesn't have to be forever, not when we're here to show you that laughter and happiness." Super Sailor Moon floated in front of Saturn, held back by that final wall of power, staring into amethyst gone dark and fearful. "I believe in that kind of world. This doesn't have to happen."
       Saturn stared at Hotaru, who stared back at her. Slowly, she nodded her head.
       Saturn bowed her head. "I wish I could have that, Super Sailor Moon. Tsukino-san…but this was my duty. And I have to perform it. But I'll do it in my own way, now!" Saturn cried, and she shot up into the sky, towards the jagged hole that still showed the swirling Tau Galaxy.
       "Sailor Saturn!?"
       Higher and higher she went, so fast none of the others could even shout out a warning or a curse, until she penetrated the jagged aperture. Out into space, where only her power kept her from freezing, dying horribly; and where the odango-haired blonde could not follow. "Super Sailor Moon, your power is wonderful. With the Sacred Chalice and such hope, you can save this world from the ravages of my power and that of the enemy. That is your mission now. And this is mine, to seal off this portal of darkness!"
       Hotaru took her hands, smiling. Finally, brightly, Saturn smiled back. "Arigatou," she said.
       The glaive fell again.

       Super Sailor Moon lay on a scarred, pitted landscape, crying piteously as they came to her. The sky was a sickly colour still, the triple towers and their concrete jungle looked like hell, but the hole had closed; Master Pharaoh 90 and the Tau Galaxy were gone, their portal destroyed, if not they as well.
       And so was Saturn.
       Tuxedo Kamen, of course, reached her first with a speed unmatched. He gathered her into his arms to hold her tightly, shaking with the realization that she had almost died for a second time as he had been helpless. If nothing else, he also learned that no matter how 'destined' their love might have been, how unable he had been to stop it, he didn't care. She had brought that happiness into his life, and he never wanted to lose it again. He'd just lock her in a closet until they were married, that's all.
       Chibi-Moon flung herself onto them, squeezing as tightly as her smaller arms would allow, wailing like a baby. "Mama, mama…!"
       Everyone else just sort of cantered to a stop, circling them roughly as they waited. They were not sure how they felt about Saturn's sacrifice; it seemed wrong, somehow, that in one fell swoop she gained their pity after trying to kill them. But then, she had never been an evil person, just a soldier with the unfortunate duty. It could have been any one of them instead of her, destined to die and be reborn for the same purpose. And that…was a terrible thought.
       Finally, Super Sailor Moon managed to extricate herself, and smile weakly at the others. "Minna…we did it."
       "It's actually more you than us, but we'll take credit where we can," Alex countered mildly, though there was an unusual tremble to her hands, the uneasy way she stood. Seeing the world nearly destroyed had shaken her up far too much for her own comfort. Again, she had been unable to do nothing as it all fell down around her, merely a witness to the tragedy. Plus, she had a killer headache still, which just sucked no matter what.
       "Hai, hai! You did it, Super Sailor Moon!" Jupiter crowed, clapping her hands.
       Apparently too tired to argue over it, the odango-haired blonde just nodded gracefully. Tuxedo Kamen helped her up as she said, "But it's not over yet. I still have to use the Sacred Chalice one last time…"
       At that, everyone just tiredly looked around at their surroundings; it looked as if an earthquake and a tidal wave had crash-landed into one another, put up a rousing battle of fisticuffs, and then retreated to lick their wounds, taking some souvenirs with them. The once-tall and stylish building of Mugen Gakuen was now a pile of rubble about the size of a one-room Tokyo apart, most of it strewn across the shattered courtyard. The Kaiou tower was missing a good half of its lower and middle floors, revealing tasteful furniture and quiet elegance, and in one case, a leather fetishist's wet dream of straps and saddles. Meiou had fared rather well, missing only several windows and its main entrance canopy. Ten'nou looked as if someone had taken a straight razor and sheared off the first few metres of brick façade, where Master Pharaoh 90 had left his mark. And that was just the surrounding area.
       No doubt property values would plummet.
       The gleam of gold caught their attention as the Sacred Chalice rose into existence. Holding it out in front of her, the odango-haired blonde opened the lid to reveal its curved, smooth interior, empty of even dust. "I don't know what to do now," she sighed, looking up thoughtfully. "To become Super Sailor Moon, I drank of its power. But what has to be done to summon the revival of the world…?"
       "You don't remember, tsukimidango? The queen summons the power of the three talismans to fill it, then drinks and uses their power plus that of the Ginzuishou," the tall red-head answered, nodding her head at the closest - Neptune's mirror - to make her point. "That's the magic formula."
       Super Sailor Moon nodded, frowning slightly. Then she closed her eyes, concentrating briefly; with a quick rush, her Super transformation fled, the power flooding back into its source with a rainbow of colours. It was euphoric, after such a tiring battle, to receive that strength back, and she could see her friends stand taller, throwing off their aches and pains. "I don't need your power, minna. Not for this. This is the work of the princess, not Sailor Moon."
       "Iie; this is the work of our future queen," Pluto corrected her softly, lifting the garnet rod high.
       The power of the talismans were nothing like the power of the planets; instead of colour, there was merely light, pure white and brilliant, far brighter than the fine net they had woven with its strength. This was the concentrated essence, given up entirely from its owners into the golden cup that seemed far too small to contain all of it, flooding it with what seemed to be the very sun and stars. Magic.
       When it was over, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto lowered their arms, staring at their sacred items with surprise; they had grown dim, altogether less lustrous, just as ordinary as a staff, or a rapier, or an antique mirror. They could have just bought them at the store as props for all of the power they now had; they even seemed smaller, less larger than life. "At least it's not the size that counts," Venus just barely heard Uranus mutter beneath her breath, staring at her sword.
       Sailor Moon lifted the cup to her lips and drank.
       Before, the first time, she had drunk of the pure power of all of her soldiers, the essence of their planets that they carried within them as avatars. It had pushed her to the newest level of transformation, a step closer to some undefined point that she had to one day reach, either as the queen or someone else; and the rush, the euphoric sensation of growth, had been magnificent. She had become Super.
       This time, she drank of the talismans, three sacred items that were in many ways the same as her crystal; they were a focus of power that did and did not have anything to do with the planet. Anyone could wield the space sword, or the deep aqua mirror; anyone could steal the garnet rod and have the power of time at their command. Just as anyone could steal her silver crystal and subjugate a world, destroy it in an eye's blink. They had been woven into shape for them, but they were not the masters, merely owners. And they were of perhaps an even greater power than even their planets could attest.
       Tuxedo Kamen watched in awe as the sailor fuku was torn away, replaced by the flowing folds and pure white cloth of her gown, golden embroidery curving along her breast, pearls lovely in her hair, winding her torso. Her hair grew longer and softer than silk, twisted into an almost-artful twirl by the teasing winds left in the wake of Saturn's glaive. As she smiled, lifting her hands again to summon the Ginzuishou, she rose on bare feet to tiptoe, her soft skin reddening from the harsh concrete.
       Their princess was rebuilding the world.

       Chouko Iretsu opened his eyes and hitched in a breath of air, deciding that he had been given an epiphany; death was not for him.
       The world had a glittering sheen to it, a brand-new, out-of-the-box freshness. Even the roof beneath his feet had the same newness, sturdy as the day it had been lain, and no longer cracked and broken. His drawings lay scattered at his feet, smeared by wind and other things, but essentially complete. He gathered them up, and set about collapsing his easel for proper storage, outwardly calm; but a careful observer could see his hands shaking. Death was not as easy as the tragically morbid tried to claim. They had yet to experience it.
       Around him lay the stunned and the weeping faithful, their voices now rising in an uneven melody as they praised Serenity for saving them, though many were leaving in groups, understandably shaken. The Chinese woman and her son had lowered into kowtow and had not yet risen; the young boy with the unusual eyes stood at the edge of the roof, watching the sky and its slowly gathering clouds, fluffy and white for a proper sunny day. It was going to be a lovely day too, Iretsu knew.
       With everything packed up properly, the dwarf went down a set of stairs no longer threatening to break beneath his feet, walking easily down the road, heading for Juuban. If he made good time, he might even make it home to start his first painting before the sun passed its zenith; the triumph of the princess Serenity over the evil witch.

       For such a minimally scarred world, it took an effort to fix; perhaps, because it was partially damaged to begin with. Their princess could feel the wounds, scabbed over and old, from Metallia's invasion, those that she had not managed to heal but only minimally seal; she could sense the disruption of space within the Delta that still lingered, so deep within the dirt. And so many people to breathe new life into, to open their eyes where they had fallen, cut down by debris or fear.
       And she was not entirely their princess! No, not yet; and just like before, when she had used the Ginzuishou bare handed, it put such a strain on her body that the first time had killed her. This time she had aid from the talismans, their power buoyant, winding around hers like a symphony chorus to add not subtract, but it was still weakening her. And she wanted to fix these mistakes now, while there was time and energy to do it!
       She felt strong hands at her waist, a warm body at her back. Mamo-chan. Power given freely, a sympathetic rush that reminded her of her crystal. And then she felt the touch of the others, their power promised to her hand, and she gasped at the sensation, all of it drawn in like a sponge, squeezed out in the same manner to touch the world. She saw her soldiers taken up by that power, pushed into a second level of transformation as had she. And the world was singing in gratitude, all of its children spared from the darkness yet again by her determination.
       All but one. Hotaru.
       Hotaru….
       The girl should never have died, not when she could have had a long and wonderful life. A life free of science and magic spells, full of the laughter of childhood and happiness. It seemed so tragically unfair that she was the sacrifice to save the world; an innocent girl who had been so kind to Chibi-Usa, who had desired no more than a friend.
       Effortlessly she envisioned her one last time; not as the harpy Mistress 9, nor the taciturn Sailor Saturn, but as the pale, wan Tomoe Hotaru as she had been born in this cycle of their lives.
       What happened next was perhaps a wish granted; the sudden cry of a child.
       As their princess sank slowly back into her prince's arms, almost instantly asleep within the warmth of his embrace, the gathered sailor soldiers writhed as the power that had transformed them withdrew, leaving behind their own singular, remarkable strengths. Stunned, slightly disoriented, they were not exactly tired but weary, on the verge of sinking down onto hands and knees as well. Their guardian laughed as though she were drunk, sitting down on a chunk of rubble with her hands between her knees as she basked in their emotions, staring out at the clean courtyard of the triple towers, the foundations of Mugen utterly gone.
       And then she paused, seeing a small wriggling shape; again, there was a soft cry. "What is that sound…?"
       "It's a baby," Mercury whispered, stunned; she knew that plaintive cry, had heard it over years of her mother's term at the hospital.
       "A baby? Masaka!" Neptune was on her feet quickly, catching herself as she staggered a step before running towards the small body. It wasn't hard to miss, though it was so small; a faint violet glow surrounded the baby, fading away as she came close, except for the smallest circle of power that marked the sigil on the child's forehead. "The mark of…Saturn?"
       She knelt to lift the naked infant, cradling it comfortably within her arms. Or rather, her; a quick inspection revealed that it was indeed a girl, with soft black hair crowning her head with fuzz. And when she opened her eyes, they were a warm amethyst, wide with joy at the world into which she had been reborn. "Tomoe Hotaru!"
       "She was reborn after her sacrifice," Uranus remarked quietly, standing behind her.
       "Reborn, and all alone, with her wicked father preceding her to death's door," Pluto added, kneeling to tickle her soft cheek.
       Neptune looked up, smiling wistfully as she caught her lover's eyes; this time, there was no aversion, not a hint of regret. They met each other halfway, and knew now that they always would. "Let's raise this girl ourselves, ne? After all, we can only find happiness together. As a unit, we're strong. And this girl could be one of us, after her years of pain."
       Uranus knelt down beside her, brushing back a strand of aqua hair, tucking it behind her maddeningly perfect ear. "Would it make you happy, Michiru? A happy home, with a happy family to show for it, just like the books say. I'd like to give you that."
       "And I would love to have that, as well," Pluto sighed, sharing their smile.
       They rose in unison, Hotaru snuggling and burbling into her adopted mother's breast, unaware of anything but warmth and security as she waved her tiny fist in the air. She giggled as Neptune held her up for the others to see, as if presenting the newborn for the kingdom's inspection. "Hotaru-chan…? She's a baby again!" Chibi-Moon jerked forward, stopping short of touching the child; her hand shook as it hovered centimetres from her skin. "Hotaru-chan…"
       "She's been reborn, to have a second chance." Serenity's voice was sleepy, but strong enough to reach all of them as she reclined in her prince's arms. "By my wishes, by all of our hopes, she was brought back to try again. She deserves that life."
       "That's a powerful magic," Mars whispered.
       Uranus nodded. "The power of our princess and future queen, assuredly."
       The three outer system soldiers matched eyes, then looked back to the assembled soldiers. "Since the enemy has been vanquished, our mission has ended properly," Pluto explained, spreading her hands wide. "Now our powers are no longer needed. So we've chosen this new mission, to raise Tomoe Hotaru, to give her that new life."
       "After all, we were never close to that shining light," Uranus sighed wistfully, her words directed at everyone, though her eyes were lingering all too obvious on Serenity. "This was always our way, this distance. We'll be leaving now."
       "But where will you go?" Jupiter queried.
       Neptune shrugged gracefully despite the bundle in her arms, smiling that enigmatic smile that so many thousands applauded. It said nothing. "Wherever we chose. Our lives are our own, again. But we'll always come back to you, because we're all soldiers."
       The tall red-head said, "Is that a threat or a promise?"
       Pluto laughed. "Perhaps both, Guardian-sama."
       Uranus laughed as well, though Neptune looked skyward as if pleading for mercy. But she looked down quickly at the tug of her skirt, blinking in surprise to see Chibi-Moon staring at her with wide, pleading eyes. "Do you really have to leave? I'm so sorry for what I did to you…I don't want you to leave with anger in your heart. As well, Hotaru-chan…"
       The aqua-haired beauty shifted the baby, reaching to cup Chibi-Moon's cheek. "It doesn't matter, Small Lady. What you did was with true intentions; and I can forgive you for that kindness, we all can. But we do have to leave, because Hotaru deserves a new happiness. And we, too, need our new lives."
       "But will you come back, truly?"
       "I promise. Here…" With a flourish, she called forth her mirror, holding it out for the pink-haired child to take. "You can return it to me when we come back. But will you want to give it back to me, after having such a lovely gift?" she teased.
       Chibi-Moon blushed, taking the mirror and looking into the surface. It was blank, showing only her face. "I'll only give it back to you, Kaiou-san."
       "Of course, Small Lady. And I'll only take it back from a strong and serious soldier. A true princess. You'll become that lovely figure before we return, I know it."
       The wind slapped her face as the three disappeared, racing to their new lives. "Neptune, Uranus, Pluto…! Hotaru-chan…! Wait for me to be strong!"

       It was in the newspapers that the complete destruction of Mugen Gakuen and the Tomoe laboratories had been faulty gas lines; and nevermind that both structures were gone without a trace, save for rubble and rock. Again, the capacity for the human mind to rationalize the ridiculous was filling in the blanks when needed, making a plausible story.
       The news about the talented violinist, Kaiou Michiru, going on a world tour, and the racer, Ten'ou Haruka, boarding the plane for a race in America, was buried on pages two and seven. Only minimally noted was their attendance at the school, and their abrupt departure from their lavish condos to a house in the country. No one blamed them.
       Chouko Iretsu opened his show titled "The Infinity Saga" at an upper class Ginza establishment, selling almost every painting. Everyone remarked later that the odango-haired blonde, a young thing hanging off the arm of her obvious beau, looked remarkably like the silver-haired angel that had risen above the destruction, arms wide to banish the evil. But perhaps she was the model, or an inspiration, because surely, angels didn't exist. Most of them turned instead to talk of the warmer days, how beautiful they had become in the absence of dark storm clouds and threatening skies.
       Summer was definitely about to arrive.