Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ The Fragility of Time ❯ "The Very Long Night of Mizuno-san" ( Chapter 25 )

Racing through the streets of Tokyo, an ambulance sped towards the nearest hospital. Normally it would have raced a little slower, but there are some patients for whom one needs to take the extra risk to shave precious minutes of the transit times, and a critically injured Sailor Senshi was one of those. She appeared to be alive more as a result that the fact that she should be dead hadn't sunk in than anything else.

Reaching the hospital in half his normal time, the driver backed into the ambulance bay. Before the ambulance had even come to a complete stop, the paramedic had thrown open the back doors and jumped out. By the time the driver made it around to the back ten seconds later, the paramedic and Sailor Mercury had already removed Sailor Venus.

Moving as fast as they could, the three burst into the hospital where the ambulance crew handed off the patient to the emergency room doctors. Letting a nurse take the gurney from her, Mercury continued to follow Venus into one of the rooms. However, before she could enter the room, an attempted to accost her, "Hey you there, only authorized personal are allowed beyond this area."

Mercury however ignored his protests as she instead knocked him out of her way and into a wall. So focused was she on Venus that Mercury did not even realize how rough she had been with that orderly, nor what happened when she pushed him out of her way. Standing out of the way, she watched as the doctors and nurses began taking Venus's vital signs while preparing her for any surgery that might need to be done. As serious as the situation was a slight smile crossed her lips as she saw one of them attempt to cut Venus's fuku, the shears did not survive the attempt.

Attempting to think of a way to allow the doctors to operate on Venus, she was interrupted when the lead doctor noticed her presence. Like the orderly moments earlier, he tried to use his authority to tell her to leave. <There is no way that I am going to leave Venus alone, anyways I know what is wrong with her far better than they do.> "I am not leaving and don't think of calling security, as that won't work. I wonder, how many of you here know anything about Sailor Senshi physiology? We may be human, but our powers complicate matters. Treat the wrong wounds and you will be just wasting your time. Plus you need me to deactivate her shield spells."

Thinking about what the blue haired warrior had said the doctors had to admit that she did speak the truth. Until now, they had just assumed that there was nothing different between this patient and any other one, but if there were substantial physiological differences that would pose a problem. And the mangled pair of sheers that one of the nurses held up proved that they needed help at least in that department. Conceding the lead doctor said, "Point taken, you may remain here as long as you don't get in the way. Now wash up and put some scrubs on."

<Well I can do one step better.> Mercury thought to herself while mentally calling upon her power. With a blue glow, her body lit up as her Senshi uniform changed from a battle outfit to a doctor's scrubs (in light blue and white of course) and the magic field reorganized itself to form a sterile barrier after giving a pulse of energy to kill any microbes on her body. "How's that?" she asked feeling a bit pleased with herself.

The others looked on in surprise at the warrior's transformation, but quickly shook the shock off and got back down to work. Walking over to Venus while deploying her visor, she scanned the unconscious warrior and frowned. <This would be a lot easier if I had let Usagi come with me to the hospital. As princess, she has the ability to take control of our uniform energy matrixes, and can therefore cause us to henshin or de-henshin on her command (using the Ginzuishou of course). I just hope this doesn't hurt Venus too much.> Not having the powers of the planets tied into her birthright like Serenity, Mercury could only take down Venus's shield by one method, the same method that any enemy would use. "Forgive me for what I am about to do Mina-chan." Mercury whispered.

Closing her eyes, she stretched out her arms and focused on her connection to her other self while calling out "Mercury Power!" to aid in the focusing. Responding to its spirit's call, the energy of Mercury flooded into her body. With her heart crystal already saturated with its normal level of energy, the new influx leaked out to course up and down her body, causing her to glow a pale blue. As it was only lightly bonded to her body, some of the energy rose away causing a wind to pick up in the ER. Only seconds into the channeling, Ami could feel her senses burn from controlling all that energy, while below her the floor began to crack and crumble. However, she just gritted her teeth and struggled to channel even more energy. Then when she could finally hold no more energy at ready, she placed her hands on Venus's chest and unleashed the built up store in a single bright ice-blue flash.

The energy shot down her arms, into her hands, and from there across Venus's body. Still maintaining tight control of the pure elemental energy, she allowed it to only graze the skin, not to penetrate. Racing as it did across Venus's skin only nanometers from the surface, its energy was fully absorbed by the unconscious warrior's "shield" spells. Then in a flash of golden light the energy matrix overloaded, collapsing, the Senshi Fuku vanished to be replaced by a teenager's clothing.

Ami held her breath as the collapse proceeded, watching the progress on her visor. It was key that only one of the normal Senshi spells collapsed, the one that protected Minako in battle. Some of the others did not matter, but the glamour spell had to remain up otherwise Aino Minako would be revealed to the world as Sailor Venus. As the collapse ended she was able to breath normally again, the gamble had worked. Her scans showed no more damage to Venus and that the glamour spell was still active.

"What?" one of the others asked after calming his racing heart from the light show.

"The only way that a protection spell can be dropped involuntarily is to overload it, which is what I just did. Her clothes changed because those are what she was wearing before her henshin." Mercury explained

"Are you all right?" another one of the doctor asked as he noticed that Mercury was not looking too good. Thankfully, her condition looked bad enough that he did not wait for an answer and managed to be in place catch her as her legs gave out. Supporting Mercury, he guided her over to a chair.

"Arigatoo," Mercury replied, thanking the doctor. "Overloading the protection spells took almost more energy than I had to give. I should have done it back at the tunnel, before her protection magic was able to fully recharge." <Hopefully I will never have to do something like this for Usagi or Pluto, Pluto two of us working together we might be able to handle, but I am not sure if all of us together could do the same for Usagi.> Ami thought, before continuing, "I will be fine in a few minutes, however I can still use my computer to help guide you."

At first, the staff did not believe that Mercury could possibly diagnose Venus from that distance, but after double-checking some of the stats she gave them, they accepted that that little handheld computer was a medical wonder. Of course if the full extent of the ailments that Mercury read off were to be believed it was a miracle that the blonde was even still breathing. Though at the same time her condition was a lot better then they would have expected for someone found embedded in a cement wall.

As the list ailments grew, the doctors came to appreciate what being a Sailor Senshi meant. There were multiple cracked bones, lacerations, some internal bleeding, torn tissue and organs, and the girl's back was a mess of second and third degree burns. Then to top that off, that blue haired warrior told them to ignore many of the wounds and for others just a simple treatment was all that was needed. Though she did have them do some surgery to patch up the damage to her internal organs, the worst of her injuries.

Three hours later the crew finished up their work, Venus's condition was stabilized. Venus would be in and out of consciousness for the rest of the day. But more importantly for Mercury in a few hours, the critical point would be passed. Minako currently still could not live with her injuries; the energy of Venus was keeping her alive. But from the work the doctor's had done, and the limited healing that Venus's energy could do she would soon be able to support her own life. Once that happened, all her Senshi powers could be devoted to regeneration.

Well except for those maintaining her disguise and the pending reactivation of her protective magic. That was one complication that Mercury had forgotten about at first. Thankfully, her computer had sounded an alert as Venus's body began pooling the energy to reform the Senshi Fuku and its protective spells. By not giving a blow to Venus herself, she had not shattered the henshin spell. Consequently, the spells attempted to reform themselves on their own, which was a problem. Thankfully, an ice brace that she formed around one of Venus's wrists provided a sufficient energy drain to prevent that. Ami hated having to hurt Minako even more, but it had been the only way to ensure that the blond would live through the night.

As an orderly took the patched up Venus to one of the recovery rooms, Mercury dispelled the ice restraint. She figured it would take about another ten minutes or so before Venus's Senshi Fuku reformed.

Following Mercury out of the ER, the head doctor said, "Thanks for your help miss Mercury. I would not have thought it possible to save your friend. You know you should consider a career in medicine."

"Thank you for the compliment. Medicine is my dream, or at least it was before who I am caught up with me." The last part Mercury said while gesturing at her outfit, which had returned to the standard Senshi fare.

In response to the inquisitive look the doctor gave her, Mercury continued, "This was a destiny that I was born with twice, to carry the power of Mercury for as long as I live. Why I was chosen I do not know, but through my soul I can feel my guardian planet watching over, and aiding me. When I pass beyond, another baby will born and take my place as the Warrior for Mercury. Though at least for them they won't live 14 years not knowing their destiny."

With that, a slightly sad Mercury said goodbye to her new friend and headed towards the cafeteria. While she did not regret being a Sailor Senshi, and would not trade it for anything, Usagi meant too much and had given her too much for it to be any other way, she was also saddened that she her dreams would go unfulfilled. She knew the others did not see it that way, but her rational mind had already analyzed it all. She would always be a warrior and a simple quiet medical practice would never satisfy her now. No the closest she would ever be able to get to medicine would be as a combat medic, her sense of duty would see to that. But if it was fighting for her princess then that would be more than enough.

By the time Ami ended her self-reflection about the change in her future, she had cheered herself back up. Like the other Senshi, no matter how dark the situation seemed, knowing that it was Usagi they were risking their life for made everything seem better. Hearing her stomach growl Ami realized that she had better do a better job of finding that cafeteria, it was almost eight after all. Now paying attention to where she was going, Ami noticed that people were looking at her funny. Of course, when she realized the why, she felt like whacking herself on the head with a book. <Had almost forgotten that I was in my Senshi form. The people back in the ER and probably those up in the wing where they are putting Minako know why I am here. But unless I want to start a panic or a fan riot, I should do something about my appearance. With the security cameras, I can't risk returning to my civilian form. Plus, my mom works at this hospital and someone might recognize me. Well there is one option.> Her mind made up Mercury released the protective Senshi magic while maintaining the glamour spell which blurred her appearances just enough. However, instead of returning to her civilian clothes, deciding that to be too risky, she instead let the magic reform as a dress that she might wear while on official state business back during the Silver Millennium, that being not too far from the truth.

Leaving the tunnel, Uranus carried the unconscious princess in her arms while Neptune and ChibiMoon followed. Mercury had told the two them to take the princesses home, however dropping by the Tsukino residence in their Senshi forms probably would not be the best of ideas. So instead, they headed back to where Haruka had parked her car that afternoon. Finding a secluded spot by the car the three conscious warriors dropped their magic and walked casually to the car.

Even though Haruka, Michiru, and ChibiUsa were back to their civilian forms, they still needed to be careful of staying away from anyone else. The unconscious warrior that Haruka carried would draw attention if anyone saw her wings, which thankfully were covering the more obvious parts of her Senshi uniform. Luck was with them and the streets were nearly deserted, most people eating dinner then.

Piling into the car, they secured their still unconscious princess. After sitting down, ChibiUsa looked over her mom and was uplifted. She could here the faint sounds of Usagi beginning to fall into a deep, but a perfectly normal sleep. With her mother, the sound of snoring always meant that she was okay, and so ChibiUsa sat back in her seat happier. Or at least she was in a positive mood, until Haruka's driving scared her stiff.

Nervousness and agitation gnawing at Haruka, she drove her yellow sports car like a formula one racer down the streets of Tokyo. Placing a hand on her partner's thigh, Michiru tried to calm the blonde down. "You need to calm down dear, otherwise you are just going to hurt the princess if you get into an accident. Plus how would we explain to a police officer ticketing you for reckless driving why we have an unconscious Sailor Moon in the back seat?"

Haruka took Michiru's words and tried to take a deep breath to calm herself. "I know, but I am just worried about…"

"You who would gallantly run into battle without a care to the odds is worried about a pair of regular people?" Michiru replied.

"But they aren't regular people. They are the princess's Earth parents, and her father just scares me, plus I think he has a shotgun in the hall closet somewhere." The frightened Haruka replied.

Michiru could only laugh and shake her head at her partner's fear. "Just try not to hit on the princess and I think that you will be fine. Or at least have no more to fear than me."

Far sooner than the Wind Warrior would have liked she pulled up in front of Usagi's house. Getting out she picked up Usagi while the other two got out of the car. Reaching the front door, ChibiUsa let the two of them in and they headed up to Usagi's room. Hearing people coming in, Ikuko came out of the kitchen to greet them. However, upon seeing them carrying up the sleeping Moon Warrior, she managed to hold off her questions till they came back down. <At least nothing can be too wrong. Usagi doesn't look any the worse for wear, only a few areas where she was obviously banged up. But a whole lot better than some times when she comes back in. I am still amazed by how fast those wounds clear up, always gone by the next morning for school. But that is not quite correct is it? She must just be healing the surface wounds first, to keep people from asking questions, for I can tell that at times the now unseen wounds still pain her. However, she was also snoring just now, and doing a pretty good job of it as well. That is the one thing that I do know about my daughter. If she is snoring up a storm then she is perfectly healthy.> Having reassured herself Ikuko smiled and went to prepare some tea.

The timing of the tea turned out perfect, as Haruka and Michiru were just coming down the stairs as Ikuko poured out the three cups of tea. Carrying a tray with the cups, she heralded the two Senshi into the living room with her unspoken demand for answers.

"Your daughter will be fine, Ami looked at her before we brought her home." Michiru said after taking a few sips of the tea. "None of us know what happened, only Minako and the princess were there at the time. Thankfully, though she appears to be only suffering from exhaustion."

"However, when she gets up I wouldn't be surprised if she decided to clean out your pantry." Haruka remarked with a grin.

The two Senshi remained talking with Ikuko like that till she finally had to get up to fix dinner for her family. During the time that they talked, Mamoru had come to check on Usagi before heading back to his apartment. As Ikuko excused herself to go fix the dinner, Michiru and Haruka relaxed back in the chairs finishing up their tea.

"Mmm… That smells good. I wonder what she is cooking?" Haruka asked.

Though Michiru did not respond to Haruka's question, her stomach told her that the two of them should be taking their leave soon so that they could get their own dinner. Ikuko had of course extended to them an offer to stay for dinner, but they had declined. However, by unspoken agreement the two had decided to stay till their princess awoke.

Finishing with her math homework, ChibiUsa closed her textbook and placed it back in her bag. There she had finished her homework. Looking up at the time she saw that it was nearly seven and the aroma of dinner wafting up further reinforced that it was dinnertime. For a moment, the child thought about waking Usagi, but then decided against it.

"Mmm… that smells good." A sleepy voice said, as ChibiUsa was getting up from the desk. Looking over to the bed, ChibiUsa saw that sure enough that the smell of food had aroused her mother from her slumber. "Ooh, what happened?" Usagi continued, holding a hand to her head, "Don't feel quite all here yet. Wait how did I get here?" And then looking down at her outfit, "And why am I still wearing my Sailor Fuku?"

Happy that her mother was awake again, ChibiUsa replied, "Usagi no-baka, you passed out while fighting."

"I passed out?" the Moon Warrior asked incredulously.

"Yep, you were out cold by the time that we got there. Though it seems your stomach is still working odango-atama."

"Why you little spore." Usagi said, as she stood up to give chase to her daughter. However, a quick bout of lightheadedness killed that idea. Instead, she decided to more sedately follow her daughter downstairs and feed her stomach. <Wonder why I am so hungry, feels like I haven't eaten all day.> However, as she began walking down the steps she realized that she had forgotten about her Senshi Fuku. Hanging her head, a bit annoyed with herself, Usagi headed back to her room as she dropped her magic.

Usagi headed back to her room, so that she could change out of school uniform. Not long ago, food would have come first before changing out of her clothes. But since that battle up in the artic, things were not that simple. Instead she now had wings, which were much more comfortable to leave out than absorbing into her body. She had realized in the past few days that it was not really a glamour spell that hid the wings; instead, they were pulled into her body. Unfortunately, that meant that there was a slight discomfort in hiding them that way. She could manage it for school or longer periods of time. But she always was happy to get home and to be able to change into one of her specially modified house outfits that allowed her to leave her wings out.

After finding something to eat, Mercury had headed up to Venus's room. Once again, there were complaints from the hospital staff about no visitors and the like. While she was not one normally to get what she wanted by force, Ami quickly found that displaying a little bit of her magic to be very effective in quieting the objections.

Once she did manage to secure passage to Venus's room and after doing a quick check on Minako, Ami decided to attempt to begin puzzling together what had happened in that tunnel. She had a few scans from the site and ones of Venus and Sailor Moon that she could analyze. Her first instinct was that the enemy was responsible for the blast, however that did not fit in with the evidence.

The blast was centered at Sailor Moon, and she seemed unhurt by it. Of course, the Ginzuishou could always have protected its master, however that then left open the question as to why the enemy would have wasted so much energy in an obviously very unfocused attack. The other problem was that every reading she had taken was saturated with the princess's energy signature. That seemed to suggest that Sailor Moon was the source of the blast, but why and how.

Even as much as Sailor Moon appeared to be the source of the blast, she was also the reason that Venus was still alive. Venus's body was swimming in the Moon's healing energy. As much as she had told the doctors about the resilience of the Senshi body, Venus should have died from her injuries. Maybe a full Senshi could have survived, but they were not yet full Senshi. Their bodies were too young, even if just a year or two away, and the connections with their planets had not been fully reestablished. The princess had begun that process nearly a month ago, but it was only just started.

What troubled Mercury the most though, was not what had happened, but what would happen the next time something like this occurred. She still did not know what had trigged the massive explosion of energy, but something told her that it could easily happen again. And what would happen the next time it occurred. Her scans indicated that Venus had only minor injuries prior to the ones resulting from the blast. But what would happen if the next time this occurred one of them was already seriously injured, or if the blast triggered other explosions, knocked them off a building.

Or even worse, what if this release of energy was more powerful next time. That last possibility worried Mercury the most. Sailor Moon obviously had immense power; she had easily destroyed that droid Constructica the other day. And at the same time, Sailor Moon posed a conundrum for Mercury, as the princess did not seem to fit into the mold of the others. And then there was the issue of the Ginzuishou, the crystal that had sustained life on the member planets of the Silver Millennium. She had a feeling that a hydrogen bomb's power would pale in comparison to one of these blasts at full power.

Of course, the princess would never attack any of them on purpose. Heck, she would be unable to bring herself to kill them even if they had somehow turned evil. That was the way their princess was. But then what about today? They did find Serenity unconscious, so might she have lost control of a spell? If so, what could cause a spell to go so horribly wrong?

The sounds of life from Venus ended Mercury's attempts to unravel the latest mystery. Looking up at the clock on the wall, she realized that another eighty minutes had passed. Looking over at the source of the noise, she saw that Venus was awake. Running a quick scan as she got up to walk over the bed, the blue haired warrior smiled.

"Well look who is up." Mercury said, "You are going to be just fine."

"Mercury?" Venus asked a bit confused. Looking around, the blond discovered that she was in a hospital. "What happened? I don't remember anything other than a bright light."

"I was hoping you would be able to tell me. However, my guess is that somehow a spell Serenity was using backfired. The resulting blast made you part of the tunnel's wall and almost killed you. I came with you when you were brought here and made sure the doctors correctly patched you up. But now that you are awake we can leave."

"Sounds good to me." Venus replied with a strained smile.

"She is not going anywhere, she needs her rest. Even your supposed Senshi healing abilities need time and she is much too fragile to move now." A familiar voice called from the door.

Turning, Mercury gasped in horror. <MOM!> echoed through her mind as it went blank. A warrior who had faced death twice before was now utterly useless confronting her mother. <Okay calm down Ami, you can handle this. She may be your mother, but in this form she isn't. Just act all professional like before. Argh… I don't like this, why did it have to be her on duty tonight?> "Well, ahh…" Mercury stuttered, loosing the little confidence she had managed to pull together. Thankfully, a hand reached out and grasped onto her arm, proving the needed support to steady her nerves. Mercury shot Venus a quick look of thanks before turning back to her mother. "Yes that is correct. But she needs to be able drop all her magic spells to maximize her healing rate and she can't do that here in the hospital without risking revealing her identity. I promise she will get the rest she needs."

Doctor Mizuno appeared to be contemplating that explanation. Mercury knew she could always just leave, and her mom would be unable to stop her. But, she could not do that to her mother, another doctor yes, but not her mother. Being the good doctor's daughter, Ami could read her mother's expressions and her hopes sank as she realized that her mother was not going to go for the offer. <What do I do know? I can't leave Venus here, Usagi will be in here by morning and then we are just asking for trouble. But I can't walk out on my mom either; I would just feel too guilty when I got home. Plus she would probably weasel it out of me. Ugh! What to do?> "How's this, I will be by when you get off work and will take you to see her. And if you feel that she belongs back in the hospital, we will bring her right back. I give you my word on the royal house of Mercury."

This seemed to sufficiently assure Mizuno-san, as the blue haired doctor proceeded to nod her assent. She knew that this was the best option that she was going to be able to get out of this deal. At least she was going to be able to check in on the patient in a few hours and make sure that being moved hadn't hurt her.

Mercury moving quick so that her mom would not have a chance to change her mind called forth her fog obscuring everything in the room. Moving over to the bed she whispered down at the blonde, "Mina-chan you can drop your Senshi magic now. You need all your energy for healing your body. It is only because of that that I am risking moving you." As the magic fell, Mercury picked the wounded teen up in her arms and headed for the window. Using her foot, Mercury kicked it open and jumped out into the night. Only later as they were traveling along the roofs towards Mako's apartment did the magnitude of what she had said to her mom finally dawn on her. <Oh my god, I just told mom that I would take her to see Minako. She is going to know who we are then, Rei is going to be furious and what am I going to tell Usagi.>

After watching Mercury depart in the ambulance with Venus, Rei and Makoto had returned to Makoto's apartment to wait. While they normally would have headed to the shrine to wait, in their current state they were not feeling very social. The grief they wore on the faces for their fallen comrade was just too visible. They could have headed to the Tsukino's, but they did not want to burden that family anymore than they already had.

So instead they had come back her to Makoto's apartment. Not sure what to do, Makoto had channeled surfed a bit before giving up and heading into the kitchen. There she remained working out her frustrations in the only constructive manner that she knew how, cooking. Rei for her part had found a comfortable spot on the floor and lost herself in deep meditation. While she did not have the guidance or insight of the fire to guide her, that was not the real purpose of her meditations. No, she needed to clean her mind, to keep it objective.

When night began falling, Makoto brought out some dishes to the table and the two sat down to eat. The meal passed in quiet, as neither really knew what to say. One would think that by now with the battles that they had been in, that they would have become desensitized to these scenes. However, those battles seemed to have had just the opposite case. Maybe it was that each one of these reinforced the knowledge that they could / had died in their line of duty.

Later after dinner as Makoto and Rei were cleaning up from dinner a knock came at the door. Getting the door, while Rei continued washing the dishes, Mako opened it to find Usagi.

"Konnichiwa, Usagi. I didn't think we would see you tonight." The brunette said

"Nope, I am all right, well except for having a ravenous appetite when I woke up." Usagi replied, and Makoto wondered how much food Usagi had to have eaten for that girl to describe her appetite as ravenous. She had a feeling that she never wanted to have her budget find that out. "I am guessing that what happened to me was no different from the weakness that I had back when I was first using the Crescent Moon Wand."

Makoto nodded her acceptance of her friend looking okay and closed the door behind the silver haired girl. Taking off her shoes, Usagi continued, "Before I left, Ami called. She said that Minako is going to be okay and that if Minako wakes up, she may see about bringing her here. She feels that Minako would heal a lot faster with us then in a hospital, something about not wasting energy on spells or something."

"That's good. Rei and I just finished our dinner, however, I ended up baking a cake this afternoon…" Makoto trailed off on the rest of her statement, not needing to ask the question. Usagi's features had already perked up at the mention of sweats and the girl was making her way to the kitchen. Shaking her head, Makoto followed her princess.

An hour later found the three friends sitting in Mako's living room chatting amongst themselves. The arrival of Usagi had substantially lightened the mood in the apartment. Part of that was the news she brought of Minako, and the other was just her presence. She was one of the injured and now seeing her up and about helped to reassure the two that yes while they had an extremely dangerous job, their Senshi physiology helped to offset those dangers.

The sounding of their communicator alarms signaled the arrival of Mercury. Makoto took the call, figuring that she would have to help Ami with Minako. After finding out that the blue haired warrior had decided to arrive on the roof, she headed out the apartment and up the stairs. Five minutes later the apartment door reopened and Makoto entered carrying Minako while Ami followed close behind her.

Seeing the injured Minako, Usagi burst up from her position in the couch, or she would have, had Rei not been expecting that exact response. Instead, Usagi made it no farther than a few centimeters off the couch before being pushed back down.

"What did you do that for?" an annoyed Usagi asked Rei.

"Mina-chan does not need any further injuries from when you crush her into pulp." Rei said, which garnered her a hurt look from Usagi. However, Rei quickly indicated to her best friend that she had not meant anything mean by that, which seemed to assure the other girl.

"Hai, no bone crushing hugs for Minako for at least a day or so. However, she is not in danger of falling apart. Actually all she needs is just rest and to eat some real food." Ami said."

Makoto chuckled at Rei and Usagi as she disappeared into her kitchen. She reappeared a few moments later with a big bowl of chicken soup. "Here you go, this will help you get some of your energy back." Then pausing for a moment, Makoto continued "And there is also one there in the kitchen for you too Usagi."

Wasting not a moment the princess dashed into the kitchen to collect her bowl of soup. Rei was left stunned by the quick motion, in the passing of a moment her hand went from resting on Usagi's shoulder to having nothing but empty air beneath it. All she could was to shake her head.

"Do you have any idea of what happened?" Makoto asked after Usagi had sat back down with her bowl of soup.

"Hai, my scans of the tunnel and Minako have given me some theories. However, I need to check something out first. Usagi how are you feeling?"

"Fine, I haven't felt off at all since I awoke earlier."

"In that case I need you to come with me for a moment." And then turning to the others in the room, Ami continued, "And the rest of you stay here. If you don't here from me in ten minutes then you can come find us."

The others were a bit too startled by Ami's instructions to do anything as the two left the apartment.

"Do you think it is a good idea letting those two go by themselves, what if what ever happened happens again?" Rei asked.

"That may be precisely why Ami wanted to be the only other one to go." Minako stated softly from where she lay on the couch. <I hope Ami-chan knows what she is doing.>

Up on the roof, Sailor Mercury stood beside Sailor Moon, her visor deployed and computer out. "Usagi I want you to use your attack while I analyze it. Why don't you focus it on the middle of that ledge over there? Though you don't need to use your attack at full power."

"You think that I am the one who injured Minako?" Usagi asked with a tone that indicated that she believed that herself.

Looking at her princess, Mercury paused for a few moments deciding how she wanted to respond. "Hai, I do. Your energy signature utterly saturated the area including Minako. In addition, we found you laying at the blast's epicenter and add to that that you were very drained. But I don't know how, and that is what I am trying to find out now."

Usagi nodded her understanding. <I don't want to do this again. But I must, I owe it to Minako to find out how I hurt her so.> Bringing out her Eternal Tier, she began powering up her attack.

As Sailor Moon began the power-building phase of her attack, Mercury watched numbers scroll by on her Visor. Unlike the rest of them, Sailor Moon's attacks (other than her tiara) always required her to "power-up" first. This was of course one reason why she could not use her attacks right off the back, the Moon Senshi needed them to weaken the demon first so that she would have the time to cast her spell.

At first, everything seemed normal; though Ami was surprised to see how strong Sailor Moon's attack was in at least raw energy terms. But before too long some of the numbers turned red and began flashing. As more and more columns of numbers became red and warnings began to appear on the visor, Mercury knew something was going wrong. Her fingers danced across the keyboard as she tried to find out exactly what that something was.

While her scientific mind pondered the mystery that was in front of her, her more basic self began to get worried. Sailor Moon's attack had started out weak, but the numbers had suddenly jumped up an order of magnitude, the attack was now at full power. The two thought tracks met and Mercury was suddenly very scared. Muttering "Oh, hell…" the blue haired warrior dropped her computer, turned, and ran. Fearing for her life, she ran to the edge of the life and without hesitation she flung herself over it and dropped.

Sailor Moon for her part was straining to control the energy of her attack. She could feel the energy begin to widely fluctuate as it was conducted through her body to the tier. Her hold on reality had been one of the first things to go; instead, all that existed for her now was the energy. She desperately tried to regain control, but it was like riding a wild bronco. And then with a violent snap she finally lost total control. From her body a gigantic energy wave was unleashed. The resulting shockwave blasted into everything on the roof, and then all was quiet.

Having hurtled herself off the top of a nice tall building and falling back to the ground, Ami watched a beautiful but very deadly wave of energy radiated outwards from the roof. Thankfully, for her she did not remain mesmerized by the energy wave too long, or she would have broken her back upon hitting the pavement below. She unfortunately did not have time to rotate her body into a better landing position. Cursing to herself for not thinking about setting up an escape route before hand an idea came to her mind. <That might just work, it would at least give me some cushioning.>

Glancing up at the clock said, "Six minutes, they have another four."

Minako looked up from where she now lay on the couch resting at the auburn girl. "Mako-chan don't worry Ami knows what she is doing."

"Ami is not one to do anything rash." Luna agreed. Luna and Artemis sat by the door, guarding it to keep the apartment's occupants inside. By unsheathing their claws and then later just by staring down the girls, they had been able to keep Makoto and Rei inside. However, they also knew that come the full ten minutes there would be nothing that they could do to keep the girls inside.

Minako exchanged knowing glances with the two cats and returned to eating her soup. The soup was almost gone and if she finished off this last little bit she would be able to distract Makoto for a few moments by having the brunette get her another bowl. However, the sight of a large snowman falling by the window caused her to forget about her soup. "Did anyone… just… see?" she asked in a hesitant voice not sure that she wasn't loosing her mind.

The others had also seen the snowman, or at least enough of a glimpse to be confused as well. In of itself the falling snowman might not have been enough to set them into motion, but the bright flash and thunderous clash that accompanied it did. Instantly Rei, Makoto, Luna and Artemis were out of the apartment and heading up the stairs.

As they left the apartment Artemis asked, "Should we call Mamoru-san?"

Taking the role of leader, Makoto thought about Artemis's suggestion a moment before replying, "No, let us see what the situation is first." With a suspicion that the falling snowman had something to do with Ami, Makoto decided that it would be best to investigate both areas. "Rei-chan, you and Luna go see to Usagi. Artemis and I will see to whatever it was that fell off the roof."

"Hai." the other three agreed. As Rei and Luna raced up the stairs, Makoto grabbed Artemis by his neck and begun dropping down the staircase, traversing a flight every drop. Reaching the ground floor the two burst out into the street.

Running around the building to the side that Makoto's apartment was on, they found a partially smashed snowman. Slowing to a walk, they approached it. But stopped when first one arm and then another poked out from its body, followed soon after by two very short legs. Recognizing the limbs, the Makoto walked over and helped the snowman to its legs.

A muffled "Agrito" came as a response.

Now on its feet, the snow-Mercury reached up with its hands to remove its head. Pulling off the ball of snow, Mercury coughed a bit, able to once again breath. Tossing the head to the ground she tried to figure how to get out of the rest of her outfit. Hearing giggles, she looked up to see her Makoto trying to but not succeeding in hiding her amusement.

"Ahem, could you help me get out of this?" Ami asked.

"Can't you just make it vanish, like you do with your fog?" Makoto asked.

"No, the fog I only summon temporarily, which means that once I stop concentrating on the spell it is gone. But this is real, permanent snow, which I summoned."

"And, why pray tell did you decided to make yourself into a snow-Mercury?" Makoto asked.

"To protect me from the fall. In my haste to avoid the blast, I flung myself off the building without thinking about safely landing. In the few moments that I had, this was all that I could think of to cushion my fall. And I needed real snow, so that if the blast still got me and knocked me out I would still be cushioned when I hit. I just did not realize that it would be quit so hard to get out of."

"Still wish that I had thought to grab my camera on the way down." Makoto said as she began trying to free the well-packed Mercury. Then to herself she made a mental note to pick up a disposable one to stuff in her sub-space pocket for the future.

<Thank god, that she does not have a camera with her and thankfully, I landed here in behind the building instead of out in the street. Just what I would have needed, a front page photo of Sailor Mercury as a snowman.>

Reaching the top of the stairs, Luna and Rei found the roof door to be no longer on its hinges. Instead, it was embedded in the wall on the opposite side of the stairs. <Ouch. The manager is not going to like the results of this little test.> Rei thought. Looking at the door a bit closer, she noticed Mercury's computer embedded in it, giving it a tug she removed the computer and placed it away.

Exiting out onto the roof, the two found a nice layer of soot covering everything. Except for that fine layer of soot, the area was clear of any debris, much like the tunnel from earlier in the day. Reaching Sailor Moon, they found her again back in her street clothes lying on the ground. Reaching down, Rei grunted a bit as she lifted the girl up. However, Usagi was a lot lighter than she had expected to the other girl to be. <Yeesh, she weighs practically nothing. Strange since when she klutzes out and falls on me she weighs a ton. But now with her asleep she seems so delicate and fragile.>

With nothing else drawing their interest, Luna and Rei headed back into the building. As the headed down the stairs, the gentle swaying of being carried began to awake Usagi and she mumbled groggily, "Uh, what happened?" However, that thought failed to keep her awake she drifted back off to sleep, though mumbling, "Mmm, blueberry pancakes would be nice." first.

Rei sighed in response. Then talking more to herself than Luna she said, "Guess that means she is okay now that she is back to her Odango-atama self." There, however, was no trace of annoyance in her comments, instead she was happy with the course of events.

Reaching the apartment, they found that they were the first ones to return. As Luna checked on Minako who had dozed off, Rei went to lay Usagi down on Makoto's bed. Closing the door behind her as she left, she headed back to join the others. Seeing that Minako was now awake, Rei let the blonde know that Usagi was okay. Then remembering the Mercury Computer, she took that out and placed it down on the coffee table while saying, "Hopefully this is still okay." At Minako's questioning glance she continued, "It tried to become one with the roof door."

"That bad huh?" Minako asked.

"Hai, be glad that you never actually had to see these blast zones. I do not even want to think what would happen should a civilian be caught in one." Rei said. The other two shuddered at that thought.

Thankfully, they did not have to dwell on that thought too long, as shortly there after the door opened to reveal the others. With a blue blur, one of the new arrivals made a beeline for the bathroom. After watching her blue haired friend disappear in a flash, Makoto headed off to the kitchen with a smile on her face. Putting a kettle on the stove, she began making some hot chocolate.

Artemis for his part walked over to where the others sat and found a comfortable position to sit, with a very wide smile on his face. Taking a quick look at Luna he realized it would not be good for his health to continue looking like that cat that had swallowed the canary and so spoke. "To cushion her fall from the roof, Ami turned herself into a snowman. Unfortunately for her, she failed to ensure that she had all the snow and loose water off her Senshi Uniform before changing back. As a result she immediately became cold and wet."

"Ah" said the others.

Rei, who never had any like for the cold and wet weather sympathized with Ami's condition. She could have offered to warm Ami up with some nice warm fire, but she had a feeling that the Fresh Water Senshi might not like that. However, Makoto's towels were sufficient for Ami to dry herself off with, and after wrapping herself up in one of Makoto's green towels, she was sufficiently content. She only hoped that her clothes would be sufficiently dried off by the time she had to head home.

Now much drier and warmer, Ami entered the living room. However, she still failed to recognize the presence of anyone else. Instead, she walked over to the coffee table to pick up her computer and immediately found a comfy chair to curly up in. A few minutes later Makoto arrived with the hot chocolate and Ami readily accepted it. Part of her withdrawnness was caused by the embarrassment of nearly giving herself hypothermia; the other reason was the problem that was in front of her. However, Ami did let Luna up into her lap and petted the feline while she looked on.

And so, that was how the next hour and a half passed for the girls. Ami plugged away at her computer with Luna looking on; Usagi, Minako, and Artemis as well slept; and Makoto and Rei having already run out of things to talk about pulled out a backgammon board and began playing. Usagi was the first to stir from her position. Being led by a ravenous appetite, the not quite functional teen made her way unnoticed into the kitchen. There after forging for a few minutes she found her prize, a bucket of chocolate ice cream and made her way back to the others.

Hearing some noise, Rei looked up from the board and saw Usagi enter carrying a very large container of ice cream. She was tempted to tease the silver haired girl about becoming one giant dumpling, but decided against it. Instead, she smirked as she handed Mako the doubling cube. Usagi had had a rough day and probably needed the quick energy fix that all that sugar would give her.

"Dang it," Makoto cursed a few minutes later as Rei bore off her last man. "I should not have accepted the doubling cube."

"True, but it was a good match." The priestess replied.

"Hai it was. And I thought I had you there in that last game too." Makoto conceded. Then turning to look at Usagi she asked, "How are you feeling Usagi?"

"Tired, but okay."

"Hungry too I see." Rei decided to add

"That that was new this afternoon." Makoto whined as she realized that Usagi had already finished off half of the tub.

"Gomen, Mako-chan, but I was hungry."

"It's okay. What's more important is that you have your energy, and are the energetic fun loving friend that we all know you to be." Makoto replied.

"Hai!" Rei add enthusiastically with a quick hug that caught the other two by surprise.

"Good I see that Usagi-chan is up." Ami said. "Minna-chan, I think I now know what happened today. But first we did to wake those two up." she said while pointing towards the dozing Artemis and Minako.

"Do you think it is a good idea to wake Minako, after all she needs her rest?" Luna asked as she went to give Artemis a rude awakening.

"Hai, I do. This is important enough, and as the second in charge after Usagi she needs to know."

"Did some one say my name?" Minako asked as she opened her eyes.

"Hai, we did." Ami replied, "I have finished my analysis."

"OWE!!!!!" Artemis cried as he was awoken by Luna. Unfortunately in leaping up, he had propelled himself slightly away from the couch and consequently only landed half on it, and it did not take long for him to topple over and fall to the ground. After cursing some under his breath, the battered white cat climbed back up. "What did you do that for?" he asked Luna.

"Shush," was all Luna said as the others settled themselves down to listen to Ami.

"After tonight's little episode, you probably have all begun to realize that Usagi is connected with these blasts. My scans from tonight confirmed what I had suspected after we found Usagi and Minako in the tunnel. Usagi's attack has become nothing more than a massive explosion. Gomen Usagi." Ami said

"It's okay, Ami-chan. I known you don't mean any disrespect by it. And I want these blasts stopped as much as everyone else." Usagi replied.

Ami sent Usagi a look that showed her thanks for what the Moon Princess had said. "As to why Usagi is causing these blasts, my scans tonight solved that problem. Whenever Usagi uses her Moon Scepter, the Ginzuishou, or now the Eternal Tier she first has to build up a large store of energy in her body. For us this is similar to using the planet attack or teleporting. Those two spells require more energy than we hold even when fully rested. Instead, we have to build up additional energy in the area around us.

"However, as you know from your own experiences it takes a certain amount of concentration to keep control of those wild energies. In simple terms this is what happened with Usagi, she lost control and the energy got loose."

"You mean I just ditzed out?" a suddenly very ashamed Usagi softly said. <I really am a ditz, I can't even control a simple spell and not hurt my friends.> Usagi thought to herself as she felt tears coming on.

Rei hearing Usagi's question and seeing the girl's expression falter immediately reached over and pulled the other girl over to her chest. Wrapping a comforting arm around Usagi, she softly stroked Usagi as she softly told her that things would be okay. Looking up at Ami, she sent the other a girl an expression that said she was not very happy with her.

Usagi's reaction pained Ami, she had not meant for the other girl to take it like that. Of course, she had never stopped to think how Usagi might take the news before she finished explaining it all. "Gomen nasai Usagi-chan, I did not mean it like that. You see the reality of the situation is much more complicated than that."

"Oh?" A teary Usagi said as she looked up from Rei's chest.

"Hai, you see your final banishment spell is far more complicated than any simple spell that we cast. Not only does your spell require immense amounts of energy, but also the energy must be added at very specific rates. Unlike the Planet Attack or teleport spells, you don't build up a visible aura of energy; instead, you are creating the spell's energy matrix right from the start.

"Unfortunately, if you don't add the energy at the correct rates, the spell matrix will begin to degenerate. To compound the problem, the destabilizing spell consumes energy to keep it from going awry. Eventually this feedback becomes too much for you and you are no longer able to keep the spell from collapsing, and it explodes outward in a massive release of uncontrolled energy."

Ami paused for a moment to see how Usagi was taking this elaborated explanation. She could tell that the other girl was not fully grasping the details, but she did seemed to be sufficiently reassured. Most likely, she was remembering what it felt like each time she used that spell and how it was not for lack of concentration that things fell apart.

Deciding that it was safe to continue with the less pleasant portions of her analysis, Ami continued. "Thankfully, most of the energy of the attack is in the form of healing energy, otherwise this building would have been no more tonight. This is also the only reason why Minako survived the blast today. Almost as much as the blast hurt her, it healed and sustained her. If a similar blast had occurred when we were using our powers, I cannot imagine the damage we would have done to the city."

The others just sat stunned by what Ami had said. Usagi for her part looked down at her hands, surprised that she had that much power. But then she thought about the energies that she and Beryl had expended at the North Pole and realized maybe it wasn't so far fetched after all.

"Demo, Ami-chan, what about when she took out that droid?" Makoto asked confused as to why this attack had worked perfectly for the princess the other day.

"I am not positive, but my guess is that it must be connected to her battle with Metalia." Ami replied, only to be met with complete confusion from everyone else, none of them seeing the connection. "Being dead at the time, I have idea what happened during that final battle, however I do know that Usagi unleashed massive amounts of energy. While it is getting weaker, there is a steady background of residual Moon energy from that battle all over the Earth. Therefore, until today even though she should not have been able to use this attack she could. Usagi can't yet normally draw energy fast enough to cast the spell, however prior to today the background energy was sufficiently rich to allow her draw in enough energy."

A round of "Ahs" came from the others as they finally saw the connection that Ami was making.

"While I understand how the explosion occurred, why wasn't Usagi-chan able to just stop the spell?" Luna asked, "She has stopped in the middle of her other attacks before."

"The problem is that once the spell begins to degenerate, all her attention gets focused on sustaining the spell. There is no way for her to mentally breakout. The energy matrix is tied to her very being and it calls to her."

After thinking back to the time they had used the Planet Attack and how it felt when her Martian Power built in her body, Rei said, "Ami is right. There is no way for any of us to breakout when we begin to channel energy, and that is what Usagi is doing." Then pausing for a moment to figure out how to phrase what she wanted to say, the priestess continued, "When we channel, the energy comes through our soul. We and it are one, our whole being becomes focused on forming the energy into the spell."

Usagi nodded her agreement, as Rei finished by mentioning that she was however not quite sure how they came out of their trance like state, shutting down the channeling effect when the spell was finished.

"Hmm… that's interesting." Ami remarked as she made note of what Rei had said in her palmtop. The others just shook their heads in amusement knowing that Ami was now going to begin devising a program to look for souls. While they all believed that souls existed, their rebirth here on Earth being sufficient evidence, they thought them to be some kind of metaphysical object. How wrong they going to be proved later when Galaxia painfully rips their very souls from their bodies.

Having taken in all that Ami said, Usagi spoke "I guess this means that I can no longer use my Eternal Tier. Thankfully I still have my Scepter." Flicking her wrist, she pulled out the after mentioned item, double-checking to make sure that she did indeed still have it.

"Guess it is back to us beating them senseless so that Usagi can finish them off." Makoto said.

"Hai." Ami replied. Then pausing and taking a deep breath, she continued speaking, "There is one other issue. It is actually, what has been keeping me occupied for most of these past two hours, something else that my scans turned up. It is about Usagi's Senshi nature.

"We all know that during the Silver Millennium there was no Senshi of the Moon. However, with Luna forgetting that detail suddenly there is one now. Now it is possible that maybe the royal moon line were Senshi's just never trained. However, all the moon queens lived very short lives, on the order of a century or two. On the other hand, the Silver Millennium Senshi only died if they got very sick or severely injured in battle.

"So where did the sudden appearance of a Sailor Moon come from? Well she didn't, hate to do this again in one night Usagi, but there is no such thing as Sailor Moon. She is not a Sailor Senshi."

"But what about the fuku and the powers?" Minako asked.

"Well the fuku is nothing more than a disguise spell coupled with a powerful shield spell and some other spells. You don't need to be a Senshi to cast one of those. As to her powers, she has none. At least not in the way that we have powers. Ours our innate drawing on our Senshi nature, but hers are powered the Ginzuishou."

"But what about all the battles before we found the Ginzuishou?" asked Rei, seeing even this as an attack against her friend that she had to defend.

"I was never without some of the Ginzuishou's powers." Usagi replied. "Like the Shadow Warriors I was born with one of the crystal fragments, it is what provided me with my powers and kept me hidden. Unlike the rest of you I was not born human, otherwise I would never have been able to use the power of the Ginzuishou. However, Ami is also partially wrong."

"Huh?" the resident genius responded, with Luna looking up in surprise as well.

"The line of Serenity may not be a line of Senshi, however we are not without our own powers. The Ginzuishou is really only a tool for focusing and to a degree magnifying energy and so would be useless to me if I were not a mage. The ultimate source of my magic is the local manna pools."

"So what does this all mean?" Makoto asked, not quite following the why for where the discussion had turned.

Makoto's question pulled Ami back from her world of theoretical understanding. There was a point she needed to make with bringing this up, but yet her mind wanted to explore the nature of Sailor Senshi more and the unanswered mysteries from her scans. Blushing a bit, Ami looked at Makoto to answer the girl's question. However, the clock on the wall caught her gaze. <Oh, crap forgot about that.>

Looking at Usagi she instead asked, "Princess can a speak with you for a moment?"

From Ami's tone and her use of princess, Usagi knew that something was bothering her friend. "Sure Ami-chan." Usagi said as she stood up.

The two girls walked into the kitchen. Once they got there, Ami fiddled nervously. "Ami-chan, what is it? There is nothing that you can tell me that is going to make me angry at you." Usagi said trying to help the blue haired girl out.

Ami looked up at her princess, she realized that she should not be surprised that Usagi had already guessed that she was feeling ashamed about something. "Arigatoo Usagi. It's about Minako, or what I had to do to get her out of the hospital."

"You didn't hurt anyone." Usagi asked when Ami paused.

"No, no, I didn't do anything like that." Ami replied, her mind distracted a bit, which was Usagi's real goal with the question, as she knew that Ami would never do anything like that. "No, it's my mother, she came in to check on Minako as I was preparing to leave."

"Ah" Usagi replied beginning to understand Ami's problem.

"I just froze up, I couldn't treat her like all the other doctors. I… I…" but Ami could not finish, as her voice trailed off and tears came to her eyes.

Before she even finished trying to speak, Usagi was already there beside her and was pulling the sobbing girl into her embrace. Maneuvering Ami so she herself could lean back against the wall for support, she closed her wings against the other girl and just held Ami for a few minutes. Then with one of her hands she motherly stroke the other girl's hair and spoke, "Everything will be okay Ami-chan, don't worry about it. I don't expect you to shut out your personal life, she was your mother."

Ami looked up at Usagi with blood shot eyes, however she did not yet have her sobs fully under control. "That's not it. I… I… told my mom that I would come back at the end of her shift to take her to see Venus. I just couldn't…" and the blue haired girl trailed off again, ashamed of her actions.

Usagi, sighed and looked at the distraught girl that she was trying to console. <I have never seen Ami like this before. She thinks that she has utterly failed me, how can I make her see that this is not the end of the world. Hmm… that might just work.> With a plan of action Usagi begun slowly building some of her energy so that Ami would not notice. And then with a slightly evil smile on her face she grasped Ami's head lightly and released the energy into the other girl.

Ami's head snapped upright and her eyes opened as she felt the energy blast into her body. Before she could even begin to think that her princess was now punishing her, it was over and she could no longer feel like that. Nor could she feel any other down emotion, her body was fully charged with a warmth that prevented her from feeling anything else other than happiness.

"Now that is much better." Usagi began. "You know you were making it quite difficult for me there." Usagi chuckled as she released her hold on the other warrior. Now that you can no longer wallow in self pity you will have to listen to me." Usagi said smiling.

"What did you do to me?" Ami asked very confused and slightly annoyed that she could no longer feel blue.

"Think of it as giving you a giant hug." Usagi replied. "Don't worry about having made that promise to your mom, I fully understand. And I have a feeling that after tonight you will feel a lot happier that you did tell her. From personal experience I recognized your panic when you saw the clock, so I am guessing that your mother is going off shift now."

Ami nodded in response.

"Ok, then you head down to the hospital and meet her, I will call Haruka and have her pick the two of you up and bring you back here. Now no complaints, get going." Usagi said as she began moving Ami to the door.

"But then my mom will know our identities." Ami said.

"What did I just say?" Usagi replied, and then continuing, "And like I said, you will feel a lot happier about everything after tonight. By the way try not to shock your mother too much on the ride back here." And with that, Usagi pushed the other girl out into the hall and closed the apartment door.

Whipping her brow after managing to deal with Ami, Usagi headed back in to the kitchen. <I just hope parenting my own child is not as hard as that, though I did enjoy it.> Picking up the phone, she gave Haruka a call. Five minutes later Usagi hung the phone back up, knowing that she just made the streets of Tokyo more dangerous. Thankfully, the Wind Warrior had not yet headed off to bed, and the promise of seeing Minako and learning about what happened had easily gotten that speed demon out on the road. Though, she figured with that girl's love of driving, it probably would not have required much to get her to make the pickup. She just hoped that Haruka would keep the speed in the decent range after she got Ami's mother. Well now came the hard part, telling the others and keeping Rei from tearing into Ami when she returned.

As Usagi walked back into the living room, Makoto asked "Where is Ami?"

"Ami went to fetch her mother from the hospital so that she can check on Minako."

"Odango-atama in case you have forgotten." Rei began, however Usagi cut her off.

"I did not forget Rei, however it can not be helped. Mizuno-san was the attending doctor for Minako, and you can't just expect Ami to walk out on her mother." Makoto nodded as she listened to Usagi, beside her Minako also showed her agreement having been there when Ami essentially froze. However, Rei and Luna were not being swayed by Usagi's speech. Realizing that she was not going to convince them tonight, Usagi continued with "If you have a problem with the situation you can yell at me all you like, after tonight. But you will not, and I repeat you will not scold Ami on this." The last bit Usagi said while looking very hard at those two, making sure that they knew not to cross her.

Neither Luna nor Rei were happy with the situation and both were thinking of all the ways they were going to tell her tomorrow how bone headed she was. However, neither were going to challenge her either, they recognized that she was their princess and in cases like this her decisions were final. All they could do was try to let their unhappiness with the situation pass before Ami got back, for they knew if they acted cool to that blue haired girl one bit they would be in big trouble. Rei had already been reprimanded once by Usagi was not looking forward to a second one.

Partially illuminated by the light from the entrance to the hospital, Mizuno-san waited. It was now 12:15 in the morning and she was beginning to get impatient waiting for appointment. For once, she was able to finish up at a not too unreasonable hour and wanted to get home before it got too late, she disliked not being able to be there for her daughter. Unfortunately, she had one more patient to check on before she could head home, and this Sailor Mercury was late.

She did have some doubts as to whether this Sailor Mercury would show at all. But at the same time, something told her that she could trust that blue haired warrior. As she thought about that implicit trust she had, she realized that the warrior did have a passing resemblance to her daughter, maybe that was why she felt she could trust that warrior. She had trusted the girl from when she first confronted her up in the hospital room a few hours earlier, that of course being the reason why she had let her take the injured Sailor Venus in the first place.

The squeal of tires heralded the arrival of a yellow sports car to the hospital. She could not make out the driver, but was not happy with his reckless driving. Looking back towards the hospital, she did not see any coming out to the car, nor did anyone leave the car. Perplexed, Mizuno-san wondered why that driver was in such a rush.

Hearing the sound of boots hitting the ground behind her, Mizuno-san turned to see that the blue haired Senshi had arrived. "Sorry about the delay, I lost track of time working on a problem." The out of breath warrior said.

"It's okay, by the way where did you come from? I thought I was able to see all approaches to here."

Mercury smiled a bit as she answered her mother's question while pointing up, "I took the roof top express. As our ride is here, how about we head off." She said while opening the door to the car.

Mizuno-san could only shake her head in amazement as she entered through the offered door. <Well that explains why the driver was in such a rush to get here.> Looking up to the front, she saw that there was both a driver and a passenger. However, the lighting still prevented her from making out either of their two identities, though it did look like a man and a woman. One thing that was clear was they were at least not currently in Senshi outfits. As soon as Mercury had settled in next to her and closed the car door, the driver put the vehicle in gear

Feeling herself being pressed back into the seat by the acceleration, Mizuno-san tried to keep her mind off the driver's recklessness by asking the blue haired warrior about Venus, "So how is Sailor Venus doing?"

Her companion replied "She is doing quite well. We got some soup into her and she is getting a fair bit of rest." <Or at least till I left, Usagi and Rei may be keeping her awake by arguing> Mercury thought, but broke off her thoughts before they dwelled too much on why Usagi and Rei would be fighting.

Mizuno-san saw the sour look cross the Senshi's face and mistook it to be apprehension about what was about to come. She knew that the Senshi wanted to keep their identities a secret, that being why Mercury had taken Venus away in the first place. Hoping to ease the young girl's apprehension she spoke, "I want you to know that you do not have to worry about me learning your friend's identity tonight. I am a doctor and will respect you friend's wish for privacy, I will not even mention this visit to my daughter."

"Oh really?" Mercury replied with an evil smile crossing her face.

Her mother missed that smile and was flabbergasted at how this Senshi had pushed off her assurance. As she quickly ran thoughts through her head trying to figure out how to assure this Senshi, for the first time she began to feel a bit uneasy with the situation. While she intellectually knew she could trust the Sailor Senshi, she still began to feel a bit worried about how they would ensure her silence.

Realizing that she was worrying her mother, Mercury decided to explain herself. "You see I think you are going to have a very hard time keeping anything you see tonight from me," Mercury said as her fuku simmered as she changed back to her civilian clothes "Mom."

Watching the interchange through the rearview mirror, Haruka grinned madly as Mizuno-san first stared at her daughter in shock and then passed out. "I wonder what will happen when she sees the princess's wings?"

"Shush, you." Michiru replied "Just pay attention to the road and get us there in one piece."

Ami for her part pulled out a package of smelling salts. <I hope my mom takes this ok, I have been so worried about what this means for the others, that I haven't stopped to think what this revelation will mean to my mom. Though the real test will come when get arrive at Mako's and she is able to ask questions. I just hope that she still sees me as her daughter at the end of the day.>

Shaking her head a bit to clear it out from fainting, Mizuno-san opened her eyes and saw that her daughter was hovering over her with a concerned look. <I must not be getting enough sleep. Though what am I doing in a car with Ami?> "Sorry about that, must have dozed off for a moment. Though for some reason I keep thinking that you are one of the Sailor Senshi."

Seeing her daughter's Cheshire cat grin, Mizuno-san had a sinking feeling. "That's because you passed out right after I changed back from being Sailor Mercury." Ami said.

"I can't believe it, I passed out. I never pass out." The older woman replied. However, she trailed off at the end, as the magnitude of what she had seen and Ami had said finally registered in her mind. "So my studious daughter who spent all her time studying is one of the Sailor Senshi?"

"Hai." Ami replied.

"How, when?" was all that Ami's mother could ask.

"Well depending on how you look at it, since nearly two thousand years ago or a few months back when my past caught up with me. As to how, well that is just who I have been since I was born." The last bit Ami said as she pulled her hair back to reveal a softly glowing symbol for Mercury on her forehead. Then releasing her hair and letting the symbol fade away from view, Ami continued, "The rest of your questions are going to have to wait, we are here."

Up in the apartment all talk ceased with the opening of the door. Standing up, Usagi walked up to great the new arrivals. "Arigatoo Haruka-san for doing this."

"It was no problem princess." Haruka replied. So far she and Michiru were the only holdouts in Usagi's attempt to get them all to just address her as Usagi-chan.

Turning her attention to the baffled looking woman that they had brought with them, Usagi spoke, "Welcome Mizuno-san it is good to see you again though I wish it was under better circumstances. Thanks for letting Ami bring Minako back here. Why don't you come in and we can get you some tea."

"It is good to see you again as well Usagi-chan." Mizuno-san replied

Mizuno-san followed Usagi on in, still attempting to puzzle through everything. As Usagi turned, she was in for another shock, seeing the young girl's wings. While, yes the wings were visible when Usagi stood facing her, they were not anywhere as obvious as they were now with nothing blocking them. Taking in the other occupants of the room, she saw three other girls Ami's age, one of which she recognized as Rei and the other two whom she vaguely recognized as being Ami's other friends, plus two cats.

Ami walked beside her mother, to provide the older woman with some psychological support. Noticing her mother gawking at Usagi's wings, Ami whispered softly to her mother, "And yes those are real. She is even capable of flight with them." The last bit earned her a skeptical look from her mother.

Reaching where the others were sitting, Mizuno-san first went over to check on the sleeping Minako. Of those in the room, she looked the closest to Sailor Venus, plus of those here, she was the only one showing signs of injury and was also wrapped up in a blanket and asleep. Leaning over Minako, she checked the blonde's vitals and checked on a few of the bandages. At the same time behind her, her daughter scanned Minako with her computer.

"She has been in and out of sleep since Ami brought her back here." Usagi said.

"Well that is to be expected." Mizuno-san replied. "Her body mainly needs time to rest and recover. It does not look like moving her here aggravated anything. Other than her accelerated recovery, everything looks normal."

Finished checking on Minako, she went to sit down on one of the chairs in the room. With her duties as a doctor concluded, it was now time to be a mother again and get the answers. In walking past her daughter, she saw the computer that Ami was using. She instantly recognized it as showing medical readouts of Minako; though, she had no clue as to how anything like that could be monitoring Minako in real time.

Having noticed her mother glancing at her Mercury Computer, Ami decided that letting her mother look at it more closely might be a good way to start this explanation. Walking over to her mom, she handed the blue haired lady the computer. "This computer is a relic that survived the fall of the Silver Millennium. In raw computation speed this computer makes even the super computer of the American NSA agency look slow."

Her mother had trouble believing that statement and her expression clearly conveyed that. Laughing a bit, Usagi spoke "Ami-chan had a similar reaction as she began to realize the full power of her computer and Central Control. However, what she says is true. My kingdom had technology far in advance of anything on Earth, though we often preferred the use of magic to technology."

Not fully convinced, Mizuno-san decided to accept her daughter's statement for the moment and instead began to examine the device. The device had her attention, and details of its relative power to anything else on Earth could wait till later. As she looked at it, Ami began to explain how it worked. "Right now I am have it in a medical mode, monitoring Minako. Displayed over here are her vital signs and this projection of her body here has her injuries highlighted." Ami said as she began pointing out the various elements of the display to her mother.

While there were many symbols and characters on the screen in a language that she could not make out, the gist of what was being displayed was quite clear. While the blonde appeared to be in good condition, there was still substantial healing to go. A column of numbers displayed in red drew her attention. Having gotten the general feel for the display she was now trying to understand the details. "Ami, what do these numbers mean?"

Looking at the numbers that her mom was referring to, Ami thought, <Well hopefully I will be able to succinctly answer this question, especially since I have only begun to understand what those numbers represent myself.> "Those numbers represent Minako's energy reserves and net energy flux."

Blank looks across the room greeted Ami's response. Taking a deep breath, the blue haired genius tried to expand her explanation and not loose anyone. "Every living thing generates a life energy for lack of a better term; this energy in turn nourishes our soul. Those trained in magic can learn to sustain their soul's with their energy stores, in addition to casting healing spells."

"So that is why Sailor Venus is still alive," suggested Mizuno-san. "And I guess that you must have healing spells that automatically activate."

"That is essentially correct. However, except for Usagi we all have an additional advantage. You see the eight Guardian Sailor Senshi of the Silver Millennium are planetary avatars, our souls are constantly a washed in energy from our guardian planets. This flux of energy, that number…" Ami said as she pointed out the corresponding number on the display. "…nourishes our soul and heals us when we are injured, it creates the protective magic of our Senshi fuku, and is what we use to cast our spells."

"Like regular mages we can also store our energy, which allows us to cast our more powerful attacks. For us, there is no distinction between our own life energy and that which we get from our planets. Unfortunately, this means we can die just by casting a spell. We may be essentially immortal, but should our soul ever be insufficiently nourished even for a moment, we will die.

A solemn looking Usagi nodded, "It is what happened to my mother, Queen Serenity, when she used the Ginzuishou at full strength to send us here to be reborn and to seal away the darkness. The crystal consumed all her energy including that of her soul."

Usagi's comment placed a solemn mood over the group. Moving quickly to console her friend before the girl depressed herself, Mars moved to sit by Usagi and pull the silver haired girl into a hug. "Usa-chan focus on the bright future you will make and your daughter." Reid said quietly to her friend.

Unfortunately it was not quiet enough, as Mizuno-san asked, "Usagi's pregnant?"

Haruka practically laughed at the question, and as a result sprayed her tea out over the room. "Usagi pregnant? No, Rei is referring to the little rabbit from the future." Haruka said, as Michiru attempted to help her partner recover.

"The future?" was all that Mizuno-san could ask.

"Yes the future, and that is where I come in." came a voice from behind the group. Letting the temporal portal close, Sailor Pluto walked over to join the others. Looking at Ami she asked, "How are Minako and Usagi doing?"

"They are doing alright Setsuna-san."

"Good." She replied, then finding a seat, she continued addressing Ami's mother. "I am the Guardian of Time and Space, I am the reason why Small Lady is here."

"ChibiUsa," added Ami in a whisper to her mother.

Having only seen the child once, it took Mizuno-san a few moments to remember her. Though once she had, she instantly realized the resemblance. "Ah yes, I can now see the resemblance. I guess if surviving a blast like Minako did is possible then traveling through time is not so unreasonable either. Though, this is going to take time for me to get my mind around. It is getting late, and I should be heading home and you girls probably should be heading off to sleep as you have school tomorrow. But, I do have one more question that needs to be answered, Ami earlier in the car you mentioned something about your past catching up with you. And now Usagi has mentioned something about her mother dieing, however as far as I know Ikuko-san is alive and well."

<Of course she would just have to go ahead and ask the hardest question out there.> Ami thought to herself. However, it was not she who answered the doctor's question.

Instead, the answer came from Usagi, or more accurately Princess Serenity, for she had shifted to her princess dress and let her crescent moon shine brightly on her forehead. "You know me as Tsukino Usagi, however this was not my first time being born into this world. Slightly over a thousand Earth years ago an empire was removed from this solar system and eight souls were sent to be reborn in the future.

"You see the Silver Millennium encompassed the other planets of this system. We came eons ago from elsewhere to watch over life on this planet. However, we missed an evil that seeped into the hearts of Terrans, which drove some of them to lust after the power of the Moon kingdom and gave them the power to defeat Sailor Senshi.

"No one from the Silver Millennium, except for Sailor Pluto survived the attack on the moon. The Sailor Senshi were cut down and with the fall of the Moon millions of innocent civilians on the planets died. Only in a final stand that cost my mother her life, was she able to use the power of the Ginzuishou to seal away the evil. She also sent our souls into the future to be reborn. However, these two spells were intertwined and our rebirth began the release of this evil, an evil that is now no more."

Her speech finished Serenity collapsed down back to her seat by Rei. The priestess placed a hand over Usagi's to give the girl strength. Mizuno-san could easily tell that this was a very abridged version of events and that Usagi obviously had significant emotional stake in the tale. As such, she decided to accept for now the story as given, later she would get her daughter to expand on Usagi's tale.

Instead, she stood up. "Well Ami and I should get going. I would like to thank you for the hospitality. This will be a bit of change, but I probably can come up with more than enough questions in payback for Ami keeping this from me."

Usagi smiled in reply and along with Makoto walked with the two to the door. After letting them out, she returned to where the others sat and let out a large yawn. "I think we should all follow Mizuno-san's advice and head on home." Luna said.

"Hai," agreed Usagi. "Though what about Minako?" she asked.

"We have already taken care of that." Makoto replied. "We called her parents earlier this evening and convinced them that Minako was currently occupied but wanted them to know that she was going to be staying with me this evening." Makoto smiled a bit as she remembered that little bit of acting that she and Rei had to do, considering that the usual question would have been why doesn't she just call back when she isn't occupied.

"Ok," Usagi replied. "Mako-chan would you mind if I spent the night here? I want to keep an eye on Minako."

Makoto knew why the silver haired girl wanted to stay, she was still feeling a bit guilty over what she had done to the blonde. "Hai." she replied. Let me get some stuff for you to sleep with."

Offering Rei and Setsuna, who was remaining in the time-stream, a ride Haruka and Michiru headed for the door. Though before they got there, Rei realized something. Due to that little snowman fiasco earlier this evening, Ami had changed out of her clothes into a robe, but did she ever put those clothes back on. "Minna, was Ami still wearing the robe when she left?"

Mother and daughter walked down along the road. Ami had thought of asking Haruka for a lift, but figured her mother might like the quietness of the walk to ask some more questions. Shivering a bit she looked down and suddenly realized that she was still wearing Makoto's green robe. Blushing from embarrassment, she accused her mother, "Mom, why did you not tell me I was wearing only a robe when we left?"

Mizuno-san stopping and looking at her daughter, for the first time took note of what the girl was wearing. Yep, Ami was indeed clad only in a robe. <Shows you where my mind has been this past half hour.> "All of your little surprises kept me from noticing what you were wearing. Plus when you first changed back, it was in the darkness of the car."

"Hai, I guess so." Ami replied, disappointed that she could not blame her current predicament on her mom. Deciding that she did not want to walk the rest of the way home clad only in a robe, she had only one option. With a shimmer the robe vanished to be replaced by the dress that she had been wearing on that fateful night a thousand years ago. For some unknown reason the memory of their final dresses were etched in each of their minds. Just getting their communicators to appear as simple watches or bracelets was complex enough, yet these items required no effort to recreate. She guessed that the dresses must somehow still exist, possibly caught up with them as they were sent into the future. "Well that is better." Ami said.

Mizuno-san decided to wait till later to ask about the dress, though it did look very good on her daughter. <Hmm, maybe this means that I don't have to buy her any expensive clothing if she can just change bathrobes into them.> "And why pray tell were you wearing a bathrobe in the first place."

With a guilty laugh, Ami explained the reason to her mother. "Well earlier this evening I had to leap off the roof of Makoto's apartment complex." Seeing her mother's questioning look, she added "It is a long story for another time. But to protect myself during the fall, I encased myself in snow. Unfortunately, when I got up after landing on the ground I failed to ensure that I had brushed all the snow and water off my uniform. Hence when I reverted back, all that snow and ice melted and well my clothes got very wet."

Mizuno-san could only laugh and shake her head at her daughter's explanation. <She must have had her mind focused on something else.> she thought as she remembered the other times daughter's utter focus on something got her unknowingly in trouble. "I do have to say, though, that that dress looks very good on you."

That remark lightened up Ami's mood, and while she was not one for fashion, she still twirled around on the spot to let her mother see all angles of the attire. "Thankfully unlike Usagi, we don't have any strong memories of the fall, only vague recollections of events. This dress is the one that I wore the night that we all died. I guess somehow it got saved along with our souls."

The mentioning of Usagi reminded Mizuno-san of something. "Ami, when you were explaining things, you kept separating Usagi out from the rest of you. I would assume that with that crescent moon on her forehead that she is Sailor Moon."

"That is because Usagi is different from the rest of us, a difference that I am still attempting to puzzle out. You see back during the Silver Millennium there was no Senshi of the Moon. The Senshi of the four innermost planets protected the queen and then upon the birth of the princess, the princess. Whereas the Senshi of the three outmost planets stood guard against any threats from the outside.

"We were princess, because we were our planet's chosen avatar. Usagi was the Moon Princess because she could control the power of the Ginzuishou, a power magical artifact that only the line of Serenity can wield. This crystal is also coincidently what supported life on the other planets and moons. I believe that Usagi has a similar relationship with the Ginzuishou as we do with our planets, or at least in terms of the net result. It is because of the Ginzuishou and the great power that it gives Usagi, that the princess is able to fight as a Sailor Senshi even though she is not one."

This explanation seemed to satisfy Mizuno-san and the two walked more or less in silence for the next few minutes. Breaking the silence, Mizuno-san said "Ami, I want to let you know that I am proud of you. You are still my daughter and that I will always be here for you."

Hearing those words caused Ami to breakdown and she threw herself into her mom's arms. Feeling the warmth of the embrace and the unconditional love, she finally realized what Usagi was talking about earlier tonight. Yes, she would not regret this decision to let her mom know the truth one bit. She now felt whole again. Her princess was truly a wonderful friend, it was a shame that she would far outlive her princess, just like she had done for many previous Serenity's.

<Hold it! Something is not right here.> Ami thought as she suddenly broke away from her mother's embrace.

"Honey what is it? What's wrong?" Mizuno-san asked.

Realizing what she had done, and the mistaken thoughts her mother was likely thinking, Ami blushed. "Gomen, mom. I just realized that there is a contradiction in what I know of the past and what I know of the future. ChibiUsa comes from the 30th century, which means that Usagi will live for at least a thousand years. However, no previous Serenity has ever lived anywhere near that long. And now that I think about no Serenity ever had wings before either."

Mizuno-san couldn't really help her daughter with that problem. She was still trying to make sense of magic in her view of the world. Arriving at their home, she opened the door and ushered Ami in. "It is time for bed, so no working on this problem till tomorrow."

Ami nodded her head in agreement, "Yes mom." and headed off to her room.

End Notes:

-Yeah, finally after much delay I have this chapter finished. Note to my self, in the future don't write such long chapters, they take forever to finish, even when you do break them into two parts. And to think that these two chapters were originally supposed to be a small lead in segment to the next chapterJ.

-At least now, the enemies won't be a walk in the park for the Senshi anymore, which was the one problem with powering up Sailor Moon to her eternal form so soon. But don't worry you haven't seen the end of this issue or the questions that Ami was brining up

-The hardest part of writing this chapter was figuring out how to write some of the explanations that the Ami and was using, since they don't yet know about Star Seeds. Hopefully I got the balance correct with them knowing that they get their powers from their planets, but not realizing that they and their planets are one soul.

-Thanks to Comet Moon for the suggestion of how Ami's mom would learn about her daughter's secret. Though it only took me what a year plus to write that part into the story.

-For those of you playing the home game, there is still one more traveler from the future to make his/her appearance. See if you can guess who this final player in this temporal disaster will be. J

-Well hopefully with better timing (and a bit shorter on the writing length) chapter 26 will be out beginning the end of the Ail and Ann arc of the second book.