Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ The Road to Hell ❯ Chapter Five ( Chapter 5 )

'Where the hell are we? One minute we're at the park about to start World War III with the Outers, now we're floating around in space,' Makoto thought as she looked around at her surroundings. They were in space all right, but they weren't floating. It was almost as if there was an invisible floor upon which they stood, amid the stars that shone brightly hundreds of light years away.

"If we're where I think we are, we're in a shitload of trouble," Usagi said, almost to herself. The Outers immediately stiffened at her statement and without a word, transformed. As they had done on their way to the park, they once again flanked Usagi, making sure she was in the centre of their ring before focusing their powers in case of an attack, each senshi facing one direction so as not to be caught unawares.

"There's no need for that, senshi. I assure you, we pose no threat to you or your princess," a loud voice boomed. Everyone turned in the direction of the voice and was surprised to find a dais where there was none before. Upon the dais sat two men and one woman in togas with crowns of laurel leaves on their heads. The one who spoke was a rather large, muscular man with a head of flowing curly hair (AN: think King Triton from the Little Mermaid). He sat in the centre of the dais, his throne almost as intimidating as the man himself.

The man to his left was the complete opposite in regards to appearance. He was a small man, a little taller than Usagi but probably weighed about the same. His feet barely reached the invisible floor. Pitiful is what this man looked like in comparison to his companions.

The woman on the right stared at the group impassively. Her light blue eyes gave one the impression that she was blind and her light blond hair was a slicked back version of Haruka's. The metal wrist guards and shin guards made it look like she was on her way to battle.

"You always did like to put on a show, Keeper. Tell me, why did you bring us here?" Usagi asked, addressing the man in the middle.

The man chuckled. "I never could surprise you Serenity, or should I say, Usagi?" Before Usagi could respond, he continued, "I've brought you all here because Oracle, " giving the slight man a smack in the shoulder, which practically sent him flying off his chair. "saw a great evil threatening all way of life."

"Excuse me, sorry to interrupt, but could you please explain to us who you are?" asked Mamoru dryly.

"Pardon my manners, Prince Endymion, for we rarely, if ever, get any visitors. We are called the Universal Council and we look after all creation. The esteemed man you see on my left, your right, goes by the name Oracle. His job is to foresee any major events and determine how it will affect the other dimensions-"

"Dimensions?" interrupted Ami, her ears perking up at the word. "You mean there's other life out there?"

"Not just other life, oh former senshi of Mercury, but other realities of the one you're living. Now if I may please continue?"

Chagrined, Ami nodded her head, her face burning when she saw Usagi's smirk. Inside, her mind was whirling. 'Oh my Kami. Too bad Stephen Hawking isn't here. He would find this most interesting.'

"Now, as I was saying. Oracle's purpose is to foresee all events in each dimension and extrapolate its effects upon the others. Not an easy job and for that, I salute him. The lady on my right is goes by the name Advisor, although 'Enforcer' would be more fitting since she always gets her way." At this, Advisor scowled at the man Usagi had called Keeper, who promptly smiled sheepishly and picked up her hand to kiss it by way of apology. Advisor yanked her hand before his lips could touch it and glared at him. Smiling rakishly, Keeper continued, "oh Addy, must you always play hard to get?" Seeing Usagi roll her eyes, he said, "her role in the Council is to 'advise' those whom Oracle deems responsible for the salvation of their dimension. As for me, some of the smarter, and may I add, prettier of you may have already figured out that my name is Keeper. My responsibility is to keep everything concerning one dimension from having a detrimental effect on the others. Basically, I'm a glorified supervisor. Impressed, ladies?"

Usagi snorted in disgust as she watched Keeper winking at her senshi and former friends, particularly Minako. She had known of Keeper since the Silver Millennium and hated him now because of it. "Cut the crap, Keeper and get to the point before I lose my patience."

"Alright already. Yeesh, I haven't seen a single female in over a millennium other than Advisor over here (not that she's out of the running or anything; she's just too shy to do anything about the primal urges she feels whenever I'm near), and you're sucking the fun right out of it." Seeing every female giving him an icy glare, Keeper sighed, "Oracle, since these lovely ladies and Prince Endymion are looking at me in what I would consider a hostile manner, could you please explain to them what it is that you saw and how it affects not only them, but every dimension in creation?"

Oracle swallowed as he felt all eyes shift in his direction. Thousands of years in total isolation with only the company of an overly flirtatious "supervisor" and a "shy" advisor was enough to damage one's self-confidence permanently. "Well, you-you see, in Dimension 8572, I noticed that before the Sailor Moon in that dimension managed to defeat Queen Beryl, Metallia opened a rift in the fabric separating her dimension from Dimension 8573, thus escaping destruction. Curious, I decided to follow her and discovered that she had joined forces with the Metallia in Dimension 8573. Now joined, they set about destroying that world. Since then, they have jumped from one dimension to the next, assimilating themselves with the Metallias they encountered before conquering and destroying it. Metallia is now a thousand times stronger than the one you encountered, Usagi, and has taken to calling herself Metallion. Last time I checked, she has opened a portal into your dimension and has already infiltrated your society."

"Out of curiosity, which dimension did we come from?" asked Ami.

"Hmmm, let me see, I believe you all came from Dimension 0666," replied Oracle.

"Figures," muttered Usagi. "Let me guess, Orc, you want us to do something about it?"

Oracle clearly not appreciative of his new nickname, scowled. "Precisely."

"And just how are we to accomplish what others have failed?" drawled Haruka.

Advisor leaned forward and studied Haruka carefully before answering. "Because I have finally figured out how it was that Metallion was able to defeat the senshi, despite our intervention. Prince Endymion is the key."

Everyone gasped and turned their accusing eyes to Mamoru, who could do nothing except chuckle nervously and look around as if trying to find another person by the name Endymion. "You see, since earth is the only inhabited planet in your and every other dimension, it is naturally more powerful. Since Endymion is the only surviving heir to the Earth throne, controlling him means controlling the planet. The Beryl of this dimension did not realize Endymion's true potential when she brainwashed him and was not able to take advantage of her situation."

"So why are you telling us this when Beryl and Metallia are already dead? I don't get it," Mamoru interrupted.

Advisor flashed him a look that warned him and the rest of them not to interrupt her or suffer the consequences. "Because, Metallion found out that the Inner senshi and Sailor Moon no longer exist, leaving Prince Endymion unable to transform into one of his other alter egos, Tuxedo Kamen, thereby leaving him defenseless.

"Another key to taking over the universe is destroying the remaining heirs of the Silver Millennium and usurping their planetary powers. Although the princesses of the inner planets and the moon no longer have senshi powers, they still have control of the powers of their respective planets. Take Princess Serenity for example. By tapping into the powers bestowed upon her by the moon, she was able to fight the remaining youma in your world using the Silver Crystal. You too have untapped powers given to you by your planets although to a lesser extent since you do not have a way of channeling the powers by way of a talisman. Your powers are raw and untrained since you mainly relied on your senshi powers and did not know of your inherent planetary powers. If Metallion gets her hands on the former Inners and Prince Endymion and steals their powers, your world will suffer the same fate of the other dimensions that have crossed Metallion's path."

"So what are we supposed to do?" Usagi was already putting two and two together and the conclusion she came up with left her stomach sinking in dismay.

"You and the Outer senshi must protect Endymion and the Inners. They must not leave your sight at any time," answered Keeper.

Although Usagi already knew what he was going to say, she could not help from exploding. "WHAT?! You expect me to protect the very people who betrayed me? Did you not see what they did to my unborn child and me oh all seeing Keeper? And while we're on the subject, how come it took you this long become aware of this Metallion problem? I thought preventing inter-dimensional interaction was your job, Keeper, not mine."

"Hey, you try keeping track of an infinite amount of dimensions and then we'll talk. Whining and complaining to me about the duties you were created to carry out isn't going to save yourself or your world, so I suggest you suck it up and check the attitude at the door."

His words cutting a knife in her heart, Usagi spat out, "of course, Father, why didn't you say so? I am at the universe's disposal despite popular belief that I rule it. After all, I'm just one of the thousands of Princess Serenities you have sired in other dimensions, why should my opinion matter?"

'He's her FATHER?' everyone thought. "Umm, Usagi-chan, what did you mean by that?" Michiru whispered.

"I mean he's my father, although not a very good one. What he didn't tell you was that a part of his duties as Keeper of the Dimensions is to sire a child with enough power to protect the universe in case it is ever needed. Once he finds out that the Queen Serenity of a certain dimension is with child, he leaves for another dimension in order to sire another one, which is why none of you remember him. He never stuck around long enough for you to. He is the epitome of the term 'deadbeat dad.'"

"My child...Usagi, I never meant to imply that you were just a creation whose sole purpose was to be the universal police officer. I was in love with your mother, so much so that I sought her out in every dimension that was in my keeping, and wooed her until she fell in love with me. Alas, it was not meant to be, as my duties as Keeper always took me away from my queen and our child. Each union with Serenity was one filled with love and each princess born of that union has the happy result. It was pure coincidence that your mother happened to be the most powerful woman in the universe and that our child would be destined to hold even more power. Serenity understood my duties and loved me enough to let me go, saying that as long as she you, she had me. It was not easy watching the destruction of my family's home repeatedly and not being able to do anything about it."

'Damn, talk about a player. He's got a virtual harem. He gets to knock up different versions of the same woman and leave them with her consent. No wonder she's so pissed at him,' thought Minako privately. 'Good save though on saying that he loved each Serenity enough to look for her wherever he went.'

Usagi grudgingly accepted her prodigal father's words. "So how are we going to protect them and beat Metallion if I can't transform into Sailor Moon and they can't transform into the senshi or Tuxedo Kamen and they don't know how to use their planetary powers?"

Keeper smiled like the cat who swallowed the canary at her question. 'Finally, I'm getting through to her,' he thought. "Well, before Metallion managed to destroy Dimension 4364 and travel to your world, I managed to smuggle out a secret weapon. If used correctly, it may just prove to be the key to Metallion's undoing."

With his cryptic words, Keeper waved his hand and a bundle appeared on the floor just in front of the puzzled teenagers. Waving them forward, the group stepped closer tentatively, eager for a closer look. Upon closer inspection, they realized that the bundle was a girl with long, flowing blond hair. She lay facedown unconscious. "Arise," ordered Keeper. As if the girl heard him in her sleep, she stirred and stood up. They stared at each other in shock.

"Oh my God! Darien, Scouts, you're alive! I'm alive! How can this be? My last memory before I lost consciousness was the world being ripped apart as Metallia opened a portal," a girl who was Usagi's exact duplicate in every way, including her once bubbly personality, exclaimed before she jumped into Mamoru's arms and kissed him passionately.

Catching Mamoru off guard, he reveled in the feel of holding the girl who looked exactly like the girl he loved, before pushing her away. "Miss, I don't know who this Darien is, but I can assure you, it's not me. You were taken to this place before your world and everyone in it, was destroyed. My name is Mamoru, and I come from a dimension probably not unlike your own. Tell us, what is your name?"

"What? Oh, of course, my name. It's Serena. Serena Tsukino. And what do you mean my entire world was destroyed?" the girl asked tearfully.

"Apparently, alternate dimensions are real and Metallia, now called Metallion, has been systematically eliminating each and everyone of them before moving on to the next. You were spared by the Universal Council to help us defeat her," explained Ami. The entire group and the Universal Council gently explained the situation, including all the events which led to the Inner senshi, Tuxedo Kamen and Usagi losing their senshi powers, to Serena, who seemed to be in shock at losing everyone she cared for, something Usagi could very well relate to.

"Serena here is your trump card. Not only does she have the Silver Crystal, but she also has the ability to become Sailor Moon. Guard her well from Metallion, who is banking on the fact that Sailor Moon no longer exists in your dimension," said Advisor.

And with those parting words, they were transported back to the park where the previous conflict between the Inners and Outers started. Serena looked around curiously, almost reverently, taking in the sights that were so similar to her former home. "Listen, Mamoru. I'm so sorry about kissing you like that. It's just that you're the exact copy of my Darien and I was so excited to see him alive, that....um, you know...."

Mamoru chuckled. She reminded him of Usagi before the rape that it was like going back in time before things got to the complicated state they were in. "I understand, Serena. No need to apologize."

Usagi had been regarding her double warily before turning her thoughts to more important matters. "So how are we going to do this? It's going to be pretty hard hiding six people from the world, much less Metallion."

"Well, why don't we stick them in the War Room? Only we have access to it and they'll be all alone there," suggested Hotaru.

'The War Room?' ran through the Inners, Mamoru and Serena's minds.

"No, that is the last place we should put them. Metallion will find them there in a heartbeat," replied Usagi.

"Why?" asked Haruka.

"Because the War Room, like the Time Gate, is located in the fabric between dimensions, it is therefore more easily accessible and more easily monitored by someone who has the power to jump through dimensions," explained Setsuna.

"Oh. Well why don't we hide them in the mansion for now until we can come up with a more permanent plan? We could have a meeting tomorrow morning. For now, I think we should just head home and get some rest," suggested Michiru.

"Good idea, I'm bushed. Between finding my father, or should I say our father, Serena, after more than a thousand years, learning about Metallion and having to harbour my betrayers all in one day, I don't think I can see straight. So I'll head to my house, update Artemis on everything and catch some shut eye." Usagi started to walk in the direction of her house before Haruka stopped her.

"Oh no you don't, princess. Now that there are two of you here, we have to be on extra alert. We're walking you home." Seeing the look on Haruka's face, Usagi nodded her head and started off for home, with a doppelganger, an over zealous body guard, three exasperated Outer senshi, and five former super heroes in tow.