Greetings FFML,
This fanfic is definitely NOT for public release or archiving anywhere
else yet, just for the FFML. (I don't even have the actual disclaimer
I'm using written out....)
This is the hopefully final version of this, so any comments you have
would be appreciated, though I would prefer they not be in the form of a
MST.
This is in the same continuity as, and can be considered a sequel to,
Minako: Warrior Princess Sidekick (revised version). Having read the
previous fic would of course be helpful (especially the epilogue) but is
not essential. MWPS is available on A Sailor Moon Romance or at:
http://www-personal.umich.edu/~mredding/minako/m-index.html
Thanks,
Nightman
-----
[insert disclaimer here]
Mythic Sailor Moon
[No Opening Credits]
Title Screen:
Episode One
Prologue in Five Parts! Our Story Begins Anew
PROLOGUE THE FIRST
The Royal Citadel, Planet Nemesis, Crystal Era
Hino Rei was sound asleep, finally. The past two days had
been a nightmare and she hadn't slept since arriving on
Nemesis with Aino Minako, only 50 or so hours earlier.
The unexpected arrival via teleport of Neo-Queen Serenity &
the rest of her court had made things extremely complicated.
True, it had been a rescue mission to save Minako from Chaos
but it still brought all Earth's real power right to the
doorstep of their defeated enemies. Some of the Nemesians
had thought they were being counter-attacked and it had very
nearly gotten out of control. Thank the kamis their native
guide had a good head on his shoulders and seemed to be a
proponent of the more peaceful faction. Most of the court
had piled into the shuttle she and Minako had come in and
high-tailed it back for Earth. That left Sailors Mars and
Mercury to hammer out peace accords and bring the situation
under control.
Rei's sleep wasn't a gentle healing rest. She'd crashed,
hard. So when there were some muffled sounds outside her
room's door, she didn't hear them. When a deep smoke came
rolling under her door and reformed into a shape easily
described as a ninja, she didn't stir. The figure glided
silently across the floor, as if its feet were actually
still fog. The room would have been pitch black, except for
one tiny crack of light coming in from the slightly parted
curtains. It wasn't enough to raise the ambient light of the
room, but it was enough to glint off the knife the assassin
was carrying.
The figure glided to Rei's bed. Her head was turned aside on
the pillow, her hair tumbling in rivulets of darkness across
the white pillowcase. The figure moved the knife to her
throat to make one clean, fatal cut.
The door slammed open and electric brilliance filled the
air. Rei's eyes flipped open, and she felt the knife at her
throat. Fire exploded from her, igniting the bedclothes and
scorching her would-be assassin. Even as she surged upright
in bed, the transformation completed and she was Sailor
Mars. Her eyes adjusted to the light even as she swung off
the smoldering ruins of her bed.
The assassin had recoiled and was holding up her injured
hand. Rei gasped when she saw that the assassin's blade had
melted under the flare of her power and dripped onto her
hand. The woman's eyes locked onto her and they flared an
unhealthy orange light. Her human fa�ade faded in the blink
of an eye and revealed a humanoid figure with rounded stumps
where hands should have been. An orange gem was set into her
forehead. She grinned wickedly and blades extruded from
those stumps, twice as long as the dagger had been.
"Quietus!" the droid hissed gleefully. An energy blast
smacked it in the forehead, knocked it's head back a bit and
seemed to stun it.
"Now! Sailor Mars!" came a familiar voice from behind her.
Rei inclined her head, struggling to concentrate.
"Mars. . . Flame SNIPER!" The firey arrow also struck the
droid in the forehead, right on the jewel. It let out a
strange noise like a jammed electric motor, and vaporized to
a crystal residue which fell to the floor. A moment later,
the gem in its forehead blackened and fell down into the
pile of crystal ash.
Mars stumbled as the room seemed to tilt around her. It took
precious willpower to hold onto her transformation.
"Easy! I've got you," said the Nemesian who'd guided her and
Minako to Wiseman's castle. He helped her over to a window
seat. The air was full of the unpleasant smell of burning
synthetics. "Hold on, let me grab a fire extinguisher and
put out your bed," he said and dashed out the door. Rei took
a deep breath and propped herself against the cool glass of
the window. A few moments later he returned with an odd,
oval-shaped device. He twisted the top off and it started
spraying foam. The bed was out in a second. Rei looked out
the doorway and noticed the guards outside her door were
laying in the hallway with their throats cut. She shook her
head. This place was even more screwed up then she'd
suspected at first.
More guards arrived. Orders were issued. She idly noticed
one guard messed up and threw a 'yes, milord' at the guide.
"Bingo," she thought. "He IS 'old government' but apparently
a sympathizer. Figured. He disappeared when the Queen sat
down to do some initial talking. And all the paperwork that
got handed over just _went somewhere_." Now she had a pretty
good guess where -- or rather, to who.
"We'll move you to better rooms, Sailor Mars," he said re-
approaching her. Her unpacked luggage had already been
picked up by guards and carried out the door. She smiled and
nodded. She felt lightheaded and dizzy from her sudden
wakeup and henshin, but she was up to playing this game. He
offered an arm, which she declined, and they walked to a
different wing of the citadel. Her baggage was waiting
outside the double door. He unlocked the room with a
thumbprint. "This is my suite," he said. "I've got a parlor
area, so I'll sleep on the couch, you take my bed. I
guarantee you, there won't be another assassination attempt.
Not tonight, at least."
She smiled, and nodded lightly as she walked past him, and
nonchalantly said, "Thank you. Milord." He sighed in
resignation.
"I thought you might have heard that," he replied as he
carried her luggage in.
"What the HELL is your name?" she demanded, rounding on him.
"Topaz."
"Topaz. That's a precious gem." She looked at him sharply.
"You're royalty?"
He smiled wryly and nodded. "Of a sort. I'm quite
illegitimate. But with the legitimate princes dead at
Wiseman's hands, I have had SOME influence of late. I
wouldn't count on it lasting too long though. I'm not really
of the popular mindset, being a peacemaker and all. Though,
you should know, Sapphir and I were of a like mind on a lot
of things, including that we couldn't trust Wiseman." He
checked the door and made sure it was locked, and then
turned back to her.
Rei nodded. "It isn't in the report, but when Sapphir died,
he'd completely thrown off Wiseman's influence. His mark had
disappeared." Topaz' eyebrow shot up at that.
"Hmm. That was one thing he didn't agree with me on -- he
allowed Wiseman to augment his powers. I guess he regretted
it later."
"Augmented? Your people had natural abilities to start
with?"
"Yes," he said hesitantly. "More or less. Wiseman found
those of us with talents and gave us names befitting our
powers and our stations. As I was illegitimate, and intended
to be a Sub-commander, it caused a stir when I got a gem
name. I don't think Wiseman liked me, I don't know if he was
trying to curry favor with King Carnelian or if, in some
twisted way, he was mystic enough he HAD to give me the
'right' name, but it happened." He gestured for her to sit
down on the couch and she did, yawning. "Unlike my half-
brothers, I didn't undergo his power augmentation process.
Poor Karabas, her powers destabilized and faded, and she
ended up with none. But Heliotrope, what happened to her was
horrible! My own powers are pretty unstable, I got out of
the process based on that. Heck, you're lucky I was able to
focus that energy blast. That wasn't an ordinary droid. It
was an assassin-roid."
Rei nodded in acknowledgement, and considered his words.
"Heliotrope . . . died?" she asked. He nodded.
"Her body couldn't handle the dark power and her cell
structure simply broke down." He frowned; Rei looked queasy.
"I'm sorry, I'm keeping you up much later than I should. I
can sense how low your reserves are. But I wanted to go over
this report your people gave us." He pulled out a datapad
while Rei mulled over his 'sense' comment. She also didn't
mind looking at him. Topaz, like Dimando, was a very
handsome man, and quite muscular as well. Sort of a cross
between Dimando and Tigerseye.
"Do you know how accurate this account is? Because I'm
finding a larger number of troops uncaptured than I would
have thought," he began.
"It should be fairly accurate, though Mercury could confirm
that better than I," she replied. "There's still some
skirmishing going on. Though your princes were killed by
Wiseman in the past, we haven't been able to prove that to
them." He nodded.
"Well, what I'm more concerned at is that the Sub-Commanders
aren't listed here," he said.
"Oh! They should be, let me see." He handed over the datapad
and she skimmed it. "Here, the official report. Beruche,
Petz, Cooan, and Karabas remained in the past where they've
been assimilated into the population in 1993." Topaz
blinked.
"I said Sub-Commanders. Not the Special Field Agents. I'm
talking about Citrine, Peridot, Jacinth & Hyacinth. Rubeous
and Esmerodoo's backups."
Sailor Mars looked at him in shock. "We haven't met anyone
by those names!"
Topaz stared back at her. "But, really, they're our field
commanders . . . Sailor Mars, all four of them have powers!"
"Powers?" she yelped.
"Yes! The Ayakashi sisters never really had THAT much going
for them. These four belong in the same category as Rubeous
and Esmerodoo. Peridot is actually stronger than her sister
but much less mentally stable; the zircon twins are each
powerful but together they're stronger than Rubeous.
Citrine's about on a par with Esmerodoo but he's really
smart and has some good, useful psychic powers too!"
Rei cursed. "No wonder the remaining troops are giving us
such a headache . . . oh no, the Queen's not safe!" she
said, jumping to her feet and turning for the door.
"I advise against that," Topaz said levelly.
She turned to him, slowly. "Are you saying you'll stop me?"
He shook his head. "Not at all. I'm saying that the part of
my powers that I can really count on is my ability to gauge
other people's energies and I'm well aware that you're this
close to losing your transformation as Sailor Mars." He made
a pinching gesture with his fingers. "If you walk outside
that door, and collapse, I can't guarantee your safety. If
you call your Queen on an open channel, I can't guarantee
your OR her safety. If the Sub-commanders were to know their
existence is a secret, they'd immediately strike. Their
powers pooled, there is no doubt in my mind that they could
get in the palace and take your queen out. They might not
live, but they could do it. I figure that the energy shield
that went up around the palace as our blitzkrieg got
underway was the work of you senshi. You fueled the defenses
with your own powers for several DAYS. You are almost
completely burned out. I do not want to see this turned into
a bloody massacre. If you don't mind my pushy suggestions, I
think that you & I should get on a shuttle tomorrow, with
Mercury, and hightail it to Earth. I can play ambassador and
maybe pull some of the field troops in."
"Huh," said Rei as she yawned uncontrollably. "I want you to
know that I'd never agree to something this easily if I
weren't in pain from lack of sleep. Tomorrow." She trudged
to the bed, got in it, dropped out of her transformation and
was out cold within seconds.
Topaz rubbed his forehead. The makeup covering his black
crescent was starting to itch. He grabbed a blanket from the
dresser and lay down on the couch. "Lights," he said and the
chamber dimmed.
PROLOGUE THE SECOND
The Palace of Neo-Queen Serenity, Crystal Tokyo, Crystal Era
"MAMA! MAMA!" squealed the pink-haired moppet as she ran
into the Queen's throne room. Her mother greeted her with a
gentle, indulgent smile as she looked over to her daughter.
"Yes, Small Lady, what is it?" Neo-Queen Serenity asked.
Small Lady stopped a bit short of the throne and curtsied.
The Queen smiled. Her daughter had grown much in the last
few months, both physically and mentally. Her trip to the
past had been a true balm for the troubled child.
"Look what Pu gave me!" she said, holding out a simple round
brooch with a heart on it. Neo-Queen Serenity blinked once,
but her smile was unwavering. The Luna-P bobbed into the
room after its excited mistress.
"I see! Is that what I think it is?"
"Yes! She said if I can use the magic brooch then I can be a
Sailor Senshi too!" The Queen smiled and nodded. She was not
happy with the idea of her daughter getting in a fight, but
her kidnapping by Wiseman had taught them that the young
princess needed to be able to defend herself. "Moon Prism
Power, Make UP!!!" yelled Small Lady. Amazingly, the prism
radiated pink light and a moment later the princess had
become a miniature, pink version of her mother's incarnation
as Sailor Moon. "I did it! Yatta!! Sailor . . . um, um?"
"Sailor Chibi-moon!" the Queen laughed, clapping.
"Excellent! The realm has another defender! Your father will
be so proud of you!"
The little girl's face fell. "Can I go see Daddy?" she asked
gravely.
Neo-Queen serenity nodded. "Yes, but only for a little
while, sweetheart." She stood up and took her daughter's
hand. They proceeded to the infirmary where King Endymion
still lay in a near-coma state. He had frequently manifested
his astral self, but at the price of delaying his own
recovery.
Later, that evening . . .
The Queen was seated on her throne once again. Beyond its
ceremonial functions, it was _usually_ a good place for her
to sit and think.
Somehow, Sailor Pluto ALWAYS knew when to find her there.
"Hello Setsuna. What brings you here so late?"
Sailor Pluto walked in and knelt at the throne, the Time Key
Staff held crosswise. Serenity idly noted that she was very
good with it. Of course, considering the little bombshell
Minako had dropped, it made sense. She's really had a LOT of
practice.
"My Queen, I am here to report on my recent activities."
Neo-Queen Serenity lowered her gaze in surprise. This was
not Pluto's typical behavior. "Yes?"
"As you know, I have begun monitoring the past in synch with
this time. I recently noticed a turbulence beginning to
form in the timeline. I investigated it and was lead to a
sensitive young woman. My queen, I must report that another
one of the Outer Senshi, Sailor Neptune, has re-awakened."
"MICHIRU?" gasped the Queen. "Oh, you mean in 1994? Of . . .
ALREADY? What about Haruka, Uranus I mean?"
Pluto nodded her assent. "Her partner has been located and
is just about to awaken as well. Neptune seems to have some
level of clairvoyant power and has sensed a crisis
approaching the Earth from outside the solar system." Pluto
paused and considered. "But apparently the Inner Senshi of
that time have not."
"Actually, Rei has begun to have comparable visions,"
commented Serenity, "but she has been unsure of the source
and has not shared them. There will come a time when it
seems appropriate to you to pool information, and that is
when her knowledge will be revealed by the Garnet Orb."
Pluto nodded. "It is times like these that I regret that I
did not awaken to assist you when you and your court were
reincarnated. Living between these two eras, reaching back
to participate after-the-fact, as it were, and striving to
avoid Paradox is sometimes extremely difficult. However, if
this new crisis, this turbulence I have seen, is as powerful
as I suspect, it could mean another alteration in the
timeline. "
The Queen nodded in agreement. "The power being sought in
the past is great enough to eradicate Paradox and compel the
timeline to change. Ironically, the re-awakening of Uranus
and Neptune is the key to both preventing the Silence and to
bringing it about."
"What?" exclaimed Pluto. "The invaders are after the Ginz .
. . no! the Sacred Chalice of the Moon?" she asked,
properly horrified.
"Yes," the Queen replied. Pluto sighed and put her hand to
her temple, as if in pain.
"My Queen, I sense a crisis approaching this time as well."
Serenity looked extremely puzzled. "A new crisis is going to
menace us here?" Pluto nodded. "That IS unexpected. VERY
unexpected."
"Majesty, you know what the menace in the past is. Would the
Small Lady be safer in the earlier timestream? With eight
Sailor Senshi and the Prince to protect her?"
"Indeed, Pluto. And our earlier selves would have the time
to train her that our present selves do not." The Queen
nodded at the tactical board, which held a map of the world,
marked to show areas where there were residual forces from
Nemesis, along with local in-fighting. Central Europe was a
mess. Consequently, the senshi had been run ragged traveling
around the globe and doing what they could to bring order to
the chaos. She met Pluto's gaze quite levelly. "Indeed we
have taken GREAT PAINS to keep certain information, and
certain PEOPLE from her." Pluto's eyes widened as she got
the message. She bowed once more � really, it was almost a
curtsy � and departed at the nod of the Queen's head.
Endymion's spirit materialized beside her. "How are you
darling?" he asked her.
"I should be worried about you, not the other way around,"
she said. Ghostly lips kissed her check.
"Mamo-chan, it's scary what you can do as a ghost!"
"Embodied Astral Projection."
"Ghost."
"Yes, My Queen," he said grinning. Serenity made a mental
note to have Ami-chan turn his shower water ice cold someday
for this. She smiled. He noticed.
"I do feel sorry for Setsuna though. I always thought she
knew what was supposed to happen . . . but WE are the ones
with the detailed knowledge," she commented.
"True," he agreed. "But remember, once she's in the past and
the Grail is summoned from . . . wherever . . . "
"I know," she said. "All certainties are gone. It might not
happen the same way. She might die in the explosion. Hotaru
might not break free of Mistress Nine's control. I might not
give up the Chalice, or might do so too early."
"Haruka and Michiru might have a lover's quarrel," Endymion
said wryly and grinned.
The Queen made a scoffing noise. "Ha! Fat chance of THAT
element of the timestream changing!" She began to giggle at
the expression on his face. "Get well soon, Mamo-chan," she
whispered to him. "I really need to wipe that expression off
your face." He grinned more, still as handsome as ever, and
bowed, blowing her a kiss as he did so. Somehow, a handful
of rose petals fluttered out of his hand. His astral image
faded leaving Neo-Queen Serenity alone. She got up and
walked toward the door. She had to go to her study. It was
time to send Minako and herself a little note.
She forgot who she was writing to and had to erase the
kanji.
PROLOGUE THE THIRD
Club After Dark, Paris Free City, Crystal Era
Groaning, moaning retro-techno-darkwave sounds filled the
crowded club. A throng of bodies writhed in the heat of the
dimly lit dance floor, with only an occasional flash of
lights from the club display striking any of them. In the
midst of this, an etherial yet sensual woman in a poet's
shirt, tight pants, and chic boots danced. A couple of
soldiers wearing UN forces patches were dancing near her.
In the dim lights of the club, it looked like she had an odd
shade of red hair.
It was actually light green.
"Do you want to go outside and have a party," she nearly
yelled into one of the men's left ear. Over the din of the
music, he could barely hear her. Her French accent was low-
class Parisian. The soldier, a strapping farm boy from
Croatia grinned. He didn't speak French, but he understood
"party." She grinned, impishly at his two friends and
tossed her hair before sidling off the dance floor.
They emerged from the back door of the club and slipped down
the alley a bit. The soldiers were patting each other on the
back, congratulating themselves on getting lucky. She
reached the end of the alley and looked around. She and her
three admirers were alone.
"Boys, I've been such a naughty girl," she said in French.
"I forgot to properly introduce myself!" she flashed her
best come-hither look at them and raised her flattened palms
to her forehead, fingers crossed, and then spread them apart
with a quick gesture. There was now a Black Moon symbol on
her forehead. "My name is Peridot! And you're mine!"
Flourescent green light flared in the back of the alley. The
soldiers never got a chance to make a sound.
PROLOGUE THE FOURTH
The Site of the Failed Covington Expedition,
Greece, Crystal Era
"Poppa!"
"Hotaru," wheezed Professor Tomoe, "I'll be all right, just
let me rest. I'm just feeling my age."
Hotaru scowled as her father sank down on the small boulder,
his frail frame shuddering. Once again she cursed the fact
that the Silver Crystal had not prolonged his life in
proportion to her own. They had both been hosts to alien
life forces intent on conquering the Earth, but she had
discorporated her own body and reformed in a state of
purity, all the scars of her childhood injuries wiped away
in the process. Her father had not achieved such a state and
apparently resisted the crystal's influence. She knew he
thought of it as a just punishment. Therefore a few decades
after the events of her childhood had seen her as a
ravishing beauty of apparently 22 years of age. Her father,
however, had aged about normally. While that aging had been
suspended during the Interregnum, he was still physically in
his late sixties and in rapidly failing health. Of course,
she was convinced, if she was still Sailor Saturn in truth,
she could heal him. Perhaps even regenerate his age. He
looked up to see her scowling and smiled.
"Hotaru, you shouldn't frown. You're too lovely to spoil it
with a sour expression!"
"Poppa..."
"We have to accept what is. I'm just happy to be able to
spend this time together with you."
"Don't speak that way Poppa!"
"It's all right child, it won't be too much longer until
your mother and I are together again. " Hotaru looked
away, a pained expression on her face. When she looked
back, she forced her face to be bright and cheerful.
"It's a good day to work Papa, I'm glad we're together!" and
then she gently hugged the old man, and blinked to hold back
the tears.
"I'm glad my knowledge can be somewhat useful to you," he
said as they broke the embrace.
"Of course you're important Poppa! I couldn't do any of this
without you! I can sense there's something around here
*somewhere* but I can't focus on it."
"It's probably shielded," he said. "I've been thinking.
Perhaps there's an old Earth base of the Silver Millenium
here. Can you imagine the technology that might be hidden?"
He eagerly began to speak of the many wonders he speculated
they might find. Hotaru smiled with happiness at her
father's excitement. He forgot the aches of his body and
threw himself into his work. He took out the parchment
scrap that was left from the Covington expedition. They
could see part of a disk edged with familiar colored gems or
stones. Once again he explained to Hotaru how he thought
the pattern was very similar to a henshin brooch and she
nodded dutifully.
Later, she got back to work with the pick and shovel. At
5:30 she unearthed the edge of the disk they were looking
for. It was affixed to a stone slab sealing the entrance to
the ancient site. She hurriedly uncovered more of the
doorway. Her father fumbled beside her, trying to help clear
away some of the smaller chunks of clay that she hacked off.
An hour later, they had the doorway uncovered, and the disk
fully revealed. Strangely, there was a hand print in the
middle of it.
"It's a combination lock of some kind!" he gasped. "But what
could the order be?"
Hotaru stared at it thoughtfully for a moment and then
placed her hand in the depression. "Of course. The Inner
Senshi. Blue - Mercury; Yellow - Venus; Red - Mars; Green -
Jupiter." She turned the wheel in sequence; there was a
click and the slab released itself and swung back, revealing
a narrow stairway down. Professor Tomoe's eyes were wide
and shining. "Poppa, let's take a break, eat something, let
the fresh air in, and then we can go in with flashlights.
We've been working at this for weeks, we can wait a few
hours." He nodded his assent.
By 8 PM they were descending the stairway, each holding a
powerful flashlight, Hotaru with a backpack of supplies and
equipement. She'd changed out of her dirty coveralls into
khaki slacks, boots, a camp shirt, and a linen jacket.
Professor Tomoe was still wearing a white linen suit, a
shirt and tie, and had his best cane for support. Holding
hands, they descended carefully, wary for traps.
They reached the first chamber in relatively short order.
There was a broken statue in the middle of the room. It had
been apparently been broken off at the feet as part of the
feet and legs were still standing upright. They could tell
it was of a woman, who had apparently been carrying a staff
tipped with a crescent moon. Some of it was totally rubbled
though, as if it had been blasted. Tomoe started excitedly.
"See!! A crescent moon! This place *must* be connected to
the Moon Kingdom!!"
Hotaru nodded absently while turning her head this way and
that. There was a low resonance in the back of her mind,
like the susurration of the wind, but it seemed to echo; she
couldn't fix a direction. Was it a trace of the Saturn
power? It had been so long since it had been a part of her
she couldn't tell. She tried to remember the feel of the
Saturn power, but it was something you couldn't remember,
like an intense sensation.
"Hotaru!" she blinked at her father's yelling, and slowly
turned to face him.
"Yes, Poppa?"
"You've been standing entranced for over five minutes."
"Oh."
"Let's try this way, I suppose it's as good as any." She
nodded her assent and they set off down the passageway.
"This looks like work from the Mycenean era," he commented
as they carefully proceeded. "Archaeology and Greek history
aren't my strongest suits, but all the research I did before
we came here seems to be sticking in my feeble old brain."
Hotaru made a disdainful noise at the 'feeble old brain'
comment. Tomoe Souichi smiled.
After a few minutes he paused. "I need to rest a bit my
dear," he said, seating himself on the edge of an alcove.
"Go ahead Poppa," said Hotaru as she scanned the nearby
walls with her flashlight and peered at the delicate
engraving edging the walls. Her father noticed that the tip
of one of the twin torch sconces flanking the alcove was a
bit out of alignment and absentmindedly reached out for it.
It moved at his touch, and he gave a startled cry as he felt
the wall behind him shift with a grinding sound. Hotaru
whirled to see the back of the alcove complete the process
of spinning around. It now held a rack of scrolls, and half
of a wide, flat, metal band was nestled among them. Tomoe
had leapt to his feet and had a hand to his chest as he
gasped for air.
"Poppa, what's this?" she asked as she took the metal
fragment into her hand.
"Hmm. That looks like a chakram, sort of an Indian
equivalent of a boomerang if I remember correctly," he said.
"That's odd. That doesn't look like bronze at all." Hotaru
turned the half-chakram over in her hands. That resonance
with the Saturn power was rising again, starting to sing
within her. It was like she could see the wind blowing
through the chambers, threading a specific pathway in her
mind. "Come to me, yes, this way, come to me," it seemed to
call wordlessly.
Her father began examining the scrolls as she absently
turned away and began to take her first step in the
direction she felt the sensation pulling her. The hand
holding the chackram fragment seemed to raise of its own
accord.
"I'm glad I brushed up on my linear-B script," he commented
to the empty room. "This is fascinating! This scroll tells
the story of a reformed warlord, a woman named Xena!" he
absently brushed his white hair out of his eyes. The sudden
breeze had blown it there. He set the scroll back and
looked at the array. Surely the scrolls must be in order;
there was a reason they were here. The beginning or the end
though? He took out the bottom right-most scroll and began
scanning it over.
Hotaru found herself entering a chamber with a large stone
sarcophagus, decorated with paintings of a war between the
gods. There was a large gem mounted into a small obelisk
set atop an altar on the back wall. However, she had eyes
for none of this; she did not even notice that torches on
all four walls had blazed to life when she set foot in the
door. The other half of the chakram was on the sarcophagus
and she almost flew toward it as she felt the two halves
attract like magnets. The two pieces clicked together and
the chakram became seemingly whole. Then it began to vibrate
silently in her hand and power came spiralling forth.
Hotaru began to scream as bands of violet light and inky
blackness exploded from her, rotating around her in a
violent storm of power. She had felt this before: the moment
that the Holy Grail had been summoned into existence, and
like then she was hammered to her knees. But this time, she
knew what it was. It was the Saturn Power and it wanted
expression through her.
In the distance her father heard her and came running as
fast as he could. The Saturn Power hammered at her,
demanding her form to use. How could she have forgotten? It
was like a breaking tide, an earthquake, a typhoon, a
blazing firestorm, a tornado, an atomic explosion. It was so
much power, so much destruction. She couldn't tame it, how
could she possibly? How had she ever? Had she, or was it her
delusion that she had controlled it in the past? Hadn't she
hesitated when she'd confronted Nehelenia, unable to be sure
that she wouldn't destroy more than the Queen of Nightmares?
The power was destruction, ruin, evil incarnate, she was
better off without it, yet still it demanded to join with
her and fulfill its mission.
She felt herself saying something, mouthing the word "no"
over and over but she couldn't hear anything because of the
power roaring in her ears. "NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!" she screamed.
"GET AWAY FROM ME!!!!" and then it was over. Just like that,
the Saturn power, rejected, dissipated in a final swirl
around her and with a sound like an implosion.
"Hotaru," her father wheezed, as he leaned against the wall
for support.
Mocking laughter in a deep voice rang out. They both looked
toward the stone sarcophagus. A dark haired man clad in
black leather was hopping out of it with a fluid motion. He
turned and stood there grinning, his dark beard and slightly
touseled black bangs matching the black leather outfit he
wore. Hotaru found him undeniably handsome, and he exuded a
raw, animal sexuality. However, she also knew from the
expression on his face that he was quite evil and was just
posing to taunt her. "You're pathetic," he sneered. "You
rejected the Saturn power and now, without a host, it's
dissipated out into the cosmos." He grinned with malevelnce.
"So much for stopping ME!!" he then bellowed with laughter.
Hotaru gasped. He turned and drew a sword out of the
sarcophagus and brandished it. He walked over to the altar
and with one blow from his muscular form, the gem atop the
obelisk was shattered. There was a grinding sound and a
back passage began to slide open, revealing a narrow shaft
up the hillside.
"Who are you?" wheezed Professor Tomoe. The figure stopped
at the doorway and turned around.
"Why, I'm Ares, the God of War of course. A couple thousand
years ago I was imprisoned here by Sailor Saturn but the
return of war to the Earth awakened me and I called to you,"
he said, directing his comments at Hotaru as if
propositioning her. He made her feel slimey just from that.
"As her descendant, and I must say, you got the looks if not
the attitude," he leered, "you were able to free me. Now I'm
going to gather the left over Nemesite troops and conquer
the Earth. Yes, I'm definitely thinking this is my day. " He
casusally strode out the door, and as he set foot across the
threshold power gathered to him, blindingly bright, as if a
huge lightning bolt had struck the Earth. Both Hotaru and
Souichi Tomoe had to shield their eyes. "Oh, and I don't
mean to seem ungrateful, but it just seems to me I should
avoid witnesses for now," he purred. Hotaru stared at him
uncomprehendingly from where she crouched on the floor, but
her father leapt to her side and grabbed her, trying to drag
her to her feet.
With a contemptuous upward thrust of his right arm, Ares
released a bolt of power which arced into the ceiling of the
tomb and exploded. The ceiling began to collapse as he waved
and the door began to seal shut.
"HOTARU!!" screamed Professor Tomoe as the rocks and rubble
rained down and the door sealed.
Ares chuckled and with a wave of his hand, disappeared in a
blast of steel-gray light.
PROLOGUE THE FIFTH
Deep Space En Route to Earth, Nemesite Light Cruiser
'Pasha,' Crystal Era
Topaz sat at the main piloting station, with Hino Rei in the
auxiliary/navigation station. "I think we've got a
problem," said said.
"What are you getting?" Topaz replied. She nodded her head
at the long range sensor display. He swore. "Four contacts-
-focus the sensors aft and run the primary identification
suite on them. I bet they're Crystal Stars. I hope they're
not pursuit cruisers."
Rei complied after a moment's hesitation as she looked over
the unfamiliar controls. The computer displayed the results
a few seconds later. "Three Crystal Star dreadnoughts and
one Jocasta-class cruiser." Topaz swore again. "I take it
the Jocasta-class is a pursuit ship?" He nodded as his hands
flew over the controls and repeated his cuss word of choice
another half-dozen times. "Really, say whatever you like, my
ears aren't at all sensitive to the talk of sailors," she
said blithely.
Topaz ignored her barb and continued working, even reached
right past her and flipped a few switches right in front of
her. Rei was not looking pleased by the bruskness. "We may
have to do a Jump without a 100% course lock," he said. "The
sublight drive on the Jocasta is more than twice what we
have. And it has enough weapons to take us out, which is
probably what the Oligarchy wants."
"I can shoot ship weapons," Rei volunteered. Topaz shook his
head. "I don't think there's enough firepower on this
cruiser to seriously affect the pursuit ship. We need to
evade now. We have a better Jump system then they do, but
we're not in a totally clear corridor and we're rather close
to a solar gravity well right now ..."
"Can we try a microjump to access the Eridani corridor?" Rei
asked. Topaz nodded.
"That's what I'm configuring us for. I take it you're up for
the risk?"
"I'm not happy, but it seems our best choice. Do it."
As the pursuit ship approached them rapidly, its gun ports
open and its dark crystal torpedoes armed, the Pasha Jumped
toward the spatial corridor that would lead them the rest of
the way to Earth.
And it didn't reappear on its pursuer's sensors.
End of Episode One
[No Ending Credits]
Next time, on Mythic Sailor Moon:
"The Seal is Broken! Revival of Evil at the End of Time."
Image: Xena standing on a street in the Moon Kingdom;
suddenly, she gasps for air & crumples to the ground.