This is, as the subject implies, the sixth chapter of my revision of
this Sailor Moon epic.  C&C of all kinds is always welcome.  The
previous chapters of the revision have not been archived anywhere yet,
but are available on request.

           Aaron Nowack
"Never let reality get in the way of a good hypothesis."
http://www.geocities.com/anowack/ (for now)

Shades of Gray
A Sailor Moon Fanfic
By: Aaron Nowack

Chapter 6:  Soul of Thunder

        "...He has loosed the fateful lightning of his terrible, swift
         sword..."
                -"Battle Hymn of the Republic"

***********************************************************************
Disclaimer:  Sailor Moon is owned by Naoko Takeuchi, whose creative
talents far exceed my most humble own.  Distribution and other rights to
Sailor Moon belong to lots of different companies that I do not own.  I
make or imply no claim to ownership of Sailor Moon or its characters.
However, the text of this fanfic is mine, and should not be used without
permission. Thank you.
***********************************************************************


        A sharp drumroll shattered the silence.  Under a dark sky, as
one, thousands of red flares appeared.  Inside the citadel of Grim
Respite, a handful of youma waited for the onslaught.  For a few
moments, nothing happened.  Then, a second drumroll was pealed out.
Simultaneously, thousands of flaming arrows were loosed, flying through
the dark sky like shooting stars.
        The defenders weathered the storm of arrows, losing only a few
of their number.  But that was not the end.  A third drumroll sounded,
rumbling like thunder over the horizon.  Then, for a long moment,
silence returned.  The quiet seemed unnatural, and an expectant feeling
filled the air.
        A large groan broke the stillness.  The very earth heaved,
cracking open before the citadel.  The widening chasm raced forward
towards the solid walls of the castle.
        The defenders were not worried, as the walls had wards inscribed
on them, protecting them from such magical assault.  What they did not
know was that, amid the flaming arrows they had recently survived,
arrows carrying charms designed to counter those wards had been hidden.
And thus, they were surprised when the chasm reached the walls, and the
defenses tumbled in with a great crash.
        Once more, a drumroll could be heard.  One hundred of
Mordrangar's elite guard charged forward.  Once, these had been
Malvaar's command.  Now, they sought to avenge their lord.  The
surviving defenders raced towards the breach in the walls, hoping to
throw back the assault.
        The first of them to die was the castle's seneschal, whose head
was cleaved in two by a massive axe.  The second was Ixitar's brother,
who was torn apart by two massive dog-like youma.  The defenders never
had a chance.  First by the ones, but then by the dozens, they fell. The
last to die was slain while he cowered in a corner.
        He would not be the last to die in this war.  This was only the
beginning.  Mordrangar had made his move, seizing the territory
previously promised to the Mountains of Desolation.  With Jadeite's
youma split by their own bickering, this would be an easy conquest.
Mordrangar felt that within weeks he would be seated on Beryl's throne,
sipping wine out of a goblet made from Jadeite's skull.  Yes... this
would be sweet.

***********************************************************************

        Ten thousand years ago...

        The place was the Palace of Light, once home to the King and
Queen of Venus.  Those two had long since fled their home, headed
towards the safe haven of Luna.  Now abandoned except for those who
chose to defend it, the Palace floated over bloodstained, ruined fields.
Venus, Planet of Light, faced true war for the first time in recorded
history.
        The attack had been sudden, but not quite without warning. There
had been revolutions on Mars and Saturn. The royal family of Saturn had
been hung, while that of Mars was slain in battle.  In the streets of
Akturun, capital of Mars, the fall of the old order and the beginning of
a new had been proclaimed.
        Moments later, the word came that a coup had been staged on
Saturn by the nobility of that world.  A pact of unity was signed by the
two new governments.  The Brotherhood, a mysterious organization that
had been causing problems for almost a decade, had come out into the
open, declaring itself the protector of the new regimes.
        It took three days before the identities of the Brotherhood's
leaders were discovered.  Cyrene frowned as she thought of it.  She had
been High Commander of the Silver Army, but she had made a costly
mistake. She had hesitated, waited for orders.  By the time they came,
the fleet bases on Jupiter's moons had defected, and the planet itself
was under attack.  It only held for a few months before the King of
Jupiter turned his coat, trading his kingdom for his life.
        Cyrene had sworn that no more worlds would fall as easily.  And
she had succeeded.  She had held the rebels for almost a year at Uranus
and Neptune, and even now brave colonists made hit and run attacks on
the enemy's supply lines.  Pluto still held, though it had been under
siege for years.  Cyrene wondered how Dia was doing there, trying to
keep morale up among the soldiers and refugees trapped on that tiny
world.
        When the war was almost two years old, the Brotherhood had moved
back to the inner system, leaving half their force to keep Pluto bottled
up.  Their invasion had struck Mercury and Venus, bypassing the strong
defenses of Terra, which soon had its own problems to deal with, in any
case.  Mercury had lasted nine months, but had been forced to surrender
when the rebels had threatened to destroy the Sunshield.  But Venus was
where Cyrene had made her stand.
        For two and a half years, war had ravaged Venus.  Vast forests
had been burnt to the ground.  Great plains had been trampled by the
steeds of the Martian desert nomads, perhaps the finest mounted warriors
in the solar system.  Villages and cities had been stormed, captured,
and retaken until there were only a few that had not been abandoned.
Cloud Castles had been damaged, though not even the rebels risked
destroying them.
        Now the rebels were making their final assault.  Their armies,
boosted by native Venusian rebels, had finally battered their way to the
Palace of Light.  Behind them was only devastation, a tortured wasteland
of muddy trenches, still-smoking craters, and countless unmarked graves.
Ahead of them was the last bastion of loyalist power on Venus. Cyrene's
orders were clear.  At the first sign of defeat, she was to teleport to
Luna, and from there probably back to take command of Pluto's defenses
once again.
        She turned to her aide, Allasandra.  She and the Venusian woman
had not gotten along well at first, but now Cyrene almost felt she was
as much a part of herself as her own right arm, and she liked the
thought of losing her as much as she did the thought of losing that
limb.  "When... when... I leave..." Cyrene struggled to continue.
"Surrender.  There's no point in wasting any more lives."  Before she
could say anything more, or before the aide could respond, they both
heard the rumble of war drums below.  With a smooth motion, Cyrene
summoned her henshin stick and prepared for the final battle.  "Uranus
Planet Power, Make Up!"
        She peered out through the viewports at the forces gathering
below, readying for the assault.  There was what had once been the famed
Jovian Royal Guard, though they now called themselves simply the Jovian
Guard.  Her face twisted into a grimace as she saw a handful of banners
from her own world, but that grimace was nothing before the expression
that appeared on her face as she saw a single, plain blood-red banner.
The Betrayer of Peace.  Almost as soon as she saw this, the attack
began.
        The fighting was swift and deadly.  The rebels breached the
Palace's defenses in moments, throwing the loyalists into confusion. But
wherever in the lines Senshi Uranus traveled, the defenders rallied, and
the rebels fell back in disarray.  However, Ares was also present,
dominating the battle like a god of war.  He called fire down on
Uranus's command, and his very presence put spine back into fleeing
rebel troops.  Each time it seemed as though the attack was broken, Ares
would lead a further charge, and that accursed battle cry would sound
once more.
        When the two met, a bloody fight ensued.  Rebels and loyalists
fought each other with a passion, neither side willing to give ground. A
thin Saturnian stabbed one Venusian through the heart with a rapier,
only to have the favor returned by a loyalist pikeman. The fighting
swirled throughout grand halls.  A vast mirror, which no doubt had cost
a fortune, was shattered into a thousand pieces by sword blows.  Bodies,
and blood, were everywhere.  Uranus felt a haze of red descend over her
vision as she desperately tried to be everywhere at once, striking down
the rebels with her Space Sword.
        Suddenly, looming out of the carnage came Ares' form, his dark
red armor covered in blood, as was his blade.  A manic light was in his
eyes and a cocky grin on his face as he approached Uranus.  The two
collided, blades striking like serpents, and in moments both were
bleeding from several small hits. Hits they could have avoided had they
been well rested.
        The two paused for a silent second, then leaped at each other
once more.  This time, it was clear who had the upper hand.  Ares danced
around a strike from Uranus, then darted forward and struck home,
stabbing Uranus through the stomach.  Falling back, dazed from the pain,
Uranus was barely able to concentrate to successfully teleport to Luna.
        None of the remaining defenders left the Palace of Light alive.
Cyrene never found out whether they had refused to surrender, or whether
they had been killed in cold blood after trying to do so.  Days after
being healed, she returned to Pluto, to rally the defenders there.  A
few days after that, the Silver Millenium fell.

        That was then...

***********************************************************************

        ...and this is now.

        The place was the shopping district of the Juuban ward of Tokyo.
It was only a few minutes ago that the latest conflict between the
Senshi and the Champions had started.  A large crowd had already
gathered, watching in awe... and no small amount of fear.  No one
noticed the shop owner, who sat bemoaning the certain destruction that
would befall his store.  The Champions had managed to gain the upper
hand initially, but the Senshi quickly used their superior numbers to
put an end to that.
        "Ice Storm!" Hermes cried out, trying to buy himself and
Aphrodite a little time.
        Sailor Moon searched around herself, trying to find the Spiral
Heart Moon Rod, which Aphrodite had knocked from her hand.  Sailor Mars
guarded her, flinging out a Burning Mandala in the general direction of
the Champions.
        "Deep Submerge!" Neptune's blast slammed into Hermes, sending
him tumbling down.  Mercury followed up by blasting him with a Shine
Aqua Illusion.
        Meanwhile, Venus fired a Crescent Beam at Aphrodite, backed up
by a Sparkling Wide Pressure from Jupiter.  The Champion of Venus
staggered under the blows.  Aphrodite dropped to one knee, gritting her
teeth against the pain.  "Guys... we might need to retreat."  But one
look told her that wasn't an option.
        A short distance away, Chronus and Sailor Pluto continued their
swirling duel.  Blade and staff clashed in a merger of a hundred
different styles, many of which hadn't been seen on Earth for thousands
of years.  Chronus was a blur, moving faster than the eye could see.
Pluto's defenses, however, were always in the right place at the right
time.  Her attacks, on the other hand, were never quite fast enough.
Despite the exchange of hits a few moments earlier, their duel was a
stalemate.  The two were perfectly matched.
        A little bit further away, another duel was coming to an end.
Sailor Uranus stood over Ares, her Space Sword at his throat.  "I
underestimated you, girl," he said, and his voice weary.  "And maybe
overestimated myself.  A bad mistake, it seems."  He knew he wouldn't be
able to teleport away before Uranus could put her sword through his
throat.
        Uranus's face twisted into a sneer.  "You won't get the chance
to make another mistake."
        Ares sighed.  "No, I won't.  What a way for this to end, after
so many years."  He closed his eyes, waiting for oblivion.
        Uranus tightened her grip and prepared to press down.

***********************************************************************

        Down below in the gathering crowd, a man with shaggy long hair
looked around frantically.  "Where did that two-timer go... I'm gonna
pound him.  Wait... I better make sure this one's not a girl first."
The man continued to search in vain for Fuarku Ikawa.
        Near him, a blond man rose to his feet and stumbled towards an
alley, clutching his head.  His head was pounding, and every step
resounded like thunder between his ears.  Something was happening to
him... something unlike anything he had experienced.
        "Who am I?" he breathed out as he entered the alleyway.
        "I'm me," his own voice answered in his mind.
        "I'm Zeus." another responded.  It was his voice, but it
sounded... ancient.  As the voice faded, memories of another age came
pouring in.  A vast city that floated through the reddish-brown clouds,
watching the sunset from a distant world, responsibility.  An oath.  A
duel.  Hatred.  Rage.
        He weakly raised one hand.  The man struggled for a moment, as
if trying to remember how to use a muscle he hadn't used in ages.
Slowly, a massive sword appeared in his hand.  The man paused once more,
then called out, "Jupiter Sword Power!"  Green armor formed around him,
with the sigil of Jupiter displayed in gold on the chest plate.
        A moment later, Zeus leapt up to the rooftop.  His eyes quickly
took in the situation.  He had only moments to act, or he would lose a
brother.  "Thunder Bolt!" he cried.  The blast of lightning slammed into
Sailor Uranus, nearly blowing her off the rooftop.  Ares opened his eyes
and smiled, rising to his feet once more, sword in hand.
        "Welcome!" the Champion of Mars said before he hurled a Flame
Strike at the rising Uranus.  The Senshi fell back down under the burst.
        Pluto suddenly backed away from Chronus.  "The time is not yet
right for this duel to conclude," she said before vanishing.
        "Uranus!" called out Neptune, racing to her lover's side.
        Ares observed the battlefield.  Neither side was in the best of
shape.  "Serenity!"
        "What is it?" asked Sailor Moon, a bit of hope in her voice.
        "We all have wounds to tend.  We will continue this another
day."  Ares and the other Champions leapt down, swiftly vanishing.

***********************************************************************

        A few minutes later, at the Tomoe house, wounds were being
bandaged.  Michiru silently tended Haruka's burns, which fortunately
were not quite as severe in this form as they had seemed on Sailor
Uranus.  Not far away, Usagi morosely stared at the wall, wondering for
what seemed the thousandth time what this fighting was about.
        "So, we have two more Champions to deal with," said Makoto,
grimacing.
        Ami was typing on her computer.  "Yes, Chronus and Zeus.
Fortunately, Chronus's powers seem to be more in line with Pluto's than
with Saturn's."
        "Fortunately?" exclaimed Minako.  "I'd almost rather take on a
Champion who could destroy the world than one who could manipulate the
time stream!"
        Rei sighed.  "That is true.  I'm feeling something... dark on
the horizon.  It might be his influence."
        "Well, that's a cheery thought," grumbled Haruka.  "Does Crystal
Tokyo even exist anymore, I wonder?  Have we already failed?"
        Ami frowned.  "I don't think so.  We all remember Chibi-Usa, and
that would, I imagine, be a paradox if Crystal Tokyo was no longer the
future."
        At this point, Hotaru silently slipped into the room.  Her
purple eyes took in the exhausted and battered Senshi, and she frowned.
She silently walked over to Haruka, and soon her hands began to glow,
and Haruka's burns started vanishing.  "What happened?" she asked.
        "We fought the Champions," Michiru said quietly, carefully
eyeing Hotaru.
        Hotaru's frown deepened.  Should she have gone?  If she had,
then her friends would have been safe.  But... a memory came back to
her.  She stood before Sailor Moon, Uranus, and Neptune.  Her impossibly
long hair was slowly choking the life out of the two Senshi who would
become like parents to her.  No.  She couldn't risk it.  She would not
risk destroying the world again.  Not even for Serenity.
        No.  She would not do it.  Not for anything.  But a small voice
inside her sounded, and she somehow knew that she would eventually be
forced to give into her power's siren call.  She could only hope to
delay that date.

***********************************************************************

        Jadeite frowned as his two new Generals left.  He had been
forced to accede to Ishamanar and Nyxan's demands.  He couldn't afford
to have his kingdom split by civil war now.  Not with an invasion begun
and the conjunction on the way.  He slammed his fist on the armrest of
his throne, staring at the black ball Beryl had used to scry out her
enemies.
        "So, the Dragon of the North has seized Grim Respite?" said the
former General, speaking to the empty air.  "That is of little
importance."  He sounded as though he was almost trying to convince
himself of that fact.
        What to do, what to do?  Jadeite had already ordered Nyxan and
Ishamanar to march north, to meet Mordrangar.  Together, their force was
probably outnumbered three to two by Mordrangar's army.  That would have
to be enough for now though, because he could not let the opportunity of
the conjunction go to waste.
        He would have to send his own personal forces across.  There was
no way around it.  If he appropriated any of his Overlords' forces,
there wouldn't be enough youma left to keep Mordrangar from sitting on
this throne, which Jadeite intended to keep firmly beneath him.  It
wouldn't be as many youma as he had been hoping for, but it should still
be few more than enough to slaughter the cursed Senshi and Champions.
        At that thought he reviewed the reports on recent events on
Terra.  He would have to strike with overwhelming force soon, since the
Champions were Awakening so quickly.  The more there were, the more
difficult his conquest would be.  He offered a quiet prayer of thanks,
though to what god he knew not, that Saturn was dead.  He had no desire
to rule over an asteroid belt.
        And, to the north, three armies converged on a stretch of
wasteland, not yet any different from any of the countless barren
regions of the Dark Kingdom.  Two armies marched under the banner of the
Dark Kingdom.  The third, and by far the largest, carried the standard
of the Mountains of Desolation.  In a matter of days, the three would
collide, and this wasteland would become distinguished by hosting one of
the greatest battles in the history of the Dark Kingdom.

***********************************************************************

        Back on Earth, in an abandoned alleyway not far from the site of
the recent battle, the Champions stood.  "Looks like you were having a
bit of a problem there, no?" Zeus asked, eyes sparkling.
        Ares smiled.  "Yes. Until we get up to full strength, we're
going to be at a disadvantage fighting the Senshi."
        Aphrodite turned to Hermes.  "Speaking of that, any clues on who
any of the others are?"
        Hermes shook his head briefly.  "Not one.  By the way, Gladian,
who are you in this life?"
        Aphrodite nodded.  "Who are you?"
        Zeus detransformed, his forest green armor fading away to reveal
his street clothing.
        Aphrodite gasped as she detransformed as well. "Brother?" she
asked.
        While the others detransformed, Furuhata Motoki stared at his
little sister.  His face went through disbelief and shock in a matter a
moments  "Unazuki?  You're Aphrodite?  That's... that's impossible!"
        Unazuki slowly nodded.  "The odds of this have to be...
astronomical.  I can't think of any time any of us have been related by
blood."
        Meno nodded.  "I can think of once when Hades and I were distant
cousins, but that's it."
        Tamori looked as though he was getting a headache.  "I hate to
break up this reunion, but Pluto's trying to find us.  I'm blocking her,
but I'd suggest we get a move on it."
        "Right," said Ikawa.  "Let's all meet over at my place tonight
so we can make plans, alright?"
        The other Champions quickly agreed and went their separate ways.
Ikawa thought of heading over to the Hikawa Shrine and talking with Rei,
but decided against it.  He needed to talk and think about something
that was only about Ikawa, and had nothing to do with Ares, but homework
fulfilled that requirement just as well as Rei, and he had been letting
it slip the past few weeks.
        He didn't notice the man who began following him about halfway
there.  That man grimaced as he raced after Ikawa.  "Rei, tomorrow I
will crush this two-timing bastard for you!"

***********************************************************************

        The Senshi had gone their separate ways from the Tomoe house,
promising to meet again the next day.  The Outer Senshi had also
promised to try to get some answers out of Pluto if they saw her, but
both groups knew exactly how likely that was.  Pluto never answered
anything she didn't want to.  In the bedroom the two of them shared,
Michiru tried to comfort her lover.
        "What is it, Haruka?" she asked.  She had quickly noticed that
Haruka seemed depressed.
        Haruka sat down on her bed.  "It's like the Talismans all over
again," she said, disgust filling her voice.
        Michiru blinked as she sat down beside Haruka.  "What do you
mean?"
        "We're fighting with our lives... and the princess's... on the
line, we have a hundred questions, Pluto knows all the answers, and
she's not giving us any.  I hate it," Haruka said bitterly.  "The others
still don't quite trust us because of what Pluto had us do last time,
and none of it was necessary."
        Michiru paused for a moment, looking into Haruka's eyes.  "I
know.  But that's not it, is it?"
        A ghost of a smile appeared on Haruka's face as she looked at
the woman who meant more to her than anything.  "I never could hide
anything from you, could I?"
        Michiru grinned in response.  "No, you couldn't."  She placed
her hand over her lover's, then continued.  "Now, tell me what's wrong."
        Haruka's face turned grim once more.  "It was what happened with
Ares today.  I could have killed him-"
        "He's the enemy.  He would have killed you if he had the chance,
just like the youma or the daimons," Michiru replied.
        "That's not what I meant!" shouted Haruka.  "My sword was at his
throat.  I was about to kill him.  I was happy I had the chance!  But
then... I remembered the Talismans.  I remembered how we stood by,
risking other's lives for our quest.  I wondered if this was all another
of Pluto's games."  Haruka grimaced before continuing.  "I wondered
whether Ares had another identity like us, whether he had friends,
people he loved and who loved him.  I hesitated, and then Zeus hit me.
And I realized I was glad I hadn't killed him!"  Haruka paused for a
breath.  "And then I was upset that I was glad he had survived, and then
I felt guilty I was being upset about it."
        Michiru put her hands around her lover, drawing her into a hug.
"We can't worry about that.  We can only work on what we know."
        Haruka closed her eyes.  "I guess... but that's what we did last
time.  What will Usagi think... no, what will we think of ourselves if
we kill one of the Champions, and he's someone we know? Or someone one
of the others knows?  We don't even know why we're fighting, this time."
        Michiru tightened her grasp on Haruka.  "We have to trust Pluto.
It all worked out last time."  If she hadn't been so close, she wouldn't
have been able to hear Haruka's whisper.
        "I don't think I can trust her."  Michiru couldn't think of a
reply to that.

***********************************************************************

        The sky was dark and overcast.  But then, it was always dark and
overcast.  What was unusual was that dark clouds of smoke lanced upward
like spears, pillars rising up until they were lost in the dark sky.
Rising up with them were screams of pain, prayers for merciful death
that went to an uncaring goddess.
        The countryside glowed with a light like the sky would have had,
had the clouds not been there.  Rivers of flame flowed over the
landscape, consuming all they touched.  Serpentine columns marched
south, spreading the flames as they went.  To meet them, more columns of
youma headed north, into the devastated regions.  Already, scouting
groups had met and clashed in bloody combat.  The Dark Kingdom was at
war.
        Had anyone bothered to count, the death toll from the war would
already have been numbered in the tens of thousands.  It was already
obvious that the victor would rule over a depopulated, ruined province,
wrecked by the war that was in the process of consuming it. But the true
purpose of the battle that was already beginning was not to take this
battered ground, but instead to destroy the opposing force.
        Senalks was a youma leader, one of Ishamanar's men.  He
commanded a patrol unit, which was currently trying to ascertain the
location of Mordrangar's main force.  Working with them was a patrol of
Nyxan's, a patrol that mere days ago had been the enemy.  But it was not
Senalks's place to question the politics of his masters.
        War was not an uncommon event in the Dark Kingdom.  Raids
between neighboring provinces occurred on a daily basis.  Larger feuds
happened fairly regularly, with at least one going on somewhere at any
given time.  But war on this scale was rare.  The only war in the
history of this sordid subdimension that exceeded it was the disastrous
conflict that had occurred after Beryl's death, a conflict that was
still occurring on the vast western continent. But here, on the smaller
eastern continent, some semblance of a peaceful status quo had been
formed.  A status quo which had been shattered by Jadeite's return.
        Senalks' musings on the causes of this war were stopped by an
arrow through one of his three eyes.  He died before he realized what
had happened.  Youma erupted from hidden position around the patrol,
charging towards them, battle cries in their throats.  The Dark Kingdom
patrols only lasted eight minutes against Mordrangar's scouts.  Two
dozen more lives to be added to the rapidly growing death count.  And
all before the first major battle.
        And the clouds of smoke continued to rise up into the heavens,
like grasping hands.  Their numbers grew as the day wore on.  As night
fell, some of them slowly started to die down, as the fires ran out of
things to consume.  The cries of pain quieted, as those that cried out
died or became too weak to shout out their anguish.  The columns halted,
resting for the next day.  It would not be long before all these things
started once more.  Not long at all.

***********************************************************************

        Back on Earth, in an apartment in Tokyo, a diverse group of
people met.  The owner of the apartment and leader of this group was
tall, black-haired, and blue eyed.  He greeted each of his fellows as
they arrived, then sat on his bed, cold eyes taking in the others.  His
name was Fuarku Ikawa.  Or Deinas.  Or Ares.
        The only female in the group had reddish brown hair and bright
green eyes.  She sat cross-legged on the only chair in the apartment,
her back to Ikawa's desk, on which his computer sat.  A smile was on her
face as she looked around.  Her name was Furuhata Unazuki.  Or Azala. Or
Aphrodite.
        Beside her stood her brother, who silently ran his hands through
his short blond hair, his green eyes, twins to his sister's, noting the
identities of the others in this assembled group.  He was the newest
addition to the group.  His name was Furuhata Motoki.  Or Gladian.  Or
Zeus.
        Leaning against the door was a man with long white hair, tied
back into a ponytail.  His gray eyes were closed, though if they had
been open they would have been staring at the ceiling.  His musings were
his own, but the others gathered there, who knew him well, could guess
what he pondered.  The future, or maybe the past, both of which were on
everyone's minds to some degree.  His name was Urawa Meno.  Or Janus.
Or Hermes.
        Staring out the window was a man with blond hair and blue eyes.
His face was dark, his mouth twisted into a frown.  His face smoothed as
he finished what he was doing, then turned to face the others.  his name
was Inusha Tamori.  Or Genitas.  Or Chronus.
        "It's done," he said quietly.  "That daughter of mine won't be
able to see us here. She'll only see Ikawa working on his homework if
she looks."
        "Good," replied Ikawa.  "Now to the matter at hand.  Since my
Awakening in this time, we have been fighting two wars, one against the
Dark Kingdom and one against the Senshi.  Enough of us are Awake now to
decide what to do about those wars.  A unanimous vote here will bind all
of us, even our brothers who are not present, until a further vote is
called to overturn these decisions." The traditional words said, Ikawa
quieted.
        Unazuki was the first to speak.  "I don't think there is any
doubt about fighting the Dark Kingdom.  The youma are the enemies of all
who live." The others nodded at that.
        Ikawa spoke.  "Do we know anything about who's leading them?"
        It was Meno who replied.  "No.  We don't have any definite
evidence.  We know Kunzite is dead, because one of the youma wanted
vengeance for him.  We don't know whether Beryl is still alive or not,
nor anything about the other Guardians."
        No one was surprised by this accounting.  Ikawa spoke once more.
"Are there any objections to continuing the war against the Dark
Kingdom?"  No one replied, so Ikawa continued.  "Very well.  What of the
Senshi?"
        "We may need to consider attempting to make a truce," commented
Meno.
        "That is true," said Motoki, nodding in agreement.  "The youma
threaten both us and them."
        "I don't like it," said Ikawa, a frown appearing on his face,
"but I can see that it might be necessary, if we can."
        "But would they accept peace?" asked Tamori.  "They have no
reason to trust, any more than they did before.  It's far too late for
that."
        "Exactly!"  exclaimed Unazuki.  "They're the same as they were
then.  There's no reason to think that any overtures we might make would
have any effect."
        It was Ikawa who shook his head.  "Remember the park?  Serenity
offered to let us join them."
        Unazuki sniffed.  "And you answered her rightly them.  'Come
back, all is forgiven.'?"  She shook her head.  "I have no intention of
kneeling to any Serenity."
        "Nor do I," Ikawa said.  "But-"
"It is more than her mother ever offered us," Meno interjected.  "It is
a start for negotiations, if nothing else."
        Ikawa nodded, and a moment later Unazuki sat back with a nod of
her own.  "I think we should at least try this course of action.  I
trust there are no objections?"  There were none.  "Very well," Ikawa
stated. "So shall it stand, until all are one!"
        The others raised their fists.  "Until all are one!"

***********************************************************************

Author's Random Revised Ramblings

1) Well, while Fallen Chapter 4 is at the prereaders, I figured I may as
well churn out another revision.  The most substantial change this time
is to the final scene, which is quite different.  Other than that, I
believe there are mainly just cosmetic changes.

2) Any and all comments of all kinds are most welcome.

3) Thanks goes to Angus MacSpon for prereading the first version of this
chapter.

4) The truly observant will note a minor change to the disclaimer this
time around.  I decided it was a little hypocritical to request that my
characters not be used without permission, given I was doing just that
myself.  Not that I anticipate this being an issue, as I expect anyone
wanting to use the characters would, barring outright cases of
plagiarism, be kind enough to ask permission anyway, which I would
almost certainly grant.

5) Previous chapters of this revision are not yet archived anywhere
outside the FFML archives, but are available on request.

Released: March 06, 2001
Revised: October 07, 2003


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