Made around 20-30 changes from draft 1. I'm more satisfied
by this draft - barring any further inspiration, I'll post it 
to fanfic.com
I'm Here to Help
by Mark Doherty (avantrefaq@yahoo.com.au)

Chapter 8

 Previous parts are available on 
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/3337074/1/

Sailor Moon and associated characters/background were created by
Naoko Takeuchi. No disrespect is intended in their use.

Journals will be shown as usual( * * * )

+++++++++++++++++
                                * * *

Is it my destiny to be an assassin? Has Fate decreed that I live only
so that I can make others die? Is the sum total reason for my
existence?

I still remember those times just before the Great Ice, when I was
trying to act the hero. I still remember trying my hardest to fight
the good fight, tried my best to be someone to look up to.

I remember failing.

There was always a distance between myself and the other fighters
that I could not overcome. No matter how much I dressed myself up as
something better, as something positive, there was always that
nagging thought that it was all a sham.

I could teleport, yes, but only from shadows. I could draw energy
from the elements, yes, but not as quickly as I could drain it from
youma. I could fight in the open, yes, but never as effectively as
when I struck from the shadows.

There was no getting around it. In a world of bright colours and
short skirts, my powers stood me apart as something different,
something darker. I remember always having my powers looked at with
suspicion.

I ignored it, as best I can. My sister had spent months in convincing
me to fight the good fight - I could not have bared to see her face
if I had given it up. But for all that, after the events of the Great
Ice, I remember afterwards how no one was ever very surprised that I
became what I am. They expected it. I believe that they somehow think
that it was my destiny.

Idiots. What you will become is not about what you are, or who you
are, or who you are thought to be. My life, like anyone's life, has
been a series of choices and consequences.

After the rebellion, it came down to this:

If I had done nothing, I would have lived - albeit in exile. If I
fought the Senshi directly without allies, I would have died. And if
I fought from the shadows, then one day it was possible that I might
get my lucky shot and win. That, then, left me a clear choice - to do
nothing, or to do what I can.

Destiny be damned. I choose to do what I can.

- Found by traders in a bundle of home-made paper in a ramshackle
house near the old city of Rome in 2457.

                                * * *
+++++++++++++++++

Usagi had spent the majority of her life living in a densely
populated metropolis. She was used to a constant level of background
noise. The clacking of train tracks, the neighbour's radio, her
brother's console games, even the snores of her father at night. Even
in her occasional trips to nature - the hot springs or the
snowfields - there were still the sounds of wind sighing through
trees, of cicadas in the summer, the rhythmic clack of a traditional
Japanese water pump, or even the caw of crows.

She had never realised what silence truly was until this moment. The
land around her was dead, grey dirt stretched in every direction.
One look at the unnatural sky made it clear that this was not Earth.
Besides this knight and her, there was no life here to make a sound.
Her heart thumped in her chest, her eardrums throbbing with a rush
of blood. But still, it was silent.

She gathered her courage, and looked up at the armoured man. Her
voice managed to not crack as she stared at him and calmly replied,
"I am not evil."

"Not yet, perhaps." The man allowed. "But I've seen the future. A
choice is coming. Soon enough, you will be given the opportunity to
take away all the negative energy on the entire planet."

"You can see the future?" She remembered Urawa, Ami's sort-of
boyfriend, and nodded. "Okay. But that doesn't sound very evil."

"Not at first glance, no. But a lot of good work has been done due to
bad emotions. Have you ever looked at any of the great monuments -
the pyramids, perhaps - and wondered why they were made? Or have you
ever worked extra hard to pass a test? That's pride. It fuels the
desire to do better and to leave your mark on the world."

Sailor Moon shook her head. "But there's nothing negative about
feeling a little bit of justified pride."

"That's just it - there is no 'little' or 'lot' - when this sort of
magic is involved there's only the choice of 'all' or 'nothing'.
Either you take all of the pride, or you take none. And it doesn't
stop there - have you ever wanted to improve yourself after seeing
someone else do well? Have you ever dreamed of wearing something
that you saw being worn in a catalogue? That's envy. It fuels the
desire to improve yourself so you can be more of an equal to your
peers."

He held up his hand when it looked like Sailor Moon was going to
reply. "Even something as simple as eating ice-cream is a negative
desire. Ice cream has no nutritional value, it does you no good to
eat it. It's addictive and we still eat when we know it's bad for us.
The only reason to have it is because it tastes good. That's
self-indulgence." He buried his head in his hands for a moment,
before growling. "Wait, scratch all that. That example was rubbish.
Damn it, that sounded so much better in my head! I knew I should
have written down what I was going to say!"

Sailor Moon blinked. The man was looking less and less like a
knight, and less and less self-assured as his started berating
himself. "I don't understand what you're saying. I'd never want to do
something that would harm anyone. Why would I ever want to alter
people's emotions?" Sailor Moon argued.

"I don't know why you are going to do it," the knight responded,
falling out of his self-recrimination. "Right now, you seem like a
good enough kid. But people can change in all sorts of ways. I don't
know. Maybe the ginzuisho corrupted you. Maybe your past life took
you over. Maybe there's a side to you that you just don't want to
see."

He shook his head. "I just don't know. But if you do what I saw,
then don't you see? The human drive, the need to excel is tied to
negative emotions. If you ever decide to take that away, humanity
will languish. They'll have no desire to do anything! Sailor Moon -
just look at any one of your companions. Sailor Mars is proud and
arrogant. If you took that away, you might think she'd be a better
person. But you'd soon realise that she wasn't Sailor Mars any more.
She'd be something else that's just wearing her body. A shadow of
what she should be.

"We have to stop it now before it happens! Sailor Moon, please - we
have to change what's to come." He knelt, offering his left arm to
her. "I'm begging you! Please help me to stop the coming evil."

Sailor Moon looked up to the knight and his proffered hand. The words
hadn't really made sense, but the desperation in his voice was
easily apparent. Hesitantly she reached out. "I-"

Silver light surrounded the girl. The man jumped back, arms crossed
across his face. For a moment, he saw the ghostly image of a mature,
silver-haired woman behind the girl, before light flared, and they
were gone.

The crystalline armour dissolved into motes of energy as Emerald
stared for a few moments at the spot where Sailor Moon had been. His
shoulders slightly slumped and he muttered, "Typical."

+++++++++++++++++

Sailor Jupiter looked over at Sailor Mars as they searched the park
for their leader. It didn't take a genius to realise that the fire
senshi was feeling troubled.

"Rei, are you alright?"

"I'm fine," Sailor Mars muttered in an automatic response. Seeing
the quiet disbelief on the thunder senshi's face, she sighed. "The
last time I saw Emerald, he was being chased by Kunzite. I... don't
think he got away. That youma general we faced tonight... I think...
no, I'm pretty sure that it was him."

Jupiter blinked. "You don't mean..."

"Yes. I think the Dark Kingdom's caught and brainwashed him just like
they did with Mamoru. And he's kidnapped Usagi."

"It's okay." Sailor Jupiter hesitantly put her hand on Sailor Mars's
shoulder. "We'll get them both back."

+++++++++++++++++

Prince Demande glanced at the pale glow of the setting sun - one of
the few things of even mild beauty on the harsh planet of Nemesis,
before he walked into a small chapel-like building.

"Saphir, what are you doing here?"

Blue Saphir blinked, turning his attention away from a mural to his
brother. "Is it time, then?"

Prince Demande nodded. "Yes. At last, after waiting so long, we are
ready to attack Crystal Tokyo. I'm surprised you are not preparing
as well."

"I was considering the past." Saphir pointed to the eight murals that
covered the walls of the large room. Each mural depicted vaguely
represented figures fighting against sailor suited women. Having
been painted long after the original rebels' deaths, the painters
had decided it would desecrate their memory if they guessed at how
they looked - the faces, when they were painted at all, were left
with only the broadest of features.

Demande walked up to his brother, looking up at the mural that had
caught his brother's attention. The centrepiece of the room, and
largest of the paintings, it showed the back of a black-clad man
with long green hair. His right hand, glowing with energy, was
pointed at two sailor-suited figures that lay prone at his feet. One
of the figures was painted with a short sandy-blond hair, the other
with wavy bluish-green hair. The man's left arm was shielding his
face from the harsh glowing light of the woman floating before him -
the Dread Queen Serenity.

"The tales say he was the last one standing," Saphir noted. "It is
said that he outlasted them all. The legends say he was only moments
from victory before Serenity took the field. They even say he escaped
and may still be alive today."

"The legends are probably wrong," Demande replied.

"But what if they're not?"

"Then we will soon have a legend fighting on our side. Come, Saphir,
let us go."

+++++++++++++++++

Sailor Moon looked around at what appeared to be ruins on the Moon's
surface.

"My daughter, are you unharmed?" The silver-haired spirit looked at
her with concern on her face. In her ghostly hands floated the
ginzuisho.

"Mother?" Sailor Moon whispered, her heart warming as if to confirm
to her the woman's identity.

Queen Serenity nodded.

"Mother," Sailor Moon hesitated. "What that knight said... it didn't
make any sense. I don't understand how he could have seen the future
or how I could be the cause of something that would make him sound
so desperate. Mother, am I destined to cause such pain?"

+++++++++++++++++

Sailor Venus looked behind a park bench. "Nothing here. That's the
whole park." She turned to Sailor Mercury. "Have you found anything?"

Sailor Mercury looked up from her computer and shook her head. "The
youma used a form of teleportation I've never seen before. I just
don't have enough information to track him. I'm sorry."

Sailor Venus sighed. "Alright. We need to regroup with the others
and-" She stopped, seeing a silver glow envelope herself and Sailor
Mercury. "What's going on?"

"I think it's-" Sailor Mercury began, before they both disappeared.

+++++++++++++++++

Queen Serenity's spirit sighed. "Usagi, there will always be people
who seek to sway you with words when they know they will fail to
sway you with threats. This man is no different. He has lied so
often that even he has trouble remembering the truth any more. My
precious, sweet child. You must hold to the courage of your
convictions, and forge forward. With your court by your side, you
will always have the support to do what is right."

Sailor Moon turned, seeing the other Senshi appearing beside her,
confused expressions on their faces.

"Remember the past so that you can forge a better future." The
Senshi closed their eyes, memories of a long-ago ball filling their
thoughts. "And know that this man has lied to you, Usagi. You must
forget him and put your doubts aside, my girl."

The queen moved her hand, and the ginzuisho floated down to Sailor
Moon. Her crescent wand appeared, allowing the gem to reattach to
the weapon. "Time has run out. The Dark Kingdom is preparing to
invade the Earth. I can send you to where you need to be. Hold true,
my daughter. Be brave, and hold true."

The ginzuisho flashed, and the five girls were taken elsewhere.

+++++++++++++++++

Beryl's eyes widened as the Senshi materialised in the arctic plains,
less than a kilometre from the dimensional entrance to the Dark
Kingdom. Recovering quickly, she saw to it that five youma sisters
were dispatched to intercept within a minute.

+++++++++++++++++

His eyes were closed, his body seated, his expression calm.

"You are even more pathetic than Beryl."

His eyes shot open at this. Floating in front of him was the ghost
who had rescued Usagi. "Yes, well and whoever you are, you're dead,"
he replied. "And I know which of those two options I'd rather be.
Now if you'll excuse me, I'm currently sifting through the dimensions
trying to find someone."

"It is too late for that. I have sent the Senshi to where they are
most needed."

His eyes narrowed. "What do you mean?"

"I have sent them to face their destiny. They will soon engage
Beryl's forces."

"You what!? You sent those five inexperienced girls up against the
army of the Dark Kingdom!? You're insane! And you're lucky you're
already dead or I'd rip you apart myself!"

"Why do you care?"

"Because it's my planet too, you sanctimonious cretin! My parents
and my sister are still alive on that mudball and you've sent the
girls with the best chance of saving them on a suicide mission!
Besides using them to find Serenity, that's the other reason why I
never tried to kill them - whether I like them or not, they do tend
to save the world a lot! But you - you're unbelievable! You're just
like her!"

"Who?"

"Neo-Queen Serenity, you pusillanimous imbecile! Always sending out
others to do her dirty work. Always with that better-than-you
attitude." He visibly stopped himself. "Enough. Thanks to your
mind-numbing stupidity, it looks like I'll have to go on a killing
spree."

His eyes closed, his mind going through the actions needed to bypass
the teleportation eddies of this dimension, and he was gone.

The ghost turned to her companion, who had just materialised next to
her. "That was a most unpleasant man. You were right, his buttons are
rather easy to push."

Pluto nodded.

"You are sure that provoking him was the best course?"

"Yes," Pluto affirmed. "I swore to you on your dying breaths, my
queen, that my actions would be devoted to seeing your kingdom
reborn. I swore that I would never endanger this future through any
direct act of mine. As always, I remain true to that vow."

The spirit nodded, fading from view.

+++++++++++++++++

Kunzite frowned as he waited at the portal that led to the North
Pole. Metallia had been confident that the Senshi would soon attack
them, but still they were nowhere in sight. He bit off a growl of
annoyance, contenting himself thoughts of which attack to use when
they arrived.

+++++++++++++++++

The army of the Dark Kingdom gathered on the plains of their land,
ready at last to invade Earth. Raucous laughter erupted as one or
another beast told tales of what they would do once they were
through the portal.

A swathe of energy shot through their ranks, disintegrating a dozen
of the tightly packed monsters. The laughter died in a moment as the
army turned as one to view the man facing them.

"I'll flay to the bones any of you who thinks you're taking one step
through that portal!" the man shouted. "I didn't risk temporal
annihilation just to let a party of throwback halfwits like you onto
my planet. If nothing else, my sister would kill me if she found out
that I let that happen! You have a choice - leave here or die."

"You! You can't escape us, spy," one of the youma hissed, grinning.
"Not this time. There are some among us who can block teleportation.
You're going to spend the rest of your life screaming in pain. You
will learn the price of crossing the Dark Kingdom. You will only be
the first of many once we conquer Earth."

"You bunch of mewling pissants," Emerald drawled in amusement.
"Escape you? You just don't get it. You think you're the height of
the monster kingdom? You're deluded enough to think you're special?
You don't even compare to the toe-wart of some of the things I've
faced - especially the Senshi. You don't realise just what it is I
can do to you. Let me show you something." He held his hands out,
palms up. After a moment, twenty small diamond-shaped crystals
formed from nothing, standing in a little pyramid pile between his
cupped hands. He stood there for a second, silent, before throwing
the crystals into the air.

Hundreds of eyes followed the crystals' trails, widening when they
saw the minerals crackle with energy, before transforming into large,
threatening beasts. Each beast, vaguely feminine, landed around the
man and surrounded him like a living shield.

"I've made quite a few improvements to their original design over
the years," Emerald noted conversationally. "I never have much reason
to create them any more, since the Senshi tear them apart like rice
paper. But I think you'll find them to be sufficiently entertaining.
Droids-"

The twenty monsters perked, facing their master.

"-oh, you know what to do," he said with a vague wave of his hand. 

The twenty monsters grinned, each turning to face the surrounding
swarm.

+++++++++++++++++

Screams of bloodlust and of agony ripped through the battlefield as
the cacophony of war reverberated across the plain. Vision wavered
as everywhere you turned there was the crackling of energy, the wake
of ice and fire and electrical attacks, the snap of claw against
bone.

"I can't remember the last time I was in a fun little fray like
this," Emerald said conversationally to his crystal as he sidestepped
a youma's attack. A jagged spike of crystal coalesced in his hand,
before he used it to stab the attacker in the throat. As the youma
died, he casually withdrew and then threw the spike with such force
that it completely buried itself in the chest of another youma.

"Really?" He asked in surprise, grabbing the throat of an enemy and
using it as a shield against several attacks until it disintegrated,
then raising his hand and blasting away his attackers. "Has it been
that long? I really didn't think that-"

He turned his head. The dimensional wall between Earth and the Dark
Kingdom had frayed to the point where he could sense the auras near
the connection point in the Arctic. "Was that... Jupiter?" He
strained his senses. The droids, seeing their creator distracted,
closed in and protected him from any attacker. After another minute,
he felt it again. Another aura was being snuffed out of existence.
"Mercury?"

He looked down at his crystal in confusion. "They're... dying? But
how? I'm taking down the youma's army. What's left to take them out?
Have I changed the past that much?"

He shook his head, his right hand pointing back and unleashing an
energy blast that disintegrated a group of youma that had been
sneaking up on him. "Alright. Something's going very wrong here.
Droids!"

The fifteen surviving monstrous automatons perked their ears.

"No delays! Wipe them out. Now!"

The droids returned to the battle with increased fervour as he raised
his arms and begun sucking energy from the opposing throng.

+++++++++++++++++

His face was grim as he held aloft the last of the youma, its body
falling to dust as he drained its energy. For a moment his body
glowed as he adjusted to the increased energy. He was still not as
powerful as he had been before he returned to the past, but he was
getting close. Even Serenity shouldn't be able to stop him now - at
least not with her current level of skill.

The man looked at the 5 remaining droids. Each was heavily scarred
by battle. Two were barely alive at all - if their existence could
be called life.

"Thank you," he said with a nod. The droids bowed, then shrunk back
into small crystals. He bent down, took the crystals, and stared at
them as they dissolved into motes of light.

With that, he glanced up, and teleported to the last of the senshi's
auras that he felt disappear.

+++++++++++++++++

He looked down at the lifeless, entombed body, not even noticing the
cold wind that was biting into him.

"Damn it, Mars. How could you let yourself die like this? You're
supposed to be stronger than this. You're supposed to be more. I was
supposed to be the one who killed-"

Feeling the wisps of energy, he glanced up. "-anything that
threatened you," he rapidly amended as he looked at Sailor Mars's
spirit. Her ghost looked back at him, a slightly sad expression on
her face. For a moment, he considered changing back to what he'd
originally intended to say. The girl was dead - she probably
deserved the truth.

He looked down again to the entombed girl. She was no more than
fifteen years old and here she was, dead and gone, and probably
no one would ever know the circumstances to properly mourn her. He
despised what she helped create, but she wasn't that girl just yet.
She never would be now. To hell with the truth. He'd won - he'd
outlasted her. Hurting her any further would just be petty.

He looked up at the spirit. "You deserved better than this, Rei.
You deserved to go down fighting against a hundred or a thousand
enemies. You deserved an end so epic that its legend would have to
be written across the stars. You deserved more than being entombed
like this - in this... ice."

"How touching. If you like her so much, you're welcome to join her.
Although I doubt your death could be as pathetic as hers was."

Emerald turned to see Kunzite. "Mind your mouth, you miserable
vermin. She was twenty times the fighter you ever were."

"I very much doubt that," Kunzite replied. "Although it was curious
that they somehow snuck past me. Still, killing you might make up
for missing my chance with them." He concentrated, shooting four
energy boomerangs at the other man.

Emerald managed to twist enough to avoid being hit by all of the
energy boomerangs. With a snarl he brought both arms up and
unleashed an unholy torrent of power. Kunzite's eyes widened as he
felt his shield buckle in seconds. 'What are you?' he thought, his
shields collapsing and his lungs burning away before he ever got a
chance to say it.

"Do you understand now, Kunzite? That's the level of power that Mars
was capable of. Oh, nothing to say?" Emerald wondered as the Dark
General faded into oblivion. "I would have expected at least one
last comeback."

Behind him the four energy boomerangs completed their return arc,
slicing into Emerald's back with enough force to leave the edges
jutting out from his chest. With the last of the energy imbued by
the Dark General gone, the boomerangs faded into nothing, leaving
only the wounds behind.

"Touche," Emerald gasped before falling to the ground.

+++++++++++++++++

The spirit of Sailor Mars looked down at the fallen man, her eyes
taking in his terrible wounds. She took a step forward, then
stopped. Her head turned, feeling a call. She disappeared as she
realised that her princess needed her.

+++++++++++++++++

He opened his eyes, feeling the torrent of magic that was being
cast nearby. With a grunt of effort, he dragged himself to a
snow embankment. Leaning over that, he watched the last moments of
Serenity facing the Beryl/Metallia hybrid.

He watched in that moment as the monstrous giant was destroyed.
He saw Serenity fall. His senses saw her aura dim and die. He
pushed himself onto his back, his eyes staring at the sky.

"Does this mean that I won? Is... Serenity dead?"

Tears slowly leaked from his eyes at the thought. After a few
seconds, he choked off a sob. "She's dead." The tears started to
flow faster. "She's... dead."

The biting arctic wind began to freeze his tears, but he managed to
ignore the sensation. "Thank the gods, she's actually dead!"

He chuckled, and started to laugh. The laugh didn't last long before
his injuries flared, and he passed out.

Nearby, Sailor Mars's body was enveloped in red energy. It rose,
then disappeared as the Senshi were reborn.

+++++++++++++++++

In the middle of an ice field, some eighty kilometres from the North
Pole, a broken body of a broken man lay unmoving against a small
snowdrift.

He'd won. There was nothing left to do. The world could now go on
as it liked. So was there any real point in going on? After all,
with Serenity dead, he could-

His eyes shot open, realisation shooting through him. "Hold on..."

The clunk of a metal staff against the ice distracted him from an
epiphany.

"Pluto." He didn't raise his head.

"Emerald," she murmured with a small nod.

"Come to kill me then?"

Her grim expression was her only answer.

"Thought so. I get that a lot," he noted before chuckling. "Sorry
that wasn't really very funny." When she didn't respond, he forged
on. "Oh - you'd probably know. Out of curiosity, can you remind me
what my real name was?"

Sailor Pluto hesitated for a moment, then answered. "Your birth-name
was Yukio."

"Really?" Emerald blinked. "Huh. Well that was a bit boring. No
wonder I forgot it."

Pluto shook her head. "Enough. I'm here to finish this."

"Well of course you are," he agreed as if it was the most obvious
thing in the world. "I'm surprised it took you so long."

She cut him off. "There was no need to hurry. Despite your attempt,
nothing has changed. Nothing of significance, anyway. All of those
youma you just killed? They would have died anyway. Your attempt to
sway Sailor Moon? Wasn't even worth trying. Your entire life? Barely
worth noting. And do you know what the funniest thing is?

"If you had left in exile after the rebellion, you would have found
a way to link with the energy of the planet Nemesis and become
supremely powerful. If you had only waited another fifty years
before travelling to the past, you would have met the descendants
of your rebellion and inspired them to a complete and total victory.
Either way, you would have won."

He raised his eyebrows as if to say 'I really don't believe you'. 

Her eyes narrowed. "But then, every time you come close to winning,
you manage to shoot yourself in the foot. I've waited centuries to
tell you this." She leaned over and whispered in his ear, "You lose.
As always. For all your posturing and your woe-is-me journals,
nothing you ever do really makes a difference. You will never win,
Yukio."

Her eyes widened as she heard him chuckle in response.

"Ah, Pluto." He coughed for a moment, winced, then continued. "You
don't get it. I don't have to win. All I really have to do is to
see you lose."

Pluto stepped back as she felt a creeping lethargy move through her
body. Her steps faltered as she realised that he'd been distracting
her from the power drain that he was holding on her.

Emerald pushed himself up, his wounds visibly sealing and healing as
he stole her energy. His eyes locked on hers, and he smiled
mirthlessly. "All of the other Senshi fought me several times
before they learned how to block my drain. They covered each other
for those first few fights. But I've never directly fought you
before, have I? Come on Pluto, you should have known better than
this! In the future I've survived far worse than the damage I took
from Kunzite. I halfway can't believe that you fell for it. Why
attack me now, after so long?"

"I have no choice but to act," Pluto gasped. "With your attention
now off the Senshi, you pose a threat to Crystal Tokyo. Dead Scream."

The attack splattered against his energy shield, clearly not taking
him off guard.

"This is impossible," she muttered, feeling her strength sap away
as more energy drained from her. "I should have seen this."

"Probably," he agreed. "I'll let you in on a secret." He rose his
left hand, allowing green energy to coruscate from his palm. Pluto
slammed to the ground as his attack struck her in the stomach. "I
didn't jump into the past with just a hope and a prayer that you
wouldn't stop me. In fact, I was planning on you attacking me.
Without you I had to waste months getting back enough power, and
without you I couldn't attempt what I am about to do."

He blinked. "Wait. I'm gloating. That's always a good way to die.
Better get on with it, then." Emerald set his legs and spread his
arms. Energy began to build around him as he drew his power. The
gem on his necklace glowed, seeming to add its own energies to the
build-up.

"Dead Scream." It was harder to focus the energy this time, and
again it shattered harmlessly against his shield. Worse yet, he was
still draining energy from her. She made a motion with her Key to
open an escape portal, but nothing happened.

"Most of your power is tied to Time, isn't it?" he noted
conversationally, his hands starting to trace a complex pattern in
the air. "Did you know that I can draw energy from Time, just as
I can with the elements? It's how I was able to pierce the Time
Barrier in the first place. You'll find that causality is currently
too unstable around us to open a Portal."

"What are you doing?" Her voice was barely above a whisper; she
struggled just to look up at him. Her hands were barely holding
her kneeling form off the ground.

"I just felt the Senshi die," he noted. "But then again, I also
felt Sailor Moon die just before the Great Ice. As I was lying
there after Serenity's death, I had an epiphany. 'Fool me once' -
isn't that the saying? And you just confirmed it. Nothing changed,
you said. But the Senshi are dead - undoubtedly and undeniably. It
seems more than likely then that they somehow have a way of coming
back from death. But if that's true, then there's no point in my
trying to kill Serenity. She'd just come back.

"Now that you've decided to show your hand, it occurs to me that I
cannot afford to wait any longer for other solutions to present
themselves. If I try to confront Serenity again, it's possible that
you, or another person acting as Sailor Pluto, or even another
version of you from another part of the timeline might be able to
stop me. That means I must act now while you can't ambush me. So, I
suppose I will have to go with Plan D."

"D?" A moment after her question, her arms buckled and she collapsed,
leaving her to lie on the cold snow.

He nodded, but he never stopped drawing energy. "If I can't kill
Serenity - my preferred plan A, or convince her to change the
future - my reluctant fallback plan B, or somehow destroy the
ginzuisho - my unlikely plan C, then I have to ensure she can never
do the one thing that started this whole mess." His eyes narrowed.
"My pyrrhic plan D - stop the Purification."

"You can't," she whispered. 

"Yes, I think I can," he responded with confidence as his hands
made several jabbing motions to punctuate some of the hazy glowing
green sigils he was drawing around him. "Thanks to your energy. I
worked it out a long, long time ago. I can cast... an
Anti-Purification."

"No. You can't. You don't know what it-"

"Oh, I can guess. Of course, doing this will almost certainly cause
a time paradox. It'll probably wipe me from existence. But not even
a paradox will wipe out the outcome. Not when I'm using the powers
of the Time Senshi to do it."

Emerald shook his head. "To be honest, I'd hoped to kill Serenity
without having to try this. If this fails, I'll have no way of
enacting plans E, F, or G. It's a pity, I really liked plan G. But
as I said, it doesn't matter whether I lose, as long as your side
does too. I'm tired of this endless fight, Pluto. I'm tired of being
beaten down again and again and having to find the conviction in
myself to return once more to the fight. At this stage of my life,
I think even a pyrrhic victory is enough of a victory for me." The
hazy sigils were beginning to sharpen in form as his hands began
sketched the final symbols needed.

"Oh, and Pluto?" He looked at her as she struggled to bring her Time
Key up for one last attack. "You lose."

"Dead Scr-"

With one last flourish, his hands completed the last of the sigils. 

+++++++++++++++++
                                * * *

If I were asked to list the worst thing about being immortal, I
would have to hesitate in my answer. Once, I might have thought that
it was the ennui - the crushing boredom of life never-ending. Or the
hubris - there can be no doubt of an immortal's over-weaning
arrogance and the problems that it brings. But if I were to search
in my soul of souls for an honest answer, I would have to say that
there is nothing worse for an immortal than one thing:

Guilt. Regret can haunt you forever.

I have had countless crawling years to analyse my various failures.
Chief amongst them, and my worst crime of all, was the realisation
that I could have actually stopped it.

I could have stopped the Purification.

Not through the rebellion, which was perhaps doomed from its
conception, but through my own powers. I could have actually made it
so that Serenity could never have done it. In my own defence, I did
not understand the relationship between my powers and hers until
decades after she purified the world. I still remember the creeping
horror I felt as I slowly came to a gradual understanding of what
I could have done.

My power and Serenity's lie at opposite sides of the magical
spectrum. Whenever they interact, they act much like matter and
anti-matter, causing painful and explosive magical backlashes.

This, then, leads to the question: what if I had bathed the planet
and its people in MY energy BEFORE Serenity had performed her
Purification? What if I had performed some sort of Anti-Purification?
The answer, I feel, is obvious.

The Purification would have failed. Crystal Tokyo would never have
been possible in its current form. I would have won without a single
drop of blood being shed.

It's too late now. While my energy could have ensured that a
Purification was impossible, I cannot attempt it any more. I have
no power to change men's minds. If I did, it would be a power that
I would not dare use, for fear of falling to the same mistakes that
Serenity did. No, humanity has been irrevocably changed, and I can
no longer change it back.

I know that in truth I could not have stopped the Purification. I
know that I would have needed the control over my power that I now
have. I know that I would have needed more energy than I had at
that time. I know that I did not understand my powers well enough
back then to have succeeded.

Yet still, the guilt gnaws. Forever. Or until I die.

That is what it is, to be immortal.

- Retrieved from personal effects left behind after Mars pursued
Emerald to a former hotel in the Caribbean in 2781.

                                * * *
+++++++++++++++++

Across the world, thousands of millions of people saw the world
change. Burning bright emerald light spread across the sky, coming
from the North to the South, stretching East and West as it spread
almost too fast for the eye to see. Ten time zones saw their night
skies erupt into a pseudo-day. Well over a billion were woken as
the light permeated every surface and through every barrier, shining
brighter than day.

As the light blanketed the planet, green motes fell from the energy
curtain, floating like light snow. Each mote travelled through brick
and steel and concrete like it was not there, only stopping when it
was absorbed by either the Earth or by a living creature.

Thousands of television cameras captured the phenomenon in a
multitude of spots around the globe. For a couple of days, at least,
this would be headline news. Experts' theories would hatch and breed
and grow, and then die as time - as with most old news - let people
grow disinterested.

In Tokyo, two cats - one black and one white - looked at each other,
their worried expressions mirroring each other as the light
illuminated their faces.

A young blonde girl, her memories still clouded from minutes-ago
rebirth, woke screaming. Her eyes were wide, as she felt - without
being able to explain it - that something had just gone horribly
wrong.

A temple maiden frowned, leaning out of her bedroom window. Her
psychic abilities stunted by her recent rebirth, she was not sure
how and why she was feeling so angry and so sad at the same time.
With a shake of her head, she wiped her eyes, before looking out
at the light again.

In Osaka, a boy stared at the sky's display, confused at how
familiar the green energy felt. He held out a hand, allowing some
of the light motes to touch it. For a moment, his brown eyes flashed
green, before he shook his head and returned home.

+++++++++++++++++

"Glorious!" he shouted, his power pumping into the atmosphere
through his outstretched hands. His gaze turned from the sky to his
crystal, which was floating in front of him. "Is it working?"

The crystal pulsed.

"That's what I wanted to hear!" Emerald shouted, turning his gaze
back to the sky. "I can't believe it! I've done it! Ha haa! I've
won! I've actually gone and won!"

After a few more moments, his energy fluctuated as he felt his body
tremor. Instead of passing, the tremors got worse until his whole
body began to shake.

"Oh. Well," he said as his eyes turned once again to his crystal,
"looks like I was right about that paradox." The last of his energy
burst from his fingertips, and with that he collapsed to his knees,
still wildly shaking. He looked up at his crystal, a slight smile
on his lips. "You know, the truest friend is the one who helps you
become something more."

He could feel existence slip away, his body beginning to fade from
temporal reality. As quickly as he could, he forced out, "Thank you,
my friend. You made me into something... so much more."

As he faded into nothing, his smile widened when he heard the crystal
reply, words pulsing in his mind.

'Goodbye, my friend'.

+++++++++++++++++

Sailor Pluto slowly opened her eyes. She could feel the cold seeping
through her limbs. Every breath felt like hundreds of tiny daggers
were stabbing into her lungs. With a shuddering gasp, she forced
herself to stand, using her Time Key as a crutch.

Her eyes scanned the skies. Already the light was fading as the
man's power dissipated. Her lips quirked into a grim smile as she
shakily raised her staff to create a portal.

Her exhausted voice was barely a croak, but she still managed to
force the words. "Well done, Yukio; I lost. But there was something
you never did learn. Sometimes... losing is winning."

With a sigh, she gathered her remaining strength. Closing her eyes,
she added, "If you knew your fate, I think you would have thanked
me." With that, she was gone.

+++++++++++++++++

"Pluto! There you are." Mars walked into the Time Senshi's personal
quarters in Crystal Tokyo's palace. "I've been searching for you."
She blinked, noting how haggard her fellow senshi looked. "Are you
alright?"

Pluto dismissively waved an exhausted hand. "I'll be fine once I get
some rest. It was a necessary sacrifice." Her tired voice was barely
a whisper. "Do you know, it took me thousands of manipulations over
thousands of years, but I did it." Pluto raised her hands in a 'look
around you' gesture. "I did it. Through my actions, Crystal Tokyo
was born. It was due to me that this future came to pass."

Mars blinked. "Yes, that's... great. What's your point?"

"Oh, no point. Just thinking about past actions. Tell me, Rei, have
you ever striven to gain something, only to realise only after you
got it that it wasn't what you thought it was?"

Mars nodded. She hesitated, then asked "Are you sure you're alright?"
She shook her head. "Wait, there's no time for that. You have to
listen to me. I'm worried that Emerald might have found a way to
pierce the time barrier."

Pluto raised her hand in a 'wait' gesture. "Come with me." She
turned, and walked around a corner.

Mars stood there for a moment, her mouth tightening at being talked
to so dismissively, before she followed the Time Senshi. After she
rounded the corner, her sure stride skittered to a halt. Pluto was
standing on her private balcony, but it was what was beyond her that
made the fire senshi pause.

"What is that?" Mars's voice was tinged with horror. Beyond the
balcony, beyond a dome of shimmering energy that Pluto had cast,
where a crystal city of millions should have stood, there was only
darkness. Her stomach began to churn as she realised that she could
no longer feel a connection to her queen, or to any other Senshi
besides Pluto.

"It is Nothing. In the most strict sense of that word." Pluto sighed,
staring out through the dome of energy she was maintaining to keep
the chronal entropy at bay. "Through no act of my own, everything
has changed. I cannot hold this off for long - I simply don't have
the spare energy right now. I am sorry Rei. You were right. He did
pierce the barrier. I just thought that you should know before the
end."

Mars's eyes narrowed as she looked at the green-haired Senshi. "What
have you done?" she hissed as fire formed around her, blazing with
her anger.

Pluto met her gaze. "I did nothing, Mars. Absolutely nothing." She
raised her Time Key, before adding, "That was the whole point."

A moment after Pluto disappeared back to the Time Gates, the dome
that was holding back the entropy flickered, then collapsed.

"Damn it all," Mars muttered, closing her eyes and letting her
flames extinguish as Nothing washed over her.

+++++++++++++++++

Author Notes: Well, that is that. Thanks to my huge hiatus, it took
around 10 years to complete this fic. Thanks go out to all the
reviewers both now and in the past.

You might have noticed that a lot of loose ends weren't tied up.
That was deliberate. In order to write the fic, I worked out what
Emerald's crystal was (and why it hated Beryl), what exactly
happened before, during, and after the Great Ice, Pluto's full
motivations, and so on. I didn't cover a lot of that because it was
extraneous to the plot, but mentioning them made the story-world
seem bigger/more real.

Neo-queen Serenity was never, ever directly shown to ensure that
there would always be doubt over what happened - Pluto's motivations
aside. When I originally began writing, I planned a sequel that
would cover most of these things, but I now feel that the story
works better as a stand-alone work. Still, maybe one day I'll
change my mind.

+++++++++++++++++

Epilogue:

Yukio stared in anger as the oni burst into flames. Letting the
crystals that formed his helmet and armour dissolve, he turned to
the Senshi in fury. "Hey, that was my fight!"

His teeth gritted as he fumed. Stupid sister making him wear this
stupid armour so he could live out her stupid dreams of being a
stupid senshi just because he had these stupid powers. He was
eighteen years old, damn it! How did he let himself be talked into
playing her stupid superhero game? And then when he finally found
something to fight, he doesn't even get 20 seconds with it before
someone butts in and takes the creature down!

"What are you talking about?" The dark-haired senshi walked towards
him. "You were way outclass-" She gasped as she drew close enough
to see him clearly. "It can't be!"

"What?" Yukio looked around him to see if there was something behind
him. His green hair flew around, reminding him that he needed to get
a haircut.

"It's been four years..." the senshi breathed. "We thought you died
with the Dark Kingdom!"

"With the what?"

Sailor Mars stepped up to him and slapped him across the face.
Before he could react to that, she hugged him. "Don't ever do that
again," she muttered.

Yukio blinked, then blinked again, still too confused to be angry
over the slap. He looked down at the total stranger who was hugging
him, his all-green eyes wide, before he shouted out, "Damn it all,
what the hell is going on here!?"


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