[FFML] Sailor Moon Z 25 Draft One

[John Walter Biles]

Here it comes in all it's glory, the first draft of Sailor Moon Z episode 25, 
the final episode!


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


	Hudson began another cup of coffee.  "I suppose we should check the prisoners 
again, just in case they've somehow managed to escape."

	Izuko said, "You don't think they'll escape, do you?"

	"Where the hell will they go if they do?  And what are we going to do with 
them?  We can't just send them home; people will wonder what happened."

	"I don't know," Izuko said.

	"They're just a bunch of kids," Hudson said gloomily.  "What a total mess.  I 
didn't take this job to beat up children."

	"Neither did I," Izuko said, leaning back on the couch.  The couch creaked; 
everything in the off-duty lounge needed a little bit of repairs.  

	"Or me," Charlie said.  Charlie was a huge bald black man from somewhere in 
the US, Izuko thought.  You could count on Charlie, long as he was sober.  
Fortunately, he didn´t drink on duty.  He was drinking now, though.

	They were supposed to be off duty, but the Zodiac had told everyone to be 
ready, in case of emergency during the big ceremony.  Which seemed to involve 
killing a teenager.  Izuko wasn't too impressed with the competence level of 
the Senshi, but was it really necessary to kill this kid?  Star Princess or 
not?

	It made her sick in her gut.

	But there was nothing she could do about it.

	She finished her cup.  "Gonna get more coffee."

	Unseen by her, Hematite glided away.  Discontent among the Star Guard.  This 
could be useful, but first to see what could be done with this 
'Transdimensional Defense Club'.  A breakout might well keep the Zodiac even 
more busy than their rite would, though it seemed the rite would likely keep 
them too busy to prevent Jadeite seizing the key energy points around Tokyo.  
And once he held those, they would have enough power to crush the Zodiac, Star 
Power or not.  


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

Naru:     I'm tired of always running
          I've grown tired of the night
          I wish I had some cunning,
          Had some power, had some might.

	We see a collage of Naru running from monsters, grabbed by monsters, trapped 
inside big  moss balls by monsters, etc.

Sailors:  You don't need to keep on running.
          You don't need to fear the night.
          We can save you with our cunning,
          With our power, with our might.

	We see a collage of images of Usagi and the other Sailors saving Naru and many 
other people from monster attacks.

Naru:     I don't want someone to save me;
          I'd just like to save myself
          I don't want to be a helpless doll
          That must sit upon the shelf.

	We see Naru sitting at her window, looking out on the starry night sky of the 
city.  One by one, lines trace the constellations.

Pluto:    If you want to have the power
          You must reach into your heart
          Look inside to find your strength
          For that's where power starts

	We see Pluto holding out an eight-pointed star, which hovers just above her 
hand.

*****

Sailor Moon Z:

Series Concept by Jeff Hosmer and John Biles
Primary Writer this Episode: John Biles

Based on the Series Sailor Moon, copyrighted by a whole lot of people who 
aren't us.

Episode 25
"To All Things An Ending.
  The Final Battle Commences."

*****

	Sayuri, Leo Istari, stared at the thirteen members of the Zodiac, as they 
ringed in the Star Princess, Osaka Naru.  The girl was a stubborn one, yes she 
was.  They'd been at it for an hour already and she still hadn't broken.  In 
fact, it looked like it would take a very long time to extract the Star Power.

	They ringed the girl, each of them standing on their sigil (a tighter fit for 
the Gemini), with a monolith rising in the center, to which the Star Princess 
and the White Knight had been chained, in their weakest, normal form.  It would 
take longer to drain them like that, but it would also be harder for them to 
fight back.

	She didn't like Naru.  But she didn't trust her feelings either; she'd been 
taken for a ride by a Youma, filling her head full of lies.  And it looked 
Scorpio was as willing to murder her as she probably had been to murder Libra.  
It had to be Scorpio; no one else would have had enough power to pull it off.  
It might be the Dark Kingdom, but she didn't think the Dark Kingdom would stop 
with just one.

	If this all worked as it should, all the Zodiac would double in power, and 
Scorpio, with the Star Orb, would be strongest of all.  Sayuri licked her lips 
nervously.  She didn't like Scorpio and she didn't trust Scorpio to use that 
power responsibly.  Especially not if she was a murderer, and she probably was.

	She was, in theory, supposed to basically wait to see if there was any outside 
interruptions and help to suppress them.  However, she had a mission.  She 
still wasn't sure how much to trust astrological readings, but it looked like 
she was about to find out.

	She turned and walked away; time to position herself for what was to come.

**********

	Tethys stared at the flickering flame in confusion.  What was making the fire? 
 The black rocks under the giant bucket?  But how could they make fire?  What 
kind of energy was this?  If rocks could make fire, why hadn't they learned to 
use them long ago?

	Yuuichiro stared at the hot tub longingly, and also at the next room, which 
seemed to be set up as a sauna.  He desperately needed a bath, but it was far 
too dangerous to try and take one with all the monsters everywhere.  He looked 
over at Tethys, who was staring at it in confusion.  "Do they not have hot tubs 
where you come from?"

	"Is that what this is?  What's making the fire?" she asked, then regretted 
asking it.  Apparently, humans knew about these things, and it would hurt her 
disguise.

	He kneeled and looked.  "Coal, I think, maybe charcoal.  Man, a bath would be 
so nice, but it's too dangerous."  He sighed.  "I have to find Rei."

	This must be the energy source, she thought.  But is there some way for him to 
tap it?  Can I?  She wasn't sure; this wasn't a kind of energy she was really 
used to.  She knew how to generate heat with the energies of the Dark Kingdom, 
but this...there was something different about it.

	She studied Yuuichiro; he seemed to be drawing strength from it, 
subconsciously.  Not much power, but he did seem to be getting stronger from 
the fire.  The fire.  He loved Sailor Mars, who was now Aurora, and who was 
bonded to the element of fire.  And passion, that was a sort of flame.  When he 
thought of her, he grew stronger.

	She licked her lips.  It couldn't be this easy, could it?  Maybe my luck is 
turning, she thought.  Or more likely, I won't figure out a way to get the 
energy of the fire into him.  

	But she had to try.  

	"I think we ought to take this chance to get clean while we can," Tethys said. 
 "We're not likely to get a better one, and it sounds like hardly anyone is 
around."

	He looked torn.  "But it's...whoever made this must be expecting to use it.  
And Rei..."

	"Do you think Rei's going to want to see you as such a dirty mess?" she asked 
sharply.

	"No," he said, embarrassed.  "She always prefers me to be clean and 
presentable, but..."

	"Well, then, time to get yourself clean.  And I could probably use a bath 
myself."

	Yuuichiro said, "Well, you can go first, then."

	Tethys racked her brain, then remembered that male and female humans were into 
this thing called 'Modesty'.  It was a strange concept to her; places to get 
yourself clean were too rare in the Dark Kingdom to bother with such issues, 
and the whole business of feeling you had to hide parts of your body didn't 
make much sense to her anyway.  How did humans ever manage to have sex, anyway? 
 

	But, really, it was probably better to have one keep watch while the other 
bathed.  "You go first," she said.  "I'll keep watch."  She headed for the 
door, trying to get a feel for where she was.  Somewhere in Magnetite's complex 
of rooms.  

	"As the man, I should..." he began.

	"Don't worry, just get clean," she said.  Maybe this would work.  She hoped 
so.  It would be easier if she could reveal herself, but he would probably run, 
and that would spoil everything.  Not that she had a very clear plan, beyond 
vague romantic ideas of him somehow undoing what Jadeite had done to Sailor 
Mars, but it was better than nothing.  Wasn't it?

	She listened to him undress, running around in circles in her mind.  There had 
to be some way to use him for leverage to try to get her rightful place in the 
Dark Kingdom.  If nothing else, he was an impressive fighter; he just didn't 
have the power he needed to exploit it fully.  

	If he did turn Rei, she would have to make sure she was not associated with 
it; Jadeite would not be pleased.  Of course, if he turned Rei, and then she 
ensured they were both caught and dealt with...

	She felt a moment of guilt, surprised herself by it.  She'd spent too much 
time around weak humans; now she was starting to think like them too much.  But 
what else could she do?  Even if she did decide to not use him like that, it 
wasn't possible to protect him, not in the heart of the Dark Kingdom when its 
conquest of Earth was beginning.  Humanity was doomed to serve the Youma.  

	Though it might be possible to swing him something...it would be such a waste 
to not be able to use a strong fighter like him.  She shook her head.  I have 
to think clearly, she thought.  

	Clearly.  But her mind wandered, wondering what Sensei and Horus were doing 
right now.  Probably trying to fight the invasion with the help of that 
ridiculous club.  A bunch of children pretending to be adults, pretending they 
could fight monsters.  Though they'd done a pretty good job on her.  In more 
ways than one.

	They would fight, she knew.  She could respect them for that.  It was alright 
to respect a strong fighter, right?  Probably Tsunami would burn in the 
fighting, but they wouldn't give up.  And they'd probably take a few Dark 
Kingdom folk with them, unless they were just flooded by so many youma that 
they had no hope. Of course, she had been drained and weak when they caught 
her, but they'd been able to hold her even when she got her strength back.

	Not that she'd tried very hard, really.  It had gotten strangely comfortable, 
almost like...like being part of a family.  The human kind of family.  She had 
to admit she'd sometimes enjoyed herself.  They hadn't been very good captors.  
If she'd been held by youma, they would have pulled every last bit of 
information out of her mind, then killed her once she wasn't useful.  No point 
in giving someone the energy they needed to survi...

	The energy they need to survive.  Which humans got from food.  She'd been able 
to get energy from food as well.  Maybe he didn't eat enough food.  Was that 
the problem with him?  There had to be something more than that, but...

	She regretted she didn't have Horus available; there was so much to be learned 
from him, and he would probably be able to figure this right out.  Unless...

	No, that was not an option.  There would be no good way to get him back and 
how would she explain what she wanted?  They wouldn't cooperate.  Or would 
they?  After all, her goal was to get them their Rei back, so that Jadeite 
would be open to her charms, instead of taking a brainwashed teenager as his 
lover, just because she was the reincarnation of her old love.

	But getting to Earth...was it possible?  Surely not.  But perhaps she could 
trick Magnetite into helping her.  He was a kindly old man, and it struck her 
that he reminded her of Sensei.  He would never help with overthrowing Aurora, 
but he probably knew enough about humans to tell her more of what she needed to 
know.

	But then, what to do with Yuuichiro while she talked to Magnetite?  Also, 
Magnetite might put her to bed.  For that matter he might be mad she hadn't 
gone and lain down like he told her.  Most Youma leaders got mad if you didn't 
obey, unless disobedience was more fruitful to them, and even then... 

	Tethys frowned.  This was going to require more thought.  I wish Sensei was 
here, she thought.  It would be so much easier if she could ask him about 
humans.  I should have spent more time learning about them and less time 
playing Civilization, she thought.  As it was, she would never finish crushing 
those damnable Germans.

	She shook her head.  Focus.  She could hear Yuuichiro getting into the hot 
water.  Hopefully, he would draw some strength from it.

	Or perhaps I'm grasping at straws, she thought.  But straws are all I have.  
If this went wrong, if she was traced to it, Jadeite might well destroy her.  
But if you didn't risk, you could never get the big victories.  She couldn't 
stand to spend the rest of her life as just a pawn, just another minion.  
Either she would shine like the sun, or she would die.  Either was better than 
spending the rest of her life a flunky, when she could have had it all.

	But she was going to need a better plan.  As just madly improvising wasn't the 
best way to take a risk.  Not until you had no other choice.

	At least this would give her time for thought.  

*********

	Hikaru pulled the hood of her stealth suit back and looked around the castle.  
"Wow."

	Dia smiled at her new guests.  "Please, come in and rest a while.  Time is 
much faster here than on your world, so you will have time to rest and plan."

	They were in the front hall of her palace, surrounded by the art she had spent 
millenia collecting.  

	Hikaru looked at Himeko, who nodded.  "Yes, it is."

	Hikaru said, "Well, it's hard for me to not want to rush to Daichi right this 
minute, but..."

	Clark asked, "Do you have any idea where the Sailors may be?"

	"Subspace," Dia said.  "Beyond that, no."

	"They're alive?"

	"Our divinations seem to indicate this," Dia said.  "I do not know how soon 
they will return."

	That made Clark feel a little better.  "Well, we're going to have to figure 
out some sort of plan."

	Dia nodded.  "We are arranging to extract your families to safety here.  Those 
of you who have any."

	"Got any magical weapons we can use?" Hikaru asked.

	"Some," Dia said.  "Though not much time to train you in them."

	Hikaru did a snap-kick.  "I can fight!"

	Dia shook her head.  "Your courage serves you well, but magic only goes so 
far."

	"We make do with what we have," Clark said.  "And she's too stubborn to be 
left behind."

	"Exactly," Hikaru said.  
	
	Himeko had to make herself not laugh at that.

	"I go to join the rescue teams," Dia said.  "My servants will show you to your 
rooms.

	She departed and they all went to go rest a little.

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

	"Why did I ever let you all talk me into this?  WHY?" Ami's mother demanded of 
Ryo as he shrank back under the verbal assault.

	Dia vibrated backwards several steps.

	"Dear, we can throw recriminations around later," Ami's father said.  Ryo 
wasn't sure if getting him first had been wise or not, but he'd hoped Ami's 
father could contain...or maybe just absorb, any maternal explosions.

	"You need to grab anything you can't afford to lose.  I have plenty of 
clothing, so just worry about necessities such as your medical supplies," Dia 
said.

	"And you!  You dress like a whore and...My medical skills are going to be 
needed?"

	Dia had already heard too many stories about Ami's mother to take that from 
her.  "I am the one putting MY home in danger to protect all of you, for the 
sake of your daughter, who I care about!  I don't CARE what you think of me, 
but either get what you need so we can go before this city is laid waste or 
else sit down and wait to DIE."

	Her glamor blazed in anger like a bonfire and Ami's mother shrank back, though 
to Dia's surprise, she quickly recovered.  "You can't threaten me."

	"Fine. Then I will tell At...Ami you chose to stay and die."  Dia turned and 
stormed out.

	Ryo chased after her.  "Wait, Dia, come back."

	Ami's father did not go.  "Miaka, this is no time to be stubborn.  We've both 
seen their power, and Ryo is a terrible liar.  If they say we need to evacuate, 
I don't think they're lying."

	"That woman..."

	"Is a grownup and can dress how she likes," Kensuke said, sighing.  "Come on, 
I'll help you get everything."

	"I..."  Mizuno Miaka sighed.  "Fine.  Let's go.  But I don't like that woman 
or trust her.  She tried to do something to me."

	"She's just a little hippiesque," he said, going with her deeper into the 
house.

	"I hate hippies," Mizuno Miaka mumbled.

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

	"We needed a new house anyway," Minako's mother said as she and her husband 
rode into the sky on Bob's back.

	"Thank you, Bob," Minako's father said to him.  "And you, Derith."

	"You're welcome," Bob said.  "Now, see, this is proper respect.  They thank 
me, the important one, first."

	"Yes, of course," Derith mumbled, hoping they could get everyone on his list 
in time.

	"Where is Steven?" Minako's mother asked.

	"Guiding another team," Derith said.  So you wouldn't see him with Gwen trying 
to hang on him, I suspect.

**************
	
	"She never did have much sense," Grandpa grumbled as he stuffed clothing and 
several holy texts into a suitcase and tried to get it to close.

	He and Steven ended up tying the suitcase shut, then Steven got stuck carrying 
it.  Gwenhwyfar said, "I could magic it shut."  She came over to help balance 
it.

	"We're good," Steven said, catching several socks which tried to escape.  
"I...I'm not sure how best to address you, sir."

	"Just call me Grandpa," he said.  "Are there lots of cute potential acolytes 
where we're going?"

	"Yes," Steven said.

	"Well, I needed a vacation, anyway."

**********

	Under better conditions, Dia's home was a very beautiful, restful place.  The 
guest quarters were spacious and luxurious.

	However, it did nothing to help all the nervous relatives of the Senshi for 
Hikaru and Himeko to be having a screaming match in the hallway.

	"He would have been fine if you were there!" Hikaru shouted.  "You abandoned 
us!"

	"I had other duties!  I had to protect the Star Princess!" Himeko shouted 
back.  

	"We don't even know why they bothered to attack Tsunami when they knew she 
wasn't there," Cassandra pointed out from the floor.

	"Hime-chan did the best she could!," Pokota said.

	"Yeah, you protected the Star Princess SO WELL that now the Zodiac has her!" 
Hikaru shouted, pointing at Himeko.

	"I'm just an apprentice!," Himeko said.

	"You all would have fallen into the hands of the Zodiac if the Elves hadn't 
saved you!," Hikaru said.  "I at least managed to save part of the 
Transdimensional defense club!"

	"Except for MOST OF IT, including my Daichi!," Himeko shouted.

	"Ladies," Clark said, stepping up to them.

	Hikaru tried to leap at Himeko, but Clark grabbed her by the collar.  
Cassandra tried to force Himeko back, but this just caused Himeko to trip and 
squash her a bit.  

	"That's enough," Clark said.  "If we don't work together, we'll never be able 
to rescue our friends."

	"But...," Hikaru began.

	"You can fight later.  Much later."  He dragged Hikaru off to her room.

	Himeko sighed.  "He's got to be okay."

	"I'm sure he's fine.  He's more valuable to them as a hostage against you 
rather than dead," Cassandra said.

	That wasn't the comfort she was looking for.

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

	Dia was walking down the hallway, checking off a list, having finally gotten 
Ami's parents settled in, when she heard noises coming from one of the guest 
rooms.  She paused, then knocked.  

	"Come in," a wavering voice said.

	She opened the door and found Mrs. Osaka sitting on the bed, her suitcase on 
the floor, half-curled up in a ball.  Dia sighed and came in, closing the door 
and coming over to sit by her.  "Lady Osaka...that is your name, right?"

	"Osaka Hoseki," she said softly.  

	"Jewel," Dia said with her lilting voice.  She took one of Hoseki's hands in 
her own.  "That's a pretty name."

	"What has happened to my daughter?" Hoseki asked softly.  "I heard bits and 
pieces of things, but...what's going on?  Where am I, really?"

	"You are in Arcadia, the land of the Elves.  I am a friend of Senshi Mercury, 
who you know as Ami Mizuno," Dia said carefully, not sure how Lady Hoseki would 
take certain things.  "I swear to you that you are safe here."

	"My daughter?  She's been..."

	"The Zodiac has her.  Most of the Senshi are trying to rescue Senshi Mars from 
the Dark Kingdom," Dia said, moving over to sit close to Osaka Hoseki, holding 
her hand firmly.  "The Zodiac took advantage of this to kidnap her because she 
is the reincarnation of the Star Princess, the font of their power."  

	Dia paused, hesitant.  "They took her boyfriend, Umino, as well, because she 
made him the White Knight, her protector."

	"What are they going to do with my daughter?" Hoseki asked, shivering, staring 
into Dia's eyes intently, even as she shivered.

	She is quite lovely, Dia thought.  And hurting so much.  Perhaps I should...  
"I'm sure we will be able to rescue her before anything happens."

	"Don't patronize me," Hoseki snapped.  "I'm old enough to handle the truth, 
even if it's terrible."  Her eyes blazed with an angry fire now, and Dia felt 
her breath catch.

	"You are beautiful when you are angry," Dia said softly, leaning closer.

	Hoseki suddenly looked flustered, but she said, "You can't distract me that 
way."

	"I do not know precisely what will happen, but they will try to take her power 
from her through a rite.  And then..."

	"They will kill her," Hoseki said softly.

	Dia studied her carefully, trying to see if she would be able to handle it.  
"Yes," she said softly.

	There was a hardening of Hoseki's features, a burst of anger, and then a cold 
strength.  "So my worst fears have come to pass."

	Now Dia was curious.  She squeezed Hoseki's hand firmly.  "You were afraid of 
the Zodiac taking her?"

	"A new age begins, and I don't know what place it has for those of us 
who...who are normal," Hoseki said, staring at the floor.  "After all the times 
she's been attacked by these things, now my daughter has been kidnapped and 
there is nothing that I can do.  Nothing any of us can do.  Lady Dia, have you 
ever had any children?"

	"I do not know if I will ever have children, as we do not easily get pregnant 
and I have dallied with far more women than men," Dia said.  

	The redness of Hoseki's face had faded, but now it rose again.  "A parent is 
supposed to protect their children."

	"Not be protected by them," Dia said softly.  "I know.  Children are very 
precious to our kind as it is so hard for us to have them."  She put her other 
hand on Hoseki's leg, stroking it just a little.  "I know this must be hard for 
you.  I was kidnapped once when I was young, and my parents pulled their hair 
out from worry.  My cousin rescued me before they did, which was rather 
embarrassing for them."

	"I just wish...I feel so helpless," Hoseki said, raising her head to Dia, 
shivering, bringing around her other hand to rest on Dia's hand on Hoseki's 
leg.  

	"You are a jeweler, are you not?" Dia asked.  

	"Yes," Hoseki said curiously.

	"There is much to be learned of magical lore of gemstones and jewelry, if you 
would like to learn it.  It will not help you in this crisis," Dia said, 
leaning closer.  "But in the future, it will prepare you better for this new 
age that comes," she said softly.

	"Yes, I would," Hoseki said, leaning a little closer, breathing hard.  "I just 
wish...I'm going to sleep horribly tonight."

	"I know a solution for this as well," Dia said, her face almost to Hoseki's 
flustered one.

	"Do you..."

	"Yes," she said, then kissed Hoseki firmly, slowly lowering her down onto the 
bed.

	Naru's mother slept very well that night.

*************
	
	Ryo, on the other hand, tossed and turned.  Intellectually, he knew time was 
much faster here and only minutes were passing on Earth.  But he was worried 
about Ami and the others, and his dreams were full of incoherent visions.

	He was in space, inside some sort of bird-shaped fighting craft, armed with 
lightning wands, part of a whole flock of the fighters.  There was a huge 
battle here; some of the ships looked strangely like they had giant glowing 
trees inside them, others were shaped like insects and yet others tended to be 
pyramid or wedge shaped.  And nearby, bee-like fighters were streaming off 
towards a set of vine-covered fighter craft.  Streaming out of hangers in the 
side of a giant, wingless dragonfly with glowing red eyes.

	His voice spoke, but it wasn't his voice.  It was Makoto's.  "See the dark 
spots?  Those are the hanger bays," she said to...someone.  Perhaps the whole 
flight of ships.  They had crescent moon symbols on them, and parts of his 
brain suddenly remembered these craft, the Hawk Warriors of the Moon.

	His arm moved, but it was Makoto's arm.  "We're going to hit those seven."  
She touched a stylus to the image on her monitor, which sat just to the left of 
the main flight controls.  A diagram of the dragonfly lit up, showing the bays.

	"Squad leaders, spread out, blasting the interior of the ship to bits.  Red 
Squad, we're going after the engine," she said.

	The engine of what?  Tell me what this is?  Makoto in space leading a space 
war?  Is this something in Crystal Tokyo's future?

 	Makoto seemed to lapse into thought and he wished he could somehow ask her 
what was going on.  This couldn't be the Dark Kingdom, could it?  Divination 
said she was in 'subspace', Dia had said, but this couldn't be...

	He thought about how real the TORG world had seemed.  Maybe they're trapped in 
their own dreams or something, he thought.  

	Makoto now swerved around and led Red Squad forward.  "Primus Squadron!  
DIVE!"

	Seven squads of fighters rushed towards seven fighter ports, wands a blazing.  
It would be victory or death or possibly both.

	And then he woke up cursing the limitations of his powers.

	And yet...

	It meant she was alive.  And if she was alive...

	Ami, he thought.  Just stay alive, Ami, that's all I ask, he thought.

	Just stay alive.

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

	Steven woke up from a dream he had not enjoyed.  Pluto macking on some balding 
man...Minako fighting in the arena...Virgo knitting Haruka a SWEATER?  

	All in a horrible place, some sort of monster-ruled post-apocalyptic Tokyo.  
It must be Jadeite's vision of the future he hopes for, Steven thought.  

	There was a warm arm around him, he now realized as the sun drifted in the 
window.  Was it...Minako?  Maybe it had just been a normal dream.

	Then he looked over and saw Gwynhwyfar snoozing away.  He sighed.  She just 
doesn't give up.  I told Minako it would only encourage her.

	But he needed her help and...they were old friends.  That was all.  All it 
should be.  He and Minako were sworn to each other.  

	He started to get up, glad neither of them had slept naked.  She now began to 
rise.

	"Hello, Steven," Gwynhwyfar said softly.  "Do you want to..."
	
	He tried to decide if having the fight later was pragmatic or cowardly.  Then 
he decided it didn't matter.  "There's not time," he said.  "And we shouldn't, 
without Minako."

	"That's true," Gwynhwyfar said, sighing a little.  "I'm sure she's okay."

	"She's trapped in an arena," Steven said, sighing himself as he looked for 
clean clothing.  "I know she can fight well, but I wish...I could do 
something."

	"Well, now that everyone is here and rested, we can pool our knowledge and try 
to build a counter-attack," Gwynhafar said, rising and stretching.  Steven made 
sure not to stare.  "Been a long time since our last mission together," she 
said, staring off into space.

	"I wish I had all the skills I had then," he said.

	"You'll do fine," she said.  "I have faith in you."

	He wished he had faith in himself.

************
	
	"I'm not sure what my powers come from," Manami said.  "Although Obsidian 
called me a Princess of the Earth."

	"Endymion had sisters, but they weren't warriors," Dia explained.

	Dia had called a war council of herself, Derith, Bob, the surviving TDDC and 
Senshi Auxillary, Clark, Tomoe, a flock of advisor cats, Yumeno Yumeni (who was 
among the many evacuated to safety), Sensei, and the junior Pluto, Himeko.  
They were meeting around a large table (Bob was just NEAR the table, and in 
fact, was mostly sleeping) in a courtyard.

	"My machine, assuming I'm doing things right, shows the Zodiac is based in the 
old Moon Palace,"   Tomoe said.  

	"Well, that helps; we know the layout," Artemis said, perking up.

	"Surely it's changed in 25,000 years, at least a bit," Luna pointed out.

	"The first order of business is to figure out whether to hit the Zodiac or the 
Dark Kingdom first," Derith said.

	"It has to be the Zodiac, much as I want Minako back," Steven said.  "We can't 
get into subspace without an Icon or lore we don't know, so we can't rescue 
them.  And it seems from what Yumeni, myself, and Ryo dreamed, they're okay, if 
not very happy."

	"There may be surviving armories on the moon we can raid for material to hit 
the Zodiac with," Ryo said.  "As that's where Makoto got...gets her fighters, I 
think."

	"We can help there," Artemis said.  

	"What about the captives?  If we attack, they may be used as hostages," Noriko 
said.

	"We're going to have to sneak in somehow and liberate them," Hikaru said.  
"I've got a stealth suit."

	"It could use more testing," Sensei said.  

	"We can take time here and test it, right?" Hikaru said.  

	"I can disguise myself as someone to help us get in for the rescue," Himeko 
said.  

	"We can disguise you all.  Elves are good at illusions," Dia said. 

	"The Zodiac knows we know about them," Steven said.  "So the infiltration team 
should be those they don't know for sure are with us," Steven said.  "Parias, 
Hikaru, Noriko, Manami, and...Sensei's too old.  Himeko should go in case you 
need another heavy hitter.  And she can predict trouble before it happens.  The 
rest of us would stay with the main attack force."

	They now began working on nailing down details.

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


	Izuko looked over at Hudson.  "What a mess, huh?"  Her face looked worn and 
tired.  

	He kicked the ancient stone wall as they walked down the corridor.  "It's not 
supposed to be about killing kids.  It's not right.  This isn't why I joined 
the Star Guard.  I didn't fight all those things so that a kid could be 
murdered.  A bunch of kids."  His fists clenched and unclenched.  "Dammit!"

	"I...no, you're right.  But what can we do?"  Izuko turned to look at Hudson, 
looking hopeless.

	"So, you're not pleased with what the Ascendent One chooses to do, are you?"  
It was a harsh female voice, the voice of Leo Istari.  She wasn't much older, 
if at all, than the Star Princess, but looked sterner than her age.

	"Istari, we did not mean to..." Izuko began frantically.

	"Fuck no, I'm not pleased," Hudson said.  "This is ridiculous.  This isn't 
what we're here for!"

	"You are exactly correct," Leo Istari said, smiling grimly.  "So, do you want 
to do something about it?"

	"Hell yes," Hudson said.

	"What can we do?" Izuko asked.  If this went wrong...but Hudson was right.  
Hard as it was to imagine Hudson being right about anything.  This wasn't why 
they'd joined the Star Guard.  

	"You ever shot anything very powerful?"

	"Does shooting Saturn in the face at point blank count?" Hudson asked, 
grinning a little.

	"Yes," Leo Istari said, smiling back in a similar manner.

	"Oh shit, are you gonna have me put a round in Scorpio's head?" Hudson asked.  
He sounded a little nervous.

	"Right now, if you tried, Scorpio would shrug off the bullet, then turn your 
blood into poison.  But then, the head isn't the dangerous part of the 
scorpion."  Leo Istari smiled.  "Let's get you the best gun we can find, and 
quickly."

	"What about me?" Izuko asked.

	"Your signs are compatible.  Your presence makes him stronger.  And his makes 
you stronger.  You will both need that strength."

	"In other words, Leo told you to get both of us and you aren't sure why," 
Hudson said.  He was grinning a little.

	Leo Istari froze and stared at him.  "Smarter than you look," she muttered.

	"I have experience in dealing with the Zodiac.  Half the time, all the mystic 
stuff is just a bluff or a joke at my expense," Hudson said, grinning more.

	"You don't mince words," Leo Istari said.

	"With Hudson, you always know what you're going to get," Izuko said ruefully.  
"For good and bad."

	"Well, both of you come with me.  We have very little time to spare."

***********

	"I still think we don't have time for this," Yuuichiro said as he sat in the 
hot tub, relaxing, wondering how it had gotten here to the Dark Kingdom.

	Tethys, in her guise as Theresa, sat down low by the fire, drawing strength 
from it.  "Just relax," she said.  Hopefully, he would draw some power from it. 
 And she could relax and charge herself up some more as well.

	Instead, Aurora walked in with Magnetite and Sapphire.  "I told you she was 
here," Magnetite said.

	Tethys tensed, praying the game was not up.

	"Hello, Tethys," Aurora said.  "Sapphire and I..."  She paused, then stared at 
Yuuichiro.  "Yuuichiro?"

	"Rei," he mumbled.

	"Rei is dead," Aurora said firmly.  "That old mask is cast away.  What are you 
doing here?"

	"I couldn't stay behind when you were in danger," he said.  

	You were always too brave for your own good, she thought.  I can't...wait, 
he's here with Tethys?  What is she up to?  Aurora frowned, trying to figure 
out Tethys' game.  Well, once she's gone, I can easily get it out of Yuuichiro. 
 She probably fed him some line about fixing me, hopes I'll swoon and turn back 
into Rei or something so she can steal MY Jadeite.  Well, it's a good thing I 
already had a plan to get rid of her for a while.

	He really is handsome, she thought.  I wonder why I never...focus, Aurora told 
herself.  "Tethys, I have a mission for you."

	Tethys was disguised, but she could see through it.  Not literally, but she 
could feel the distinct shape of Tethy's soul.  I'm so much stronger like this, 
she told herself.  She could feel Yuuichiro's soul as well, and the...and there 
was something not quite right with it.

	She frowned.  But an issue for another time.  

	Tethys rose, still cloaked, while Yuuichiro looked at her curiously in 
confusion.  "Yes, your highness.  How may I serve?"

	"Sapphire has a group of youma and droids waiting for you.  Not a very large 
force as this should be easy, but there may be resistance from that ridiculous 
defense club," Aurora said.  

	Sapphire said, "I want to meet this Udaigaku person who can make Golems.  Such 
magitech would be very useful to us, now that we have Vulcan's hammer."

	Tethys froze up.  Was this a suicide mission?  Not that she couldn't sweep the 
club aside, but...Aurora was up to something.  Maybe she suspects me.  "Sensei 
is a very brilliant man, but it should be easy to capture him, as he has 
focused his skills more on research and knowledge than on war.  And that silly 
club is no match for a real youma warband."  She listened to herself, and tried 
to understand why she felt so nervous about this.  She'd wanted to talk to him 
anyway.  

	"Capture his grand-daughter the golem as well," Aurora said.  "So she can be 
studied."

	Tethys remembered Noriko healing in the vat, their argument over her shame at 
being a golem.  Foolish woman, she thought.  But was it...no.  This was war.  
They'd held her; there was nothing wrong with capturing them.  Especially after 
what that blonde bitch Serenity had done, blaming ME for what happened to her 
precious Rei.  

	"Does this displease you?" Aurora asked coolly, and now Tethys realized she 
was making faces.

	"Rei, what is..."  Yuuichiro began.

	"I am NOT Rei," Aurora snapped at him.  "Call me Queen Aurora."

	Yuuichiro paused, then nodded, still in the tub.  "R...Queen Aurora, what is 
going on?" he asked.

	"War," she said, then turned back to Tethys.

	"No, I'm angry they held me for so long," Tethys said.  "I will go and seize 
them swiftly."

	"I told you she would take the mission," Magnetite said, smiling.  "Tethys is 
a good girl."

	"Then take her to the troops, Magnetite.  Sapphire, I'm going to take a quick 
bath before the attack," Aurora said.  "Yuuichiro, you can help me bathe."

	He turned red, then fell back into the water.

	"You idiot," Tethys mumbled.

	"I can handle him," Aurora said to her.  "Now go.  Make yourself useful, 
Tethys."

	Tethys ground her teeth.  She knows.  Something, anyway.  But she's just going 
to use it to push me around and use me as her slave.  I didn't come back to the 
Dark Kingdom just to be the slave of a brain-washed bimbo.  Who is probably 
cheating on Jadeite.

	She felt her heart ache at the thought.  And I'm the one who put her own 
personal male bimbo at her disposal.  Though, maybe he would bring out her old 
self.  Tethys hoped so; Sailor Mars had been infinitely less annoying than 
Aurora.  And much less after Tethys' man.  

	Well, the man she wanted to be her man.  Even as she left with Magnetite to go 
get the troops, she lost herself in a little fantasy about being Jadeite's 
queen.  He could be so kind when he wanted to be.  But now he only had eyes for 
damnable Aurora.  

	Stupid woman, Tethys thought.  "What does he see in her, anyway," she said, 
then realized Magnetite was still with her and regretted it.  Being around 
humans has made me sloppy, she thought.  I can't let anyone know how I really 
feel, or else...

	"It's not easy to watch someone you love with someone else," Magnetite said.  
"I remember many a love that went awry, in days gone by."  He stared off past 
her, lost in a memory.  "In old Atlantis.  Things were better then, when we 
were still human and it was so much easier to love."

	"W...what?" she demanded.  She'd never paid as much attention to history as 
she probably should have, but she'd never heard this.  "We were human???"  

	"What, did no one ever tell you?  Yes, we were human once; we became what we 
are now to survive in the Dark Kingdom, where humans could not last.  I helped, 
you know, though not as much as others now fallen.  Poor Opal."  He sighed, his 
eyes intent, but gazing down the paths of history.

	"Some of us, many of us, were mutated by the Gibberling plague.  The rest of 
it, we did to ourselves, transforming ourselves to become things which could 
survive, barely, here in this world of rock and crystal."  He waved his arms.  
"You've seen how valuable these are to the humans, haven't you?  We were 
trapped here, surrounded by nigh-infinite wealth, but none of it could do us 
any good."

	Hesitantly, Tethys asked again, "We were human?  Before we came here?  What 
about Metallia?  I thought she made us."  That was what she had been taught, in 
the creche, so long ago.  

	"Without her, we would have perished.  But Metallia did not create us, only 
helped us to change and protected us, before she sank into her slumber for all 
those millenia."  Magnetite looked sad.  "But we failed her and now she is 
dead.  We cannot survive here without her; we must conquer the Earth or else we 
will perish.  But remember, we came from the Earth.  Atlantis was of the Earth, 
though now fallen and near-forgotten by the peoples of the other Kingdoms who 
fled here."  He shook his head.  "But enough ramblings from an old man."

	Did they know, she asked herself.  Did Sensei know?  Is that why he never 
treated me any differently from anyone else if he didn't have to?  This is why 
I can eat human food, why we all look roughly like humans, why...

	Why Jadeite loves a human.  "Jadeite and Aurora, were they...were they lovers 
before?" she asked.  "In the old times?"  She had strongly gotten that 
impression from everything, but she had to be sure.

	"Yes," Magnetite said.  "You would be better off to forget him.  Well, to 
forget thinking about him that way.  Obviously, you can't afford to just forget 
he exists, since he is the King and I'm rambling again."  He sighed.  "You know 
what I mean."

	Tethys didn't know what to make of all of this.  I did not need to find this 
out, she told herself.  "Is it all lies?  Everything we've been told about 
ourselves?"

	"Probably not everything," Magnetite said.  "We had to become monsters, in 
order to survive.  And we had to tell ourselves things, in order to stand being 
alive as we were.  But now we are about to return to Earth.  I'm just happy 
that I lived to see it."  He smiled a sad smile.  "It will be up to your 
generation to make a New Atlantis, better than the old, and to decide what you 
wish to become."

	Tethys felt her stomach churn.  "You sound like you expect to die."

	"I'm surprised I am still alive.  But I served Beryl well, and she rewarded 
me.  But you can only cheat the Reaper for so long before he takes his due."  
He brushed a straggling strand of hair out of his eyes.  "And the powers we 
wield, they take their toll in the end.  It was never easy to be Atlantean, to 
use the darkness to hold back the night.  And now it is harder still."  He 
sighed.  "Ahh, here we go.  Assuming the Slaughter Sisters didn't get bored and 
wander off, anyway."

	"The Slaughter Sisters are very good fighters," Tethys said.  

	"But easily bored," Magnetite said, opening the door to the Orange Crystal 
Chamber.  Which had droids waiting for orders, but no Slaughter Sisters.  "I 
was afraid of this.  Well, I'm not part of the invasion, so I have time for 
this at least."  He sighed.  "Let's go find them."

***********

	Aurora decided that making Yuuichiro squirm was definitely enjoyable.  Him 
just scrubbing her hair was enough to make him vibrate like a plucked string.  
She wished she had time to try a few other things, but she had to make this 
quick, if she was to be at her post in time for the invasion.  They couldn't go 
without her.  But she felt strangely dirty.  She needed to get clean.  She was 
not going to miss the Dark Kingdom at all.  

	"So we are only returning to take what is ours by right," Aurora said.

	Slowly, clumsily, Yuuichiro scrubbed Aurora's hair, trying to keep his mind 
pure and to NOT think about she was naked under her towel and Rei had never let 
him do this and her hair was so soft and...  He forced himself to stop.  "But 
this isn't Atlantis."

	"We had conquered it before Serenity got jealous and destroyed Atlantis," 
Aurora said.  She'd said this before, but you had to HAMMER things into 
Yuuichiro's head.  Or out of his head if an idea got stuck there.  

	"Oh," Yuuichiro said.

	For a little while, he scrubbed her hair in silence, slowly relaxing.  She 
felt a little excited herself.  Rei had always wondered what something like 
this would be like, how he would kiss, how it would feel if...

	I am not Rei, she reminded herself.  But she was curious too.  She'd only had 
one real lover, so h...

	She stopped, feeling confused with herself.  She was not like Athena, wanting 
to carry on with several men at once...was she?  It was so hard to remember a 
lot of the past.  Trying to think of it always made her remember how kind 
Serenity had been, how much she...

	No, no, that wasn't the truth.  She just wanted my power.  To use me as cannon-
fodder.  That's why she...she..why she destroyed...

	That had been her mad aunt who had finished off Mars and the Things 
which...no!

	"What's wrong, Aurora?" Yuuichiro asked softly, worried but hesitant.

	"I can't remember the old times clearly," she mumbled.  "Was I..."  He 
wouldn't know.  He had only known her as Rei.  But he...

	He loves me, it hit her.  Not like them.  They only pretended but he really 
did.  In a sort of idiot puppy way sometimes, but he was handsome and strong 
and he really loved her.  Like...as Serenity and Endymion had only pretended 
to.  

	She wanted him, but she had her eternal love for the ages.  I shouldn't act 
like Athena, she thought.  But she wanted to.  She could feel the hunger inside 
her, to turn around and take his clothing off and...

	That wouldn't be fair to Jade-chan at all, she thought.

	But she didn't actually get up from the bench and act on the thought.  
Instead, she let him keep on, though she felt guilty, until he finished.  

	I need an attendant, she thought.  And maybe if Jade-chan agrees...but nothing 
too far until then.  Don't be Athena, she told herself.  

	And I really need to be getting to the chamber to begin the invasion, anyway.

	Despite repeatedly telling herself to go, she didn't actually leave until she 
was fully clean.  But nothing else happened, much as it tempted her.  

***********

	Jadeite looked curiously at Yuuichiro as Aurora approached with him.  However, 
he asked, "Did she cause you any trouble?"

	"No," Aurora said.  "And I picked up a new toy."  She smiled and took 
Jadeite's arm.  To Jadeite, she murmured, "He had the hugest crush on my old 
self.  Not very bright, but he's extremely loyal.  And not powerful enough to 
betray us meaningfully if he wanted to.  You don't mind, do you?"

	"It's fine," Jadeite said, though he wasn't quite so sure.  However, to say no 
would probably put Aurora's back up, and he couldn't afford that, not now.  
Though there was something about that boy...

	Yuuichiro looked at him; it was hard for Jadeite to read his expression, in 
part because his hair hid his eyes.  "Where did he come from?"

	"Tethys found him wandering about.  I would guess he must have followed the 
Sailors in, and didn't fall into my trap because I wasn't expecting him to try 
that.  But it's fine.  I need a good servant."

	"As you wish, my dear," he said, though he resolved to detail a youma to keep 
an eye on the boy.  "Let us hope Sapphire deciphered Alexandrite's notes 
correctly."

	"I will know if it works or not," Aurora said.

	"Then come with me.  It is time."

***********

	The heavy clouds and rain drove most people inside, even before the clouds 
began to spin over the ruins of Mugen Gakuen; this brought out the reporters at 
least, who began speculating over whether a tornado was going to form.

	Instead, what formed was a bridge of fire, erupting out of the clouds, down 
which marched a serried army of multi-colored humanoids.  Flying creatures 
erupted from the clouds as well, spreading out to move on the nodes of power 
across the city.

	The reporters backed up, continuing a stream of coverage as the monsters 
poured into the ruins and began to form into defensive positions around it.

	"I can't believe it!  An actual alien invasion, just like in all those awful 
TV shows!" On the Scene Investigative Reporter Masamichi Kyoyama announced over 
a live feed.  "We'll keep this story going as long as we can.  This should be 
an even bigger story than our special report on the Sailor Senshi.  Who should 
hopefully soon be arriving."

	High above him, on the bridge, Amazonite peered down at all the small clumps 
observing the march of her troops.  "Spies.  Shall I destroy them,  Jadeite?"

	Aurora shook her head.  "Reporters.  They will spread the news of our coming 
in glory."  She stroked Jadeite's arm as they walked down the bridge together.  
"This world will be ours."

	Yuuichiro trailed after them quietly, not knowing what to do, just sure this 
wasn't the time to be saying anything.  

	"First this city, then we can eliminate the Zodiac as we did the Sailors, and 
then this world.  A new kingdom for a new era, Atlantis finally reborn."  
Jadeite smiled.  Everything was going according to plan.  

	Across the city, the bridges were open, troops moving down to seize the major 
leyline nodes, so they could tap the city's power to finally fill themselves 
with all the power they could hold.  Power he would need to fight the Zodiac.  
Aurora's Hammer would counter the Star Orb, he was sure, but the Zodiac were 
not trifles, if not so strong as they believed.

	But soon, soon he would have enough power that he would be invincible.  At 
least in comparison to the Zodiac.  He turned to Amazonite.  "Secure this 
location.  Aurora and I are going to check on the other attacks."

	"Of course, Lord Jadeite," Amazonite said, saluting him.

	So much work to do, Jadeite thought.  But this time I will triumph.

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

	Many of the people busy watching "Love in the Spring" were too busy necking to 
notice when the characters on the screen all turned pale and grew fangs.  But 
almost everyone noticed when they jumped off the screen and began attacking 
people.

	Soon, the theatre was reduced to a cacophany of absolute terror with people 
running everywhere.  They tried to get out, but the doors were locked.  One by 
one, they began to fall.

	And Anthracite laughed.  Sure, a youma or two could have easily cleared this 
place out, but it was much more enjoyable this way.

*************
	
	Marcasite didn't bother with an armed force invasion of the charm shop crystal 
point.  Knock out the owner, replace her with a youma, let hordes of idiot 
humans flock to the place looking for charms and give up some of their energy 
in the process.  Nice, clean, simple.  

	It's not like the humans knew the significance of the place to try and drive 
him out, after all.  The Zodiac would know, but it would take Aurora's power to 
stop them, anyway.  Marcasite had a good opinion of himself, but he knew too 
much of the Zodiac's power to think any garrison of his youma would be enough 
unless they approached him very foolishly.

	Now, on to the next one, he thought.  

*************
 
	Luna, in human form, stepped away from the door.  "Now, touch it, Pluto," she 
said to the junior Pluto.

	"How could I...," the junior Pluto said, though she stepped up and touched it.

	With elven aid, they'd reached the moon and found the hidden armory, now 
tucked inside a cave at the edge of the Sea of Tranquility.  Elven magic also 
was letting them all breathe.  

	"It requires the touch of someone with the right badge or else a member of the 
royal family or one of the Senshi to open," Luna said.  "And since the badges 
are all lost, you're the only one of us who can open it without trying to fight 
the magical security."

	"I'm surprised the Zodiac didn't find it," Ryo said.

	"The Moon is very large, the Zodiac is not.  And without the records, which 
burned with the palace, they had no way to think to look for it," Luna said.  
"Its magical aura is cloaked."

	With a noisy creak, the door swung open...a few inches.  The junior Pluto and 
Parias had to throw some force into it to get it to open.

	Once inside, they found a vast warehouse.  Part of it was full of crates which 
quickly turned out to be full of Silver Millenium weaponry and armor.  The 
other part of it was full of small one or two man flying craft which resembled 
hawks in flight.  

	"Wow, this is way more than we need," Steven said.

	"It was intended to arm a much larger force than this," Luna said sadly.  
"Unfortunately, Beryl brought her doom upon us much quicker than we expected 
and much of this has never been used."

	"For that matter, I don't know how much of it will still work," Artemis said.

	"Well, let us find out," Cassandra said.  

	Luna and Artemis divided everyone into teams and they began searching for 
anything that looked useful and functional.

***********

	The pain didn't stop.  Ever.  Not so far as Naru could tell.  She could feel 
them, pulling at her, trying to draw the Star Power out of her; it was like 
they were trying to pull her nervous system out by the roots.  She could feel 
Umino nearby, shouting defiance at them, but it was beyond his power to fight.

	Her bonds sucked away at her power, even as she tried to be free.  She could 
feel twelve strands, one of them double-threaded, running from her to the 
thirteen Zodiac.  She pulled on them as hard as she could, but there were too 
many of them, and they had the Orb.  She couldn't fight the Orb.

	It swirled and grew brighter as more of her power flowed into it; she could 
feel herself slowly getting weaker.  It was just too much for her.

	But she wasn't going to give up.  Not now.  Not this time.  She was tired of 
being a victim, tired of being slapped around by the universe.  She might lose 
this battle.  But she was determined to die fighting.

	Umino howled.  "LET NARU-CHAN GO!!!!"

	Scorpio took a moment from chanting to laugh mockingly, her face lit up by the 
orb, twisted in a fierce ecstasy.  She was enjoying this.  

	Naru felt fate bend, felt Scorpio inject a little more of her venom into 
Umino; he was dying by inches, but this time, there was no Silver Crystal.  No 
Sailor Senshi.  Nothing that could help her.  She was all alone with just Umino 
and she couldn't bear to let him die.

	But pleading wouldn't do any good.  They needed her and Umino as their 
prisoners to take the Star Power.  And she refused to beg.  Not any more.  She 
would fight to the last, and if she died, then...

	Umino screamed again and she winced.  Umino, he was going to die too.  But it 
was too late; giving him the power of the White Knight had guaranteed he would 
end up here.  It had doomed him.  She had doomed him.

	She wavered, and felt more of her power ebb away, and then she heard Umino 
whisper, "Don't give up, Naru-chan.  I would happily die for you."

	He would.  He loved her that much.  How could she deserve that?  Wasn't there 
some way to spare him?  He didn't deserve to die with her.  He didn't deserve 
to share her doom.

	But even if she could send him away, he wouldn't go.  He would never leave 
her.  And he would fight to the last ditch for her.  "I love you, Gurio," she 
said softly.

	"And I love you," he said.  "Don't give up, Naru-chan.  As long as we love 
each other, then nothing will be able to tear us apart."  His voice ached with 
sincerity, and she wished she knew how to say romantic things like that.  And 
that she wasn't fearful he was wrong.

	She felt a stir of energy inside her, and reached out, grabbing one of the 
cords, Capricorn's cord.  She pulled on it, for it was the one she was most 
attuned to, for she was a Capricorn.  He looked startled, then fought back 
frantically, until Scorpio lashed Naru with the power of the Star Orb, and she 
lost her grip.

	Grimly, Naru reached out with her mind, seizing the cord again, only to get 
another lashing.  The agony racked her, making it hard to concentrate.

	Umino was a Capricorn too, she thought.  If they worked together, maybe they 
could overwhelm him and break the circle.  But it probably wouldn't work unless 
something distracted Scorpio.  But with just the two of them, how could she do 
that?

	She started trying desperately to think of a plan.

	Her eyes fell on the Gemini.  Gemini-C looked grimly determined, but Gemini-P 
looked rather guilty.  Naru stared at her, and felt the glimmerings of a plan 
start to rise.

	She dug into her mind, trying to think about the Star Power, how it worked, 
any scraps of knowledge she dig up to do something, anything.  

	The cords, they linked her to all of them.  She could tug on their 
power...could she do other things?  Not try to yank their power by the roots, 
but maybe push an urge to do something or...

	She grabbed the Gemini cord, twin cords wrapped around each other in a helix.  
POLLY, she screamed down it.

	Gemini-P stiffened, then looked up at her.  

	POLLY, Naru shouted down the cord, not sure how well Polly could hear her.  IF 
I DIE, STEVEN WILL HATE YOU FOREVER.  IS THAT WHAT YOU WANT?
	
	Polly was making agonized faces, but she clearly didn't know how to answer.  
Gemini-C seemed oblivious, though Naru now wondered if he could hear.  She 
could see Polly's lips move, but she couldn't hear anything.

	She'd been going about this the wrong way, she realized.  She could never win 
a battle of strength.  It would take wits.  Find her foes' weaknesses and 
exploit them.  Polly wasn't the only one.  The Star Power was not about brute 
force, though it was strong.  It was strongest for knowledge and manipulation.  
Naru had never been much of a manipulator.  But she was going to have to learn.

	First, though, a distraction.

	POLLY, IF YOU DON'T STOP THIS, HE WILL HATE YOU FOREVER.  WE BOTH KNOW IT, she 
shouted to Polly.

	Gemini-P shivered again, then said, "If she dies..."

	"She has to die," Gemini-C said.  "Or else she may find some way to get her 
power back.  We'd have to live in fear."

	"Stop talking and start concentrating!," Scorpio snapped at Gemini-P.  "She 
has to die and that's just..."

	Then Naru shoved a ball of power into the Star Orb.  Raw, uncontrolled power.  
She didn't know what it would do, but she was sure it would force them to waste 
time restabilizing the rite.

	"NO!," Scorpio shouted, feeling the Star Orb reach out, grab the threads of 
destiny and yank them randomly like a two year old turned loose on a loom.  

	The rite went haywire, though not enough to free Naru.  She felt Umino push 
out hard, trying to break free, but she could tell he would lose, even if she 
helped.  But now, she could see what the stars would tell her of her foes.  I'm 
sorry, my love, she thought.  Just a little longer.  Then I'll be able to stop 
them hurting you any more.

***********

	The junior Pluto cast her sight along the timelines again.  Still no timelines 
where Hikaru, who was scouting ahead in the stealth suit with Artemis, got 
caught.  This was a relief.  But she was starting to feel something, a strange 
pressure...  Something was very wrong.

	She stopped moving, and Idol Angel Mami, Parias, Sensei, Luna, and Noriko all 
froze up.  Sensei began looking around curiously at everything.  "This is a 
wonderful experience," he said.  "But are you sure it's safe for me to come.  
I'm an old man and..."

	"We needed someone brilliant," the junior Pluto said.

	"I'm not chopped liver, you know," Parias said, sounding annoyed.  

	"And Tomoe-san had to stay back and monitor with his machine," the Junior 
Pluto said.  "Also, you've never been possessed by evil."

	"Hey, I...," Parias began.

	"I meant Tomoe-san," the Junior Pluto said.  "Something is distorting time 
and..."

	"Wouldn't the Zodiac rite of destiny stuff mess with time, 'to-chan?" Noriko 
asked.

	Parias began to laugh, while the Junior Pluto banged her head with her staff.

	Luna said, "I think..."

	And suddenly all the futures vanished in a tide of time-defying energies.  
This gave the Junior Pluto just enough time to shout, "STAR ENERGY" and then 
hold up her staff.  The wave of stars flowed over them and everyone seemed to 
go crazy but her, wandering around in a stupor.  She couldn't see the future; 
she could barely even see the present or remember the past.  But concentrating 
on her Time Staff, she held herself in the here and now.

	Unfortunately, while they were still tripping, the Star Guard now came 
charging up and managed to grab Sensei while she was still trying to keep from 
going into whatever fugue of destiny had seized the others.

	With a great effort, she pushed her power outwards, reviving the others, but 
now the guardsman who had Sensei said to the still groggy others, "Surrender or 
the old man gets it."

	"GRANDFATHER!", Noriko said.  

	"We won't..." Parias began.

	Then the Junior Pluto saw what was coming.  "Fine," she said.  "Just don't 
hurt him."

	"We can't...," Parias began.

	"He's not kidding," the Junior Pluto said.  "We can't stop them killing him 
under these conditions."  She hoped the others would take her meaning aright.

	"Good," the short, muscular Star Guard leader said.  "Now, come with us."

	"I'm sorry," Sensei mumbled.

	"It's fine," the Junior Pluto said.  "Sure, they captured all of us," she 
began, then GLARED at Noriko, who had been about to speak, but shut up.  "But 
time is on our side."

	"We'll see about that," the Star Guard commander said, then marched them off 
to the jail section.

***********

	"Okay, first we batter through the shield around the..." Steven began.

	Now armed with Moon Kingdom era fighters and more gear, the Elven force was 
about to launch its attack; the rescue squad had already crept into the palace, 
using Pluto's powers to create a small, hopefully undetectable hole for them to 
get in and out through.  This didn't help the main attack force in its big 
flying vehicles, though.

	The glowing energy field which blocked easy access to the ruins of the Moon 
Palace, now the home of the Zodiac, suddenly winked out.

	"It's got to be a trap," Dia said from her ship.  She had Ryo, suited up in 
the Iron Dwarf style battle suit, as her gunner.  

	"I can sense..."	 Gwynhwyfar said.  She was manning the guns in Steven's ship 
while he piloted and used his powers to watch for trouble.  

	And then an ocean of stars erupted out of the palace, washing over everyone.

	Flicker.

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

	"This is the Solar Patrol," Maglan said into the comm unit.  "Zodiac, you have 
illegally kidnapped the Star Princess.  Surrender now or we will have to use 
force."

	"Fools, your organization died 25,000 years ago," Scorpio said over the Comm 
Line.  "We reject your authority and if you don't go back with your crazy elf 
friends to Venus, we'll destroy you.  Later.  After we have a nice nap and 
watch some TV."  Her voice dripped with sarcasm.

	"Fine!  We're coming in!," Gwynhwyfar said, shutting the comm line.  "Let's 
get them," she said.

	"So, you did figure out how to break their shield?"

	"I thought you were going to do that," she said.

	"GWYN!!!!!"

	Flicker.

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

	Steven blinked.  What the hell was that?  He could see a wave of Zodiac energy 
headed to Earth.  And the shield was still down.

	"Time to seize the dais," Gwynhwyfar said.

	"The day," he said automatically.  He was getting far too used to this, 
really.

	"SOLAR PATROL," Gwynhwyfar shouted enthusiastically over the comm line.  
"CHARGE!"

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

	Commander Weisshaupt, a tall thin man with short white hair, was in his 
office, trying to talk over the comm lines to half a dozen people at once.  
There were reports of intruders in the palace, reports of system failures, 
golems gone crazy, creatures escaped from cells and...

	"Sir!" Hudson said from a small window on one of the twelve screens.

	This could not possibly bode well, Weisshaupt knew.  "What is it?"

	"The Shield is down and Moon Kingdom fighters and a Star Dragon are attacking! 
 Permission to go kick some massive amounts of ass?"

	"Moon Kingdom Fighters?  We found them all thousands of years ago and 
cannibalized them for parts."

	There was a sound of distant explosions.

	"Well, something's kicking the building's ass," Hudson said.

	"Take all the off-duty Star Guard, find out what's going on, and man the 
defenses," Weisshaupt said.

	"Yes, sir!" Hudson said enthusiastically.

	Now, let's see about the intruders, Weisshaupt thought.

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

	As the youma came through the doorway, Yamamoto's blade took its head off.  He 
gave a heavy sigh of relief.  The police and the army weren't doing well, but 
he could at least protect the school.

	A window shattered.  He heard screaming inside the building.

	Protect this window, anyway.  But it wasn't enough.  Too many people, too few 
he could fight.  I should have stayed in the self-defense force.  But seeing 
all the problems with his new recruits had convinced him discipline had to be 
instilled earlier than that.  

	But now...

	Flicker.

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

	A major's place was not usually at the front, but in this case, Major Yamamoto 
thought, every body would count.  They'd repelled the initial assault, but now 
strange purple creatures with a chitinous, bullet-repelling shell, were closing 
in on the base.  

	But if he had to die, he would die facing the enemy.  Studying them, he 
noticed something, a gem in the forehead.  He took his shot.  CRACK!  BANG!  It 
shattered and the creature fell over.  

	"Aim for the gemstones!" he shouted.

	His men did their best, but most missed.  A few got lucky and some creatures 
went down.  They drew closer, closer...

	Flicker.

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

	Yamamoto rubbed his forehead.  I'm so tense, I'm starting to imagine things.

	He turned and ran for the sound of screaming across the building; there was no 
rest for the righteous.

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

	Haruna Sakurada stood with her back to the door, her feet braced, as her 
students formed a sort of fort with their desks and positioned themselves 
inside it with the cleaning equipment for weapons.  Her two biggest students 
helped her hold the door shut.  The door rattled again.

	I hate being a teacher, she thought.  I should have known better than to think 
I'd ever have time to become a successful novellist while keeping myself alive 
with this until I got my big break.

	"Sensei, what about the window?" one of the students asked.

	Goddamit, she thought.  "We..."

	Flicker.

***********	

	Patricia Haruna watched the city drop below her, and prayed this wasn't one of 
her assistant's worse ideas.  Fortunately, her husband was out of town (given 
they lived in the United States and this was Tokyo, Japan), and if all went 
well, she wouldn't miss the rest of her book tour.  She was surprised but 
pleased to see her new novel was a big hit in her home country.  She'd kept her 
family name as a tie to it, even if she'd changed her first name to fit in 
better in the States.

	"Keiko, are you sure this is safe?" she asked her assistant, Keiko Yamakurai, 
for the twentieth time.

	"It can't be more dangerous than staying in...whatever this is," Keiko 
mumbled, staring out the window.

	They were riding in the small plane her book company had chartered for her 
trip.

	"Much safer," the pilot said from the cockpit.  "My only real worry is 
lightning strikes.  That storm looks ugly.  But we're..."

	An inhuman howl cut through the air, and then the roof made an audible THUNK.  
It began to bulge downwards.

	"Where the hell did that come from?" the pilot said.

	Patricia and Keiko grabbed each other to cower and scream.

	Flicker.

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

	Even my fantasies turn against me, Haruna thought.  

	BUMP, the door shook harder.  

	Well, at least I got Tsukino out of here so I don't have to deal with her and 
this at the same time.  I pity whoever has her right now, Haruna thought.

	"Pull the blinds down and some of you watch for trouble.  And pray," she said. 
 

	If we're lucky, the Sailor Senshi will show up, she thought.  Though, oddly, 
they weren't around here as much as they used to be.  

	Well, nothing to do now but to keep this...THUMP...door shut as long as she 
could.  And maybe they could use the window to escape if they had to, even if 
it was a two story drop.  

	But while you had somewhere to run screaming to, there was hope.

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

	"Mamoru, open the door!" Motoki said, pounding on it.

	No reply.  He'd completely vanished, it seemed like.  Motoki frowned.  "Any 
ideas?"

	"His car isn't here.  And the Tsukinos were all gone...He's probably with 
Usagi's family," his red-haired sister, Unazuki, said.  

	"Then let's get on my bike and go hide," he said, sighing.  "I just hope 
he..."

	Flicker

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

	Magical disguises have their drawbacks.  Case in point--Nephrite rescuing his 
sister Unazuki from youma.  With her in one arm, he leaped up onto the roof of 
the cafe, then blew away one of their pursuers with a bolt of force.  "You 
okay, Furuhata-san?"

	She clung to him like a vine to a tree.  "You saved me again, sempai!"  She 
had a crush on him which was blatantly obvious.

	Unfortunately, he already had a girlfriend and twice as unfortunately...SHE 
WAS HIS SISTER.  But she couldn't tell who he really was, thanks to the 
disguise his transformed form somehow gave him.

	"You're welcome," he mumbled and wondered if she or the youma would be the 
death of him first.

	Flicker.

**********
	
	Motoki blinked, then thanked God that there was no way she could have had the 
same hallucination.

	Though from the way she looked rather confused, he suddenly wondered if...no, 
that wasn't possible.

	"Let's go," he said.

	"Yes," she mumbled, following him as he ran.

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

	"No sign of any defenders," Quartz reported to Tethys as she lurked near the 
building which had Sensei's base of operations in it.  

	Tethys frowned.  The school looked trashed, there were youma attacking some of 
the other buildings, but this one...she could smell the Star Power.  But why?  
Why would the Zodiac attack here?  Unless the Star Princess had been here.  
Which would make sense.

	She ordered one of the droids to attack the building from the side, to see 
what happened. 

	What happened was that the droid blew a hole in the wall.

	And that was all.

	She frowned.  Something was definitely wrong.

	Cautiously, she advanced with her squad, placing the droids in front, just in 
case there were any surprises.

	She inched nervously down the hallway, observing the signs of battle, though 
there were no bodies.  "How strange," one of the youma said.  "It's like a huge 
battle where no one died.  What kind of a fight is that?"

	"I know," Tethys said.  

	The wall of Sensei's lab was blown in.  She frowned at that, then sent in two 
droids to check it out.

	They returned, "Nothing but damage," one said.

	She and her force now moved into the lab.  Half the machines were smashed up.  
A few computer terminals still had screen savers flashing and the battered 
snack machine still stood.  Many of the others had been crushed or else were 
gone entirely, like the containment unit which had once held her.

	"Horus," Tethys said.  "Are you there?"

	The snack machine rattled, then suddenly dispensed a plate with pancakes and a 
sliced apple.  The butter was half-melted, but the syrup smelled nice.

	One of the youma jumped back and started to point an arm at it.

	"Don't," Tethys said.  "It's just a food dispenser."

	"A what?", the purple youma, Chrysolite, asked.  

	"Humans live off of food the way we live off energy," Tethys said.  "But youma 
can live off it also."

	Chrysolite and several of the youma looked at her curiously.  

	She strode over, trying to understand why she was shaking.  She felt so 
strange.  She picked up the apple slices, handing one to each of the youma.  
"Here you go."

	They each ate a slice with an odd look on their faces.

	"Not bad," Chrysolite said.  "You don't get a big charge, but it really tastes 
good."

	"Alright, fan out and search," Tethys said.  

	She got the pancakes and ate them as her youma spread out searching, though 
she had a feeling they wouldn't find anything.  She knew what had happened.  
The Zodiac had them.  They wanted their own army of golems.  They'd probably 
use Noriko as a hostage to make him cooperate.  Sensei was so sentimental, he'd 
never let them hurt his granddaughter.  

	Humans were weak like that, so sentimental about people, even treating their 
enemies kindly, as if...

	She thought about what Magnetite had told her, about her times here, about...

	The fork snapped in her hand.  I shouldn't be so angry, she thought.  I 
shouldn't...

	Flicker.

*************
	
	Beryl stared at the vat, watching the wormlike larva swim in the purple 
sludge, and made a face.  "This is the best we can do, I know, but..."

	"We can no longer breed normally, my Queen, as you know," a somewhat younger 
Magnetite said to Beryl.  "We were human once, but even you and I are too...too 
far gone."  He looked at her, concerned; he was older than her, but at times, 
it seemed to him as if she forgot the changes time wrought.  Was it the Star 
Orb taking a slow revenge?  He wasn't sure.

	"But will they...where is she?" Beryl asked.

	"In this tank, just to be sure," he said, moving over to another which held 
only a single larva.  "They sometimes turn on each other before coming to 
maturity."

	"I know that," Beryl said wearily, though he wasn't so sure.  Was what they 
had done wise?  But he could not deny her anything.  Beryl closed her eyes and 
leaned on her staff, then concentrated, touching the single larva with it.  
Tiny sparkles fell onto her.  "Put her with the others."

	"My queen...," Magnetite said.  "Your..."

	"Our," Beryl said softly.  "She must grow up to be strong, not to be pampered 
and spoiled.  When the time comes, then I will tell her everything.  NO 
favoritism, Magnetite."

	"Yes, my queen," he said sadly, going to get a scoop to move the larva with.  
"It is hard for me..."

	"I know," Beryl said, reaching over and taking his hand, just for a second, 
and squeezing it.  "I knew...but I..."

	"You have to see it to fully know it," he said softly.  "But this child of 
yours will live, unlike your boy."

	Beryl's eyes glazed as she stared off into the past, then she snapped back to 
the present.  "We have no time for tears," she said.  "Tell no one of this.  No 
one."

	"Of course, my queen," he said firmly.  

	"You may call me Beryl, when it is only us," she said softly.  

	"Thank you," he said softly, as he lowered the youma larva into the other 
tank.  

	"And now I must go so no one will even know I came," Beryl said.  "There is 
much work to be done."

	Flicker.

***********
	
	Tethys stared, eyes wide.  What the hell was that?  Who was the...Beryl and 
Magnetite had a child?  But how...?

	She could see the youma around her staring into space or looking at things 
they held as if they were alien to them.  

	Something was definitely...

	Flicker.

***********
	
	Theresa checked the results.  "Twenty percent energy surge, sir."  

	The vase looked normal, but it was a power battery.  They'd get to the bottom 
of this, somehow.  The inscriptions on it seemed to indicate it was from New 
Atlantis.  It had a picture of a dark haired queen and an ebony shield which 
floated before her; ranks of warriors spread out behind her, but beyond them, 
beautiful gardens, the land they protected.  

	The name reverberated in her mind; calling up memories of a beautiful kingdom, 
now sunk beneath the waves, lost and forgotten.  She dreamed of it, sometimes, 
of having been a princess there.  	

	Udaigaku-sensei came over.  "Curiouser and curiouser.  Good work, Theresa."

	She smiled.  "Thank you."

	"I have to go teach," he said.  "Keep up the study."

	She nodded, then asked, "Sensei, why do you teach here?  You're so brilliant 
you could teach anywhere."

	"My granddaughter is here, and the principal lets me do whatever I like," he 
said.  "And I can study what I like without pressure to conform to academic 
norms.  I just hope this doesn't hurt your career.  You've been a great help to 
me, but there's not a lot of future in my area of unusual studies.  You could 
be making a lot more money somewhere else."

	The vase called to her.  She was here for this, she was sure.  "I think I am 
meant to be here."

	"If you are, then I am blessed," he said.  "See you in a few hours."

	He left and she continued her studies, until, to her surprise, the vase 
shimmered and light rose from it, forming into a woman.  She was tall and pale 
with red hair, and on her left arm, she bore a shield, and in her right hand, a 
staff.  "Tethys, my daughter," she said.  "You are the heir of Atlantis.  To 
you falls the task of raising up its standard once more and gathering our 
scattered people."

	She stared.  I must be imagining things, she thought.  "Me?  Who are you?"

	"I am Beryl, last queen of Atlantis.  By my errors, my kingdom was destroyed.  
My time has passed.  But I bring you this shield, the Shield of Metallia, that 
you might raise it to defend the innocent as once it was used."

	Theresa stared, reaching out hesitantly to take it; she could feel the power 
throbbing in it.  "I don't know...how am I..."  But it felt so right.

	"Do not walk my road into the darkness.  You must use the dark's power against 
it, but use it carefully, for it can corrupt you.  What you must know is 
written in your heart."  And Beryl began to fade away.  "Do not let hate and 
vengeance guide your heart, as it did mine, so you will not suffer my fate."

	And then she was gone.  Horus reported, "Rising to security level two.  I 
sense monsters on campus.  Signalling the TDDC."

	She looked down at the shield, and licked her lips nervously.  Looks like 
things are starting already.
	
***********

	Glue guns, stun guns, and tasers were not enough to hold back the crystaline 
humanoids advancing across the campus towards the wagon/platform from which the 
TDDC was making its stand.  Several were operating a water cannon, which seemed 
to have the most effect.

	And then, suddenly, a darkness spread across the sun and the lights went out 
and there was a sound of smashing crystal.  The TDDC halted their fire at 
Daichi's command.

	And then the darkness lifted and among the wrecked warriors stood a pale-
skinned woman with long black hair and eyes hidden behind a pitch black visor.  
She held a wand in each hand and wore a pitch black blouse with a bright emblem 
of a dark moon eclipsing the sun standing out on it over her heart and black 
leather pants.  She held a wand in each hand, an obsidian rod tipped with a 
large onyx at the end, a black metal shield floating in the air near her.  "So 
much for that invasion," she said confidently.

	"Dammit, had to be saved by Eclipse again," Daichi said a little grouchily.

	"Shouldn't your shirt be skintight too?" Yuu asked.

	"It's comfy this way," Eclipse mumbled.  "You are valiant warriors, but you 
should leave this to the experts," she said.  "Now I must go."  She began to 
run off.

	That should light a fire under their feet, she thought.  They'll try harder to 
show me wrong.  

	She laughed as she ran and was glad the Sailor Senshi hadn't had to bail her 
out this time.  Would have ruined the whole point.  

	Flicker.  

************
	
	For a moment, she could see all the youma around her, in various human guises, 
glowing with star-like sparkles, talking to people who didn't exist, running or 
fighting or kissing or...

	And then the glow faded, and they all reverted to normal, though Tethys' head 
still ached.  She tried to understand what happened to her.  Was it how things 
could have been, if things had gone differently?  Just a hallucination?  And 
what had happened to Metallia's Icon, anyway?

	I can't really be her daughter, can I, Tethys asked herself.  It had been so 
nice, that other world.  It had been nice to be human.  To be loved and 
respected.  But she wasn't human.  But her people HAD been human.  Was that her 
purpose?  To lead them to form a New Atlantis?  To make them human again?  But 
whose purpose had it been?  Is that what I really want, she asked herself.  She 
didn't know.

	Was there a vase like that, one with...Metallia.  And her shield and...  "Has 
anyone found a vase?"

	"This was tossed aside near the storage chamber," one of the youma said.  It 
was cracked and damaged from the fall, but it was the spitting image of the one 
she'd seen in her...vision?...otherwise.

	"It looks like Metallia, but who are these humans?" the youma asked.

	"Our ancestors," Tethys said.  "Before we became youma, before we lived in the 
Dark Kingdom, we were human," she said softly.  

	They stared at her.  

	She cradled the vase, wondering what it might do if they were alone...though 
she sensed no power in it now.  "The Zodiac have clearly kidnapped our target," 
Tethys said.  "We need him and his granddaughter, before they can steal the 
secrets of golem-making either from studying her or beating it out of him.  
We're going to have to break into the Zodiac's base to get them."

	They all stared and one of them said defiantly, "Why should we follow you when 
you're saying crazy..."  Her name was Amethyst.  

	She could feel the pipes in the walls, feel where one of them was now busy 
leaking water.  She grabbed that water and whipped it about, enmeshing Amethyst 
in a net of razor sharp ice.  "Because King Jadeite put me in charge of this 
mission and YOU WILL OBEY ME."

	Amethyst froze up.  "Yes, Tethys," she mumbled in fear.

	"We can't have been human," another youma muttered, then paled when she 
glared.

	"I don't want to believe it either, but I've seen too much.  Now, we are going 
to the moon and we are going to r...going to secure our target!," she said.  
He'll know more about this vase, about Atlantis, about...he has to.  He's 
brilliant.  

	And I can't let them have him, she thought.  I can't.  They'll...

	She could imagine many, many ways to beat information out of someone.  But 
surely they'd...he'd...

	She glanced over at what was left of Horus.  A mighty mind reduced to a snack 
machine, she thought.  He would...no, the Zodiac definitely had him.  

	But she wasn't going to let them have him.  She owed...she would not fail her 
mission to Jadeite.  And he knew things...

	Even as they teleported, her brain suddenly seized on something.  Wait, 
wouldn't that make Magnetite...

	And then they were gone.

***********

	Amazonite led her forces forwards.  She felt faintly ridiculous leading an 
armed squadron of Youma to seize an ice cream shop, but Sapphire had indicated 
it was one of the crucial leyline nodes, so seize it she would.  You do what 
you have to, silly or not.

	It was locked on her arrival, and she could see the panicked staff hiding 
inside.  They would have been wiser to flee the area, she thought, but probably 
they had hoped no one would notice them here.  

	One of them glared defiantly at her and her hordes through the window, an 
auburn haired girl with brown eyes.  Though not too defiantly, as she was 
crouched down behind the counter and peering through the glass display cases.

	Amazonite admired spirit.  Most of the rabble in this city fled like sheep; 
they were no warriors.  But she could feel a warrior spirit in this one, if not 
much sign of a warrior's skills.  

	She gestured to Crystolite, a tall crystalline man, soft pink in color.  He 
smashed the front door in, opening it for the others, and she strode in.  "I 
claim this store for the Dark Kingdom!"

	"Run!" the girl shouted to another girl (somewhat younger than herself), 
blonde haired, and a tall dark haired boy the same age as her.  "I'll try and 
slow them down."

	"I told you we should have left!" the blonde girl shouted, then ran for the 
back.

	The dark-haired boy looked ready to stand defiant, though it was hard to read 
his face, but the auburn-haired girl shoved him out the back door.  "RUN!  Get 
Suzu to safety!"

	Then she picked up one of the vats of ice cream.  "This is deadly poison to 
aliens!" she shouted.  "Get back!"

	While Amazonite was not highly conversant in Earth culture, she was conversant 
enough to know better than that.  "Child, I am not that stupid."  Though it was 
a clever bluff; unfortunately for the girl,  Sapphire had spent a lot of time 
identifying things which might be dangerous for youma on Earth.

	The girl looked at her in frustration, and then desperately hurled the vat at 
her; Amazonite brought her spear around and shivered it in twain, only to find 
the contents now splaying about the floor, coating it with a thin layer of 
frozen cream.  Clever, Amazonite thought.  This will hamper my advance.

	"Seize her.  Take her alive," Amazonite said to her youma.  A simple test of 
their skills.

	Half of them wiped out on the slick surface, where the frozen cream was 
swiftly melting.  Youma crashed into tables and the display case.  Granite was 
unswayed, but moved slowly as usual, too slowly.  Ivory and Quartz, however, 
leaped up onto adjacent cases.  Ivory took another vat to the face and fell off 
it, making Amazonite smile just a little in amusement.  

	The girl reached for a third vat, but Quartz tackled her, pinning her to the 
ground.  She fought on, trying to wriggle loose, but it was futile.  Quartz was 
not a strong youma, but that meant she was only as strong as an Olympic weight-
lifting champion.  But the girl tried, and Amazonite admired that.

	"You could not hope to defeat us.  You had to know that," Amazonite said.

	"I had to try.  At least Kei and Suzu got away," the girl said.  She was 
shivering, though she tried to put up a bold front.

	Few things were more noble for a warrior than to be willing to give your life 
to protect your companions, Amazonite thought.  She'd seen a few other humans 
willing to do that, though most of them were hopeless cowards.  How such beings 
had come to rule the world that rightfully belonged to the Youma was hard for 
her to understand.  Obviously those few among them who did have courage must 
have worked miracles to bring it to pass.

	"Child, your bravery and determination and quick-wittedness has impressed me.  
You have fought harder than almost anyone else I have met, even knowing that 
you could not hope to win.  That is the bravery of a true youma."

	"She's still trying to wiggle loose," Quartz said placidly.  

	Not shivering with fear, just shaking herself as she tries to break her bonds, 
Amazonite thought.  Even here with me looking right at her.

	Several of the youma looked approving; others looked a little bored, wanting 
some action.  The ones who fell were trying to get the ice cream off them.

	"Where there is life, there's hope," Miki mumbled.

	"Join me as one of my warriors and I will ensure your family and friends are 
protected," Amazonite said.

	Some of the youma stared in shock.  Several others nodded.  

	"They may have escaped for now, but I am not the only youma general here," 
Amazonite said kindly.  "But if they are given my mark, no one else will touch 
them."

	She studied the girl, watching emotions flicker across her face.  Finally, the 
girl said, "You really want me?"

	"The heart of a warrior is much rarer than the skills. I can give you power, 
but I can't give someone a warrior's heart."

	"My family's so stupid sometimes.  But they..."  She gulped.  "Alright.  
You'll have to pinkie-swear to protect them."

	"To what?" Amazonite asked.  She did have some pink youma and the girl was 
wearing pink...she really couldn't quite get it.

	The custom seemed to involve interlocking the smallest fingers and making the 
promise together.  Reasonable enough.  But why was that finger called a 
'pinkie' when it wasn't pink at all?

	"Now, I will empower you.  This will only last a while, but I can refresh it 
until we have time to do this properly," Amazonite said.  "Take my hand."

	Miki nervously took her hand, then felt POWER flow into her, strength like 
she'd never known, strength like...

	Flicker.

***************
	
	Amazonite stared at herself in a moment of confusion.  Shouldn't I be in a 
suit?  Instead, she was wearing a loose pink blouse and a short pink skirt that 
only went down to just above her knees and a sort of hat that was mainly just a 
support headband for a visor which admittedly did a good job of shielding her 
eyes from the sun.  She felt faintly ridiculous.  

	Io stood next to her in a similar outfit, though she had green trim and 
Amazonite's own outfit had red trim, she now realized. Which was a bad choice 
as it didn't contrast the pink very well.

	This was definitely wrong.

 	Flicker.

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

	Now they were both in rather snazzy grey suits, Io with green trim and herself 
with red.  Much better.  

	Mind you, she preferred blue.

	"Grey is ugly," Io mumbled.

	Flicker.

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

	Same style of outfit with wrap around jacket and pants, but now Amazonite wore 
blue with purple trim and Io wore...a pink suit with green trim.  It made 
Amazonite's soul ache.  "That looks hideous."

	Flicker.

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

	There was a strange sensation as if something had just given up.

	Amazonite could see youma stumbling about and looking confused.  And in her 
heart was a deep terror that...

	Her fear was confirmed.  Her new lieutenant was wearing the odd combo of a 
general-style wrap around jacket with a short skirt that came down only to her 
knees, a pink suit with green trim.  Lt. Iodine had lustrous violet-black skin 
and long slightly dark yellow hair and violet eyes.  Her body was taller and 
more muscular than before, but she still had the same odd hairstyle with little 
tufts of hair on the side of her head.  She held a very long spoon the size of 
a naginata.  

	Amazonite tried to decide if she had succeeded brilliantly or made a giant 
mistake.  The fact that several of the youma were laughing didn't help matters, 
until Iodine scooped them up and threw them through a wall, anyway.

	THAT was a good sign.

	But what the hell had happened before?  THAT worried her.

***********	

	Aurora stood in the ruins of Mugen Gakuen, at the heart of the city, using her 
hammer to build and reinforce the network of channels which was connecting the 
ten major nodes of the city to this central, most powerful node, then re-
channeling the energy partly into crystals for storage and partly into a 
defensive shield over the city.  This would keep the JSDF and the US military 
and any other interference out until they were ready to deal with them.

	Fortunately, human technology could do nothing to stop the leylines of the 
world from feeding power into the city, so their defense would, once complete, 
be invincible.  At least against technology.  The Zodiac were another question; 
it would hold for now, but if they got the Star Princess... But they had to 
consolidate here before they attacked the Zodiac.  It was a race against time.  
Or against Destiny, Marcasite would say.

	Hundreds of youma roamed about, assisting her by moving various crystals, 
bringing more storage crystals and using their powers to assist in directing 
the network's formation.  

	And near her, Yuuichiro sat on a crystal, meditating as she'd told him to.  
Play time would come later--she was looking forward to that, but it was time 
for work right now. 

	She didn't have time...didn't have the expertise, either, to go in and monkey 
around with his soul to try to empower him properly.  However, he'd shown he 
could use energy if he had it--his batteries just normally went dry quickly.  
However, she'd quickly crafted him a pendant, hooked into the network.  He 
could draw from that and it would refill itself.  And if he got out of line, 
she could break the connection and dispose of him.  If he betrayed her like 
Serenity had.  

	She frowned grimly, then felt strange.  Yuuichiro?  Betray her?  He loved her. 
 At times loved her like an idiot child, but unlike Serenity, who only had eyes 
for that damn Endymion, he loved her and only her.  She liked that.  He and 
Jadeite would love her forever and...

	Another twinge of guilt.  I shouldn't have...One lover should be enough.  She 
wasn't like Athena.  But she kept imagining things.  Things that...

	I shouldn't tempt myself, she thought.  But she deserved it.  She had suffered 
so much and it wasn't like she was asking Jadeite to...  She shook her head.  
She needed a good servant she could trust.  That was his role.  His love just 
cemented his loyalty and she did like him, so it wasn't like...

	It was getting harder to think straight and she wished she knew why.  Was this 
some final curse of Serenity?  The woman had deserved it.  She should have 
loved me like I loved her.  I would have done...We should...

	She clutched her head, feeling confused.

	In an instant, Yuuichiro came to his feet.  "Aurora, what's wrong?" he asked, 
taking her free hand, her other arm hanging limply by her side, the Hammer 
pulsing in its grip.  

	"I think I must not be getting enough sleep, but I can't rest now," Aurora 
said.  "We have to be ready to hit the Zodiac before they can finish taking the 
Star Princess' power and master the Orb of Stars."

	"If there's anything I can do," Yuuichiro asked.  It was strange, his voice 
was warmer, stronger than usual.  She felt her heart speed up a little, and 
prayed she wasn't blushing.  He wasn't normally so...he seemed infinitely more 
together than usual.  

	Much more charismatic and he reminded her of...of...

	Suddenly, her sense of reality went crazy and she felt the entire network 
shake like a net into which someone had just dropped a whale.  Something was 
wrong, horribly wrong and ...

	Flicker.

*****************
	
	Sailor Mars paced back and forth, repeatedly smacking the Hammer of Vulcan 
into the palm of her left hand.  Guardian Jadeite stood nearby, leaning against 
the wall of the Moon Palace, the Earth hovering in the sky.  "Honey, doesn't 
that hurt?"

	"Not as much as waiting," Mars said.  "Why is it taking so long for everyone 
to get into position?"

	"Nephrite and Jupiter probably decided they needed a quick snog first," 
Jadeite said, laughing, shaking his dark hair.  

	Mars brought her free hand up to her face.  "I wish that wasn't so easy to 
believe."  Then she took her hand down and frowned.  "Dammit, everyone needs to 
hurry!  They'll kill Naru before we can save her if everyone keeps dawdling!"

	Her communicator beeped.  It was Sailor Moon.  "Umm, Mars-chan, we have a 
problem."  

	You could only see a hint of the background behind Sailor Moon; it looked like 
a part of the castle, but the perspective was strange as if...

	"Are you lying on something?" Mars asked.

	"We found this open window, but it was kind of small and I'm stuck and Tuxedo 
Kamen is trying to push me through, but this is holding us up," Moon said, 
embarrassed.  "Anyway, I was thinking if you came around, you could kind of 
hammer me in through the window like a nail."

	"That would hurt A LOT," Mars said.  But now she was irritated enough to be 
tempted to try it.

	Jupiter cut into the channel.  "Neph-chan says we've got to get going guys.  
The energies are about to peak and..."

	With a giant FWAKOOM, a huge pillar of light blew the central dome's roof off, 
forming into a swirling vortex of stars.

	Jadeite blew a hole in the wall with one violet beam of energy.  "After you, 
dear."

	"We're going in," Mars said.  "Let's go!"

	"But I'm still stuck!" Moon wailed.

	"You're going on a diet after this!" Mars shouted as she and Jadeite ran into 
the palace and began running for the central chamber.

	"Waaah, you're so meeeaaaannn!!!!!" Moon shouted, then gave a great cry of 
'OW' and her connection crashed.

	"That's our princess," Jadeite said, laughing.

	"I'm surprised her mother doesn't beat her three times a day," Mars said, 
still running.  Two Star Guard charged out to fire at them, but she knocked 
them senseless by throwing her hammer at them, catching it as it returned to 
her.  

	"Nice shot, dear," Jadeite said as he now blew up several charging lesser 
golems as they emerged from the hallways.  Some of Capricorn's work, no doubt.

	"You can congratulate me when I beat something that isn't pathetic," Mars 
said, but she smiled.

	They fought their way to the central chamber, just in time to see Nephrite, 
Jupiter, Zoisite and Venus emerge on a balcony.  He wove his hands in the air, 
creating a huge astrological wheel of glowing energy; Venus then shot thirteen 
arrows, two for Gemini and one for each of the others.

	Mars covered her face.  "Spirits of heaven, protect us," she mumbled.

	Jadeite began laughing loudly.  Until Taurus stared at him with hearts in his 
eyes.  "..."

	He turned and ran with Taurus chasing him.  "Come here and get some lovin'!," 
Taurus shouted.

	Mars knew she should help, but now she couldn't stop laughing.  Especially 
when Leo ran with a big smile towards Zoisite and Zoisite briefly struck a 
romance cover pose before Venus began to noogie him.  

	With the rite reduced to wrack and ruin, the energy around Naru and Umino now 
collapsed in on them, and Astra and the White Knight emerged to confront 
Scorpio.  

	Now Sailor Moon charged in.  "I am the lovely Sailor Soldier..."  She stared 
at the collapse of the rite into over-the-top romantic comedy.  She ran over to 
Mars.  "This wasn't the plan was it?"  She took Mars' hands, holding them 
firmly.

	"What plan survives contact with Minako?" Mars asked, then laughed, squeezing 
Moon's hands back.  "I've got to go save my boyfriend.  You'd better help 
Astra."

	Moon smiled deeply at Mars, then said, "Good luck, Mars-chan," then charged 
off towards Astra and Scorpio, who were having a massive battle of powers while 
the White Knight tried to keep the Gemini twins off Astra.  

 	Literally off Astra.

 	Mars was about to go save Jadeite when...

	"LOVE ME!" Aries shouted, diving at her and knocking her down.

	I should have known, Mars thought.  

	Flicker.

**********

	Lost in the darkness, Rei stared at the imagery unfolding before her.  What 
was this?  That was Jadeite, but he looked like...Yuuichiro.  But how could 
he...What was going on here?  

	It is nothing, the darkness whispered.  Forget and let go.  You are nothing, 
worthless.  They are better off without you.  Look at how little you did there.

	But it wasn't so convincing to her now.  The vision faded, but the light 
lingered.  Usagi...Usagi wanted her.  Wanted her there.  She was part of a 
team.  And Naru...Naru needed them.  All of them.  Who else could save her but 
the Senshi?

	But how to get out of here?  Wherever 'here' was...

	There is no way out.  Let go and rest.  You've done as much as anyone could 
expect.

	But she hadn't.  She'd quit...given up...but they needed her.

	Rei held out her hand and a flame appeared in her palm.  Unfortunately, this 
only told her there were more black swirling mists and a horrible smell and...  
Some of the mist flickered with light a moment, then the darkness snuffed it.  

	Something about this place...Rei began wandering, not sure what she was 
standing on or how she was moving, but moving...better than not moving.  She'd 
figure something out, somehow.  

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

	Aurora stared at Yuuichiro and vice versa in silence, as youma stumbled about 
around them in a panic.  Had it been a dream?  An attack by the Zodiac?  And 
why had Jadeite looked like Yuuichiro in the vision?  What was going on?

	It was as if the Guardians had died with the Senshi and been re...reborn like 
the Senshi.  She shivered, suddenly wondering if there were others out there, 
who should have been reincarnated Guardians, but instead...

	Naru was in danger.  If she hadn't sent the Senshi to another dimension...no, 
it had be done.  The Moon Kingdom had betrayed the other kingdoms and Serenity 
was just using her and...

	But it felt hollow.  Usagi had always...no!  Don't fall for their lies, she 
told herself.  It was just a lie.  Usagi never loved me...loved Rei, she just 
wanted the power of my icon.

	But Usagi wasn't like that.  She...no, I can't let them trick me.  Can't let 
them make me betray my love.

	"Aurora, are you okay?" Yuuichiro asked softly, looking shaken.

	"I'm fine," she said.  "You need to practice drawing power."  She didn't feel 
fine, but a Queen couldn't admit that, not even to her lover...her 
servant...don't think like Athena!

	"Let's get back to work."  She had to hurry.  Sa...Na...Jadeite would need her 
soon.

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

	Jadeite rubbed his forehead.  What the hell had that been?  A Zodiac attack?  
But no, it was too...why show him some sort of other reality where he...looked 
like Aurora's servant?  It must be some sort of accidental side-effect of the 
rite.

	He frowned, now worrying about the Zodiac.  Was he ready for them?  He had the 
hammer, but they had the Star Orb and it could be used...used...

	He felt an agony like a knife in his head and remembered.

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

	Caught in a crystal coffin, Jadeite pounded on it desperately, but he was too 
weak.  He could see Beryl standing over him, manipulating Dark Energy and the 
Star Power at once.  Her control of the latter was rather clumsy, Jadeite 
thought.  But he had no way to stop it, not in his weakened state.

	She was changing his destiny somehow, bending it to her will.  The cold, it 
hurt so much, so hard to resist it, so easy to give in and serve her...

	No, he'd never serve her, NEVER.  

	Until he ran out of energy completely and then she would have him.  He knew 
this, but he fought on anyway.  He might lose, but he would NEVER go down 
without a fight.

***********

	Not again, he thought.  The Zodiac trying to change things, clearly.  But 
there were no traces of the Star Power.  So either they now could blind him to 
it or else it was a memory.

	But it couldn't be a memory, Jadeite thought.  Beryl persuaded me, she 
didn't...

	His brain flashed between what he'd done with Aurora and what he'd seen Beryl 
doing.  It was similar, though he hadn't had the Star Orb.  

	You could do it, bend someone completely, make them into...

	No!  I am not a puppet!  I do not dance to Beryl's tune, he told himself.

	Do I?

	He wracked his brain, but he could remember both the coffin, Beryl, the Orb of 
Stars...but also Beryl persuading him of the need for change, of a war to unite 
the kingdoms and to overthrow the weak and decadent Moon Kingdom.  But now he 
couldn't trust either memory.

	And Aurora...she was his pup...his lo...

	He grimaced, unsure of his own motivations.  He hated feeling like this.

	He decided to clear his mind by going and checking on everything.  They had to 
hurry, before the Zodiac could win and rewrite all their destinies.

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

	Aurora rubbed her head.  Too much Icon use, she thought.  I need to eat and 
rest a little.  Her nerves were so jumpy; it almost felt like she was in some 
sort of combat...a space ship...But that made no sense.

	Yuuichiro was steadying her when Tethys arrived.  

	Tethys looked frustrated.  "Your highness," she said.  "The Zodiac have them.  
It is too far for me to teleport without a large supply of energy, however," 
she continued, sounding even more irritated.  "But I am willing to take my 
squad to capture him for you and Sapphire if you desire."

	Almost certainly a suicide run, Aurora thought.  Which was fine by her.  
Either Tethys would succeed, bringing them a very useful source of lore or she 
would die horribly and stop lusting after Jadeite.  Either way, Aurora would 
win.

	"Go see Magnetite; he will assign you a battery," Aurora said.  She could 
feel...why do I feel like I'm fighting in a space ship?, she wondered.  It made 
NO sense.

	"Yes, my Queen," Tethys said insincerely, then teleported away.

************
	
	Tethys had just sent off her squad to get the battery from storage when she 
turned to Magnetite and said, "Was Beryl my mother?"

	Magnetite blinked, then said, "Yes.  How did you learn of it?"

	"Why didn't you ever tell me???" Tethys demanded angrily.

	"While Beryl lived, she did not think you ready for it.  You had to grow 
strong enough to avoid those who would have sought to kill you.  And when you 
returned, it would have only made you a target," he said softly.  "Jadeite 
rules us now, and he might well take your heritage amiss."

	"And my father?" she demanded.

	"It is I," he said softly.  "I was not always so old as I am now."

	She didn't know what to do, what to feel.  She still loved Jadeite, 
but...would this make him love her more?  Or fear her as a threat?  She still 
wasn't strong enough to fight any enemies who might rise against her...

	And she didn't want to get into a nasty power struggle, trying to force her 
way onto the throne.  And what proof could she offer?  "What happened to the 
Shield?"

	"We don't know.  It rejected Beryl," he said.  "And hid itself.  It may yet 
exist, but it is lost to us."

	"Maybe Sensei will know more," she mumbled.

	"Good luck rescuing him," Magnetite said.

	"I'm not out to..."  She glanced around everywhere.  "I should hate him," she 
mumbled.

	"There is more to us than hate, though the dark power we draw on tends to 
drown out our lighter emotions," Magnetite said.  "Don't hide from your 
feelings.  We must learn friendship and love again, if we are to become human 
again, as we once were."

	"Humans are so weak," Tethys said softly.  

	"Some are, others not.  The Kingdom of Atlantis was strong, but strength was 
not enough to save it." Magnetite said firmly, but quietly.

	"I know," Tethys said, staring off into the darkness.  "They're coming," she 
continued, hearing her squad return.

	"Good luck," he told her, then went back to his work as she left with her 
youma.

***********	

	"My liege?" Anthracite asked Jadeite as he stood on the observation deck of 
the Tokyo Tower, staring out across the city.  The sky shimmered; Aurora had 
finished the network and raised the defensive shield.

	"The network is complete.  We must now ready our assault on the Zodiac while 
we still can," Jadeite said.  "I am leaving you to command in my absence.  Milk 
this city for all the fear and terror you can, to feed more power into the 
system.  We will need it."  He tapped a black crystal heart pinned to his 
shirt.  It was a bluff; the real black crystal heart was in his pocket.  He 
wished he could have put it somewhere more secure, but the heart had to be 
close to him wherever he went; it was a receiver which would let him tap the 
network for more power, even on the Moon.  He wasn't sure if even this could 
fight the Star Orb and the Ascendent One, but augmented by Aurora's hammer, it 
would.  

	"Yes, my lord," Anthracite said.  "Do you have any particular targets, or 
should I improvise?"

	"Indulge yourself.  Though I rather liked the movie which came to life.  You 
might find it useful to exploit all those televisions and radios," Jadeite 
said.

	Anthracite thought and smiled.  "Very good, my lord.  Yes, I will start with 
that.  They rely on it so much; to be betrayed by it will break many of them."

	"Then begin.  I will see you soon."  

	Jadeite teleported away, while Anthracite turned to study the giant 
transmission tower all around him.

********

	Having finished her labors, Aurora was about to go join Jadeite when suddenly, 
her head throbbed in agony.  She felt as if she was on fire, burning, burning 
in agony, white light everywhere!

	Yuuichiro caught her as she began to fall, then slowly settled her down to the 
ground, kneeling by her as she screamed.  

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

	In the darkness, Rei saw it all.  The battle of the Senshi against Jadeite and 
Dark Queen Aurora.  The Sun going nova.  The final struggle and then only the 
white light.  Her friends were alive despite what had happened.  Despite her 
failing them.  

	And then she heard it, the last whispered words of Serenity as the dream of 
Dark Aurora burned away, sad and longing, "Rei-chan..."

	A single mote of light floated out of the fading vision and she seized it, 
holding it, hearing Serenity's voice again and again.  She breathed on it, and 
it grew a little brighter, but the darkness tried to snuff it out.  

	But she wouldn't surrender.  Not now.  Her Queen needed her, wanted her...She 
began to focus on whatever she could remember of her times with Serenity, with 
Sailor Moon, with Usagi and her friends.  

	And slowly, the light grew brighter.

************
	
	Anthracite sniped a passing human from the observation balcony, grimacing.  A 
threat.  They wanted him to be afraid.  But no one was going to send HIM 
tumbling into space.

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

	One by one, the other generals recovered from the swift burst of...another 
vision.  A trick.  A threat.  Almost all of them closed their minds to what 
they had seen and redoubled their determination to stop the Zodiac.

	Jadeite, however, frowned deeply.  This was not the same.  The Senshi had 
escaped their trap.  But he couldn't...he had to stop the Zodiac NOW, before 
they could rescue their friend.  I should have simply fought them, he thought.  
Not tried to be all tricky and poetic.  He wasn't good at tricking people, and 
it wasn't honorable.  He was honorable, wasn't he?  He did what he did for the 
good of his people.

	The coffin flashed in his mind and he fought it off.  That couldn't be true.  
It couldn't.

	He had no time for doubt; it was time to stop the Zodiac while he still could.

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

	"General Amazonite?" Iodine asked as she leaned against a wall, holding her 
head.  

	Amazonite's forces were heading for the take-off point, to be ready to go 
attack the Zodiac.  But then Amazonite had clutched her head.  All her youma 
stood around her, wondering if this was her end or just a headache.  Surely the 
latter; they didn't want to go serve the other generals, who often mistreated 
their own youma.

	"What did I become," Amazonite whispered, haunted by what she'd seen.  Was 
that the future?  Was it how this all would end?  She prayed not.

	But what could she do to change it?  She had to do something.  

	She straightened up.  She could worry about this later.  "Let's move out," she 
told her men and the youma were soon in motion, though she noticed Iodine still 
looked worried.  She smiled a little, then got moving herself.

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

	In a quiet park, the air ripped open and the Sailor Senshi dropped out with 
Tuxedo Kamen.  Then the cut sealed up as he put away the Golden Sword.  He'd 
landed on a tree branch; everyone else now peeled themselves out of the dirt.

	Distantly, they could hear alarms going off, screams and wailings.  Off in the 
distance, some buildings were burning, and the sky shimmered with a huge field 
of energy that made it hard to tell if it was day or night.

	Sailor Moon immediately tried using her communicator, but there was no answer. 
 She frowned.  "We have to get to Rei-chan," Sailor Moon said firmly.  "And 
Naru-chan."

	"It won't work while that is still up," Pluto said, pointing to the field in 
the sky.

	Mercury got out her computer and began to analyze the field, while Uranus 
paced about, as did Neptune.  Neither were looking at each other.

	"I may be able to cut a hole in it," Saturn said.  "Or perhaps Tuxedo Kamen 
and I can pool our abilities with his sword."

	"I don't want to use it if I can help it," he said.  "It's dangerous to use 
too much."

	Jupiter frowned at the screaming and yelling in the distance.  "This sounds 
too much like where we came from."

	Venus fiddled with her communicator.  "Dammit, Steven's not answering."

	"He may be in the hands of the enemy," Pluto said.

	Venus winced.  "Which enemy?"

	"Either," Pluto said.  "But more likely the Zodiac."

	Venus frowned deeply, staring out.  "Jadeite's invaded Tokyo."

	"I believe so," Pluto said.  

	Uranus and Neptune continued to pace about.

	"There's a giant network tapping the city's leylines and converting it to Dark 
Energy which then is maintaining the field around the city," Mercury announced. 
 She eyed another window, which was still running a search for Ryo.  "And I 
think whatever has happened to our friends, they're not in Tokyo."

	Venus' communicator buzzed and she answered it, but all she got was static and 
brief flickers of something that might have been Steven on the video screen. Or 
Idi Amin.  Or Harry Potter for that matter.  There was no way to tell.

	"Aargh, I can't pick anything up!"  Venus began punching buttons.  "Hold on, 
Steven, hold on!"

	Click, it cut out.  

	"AAAARGH."

	Sailor Moon said, "Mercury, can you track who tried to call us?  They'll know 
more about what is going on.  Also, run a search for Jadeite."

	Mercury began the search, then held her hand out to Venus, who handed the 
communicator over.  Mercury held it near the jackport on her computer, which 
now shifted to let her set the communicator into a cradle for it.  She quickly 
traced the source of the call.  "The Moon," she said.

	"Zodiac," Pluto said.

	"Jupiter, I'm going to need you to boost the signal," Mercury said.

	Jupiter nodded and put her hand on the computer, then turned into Super Sailor 
Jupiter and began to concentrate.  

	A crackling beam of lighting burst upwards, then hit the field.  Sailor Moon 
and Venus now loaned their strength and a tiny hole was burned through the 
field, enough to let the signal out.

	"Is this wise?" Pluto asked.  "Everyone will see this."

	"Saturn," Sailor Moon said quietly.  "Hide it."

	Saturn gulped and became Super Sailor Saturn, then put her hands around the 
thin beam; darkness crept up it, masking it, as she grimaced.

	There was a pause, then Steven's face appeared in a large window on the 
screen.  "Hey!  You're alive!"  He looked to be in some sort of cockpit, trying 
to fly and talk at once.

	"Is that a Hawk Fighter?" Pluto asked.

	"Yeah, it's pretty awesome, but they're still kicking our ass," Steven said.  
"I hope our covert team is doing their job, 'cause it's clear we're never 
getting in."

	"Where..." Mercury began as everyone crowded around the monitor, including 
Uranus and Neptune.

	"The Moon.  I'm flying a 25,000 year old space fighter on the Moon.  I'd die 
of joy if I wasn't about to sh...die of nerves," Steven said.  "Ryo and Dia and 
I are leading a diversionary attack while Himeko and Luna lead the rescue team 
into the old Moon Palace, which is now Zodiac Central.  They're trying to 
sacrifice Naru."

	Sailor Moon's eyes widened.  "Naru-chan!"

	"The Zodiac jumped us a few hours after you left.  If the elves hadn't shown 
up, they'd have everyone, but as it was, Augur betraying us to them just threw 
Naru and Umino into their hands."

	Sailor Moon winced.

	Steven sighed.  "Did you manage to save Rei?"

	"No," Sailor Moon mumbled, then stared at the ground.

	"She's been brainwashed," Jupiter said, frowning.  "She thinks she's Aurora 
again and she's working with Jadeite."

	"Well, shit.  Can you get to us?" Steven asked.

	"Not until we eliminate Jadeite's energy network which is maintaining a shield 
that has us locked in," Mercury said.

	Jupiter's eyes suddenly flickered.  "Did you find those fighters in an 
armory?"  She began to describe it.

	"Yeah, just like that," Steven said.

	Jupiter flashed a grin.  "Then I have a plan.  Listen closely."  She began to 
explain her plan, grinning more as everyone stared at her.  When Pluto's eyes 
widened, she knew she'd hit paydirt.  

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

	Tethys had a new, if unwilling, admiration for the Star Guard's skills by the 
time she shook off pursuit.  Her squad had been scattered around the place by a 
trap; she had no idea where they all were or how many had survived.  Aurora 
must have approved this in the hopes I would die, she thought.

	She felt bad for her unit; they'd followed her bravely and didn't deserve to 
die like this.  It was a strange feeling; sympathy.  I was too proud, she 
thought.  Given I was held by a bunch of teenagers, of course real professional 
adult warriors would be this tough.

	However, her opposition was now dead or chasing her minions or lost behind 
her, and she'd reached her target.  The Prison.

	A large chunk of the TDDC seemed to be locked up here; many of them were 
expendible, but she did have a little respect for a few of them, like Hikaru, 
who might not be a great fighter, but was vicious enough to be a youma.  
Although she now realized Hikaru wasn't here.  Strange, the Daichi boy was 
here, though...Maybe she was dead, what a waste.

	She walked over to Sensei's cell and blew the lock off it.  "I've come for you 
and Noriko," Tethys said.

	"Hey, what about the rest of us?" the Daichi boy said.

	"You're not my problem," Tethys said, walking over to Noriko's cell.  Noriko 
stared at her with an expression Tethys found hard to read.  "I expect the 
Zodiac just wants to use you as bait for the Senshi, if they ever return."

	She blew the lock off Noriko's cell and let her out.

	"Please," Daichi said.  "Even if you just leave us here, we can at least try 
to do something."

	"Please release them, Tethys," Sensei said.  "We have to stop them before they 
kill the Star Princess and take her power for themselves.  You know what will 
happen to your kingdom if that happens."

	Tethys hesitated.  "Tell me about Atlantis.  And this vase."  She held up the 
battered, damaged vase.

	He frowned.  "Not one of my successes.  I was unable to contain or store most 
of the energy which got released from it, although the experiment helped me 
improve my knowledge of magic, which enabled me to build the containment unit.  
I really could have used another exotic energy expert.  But they're very rare."

	She could feel her nerves jangle.  "Is it connected to Atlantis?"

	"Yes," he said, turning it over and over.  "It sank beneath the waves.  This 
was its last queen, who I think was named Beryl."

	"Who lived there?" Tethys asked urgently.

	"Humans.  The humans of Atlantis, wise and powerful, but destroyed in the end 
by their own power.  But most of what we know of them is only myths.  But they 
appear as great warriors who fought the dark powers, in the oldest artifacts," 
he said.  "Later, I can have Horus show you a paper by Ms. Lovegood.  Young 
lady, but very brilliant in these things."  

	"There's nothing left of Horus but a snack machine," Tethys mumbled, staring 
downwards.

	"He's backed up," Sensei said.  "I can restore him from backups, later."

	Noriko nodded; she was trying to rip the doors open, but without any success.  


	"I..."  She couldn't ask him, not with all these humans watching.  Did he know 
of the Shield of Metallia?  Why...how...  "You can just bring him back that 
easily?"

	"Well, the hardware will be expensive, but it's mostly a matter of time," 
Sensei said.  "Can you help Noriko?  She's not having much luck."

	"I have to...you need..."  Tethys tried to pull herself together.  No 
weakness. Not in front of all these humans.

	"It will take all of us to have any chance of stopping the Zodiac, and I think 
we've all seen how much that Orb can mess with reality in the wrong hands," 
Sensei said.

	The Orb...if she could get that from the Zodiac, Jadeite would definitely 
favor her.  And she could probably remove Aurora from the equation, thus 
neutralizing the love threat, as Rei had no interest in Jadeite...but could 
they really grab the Star Orb?  And would Sensei really be safe in the middle 
of a war zone?  Noriko was tough enough to survive anywhere, but he was an old 
man like her father.  No one sent Magnetite into battle any more.  His bravery 
was commendable, but foolhardy.

	"Alright," Tethys said.  "We may well not make it out of here without it at 
all, anyway.  Now we need a plan."

	There was a swish and suddenly Hikaru appeared, pulling back her hood.  "I 
have a plan.  We might even survive it."

	"It´s not a plan to get me to date you," Daichi said.  "So I´m sure it will be 
fine."

	Tethys was about to ask, then decided it best she not waste time trying to 
understand the boy.  

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

	The elven and Senshi auxillary forces were already beginning to withdraw when 
a huge lance of darkness fired off the surface of the Earth.  Both sides paused 
to stare at it.  

	"What the fuck?" Hudson asked the universe.

	The answer was a huge explosion of darkness, followed by a seemingly endless 
horde of youma rushing towards the palace defenses.

	Team elf used this as cover to pull out.

	Hudson was screaming and blasting everything that moved, Izuko next to him 
shooting calmly, when Sayuri, the junior Istarri of Leo, found them.  "Come 
with me.  Your destiny lies elsewhere."

	"You could just say you want us," Izuko said.

	"Can´t retreat, monsters are...stop dragging me!" Hudson said as Sayuri 
armlocked him and began dragging him off.  "They´re coming!  And the main 
shield is still down!"

	"I know," Sayuri said.  "But not every enemy is to be found outside."

	"What?  There´s a traitor?" Hudson said.

	"Possibly several," Sayuri said.  "Now, come with me."

	They headed off deeper into the palace, leaving the Star Guard to its work.

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

	Augur wished he knew why exactly it was important for him to be in the 
auxillary communications room.  Astrology was not always the clearest of 
things.  A few technicians were helping handle the communications end of the 
defense against the dark kingdom, but even if someone took out this room, the 
defense would go on.

	Unless someone wanted to make a phone call to Earth or play Minesweeper, there 
was not much reason why anyone would attack here.

	It suddenly hit him that with Luna in prison here, Queen Hecate was likely to 
be wroth with him if he didn't somehow get her released.  Not that Hecate could 
do much to him, but...

	He'd been too focused on not going down with the wreck of the HSS Astra to 
think about what Hecate would think, so to speak.  He frowned, feeling foolish. 
 It was best to keep his options open.  The Zodiac was friendly now...

	And, he liked Luna.  He didn't want to see the Queen's daughter kept as a pet, 
or worse experimented on.  Or want the Sailors...but if Luna lived, they would 
know.

	Somehow, it had seemed simpler...until he had nothing to do but to sit around 
on his...

	There was an invisible blade at his throat.  A tiny whisper said, "One word 
and you die."

	Augur froze up.  Everyone was too busy trying to help coordinate 
communications to even notice his dilemna.

	"Darkness," a woman said.

	The room went pitch black, followed by the sounds of extreme beatings.  When 
the darkness cleared, everyone but Augur was unconscious and Luna in human form 
was now picking him up by the scruff of his neck.  The blade had moved to his 
belly.  

	"We can do this two ways," Luna said angrily.  "You can show us how to work 
this equipment.  Or we can feed you to the youma."

	"Cats are tasty," Tethys said, licking her lips and looking like she was very 
hungry.  

	Augur knew when the jig was up.  "Promise you won't kill me if I cooperate."

	"I promise if you cooperate fully and don't betray us again, then I will hand 
you over to Queen Hecate for justice instead of searching for justice inside 
your intestines," Luna said.

	"Right," Augur mumbled, then began instructing them.

	"You really think you can..." Tethys began to Sensei.

	"I can hardly believe they have so much bandwidth," Sensei said.  "The bill 
must be obscene.  But it will definitely help us."

	"And you can use this...," Tethys began again.

	"I'm sure Jadeite doesn't know what it is; hardly anyone outside hard-core 
hobbyists, computer professionals, and scholars like myself knew of it the 
first time he was loose.  But we'll see.  If it doesn't work, then we'll 
improvise."  Sensei sat down at a keyboard and started typing.

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

	As she struggled with the Zodiac, Naru could feel the elves retreating; for a 
moment, she could feel the old terror, of being left to die, trying to return.  
But she crushed it under her mental feet.  For though her foes still had the 
upper hand, she had some leverage now.  While they had struggled with the Star 
Orb´s burst of power, she´d taken advantage of it to look at pieces of their 
destinies and other destinies as well.

	She had seen things past.  Scorpio had murdered Libra and she´d seen how it 
happened.  Once she had a chance to reveal that, the unity of the Zodiac would 
definitely break, giving her a chance.  

	She had seen things present; she knew Leo´s plans and she knew how to exploit 
them for her own benefit.  She kept one eye out for Sayuri´s return.

	Finally, the Senshi were back.  That gave her great hope.  And she could see 
what Jupiter was doing.  She was determined to be ready for what was to come.  

	She glanced over at Umino, who was howling his defiance, trying desperately to 
break his chains.  My dear love, she thought.  Naru could hardly bear to see 
him in such pain.  

	But she had to.  And she knew he would want her to not give up for his sake.  
He´d shown he would die for her without hesitation.

	And she was determined it was not him who would be doing the dying around 
here.

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

	Super Sailor Jupiter studied the Tokyo Tower, smiling.  She could see the 
electricity flowing through it; the youma had done some damage to the city's 
power grid, but not enough to knock it out.  And she could fix that.

	Super Sailor Venus stood nearby, her bow ready, a glowing arrow in her hands 
as it was pulled back just slightly.  Super Sailor Mercury stood next to her, 
her computer plugged into the wall with a power cord; she looked rather 
curious.

	Endymion, holding the Golden Sword, and Serenity, her hand on the Silver 
Crystal, stood to the other side of Jupiter, ready, while Super Sailors Pluto, 
Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune stood in a ring around the others, watching 
outwards.

	Jupiter's only regret was that Clark wasn't here for her to show off her 
brilliant plan to.  But he was busy on the Moon, according to Steven and Ryo.  
But she wasn't doing this for the glory.

	"Everyone ready?" she asked.

	"Ready," Venus said confidently. 

	"Is this going to be enough?" Mercury asked, pointing to the cord.

	"I'll make it enough," Jupiter said, cracking her knuckles one by one.  

	"We stand ready," Serenity said.

	"And us," Pluto said.

	Jupiter held her staff high, and electricity rushed out of the walls, out of 
the sky, the floor, from all directions, flowing into her staff.  Endymion and 
Serenity moved to flank her, each pouring power into her staff, enabling it to 
hold up in the face of the great tide of electricity flowing through it.  

	Venus raised her bow and fired a series of arrows into the lightning storm, 
fringing the energy with a soft yellow glow, which now mixed with the golden 
and white light from the sword and the crystal.  

	Pluto hesitated a moment, then nodded and extended her staff.  Garnet power 
flowed into the crackling energies.

	Then the lightning began looping through Mercury's computer, assembling itself 
into a message which rushed down the power line, thanks to Jupiter and 
Mercury's guidance.  

	Jupiter raised a hand, pulling power up into the transmitters on the tower, 
blowing out the devices the Dark Kingdom had planted and pouring a mixture of 
magic and electricity into the radio and TV transmitters.  A huge lance of 
energy poured upwards, blowing a hole in the dome above, then surged across the 
city as hawk-like ships poured down through the hole and spread out.

	Across the city, TVs and radios came to life, whether or not they were turned 
on or even plugged in.  Images of the slave uprising in Dark Tokyo, the victory 
on the Moon, the fall of the LEXX began to play.  

	And the voice of Serenity spoke.  "People of Tokyo, do not despair.  Though 
the night seems dark, it always ends in dawn."

	And the voice of Endymion spoke.  "Cast off your fear; it is their greatest 
weapon.  Remember who you were, people of the Golden Kingdom!"

	And the voice of Pluto spoke.  "It is time to seize control of your own 
future.  Learn what you can be!"

	And the voice of Jupiter spoke.  "It is time to fight!  Rise up, People of 
Tokyo!  We will fight by your side!  It is time to turn back the darkness!  Arm 
yourselves and RISE UP!"

	And the people of Tokyo opened their eyes and looked to the skies and 
remembered.

	Remembered the fall of the Golden Kingdom.

	Remembered the armies of the Dark Kingdom.

	And chose that it would not happen again.  

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

	Motoki and Unazuki raced down the road at high speed as the message reached 
them, zipping around a corner only to find an overturned bus and a bunch of 
panicked commuters running about as huge fanged creatures with dark purple 
exoskeletons chased them.  

	He roared to a halt, staring at the mess as his sister clung to him, trying to 
stay on the bike.  He had to do something.  Even without the voices urging him 
to act, he would have tried something.  He stared at the creatures, noticing 
they had no eyes.  Which meant...  "Give me your perfume," he said.

	"Huh?" she asked in confusion.  "Is that the Sailor Senshi?" she asked, 
staring at the TVs in shop windows and voices from nearby parked cars.  She 
passed it to him.

	He roared into the mess, spraying it about like crazy.

	"That stuff's expensive, you know!" she said.

	The creatures began to blunder about into things, no longer able to track 
anything by smell except the chaotic scent of the perfume.  The commuters began 
running for cover, though some found rocks to throw or plucked up broken signs 
to use as clubs.

	And then a hawk-like fighter zoomed over head and dropped something down to 
Motoki, a long silvery lance with crescent moon insignia.  He'd never seen one 
before, but he had a pretty good idea what it was for.

	He came around again, his sister screaming, and lance-charged one of the 
creatures; the lance flared brightly and it burst open, spraying gunk 
everywhere as it died.  Its death panicked the others and he began to pick them 
off one by one.

	He still didn't know what was going on.

	But he knew what to do.

**************
	
	The door was holding and the children stood ready to repel anything that came 
in through the window.  Maybe repel it.  At least they would die knowing what 
killed them.

	Haruna Sakurada shook her head.  She felt ready to die from the effort of 
holding the door, but nothing had found the window and it seemed like they 
weren't trying as hard with the door...

	And then the voices came over the loudspeaker, calling on the people to 
remember who they were and who they had been.

	And Ms. Haruna remembered.

	Even as the vulture-headed beast dropped down into the middle of the fort, 
students scattering away from it, Ms. Haruna turned and spoke words of arcane 
power, words from another life, when she had lived on the Moon and taught the 
children of the royal family and higher nobility.

	And then there was fire and lightning and the creature screaming in agony as 
it burned, as its muscles jolted about; it danced over to one corner in a jerky 
way, then fell over and burnt to ash.

	Everyone stared.  

	Sensei Wisdom smiled.  "Now, children, it's time for a quick lesson.  You'd 
better pay attention, as your life may depend on it.  Listen carefully..."

***********
	
	Yamamoto-sensei was too busy stabbing to notice the voices, but he wasn't too 
busy to notice the hawk-fighter landing with a load of weaponry, or to notice 
the tide of students launching a counterattack.

	Finally, he thought.  The lessons I've tried to convey to them have finally 
paid off.  They will be fine young students in the future.

	If we live to have one, anyway.
	
	But he could die happily now...

	No...wait...

	The Principal STILL had avoided all the meetings he'd tried to schedule with 
the man.  He couldn't die until he at least saw the man's face.

	He had to live, even if he died afterwards.  And where was the Principal?  He 
should be here, fighting with his students.  CURSE HIM!  

	Yamamoto would live.  He HAD to.  He had to live long enough to pound the 
principal flat.  

	Until that time, he could not allow himself to die.  Not yet.

**********

	Naru would have been waiting impatiently if she hadn't been in too much pain 
for anything resembling impatience.  She had to struggle to think, and now she 
was worrying whether she'd ever get a chance to exploit the knowledge she now 
had.  Without some kind of distraction, she couldn't fight them off and do 
something at the same time.

	Unfortunately, it sounded like whoever had tried to break in earlier had been 
driven off.  

	"Don't worry, Naru-chan," Umino said softly.  "We'll get loose somehow."

	It broke her heart to see him like this.  And he didn't want her to worry.  
She could feel herself getting angry again, despite the pain.  What they were 
doing to him was unforgivable!

	There was a sudden burst of energy weapon fire just outside the room and the 
sound of a youma screaming.  A Star Guard stuck his head in.  "Sorry about 
that, Ascended One.  We've got a bunch of youma loose we're hunting down."

	"Carry on," Scorpio said, nodding her head.

	He nodded and headed out.

	Naru frowned at herself.  I should have been ready for that.  She wouldn't 
miss the next chance.

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

	"So what are we waiting for?" Hudson whispered as he lurked with Leo Istarri 
and Izuko on a balcony overlooking the rite.

	"Leo's signal," Leo Istarri said.  "And now we wait."

	Hudson nodded.  At least the attack from the...why had the Elves attacked, 
anyway?  

	Izuko looked down, frowning, and waited, hoping she wasn't about to die 
pointlessly in some intrigue.

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

	Commander Weisshaupt frowned, studying the monitor.  "So it's down for at 
least an hour," he said.  This was NOT a good time to lose the outer shields.

	"Yes, sir, but I think we drove them off," one of his captains, a short, 
stocky man with neatly trimmed blue hair said.

	"Alright, then..."

	PING.

	Weisshaupt frowned.  "Was that..."

	PING PING PING PING PING PING PING PING!!!!

	The dark energy detectors began pinging incessantly and the meter went off the 
scale.

	Damnation, Weisshaupt thought.  "Time to bust out the heavy armor unit."

	"Isn't that experimental?"

	"Well, you only learn by doing," Weisshaupt mumbled.  He began shouting 
orders.

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

	Naru would have had her chance, as everyone in the Zodiac could feel the 
building wrongness outside.  However, she could taste it like acid in her mouth 
and it kept her from doing anything fast enough.

	And then a swarm of teenagers with stolen Star Guard weaponry came crashing 
through the doors on the north side, Daichi at their head.  "You're all under 
arrest for kidnapping!" Daichi shouted, his forces forming up into a crude 
line, weapons trained on the Zodiac.  

	"You escaped our prison?" Aries asked in stunned disbelief.

	Scorpio ignored them.

	"Dammit, look at me, you're BUSTED," Daichi shouted through a megaphone.

	Scorpio flicked a hand behind her; a wave of purple energy washed over them 
and soon the entire group was writhing in pain on the floor.  Child's play for 
the Ascended One.  She chuckled briefly at her own joke.

	"Don't kill them!  They're not part of this!," Naru shouted.

	"If you don't yield to me," Scorpio said coolly, "Your friends will die.  Is 
that what you want?"

	Distantly, there were explosions and shouting and what sounded like a lot of 
dying.

	Naru desperately tried to use her powers to see how long they would live.  To 
her surprise, she succeeded.  Perhaps Scorpio wants me to know, she thought.  
They would live for a while, long, lingering minutes of agony, then one by one, 
they would die.  She could feel Scorpio's confidence.  

	But now, the Dark Kingdom was coming...if it came fast enough, she'd have her 
chance.  Possibly at the expense of all those lives.  

	Naru closed her eyes and focused, trying to decide what to do.  They didn't 
deserve this...but Scorpio would probably kill them anyway.  She could only 
save them if she still had her power, but if they died...

	"Don't do it," Daichi shouted defiantly.  "She'll just kill us anyway."

	She would, Naru realized.  Scorpio liked killing people.  And they knew too 
much to be turned loose now.  She grimaced.  But she couldn't defy them openly; 
she would have to feign hesitation as long as she could, make Scorpio keep them 
alive to keep up the pressure.  

	She'd get them all out of this.  

	Somehow.

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

	Chaos reigned around the Tokyo Tower; Anthracite, left behind to guard the 
city in Jadeite's absence, had taken everything he could and was throwing it at 
the Senshi.  Only the fact that the Senshi had failed to thoroughly break up 
his network, subverting only part of it (to his surprise), was giving his 
forces enough energy to survive.  And even so, the Outer Senshi, reinforced by 
Endymion, were ripping up his forces.

	Anthracite thrust at Endymion, his own blade ablaze with concentrated fear 
energy.  Endymion's golden blade, however, easily knocked it aside.  Then 
Anthracite felt another segment of the Dark Kingdom's grid going down; 
somewhere deep inside, he felt one of his Majors die.  But Major Calinite 
wasn't here, she was off terrorizing a school to feed more energy into the 
grid...and none of the Senshi were there, so who could have killed her?

****************
	
	"What do we do with them all now?" one of the students asked Sensei Wisdom, 
looking at her with both awe and nervousness.

	"We burn the bodies as a warning to the others to stay away.  Let's get to 
work."

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

	Nearby, a set of crystals began to burn, the darkness frying away.

	And then they began to glow with an ever brighter light.

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

	Anthracite could feel his power getting weaker.  But Endymion wasn't trying to 
finish him?  Why?  Why would he...

	He's holding me here so that I can't stop whoever he has taking over our grid. 
 That's why.  

	Super Sailor Uranus swung her sword and dozens of droids perished in yellow-
orange energies near him, then grinned at him.

	I have to get out of here, Anthracite thought.  Now, before it's...

	He could see dozens, hundreds, maybe thousands of Tokyo citizens pouring up 
the street, some of them throwing fire and lightning and ice and light and 
glowing rocks, others armed with crude weaponry, and the leading wedge armed 
with what looked suspiciously like Silver Millenium era weaponry.  Furthermore, 
he could now see Hawk Fighters closing in on the centerpiece of his grid, at 
the ruins of Mugen Gakuen, mowing down the droids and youma left to resist it.

	For a moment, he saw the vision again, of himself in the purple coffin, 
tumbling through space, lost between worlds forever, slowly dying...

	Endymion had done that to...that wasn't him...but...

	He looked into Endymion's determined eyes.  

	At the head of the onrushing mob, Yamamoto shouted, "SURRENDER OR DIE, 
MONSTERS!"

	Only one hope.  "Glittering eyes of Metallia!  It's Zoisite and Kunzite 
naked!"  He pointed back past Endymion.

	For just one second, Endymion turned to look.  "There's no way..."

	Anthracite kicked him in the chest, knocking him down, then vaulted over the 
railing to flee.  If there was anywhere to flee.  He had to find somewhere to 
hold out until Jadeite returned.

	IF Jadeite returned.  It was clear they'd underestimated the people of Tokyo 
and the Senshi.  

	And their estimate of the Zodiac had been much higher than that to start 
with...

	It was time to run.

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

	"Sir, I'm afraid it's very likely we won't be able to hold back the Dark 
Kingdom forces without the aid of the senior Zodiac," Weisshaupt reported to 
Scorpio.  

	"We are almost finished.  Do your best, general," Scorpio said, overestimating 
a little.  You could never show weakness before a subordinate.

	"Yes, Ascendant One," he said, then started to walk away.

	One of the Star Guard loading the unconscious TDDC members onto hover-
platforms for transport back to the prison was about to say something when Naru 
sensed it better he not speak.  She had enough power left to nudge his destiny 
slightly from 'revealing not all the prisoners were here' to 'trip, fall 
backwards, knock himself out'.

	Scorpio felt this, and immediately turned to look at the man suspiciously.  
"Whatever you think you are doing, Astra..."

	"DAAAAAAAAAAAARKNESS!," a woman's voice shouted.  

	Naru's eyes widened, recognizing it.  What the...

	And then the whole room went pitch black.

	Compared to the Zodiac, it was weak.  It took only a few moments for Scorpio, 
Aries, and the new Libra to rip it apart.

	But when the darkness cleared, every Star Guard in the room lay unconscious, 
and a small band of people were closing in on Scorpio.  She knew most of them.  
Parias, the new warrior she suspected must be one of the old Dark Kingdom 
generals reborn, was coming from her left, sword held high.  Opposite him, the 
younger Pluto stood, holding up her staff, about to try and blast her.  The 
cyborg girl was leaping down from above, feet first.  The magical idol was up 
on a balcony and starting to sing; she could feel the girl's power battering at 
her and all the other Zodiac at once, though for now they were so full of power 
they could hold it off.  But it gave Scorpio another thing to worry about.  
They'd apparently broken the old man out...why had they ever brought the old 
man in the first place?  He was very intelligent, but not suited for fighting.  
She could feel him now that her mind was turned to it, hiding beyond the 
balcony door, guarding the Idol Angel's back.  For what that was worth.  

	And then there was a shadow, a sort of puddle of darkness, scooting across the 
floor towards her.  Dark Kingdom energies...a youma had teamed up with these 
people???  Maybe it was under Pluto's control somehow.

	If not for the right, she would have jumped up to attack the cyborg girl in 
the air, letting Pluto blast the others closing in on her position.  But if she 
moved too far, the rite would cease.  Still, they had the Princess on her last 
legs and she did have the Star Orb...

	"Zodiac, maintain the rite!  FINISH HER!  I will deal with this!"  She swung 
the orb around, hurling bolts of star power at Pluto, Parias, and the shadowy 
shape, then hurled a poison-laden bolt of her power at the cyborg girl, hoping 
she would die easily due to having little flesh that would need killing to 
finish her.

	Unfortunately, most of the power was wasted on her inorganics and what 
remained was not enough to overcome her health-preservation technologies.  It 
was enough to make Noriko try to throw up and crash to the ground, trying to 
get a grip on herself.

	Parias managed to deflect the bolt, but the Junior Pluto tried to match her 
power for power and lost, blown back against the wall.  And the Youma...

	The youma reformed into something solid and turned into...a human...in the air 
as she leaped upwards.  She was a pale-skinned woman with long black hair and 
eyes hidden behind a pitch black visor.  The woman wore a pitch black blouse 
with a bright emblem of a dark moon eclipsing the sun standing out on it over 
her heart and black leather pants.  In each hand, she held an obsidian rod 
tipped with a large onyx at the end.  "DARKNESS!" she shouted again.

	The darkness settled over Scorpio again; she ripped it apart, but now Parias 
and the woman were attacking her again, the woman firing bolts of dark energy 
from each rod, forcing Scorpio to dodge the blasts while parrying Parias' sword 
with a long whipsword she formed with the Star Power.  

	And then she felt Naru focus and YANK the connection between them.  Scorpio 
stumbled right into one of the black-clad woman's blows.  "Who are you?" 
Scorpio demanded, even as she tugged back, making Naru scream in agony.  

	"I am Eclipse," the woman said, charging at Scorpio.  "Warrior of the Kingdom 
of Atlantis!"

	Scorpio thrust the Star Orb at her.  "Atlantis is dead and so will you be!"  
It wasn't easy to focus on it while also fending off Pluto and Parias.  Worse, 
the cyborg girl was getting up again and that loud singing from the Idol was 
making it hard to think and drowning out all the noises she normally used as 
cues in combat.  And what was that weird feeling like someone of her sign was 
here?  She couldn't see anyone else and...focus.  Focus.  

	FWAKOOM, the Star Orb vomited forth a huge gout of energy at Eclipse, who 
responded, however, by nimbly dodging to one side.

	That wouldn't be enough, but...was there someone she could target...Scorpio 
read the skein of destiny to find the woman's weakness.  

	The old man.  Why would a...oh ho, the old man was no doubt controlling her.  
The TDDC had captured a youma, after all.  It all made sense.  Anyone who could 
build a cyborg of that sophistication could surely make some sort of youma 
controlling machine or implants.

	So he'd summoned his pet youma to save him.  Clever, old man, Scorpio thought. 
 A pity he might have to die; clearly he could be useful.

	"DIE OLD MAN!" Scorpio shouted and hurled a blast large enough to take out the 
balcony and the doors and the hall past it.  Certainly enough to fry an old 
man.

	To her surprise, the Youma shouted and threw herself into the air, into the 
path of the blast.  That's impressive mind control, Scorpio thought.  Well, 
this is for the best, as I definitely would prefer to keep the old man alive 
long enough for us to get his secrets.

	"GRANDFATHER!" the cyborg screamed in rage, hurling herself at Scorpio.

	But then the Star Orb bucked and howled in the face of some kind of feedback.  
Scorpio cursed as wild energies escaped; the Zodiac and Naru and Umino moaned 
in unison, and the would-be-Scorpio-slayers flailed about.

	The crazy old man had come out on the balcony.  "Tethys!" he shouted, sounding 
panicked and angry at once.

	And then the energies around the youma subsided.  And she could see why.  A 
black shield hovered in front of her, the Shield of Metallia.  It had stopped 
the blast, and now it moved to interpose itself between her and Scorpio.  

	Scorpio cursed inside her head.  Of all the times for the heir to the Shield 
to show up!  They'd been looking for it for thousands of years and of course it 
shows up the one day she can't afford to fight another icon holder.  Not even 
an inexperienced one.

	"I'm okay, Sensei," the youma said.  "Take cover!  It's dangerous here!"

	She actually sounded worried.  A youma, worried about a human.  This man is a 
genius of brainwashing, Scorpio thought.  

	And then everyone came at her at once and she had other things on her mind.

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

	Motoki roared up on his cycle to the Tokyo Tower.  He'd assumed from the huge 
energy discharges that this must be a central youma base, but instead, he could 
see the Sailor Senshi all over the place.   He wished he had sunglasses, the 
tower was so bright.

	Someone shouted something at him.  

	"What?" he yelled.

	Nervously, his sister, now armed with a pair of wands, watched the local 
environment for trouble.

	Motoki's phone rang; he passed his lance to his sister and took the call.  
"Hello?"

	It looked like the guy in the white armor was calling him.  His voice was so 
familiar...

	"Motoki, are you crazy?  If you want to fight, you ought to find a group, not 
just ride around on your cycle with your sister!," the man said.

	"I'm scouting," he said.  "Do I know you?  You sound familiar."

	He distantly heard a voice, a woman's voice, who was one of the women around 
the man in armor.  "Hi, Motoki!  I'm glad you're okay!"

	Wait...this guy knows me.  He knows this is my sister and...

	"Mamoru, is that you?" Motoki asked.

	"Mamoru?  I'm not..."

	"Wow, he guessed it!," the woman said.

	"Us...Serenity!," the man in armor said.

	"Hey, is that Usagi with you?  What's going on?"

	"Bring him up," another woman said distantly.  "You've blown it," she 
continued.  She wasn't familiar.  "I see it'll be more trouble if you don't."

	"We are ready," a third said.  Also familiar.

	"Fine.  Come on up," the man said.  

	"Then let's go," the woman who might be Usagi said.

	And then he saw a huge lance of energy zoom skywards, through a hole in the 
black dome over the city, off into space.

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

	Scorpio was beginning to get very angry.  She could hold off all her foes and 
she thought she was starting to whittle them down.  But it was distracting her 
from finishing off Astra.  The others were holding her, but she was fighting 
harder now; this was Astra's best chance and they both knew it.

	Having Weisshaupt unconscious during a Dark Kingdom incursion wasn't going to 
help either.  She could hear the fighting getting closer.  She tried accessing 
the Zodiac's communications net.  "We need medics," she said.  "Commander 
Weisshaupt is down!"

	"We'll see what we can do, Ascended One," a woman's voice replied.  "It looks 
like the dark power feed from the Earth has collapsed, but the power sensors 
are being tempermental."

	"Does anyone know..." Scorpio began.

	Naru knew.  She could feel the huge surge of energy coming from the Earth.  
She feigned weakness, to get her foes to loosen their grip, so they would be 
caught off guard when it came.  She wondered why the sensors couldn't feel it, 
though.  If I can feel this, surely Scorpio can, though she's got so many 
foes...and what about their base's sensors?

	Sensei studied the screen on his remote feed device.  A massive energy burst 
coming from Earth?  Curious.  How exactly did you measure hope, anyway?  Useful 
for making that utilitarian calculator actually work, perhaps...

	Tethys could feel something coming, like a giant freight train of energy, and 
pulled back from ground zero instinctively.  "Sensei, TAKE COVER!"

	Then Scorpio felt it.  Too late.  "Zodiac!  We must..."

	Then the ceiling blew out and a huge bolt of energy rushed down in a wave onto 
Naru and Umino, who gave a great cry of triumph, breaking out of their chains.

	Astra strode out of the light, eyes now black and full of stars, even as the 
White Knight charged out and whacked Taurus in the head with his sword, sending 
Taurus flying.  The energies of the rite now blended with the incoming 
energies, creating a wild storm of destiny.

	Astra pointed to the Star Orb.  "To me," she said flatly, coldly.  

	"Never!" Scorpio said, focusing her power to keep it with her as it tried to 
fly to its mistress.  

	Parias, Pluto, Noriko, and Tethys (still in Eclipse mode) all tried to come at 
Scorpio now, but the wild storm of energies forced them back. Only the White 
Knight, Astra, and the Zodiac could move in the chaos.

	The White Knight began riding about on his horse, wherever it came from, 
smacking about the weaker Zodiac, while some of the strong tried to engage him 
and others tried to help Scorpio.

	Then a purloined Zodiac comm unit, concealed in the junior Pluto's ear, came 
to life.  Yuki said, "The Dark Kingdom is coming.  You'd better get ready to 
stop them."

	"You and Horus have control of communications?" Pluto whispered.

	"We think so, but neither of us is an expert at this.  Oh yes, you might want 
to use your disguise power to make yourself a Zodiac long enough to get in and 
help Astra."

	The Junior Pluto tried to assess what exactly Tethys was going to do once the 
Dark Kingdom showed up.  There were too many possible futures and it was hard 
to believe the more benevolent ones.

	She was busy musing, however, when Astra switched tactics.

	The air ripped open and strands of destiny wove themselves into place.  The 
entire Zodiac witnessed Scorpio murdering Libra before their eyes, and knew it 
to be true, for they could see how she had brought this vision to them, an 
event which had taken place right here. The sheer power needed to do that...but 
she was the Star Princess.  The question had never been if she was strong, but 
if she should keep her power.

	Zodiac stared at Zodiac in fear and distrust. Then the new Libra raised his 
staff in anger, and swung it like striking a scale with full force.  The unity 
of the rite broke and with it, the storm; much of the energy flowing into 
Astra; the rest dribbling off into the Zodiac.  The transmission from Earth had 
ceased.

	Then Libra blasted Scorpio.  "MURDERER!"

	And all hell broke lose as half the Zodiac now went after the other half.

	"Fools!  I will crush you and replace you!  She was weak and wanted to betray 
us to our enemies!" Scorpio shouted.  "I still hold..."

	BANG.  From another balcony, a shot rang out and then the Star Orb got hit.  
The bullet couldn't hurt it, but it did impart momentum, sending it flying into 
the air.  

	Astra reached out for it with her power.

	So did Scorpio.

	Tethys dove for it from above.  

	Hudson grinned.  "Suck on that, traitor," then opened up full-throttle on 
Scorpio, with Izuko laying down supporting fire and Leo Istarri doing her best 
to further empower their bullets.  

	Even as Parias and Noriko charged towards the main doors, and Pluto turned to 
run after and catch up with them, while Idol Angel Mami continued to sing high 
above, half the doors into the place burst open and legions of Youma poured in 
with Amazonite (followed by Iodine), Jadeite, Aurora (followed by Yuuichiro), 
Hematite, and Marcasite leading them.  

	Jadeite reached out with his power for the Star Orb, struggling with the 
others.  "Aurora!  Help the Zodiac kill each other!"

	"Any tactical advice?" Parias asked Yuki via his communicator as he and Noriko 
and the junior Pluto faced most of the Youma legions closing in.

	"Lead them over to attack Scorpio," Yuki said.  "Or run like crazy if that 
doesn't work."

	He was afraid she'd say that.

	As they started running, Tethys hesistated just outside the surge of energies 
around the orb.  Could she survive all that power?  Even with the shield?  And 
what should she do if she got it?  Something was wrong with Jadeite; she could 
see it now with the help of the Shield.  A mix of Star and Dark Power tangled 
up inside him; another knot like that was inside Aurora.  Could she cure them?  
Should she?  What future did she want for her people?  

	What did she want for the Youma?  Rule of the earth?  A return to being human? 
 Could they adjust?  She could see them now, all tangled up inside from the 
dark power.  But if they lost that, how would they survive?  How had her 
ancestors survived, when they were human?

	She felt the Shield pulse suddenly.  It knew, she realized.  But it couldn't 
communicate, could it?  

	Scorpio, down below, saw Aurora and Jadeite coming her way; they'd brushed 
aside Noriko and Parias, who were now fighting Hematite and Marcasite 
respectively.  Amazonite was trying to chase after Pluto.  However, Aurora, 
Jadeite, the dark haired fellow following Aurora, and their horde of youma were 
more than Scorpio could handle, given Aurora held one of the Icons.  

	But how could...

	Then a massive rainbow beam of light shone down from the sky, and the Sailor 
Senshi arrived with Endymion, arriving between Scorpio and the onrushing Dark 
Kingdom forces.

	"Venus!  Finally, a REAL FOE!," Amazonite shouted.

	"What does that make me?" the junior Pluto shouted angrily.

	"An inferior knock-off!," Amazonite said.

	The senior Pluto held her hand over her mouth.

	"Jupiter!" Parias shouted at her, looking rather happy.  

	She gave him a thumbs-up even as Marcasite almost managed to stab him while he 
was distracted.  Now he had to go after Marcasite again.  Jupiter looked 
worried for a moment, but she kept her position.

	"Rei-chan," Serenity said softly to Aurora.

	"I am not Rei!" Aurora said angrily, holding her hammer high.  "I am Princess 
Aurora, heir to Mars and..."

	"I love Aurora too," Serenity said softly, smiling at Aurora despite Aurora's 
anger.  

	That just infuriated her more.  

	"We can't fight yet, they have to have a tender reconciliation first," Venus 
said to Amazonite.

	"NO TIME LIKE THE PRESENT!  Iodine, make sure no one interferes!" Amazonite 
said, then rushed to attack, soon finding herself chasing Venus around the 
room, weaving in and out of the other fights in progress, while Iodine jogged 
after them, not sure what, if anything, she ought to be doing.

	Endymion said, "Jadite, my old friend.  We are the last of our generation.  I 
don't want to fight you."

	Jadeite hesitated, the fragments of memory echoing in his mind...the 
coffin...no...  He winced, trying to pull his sense of self together.  "The 
kingdoms had grown weak.  We needed strong leadership to stop the Things 
and..."

	"And Beryl warped your mind as she did mine.  But I broke free, and so can 
you."

	"He's telling the truth!," Tethys said from the air.  "I can see someone has 
used the Star Power and Dark Power to mess with your mind."

	Jadeite and Aurora looked up, staring at Tethys as anarchy ebbed and flowed 
across the chamber.  "Tethys, is that you?" Jadeite asked.

	"Yes, Lord Jadeite," she said.  "I am Tethys, daughter of Beryl and Magnetite, 
the last heir of fallen Atlantis."  She pointed to the Shield and it rose up to 
her hands.  "And this is the Shield of Metallia, which defended Atlantis for a 
thousand years!"

	The youma froze, staring upwards now, recognizing it and staring at its human-
appearing master.

	Even Scorpio looked up at her, staring.  The woman spoke the truth, she 
realized.

	And then suddenly, Scorpio felt a blade stab into her gut, a blade she 
couldn't see, though now she suddenly felt the presence of another scorpio.  
Instinctively, she lashed out with her power at the invisible would-be-
assassin.  "You should have gone for the heart!"

	And then, with Scorpio distracted, even as the invisible assassin was flung 
into the pillar to which Astra had once been transfixed, the Star Orb suddenly 
fell into Astra's hands.

	"Tethys speaks the truth!," she shouted.  "By the mistakes of Beryl and 
Metallia, your entire nation was changed into what you are today!  OPEN YOUR 
EYES AND SEE!"

	And then the Star Power washed over everything.

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

	"Father, I don't want to do this!," the woman cried; she was little more than 
a teenager, now strapped down onto the altar by her father, who followed the 
old ways.  Forbidden ways now.  This sacrifice had always been made; if it was 
not made, the Great Goat would destroy them all!

	The Wizards had changed everything, but they were fools.  The Things could not 
be denied; give them their due or die; his ancestors had learned that.

	He raised his hands and began to chant.  "Great mother of the forest, come 
forth and accept this sacrifice!  Let her be..."

	TWANG TWANG TWANG TWANG TWANG.  Crossbow bolts riddled his body; one of them 
exploded a localized sphere of magical silence over him.  Poisons flowed into 
him, reacting with the taint of dark magic within him; he burst into flames.

	The unfortunate brunette on the altar strained to look and saw.  Two men in 
black robes, accompanied by twelve men and women in chain armor with black 
shields.  Atlanteans!

	"Help me," she moaned.

	One of the men gestured and a woman came up and untied her, while the men in 
robes poured oil onto her father's body and began to burn it as he writhed on 
the ground.  "You know this guy?" the woman asked.

	"Father," she mumbled.  

	Immediately, one of the men in robes straightened up and put on a headband 
with a large crystal lense that hung over one eye.  He studied her and nodded 
to the other, who frowned and pulled out a black wand, holding it like a man 
holding a viper.  He pointed and chanted.

	She howled as he suctioned out dark energy from her, then collapsed, feeling 
relieved, once it was gone; it all flowed into the wand; he studied the black 
gem, now blacker still, then pocketed it carefully.  "You're going to be okay, 
Miss...?"

	"Amara," the woman mumbled.  "Thank you."

	"Just doing our duty, ma'am."

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

	Images flickered by, the Atlanteans doing their duty for a thousand years, 
rooting out cults and monsters, collecting energy and feeding it to Metallia 
and through her, the Great Shield.  Long years of often thankless duty.

	And discontent.  Everyone feared them, for they used the darkness against 
itself; it was dangerous, but someone had to do it.  But they often felt their 
sacrifices and risks went unrecognized.

	Thus, by the reign of King Strathmore, many whispered darkly in the kingdom 
and many desired glory, to be recognized for their deeds, not shunned.  And 
Metallia herself felt her sacrifice was forgotten, taken for granted by the 
other kingdoms, who fell into decadence and luxury while she and her people 
suffered to keep them safe.  Thus it was that Beryl was able to convince them 
and especially Metallia to follow her in their war of revenge, after she had 
married their King.  

	With Metallia's help, she secured the Star Orb and with it...

***************
	
	Four men, once the Guardians of Earth.  Now sealed in crystal coffins and 
worked over every day by Beryl with the Star Orb.  It was difficult, 
frustrating work, for the Orb resisted it, and she had to force her will on it. 
 Even with Metallia aiding her, it was hard to use it.

	But it had shown her their weak points, the places she could chisel with Star 
Power and Dark Power to bend them to her way of thinking, that they might serve 
her.  And soon, soon they would be ready and would lead her armies against the 
Moon.  Then her revenge would be complete!

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

	In reality, Jadeite stared at himself in the coffin.  Just like the one he had 
used on...Aurora.  Agony and guilt warred with pragmatism.  He'd had to break 
the Senshi's hold on her somehow; she belonged to him, not to them...no, it was 
a horrible betrayal, to force her to love him once again, to use her power 
and...

	Jadeite writhed, torn between the sides of his nature, not wanting to believe 
he'd spent twenty five thousand years living a lie.  But he could feel the 
truth of this...but was that a trick?

	He couldn't tell, so his agony continued.

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

	The war with the Moon played out before them and their banishment to the Dark 
Kingdom.  And then their efforts to escape, the creation of the Gibberlings, 
and the effects of the plague...

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

	Queen Beryl stared at the twisted and warped infant who lay dead on the 
dissection table.  "Mara gave birth to this?" she asked softly, looking sad.

	"I know," Magnesite said.  "Crysolite, if you will explain..."

	Crysolite was a middle aged man; once human, he now had three eyes, purple 
skin, and scales.  But his mind was still potent, his lore wise.  "I think 
perhaps only you and the Generals could still have totally normal children, my 
queen.  And I'm not even sure there.  We saved as many as we could from the 
Plague, but it twisted us and our seed.  We had to kill this one before it 
could eat Mara."

	Beryl grimaced.  "Then we are the last generation," she said softly.

	"Perhaps not," he said.  "I believe I have found a way to create artificial 
birthing environments.  We could use the Art of Two Seeds to create babies 
without the need for pregnancy, then guide their development."

	"Begin experiments," Beryl said.  "None of us will live forever and we must 
have descendents who will finally crush those who imprisoned us and wipe them 
out."

	Magnesite sighed; he had a feeling from the battle reports of the survivors 
that it was quite possible their foes had wiped themselves out.  But that only 
made this more urgent.  They might be the last remnants of humanity.  Not that 
they were very human any more. 

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

	The hordes of youma stared at what they saw, wondering if this was real.  The 
survivors of Tethys' incursion drifted in to join their brothers and sisters, 
only to freeze and stare.  

	Some of the youma refused to believe any of this. They were Metallia's chosen, 
not twisted and bent humans.  Others felt a sense of relief as the world 
finally made sense.  And many just didn't know what to think.

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

	The circumstances of Tethys' own birth now played out before them (somewhat to 
her embarrassment), as she had seen it before, when the world had flickered in 
and out.  

	And then the visions were over, and for a few seconds, all was silent, as 
everyone stared at each other, invader and defender, Senshi, Zodiac, and Youma 
alike.  

	Aurora began to clutch her head, as now images of a crystal coffin filled it, 
of herself in the coffin, Jadeite putting her there...no, it couldn't be.  He 
wouldn't do that to me.  He was helping me!

	Yuuichiro quietly put his hand on her shoulder.

	Jadeite was lost inside his own mind as well, struggling with his own memories 
of crystal coffins, wondering if he was really who he thought he was, or what 
Beryl had done to him...  This could all be a trick, surely it was a trick!
	
	Tethys said, "Jadeite, if you don't believe this, call Magnesite.  He can 
confirm it."

	The Zodiac began trying to kill each other and Astra and the White Knight 
again.  However, Astra and her knight now pitched in to aid Leo's forces 
against Scorpio.  With the Star Orb in Astra's hands, even with Star Guard 
charging in to aid Scorpio's allies, this was hardly an even fight, especially 
as Parias, Noriko, and the Junior Pluto all pitched into the battle.

	Idol Angel Mami now flew down and secured Hikaru's unconscious invisible body; 
not an easy task, then brought it up to the balcony.

	Amazonite stared at Venus now, who stared back sadly.  "Do we have to fight to 
the death again?" Venus asked softly.  "I couldn't bear to kill you twice."

	Amazonite froze up, remembering her final battle with Venus, the way she had 
been in that vision... dream... whatever it was.  That was NOT her.  She didn't 
send others to die pointlessly in arenas.  It was not honorable, it was 
not...the way of Atlantis.

	Venus held out a hand.  "Please.  Jadeite will trust you, though he can't 
trust us.  You take good care of your youma, unlike many of the other generals, 
and you're very honorable.  The Dark Power will hollow you out in the end and 
just make you a vessel for it in the end, if you don't turn back."

	Her youma muttered among themselves, but many of them seemed to agree with 
Venus.  They had seen the truth in the vision presented by the Star Princess.  
Even if they weren't sure what this entailed.

	Iodine said softly, "I trusted you and you kept your promise to me.  I will 
keep my promise and follow you where you lead.  But I do think Venus is right; 
there's no good reason for you to fight to the death."

	"Jadeite was a Guardian of the Earth, and our peoples were all friends, until 
Beryl wrecked everything," Venus said.  "Please, it's not too late."

	Amazonite closed her eyes for a moment, then turned to the Senshi and the 
youma hordes.  "My lord Jadeite!  I think they speak the truth!  Beryl used us 
all for her petty revenge!  And now, thousands of years later, she's still 
using us, from beyond the grave!  I did not train for centuries to be the 
instrument of petty revenge for a broken heart!  And neither did you!  It is 
time for us to be free of the chains Beryl laid on us!"

	"Be free, Aurora," Serenity said softly.  "We love you.  Come back to us."

	"Yeah, Serenity needs someone to keep her in line, as her boyfriend's too soft 
on her," Jupiter said, grinning.

	"We need your spiritual wisdom," Mercury said.

	"I need someone to keep my insanity in check," Venus said.  "My love does his 
best, but he loves me too much to keep me in line, either.  He can't sing half 
as good as you, either."

	"I love you, Aurora, Rei, I love you," Yuuichiro said softly.

	Aurora screamed, torn inside, fear and doubt and hope tangled together, unable 
to reconcile conflicting thoughts and identities.  

	Tethys tried to decide whether to say anything, or if she'd just fuck it up if 
she tried.  She could hear the youma all arguing with each other over the 
meaning of all this; many of the generals looked displeased but also afraid to 
start anything without their leader.

	But she couldn't be indecisive.  Not if she was going to help her people.

	"Got any ideas, Horus?" she mumbled into her communications unit.

	"The vision seemed to indicate that Dark Power could be removed by the 
Atlantean arts.  Perhaps with your Shield...?"

	Tethys nodded and landed before Jadeite and Aurora.  "Jadeite, you have 
watched over my people for thousands of years.  Without you, we'd all be on the 
way to extinction now.  But Beryl twisted you.  We both know it.  
Jadeite...Please, let me help you.  Don't cling to the past until it destroys 
you like Mother did.  We have to change to survive."  She flickered into her 
human form, now clad in a black dress to match Serenity's, then youma form, 
still in the dress, and back to human again.  "I can't pretend I like Serenity, 
but I like you.  I can help you, if you let me.  Take my hands."

	Terrified that Serenity might strike now-- she remembered their last encounter 
all too well-- Tethys reached out her hands to Jadeite.   

	Serenity did the same to Aurora.  "Please," she said softly.  "I love you.  
Whoever you wish to be, however you may change, I will always love you, from 
now until the sun goes out and beyond.  Come back to us."

	"But I...what I did...unforgivable...," Aurora managed to spit out.

	Yuuichiro silently squeezed her shoulder.

	"I forgive you," Serenity said.  "I always will."

	Endymion held out his hands to both Jadeite and Aurora, "We need you.  Both of 
us.  All of us.  You were always my strength, my fire.  I need you, both of 
you.  Come back to us."

	"I...I have been so terrible.  It's too la...", Aurora began, as Jadeite 
thrashed silently, staring at Tethys and Endymion.

	Neptune suddenly spoke, cutting her off.  "Aurora.  Remember the dead of Mars. 
 You brought them hope and redemption, even the damned among them.  After 
twenty five thousand years, you ended their curse.  It is NEVER too late for 
forgiveness and repentance!"

	Uranus jumped at the strength of Neptune's voice.

	"Forgive me, my love, for what I did, for my weakness that failed to resist 
Marcasite," Neptune said to her.

	"Of course," Uranus said, looking embarrassed.  

	"The dead," Aurora mumbled.  "My people."  Her voice suddenly became firmer.  
"The dead were redeemed.  By me.  I brought them...peace."

	And then she burst into flame.

**************
	
	Reddish light was suffusing the dark mists within which Rei floated; she heard 
all this, saw the visions, and now, suddenly, she realized what the mists were, 
and where she was, where she'd retreated and hid.

	This was the darkness that Jadeite had woven into her, but it had only broken 
in because she'd lost her faith in herself, thought herself worthless, doused 
her own fires.  She'd thought herself unworthy of their love, but after all 
she'd done, how she'd betrayed them, they still loved her.  

	And she still loved them.  She'd loved Jadeite once, but they had both changed 
since then. The love he had put in Aurora was only a shadow, a deceit, a trick. 
 Part of her still loved him, the part of her that was the real Aurora, but she 
couldn't go back to being Aurora.  You have to move forward, not cling to the 
past.

	She was Rei now, and she loved her grandfather, and she loved Yuuichiro (if 
not so much as he might have liked), and she loved Jadeite, though he had 
betrayed her once, and she loved her friends and loved Serenity and Endymion, 
Usagi and Mamoru, most of all.  And she was coming back to them, for she didn't 
need them to save her from the darkness.

	She was going to save herself, now that she'd decided to stop punishing 
herself for not being invincible and not being able to have them all to 
herself.  They loved her and she loved them with a love of burning fire.

	fire.
	
	Fire.

	FIRE.

	FIRE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

	And the Heart of the Flame ignited and the Darkness and the Star Power mixed 
inside her caught fire and burned away in an instant.  She remembered the dead 
who she had freed and her love for them and it filled her with light.

	And then she opened her eyes, smiling.

	She turned to Jadeite. "Tethys loves you and so does Endymion, my dear 
Jadeite.  Put your trust in them and they will not fail you."  Flames roared up 
around her.  

	In the background, the White Knight smacked Taurus in the groin, sending him 
airborne to crash down on Aries as he was about to fry Cancer.  Up on the 
balcony, Hikaru woke up and stood to take a look around, concealing herself 
again.

	And then Jadeite thrust out his hands and took Endymion and Tethys by the 
hands, even as Aurora now took Serenity and Endymion by the hands as well.  

	"I...Tethys," Serenity said to her, looking embarrassed.

	Amazonite tensed; she could see the other generals getting ready to act; she 
rallied her forces, ready to protect Jadeite and Aurora.  

	"I'm going to give you a beating later," Tethys said angrily, then made 
herself calm down.  "Endymion, aid me," she asked; she'd seen little of him in 
her captivity, but he'd certainly never shoved her head into a monitor in a fit 
of picque.

	Serenity stared at the ground, while Endymion said, "Of course."

	"They're going to brainwash Jadeite!  We must save him!" Marcasite shouted.

	And then Marcasite and Hematite's youmas rushed at Serenity and Endymion, even 
as Tethys and Endymion exerted their power.

	Amazonite moved to engage Marcasite and his men, while the Senshi formed a 
cordon to hold off Hematite and his forces, waves of energy forcing the youma 
back.

	But they couldn't hold this many youma back forever.  

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

	Anthracite parried an incoming fire blast from the red haired woman leading 
some of his foes, but that left him open to a nasty cut from the crazed 
swordsman.  At least the guy and the woman on the motorcycle with the 
shocklance and the wands were busy fighting some of his larger droids.  The two 
twins in superhero outfits weren't helping either.

	But mostly it came down to a horde of angry Tokyo citizens with improvised 
weaponry which was unnaturally effective.  He could tell many remembered lives 
once forgotten, weilding skills earned in lifetimes past.

	They'd chased him back to that damnable school, into the central plaza of 
Tsunami, much of which was now a huge mess.  

	And then the swordsman disarmed him, knocking him to the ground, as he tripped 
backwards over some old fat cat. Fear gripped Anthracite's chest.  The sword 
was about to come down, and then...

	He closed his eyes, mustering his strength for a final curse.  But somehow, he 
still wasn't dead.

	He opened his eyes to find a man in a trenchcoat with a smiley face pinned to 
it holding back the arm of the swordsman, while the old fat cat was glaring at 
him.    "Now, now, it's not fair to kill someone helpless," the man said.

	"Who the hell are you?" the swordsman demanded.

	"Your boss, the Principal," the man said cheerfully.  He was totally unarmed 
and yet he seemed to have no fear of the rampaging monsters all around the 
battlefield.  "I'm pretty sure school rules forbid stabbing unarmed men on the 
ground."

	"But..."

	"Vice-Principal Yamamoto, don't you always say to follow the rules?" the 
Principal asked.

	Yamamoto spluttered.

	"We've won this fight.  Now it's time to make fun of General Anthracite for 
losing this war, and then we can all go get something to eat.  I'm starving."

	"I haven't lost yet!," Anthracite said, in desperate defiance of the evidence. 
 He focused his powers of fear on the man, but they just washed off him like 
rain.  

	The idea of a man without fear terrified Anthracite.  Such a man could not be 
stopped by anything.

	"You're ugly and your mother dresses you funny!" one of the super hero twins 
shouted at him.

	"Your knowledge of fine literature is only as good as a first grader!," the 
other twin shouted.

	He could handle the initial taunts, but soon, more skilled folk stepped in to 
criticize his hair, his style, his fighting skills, his power, his future...

	All he could do was to yell at them to stop as his humiliation grew.  And then 
the laughter began, and it didn't stop, ever. Even the cat was laughing at him.

	As he crumpled in on himself, he wished he'd ended up in a crystal coffin in 
space, instead of this.

******************
	
	Astra swept six charging youma with a star bolt, then tried to find Scorpio.  
She could see Noriko body-slamming Aries over and over again and she could see 
Parias driving back Pisces as she fumbled about with a staff, trying to hold 
off his relentless attacks.  The Junior Pluto was busy blasting down groups of 
Youma.  Her love, the White Knight, was chasing Aquarius through the riot of 
Youma and Star Guard, parrying her periodic blasts at him with ease, but slowed 
down by the necessity to knock youma out of the way.

	But she couldn't see Scorpio anywhere.

	Don't look, she told herself.  Sense her.  With the orb, she could pick up two 
concealed people whose sign was Scorpio near her.  One kept flickering in and 
out; the other was very easy to sense.  Hikaru and Scorpio, she thought.  
Hikaru must have returned to the fray, Astra realized.  She reached out with 
her power and hid Hikaru from being sensed by the powers of the Zodiac, hoping 
it would lure in Scorpio, so she could finally try to finish the woman off.

	Then the Scorpio signal began heading for Pluto and Astra suddenly realized 
why, even as she began to fight her way over there.  Pluto was a Scorpio 
herself, and likely Scorpio could hide herself from Pluto's temporal senses.  
And disrupting the Senshi defense against the youma hordes was Scorpio's best 
hope for rendering Astra short of allies.

	Her eyes flickered upward to one of the balconies, from which Hudson, Izuko, 
and Leo Istari were sniping youma.  She reached out with the Star Orb, enfusing 
the sights of their weapons with the ability to read and sense Zodiac signs for 
a short time, then sent them a message.  'Scorpio is over here', with a sense 
of where to find her.

	Izuko looked but didn't shoot.  Hudson, on the other hand, was unafraid to 
empty an entire clip into her, shouting something macho.  Scorpio was too tough 
for it to kill her; the bullets just knocked her down.  But Pluto now spun and 
raised her staff.  

	Even a dead scream would not be enough to stop the Ascendent One.  So Astra 
shouted, "COMET STRIKE!," and hurled a huge bolt of energy at her, even as 
Pluto struck.  

	That hurt her, but it wasn't enough.  But now the new Libra attacked her, 
outraged over what Scorpio had done to his predecessor.  Scorpio managed to 
blow up the balcony Hudson was on, sending him, Izuko, and Leo Istari crashing 
down into the mobs of youma.  But she couldn't handle a continued onslaught 
from Pluto, Astra, and Libra, who was just barely below her power level, his 
sign having only just ceased to be ascendent.  

	Then Astra redirected her power into pumping up Libra and his blows truly 
began to tell.  Scorpio couldn't take much more of this.

	Desperately, she flung herself at Astra, only to have Hikaru interpose 
herself, stabbing Scorpio in the gut.  For a moment, Astra wondered how Hikaru 
could hurt Scorpio when no one else could with mundane weapons, even if she was 
of the same sign, but then she understood.  It was now Hikaru's destiny to 
become the next Scorpio.  She was leeching off Scorpio's own power.  Which 
Scorpio could have stopped if she'd been left alone long enough to notice this.

	This time, Scorpio pushed even more power into trying to kill Hikaru, leaving 
her writhing on the floor in agony.  However, that was all the time the White 
Knight needed to charge in and trample her.  "I won't let you hurt Naru-chan!" 
he shouted.

	"Hikaru!," the junior Pluto shouted, then looked very angry.  There was a 
flicker and then she stood over the knocked down Scorpio, staff head to 
Scorpio's face.  "Don't make me scream," she said flatly.

	Astra blew away several interfering youma and kneeled down by Hikaru to try 
and purge as much of Scorpio's power as she could.  Hikaru had her eyes shut 
and was murmering something over and over.

	"Venom STRIKE!" Scorpio shouted, blasting the Junior Pluto into the air, and 
sending her crashing down, writhing.     

	Then Libra broke several of her ribs and the White Knight trampled her again.

	Right as she was about to try and blow the horse off her, she felt a sudden 
yank; someone was trying to take her power.  

	The child-ninja-wannabe.  The strength of her will, the potency of her rage, 
her venom, surprised Scorpio.  It was more than she expected from a child.

	But it was not enough.  Her will was stronger, her hate more potent, and she 
was the Ascendent One.  "VENOM STRIKE!"  

	It did kill the horse,  but not strongly enough, as now a horse fell on her, 
burying her in dead horse, except for the way Libra was breaking her legs and 
now the White Knight was bashing her in the head, screaming about innocent 
horses and...the child was taking enough power for their strength to outweigh 
hers.  She couldn't beat them so long as the child was drawing from her and...

	And now Astra aided Hikaru, and Scorpio's power drained away, even as Libra 
struck blow after blow and she felt the pain rise, consciousness fading.

	The last she heard from Astra while conscious was, "That's enough.  She's 
lost."

	"She killed my teacher!" Libra shouted.

	"That's no reason to murder her.  She's helpless now; she can be tried and 
punished according to the law," Astra said.

	Leo, who had been approaching her said, "What law?"

	"Star law," Astra said.  "There's going to be changes around here once this is 
over, but I think the laws as they stand should suffice to deal with the 
traitors."

	"And the rest of us?" Leo asked warily.  "After what has happened..."

	"Strip them all of their powers," the White Knight said angrily.  "They 
deserve it for what they did to you, Naru-chan."

	All the surviving Zodiac, of whatever side, were watching her now.  

	"Those who have abused their powers will be stripped of them," Astra said.  
"As for the rest, you'll be given the choice to follow me, or give up your 
power to someone who will and be sent home to Earth to do what you wish with 
your life.  I will not start my rule with revenge and blood, but I must have a 
Zodiac which will follow me, not sacrifice me.  But for now, we must stop the 
traitors and the fighting.  I go to aid my fellow Ruling Wizards," she said, 
then leaned over to kiss the White Knight's cheek.  "Lead them into battle, my 
love," she said, then turned and walked away to join the others, hoping she'd 
made the right decision.  She knew them now, from her long struggle, and she 
hoped the uncorrupted ones would follow her.  But if not...she'd cross that 
bridge then.

	Scorpio Istari picked up the old Scorpio and began dragging her off.  "Revenge 
is a dish best served," she hissed into Scorpio's ear, and got quite a distance 
before she realized she didn't actually know where she was going.
 
	Astra joined Tethys, Jadeite, Yuuichiro, Aurora, Serenity, and Endymion at the 
heart of the storm.  "Tethys, I am sorry," she said to Tethys.

	Tethys started.  "What?"

	"We treated you very badly, and I am sorry for it," Astra said, holding out 
her hand.  "Please forgive me."

	Tethys stared at the hand, then said, "We were enemies.  And compared to what 
we youma usually did to prisoners, I got off easily."

	Serenity looked up finally from staring at the ground.  "I..."

	"You, on the other hand, were completely full of shit," Tethys said angrily to 
her.  "Maybe I'll forgive you eventually, but not today."

	Serenity looked stricken, but Endymion said, "I understand.  Now it is time 
for us to save your people."

	"Prince Endymion...," Jadeite began.

	"It happened to me too," he said to Jadeite.  "During our recent war with 
Beryl.  It comes with the territory."

	"I hate to interrupt your beautiful reconciliation, but DO SOMETHING," Uranus 
said.  "We're wall to wall youma here, even if half of them are just milling 
around confused in the back!"

	Tethys laughed loudly.  "Now that's warrior spirit," she said.  "Jadeite, we 
must save our people."

	"I am...," he began.

	"A kind, wise man who led us well for thousands of years," Tethys said.  
"Please, help me.  They trust you; that's why they let you claim the throne and 
have followed you from the Dark Kingdom to the Earth to the Moon."

	"Tethys," Pluto said softly.  "Not all will listen.  I am sorry."

	"I know," Tethys said.  "It is not easy to believe your entire life has been 
based on lies.  Or to make a person believe the truth once they know their old 
truths were lies.  But I will do what I can."

	"I will help," Aurora said.  "My kingdom lies empty, and my destiny lies with 
Serenity now.  Your people can dwell there and rebuild it, a land for 
themselves, a gift to you and my old love, Jadeite."

	"Aurora, I..." he began.  He seemed utterly lost for words, his hands frozen 
in the air.

	"It's okay, my love," Aurora said.  "We can't go back to the past.  But I want 
to help you have a new future.  And Obsidian will help you."

	They smiled sadly at each other, and Yuuichiro felt a mixture of relief and 
pride for his love's generosity. 

	"Join hands," Aurora said, holding out her hand.  

	Each of the others laid a hand on hers.  

	Then Tethys held up her Shield.  "I am Tethys, Queen of Atlantis!  The Age of 
the Dark Kingdom is over!  Atlantis returns to the light, and to us is given 
the Kingdom of Mars to rule as our own!  Let those who would be free of the 
chains laid upon us by Beryl and Metallia raise their hands and join me!  It is 
time for us to be free!"

	Jadeite spoke, his hand on Tethys' shoulder instead of in the middle of the 
hands of the Wizards.  "I am your King, Jadeite!  The words she speaks are true 
and I urge every one of you to rally to us, join us, that we might begin anew 
on Mars!"

	Each of the Wizards joined their power to hers-Astra to bend the destinies of 
all who consented to the light, Serenity to banish the dark energies which 
corrupted them, Endymion to strengthen and sustain them through the change, and 
Aurora to ignite the fires of hope in their hearts and to fit them for survival 
on Mars and to reshape it to their desires.  

	A great storm of power rushed over all and to each one was given a choice; to 
follow Tethys and Jadeite and become human once more or to remain youma, 
following Hematite and Marcasite and to risk judgment in battle.  Many trusted 
in Jadeite and Amazonite, and chose to accept their judgment.  Others joined 
them, knowing there was no way to win without Jadeite and Aurora.  Hematite 
simply fled, unwilling to repent or to stick around and die.  And the rest 
rallied around Marcasite.  They were youma, not weakling humans; if Jadeite and 
Amazonite and Tethys thought otherwise, they were unconvinced.  

	The power of the Five Wizards reached between dimensions, touching even those 
who dwelt still within the Dark Kingdom.  Magnetite let himself become human, 
though he knew it meant the end of his days would likely soon approach.  
Sapphire didn't bother to fight, as he had experiments he needed to finish.  

	Those who chose to reject a return to humanity, however, found themselves 
unable to resist, driven first to the Earth, and then up the bridges into the 
Dark Kingdom and down into its depths, even as those within fled out of it.  
Those youma within the city who survived retreated up the bridges as well.

	"Mercy for them," Tethys said softly.  "Not everyone is strong enough to fight 
the darkness."

	Serenity and Endymion and Aurora twined their power about, and reached into 
the deep wells to re-ignite the flames which had once given abundant life to 
those banished here, before Metallia had drained them dry to sustain herself.  
It would be a prison for those who could not let go of the Dark Power, but not 
a charnel house, as it had nearly become.  Perhaps in time, something could be 
done for them.  Perhaps they would find a better way.  And if not, they could 
not hurt anyone else.

	Then they reached and bent the fabric of the world, to craft new bridges, like 
those which Jadeite had built, which would connect to Mars, to open the way for 
those who wished a kingdom of their own to claim Mons Olympus.  Their power 
reached up the bridge, to restore the shattered life of that area, and to hide 
it from the prying eyes of Earth for now.  

	And now their power washed across Tokyo, fixing the damage to the city, 
restoring it to its pre-war state.  Many of its inhabitants promptly chose to 
forget anything had ever happened, wanting quiet, normal lives, as they had all 
the previous times the city had been devastated.

	But there were some who did not close their eyes and forget the recent and 
ancient past.  But their time will come later.

	And that was as much as any of the Five Ruling Wizards could stand.  They had 
pushed their powers to the limit, and even with the great leylines of Tokyo at 
their command and the power of their Icons, it was as much as they could take.  
They collapsed, exhausted and spent.  Victory was theirs, but the cleanup would 
have to be carried out by others.

**********
	
	Parias shuffled about, pretending to be busy with the cleanup.  Really, 
though, he was trying to figure out what to say to Jupiter.  If he should say 
anything.  He wasn't sure at this point if she wanted anything more to do with 
him.

	He'd never been good with women, though he and Haruna had been pretty 
friendly.  But it had never quite...worked right.

	He glanced over at her, but she was deep in conversation with Venus, a hand on 
Venus' shoulder.  He didn't want to butt in.  He just...

	He didn't know what to say.  Jupiter might talk about how they couldn't live 
normal lives, but they had to.  How would they eat if they couldn't keep jobs?  
What would Makoto do with herself if this kept her...if being with him kept her 
from finishing school?  Being a magical warrior didn't exactly pay the bills.  

	Parias glanced at Jupiter again, still with Venus, both of them standing 
protectively near the slumped over Wizards, who were now using the former 
sacrifice pillar as something to rest their backs against.

	He wished he had someone to go to for advice.  He'd always been too much of a 
loner for his own good.  But almost everyone here was just a teenager or had 
lived some totally warped life like being a member of the Zodiac.  Surely I'm 
not totally a fool to worry about what society would do if we were discovered, 
he thought.  

	Assuming society even existed after everything, though it had looked like 
they'd fixed everything.  But could you really fix something like that?

	"Clark," a woman said softly.

	He jumped and turned and saw Pluto, who looked less all-certain of herself 
than usual.  Though still FAR more certain than him.  "Yes, Pluto?"

	"Call me Setsuna," she said softly, then took him aside, towards the edge of 
the room.  "Your worries are not without merit, but you can't let them control 
you."

	He tried to parse that.  "Until she's out of school, it could be disastrous if 
we're caught together."

	"It's a risk you have to take if you want to be with her," Pluto said.  "If 
you transfer to another school after this, though, you should be fine.  She's 
old enough in Japan, to do whatever she wants with you, so long as you aren't 
HER teacher.  Furthermore, if things were to 'go south', so to speak, I am not 
without influence."

	He wasn't sure if he wanted to know what that meant.  "I don't want to mess 
things up for her," he said softly.

	"Neither does she.  She's not the same person you said goodbye to," Pluto 
said.  "I think she and Venus both grew a lot during our trip to Dark Tokyo."

	"Dark Tokyo?" he asked.

	She began to explain everything to him.

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

	"Well, it would seem I dragged you away for not much of anything," Amazonite 
said to Miki, a little embarrassed.  "But you served me well while it lasted.  
Though if you're interested in a new fronteir..."

	"I still need to get out of high school," Miki said.  "Though the idea of 
going to build a new civilization on Mars is kind of intriguing."  

	"What exactly is this 'high school', anyway?" Amazonite asked.

	Miki could see this would take some explaining.

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

	"We should go sleep.  Have a big all-Wizard sleepover," Sailor Moon mumbled, 
leaning against the pillar, holding Sailor Mars' hand with one hand and 
Endymion's with the other.  

	Yuuichiro sat indian-style near Sailor Mars.  "I think I might have to carry 
you all to bed."

	"A big what?" Tethys mumbled, now looking completely human with pale skin and 
long dark hair and violet eyes, dressed now in her Eclipse uniform.

	"It is a human custom of friends sleeping together.  Women of Sailor Moon's 
age often use it as a chance to gossip and offer each other fashion tips 
without any boys listening or making fun of them," Horus whispered to her 
through her comm unit.

	"What, like Inanna and Athena used to have with Kunzite and Zoicite?" Jadeite 
mumbled groggily, sitting like Yuuichiro next to Tethys and Sailor Mars.

	Sailor Moon turned bright red, while Sailor Mars laughed.  "Girls only, the 
boys can have their own sleepover."

	"White Knight, my love, help me up," Astra mumbled.  "I need to settle the 
Zodiac before we can have a sleepover."

	Tethys was still trying to figure out what was going on as the White Knight 
helped Astra stumble off.

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

	Virgo stared off across the room, steeling herself to this.  She'd made it 
halfway to her target when Uranus said from behind her.  "Hold on, I need to 
talk to you."

	Nervously, she turned.  "Hello, Uranus," she said softly.

	"Dammit, are you my mother?" she asked.

	"Good, Neptune DID tell you.  I was wondering," she said.  Nervously, she 
reached out a hand to Uranus.  

	Uranus took it, to her relief.  "Mother, who is my father if you're my mother? 
 I only got a half-answer out of the other you, but she seemed to say..."

	Silently, Virgo pointed across the room at him.

	Uranus' head turned slowly, praying she didn't know what she was about to see.

	What she saw was Noriko picking up a pallet of unconscious TDDC members over 
her head and starting to walk towards the infirmary with them, her grandfather 
trailing after her.

	Grandfather.

	CLICK, inside Uranus' brain.

	"I'm going to have to kill myself now," Uranus mumbled.

	"I want to talk to him, but I'm afraid to, after all this time.  He doesn't 
know," Virgo mumbled.

	More of Uranus' brain cells melted.  "You...please tell me you don't..."

	"He is your father, and we should...He at LEAST needs to know," Virgo said.  
"Now, push me over to talk to him, daughter."

	To her relief, she got a brief reprieve when Tethys now stumbled over to 
Sensei to talk to him.

	This gave her a few more seconds of sanity, anyway.

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

	Sensei stopped just outside the door.  "Go on, Noriko; I'll catch up in a 
second."

	Tethys said, "Impressive, Noriko.  Very good.  Never be afraid to show your 
strength."

	Noriko stared at her with an odd expression as Tethys flickered into her 
Princess form for a moment, then back to Eclipse mode. "I...thank you," she 
said.  "See you soon, grandfather."  Then she took off.  

	"Hello, Tethys," he said.  "You seem to have come up in the world," he 
continued in his mild way, taking off his glasses and beginning to clean them.  
"Or should I call you Queen Tethys now?  Will you and Jadeite rule as dual 
monarchs, like the Roman consuls and the Kings of Sparta?"

	The consuls had been pretty strong units in that computer game, she thought.  
A good model for her rule, perhaps.  "Yes," she said, hoping she understood 
him.  "But you may call me Theresa when I'm like this."  She adjusted her 
Eclipse uniform slightly.  "Did you know?" she asked.  She really wanted to ask 
if he...he had to be.  But he probably didn't remember.

	"That's a good name," he said.  "And I didn't know.  But I'm glad I've come to 
know you."

	"You probably trusted me too much," she mumbled.  

	"But you never betrayed that trust," he said.  "Once you were out of the cage, 
I couldn't have stopped you hurting or even killing me, if you'd wanted to."  
He smiled at her, then said, "I'm glad I got to meet you.  I learned a lot from 
you."

	"Me too," she mumbled, then said, "Sensei, I came to ask if you'd come and 
help us rebuild our kingdom.  None of us know much of technomagic, but you're 
very adept at it.  And I know you're interested in artifacts and other worlds."

	He looked surprised.  "Me, really?"

	"I trust you," she said.  "And I respect your skills.  You and...Noriko if she 
wishes to help...would be of great help to us."

	"I'm not young anymore," he said, then stared off at nothing a few seconds.  
"But never mind that.  I would be a fool to pass up a chance like this.  I 
would be glad to help you," he said.

	She felt a vast relief.  "Thank you, Sensei."

	"You're welcome," he said.

	"I'll talk to you again once I know more," Tethys said.  "Goodbye."  Then she 
stumbled off.

************  
	
	Astra wished she could perfectly settle everything now.  But there had to be 
proper trials; she wanted to start her leadership with the rule of law, not the 
rule of naked power.  She could simply strip the offenders of office and give 
it away right this second.  The paranoid voice inside her which feared becoming 
a victim again urged her to do so.

	But she hadn't overcome powerlessness just to become a monster of unbridled 
power.  She would do this within the law, though some of that law was itself 
going to have to change.  But she didn't want to be a tyrant.

	She would, however, announce her intentions to the unaccused Zodiac before 
her, and to others she'd assembled, who probably wondered why they were there.  
Hikaru, Yuki, Daichi, Izuko, and Hudson all sat in folding chairs to one side 
with the unaccused Zodiac to the left:  Virgo, Leo, Cancer, Capricorn, Polly, 
Sagittarius, and the new Libra.  

	"Once the trials are over, the guilty parties will be stripped of their 
powers," Astra began.

	"What happens to me?" Polly asked.  "I swear I didn't..."

	"Saggitarius, am I correct in my understanding that this is the first time 
that one of the Gemini has been stripped of power?" Astra asked the old 
centaur.

	"It was never within our power to strip an errant Zodiac of his power by any 
means besides death," Sagittarius said slowly.  "However, twenty-six times, a 
single Gemini has died by violence without the other dying.  In those cases, 
the Gemini could only activate his or her power with the help of the Ascended 
One and retired from active duty to begin training the successors," Sagitarrius 
said.  

	Polly winced.  "But I'm so young," she mumbled.

	"Well, I expect that's what will happen," she said.  "I've divined your Istari 
with the orb, but I don't know them personally, though they seem to attend 
Tsunami.    We'll have to contact them if you can't use the power yourself."

	"Hmm, perhaps she'd turn into a hermaphrodite if she held the whole power," 
Sagitarrius mused.

	Polly turned pale.  Daichi put a hand over his mouth to hide his laughter.  
Hudson didn't bother.

	"The orb has also guided me to the other star-chosen successors.  Hikaru for 
Scorpio, Daichi for Taurus, Yuki for Pisces, Izuko for Aquarius, and Hudson for 
Aries," she continued.

	Hudson's jaw dropped.  Izuko's eyes widened.  "Will it help me win at soccer?" 
Daichi asked.  

	"AWESOME," Yuki said enthusiastically.  

	Leo Istarri stared, grumbling a little.

	"It's going to be hard on all of you with the current office holders in jail 
cells," Astra said.  "But we will have to do our best."

	"What about Ascendency?" Leo asked.  "These novices can hardly lead the Zodiac 
with no training."

	"The power itself will cycle to them, whatever we may decide, once they take 
up the office," Astra said.  

	"I would suggest a mentor for each of them from the experienced Zodiac, to 
stand in for the official functions," the White Knight said.  "Polly to guide 
her two Istarri, Virgo for Scorpio, and so on.  Until they are ready to walk on 
their own.  We can work something out."

	"Sagitarrius is the eldest of the Zodiac and he is ascending and comes after 
Scorpio.  Do any object to him acting as leader until it is time for 
Capricorn?" Astra asked.

	"I think he would make a fine leader," Capricorn said.  "For the interim."

	The others generally nodded.  

	"Alright," Astra said wearily.  "Now, let's start talking about the 
trials...."

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

	"I just want to go make love to my fiancee and forget everything else," Venus 
said to Jupiter.  "I...he's got to be okay, right?"

	"I'm sure he's fine," Jupiter said, glancing off across the room at Parias 
talking to Pluto, trying to figure out what to say to him.  She'd pretty well 
chewed his face off the last time they'd seen each other.  "He was fine last 
time we talked to him.  Unless he and Ryo pounced on each other in a mad fit of 
battle lust."  She was just teasing.

	To her surprise, Venus didn't descend into mad fantasies from that.  "Not very 
likely, much as I'd like to see it," Venus said very levelly.  "I just want to 
be Minako for a bit and forget everything else."

	"Well, we can call him from here, right?" Jupiter said.  It would let her put 
off the talk with Clark a bit longer.  Especially as she didn't know what to 
say.  

	Other than she had to ask him about this 'Clark's Law' thing.  She didn't know 
they'd named a scientific law after him.

	"Oh, you're right.  I should go call him," Venus said.  "And you should 
probably go rescue your boyfriend before Pluto sends him to the future or 
something."

	The Gate of Time now appeared and Pluto and Parias stepped into it.

	"..."  They both stared mindlessly at it.

	"Umm, let me call Steven real quick, then we can get Ami and go do something 
or another while we wait for everyone's boyfriends to come back."

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

	"I...Aurora-chan," Yuuichiro said to Sailor Mars as they both stood in the 
hallway near the 'sleepover' room.

	"Rei," she said.  "Aurora died a long time ago."

	"Do you..."

	"I'll always love him," Sailor Mars said.  "But our time is over.  Our paths 
lead away from each other, at least for now."

	He nodded, then began to open his mouth.

	Before he could speak, she leaned over and kissed his cheek.  "I know you love 
me," she said softly.  "But it's not safe to love someone that much.  I don't 
know if I could ever love you that much or if it's wise for you to love me that 
much.  I can't give you all of me, not now, and probably not ever.  I like you. 
 I care about you.  Sometimes I have..."  She paused a moment, looking a little 
red.  "And now that I'm ready to stop lying to myself, I think I could love 
you.  But I can't worship you the way you worship me.  Do you understand?"

	"Yes, I know I'm not worthy to...," he began.

	She slapped him and he started back in shock.

	"Don't say that!  Don't tear yourself down!  You stood by me, knowing I loved 
someone else, knowing you were surrounded by beings with vastly more power than 
yourself, but you put your life on the line because you knew I needed you.  And 
I did need you," she said.  "I thought no one could love me.  That I wasn't 
worthy.  But now I know I am worthy and people do love me and STOP THINKING YOU 
ARE NOT WORTHY!  There's hardly anyone in this whole world who could do what 
you did." Sailor Mars was shaking him now, trying to make herself stop.  We're 
just like each other, she thought.  I won't let him make my mistakes.  Not if I 
can help it.

	She forced herself to stop.  "Yuuichiro, we need to take this slow, not start 
with one of us worshipping the other.  We don't even...we need to get to know 
each other better.  Also, Grandfather will probably pronounce us married if 
we're not careful if we go too fast."

	Yuuichiro said, "I hope he's okay."

	"He's probably trying to get Ami's mother to put on a short skirt and getting 
a beating for it," Sailor Mars said.

	To be precise, he was in the bathing pool with a bunch of elves who were 
following their usual practice of bathing naked and would soon be unconscious 
from nasal blood loss.

	But they'd find that out later.

	"Anyway," Sailor Mars said.  "I'm willing to try, but we both have to be 
realistic about this.  Neither of us is perfect and worship 
is...dangerous...when you do it to human beings," she said.

	He closed his eyes a moment, then opened them.  "Okay," he said softly.  "How 
about if we go see a movie once we get back?"

	"Sounds good to me," Sailor Mars said.  She kissed his cheek again, then said, 
"Everyone's waiting for me.  You'd better go play with the boys."

	"Hmm, Jadeite can sing, right?"

	Mars felt as if someone had reached deep into her soul and played a chord of 
ominous music.  Slowly, she said, "Yes."

	"Good.  I've got an idea," and then he was gone, leaving her to wonder what he 
meant.

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

	Parias stood on the balcony with Sailor Pluto, staring off across Crystal 
Tokyo.  "But if this is the future, shouldn't they...we all be getting ready 
for it?"

	"They learned those arts in their previous life.  For now, best they have a 
chance to live as normal a life as they can before the burdens of rulership 
settle upon them again," Pluto said.  

	Parias stared off across the city thoughtfully.  "So what do you think I 
should do?"

	"I am probably not the best source of romantic advice," Pluto said, laughing 
softly.  "If you try to avoid each other until she's old enough, it won't work. 
 You'll have to be discreet and probably move to another school to avoid any 
chance of being her teacher again.  Mamoru might have some advice for you; he 
and Usagi have been doing this for years."

	Parias nodded, still watching the folk of the bustling city go by below as he 
listened.

	"And get some flowers.  Makoto rather likes them."

	Parias laughed softly.  "Thank you."

	"You're welcome.  Let's go back."

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

	"I am so sorry," Jadeite said for what might have been the ten millionth time, 
sitting on a chair, facing one of the beds in what had once been some noble's 
bedroom long ago and now had been Taurus' old quarters, which he had now lost 
and had been taken over as boyfriend of female Wizard headquarters.  Umino and 
Yuuichiro had yet to show up, though.

	"It's okay," Mamoru said, taking his hand.  "I'm just glad I could save one of 
you."

	"Well, Nephrite is still haunting dreams."

	"I know," Mamoru said.  He sighed.  "Perhaps it is time to find those who have 
inherited the power of our fallen brothers.  It seems as if...well, I'm not 
sure what exactly is going on with Motoki, but I want to figure it out."

	Jadeite nodded.  "I will be busy with Mars, but I will help you as much as I 
can."

	Their conversation was then interrupted by Umino and Yuuichiro entering 
together.  "C'mon, I've got it all set up," Yuuichiro said.

	"This is going to be great," Umino said.

	"What?" Jadeite asked as he started to get dragged off.

	"What's going on?" Mamoru asked.

	"We're going to record a song!," Yuuichiro said.

	"They've got the most fantastic equipment," Umino said.  "Yuu thinks he died 
and went to heaven.  He's going to run the machines so we can all perform."

	Jadeite had a bad feeling about this.  "I haven't sung in a very long time."

	"It's like falling off a bicycle into a sewer," Yuuichiro said.  "Pretty 
quickly, you remember the right way to ride the bike.  I speak from 
experience."

	This did not reassure.

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

	"Hmm?  Oh yes, Clarke's law is the idea that sufficiently advanced technology 
can't be distinguished from magic if you don't know how it works.  A medieval 
person would look at a light switch and assume it was magical the way it made a 
glass sphere glow," Mercury said as they stood at the landing field behind the 
palace, waiting for Steven and Ryo to make it back from the Earth with their 
fighters.

	Jupiter, still waiting for Parias to resurface, thought a second.  "Oh, I see. 
 Thank you."

	"You're welcome," Mercury said, smiling.

	Venus leaned against the nearby railing, staring up at the stars.  

	Mercury glanced over at Venus and started to speak, but Venus said, "So what 
did you do the whole time?" to Mercury.

	"I spent a lot of time processing data, tracking down everyone, and helping 
Pluto along with Athena," Mercury  said.  "We were both basically frozen inside 
a computer thing."

	"And you, Jupiter?" Venus asked.

	"Killing youma on the Moon," Jupiter said.  "Well, we were supposed to be 
digging for artifacts, but I mainly ended up fighting Capricorn and killing 
Youma on the moon, then attacking the LEXX."

	"It was just a dream, but it..."  Venus shivered a little.  "Am I acting 
strange now?"

	"No," Mercury lied, trying to be reassuring.

	"Yes, but it's not a bad way to act," Jupiter said.  "I think I got off lucky 
compared to you and Mercury, though."

	Venus sighed.  "Why can't they get here faster?"

	"Because the Earth is, on average, 384,403 kilometres from the Moon," Mercury 
said.  "I'm amazed the fighters can make the trip in any reasonable amount of 
time."

	"Those fighters are awesome," Jupiter said.  "Using them is just SO easy."

	Her communicator beeped; nervously, she answered it.  "Hello?"

	It was Parias, looking tense.  "Can we meet in the garden?"

	"Yes," she said before she could chicken out.  "Now?"

	"Yes," he said softly.  

	"See you soon," she replied softly and cut the connection.  "Gotta go see 
him," she said.  "Wish me luck."

	"Good luck," Mercury said.

	Venus still stared upwards, but she said, "You'll be fine.  You've got a lot 
to be proud of."

	"Pride doesn't help much in love," Jupiter mumbled and headed out.

	For a little while, Mercury looked around at everything, then said hesitantly, 
"You're very silent."

	"I'll be okay after a while," Venus said.  "But I feel like someone pried my 
head open and poured a big old box of seriousness into it."  Her voice was much 
calmer than usual.  

	"What you did with Amazonite was very smart," Mercury said, trying to think of 
something to cheer her up.

	"Thank you.  She's not a bad person, just kind of dingey like me," Venus said. 
 She looked over at Mercury, "You don't have to try to cheer me up."

	"I don't like seeing you sad," Mercury said, stepping over to her and taking 
her hand.  "You're always the one to cheer us up."

	Venus smiled at her wanly.  "You're a dear," she said.  "Just stay with me 
until I can dump all my angst in a big steaming ball on my boyfriend."

	"Shouldn't angst be kind of cold and wet?" Mercury asked.

	"It's best we not try to overanalyze my metaphors," Venus said, but she smiled 
a little.

	"Overanalyzing is one of my strong points," Mercury said, laughing a little.

	They stood quietly together until there was a distant roar and two fighters 
settled down together.  

	They were two man craft; one person to pilot, one to shoot.  Gwynafael and 
Steven clambered out of one of them, while Dia and Ryo vaulted out of the other 
one.  Ryo said, "Hah, I was right.  You lose, Dia."

	Dia rubbed her forehead.  "I thought you were bluffing to get your own way."

	I was, but I bluffed right, Ryo thought, smiling.

	Mercury and Venus ran over to their lovers; Mercury kissed Ryo fervently 
enough for Dia to get a little hot under the collar.  Venus just wrapped her 
arms around Steven and leaned on him silently.  He looked surprised, then 
kissed her cheek.  "Bad day, honey?" he asked softly.

	"Some of it, yeah," she whispered to him. 

	Gwynafael shifted back and forth on her feet nervously, looking at them.  

	"Gwynafael," Minako said soberly.  "Can you...my parents need to know I'm 
okay.  I hate to ask, but..."

	"I'll be happy to let them know," she said, half looking at them, half not.

	"You're a dear," Minako said to her, sort of half-blowing her a kiss, though 
she wasn't cheerful enough for it to come across properly.

	"I'll see you later," Gwynafael said softly, then headed back to the fighter 
and took off.

	Steven picked Minako up and said, "See you all later!," then carried her off 
towards the palace.

	When Ami and Ryo finished kissing, Dia asked, teasingly, "Do I get a kiss?"

	To her surprise, Ami did give her a kiss, though not so fervent as the one she 
gave Ryo.  "Thank you for all your help to our families," she said to Dia.  
"You probably saved all their lives."

	"Feel free to reward me again," Dia teased.

	"I also have some...well, sort of good news for you," Mercury said, then 
explained everything about Athena to Dia, whose eyes widened.

	"Interesting," Dia said.  "I know of magics by which I could visit her, though 
I'd need your cooperation."

	"I'd be happy to," Mercury said.  "We are friends."

	"And that is all?" Dia asked, perhaps a little sadly.

	"Good friends," Mercury said.  

	"You've been a very good friend to us, Dia.  And thank you for being my pilot, 
as I'm not good at it," Ryo said to her.

	"As I said, you'll owe me a favor later," she said smiling.  

	Mercury stepped over and took Dia's hands.  "I can't be Athena for you.  But I 
do care about you.  And I'm not as...I'm not afraid of being like Athena any 
more.  But Ryo and I hardly even really know you.  And I don't want to jump 
into things with people I haven't gotten to know first.  And, of course, you'll 
have to seduce Ryo as well as me."

	Mercury paused; that was NOT quite how she'd meant to say it.

	Ryo turned a little red.  "Mercury, did you..."

	"Oh, well, that's only fair.  Though I think Nike is ahead of me on that," Dia 
said.  "But yes, I really haven't been fair to Ryo-kun."  She turned and gave 
him a sultry look which made him sweat.  "Have you convinced him to try..."

	"Not going to try it until we're ready for wilder experiments, which we aren't 
yet," Mercury said.

	Ryo wondered, sort of, what they meant. And was sort of glad they didn't know. 
 "I think it's time for me to take you and have my way with you," he said to 
Mercury, deciding if she was in that sort of mood...best to exploit it.

	"In which case, I am going home for now," Dia said.  "Hoseki-chan is probably 
feeling lonely and will want company."

	Elves must be made out of solidified lust or something, Ryo thought.  "Just 
give me a call when you need a favor."

	Dia smiled sweetly and he felt his brain twitch.  "I will."  She headed for 
the fighter as Mercury and Ryo said goodbye to her and flew off.

	"I am definitely feeling a little more frisky than might be wise in public," 
Mercury said to Ryo, then paused.  "I don't remember anyone named Hoseki at her 
estate."

	"Sounds Japanese, really," Ryo said, starting to take Mercury inside.  

	Mercury was too busy with Ryo to say anything later when she finally 
remembered.

************
	
	Jupiter looked around, but she didn't see Parias anywhere.  So she sat down on 
a bench, under a tall tree to wait.

	'Hello', the tree said softly.

	'Hello', she replied.  'Have you seen a man around here?'  It seemed odd and 
yet natural to talk to a tree.

	'I think he's hiding behind one of my siblings, trying to figure out what to 
do', the tree said.

	She laughed softly, then stared off at the flowers.  Some of them were 
missing, which seemed odd; the Zodiac had tended the gardens well, mostly.

	Finally, she rose.  "Parias, come out."

	He emerged from hiding, holding a bouquet of flowers clearly stripped from the 
garden.  She laughed a little at that, then took them.  "Hey," she said softly.

	"Hey," he replied.  "I'm sorry."

	"Me too," she said.  "I was too harsh, but you really hurt me."

	"I know," he said, staring at the ground.  "I just didn't want to see you get 
hurt."

	"I know," she said.  "And I know we can't have an open relationship until I'm 
older.  But I want to hold you in the night.  I want to be able to be your 
lover.  I can't wait for years without some part of you for myself, even if we 
can't let anyone see."  She paused.  "Look at me."

	He looked up at her now, staring into her eyes.  "I'm going to have to switch 
schools," he said.

	"What?" she asked, confused.

	"It's best I not be working where you're attending if we're going to go out.  
Which will still need to be secret, but it'll be less of a disaster if it does 
come out," he said.  "Pluto said she'd help me."

	Now she felt somewhat guilty about him having to find a new job.  But he did 
have to work and if it came out...in the long term, they'd be ruling Crystal 
Tokyo, but in the short term, they still had to live in the normal world most 
of the time.  "Tell me you love me and our love is a wonderful thing."

	He took her hands.  "I love you and our love is a wonderful thing."  Then he 
kissed her hands.

	"I love you too.  I'm sorry you'll have to switch jobs," she said, stepping 
closer to him.  

	"Well, teachers do that a fair amount anyway," he said.  "Maybe I'll see if 
Haruna-san's school has any openings."

	Her brain twitched, not so much jealousy as sheer confusion at the idea of her 
boyfriend working with her old teacher.  

	"I hope she's alright," he said, then shook his head.  "But nothing I can do 
about that right now."  He stepped in close and embraced her silently.

	She hugged him back silently for a while, then said, "Do you want to..."

	"Yes," he said softly.  "If you still want to."

	"Of course I do," she said.  "Making up is very important after fighting."

	He moved to where they could walk together.  "Then let's go do some making 
up."

	She looked up at the Earth as they walked and smiled, hoping everything was 
going to be alright.

***************
	
	Tethys studied her hair in the darkness; she could see herself very well due 
to her powers, while everyone else was sound asleep.  They'd braided her hair; 
she wasn't sure if she liked it or not, though it would make a good whip due to 
the length. 

	She could see Usagi and Rei curled up with each other; it was hard to believe 
that those two were also Serenity and Aurora.  But then, it was hard for her to 
believe she was human, like them.  Or that she was Beryl's daughter or...

	It was rather overwhelming; she felt a little envious of how peaceful they all 
looked; Naru looked like she didn't have a worry in the world.  But given her 
total triumph, Tethys could understand that.

	She went out on the balcony and stared up at the sky, looking for Mars.  But 
she wasn't sure how to find it; there were so many stars and most of them 
looked alike.

	To her surprise, she could see Mamoru at the next balcony over, also staring 
up at the sky.  "Hello," she said.

	"Hello, Tethys," he said.  

	"What exactly were you four doing all night?  We kept hearing weird noises."

	"You'll find out in the morning," he said, smiling a little.  

	"So which face is the real face?" she asked him.

	"Both," he said, understanding what she meant.  "What was, what is, what will 
be, all moving towards each other.  But for now, we live mostly normal lives, 
but one day, what you saw on the Moon, that will be us so long as we rule."

	"I'm not even sure what normal life is for a human," she said.  "I never 
expected to be one."

	"It's not easy sometimes even for us who grew up with the expectation of 
normality," he said.  "But Usa...well, I will help you.  Though being on Mars, 
you'll have a different kind of normal than us."

	"I still don't like her," Tethys said.  "I don't know if I ever will."  She 
could still remember her face hitting that monitor.  I was being good, dammit!

	He sighed and stared off at the gardens.  "You know what it's like to love 
someone and then be frustrated because you don't know how to help them," he 
said softly.

	She winced.  "Yes."

	"I hope one day you'll be friends, but I know, it's not easy to forgive and 
forget," he said.  "But I hope in time, we can all set aside the past."

	"It's not that easy," she said.

	"I know," he said.  "So how exactly will you and Jadeite rule together?"

	"I'm not sure yet.  I need to read about the roman consuls, I think."

	"I know Sparta had a dual monarchy, but I'm not sure how it worked.  And the 
Incas."  Mamoru wrinkled his brow, trying to remember more history.  "I can't 
think of any others.  I'll go do some research."

	"Thank you," she said, then yawned.  "I feel strange in my stomach."

	"Hunger," he said.  "You have to eat food now."

	"Oh," she said softly.  It was an odd sensation.  So much of this was strange. 
 "Thank you."

	He yawned as well.  "I'd best try to get some sleep."

	"Goodnight, Endymion," she said.

	"Mamoru.  I'm Mamoru like this."

	"And I'm Theresa now," she said softly.  That was strange too.

	"Good night, Theresa," he said and went to bed.

	She stayed a while longer, watching the stars, then came inside and went to 
bed.

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

	Steven laid half asleep in Minako's arms, until she stirred.  "You awake?"

	"Yes," she said.  "I feel somewhat better."

	"Good," he said.  

	"I think I'm going to want to take a good vacation at Dia's after this to get 
my groove back, though," she said. 

	"Okay," he said.

	"Did Gwynafael hit on you while I was gone?"

	"I think she's decided we have a threesome," he mumbled, looking embarrassed.

	Minako's eyes crossed.  "Oh great, she's probably feeling rejected right now.  
But I told her it was just for once."  She sighed.  "Though we might be able to 
make that work, but really, I hardly know her."

	"One elf is as much as I can handle," Steven said.  

	"I wouldn't mind doing something with Ami and Ryo some time," Minako said.  
"But you're all I need."

	Steven's eyes crossed.

	"Don't tell me you're not tempted," she said.

	Steven mumbled into her torso.

	"Let's go see her, just to be absolutely sure, once we get to Dia's, okay?" 
Minako said.

	Steven nodded.  "Yes."  He kissed her softly.

	"Maybe we can get married now," Minako said.  "We're old enough for it to be 
legal in Japan, after all."

	"But your parents want us to wait.  And I still need to do something so I 
won't have to leave."

	"We'll figure out something," she said, then yawned him, kissed his cheek and 
rolled over to sleep.

	After a little bit, so did he, feeling better.

***************
	
	Everyone was waiting for Tethys to stop hogging the shower when Yuuichiro 
knocked on the door.  "Come to the conservatory when you're done getting 
cleaned up," he said.

	So they all headed down to it, finding Yuuichiro, Jadeite, Tethys, and Umino 
waiting for them, armed with instruments.  Umino sat at a drumset which dwarfed 
him, Yuuichiro had an electric guitar, Jadeite had a flute and Mamoru had 
another flute.  It was not the oddest band in the universe, but it did seem to 
be working on it.

	"I didn't know you played the drums," Usagi said to Umino.

	"I'm not very good at it," he mumbled.  "But I can do anything for Naru-chan."

	"Well, it's the thought which counts in love," Yuuichiro said.  "Let's HIT 
IT!"

	They launched into a song which had been suggested by Jadeite; Yuuichiro was 
able to cover for his only recent acquaintance with it by the fact that he was 
the only person here who actually was very good at what he was doing.  

"My road leads me far away.
      	Though my heart tells me to stay,
      	When my duty calls, I must go
      	'Twixt worlds of fire and worlds of snow."

     	"The road I travel will be long
      	To set things right, to end the wrongs.
      	But this message will I send, 
      	Wait for me at Journey's End."

     	"Do not forget the love we share
      	Though I must leave, my heart will stay.
      	Do not think I ceased to care
      	When my duty took me away."

     	"The road I travel will be long
      	To set things right, to end the wrongs.
      	But this message will I send, 
      	Wait for me at Journey's End."

     	"I have only my heart to give
      	For my life is not my own.
      	It is for others that I must live
      	But it is for you that I come home."

     	"The road I travel will be long
      	To set things right, to end the wrongs.
      	But this message will I send, 
      	Wait for me at Journey's End."

	Rei listened and remembered the time she and Jadeite had recorded this and 
began crying.  Naru smiled bright enough to outshine the sun, looking very 
happy despite Umino's struggle to keep the right beat up.  Usagi smiled 
brightly as well.  Tethys stared in a mixture of affection and horror at the 
whole thing.  It was clear this band was never going to get a contract.

	As the last notes faded, Yuuichiro said, "Well, that sounded better in my 
imagination, but I hope you liked it."

	"It was wonderful," Rei said, wiping her face.  

	Usagi looked over at her, a little worried.  

	"That was really, really bad," Tethys said, then quickly continued with, "But 
I couldn't do any better."

	"I don't mind being bad," Umino said.  

	"Liar," Naru said affectionately, coming over to him.

	"Okay, I do mind, but I'll do anything for Naru-chan."

	Tethys felt a little envious at that.

	Naru began to hug Umino, then paused.  "Wait, our parents are at Dia's, 
right?"

	"Yes," Umino said.

	"And Dia's place flows faster than real time, right?"

	"Yes," Umino said.

	"So...they haven't seen us in months of experienced time, right?" Naru said 
nervously.

	There was a great and terrible silence.

	"Do they even know who won?" Naru asked weakly.

	"We are so totally dead," Usagi said.  "SO DEAD."

	"I'd better go talk to my Zodiac and then we need to get all the TDDC home and 
go get killed by our parents," Naru said.

	Tethys just shook her head in confusion.  They're worried about their parents? 
 They reshaped the face of Mars and repaired their home city and defeated two 
armies in one day...and they fear their parents?  I don't know if I'll ever 
fully understand humans.

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

	As they were all about to leave, Jupiter sidled over to Sailor Moon.  "Can I 
borrow your disguise pen?  I have an idea."

	"Sure," she said, passing it to Sailor Jupiter.  "I won't need it.  I hope."

	"Thanks.  I'm sure you'll be fine," Jupiter said as she pocketed it.

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

	Uranus and Neptune and Tuxedo Mask and Yuuichiro  had headed down to Tokyo 
with Parias and Jupiter and most of the TDDC to check on Tokyo and make sure it 
was okay.  Pluto, Saturn, Mercury, Mars, Venus, Moon, the younger Pluto, 
Daichi, Ryo, and Steven all teleported to Dia's house on Venus.  Bob and Derith 
were on the way home, but had chosen to fly.  

	Everything was peaceful and calm, with music playing in the distance.  
Everyone gave a sigh of relief; at least they wouldn't be mobbed instantly.

	Sailor Moon walked up to the door and knocked a little nervously.

	The butler answered, "Hello, young Miss.  Come in, Lady Dia will be happy to 
hear of your arrival."

	They were escorted into the great hall, currently empty except for a small 
knot of elves busy playing instruments by one wall.  Sailor Moon approached 
them, saying, "We've come to take our families home; the war is over."

	One of the elves, a brunette, smiled at her.  "What if they don't want to 
leave?"

	"I...but..."

	"You never know," the woman said.  "You can get used to a nice relaxing life.  
No more listening to your kids fight all the time, no more housework, no more 
trying to get your daughter to not flunk all the time...and lots of interesting 
things to do."

	Sailor Moon felt a sudden surge of suspicion.  "Mom?"  But this wasn't 
Mom...she didn't look old enough and she was wearing Moon Kingdom era fashions 
and she looked so pretty and...

	Izuko stood up and hugged her daughter.  "I've missed you," she said softly.  
"I was starting to wonder if something happened to you since Dia and Gwynafael 
got here months ago."

	"Where's Dad?" Sailor Moon asked.

	"Busy taking photos no one will ever believe," her mother said, laughing 
softly.  "Everyone's scattered around, having fun."

	Sailor Moon and many of the others gave a great sigh of relief.  "I'm sorry we 
were gone so long.  We all got tired after all the fighting and fell asleep up 
on the moon and..."

	"It's okay," Izuko said, still holding her.  "It's never going to be normal 
again, is it?," she said softly.

	"Well, some of it will be," Sailor Moon said.  "But...I hate to drag you into 
all of this.  But there's no other choice, really."  She sighed.

	"It's okay," Izuko said.  "I've learned a lot here and had time to adjust.  In 
fact, I think going back to Tokyo is going to feel strange to me."

	"Well, there's no rush," Mercury said.  "We could easily stay here a lot 
longer and not miss much time back at school."

	"Oooh, school is leveled, instant vaca...," Daichi began.

	"We fixed the school," Sailor Moon said mournfully.

	"Dammit," he said.  "You could have left it wrecked," he muttered.

	"You really do need to finish school, dear," Izuko said.  "What sort of Queen 
doesn't have a high school diploma and a college degree these days?"

	"College...ugh...," Sailor Moon mumbled.

	"Once you get into college, it's really not so hard," Tuxedo Mask said.

	"We got you into high school.  We'll get you into college too," Mercury said.  
"I'd better go find my mother and father."

	They soon scattered to round everyone up.

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

	Mercury was feeling very nervous about her parents.  Moreso about her mother.  
Her father was probably relaxing and enjoying himself.  Indeed, she found him 
quickly, in one of the gardens, busy painting a mostly naked dryad.  "Kensuke, 
Sailor Mercury and some boy are here to see you," the woman said, smiling at 
him in a way which made Mercury suspect that she was more than just his model.

	"Ami!," he said, turning and running over to hug her.  "And Ryo-san.  Nice to 
see you too."

	"Is Mother...," Ami began.

	"She's probably either with her boyfriend or in Dia's lab studying Elven 
medicine," Mizuno Kensuke said.  "At this time of day, probably the lab.  She's 
always had that work ethic, though I think she's FINALLY relaxed a little.  
Ami, this is my girlfriend, Maya.  Maya, this is my daughter Ami and her 
boyfriend, Ryo."

	"It's nice to meet you," Maya said.  "I think she and Dia and perhaps their 
lovers went out into the forest to go looking for herbs," Maya continued.

	"Actual looking for herbs or 'looking for herbs'?" Ryo asked.

	Kensuke blinked in confusion.

	Mercury's eyes crossed.

	"Just looking for herbs.  The last scavenger hunt didn't end too well due to 
the poison grass outbreak," Maya said.

	"I could see that," Mercury said.  She kissed her father's cheek.  "We've come 
to take everyone back to Earth."

	"Well, I may stay here a while," he said, glancing at Maya.

	"Okay, Daddy," Mercury said.  "I've got to go back, though."

	"School is important," he said.  "Don't worry, your mother got over yelling at 
everyone all the time and dialed it down to just occassionally months ago."

	Mercury hugged her father again and headed out with her boyfriend.

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

	Venus and Steven found her parents busy playing tennis against Gwynaefael and 
some tall red haired sidhe.  She noticed they were both looking good; her dad 
had finally gotten rid of the twenty pounds he'd been trying to lose for half a 
decade.  "Honey!" her mother said, then nearly got clocked in the head with a 
ball.

	Venus hugged her parents, while Steven stood, half looking at Gwynaefael and 
half not, not knowing what to say.  

	She strode over to him and they stared at each other silently while Venus made 
with the meet and greet with her parents.  "You two ready to go home?" she 
asked them.

	"We'd better go before I forget everything about our life on Earth," her 
father said.  "If I didn't have my book of numbers and names, I don't know if I 
could go back."

	Her mother said, "We've had a great time and I'd love to come again; Dia is a 
wonderful hostess.  But too much more vacation and I don't know if I could ever 
focus on work again."

	Venus nodded.  "I know.  I've got to get back to school before I forget 
everything."  She glanced at Steven and Gwynaefael.  "We, umm...the three of us 
need to have a private conference."

	"It's okay, honey," her mother said.  "We'll go pack."  Softly, she said, "She 
seems like a very nice girl.  Just remember, people on Earth aren't so wild and 
free as they are here."

	"I know," Venus said soberly.  She kissed each of her parents, then grabbed 
Gwyn and Steven.  "Let's go."

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

	Umino's father was physically vibrating.  "No computers, no phone, no nothing 
for a year!  I HAVE BEEN IN HELL!"  He was shaking Umino while his mother tried 
to calm him down.

	Umino's parents, Umino, and Naru were in the parents' quarters, a huge, 
elaborately decorated waiting room adjacent to the parental bedroom.  

	"I'm sorry, Dad, but I kind of spent all that time mostly being tied to a 
pillar and tortured, so I think you kind of got off easy," Umino mumbled.

	"Honey, our son is frail and delicate!  Don't shake him!"  Umino's mother was 
freaking out.

	"And you!  You got him into this!," Umino's father said.  "We never asked..."

	"Dad, it's not Naru-chan's fault.  If you want to be mad at someone, yell at 
me.  I chose to get into this because I wanted to protect Naru-chan," Umino 
said.  "Why are you over-reacting?  Everything's okay now."

	"You could have died!  And I'd be trapped here forever in LUDDITE HELL," his 
father bellowed.

	"Honey, stop," Umino's mother said, tugging ineffectually on her husband.

	"That's enough," Naru said sharply, stepping up.  "Let go of Umino."

	"You can't tell me what to do.  I'm his father and...," Umino's father began.

	"I don't CARE," Naru said.  "He saved my life, I love him, and I'm not going 
to let you harass him because we all went to the effort of protecting you all!  
Would you rather we have left you in Tokyo to be killed by the Dark Kingdom?"  
She stepped up and pried Umino's father's fingers off him.

	"Technically, it wasn't us, we were busy being tortured," Umino said.  

	"This isn't the time for precise accounting, honey," she said to him.

	"My poor boy," Umino's mother said, grabbing him and crying.

	"I'm okay, Momma.  I'm okay," he said, clumsily stroking her hair.

	"Girl, you..." Umino's father began.

	"My name is Osaka Naru.  You can use it, or you can not bother trying to talk 
to me," Naru said angrily.  "Umino-san, we did our best to protect you.  And 
now you're going home.  It wasn't MY idea for the Dark Kingdom to attack Tokyo. 
 Or for the Zodiac to kidnap Gurio-kun and I.  I don't care if you like me, but 
you WILL respect me."

	Umino's father fell silent, sullenly.  

	"He'll be fine once he gets home.  He's just going a little stir-crazy," 
Umino's mother said.

	"I'd better stay here with them a while, Naru-chan," Umino said to her.  "Go 
find your mother."

	"Okay, honey. Your father..."

	"I have a name too!," Umino's father said angrily.

	"I can handle father," Umino said, adjusting his glasses, which were starting 
to slide off.

	She kissed Umino's cheek.  "Good day, Umino-san," she said warmly to his 
mother.  "Goodbye, Umino-san," she said rather more coldly to his father, then 
headed out.

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

	Saturn hugged her father tightly while Pluto did the same.  "I missed you, 
Papa," she said softly.

	"I missed you too, dear," he said, holding her tight, then kissing Pluto.  
"And you, my love."

	Saturn smiled.  "So when are you two getting married?"

	"Soon," her father said.  "Maybe we could go ahead and do it before we leave 
here."

	Pluto's eyes widened.  "But...I mean..."  She was smiling but also looked very 
nervous.

	"I bet Elven weddings are beautiful," Saturn said dreamily.

	Pluto knew one thing and one thing for sure.  She didn't want Dia of all 
people organizing a wedding for her.  It would probably involve a giant orgy 
and naked dancing and all of it would be an excuse for her to hit on Mercury.  
"We'd better have it on Earth so other friends can come too."

	"Aww," Saturn said.

	"Well, we can think about it while I get everything ready to go, okay?" Mr. 
Tomoe said.

	"Okay, Papa."

***********

	"I...look..."  Venus tried to figure out what to say to Gwynaefael.  Tried to 
think of what would get through to her.  "Gwyn, have you ever heard of an elf 
named Urdth?"

	"There's lots of Elves. Can you be more specific?" Gwyn asked curiously, 
lightening up a little.

	"Well, I don't know if she'd even be born yet," Venus said.  "She was probably 
just part of the dream."

	Gwynaefael cocked her head.  "Dream?"

	Venus explained everything.

	Gwynaefael looked very sad.  "Poor girl.  So you're not in the mood for elf 
love after that."

	It wasn't exactly what Venus wanted to express, but she had a feeling it would 
lead the right way, anyway.  "Yes."

	"I understand," Gwyn said, rising and coming over and hugging her.  "I'll come 
back in a while by your time; give you some time to get over it."

	"Wait, I..." Venus began.

	"Gwyn, we..."

	"No, no, it's okay," Gwynaefael said.  "I'd only remind her too much of the 
one she lost."  She kissed Minako's forehead, then Steven's.  "Come see me 
again when you're ready."

	Then she ran off quickly.

	Venus rubbed her forehead.  "I tried, Steven."

	"It's a start," he said, laughing wryly.  "Some problems are not easily 
resolved."  He leaned over and kissed her softly.  "Well, we should probably 
see how everyone else is coming along."

	Venus nodded and rose, and they headed out.

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

	"Your mother?  Oh yes, the redhead.  Hoseki," one of the Elves said to Naru.  
"She's off in the forest gathering herbs with Dia and...some other people, I 
think," he said.  "They should be back by dinner time."

	Maybe if I can find Mercury, she can help me find Mother, Naru thought.

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

	Sailor Mars warily headed out to the swimming pool area; as she'd suspected, 
it was full of naked elves...and Grandpa, clearly enjoying himself.

	There was going to be a beating tonight.

*************
 
	"Yes, Mother is out in the woods.  It sounds like she has a boyfriend now," 
Mercury said, sounding boggled.  "Maybe we'd best go find them."

	"Do I need to transform again?" Naru asked.

	"Just in case there's trouble," Mercury said.

	Naru did so and they headed into the woods.

************
	
	The younger Pluto stared at the room her mother was in, which was full of 
monkeys banging away at typewriters.  Her mother was checking one of the pages. 
 "Hmm, they can duplicate Nirvana lyrics, anyway..."  She crumpled it and 
tossed it aside, then turned.  "Hime-chan!"

	Her mother ran over and hugged her.  "I was starting to wonder if you and 
Daichi had eloped or something," her mother said.

	"Mother, what..."

	"I sort of mentioned the whole monkeys producing shakespeare thing and Dia 
decided to see how long it would take, so I check them every so often," her 
mother said.  "They're progressing a lot faster than I thought."

	The younger Pluto said, "Where's Dad?"

	"He got tired of too much fun; you know how he is.  So he's gone on this 
trading expedition with one of Dia's relatives.  We didn't know when you'd be 
back, so..."

	The younger Pluto said, "Well, he won't miss much work, I guess.  How is your 
writing coming?"

	"I've finished my next two novels.  I think my manager will have a heart 
attack when I show up with them," her mother said, laughing, then turned 
serious.  "Is this sort of thing going to happen often, Hime-chan?"

	"I don't know," she said.  "I can only see reliably a little way into the 
future.  Though I can bring you here whenever you like, if Dia says it's okay."

	Her mother rested her head on her shoulder.  "I hate to see you going into 
danger."

	"I know, but it's my duty," the younger Pluto said, sighing.  "I'm sorry, 
Mama."

	"Well, I don't like it, but I can't stop you.  But you're still going to have 
do your chores when you come home."

	"I will, Mama," she said.  "But sometimes, I'm going to have to put myself in 
danger."

	"I know," her mother said.  "Let's go see if we can find Dia; she'll know when 
your father is getting back.  I think."


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

	Mercury and Odysseus reached the top of a ridge and looked down into the vale, 
having heard some odd noises.  What they saw were two screaming elves (one was 
Dia, one a tall, dark haired male Nightshade) and two screaming women (one 
Ryoko, one Hoseki) running up the hill right at them.  The reason for this was 
a giant swarm of wasps in hot pursuit.  Two bears were chasing the wasps, or 
perhaps merely chasing the humans and elves at a safe distance.

	"SHABON SPRAY FREEZING," Mercury shouted and most of the wasps froze and fell 
out of the sky.

	"STAR BOLT!"  One of the bears tumbled end over end down the slope.

	Osaka Hoseki now turned and pulled out a wand tipped with amber.  She rubbed a 
small cloth across it and pointed it at the remaining wasps.  ZAAAAP.  Lighting 
knocked them out.

	The remaining bear, seeing the elves and the other human turn on it, turned 
and ran back into the woods.

	"Nice trick, Mother," Odysseus said, surprised.

	"I've been studying the elven gem lore with my dear Dia's help," her mother 
said.

	Dia kissed Hoseki in a manner which left no room for doubt they were lovers.  
"Very smart, dear, though it would have helped to use that when the wasps first 
showed up."

	"I see wasps, I run," Hoseki said, then came over and hugged Odysseus.

	Meanwhile, Mercury nervously faced her mother and the tall, dark Nightshade 
with her.  "Umm, hello, Mother," she mumbled.

	Her mother was wearing a knee-length blue tunic and sandals and had let her 
hair grow out; it now trailed down to just below her shoulders.  She now looked 
to Mercury like she did in the pictures she'd seen of when her folks met in 
college.  She had a brown leather satchel over one shoulder which bulged in 
various ways and had a big red cross painted on it very precisely.  Ryoko 
smiled at her daughter and hugged her.  "Hello, dear.  I've missed you."

	"I've missed you too, Mother," Mercury said, relieved her mother wasn't angry. 
 "I hope you've had a good time."

	"Well, I spent several months stewing in my own juices," her mother said.  
"But I've come to see things differently."  She sounded sad now.  "You're not a 
child any more.  Not with the things you have to do.  Are you really ever going 
to get to be a doctor, Ami?"

	"I hope so.  I mean...Crystal Tokyo isn't for a thousand years," Mercury said.

	"Oh yes, I'm sorry Starshadow," she said to the man, then said, "Mercury, this 
is my...well, my boyfriend, Starshadow."  

	Starshadow offered Mercury a hand, so she shook it.

	"He's a doctor too.  I've been studying elven medicine with his help and 
Dia's," Ryoko said to Mercury.  "There's a desperate need for better pediatrics 
here.  And definitely some sort of major fertility problem that needs to be 
gotten to the bottom of."

	Nothing Mother loves more than overcoming something difficult, Mercury 
thought.  "So you're going to stay here and study the problem?"

	"Yes," she said.  "I haven't really used much of the leave I've built up at 
the hospital over the years, so I'm going to take some time off and apply it to 
studying these issues here."

	"It's nice to finally meet you," Starshadow said.

	"And you," Mercury said to him.  

	"So are you coming home, Mother?" Odysseus asked her mother.  

	"I'm trying to decide," Hoseki said.  "But I think I should probably spend the 
work week on Earth, as I have so many customers depending on me and you too, 
and then I'll come here for the weekends."

	"I'll miss you when you're gone," Dia said to Hoseki.

	"I'll miss you too, but I have responsibilities there too," Hoseki cooed to 
her.

	Odysseus' eyes crossed for a moment, then she said, "Okay.  We should start 
getting you packed, then, once we get back to the palace."

	They rounded everyone up and headed back.

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

	"Oh, we talked to his parents," Venus' father told her.  "So he can stay with 
us and they'll send us a subsidy for him."

	"That's wonderful!," Venus said, hugging her father tightly.  

	"But no getting married until you graduate from high school," her father 
continued.  "And no acting like you're married until then.  Long engagements 
are good for you."

	"When you say no acting...," Venus began.

	"You're too young for sex," her father said.

	"When we're looking," her mother said.

	"Honey, you're not supposed to say things like that out loud in front of our 
child," her father protested.

	"Your father doesn't want you to have sex; I know better than to think telling 
you to wait for a year and a half is going to work at all," her mother said.  
"We're still disputing this."

	"I have spoken!" her father protested.

	"It's so cute when he thinks he's in charge," Minako's mother said.

	Venus decided that discretion dictated she keep her mouth shut and let them 
duke it out.

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

	"It's been a good vacation and I've learned quite a bit," Daichi's father told 
him.  "But I've had enough of insanity for a while."  He shook his head.  "You 
get into even more trouble than I did at your age."

	"Father, I..." Daichi began.

	"So, are you going to finish school?" his father asked.  "Or go straight off 
to superhero school?"

	Daichi laughed a little.  "I'll be doing some of both at first, then...well, 
superhero school basically."  It felt weird moving up from boyfriend auxillary 
to superhero.  Like a dream, almost.  

	"Well, you're going to have to work harder, then.  No more slacking off."

	"Yes, sir," he mumbled.

	"You're hardly passing normal school as it is."

	"Yes, sir," Daichi mumbled.

	"Yes, I think you're going to be working your ass off, which will drive you 
crazy," his father said almost gleefully.

	"Yes, sir."

	"And that's punishment enough.  Let's get going," he said.  "My boss at work 
is probably wondering if I'm alive or dead."  He ruffled his son's hair.  "I'm 
very proud of you," he said.  "But now it's time for you to grow up.  I hope 
you're ready."

	"I hope so too."

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

	"We're taking the rest of the week off, then resuming on Monday," Yamamoto 
said.  "Once we're sure...things won't get warped again."

	Clark nodded to Yamamoto.  He had Haruka, Michiru, and Makoto with him.  
Raiden was draped across Makoto's shoulders like a shawl.  A very LAZY shawl.  
"Good news for you all, then," he said to them.

	"Actually, I like school," Michiru said.  "Unfortunately, I think you and I 
are the only ones here with that opinion, Magusson-sensei."

	They were out in front of the administration building on the mostly empty but 
perfectly repaired Tsunami High campus.

	Yamamoto sounded weary.  "Let us hope the rest of the school year goes by 
without any further disruptions."

	"Was it bad for you?" Makoto asked.  

	"I am glad I was here when I was needed," Yamamoto said.  "And I did my duty.  
I hope that I won't be called on to go through that again.  Though at least 
everything is back to normal.  Somehow."  He frowned.  "It seems like most 
people don't even remember anything clearly."

	"Remember what clearly?" Haruka teased.

	Yamamoto sighed.  "This isn't the first time...never mind.  I have work to do, 
and whatever is going on, I won't understand it by complaining.  Best to go get 
ready in case it happens again."

	"Thank you," Makoto said.

	Yamamoto blinked.  "What?"

	"For fighting for our school.  I'm sure you saved a lot of people."  She 
saluted him.

	Haruka and Michiru blinked, while Clark imitated her salute. 

	Yamamoto straightened up and saluted back.  "You're a pretty good 
inspirational speaker yourself, Kino-san.  It was good to fight back."  

	Then he turned and marched away.

	"Well, that was nice of...wait..." Makoto said, eyes widening.

	"Time for us to poke around a little and make sure no one else knows," Clark 
said.

	"Exactly," Haruka said, so they went out to investigate.

**************
	
	"I can't believe it's all back to normal," Motoki said to Yuuichiro, sitting 
on the steps as Yuuichiro swept them.

	"It'll never be entirely normal again," Yuuichiro said.  "Even with everything 
fixed and most people choosing to forget for now."  Sweep, sweep.  "Chiba-san 
wants to talk to both of us when he gets back."

	"Am I really...or did...," Motoki mumbled.

	"I'm not sure exactly," Yuuichiro says.  "But I think we will be the 
successors.  Along with whoever ends up in the other two roles.  But I think 
that's a problem for the future.  I just have to get everything straightened up 
before Rei and Grandpa get home."

	Millions of miles away, Sailor Mars chased Grandpa through Dia's palace, 
flinging fire at his butt.  He dodged nimbly, avoiding it all.

	"So you and Rei...," Motoki began.

	"I hope I can...I guess I'll have to see how it goes."  More dust flew into 
the air.  "She's right, though.  I need to...I need to know her better."

	"That's true of any love affair," Motoki said.

	"She's just so...I've let myself think of her as perfect for too long."

	Millions of miles away, grandpa leaped out a window.  Sailor Mars followed, 
only to find herself on a ballistic trajectory towards the pool full of naked 
elves.  She screamed her wrath at the world.

	Yuuichiro shivered.  "What an odd feeling."

	"Hmm?"
	
	"Like I just fell in a pool," Yuuichiro said, shivering a little.  "How 
strange."

	"The hardest part is when the illusions come down," Motoki said.  "All my high 
school romances died once we saw each other's flaws.  But I was pretty immature 
then."

	"I just hope I can do better," Yuuichiro said.  "Though I have seen 
her...darker side."  He stared at the ground, leaning on her broom.  "I don't 
know how much of that was real and how much brainwashing, though."

	"Well, time to find out, I think," Motoki said.  "Good luck."

	"Thanks," Yuuichiro said, then went back to work.

**************
	 
	"I can dry myself," Rei mumbled to Usagi.

	"It's okay," Usagi said, continuing to run the towel wildly around Rei's body. 
 "If I'd been faster, you wouldn't have gone out the window."

	"The temple is about ready for us to move back, so I guess I won't be living 
with you any more," Rei said softly.

	"But you can come over any time you want," Usagi said.  "We can goof off 
together."

	Rei smiled.  "I'm looking forward to some goofing off with you."

	"Really?" Usagi asked.  "Cool."  Buff, buff, buff.

	"I'm sorry I caused everyone so much trouble," Rei said, shaking a little as 
Usagi dried her vigorously.

	"It's okay," Usagi said.  "I'd do anything to get you back."

	"I would too," Rei said.  "For you."  She took a deep breath in, then let it 
out.  "I love you, you know."

	Usagi turned a little red, then stopped drying and embraced Rei, tangling her 
in the towel.  "I love you too, you know," she said softly.  "I don't want you 
to ever feel lonely again."

	"Is that an invitation to join you and Mamoru?," Rei teased.

	Usagi looked red enough for someone to write 'stop' on her face and use her as 
a sign.  "Rei-chan," she mumbled, then babbled something incoherent.

	"Guys do go for that sort of thing," Rei continued, holding Usagi's hands with 
her own.

	Noises came out of Usagi's mouth which only vaguely resembled words.  She 
squirmed but didn't pull away.

	"I could bring Yuuichiro just to be fair," Rei continued, enjoying watching 
Usagi freak out too much to stop.

	For a moment, Usagi's eyes started to roll back, and she looked about to 
overheat and faint.  Then her gaze snapped back into focus, and her voice took 
on an older tone.  "Anything for you, my dear Aurora," Usagi said with 
Serenity's voice, though nothing else changed.  

	"I was teasing," Rei said.  "I love you both very much, but I'm not really 
ready to try something like that.  And Yuuichiro and I are going to give it a 
shot, if he can learn to see the real me, anyway."

	"The real you is a very beautiful you," Usagi said with Serenity's voice 
again.

	"Thank you," Rei said, smiling and a little red.  "Anyway, I'm ready to stand 
by your side instead of thinking I have to follow behind you now."

	"I was always ready for that," Serenity said softly.

	"I know, but I wasn't.  But now I am," she said, turning and quickly kissing 
Usagi, then rising and disentangling herself.  "We'd better get me dry before 
Grandpa finds something else retarded to do."

	Usagi laughed, back to normal.  "Yes."

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

	Sensei and Noriko were sweeping up the lab when Makoto came in, followed by 
Raiden.  "Sensei, I have an idea I'm hoping you can help me with."

	"Hmm?" he asked.

	"You have equipment for reading magical auras, right?" she asked.

	"Yes, assuming it's still intact, anyway."

	"Here, I'll help you clean up.  I'm going to need to get you to help me use 
it.  Raiden and I cooked up an idea," Makoto said.

	"It's a very clever idea," Raiden said.  Most of Raiden's clever ideas weren't 
so clever, but this one had nothing...well, not much to do with 
love...directly...ergo, it was less likely to explode in his face, maybe.

	"All help is appreciated," Sensei said.

	"Thanks, 'koto-chan.  I'll go see about pulling down Horus from the Moon while 
you two work," Noriko said, bouncing off.

	Let's hope I'm not going to clean house for nothing, Makoto thought.

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

	Usagi and her family walked up to their house, only to find Haruna-sensei 
leaning against the gate.  Usagi felt a moment of total, utter panic.  "Hello, 
Haruna-sensei," she mumbled.  "How are you?"

	"I don't know, Sailor Moon, how are you?" she asked.

	Usagi jumped.  "What gives you..."

	"You could have done way better than you did, but instead you drove me insane 
for three years pretending to be a slacker!"

	*JUMP!*

	It took Shingo and Mr. Tsukino to peel Miss Haruna off Usagi.  

	Haruna-sensei leaned on the wall by the gate.  "I'm sorry, you just...you're 
so...why?"

	"I..."  Usagi peered at her closely.  "You knew me then, didn't you," she said 
softly.

	"I was Sensei Wisdom," Haruna-sensei said.  "I don't know why everyone else is 
forgetting what happened to Tokyo, or who they were or why I didn't remember 
before, but I want to know what's going on.  This isn't the first time I've 
seen some strange stuff going down, but I thought I just had a vivid dream-
life."

	"Come on in," Ikuko said.  "Usagi can tell you everything while we unpack."

	"Okay," Haruna-sensei said.  "I'm sorry I nearly killed your daughter, but 
she's just so..."

	"Just don't do it again.  I have my days too," Ikuko said.

	Usagi was happy to flop down on her bed and relax, while everyone else 
unpacked.  To her surprise, Shingo came to the door.  "Hey."

	He seemed more solemn than usual.  Which could be real or he could be faking 
it to set her up.  "Hey, little brother," she said.  "Got a problem?"

	"Am I ever going to...you know?"  He shuffled back and forth on his feet.

	As she looked at him, it suddenly hit Usagi that she'd missed an entire year 
of his life with him in Dia's estate.  He was fourteen now, the same age she'd 
been when she became Sailor Moon.  But what was he talking about?

	"I'm sure you'll get a girlfriend," she said.

	"I had a girlfriend, but now I dunno if I'll ever see her again," he mumbled.  
"But what I mean is...I'm about the same age as you were when you became Sailor 
Moon."

	It hit her.  "OH.  You're better off not getting involved," she said.  "It may 
look cool, but..."

	"I can't not get involved when you're Sailor Moon," he said.  "The only 
question is whether I'm a target and part-time hostage or whether I can do 
something about it."

	"I don't know.  I didn't have a brother in the old times," Usagi said.  "But 
if Ami and Naru's mothers could learn some elf magic, I would think you could 
too...I guess it's up to Mom and Dad, though.  I don't think anything I do 
would work for you."

	"I'd die of embarrassment wearing a skirt," he said.  

	She thought of him in his outfit and laughed.

	"Don't laugh at me!" he demanded.

	The image would not leave.  She tried to stop, but she couldn't.

	"Fine, I try to be serious and..."  He turned to stomp off, only to find Usagi 
hugging him from behind.  

	"I'm sorry," she said breathlessly.  "I love you even when I hate you, 
brother.  I just want to protect you."

	"I just want to be able to protect myself," he said softly.

	"I know.  I'll see what I can do, okay?"

	"Okay," he said.  

	They stayed that way until their father came in, at which point it was 
necessary to clobber each other to keep up appearances.

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

	"You built a robot cat?" Makoto asked Sensei, surprised.

	"It seemed like a good idea at the time," he mumbled.

	"And it's running wild," she continued.

	"More or less," he said.  "It can't go too far from campus, though."

	"I think I can handle that," Makoto said, heading out.  "Be back soon."

	Sailor Jupiter soon slipped in with a big cat in tow.  "Here you go," she 
said.

	"How did you..." Sensei began.

	"He's full of electricity, being a robot cat.  And electricity is my power.  
So I was able to track him down and stop him escaping."  She paused.  "Which I 
really ought to learn more about, as I have a bunch of ideas on tricks I could 
maybe learn, given just about everything runs on electricity."

	"I could teach you," Sensei said, taking Old Tom, who glared at him balefully.

	"Let's get my special plan done first, then we can get into that later," 
Makoto said.

	Sensei nodded, setting Old Tom on the counter.  "Let's get started."	

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

	The return to Earth generally went smoothly and everyone settled into their 
normal routine.  Those who came back to stay back, part-time or completely, 
anyway.  School came back into session and everyone scrambled to get back to 
normal.

	On a Friday night, Clark stood in his bathroom, trying to figure out whether 
and how much to dress up.  Makoto was coming over with some of her movies, but 
she never said how much she was going to dress up.

	He finally decided to go with his usual casual-a nice knit shirt and some 
comfortable slacks, but just slippers on his feet (well, with socks).  The food 
had already been cooked and just needed warming up; he was pretty proud of his 
lasagna.  

	He was pacing back and forth when the doorbell rang.  He answered the door, 
only to find someone he wasn't expecting; a tall, regal woman with long 
chestnut hair (with a single long white lock) that flowed down freely in back, 
topped off with a deerstalker cap, wearing an elaborate, somewhat archaic, 
green dress and a pair of glasses.  She had deep green eyes and he had the 
feeling he'd met her before, but wasn't sure where.  

	"Hello," he said.  "Have we met?"

	She laughed loudly.  "May I come in?" she asked in English with an upper class 
accent.  "And yes, we have met, Master Magusson.  I am Doctor Maggie Holmes, 
Ph.D, Occ. D., M.D. of the August Shadows Society."

	The name...it sounded familiar.  "Come in," he said, not quite sure what was 
going on, but deciding it best to find out.  

	The woman stepped inside and looked around, then sniffed the air.  

	It finally hit him.  That game that Alexandrite had turned into a deathtrap.  
THAT was where the name came from.  And she did look sort of like Makoto.  If 
you added a few inches of height, perhaps eight to ten years of age, and a few 
other small changes.  But not enough anyone would assume to connect them, as 
this woman looked clearly European.

	She closed the door, then said, "Lasagna.  Very good.  And I brought my 
tapes."  She patted the brown carrybag she had slung over one shoulder.  Then 
she took off her glasses and shimmered a moment, becoming Makoto in a green 
evening dress.  She put the glasses into a green case she plucked out of her 
bag, marked with the sign of Jupiter in yellow.  "So, was I convincing?"  She 
had switched to Japanese, and her eyes sparkled with mischief.

	"Yes," he said.  "I didn't know you could do that."  He pulled her out a chair 
as he talked.

	She sat down and put her feet up.  "It's a simple application of our disguise 
aura in our higher forms.  The disguise aura just blurs our features enough not 
to be recognized.  With enough practice or with technomagical help, we can 
activate the aura and disguise ourselves as whatever or whoever we want," 
Makoto said.  "So Sensei helped me construct my disguise glasses, once we 
studied the disguise pen.  My lore from Maggie helped some too."

	"Wine?" he asked, now going to the refrigerator and getting out the lasagna to 
warm up.  "How much do you retain from her?"

	"A lot, but a lot of it is out of date and some of it is wrong," Makoto said 
in English with a slight Japanese accent.  "There's some useful insights into 
magic and I can speak too many languages now."

	He poured two glasses of wine.  "I'm going to warm the lasagna in the oven so 
it doesn't dry out as much.  You can get a movie started if you want."

	She dug out a set of tapes.  "Going to start with Pride and Prejudice, a 
version done by the BBC recently."

	He blinked.  "I thought you were going to bring some martial arts movies."

	"Those are for later when we're tired enough to believe anything," Makoto 
said.  "I just bought this."

	Clark smiled a little.  "Merely a coincidence with the fact you'll be reading 
it for my class later."

	"Just a coincidence," Makoto said, then laughed, getting the VCR set up.  
"Anyway, with Maggie on tap for times we go out in public, I think we should be 
fine until we can stop sneaking around."

	He now brought her a glass of wine and set one down for himself by his chair.  
"Very clever, dear."

	She leaned up and pulled him down for a kiss.  "Thank you, honey.  Now help me 
figure out how you've got this thing set up."

	"Okay, first we get THIS remote control..."

*********

	"Are you sure," Hikaru began.

	Himeko laughed softly.  "It's okay," she said.  "It's really more like a TDDC 
party than a date.  A bunch of the others are coming."

	"Okay, then I'll come," Hikaru said.  "Even though I probably should do more 
of the reading Sagittarius gave me."  It was clear she didn't WANT to do more 
of it.

	"Yeah, Daichi's already starting to go crazy," Himeko said, laughing a little. 
 "For all that Pluto can make me crazy, she doesn't give me big reading 
assignments."

	"Well, I'm going to do my best," Hikaru said.  "It's a huge duty, but I'm 
proud to have been chosen."

	"You were great, Hikaru-san," Himeko said.  "It was very brave of you, 
attacking Scorpio like that."

	"You know me.  I'm too stubborn to give up, even when it's for my own good," 
Hikaru said.  "Anyway, let's go."

	They headed off to join the rest of the club for a party at Yuu's family's 
place, where they would drink too much soda, eat too much pizza and watch a 
bunch of cheesy sci-fi.

	After everything, they were extremely looking forward to it.

*********

	Rei did her best to restrain herself; she loved lobster, but didn't want to 
eat like some sort of crazed thug.  Especially not when Yuiichiro was showing 
good manners.  As much good manners as you could have when eating crab legs, 
anyway.  

	"This place is really nice," she said to him.  "Thank you."

	"Grandpa loaned me some extra money so I could do it right," he said.  "So how 
is school going?"

	"It's going fine," Rei said.  "It's kind of hard to get back in the groove of 
it when..."

	Then she noticed, across the room, half-concealed by one of the palm trees in 
buckets which dotted the restaurant, Usagi, Mamoru, Naru, and Umino.  Umino had 
a camcorder set on the table, pointing her way.

	They're spying on my date, Rei thought.  Probably in order to 'help'.  I'm 
fine!  I'm fine!

	"Are you okay?  You look mad," Yuuichiro said.

	"Not at you, Yuuichiro-san," she said.  "Our friends apparently decided we 
couldn't go out on our own without being watched."

	"It could be a coincidence," Yuuichiro said.

	"Not with the Queen of Destiny on the job," Rei said.  "However, I have a 
plan."

	Later, when the crew tried to follow Rei and Yuuichiro to the movies, they 
found that Mamoru's car mysteriously wouldn't start at all.  Indeed, not just 
gasoline, but nothing would burn around it for nearly twenty minutes.

	Funny, that.

************
	
	"It's so tiny," Hotaru said, looking down at Honolulu  from dragonback.

	"It's just the height," Derith said.  "You did remember your bathing suit, 
right?"

	"No one saw me get it," Hotaru said, giggling.  The bathing suit was a touch 
more risque than her parents normally let her wear.  Being naughty was fun.

	They began circling downwards towards the stretch of empty beach.  "For times 
when we feel the urge to visit Earth, this place is under Elvish sway.  No 
one's using it right now, so we should be..."

	Bob laughed softly without explaining why.

	"What?" Derith asked.

	"Oh, nothing."

	He landed and they'd already dismounted and Hotaru was about to go into the 
house when they spotted Dr. Tomoe and Setsuna both already on the beach in 
bathing suits with a grill set up and food cooking.  Go, Benten, and Isis were 
all half-asleep on a towel under an umbrella, though Isis stirred enough to 
say, "Hello, Hotaru."

	The beach-house door now opened and Virgo came out, waving, with Capricorn 
following her, both in bathing suits.  

	Derith stared mindlessly.

	"Mama, papa?" Hotaru said in surprise.

	"Hello, dear," Setsuna said from her beach towel on which she was busy tanning 
herself in a purple bikini.

	"Hey, guys!," Haruka shouted, now surfacing out in the water, with Michiru 
soon after coming up.

	"Setsuna brought you a bathing suit," Mr. Tomoe said amiably.  "We're going to 
have a nice little family barbeque with Haruka's mother and her boyfriend."

	"But I...," Hotaru began.

	Firmly, Mr. Tomoe said, "Setsuna brought you a bathing suit to wear."

	"Yes, papa," she mumbled and headed inside.

	"What about..." Derith began.

	"There's one for you too, in the men's room."

	"But..."

	Dr. Tomoe looked at him, eyeglasses glinting.  He wasn't quite sure if the 
light was actually forming occult patterns or not...

	"Yes sir," Derith mumbled, running to comply.

***********
	
	"I sentence you to life imprisonment," Queen Hecate said to Augur, who was 
stuck in a cat carrier being held by Artemis in his human form.  Luna was in 
human form as well, whereas Futsu-Nushi no Kami, Raiden, and Cassandra stood 
guard around him in cat form.  Many other Venusian cats were around the room, 
observing.

	"I acted for the good of the future!," Augur protested.

	"You betrayed the one I assigned you to help.  It was not your job to pass 
judgment on her fitness for power.  Further, I assign you to the dog wing of 
our prison," Hecate said.

	Augur cringed. Futsu-Nushi no Kami laughed, while Raiden cringed as well.  
"Couldn't happen to a nicer guy," Artemis said, laughing.

	After the ceremonies were over, Luna and Artemis met quietly with Queen Hecate 
in her quarters.  "Mother, Usagi's mother would like to meet you.  You and 
Father will need to come in human form, though."

	Hecate winced.  "Do I have to?"

	"It will be hard for them to not think of you as my pet if you don't," Luna 
said.

	Hecate shifted into her human form, tanned with long black hair and vivid 
green eyes, wearing an elaborate purple dress.  She started to move, stumbled, 
then nearly fell.  Artemis caught her.

	"Artemis," she said reluctantly.  "You have proven your loyalty and helped to 
deal with the traitor, Augur."  She sighed.  "My judgment seems ill of late.  
Anyway, I will not object to you courting my daughter, on one condition."

	"Yes?"

	"You're going to need to talk to someone competent at courting, first and get 
some lessons.  Only someone smoother than you may court my daughter."

	"..."

	Luna put a hand over her mouth so as not to laugh at Artemis too hard.

	"Raiden, perhaps," the Queen said.

	Artemis shook physically.

	"He can't tell teasing very well, can he," Hecate asked her daughter.

	"Not at all," Luna said.

	"..."

	"I will practice and get ready for next...when is the invitation for?"

	"A week from today," Luna said.

	"Remember to wear clothing," Artemis said.

	"I know human manners, thank you," Hecate said.  "Strange as they are.  Why 
sheathe your body in great swathes of cloth that only hamper your movement?"

	"Trying to fully understand humans has broken many a great mind, Mother," Luna 
said.  "You just have to accept it."

	Humans are so strange, Hecate thought.  But I will do my best.

***********

	Minako held Steven's hands as they watched 'The Magic Travelling Pants 
Massacre XI'.  It was more funny than scary to her, after all the things she'd 
seen, except for that one guy with the porno mustache; she had to hide her face 
in Steven's chest every time he came on screen.  Something about it just rubbed 
her wrong.

	Not like that.

	She was about to lean over to Ami to ask her about something a character had 
said she didn't understand, only to see Ami was too busy kissing Ryo to notice 
anything else.  Minako laughed softly, then kissed Steven on the cheek.  She 
had no fear of kissing him more in public, but this wasn't really the kind of 
movie for that.  But whatever floats your boat, right?

	Afterwards, when they headed out into the parking lot, Minako said to Ami, 
"Your mother's still at Dia's right?"

	"Yes," Ami said.  "I have the house all to myself."

	"Great, we can go orgy at your place after we go dancing," Minako said 
teasingly.

	"I'm not quite ready for that," Ami said.  "But if you two want to grab a 
bedroom for yourselves for some privacy, that's fine with me.  We'll be too 
busy to notice anything you do."

	Ryo said, "Hmm, I forsee Minako's going to burn the pancakes in the morning."

	"I am not!," Minako protested.  "You're just making things up again."

	"Honey, I love you, but he's right, you usually burn the pancakes," Steven 
said.

	"Let's see you do better, buster," Minako said to him.

	"Okay, I'll make breakfast tomorrow," Steven said.

	Mission accomplished, Ryo thought.

************
	
	Marcasite sat at a table, studying his astrological readings.  They were 
trapped for now, but not forever.  One day, other exiles from Earth would come 
here, and from here, they would take their revenge.  It would take a thousand 
years, but he could wait.  Revenge was a dish best served cold, after all.

	He was king of Nemesis, and time was on his side.  The stars had foretold it.

*************
	
	"We probably should have sent him into the Dark Kingdom," Jadeite said to 
Tethys as they stood on a balcony, overlooking Mons Olympus, gazing up at the 
night sky, at distant Earth.

	"They would kill him.  And perhaps he can be brought around," Tethys said.  
"Our people have suffered so much, I...my instincts are to kill him.  But I 
know we can't trust all our instincts.  We have to become better than Mother 
was."

	"Well, Anthracite won't ever escape unless someone helps him," Jadeite says.  
"So long as the coffin is intact.  And Hematite and Marcasite are both 
imprisoned, so we don't have to worry about them."

	A team of workers was continuing work on repairing enough housing for 
everyone; housing was still an issue.  There were lots of buildings...with 
holes in them.  Mars was supposed to come tomorrow and help fix things with her 
Hammer.  That would be a big help.  

	You could see crops growing on the slopes of the volcano; Serenity's power had 
made the land more fertile and restored the cycle of seasons, within the bubble 
hidden by Tethys' and Astra's powers.  In time, that would have to expand, but 
Astra had told her humanity would not reach Mars until the Crystal Millenium, 
which surprised her; how could it take them that long when they had 
technomagical craft to reach the Moon already?

	Indeed, her people would be ready to open trade relations with Earth long 
before that.  But that was a problem for another day.

	Tethys sighed.  "Really, I'm surprised as many of our people were ready to let 
go of everything as they were."

	"I think there were a lot of youma putting up a front of toughness to survive 
who were just sick of it all," Jadeite said.  "But I don't question good luck 
too much."

	Tethys stared off into the sky.  "It's all going to work out alright, isn't 
it?"

	"I think it will this time," Jadeite said, looking up with her.  "Nothing 
lasts forever, but I think it's going to be better for a long time, this time."

	She wanted to kiss him, but he wasn't ready for anything like that.  She 
wasn't sure if he ever would be.  They were partners, not lovers.  But maybe in 
time...

	For her people and for her, there was hope for the future.

*************
	
	Pharoah Mobius sat on his throne, brooding.  His latest invasion had not been 
much of a success.  He would have to find a new target.  And some new help.  
His latest crop of subordinates had all gotten themselves blown up.  It's so 
hard to get good help these days, he thought.

	"Perhaps I can be of help," a man said.

	Pharoah Mobius started, then realized his internal monologue had become 
external again.  "Who are you?" he demanded.

	The man wore a brown suit, a top hat, a brown domino mask, and carried a brown 
cane.  His skin was pale, but everything else about him was rather brown and 
non-descript.  He looked like he'd gotten lost on the way to the Average Man's 
Ball, really.  "I am Brown Mask," he said.  "A master of magic."  He pulled off 
his top hat, tapped it with the cane, and pigeons flew out.

	Mobius laughed.  "Are you looking to be court jester?"

	"Being an illusionist is a very powerful thing," the man said.  "People see 
what they want to see; outsmarting people is the essence of my power, to give 
them what they expect to get what I want.  My power is dwarfed by yours, but I 
think my skills might be of use to you."

	"Perhaps," Mobius said.  "I will give you a test.  If you pass it, you may 
work for me."

	"Of course, my lord Mobius," Brown Mask said.  "I am ready to attempt whatever 
you may desire."

	"This is what I want you to do..."  Mobius began explaining his plan.

	Brown Mask listened quietly.  Things were definitely going the way he hoped.  
He had no idea yet how he could best exploit this entity, but he would find a 
way.  One day, he would get revenge on the Senshi.  

	Or other people than him would die trying.

**************
	
	Naru stood by Usagi's window, clad in her orange pajamas, staring off across 
the city and up at the night sky.  "Thanks for having me over," she said to 
Usagi.  

	"Well, we haven't gotten much time together without something hanging over us 
in a while," Usagi said, flopped out on her bed in yellow pajamas.  "But if 
things go as usual, the world won't need Sailor Moon or Sailor Odysseus for a 
while."

	"Or Queen Serenity and Queen Astra," Naru said softly.  "I have a team of my 
own to lead now," Naru said.  "Even if it mostly runs itself these days."  She 
laughed softly.

	"Yeah," Usagi said, sounding a little worried and coming over.  "But we'll 
always be friends, right?"

	Friends, yes, Naru was sure of that, from what she could tell of the future.  
But for how long they'd be able to have the closeness, the time to spend 
together they did now...she wasn't so sure.  But she would cherish it while she 
could.  She took Usagi's hand.  "Always.  You're my best friend in the whole 
world, Usagi.  There's nothing we can't face together, right?"  

	"Right," Usagi said firmly.  

	"Not even entrance exams for college, right?" Naru teased.

	"ACK.  Don't make me think about those!  We've got a little more than two 
years before those!"

	Naru giggled, then said, "I understand now," with a more serious tone.

	"What?" Usagi asked in confusion.

	"Why you...why most of the people of Tokyo don't want to remember their past 
lives, would rather have a normal life."  She shivered.  "It's wonderful to be 
who I am, but really terrifying too, sometimes.  There's things out there..."  
Her voice strengthened.  "But I can fight them now.  And win.  I'm willing to 
put myself on the line to protect everyone, so they can have normal lives."

	"Me too," Usagi said, now gripping Naru's hand tightly.  "I just want some 
time to goof off with my boyfriend, and play games with you and Umino and 
everyone," she said.  Then she felt a tiny little shiver.

	She was blissfully unaware that at this very moment, Umino was busy picking 
Mamoru's brains for ideas for plant monsters to use for his planned D&D 
campaign, "Chronicle of the Mad Druid," which would be starting next Saturday, 
barring the arrival of new monsters for real.  

	"Me too," Naru said.  "And I think Gurio-kun wouldn't mind if you used his 
first name."

	Usagi smiled.  "Well, I'll ask.  I wouldn't want to...you know."

	"You're too busy kissing Rei-chan to chase my boyfriend, right?" Naru teased.

	Usagi turned red.

	"Actually, I hope Rei-san and Kumada-san are okay," Naru said.  

	"I'm sure they're fine," Usagi said.

	They were, in fact, caught in the middle of a brawl between two stupid gangs 
from Minako's old school, Moon Hill, but would never tell anyone of what 
happened next.  

	Naru yawned.  "I think it's time for us to go to bed," she said.

	"Yeah," Usagi said.  "I'm always game for a nap."

	Naru squeezed Usagi's hand and let go.  "Goodnight, Usagi-chan."

	"Goodnight, Naru-chan," Usagi said, then flopped onto the bed.  "First one 
asleep wins."

	"You'll always win that contest," Naru said, lying down.

	Soon they were both asleep with pleasant dreams of the days to come.  

The End of Sailor Moon Z (if not of tales to come)

	

--
John Walter Biles, Ph.D.--History, as of 12/05.  FINALLY.  
john at biles.us
wombat at thekeep.org  
"That all princes shall kiss the foot of the Pope alone."--Dictatus Papae,
11th century