It seemed almost hopeless. Their attacks had no effect and even Knight’s swords could only scratch the roots of the huge tree. Overhead, Usagi’s frightened yells had subsided slightly, which was cause for even more worry and concern. But the worst part of all was that the roots of the Doom Tree were still growing, although the rate of growth was substantially slower than before. That was perhaps the only good news that they had at the moment.
“If this Makaiju keeps growing, it’ll take all of the Earth’s energy!” Luna said anxiously.
“Leave it to me!” Venus said as she extended her hand forward. “Crescent….”
“Wait!” Mars said suddenly as she put a hand on Venus’ arm, causing her to halt her attack.
“What is it?” Knight asked as Mars slowly stepped forward, toward the roots.
“I feel something…,” she said absently as she reached out toward the largest of the roots and placed her hand on it. “I think the Makaiju is intelligent.”
Knight frowned. “Are you sure?”
Mars started to answer, but she was interrupted as the root underneath her hand suddenly began to move.
“Impossible!” Mercury gasped as she and the other Sailor Scouts stared in surprise.
“It’s moving!” Venus added as she turned toward Mars and gave her a questioning look.
“This…,” Mars began, paused, then began again. “It’s showing us the way in.”
Knight watched as the root finished its movement and stared at the newly revealed entrance into the building. “Convenient,” he said quietly as he took a step forward, his eyes constantly scanning for signs of attack. “But, why is it suddenly letting us in now? I don’t like this, but we don’t have many options left to us.”
“All right,” Jupiter said determinedly as she moved to stand beside Knight.
“Shall we go?” Venus suggested.
Everyone nodded and began to follow Knight as he took point while running through the building’s interior. There were smaller roots everywhere – clinging to the walls, hanging from the ceiling, and coming up through the floor. The Scouts had to leap over a couple of roots as they ran through the building, searching for the way to the roof.
As they ran through the building, Mars kept reaching out for the same intelligence she had felt at the entrance, hoping that she could reach out to it and convince it that what it was doing wasn’t right. It had intelligence, so perhaps it could be reasoned with.
While she continued to reach out for the Makaiju, she began to slow down as she began to sense something else. It was different; threatening. A warning shout from Jupiter was the only warning she had before she noticed a small seedpod suddenly moved in a threatening way toward her. She barely had enough time to leap out of the way as the pod shot a spray of some green-colored liquid at her, which burned the floor where it struck.
“Acid,” Knight said as he stared down at the patch of black on the floor.
Just as he spoke, a swathe of roots suddenly began to close at the last doorway they had gone through, blocking the way.
“We can’t go back!” Jupiter exclaimed as she watched the roots close.
“Here, too,” Mercury added as another swathe of roots closed at another doorway.
They watched as the roots of the Makaiju closed on almost every single doorway except for one. “Damn,” Jupiter growled angrily. “It was a trap.”
“Maybe…,” Knight said, frowning as he stared from the blocked exits to the one remaining open doorway. “Yet, I cannot help but wonder…. Look, only one doorway is left open to us. It is like we are being… herded… somewhere.”
“It has intelligence, like I thought,” Mars confirmed as she turned toward the open path ahead. “Well, since we only have one path left to us, let’s see if we can get to Usagi that way.”
As the Scouts resumed their forward push, they now had the added obstacle of dodging streams of acid that were being spat out by the seedpods that dotted their path. One time, Knight had to leap to the side, taking Venus down with him, as an acid stream was about to strike her. He rolled up to his feet and leapt into a run as he pulled Venus along beside him until she could run by herself again.
Luna and Artemis were trailing in the back as everyone ran, so it was Artemis who first saw the acid stream strike her in one of her shoulders.
“Luna!” he exclaimed as she stumbled slightly before running again, but with some pain.
“Shabon spray freezing!” Mercury shouted, freezing all of the seedpods within sight. The frozen pods dropped from the roots they clung to – the roots couldn’t hold the additional weight of the ice that encased each of the pods – and shattered upon hitting the floor.
“Luna!” Venus exclaimed as she knelt down and picked her up in her arms.
“Are you okay, Luna?” Artemis asked worriedly.
“I’m okay,” she told him, then winced. “It just grazed me.”
“Luna….”
“Hurry, get to the center of the Makaiju,” she said, giving them a reassuring wink.
“Yes,” Artemis agreed as his expression lightened slightly.
“Since the pods aren’t going to be a problem anymore, we shouldn’t have too much of a problem,” Knight said quietly as he turned to stare in the direction they had been headed. “We are almost there. I’m sure of it.”
“Look out!” Mercury shouted as the roots began to move again, this time from behind.
“Wait!” Knight shouted suddenly as a realization hit him. He had been in this building before. He had a good idea of where in the huge building they were at right now. Wasn’t there an elevator nearby? But, the Makaiju’s roots were covering the doorway they had to go through in order to reach it. It was so close, just beyond that wall….
The wall.
Knight turned toward the wall and prepared an attack. Next to him, Mars saw what he was attempting to do and prepared to assist him.
“Earth….”
“Fire….”
“…thrust!”
“…soul!”
The two attacks combined to blast a huge hole into the wall in front of them, allowing them to enter the next room. Everyone followed Knight as he turned and ran for the elevator, which was a short distance away. Behind them, the roots crawled through the opening that Knight and Mars had made and stretched out after them.
Knight stopped just in front of the elevator’s entrance and gestured for the others to keep going. He quickly drew his swords and stood ready to buy them as much time as possible before the roots could overtake them. After everyone had boarded the elevator, Knight quickly backed into the elevator while watching the roots relentlessly approach. Behind him, he could hear Mercury’s voice urgently pleading for the elevator’s doors to close as she continuously jabbed at the button that would take them to the floor they needed.
“What’s wrong?” Jupiter asked apprehensively.
“Hurry!” Mars urged.
“It won’t work!” Mercury exclaimed desperately.
“It’s coming!” Knight reported as the roots closed in.
“Hurry!” Mars urged again.
“Please close!” Jupiter said pleadingly.
“It’s no use!” Mercury said despairingly.
“Don’t give up!” Knight shouted back at her. “There has to be a way out of this!”
Luna glanced up at the ceiling of the elevator car and spotted the escape hatch. “A trap door!” she shouted as Venus looked up as well.
“All right!” Jupiter said as she jumped up and kicked open the hatch.
“Hurry!” Artemis exclaimed as Jupiter reached down to take Luna from Venus.
“It’s almost here!” Knight shouted back as Jupiter and Venus helped Mercury up onto the top of the elevator car.
“Quickly!” Jupiter shouted as she reached down and grabbed Mars’ hand and pulled while Mercury and Venus helped to pull her up.
“Go!” Knight shouted as he turned and gestured for them to get moving.
“Ryo-chan, hurry!” Jupiter shouted as she reached down for her brother.
“No!” he shouted urgently as he began to do something to the elevator’s control panel. “Go! Go now!!!”
“But….”
“Go!!!” he all but screamed insistently as he turned away from the panel. “Please? Don’t worry; I’ll be with you shortly.”
Jupiter turned away from the hatch with a great reluctance and reached for the ladder that would take them up to the floor they needed to go to. She began to follow the others up the ladder, all the while watching her brother do something to the elevator’s control panel. Suddenly, Knight stood up and glanced up toward her. She was about to jump off and go to the hatch and help him up, but he gave her a look that plainly told her to stay put. She watched as he jumped up and thrust his swords through the roof of the elevator car roof, then used them to swing himself up through the escape hatch. A second after he pulled his swords out of the roof, the roots slammed into the elevator car. Without hesitation, he swung at the cables holding the elevator car, cutting through each one with ease. Without the cables that moved the elevator up and down, the car began to fall down through the shaft. As the car began to fall, Knight quickly leaped up toward the ladder that she was holding onto and grabbed onto it just a short distance below her.
“I’m so glad you made it, Ryo-chan,” she breathed in relief as she stared down at him. “I almost thought that you weren’t going to make it. But, what in the hell were you doing?!? What was so important that you almost got yourself killed?”
“Look,” he said as he nodded toward the floor they had just left. The elevator shaft doors had finally closed. “I had to make sure that it couldn’t follow us up the shaft. We’re vulnerable as long as we’re climbing up this ladder.”
“I see,” she said as she began to climb up the ladder. “But, why didn’t you tell us? You didn’t have to worry us like that!”
“No time,” he replied calmly as he climbed up after her. “I had to concentrate on what I was doing so I couldn’t be distracted by explaining what I was doing.” He paused for a moment and sighed contritely. “I’m sorry I worried you, Mako-chan.”
“Forget it,” she replied as she turned to concentrate on climbing up the ladder with the other Scouts. “Let’s just concentrate on how we’re gonna rescue Usagi-chan.”
Usagi could feel herself being slowly drained of all of her energy, but she wasn’t about to give up yet. She could see Mamoru just slightly out of reach as the root that had wrapped itself around her waist and held her suspended above the ground was only a couple of meters away from the root that now held Mamoru above the ground.
Mamoru’s green shirt was now gone, ripped from his back from when he had first tried to save her. Natsumi had broken free from the root that held her and tried to stop him from running to Usagi’s aid, but only managed to grab his shirt. He tried to pull the root off of Usagi, but the Makaiju had grabbed him and started to drain him as well.
And as all this was happening, she watched as Seijuro and Natsumi shed their human disguised and appeared as Ail and Ann.
“Mamoru-san…,” Usagi gasped as she tried to reach out for him. “Are you all right?”
“Meatball-head…,” Mamoru said in a strained voice as he tried to reach out to her as well. Their hands were only inches apart, coming closer as they each struggled to reach the other.
“Mamoru-san!” she called out as she stretched out as far as she could and strained to reach farther. “Mamoru-san!” Their fingers were almost about to touch when Ail appeared over them and kicked Mamoru’s hand away.
“You!” he growled as he glared down at Mamoru with his arms folded fiercely across his chest. “I won’t let you touch my Usagi!”
“Ail!” Ann shouted, upset. “What are you doing to my Mamoru-sama?”
Ail’s eyes narrowed. “What did you call him?”
She blushed slightly at her slip, but recovered as she glared angrily at him while her body began to glow with a harsh blue light. “Ail! You said ‘My Usagi’, too! I know you love that girl more than me! Liar!!!”
He grimaced as he realized that he had slipped as well. “You’re wrong! That's different!”
She would have none of it. “Shut up! Liar!” she screamed, then turned toward the Doom Tree and pointed at Usagi. “Makaiju! Take that girl’s energy!”
“No, take the man’s energy!” he countered quickly, pointing down at Mamoru.
“Ail!”
“You can’t forget that it’s me who has looked after you!” Ail told the Doom Tree as he tried to convince it to listen to him.
“You must obey me or you’ll die!” Ann shouted, trying to convince the tree as well.
Faced with two conflicting orders, the tree did what it thought to be the best possible solution.
It began to drain both of them.
Both Usagi and Mamoru began to scream in pain as their energy was forcefully taken from them.
“Mamoru-sama!”
“Usagi-san!”
Both aliens immediately rushed to the aid of their chosen human and tried to pry the roots off of them while ordering the tree to cease its actions.
“Mamoru-sama!” Ann cried out as she tugged at the root holding him.
“Let go, Makaiju!” Ail shouted as he yanked at the root holding Usagi.
“Stop, Makaiju! Don’t take Mamoru-sama’s energy!”
“Stop! You’re repaying good with evil, Makaiju!”
Almost as if it was tired of all the conflicting and countermanding orders, the tree suddenly lashed out at both of them, then let go of both Usagi and Mamoru, letting the two unconscious humans drop like dead weights.
“Usagi-san!”
“Mamoru-sama!”
Instantly, both aliens teleported just underneath their chosen human and caught them, then gently lowered them to the floor below.
“Usagi-san!” Ail called out to her as he gently shook her. “Usagi-san!”
“Mamoru-sama, hang on!” Ann called out to him as she did the same.
“Usagi-chan!” Luna called out as she, Artemis and the rest of the Sailor Scouts finally arrived. As one, both aliens looked up and glared balefully at the new arrivals.
“Mamoru-san!” Mars exclaimed as soon as she spotted him lying unconscious in Ann’s arms.
“It was them, after all,” Jupiter said as she stared at Ail and Ann.
“Usagi, are you all right?” Mercury called out.
“No…,” Usagi murmured as she started to come to her senses.
“You dare to appear again?” Ail said fiercely as he and Ann stood up.
“You’re in our way!” Ann declared as they leapt up and attacked. All of the Sailor Scouts scattered as they all took up positions to counterattack.
“Fire soul bird!” Mars shouted, firing her powered-up attack. The firebird flew up toward the two aliens, but struck a shield and dissipated. Their eyes flashed a bright red as their stares taunted the Scouts, daring them to try again.
“Shabon spray….”
“Supreme thunder….”
“Crescent beam….”
“Volcanic flare….”
“Useless!” both Ail and Ann declared as they fired a combined blast which struck all the Scouts at once. “Useless!” they declared again as they struck again and again, blasting everyone as they lay on the ground, over and over, relentlessly and mercilessly. “Useless! It’s all useless!”
“You’re all animals!” Usagi shouted furiously as she slowly pushed herself up to her feet and glared at them. “That’s what you are!” She reached down and grabbed at the brooch on her chest. “All right,” she declared as she raised the brooch skyward. “Moon crystal power, make up!”
Both Ail and Ann stared in complete shock as they watched Usagi transform into Sailor Moon. “What?!?” Ail gasped, stunned. “Usagi is Sailor Moon!”
“I thought they looked a lot alike,” Ann stated angrily.
“Stop this!” Sailor Moon shouted. “As the proverb says, there’s no good nature or bad nature. Nature is the life of our planet! Nature is all Earth’s friend!” Both cats sweatdropped in chagrin at Sailor Moon’s speech, but she was too angry to care. “I’m the Sailor Warrior fighting for love and justice, Sailor Moon! On behalf of the Moon, I’ll punish you!”
“I don’t understand what in the world she’s talking about,” Ann said as she stood ready to fight. “Ail, finish her off quickly!”
“But…,” he said reluctantly as he stared at Sailor Moon. “Sailor Moon is Usagi….”
“What’s wrong?” she asked with a smirk. “If Tsukino-san loved you, she wouldn’t become Sailor Moon and fight you! She never cared about you at all!”
Ail’s eyes widened in shocked realization. “I don’t believe it….”
“Mamoru-san, hang on!” Sailor Moon said worriedly as she knelt down by his side and took his hand in hers. “Mamoru-san, it’s me!” she said as she watched him slowly open his eyes again.
“Meatball-head…,” he murmured as slowly reached up and put his free hand on her cheek.
“Mamoru-san!” she breathed in relief as she gently leaned into his hand and closed her eyes.
“It seems that the man’s heart isn’t turned toward Ann, either,” Ail observed smugly as Ann stared in complete astonishment.
“No! No way!!!”
“Has he ever tried to hold your hand?” he asked with his arms folded. Ann’s eyes widened as she came to realize the truth. “Give it up, Ann.”
Ann began to seethe in a cold fury as she stared at Sailor Moon. “I hate you!!!” she screamed as she blasted Sailor Moon with as much force as she could muster. Sailor Moon and Mamoru were knocked back a good distance, but Sailor Moon refused to relinquish Mamoru’s hand, which added to her enraged fury. “A million times over, you cute little thing!” She fired again, sending them back further, but Sailor Moon refused to let go.
“Sailor Moon!” Luna called out fearfully.
“Mamoru-san…,” Sailor Moon said weakly as she glanced concernedly toward Mamoru, who had been knocked out again.
“The final blow!” Ann declared. “Prepare!”
“Farewell, Andromeda of my heart, Tsukino Usagi…,” he began reluctantly, then paused as his expression hardened. “No! Our enemy, Sailor Moon!” They both turned toward the Doom Tree. “Makaiju! We’ve no use for this planet anymore! Destroy it with our broken hearts!”
Nothing happened.
“It can’t be…,” Ail said in surprise.
“Well, Makaiju?” Ann prompted impatiently. “Show your power!”
“We won’t let you!” Mercury, Mars, Jupiter, Venus and Knight all shouted as they leaped toward them, trying to prevent them from getting the Doom Tree to unleash its power.
Ail turned toward the attacking Scouts and dispassionately flung his arm toward them, sending another blast to knock them back down to the ground.
“Moon princess…,” Sailor Moon began as she raised her Moon Scepter toward Ail and Ann, but Ann countered with a blast similar to the one Ail used to stop the other Scouts. Ann laughed as she blasted Sailor Moon again and again, each time pushing her back toward Mamoru.
“Mamoru-san!” she shouted worriedly as she reached out toward him. “Mamoru-san, hang on!”
“Sailor Moon…,” he murmured weakly as he slowly returned to consciousness again.
“I’m Princess Serenity,” she told him as her eyes began to tear.
“Tsukino Usagi, the Meatball-head,” he said quietly as his expression turned distant and thoughtful, almost as if seeing something that he hadn’t seen in a long time. “Usagi? It’s finally coming back! The Kingdom of the Moon…. The fight against the Dark Kingdom….”
“You always protected me,” Sailor Moon said as she took his hand in hers as he started to rise up to his feet. “And I’m your Moon Girl.”
“Kingdom of the Moon…,” he repeated as if trying to summon up more memories.
“Mamoru-san, remember!” Sailor Moon encouraged hopefully.
“Shut up!” Ann yelled furiously as she fired another blast at them, knocking them off their feet.
“Sailor Moon!” Luna shouted as they flew through the air and landed a short distance away.
Ann laughed almost manically as she blasted them repeatedly, projecting her fury through each blast that struck Sailor Moon.
“Sailor Moon!” Jupiter exclaimed anxiously as she lifted her head enough to see a blast heading for Mamoru, instead of her. Sailor Moon saw the attack and flung herself in front of it, taking the full force of the attack to protect him.
“What?” Ail exclaimed, shocked at seeing such an action.
“Sailor Moon…,” Mamoru murmured apprehensively as he looked up at her.
“Why?” he wondered aloud after seeing Sailor Moon take such a brutal hit and remain standing. “Why’d she do this?”
“Because I love him,” Sailor Moon retorted as she glared up at him. “And I’d give up my life to save his.”
Ail winced at the sting in her words, but Ann’s wicked grin only widened at the defiance in her voice.
“Well, how irrational!” she replied as she aimed her attack at Mamoru, knowing that Sailor Moon would willingly take such a hit to protect him. “Come on, beg for your life!” she taunted, enjoying the pain she was inflicting on her enemy.
“Whatever happens to me is okay,” she stated fiercely. “But, I’ll save Mamoru-san.”
Sailor Moon…, Mamoru thought in surprise as he stared up at her in quiet astonishment.
“Again and again, this foolishness,” Ann remarked with mocking laughter. “There’s nothing more important than your own life!” She once again fired an attack toward Sailor Moon, but this time, Mamoru pushed her behind him and took the attack himself.
“What?!?” Ann exclaimed and fired the attack at Sailor Moon again. Once again, Mamoru took the blow for Sailor Moon.
Ail stared down at Mamoru, astonished that he was still standing after taking two full force attacks from Ann. “Ann…,” he began, but she wasn’t listening. After a third attack, Mamoru’s strength finally started to give out.
“Mamoru-san!” Sailor Moon cried as he collapsed into her arms. “Mamoru-san! Mamoru-san! Mamoru-san!”
“Beautiful…,” Ail murmured as he watched the tableau unfolding beneath him. “It’s beautiful…. Is this… love?”
“Ail!”
“Ann… love isn’t a thing to be stolen,” he told her as he stared down at Sailor Moon and Mamoru. “Love… love is… it’s a heart that cares for someone else.”
She frowned at him uncertainly. “What are you saying?”
“That’s right!” Jupiter added sternly as she and the other Sailor Scouts slowly pushed themselves back up to their feet. “If there’s love, people can have the courage to live without being alone!”
Ann scowled and was about to attack the Scouts again when a white rose suddenly flew past her and stuck into one of the roots behind her.
“Moonlight Knight!” Jupiter exclaimed as she spotted him standing on one of the highest roots extending from the Doom Tree.
“The living things in the Universe are all brothers,” the Moonlight Knight declared. “You had better open your hearts before it is too late.”
“How can you understand our suffering, you who live luxuriously on a rich planet?” Ann spat heatedly. “Forever and ever, it’s only the two of us wandering alone in the Universe!”
“Ann!” Ail said, but she wasn’t listening anymore.
“We have to steal the energy of planets by force to survive!”
“Hasn’t there been someone beside you all along who cared about you?” the Moonlight Knight asked calmly. “Why didn’t you notice?”
“Shut up!” Ann roared as she attacked, blasting him off of the root and slamming him back into the Doom Tree.
“Moonlight Knight!” Mercury exclaimed as his body began to disappear, almost as if he was absorbed into the tree. Once he was gone, the entire chamber began to tremble as the Doom Tree’s roots began to uproot themselves and lash out into the air.
“The Makaiju!” Ail exclaimed as everyone was knocked aside by the roots as the sharp ends lashed out toward Ail and Ann.
“Look out! Ail!” Ann shouted as a root knocked Ail out of the air and sent him hurtling down toward the ground where another was heading straight for him. “Stop, please!” she implored as she interposed herself between Ail and the incoming root spike.
“Ann!” Ail shouted warningly, but it was too late. The spike had struck, stabbing Ann in her midsection. He scrambled to his knees in order to catch Ann as she collapsed once the root had retracted from Ann’s body. “Ann, why?” he asked, his throat tightening desolately.
“Because…,” she said weakly as she turned her head in order to see his face, “I love you.”
“Ann…,” he said miserably as he held her.
“I didn’t want you to be hurt…,” she continued faintly. “I didn’t know….”
“Ann…. For me, you….”
She nodded silently, then stared up at him as she smiled. “What’s this warm feeling in my heart?” she murmured wondrously.
“Ann…,” he said as he gave her an anxious, concerned look.
A look of happy realization lit up her face as a tear slowly fell from her eye. “For the first time…,” she whispered, then breathed her last.
Ail stared down at Ann’s peaceful face as despair threatened to consume him. Pain like a white-hot knife stabbed into his heart as he began to cry into her lifeless shoulder. He took in a deep breath and screamed with the force of a dying man the name of the thing that held any meaning to his life.
“ANN!!!”
Almost as if it could sense his surrender to despair, the same root that had run Ann through came straight for him. He stared at it as if it was some foreign thing that he had seen for the first time. As he stolidly stared at the approaching root, he held Ann closer to him and hung his head in stoic acceptance.
“Ann, I’ll join you soon,” he whispered as he waited for the sweet release of death.
As Sailor Moon watched Ail apparently give up and wait for death to take him, she felt as if she couldn’t take anymore. No more pain. No more suffering.
No more.
“Stop!!!” she cried out in a desperate attempt to halt what looked like the inevitable.
To everyone’s surprise, the root halted, almost as if the force of her beseeching cry caused the attack to cease.
“At last, I am awake!” a voice suddenly announced, filling the entire room.
“The tree spoke!” Sailor Moon gasped, stunned as light began to emanate from the tree and blindingly fill the entire chamber, astounding everyone present.
There was silence.
Dark, black silence.
Slowly, as if to make up for the darkness, a small pinprick of light appeared and grew until it seemed to become like a star in a midnight sky. Slowly, discreetly, more lights appeared until the emptiness was softened into something less ominous and foreboding.
As she stared out in front of her into the dark void, a presence surrounded her and calmed her. There were other presences, similar to hers, but it was this omnipresence that held her attention, calm and benign.
“This place…?” she said out loud, but she couldn’t be certain if she either spoke the words or merely thought them. Since the rest of her thoughts weren’t vocalized, she assumed that she had spoken.
“Inside the Doom Tree’s mind…,” another voice spoke, slightly familiar. It was masculine, so it couldn’t be Ami or Rei or Makoto or Minako. Ryoku? No. It was different. Ah, yes. Seijuro… or rather, Ail. Now she remembered.
Ahead of her, the sight of a planet filled her vision. She could’ve sworn that it wasn’t there before. It looked so real, but when she reached out toward it, she couldn’t see her hand, nor could she see any part of herself. She remembered Ail’s remark of being inside the – Doom Tree? Not Makaiju? – mind, but it hadn’t fully registered until now.
“Yes,” the disembodied voice replied gently. “I was born on a planet whose entire face was covered with an ocean. For a long time, I was alone, but I wanted companionship.”
“We… were born from the Doom Tree?” Ail queried. “From the Makaiju?”
“New life budded from my body,” the voice continued. “I loved them and they loved me. My children called me the Tree of Life, and we lived together in happiness.
“But then, they began to quarrel over my energy and lost their love for me. My children now had a new name for me, the Doom Tree, as their thirst and desire for my energy created the malice in their hearts that sealed their doom. Hatred and malice controlled them, but I still believed and hoped peace would return.
“Unfortunately, this did not happen. Controlled by hatred, they destroyed their own planet in their wars.
“We escaped into space and searched for a new planet where we could live… but it was hard to find one that would sustain us. Their numbers decreased until there were only two, born after all the others had died.
“They were you, Ail and Ann. The last two, in whom I placed all my hopes… as I reduced my own life force to sustain yours. Finally, praying that the two of you would grow up well, I surrendered my consciousness….”
Slowly, the darkness and the visions that the Doom Tree had imparted to them began to fade and the familiar landscape that was the destruction of the top part of the apartment that Ginga Natsumi and Ginga Seijuro had made their home came back into view. The dark sky was slowly beginning to surrender to dawn, but in the crepuscular light of predawn, the sun had yet to rise.
“Makaiju, I feel sorry for you,” Sailor Moon said quietly.
“I never needed energy,” the tree explained. “I needed love.”
“Love?” Ail asked as he remorsefully cradled Ann’s lifeless body in his arms and stared up hopelessly at the Doom Tree.
“But, you only thought of stealing. I forgot myself in anger and killed my own child….”
“I’m sorry,” Ail said in a mournfully quiet murmur.
“Finally, the love of this girl revived me enough to speak again.”
“Love…,” Sailor Moon said thoughtfully as she turned toward the tree along with the other Sailor Scouts.
“Sailor Moon. My body, poisoned by anger and hate, is withering. Please, purify me with your power of love.”
“Yes,” Sailor Moon agreed as she raised her Moon Scepter over her head. “Moon princess halation!” she shouted as she waved the scepter in front of her, ending with it pointing at the Doom Tree. A stream of light emanated from the scepter and struck the tree, bathing it in purifying light.
“Cleansing!” the tree exclaimed as it faded away into the pure white light.
“The Makaiju disappeared!” she exclaimed worriedly as she stared at the space the tree once occupied.
“It will be reborn,” a familiar voice told her as a warm light enveloped her.
“Moonlight Knight-sama! You’re safe!” Sailor Moon exclaimed in surprise.
“Sailor Moon… no. Tsukino Usagi.”
She gave him a confused look. “How did you know?”
The Moonlight Knight reached up toward his mask. “Now, you can see my face for the first time.” He pulled down the mask covering the bottom half of his face and revealed his face to her.
Sailor Moon gasped in disbelief. “Mamoru!” She turned to glance behind her and saw that Mamoru was indeed lying unconscious on the floor behind her. But if he was lying on the floor behind her… and standing before her as the Moonlight Knight…. “There are two of you?” she exclaimed, even more bewildered than before.
“Yes,” the Moonlight Knight replied. “I am also Chiba Mamoru.”
“What does this mean?”
“Chiba Mamoru lost his memory after the war with Queen Beryl. But his will to protect Tsukino Usagi was too strong to seal away. So from that will, I, the Moonlight Knight, was born. I am his shadow, who has existed only for your sake.”
“Mamoru-san…,” Sailor Moon said as her eyes began to tear up.
“But now, Chiba Mamoru has awakened, and I must return into him.”
“Moonlight Knight-sama….”
“I will always and forever be with you,” he said as he started to fade into white mist. “Farewell.”
Sailor Moon watched as the white mist began to slowly descend down toward Mamoru’s body, then settle down inside of him.
“Sailor Moon…,” she could hear him say as he disappeared. “Sailor Moon….” It was almost like a dream.
“Sailor Moon….”
“Mamoru?” she murmured as she opened her eyes and saw him looking down at her. It seemed like a dream, but she was still on the ruined top of the apartment complex, surrounded by her friends and with Mamoru looking down at her with concern.
“Sailor Moon…,” he said as soon as she had opened her eyes. His eyes held a smile that mirrored the one that was on his face now. “No. Tsukino Usagi, the Meatball-head.”
Those words filled her with such joy. “It’s returned!” she exclaimed joyously as she stared wondrously up at him. “Your memory’s returned!” As soon as he nodded confirmation, she lunged up at him and embraced him as she began to cry happily. “Mamoru-san!”
“Ann?” Ail said incredulously as her body began to glow in his arms. He stared in wonder as she slowly opened her eyes and smiled at him.
“Ail,” she said, speaking his name as if it was the most precious thing to her.
“You’re alive!” Ail shouted in pure exaltation as he hugged her ardently. “Ann!”
“Ail!” she said weakly as she pointed toward something glowing softly behind him. “Look!”
Sailor Moon couldn’t help but stare. She had seen it disappear with her own eyes. However, the Moonlight Knight had said it would be reborn. And there it was. A small seedling of the Makaiju was glowing in a soft, inviting white light.
“This…,” she whispered almost to herself as Ail helped Ann over to the seedling.
“It’s a seedling of the Doom Tree!” he exclaimed as he and Ann knelt down around it while Ann picked the seedling up gently. Ail frowned, then shook his head. “No. A seedling of the Makaiju; a seedling of the Tree of Life.” He looked up at Ann and smiled lovingly at her. “Let’s raise this on a new planet.”
“Yes,” Ann agreed wholeheartedly. “With the energy of our love.”
“I’m so glad!” Sailor Moon said happily as she watched them with Mamoru.
“Yes,” Mamoru agreed with a small nod.
As the two aliens gathered the seedling and prepared to depart the Earth, they said their farewells to the Sailor Scouts. There were no longer any hard feelings as Ail and Ann were obviously two very different people now that they had learned the true meaning of love. As Ail and Ann surrounded themselves and the seedling in a sphere of white light and ascended into the sky above, Sailor Moon and Mamoru watched the pair with hope.
“The two of them will surely be happy,” she said as she watched them fade away into the dawn’s first rays of sunlight.
“Yes, surely,” Mamoru agreed as he smiled down at her.
“Us, too?” she asked as she smiled back.
“Is that so?” the rest of the Senshi asked, catching Mamoru off-guard.
“Let us watch!” Mars said suddenly.
“Find me a boyfriend, too!” Jupiter added.
“After all, Mamoru is nice!” Venus added as well.
“Oh, stop it! Stop it!” Sailor Moon insisted, overwhelmed.
“Give us a break!” Mamoru added, also overwhelmed.
“Let the couple have some alone time,” Knight told the others. “Mamoru-san just got his memories back not thirty minutes ago!”
Jupiter, Mars and Venus all exchanged looks, then smiled slyly as they turned their gazed toward him and Mercury.
“Why are you looking at us like that?” Mercury asked nervously.
“Well, since you want us to leave them alone, and you two are the only other couple here…,” Venus explained with a wink.
“Thanks, Ami-chan and Ryo-kun!” Sailor Moon shouted as she and Mamoru waved over at them.
“We appreciate you volunteering yourselves like that,” Mamoru added as they turned and left the newly made roof via what remained of the apartment room’s front door.
“So, are you two just going to stand there?” Mars asked impatiently.
“Now that I think about it, Ryo-kun is nice, too!” Venus remarked with a grin and a wink.
“Come on,” Jupiter said while nudging Knight with an elbow. “Let’s see some action!”
Mercury blushed furiously. “Please… you’re embarrassing us.”
“That’s the entire point,” Jupiter explained with a wide grin.
“I am going to hurt those two a lot the next time I see them,” Knight muttered irritably under his breath to Mercury. “But for now….”
Mercury nodded reluctantly. “I guess… for Usagi-chan….”
They both sighed in unison as they endured the teasing while elsewhere, Mamoru and Usagi – who had just shed her transformation – were busy losing themselves in a warm embrace and a passionate kiss that they had both missed and longed for.
Everything was finally as it should be.
To Epilogue: The Long Journey Ends