Sailor Knight turned from the balcony and headed inside after watching Tuxedo Kamen leap off the top of the Crystal Palace while riding the hang glider. Before he reached the doorway, he glanced back at the others over his shoulder, observing their varying degrees of concern.
His sister, Jupiter, seemed the calmest of all of them, watching Tuxedo Kamen’s flight with her arms crossed, her expression one of patient waiting. Mars had her arms crossed as well, but her right foot tapping impatiently betrayed her anxiousness. Chibiusa held onto Mars’ leg and watched with deep concern etched on her face. Venus held her hands together, one hand over the other, in front of her chest and watched with a worried look on her face. Mercury had a similar look on her face, but she held her right hand closed in front of her mouth, as she usually did when worried, anxious, or even embarrassed.
Although it seemed inappropriate, he couldn’t help but half-smile for a brief moment. The way she held her hand to her mouth like that was endearing, even if she didn’t realize it. It was strange – he never really noticed it before, but now….
He frowned to himself as he turned around and headed through the doorway. Why was he in such an introspective mood, all of a sudden? And this, of all topics? Usually, when he was in Scout mode, he had other things to think about – strategies for defending against possible enemy attacks, watching for signs of impending attacks, things of that nature. He should be with King Endymion, devising plans for when Tuxedo Kamen returned with Sailor Moon. He would return with her, of course. He knew him well enough to know that he’d either return with her, or perish in the attempt. He would do the same thing in his situation. Tuxedo Kamen was a skilled warrior. He wouldn’t fail. There wasn’t really anything to worry about.
“Has he left already, Knight?” Artemis asked as he and Luna met him en route toward where King Endymion said he would be if they needed him.
“You just missed him,” he told them. “The others are still there, watching as he makes his way toward the enemy’s base.”
“You don’t seem to be very concerned,” Luna noticed.
“Well, it’s just that I believe that Tuxedo Kamen is more than capable of rescuing Sailor Moon,” he replied off-handedly as he made his way past the cats. “King Endymion is still at the control room, right?”
Luna glanced back at him with a slight frown for a moment, but it disappeared as she nodded. “Yes. He said he was going to watch for their return from there.”
Knight nodded. “Thank you, Luna. Artemis.” He turned and continued on his way, leaving the two cats to make their way toward where he had come from.
It wasn’t long before he made his way to the control room. He paused at the entrance and gazed at the simple, yet aesthetic design of the control panel the king was standing in front of. The screen, as well as the knobs, switches, and other controlling mechanisms were all made as if they were a statue carved from the same huge block of crystal. There were no seams between the devices and the panel that he could detect, yet he was almost sure that there had to be something underneath the panel that controlled the viewscreen. It couldn’t be entirely made of crystal, right? There had to be something inside that made it work.
Then again, this was the 30th century. Making assumptions based on 20th century knowledge would not only be incorrect, but would more than likely give him a headache if he tried to think about it too hard. Under other circumstances, Mercury would probably love the challenge.
“Is there something on your mind, Sailor Knight?” King Endymion asked as he turned from the viewscreen to look at him.
“Not really,” he replied as he ventured further into the room. “I see he’s made it to the base,” he added as he nodded toward the screen.
King Endymion nodded, but did not turn to look at the screen for confirmation. “Now we wait for Tuxedo Kamen to return,” he said as he turned back toward the screen.
Knight nodded and was about to go back to join the others, but he hesitated for a moment. “King Endymion, where are the other Sailor Scouts? The ones from this era?”
He turned back around again and glanced toward him with a considering expression on his face. “They are here, inside this palace, maintaining the barrier that protects us.”
“That’s not what I meant.”
“Why do you ask? They cannot move until the Dark Power they are fighting is defeated,” he told him.
“Perhaps I just want to see how my future self has changed from what I am now,” Knight told him.
He grinned slightly with a trace of amusement. “I see. At least that part of you has never changed,” he added to himself with a brief laugh, then shook his head as he bowed his head tiredly. “I am sorry, though. It is enough that you know this much about this future, Sailor Knight. There are things that are better left unknown until they come to pass.” He paused as a small, pensive frown formed and vanished so quickly that Knight almost doubted that it had ever been there. “Believe me… there are things in your future – in all of your futures – that you do not want to know about.” His gaze slid up from the floor toward what Knight assumed was something behind him, just past his left arm. His gaze slid back to his face again. “To tell you would do more harm than good.” He sighed sadly. “And perhaps I have said way too much as it is.”
Knight considered his words and nodded silently. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have pried.”
He shook his head. “Don’t worry about it.”
Knight nodded again, then turned to leave, giving the viewscreen behind the king a brief glance before starting to leave.
“Sailor Knight.”
He paused at the entrance to the chamber and half-turned back toward the king. He hadn’t moved from where he was standing and his expression held a slight, reassuring smile.
“Just as there are shadows of despair in your futures, there are rays of hope. As much as I want to tell you all what you want to know, I cannot. Too much information risks compromising this future.”
“I understand. I’ll let the others know.”
King Endymion watched Knight’s back as he left. “You were much easier to read when you were younger, weren’t you, old friend?” he asked no one in particular after he had left his sight. He smiled again. “I know exactly why you came. And the answer to your question is before your eyes. You’ll learn to see it in time.”
He turned back toward the viewscreen and watched.
And waited.
As one, Prince Diamond, Saffire, and Emerald appeared in the main command center on their base in Nemesis. Behind them, part of the core reactor that contained the Black Crystal jutted up through the floor, spewing clouds darker than the blackest night from below.
Prince Diamond turned to Saffire with his arms crossed and his expression neutral. “Saffire, concentrate the full power of the Black Crystal toward the Crystal Palace on Earth. As soon as you finish, we will return to Earth.”
“Brother!” he protested. “Neo-Queen Serenity has refused to kneel at your feet both in the past and now!”
Prince Diamond patiently closed his eyes for a moment as his brother spoke. “Saffire,” he said in a calm, inflexible tone that brooked no argument, the moment his brother finished.
“Brother, you have forgotten the goal of the Dark Family of the Black Moon!” Saffire continued as he strode away from the column of glass that contained the Black Crystal toward the chamber-wide window that allowed them to look down upon the Earth from Nemesis. “We were forced to flee the beautiful Earth for cold Nemesis. Our purpose is to avenge ourselves by changing Earth’s history! This is a war! I will not forget that!”
Prince Diamond’s hand angrily clenched into tight fists just moments before he whirled around and flung a minor pulse of energy at his brother, flinging him back against a column, stunning him to silence.
“Prince Diamond-sama!” Emerald shouted, shocked at her Prince’s behavior.
He lowered his hand. “If you have the time to make such remarks, I suggest you work on tending to the Black Crystal’s reactor.”
Saffire struggled more with the disbelief of his brother attacking him, that with the dizziness that came from the blow. “Brother…,” he murmured faintly, disbelievingly.
Prince Diamond turned his gaze toward the protector in the center of the room and activated the image of Neo-Queen Serenity again.
“Neo-Queen Serenity, you will be mine.”
Emerald scowled at the image as she suppressed the urge to growl.
Luna and Artemis met up with the other Scouts and Chibiusa as the group left from their balcony vigil. Neither group said anything as they all headed back toward the control room to watch and wait for Tuxedo Kamen to return with Sailor Moon.
The cats had been there earlier speaking with King Endymion about the current state of the Crystal Palace and its defensive capabilities. They were protected from attacks from Nemesis, due to the future Scouts’ barrier, however they had soon discovered that a single enemy could penetrate the castle’s defenses. Of course, they had only learned of this defensive flaw after they had abducted Sailor Moon. A mistake that must not be repeated.
“It’s hard to believe that this is the Crystal Palace,” Venus remarked as she glanced around her. The control room was empty and the viewscreen had been turned off.
“It’s so quiet, it’s frightening,” Jupiter added, viewing the cold, quiet interior along with Venus and the other Scouts. “Could the people who had built such a thing really be defeated and killed?”
“But, if this palace was protected by the Silver Crystal, it shouldn’t have been damaged so easily,” Luna told them.
“What happened to the Silver Crystal of this world, then?” Artemis asked.
The sound of a light thump on the floor echoed faintly as the Luna Sphere slipped from Chibiusa’s numb fingers. The young girl stood almost petrified as she failed to retrieve her toy-like companion.
Mercury stepped around Chibiusa and knelt down to pick up the Luna Sphere, then turned to hand it to her. That was when she noticed the pained, almost remorseful look on the young girl’s face. “Chibiusa-chan, what’s the matter?” she asked as she smiled reassuringly. Chibiusa merely took the Luna Sphere and hugged it tightly to herself.
“I wonder if Tuxedo Kamen and Sailor Moon are okay?” Luna pondered.
“Well, let’s go find and help them,” Mars told them, then started to leave.
“Wait, Mars.”
Mars turned to see Knight walk into the control room with King Endymion following close behind him.
“Knight. King Endymion,” Mars said as she watched the king walk over to the viewscreen, while Knight knelt down beside Mercury and placed a comforting hand on Chibiusa’s shoulder. The pink-haired girl looked up at him for only a moment before staring back down at the floor again, her expression unchanging.
King Endymion placed a hand on one of the controlling knobs of the viewscreen. “Observe, Sailor Warriors,” he told them as an image of Tuxedo Kamen and Sailor Moon – who had transformed as soon as the affects of the Black Crystal had worn off – running toward the entrance to the Crystal Palace.
“Sailor Moon!” everyone except for Knight and King Endymion exclaimed in relief.
Knight merely nodded to himself and half-smiled in relief as he turned to leave. “Shall we go welcome them back?” he suggested over his shoulder. Everyone immediately followed him out of the control room.
Sailor Moon struggled to make it up the steps to the entrance of the Crystal Palace using Tuxedo Kamen as support. The Black Crystal’s power of the Silver Crystal had finally faded enough to allow her to change back into Sailor Moon, but she felt a little weary. The climb up all these stairs weren’t helping her any. Why did this place have to have so many stairs? She’d have to make a mental note not to have so many stairs made when she became Neo-Queen Serenity.
Then again, it was good to have an excuse to lean against Tuxedo Kamen as she struggled to climb these steps. Well, there are good sides and bad sides to everything.
“Sailor Moon!” came several shouts of happy relief.
“Everyone!” she shouted back happily.
Her friends were all coming out of the palace to meet her, calling out her name in relief. Tuxedo Kamen halted and let her go, allowing her to pounce on the first person to reach her and give that person a huge hug.
Knight was quite surprised when Sailor Moon leaped at him and flung her arms around him. However, he recovered quickly enough to hug her back, especially after the other Scouts began crowding around the two of them, making one giant group hug with the two of them all but squeezed in the middle.
Somehow, he didn’t really mind that much.
“I’m so glad to see you!” Sailor Moon exclaimed as she moved back and turned to look at each of her friends with tears of joy and relief slowly beginning to show. “Jupiter, Venus, Knight, Mercury, Mars!” She then began to cry.
“Crying again,” Mars said disapprovingly as she put her arms on her hips sternly. “Be strong. The battle’s just barely begun.”
“Mars is mad at me!” Sailor Moon cried.
“No, I’m not mad. I’m just saying that you’ve got to be a little braver….”
“See! You’re mad again!”
Tuxedo Kamen glanced over at King Endymion with a look that mirrored his own perfectly. He was more than likely thinking the same thing he was. Then again, since the king was himself in the future, that was more than likely the case. Now that Sailor Moon was back, they could see about tending to the queen.
Chibiusa watched everyone with an anxious look, or rather, watched Sailor Moon. She had done it; she had brought Sailor Moon here from the past. Could she save her mother?
In a few minutes, she would have her answer.
The double doors swung wide open, revealing an altar-like structure at the far end of the room. There was a crystal formation on top of the altar, surrounded by curtains that were currently drawn apart, somewhat like a display. And inside the crystal was beautiful, blonde-haired woman lying peacefully on the altar, unmoving in her deep sleep.
“This person…,” Sailor Moon breathed, recognizing the woman in front of her.
“The ruler of Crystal Tokyo, Neo-Queen Serenity,” King Endymion said, his eyes staring at the slumbering figure encased in crystal. “My wife.”
“Mama!” Chibiusa shouted as she ran up to the altar and pressed her hands against the crystal as if she was trying to reach her mother inside. “I’ve brought Sailor Moon and her friends from the past! Mama, please open your eyes….” Her eyes began to tear as her pleas fell on deaf ears.
“King, why won’t the queen awaken?” Tuxedo Kamen inquired.
“Is the queen still alive?” Venus asked worriedly.
He shifted his gaze over to her. “I don’t know,” he told them. “If we still had the Silver Crystal, we’d still have hope.”
Chibiusa flinched at his words; however, no one noticed her reaction.
“The Silver Crystal is lost?” Mars said, astonished. “Why?”
He shook his head. “That, I do not know. The only possibility is that before the Black Moon attacked, it was somehow removed from the palace.”
Upon hearing those words, Chibiusa winced, clenching her eyes shut guiltily.
“But, Sailor Moon has the Silver Crystal right here,” Mars pointed out.
Knight shook his head. “Sailor Moon has a Silver Crystal. Saying that her crystal and the queen’s crystal are the same is like saying that Sailor Moon and Neo-Queen Serenity are the same. They may be the same person, but Neo-Queen Serenity is older and has been through more experiences than Sailor Moon.”
Sailor Moon nodded pensively as she looked down at the brooch on her chest and clasped it within her hands. “Do you think that my Silver Crystal will be able to wake up the queen?”
He shrugged and shook his head. “I have no clue how the Silver Crystal works, Sailor Moon.” He looked up at her and gave her a slight, lop-sided half-grin. “But, we’ve come too far just to give up without trying, don’t you think?”
“You have to try,” Luna agreed.
“Sailor Moon!” Artemis encouraged.
“Have faith, Sailor Moon,” Tuxedo Mask declared.
“Right,” she agreed as she looked up at everyone present, then turned around to face the altar at the far end of the chamber. Chibiusa moved off to the side to get out of the way of whatever Sailor Moon was going to do.
Sailor Moon removed the brooch from her uniform and raised it up into the air, similar to the way she always did whenever transforming from her normal form. “Moon crystal power!” she shouted as the top opened and faded away just like it did whenever she began her Scout transformation. She waved her hand over the Silver Crystal inside the brooch, causing the crystal to flicker, then shine with a strong light. The light poured out from the Silver Crystal, bathing the crystal enclosure with its light. Everyone watched as Sailor Moon stood, maintaining the light flow for as long as possible. Eventually, she began to wilt under the stress of maintaining the flow. The light began to dwindle, then fade away to nothing.
“There’s no reaction,” Mercury stated as she noted that absolutely no change in the queen’s condition, or in the crystal itself, had shown.
Chibiusa looked devastated. “It didn’t work…. Sailor Moon couldn’t save Mama.” She turned and fled from the room with her eyes clenched shut in despair as Sailor Moon began to falter from the effort of using the Silver Crystal. As the rest of the Sailor Scouts moved to catch Sailor Moon as her knees gave way, Tuxedo Kamen moved to the side and let Chibiusa run past him and out of the chamber with the Luna Sphere trailing close behind her.
“Chibiusa!” Sailor Moon called out as she moved to run after her, but Tuxedo Kamen held out an arm to detain her.
“Leave her alone for now,” he told her. “She’ll be safe inside the palace.”
“True enough,” Knight agreed from behind. “As long as she remains in the palace, that is.” He glanced over toward Tuxedo Kamen. “Are you sure we should leave her alone? The Black Moon clan is interested in her, after all.”
Tuxedo Kamen turned to regard him for a moment. “You have a point. Still….”
Knight raised a hand to cut him off. “I know. I won’t bother her, but I will stop her if she tries to leave the palace.” He turned to leave. “I think you should get some rest, Sailor Moon. You may need it later on. The rest of you, please look after her, all right?”
“Thank you, Knight,” Tuxedo Kamen told him. Knight looked at him over his shoulder and nodded, then left.
“Now, all I have to do is find where kiddo ran off to….”
Chibiusa cried as she wandered through the halls of the Crystal Palace, not really caring where she was going. Sailor Moon had failed; her mother was still in that deep sleep and nothing seemed to be able to wake her up.
Worst of all… she knew that she was partly responsible for it.
As she cried her way through the palace grounds, she unknowingly reached the entrance. Without missing a step or a sniffle, she walked right past the barrier or protection surrounding the palace.
“Mama…,” she sobbed as she kept going, not caring where she was headed.
After a short period of walking, she stumbled upon what was once a playground in what was once a park. The cement path was cracked and broken, the small metal fence surrounding the playground was bent in some places and missing in others, and a lamppost with what seemed to be a clock was bent in several places and now lay on the ground. The clock face was smashed and the hands were twisted, while glass shards littered the ground around it. It was a picture of devastation. However, there was a swing that seemed to have miraculously survived, even though the other half of the swing set was completely missing. She had no desire to swing, but the swing did make for a good place to sit down.
“Mama, what should I do?” she murmured sadly to herself as she let her legs dangle down from the swing and stared down at the ground while hugging her Luna Sphere.
An ominous chuckling snapped her out of her depression. “Who’s there?” she called out as she glanced around her.
“The star of our destiny is foretelling a very good fortune,” Wiseman said as he appeared in the air above the playground. “This means that I need you, Rabbit.”
Rabbit. Everyone that had tried to capture her had called her that. This time wouldn’t be any different. She had to get away.
She was able to take three steps before her entire body locked up. “I can’t move!”
Wiseman chuckled again. “It is useless. This is my domain.” A pair of glowing eyes appeared within his cowl as he began to probe Chibiusa’s mind.
“I see fear in your mind…. A memory which you buried in you heart….” His hands waved around the crystal ball he always carried with him. “Yes… the lost memory of the Silver Crystal’s disappearance is returning….”
“No…,” Chibiusa whispered as she felt something tugging at her mind… at memories she had forgotten… at memories she had made herself forget…. She put both her hands on the sides of her head, struggling to resist the intrusion to her mind, but her efforts weren’t strong enough. “No!”
Memories, deeply buried within her mind, slowly began to surface….
“Beautiful Mama…. The queen who everyone loves….”
A crash. She looked down at her feet. Another broken vase.
“Small Lady! Did you break something again?”
“You will never become an elegant lady acting like this!”
“Yes, I will!” she retorted. It had only been an accident. She had only wanted to smell the beautiful flower in that vase, but she wasn’t tall enough to reach it. She had to bring the vase down to her, but it was too heavy for her to hold onto.
“Small Lady!”
She ran away. They didn’t understand. They thought that she did these things on purpose. A lady wouldn’t do such things on purpose. But it was an accident!
“I want to be a lady so much. I want to be a real lady, right now! Just like Mama!”
There. The room where her mother kept the Silver Crystal.
“Just for a moment,” she said as she raised her Luna Sphere up toward the display case’s locking mechanism. The eyes of her kitty-ball companion lit up, causing the star panel – which was the display case’s equivalent of a keyhole – to light up as well. “I’m only going to borrow it for a moment.” The square panel above the star panel, which served as the lock’s tumblers, randomly flashed its individual sub-panels until they all flashed at once, allowing access to the crystal it protected. “The Silver Crystal can make me into a great lady like Mama,” she said as she reached for the crystal and picked it up.
It felt wonderful to be holding the Silver Crystal. It felt warm and inviting as it shone brightly. Her happiness soon turned to anxiety as the Silver Crystal suddenly flashed with an intense light.
Something was wrong.
“No!” she screamed as she crystal slowly began to fade away. “Silver Crystal! Stop! Don’t disappear!” Her pleas proved futile as the crystal faded away completely.
It wasn’t instantaneous, but they struck quickly enough when the protection of the Silver Crystal disappeared. Bolts of black lightning rained down from the sky mercilessly, hammering the landscape.
“Small Lady!” Neo-Queen Serenity called out as she ran out of the palace, searching for her daughter. A huge bolt of black energy converged on the descending queen, ready to strike her down. Before it could strike, killing her, the five Sailor Warriors of her time rushed forward and combined their powers to create a crystal barrier, encasing the queen inside. The bolt struck the crystal and harmlessly dissipated.
“Mama!”
Inside the control room of the crystal palace, King Endymion worked the controls underneath the viewscreen, struggling to raise the rest of the palace’s defenses before the onslaught could overwhelm their defenses currently in place.
But it wasn’t long before their resistance was devastated.
“Papa!”
The Black Moon family bombarded major sections of Crystal Tokyo, one by one. Within hours, almost the entire population of the city was destroyed, save for those with the walls of the Crystal Palace.
Crystal Tokyo was no longer a utopia. It was a wasteland.
“No!!! Papa! Mama!”
“I see,” Wiseman said as he looked up from his crystal ball, which was playing out scenes from Chibiusa’s memories. “So, the Silver Crystal vanished and the shock caused you to repress your memories of the event.”
“No!” Chibiusa denied vehemently. “It wasn’t my fault!”
“What do you think they would say?” Wiseman asked smugly.
Her eyes widened. What would they say? She dropped her hands and glanced up to see Sailor Moon suddenly appear before her. Her arms were folded angrily and she was staring down at her with an unforgiving scowl.
“It’s your fault, Small Lady!” she blamed her.
Sailor Jupiter appeared beside her, arms folded and scowling fiercely. “You were the one who lost the Silver Crystal!”
Sailor Venus appeared at Sailor Moon’s other side, glaring down at her with contempt. “The queen went outside the palace to look for you!”
Sailor Mars and Sailor Mercury appeared on either side of her, arms folded and arms akimbo, both glowering down at her. “That's why she was attacked!” Mars told her.
“You are evil!” Mercury added.
Sailor Knight appeared before all the rest of the Sailor Scouts with his Star Sword drawn and pointing straight down at her. His scowl was frightening. “You are to blame for everything that has happened, Small Lady!” he declared hatefully.
Chibiusa closed her eyes and covered her ears. How could they say such things about her? And the way Knight had sneered when he called her ‘Small Lady’, instead of his usual ‘kiddo’….
“It’s not true! It’s not true!”
“You are evil!” They all declared, pointing at her in accusation. “You are evil!”
“I didn’t mean it!” she cried, cringing at their hateful words. “I only wanted to touch the Silver Crystal! I’m not evil!”
“You are evil!”
“Small Lady!” a voice called out to her. She dropped her hands and opened her eyes. The Scouts were gone, but before her eyes she could see her mother being encased in crystal by the Scouts in order to save her life.
All because the Silver Crystal vanished when she touched it.
“No! It’s not my fault!”
“That’s right, Rabbit,” Wiseman told her as he floated down toward her. “You must make them understand that.”
“Can I?” she asked as she turned around to look up fearfully, yet hopefully at Wiseman. “Can I make everyone understand?”
“You will force them to understand,” he told her. “Now… take my hand.”
She hesitated as he extended his hand out to her. Could he help her to make them understand that everything that had happened wasn’t her fault? It was only an accident.
She stepped forward, unknowingly kicking her Luna Sphere aside. The cat-ball was ignored as she stretched out her own hand. It wasn’t her fault! She wasn’t evil! She would make them understand!
She didn’t flinch as Wiseman reached forward and grabbed her hand in his.
Saffire watched as the Black Crystal suddenly began to glow brighter. Its glow intensified up to the point where it was now glowing with a harsh red light.
“It seems the Black Crystal’s reactor is excited about the battle as well,” Emerald remarked as she walked up to where he was standing and gazed up at the crystal. The Black Crystal floated up in the middle of the main reactor, glowing in an ominous maroon color.
“It’s as though we are cradling a time bomb,” he mused, frowning.
“Eh?” She blinked and glanced uncertainly at the Black Crystal again. From what she could see, he might have a point. The crystal did look dangerous.
“My brother doesn’t understand how dangerous the Black Crystal is,” he continued. “We may have been led blindly down the wrong path by that suspicious sorcerer, Wiseman.”
Emerald laughed. “Who trusts Wiseman? Prince Diamond-sama knows better than that.”
A projection of Prince Diamond appeared before them with his arms folded across his chest. “Saffire, have you prepared the Black Crystal’s reactor?”
“Prince Diamond-sama, we don’t need to waste the powers of the Black Crystal,” Emerald stated. “I, Emerald, will handle it!”
The prince said nothing as he vanished.
“Prince Diamond-sama!”
“My brother is being swayed by his feelings,” Saffire said as he frowned. “It’s because he is so smitten by Neo-Queen Serenity that he won’t let you kill Sailor Moon and finish our work.”
“What?!?” Emerald screeched as she flung her fan down so hard that several feathers broke off of it. “That’s ridiculous! What queen? Even Wiseman is more attractive than her!” she pronounced as she stomped down on her fan for emphasis.
“If Wiseman is taking advantage of us, that’s fine,” she continued. “I don’t know what he’s after, but I’ll use him back! I’ll grant Prince Diamond-sama’s wishes.
“Neo-Queen Serenity won’t be the one to build the future with Prince Diamond-sama. It’ll be me!”
Her mad laughter echoed throughout the chamber.
Outside, a strong, cold wind descended upon Crystal Tokyo, blowing a light snow across the landscape. Inside the black spire that served as the Black Moon’s base on Earth, it was just as cold.
Emerald appeared in the dark crystalline chamber that Wiseman frequented from time to time. She scowled when she didn’t see him upon entering. Of course, that wasn’t to mean that he wasn’t there.
“Wiseman!” she called out into the darkness. “Where are you? Show yourself!”
As she waited, the sound of laughter began to echo from the recesses of the chamber. It almost sounded like a young girl’s laughter….
“Who’s there?” she demanded. “There shouldn’t be any more Droids left here. Who are you?”
A glowing from beneath the floor announced the arrival of Wiseman.
“Wiseman!” she said as the hooded figure hovered up to eye-level.
“Anger comes from within and grows in strength,” he announced as he appeared before her. “It can give you strength, but it can also mislead your senses.”
Emerald frowned. “You’re saying I just imagined it?” She tossed her head back. “Well, never mind. Wiseman, I need your help. I will be in charge of the attack on the Crystal Palace. For that, I need powers beyond anything that has ever been seen.” She grinned conspiratorially at him. “I believe you can give that to me.”
“Is this by order of the Prince?”
“No,” she admitted, “but it won’t be disadvantageous if I finish this battle quickly.”
Wiseman began to wave his hands over his crystal ball. “I foretell the name of the future queen,” he intoned. “Queen Emerald.”
Emerald’s eyes widened. “Queen Emerald…,” she whispered to herself in awed wonder.
“The difference between your powers and Neo-Queen Serenity’s is minimal,” he continued. “You must be able to control the power of the Black Crystal to win the position of Queen,” he said as he pointed at her.
She was too stunned to notice. “I will be Queen?”
As Wiseman continued to wave his hands around his crystal ball, a tiara-like crown of black crystal with a green oval-shaped gem emerged from within the sphere. The crown was sparkling with green light all around it as it floated toward Emerald.
“Don’t misunderstand,” she said as she gazed longingly down at the object glittering before her. “I know you would betray me in an instant. But, to win Prince Diamond-sama’s heart, I’d make a pact with the devil.”
She reached out to grab the crown, but as soon as she touched it, she began to scream as the power surged through her. Wiseman just watched impassively. When it was over, Emerald stood transformed. She was wearing a purple and black regal-looking gown, and the crown had attached itself to her head.
“I feel the power flowing through my body!” she said after she finished laughing. “I am the future Queen! I am the one who will rule alongside Prince Diamond-sama!” She began to laugh again in triumph.
“Is that so?” Wiseman asked slyly.
Emerald’s laughter cut off at Wiseman’s tone. “What?” Suddenly, wisps of black smoke began to shoot out from her body. “This….”
“Did you really think you could control the powers of the Black Crystal?” Wiseman asked condescendingly. “You have sacrificed your life to me.”
“Damn you, Wiseman!” she choked out just before she collapsed to the floor. “Prince Diamond-sama…. I wanted to rule the future with you…,” she gasped just before the black smoke engulfed her body.
“Feeble fool,” Wiseman muttered contemptuously.
The black smoke that engulfed Emerald’s body grew larger.
From outside the black spire, a strong force burst out from the top of the spire, sending pieces of black crystal tumbling down below. As the dust settled, a draconic beast stepped out and screeched to the heavens as it unfurled its green, scaled wings and leapt up to take flight. Its strong wings flapped once, and the beast teleported away.
Its target: the Crystal Palace.
The ground rumbling underneath their feet was sufficient enough cause for alarm. The green, draconic beast overhead that was flying over the palace, its wings flapping hard enough to shake the ground as it passed, was an even bigger problem.
“What’s going on?!?” Sailor Moon wailed as they all raced toward the control room. King Endymion was already there adjusting the viewscreen to give them a view of the airborne threat.
Knight hurriedly dashed into the control room. “What happened?” he exclaimed. “I haven’t finished looking for kiddo yet!” His eyes caught the image of the dragon on the viewscreen and his eyes widened. “No way….”
“I can’t believe this!” Mars said as she stared at the image on the screen. “We’re gonna have to fight that?”
“Wait,” King Endymion interrupted as he moved toward the control panel. “Do not panic.” He rested his hand on one of the controls, bringing up several schematics of the beast.
“This is…,” Artemis murmured, amazed.
“What wonderful technology!” Mercury said in fascination. Knight glanced at her out of the corner of his eye and half-grinned. Beside him, Jupiter nudged him with her elbow and smirked. Knight ignored her.
“Look,” the king continued as more schematic readouts flashed on the screen. “Do not be intimidated by its appearance. The important thing is to see it for what it really is.” The viewscreen displayed the schematics of a tiara-like crown on the screen and highlighted the jewel in the center. “The dragon was created and is controlled by the amplified power of life energy. In other words,” he added, turning toward the others, “the energy from a person’s heart.”
“A person’s heart?” Mars repeated quizzically.
“What kind of heart does this person have?” Sailor Moon exclaimed. A heavy pounding cut off any reply as the palace shook.
“If we don’t do something, the defensive barrier around the palace will break!” Luna shouted.
“We’ve got to divert its attention away from the palace,” Jupiter declared.
“I knew it…,” Sailor Moon moaned reluctantly.
“Anyway, we should do what we can,” she continued. “After all, that’s why we came to the future.” Everyone nodded their agreement, even Sailor Moon… reluctantly. The Scouts all left to go confront the dragon, leaving Tuxedo Kamen and King Endymion behind.
“King, please look after Chibiusa… no, Small Lady,” he requested. He waited only long enough for the king to nod before running after the others.
“Good luck, Heroes,” King Endymion said as he watched them leave.
The dragon relentlessly flung itself at the barrier surrounding the Crystal Palace using every attack it could throw at it. Still, as it kicked, spewed fire, and whipped its tail, the barrier remained firm.
And deep inside the Crystal Palace, the Sailor Warriors of the future strained to hold the barrier intact.
“Aah!” Sailor Moon yelped. “It’s so big close up!”
“Don’t be afraid, Sailor Moon!” Mercury said calmly.
“That’s right,” Knight added confidently as he brought out his Star Sword. “We can defeat it!”
Upon spotting the Sailor Scouts, the dragon turned away from the barrier and dove toward them. Although it didn’t come down low enough to hit them, they were knocked down from the wind created by its passing.
“But, how are we going to fight it?” Mars asked.
“We just fight it,” Knight stated as he stood up in a defensive fighting stance and held his sword ready.
Venus also got up and stood beside him. “Well, here goes nothing.” Knight started running forward as she prepared her attack. “Venus love-me chain!”
The chain struck the dragon’s left flank at the same time Knight sliced its right leg. Each attack cut deep wounds in the draconic beast’s scaly skin, causing it to bellow in pain and lash out with its tail. The attack struck Knight backward, knocking him back into Venus, sending both sprawling onto the ground.
“Knight!” Jupiter called out as she and Sailor Moon rushed to their friends’ aid.
“Venus!” Sailor Moon shouted as she ran.
“Did they do it?” Artemis asked hopefully as he and Luna watched the battle from within the control room. His question was answered as the twin wounds that Venus and Knight inflicted rapidly closed up. “It didn’t work.”
Luna pressed a paw to one of the controls, activating a scanner. She grinned inwardly as the viewscreen initiated a scan. All that time watching King Endymion work the controls paid off. Moments later, a result displayed on the screen.
“No, they did damage it,” she confirmed.
“Everyone, good luck!” the two cats shouted encouragingly in unison.
While the battle outside continued, King Endymion approached the altar holding his beloved wife in stasis.
“Serenity, if you can hear me, please give them your strength.”
Movement from behind one of the curtains caught his attention. As he turned toward the direction of the movement, his eyes widened in fear.
It was his daughter’s Luna Sphere.
And it was singed in several places.
“Small Lady!”
The dragon continued to circle in the air while everyone waited below, watching for its next attack.
“Here it comes!” Jupiter said as the beast finally began its descent.
“Come and get it,” Knight sneered as his grip tightened on his sword.
As the dragon passed overhead, it whipped its tail down, smashing the ground below them. Huge chunks of cement, concrete and asphalt were uprooted from the blow, causing everyone to throw up their arms to cover their faces as they leapt away. Sailor Moon was flung over one of the larger pieces uprooted from the ground and lost her balance, hitting the ground hard.
“Are you all right, Sailor Moon?” Jupiter asked. Sailor Moon glanced toward her and nodded slightly. “Damn!” she growled angrily. “Sparkling wide pressure!”
Knight saw his sister’s attack and decided to follow up on it. “Avalanche barrage!”
The two attacks converged on the same spot and struck the dragon with enough force to knock it out of the air. It hit the ground with a resounding crash that raised a huge cloud of dust around it, obscuring it from view.
“Did we get it?” Jupiter called out to her brother. Knight merely shrugged as he cautiously moved closer to the crash site, his sword held at the ready.
“Yay!” Sailor Moon cheered enthusiastically as she jumped into the air. “Way to go, Jupiter! Way to go, Knight!” The other Scouts and Tuxedo Kamen just watched the huge plume of smoke and waited for Knight to approach it and announce whether or not the beast was truly defeated.
However, in Sailor Moon’s mind, the dragon was already finished. “We got it! We got it!” she shouted joyfully as she ran past a surprised Sailor Knight and stopped right in front of the crash site.
“It’s still dangerous!” Tuxedo Kamen warned as Knight rushed forward. “We don’t know yet, Sailor Moon!”
“It’s okay, it’s okay,” she dismissed with a casual wave of her arm before turning back toward the dispersing plume of smoke and seeing the dragon staring right at her. As she was staring at a dragon many, many times her size that was glaring back at her, she did the first thing that came to mind.
She panicked.
As soon as Knight reached her, he shoved her back behind him as he faced the dragon again. He waited only long enough for Tuxedo Kamen to leap forward and take Sailor Moon to safety before he pulled back to regroup with the rest of the Sailor Scouts.
“That’s one tough bastard,” Knight muttered under his breath.
“Let’s go!” Mars shouted. Knight put away his sword as he and the others nodded.
The dragon howled as it unfurled its wings to its full length and shrieked in fury before turning its attention back to the Scouts.
“Burning mandala!”
“Avalanche barrage!”
The two attacks struck the dragon in the stomach, stunning it.
“Shine aqua illusion!”
Mercury’s water attack froze the entire length of the creature’s tail, encasing it in ice. It growled angrily before it broke its tail free and spewed fire at the three Scouts. They dove to the ground and rolled away from the searing attack.
“It’s no use!” Mars said, frustrated. “We can’t win!”
“But there has to be a way!” Knight muttered, pounding his fist into the ground.
“We don’t have enough power,” Mercury replied.
“Don’t give up,” Tuxedo Kamen told them. “Remember what the king said. See it for what it really is. And have faith in justice.”
“See it for what it really is?” Mercury repeated questioningly.
Jupiter’s eyes widened in realization. “What that dragon really is….”
“…is a person’s heart,” Sailor Moon concluded as she turned toward to dragon with a serious look on her face.
The draconic beast reared back its head and breathed another blast of fire at Sailor Moon. “Watch out!” Tuxedo Kamen cautioned as he dove at her and pulled her out of the way of the blast. “Let’s go, Sailor Moon!” he shouted as the flames receded.
“Right!” she agreed as they stood up.
Tuxedo Kamen leapt up toward the dragon and pulled out a rose from within his tuxedo. Below, Knight noticed his attack and began to run into position to initiate a follow-up attack. The dragon spewed another gust of flame, but Tuxedo Kamen maneuvered to avoid it. With one deft swipe of his arm, he flung the rose so that the stem embedded itself into the middle of the gem in the crown sitting on the dragon’s head. Knight’s Star Sword stuck itself next to the rose a second later. Tuxedo Kamen glanced down at Knight, who nodded back at him and half-grinned. As he descended to the ground, the beast roared in pain behind him.
“Now!” Tuxedo Kamen shouted over his shoulder after he hit the ground. “Don’t hesitate, Sailor Moon!”
“Yes,” Sailor Moon nodded and brought out her Moon Scepter. She stared up at the howling beast towering before her, paralyzed in pain, then looked back down at the scepter in her hands. “Please… Moon Scepter….
“Moon princess halation!” she shouted as she waved the scepter in front of her, firing a blast of white energy at the dragon. The attack stuck the huge beast, turning its scaly body into a huge figure in crystal, the black crown in its head the only object left intact. The figure disintegrated into crystal dust that quickly faded away as it fell. As the crown continued to hover, a figure faded into view, floating in proportion to where the crown would lie on her head, and her eyes closed as if peacefully asleep.
“Emerald!” Sailor Moon gasped, recognizing the figure.
As quickly as Emerald’s ghostly image faded into view, it vanished once again. The black crystal crown then tumbled from its stationary position in the air and disappeared before it hit the ground. The thick, solid thud of Knight’s Star Sword hitting the ground seemed to echo in the silence that followed the end of the battle. The group continued to stare at the spot that Emerald’s image had briefly appeared until the sound of Knight’s sword returning to his head broke their quiet reverie. As one, they turned to see Knight turn and walk back toward the palace, but not before softly murmuring the question that seemed to lie in the minds of all present.
“Why?”
Prince Diamond was sipping a glass of wine when he felt it. Something softly pulling at him, whispering to him, gently calling out his name.
“Prince Diamond-sama.…”
His head lowered, his currently complacent expression replaced with a more somber one. Something felt… wrong. He could feel it in that mournful cry.
Ever so subtly, his eyes narrowed and his lips curved downward.
“Emerald….”
“They did it!” Artemis cheered excitedly. “They did it, Luna!”
As the two cats cheered, King Endymion approached them, his face looking troubled. “King!” Luna said, worried as she and Artemis turned toward him.
“Small Lady has disappeared,” he said, his voice full of apprehension and concern. “She is nowhere to be found in the Crystal Palace.”
“Eh?!?” the two cats exclaimed at once, shocked. This was very bad news.
“Emerald,” Wiseman gloated within his sanctuary in the black spire that sometimes served as the Black Moon’s base on Earth. “So, you have fallen. Well, that’s all right. My goal is not the victory of the Black Moon family. Saffire and Prince Diamond will eventually sacrifice their lives for this great cause.
“The power I need to reach that goal is already in the palm of my hand.”
Behind him, laughter softly drifted out from within the gloom.
Dark, cruel laughter….
To Chapter 84: Birth of Black Lady