Outer Senshi Trilogy

Advent {1/1}


A Sailor Moon story by Tim Nolan
e-mail: nomad@cyberverse.com

Please see comments following the story.

This is part of a trilogy of stories about 
the Outer Senshi. The correct order they 
should be read in is
1. Aftermath
2. Intermezzo
3. Advent 

These are based on the manga and not the anime.

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



Advent
part three of a trilogy of Outer Senshi stories



	" You're letting them go?" 
	Uranus' angry shout shattered the contemplative 
quiet of the throne room as she stormed in past the 
guards who had vainly tried to stop her. Her voice 
almost broke from her disbelief. Neptune followed a 
step behind, cool anger etched on her features but 
with rage in her eyes. 
	The prisoners turned towards the two women, 
remembering the stories circulated by some of the 
survivors. Their air of hopelessness and defeat 
shifted towards fear, especially on the lower ranking 
ones. The leaders, more used to political machinations 
and careful subtleties, only betrayed their worries 
by a slight tightening of facial features, or perhaps 
a more guarded look in their eyes. 
	Up on the dais, the Neo-Queen rose from her 
seat. The motion swung the attention of everyone to 
her, as had been the purpose of her husband's design 
for the room. He himself moved to stand just behind 
her and to her right. All four of the Inner Senshi 
stepped forward from the base of the dais to interpose 
themselves between the monarch and the two women. It 
was an instinctive movement, as were the readying 
of weapons by the guard.
	" They are to be exiled, Uranus," Serenity 
replied, carefully keeping her voice under 
control. " You know the reasons why we must do this."  
	" They don't deserve mercy!" Neptune responded 
and ripped a patch from the shoulder of one of the 
prisoners as she walked past them in order to brandish 
it at the Queen. It was in the shape of a black 
crescent, worn so that it opened downwards in a 
direct mockery of the golden crescent moon on the 
Queen's forehead.  " Not after what they've done. I 
can see your reasons for exiling him, but not 
these. Their miserable little lives aren't even 
enough to begin to balance the scales!"
	" We don't have any direct proof that the 
Black Moon forces were responsible for Pluto's 
disappearance," Mercury offered. Pity was plain 
on the faces of the Inners at the suffering their 
colleagues were obviously going through. That same 
look was echoed by the two monarchs.  
	" Proof?" Uranus echoed Mercury's words, her 
voice incredulous. " They said they did it! They 
admitted it!"
	" Would you trust someone whose stock in 
trade was deceit?" Mars quietly asked. 
	" I don't care!" the tall woman shouted and 
clenched her fist. Wisps of yellow energy crackled 
upwards from the floor to surround that hand. 
	" Uranus, we will discuss this later," the 
Queen began.
	" No, not later," the Senshi barked, openly 
defying the Queen. The energies about her hand began 
to glow more strongly.    
	" Uranus," Serenity replied, her voice dropping 
to a dangerously low tone. The Senshi responded by 
thrusting her hand up into the air and taking hold 
of the ringed sphere that suddenly and fully formed 
in her grip. Uranus spun on her heel and brought her 
arm down with a wordless scream of frustration. 
	The far end of the throne room, along with 
most of the antechamber beyond and the main gate to 
the Crystal Palace vanished in the wake of the attack 
in a scream of broken crystal. Uranus remained there, 
tears flowing down her face.
	" They killed her!" she cried out, pointing at 
the slab of featureless black obsidian that was the 
most recent addition to the plaza. Her voice was 
steady for the first part, but rapidly trailed off 
into sobbing as she slumped to her knees. " They 
killed our daughter!" 

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

 	" There," the Queen said and opened her 
eyes. Her husband gently wiped away a bead of sweat 
that had formed on her forehead in response to her 
efforts. " The supports and foundation weren't 
damaged except in one place, and I've repaired 
that. The work crews should be able to take care 
of the rest." 
	" I just wish our other problems were so easily 
solved," Endymion admitted as he took her arm and 
walked with her to their private elevator. A few 
moments later, they dismissed the lone guard from 
his post and were on their way to the top of the 
Crystal Palace. " I told them to meet us upstairs." 
	" Can we blame anyone for being bitter, let 
alone them?" she wondered, half to herself and half 
to him. " I never dreamed that we would lose so 
many people, Mamo-chan." 
	" I know, Usako," he replied, slipping into 
their old nicknames for each other that they had 
used publicly until their recent coronation six 
months past. He put his arms around her and held 
her until they reached their private quarters. Once 
there, they stopped briefly to change out of their 
regalia and into much plainer and more comfortable 
clothes before going upstairs. It was as much for 
the Queen as it was for the two they would be 
talking to. 
	The two Senshi had made tea, and each was 
holding a cup while sitting together on one of the 
couches by a window in the sitting room at the top 
of the tower. Both began to get up when they came 
in, but the man caught a brief, furtive glance by 
Neptune to something off to his left, and he realized 
that Pluto's staff was still leaned up against the 
white marble pedestal that the detached Garnet Orb 
sat on, cushioned by a small black velvet pillow. 
	" Michiru, Haruka, would you like to talk about 
it?" the Queen asked, setting the tone and subtly 
indicating with her words and their choice of clothes 
that this was not a meeting between a ruler and her 
subjects, but rather a gathering of friends. Haruka 
nodded in reply as the two Senshi reversed their 
transformations before sitting back down. 
	" I'm sorry that we haven't had much time for 
any of you," Mamoru began as he helped Usagi sit down 
and then sat down next to her on the other part of 
the L shaped couch. 
	" We know, Mamoru-san," Michiru replied, 
beginning to relax. " It has been a very busy time 
for all of us lately." 
	" I shouldn't have defied you like that, 
Usagi-san," Haruka added. 
	" Usagi-san?" the Queen softly responded, 
emphasizing the syllable and caught Haruka's gaze 
until the other blonde finally began to smile a 
little bit at the grin the Queen was giving 
her. " Not odango-atama?"
	" I've been acting like the child today, 
Usagi-san," Haruka went on. " I know full well why 
they have to be exiled to Nemesis along with Death 
Phantom. I just snapped when you didn't tell us that 
you were holding the audience and were going to 
transport them today. I let my anger and my grief 
cloud my thinking."  
	" I'm guilty of feeling like that as 
well," Michiru quietly added before Usagi could 
explain her reasons.
	" We hoped to spare you the pain," Usagi 
said. " We still don't think that the Black Moon 
had anything to do with Pluto, but Hotaru-chan was 
another matter entirely. We saw you hurting so much 
over her, and thought that if you weren't there for 
the banishment it wouldn't hurt you as much. There's 
no point in re-opening an old wound.
	" And, speaking of old wounds," she added a 
moment later as her eyes caught a faint tightening 
of Haruka's expression when the tall woman leaned 
forward to put her cup on the table in front of 
her. Usagi stood up, still graceful despite the 
slight swelling of her abdomen and the fatigue of 
three days straight without sleep clearly showing 
in the dark circles under her eyes. " Haruka-san, 
Ami told you not to overexert yourself and I told 
you as well. You ripped open your stitches when you 
did that World Shaking, didn't you?"
	" Yes, she did," Michiru confirmed, stood and 
walked over by the window in order to make a space 
for Usagi to sit next to Haruka. She looked down at 
the plaza while Usagi lay her hands over the partially 
healed trio of scars running in parallel lines across 
Haruka's stomach. The scars and the hands glowed a 
faint yellow for a few minutes. 
	" Hotaru's sarcophagus looks so small from up 
here," the turquoise haired woman commented when Usagi 
was done. On the way back to her seat, the Queen 
stopped suddenly, put one of her hands over her 
stomach for a moment and got a puzzled look on her 
face.  
	" I think that was a kick," she explained in 
response to the concerned look she got from 
Mamoru. " Or she rolled over. Sometimes she's 
done that in response to my using the Crystal."  
	" Rolled over," Haruka quipped with an easier 
smile due to not being in as much pain now. " Of 
course, that is assuming she takes after her mother 
in regards to how much she likes to sleep." 
	" Haruka!" Usagi giggled in protest and was 
joined in laughter by the others for a few 
moments. The past three days had been difficult 
for all of them, and this was the first time they 
really had a chance to relax. 
	" She's one of the things that we wanted to 
talk to you about," Michiru said after a they settled 
back down. " We would like to know what you are going 
to do with us now that the Small Lady will be born in 
a little while." 
	" So you know about that, too," Usagi commented 
and poured a cup of tea for her husband before getting 
one for herself.
	" It wasn't very hard to find out," Haruka 
added. " Your daughter admitted a lot more than she 
should have at times." 
	" And it's too late to tell her to not say 
it," Mamoru chuckled, slightly amused at the temporal 
complexities involved until he remembered that 
Setsuna, the person who he liked to discuss them 
with, was no longer with them. 
	" Do you want us to stay away from Crystal 
Tokyo?" Haruka quietly asked, her voice weary. 
	" Stay away?" Usagi began to protest but her 
voice trailed off as she realized the truth of what 
would have to happen.  
	" She can't know about us, Usagi-chan," Michiru 
gently explained. " She can't see us, or any pictures 
of us. The same goes for Hotaru. Why else did I say 
that the marker out front should be for everyone who 
fell in the battle, and not just Hotaru? In my heart, 
that is Hotaru's tomb, and always will be."
	" But... " Usagi stammered, and Mamoru took one 
of her hands in his. " I hate this," the Queen went 
on. " I feel trapped." 
	" It isn't just you," Haruka admitted. " We knew 
that we would have to go into hiding of some sorts as 
soon as you gave birth. We thought we could have hid 
among the area around Crystal Tokyo, but... " 
	" Nobody thought that we'd only have a six 
hundred survivors," Michiru finished her 
sentence. " And we didn't know that we would be 
alone again. We knew that Pluto was going to be 
in the future, but we expected that all four of us 
would make it."
	" It surprised all of us," Usagi 
admitted. " We've always known that the Crystal 
Tokyo of the far future is devastated by the war 
with the Black Moon family, but we never knew 
anything other than Phantom was going to attack 
now, and that we would win."  
	" I don't know if we can be alone together like 
we used to be in the past," Haruka began. " Not after 
we had become like a family in recent years, 
Usagi-san. I don't want to be alone anymore." 
	" We have our castles, of course," Michiru 
pointed out. " But we don't think that we can stay 
in them for almost a thousand years."
	" We don't want you to have to do that, 
Michiru-san," Mamoru said. " You are right in 
saying that we do have to make sure that Chibi-usa 
doesn't know who you or Hotaru-chan are. I'm glad 
that you and Setsuna decided to not let Hotaru-chan 
be exposed to the media like the rest of us were at 
the coronation. That will be a big help in the times 
to come."
	" You aren't going to be exiled," Usagi 
confirmed. " I don't know what we are going do yet, 
but I am not going to send you away from us." She 
carefully looked each of the other women in the eye 
and went on in a much sadder voice. " You are as 
much of our family now as the Inners, and I am not 
going to send my family away. I lost my first family 
in this time already, and I am not going to lose 
you now. Do you understand me?" 
	" Yes," Michiru replied, her voice growing 
thick. Haruka mutely nodded, unable to say 
anything. " Thank you," she whispered as the couple 
stood while Mamoru motioned for them to remain.  
	" Michiru-san, I'll need to talk to you in the 
morning," Usagi murmured. " But for now, you both 
need some rest. Feel free to stay up here if you 
wish." 

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

	" Your Majesty?"
	" I'm sorry that I had to have you woken up, 
Michiru," the Queen said when the woman stifled a 
yawn upon entering the bedroom. The blonde pointed 
over towards a tray with coffee and tea. Ami sat 
next to it, writing on a pad of paper. " A survivor 
of the poison gas was located early this morning, and 
Endymion feels that we can find more now that he's 
been able to see a survivor. We're going to link up 
and try looking for others." 
	" Oh, no you're not," Ami announced as she 
finished entering some information into her computer 
and walked over by Serenity. " Not until I finish your 
check-up and you get a solid meal into you, Usagi-chan."
	" Will you be needing all our powers for 
this?" Michiru asked before the Queen could object 
to what Ami had said. The blonde shook her head and 
began to get up until Mercury's hand gently pushed 
her back down onto the bed.
	" No, they won't," Ami replied. " Endymion-sama 
said that the ones who weren't killed are only asleep, 
so they should be all right for the half hour it will 
take him to get back here before you two can do 
anything. 
	" Usagi-chan, you are pregnant and can't run 
around like this using the Crystal to keep yourself 
going all the time. I still don't think that the 
using the Crystal will harm the baby, but if you 
don't get enough food and sleep you will hurt her." 
	" I'll make sure she eats while we 
talk," Michiru offered as she handed a robe to 
Serenity, who was finally allowed to sit up and 
pull it on over her nightgown. " It's four months 
already, and you hardly show, Usagi-chan." 
	" That's because she was too skinny to begin 
with," Ami glared at her old friend for a moment 
over the dispute they had been having ever since 
they found out that the Queen was expecting. " I'll 
be at the hospital ward if you need me. My shift 
starts in a few minutes." 
	" Thank you, Ami-chan," Serenity said to her 
friend, who gave them a hesitant smile before 
leaving. " She has one of the worst burdens right 
now," she commented to Michiru and sat down to 
eat. The other woman openly laughed as the blonde 
got a somewhat worried look on her face at the sight 
of the food. 
	" Poor Usagi-chan," she said a few moments 
later as she poured herself a cup of tea and sat 
across the table from Serenity. " Your vaunted 
appetite has finally met its' match, ne?"
	" Michiru!" she complained good-naturedly and 
began to eat, knowing all the while that the other 
woman was right, and there was no point in fighting 
it anymore. Morning sickness, nausea and a loss of 
appetite were simply part of what she was going 
through.
	" Ami-chan does have a lot of work, though. There 
is only one other person who has any formal medical 
training, and Ami is the only real doctor we 
have. However, I don't think that Ami's duties are 
the only reason you summoned me her so suddenly." 
	" No, it isn't," she replied around a bite of 
rice. " You're still my political advisor, 
Michiru-san. I don't fully know what I did when I 
stopped Phantom's spell, but we still have a few 
billion people and hundreds of governments to deal 
with when we do wake them up. Our losses in the 
last attack guarantee that waking up the others 
has to be the top priority." 
	" Six hundred people aren't enough to form 
a viable population base," the older woman 
concurred. " Until yesterday we had more prisoners 
captive then we had people on our side to guard them." 
	" I was not merciful to them, Michiru," 
Serenity admitted. " Nemesis is hell. I've seen 
it, I've banished them to it, and they did not 
get mercy from us. The lucky ones perished at 
our hands, and now it is time for us to rebuild.
	" What I was hoping is that you would think 
about some ways to speed the acceptance of Crystal 
Tokyo as the new governing body for the world. It 
will take many years of work to repair the damage 
done to the ecosphere, and we are not going to be 
able to do it with all the old rivalries and their 
anger at us combined." 
	" What exactly did you do, Serenity? You 
haven't had the chance to tell us the details 
yet. We've been so busy with other things," Michiru 
asked.
	" Phantom was draining the life force from 
the whole planet," the blonde explained as a tear 
slipped past her control and rolled down one cheek 
when she remembered the events of that day. " That 
was his main source of power, but he had never done 
anything on such a scale before, nor had he ever 
drained anything other than humans. The single 
celled creatures were the first to begin to die, 
and then the plants and insects. They don't have 
as much life force to spare as a human. 
	" Endymion realized that if we didn't stop 
him then, we could not recover. Without all those 
creatures, we could never grow the food we needed 
to keep the human populace alive, even if we did 
stop his spell." 
	" And that is when you linked up with him and 
the Inners?" Michiru volunteered, and Serenity nodded 
in reply. " When you said that we were the last line 
of defense, you weren't joking." 
	" No, I wasn't," the Queen went on. " We kept 
up the barrier so that the Black Moon forces had to 
go through you, but that was all we could spare. Ami 
explained her theory, we linked up and tried to stop 
him. She credits you for the idea, by the way." 
	" Ara, Serenity-sama. Ami-chan already had it 
figured out," Michiru blushed faintly and deflected 
the praise away from her. " Ami's theories were 
sound. One of my questions simply jogged her memory, 
that's all." 
	" Well, if you have any more questions, she 
says to not be afraid to ask," Serenity smiled back, 
unwilling to let her dodge the compliment. Typical 
Michiru, she thought to herself. She had started the 
day upset, and now she was smiling thanks to the 
woman. 
	" I'm not really sure of how I did it," she 
went on a few moments later, returning to the topic 
they had been discussing. " Since he was using life 
force to power his spells, I think I somehow 
understood that if nobody could give off any life 
force, he couldn't make use of it. 
	" It was probably something that Endymion was 
thinking and I picked up on due to our link together, 
but that is the basis of what I acted on. Princess 
Kaguya's snow dancers had frozen all those people and 
they survived once we had stopped her, so I knew it 
was possible to do. The next thing I know, I had done 
it. Without his power, he was easier for me to stop 
and I exiled him to Nemesis while I had the chance." 
	" So, crop failures and widespread ecological 
damage is what we should expect then?" Michiru asked, 
steering the conversation away from what had happened 
while Serenity was casting her spell over the 
planet. That was still very painful to think about. 
	" Yes, that seems to be Endymion and Mercury's 
consensus. I spared Tokyo proper since it had the 
industry and people to be able to support the rest 
of Japan as a starting point for waking up the rest 
of the world, but that... won't work now." 
	The older woman winced inside. Serenity still 
blamed herself in some ways for the loss of life in 
Tokyo, but it had been the Black Moon forces who gassed 
the city as a last ditch effort to beat Crystal Tokyo. A 
metropolitan area with a population of millions had 
become a literal ghost town in moments. 
	" You didn't kill them, Usagi-chan," she carefully 
explained. " They did it to try and kill you, and they 
didn't care about who got in their way. You were not at 
fault."
	" Thank you, Michiru-san," she smiled and reached 
across the table to gratefully squeeze the other woman's 
hand for a moment. " It helps when somebody else tells 
me that."
	" You're welcome," she smiled back. " Your basic 
idea for the revival process is sound, especially 
because of your status with the Japanese people since 
the Emperor gave you his backing when he abdicated in 
favor of you. We might want to try the United States 
as well. They have the resources and the infrastructure 
to feed most of the other nations of the world once the 
damage to their agricultural base is repaired." 
	" I get the vague idea that you're going to 
suggest the carrot and the stick method of getting 
them to work with us, Michiru," Serenity frowned. " I 
don't want to have to use threats to get them to 
co-operate with us, not if we can help it."
	" Crystal Tokyo is supposed to become a paradise, 
Serenity. People should not be starving in the streets 
of paradise, and it won't happen in Crystal Tokyo," she 
explained and faintly smiled, a determined grin that 
did not bode well for any politician who would choose 
to stand in her way. " We don't have to tell them that, 
however. They'll think of it on their own well enough."     
	" You are evil sometimes, Michiru-san," she 
giggled again as Endymion strode into the 
room. " Mamo-chan, that was quick!" 
	" A few construction workers got together 
and started clearing some roads with a forklift 
where necessary," he explained and hugged his wife 
when she came over to him.
	" So that explains the leathers, then," Michiru 
pointed out his clothes with a sly look in her 
eyes. " Nobody on the roads to get in the way of 
your motorcycle, ne?" 
	" Guilty as charged," he admitted with a 
chuckle. " We'd best be getting started, love," he 
said to the blonde. 
	" I'll leave you two in private, then," Michiru 
said, rose to her feet and left the room. The couple 
hugged again before going to and sitting together in 
a couch and linking their hands, minds, hearts and 
power together.

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

	" Let's get a move on it!" Uranus bellowed, 
waved to the people behind them and ran down the 
street, Jupiter a step behind. Back the way they 
came, a man and woman were trying to navigate a 
commandeered JSDF jeep around some stopped cars by 
the motorcycle that had finally ran out of gas. The 
two Senshi could hear the intermittent wail of an 
ambulance siren as it made its' way towards them.   
	" Up ahead on the left," Jupiter told her, 
listening to the directions from the radio she 
carried. " Damn, it's the one on the corner that 
collapsed." 
	" In other words, we have to do this the hard 
way," Uranus growled and skidded to a stop in front 
of the building. Jupiter stopped and began to take 
deep breaths in order to calm herself while Uranus 
waved the jeep back away from them. " No more guitar 
amplifiers, ne?"
	" Oh, shut up," the brunette laughingly 
responded. " How was I to know he was a guitar 
nut? Stereo speakers come in pairs, so when I got 
one pattern of electrical interference, I assumed 
it was a person. At least we didn't have to dig 
our way in that time." 
	" Well, we're going to have to do it here," the 
blonde replied, looking at the building and the car 
that had taken out one corner. The Black Moon had 
released the poison gas into the city in the early 
morning hours, so there had not been too much traffic 
on the streets. That had not prevented some of the 
moving vehicles from going out of control. " Knowing 
our luck recently, it will be someone in the 
collapsed portion. I don't smell any propane or 
natural gas, so there shouldn't be any problem from 
sparks."  
	" Here," Jupiter said and handed the radio to 
Uranus. " I'm still not very good at this, and the 
radio gets in the way," she explained and closed her 
eyes. She extended her hands and let a spark of green 
energy begin to dance back and forth between them. A 
moment later, it had become a solid, jagged line that 
flickered as she shifted them back and forth. It 
flickered once at one point, and again on the 
return swing. 
	" I got it," the blonde shouted loudly enough 
for Jupiter to hear it in her trance and began to 
begin to pull away some of the pieces of wood. Jupiter 
helped her start on the larger ones, their strength 
as Senshi allowing them to handle the larger beams 
that would have taken several men or a small 
forklift. It wasn't the best or safest method to 
find someone trapped, but it was the quickest, and 
they knew they had to hurry.   
	The two others got there a few minutes later 
after clearing a path for the ambulance. Together, 
they were able to eventually locate the sole 
survivor. She had been pinned under a beam that 
must have fallen when the out of control car hit 
the house. The beam hadn't crushed her, having formed 
a relatively safe area. She would have been trapped 
their without help, however. 
	" Pulse low, breathing weak and steady," the 
man said as the two Senshi lifted the beam enough for 
the other two people to get to the girl. 
	" No bones appear to be broken. Probably just 
cuts from glass," the woman volunteered. " It should 
be okay to pull her out." 
	" Do it," Jupiter replied and grunted as she 
strained to lift her end up high enough to give Uranus 
the room to work and shifted her grip at the same 
time. Uranus released her hold at the brunette's 
terse nod, stepped back and drew out the Space Sword.
	One slash later, the beam was cut and able 
to be moved away, and they were able to get her 
out and laid upon a blanket as the ambulance pulled 
up.     	
	" How is it going?" Jupiter asked the driver 
as she leaned against the side of the vehicle in 
order to rest a moment from her efforts. The unusually 
delicate application of her powers to sense a 
person's inherent electrical field was more 
draining than the lifting, and this was their 
eighth house already. 
	" Pretty good," he smiled back and handed 
her a can of iced coffee. " Mars' team  is moving 
to another location right now," he added as he moved 
to the back of the ambulance and helped the other 
driver take out a stretcher for the girl they had 
rescued. 
	" Facial cuts are the worst, I think," Uranus 
commented as she joined Jupiter in taking a brief 
break. " She had a few blood vessels in her eyes 
that burst, but mainly she's looking good. Age about 
seven or eight, I think, but it's hard to tell with 
all the dirt and grime from being trapped in there 
for three days."  
	" Nobody else?" Jupiter asked hopefully, 
remembering the loss of her own parents while she 
was growing up. 
	" No," Uranus softly replied and gave the 
other Senshi a quick hug. She knew about what had 
happened to Makoto in the past as well, and that 
the fate of the girl they just rescued would be 
bothering Jupiter. " You have a new family, 
remember. Be strong, Mako-chan," she 
whispered. " She'll be taken care of, too."
	" We're ready to roll!" the ambulance 
driver called out and started the vehicle. The 
girl would be taken back to the palace and 
medical care, and the crew would be off to go 
pick up someone else, assuming that more survivors 
were found by the monarchs. The two Senshi stepped 
away from the ambulance as it pulled away. 
	" We'd better check in," Jupiter decided as 
she took the radio back and began trying to contact 
Neptune at the palace. The other Outer Senshi was 
handling the co-ordination of the rescue efforts 
while Mercury was tending to the ones who were 
being found. Mars and Venus had their own teams 
and were handling the areas closest to the palace 
while she and Uranus had more area to cover and 
were teamed up together along with four other drivers.  
	" Here's some gas," the woman they were 
currently with said as she handed over a large 
can that sloshed. " We filled them up at a station 
that still had working pumps." 
	" Great!" Uranus smiled and got a lift back to 
her motorcycle, which was how she and Jupiter were 
getting around so quickly, leapfrogging from survivor 
to survivor and supervising their teams' efforts. 
	" How are you doing, Mako-chan?" Neptune quietly 
asked as she called back in to see if they had a new 
location for them yet. The brunette finished the 
coffee, sighed and tossed the can into a garbage can 
before replying. 
	" I'm getting by, Michiru-san," she said. " Uranus 
looks like she's out for a morning jog, but I'm tired." 
	" She likes to be out and doing things," Neptune 
said and Jupiter could easily see the smile that must 
have been on her face right then. " It's better for 
her right now to be active, anyway. We're getting a 
new location for you, but it will take a few moments 
to get it tightened up. It's to the northwest of 
your location, but we don't know how far yet." 
	" Sorcery isn't an exact science, ne?" Jupiter 
giggled back. 
	" Not yet. We do have some good news, 
though," the other woman went on a moment later 
after chuckling as well. " Venus' team found a 
total of seven survivors at some kind of a boy's 
school reunion. The one who we could wake up is a 
doctor." 
	" A doctor! That is good news. Ami will be 
thrilled." 
	" He's already agreed to help us out. The 
others are his wife, child, brother and a few 
students. We're getting some extra ambulances over 
there to bring them in, and Ami is happy to hear 
that news.
	" Oh, and one more thing, Mako-chan," Neptune 
playfully added. " Minako-chan wanted me to tell you 
that two of the students are really cute."  
	" That sounds like her," Jupiter groaned as 
Uranus got the motorcycle started and came towards her.
	" You mean it finally sounds more like 
her," Neptune corrected her. " She's been taking 
this whole situation quite hard as well. It is 
good to hear her acting more like herself, even 
if that comment about the two guys was the very 
last thing she said before going off to another 
location."  
	" You're right as usual, Michiru-san," Jupiter 
admitted and stopped as she heard someone calling 
to the other woman in the background. 
	" We've got it partially narrowed 
down," Neptune came back a few moments later 
on. " It's going to be out a ways, so get on the 
expressway. Serenity said that it feels like it's 
right up against the stasis zone's edge, so please 
be careful." 
	" We will be," Jupiter said, going cold at the 
thought. Whether the rest of the world outside of 
the Tokyo area was frozen by low temperatures or 
frozen in time was something they didn't fully know 
yet. The one man who had tried going to his family 
just outside the radius was still standing there, 
stuck in mid-stride with a look of surprise on his 
face as he glanced backwards. Another thought 
occurred to her.
	" How are we fixed on time?" she 
added. " Serenity has been keeping her other 
spell up a long time, and she's going to have 
to start freezing the place soon to keep the 
corpses from rotting and spreading disease." 
	" They're being stubborn about that," Neptune 
admitted, her concern clearly showing in her 
voice. " They both insist that they will keep 
the bodies from decaying long enough for us to 
rescue all the survivors. Then, and only then 
will they start dropping the temperatures of 
Crystal Tokyo so they can cancel the preservation 
spell."
	" Shimatta," the brunette growled. Serenity 
was right in that they couldn't let anyone who was 
still alive die due to their not trying all the 
possible ways to find them, but the simple fact 
was that they had millions of corpses to deal with 
as well. The easiest way to keep Crystal Tokyo 
locked in a winter freeze, but that would kill 
anyone who was still alive but unconscious. It 
was unusually warm for this early in February, 
which helped their work right now by keeping people 
alive. " Her safety comes before her ethics, but I 
don't see any way to make her change her mind on this." 
	" Would you have her acting any other 
way?" Neptune replied.  
	" No," she sighed and took a seat behind 
Uranus on the motorcycle. " We're off, Neptune. We'll 
check back in about five minutes from now to see 
if you have a better fix." 

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

	They smiled at each other as they went into 
Mercury's office and found her sprawled in her chair, 
head tilted back and dozing. It was understandable, 
after all. She had been the only one to be able to 
properly take care of the wounded until a few hours 
ago. Upon the other doctor getting there and beginning 
to work, the Queen had ordered Mercury to rest. That 
had been about ten hours ago. 
	" Ami," Michiru whispered and gently shook the 
young woman's shoulder. " Ami."
	" Huh?" she said, groggily coming awake. " Forgive 
me," she blushed and hastily sat up in her chair. " I 
drifted off."
	" Even the Senshi have limits, Ami-chan," Haruka 
said as she stepped out the door, coming back a few 
moments later with some coffee from the pot set up 
by the room that had been turned into a ward for the 
injured. " You were awake for almost three days 
straight, and participated in the casting of a major 
spell." 
	" I'm sorry," she said and took a sip of the 
hot liquid. " I slept for a while, but I woke up and 
couldn't go back to sleep. I decided to do some other 
work to take my mind off of recent events." 
	" Is there any change in Hotaru's 
condition?" Michiru asked. To most her voice 
would have sounded normal, but the two others 
could hear the hope that had crept into it. Ami 
shook her head, hating to have to destroy that 
glimmer of optimism.
	" No, nothing, but we shouldn't talk about 
that here," she gently reminded them and rose, 
taking the mug with her. " I need to check up on 
her anyway, so we can talk in private down there." The 
two women followed her down the corridor and to a 
private elevator which answered only to the King, 
Queen or the Senshi. 
	A few minutes later they were deep underground 
in a small, well-equipped lab, the predominant feature 
being the bed against one wall with banks of equipment 
arrayed around it. The bed was a modification she had 
done to a new system designed to keep track of injured 
soldiers in the field while they were being transported 
to proper care.  
	In the bed itself was a young girl with short, 
black hair that was cut straight just above her 
shoulders. A monitor kept track of her slow breathing 
and the beating of her heart, but the one that 
monitored brain activity was still showing flat 
lines and a telltale that would have spoke of 
activity was dark. 
	" There still hasn't been any change," Ami said 
in a flat, controlled voice that was the only way she 
could keep from crying when talking to them about 
Hotaru. " Physically, she's almost perfectly 
fine. She's breathing well, and her heart is strong."
	" Serenity and Endymion were able to heal up 
the trauma she suffered from the feedback," Haruka 
softly said, almost like she thought that Hotaru was 
just asleep and didn't want to wake her. " Hasn't that 
helped? She was only hurt badly, and she never really 
died." 
	" I don't know," Ami admitted. " We're not like 
regular humans, Haruka. We're different, but that 
doesn't make it any easier for us here. She's still 
in a very deep coma and hasn't responded to any 
stimuli. Serenity and Endymion couldn't even find 
her consciousness inside her mind, so they settled 
for healing up the damage done to her body in hopes 
that it would suffice." 
	" Why did it have to be her?" Michiru wondered 
and choked back a sob. " She only had six years after 
everything she did for us. It's not fair." 
	Ami nearly broke inside as Haruka hugged Michiru 
from behind and tried to console her. She had made it 
through medical school in near-record time, graduating 
a few months before the initial attacks with her 
doctorate. Unfortunately, despite the classes in 
dealing with distraught family members she had taken, 
she didn't have the time to get used to telling people 
bad news. To further complicate things, there were the 
emotional attachments she had to these two women and the 
girl on the bed. These weren't strangers she would walk 
away from in a few minutes. 
	" I really hate to only have bad news, but I won't 
lie to you," she went on a few moments later. She dabbed 
the tears away from her eyes with a tissue and resolutely 
faced the two women. " There is every possibility that 
she will never wake up again. You can rarely tell with 
a coma, especially one this deep.
	" What is worse, though," she forced herself to 
continue, not heeding the tears rolling down her 
face. " One of our hypotheses about her is that she 
would be reincarnated after using that attack like she 
did to kill Pharaoh Ninety. She didn't become a child 
again this time, but we don't know if she has to die 
first. We don't know anything about that part. If there 
is a cycle to her being reincarnated, it may have been 
broken." 
	" Oh, no!" Michiru broke into tears and turned to 
rest her head on Haruka's shoulder while she cried. The 
blonde hugged her closer and kissed the top of her head 
before looking up to catch Ami's eyes.
	" Thank you, Ami-san," she murmured, using an 
honorific that she usually didn't with the younger 
woman. " Thank you for the truth. It hurts now, of 
course, but we can't go around fooling ourselves about 
her." The blue-haired woman nodded, agreeing with what 
Haruka had said.
	" There's more, though," she added. " It's the 
reason I called you in the first place tonight. The 
other work I mentioned had to do with what we 
discussed a few months ago and what I just finished 
verifying."
	" Minako doesn't know, does she?" Haruka 
quietly asked. Ami shook her head.
	" No, not the specific reasons. She only knows 
that it is to help you with something important. That 
was a good enough reason for her, but we haven't had 
much luck. She's been able to use her crescent compact 
to make disguises like Usagi-chan used to, and she's 
even better than Usagi at it due to her doing it more 
often." 
	" But," Haruka prompted her, saying what Ami was 
trying to keep from showing in her voice. 
	" She finally was able to turn into a male a few 
weeks ago. Not a gender-neutral like she and we 
think Usagi were doing when they had become 'boys' 
before, but actually a biological male. Unfortunately, 
as far as I've been able to determine, she's sterile 
when she does that." 
	" Which means," Haruka went on, finishing Ami's 
line of thought. " That if I was able to figure out 
how to use her compact or Usagi's pen, we still 
couldn't have a child together.
	" Don't apologize," she hastily added, catching 
the look on Ami's face. " It isn't your fault that 
those items aren't powerful enough, or that I'm like 
this." Haruka steered Michiru over to a couch and sat 
down with her. " Michiru said once that I embody the 
strengths of both genders, but it doesn't go as far 
as genetics." 
	" It was just an idle curiosity of ours, 
especially after we had Hotaru," Michiru 
added. " Thank you for trying, Ami-chan." 
	" There's always Serenity and the crystal," Ami 
ventured, but the other two women shook their heads 
in disagreement. 
	" That's too close to the limits of her 
power," Michiru explained. " We may have wanted 
to have a child together, but not at that price. What 
if the price for her creating a life is her own?" 
	" You're right," Ami agreed and started in 
surprise as her communicator watch beeped three 
times in rapid succession. " That's me." she explained 
and started moving to the elevator. " They need me in 
the hospital ward." 
	" We'll close up down here when we are 
done." Haruka told her. Ami nodded and went into 
the elevator, but stopped the doors from closing suddenly.
	" I almost forgot," she added. " Since we do 
have another doctor, I'm going to consider having him 
look over Hotaru-chan to see if he has any ideas. I'll 
keep an eye on him and when I reach an opinion as to 
if he can be trusted, I'll let you know and we can see 
what you feel about it." 
	" I trust your opinion, Ami-chan," Michiru 
responded and smiled at her. " We'll probably see 
you in a bit up there."

************************************************                     
	
	" Mama?" she whispered, looking around in the 
dim light as she slowly swam upwards towards being 
fully awake. She felt hot, and something was wrapped 
around her head and over one eye. Everything else was 
blurred and hazy, with a reddish color overlaying what 
she could see.
	"  There," a comforting voice came to her from 
off to one side, the side she couldn't see due to the 
bandages. A glass was pressed to her lips and she 
drank the water, suddenly aware of her thirst. The 
girl turned to see the woman sitting in a chair next 
to her bed. Right beyond her was another bed, and 
several more after that. 
	" Where am I?" she asked the woman while trying 
to clearly see everything and growing alarmed that she 
couldn't. All she could see of the woman was that she 
had long, light colored hair. 
	" A hospital of sorts," was the answer. " Your 
eyes aren't permanently hurt, but things should be a 
bit blurred for a few days according to the doctor." 
	" What happened?" the girl asked, taking stock 
of the situation. A needle was in her left arm, and a 
tube ran from that to a bag hanging on a pole by her 
bed. She felt stiff all over, and was also tired and 
hungry.
	" Did you hear the people talking about the 
war?" the woman replied in a sad voice. The girl 
nodded and got a bit apprehensive. War was something 
that was bad. 
	" Well," the woman went on. " Despite all we 
could do, the war finally came here to Tokyo, and a 
lot of people died. This," she waved her hand around 
to indicate the rest of the room. " This is where we 
are taking care of some of the people who were hurt." 
	" Oh," the girl replied and squinted as she tried 
to make out the persons in the beds next to her. " Are 
my parents here, or are they in another room?" The 
woman frowned slightly, got up and walked to the foot 
of the bed. 
	" What's your name, honey?" she asked after she 
looked at a piece of paper taped to the bed. The girl 
shrugged and frowned, the parts of her face that could 
be seen under the bandages showing her clearly 
struggling to remember. 
	" I don't know," she finally admitted.
	" Oh, dear," the woman muttered, sat on the bed 
next to the girl and pulled her up into an embrace. The 
girl accepted the gesture, feeling more secure in her 
arms. " There's nothing on the chart. I'll have to get 
someone to go look at your house for any records."
	" You didn't answer me," she reminded the woman 
and looked up at her, but without any accusation in 
her eyes. " If a war happened here, did my parents die?" 
	" I'm afraid so, honey," the woman replied and 
wiped a tear from her eye. " Only a very few people 
survived it, I'm afraid." 
	" How many?" the girl asked, surprising the 
woman with her question. Not grief or loss over her 
parent's death and her now being alone, but instead 
this odd question. Maybe she didn't remember her 
parents, either. 
	" A little over seven hundred," she answered. 
	" That few?"
	" Yes, that few," the woman sighed. A light came 
on over the girl's left, making things a little bit 
brighter. She looked up at the woman and saw something 
shiny on her forehead. Squinting again in an effort 
to make it out, she pulled herself up so that her 
face was right in the woman's.
	" You're the Queen," she said in an almost 
accusing tone. " The Queen!" the girl suddenly 
squeaked in surprise and quickly let go of her, 
remembering that nobody was supposed to treat a Queen 
like that. She was certain that she was going to get 
thrown into the dungeon. " I'm sorry!" she began to 
apologize, but it was cut off as the woman hugged her 
again. 
	" It's all right," Serenity smiled down at 
her. " It's all right, honey. I'm not mad at you, 
and I'm certainly not going to hurt you. You're safe 
now." 
	" But," she spluttered. " You're like the 
Emperor, and we're not supposed to touch the Emperor. My 
sensei told us so!" 
	" The Emperor was a dear, sweet man, and he 
wouldn't have minded you hugging him because you were 
scared," the blonde explained. He wouldn't have minded, 
she told herself. His love for his country had led him 
to abdicate in favor of her when the Black Moon first 
began to attack. She is the only one who can defend 
Japan against this threat, he had told the world. She 
had defended Japan, but at a horrible cost.
	"  Do you miss your family, too?" the girl asked, 
breaking Serenity out of her momentary reverie. " Sensei 
told us that they died." 
	" Hai," she whispered and let the tears come. The 
Black Moon's magic could not be stopped by the military 
might of the JSDF, but the Senshi quickly foiled their 
plan to hold the Emperor hostage. Before she had even 
realized it, the Emperor had given her his position. The 
man was shaken by the proof that magic existed and also 
saw that the Senshi were the only hope that the country 
had. 
	Later they found that the Black Moon even had 
spies in the palace. The chaos of the pitched battle 
gave the spy plenty of time to relay the news, and her 
parents and brother were dead within minutes of her 
impromptu coronation. It was a harsh retribution for 
the plans of the Black Moon being thwarted. 
	" I do miss them," she confirmed a few minutes 
later and wiped away the traces of the tears. 
	" Can I ask you a question?" the girl spoke a 
few moments later. " If you're the Queen, why are you 
in here?" The blonde blushed in response to her question. 
	" I couldn't sleep, so I came down here to let 
someone else get some more rest since we've all been 
very busy," she explained. " And you just reminded me 
that I need to check on the rest of the people in here.
	" However," she smiled at the girl. " Once I'm 
done, I'll come back and we can see about getting you 
a little snack. I bet you're probably hungry." 
	" Um-hum," the girl agreed and smiled back for 
the first time.

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

	" Good morning," Haruka said as she turned 
the corner of the shrine and almost bumped into Rei. 
	" Haruka-san, you startled the wits out of 
me," the miko admitted and blushed. " I wasn't 
expecting anyone up here, not with everything 
that had been going on." 
	" I'm sorry, Rei-chan," the blonde apologized 
and zipped up the jacket she was wearing a little 
more. It was getting noticeably cooler and would 
probably be back to freezing by around noon as 
Serenity and Endymion finished adjusting the 
enchantment that controlled the weather around 
Crystal Tokyo. Traces of snow covered the ground 
of the shrine and covered over a few of the smoke 
stains on the roof.
	" Do they need me for something?" Rei asked.
	" No, no," Haruka hastily assured her.  " Now 
that we don't have a thousand prisoners to watch or 
anybody to rescue, it is sort of calm down there," she 
said, nodding down towards the palace grounds. The 
Hikawa shrine was on a hill that overlooked the 
palace.  "People are generally resting and trying 
to accept what happened."
	" Certainly no need for a miko, or at least 
not right now," Rei said. " Maybe a little later on 
today after people have rested and come more to terms 
with their loss, but not right now." 
	" You sound bored." 
	" I am a little, I guess," she admitted. " A 
night's sleep did wonders in terms of rest, but not 
for my peace of mind." 
	" I'm sorry about your grandfather," Haruka 
said.
	" We all lost people we loved in the attack," Rei 
reminded her. " Thank you for thinking of him." 
	They were silent for a little while, each alone 
with their thoughts. 
	" What about you?" the raven-haired woman 
asked. " Are you restless as well?"
	" Yes," Haruka replied. " Your duty will really 
be beginning. She'll probably name you the head of 
spiritual affairs for Crystal Tokyo. I'm just a 
soldier, and there is nobody left to fight." 
	" There's more to you than just fighting," Rei 
protested.
	" Ami is a doctor, and she can heal the 
people," Haruka countered. " Makoto is feeding 
them. Minako is our general and Michiru is the 
government machinery. That leaves God, which is 
your department. And me, I-" 
	" Don't be so sure of that," Rei cut in, her 
voice slightly bitter. " I came up here to take a 
look at the place and try to decide whether or not 
to fix it up and keep it open." 
	" That shouldn't be too much of an issue," the 
taller woman said. " People will look to the gods for 
comfort, and you have the shrine that is closest to the 
palace. You'll have to sell tickets to keep them away."
	" What need do they have of me, Haruka?" Rei 
retorted. " They already have a god walking in their 
midst. I've heard some whispering prayers to her already."   
	" Odango-atama as one of the gods?" Haruka 
laughed; a loud, clear laugh that echoed in the cold, 
still air. 
	 " Who is to say that she isn't a god?" Rei 
replied. " The Christians say that it took their God 
six days to create the Earth. She saved it from 
destruction in the blink of an eye."
	" She would be the first to say she wasn't a 
god," Haruka went on. " And then she would probably 
trip over her feet in order to prove her point. She's 
no god, Rei-chan, and I'm in a position to know. 
	" I lived for five years with two people who 
were closer to being gods than Usagi-chan ever could 
be. Saturn is well-named as the God of Ruin, and Pluto 
could have changed all of existence with a thought."
	" It is far harder to create rather than 
destroy," the miko countered. " And it was Serenity 
who restored the world after Saturn destroyed it and 
Pluto sealed away the malevolence that was Pharaoh 
Ninety. It may be none of those three were gods, but 
the people down there consider Serenity to be one, and 
they don't know more than rumors about Pluto and 
Saturn. It would not be hard for Serenity to take 
the mantle of godhood now."
	" She won't, and I'd bet that you know that as 
well as I," Haruka challenged her. 
	" How much?" Rei countered.
	" Two prayers," the blonde answered, holding up 
the coins to cover two of the small charms that Rei 
used to make and sell at the shrine.
	" Haruka, I'm so sorry," she gasped. " Why 
didn't you tell me you were here for that?" 
	" My prayers won't be affected by waiting for 
a few minutes, and you needed to talk to someone," she 
explained and walked over to the small stand by the 
main entrance to the building. Rei followed her and 
opened up the door to get a pair of the small charms, 
and then took a third as well.
	" One for your adopted daughter," she replied 
to the blonde, putting one into her hand and then a 
second but keeping the third to herself. " One for 
your love, and one for our Usagi-chan, who we hope 
never changes." 

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

	" No, send the beds to the second hospital 
ward, " she explained again to the man she was 
talking to. " The injured people we found yesterday 
need them more than the children in the nursery do, 
and we can make another run to the furniture store 
tomorrow to get what they need.
	" Please remember that this isn't a normal 
winter," she gently reminded him. " It's cold outside, 
but it is not allowed to be cold in here. They'll be 
fine with sleeping bags for another night."   
	" You know, you're right, Neptune-sama," he 
sheepishly admitted. " I grew up in Hokkaido, and I 
guess it is an old habit to be worried about the 
cold. I'm not used to weather that behaves like this."
	" That's all right," Michiru said as she gave 
him a warm smile and he turned to leave. The door 
closed behind him, giving her a rare moment of 
peace. By default she had become the one who people 
looked to as the war against the Black Moon 
progressed. Her upbringing in a wealthy family 
made her more aware of the political scene than 
any of the others, and she had become the liaison 
between Serenity and the Japanese government and 
the media. Her face was one the people who had 
survived were used to seeing, and she was considered 
more approachable than the Queen. After the last 
attack, she had become the one directing the survivors 
by default. 
	She was the one who had gotten together the 
people who could drive trucks and made them start 
going to stores to bring in food. Others were busy 
readying the Crystal Palace, a purely ceremonial 
building that was only intended as living quarters 
for the Senshi and literally grown overnight as a 
testament to the new Queen's power, into a place 
capable of housing everyone who was still alive. It 
was understandable that they would want to band 
together after such a calamity, and that made her 
task easier.
	What would also help was that she apparently 
now had two assistants as of that morning. Two of 
the students that had been found yesterday had 
volunteered their services, and would be able to 
start once the doctor cleared them to work. One had 
a number of cuts on his hands and upper body as well 
as the weakness brought about by the poison, and Ami 
had said that it was a miracle he was still 
alive. Somehow his face hadn't been sliced open 
when a window near him had been shattered while 
he slept for three days after the attack. 
	While they had only done work at their school 
in student government, it was more than anyone else 
had. And, she reasoned, if they could keep a few 
hundred high school boys in line like they had said, 
they should be able to handle just about everything 
with the exception of Makoto. She had agreed that 
they were cute when she just happened to drop by the 
infirmary. 
	Michiru smiled, pleased that it was another 
sign of things returning to normal among her 
friends. They all had different ways of coping. Some 
were throwing themselves into their work, like Mamoru. 
	Plans were underway to begin construction of a 
vast cemetery  to the north of the palace. Endymion 
had already picked out the place for that, as well 
as a few other buildings he said were important. What 
only the Senshi knew was that these were things they 
had seen on the visit by some of them to the 
future. Disclosing foreknowledge of the attack 
would be disastrous, whether it was the recent one 
or the one to come in the thirtieth century. 
	She sighed and took a sip of her tea. It had 
gone cold, she suddenly realized. Just like her heart 
had. The fact was that all of her work here to restore 
this city was technically futile. It would be destroyed 
again and more people would be lost. She had been 
able to figure out much due to Chibi-usa's slips of 
the tongue when she used to come for visits.
	A mental note was made to schedule an 
appointment for her with the other doctor they 
had discovered they had. He was in his late fifties 
and had a fractured hip due to a traffic accident 
right before the last attack, but he had a doctorate 
in psychiatry as well. She'd be in there right after 
Minako, she decided. Serenity was showing her 
resilience, but Venus' reactions were beginning to 
make the blonde's friends very worried.      
	Baka, she scolded herself. Stop being so 
depressed. Crystal Tokyo would fall, but that did 
not mean that she couldn't do her best to make it 
come back as quickly as possible. Building foundations 
could be made to survive any attack, allowing housing 
to be rebuilt at a fantastic rate. Underground bunkers 
and subways could be converted into hospitals and the 
means for rapid transfer of patients, cutting down on 
the overall number of casualties. Just because they 
knew that they would be attacked didn't mean they had 
to give up already. 
	" Maybe you killed our daughter, you 
bastard," she whispered to the warped, twisted 
soul that they had banished to Nemesis. " I can't 
get my hands around your throat to get the 
revenge I want, but this city will be my 
vengeance. I'll make it into a monument to her 
that you will hurt, but nothing will ever be able 
to destroy. Crystal Tokyo will stand forever as a 
shrine to her dedication. If she could give so 
much, it's the least I can do."
	Michiru stood and went to get a refill of 
tea, and decided that she was feeling much, much 
better now. It always helped to have a goal in 
life.

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

	" You don't need to explain this to me," Venus 
coolly explained as the wind whipped her hair 
around. " We're not blaming you, and it wasn't 
your fault." 
	" No, it's not all right," Uranus almost 
snapped back at the other blonde. " I just feel 
like we missed something or made a mistake 
somewhere. I was hoping that you'd listen to me 
and tell me what went wrong."
	" I'll be glad to listen to you, Haruka," Venus 
replied and deliberately broke their convention of 
not using personal names while in uniform. " But 
only if you understand and accept that you are under 
no compulsion to do this. I am not going to start a 
tradition or trend of interrogating the other Senshi 
even if Serenity named me our official leader earlier.
	" I'll help you out," she added and caught 
Uranus' eyes for a moment, breaking away from looking 
out over the snowy expanse of Tokyo from the topmost 
portion of the palace where a person could actually 
go outside. " But only as your friend. Not as your 
leader or commanding officer."
	" Deal," Uranus replied and stuck out her hand, 
which Venus took. " Aren't you cold up here?" she 
asked a moment later, glancing down at the fuku that 
Venus was wearing in distinct contrast to the parka 
and pants she wore over her own.
	" No," the shorter woman replied and stepped 
back to shake off the snow from two chairs. She sat 
down on one and gestured to the other. " It isn't 
really cold, at least not to our Senshi forms, and I 
haven't been Minako for a while." 
	" And some people call me crazy," Uranus sighed 
and sat. " Are you sure that is very wise?"
	" Not even Minako could find much to laugh 
about after losing her parents, two Senshi who were 
almost like sisters to her and the millions of 
residents of Tokyo who she was supposed to 
protect," Venus bitterly added. She quickly held 
up a hand to stop Uranus from saying what she knew 
she was about to hear. 
	" I know it wasn't my fault. We didn't know 
that they could do it or that they had poison gas 
stockpiled here," she sighed. " It's just taking me 
a while to accept that it wasn't my fault. Serenity 
is doing the same thing. It's called denial, and 
we're getting over it. What did  you want to talk 
about?" 
	" You all have described the time you spent 
linked with Serenity as only lasting a few 
moments," Uranus began, not showing any reaction 
to the brusque change of subject by the other 
woman. " But out here in the real world, you were 
in a trance for over three hours. They gassed the 
city in the early morning, probably about the same 
time that Phantom started his spell and you tried 
to counter it.
	" A week ago the Black Moon had about twenty 
thousand effective members world wide according to 
our estimates, and it looked like they pulled in 
all of them for the attack. They were much better 
prepared than we thought." 
	" I remember Serenity saying that we needed to 
keep up the palace's shield," Venus added and shook 
her head. " But nothing other than that. We could feel 
everything dying all across the planet."
	" Well, most of Tokyo was dead, too," Uranus 
went on. " I don't think that they expected to find 
anyone alive at the palace. When they first saw us in 
front of the steps to the gate they stopped." 
	" With good reason," the long haired woman 
commented. " You'd built up your reputation in the 
months before the last attack when you took out their 
new bases. Facing off against you three was considered 
a suicide mission according our reports."    
	" Venus, let me finish, please," Uranus quietly 
asked. " Or let Minako out. I can't take you being like 
this." They locked eyes for a few moments in a decidedly 
non-hostile staredown that Venus broke off early by 
pointedly glancing away.
	" I'm sorry," Venus responded and forced out a 
hesitant smile. " I'll try to behave."
	" Thanks," she replied, her own smile far easier 
and more natural. " They stopped at first and it took 
about five minutes for them to decide to attack us 
anyway. Even if we didn't have the JSDF backing us, 
it was still like dynamiting fish in a barrel. With 
Saturn protecting us, we were picking them off before 
they could even get into the clear and approach us.
	" And then all hell broke loose," Uranus tried 
to continue, but her voice caught and she stopped for 
a minute to compose herself. " They'd threaten the 
ones in their ranks who broke the rules by saying 
that they would be thrown to the demons. How were 
we to know that they were right?" 
	" We couldn't have known," Venus offered. " They 
used magics that we can't even begin to understand."
	" Anyway," Uranus forced herself to go on.  "We 
couldn't hurt these things, at least not directly. They 
were soaking up our attacks like we were throwing 
snowballs. The flash of light from Neptune's Submarine 
Reflection would distract them for a moment, but there 
were a dozen of them to one of her. My sword or 
Saturn's Glaive could hurt them, but not quickly 
enough. Not when there was a dozen of them.
	" Hotaru... Saturn said that she couldn't keep 
on shielding us and attack them at the same time. I 
yelled in frustration and anger and challenged the one 
in the lead. Their regular troops were laughing and 
cheering them on. 
	" You six were only a few hundred meters behind 
us, and the demons were pushing us back through the 
gates. If they got past us, there was no way to keep 
them from getting to the Queen. It would have been 
over," the tall woman sniffed once, loudly, as she 
tried to hold back her tears. 
	" She thanked us, and said that she loved 
us. There were ribbons all over the place, and then 
it got quiet. I don't remember anything other than 
holding her and Michiru until you found us.
	" Endymion thinks that she must have thought 
that a sufficiently powerful attack could overcome 
their apparent resistance to magic. They had talked 
about magic and how it worked a number of times," the 
tall woman finally started speaking again a few 
minutes later. " It was the strain of trying to hold 
back the Death Reborn Revolution that nearly killed her."        
	" And you think that you made a mistake 
somewhere?" Venus asked. 
	" We had to have," Uranus responded and slapped 
the arm of her chair, making powdery snow fly. " What 
did we miss? What else could we have done?" 
	Venus thought about her words for the space of 
several minutes. 
	" Given the circumstances, and that you didn't 
have the conventional forces that you were supposed to 
have due to the poison, I don't think that you made 
any mistakes," she decided. " The demons were 
specifically designed to fight us, and the ones who 
summoned them were not there, so you couldn't have 
killed them in order to break their summoning 
spells. We couldn't have stopped in order to try and 
banish them. You did everything you should have, Uranus, 
and you didn't make any mistakes." 
	" We had to have!" the older woman protested. " If 
we did everything right, Hotaru-chan would still be 
alive."
	" Haruka?" she gently asked. " Is it that you 
felt that you made a mistake, or do you feel guilty 
that the Outer Senshi finally ran into something that 
they couldn't beat on their own?" 
	" What?" she incredulously asked.
	" Haruka-san, sometimes we can do everything 
right and not make a mistake, and it still isn't 
enough. You did everything you could. I'm sorry that 
it wasn't enough to save Hotaru-chan. Hotaru did what 
she felt was necessary to save the Queen, and Serenity 
survived.
	" Hotaru got what she wanted," she added and 
stood. " Don't forget that part, Haruka. She was the 
one who made that decision, and I am sure that if she 
was here, she'd be content with what happened."
	Venus stood and leaned over to give the other 
woman a friendly clasp on the shoulder prior to 
leaving. " Don't feel sad that she succeeded. Be 
happy for her."

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

	" Hi, honey," the Queen smiled to the girl 
as she walked into the ward. 
	" Your Majesty," she stammered, slid out of 
bed and tried to curtsy like she had seen other 
women doing before to the Queen on television. The 
woman blushed and gently pulled the girl up so she 
was standing straight. 
	" You don't have to do that, you know," Serenity 
offered. " We've already decided that we only do that 
on special occasions. While this is a special occasion, 
it isn't one like that," she quickly added. " The 
doctor says that you can get up and move around, so 
how would you like to go for a walk?" she asked. The 
doctor had cleared her, saying that nothing was wrong 
with her eyes.
	" I'd like that," the girl nodded. " They took 
off most of the bandages a little while ago."
	" I can see that," she agreed. " You're pretty." 
	" I am not!" the girl protested and blushed, 
feeling embarrassed. Now that there was some light 
and she didn't have the bandages wrapped around her 
head, Serenity could tell that the girl was beautiful. 
	A few traces of baby fat softened and rounded 
the girl's face. Her short, black hair went well 
with her skin; which, while it wasn't the pale tone 
that was so popular right before the attack, was smooth 
and unblemished. The only thing that marred her looks 
were her eyes and the pink flush to the whites. She 
was guessing that the girl had dark brown eyes. 
	" You are, too," she countered and 
giggled. " Let's go get you some clothes to 
wear. That old T-shirt that you're wearing is 
clean but not exactly flattering."   
	" Your Majesty," she began a few minutes 
later out in the hallway as they walked towards 
one of the storage rooms.
	" Call me Serenity," she automatically 
replied and then glanced around before giving the 
girl a quick grin. " Or, if you want, you can call 
me Usagi-chan. I'm still not used to being called 
Serenity, either." 
	" Okay, Usagi-chan," she smiled back. " I still 
don't have a name for you to call me, though," she 
added as the smile faded away. " I don't remember 
who my family is, or what my name is."
	" Don't worry, honey. We know where your house 
was, and someone will go there and we can find out 
who you are. Is that all right?" she asked, looking 
down at her. 
	" Yes," the child sadly replied. " I feel bad 
for not remembering them. Parents are supposed to be 
very important to a child, and I should remember them."
	" What you have is amnesia," she carefully 
explained as they entered the room and were directed 
towards children's clothes. " It isn't your fault 
that it happened.
	" Amnesia is when somebody forgets something 
because of something happening to them," she went on, 
keeping an eye on the girl and the choices of clothing 
a woman there was helping them look through. One of 
Michiru's first acts this morning had been to order 
most of the stock from a nearby clothing store to be 
brought to the palace once they realized the extent 
of the number of people found yesterday and how little 
they had in ways of supplies.
	" It might be when somebody gets hurt, or gets 
really sick. Because of that, they lose some of their 
memories for a while. Most of the time they come back 
to the person in a little while, so don't feel sad 
right now. It isn't your fault that you can't remember 
them."    
	" Were you going to take her outside?" the older 
woman asked. " We have some really warm jackets in 
children's sizes and mittens in case she wants to 
throw some snowballs." 
	" Snow?" the girl gasped, instantly forgetting 
her worries. Serenity giggled and nodded to the woman.
	" I'll come down and take you outside a little 
bit later, all right?"
	" Okay!" she happily beamed. " I never got to go 
out in the snow before." 
	" Here you go," the woman said and handed over a 
bulky, long jacket and a pair of mittens. " We've got 
more than enough to go around in your size, so you 
don't have to bring those back unless you are no 
longer going to be using them." 
	" I understand," she smiled and sketched a 
brief bow to the older woman. " Thank you!"
	" Yes, thank you for your help," the Queen 
echoed the child's words. The girl was shown a room 
where she could change, and then they were off again.
	" Do you still want to go take a look 
outside?" she asked the girl, who nodded in reply. It 
made Serenity happy to see the enthusiasm the girl 
was now showing, and she was reminded of how the 
child growing inside of her looked when she was 
like that. One of her hands drifted to her stomach 
and the life a few centimeters further in.
	The girl caught the motion. " Are you going 
to have a baby soon?" she asked.
	" Yes," she smiled. " I'll be having a daughter 
in about five months." 
	" When you do can I hold her? I don't have any 
brothers or sisters." 
	" Of course," she smiled at her and suddenly 
veered off to the side towards a blank wall. " I 
want to show you something that most people don't 
get to see," she explained and put her hand on a 
portion of the wall. That spot glowed, and then a 
hidden door slid aside, revealing one of several 
hidden elevators.  
	 A minute later they stepped out into the 
living quarters of the Senshi near the top of the 
palace and switched to another elevator for a much 
shorter ride. 
	" Wow!" the girl gasped as the door opened 
to reveal the view of Tokyo in every direction. She 
ran over to a window and looked out, marveling at 
how far up they were.
	" You like it, ne?" Serenity smiled and watched 
her run from window to window for a few moments before 
going to get each of them a glass of juice and sinking 
down into one of the sofas. She reached up and unpinned 
her odango, allowing her hair to fall freely down over 
the back of the sofa. 
	" You can see forever up here," the child said 
as she came over and sat next to her, eyes darting 
back and forth at the bookshelves lining the central 
pillar that housed the elevator shafts. " What is 
this place?" 
	" This is up above where I live," she 
replied. " We're all the way at the top of the 
palace. My friends and I all share this room 
together. I'm sorry, but I had to sit down for a 
few minutes. I'm still a little tired and I thought 
that you'd like to see the view." 
	" Thank you, Usagi-chan" she said and took a 
drink. " I like it up here. The city looks so small 
it's almost like a toy." 
	 " You can keep looking around if you want," the 
blonde smiled. She pointed over to one of several 
marble pedestals with a glass case protecting a small 
vase that was on display. " Just don't touch anything 
that's on one of the pedestals. Some of them are easily 
broken." 
	" Okay!" the girl smiled and moved off again. Oh, 
for that energy again, Serenity smiled to herself. I 
never thought that I would be so tired, she added, 
looking down at her stomach. 
	" It's all your fault, Chibi-usa-chan" she 
scolded the bulge, but she was smiling as she did 
so and didn't have a hint of blame in her voice. She 
kissed the tips of her fingers and pressed them up 
against where she thought the baby was. " I wish I 
could tell you to hurry up, but we know that wouldn't 
matter."
	" Usagi-chan?"
	"What?"
	" Sensei said that you could do anything. Can 
you make it so that the war never happened?"  
	" No," she sighed. " I can do a lot with my 
magic, but I have limits on it as well."
	" Sensei said you could do almost anything," the 
girl went on, her voice changing as she moved around 
the corner of one bookcase and out of sight. The blonde 
sighed and made a note to try to get this goddess 
business out of the way as soon as possible. The 
teachers would not be allowed to go on like that any 
more. 
	" I can't do anything I want," she 
replied. " Using magic is like running in some 
ways. If you go out and run and run until you get 
tired and can't run anymore, it takes a while until 
you can run again, and you can only run so far anyway.
	" I've done so much with magic the last few 
days that I need to rest more right now. Also, there 
are other things to consider," she added. " There 
are some things that I shouldn't do with magic all 
the time." 
	" What shouldn't you do?" 
	" Well, you know the cuts on your face?" she asked.
	" Um-hum."
	" I could have healed them up, but then there's 
always the danger that if you were hurt again due to 
something else that your body would forget how to heal 
by itself because I healed you, and that would be a 
very bad thing." 
	" Is that why you only did that to certain 
people?" she questioned, trying to understand 
it. Serenity could see her face and the puzzled 
look on it as she poked her head around the other 
bookcase for a moment, having worked her way around 
the central pillar.
	" Yes, the people who were hurt very 
badly," she confirmed.
	" What's it like? Doing magic, I mean." 
	The blonde shrugged.  "It is like seeing or 
hearing," Serenity said. " Now that I can do it, I 
can't think of not being able to do it anymore. I 
don't know how to describe it."
	A loud, ringing clang brought her to her feet 
despite herself. There was only one thing in the 
room that could have made a noise like that. She 
ran around the pillar and skidded to a stop, 
breathing heavily due to the adrenaline rush. 
	" I'm sorry," the girl was saying as she put 
the Garnet Rod back where it had been, her eyes wide 
and fearful. " I bumped... I'm sorry, Usagi-chan. I 
shouldn't lie to you when you've tried to be my friend. 
	" I thought that the ball on the pedestal was 
so pretty, but you said not to touch it, so I 
didn't," she went on. " The big stick wasn't on 
a pedestal, though, but just leaning up against 
it. It was heavier than I thought, and I dropped 
it," she admitted. 
	" You're not hurt, are you?" Serenity asked, 
feeling her heart finally begin to slow down. She 
seemed to be fine, and they had no idea what would 
happen to someone who tried taking anything that 
had belonged to Pluto. 
	" Just a little startled," the girl confessed 
and blushed at the direct stare that had been leveled 
at her.
	" That's good," the blonde smiled, trying to 
put the child at ease. " I have a few things to do 
right now, so let me take you back to the ward, and 
we can meet later on like I said. I don't see why 
the doctor wouldn't let you go outside later on," she 
finished and led her to the elevator.

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

	" Hi, Mako-chan," Usagi said as the brunette 
came up the stairs to their den with a fluffy, white 
bathrobe pulled around her and hair that was still 
wet. " What hotel did you loot that from?" she quipped, 
earning a smile from her. 
	" You keep that up and I'm not voting for you 
in the next election," Makoto retorted and the blonde 
smiled back.  " How's your new friend?"
	" That girl?" she replied, not looking up from 
the computer screen.
	" Yes, that girl," Makoto said and took a 
seat. She stretched, yawned and put her feet up on 
the table in front of her. All the work that she had 
done that day was beginning to catch up to her, and 
she was considering going to bed early despite it 
only being a little after ten in the evening. It took 
her a few moments to realize that Usagi wasn't 
playing a game.   
	" She had a lot of fun this afternoon," Usagi 
said absent-mindedly. " There were some other 
children out in the courtyard and they had good, 
old-fashioned snowball fight." 
	" You may want to consider spreading around 
your attention a little bit, Serenity," Makoto 
warned her, using that name to emphasize her point.
	" She doesn't have anyone, Mako-chan," she 
objected. 
	" Nobody has anyone, Usagi-chan," Makoto went 
on. " We only have a half dozen cases where people in 
the same families survived. The other children don't 
have parents, and jealousy is something that we have 
to think is eventually going to come up. 
	 "You don't have to totally ignore her," the 
brunette added, seeing Usagi's shoulders tense 
slightly. " Just be more aware of the other children, 
too. Talk to them more, and try to learn their names." 
	" That's what I'm trying to do," Usagi 
responded. " These are the school records that 
Ami set up last night. What was the address again 
where you found that girl?" 
	" Um, you would ask me something like that," she 
said, frowned a moment and rattled off a string of 
numbers. " Starting with her, ne?"    
	" Well," the blonde laughed and tried to find 
some way to defend herself, but gave up after a 
minute. During that time, she was still typing 
away. The computer beeped once.
	" Aha, a match!" she said, hit a key with a 
flourish and sat back to wait for it to spit out 
the name.
	" So, how many years has it taken for you to 
get the hang of a computer now, Usagi-chan?" Makoto 
asked, grinning slightly and waiting for the return 
volley. 
	" Usagi?" she asked as a minute passed and none 
came. She walked over to her friend to see what was 
going on, since it wasn't like Usagi to pass up a 
chance to trade a few jokes. " Usagi-chan?"
	" Mako-chan, go get," she began, her face 
pale. She stopped as if she was reconsidering her 
words. " No, never mind," she decided and closed her 
eyes. A moment later, Jupiter heard the Queen's voice 
echo inside her mind as she summoned Neptune and Uranus 
to her, followed a moment later by a shielded thought 
sent to the King that she couldn't understand.  
	All three of them appeared a moment later in a 
shimmering blur of gold and silver in response to the 
power of the two monarchs. Usagi ignored them at 
first, calmly pressing a button on the intercom set 
into the table by the computer. 
	" Yes, Your Majesty?" the voice of one of the 
guards replied.
	" Good evening, Kaieda-kun," she said to 
him. " Please take your radio and go to the second 
hospital ward at once, and call me from there." 
	" At once!" he replied and the connection 
closed.
	" What is it, Usako?" Mamoru asked. Usagi 
sighed and pointed at the computer screen and the 
list of names there. 
	" I don't believe in coincidences anymore," she 
admitted in a worried voice. " It was bad enough that 
she vanished without talking to anyone, but this may 
be going entirely too far." 
	" Meiou Setsuna?" Makoto read the name on the 
screen and felt her knees buckle from the shock. Mamoru 
got an arm around her and kept her from hitting the 
ground. 
	" How in the world?" he began when the radio 
beeped. 
	" Kaieda-kun, please ask the attendant on duty 
to make sure that the girl I was looking after earlier 
today is still in her bed and that nothing is wrong 
with her. We'll be down there in a few minutes," Usagi 
replied. 
	" You mean to say that she reincarnated 
herself?" Makoto asked in disbelief. " She couldn't 
have. We last saw her two weeks ago, and that girl 
is at least seven years old." 
	" Nobody should be able to exist in two places 
at once," the man said. Uranus suddenly snarled in 
disgust and took three long steps backwards. 
	" It's gone!" she shouted suddenly, looking to 
her right. " The Talisman!" 
	" She's not here!" the guard's voice rang out 
over the radio. " He swears that she was there not 
ten minutes ago when he turned down the lights, Your 
Majesty." Neptune and Uranus traded glances, and 
Neptune pulled out the Deep Aqua Mirror. The brunette 
flung a hand up above her head and transformed into 
Jupiter.
	" Good idea," Serenity said and the crescent on 
her forehead burst into light. She joined hands with 
Mamoru for a moment and closed her eyes, only to have 
them snap open again in surprise. 
	" Oh, dear," she exclaimed in astonishment. " She's 
at Pluto's gate." The two Outers and Jupiter were off 
like a shot, readying weapons and attacks as they left. 
	" I know, Usako," Mamoru smiled in spite of the 
gravity of the situation. " I know you miss being able 
to fight with them like that." He held out his arm, 
which she gracefully took. 
	" Sailor Moon is no more, Mamo-chan, but that 
doesn't mean I am helpless," she replied and called 
upon the enchantments they had woven into the castle 
to transport them to the corridor junction that led 
to the Gates of Time. They had been in casual clothes, 
but emerged in full regalia and prepared for anything.
	What they found was not anything they had 
expected. Jupiter stood there, gazing at the scene 
by the gates with a worried look on her face. The 
Space Sword loosely hung from Uranus' hand, and 
Neptune clutched her mirror in trembling hands like 
it was the only stable thing in her world. At their 
feet was the child, curled up in a ball as she slept 
with Pluto's Garnet Rod nestled in the crook of one 
of her arms.

************************************************  	
	The man put down the radio and looked over 
at the three women. " Uranus says she only needs 
a few more minutes at the house." 
	He walked back over to and sat next to his 
wife, whose attention was split between the other 
two couches on this side of the room at the top of 
the palace. One held Makoto and Michiru. The other 
held the child, who was still asleep thanks to a 
minor enchantment. While she was not going to wake 
up until Endymion canceled the spell, they still 
spoke quietly as if to not wake her. 
	Ami was seated about ten meters away, diligently 
combing through the records they did have access 
to. With the main power plants and telephone lines 
being down due to the lack of trained people to run 
them, along with the other utilities like gas and 
water, they had little in the way of solid 
information on anyone right now.   
	" I was here all evening," the blonde 
began. " There was no way anyone except one of 
us could have come up here in the first place. I 
was sitting not ten meters from the Talisman, and I 
didn't hear a thing."
	" Pluto's existence, like Saturn's, was never 
made common knowledge," Michiru added. " We still 
don't know how they knew about her disappearance, 
but the Black Moon tried to claim responsibility for 
defeating her. They didn't mention the Talismans, 
though. Nobody except us would have even known of 
the existence of the Talismans, let alone that one 
of them was here."
	" We denied Pluto as an unfounded rumor," Makoto 
pointed out. " Maybe someone decided that it was true?" 
	" They still wouldn't have known about the 
Talisman, though," Michiru countered.
	" And, more importantly, how is it connected 
to her?" Mamoru quietly added, causing them to stop 
and think in silence until the radio beeped again. He 
teleported Uranus to the castle, ignoring the usual 
restrictions they had on that method of transport 
due to the sheer amount of power it took.   
	" You're not going to like this," Uranus said 
and put a number of pictures and pieces of paper 
on the coffee table in front of them. She reversed 
her transformation and sat down next to Michiru in 
order to let her stomach adjust to the 
transit. Teleporting someone else and not 
themselves as well was a new power for the two 
monarchs and one they were not as skilled with yet.
	" Dear God in heaven," the Queen exclaimed 
as she picked up one of the framed pictures.  "It's 
her. The hair is long enough in this picture so that 
you can see the green in it, and you can make out her 
eyes as well. I thought that they were red colored 
from the blood and not naturally red."
	" I can see why you made the mistake," Makoto 
agreed. " If you look at her eyes under a bright light, 
you can see that they are red, but I thought that they 
were brown as well when I saw you playing with her 
today."
	" School report card, tax forms, insurance 
paperwork," Michiru said, shifting through forms as she 
spoke. " All of them have the same name for the girl, 
and the oldest looks to be about four or five years 
old. If our Setsuna was planning this, she has been 
doing it for a long time. The birth certificate will 
probably match as well."  
	" Three other families with the same name so 
far," Ami softly called out. " None have a member with 
her family and personal names, though. If this was 
intentional, Pluto might not be using the same name 
if she wanted to hide from us."  	
 	" What I want to know is why she would feel that 
she should have to hide from us in the first 
place," Venus asked over the intercom. She and Mars 
were on watch tonight downstairs and listening 
in. " Why should she run away like that?"
	" She can't consider us a threat," Haruka 
pleaded with them. " She's been with us for almost 
nine years now, and six of those were while we were 
raising Hotaru. Our being a threat to her just doesn't 
make sense."
	" If we can agree that Pluto was not scared of 
us, or left because of us, then something happened 
that made her do this," Mamoru said. He looked around 
briefly. " If something could have scared her enough 
to make her renounce her duty and run, we should be 
terrified and rightly so."
	" I haven't had any premonitions of anything," Rei 
announced. " I don't think that I could have missed 
something of that magnitude." The doors to the elevator 
slid open.
	" If it isn't an enemy, and she doesn't consider 
us a threat, then perhaps we should be looking at what 
else might be an explanation, no matter how vague it 
is," Artemis offered as he walked in next to Luna, who 
was still looking pale even for a black cat. 
	" Luna, you shouldn't be up," Serenity admonished 
her.
	" This is far more important than my rest, 
Usagi-chan," she replied. While the Senshi, Serenity 
and Endymion hadn't been affected by the poison gas, 
the same did not hold true for the two cats. Luna had 
been exposed to a whiff of the poison before the Queen 
had teleported them to safety.
	" If you weren't right I'd be mad at you," Usagi 
whispered into Luna's ear as she gingerly picked up 
the black cat and set her down on a pillow on the 
couch. 
	" Luna, Artemis, is there anything that you 
can do to see if she is actually Sailor Pluto?" Michiru 
asked, voicing the question that they all had but were 
reluctant to ask.
	" I've never worked with the Outer Senshi 
before," Luna admitted. " I never knew you like I 
did the Inner Senshi back in the past during the 
Silver Millennium. I can't, but someone else here 
can," she added, looking over towards the Queen.
	" Me?" Usagi asked. 
	" You're no longer Sailor Moon, Usako," Mamoru 
reminded her. " The Senshi of Mystery is no more, but 
you are still their Queen and ruler. The oaths that 
all of the Senshi swore to you and your mother still 
stand. If any of us can command her, it is you." 
	" But should we do that to her? Do we have any 
right to bring her back like this ahead of her 
time?" Usagi asked. " We never became Senshi until 
we were in our teens. We had the chance to be normal, 
if only for a little while. She's only seven now. Is 
it fair to make her like us when she is so young?"
	" No, it isn't," Haruka grimly cut in before 
anyone else could say anything. " It isn't, but we 
don't have any choice. Chibi-usa needs to meet her 
when she is growing up."
	" You've always been one to make your own 
destiny, Haruka-san," Makoto said a moment later, 
her voice warm and caring, and with no hint of 
sarcasm. " Why surrender to fate now?" 
	" Certain events in our future need to happen 
in order for our past to be like it was," Michiru 
answered. " If our Setsuna is gone, we have the right 
to know. If that girl is now the incarnation of Pluto, 
we need to know. As Haruka said, we don't have any 
choice, and we very likely won't have any until this 
is all wrapped up in the thirtieth century." 
	"You're right, Michiru-san," Usagi agreed while 
standing up. " It may be a very long time until we can 
actually be free." Her clothes blurred away, leaving 
her in the dress she wore for formal court as Neo-Queen 
Serenity. She walked over to the girl, who still had 
the Garnet Rod resting in her arms.
	" Pluto?" she whispered. When there was no 
response after a minute, she gathered her will and 
used her power to gently send her words deep into the 
girl's mind, past the shroud of sleep that was 
Endymion's spell. " Pluto?" Serenity nudged aside 
the girl's conscious mind and sent her call far deeper, 
searching for some sign. 
	A lavender glow winked back at her from deep, 
deep down; far deeper than she would ever dare go on 
her own for fear of being lost in the depths. It 
stuttered once, twice, then became a tiny light like 
a candle seen across an open field at the top of a 
lonely tower on a cold, clear night. A wind began to 
blow, making her aware of its' awesome power, but she 
felt no fear of it in her house behind stout windows 
as she looked outside. The light gave her a feeling of 
hope and security, like it had always looked over her 
and protected her. 
	" Usako?" she heard her love's voice from a great 
distant away, but it exerted an irresistible hold on 
her as she suddenly became aware of being back in the 
room with the others again. " Usa?" Mamoru asked again 
as he tried to see if she was all right.    
	" Mamo-chan?" she asked, and grabbed at his hands 
for stability and comfort, still feeling the effects of 
the vision. " What happened?" 
	" That," he replied and inclined his head towards 
the couch and the sleeping child. She still had not 
woken up, but now the sigil of Pluto faintly glimmered 
upon her brow. A corresponding faint light now shone 
inside the Garnet Orb. 
	" She is Pluto," Usagi gasped, and sharply swung 
her head towards the two Outer Senshi as she heard a 
muffled sob. 
	" We have to go," Haruka said, her voice 
thick. " We died as a result of the last battle. It 
was an aftereffect of the poison gas. You found us 
dead, and had a private service." 
	" What are you talking about?" the Queen nearly 
shouted. " You aren't dead, and you are not leaving."  
	" I think I finally understand it now, 
Usagi-chan," Michiru gently explained, her heart 
breaking. " Pluto died after the Silver Millennium 
was over, just like the rest of us. We were all 
reincarnated in the late seventies, but not her. This 
is Pluto's first reincarnation, not her second." 
	" First?" Ami burst in. " How could it be her 
first one now?"  
	" We were all there when she died in the 
future," Mamoru said and wiped away a tear from 
one eye. " And she told us what had happened when 
we first saw her in this time. She was reincarnated 
in the past, around when we were all being reincarnated 
the first time, but it was by Neo-Queen Serenity, 
doing it from the future." 
	" You mean that she saw this coming 
and... " Makoto's voice trailed off
	" She's caught in a loop!" Ami blurted, 
and then blushed at her outburst. 
	" Oh, no," Usagi gasped, her hands going 
up to cover her face. " She's doomed to keep on 
repeating this over and over?"
	" It is the only answer that fits all of the 
evidence," Mamoru pointed out. 
	" It doesn't matter," Haruka coldly said, 
pitching her voice loudly enough to get everyone's 
attention. 
	" Haruka!" Makoto shouted. " You said it 
yourself. She's like your sister. How can you say 
something like that?" 
	" She never knew us in her future," Michiru 
said in a voice that gave no room for debate. " She 
knew exactly what she was saying to us when she told 
Chibi-Moon what had happened to her. Pluto was too smart 
to have foolishly said anything about time.
	" She also," Michiru tried to go on, but her voice 
broke.
	 "She also said once that she had never met us 
before in her past, and we know that her past is going 
to be our future," Haruka finished. " We cannot stay." 
	" Haruka, don't-" Usagi began but was stopped 
when the tall woman quickly stepped forward and hugged 
her. 
	" We can't risk changing anything, 
odango-chan," she tried to explain in a warm, 
gentle voice. " You get the future that you've 
seen. Humanity gets to come back. Death Phantom 
gets stopped and permanently killed.
	" Sure, it isn't easy for some of us, but Pluto 
does get six years of being happy. Six years of having 
a family that loves her. Don't take that from her, 
Usagi-san."
	" This isn't a good-bye, not just yet," Michiru 
added. She scribbled down an address on a piece of 
paper. " To everyone else, including your daughter, 
and most importantly, her," she pointed over to the 
sleeping girl. " To all of them we are dead and 
buried. Don't make us heroes or they'll remember 
our faces even more. No statues and no memorials. We 
did our duty, and that is all. 
	" To all of you, though, we aren't dead," she 
went on. " We'll be at that address for a few days 
until we figure out some more long range plans. It's 
close enough to the edge that nobody is going to go 
poking around out there."
	" Can we come and visit?" Usagi asked, her 
voice still muffled from her continuing to cling 
to Haruka. The taller woman laughed. 
	" Of course, baka. Do you think we want to be 
alone for a thousand years?" she asked with a faint 
smile playing around the corners of her 
mouth. " Whenever you need us, we'll always 
be there for you. We need to leave now, though. It 
will be easier to vanish at night."  Michiru came 
over to give Usagi a brief hug as well before they 
left, slipping away from the Palace under the cover 
of night. It would be such a long time until they 
were again seen by the general population of 
Crystal Tokyo that they soon passed into legend 
once more.  

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

Epilogue


	" They're gone," Endymion said and put an arm 
around her shoulders as she stood and looked over the 
ruin that had been the throne room of the Crystal 
Palace. The energies flung around as Dimando took 
both the Crystal of the present and the past had 
been considerable. 
	" Did I ever look like that, Endymion?" Serenity 
asked softly. " Her face was so innocent, and filled 
with so much hope. It was like I was looking into a 
mirror and seeing a stranger." 
	" You know why as well as I do," he 
replied. " Mamoru looked so young. I don't blame 
you for being so surprised."
	The patter of running feet reached them a 
moment before their daughter did as she slid around 
the corner. Small Lady looked physically rested, but 
the thin veneer of composure broke as soon as she 
saw Pluto's body still lying on the floor. She fell 
to her knees next to the woman and began to cry. 
	Serenity glanced back at her Senshi and nodded 
faintly, dismissing them. The girl had a night's 
worth of sleep in the past, but for them the battle 
had been won only a few minutes ago. All four of 
them were still very tired, and there was going to 
be much to do tomorrow as they began their work to 
rebuild their city a second time. The Queen had 
restored much of the physical damage, but they knew 
from experience that many things still needed to be 
done. 
	" I'm so sorry, Mama," the girl blurted and 
wrapped her arms around her mother's knees as Serenity 
went to stand by her. " This was all my fault. Pluto's 
dead because I wanted to be like you and took your 
Crystal." 
	" That is true," Serenity replied as she sat 
down and pulled her daughter in for a badly needed 
hug. " But you do realize that you made a mistake, 
which is the most important part of learning what 
is right and wrong. You also were very brave when 
you went back to try and get help for me." 
	" She was," Chibi-usa began and stopped. " You 
were... this is all very confusing to talk about, 
Mama," she admitted with a slight blush. " I never 
knew that you were the same Sailor Moon that Papa 
told me stories of." 
	" We saw what you two did together," her father 
said as he kneeled down next to them. " You fought 
very well earlier, Small Lady. You have made some 
very good progress towards becoming a fine lady. Even 
though you made some mistakes, you were strong, 
too. I'm proud of you." 
	" As am I," her mother added. " You still 
have a long ways to go, however, and this is not 
the best place for you to learn to become a Sailor 
Senshi. I know just who you need to learn it from." 
	" Who?" the girl sniffled, glancing down and 
seeing her friend's body. There was apparently a lot 
more to being a Sailor Senshi than she had thought.
	 "Me, of course," her mother giggled, bringing 
a smile to her daughter's face despite the girl's 
sadness. 
	You, Mama?" she said, not believing her until 
the other possibility sank in. " You mean I'd go back 
there?"
	" Yes," Serenity smiled. " I happen to know that 
there is a girl back there named Tsukino Usagi who 
really misses you right now, and I think that you miss 
her as well." 
	" I sort of do," she admitted almost 
reluctantly. The queen gave her a steady look 
until she shook her head and blushed. " Okay, I 
do miss her." 
	" In that case, we shouldn't keep you here 
too much longer," her father observed with a wry 
smile and magically transported a certain pad of 
paper and a pen to his hand. He handed these to his 
wife. She grinned, scribbled a brief note and handed 
it to her daughter.          
	" This is for your father and myself," Serenity 
explained and reached down to unhook one of the keys 
from the chain around Pluto's waist. She closed her 
eyes a moment to tell it where to send the girl and 
exchanged it for the one her daughter had been 
using. " And that will get you there and back to 
home." 
	" I'll miss you," Chibi-usa began to say, but 
Endymion cut her off with a finger placed across her 
lips. 
	" You'll be with us the entire time, 
Chibi-usa. Remember?" he asked and gave her a wry 
smile. She nodded and hugged them both before 
calling upon the power of the key. 
	" Once more into the breach," the man said, 
quoting an old play, and then stood up and stretched 
before helping his wife to her feet. " We've still 
got a few more things to do today, but here is 
probably not the best place."
	" You're right," she acknowledged. She leaned 
down a moment to hook the key back onto Pluto's belt 
and to pick up the staff the tall woman had 
borne. Endymion picked up Pluto's body and they 
made their way to a private elevator that would 
take them to the royal apartments high up in the 
building. Once there, they went to the sitting room 
at the top of the tower since Pluto had loved the 
view as long as they had known her.
	" Do you feel up to this, love?" he asked as 
he put Pluto down on one of the couches. " This is 
well beyond anything that you have ever done before." 
	" I have to do this, Endy-chan," she 
murmured.  We're almost free of the past, but 
not just yet." 
	" There's just sending our daughter to the 
past a few more times," he replied. " I still worry 
about her, even if we know what happened." 
	" It will all work out, or at least that is 
what I tell myself," Serenity admitted. She walked 
over to the couch and looked down at the 
Senshi. " Except for her. She gets a few years 
of being happy in return for a lifetime of duty." 
	" No, it isn't much of a reward, but it is 
all she seems to get," he agreed. " I don't want 
to rush you, but I think we should send her back 
now. I know that it won't speed the process up, but 
she deserves her time after what she did for us." 
	" Maybe it won't matter to her, but it will 
matter to us," she said and sat down next to the 
woman, the Garnet Rod resting on her lap. She 
affectionately brushed a few strands of the long, 
dark hair away from the woman's face. 
	" Be careful," he cautioned her, taking a 
seat on the edge of the table. She grinned back 
at him somewhat lopsidedly. 
	" Who do you think taught her how to use her 
powers?" she retorted. " I was the only one she 
trusted at first." 
	" And you did a good job," he complimented 
her, recalling her patience with the young girl so 
many years ago. She was scared of the reputation of 
the other Senshi at first, but the Queen had her 
trust and had guided the young Pluto as she learned 
her power and the responsibilities of her office. " I 
wasn't referring to the time travel, though." 
	" The time travel doesn't worry me, either," she 
agreed. " Pluto was far more skilled than I at the 
process of moving something through time, but I have 
much more power than she does. Maybe I won't be as 
subtle as she, but I can get that to work without any 
problems. 
	" But reincarnation," she sighed as she shook 
her head. " This is one of those things that makes me 
wonder just where is the dividing line between sheer 
power and mere divinity." 
	Serenity closed her eyes and called upon her 
power, feeling it flow from the Crystal at her 
command. Endymion supported her, channeling his own 
energy to her, and they effortlessly linked together 
after so many years of practice. She felt a wash of 
concern and reassurance from him before he withdrew to 
watch over her as she worked, leaving her with all the 
power to work with on her own.        
	She slowly infused it into the woman's body, 
healing the massive damage done to her body as Pluto 
had stopped the natural flow of time. Then she looked 
for and restored the link between the body and the spirit 
of the deceased Senshi. After making sure that the two 
were now firmly bound together like they should have 
been, she then expanded her viewpoint to include the 
Garnet Orb.
	Her perceptions spiraled back using the Orb and 
the staff as a focus, seeking out the moment of her 
own birth as a point of reference and then looking 
slightly before that moment. She skipped past the 
odd disruption right before her, knowing it to be 
the miko's, and looked further back. The next two 
were a little over a year sooner, and so closely 
linked as to almost be one. They were not what she 
was looking for. 
	Nor was the one beyond that, the pattern of her 
love clear to her despite the unfamiliarity of what 
she was doing. The one she sought was cleverly hidden 
among the minor variables of the time stream, and she 
congratulated herself as she saw how well she had done 
what she was going to do. Paradox held no sway over her 
in this realm. 
	" Go, dear sister," she implored the spirit she 
was safeguarding. " Go to your reward, and I am so 
sorry that we cannot give you all you deserve."  
	Serenity smiled as it drifted forward and into 
that faint ripple. They merged in a shimmer of violet 
light and a child's first cry. She stepped backwards in 
her mind, beginning the process of  returning to her 
normal time, pausing only to cast a quick glance at the 
disturbance around her daughter. It was only the normal 
interference due to her being from a different time than 
the one she was born in, but it still worried her because 
she knew what the poor girl was going to have to endure.     
	She blinked as the room came back into focus and 
she saw her husband sitting there with a worried look on 
his face. " What happened?" she exclaimed, suddenly 
realizing that she was alone on the couch. 
	" Her body vanished about a half an hour ago," he 
replied and looked intently at her to make sure that she 
was all right. 
	" It only felt like a few minutes," she 
admitted. " I forgot how long it can sometimes 
take me. I never got much of a chance to practice 
using this," she said and motioned to the staff she 
still held. 
	" I'm assuming that it went well," Endymion 
said, a question despite his not phrasing at one. 
	" It did," she answered him. She yawned and 
changed her clothes to something more casual and 
comfortable. " I broke a lot of rules today, but I am 
two for two so far." 
	" Two?" he wondered, and changed as well before 
sitting next to her and putting an arm around her.  
	" I met myself when the two of us aren't supposed 
to even exist in the same time frame as each other," she 
explained. " And I was able to reincarnate Pluto in the 
past." 
	" Was it hard?" 
	" It was surprisingly easy," she said and 
giggled. " With the Garnet Orb and Rod a lot of the 
problems due to paradox don't even apply..." she went 
on, but her voice trailed off as she suddenly got a 
very serious look on her face. 
	" Paradox!" she shrieked. Serenity broke away from 
his arms and sprang to her feet, turning a cartwheel in 
sheer delight and ending up a few meters away from 
him. The staff of Pluto's that she still held on to 
through the maneuver began to glow. Her own staff 
appeared in her other hand. 
	" Paradox doesn't apply!" she laughed and spun 
around, happily smiling. Both staffs were triumphantly 
thrust into the air as her clothed melted into the white 
gown she was wearing a few minutes ago. The crescent on 
her forehead burst into a nova of golden light that 
nearly blinded the man. " I know what to do!" 
	" Usako!" he yelled, seeing her gathering her 
power and becoming worried. Mars burst through the 
door to the room, having sensed the disturbance. The 
other three Senshi were only a step behind. 
	" I'm going for three for three!" they heard the 
Queen yell amid the light as the white of the Crystal 
shone over that of the Garnet Orb or her crescent. " I 
have to try, Mamo-chan. She deserves no less after 
nine hundred years. This will not be a day for 
sorrow! Today will be a day of joy!" 
	They screamed as the light and pressure 
increased a hundredfold, forcing them to back away 
from her. Windows shattered, the crystal and glass 
flung away from the building. Its' supports sheared 
away, the peaked roof over this topmost portion of 
the Palace began to collapse on them, only to be 
thrown aside in a contemptuous display of  blue and 
yellow power that only the people in the city around 
them could see.
	The winds above Crystal Tokyo now could reach 
them and whipped the long hair of Venus and Mars 
around. Endymion's cape fluttered madly in that same 
wind as he began to gather his own power. Mercury and 
Jupiter grabbed him to keep him from charging forward 
as the maelstrom of power rippled and seethed. 
	With a loud pop it vanished, leaving a tired but 
grinning blonde standing there, leaning heavily upon 
the two staffs for support as she panted. At her feet, 
a tall woman in a white and black fuku began to stir 
and look around at the others in the room.    
	" Pluto?" Endymion stammered and hesitantly moved 
forward. Out of habit, he veered towards his wife, but 
the silver scabbard of the Space Sword flew out of the 
darkness and tripped him up so that he landed next to 
Pluto, who grinned and threw her arms around him. 
	" She hasn't seen you for a long time, 
Mamoru-kun," a familiar voice drawled from the 
shadows as two women stepped forward. 
	" Give her a hug. You just saw your wife a 
few minutes ago," another added in an amused tone.         
	" I see," Pluto chuckled and hugged him even 
tighter." The moment you decide to fall into my arms 
just happens to be after I've gotten over you." 
	" Uranus! Neptune!" the Queen shrieked and 
abandoned all semblance of restraint as she ran to 
the two and tried to hug both of them at once. " Where 
have you been? We haven't seen you two for centuries!"
	Endymion blushed and helped Pluto to her feet as 
the other two Outers came to her. The others clustered 
around, having missed these three for a long time as 
well. Pluto simultaneously embraced them. 
	" Hotaru-chan?" she whispered as they 
hugged. Uranus sadly shook her head. 
	" She's still in her coma from the last 
fight," Neptune said.   
  	" When are we, anyway?" Pluto asked, glancing 
around. She looked about briefly and saw the three 
massive, jagged shards of the Black Crystal that 
Black Lady had slammed into the earth around the 
palace. " Right after I stopped time?" 
	" Pluto, did you know about what Serenity 
would do?" Mercury asked, trying to figure out what 
was happening and what had happened.
	" Quiet!" the Queen yelled, getting their 
attention. She was smiling broadly as she leaned 
against her husband for support. " We will continue 
this discussion inside, and that is an order."
	" Certainly, Your Majesty," Venus grinned and 
bowed with an exaggerated flourish. She reversed her 
transformation at the end of it, so that it was Minako 
who stood up straight and pulled her nightgown more 
tightly around her. " It is pretty chilly up here," she 
admitted and made for the stairs. The others followed 
and closed the doors in their wake, shutting off the 
blustery wind. 
	It only took a few more minutes to change and meet 
in one of the smaller sitting rooms right off of the 
Royal bedroom. Michiru had tea started, easily finding 
things since the palace had not been changed since she 
was last there almost nine hundred years ago. 
	" To answer your question, Ami-chan," Setsuna 
began from her spot in between Haruka and Michiru on 
one small couch. " No, I didn't know what she was 
going to do, but I had faith that she would figure 
it out some day. When she opened the doorway through 
time for me and ordered me to follow her, I figured 
she had her reasons. I left the Garnet Rod like she 
said and followed her." 
	" So you didn't kill yourself!" Makoto 
gasped. " We thought that you knew what was going 
to happen and had made sure that there were not two 
of you in the same time." 
	" Killed myself?" Setsuna replied and laughed 
softly. " Good heavens! No, I wouldn't have killed 
myself. To me this is still a Thursday and about ten 
minutes ago I was trying to figure out a pattern to 
what the Black Moon was doing." 
	" A week before the attack," Rei added. " So 
we found out that you were gone almost right after 
you had left."
	" But there would have been two of you in the 
past, Setsuna-san," Ami began to protest. " Actually, 
there were two of you at the same time. Four days 
after the attack we found out you were Pluto, so 
technically there were two of you existing at the 
same point in time." 
	" About a week after you were brought forward, 
Setsuna-san, the Black Moon attacked us in 
force," Endymion explained. "  Three days after 
that, a young girl was found who had survived, and 
she eventually took the position of Sailor Pluto." 
	" Is that so?" the tall woman mused. " My 
earliest memories were of the Queen being so nice 
to me, and that I was important to her. I don't 
remember any attack from when I was a little 
girl. I don't even remember who my parents 
where. There was only the King and the Queen 
looking after me, and all of you." 
	" Perhaps it is because there was only one 
Sailor Pluto at any one time," Michiru 
offered. " There were two Meiou Setsuna's, 
but only one Pluto." 
	" That may very well be it," Setsuna 
replied and looked at the two women sitting next 
to her. " Thank you for remembering what I said 
about our not having met before." 
	" Yeah, where have you two been?" Minako 
asked. " We haven't seen you since you left the 
Tokyo area." 
	" We went to America after it was thawed 
out," Michiru said. " We stayed with a friend 
there at first and bounced around for a while 
after that." Haruka chuckled suddenly and draped 
an arm over Setsuna's shoulders. 
	" Somebody here was too inquisitive for our 
liking, and far too clever. We didn't want to risk 
anything by having her find out about us. The same 
went for Chibi-usa-chan, so we stayed away from 
Crystal Tokyo." 
	" How did you get here so quickly after the 
attack, though?" Makoto asked. " The Black Moon had 
the city cut off from the outside." 
	" We have our ways," Haruka smiled and then 
started in surprise as Michiru reached up and pinched 
her arm.
	" Our castles give us a limited degree of 
teleportation," Michiru explained. " And we had a 
few spots in the palace made into teleport locations. We 
spent most of the last few days hiding in and around the 
palace grounds in case you needed us." 
	" When did I design those into the 
palace?" Endymion asked, trying to remember such a 
request by them. 
	" Ever since you gave Usagi-chan the plans to the 
Crystal Palace the night before you two actually built 
it," Michiru slyly grinned. " And ever since Usagi-chan 
asked me to hold on to them until the next morning."
	Endymion suddenly chuckled and held out a hand to 
keep anyone from saying anything. Serenity was already 
asleep with her head resting on his shoulder. 
	" Good night, everyone, and we are delighted to 
see you again," he whispered and nodded at the three 
Outers. He gently picked her up and carried her off 
to bed and the sleep she needed after doing so much 
today.      
	" He's got the right idea," Minako said and came 
over to hug the newcomers before bidding them good 
night. " I'm about to fall over myself. I'll see you 
in the morning and we can work everything out." Rei 
and Makoto did the same and excused themselves. 
	" Ami-chan, have you moved her in the last 
several hours?" Michiru asked as the blue-haired 
woman rose to her feet. " We'd like to go down 
there and see her." 
	" Were you two behind those roses I'd find 
down there?" she asked in reply. 
	" That was us," Haruka answered. " We have a 
few secret passages as well, so we slipped in to visit 
Hotaru every couple of years." 
	 " I thought it was Endymion-sama, but I never 
questioned him on it," she said and smiled. " She's 
still there in the same room." 
	" Thank you for everything you've done for her, 
Ami-chan," Michiru smiled back. 
	" Shall we?" Haruka said after Ami had left. She 
rose to her feet and helped the other two women up.
	" You said she's in a coma, right?" Setsuna 
asked as they waited for the elevator to arrive. At 
their nods, she unexpectedly smiled and put her arms 
around them when the doors opened. " We've got all 
three Talismans here, and the three people who do 
know how to use them and know each other.
	" Let's go see if we can wake her up," Setsuna 
said and ushered them into the waiting car. " It's 
only been a little while and I already miss being 
apart from my family." 






The End. 




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


Japanese terms 

baka - fool, idiot
ne - an article added to a sentence to make it a 
	question. it is used much like 'eh' is 
	used in English 
ara - an article added to the front of a sentence
	in this case. it is used much like 'oh'
	is in English
miko - shrine maiden
hime-chan -  used as a pet name for Hotaru. 'hime'
	means princess 
hai - an affirmative response
kawaii - cute
bento - a boxed lunch
natto - a dish made from fermented soybeans, often 
	served in mustard
JSDF - Japanese Self Defence Forces
shimatta - a curse word, but literally means
	'closed'





All characters are copyrights of the respective holders.
Please send comments, etc. to the above e-mail address.

Special thanks to the following...

Naoko Takeuchi, of course.
  incredible characters, and artwork that can 
  give rise to so many ideas from a few little 
  drawings. 

Luna and Artemis for kind words, support, and being 
  good friends for so long. through good times and 
  bad, they have been there.  
  check out their page at
  http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/9897/
  for the best Sailor Moon fan-fiction collection.

Greenbeans for being herself. all I need to say, 
  really. 
  check out her page at
  http://www.kfalls.net/~gbeans		

Jackie Chiang, sage advice, good fics and general 
  silliness that lightens the spirit. 
  check out her page at
  http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/3741/ 

Alex Glover for his wonderful work on the manga 
  of Naoko Takeuchi. 
  check out his page at
  http://www.nwlink.com/~kurozuki/manga.htm

my wonderful betas, the real heroes

  Erica
  Shelley
  Helen Szeto aka Lennie
  Pandora Diane Waldron
  Nikki Purvis aka JetWolf			







Advent {1/1}