We are one…At least we should be.
Pluto stood in front of her time gate, staring into nothingness. At least other people would see nothing. Pluto saw everything. She could keep track of hundreds of different timelines at once, but right now she was only inspecting two.
These particular lines had a similar start, but like all time lines they have a point in which they break off into completely different futures. In this case one of the futures had the Earth in total despair, while the other one lead to Crystal Tokyo. Pluto needed to make sure the better of the two options played itself out. She was desperately searching for the beginning of the two time lines. Finally she found it.
"No, that couldn't be it." She said to no one. "That's such a small thing, how could that lead to the destruction of Earth?" She continued to talk to herself. Slowly she stepped away from the gate and sat down in her comfy armchair in order to think about things better.
"What should I do?" Pluto continued her conversation with herself. "If they don't act soon Crystal Tokyo will vanish, and I won't let that happen, not after I had to sit back and just let the Silver Millennium be destroyed. How can I help them without telling everything? This is always my dilemma. What is telling them too much of the 'would be future', and what can I say without effecting them." Pluto shook her head, her long green hair slowly moving in a wave behind her. "This is the part of my job I hate." She confided to herself.
After several minutes of shifting her position in the great big chair Pluto stood up, garnet staff in hand. "I guess I'll just have to explain it to them straight. I won't risk them not understanding me and destroying the world." She nodded and jogged to her time gate searching for the present timeline.
As she was searching her staff started to glow. Setsuna stopped her search and looked at it. "I know I shouldn't be doing this, but I refuse to let everyone die again." At that the staff slowly returned to normal. "I knew you'd agree with me Pluto…thank you. I'd hate to see our friends leave us again; not when they shouldn't." She gave a halfhearted smile to her staff and turned back to the time gate.
She found the timeline in a matter of seconds and zoomed into Japan. Pluto was looking for the rest of the Outers and she found them all in the home they shared. The old Senshi smiled as she stepped through the gate.
Her entrance into the mortal realm wasn't flashy and bright as Chibi-Usa's was. It was actually completely opposite. She just appeared. Not in any special, or spectacular way. Simply put one minute the porch was empty the next Pluto stood on it digging for her key.
She sighed "I must've left it in my room before I left." Setsuna then stopped digging in her pockets and extended her right arm in order to ring the doorbell.
Setsuna could hear the rush of feet. "hah! I beat you!" She heard Hotaru's voice say as the door flew open. Just inside stood Hotaru and Haruka, who was slumped against the wall.
"Setsuna-mama!" Hotaru exclaimed as she hugged Setsuna very tightly. "I thought you wouldn't be able to come home for a long time, what happened?"
Setsuna smiled, "You still get right down to business don't you Hotaru-chan. Well, why I'm here can wait for a bit; at the very least until I get inside."
"Well come on in." Haruka said. "What happened to your key anyway? You do live here you know. Ringing the doorbell is for visitors." Haruka said as she shook hands with Setsuna. "Good to see you though." Haruka gave the tall woman a saucy grin.
Setsuna laughed out loud. "I've been gone a month, and you've started that again!" She continued to chuckle all the way to the kitchen, where they found Michiru stirring something in a big pot.
"Haruka isn't annoying you yet is she?" Michiru asked as she turned around to welcome Setsuna home.
Setsuna smiled, "No, she's just being herself. I don't know how you can take her random flirting all the time." At this Michiru smirked.
"It's a simple answer." She paused and her face became insanely innocent. "I just have Haruka wrapped around my finger. The minute she really steps out of line I pull her back. Anyway," She added, "My Haruka only really sees me." She smiled as she lightly kissed Haruka's cheek.
The minute Michiru touched her cheek all of the anger that had built up inside Haruka at the thought of being whipped completely vanished. She melted, and a dumb smile appeared on her face.
"See?" Michiru added. "I don't have to worry. Haruka isn't going anywhere." With that Michiru returned to her pot.
Haruka sighed, and Hotaru and Setsuna held back laughter.
"What're you cooking?" Setsuna managed to get out without laughing hysterically.
"Just some soup. Since your home does that mean you'll be eating with us?"
"No she can't eat, Setsuna-mama has some pretty important business to take care of." Hotaru answered for her.
"Oh you do." Michiru replied in a serious tone. "What's going on? Is there a threat on the princess?" Neptune asked with all thought of diner gone from her mind.
Pluto looked as if she hadn't wanted the joking and normal conversation to end, but resigned herself to the fact that they were all Senshi and time was close to running out. She sighed and looked up at the rest of the Outers, who were all looking at her very intently. Haruka had even come out of her daze to stare at her with those big teal eyes of hers.
"No," Pluto started, and a small collective sigh went around the table. "But we aren't safe either." With that Pluto got confused looks. "And if everything doesn't go correctly the Earth will be destroyed and Crystal Tokyo will vanish without ever being created."
"If it's not a threat than what's wrong?" Haruka asked bluntly. "And why does something that could destroy Earth not count as a threat?" She added completely confused by now.
"Well," She paused. "I guess I should've been more specific. It's not an outside threat. It's a threat from us." Pluto finished. The three just looked at her with very blank faces. Again Haruka was the one to speak for the three of them.
"Set's you've really got to stop talking crazy. Are you trying to say that one of the Sailor Senshi are the problem?" Setsuna sighed and shook her head at the question.
"I'll just have to explain it to everyone at once. Call everyone together for an emergency meeting." She directed the request at Hotaru.
"Right I'll ask everyone to meet us at the shrine in an hour." Hotaru said as she raced out of the kitchen to go call the Inner Senshi.
The other three Outer Senshi looked at one another. "Well, Michiru how about we have some of that soup you were making" Setsuna asked while patting her stomach and smiling.
Michiru smiled back. "Did you miss my cooking?"
"Actually I missed Mako-chan's cooking, but I'm really hungry." She confessed with a sheepish grin. Michiru looked as if she wasn't going to feed Setsuna anymore, but Haruka saved her.
"Now Michi, you can't really be mad about that, I even miss Mako-chan's cooking." With that Michiru shrugged. "Yeah, I guess I do too." She said softly.
"Hotaru!" The three yelled at once. The young girl popped her head in the doorway. "Yes, Mamma's and Poppa." She said quickly.
Setsuna smiled, "Would you be sure to ask Mako-chan to bake something to bring."
"Preferably something sweet." Haruka added in a whisper.
"I heard that Haruka." Michiru added in a stern voice. Haruka cringed. "And it's a wonderful idea!" She finished hugging the tall racer. Hotaru's face broke out into a big grin and she again went to go finish calling everyone.
An hour later the four Outer Senshi sat in Rei's room waiting for the rest of the group to arrive. Rei was already there obviously, but at the moment she was in the kitchen preparing drinks for everyone. As the Outers' sat talking Ami slide the door open and smiled at them.
"Hi everyone." She greeted them with as she was closing the door behind her.
"Whoa Ami." She heard from behind her. "Don't close the door just yet I still need to come in." Ami turned around to see Makoto halfway in the door. It looked as though she had tried to slip pass before Ami could close it all the way and got stuck. Ami happily reopened the door for her.
"Hey Haruka-san, Michiru-san, Setsuna-san, and Taru-chan." Makoto said as she sat down next to her blue haired friend. The Outer Senshi all greeted the two very eagerly; it wasn't often that the Outer and Inner Senshi got a chance to see each other.
"Are we still waiting for Mina and Usagi?" Rei asked as she entered her room with a tray full of drinks.
"Oh Mako-chan," Setsuna said suddenly. "You didn't happen to remember to bring some food did you?" She asked with her eyes a bit wider than usual.
Makoto chuckled; it sometimes still amazed her that everyone loved her cooking so much. "Of course I did Setsuna." She said as she pulled a bag out from under the table. "I made some cookies."
"Did I hear someone say cookies?" Everyone heard from behind the sliding door. They all looked up and sure enough as the door slid open there stood their princess with the leader of her Senshi right next to her. Usagi looked around, searching for the cookies, when she spotted Makoto she made a mad dash for her.
"Oh Mako-chan." Usagi sang. "Are you the one that made cookies? Can I have some? Where are they Mako-chan?" Usagi asked all these questions right on top of one another. The blonde was very excited and Makoto just laughed as she scratched the back of her head with her right hand.
"Of course I have cookies for you Usagi." Mako-chan said as she pulled another bag out from under the table. "I made you your own batch." And she gave the bag to her princess, who took them and gleefully sat down next to Rei.
Once Usagi took her seat Setsuna stood up, cookie in hand, and cleared her throat. "I know everyone is wondering why I had Hotaru call you all up on such short notice." She started, and the Inner Senshi nodded to her. Usagi was too busy stuffing her face to interrupt so Setsuna continued.
"While searching through the many timelines I have come to realize that the course we are on now has only two outcomes." She took another bite out of the cookie as everyone leaned in. "One outcome is Crystal Tokyo, and the glorious reign of King Endymion and Neo-Queen Serenity." Everyone nodded smiling; Pluto took another bite of the fabulous cookie that Mako-chan had baked.
"And the other time line? Where does it end?" Rei asked getting impatient.
"The total destruction of Earth..." Pluto said quietly.
"What!" All of the Inner Senshi yelled at once as they jumped to their feet.
"How do we stop it?" Was the first question out of Makoto's mouth.
"Can we stop it?" Minako asked as her voice jumped an octave.
Setsuna raised her arms, signaling the young woman to calm down. "Calm down, we don't have much time. In order for the time line to end at Crystal Tokyo you must all fully connect with your planets, and become one as you were during the Silver Millennium." As normal the Senshi of Time got blank stares, but she was happy to see that they were only from the Inner Senshi, the Outers seemed to understand what she was saying. As Setsuna looked around she noticed that Usagi was holding a cookie mid munch and wasn't moving.
"Usagi." She said. "Usagi." She said again with more force. "USAGI." She said for a third time while shaking the young girls shoulder. Usagi shook out of her stupor and looked around laughing feverously.
"Sorry guys. I guess I just lost it." She said with an airy tone to her voice. Everyone just bowed their heads. Rei was the first to speak.
"So what do we have to do, and how long do we have to do it?" She asked the green haired woman as she stood from her kneeling position. "And when can we start?" She added.
"In order to start we have to bring our Senshi selves into our plane, but not just by transformation. It's something different right Setsuna?" Ami's small voice could be heard from her position next to Makoto.
Setsuna nodded. "Correct in a way Ami. In order to fully connect with them not only do you have to embrace them, but they have to embrace you." Because of the semi dumb looks she was getting Setsuna continued. "Right now the Senshi are allowing you to use their powers to access them when you need to, but in order to be fully connected you have to be able to become them. For example, I'm Pluto first, not Setsuna. Setsuna is another personality of mine, but I am Pluto."
"Well, I understand what you're trying to say, but how do we do that?" Makoto asked. "And what happens to our common selves when we finally reach this thing? We aren't just erased are we?" She added not sure how to word her questions. Setsuna understood her though and replied.
"As to the how; I'll take care of that in a minute. What happens to you Makoto? Nothing happens; you'll just be gaining your past life's memories, and a greater understanding of what differences you and Jupiter have. You'll be able to understand her better, and she'll be able to teach you things. Right now all of you have been relying on your brains and their powers. What you need to do is work together."
With that a small squeak was heard from the corner. Usagi was curled up in a little ball actually. All the women rushed to her side.
"Usagi this is no time to be taking a nap." Rei huffed as she shook the smaller girl. "We've got important stuff to take care of. Come on!" She said as she was finally able to roll the blonde over. Once turned over Usagi's big blue eyes stared up at everyone.
"I can't do this." She stated.
"Why not Odango?" Rei asked.
"I'll never get them to understand me. You all are already so much like your other selves, but I'm nothing like Sailor Moon, or Princess Serenity! I'll be the one to ruin the world!" She exclaimed as she brought her head down crying. Her Senshi collectively looked between one another wondering what to do.
"Don't worry about it Koneko-chan." Haruka said. "I know that you're more like them than you think. It'll be fine." Haruka smiled at her and kneeled down to hug her. After the embrace Haruka looked at her tear strewn eyes. "We will not let Crystal Tokyo vanish; you will stand next to Endymion as Queen. Now let's go." And smiling she pulled the tiny girl up with one hand.
"We're ready Pluto." Usagi said in a very small voice.
"Ok everyone." Pluto started. "Take out your henshin sticks, and your broach." The eight women obeyed. "Now, concentrate on the feeling of transforming, don't say anything; just think about the power surge." As they all thought about the wonderful sensation of changing from their civilian forms to the avatars for their planets the girls started to glow. Each was wrapped in the powerful color of her planet. Pluto smiled and looked at her garnet orb which had appeared by her side.
It was time for Pluto to help them out a bit. The garnet orb glowed a fierce purple, and with the power surge the planetary symbols appeared on each Senshi's forehead.
"Almost." Setsuna whispered to her staff.
Suddenly Uranus appeared, closely followed by Neptune, and then Saturn. After the Outer's came Venus, Mercury following a second behind, then the wild Jupiter, and the brave Mars at the same time. Lastly was Usagi. She was still concentrating, but neither Sailor Moon nor Princess Serenity had appeared. All of the Senshi looked at each other and then at Pluto.
"I guess we'll have to help our princess." Venus stated. "Mercury, Mars, Jupiter focus all your energy into calling for her." The three nodded and quickly sent out a surge of power. Sailor Moon appeared and looked around. Venus looked at her strangely. "Who're you?"
"I'm Sailor Moon." She replied. Venus was still confused, but since Pluto just looked happy to see her she ignored it. "Aren't you three going to help?" She asked turning around to look at Uranus.
Uranus put her hands up. "This isn't a threat from outside the Universe. Losing the princess…that sounds like an inners problem to me." Venus then put her hands on her hips and turned closing her eyes and concentrating very hardly.
The princess finally appeared and the Senshi, save one, shot to one knee. Venus looked up briefly and saw Sailor Moon still standing, she grabbed her wrist and yanked her down. "I don't know who you are, but I won't let you disrespect my princess." Venus hissed to Moon.
The Princess told the Senshi to stand and they did. Serenity turned toward Pluto, and Pluto bowed her head. "It's so wonderful to see you again Princess Serenity." She said. The Princess smiled.
"It's done." Setsuna said and the group opened their eyes to see nine more people in the room then before. "Now" Pluto started. "You all need to connect in your own way. Go get to know each other, and hopefully all will be well." With that Setsuna vanished.
"It's always like Pluto to just show up say there's trouble and then just vanish right in the middle of it." Uranus sighed as she leaned to one side with her hand on the space sword wrapped around her hip. "You must be her." She added pointing to Haruka, who had leaned against the wall with her arms wrapped around her chest. "At least you better be. The rest of these clowns couldn't hope to deal with me."
Haruka wasn't sure how to reply to that so she just nodded and Uranus grabbed her shoulder dragging her out of the house. "Well, let's get going then. I don't have all the time in the world."
A soft sigh came from the petite Neptune. "Uranus is always in such a hurry. But I guess we better follow her example, shouldn't we Saturn." She asked as she looked at the even smaller girl who was holding a glaive bigger than she was. Saturn nodded and looked the civilians over.
"This one's mine." She finally said. "I can feel terrible things in her past. She's got to be mine." She said again as she faced Hotaru. The photographer nodded slowly and Saturn turned on her heels. "Well, we should go then. I don't like crowds." And with that Saturn left as Hotaru rushed out after her.
"Mhmm. Now which one's mine?" Neptune asked herself. "Oh don't tell me." She added as she saw Makoto open her mouth. Mako-chan quickly shut it. Neptune examined all of them, and finally she grabbed Ami's and Michiru's wrists. "It's one of you two. I feel water in both of your energies." She popped her hip and looked between the two. "Oh I know." She finally said. "I'll have the Aqua Mirror find out which one you are." And she took out her mirror. The mirror quickly shot toward Michiru, and Neptune smiled. "I knew it was you." And with that she signaled that they should probably get going.
"Those Outers think they know everything." Venus stated as she looked at who was left. "What're we doing here anyway?" She slowly asked Mars. "The last thing I remember was us dying." She added very quietly. Mars walked up to Venus and clasped their hands together.
"Then maybe we're in heaven, since I'm here with you." Venus smiled at Mars's sweet remark, but before she could reply Rei spoke up.
"You are dead! But this isn't heaven. You've been reborn into us." She said gesturing toward the remaining girls standing around her. "Don't you know all of this?!" She burst out. "The Outer's seemed to know what was going on, why don't you four?!"
Venus smiled with a hint of seduction in her eyes. "We've been reborn…then you must be the people whose souls we reside in." Rei nodded. "Oh Mars's she must be yours. I feel attracted to her already." Rei looked at Venus weird, and thought about asking, then decided she didn't want to know.
Mars looked at Rei. "She doesn't have any fire in her." In response Rei, who had been trying to figure Venus out shot Mars a death glare with those amethyst t eye's of hers and put her hands on her hips. "I don't huh?" She just said and with that Rei grabbed Mars by the shoulder and dragged her out.
Mercury looked up at Ami who looked over Mercury. "You must be mine." She stated with no uncertainty in her voice. "Since Neptune didn't choose you; you have to be mine."
"Yes, my name's Ami." She said and bowed.
Mercury nodded her head. "Well, let's get going." The two left together. As Makoto watched Ami leave she felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned around to see Jupiter staring at her.
"You've got to be mine." She said. The cook straightened up and realized that she was a full head shorter than Jupiter. "Yup." Was all she could think of to say.
Jupiter slapped her on the back. "Well then let's go chat." The two walked away while Mako-chan rubbed her back where the Lightening Goddess had hit her.
"Who are you?" Venus once again asked Sailor Moon.
"I'm Sailor Moon." She again replied.
"Princess do you know who this person is?" She asked. Her princess stared at Sailor Moon. "I think I do, but I'm not sure Venus." She replied.
"I know who she is." Minako interrupted them. Venus turned to look at her.
"Oh, is she yours?" Venus asked, and Minako's jaw dropped.
"No. You're mine." She replied to the goddess of love.
Venus looked her over. "Oh." She said almost sounding disappointed. "I thought you'd be prettier." And with that comment Minako fell over.
"I'm not pretty enough for you?!" But Venus ignored the question.
"Well who does she 'belong' to then." Minako just pointed to Usagi, she was still too hurt to actually talk.
Venus turned towards Usagi. "Ok, but who is our princess with?" Minako again pointed to Usagi. Venus squinted her eyed together, and then raised her eyebrows. "No." Was all she said.
"The princess doesn't fight, and the Moon has no Senshi." Venus rambled off, while Minako just nodded at her.
"Right, the princess doesn't fight, but here the Moon needed a Senshi, and so it has Sailor Moon." Minako finally was able to talk again. "Now we," she said directing her voice toward Venus, "should have a chat."
Venus protested as Minako dragged her out of the room. "I can't leave the princess alone." She yelled.
"Go my protector." The princess said and Venus stopped struggling.
Finally Usagi was alone with the other two halves of herself.
Authors Notes!
Well, I've started another one.
And I'm sorry to tell you not to expect the rest of the chapters to be so long. I want to try and have a chapter for each Senshi, but I'm not sure if that'll work, so it might be a chapter for two.
As you probably could guess from my tiny hint, my pairing are still going strong, but this fic isn't really about the couples, although I will be adding bits and pieces to the chapters.
Classic disclaimer: I don't own ANYTHING! Which is always depressing to say…
And lastly…Read and Review please. I love comments!
