When this particular plane entered Japanese airspace and made its way towards the Tokyo-Narita airport, nobody paid it much notice. It was a commercial airliner just like any other. The only person who would have found this plane (or rather, one of its passengers) worrying was busy making out with "her" dark-haired, dreamy-eyed boyfriend. So when Serena Smith stepped off the airplane, the Earth did not tremor. There was no dramatic thunder or lightning. People did not fall at her feet in exultation. This lack of melodrama did not make her arrival any less momentous.
"Serena! Hurry up!" a small child's voice whined.
"Patience, Rini, is a virtue," Serena intoned solemnly.
"One you don't have," Rini pointed out. "Anyways, with this kind of thing, we really need to hurry. Who knows what she's doing to your life."
"She won't ruin it, Rini. She chose it because she liked it, after all."
"Still, every moment she spends living your life is a moment you're not living it," Rini reminded.
"Good point. Let's get going." She brushed her slightly silvered hair out of her face and tugged on one of Rini's pink pigtails. "Let's get going. We have a plan to put in action after all."
There was once a clan of witches, a clan of body-snatchers who would shapeshift into their chosen victim's form and take over their life. Live their life. Usually with fatal results for their victim. Such a lifestyle demonstrated by this clan of witches meant, of course, that there was never much cooperation among these witches, never much of a passing on of their tradition. They lived long, but had few children, and instructed few of those few children in the ways of their clan. And such did it come about that one by one, the witches of the clan began to die out with nobody to take their place. Soon, by the time our story begins, there were but one or two such witches in the entirety of the world, and they knew not of their history or whatever purpose their power might have originated from. All they remembered was the shapeshifting, the body-snatching.
One such witch had just had the misfortune to assume the identity of a beautiful French girl named Céline, only to find that this Céline had at some point in her life contracted a terminal disease. (This was the result of nothing more than supreme carelessness, for if the witch had followed protocol and observed the young girl for at least six months, she would have noticed this.) So, forced to journey and search for a new victim in this young body, Céline happened to travel to Japan, where she happened to meet a Tsukino Usagi. And, not learning from her previous mistake, Céline believed Usagi's life so perfectly, saccharinely predictable that she did not even wait out two weeks of observation before assuming Usagi's form and banishing Usagi. (It should be noted that had she waited longer, her malevolent presence might have been noted by at least one of the senshi, and she would never have succeeded. Surprise, however, was on her side.) Brimming with self-confidence, she relied on her magic to reveal to her any information she might need to know about Usagi's life that she hadn't already memorized, and didn't even bother with killing Usagi, instead sending the girl to America to live out the remainder of her life as who-knew-what.
Therein, of course, lay her mistake.
One should never underestimate Usagi.
The thing about plans, Serena mused, was that they always went wrong. Someone somewhere had said, "The best-laid plans of mice and men gang aft agly." She wasn't sure what it meant, but she bet "gang aft agly" perfectly described her feelings right now.
She had meant to take it easy on her first day back in Japan, had meant to wait to get back in the flow of things, had meant to try to get used to Tokyo again. So she and Rini had decided to visit a small park that the senshi rarely visited. Or, apparently, that they used to rarely visit. Even then, the whole situation would have turned out better had Serena a better memory.
She had meant to sketch the Fifth Major Magical Clef (which she generally had the most difficulties with) to brush up on her knowledge before her impending duel with Céline. The Fifth Major Magical Clef, however, bore a marked similarity to the design on her Star Locket (having to do with the magic involved in the making of the locket). So, as usual, she accidentally ended up roughly sketching the Star Locket instead of the Clef. This would have been no more than a minor setback had she not, when setting the picture aside for a new attempt, been run into. She looked down into a familiar pair of blue eyes, eyes that had stared at her from the mirror every morning for sixteen years. Eyes that narrowed at her aura.
Immediately, Serena snapped up shields and wards before moving to help up the petite "Usagi Tsukino."
"I'm so sorry," the false Usagi gushed, "I didn't see where I was going."
"Like you ever do," a familiar voice snorted. "Please forgive the clumsy baka. She can't help her natural-born ineptitude." Rei was older now, wiser. More sophisticated and more beautiful, with much less cruelty in her voice.
"Reiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii! You're so mean to me!"
The wail, Serena noted, was note-perfect. Even the slight catch at the end was characteristic. As expected, of course. The senshi would have suspected anything less than a perfect copy of her.
"What's wrong?" another familiar voice asked. Ami's voice. Ami had acquired a pair of glasses at some point, which only served to give her a wise and sophisticated air. She, too, had a certain extra maturity about her that she had once lacked.
And of course, Ami was the one who spotted the sketchbook that she had set aside, picked it up, and immediately noticed the Star Locket. "That's an interesting piece of jewelry you've drawn there," Ami noted coolly, handing the sketch to Rei. "Is it based off anything in particular?"
The false Usagi had no doubt seen the piece of jewelry around and not paid it much attention. Her eyes were more drawn to the similarities between the locket and the Fifth Major Magical Clef. Serena smiled a small, secret smile. Céline would find it a lot harder to pass herself off as Usagi once the magical came into play.
But first, she had to pass this hurdle. How to explain the Star Locket ...
"I remember seeing it somewhere," Serena said brightly. "I'm not sure where."
The senshi didn't look convinced.
"I think, in one of what's-his-name's paintings." What was his name? That artist she had helped out, the one with that painting of Selene and Endymion.
"What's-his-name?" Ami asked politely.
"The guy who draws stuff out of mythology." She was spending too long here. If they flipped through the rest of the sketchbook, Céline would find the other magical runes, and the senshi would find the couple of brief sketches she had done of Rini.
That would not be good. She would be screwed in two separate ways.
"I'm sorry," she said, reclaiming her sketchbook. "But I have to go now." And almost made it successfully out of there without arousing further suspicion, and would have done so had it not been for ...
"Serena! What's taking so long? You promised me an ice-" Rini paused in her running to see, wide-eyed, the senshi. At least, Rei and Ami and the false Usagi. "Oops."
"Chibi-Usa?" Ami asked somewhat incredulously. "Usagi, is that Chibi-Usa?"
Prompted by her magic, Céline responded, "It can't be."
"Chibi-Usa?" Rei asked, stepped forward. "Is that you?"
Serena briefly inclined her head resignedly. You might as well was conveyed in that nod, an acknowledgment of events beyond her control.
"Hello Rei, Ami, Usagi," Chibi-Usa said with false cheer. "How are you today?"
"What are you doing here?" Ami asked patiently.
"Well, Serena here was going to buy me that ice-"
"No," Rei interrupted. "What are you doing here in Tokyo? Now?"
"And with her?" Ami added.
"Well ..." Rini geared up to remember her cover story. "Mom left me with Serena because she's busy with her stuff right now. And Serena got a new job here" a blatant lie "so we came here."
"Where were you before?" Céline asked.
"America."
"I'm really sorry to interrupt this conversation," Serena interjected, before the interrogation continued, "but we really have to go now."
"Go do what?" Rei asked bluntly.
"Go check in to our hotel," Serena said. (A lie, they had checked in yesterday.) "Do I have to clear all my actions with you?"
"Well, yes," Ami stated simply. "We are supposed to protect her after all."
Damnit. She hated when things didn't go according to plan. "I have something important to do right now," she bit out, "and I don't have time to deal with this. How about I meet you at the Arcade tomorrow at three. Is that fine?"
"Fine."
Serena took Rini by the hand, and began walking off with her. As soon as they were out of earshot, Rini sighed. "You mentioned the Arcade," she pointed out. "They'll wonder how you know."
"Crap."
"Are you allowed to swear in front of me?"
"If not, I officially decree it allow-able starting now."
"You're panicking."
"Yes, I am. My plan. No longer existent. Things like that panic me."
"You never worried about plans before," Rini pointed out.
"Before, I had people to worry about plans for me."
"Oh."
Eventually, Serena's steps slowed down and her lips curved into a smile.
"You've stopped panicking."
"I remembered my Plan B."
"You have a Plan B?" Rini asked skeptically.
"Oh. Oh yes."
The first thing to do was to cut off Céline's source of information. If she could use her magic to ferret out Usagi's secrets, to find out what she needed to say each time she needed to say it, it would be incredibly difficult to expose her for the shape-thief she really was. It was, after all, how she had passed as Usagi for so long. Originally, Usagi had planned on establishing herself first, before attacking with her spell. But. Céline now knew she was here, and was beginning to suspect, and if she didn't strike now she soon would not be able to.
Serena stayed up until midnight setting up the spell, then cast it for five hours straight. Finally, she broke through Céline's defenses and stilled the bit of magic that was her fount of information. She had spent three months developing this spell and three months practicing it, and she had pulled it off quite smoothly if she did say so herself. All of Céline's defenses, she had predicted. So, all it took was time and patience to get through her wards. (Thank God there hadn't been something unpredictable.)
As soon as she finished cleaning up the symbols she had drawn on the floor, she placed her hands around the perfect duplicate of the Silver Crystal she had created and envisioned her next step. She needed to get the Imperial Silver Crystal back, and could only pray that Céline had not yet caught onto the value of her new accessory.
Now, she had to make The Switch.
The problem with a plan to steal the Imperial Silver Crystal was that Céline had set it into a new brooch that she wore at all times. Serena wasn't sure what had prompted this change – hell, she couldn't even remember where the Silver Crystal used to be, she was just used to having it near her, summoning it at will.
That was actually what she was banking on this time, too. That if she got close enough, she could summon it and, with a twist of magic, replace it with her duplicate. This meant, however, sneaking under Céline's guard. And Céline was on guard now. And it was near morning.
The best chance she had would be at the meeting at the Arcade. The only problem with that, of course, was that the senshi would sense her opening her sub-dimensional space pocket immediately though they might not notice what she was fooling around with in the sub-dimension. They would be on guard.
She'd have to risk it. But that didn't mean she couldn't be prepared.
She arrived early at the Arcade, charmed Motoki into giving her a free milkshake, and subtly disabled security cameras with her magic. By the time the senshi and the false Usagi had arrived, she was perched on a barstool, sipping at her third milkshake, patiently waiting.
"Where's Chibi-Usa?" Makoto asked aggressively.
Serena noted that they had only included the Inners and Mamoru in this meeting, and wondered whether they had even told the Outers. "Rini's watching a movie right now. I thought we might get a lot of the questions over with before we invited her to join us." In other words, she wasn't sure whether Chibi-Usa would break under pressure. "Why don't we sit down at a booth and have a nice talk?" she asked smoothly.
Ami was appointed to ask questions, because she was most likely to figure out the right questions to ask. "What do you know?" she asked first.
"Pretty much everything," Serena said truthfully. She opened the subspace pocket, and waited. All around her tensed. Even Celine, who couldn't access Usagi's subspace pocket or any subspace pocket as a matter of fact, knew when one was opened. Continuing on as if nothing had happened, Serena admitted, "Rini's mom pretty much told me everything when she handed temporary guardianship of the little sprite over to me. Apparently, there's a boyfriend back home she's trying to get Rini to forget about." That was true, too, but for different reasons.
"Why you?" Ami demanded. "Why not us?"
Now would come the first of lies. "Timestream continuity issues," she bluffed. Hopefully, the fluid (or was it rigid?) nature of time stumped Ami as well-
"Timestream continuity issues?" Ami asked skeptically. "What kind of timestream continuity issues?"
Damn. Ami was apparently too smart to be stumped with big words and vague concepts.
"Rini knows something that is going to happen, that she could not help but reveal to you if she were in your care," Serena carefully stated her cover story. It had a couple of holes, but-
"So then why the move to Japan? Wouldn't that be too risky?" Mamoru put in.
Damn. That's what having a smart boyfriend meant—lies were trickier to tell.
"Oh, I hadn't thought of that," Serena affected a shocked expression. "Moving around had never been a problem before." Now, when the senshi were too busy pondering what a ditz she was. A quick summoning of the Crystal, a twist of the time-space continuum (actually, not really, but she liked to call it that because it sounded cool), and bated breath. Yes. The Silver Crystal was in her hand. She slipped it into her sub-dimensional pocket and closed it.
This act of magic had not gone unnoticed by the senshi, nor by the false Usagi. The false Usagi lifted her head and narrowed her eyes, her hand reaching up to finger her brooch. Damn. Did she find out how important the Silver Crystal was? The senshi tensed again, their eyes darting around. Serena made sure not to change her posture at all. She needed to seem the least suspicious.
"Usagi, let me see your broach," Rei ordered.
Shit. Rei suspected something. Serena did not let her face twitch too much when she heard her name called, and watched with a feigned curiosity as Rei took hold of the false Usagi's false Silver Crystal. "This is fake," Rei said flatly.
"I'm sorry?" the false Usagi asked, startled.
"Someone switched it with a fake one," Rei said grimly.
False Usagi, who must have relied too much on her magic to warn her when something was fishy, seemed not to notice the senshi's stiffening. She tittered. "That's silly. Why would someone-" she cut herself off. She finally, finally noticed that something was afoot.
"You don't have to pretend just because she's here," Rei said sharply. "If she's taking care of Chibi-Usa, she knows how important the Silver Crystal is anyways. The important thing is, did you sense anything?"
"No ..." the false Usagi said slowly, then knew immediately it was the wrong thing to say.
"How could you not feel anything?" Minako demanded. "This is the Silver Crystal we're talking about here! You've been behaving strangely, Usagi, but this is the worst yet."
"Are you alright?" Ami asked, vaguely concerned. "You haven't seemed to have given any thought to your duties as a Princess or a senshi since Luna disappeared. I know we all grieve for her, but she would want you to continue."
"Duties as a Princess?" the false Usagi asked, her voice catching slightly on the last word. But she had not made a career out of shapeshifting for nothing. Her face immediately fell into a perfectly-school expression that even the real Usagi had to admire. "I know. I know I haven't been..." she trailed off rather artfully.
"All here?" Rei suggested slightly sarcastically.
Fascinating as the conversation was (Luna had disappeared? But of course, Luna knew too much and must have been banished as well, which made finding her a priority), Serena had to leave, fast, before the senshi thought to do any sort of extensive search of her. "As fascinating as this conversation is," Serena began, "I really must go see that Rini hasn't-"
She was, of course, interrupted by Rini, who chose this rather unfortunate moment to come barging in through the Arcade doors.
"Serena!" she cried in a panicked voice (at least she had gotten the name right – it had taken forever to keep her from accidentally addressing her as Usagi), "it's beginning!"
Well, that was unexpected.
"Um, what's beginning?" Serena asked.
"Oops. Forgot that I didn't tell you," Rini sighed. "The thing I was sent back in time to prevent!"
"What? What are you talking about?" Serena asked, taken off guard. "Wouldn't that cause a temporal paradox?"
"Not if I was sent back because Mama knew that I would succeed in preventing it because I prevented it in her memories," Rini began, but took a look at the glazed-over look in Serena's eyes and didn't continue. "Look, I wasn't supposed to tell you, but I actually wasn't sent back in time to lend you moral support, like Mama originally told you. I know you know it was a flimsy excuse to begin with."
"Yes, but-"
"Do you think that a fifteen months with a," Rini hesitated, her eyes darting over to the senshi, "you-know-who in possession of the very important you-know-what has gone unnoticed? Dark forces have gathered, and I'm supposed to prevent that."
"Prevent it how exactly?" Serena asked skeptically.
Rini shrugged. "By warning you," she guessed. "I don't know. Mom didn't tell me. That would be disrupting the continuity, etc."
"Since when did you get so knowledgeable about the timestream?" Serena asked skeptically.
"Since Setsuna sat me down and lectured me on lit," Rini sighed. "It was a really long lecture, too."
"Chibi-usa," Mamoru coughed. "Don't you think you should let us in on it if something is going wrong?"
"No," Rini said, staring at him as if he were slightly insane. "You guys are so obviously in a slump lately. And plus, there's something else you all must do."
"A slump!" Rei shrieked. "Who are you to say that, you little brat?"
There was a beat as everyone acknowledged that Usagi would normally be the one to say something like that. Serena smirked internally. Céline was slipping.
"Usagi," Ami said hesitantly, "are you feeling alright?"
"Enough," Serena said. "I'm leaving with Rini. You, apparently, have your own issues to sort out and your own thing to do and your own slump to get out of." She suppressed a smile at Rei's scowl.
Without another word, she left, safe in the knowledge that Céline was about to face an interrogation.
"All right, brat," Serena said, as soon as they were out of the hearing of the senshi. "Now, you don't have a choice in this. You will tell me what's going on this instant."
"Well," Rini hesitated. "Do you remember when Mother first deposited me in your study?"
"Well, yes," Serena said. "Celine had just banished me from Japan, and I was pissed off, but not quite sure what to do about it. And then ... uh, the future me just kind of showed up. With you. Made a few pithy remarks about everything turning out well eventually, told me that you be of use to me, and that I would find the local occult community in possession of a number of useful books. That's it."
"Well. You may also remember that she, er, you, said most emphatically not to lose faith."
"Yes. The pep talk. What about it?"
"Do you remember her words exactly?"
"No. Why?" Serena narrowed her eyes.
"There was something about needing to keep up your spirits, even in dark times that may come."
"Yes ...?"
"I'm to prevent those dark times that may come."
"What?"
Rini sighed. "There are a number of dark forces that have allied with each other after realizing that the Silver Crystal has an inadequate protector. They are cautious, and will refrain from striking if you decisively defeat Céline, thus demonstrating your strength and resolve."
"And you didn't say this from the start, why?" Serena wanted to know.
"Because knowing would have distracted you from the more important goal of defeating Céline. Really, as long as you defeat Céline within the next, say, twenty-four hours, all will be well."
"Twenty-four hours?" Serena's voice rose several octaves.
"It's not a big deal," Rini said nervously.
Céline is weak enough for me to defeat in a week, easy, but in the next day? I've only just recovered the ginzuishou. She's only just been cut off from her source of information! The senshi have only just begun to doubt!"
"Well, you don't have the time," Rini almost snapped. "You're on a tight schedule, and you've pulled it off before, in order for my mother to send me here to warn you about it."
"Nuh-uh, you don't get to pull that specious argument with me," Serena interrupted. "I've had some talks with Setsuna myself, and I know that the time stream doesn't work like that. Time isn't set in stone."
"Which is why you need to get going!"
"Can you give me something to work with?" Serena sighed, exasperated. "Like, I dunno, a description of this evil I'm trying to evade."
"The evil doesn't matter," Rini repeated. "You just have to defeat Céline by tomorrow to scare it off."
"Yes, but does the display have to be flashy?" Serena asked. "Am I making this coup intimidating?"
"It just has to be effective," Rini said. "It has be a complete, total, and utter defeat. And then it'll never come back again."
Serena leaned against the alley wall, doing some quick calculations in her head. "I might be able to pull it off," she finally admitted, "but I'd be cutting it close. If I haven't underestimated Céline or overestimated the senshi, I might be able to pull it off in twenty hours, maybe twenty-one."
"Well then, get to it!" Rini said.
"Don't think I haven't forgotten your evasions," Serena narrowed her eyes. "After I deal with Céline, you're answering some questions."
Rini watched impatiently as Serena scribbled some more on a piece of paper. "Shouldn't you be doing something?"
"If Celine's failure at eradicating me has taught me anything, it's to plan," Serena said grimly. "I could defeat her easily. Defeating her within a day requires forethought." She paused. "It would help a great deal if you could locate Luna for me," she suggested.
"Me?" Rini asked, nonplussed. "What can I do?"
"Find Luna," Serena repeated. "Luna is key. I imagine she's been banished, and I know you've been sneaking looks at the rudimentary magic books. You can do a simple search-and-find spell, even if it alerts Céline, and find Luna for me while I figure out how to attack Céline's shapeshifting source."
"I thought her shapeshifting was internal," Rini said, confused.
"I know. But it comes from a certain portion of her power. The rest of her magic is useless, or at least not important. Her shapeshifting ability itself is most important. If we cancel that, she loses the senshi, her confidence, and we have a hold. Of course, if that's all we do, then the power that normally fuels her disguise could be turned to an attack against us. If I can actually cut off or immobilize that power, however, then I have her."
"That's complicated," Rini said admiringly.
"I've been thinking about this since my exile," Serena said dryly. "I do have some idea of what I'm doing. Now. Find Luna."
Rini meekly obeyed.
"Usagi, what the fuck is going on?" Rei demanded.
"Rei, watch your language," Makoto said sharply.
"She's gone insane in the space of twenty-four hours," Rei spat. "She doesn't seem to have any idea what we're talking about."
"Usagi, are you feeling alright?" Minako asked worriedly.
"It's like she been replaced by a double," Ami observed.
"No!" (the false) Usagi barked out. "I'm sorry, guys. I'm not feeling very well. I'm still kind of feverish and I'm not thinking straight ..." Even if she had lost her connection to the source of useful information she relied on when taking up other guises, she still had enough magic in her to simulate illness.
"Are you sure we should be interrogating her at this time?" Makoto wanted to know. "Isn't she still sick?"
"This is more important than physical illness," Artemis said gravely, emerging from behind Minako. "Usagi has been behaving strangely since Luna's tragic disappearance. Mental distress should be dealt with as soon as possible. We don't want Usagi to descend into depression and mental illness."
"Surely it's not as grave as that," Usagi laughed falsely.
"Here, let me take your vitals with my laptop," Ami suggested.
"No. Just give me a day, and I'll get over it," Usagi objected.
"We gave you a day," Mamoru pointed out gently. "And you've been behaving more and more erratically."
"I'm fine!" Usagi snapped loudly.
"As fine as you can be, under the circumstances," a voice said thin air.
All of the senshi leapt to defensive positions immediately.
"Who's there?" Rei demanded.
Serena appeared out of thin air, clad in a white dress vaguely reminiscent of Serenity's Moon Princess dress.
"You," Minako's eyes narrowed. "Why are you here?"
"What powers do you have?" Rei wanted to know.
"Who are you?" Makoto asked.
"I am Tsukino Usagi," Serena said simply.
"I am Tsukino Usagi," the false Usagi said.
"No, you assumed the form of Tsukino Usagi fifteen months ago, when you ambushed me and exiled me from the country with your own brand of magic."
"I don't know what you're talking about," the false Usagi said convincingly. She had always been a good actress.
Serena allowed her glamour to melt. Her facial features shifted, her hair color darkened, her eyes lightened. Soon, she appeared the twin of the false Usagi, but for her Princess-dress.
Rei hissed. "Who do you think you are, trying to deceive us into thinking you are Usagi?"
"I am Usagi," Serena-Usagi said simply. "She is the imposter, and has been for the last fifteen months."
"No one could get past us by pretending to be Usagi for fifteen months," Rei said sharply.
"We'd be able to tell," Makoto said defiantly.
"Not if she had certain brands of magic on her side," the real Usagi pointed out.
"You are the impostor!" Minako insisted. "You must be!"
"No, she is not," said a voice none of these people had heard in nine months. Rini, no, Chibi-usa walked in, carrying in her arms a much worse for the wear Luna.
"Luna!" they all cried out.
"Nine months ago, I returned home, only to find Usagi shocked that I could speak. I knew immediately that something was wrong, but she wove some spells and banished me before I could do anything. She took away my gift of speech and my magic." Luna certainly looked bedraggled.
"Well, Céline?" Usagi demanded. "Have you given it up for a lost cause yet?"
But a shapeshifter never admitted to being the impostor. "You're lying! And tha cat is a fake! I ... I don't know what you've done with the real Luna, but-"
"Give it up," Usagi snarled. She moved her hands in three definitive moves, and then moved to finish the spell.
The shapeshifter recognized that spell, a moment too late. She attempted to counter it, but was one hand-signal too late.
Usagi smiled in satisfaction as the impostor's form seemed to shimmer, and then turned into a darker-haired, darker-skinned girl. In her satisfaction, she almost missed the spell that Celine threw at her.
She barely dodged it, and then cursed herself for her overconfidence. The senshi, too, had to dodge debris as they were not quite sure which side to take. Usagi didn't have the time to convince them either way, however, as she had to counter Celine's attacks.
Even cut off from half of her power source, Celine was strong.
"Ten hours left, Usagi! I hope you know what you're doing," Chibi-usa called out warningly.
Truthfully? She didn't. She had planned, for the past fourteen hours, how best to cut off as much of Celine's power as possible. And she had done so. But Celine was still strong, stronger than she had expected. She had planned on going for an endurance run, figuring that she could last longer than Celine and eight hours of pure fighting would mean Celine's defeat.
But she didn't think she could last eight hours now. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Chibi-usa approach the senshi. If she could convince them to help, Celine would be defeated sooner. This lapse in attention cost her. One of Celine's stray spells caught her and flung her against the wall.
She slashed a spell back even before she had recovered her breath, and hurriedly try to rise up. She barely blocked the next attack in time.
Rei, ever impetuous, was the first one of the senshi to join the battle. She shot a fireball at Celine, which caught the shapeshifter by surprise long enough for Usagi to cut off another two percent of her power.
Rei was followed by Makoto. Lightning crackled around the tall Amazon as she furiously attempted to electrocute the witch who had fooled her for nine months.
One by one, the senshi joined the battle against Celine, who began to tire quickly. The battle went on for an hour more, and all of the participants were visibly tired. By this point, Celine had managed to strategically maneuver herself from being surrounded by the senshi, and now stood with her back to a wall. Usagi had cursed herself when she realized how Celine had managed to evade them long enough to assume such an easily-defensible position.
Chibi-usa she had forbidden from joining the fight earlier, for the sake of the timestream. Now, it was she, her four senshi, and Mamoru against the dark-haired shapeshifting witch. They had the advantage, but their time was also running out. If the defeat needed to be definitive then ...
But Usagi had underestimated her senshi. Even while Ami had been attacking, she had at the same time been analyzing the situation with her visor. "I found her weakness!" she cried at this moment, and Usagi once again marveled at how intelligent her old friends were. Ami chanted out a string of mythic symbols, mapping out Celine's weakness magically. Celine at this point attempted to attack Ami solely, to prevent her from speaking no doubt, but the others stopped her attacks with no fear and no little confidence.
Usagi then wove the necessary spell, quickly and surely.
The defeat was almost anticlimactic.
Celine crumpled, and then disintegrated. Usagi almost felt a pang for the murder but ... she had only to think of the many that Celine had killed and would continue to kill. She didn't regret the death that much. Maybe she had changed? Chibi-usa confirmed that the Enemies (whoever they were – Chibi-usa continued being really vague on that matter) had gone. She reunited with the senshi, who were very apologetic (and she was very understanding), and it was awkward for a day or so, but they all got over it. (Usagi tended to be very forgiving.)
Chibi-usa returned to the future, and managed to successfully keep from revealing any information. She reunited happily with her senshi. The timestream was saved. All was well ...
The End