Disclaimer: Kon-wa, minna-chan! The following is my own story with my own characters of Sailor Twilight and later Sailor Dawn (plus Chibi-Usa's daughter and others) mixed with the wonderful characters and setting of "Sailor Moon" by Naoko Takeuchi. I do not claim any of the original characters, only use my own imagination to expand them past the point of "Stars." The prologue isn't necessary, but for the short story part, I highly recommend it to understand it until more is written. Enjoy! ~Paya

Prologue

It scratched at her mind, her subconscious screaming to be released. Her body sobbed quietly as her mind dreamt in the twilight hour. Her dreams tore at her, becoming twisted nightmares that she could never rid herself of nor understand, for she was too young yet. There was one thing she knew though, and that was the Golden light; soft and warm, soothing and welcoming…out of reach unless she agreed to take and share it.

There it was again: the voice. She knew that whomever belonged to that voice was the cause of these horrible dreams of her family being consumed by monsters and her nursery being crushed by the surrounding towers. It hissed at her, sending an icy finger to shiver down her spine. So hard to hear, but not now. It was threatening her now, making her cry more, feeding on her fear. It said…it demanded…the yellow glow. It didn't want to share any more. That was Daddy's, she knew, and that had been why she'd never taken it.

The torture grew to her limbs from her mind while she begged to be let alone. It was no use, she decided…or rather was it deciding for her? She would not escape to peace unless she gave it the Golden glow.

Finally it released her. She opened her weeping molten-gold eyes with a convulsive sob, then hushed herself with difficulty. If Mommy heard, she would come and make sure her daughter was safe in bed and watch over her…not that it would do any good.

Celora inched to the side of her canopied bed; the warm breeze from the many grand windows did little to stop her shivers as she crept onto the marble floor. Tears of fear clouded her vision as she tried to control her breathing and make her bare feet move in the direction of Daddy's chamber. Her shaking hands pushed the heavy door aside, and she stepped in. The Golden Crystal hummed in the air above its pedestal, reflecting in Celora's glazed eyes.

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Sovereign Serenity stood gazing upon the darkening land. She sighed happily and leaned into Helios, who put his arms around her. They didn't have to say anything to know how much they loved each other. Lady Celora was proof alone of four out of six years of their marriage. Serenity turned around and faced her husband. He smiled and tucked away stray pink strands of her long hair. Everything is perfect, she thought. Many years of peace and my own daughter to love, a husband, mother and father to love me, and of course my closest friends, my godmothers…She smiled and leaned in for a kiss, then rested her cheek on his shoulder. She felt it tense.

"What?" Serenity lifted her head and looked into Helios' golden-orange eyes. They were suddenly shaky and worried; distant and unfocused. He finally looked at her.

"Where is Celora?" He said it quietly, but something edged into his voice.

"In bed, of course. Why?" She felt him send out a psychic probe to search the castle and his eyes widened.

"No," Helios let her go and turned toward the pillared wall of the castle entrance. Serenity felt the change in the air and the sudden desperate urge to run after. She took one last glance to Elision before calling her staff to her hand and following.

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She was so close, so close to being released! Her body almost moved against her will. How easy, she thought. But Mommy and Daddy will yell at me and might not let me visit Tokyo…but if I don't, then everyone will get hurt! The echoing of footsteps behind her made her jump and pull back.

"Celora!" Her name was called. They were just outside! Celora ran her tiny steps across the room as her mother came in and jumped after her.

They were too late.

Celora gave out a plea of forgiveness before her hand grabbed the Golden Crystal. At that moment, Serenity grabbed her daughter by what she could reach. They screamed in unison as the shown brilliantly as the sun...and shattered into seven Crystals before Helios' very eyes.

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Part 1

She sat up with a jolt. If it had been a dream that woke her, she did not remember it now. She sighed deeply and rubbed the sleep from her eyes. A storm was rolling in, clouding out the morning sun and instantly raising her spirits. She looked at the dial clock on the wall and shrieked, then at the luminous one on the bed-stand. It was blinking 12:00 like a VCR. At the same moment the doorbell rang, and Aurora heard her Host mother welcome Makoto and Aino Minako into the house, out of the beginning rain.

Aurora flung herself out of the small bed and scrambled for the 10th Street High School uniform. She heard her name called from down the stairs and scrambled to grab her bag and lunch money. She ran down the stairs and grabbed the banana on the table. Her Host mother looked just as unprepared as she did, meaning her alarm had been cut from the power-outage as well. Shouting goodbye, Aurora Polaris hopped out of the house on one foot, pulling her shoe over her heel.

"Your Host mother didn't look to well," Makoto said once the door was safely shut.

Aurora put her breakfast in her pocket and pulled a brush out from her bag. "She hasn't been sleeping well at all lately, about the past week. She just tells me to go to school and have fun while I'm here, not to worry about it." Her silver eyes told the both of them that she was indeed worried. She put the brush away and fiddled with her raven-black hair, sloping down with the tops of her hands on the inverted bob.

"Is she taking anything for it?" Minako asked.

Aurora nodded. "It hasn't been helping. She's had to stay home from work. Whatever sleep she gets is restless and she always wakes up crying. I think she's having severe nightmares."

"This has been spreading through the city." Mizuno Ami surprised all of them from behind. "It was on the news this morning. It started in America about five weeks ago, then it came here over the end of this summer."

Aurora cringed. "Don't say that! You make it sound like I brought it!" Makoto and Minako laughed, and Ami giggled, then stopped.

"The doctor interviewed last night said that it's a possible new cancer in the head, or maybe a shift in this year's climate could be triggering it. As far as they've studied, anyone can catch it, especially children."" They rounded the corner to 10th Street.

"But children always have nightmares." Makoto commented. "How can they say that the children have more?" Before Ami could give her explanation, their wrists beeped. Aurora watched baffled as they all turned away from her and looked at the time. She couldn't tell, but Aurora heard a voice announce something. They must be that special mechanical kind, she thought. Before she knew it, they all turned back and told her they had to go. Aurora felt the friction rise in that moment, and she knew it wasn't from the oncoming lightning storm. With the umbrellas gone, Aurora watched them run away while she stood puzzled in the rain. Wasn't school the other way?

No time to think. That was when she felt her body become lighter than air, like it had in the dream from the night before coming here. The world before her flashed with beautiful auroras, blinded to white, then she could not remember from there.

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"Mars Flame Sniper!"

The arrow of fire engulfed its target, slamming it into a wall with an outraged hiss. "Sailor Moon! Get up!" Sailor Mars shouted as she backed up Sailor Venus' Love and Beauty shock. Sailor Moon lay with her head in Sailor Mercury's lap, unconscious and beaten.

"Jupiter Oak Evolution!"

Leaf slivers whistled at the creature, drawing no blood where they struck. Sailor Jupiter was behind her attack in an instant and swung at the hideous thing with fist, foot, fist, and lock. The blue flash suffused over Mercury's eyes when she touched her earring. She opened her computer and typed furiously, protecting Sailor Moon when an attack came her way.

The monster seemed to tear its self in two. From the immense black opening came a mind-shattering wave of pure consciousness, screaming into their heads. The standing fell to their knees, clenched their ears, and cried uncontrollably with the images in their minds: each other being destroyed, losing their family, memories of being abandoned and heart-breakingly lonely.

I am awoken. The strong voice echoed in their heads over the subconscious tortures. They suddenly eased and dispersed, allowing the Soldiers to open their eyes. The girl stood before them, blocking the waves of Darkness. She placed her black and silver gloved hands crossed on her hips and tilted her chin high.

"Twilight's Grand Aurora!!" Her summon brought forth a silence like no other and everything but the living people turned solid black. Something like silver bells chimed distantly as colors flared in the sky. The immense pressure in the Soldiers' heads was relieved, leaving them exhausted to the point of only hearing the chimes rise to wind-powered golden bells as the aurora wrapped around the girl, whipping her black hair, silver-garnet skirt and fairy-angel-like silver-glit transparent wings, before enveloping the ugly creature. Then their bodies took more control than their minds and dropped them into a peaceful rest.

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And Pluto was there…just there…hovering before them with her pulsing staff. They knew that she was stopping time for this. But something was different, and terribly wrong. Pluto could not speak and was transparent and weak.

Setsuna! Usagi reached out to her, but she was too far away. Please tell me what's the matter?

Sailor Pluto! The others called, standing around their leader.

Her eyes only brimmed with painful tears as she rose her staff on high. The red glow bled to everything, then shattered, leaving nothing but five, small glares of light the size of seeds to them. They called out to the Guardian of Time, but only echoes returned followed by the glint of light as one crystal sped towards each of them and woke them.

Hino Rei jumped in her place of sleep, the dream ringing vividly in her mind. The clap of thunder brought her back to reality and she felt the cold rain on her face. She lifted herself and looked around. Her friends were sitting up as well, and they had all changed—they all wore outfits similar to that of Eternal Sailor Moon's. Then, as they officially came to realized the difference, it faded away, then their fukus whipped away in forms of fire, water, lightning and ribbons of stars into their school uniforms. In the middle of them was the girl that had saved them. She was suddenly adorned with a brilliant storm of silver glitter before it was blown away like sand, revealing Aurora Polaris laying on her side in a huddle. Somehow this didn't surprise them, yet they did not understand either. They knew her now, more than before, and felt that they needed to love her like family.

How strange, thought Makoto, that Pluto did not say anything, yet told us just enough.

They all huddled around Aurora and lifted her gently as she woke. Her silver eyes were fogged and under trance as she murmured something. Then her eyes cleared and she looked down to her hand over her chest. She looked under it to find a golden crescent moon with the wings of Sailor Twilight and a small Silver Crystal resting on its crest. She gave a weak smile and chuckle, looking at her new friends standing in the soaking rain and rolling thunder. Today was not a day for school, they had already decided that without speaking, so they walked together to the Cherry Hill Temple where they would discuss what had happened, what may now come, and what Aurora had said:

"Guided by a Silver Light, I am Sailor Twilight: the Soldier of the rising stars, searching for my Golden Dawn."