Corví Cantus
By Tarin Croft

Chaos. Surges of light and then sudden darkness. A flash of ice, then fire, then nothing. Screaming. So much screaming.

The senshi had been fighting for hours, and yet their enemy stood in front of them, smirking in superiority as she deflected every attack with just a flick of her wrist. One of them had already fallen, her broken body lifeless in the middle of the battlefield in the crystal hall.

Sailor Saturn's stomach lurched as she tried not to look at her fallen comrade. Minako... She launched another Silence Wall as a bright blast of light shot in the direction of her Queen. She could feel her body dragging, the energy it took to cast every spell waning. She could barely keep up now with anything the enemy had sent at them.

Princess Gienah - she had called herself that when she arrived unexpectedly that afternoon. With a sweep of her arm, the civilians in the reception hall of Crystal Tokyo had been obliterated. The senshi stared in horror for a split second before their lifetimes of experience kicked in and caused a mass transformation. Neo Queen Serenity was the first to cry out, asking why she had done this.

Boredom. The reason for mass murder from this alien princess was boredom. Enraged, Sailor Jupiter had launched an attack that merely bounced off. Sailor Venus tried then, when Princess Gienah had caught her own whip and strangled her with it before any of them could react.

All at once, the senshi threw every attack they knew at her with little success. Sailor Mercury and Sailor Saturn were put on the defensive, using any energy they had to try to confuse her and block her attacks. After four hours of this, Saturn could tell they had little left to give.

Pretty soon, there would be no choice but to use her ultimate attack, save for her world-destruction-ability. Until then, she would protect her queen - and more importantly, the crystal.

More important than her friend's life was the Ginzuishou - the Silver Crystal. If that fell into the hands of this enemy, nothing would stop her. Although, it looked as if nothing would stop her anyway. But they had to try...

"SILENCE WALL!" Saturn cried as she deflected yet another attack, this one aimed at Endymion. The wall absorbed the attack and fell. Her breaths became ragged and she leaned heavily on her staff.

"Hang in there, Saturn," came Pluto's ever-calm voice. Her adoptive parent looked a little less than calm. Her usual steady gaze was flickering in disquiet. "I don't understand how this is happening..." she said more to herself than anyone around her.

Saturn watched the princess gleefully play with each attack thrown at her, her mouth set in a thin line. "None of us expected this."

"It's more disturbing than that." There was a slight grimace as another wall cracked against the weight of another attack.

"Meaning...?" Another wall was thrown up, just for a brief second and then taken back down. Uranus shot her a look of gratitude before throwing another World Shaking spell.

Saturn surprised herself as she quickly dodged on oncoming beam of light that completely demolished a crystal statue. Her heart raced as Pluto continued. "Princess Gienah... She isn't supposed to exist! Not in this timeline, not in this universe..."

Saturn stifled a gasp and winced as another beam of light grazed her ear. She let go of the breath she was holding. "So you're saying she's from another universe altogether? Is that possible?! I heard that there were other universes but -." She was cut off from continuing her sentence as Sailor Mercury was suddenly grabbed by a bolt of intense light and lifted at least a dozen feet in the air.

She swore under her breath and launched herself from her hiding place, glaive raised. Without thinking, she swung her glaive at the current of energy and it shattered somehow, releasing its hold on her blue-clad friend. Saturn could almost feel the princess scowl and the sudden heat of another attack coming after her. She quickly grabbed Mercury and tumbled with all of her effort a few feet away. A split second later, the surge of energy landed where she had been, its remnants still crackling.

She barely had a moment to catch her breath before she had to dodge another one. She scrambled on all fours, with Mercury, and dodged one after another, working on pure adrenaline. Finally, Mercury was snatched from her by Endymion who got her to safety. She could still feel herself as a target and made a hasty retreat to find cover. It was all she could to not look back and throw a wall up. Even a split-second pause could mean her death.

Finally, she managed to duck under a section of wall that had stood against the attacks. She caught her breath, using one eye to scan the wreckage. What she saw stunned her - craters of crackling energy in random patterns in every space she had occupied for only a mere second. It amazed her that this alien princess was able to summon such energy so quickly.

"Well, well, well," the princess mused. "Isn't that interesting?" She seemed almost...pleased? Somehow, that terrified Saturn more than the onslaught. "So far, the only one of you that seems to hold a candle to my power is that tiny thing."

Saturn tried to ignore her. She surveyed the battlefield for her comrades. Pluto was close to where she had been before rescuing Mercury, looking completely shell-shocked, but fine considering. Uranus and Neptune were close, murmuring to themselves - obviously working on a strategy. Endymion was helping Serenity look after Mercury. They were the last line of defense, after all, they should be staying out of the fight. She couldn't find the others, but knew from the energy in the air that they were at least alive.

"Come out, little girl. What is your name?"

Saturn furrowed her brow. What the hell? An ambush of death for hours and suddenly, this insane woman wants HER NAME?

When she was met with only silence, the princess growled and there was a sudden scream. Rei? Saturn looked up, panic rising in her chest. The princess had cast a spell that tied itself around Sailor Mars's wrists and ankles. "Tell me now or I will tear this one apart!" She had a wicked glare on her face, made only more frightening by her petulant request.

Without thinking, Saturn crawled to her feet in haste. "Stop! Holy shit, I'll tell you what you want just STOP!"

Princess Gienah smiled, satisfied, and the spell ended. Mars landed with a sickening thump on the ground, but she seemed to still be alive at least. "Yes, you're quite the firecracker aren't you? I wonder if it was you who brought me here?"

Saturn ignored her. This woman was clearly insane - she hadn't brought anyone here. However, she did receive a few speculative glances. She knew that her comrades did not honestly think she had intentionally brought such a menace to their world, but it was a peculiar thing for her to say. "My name is Sailor Saturn, senshi of death, rebirth, and silence. What the hell do you want?" she growled.

The princess started to pace now, her eyes locked firmly on Saturn. She was grinning in a maddening way. A few of her friends decided now would be a good time to attack. Panic rose in her chest as this seemed to only piss the psychotic off. She barely had the time to throw up a rather strong Silence Wall before the woman unleashed another intense light that would have no doubt murdered at least three senshi.

Unfortunately, this seemed to only intrigue the princess more. She had an almost manic glee in her eyes now. "Hm... Yes, you're quite strong." She threw a bolt of electricity at Saturn's feet, which she easily dodged. "Nimble too."

Saturn let out another growl. What was she doing? She felt like she was suddenly under review as a senshi. Enough of this! If she was just going to stand there, Saturn might as well attack. Bringing her glaive up, she ran up to her quickly. "SILENCE GLAI-!" Her attack was cut off. Her entire body completely stopped, and she was frozen in a run.

"Ah-uh!" the princess tutted, her hand raised. "It wouldn't do for you to kill us both, little one, not right now at least." She cocked her head to the side. "Though I must say I am a little disappointed that this simple binding spell has managed to stop you... Ah...I knew that wasn't strong enough to hold you for long." Indeed, Saturn had managed to break past it in only a handful of seconds and was already gunning for her again. The princess seemed to delight in dodging each swing of Saturn's glaive.

"YOU are quite an exquisite creature, miss Sailor Saturn, senshi of death, yata yata..." She smirked as she dodged yet another swing. "So I'm going to do you a favor! I'm going to send you to HIM! He'll be most pleased!"

Saturn stopped and started at her, confused. "What? Who?" Did this psycho have a boss? Someone stronger than her? She could see the dread creep along every face of her friends. If there was someone out there stronger than this crazy princess, they were completely doomed.

The princess ignored her. "You'll make a fine soldier. But your friends can't come. Sadly, they have disappointed me." She snapped her fingers.

Saturn's eyes widened. "Wha-?" Before she could even finish her question, her surroundings vanished in a swirl of light. A bolt of lightning fell from the sky and landed upon the senshi of death with stunning ferocity. Every limb felt charged with energy and suddenly, she felt herself beginning to fade from existence.

As suddenly as this all came to be, everything stopped. Completely. Everyone, every breath of time, was frozen. She whirled around to see Sailor Pluto standing in front of her. She had a mournful look on her face, and her palm clutched something small. "It has come to this."

Tears began to fall unbidden down Saturn's cheeks. No. It hadn't come to this. She could finish it. She could use this pause in time to destroy-.

"No. You can't do that, Saturn. It can't work like that."

"Why not?!" Saturn cried out, unwilling to admit failure. If she could just do this, everyone would be saved and they could start over...

Pluto shook her head. "It would be a temporary solution to a problem that will follow us through time. The strength of this enemy is enough to rip the universe asunder, should she have the crystal. If you used your power, there would be no one left to stop them."

"Setsuna-mama," Saturn pleaded.

"It is clear what will happen next. I have seen this. You will be taken from this world, and given to another. I know not which world this is, nor do I know your fate once you arrive. But I will watch over you from the Gates of Time. And you will protect the universe."

"What?" she asked, her voice broken. She held back a gasp as Pluto held out the Ginzuishou, urging her to take it. "You can't mean... I can't hold that. Only Serenity can wield it. It'll tear me apart!" Panic was rising, once again, in her chest. If this was Pluto's only course of action, then that meant... She let out a sob. "They're all going to die." It wasn't a question, but an inevitability. All of her friends were going to die, and they weren't going to be reborn this time.

"It is the only way we can protect the universe, Saturn."

"But Serenity..."

"What is important is the Ginzuishou. You know this. While Serenity is our princess, we must not forget that the only truly important thing in this universe is the Ginzuishou. If it is corrupted, all hope will be lost."

Saturn shook her head. "Why not just have Serenity take my place? Why not just-?" "No, it is YOUR power that is keeping you alive, Saturn. It is evident that while strong, Serenity's power is not enough. There is something about YOU that interests the enemy. And that is something we must exploit."

Saturn hung her head in defeat.

"We are soldiers first, Saturn. And nothing more than that, when all is said and done, despite what normality would have us believe." Pluto's even voice was betrayed by her eyes. Sadness. Grief. Finality.

With a long sigh, Saturn straightened up. She fought the tears that threatened to resurface. "What must I do?" she asked with resignation. Pluto was right. She was a soldier. Not even the beautiful friendships she had experienced could change that. It only made it more painful. She firmly squashed any rising images of Chibiusa that flickered in the distance.

"We have little time left, I'm afraid. I will not be able to contact you for a long time, as I regain my strength. We will have to rely on your wits alone. The most important thing is protecting the Ginzuishou. At all cost."

Saturn nodded. "Got it."

"I must break the spell now." With a faded smile, she touched Saturn's cheek. "Good luck, Hotaru-chan."

With that, the spell ended and reality suddenly disappeared from around her. She firmly clutched the Ginzuishou and her glaive as what appeared to be a tornado rose up around her. Her symbol glowed brightly on her forehead as her own magical energy struggled to protect her from the searing winds.

The ground beneath her disappeared and she felt herself falling through the sky, nothing around to grasp onto, the wind whipping past her too quickly. A creeping blackness hit her vision. No, no, no, that wasn't good. She couldn't lose consciousness. Not now. She fought valiantly but with no luck.

Shit.

And then there was nothingness.


Pain. That was the first thought Sailor Saturn had upon regaining consciousness. Sharp, aching pain lacing through her entire body. With great reluctance, she forced her eyes open, and immediately regretted it as blinding light flooded her vision. Her eyelids shut immediately and she turned over on her side

With as much effort as she could give, she attempted to push herself up on her feet, but only managed to get to all fours before her limbs began protesting. Well, it was better than nothing she supposed. She opened her eyes once more.

What? Where in the world…?

She seemed to be in the middle of a garden of a rather large mansion. A fountain was rather close, surrounded by roses and various other flowers. It was entirely unfamiliar. In the distance, she could see a city she had never seen before. She was enclosed in by a wrought-iron gate at least eight feet tall.

She could feel herself becoming overwhelmed by the strange surroundings and decided to ignore them for just a moment. Instead, she took stock of her well-being. Looking over herself, she learned that while nothing was broken (surprising, considering the supposed fall) her bones were terribly sore as if they were about to crack. She was covered in scrapes and bruises, but that was to be expected. Her senshi outfit was tattered and dirty, again – expected, and her head was undergoing what seemed to be the beginnings of a migraine. She only hoped that it faded.

She pushed the rising disgust with herself down into the recesses of her emotions. She could not think about how she basically abandoned her friends in the middle of their annihilation, even if she had no control over it. She would deal with that later, she was sure.

First things first, she withdrew her senshi form. It wouldn't do to have such a strange outfit in an unfamiliar land. It left her in a golden-yellow sweater, a black mini-skirt, a pair of thick black tights, and a pair of black ankle boots. She hoped this wasn't completely different than the normal outfits here. If she believed what Sailor Pluto had said, she was in a new world, a universe unlike her own.

Her heart sunk. She was so far from home…

"Um…excuse me, miss?" called a hesitant voice from behind.

Hotaru stiffened. How had she not noticed someone approaching? Swallowing her fear, she turned her head, willing her limbs to start working. A young woman in a maid's uniform was watching her, worried and fretting. She tried to speak, but her throat was dry and practically unusable.

"Are-are you quite all right, miss? This is a private residence, so I am afraid that I must ask you to vacate the premises…" The maid was obviously quite nervous, unused to having strange women lying around her employer's garden. "It looks like you may need medical attention. Would you like me to have you escorted to the hospital?"

That was no good. She was fairly certain she had no identity in this world and that would cause all sorts of questions that she didn't need. She shook her head and used every ounce of energy she had left to rise to her feet. She cleared her throat. "I'm…sorry. I seem to be lost. I…though this was the residence of a friend of mine, but if you don't recognize me then it looks as if I mixed the address up…" she lied easily.

The maid looked skeptical but nodded. "If you'd like, I can have a driver take you to your friend's house…?"

Hotaru shook her head. "No, that's okay. I have a feeling I know where it is now." She took a couple of steps, her legs wobbling under her. "It may take me a moment… If you don't mind, can you point me to the nearest exit? I don't quite recall how I ended up here, of all places…"

The maid nodded and turned, pointing to a gate that led to the sidewalk outside the residence. "Good day, miss."

Hotaru bowed as best as she could and made her way to the exit. It was all she could do not to collapse until she closed the gate behind her. At the point, her legs failed her and fell to the ground.

"Great," she growled. "A psychotic madwoman does me a favor and sends me to an all new universe and she doesn't even have the decency to do it lightly…" It was nothing she didn't expect, however, given how murderous she had been.

No. Her thoughts could not stray in that direction or she would be useless.

First task – figure out where she was. As soon as she could move.


It seemed to be at least an hour before Hotaru managed to massage some more feeling into her legs. The hours of fighting and casting spells was certainly not helping. It would likely be days before she was fully recovered. She couldn't even fathom how long it would take Pluto, as she had gone so far as to stop time itself for a longer time than she should have.

After a couple of blocks, she managed to find a café with a television and newspapers. She entered, nodded at the friendly barrista, and grabbed a paper. It was in English, but thankfully she'd had a few lifetimes to learn the language. Clearly, judging from the maid's use of the language and the paper, she was in a western continent but the area didn't match any she had in her memory. Of course, that meant nothing here.

She opened the paper and perused it. AC 200? What kind of time was that? She looked around – obviously, it was well after the 21st century judging from the level of technology. Perhaps closer to her present timeline – the 31st century? It was difficult to tell in this new world.

At least she could tell that she was in New York City – so the locations of both of their worlds were similar, if nothing else. The paper discussed something about an anniversary of peace coming up in a few months, along with an interview with someone named "Relena Darlian," whoever that was. She frowned. This was not very helpful. She folded the paper up and threw it back down on the table, earning a couple of perturbed looks by the staff.

Noticing she was loitering and that she'd likely be thrown out if she didn't order something soon, she stood up and walked out. What the hell was she going to do now? She pulled the silver crystal from her the hidden pocket that all senshi seemed to have to hold magical objects and studied it as she meandered down the city blocks.

The crystal was completely dull, of course. It didn't amplify her magic and there was very little chance it would respond to anything she did. In order to even use it, she'd have to go through years of hard work imbuing it with her own magic and even then, there was no guarantee it wouldn't just punish her and kill her. There was a reason only those of Queen Serenity's line were destined to wield it. Even now, she could feel it pulling away from her in anger, if a crystal could do such a thing.

"Relax," she murmured, annoyed. "I'm not exactly a willing participant in this you know. Blame Pluto for your new home." Hotaru shook her head in disgust and put the crystal back; she was talking to a freaking rock.

It would be an understatement to say that Hotaru was feeling bitter about her circumstances. She'd avoided certain death but that was actually worse than having been killed! At least then she'd have died with honor and if nothing else, would have bought the queen precious moments to escape once she regained her memories.

Regaining control over her emotions, Hotaru halted and moved off the sidewalk a bit, looking around. The sun had set at least an hour ago and she was dragging as it was. If she didn't find shelter soon, she'd end up collapsed on the sidewalk. Grimacing, she continued walking until she had found a park. It was not ideal but it would have to do. Thankfully, she had nothing of value on her (physically at least) so if someone tried to rob her, they'd have a difficult time of it.

She curled up on a park bench that seemed secluded enough and was surprised when sleep took her almost immediately.


Hotaru didn't know how long she had been unconscious exactly, but judging from the stiffness of her muscles, it was likely a long time indeed. Without opening her eyes, she went to stretch out but found herself restrained.

Her eyes flew open and she tried to bolt upright but a large leather band held her shoulders down. She pulled at her wrists and ankles but found those, too, bound. Panic hammered in her chest; she looked around and bit back a whimper.

A cold, dark, windowless room with only one small light above. She was clothed in an abrasive cotton gown and bound by the shoulders, arms, wrists, waist, legs, and ankles. It only made her more agitated and she could feel her panic beginning to turn into hysteria. She barely noticed that her injuries were healed save for raw abrasions on her wrists and ankles. Had she been struggling in her sleep?

She craned her neck a bit and winced as she felt something pull against the back of her neck. What the…?

"Oh, dear, you've woken up again…" chided a motherly voice from the foot of Hotaru's bed. The room flooded with light briefly before becoming drowned in darkness again, save for the dim glow of the light above. "You are quite troublesome, young lady. If you keep waking up the process will only take longer. None of us wants that, do we?"

The…nurse…walked over to a machine in the corner of the room with a long protruding cord that seemed to connect to something under the bed, near her head. She had an inkling of where it was going and her stomach lurched painfully. The woman pressed a few buttons, muttered to herself, and pressed a few more.

Hotaru's vision began to blur and everything started to become a little topsy-turvy. She could hear the nurse say something like, "Yes, she woke up again but I took care of it" and "Yes, I realize this is not ideal but what can we do? She's so different than the others…" Before she could gather anything else, an uncomfortable sleep once again claimed her.


A/N: Well, there's the first chapter! I hope everyone liked it. I apologize for the lack of the Gundam boys but this was necessary. Next chapter, promise. Please review! :)

Disclaimer: I own neither Gundam Wing nor Sailor Moon. I suppose I own my own original characters, though…

-TC