PART 2!!!!!!!

Sailor Moon

"Never Ending Story"

A blush covered her cheeks as she realized that the cloak had fallen off her body. As she pulled it back up to wrap around her body again, Hotaru saw Morva-the way he was now-standing behind her in the mirror. She turned around and saw that she was only dreaming. Hotaru let out a heavy sigh and braided her hair as she returned to her room to get dressed.

Whether Morva knew it or not, Hotaru wasn't going to let the man she loved slip through her fingers yet again.

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The ground beneath her booted feet made no sound as she walked towards the collapsed palace on the Mimas moon surface. Hotaru wasn't afraid of what she'd find on this grave quiet moonscape. She was more afraid of who she wouldn't find. It was evident that this moon had once had seas covering it, since Morva was a sea-type and commanded water Manticores. Without that water, none of them would've survived. She looked around, feeling sick to her stomach.

"Did I really do this to his home?" Her voice was soft but it carried her worried sick feelings into the silent distance.

"No, you didn't. Apollo did."

Hotaru wheeled around as saw a young man with scarlet hair and pale as the moon silver eyes. "You're a Vestian from the under levels of the asteroid."

"I see Morva was right to love you." He smiled. "I'm Marius. My brother was helping Morva and then Apollo came and killed him. I, being the younger brother, was shoved into the mines while he died in the forge. I came here to find anything useful."

"You won't get too far without a Saturian." Hotaru told him, not sure why she was going to trust this young man. If Apollo could change his appearance, then whose to say the other Solarians couldn't as well?

"That's what I said but you don't have your memory so I'm SOL." Marius shrugged heading towards the palace himself.

"Show me your chip."

Marius didn't stop. "No way in hell. Morva's girl or not-I ain't stupid. You'll kill me for it."

Hotaru moved her cape off her shoulder and pressed the one in her shoulder. Marius gripped his own and bit back pain. "I've got one too, Dumb Ass. Anyone shipped to Terraphis 9-to the mines there have one of these chips. I was put farther down in the shafts than you were."

"How did you know about the chip?" Marius asked as she walked passed him.

"Easy-your hands are wrapped in strips of Terraphian leather. It was the common method to protect the hands from the manacles and from the tools." Hotaru remembered the stench of stagnant air and sweat as intergalactic creatures were forced to work in the mines. It was apart of her "Journey of Repentance" Serenity had sent her on after killing Apollo the first time. "And your shirt doesn't cover the brand on the side of the base of your neck."

She tapped his brand, making Marius's hand fly up to cover it. She moved her cape from around her neck and showed him the brand that had showed up the previous week. That's when the memories of the mines had returned. They were still fragmented but at least she had a few more. And touching his skin allowed her to prob his Star Seed without him realizing it. Yeah, he was really from the Vesta Asteroid. She could trust him…for now.

"Damn, they had you down deep. So, you remember the mines." Marius hustled to catch up with her. "What else do you remember?"

"Fragments mainly. Pieces that have a lot of things missing from the middle." Hotaru answered stepping over the rubble before ducking below and arch way that had fallen. Stepping into the palace, Hotaru found herself up to her waist in waster. "Fan-flippin'-tastic. Water to my waist and I'm wired for land combat."

"I worked in forges and mines all my life and I'm not a swimmer either." Marius slid into the water behind her.

"I can swim higher than the Olympic athletes. I was raised by the Princess of Neptune." The Saturian young woman answered wading through the water. "Good thing I'm not wearing my armor. I'd be weighed down if I tripped."

Marius followed close behind her but not too close since he knew she was jumpy about being in the water. Morva was right. She had adapted to Earth life but she was still a land Chimera. If Morva wasn't her boyfriend, Marius would've deffenantly given into his hormones. It was just something about women with black hair that he found irresistible. And having them tough made them worth trillions. Oh, how working with her was going to be hard.

"How many swamp worlds have you been on-that you can remember?" Marius asked as they came up to a fallen archway.

"Not sure. Remember land and trees, not water." Hotaru took a deep breath and slipped underwater, swimming through the archway. Marius followed suit, surfacing in a dark room. "Welcome to the control room. Mine's a different design but more or less the same floor plan."

"Great-cookie cutter castles." Marius growled under his breath. Hotaru froze suddenly and he bumped into her back. "Why'd you stop?"

"There's something in the water."

That was news to Marius. There was something in the water and it made her really nervous. She backed up against him, pressing her back to his chest, swallowing hard. She was scared, nervous-like she was a long tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs and chainsaws.

"Mimas…Mimas! Online-now!" Hotaru ordered, panicking. The submerged computer started glowing faintly. A flickering image of a chibi shark like creature treading water appeared near Hotaru's elbow.

"Greetings, Ameus of Titan." The creature said.

"Pleasantries later, Mimas-what the hell did Apollo leaving in this place?!" Hotaru snapped.

"A Meratherian Shark wolf, Morva's beast." Mimas's image flickered and the voice tweaked a bit. "What is the issue?"

Hotaru's eyes caught the shadow of a large swimming monster. "I'm land based and I'm 2 inches from being shoulder level in water!"

"Ah, yes that would be a problem." Hotaru hated that calm yet worried look flickering on Mimas's face. "Um…I-I-I-I-I-I-I-"

"What the hell is wrong with it?" Marius asked, the shadow moving closer to them.

"It's been offline and damaged for over 10,000 years-you tell me." She shot back, watching the shadow as it moved closer. "And no-the water isn't a factor. Morva is sea based thus his castle is waterproof."

"You ain't-that's for sure." Marius earned a glare over her shoulder. The shadow darted forward and bit into Hotaru's leg, dragging her underwater. "Aw, shit! Morva's gonna kill me!"

Pain seared up her leg as blood trailed in the water. Hotaru couldn't breathe and being free of the bastard that had her leg was unheard of. The Shark Wolves were truly a brutal race of beast. Water rushed around her, making her feel compacted, packed down-in a word: TRAPPED. The shark wolf was swimming far too fast for her to get the blade in her boot. The beast dragged her down deeper, into dark heavy water. The weight in her chest grew, forcing her to release the used air in her lungs. She was drowning, dying. She was a victim…

If you didn't already figure, Hotaru's original "manufacturing" only had her for Land combat. She was NEVER supposed to go in the water. But As a Modern Jpn girl, Michiru made sure she knew how to swim. So Hotaru can swim but she's still a fish out of water...excuse the God-Awful pun...