It was late at night and Raye should've been in bed. It was after midnight, nearly dawn, and she had school in the morning. But Raye's mind was not settled for a good night's sleep. She'd been feeling strange auras for several days now and was deeply worried.
So now, with her grandfather fast asleep and thinking his granddaughter was the same, she sat before the fire in the temple with her two crows, Phobos and Deimos, seeking knowledge and guidance.
She waved the branch of charms back and force, cleansing the area of evil influences so she would only get the response of helpful spirits. "Cleansing fire," she whispered into the flickering light. "Lend me your guidance." She paused, praying deeply. "There is a strange force approaching and I fear what is to come." Around her Phobos and Deimos flapped their wings and squawked, giving their own ominous warnings. Raye calmly stirred the fire and returned to her meditation, willing a clear vision to come to her.
Suddenly she saw something, a flash across the back of her eyelids, her own personal movie. A film of the lowest quality. It was very blurry and out of focus and she wasn't sure exactly what she was seeing. Depending on her intuition as much as her sight, she cried out what she felt, "Oh, what is it? A beginning? What?"
She could see Sailor Moon's healing wand…a wand that had been lost ages ago in a small battle. She'd never thought about it before, but now Raye wondered briefly what had become of it. She saw Queen Serenity's face - a small stir of longing made a knot in her heart. Unlike Serena and Darien and perhaps Trista, her memories of her previous life, like the other Sailor Scouts, were limited. Serena was often reluctant to talk about it and Raye had never had the courage to ask Darien or Trista, but she longed to know what that life had been like. Even so, without her full memories, she knew Queen Serenity's face when she saw it. Her daughter bore a striking resemblance and Raye knew, from a quick visit she'd had to the future once while trying to save Rini's "mommy" - Serena in the future, it turned out - she knew that Serena would grow to become even more like her mom than she probably ever knew.
Focus on the vision. She reminded herself. There'll be time for longing later. She saw a bright flash - Queen Serenity was using her Crescent Moon Wand with the Imperial Silver Crystal attached. Raye's stomach gave a little jump. She knew what she was seeing! She was witnessing the moment when Queen Serenity had sent them to Earth! To the future! In hopes of them having a better and safer life, she'd sacrificed herself to give them a fresh start.
If Raye wasn't so drawn into what she was seeing, she would've wondered to herself if the life they were living would've pleased the Queen. Had she hoped they would become Sailor Soldiers and fight against the Negaforce and so many other evils? Would she be glad they had, to varying degrees, regained their memories and were working toward a new Silver Millennium, a millennium that Raye had already witnessed, and not in the vision type way? Or had she wanted them to live normal lives as normal teenagers, ignorant of their past or destiny? In truth, if they weren't Sailor Scouts, Raye doubted they all would've ever met, let alone become friends.
Raye watched, entranced, as she saw herself - a princess of Mars! Who would've ever thought such a thing? - and the other girls were frozen into moonbeam crystals and floated through space to their new home, Earth.
She'd barely had time to process this when another vision began to enter her mind. This one was less enjoyable to watch. She felt an awful sense of foreboding building in every part of her body. She placed her hands in front of her face, trying to separate the pain of the vision and the safety of the temple so she could keep a clear head. She saw buildings crumble and explosions going off…she wasn't sure if she was seeing the past death of the moon kingdom or the future death of Earth.
"And an end?" She cried out, barely aware that she was speaking. Then she saw them, the Sailor Scouts, fighting and, one by one, falling. Perhaps it was the third person point of view, but watching them, watching herself, didn't feel…right. It was like she was watching someone who looked like her, but wasn't her. Just a mirror image. She watched as these Sailor Soldiers fell and then, for a brief second, right at the end, she saw Princess Serenity, not Serena, but Serenity, screaming in agony, as if her heart was breaking.
Finally the torment went away and Raye was back in the Cherry Hill Temple again, alone except for Phobos and Deimos. She drew her traditional kimono tight around her throat, but despite that - and the heat from the fire - she was cold and shivering. And afraid.
"A beginning and an end and a great battle." She mused to herself. "It feels like the Negaforce! But we took care of them a long time ago! What can it mean?"