When Nikko and Hikari arrive at the scene of the fight, the lunar senshi were entirely on the defensive and Mamoru was nowhere to be found, even if Nikko was sure he was there. Any attack the senshi threw at the shadowy figure was defused or redirected, playing havoc on any coordinated effort the senshi try.

"Transform, but wait until my signal to get involved," Nikko orders, tugging a gold necklace out from her shirt. Hikari nods in acknowledgement, pulling a similar necklace from her own collar. Nikko's necklace sports a small gold pendant in the shape of an eight-rayed star with a round red crystal set in the center. Hikari's matching chain has a gold Gemini symbol outlined with white enamel with a round cabochon emerald on one side and a pearl on the other side.

"Oh good, you did get my message," Apollo says, the caramel-colored cat easily finding his wards in their hidden vantage point.

"What message, Apollo?" Nikko asks, confused. Apollo looks sharply at Nikko but shakes it off quickly.

"Never mind. Do you have a plan?" Apollo asks, taking a silent survey of the battle.

"We were just about to transform and watch for when we're needed. Beyond that, there's no plan," Nikko answers. Hikari confirms with a curt nod.

"Alright girls. You should know what you're doing by now. Ganbatte," Apollo says before darting away. Nikko and Hikari know he had gone to find another vantage point farther away so he wouldn't be in immediate danger. The two girls check their surroundings to ensure their privacy and exchange a look. By unspoken coordination, they simultaneously raise their right hands to the sky.

"Star Crystal Power –" Nikko calls out, the red crystal in her necklace glowing brilliantly.

"Gemini Guardian Power –" Hikari calls at the same time, the three charms on her necklace lighting up but not nearly as luminous as the crystal in Nikko's necklace.

"MAKE UP!"

Apollo, who had not gotten as far away as the girls had thought, closes his eyes against the bright illumination. Looking back once the light stopped dancing from behind his eyelids, he sees the girls in their senshi forms and then darts to the vantage point he had picked as soon as he'd seen the battlefield.


From his vantage point atop a nearby fire escape, Tuxedo Kamen is bothered by his inability to watch the battle. Thoughts of Princess Aurora trample any other thoughts or observations.

"Stop thinking of me, Endymion. It will do you no good," says a soft and foreign voice in his head. He looks around, searching for the source of the voice he recognized as Nichiko's… Or was it Aurora's?

"Yamete, Endymion!" the voice persists. "Protect your Princess!"

He shakes his head, willing everything but the battle away, but no sooner was his head cleared than the memories form the Silver Millennium return to plague him. He manages to push through them to watch.

It still was not going well, but it hadn't gotten to the point where he would step in. He wonders idly if he would have to, with all the senshi there, but with most of the senshi's attacks being deflected or diffused, he probably would. Only Pluto, Venus and Moon's attacks were getting through with any effect, and very little at that.

The senshi that had been rendered useless by the antagonist's ability to avoid or control their attacks were starting to rally when his vision blurs over.

The Sun shone coldly as Endymion walked through snow-covered gardens with the red-haired Princess Aurora at his side. They took their rest under a barren tree on their favorite bench.

"Do you ever have any regrets, Aurora?" he asked her. "About this whole arranged marriage idea?"

She smiled up at him, her dusk-blue eyes twinkling merrily. "Oh as long as you don't, I'm sure I won't," she answered coyly.

"ENDYMION!" the voice shouts, bringing him out of the memory that had forced its way into dominance.

Simultaneously, he hears the shouts of the senshi yelling for Moon to move and the trademark shriek of Moon.

"SUN! WAIT!" an unknown voice shouts. Tuxedo Kamen watches, frozen, as the accumulated attacks the senshi had thrown at the monster races towards Moon. A blur of red hair and yellow fuku puts itself between the attack and Moon.

Throwing her hands over head, the unknown senshi shouts, "CORONA SHIELD!" as she brings her arms down in mirrored arcs, forming a dome of blazing light around herself and Moon.

A senshi with hair the same vibrant shade of red in another yellow fuku also runs, unnaturally fast, behind the dome. After the attack washes over the shield that the first stranger had thrown up, it collapses to reveal the first senshi still protectively – though now crouching – in front of Moon, a glowing circle lingering around the two of them.

The first senshi's fuku is a pale yellow with autumnal blue bows, and her tiara and choker sparkle gold. Her red hair was pulled into a style similar to Pluto's and, in her crouch, fell in pools on the ground around her yellow-trimmed white boots.

The second senshi, clad in white with golden yellow bows, looks far less friendly than the one that had protected Moon. The white inlay of the symbol of Gemini is offset by the gold of her tiara, and her blue eyes were like a cold winter sky just before dark fell. Her hair is pulled away from her face with a yellow bow, falling in a braid to the tops of her white-edged yellow boots.

The pair exchanges a glance before turning their attention back to their attacker.

"Star Light Lance!" shouts the cold senshi in white, a beam of light racing towards the youma.

"Gravity Spin!" shouts Sun, the circle of light moving to encircle the youma as the beam of light hit him, causing it to stagger for enough time for the other senshi to get their attacks off and actually have them do something.

The shadows fall away from the figure, revealing a man. That image disappeared quickly, replaced by what could only be called a demon. Standing at nine feet tall, the muscular creature was every bit of the typical depiction of Satan. Wearing only a pair of loose dark blue pants, the crimson skin and barbed, whip-like tail were obvious to all. The feet were indeed cloven, with three talons extending forward from each, while the hairless head was covered in a circular ring of horns, the color of bloodstained bone. "So both of the other two are here. I thought it would be easier to take the Silver Crystal from a weak teenager, but, instead, I find the Moon-Bitch herself. And Lady Sun as well. Did they teach you to fear me, so long ago? I doubt it. My name is Rizad, Moon-Bitch, and that Crystal is rightfully mine – and I will not be denied." And with that, Rizad vanishes in a swirl of shadows.

Rising from her defensive crouch, Sun turns and, with only a flash of eye contact with Gemini, leaves, boots clicking softly in sync with each other's steps. Moon rises from where she'd fallen in a daze of sorts and watches as they leave without a word.

"What the fuck?! Why'd you traitors protect the Moon Princess?" Uranus demands, being the nearest. Gemini whirls on her as Sun stops.

"Believe me, I don't give a flying fuck about your underhanded, backstab–" Gemini starts.

"GEMINI!" Sun snaps sharply, her manner icing over to that of a commander. Gemini bites back the rest of her retort obediently and the pair quickly disappears into a blind alley and they vanish despite close pursuit by Uranus and Neptune.

Tuxedo Kamen leaps away, his mind racing. He was thankful to the two Solar senshi but their intervention was puzzling. He wonders if they know of Serenity's supposed meddling with fate – or maybe Sun was simply watching over her younger once-cousin. More troubling, though, is the fact that the memories that had been so clear as to block out everything else only moments ago were nothing more than a memory of a memory now – gone the moment Rizad vanished.


"You could've gotten yourself killed," Hikari states, berating her sister as she brushes out Nikko's hair for the night as they sit at Nikko's vanity in their room.

"Are you putting my life over hers, imōto?" Nikko asks coldly, looking at her sister's reflection in the mirror.

"Damn right, I am. Serenity has her own senshi. Leave them to save their moon-brained–"

"Hikari," Nikko states, bringing Hikari up sharply. "I told you before, I'm not doing it for any of them; not for Serenity, not for Arcadia, not for anyone in the Lunar Court," Nikko continues, sadness mixed with resolve in her blue eyes.

"I know you're doing it for him. Damn it, onē-hime… You'll destroy yourself like this. I can't protect you from that…" Hikari's brushing slows and stops and she sets the brush on the vanity top and wraps her arms around Nikko, still maintaining eye contact with the mirror. Hikari's eyes express concern to Nikko vicariously in the mirror. "I'd do anything to see you not sacrifice everything for Endymion."

"What else can I do, imōto?" Nikko asks softly, her eyes sparkling with unshed tears.

"Stay away from him. I know you have a class with him but that doesn't mean you have to be anything more than classmates. The last thing we need is a repeat of the Silver Millennium," Hikari pleads, holding Nikko like she'd disappear if Hikari let go.

"Estella… If death didn't end this then, how can I hope to stop lov–" Nikko's voice cracks and dies, impaling itself on the word. " – How can I stop now, imōto-koi?"

Hikari's eyes mirror Nikko's sadness before her face disappears into Nikko's shoulder, her arms still wrapped possessively around her sister.

There was a soft knock at the door and Kishi peeks into the girls' room. "Is this a private party or can us poor males join?"

Hikari and Nikko give a sniff of response, and Kishi and Apollo are allowed entry. Hikari picks up the brush and resumes brushing Nikko's hair.

"So… I hear that the Sun Kingdom's formerly best kept secret actually worked rather well…" Kishi prompts, sitting on the bed nearest his sisters. Apollo leaps easily to the vanity top where he paces.

Nikko's eyes lighten with a small, self-satisfied smile that spreads infectiously to Hikari. "Yes… It was quite a trip… I know it wasn't the first time I've used the heshin, but the attacks and shield were…"

"Practically necessary with her throwing herself in front of attacks," Hikari interrupts playfully. Nikko scowls up at Hikari, but its effect is lost because of the smile dancing around her eyes.

"She did extremely well for her first time in actual combat," Apollo states proudly as he knew Gemini couldn't boast the same, perching on the edge of the vanity.

"I need to figure out a way for us to stay in contact when you two go off that won't involve the distraction our usual method causes," Kishi comments. "I would've loved to see Nikko in action."

"Trying to get herself killed, more like…" Hikari mutters.

"Now wait a minute," Nikko starts but is cut off by Hikari.

"I'm sorry. I have a good reason for saying that this time. You didn't know what you could do going into that fight, and I certainly didn't know… Even if it was someone worth saving –"

"Like Persephone," Kishi adds helpfully, referring to Nikko's clandestine adventures in Beijing a year and a half prior.

"Like Persephone, I still had no idea that you had that shield, or that the shield would be as effective as it was," Hikari finishes as she pulls the brush smoothly through the last length of Nikko's hair. Nikko sighs, accepting the criticism with what grace she had left.

"I guess," Nikko concedes with a sigh. "Just try to trust me. I know I'm relatively new to this and we don't know all I can do, but there will be times when there isn't time to tell you what I'm doing." Hikari accepts this with a nod as she moves to sit at her own vanity.

"So," Hikari starts, beginning to unbraid her hair, "what do we do about Endymion?" Nikko, who had started to put her hair into a nightcap, looks at Hikari with a sharply questioning look. "Well, you obviously want to help him, even though you can't. Serenity obviously doesn't know how to use the Silver Crystal because she hasn't gotten her own or her senshi's memories back yet, and it's doubtful that she'd do anything about it even if she could, given how she's benefiting from the arrangement. We could try to find the Earth Crystal, but we'd need Endymion's help for that… We'd need to convince him that we want to help for no other reason than to help him regain his birthright," Hikari explains as she loosely rebraids her hair.

"Why do we need to convince him?" Kishi asks.

"Yes, why? Hell, I can't get him to leave me alone at school…" Nikko adds. Hikari blushes and Nikko looks horrified. "You didn't…" she asks more than states, staring at her younger sister.

"You were upset! And that made me upset! So… I… Well… Ithreatenedhimthatifhecamenearyouagain,he'dhavetoanswertome…" Hikari responds, her blush going from pink to a red that matches her hair, only visible because of the mirror that she seemed to have forgotten was right in front of her.

"What?" Nikko asks, her voice a study in deadly quiet anger.


Disclaimer: I do not, as I've long maintained, own Sailormoon, nor the premis for any of the characters you recognize from Takeuchi-sama's wonderful story. I do own Queen Dawn Helios, King Solaris Suisei-Helios, King Twilight Helios-Tsukiou, Princess Aurora Helios/Nichiko "Nikko" Seino, Princess Estella Helios/Hikari Seino, Prince Orion Helios/Kishi Seino, all Zodiac senshi that may or may not appear (though no claims upon anyone else's interpretations), the premise of the Sun Kingdom and why everythign went to the proverbial shitter at the end of the Silver Millennium (which I also do not own).

Read, Review and Enjoy the story!
~Glimmer