Crystal Shards
Title: Crystal Shards
Author: kazeko
Chapters: 13
Show: Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon
Series: no
Couples: Usagi/Mamoru, (Uranus/Neptune)
Time: SMR immediately following Every Cloud
Summary: The last seven episodes of Sailor Moon R, but a little different.
Disclaimer: I don't own Sailor Moon, Takeuchi Naoko, Toei & Kodansha do.
Chapter 6: Sacrificial Lamb
"They really are powerful, all together like that. Maybe we could break them up?"
Demando smiled at his queen, flicking his fingers over his viewing screen and watching the activity on Earth. "We need not be hasty, my queen. Come here and show me these friends of yours in their human form."
Usagi waved her hand over the screen, the black crescent on her forehead glowing as she used the powers of the black crystal. "They are here, at Rei's temple. All eight of them. I do not see your traitors."
"They do not concern me. Emerald has no power that she did not receive from the Black Crystal. I have devised a way to block her access to that power, and she will cease to be a threat in our next encounter."
"But will we have enough power to defeat all of the senshi? They receive their strength directly from the planets, and we cannot block that off."
Demando waved his hand again, and his screen showed Tokyo, a tiny black crystal sitting innocently in the center of the city. "Wiseman. Come."
The robed figure appeared, anger glowing in his eyes. "Yes?"
"Create a link to the future so I can pipe energy from the Black Crystal to create a small one here we can draw power from for our next attack."
Wiseman nodded and vanished, Usagi watching long after he was gone. "I don't trust him, Demando. I don't think he likes your decision or me. Can I kill him?
"Eventually, my sweet. But I need him for now; he's the only one who knows how to control the time portals."
Chibiusa whimpered and tugged on her mother's hand. "Mama? I'm tired."
"Get Endymion to take you to bed."
"But I want you to come tuck me in! Please?"
Usagi smiled lovingly and nodded at Endymion. "We'll be back," she informed her prince as Mamoru took the little princess and followed the blonde into the rooms the prince had given them.
Saffir waited for the three to vanish before stepping into the light. "Brother, I don't trust that prince."
"Last time you didn't trust my new queen. Don't tell me you would have preferred to see Emerald by my side."
"At least she doesn't bring her old lovers into the mix! That prince will betray you and take your queen with him." Demando snorted, and Saffir laid a concerned hand on his brother's arm. "Please, hear me out. You can't underestimate the bond those two share. I read the memories you hid from that girl, and I know more about her previous enemies than you can imagine. Queen Beryl made that mistake, but the princess's love for her Earth Prince saved him and destroyed Beryl. I don't want to see you get killed."
Demando dropped his head. "I know, Saffir, and I sense the truth in your concerns. She has no inhibitions left, and if she chose to cheat on me with her new pet, she wouldn't see it as anything bad. What do you propose we do?"
Saffir sighed. Finally! "Make up some excuse to send Endymion, alone, to attack the senshi and 'forget' to destroy Emerald's link to the crystal. He'll be destroyed and she, utterly distraught, will turn to you. The child has no emotional link to the prince, just her mother, so she should still trust you enough to eventually release her power, like we need. If you don't do this, you risk losing your queen."
Demando placed his hands on Saffir's shoulders. "Thank you, brother. It's nice to know that in the midst of all this chaos we still have each other."
"I will always be on your side."
"Serenity, I have use for your pet."
"Hmm? What's that?"
"I propose a sneak attack on the senshi. He my be able to take two or three out, and if he manages to kill even one of the younger ones, the older version will cease to exist and the future will change."
"It sounds dangerous. What if he gets killed?"
Demando smiled kindly at his princess. "It would be the ultimate test of his loyalty, don't you think? Don't fret, my queen. I will find you another pet and another caretaker for your daughter."
"I can take care of her fine," Usagi growled. "I don't need him. Endymion!"
The man dressed in black appeared beside the throne, head bowed. "My queen?"
"I want you to head down to the temple and kill as many of the senshi as you can. Aim for the younger ones; if you kill them, the future ones will cease to exist."
"As you wish, my queen." He vanished.
Chibiusa stirred in her sleep, opening her eyes. "Puu?"
"Hello, Small Lady. You grew up so beautifully." The woman leaning over the young princess was not the woman she had grown up knowing, and she searched her memories to find one image of an older Pluto with the double skirts, ribbons, long gloves, tall boots, and the stars that marked her as a Star Senshi.
"You were there when I was a little baby," she whispered. "But you switched places and the one at the Time Gate isn't you."
"That's right. I'm Sailor Star Pluto, the Pluto of your time, and I had to leave Crystal Tokyo to perform important senshi duties in other star systems. The Pluto you know comes from a time long before you were really born, and she will return to her time when this crisis is resolved and your mother is healed. I remember you from her experiences."
The thought of her mother made Chibiusa sit up, pointing at the closed door. "But my mother's fine. She's out there."
Pluto sat on the bed beside the girl. "Small Lady, do you remember what I taught you about time paradoxes?"
"Yes. If the past is changed to travel down a different path then it did before, the person who changes it may cause certain persons and events to not happen, to vanish."
"Very good. Now, that young woman out there is Usagi, the princess Serenity of the past. She is not your mother yet."
"I know, but she will be."
"Not if this past changes. If you do not do something to heal her, to save her from the dark influence of the Black Crystal, your mother, your real mother in the future, will be evil and your father will die. If he dies, you will cease to exist. I don't want that, Small Lady. You have to save your mother and yourself."
"Puu," she whispered, her tiny hand grasping the older woman's as the senshi stood to leave, "why do you care about us so much?"
"Can you keep a secret from Usagi and the senshi of this time?" Chibiusa nodded, and Pluto cupped the girl's cheek in her hand. "Long ago, in this magical time of peace called the Silver Millennium, there was a young Princess of the Moon named Serenity. They're all named Serenity. She met the princess of Pluto, and we fell in love. We loved each other so much that I couldn't leave her to a king. I became that king, and we had a daughter. That little girl grew up to be a beautiful princess, and I returned to Pluto. I hid from my child and the Silver Millennium fell. Everyone I knew and loved died that day, but they were reborn. And that little princess grew up to be Neo-Queen Serenity of the Moon and Crystal Tokyo. Your mother."
Chibiusa's eyes had widened with each word of the story, and she touched Setsuna's arm, shocked. "Grandma? You're my grandma?"
"I am. And now there is someone waiting for me, so I must go. Remember, Small Lady, your mother loves you, but so does your father. The senshi love you, and I especially love you. Fight this, Small Lady, and be the strong princess I know you can be. You have the power to save her if you can just believe in yourself long enough to find it. Goodbye, and good luck." Pluto kissed the crescent moon on Chibiusa's forehead, and it flashed gold for a second as the tall senshi vanished. She stared at the empty corner, tears gathering in her red eyes.
Her dark thoughts were interrupted by Usagi floating into the room, her dress whispering along the marble floor. "Hey, sweetie. What are you thinking about?"
"You're not the only one, Mama."
"What?"
"You're not the only one who loves me, Mama. Mamo-chan loves me, and so do Rei-chan, Ami-chan, Minako-chan, Mako-chan, and Luna and Artemis, too. Puu especially loves me. So why are we up here fighting them down there? I want to go back to them, Mama. I miss them."
Usagi pulled her daughter into her arms and headed for the throne room. "You're just a little confused, Small Lady. I'm sure you'll feel better soon. Come, Prince Demando wants us to watch something."
"How could I fail her? I should have gone, I should have tried harder. What would Queen Serenity think of me now?"
Artemis rubbed his head against Luna's, knowing that no one could comfort her. The black cat laid her head between her paws and cried, her tiny mewling sobs pitiful in the silence of the shrine. Young Rei stared outside at the gentle wind, her best friend sitting behind her, understanding her pain. Makoto was leaning against the wall, unable to sit, unable to relax, arms crossed over her chest. Ami was too stressed to do any of the work that was due after the brief break from school, and she tapped absently on her computer. The older senshi were more active, though their pain was just as obvious. Minako and Rei were outside the open door, strolling under the whispering trees, not touching, but there was a bond between them that the younger senshi would have seen if they were not so tired and so worried. Makoto and Ami sat on the front step, each comforted by the very presence of each other. In a corner far away from the senshi, Emerald sat with her legs pulled up to her chin, emotions she had never experienced before flooding her mind and heart. She felt sorry for the senshi, and she wanted them to be happy again. What were these strange feelings and why did she want to help the senshi so much? The twins watched the strange emotions cross their queen's face, and they looked away, unable to understand or help.
Young Rei suddenly stood and headed outside, the other three young senshi following her. The two cats, twins, and Emerald moved to the stairs, watching as the eight Sailor Senshi gathered at the foot of the stairs. They stood there, all wondering what to say, until their guest from the Black Moon Family said what they were all thinking. "It's pretty close to hopeless. Unless they make a mistake or one of them returns to normal, we don't have a chance. Demando is growing a smaller version of the Black Crystal downtown, and the next time we meet, Kiral, Akiral, and I will have our link to the crystal severed. We have no power of our own. We will all fall, and if you younger senshi die, your future selves and the Crystal Tokyo you built with Queen Serenity will cease to exist."
"I know," the older Minako whispered. "I hate feeling so helpless. We can't even return to our time until we get the Time Key from Small Lady. If we cannot succeed, the past and the future will fall."
"Really?"
All eight senshi spun at the mocking voice, groaning when they found themselves facing the corrupted prince of Earth, the darkness in his eyes matching the color of the bracers on his wrist. He pulled out a sword from one of the two scabbards at his waist, and the senshi knew instantly that it was not the one he used as the Earth Prince. The black metal gleamed in the light, mocking the senshi and demanding that they fight. Emerald readied a shield as the eight senshi summoned their varied henshin sticks, the older Minako calling out the order. "Min'na, henshin yo!"
"Mercury Star Power . . ."
"Mars Star Power . . ."
"Venus Star Power . . ."
"Jupiter Star Power . . ."
"Mercury Eternal . . ."
"Mars Eternal . . ."
"Venus Eternal . . ."
"Jupiter Eternal . . ."
". . . Make Up!"
Endymion lunged, his sword cutting through Emerald's shield as he aimed for the young Mercury, logically deducing that she was the weakest link in the senshi chain. She jumped back, Jupiter jumping in front of her as she blasted the prince with a weakened version of 'Supreme Thunder', pulling her friend away. The others also attacked, careful not to injure the prince, and the older senshi tried to protect their younger selves. The Bull Brothers stuck to physical attacks, careful not to do anything more than scratch him and keep him from killing the senshi. Finally, tired of the game, Endymion wrapped himself in black power and lunged at the closest senshi, Star Mercury. She easily created a shield of ice, unconcerned at the weak attack, but he tricked them. He released his sword as he stopped in front of Star Mercury, and it flew forward with his momentum to pierce the belly of the next closest senshi.
Sailor Star Mars gasped, eyes wide in shock, as she stared at the sword imbedded in her belly. She looked up at her wife, amethyst eyes full of tears, as she fell to the ground. She wrapped her long fingers around the blade, struggling to pull it out as her blood pooled on the ground under her. She collapsed as her transformation faded, and Sailor Star Venus whirled on Endymion. Pulling a jeweled sword out of thin air, she swung it at Endymion and hit him on the side of the head, knocking him into a tree ten feet away, out cold. She dropped her sword and fell to Rei's side, tears streaking her cheeks.
"No," she whispered. "Don't leave me. This can't be the end, Rei. This can't be the end. You promised we'd be together forever. Don't lie to me. Please." She grasped the blood-slick hilt of the sword and gently pulled it out, eliciting a gasp of pain from her lover. The Senshi of Flame reached out and took Minako's hand, smiling weakly.
"I'm sorry. I never meant for this to happen. Please, don't follow me. There are others who need you, and I don't just mean our princess."
"Rei—"
"It doesn't hurt so much," she lied, eyes closing. "I'll see you again."
"REI!"
TBC