AN: As we used to say at Camp WIP: I was Alive, Alert, Awake, & wicked ENTHUSIASTIC this weekend. I also have LOADS of time on my hands. So enjoy another DOUBLE UPDATE.
Also a quick note, I'm a bit subtler with my foreshadowing than most. I've tried to be less subtle in this chapter. Basically, if it's a recurring detail, or you're not sure what purpose the detail serves to the narrative, it's probably foreshadowing of one kind or another. People have been asking about Neptune, for instance. Pay close attention to what's frustrating her in this chapter and see if you can figure out what's actually going on cause she's way off (my poor, stressed psychic). Of course you will probably be far too distracted by the battles… yes I did just say battles. Plural. Enjoy ;)
Disclaimer: Not mine. We're all square on that point, yeah? Wicked.
Last Time on Age of Aquarius: Fame and celebrity have become the norm and none of the scouts are happy about it. They've had to adjust, overnight, to the scrutiny of Tokyo's cameras and reporters. Not all of its been good attention and photos of their more public addresses are finally making it into the papers…
Consumption of the Flame
The noon sky suddenly darkened to the blackness of midnight during a new moon. Screams echoed from the streets below. From the roof, the sun appeared distorted by heavy bands of blackness, constricting around it until not a spec of its light shown through. The wind stilled. The life that thrummed through the planet jolted to a halt.
When the bands of darkness began to uncoil, the star was all wrong.
The sunlight that now shone down on the planet had aged billions of years. Everything was painted in deep, red light and time seemed to speed up to match the star's new age. Leaves withered in an instant, disintegrating off their branches. Rich forests became wood husks dotted through dusty graveyards. Volcanic eruptions ceased and earthquakes shuddered to a stop as deep below the crust the tectonic plates cooled into one, dead shell. The planet, in the blink of an eye, became a grey, cold ruin lit by the red light of a dying sun.
~AgeofAquarius~
At exactly 14:33 on Friday in Boston, Massachusetts, and 03:33 on Saturday in Tokyo, Japan, five people woke from the same dream in the same state of absolute terror.
Mamoru Chiba had not woken so suddenly from an afternoon nap in years, but the dream shocked him so badly that he fell off the couch in his Cambridge apartment and winded himself as he hit the floor.
"Your Highness!" Jadeite shouted for him as he raced from his room.
Mamoru sat up off the floor, running his hand frantically through his hair.
It was too early to call Usagi. She'd be asleep. He stood up off the floor and brushed off Jadeite's help, stumbling and then running to the window.
The normal white-yellow light peaking through the clouds shone down on the faint dusting of snow that still covered the city, and made the first of spring's budding leaves stand out brightly on their trees.
Mamoru leaned his head against the cold window glass, still trying to catch his breath, which led into a violent coughing fit, the kind that had been getting more frequent as the weeks passed. Even as exams closed in on him, he knew this was nothing related to stress. He could feel it if he concentrated: something was not quite right in the heart of the Earth.
"Your Highness?" Jadeite asked. Mamoru didn't even bother correcting him today as his friend pressed a glass of water into his hand. He took a large sip of it, letting the cool water stifle the next coughing fit.
"I need to speak with Helios," Mamoru said.
Across the world, Hotaru Tomoe didn't fall out of bed, but she did wake biting her hand to keep from screaming. She threw off her sweat soaked covers and clapped her hands, lighting up every lamp in her room.
It wasn't enough light. She curled her knees up to her chest and glanced out her bedroom window at the half moon. It was a normal, brilliant white. Surely that meant that the sun remained bright and normal too.
I want Mamas and Papa, she thought as she shivered. She tried to reach out for them psychically, but she wasn't that good at it yet and, in her frazzled state, she could only focus on the nightmare. Even with the moon clear through her window and the many lamps illuminating her room in a cool, calming purple, everything still seemed tinted the same red as the dying star.
She'd just picked her cell phone up off her bedside table when it rang and she accepted the call with a shaky swipe of her thumb. She held it up to her ear and whispered lest she wake her father in the next room. "Papa!"
"Heya, Sweet Pea," Haruka-papa's voice was warm and calm. "Bad vision?"
"Uh-huh," she sniffed.
"It's gonna be alright. Why don't you tell me about it."
She sniffed again and rubbed the tears off her face, wishing she had Papa here to rock her and feeling embarrassed that she was crying at all. Surely her Mamas had had the same vision just now. I'm so stupid; I'm crying and I bet they're already working on figuring it out.
Across the city though, it was not quite so. Michiru'd awoken nearly sick and awakened Haruka along with her as she'd scrambled out of bed. She and Setsuna had burst into the hallway at the same time, the same tight expression of dread reflected back at them from the other's too-pale face.
"Need this," Haruka asked Michiru, passing the Aqua Mirror to her. She grasped it in clammy hands and saw Haruka's eyes reflected back at her on the first glance, obscured partially by the turquoise of her own hair. She scrapped her hair out of her face hastily as she sought the image she and Setsuna desperately needed to see.
At last, Sol's image blazed out of the mirror glass in its normal bright, yellow. Haruka watched both Michiru and Setsuna sigh in relief and rub their hands over their faces. Michiru lowered the mirror to her side.
"I have to check the Time Dimension," Setsuna said, transforming into Pluto and summoning the Time Doors. She was gone in the time it took the two of them to blink.
"Hotaru…" Michiru whispered, and Haruka nodded at her, her phone already at her ear.
"Heya, Sweet Pea," she whispered as she put an arm around Michiru and walked the both of them down the hall to the living room. Never once in all their years together had Michiru ever been able to sleep after one of her visions. But she always insisted on seeing the sunrise. The living room and its balcony, on the east facing side of the building, were the perfect spot.
They'd been through two cups of tea and had just noticed the sky outside begin to lighten, when Pluto returned, shaking her head as she de-transformed and curling her hands into fists. An entire Time Dimension's worth of nothing. There was no hint that the sun would ever be in danger of dying in its early-middle age, nor a single sign that anything was even amiss. The path to Crystal Tokyo was still a blank expanse of fog. Michiru's future was still an anomalous nothing. And, Setsuna rubbed her temples; she had the worst headache.
"Nothing," she reported to Haruka when she walked up beside her.
"I'd got that much," Haruka said. "Come on, sit. Before you pass out." She guided Setsuna over to the couch where Michiru was already curled up against the armrest, gazing into the Aqua Mirror with furrowed brows and a deep frown. Haruka sat beside her and pulled Setsuna down with her. Haruka was prepared for Michiru resuming her place resting on her shoulder. She was unprepared for Setsuna doing the same. She recovered quickly though, wrapping her arm around Setsuna.
"Is Hotaru okay?" Setsuna whispered, sighing and curling into Haruka's side.
"Yeah," Haruka said, "Shaken up. Said she'd go back to sleep. I think she's lying."
"And the others?"
"Coming over tonight," Haruka said.
"Not that it'll do much good," Michiru complained, sighing and turning the Aqua Mirror over in her lap. "Nothing in the mirror. And Rei probably won't have any luck with the fire."
"So neither of you saw what's coming?" Haruka asked. Both of them shook their heads.
"Even with the warning," Setsuna whispered. "We'll still have to let it come to us."
Michiru affirmed that. "The only thing I'm sure of is that the vision means it's on its way."
The three of them stared out at the rising sun. As comforting as the sight of its normal, white rays lightening the sky was, they did nothing to dispel the dread that filled the three of them. Something was coming to threaten that sunrise. And they could do nothing but wait until it had already crossed their paths.
A few neighbourhoods away, in Juuban's oldest shrine, the final member of their group watched not the sunrise, but the high, dancing flames of the Great Fire. Rei was deep in meditation, concentrating only on the flames as the hours passed by, and accompanied only by Makoto, who'd broken down both of their doors at 03:33 that morning when Rei's scream had woken her.
She'd been trying to see for hours, but all the fire would do was play the dream back to her in more vivid detail. The sun disappeared behind the bands of blackness within 42 seconds. It reappeared twice as big and an aged, bloody red. It wasn't just the trees that would die: so would the flowers, the bushes, the vines, even the moss that grew on the older buildings. She'd felt the Pacific Rim's activity grind to a halt and seen Tokyo Bay freeze solid eleven times before she gave up at last.
"Nothing," she whispered, and Makoto swore as she reached out to squeeze Rei's shoulder. Rei frowned. The sunlight from the open door was far too bright for dawn. "You're late for work."
"Usagi and Nephrite have it covered," Makoto assured her. "Mina's on her way here."
Minako… Rei took out her phone and curled her hands tightly around it. She wanted to see Mina, but she was still mad from yesterday. "She's really getting up this early to see me?" Rei whispered.
"Why wouldn't she?" Makoto frowned. "She's busy, but that doesn't mean you're not important to her."
As Makoto talked, Rei checked her texts. There was one:
Minako 3: Swingin by soon.
"Swinging by" as in she's busy and can't stay long. Rei scowled and texted back.
"Route Venus": Don't worry about it. I'm fine. Go do your celebrity shit.
Minako 3: But REI… :(
"Route Venus": I'm still mad at you.
"I don't need her here," Rei told Makoto. "I'm fine."
Makoto sighed. "If you say so," she said, and slung a firm, muscled arm around Rei's shoulders. Her hand was comfortingly warm as it rubbed soothing circles across Rei's back. "You still feel shaky as hell," Makoto said. "What did you see?"
Rei took a deep breath, leaning into Makoto. She closed her eyes and tried to pretend she was Minako… while also trying to pretend that didn't mean she wanted to see Minako. "The Sun just… went dark," Rei began to explain. Goosebumps rose on the back of Makoto's neck as she listened. Her right hand flexed as if to grasp the hammer that was still on the bedside table in her room.
She didn't like the sound of this vision at all.
~AgeofAquarius~
That night's meeting confirmed only what they all already knew: that an attack of some kind was on its way. And also that in the 24 hours since their last meeting Rei's father had conducted another lengthy interview about her with the press (to make matters worse there's been international news outlets present). Minako would be gathering them just as much attention on Sunday as well, positive, she said, to counter whatever angle Rei's father was aiming for. Positive was a relative term to the rest of them though.
"You're going to sing… as Sailor Venus?" Makoto deadpanned as she raised an eyebrow at Mina. "Cause that'll really get people to respect us as crime fighters."
"It's not about respecting us as crime fighters," Mina insisted over the sound of the news playing in the background. One or more of them had been staying tuned to it all day, to say nothing for the alerts Ami'd programmed into the Mercury computer, all in the hopes of catching the enemy at the first sign of an attack. "It's about convincing them we're still normal after…" Mina bit her tongue. Rei still hadn't spoken to her all day. As it was, her girlfriend huffed and pointedly looked away from her. She was sitting on the other couch today. She'd gotten up when Mina'd sat down, even with Ami between them, and had promptly wedged herself between Usagi and Makoto.
"I agree with Makoto," Artemis piped up, everyone in the room turned to look at him where he and Luna were perched in the window to the kitchen. "They'll realize you're human soon enough. Mr. Hino's opinion won't be popular forever – especially the next time you have enemies to save people from."
"Yeah, I wouldn't worry," Chibiusa said. "The Venus in Crystal Tokyo – hey!" she rubbed her arm where Hotaru had elbowed her. "What?"
"Mama would say you shouldn't give away stuff about the future," Hotaru said.
"That I would," Pluto announced through their communicators. A second later, the Time Doors materialized in the penthouse living room and Sailor Pluto stepped out. Pluto nodded at Hotaru. "Thank you for keeping Time safe for me, Little One." She said before de-transforming.
Hotaru smiled and sat up a little straighter. "No problem."
"People do know we're human in Crystal Tokyo though, right?" Usagi asked.
Setsuna put a finger to her lips and shook her head – not simply because she couldn't tell them about the future – but because, since the timeline to Crystal Tokyo had collapsed, she had no way to know.
"Regardless I feel like a concert in your senshi form is the wrong kind of attention – especially after the magazine cover," Michiru said, her hair up in a ponytail today. She'd gotten frustrated with it around noon, by which point she'd checked the mirror upwards of twenty-five times. In every instance, her hair had refused to stay out of her face. Even afterwards there'd still been stray strands in her way every time she glanced at the glass – like now. She scrapped back her hair again and frowned. Haruka's eyes were still the first image she saw. She was starting to feel guilty about them. Clearly, the Aqua Mirror meant to remind her that she and Setsuna had yet to tell Haruka what had happened to Michiru's future. She focused on Minako, seeing tomorrow's concert and an older, darker haired look-a-like of Minako talking back stage to someone she recognized – an executive from Tokyo's largest record label. "All I see this concert doing," she told Mina as she turned the mirror towards Artemis, "is making you more of a sensation – it'll keep the public's attention on us longer."
"It's for charity," Mina protested. "I wouldn't do it if I didn't think it'd get us some brownie points."
Artemis leapt up onto Michiru's shoulder so he could speak more quietly to the three outer senshi. If anyone could talk sense into Minako… "She's been complaining about it for the past few days," he whispered. "She doesn't want to do it, she's making up excuses. It was Hikari's idea. And she's been all over Mina to do really, really well at it."
"It also sounds like it makes her a target," Haruka murmured. If there was anything she'd learned from their last encounter with a chaos agent, it was that they'd attack the Senshi first. This one had had no trouble at all going straight for trying to destroy the planets. She had no doubt the most public of them might be in the enemy's sights. "Where's this concert taking place?"
"In front of the central shopping mall," Artemis informed her.
The three of them tuned back into the Inners conversation just as Mina switched from defending herself to strategy.
"You said there was turbulence in the fire," she said to Rei, trying not to be hurt when Rei nodded without looking at her. "And Mamoru sensed something wrong within the Earth."
"Mhmm." Usagi nodded. "Helios and he can finally sense something. Mamo-chan thinks whatever's threatening Earth was sent here while we were away three weeks ago."
"So it noticed we were gone," Mina murmured. "I don't like the sound of that. Anyways," she nodded to Ami "Tomorrow, see if you can scan within the Earth – Elysion if you can get readings there."
"I'm sure Luna and I can work something out," Ami said.
"We'll get Mamoru's help if we have to," Luna confirmed.
"And me?" Makoto asked.
"Might want to close the shop for the day tomorrow," Mina advised, saying the same thing Haruka'd been thinking "If it can sense when we're away and attack at those times, it can probably also find us." She nodded to Makoto. "Best idea I have for you – and the three of you," she looked at Ami, Rei, and Hotaru. "Go to Lunar Command. Usagi and Chibiusa will be with you. You can all move together if there's an attack elsewhere, but if they attack the Command centre, your job tomorrow's to keep Usagi and Chibiusa safe."
"What!" Usagi and Chibiusa exclaimed at the same time.
"But we don't even know the attack will be tomorrow!" Chibiusa pouted. "I'm not hiding under the arcade."
"And I'm not hiding from whatever's coming," Usagi protested. "I've taken on this enemy on the Moon already – I know I can fight it."
"Exactly why it might look for you first!" Mina told her. "It's seen you and Chibiusa. It knows you're a threat." She looked to the Outer Senshi. "I'd rather know they're somewhere difficult to reach."
"I second that," Setsuna said, eliciting a startled sound from Chibiusa. "Serenity is integral to the future. Having her in a defensible location makes sense."
"We'll keep an eye out from above ground," Haruka said. "Or from 4th dimensional ground."
"So you're trying to keep everyone else safe," Rei worried. "And you're still doing the concert." She was finally looking at Minako, albeit to glare at her. "How is that smart?"
"Hey if they get it on camera at least they'll get good action shots," Minako insisted. She sighed. "Besides – the show must go on."
~AgeofAquarius~
"V! V! V! V!"
Sailor Venus stood a hair's breadth from the large, blue curtain, selected to make her uniform stand out even more on the stage. The cheers sounded duller than those that had cheered her on as a 12-year-old, nabbing members of the Dark Agency on the streets of London. They felt different than those who had applauded her triumph the when she'd stopped a Negaverse-instigated robberies in Tokyo. She lowered the microphone to her side. These cheers were different than the admiring praise of fans and rescued civilians. These sounded much less like encouragement and much more like demands.
What sort of leader's at the beck and call of anyone who wants to take a selfie with her? Mina frowned. She wished Artemis were here. He'd pointedly refused to get in the car with them that morning.
The music started from the speakers beyond the curtain. The cheering intensified into screaming chants.
"V! V! V! V!"
"Minako!" Her mother's voice in her earpiece made her wince. In her civilian form the volume would have been fine. Clearly no one had factored in her enhanced hearing. "You're on in 5… 4…"
"Wait," Venus whispered. "There's more important things I should be doing."
"Play the intro again," Her mother said to someoneelse. Then to Minako: "Mr. Hino's press conference the other day has everyone from here to AP's headquarters thinking you're temperamental vigilantes. Trust me honey. The best way you can help your friends right now is by giving them a positive reputation. Plus, don't you hear those fans? They love you – I know you can do this Mina. I believe in you."
"V! V! V! V!"
She took a deep breath and lifted the microphone back up, trying not to crack the cool plastic by gripping it too tightly.
"I just have to be V today," Sailor Venus muttered "V could act better than anyone. That's all this is. Acting."
And I'm supposed to love acting, she thought. Maybe all the fighting I've done's made me lose sight of that. I can love it again.
"V! V! V! V!"
"Fake it 'til you make it, Venus," she coached herself. She squared her shoulders, flipped her hair, and (as the second play through of the intro raced on) concentrated longest on putting a believable grin on her face.
When she'd almost convinced herself, the intro was fading. She ran out into the deafening cheers and blinding camera flashes.
"Hellooooo Tokyo!" she shouted into the mic. "Looks like we've got a full house tonight! Thank you all for coming out to support the Senshi Fund's inaugural donation event!"
"WE LOVE YOU V!" some one shouted. Then three more followed. Wave after wave of endearments were screamed in her ears.
"And IIIIIII love you!"
That's true, Venus thought, closing her eyes to block the crowds and the camera flashes. I love this city. I love its people… and I should love this. This should be easy.
She was grateful the cheering kept on another two minutes. It gave her the time she needed to remember the first song.
On the rooftop of a tall department store several blocks away, three other senshi and a white cat stared down at the bright orange singer on the stage. To her audience, she was probably dazzling. But these onlookers knew her better. Her dancing was far too stiff.
"I know that look," Sailor Neptune murmured. "She's trying to remember the next song."
"Sure it's a good idea for you to leave her alone down there?" Uranus asked Artemis, who was sulking on her shoulder.
"This is Mina's choice," Artemis said. "I keep trying to tell her this isn't what she wants, and she keeps not listening to me." He sighed. "I'm hoping if I'm not nagging her, she'll stop being annoyed at me and actually listen to what I've been saying to her."
"It's complicated when it's your parents," Uranus told Artemis. "I'd know that better than anyone."
"All the more reason you should trust your instincts with Mina," Pluto commented.
"What's that mean?" Artemis asked.
Uranus furrowed her brows, a thoughtful frown on her face. Finally she nodded. "I'll talk to her."
"Not too abruptly," Pluto cautioned. "Like I said."
"Trust my instincts," Uranus winked at her. "I gotcha."
"Are you supposed to tell her that?" Michiru asked, pushing back her hair (though the wind was blowing it away from her face) and gazing into the mirror again: still no sign of the enemy.
Pluto shrugged, turning so her sharp eyes could get a three-sixty view of the city. Still nothing. "Being blind is not a situation I particularly enjoy," she said. "At least Mina's future, I can help along somewhat."
"Does that mean there's someone else's you've lost track of?" Uranus worried.
When Pluto's gaze shifted towards the sky, Uranus backtracked. "You don't have to tell me."
It unnerved her when Pluto sighed and shook her head. "I do have to tell you," she whispered. "I just hadn't worked out how."
Haruka's eyes shifted between Pluto and Neptune. "Who…?" but she shook her head. "Tonight," she said. She shifted her gaze back to Venus and the crowd around her. "Now, let's just make sure nothing comes to hit the giant target Venus's made on her head."
~AgeofAquarius~
Beneath Crown Arcade, Luna, Sir. Nephrite, and Sailors Jupiter, Saturn, Mercury, Moon, and Chibi Moon watched the "Sailor V" concert on one of Lunar Command's monitors. The remaining four were loaded with streams of data. Everything from the morning news headlines to the top hash-tags was racing across the screens.
"The algorithm I designed will take the key words I input together with the trends and patterns that have emerged during our other major fights," Mercury had informed them when they'd arrived. "If there's mention of anything – anywhere, we'll know within seconds."
"I don't think Venus is having fun," Sailor Chibi Moon said.
"I just hope the enemy doesn't attack her," Mercury worried, biting her lip. "Even if Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto are standing by, she's still far too exposed."
Venus had sung through three songs, and Lunar Command had gone through 1.43 terabytes of data, before the screen on the centre-right flashed red. Mercury and Luna darted to it, Mercury isolating the data stream that had triggered the alarm and Luna pulling up a video feed.
It was from a cell phone, the fuzzy camera image blurry and shaky as the person holding the phone ran. But there was no mistaking the TV tower, or the black shadow twining around the top of it. They could just make-out the green light in the centre of the long shadow.
"Attack on the TV tower," Mercury said into her communicator, sending out a team-wide transmission. "We're en route."
"Standing by," Uranus answered.
"Copy!" Rei's voice shouted, sounding harried.
"Everyone," Sailor Moon nodded, holding out her hands. "Let's go."
The five Senshi and Nephrite joined hands in the centre of the control room and in a multi-coloured flash, they had teleported away. Luna focused back on the monitors. Venus concert was still playing on the left-most screen. The next three lit up with every camera with a view of the TV Tower as the final screen carried on analysing any and all data available to it. Luna sat up on top of the controls and watched Sailor Moon and the others appear at the tower's base, immediately dodging a blast of dark energy from the shadow circling overhead. It split into seven smaller shadows as she watched. Luna clicked a few buttons on the controls to get a better view.
She was calm as she watched Saturn take the first hit, her Silence Glaive Surprise dissolving just before. She was still calm as she watched Chibi Moon dive in front of two, launching an attack Luna'd never seen her use before. It reduced the largest shadow's size by half in a flurry of snowflakes. She was even calm as four and then eight more of the shadows rose out of the asphalt and surrounded the group of them.
Luna's calm she could attribute to many years of practice.
But it never stopped her from hating this part of her duty.
"Sailor Moon! On your left!" Luna shouted just in time for Sailor Moon to leap partially out of the way as a blast of shadow energy clipped her on the shoulder. She slammed into the ground and Luna winced along with her, but the stubborn Senshi of the Moon was back on her feet in seconds.
"You're gonna pay for that," Luna heard Sailor Moon shout as she leapt to avoid yet another attack – one that Luna hadn't seen coming.
I hate when we're powerless to help them, Luna thought as she watched all three views of the battle with a calm, tactical gaze.
~AgeofAquarius~
"Sailor Mars!"
"Miss. Hino!"
"Channel 4's prepared to offer a sizable donation if you speak to us!"
"Any response at all to your father?"
"Please!"
"Mars,"
"Miss. Hino,"
"Miss. Mars."
Rei scowled. She could still hear them, and the volume on her headphones wouldn't go up any higher. She yanked them free of her ears as Mina's voice soared through the chorus of the song she'd wrote for her at Christmas.
"Go talk to Venus!" she shouted at her empty room as she stuck her fingers in her ears. It did no good. She groaned. She could still hear the mob of reporters outside.
They had been there even before she'd woken up and the questions had bombarded her the moment she opened the doors of the shrine. There was no way she'd have made it down to The Crown without revealing the location of their base to the press. That was the last thing they needed: everyone knowing they had two alien cats who'd built the world's most powerful super computer under an arcade.
She heard several reporters scream and sat up in bed.
"Goddamn birds!" a few of them cursed.
Rei smirked. At least Phobos and Deimos are having fun.
She hadn't seen her Grandfather since he'd looked outside at 10, bemoaned that none of the reporters were attractive, and promptly declared it was as good a day as any for a holiday and a nap.
How can he sleep through this? She groaned and reached for her phone on the other pillow. No new texts.
Cause everyone else managed to get from home to the arcade without getting a camera shoved in their face, Rei scowled. Even Makoto'd managed to avoid the press cause she'd chosen last night of all nights to spend with Nephrite for the first time. Jerk, Rei thought. She could have at least come back to distract them while I snuck out. Then she sighed. And she's even more of a jerk cause she's so nice I feel guilty calling her that. She smacked her phone over her face. Stupid Makoto and her stupid, lucky, anonymous boyfriend…
She checked the news next, hovering over the live feed from Venus' concert for a whole five minutes before caving and clicking on it. Her remaining anger faded into worry as she watched Venus dance and sing her way across the stage. You seem like a robot…
She couldn't bring herself to look away, watching through a full half hour before her communicator flared to life.
"Attack on the TV Tower," Mercury announced. "We're en route."
"Standing By," Uranus said.
"Copy!" Rei shouted, jumping out of bed. "Mars Eternal Make-Up!"
She heard the shouts outside grow from loud to raucous, as she became Sailor Mars in a bright flash of red flames. She threw open her window and landed on the ground, leaping into the air amid dozens of camera flashes.
I hope I'm not too late to the fight, Mars thought as she landed on the shrine roof. She jumped again.
Halfway to the tall tree at the edge of the grounds something cold and heavy slammed into Mars side, exploding into thousands of shocks of freezing energy as it knocked the wind out of her and sent her slamming, shoulders first, into the ground.
"Is that an enemy?"
"What the hell?"
"Mars, what is that?"
The questions soon faded into screams as a rain of other blasts pelted the area. Many of the reporters left their equipment on the ground as they ran; those that did get hit glowed with an aura of black light and collapsed.
They didn't get back up.
"Mars Flame SNIPER!" Rei said, launching her attack and rolling away from another blast. She hit one of the shadows overhead dead-on, and it shrieked, a hole burnt straight through it.
Until it glowed faintly blue around the edges and the hole through it healed. Another bolt of dark energy launched at her. This one she blocked with her arms. She winced as the cold energy seared worse than the hottest fire even through her gloves. She scrambled for her communicator.
"Atta – ahh!" Something cold shot straight out of the ground at her feet, taking the communicator away with it. When the shadow spit it back onto the dirt, the metal watch was warped and twisted and the screen cracked. Mars glared and turned round, and round, and round.
The reporters had gotten away. Thank goodness. But she was surrounded – by not one, but four shadow creatures. She let off another two attacks near-simultaneously and dove through the gap her fire created. She ran for the cover of the tallest tree, all the while praying Pluto would bend the time rules just this once.
The Shrine! she thought to Neptune and Pluto. Help!
She had no time to get a response as another blast of dark energy exploded the thousand-year-old tree she'd hid behind into a millions-strong mass of splinters. Mars shouted as the wooden shrapnel stabbed into her arms and legs and rolled to her feet as she ran between another copses of trees. Her next attack joined forces with a World Shaking and a Violin Tide that reduced one of the shadows to the size of a golf ball.
But it was still there, the red glow surrounding it suggesting it would regenerate soon. And there were still three more plenty able to distract Uranus and the others.
So focused were they on the fight, that they didn't notice the determined group of eight photographers and one news caster who'd managed to run around the shrine and help each other up onto the roof, dauntless enough to get the footage that would make their careers and impulsive enough not to think about the consequences…
~AgeofAquarius~
Sailor Venus heard the communication in the middle of her sixth song, freezing on stage right in the middle of the chorus.
"Attack on the TV Tower."
Seven blocks away, Venus thought, dropping the microphone. It hit the stage with an ear-splitting screech.
"We're en route."
"Minako what just happened?" Her mother's voice shouted in her earpiece.
"Standing By."
"V! V! V! ... V?"
"Copy!"
"MINAK –"
Venus tore the ear piece from her ear and threw it down onto the stage as she leapt up, onto the top of it, and then onto the closest building, running towards the dark shadows she could now see hovering all around the TV Tower.
Halfway there, with the Love Chain already clutching in her fist, she stopped short, catching a glimpse of something in the window of a nearby office building. She looked at it. An explosion? She whipped around to see the view reflected by the glass.
It took less than a second for her to recognize the hill in the heart of Juuban. She was already running for it when she saw a burst of red flames collide, mid-air, with something decidedly dark and much, much bigger than Mars' attack.
I'm coming Rei!
~AgeofAquarius~
They'd been fighting for twenty minutes, and Sailor Moon had reduced seven of the shadows to plain, splinters of star seeds littered across the pavement, when Mercury realized something was wrong.
"There's seven of them left!" she shouted, pulling up her visor to double check the count of shadows swirling around the tower overhead.
"Gonna be six soon!" Jupiter shouted, knocking an extra-powerful Coconut Cyclone into two of the shadows with an impressive smack from her hammer. She stood in front of Nephrite, who'd been knocked into a building during the first round of attacks and hadn't moved since. He wasn't dead (she'd checked), but he'd have a helluava concussion when he woke up.
"But there should be eight!" Mercury exclaimed, launching an Aqua Rhapsody as Saturn covered her from another attack with a Silence Wall.
The young Senshi of Silence gritted her teeth. These things were strong. She looked up and counted. "There's five now." Saturn frowned. That including the two Jupiter'd just blasted chunks out of. Then the fifth disappeared too.
"They're not just disappearing!" Mercury realized as the remaining four launched a simultaneous attack. "They're going somewhere else."
"Moon Freezing Heartache!" Chibi Moon shouted, evaporating the attack in mid-air.
"Starlight Healing Therapy Kiss!" Sailor Moon's attack hit two of the remaining shadows while the others darted away. Splinters of Sailor Crystals plinked against the asphalt as the five of them jumped away from another attack.
"There's another attack 5.6 kilometers from here," Mercury added. "Near," she gasped. The next attack caught her off guard. Jupiter tackled them both out of the way as Sailor Saturn and Chibi Moon reduced the second-to-last of their attackers to dust in a tag-teamed effort.
"Where's the other attack?" Jupiter shouted.
"The Shrine!"
The five Sailors' eyes widened and Sailor Moon twirled her Moon sceptre into an attack position. She was almost ready to launch another Therapy Kiss. If only the damn attack didn't take so long to re-charge.
"They've been distracting us," Mercury continued, as she and Jupiter combined their powers to parry the next blast. Even amid the fast-pace of the battle, part of her mind was still worrying over how strong these shadows really were, and what that might say about future attacks if these were just their first foes. Even enemies knew you sent your pawns well before your knights and bishops.
And certainly long before the Queen…
Just then, the remaining shadow glowed bright yellow and split once more, into five. One shadow for each of them that split off in different directions.
"We need to finish this quickly," Sailor Moon shouted.
"We've got to corral them back together!" Mercury exclaimed. "Saturn, Chibi Moon, take the left. Jupiter,"
"The right," Jupiter shouted, already in position.
"Sailor Moon," Mercury said. "Can you take all five of them in one attack."
Sailor Moon nodded and raised her sceptre. "Let's do this."
~AgeofAquarius~
Neptune shouted as the twin blasts from two shadows exploded right through Space Sword Blaster. She knocked Uranus out of the way, as the attacks hit between her shoulders, sending the both of them tumbling across Hikawa's grounds.
"There just keep being more of them," Uranus gritted her teeth as she rolled them over, deflecting the next attack off the Space Sword. All it did was knock the weapon out of her hand.
"Dead Scream!" Pluto shouted as she ran in front of them. Her attacks could at least match the shadows' for power. The bright maroon attack exploded along with the next energy blast sending a shock wave across the grounds.
They'd managed, with Mars, to take down three of the originals so far, though not the fourth, which had split into a further five shadows, or the five who had appeared mid-battle, out of thin air.
"Deep Submerge"
"World Shaking!"
"Dead Scream!"
Their attacks merged as they rocketed through the air, striking one of the remaining shadows. The human scream it emitted sent chills racing up Uranus spine as a dull shard of crystal plinked against the ground.
She tried not to think of what that crystal was as Flame Sniper tore a hole in one of the remaining nine, and the three of them jumped out of the way of a counter attack. Uranus saw Mars dive away from another blast and shout as it hit her ankle accompanied by a snap. Mars got to her feet though, gritting her teeth, more fire already in her hands.
She was panting. Her face was red and bore more scratches than her arms and legs. The shadows had been dividing the four of them as much as possible since they'd come to assist Mars, and even as they slowly cut the shadows' number down, the fight was taking its toll.
"They've still got trouble at the TV Tower," Neptune said behind her. Uranus nodded. They wouldn't distract the others yet, not if they were facing a similar fight.
Just then the shadows overhead froze and flew higher, glowing many colors as more dark blasts gathered in front of them. Uranus summoned her sword back.
"Get ready," she shouted to the other three.
She was preparing a Space Sword Blaster to parry the next attack when she realized two things.
The shadows attacks weren't aiming for them.
And she hadn't been the first to notice.
"MARS!" Neptune shouted, but Sailor Mars had already sprinted across Hikawa's grounds, leaping into the air to cover a group of photographers who were cowering on the Shrine's roof. Space Sword Blaster and Dead Scream didn't hit the shadows until after they'd already launched nine, simultaneous blasts. The dark energy evaporated Mars fireball into nothing but smoke as it raced on and hit Mars in the chest. The three outer senshi stared as Mars body froze mid-air, seizing as the energy spread through her, enveloping her in darkness.
Neptune's next attack missed as the nine remaining shadows converged on Mars, enveloping her in a cyclone. The wind across Hikawa's grounds picked up and knocked the three of them back. The shadows spun around Mars faster, and faster. Uranus caught her gaze as she struggled in the dark spiral. Mars eyes widened. She held out her black-coated hand in a stop gesture. Uranus raised the Space Sword.
An orange blur raced past her.
"VENUS STOP!" Mars screamed over the roar of the shadows' cyclone. Uranus sprinted towards Venus as the wind and the roar picked up, dropping the Space Sword and diving towards her. She caught the younger senshi around the waist just as she prepared to jump towards Mars and dragged the both of them down to the ground.
"LET ME GO!" Venus shouted over the whipping wind. The shadows had completely covered Mars now. Venus kicked Uranus in the shins, elbowed her the ribs, and scrambled out of her grip. Uranus dived for her again, helped this time as Artemis appeared, in his human form, and cinched both his large arms around Venus shoulders. They held her back together as she reached out both her arms towards the vortex of shadows that was getting smaller and smaller.
"LOVE AND BEAUTY SHOCK!"
"DEAD SCREAM!"
"SUBMARINE VIOLIN TIDE!"
Their attacks converged on the shrinking cyclone from all sides, and Uranus heart froze mid-beat as the shadows teleported away mere moments before the attacks crashed together in an explosion of blue, red, and orange power.
Sailor Venus crumpled in she and Artemis' arms.
"REI!"
~AgeofAquarius~
Venus had not stopped pacing since they'd teleported into Lunar command and met Moon and the others there, exhausted from their fight at the TV tower, which now seemed a hollow victory.
"Her picture's been in the paper all week, and the shrine," Jupiter was saying as Mercury, Luna, Artemis, Saturn, and Pluto scanned a monitor each – all five and even the Mercury computer focused solely on scanning for Mars energy signature. The room was growing tenser by the second as the computer's instruments scanned farther and farther out from Earth's orbit.
Pluto could not see her at all. Mars future, bizarrely, was fine. Her present though…
"It's this enemy," Pluto said. "I haven't seen any of its movements since it appeared, it probably means I can't see it in linear space either. It is completely devoid of a connection to time."
It was not a comforting explanation. Venus paused in her pacing as the monitors emitted a different sequence of beeps. But they'd only shifted to another quadrant of space. She fisted both hands in her hair and resumed her trek across the room.
"We'll find her," Artemis said as his four legs easily kept pace with her. Venus glared down at him.
"We wouldn't have to if you hadn't held me back!" she seethed.
"We would," Uranus countered, she was mirroring Jupiter's pose – leaning against a column with her head bowed towards the floor. "All that would've change is you'd have been taken too."
Venus was about to snap back at her that then at least she'd be with Mars when the monitors erupted in a frenzy of sounds and the screen of the Mercury computer flashed bright blue. Mercury opened her visor and her eyes moved rapidly to the left and right as she read the information appearing on its screen.
"Got her," Mercury said. The nine of them joined hands in the centre of the room.
"Be careful," a groggy Nephrite told Jupiter.
"I'll try," Jupiter nodded to him, her new hammer tied round her waist. "No promises."
"Everyone ready?" Sailor Moon asked. She closed her eyes as they all nodded in unison. Her crescent mark and their tiaras began to glow.
"Sailor TELEPORT!"
~AgeofAquarius~
They appeared several thousand kilometres out from Earth's orbit, into a cluster of bright, multicolored lights who shot off a volley of energy blasts in a blinding array of colors the instant the Senshi materialized. The blasts of energy exploded in the middle of their circle, breaking their grip on each other's hands as a shockwave of cold raced through them.
They're like sunspots, Mercury realized as she and Neptune combined their attacks, freezing a cluster of the lights into immobile chunks of ice. The ice started cracking apart almost immediately. They appear dark in real sunlight, but out here…
Neptune and Pluto cried out suddenly amid the attacks raining on them from all sides. The Senshi all turned towards them – both of them had their hands clutched to their heads.
They tried to reach for Rei, Venus realized as Neptune raised her head out of her hands to deflect and attack with the Aqua Mirror.
"Something's attacking her mind," Pluto said in a strained voice. "She's nearby…"
Rei… Venus snapped the love chain as she spun around, squinting through the surrounding sunspots. "There!" she shouted, pointing her finger. The sun's light was shining on a sliver of rock, illuminating the outline of a hulking asteroid, its surface covered in pink and yellow ice.
"That asteroid's made of nitrogen!" Mercury shouted as she dodged out of the way of another attack. Jupiter covered her back, beating back the next volley with her hammer. "It's a Kuiper object."
"Then it shouldn't be out here," Neptune said.
"We need to get to it!" Sailor Moon declared, turning six of their attackers to dull, crystal shards with a well-timed Therapy Kiss. "Everyone! Get together!"
They raced back towards each other, grabbing hands extra tightly to keep from being torn apart again. Their tiaras and Sailor Moon's crescent began to glow as Moon and Venus led their voices.
"SAILOR PLANET ATTACK!"
They glowed the bright, rainbow of their combined powers. The circle of nine senshi punched through the blockade of sunspots. They soared up to the asteroid, zeroing in on the flares of red coming from its dark side.
"REI!" Venus shouted as they broke formation. Nine pairs of white boots skidded on the asteroid's icy surface. They all looked towards the red flares of light and gasped. Venus screamed.
Wrapped around the flares of Mars brilliant, red, power, were the massive coils of a giant, black snake. Its form was so dark it blended with the surrounding space, visible only thanks to the multi-coloured lights that shone out from each band of its body. Every color visible to the eye blazed forth from a plethora of symbols that covered the length of the snake. There was no rhyme, nor reason to them – all varying patterns, shapes, sizes, colours...
Could those be sailor symbols? Mercury wondered, covering her ears as the snake screeched. Its head swivelled towards them, empty, black eye sockets lingering over Sailor Moon and Chibi Moon.
Another flare of red, weaker than the last, flared out from between the snake's coils.
"REI!" Venus shouted, running forwards, Moon right behind her. They screamed as they crashed into a barrier that lit up just in time for Uranus and Jupiter to skid to a halt a breath away from it. Bolts of dark energy tainted with a rainbow of stars' colors raced through the now-visible force field. Venus, Moon, Jupiter, and Uranus threw themselves at it, attacks bursting from their weapons and their hands.
The shield rippled, but remained strong. The snake screeched again and Mercury saw the golden blast from her left just in time to swerve out of its way.
The army of sunspots had followed them, trapping them between the Snake's barrier and the edge of the asteroid.
"We need to keep them back!" Mercury shouted. Her eyes darted to Saturn who nodded, turning away from the snake and raising the Silence Glaive in a perfectly even horizontal line high over her head.
"SILENCE WALL!"
The black and purple barrier sprang up just as the sunspots let off a new volley of attacks. The multi-coloured energy blasts exploded across Saturn's defence, and the young senshi bowed her head, teeth gritted, as she went to one knee on the icy asteroid.
I have to hold the line, she thought, glaring up at the lights.
"REI!" Venus screamed again. All of them, but Saturn whipped back around.
The snake's coils had shifted, and through the gap in them, the scouts could see her. They cried out.
Mars was trapped in the snake's coils: her head bowed, and her eyes staring downwards. Her arms and legs were pinned at her sides by the snake.
"REI!"
Her uniform has gone to ribbons around her, the bright bands of her power entwined in the snake's coils as the red light in them raced away from her. Venus, Jupiter, Uranus, and Moon threw themselves and their magic once more against the barrier, to little effect. Venus cried out again, and so did Saturn. Mercury whipped around. The Silence Wall flickered.
"Aqua Rhapsody!"
"Submarine Violin Tide"
The combined attacks created a tidal wave that froze a cluster of the sunspots mid-attack. A Dead Scream shattering them before they could crack out of the ice.
"Here!" Chibi Moon shouted, running to Saturn and putting her hands over hers on the Glaive. The gem on her tiara glowed as pink and silver magic flooded into the Silence Wall.
Mercury backed up, along with Neptune and Pluto, as they covered the youngest senshi, and opened her computer and her visor, trying to focus on the dark barrier and not look at Mars, who she could see was weakening even without her scans. The remains of the Martian senshi's uniform and the symbol on her forehead were flickering, the glow around her dimming by the second.
At the barrier, Venus shouted to her team, eyes never leaving Mars. They all readied their attacks.
"JUPITER OAK EVOLUTION!"
"VENUS LOVE AND BEAUTY SHOCK!"
"SPACE SWORD BLASTER!"
"STARLIGHT HONEYMOON THERAPY KISS!"
Venus and Jupiter's attacks combined and hit the barrier high overhead at the same time as Moon's slammed into it from the other side. Uranus charged after her own attack, cleaving the Space Sword physically into the barrier as the others attacks made contact.
The screech caused by the impact accompanied a shockwave that knocked Jupiter, Venus, and Moon back and sent Uranus tumbling across the asteroid, Space Sword jerked out of her grip as it and she skidded in opposite directions across the icy surface. She only stopped spinning when Neptune broke formation, grabbing her hand and hauling her up right before she could hit the edge of the Silence Wall.
I have to use it, Sailor Moon's thought drifted through her mind as Neptune released her hand. Uranus turned back towards the barrier. Moon was standing right in front of it, her hands over the brooch on her chest.
"WAIT!" Neptune, Pluto, and Saturn shouted at the same time.
"She says stop!" Neptune gasped, hands clutched to her temples. Mars voice in her head was pained, but very, very adamant. Neptune made sure Sailor Moon was looking at her. "She says don't let it see the crystal."
All of them thought of the crystal shards trapped within the sunspots outside.
"We can't take any chances," Pluto said as Jupiter and even Venus backed away from the barrier, covering Sailor Moon.
Moon gritted her teeth and bowed her head, but lowered her arms, the Silver Crystal still safe and dormant within the brooch at her chest.
Mars screamed, and Venus charged forwards, Jupiter and Moon just behind her. They slammed into the barrier of dark energy together, still having little effect, but to momentarily disrupt the magic that flowed through it.
Uranus clutched her right side and summoned her sword, preparing to charge forward once more, when she saw movement on her left. Pluto was raising the Garnet Rod, her mouth set in a determined line.
"Don't!" Chibi Moon shouted as the Garnet Orb began to glow. She's not attempting a Dead Scream, Uranus realized.
"MAMA!" Saturn screamed, wincing along with Chibi Moon as another volley of attacks pierced into the Silence Wall.
"If this thing really does exist outside of time," Neptune cautioned, putting her hand over Pluto's on the Garnet Rod. "It might not be affected by Time Stop at all."
"We have to try something," Pluto said.
"Help us break that barrier," Uranus ordered. Together they launched their attacks. Uranus sprinted after the merged Dead Scream, World Shaking, Deep Submerge, and Aqua Rhapsody. She slammed into the barrier just as the attack crashed into it, alongside another, powerful Therapy Kiss.
The barrier merely flexed, light and dark bolts of energy fizzled across its surface, feeding energy back into the weakened areas.
Uranus hacked at the barrier with the Space Sword, hitting it in tandem with Jupiter's hammer as, beside her, Venus screamed, slamming her whole body over and over into the impenetrable force field.
The dark energy ricocheted through Venus, causing her muscles to spasm out of control and tears to roll down her face. She screamed through the pain and continued to pound away at the barrier, Rei, Rei, Rei. She needed to reach her. Rei needed her. Venus pressed her entire body flush against the barrier. Rei, Rei, Rei.
Glazed, purple eyes met hers.
Venus froze – a shock traveling through her as a spark of someone else's power brushed against her mind.
I love you… Rei's thought-voice was weak and strained as it reached for her, in the only psychic link they'd ever formed. And before she'd fully grasped what Rei had done, it began to fade.
"NO!" Venus concentrated on the spark, grasping for it, chasing it, back towards Rei whose eyes had just rolled back in her head.
The eight other senshi cried out as the snake screeched and Mars screamed. They watched, paralyzed, as the red ribbons around her rushed into the snake. The Martian symbol faded from her forehead. They gasped. The Martian symbol now blazed between the Snake's black eye sockets.
Pluto whipped the Garnet Rod over her head "Time St –" but she was cut off, mid attack, as a blinding orange light exploded near the barrier, accompanied by a scream.
"AREISA!"
The smell of sulphur filled the space around them as bright orange light exploded forth from Venus equally-glowing hands. The wave of acid washed over the barrier, disintegrating it. Jupiter, Moon, and Uranus stumbling back as Venus charged forwards, her Sailor symbol glowing brightly on her forehead as the same orange filled her eyes, her hair, her hands, and enveloped her whole body in power.
The giant snake shrieked as the bright guardian slammed into its coils, tearing the nearly-bonded red one free of its grip. The guardian's orange and white uniform glowed with an intensity that burned it just as Sol's light did. And then the guardian's uniform changed, transforming into loose orange pants, a halter top, and bronze accoutrements that blazed with the bright orange light searing forth from her eyes, hair, and forehead. The guardian raised her left hand, right shielding the red one from its gaze.
"PASSIONATE VENGENCE!" the guardian whispered. The bright orange power burst from her open palm. It screeched as the first flecks of acid stung its coils.
This guardian was stronger than it had thought. It tried to bind itself back into the asteroid but could not, its energy already too entangled with the red guardian's.
It needed to regroup.
"STARLIGHT HONEYMOON THERAPY KISS!" the bright, pink and silver light raced towards it from the right, but it had already torn a new hole in space. It escaped through the tear, out of the material realm, commanding its captured lights to follow.
The senshi shielded their eyes as the combined attacks of Moon and Venus turned the asteroid into dust. They looked around. All the sunspots had vanished along with the snake.
Saturn gasped and collapsed onto Chibi Moon as she dropped the Silence Wall at last. Neptune, Pluto, and Mercury rushed towards them.
And they all stared – as Jupiter, Uranus, and Moon stared – at the still glowing Princess of Venus who clutched Rei tightly in her arms.
"Areisa," she murmured, her eyes, too, still flooded with her orange power. "Areisa, Wake up!"
Sailor Moon stepped forwards, stretching out her hand.
"Aphrodite…" she whispered.
Aphrodite's head snapped up and she stared at Sailor Moon with wide eyes, shaking her head. That was Serenity? That couldn't be Serenity. Serenity was dead. And she's never had a senshi form. She took in the other Senshi. All their uniforms were so… different.
"Who are you?" she whispered and glanced down at Areisa again. Her forehead was bare – no sign of the beautiful, Martian symbol.
Where's the Moon Kingdom? Where're the Generals? Her hand drifted down to her torso, feeling only smooth skin where Kunzite's sword had, seemingly moments ago, run her through.
"Aphrodite, wait," Serenity's strange, senshi look-alike flew towards her, but Aphrodite turned away. It could be a trick. She clutched Areisa closer. Her power was so weak…
I need to get her safe, Aphrodite thought, eyes catching sight of the bright, orange light of her home, which shone even brighter than Sol. It was as though it was calling for her.
The scouts gasped as Aphrodite glowed again, pale yellow wings, like a butterfly's, unfolded from her back.
And in a breath, she had shot off, towards the sun, towards the inner worlds, appearing like a bright orange comet soaring through the sky.
~Á Suivre~
