Age of Aquarius (ACT 61)

by TheElephantInThePrideParade

Companion to "Pax Lunae" set 2 years post "Sailor Stars." An enemy that has not been seen since the time of the Primordial sailors is making its way into the universe again - the senshi will need even more power to defeat it - on top of the challenges that befall them in their everyday lives. ALL SCOUTS. Pairings: Reinako, Usamoru, Makorite, Setsuna/Haruka/Michiru.

10. The Reborn World

AN: Hope you enjoyed learning about Aphrodite's past, now let's get back to the present time. Something's still up with Michiru (I'm still throwing at least one clue into every chapter), Hikari Aino is still a five-letter-word-that-starts-with-B, and Rei's been grievously injured by an enemy the scouts now realize is much, much stronger than they are…

Sorry this is late as well, on top of a ten hour train journey, and settling into a new camp, I've been sick all weekend. Which is terrible motivation for getting things done. But I have this for you. Because I love this story, and I love all of you. So enjoy :D

Disclaimer: These renunciations of all things Sailor Moon canon are surely getting repetitive right now. At this point, pretty sure the only character I could claim to own would be Kara Aino seeing as she's technically the only OC in this fic so far.

Last Time on Age of Aquarius: Sailor Venus regained her memories of being Princess Aphrodite and, confused from the two sets of memories sorting themselves out in her head, retreated with an injured Rei to the one place she and Aphrodite both knew to be safe – their homeworld.

The Reborn World

Mina… Kara thought, raising the telescope to her eye again.

She'd been up on the roof since it got dark, when Mum and Dad had turned on the evening news. All they could talk about were the Sailors and the daring footage taken at Hikawa Shrine that afternoon. They'd played all the way through the battle. Kara'd left as soon as she'd heard Mina scream for Rei. She'd only been able to hear it once before retreating to the roof, feeling sick.

She scanned the sky again. The news had been speculating that's where they were – out in space… trying to find Rei. She could see the stars really well tonight, but – Kara sighed – no sign of her sister.

She heard something creak and turned, There was Artemis, hopping off the gutter and up onto the shingles. He smiled as he walked up to her.

"They won," Artemis said, and he hopped up onto her shoulder just like he did with Mina. He was so warm and soft. It was really comforting to hear him purr. "And they've found Rei." He flicked her nose with his tail and she smiled a little, reaching up to scratch his head. "I'm sorry you had to see that on the television."

"Is it always that bad?" Kara whispered. "Were you there, was it as bad as it looked on TV?"

"I was there," Artemis sighed. "You actually saw me on camera. They thankfully didn't catch my transformation."

"You were the man who kept her back!" Kara realized. "So you're really a human?" Kara asked.

"No," Artemis scoffed. "I'm from Mau."

"Where's that?"

"Very far away," Artemis said looking back up at the stars with her.

She shivered, Artemis was making her shoulders warm, but that meant the rest of her felt cold. She drew her knees up to her chest. "So Mina's alright."

"Well… yes." Artemis said. "It was a tough battle," he began and Kara gulped. That means there's something bad…

"What happened to Mina?" she whispered.

Artemis sighed. "I don't know, yet – only that she's okay."

Kara shivered again, though not from the cold. She picked up the telescope one more time and scanned across the sky, gasping as a cloud shifted to reveal a bright, orange planet.

"That's Venus!" she exclaimed, checking again.

"Where?"

"No the planet – see!" and she held the telescope for him before moving it back to her own face. Venus was so bright – like a giant star! It almost hurt her eyes. "The moon looked like this when it grew all those plants and oceans," Kara breathed. "Did Mina do that?"

"She almost definitely did."

As she watched the bright orange planet, something else of the same color streaked across the telescope's field of view – like a very small, orange comet. Kara gaped. Had that been Mina?

"Like Shingo's…" she heard Artemis mutter.

"What?" she said. And it was as she took the telescope away from her face that she saw what he had.

It was hard to see – the moon was partially obscured by clouds – but she could still make out the darker mark on her pale skin. She traced it out with her finger: a Venus symbol.

Shingo'd said he and his parents had found crescent Moons on their wrists right after the Moon had reawakened.

"Don't tell your sister yet," Artemis cautioned. "We're not sure what they mean."

"This is so cool," Kara whispered, her voice rising to a shriek by the last word. Then she gasped.

"What?"

"Mom's gonna flip," Kara worried, scrambling across the roof to her sister's window. She'd never tease her sister about having so much make-up ever again. "Come on! I have to hide it," she said, and Artemis hopped off her shoulder to help her pry the window open.

She'd just got the cover-up to look right when she heard her mother shriek and something in the kitchen shatter "What the hell is this?" Artemis and she traded glances. As Hikari called: "Kara!"

"Coming!" she shouted back, glancing back out the window. The orange planet was still as bright as ever.

I hope you're okay, Kara thought as she ran to see what her mother wanted.

~AgeofAquarius~

"You were right, Sailor Moon," Luna's voice announced as her grainy image popped up on the old monitors of Castle Magellan's computers. All the senshi around the room relaxed. "Aphrodite's just passed the Earth… she's on course for Venus just as you thought."

"I can see her now," Mercury added, peering out Magellan's high, narrow windows with her visor.

"Thank you, Luna," Sailor Moon said. "And the asteroid?"

"Still analysing the data Mercury sent," Luna said. "But it appears no trace of whatever you encountered remains."

"At least we know Venus can wreck it," Jupiter muttered, sparks of static zipping through her hair.

"Don't be too confident," Uranus shook her head. "We'd have been sitting ducks without her. The sunspots alone nearly defeated us."

"But it retreated," Chibi Moon said. "So it knows we're stronger. It doesn't stand a chance."

"Or it underestimated us," Neptune said. "It may not want to reveal all its cards too early."

"And it's probably gone to regroup," Uranus continued.

"Then if it has, we'll need to regroup ourselves," Pluto advised. "Sailor Moon," she said. "Aphrodite may still be confused when she returns, it might be best to meet her as someone Aphrodite and Minako are familiar with."

"Right," Sailor Moon said, and she closed her eyes, and in a flash of bright, white light, she was Neo Queen Serenity.

"Still not used to that," Chibi Moon muttered to Saturn. She'd thought it had been at least a few more years before Usagi had become the Queen. Perhaps that part of her bedtime stories had simply referred to the coronation. I wonder what else I think I know about the future that's wrong, she thought. Was I really so childish that they let me believe bedtime stories for 900 years?

"She's approaching the atmosphere," Mercury said, watching Aphrodite as she hesitated a moment, she saw her reach out her hand towards the place where the first specs of gas formed the edge of Venus atmosphere and then the Princess grinned before diving beneath it. I wonder how much of her is Minako right now? She thought, but didn't say aloud.

"Don't worry, They'll be okay," Neo Queen Serenity said, her wings unfurling behind her as she walked to Magellan's bronze doors.

~AgeofAquarius~

"They won't get to us here," Aphrodite assured Rei as she soared down towards the beach. At least I don't think so.

"Think so?" Rei murmured, lifting her head from Aphrodite's shoulder to stare at her. It took far too much effort. Rei tried to focus on her, but her attention was divided, most of it focused inward, on her magic, flickering like a candle flame.

"Lady says she's awake enough to banish those things now," Aphrodite said, realizing only afterwards that she'd automatically adjusted the movement of her wings to avoid the powerful jet stream directing what remained of Venus heavy clouds. Flying felt so strange to her new self. She pushed back the urge to question what name to call herself right now – as she felt both like Aphrodite and Minako. There's more important things to think about, she reminded herself. She let her gaze linger on Rei, who'd been waking up for brief intervals since they'd passed by the Earth. Then she dragged her attention back to the skies, to check that no acid clouds remained in her path. But they seemed to be sparse, most having returned to their normal composition. And the full cloud-cover had cleared somehow – perhaps because she'd gained her powers back.

I can't believe I hurt it, she thought of the snake. I was never that powerful.

"M'be you didn't live long enough… to get this powerful," Rei murmured. "You never got an eternal form. It's your potential you unlocked… in this life you were strong enough to re… alize it."

"Maybe – hey wait," Aphrodite realized, staring at Rei as she directed them towards the beach of the Boiling Sea. You can read my mind? She thought.

"You're holding on to the connection I made… very tightly," Rei rasped. "Sorry I can't… respond the same. I'm…"

"Don't worry about it," she said, flapping her wings to slow them down as they neared the sand. "I didn't even realize… I can let it go." But both personas in her who were still trying to merge into a cohesive person railed against that idea.

So did Rei. "No, don't!" Rei said, trying to sit up in her arms and wincing as she did. "I don't want you to go." Venus' power was blinding compared to what remained of her own, and her presence had been what had pulled her back to consciousness at all. She felt twice as much it seemed – everything Mina had ever felt for her and everything Aphrodite had, Rei held the feelings close as she struggled to stay awake. It warmed her and filled her with strength she didn't have on her own.

And the love was so opposite to what she had felt in the daimon's grasp, she shivered, like everything she was would be torn apart until she was nothing at all.

I won't go, Aphrodite-Mina promised.

She felt the air rushing around them still and looked away from Aphrodite, taking in the vast green-blue sea sparkling before them, a geyser at its center shooting up a constant stream of iridescent, orange droplets.

"It's so good to be home," Aphrodite breathed and then closed her eyes.

She found her connection to Lady instantly, seeking out the heart of the planet Venus in search of anything related to their new enemy.

There was darkness growing here, Lady informed her. But when you woke me up I was able to banish it. I feel none on my surface either, though they may still return there.

So we're safe then? she thought.

Yes, and a friend is coming down as well, my Guardian.

"Aphrodite," she heard Serenity behind her. She whipped around.

"My Queen," she said, bowing only her head as she still held Rei, who had also turned her head towards Serenity.

"Do you remember me?" Serenity asked.

"Of course," Aphrodite said, frowning. "You're the Queen of The Moon Kin…" But she was not. Her eyes were the deeper blue of Earth's oceans, her hair the Princess' blond color.

And she felt different too: happy where the Queen had been eternally sad, open where the Queen had been withdrawn.

She's the Neo Queen, the part of her that had lived a new life recalled. She's realized her potential just like you.

Aphrodite. Minako. Areisa. Rei. Serenity and…

"Usagi," Aphrodite recalled, feeling her dear friend's overwhelming relief as Serenity rushed towards she and Rei, teary eyed.

"She remembers," Rei whispered as Serenity hugged the both of them. "Jus' being dramatic."

"And you're okay!" Serenity exclaimed.

"Mhmm," Rei sighed, closing her eyes again. She felt so tired.

"Her power's weak," Aphrodite said. "None of me knows what that thing was."

"Neither do we," Serenity said, wiping a tear out of Aphrodite's eyes. "But they can all come down here and we'll figure it out."

Jupiter. Mercury. Uranus. Neptune.

And Pluto. And Saturn. And… Chibi Moon.

"Yes," Aphrodite said, and glanced down at Rei. She was asleep again. "But she should rest first." She turned towards the citadel at her back, the marble freshly polished and the rust gone from the windows and doors.

"Here," Serenity said, noticing Aphrodite's arms shaking. She was probably exhausted from flying with Rei so long. "I've got her." and with an ease that Aphrodite found surprising, but Minako did not, the Serenity that Aphrodite remembered as a powerless child had transferred Rei to her arms. They flashed silver for a moment, and when it had gone, some color had returned to Rei's cheeks, the scratches on her body had vanished, and a smile had returned to her face.

She truly can command its power as easily as the old Queen, Aphrodite thought, and again, her new self hardly felt surprised.

"This way," she said, taking her first steps in over a thousand years towards the home she had once grown up in.

It was once they had reached Aphrodite's room and Rei was settled in her bed with her head resting in Aphrodite's lap that Serenity tapped her earring and told their friends they could teleport down.

Her most recent memories from both her lives being of battle, Aphrodite nearly cried when they all appeared alive, along with three sailors she'd never known in the Silver Millennium. And though they were all confused, and battle weary, and even scared, they were overwhelmingly happy to see her.

As Chibi Moon, Mercury, and Jupiter rushed to sit around Aphrodite and Rei, Neptune stumbled, the rush of fatigue that hit her as the teleport faded made her vision blur. She covered the near faint by grabbing Uranus arm and leaning into her.

Unfortunately, the motion didn't disguise her sudden weakness from any of the people she was trying to fool.

"Alright?" Uranus asked as she tugged Neptune close. She looked over at Pluto who was frowning

"Fine," Neptune lied, struggling to hold her senshi form. She berated herself for being so out of practice handling such challenging battles.

"Here," the Princess that Serenity had been calling Aphrodite gestured to the end of her large, shell-shaped bed. "Sit down." Beside her, Mercury was leaning over Rei, eyes darting furiously between her computer and the readings on her visor.

"You remember us… right?" Saturn asked as she sat down in front of Neptune, leaning into the hug from her as Chibi Moon scrambled to sit in front of Pluto.

"Yes," Aphrodite sighed. She looked at Serenity. "Is it this hard for you?"

"No," she said. "But I've been able to connect with my past self… well partially, for a lot longer. And I didn't live nearly so many years as you did."

"You'll get a handle on it," Jupiter said, reaching around Mercury to clap Aphrodite on the shoulder.

"I'm sure," and then she looked to Pluto. "That enemy…"

"Has truly disappeared," Pluto said, attention still focused on Neptune, who had leaned her head down onto Uranus' shoulder. "Whatever portal it opened led to nowhere, as far as my powers could tell."

"I can confirm," Mercury said, still typing away on the computer. "The only matter around it was the stellar energy in those sunspots – and even that was heavily mixed in with the darkness, it was hard to get a reading. As for Rei…"

"What about me?" Rei whispered as the Mercury computer began to beep.

"You're… fine?" Mercury frowned. "You're power's been drained significantly, but it should return with rest."

"That's good," Aphrodite sighed, still unsettled by the lack of a Sailor symbol on Rei's forehead. That's normal for us in this life… but "Her symbol still appeared on than snake."

"Just like the others," Rei added. "Those symbols on its body really were Sailors'." She shivered and Aphrodite squeezed her shoulders as both Jupiter and Serenity reached out and clasped her hands. "They felt like they'd been there a long time…"

"Likely since the last time whatever that was entered our realm," Pluto mused.

"Did you notice anything else about it?" Uranus pressed.

But Rei looked away. "I don't remember," she said, struggling with the exhaustion that was dragging her back into sleep. "Just…"

"You don't have to think about it right now," Aphrodite told her, combing her fingers through Rei's hair. "Just rest."

"The sunspots are coming from our planets…" she muttered as she drifted off again.

"I wonder if that's what Helios noticed," Mercury whispered after a few minutes. "He said there was darkness in the Earth – could that be the sunspots?"

"Would explain how they just appeared out of nowhere the other day," Jupiter growled, clenching her fist. "Why are they there?"

"The might need the planets to grow stronger," Aphrodite said. "Before I awoke her there was darkness in Venus too, leeching off her power so it could multiply."

"That means if they really are, somehow, Sailors," Neptune reasoned, "They won't be any less powerful even if they're divided up."

"So until the rest of our powers wake up they'll still be there no matter how many we kill," Jupiter frowned.

"Well, Venus is clear now," Aphrodite said. "I think our main concern is Earth – there is no Sailor to awaken it except," she nodded to Chibi Moon, "Maybe you."

"Can I?" she asked, turning around so she could look up at Pluto.

But Pluto was frowning, shaking her head. "I'm… not sure if you do or not. The Earth is much stronger when Crystal Tokyo exists, but…" She bit her lip. It was now impossible to guarantee anything to them. "I don't know."

"I'm sure we'll figure it out," Serenity said. "In the meanwhile it has all of us to protect it."

"So they can attack whenever they fancy and we can only react," Aphrodite scowled. "We'll be sitting ducks!"

"Not forever," Mercury said. "I'm still working on a way to track them. I should be able to set up an early warning at the command center soon."

"Not soon enough." Aphrodite looked down at Rei. "How long will it take for her to recover?"

"I can't say," Mercury said. "Maybe a few days, maybe weeks. She's got injuries that will be a lot slower to heal until her power's back to full strength."

"She likely won't be able to transform until then," Pluto added.

Aphrodite nodded, eyes never leaving Rei. "I'll stay here with her until she recovers."

"Alone?" nearly all of them chorused together.

Except Serenity.

"She's right," Serenity sighed, smoothing her thumb across the back of Rei's hand. "Earth is the target right now. And we already know the sunspots can find our homes." She looked at Aphrodite. "And you can fight them."

"I can kill them," she assured her. "And Lady's already checked, whichever ones were trying to grow within Venus have fled. She'll know – and I'll know – the second they try to come back if they do attack us." She tapped her communicator. "And I know you'd all be here in a second."

"It does seem like a safer option for now," Pluto decided.

"Don't fight them on your own," Uranus warned.

"I won't," she promised, eyes flicking down to Rei again, who looked calm, but felt like she was having a nightmare. "Besides… I don't trust myself near the cameras right now."

"Neither do I," Jupiter echoed.

"Nor I; they'll get an earful if I see them," Neptune said. "They might not have caught us so by surprise if the press hadn't had her in the paper all week, and if she hadn't saved those idiot reporters," she sighed and shook her head. "Not that they'll recognize that."

"Then I'll make them," Aphrodite whispered. "Somehow…"

~AgeofAquarius~

They had no sooner teleported back to Lunar command than Michiru lost control of her transformation, collapsing fully onto Uranus with no way to pass it off as a need for comfort.

"Michiru!" Uranus said as she propped her up, Pluto and Saturn rushed to them as the others de-transformed before all present noticed their dilemma.

"I'm fine," Michiru insisted, yawning as she straightened up, still leaning heavily on Uranus. "I'm just…tired."

"I'm tired," Saturn said. "You look like you're gonna pass out."

"I'm probably just sick," Michiru insisted. "Don't worr –" but she was cut off as she yawned again.

"I think we should all rest," Usagi said, picking up Chibiusa who was yawning herself. The pink haired girl linked her arms tight around Usagi's neck and was asleep almost instantly.

"You get her home," Ami said. "Makoto and I will talk to Rei's grandfather,"

"Hope he hasn't been watching the news," Uranus muttered. She glanced at Michiru again. "I can drop you off at home first."

"No," Michiru said instantly. "You'll need someone to complain to on the drive home."

"That is a certainty," Pluto nodded, looking down at Saturn and sighing. "I can talk to your father," she said. "If you want to stay with us tonight."

Saturn shrugged, de-transforming as Pluto did. "I'll stay with him," Hotaru made a face. "He'll just make more trouble for you guys if you don't bring me back tonight… and I bet he's worried."

Michiru ruffled her hair. "You're being very mature about all this," she murmured. "I promise we'll all keep working together to make it easier for you to spend time with all of us."

After they had parted, Uranus sighed, becoming Haruka again in a flash of yellow light and fishing her keys out of her pocket. "She knows it's not us that's the problem," she complained. "It's Tomoe who can't share."

"Well considering we put her in life threatening situ…ations on a… fairly regular basis," Michiru said between yawns. "Its not hard to imagine why."

"You're going to make me carry you up to the house aren't you."

"That would be nice," Michiru murmured as they found the Porsche, and Haruka held open the car door for her. "But I'm not going home early. You'll need the company."

"I can handle it," Haruka defended herself, turning the car's engine on. "Dealing with stupid parents is sort of my specialty now," she muttered as she pulled the car out onto the road, heading for another part of Juuban and a conversation with a parent she'd been itching to meet for a while now.

It took only ten minutes to reach the Ainos home, and in that time she'd seen the battle at Hikawa shrine and the battle at the TV tower plastered across every screen they'd passed by. And still, this late at night, there were crowds of people watching it.

The lights were lit on the ground floor and in Minako's room when Haruka pulled in the driveway. She glanced at Michiru and shook her head, torn between worry and wanting to smile at her girlfriend, who'd fallen asleep against the window.

You shouldn't be this tired, Haruka worried. Does this relate to what Pluto needs to tell me? But she forced the thoughts back as she approached the front door. It swung open before she reached the stoop.

"Where's Mina?" Hikari Aino demanded.

"Resting," Haruka said. "She had a very difficult day."

"I saw – one second some dark… thing nearly kills a crowd of journalistic professionals and the next my daughter's disappeared with the rest of you and left a whole concert behind."

"She also saved someone's life." Haruka said. "I'm sure the concert can issue refunds."

"Is she hurt?"

"No," Haruka said. "But it was better for her to stay somewhere else tonight rather than here – because of the cameras." She tried and failed not to glare at Hikari. "She's dealing with too much else to face them right now."

"Oh…isn't that just like the lot of you making her devote all her time to this fighting business instead of her normal life – If you'd just let me see her I'd make her feel better."

"You haven't possibly got the imagination to handle what she's dealing with." Haruka smirked. Minako might yell at her later. That was fine. Someone needed to knock Hikari down a peg from what she'd been hearing.

"She needs stability and normal things. She needs to remember who she is."

She tried very hard not to chuckle at the irony and very nearly succeeded. Nearly. "She knows who she is, but she needs a break from all your publicity stunts right now." Haruka said. "She's tired. She doesn't need normalcy right now – at least not your version of it."

"She won't ever be able to have a normal life again if she spends so much time with the lot of you that she forgets how," Hikari seethed. "She was a star – and this has ruined that."

This or you? But this time she held her tongue.

"She'll be back as soon as she's ready," Haruka said. "I'd cancel all her appearances for the next few weeks though."

"Weeks!"

"And," she added, sticking her foot in the door as Hikari tried to slam it. "I don't like your talk about her needing to be normal – she's herself. All you're doing is stressing her out to the point that it's preventing her from enjoying the life she has."

"Get away from my home," she glared at Haruka.

She considered Hikari's glaring for one more moment before shrugging. "My parents were a lot like you about different things. I don't know if they'd change the way they acted now – haven't seen them in years." She met Hikari's eyes one more time. "It only hurts both of you in the end." And with that she removed her foot from the door and was halfway back to the car before she heard Hikari screech and slam it shut.

Maybe I got through, Haruka hoped. Or maybe I made it worse… She sighed and threw the car into reverse. She glanced at Michiru – still asleep. It was worth a shot.

She was just pulling out onto the road when someone small jumped over the garden wall and yelped as she landed awkwardly, scrapping her knees.

"Wait!" the small person cried out, and she stopped the car as they scrambled up to the convertible and leaned through the window.

"You're…Kara," Haruka realized.

"Is Mina okay?" the girl demanded.

Haruka smiled. "She's fine," she said, noticing the tear stains on Kara's face. "She got the bad guy good."

"Really?" Kara frowned. "Are you just saying that like Artemis does?"

"No I actually mean it," Haruka chuckled.

"How do I know?"

"Cause I can't lie to kids – you make me feel too guilty," Haruka replied. "I swear: it was a tough fight, but she's fine. Saved us all, actually, and she's away right now cause she's protecting someone else."

"Oh…well that's okay." Kara took a good look at Haruka and Michiru. "Can I see her?"

Not the face, Haruka looked away towards the dashboard. Hotaru makes that face…

"Sorry, kiddo." She said. "You'll see her when she comes home."

"When will…"

"Kara!" The front door slammed open and Haruka saw two silhouettes in it: Hideki and Hikari. "Get in here this instant!"

"Better go," Haruka told her as Kara whined and hopped off of the car door. "Say it was my fault."

"Tell Mina I said hi!" Kara called as Haruka sped away.

~AgeofAquarius~

Setsuna threw the car into park with an ease she was coming to hate. She'd driven far too much of late. She missed the days when the three of them and Hotaru would go on drives together and she'd get to relax while Haruka drove.

Mr. Tomoe had been endlessly pleasant and kind to Hotaru's face when she'd dropped her off, but the second the two of them had ensured she was tucked in and said goodnight to, his demeanour had changed.

"She was at the TV tower – doing battle with those things!" Tomoe exploded. "And she's dead on her feet. I can't believe you would put her on the front line!"

"She is a very strong senshi," Setsuna told him. "We keep her back as much as we can, but sometimes she's needed."

"She could have died."

"So could all of us, Mr. Tomoe," Setsuna tried to reason with him. "We do our best to protect her."

"From the nightmares she pretends she doesn't have you clearly don't do enough," Tomoe told her.

"Those are mostly prophe –"

"I should never have let her go with you back then," he said. "You were quite intimidating – dressed like you were ready for battle and claiming my daughter becoming a senshi again was something on which the whole future hung in the balance." He shook his head. "Go home, Sailor Pluto. I'd ask that you tell me the next time you drag my daughter out to fight aliens in deep space, but I know she'd follow you regardless." He glared at her. "If anything ever, ever happens to her."

"I'd stop time before it happened," she insisted. "I will never let anything happen to her."

"Hmm,"

"And for the dreams," Setsuna offered. "She likes,"

"Hot chocolate with peppermint – I know." He huffed. "I am her father."

He'd closed the door on her then, and Setsuna'd shuffled back to the car wishing being seen with Haruka and Michiru wasn't liable to reveal her own identity.

Michiru… she pondered as she hurried towards the elevator in their building. Haruka and Michiru's car was already parked. She needed to see them.

Hotaru'd said something strange in the car. Michiru's energy was weird. "I thought it was Rei at first… but I still felt it when we got home." But her baby'd been too tired to riddle out what sort of weird it was.

"I'm keeping an eye on her, Hotaru,"she'd promised. "I don't want you to worry about Michiru-mama." She felt she was doing more than enough worrying for all four of them.

She took a detour before going up to the penthouse – and spent longer than Haruka and Michiru would have considered healthy in the time dimension, going over Michiru's timeline with an eye to every grain of sand and whisp of fog that formed it. Her present seemed to be resolving itself as usual, a startling thing when it seemed to appear out of the sands and fog without any future to wind towards.

Haruka was still a bit blurred. Hotaru more so than usual as well. She even broke one of her self-imposed rules and glanced at her own timeline – stable, but blurred as Haruka's was. Likely because all of us are so close to Michiru. She looked away when she saw herself possibly kissing Haruka next week. I won't let that happen. I don't care how I feel – I won't cause that division, she thought. She quickly banished her own timeline and tried to search for whatever strange energy Hotaru had sensed, but all it got her was a headache.

When the equivalence of two days had passed by with no breakthroughs and no further clues, she opened the time doors back on the night she had left and sighed as she de-transformed, chucking the car keys into their bowl and stepping out of her shoes as she walked through the foray. It was still fairly early by their standards. She hoped Michiru and Haruka would be awake.

Setsuna looked up when she stepped out into the living room and heard the television on. Only Haruka was sitting on the couch. The television was playing a football game that she wasn't watching. Rather, she had her head bowed, and was staring at her hands (which she had clasped before her, wringing them as she did when she was thinking).

Not now, she thought as she approached. I wanted to have something more to tell her.

"She's asleep already?" Setsuna asked stopping near the couch and crossing her arms in front of her. Haruka never liked mysteries, and she knew she'd like mysteries about Michiru even less,

Especially as, given Hotaru had noticed something strange today, Haruka was the last to know.

"Carried her in the door," Haruka said, shutting off the game and glancing between Setsuna and the couch. "What's going on?" she asked patting the seat beside her.

Setsuna closed her eyes. If she sat down Haruka would put her arm around her shoulders, which would, as always, be well worth the immense amount of guilt she felt over enjoying it so much.

But if she told her about Michiru… Haruka would take that arm away. And that would feel awful. She'd probably even stand up. She'd pace. And once she had a full handle on the situation, she would doubtless run to Michiru and that would leave Setsuna, alone, on a cold couch, without anyone.

Better not to sit down. She did make herself look at Haruka as she told her. I am not so cowardly that I can't look her in the eye as I give her bad news.

"Michiru's future has disappeared," Setsuna said quickly.

Haruka straightened up on the couch, and her face frozen in a shocked expression.

Soon she'd bluster about, ask questions with answers she couldn't know or didn't understand, and then she'd leave.

Setsuna carried on anyways. "Her present's fine. Her past, too. There's no anomalies in her timeline. I'm keeping a very close eye on her," she insisted and then hung her head. She couldn't look at Haruka's shocked face anymore. "I'm sorry, I have no explanation for it."

She readied herself for the frantic pacing and the slew of questions as she heard Haruka rise from the couch. She was tense as it was, with another apology ready. So when Haruka's hands, settled on her shoulders, she visibly jumped.

"O-okay," Haruka said. Her eyes were quite wide as she stared at Setsuna and her lip was between her teeth. "And h-how long have you known this?"

"Three weeks, five days, eight hours, fifty four minutes, and thirteen seconds," Setsuna said in a rush. "Not counting the time I've been watching from the time dimension."

Haruka frowned as she did the math. "Since we visited the planets?"

"But that was only when I noticed it, there could still be about a…forty-two hour period where it could have begun – in which I've seen nothing out of the ordinary." The questions had started. Haruka was still holding on to her. Tightly. Why?

"Does M-michiru know?" Haruka asked.

"She knows there's something wrong," Setsuna said, looking down at her crossed arms. "I didn't... it isn't wise to tell people their own futures."

"I-I guess that's fair." Haruka swallowed. "Does this happen often?"

Setsuna frowned. "Maybe… my focus has always been too broad to see individuals…with the clear exception of now where the only individual timelines I pay attention to are all of ours. I've only ever seen a few futures blur to the extent of disappearing. There's… no pattern that coincides with Michiru."

"I think that's a relief." Haruka sighed. "You look dead on your feet – sit down" and she walked Setsuna to the couch and sat down with her, putting her hand over one of Setsuna's, as she still had her arms crossed, and wrapping her arm around Setsuna's shoulders.

"I spent some time in the Time Dimension before I came home," Setsuna explained. "I'd hoped I'd find something." Was I this lax in my duties before I was reborn, to not know something this simple?

"Okay whatever you just thought: stop thinking it," Haruka said, pulling Setsuna closer. "I can only worry about one of the two of you at a time… And why are you sorry?" Haruka asked, "You don't cause these things to happen."

"I was… hoping I'd have an answer by now," Setsuna sighed. "But her future continues to be missing."

"Then… what if… no you'd cross your own timeline by doing that. What if we never leave her side… you've thought of that already," Haruka guessed as Setsuna nodded. "Well now I know why the two of you are attached at the hip lately."

"I am not that obvious!" Setsuna worried.

"You are, it's kinda cute." Haruka tried to joke. She shook her head and ran her hand up and down Setsuna's arm. "We will figure it out."

"She said the same thing," Setsuna whispered, watching Haruka's leg bounce. She was surely itching to check on Michiru.

"That's cause we're part of a whole, makes us pretty in sync," Haruka said, wondering if Setsuna would notice she'd only said "part."

But Setsuna seemed not to notice. She really did look tired. How long did she spend in the time dimension this time? Haruka wondered. And she didn't want to sit down… did she think I'd be mad… because she thinks I love Michiru more…

And she really did need to see Michiru right now. Haruka sighed. She'd have traded every thing including the bike to, for once, only have one problem at a time. She stood up from the couch and took note of how Setsuna's shoulders sagged.

"Go on," Setsuna said, putting a smile on her face. "Go check on her."

"It's not that I think she's not fine, it's just…"

"Go," Setsuna encouraged, waving her hand. If it'd been acceptable she certainly would have followed Haruka back to she and Michiru's room as well.

"I'll be back," Haruka promised. "We'll work out what to do." And before she could second-guess herself about the action, she leaned in and kissed Setsuna's forehead.

It took her longer than she'd thought to convince herself Michiru was fine. It could be this new daimon, Haruka thought as she sat on their bed, watching Michiru sleep. But that couldn't be quite right. Then Rei's future would surely have been a mess too. The enemy had hardly seemed interested in Michiru at all.

What about that first attack on Neptune? Haruka thought. No, crap, Setsuna definitely checked the timelines between then and when we visited our homeworlds.

Maybe something happened on Neptune that day? Haruka thought. She told me what happened… maybe there's something she didn't tell me… or doesn't remember.

And maybe her fatigue today really was unrelated. Maybe she really was sick. There'd been a flu circulating through the orchestra after all.

Haruka sighed when she checked her phone and realized she'd been watching over Michiru for at least ten minutes. And that probably meant Setsuna was feeling lonely, and guilty about worrying Haruka, and maybe even guilty about feeling lonely. I really do hope you'd like to be with us, she thought of Setsuna. It'll be so much easier when I can love and worry about both of you at the same time.

She stole one last glance at Michiru before walking to the kitchen. She could see Setsuna through the window. She was curled into the couch just where Haruka'd left her: head tilted downward with her shoulders hunched inwards. She looked impossibly small.

At least there's some problems I can fix…

When Setsuna's favorite tea was ready, she pulled out her phone (congratulating herself again for having Ami figure out how to set up the remote control app) and turned on the stereo, which still had the CD of violin music ready from when she'd listened to it the other day.

She smirked as she watched Setsuna's head snap up as the music started to play and sat down next to her, holding out the tea, which Setsuna still hadn't noticed because she was staring at her.

"I said I was coming back, didn't I?" Haruka said, "Here, take this. It'll help you think."

She still had to press the mug into Setsuna's hands before she thought to curl her fingers around it.

"So," Haruka said. "I'm going to guess you won't tell me the reasons timelines have disappeared before."

"N-no," Setsuna said, "That would be a lot of unnecessary worry to put on you."

And yet you'll let yourself worry alone. Haruka thought, wrapping her arm around Setsuna's shoulders again. "How likely is it that any of them are what's wrong with Michiru?"

"There are no commonalities between any cases," Setsuna shook her head. "The individuals had already stood out to me because they were time anomalies. Hence why I'd been looking at them at all – the point where their futures disappeared, I could already surmise the reason why." She stared into her tea frowning. "But Michiru's still acting normally. So every time she's done something remotely strange the past three and a half weeks…"

"Like wearing her hair in a ponytail," Haruka pointed out. "I thought it was going to be a week of painting inspiration, and instead she's been complaining about her hair."

"Exactly – and I can't tell what's related and what I'm being paranoid about," Setsuna said, leaning into Haruka. "No one else was falling asleep when we got home – except for Chibi Moon."

"I've known her to stay up for two days straight composing music, believe me: that, I find legitimately weird," Haruka said. "And also unhelpful."

"No one's ever disappeared from time by over-sleeping," Setsuna muttered.

"Good to know."

"And she's not concerned – she seems perfectly content to know there's a problem, she hasn't asked me more about it at all – like she doesn't care what happens to her," Setsuna complained.

"She's never concerned about herself," Haruka sighed, watching Setsuna drink her tea. She noted the bags under her eyes that hadn't been there an hour ago. An hour of my time ago… it's definitely been a fair bit longer for her.

"Well if we don't know the cause, and we can't tell what's related," Haruka said. "The two of us are going to figure out how to keep her out of as much danger as possible."

"We're going to have to follow her everywhere – I don't need to know her future to know she's going to hate that," Setsuna said.

"Bribe her with chai lattes," Haruka said, "I use those to get out of most minor offenses."

Setsuna chuckled. "Well in that case…"

They spent nearly two hours debating ways to keep Michiru from stumbling across unknown traps of fate. By the end of it, Setsuna'd finished her tea, had devolved to mumbling such advice as "avoiding the damn Bremuda triangle," until she eventually fell asleep on top of Haruka.

She managed to grab Setsuna's empty mug before it fell from her hands and then when she couldn't stretch out far enough to reach the coffee table, she set it on the floor.

She'd begun to feel tired herself, but leaving the couch would require waking Setsuna and she was loath to do that.

Michiru's fine, Haruka thought as she focused on the soft violin music still drifting out of the stereo. She shifted the slightest bit so she could rest her head on the arm of the couch without disturbing Setsuna, whose pillow was currently her shoulder. She brought her other arm around Setsuna, hoping they'd all have one night without dreaming of the monster they'd just fought.

We're all gonna be okay, she thought as she drifted off. I'll… make sure…

Michiru found them at three in the morning, after waking up from a nightmare of the snake. She snapped a picture before grabbing two blankets and bringing them back to the living room. One she threw over Haruka and Setsuna before kissing both of them on the forehead. The second she kept for herself, dragging one of the armchairs as close to the couch as she could and curling up in the blanket. One of Setsuna's hands was resting on Haruka's shoulder; Michiru put her own over it before settling back to sleep.

Setsuna woke up at exactly 5:37 – sunrise – feeling quite a bit warmer than normal and much more relaxed than she usually did when she woke.

She realized immediately why.

Normally, she dreamed: of their battles or their future perils or simply of the time dimension and its endless, bleak sand and fog calling her back to her post.

And for the first time since she'd been reborn into Linear Time, she had not dreamed at all.

She noticed about then the arms wrapped around her – much larger and more muscled than Hotaru's on all the nights when she'd crawled into Setsuna's bed after a nightmare. And there was someone else, she realized squeezing her hand.

Haruka and Michiru. Her eyes snapped open. How had she ended up in their bed?

She hadn't, they were all in the living room. She and Haruka must have fallen asleep on the couch and Michiru had joined them, sleeping in the armchair that she'd once complained was dreadful to nap in.

She needed to check on Mina and Rei. She needed to check on Hotaru. She needed to devote more time to Michiru's timeline. And Ami was going to need help designing a way to track the sunspots.

But Haruka's arms were lovely, and the rise and fall of her chest against Setsuna's was wonderful. One of her legs had even curled around Setsuna's, so she couldn't move without waking her.

And even now, Michiru's thumb brushed softly across the back of her palm.

Haruka was only trying to comfort me, she reminded herself. And Michiru wanted to be close to Haruka. Still, she was closer to them than she'd possibly ever been. And this kind of temporal anomaly rarely ever came about. There was surely little chance of it happening again.

I can't very well move anyway, Setsuna thought. I suppose I can stay here… a little longer.

~AgeofAquarius~

Monday, April 7th

Yesterday at 18:47, Astronomers from the Japanese Space Agency reported a stunning increase in the brightness of the planet Venus, which parallels the same increase in brightness witnessed on the Moon several weeks ago.

"We're only speculating, but it's likely that we'll see similar ecological changes on Venus to those witnessed on the Moon," reported respected Astronomer Ozora Kakeru. He has been conducting an extensive study of the changes in the Moon's ecology the past several weeks, and has been leading the effort to rush a probe up to explore the changes. The expedition launched last Thursday and is expected to arrive at the Moon early Wednesday. "I honestly can't say what those might be. Ordinarily I would say that it would be impossible given Venus extreme temperatures and the acidity of its atmosphere. But the Moon has barely any atmosphere at all and we've confirmed there are whole planes of grass up there – even flowers. And running water… so no one can tell you what we'll find on Venus, who knows what else our own probe might find on the Moon – a whole Kingdom."

The change in Venus coincided with a bright orange comet that passed close to Earth's orbit around 19:15. Reports from the ISS confirm it later appeared to crash into Venus, and is likely related to the increase in brightness.

"It will take significantly longer to reach Venus, or any of the other worlds, which I'm hypothesizing might undergo similar change," Ozora said. "It's exciting."

Others are less optimistic about the changes. "Ozora's as known for his fantastical theories as he is for his respected research," NASA Astronomer Matthew Johnson said. "Changes of this magnitude and at this rapid a pace signal a frightening and dramatic change in our solar system – and one we had not predicted at all. We'll be refocusing all of our observational tools towards the planets in the coming weeks. We need to understand these changes and where their coming from – I'd like to be optimistic like Ozora," he added. "But the last time an unexpected astronomical event occurred, the entire eastern Hemisphere north of the equator entered a second ice age – we've still got three teams and five billion dollars trying to explain that."

Senator Hino-San, a father of one senshi at the center of this conflict, had a far simpler explanation.

"The Sailor Senshi were involved in the near-Ice Age," he said. "I've no doubt this is related – especially after that shocking attack on Tokyo tower and [Hikawa Shrine] earlier in the day." When asked about his daughter, Sailor Mars disappearance, at the hands of the beings that attacked both sites, Mr. Hino said: "I am distraught and concerned – my daughter is so different than Sailor Mars, I'm still shocked at the revelation and her behaviour since that reveal. I wouldn't doubt it if she and the sailors are more involved than they claim to be in the many unnatural events that…" (Cont. on pg. C5)

"Mina!" Artemis shouted as he leapt from Mercury's shoulder and bounded across the beach, launching into Mina's arms.

Mercury smiled at Luna, on her other shoulder, and then at Sailor Moon, who'd teleported them all here before her shift at the bakery.

"Hi!" Mina said as she cuddled him close, still dressed in Aphrodite's royal garb. Mercury found herself grinning at them as she approached the sparkling, marble, castle, and then grinning wider when she noticed Rei, leaning heavily on the doorframe of the building but still very much awake and with quite a bit more color than when Mercury'd seen her yesterday. She ran to hug her first, as did Mina and Sailor Moon.

Then Sailor Moon departed, siting cookies that needed to be sold for the sake of Love and Justice, and it was just Mercury and their advisors for the first of the many shifts they'd planned out to watch over Venus until Rei was strong enough to return to the far more dangerous Earth.

"So… you are going by Mina?" Luna asked

"Yes… maybe," Mina made a face and pulled Rei close – not just to hold her, Mercury realized with a frown, but to help her walk. She flipped open the Mercury computer as they entered the Castle. Rei was much improved from yesterday – her stats, while still worrying, were much closer to normal. And as for Venus, Mercury directed the computer's attention towards the planet, it was like the Moon in every sense – right down to the intense levels of magic breaching the surface at the magical point. She looked out one of the sea-facing windows as she followed Mina through the ground floor. The geyser in the center of it was still spraying sparkling orange water high into the air.

"She's still deciding which one she likes," Rei answered. "It's not that complicated," she told Mina. "You're Aphrodite when you wear that, you're Mina the rest of the time."

"Ugh, but I can change my clothes," she said. And in a flash of orange light she had – wearing a short white skirt and white top of the style Mercury remembered being popular in the Moon Kingdom. "Serenity could too, but she was always bad at this trick – or maybe she just liked those stupid formal gowns better than I did, who even knows. I'm still convinced the Moon Kingdom designed them differently. My clothes from there never felt half so stifling."

"I don't remember that," Luna whispered on Mercury's shoulder. "Goodness what else have I forgotten?"

"I'm sure that's something only Mina would remember," Mercury consoled her. "Artemis and you are still valuable counselors you know."

"Yes, pertaining to how the Moon's magic worked," Luna sighed. "I've found I remember next to nothing about the interactions between the worlds."

"It is a lot to remember," Mercury said. "I'm sure the fact that Aphrodite and Serenity remember half as much as they do is because they're Senshi."

"I agree," Mina said. "As I was saying – the name thing is complicated. I feel like… Usagi had a lot more time to sort out who she was and who Serenity was and who they'd be together. Plus she knew she was getting her memories back," Mina scowled. "I was surprised – I wouldn't trade them for anything," she said, surprising Rei with a kiss. "But it's a lot to get used to."

She carried on down the ground floor hall – pointing out statues she remembered and a few with cracks she remembered inflicting on them by charging too quickly down the halls. She even pointed out the rooms behind each of the doors they passed: the irritating Tailor's office, the main ball room, the dining room where the finest state dinners were held, the court room…

And finally, at the very end of the hall, a set of bronze doors that Mina put both hands on, tracing the unfamiliar writing with her fingers.

"Enter if thee are of fair aspect and appreciate true fortune," Mina read with ease, "May all that comprises our bright Kingdom be visible to you here." She pushed the doors open. "Zeus never let me in here, said I never needed to see it," she smirked. "Since I could talk to Lady."

Could I speak to Mercury like she could to Venus, Mercury wondered as she and Luna followed them into the bright room. It was mostly windows – stretching from floor to ceiling, and surrounding an oval table whose top was a map – oceans stained a deeper brown than the surrounding wood. And in the center of the arc of windows was a mirror, enough like Nehelenia's that Mercury shivered. This one was bronze rather than gold, and engraved with elegant carvings of horses and then birds along the top.

Mina left Rei at the map-table, letting her lean against it before approaching the tall mirror. Artemis leapt off Mina's shoulder to curl around Rei's.

"Mirror, Mirror, on the wall," Mina said to her reflection, turning to wink at Mercury and Rei. "Who's the fairest of them all?"

Rei turned pink when an image of her appeared there – in a sleek red gown that Mercury realized she remembered – in one of her few memories of the Moon before Metalia's attack. She liked to wear that when she danced.

"Admittedly when I ask it questions like that it just reflects what I already think," Mina said. "This is connected to the planet – it was how old rulers got their information before I came along." She touched the glass as Rei's image faded from it and her eyes widened, a small gasp rushing into her.

"She's remembering something," Rei explained to them all.

"This was made on Neptune," Mina whispered. "Back when they still knew how to make them."

"They forgot?"

"Uh," Mina furrowed her brows and frowned at her reflection. "There was trouble there," she said. "Like a decade before I was born." She shook her head. "I don't think I was ever told much about it."

"I wonder why?" Mercury thought.

"Well it was quite far, and we were really focused on training. The Queen said that as long as it and Uranus were allies of the Golden Crystal there was little we could do, and very little was known about them either."

"Even to Sailor Uranus and Neptune?"

"Well maybe they knew," Mina pondered. "Never saw them much. And," she blushed. "I was too stupid to ask about their politics."

"Not stupid," Artemis spoke up, all of them turning towards him. "Young and awestruck, maybe, but never stupid." He smiled at her. "You were young, and for the most part we were at peace. The last thing anyone wanted you worrying about was wars. Especially the Queen."

"There was a war on Neptune?" Mercury asked.

"I…" Artemis frowned. "My memory is as vague as Luna's – there was war," he confirmed. "A warlord who rose up and took the throne for a time – but I remember next to nothing about it." He sighed. "I'm finding most of my memories are more recent ones. They came from the last five years or so of the Silver Millennium."

"They're still incredibly helpful," Mina said. "Anyways, so this," she gestured to the mirror as she directed her gaze to Mercury, "Will tell yah everything you need to know about the planet and the changes."

"Excellent," Mercury said. "Oh – and I was also hoping you could help me with these – " she held a small stack of loose parchment papers and one black notebook out to Mina. "Sailor Moon found these in the Moon Palace while she was there – but they're not languages known to the Mercury computer or the one in the command center."

Mina bit her lip, swiping both the papers and the notebook out of Mercury's hands. She flipped open the notebook first and snorted.

"Not gonna be any help – the is in code," she said. "Thorunn and I used one like this when we were little – but I can't read this now." she examined the handwriting. "This was written by the Queen though."

"We'll try the known cyphers then," Luna decided as Mina picked up the parchment paper.

"This…" Mina frowned. "Isn't…any language I recognize…" She stared at it for quite a while, but eventually sighed. "You're out of luck with this one too."

"It probably isn't that important," Mercury said. "But as Pluto's speculating this is an enemy the senshi in the past encountered, I thought it worth a try."

"Well Mercury's technology might be able to crack it – they had far more records than the Moon; they probably could translate it."

"I do have a bit of the harddrive that I brought back," Mercury said. "I'd put it aside – exams are coming do," she said, feeling to Mina incredibly apologetic. "I'll put more work into it."

"It's fine – anyways back to this," she waved Mercury towards the mirror. "I only get words from Lady, but this could show pictures."

"That will be most helpful," Mercury stepped up to it, putting her fingers to the reflective glass. "Show me the sunspots that tried to come here."

~AgeofAquarius~

Wednesday, April 9th

Enough video footage of the Senshi's battle at the TV Tower on Sunday afternoon has emerged that we have been able to post a compilation from the beginning to the end on our website (viewer discretion is heavily advised). Our thanks go out to the videographers, several of whom were injured in the conflict.

Experts are baffled by the dark creatures that attacked the tower – which sustained an estimated ¥ 200 billion worth of damage in the conflict.

The damages, however, and even the disturbing nature of this new attacker, have paled in comparison to the outcry that's ensued over young Sailors' Saturn and Chibi Moon's involvement in the battle.

"They're clearly children!" one child welfare expert told us after watching the video. "They shouldn't be battling at all, and let alone throwing themselves in front of the others – as you see Saturn doing multiple times with Sailor Moon. And that blade she carries – why she's as liable to hurt herself or a team member with that as she is an alien. She's clearly too small to wield something that heavy."

The search for Saturn and Chibi Moon's identities has been transferred to Tokyo's police at the request of social services, as they are more equipped than Juuban Elementary to handle the search.

"We're wondering at this point if even their parents know of the girls involvement," the chief of police said. "I'm hoping they don't know, because what kind of parent lets their girls out into these battles – it's ridiculously irresponsible."

The police have asked us to publish a list (left) of possible signs parents should look for to determine if their daughters are one of these sailor scouts. "Please read it over carefully." they urge. "And if you know – I urge you to stop letting them fight. Women fighting these strange battles, doing all sorts of damage to city infrastructure is one thing. But to have these two children fight – it's morally reprehensible."

Souichi Tomoe sighed as he turned the paper over so the front page picture of his daughter slamming into the Tokyo tower wasn't staring at him. He'd already read the article three times.

"Why'd you jump in front of her?" he heard Kara Aino exclaim through Hotaru's bedroom door. Drawing the conversation she and Hotaru's been having since they got home from school back to Sunday's battle.

Hotaru certainly wouldn't tell him anything about it. So, he decided, he was only doing his job by spying.

"Cause it's my duty," Hotaru replied.

"But why?"

"Cause... well the big reason is that Sailor Moon can use the Silver Crystal – which is really powerful, and that protects all of us and keeps everything good, so without her everything falls apart. Technically it's the other senshi's duty to guard her and my duty's to make sure the world can be reborn if evil ever wins… but I decided I needed a duty in the meantime."

"But why's that mean you jump in front of her – you're smaller."

"Cause she's not as good at dodging," Hotaru answered. "And… I guess everyone has their own reasons. Mina'd do it cause Mina feels responsible for her and all the other inner senshi."

"Kay,"

"But I mostly do it for Chibiusa," Hotaru explained. "I told you she's from the future,"

"And Sailor Moon's her Mom," Kara said.

"Right – so I protect Sailor Moon because without her, I never get Chibiusa – and Chibiusa's the most important to me ever."

"Isn't it bad though… that they make the two of you fight?" Kara asked.

"No, where'd anyone get that idea?"

"Mom was reading it in the paper this morning – they said it was wrong cause you're just kids."

"What?" he heard Hotaru sigh. "Well first of all. I am not a kid. If I were normal, I'd be turning fifteen this year."

"What?"

"Yes – but it's the Death Busters that ruined that, not my moms."

Souichi clenched his fists. Yes it was the Death Busters fault…it was also his.

"But isn't Chibiusa a kid?"

Hotaru snorted. "Chibiusa's 1001."

Kara gasped. Souichi's eyes widened as he leaned closer to the door.

"She just looks ten," Hotaru continued. "Anyways, so technically besides Mama she's the oldest one."

"Woah… wait how old's your mom?"

"As old as time," Hotaru said in a very dramatic voice.

She's joking surely, Souichi thought. Meioh cannot be that old.

"No way!"

"Okay maybe not that old…but definitely so old she doesn't remember." Hotaru shrugged. "She say's its ironic – she guarded time for so long she lost track of her own – I just think it's sad." He heard Hotaru sigh. "But anyways. We're not too young. And no one makes us fight," Hotaru explained. "It's just… I can see evil coming. I can see it and I know the Earth is doomed unless we stand up to it. And I have the power to stand up – so I do, I don't even think about it."

"Isn't it scary."

"Yes," Hotaru said. "But if you knew something bad was going to happen and you had the power to fight it, wouldn't you fight?"

"Yes,"

"Well that's why we fight. And it's not so scary when all of us fight together," she said. "Your sister and Sailor Moon and Mama-Michiru and Mama-Suna are the real brave ones. They had to fight all alone before we all met each other. And your sister was only like twelve. I don't even know how old Mama was when she started fighting cause she doesn't remember not being Sailor Pluto"

Souichi crossed his arms over his chest and stared at the newspaper still in his hand.

I want to be proud of you, Souichi thought, sighing. But surely if they all started so young, they should understand that you shouldn't have to.

~AgeofAquarius~

"Did all of us have wings?" Jupiter asked as she lounged with Rei on the beach-side cliffs.

"No," Mina answered, doing a third flip in the air. "It was only me and Uranus."

Apparently Aphrodite had loved flying and Mina was infinitely excited about it which meant, according to Rei, that once they'd felt certain the sunspots weren't coming back, Mina'd refused to do anything on foot if she could do it in the air.

"Then…could I use the hammer to fly?" Jupiter wondered.

Rei snorted "Because that's really the function of a hammer."

"Hey," Jupiter threw the hammer up in the air and caught it one handed as though it weighed nothing at all. "All the comics and the movies say Thor could. So I should have had no trouble."

"Alright then," Mina taunted. "Try."

Jupiter hummed, standing up and walking to the edge of the cliff.

She supposed this wasn't exactly what they were meant to be doing by watching over Venus until Rei was well enough to go home, but Mina seemed positive there was no danger anywhere near them, and Magellan would alert her through the communicator if there was anything near the atmosphere.

Besides, this was the most peace and quiet she'd experienced in two weeks. No one could begrudge her a little fun.

"Alright," she said to the hammer, "You hear that, you're gonna fly?"

"You're calling it 'you'?" Mina frowned. "That's not it's name."

"Well what is it's name?"

"I can't tell you." Mina huffed. "That'd be unlucky – you have to name your weapon yourself."

Jupiter rolled her eyes. "Then it's gonna be you until I remember – anyways…" She held the hammer over the cliff. It was still as light as air. She stepped after it, lifting one foot off the cliff, then leaning forwards.

"Could she fly?" Rei whispered as Mina dropped down next to her.

"No, but who knows what'll happen if she thinks she –"

"Woohoo!" Jupiter's shout drew their eyes to her as she stood with the hammer held over her head and with only air under her feet. "Check it out! I did it!" she stuck her tongue between her teeth and kicked her legs, flying up, up, up until Mina and Rei couldn't see her in the bright sunlight.

"Well she can go up," Mina commented.

Jupiter stuck her arm out to the left and shot fifty feet down the cliffs.

"And sideways," Rei added, leaning against Mina.

"This is AWESOME!" Jupiter shouted, She pumped her fist, and the hammer too, the head of it tilting down towards the ground. And Jupiter followed it.

Mina flew into the air and Rei jumped to her feet as Jupiter plummeted, hitting the beach with a smack that send a cloud of sand rolling out in all directions.

"I'm okay," Jupiter groaned as the dust cleared.

Mina sighed and returned to the grass, settling down next to Rei and smacking her hand over her face. "And she can do down too."

Rei bit her lip, trying to stifle a fit of giggles. And as her face turned red, Jupiter shot back up onto the cliff face, landing as she twirled the hammer.

"Did you see that!" Jupiter boasted. "Who needs wings when I have this!" she said, making a dramatic show of pumping her fist and the hammer into the air.

And she was completely covered in sand.

Rei couldn't help it any longer. She threw her head back and laughed, loud enough that the sound echoed all along the coast and sent all the bright, red birds they'd noticed yesterday night soaring into the air.

It was the first time Mina had heard Rei laugh in days, it was the first time Aphrodite had heard it in years.

I like her laugh more now, Mina realized as she recalled some of Aphrodite's memories. It's so much happier.

Jupiter was beaming, reflecting the joy Mina could feel nearly as strongly as her own, and nearly as strongly as Rei's.

If only we could stay this happy forever, she thought, I'd give everything a billion times over, and then again, to make that happen.

~AgeofAquarius~

There, Ami thought as she typed the last bit of code into the Mercury computer. That should help translating it. She'd assumed the piece of the harddrive she'd brought back from Mercury with the helmet would display it's information in Lunarian and Mercurian. And while Luna had pronounced her fluent in Lunarian last year, she had never looked at the old Mercurian language.

But since her own palm-top did have that language stored on it, she'd just needed to design a code that would translate the information on the harddrive before she copied the back up. The copy would now download in Lunarian and Japanese so that everyone else could understand the information it provided.

Even if it's just a piece of the information stored on that whole computer, Ami thought, it might help me figure out how to regain Athena's memories…or even give me a better idea of how well it integrates with our technology.

And if this works, I could even go back and try to access that entire digital archive. It has to have something on this enemy.

She double checked the flash-drive she was trying to copy it to again, and the spare external hard-drive for if she had mis-judged the data capacity of the hard-drive.

Then, with lip between her teeth and her eyes intent on the palm-top's screen, she attached the hard-drive from Mercury with the cord she'd designed herself.

The translation began working instantly. The hard-drive appeared only to contain about 50 GB of data. She grinned and pushed her glasses up higher, she'd designed her flash-drive to contain 100.

She let it and the translation program begin to copy onto the flash-drive but couldn't resist opening what was currently on the Mercury hard-drive. Drumming the fingers of her left hand excitedly against the desk, she dragged the cursor over the hard-drive's icon and opened it.

It seemed that nothing happened at first. Ami frowned. The download to the flash-drive was nearly completed already. I definitely accessed the program. She went to open the hard-drive's files again.

Her cursor froze, the screen of the Mercury palm-top glitched.

Two windows then popped up concurrently.

File transfer 100% complete

Malware Detected.

"What!" Ami gasped, frantically trying to work around the frozen cursor using the keyboard. But none of the back door protocols would run. The keys grew hot under her fingers.

And then the screen of the Mercury palm top shattered, smoke wafting off the frozen screen.

Ami coughed and threw open her window lest she set off the building's smoke detectors. That's the last thing we need. Once all the smoke had cleared out she sighed and unplugged the hard-drive from her computer. Well now I have a copy of a virus. She sighed. Her shoulders sagged as she took in the damage to the Mercury palm-top. Magic might repair the screen quickly enough, though she had no idea what the virus might have done to the rest of the system.

And why was it there? Ami wondered A defense maybe, against data being stolen? Or perhaps the enemy breached set sunspots to my world ahead of my visit to it, and they infected what remained of the computer…

Pushing up her glasses and rubbing her eyes, Ami dared to check the time. 3:00 am.

She had class in six hours…

But I don't have work afterwards…I can sleep then. She sat in her desk chair and rolled it up to the large PC she usually reserved for school work, then made sure her notebook and paper were close at hand.

She was a bit old-fashioned for sure, writing it out by hand first, but she always found there were fewer errors to repair at then end.

And, first jotting down what sorts of protections would need to be in place to analyse an alien malware program, she set to work on a fresh batch of code.

It's a good think I got more coffee yesterday, Ami thought as she yawned.

~AgeofAquarius~

Friday, April 11th,

The Japanese Space Agency has finally released information about the probe that made contact with the Moon early Thursday morning.

"It appears to have crash landed," Dr. Ozora Kakeru, lead Astronomer on the project announced this morning. "We did attain some interesting readings before landing. The atmosphere appears to have quadrupled in mass, and we did detect an oxygen composition of about 27% – which is liveable air. And we also detected an active magnetic field, which its lacked previously…other readings were lost with the probe, including the camera… which is ashame, as telescope imaging has not been able to get a good view of the surface."

Ozora went on to say that this example highlights the reasons why all space explorations, even small missions, should be approached with far more diligence and care.

"We rushed this one in our excitement, we'll learn from it with the probes we direct towards the other planets."

Kakeru returned from his office with his head towards the ground and his lab coat slung over his hunched shoulders.

I was sure the math was right! He thought as he made his way up towards his home in the observatory. I went over it myself ten times!

But the mission to the moon had still failed, the probe even more disappointing as it had been preparing its landing manuever when all communication with it had suddenly cut out. He kicked the toe of his shoe hard against one of the steps up to the observatory. He'd almost seen it.

And why are none of our telescopes working? he thought. "It is as if the Moon doesn't want to be seen."

"That's quite an astute remark," a familiar voice from years ago startled him. He jerked his head up, dropping his coat when he saw Sailor Moon's cat outside his front door.

"Luna!" he gasped, dropping to his knees so he could talk to the purple cat more easily. "Luna – the Moon. It's come alive! I…I tried to look for you but Sailor Moon's house was always mobbed by reporters. P-please! It, I mean it is magnificent! I tried to send a probe up and it crashed, I was," he sighed. "So stupid."

"No." She shook her head, staring at him with her sharp, amber eyes. "Your math was absolutely perfect," she said. "The probe made a perfect landing. It was quite the feat to accomplish in barely a week of preparation. You out-did yourself."

"But… then how?"

And then Luna glowed, her form stretching until it was much taller and wider, a skirt flaring out around her. He stared up at the woman with Luna's eyes and ringlets the same purple color as her fur. She was still as stunning as she'd been before.

"It isn't the right time," Luna told him, "to reveal the Moon Kingdom to the Earth, not with the negative slant the press seems to have taken, of late." She was holding out her hand to him, with a stack of white card-paper in it. "But I trust you, Kakeru. And from one researcher to another I know your passion for discovering the truth about the Moon comes from pure intentions." She turned the stack of papers over and he gasped.

"The camera!"

"We destroyed the probe," Luna said. "But I made sure the data it collected was still safe – that's in here too. As are the selfies," and she chuckled as she flipped to the second picture in the stack – a small pink-haired senshi with a sparkling sea at her back making a face at the camera. "Children must be allowed to be children sometimes."

"Th-this is the Moon princess,"

"Y-yes," Luna sighed, shaking her head. "I suppose she is now, I certainly can't call Usagi simply a princess anymore."

He reached his hand out to grasp the precious photographs, already eager to see the plains of grass, the rivers, the seas, the foothills, what had become of the many craters, whether any buildings or animals resided on the surface."

As he took the stack, Luna grasped his wrist, turning it so she could see the inside.

She traced her thumb over the crescent moon that had appeared there four weeks ago.

"It isn't just the Tsukinos…" Luna whispered.

"What does it mean?" Kakeru asked. "It's not related to this new threat to the Earth is it?"

"No…I have a theory," Luna snapped the fingers of her other hand and something poofed overhead, before a small crescent shaped ring clattered to the pavement in front of him.

"If you have any dreams you find strange," Luna whispered. "Just say my name into that, and you can tell them to me."

"What is your theory?" he stuttered.

But Luna shook her head. "I can't tell you – it's more of a hypothesis now. A wonderful one," she confessed with a smile on her face. "But only a hypothesis. I need far more evidence… and I haven't the time right now to conduct the proper research." She nodded down at him. "When this new enemy has been defeated, I'll let you know my theory." And without another word, she was a cat again, bounding away down the steps too fast for him to follow.

"Luna…" he whispered, darting his gaze back down to the precious pictures in his hands.

There was another with the pink haired girl, posing with her hands on her hips in front of a gorgeous white palace, with fountains like waterfalls leading down the promenade all the way to the moat and the front steps. He stared at the gleaming columns, the stained glass dome, and the crescent moons that topped all the towers.

It was the same beautiful palace he'd been seeing in his dreams.

"I hope you prove your theory soon." He whispered, standing up off the steps and flipping through more of the pictures. "What I wouldn't give to see this with my own eyes," he whispered.

~AgeofAquarius~

"How are you?" Usagi whispered. She and Mina sat shoulder to shoulder on the roof of the highest tower on the grand Venesien citadel, Mina in her night clothes and Usagi in her new royal dress and crown.

"Well," Mina whispered. "Fine, I guess." She sighed, leaning into Usagi as they watched the meteor shower overhead. "Rei doesn't see it, but she's improving a lot."

"I noticed," Usagi smiled. "I was so happy to see her doing better… I wish today had gone as she'd planned."

Mina shook her head. "She tried to rush it."

Rei'd felt emboldened today. She'd spent all afternoon on her own feet without trouble, they'd gone flying, and they'd been celebrating both of those things with a make out session when Usagi and her ever-perfect timing had teleported in to help guard Venus.

It had been such a positive day, she hadn't wanted to ruin it by telling Rei it was too soon for her to try transforming. I should have, Mina berated herself in hindsight. Or we should have distracted her somehow.

But Rei'd been determined to try, an effort with had nearly worked, only for her transformation to dissolve before it had halfway formed, leaving her frustrated, depressed, and exhausted, a trifecta that had not been helped in anyway by Mina helping her up to bed, no matter that she wouldn't have gotten there on her own.

"She's trying too hard," Mina continued, pulling her knees up to her chest. "She'll take it harder cause you were here too, she'll feel like she can't protect you."

Usagi hummed. "Not if I have anything to say about it," she shook her head. "I always have trouble telling you how grateful I am – that all of you have stayed this strong and this loyal for so long. You never needed to devote your lives to protecting Serenity. And you never needed to do so for me."

Mina looked over at her. "We do it for you," she said. "I mean at first… 'protecting the princess'… that was the duty I had to do. It kept me going when I might otherwise have given up – knowing you were out there somewhere depending on me fighting."

"But I can defend myself now," Usagi pointed out. "I've even saved your butt a time or two."

"Nu-uh," Mina denied, sticking out her tongue. They both laughed and Sailor Moon elbowed her in the ribs. Then Mina answered. "It's been more than twice. You're the strongest of us, always have been."

"I don't know about that now," Usagi said throwing her arm around Mina. "You're pretty powerful now too."

"Oh I know… I still can't believe how much." She put her own arm around Usagi and settled her head against her shoulder. "But anyways – at first it was the duty I had… but afterwards, when we were friends, and you were a real person fighting by my side every day." She smiled. "Then it was the duty I chose."

Usagi sniffed. "And my duty's to you," she said. "To protect all of you, and this planet…well all the planets." She gazed up at the stars. "She said I'd be a good Queen," she told her. "My mother… after Endymion proposed."

"And you shocked the whole ball room by playing tonsil hockey with Silver Alliance Enemy Number One."

"I couldn't help it. He proposed!" Usagi hissed. "You would have done the same thing."

"For Areisa – yes," Mina said. "For Kunzite… maybe in the beginning…" she sighed. "Aphrodite still feels guilty about him, or I suppose I do. I keep wondering if he knew I loved Areisa… if that pushed him dark."

"I suppose you'll have to ask him." Usagi shrugged. "But I'd guess not. And he's very happy with Zoicite now, in any case."

"Hmm…" Mina closed her eyes, soaking up the intense calm that seemed to radiate off Usagi, the sureness of purpose and the child-like delight that filled her just from watching the meteor shower. She and Serenity really don't feel that different.

"How do you know what to call yourself?" Mina blurted out.

"Hmm?"

"You have… Serenity's whole life in your head… and Usagi's… and your future self calls herself Neo Queen Serenity… what name feels more like you? How can you tell?"

"Well… I know my future self uses it as a family name. I mean Chibiusa's whole name is Usagi Serenity." She sighed. "Which is a really pretty name."

"And one which you are not allowed to think about seriously for at least two years," Mina said. "No accidents!"

"Oh stop teasing!" Usagi blushed. "Mamo-chan's in America."

"And you can teleport," Mina retorted. And she looked up when she felt Usagi gasp and sit up straighter.

"Oh my god I can. Oh! I've been making do with Skype for weeks! We could have –"

"T.M.I." Mina deadpanned. "Answer my question first."

"Oh, right." Usagi nodded, sighing. "I suppose… maybe it's different for you. Serenity's not a different person… she's just a me who lived a different life." She shrugged. "One where… I was an only child. And my mother was… amazing and lonely. And I didn't have to spend eight hours in school failing kanji lessons… and where all of you were older. So I didn't have friends… I barely got to know Endymion… I didn't get to be a senshi." She sighed and closed her eyes, chuckling. "Even all the lessons I learned about how to be a Queen… I re-learned all the most important ones – from you guys, and from Luna, and even just from myself. Having Serenity's memories is a huge help towards the idea of running a planet."

"I bet,"

Usagi giggled. "But honestly, I think if I could talk to her, she'd say she liked my life as Usagi a lot more than hers – I got to do so many of the things she dreamed of." She put a hand over her crescent mark. "She's me, an old version of me. And her past is one that's important to my future. So I want to hold onto her name." she grew quiet for a moment. "But I've become so much more than she ever got to be. So I feel like I want to stay Usagi – cause that's the version of me who made me who I am."

She felt so confident, and joyful, and sure as she spoke. So sure about everything.

Mina shrugged. "Yeah." She looked up at the stars. "Aphrodite was a lot like me. She liked music. She liked dancing. She loved Rei. She liked training and talking. She always wanted her voice to be heard." She was quiet for a while. "She had the same challenges I do too. Except…"

She got quiet again, staring up at the stars though the meteors no longer fell. She only spoke when Usagi squeezed her arm. "Queen Dione… was my mother. And I knew she loved me. And Queen Serenity was like a mother, and I knew she loved me. But now I have Mom… and lately I'm not sure if she really loves me or if the Sailor thing has ruined that."

"Mina…"

"So my life's really not any better or worse than Aphrodite's was. I think… she'd like that I'm closer to Haruka. And she'd like that I'm closer to you. And she'd love having Kara around and not having to see Hephaestus." She bowed her head hoping Usagi wouldn't notice her eyes tearing up. "But it wouldn't matter if I went by Aphrodite anyways. Because the one thing she wanted back more than anything was Dione. And now the other thing she wants back is Serenity… and I can't have either of them back."

She wasn't crying, at least not until she heard Usagi sniff. And then she couldn't stop the tears anymore. They poured out of her in rivers.

"Maybe someday they'll be reborn," Usagi whispered. "If they haven't been already. And even if not. I know someday. We'll see them both again."

"I know," Mina sniffled, sighing into Usagi's shoulder. "I just… it wouldn't even hurt so much except that I knew they loved me. I could feel it. Like I could actually feel it. Like I can feel you, and Rei, and everyone else now."

"Oh…" Usagi realized.

"And I'm afraid I'll go back… and I'll see Mom again, and I'll feel that she doesn't."

Admitting it spurred more tears, so many the shoulder puffs on Usagi's dress were soaked through with them before long. "Sorry," she murmured through her tears.

"Don't be," Usagi murmured, running her hand through Mina's hair as she held her close. "It'd be impossible for anyone not to love you Mina," she said. "but even if she didn't… you have us. We love you more than anything." She hugged her tighter. "I'm sure we can get your mom to come around to the Sailor thing eventually – just leave her to me!"

That did get a watery chuckle out of Mina, who held on to Usagi's unwavering confidence and tried to make it her own."

"Your mother was right," Mina whispered, pulling away so she could look at Usagi properly. "You are a wonderful Queen. No matter what your exam scores were – you have exactly the right instincts with people and morals." She knelt, picking up the Queen's hand and kissing it. "When its time for you to use that title, I'll be the first one by your side."

Usagi sniffed then. And again. She squeezed Mina's hand.

"I know," she whispered. And Mina felt her power flare up as the crescent on her forehead began to glow, and so did the orange symbol of Venus on her own. "I can always depend on you."

Their clasped hands grew hot and Mina darted her eyes down towards them. She and Usagi gasped at the same time.

White, pink, and orange power emanated from their clasped hands, and flared out towards the starry sky, forming into the gleaming metal of a blade with a gold crescent two thirds of the way down, and a matching golden hilt with sparkling rubies embedded above the handle and in the pommel.

"Moonlight," Mina whispered as she stood, she and Usagi both holding the handle.

"The holy sword," Usagi whispered. "It came back."

"It was your mother's," Mina said. "I… I don't need it. You should have it."

Usagi was quiet. "I never liked fighting… I still don't. And I'm plenty powerful without a blade. She let go of the handle, and the sturdy weight of the sword lay completely in Mina's hand. "It's always been yours."

Mina stared at Usagi, and then at the blade, and then did something she remembered from long ago. She held it in both hands, and swiped her thumb across the sharp edge, letting her blood stain the metal.

"Moonlight is mine then," she whispered raising it into the night sky. "To be raised in the name of Love and Beauty, and" she nodded to Usagi. "In the defence of all I and it hold dear."

And as she lowered it, she felt a weigh around her waist and glanced down to see a scabbard their fastened about her by the beads of the wink chain.

She secured the sword in it, feeling Usagi's pride alongside her own excitement and saw, when she looked back up, the Neo Queen beaming at her.

"Whether you chose Aphrodite or Mina," she said. "You're already the best friend I could ever ask for."

She dove at Usagi at the same time her friend did, holding her close as they stood atop the roof.

When she pulled away a while later, they were both still grinning, and she noticed the crescent and the symbol on her own forehead still cast a faint light in the nighttime, highlighting their faces and making Usagi's crown throw off dazzling beams of light from the gold and all of the red and pink jewels.

"I've seen this before," she said just as she realized it, breaking the tender moment as she reached up to touch Usagi's crown, as though it might bring out more of the distant memory. "When Aphrodite was young."

"On my mother?" Usagi asked.

"No…on someone else. Aw Damnit, I forget who. They were pretty though." She smiled. "They came because I transformed, I think. And they wanted to help me with my powers."

"Who was it!" Usagi whined.
"I don't know." Mina sighed. Clasping Usagi's shoulder. "We'll figure it out someday. That's supposed to be the fun part."

"No way," Usagi rolled her eyes. "I want the answers!"

"That's what I think too!" Mina fumed. "Who made these rules?"

"Probably Setsuna," Usagi decided. "Why would I ever tell you the answers," Usagi said in a dramaticly low version of Setsuna's voice. "When you will learn so much more from studying them."

Mina snorted, and then the both of them broke down into giggling fits, which erased all trace of Mina's earlier tears and left her giddy and refreshed by the time Usagi had to leave.

It almost made her forget there was a reason she and Rei had retreated here, to this still New born world with its bright oceans and the new plants and animals that appeared on its lush surface with every day that passed.

She made sure her sword was within reach as she settled down to sleep, trying not to giggle as Rei immediately wrapped her arms around Mina the second she lay down.

There's a lot of fighting still ahead, Mina thought as she drifted off watching her new weapon. But maybe I feel a little more prepared to fight it now.

~Á Suivre~