A/N: What a long period of time on a cliffhanger. D: I'm sorry about that. Hiatus is still in effect, but I had this chapter finished, so I decided to go ahead and post it.
Allison blinked and shielded her eyes from the sudden flashes of light that obscured her vision. She honestly didn't know what was going on from one moment to the next. Some mysterious woman had shown up looking like some weird wannabe Jedi, and now the group of girls she was showing how to correctly execute the Tai Chi move called Ward Off had pulled out various trinkets and shouted similar phrases. She was honestly going to wonder if she was caught in the middle of some prank until the unexpected light caught her off guard and she had to step back from everything and blink her eyes a lot to get her bearings straight once more.
When she did, she really wasn't sure what she was seeing anymore, either.
"So, I don't have a speech or anything." Sailor Star said, holding her Star Glaive in front of her. The yellow ribbons that trailed from the back of her skirt fluttered innocently in the breeze that had picked up, and twined slightly around her legs that were braced in a wide stance. "But I do know that if you're bad news, we're all going to make sure you get your life's priorities straight."
The figure took a step back in surprise, and then let out a melodious peal of laughter that carried easily across the lawn. A couple of strands of dark green hair drifted past the confines of the cloak as she did so, but nothing else served to identify the person in front of them. "Oh, Selenity!" She exclaimed in response to a hidden joke that only she understood. "You've certainly covered your tracks well, haven't you?"
"Um, what does Selenity have to do with anything?" Springstar asked timidly. The figure stopped and examined her in amusement for a moment before replying. "More than I originally thought, my dear. Much more."
"Screw this. SUMMERTIME FIRESTAR BLAST!" Summerstar conjured a large fireball and hurled it at the mystery woman, who side-stepped the attack calmly and watched it fly past her in mild interest.
"Hasty, aren't we, Kalokairi?" Everyone could almost feel the smirk on the cloaked one's face when the senshi visibly started at the mention of Summerstar's true name. "Oh yes, I know exactly who you all are. It's quite obvious, given the height of power your combined auras exudes." Her head moved, and Allison's breath caught in her throat as she could feel the unseen eyes of attention on her. "Including your newest addition, am I correct, Fthinoporo?"
"... I don't know what you're talking about." Allison stated, eyeballing the entire group warily. "I'm not in anything."
"Is that so?" The figure replied, a lilt in her voice. "I suppose that makes this easier." A hand shot out from the cloak's folds, and a blast of purple energy shot forth too fast for anyone to do anything about it and struck Allison head on. Lifted off of her feet by the unexpected impact, she flew a short distance away before rolling to a stop on the grass, lying face down and not moving.
Sailor Star just stared blankly at Allison's unmoving figure, her eyes wide and her body frozen in shock. Everything seemed so far away, and her vision had tunneled down to the gentle girl who had been willing not so many moments before, to take time out of her schedule to share with them all her beloved hobby. Even though they had only met not even an hour ago, she couldn't handle the horror and the overwhelming sense of despair that had swept over her when she thought about how someone as innocent as Allison was cut down without having the opportunity to truly shine.
"Astria, move it!" Winterstar's voice drifted to her ears, but Star still stood facing the other way, her eyes glazed over and her mouth slightly open. Giving up for the meantime, the ice senshi turned to Springstar. "Dawn, I need you to cause a distraction. Now."
Springstar blinked out of her own daze. "Oh... Oh! Okay!" She brought her hands over her head. "SPRING FLORAL FANTASY!" At her command, thousands of flower petals rose from the ground and fluttered about, obscuring the newcomer's vision and generally creating a nuisance. At that, Winterstar summoned her henshin stick. "WINTER WATER WHIP!" She lashed out at the cloaked figure, who jumped up and neatly out of range before landing some yards away. Extending her palm again, she sent another blast of energy that scattered the two senshi and left a mark on the grass in its place. Summerstar sprang into action then, running full speed towards her enemy and tossing various fireballs as she did so. The woman deflected some of them while dodging others, and materialized a long spear out of midair. She got a hold of it just in time to aim it directly at Summerstar's midsection, who was running way too fast to compensate for the sudden turn of events.
"Oh, shi-" Summerstar prepared to brace for the very unpleasant impact, but was saved at the last minute by a familiar whip tugging the point off a couple of feet to the side, allowing the fire senshi to save herself from being impaled. "Thanks, Nikki!" She gave a thumbs up while she circled the now armed character, trying to come up with a new plan of attack.
"I'd like it if everyone would stop calling me that." Winterstar replied dryly, coming around the other side of the cloaked figure. "In the meantime, try not to get yourself killed, if you will?"
"I'm working on it." Summerstar easily replied. "But the first thing on my list is taking this bitch down."
The figure laughed again, a carefree tune that belied the serious situation that had unfolded. "Oh yes, you may try. This will be fun. It's not like I haven't defeated your kind before."
"Say what?!" Springstar squeaked. Winterstar ignored all commentary and lashed out with her winter whip, arching it to wrap around one of the hands that was holding the spear. Slowly, the hand began to be encased in ice, but the figure looked down at her hand in curiosity and a bit of wonder at the sensation, before using a bit of magic to enhance her physical strength to swing her arm outwards quickly. This caused Winterstar, who was still holding onto her own whip, to gasp and be flung at high velocity into the picnic table they at which they were once seated, and the entire thing went up into splinters of wood. Springstar screamed, and tossed a blast of flower petals in the direction of the culprit as she raced over to the limp form of Winterstar. Summerstar cursed colorfully as she threw a kick at what she estimated to be the ribs of the woman. It connected, and the figure went stumbling to the side, but reacted fast enough to dodge the follow up right hook that Summerstar was aiming at her face and was able to deflect her with the blunt side of the spear. As Summerstar faltered, she followed it up with another blast of energy that sent her rocketing into a tree. The senshi's collision caused the trunk to crack, and her body ricochet to the ground. Gritting her teeth at the sheer amount of pain going through her spine, Summerstar tried not to think about how that might have killed her if she wasn't currently transformed, and worked on slowly pulling herself up by the elbows.
Meanwhile, Springstar was pulling shards of wood out of Winterstar's hair as she stirred back to consciousness, her eyelids fluttering. The flower senshi was at a loss of what to do. She wasn't powerful enough to do much to the cloaked figure, especially after seeing how easily she disabled the strongest seasonal senshi with what looked like minimal effort. Training her blue eyes around, she took note of Sailor Star still staring into the distance, not looking like she had moved an inch since Allison had been brutally attacked. She was also able to make out Twilight's brown figure over by Allison who hadn't moved from her position on the ground, as well. We haven't trained enough to prepare for something like this. God, what are we going to do? She sucked in a breath of alarm as the spear-handling woman turned from the others and walked towards Star.
"ASTRIA!! YOU GOTTA DO SOMETHING, GIRL!!" When her shout didn't seem to do any good, she carefully got to her feet and steeled the parts of her body that seemed to be shaking with the anticipation of whatever she was going to do. If I have to give my life to make sure that Astria's safe, then I'll do it. Not the way I had intended on going out, but... Taking a deep breath, Springstar rushed forward to shoulder check the figure out of the way...
... and skidded to a halt right after taking her first step.
The cloaked figure stopped herself, finding her progress hindered by the edge of a curved blade at the exact height of where her neck would be.
"Astria?" Springstar breathed out, relieved that she had finally made a move in the entire ill-fated battle. "God, I'm so glad that you-"
"Anoixi. Please step aside." Sailor Star replied firmly, causing Springstar to blink in surprise and concede by backing up more than a few steps. She's never addressed me as that before... she eyeballed Star uncertainly, not knowing what to make of the entire situation now.
"Pleased to finally make your acquaintance, Celeste." The figure said. "Isn't this the last place I'd expect to find you, of all people."
Star replied by turning the Star Glaive effortlessly and executing a downward strike that would have cleaved the newcomer in half if she had not anticipated the attack and jumped backwards and tossed a purple blast as retaliation.
"Star Block." The star-shaped energy shield materialized at her command and deflected the attack, and as it dispersed, yellow strands of energy circled ominously around the crystal in the weapon. "STAR GLAIVE SURPRISE!" The large yellow ball of energy cut a mighty trench in the ground as it traveled, and very quickly did the cloaked intruder find herself on the defensive as she made to jump clear over the attack before it collided with her. Her booted feet barely touched the ground below before she had to deflect a series of blows from the senshi with her spear, the clanging of the weapons being quite audible as they met.
"How did Selenity bribe you to give up your cushiony life in Staria?" The woman taunted, being careful to stay clear of the glaive's blade.
"Queen Selenity had nothing to do with my decision." Star replied, her weapon paralleled to her body as she strafed. "It was my own."
The figure snorted in distaste. "Then you really are the fool I suspected you for."
Sailor Star tilted her chin regally. "The only fool I see is the one that stands before me, cowardly enough to remain unseen by her foes, yet brazen enough to attack my Sisters."
Twirling the spear in one hand before firmly grasping it in both, the enemy launched forward for another spar with Sailor Star, who had resumed an offensive position herself and was ready for the next ground with a hardened gaze.
"AUTUMN TEMPEST RISE!" A sudden violent tornado knocked the cloaked figure high into the air, where she flailed for a moment before getting her bearings straight to flip gracefully and land some yards away, crouching with her hands to the ground for extra balance. The spear had been lost in the flash attack, and was now stuck in the grass off to the side where the wind had blown it. "I see. It looks like we'll have to consider this battle another time, Celeste. Let's hope it's twice as memorable." With that, she shimmered out of existence, the weapon gone with her presence.
"Holy shit, man..." Summerstar limped towards them. She looked over at Winterstar, who had finally gotten enough energy back to get to her feet, even if she wobbled unsteadily. "Who the hell was that?"
"I don't know..." Springstar answered uncertainly. "But... uh... we have bigger problems right now."
Everyone looked to see that quite a crowd of people had arrived to watch the battle play out, too scared to get close but too curious and awed to leave. "See what I mean?" Springstar said, her face pained with worry. "I was afraid that this would happen."
"It's no matter." Sailor Star stepped forward and raised her Glaive, the Star Crystal pulsating brighter and brighter. "They will forget what they saw this afternoon." The golden light washed over the expanse of the park, easily encompassing every person that had seen or might have been alerted to the events that had just transpired. By the time that the crowd in question blinked and was wondering why they were all gathered in the same spot, the only thing left in the senshi's place was a demolished picnic table and battle marks in the grass.
"So... sorry for the crash course on things, Allie." Summerstar apologized to their final seasonal senshi, Sailor Autumnstar. "Needless to say, that came up out of nowhere."
"It couldn't be helped, so don't worry about it." Autumnstar replied, clasping her hands behind her back. "I don't even know if I allowed myself time to internalize all of this... but I think it was a good thing I hadn't, since I'm not sure I'd be standing here right now." The senshi of autumn held a darker color motif than the rest of them, her sailor collar and skirt sporting a deep, almost black shade of green. The bow on the front and the back of her uniform were of a rusty brown that held a sheen of copper when viewed at a certain angle, and her choker and brooch carried the motif of an orangey-gold oak leaf. The knee length boots of the same brownish-copper were laced intricately from bottom to top at the back of her calves, and the heel was comparable to Winterstar's own footwear. Her dark brown hair had lost the ponytail with her transformation, and now rested at her shoulders in a bob that complimented her face.
All of them had been teleported to the protected spot in the park that the girls had used for their training sessions in order to recuperate. Winterstar, Summerstar, and Autumnstar had sustained a sufficient amount of injuries that needed to be healed as quickly as possible, and the only way that it could be ensured was through the power embedded in the senshi uniform. Springstar swallowed and eyeballed Sailor Star carefully, not really knowing what to say. She wasn't sure if anyone else in the group had noticed through everything, but she felt it still wasn't Astria who had saved them from the mystery opponent.
Twilight stepped forward and looked up at Star. "Your highness."
This certainly caused Summerstar to double-take. "What the fuck? You mean..."
Sailor Star turned around and addressed the senshi with a wan smile. For the first time, everyone noticed that her hazel eyes with only a hint of green were now a deep emerald, comparable to the guardian cat's own color. The way she carried herself now was much more elegant than what came naturally to Astria, and the star on her forehead seemed to glow brighter than before. The normally carefree and messy state of her brunette strands was less noticeable due to the fact that her hair took on a gossamer-like quality and flowed about her shoulders and arms as if it had assumed an air of its own. Winterstar remained silent and just stared at her, not really knowing what to think of this sudden turn of events.
"The shock of seeing Fthinoporo struck down initiated an abrupt switch of consciousness for the time being." Star explained without prompt, reading the questions in their eyes. "The girl you know as Astria is still here, recuperating. She will not remember anything that happened once she regains control."
"So... MPD?" Springstar asked, then shook her head quickly. "I'm sorry, uh... Princess, but I don't understand what's going on. Will our past selves starting taking over our bodies, too? Or something like that?" She placed her gloved hands to her cheeks that were starting to turn the same color pink as her skirt. "God, I hope I don't sound too stupid here..."
Star shook her head. "At ease, please. This isn't a formal occasion, so do not feel like you must address me as 'Princess'. I am as your equals." She tilted her head to the side. "In answer to your questions, Anoixi, I beg you not to be alarmed. Eventually, you all will come into your powers and past memories, but it will be a gradual process. Who you were in the past will mesh with the person you are now, inseparable and indistinguishable from one another. However..." Her features became concerned. "Astria's awakening was different, for some reason."
"Why?" Autumnstar spoke up. "I know the least of what's going on, so forgive me if my question is sub par."
"It is fine. For all purposes, no question is negligible. You all need to know as much as you can about yourself, and thus far, you have been relying so much on Twilight for assistance." She smiled down at her advisor before returning her gaze to them with a sigh. "Astria's fear is inhibiting the fusion of our souls, so we are currently two units in one frame. I am hidden in her unconscious, waiting to be properly unlocked so that she may realize her full potential."
"So... you'll have to leave eventually and let Astria back into her body." Winterstar stated, her face impassive.
Sailor Star looked at the ice senshi and smiled knowingly. "Of course. This is still her life, and her decision to make. No one else can make it for her." Her eyes drifted down slightly as she fell into thought. "She is... afraid of not being good enough. And as much as she may not show it, she is also scared of the unknown. There are a lot of questions she has not the answers to, nor does she feel like she can ask them."
Springstar scratched her head. "Like what?"
Star looked down to Twilight then. "Serenity is here, is she not?"
The cat nodded slowly, her eyes juggling a myriad of emotions, the most dominant of them being apprehension.
The sailor suited princess continued to train her eyes on her advisor, her face passive yet unwavering. "But?"
A long sigh left Twilight's body then, and for the first time everyone could see that the feline was very, very weary. Her entire demeanor slumped into much less than the rather stern figure she usually cut to keep the girls in line. "There has been an... unexpected turn of events that have forced me to awaken all of you, but I was waiting for the correct time to put it forth to you all." She looked at all of them then. "Please accept my apology for not relinquishing the entirety of your mission up until now. I meant no ill will with the way I went about things."
"Oooh, Astria was right!" Springstar chirped. "There is something else going on around here!"
"So, uh... there's more to this?" Summerstar asked, folding her arms across her chest.
Twilight looked sidelong at Sailor Star. "I am afraid so. Princess Celeste was the only one who consciously made the decision to leave her kingdom to be reborn here on Earth. The... your past incarnations are here for varying reasons."
Star let out a small laugh, recalling a specific memory with more than a bit of wistfulness in her eyes. "You four were the last ones I met before making my final decision in that life. Cheimonas was the most upset, and informed me that if I were to do anything as foolishly irreconcilable as what I was proposing, she would follow me simply to drag me back before the court to be charged with something akin to high treason. Fthinoporo, you were the most understanding of my situation." She gave a brief smile at Autumnstar, who was currently enthralled with absorbing as much information as possible, a perplexed look on her features. "You remained silent... until you said "The Lady's decision, as however it may be, is her own, and shall stand." I don't remember much after that..." Star frowned slightly, and her eyes blinked quickly for a moment. "Forgive me. Recalling too much of the past puts strain on both Astria and I. So I suppose we should cease reminiscing." She nodded at Twilight. "Continue."
"The past and the specific reasons for you all being here must be saved for another time. I brought it up only to further emphasize that you all were never meant to be born here. As such, your lives as you live them now serve no connection to the past, outside of the link between you all that will not dissipate until your souls cease the reincarnation cycle. I have survived here on this Earth since the time of the Princess' departure from Staria as an absent guardian, to observe that your lives remained as normal as possible."
Summerstar lifted an eyebrow. "So... how old are you again, Twilight?"
The cat blinked at her before continuing. "I have met with Luna and Artemis once the time came for their incarnations on this Earth, and had informed them of what happened shortly after Queen Selenity used the Silver Crystal to transport them to a new life in the future on this planet. We agreed that you all should be allowed to continue a normal existence... unless the time came when the extra power was sorely needed."
"This would mean that the other Sailor Senshi encountered something they can't handle by themselves, then." Winterstar mused. She flicked her gaze up to everyone. "Do you think the person we encountered today is one of the people involved?"
"It is quite possible. I don't know who she is, however." Sailor Star frowned. "Her aura was... strangely muted along with her identity. Nevertheless, she alone would not be more than a nuisance to Serenity and her guard. There must be something else that we are missing. Twilight, have you heard anything from them?"
"No."
The simplicity of the answer set everyone on guard, as all attention was focused on the brown cat that was sitting on her haunches in the grass, her eyes downcast.
"... Twilight... what happened?" Autumnstar spoke up gently. "Why can't we contact our allies?"
The Mau swallowed slowly and braced herself as she looked up and met everyone's individual gazes. "You cannot contact them because they are no longer in existence. You were all awakened because there are no more Sailor Senshi. You all are to replace the former guardians of this planet by defeating whatever evil dares to tarnish life on this Earth. That is your purpose."
Silence. Springstar's mouth dropped open and her eyes stretched just as wide, and Summerstar looked back and forth between everyone's various displays of astonishment before sputtering for a bit. "Say WHAT? You're meaning to tell me that NINE sailor senshi just dropped off the face of the Earth without warning??"
"What does this mean, exactly? Are they all dead?" Winterstar asked bluntly, her face hard and unreadable.
"Presumably so, although it's not affirmative. There... could be a small chance that they are still alive, somewhere." Twilight got to all fours and began pacing, the rare emotion of distress present in all of her movements. "Luna and Artemis have told me that the senshi had gone out to investigate a distress call, and never returned. They do not know much more than that."
"Okay, for our sanity's sake, let's keep it on the bright side and say for now that they're alright, and that we just have to find them, okay?" Springstar babbled, nervously twirling a strand of blonde hair between her fingertips. "I like that idea a lot better than just going out and fighting some unknown enemy by ourselves. I don't know about you guys, but today's fight was the first real one we've ever had as a group, and we got our tooshes beat. If it wasn't for As.. Celeste and Allison thinking fast and throwing that chick off, I don't know where we would be right now. We've trained, but we're still not ready."
"Yeah, we are more than a little wet behind the ears." Summerstar grudgingly conceded, kneading one of her shoulders. "But I don't think we can afford to assume that they're still alive. We don't know how long the normal senshi have been gone, but I think it's safe to assume that it's been long enough to send out the flare to get us out of our everyday slumber, so to speak. And something tells me that we're going to be seeing more and more public problems of the supernatural kind after today; home bitch wasn't too thrilled leaving us bodily intact. If anything, we need to figure out who's the head honcho and beating the living crap out of whoever it is, and just winging it for the rest."
Winterstar let out a puff of air from her mouth, her bangs flicking upwards to reveal an exasperated glance. "We can't just wing EVERYTHING."
Summerstar let out a similar sigh, rolling her eyes at her ally. "And we can't be prepared for EVERYTHING, either."
"So... what do we do?" Springstar asked, and Autumnstar simply moved her gaze to Star, who had turned slightly away from them ever since Twilight had revealed their true purpose moments before. The brunette was standing straight with her eyes blank, her head tilted upwards, almost as if she was waiting for a response from the heavens. Every so often, a breeze would rustle through the trees and stir her hair about her, but she didn't flinch. All of the Seasonal Senshi, including Twilight, patiently waited until the moment when Star's attention snapped back down to earth.
"We must find her." Was Star's response, her emerald eyes determined.
Twilight shook her head wearily. "Celeste, I understand your connection to Serenity, but-"
"She is out there. And we will find her, and her court." Star replied again, having said it in such a manner that allowed no further rebuttal. "Until every corner of this Earth is scoured, we will not give up." She scanned the rest of the senshi with a firm gaze. "I despise pulling rank, especially on you all... but this is of the utmost importance. The journey will be as hard as it might be long, but it will be done. I... the connection I have now is weak, as I used too much of my energy projecting my consciousness to scan for a trace of Serenity. Her aura is faint... but not altogether gone. She might be well hidden. Nevertheless, we have no time to lose."
Summerstar tossed her hair over her shoulder. "Alright then, I'm in. A plan is a plan. Let's finally get this party started!"
Autumnstar swallowed carefully before speaking. "I still don't know quite what's going on, but... all I have to rely on is my instincts right now. And as insane as this day has become for me, I am a firm believer in that things must happen for a reason. Maybe it's all the philosophy that goes along with Tai Chi that's affected my brain over the years, or something." She managed a sheepish flash of a smile. "But a part of me knew the moment I transformed, that I stepped into something that I couldn't turn my back on."
"An order is an order, right?" Springstar sighed. "I will admit, I totally don't have a good feeling about this... but then again, I didn't have a good feeling about anything ever since that woman showed up and nearly killed us. I don't know what we'll find or what we're supposed to be looking out for... and not only that, we have to watch our backs in the process. It's a lot to think about... so, I guess I should just stop thinking now!" She stretched, and did her best to put a smile on her face and her worries to the side. "Nikki, what's your vote?"
The raven-haired senshi didn't seem to be clued in on the discussion that was currently going on, and now she surprised everyone as she sucked in a slight breath and rushed forward. Before the others had time to question it, they saw Winterstar arrive just in time to catch Sailor Star before she hit the ground in a dead faint. Everyone gathered around and watched as the brooch on Star's bow flashed, and the transformation faded to show Astria in her civilian clothes and looking to be in a deep sleep.
"Oh my god, what happened?? Is she going to be okay??" Springstar whispered nervously, looking down over Winterstar's shoulder as the senshi of the winter was kneeling down in the grass with Astria's upper body cushioned on her lap.
"She should. I think the Princess couldn't keep up the connection anymore, and all of this drained way too much of both she and Astria's physical and magical resources." Winterstar looked upon Astria's face for a few moments longer before looking over at Twilight. "She needs rest, and while this place is safe, we can't stay here and wait for however long it might take for her to come to. How can we get her home without people freaking out and calling 911 or overall being suspicious?"
Twilight lapsed in thought for a moment before nodding. "If you all detransform and let me lead, it should be possible. I can attempt to perform a larger version of a charm that I have used on myself when I did not want to be seen by others. It does not make one invisible, per se, but when people look upon you, they will see you without seeing you in the same fashion. We should be as swift as possible, however, since I do not know how long the spell will last since I must stretch my limited resources to include all of you."
After all of them had detransformed, Sabrina stepped forward and looped one of Astria's arms around her neck and helped balance the weight that Nicole was taking on the other side in the same fashion, and Dawn followed Twilight and led the rest of the group out of the wooded area as Allison held the rear, observing their surroundings for anything anyone else might not catch. Steadily and surely, they all traced their steps back to the neighborhood where the safety net of Astria's house awaited them, and where they would decide what their next course of action would be.