I am going to make you all sick. There is a lot of sap in this chapter. If you don't like sap, you've got humor, gore and a few surprises to help you digest the sap.
Chapter Thirteen
The Lunar Queen could stand the deliberations no more but there was much to be accomplished and so very little time to do it. The Neptunian diplomat was proving to be the real stickler throughout the whole proceedings. She knew he was going against Styx's wishes but she could not come right out and tell the assembly, of course.
The door of the council room opened and Nike entered. The assemblage rose in the presence of the Jovian Queen.
"Queen Serenity," Nike said with a slight bow. "We have word from Terra that King Endymion has reclaimed his capital city and all is well."
Endymion was now in Atlantis and the Golden Palace. It was only a matter of time now. Serenity nodded, "Thank you, Nike." She touched a hand to her heart and closed her eyes for a moment.
Nike bowed to her once more. Change was never easy but this… this was a nightmare of sorts.
Nike left the chamber, thinking of all they had gone through to restore Silver Millennium and rebuild the Silver Alliance, only to hand it over to a terran King who had not yet gained everyone's trust or respect.
Nike stopped and looked at Terra rising. She felt a clenching in the pit of her gut but forced it aside. This was for the best, deep down she knew that, but still, Beryl had come from Terra and Ananke had started the insurrection there. Surely there had to have been reasons why she believed the terrans would be so easily manipulated and controlled. And that made Nike fearful. She did not trust the terrans; she did not trust Endymion. He was going to have to win her loyalty if he was going to have a reign as peaceful as Queen Serenity's.
The next morning, Artemis came upon Gigi on the balcony of the training room. She was watching the soldiers training on the ground level below her, her dark eyes never missing anything. Her stance reminded him of Endymion. In fact, everything about her that morning screamed Endymion from her choice in clothing to the determined look on her face.
"Good morning, Gigi," Artemis said as he sat down beside her.
The petite girl nodded once, her eyes never once leaving the floor. "That woman with the red hair needs to concentrate more on the opponent in front of her instead of Umino," she said critically.
"Molly and Umino do tend to distract each other," Artemis said with a slight grin. "They are infatuated with each other."
"It's still dangerous. If she were distracted like that in a true battle, she would be dead by now."
Artemis conceded her point, but then his people were just relaxing. Everyone now knew the enemy had attacked Endymion directly and it had upset them. Forces all over the world wanted to be at Atlantis and protect their King. Artemis could sympathize, which was why he had the people working off their anxiety.
But there was something he wanted to know. He looked at Gigi as the girl pushed a stray lock of hair behind her ear.
"This is too weird," she told him. "I look around and see familiar faces, the people who took care of me as a child and yet you are all strangers."
"Serenity, why are you here?"
"I have my reasons." She frowned as Molly lost her sword to her fencing partner.
"Which are?" he asked.
"Sailor business."
"That has you and your brother breaking the rules of Cronus by coming back to the past?"
Gigi shook her head. "Elios broke the rule, I was the one who was sent to the past," she said coldly. "This is my mission."
"I don't understand. Why would you have been sent back and why is only your twin breaking the rule?"
Gigi suddenly looked tired. She sat down and propped her elbows on her knees. "Seven months ago in my time, I was out on a routine training mission with my Senshi when we were attacked. Like I said, it was routine and on a distant outpost in the Aquarius System. Nothing was supposed to go wrong."
"But something did go wrong and you were attacked?" he asked. She nodded. "Have you any idea of who attacked you?"
Gigi pushed her hands into her hair. "I didn't know it at the time but we were ambushed by a Senshi named Ananke. She came with a Sin, a metal Senshi called Sailor Tein and two things, I don't know what they were, but they came after me. I was hit with one of Dirae's attacks from Ananke and a black rose was lodged in my chest. My Senshi fought to protect me, knowing that my mother would sense my distress and come to our aid. The Sin ordered the metal Senshi to take me."
"A black rose?"
She nodded, "Poisonous black roses, the same thing that the Sin used when it tried to kill my father last night."
"Yet you survived that attack. Why are you here?"
Her hands clenched in her hair. "The Sin felt the essences of my parents' presence and it panicked. It realized it couldn't get to me so it captured my Senshi."
Artemis stared at her in horror. "Beloved Goddess. Who are they?"
Gigi dropped her hands and just stared ahead blankly. "The Senshi of the Solar Asteroids: Ceres, Pallas, Juno, and Vesta. They are the youngest daughters of four of the Royal Families in our system. And they are my best friends and my Senshi. They are why I am here. When Queen Eros was planning the rescue, I begged her to let me come."
"You are not the only one?"
She smiled slightly. "I am the only one. I am their leader and it is my responsibility to get my Senshi back."
"I think we should talk to Eros." Artemis said abruptly.
"I was going to ask you how I would get to Venus."
"You don't have to go to Venus," he told her, "Eros and Dirae have just arrived. They want to talk to you."
They were in Endymion's study. In formal dress, both Alpha Senshi were waiting for the next generation of Sailor Moon to enter.
Gigi morphed and entered the chamber as Super Sailor Moon. Gigi bowed to the younger version of her commander.
"Sailor Venus," she said, "I am Sailor Moon, Lady Serenity Shields, Princess of Silver Millennium, Terra and the Golden Alliance and the Commander of the Interior Senshi and Inner Guard."
"Why have you broken the Laws of Cronus and traveled through time, Sailor Moon?" Eros asked without preamble.
"I was charged with the mission to locate and rescue the Solar Asteroid Senshi who were taken from the Thirtieth Century." She removed a disk from her pouch and placed it before Eros. "Seven months ago in my time, the Sailors of Ceres, Pallas, Juno, and Vesta were taken prisoner by two unknown Senshi and a follower of Chaos. Since then, we have learned the identities and the original time period of our attackers. They are Ananke, the former Senshi of Pluto and Guardian of Time and the Underworld, and Sailor Tein, the Metal Senshi from the planet Mau. Sailors Mars, Neptune, Saturn, and Pluto concluded that the four Senshi were brought here to the Twenty-first Century and their current location is the former Plutonian Moon, Nemesis."
Eros took the disk, glanced at it and then handed to Dirae. "Do you have any idea of what is happening in this time, Sailor Moon?"
Gigi looked slightly uneasy. "Not exactly, your Majesty. From what I was able to gather, you all are beginning to create the Golden Alliance."
"We are at war, Sailor Moon," Eros told her. "And right now, your presence here is a threat to our strategy."
"I'm a threat?" Gigi demanded. "How? I came to rescue my team and leave."
"What Eros meant, Moon," Dirae said, giving her commander a disapproving look, "is…"
"Were Ananke and the others after you?" Eros asked sharply.
Gigi nodded, "I was the target but my team was captured in my place."
Eros swore. "What the hell were your commanders thinking by sending you to the time when Chaos is most active?" Eros looked at Dirae. "How soon can you take Moon and her brother back to their proper time?"
"Wait a minute," Gigi cried. "I came here to help. You can't send me back, damnit. Chaos has my Senshi and I am not leaving until I get them back."
"You are out of line, Sailor Moon," Eros snapped.
"No, you are the one who's out of line, Sailor Venus," Gigi shot back. "You just can't tell me that you're going to send me back to the Thirtieth Century without telling me why I can't stay and rescue my team. I'm not leaving until you give me some plausible excuse I can give my commanders and those Senshi's families why I came back without them."
"You said it yourself, Moon," Eros told her, "You are a target." Gigi looked confused. Despite those buns in her hair, that girl was all Endymion. "Don't you realize you're in danger?"
She shrugged, "I'm not in danger, my Senshi are. I'm not leaving until I get them back. Oh, and I cut off that witch Ananke's head."
Yep, she was Endymion's child all right. Eros said a prayer for her Princess. Maybe if she kept at it or had an affair, she might have a child that approached normalcy or hell, just sanity.
"Is it possible that the attack on Darien's time was a back up plan in case the first attempt to find a host body failed?"
Dirae nodded. "It stands to reason. The attack on this version of Princess Serenity is almost parallel to what would have been the Dark Moon war in the timeline Ananke was trying to create."
"But seven months?"
"Seven months ago in Ananke's timeline would have brought the Dark One in the form of Endymion and Cosmos' daughter to our time. She would have been taken by her follower Envy to have the limiter placed upon her by her mother removed and she would have been able to access the knowledge needed to create a silver crystal of her own as well as start the seduction of Elysium's High Priest."
"She would have been busy, that one," Eros turned back to Gigi and asked. "What was the delay in your coming here? Why did we in your time wait so long to send someone to tell us about the kidnapped Senshi?"
"I was injured in the attack," Gigi told them. "I would have come sooner, but took longer than expected to recover my strength."
"What happened to you?"
"I had been hit in the chest with a poisoned black rose and I would have died if my parents had not reached out and shielded me. But they could not save my team and they were taken."
"Those black roses, they were the same thing used against Endymion," Dirae told Eros. She turned her attention to Gigi then, "Can you tell us about the black roses?"
Gigi nodded, "Athena Diana said I had a shadow in my lungs which lasted a few weeks after the attack. The rose released a poison in my system as soon as it touched my skin. It was like ink spreading throughout my body and started to choke the life within me. It fed off my crystal heart; I had internal barriers set up to slow it down. My father could have withstood one rose; it would have taken more time for it to create havoc in his system. Which is most likely why that Sin struck at Terra's heart and put a million or more roses in the Great Mother's Temple." She pointed at the disk. "Athena Diana included a detailed report on the roses and a cure."
Eros did not like this, not one bit. She should have known better, Ananke had been in place for thousands of years. She would have had a back up plan in case her first plan failed, which it did, thanks to Bunny. What had Eros wanting to repeatedly kick herself in the rear was the fact that she allowed Ananke to seal herself in the Gates. They should have gone in after her. But damnit, they had been on Terra's northern polar cap fighting Metallia. If she had a brain in her head, she would have had Kore track that witch down and slit her throat. However, she didn't because she had been too focused on Beryl and Kore was still recovering from all that dark energy. Saturn was Ananke's natural partner; she could have tracked that witch through any and all time periods because everyone had to die.
"Damn it." Eros stood up and walked over to closest window. "We should have known that Serenity and Endymion will eventually get together and produce a daughter one day."
"How could we?" Dirae asked mildly. "At the time, I was in no position to look into the Gates of the Future."
"The line of Selene has to go on," Eros said bitingly. "No male could handle the power of the Silver Crystal."
"That's speculation."
"It's a legend," Eros told her. "Apollo and Selene were created to be equals, but Apollo was a male and therefore stronger than his counterpart. To make them equal, Helios told Selene that the power of her heart made her as strong as her brother. When she faced the Dark One in battle, Helios increased her power a hundredfold but it was too much for her body to bear so she released it all in the form of a tear. The tear crystallized and the power of Selene's heart, her love for her brother, lit up the dark sky and washed away the Darkness. When the battle was over, Selene went to give her tear to Helios. Helios would not touch it, saying the power of her heart was too great even for his heart to withstand. She kept the tear and it became the first Silver Crystal."
"I never heard that legend."
"It's Venusian." Eros looked out at the forest. "Probably not based on fact, but for three generations, there were no male heirs of Silver Millennium to prove otherwise. But Ananke would have known the legend and told it to the Dark One. They would have watched this new timeline and waited to see if a daughter would be born. The Dark One covets Selene's crystal as well as Elysium. Why didn't we see it? The Dark One wants a body that will give her the two things she wants, Selene's crystal and a way into Elysium."
"My eldest brother controls the Golden Crystal with my father," Gigi told her, "Emmanuel and Endy protect Terra from the inside and I protect Terra from the outside on Silver Millennium. Elios protects Elysium with our mother and father. I help Mother and Endy guard the Solar System but I have nothing to do with Elysium directly. Why would that bitch want me?"
"How old are you?"
"Fifteen."
"Stop cursing." Gigi held her tongue. Eros turned to Dirae, "We all need to meet and let everyone know this little bit of information. Darien was a decoy, Ananke was after the Princess all along." She looked at Gigi then, "I should send you back to where you belong."
"Now wait a minute," Gigi jumped up, her dark eyes flashing. "That psychotic freak has my Senshi, I'm not leaving here until I get them back."
"You are in danger here, Sailor Moon," Dirae told her, "Eros is right, you should return to your time where you are better protected."
"But, Patty, my Senshi need me. I can't abandon them." She turned to Eros, "Please, Venus, they were captured because they tried to save me. Please, let me stay and rescue them. Please."
"Elios has to go," Dirae told her. "I know you two are natural partners—"
"Elios broke the Law of Cronus by coming," Gigi said quickly. "I was to come alone and make my appeal to Sailor Venus directly."
"Why are you so eager to be rid of your twin?" Eros asked her.
Gigi looked at Dirae, but the Senshi of Time would not aid her. The girl sighed, "Elios is breaking more laws. He's been telling our father, as well as our uncles and others, their futures."
"He won't shut up," Dirae smiled. "Endymion wants to strangle him."
"It's deliberate?" Eros asked.
Gigi nodded. "Elios is special." She pointed to her head as emphasize what she meant.
"Dirae." Eros was alarmed.
"He is as good as gone."
"I can't guarantee that he will stay gone." Gigi grumbled. "The rat will most likely come back through Elysium."
"Then, we will let Endymion deal with him," Eros told her. "I don't need a head case walking around and spilling the beans when I've got a war to fight and genocide to plan."
A new day had come and the seemingly vapid Elios was up before everyone else and getting his bearings. And he was ready for some exploring and quality time with his dear old dad before he became dear old dad.
Leaving the camp in the dining room, he grabbed an apple from his pack and went in search of his father. Elios found Endy a short time later. He was standing in the center of the Grand Hall, watching the sun come up over the quartz ceiling. The light caught in the stones and refracted, filling the hall and three terraces with rainbows. As a child, Elios had spent many happy hours watching the rainbows dance about the topaz and marble columns. His mother called him her little dream catcher, for that was what rainbows were, dreams looking for a place to call home.
"In my previous life, this place was filled with life," Endymion's voice broke through the boy's memories. "Terra's wind once blew here."
Elios looked at him, waiting for him to continue. But Endy did not say anything for a long time. He just wandered the hall as if he were looking for something until he stopped before a set of great ornate oak doors. The oak still looked fresh and well tended like the rest of the palace, which was sort of frightening. From his lessons with Terran, Elios knew the last great battle on Terra during the fall of Silver Millennium took place within the Golden Palace. His father's mother and father were slain in the throne room and his father only escaped because his Uncle Kris' past self forced Prince Endymion into a transporter.
It had taken him a long time to straighten most of it out. Many times, Elios had run crying from the classroom to find his parents and make sure they were all right and still with him. He hated learning about the Silver Millennium. Gigi and the other children who were taught with him thought it was romantic and fantastic. To them, it was a great bedtime story filled with brave Princes, tragic Princesses, magic and cruel witches. But not him. He could not bear the thought of his cherished parents dying because they loved each other and had defied the prejudiced planets to be together. Still, he had to know it, it was his history. It was what led to his world but that did not mean he liked it.
Elios looked at this young version of his father. A man on the verge of becoming not only king of his home world but the ruler of the entire solar system. He wondered what his father was feeling. He could not have any idea of what it would be like because he didn't have the training for that type of leadership. Here, his grandmother Queen Serenity I had just stepped down from that exalted position. Born into that position since before the Fall, she had been recognized by the system as its Supreme Ruler when she was reborn on Terra. She knew her duties and what was required to be the Supreme Leader. Even his mother had more training. She was heir to the system; she knew protocols like the back of her hand. In his time, his brother Endy traveled about the Cosmos on peace missions and conferences as the Ambassador of the Golden Alliance with Emmanuel and Umino. Endy had been groomed for the high throne since the cradle. Elios could never ask him about it and he couldn't broach this subject with his father back home.
Elios sighed wistfully. He wasn't really close to his dad, not like Endy and Mani. Heck, even Gigi had a better relationship with their father than he did. Elios looked over to where his father stood and he made his plan. It was a little reckless, but then when was he known for being overly cautious? He was going to make this work. He was going to get to know his dad. He wondered if he liked mangas?
Endy pushed the doors open. "The old Gods lived here," he told Elios. "They paid homage to my mother and she blessed this star. When I was away from Terra, I longed for this place. It is where I felt safe, loved and protected, even as a young man. My parents made this place a home." He stepped into the throne room, the last place he, as Prince Endymion, saw his parents alive. The room was in a state of disrepair; brown stains covered the walls and floor. The brilliant emerald green and sapphire runner leading to the dais had cuts and horrible rips in it. Lying at the base of the dais was the State Crown of Terra.
Endy picked up the crown and for a moment he just stared at it.
"I told you it was heavy." Gaia laughed as she lifted the crown from his head.
An eight-year-old Endymion rubbed the back of his neck, a scowl on his face. "Papa says that you are as delicate as rose petals, how can you stand to wear it if it is too heavy for me?"
The slender Queen of Terra placed her crown beside her scepter and jewel encrusted globe. "I got used to it." She closed the lid on the golden chest holding her symbols of rank. "And I'm not as weak as your father professes. I can wrestle the waves and call the wind and I stop earthquakes just by closing my hands. A woman as delicate as rose petals cannot do that."
"I guess so."
"You guess so?" She rushed over to him, swung Endymion up in her arms and then nuzzled his neck. "How dare you," she began to tickle him. "Just for that, I am going to eat your dessert at supper."
"No, Mama," he howled with laughter. "You are strong, the strongest mama in the world."
"The world?" She went for his underarms.
Endymion yelped. "The strongest in the universe!"
"Well, I guess I can accept that." She sat down on the floor and held him in her lap. "Look, Endy," she pointed at a rainbow appearing over the palace gardens. "My mother is singing to me."
He stared at the sky in awe, after a while he too heard music. Endy turned to ask his mother if she could hear it and was surprised to see that they were no longer alone. His father was kneeling behind Gaia with his strong arms wrapped protectively about her slender shoulders. He was singing softly to her. Helios glanced down to see his son watching him. He smiled down at the little boy and lifted his voice in song for his family. There were no words, at least none a mortal could understand, but it made young Endymion feel safe and loved. Soon, the little prince drifted off to sleep. Helios reached down to take him from his mother's arms. When Gaia rose with him, Endymion opened his eyes briefly. Gaia bent and brushed her lips against his brow.
"I will send you roses in your dreams," Gaia whispered. "That way you will never be without me."
Endy carried the crown to his mother's throne and placed it down. As he stepped back, his khaki pants, loose shirt, and scuffed black boots changed and Elios saw his father, the legendary Prince Endymion of Terra and Protector of Elysium, in black armor with the Great Sword of Daghda Belenus de Danaan belted at his waist.
Drawing his sword, Endymion raised the blade to the sky and went down one knee.
"I have returned, my Queen."
Elios was so enthralled by this sight that he did not notice thirty-four roses falling around them until the golden nimbus started to shimmer. As Elios morphed, his hand went to his golden sword and the blade left its sheath with a song of deadly promise.
"Father," Elios snapped, "Stand back."
But Endy was on his feet, his stance at the ready. "Elios, stand down." He resheathed his sword and calmed his aura.
"Father?" Elios did lower his guard but not by much.
"Prince Endymion?" one of the shades whispered.
"I am now King of this land," Endy said challengingly.
The shades all went down, kneeling before him. "Then we greet you, High King of Terra."
"Identify yourself," Endy said.
"I am the Goddess of Battle and Death and Leader of Lord Odin's Valkyries."
"Freyja?" Endy whispered in disbelief. It had been too much to hope that some of his relatives had survived or been reborn. He suddenly felt very alone.
The shade nodded, "Well met, my kinsman."
Endy pushed down the lump in his throat, "Well met, dear cousin."
"Your arrival means that our duty is done. We have protected this land since Ragnarok, waiting for the day when we would be freed to join our kinsmen in Asgard. We have honoured the wishes of Danu Erda and the Mother can now rest with her husband and daughter." The thirty-four shades rose as one and began to fade.
Endy called out. "Freyja, I must know, will my mother live again?"
The shade stopped. For the first time since they appeared, Endymion looked in the face of his kinswoman. Her cheeks were hollow; her spiritual body was nothing more than a floating skeleton in ancient armor with long blond plaits.
"It is a continuous cycle. Life and death, it will continue long after this star system has become dust."
"I only want her to be happy," he told her.
Freyja gave him a horrid approximation of a smile. "Gaia's only wish was your happiness. Know that and accept it, for it is the truth. Your happiness is hers. Be well, King Endymion, my kinsman. May we all stand in Valhalla together again. Hail and farewell." And they were gone.
"Farewell," Endymion said softly, "Good-bye, cousin."
*******
Kris had found the place where his mother fell. He knew the others were looking for the same. Endy had told them of his encounter with the spirits of the Valkyries. Memories and forgotten wounds were opened.
Kris said a prayer over the ancient bones of his fallen mother. He had tracked through the ruined gardens to find her and her comrades who died to protect their Queen.
Jamie wiped at his streaming eyes. He was digging more graves with his bare hands than he thought possible. He had found the place where he fell during Beryl's assault on the northern gates. With his bones lay those of his brethren. His four brothers were beside him as well as his cousins and more soldiers who came from his homeland. The uniforms crumbled in his hands as he placed the skeletal remains into the mass grave he had dug out.
Troy found his body, still holding his sword, on the staircase leading to the transporter chamber. He had died trying to hold the horde at bay while Nephrite and Kunzite ran with Endymion to the chamber. His left arm was severed from his body and he had been bleeding to death before Beryl's force overwhelmed him but he refused to die until he was sure Endymion was off Terra. He had switched to his right hand when arrows struck his body. He was dead before Endymion could escape; his wounds had been too great and he had nothing left to sustain him.
Troy took his wedding band and his sword from the corpse's hand. His last memories of that day were of Athena Diana and their little baby, the baby he would never see born or growing up. He had prayed for the safety of his little family. He knew that they would be safe; he died knowing that Athena and their baby would be safe on the moon. Beryl could not reach them there. He just did not know how very wrong he was.
Troy stood up, wiping at the tears that slid down his face. He made a gesture and his skeleton was wrapped in a casket of ice. Then, it disappeared. He would not dwell on the past. He had a second chance; he and Athena were together. One day, when this mess was over with Chaos and the universe settled down, he hoped that he would see the birth of his baby. And if Elios was telling the truth, he would see all his babies grow up and get married and he and Athena would have the life they planned. History wasn't going to repeat itself; they were going to win this.
Mike rammed his spade into the ground and wiped the sweat off his brow. He buried his and Kunzite's skeletons near the old training grounds. It helped him to think of them just as skeletons, bones in decomposing cloth. What made them human was gone, their souls and bodies were reborn in this time and they were more powerful than they had been, too…So why was he so mad? God, he wished he could go back to that alley in London a few months ago and plunge his sword into Ananke's black heart.
He grabbed his spade and went back to work shoveling earth over the two shroud- wrapped bodies.
******
Serena rose from her kneeling position and stretched her stiff muscles. It had been three years for her inside the chamber but on the outside, only a day and half had passed. Endymion was complaining of the time she spent in these places, saying that she was becoming older than he was. The fact that he communicated with her during her trances and shared everything she experienced seemed lost on him. But he knew she had to become stronger. If she were to face Chaos in battle, she could not afford any type of weakness. She had to be stronger, well developed in mind and body well, and she had to be one with her crystal and completely in sync with the ways of the cosmos or all would be lost.
She stood before the sacred fire of Ares and without warning, she put her right hand into the flames. The fire licked at her hand and danced around the flesh but it could not burn her. Serena withdrew her hand and looked down at it. Not a single mark or slightest indication of damage. She closed her hand into a fist, her pale brows knitted together as she drew on her power. It focused and then shimmered but she couldn't call what she wanted.
She released the energy and went back to her place before the brazier, sinking down into the lotus position. She took a deep breath, forcing all other thoughts from her mind, and prepared for the first assault. Her opponent was the same, she never changed, but Serena was still unable to defeat her. If she wanted to be stronger, if she wanted to grasp that power, she would have to defeat the one who stood in her way.
She would have to defeat Sailor Moon.
******
"I'm sick of this." Athena pushed the severed head away.
Bella was tired of that. "Why not just tell Eros the truth?" she asked mildly.
Athena gave her a dirty look. "Tell her what? That I can't get past all the traps and false leads in this corpse's brain?"
Bella nodded, "Eros is not expecting a miracle, Athena. She just wants the truth about the situation."
"And that's not a miracle?" Athena asked snidely.
Bella shook her head, "We are going into this blind. There is nothing out there to guide us except the words of a dead traitor. I don't think she would hold it against you if you were unable to do anything with that dead head."
"Well, that traitor apparently had more pots on the fire than we knew about."
Bella knew Athena meant more than she knew about. And she did not know what to tell the Ice Senshi to lessen that guilt. Eros felt the same and so did Kore. All three were blaming themselves for not realizing sooner that Ananke had tricked them. When Ananke sealed herself within the Gates of Time, there was no way they could have gone after her.
Queen Serenity had to go to into the underworld and speak to Cronus himself in order to gain permission to create a new planetary Senshi of Pluto to replace Ananke. Cronus had not been pleased when the Queen presented Patricia Haruna as her choice. None had known why until very recently. Feeling the dual blessings of the Princess and Queen's crystals on her soul, Bella's grandfather had naturally assumed that she had been on Silver Millennium at the time of the Fall. Only now, she was revealed to be none other than the Leader of Queen Gaia's personal guardians and possessor of a lot of untapped terran magic. Eros was in a rage; she had been looking for Scathach, not that she chose to share that with anyone until after the fact. Hell, Endymion had been looking for her as well. Both had different reasons, but Eros was clearly not happy about having basically Kunzite's predecessor as a Senshi.
"You know, I feel sorry for Patricia." Bella went to Athena's worktable and looked down at the green haired head. "But I wonder why she couldn't recall being this Scathach person."
Athena poked the head with a pencil. "Probably for the same reasons we didn't until the memories were triggered."
"But what makes her so important?" Bella laid a pale hand on the head's brow. "Who was she?"
"From what Eros told me, Scathach was more than Gaia's Guardian. She was a good friend and confidant to the Queen," Athena said absently, watching on her monitor as Bella slowly yet patiently released all the traps and guards on the dead brain. "She was also on Odin's list of people to kill."
"Odin?"
"Gaia's half brother," she told her. "Daghda Belenus de Danaan was their father. He was older than Gaia by a few thousand years or so and would have been King of Terra if Daghda Belenus hadn't married Danu Erda, the all-powerful Mother Goddess in this system. It's kind of galling when you think—no, know— that Endymion is the son of Helios and descendant of Morpheus, etc, etc, etc. But then to know that he is the grandson of one of the most powerful Gods to ever exist on this plane! It just makes my skin crawl."
Bella frowned, "I wasn't thinking about it but now since you've brought it up, I have that sickening mental picture in my head."
"It got my goat."
"And it doesn't help that he's so freaking perfect," Bella spat. "His perfect hair, those damned uncapped, perfectly aligned white teeth and flawless skin."
"There were times when I just wanted Sere to punch him in that perfectly chiseled jaw," Athena laughed softly. "We are so bad."
Bella nodded, "Still, I wouldn't wish him on anyone." She removed her hand. Athena handed her a damp cloth. "Even in our past I said that and it would have been true."
"But Sere loved him then and she loves him now."
"I think he's drugging her."
"Me, too." When she prodded the head again, her pencil slipped and jabbed it in the eye. "Now that's nasty."
Bella moved away quickly, but Athena moved in closer. "Eeew. Is eye jelly supposed to be that colour?" she asked nervously.
"It's vitreous humor," Athena told her. "And no, it should be clear, not black."
"You say vitreous humor, I say eye jelly. Either way, it's black, most likely poisonous and we are breathing in the fumes."
"We should call Nike," Athena said matter-of-factly.
"You think?"
She grinned at Bella. "Have you noticed when you're worried, you start to get a little bitchy? Kind of reminiscent of Rei." She ducked to dodge the towel Bella threw at her. "What?"
"How dare you!" Bella was indignant. "Do I go about calling you Ami?"
"I don't mind being called Ami. But if you call me bookworm or geek, I will kick your ass."
"Such language and from a Princess."
Athena flicked her off. "Let's call Nike, this is just too much for me."
"I suddenly have a craving for pizza." She looked at Athena sharply, "If you ever tell anyone I said that, I will deny it and then set your icy butt on fire. And I mean it."
"I wasn't going to say anything, but now…"
"Athena!"
"I am going tell the girls—"
"When you think of us, the Alpha Senshi, as girls, do you also include Apollo as 'one' of the girls?"
Athena started to reply, but stopped as a strange look crossed her face. Then, her eyes went wide. "Oh, my goddess, I do." She raised a hand to an ice blue cheek and looked at Bella; her hands were clasped over her mouth to stifle her laughter. "He looks so much like Lana that I forget he's a man half the time."
Bella was nodding her head like an idiot. "Andrew always looked a little funny to me."
"Oh, you, too?"
Bella laughed out loud. "But don't tell anybody, ok?"
"But I had the worst crush on him back then."
"Nike did too."
"I know," Athena hooted. "But that's not saying a lot about her, because she had a crush on every male that walked by."
"You know Troy looks a little you know," she said, wiggling her brows for emphasis.
"I think there's something wrong with me because I'm attracted to androgynous looking men."
"You and Nike both. I mean look at Mike."
"Oh, his hair." Athena rolled her eyes. "I would kill for his hair."
"Molly Osaka has the same hair."
"Did you know she was his sister in the past?"
"Get out!"
Athena shook her head. "Nike almost killed Molly when she saw them in a passionate embrace on one of her visits to Terra."
"And she believed them?"
"Turns out it was true." Then she remembered the head with the black eye crap. "We really need to call Nike."
"We should," Bella agreed. "We might be dying."
"Damn shame if we are."
"Stay away from Jamie 'cos you're beginning to sound like him and it's weirding me out."
"In a good way or a bad way?"
She gave her a long-suffering look. "You are freaky."
Athena leaned back in her chair and began to rock back and forth. "This has been a great afternoon. I can't remember the last time I just kicked back and talked about crap."
"Yeah, I'm feeling pretty relaxed." Bella glanced at the severed head. "That eye goop is messing with me. I don't like black eye poop."
"You sound just like Sere right then."
"Are you trying to be funny?"
"Oh, just shut up, Rei, and summon Nike."
"You call me that one more time, Frosty, and I am going to go terran on your Mercurian butt."
"You just call me a terran?"
Bella smirked.
"Not only is that insult old but you just insulted Sere's kids."
"Is it my fault she went slumming?"
"Oh." Athena jumped up; a big smile was on her face. "Oh, oh, no! Damn, the Bitch of First Street is back. Oh, Diana! Whoa. I gotta go tell somebody that one. Bella, that was good. Cold but good. Damn, I gotta go tell somebody. Where is Kore, she would appreciate that one!" She looked back at Bella and smiled. "If we haven't told you, it's good to have you back."
Bella felt all her secret fears leave. She felt a nudging in her mind and her heart. Athena rushed off to summon Nike and Kore; Bella sat back and allowed a slight trance to envelop her senses.
"Slumming, eh?" The familiar presence chuckled. "Alright, Belle. It was pretty funny."
Bella's astral form opened her eyes; she was standing in a hall of clear glass. She turned around and standing under an archway was her Princess and fellow Senshi.
"I hope I mean more to you than that." Serena smiled at her. "Are we not also friends, Bellona?"
"Cosmos, I…"
"I am Serenity still," the pristine angel told her. "And I am Bunny, too. In our former life, you were my friend and spiritual advisor. In Juuban, that bond was strained but never broken."
"Serenity, how can you be so forgiving?"
She came forward, her long diamond white hair floating about her and the satin of her gown rustling on the glass floor. "I don't blame you for what happened then. Nor do I blame Luna, Beryl, Atalanta or even Ananke. I hold no grudges for what was done."
"You see me as them?" Bella asked brokenly.
Serenity reached for Bella's hands. "No, Bella. You are my friend and my sister in arms. Luna, she was my caretaker and I loved and trusted her. Atalanta was very dear to me and a sister of my heart just like Athena, and Ananke, although I never knew her, was still a Senshi and devoted to me, but that devotion was warped and scares me."
"And Beryl?"
Serenity looked away then. "Beryl never had a chance at life or happiness. All her dreams became nightmares. She was haunted by demons and pushed onto the road of destruction." She let go of Bella's hands and walked over to one of the many crystals that floated about the place. "I forgive Beryl for the horrors that were inflicted upon her soul for the sole purpose of birthing evil. She never had a chance. And my heart bleeds for her and all those who died for something that will never become reality." Her tiny hands clenched into fists at her sides. "I will right those wrongs and avenge all those deaths. I will free my Senshi. I will be the bearer of the pain and suffering of those millions dead and I will shove it through Chaos' black soul." The surge of her emotions vented in the form of power.
The light was too brilliant, too intense for Bella's eyes. She threw her arm up to shield her face from the light emanating from Princess Serenity's—No, Cosmos'—form.
"I will not rest, not even in death, until I have won, Chaos," the Senshi of Order shouted at her nemesis. "The ending of your life begins now."
Sailor Cosmos' declaration was heard throughout the universe and beyond. It was sensed by those Senshi who were in the infant stages of what would be known in the history of space as the Sailor Wars; Sailor Warriors, living and dying, stopped to hear one of their own challenge the impossible but then she too was a fable.
A lone warrior looked out over the field. She had just taken part in one of the worst battles in the Solar System between two warring factions. It was a little bit of nothing, this small planet in the middle of space. A tiny bit of nothing…
A gold sword fell into the blood soaked ground and beside it, down came the survivor. Gold plated armor clinked softly as the warrior turned her face to the apricot colored sky, praying that someone or something would end her life.
"Why me?" she screamed. She ripped off her helmet and then her broach, throwing the two as far away from her as possible. "Why me? Why? I did not ask for this! I will not—I cannot…" Her voice broke off as sobs forced their way up. "I didn't ask for this. I cannot do this."
A wave of power, as great if not more so than her own, knocked her flat. She pushed herself up. A challenge had been made. Then another, equally strong, responded and accepted it.
"By the stars." She rose slowly to her knees. "Our sister has been born."
******
It was late in the afternoon when Dirae appeared in the council chambers of the Golden Palace and the room was abuzz with activity.
Five computer terminals had been set up with scanners humming as information specialists entered all the data from every source into the main computer system. She found Endy in the ancient council chamber with his guards and Elios who was napping away in a canvas chair. Dirae had taken no more than half a step when she felt a blade of cold steel at the base of her neck. As a gasp escaped her lips, the five young men looked up to see Elios standing behind the Senshi of Time with his sword drawn.
"Patricia?" Endy sounded a bit surprised. He hadn't seen the lazy kid move and he was sure no one else had. "What are you doing here?"
Elios withdrew his sword and stepped forward smiling broadly. "Oh, sorry about that, Patty. I only heard you enter, I didn't recognize you 'til I checked your fuku and scanned your aura." He walked back to his chair, sat down, put his feet back on the windowsill and closed his eyes.
Dirae was still rubbing the back of her neck, she had neither heard nor seen him move. The boy just appeared and most likely would have killed her had she been the enemy. She tore her eyes away from the strange boy when she heard Endymion ask her a question.
"I am sorry, what did you ask, your Majesty?"
Endy's left brow quirked at the formality but he did not comment on it. "I asked why are you here, Pluto?"
She flushed. "I came to escort Prince Halcyon back to his time," she answered.
Elios' chair dropped back to all four legs and the prince was on his feet. "You've come to do what?" he cried.
Dirae put on her best reproving teacher's tone as she faced the youth. "Your sister, Sailor Moon, informed Eros and myself of her mission this morning."
"Wait a minute," Elios said, a vein was throbbing in neck, "What mission? Gigi has no mission…"
"She also said that you broke the rules of Cronus by following her back through time---"
"She's lying," the boy shouted. "Gigi is the one who broke the rule. She was the one who made our presence known to our father and it was she who altered the timeline, not me." He turned to Endy then, pleading. "Father, you have to believe me. I was sent back to the past on Mother's, Queen Eros' and your orders. I've been here for six months, monitoring the activities of the war criminals Ananke, the former Senshi of Pluto, and the thing known as Chaos. I was sent here in case something went wrong with either Cosmos or the terran King."
"Your sister said she was sent here to rescue her Senshi?" Dirae told him.
"And you believed her?" he cried in disbelief.
Dirae started to answer but when Endy held up his right hand, she remained silent and he turned his attention to the muttering Elios.
"You say you have been in this time for six months?"
Elios nodded.
"Why have you just made yourself known?" Endy demanded, "Where have you been all this time?"
"Elysium," the boy told him. "I have been in the temple with Elysium's High Priest. And there was no reason for you to know about me. I had my orders."
"But how?" Kris demanded, "Elysium is sealed from the outside world, no one can see it, much less enter it without Endymion's knowledge."
Elios looked unperturbed as he answered. "I am the guardian of Elysium and its chosen. I have to be able to see it and move through it if I am to protect Elysium from the inside if the worst comes."
"And you used it to move through time?" Endy asked.
Elios nodded again, "It was the only way. Ananke was still moving through time. My mother and the others did not want to alert her as to what was going and she could not see into Elysium…"
"Which makes more sense than having the right person Chaos needs coming to the time when it's most active." Dirae said. Silently, she was cursing herself. Eros was right, Sailor Moon should return to her proper time before it was too late.
"Why is your sister here?" Endy asked Elios.
The boy turned back to him, "Gigi was attacked by Ananke and a Sin about the time I was sent to monitor Chaos and company. She did lose her senshi and almost died and since recovering, she has sought to avenge them and herself."
"How did she get here?"
"She tricked Endy into bringing her to Elysium's temple and she slipped through the gate that was opened for me last night," Elios told them. "I tried to stop her, but she saw the Sin who took her Senshi attacking you and she just ran out to fight him."
"What about her senshi?" Kris asked him. "Who are they?"
"I am sorry, Uncle Kris, but that is classified information. No one was to know about them."
"If Chaos was able to corrupt them…"
And the boy grinned, "Yeah, well, I will cross that bridge when I get there. Until then, don't concern yourself with it."
"I have to tell Eros," Dirae said to herself. Pointedly ignoring the issue Kris was trying to bring up. No one wanted to think about Senshi under the control of the enemy.
"You need to get Gigi out of here," Elios said interrupting her morbid thoughts. "She doesn't want to believe that her life is in danger here. Both of our parents have tried to reason with her, even I told her about the dangers of her coming to this time, but Gigi refuses to listen to anyone. She's like a dog with a bone when she's got an idea stuck in her head."
"Chaos wants Sailor Moon's body," Dirae told Endy.
"Then get her out of here, Patricia," Endy ordered. "I've got enough worrying about Serena and Darien. I can't deal with a spoilt, reckless daughter."
Dirae inclined her head, "It will be done, your Majesty." A warp hole opening behind her, Dirae spun on her left heel and hurried inside. Then, it disappeared.
Endy turned back to Elios. "You better be telling the truth."
Elios was still seething at his sister's treachery. "I swear on my star it is, Father. And if you don't trust me, have Dirae go to my timeline and talk to my mother. My orders came straight from Cosmos and she is very determined to see that Chaos does not get what she wants. My mother is doing everything in her power to make sure that neither Chaos or Ananke get any sort of leverage in this battle."
"You talk as if Ananke is still alive." Jamie pointed.
Elios looked at him strangely. "Don't tell me you think she's dead."
"Of course she is," Jamie cried, "Eros ran her sword through her heart and then cut her head off. And for good measure, Persephone went to the underworld and was told by her father that Lord Morpheus crushed both Ananke and Atalanta's star seeds. There is no way that the witch is still alive."
"That's not exactly true," Mike turned to Endy. "I think the featherbrained kid just pointed out one hell of mistake we all made."
Endy closed his eyes as he dropped back into his canvas chair. "Have someone contact Eros, I do not want her hearing about this secondhand."
"So you are finally acknowledging her place as a leader?" Jamie teased, hoping to lighten the tension.
Endy look up at him sourly. "No. I just don't want to beat her into submission because I didn't let her sit in on this." He rubbed a hand over his face and groaned. "Damn it. Why can't this be easy? Why the hell can't that bitch stay dead and what the hell is Patricia doing that she can't locate that rogue Senshi?"
Elios looked surprised and then he laughed, "Father, does my mother let you kiss her with that mouth? Geez and I thought Gigi had a potty mouth. But hey, at least now I know where she gets it from."
"Halcyon," Endy said coolly. "Shut up."
Elios grinned broadly, "Yes, sir, Mr. Foul-mouth sir." He dropped down into his chair and closed his eyes. "Just a heads up, Mama's going to transcend to her final form tonight."
That got everyone's attention.
"She's transcending?" Endy asked in disbelief.
"Yep," the boy yawned, "When she does, it will only be a matter of days, not weeks before she and her enemy start in on each other." He opened one eye and looked back at the five young men. "I'm not giving away the future, I'm just stating a fact. Order and Chaos cannot exist in peace. They constantly challenge each other just by breathing if you will, almost like it's an insult for the other to just be, you know?"
"I know," Endy told him. "And I have faith that Serenity will be the victor. I just have to remember Darien or look at you to know that she will survive."
Elios looked away quickly. "The future is not written in stone, Father," he said gravely. "Just because Endy, Gigi, and I exist doesn't mean anything. Something could happen to Mama, the battle could go awry, someone could interfere or worse, Mama could lose faith and then Chaos could win." Feeling a hand on his shoulder, Elios glanced up and almost fell out of his seat by jumping up so quickly. He saw that everyone other than his father was down on one knee with his head lowered.
Elios watched a tall, raven-haired woman with his father's eyes. He stepped back, nearly putting half of the room between them.
"George," Endy said in shock. "Mother."
The spirit of Queen Gaia looked worried as she faced her son. "My love, you must call Cosmos immediately for her greatest enemy is going to strike at her Queen."
"Mother…," Endy said, reaching out for her.
"Hurry, before it's too late." And she was gone.
Endy pushed aside his pain and started to tell Troy to contact Mars when a bright white light flashed. He raised a hand to shield his eyes but it was over before he could do so. Endy looked to where Elios had been standing and swore.
"He's not on Terra," Jamie said before Endy could ask the question. "I think he's on the moon."
*******
The palace alarms sounded, guards raced to the residential quarters of the Queen, the Imperial guards stood fast. Nothing, no demon warrior, world destroyer, or darkness, would get past them.
"Get the Queen!" A red haired man in strange green trousers shouted to his army of drones. "Crush the resistance. Don't let anyone get in your way. Kill the Senshi."
Queen Serenity was surrounded by Venusian Senshi and racing through the corridors to a transportation chamber when the room exploded. The Venusians turned quickly and tried to escape but found themselves frozen in place.
Serenity couldn't move. She tried to lift her right hand to summon her wand, but it was as if a buffer surrounded her and cut off all her magic.
"It has been a long time, my Queen." A husky voice said from behind her.
Serenity wanted very desperately to get her arm up. "Ananke," she hissed behind her clenched teeth. "You traitorous, spineless, little—"
The green haired woman appeared before the smaller woman, a cruel smile on her face. "Is that the way to talk to the one who shall make you more powerful than that miscreant Endymion De Danaan?"
She did not like that look in Ananke's eyes, not that she was partial to having the traitor standing before her, alive and looking disgustingly healthy. "In case you weren't paying attention, I returned the Universe to its proper master. I do not want it back."
Ananke opened her mouth to respond, but stopped and turned in the direction of the planet Mars. It was beginning.
Dressed in gold armor and swinging a heavy gold sword like a bat, Elios mowed down any droid that was stupid enough to get in his way. The redheaded bastard lay dead in the courtyard, compliments of Queen Persephone of Saturn. Elios appeared just as she swung her glaive and took off the Dark Moon general's head clean from his shoulders. She acknowledged the Senshi of the Sun with a quick, curt salute with her glaive and then started for the palace, leaving Elios to clean up. He shouted to her that Ananke was alive and going for the Queen. In a voice that chilled him to his soul, she said that was why she was here.
Elios followed her, determined to carry out his orders. He could not let Kore get to Ananke first. He had to secure the future.
"Cosmic Power!" he roared and an intensely bright light filled his body and the entire corridor, disintegrating everything made of Dark energy in its path. He could feel the coalescing of power in one space. "Damn," he muttered as he came around a corner. "This cannot be happening right now." Then he said to the ceiling, "Mama, can't you hold off until I get your mother to safety?"
"I will not rest not even in death until I have won, Chaos," the Senshi of Order shouted at her nemesis. "The ending of your life begins now."
He was too late.
Elios came barreling down the right corridor, where the three women and paralyzed Venusians stood. No Senshi could resist the call to arms and those connected to Princess Serenity would now benefit from her transcendence. Unfortunately, this included Elios. He should have come straight to Silver Millennium and taken the Queen straight back to Atlantis, but no. He had to pretend to be a lag about and follow his father around. And now, Chaos was going to take his grandmother.
Damn, what a killjoy.
His armor began to shimmer as his power responded to his leader. He couldn't fight it, even if he wanted to. Grim faced, the Senshi of the Sun watched as Ananke also surrendered her power to Cosmos and in return she would receive more power just like everyone else.
A shadow appeared over Queen Serenity; Elios knew it was a Sin. Behind it came a man with diamond white hair who was also dressed in a pristine white suit with a dark blue cape attached to his shoulders. Elios ground his teeth as the Sin pointed a skeletal-like forefinger in his direction and Whitey decided to inspect him.
In the semi-animated state he was in, Elios was protected from all attackers by the combined powers of all the Senshi. That was a both a good thing and bad thing. He wished Endy were here. His brother was not affected by his mother's power, not the way Elios and Gigi were, but Endy had returned to Mercury soon after leaving Gigi…But not Manny!
Manny. That piss ant owed him a favor.
As the white haired freak came close, the Sin was preparing to repeal Ananke's spell and he could not allow that to happen. Elios reached into the deepest recesses of his soul and yanked on the connection he shared with his siblings. He prayed with every ounce of his being that Emmanuel would come. Their mother's heart depended on this as well as the freaking universe.
"Manny," he shouted in his heart, "C'mon, man, I need your help here."
Later.
Remember: NO FLAMES. IF YOU DON'T LIKE THIS, DON'T READ IT.