The Other Moon Princess
by Lady Dawson
Chapter Fourteen: An Unforeseen Friendship
Anna raced through the different dimensions, struggling to figure out where her sister was. It wasn't easy, though, the only thing she had to go on was the fragile and imperceptible link between the two and that was hardly even worth it. But she knew that her sister was in trouble; she could sense that, even through the feeble link.
"Mom, wait up!" Anna stopped and waited for Cale to catch up with her, his chest heaving as he tried to keep up with her strides. "Sorry," he mumbled. "Couldn't keep up with you running."
"Sweetie, maybe you should go wait with the other Scouts," Anna suggested, worried about his safety, but he shook his head.
"I can't, Aunt Serena's in trouble and Rini, too," he insisted. "You wouldn't leave them here and neither am I."
With a small, wry smile, Anna shook her head. He was just as stubborn as she was, maybe even more. "Probably a family trait," she muttered, shaking her head, absently reaching for the Stone of Love, tightening her grip on it. "All right, but you find a hiding place as soon as we get inside and stay there, you hear me?"
"Yeah," Cale said absently. Anna rolled her eyes, having the distinct impression that the boy wasn't paying the least bit of attention to her instructions.
"And stay there," she repeated more forcibly, bending down and lifting his chin up so that he was looking at her. He made a face but gave her his full attention. "Do not move from that spot unless I or one of the scouts comes and gets you."
"Fine." Cale crossed his arms across his chest, his sky-blue eyes fastening on something that was behind them. Anna turned and frowned slightly. "Was that there a second ago?" she questioned, tugging on a curl of her brown hair.
"Nope."
"Didn't think so. Come on," she said, taking his hand. Mother and son headed straight into the different dimension, where Anna was hardly surprised to find her sister there, with Mistress Nine. But what did surprise her was that they weren't the only ones there.
"Uranus, Neptune!" she exclaimed, staring in shock at the older Scouts who were trapped in a huge statue. "What happened?" She hurried over to them, Cale at her heels, looking for a way to bail them out.
"Never mind us!" Uranus half-snapped, half-screamed at her. "Stop your sister!"
"Huh?" Anna turned around, looking at Serena for the first time. That was all it took for her to see Serena hand over the beautiful chalice that was in her hands to the man in front of her—Hotaru's father. "Serena, NO!" She didn't know why she screamed at her, but she felt danger looming closer. It pounded in her ears as she raced towards the two.
But by the time that she had gotten there, it was already too late, Mistress Nine flung Dr. Tomoe aside and seized the chalice. Anna glanced behind her, hoping that Cale listened to her and gotten to a safe hiding place. Assuming so, since she couldn't see him anywhere, Anna turned her attention back to the battle as Mistress Nine shoved the chalice into a device. She didn't know what it did, nor did she know how it worked. All she knew was that whatever it did, it would not be good for Earth.
"I'm assuming that you have a plan?" Anna threw at her sister. Serena looked helplessly at her.
"I was just trying to help Hotaru," she whispered. Anna sighed; she didn't want to sacrifice that innocent girl any more than Serena did, but she kind of agreed with the outer Scouts. Between Hotaru and Rini, she would pick her niece.
"This is a war, Serena! Sometimes, you have to make sacrifices!" Anna yelled at her, furious. Her sister looked hurt and she chided herself for losing her temper. "I'm not going to argue with you right now, okay? But we have to stop this," she said, nodding to the evil that was emerging from the . . . whatever it was.
A scream emerged from somewhere and instinctually, Anna whirled around, seeing Mistress Nine about to attack a kid. Anger, fear, fury and rage flowed through her and with adrenaline pumping through her, she charged at Mistress Nine.
"NOT MY SON, YOU DEMON!" Mistress Nine turned just in time to see the furious and enraged Sailor Selene two feet in front of her before she was hit with a powerful moonlight blast and flung backwards.
Anna was breathing heavily, eyes like daggers as she glared at the fallen woman. Mistress Nine stared at her with shock in her eyes and Serena screamed. "You lay one finger on him," she said in a quiet voice that nonetheless carried to the further reaches of the room. "And I'll kill you." She meant it too; no one hurt her family unless they wanted to answer to her. And she wouldn't sit still and watch them hurt her boy.
Just as she was seconds away from delivering the final blow, she heard a voice yell, "Anna!"
Stopping where she was, Anna whirled around to see a knight racing towards her. "Chris?" she asked cautiously, not at all certain that it was him because his face was covered by the helmet. He yanked it off, revealing the handsome face of her love. "What the—how did you get here?"
"Never mind that," Chris snapped, yanking her away from Mistress Nine. "What do you think that you're doing?"
Anna opened her mouth to explain when Cale interrupted him, "It's not her fault; she was trying to protect me, Dad."
Chris stopped for a minute, turning towards him. "Well, that's completely—" Then comprehension dawned on his face. "Wait a minute, what did you just call me?"
"Okay, long story short, this is our son Cale from the future," Anna said hastily. "We really don't have time to get into it right now."
"Whoa, our son?"
"Yep. Probably the first to be born into the Moon Kingdom line in over a thousand generations," Anna added musingly.
"Ten thousand, actually," Cale said with a grin towards his mother while his father's mouth hung open.
"Oh, really?"
Putting two fingers into his mouth, Chris released an ear-piercing whistle that was nevertheless effective in its purpose. It got both Anna and Cale's attention. "Jeez, Chris!" Anna grumbled, turning around to look at the father of her future child.
"Well, I think we got more important things to worry about," Chris said, pointing towards the portal that was opening up to the Heart Snatchers' master, Pharaoh 90. Mistress Nine was standing in the middle, helping to open the portal.
Anna's eyes widened as a burst of energy blasted out of the portal, hitting Mistress Nine head on. She shrieked as Chris seized her and Cale both, yanking them down. Pulling her son closer to her, she held on to him tightly as Chris planted himself firmly between them and Pharaoh 90.
Inexplicably, just as the energy blast vanished, she saw Serena standing in front of Mistress Nine and Dr. Tomoe. But she wasn't sure that it was Mistress Nine . . . at least, not at the moment.
"Stay down," Anna said softly, releasing her son. Cale obeyed, hiding behind a piece of debris, but keeping an eye on what's happening. She stood up with Chris, hurrying over to Serena.
"Sis, you all right?" she asked, helping her sister up. Serena nodded, obviously too exhausted to say anything, as Hotaru opened her eyes.
"Daddy?" she asked softly, her voice weak. Anna whirled around, hardly believing her eyes as she saw the warm and friendly eyes of Hotaru Tomoe and not the cold ones of Mistress Nine.
"H—Hotaru?" Dr. Tomoe asked, looking thrilled and ecstatic. Anna looked at Chris.
"It's not going to last for very long," Anna said sadly. Even Serena looked at her. "Mistress Nine still exists. We haven't defeated her yet." She had no sooner spoken than the evil demon within Hotaru took control of her body, both beings fighting for control.
"What can we do?" Chris said unhappily.
"Unfortunately, not much," Anna said grimly. "But she's one of us, Chris. The Sailor Scout of Destruction, Sailor Saturn. We might be able to pull the Sailor Scout out to destroy Mistress Nine."
"But isn't Saturn the Dark Sailor Scout?"
Anna didn't answer, because one again, in the midst of battle, her mind was being pulled away in a different direction.
Seven-year-old Anna walked down from the cottage that she lived with Tristan and headed down to the lake, tracing her finger in it, causing ripples to appear. She giggled happily, but stopped when she heard the sound of crying not too far away.
Standing up, she hurried towards the sound to see a girl with short black hair wearing a Sailor outfit sitting beneath a tree in the garden, crying her eyes out. "Hullo," she said cautiously, stepping closer.
The girl looked up and Anna took a step back. She knew of this girl; they called her the Sailor Scout of Death or Destruction. An evil Sailor Scout. But she didn't look evil or even mean. She just looked sad. Anna kind of felt sorry for her and walked over to her.
"What are you doing here?" she asked curiously, making her decision and sitting down next to Sailor Saturn. "Tristan's not here, you know, if you're looking for him."
The girl smiled weakly through her tears, but shook her head. "No, I just wanted to . . ." She stopped. "I don't know. People are always scared of me, you know? They call me the Dark Sailor Scout. All I want is a friend, someone that I can talk to."
"You're talking to me," Anna pointed out. She smiled when Saturn laughed, shaking her head at the little girl.
"You're a funny little girl," she said, but she was smiling. "What's your name, anyway?"
"I'm Anna."
"Who are your parents?" Saturn asked, cocking her head to survey Anna curiously. Something about those violet eyes seemed to stare straight into her, seeing her in a way that no one else can.
"Don't know. Tristan won't tell me. I guess they died a long time ago or something, because I've never seen them."
"How long have you lived with Tristan?"
"Since forever. I came here when I was born and have lived with him ever since." Anna shifted uncomfortably around the mention of her parents. She didn't like talking about it, because she didn't know that much about them. All she really knew was that they weren't able to take care of her now.
"What's that for?" she asked, noticing the weapon that lay next to her and pointing to it.
"My glaive? It amplifies my powers," Saturn answered, still studying her. "It represents my planet."
"Can you really destroy a planet?" Anna asked, making a crown out of the flowers that were growing in the garden.
"I can, but I wouldn't. It would jeopardise my duty as a Sailor Scout." Anna nodded. "But because of those powers, people are scared of me and my powers." She sighed. "Sometimes, it feels like I don't have anybody or anyone in the world."
"Sometimes I feel like that, too. Everybody does," Anna said helpfully. "When I think about my mother or father, I think that they don't care about me enough to find me or let Tristan know who I am." She smiled. "Then I think of Chris and it makes me feel better."
"Is Chris a friend of yours?"
"Uh-huh. I'm gonna marry him when I get older." Anna frowned indignantly when Saturn chuckled. "I will!"
"I believe you will," Saturn said softly. Her laughter ceased. "But even you have someone to help bring light into your life. I don't. Not a friend in the world."
"Yes, you do." Anna smiled when Saturn looked at her curiously. "Because I'll be your friend. And I think that sometime in the future, someone else will befriend you, too."
Saturn smiled, hugged the girl and stood up. "You've made me feel happier than I've felt in years, Annalise," she said softly. "A true princess. Never let anyone tell you otherwise."
Anna pulled herself into the present and walked forward, next to Dr. Tomoe and Hotaru. "Saturn?" she called, ignoring the shocked looks of Chris and Serena, the horrified looks of Neptune and Uranus, and the anticipation of Cale. "Saturn, it's Annalise. We need you here, to help us in this time. Your friend Rini needs you to save her. Please, awaken. We are doomed if you don't help us. Sailor Saturn, come to us now!"