an unsatisfying tale of separation.

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chapter 14.

Hell

Sailor Venus waited at a large, wooden table as the rest of her group dropped unceremoniously through a chute into the hot room and landed hard on the ground. She looked over at them and sneered, "First step's a bitch."

"Venus!" Artemis corrected. "You can't let your environs corrupt you so!"

"We're in Hell, Artemis," Jupiter said, then took a seat by Venus and fanned herself vigorously.

Venus watched as demons escorted the rest of her original party, minus Usagi and Ami, to their respective seats at the table. She said, "Get this, Helios; I'm charged with SEDITION! Can you IMAGINE?"

Helios, without looking at her, whispered, "Say. Nothing."

Tuxedo Kamen was seated in the empty chair beside Venus, and Sailors Mars and Jupiter were seated on her other side. Then came human-form Luna, holding the mouthy Artemis, and finally, at the far end of the table, was Mamoru's advisor, the priest of Elysion, Helios.

"All quiet, please," said a distinctly male voice who almost sounded bored.

Tuxedo Kamen decided it would be best to drop his transformation, but was quite surprised, however, when upon doing so, he was wearing even more garb than Tuxedo Kamen! He was Prince Endymion!

"Excellent! You dressed for the occasion," said Prince Dimande. He marched around the table and bent over Endymion, staring him in the eyes: "Do you know what happens when a Protogenoi goes batshit crazy?"

"Not surprised to see you in Hell, Dimande," Mamoru said with as much confidence as he could muster, arched back from his arch-nemesis as he was. He tried to digest the odd question. He'd heard the term 'Protogenoi' before, but could hardly imagine knowing one, or even what they might do if they'd lost their marbles. They were …personifications of thoughts or ideas, like 'belief' and 'faith' and 'evil'.

—But mostly he was just shocked to see his arch-nemesis running Hell!

Dimande smiled and said, "We're not in Hell, Endymion; your batshit crazy Protogenoi protected me from such a curse!" He turned to the human form of Luna and said, "Of course, who could have known that Serenity wasn't quite who she made herself out to be!"

Helios jumped up, but Prince Dimande's minions immediately put him down, squashed flat in the chair. Dimande said, "We don't exactly have 'fair trials' here, demon liar! I mean, 'Helios'."

Mamoru said, "Now wait a minute, Dimande! Helios here is merely leading an expedition to try to heal me and the whole planet! And I hope you didn't call my Usako 'batshit crazy'!" He stood to face his nemesis, and noted with relief that his demons stayed far away from him, probably on account of his great physique. "Oh, and Usagi is exactly who she says she is. —idiot." Dimande could hardly be surprised that Usagi was Sailor Moon, of course, so it had to be that the former prince of a dead moon was shocked when Usagi accepted Mamoru's marriage proposal.

Dimande glared at the group and said, "I'm not really 'Prince Dimande', by the way; you're seeing the best representation your group can conceive of a valid judge."

"Valid rapist," Mamoru muttered. But Dimande didn't fall for the ploy; he wasn't easily rattled, it seemed. "Okay, what are we on trial for?" Mamoru demanded.

Helios said, "Say nothing, Endymion." And to the judge, Helios said, "Prince Dimande, or whomever you are, I take full responsibility for the Journey, as it was necessary for the health of the planet! But I assure you that this unjust inquisition is unnecessary!"

"Oh, it's very necessary," Dimande said, glaring at Luna. "Or do you really want to be sent directly to the Protogenoi, that they might discover and destroy ALL our worlds!"

"WHO is this Protogenoi?" Mamoru asked, agitated. "Let us have a go at them; after all, it's our duty to protect this planet!"

Prince Dimande laughed and said, "Well, knowing history as I do, I know that to be true! In fact, you've been talking to him; you've died for him!"

"God?" Mamoru asked.

Helios jumped up: "Yes! Yes, that's it!" He looked at Mamoru and said, "You died for the greater good, which in this case ultimately served the One God!" He glared at Dimande, "—You can't deny it, now let us go that the Prince might be healed!"

Dimande shrugged, then turned back to the group: "Sure thing! But you know the rules, Heli-loser. First, I just need to hear what you've learned from your Journey before you meet its end."

"And then I can see my Usako?" Mamoru asked, almost too hopefully given who the inquisitor was.

Dimande smiled widely, but said nothing.

Mamoru was supposed to start apparently; all eyes were on him. This farce of a 'trial' was ridiculous enough, but then, all of this whole Dante's Inferno stupidity was even worse. However, he did supposedly have some mysterious injury to heal. He swallowed hard and said, "Um, …I learned that Zeus wasn't just a fantastical character from the imagination of ancient poets."

The room quieted and dimmed, and then a spotlight shone on Mamoru, so he nervously looked down and added, "Okay, and that the Senshi here each seem to have replaced the Greek deities during the Silver Millennium." He glanced at Venus, who he imagined had to have been Aphrodite; and Mars and Jupiter, who had to have been Ares and Zeus, respectively. "I'm not sure about Luna, of course…"

Dimande smiled at Luna, and asked the prince, "Yes, let's discuss Luna, Prince Endymion!"

Mamoru noticed the strange cat-turned-woman Luna shrink into her seat, but he shrugged: "She was Queen Serenity's advisor; I actually have memories of her and Artemis flanking the Moon Queen in the Silver Millennium."

"Do you now," Dimande smiled. He looked to the Senshi and asked, "And do any of you share such memories, as well?"

Venus shrugged, but Jupiter said, "I sure do! We all do!"

Mars agreed: "Yes of course." She huffed and looked away, trying to ignore a slimy demon right behind her, guarding her every move.

Dimande approached the leader of the Senshi and asked, "You too?"

"Yes," Venus said, looking away in shame.

"And were we wrong in detaining you for sedition?" Dimande asked.

Venus slumped over the table and said, "You don't understand. It might have looked like 'sedition', but—"

"But nothing!" Dimande said. "You purposefully set out to aid and abet these frauds after learning of their duplicities!"

"That Luna was a cat?" Sailor Mars snarled. "Come on! She wasn't trying to HIDE—!"

"And we all know that!" Jupiter said. "And so what if Helios isn't rocking a HORN on his head; sorta hard to fit in Greece with a HORN on your head!"

But Luna growled at Dimande, "You DON'T understand, you overdressed loon! Yes, Helios and I practiced deception, but for the cause of the planet! We'd ALL be long gone now, including THIS claptrap of an underworld, if we hadn't! —and even Zeus knew he couldn't have kept his promise to Endymion if it weren't for that deception!"

"What promise?" Mamoru asked, offended.

Luna ignored him and continued, "Endymion would have died long ago, and …oh, you want to talk about Protogenoi? Fine! You know NOTHING of them!" She had fully stood by then, and Helios with her, challenging Dimande.

Helios added cautiously to Luna, "Nor do we, Luna, but we know it's better to have one on our side than against us!" And he hoped the one he now figured had to be Cronus, who'd actually sought out and spoken with the Princess much earlier today, would come to his senses and agree here!

"Who the HELL are you talking about?" Mars asked Luna and Helios. "I know nothing of these …proto -homos? -whatever! But we've beaten Chaos several times; and he's pretty darn strong. I think we can take out these Protos if we have to!"

Jupiter punched her own hand and agreed emphatically: "Yeah; we'll take out the Proto Goons you're so scared of!"

Mamoru agreed: "Yes, especially if that's what we have to do to find Usagi." He glanced over at Helios, who was purposefully looking away from him. "Right, Helios?"

Dimande, however, was stuck on the Senshi of Mars' declaration of defeating Chaos and, laughing, asked, "What if I told you that Chaos had a sister." —But it wasn't a question; he had a wide smile on his face.

"Like Metallia?" Mamoru blustered with pride. "We'll do what we have to protect the planet."

"Good answer, Prince Endymion!" Dimande said, clapping his hands together.

Helios burst in again: "It WAS a good answer; he unknowingly did it before, and he's done it ever since."

Dimande turned back to Endymion and asked, "Now, what have you learned on this Journey, Endymion?"

Mamoru was stuck, disturbed by the question. The repeated questioning. "Where's Usako?" he demanded, standing up.

"Ding ding ding!" Dimande laughed, then turned suddenly on Mamoru. "FINALLY! You've asked the right question! …well, sort of. But anyway, now for the answers!" and he turned to Helios.

Helios shook his head, then said, "This isn't right; this isn't what's prescribed now!" He stared at the vile Cronus and said, "What are you trying to do? Destroy us all?"

Dimande laughed and clamped a hand on Endymion's shoulder: "THEY said they'd TAKE OUT the Protogenoi, Helios! That they're our saviors!"

Mamoru shoved Dimande back, then moved to punch him in the face: "Let's go! You and me, here and now—!"

"Indeed!" Dimande gleamed, stepping away in time to tumble Endymion and send him flying across the far wall.

..

A loud horn sounded throughout the room, and they all saw a strange Senshi flying in, decked with golden wings at her feet. Jupiter jumped up and asked, "Sailor Mercury?"

"What happened to you?" Mars asked, also standing, even though the demon slug behind her was trying to push her back down. Mercury had greatly changed, with her fuku being primarily gold now with only hints of the blue. She was completely missing her blue visor! And she was bearing a gold horn in one hand, and a scroll in the other.

Venus said, "You're Hermes?" and had to cover a smile on her face.

Dimande glared at her. This one was one of the few who could successfully enter Tartarus at any point to deliver messages —although it was usually to deliver a prank. "You have got to be kidding me! From whom could you possibly be carrying a message!"

Mercury flew down towards the table and delicately dropped the scroll on the table before the one dressed to look like Prince Dimande. She turned to him and said, "We have been summoned to the Moon forthwith, Cronus. While there is still time."

And as they all watched, 'Prince Dimande' warped into a tall, lovely form of the one they knew as Hotaru. This Hotaru turned to the group and seethed, "Then Tartarus has been compromised."

"By whom?" Sailor Jupiter demanded of the strange Senshi of Death, although inwardly shivering with the knowledge that Usagi's exact vision had been exactly correct. Because here was Hotaru, and she was clearly hiding from someone. And times they were a'changing — Mercury was barely recognizable, though still quite cute.

Luna wholeheartedly agreed: "Yes, indeed: who are we running from?" She looked at Helios nervously.

Helios felt the gaze of Cronus, one of the most detestable creatures known to ever grace the worlds, and finally responded: "You ask 'Who's after us?' —No, the question is, who's already attacked us!" Helios feared it was already too late, what with the Messenger here so soon. He powerfully lifted an arm to darken the room, then flashed a strange light pointedly at Mamoru.

Sailor Mars screamed in horror, but Saturn walked up to the so-called Earth Prince and felt the iced-over javelin that was pierced through his gut. "Compliments of the Protogenoi, of course," Saturn sneered. "The demon liar is right; they already got us."

"What is it?" the Messenger asked, floating downward in utter horror.

"Can it be …removed?" Mamoru asked timidly, wondering now if he'd ever see Usagi again… Tears filled his eyes as he looked at the priest who'd dragged them all here; who'd been right, after all, about the injury. And judging by the looks of it, a fatal injury, at that.

"Who are the Protogenoi?" Sailor Venus quietly asked Hotaru as she, too, carefully examined the hellish lance pierced through Mamoru.

Artemis stepped forward and asked Cronus, "And what can we do to fix this?"

Saturn smiled, then looked at the Messenger. "Only a Protogenoi could have placed this; we know this, right—?"

"WHEN?" Mamoru squealed, looking around the room as if to find the answer.

"I'd suggest that only a Protogenoi could remove it," Saturn sneered at the white cat, then at Endymion. "Guess you'd better get to work on that, 'Prince'."

Helios stepped forward and said, "I had no idea how far gone this was…" He quickly looked at the Messenger and asked, "Does the Earth stand?"

Jupiter said, "Um, we're IN it! Of course it stands!"

Sailor Mercury finally landed by her fellow Senshi and said, "This wasn't exactly the place we believed it was, guys. They call it Tartarus, though it's hardly like the Tartarus you might have read about…." She swallowed: "And it's not part of the planet—"

"Not part of Earth?" Mamoru asked, angrily. "How is that possible? We never left the planet!"

Helios said, "Endymion, I had to remove you from the planet, to discover what the problem was—."

"And remove him from the influence of the Protogenoi, I suppose?" Saturn sneered.

Helios met Luna's glare directly, but said nothing." Back to Cronus, he said, "Given that this arrow is frozen solid, I'd have to guess that we made the trip just in time. But I'm afraid that since Endymion is a representation of the health of the planet—"

"The planet's been attacked?" Mars asked. "LIKE THIS?" she added, trying to jerk the spear of ice from Mamoru's frame. As the Prince writhed in pain, the other Senshi pulled Mars away from him.

Luna snapped, "Where's Usagi, Helios?"

Mercury snapped up to answer that question: "She was on the Moon, Luna, but she's returned to look for …" she bit her lip and glanced at Saturn. "You know, Hotaru and the other Senshi."

Helios contemplated that answer quietly. "So her Journey…?"

"Full on," Mercury responded with a nod. She glanced over at Mamoru and said, "She was very distressed to be separated from you, Mamoru-san. She's gone to find the Outers in a quest to save you all."

"It grows late," Saturn hissed, then glared at the frozen javelin in the Earth's Prince. Her head snapped back to the Messenger and she asked, "Will she have time?"

"I'm sure she'll …make, the time," Helios responded numbly. Because he could tell, it was too late already. The coloring around Mamoru's wound suggested he'd been impaled for at least a year! The Earth's core must be frozen, and it wouldn't take but mere moments for an Ice Age to snap life from the Earth. He wondered anxiously after Elysion, whose fate was, like Tartarus, tied closely to the Earth's…

But, as always, the Earth's fate was tied even more tightly, and maybe even directly, to the one they all sought now. "Yes, she'll make the time," Helios finished, then excused himself and exited the room.

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Final Visit to the Moon

Upon seeing the destruction in Tokyo, Usagi first transported them all to Greece, again not sure about Ami's warning for her not to visit Tartarus, and willing to take that chance to rescue her loved ones. Because once again, thanks to Uranus, she was SURE she was not her mother, and should therefore be able to go to Tartarus without destroying it. —But to her utter horror, the Acheron was frozen solid, and all of Ammoudia deathly silent.

"Kitten…" Uranus started, worrying after the girl who was transporting them along without even transforming into Sailor Moon —a worrying fact which Uranus wasn't even about to question now. But clearly something terrible was happening to the planet, and Usa was no dummy — something was tragically wrong with Mamoru. But Usagi was focused on the sheer glaze of ice covering the buildings of Ammoudia. "Usako, we need to fix this, but we can't do it from here…"

"Fine," Usagi snapped, then angrily transported them directly to the Time Door on the Moon.

"Oh this will be pretty," Neptune said, sighing, watching Usagi burst through the Time Door and yell for Setsuna.

Uranus saw the Guardian first and waved her over, but Usagi stormed up to Pluto and started questioning the fear-stricken Time Guardian about the Moon Queen.

Neptune pulled Pluto to the surface of the Moon to show her the planet while Usagi rambled on about things the Outers already knew.

Pluto shook Neptune away and turned to Usagi: "Why aren't you transformed, Princess? How do you breathe?"

"I haven't been able to transform ALL DAY!" Usagi yelled. "Again, what do you know of my origins? Somehow it's supposed to help rescue everyone…" she glanced in horror at the planet and hoped 'it' would help everyone. "What's happened?" She turned back to Pluto and begged, "What's going on?"

Pluto looked at Usagi carefully and said, "You can exist out here, on the surface."

Neptune said, "Well, she is the Moon Princess. Maybe there's an exception."

"She is human," Pluto snapped at Neptune, but reached out to touch Usagi's hair. It was then that she saw the faint glow of Usagi's signature Crescent Moon on the girl's forehead. She gently brushed Usagi's hair off her forehead…

"Wow," Uranus said. "Maybe she is transformed."

Usagi grit her teeth together and threw up her arms, holding the scepter securely, but showing them her civilian clothes from her wonderful Greek getaway from Hell! "Don't THINK so! And," letting her arms down, "I really don't care. Setsuna, you have to tell me how to save them. Where my mother came from." She bit her lip and pleaded silently with the Time Door Guardian.

"You were right that Chronos was older than Uranus, Usagi. However, I never knew him. Select descendants were chosen to guard the Time Door, but we had no special knowledge." She pressed her lips together, wishing for once she could know the ancient Chronos, even with his evil reputation, if only so she could help the distraught Princess. "All I know is that this journey you spoke of, to Tartarus, has been necessary in every timeline. Of the particulars, I can tell you nothing."

"No!" Usagi yelled. "Have you SEEN the Earth, Setsuna? It's a frozen ice ball, and all my friends — and Mamoru! — are in there!"

"Tartarus is like Elysion, Princess," Pluto said softly. "Somehow part of the Earth and Moon system, but not directly connected. Your friends are safe. For now."

Uranus rolled her eyes and threw up her hands silently… Setsuna just HAD to add the "for now" to what otherwise might have mollified the upset Princess!

"What. ever! Just tell me what to DO!" Usagi shrieked.

Pluto looked at Uranus, then back to Usagi sadly: "I'm afraid that if anyone were to be doing the telling, it would be you telling us. We await your word, Princess. As we always have."

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Usagi left the confines of the Time Door to walk the surface of the Moon, leaving the Outers free to return to the safety of the Time Door's inner sanctum.

"Where's Mercury when you need her?" she asked the black sky, but said nothing further.

The slithering black form made its way over the Asteroid Belt and landed on Mars; he could barely see her this far away.

Usagi crumpled, crying and looking at the darkness coming at her. Strange memories of eras long ago came upon her forcefully as the dark entity made its leap into the orbit of the Moon.

As the truth folded upon her, she reached for her forehead and tried to scratch off the lie: her Moon Princess emblem. Again, she had memories of Luna, who she now understood to be the real "Moon Princess" — or at least the deity installed by Hera; Luna the Advisor, who for reasons Usagi couldn't quite grasp, had stood aside and allowed someone else to remain in her position as the Moon Princess.

The dark force twisted about the Moon so that it completely surrounded it like a ring about Saturn. "Gotcha!" he boomed, smiling at his long-lost sister.

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