Act twenty: Complication
SAILOR MOON!
'Where am I…?' Bunny thought, looking around the darkness. An old, run down castle sat before her, but before she could think on it, darkness overcame her again. A woman with gold hair stood before her, looked over her shoulder with sadness in her eyes and faded away. Then Bunny saw two more figures.
'Mamo-chan…and Kara?' She thought. The woman with him was Kara! They turned and began to walk off, leaving her. Bunny gave chase, but they kept walking. No matter how fast she ran, she couldn't catch them!
'Wait! Mamo-chan, Kara-neechan! Don't abandon me!'
Bunny opened her eyes and slowly sat herself up in bed. Her head was pounding and she didn't know where she was. She looked around and realized she wasn't in her uniform anymore!
'What?! What am I wearing…?!' She felt her chest and realized she wasn't wearing her brooch either! She felt around and her hand touched it. It was on the bed next to her, thank god. She clutched it to her and sat up, wondering where she was. She saw a glowing figure and walked to it.
'Is that… me?' she wondered. 'No… Neo-Queen Serenity…'
"Do you like that hologram?" A voice asked. Bunny jumped and spun around. "Welcome to the Black Moon's castle on planet Nemesis, Sailor Moon. No… the future queen sounds more appropriate. That dress suits you well."
Bunny felt queasy to her stomach as he spoke. This was Sailor Black Moon's brother. So, why was he their enemy? His sister was their ally!
"I am Prince Diamond of the Black Moon." He said, introducing himself. He held his hand up and forced her to sit down. "Now, have a seat, majesty, and we shall talk."
"You shouldn't be able to wake up so quickly. Is this the power of the Maboroshi no Ginzuishou, or is this the power of the 'other' within you? It doesn't matter; you will find your body has some limitation on this planet." He explained calmly.
'Nemesis! I'm on Nemesis?!'
"You're the one who attacked Crystal Tokyo aren't you, Diamond!" She yelled, trying to stand back up. He nodded.
"That is correct. The Maboroshi no Ginzuishou isn't the only thing with invincible power. Those illusions have made Earth soft. Our ancestors couldn't stand it. 'Young rebels, if you want power, go to Nemesis. To conquer all, first conquer the Black Poison Crystal.' That is what Wiseman told our ancestors, those are the words we live by." Diamond explained. "Planting just one Black Poison Crystal on that planet has turned it into a world not unlike those found in the forbidden Omega Zone. A world of death."
"I have no use for the rotted world of the thirtieth century. We will have a new earth." He admitted. "We will go back, before the Earth was ruled by your ancestors. We will repaint the past. That is our great Operation Replay! The changing of history!"
"Change history?!" Bunny cried.
"Eternal life and peace are illusions. A body made ageless by the Maboroshi no Ginzuishou is a blasphemy against God. The body is meant to decay. And history is nothing but a repetition of wars. We are going to return Earth to its proper course." He explained, smiling. Bunny spoke before her mind could process.
"That's insane! You can't, Diamond! The last time ended terribly!" She shouted. He frowned a little at her words. What was she talking about?
"Time and space… even energy moves at the Will of Nemesis. The planet of the Black Poison Crystal. If we can control this planet, then we can take any planet in any era." He said, glaring. "The Maboroshi no Ginzuishou is nothing. The one with the most power… will rule that beautiful planet."
Two striding steps took him to her side. He grabbed her face in his hands and looked at her, into her eyes. He remembered his first glimpse of her, as she ran out of the castle, followed by Garnet, calling for the Rabbit. How she glared at him. How she made him feel like trash with her look.
"I never dreamed she would show herself. The all powerful angel who lived in the impenetrable castle. Neo-Queen Serenity… what a beautiful queen. But you glared at me with contempt. As if I were not even human." He whispered. Bunny wanted to pull herself away. "Your eyes rejected me. Then you encased yourself in quartz. Such a fearsome power. Then you were once again swallowed whole by the impenetrable castle."
"Since that time, I have never forgotten your eyes. I needed to see you again, and make you kneel before me… at any cost. In any form. And now I have you. Yes, those eyes… the beautiful queen, Neo-Queen Serenity." He said, leaning in and kissing her.
Bunny's rage fired off and she struck him in the chest with her fist. She straightened herself and held the brooch tightly.
"Moon Crystal Power, Make Up!" She cried out. Nothing! New voiced came to her ears. She looked around for the source.
"This planet is full of the energy of the Black Poison Crystal. All power is absorbed and destroyed." Sapphire said.
"This will be your grave, Sailor Moon." Rubeus confirmed.
'They're mad… they're not human… they're demons!'
'Who is there? Who would call on me once more? No… let me stay here, forever. I cannot stay here. My friends… my loved ones… everyone is in danger again! Just like before!'
"Terra?" Goten asked, looking at the older warrior. She shook her head.
"No. It's nothing." She said. Mirai Terra looked at the computer monitor once more.
"Looks like Nemesis has pulled a Houdini on us again." She sighed. Tuxedo Kamen looked at the blackness of space for a long time.
"It's concealed itself. Is it warping space?" He asked, looking back at his future self. King Endymion said nothing. He didn't know. None of them knew. He remembered asking the queen once, after she banished the early members of the Black Moon. All she had said on it was that it was a decision they would regret.
"Look at this x-ray source." Luna said, snapping him out of his thoughts. "Nemesis is sucking in the surrounding gas and light, like a black hole."
"A black hole. The corpse of a star…" Endymion mused. "And yet, it still grows. Ever since the Time of Banishment, it has increased."
"The girls are on that floating rock!" Goten shouted. "We have to save them! I'm not about to tell Trunks his daughter was kidnapped by an evil prince from the future! He'd kill me!"
"There must be a way to approach the planet." Garnet said, walking forward. The Black Moon mark on her forehead still made Venus uneasy.
"The Maboroshi no Ginzuishou is the only thing that can rescue everyone from that planet. But Neo Queen Serenity, and now Sailor Moon. With both of the people who can use the Maboroshi no Ginzuishou gone… what can we do?" Venus asked. Luna looked up.
"Chibi-Usa! Chibi-Usa is the reincarnation of Princess Selene, is she not? Then she is a rightful wielder of the power of the Maboroshi no Ginzuishou!" Luna realized. The others looked hopeful. Mirai Terra frowned.
"She has no power over the Maboroshi no Ginzuishou. None." She glanced over at everyone. "How old do you think she is?"
"Uh… I'd wager a guess at… seven? Maybe she's small for her age, uh… eight?" Goten said, wondering where she was going with this. Mirai Terra smiled a bitter smile.
"She looks awful young, doesn't she? You'd never guess that she's actually nine hundred and one, would you?" They freaked out when they heard that.
"NINE HUNDRED?!" Goten screamed.
"And on top of that… she's my daughter. She can't wield the crystal. The queen was going to teach her how, but we never got the chance before the attack. She is no longer Lunarian. One day, she just stopped growing. She has no power, and she can't transform. A child of the New Silver Millennium, born on the New Earth. There's a crap load we don't understand about her." Mirai Terra explained. Garnet glared at her choice of words.
"But, but if Chibi-Usa-chan continues to be powerless, then who will be the heir to the throne?" Goten asked. He was concerned now.
"No!" The Neo King said. "Her powers will awaken eventually! It is her destiny to protect this planet!"
There was an uneasy silence after he spoke. It was Luna who broke it.
"When did the Black Moon first appear?" She asked. It was Garnet who spoke up.
"About five hundred years ago from this point in time. Here, in Crystal Tokyo. There was a person who revived the crime and murder that people had forgotten. The Mad Dictator, Phantom. He bore our same mark." She said, motioning to her forehead. "The Neo Queen, who until then, had only watched over the quiet city, rose against him. She has little of her own Senshi power left, but it was still more than enough. He was captured and banished to Nemesis. And then, the planet became forbidden. Then, peace returned, but just as they forgot again… we appeared. My ancestors, calling themselves the Black Moon, said they would kill the New Moon."
Luna took a few steps forward.
"You bear the same mark. Sailor Black Moon, are you and your family descendents of the Phantom?" She asked. Garnet smiled a little.
"So, you figured it out. Yes. We descend directly from Phantom. Of course, I only recently learned that. We were doing research when we came across the old files. My family has not been granted eternal life like I have. And the Phantom was buried centuries before, so it's unlikely that they know. I think I'm the only one of us who is aware of this."
"How much longer am I going to be here?" Bunny asked as she sat on the bed. Luckily, they had left her alone after the Prince had explained his plans. She was afraid, she was alone. She didn't like being alone. She missed her father. "Papa, please help me… 'jiisan… Goten-oji… I'll never see any of you again, will I? When I was fighting… I don't even remember. I could hear a voice in my head, telling me to relax. I don't even know how they brought me here, how will I get back? Damnit, Serenity Briefs, you have to remember! But now it's too late… I can't transform now… I can't use my power… I need help! Please! I don't want to die here! Not yet! Not like this!"
She stood up on uneasy legs. Then she remembered the words of Queen Serenity. That the Maboroshi no Ginzuishou followed the heart of she who would become queen.
"Because my heart was confused? I was jealous every time I saw Mamo-chan and Terra-chan favor Chibi-Usa. I felt like they didn't care about me anymore. I had no confidence. I forgot how to trust… is that why I couldn't use my power?" She wiped her eyes, brushing away tears. She couldn't cry now.
"I am the future Neo Queen Serenity. I will protect the Earth. I will protect my friends, and my family. That's right, I'm not alone. I am not alone. I have to believe in my own power. So… what do I do now?" She looked around the dark room and then reached up to feel the earrings she wore. They were the ones that Goten had made for her. The ones that let her use Ki abilities. "I've got to find Mercury, Mars, and Jupiter. They're here, aren't they? I can feel them, their own Ki. It's faint, because I don't know how to focus, but I can feel them! Ami-chan! Rei-chan! Mako-chan!"
Deep in the Room of Darkness, Rei stirred. She groaned and sat up, looking around.
"What the…?" She asked when she heard another voice.
"Jupiter!" Rei looked over.
"Mercury!" She cried out. Makoto and Ami were with her! She smiled and stood.
"Hold on, our transformations are undone!" Makoto cried, looking at her school uniform. The others did the same. Ami sat up and looked around.
"Where are we?" She asked. Rei's pulse raced and she jumped up and spun around to face the back corner. There was a hideous figured shackled to the wall, bearing the mark of the Black Moon. They cowered from it.
"It's dead. It's a corpse." Makoto said.
"Look at it! It's almost as if it could start moving! Like it's a monster!" Ami cried. Makoto turned around to see her surroundings better.
"Are we in a cave?" She asked. Rei groaned and got up.
"How long… what happened?" She asked, looking to her friends. When had they arrived? When had SHE arrived, for that matter?
"Less talking, more getting out of here." Makoto insisted. "I heard Bunny's voice inside my head."
"I did, as well!" Ami insisted. Rei nodded. "She must be nearby! Mercury Star Power!"
"Jupiter Star Power!"
"Mars Star Power!" But nothing happened. Each looked at herself in horror at this. They couldn't transform! The monstrous corpse in the corner seemed to grin. Its eyes lit up and a fog spread through the area. They collapsed again.
"My power is… draining away…" Makoto strained. She could feel her Ki slipping away from her. "Sailor Moon…"
Chibi-Usa wandered present day Tokyo on her own, looking around.
"When I came to the past the first time… this is where I met Bunny and Mamo-chan. And then… Terra-chan." She said to herself.
'Luna-P, is this Auntie Sere's past self? The invincible Sailor Moon?' She asked her toy as she watched Trunks tell Bunny that she needed to focus more and improve her grades and her training enthusiasm.
"She's always messing up. Just like me." She said with a small grin. "That was fun, being with everyone, playing at Capsule Corporation, watching Ami-chan practice chess, buying charms from Rei-chan, cooking with Mako-chan, singing with Mina-chan, shopping with Terra-chan, going to the arcade with Goten-san… and now it'll never be like that again."
Chibi-Usa walked on. "I thought that Sailor Moon never lost to anyone…"
'Why?' She asked her mother. Sailor Earth smiled and sat on the edge of her bed, brushing her white hair from her eyes.
'Because she's invincible. No one has ever beaten Sailor Moon, and no one ever will. Because she is the True Word. She loves everyone, even if they aren't the same as she is.'
"I don't have any power. She's not blood to me, but she treated me like a daughter… I don't even have any power like Mama does…"
'She doesn't have the mark of the Silver Millennium!' A woman said, whispering to her friend. 'She's going to be small forever!'
'She's nothing like the queen, or even the Lady Earth.'
'Hey!' A boy shouted after her. 'Come on; show me your power, like your mother!'
Chibi-Usa ran off crying to the castle, where her mother was reading in her study. Chibi-Usa barged in and threw herself into her mother's lap, sobbing about how everyone was so mean to her. Her mother marked her book and picked her up.
'You know, Small Lady, the queen used to be a crybaby, too. She cried at the drop of a hat for no reason. Small Lady… the queen chose that name for you. Someday, it will be Lady Serenity. You will be the heir to the Maboroshi no Ginzuishou one day. It's your destiny. And Earth will be ruled by humans once more.' She explained.
"Am I really mama's daughter? I don't look much like her. Karen says I look like the queen's sister, who died a long time ago. I'll never be a lady like Auntie Sere, or a proud warrior like Mama. My loving mama… my kind Auntie Sere… my strong papa…"
'Do you know what everyone is saying about you?' A boy asked. 'You're a demon!'
Chibi-Usa looked offended at that. 'No I'm not!'
'You and your mom are demons from the old kingdom that destroyed the Moon! My mom said so! It's in the history books! Your mom's a demon of the Old Dark Kingdom and tried to kill the Queen! That makes you a demon, too!'
'That's not true! Mama loves Auntie Sere like a big sister! Mama would never hurt Auntie Sere!' She said in defense of her mother.
'Then how come the queen never makes a fuss over you?' He demanded. Chibi-Usa looked down.
'Auntie is always busy…'
'If you're not a demon, then you'd be allowed to be around the Maboroshi no Ginzuishou! I bet you've never even SEEN it! Why don't you show it to us? If you don't, then you're a demon AND a liar!'
That same day, Chibi-Usa snuck into the queen's chambers she used when she visited Earth and saw the Maboroshi no Ginzuishou sitting in its glass case. The Queen was visiting Endymion and Lady Earth that day, so Chibi-Usa had the perfect opportunity. She snuck up and threw Luna-P at the case and watched it shatter. She stood on a stool and took it out, smiling when she felt how warm it was. It was so familiar to her…
'This is it, Luna-P-chan…' She whispered as she looked at it. She heard footsteps and ran to hide next to her dressing cabinet.
'Small Lady?' The queen asked. She noticed at once the broken case and gasped. 'Small Lady?! Where are you?'
She ran off as Chibi-Usa continued to hide. Moments later, there was a huge explosion. She heard rapid footsteps, and the distinct sound of her mother screaming at someone. Probably Karen. Chibi-Usa ran out to be with her mother, and calling for her aunt. As she rounded the corner, the queen fell back, encased in quartz…
"It's because of me, isn't it? If I hadn't taken the Maboroshi no Ginzuishou, Auntie Sere wouldn't be hurt!" She said, dropping to her knees. Luna-P looked said and floated up next to her.
"Abracadabra poof." It said. Chibi-Usa looked at it. "Abracadabra poof."
Chibi-Usa remembered Pluto telling her that those were words to say to not feel lonely. She picked Luna-P up.
"I'll go talk to Puu. She's my only friend." She decided, going back to the Door of Time. "I remember the first time I met her. Everyone was picking on me, so I ran into the deepest part of the castle, where it was forbidden to go. I found a big door, and it opened when I touched it. It was so light…"
Chibi-Usa slid the door open and walked through, looking around at the new place before her. It was gray and the fog swirled around. The door clicked shut behind her and she saw a Sailor Senshi standing before her. A woman she didn't know. The woman smiled and knelt down before her.
'I am pleased to meet you, Small Lady.' Chibi-Usa wiped the tears out of her eyes.
'You know who I am?'
'The only ones allowed to set foot in this place, are those of the Silver Millennium.' The woman explained, looking into her red eyes.