AN: Dang this month is flying by. It feels like just yesterday I was posting 24 for everyone to read.

Anyways please enjoy the chapter. And make sure to leave a review or a comment.

Thanks again to Tsukikageshi for betaing.

On with the chapter!

Chapter 25

Best Form of Flattery

Haruka's decision to kiss Usagi still confused Usagi a few days later. Teasing and flirting was something she was used to by this point from the older girl. The sparse memories she did have of Theia suggested something similar happening the few times her and Serenity had crossed paths. This…this was something else entirely. Something she wasn't sure how to handle.

Usagi didn't even understand why the girl had chosen to kiss her in the first place. Usagi didn't want to go down the possible thought path that there might be something more. No matter what her feelings were towards them they were already in their own relationship.

"Welcome back, Princess." Venus and Mars were awaiting Serenity as she got off the transport. She had been spending the last few days on Mercury checking on their status and getting a medical checkup to find out why she had been ill lately. "How was the trip?"

"It was a long trip and I really want to rest." Serenity said as they started heading into the castle. She wanted to just go sleep for a few hours in her bed. Before Endymion was due back from Earth.

"You really shouldn't have traveled to Mercury." Venus muttered under her breath in complaint. She understood the best doctors were on Mercury and they needed someone to check over Serenity, but they could have come to the Moon rather than there princess go all that way while ill.

"I needed to get away from the castle. Mother's been rather... difficult. More so than usual." Serenity said softly, clearly wishing her mother would stop. She would have thought with the upcoming peace treaty her mother would have been too busy to pay attention to her. Instead, it seemed like she had become more interested in her personal life than normal.

"No new leads about why you've been feeling ill?" Mars asked coming up to her right-hand side.

Serenity sighed and shook her head answering. "All of the tests came back the way they should be." Serenity said sounding a bit exasperated at her situation. She had been getting ill on and off for a while now. Not long before she and Endymion had gone through with the ceremony to be precise.

"Do you think it has something to do with the bond?" Mars asked shooting Venus a questioning glance. If any of them had the best chance of knowing if this was a side effect from the new bond…

"No, this has been going on since before the ceremony." Serenity answered for her before Venus could add her two cents.

"You didn't mention that before." Venus pointed out accusingly turning her attention away from Mars and back to the princess. She was the leader of the Inner Senshi, these were the kind of things that shouldn't be kept from her if she was going to be able to actually do her job.

"I didn't bring it up because it only started getting noticeable after the ceremony." Serenity said. "The doctors know just how long it's been going on."

"That's great they know, but Princess, I can't do my job or help the others do theirs, properly if you hide things." Venus said sounding a bit exasperated.

Usagi was brought out of it by her alarm clock going off. Hitting the 'OFF' button sitting up for a moment some confusion racking her. That had been an interesting dream.

Nothing really new other than maybe getting an insight into everyone else's personalities. There was one thing that stood out to her though. The illness. She needed to look it up another time when she wasn't busy, but she had a feeling based around the conversation on just what had caused her past self to be ill.

The talk of a school was some girl that was going around impersonating her as Sailor Moon saving random people. Why anyone would want to impersonate her was a good question, though that wasn't her biggest concern at the moment. The fact that her impersonator was taking care of more normal workplace things was. It wasn't so much that she was grateful someone was stopping people from getting hurt. Far from it. The problem was she was a bit concerned that if they couldn't figure out who the impersonator was it might come back to bite her. She and the girls were already associated with dealing with the supernatural. She was worried that if this continued people would expect her to deal with things she didn't have the ability to sense or take care of.

"You might be over thinking it Usagi. I don't think people are going to start expecting these things from you overnight." Naru pointed out. They were back at the apartment she shared with Haruka and Michiru and Usagi was venting to her about the whole impersonator thing, "Besides what is it that you've mentioned Michiru's sister saying? No publicity is actually really bad publicity?"

"That's true I suppose. Sometimes I wonder how there is no such thing as bad publicity." Usagi said. Truth be told outside of making the anime they hadn't done much publicity. They had become kind of associated with taking care of weird problems. Like the Haneda incident. Luna and Michiru were still the ones who talked to the government the most, so she had no real clue how they were handling the situation. Though she had a feeling the government wasn't very happy about the rogue 'Sailor Moon' either.

"I think it means you make the best out of any situation, but I've never put too much thought into it." Naru said shrugging slightly. Before now there was no real reason to try to understand that odd saying. "So, who do you think it actually is?" Naru asked frowning.

"I think it can only be the Dark Kingdom. Though... saving people seems to go against everything they do. I don't know." Usagi said frowning. It seemed like an odd Dark Kingdom plot. Then again, the Dark Kingdom did have some interesting decision-making skills, like putting a target on themselves in the public's eye by having some very public plots. Dreamland anyone?

"Does Tuxedo Kamen have any of the rainbow crystals maybe they're trying to get his attention?" Naru asked out of curiosity.

"I know he has one. The one from the graveyard. I think the rest are in the possession of either us or the Dark Kingdom, but I could be wrong about that." Usagi admitted frowning slightly thinking back. A lot of times she hadn't gotten close enough to the scuffles with Zoisite when it came to trying to get the rainbow crystals. Her attention had been elsewhere. So, while she knew that they had three of them and Zoisite had a couple of them. She wasn't sure how many Tuxedo Kamen had. It was definitely possible he had more than one crystal.

"Why is he holding onto one anyway? I thought he was on your side. You would be the only one that could use them so what's the point?" Naru asked a bit confused by the situation.

"I don't know." Usagi said scratching her head after a moment. It did seem a bit odd when you started thinking about it. "The fact that I'm technically the only one that should be able to use the Ginzishou doesn't seem to be stopping the Dark Kingdom from going after it."

"True." Naru agreed making a face.

"Luna said I should be the only be able to use it. Who knows how accurate that is with everything else." Usagi said after a moment. There was a key piece of the puzzle they were missing here she felt but unfortunately between Luna's trust issues with her own memories and the holes that existed it was hard to say what exactly was missing.

"Ms. Haruna?" Usagi asked finding it difficult to avoid staring as she spotted the familiar red-haired woman on the way back to class after lunch. This was unexpected. Yeah, she and Naru had talked about tracking down the one teacher that had helped her when she was back at Juuban, but they hadn't really gotten around to it yet. Neither of them had realized that their old teacher might be hanging around their new school.

"Ms. Tsukino." Ms. Haruna greeted giving her a genuine smile. "I didn't know you had started here." The last time she had seen the blonde had been shortly after the incident with the boys before she had been made to leave Juuban. She didn't know what had happened between then and here but her former student looked noticeably happier and almost healthier. Obviously whatever changes that had happened to lead her here had been mostly good.

"I transferred in at the start of the new school year." Usagi said. "What about you? Are you starting to teach her?" She hadn't seen Ms. Haruna around here before though admittedly she really hadn't done much in the way of exploring.

"I've been teaching here for several months now Ms. Tsukino. I'm in charge of one of the seventh-grade classes." Ms. Haruna explained. She had bounced around a bit after leaving Juuban but had decided rather quickly she didn't want to remain in the public school system where it felt like the administration was a bit to pliable. Private schools wouldn't be perfect, but she felt it was the better of the two options. Especially after all she had seen at Juuban. So she had applied for a spot at Mugen Gaken.

"Sorry." Usagi said flushing a bright red. "I haven't really explored the other levels that much yet."

"It's all right. You're not expected to know everything about this school. Especially with its unique layout." Ms. Haruna said giving her a gentle smile. The grade levels being on different floors meant interacting between the grades was a bit difficult at times. So it wasn't a shock that Usagi was just now discovering her job here.

"I wish I could have done more for you three." Ms. Haruna said after a quiet moment. It had always felt like her greatest failure that she hadn't been able to do anything about the group that had followed Yuki around. To stop the incident from happening, Umino getting hurt, Usagi getting assaulted. Just something to have made the teenager's school lives more bearable. The school administration had made it near impossible for her to do much beyond the little things she had been able to step in and do.

"You did more than most." Usagi said quietly. It was the truth Ms. Haruna had been one of the few people in the school that had stood up for her, Naru, and Umino during her tenure there. "Thank you very much for what you did Ms. Haruna." Usagi bowed to her from the bottom of her heart. Ms. Haruna hadn't stopped Yuki, but she had tried and that was what mattered.

It was a rare memory from later in her and Michiru's lives, from the ball that had announced Serenity and Endymion's engagement. The reason why it stuck out? For some reason, she knew it was one of the few times she or Michiru's past selves had been called to the Moon Kingdom for any sort of event. Looking at Serenity the resemblance between her and Usagi was strong no matter how much Luna refused to admit to it. She had a distinct feeling though that Luna wouldn't acknowledge it until she absolutely had to.

Sailor Uranus had pulled Serenity away from the prince to have a dance and a chance to talk without drawing too much attention. "You know you're going to have to tell her, eventually right?" Her past self, Theia, asked Serenity. What her past self was referencing wasn't clear to Haruka but judging by the look that crossed the other girl's face she clearly knew what she was referencing.

"I know." Serenity acknowledged with clear reluctance. "I just hope I can get through the next few centuries until I'm old enough to be Queen without her finding out. That might be an issue since I think she's expecting an heir sooner than later."

"Maybe you should be spending more time on the outposts with us then." She teased slightly. Though it was just as much a suggestion as a tease.

That caused Serenity to flush a bright red at the suggestion. Letting out a clearly reluctant sigh she spoke again. "It's not that I don't want to, as you both know. It's just I don't know if I will be able to. Mother's been keeping a closer eye on me lately. There's a reason why I've asked Persephone to bring you two to me and not the other way around."

"I hate we have to hide this because your mother is so set on her ways." Theia complained keeping her tone down. Any other family they could be open around. But none of them trusted the Queen to not react in a manner that would end up coming back to haunt them. So, until Serenity was old enough and powerful enough they had to keep it a secret.

"I do too." Serenity confided after a moment. "Things would be so much easier if mother wasn't so set on certain things…"

"It will work out Kitten." Theia said with more confidence then she honestly felt. Though it had to work for all of their sakes. The Queen had to continue to believe the lie she had been indirectly told all this time.

"I hope your right." Serenity said pulling back with clear reluctance. "I better get back to the others before I start drawing questions."

Haruka shot up in bed a moment later. Her brow creased with confusion and her thoughts going in circles. The new memory, one of the few they had of Serenity and the Moon Palace at the moment suggested something entirely different than what they had thought. The lack of memories of Serenity had led them to partly assume that they didn't know or weren't close to the Lunar Royal Family. This would indicate the opposite. Ultimately, she decided to get up and go out for a run, hoping the activity might clear her head, and sort out the confusion that had started from the new memory.

Her thoughts drifted back to the memory as she got dressed. Flirting while other girls had been something she had done to a lesser extent during the Silver Alliance had been something she had done on occasion. This sounded like it was more than some of the usual flirting she had done in the past. She had been involved with Michiru's past self-back then too, but the way Serenity had been openly talking about them sneaking off to visit her in the Moon Palace sounded like there was at least a fling if not more going on. It didn't seem like just a fling, but she didn't have enough memories to truly know. Why did none of them remember it before now?

For a while, they had just left the Sailor Moon impersonator alone. She wasn't really doing anything bad, so it seemed best to just let her be for the moment. Looking back though they should have expected someone from the government to show up and start asking questions. It still had been kind of a surprise when Usagi had answered the door to a woman dressed in a business suit. "Um, can I help you?"

"I'm looking for Michiru. Who are you?" The woman asked eyeing her up with a frown.

"Mamiko what brings you here." Michiru asked coming up behind her. Well, that answered the question of who the woman was. This was Michiru's older sister then. She hadn't actually met the other woman before. While it had been troublesome Michiru had been able to convince her that they were the Sailor Senshi without the entire group being involved. Now that she was looking closer she could see the family resemblance. Mamiko didn't have Michiru's teal-colored hair, her color while still in the range of blue was much darker than her sister's and pulled back into a bun, though, they did have the same eyes.

"I need to discuss with you a private matter concerning one of your hobbies." Was Mamiko's cryptic answer. Usagi frowned slightly at that. Odd preamble though that made her wonder if what she wanted to talk to Michiru was less of a hobby and more of their side job.

"Everyone here is either a Sailor Senshi or aware of who we are Mamiko." Michiru pointed out.

Mamiko's eyebrows furrowed for a moment as she glanced back at Usagi and then seemed to realize something. "You're Sailor Moon."

"Correct." Usagi confirmed.

"Well, that makes things simple. You're the one I actually needed to talk to. I didn't realize the three of you were sharing a place though." Mamiko admitted looking around with a frown.

"Usagi recently transferred to Mugen Gaken. Since we all work together, and she has a tendency to attract trouble it seemed to be in everyone's best interest to just have her move in with us. Since I'm the one paying for the apartment with my work I didn't feel the need to inform the rest of the family about the change in arrangements." Michiru explained.

"Sure, it wasn't for you three to get up to some sort of extracurricular activities?" Mamiko grumbled quietly under her breath. Though that didn't stop Michiru from overhearing. "Mamiko." Michiru warned.

"I know, I know, I'm dropping it for now. I'm here about that girl that's been running around saving various people from workplace accidents. We know that she is just going around calling herself Sailor Moon but having seen photos of her and now having seen you in person I can see you two aren't the same person." Mamiko said as Usagi frowned. Had that been a jab at her? Mamiko seemed to be the passive-aggressive type judging by the earlier comment so it could very well be. Best to leave it be for now though. "So we are wondering if you know who this 'Sailor Moon' actually is."

"No. All we really know is that she's some sort of impostor. We know about as much about her as you probably do." Usagi confessed.

"The prevailing theory is that she might belong to the Dark Kingdom trying to use Usagi's image to manipulate the public into a less favorable view." Michiru explained. "However considering she keeps saving people that seems counterproductive."

"You don't think it's an actual new Senshi though?" Mamiko asked.

"No. First of all, she wouldn't be going around claiming she was Sailor Moon. Second of all Luna says the one time she was able to get close enough to her all she could sense was Terran energy. Strong Terran energy but Terran none the less. If she were a fellow senshi she would be giving off an energy signature equivalent to where she draws her powers from." Michiru explained.

"There's no Sailor Earth?" Mamiko questioned.

"No. The last possible candidate during the time that the senshi were still prevalent was born male. Senshi are always female. His reincarnation might eventually develop powers of his own but until the next generation of that line is born there is no possibility for a Sailor Earth." Luna said finally coming up and explaining. "Luna. I'm the girl's adviser on all things Senshi related."

"Wait aren't you-" Mamiko began frowning in confusion.

"When I go out in public with the girls to certain governmental meetings I use a more humanoid form to draw less attention. I would rather you keep this quiet." Luna requested. She had put some things on the line by not shifting. If Mamiko was anything like her sister, it would be safe for her to know.

"Of course." Mamiko said not really thinking, at this point, about who she was speaking to. It had all become a bit too much for her. Deciding to get back on track of the subject of the impostor. "So why haven't you confronted this impostor yet?"

"She has really bad timing for us." Usagi muttered.

"We are hoping to soon. This weekend we had planned to do so." Michiru elaborated. "She's more of a nuisance than a threat Mamiko. If the government's really that concerned about it then make an announcement."

"Is she always like that?" Usagi asked after Mamiko had left. She knew both of the older girl's family relationships left something to be desired. From what little she could glean of them anyway. Mamiko's attitude during the early part of the conversation had seemed a bit over the top especially for someone that was supposed to be family.

Michiru sighed. "She's always been a tad bit passive aggressive. She didn't take it well when we came out to our families."

"Sorry." Usagi said making a face. Maybe it would have been better for her not to have been there at all. Then again Mamiko had been looking for her, not the others.

Michiru shook her head with a resigned look. "I accepted my family's opinion on my relationship with Haruka a long time ago." Would she like to have a better relationship with her family outside of Misako? Yes. She simply wasn't about to live a life of lies, incomplete and unhappy to do so.

Zoisite was not having a good week. First, he was still questioning what in the world Nephrite had meant when they had that exchange they had. Beryl had decided she wanted to get more hands on with the latest plot to collect the rainbow crystals. He had balked at the suggestion, he hated the idea. But what the Queen of the Dark Kingdom wanted and apparently she wanted him to run around in a Sailor Senshi uniform with another youma tagging along with him to make sure it went according to plan there was no real easy way out of it.

This had been entirely Beryl's idea. After this, he was less inclined to take advice from Beryl on how to run a youma plot regardless of her being his boss. He got there was a point to this but did he really have to dress up in drag to get the rainbow crystals?

He blamed most of his current situation on Beryl's suddenly developing interest in Tuxedo Kamen. He had no clue when she had gotten a good look at his face or how she had but suddenly Beryl had gone from viewing him as a hostile to ordering to have him captured. When he had tried to ask she had snapped something about the possession of the rainbow crystals. This made even less sense when you thought about the order to capture him alive. He wasn't even sure who had more rainbow crystals, the Sailor Senshi or this Tuxedo Kamen and there was no guarantee either could be used to leverage the other. He didn't understand this plan. Yet Beryl was in one of her 'moods' and so here he was... too chicken to refuse to dress as a girl and so trapped in this humiliating situation.

To top it all off he still found himself slightly unnerved. Why couldn't he stop thinking about the comments Nephrite had made when he had run into him at Dreamland? When he had managed to sneak in a conversation with Kunzite afterward he had seemed just as lost as he was as to what Nephrite was referencing. This was like when Venus had first shown up all over again. And if there was one thing Zoisite didn't like it was being confused. Well now, he could tack a second thing to the things he most loathed... being confused and being forced to cross-dress.

"Compile a file against Yuki and the others?" Usagi asked Setsuna skeptically at the next appointment. In light of continued run-ins with Yuki Setsuna had decided to suggest compiling a file of everything that had gone down at Juuban concerning her and that other group. "I don't know Setsuna I just want to forget all of that ever happened."

"I know you don't like the idea of it but if something were to happen again with you and Yuki…" Setsuna trailed off there hoping Usagi would catch on to what she was saying.

"Having evidence that this has been an ongoing problem would be a good thing." Usagi realized where Setsuna was going with it. She hated to admit it but Setsuna was right. The more evidence the better especially if someone tried to pull something like the incident with the boys or the fall before the winter holidays. She was pretty sure at the moment she wouldn't ever want to press charges against anyone involved in the whole time they had made her life hell at Juuban. She closed her eyes for a moment thinking. "Fine, you can compile it. I don't think I'll ever be comfortable pressing charges unless I have to but I'm not going to deny it's a good idea."

Setsuna relaxed slightly glad she was able to convince Usagi this was a thing that needed to be done. "I'm not expecting you to. It's just a precautionary measure in case they try to go after you." As it was most timelines were inconsistent on how Usagi went forward with the file. Sometimes she never touched the case file other times she did reach her breaking point. It pretty much relied entirely on how much she ran into Yuki and her group and their subsequent reactions to being around each other. Even Setsuna, however, did not know exactly how this would play out.

"I realize that. Before you get too far into it there's something you need to know." Usagi said making her decision about a certain subject matter. She didn't want to tell anyone more details about the incident with the boys. If Setsuna was compiling a case about this then she had no choice. She needed to tell her. It was probably only a matter of time before she found out just how much her and Naru had downplayed the incident.

"I know you didn't want to tell me about this, but I am glad you did." Setsuna said after a moment as the session finally ended. She understood the Usagi's hesitation. It was obvious she still had difficulties with what had happened even now closing in on almost a year since it had happened. Talking about this had reopened old wounds for Usagi but she was glad to know it had happened. Glad to know, and within her horror that it had happened was anger and a mantra that she could not erase them from existence without possibly destroying the universe and Usagi with it.

Personally, the whole thing horrified her. She wasn't sure which part horrified her more. That it had happened or the fact that Usagi had been forced to relive it for several months because the worst of her classmates had liked to make her rewatch the video that had been recorded of the entire incident. The realization that it had happened wasn't the most shocking.

Her and the others had had suspicions from the day she had first told them about the incident that she might be not telling them the whole truth about what had happened. The consensus had been to let her tell them when she was ready. It hadn't been the biggest shock to find out that there was more to that story then what Usagi had revealed at the time. That didn't make it any less horrifying.

If it wasn't for the fact that Usagi had to be the one to decide to press charges she would probably already be making the necessary steps to do so against the appropriate parties. Though with Japan's track record with such cases who knew if it would go anywhere even with proof. 'I must not erase people from existence.' She continued to herself.

If it wasn't for the fact she didn't have control over where Ami and Makoto attended school, she would already be moving to get them out of Juuban on today's revelations alone. She saw Ami at a weekly chess club meeting that she attended mainly to keep a close eye on her. As the Yuki situation became apparent on how bad it was maybe she could start subtly dropping some hints and flyers about Mugen. Ami would fit in well at Mugen and she just might need a push to leave Juuban. The problem was finding that push.

Makoto would probably prove to be the more difficult case. Her leaving Juuban might be a simple matter of knowing some of the extent of what Yuki had been responsible for but that might result in her going after Yuki and getting herself expelled again. Makoto didn't need that however much Yuki would more than deserve whatever Makoto did.

"Thanks for not pushing to tell you all the details." Usagi said giving a sad smile. She hated talking about it but Setsuna had let her get by with what was really the bare bones of the incident. Just the necessary details, not everything that had happened. Just that the incident had happened and that there was a video recording, that was supposed to be deleted, and to be on the lookout for it in case they hadn't followed the order.

Setsuna shook her head. "I didn't need to know everything to know it existed. Just that it was out there and what it contained. If you ever do want to share the entire incident though…"

"I know I can tell you." Usagi gave a sad smile. She wasn't sure if there was ever a day she would feel comfortable telling the whole story of that horrible afternoon. Having someone to talk to about it to if ever she did was nice.

"I should get home before the other two get really worried about me coming home so late." Usagi said after some silence had passed between the two. Hopefully, Haruka and Michiru wouldn't be too overly concerned about this. She wasn't in the mood to explain why the appointment had gone on longer than normal. That would mean talking about the dreaded subject that had caused it to go on in the first place. She wasn't ready to tell them about this. Really, she hadn't been ready to tell Setsuna either. With her opening the case it would probably have simply been a matter of time before she found out. "Sorry if I kept you from another patient."

"It's fine. You're my last patient of the day so you weren't intruding into anyone else's time." Setsuna assured her. This was precisely why Usagi was scheduled as the last patient she saw in the day. In case she needed more time with Usagi she wanted to make sure she was able to give it to her. In light of what she had just been told she was glad she had made the decision, early on, to schedule Usagi in that way.

Over the next few days, the impostor started to be involved in more risky events. Before now it was seemingly random stuns, mostly workplace events. It was escalating to the point where no one could really ignore it. With a foiled bank robbery topping the list. It was becoming obvious that the whole thing couldn't be allowed to drag on. Thankfully it wasn't much longer until the impostor senshi appeared on their schedule when they were out and about in Mugen when it worked on their schedule.

"Look who finally showed up on our schedule." Haruka noted as they watched the impostor land in front of the office building safely putting down the two window cleaners.

"She looks nothing like me." Usagi muttered under her breath. The only thing close to her appearance was the hairstyle. All of the colors were completely off.

"Well, it's nice to know one aspect of the protection magic works." Luna noted. One of the more confusing aspects of the magic was that it made impossible for others to completely replicate a Sailor Senshi's uniform. Meaning that even though the impostor had probably tried to get as close as she could purple and blue was the best she could pull off to Usagi's red and blue.

"Wait so it's supposed to be like that?" Michiru asked a bit surprised.

"For someone who is trying to impersonate a Sailor Senshi? Yes." Luna confirmed. "The magic does more than just merely hide your secret identities."

"That is good to know." Michiru said. Now she was wondering just how many facets of the protective magic there were.

"We need to follow." Haruka noted as they watched the impostor take to the rooftops disappearing from view rather quickly.

"How? She's so fast." Hotaru asked after a moment.

Michiru frowned slightly looking in the direction the girl had gone. Considering the possible want for privacy and the speed she had been gong. "She might be headed to the Tokyo Port."

"Why there?" Usagi asked tilting her head slightly. Why in the world would someone want to confront anyone in a maze-like place that was the Tokyo Port?

"She must have a reason." Luna said frowning slightly. "We need to follow her but be careful. It could be a trap."

Looking back, they really should have seen this coming. It seemed painfully obvious that it had to have been a Dark Kingdom trap. At the time they were chasing down the impostor it hadn't occurred to her. As Moon found herself and the others in a dark energy bubble listening to Zoisite cackle she came to the conclusion that she should have stayed in bed today.

She was only giving Zoisite half an ear more trying not to feel overly panicked by the slowly shrinking bubble when she heard Zoisite make a comment about having them trapped and now he could use them as a bargaining chip to gain the remaining rainbow crystals. Moon bit her lip to keep her from saying anything. Zoisite was about half right with his statement. Yeah, he had the upper hand and yeah he had the means of which to get the remaining rainbow crystals. He was wrong about who had the majority of them. She kind of wondered where he got the idea that Tuxedo Kamen had the majority of the crystals. Either way, they had bigger things to deal with one of which was having Zoisite not figure out who had the majority of the rainbow crystals.

The dark bubble was shrinking, and Moon was trying hard not to panic. She wasn't doing so well. She didn't DO small spaces. She was trying hard, but she was having trouble breathing and she was beginning to deal with spinning surroundings and tunnel vision.

"Moon?" Neptune asked a bit concerned seeming to have picked up on how well she was handling the situation. Between Moon and Uranus, there were two senshi who were not handling this trap well.

I don't do tight spaces." Moon confessed under her breath after a moment closing her eyes for a brief second trying to shut out the walls closing in. Deep breaths. She reopened them with a gulp realizing that hadn't helped. Where was one of the others when you needed them? Luna had escaped and run off, so she really hoped she had been able to get help or she didn't know what would happen. She was trying very hard not to puke or get lost in the panic about now. It was anything but easy.

"Dimension Dance!" A familiar lilac ball slicing in front of Zoisite announced the arrival of Pluto almost if on cue. It didn't actually hit Zoisite but thankfully that was enough of a distraction to get him to drop the containment field and they quickly scattered in different directions. Zoisite glanced back between them and the newly arrived Pluto who was being trailed by Masato it looked like. She thought she saw Masato opening his mouth to possibly make a comment. But before anything could be said Zoisite teleported out. Whether back to the Dark Kingdom or somewhere else was a good question.

"Are you four all right?" Pluto asked coming up to them. Thankfully her and Masato hadn't been too far off when Luna had found them. They had run into each other having come into the port area to see what the impostor situation was about. Seemed all of them had ended up here somehow.

"Better now that we're out of that." Moon confessed. "You're hoping the more you get to talk to him the more you might get him to see something's not right?" Moon gathered after a moment turning to Masato hoping to avoid what had to be a coming lecture from Pluto.

"That's what I'm hoping. He's always been stubborn even back during the days of the Old Kingdom. What would normally be a difficult task, convincing him that he might be wrong, is made even more difficult by Beryl's influence." Masato said frowning slightly glancing back up at the spot Zoisite had previously occupied.

She felt kind of bad for Masato. He was essentially a one-man brigade now having to try and save his fellow generals from the Dark Kingdom. He was the only one that had concrete memories of the Old Kingdom. He was having to go on the faith that his fellow generals would listen to him on the subject. Which judging by Zoisite's reaction there might not be a ton to go around. "Too bad you can't get to Jadeite." Moon noted. If he could have gotten to him she might have been able to heal him in a similar manner, so Masato wouldn't have been going this so much alone.

"That would require access to the Dark Kingdom, which I gave up." Masato pointed out. Having Jadeite around might come in handy especially if they could get him to recall his proper memories. hey had no way to get to him.

"You don't happen to know exactly where the base is located do you?" Luna asked. She figured the answer to that was no or else he would have said something earlier but it was best to ask than to assume and be incorrect.

"I know its somewhere in the far north. Its exact location is a mystery to me and probably to most who resided in the Dark Kingdom." Masato confessed frowning slightly. He knew it was remote and it was way up north but other than that he didn't know much about the outside of it. "What was he doing here today?" This hadn't seemed like any normal youma plot…

"He seemed to be very interested in drawing out Tuxedo Kamen." Saturn explained.

Pluto raised an eyebrow at that. "You four walked into a trap?" She would have thought that Uranus and Neptune would have kept them out of one since they tended to be more cautious at times than their Inner counterparts, usually at least.

"Yeah…" Moon admitted with some guilt. "He seemed to be trying to lure out Tuxedo Kamen. Zoisite seemed to be under the wrong impression that Tuxedo Kamen had the majority of the rainbow crystals." Moon explained.

Pluto frowned slightly at that. That was an interesting choice and she wondered this whole incident had been something Beryl had concocted. It sounded like something she would have done back in the day. "Maybe it's time we actually talked to him instead of just randomly bumping into him." They could talk about walking into possible traps later the bigger concern lay with Tuxedo Kamen and the remaining rainbow crystals at the moment.

It took a couple hours to track down Tuxedo Kamen. Tokyo Port wasn't exactly on the small side. And there were a lot of buildings to search through. Thankfully Pluto was able to narrow down the search field so what might have taken all night only took maybe about 20 minutes. Of course, from the minute they arrived Tuxedo Kamen was on the defensive for some reason. "What are you doing here?"

"We're here about the rainbow crystal I know your holding." Pluto said pointedly. "We're not here to fight Tuxedo Kamen." Moon frowned at that noticing that Pluto almost seemed to accidentally call him by another name again. Glancing between the two she realized if anyone knew for sure who exactly Tuxedo Kamen was in relation to their past lives it was Pluto. But now wasn't the time for that conversation.

"Then what are you here for." Tuxedo Kamen asked frowning slightly from what Moon could tell under the mask.

If Pluto had been anyone else she may have facepalmed in frustration. As it was she found herself currently wishing he had more of his Silver Millennium memories. It probably wouldn't fix the situation, but it might make the situation a lot easier. Moon frowned slightly as she thought she heard Pluto saying something under her breath that sounded like 'stubborn royalty'. "Everything okay?"

"It's nothing Moon." Pluto reassured her. At least nothing that Moon could address that she knew of. "Has it ever occurred to you that the person you keep seeing in your dreams and the person we are seeking and trying to protect are the same person? That may be holding one of the rainbow crystals for yourself is not beneficial?"

That caused Tuxedo Kamen to look at her with a frown. "How do you even know about that?"

"Senshi of time and space." Uranus quipped with a slight grin recognizing where Pluto was probably going with this. Nice to have someone else faced with that phrase as an explanation for once.

"My domain gives me access to information most people wouldn't have." Pluto admitted. Well, that wasn't the only reason she was aware of the situation but that would have to be a conversation for another time. When everyone's memories were hopefully restored to their full.

"The girl from my dreams and the girl your seeking are the same?" Tuxedo Kamen asked seeming to be a bit shocked by that thought. At Pluto's nod in confirmation Tuxedo Kamen seemed to stop and think about it for a moment. "I need a day." It felt kind of silly to not have realized that he and the Senshi might have been seeking the same girl but here they were. "I don't carry them on me." That was true he thought it was safer to store somewhere most people wouldn't look for it. Particularly if he ran into Zoisite or his minions like he had today. "Where is a good place to meet?"

"Juuban Park?" Moon suggested. Sure, most of them here lived over near Mugen Gaken but considering most of her encounters with Tuxedo Kamen had been while she was still in Juuban. She suspected he lived closer to their then to where they were. Plus, they needed him to be cooperative and not having him travel should help.

Tuxedo Kamen seemed to consider that for a moment. "Sure, can't think of anywhere else to meet."

"Tomorrow evening at Juuban Park it is then." Pluto agreed.

By this point, Usagi was used to having the memories of the Moon Kingdom come through in her dream as she stood there, incorporeal and watching. She had never dreamed of this before. The night of the fall.

"Your former generals are the one leading the charge Endymion!" Venus hissed angrily in response to some unheard comment as they walked quickly through the hall to a destination Usagi was unsure of. Her attention more focused on a clearly angry Venus. Who was angry enough she wasn't in the mood to call him by his formal title. She wasn't going to be called out on making sure an enemy had slipped through the cracks. When the prince of Earth's guards was the one leading the invasion charge.

"Venus, Endymion. Could we do this later?" Serenity pleaded. "There are more important things to deal with." Like finding a safe place to evacuate the people.

"Of course, princess." Venus said backing off from Endymion. "Any luck gaining contact with anyone Mercury?" She said turning her attention to Mercury for the moment.

Mercury shook her head after a moment closing her visor. "No one's responding on any of the frequencies. I'm afraid…" Mercury broke off there not entirely sure she wanted to finish the thought. Though the intention was clear. The Moon may be the only one left standing.

"Then will have to contact the Kuiper Belt." Venus realized. Sedna was their best chance of getting Serenity to safety. Hopefully, nothing had happened to the other planets. Now was not the time to be worrying about time. Time to mourn anyone lost in this attempt at destroying their kingdom would have to come later.

"That could take a while." Mercury noted in concern already working on trying to relay a message to the outer most bounds of the Kuiper Belt. "We're going to have to hope their teleporters are open and just go through."

"I don't want to go all the way to the Kuiper Belt." Serenity said more to herself than to her guardians. She had never been that far out. She had never been even to Pluto. Traveling past Pluto while pregnant was a scary prospect. Regardless of the reason.

"We don't have a choice princess. It may be the last safe place within travel distance." Jupiter cut in shaking her head. She disliked the idea of sending her out that far but if no one else was responding to their hails…Then they might be too late to send her safely somewhere in the solar system.

"You and the little ones are our only hope. If you die, there's nothing left for us. We need to get you off the planet. NOW." Venus said cutting off any argument Serenity was going to make about not going so far off world. She could see youma starting to appear at the end of the hallways. They were running out of time. They needed to act now. Turning to the prince she made her decision to put her faith in him even with tonight's events. "Prince, you remember how to get back to the teleporter room?"

"Of course." Endymion confirmed. He had walked that route enough times to have it memorized.

"Then get the two of you there. We'll follow as soon as we take care of this problem." Venus said to him before turning to Serenity. Placing the tilt to a blade in her hands.

"Venus." Serenity began protesting only to have it slightly shoved at her chest.

"Take it. I have other weapons I can use to protect myself. You have nothing. At least this way there is something that will protect you if a youma slips by." Venus insisted. It was far from an ideal situation and Serenity was bound to have problems trying to wield it in her condition. But she would rather Serenity had something to protect herself then not.

"What am I?" Endymion muttered under his breath. He could very well protect the two of them.

"Don't give me that. I know you can protect her but its best she has something Now get out of here before it's too late." Venus said rolling her eyes slightly. Before turning her back on them and towards the encroaching youma. "We'll follow as soon as we can."

Usagi shot up in bed gasping. That, that was unexpected. Running hand ran through her bangs she briefly realized there were tears in her eyes and an ache in her heart. Even her abdomen felt acutely empty now, an awareness she wasn't sure how to process. There had been a lot to process in the memory. It was possible the Moon may have been the last planet to fall in the Dark Kingdom's invasion. The words, the way Venus had talked about her and the "little ones" being their hope solidified her suspicions from a couple of days ago. Pregnant. Serenity had been pregnant. She wasn't going to sleep after this. Ice cream for breakfast? Yep. It was gonna be an ice cream for breakfast sort of day.

"You're up early." Haruka noted coming into the kitchen, toweling herself off from her early run. Haruka looked pointedly at the ice cream Usagi was shoveling her face with.

"Couldn't go back to sleep after the last dream I had." Usagi confessed stabbing her spoon into the carton. She had tried but all she could see was the memory and continually replaying it, wondering with a sense of dread what came after that. Somehow, she knew in her gut it was worse than bad.

"Shingo or the Moon Kingdom?" Haruka asked out of curiosity.

"Moon Kingdom." Usagi confirmed. "I keep getting more of those as we gather more of these crystals." She said holding up the chain that held the rainbow crystals.

"You've demolished the ice cream, so it must be bad. Was it like- "Haruka broke off there not entirely sure how to continue the question. How do you ask if someone keeps dreaming of other people's deaths?

"Like the time I dreamed of your deaths?" Usagi asked continuing at Haruka's nod. "No, not really. I dream of a lot of memories of the Moon Kingdom. Not all of it is death. Some of it is rather confusing or even simply beautiful. Nothing quite like yours and Michiru's deaths so far."

"That was a whole gallon of ice cream last night Kitten. What happened?" Haruka asked sounding a bit concerned. Usagi sounded a bit shaken by whatever she had remembered, and she didn't even seem to realize there was no more ice cream left in the carton at this point.

Usagi let out a breath giving a small smile. In spite of knowing how it must have ended. "I was pregnant. Twins apparently."

"I guess congrats are in order. Even if it's a bit late. Though…" Haruka trailed off there not entirely sure how to continue with her thought. Or if she should. More than likely the fate of her children hadn't been a pleasant one. Her stomach rolled for a moment as she realized with the recent implications there was a chance the twins also belonged to her and Michiru if that one memory was any indication on what their relationship with Serenity was and the implications there would be no children with the earth prince.

"Yeah, I know. I know how it had to have ended." Usagi confirmed voice slightly cracking at the sheer thought. It was bad enough to entertain the idea of how long Serenity's death might have gone. Factoring in the fact it had all gone on in the war. To add in the idea of a pair of innocents having a long-prolonged death…she shivered slightly at that.

"You all right?" Haruka asked after giving her a moment.

Usagi managed to force a smile in response. "As well as I can be when talking about the fall of the Moon Kingdom." And the fates of innocent victims.

End Chapter 25

AN: And that's a wrap for this week!

Hope you enjoyed it. Again please remember to leave a review or a comment. I love reading all of them even if I don't always respond to them.

26 will appropriately enough be up on October 26th. I swear that wasn't originally planned that way. It just kind of happened.

Anyways see ya on the 26th!