Disclaimer: They are the property of Takeuchi Naoko, except when they aren't, and then they're mine. But I assure everyone and anyone who gives a damn that I ain't making any money on this…
A/N: And we're back to the Firsts…here we go! Thanks go out to Girl Who Writes (there are so many fanarts I wish I could draw, and believe me, Haruka and Seiya in a house together pretty high on my list, and I think the hardest thing for Ikuko would be hearing that Usagi has a "real" mother) Aphrodite's Kiss (if I don't tease you guys, you'll just get bored) Lalaitha Yamainu (yes, Naoko insists only women are Senshi, but Mamoru has a Crystal, that's always seemed weird, and while I'm not quite so anti-Starlights, they are amazingly arrogant, aren't they? Minau is closer to 16, but she is very innocent, and after you know more about Serenity's mother you'll understand why she kept things from her daughter) Bin82501 (you can't equal the original with a sequel, you must attempt to surpass it) Artemis-chan of Redwing (Starlights on Earth again might be the humorous break we're all going to need real soon, and by this point I usually have five or six windows open to keep it all straight) Isis Aurora Tomoe (for whatever reason, as soon as I started writing Minau I really liked her, too, and I'm glad everyone else seems to have taken to her, I love Kakyuu but the Starlights, well, we'll work with them, as for Setsuna…I don't know what you're insinuating! :-P) Sabrina (to be thrown onto a strange world without any idea where you are, or where your friends are…to have no way to reach the mother who has always guided you…I don't think there was any easy way to do that! Usagi matures more in the manga than in the anime, and that's what I'm trying to keep rolling here, I'm happy it seems to be working) and astra-kelly (LOVE the vader refrence, but may no longer be able to take that threatening voice seriously, and yes, sweetie, that is the proper "your") Happy Holidays, whichever way you swing!
Hotaru and Chibiusa backed up quickly, until they bumped into the four Senshi behind them. A glance left and right showed Ceres and Vesta moving to flank their Princess, with Juno and Pallas taking the rear. As she stared down into those scarlet eyes, the color of the orb in his armor, Hotaru hissed angrily over her shoulder.
"You said he couldn't see us!"
"He can't...he shouldn't...I don't understand..." Vesta breathed.
Slowly, without a trace of concern, the ancient King of Pluto began to mount the stairs. The breeze had begun again, and it rippled his dark emerald hair around him. He was beautiful, as beautiful as his descendant would be, but more than that, he was powerful. Every movement was controlled, and from his purposeful steps to merely the way he wrapped his fingers around his staff, Hotaru could feel his might.
With every step forward, the bevy of young women above him fell another step back.
"What now, Ceres?" Juno demanded of her leader.
"If he attacks, we'll just have to-"
"Look!"
Five more heads jerked around to follow Pallas' gaze.
Something like a small shadow moved past them. Hotaru heard Chibiusa gasp softly, and felt her own eyes go wide.
A face almost as white as the marble of the Palace held a pair of eyes the color of the sky at twilight, as the final rays of the sun fade into velvety darness. Dark hair fell down in an inky river past her shoulders, to her slender waist. A violet robe of something soft and flowing, an ancient silk perhaps, draped over her shoulders, nipped in at her waist, and flared out into a wide skirt with a small train. Beneath the robe was a straight, simple gown of paler purple, and tiny amethyst slippers.
She wore no armor. She carried no weapon.
She turned her face slightly, so that the white glow of the Moon hit a purple jewel, ensconsed in a silver tiara. But it was a crown unlike those Hotaru was used to, the simple gold bands of the Senshi or the gentle loops and swirls of Neo-Queen Serenity. Delicately wrought, it came in a twisted band from underneath her hair. Curves of silver crept up from the band along the sides of her head, the largest just behind her ears, and the rest descending down, ever smaller as they moved forward. These little blades disappeared into her hair to suddenly stab through the darkness and glint in the light. The metal spun across her forehead, the curves now little more than thorns. The gem was caught in the center with a simple twist of silver, looping over and around and back into itself again.
The infinity sign, Hotaru mused in wonder. And her face...
"Saturn-chan," Pallas whispered, "she looks just like you!"
"My quiet little friend," Pluto said, stopping halfway up the stairs. His lips kept smiling, but his eyes held a sort of wariness, as though he were regarding not a small woman, but a dangerous panther about to pounce. "And what are you doing, hiding in the shadows? Or are you spying again?"
The Queen of Saturn stared down at him and said nothing. But ever so slightly, her mouth turned up at the corners.
"Ah," Pluto murmured, and he jogged up the last of the stairs. "Are we friends, then, today? Then let me give you a friendly greeting."
One little hand lifted to touch his shoulder as he bent and kissed her cheek. She kept on smiling as she stepped back, but she touched a finger to her lips, signaling silence, and shook her head.
"What is this? It would help if you would speak, Saturn. No, merely more silence today. I wonder if I will ever hear your voice. Silly little girl. Why should I hold my tongue, hm?" His eyes narrowed again. "Or is it your turn to be spied on? Are we being watched?"
Saturn smiled on, and moved a little to one side to glance around him. She jerked her chin at the bottom of the stairs, and he turned to look. The six unseen girls shuffled, still in a group, to one side to see what was so interesting.
Something bright flickered in the air at the foot of the stairs. It came again, hanging in the air a little longer, red-gold and hot. The feeling of an unseen power began again. This time it came like a wind, hot as a dragon's breath, ruffling the hair of the girls and the ancient ones before them. Hotaru strained forward, now eager to see who would emerge.
Fire burst into being in the air. The first flame swirled, hotter and brighter, and became a ring, which spun to the ground. Heat shimmered in waves in the air, and as insubstantial as they were, Chibiusa and her Senshi took several steps back.
"Mars," Vesta whispered, her voice shaking with excitement. "It has to be Mars!"
"Really? Did the flames give it away?" Ceres muttered, but she did not dare to tear her eyes from that portal for even the second it would take to give her sister a glare.
Two hands stretched up out of the blaze, clad in blood red leather, small black spikes on the knuckles. The gauntlets continued, reinforced with scarred metal on the inside and out of the forearms. Dark gold skin showed dramatically as the gloves stopped just below the elbows, revealing a pair of biceps that made six female hearts beat faster. Black hair came next, tied up high on the head in a topknot. Hotaru guessed, if he let it hang loose, it would fall to no further than his chin. But she did not think much more as his face emerged from the fire. The arched eyebrows, the dark violet eyes, the long straight nose and full lips, all Rei's features, blended together on a face angular and even a little delicate, yet not at all feminine. Perhaps the large scar arcing from the corner of his left eye, across his nose, and down to the right side of his jaw increased his masculinity, but it did nothing to detract from his appeal. The shoulders came next, as broad as they should be connected to those strong arms. Red leather covered his torso in a heavy vest, with a high arching collar, and the hem brushing the backs of his knees. A design of what appeared to be phoenixes swooping through flames had been burned into the very material. The vest was open down the front to display a rippling chest and an abdomen that would have sent women of more romantic natures swooning. Hotaru did not swoon, but she could hear Ceres' breath coming faster. However, the future Senshi of Silence did allow herself the indulgence of following the chains that looped across that fantastic chest, holding the vest half-closed, back and forth a few times. Pants, still of red leather, sat low on narrow hips, held tight by a chainmail belt. Even through the thick pants, the young women could see the strength in his thighs. His boots began just below the knees, red, leather, and armored with metal pocked from many battles.
A quiver of arrows hung from one strong shoulder, and in his right hand he held a bow...made of flame.
"Mars," Pluto called, quirking one eyebrow. "Always an impressive entrance."
The King of Mars stared up at him, his lashes (long and thick, Hotaru noted) lowering to mask his eyes. With one hand he fingered the string of his bow. Pluto laughed softly.
"Careful, Mars. We're on sacred ground. No fighting."
"Would it be worth my while?" Mars murmured. "I could hit you, you know, straight through any armor, into your heart...if you couldn't stop time and get out of the way."
"But I can," Pluto reminded him, his voice silky. "So put that thing away and come play nice. At least give the Queen of Saturn a proper greeting."
Both Mars' eyebrows rose slowly. "Saturn? Where?"
"She is..." Pluto looked to his side, then turned all the way around. Startled, the six Senshi also looked about them. Saturn had disappeared. "She is gone. Again."
"It is a rather annoying habit of hers," Mars agreed, his voice suddenly much more pleasant. He bounded up the steps, two at a time, until he reached Pluto. He offered the hand not holding his bow. "Well, Pluto, and how is your barren rock?"
"Dark and cold," Pluto replied, shaking his hand. "How is that inferno you call a home?"
"Hot, errupting, and full of creatures so vile it would make even your silky locks curl," Mars said with a little shrug. "Damn little demons. They get into everything. My wife is threatening to move to Earth if I can't at least keep them out of the Palace. I told her that unless she would let me burn the place to the ground there is nothing I can do, but apparently that is not a viable option."
"Women," Pluto sighed. "And on that note, what do you think of all this?"
Mars frowned at the double doors. "She set her little spy to greet us. That is not a sign of trust."
"Perhaps Saturn was acting of her own accord. There is no telling what that foolish child will do next."
"Are we certain that foolish child is anything more than a puppet? She follows our Queen of the White Moon everywhere like some little shadow, and whatever the Moon whispers in her ear she keeps always hidden."
"Secrets in silence," Pluto muttered, nodding.
"Keep our secret in silence."
Hotaru grabbed her head and gritted her teeth, trying to push away that voice, and the image of faces, these faces, as they disappeared, screaming, into darkness.
"Hotaru-chan, what is it?" Chibiusa whispered, and her hand slipped into Hotaru's.
"I...I just-"
"Sh," Ceres warned. "They're still speaking."
"-no chance she'll consent," Mars was saying. "Ever since she agreed to hold the Flame, she has been irrational. One moment sunny, the next weepy, and she barely ever let's that child out of her sight."
"It took her a long time to conceive a child at all. In fact, some said she was as barren as this Moon," Pluto said, his eyes drifting beyond the lush garden, and out to the rocky, pale surface.
Mars, in turn, studied Pluto's face. "Yes, some did say that. Then...then suddenly her belly was full, and she was most certainly not barren. I wonder, wise Pluto, if you happen to know where little Serenity came from?"
"From her mother, I would assume. But it was your wife who helped Venus and Neptune at the Moon's bedside, so perhaps you know more than I."
"Serenity's mother is no mystery to me," Mars said. "I admit to a great curiosity as to who is that girl's father, though."
Pluto returned his attention to the other King, his eyebrows raised in genuine surprise. Then he began to laugh. "You aren't alone in that curiosity, Mars, but I cannot help you. Little Princess Serenity is no child of mine."
"Well, she certainly isn't mine," Mars replied tartly. "Damn, you were my best chance. You're here often enough."
"So are you."
"I am married."
"So am I."
"I love my wife."
Pluto paused, then shrugged slightly. "There you have the advantage of me, I admit. But I tell you again, Serenity is not my daughter."
"Besides," Mars continued as he made a move towards the double doors, "I know what it is to fear my own wife. The weak do not last long on Mars, and she has never faltered."
"She is a treasure. I felicitate you."
The Senshi quickly scrambled out of their way as the pair advanced across the wide marble expanse before the doors. Both Kings passed close enough to reach out and touch, and as Mars' vest nearly brushed against Hotaru, there came a collective feminine sigh. But Pluto had no more than reached out his hand when a strange sound came.
"Another one!" Pallas whispered excitedly. "Back to the stairs! Back to the stairs!"
"So I'm not the last," they heard Mars say from behind them. "Who else is here, besides you and Saturn and me?"
"Other than our fair White Queen? I think we were the first."
Hotaru came to a stop at the very top of the stairs, with the others piling up beside her. Pallas pushed her way to the front, her hands clasped excitedly beneath her chin. Vesta stood beside her, biting her lip, while Juno, behind her sisters, pushed the high red ponytail out of her vision. Ceres squeezed Chibiusa's arm as she leaned forward, and the Princess of Crystal Tokyo seized Hotaru's hand in hers.
Ignoring the Kings speaking behind them, Hotaru tried to identify the sound in the air.
"It sounds like...breathing," Ceres whispered.
Hotaru nodded. It could be breathing, a slow inhale and a gentle exhale...It sounded familiar, something she had heard before. It soothed her frightened nerves, and made her think of home, and her mamas, and her papa, and the way they held her and comforted her. She thought she could hear birds on the breeze...a breeze that was suddenly warm, and felt like silk as it slid over her skin and played with her hair. Her lips turned up at the corners as she listened to that sound, now two sounds, blending together but definitely distinct. She played with the ends of her skirt as it touched her skin, and for the first time in her young life wondered how it would be if someone else were to touch her skin. It was not a strange thought, but a thought all women would have as air scented with something spicy and heady slid a caress over their bodies from head to toe. In fact, did not that other noise seem to be a woman's voice sighing? Or was that laughter? But that first sound...the sound underneath...
"Iie! Not breathing! It sounds like the ocean!" Hotaru gasped suddenly. "And...look!"
A color had appeared at the bottom of the stairs, a tiny glow of light that moved like liquid. Hotaru knew that color well. It was the same shade as Michiru's eyes when she laughed. The light moved, closer to the stairs, then drawing back. Closer, and back, closer, and back, every time a little further each way. The sound of the sea grew.
Then a woman chuckled, low and sultry.
"Wow, they're coming in droves now," Juno said, and she pointed between her sisters.
Molten gold swirled lazily beside the turquoise tide of light.
"Blessed Sol," Mars murmured somewhere nearby. "It's her."
The gold spun around and around in an ever widening circle in a clockwise motion. The aqua marine continued following the motion of the waves, but it also began to swirl, counterclockwise. The sound of the tides and the scent of spices filled Hotaru's head, and from the fast breathing of the two Kings, the effect was not confined to her. Both gold and turquoise began to rise into the air like twisting pillars, the sea-water light just ahead of the gold. They reached ever higher, until the Senshi had to crane their necks back to see.
Then, with the crashing of waves, the tuquoise split down the center. The crack at the top began to open, leaving the liquid light rushing around like curtains of water, and Hotaru felt her heartbeat double as she gazed upon Michiru's ancestress.
Waving hair, the color of the sea, rippled around a face nearly as tanned as Mars'. Big, brilliant eyes like jewels regarded them with a hauty consideration, blinking lashes so dark they might be wet. A perfect nose, slender and slightly upturned, led to a mouth of lucious lips the color of perfect pink petals. That amazing hair, like that Hotaru had brushed while her mama laughed, caressed a swan's neck, and brushed over two slender shoulders encased in a diaphanous material of pale, pale turquoise. The silk poured down, and embroidery studded with pearls rested lightly on her decolletage. The gown barely skimmed her body, but the lightweight and nearly transparent fabric offered glimpses of a tall, slender form. A belt made of seashells strung together dangled from her hips, and a single strand of shells fell down the center of her skirt. Sandals made of something soft and tan woven with pearls encased her long, graceful feet.
Resting lightly on her hair, a tiara of gold rose like cresting waves in the middle, then rushed out on either side. A perfect aqua marine gem, cut into a diamond shape, glistened in the center. Long fingers curved around the handle of a delicate mirror.
She stood for a moment, cool and elegant, framed in that rushing light, and smiled slightly.
"Pluto. Mars. How charming."
"Neptune, and her damned mirror," they heard Mars growl from behind them. "And would she just hurry up?"
Another laugh came, low, but completely feminine. It rushed through Hotaru even more powerfully than that exotic spicy perfume, and in her mind she saw again Mars' mighty arms, sculpted chest, and powerful thighs. Thoughts that had never filled her head before played at the edges of her imagination, images of hands and lips and the sounds of whispers...
With the color, the laughter, and the scent, there could be no doubt who she was.
The pillar the color of sunlight parted slowly, twisting and falling open like the petals of a flower. Hands were the first thing they saw, white and delicate, a simple ring around one finger attached, by a chain of heart-shaped links, to a bracelet on her wrist, etched with ancient symbols. Her arms stretched over her head, then bent and crossed to rest on top of her gold hair. Her flesh was creamy and smooth, and her face made the girls feel suddenly blemished, freckled, and ugly. Sparkling amber eyes swept over the two men, and her full lips, soft and sweet just to gaze upon, turned up slowly...invitingly. Nothing broke the line of flesh from neck to shoulders to collarbone. Thin straps held something soft, something like light satin, and as brilliant as her hair, on the edges of her shoulders, and they looked as though they might slip away at any moment. Satin curved over each breast, just maintaining modesty as it plunged down in a v-shape, through the cleft between the breasts, down her sternum, and finally tempering to a point just below her navel. A silk cord laced across all that exposed flesh, hiding nothing and barely keeping the fabric together. Her body was not so slender as Neptune's, her hips and breasts fuller, her abdomen curved deliciously and promising health and vitality. The satin fit tightly over hips and thighs, then spilled down into a full, sweeping skirt, with a long train...and split up the front to several inches above her knees. Shapely white legs curved to delicate ankles, and little feet in sandals that looked nothing like Neptune's. The heels were several inches tall, and gold ribbons wrapped up those beautiful calves to tie below her knees.
"Uh...wow," Juno whispered. "Does Venus ever...dress like that?"
"Dress like what?" Ceres breathed. "There's barely a dress there!"
"Yeesh!" Chibiusa added in a somewhat horrified voice. "Mina-chan!"
"Well, it's not actually Minako," Hotaru reminded them all.
It was a hard thing to remember, though. More mature, and far more direct, the face was still eerily reminiscent of the goddes of love Hotaru knew in the present. Yet for all her dramatic appearance, her single mark of sovereignty was simplistic. A single chain of gold links, also heart-shaped and familiar to anyone who knew Sailor Venus, lay on that loose mane of sunlit waves. The chain dropped in the center of her forehead, where a yellow jewel glowed like a little star.
"Venus," Neptune said, and turned her head to the other woman, "do you see who our sweet Queen of the White Moon has left here to greet us?"
"Ah, Neptune, do not mock," Venus murmured, her every word a caress. "Such a handsome pair, and both so...rugged. Masculine. Absolutely delightful. Don't you think?"
"I do not think. You say rugged, but I say ragged. And such little specks of dust they call home. What is the joy in guarding your depressing rocks?"
"My world is no smaller than Venus!" Mars snarled angrily.
"But barren, and dull," Neptune sighed. She raised her mirror, and gazed into the glass for a moment. Her pretty mouth turned into a petulant little pout. "Blessed Sol, Mars, what are those creatures parading all around your...do you call that a Palace? It's all broken rock and fire coming out of everywhere!"
"That's enough, Neptune," Pluto said in a surprisingly placid voice. "Come, my ladies, we might as well cry friends! We are all evenly matched, as we have proven time and time again, through so many silly battles amongst ourselves. Besides, we are on the White Moon. Those are laws even you will not dare to break."
In one fluid motion, Mars had his bow in his hands, and a single arrow nocked.
"I've heard enough as well. You will either close your portals and behave civily, or I will pop those little bubbles of your home worlds."
"And he speaks of behaving civily!" Neptune trilled, pressing her mirror to her lips coyly as she laughed. "Shall we be good, and do as he says, Venus? He looks like he's about to throw a proper temper tantrum."
"Well, we'll do this one thing he says, but I make no promises to be good," Venus replied, her smile widening.
The light began to fade, and Mars returned his arrow to the quiver, and his bow to his shoulder. Both women touched the ground lightly, and strode forward as their power winked out behind them. Even on those stunning heels, Venus had no problem taking the many steps to the Moon Palace. As they reached the men, Neptune held out a hand to Pluto. He took it, bowing over it with amazing grace and kissing her fingers. Venus slid past him, her skirt stroking over his boots, to lay her little fingers on Mars' chest.
"Hello, my love," she whispered, and her hand slid a little lower. "It has been too long. I think of you every night, as Mars glows bright in my window, over my bed. I would give much to bring that red star into my bed."
Mars smiled down into her face, and she moved to press her full body against him. Somehow, her satin gown did not ignite as it rubbed against his flaming bow. He raised his hand to brush her hair off her shoulder, then fingered her little earring of heart links and amber. "It would be no very hard thing to bring Mars into your bed, my goddess."
"Is that so? And what would I have to do to be granted this night of paradise?"
"Get my wife's permission."
He took both her shoulders in his hands, and pushed her several feet away from him.
"Until then, I will ask you, again, to keep your hands to yourself!"
Pluto chuckled, low and deep, and Neptune smiled. She looked once more into her mirror, then turned it to show Venus. Hotaru and the other girls slid a little closer to see what was reflected there.
A beautiful woman, clad in brilliant red silk and battered metal armor, held a bow in gloved hands. She had an arrow at the ready, her violet hair fluttering back from a beautiful face, her eyes narrowed, and she let it fly. Something screamed from beyond the edges of the mirror. Rei's fierce smile appeared on her lips, and she moved purposefully forward. A band of hunters hurried to follow her, there was a shimmer of silver, and the mirror was nothing more than a looking glass again.
"I don't know, my dear," Neptune said, slipping the mirror into her belt. "She is lovely, and you are not very useful with a bow. Is he worth all this effort you keep putting into him?"
"Oh, yes. Because I know, when I finally win him, he will put all his effort into me."
"And then his wife will kill you both," Pluto finished with a wide smile. "Until then, ravishing Venus, I am afraid you will have to content yourself with men who are a little less devoted to their wives."
"Like
you? Pluto, are you offering to put some effort into me?"
He
took her hand, and bowed as elegantly as he had for Neptune, but this
kiss was slower, and lingered on her white flesh. "My goddess, I
would put all the effort into you that you could take."
Venus rolled her shoulders, and the thin straps became even more perilously perched on the ends of her shoulders. "Do not, Pluto, make guarantees you cannot live up to."
"Who is to say he can't?" Neptune asked. She swept past Venus and Pluto, and raised her face to Mars. After a moment, he smirked, and touched his lips chastely to hers. She caressed his cheek, and her smile went from haughty to tender for a moment. She kept her arm around his shoulders as she craned her neck to look at the other two ancient powers. "I have great respect for Pluto's efforts."
"Has he demonstrated these efforts to you before?" Venus asked, her eyes alight with interest. "And you never told me!"
"I don't share everything with you, dearest."
"I think I am tired of hearing about Pluto's...efforts," Mars grumbled. Neptune released him, opening her mouth with a smile, but he reached forward and clamped her lips together. "As for interesting greetings, Saturn was waiting when Pluto arrived. I find that very interesting."
Neptune pulled herself free of his fingers and turned uncertain eyes to the others. Though now pressed as close as she could be to Pluto, Venus' brow wrinkled in an unhappy frown.
"The violet shadow was waiting for you? What is she playing at, setting spies on us? We are not commoners, or mortals! This has to be stopped!"
"She is losing her clear vision," Neptune added. "I think that damned Flame is burning it away."
"The Flame is dangerous," Venus murmured. "I don't like the changes it is making on her. When she was giving birth, she left her Crystal lying on the table, but she clenched the other in her hand until it made her bleed. It made her bleed! It can mark our flesh! We can't-"
"Be silent, Venus!" Mars snapped. "Not here! That bloody little spy can slip up on us without a sound!"
Neptune gestured agitatedly at them all. "I don't know...this plan! Mercury's plan! Will it do what we think? Perhaps the Moon is right, perhaps this is a mistake!"
"Neptune, in the name of Sol, don't be weak now," Pluto hissed. "If we do not stand united, we cannot convince her. We are doing what is right. Damn it, love my wife I do not, but my son? How can I not try to protect him?"
"Are you implying that I don't want to keep my daughter safe?" Neptune started back angrily. "You arrogant bastard! You and your son can just step out of the Time Line if this goes wrong! My daughter will have nowhere to run!"
"It won't go wrong!" Venus murmured soothingly. "Mercury's inventions have never gone wrong! Neptune, dearest, my sons are in as much danger as your daughter. So is Mars'...what is it again?"
"My daughter," Mars growled. "And my wife! My Myrina will be in the line of fire, too, Neptune. She believes in me, in all of us! We can do this, we can secure this system, perhaps the whole galaxy, but not if you lose your courage now!"
"What does your mirror show you?" Venus urged. "What do you see there, Neptune? Do you see our destruction? Or do you see us triumphant, no longer afraid of the powers that can crush us?"
"The mirror shows me nothing," Neptune whispered. "Nothing! Whichever way we go, we are on our own. But is that what this is all about, Venus? Is it about power? About being powerful?"
Hotaru frowned, looking between each of those four, ancient faces. "Do you get the feeling we're missing something?"
"What does power have to do with ridding Creation of evil?" Vesta mused softly.
She heard Chibiusa draw in a breath to speak, but she was not given a chance.
"Strip me of my powers, my jewels, and my Palace," Venus said angrily, "just promise my sons a life without the fears we have known! I will not have them living in terror of the very heart of their own system! If we can-!"
A small hand grasped Venus' wrist. Senshi and ancients alike twisted around in surprise to see Saturn standing there, her eyes lifted to Venus' face. Once again, she laid a finger across her lips, and shook her head.
"What is this?" Venus hissed, shaking her hand off. "What do you want? Why don't you speak?!?"
Mars' hand closed on the back of her neck, and he whispered harshly, "Venus, shut up!"
Hotaru saw it, too. The double doors to the Moon Palace were opening. Someone stood there, silver hair tumbling down from the Royal Lunarian hairstyle. She wore a slim white gown, as simple as Queen Serenity's, but with a soft skirt in layers of transparent silk, more like the Princess's. Unlike the future Moon Court, the waist line was not high under her breasts, but natural, and sloped down over her hips. She wore no jewelry. It surprised Hotaru to see she also had no crown, unlike the other two queens. Her face, her hair, every line of her reflected her daughter, and her granddaughter...except her eyes. They were not full of the gentleness Hotaru knew, but a sort of wariness, and an infinte sadness. A silver belt hugged her hips, and to the shock of six Senshi, two things dangled from the chain. One Hotaru knew in the very depths of her soul; the Silver Imperium Crystal, shining with the light of the White Moon so the Queen seemed to glow even brighter. Right beneath that was a gold charm, like a starburst, with a second Crystal in the center. This one reflected colors wildly, sometimes gold or white or silver, as though...
"It's like there's fire caught in there," Pallas whispered.
"Fire...a Flame," Hotaru breathed. "That, girls, is the Flame they keep talking about."
Juno leaned over their shoulders, and Hotaru could almost feel her confused frown. "So...what is it?"
The Queen of the White Moon glided out of her Palace, and confronted the others with a cold, empty stare. She took in all their faces, and she did not miss the furtive glances thrown at the second Crystal on her belt. Slowly, she shook her head.
"You need not have come. My answer is no."
