She Stepped Forward
By Bashfulglowfly
Minako fell, gasping for air and clutching the wound in her neck.
"Minako? Minako, are you all right?"
The worried voice of Artemis cut through her panic.
She looked around and found herself in her bedroom, on the floor along with most of her bedcovers. Cautiously she removed one hand from her neck and looked at it.
It was not stained wetly crimson.
A breath shuddered its way out from her lungs.
"Minako?" Artemis stood in front of her, eyes filled with concern.
Minako snatched him into her arms and sobbed her fears into his fur. Artemis simply rumbled his purr until she calmed down.
"Want to tell me what happened?"
Minako took a deep breath. "It was horrible. It started with us being trapped a small area by a youma. The youma ended up stabbing Sailor Moon but then the youma freaked out that she'd done that and turned into a human. Kunzite was there and grabbed Sailor Moon and Zoisite showed up and they were angry at us and all sorts of other stuff happened and Queen Serenity appeared, and she took away our powers.
"Then I woke up and thought it was a dream but it was true, we no longer had any powers and when we found Usagi, she had other Senshi and…and she didn't remember us and they thought we were crazy. Ami killed herself, Rei went insane, Makoto…just stopped living the life she wanted… but I tried to hunt youma and I found one and it killed me!
"It was horrible!" she sobbed.
Artemis purred for a bit longer. "Minako, I think you need to take that dream seriously."
"What?!"
Artemis looked into the tear-stained face of the young girl he'd been mentoring…with and without success. "You need to take the dream seriously." He paused. "There are many…forces at work right now. You, the other Senshi and most especially, Sailor Moon MUST become stronger. And you aren't. You aren't working as a team. I've tried to get you to do that but…"
"Artemis…what are you saying?"
Artemis sighed then rubbed his head against Minako's cheek. "Do you know where Mugen Academy is?"
"That super elite school in Sankakusu?"
"Yes. Go there after school. Go to the 51st floor. Room 5103. You need to talk to the woman there."
"Artemis?"
"Do it, Minako." His tone was unrelenting.
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After school, Minako took the train to Mugen Academy which had a stop nearly at its front gates. Her school uniform drew looks from Mugen students, but no one tried to stop her as she walked into the building and took the elevator to the 51st floor.
She tried to calm her breathing, but she could feel her hands shake.
Room 5103
She peeked inside and her heart stopped.
The woman looked slightly different from her memories, but she instantly knew who she was.
Queen Beryl.
Minako took a deep breath and entered the room.
Queen Beryl looked up, placed her belongings back on the desk. Leaning against the desk, the cold tones of her voice echoed in the room. "May I help you?"
Minako started at her for a moment then transformed into Sailor Venus.
"You are taking far too long to transform. It's leaving you vulnerable to attacks from your enemies." The woman's words sounded like a teacher talking to a student who falling short in her studies.
Venus' could feel her eyes bulge and her mouth opened and closed a few times before she managed to choke out "Who are you?"
"Shimizu Nanako, Ph.D. of Archelogy or you may call me Nanako, High Priestess of Gaia."
Venus stared then blurted out "I had a dream."
"I know."
"It was horrible!"
"It was meant to be."
"You sent it?!"
"Yes."
"WHY?!" Venus nearly cringed at the wail that came from her, but she couldn't help it.
To her shock, Dr. Shimizu straightened and showed her own powers. But she didn't turn into Beryl, she turned into something Venus' vaguely remembered. Someone important to Earth. "Why do you think, Sailor Venus? You are failing your princess!"
Tears rolled down Venus' cheeks. "That could happen? You'd do that? To us?"
"If you don't do what you're supposed to and make the other three do what they need to do, then, yes. I will relieve you of your powers and give them to the others."
"They really exist?"
"Yes."
"Oh, Blessed Selene…" Venus felt the blood drain from her face. She swallowed the painful lump of fear. "How long do I have?"
"One month."
Venus' chin lowered to her chest. "I understand. I'll fix things."
"Good."
Venus turned and fled the room, releasing her transformation as she ran away.
But she knew this was not something she could run away from.
Not anymore.
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"She's late."
"You've said that. Several times."
"She's the one who called this meeting."
"We know but maybe something happened."
"Like what? She tripped over thin air like Usagi?"
"That sort of shit ends. Today."
Three heads jerked up at the frozen voice of the blonde that had just appeared before them. Minako was clearly furious. And scared.
Rei curled her lip. "What's with you?"
Minako looked at her teammates, "Do you dream last night?"
Both Ami and Makoto lost color but Rei just grew angry. "That's what this is about? A stupid dream that we lost our powers? If you're that much a scaredy cat…"
SLAP
Minako backhanded Rei to the ground. She glared at the miko then at the other two. "Those other Senshi…they exist. That dream was a foretelling of what could happen to us if we don't stop fucking around and get our shit together!"
"Minako! You shouldn't use words like that!" gasped Ami. She shrank back from Minako's scowl.
Rei lunged to her feet, "Who do you…"
Minako knocked her down again. "I am Venus, Lead Guardian of Princess Serenity. But we ALL can be replaced. And I'm guessing if we all can be replaced; we can also be replaced individually." She looked down her nose at Rei. "Shall I ask for that other Mars to replace you? I'm guessing once I do, none of us will remember you."
"Didn't you learn anything from that Dream?" Makoto used her height to loom over Rei. "I don't want what happened in that dream to actually happen to us. Do you really want to spend the rest of your life drugged up and tied to a bed because you're completely insane?"
Rei realized that Minako and Makoto were serious. "No. Please. No."
Minako took a deep shuddering breath and ran her fingers through her hair, pulling loose her hair ribbon.
Ami spoke, her voice soft and worried. "So that dream was a warning. What do we need to do to fix things? Because I really don't want to jump in front of a train or any other form of suicide."
Artemis suddenly appeared in their midst. He looked at the four girls surrounding him. "If you're ready and willing to change, I'm here to help."
Minako smiled, not with her usual brilliance, but it was a smile. "We're ready. Thank you, Artemis."
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It was a slow process.
A painful process on occasion for Mars who had to be reminded that Moon or Usagi was no longer her personal verbal punching bag.
But they survived.
Together.