Chapter 2: Both In Time and Out of Time
Energy erupted all around them and he was thrown to the ground, a body landing on top of him with another gruff oof as the attack flew over their heads. "Honestly," North grumbled, crawling to stay low as he got off, "Come back to life twice and you think you're immune now or something?"
He rolled his eyes for North; honestly, he hadn't thought he'd be a target - he could barely make out the others ahead of them and took it for granted that an attack would be aimed at East and Rin rather than between the two larger groups of people. He got up to his knees to a tsk noise out of Kaito and found, near his hand, a chunky, boomerang-like tiara with feathers - similar to the feathers that remained after Sailor Moon's attack caused the Doom and Bloom girl to disintegrate, but this one's extra accessory was familiar - and cold, with an impact crack moving through it. Not directly a product of that blast. He gripped it to show it to North, handing it over before he got back to his feet -
"You are forbidden…to pass beyond this point!" a voice rang out, the words strong at first but fading as the owner stopped to take a ragged breath. They were hurt. His eyes searching the mist ahead of them, he moved towards the sound of the pained voice, his hunch as to whom it belonged soon realized: "I am she who governs the Door of Time and Space, the Keeper of the Underworld, Sailor Pluto!" She panted, and he saw a prone figure through the mist ahead - "and all who violate this taboo shall be eliminated!"
What had happened to her?
"Dead Scream!" she cried, and he barely managed to cover his face through the main brunt of the attack, feeling entirely foolish for not seeing that coming. The attack pushed him back a few feet, but he managed to stay standing -
"Cardinal King!" someone yelled from behind, but the moment the attack let up he stepped forward again, practically able to feel the pain radiating off of her now. Close enough to see her, he started walking faster, calling the Golden Crystal to bear, stopping only when she maneuvered her staff to point directly at him, using both arms and the structure behind her to aim the staff and not fall over from its weight. She was bleeding, broken, barely able to catch her breath, but the garnet gem at the end of her staff glowed ominously regardless.
"Cardinal King, it doesn't matter who you are," she panted, pained, "No one can be allowed to break these laws. My mission now… is to eliminate you." The gem glowed brighter, and he ran through his options -
"Sailor Pluto, wait!" Rin screamed, and, to an outburst from at least two Kings, the kid came running out of the mist towards her, coming in as though he was going to hug her, but upon seeing her he skidded to a stop by her side, not knowing where he could touch, his face falling and eyes searching hers.
"Little Lord," she said weakly, struggling to smile for him, but her gaze remained on Mamoru to keep her aim straight.
"Please, it's not what you think! They came with me here, don't kill them!" he sat down beside her, reaching forward to try to find a place to touch her, but his hand hovered, "I'm sorry - this is all my fault!"
At his admission, the glow at the end of the staff faded and Mamoru started forward again, stopping to crouch on Pluto's other side and his hands hovered above her body, too, but with a purpose that Rin's lacked. Gently he called the crystal's energy to bear and sent it out, aware from the start this time that he had no Earth beneath him to draw upon for extra power; he wouldn't have enough to heal her completely, but he could stabilize her and mend the worst of it. She'd have scrapes and bruises and she'd need to treat newly healed bones gingerly for a time, but that would leave him with enough personal energy to continue to function. As he worked, everyone - slowly - closed in. At a silent request from the mysterious senshi, he moved his focus to the arm closest Rin before returning to the more serious internal injuries, and Pluto reached up with that hand to take Rin's, patiently waiting for him to continue.
"I'm sorry I broke my promise," Rin said, swallowing hard. "You told me not to tell anyone, but they protected me and were pulled in with me - it's not their fault, it's mine!"
"Little Lord… where have you been?" she asked, the emphasis on her words having implications beyond a simple 'where'.
Rin looked down, his free hand clenching the fabric of his school shorts, the elementary school uniform looking completely out of place here. "I thought… if I could awaken the Sailor Senshi in the past, they would have been stronger, and they could have-"
Pluto squeezed his hand and he quieted before he could say what he wanted from them in his time. "That's not how it works," she gently chided, "and you would have known that if you had talked to me about it. You broke a promise to me, you stole a time key and traveled to the past without asking me," she scolded, and Rin hung his head lower, but then she released her hold on his hand to put it on his cheek. "I'm glad you're safe, Little Lord. Please don't ever make me worry like that again." She moved her hand from his cheek to the top of his head to weakly ruffle his hair before dropping her arm back to her side. She closed her eyes solemnly before opening, moving her gaze across everyone gathered there. "Please forgive the rude way I treated you, after you were so kind as to bring our Prince safely home."
"You were only doing your duty," Venus replied, and he was glad that another senshi had answered; he felt it would resonate more.
"Please, Sailor Pluto," North asked, "What happened here?"
"I failed," Pluto stated, leaning back against what Mamoru now saw was an elaborate arched door, tall and intricate and imposing. "Through the use of one of my own keys, six entities escaped to your time and changed the course of your history," Rin's other hand joined his first in clenching his shorts. The six had been him and his attackers - the Doom and Gloom Girls. "And, not long ago, I was attacked by one such entity as it attempted to use the door." He looked to North, and North held up the broken tiara.
"That's what I tripped on," East commented; South reached up as though to clamp the brunet's mouth shut, but East caught the hand and quietly held it at bay.
Pluto nodded, "But as I destroyed it, a second being defeated me and made it past into Little Lord's time."
"Another of the Bloom Girls?" Jupiter asked.
Mercury shook her head, "She had said six entities had escaped to our time - Rin and five others."
"With Pluto taking out the last, the Bloom Girls are gone," Mars stated, running with Jupiter's recollection of their name. North looked like he wanted to correct them, but with Mars's next question, his mouth shut thoughtfully: "What was the last, then? What else came with us?"
Pluto looked up, staring at the door behind her, "It must have been hiding in one of them but now…" she shook her head, clearing her throat. "It is no longer your concern; it passed through your time without causing harm, despite the damage it might have done if it had stayed. And the other…" she pressed her lips together, and, breathing easier, changed the subject. "Thank you for seeing the young Prince to me," she said, sitting up straighter. To Mamoru, she said, "And thank you for your help, Cardinal King, despite everything." She put the butt of her staff to the ground and used it to help herself stand, drawing everyone else up to their feet. "If you give me a moment, I can return you to your time -"
"But what about Rin?" Sailor Moon interrupted.
"And the "other" you mentioned?" North added.
"Without the creatures that were chasing him, he should be able to make it back home unharassed," Pluto said, putting one hand on Rin's back supportively, "and the other is not your responsibility. You have just overcome an enormous obstacle and saved your world - take the time to celebrate your victory, and your reunion," she said, glancing towards the senshi.
"Getting home wasn't Rin's problem," Sailor Moon pressed, shaking her head, vocalizing the unease Mamoru felt at the mere mention of turning back now. Pluto had said that what Rin attempted, heading to the past, 'didn't work that way', so that meant he was going back with nothing having changed. Those visions he had seen had still occurred.
"Rin came to our time for back-up, right?" Mamoru asked, "Even if he didn't get it the way he had planned, he's still got it." Rin's head shot up, red eyes bearing into his in a mix of shock and hope that cemented Mamoru's hand in this. "What do you say, Kings?" he asked rhetorically, holding the kid's gaze reassuringly.
"I'm up for it," East declared, playing along, "Sure, we just saved the world again, but I woke up from a prolonged nap and I've got a few new toys to play with, so why not?"
South nodded. North, his arms crossed in front of his chest, rolled his eyes at East, but shifted his weight to the foot closer to Mamoru, nonverbally showing his support of the idea. He sensed West's gaze and looked up, not sure what to expect, but all he said was, "I go where you go."
"I'm coming, too," Princess Sailor Moon smiled, "I'll help you, Rin -"
"Princess!" Venus hissed, taking Sailor Moon's hand and pulling her back, the other three moving to keep up with them.
"One second!" Jupiter smiled brightly, waving a hand at them before joining a whispering huddle, her expression immediately dropping into something more serious.
Not one to wait, North asked Pluto, "So, the 'other'?"
"A new host," Pluto replied, and with that, the door behind her started to open, "which means there isn't much time." She paused, taking a key from her belt, and handed it to Cardinal King. He took it. "Use this key and pray to Chronos, and you will return to my side. The door is open to you." She stepped aside, and Rin reached forward, taking his hand. "Please watch over Little Lord, and do what you can."
"This way, Mamoru," Rin said, pulling him towards the light that spilled out from between the enormous doors. Helios joined them, his friends right by his side as they walked through the door, into the future…
...and arrived in a hellscape.
They were standing on a rooftop overlooking a city that - at one time - must have been beautiful, but now only the geometry of its layout gave the illusion of grandeur. Everything was blackened, burned, twisted, frozen in a half-melted state, including the ground beneath their feet. South took a few steps back towards more stable surface and the metal beneath him stopped creaking. Smoke hung in the air like a miasma, and the streets below looked blasted, lined with spent matchsticks that must once have been trees. It was horrible, and it was quiet.
"Rin, is this…?" North asked, and Rin just held his hand tighter in response.
"The Palace?" Helios said, his question-like suggestion drawing their attention away from the devastation at their feet and towards the crystalline structure in the middle of the city. Piercing the sky, it would have been breathtaking, were it not for its surroundings and its blackened exterior. "We should get to the Palace," he said, with less uncertainty. It sounded like a plan - the crystalline structure was the only thing around that wasn't melted.
"Is the Palace safe, Rin?" West pressed, holding out a hand to stop anyone from moving yet.
Rin nodded, "For now. …so long as you stay inside."
"Well, guess now's as good a time as any to see if these new capes work the same as the last ones," East said, stretching out his arms to either side of his body and then over his head as he approached the edge of the building. "I'll be guinea pig: I'll turn it into a crater if I don't slow down -"
North released a long-suffering sigh, his right hand to his forehead, "Or you could use your new trident and slow your descent that way."
East turned, mouth open in a smile and his finger touching his nose, pointing at North, "See, this is why you're the idea guy!"
"Is it really that hard to-?!"
"We're here, too!" Princess Sailor Moon exclaimed, suddenly appearing behind them, startling everyone. North jumped forward and spun to face her sudden arrival and in the process fell off the edge of the building; West lunged after him, catching his hand before he fell too far, but in the sudden materialization of everyone on that one rooftop, the surface began to creak and snap beneath them.
"Capes work!" East's voice echoed up between the buildings, and with a nod, West and North released their grip on each other and North fell. West turned and reached for Rin, and Mamoru let go of the kid's hand. Rin looked up at him before letting go, too, and taking West's hand before both of them went over the edge. Mamoru pulled Sailor Moon in, keeping her close to the side of his chest that had the half-cape, just in case, and turned to see that the other senshi were alright - "Go!" Venus cried, and he saw South take Mercury's hand and South waited for him to go before they went. Frowning at the idea of leaving them behind, he jumped over the edge, believing the structure of the roof to hold if there were only three there as opposed to ten - but he needn't have worried. On the way down, he passed East going back up, standing on one prong of his upended trident as it rose through the air on pillars of stone. East flashed him an okay sign and leaned on the staff of his new utility-weapon, trying to look casual as he appeared over the edge of the rooftop. He couldn't help but shake his head. Nero.
They alighted on the ground no worse for wear, and Rin was immediately back, holding his hand tight. West had his trident touching the edge of the building, veins of metal snaking their way up to reinforce the collapsing roof, but he stopped as East, Mars, Jupiter, and Venus appeared at the top of the column of rock East had created. In a series of smaller pillars made by East jumping and creating one at the last moment, the four of them were soon on street level and there was a new circular stairstep feature in the middle of the road leading to the top of the nearest highrise.
"So, that Crystal Palace?" East suggested as Helios casually coasted to their level, his attention towards the center of the city and the structure there.
"Rin said it's safe," West clarified, dismissing his new weapon as he took point, and Venus released a sigh and joined him, Mercury falling into place behind her, mini computer open and blue visor across her face. Jupiter was on their right, offering him a smile, and Mars was on their left - distinctly not offering him any sort of friendly expression as she peered down side streets as they passed them. The Kings fell in around them, their organization less rigid.
"Mamo-rin said he needed the Sailor Senshi," Sailor Moon stated with a smile, explaining their sudden appearance, "So we're here to help."
"Mercury?" Venus prompted sharply, voicing an apparent disagreement with the situation.
"The source was above the city," Mercury diligently reported, "and the readings show the char is slightly irradiated."
"Irradiated?" North repeated, clarifying, "as in everything around us is emitting high energy radiation?"
Mercury nodded, and Mamoru clenched his jaw, wondering if the Golden Crystal would heal any complications that may arise from that. "Senshi aren't affected," Rin stated, and he saw Jupiter relax a bit, "And Helios didn't think the Kings would be either, but he's sure the Golden Crystal would have healed any damage done, regardless."
East caught up to him, gripped his shoulder and shook him in over-the-top affection. "Thanks, Mamoru!" he cheesed, "Taking care of us so we don't get cancer, you're the best." Mamoru rolled his eyes, though he was glad that Nero was so willing to act out to attempt to make things seem a little less dire.
"Rin," South asked, his voice purposefully light. Rin gave him his attention as they walked, though his hands were still firmly holding on to his and Usako's. "When you said Helios 'didn't think' the Kings would be affected - what did you -"
"Well if it isn't Little Red!"
The direction South was moving with his question was one that Mamoru had let slip past when he was thinking about the implications of the radiation, and uncertainty came with the realization of Rin's use of past tense - but then a person was materializing out of the pavement ahead of them and those thoughts were thrust aside to deal with that. West rushed towards the assumed enemy with his sword drawn -
"Behind!" Helios and Mercury said as one, and Mamoru released Rin's hand to spin and face it, trusting Princess Sailor Moon to protect the kid for the moment, a rose coming to his hand and snapping into his sword. Another person - a male with silver hair, silver makeup, shining silver sleeveless shirt, and pants - was sliding out of the metal surface of a building, grinning -
"Long time no see, Little Red!" he cheered, but upon seeing them he tilted his head to the side, and his hair dripped onto his shoulder as his grin turned into a smirk as he recognized them, "Didn't we kill you already? - Oniwabandana, didn't we kill these guys already?!"
West hissed in disappointment and the woman who had appeared out of the pavement was now behind them with the other, appearing from the head down as she emerged out of the pavement effortlessly, revealing an outfit straight out of old ninja films. "Well, isn't this interesting, banban? Though it wasn't us specifically that killed them, was it?"
Killed them?!
"You get what I meant - like the royal 'We' - Ferrocerium, Staballoy, Tethys, whoever it was." He paused, finally fully emerging from the building, and, beside him, North's spear materialized. "They're going to be pissed when they find out you guys were up and around again."
"The Palace will be safe - watch out for Rin!" Helios warned, "He, Cardinal King and Sailor Moon may be targets!"
Where was he getting that information?!
"Think we'll get their perks if we take them out this time?" the silver guy asked, his lipstick running down his face as he grinned at his accomplice.
The ninja produced throwing stars, "Only one way to find out, banban. And remember, Solder, don't kill the kid."
"Accidents happen," Solder replied and melted back into the metal in the wall - until Norths' spear landed in the metal wall beside him and froze his body in place, ice spreading all around the impact site in a sheet.
"Woops," North deadpanned, his whip appearing in his empty hand, and then he ducked, pulling South out of the way as two throwing stars streaked through the air, bouncing off the pavement near where they had been.
"Oh, dear, banban," the ninja called, now floating above the street. She fanned her hands and they filled with more sharpened shuriken. One brow quirked, she rose higher, and Mamoru looked around for any sort of shield they could use - "Looks like I'm outnumbered."
"Run!" Helios shouted, "She can replicate!"
In disbelief, Mamoru's gaze shot back up to the floating form of their enemy; she blinked out of sight once and suddenly there were two of them - twice, and there were four. Three times, sixteen Oniwabandanas, all armed -
"Mercury Aqua Mist!" Mercury cried out and they were surrounded in a freezing mist that hid them from the enemy, but also from each other. He dropped his sword and spun, reaching for where he had let go of Rin, but the kid wasn't there anymore - he dropped to touch the Earth, spread his hand on the pavement and reached out to find him through psylocation -
"I got the kid!" East called from somewhere to his right -
"Quiet, or she'll find you! Head to the palace!"
Rin's glow was right with Nero's - which was no longer green, but orange? - and Usako was with Jupiter and - he pushed himself up and started to run alongside everyone else - he assumed Kaito was dark green now because a soul that color was right where North had been, and Yuu was red now instead of green, and there had been no pink Kunzite's shade, so Khalid was probably the light blue glow? The senshi's colors were all exactly as he remembered them being - jewel tones of green, red, blue, and yellow - and Usako's silver crystal color was the same, so it was just the four of them affected? Did it have to do with what happened on the ship? The Shitennou? Occasionally, as the enemy threw her throwing stars in at them in a shower of knives and Mercury shielded them from sight again, Mamoru would reach out with his power to double-check that everyone was still keeping up and would double-check that the colors hadn't been a fluke.
"The palace is just ahead!" Helios announced, "East, get Rin to the front!"
The mist ended with meters to go before a solid wall of clear crystal jut straight out of the ground ahead of them; East put on some speed to get ahead and, as he and Rin approached, a tall set of elaborate doors started to materialize, opening for them. East and the kid disappeared inside, followed by Jupiter and Sailor Moon. Venus and West waited to usher everyone else inside before they entered.
"There you are, banban!" tens of voices said as one, and Mercury hesitated at the door, but Venus pushed her inside and reached for Mars. South turned, summoning his trident, and a spray of fire followed the arc of the weapon, causing the enemy to blanch away from it, letting them slide across the crystalline surface to enter through the door without the rain of shuriken flying towards their unprotected backs. The moment South and West crossed the threshold, the last of them, East slammed the door shut and they heard hundreds of pieces of metal bounce off the exterior.
All of them panting to catch their breath, Mamoru approached Mercury and held out his hand. Behind him, he heard North complain: "I hate… long distance… running…" and he coughed; East, panting just as hard, eloquently returned, "Nerd." Mercury hesitantly took his hand, as though to accept a handshake, and as he directed healing energy into her he quietly thanked her for providing cover, mending the cuts she had acquired. She nodded, accepting his thanks, and returned the sentiment for healing her. "Do either of you…" South asked shrewdly, standing straight and staring in towards the main Palace, "have any sense… of setting?" Neither Usako or Mars had any injuries, probably due to Jupiter for the former, and maybe blind luck for the latter, but that meant he turned to Jupiter next, and, finally, offered to heal Venus's small array; she grudgingly let him, though she stared pointedly into the castle instead of anywhere near him while he sent the energy through her.
Everyone's breath coming easier, Mamoru finished up with healing his friends and offering his hand to Helios, who rejected him, eyes glued to the interior, and, finally, Mamoru looked in, ready to face whatever came next.
Rin waited for them in an antechamber - an enormous room accented in gold and alabaster stone with intricate patterns and artwork, columns that stretched to the vaulted crystalline ceiling. It was indescribable - breathtaking - and he paused to take it all in when they reached the middle of the room; their reflections were hazy on the polished floor, but the colors of the senshi's uniforms and the black of theirs intermingled in the crystalline dome above them to create rainbows of light and darkness across the room. There were six exits to the room; Rin's red hair stood out in the entrance to one particular direction, and he followed. Sailor Moon caught up to him and took his hand, and he held hers as they followed him down one long hallway and out into a chamber even bigger than the first, separated into sections by crystalline walls and drapery in silver and gold, highly decorative but having no other apparent function. Rin kept moving and they followed, until he paused, looking towards an archway expectantly. They waited for something to happen, but then Rin kept moving.
"Where is everyone, Rin?" South asked quietly, and the kid hung his shoulders until -
"Sleeping, for now."
They all looked up to find the source of the sound, the voice familiar but completely unexpected - and found in a faint beam of light a ghostly figure of a young man with broad shoulders in white robes. His hair hung around his head like a cloud, at once straight and curling and floating, despite the rest of his clothing apparently following gravity's pull without question. His sleeves were long and semitransparent, cuffed in dark blue silk that matched the belt on his opaque robes and the lining of the split front and back of his long shirt and the slippers on his feet; there were five golden, tasseled pendants in a 'v' across his upper chest, two golden chokers visible through the transparent material of his collar, the material there a metallic green that matched accents on the shoulders of his tunic. He stood tall and solemn, and as his honey-colored eyes staring solely at Rin across the distance, his hair moved to show a garnet-colored gem in the middle of his forehead. But, most telling - more than the garnet gem and purple-silver hair and the voice and the intense familiarity Mamoru felt, the golden horn that sprouted from the middle of his head left no question as to who it was, just question as to how -
Rin ran over to him and reached out, only to stop, pull his hand back, and bow his head. "I'm glad you're home safely," the ghostly figure said, going through the motions of putting his hand on Rin's head. "Your journey to the past was a dangerous one… but as a Prince, Little Lord, you made the right decision." He removed his hand to place it on his heart and to the rest of them he bowed. "Welcome to Crystal Tokyo, and to the Crystal Palace." Straightening, he looked out across the empty room and continued, "though I wish it had been in better circumstances, rather than the midst of battle… I… didn't want you to see a future like this." He looked away from them, motioning them forward, and Mamoru took the first step, following the impossible specter to see where it would lead. "I apologize if my form has startled you - my body is in Elysion, locking the sacred ground from within, less they find it; just think of this as my ghost walking around without my body. I am High Priest Helios," he turned, looking over his shoulder at the unisus that flew on Mamoru's left, "One and the same."
Helios… was human? Well - that he had been a human made sense, but he - how had he never thought to try to remember him as he had been before… but he was going to be human again? His unisus form wasn't permanent?
"You're the one that's been talking to me since we arrived?" Helios asked, and Helios - High Priest Helios, human Helios, ghost Helios - other Helios answered: "Yes. It was easiest to make a connection to you, my past self, through telepathy rather than attempting to explain myself to anyone else." He paused, turning to Rin, "Little Lord, have you made your introductions?"
Rin nodded, and South piped up in his defense, "As soon as West figured him out."
Helios smiled, "Good. I trust it was gracious?"
Rin nodded again, and this time North backed him up, "A little disconcerting, but he was polite. Now, when he said he was the son of King Endymion and Neo Queen Serenity, how many generations are between him and our Mamoru and Usagi-chan?"
"Just the one," Helios replied, going down a short set of crystalline stairs, though he made no sound and caused no reflection in any of the walls surrounding them. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Usako blushing, which made him blush, the whole 'just don't think about it' idea completely lost at that point.
"So Crystal Tokyo is…" North trailed off, as though trying to lead Helios to an answer, but the question wasn't entirely obvious. He tried again, "Just when are we now? How far in the future? Did this much change happen in…?"
Helios didn't turn around at first, and Mamoru thought he saw his shoulders shake once before he replied entirely seriously, "Zoisite, you do not want that going through your head on top of everything else. Aging works differently now; thanks to the combined powers of the Golden and Silver Crystals, you all generally stopped aging in your mid-twenties. The rest of Tokyo followed suit once Endymion and Serenity ascended the throne, and in the time since, all citizens of Earth have enjoyed lifespans much longer than any had thought possible in the past. That being said," Helios stopped, looking out over a connected room, and Mamoru moved to the edge to see what he saw and froze.
In an antechamber below them, on eight raised pedestals, was everyone. His Kings, lifeless, their bodies carefully arranged, arms straight by their sides. The Senshi, too, were arranged there, their hands over their stomachs peacefully.
"All of that may end if we cannot put a stop to Metallia."