The Weaver of Dreams

by Queen

When Usagi lapses into a strange coma, she becomes trapped in an endless nightmare. Determined to help, two of the senshi are forced to travel though a Doorway, in search of the only person who can help her.... (complete)2nd in the KamiDreamweaver series

3. A Web of Sunset and Shadow

The Weaver of Dreams

Which way should I go? Where should I put myself? Not knowing the answer, I continue wearily existing.

-Murasaki Shikibu

Chapter 2- A Web of Sunset and Shadow

It would have been a lovely night, if not for the screams. There was a cool breeze, enough to stir the hair, or send the leaves of plants to rustling. If you looked to the sky, your eyes would meet with the starry heavens, the thick curve of the white swirled Earth hanging heavily in its mantle. But this night was a fated night, and the screams were accompanied by the clangor of battle. Outside the palace walls, great winged starships were landing, one by one, their sails furling as they settled into the moondust.

Usagi watched all this in a distant stated, floating high above the clashing of palace guards and soldiers of Earth. Her feet were cold, and the nightgown rippled in the faint breeze, catching at her unbound hair. The sick feeling in her stomach was from recognition. This was, after all, the last battle the Silver Millennium of the past would ever see. The fragmented memories she held showed her what happened...and still to see it before her eyes brought fresher tears.

"Mamo-chan?"

The word brought a change in her location, her feet touching the bare cobblestones of a courtyard. It was decorated prettily, with heavy marble pots. Silver roses grew from them, and the shadows cut by the earthlight did not seem to make them fade. There were doors, locked, that circled the round, empty space, set between columns that arched into a solar above. Usagi turned when she heard hard breathing and the sound of footsteps. Running footsteps.

"Here...Endymion, here!"

There was a darkness around the edges of her vision and a dizziness. That was her own voice.

"We can get to a ship...get away...." Out through the empty archway, Usagi witnessed herself emerge, her white gown flying alongside Endymion's dark cloak. "This one...you can pilot, can't you?"

"If I know the system...." The Prince of Earth and the Princess of the Moon began to fumble with the doorknob. "It's locked."

"No! It can't be locked, it's never locked!" Serenity was near to hysterical, her voice ending in sobs. "It's never locked...."

The royal pair twisted at the door, Endymion throwing his weight against it in a futile attempt. As he began to reach for his sword, to hack the knob off, Usagi became aware of another presence in the room.

There was a girl there, a young woman. She was tall, muscular in a lean way, and though not lovely, striking. The hair down her back was black and wavy, and Usagi recognized her as the girl who had first appeared in the mirror not so very long ago. She held in her hand a sword, finely wrought. There was wet blood on it. "Endymion."

Usagi watched the past shadow of herself and Endymion stop struggling, to turn and face their enemy.

"Murderer," the stranger continued, her eyes growing harder as she saw Endymion place his arm around Serenity. To protect her, of course.

"You can call me that," Endymion said in disbelief, "after what you've done?"

Several reactions flickered dangerously across the face of the woman. Usagi felt her confusion from where she stood. She saw it clearly on the woman's face, and within the piercing pain of the moment, felt pity for her. The expressions were fear, hope, guilt, remorse, love...and finally hate. Her eyes became ice, and Usagi felt a familiar, evil presence, the aura of the long dead Metallia.

"Endymion. Die."

Usagi saw herself gasp, a hand clutching the sleeve of her love. But it didn't seem to matter to Endymion. He stepped forward anyway, and Usagi could not prevent herself from trying to move forward, to come between them, to stop this insane dream. Insane nightmare. Before she had moved forward more than a pace, she found an arm blocking her movement, outstretched and barring her path. Usagi looked to see the stranger from the mirror, her own reflection, who was looking away and frowning.

The opponents faced each other, bowing politely. It seemed ludicrous to Usagi, but no stranger than, perhaps, announcing that she would punish villains in the name of a lost civilization. Then the battle began, the clang of metal against metal, slashing and stabbing violently against each other. She saw her own form, huddled against the door, too terrified to put a stop to the oncoming end. Endymion, for all his skill, was tiring, and the woman...the woman danced, her body beautiful in the deadliness of it. She stabbed, and Serenity screamed as it cut too closely, the sound echoed by Usagi, still held back by the barring arm.

"Why?" The woman demanded, sword arching forward again.

"I love her."

The sound was pitiful when she asked, "Why?"

"How can one explain why?" And that was true. What list of qualifications could one give? Was love a market, to be bought and sold?

"Is it because she's beautiful?" The woman was twirling now, her feet flying in circles as Endymion's grew stilled. "I may not be beautiful, but I'm strong! I would have done everything she would have for you! I would have been just as good a wife!" The final words were torn from her throat, as though they were a plea. But the impact of the words caused Endymion to freeze, their implications settling into his mind. She, though, did not hesitate, and the dance ended as her blade struck deep.

He gasped at the impact, and Usagi heard screams echo in the place, one from Serenity, one from the woman, and one from herself. And it was that, in the end, that broke the spell over the Princess of the Moon, and she pushed herself from the comfort of the door, falling to grab him as he slid back off the sword, catching him as he fell. Blood pooled from Endymion's chest, painting the whiteness of Serenity's gown, dyeing it scarlet.

"Endymion, my love," the words of the girl whispered into the silence as she touched his face, closing his startled eyes. The light shed from the Earth was very bright there, and Usagi watched herself tilt her head, eyes settling on Endymion's dropped sword.

"I loved him, too," the stranger informed Serenity. It was her reason, not her excuse. Serenity, who could always seem to see into the heart of a person, smiled gently as she decided her course of action.

"I know," the Princess told her, and then pointed Endymion's blade at her own belly. Within a moment, the blade was cutting into her, and her own blood mingled with that of her Prince.

From there, time halted.

The look of surprise on Serenity's gentle face.

The empty eyes of the woman, and how her sword slipped from numbed fingers to the ground.

"Pretty violent, aren't they?" Usagi told herself, the reflection in her school uniform dropping her arm, then examining her manicure with distant interest. "Not exactly kiddie fare, is it?" She yawned, then clasped her hands together dramatically. "Romeo, O Romeo, what happens when the Juliet is a wimp?"

Usagi could only watch herself, the expression of loss and surprise that was written on her past self's features. "That was..." Usagi looked to the stranger, the empty eyes, so void of emotion. "Beryl, wasn't it?"

"Brilliant!" Usagi staggered when she was slapped extremely hard on her back. "So brilliant! You should use those brain cells on your tests, Usagi-chan!" The laughter should have been harsh, but it was identical to Usagi's own, the reflection being her twin. "Then again, you don't remember everything about the past, do you? Just that Princess Beryl here decided she wanted your precious loverboy, and ended up killing him. Shame, isn't it? That she had to die?" The reflection moved herself to stand beside the statue of Beryl, peering up into her face, then tapping her on the head with her knuckles, giggling when the frozen memory did not move.

Usagi gathered up her wits. Memories, clear, fresh ones of her life, came flooding in. Beryl sending the Generals after her and her senshi. One by one, defeating them. One by one, dying. Until the four were gone, and Beryl at last had her Mamo-chan, under spell and made her enemy. Then Beryl herself had appeared. There had been no hesitation then. No looks of remorse when she had tried to kill Sailor Moon. Usagi pulled herself upright, chin in the air. "Beryl was evil."

The reflection glanced up from making silly faces at Beryl. An eyebrow arched. "Evil? Really? Quite a statement for one who doesn't even remember all this that clearly."

That unnerved Usagi. She remembered this...but it was fragmented, the shards of a broken kaleidoscope, the memories of a dream. "Beryl was evil," she repeated, though not so sure this time.

"Mm. So," the reflection hesitated, looking as though she were concentrating very hard, "let me get this straight. Out of pretty much nowhere, Beryl here, who always looked exactly like she did in your time, popped out of the thin air. Then, she proceeded to brainwash Endymion's guardians, who were considered strong enough to protect him. When she was ready, poof!" Her fingers snapped as she walked around, near to laughter, a fake smile and wave. "Poof! 'Hello, my name is Queen Beryl, and I'm here to take over your planet today,'" the shadow version of Usagi broke out into laughter as she faced her nightgowned counterpart. "Goes pretty well right along with, 'Would you like fries with that?'"

Usagi could only look at the three figures that lay in the dimmed pool of light. "She tried to kill us."

"Mm, yeah. So? You think everything is that easy? That there's good, there's evil, and one will win out? Tch," fingers waved dismissively at the sound. "Please. Don't be as naive as you usually are, Usagi-chan. If you think you're going to be a Queen someday, you need to understand the shades of grey. And believe me. There are a lot of them."

Hearing the off hand way it was said, Usagi looked at the reflection of herself. "The Silver Millennium will be a time of peace...."

"Oh really?" Eyebrows lifted, she shook her head. "And at the price of what? How will you maintain rule? Force? Love and friendship? So long as someone out there wants to kick the crap out of their neighbors, there's going to be fighting. Take a look."

The world shifted, and the Earth filled Usagi's eyes, the beautiful blue and green orb where white clouds swirled in the sky. The sun glowed brightly behind it, and in a great distance, shining planets circled.

"How many billion people on your world? What's a good number? A billion? Oh, wait, you passed that. Six billion? Seven? Eight? All of them working for love and friendship. Won't it be grand? Good thing, that Crystal of yours. Nice, snap ending to it all. What happens to a world without that? Do they just keep ruining their planet?"

From her vantage point, many images came into view. Crowded cities, corrupted people, hate and lies and pollution in the air and water, ruining the earth, the soil.

"What happens when too many people compete for not enough resources? Lucky, lucky you, being able to use your pretty Crystal. Clean it all up, real nice. It'll all work out real well, won't it? The perfection of your future, Rabbit of the Moon?"

Usagi felt...a little doubt creep in.

The ride to the temple on the hill seemed to take forever.

No one knew quite what to expect from the decision made by Setsuna, Hotaru and Ami. Michiru was furious, that Setsuna was allowing Hotaru to attempt such a thing. Haruka literally had to lead her away, her outraged voice echoing down the tiled halls. Each of the senshi were uncertain, wanting to help, but terrified of the consequences. Then, recognizing their fears, loudly trying to join the pair going.

A security guard came over, and warned them that they needed to keep their voices down. It was disturbing to the other visitors. He had said this to Makoto, who had nearly begun a brawl over the comment. Slowly, Setsuna took charge of the situation. With Haruka gone, and Minako unsure what to do, she felt it was her responsibility. It was, after all, her power that would be possibly killing her adopted daughter, and fellow senshi.

With her usual calm, Setsuna had suggested to Minako that perhaps Small Lady and Mamoru would like something to eat. It had worked beautifully. The idea in Minako's head, she grabbed Makoto, and began to cook up an idea to get them something better than hospital food. It was a little thing, but it occupied the stressed out Inners. From there, Setsuna knew they would need privacy. Quiet. Rei's temple would be ideal.

And so the four of them, Soldiers of Fire, Water, Time and Death, all headed out to Setsuna's waiting car, leaving the others to their own worries. The ride was silent, each thinking about what would need to be done, preoccupied with the undertaking they were about to attempt.

The room was silent, save for the crackling of the spirit fire. Rei had dressed in her priestess robes, glad for the familiar feel of the loose clothing and its folds. Her palms were sweaty, and she rubbed them on the red pants, leaving prints where they touched. Entering the room, she saw that Setsuna had already transformed, the fuku of the Guardian of the Gates replacing her stylish deep red suit.

So very quiet it was, at the temple. All things were still. Though if one listened to the sounds of the evening, the noise of the cicada could be heard, in the noisy way of insects.

"Ready?" Rei asked, and Pluto nodded, the Timestaff turning uneasily in her hands. They looked at the awaiting pair on the tatami mat, kneeling across from each other and looking wide eyed up at the other girls. Each nodded once in turn, then meeting the other's gaze, adjusting their skirts distractedly, a habitual motion that calmed them.

"Ami-chan?" Hotaru asked, reaching out. "Hold onto my hand?"

Hesitating as she looked at the empty palm, Ami wondered if Hotaru was seeking comfort, or giving it. Perhaps both. Each of their hands trembled a little as they fit together.

"I'm going to chant for good-luck," Rei informed them, briskly going to sit far too close to the fire. Her sleek form was made a dark shadow in the center of the flames, her black hair glinting violet. Softly, from where she knelt, the low sound of her chant rose. And if the other three had not been so intent on their business, they would have felt an enormous heat prickle through the room, the energy of burning, purifying fire.

"As I have said," Pluto told Ami and Hotaru as she knelt in the space beside them, "I do not know what the result of this will be. The keys to the fourth dimension allow for a road that must not be traveled, for it leads to the realms of death. The door to that road has never been opened," Pluto then took a key from the chain at her belt. Her garnet eyes reflected the fire steadily, though she bit her lip with nervousness. After a moment, she sighed, then wrapped an arm around each of them. "Be careful. Both of you."

Then she released them very quickly, as though embarrassed that she could show such affection. Ami and Hotaru had not broken their grasping of hands, and into their other, outstretched palms, Pluto placed the key.

It was a road, a road of light and water, and it was traveled swiftly and slowly at once, transversing space and time with a sense that cannot be described. Stars were born, then blackened as they died, swimming in an endless cycle of of life, the wheel of the stars. Faces of those long dead, and faces of those yet to come became reflected on the mirrors that presented themselves to their minds. They could see the past, the present and the future mix as one, their hearts beating in rhythm to the pulse of the stars. Time had no meaning here, nor did death.

If Ami listened hard enough, she could hear the sound of a koto playing lightly on the wind of the road, a sad tune, with words she did not recognize. And as the sound grew stronger, it also faded away, escaping her reach, as her fingers clasped instead the hand of a younger girl.

"Hotaru-chan?" Her legs stretched out beyond her, Ami gathered herself, and patted the girl's hand. "Hotaru-chan? Wake up? I think...I think it worked...."

Her dark blue eyes were still filled with a kind of water, making the world distorted. She groaned, a feeling like seasickness rippling though her. She crawled a bit closer to Hotaru, and a soft moan escaped her lips as her violet eyes opened to the sunset sky. "What bus hit me?"

Ami couldn't help but giggle, hearing that come out of Hotaru. "Are you all right?"

"Hai...."

Shaking her head, Ami began to stand, relief rolling over her. "Well," she joked lightly, "leave it to the Sailor Senshi to make looking to the Underworld look easy, and getting inside Usagi-chan's head look hard!"

Pushing herself up with a grin, Hotaru looked around, her breath short as she took in the beauty of the world around her. "Oh, Ami-chan, do you see it?"

Her own gaze flying around, Ami did see it. They sat on a tiny island in the middle of a lake without end. Very gentle water lapped at the lip of their island, and the sky above was an eternal sunset of royal purple, sending the waters shimmering in a vast array of rich color, sparkles dancing on the bobbing waves. Ami released Hotaru's hand and went to peer over the edge, looking down to see the depth of the water.

"It looks deep," she said with a frown. "We might have to swim."

Hotaru was staring blankly at her.

"Nani, Hotaru-chan?"

"Ah, Ami-chan, swim in what? It's light," as though to prove this, Hotaru stood beside Ami, and moved as though plunging her arm deep into something. "It's just like..." she laughed as she pulled her arm out. She opened her palm, and in it seemed to see something dance, tiny pinpricks of light. "Look, they're fireflies!"

Puzzled at what Hotaru was seeing, Ami watched her. There was no reason to think Hotaru wasn't seeing fireflies. In fact, if anyone was seeing something wrong, Ami decided it was herself. After all, wasn't Hotaru in her own element? "I see water. A lake without land."

"I see light. It's beautiful, too, white and pink and lavender and yellow, dancing." With that, Hotaru placed a foot into the brightness she saw, and the image that came to Ami's eyes was that of ripples of water around a foot. "Come, it's solid, let's go." Hotaru grabbed Ami's hand, and began to pull her in.

"Hotaru, wait-" but her words stopped, as she discovered she was standing on the water, her reflection around her feet. "Oh...that was...." when she looked up again, the lake was nowhere to be seen. "...odd." Ami finished lamely, staring up at the large, towering buildings overhead. It seemed that the great lake was now nothing more than a puddle in the middle of the sidewalk. "Hotaru, did things just...."

"Switch? Hai, they did...do you see...."

"A city?"

"Yes," they looked around, up at the streetlight that was pouring light down onto the puddle they stood on, even though the sky was still lit with the royal colors of the sunset, robing the towering buildings in dying light. "Where are we?"

Ami looked at the road beside them, eyes tracking to the stop sign, the four-way light and the street name. Though the letters were there, they shifted and blurred in Ami's vision, and she could not read them. It was a generic street, in what could have been any city in the world, paved, parked with cars and lined with shops. Though the strange thing was, it was silent. None of the cars moved. Ami blinked suddenly. "Hotaru! The key! Do you have Pluto's key?"

Hotaru gasped as they hurriedly checked their pockets, emptying them and finding nothing. "No, Ami! Look!" Hotaru's hand shot out and grabbed something hanging from Ami's neck. "Here...." she breathed a sigh of relief as the key emerged on a delicate silver chain. "You have it."

But even as Hotaru had seen Ami's, Ami had spotted Hotaru's. "So do you," Ami replied, pulling the gold chain from around Hotaru's neck. "This is getting very strange."

"Setsuna-mama said she didn't know what would happen."

"But the key splitting? That can't be normal."

"Ami...." Hotaru turned and appeared to be sensing the world they were in. "I don't think there is a 'normal' here." Her eyes opened, and she sighed. "I can feel this place. But I can't describe it. It's so strange. Not bad, but...strange."

Trying to find some ground for her mind to balance on, Ami took a breath and decided, "Then we should hope that they both work. But we have to assume they don't. We should try to find some people. If this is the Underworld, shouldn't there be...um, souls? Ghosts?"

Hotaru actually laughed, a happy, easy sound. "You almost sound afraid of a ghost! Is that not what your friend Kami is?"

Ami blushed, embarrassed to be caught in her fears. "You're right. I'm being silly. I shouldn't assume it's hellfire and brimstone. Just as much as I shouldn't assume it's pearly gates. So far, we haven't seen either."

Hotaru nodded. "Then lets get moving. I agree, we do need to find someone to give us directions. Directions to where, I don't really know...." Her voice trailed off as she looked up and down the street. "There must be so many people here. All those who have died...think of the numbers...."

"Assuming they aren't all reborn to some level. I mean, we don't know anything about this place at all...if we were in Hellenic times, we should have been greeted at a river, with a coin under our tongue to give to Charon. Or if we were in Britain...."

She didn't get to finish, since an ear shattering, outraged shriek filled the air, echoing to where the girls stood. Neither of them hesitated an instant, breaking into a dead run for the sound. What they found was both surprising and amusing. A man and a woman stood on the next corner, the man in bellbottom jeans, and a leather vest, love beads around his neck, partially covered by long hair and a dark beard. The woman with him, however, was wearing a Donna Karan power suit in flaming red, with shoulder pads, stiletto heels and blonde hair so full and teased that it was overwhelming. The ultimate essences of the sixties and the eighties, suddenly meeting on an empty corner street in the seemingly empty Underworld.

The woman's purse swung around her head in an arch, meeting with a thwack on the man's arms, which were covering his head. "You ninny!" The woman screeched, "How could you possibly think a nudist colony is the answer the the world's problems? Idiot! How much pot did you smoke when you were alive? Idiot!"

"Ow! Brenda! Knock it off! My head!"

"What? A few more brain cells gone? Ha! I didn't think you'd miss-"

"Excuse me...." Ami began, but was not exactly heard over Brenda's overreactive screaming. "Um...excuse...."

"Try whistling again, Ami-chan. If it worked on the senshi...." Hotaru waved a hand at them. Ami looked a little embarrassed, then put her fingers in her mouth and whistled loudly. The two stopped, staring at the other two.

"Konnichiwa," Ami said.

The man blinked first, then bowed, "Ah! Gurus from the East! Enlighten this bizarre woman...."

"I'll give you 'bizarre' you pothead!" The purse went into a new rain of pounding.

Ami and Hotaru looked at each other, staring. "Well," Hotaru said after a moment, "she can't kill him."

They watched Brenda assault the man another minute or two, until she finally calmed herself. "Humph!" she huffed, "That for women's lib! Bra burning!" Her whole attitude suddenly changed as she focused in on the girls, becoming very sweet and apologetic. "Oh, sorry about all that. Charles is such a-"

"Chuck! It's Chuck! My grandmother called me Charles!"

Brenda continued, oblivious, "Charles tends to say stupid things. Don't listen to him. Are you ladies new?"

Ami and Hotaru glanced at each other, then Ami spoke. "Yes...a...ah...car accident."

Brenda nodded seriously, then shook her head. "Poor dears. It wasn't one of those drunk drivers was it? My husband was a drunk! Stupid bastard! If I could get back up to the surface, I'd haunt him until he died, then I'd haunt him through his whole afterlife! Stupid...." Brenda suddenly caught herself sounding slightly demented, and laughed nervously as Chuck frowned at her. "Ah..heh. Sorry. Such a shame. Don't worry, you'll get used to it. It's strange when you start, but it gets better. Your parents all right?"

Another look between Ami and Hotaru. This time, Hotaru spoke. "Haruka-papa is a great driver," and she let it hang at that. Brenda and Chuck exchanged their own glance.

"Hey, don't worry. I died in a car accident," Chuck informed them with a shrug. "You girls lost? You really shouldn't be out in this area. Gets kinda lonely."

Ami leapt in. "We're looking for an old friend of mine...ah, actually," Ami blushed, embarrassed, "I don't know her real name...I called her Kami....I don't suppose a description would help."

The two shook their heads. "No," Brenda began, "but how did she die? Sometimes we hang around in groups. Not always," she sent a glare at Chuck, "but sometimes."

"She drowned herself."

The two blinked, Chuck looking a little sorry, but Brenda sniffing, "Oh. One of those."

Chuck snorted. "You committed suicide."

"I had cancer, you half-witted Deadhead!"

"Yeah, lung cancer. From all those cigarettes."

Brenda screeched, and Ami and Hotaru clapped their hands over their ears to block the noise, gritting their teeth. When Chuck had sustained enough further abuse, Brenda calmed herself again, straightening out the designer suit to perfection.

"That is it. This friendship is over. I am sick and tired of hearing your stupid hippie Age of Aquarius babble," Brenda turned on her spiked heel and stalked off, leaving Chuck to shake his head. When he noticed Ami and Hotaru's somewhat stunned faces, he laughed, leaning against the wall of the building.

"Don't get upset about Brenda. She does this at least once a week. Or at least, we think it's once a week. Time does weird things here. She'll be back in five minutes, tops, with a new suit or purse. Don't let her get to you."

"Oh...." Was all they could say. Finally, Hotaru managed, "Chuck-san, so you know where we could find Kami? Even though she killed herself?"

Chuck shrugged, and tugged thoughtfully at his beard. "Well, let's see. I don't know. You can try following the Yellow Brick Road. That takes you just about anywhere you want."

More blinking.

"The Yellow Brick Road."

"Yup. Look," Chuck pointed, and in fact, the street beside them was now yellow brick, gleaming as it led out of the city.

Strange thing was, when they recovered from looking at the Yellow Brick Road, Chuck was as gone as Brenda.

"Hotaru-chan?"

"Hai?"

"This place is very strange."

Hotaru just nodded in agreement, and they began their trek down the Yellow Brick Road.

"I'll show you what our power is made of!"

Usagi heard these words ring out loudly, and the power that built in the air grow stronger as the strength of the Silver Crystal and Holy Grail were summoned. All around her, she saw the figures of her fellow senshi, the colors of their planets rainbowing across their fighting line, a cosmos of beautiful flying colors. Looking up, she saw the nightmarish figure of Nephrenia, her black hair coiling out from her head as she attacked them.

This was a scene Usagi remembered very well. How she had gained her power as Eternal Sailor Moon, her friends sending her their power, catching it all in her Holy Grail. Mamoru's Golden Crystal had become unsealed, strengthening her and pushing her into her highest form. And when Usagi looked at her hands, she saw her white gloves, and looked down at her fuku, the blue of the skirt and the red boots. Then she blinked in surprise. Her skirt was solid colored.

Her head jerked up, and she took in the several things that were amiss. To begin with, Chibiusa wasn't there. There was a little girl in the battle line, but her hair was black, not pink. And it was in a perfect little red bow. Then she realized that it had not been her own voice that had just called out, and the energy of the planets was not forming in her hands.

It was in Minako's.

As Usagi watched, Minako rushed forward, her usual uniform fuller and more elaborate than those of the others, multicolored. She lifted her hands to the air, and her fingers stretched outward, as delicate as the wings on the Grail she summoned. Minako held it high overhead, back arched to display their power perfectly. Into this, she heard voices begin to shout, their strength blending into the Holy Grail.

"Marina Castle of my Mother Star Mercury!"

"Phobos Demios Castle of Mars!"

She saw their aural lights blaze, and make the transfer to the Grail. "No..." Usagi whispered, shaking her head. Then she frowned, watching the scene. "No! I'm Sailor Moon! I'm the holder of the Grail! What are you doing?"

"Io Castle of Jupiter!"

"Stop it! This is my fight! I'm supposed to protect everyone!"

"Miranda Castle of my Star Uranus!"

Furious, Usagi shouted, "Traitors! What are you doing? That's my power!"

"Triton Castle of my Star Neptune!"

Running forward, Usagi tried to reach the figure of Minako, but found herself barred from. Two familiar blue eyes locked down into hers. "Mamo-chan! What is going on?"

"Mamo-chan?" He repeated, looking confused a moment, then shook it off, the frown on his face deepening. "Get out of the way! Why aren't you helping her?"

"Help her? I'm the holder of the Grail! I'm the Messiah!"

"Are you insane? Get out of here!" Tuxedo Kamen pushed her back, not hard, but enough to send Usagi to her knees.

"Charon Castle of my Star Pluto!"

Confused and angry, Usagi watched the scene. The power of the planets were growing around Minako, and she saw the eyes of Nephrenia widen, as she screamed, "Queen Serenity? No, this can't be happening!"

"I'm Princess Serenity!" Usagi cried in desperation, fists beating the ground, though no one seemed to be listening to her. "I'm the holder of the Crystal!"

Then she saw what the others did. On Minako's forehead was the crescent moon of the Silver Millennium, glowing brightly as power poured into her heart, lending it strength.

"Titan Castle of my Star Saturn!"

"Minako is not the Princess!"

Then, into this, came a younger voice, similar to Chibiusa's in age, though it was not hers. "Crystal Palace of the Thirtieth Century! Your power!" And brilliant yellow light joined the racing colors of each planet, swirling together as the girl lifted her hand upward.

"No! Stop it! Stop it now! This isn't what happened!"

Then it grew very quiet.

"You know, it's funny," came Usagi's own voice from the waltz of light around Minako. As one would expect, the reflection of Usagi stepped out from the slashes of darkness between the lights. "Minako supported you through nearly two years of your being Sailor Moon. You can't help her through two minutes of her holding the Crystal? Some selfless friend you are."

The school uniformed figure of Usagi approached the one in the fuku, who was near to tears, her voice ragged as she sobbed. "Who are you? Why are you doing this to me?"

"Who am I?" An eyebrow arched, then the reflection scratched her head a bit, considering the question. "Well, all those tears just melt my heart. My name is Tsukino Usagi, Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon, also Princess Serenity, the future Neo-Queen Serenity. But I suppose that gets to be a bit confusing for you. So...I guess. Let's see. Artemis? No, that's your friends' cats' name. Luna? Diana? Geez, how many cats do you people have? Hm. Maybe something not so moon-related. Oh! I have it. Fury. You can call me Fury if you like, though that's really not my name, Moon Rabbit."

"What's so special about Fury?" Usagi asked as she rubbed her eyes with the back of her hand, tears running against the skin.

"Ugh, are you really that dense? Didn't you ever pay attention? Hmph. I know you did, since I know it, and I'm you. The Furies were the goddesses of guilt and conscience. Don't you ever listen to Ami when she babbles about her books?" Fury put her hands on her hips, frowning down at Usagi.

"You know she was supposed to be the Moon Princess, don't you?"

"Ami?"

"Minako!"

"Minako-chan? No...she just pretended to be the Princess...to trick Beryl...."

Flipping a length of hair over her shoulder, Fury sniffed, then turned to go stand by the frozen figures of the senshi. "You know, this is kinda fun, freezing people like this. They look just like statues." She stuck her tongue out at Sailor Mars. "Can't annoy me back. But anyway," she moved along the line, stopping between Uranus and Neptune, "aren't they so cute?" She ruffled Uranus' hair, then patted Neptune on the head, grinning as she considered Uranus' face. "You know, it's weird. Neptune seems to be your opposite, yet this one seems to have a thing for both of you. Weird, isn't it?" She left the pair, moving on to other senshi.

"Sweet, isn't it, that just about everyone falls in love with you. Or your Mamo-chan. I could never figure it out. All that sweet purity you two just radiate."

Usagi was gathering herself up, and she looked at the frozen figures before her, the enemy that was caught in her expression of horror, and the beautiful display that the senshi used as their weapon, their souls. "My friends would never desert me."

"Mm? Oh, I suppose not..." Fury stepped around them, appraising each in turn, coming to a halt at Pluto. "Then there are those that couldn't help themselves," Fury said, finger to her chin in consideration. "Did you know she's got a bit of a crush on your Mamo-chan?"

"Setsuna-san?" Usagi walked forward a step, staring in disbelief, only to halt when Fury looked at her, an eyebrow lifted.

"King Endymion, to be a little more precise," she continued, then waved a hand, and the scene altered subtly, Pluto warping from the place she stood to be replaced with a more usually attired Minako. As expected, the figure of Setsuna now stood in the line's forefront, hands upraised and hair floating upward. "Makes one think, doesn't it? If you all have such pure hearts, why not Setsuna? Or Minako? Ami? Rei, Makoto? Makoto is the princess of the largest planet in the system. Why not her? Something special about each. What makes you more important than them?"

"I...I...."

"I...I..." Fury repeated sarcastically, then sighing, placing a hand to her temple. "You were pretty happy, finding out that you were the Princess, weren't you?"

Usagi looked at each face of the battle line, eyes lingering on that of Tuxedo Kamen, his mask gone, lost in the battle, revealing his blue eyes. "I'd give my life for my friends. We would have been happier if we were just normal girls."

"True, true," Fury agreed, actually sounding honest. "And they'd give their lives for you. Considerate of them, isn't it? But really," she snapped her fingers, and once again Minako stood in the prominent place, her golden hair streaming about her as the stilled Holy Grail floated in the bubble between her fingers. "Think about it...I know you thought it was just so cool to think you were talking to a real Princess when you found her. But don't try to tell me you didn't think there was something a little odd about the fact that she was just 'Sailor V' and you were 'Sailor Moon'...and yet she was still the Moon Princess."

Usagi bit her lip. The thought had occurred.

"If it turned out she was the Princess, well, then this would be her story, wouldn't it? You'd just be a side character, a sidekick, just like they are to you."

"They are not just sidekicks!"

Fury snorted, approaching Usagi. "Please. You get to save everyone, time and again. Why? Oh, your heart is the strongest. The purest. Funny, it's never even been tested. No lemures of the Dead Moon invaded your mind. So I'm testing you instead." Fury pushed her face uncomfortably close to Usagi's. "Think you can handle it?"

Good? Bad?

Let me know, please! Anyway, if you're curious about the first dream scene in this chapter, and why Beryl is put in the light she is, can I plug shamelessly for my other fic, 'The Stone Hearted Princess'? I had a very interesting time writing that scene, this time in third person.

If you're wondering about the second dream sequence, this occurs in the SuperS manga. Sailormoon gets her Eternal Power at the end of SuperS, not the beginning of Stars.

Anyway, let me know what you think!

-Queen