Chapter 3: Prevention
Sailor Jupiter was the fist of the senshi to arrive, she knocked on Mamoru's door and he immediately let her in, she bowed and walked inside.
"Mercury? How did you get here so fast?" Jupiter questioned surprised.
"I came here first, I thought Usagi might be here, I guess I was wrong though," she explained.
"I guess. Hello Helios," Jupiter bowed and Helios bowed back.
"Hello Jupiter," he responded.
"I don't want to intrude, but why didn't you come when Chibi Moon called today?" Jupiter demanded.
"I couldn't, the gate from this world to Elysion was blocked, but that is part of what I must tell you."
"What?" she asked staring, "But that's impossible."
"So we thought, but wait for the others, before I explain, that way I only have to do it once," Helios instructed.
Jupiter nodded dumbfounded as there was a knock at the door.
"I'll get it," Sailor Mercury volunteered and opened the door, it was Sailor Venus. She bowed and walked in, she bowed to Mamoru, Jupiter, and Helios as she greeted them.
"Artemis knows something, and if he does Luna does," Venus told them right away.
"Nothing more than I know," Helios told her.
"Why didn't you come today! We were almost killed! Chibi Moon called for you again and again and again! Don't you care?!" Venus shouted outraged.
"Sailor Venus calm down! He had a good reason that he's going to explain when everyone gets here, now we're only waiting for Sailor Mars, Sailor Moon, and Sailor Chibi-Moon," Jupiter counted the absences.
There was another knock at the door, and Mercury went to answer it, "I wonder who this might be," she laughed opening it. When she opened it she was shocked, "Your, Your, Majesty," she stood to the side bowing to let him in.
He glared at her and Mamoru watched amazed, something was wrong with that.
"Your Majesty," Venus and Jupiter bowed dumbfounded, what was he doing here?
"How can we help you Your Majesty?" Mercury ended the silence.
"By leaving, this is a futile fight and I don't want my daughter, or my future Queen and self endangered in it," he glared.
"What?" Venus demanded, "I'm sorry Your Majesty, but I think you've lost it. How can we possibly do that? They'd take over all of Tokyo, they would destroy Crystal Tokyo, how safe is that for you then?"
"Well spoken Sailor Venus, but incorrect, all they want is the Ocean's Rose and I want you to give it to them, you have it you just don't know you do," the King told them.
"Why would we give them the one thing that could destroy them?" Helios asked bowing, "I hate to go against you King, but I won't let the senshi do that."
"Helios, do you understand what bringing back the Ocean's Rose would do? You can't let them revive her," the King looked directly at him.
"I know only that it would change Crystal Tokyo, for the better not the worse, and you know it. It is the small maiden that keeps you from the happiness you deserve though," Helios looked down, "It would destroy her."
"Yes Helios, it would kill her, she would die, fade out of existence. You don't want that do you, you love her don't you Helios?" the King demanded of him as Sailor Mars, Sailor Moon, and Sailor Chibi Moon walked in. Helios' head shot up as he caught Chibi Moon's eyes. She looked at him worried, she didn't like the look in his eyes, something was wrong, "Daddy?" she asked quietly seeing the King.
Helios looked away, this killed him.
"Chibi Moon," the King smiled at his daughter.
"What, are you doing here?" Chibi Moon inquired not looking at her father but instead looking at Helios' pained face, "Helios?"
How could Helios trade his happiness and Chibi Moon's life, for the King's happiness and the Ocean's Rose life?
"I just came to settle some business with the Inner Senshi, and now that they're all here I can finally do it," he unsheathed his sword and walked toward Sailor Mercury.
The Inner Senshi watched in horror as he approached her.
"What are you doing?!" Mamoru demanded as Helios looked away.
"Daddy! Stop! Leave her alone!" Chibi Moon shouted horrified closing her eyes.
"Your Majesty, I don't know what I've done to upset you, but I truly am sorry, please," Sailor Mercury begged trying not to panic.
"Sailor Mercury, Ami, I want you to die knowing that I'm sorry for what I must do, but it must be done, for Chibi Moon," the King raised his sword, and Sailor Mercury closed her eyes.
"Venus love me chain!" Sailor Venus shouted encircling the sword and ripping it away from the King, "I'm sorry Your Majesty, but I will not permit you endangering the life of one of my team, or one of my dearest friends."
"You're a damn fool Venus!" the King shouted.
Sailor Mercury opened her eyes and they began to tear, what had she done wrong? She looked to Mamoru eyes pleading with him to answer her unspoken questions.
He turned away and Mercury shook her head.
"What were you thinking?!" Sailor Mars demanded staring at him horrified.
"I was thinking for the lives of my family, and the safety of my kingdom, to ensure that safety I must destroy Sailor Mercury, here and now," he bent to pick up the sword.
"Space Sword Blaster!" Sailor Uranus shouted as she ran her sword through his, and it was destroyed.
Everyone looked amazed as they saw the four Outer Senshi gather in the apartment.
"You of all people, the leader of the Outer Senshi, Uranus, you should know what bringing back the Ocean's Rose means," the King looked disappointedly at her.
"Giving you back your happiness? Saving the Inner Senshi? Yes I do," Sailor Uranus responded.
"Sailor Saturn, Chibi Moon is one of your only friends, do you want to see her killed?" the King turned to the fragile and melancholy Sailor Saturn.
Sailor Saturn let a tear fall down her face, "Of course not."
"Then you'll help me right?" the King asked anxiously.
Sailor Saturn shook her head, "I can't."
Chibi Moon stood horrified at this conversation, "Saturn? What is this about? Helios?" she questioned everyone looking for answers.
"If you think I would ever Chibi Moon, Your Majesty you are horribly wrong. She is one of my closest friend, as well as a fellow senshi, I could never," Mercury assured him.
"Yes you could, and will if I don't destroy you here and now," the King pulled out a black rose from under his cape, "I'm sorry Sailor Mercury, please forgive me."
"Dead, Scream!" Sailor Pluto shouted as she lifted her key and destroyed the rose.
"You're her mentor are you not Pluto?" the King turned to her.
"Yes I am," Pluto responded eyeing him to make sure that he wasn't going to turn around and go back for Mercury again.
"But who's more important to you? Sailor Saturn, who is like a daughter to you? Or Sailor Mercury who is your student?" the King held up a black rose and threw it toward Sailor Saturn, "No!" the other three Outer Senshi screamed.
"Silence Wall!" Hotaru shielded herself with an invisible wall, when the rose hit it shattered, hit the floor, and disappeared.
"You're stronger than I suspected and quicker," he commented Sailor Saturn, "Then I'll do it this way!" he turned and threw a rose toward Haruka.
"Submarine Reflection!" Sailor Neptune obliterated the rose with her mirror.
"So I see the Outer Senshi are untouchable, hmmm what to do what to do, I know!" he threw a rose toward Sailor Venus.
"Shabon Spray Freezing!" Mercury froze the rose so it stopped dead in its tracks and fell to the ground breaking into chips of ice.
"What is wrong with you!? You're trying to destroy your protectors!" Michiru told him outraged.
"The protectors who want to kill my daughter? Not very good ones if you ask me," the King threw four roses at all the Inner Senshi.
Artemis jumped in front of Sailor Venus', Luna in front of Mercury's, Phobos took Mars' and Deimos, Jupiter's. When the rose hit them each animal fell to the ground cut and bleeding by the thorny rose.
"Luna!" Mercury shouted picking up the black cat.
"Artemis," Venus sobbed into the fur of her white cat guardian.
"Phobos! Deimos!" Rei shouted outraged as she picked up the limp birds.
"You'll pay for this," Jupiter growled, "Supreme Thunder Dragon!" a huge dragon in the form of thunder leaped out of Jupiter's arms and headed toward the King.
"No!" Chibi Moon shouted jumping in the way.
"Chibi Moon!" Helios and Jupiter shouted. Helios transformed into Pegasus and shot a white beam of light out of his horn, obliterating the thunder.
Chibi Moon slowly opened her eyes, and seeing the danger was gone turned around, "What is wrong with you!? How am I going to be destroyed? And why would Sailor Mercury of all people kill me?!" Chibi Moon demanded holding her hands on her hips.
"It doesn't matter, because it won't happen, I'm going to take care of that," the King whipped around and grabbed Sailor Mercury by the waste, "Now you will die," he told her pulling out another black rose and positioning it toward her heart.
Mercury closed her eyes and braced herself, "I'm truly sorry Your Majesty, please let my dying wish be that you forgive me," she said quietly.
That killed him, how could he do this?
"Sailor Moon! Do something!" Sailor Mars shouted trying to position her fire arrow so that she wouldn't hit Sailor Mercury too.
"Venus, love me chain!" Venus shot her chain toward the rose.
"No!" the King shouted throwing another rose at her chain and breaking it. He put his hand back around Sailor Mercury's waste.
Mamoru threw a red rose at the King's hand causing him to drop his rose, and freeing Sailor Mercury from his grasps, she went to the other senshi thanking them with her life.
King Endymion shook his head, "They are your future wife and daughter, you endanger them now?"
"I don't know what this Ocean's Rose is, and I don't know why you want Sailor Mercury, but I won't let you harm any of the senshi," Mamoru told him.
"You know as well as I do that if it were Jupiter or Venus or Mars, if it were Sailor Moon herself in this position, you would jump to help me kill them if only you were to save the life of Chibi Moon," the King whispered to Mamoru who stepped back horrified. Could that be true?
"I want to speak to the Outer Senshi, alone," the King requested.
The four Outer Senshi exchanged glances then they nodded in agreement.
"Is that safe?" Sailor Venus asked Sailor Uranus.
"Of course not, but we don't have a choice," she responded walking out onto the balcony with King Endymion followed by the rest of the Outer Senshi.
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The Inner Senshi all huddled around Sailor Mercury as she whispered thank you to them all.
Mamoru looked up at the night sky, far in the distance he saw a small blue dot, "Mercury," he said softly.
Sailor Mercury broke away from the senshi and went over to Mamoru. She gently touched his shoulder. She pulled back, she had felt a strange connection and it scared her.
Mamoru turned around and noticed her
"I wanted to thank you, for saving me," she bowed to him.
"No need, it's my job to protect the Inner Senshi," Mamoru smiled.
"Thank you still, you fought yourself for me, and I am eternally grateful," she blushed slightly then turned and walked back to the Inner's.
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"This is the Ocean's Rose," King Endymion reminded the Outer Senshi and Helios.
"Which is the fate of Tokyo, and your happiness," Helios reminded him. Now he understood what was wrong with Mamoru, the same thing that plagued the King, unhappiness.
"Which means killing Chibi Moon," the King countered.
Helios and Sailor Saturn winced.
"Not bringing it back means killing all of the Inner Senshi," Sailor Uranus informed him.
"Do you think this isn't hard for me?!" King Endymion demanded of the Outer Senshi.
"We know that it's hard for you, but you need to weigh your possibilities. You must think of every life as an equal, you cannot be bias to one life or another," Neptune helped him organize his thoughts, "If you bring back the Ocean's Rose you will gain your happiness, but destroy Neo Queen Serenity's, that equals out. You will gain the lives of all four of the Inner Senshi, but loose Chibi Moon's.
"If you don't revive it, you will be unhappy, but Neo Queen Serenity will be. You will potentially destroy the four Inner Senshi and Princess Serenity, but Chibi Moon would be spared."
Helios looked away and into the moon, no longer would there be a small rabbit of the moon.
Sailor Saturn spoke up, "We could fight, with our combined powers, we could defeat them," she told them.
Sailor Pluto looked at her sadly, "You know any damage we inflict upon one clone would happen to the senshi. Only they can destroy each other."
"We could seal them back up, put them back into the Dark Box, and then destroy it," Helios turned to face them.
The Outer Senshi looked from one to the other.
"We can try," Uranus finally said.
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Helios looked down from his spot on the grassy hill that overlooked the water. It was a beautiful night, he wished he could enjoy it.
"Helios?" Chibi Moon stood behind him. The white ribbons of her Sailor Outfit and her cotton candy pink hair moved gently in the light breeze. He smiled, he would always remember her like this.
"Come and sit small maiden. It is a beautiful view," he offered her gently.
She sat beside him in silence for awhile before she sighed lightly and asked, "What's going to happen to me?"
Helios' eyes shimmered when he looked at her.
Was it the moonlight or were those tears?
"I don't know," he told her softly.
"Helios I'm so scared," she wrapped her arms around his neck and sobbed into his shoulder.
"So am I," Helios admitted holding her.
She looked up into his eyes, it wasn't the moonlight, those were tears.
He slowly bent down to kiss her.
Gently their lips touched and when they broke away Chibi Moon closed her eyes and lay her head on his chest.
He laid back and they fell asleep, safe in each others arms.
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The Outer Senshi explained their plans to the Inner Senshi and Mamoru. When they were finished they decided on sleep. They would stay here and sleep.
Mamoru pulled out extra blankets for everyone and they all settled down. Ami nervously watched from a corner of the living room as the King walked into Mamoru's room, "Where's Chibi Mon?" she asked looking for the missing senshi.
"Helios is missing too," Rei told them looking up from feeding the wounded animals.
"Someone should go find," Minako instructed no one in particular.
"I'll go," Ami volunteered, she wanted out of there.
"I'll go with her, in case the enemy shows up," Mamoru added himself.
Ami could have protested, but she was grateful for the company.
The two walked outside and walked in one direction hoping to find the two.
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"Stupid Firesnake, sending me out here this late, just to pick off one of the stupid senshi, why I…" Seaharmony trailed off when she stumbled across Helios and Chibi Moon, "How cute, too bad I have to kill you, so sad, boo hoo," Seaharmony said sarcastically pulling out her flute. As she began to play beautiful music coud be heard from miles away as a quickly growing waterspout began to spin.