The Haunt of the Past
Author's Ramblings: Okay, I have a confession to make. It's not like I
have a problem with confessions, really--I'm not Haruka and I don't mind
pouring out my soul. After all, about half the band knows all about me
and my...quirks... No, but my confession is thus:
I did not create Moon Saber Illumination.
Most of you out there will not appreciate this little tale, but listen
anyway--I lent my SM tapes (dub only) to my close buddy Ginnie (make
your own assumptions about who she is). Well, Ginnie invited a fellow
Moonie/high school student Jenny Smith over, and they promptly began to
watch SMR, one ep after another.
And Jenny found that the words "Moon Scepter Elimination" could be
replaced with the words "Moon Saber Illumination" and still fit with the
mouth.
Meanwhile, there was this writer, struggling to complete her epic story.
And she'd been playing around with the idea of giving her Neo-Sailor
Moon a sword.
And the rest, my friends, is history...
* * * * * * * * * * * *
What's the buzz? Tell me what's a happening...
Phoebe got a letter asking her to try out for a movie. Celeste came to
visit Lyra and Richard and kinda had a spat with her sister. Tara
decided that she doesn't want to be Shinto any more and gets into a spat
with her mother. Lyra flunked an essay. Diana was forced to take in
Carina as an apprentice. Ambriel started studying prophecy, but Reeny
took it away. And Alice began a homosexuality class.
And that, my friends, is where the story begins...
* * * * * * * * * * * *
They all sat, silently, in the large white-walled bedroom of the
Princess of the Earth, their faces solemn, their voices hushed. No one
said a word; they just all sat together, thinking... Thinking of the
lives the were living.
Leaning back in her plush chair, the pink-haired one glanced out
of the window. "Another day, another battle," she sighed, shaking her
head slightly as her red eyes observed the slow setting of the March
sun. "But I can't put my finger on this feeling..."
Tara nodded solemnly, staring at the floor. "It's been two weeks,
guys," she put in softly, thoughtfully. "It seems as though they've
given up on us..."
"They haven't given up," Richard assured them, his arms wrapped
around the curly-haired blonde's waist as she sat in his lap. "Trust me
on that one." Sighing, he bit his lower lip pensively. "They're just
biding their time."
Phoebe stomped a foot and crossed her arms, accidentally elbowing
both Alice and Haley, who shared the couch with her. "That STILL doesn't
explain the premonition of doom we've all been feeling, does it?" No one
meet her intense ice-blue gaze. "Something is happening!"
Sighing, the little green-haired girl drew her knees to her chin.
"But I do not believe that this happening is going to be directly
related to us," she countered the teen. "I believe there is a rift in
the Time-Space Continuum..."
"But... The last time that something like that happened..."
Celeste glanced at Reeny nervously. "My mother said that the last time
anyone used time travel was when Chibi-Moon was sent into the past with
Pluto..."
Everyone looked suspiciously at the pink-haired one, who had risen
and made her way to sit beside Helios on the giant silk-sheeted bed. Her
face was gaunt; her manner extremely unusual... And there she sat.
The silence in the room was deafening as everyone stared at her.
She was breathing heavily as she sat, her eyes not really seeing as much
as they were darting about. Her muscles were tense.
"Is our mother going to bring your past self somewhere, Reeny?"
questioned Peter very cautiously, folding his hands on his lap.
Nodding a bit, the Princess sighed. "It's amazing..." she sighed.
"You sit down and think... I mean REALLY think... And you realize that,
as hard as you may deny it, you've been changed." She drew in a sharp,
almost painful breath. "The Pluto who took me to battle the Death
Busters came from now."
"THIS now?" asked Ambriel, hopping off the edge of her mother's
desk and climbing onto the bed. "That wasn't in the prophecy..."
Reeny shook her head and continued. "It amazes me that she never
spoke of what happened in this time," she told her friends, a slight
smile teasing her face. "She never told me about you guys, or her
husband and children, or..." With a shrug, she laid her head on Helios'
shoulder. "I've always wondered about it--the entire time--and yet, I
never could ask..."
"But why..." Eyes turned to study the brunette Haley, who sat with
her legs crossed at the knee as she chewed anxiously on her thumbnail.
For a short moment, all the Scouts were suddenly reminded that--in a
practical manner, at least--she was the oldest of them all. The brown-
haired woman smiled slightly and drew her finger from her mouth. "I
mean, I don't understand why a Pluto of one time would get help from a
Reeny of another. It doesn't make sense."
The silver-haired priest of Elysion nodded slightly at her
comment, silently acknowledging the Sailor Scout of the Comets.
"Innocence," he answered softly. "With so many different dimensions and
worlds, it's obvious that one Reeny--a six-year-old--would be much less
worldly than another and less innocent--like this one." He took and
squeezed one of the soft hands of his Princess.
"I suppose that the Mistress of Pluto wanted to help prepare Reeny
for what lies...or had lied...ahead," put in Alice thoughtfully, resting
her chin in one of her hands. "Since she came the present--our 'now'--
she knew that we'd someday fight evil and wanted to put that
'never-give-up' spirit in the Princess before the Galactic Sailors were
united." She nodded to herself. "Makes sense."
Aeris' multicolored eyes surveyed the room, resting for a
long moment on Reeny. Sighing, she studied the Princess. "Are you
suggesting the fact that she--my MOTHER--was aware that this was going
to happen?" the child asked softly, pressing her lips together. "She
was aware to the fact she would have to abandon us? And save the past?"
The blonde Chibi-Scout put an arm around each of the young Pluto
twins. "She is the Guardian of Time," Celeste said delicately,
hugging the two Chibi-Scouts--both of whom were about to lose their
mother--close to her. "Revealing the future has been against
the law since even before Queen Serenity and the Gold Moon Kingdom."
Celeste forced a reassuring smile as she loosened her grip on the two
others; but she suddenly paled and her green eyes gained a certain void,
timeless quality. "And I believe that, in the long run, it will be
better this way."
"Better?" repeated Peter, his voice almost that of an amused adult
looking down on a small child. "How could it possibly be good that our
mother is leaving us?"
With a slight, confused smile, Tara shrugged her shoulders and
rested her elbows upon her thighs. "And how could it be good that we're
putting our lives on the line every day?" she retorted knowingly. The
red-eyed boy glanced at her, and she shrugged once again. "It's all in
the way you look at it, Peter."
Lyra nodded in agreement. "Besides, who knows what day she'll
leave on," the blonde put in, leaning into the warm arms that held her.
"For all we know, that Evil Queen will be dead and buried by then."
"Or not," returned Ambriel dryly, her gray eyes staring out the
window. "I have read of the future, and it shows hardship..."
"Prophecy, Ambriel," shot Helios sternly, "is not the be-all,
end-all of existence!" Heads turned to glance at him, and, slowly, the
red drained from his face. "And, if all of us are feeling this
strange premonition now..." He trailed off.
Pushing his glasses up on his nose, Richard let out a long sigh.
"Helios is right," he agreed in a somber tone. "Whatever happens..."
"Happens soon," finished the two children of Pluto in unison,
their gazes meeting despite the sweet blonde child who sat between them,
hugging both of them close. The green-haired girl smiled slightly. The
boy sighed a bit.
And, collapsing onto Celeste, they both began sobbing.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
"And I don't get it!" She sighed, kicking the couch
in frustration. "She was such a happy, excitable girl, and she
wanted SO badly to just fall in love and be happy!" The woman cradled
her head in the palms of her hands and closed her green eyes, upset near
tears. "I don't get it..."
"So..." Ken furrowed his brow and glanced at the emotional woman
beside him. "Is our daughter gay or not?"
Silence fell over the sumptuous Kino apartment as the brunette
restaurateur raised her head and looked at the man beside her. He was a
tall, intimidating man, really; he was near six-foot-two, and was both
broad-shouldered and muscular. His auburn hair hung in his
docile chestnut eyes, making the beast of a man look more like a boy.
Lita smiled slightly at the sight he made and leaned her head on his
shoulder, not resisting as he wrapped a welcome arm around her
shoulders.
And then, she remembered the reason for her frustration and felt
the tears that had momentarily been pushed away by her pang of happiness
bubble back up to the surface.
"I don't know what Alice is," she admitted softly, her voice weak
with anxiety as it had been strong with anger before. "Yesterday, I
found a dozen pink carnations in the garbage can, and--when I found
myself thinking about them until it nearly made me sick--I asked her
about them."
He cocked his head to the side and raised a single eyebrow. "So?"
Shaking her head, the woman continued. "She said that they were
from Todd again," Lita said softly. "She said he asked her again--
and this would be the fifth time--to go to prom with him." Chuckling to
herself, she wiped a tear away. "And Alice STILL SAID no. And as for
the flowers, she said: 'They're going to wilt and die anyway, right? So,
why not let them spend their last days with the banana peels and moldy
sausage?'" Lita snorted and buried half her face in a hand. "I don't
know what to think..."
"If you're so concerned," suggested Ken in a helpful tone, "why
don't you ask her?"
With a squeal, she began to laugh hysterically, as though she'd
just heard some sort of incredible joke. "That's just what Alex
suggested!" she guffawed loudly. "She said I should ASK my daughter
about her sexuality!"
He leaned back into the plush green couch and stretched. "Well, I
always said that your friend Alex was a...uuhhh...reasonable and...
umm...enlightened woman..." he stammered, a bit red. "She seems quite
brilliant and..."
"Alex Ten'ou?" shot Lita, her giggles ending abruptly. "Last time
you saw her, you said that Alex was a 'rip-roaring dyke who wouldn't
know a pen--'"
"I know what I said!" interrupted the man, running a nervous hand
through his shaggy hair. "And I also remember Alex kicking my ass for
saying that!"
She grinned and snuggled close to him. "The early 2500s were
always my favorite years, you know..."
A sort of companionable silence ensued for a long moment, the two
forgetting the woes that their daughter had inadvertently caused as they
sat in each other's arms. Outside, the Wednesday night was just turning
dark, changing the city of Crystal Tokyo into a sea of brightly colored
lights.
And then, the apartment door swung open before them.
"I'm HOME!" called Alice, not looking up from her purse as she
deposited her car keys in the little navy bad. "I just had a really
strange meeting with the Scouts and--" Her brown eyes glanced up, toward
the couch, and she froze like a deer in headlights. Her pink lips
pressed together as she hung her purse on the inside of the doorknob,
wordlessly. She wrinkled her nose disdainfully at the arm wrapped
around her mother. She downright glared at the person that the arm was
part of.
"Hello, MOTHER."
Lita tried to smile, despite the venom in such an unimportant
phrase. "Hi, dear," she greeted, sitting up and pulling slightly away
from her love. He stopped her from standing, his arm still firmly around
her shoulder, and shot her a glance. A glance that stated: 'You'll
never get her to understand if you dodge the subject.'
But she didn't read nor care about the gaze from Ken and rose
slowly, weaseling out from under his grip. Smoothing the sides of her
black business pants, she sighed. "Uhh... Scott Thompson and Jake
something-or-other called while you were out," she piped up after a
long, uncertain pause. "They both asked if you got the cassette tapes."
The teen nodded and pulled a plastic zip-lock bag from her coat
pocket. Inside were the remains of what would have, in life, been tapes.
They were utterly shattered. "'I Know--the All You Need is Prom Remix,'
to the tune of 'I Know [All You Need is Love]' by Scott Thompson,"
recited she in a bored tone, "and 'When a Man Loves a Woman,' as sung by
Jake Hanson." Shaking her head slowly, she deposited the bag on the
coffee table and shrugged. "If anyone wants me, I'll be in my room." She
bowed a bit. "Is that alright, Mother?" And then, not waiting for an
answer, she strode quickly across the room, slamming her bedroom door
behind her.
Slowly sitting back down on the couch beside the man who was, in
some strange form, her soul mate, Lita allowed all the color to drain
slowly from her face. She stared at Ken for a long moment, not knowing
the right words to express her feeling, and then she did the only thing
she could.
She burst out crying.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
"I would say I was displeased," the woman drawled, her footfalls
echoing on the black tile floor as she paced up and down before the
threesome, her pale face's features completely knotted with anger and
annoyance, "but that would be doing that word a certain injustice. I
would say I was...angry, but that would be doing my emotions a large
injustice." She turned to the group, her dark brown eyes sparkling with
hate. Her fingers thoughtlessly caressed the smooth skin of a bright
green frog as she stood before them, her face devoid of all emotion. "I
could have accepted Kevin's failure with an open heart, for he was a
dolt. But Arthur?" She shook her head, dark hair wiping about her face
as she did so. "His defeat was inexcusable."
The blonde man nodded quickly and put his hands before him in a
surrendering gesture. "We know, Queen Ginnie, but..."
"SILENCE!" she roared, throaty voice echoing across the royal
throne room. The three officers before her all snapped into attention,
their faces cadaverous with fear. "I don't want your excuses, Rob," she
whispered, walking forward and clutching the young man by his collar and
glaring into the large, alarmed azure eyes. "I want results."
"But what are we to do?" asked Seth softly, pushing his glasses
farther up on his nose as he glanced nervously at his Queen. She let go
of Rob's neck long enough to meet the gaze of the man, and he gulped.
"If the Sailor Scouts are too strong..."
Ginnie rolled her eyes and turned her attention back to her frog.
"They are not too strong," she informed them dryly. "You are too scared
of what will happen if they catch you." A slight, sardonic smile kissed
her face as she touched the frog's green skin. "But you, Seth, have
given me an idea."
Eyes widening, Tina stared at her Queen and master. "He DID?" she
inquired, shocked.
"Yes," responded Ginnie, looking up and nodding once toward the
black haired girl. "Seth?"
He glanced at her, wordless, an unspoken fear in his brown eyes.
"You will be the next to find the crystal..." She paused and
smirked. "And you need only to match your wits against the Sailor
Scouts. And DO NOT fail me..."
* * * * * * * * * * * *
"Good morning, sunshine," smiled a sleepy Terrence, opening his
eyes to stare into a vast sea of crimson. The soft breath on his face
had awoken him from an already oddly uneasy slumber; both him and his
beautiful wife had been unable to sleep soundly for nearly a week. He
sat up slowly, aware that the room was extremely dark, with the shades
drawn and all lights off. His breath caught in his throat.
Sailor Pluto stood at the side of their bed, her knowing red eyes
staring deep into his soul. Her face was rather pale and her manner
aloof as she gazed at the brunette man. "Terry..." she breathed,
lowering her face to his and pressing their lips together lightly.
"I love you..."
He furrowed his brow, and he jumped from bed immediately, groping
for the pair of discarded sweat pants on the floor and pulling them
quickly over his orange boxer shorts. "Oh, Hell no," he sputtered
quickly, tying the drawstring and beginning to grab a jacket from the
nearby closet. "I'm not letting you leave me..."
She caught his arm before he could reach for his favorite green
coat. "Terry," she said calmly, using her other hand to turn his head so
that she could look into his eyes, "I have seen this many times. And
each time, it is painful for me." Sailor Pluto pressed her deliciously
red lips together and shook her head slowly. A single tear trickled down
her cheek. "But I am needed the past."
"But... Sets..." He pulled his gaze from hers and blinked away the
tears that threatened to well up in his bright green eyes. "I..."
She sighed audibly. "Terrence, before I met you, I had never truly
loved a soul." She once again caught his chin with a gloved hand and
slowly turned his face toward hers. This time, though, she was much
gentler, and the expression she wore was sweeter. "Terrence, I am Sailor
Pluto. And that overrules the fact I am Susan Chiba. Do you understand?"
Nodding wordlessly, he looked at her. For a little over three
years, he had worked side-by-side with Sailor Pluto on tiny, trivial
matters related to Time. And he had helped train their children to rule
the Gate of Time if any accident befell either or both of them. But he
had never really looked at Sailor Pluto. She was basked in some sort of
powerful eternal glow, and her face--though devoid of all emotion right
now--seemed to have a certain glistening of knowing. Not of wisdom or of
knowledge... But of knowing.
The dams burst as Terrence wrapped his arms around Pluto's waist
and buried his head in the crook of her neck, the tears trailing freely
over his cheeks. "Sets..." he whispered, his voice and body both shaking
violently. "I love you so much..."
"I know," responded Sailor Pluto in a sweet, understanding tone.
Her hands slowly smoothed his hair as he cried into her fuku. "I love
you, too..."
There was a long pause as he glanced up and, wiping tears from his
cheeks, pulled her close to his body. They kissed softly, refusing to
give into the pent-up passion within their bodies. The woes of the world
seemed to melt away as they held each other, sharing the last sweet
embrace for what could be eternity.
Reluctantly, she pulled away from him and stared into the precious
green eyes that had enchanted her so long ago. Her breath was ragged as
she raised a hand to her face and wiped away a tear. "Sailor Pluto does
not cry," she reflected, a slight smile touching her lips as she
examined the tiny damp spot on her fingertip. "But Susan does..."
He gave her one last, tight hug, pressing his lips desperately to
the soft flesh below one of her ears. "You'll come back for me, won't
you?"
With a slight shiver, she stepped back and nodded slightly.
"Eternity was lonely before I met you," she murmured. "But after knowing
you, I don't want to live through eternity without you." She smiled the
tiniest bit and closed her wine-colored eyes. Her Time Key appeared, its
garnet orb sparkling brightly, and she took a deep breath. "I will
forever love you, Terrence Chiba."
There was a blinding flash of red, and he was forced to shield his
face from its sheer brilliance. And, upon opening his eyes, he found the
room void of any life beyond his own.
Taking a deep breath, he sat down on the edge of the bed, which
suddenly seemed much larger than it had been a few, short minutes ago.
No rational thoughts entered his mind. All he could tell his body to do
was breathe, and even that took concentration. It was as if half his
being had unexpectedly faded into darkness. And, in a way, it had.
The bedroom door creaked open, accompanied by the sound of tiny,
soft footfalls. He didn't need to look up to identify the visitors.
With a sigh, Aeris climbed up onto the bed, leaning up against her
father. Following her was Peter, his red eyes large and nervous.
"She's gone, isn't she?" asked the little boy, brushing a strand
of brown hair from his face.
Terrence only managed to nod.
"Are we to assume that she's not going to return?" questioned his
precocious daughter as she pulled her knees to her chest beneath her
long flowered nightgown.
He glanced at the child, her multicolored eyes seemingly lifeless
as she gazed at him, waiting for the answer. Tears sparkled in the
corners of those frightening eyes, and Terrence smiled slightly. "Come
here, you two," he sighed, wrapping an arm around each of their waists.
Pluto's words still stung in his mind as he hugged the twins close. "To
your mother, it doesn't matter how far away she is from us. She will
return."
"You promise?" requested Peter innocently, staring up at his
father.
The man smiled. Sailor Pluto couldn't spend eternity alone...could
she?
"Promise," vowed he. "Promise."
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Her footfalls echoed as she stepped carefully down the steep stone
stairs, her way lit by only a small penlight.
"This is wrong," muttered a feminine voice from near the floor,
her tone extremely bitter. "If Reeny caught us..."
"How's she gonna catch us, Auntie?" questioned a cherry voice.
"We're going into the vaults in the middle of the night! The only way
she could catch us is if..."
The beam of light flew to illuminate the glossy black fur of the
tiny kitten. "Hush, Carina," insisted the human, her young voice strong
but soft as she adjusted the position of a thick notebook in her arms.
"If they hear you, they'll investigate."
Snorting, Diana stuck her head in the patch of brightness.
"Ambriel, how stupid do you think Reeny is?" she questioned quickly,
glaring at the child. "She's not an idiot, though God knows she acts
like one..."
With a sigh, the redheaded girl continued down the stairs, her
gray eyes darting about the tiny stone stairwell. Cobwebs and spider
webs dangled from the rough wooden banister and from the walls
themselves. The air was damp and musty--not a scent that she
particularly enjoyed--but, for some reason, the girl felt at peace. The
knowledge that books of eternal wisdom were laying innocently on
shelves, so within her reach... The mere thought made her heart take
off, racing. Ambriel had to physically restrain herself from dashing
down the steps by clutching onto the handrail.
After what could have been either an eternity or a few, fleeting
moments, she felt the floor beneath her. Solid. No more steps.
Instinctively, the girl pressed a hand against the wall, finding a light
switch without searching. She flicked it into the on position.
Lamps exploded into life, bathing the room in a bright glow. It
took her bright eyes a few seconds to adjust, and, once they did, she
felt a smile touch her placid face.
There were shelves. Endless seas of stone shelves surrounded her,
no doubt dating back to when Crystal Palace had first been built.
They were stacked with leather-bound books, each spine blank except for
a date. In the midst of the shelves was one great stone table, its
surface coated liberally with dust. She stepped forward, pink slippers
kicking up clouds of dust as she made her way to the enormous table. It
was taller, taller even than she, and Ambriel found herself standing on
her tiptoes just to place her notebook atop it. Dust rose in giant
billows above her head, but she didn't try to push it away. She smiled
instead.
"This is the most amazing place I have ever seen," breathed the
child, staring around the room. "It's so full of knowledge... I can just
feel the Prophecy drawing me in."
"It's the Gift that draws you in," Diana informed her, leaping
atop the massive table and frowning at the dust. "The Gift gives you the
power."
Ambriel cocked her head to one side and looked at the cat. "Gift?"
she repeated, confused.
The black kitten joined her aunt on the table, laying in the thick
dust and smiling slightly. "It's the power to understand Prophecy!" she
chimed in happily. "I've been studying."
Rolling her eyes, the adult Guardian knocked the smaller cat
upside the head. "Hush, Carina," she shot coolly, focusing her attention
on Ambriel, who had now gone over to the shelves and was scrutinizing
the book spines. "The Gift," she continued, "is very rare. It allows one
to pick out important passages of Prophecy and unlock them."
The girl whirled around. "Unlock?" she echoed.
"To change it," explained the pink cat. "And to make it reality."
She sighed and pawed open the cover of the notebook, flipping through
the pages leisurely as she continued. "Reeny is frightened because the
last Angel of the Moon was murdered by her own people in a terrible
riot. Wise scholars say it was because they lived in fear of what would
happen had she unlocked certain parts of Prophecy."
"Certain parts?" repeated the redheaded girl. But Diana offered no
more insight and she shrugged the wonder off and turned back to the
books. "And, anyway, I'm not planning on unlocking any Prophecy."
The cat sighed once again. "That's just the thing," she told the
child carefully. "You may have to in order to save the..." She trailed
off, her red eyes growing wide as she read and re-read a long paragraph
in the book. "What is this, Ambriel?"
Pulling a book from one of the lower shelves, the girl walked over
to the table and clambered onto a single wooden stool that stood,
lonely, next to the great dusty stone. "What's what?" she asked, placing
the tome atop the table and turning to face the cat. "Did I get a
passage wrong?" she questioned carefully, pulling a pencil from the
spiral spine of the notebook. "Cause I can fix it..."
"I mean about your translation of this passage," the cat
responded, concerned. "'The Training Timekeepers will be trained no
longer by their Mistress.'" Diana licked her chops nervously. "That
would mean that's something is going to happen to Pluto."
"Well, something is going to happen," Ambriel retorted, cocking
her head to one side. "According to the other Scouts, Sailor Pluto is
going to travel into the past to get Chibi-Moon and take her to the
20th century."
Red eyes went wide as the Guardian stared at the young child.
"When is this to happen?"
Carina sniggered. "'When Uranus and Neptune celebrate a solemn
memory,'" she read from the page. "That would be after their anniversary
of becoming Scouts, right?"
"Which would have been two weeks ago," whispered the pink cat in
a soft voice.
Ambriel was about to ask what the 'big deal' was when footfalls
echoed on the stone steps behind her. She gasped and whirled around,
gray eyes wide.
"What do you think you're doing?" hollered an angry Princess
Reeny, her hands on her hips as she glared disdainfully at the child.
"I TOLD you no more Prophecy!"
The girl hopped off the stool and quickly stumbled backward,
pressing her back against the giant stone slab. "But... The Queen
said..."
Snorting, the young woman seized the large brown volume of
Prophecy in one hand and the thick, script-filled notebook in the other.
"I don't care what my mother said," she informed her child, trying to
ignore the fearful tears that welled within the bright gray eyes.
"You're not studying this."
"But..."
She shook her head slowly, pink pigtails softly sweeping the sides
of her face with stray strands. "Ambriel, this is for your own good."
She held out a hand to the girl.
Tears fell freely down pale pink cheeks as the child took a shaky
step forward and glared up at the woman who she called mother. A lump
rose in her throat as she straightened her spine and stared at the adult
in awe. Then, she took a long, shuddering breath and her lower lip
quivered. "You are no Princess..." she breathed, pressing past the woman
and thundering up the steps.
Lisa and Helios, who were coming down to the vaults after Reeny,
concerned, watched in awe as the child pushed past them. "Ambriel?"
questioned the handmaiden, blue eyes staring after the child.
From her seat upon the table, Diana sighed and glared at the
Princess of the Earth. "You really fouled it up this time, Reeny," she
stated in a dark tone. "Whatever respect that child had for you just
flew out the window."
"Shut up," groaned Reeny, shaking her head as she turned around to
look at her prince and her blonde friend. "Just shut up."
* * * * * * * * * * * *
"Arthur's problem," he told the big golden retriever while typing
furiously, "was that he underestimated the Sailor Scouts. He assumed
that one monster would keep them busy."
The dog yawned and laid on the floor. "Was Arthur wrong in
assuming that?" he asked, tone not unsuspecting. "They don't seem all
that tough to me."
Seth pushed his glasses up on his nose and turned away from the
computer screen, brown eyes focusing on the dog. "That was exactly what
he thought, Calico," he explained, crossing his hands upon his lap. "And
look what he got for it."
"So what if Arthur was about weak as a frozen over Hell and just
as pristine?" drawled the dog languidly. "The point is that, as time
goes on, we become stronger."
Sighing, the man turned back to his work. "You just don't get it,"
he pressed, smoothing the sleeves of his black uniform. "But you will
someday."
Calico rolled his brown eyes. "You're right about one thing," he
mumbled. "I DON'T get it." Stretching, he attempted to catch a glimpse
of the screen. "But who cares? What's the plan?"
He beamed, showing tiny white fangs. "I'll send out three monsters
in quick succession," he explained, hitting a button on the keyboard. Up
popped a tiny purple wolf-shaped graphic, and it began chasing super-
deformed Sailor Scouts all across the screen. "I call this my 'Sailor
Scouts Get It' program." He chuckled as the wolf bit off the head of one
of the Sailor Scouts. "Cute, eh?"
With a shake of his head, Calico glanced away from the screen and
busied himself with standing up. "The program is utterly repulsive," he
commented with a shudder. "Granted, if your plan works, that will be
what occurs--"
"Undoubtedly," cut in Seth, grinning evilly as he said it.
"But it's not exactly a great thing to see, graphically, on a
computer screen."
The man just rolled his eyes and closed down the program, an
offended expression slowly touching his face. "Well, that's just dandy,"
he pouted, crossing his arms over his chest. "Don't appreciate my six
hours of code-writing... Just don't..."
Sighing, the dog laid his chin on the desktop and studied the map
of Crystal Tokyo, focusing mostly on the three large purple 'x' marks--
one on Tokyo's biggest graveyard, one on a small school in a rather
ritzy neighborhood, and the last on Crystal Palace, itself. "When,
exactly, does this plan go into effect?"
"Tomorrow at ten a.m." Seth beamed, his fangs glistening in the
computer light. "The three wolves will appear within ten minutes of each
other, and the Scouts will be forced to scatter. And then..." He took
his fist and slammed it into the palm of his other hand. "WHAM!" he
exclaimed loudly, voice filling the computer room. "No more Sailor
Scouts!"
"You hope," muttered Calico, claws clicking on the tile floor as
he walked toward the open door. "After all, Ginnie will downright maul
you if you screw up."
He considered this as the dog walked out, turning his brown eyes
to focus on the map before him. Ginnie WOULD certainly hurt him... In
fact, it would probably be better for him to get killed by the Sailor
Scouts, rather than to let Ginnie have him...
Suddenly very cold, Seth pulled a blanket from the back of the
chair and pulled it around his shoulders, trying to pull his attention
away from his possibly impending doom. After all, Arthur was a boor. He
was no smarter than that bulb of a man, Kevin. But he, Seth... He was
stronger than those two. His plan would work. He would kill the Sailor
Scouts and take over the world in the name of his queen...
Wouldn't he?
* * * * * * * * * * * *
The trio of adults stood silently in the doorway, watching a
certain little girl with bright red hair sleep. Not one of them moved or
even thought to; the moment was special and tranquil.
Pulling the door shut, the Princess of the Earth let out a long
sigh. "To think of all that girl is going through," she thought aloud,
cinnamon eyes both sad and maternal as she studied the gold doorknob.
"I don't think that I will EVER complain about being Princess again."
"There's a promise that will last a full hour," smiled Lisa, her
head bowed as she stared at the ground, face emotionless as she kidded
the young woman. She, too, sighed, the melancholy sound echoing through
the high-ceilinged hallway.
Helios let a frown cross his pale face as he watched both his
maiden and the woman that could easily be considered Ambriel's second
mother (and partner in crime) sigh miserably and let their usually
cheery smiles droop into nothingness. He wrinkled his nose and ran a
hand through his silver-white hair.
"We cannot stand to be divided," he reminded them sternly,
pressing his thin pink lips together in thought. "If we are to make a
decision, it must be one. But let me reiterate that Serenity said..."
"My mother is a fool!" roared Reeny, suddenly animated as she
glared at Elysion's high priest. "She knows what the Gift can do to
people, and she is an idiot to think..."
The blonde's head snapped up and a dark, unforgiving scowl
appeared on her face. "Better to be an idiot than a spoiled princess!"
she spat, her blue eyes lowering toward the younger woman. "Ambriel's
Gift for prophecy is just that--a gift! If she can understand things
that no one else can..."
"Why do you think that no one understands, Lisa?" the pink-haired
one shot back, tone cold and low. "It's because it KILLS. No one with
the Gift has..."
"I have the Gift."
Both women froze in mid-fight to glance at the pale-faced young
man who stood nearly motionless behind them. His sweet azure eyes were
both innocent and knowing, as though a wave of timelessness had washed
over him. A certain far-off expression was masked by some sort of soft
smile, and he seemed to be in two places at once.
Reeny gulped. "Wh... What did you... You have the..."
"I have the Gift," repeated Helios softly, his gaze focusing on
his beloved. "Compared to Ambriel's Gift, it is nothing, but I have
lived all this time with the strange and beautiful ability to read
prophecy."
Lisa bit her tongue. "What is the Gift?" she asked softly, cocking
her head to one side. "I don't understand it..."
With a slight, distant smile, the young man leaned against the
marble wall of the hallway and shrugged slightly. "The Gift is the
unique ability to comprehend prophecy," he clarified for the puzzled
handmaiden. "Few have it, which is why it's so frightening that Ambriel
does."
His pink-haired girlfriend nodded solemnly. "But with the Gift
comes also the ability to CHANGE prophecy," she stressed, shaking her
head. "If I were to take that book and replace the word 'Guardian' with
'Luna' every time it appeared, all we would have was a bunch of cross-
outs and a messy book." She paused, staring up at the skylights in the
ceiling. "But, if that little girl was to do it..."
"The world could end," finished the blonde woman in a distant
voice, her face pale and gaunt. "I see your point."
"It gets worse," continued the Princess, sighing miserably. "In
the past, the Gifted have been..." She glanced at Lisa and then lowered
her head. "Killed."
Silence filled the area as the trio stood, motionless, held up in
their own sort of vicious circle. The Gift could be dangerous because it
could end the world... But the Gift was special and rare... Queen
Serenity had said that Ambriel could study prophecy... The study of
prophecy required the Gift... The Gift could be dangerous because...
Sighing, Reeny wrinkled her brow and then pounded a fist on the
wall. "She can't study it!" she yelled in a frustrated, restrained
voice. "It's just too dangerous, even with Diana's guidance! She's a
child, and she shouldn't... She shouldn't..." Red eyes started to well
up with tears.
Helios gathered the Princess into his arms and kissed the top of
her head. "Maybe she's right," he mentioned to Lisa in a soft voice.
"That child is... And I just don't know..."
The blonde let herself nod slowly. "I suppose she's right," she
commented solemnly. "Ambriel's a child, still, and children need to have
their childhood."
"No more prophecy?" questioned the pink-haired one, her voice
muffled by her beloved's shirt.
With a slight, sad smile, Helios held her closer. "No more
prophecy for the Angel."
* * * * * * * * * * * *
The Ten'ou-Chiba-Hartford dining room was, as it was every
Saturday morning, a room bustling with activity and filled with the
noise that went along with living in a household with ten people. Dishes
crashed against cups as pans slammed into one another, creating a
clatter that nearly deafened all the present family members, and that
was without the consideration that people were yelling over the din.
And Haley, who sat between her aqua-haired mother and her
obnoxious little female cousin, was growing increasingly nervous. No,
nervous really wasn't the right word for it--it was more that she was
slowly getting more and more annoyed. Yes. Annoyed WAS the word for it.
Since Terrence had announced the fact that Susan--the one person who
made the house livable with her mysterious, almost sentimental outlook
on life--had departed for the past, she'd felt a strange feeling of
anger boiling in the pit of her stomach. It was as if, all of a sudden,
her family was unbearable.
She sighed and, pushing her bangs from her eyes, focused on
pushing her forkful of eggs around on her plate. Across the table from
her, Delaney was starting to fuss loudly, and Hannah was fretting over
the little raven-haired child, trying to calm her nerves. Terry was
laughing with his son at the far end of the table, seemingly unaware of
the empty seat to his left. Aeris was eating in silence, a first, which
would have been a miracle were she not also elbowing her cousin in the
side every few moments... It was most likely accidental, but Haley was
starting to inch farther to her right to get away from the child. And
then, there were her mothers and Brian, who were all gabbing about the
big concert coming up at Crystal Music Academy.
"Could someone pass me a roll?" asked the young woman softly,
crossing her legs under the table after accidentally kicking Aeris.
No one heard her, and the dull roar that echoed through the room
continued.
A spoonful of baby oatmeal flew across the table just then, and it
was all Haley could do to put a hand up before the gray-brown goop
smacked her in the face. She lowered her eyes at her sister and niece.
Delaney cooed loudly, grinning her almost sick, toothless smile,
and her mother smiled sheepishly and passed her napkin across the table,
blushing a bit. "Sorry about that, Haley," she apologized while focusing
on trying to get the baby to actually eat her breakfast. "I didn't know
that was going to happen."
"Obviously," muttered the brunette, rolling her teal eyes.
"Incoming!" hollered Terry suddenly.
Haley watched in a cross between horror and extreme annoyance as a
small brown roll literally flew across the middle of the table, followed
closely by a pre-wrapped pad of butter. Her gaze traced after the
projectiles as her tall blonde parent caught both the bread and butter,
grinning wolfishly and nodding her thanks to the young man.
She had not had a good month. Her upper lip was slowly pulled
between her teeth as she deposited Hannah's napkin on her plate and
clenched her fists around the armrests of her chair. She'd gotten into a
school, far away. Fine. That could be dealt with. She'd been dumped by
the man she loved. Alright, so that wasn't exactly fortunate, but she
could deal. But now, her aunt had left, and she'd been beamed with baby
food, and...
"THAT'S IT!" roared Haley, kicking her chair backwards and jetting
straight to her feet, balling her fists as she glowered at the eight
people around the table.
Michelle furrowed her brow and stared up at the angry young woman.
"What's 'it,' dear?"
Groaning, she took the napkin back off her plate and threw it down
for emphasis. "This entire HOUSE, that's what!" she yelled fervently.
"I've had enough! Here I live with two annoying mothers, a sister and
her STUPID family, obnoxious genius cousins, and an 'uncle' who's also
the King's brother..." She was red in the face by this point. "I can't
take this anymore! With Susan--the NORMAL ONE--gone..."
"Sets? Normal?" came a voice from the far end of the table.
"...I QUIT!"
There was silence in the room as she stood, fuming and taking deep
breaths, in front of all of them. Everyone in the room with the possible
exception of eight-month-old Delaney had offended expressions on their
faces. Even Brian, the most laid-back person that the young woman had
ever met, seemed a bit put off by the whole ordeal.
And then, softly, Alexandra spoke. "You...quit?" she echoed,
confused.
Haley screamed. It wasn't a word, or even a phrase--she just
screamed. The whole room seemed to shake as she let it all out and,
still angry, stormed out of the dining room, slamming the door behind
her.
"What's wrong with her?" asked Peter softly, picking at a pancake.
Brian leaned back in his seat and ran a hand through his head of
short blonde hair. "The question," he retorted, "is if she's serious."
Laughing, the blonde woman leaned back in her chair and laced her
hands together behind her neck. "If I know my daughter--and I do,"
responded Alex casually, "she would never--"
The door to the dining room popped back open, and a still-fuming
Haley stuck her head in. "If you want me, I'll be at Phoebe's!" The door
slammed once again.
"--move out..." finished the woman softly, her face suddenly void
of all color. She gulped and ran a finger around the collar of her
shirt. "Though, I could be wrong..."
"Damn straight," agreed Terrence, nodding. "DAMN straight."
* * * * * * * * * * * *
'If you ever need somebody...'
The words echoed in her mind, even now.
'If you ever need to talk to someone who's not a part of your
goofy family...'
A vow from a full year before, after she'd been turned down by
Tokyo University and three different, smaller schools, it was.
'Just come and knock on my door, Haley.'
She'd been upset, and life had been hectic in the Ten'ou-Chiba-
Hartford household. As usual.
'I've always got an open room.'
No one had really cared that she was alive, and it had been during
one of the many 'off' times with Eric.
'And I'm a good listener--sarcastic commentary or not.'
So she'd packed up an overnight bag and gone to stay with one of
her closest friends. No shame in that.
'And, when you're ready to move out, come here. Please? It's
lonely, Haley. Very lonely.'
She raised one fist to the smooth wood of the front door, part of
her very willing to knock and the other part very, very afraid. Her
breath caught in her throat as she stared at the door and then at the
suitcase in her other hand. Could she actually leave her family behind?
Could she abandon them as such?
Once, then twice, she rapped on the door. Someone called out the
word 'coming' loudly from inside the nice blue-painted ranch. The young
woman took a deep breath in through her nose and tightened the grip on
her suitcase. What was she doing?
'Cause, Haley, if I had to pick the Scout I was closest to...
Well, it would probably be you or Alice. I don't know why... Maybe it's
just that you two have sort of understood how it feels to come from a
family that's, in its own way, not a real family at all...'
"Haley?" questioned a voice. The brunette snapped from her reverie
to find herself staring into a pair of bright, if icy, blue eyes. Blue-
black hair, crimped from spending all together too much time in braids
rimmed a pale, grown-up face.
Phoebe cocked her head to one side and looped a strand of messy
hair behind one of her ears. "Are you okay, Haley?" she asked softly,
observing the blood-shot teal eyes and the white knuckled-fist that held
the suitcase. "You look like you could burst out crying any moment..."
"I've done enough crying," responded the older teen, strolling
through the door and standing in the small foyer of the Urawa household.
"I just..." She sighed and shook her head slowly. "I don't know
anymore."
Shutting the door and circling her friend, a concerned expression
on her face, the younger teen wiped her hands on the red apron she wore
and smiled gently. "You know that you're always welcome here," she
prompted considerately. "No matter how bad things are at home..."
The brunette dropped her luggage on the floor and rushed forward,
throwing her arms around Phoebe's neck. "Eric dumped me and then Susan
moved out!" she sobbed, burying her head in the girl's shoulder. "And I
just can't take it anymore!"
With a smile and a slight chuckle, the blue-haired girl smoothed
her friend's hair. "You're always welcome, Haley... No matter what's
going on in your life, you can always have the guestroom..."
She looked up reluctantly and wiped tears from her teal eyes,
staring at her friend in doubt. "Are you sure... Won't Marie get mad..."
"You had to come here because you knew I'd defend you!" chortled
Phoebe, picking up the suitcase with one arm and wrapping the other
around her companion's waist. "Besides, it'll be nice to have some new
blood in this place... I'm getting SO sick of Orion's bellyaching..."
Laughing and smiling together, the duo made their way down the
hall.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
"Richard Umino, right?" asked the balding, cheery-looking man with
the wolfish grin as he sorted through a stack of papers. "You must be
the newest member of this fine educational paragon, Tokyo University."
He extended a hand to the young man, the grin growing wider. "Welcome
to Business 101."
Smiling gently, Richard accepted the handshake and bowed
slightly. "Pleased to meet you, sir," he greeted. "I'm sure this class
will be just what I'm looking for."
With a laugh, the man retracted his hand. "You're modest, too,
you know that?" he went on with a raised eyebrow. "The grades you got on
the entrance exams could frighten even the world's toughest scholars."
The smile was back. "You did well, young man."
Richard pressed his lips together and blushed, saying his parting
words to the jolly teacher and taking a seat in one of the many empty
auditorium chairs. Finally, he was here. College.
The decision to take placement exams had not been an easy one.
Though he'd been out of high school for nearly two years, the death of
his parents and his constant loneliness had plagued him so long that
he'd had no desire to become part of the rush for higher education. So,
he'd sat alone in his family apartment, living off the money--no small
amount, it was--that his parents left behind and occasionally buying
thick novels and silly videos to keep himself busy.
But then, Lyra had moved in and started hinting at the fact he
needed to be better educated. She whined at him, pleaded with him, and
the overall effect was obvious--he'd taken the placement tests. And--
Ta-da!--he was suddenly on Tokyo University's most wanted list. And
right in time to sign up for some of the newer classes.
So he wrote "undeclared major" in the appropriate blanks and
decided to take a few business classes. After all, wasn't business
important for a future ruler of the Earth to know?
The bell rang and his teacher stood up and walked in front of his
own desk, flashing the animalistic grin toward the entire class. Then,
he glanced at his watch.
"I happen to know," he addressed all thirty-odd students, "that
we're missing one. She took a class from me last semester and was always
late, SO..."
Suddenly, the door burst open and there was a blur of blue school
uniform and pink--Richard did a double take. PINK?--hair. "Sorry I'm
late, Mr. Johnson," apologized the whirlwind of a young woman, bowing
quickly toward the teacher. "I got...umm...detained..."
Mr. Johnson rolled his eyes. "Just go sit down, Princess..."
PRINCESS? Richard felt his blue eyes widen and his jaw drop
without permission. There was only one nineteen-year-old, pink-haired,
always-late girl in all of Crystal Tokyo who would be called Princess.
Reeny took up a seat a row in front of the redhead, glancing half-
heartedly at the man behind her, not really seeing who he was. She
brushed a strand of pink hair from her red eyes and leaned back in the
seat, tugging a notebook from her book bag.
Mr. Johnson smiled up at the class. "I would like you all to pull
out something to write on. It's note time."
There were various groans from the group. No one, obviously,
wanted to take notes on the first day of a new class.
And, just as the teacher was about to start the class, the pink-
haired young woman whirled around and stared right at the man, observing
everything from the silver-rimmed glasses to the bright cobalt eyes to
the slightly messy red hair. Her jaw slowly dropped. And, then:
"RICHARD! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING HERE?!"
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Celeste sighed and kicked at a stone, meandering pointlessly down
the dirt path with the two other children. "Why are we walking through a
graveyard, you guys?" she asked quietly, sticking her hands in the
pockets of her white jackets. "This is silly."
"It is NOT silly," countered the green-black kitten from her spot
leading the group. "I felt something."
The silver cat made a face. "It's still silly, Ara," sighed she,
wrinkling her little pink nose. "Lyra and Richard have catnip waiting
for me back home."
Ara rolled her red eyes.
"Well, I do not comprehend this nonsense any more well than
Celeste does," spoke up Aeris, walking away from the group and plopping
down onto a park bench. "And I feel that all this is exactly as I said
it was--nonsense."
"You say that NOW..." muttered her Guardian dryly.
Sighing, the tan kitten sat down in the middle of the path,
studying a few nearby gravestones half-heartedly. "Are you SURE you felt
something, Ara?" he inquired skeptically. "After all, it doesn't make
sense..."
She turned on him, glare fierce. "You say that now," she growled,
"but what do you know!" She then whirled about to look over at the three
Chibi-Scouts, who were all seated together on the park bench. "I had a
gut feeling that something bad was going to happen at this very place.
I had..."
She was cut off by the low tolling of a bell. It rang, loud and
clear, its somber tone cutting across the graveyard.
"Ten already?" Celeste questioned, stretching and rising slowly to
her feet. "I promised my mom I'd be home by ten-fifteen. I'd better..."
She gasped involuntarily. "Uh-oh..."
The cats all stared at the girl in awe, as did her two friends.
"What?"
"I just felt it," she breathed, reaching into her jeans pocket and
pulling out her yellow and purple transformation stick. "I felt...
evil..."
"Told you so," scoffed Ara, tossing her head indignantly.
Rolling his brown eyes, Galileo looked up at the blonde girl for
guidance. "You're the leader of the Chibi-Scouts, Celeste. It's your
call."
She raised her stick. It sparkled in the spring sunlight.
"Small Star Galactic Power... Make UP!"
* * * * * * * * * * * *
"Evil my ass," muttered Haley, crossing her arms under her chest
as she walked through the deserted hallways of Crystal Music Academy.
"You just made that up to impress us, didn't you?"
Tara rolled her green eyes but didn't respond.
Sighing, Phoebe elbowed her friend in the ribs. "Shush," she
commanded, wrinkling her nose as she followed the raven-headed Shinto
down the hall. "It wasn't just her, you know."
"And, if you make so much as ONE disparaging comment about me,"
Orion shot suddenly, glaring at the brunette, "I will claw you half to
death."
Haley let out a long breath and placed her hands in her back
pockets, focusing her attentions down at the scrappy calico cat. "Well,
I'm not going to whine," she declared stubbornly, making a face. "But I
don't get how there could be evil in a high school on a Saturday
morning." She glanced at her watch. "It's barely past ten," she read
with a sigh, "and there is never anyone here until noon on a
Saturday..."
"Hush," hissed the cat unexpectedly, her fur standing on end and
her green eyes becoming wide. "I can feel it."
The blue-haired one glanced around, braids whipping at her face.
"What's 'it'?" she whispered edgily.
"Evil," responded Tara, running a hand through her short black
hair. "Somewhere in this building."
Just then, there was a loud barking sound and a giant, purple wolf
dog came running down the hall toward the three teens and the cat, its
white fangs glistening with saliva as it chased toward them.
"SHIT!" screamed Haley, grabbing an awe-struck Phoebe and pulling
her out of harm's way. The creature thundered past them. "What the
Hell..."
"THIS IS NO TIME FOR SWEARING!" shot Phoebe angrily, wrenching her
wrist from the older girl's grasp. "There's trouble, and you know what
that means!"
From her spot on the floor, Orion smiled slightly. "Time to go,
Sailor Scouts!" she announced.
"Phoenix Galactic Power..."
"Earth Galactic Power..."
"Comet Galactic Power..."
"MAKE UP!"
* * * * * * * * * * * *
"Is this smart, Your Highness?" asked Ambriel apprehensively, her
little hands clasped behind her back as she followed the Queen of the
Earth toward the front gate of Crystal Palace. "I mean, if something bad
were to happen..."
"That's what we're here for," supplied Sailor Polaris quickly,
pushing the girl along a bit.
Beside her, Sailor Aurora Borealis nodded solemnly. "That way, if
the Queen's hunch about evil being nearby is right, we can protect her."
"Just like we have been destined to do," put in Helios sternly,
reaching for the girl's hand. "But you'll not have to fight..."
Ambriel kept her hand well out of the man's reach and stared up at
him with a certain coldness in her gray eyes. "That's to say I don't
want to fight," she retorted in a heartless tone. "But I would die
protecting this Earth if I had to..."
Polaris sighed. "Ambriel, if your mother was here..."
The redheaded child turned quickly on her heel, stopping to glance
up at the blonde Sailor Scout. "I have no mother," she stated plainly,
voice completely void of any emotion. "No one loves a girl such as I..."
Aurora Borealis glanced at her fellow Scout. They stared at one
another in confusion.
And then, a scream shattered the calm of that Saturday morning.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
"Now, chapter three will discuss the finer points of economics..."
Reeny gasped and clutched a hand to her chest, her breathing
suddenly labored. Her pencil snapped between her fingers. A few students
turned to glance at her in annoyance before turning back to their notes.
Suddenly, the pink-haired woman was animated, stuffing papers,
pencils, and her notebook back into her bag with a certain ferocity that
alerted even the teacher.
"Princess?"
She shook her head and ignored the balding man, but it was Richard
who caught her attention--or, more specifically, her shoulder. "Reeny,
are you alright?" he whispered as she froze under his touch. She shook
her head once again, all the color draining from her face, and sprang to
her feet, taking off down the row and out of the room as quickly as she
had rushed in.
He furrowed his brow and brought the eraser of his pencil to his
mouth, thinking. Sure, Reeny wasn't exactly the essence of normality,
but there was definitely something wrong with her, this time. He'd never
seen her, or any of the girls, for that matter, act so oddly. The only
action that mimicked her urgency was when one of the Sailor Scouts got
a locket alert... He stopped breathing momentarily.
And then, after slapping himself in the forehead, Richard found
himself faced with the same dire pressure she had been faced with but
seconds before.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
"What IS that thing?" questioned Sailor Chibi-Pluto, resting her
Time Key on the ground in awe. "I've certainly never seen a creature
quite like it."
And it was a very odd creature, indeed. About five feet tall when
upon all fours, the giant purple dog-wolf looked as though it could
flatten all three of the Chibi-Scouts with a single step of a giant paw.
It stood on the dirt path of the graveyard, not twenty feet ahead of
them, its ravenous fangs seemingly ready to rid them of their lives.
Nervously, Sailor Chibi-Star pressed her lips together and took a
deep, shaky breath. "Maybe this wasn't a good idea..." she mumbled
softly, clasping her hands together in front of her stomach and staring
at the monster. "We're going to get it..."
"Fight like a real Scout!" exclaimed little Peter, holding his
Time Key in white-knuckled fists. "You can't act like a little kid this
time around!"
She turned on him. "And why not, you sniffling little...cootie
carrier?!" she shot back indignantly. "I'm the leader of the Chibi-
Scouts, anyway, and you're hardly a Scout!"
Peter was about to respond when his sister pushed between the duo
and pointed her Key Staff at the wolf. "Bicker later!" she commanded.
"Right now, THAT'S the problem!"
The wolf-monster howled, its voice sending purple waves of energy
flying through the air and turning over gravestones and lampposts. It
was all the three Chibi-Scouts and their Guardians could do to stay on
their feet. It turned its crimson, evil eyes toward the Scouts and
seemed to smile viciously.
"Attack!" screamed Ara loudly, her high-pitched mew echoing
through the air. "Kill that dog!"
Chibi-Pluto pointed her Time Key toward the monster. "Dead..."
It howled once again, louder than before, and the waves of power
knocked the trio off their feet. Scattered, they glanced at one another,
remaining on the ground as the wolf leisurely strolled toward them.
The brunette furrowed his brow, climbing slowly to his feet. "What
we need is a distraction!" he declared loudly, picking up his Key.
"Peter!" chorused the two girls nervously. "You're nuts!"
He shook his head slowly and paced toward the wolf, which had
stopped and was staring, almost surprised, at the boy. "Listen up,
Purina-breath!" the child hollered, swinging his Key from side to side.
"I'm not going to let you act like this!"
"PETER!" yelled Chibi-Star, clambering to her feet. "It's
suicide!"
The wolf roared and knocked the blonde girl back to the ground
but, by some miracle or another, the Master of Time in Training managed
to remain on his feet as the strong energy coursed over and past him.
"Leave...us...alone..." he moaned, taking a step forward as the
howling continued.
"Peter!" screamed his sister, tears streaming down her cheeks.
He grunted and took another shaky step. "You...monster..."
Chibi-Star felt herself swoon and was forced to close her eyes as
tears welled to the surface. "That silly boy..." she whispered to
herself, almost reverently. "He'll get us all killed yet..."
"And...I...will...protect...them..."
At those words, the wolf stopped its howling and stared, almost as
though it were amazed, at the child. Blinking once, then twice, it
cocked its head to the side, as though it were welcoming a challenge.
Peter raised his Time Key and closed his eyes. "DEAD SCREAM!"
Nothing.
The wolf seemed to smile as it took a long step forward and
licked its chops, red eyes staring down at the child. He gulped and
stumbled backward, suddenly frantic.
"Starburst Shimmer!" screamed Chibi-Star, rushing forward as she
attacked. The slivers of razor-sharp stardust rained down on the
creature, but she ignored the howls of pain and grabbed Peter by the
wrist, pulling him out of harm's way.
"Dead Scream!" hollered Chibi-Pluto, smiling as the ball of
reddish-purple energy erupted from her Garnet Orb and threw the wolf
across the graveyard and, incidentally, into a small lake. The trio of
Scouts chased after it, watching with a certain amount of triumph as it
sank.
Then, as soon as the bubbling stopped and it appeared that the
cretin was completely drowned, the girls turned to one another and let
out a cheer. "We did it!"
"You did it..." mumbled Peter with a sigh, kicking at the dirt
path with one of his black tuxedo shoes. "I didn't do squat--"
"You were very brave!" countered Chibi-Star a bit defensively.
"If you hadn't stood up to that stupid thing, he would have kept howling
and we would have died!" She rushed foreword and caught him in a tight
hug. "You were incredible!"
Chibi-Pluto tugged reluctantly on her friend's purple skirt. "I
believe that there is more trouble," she speculated as her colorful eyes
watched a group of Royal Guard cars zip down the nearby street.
With a little gasp, the blonde one unclasped the smaller boy and
stood on her tiptoes to see out to the street. "Those are the ROYAL
cars, though," she observed with a wrinkle of her nose. "That means..."
The trio all looked at one another, and then down at the three
Guardian cats that had just arrived. They all stared at one another for
a long moment. And then...
"CRYSTAL PALACE!"
* * * * * * * * * * * *
"Damn wolf-dog," mumbled Sailor Phoenix, brushing one of her
braids away from her face as she watched the giant canine sit on the
stage of Crystal Music Academy's main theater. "If that thing mars the
stage, I will kick the shit out of it."
Sailor Earth's green eyes widened as she stared at the older
Scout. "Phoenix... You don't...swear..." she stuttered, utterly amazed.
She tossed her head. "I'm still going to kick the goddamn SHIT out
of it!" she announced, stepping toward the monster and holding out a
hand. "Shining..."
With an almost bored look about it, the wolf let out a long howl.
Some sort of electricity, however, accompanied said howl, and it was all
the Scouts could do to scatter before the bolt smashed into the theater
doors and sent charred wood flying about the room.
"Mom's going to pitch a fit," muttered Sailor Comet, peeking her
head up from behind a row of chairs.
The monster howled once again, this time sending the bolt flying
toward the lights above them. Glass shattered and the sockets sorted
out, basking the room in an eerie darkness.
Sighing, Sailor Earth squinted and rose slowly to her feet. "This
is NOT good," she mumbled with a slight sigh, trying to focus on the
purple-gray wolf-creature in the relative darkness. "We're doomed."
"You're telling me," mumbled Phoenix, making a face. "I can't see
that THING, and now I'm supposed to attack it?"
There was another howl, and a bolt of electricity lit the room for
a brief moment, casting strange shadows about the three Scouts before
it rammed into a wall. They all looked at one another in doubt. "Any
ideas?" questioned the brunette.
Sighing, Phoenix raised a hand. "Shining DAWN!" she screamed. A
giant ball of orange light appeared high in the room, hovering above
them. It cast some light on the group--not exactly an impressive amount,
but it was enough to see both the other Scouts and the monster.
"What are we supposed to do?" asked Comet softly, looping a strand
of hair behind her ear. "Why don't you let that ball fall?"
"Attack!" screamed Orion from her place at their feet, forgotten
until this point in time. "She's OBVIOUSLY holding that ball of...sun...
errrrr, light...erm..." The calico made a face and then shook it off.
"Well, she's OBVIOUSLY holding it there for you to see by!"
The blue-haired Scout was only able to grunt in response.
"Oh, well then..." Sailor Comet cleared her throat and stretched
out her arms at a leisurely place, ignoring the fact that the wolf was
watching with intent interest and also ignoring the fact that Phoenix's
ball was starting to waver.
Earth sighed. "TSUNAMI!" she announced, letting water erupt from
the palms of her hands and wash over the wolf, knocking him into the
back wall of the stage area. She wiped her damp gloves on her skirt and
then turned slowly toward her friend, who was glaring.
"You interrupted me," mumbled Comet, raising a hand idly to the
skies. "You OBVIOUSLY don't understand how much concentration in takes
to..."
"COMET!" yelled Phoenix through gritted teeth, her icy eyes
glaring at the ranting brown-haired one.
Flushing, the oldest of the trio sighed and balled her open hand
into a fist. "FIERY CRATER!"
The wolf roared in pain as her attack pounded into him, followed
closely by the ball of orange light. It suddenly disappeared in a flash
of bright purple light.
There was a slight tinkling sound, and the cat on the ground
sighed. "I'll bet dollars to doughnuts that the monster reverted into a
tiny purple ball." She shook her head and took off toward the stage.
Standing in the dark, Sailor Phoenix furrowed her brow. "But now
what?" she asked softly, staring.
"Crystal Palace," the cat called to them, her voice near the front
of the room. "I felt a foreboding presence near there, and I will wager
ANYTHING that a wolf's running around up there."
"Even your smart-ass attitude?" muttered Comet.
Orion's sigh echoed through the theater. "I HEARD that."
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Encircling Neo-Queen Serenity were a few dozen guards, all
frantically trying to hold her, Helios, and Ambriel back as the two
Sailor Scouts fought against the wolf-monster without much help.
"I'm the ANGEL of the Moon!" argued the little girl, kicking at
one of the burly guards who fought to hold her behind the gate. "I have
to fight!"
"Your superiors will hear about this!" roared an angry Queen, her
blue eyes hateful toward the group of men. "I am your Queen, and you are
IGNORING an order!"
The most intimidating of the men, a large blonde with tiny brown
slits for eyes, shook his head. "I take my orders from the King and
Princess themselves," he informed the blonde woman dryly. "No one
else..."
Serenity rolled her eyes and was about to respond when a sound
caused her to gasp.
It was scream from one of the three kitchen maids who had first
seen the monster, who were gathered in a cluster near the guards. Then
came another, higher-pitched scream from beyond the gates, and everyone
craned their necks to see what was going on.
Outside the massive quartz gates of Crystal Palace, both Sailors
Aurora Borealis and Polaris were lying on the ground, their fukus
slightly browned. Looming over them stood the monster, smoke pouring
from his nostrils and fire shooting from his mouth.
Polaris groaned and tried to get up slowly, her legs wobbly on the
ground. A bit of blood trailed down her leg, no doubt coming from her
not-yet-healed stitches on her knee.
This was too much for Ambriel. Sticking a single hand in her
pocket, she raised her transformation stick high. "Angel Moon Galactic
Power..."
"Stop that girl!" yelled the blonde Royal Guard, completely caught
off guard. "We have direct orders not to let the child fight..."
"MAKE UP!"
As the group of huge men dove for the child, who was now floating
a being wrapped with sparkling white ribbons, Serenity pressed past them
and ran toward the gates. All three girlish kitchen maids let out
shrieks and tried to detain the white-garbed woman, who ignored them and
ran toward the fallen Scouts. Her face was masked with both fear and
anger as she stepped forward.
And then, a voice rang out.
"Stop right there!" commanded someone from atop the high quartz
wall. "You've hurt two of my friends, bullied a bunch of poor women, and
caused no end of trouble!" Neo-Sailor Moon jumped down and stood beside
her mother, pink pigtails blowing in the breeze. "And now, in the name
of the Moon..."
"We'll punish you!" finished a male voice, and the Starlit Prince
bounded up beside his destined love, who was still trying to stand on
her shaky legs.
Sailor Moon made a face. "That's my line, pretty boy," she
grumbled, glaring daggers at the young man. "First, you show up at MY
school, and now you steal MY lines... What next?"
The monster howled loudly, shooting fire at the two standing
Scouts, the young man, and the Queen of the Earth. They all shrieked and
dove out of the way, but not before being hit with the powerful flash of
fire.
"Your Highness!" screamed little Angel Moon, fluttering up to the
group as they were all thrown against the quartz wall. "Sailor Scouts!"
Turning slowly toward the child, the wolf cocked its head, red
eyes confused. It didn't attack, but it just stared at the child, almost
thoughtfully, as though the mere idea of a little girl--dressed as an
angel--coming after him was amusing.
But Angel Moon didn't stop flying. Instead, she stuck out her
hands, the palms pointing to the creature, and screamed. "ANGELIC GLOW!"
The wolf was taken completely off guard and yelped helplessly, but
it didn't fall. Counter attacking with a furious howl, the fire smashed
into the little girl and threw her into the wall along with the rest of
her allies. A sort of sadistic smirk crossed the monster's face, and he
began spitting fire at the Palace proper.
From her spot on the ground, Aurora Borealis stirred and opened
her brown eyes. "Scouts..." she whispered, using the little strength she
had left to turn her head sideways and glance at the prone forms of
Sailors Polaris and Moon. "Neo-Queen Serenity..." Coughing, she rolled
onto her stomach, which she could feel was tender and sore, and managed
to clamber onto her hands and knees. "You...hurt...them..." she hissed,
glaring at the creature as it wreaked havoc on the Palace. "I'll...
punish...you..."
Then, there was the sound of metal ripping through fur and flesh,
and--though it hurt something awful--she gasped involuntarily. There,
beside the wolf-monster, was King Endymion, his silver sword glistening
in the spring sunlight as he hacked at the giant canine.
As she climbed slowly to her feet, Sailor Aurora Borealis felt
tears welling up in her eyes. A father would risk his life to save his
child. She glanced at Sailor Moon, the ends of her hair singed and her
fuku scorched. Even a child like Reeny, who was not the paragon of
perfection by any means, was worth protecting. Her teary brown orbs
suddenly turned to glance at a sobbing, shaking Helios, who rushed
frantically through the line of awe-struck guards only to kneel besides
his unconscious Princess. She wiped away tears and turned back to the
wolf, who was randomly howling fire into the sky as the sword cut its
body again and again. But yet, it did not fall.
"Rainbow WAVE!" hollered the auburn-haired teen, a rainbow of
color shooting from the palm of one of her hands and smashing into the
wolf, knocking it to the ground. She sunk to her knees, panting, and the
King of the Earth turned to her.
"You alright?" he asked quickly, pushing his bloodied sword back
into its scabbard. "You look beat..."
"SAILOR SCOUTS!" screamed a chorus of voices, and both of them
glanced away to see the other three Galactic Sailors and the other three
Chibi-Scouts running up to the scene quickly, footfalls echoing on the
pavement. Not far away, the others were beginning to stir, finding
themselves all being coddled.
Sighing, Sailor Polaris watched as, slowly, the wolf seemed to
crumple up into a tiny purple ball. "What was that?" she asked softly,
leaning against her Prince as one of the present kitchen maids cleaned
her bleeding knee.
Neo-Queen Serenity climbed shakily to her feet, leaning on her
husband for support. "I do not know," she admitted hesitantly, as though
she was in a mass amount of pain. "But I believe it is, once again, Evil
Queen Ginnie has done this..."
"And what do we do about it?" questioned Sailor Earth, leaning
against the great quartz wall, green eyes intense.
With slight sorrow in her voice, Chibi-Pluto stood up, weighing
the little purple marble in the palm of her white-gloved hand. "I don't
think even my mother knew," she whispered, choking back obvious tears.
"And I think that she still doesn't."
* * * * * * * * * * * *
"Susan's GONE?" gaped Mina, her blue eyes wide as six of the nine
Mistresses sat around the large mahogany table. "How could she been
gone?"
The Meeting of the Mistresses had been called post haste,
especially since the news of Serenity's run-in with the wolf-dog spread
quickly amongst the group. The Inners, of course, hadn't known that the
Keeper of Time had left her family to go into the past, so it naturally
came as quite the shock when Hannah, reluctantly, told them.
Sighing, the tall blonde woman leaned back in her chair, laying
her arms on the rests nonchalantly. "We all remember when Susan brought
Reeny into the past for training as Chibi-Moon," she drawled tediously.
"And we all knew, somewhere deep-down, that she'd go back to do just
that again."
"SOMEDAY," stressed Raye with a wrinkle of her nose. "No one would
have guessed, even for a moment, that it would be today."
Michelle shrugged noncommittally. "I felt it," she admitted
softly. "The pull toward destiny. And I knew it was the beginning."
"As did I," sighed the youngest of the women reluctantly, blowing
a raven strand of hair from her violet eyes. "Of course, I had a right
to feel it, what with Saturn being soon awakened..." She trailed off
nervously, focusing on the sleeping dark-haired babe in her arms.
Gulping, the Mistress of Jupiter stretched out her long legs and
glanced around at the group, green eyes sad. "What of her family?"
questioned the woman softly.
"Those children can take care of themselves," put in Alex with a
shrug. "You don't know the twins very well, and--let me tell YOU--"
"I think she meant Terrence" interrupted the timid aqua-haired one
with an annoyed glance sent toward her wife. "He's so very dependent on
her..."
Silence reigned, not one of the Mistresses knowing quite what to
say. Outside, there were the sounds of sirens and Royal Guard cars
rushing up and down the streets of the large city, and it brought
shivers running down all six spines. What would happen without the
Guardian of Time?
The door to the dining room burst open, just then, and little
green-headed Aeris came tearing in, a cat whose fur matched her owner's
tresses following close behind her. Upon seeing all the adults, she
froze and pulled her long black skirt to either side of her body, bowing
deeply. "Good day to you, the Mistresses of Mars, Jupiter, Venus,
Uranus, Neptune, and Saturn." She glanced up timidly, bright eyes
nervous. "May Serenity smile down on you."
"What is it, Aeris?" asked Alexandra, rolling her own gray-green
eyes at the dreadfully formal greeting--a greeting that was normally
only bothered with at Palace functions.
She straightened up, back flat as a board, and stared straight at
the questioning adult. "I would like to request the ability for Celeste
to join us at dinner." She glanced warily at the woman with the red bow,
losing some of her nerve. "If that would please the Mistresses of
Uranus, Neptune, Sat--"
"Make it so," interrupted the red-bowed one quickly, waving a
hand. "I'm not going to make dinner tonight, so she might as well stay
here."
Smiling and bowing once again, the girl bustled out of the room,
closing the door slowly behind her.
As soon as she was gone, Raye leaned her elbows on the table and
rested her chin in her hands. "What are we to do about this?" she asked
with a long sigh, purple eyes glancing at each of her friends.
Lita shook her head slowly.
Mina shrugged softly and turned away, glancing out the large
picture window.
Reaching for her love's hand, the Mistress of Neptune was
wordless.
As was her blonde wife.
Hannah looked sadly down at her sleeping child and drew the babe
close to her bosom, a tear tracing its way down her cheek as she w
ondered, albeit hesitantly, about the child's future.
And then, she sighed. "What can we do?" she asked, shaking her
head reluctantly. "What?"
The answer didn't come.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Her footfalls echoed on the thin, bland carpeting as she carefully
strode down the hallway. She knew that her face was nearly cadaverous
due to the energy expelled in battle, and her ankle--already weak from
an injury years ago--was swollen up to twice its proper size. But still,
she did not let that bother her. She walked, albeit reluctantly, toward
the door at the end of the long, beige hall. She walked, albeit shakily,
toward the golden numbers which read 201. She walked, albeit slowly, to
complete a mission all her own. She walked, steps wavering, path
crooked, toward something that she had to do.
King Endymion loved Reeny. Sure, she was a ditzy pink-haired teen
whose first priorities were food and sleep, in that order, but he loved
her. Sure, she was not the paragon of perfection, but he adored her.
And, sure, she was just his daughter, no one all that important, but
he'd created her out of love and caring. And that was enough for him.
She raised a fist slowly, studying the sunshine-colored numbers
that were attached to the door. King Endymion was the King of the Earth.
The man behind the door was just the destined love of her mother. Did it
really matter?
It did.
Knocking loudly, she pressed her lips together and glanced
nervously at the bright bronze knob that was so near her hand. It would
soon turn, and she would soon...
The door opened slowly and she glanced up into a pair of
glittering chestnut eyes. "Alice?" asked the man nervously, a concerned
expression crossing his tanned face. "Are you alright?"
With a sigh, she stared up and let tears finally boil up in her
eyes--the first tears she had allowed since she'd left Crystal Palace
and taken a long walk to think, ending up at the hotel. But she blinked
them away and straightened her spine slowly. "I just came to say one
thing, Ken, and them I'm leaving."
His forehead creased in confusion as he stared down at the auburn-
headed teen--his daughter. His only daughter. "Yes?"
Alice took two small steps toward him and wrapped her arms around
his neck, burrowing her head in his white dress shirt for a long moment
before pulling away and wiping the falling tears from her eyes. "I just
wanted to say that I'm sorry," she said softly. "And that I forgive
you."
As she turned to walk away, he caught her wrist in one of his
large hands and pulled her back. "Come here," he commanded, tugging her
toward his chest and wrapping his arms tightly around her lithe body.
She started sobbing right then, finally unable to hold back her
flood of emotions. "I'm so sorry..." she wailed, tears soaking her
father's shirt. "I was awful..."
"Shh..." he hissed delicately, rocking her back and forth. "I
forgive you..."
* * * * * * * * * * * *
"It was AWFUL," he stressed, stroking the sea of long, sandy curls
that laid--along with a head--in his lap. "Reeny just LOOKED at me and
yelped in complete surprise. All I could do was blush and sigh..."
She smiled slightly and yawned, her brown-copper eyes half-
closed. "Rich, I don't think that anyone cared..."
With a shake of his head, he sighed and closed his cobalt orbs.
"You don't understand," he countered with a slight shake of his head.
"First, she recognizes me without explaining, then I rush out after her,
suddenly..." Leaning his head back against the couch, Richard sighed
once again. "I must look like her lover or something..."
The weight from his lap was lifted momentarily, and he opened his
eyes only to see Lyra plop down in his lap. She wrapped her arms around
his shoulders. "You can't possibly be HER lover," the blonde teen
countered with a playful sparkle in her eyes. She leaned forward and
touched noses with her prince. "You're MINE, Richard."
He laughed slightly and kissed her lightly, closing his eyes once
again as their lips met and passions slowly built.
A pair of unseen green eyes watched from the counter of the
kitchen from in front of the speakerphone. "Yeah..." she whispered.
"They're kissing now, but not too much..."
"KISSING?" spat a feminine voice, and there was a clatter from the
other end of the line. "How could you let them KISS?"
The one on the other end rolled her eyes. "They're like this every
day," replied the silver kitten, sighing miserably. "It's completely
normal. I don't see why you're uptight..."
"Because kissing leads to...YOU KNOW...and that leads to babies!"
argued the woman from the other end. "And I do not want to be a
grandmother yet."
"But... Miss Venus..."
From her end, Mina cleared her throat. "You're my spy, and I say
you'll break all that up!" There was a click, followed soon by a dial
tone.
Cassiopeia sighed and hit the 'off' button on the telephone,
stretching her small limbs and wrinkling her pink nose in exasperation.
Why her?
"Rich! Lyra!" she called loudly, jumping onto the next counter and
flipping the lock on the window before nudging it open. "The window in
here blew open again!"
There was a grunt and a sigh from within the living room, and then
Lyra's sweet, high voice echoed through the apartment. "Coming, Cass!"
she called. "Give me a sec!"
With a shake of her head, the kitten glanced up at the starlight
sky and wished--with all her heart--that Mina would soon give up on it
all.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
"So, you'll do it?" questioned the girl, kneeling on the marble
floor and glancing at the little black kitten and the large pink one.
Diana rolled her crimson eyes and glanced at the ceiling
nervously. "I don't think it's right," she argued, "for the two of us to
sneak into the Crystal office and make copies of Prophesy books?" She
sighed and shook her head. "If I wasn't under the Queen's orders..."
The blue-eyed kitten giggled. "AUNTIE," she scolded with a slight
smile. "You'll annoy her!" She laughed aloud, but it was a nervous
laugh. "I'm kinda scared, though," Carina admitted softly. "If we get
caught..."
"We get caught together," said another voice suddenly, and six
eyes gazed up at a woman with straight blonde hair and a toothy, red-
lipped grin. "We do it together," repeated Lisa stubbornly, brushing off
the tan fabric of her dress. "No matter what."
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Galactic Sailors Say!
Chibi-Star: Today, we learned that I played a nasty, nasty trick on the
Starlit Prince. And it was fun!
Tara: (walking into the scene) But playing tricks on people isn't very
nice.
Alice: (entering) We also learned that I actually do have a dad, and
that he loves me VERY much.
Tara: (sniggers) Yeah, Al... He loves you so much, he left you for
fifteen years.
(Alice chases Tara offscreen)
(Suddenly, all the 2nd season Galactic Sailors appear, and the scene
with Tara being chased offscreen freezes behind them.)
Reeny: I suppose you're wondering what's going on.
(Audience nods in agreement.)
Alice: And I suppose you recognize this as the Galactic Says from story
4.
(Audience nods again.)
Phoebe: (grins) And I suppose you like chocolate-covered ants!
(Audience starts to nod and then freezes, shaking their heads
violently.)
Lyra: (rolls eyes) Well, if you've ever watched the dub, you'll notice
that the Sailor Says segments start to repeat themselves, repeat
themselves, repeat themselves, repeat...
(Celeste smacks her sister upside the head)
Lyra: (blinks) Thanks. I needed that.
Tara: (smiles) Well, in true 'dub' form, we've decided to do just as
DiC did--no more pure Galactic Says segments! From now on, it will be
same-old, same-old.
(Lawyer from DiC walks on.)
Lawyer: I'm sorry, but you're stealing our stupidity. You could be sued.
(All Sailors glance at one another sheepishly.)
Haley: (sighs) Well, then... Never mind.
ALL: DiC says...
Lawyer: See ya!
-I Know-
Look around...
(Ambriel stares down at Tokyo from the top tower of Crystal Palace)
So many things aren't clear...
(Aeris and Peter stand before the Gate of Time with terrified
expressions)
Don't worry, though...
(Haley smiles and turns a page in her book)
You know that I'll be there...
(Orion and Orb chase after the kittens)
A lot of things are so uncertain...
(Tara, near tears, bites her lip)
The future's on its way...
(Michelle holds Delaney, an amazed smile on her face)
Look into my crying eyes...
(Reeny wipes tears off her cheeks while Serenity watches nervously)
Don't take your love away!
(Alice slams the door in her father's face)
Sometimes, the road looks long...
(Lyra looks up at the North Star)
And sometimes, the world seems wrong...
(Phoebe hugs her mother around the waist)
But I know, I know, all you need is love.
(The six Galactic Sailors hold up their lockets)
Sometimes, you feel weak...
(Richard grabs onto the wrist of a falling Celeste)
And sometimes, the future looks bleak...
(Terrence shakes his head as Sailor Pluto walks through the Gate of Time)
But I know, I know, all you need is love.
(Ambriel, Celeste, and Aeris all hold up their transformation pens)
Times will change...
(Tara, robes flying, chases Joshua around the courtyard)
People will change, too...
(Haley plays with her now-long hair)
But deep inside...
(Helios takes Reeny's hands in his)
I always will love you...
(Richard bends down to kiss Lyra)
I suppose there are questions now...
(Peter tugs on Terrence's pant leg)
The answers are so far...
(Alice and Phoebe dive for a floating sphere and miss)
But look at me and smile now...
(Hannah and Brian both smile as Alex takes Delaney into her arms)
I am your guiding star!
(Lyra and Richard stare at Celeste and Peter, who are watching the
sunset)
Sometimes, the road looks long...
(Lyra looks up at the North Star)
And sometimes, the world seems wrong...
(Phoebe hugs her mother around the waist)
But I know, I know, all you need is love.
(The six Galactic Sailors hold up their lockets)
Sometimes, you feel weak...
(Richard grabs onto the wrist of a falling Celeste)
And sometimes, the future looks bleak...
(Terrence shakes his head as Sailor Pluto walks through the Gate of Time)
But I know, I know, all you need is love.
(Ambriel, Celeste, and Aeris all hold up their transformation pens)
I know...
(Chibi-Pluto, the Angel Moon, and Chibi-Star stand together)
I know...
(The Galactic Sailors stand together)
All you need is love...
(All nine girls stand together)
All you need...is...love...
(The Prince and Princess of the Stars kiss)
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Well, that's that. Hey, minna, some bad news. I'm under a computer
vendetta, here, which means that I can't write too much anymore. About
an hour of work a day. So bear with me, relax, lay back, and pray that I
don't quit while I'm ahead. Or behind. Whatever. Just hope I don't quit.
And thanks to Andrea, who ripped apart the first half and actually
helped.
In other news, the stats for this one are:
40 pages (in Courier 12)
32 revisions
803 minutes (or about 33 hours)
And only 2 ulcers.
--Kate!
Author's Ramblings: Okay, I have a confession to make. It's not like I
have a problem with confessions, really--I'm not Haruka and I don't mind
pouring out my soul. After all, about half the band knows all about me
and my...quirks... No, but my confession is thus:
I did not create Moon Saber Illumination.
Most of you out there will not appreciate this little tale, but listen
anyway--I lent my SM tapes (dub only) to my close buddy Ginnie (make
your own assumptions about who she is). Well, Ginnie invited a fellow
Moonie/high school student Jenny Smith over, and they promptly began to
watch SMR, one ep after another.
And Jenny found that the words "Moon Scepter Elimination" could be
replaced with the words "Moon Saber Illumination" and still fit with the
mouth.
Meanwhile, there was this writer, struggling to complete her epic story.
And she'd been playing around with the idea of giving her Neo-Sailor
Moon a sword.
And the rest, my friends, is history...
* * * * * * * * * * * *
What's the buzz? Tell me what's a happening...
Phoebe got a letter asking her to try out for a movie. Celeste came to
visit Lyra and Richard and kinda had a spat with her sister. Tara
decided that she doesn't want to be Shinto any more and gets into a spat
with her mother. Lyra flunked an essay. Diana was forced to take in
Carina as an apprentice. Ambriel started studying prophecy, but Reeny
took it away. And Alice began a homosexuality class.
And that, my friends, is where the story begins...
* * * * * * * * * * * *
They all sat, silently, in the large white-walled bedroom of the
Princess of the Earth, their faces solemn, their voices hushed. No one
said a word; they just all sat together, thinking... Thinking of the
lives the were living.
Leaning back in her plush chair, the pink-haired one glanced out
of the window. "Another day, another battle," she sighed, shaking her
head slightly as her red eyes observed the slow setting of the March
sun. "But I can't put my finger on this feeling..."
Tara nodded solemnly, staring at the floor. "It's been two weeks,
guys," she put in softly, thoughtfully. "It seems as though they've
given up on us..."
"They haven't given up," Richard assured them, his arms wrapped
around the curly-haired blonde's waist as she sat in his lap. "Trust me
on that one." Sighing, he bit his lower lip pensively. "They're just
biding their time."
Phoebe stomped a foot and crossed her arms, accidentally elbowing
both Alice and Haley, who shared the couch with her. "That STILL doesn't
explain the premonition of doom we've all been feeling, does it?" No one
meet her intense ice-blue gaze. "Something is happening!"
Sighing, the little green-haired girl drew her knees to her chin.
"But I do not believe that this happening is going to be directly
related to us," she countered the teen. "I believe there is a rift in
the Time-Space Continuum..."
"But... The last time that something like that happened..."
Celeste glanced at Reeny nervously. "My mother said that the last time
anyone used time travel was when Chibi-Moon was sent into the past with
Pluto..."
Everyone looked suspiciously at the pink-haired one, who had risen
and made her way to sit beside Helios on the giant silk-sheeted bed. Her
face was gaunt; her manner extremely unusual... And there she sat.
The silence in the room was deafening as everyone stared at her.
She was breathing heavily as she sat, her eyes not really seeing as much
as they were darting about. Her muscles were tense.
"Is our mother going to bring your past self somewhere, Reeny?"
questioned Peter very cautiously, folding his hands on his lap.
Nodding a bit, the Princess sighed. "It's amazing..." she sighed.
"You sit down and think... I mean REALLY think... And you realize that,
as hard as you may deny it, you've been changed." She drew in a sharp,
almost painful breath. "The Pluto who took me to battle the Death
Busters came from now."
"THIS now?" asked Ambriel, hopping off the edge of her mother's
desk and climbing onto the bed. "That wasn't in the prophecy..."
Reeny shook her head and continued. "It amazes me that she never
spoke of what happened in this time," she told her friends, a slight
smile teasing her face. "She never told me about you guys, or her
husband and children, or..." With a shrug, she laid her head on Helios'
shoulder. "I've always wondered about it--the entire time--and yet, I
never could ask..."
"But why..." Eyes turned to study the brunette Haley, who sat with
her legs crossed at the knee as she chewed anxiously on her thumbnail.
For a short moment, all the Scouts were suddenly reminded that--in a
practical manner, at least--she was the oldest of them all. The brown-
haired woman smiled slightly and drew her finger from her mouth. "I
mean, I don't understand why a Pluto of one time would get help from a
Reeny of another. It doesn't make sense."
The silver-haired priest of Elysion nodded slightly at her
comment, silently acknowledging the Sailor Scout of the Comets.
"Innocence," he answered softly. "With so many different dimensions and
worlds, it's obvious that one Reeny--a six-year-old--would be much less
worldly than another and less innocent--like this one." He took and
squeezed one of the soft hands of his Princess.
"I suppose that the Mistress of Pluto wanted to help prepare Reeny
for what lies...or had lied...ahead," put in Alice thoughtfully, resting
her chin in one of her hands. "Since she came the present--our 'now'--
she knew that we'd someday fight evil and wanted to put that
'never-give-up' spirit in the Princess before the Galactic Sailors were
united." She nodded to herself. "Makes sense."
Aeris' multicolored eyes surveyed the room, resting for a
long moment on Reeny. Sighing, she studied the Princess. "Are you
suggesting the fact that she--my MOTHER--was aware that this was going
to happen?" the child asked softly, pressing her lips together. "She
was aware to the fact she would have to abandon us? And save the past?"
The blonde Chibi-Scout put an arm around each of the young Pluto
twins. "She is the Guardian of Time," Celeste said delicately,
hugging the two Chibi-Scouts--both of whom were about to lose their
mother--close to her. "Revealing the future has been against
the law since even before Queen Serenity and the Gold Moon Kingdom."
Celeste forced a reassuring smile as she loosened her grip on the two
others; but she suddenly paled and her green eyes gained a certain void,
timeless quality. "And I believe that, in the long run, it will be
better this way."
"Better?" repeated Peter, his voice almost that of an amused adult
looking down on a small child. "How could it possibly be good that our
mother is leaving us?"
With a slight, confused smile, Tara shrugged her shoulders and
rested her elbows upon her thighs. "And how could it be good that we're
putting our lives on the line every day?" she retorted knowingly. The
red-eyed boy glanced at her, and she shrugged once again. "It's all in
the way you look at it, Peter."
Lyra nodded in agreement. "Besides, who knows what day she'll
leave on," the blonde put in, leaning into the warm arms that held her.
"For all we know, that Evil Queen will be dead and buried by then."
"Or not," returned Ambriel dryly, her gray eyes staring out the
window. "I have read of the future, and it shows hardship..."
"Prophecy, Ambriel," shot Helios sternly, "is not the be-all,
end-all of existence!" Heads turned to glance at him, and, slowly, the
red drained from his face. "And, if all of us are feeling this
strange premonition now..." He trailed off.
Pushing his glasses up on his nose, Richard let out a long sigh.
"Helios is right," he agreed in a somber tone. "Whatever happens..."
"Happens soon," finished the two children of Pluto in unison,
their gazes meeting despite the sweet blonde child who sat between them,
hugging both of them close. The green-haired girl smiled slightly. The
boy sighed a bit.
And, collapsing onto Celeste, they both began sobbing.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
"And I don't get it!" She sighed, kicking the couch
in frustration. "She was such a happy, excitable girl, and she
wanted SO badly to just fall in love and be happy!" The woman cradled
her head in the palms of her hands and closed her green eyes, upset near
tears. "I don't get it..."
"So..." Ken furrowed his brow and glanced at the emotional woman
beside him. "Is our daughter gay or not?"
Silence fell over the sumptuous Kino apartment as the brunette
restaurateur raised her head and looked at the man beside her. He was a
tall, intimidating man, really; he was near six-foot-two, and was both
broad-shouldered and muscular. His auburn hair hung in his
docile chestnut eyes, making the beast of a man look more like a boy.
Lita smiled slightly at the sight he made and leaned her head on his
shoulder, not resisting as he wrapped a welcome arm around her
shoulders.
And then, she remembered the reason for her frustration and felt
the tears that had momentarily been pushed away by her pang of happiness
bubble back up to the surface.
"I don't know what Alice is," she admitted softly, her voice weak
with anxiety as it had been strong with anger before. "Yesterday, I
found a dozen pink carnations in the garbage can, and--when I found
myself thinking about them until it nearly made me sick--I asked her
about them."
He cocked his head to the side and raised a single eyebrow. "So?"
Shaking her head, the woman continued. "She said that they were
from Todd again," Lita said softly. "She said he asked her again--
and this would be the fifth time--to go to prom with him." Chuckling to
herself, she wiped a tear away. "And Alice STILL SAID no. And as for
the flowers, she said: 'They're going to wilt and die anyway, right? So,
why not let them spend their last days with the banana peels and moldy
sausage?'" Lita snorted and buried half her face in a hand. "I don't
know what to think..."
"If you're so concerned," suggested Ken in a helpful tone, "why
don't you ask her?"
With a squeal, she began to laugh hysterically, as though she'd
just heard some sort of incredible joke. "That's just what Alex
suggested!" she guffawed loudly. "She said I should ASK my daughter
about her sexuality!"
He leaned back into the plush green couch and stretched. "Well, I
always said that your friend Alex was a...uuhhh...reasonable and...
umm...enlightened woman..." he stammered, a bit red. "She seems quite
brilliant and..."
"Alex Ten'ou?" shot Lita, her giggles ending abruptly. "Last time
you saw her, you said that Alex was a 'rip-roaring dyke who wouldn't
know a pen--'"
"I know what I said!" interrupted the man, running a nervous hand
through his shaggy hair. "And I also remember Alex kicking my ass for
saying that!"
She grinned and snuggled close to him. "The early 2500s were
always my favorite years, you know..."
A sort of companionable silence ensued for a long moment, the two
forgetting the woes that their daughter had inadvertently caused as they
sat in each other's arms. Outside, the Wednesday night was just turning
dark, changing the city of Crystal Tokyo into a sea of brightly colored
lights.
And then, the apartment door swung open before them.
"I'm HOME!" called Alice, not looking up from her purse as she
deposited her car keys in the little navy bad. "I just had a really
strange meeting with the Scouts and--" Her brown eyes glanced up, toward
the couch, and she froze like a deer in headlights. Her pink lips
pressed together as she hung her purse on the inside of the doorknob,
wordlessly. She wrinkled her nose disdainfully at the arm wrapped
around her mother. She downright glared at the person that the arm was
part of.
"Hello, MOTHER."
Lita tried to smile, despite the venom in such an unimportant
phrase. "Hi, dear," she greeted, sitting up and pulling slightly away
from her love. He stopped her from standing, his arm still firmly around
her shoulder, and shot her a glance. A glance that stated: 'You'll
never get her to understand if you dodge the subject.'
But she didn't read nor care about the gaze from Ken and rose
slowly, weaseling out from under his grip. Smoothing the sides of her
black business pants, she sighed. "Uhh... Scott Thompson and Jake
something-or-other called while you were out," she piped up after a
long, uncertain pause. "They both asked if you got the cassette tapes."
The teen nodded and pulled a plastic zip-lock bag from her coat
pocket. Inside were the remains of what would have, in life, been tapes.
They were utterly shattered. "'I Know--the All You Need is Prom Remix,'
to the tune of 'I Know [All You Need is Love]' by Scott Thompson,"
recited she in a bored tone, "and 'When a Man Loves a Woman,' as sung by
Jake Hanson." Shaking her head slowly, she deposited the bag on the
coffee table and shrugged. "If anyone wants me, I'll be in my room." She
bowed a bit. "Is that alright, Mother?" And then, not waiting for an
answer, she strode quickly across the room, slamming her bedroom door
behind her.
Slowly sitting back down on the couch beside the man who was, in
some strange form, her soul mate, Lita allowed all the color to drain
slowly from her face. She stared at Ken for a long moment, not knowing
the right words to express her feeling, and then she did the only thing
she could.
She burst out crying.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
"I would say I was displeased," the woman drawled, her footfalls
echoing on the black tile floor as she paced up and down before the
threesome, her pale face's features completely knotted with anger and
annoyance, "but that would be doing that word a certain injustice. I
would say I was...angry, but that would be doing my emotions a large
injustice." She turned to the group, her dark brown eyes sparkling with
hate. Her fingers thoughtlessly caressed the smooth skin of a bright
green frog as she stood before them, her face devoid of all emotion. "I
could have accepted Kevin's failure with an open heart, for he was a
dolt. But Arthur?" She shook her head, dark hair wiping about her face
as she did so. "His defeat was inexcusable."
The blonde man nodded quickly and put his hands before him in a
surrendering gesture. "We know, Queen Ginnie, but..."
"SILENCE!" she roared, throaty voice echoing across the royal
throne room. The three officers before her all snapped into attention,
their faces cadaverous with fear. "I don't want your excuses, Rob," she
whispered, walking forward and clutching the young man by his collar and
glaring into the large, alarmed azure eyes. "I want results."
"But what are we to do?" asked Seth softly, pushing his glasses
farther up on his nose as he glanced nervously at his Queen. She let go
of Rob's neck long enough to meet the gaze of the man, and he gulped.
"If the Sailor Scouts are too strong..."
Ginnie rolled her eyes and turned her attention back to her frog.
"They are not too strong," she informed them dryly. "You are too scared
of what will happen if they catch you." A slight, sardonic smile kissed
her face as she touched the frog's green skin. "But you, Seth, have
given me an idea."
Eyes widening, Tina stared at her Queen and master. "He DID?" she
inquired, shocked.
"Yes," responded Ginnie, looking up and nodding once toward the
black haired girl. "Seth?"
He glanced at her, wordless, an unspoken fear in his brown eyes.
"You will be the next to find the crystal..." She paused and
smirked. "And you need only to match your wits against the Sailor
Scouts. And DO NOT fail me..."
* * * * * * * * * * * *
"Good morning, sunshine," smiled a sleepy Terrence, opening his
eyes to stare into a vast sea of crimson. The soft breath on his face
had awoken him from an already oddly uneasy slumber; both him and his
beautiful wife had been unable to sleep soundly for nearly a week. He
sat up slowly, aware that the room was extremely dark, with the shades
drawn and all lights off. His breath caught in his throat.
Sailor Pluto stood at the side of their bed, her knowing red eyes
staring deep into his soul. Her face was rather pale and her manner
aloof as she gazed at the brunette man. "Terry..." she breathed,
lowering her face to his and pressing their lips together lightly.
"I love you..."
He furrowed his brow, and he jumped from bed immediately, groping
for the pair of discarded sweat pants on the floor and pulling them
quickly over his orange boxer shorts. "Oh, Hell no," he sputtered
quickly, tying the drawstring and beginning to grab a jacket from the
nearby closet. "I'm not letting you leave me..."
She caught his arm before he could reach for his favorite green
coat. "Terry," she said calmly, using her other hand to turn his head so
that she could look into his eyes, "I have seen this many times. And
each time, it is painful for me." Sailor Pluto pressed her deliciously
red lips together and shook her head slowly. A single tear trickled down
her cheek. "But I am needed the past."
"But... Sets..." He pulled his gaze from hers and blinked away the
tears that threatened to well up in his bright green eyes. "I..."
She sighed audibly. "Terrence, before I met you, I had never truly
loved a soul." She once again caught his chin with a gloved hand and
slowly turned his face toward hers. This time, though, she was much
gentler, and the expression she wore was sweeter. "Terrence, I am Sailor
Pluto. And that overrules the fact I am Susan Chiba. Do you understand?"
Nodding wordlessly, he looked at her. For a little over three
years, he had worked side-by-side with Sailor Pluto on tiny, trivial
matters related to Time. And he had helped train their children to rule
the Gate of Time if any accident befell either or both of them. But he
had never really looked at Sailor Pluto. She was basked in some sort of
powerful eternal glow, and her face--though devoid of all emotion right
now--seemed to have a certain glistening of knowing. Not of wisdom or of
knowledge... But of knowing.
The dams burst as Terrence wrapped his arms around Pluto's waist
and buried his head in the crook of her neck, the tears trailing freely
over his cheeks. "Sets..." he whispered, his voice and body both shaking
violently. "I love you so much..."
"I know," responded Sailor Pluto in a sweet, understanding tone.
Her hands slowly smoothed his hair as he cried into her fuku. "I love
you, too..."
There was a long pause as he glanced up and, wiping tears from his
cheeks, pulled her close to his body. They kissed softly, refusing to
give into the pent-up passion within their bodies. The woes of the world
seemed to melt away as they held each other, sharing the last sweet
embrace for what could be eternity.
Reluctantly, she pulled away from him and stared into the precious
green eyes that had enchanted her so long ago. Her breath was ragged as
she raised a hand to her face and wiped away a tear. "Sailor Pluto does
not cry," she reflected, a slight smile touching her lips as she
examined the tiny damp spot on her fingertip. "But Susan does..."
He gave her one last, tight hug, pressing his lips desperately to
the soft flesh below one of her ears. "You'll come back for me, won't
you?"
With a slight shiver, she stepped back and nodded slightly.
"Eternity was lonely before I met you," she murmured. "But after knowing
you, I don't want to live through eternity without you." She smiled the
tiniest bit and closed her wine-colored eyes. Her Time Key appeared, its
garnet orb sparkling brightly, and she took a deep breath. "I will
forever love you, Terrence Chiba."
There was a blinding flash of red, and he was forced to shield his
face from its sheer brilliance. And, upon opening his eyes, he found the
room void of any life beyond his own.
Taking a deep breath, he sat down on the edge of the bed, which
suddenly seemed much larger than it had been a few, short minutes ago.
No rational thoughts entered his mind. All he could tell his body to do
was breathe, and even that took concentration. It was as if half his
being had unexpectedly faded into darkness. And, in a way, it had.
The bedroom door creaked open, accompanied by the sound of tiny,
soft footfalls. He didn't need to look up to identify the visitors.
With a sigh, Aeris climbed up onto the bed, leaning up against her
father. Following her was Peter, his red eyes large and nervous.
"She's gone, isn't she?" asked the little boy, brushing a strand
of brown hair from his face.
Terrence only managed to nod.
"Are we to assume that she's not going to return?" questioned his
precocious daughter as she pulled her knees to her chest beneath her
long flowered nightgown.
He glanced at the child, her multicolored eyes seemingly lifeless
as she gazed at him, waiting for the answer. Tears sparkled in the
corners of those frightening eyes, and Terrence smiled slightly. "Come
here, you two," he sighed, wrapping an arm around each of their waists.
Pluto's words still stung in his mind as he hugged the twins close. "To
your mother, it doesn't matter how far away she is from us. She will
return."
"You promise?" requested Peter innocently, staring up at his
father.
The man smiled. Sailor Pluto couldn't spend eternity alone...could
she?
"Promise," vowed he. "Promise."
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Her footfalls echoed as she stepped carefully down the steep stone
stairs, her way lit by only a small penlight.
"This is wrong," muttered a feminine voice from near the floor,
her tone extremely bitter. "If Reeny caught us..."
"How's she gonna catch us, Auntie?" questioned a cherry voice.
"We're going into the vaults in the middle of the night! The only way
she could catch us is if..."
The beam of light flew to illuminate the glossy black fur of the
tiny kitten. "Hush, Carina," insisted the human, her young voice strong
but soft as she adjusted the position of a thick notebook in her arms.
"If they hear you, they'll investigate."
Snorting, Diana stuck her head in the patch of brightness.
"Ambriel, how stupid do you think Reeny is?" she questioned quickly,
glaring at the child. "She's not an idiot, though God knows she acts
like one..."
With a sigh, the redheaded girl continued down the stairs, her
gray eyes darting about the tiny stone stairwell. Cobwebs and spider
webs dangled from the rough wooden banister and from the walls
themselves. The air was damp and musty--not a scent that she
particularly enjoyed--but, for some reason, the girl felt at peace. The
knowledge that books of eternal wisdom were laying innocently on
shelves, so within her reach... The mere thought made her heart take
off, racing. Ambriel had to physically restrain herself from dashing
down the steps by clutching onto the handrail.
After what could have been either an eternity or a few, fleeting
moments, she felt the floor beneath her. Solid. No more steps.
Instinctively, the girl pressed a hand against the wall, finding a light
switch without searching. She flicked it into the on position.
Lamps exploded into life, bathing the room in a bright glow. It
took her bright eyes a few seconds to adjust, and, once they did, she
felt a smile touch her placid face.
There were shelves. Endless seas of stone shelves surrounded her,
no doubt dating back to when Crystal Palace had first been built.
They were stacked with leather-bound books, each spine blank except for
a date. In the midst of the shelves was one great stone table, its
surface coated liberally with dust. She stepped forward, pink slippers
kicking up clouds of dust as she made her way to the enormous table. It
was taller, taller even than she, and Ambriel found herself standing on
her tiptoes just to place her notebook atop it. Dust rose in giant
billows above her head, but she didn't try to push it away. She smiled
instead.
"This is the most amazing place I have ever seen," breathed the
child, staring around the room. "It's so full of knowledge... I can just
feel the Prophecy drawing me in."
"It's the Gift that draws you in," Diana informed her, leaping
atop the massive table and frowning at the dust. "The Gift gives you the
power."
Ambriel cocked her head to one side and looked at the cat. "Gift?"
she repeated, confused.
The black kitten joined her aunt on the table, laying in the thick
dust and smiling slightly. "It's the power to understand Prophecy!" she
chimed in happily. "I've been studying."
Rolling her eyes, the adult Guardian knocked the smaller cat
upside the head. "Hush, Carina," she shot coolly, focusing her attention
on Ambriel, who had now gone over to the shelves and was scrutinizing
the book spines. "The Gift," she continued, "is very rare. It allows one
to pick out important passages of Prophecy and unlock them."
The girl whirled around. "Unlock?" she echoed.
"To change it," explained the pink cat. "And to make it reality."
She sighed and pawed open the cover of the notebook, flipping through
the pages leisurely as she continued. "Reeny is frightened because the
last Angel of the Moon was murdered by her own people in a terrible
riot. Wise scholars say it was because they lived in fear of what would
happen had she unlocked certain parts of Prophecy."
"Certain parts?" repeated the redheaded girl. But Diana offered no
more insight and she shrugged the wonder off and turned back to the
books. "And, anyway, I'm not planning on unlocking any Prophecy."
The cat sighed once again. "That's just the thing," she told the
child carefully. "You may have to in order to save the..." She trailed
off, her red eyes growing wide as she read and re-read a long paragraph
in the book. "What is this, Ambriel?"
Pulling a book from one of the lower shelves, the girl walked over
to the table and clambered onto a single wooden stool that stood,
lonely, next to the great dusty stone. "What's what?" she asked, placing
the tome atop the table and turning to face the cat. "Did I get a
passage wrong?" she questioned carefully, pulling a pencil from the
spiral spine of the notebook. "Cause I can fix it..."
"I mean about your translation of this passage," the cat
responded, concerned. "'The Training Timekeepers will be trained no
longer by their Mistress.'" Diana licked her chops nervously. "That
would mean that's something is going to happen to Pluto."
"Well, something is going to happen," Ambriel retorted, cocking
her head to one side. "According to the other Scouts, Sailor Pluto is
going to travel into the past to get Chibi-Moon and take her to the
20th century."
Red eyes went wide as the Guardian stared at the young child.
"When is this to happen?"
Carina sniggered. "'When Uranus and Neptune celebrate a solemn
memory,'" she read from the page. "That would be after their anniversary
of becoming Scouts, right?"
"Which would have been two weeks ago," whispered the pink cat in
a soft voice.
Ambriel was about to ask what the 'big deal' was when footfalls
echoed on the stone steps behind her. She gasped and whirled around,
gray eyes wide.
"What do you think you're doing?" hollered an angry Princess
Reeny, her hands on her hips as she glared disdainfully at the child.
"I TOLD you no more Prophecy!"
The girl hopped off the stool and quickly stumbled backward,
pressing her back against the giant stone slab. "But... The Queen
said..."
Snorting, the young woman seized the large brown volume of
Prophecy in one hand and the thick, script-filled notebook in the other.
"I don't care what my mother said," she informed her child, trying to
ignore the fearful tears that welled within the bright gray eyes.
"You're not studying this."
"But..."
She shook her head slowly, pink pigtails softly sweeping the sides
of her face with stray strands. "Ambriel, this is for your own good."
She held out a hand to the girl.
Tears fell freely down pale pink cheeks as the child took a shaky
step forward and glared up at the woman who she called mother. A lump
rose in her throat as she straightened her spine and stared at the adult
in awe. Then, she took a long, shuddering breath and her lower lip
quivered. "You are no Princess..." she breathed, pressing past the woman
and thundering up the steps.
Lisa and Helios, who were coming down to the vaults after Reeny,
concerned, watched in awe as the child pushed past them. "Ambriel?"
questioned the handmaiden, blue eyes staring after the child.
From her seat upon the table, Diana sighed and glared at the
Princess of the Earth. "You really fouled it up this time, Reeny," she
stated in a dark tone. "Whatever respect that child had for you just
flew out the window."
"Shut up," groaned Reeny, shaking her head as she turned around to
look at her prince and her blonde friend. "Just shut up."
* * * * * * * * * * * *
"Arthur's problem," he told the big golden retriever while typing
furiously, "was that he underestimated the Sailor Scouts. He assumed
that one monster would keep them busy."
The dog yawned and laid on the floor. "Was Arthur wrong in
assuming that?" he asked, tone not unsuspecting. "They don't seem all
that tough to me."
Seth pushed his glasses up on his nose and turned away from the
computer screen, brown eyes focusing on the dog. "That was exactly what
he thought, Calico," he explained, crossing his hands upon his lap. "And
look what he got for it."
"So what if Arthur was about weak as a frozen over Hell and just
as pristine?" drawled the dog languidly. "The point is that, as time
goes on, we become stronger."
Sighing, the man turned back to his work. "You just don't get it,"
he pressed, smoothing the sleeves of his black uniform. "But you will
someday."
Calico rolled his brown eyes. "You're right about one thing," he
mumbled. "I DON'T get it." Stretching, he attempted to catch a glimpse
of the screen. "But who cares? What's the plan?"
He beamed, showing tiny white fangs. "I'll send out three monsters
in quick succession," he explained, hitting a button on the keyboard. Up
popped a tiny purple wolf-shaped graphic, and it began chasing super-
deformed Sailor Scouts all across the screen. "I call this my 'Sailor
Scouts Get It' program." He chuckled as the wolf bit off the head of one
of the Sailor Scouts. "Cute, eh?"
With a shake of his head, Calico glanced away from the screen and
busied himself with standing up. "The program is utterly repulsive," he
commented with a shudder. "Granted, if your plan works, that will be
what occurs--"
"Undoubtedly," cut in Seth, grinning evilly as he said it.
"But it's not exactly a great thing to see, graphically, on a
computer screen."
The man just rolled his eyes and closed down the program, an
offended expression slowly touching his face. "Well, that's just dandy,"
he pouted, crossing his arms over his chest. "Don't appreciate my six
hours of code-writing... Just don't..."
Sighing, the dog laid his chin on the desktop and studied the map
of Crystal Tokyo, focusing mostly on the three large purple 'x' marks--
one on Tokyo's biggest graveyard, one on a small school in a rather
ritzy neighborhood, and the last on Crystal Palace, itself. "When,
exactly, does this plan go into effect?"
"Tomorrow at ten a.m." Seth beamed, his fangs glistening in the
computer light. "The three wolves will appear within ten minutes of each
other, and the Scouts will be forced to scatter. And then..." He took
his fist and slammed it into the palm of his other hand. "WHAM!" he
exclaimed loudly, voice filling the computer room. "No more Sailor
Scouts!"
"You hope," muttered Calico, claws clicking on the tile floor as
he walked toward the open door. "After all, Ginnie will downright maul
you if you screw up."
He considered this as the dog walked out, turning his brown eyes
to focus on the map before him. Ginnie WOULD certainly hurt him... In
fact, it would probably be better for him to get killed by the Sailor
Scouts, rather than to let Ginnie have him...
Suddenly very cold, Seth pulled a blanket from the back of the
chair and pulled it around his shoulders, trying to pull his attention
away from his possibly impending doom. After all, Arthur was a boor. He
was no smarter than that bulb of a man, Kevin. But he, Seth... He was
stronger than those two. His plan would work. He would kill the Sailor
Scouts and take over the world in the name of his queen...
Wouldn't he?
* * * * * * * * * * * *
The trio of adults stood silently in the doorway, watching a
certain little girl with bright red hair sleep. Not one of them moved or
even thought to; the moment was special and tranquil.
Pulling the door shut, the Princess of the Earth let out a long
sigh. "To think of all that girl is going through," she thought aloud,
cinnamon eyes both sad and maternal as she studied the gold doorknob.
"I don't think that I will EVER complain about being Princess again."
"There's a promise that will last a full hour," smiled Lisa, her
head bowed as she stared at the ground, face emotionless as she kidded
the young woman. She, too, sighed, the melancholy sound echoing through
the high-ceilinged hallway.
Helios let a frown cross his pale face as he watched both his
maiden and the woman that could easily be considered Ambriel's second
mother (and partner in crime) sigh miserably and let their usually
cheery smiles droop into nothingness. He wrinkled his nose and ran a
hand through his silver-white hair.
"We cannot stand to be divided," he reminded them sternly,
pressing his thin pink lips together in thought. "If we are to make a
decision, it must be one. But let me reiterate that Serenity said..."
"My mother is a fool!" roared Reeny, suddenly animated as she
glared at Elysion's high priest. "She knows what the Gift can do to
people, and she is an idiot to think..."
The blonde's head snapped up and a dark, unforgiving scowl
appeared on her face. "Better to be an idiot than a spoiled princess!"
she spat, her blue eyes lowering toward the younger woman. "Ambriel's
Gift for prophecy is just that--a gift! If she can understand things
that no one else can..."
"Why do you think that no one understands, Lisa?" the pink-haired
one shot back, tone cold and low. "It's because it KILLS. No one with
the Gift has..."
"I have the Gift."
Both women froze in mid-fight to glance at the pale-faced young
man who stood nearly motionless behind them. His sweet azure eyes were
both innocent and knowing, as though a wave of timelessness had washed
over him. A certain far-off expression was masked by some sort of soft
smile, and he seemed to be in two places at once.
Reeny gulped. "Wh... What did you... You have the..."
"I have the Gift," repeated Helios softly, his gaze focusing on
his beloved. "Compared to Ambriel's Gift, it is nothing, but I have
lived all this time with the strange and beautiful ability to read
prophecy."
Lisa bit her tongue. "What is the Gift?" she asked softly, cocking
her head to one side. "I don't understand it..."
With a slight, distant smile, the young man leaned against the
marble wall of the hallway and shrugged slightly. "The Gift is the
unique ability to comprehend prophecy," he clarified for the puzzled
handmaiden. "Few have it, which is why it's so frightening that Ambriel
does."
His pink-haired girlfriend nodded solemnly. "But with the Gift
comes also the ability to CHANGE prophecy," she stressed, shaking her
head. "If I were to take that book and replace the word 'Guardian' with
'Luna' every time it appeared, all we would have was a bunch of cross-
outs and a messy book." She paused, staring up at the skylights in the
ceiling. "But, if that little girl was to do it..."
"The world could end," finished the blonde woman in a distant
voice, her face pale and gaunt. "I see your point."
"It gets worse," continued the Princess, sighing miserably. "In
the past, the Gifted have been..." She glanced at Lisa and then lowered
her head. "Killed."
Silence filled the area as the trio stood, motionless, held up in
their own sort of vicious circle. The Gift could be dangerous because it
could end the world... But the Gift was special and rare... Queen
Serenity had said that Ambriel could study prophecy... The study of
prophecy required the Gift... The Gift could be dangerous because...
Sighing, Reeny wrinkled her brow and then pounded a fist on the
wall. "She can't study it!" she yelled in a frustrated, restrained
voice. "It's just too dangerous, even with Diana's guidance! She's a
child, and she shouldn't... She shouldn't..." Red eyes started to well
up with tears.
Helios gathered the Princess into his arms and kissed the top of
her head. "Maybe she's right," he mentioned to Lisa in a soft voice.
"That child is... And I just don't know..."
The blonde let herself nod slowly. "I suppose she's right," she
commented solemnly. "Ambriel's a child, still, and children need to have
their childhood."
"No more prophecy?" questioned the pink-haired one, her voice
muffled by her beloved's shirt.
With a slight, sad smile, Helios held her closer. "No more
prophecy for the Angel."
* * * * * * * * * * * *
The Ten'ou-Chiba-Hartford dining room was, as it was every
Saturday morning, a room bustling with activity and filled with the
noise that went along with living in a household with ten people. Dishes
crashed against cups as pans slammed into one another, creating a
clatter that nearly deafened all the present family members, and that
was without the consideration that people were yelling over the din.
And Haley, who sat between her aqua-haired mother and her
obnoxious little female cousin, was growing increasingly nervous. No,
nervous really wasn't the right word for it--it was more that she was
slowly getting more and more annoyed. Yes. Annoyed WAS the word for it.
Since Terrence had announced the fact that Susan--the one person who
made the house livable with her mysterious, almost sentimental outlook
on life--had departed for the past, she'd felt a strange feeling of
anger boiling in the pit of her stomach. It was as if, all of a sudden,
her family was unbearable.
She sighed and, pushing her bangs from her eyes, focused on
pushing her forkful of eggs around on her plate. Across the table from
her, Delaney was starting to fuss loudly, and Hannah was fretting over
the little raven-haired child, trying to calm her nerves. Terry was
laughing with his son at the far end of the table, seemingly unaware of
the empty seat to his left. Aeris was eating in silence, a first, which
would have been a miracle were she not also elbowing her cousin in the
side every few moments... It was most likely accidental, but Haley was
starting to inch farther to her right to get away from the child. And
then, there were her mothers and Brian, who were all gabbing about the
big concert coming up at Crystal Music Academy.
"Could someone pass me a roll?" asked the young woman softly,
crossing her legs under the table after accidentally kicking Aeris.
No one heard her, and the dull roar that echoed through the room
continued.
A spoonful of baby oatmeal flew across the table just then, and it
was all Haley could do to put a hand up before the gray-brown goop
smacked her in the face. She lowered her eyes at her sister and niece.
Delaney cooed loudly, grinning her almost sick, toothless smile,
and her mother smiled sheepishly and passed her napkin across the table,
blushing a bit. "Sorry about that, Haley," she apologized while focusing
on trying to get the baby to actually eat her breakfast. "I didn't know
that was going to happen."
"Obviously," muttered the brunette, rolling her teal eyes.
"Incoming!" hollered Terry suddenly.
Haley watched in a cross between horror and extreme annoyance as a
small brown roll literally flew across the middle of the table, followed
closely by a pre-wrapped pad of butter. Her gaze traced after the
projectiles as her tall blonde parent caught both the bread and butter,
grinning wolfishly and nodding her thanks to the young man.
She had not had a good month. Her upper lip was slowly pulled
between her teeth as she deposited Hannah's napkin on her plate and
clenched her fists around the armrests of her chair. She'd gotten into a
school, far away. Fine. That could be dealt with. She'd been dumped by
the man she loved. Alright, so that wasn't exactly fortunate, but she
could deal. But now, her aunt had left, and she'd been beamed with baby
food, and...
"THAT'S IT!" roared Haley, kicking her chair backwards and jetting
straight to her feet, balling her fists as she glowered at the eight
people around the table.
Michelle furrowed her brow and stared up at the angry young woman.
"What's 'it,' dear?"
Groaning, she took the napkin back off her plate and threw it down
for emphasis. "This entire HOUSE, that's what!" she yelled fervently.
"I've had enough! Here I live with two annoying mothers, a sister and
her STUPID family, obnoxious genius cousins, and an 'uncle' who's also
the King's brother..." She was red in the face by this point. "I can't
take this anymore! With Susan--the NORMAL ONE--gone..."
"Sets? Normal?" came a voice from the far end of the table.
"...I QUIT!"
There was silence in the room as she stood, fuming and taking deep
breaths, in front of all of them. Everyone in the room with the possible
exception of eight-month-old Delaney had offended expressions on their
faces. Even Brian, the most laid-back person that the young woman had
ever met, seemed a bit put off by the whole ordeal.
And then, softly, Alexandra spoke. "You...quit?" she echoed,
confused.
Haley screamed. It wasn't a word, or even a phrase--she just
screamed. The whole room seemed to shake as she let it all out and,
still angry, stormed out of the dining room, slamming the door behind
her.
"What's wrong with her?" asked Peter softly, picking at a pancake.
Brian leaned back in his seat and ran a hand through his head of
short blonde hair. "The question," he retorted, "is if she's serious."
Laughing, the blonde woman leaned back in her chair and laced her
hands together behind her neck. "If I know my daughter--and I do,"
responded Alex casually, "she would never--"
The door to the dining room popped back open, and a still-fuming
Haley stuck her head in. "If you want me, I'll be at Phoebe's!" The door
slammed once again.
"--move out..." finished the woman softly, her face suddenly void
of all color. She gulped and ran a finger around the collar of her
shirt. "Though, I could be wrong..."
"Damn straight," agreed Terrence, nodding. "DAMN straight."
* * * * * * * * * * * *
'If you ever need somebody...'
The words echoed in her mind, even now.
'If you ever need to talk to someone who's not a part of your
goofy family...'
A vow from a full year before, after she'd been turned down by
Tokyo University and three different, smaller schools, it was.
'Just come and knock on my door, Haley.'
She'd been upset, and life had been hectic in the Ten'ou-Chiba-
Hartford household. As usual.
'I've always got an open room.'
No one had really cared that she was alive, and it had been during
one of the many 'off' times with Eric.
'And I'm a good listener--sarcastic commentary or not.'
So she'd packed up an overnight bag and gone to stay with one of
her closest friends. No shame in that.
'And, when you're ready to move out, come here. Please? It's
lonely, Haley. Very lonely.'
She raised one fist to the smooth wood of the front door, part of
her very willing to knock and the other part very, very afraid. Her
breath caught in her throat as she stared at the door and then at the
suitcase in her other hand. Could she actually leave her family behind?
Could she abandon them as such?
Once, then twice, she rapped on the door. Someone called out the
word 'coming' loudly from inside the nice blue-painted ranch. The young
woman took a deep breath in through her nose and tightened the grip on
her suitcase. What was she doing?
'Cause, Haley, if I had to pick the Scout I was closest to...
Well, it would probably be you or Alice. I don't know why... Maybe it's
just that you two have sort of understood how it feels to come from a
family that's, in its own way, not a real family at all...'
"Haley?" questioned a voice. The brunette snapped from her reverie
to find herself staring into a pair of bright, if icy, blue eyes. Blue-
black hair, crimped from spending all together too much time in braids
rimmed a pale, grown-up face.
Phoebe cocked her head to one side and looped a strand of messy
hair behind one of her ears. "Are you okay, Haley?" she asked softly,
observing the blood-shot teal eyes and the white knuckled-fist that held
the suitcase. "You look like you could burst out crying any moment..."
"I've done enough crying," responded the older teen, strolling
through the door and standing in the small foyer of the Urawa household.
"I just..." She sighed and shook her head slowly. "I don't know
anymore."
Shutting the door and circling her friend, a concerned expression
on her face, the younger teen wiped her hands on the red apron she wore
and smiled gently. "You know that you're always welcome here," she
prompted considerately. "No matter how bad things are at home..."
The brunette dropped her luggage on the floor and rushed forward,
throwing her arms around Phoebe's neck. "Eric dumped me and then Susan
moved out!" she sobbed, burying her head in the girl's shoulder. "And I
just can't take it anymore!"
With a smile and a slight chuckle, the blue-haired girl smoothed
her friend's hair. "You're always welcome, Haley... No matter what's
going on in your life, you can always have the guestroom..."
She looked up reluctantly and wiped tears from her teal eyes,
staring at her friend in doubt. "Are you sure... Won't Marie get mad..."
"You had to come here because you knew I'd defend you!" chortled
Phoebe, picking up the suitcase with one arm and wrapping the other
around her companion's waist. "Besides, it'll be nice to have some new
blood in this place... I'm getting SO sick of Orion's bellyaching..."
Laughing and smiling together, the duo made their way down the
hall.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
"Richard Umino, right?" asked the balding, cheery-looking man with
the wolfish grin as he sorted through a stack of papers. "You must be
the newest member of this fine educational paragon, Tokyo University."
He extended a hand to the young man, the grin growing wider. "Welcome
to Business 101."
Smiling gently, Richard accepted the handshake and bowed
slightly. "Pleased to meet you, sir," he greeted. "I'm sure this class
will be just what I'm looking for."
With a laugh, the man retracted his hand. "You're modest, too,
you know that?" he went on with a raised eyebrow. "The grades you got on
the entrance exams could frighten even the world's toughest scholars."
The smile was back. "You did well, young man."
Richard pressed his lips together and blushed, saying his parting
words to the jolly teacher and taking a seat in one of the many empty
auditorium chairs. Finally, he was here. College.
The decision to take placement exams had not been an easy one.
Though he'd been out of high school for nearly two years, the death of
his parents and his constant loneliness had plagued him so long that
he'd had no desire to become part of the rush for higher education. So,
he'd sat alone in his family apartment, living off the money--no small
amount, it was--that his parents left behind and occasionally buying
thick novels and silly videos to keep himself busy.
But then, Lyra had moved in and started hinting at the fact he
needed to be better educated. She whined at him, pleaded with him, and
the overall effect was obvious--he'd taken the placement tests. And--
Ta-da!--he was suddenly on Tokyo University's most wanted list. And
right in time to sign up for some of the newer classes.
So he wrote "undeclared major" in the appropriate blanks and
decided to take a few business classes. After all, wasn't business
important for a future ruler of the Earth to know?
The bell rang and his teacher stood up and walked in front of his
own desk, flashing the animalistic grin toward the entire class. Then,
he glanced at his watch.
"I happen to know," he addressed all thirty-odd students, "that
we're missing one. She took a class from me last semester and was always
late, SO..."
Suddenly, the door burst open and there was a blur of blue school
uniform and pink--Richard did a double take. PINK?--hair. "Sorry I'm
late, Mr. Johnson," apologized the whirlwind of a young woman, bowing
quickly toward the teacher. "I got...umm...detained..."
Mr. Johnson rolled his eyes. "Just go sit down, Princess..."
PRINCESS? Richard felt his blue eyes widen and his jaw drop
without permission. There was only one nineteen-year-old, pink-haired,
always-late girl in all of Crystal Tokyo who would be called Princess.
Reeny took up a seat a row in front of the redhead, glancing half-
heartedly at the man behind her, not really seeing who he was. She
brushed a strand of pink hair from her red eyes and leaned back in the
seat, tugging a notebook from her book bag.
Mr. Johnson smiled up at the class. "I would like you all to pull
out something to write on. It's note time."
There were various groans from the group. No one, obviously,
wanted to take notes on the first day of a new class.
And, just as the teacher was about to start the class, the pink-
haired young woman whirled around and stared right at the man, observing
everything from the silver-rimmed glasses to the bright cobalt eyes to
the slightly messy red hair. Her jaw slowly dropped. And, then:
"RICHARD! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING HERE?!"
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Celeste sighed and kicked at a stone, meandering pointlessly down
the dirt path with the two other children. "Why are we walking through a
graveyard, you guys?" she asked quietly, sticking her hands in the
pockets of her white jackets. "This is silly."
"It is NOT silly," countered the green-black kitten from her spot
leading the group. "I felt something."
The silver cat made a face. "It's still silly, Ara," sighed she,
wrinkling her little pink nose. "Lyra and Richard have catnip waiting
for me back home."
Ara rolled her red eyes.
"Well, I do not comprehend this nonsense any more well than
Celeste does," spoke up Aeris, walking away from the group and plopping
down onto a park bench. "And I feel that all this is exactly as I said
it was--nonsense."
"You say that NOW..." muttered her Guardian dryly.
Sighing, the tan kitten sat down in the middle of the path,
studying a few nearby gravestones half-heartedly. "Are you SURE you felt
something, Ara?" he inquired skeptically. "After all, it doesn't make
sense..."
She turned on him, glare fierce. "You say that now," she growled,
"but what do you know!" She then whirled about to look over at the three
Chibi-Scouts, who were all seated together on the park bench. "I had a
gut feeling that something bad was going to happen at this very place.
I had..."
She was cut off by the low tolling of a bell. It rang, loud and
clear, its somber tone cutting across the graveyard.
"Ten already?" Celeste questioned, stretching and rising slowly to
her feet. "I promised my mom I'd be home by ten-fifteen. I'd better..."
She gasped involuntarily. "Uh-oh..."
The cats all stared at the girl in awe, as did her two friends.
"What?"
"I just felt it," she breathed, reaching into her jeans pocket and
pulling out her yellow and purple transformation stick. "I felt...
evil..."
"Told you so," scoffed Ara, tossing her head indignantly.
Rolling his brown eyes, Galileo looked up at the blonde girl for
guidance. "You're the leader of the Chibi-Scouts, Celeste. It's your
call."
She raised her stick. It sparkled in the spring sunlight.
"Small Star Galactic Power... Make UP!"
* * * * * * * * * * * *
"Evil my ass," muttered Haley, crossing her arms under her chest
as she walked through the deserted hallways of Crystal Music Academy.
"You just made that up to impress us, didn't you?"
Tara rolled her green eyes but didn't respond.
Sighing, Phoebe elbowed her friend in the ribs. "Shush," she
commanded, wrinkling her nose as she followed the raven-headed Shinto
down the hall. "It wasn't just her, you know."
"And, if you make so much as ONE disparaging comment about me,"
Orion shot suddenly, glaring at the brunette, "I will claw you half to
death."
Haley let out a long breath and placed her hands in her back
pockets, focusing her attentions down at the scrappy calico cat. "Well,
I'm not going to whine," she declared stubbornly, making a face. "But I
don't get how there could be evil in a high school on a Saturday
morning." She glanced at her watch. "It's barely past ten," she read
with a sigh, "and there is never anyone here until noon on a
Saturday..."
"Hush," hissed the cat unexpectedly, her fur standing on end and
her green eyes becoming wide. "I can feel it."
The blue-haired one glanced around, braids whipping at her face.
"What's 'it'?" she whispered edgily.
"Evil," responded Tara, running a hand through her short black
hair. "Somewhere in this building."
Just then, there was a loud barking sound and a giant, purple wolf
dog came running down the hall toward the three teens and the cat, its
white fangs glistening with saliva as it chased toward them.
"SHIT!" screamed Haley, grabbing an awe-struck Phoebe and pulling
her out of harm's way. The creature thundered past them. "What the
Hell..."
"THIS IS NO TIME FOR SWEARING!" shot Phoebe angrily, wrenching her
wrist from the older girl's grasp. "There's trouble, and you know what
that means!"
From her spot on the floor, Orion smiled slightly. "Time to go,
Sailor Scouts!" she announced.
"Phoenix Galactic Power..."
"Earth Galactic Power..."
"Comet Galactic Power..."
"MAKE UP!"
* * * * * * * * * * * *
"Is this smart, Your Highness?" asked Ambriel apprehensively, her
little hands clasped behind her back as she followed the Queen of the
Earth toward the front gate of Crystal Palace. "I mean, if something bad
were to happen..."
"That's what we're here for," supplied Sailor Polaris quickly,
pushing the girl along a bit.
Beside her, Sailor Aurora Borealis nodded solemnly. "That way, if
the Queen's hunch about evil being nearby is right, we can protect her."
"Just like we have been destined to do," put in Helios sternly,
reaching for the girl's hand. "But you'll not have to fight..."
Ambriel kept her hand well out of the man's reach and stared up at
him with a certain coldness in her gray eyes. "That's to say I don't
want to fight," she retorted in a heartless tone. "But I would die
protecting this Earth if I had to..."
Polaris sighed. "Ambriel, if your mother was here..."
The redheaded child turned quickly on her heel, stopping to glance
up at the blonde Sailor Scout. "I have no mother," she stated plainly,
voice completely void of any emotion. "No one loves a girl such as I..."
Aurora Borealis glanced at her fellow Scout. They stared at one
another in confusion.
And then, a scream shattered the calm of that Saturday morning.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
"Now, chapter three will discuss the finer points of economics..."
Reeny gasped and clutched a hand to her chest, her breathing
suddenly labored. Her pencil snapped between her fingers. A few students
turned to glance at her in annoyance before turning back to their notes.
Suddenly, the pink-haired woman was animated, stuffing papers,
pencils, and her notebook back into her bag with a certain ferocity that
alerted even the teacher.
"Princess?"
She shook her head and ignored the balding man, but it was Richard
who caught her attention--or, more specifically, her shoulder. "Reeny,
are you alright?" he whispered as she froze under his touch. She shook
her head once again, all the color draining from her face, and sprang to
her feet, taking off down the row and out of the room as quickly as she
had rushed in.
He furrowed his brow and brought the eraser of his pencil to his
mouth, thinking. Sure, Reeny wasn't exactly the essence of normality,
but there was definitely something wrong with her, this time. He'd never
seen her, or any of the girls, for that matter, act so oddly. The only
action that mimicked her urgency was when one of the Sailor Scouts got
a locket alert... He stopped breathing momentarily.
And then, after slapping himself in the forehead, Richard found
himself faced with the same dire pressure she had been faced with but
seconds before.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
"What IS that thing?" questioned Sailor Chibi-Pluto, resting her
Time Key on the ground in awe. "I've certainly never seen a creature
quite like it."
And it was a very odd creature, indeed. About five feet tall when
upon all fours, the giant purple dog-wolf looked as though it could
flatten all three of the Chibi-Scouts with a single step of a giant paw.
It stood on the dirt path of the graveyard, not twenty feet ahead of
them, its ravenous fangs seemingly ready to rid them of their lives.
Nervously, Sailor Chibi-Star pressed her lips together and took a
deep, shaky breath. "Maybe this wasn't a good idea..." she mumbled
softly, clasping her hands together in front of her stomach and staring
at the monster. "We're going to get it..."
"Fight like a real Scout!" exclaimed little Peter, holding his
Time Key in white-knuckled fists. "You can't act like a little kid this
time around!"
She turned on him. "And why not, you sniffling little...cootie
carrier?!" she shot back indignantly. "I'm the leader of the Chibi-
Scouts, anyway, and you're hardly a Scout!"
Peter was about to respond when his sister pushed between the duo
and pointed her Key Staff at the wolf. "Bicker later!" she commanded.
"Right now, THAT'S the problem!"
The wolf-monster howled, its voice sending purple waves of energy
flying through the air and turning over gravestones and lampposts. It
was all the three Chibi-Scouts and their Guardians could do to stay on
their feet. It turned its crimson, evil eyes toward the Scouts and
seemed to smile viciously.
"Attack!" screamed Ara loudly, her high-pitched mew echoing
through the air. "Kill that dog!"
Chibi-Pluto pointed her Time Key toward the monster. "Dead..."
It howled once again, louder than before, and the waves of power
knocked the trio off their feet. Scattered, they glanced at one another,
remaining on the ground as the wolf leisurely strolled toward them.
The brunette furrowed his brow, climbing slowly to his feet. "What
we need is a distraction!" he declared loudly, picking up his Key.
"Peter!" chorused the two girls nervously. "You're nuts!"
He shook his head slowly and paced toward the wolf, which had
stopped and was staring, almost surprised, at the boy. "Listen up,
Purina-breath!" the child hollered, swinging his Key from side to side.
"I'm not going to let you act like this!"
"PETER!" yelled Chibi-Star, clambering to her feet. "It's
suicide!"
The wolf roared and knocked the blonde girl back to the ground
but, by some miracle or another, the Master of Time in Training managed
to remain on his feet as the strong energy coursed over and past him.
"Leave...us...alone..." he moaned, taking a step forward as the
howling continued.
"Peter!" screamed his sister, tears streaming down her cheeks.
He grunted and took another shaky step. "You...monster..."
Chibi-Star felt herself swoon and was forced to close her eyes as
tears welled to the surface. "That silly boy..." she whispered to
herself, almost reverently. "He'll get us all killed yet..."
"And...I...will...protect...them..."
At those words, the wolf stopped its howling and stared, almost as
though it were amazed, at the child. Blinking once, then twice, it
cocked its head to the side, as though it were welcoming a challenge.
Peter raised his Time Key and closed his eyes. "DEAD SCREAM!"
Nothing.
The wolf seemed to smile as it took a long step forward and
licked its chops, red eyes staring down at the child. He gulped and
stumbled backward, suddenly frantic.
"Starburst Shimmer!" screamed Chibi-Star, rushing forward as she
attacked. The slivers of razor-sharp stardust rained down on the
creature, but she ignored the howls of pain and grabbed Peter by the
wrist, pulling him out of harm's way.
"Dead Scream!" hollered Chibi-Pluto, smiling as the ball of
reddish-purple energy erupted from her Garnet Orb and threw the wolf
across the graveyard and, incidentally, into a small lake. The trio of
Scouts chased after it, watching with a certain amount of triumph as it
sank.
Then, as soon as the bubbling stopped and it appeared that the
cretin was completely drowned, the girls turned to one another and let
out a cheer. "We did it!"
"You did it..." mumbled Peter with a sigh, kicking at the dirt
path with one of his black tuxedo shoes. "I didn't do squat--"
"You were very brave!" countered Chibi-Star a bit defensively.
"If you hadn't stood up to that stupid thing, he would have kept howling
and we would have died!" She rushed foreword and caught him in a tight
hug. "You were incredible!"
Chibi-Pluto tugged reluctantly on her friend's purple skirt. "I
believe that there is more trouble," she speculated as her colorful eyes
watched a group of Royal Guard cars zip down the nearby street.
With a little gasp, the blonde one unclasped the smaller boy and
stood on her tiptoes to see out to the street. "Those are the ROYAL
cars, though," she observed with a wrinkle of her nose. "That means..."
The trio all looked at one another, and then down at the three
Guardian cats that had just arrived. They all stared at one another for
a long moment. And then...
"CRYSTAL PALACE!"
* * * * * * * * * * * *
"Damn wolf-dog," mumbled Sailor Phoenix, brushing one of her
braids away from her face as she watched the giant canine sit on the
stage of Crystal Music Academy's main theater. "If that thing mars the
stage, I will kick the shit out of it."
Sailor Earth's green eyes widened as she stared at the older
Scout. "Phoenix... You don't...swear..." she stuttered, utterly amazed.
She tossed her head. "I'm still going to kick the goddamn SHIT out
of it!" she announced, stepping toward the monster and holding out a
hand. "Shining..."
With an almost bored look about it, the wolf let out a long howl.
Some sort of electricity, however, accompanied said howl, and it was all
the Scouts could do to scatter before the bolt smashed into the theater
doors and sent charred wood flying about the room.
"Mom's going to pitch a fit," muttered Sailor Comet, peeking her
head up from behind a row of chairs.
The monster howled once again, this time sending the bolt flying
toward the lights above them. Glass shattered and the sockets sorted
out, basking the room in an eerie darkness.
Sighing, Sailor Earth squinted and rose slowly to her feet. "This
is NOT good," she mumbled with a slight sigh, trying to focus on the
purple-gray wolf-creature in the relative darkness. "We're doomed."
"You're telling me," mumbled Phoenix, making a face. "I can't see
that THING, and now I'm supposed to attack it?"
There was another howl, and a bolt of electricity lit the room for
a brief moment, casting strange shadows about the three Scouts before
it rammed into a wall. They all looked at one another in doubt. "Any
ideas?" questioned the brunette.
Sighing, Phoenix raised a hand. "Shining DAWN!" she screamed. A
giant ball of orange light appeared high in the room, hovering above
them. It cast some light on the group--not exactly an impressive amount,
but it was enough to see both the other Scouts and the monster.
"What are we supposed to do?" asked Comet softly, looping a strand
of hair behind her ear. "Why don't you let that ball fall?"
"Attack!" screamed Orion from her place at their feet, forgotten
until this point in time. "She's OBVIOUSLY holding that ball of...sun...
errrrr, light...erm..." The calico made a face and then shook it off.
"Well, she's OBVIOUSLY holding it there for you to see by!"
The blue-haired Scout was only able to grunt in response.
"Oh, well then..." Sailor Comet cleared her throat and stretched
out her arms at a leisurely place, ignoring the fact that the wolf was
watching with intent interest and also ignoring the fact that Phoenix's
ball was starting to waver.
Earth sighed. "TSUNAMI!" she announced, letting water erupt from
the palms of her hands and wash over the wolf, knocking him into the
back wall of the stage area. She wiped her damp gloves on her skirt and
then turned slowly toward her friend, who was glaring.
"You interrupted me," mumbled Comet, raising a hand idly to the
skies. "You OBVIOUSLY don't understand how much concentration in takes
to..."
"COMET!" yelled Phoenix through gritted teeth, her icy eyes
glaring at the ranting brown-haired one.
Flushing, the oldest of the trio sighed and balled her open hand
into a fist. "FIERY CRATER!"
The wolf roared in pain as her attack pounded into him, followed
closely by the ball of orange light. It suddenly disappeared in a flash
of bright purple light.
There was a slight tinkling sound, and the cat on the ground
sighed. "I'll bet dollars to doughnuts that the monster reverted into a
tiny purple ball." She shook her head and took off toward the stage.
Standing in the dark, Sailor Phoenix furrowed her brow. "But now
what?" she asked softly, staring.
"Crystal Palace," the cat called to them, her voice near the front
of the room. "I felt a foreboding presence near there, and I will wager
ANYTHING that a wolf's running around up there."
"Even your smart-ass attitude?" muttered Comet.
Orion's sigh echoed through the theater. "I HEARD that."
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Encircling Neo-Queen Serenity were a few dozen guards, all
frantically trying to hold her, Helios, and Ambriel back as the two
Sailor Scouts fought against the wolf-monster without much help.
"I'm the ANGEL of the Moon!" argued the little girl, kicking at
one of the burly guards who fought to hold her behind the gate. "I have
to fight!"
"Your superiors will hear about this!" roared an angry Queen, her
blue eyes hateful toward the group of men. "I am your Queen, and you are
IGNORING an order!"
The most intimidating of the men, a large blonde with tiny brown
slits for eyes, shook his head. "I take my orders from the King and
Princess themselves," he informed the blonde woman dryly. "No one
else..."
Serenity rolled her eyes and was about to respond when a sound
caused her to gasp.
It was scream from one of the three kitchen maids who had first
seen the monster, who were gathered in a cluster near the guards. Then
came another, higher-pitched scream from beyond the gates, and everyone
craned their necks to see what was going on.
Outside the massive quartz gates of Crystal Palace, both Sailors
Aurora Borealis and Polaris were lying on the ground, their fukus
slightly browned. Looming over them stood the monster, smoke pouring
from his nostrils and fire shooting from his mouth.
Polaris groaned and tried to get up slowly, her legs wobbly on the
ground. A bit of blood trailed down her leg, no doubt coming from her
not-yet-healed stitches on her knee.
This was too much for Ambriel. Sticking a single hand in her
pocket, she raised her transformation stick high. "Angel Moon Galactic
Power..."
"Stop that girl!" yelled the blonde Royal Guard, completely caught
off guard. "We have direct orders not to let the child fight..."
"MAKE UP!"
As the group of huge men dove for the child, who was now floating
a being wrapped with sparkling white ribbons, Serenity pressed past them
and ran toward the gates. All three girlish kitchen maids let out
shrieks and tried to detain the white-garbed woman, who ignored them and
ran toward the fallen Scouts. Her face was masked with both fear and
anger as she stepped forward.
And then, a voice rang out.
"Stop right there!" commanded someone from atop the high quartz
wall. "You've hurt two of my friends, bullied a bunch of poor women, and
caused no end of trouble!" Neo-Sailor Moon jumped down and stood beside
her mother, pink pigtails blowing in the breeze. "And now, in the name
of the Moon..."
"We'll punish you!" finished a male voice, and the Starlit Prince
bounded up beside his destined love, who was still trying to stand on
her shaky legs.
Sailor Moon made a face. "That's my line, pretty boy," she
grumbled, glaring daggers at the young man. "First, you show up at MY
school, and now you steal MY lines... What next?"
The monster howled loudly, shooting fire at the two standing
Scouts, the young man, and the Queen of the Earth. They all shrieked and
dove out of the way, but not before being hit with the powerful flash of
fire.
"Your Highness!" screamed little Angel Moon, fluttering up to the
group as they were all thrown against the quartz wall. "Sailor Scouts!"
Turning slowly toward the child, the wolf cocked its head, red
eyes confused. It didn't attack, but it just stared at the child, almost
thoughtfully, as though the mere idea of a little girl--dressed as an
angel--coming after him was amusing.
But Angel Moon didn't stop flying. Instead, she stuck out her
hands, the palms pointing to the creature, and screamed. "ANGELIC GLOW!"
The wolf was taken completely off guard and yelped helplessly, but
it didn't fall. Counter attacking with a furious howl, the fire smashed
into the little girl and threw her into the wall along with the rest of
her allies. A sort of sadistic smirk crossed the monster's face, and he
began spitting fire at the Palace proper.
From her spot on the ground, Aurora Borealis stirred and opened
her brown eyes. "Scouts..." she whispered, using the little strength she
had left to turn her head sideways and glance at the prone forms of
Sailors Polaris and Moon. "Neo-Queen Serenity..." Coughing, she rolled
onto her stomach, which she could feel was tender and sore, and managed
to clamber onto her hands and knees. "You...hurt...them..." she hissed,
glaring at the creature as it wreaked havoc on the Palace. "I'll...
punish...you..."
Then, there was the sound of metal ripping through fur and flesh,
and--though it hurt something awful--she gasped involuntarily. There,
beside the wolf-monster, was King Endymion, his silver sword glistening
in the spring sunlight as he hacked at the giant canine.
As she climbed slowly to her feet, Sailor Aurora Borealis felt
tears welling up in her eyes. A father would risk his life to save his
child. She glanced at Sailor Moon, the ends of her hair singed and her
fuku scorched. Even a child like Reeny, who was not the paragon of
perfection by any means, was worth protecting. Her teary brown orbs
suddenly turned to glance at a sobbing, shaking Helios, who rushed
frantically through the line of awe-struck guards only to kneel besides
his unconscious Princess. She wiped away tears and turned back to the
wolf, who was randomly howling fire into the sky as the sword cut its
body again and again. But yet, it did not fall.
"Rainbow WAVE!" hollered the auburn-haired teen, a rainbow of
color shooting from the palm of one of her hands and smashing into the
wolf, knocking it to the ground. She sunk to her knees, panting, and the
King of the Earth turned to her.
"You alright?" he asked quickly, pushing his bloodied sword back
into its scabbard. "You look beat..."
"SAILOR SCOUTS!" screamed a chorus of voices, and both of them
glanced away to see the other three Galactic Sailors and the other three
Chibi-Scouts running up to the scene quickly, footfalls echoing on the
pavement. Not far away, the others were beginning to stir, finding
themselves all being coddled.
Sighing, Sailor Polaris watched as, slowly, the wolf seemed to
crumple up into a tiny purple ball. "What was that?" she asked softly,
leaning against her Prince as one of the present kitchen maids cleaned
her bleeding knee.
Neo-Queen Serenity climbed shakily to her feet, leaning on her
husband for support. "I do not know," she admitted hesitantly, as though
she was in a mass amount of pain. "But I believe it is, once again, Evil
Queen Ginnie has done this..."
"And what do we do about it?" questioned Sailor Earth, leaning
against the great quartz wall, green eyes intense.
With slight sorrow in her voice, Chibi-Pluto stood up, weighing
the little purple marble in the palm of her white-gloved hand. "I don't
think even my mother knew," she whispered, choking back obvious tears.
"And I think that she still doesn't."
* * * * * * * * * * * *
"Susan's GONE?" gaped Mina, her blue eyes wide as six of the nine
Mistresses sat around the large mahogany table. "How could she been
gone?"
The Meeting of the Mistresses had been called post haste,
especially since the news of Serenity's run-in with the wolf-dog spread
quickly amongst the group. The Inners, of course, hadn't known that the
Keeper of Time had left her family to go into the past, so it naturally
came as quite the shock when Hannah, reluctantly, told them.
Sighing, the tall blonde woman leaned back in her chair, laying
her arms on the rests nonchalantly. "We all remember when Susan brought
Reeny into the past for training as Chibi-Moon," she drawled tediously.
"And we all knew, somewhere deep-down, that she'd go back to do just
that again."
"SOMEDAY," stressed Raye with a wrinkle of her nose. "No one would
have guessed, even for a moment, that it would be today."
Michelle shrugged noncommittally. "I felt it," she admitted
softly. "The pull toward destiny. And I knew it was the beginning."
"As did I," sighed the youngest of the women reluctantly, blowing
a raven strand of hair from her violet eyes. "Of course, I had a right
to feel it, what with Saturn being soon awakened..." She trailed off
nervously, focusing on the sleeping dark-haired babe in her arms.
Gulping, the Mistress of Jupiter stretched out her long legs and
glanced around at the group, green eyes sad. "What of her family?"
questioned the woman softly.
"Those children can take care of themselves," put in Alex with a
shrug. "You don't know the twins very well, and--let me tell YOU--"
"I think she meant Terrence" interrupted the timid aqua-haired one
with an annoyed glance sent toward her wife. "He's so very dependent on
her..."
Silence reigned, not one of the Mistresses knowing quite what to
say. Outside, there were the sounds of sirens and Royal Guard cars
rushing up and down the streets of the large city, and it brought
shivers running down all six spines. What would happen without the
Guardian of Time?
The door to the dining room burst open, just then, and little
green-headed Aeris came tearing in, a cat whose fur matched her owner's
tresses following close behind her. Upon seeing all the adults, she
froze and pulled her long black skirt to either side of her body, bowing
deeply. "Good day to you, the Mistresses of Mars, Jupiter, Venus,
Uranus, Neptune, and Saturn." She glanced up timidly, bright eyes
nervous. "May Serenity smile down on you."
"What is it, Aeris?" asked Alexandra, rolling her own gray-green
eyes at the dreadfully formal greeting--a greeting that was normally
only bothered with at Palace functions.
She straightened up, back flat as a board, and stared straight at
the questioning adult. "I would like to request the ability for Celeste
to join us at dinner." She glanced warily at the woman with the red bow,
losing some of her nerve. "If that would please the Mistresses of
Uranus, Neptune, Sat--"
"Make it so," interrupted the red-bowed one quickly, waving a
hand. "I'm not going to make dinner tonight, so she might as well stay
here."
Smiling and bowing once again, the girl bustled out of the room,
closing the door slowly behind her.
As soon as she was gone, Raye leaned her elbows on the table and
rested her chin in her hands. "What are we to do about this?" she asked
with a long sigh, purple eyes glancing at each of her friends.
Lita shook her head slowly.
Mina shrugged softly and turned away, glancing out the large
picture window.
Reaching for her love's hand, the Mistress of Neptune was
wordless.
As was her blonde wife.
Hannah looked sadly down at her sleeping child and drew the babe
close to her bosom, a tear tracing its way down her cheek as she w
ondered, albeit hesitantly, about the child's future.
And then, she sighed. "What can we do?" she asked, shaking her
head reluctantly. "What?"
The answer didn't come.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Her footfalls echoed on the thin, bland carpeting as she carefully
strode down the hallway. She knew that her face was nearly cadaverous
due to the energy expelled in battle, and her ankle--already weak from
an injury years ago--was swollen up to twice its proper size. But still,
she did not let that bother her. She walked, albeit reluctantly, toward
the door at the end of the long, beige hall. She walked, albeit shakily,
toward the golden numbers which read 201. She walked, albeit slowly, to
complete a mission all her own. She walked, steps wavering, path
crooked, toward something that she had to do.
King Endymion loved Reeny. Sure, she was a ditzy pink-haired teen
whose first priorities were food and sleep, in that order, but he loved
her. Sure, she was not the paragon of perfection, but he adored her.
And, sure, she was just his daughter, no one all that important, but
he'd created her out of love and caring. And that was enough for him.
She raised a fist slowly, studying the sunshine-colored numbers
that were attached to the door. King Endymion was the King of the Earth.
The man behind the door was just the destined love of her mother. Did it
really matter?
It did.
Knocking loudly, she pressed her lips together and glanced
nervously at the bright bronze knob that was so near her hand. It would
soon turn, and she would soon...
The door opened slowly and she glanced up into a pair of
glittering chestnut eyes. "Alice?" asked the man nervously, a concerned
expression crossing his tanned face. "Are you alright?"
With a sigh, she stared up and let tears finally boil up in her
eyes--the first tears she had allowed since she'd left Crystal Palace
and taken a long walk to think, ending up at the hotel. But she blinked
them away and straightened her spine slowly. "I just came to say one
thing, Ken, and them I'm leaving."
His forehead creased in confusion as he stared down at the auburn-
headed teen--his daughter. His only daughter. "Yes?"
Alice took two small steps toward him and wrapped her arms around
his neck, burrowing her head in his white dress shirt for a long moment
before pulling away and wiping the falling tears from her eyes. "I just
wanted to say that I'm sorry," she said softly. "And that I forgive
you."
As she turned to walk away, he caught her wrist in one of his
large hands and pulled her back. "Come here," he commanded, tugging her
toward his chest and wrapping his arms tightly around her lithe body.
She started sobbing right then, finally unable to hold back her
flood of emotions. "I'm so sorry..." she wailed, tears soaking her
father's shirt. "I was awful..."
"Shh..." he hissed delicately, rocking her back and forth. "I
forgive you..."
* * * * * * * * * * * *
"It was AWFUL," he stressed, stroking the sea of long, sandy curls
that laid--along with a head--in his lap. "Reeny just LOOKED at me and
yelped in complete surprise. All I could do was blush and sigh..."
She smiled slightly and yawned, her brown-copper eyes half-
closed. "Rich, I don't think that anyone cared..."
With a shake of his head, he sighed and closed his cobalt orbs.
"You don't understand," he countered with a slight shake of his head.
"First, she recognizes me without explaining, then I rush out after her,
suddenly..." Leaning his head back against the couch, Richard sighed
once again. "I must look like her lover or something..."
The weight from his lap was lifted momentarily, and he opened his
eyes only to see Lyra plop down in his lap. She wrapped her arms around
his shoulders. "You can't possibly be HER lover," the blonde teen
countered with a playful sparkle in her eyes. She leaned forward and
touched noses with her prince. "You're MINE, Richard."
He laughed slightly and kissed her lightly, closing his eyes once
again as their lips met and passions slowly built.
A pair of unseen green eyes watched from the counter of the
kitchen from in front of the speakerphone. "Yeah..." she whispered.
"They're kissing now, but not too much..."
"KISSING?" spat a feminine voice, and there was a clatter from the
other end of the line. "How could you let them KISS?"
The one on the other end rolled her eyes. "They're like this every
day," replied the silver kitten, sighing miserably. "It's completely
normal. I don't see why you're uptight..."
"Because kissing leads to...YOU KNOW...and that leads to babies!"
argued the woman from the other end. "And I do not want to be a
grandmother yet."
"But... Miss Venus..."
From her end, Mina cleared her throat. "You're my spy, and I say
you'll break all that up!" There was a click, followed soon by a dial
tone.
Cassiopeia sighed and hit the 'off' button on the telephone,
stretching her small limbs and wrinkling her pink nose in exasperation.
Why her?
"Rich! Lyra!" she called loudly, jumping onto the next counter and
flipping the lock on the window before nudging it open. "The window in
here blew open again!"
There was a grunt and a sigh from within the living room, and then
Lyra's sweet, high voice echoed through the apartment. "Coming, Cass!"
she called. "Give me a sec!"
With a shake of her head, the kitten glanced up at the starlight
sky and wished--with all her heart--that Mina would soon give up on it
all.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
"So, you'll do it?" questioned the girl, kneeling on the marble
floor and glancing at the little black kitten and the large pink one.
Diana rolled her crimson eyes and glanced at the ceiling
nervously. "I don't think it's right," she argued, "for the two of us to
sneak into the Crystal office and make copies of Prophesy books?" She
sighed and shook her head. "If I wasn't under the Queen's orders..."
The blue-eyed kitten giggled. "AUNTIE," she scolded with a slight
smile. "You'll annoy her!" She laughed aloud, but it was a nervous
laugh. "I'm kinda scared, though," Carina admitted softly. "If we get
caught..."
"We get caught together," said another voice suddenly, and six
eyes gazed up at a woman with straight blonde hair and a toothy, red-
lipped grin. "We do it together," repeated Lisa stubbornly, brushing off
the tan fabric of her dress. "No matter what."
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Galactic Sailors Say!
Chibi-Star: Today, we learned that I played a nasty, nasty trick on the
Starlit Prince. And it was fun!
Tara: (walking into the scene) But playing tricks on people isn't very
nice.
Alice: (entering) We also learned that I actually do have a dad, and
that he loves me VERY much.
Tara: (sniggers) Yeah, Al... He loves you so much, he left you for
fifteen years.
(Alice chases Tara offscreen)
(Suddenly, all the 2nd season Galactic Sailors appear, and the scene
with Tara being chased offscreen freezes behind them.)
Reeny: I suppose you're wondering what's going on.
(Audience nods in agreement.)
Alice: And I suppose you recognize this as the Galactic Says from story
4.
(Audience nods again.)
Phoebe: (grins) And I suppose you like chocolate-covered ants!
(Audience starts to nod and then freezes, shaking their heads
violently.)
Lyra: (rolls eyes) Well, if you've ever watched the dub, you'll notice
that the Sailor Says segments start to repeat themselves, repeat
themselves, repeat themselves, repeat...
(Celeste smacks her sister upside the head)
Lyra: (blinks) Thanks. I needed that.
Tara: (smiles) Well, in true 'dub' form, we've decided to do just as
DiC did--no more pure Galactic Says segments! From now on, it will be
same-old, same-old.
(Lawyer from DiC walks on.)
Lawyer: I'm sorry, but you're stealing our stupidity. You could be sued.
(All Sailors glance at one another sheepishly.)
Haley: (sighs) Well, then... Never mind.
ALL: DiC says...
Lawyer: See ya!
-I Know-
Look around...
(Ambriel stares down at Tokyo from the top tower of Crystal Palace)
So many things aren't clear...
(Aeris and Peter stand before the Gate of Time with terrified
expressions)
Don't worry, though...
(Haley smiles and turns a page in her book)
You know that I'll be there...
(Orion and Orb chase after the kittens)
A lot of things are so uncertain...
(Tara, near tears, bites her lip)
The future's on its way...
(Michelle holds Delaney, an amazed smile on her face)
Look into my crying eyes...
(Reeny wipes tears off her cheeks while Serenity watches nervously)
Don't take your love away!
(Alice slams the door in her father's face)
Sometimes, the road looks long...
(Lyra looks up at the North Star)
And sometimes, the world seems wrong...
(Phoebe hugs her mother around the waist)
But I know, I know, all you need is love.
(The six Galactic Sailors hold up their lockets)
Sometimes, you feel weak...
(Richard grabs onto the wrist of a falling Celeste)
And sometimes, the future looks bleak...
(Terrence shakes his head as Sailor Pluto walks through the Gate of Time)
But I know, I know, all you need is love.
(Ambriel, Celeste, and Aeris all hold up their transformation pens)
Times will change...
(Tara, robes flying, chases Joshua around the courtyard)
People will change, too...
(Haley plays with her now-long hair)
But deep inside...
(Helios takes Reeny's hands in his)
I always will love you...
(Richard bends down to kiss Lyra)
I suppose there are questions now...
(Peter tugs on Terrence's pant leg)
The answers are so far...
(Alice and Phoebe dive for a floating sphere and miss)
But look at me and smile now...
(Hannah and Brian both smile as Alex takes Delaney into her arms)
I am your guiding star!
(Lyra and Richard stare at Celeste and Peter, who are watching the
sunset)
Sometimes, the road looks long...
(Lyra looks up at the North Star)
And sometimes, the world seems wrong...
(Phoebe hugs her mother around the waist)
But I know, I know, all you need is love.
(The six Galactic Sailors hold up their lockets)
Sometimes, you feel weak...
(Richard grabs onto the wrist of a falling Celeste)
And sometimes, the future looks bleak...
(Terrence shakes his head as Sailor Pluto walks through the Gate of Time)
But I know, I know, all you need is love.
(Ambriel, Celeste, and Aeris all hold up their transformation pens)
I know...
(Chibi-Pluto, the Angel Moon, and Chibi-Star stand together)
I know...
(The Galactic Sailors stand together)
All you need is love...
(All nine girls stand together)
All you need...is...love...
(The Prince and Princess of the Stars kiss)
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Well, that's that. Hey, minna, some bad news. I'm under a computer
vendetta, here, which means that I can't write too much anymore. About
an hour of work a day. So bear with me, relax, lay back, and pray that I
don't quit while I'm ahead. Or behind. Whatever. Just hope I don't quit.
And thanks to Andrea, who ripped apart the first half and actually
helped.
In other news, the stats for this one are:
40 pages (in Courier 12)
32 revisions
803 minutes (or about 33 hours)
And only 2 ulcers.
--Kate!
