Battle On
Author's Ramblings: Ding-ding! Let the fights begin! What? Look at the
title, for Pete's sake! There are going to be some rebellions in this
fic, okay? Don't hold it against me (or Christina, though she really
doesn't always know what exactly I am writing, cue cat-ears), or death
with become you very much so, if you catch my drift. The battling will
be me on your behind. I'm kidding, of course, I'm just a stupid author,
anyway. Send me mail--my e-mail box is lonely. Well, pretty lonely,
except for ecchi-mail. Okay then. Enough of my stupidity, and on with
the show!
-Catch the blatant SMS reference, win a gold star in my notebook! And,
while it DOES nothing, that star does look really nice aside all my
Galactic Sailors Notes!-
-The "ballet move" that Phoebe is doing is something I can't spell,
pronounced 'plea ae'. You figure it out...-
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Hey? What happened last time?
In case you forgot, Lita became increasingly worried about what gender
her daughter preferred. Of course, all doubts were dashed when, after
Alice accepted Todd Walker's prom date, Lita walked in on the two of
them on the couch, kissing. Lyra told off her mother in a wonderful show
of bravery, and was "in a good mood" at the end of the story. Helios
proposed to Reeny and she accepted, under the condition that they wait
until after the enemy's dead to tell the others. Eric still loves Haley.
And Amy figured out that the Scouts can beat evil without the help of
the Mistresses.
And that, my friends, is where the story begins...
* * * * * * * * * * * *
She stood at the mailbox, the springtime breeze ruffling her hair,
staring down at the small white envelope. Life, she had long ago
decided, was really anti-climatic in nature--things could happen, and
they could be earth shattering, but the thrill would die down by the end
of a day. And that was her life, indeed.
"Notre Dame," she sighed, green-blue eyes staring first at the
address, then at the stamp, and then at her own return address label.
"It's a good school, and I blew it..." A slight smile touched her lips,
then, and she pulled open the tan-colored metal box, thinking. "Then
again, if I turn it in late, then I turned it in. And, like Phoebe said,
there's no guilt in that." She thrust the little object into the box
and closed the small door. "And, this way, I won't have to leave Tokyo--
or my friends."
Brushing a long strand of wind-blown hair from her face, Haley
Jordan Ten'ou stared up at the silver-white, shining spire that was
Crystal Palace. The noonday sunlight glinted off the surface, and she
had to shield her eyes to see clearly. Crystal Palace... Crystal
Tokyo... The home of a destiny she didn't really understand...
"If I ever understand why life is like this," she whispered to
herself, turning her back on Crystal Palace and starting back into the
small ranch house, "I'll be one lucky girl, THAT'S for sure..."
* * * * * * * * * * * *
"Have you seen Tara?" grumbled the blonde teen, tossing her lunch
bag onto the small, round table as she plopped down in her normal seat.
The confused expression on her companion's face was really enough of a
'no' for her, so she sighed and pulled out a sandwich. "Well, neither
have I."
Chewing tentatively on an oatmeal cookie, the auburn-haired teen
raised an eyebrow. "Since when am I her keeper?" she asked a bit
sarcastically. "After all..." She shied away from her jokes upon
receiving a stern, almost angry glare and smiled sheepishly. "Why?
What's the big deal?"
Lyra picked a piece of lettuce from her BLT and set it on her
napkin. "The 'big deal' is that she's in my Japanese history class and
we had a class project due today." She wrinkled her nose and removed the
tomato from her lunch as well. "I was in charge of making sure she and
her cronies got their part done--and they had to do a report on classic
Japanese art, which was a big part. And you know what?"
"No Tara?" responded Alice with a shrug. "So what else is new?"
Looking down at the disassembled sandwich, she cocked her head to one
side. "Why do you eat BLTs just for the bacon?"
"I tell Rich not to make these, but he doesn't listen any better
than the cat does," she sighed, picking up the remainder of her lunch
and taking a large bite out of it. "And it wasn't just no Tara--it was
NO GROUP!" She wrinkled her nose in disgust. "Those four have about the
brains of a toad put together, and most those brains are Tara's."
The older girl nodded in agreement. "She's still hanging out with
those three big-chested 11th-graders, isn't she? The blonde
cheerleaders?" Lyra sighed and bobbed her head up-and-down reluctantly.
"Yeah, well, there's the problem. Lily, Tonya, and Natalie probably
ditched and took the Shinto with them."
"That's what pisses me off so much," admitted the curly-haired
one, grabbing her baggie of Cheese Balls and tossing them down on the
Formica surface in annoyance. "Those three couldn't really care less
about her. Or who she is. All they are is fair weather friends."
Resting her chin in a hand, she sighed and shook her head. "And, as mad
as I am at that girl," she lamented softly, "I still really, really miss
her."
Her friend nodded, suddenly loosing interest in her tuna salad. "I
know what you mean," she agreed pensively, her chestnut eyes turning
sad. "No matter how bull-headed she is, she's still a friend. And a
Scout."
"You're Girl Scouts?" chimed in a new voice, and Alice groaned
upon hearing it. Suddenly, there was a blur of gold-brown hair and
Landis Weidner, everyone's favorite student counsel member, seated
herself in one of the two empty chairs. "I didn't know that! Coolness!"
"This is NOT my life," mumbled the auburn-haired teen, shaking her
head slowly and hiding her head in her hands. "This is quite clearly
NOT my life..."
The cheery girl glanced at Lyra in doubt. "Are we SURE that she's
alright?"
Nodding, the curly-haired one smiled sweetly at the guest. "Say,
Landis, you can have your way with the administration, can't you?" she
queried, batting her eyelashes and playing with her ponytail just enough
to look completely innocent.
Immediately, Alice picked up her head and leaned forward, trying
to get in on whatever her friend was planning.
Landis chewed on her lower lip for a moment before nodding
cautiously. "If I really want to," she replied in a soft voice, confused
by the question. "Why?"
"Well, what if we had information?" attempted the auburn-haired
one. "What if we THOUGHT that a student had skipped school, but we
didn't quite know if her mother had called her in?"
"And what if," mused the blonde, expression still sweetly
uncorrupt, "we could give you the name?"
The little stooge's face lit up with the prospect of getting
another student in trouble--especially when that trouble was with the
principal. "Why, you give me the name!" she insisted, pulling a sheet of
paper and a purple pen from her backpack and thrusting it toward the duo
of students. "I can get into the computer and check without any trouble,
and your trouble-maker will be toast in no time!"
Resting one finger on her chin, Alice cocked her head to one side.
"But, Landis," she gasped in mock concern, "won't you get a detention
for playing little-miss-hacker?"
"Oh, no, no, no!" giggled the teen with the light brown hair,
leaning forward to share her secret with the 13th-grader. "That's the
cool part," she whispered softly as Lyra scrawled down a name on the
sheet of paper. "They don't really care what I do as long as I don't
break anything..." She held back a school-girlish giggle and nudged her
companion in the shoulder. "As Student Counsel President, I basically
rule the school."
Nearly choking on her soda, the auburn-haired one suppressed an
incoming rude comment and smiled back at the other student. "If you say
so, dear," she chortled, holding back her urge to full-out laugh in her
face. "You just got to hope that the Sailor Scouts don't show up and
stage a revolution on your ass."
Lyra dropped the pen and let her brown eyes go wide.
"You believe in the Sailor Scouts?" asked Landis, not without
surprise in her voice. "Okay, yeah, like THEY'RE real!" She laughed a
little and snatched the paper and pen away from the short blonde. "Tara
Larch Yuuichirou," she read, bobbing her head in response to the name.
"I'll get right on it!" Picking up her bookbag, she smiled. "Laters!"
"Bye!" called Alice in a falsetto tone, waving. Then, as soon as
the other teen was out of earshot, she dropped her tone and wiped the
forced grin from her face. "God, I HATE that girl," she grumbled,
gulping down the remainder of her Sprite. "She's SO rude."
Popping a cheese ball in her mouth, Lyra raised an eyebrow. "We're
going to stage a revolution on her ass?" she mocked, a bit of a smile
creeping across her lips. "Come ON, Alice, tell me that you didn't
deserve a bit of a laughing at."
The older teen sulked into her empty can for a brief moment before
leaning her elbows on the table and smiling rather deviously at her
friend. "Still, your plan was pretty smart," she admitted with a wiggle
of her eyebrows. "I didn't think that you had it in you, especially not
when it gets Tara in trouble. That is SUCH a Pheebs thing."
"I know," grinned the blonde proudly with a toss of her ponytail,
"but I think that it might teach Tara to shape up."
"In theory," countered Alice."
Lyra shrugged. "Hey," she protested, leaning back into her plastic
chair. "Everything's a theory till it works."
* * * * * * * * * * * *
"Galileo!" she called, stopping in her pink-padded tracks to glare
at the little tan cat who was curled up on the living room couch. "Did
you go over those readings that I gave you?"
He rolled onto his back, the light, content snoring fading away.
"Five more minutes, Mom..." he groaned, pawing a bit at the air. "I
don't need to use the litterbox..."
Lavender eyes rolled as the chubby cat made his statement, and
their owner was only partially angry because of the fact he was asleep.
No, Ara told herself as she held back the urge to slit his throat with
her bared claws, that wasn't really why she was angry, at all. She was
angry because, if her brother was asleep, that could only MEAN one
thing.
That he had NOT read the printouts that she'd received from
Crystal Palace.
"Get UP!" she roared angrily, hopping onto the couch and
positioning herself so her body was directly above his. One paw, silver
claws gleaming, was held right above his tan throat.
Groggily, a single red eye cracked open. Its partner followed as,
wordlessly, the bigger of the two cats evaluated the situation. After a
brief moment, he allowed a sheepish smile to creep across his face.
"Uhh... Jeez..." he gulped, trying to find a way to wiggle free of the
threat without hurting himself. "I'm guessing that you're mad, Ara...
So, why don't we do like Michelle always suggests when there's a fight
and talk it out, before..." He grimaced as the green paw slipped
marginally closer to his body. "Before you kill me..."
She didn't move her single paw, but the sharp lavender eyes
lowered in his direction. "Carina and Diana sent us some readings on the
monsters," she growled, voice so low and stern that it led his fur to
stand on end, "and I gave them to you to read. Did you, or did you NOT,
read them?"
"Not?" he choked, his normally deep lilt rising a full three
octaves in pitch as he squirmed under her. The claws sparkled in the
light from the window, and he clenched both eyes shut, suddenly
horrifically afraid to look up at her. "I was going to do it!" he
insisted loudly, mews echoing through the room as he spoke. "I just
thought... And I... It was just... And a nap..."
Ara held back her urge to actually rip open his neck right then
and there. Instead, she took three cautious steps back and sat down on
her haunches, still glaring at her brother. "I gave you those read-outs
for a REASON, stupid! Just wait till I tell Mom!"
"Tell Mom," retorted the tan cat, rolling over and clambering to
his feet as quickly as he could. "See what I care!" The bloodred eyes
lowered to a stony glare as he strode up to his twin sister and brought
their noses together, leaving only a centimeter's gap between them. "I
am not your little groupie, Ara, and I DON'T have to answer to you!"
She didn't pull her face from his stern stare. "You're a Guardian,
Galileo," she hissed, her voice hardly above a whisper as she sat before
him. "Start acting like one." Then, huffing into her whiskers, she
jumped off the couch and started toward the door.
The fur on his back rose slowly. "Don't run away from me this
time, Ara!" he shot at her retreating form. "Don't try to hide from me!
We both know what a coward you are! You hide behind your printouts and
your books and your brains, but you're afraid!" He watched as she paused
before the cracked door, not turning around but not walking. His anger
built. "You're afraid of losing this God-forsaken war that that Scouts
are waging! And you're afraid of disappointing Mom and Dad!"
Not turning around, Ara sighed and shook her head. "I don't want
to see the world that will come about by the Scouts NOT winning this
war," she responded coolly, motionless as she spoke. "And I don't want
to know what the world will be like if we don't do our God-ordained
duties for those Scouts.
"We were born into Guardianship, Galileo, and we have no choice
but to accept it. We're stuck." She closed her eyes, unable to bring
herself to face him. "I don't like it any more than you do, sometimes,
but we don't have the liberty to pick and choose. We only have the
liberty to do our duty to the Chibi-Scouts and to the world."
She sighed. "You relish in the past. You love being a normal cat.
You fight the powers that you have. You fear the future." Ara held back
an urge to fall to the floor and sob. Already, her knees were weak. "You
should fear the mistakes of the past. You should relish in your powers.
You should love the present. And you should fight the future, because
that much is not set in stone.
"It's hard being a Guardian. We didn't choose this path, but Fate
did. Time did. Destiny did. And I will be one of the 'ready Guardians'
of the Prophesy.
"But, since that's what you're so afraid of, I--as leader of the
new Guardians--relieve you of your Guardianship of the Master of Time."
Slowly, she gulped and started out the door.
He didn't move. He didn't speak. He held back the tears in his
burgundy eyes as he watched his sister leave. The lump in his throat
grew as he thought about her words.
No longer a Guardian? Was that a blessing or a curse?
Galileo took a deep breath and started out the door after her, but
held no intention of talking to her.
He did, however, hold an intention of going home. Not to this
home, with the Outer Senshi and their daughters, but to his first home.
To see his mother.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
"Wow! Look at this!" shrieked the thin blonde, stopping in her
walk down the street to admire the red convertible that was parked--top
down--on the side of the road. "Ain't it HOT, girls?"
Another of the foursome, who was also impossibly blonde and almost
unrealistically thin, climbed over the locked door and slid into the
passenger's seat. "This IS neat, Tonya!" she praised the first girl as
she kicked her feet up to rest on the dashboard. "Now, all we need to do
is hot-wire it..."
Suddenly, the dark-haired one got an uneasy feeling in the pit of
her stomach, and she didn't think it was just the Mexican they'd had for
lunch.
"You can hot-wire, Lily, can't you?" asked the first blonde,
called Tonya.
The last one, "Lily", shook her head, but she did pull a long
piece of wire from her tiny black purse. "Can't hot-wire," she responded
with a devious smile flashed toward the other two blondes, "but I can
jimmy an engine to start!"
Sighing wistfully, the girl in the passenger's seat leaned back,
sending a dopey blue-eyed glance at the silent dark-haired one. "Now,
all we need is a driver... Right, TARA?"
With a cautious backward step, Tara shook her short head of hair
and adjusted her purse strap as a distraction. "Uhh... Look, guys..."
she stammered, her eyes transfixed on the face of the seated blonde.
"Natalie, I..."
"You AFRAID?" giggled Lily, waving the single wire as she spoke.
"Come ON," pleaded Tonya, batting her long eyelashes. "You're a
whole year older than us, so you've got to be AT LEAST seventeen, and
you can drive!"
Her mouth went dry. True, she was in 12th grade whereas they were
in 11th, but there was a catch: she'd hung onto getting in by the skin
of her teeth, and even then, it had been close. She, truthfully,
wouldn't be seventeen until the end of the school year. And her mother
had distinctly said that there would be no driver's licenses until she
was seventeen, because that was the summer and the summer was a time
where she could use such a license. And THAT had been before she'd quit
her Shinto ways--who knew what her mother would do when summer came,
now?
Still, with three pairs of blue eyes on her, what could she
possibly say?
"Alright," grumbled Tara, hopping into the driver's seat and
watching as one of her companions slipped the wire into the ignition.
"But, for the record, I'm praying we don't get caught..."
* * * * * * * * * * * *
"You're being quiet again, dear," he sighed, taking a break from
washing a large stack of dishes to cross into the living room area and
perch on the arm of the couch. "Is everything alright?"
His girlfriend, her soft, silken hair pulled into a hair, tight
bun, nodded reluctantly, her bright walnut eyes never leaving the book
before her. "You know how April is," she responded in a tone that seemed
to be far too calm. "The school work piles up..."
Glancing over her shoulder at the thick packet of social studies
worksheets, his brow knit in both confusion and frustration--confusion
because her manner was vague, and frustration because he KNEW that she
was lying. He slid onto the couch, still wearing his yellow rubber
gloves, and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "Maybe you need a
slight distraction, Star," he suggested, a slightly evil smile playing
across his lips. "I'm certain that--"
"No!" she shot suddenly, slamming her book shut and glaring
daggers at him. The blue eyes behind his glasses widened and he
retrieved his arm slowly, a hurt expression crossing his face. She
frowned. "I didn't mean to snap at you like that," she apologized
quickly, staring down at the pen in her hands as she spoke. "I've just
got a lot on my mind, that's all..."
Richard pursed his lips and took a brief moment to catch the name
atop the worksheets. Tara Yuuichirou. He groaned inwardly. He should
have know that it was that worthless ex-Shinto again! She had quite an
affinity for upsetting his poor little Star, especially as time wore on.
He let out a long sigh and took her pen-less hand in his. "You can't
keep worrying about her, you know."
Her answer was quick in coming, but not very original. "Who?"
Still, he question was touched with just enough innocence that he was
almost conned into believing she was telling the truth. Almost.
"Tara." Before his Star could respond, he grabbed the worksheets
and waved them before her face. "Explain right now, and I won't even get
angry about your creative lying."
Lyra gulped, twisting a single curly hair around her free index
finger as she squeezed his hand gently. "I wish I could tell you, but I
don't even know..." She pulled her lower lip between her teeth, a
pensive expression crossing her pale face. "I just really miss her...
She's my friend, you know..."
He nodded and removed his hand from hers, pulling her into his
arms and hugging her to his chest. "I know that you miss her, and I
think all the Scouts do..." Richard brushed a strand of red hair from
his own eyes as he stared at her. "But if she didn't respond to Phoebe's
cat fight, then she's a lost cause."
"I don't WANT her to be a lost cause!" she exclaimed, tears biting
at her eyes as she tried desperately to weasel from his embrace. The
anger was exploding, now, cutting through her heart and mind as he held
her in place. "I don't want to lose her! I love her! She's my friend!
She's our friend! She's my friend!" Ceasing her struggle, she buried her
face in the blazer of his school uniform and began sobbing. "Please...
Tell me otherwise..."
Richard sighed and stroked her hair wordlessly for a brief moment,
staring down at the little silver cat who was starting out the door,
toward the "real" world. He cocked his head. She shrugged her furry
shoulders and sighed. Then, he nodded toward her before turning back to
the crying girl--no, young woman--in his arms.
Smoothing her wrinkled school blouse over her back, he leaned
forward and gently kissed her head. "I wish I could, Lyra," he responded
softly, deep timbre soothing. "But, until someone tells her straight out
how much they care, or until there's a show of real authority in her
life, there--"
The mention of authority just caused her to bawl more loudly, and
he felt himself slowly lose just a little patience. As much as he loved
her, and as understand as he tried to be, he really didn't like to deal
with a screaming/crying Star.
Then, an idea popped into his head. "I've got a bag of frozen
french-fries in the kitchen!" he exclaimed, letting her go to jump up
and start back to the quiet other room. "I'll go get those, and we'll
eat fries and talk about the whole problem!"
She sniffled and managed a wary nod.
And, despite his concern for his sweet little love, Richard
smiled.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
"It bothers me, you know," she whispered, glancing over the little
partition between the kitchen and little family room type area, "that
she hasn't left yet! I mean, if SHE'S still here, then where's my dad?"
She wrinkled her dainty little nose and took a long swig of lemonade.
"And why is SHE cooking? It's YOUR night, you know!" Jabbing a finger at
the chest of her brunette friend, she scowled before tossing her head
haughtily. "I'm surprised that she didn't try to make it a whole Sailor
Scout party?"
Studying the ice cubes in her own cup of lemonade, the other teen
raised her eyebrows. "And why DIDN'T we make a whole Sailor Scout party?
It would be..." The icy-eyed glare from her companion shut her up, and
she gulped down the remaining drink. "Now, what were you saying about
your mother?"
Both teens strained to see the short, blue-haired adult who stood
over the stove. She wore a kerchief over her head as she stir-fried a
large wok of vegetables. Every few moments, she would scowl in the
direction of the cookbook, as though it had suddenly said something
extremely rude. All about her was an air of determination, which
happened to be mixed with an equally strong air of absolute frustration.
Sweat dripped down her brow as she leaned over the half-finished dinner,
trying earnestly to make a home-cooked meal for what was most likely the
first time in three years.
This drove Phoebe's lips into an out-and-out frown as she stared
at the adult's back. "I just wonder where Dad is," she sighed, her tone
upbeat but her manner nervous. "You would think he'd come... You would
think that SHE'D leave..."
"Spying isn't nice, you know," chuckled a new voice from behind
the duo, and they both jumped up only to see a pair of bright chestnut
eyes staring down at them, with silvery eyebrows above raised high. "Do
you really want to know the truth?" asked Marie softly, an expression
crossing her face that unnerved even the impossibly calm Haley.
The blue-braided one nodded.
Placing her empty glass gingerly on the coffee table, the brunette
teen shrugged and flipped her ponytail behind her shoulders. "Not my
concern," she stated coolly in a tone that would have made her tomboyish
mother proud. "In fact, I was on my way to go running when Mrs. Urawa
offered me some lemonade." She wagged a tennis shoe covered foot as
proof, ignoring the scowls she received in return for wearing shoes in
the house. "Later!"
Phoebe was going to protest, but a stern glance from her aunt
silenced her. Without exchanging words, they slowly walked through the
(now ajar, thanks to Haley) sliding door and onto the large porch. The
wood was a pleasant color of reddish-brown, and the teen could remember
the day her parents had refinished the wood. Its cheery color seemed
bright in the afternoon sun, but she--pushing a strand of loose hair
from her face--choose to ignore her surrounds and, instead, began to
practice some basic ballet moves. Nothing calmed her nerves more than
ballet. Except, perhaps, cracking jokes, but Marie had never appreciated
that...
Down one: Bend only at the knee! Up one...
"Let me assure you, Phoebe," began the seemingly young woman, the
blush of immortality seeming to fade in the somberness of her own
expression, "that this really isn't the first time."
Down two: Don't waver, Phoebe! Up two...
She sighed and rested her elbows on the railing of the deck. "I
remember the first time they went through this, and I was so scared,
too... But that time, it all repaired itself..." Shaking her head, she
stared off at the two small trees in the backyard. "I figured them to be
my only family, and after my brother had pleaded for Sailor Pluto to
grant MY immortality, too..."
Down three: What's she getting at? What's the point? Why did Dad
bother Miss Pluto? Up three...
"My parents had JUST died... I was twenty-two, far too young to
lose both parents to a train wreck..." Her eyes didn't leave the little
rabbit who sat, innocent as a child, beneath the small crabapple tree.
"Your mother knew Setsuna--wait, Susan, that's the name she uses in this
world, right?--and refused to mention the thought of sparing me from
death. But your father loved me... He loved me..." She choked on hidden,
unshed tears. "He went to talk to Pluto."
Down four: What the HELL is going on? Calm girl, you don't
swear... Yes, you do, when there's trouble... And this is trouble... Up
four...
With a shrug, she watched the bunny hop away, its cottontail the
brightest thing in the dark shade the tree cast. "Pluto agreed," she
continued, smiling slightly at the memory. "She said that, someday, I
would lead to help their daughter in her time of need. And so, I was
granted that which all the Senshi had--immortality."
Down five: Holy Christ! What is this? Don't tell me that she has
a point! I don't think... I don't KNOW! I'M SUPPOSED TO KNOW! Up
five...
"I suppose that it was my fault, but it surprised me when he
announced the separation..." A slight chuckle escaped her lips as she
blinked her silver-lashed eyes. "They separated because your mother was
mad at Pluto! Or so I thought..."
Down six: I'm not getting back up, am I? I ache. My heart is what
hurts, really... Is she saying what I think she is? Up six...
Brown eyes closed and stayed closed, and a single tear ran down a
white cheek as the adult pursed her lips, trying not to become overly
emotional and doing a poor job of that. "They fight a lot more than
you'll ever know, Pheebs," she volunteered. "They didn't call because
the counselors in Boston said not to. They fight over what's best for
the world, and for their marriage, and for you..."
Down seven: It's not my fault! It's never my fault! Really, it's
NOT!
"And that's what they fought about back then, barring the talk of
you..." She wiped away a stray tear. "They fought about life and the
galaxy and tomorrow and today and next week and bringing a child into
the world and having pets and...and..." Her voice shook as she, and the
teen, recognized the impact of her words. The implications of her words.
The MEANING of her words.
Down eight: But they don't HAVE to give up! Please, please God NO!
They can battle on! Please! Up eight...
Marie turned her gaze, which was teary and red-eyed, on the girl.
Freezing in place, the teen could feel a very bad taste in her mouth. A
taste like nothing she'd ever tasted. And, in all honesty, she thought
she was going to vomit.
"Phoebe," she whispered, not having the mere strength of heart to
step forward, "their marriage is over."
Down nine: This is a dream... A dream... A dream... I am not
living this life... I'm not going through this...
"Phoebe?"
No, wait... No dream could hurt THIS much...
Collapsing weakly to her knees, the braid-headed one found that
all she could do was cry.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
"I thought Evil Queens ordered take out," chuckled the young
woman, striding into the kitchen with her hand thrust deep into her
pockets. There, in all her apron-covered glory, stood the Queen of All
Things Evil, and she was throwing ingredients into a large vat on the
stove. Her shoulder-length hair was pulled back into an extravagant bun,
crown still proudly topping her head, as she wrinkled her nose at the
wry comment. Tina chuckled and sat down at the table, using her powers
to pull a carafe and a glass mug from the counter and set them before
her. "You know you made that comment, Ginnie," she reminded her boss and
queen with a slight snicker. "It was when Seth suggested you make ginger
chicken..."
The other young woman scowled and set the giant pot on one of the
burners. "I KNOW what I said," she spat in annoyance, her brown eyes
focusing on the mess of spices and vegetables she'd split on the top of
the stove. "But Evil Queens need money to order out." She wrinkled her
nose. "How is the search for my little poopsie, the Crystal of
Illusion?"
Blanching, the ebony-haired one began to pour herself a cup of
coffee. "It's been worse," she smiled, writing the statement off as 'not
completely a lie.' "The monsters have caused problems for the Scouts--"
True. "--and Norton and I have been looking very hard--" True. "--and
the Crystal IS hard to find--" QUITE true. She wrinkled her nose as NO
coffee came out of the carafe. Unscrewing the lid, she smiled sweetly.
"I intend to send a creature out after dinner."
"Good news to my ears, that is..." Ginnie walked over to her
minion and snatched the pitcher away, peering inside. "No coffee?" she
asked, an evil smile crossing her face.
"No, no! There's coffee!" blundered Tina, snatching away the
container and turning it upside-down above her cup. "Really! It's dried
and gross, but it's there!"
The Queen had, however, already pulled a large tin labeled
'coffee' from a cabinet and poured some of it in a beaker. "Would you
like some tasty coffee?" she chuckled, tossing her head back and
laughing diabolically.
Vehemently shaking her head, the younger of the two put her hands
in the air. "No! I don't! I was going to check if the coffee was
poisoned so you couldn't be assassinated but...uh... No coffee, no
poison, right? Right?" She rubbed the back of her neck and tripped over
herself as she tried to get up from her seat. "Uh..."
"Give me a Bunsen burner!" insisted the evil Queen, slipping a
white lab coat on over her black gown and frilly pink apron. "Time for
TASTY COFFEE!! BWAHAHAHAHAHA!" She threw back her head.
"BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
Tina charged out the door as quickly as she could, nearly breaking
the 'open' button by punching it forcefully. Her Queen's manic laughter
echoed through the hallway even as the door slid shut, and it was all
she could do to lean against the stone wall and wait for the ringing in
her ears to subside.
As she stood there, gasping and shuddering, the giant emu strode
up and smiled slightly at her. "Hi, dear," he greeted with a slight cock
of his head as he noticed the pained expression on her companion's face.
"You alright?"
She just shook her head weakly.
"How about some coffee? I think..."
And the response echoed as much as Ginnie's laughter.
"NO COFFEE!"
* * * * * * * * * * * *
The wind ruffled her hair as the quick red car sped down the
highway, her three passengers all giggling and shrieking as they raced
along, zipping past other vehicles that were, most likely, already
exceeding the speed limit. She was silent, not an uncommon occurrence,
but she WAS enjoying herself.
Freedom, she wistfully smiled to herself, not letting the
traitorous sigh within escape her lips, never tastes the blood of
battle. It never feels the pain of loss or the hatred of being
misunderstood or the emptiness of losing real friends...
She immediately thought of Lyra, her memories betraying her
willpower as a vision of the curly-haired blonde popped into mind. Her
brown eyes were smiling, her pink lips curved into their perfect little
grin... The others were with her, of course, all grinning and laughing
and flashing peace signs for the camera in her mind's eye... She
wrinkled her nose and blinked, trying to keep her eyes on the road.
After all, the worst place for a premonition was behind the steering
wheel, as her mother had once forewarned. But Shintos had to just stay
focused... In essence, they had to neglect their sixth sense. But a
sixth sense took years to control--years of rigorous training that she'd
never had. She frowned, a bitter taste in her mouth.
Cars... Speed... Wind... No battles... No worries... Flashing red
lights... Giggles... Cool breeze... Mused hair... Sirens... No blood...
No Shintoism... No worries...
SIRENS AND FLASHING LIGHTS? Green eyes glanced in the rearview
mirror, and she felt her stomach lurch.
A police car, AND a Royal Guard car. She dismissed the possibility
of her day going well and pulled herself over to the side of the road,
slowly breaking and bringing the hot--ooh, so many meanings to that
word!--car to a stop. A blue-garbed policewoman, as well as her black-
clothed Royal Guard companion walked up to the car. All three blondes
were absolutely frozen in fear. Of course, they'd not expected her to
pull over in the first place.
"License and registration, please," smiled the female officer,
cocking her head to one side pleasantly. The Royal Guard woman, on the
other hand, looked ANGRY. Piercing brown eyes didn't leave the teen's
face as she fumbled through her purse, dumping half the contents--Locket
of the Earth included--on the floor of the car.
Natalie, who was sitting beside her, bent over to help. The two in
the backseat looked defeat, most likely upset that they couldn't flirt
their way out of the mess. And, if she'd not been in the hot--there was
that word again!--seat, Tara would have been amused.
Right now, she was dead meat.
"Let me see that locket," commanded the white-clothed one, her
intense gaze staring right at the small disc that the blonde held. Blue
eyes turned to the driver, and she nodded, still trying to find the
supposed information she had.
Leaning over toward the officer, Tonya batted her eyelashes. "How
are you, Officer... Hama?" she questioned in a sweet, yet seductive
voice. "Isn't it a FINE night for a spin?"
The cop did not look amused, and patted her nightstick idly
without words. Meanwhile, the Royal Guard had looked over the locket
and, her face stoic, held it in front of the black-haired driver's face.
"Do you know what this is?"
"MY locket?" croaked the nervous teen, putting the emphasis on the
first word so that, if the Guard knew what it was, she'd at least know
WHO she, Tara Yuuichirou, was.
"Get out of the car." The Guard tossed the Locket of Earth high
into the air and caught it effortlessly. The frozen Scout of the Earth
didn't move, but stared. "I won't catch it next time, TERRA," she
growled, purposely pronouncing the girl's name the least bit differently
to inflict one point--she knew. Her dark orange tresses shone in the
setting sun. "TRUST me."
Nodding, she pressed the auto-lock button and let herself out of
the car, her entire body shaking. The others were all nervous as well,
staring at their friend as she hesitantly received her 'jewelry' back.
They all began to look exceedingly fearful of the white-garbed woman and
her blue-clothed friend.
But the white-suited one smiled at the cop. "See that these three
make it home, Officer Hama," she directed with a single wave of her
hand. "I'll take care of this girl."
"Yes, Captain Keimeko!" saluted the other woman, standing straight
up as she brought her hand from her head and clapped it over her heart.
"Give my regard to the Royal Court, Ma'am!"
Nodding, the orange-haired woman led Tara to her stark white car
and opened the back door. Cautious not to trip over her skirt, Tara
climbed into the auto and watched as the door was closed beside her. She
even put on her seatbelt--something she'd not bothered to do in the
convertible. Her green eyes stared at the locket she cradled in her
sweaty palms.
"How did you know?" she managed weakly, her voice catching in her
throat with any syllable.
Captain Keimeko managed a slight smile. "I know many things that I
doubt you do," she responded, her intense eyes focusing on the miles of
pavement ahead as she started up her car. "Truthfully, I didn't. The
locket gave it away, really; before, you were just a car thief. Now
you're a Sailor Scout who steals cars!" She laughed at her own joke,
the corners of her eyes wrinkling, making her appear older than she
first had.
"So, I'm off the hook?" asked the teen with slight amusement in
her question. Then, she scowled. The sheepish hope in her tone really
hid the amusement.
Laughing once again, Keimeko glanced at her through the rearview
mirror and shook her head slowly. "I'm not in charge of that," she
returned, still grinning. "When a Scout screws herself, pardon the
expression, it's Serenity's problem." She turned back to the road.
"However, the Queen will not see you until tomorrow. Bureaucracy has its
way, doesn't it?"
Wrinkling her brow in thought, Tara brushed a strand of wind-swept
hair from her face. "So, now what?"
"Now," responded the Captain of the Guard without tangible emotion
in her voice, "you spend the night in jail."
* * * * * * * * * * * *
"I feel sick," she muttered, clutching her knees to her chest as
she sat alone in her bedroom, with her back to the wall and her face to
one of her two windows. Sitting nearby, on the desk across the room,
were the two Guardian cats. She gulped down the vomit that she knew was
rising in the back of her throat.
They were fighting in Marie's room.
Every few moments, a word or two would be loud enough to pass
through the wall, and she didn't have to wrack her brain to catch the
major point of the argument: Marie had told the blue-haired girl against
the wishes of the Mistress, and now she was paying dearly for it. Phoebe
felt the tears in her eyes, but she refused to let them fall. Crying had
never solved anything, she had learned. Loneliness, despair,
helplessness, hopelessness... Nothing was fixed by letting free those
damnable things called tears. Nothing ever had.
"She'll make your aunt leave," commented the calico, laying down
and resting her head on her front paws. "She hasn't changed at all, not
in millennia." Noticing the odd glances she received in return, Orion
shrugged. "What? I've met all the Mistresses before... It was just in
the Silver Millennium, that's all..."
"And you never learned when to hold your tongue," sighed her
orange-and-white furred mate, copper-gold eyes focused on the gaunt,
pale face of their shared charge. "Well, Pheebs, I'm sorry about what
you're going through..."
She nodded weakly, still staring out the windows. Every so often,
she would sigh and let a single tear roll down her cheeks, a sure sign
that whatever she was feeling was deep. Though somewhat goofy, only true
hurt and honest anger could turn her to tears. Or REAL tears. She was
dramatic, but real tears were hard to bring out...
Suddenly, a yell went up in the next room. A yell that seemed to
break down the wall, as though it had only been made of cotton.
"THAT'S IT, MARIE! LEAVE!"
Phoebe scrambled to her feet as quickly as she could at that,
eliciting nervous gasps from the two cats. Still, neither animal dared
to follow her as she threw open the door and stomped out into the
hallway.
"She needs to fight this one on her own, right?" questioned the
feminine voice softly, a slight edge of nervousness to the usually
upbeat lilt.
A sigh echoed as Orb gulped back the lump in his throat. "Yes," he
responded in a shaky tone, "she does."
Blue braids thumped against her face as she strode right past the
empty bedroom of her aunt and went right into the foyer, where the
silver-haired adult was throwing on a coat. The watchful navy eyes of
her mother never left the body of her aunt, so it took the girl no
effort to walk right up to the door and, yet undetected, throw her arms
in front of it.
"No one," she spat, icy eyes glaring irately, "is going out of
this house."
Amy scowled, her already hateful expression gaining menace as she
noticed the lithe form of her only child looming before the doorway.
"You get out of here right now, Phoebe Solaria," she shot back, her tone
full of ice. "This isn't your fight."
She didn't move so much as an inch as her chest rose and fell in
staggered breaths. "I will let her leave over my dead body..."
"Phoebe..." warned Marie, her brown eyes rimmed with tears as she
stared at the teen defending her. "Please, don't do this..."
"Don't tempt me, young lady," growled the Mistress of Mercury,
striding up to the youngest of the three and raising a shaky hand. "I am
perfectly capable of taking you up on that offer."
Without any emotion in her tone, the young woman took a deep,
shuddering breath. "You can do your worst to me, Mother," she retorted
coolly. "You can break up my family and send away the only person who
has been there for me since this new Enemy surfaced, but I don't want to
live to see it." She calmly drew the back of her left hand across her
own running nose. "I don't want to live in a world where my family is in
shambles. I don't want to live in a world where all I have is you."
Amy started to bring her hand to slap her child across the face,
but froze. Her glare melted and her eyes filled with tears. She pursed
her lips and pulled away her hand, trying desperately not to lose all
composure. She swallowed. "I don't want you to live in that world,
either," she choked, rubbing an eye free of its forbidden moisture. "I
don't want to hurt you both..." She glanced at her sister-in-law, all
the biting rage from her expression draining quickly away. "I just
haven't...ever...felt like this..." She took a shallow breath and turned
back to her daughter. "But, Phoebe, this life is not a fairy tale.
Things like this happen..."
"And honesty is still the best policy, Mother," replied she,
leaning against the hard surface behind her as she spoke. Surprisingly,
her eyes were free of all tears. "You should have told me."
Marie cocked her head toward the teen. "Pheebs, you're not..."
"Crying," she finished quickly, nodding in understanding toward
the shock in the other's voice. "Tears don't solve anything. People do."
With a smile, Amy touched the cheek she had come so close to
hitting. "You're right, you know," she agreed, her navy eyes still
staring at the face of her child. "You've really changed a lot,
sweetie..."
Phoebe beamed and let a bit of the color return to her face.
"It's amazing how much you can learn from cats," she returned, her tone
gaining back some of its usual merriment.
"Yeah, well, speaking of cats," came a little voice from the
floor. All eyes turned to stare at a tiny tan kitten standing on the
floor. His red eyes glanced up at the scene, and they all silently
wondered how long the little animal had been there. He smiled. "Are my
parents at home?"
Nodding, the navy-haired teen bent down to stroke the soft fur of
the little cat. "In my room, Gallie," she chuckled, watching as he
playfully batted at a small piece of thread that laid on the floor. "But
what brings you here?"
He sighed and hung his head, smile fading away as quickly as it
had come. "It's not my favorite story," he responded with a slight
wrinkle of his pink nose. "I've just got to talk to them."
As the kitten trotted off, the girl behind him, the blue-haired
adult leaned over to whisper to her coat-clad companion. "Should I ask?"
Marie smiled slightly and shook her head. "Not unless you REALLY
want to know..."
* * * * * * * * * * * *
She tossed the little orb down, letting it fall from her hand and
to the sidewalk. And the blue crystal shattered on the ground.
And the black-haired woman smiled.
"Should we go home?" asked the giant bird beside her, watching as
the crystal reformed into a creature that could be his identical twin.
"It's getting late, and Ginnie made dinner."
Tina smiled and, smoothing her long black gown, shook her head.
"You go home, Norton, and get some rest," she commanded with a wink.
"I'm staying here to see how well the Scouts do."
He huffed and let a slight chuckle escape his closed beak. "You
just want to avoid that damn 'tasty coffee,' don't you?" he asked, a bit
of amusement in his query.
"No..." she lied, scuffing her feet on the sidewalk. "That's not
it..."
"See you later, dear," he chortled, taking to flight as he spoke.
"Have a good time."
And, once again, she smiled.
She was intending to have quite the good time.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
"I HATE these damn birds!" screamed Sailor Aurora Borealis,
rolling out from under the flying monster's shadow as he sent balls of
fire raining down on the group of Sailor Scouts. "They can fly! REAL
emus don't FLY!"
"The angle's too high for me to hit it," complained Comet as she
threw a ball of rock streaming toward the bird. It came crashing back
down to the ground, landing right before her boot-covered feet. She
grimaced, stumbling backward.
Grunting in effort, Polaris dove away from a fireball and glanced
around the area as she wiped sweat from her brow. "And where's Phoebe
and her stupid computer when you need them?" she questioned irritably,
clambering to her feet as she glared at the two other complaining
Scouts.
"Don't look at me!" exclaimed the brunette as she threw another
ball of rock into the air and missed. "Your sister and boy-toy are
missing, too!"
She grimaced and then, rolling her brown eyes, raised a single
fist high into the air. "Starlight streak!" she screamed, all her energy
focused on hitting the bird.
Silver light poured from her fist and, though not making contact
with the entire creature, nicked the edge of one of its great wings. Its
flight wavered, and the altitude dropped a bit.
"Fiery Crater!"
The comet made contact with the bird, but its effects only lasted
for a few seconds before more fireballs fell from the creature's opened
beak and hit the Scout. She roared out in pain as she was knocked a good
twenty feet backward by the force of impact. The other two all gasped
and started to rush toward her, but a call from the heavens stopped
them.
"Angelic Glow!"
Writhing in agony, the monster suddenly slammed into the pavement.
Three figures, hidden in the slight shadow of a high-rise building,
bowed toward the two standing Scouts. The fourth form landed gracefully
on the ground before them, her wings tucking behind her back as she did
so.
"I'll tend to Comet," Angel Moon offered quickly, stepping apart
from the rest of the Chibi-Scouts. "The rest of you can deal with the
monster."
Nodding, the auburn-haired teen glowered at the bird, which was
already struggling to its feet. She clenched her fists. "I hate you damn
emus," she hissed, her brown eyes lowering slowly into an almost painful
glare. "Rainbow Wave!"
There was a crackling of blue energy, and the attack disappeared
before the rainbow could hit the monster.
"I can't POSSIBLY let you girls have your way, can I?" questioned
a deep, amused voice. Suddenly, a woman appeared, floating effortlessly
in mid-air above the bird. Shoulder-length black hair rimmed her tanned
face, and slanted brown eyes stared directly at the Sailor Scouts. A
long, sparkling black dress clung to her figure, giving her a purely
evil look. And a smile, positively sadistic in nature, parted her lips.
Sailor Polaris bristled. "Who the Hell are you?"
"WHAT are you?" Chibi-Star shot as the Chibi-Scouts rushed over to
join the other warriors. "You surely can't be human!"
The woman looked almost offended by the comment. "So little to use
such words," she scolded, 'tisk-tisking' with her tongue as she spoke.
"Little girls should be seen and not heard." A beam of blue light
erupted from her fingers and smashed into the pigtailed girl, sending
her flying backwards. The Scouts all gasped, and Peter rushed toward the
girl's side, but she chortled, a hand to her mouth.
"Oops?" Glares sped toward her, and she shrugged her slender
shoulders in response to the hate in their eyes. "Come now, little
Sailor Scouts, you can't possibly expect to beat ME." She curtseyed
deeply, but the snide curve of a smile never left her lips. "I'm Tina
and, in the style of Rob, Seth, Arthur, and Kevin, I work for the Queen
of Darkness, Evil Queen Ginnie." She rose from her bow and forged
leaning back on her elbows, kicking one leg over the other as she did
so. "Of course, I'm much stronger than the others, so you mustn't
underestimate your enemy."
There was an unidentifiable chuckle from the group, and all faces
turned to see a blue-braided teen leaning against a lamppost, her fuku
blowing in the wind as she glanced at the evil harbinger of doom before
them. "Well, then, I guess we should OVERestimate you and just all
attack now, right?" she questioned with a wink of a bright ice-colored
eye. "Or, maybe we should let you get away and then let Sailor Moon and
her sword come get you."
Tina blinked at the 'new' Scout, completely awe-struck. Her brown
eyes widened in shock. "You're CHALLENGING me?" she questioned, staring
down the teen before her. "You actually DARE use that mouth toward me?"
"Shining Dawn!" was her only response.
The woman disappeared in a flash of blue, and the bright orange
orb flew past the place she had been floating and, instead, smacked into
the partially recovered monster. It roared and crumpled to the ground
once again. Only then did the strange evildoer reappear.
"Damn you Scouts!" she hissed, lowering her eyes at the smirking
Sailor in particular. "Well, I WILL get you, but right now, I have a cup
of coffee waiting!" She faded out of sight slowly.
Sailor Phoenix snorted and strode over to the group, her ballet
slippers slapping the ground loudly as she walked. "Can you BELIEVE
her?"
Wordlessly, Aurora Borealis smacked her friend in the shoulder.
The younger Scout grimaced and rubbed the place she'd been hit. "WHAT DO
YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?" she shot angrily, grabbing the red-and-orange-
garbed one by the collar. "She could have killed you with a finger!"
"Almost did that to me," put in Sailor Chibi-Star with a cough,
leaning on the sturdy shoulder of the Master of Time. "You shouldn't
have stood up to her like that."
Nodding in agreement, Angel Moon rose from her knees and smoothed
her robes carefully. "And that monster has Comet out cold," she
volunteered, shooting concerned glances toward the groaning young woman
who laid on the ground. "She may be out for hours, yet..."
"Makes you wonder what we're up against, doesn't in?" Sailor Moon
suddenly hopped down from atop a nearby building, her sword neatly
tucked away in her scabbard as she surveyed the surroundings. "If she
and the monster did all this..."
The street was practically destroyed, with holes in the road that
would need to be repaired before anyone could drive on the surface. A
few lampposts had been obliterated by the fireballs, and a small tree
was smoldering, both black and charred from one of the bird's attacked.
It looked like a war-ground, which was really what it was.
No one had to say it aloud for all the Scouts to know what Sailor
Moon was getting at. Eyes adverted other's gazes as the pink-haired one
slowly unsheathed her sword and raised it into the air. There was a loud
ringing as she cut through the still atmosphere before pointing the tip
of the blade straight toward the grunting, half-dead bird.
"Moon... Saber... Illumination..."
As their leader said those words, Sailor Polaris sighed and licked
her parched lips. "How much longer must we do battle?" she asked softly,
her words almost lost in the crisp coolness of dusk. "How much longer
until there IS peace?"
No one had an answer.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
"Since the beginning of time, there has been both good and evil,"
she sighed, leaning against the cold stone wall as she perched on the
wooden cot, her eyes staring at her desolate surroundings. "There has
always been justice and injustice, love and hate... Peace and war..."
She pulled her green eyes down to gaze at the small object in the palms
of her hands. "Which side am I fighting for?
"I mean--yes--I am a Sailor Scout. I know that. But which side am
I fighting for? Which side is Tara Yuuichirou fighting for?" She closed
her aching eyes and let the back of her head touch the wall behind her.
"Sailor Earth and I just don't get along, I guess. And I don't know
which part I should follow..."
Her thinking aloud was interrupted by the sound of a key in a
lock. Opening her heavy eyelids, she glanced through the thick metal
bars at the Captain of the Guard. Keimeko sighed and forced a smile. She
hadn't liked putting the raven-haired teen in a cell for the night, but
she'd also had no choice in the matter. "You've got a visitor, Sailor
Earth," she announced, swinging the door open a slight bit.
The girl held back a gasp as the tall, red-haired man strode into
the cell, his hands thrust in his pockets. The bars were locked behind
him.
"You've done it this time, Tara," Richard commented dryly, pulling
the single wooden stool up to her cot and seating himself on it. "The
Scouts aren't going to forgive you, especially if Serenity won't."
She adverted her gaze, knowing the cobalt eyes behind his glasses
would do nothing but intimidate her.
Sighing, he ran a hand through his hair and stared at her. "Look,
Tara, I know that you're doing this for reasons that and think I won't
understand, but I also know what you're doing to the other girls." He
bit his lower lip in thought for a brief second before he continued.
"Lyra doesn't get upset a lot, and I don't see her in tears much. But
every time someone says your name..."
"I KNOW, Richard!" Tara snapped suddenly, lowering her eyes as she
turned to glare daggers at her companion. Her ears rang with the echoes
of her own outburst. She took in a shuddering breath. "But I'll be
damned before I can straight-out say you understand any of this,
alright?" Her expression was hateful as her stony stare studied his
face. He was absolutely stoic. "Prince or not, you don't understand..."
He just shook his head, resting his elbows on his knees as he
leaned forward to stare into her angry green eyes. "That's what you
think," he responded calmly, not even blinking at her. "But I find you
to be mistaken." Her confused expression led a slight grin to touch his
lips. "Everyone acts out occasionally, Tara," he continued, still
sending his blue-eyed gaze straight at her face. "And we all have our
reasons. I can bring myself to understand why you're doing this. I can
understand you've been hurt..." He paused upon seeing that the word
'hurt' drew all the color from her cheeks. "But I can't say that I
understand why you, the religious person you are, stole a car and took
it speeding down the highway."
The biting hate in her expression was back within seconds. "How
the Hell did you get here, you ass?" she growled, her voice no more than
a low rumble in her chest. "You surely couldn't have just asked to
come... And there was a battle going on, not too long ago."
"I was making french-fries," he replied cryptically, rising and
brushing a bit of lint from his navy school uniform pants. "And it just
so happens that I keep close watch on all you Scouts."
"One of the other cats found out and snitched to Cassiopeia,"
muttered she, irritated.
He smiled slightly and started for the door. Already, the Captain
was unlocking the iron bars to let him back out and into the free world.
"I hope that you find your path in this world, Sailor Earth," Richard
remarked, his blue eyes seeming to convey more hope for her than his
words did. "The Sailor Scouts are going to need you again."
"Someday," she sighed, still staring at him. "But not today..."
As the bars shut behind him, Tara laid down on the bare wooden cot
and tucked her hands behind her head, sighing miserably as she stared up
at the stone ceiling. A tear rolled down one of her cheeks, and she
didn't know why. But she couldn't bring herself to wipe it away.
Above her, she knew, the Royal Court and all their servants were
going about their business. It wasn't too late--only seven or so in the
evening, maybe earlier--and it was, therefore, safe to assume that the
Royal Family was meeting with diplomats, exchanging graces, and smiling
possibly forced smiles to make the world the place it was. And,
somewhere above her head, Ambriel was no doubt playing with her little
black kitten... Helios and Reeny were probably holding one another,
admiring the starscape... Perhaps Serenity and Endymion had quit their
governing to spend a quiet evening together...
She gulped back the rising lump in her throat. "Someday, they WILL
need me," she whispered to herself, her weak voice hardly audible.
"Someday, soon, I will come back to them.
"But I can't, not right now. Right now, I must figure out who I
am. I must understand myself.
"Richard, perhaps YOU think you understand what I'm going through.
But I have yet to understand, so how could you? That's a question that
needs answering."
She turned her face toward the single barred window, which she
knew peeked up over the surface of the Earth just slightly. The sun had
gone down, and a million little stars blinked brightly in the sky. It
had always surprised her that, in a city like Crystal Tokyo, she could
still see the stars in the night sky. And they were beautiful...
Another tear escaped and rolled down her cheek, and she didn't try
to stop it in its path. "I'm sorry, Scouts," she breathed, clenching
shut her eyelids. "I'm really sorry..."
* * * * * * * * * * * *
She huffed into her upper lip and slowly took the pressure of the
pedal of her sewing machine. Sky-blue eyes pulled themselves away from
the long dress she was sewing, sparkling with a certain annoyance that
could only be the anger of a mother. She glared down at the blonde girl,
her expression emotionless. But the child shrunk down under that glance
nonetheless. With eyes like that, there was no need to speak.
"I'm sorry, Mommy," gulped little Lila, her big brown eyes slowly
beginning to well up with tears under the positively evil glower she was
receiving. She pushed a strand of hair from her face. "I just wanted to
say that there's a kitty here that wants to talk to you..."
That got the young woman to her feet. "Cassiopeia!" exclaimed
Mina, striding out of her bedroom quickly, her footfalls echoing through
the house as she thundered down the stairs. Her youngest daughter
watched as she left, hardly aware of the man who had come up behind her.
Andrew furrowed his brow and glanced down at the child. "What's
this all about?"
"I don't know," replied the child, glancing up at him with wide,
confused eyes. "I just told her that there was a cat here..."
"A cat?" he repeated in disbelief.
She nodded. "It was funny... Had a little golden star and talked."
Her father gulped and started toward the stairs.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
"What's all this about?" questioned Mina angrily, pacing up and
down the front porch as the little silver animal sat atop an over-turned
recycling bin. "You're supposed to CALL, once a week, to check in.
Coming over is not in the deal!"
The words rang in her ears, and she could feel her heart beat
speed up. Still, green eyes remained focused on her own silver paws
rather than trying to meet the angry blue glare. It made what she had to
do all that easier.
Yes. She nodded inwardly. She HAD to do this. She had to do what
was right. She couldn't hide behind her bluffs and pretend they were
good intentions. She couldn't force a smile and rattle off the
intimacies of her friends' relationship. It just didn't work that way.
Her eyes snapped up and sent a stony glance to the woman. She
tensed her brow. She took a deep breath. And the words came.
"I don't want to be your pawn any longer, Mistress Venus."
Blinking, the woman let her jaw go slack as she stared at the
lithe animal before her. Her stomach turned over itself within her body.
She let the tip of a pink tongue dart over dry lips. "Excuse me?" she
croaked. "What did you say?"
Cassiopeia felt her resolve start to waver, but she didn't allow
it to completely crash around her ankles. "Listen to me, Mistress
Venus," she ventured in a strong tone that seemed to be an ill fit to
her small form and docile features. "I know that you love Lyra, and--in
your messed up little mind--I am the best way to protect her." She
ignored the indignant huff from the woman and paused as two slender arms
folded across a chest. "But I love Richard and Lyra, and I can't go
against what I feel is right." She gulped and pressed her eyelids
closed, afraid that she might start crying. But she was a Guardian. She
protected those she loved. And she did NOT cry. An inward smile warmed
her soul. Ara would have been proud to know she thought such a thing.
"I don't think that what you're having me do is right," she
continued, trying not to sound overly defensive. "Frankly, I don't think
that you have a right to nose into your daughter's business. It's a rude
thing I say, but it's true.
"I think that Richard and Lyra are young. And in love. And they
are destined to be so. They'll grow up, get married, and have children--
just like you and Andrew did. And, sure, they'll make mistakes. But
wisdom comes from mistakes."
She hopped down from her perch, still staring up at the
flabbergasted form of the blonde-haired woman. "And I know that you'll
forgive both me and them," admired the cat, a slight smile on her face,
"because you always do."
Mina was shocked. Her brow bunched in thought as she watched the
kitten--the Guardian of her daughter--stride across the porch and down
the driveway. Her hands were shaking and she didn't know why. Slowly,
she took up the seat on the recycling bin, resting her head in her
hands.
"You were using that quiet little soul as a pawn?" questioned
another voice, and she didn't need to glance up to know whom it came
from.
Instead, she closed her eyes and let a soft sigh escape her lips.
"I didn't think anything of it, originally," she sniffed, her tone very
solemn. "But it's amazing how well that cat can drive home a point."
Her companion walked the few steps over to her side, resting a
soft hand on her shoulder. "Takes after our eldest daughter, I suppose,"
he chuckled slightly, receiving a stern, annoyed glare in return. He
sighed. "Mina, you're going to hate me for saying this, but I have to."
She glanced up at him, wordless, glare melting away.
"Mina, you were wrong. Completely and utterly WRONG." She scowled,
and he squeezed her shoulder. "I love you, dear, and nothing will change
that, no matter what you do and say. But you used that cat for your own
motives, and I think that she was right in all she said to you."
The woman blanched, her cheeks draining of all color. "How long
were you listening in on my conversation?"
"Long enough," he retorted with a slight bit of merriment in his
tone. "But, Mina, Lyra's a big girl. She can take care of herself."
"What would you do if he hurt her?" she growled, angry at him for
not understand. "What would you do if he did something to her? Or if she
got pregnant? Or..."
He leaned against the front window of the house, glancing in on
two of their sons, both of whom were watching professional wrestling on
television. "If 'ifs' and 'buts' were candy and nuts, we'd all have a
wonderful Christmas," he stated, a bit spaced out. She raised an eyebrow
at him, and he chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck. "It's something
my father used to say a lot," he apologized. "He said it when we were
worried about POSSIBLE outcomes, instead of letting things happen."
Andrew bent down and laid a gently butterfly kiss on her forehead.
"Dear, we've just got to trust in them. Like our parents trusted in us
when we told them we were going to get married even though you were
still in college."
She blushed a bit, remembering how she'd yelled at her parents to
trust them and how, in the end, they had. Reaching up a hand, Mina
stroked his soft blonde hair. "Thank you," she whispered softly, her
blue eyes suddenly very regretful. "I needed someone to flat-out tell me
that."
"Yeah, well, the cat started it," he protested, glancing up at the
night sky and avoiding her gaze.
Chuckling, Mina smacked him in the stomach.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
"And that's what happened," he finished, slightly breathless, as
he adjusted his position on the coffee table and tried to avoid the
strange glances he was getting from his parents. "She got all mad at me
and picked a fight and EVERYthing."
The two adult cats exchanged glances. They were both quite wary to
have their little son there, at the Urawa's, in the first place--it was
late, and he was most likely missed. Still, hearing the tale of how
cruel his sister had been was...interesting, and they were immediately
suspicious.
And Galileo could tell that much.
"Galileo, tell us the truth," said Orion flatly after a long
moment of silence. "If I know you--and I do--you did something to MAKE
her mad."
He glanced up at the ceiling, red eyes adverting the stony glare
of his mother. "I didn't do ANYTHING," he insisted, but his voice told
another story as it wavered.
Chuckling, the large orange-and-white cat laid down on the coffee
table and stared at his sun, the golden eyes not missing the act the
kitten was trying to put on. "You didn't read the printouts that Diana
sent, and you made up the whole story about not egging her on, right?"
He blanched and studied the surface of the coffee table intently,
noticing all the little nicks and scratches he'd never seen before.
"Well..."
"Then it's your OWN fault!" his mother shot angrily, staring at
him as he once again avoided catching himself in that glare of hers.
She stepped forward and brought her paw across his face without any
hesitation. He yelped out and hopped backwards, staring right at her.
Green eyes were lowered angrily in his direction, and he gulped. "You
have to right this wrong on your own, Galileo!" she hissed, her voice
low and throaty. "If you don't, then you'll regret it, and you'll lose
your guardianship, and Peter..." She didn't finish her own sentence,
but Orb picked up the point and continued for her.
"The Prophesy had us have all four of you for a reason," he put
in, his tone more understanding than that of the fiery she-cat. "If you
don't stay with Peter then, someday, something might happen." He sighed.
"I don't even know what, and maybe that part of Prophesy won't come
true, or remains unwritten, but you have to do this."
Nodding, Orion let some of the hateful sparks fade from her
forest-colored eyes as she considered her son. He seemed so tiny, still,
and so afraid. It hurt her to think of the way she'd clouted him. "No
one knows the future, and no one knows the Prophesy enough to...call,
if you will...the future before it happens." She shook her head slowly.
"But you and Peter were meant to be together, just as sure as the red
sigil of Pluto is tattooed upon your brow."
Her mate nodded. "And that sigil is better than any symbol I
shaved on your little head when you were a kitten," he laughed aloud,
thinking of his antics upon finding that his offspring had been born
without their marks of guardianship.
"Well, thank you," Galileo sighed, stretching his short, chubby
form as he slowly stood. "I suppose you're right."
"We're your parents," retorted Orb in his normal, laid-back tone.
"We're ALWAYS right."
The female cat just shook her head.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
"And that's what happened," she sighed, adjusting her seat on the
warm lap of the young, aqua-haired woman. "He had the gull of not
reading the important printouts and EVERYthing!"
The grand piano song rang through the living room of the large
house as the cat complained about the horrible things her brother had
done. Every once and a while, the loud rondo would swell to a new level
of unbearable, and it was all Michelle could do to restrain herself from
killing her wife. Her blue eyes were focused not on the cat, but on the
piano.
"Going to kill her..." mumbled the aqua-haired woman before she
turned back to the kitten in her lap. "So, Galileo provoked you?" she
questioned.
Ara glanced at her paws. "Well..."
Chuckling, Michelle leaned back, settling into the couch, and
raised an eyebrow. "If he didn't provoke you, why are you so mad?" She
stared down at the little animal, wincing only briefly as the banging on
the piano keys got even louder. She could feel the vibrations as they
shook floorboards, and the piano was all the way across the room.
"I guess I'm mad because he doesn't take it seriously," she
huffed, her lavender eyes studying her feet and the long blue skirt of
her companion. "I mean, if the Prophesy says that we're to be guardians,
then--"
"Maybe he's just not serious enough for your taste," supplied the
woman, now glaring across the room at the tall, blonde pianist. "I think
that you take this Guardian role more seriously than he does because
this is all you have." The kitten grimaced, but Michelle caught the
brief enlightenment that passed across the creature's face. "You're
afraid of what might happen if he doesn't be a good Guardian, because
that would leave you with even less than you already have."
She wrinkled her little pink nose and managed to gulp back her
emotions. Of course, being a Guardian was all she had! It was all that
they were born to have! They weren't made to be happy, like their
father, or to fall in love, like their parents had, or...or... She
sniffled and pulled her gaze to search the impassive face of the adult.
Michelle was still glaring across the room at Alexandra, but--no matter
how loud and obnoxious the song became--she still had the same amount of
love and adoration in her features. It was too much for Ara.
"I wonder what I have done," she sighed miserably, hopping off the
lap and slowly pacing across the hardwood floor, toward the door. "I
have driven my brother from home... I have pushed away the only love
I've ever felt..."
Pausing in her mad rondo, the blonde woman glanced down at the
cat. "You can try and make amends, just like everyone does when they
make a mistake."
Michelle nodded, but her eyes were suddenly locked with those of
her wife's. "You were playing too loud, you know," she said softly, a
smile creeping across her face. "You could hurt the piano..."
A wolfish grin spread across the pianist's expression. "Save the
scolding for bed," she winked playfully.
The cat gagged, disgusted, and nosed the door shut behind her.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
"We're needed at the Royal Court?" gasped the longhaired Shinto,
fingers already flying to the belt of her temple robes before her
husband could respond. "I don't have a thing to wear! And who's going to
watch Joshua? That silly girl of ours is still..."
She was silenced by a sullen glance from the brown-haired man
across the room. His normally cheery green eyes seemed to have a new
dimension to them--regret. Or perhaps, it was disappointment. "Maybe
'court' was the wrong word," Chad sighed sadly, taking a few wary steps
toward her. "One of the Sailor Scouts is on trial for actions against
crown and country, and we're requested to go--as Mistress and husband."
With a chuckle, Raye slowly began to retie robes, smoothing them.
She started toward the dresser, where her glass beads were awaiting her
atop the polished wooden surface. "Well, then, that shouldn't be so
bad," she responded casually, her purple eyes regaining some of their
lost luster. "I've passed judgement with the other Mistresses at many a
trial..." She trailed off, pulling her lower lip between two teeth as
she turned around and stared at him. Her pensive study only lasted a few
seconds, because it only took her that long to comprehend what was
happening. "You have to go to?" she managed, nervously clasping the
beads to her heart.
He nodded.
"It's Tara, isn't it?"
Wordlessly, the man rushed forward and caught his small wife in a
warm hug, clenching his eyes shut as he felt her lithe form shudder with
the force of a sob. "Sailor Earth is to be tried for actions against
crown and country," he whispered, holding back all the feelings that he
felt welling in his stomach. "All able Mistresses, with Prince Terrence
standing in the place of Mistress Pluto, and Scouts are to report
immediately. As well as the father of the...the accused..." He stumbled
over the last word. It fell hard onto his lips, and he could feel his
resolve waver. "It begins at exactly noon..."
"An hour," choked the woman, pulling her face from the front of
his robes to meet the saddened gaze. "I'll...I'll call Andrew Mokoti and
see if he can't watch Josh," she managed, her voice weak as she wiped a
few tears away with the sleeve of her outfit and straightened herself
out. "Then, I'll transform and we will be on our way..."
He nodded. "Raye, I just want to remind you that she's our
daughter."
She tried desperately not to cry. In fact, she chose to snort
instead. "Not for long," she muttered, storming out of the temple to
find their son.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
"A crime against crown and country?" she coughed out, staring at
the bright orb atop her Key Staff. "But that's never happened before!
Never has a Sailor Scout stooped to that obscene level of low..."
She was paused from her thoughts by a warm hand clapping her on
the back. Her bloodred eyes met the friendly, if concerned, gaze of
Sailor Neptune. "We're done here," she smiled slightly, brushing a
strand of her own aqua hair from her eyes. "The daimon has been
defeated."
Nodding weakly, Sailor Pluto let her fuku fade and be replaced by
her normal "street" clothes, a purple business suit. Reluctantly, she
watched her Staff disappear back into null-space. Her heart ached. She
longed to know which Galactic Sailor had betrayed the trust of the
others. And she NEEDED to know how the trial would turn out. No doubt,
with her husband acting in the place of Pluto... She shuddered.
"You alright, Susan?" questioned a much younger Alexandra Ten'ou,
thrusting her hands into the pockets of her green school pants. Her
expression was that of a worried friend, an odd expression, indeed.
"You were talking about crimes and crowns, which seems a bit out of
place..."
The young Michelle Kaioh nodded in agreement with her partner's
slight quip. "If anything is wrong," she reminded the older woman, "you
have to tell us. It's important that you don't let yourself get
overworked about something that can be easily rectified."
And what if it can't?
"Thank you, Michelle," smiled the Guardian of Time, trying not to
seem like the lair she was. "But I'm fine. Besides, the thing I'm
worried about is minor, nothing compared to the dangers of daimons and
Dark Messiahs."
But that wasn't a convincing answer to either of the young women.
It was plain to the green-haired one that they were still concerned,
confused... Well, what choice did she have? She was Pluto, and Pluto was
never completely honest.
All three of them let the subject drop.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
"I have a strange reading, here, that senses all the Scout energy
at Crystal Palace," stated the young woman, falling onto her back on the
couch, brown eyes staring up at the text-covered sheet of paper. "But,
if that's true, then it makes our job too easy."
"TOO easy?" echoed the giant bird, taking a brief reprieve from
cleaning his feathers to glance at her. "What are you going to do?"
Slowly, but with the utmost care, she extracted a small blue
crystal from her pocket. However, unlike the others she had used in the
past, this crystal was in the shape of a tiny emu. Norton gasped upon
seeing it, nervously glancing from the crystal, toward her, and back at
the tiny object. "Tina..." he warned, taking a step back.
She sighed and turned it around, twirling it between her fingers.
"I don't want to do it, you know," she pointed out with a slight frown
touching her lips. "If I use this, it's complete sacrifice. It's
irreversible. I'm half me, and half you, and that's it. And if I die,
you die."
He gulped. "You do realize that Ginnie didn't ever think you guys
would use those, right?" he queried, suddenly on edge. "He didn't think
that you would use those to combine the powers of animal and human."
"What choice do I have?" she returned, her eyes still attached to
the little bird figurine. "If I don't do this, that's IT. The end. I
die, Ginnie dies..." She slowly sat up, taking one wayward glance at
him. "If I use this, I can kill the Sailor Scouts."
"And you'll be forever half emu." The bird sighed and shook his
head. "I don't like it, but I agree with what you just said. There IS no
choice."
"Exactly." She tossed the crystal into the air.
And it shattered.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Footfalls echoed on marble as the five original Galactic Sailors,
sans Earth, strode quickly down the hallway. Their battle fukus seemed
to shine in the noonday light, which poured through the enormous windows
on either side of the girls. They looked intimidating, really, their
eyes lowered and expressions grim. The telltale clunking of a scabbard
against a leg didn't help either. It was almost frightening.
Until Sailor Phoenix spoke. "She's royally done it this time," she
growled, smashing a fist into the palm of her other hand. "A crime
against the crown? Ho-boy!"
"She should know better, too," agreed the blonde Scout beside her.
"I don't think we can forgive her. Ever."
"Good," spat Comet with a flip of her long hair. "She deserves
it."
"Yes." Aurora Borealis never let her eyes move from studying the
path before them.
Surprisingly, Sailor Moon remained completely silent. As the first
Scout, she led the group, standing her ground at the forefront of the
procession. But she liked that position for a better reason than being
the center of attention--
No one could see her face.
Sailor Earth, she had decided that morning, was a friend. 'A
friend in need is a friend, indeed.' Who were they, the other five
Sailor Scouts, to pass judgement on the last girl? And the Chibi-Scouts
were allowed to vote on the verdict as well. They were hardly old enough
to tie their own shoes, and they had a right to vote! It was almost
laughable.
Still, resolved Sailor Moon as she set her face to a stony glare,
the others were decided. It was a majority vote, besides, and Mistress
Mars was not permitted to pass a judgement. Four angry Galactic Sailors,
four (presumably) angry Chibi-Scouts, and a group of planetary rulers
who were bound to see it all the same way. Even her own mother would.
She knew that much.
What was the point? One against sixteen? How could anyone win with
those odds?
And, with that thought, she threw open the doors to one of Crystal
Palace's most secret chambers:
The Crystal Courtroom.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Marble, the purest color of white, shone in the bright sunlight
that came from the two stained-glass windows. Little patches of color
danced on the floor. The Galactic Sailors were all taken in by the
amazing architecture of it.
The center of the room was empty, the slick marble floor seemingly
intimidating with its infinite openness. It was all an onlooker could do
NOT to be slack-jawed. With the patches of colored light from the
windows glowing on the marble, it was quite a sight.
On three sides of the room were massive marble tables, almost like
the judges' "benches" in other courtrooms. Seventeen seats, some
occupied and others empty, stood behind those tables. From the front of
each seat hung a small tapestry, embroidered with the symbol of whoever
was to sit in that particular seat. Stars, moons, and other sigils of
numerous colors circled the room. It was indeed a sight.
Near the center of the room was a smaller table, this one without
the luster or wonder that the others were. It was small and wooden, and
anyone who would sit behind it would certainly be dwarfed by the massive
surroundings. Carved into the front of the table were words, written in
kanji. When translated, it said 'Table of the Accused.'
The five Galactic Sailors stood in the doorway for a long moment,
trying desperately to take in the surroundings. They failed at it. No
words could describe the amazing majesty and beauty of the place. And,
instead of attempting to do such a thing, they turned to look at the
present authorities.
The Mistresses seats were exactly opposite the room of those seats
of their daughters, seats lined up roughly even. All of the seven people
wore grim expressions, their colorful gowns and shining armor, in one
case, eerily bright in the colored sunlight. Only one seat remained
empty--Mars.
Much in the same way, the Galactic Sailors had their seats
arranged. The Chibi-Scouts were late in coming, not a shock to anyone,
but their seats were just as straight and even as everyone else's were.
It was a bittersweet sight, all of the beautiful oak chairs lined
perfectly up, though one would never be occupied on this day. Earth.
With a sigh, Sailor Moon motioned for them to sit down, and the
other four girls followed her in line to their places as grand judges.
In doing so, they passed the upset couple sitting at the Table of the
Accused, and the pink-haired warrior couldn't help but force a brave
smile for them. The Mistress of Mars ignored her act of kindness and
continued to focus on the floor. Her purple eyes were already welled up
with tears. Well enough they were, noted Sailor Moon, setting her face
to a stony mask. It will get worse.
Five teenage warriors took up their seats across from the
Mistresses, and eyes met. Words unspoken clashed. The silence was almost
palpable.
Then, footfalls echoed on marble as the Chibi-Scouts paraded into
the room. For a moment, they looked much older and wiser than they
really were. Expressions of grim, wordless anger and sorrow guided their
demeanor. They seemed almost revengeful as they stormed to their
separate seats and sat down, their little faces bearing rising above the
surface of the great table. From her vintage point, Sailor Moon could
see the Master of Time shift his position to sit on his knees, only to
receive a pinch on his arm from his twin. She was forced to suppress a
smile.
It was not an occasion for smiling.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, her gracious highness and ruler of the
whole Earth, Neo-Queen Serenity."
In strode the Queen, her normally serene face covered by the dull
pallor of both anger and worry. Her hair hung limply, as though it, too,
felt the overwhelming depression the day was bringing. Calmly, she
strode across the room to her seat, which was at a table all her own.
Smoothing the fabric of her long, white dress, she sat.
For a moment, nothing moved. It was almost as though time had
stopped. Sailor Moon even pinched herself to be certain that she was
still alive and not imagining things. Her breath caught in her throat.
"Bring out the accused," said Serenity suddenly, and many of the
judges let out breaths they had not known they were holding.
Flanked by royal guards, Sailor Earth strode into the room. Her
expression was glum and honestly saddened. She, as did all the other
Galactic Sailors, wore her fuku, but her tiara had been removed.
Removing a tiara was a sign of vulnerability and weakness... It
represented being incomplete. It was, in essence, showing that she was
in the wrong.
Sailor Moon grimaced inwardly and could feel her heart slowly
start to break.
"Sailor Earth," addressed Neo-Queen Serenity, trying desperately
to not glance at the Table of the Accused, lest she lose all of her
nerve, "you have been accused of crimes against country and crown. Do
you understand?"
She looked so small, so helpless, standing alone in the center of
the large room. The guards had backed away, leaving her plenty of space.
It seemed as though she did not want anything to do with the room she
now had; she stood completely motionless, heels scant inches apart, with
her handcuffed wrists resting limply near the hem of her skirt. She
looked frightened, like a small child.
Taking a deep breath, she nodded bravely. "Yes, Your Highness,"
she managed, her voice nearly cracking as she spoke. "I understand."
The Queen folded her hands atop the marble table, looking slightly
pleased by the answer. "I will now inform the group of judges of what
you have done. You must remember--as must the rest of you--that
innocence is not a question here." Her azure eyes slowly glanced about,
trying to read the faces of all her companions. It did not work, even
with the Chibi-Scouts; as warriors, they had been taught to swallow
emotion, and they were surely gifted at hiding such feelings. She
focused back on the girl in the center of the room. "You have already
been found guilty of these crimes, the question is whether, as a Sailor
Soldier, you are punishable for what you have done."
A tear traced its way down the teen's face. She raised her hands
to wipe it away and then paused, feeling seventeen faces on her. She
dropped her hands once again, letting the single tear fall from her face
and onto the tan bow of her fuku. It didn't matter any more.
Papers shuffled as the Queen of the Earth cleared her throat.
"Tara Larch Yuuichirou, the daughter of Raye and Chad of the same name,
was found by Captain Keimeko of the Royal Guard to be speeding down the
highway in a car late yesterday afternoon. Upon further inspection, it
was discovered that the car was stolen and that she, along with three
other girls, had jimmied the ignition to take the car for a short ride."
She glanced up from the sheets of paper to stare straight down at
the Sailor Scout in question. All compassion had drained from her
expression as those blue eyes glowered down at the smaller girl. Sailor
Earth could feel her knees start to shake.
"However, this is not the only charge. Sailor Earth has--for
weeks--been ignoring her call of destiny. This, along with her acting
out by stealing a car, is punishable in the name of justice.
"Doing something blatantly stupid is one thing--every person in
this room is guilty of that simple mistake. Unfortunately for Sailor
Earth, she does not understand the repercussions of her actions."
The Queen looked up from the frightened teen to glance around the
room at the other present judges. "On numerous occasions, the Galactic
Sailors and the Chibi-Scouts have struggled with defeating adversaries
that could have been taken care of much more easily than they were. It
is the opinion of Diana, Orb, and Orion--the three Guardians of the
Galactic Sailors who sit amongst us--that these monsters would have
been better handled had the final Galactic Sailor come to the aid of
her compatriots.
"This, ladies and gentlemen, is why she is to either be punished
or pardoned for a crime against crown and country. She has not only
broken a law of the country, but she has broken a law of destiny."
Dead silence overtook them all as the warriors, Mistresses, and
Prince Terrence all sat, motionless. Sailor Earth had, by this time,
begun to weep softly to herself, but none made a motion to comfort her.
It was as though they didn't care.
And, in many ways, they didn't.
Serenity once again folded her hands, her eyes staring down at the
crying girl. "Sailor Earth, you may now testify to your actions."
Her tears stopped as she heard those words. Slowly, Earth lifted
her head and cast a wary glance up toward her friends. Her heart pounded
in her chest, and her head ached something miserable. She took a deep,
ragged breath in through her nose, and let the words come out.
"I'm sorry," she began weakly, her green eyes pulling away from
the Galactic Sailors to stare at the ceiling. "I don't know the words
for how honestly sorry I am, so I suppose that little noun doesn't mean
so much to you all." She lowered her face and stared straight at the
Queen. She could guess, from the woman's almost unnoticeable reaction,
how she must look, her face pale, eyes bloodshot and entire body
shaking. "I know that the things I did are punishable, and I can't say
that I was ignorant to that fact before. Blind to it? Possibly.
"I just..." She closed her tired eyes and tried to remember her
conversation with Richard. She wondered if Lyra knew about that visit.
She wondered if, were Richard serving as a judge with the others, she
would be pardoned. She somehow doubted it.
Swallowing, she began again. "I just don't know where I belong.
And no, I'm not trying to excuse myself. I'm trying to make you all
understand." Her eyes, teary, popped open as she straightened herself to
glance at each of the judges in turn.
Terrence, in the place of Pluto.
"You wouldn't all understand, but I feel lost."
Mistress Saturn.
"I know I have a path to follow, as Prophesy has ordained. But
where exactly is that path?"
Mistress Uranus.
"I can't claim ignorance, I know. I am destined to serve country
and world as a fighter."
Mistress Neptune.
"But what's left when you strip that away?"
Mistress Venus.
"What do I have when I am no longer Sailor Earth?"
Mistress Jupiter.
"I was trying to find out, I think."
An empty seat, then Mistress Mercury.
"Don't you all wonder what is left when you are no longer a
warrior?"
The Queen.
"And don't you ache to know what that is?"
Sailor Chibi-Star.
"I know that this must sound so...stupid...but I wish I could
better explain myself."
The Master of Time.
"You all want to lead normal lives at least once, don't you?"
Sailor Chibi-Pluto.
"I wanted to."
Angel Moon.
"I gave up all the things I believed in so I could be a normal
teenager, just like my friends."
Sailor Moon.
"But I was wrong."
An empty chair. She swallowed. HER chair. Then, Sailor Polaris.
"I know I'm wrong."
Sailor Phoenix.
"But I thought that I was right, once."
Sailor Aurora Borealis.
"Maybe that's what made me so lost. Thinking I was right, I mean."
Sailor Comet.
"And..."
She took a deep breath and clenched her eyes shut. What was she
trying to say, exactly? What did she want to tell them all?
The words came, and she felt tears come back to her eyes. She
pulled her eyelids open and stared right at the Queen, unmoving.
"I was wrong. I know it." She pressed her lips together, hard,
working up the courage to say what she knew she had to. "But I would
like to be forgiven for what I have done. I didn't try to hurt anyone,
or betray the people I love. However, I did what I did and I can't deny
that."
A tear streamed down her face. "I guess I'm asking you to think
not with your warrior minds, but your hearts. Like I did." She raised a
hand to wipe away the tear, and did so. It was soon replaced by another.
"And perhaps, in those hearts, you will find forgiveness."
Queen Serenity nodded toward the girl, without smiling, but the
mask of hate and anger had worn away the slightest bit. "Now, each of
you will take the sheet of paper before you, embossed with your symbol,
and write either 'pardon' or 'punish' upon it. Pardon sets Sailor Earth
free. Punish will condemn her."
There was no sound as she stood, alone, staring at the seventeen
judges of her fate. The soft sound of pencil against paper echoed
through the room. Her tears fell freely, now, and she knew the truth.
None would vote pardon.
Then, the papers were slowly passed down the row to the Queen. In
the end, the Queen would be the only one to know who voted what. The
rest would only know the outcome.
A cold shiver ran up her spine as the first sheet was open.
This was the end.
"Punish."
"Punish."
"Punish."
"Punish."
"Punish."
"Punish."
"Punish."
"Punish."
"Punish."
"Punish."
"Punish."
"Punish."
"Punish."
"Punish."
"Punish."
"Punish."
It came down to the last sheet. Almost painfully, the blonde woman
opened the sheet.
"Pardon."
The word rang in everyone's ears, an almost shocking addition.
Sailor Earth felt her breath slowly escape through parted lips. A
pardon...
Slowly, the Queen of the Earth rose and walked around the tables,
coming to the center of the room. Her eyes were lowered, almost angrily,
as she stood beside the young woman.
"A majority vote was needed."
Everything froze in the teen's mind. Majority? It had been
majority? She could feel her stomach churn. In fact, she suddenly felt
very ill. Clenching her eyelids shut, she tried to hold back all the
emotions that rushed to overtake her.
It didn't work. She was crying miserably. She fought with her urge
to slip to her knees.
"As Queen of the Earth, my duty is to punish you in the name of
justice. That is ordained of me. Do you understand?"
Sailor Earth forced herself to nod. It hardly worked. Her hands
clenched into fists as she stood before the group.
"Then, in the name of justice, I punish you. Because of the
nature of your crime, you must suffer the harshest penalty. This is as
the law sets down; I cannot change it now, as much as I would like to.
And I honestly would like to."
She placed a gentle hand on the girl's shoulder. "I cannot say I
find this just. I do believe you should be punished, but I find this
punishment to be far too severe. So be it."
Spreading her arms wide, Neo-Queen Serenity took a deep breath and
faced the group of judges. "As you have ordained, Sailor Earth is to be
punished. From this day forth, she will no longer wear the sigil of
Earth or the battle fuku of a Sailor Soldier. The law deems it as such:
"Tara Larch Yuuichirou is no longer a Galactic Sailor."
There was a searing pain in her heart as, slowly, she pulled open
her eyes to glare at the Queen. The blonde, angelic adult nodded weakly
to her and gestured toward the Locket of the Earth.
She knew what she had to do.
"WAIT!" screamed Sailor Moon, rising to her feet hastily. Her
chair clattered to the floor behind her as she smacked her palms on the
surface of the marble table and leaned forward. "As the Princess of the
Earth and future ruler of this planet, I demand that you do not take
these powers from my friend!"
Hand clasped around her locket, Sailor Earth stared up at the
pink-haired warrior, eyes wide. An amazed expression crossed her face.
There had been one pardon, and now she knew from whom.
"We were all born into this destiny! It was set down before our
time!" The leader of the Galactic Sailors glared at her mother angrily,
her face no longer an emotionless mask. "You accused her of breaking a
law of destiny, and now you are doing the same! Don't you see? Are you
so blinded by your power?"
The guards all bristled. The Queen turned to face the teen.
"Hold your tongue, Serenity," she warned in a low tone, obviously
displeased with the words from her child. "You are not arguing with me,
but with the laws I must protect."
A pained look crossed the young woman's face. She pursed her lips.
"You said yourself that you don't want to do it. So why?"
Suddenly, she--Sailor Earth--felt a lump rise in her throat.
"Because she must," she answered, ignoring the astonished gasps.
"Destiny has decided that this is my path, and I must walk it. There is
no other answer." She tightened her grip on her locket and forced a
smile. "I thank you, Sailor Moon, for being a friend. But there are some
choices that not even I can make."
There was a flash of light as the Locket of the Earth was pulled
from the girl's battle fuku. For the first time in the trial, Mistress
Mars let out a cry of pure anguish. Ribbons faded into nothingness, and
a skirt and blouse replaced a fuku.
Wordlessly, Tara handed the locket to the Queen of Earth. The
tears flowed freely down her face, and she could not stop them.
Her path had been seat. Destiny had decided.
The four guards took her and they exited through a smaller door in
the back of the room. She would go back to the jail, where her handcuffs
would be removed and her purse returned. And then, she would be free.
Suddenly, the door of Crystal Courtroom burst open. Twenty guards,
all in their white suits strode in, creating a long line. They saluted
to the Queen.
Then, Captain Keimeko came through the door and walked past the
guards and to Serenity. Quickly, she dropped to one knee and clenched a
hand over her heart. "Serenity guide and teach us."
"Is something wrong, Captain?" questioned the blonde of the
orange-haired woman, taking notice of the sword buckled around the
Captain's waist.
"Begging your pardon, but yes," responded Keimeko, her tone
reverent as she climbed to her feet and clasped her arms at her sides.
Serenity raised an eyebrow. "Well? Out with it; I am in no mood
for games."
The Captain of the Guard gulped and pursed her lips. For a brief
moment, no one dared breathe.
And then, she sighed.
"Crystal Palace is under attack."
* * * * * * * * * * * *
No "Sailor Says" today. Story got too long. ^_^
-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 then? What next? Shall we find out?
By the way, I don't want flames about Tara. You hear me? NO flames.
Author's Ramblings: Ding-ding! Let the fights begin! What? Look at the
title, for Pete's sake! There are going to be some rebellions in this
fic, okay? Don't hold it against me (or Christina, though she really
doesn't always know what exactly I am writing, cue cat-ears), or death
with become you very much so, if you catch my drift. The battling will
be me on your behind. I'm kidding, of course, I'm just a stupid author,
anyway. Send me mail--my e-mail box is lonely. Well, pretty lonely,
except for ecchi-mail. Okay then. Enough of my stupidity, and on with
the show!
-Catch the blatant SMS reference, win a gold star in my notebook! And,
while it DOES nothing, that star does look really nice aside all my
Galactic Sailors Notes!-
-The "ballet move" that Phoebe is doing is something I can't spell,
pronounced 'plea ae'. You figure it out...-
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Hey? What happened last time?
In case you forgot, Lita became increasingly worried about what gender
her daughter preferred. Of course, all doubts were dashed when, after
Alice accepted Todd Walker's prom date, Lita walked in on the two of
them on the couch, kissing. Lyra told off her mother in a wonderful show
of bravery, and was "in a good mood" at the end of the story. Helios
proposed to Reeny and she accepted, under the condition that they wait
until after the enemy's dead to tell the others. Eric still loves Haley.
And Amy figured out that the Scouts can beat evil without the help of
the Mistresses.
And that, my friends, is where the story begins...
* * * * * * * * * * * *
She stood at the mailbox, the springtime breeze ruffling her hair,
staring down at the small white envelope. Life, she had long ago
decided, was really anti-climatic in nature--things could happen, and
they could be earth shattering, but the thrill would die down by the end
of a day. And that was her life, indeed.
"Notre Dame," she sighed, green-blue eyes staring first at the
address, then at the stamp, and then at her own return address label.
"It's a good school, and I blew it..." A slight smile touched her lips,
then, and she pulled open the tan-colored metal box, thinking. "Then
again, if I turn it in late, then I turned it in. And, like Phoebe said,
there's no guilt in that." She thrust the little object into the box
and closed the small door. "And, this way, I won't have to leave Tokyo--
or my friends."
Brushing a long strand of wind-blown hair from her face, Haley
Jordan Ten'ou stared up at the silver-white, shining spire that was
Crystal Palace. The noonday sunlight glinted off the surface, and she
had to shield her eyes to see clearly. Crystal Palace... Crystal
Tokyo... The home of a destiny she didn't really understand...
"If I ever understand why life is like this," she whispered to
herself, turning her back on Crystal Palace and starting back into the
small ranch house, "I'll be one lucky girl, THAT'S for sure..."
* * * * * * * * * * * *
"Have you seen Tara?" grumbled the blonde teen, tossing her lunch
bag onto the small, round table as she plopped down in her normal seat.
The confused expression on her companion's face was really enough of a
'no' for her, so she sighed and pulled out a sandwich. "Well, neither
have I."
Chewing tentatively on an oatmeal cookie, the auburn-haired teen
raised an eyebrow. "Since when am I her keeper?" she asked a bit
sarcastically. "After all..." She shied away from her jokes upon
receiving a stern, almost angry glare and smiled sheepishly. "Why?
What's the big deal?"
Lyra picked a piece of lettuce from her BLT and set it on her
napkin. "The 'big deal' is that she's in my Japanese history class and
we had a class project due today." She wrinkled her nose and removed the
tomato from her lunch as well. "I was in charge of making sure she and
her cronies got their part done--and they had to do a report on classic
Japanese art, which was a big part. And you know what?"
"No Tara?" responded Alice with a shrug. "So what else is new?"
Looking down at the disassembled sandwich, she cocked her head to one
side. "Why do you eat BLTs just for the bacon?"
"I tell Rich not to make these, but he doesn't listen any better
than the cat does," she sighed, picking up the remainder of her lunch
and taking a large bite out of it. "And it wasn't just no Tara--it was
NO GROUP!" She wrinkled her nose in disgust. "Those four have about the
brains of a toad put together, and most those brains are Tara's."
The older girl nodded in agreement. "She's still hanging out with
those three big-chested 11th-graders, isn't she? The blonde
cheerleaders?" Lyra sighed and bobbed her head up-and-down reluctantly.
"Yeah, well, there's the problem. Lily, Tonya, and Natalie probably
ditched and took the Shinto with them."
"That's what pisses me off so much," admitted the curly-haired
one, grabbing her baggie of Cheese Balls and tossing them down on the
Formica surface in annoyance. "Those three couldn't really care less
about her. Or who she is. All they are is fair weather friends."
Resting her chin in a hand, she sighed and shook her head. "And, as mad
as I am at that girl," she lamented softly, "I still really, really miss
her."
Her friend nodded, suddenly loosing interest in her tuna salad. "I
know what you mean," she agreed pensively, her chestnut eyes turning
sad. "No matter how bull-headed she is, she's still a friend. And a
Scout."
"You're Girl Scouts?" chimed in a new voice, and Alice groaned
upon hearing it. Suddenly, there was a blur of gold-brown hair and
Landis Weidner, everyone's favorite student counsel member, seated
herself in one of the two empty chairs. "I didn't know that! Coolness!"
"This is NOT my life," mumbled the auburn-haired teen, shaking her
head slowly and hiding her head in her hands. "This is quite clearly
NOT my life..."
The cheery girl glanced at Lyra in doubt. "Are we SURE that she's
alright?"
Nodding, the curly-haired one smiled sweetly at the guest. "Say,
Landis, you can have your way with the administration, can't you?" she
queried, batting her eyelashes and playing with her ponytail just enough
to look completely innocent.
Immediately, Alice picked up her head and leaned forward, trying
to get in on whatever her friend was planning.
Landis chewed on her lower lip for a moment before nodding
cautiously. "If I really want to," she replied in a soft voice, confused
by the question. "Why?"
"Well, what if we had information?" attempted the auburn-haired
one. "What if we THOUGHT that a student had skipped school, but we
didn't quite know if her mother had called her in?"
"And what if," mused the blonde, expression still sweetly
uncorrupt, "we could give you the name?"
The little stooge's face lit up with the prospect of getting
another student in trouble--especially when that trouble was with the
principal. "Why, you give me the name!" she insisted, pulling a sheet of
paper and a purple pen from her backpack and thrusting it toward the duo
of students. "I can get into the computer and check without any trouble,
and your trouble-maker will be toast in no time!"
Resting one finger on her chin, Alice cocked her head to one side.
"But, Landis," she gasped in mock concern, "won't you get a detention
for playing little-miss-hacker?"
"Oh, no, no, no!" giggled the teen with the light brown hair,
leaning forward to share her secret with the 13th-grader. "That's the
cool part," she whispered softly as Lyra scrawled down a name on the
sheet of paper. "They don't really care what I do as long as I don't
break anything..." She held back a school-girlish giggle and nudged her
companion in the shoulder. "As Student Counsel President, I basically
rule the school."
Nearly choking on her soda, the auburn-haired one suppressed an
incoming rude comment and smiled back at the other student. "If you say
so, dear," she chortled, holding back her urge to full-out laugh in her
face. "You just got to hope that the Sailor Scouts don't show up and
stage a revolution on your ass."
Lyra dropped the pen and let her brown eyes go wide.
"You believe in the Sailor Scouts?" asked Landis, not without
surprise in her voice. "Okay, yeah, like THEY'RE real!" She laughed a
little and snatched the paper and pen away from the short blonde. "Tara
Larch Yuuichirou," she read, bobbing her head in response to the name.
"I'll get right on it!" Picking up her bookbag, she smiled. "Laters!"
"Bye!" called Alice in a falsetto tone, waving. Then, as soon as
the other teen was out of earshot, she dropped her tone and wiped the
forced grin from her face. "God, I HATE that girl," she grumbled,
gulping down the remainder of her Sprite. "She's SO rude."
Popping a cheese ball in her mouth, Lyra raised an eyebrow. "We're
going to stage a revolution on her ass?" she mocked, a bit of a smile
creeping across her lips. "Come ON, Alice, tell me that you didn't
deserve a bit of a laughing at."
The older teen sulked into her empty can for a brief moment before
leaning her elbows on the table and smiling rather deviously at her
friend. "Still, your plan was pretty smart," she admitted with a wiggle
of her eyebrows. "I didn't think that you had it in you, especially not
when it gets Tara in trouble. That is SUCH a Pheebs thing."
"I know," grinned the blonde proudly with a toss of her ponytail,
"but I think that it might teach Tara to shape up."
"In theory," countered Alice."
Lyra shrugged. "Hey," she protested, leaning back into her plastic
chair. "Everything's a theory till it works."
* * * * * * * * * * * *
"Galileo!" she called, stopping in her pink-padded tracks to glare
at the little tan cat who was curled up on the living room couch. "Did
you go over those readings that I gave you?"
He rolled onto his back, the light, content snoring fading away.
"Five more minutes, Mom..." he groaned, pawing a bit at the air. "I
don't need to use the litterbox..."
Lavender eyes rolled as the chubby cat made his statement, and
their owner was only partially angry because of the fact he was asleep.
No, Ara told herself as she held back the urge to slit his throat with
her bared claws, that wasn't really why she was angry, at all. She was
angry because, if her brother was asleep, that could only MEAN one
thing.
That he had NOT read the printouts that she'd received from
Crystal Palace.
"Get UP!" she roared angrily, hopping onto the couch and
positioning herself so her body was directly above his. One paw, silver
claws gleaming, was held right above his tan throat.
Groggily, a single red eye cracked open. Its partner followed as,
wordlessly, the bigger of the two cats evaluated the situation. After a
brief moment, he allowed a sheepish smile to creep across his face.
"Uhh... Jeez..." he gulped, trying to find a way to wiggle free of the
threat without hurting himself. "I'm guessing that you're mad, Ara...
So, why don't we do like Michelle always suggests when there's a fight
and talk it out, before..." He grimaced as the green paw slipped
marginally closer to his body. "Before you kill me..."
She didn't move her single paw, but the sharp lavender eyes
lowered in his direction. "Carina and Diana sent us some readings on the
monsters," she growled, voice so low and stern that it led his fur to
stand on end, "and I gave them to you to read. Did you, or did you NOT,
read them?"
"Not?" he choked, his normally deep lilt rising a full three
octaves in pitch as he squirmed under her. The claws sparkled in the
light from the window, and he clenched both eyes shut, suddenly
horrifically afraid to look up at her. "I was going to do it!" he
insisted loudly, mews echoing through the room as he spoke. "I just
thought... And I... It was just... And a nap..."
Ara held back her urge to actually rip open his neck right then
and there. Instead, she took three cautious steps back and sat down on
her haunches, still glaring at her brother. "I gave you those read-outs
for a REASON, stupid! Just wait till I tell Mom!"
"Tell Mom," retorted the tan cat, rolling over and clambering to
his feet as quickly as he could. "See what I care!" The bloodred eyes
lowered to a stony glare as he strode up to his twin sister and brought
their noses together, leaving only a centimeter's gap between them. "I
am not your little groupie, Ara, and I DON'T have to answer to you!"
She didn't pull her face from his stern stare. "You're a Guardian,
Galileo," she hissed, her voice hardly above a whisper as she sat before
him. "Start acting like one." Then, huffing into her whiskers, she
jumped off the couch and started toward the door.
The fur on his back rose slowly. "Don't run away from me this
time, Ara!" he shot at her retreating form. "Don't try to hide from me!
We both know what a coward you are! You hide behind your printouts and
your books and your brains, but you're afraid!" He watched as she paused
before the cracked door, not turning around but not walking. His anger
built. "You're afraid of losing this God-forsaken war that that Scouts
are waging! And you're afraid of disappointing Mom and Dad!"
Not turning around, Ara sighed and shook her head. "I don't want
to see the world that will come about by the Scouts NOT winning this
war," she responded coolly, motionless as she spoke. "And I don't want
to know what the world will be like if we don't do our God-ordained
duties for those Scouts.
"We were born into Guardianship, Galileo, and we have no choice
but to accept it. We're stuck." She closed her eyes, unable to bring
herself to face him. "I don't like it any more than you do, sometimes,
but we don't have the liberty to pick and choose. We only have the
liberty to do our duty to the Chibi-Scouts and to the world."
She sighed. "You relish in the past. You love being a normal cat.
You fight the powers that you have. You fear the future." Ara held back
an urge to fall to the floor and sob. Already, her knees were weak. "You
should fear the mistakes of the past. You should relish in your powers.
You should love the present. And you should fight the future, because
that much is not set in stone.
"It's hard being a Guardian. We didn't choose this path, but Fate
did. Time did. Destiny did. And I will be one of the 'ready Guardians'
of the Prophesy.
"But, since that's what you're so afraid of, I--as leader of the
new Guardians--relieve you of your Guardianship of the Master of Time."
Slowly, she gulped and started out the door.
He didn't move. He didn't speak. He held back the tears in his
burgundy eyes as he watched his sister leave. The lump in his throat
grew as he thought about her words.
No longer a Guardian? Was that a blessing or a curse?
Galileo took a deep breath and started out the door after her, but
held no intention of talking to her.
He did, however, hold an intention of going home. Not to this
home, with the Outer Senshi and their daughters, but to his first home.
To see his mother.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
"Wow! Look at this!" shrieked the thin blonde, stopping in her
walk down the street to admire the red convertible that was parked--top
down--on the side of the road. "Ain't it HOT, girls?"
Another of the foursome, who was also impossibly blonde and almost
unrealistically thin, climbed over the locked door and slid into the
passenger's seat. "This IS neat, Tonya!" she praised the first girl as
she kicked her feet up to rest on the dashboard. "Now, all we need to do
is hot-wire it..."
Suddenly, the dark-haired one got an uneasy feeling in the pit of
her stomach, and she didn't think it was just the Mexican they'd had for
lunch.
"You can hot-wire, Lily, can't you?" asked the first blonde,
called Tonya.
The last one, "Lily", shook her head, but she did pull a long
piece of wire from her tiny black purse. "Can't hot-wire," she responded
with a devious smile flashed toward the other two blondes, "but I can
jimmy an engine to start!"
Sighing wistfully, the girl in the passenger's seat leaned back,
sending a dopey blue-eyed glance at the silent dark-haired one. "Now,
all we need is a driver... Right, TARA?"
With a cautious backward step, Tara shook her short head of hair
and adjusted her purse strap as a distraction. "Uhh... Look, guys..."
she stammered, her eyes transfixed on the face of the seated blonde.
"Natalie, I..."
"You AFRAID?" giggled Lily, waving the single wire as she spoke.
"Come ON," pleaded Tonya, batting her long eyelashes. "You're a
whole year older than us, so you've got to be AT LEAST seventeen, and
you can drive!"
Her mouth went dry. True, she was in 12th grade whereas they were
in 11th, but there was a catch: she'd hung onto getting in by the skin
of her teeth, and even then, it had been close. She, truthfully,
wouldn't be seventeen until the end of the school year. And her mother
had distinctly said that there would be no driver's licenses until she
was seventeen, because that was the summer and the summer was a time
where she could use such a license. And THAT had been before she'd quit
her Shinto ways--who knew what her mother would do when summer came,
now?
Still, with three pairs of blue eyes on her, what could she
possibly say?
"Alright," grumbled Tara, hopping into the driver's seat and
watching as one of her companions slipped the wire into the ignition.
"But, for the record, I'm praying we don't get caught..."
* * * * * * * * * * * *
"You're being quiet again, dear," he sighed, taking a break from
washing a large stack of dishes to cross into the living room area and
perch on the arm of the couch. "Is everything alright?"
His girlfriend, her soft, silken hair pulled into a hair, tight
bun, nodded reluctantly, her bright walnut eyes never leaving the book
before her. "You know how April is," she responded in a tone that seemed
to be far too calm. "The school work piles up..."
Glancing over her shoulder at the thick packet of social studies
worksheets, his brow knit in both confusion and frustration--confusion
because her manner was vague, and frustration because he KNEW that she
was lying. He slid onto the couch, still wearing his yellow rubber
gloves, and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "Maybe you need a
slight distraction, Star," he suggested, a slightly evil smile playing
across his lips. "I'm certain that--"
"No!" she shot suddenly, slamming her book shut and glaring
daggers at him. The blue eyes behind his glasses widened and he
retrieved his arm slowly, a hurt expression crossing his face. She
frowned. "I didn't mean to snap at you like that," she apologized
quickly, staring down at the pen in her hands as she spoke. "I've just
got a lot on my mind, that's all..."
Richard pursed his lips and took a brief moment to catch the name
atop the worksheets. Tara Yuuichirou. He groaned inwardly. He should
have know that it was that worthless ex-Shinto again! She had quite an
affinity for upsetting his poor little Star, especially as time wore on.
He let out a long sigh and took her pen-less hand in his. "You can't
keep worrying about her, you know."
Her answer was quick in coming, but not very original. "Who?"
Still, he question was touched with just enough innocence that he was
almost conned into believing she was telling the truth. Almost.
"Tara." Before his Star could respond, he grabbed the worksheets
and waved them before her face. "Explain right now, and I won't even get
angry about your creative lying."
Lyra gulped, twisting a single curly hair around her free index
finger as she squeezed his hand gently. "I wish I could tell you, but I
don't even know..." She pulled her lower lip between her teeth, a
pensive expression crossing her pale face. "I just really miss her...
She's my friend, you know..."
He nodded and removed his hand from hers, pulling her into his
arms and hugging her to his chest. "I know that you miss her, and I
think all the Scouts do..." Richard brushed a strand of red hair from
his own eyes as he stared at her. "But if she didn't respond to Phoebe's
cat fight, then she's a lost cause."
"I don't WANT her to be a lost cause!" she exclaimed, tears biting
at her eyes as she tried desperately to weasel from his embrace. The
anger was exploding, now, cutting through her heart and mind as he held
her in place. "I don't want to lose her! I love her! She's my friend!
She's our friend! She's my friend!" Ceasing her struggle, she buried her
face in the blazer of his school uniform and began sobbing. "Please...
Tell me otherwise..."
Richard sighed and stroked her hair wordlessly for a brief moment,
staring down at the little silver cat who was starting out the door,
toward the "real" world. He cocked his head. She shrugged her furry
shoulders and sighed. Then, he nodded toward her before turning back to
the crying girl--no, young woman--in his arms.
Smoothing her wrinkled school blouse over her back, he leaned
forward and gently kissed her head. "I wish I could, Lyra," he responded
softly, deep timbre soothing. "But, until someone tells her straight out
how much they care, or until there's a show of real authority in her
life, there--"
The mention of authority just caused her to bawl more loudly, and
he felt himself slowly lose just a little patience. As much as he loved
her, and as understand as he tried to be, he really didn't like to deal
with a screaming/crying Star.
Then, an idea popped into his head. "I've got a bag of frozen
french-fries in the kitchen!" he exclaimed, letting her go to jump up
and start back to the quiet other room. "I'll go get those, and we'll
eat fries and talk about the whole problem!"
She sniffled and managed a wary nod.
And, despite his concern for his sweet little love, Richard
smiled.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
"It bothers me, you know," she whispered, glancing over the little
partition between the kitchen and little family room type area, "that
she hasn't left yet! I mean, if SHE'S still here, then where's my dad?"
She wrinkled her dainty little nose and took a long swig of lemonade.
"And why is SHE cooking? It's YOUR night, you know!" Jabbing a finger at
the chest of her brunette friend, she scowled before tossing her head
haughtily. "I'm surprised that she didn't try to make it a whole Sailor
Scout party?"
Studying the ice cubes in her own cup of lemonade, the other teen
raised her eyebrows. "And why DIDN'T we make a whole Sailor Scout party?
It would be..." The icy-eyed glare from her companion shut her up, and
she gulped down the remaining drink. "Now, what were you saying about
your mother?"
Both teens strained to see the short, blue-haired adult who stood
over the stove. She wore a kerchief over her head as she stir-fried a
large wok of vegetables. Every few moments, she would scowl in the
direction of the cookbook, as though it had suddenly said something
extremely rude. All about her was an air of determination, which
happened to be mixed with an equally strong air of absolute frustration.
Sweat dripped down her brow as she leaned over the half-finished dinner,
trying earnestly to make a home-cooked meal for what was most likely the
first time in three years.
This drove Phoebe's lips into an out-and-out frown as she stared
at the adult's back. "I just wonder where Dad is," she sighed, her tone
upbeat but her manner nervous. "You would think he'd come... You would
think that SHE'D leave..."
"Spying isn't nice, you know," chuckled a new voice from behind
the duo, and they both jumped up only to see a pair of bright chestnut
eyes staring down at them, with silvery eyebrows above raised high. "Do
you really want to know the truth?" asked Marie softly, an expression
crossing her face that unnerved even the impossibly calm Haley.
The blue-braided one nodded.
Placing her empty glass gingerly on the coffee table, the brunette
teen shrugged and flipped her ponytail behind her shoulders. "Not my
concern," she stated coolly in a tone that would have made her tomboyish
mother proud. "In fact, I was on my way to go running when Mrs. Urawa
offered me some lemonade." She wagged a tennis shoe covered foot as
proof, ignoring the scowls she received in return for wearing shoes in
the house. "Later!"
Phoebe was going to protest, but a stern glance from her aunt
silenced her. Without exchanging words, they slowly walked through the
(now ajar, thanks to Haley) sliding door and onto the large porch. The
wood was a pleasant color of reddish-brown, and the teen could remember
the day her parents had refinished the wood. Its cheery color seemed
bright in the afternoon sun, but she--pushing a strand of loose hair
from her face--choose to ignore her surrounds and, instead, began to
practice some basic ballet moves. Nothing calmed her nerves more than
ballet. Except, perhaps, cracking jokes, but Marie had never appreciated
that...
Down one: Bend only at the knee! Up one...
"Let me assure you, Phoebe," began the seemingly young woman, the
blush of immortality seeming to fade in the somberness of her own
expression, "that this really isn't the first time."
Down two: Don't waver, Phoebe! Up two...
She sighed and rested her elbows on the railing of the deck. "I
remember the first time they went through this, and I was so scared,
too... But that time, it all repaired itself..." Shaking her head, she
stared off at the two small trees in the backyard. "I figured them to be
my only family, and after my brother had pleaded for Sailor Pluto to
grant MY immortality, too..."
Down three: What's she getting at? What's the point? Why did Dad
bother Miss Pluto? Up three...
"My parents had JUST died... I was twenty-two, far too young to
lose both parents to a train wreck..." Her eyes didn't leave the little
rabbit who sat, innocent as a child, beneath the small crabapple tree.
"Your mother knew Setsuna--wait, Susan, that's the name she uses in this
world, right?--and refused to mention the thought of sparing me from
death. But your father loved me... He loved me..." She choked on hidden,
unshed tears. "He went to talk to Pluto."
Down four: What the HELL is going on? Calm girl, you don't
swear... Yes, you do, when there's trouble... And this is trouble... Up
four...
With a shrug, she watched the bunny hop away, its cottontail the
brightest thing in the dark shade the tree cast. "Pluto agreed," she
continued, smiling slightly at the memory. "She said that, someday, I
would lead to help their daughter in her time of need. And so, I was
granted that which all the Senshi had--immortality."
Down five: Holy Christ! What is this? Don't tell me that she has
a point! I don't think... I don't KNOW! I'M SUPPOSED TO KNOW! Up
five...
"I suppose that it was my fault, but it surprised me when he
announced the separation..." A slight chuckle escaped her lips as she
blinked her silver-lashed eyes. "They separated because your mother was
mad at Pluto! Or so I thought..."
Down six: I'm not getting back up, am I? I ache. My heart is what
hurts, really... Is she saying what I think she is? Up six...
Brown eyes closed and stayed closed, and a single tear ran down a
white cheek as the adult pursed her lips, trying not to become overly
emotional and doing a poor job of that. "They fight a lot more than
you'll ever know, Pheebs," she volunteered. "They didn't call because
the counselors in Boston said not to. They fight over what's best for
the world, and for their marriage, and for you..."
Down seven: It's not my fault! It's never my fault! Really, it's
NOT!
"And that's what they fought about back then, barring the talk of
you..." She wiped away a stray tear. "They fought about life and the
galaxy and tomorrow and today and next week and bringing a child into
the world and having pets and...and..." Her voice shook as she, and the
teen, recognized the impact of her words. The implications of her words.
The MEANING of her words.
Down eight: But they don't HAVE to give up! Please, please God NO!
They can battle on! Please! Up eight...
Marie turned her gaze, which was teary and red-eyed, on the girl.
Freezing in place, the teen could feel a very bad taste in her mouth. A
taste like nothing she'd ever tasted. And, in all honesty, she thought
she was going to vomit.
"Phoebe," she whispered, not having the mere strength of heart to
step forward, "their marriage is over."
Down nine: This is a dream... A dream... A dream... I am not
living this life... I'm not going through this...
"Phoebe?"
No, wait... No dream could hurt THIS much...
Collapsing weakly to her knees, the braid-headed one found that
all she could do was cry.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
"I thought Evil Queens ordered take out," chuckled the young
woman, striding into the kitchen with her hand thrust deep into her
pockets. There, in all her apron-covered glory, stood the Queen of All
Things Evil, and she was throwing ingredients into a large vat on the
stove. Her shoulder-length hair was pulled back into an extravagant bun,
crown still proudly topping her head, as she wrinkled her nose at the
wry comment. Tina chuckled and sat down at the table, using her powers
to pull a carafe and a glass mug from the counter and set them before
her. "You know you made that comment, Ginnie," she reminded her boss and
queen with a slight snicker. "It was when Seth suggested you make ginger
chicken..."
The other young woman scowled and set the giant pot on one of the
burners. "I KNOW what I said," she spat in annoyance, her brown eyes
focusing on the mess of spices and vegetables she'd split on the top of
the stove. "But Evil Queens need money to order out." She wrinkled her
nose. "How is the search for my little poopsie, the Crystal of
Illusion?"
Blanching, the ebony-haired one began to pour herself a cup of
coffee. "It's been worse," she smiled, writing the statement off as 'not
completely a lie.' "The monsters have caused problems for the Scouts--"
True. "--and Norton and I have been looking very hard--" True. "--and
the Crystal IS hard to find--" QUITE true. She wrinkled her nose as NO
coffee came out of the carafe. Unscrewing the lid, she smiled sweetly.
"I intend to send a creature out after dinner."
"Good news to my ears, that is..." Ginnie walked over to her
minion and snatched the pitcher away, peering inside. "No coffee?" she
asked, an evil smile crossing her face.
"No, no! There's coffee!" blundered Tina, snatching away the
container and turning it upside-down above her cup. "Really! It's dried
and gross, but it's there!"
The Queen had, however, already pulled a large tin labeled
'coffee' from a cabinet and poured some of it in a beaker. "Would you
like some tasty coffee?" she chuckled, tossing her head back and
laughing diabolically.
Vehemently shaking her head, the younger of the two put her hands
in the air. "No! I don't! I was going to check if the coffee was
poisoned so you couldn't be assassinated but...uh... No coffee, no
poison, right? Right?" She rubbed the back of her neck and tripped over
herself as she tried to get up from her seat. "Uh..."
"Give me a Bunsen burner!" insisted the evil Queen, slipping a
white lab coat on over her black gown and frilly pink apron. "Time for
TASTY COFFEE!! BWAHAHAHAHAHA!" She threw back her head.
"BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
Tina charged out the door as quickly as she could, nearly breaking
the 'open' button by punching it forcefully. Her Queen's manic laughter
echoed through the hallway even as the door slid shut, and it was all
she could do to lean against the stone wall and wait for the ringing in
her ears to subside.
As she stood there, gasping and shuddering, the giant emu strode
up and smiled slightly at her. "Hi, dear," he greeted with a slight cock
of his head as he noticed the pained expression on her companion's face.
"You alright?"
She just shook her head weakly.
"How about some coffee? I think..."
And the response echoed as much as Ginnie's laughter.
"NO COFFEE!"
* * * * * * * * * * * *
The wind ruffled her hair as the quick red car sped down the
highway, her three passengers all giggling and shrieking as they raced
along, zipping past other vehicles that were, most likely, already
exceeding the speed limit. She was silent, not an uncommon occurrence,
but she WAS enjoying herself.
Freedom, she wistfully smiled to herself, not letting the
traitorous sigh within escape her lips, never tastes the blood of
battle. It never feels the pain of loss or the hatred of being
misunderstood or the emptiness of losing real friends...
She immediately thought of Lyra, her memories betraying her
willpower as a vision of the curly-haired blonde popped into mind. Her
brown eyes were smiling, her pink lips curved into their perfect little
grin... The others were with her, of course, all grinning and laughing
and flashing peace signs for the camera in her mind's eye... She
wrinkled her nose and blinked, trying to keep her eyes on the road.
After all, the worst place for a premonition was behind the steering
wheel, as her mother had once forewarned. But Shintos had to just stay
focused... In essence, they had to neglect their sixth sense. But a
sixth sense took years to control--years of rigorous training that she'd
never had. She frowned, a bitter taste in her mouth.
Cars... Speed... Wind... No battles... No worries... Flashing red
lights... Giggles... Cool breeze... Mused hair... Sirens... No blood...
No Shintoism... No worries...
SIRENS AND FLASHING LIGHTS? Green eyes glanced in the rearview
mirror, and she felt her stomach lurch.
A police car, AND a Royal Guard car. She dismissed the possibility
of her day going well and pulled herself over to the side of the road,
slowly breaking and bringing the hot--ooh, so many meanings to that
word!--car to a stop. A blue-garbed policewoman, as well as her black-
clothed Royal Guard companion walked up to the car. All three blondes
were absolutely frozen in fear. Of course, they'd not expected her to
pull over in the first place.
"License and registration, please," smiled the female officer,
cocking her head to one side pleasantly. The Royal Guard woman, on the
other hand, looked ANGRY. Piercing brown eyes didn't leave the teen's
face as she fumbled through her purse, dumping half the contents--Locket
of the Earth included--on the floor of the car.
Natalie, who was sitting beside her, bent over to help. The two in
the backseat looked defeat, most likely upset that they couldn't flirt
their way out of the mess. And, if she'd not been in the hot--there was
that word again!--seat, Tara would have been amused.
Right now, she was dead meat.
"Let me see that locket," commanded the white-clothed one, her
intense gaze staring right at the small disc that the blonde held. Blue
eyes turned to the driver, and she nodded, still trying to find the
supposed information she had.
Leaning over toward the officer, Tonya batted her eyelashes. "How
are you, Officer... Hama?" she questioned in a sweet, yet seductive
voice. "Isn't it a FINE night for a spin?"
The cop did not look amused, and patted her nightstick idly
without words. Meanwhile, the Royal Guard had looked over the locket
and, her face stoic, held it in front of the black-haired driver's face.
"Do you know what this is?"
"MY locket?" croaked the nervous teen, putting the emphasis on the
first word so that, if the Guard knew what it was, she'd at least know
WHO she, Tara Yuuichirou, was.
"Get out of the car." The Guard tossed the Locket of Earth high
into the air and caught it effortlessly. The frozen Scout of the Earth
didn't move, but stared. "I won't catch it next time, TERRA," she
growled, purposely pronouncing the girl's name the least bit differently
to inflict one point--she knew. Her dark orange tresses shone in the
setting sun. "TRUST me."
Nodding, she pressed the auto-lock button and let herself out of
the car, her entire body shaking. The others were all nervous as well,
staring at their friend as she hesitantly received her 'jewelry' back.
They all began to look exceedingly fearful of the white-garbed woman and
her blue-clothed friend.
But the white-suited one smiled at the cop. "See that these three
make it home, Officer Hama," she directed with a single wave of her
hand. "I'll take care of this girl."
"Yes, Captain Keimeko!" saluted the other woman, standing straight
up as she brought her hand from her head and clapped it over her heart.
"Give my regard to the Royal Court, Ma'am!"
Nodding, the orange-haired woman led Tara to her stark white car
and opened the back door. Cautious not to trip over her skirt, Tara
climbed into the auto and watched as the door was closed beside her. She
even put on her seatbelt--something she'd not bothered to do in the
convertible. Her green eyes stared at the locket she cradled in her
sweaty palms.
"How did you know?" she managed weakly, her voice catching in her
throat with any syllable.
Captain Keimeko managed a slight smile. "I know many things that I
doubt you do," she responded, her intense eyes focusing on the miles of
pavement ahead as she started up her car. "Truthfully, I didn't. The
locket gave it away, really; before, you were just a car thief. Now
you're a Sailor Scout who steals cars!" She laughed at her own joke,
the corners of her eyes wrinkling, making her appear older than she
first had.
"So, I'm off the hook?" asked the teen with slight amusement in
her question. Then, she scowled. The sheepish hope in her tone really
hid the amusement.
Laughing once again, Keimeko glanced at her through the rearview
mirror and shook her head slowly. "I'm not in charge of that," she
returned, still grinning. "When a Scout screws herself, pardon the
expression, it's Serenity's problem." She turned back to the road.
"However, the Queen will not see you until tomorrow. Bureaucracy has its
way, doesn't it?"
Wrinkling her brow in thought, Tara brushed a strand of wind-swept
hair from her face. "So, now what?"
"Now," responded the Captain of the Guard without tangible emotion
in her voice, "you spend the night in jail."
* * * * * * * * * * * *
"I feel sick," she muttered, clutching her knees to her chest as
she sat alone in her bedroom, with her back to the wall and her face to
one of her two windows. Sitting nearby, on the desk across the room,
were the two Guardian cats. She gulped down the vomit that she knew was
rising in the back of her throat.
They were fighting in Marie's room.
Every few moments, a word or two would be loud enough to pass
through the wall, and she didn't have to wrack her brain to catch the
major point of the argument: Marie had told the blue-haired girl against
the wishes of the Mistress, and now she was paying dearly for it. Phoebe
felt the tears in her eyes, but she refused to let them fall. Crying had
never solved anything, she had learned. Loneliness, despair,
helplessness, hopelessness... Nothing was fixed by letting free those
damnable things called tears. Nothing ever had.
"She'll make your aunt leave," commented the calico, laying down
and resting her head on her front paws. "She hasn't changed at all, not
in millennia." Noticing the odd glances she received in return, Orion
shrugged. "What? I've met all the Mistresses before... It was just in
the Silver Millennium, that's all..."
"And you never learned when to hold your tongue," sighed her
orange-and-white furred mate, copper-gold eyes focused on the gaunt,
pale face of their shared charge. "Well, Pheebs, I'm sorry about what
you're going through..."
She nodded weakly, still staring out the windows. Every so often,
she would sigh and let a single tear roll down her cheeks, a sure sign
that whatever she was feeling was deep. Though somewhat goofy, only true
hurt and honest anger could turn her to tears. Or REAL tears. She was
dramatic, but real tears were hard to bring out...
Suddenly, a yell went up in the next room. A yell that seemed to
break down the wall, as though it had only been made of cotton.
"THAT'S IT, MARIE! LEAVE!"
Phoebe scrambled to her feet as quickly as she could at that,
eliciting nervous gasps from the two cats. Still, neither animal dared
to follow her as she threw open the door and stomped out into the
hallway.
"She needs to fight this one on her own, right?" questioned the
feminine voice softly, a slight edge of nervousness to the usually
upbeat lilt.
A sigh echoed as Orb gulped back the lump in his throat. "Yes," he
responded in a shaky tone, "she does."
Blue braids thumped against her face as she strode right past the
empty bedroom of her aunt and went right into the foyer, where the
silver-haired adult was throwing on a coat. The watchful navy eyes of
her mother never left the body of her aunt, so it took the girl no
effort to walk right up to the door and, yet undetected, throw her arms
in front of it.
"No one," she spat, icy eyes glaring irately, "is going out of
this house."
Amy scowled, her already hateful expression gaining menace as she
noticed the lithe form of her only child looming before the doorway.
"You get out of here right now, Phoebe Solaria," she shot back, her tone
full of ice. "This isn't your fight."
She didn't move so much as an inch as her chest rose and fell in
staggered breaths. "I will let her leave over my dead body..."
"Phoebe..." warned Marie, her brown eyes rimmed with tears as she
stared at the teen defending her. "Please, don't do this..."
"Don't tempt me, young lady," growled the Mistress of Mercury,
striding up to the youngest of the three and raising a shaky hand. "I am
perfectly capable of taking you up on that offer."
Without any emotion in her tone, the young woman took a deep,
shuddering breath. "You can do your worst to me, Mother," she retorted
coolly. "You can break up my family and send away the only person who
has been there for me since this new Enemy surfaced, but I don't want to
live to see it." She calmly drew the back of her left hand across her
own running nose. "I don't want to live in a world where my family is in
shambles. I don't want to live in a world where all I have is you."
Amy started to bring her hand to slap her child across the face,
but froze. Her glare melted and her eyes filled with tears. She pursed
her lips and pulled away her hand, trying desperately not to lose all
composure. She swallowed. "I don't want you to live in that world,
either," she choked, rubbing an eye free of its forbidden moisture. "I
don't want to hurt you both..." She glanced at her sister-in-law, all
the biting rage from her expression draining quickly away. "I just
haven't...ever...felt like this..." She took a shallow breath and turned
back to her daughter. "But, Phoebe, this life is not a fairy tale.
Things like this happen..."
"And honesty is still the best policy, Mother," replied she,
leaning against the hard surface behind her as she spoke. Surprisingly,
her eyes were free of all tears. "You should have told me."
Marie cocked her head toward the teen. "Pheebs, you're not..."
"Crying," she finished quickly, nodding in understanding toward
the shock in the other's voice. "Tears don't solve anything. People do."
With a smile, Amy touched the cheek she had come so close to
hitting. "You're right, you know," she agreed, her navy eyes still
staring at the face of her child. "You've really changed a lot,
sweetie..."
Phoebe beamed and let a bit of the color return to her face.
"It's amazing how much you can learn from cats," she returned, her tone
gaining back some of its usual merriment.
"Yeah, well, speaking of cats," came a little voice from the
floor. All eyes turned to stare at a tiny tan kitten standing on the
floor. His red eyes glanced up at the scene, and they all silently
wondered how long the little animal had been there. He smiled. "Are my
parents at home?"
Nodding, the navy-haired teen bent down to stroke the soft fur of
the little cat. "In my room, Gallie," she chuckled, watching as he
playfully batted at a small piece of thread that laid on the floor. "But
what brings you here?"
He sighed and hung his head, smile fading away as quickly as it
had come. "It's not my favorite story," he responded with a slight
wrinkle of his pink nose. "I've just got to talk to them."
As the kitten trotted off, the girl behind him, the blue-haired
adult leaned over to whisper to her coat-clad companion. "Should I ask?"
Marie smiled slightly and shook her head. "Not unless you REALLY
want to know..."
* * * * * * * * * * * *
She tossed the little orb down, letting it fall from her hand and
to the sidewalk. And the blue crystal shattered on the ground.
And the black-haired woman smiled.
"Should we go home?" asked the giant bird beside her, watching as
the crystal reformed into a creature that could be his identical twin.
"It's getting late, and Ginnie made dinner."
Tina smiled and, smoothing her long black gown, shook her head.
"You go home, Norton, and get some rest," she commanded with a wink.
"I'm staying here to see how well the Scouts do."
He huffed and let a slight chuckle escape his closed beak. "You
just want to avoid that damn 'tasty coffee,' don't you?" he asked, a bit
of amusement in his query.
"No..." she lied, scuffing her feet on the sidewalk. "That's not
it..."
"See you later, dear," he chortled, taking to flight as he spoke.
"Have a good time."
And, once again, she smiled.
She was intending to have quite the good time.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
"I HATE these damn birds!" screamed Sailor Aurora Borealis,
rolling out from under the flying monster's shadow as he sent balls of
fire raining down on the group of Sailor Scouts. "They can fly! REAL
emus don't FLY!"
"The angle's too high for me to hit it," complained Comet as she
threw a ball of rock streaming toward the bird. It came crashing back
down to the ground, landing right before her boot-covered feet. She
grimaced, stumbling backward.
Grunting in effort, Polaris dove away from a fireball and glanced
around the area as she wiped sweat from her brow. "And where's Phoebe
and her stupid computer when you need them?" she questioned irritably,
clambering to her feet as she glared at the two other complaining
Scouts.
"Don't look at me!" exclaimed the brunette as she threw another
ball of rock into the air and missed. "Your sister and boy-toy are
missing, too!"
She grimaced and then, rolling her brown eyes, raised a single
fist high into the air. "Starlight streak!" she screamed, all her energy
focused on hitting the bird.
Silver light poured from her fist and, though not making contact
with the entire creature, nicked the edge of one of its great wings. Its
flight wavered, and the altitude dropped a bit.
"Fiery Crater!"
The comet made contact with the bird, but its effects only lasted
for a few seconds before more fireballs fell from the creature's opened
beak and hit the Scout. She roared out in pain as she was knocked a good
twenty feet backward by the force of impact. The other two all gasped
and started to rush toward her, but a call from the heavens stopped
them.
"Angelic Glow!"
Writhing in agony, the monster suddenly slammed into the pavement.
Three figures, hidden in the slight shadow of a high-rise building,
bowed toward the two standing Scouts. The fourth form landed gracefully
on the ground before them, her wings tucking behind her back as she did
so.
"I'll tend to Comet," Angel Moon offered quickly, stepping apart
from the rest of the Chibi-Scouts. "The rest of you can deal with the
monster."
Nodding, the auburn-haired teen glowered at the bird, which was
already struggling to its feet. She clenched her fists. "I hate you damn
emus," she hissed, her brown eyes lowering slowly into an almost painful
glare. "Rainbow Wave!"
There was a crackling of blue energy, and the attack disappeared
before the rainbow could hit the monster.
"I can't POSSIBLY let you girls have your way, can I?" questioned
a deep, amused voice. Suddenly, a woman appeared, floating effortlessly
in mid-air above the bird. Shoulder-length black hair rimmed her tanned
face, and slanted brown eyes stared directly at the Sailor Scouts. A
long, sparkling black dress clung to her figure, giving her a purely
evil look. And a smile, positively sadistic in nature, parted her lips.
Sailor Polaris bristled. "Who the Hell are you?"
"WHAT are you?" Chibi-Star shot as the Chibi-Scouts rushed over to
join the other warriors. "You surely can't be human!"
The woman looked almost offended by the comment. "So little to use
such words," she scolded, 'tisk-tisking' with her tongue as she spoke.
"Little girls should be seen and not heard." A beam of blue light
erupted from her fingers and smashed into the pigtailed girl, sending
her flying backwards. The Scouts all gasped, and Peter rushed toward the
girl's side, but she chortled, a hand to her mouth.
"Oops?" Glares sped toward her, and she shrugged her slender
shoulders in response to the hate in their eyes. "Come now, little
Sailor Scouts, you can't possibly expect to beat ME." She curtseyed
deeply, but the snide curve of a smile never left her lips. "I'm Tina
and, in the style of Rob, Seth, Arthur, and Kevin, I work for the Queen
of Darkness, Evil Queen Ginnie." She rose from her bow and forged
leaning back on her elbows, kicking one leg over the other as she did
so. "Of course, I'm much stronger than the others, so you mustn't
underestimate your enemy."
There was an unidentifiable chuckle from the group, and all faces
turned to see a blue-braided teen leaning against a lamppost, her fuku
blowing in the wind as she glanced at the evil harbinger of doom before
them. "Well, then, I guess we should OVERestimate you and just all
attack now, right?" she questioned with a wink of a bright ice-colored
eye. "Or, maybe we should let you get away and then let Sailor Moon and
her sword come get you."
Tina blinked at the 'new' Scout, completely awe-struck. Her brown
eyes widened in shock. "You're CHALLENGING me?" she questioned, staring
down the teen before her. "You actually DARE use that mouth toward me?"
"Shining Dawn!" was her only response.
The woman disappeared in a flash of blue, and the bright orange
orb flew past the place she had been floating and, instead, smacked into
the partially recovered monster. It roared and crumpled to the ground
once again. Only then did the strange evildoer reappear.
"Damn you Scouts!" she hissed, lowering her eyes at the smirking
Sailor in particular. "Well, I WILL get you, but right now, I have a cup
of coffee waiting!" She faded out of sight slowly.
Sailor Phoenix snorted and strode over to the group, her ballet
slippers slapping the ground loudly as she walked. "Can you BELIEVE
her?"
Wordlessly, Aurora Borealis smacked her friend in the shoulder.
The younger Scout grimaced and rubbed the place she'd been hit. "WHAT DO
YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?" she shot angrily, grabbing the red-and-orange-
garbed one by the collar. "She could have killed you with a finger!"
"Almost did that to me," put in Sailor Chibi-Star with a cough,
leaning on the sturdy shoulder of the Master of Time. "You shouldn't
have stood up to her like that."
Nodding in agreement, Angel Moon rose from her knees and smoothed
her robes carefully. "And that monster has Comet out cold," she
volunteered, shooting concerned glances toward the groaning young woman
who laid on the ground. "She may be out for hours, yet..."
"Makes you wonder what we're up against, doesn't in?" Sailor Moon
suddenly hopped down from atop a nearby building, her sword neatly
tucked away in her scabbard as she surveyed the surroundings. "If she
and the monster did all this..."
The street was practically destroyed, with holes in the road that
would need to be repaired before anyone could drive on the surface. A
few lampposts had been obliterated by the fireballs, and a small tree
was smoldering, both black and charred from one of the bird's attacked.
It looked like a war-ground, which was really what it was.
No one had to say it aloud for all the Scouts to know what Sailor
Moon was getting at. Eyes adverted other's gazes as the pink-haired one
slowly unsheathed her sword and raised it into the air. There was a loud
ringing as she cut through the still atmosphere before pointing the tip
of the blade straight toward the grunting, half-dead bird.
"Moon... Saber... Illumination..."
As their leader said those words, Sailor Polaris sighed and licked
her parched lips. "How much longer must we do battle?" she asked softly,
her words almost lost in the crisp coolness of dusk. "How much longer
until there IS peace?"
No one had an answer.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
"Since the beginning of time, there has been both good and evil,"
she sighed, leaning against the cold stone wall as she perched on the
wooden cot, her eyes staring at her desolate surroundings. "There has
always been justice and injustice, love and hate... Peace and war..."
She pulled her green eyes down to gaze at the small object in the palms
of her hands. "Which side am I fighting for?
"I mean--yes--I am a Sailor Scout. I know that. But which side am
I fighting for? Which side is Tara Yuuichirou fighting for?" She closed
her aching eyes and let the back of her head touch the wall behind her.
"Sailor Earth and I just don't get along, I guess. And I don't know
which part I should follow..."
Her thinking aloud was interrupted by the sound of a key in a
lock. Opening her heavy eyelids, she glanced through the thick metal
bars at the Captain of the Guard. Keimeko sighed and forced a smile. She
hadn't liked putting the raven-haired teen in a cell for the night, but
she'd also had no choice in the matter. "You've got a visitor, Sailor
Earth," she announced, swinging the door open a slight bit.
The girl held back a gasp as the tall, red-haired man strode into
the cell, his hands thrust in his pockets. The bars were locked behind
him.
"You've done it this time, Tara," Richard commented dryly, pulling
the single wooden stool up to her cot and seating himself on it. "The
Scouts aren't going to forgive you, especially if Serenity won't."
She adverted her gaze, knowing the cobalt eyes behind his glasses
would do nothing but intimidate her.
Sighing, he ran a hand through his hair and stared at her. "Look,
Tara, I know that you're doing this for reasons that and think I won't
understand, but I also know what you're doing to the other girls." He
bit his lower lip in thought for a brief second before he continued.
"Lyra doesn't get upset a lot, and I don't see her in tears much. But
every time someone says your name..."
"I KNOW, Richard!" Tara snapped suddenly, lowering her eyes as she
turned to glare daggers at her companion. Her ears rang with the echoes
of her own outburst. She took in a shuddering breath. "But I'll be
damned before I can straight-out say you understand any of this,
alright?" Her expression was hateful as her stony stare studied his
face. He was absolutely stoic. "Prince or not, you don't understand..."
He just shook his head, resting his elbows on his knees as he
leaned forward to stare into her angry green eyes. "That's what you
think," he responded calmly, not even blinking at her. "But I find you
to be mistaken." Her confused expression led a slight grin to touch his
lips. "Everyone acts out occasionally, Tara," he continued, still
sending his blue-eyed gaze straight at her face. "And we all have our
reasons. I can bring myself to understand why you're doing this. I can
understand you've been hurt..." He paused upon seeing that the word
'hurt' drew all the color from her cheeks. "But I can't say that I
understand why you, the religious person you are, stole a car and took
it speeding down the highway."
The biting hate in her expression was back within seconds. "How
the Hell did you get here, you ass?" she growled, her voice no more than
a low rumble in her chest. "You surely couldn't have just asked to
come... And there was a battle going on, not too long ago."
"I was making french-fries," he replied cryptically, rising and
brushing a bit of lint from his navy school uniform pants. "And it just
so happens that I keep close watch on all you Scouts."
"One of the other cats found out and snitched to Cassiopeia,"
muttered she, irritated.
He smiled slightly and started for the door. Already, the Captain
was unlocking the iron bars to let him back out and into the free world.
"I hope that you find your path in this world, Sailor Earth," Richard
remarked, his blue eyes seeming to convey more hope for her than his
words did. "The Sailor Scouts are going to need you again."
"Someday," she sighed, still staring at him. "But not today..."
As the bars shut behind him, Tara laid down on the bare wooden cot
and tucked her hands behind her head, sighing miserably as she stared up
at the stone ceiling. A tear rolled down one of her cheeks, and she
didn't know why. But she couldn't bring herself to wipe it away.
Above her, she knew, the Royal Court and all their servants were
going about their business. It wasn't too late--only seven or so in the
evening, maybe earlier--and it was, therefore, safe to assume that the
Royal Family was meeting with diplomats, exchanging graces, and smiling
possibly forced smiles to make the world the place it was. And,
somewhere above her head, Ambriel was no doubt playing with her little
black kitten... Helios and Reeny were probably holding one another,
admiring the starscape... Perhaps Serenity and Endymion had quit their
governing to spend a quiet evening together...
She gulped back the rising lump in her throat. "Someday, they WILL
need me," she whispered to herself, her weak voice hardly audible.
"Someday, soon, I will come back to them.
"But I can't, not right now. Right now, I must figure out who I
am. I must understand myself.
"Richard, perhaps YOU think you understand what I'm going through.
But I have yet to understand, so how could you? That's a question that
needs answering."
She turned her face toward the single barred window, which she
knew peeked up over the surface of the Earth just slightly. The sun had
gone down, and a million little stars blinked brightly in the sky. It
had always surprised her that, in a city like Crystal Tokyo, she could
still see the stars in the night sky. And they were beautiful...
Another tear escaped and rolled down her cheek, and she didn't try
to stop it in its path. "I'm sorry, Scouts," she breathed, clenching
shut her eyelids. "I'm really sorry..."
* * * * * * * * * * * *
She huffed into her upper lip and slowly took the pressure of the
pedal of her sewing machine. Sky-blue eyes pulled themselves away from
the long dress she was sewing, sparkling with a certain annoyance that
could only be the anger of a mother. She glared down at the blonde girl,
her expression emotionless. But the child shrunk down under that glance
nonetheless. With eyes like that, there was no need to speak.
"I'm sorry, Mommy," gulped little Lila, her big brown eyes slowly
beginning to well up with tears under the positively evil glower she was
receiving. She pushed a strand of hair from her face. "I just wanted to
say that there's a kitty here that wants to talk to you..."
That got the young woman to her feet. "Cassiopeia!" exclaimed
Mina, striding out of her bedroom quickly, her footfalls echoing through
the house as she thundered down the stairs. Her youngest daughter
watched as she left, hardly aware of the man who had come up behind her.
Andrew furrowed his brow and glanced down at the child. "What's
this all about?"
"I don't know," replied the child, glancing up at him with wide,
confused eyes. "I just told her that there was a cat here..."
"A cat?" he repeated in disbelief.
She nodded. "It was funny... Had a little golden star and talked."
Her father gulped and started toward the stairs.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
"What's all this about?" questioned Mina angrily, pacing up and
down the front porch as the little silver animal sat atop an over-turned
recycling bin. "You're supposed to CALL, once a week, to check in.
Coming over is not in the deal!"
The words rang in her ears, and she could feel her heart beat
speed up. Still, green eyes remained focused on her own silver paws
rather than trying to meet the angry blue glare. It made what she had to
do all that easier.
Yes. She nodded inwardly. She HAD to do this. She had to do what
was right. She couldn't hide behind her bluffs and pretend they were
good intentions. She couldn't force a smile and rattle off the
intimacies of her friends' relationship. It just didn't work that way.
Her eyes snapped up and sent a stony glance to the woman. She
tensed her brow. She took a deep breath. And the words came.
"I don't want to be your pawn any longer, Mistress Venus."
Blinking, the woman let her jaw go slack as she stared at the
lithe animal before her. Her stomach turned over itself within her body.
She let the tip of a pink tongue dart over dry lips. "Excuse me?" she
croaked. "What did you say?"
Cassiopeia felt her resolve start to waver, but she didn't allow
it to completely crash around her ankles. "Listen to me, Mistress
Venus," she ventured in a strong tone that seemed to be an ill fit to
her small form and docile features. "I know that you love Lyra, and--in
your messed up little mind--I am the best way to protect her." She
ignored the indignant huff from the woman and paused as two slender arms
folded across a chest. "But I love Richard and Lyra, and I can't go
against what I feel is right." She gulped and pressed her eyelids
closed, afraid that she might start crying. But she was a Guardian. She
protected those she loved. And she did NOT cry. An inward smile warmed
her soul. Ara would have been proud to know she thought such a thing.
"I don't think that what you're having me do is right," she
continued, trying not to sound overly defensive. "Frankly, I don't think
that you have a right to nose into your daughter's business. It's a rude
thing I say, but it's true.
"I think that Richard and Lyra are young. And in love. And they
are destined to be so. They'll grow up, get married, and have children--
just like you and Andrew did. And, sure, they'll make mistakes. But
wisdom comes from mistakes."
She hopped down from her perch, still staring up at the
flabbergasted form of the blonde-haired woman. "And I know that you'll
forgive both me and them," admired the cat, a slight smile on her face,
"because you always do."
Mina was shocked. Her brow bunched in thought as she watched the
kitten--the Guardian of her daughter--stride across the porch and down
the driveway. Her hands were shaking and she didn't know why. Slowly,
she took up the seat on the recycling bin, resting her head in her
hands.
"You were using that quiet little soul as a pawn?" questioned
another voice, and she didn't need to glance up to know whom it came
from.
Instead, she closed her eyes and let a soft sigh escape her lips.
"I didn't think anything of it, originally," she sniffed, her tone very
solemn. "But it's amazing how well that cat can drive home a point."
Her companion walked the few steps over to her side, resting a
soft hand on her shoulder. "Takes after our eldest daughter, I suppose,"
he chuckled slightly, receiving a stern, annoyed glare in return. He
sighed. "Mina, you're going to hate me for saying this, but I have to."
She glanced up at him, wordless, glare melting away.
"Mina, you were wrong. Completely and utterly WRONG." She scowled,
and he squeezed her shoulder. "I love you, dear, and nothing will change
that, no matter what you do and say. But you used that cat for your own
motives, and I think that she was right in all she said to you."
The woman blanched, her cheeks draining of all color. "How long
were you listening in on my conversation?"
"Long enough," he retorted with a slight bit of merriment in his
tone. "But, Mina, Lyra's a big girl. She can take care of herself."
"What would you do if he hurt her?" she growled, angry at him for
not understand. "What would you do if he did something to her? Or if she
got pregnant? Or..."
He leaned against the front window of the house, glancing in on
two of their sons, both of whom were watching professional wrestling on
television. "If 'ifs' and 'buts' were candy and nuts, we'd all have a
wonderful Christmas," he stated, a bit spaced out. She raised an eyebrow
at him, and he chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck. "It's something
my father used to say a lot," he apologized. "He said it when we were
worried about POSSIBLE outcomes, instead of letting things happen."
Andrew bent down and laid a gently butterfly kiss on her forehead.
"Dear, we've just got to trust in them. Like our parents trusted in us
when we told them we were going to get married even though you were
still in college."
She blushed a bit, remembering how she'd yelled at her parents to
trust them and how, in the end, they had. Reaching up a hand, Mina
stroked his soft blonde hair. "Thank you," she whispered softly, her
blue eyes suddenly very regretful. "I needed someone to flat-out tell me
that."
"Yeah, well, the cat started it," he protested, glancing up at the
night sky and avoiding her gaze.
Chuckling, Mina smacked him in the stomach.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
"And that's what happened," he finished, slightly breathless, as
he adjusted his position on the coffee table and tried to avoid the
strange glances he was getting from his parents. "She got all mad at me
and picked a fight and EVERYthing."
The two adult cats exchanged glances. They were both quite wary to
have their little son there, at the Urawa's, in the first place--it was
late, and he was most likely missed. Still, hearing the tale of how
cruel his sister had been was...interesting, and they were immediately
suspicious.
And Galileo could tell that much.
"Galileo, tell us the truth," said Orion flatly after a long
moment of silence. "If I know you--and I do--you did something to MAKE
her mad."
He glanced up at the ceiling, red eyes adverting the stony glare
of his mother. "I didn't do ANYTHING," he insisted, but his voice told
another story as it wavered.
Chuckling, the large orange-and-white cat laid down on the coffee
table and stared at his sun, the golden eyes not missing the act the
kitten was trying to put on. "You didn't read the printouts that Diana
sent, and you made up the whole story about not egging her on, right?"
He blanched and studied the surface of the coffee table intently,
noticing all the little nicks and scratches he'd never seen before.
"Well..."
"Then it's your OWN fault!" his mother shot angrily, staring at
him as he once again avoided catching himself in that glare of hers.
She stepped forward and brought her paw across his face without any
hesitation. He yelped out and hopped backwards, staring right at her.
Green eyes were lowered angrily in his direction, and he gulped. "You
have to right this wrong on your own, Galileo!" she hissed, her voice
low and throaty. "If you don't, then you'll regret it, and you'll lose
your guardianship, and Peter..." She didn't finish her own sentence,
but Orb picked up the point and continued for her.
"The Prophesy had us have all four of you for a reason," he put
in, his tone more understanding than that of the fiery she-cat. "If you
don't stay with Peter then, someday, something might happen." He sighed.
"I don't even know what, and maybe that part of Prophesy won't come
true, or remains unwritten, but you have to do this."
Nodding, Orion let some of the hateful sparks fade from her
forest-colored eyes as she considered her son. He seemed so tiny, still,
and so afraid. It hurt her to think of the way she'd clouted him. "No
one knows the future, and no one knows the Prophesy enough to...call,
if you will...the future before it happens." She shook her head slowly.
"But you and Peter were meant to be together, just as sure as the red
sigil of Pluto is tattooed upon your brow."
Her mate nodded. "And that sigil is better than any symbol I
shaved on your little head when you were a kitten," he laughed aloud,
thinking of his antics upon finding that his offspring had been born
without their marks of guardianship.
"Well, thank you," Galileo sighed, stretching his short, chubby
form as he slowly stood. "I suppose you're right."
"We're your parents," retorted Orb in his normal, laid-back tone.
"We're ALWAYS right."
The female cat just shook her head.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
"And that's what happened," she sighed, adjusting her seat on the
warm lap of the young, aqua-haired woman. "He had the gull of not
reading the important printouts and EVERYthing!"
The grand piano song rang through the living room of the large
house as the cat complained about the horrible things her brother had
done. Every once and a while, the loud rondo would swell to a new level
of unbearable, and it was all Michelle could do to restrain herself from
killing her wife. Her blue eyes were focused not on the cat, but on the
piano.
"Going to kill her..." mumbled the aqua-haired woman before she
turned back to the kitten in her lap. "So, Galileo provoked you?" she
questioned.
Ara glanced at her paws. "Well..."
Chuckling, Michelle leaned back, settling into the couch, and
raised an eyebrow. "If he didn't provoke you, why are you so mad?" She
stared down at the little animal, wincing only briefly as the banging on
the piano keys got even louder. She could feel the vibrations as they
shook floorboards, and the piano was all the way across the room.
"I guess I'm mad because he doesn't take it seriously," she
huffed, her lavender eyes studying her feet and the long blue skirt of
her companion. "I mean, if the Prophesy says that we're to be guardians,
then--"
"Maybe he's just not serious enough for your taste," supplied the
woman, now glaring across the room at the tall, blonde pianist. "I think
that you take this Guardian role more seriously than he does because
this is all you have." The kitten grimaced, but Michelle caught the
brief enlightenment that passed across the creature's face. "You're
afraid of what might happen if he doesn't be a good Guardian, because
that would leave you with even less than you already have."
She wrinkled her little pink nose and managed to gulp back her
emotions. Of course, being a Guardian was all she had! It was all that
they were born to have! They weren't made to be happy, like their
father, or to fall in love, like their parents had, or...or... She
sniffled and pulled her gaze to search the impassive face of the adult.
Michelle was still glaring across the room at Alexandra, but--no matter
how loud and obnoxious the song became--she still had the same amount of
love and adoration in her features. It was too much for Ara.
"I wonder what I have done," she sighed miserably, hopping off the
lap and slowly pacing across the hardwood floor, toward the door. "I
have driven my brother from home... I have pushed away the only love
I've ever felt..."
Pausing in her mad rondo, the blonde woman glanced down at the
cat. "You can try and make amends, just like everyone does when they
make a mistake."
Michelle nodded, but her eyes were suddenly locked with those of
her wife's. "You were playing too loud, you know," she said softly, a
smile creeping across her face. "You could hurt the piano..."
A wolfish grin spread across the pianist's expression. "Save the
scolding for bed," she winked playfully.
The cat gagged, disgusted, and nosed the door shut behind her.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
"We're needed at the Royal Court?" gasped the longhaired Shinto,
fingers already flying to the belt of her temple robes before her
husband could respond. "I don't have a thing to wear! And who's going to
watch Joshua? That silly girl of ours is still..."
She was silenced by a sullen glance from the brown-haired man
across the room. His normally cheery green eyes seemed to have a new
dimension to them--regret. Or perhaps, it was disappointment. "Maybe
'court' was the wrong word," Chad sighed sadly, taking a few wary steps
toward her. "One of the Sailor Scouts is on trial for actions against
crown and country, and we're requested to go--as Mistress and husband."
With a chuckle, Raye slowly began to retie robes, smoothing them.
She started toward the dresser, where her glass beads were awaiting her
atop the polished wooden surface. "Well, then, that shouldn't be so
bad," she responded casually, her purple eyes regaining some of their
lost luster. "I've passed judgement with the other Mistresses at many a
trial..." She trailed off, pulling her lower lip between two teeth as
she turned around and stared at him. Her pensive study only lasted a few
seconds, because it only took her that long to comprehend what was
happening. "You have to go to?" she managed, nervously clasping the
beads to her heart.
He nodded.
"It's Tara, isn't it?"
Wordlessly, the man rushed forward and caught his small wife in a
warm hug, clenching his eyes shut as he felt her lithe form shudder with
the force of a sob. "Sailor Earth is to be tried for actions against
crown and country," he whispered, holding back all the feelings that he
felt welling in his stomach. "All able Mistresses, with Prince Terrence
standing in the place of Mistress Pluto, and Scouts are to report
immediately. As well as the father of the...the accused..." He stumbled
over the last word. It fell hard onto his lips, and he could feel his
resolve waver. "It begins at exactly noon..."
"An hour," choked the woman, pulling her face from the front of
his robes to meet the saddened gaze. "I'll...I'll call Andrew Mokoti and
see if he can't watch Josh," she managed, her voice weak as she wiped a
few tears away with the sleeve of her outfit and straightened herself
out. "Then, I'll transform and we will be on our way..."
He nodded. "Raye, I just want to remind you that she's our
daughter."
She tried desperately not to cry. In fact, she chose to snort
instead. "Not for long," she muttered, storming out of the temple to
find their son.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
"A crime against crown and country?" she coughed out, staring at
the bright orb atop her Key Staff. "But that's never happened before!
Never has a Sailor Scout stooped to that obscene level of low..."
She was paused from her thoughts by a warm hand clapping her on
the back. Her bloodred eyes met the friendly, if concerned, gaze of
Sailor Neptune. "We're done here," she smiled slightly, brushing a
strand of her own aqua hair from her eyes. "The daimon has been
defeated."
Nodding weakly, Sailor Pluto let her fuku fade and be replaced by
her normal "street" clothes, a purple business suit. Reluctantly, she
watched her Staff disappear back into null-space. Her heart ached. She
longed to know which Galactic Sailor had betrayed the trust of the
others. And she NEEDED to know how the trial would turn out. No doubt,
with her husband acting in the place of Pluto... She shuddered.
"You alright, Susan?" questioned a much younger Alexandra Ten'ou,
thrusting her hands into the pockets of her green school pants. Her
expression was that of a worried friend, an odd expression, indeed.
"You were talking about crimes and crowns, which seems a bit out of
place..."
The young Michelle Kaioh nodded in agreement with her partner's
slight quip. "If anything is wrong," she reminded the older woman, "you
have to tell us. It's important that you don't let yourself get
overworked about something that can be easily rectified."
And what if it can't?
"Thank you, Michelle," smiled the Guardian of Time, trying not to
seem like the lair she was. "But I'm fine. Besides, the thing I'm
worried about is minor, nothing compared to the dangers of daimons and
Dark Messiahs."
But that wasn't a convincing answer to either of the young women.
It was plain to the green-haired one that they were still concerned,
confused... Well, what choice did she have? She was Pluto, and Pluto was
never completely honest.
All three of them let the subject drop.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
"I have a strange reading, here, that senses all the Scout energy
at Crystal Palace," stated the young woman, falling onto her back on the
couch, brown eyes staring up at the text-covered sheet of paper. "But,
if that's true, then it makes our job too easy."
"TOO easy?" echoed the giant bird, taking a brief reprieve from
cleaning his feathers to glance at her. "What are you going to do?"
Slowly, but with the utmost care, she extracted a small blue
crystal from her pocket. However, unlike the others she had used in the
past, this crystal was in the shape of a tiny emu. Norton gasped upon
seeing it, nervously glancing from the crystal, toward her, and back at
the tiny object. "Tina..." he warned, taking a step back.
She sighed and turned it around, twirling it between her fingers.
"I don't want to do it, you know," she pointed out with a slight frown
touching her lips. "If I use this, it's complete sacrifice. It's
irreversible. I'm half me, and half you, and that's it. And if I die,
you die."
He gulped. "You do realize that Ginnie didn't ever think you guys
would use those, right?" he queried, suddenly on edge. "He didn't think
that you would use those to combine the powers of animal and human."
"What choice do I have?" she returned, her eyes still attached to
the little bird figurine. "If I don't do this, that's IT. The end. I
die, Ginnie dies..." She slowly sat up, taking one wayward glance at
him. "If I use this, I can kill the Sailor Scouts."
"And you'll be forever half emu." The bird sighed and shook his
head. "I don't like it, but I agree with what you just said. There IS no
choice."
"Exactly." She tossed the crystal into the air.
And it shattered.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Footfalls echoed on marble as the five original Galactic Sailors,
sans Earth, strode quickly down the hallway. Their battle fukus seemed
to shine in the noonday light, which poured through the enormous windows
on either side of the girls. They looked intimidating, really, their
eyes lowered and expressions grim. The telltale clunking of a scabbard
against a leg didn't help either. It was almost frightening.
Until Sailor Phoenix spoke. "She's royally done it this time," she
growled, smashing a fist into the palm of her other hand. "A crime
against the crown? Ho-boy!"
"She should know better, too," agreed the blonde Scout beside her.
"I don't think we can forgive her. Ever."
"Good," spat Comet with a flip of her long hair. "She deserves
it."
"Yes." Aurora Borealis never let her eyes move from studying the
path before them.
Surprisingly, Sailor Moon remained completely silent. As the first
Scout, she led the group, standing her ground at the forefront of the
procession. But she liked that position for a better reason than being
the center of attention--
No one could see her face.
Sailor Earth, she had decided that morning, was a friend. 'A
friend in need is a friend, indeed.' Who were they, the other five
Sailor Scouts, to pass judgement on the last girl? And the Chibi-Scouts
were allowed to vote on the verdict as well. They were hardly old enough
to tie their own shoes, and they had a right to vote! It was almost
laughable.
Still, resolved Sailor Moon as she set her face to a stony glare,
the others were decided. It was a majority vote, besides, and Mistress
Mars was not permitted to pass a judgement. Four angry Galactic Sailors,
four (presumably) angry Chibi-Scouts, and a group of planetary rulers
who were bound to see it all the same way. Even her own mother would.
She knew that much.
What was the point? One against sixteen? How could anyone win with
those odds?
And, with that thought, she threw open the doors to one of Crystal
Palace's most secret chambers:
The Crystal Courtroom.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Marble, the purest color of white, shone in the bright sunlight
that came from the two stained-glass windows. Little patches of color
danced on the floor. The Galactic Sailors were all taken in by the
amazing architecture of it.
The center of the room was empty, the slick marble floor seemingly
intimidating with its infinite openness. It was all an onlooker could do
NOT to be slack-jawed. With the patches of colored light from the
windows glowing on the marble, it was quite a sight.
On three sides of the room were massive marble tables, almost like
the judges' "benches" in other courtrooms. Seventeen seats, some
occupied and others empty, stood behind those tables. From the front of
each seat hung a small tapestry, embroidered with the symbol of whoever
was to sit in that particular seat. Stars, moons, and other sigils of
numerous colors circled the room. It was indeed a sight.
Near the center of the room was a smaller table, this one without
the luster or wonder that the others were. It was small and wooden, and
anyone who would sit behind it would certainly be dwarfed by the massive
surroundings. Carved into the front of the table were words, written in
kanji. When translated, it said 'Table of the Accused.'
The five Galactic Sailors stood in the doorway for a long moment,
trying desperately to take in the surroundings. They failed at it. No
words could describe the amazing majesty and beauty of the place. And,
instead of attempting to do such a thing, they turned to look at the
present authorities.
The Mistresses seats were exactly opposite the room of those seats
of their daughters, seats lined up roughly even. All of the seven people
wore grim expressions, their colorful gowns and shining armor, in one
case, eerily bright in the colored sunlight. Only one seat remained
empty--Mars.
Much in the same way, the Galactic Sailors had their seats
arranged. The Chibi-Scouts were late in coming, not a shock to anyone,
but their seats were just as straight and even as everyone else's were.
It was a bittersweet sight, all of the beautiful oak chairs lined
perfectly up, though one would never be occupied on this day. Earth.
With a sigh, Sailor Moon motioned for them to sit down, and the
other four girls followed her in line to their places as grand judges.
In doing so, they passed the upset couple sitting at the Table of the
Accused, and the pink-haired warrior couldn't help but force a brave
smile for them. The Mistress of Mars ignored her act of kindness and
continued to focus on the floor. Her purple eyes were already welled up
with tears. Well enough they were, noted Sailor Moon, setting her face
to a stony mask. It will get worse.
Five teenage warriors took up their seats across from the
Mistresses, and eyes met. Words unspoken clashed. The silence was almost
palpable.
Then, footfalls echoed on marble as the Chibi-Scouts paraded into
the room. For a moment, they looked much older and wiser than they
really were. Expressions of grim, wordless anger and sorrow guided their
demeanor. They seemed almost revengeful as they stormed to their
separate seats and sat down, their little faces bearing rising above the
surface of the great table. From her vintage point, Sailor Moon could
see the Master of Time shift his position to sit on his knees, only to
receive a pinch on his arm from his twin. She was forced to suppress a
smile.
It was not an occasion for smiling.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, her gracious highness and ruler of the
whole Earth, Neo-Queen Serenity."
In strode the Queen, her normally serene face covered by the dull
pallor of both anger and worry. Her hair hung limply, as though it, too,
felt the overwhelming depression the day was bringing. Calmly, she
strode across the room to her seat, which was at a table all her own.
Smoothing the fabric of her long, white dress, she sat.
For a moment, nothing moved. It was almost as though time had
stopped. Sailor Moon even pinched herself to be certain that she was
still alive and not imagining things. Her breath caught in her throat.
"Bring out the accused," said Serenity suddenly, and many of the
judges let out breaths they had not known they were holding.
Flanked by royal guards, Sailor Earth strode into the room. Her
expression was glum and honestly saddened. She, as did all the other
Galactic Sailors, wore her fuku, but her tiara had been removed.
Removing a tiara was a sign of vulnerability and weakness... It
represented being incomplete. It was, in essence, showing that she was
in the wrong.
Sailor Moon grimaced inwardly and could feel her heart slowly
start to break.
"Sailor Earth," addressed Neo-Queen Serenity, trying desperately
to not glance at the Table of the Accused, lest she lose all of her
nerve, "you have been accused of crimes against country and crown. Do
you understand?"
She looked so small, so helpless, standing alone in the center of
the large room. The guards had backed away, leaving her plenty of space.
It seemed as though she did not want anything to do with the room she
now had; she stood completely motionless, heels scant inches apart, with
her handcuffed wrists resting limply near the hem of her skirt. She
looked frightened, like a small child.
Taking a deep breath, she nodded bravely. "Yes, Your Highness,"
she managed, her voice nearly cracking as she spoke. "I understand."
The Queen folded her hands atop the marble table, looking slightly
pleased by the answer. "I will now inform the group of judges of what
you have done. You must remember--as must the rest of you--that
innocence is not a question here." Her azure eyes slowly glanced about,
trying to read the faces of all her companions. It did not work, even
with the Chibi-Scouts; as warriors, they had been taught to swallow
emotion, and they were surely gifted at hiding such feelings. She
focused back on the girl in the center of the room. "You have already
been found guilty of these crimes, the question is whether, as a Sailor
Soldier, you are punishable for what you have done."
A tear traced its way down the teen's face. She raised her hands
to wipe it away and then paused, feeling seventeen faces on her. She
dropped her hands once again, letting the single tear fall from her face
and onto the tan bow of her fuku. It didn't matter any more.
Papers shuffled as the Queen of the Earth cleared her throat.
"Tara Larch Yuuichirou, the daughter of Raye and Chad of the same name,
was found by Captain Keimeko of the Royal Guard to be speeding down the
highway in a car late yesterday afternoon. Upon further inspection, it
was discovered that the car was stolen and that she, along with three
other girls, had jimmied the ignition to take the car for a short ride."
She glanced up from the sheets of paper to stare straight down at
the Sailor Scout in question. All compassion had drained from her
expression as those blue eyes glowered down at the smaller girl. Sailor
Earth could feel her knees start to shake.
"However, this is not the only charge. Sailor Earth has--for
weeks--been ignoring her call of destiny. This, along with her acting
out by stealing a car, is punishable in the name of justice.
"Doing something blatantly stupid is one thing--every person in
this room is guilty of that simple mistake. Unfortunately for Sailor
Earth, she does not understand the repercussions of her actions."
The Queen looked up from the frightened teen to glance around the
room at the other present judges. "On numerous occasions, the Galactic
Sailors and the Chibi-Scouts have struggled with defeating adversaries
that could have been taken care of much more easily than they were. It
is the opinion of Diana, Orb, and Orion--the three Guardians of the
Galactic Sailors who sit amongst us--that these monsters would have
been better handled had the final Galactic Sailor come to the aid of
her compatriots.
"This, ladies and gentlemen, is why she is to either be punished
or pardoned for a crime against crown and country. She has not only
broken a law of the country, but she has broken a law of destiny."
Dead silence overtook them all as the warriors, Mistresses, and
Prince Terrence all sat, motionless. Sailor Earth had, by this time,
begun to weep softly to herself, but none made a motion to comfort her.
It was as though they didn't care.
And, in many ways, they didn't.
Serenity once again folded her hands, her eyes staring down at the
crying girl. "Sailor Earth, you may now testify to your actions."
Her tears stopped as she heard those words. Slowly, Earth lifted
her head and cast a wary glance up toward her friends. Her heart pounded
in her chest, and her head ached something miserable. She took a deep,
ragged breath in through her nose, and let the words come out.
"I'm sorry," she began weakly, her green eyes pulling away from
the Galactic Sailors to stare at the ceiling. "I don't know the words
for how honestly sorry I am, so I suppose that little noun doesn't mean
so much to you all." She lowered her face and stared straight at the
Queen. She could guess, from the woman's almost unnoticeable reaction,
how she must look, her face pale, eyes bloodshot and entire body
shaking. "I know that the things I did are punishable, and I can't say
that I was ignorant to that fact before. Blind to it? Possibly.
"I just..." She closed her tired eyes and tried to remember her
conversation with Richard. She wondered if Lyra knew about that visit.
She wondered if, were Richard serving as a judge with the others, she
would be pardoned. She somehow doubted it.
Swallowing, she began again. "I just don't know where I belong.
And no, I'm not trying to excuse myself. I'm trying to make you all
understand." Her eyes, teary, popped open as she straightened herself to
glance at each of the judges in turn.
Terrence, in the place of Pluto.
"You wouldn't all understand, but I feel lost."
Mistress Saturn.
"I know I have a path to follow, as Prophesy has ordained. But
where exactly is that path?"
Mistress Uranus.
"I can't claim ignorance, I know. I am destined to serve country
and world as a fighter."
Mistress Neptune.
"But what's left when you strip that away?"
Mistress Venus.
"What do I have when I am no longer Sailor Earth?"
Mistress Jupiter.
"I was trying to find out, I think."
An empty seat, then Mistress Mercury.
"Don't you all wonder what is left when you are no longer a
warrior?"
The Queen.
"And don't you ache to know what that is?"
Sailor Chibi-Star.
"I know that this must sound so...stupid...but I wish I could
better explain myself."
The Master of Time.
"You all want to lead normal lives at least once, don't you?"
Sailor Chibi-Pluto.
"I wanted to."
Angel Moon.
"I gave up all the things I believed in so I could be a normal
teenager, just like my friends."
Sailor Moon.
"But I was wrong."
An empty chair. She swallowed. HER chair. Then, Sailor Polaris.
"I know I'm wrong."
Sailor Phoenix.
"But I thought that I was right, once."
Sailor Aurora Borealis.
"Maybe that's what made me so lost. Thinking I was right, I mean."
Sailor Comet.
"And..."
She took a deep breath and clenched her eyes shut. What was she
trying to say, exactly? What did she want to tell them all?
The words came, and she felt tears come back to her eyes. She
pulled her eyelids open and stared right at the Queen, unmoving.
"I was wrong. I know it." She pressed her lips together, hard,
working up the courage to say what she knew she had to. "But I would
like to be forgiven for what I have done. I didn't try to hurt anyone,
or betray the people I love. However, I did what I did and I can't deny
that."
A tear streamed down her face. "I guess I'm asking you to think
not with your warrior minds, but your hearts. Like I did." She raised a
hand to wipe away the tear, and did so. It was soon replaced by another.
"And perhaps, in those hearts, you will find forgiveness."
Queen Serenity nodded toward the girl, without smiling, but the
mask of hate and anger had worn away the slightest bit. "Now, each of
you will take the sheet of paper before you, embossed with your symbol,
and write either 'pardon' or 'punish' upon it. Pardon sets Sailor Earth
free. Punish will condemn her."
There was no sound as she stood, alone, staring at the seventeen
judges of her fate. The soft sound of pencil against paper echoed
through the room. Her tears fell freely, now, and she knew the truth.
None would vote pardon.
Then, the papers were slowly passed down the row to the Queen. In
the end, the Queen would be the only one to know who voted what. The
rest would only know the outcome.
A cold shiver ran up her spine as the first sheet was open.
This was the end.
"Punish."
"Punish."
"Punish."
"Punish."
"Punish."
"Punish."
"Punish."
"Punish."
"Punish."
"Punish."
"Punish."
"Punish."
"Punish."
"Punish."
"Punish."
"Punish."
It came down to the last sheet. Almost painfully, the blonde woman
opened the sheet.
"Pardon."
The word rang in everyone's ears, an almost shocking addition.
Sailor Earth felt her breath slowly escape through parted lips. A
pardon...
Slowly, the Queen of the Earth rose and walked around the tables,
coming to the center of the room. Her eyes were lowered, almost angrily,
as she stood beside the young woman.
"A majority vote was needed."
Everything froze in the teen's mind. Majority? It had been
majority? She could feel her stomach churn. In fact, she suddenly felt
very ill. Clenching her eyelids shut, she tried to hold back all the
emotions that rushed to overtake her.
It didn't work. She was crying miserably. She fought with her urge
to slip to her knees.
"As Queen of the Earth, my duty is to punish you in the name of
justice. That is ordained of me. Do you understand?"
Sailor Earth forced herself to nod. It hardly worked. Her hands
clenched into fists as she stood before the group.
"Then, in the name of justice, I punish you. Because of the
nature of your crime, you must suffer the harshest penalty. This is as
the law sets down; I cannot change it now, as much as I would like to.
And I honestly would like to."
She placed a gentle hand on the girl's shoulder. "I cannot say I
find this just. I do believe you should be punished, but I find this
punishment to be far too severe. So be it."
Spreading her arms wide, Neo-Queen Serenity took a deep breath and
faced the group of judges. "As you have ordained, Sailor Earth is to be
punished. From this day forth, she will no longer wear the sigil of
Earth or the battle fuku of a Sailor Soldier. The law deems it as such:
"Tara Larch Yuuichirou is no longer a Galactic Sailor."
There was a searing pain in her heart as, slowly, she pulled open
her eyes to glare at the Queen. The blonde, angelic adult nodded weakly
to her and gestured toward the Locket of the Earth.
She knew what she had to do.
"WAIT!" screamed Sailor Moon, rising to her feet hastily. Her
chair clattered to the floor behind her as she smacked her palms on the
surface of the marble table and leaned forward. "As the Princess of the
Earth and future ruler of this planet, I demand that you do not take
these powers from my friend!"
Hand clasped around her locket, Sailor Earth stared up at the
pink-haired warrior, eyes wide. An amazed expression crossed her face.
There had been one pardon, and now she knew from whom.
"We were all born into this destiny! It was set down before our
time!" The leader of the Galactic Sailors glared at her mother angrily,
her face no longer an emotionless mask. "You accused her of breaking a
law of destiny, and now you are doing the same! Don't you see? Are you
so blinded by your power?"
The guards all bristled. The Queen turned to face the teen.
"Hold your tongue, Serenity," she warned in a low tone, obviously
displeased with the words from her child. "You are not arguing with me,
but with the laws I must protect."
A pained look crossed the young woman's face. She pursed her lips.
"You said yourself that you don't want to do it. So why?"
Suddenly, she--Sailor Earth--felt a lump rise in her throat.
"Because she must," she answered, ignoring the astonished gasps.
"Destiny has decided that this is my path, and I must walk it. There is
no other answer." She tightened her grip on her locket and forced a
smile. "I thank you, Sailor Moon, for being a friend. But there are some
choices that not even I can make."
There was a flash of light as the Locket of the Earth was pulled
from the girl's battle fuku. For the first time in the trial, Mistress
Mars let out a cry of pure anguish. Ribbons faded into nothingness, and
a skirt and blouse replaced a fuku.
Wordlessly, Tara handed the locket to the Queen of Earth. The
tears flowed freely down her face, and she could not stop them.
Her path had been seat. Destiny had decided.
The four guards took her and they exited through a smaller door in
the back of the room. She would go back to the jail, where her handcuffs
would be removed and her purse returned. And then, she would be free.
Suddenly, the door of Crystal Courtroom burst open. Twenty guards,
all in their white suits strode in, creating a long line. They saluted
to the Queen.
Then, Captain Keimeko came through the door and walked past the
guards and to Serenity. Quickly, she dropped to one knee and clenched a
hand over her heart. "Serenity guide and teach us."
"Is something wrong, Captain?" questioned the blonde of the
orange-haired woman, taking notice of the sword buckled around the
Captain's waist.
"Begging your pardon, but yes," responded Keimeko, her tone
reverent as she climbed to her feet and clasped her arms at her sides.
Serenity raised an eyebrow. "Well? Out with it; I am in no mood
for games."
The Captain of the Guard gulped and pursed her lips. For a brief
moment, no one dared breathe.
And then, she sighed.
"Crystal Palace is under attack."
* * * * * * * * * * * *
No "Sailor Says" today. Story got too long. ^_^
-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 then? What next? Shall we find out?
By the way, I don't want flames about Tara. You hear me? NO flames.
