I do not own Sailor Moon, but the content of this story is mine! Enjoy and please review this revised edition!! Please? ^.^

"Redemption"

Chapter 5

Amara and Michelle exchanged no words as they drove through the starless night along a deserted road by the sea. The past events of the night had sunk in deep to the core already, and yet no words had to be spoken. Amara though did feel a need to speak up, to break the chill of night air that so consumed their thoughts. "They didn't need our help did they?"

Michelle thought for a moment, "No," she said shaking her head, "they did seem to have it all under control."

"Meatball Head is the Messiah…never thought I would hear those words come out of my mouth," Amara remarked after a brief pause, a throaty laugh escaping her lips. Michelle peered over at her and smiled. Within moments though, that smile faded to a serious tone, one that meant business.

"Even if we have completed our mission…there is more to be done. We cannot leave now," the aqua haired young woman went on with a sigh. Michelle rested her elbow against the door of the convertible, propping up her head against her palm.

"Don't you think we've done enough?" the shorthaired driver replied with a tone of slight dread.

"You know our mission is to protect our future Queen. And now we must…because there is a new enemy, Amara. A true threat among the other minions we've seen." The driver nodded with conviction.

"That is our mission."

"Who do you think it is?" her passenger continued.

"I don't think it'd be anyone in particular. Maybe just a new person in town, looking for some fun. But we'll be ready."

"Right," Michelle agreed. For the rest of the ride, no more was said.

* * *

"Rini are you sure you're all right? I mean you got thrown pretty hard…"

"Really Serena. Just stop it! I'm fine now get some sleep," Rini replied a bit annoyed. The small rabbit rolled over in her bed, pulling her pale pink sheets over her head.

"I was just worried," her future mother said quietly, biting her lip as her eyes fell to the floor. "We're shaken up from that fight tonight!" The room was quiet for a short pause, until Rini slowly sat up in her bed and locked eyes with the blonde girl.

"Serena…" she spoke with affectionate concern. "I'm fine really. Now please…get some rest." The blonde couldn't help but smile, and she hugged the child lovingly.

"Thank you, Rini." The child smiled and watched as the older girl turned to leave. Serena switched off the lights and padded back to her own bedroom as Rini slowly fell asleep.

Upon entering her own bedroom, Serena Tsukino collapsed onto her own bed and tried sleeping. She let her hair loose and it cascaded around her neck and shoulders as she leaned back onto the soft pillow. No matter how she tried, however, sleep would not come. For hours it seemed, she lay awake, tossing and turning as a cold sheen of sweat formed on her dainty forehead.

"Why can't I fall asleep?!" she hissed impatiently. A few unsuccessful smacks to her pillow only caused it to further collapse and fold. Finally, after a bit longer, the need for sleep overcame her anxiety, and her eyes closed…pulling her into a deep slumber.

The oddest part was, as soon as she did, her thoughts were twisted and spun and manipulated like a marionette on strings. It was a world full of blackness; the dark visions came to her. Smoke, fog, darkness, and empty emotions surrounded and filled her.

"What do you want from me?" she heard herself call out blindly into the shadows. "Please end these nightmares!" Soon, a pale light enveloped the calling Princess, and in regard to her past-life's position, her infamous Empire dress clothed her body. The dim light continued to surround the young woman, and finally in response to her pleas, an angry and demanding voice suddenly seeped into her mind.

"Princess…you will lose everything to destiny. Your pre-determined fate will become manipulated by the dark strokes of the evil hand," the single voice became a choir of a few combined, and eerie voices.

"I don't know your identity, but I can guarantee your notions of our unity is sadly mistaken," the blonde retorted maturely, completely in her princess form. It was total darkness, all except for Princess Serenity enveloped in her pure moon-like light.

Delighted, yet satanic laughter followed her reply. "Child of fading light…you're losing everything to us! Your resistance is insignificant, and in the end, we shall prevail!"

"I refuse to succumb to your intimidation…I am Princess Serenity of the Moon Kingdom, and I swear by the hands of fate, that your plans will be squelched!" Serenity proclaimed, tightly gripping her scepter, which had mysteriously appeared in her hands. Following her proclamation, four inexplicable shadows came to stand before the stressed Princess. The only things recognizable on the shadows were the glowing outlines of four black stars.

"It doesn't matter who you are-only who you were. Life is short, and a disgusting imitation of immortality. Enjoy each breath as you take them, dear Princess…we're taking it all," a single icy voice laughed. Serena jerked up in bed just then, her sheets and body drenched in a cold sweat.

"I have to find the others. This is terrible!" Serena whispered in fear. But it was far too late; it was two o'clock in the morning now, and the frightened rabbit was overcome by sleep. No more dreams filled her mind that night…but the worst of all this was yet to come.

* * *

Lavender-haired Aurora walked casually through the starship humming a gentle melody. The woman's calm façade would soon betray her inner conflicts-conflicts that could make or break her significance to their mission. "My first creation has been vaporized…by those children. Well it's my own fault, I suppose. I should have realized that they didn't become the infamous Senshi for nothing…I just wonder how the sisters will react," she murmured outside the door to the common room. After taking a cleansing breath, Aurora entered to find a few very disappointed sisters.

"Dear, Aurora…how you so miserably failed!" Borealis exclaimed with a devious smile, hands on her hips.

"How could you possibly fail against these stupid humans?" Glimmer shouted. Aurora shot a cold glare at the youngest sister.

"In case you've forgotten, child, these girls aren't human. They are the link to the past and with them they carry the legacy of time. They are Senshi, not puerile little girls that scurry around in odd clothing…well actually they do have odd clothing-but that's not the point!" Aurora spat back, turning away and throwing her head back.

"Is there a point to your pitiful excuses?" Borealis taunted from the corner, daintily spinning in her long navy gown.

Glacier sent each sister a look of warning, and each took it into account immensely. Gulping lightly, Aurora continued with her explanation. "Drayga was my very weakest creation, and she was that way for a purpose. She was merely a test to see exactly how coordinated and strong these Senshi really are," Aurora shot back angrily.

"You sure you didn't just say that to make yourself look better?" Glimmer muttered beneath her breath. Glacier put her hands up.

"Quiet all of you!" Glacier screamed at last. "You self-absorbed hell-queens are forgetting our objectives. And while you and Borealis were running amuck around here," she cried referring to Glimmer and Borealis, "she was out working. In fact, Aurora didn't fail, but she actually completed her objective."

"Huh?" Glimmer and Borealis said, slowly drifting down from their cloud 9.

"Her job was to locate and confirm that the girls you found, Glimmer, were actually the Senshi. She watched them transform and we have valid proof. We also know some of their attacks and can now develop ways to counter them," the eldest sister finished with a tone of authority and royalty in her voice.

"But Aurora told them her name! You're only giving clues to who we are!" Glimmer complained.

"Will you shut up, Glimmer?" Aurora blasted nastily. Her smoldering silver eyes blazed with aggravation. The sky-haired goddess merely winked devilishly, gaining a disgusted eye-roll from her lavender-haired sister.

"Stop it!" Borealis cried. "It is time we finish our plan for drawing the Senshi back to the Moon Kingdom!"

Glacier nodded with a fatal conviction.

* * *

"So Serena, you're saying that there are actually four of these star people?" Mina spoke up in thought, twirling a few strands of sunlit hair absently around her fingers.

"Yes, I saw them in my dream!" the other blonde replied, still trying to recall the events of her dream the previous night. "It was just really odd…the way they appeared and all of course."

"Did you see faces, hair color, physical features of any kind?" Amy questioned. Their princess continued to think back, searching her mind for any kind of clue as to who these strange newcomers were. Finally, in frustration Serena lowered her head, rubbing at her temples with her forefingers.

"No only shadows with those black stars." There was a long quiet as the group pondered the significance of their leader's dream, as well as the events just past.

"Hey Luna," Lita suddenly piped up, "Do you think it could be the four sisters again?"

"Lita, you know as well as I do that Sailor Moon healed the Dark Moon sisters quite successfully. They're quite peaceful people now; besides, their family emblem was a dark crescent moon, not this odd star," the wise black cat explained.

"Right. Maybe we should give the sisters a visit, however, and try to find out who these new baddies are," Artemis agreed.

"Do you really think that could have a profound influence on our search though?" Raye replied still lost in thought. "I mean we really have no clue as to who these people other than they are extremely vain and have a fondness for black stars." Serena suddenly sat up, and snapped her fingers.

"You guys! Those stars…do you think maybe they're a family symbol of some sort? If they're not of the dark moon family…perhaps they are of another." Everyone looked at her in amazement, and pleased smiles overcame them as the next stages in their plans began to progress.

* * *

Since she was first to arrive at the sisters' front stoop, Mina was the one to ring the doorbell. The entire group, except Rini who was home resting, stood patiently awaiting the inhabitants of this home. Finally, after a few moments of waiting, the sound of footsteps grew closer and closer until the dark wood door of their home swung open. A tall and slim, blonde-haired woman answered the door, blue eyes sparkling like jewels. "Serena? You guys? Why, we haven't seen you in so long! Come on in!" Berty laughed, a pleasant smile gracing her milky complexion. Dressed in normal attire, the woman led the group of five into the living room, where the other sisters were sitting on the couch watching TV.

"Serena, Mina, Lita, Amy, and Raye!" Prisma exclaimed completely delighted. Her forest hair was let down from its usual bun style, and hung softly around her shoulders and neck.

"We're so glad to see you," Avery spoke with a smile, chestnut hair flipped up and under into a tight braid.

"If I had known we were going to have visitors," Catsy exclaimed with a giggle, "I would have freshened up for our guests!" She grinned at their guests, thankful for a second encounter.

"Hey sis," Avery said latching onto a lock of her eldest sister's hair, "funny how that sense of vanity never left with Rubeus' mind-warping." Her intent was harmless, but taken entirely different by Catsy. The sapphire-haired, amethyst-eyed woman sent her younger sister a warning glance, but softened at the tension that had settled around the coming of the group.

"Thank you for seeing us," Amy spoke up, adding a bow of formality to her statement. Prisma waved away her polite façade.

"Relax everyone, and welcome. Sit down, won't you?" she replied, and graciously seated them.

Five minutes later when everyone was settled in and greeted, the discussions began. "So, what exactly brings you girls here on this night?" Berty began as the others looked on.

"Sisters, the reason we came to see you is because we need some help," Serena started off. The blonde's eyes met with her friends, signifying her need for support with explaining the situation.

"You see, ladies," Raye went on, resting a hand on Serena's shoulder, "since our previous battles, we have encountered a new group of assailants, assumably from outer space." The rest of the girls helped her go through all the specifics of the story as the four sisters sat listening intently.

"So do you think maybe you could give us a heads up about these people?" Lita inquired calmly. Catsy shifted in her chair. Being the eldest, she assumed a lot of responsibility for her family and their origin.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking sisters?" she said turning to the others. They nodded at her query with a hint of anxiety. "Senshi, it seems to me that the people you're describing are some long lost counter parts of ours. You see, in fact there were eight sisters. Four of us and four of them-

"Who's 'them'?" Mina inquired, a bit confused.

"Let me start from the beginning," Catsy replied. "Before the reign of terror that started with the attack on the Moon Kingdom in the future, the Wise Man brought together the eight of us. Because each of the groups contained four blood related sisters, we were made adopted to one another. We were the original Four Sisters and when the others were brought in, they too chose a name."

"They became the Infinite Storm Sisters," Avery spoke.

"Right, and we became united. But they were different than us and had other plans in store for themselves. So, to punish them, The Wise Man said they had left, but when really he'd trapped them in time folds to hold them captive. After our enormous battle, and the fight against the Doom Phantom, the evil was dispelled and all has returned to normal. But it looks to me like they escaped and are out for revenge, and ready to start up again their original plans," Berty continued.

"But what about the black stars? Serena keeps seeing four shadows with black star emblems on their foreheads. I kept seeing a vision of a star and like I said, saw a strange girl yesterday with the same mark. What does this mean?" Raye asked.

"That only confirms our beliefs! Like we as the evil Four Sisters had the dark nega-moon emblems as a declaration of our power, the Storm Sisters have a black star as theirs. You see, the moon and stars work together as one, as our two "families" were supposed to," Catsy finished.

"Where did they come from?" Serena said after a moment of quiet.

"Actually, since our emblems represented different things, their place origin is also different from ours. When the Wise Man had us under his demonic spell, we had come from the planet Nemesis, a dead moon, hence our black moons. Because they have black stars, their place of origin is the hidden Nemesis Star, a planetary body that revolved around Nemesis. It was hidden until we were all united," Avery explained, pulling at a few stray strands of auburn hair.

"Did we help at all?" Prisma said finally.

The girls nodded in appreciation. "Their abilities seem quite impressive, as we fought a massive dragon last night that one of those sisters created. So that's two we've seen so far. But the other two are going to show up soon I know. With that in mind…do you remember any particular powers or weakness that any of the sisters may hold?" Amy questioned, thoughtfully tapping a finger to her chin.

"Good question," Avery replied with a pensive sigh. "We've only met with them once or twice and knew them only for a short while before any fighting began. So as far as we know, there isn't much we can tell you that will prove to be of great worth."

Prisma nodded in agreement, "All I can say about their powers is to be ready…ready for anything."