Author's Note: GAH!!!! ::pauses to pant as she stands over the remains of her computer:: AOL is being an ass and not working. E-mailing me won't do any good, because thanks to my oh-so-perfect online service I can see that I have thirty-eight new mails, but CAN'T GET TO THEM! ::takes a deep breath:: I probably shouldn't have taken the anger out on my PC, but it was the closest I could get to actually hitting the programming who created AOL 8. #@$%&! 0. I am calm, I am a leaf, I am a stone, I am…SO PO'ED!
Serenity sat in her office and listened to Setsuna's report. Once the Senshi was finished, the President asked, "Setsuna, what of Sailor Terra?"
Setsuna stood and bowed. "I'm afraid I can't tell you yet. There is a chance that she may yet have survived, but with the speed and forces involved I'd say she's probably dead."
Serenity shook her head. "I meant Sailor Terra, not Ayeka."
The green-hared woman was silent for a moment, then turned towards the door. She said over her shoulder, "The line ends with Ayeka, and Terra will be without a representative once Hilde dies." She turned to look at Serenity as she opened the door and gave a bit of a half smile. "Not that it will be any time soon, with her planet restored Hilde should live for a good thousand years."
The President sat back and closed her eyes, her silver hair brushing the floor. What they'd asked of Ayeka had been too much. Hilde had said her daughter showed no signs of wishing to pursue a future, and Ayeka had accepted, but it still felt wrong. Serenity got out of her chair and walked to the windows. Below in the garden, Serena and her close friends, the other Senshi, were enjoying a small picnic lunch. Serenity rested a hand on her chest and felt the power of the moon pulse inside. She turned her gaze to the blue sky and reached out with her mind.
Ayeka moaned and tried to move, but she was held fast. She'd called the asteroids of the asteroid belt, the remains of her ancestor's planet, to reunite and her Gundam had been instantly incorporated into the new planet. Her awareness had been stretched throughout the planet, but now it had returned to her body. With the Gundam's end, Ayeka had been without protection. She'd expected what she'd been told to expect; an instantaneous death ash she was crushed by tons of rock. Instead she was trapped in a kind of cavern in the center of the planet. The temperature had risen quickly, but a strange shield seemed to keep her safe.
It wasn't part of her, it was independent, sent by someone else. Once again, Ayeka tried to command the rock to let her go, but now that the planet was whole it had a greater will than she could command. Her powers were obviously not connected to the ground. Maybe air, because she could breath just fine. The rock had sealed her entire lower body and her arms up to the elbow. Her torso and head were free, but she wanted out.
Let me out! She tried to shout, but no sound came out. Ayeka tried speaking normally and found no matter how hard she tried, not a peep came out. She couldn't shout, couldn't get free, and would only grow weaker without air and food. Tears gathered in her eyes, but she didn't let them out. Slowly she drifted off to sleep, and let a single tear fall.
It froze halfway down her cheek.
~ 10 years later~
(To help you out some, by now Serena a.k.a Selenity is 27, Odin is 30, Lana and Hotaru are 23.)
Selenity, the newly elected Queen of the Moon, stepped off the shuttle and took a deep breath. The air on Terra was clean, fresh, and beautiful. No one would have guessed it was younger than Selenity herself. Terra had formed right under the noses of scientists and miners, and its abrupt bloom into a planet capable of supporting human life had alarmed people. Serenity had called for a holiday and had sent missions to the new planet. Hilde, Duo, Relena, and Heero were the first administrators of Terra. Then a new proposal had worked it way to Serenity's desk, calling for three monarchs and a President. The moon, Earth, and Terra each received an elected ruler and the colonies elected a President. It had taken a little work, but Hilde and Duo were secured on Terra, Selenity on the moon, and Damien on the Earth. Since Selenity and Damien were engaged, those two nations were looking forward to a union.
Queen Hilde came forward to welcome her guests. She smiled. "Welcome, Selenity, I hope you enjoyed your trip?"
Selenity nodded. "I did, and Terra looks gorgeous from above." Terra was young, but had already acquired icy poles and forests. It was as if millions of years of development were crushed into minutes. A gorgeous palace made by a living tree towered over the slightly smaller trees along the road from the space port. The trees towered above the travelers, and Selenity's court were awed. Makoto wanted to jump out and meet the trees that appeared so old and wise, but Rei kept a firm hand on the Senshi's arm.
The gate was plants, and it opened as they came. The whole planet was majestic forest, desert, or tundra. Limited numbers of people had been allowed to settle on Terra, but even those pressing for admittance were few because people were still adjusting to the mysterious planet's existence. Hilde led Selenity to her rooms, and left her to get settled in.
Ami came in through a connecting door and the two women sat down to talk. "It's truly beautiful, Ayeka would have been glad to give us this," Ami said. Selenity nodded, sniffing. It had taken her this long to visit Terra because somewhere in the bowels of the planet was Ayeka's final resting place. Ayeka had died to create this planet, and Selenity still found it hard to act kind to Hilde. No one had ever come up with a satisfactory reason for why Ayeka had to be the one to do it and not her mother. Not that Hilde was a bad person, but she had lived her life and Ayeka hardly got a chance.
The others came in; Rei, Makoto, Minako, Michiru, Haruka, Hotaru and Setsuna. The Senshi of Time had arranged the trip, and since hearing from her was a rare thing, the other Senshi had decided to go along with it. Now Selenity looked at Setsuna and asked, "Why did you want us to come here?"
Setsuna smiled sadly, she always did nowadays, and said, "This planet is young and strong, but much of it has yet to be beheld by human eyes. Somewhere on this planet lies a nest of dark energy. If it should grow unchecked, it will consume Terra and move on to destroy humanity. I have seen this future, and it is better for us to find it before it becomes a problem."
Selenity nodded and got to her feet. "As soon as I can, I'll ask Queen Hilde about a camping excursion…"
Something pulsed. Serenity Luna, former President of the former Earth Sphere Unified Nation, sat up in bed beside her husband and stared out her window. Years ago she had sent her power and mind out into space to try and find any sign of Sailor Terra. She had noticed a weak spark of life in Terra's core, and marked it with a part of her essence. Now something had woken that feint light into gradually growing blaze. The planet had stopped draining Sailor Terra of her power to revive itself at long last. Now her power would recover and she could be reborn.
Selenity moaned and brushed an unidentified bug off her sleeve. She hated bugs! They-they crawled! The hover craft stopped and Rei ran back from the front of the progress and Selenity leaned down to hear what she had to say. "Selenity, we found something interesting up ahead I think you should see." The queen got down and ran to catch up with the other Senshi who had gone ahead.
They stumbled forward until the undergrowth ended and they entered a grove. Direct sunlight, the first Selenity had seen in weeks, came down to shine on an eroded monument. Its existence puzzled her, because this land was new, and this thing had no time to weather like that.
Sailors Jupiter and Venus were waiting with Hotaru, Michiru, Ami, Haruka, and Setsuna. As the only two transformed, Jupiter and Venus approached the gray stone wearily and reached out to brush away lichen and moss. They puzzled over it a bit, then came back to the group. "Well?"
Jupiter shrugged. "It looks like it was carved out of stone a while ago, centuries even."
Ami leaned forward. "What does it say?"
Venus pushed some hair out of her face. "Well, it has a lot of stuff I couldn't understand, too eroded, but the part I can read says something about darkness reborn." The other Senshi now stepped up and took a look for themselves, Ami examining every aspect for clues before whipping out her little super computer.
"Hmm," Ami said. The others fell silent to hear what she had to say. Putting her computer away, she said, "I asked my computer to search for anything it could find that relates to this, and it came up with a picture of the stone before it got so…old." She looked at the monolith and said, "It's from Terra's original civilization. The part you can't read is in their ancient alphabet, and the rest is in a language they developed to be universal. It says, 'From birth to rebirth, from flame to fire, Lady Terra protect us and unite us against the darkness reborn.'"
Selenity turned to Setsuna. "Does that ring any bells?" Then she stopped and eyed Setsuna closely. The woman was crying! Not quiet tears, but loud, gasping sobs. Michiru and Haruka helped Setsuna to a seat on a nearby stone. Selenity knelt on the ground in her white garments and took the Senshi's hand. "What's wrong, Setsuna?"
Setsuna sniffled and wiped her nose with a tissue. "Lady Terra, Sailor Terra, Ayeka," she said. The others felt confused.
Ami came over and also knelt. "Sailor Terra? There is a Sailor Terra?"
Setsuna nodded. "A-Ayeka w-was the last of-of the royal line, and Hilde had no more power. Ayeka was stronger than Hilde by far, and we thought she could renew Terra. Ayeka accepted, and trained in a special MS until we sent her out to the asteroid belt and—she died! The power to transform was beyond her, she needed a planet to draw power from to do that, but commanding the remains of the planet to reunite was easy for her. For a while we hoped she'd survived, but…" She blew her nose. "Now Sailor Terra is gone for good, and cannot be reborn because she is a part of Terra."
Selenity sat back on her heels and let the others comfort Setsuna as she thought. No, that couldn't be right. When Makoto had almost died a few years back, she had felt her soul scream in protest to losing a Senshi. Sailor Terra was not destroyed, her soul remained, but it had been ten years… Could it be Ayeka was alive?
They moved on, and it was after another week of searching, that they sensed the darkness getting stronger. The Senshi found themselves facing a wasteland.
Washu typed away happily. She was so glad she'd discovered these parallel universes, it made finding piece and quiet so much easier. That and she didn't have to worry about not having enough storage space for her stuff. A little bell rang and she looked up. "Hello?"
A picture came up on a screen, it was Serenity, Selenity's mother. Washu smiled. "How are you Washu?"
Washu pointed behind her at a large, dark shape. "Still working on my time machine, it would go a lot faster if Setsuna just let me study that rod of hers." She faced the screen fully and asked, "What is so important that you had to call little ol' me?"
Serenity's face grew grim. "I sensed a growing life force in Terra."
Washu waved a hand. "I know all about that, that stupid klutz dares to call himself a man of science—"
"Not Kane, I'm talking about in the planet." Washu frowned and turned to her laptop.
"Inside? Hmm, yes! There is something, and it's growing!" She seemed to forget about her caller and started madly typing away. "Will you look at that! It seems my little coz is alive! I can't wait to tell everybody—"
"Wait, Washu," Serenity said. Washu froze and looked over. Serenity held up and hand and said, "We don't know what exactly has happened, and it may not be the Ayeka we remember, but someone else. She's been trapped in there for a decade, how would you be?" She sighed and Washu could see the lines in her face. "I still can't believe Sailor Terra is that powerful, but I guess she's been fueling the planet's growth all this time. Do you think we could get a discreet message out to my daughter?"
Washu grinned. "Do you know who you're walking to? I'll get her that message and pay a visit all by lunch time." The genius said good-bye and started on her new project.
Odin Yuy, now the tops financial officer to the Queen of Terra, sat on the floor of his bedroom and took deep breaths. He concentrated on finding that weak link between his heart and that of his soulmate. It had only returned to him when he'd set foot on Terra all those years ago to visit his parents. He hadn't been able to leave for very long because the distance from Terra seemed to great for the connection to reach and it left him feeling as dead as when Ayeka had died. Now he stayed on Terra, and had managed to get part of his heart back, but the rest was long gone. He knew he would never marry, he'd spend his life pining away for a body trapped below.
He could tell Ayeka was still here because he still shared her dreams when he slept. It had started when she left to train, and continued to that very day. As Odin closed his eyes and searched for that thread, he found a rope made with silver wire in its place. The sense of Ayeka's presence was so strong he had to open his eyes and look around to make sure she wasn't in the room with him. Feeling giddy, he reached out with his mind and said, Ayeka?
…Odin? He nearly jumped into orbit.
Ayeka? Ayeka, it's really you! You're alive and awake!
There was a sound like mental laughter. Yes, Dear Heart, I am alive. Terra is sustaining itself pretty well now without needing me to regulate and boost it. It is rather dark down here, but I feel better now that I know you're still here. Will you wait for me?
Odin knew he was crying, but he didn't feel ashamed in the least. Of course I'll wait. Oh, Ayeka, once you return, will you marry me?
Hmm, maybe. I did say I want to died a virgin…
Ayeka!
I was only joking! This has not been the most comfortable place to sleep in, you know. Do you have any idea how I'll be getting out?
Odin opened his eyes and stared at the wall. No, he had no clue how to get Ayeka out of the planet. I'll ask Washu, maybe she can think of something. My dad would probably tell me to just blow up the planet if I wanted to get at you that badly.
Ah well, I've waited ten years, I guess I can take another nap…
Author's Note: Well, if I ever manage to post this, thank you to Sailor Watoki Tsuna, Animegirl74, Myst Lady ML-chan, DarknessDreamer HeartOfLight. (Please tell me I spelled those right!)