The Will of the Ring
Chapter Eighteen by Makura Koneko
"Metallia." Celenithil breathed. The creature recoiled at the sound of her name coming from the lips of so pure a creature. How did this ethereal being know her name, it wondered? It was a young demon, only newly formed by the Dark Lord, his purpose for creating her being the sole purpose of going up the Moon Kingdom to find a child her master had named to her 'Serenity.' That single goal, that single goal to destroy this girl, Serenity, was and would be fixed in her very being for as long as she was in existence.
"Serena!" A voice called. Celenithil turned, and saw Legolas, followed by the rest of the Companionship, burst into the room.
At that moment, it seemed like the world exploded.
Chunks of the floor fell away, giving way to waves of air that seemed to be walls of boiling stones, so hot it was. A flood of demons and monsters poured into the room. The Senshi and mortal warriors were overcome.
Celenithil continued to stare.star at the creature that would destroy her world, stare at the demon that was creating the portal that would take it to where her life would be further destroyed.
Could do nothing but stare at the evil presence within the Palantir that seemed to laugh at her.
"Princess!" Saturn yelled, fending off a four armed demoness. She glanced around; every member of the Companionship was fighting its way towards the comatose warrioress, but at the same time were barely keeping themselves alive.
It was then that Celenithil's entire body, every single one of her senses, honed in on the sound of a single rock shifting.a single rock that happened to be right under Legolas's foot.
The rock slipped, and with a the Elven prince fell, his fingers barely snagging the edge of what remained of the floor, just in time before fell to his doom.
"Legolas!" Celenithil screamed, and at once her entire body moved into action, even as the elf moved to swing itself back up, effortlessly, back onto solid ground- at least, it would have all been effortless and quick, were it not for the two demons that crawled up from the depths of the volcano to grab his ankle and yank him back down.
Celenithil moved towards him, ignoring the fact that there was a gaping rift between them that spewed boiling bits of lava upwards into the air. Without realizing it, Celenithil's Silver Crystal had solidified over her heart, right in front of the Moongold Locket.
All but forgotten by the Princess whose thoughts were now bent on smiting the demons that dare harm the elf she had come to call beloved, Metallia's eyes were drawn to the stone like a bee to sweet nectar. She licked her lips hungrily as she feasted her eyes on all that power locked into so small a gem.
As if the eyes of so evil a creature on something so close to her heart was an alarm bell going off right next to her ear, Celenithil whipped her head to the right and spotted the creature staring at the Silver Crystal. She knew, with one glance at the way the demon was looking at the trinket, that the desire to own the Silver Crystal, as well as the purpose to kill her, would forever be imbedded in Metallia's very existence.
Another cry, and Celenithil's attention snapped back to Legolas.
A whizzing of power, behind her; Celenithil turned to see the three-eyed demon feeding another burst of power into the portal, trying to get it large enough to slip through as war raged around them.
Legolas.slipping.the Senshi unable to help.
Metallia.escaping.
The Portal.and Darien..about to die.
She had no time.not enough time to stop all three.
Not enough time.
Time. Not enough time!
Her heart cried out, in different ways, for each. Agony at the though of loosing Legolas, hatred for Metallia, and breathlessness at the realized that she could save Darien. There had been a time in her life when she had wanted nothing more.
But now.
Legolas.
In her indecision, she had gripped the golden locket over her heart; Moonheart, Celenithil now knew it was called. What else could that legend have meant? What else could that inscription on the Ring had mea-
Celenithil froze, and with her, it seemed like time itself.
The Ring. The inscription.
".restore the peace of your kingdom.before it was ever even lost."
"There will come a time when you will make a choice, Serenity." How many people had told her that throughout her entire life.?
"Serena, listen to me!" .Darien. "Listen to me! There will come a time when you will have to make a choice, love. Promise me, promise me that when that time comes you will make the choice that will make you happy, regardless of what happens to me! Promise me."
Serena knew that if she saved Darien, none of this would ever happen.somehow, she knew. If Darien lived and she married him, and they erected Crystal Tokyo, she would be encased in that quartz tomb at the same time the Ring tried to bring her over. She wouldn't be brought to Middle- Earth, because of that Crystal Tomb. Mankind would start all over, once Sauron had destroyed everything and moved on to another planet.
"Promise me!" Darien's voice echoed in her mind. ".Make the choice that will make you happy, regardless of what happens to me. Promise.!"
"I promised." A tear ran down Celenithil's cheek as she looked through the portal... Through the portal at the smiling face of a raven haired, sapphire eyed man and a shining, beautiful young girl.a young girl.a young girl that was no long her.
She shut her eyes tight and suddenly Celenithil understood everything.
Galadriel, Darien, Setsuna, even Sauron -though he had not known it- they hadn't meant her promise to come kill Sauron when they had told her how important her keeping her promises was. Time seemed to freeze around her as Celenithil realized.
Her eyes snapped open, and with that motion, time resumed.
"I promised," she said. Her eyes flashed silver. Her voice rumbled among the heavens. "And I always keep my promises! I promised!"
Throwing one last look to the demon who slipped through the portal, looking past the demon into the portal, she could have sworn she saw the image of Darien look up.at her.he nodded ever so slightly.and smiled.
With a grim smile on her face and a song of power and hope in her heart, Celenithil flared her wings and shot forward, over the battle. With a shink the Moon Sword flared into existence in her grip. She swooped down, her eyes hard, and with one swift movement, sliced Metallia through the heart. The demon didn't even have a chance to scream as she disintegrated.
That was when Celenithil felt the first shift in the fabric of time.
The second shift came when Celenithil glanced to where the portal that the three-eye demon had slipped through closed, and she lost her final chance to save Darien, and instead flew down to grab Legolas's hand just as his grip faltered. At the same time she pointed the Moon Sword at the two demons that had tried to drag him down and shot twin bursts of power at them. They exploded.
Up she flew, up and over the fight. She set Legolas down, but he gripped her hand before she could fly off once more.
Tears in her eyes and a smile on her face, like a pixie she bent down in mid air and kissed him full on the mouth, cupping his face with one hand.
"I love you," she told him, and they exchanged a brief smile during which Legolas gave her hand a squeeze, then released her to fly off, wings flapping furiously.
Her target was clear. The Seeing Stone was fixed in her mind.
At last she knew what it was she had been missing, what she had been forgetting.
She remembered her thoughts, when she had first thought how familiar this particular Palantir looked.
It was Wiseman's crystal ball.
Her mind made the connection instantly, complete with a comic mental 'click.' Crystal Ball. Wiseman. Wiseman's power; centered on Crystal Ball. Destroy Crystal Ball.
No Wiseman.
That was when Celenithil felt the third, and final, shift in the tapestry that was the fabric of time and history -or in this case, future.
But it was when Celenithil raised her sword, the Moon Sword, high overhead, it was when she cried out with all her heart, it was when her moon sigil, the Silver Crystal over her heart, and the Moonheart all flared with life itself, it was when she brought that sword down.
It was when that Seeing Stone shattered into dust, and the image of Sauron's red eye was banished from Earth forever that the shifts were made solid and permanent.
It was when Celenithil made her Choice that the Universe changed forever.
One by one, the demons around her vanished with various cries of pain and agony, the source of their existence, their Master, Sauron, gone, they had nothing to draw on, and thus ceased to exist.
Sauron was defeated.
Gandalf's question was barely out of his mouth before the misty plane of the Time Gates began to shake violently. Without warning, the Gates burst open. Power, both evil and good, whirled around them. Gandalf was shoved back. He barely regained his balance in time to see Pluto whirl her Staff, and with a cry, force them shut with mere will alone. They closed, but barely, and the effort left Pluto gasping.
"You're naked, old man," Pluto gasped in response to his earlier question. "Because only one robe is now worthy to be worn by you, and you alone can don it, no one else can put it on you." She waved her hand weakly, still trying to regain her breath, and a shimmering white robe with silver etchings, along with his staff appeared before him. As he watched, the staff glowed. When the glow faded, it was now white, the top of which was carved into a hollow cage which housed the Flame of Anor inside.
Gandalf reached out, took the robe, and put it on. He reached out to grip his staff, and the moment he did so, he felt power unlike anything else slip into his veins. The purity seared his blood, his flesh, shining out of the ends of his fingertips, his toes, his mouth, eyes, ears.
When it faded, Gandalf's mass of dirty, tangled gray hair and beard now lay smooth and sleek down his back and down his front, flawlessly white.
Before him, Pluto placed her right fist over her heart and bowed slightly.
"The Guardian of Time salutes you, Gandalf the White." She stood, eyes twinkling. Gandalf stepped forward at the same time she did, and they embraced.
"Five hundred and twenty-two years is too long a time to go between visits to one's only cousin, Setsuna," Gandalf told her, smiling. Pluto sighed.
"When one is the guardian of time and space, my dear Gandalf, the vacation time is.less than satisfactory." She smiled, and Gandalf chuckled.
"I knew you were the Guardian of Time, Setsuna, but you never told me you were one of these Sailor Senshi," he raised an admonishing eyebrow at her, taking in her sailor garb, now sensing the similarities between her power and that of the other girls. "It would have made a few things considerably easier if I had known."
"Some things aren't meant to be easy," she said in her trademark cryptic tone. Gandalf shook his head.
"True, true, true," he said. They had no more time for any more pleasantries, however, when the world around them began to shake and tremor awfully.
Setsuna gasped, and wavered. Gandalf caught her arm, and steadied her. She was unable to convey thanks as a horrifying knowledge so great it terrified her slipped into her mind.
"The Senshi." She gasped. "I have to get to them!"
"What? Why?" Somehow Gandalf knew she didn't mean the Senshi in Middle- Earth. Setsuna fixed him with a gaze.
"Serenity has made her Choice, and now we Senshi must make a choice whether or not to follow her," she told him. She turned, suddenly filled with new strength, and stepped into a swirling portal, Gandalf right behind her.
Tokyo, Japan, the 21st Century
It happened almost immediately after Raye, Haruka, Ami, and Hotaru disappeared in flurries of lights and sound and wind. Setsuna had disappeared along with them, so they had no one to turn to for answers to the question of why the Earth seemed to be tearing itself apart.
Out of the apartment building they ran, the entire structure swaying as if it were made of nothing more than paper and straw. The wind was unbelievable- in fact it was hardly even wind. It was too strong to be mere air. It was almost physically solid, as it tried to sweep the three women up and away. They found trees and poles to cling to. Lita tried to shout something, but the wind shoved the words back down her throat. The other two women couldn't even hear her choking; the sounds around them were deafening.
There was no doubt in Mina's mind that many of the humans around her were deaf, now, those that had found things to hold onto, anyway; those that hadn't were most likely dead. She thanked God Almighty that she wasn't human, and thus retained her hearing.at least she was pretty sure she did. There was no way to be sure if the roaring in her head was the unimaginable noise or the terrifying vibration of the very Earth itself.
She, Lita, and Michiru figured out quickly that verbal communication was no good. Neither were their communicators; they only got static as the earth under their very feet trembled. They reverted to hand signals that they'd worked out a long time ago, to be used in such a case. But even this was perilous; they could only spare one hand from their clinging to whatever they had found to cling to for mere moments. And the wind was so strong they could barely afford to keep their eyes open at all. They all felt their strength begin to fade.
It was no big hassle to figure out what Mina meant when she made the hand- equivalent sign of 'Senshi.' Wordless, they all retrieved their own wands from their own sub-space pockets.
They shouted at the top of their lungs, but no one even heard a whisper of the words. It didn't seem to matter, however; in flurries of breathtaking bursts of light and ribbons and sparkling stars, whirlwinds and roars of the ocean, and explosions of lighting and thunder, three Senshi stood where three collage student girls had been previously. The wind was as strong as ever, but now they could bear it. They still gripped various things that were still in place, but they could stand on their own two feet, heads bent into the wind, standing their ground firmly.
It was Jupiter who noticed first. Their outfits were completely different. No more revealing short skirts and girlish sailor-themed ensembles.
"What the hell.?" Jupiter muttered. Venus and Neptune hadn't seemed to notice yet, and Jupiter, with a mental growl, decided it wasn't important enough to mention, now. They had other things on their mind.
"What's causing this?" Neptune's voice was carried by magic, not air, and thus they could hear her.
"If we knew that we'd be finding the SOB who's doing this, not standing here like lawn gnomes!" Jupiter snapped.
"Stop it, both of you!" Venus ordered. There was no hint of the bubbly blonde; only the Senshi Commander of the Silver Millennium Alliance Silver Moon Military.
"It's the Princess!" A voice shouted. They glanced over their shoulders in surprise.
"Pluto!" Jupiter cried. The woman was bent into the wind, also in a new ensemble, struggling against the wind to reach them, using her Staff -which was still the same- to gain purchase in cracks in the ground. Beside her was a tall old man clad completely in white, also using his staff to creep his way forward, towards them.
When Pluto was close enough, Venus reached back a hand to her. Pluto took it, and pulled herself close enough to the pole Venus was gripping to take ahold of it. Jupiter did likewise with the old man, surprised at the strength which he gripped her hand and pulled himself forward.
"My thanks," he conveyed in a nod.
"What about the Princess?!" Neptune cried; introductions of the newcomer would have to wait.
"She has made her Choice!" Pluto shouted. "And thus the Stars have begun a New Dance! A new Dance for History! A paradox is being created!"
"Would you speak in a language we can understand for once?" Jupiter shouted in annoyance. She didn't notice the slight amusement in the old man's eyes. As he listened to the conversation, his eyes wandered to the exotic and odd things all around him. So this was the world -albeit falling apart world- that Serena had come from.
Pluto's own eyes were dark.
"Time and history has been rewritten." She said flatly. She did not shout. Her voice was oddly calm. Yet they heard every word. "The past has changed, and thus so has the future. As I said, a paradox is being created. This dimension is being pulled in two directions, caught between the two different timelines. We have to choose which timeline this dimension will merge with, else it will be shredded and destroyed."
"Us?" Venus echoed. "How?"
"We have to jump." Pluto said, her eyes deadly serious. "We protect this world, therefore we are tied to it. If we jump to one of the timelines, we'll pull this dimension with us, and the two -this one and the whichever one we jump to- will merge and become one."
"So we'd be like a tugboat pulling a cosmos-sized ocean liner?" Jupiter summed. Pluto's lips quirked, and she nodded.
"Good God," Neptune breathed. "How do we choose?"
Venus's eyes were stormy and hard.
"We follow Serenity," she said. She looked to Pluto. "You lead the jump," she said. "Lead us to the timeline that Serenity chose. That's what happened, isn't it? She had to choose between keeping things the way they were meant to be, and taking a leap of faith to see what would become if something did or didn't happen, right?"
Pluto nodded.
"Then we trust the Princess," Jupiter said, agreeing with Venus without hesitation. "Let's follow Serena's choice." Out of the corner of her eye she saw approval alight in the old man's face.
"Pluto, take us to the timeline Serenity created, please," Neptune's smile was both sad and excited. What alternate world awaited them?
"No, better yet," Venus said suddenly. Her eyes sparkled with tears of both joy and regret- regret at leaving this world forever. "Take us to Serena, Setsuna," she asked softly, her voice heard nonetheless. "Lead us back in time, as well as over to the new timeline, so that we may watch and nurture this alternate world with her."
Pluto bowed her head slightly. The wind was all but forgotten. None of them had eyes that were unmarred by tears as Pluto raised her staff, and shouted words that had not been spoken since the dawn of creation itself. One by one, Venus, Neptune, and Jupiter called out with all their might, linking their power together so that when Pluto leaped out of reality and into the fabric of time and space, they followed. First the old man, then Neptune leaped, then Jupiter following after her.
Venus held back for a brief moment, and glanced over her shoulder to the warping buildings and roads and trees.
She had protected this world, longer than any of the others. Now that it would cease to exist, would it all be for nothing? No, she realized. Ami's words came back to her, words from a long time ago, 'As a doctor, one of the most rewarding things is to heal someone. But it is even more rewarding to keep the sickness from happening all together in the first place.'
So much was wrong with this world. Now, she realized, she had a chance to keep so many things from ever happening at all.
Venus smiled, as tears ran down her face. As she felt her body pulled out of the tapestry of life that made up the very existence of the world she had grown up in, she looked down the street. Tears rolled down her cheek as she spotted Andrew, clinging to a lamppost, tears in his eyes and a smile on his face.
"Go," he mouthed. And tell Serena goodbye for me, his eyes seemed to say. Her heart being torn in two, Venus nodded, her tears clouding her vision as she blew a kiss to him, and to the world.
"Goodbye," she whispered softly, then turned to the portal. She closed her eyes, and made a leap of faith.
Barad-dur, Mordor, Middle-Earth, the 3rd Age
Celenithil didn't know how long she stood there, staring at the top of the pedestal. She didn't know how long ago the final youma had been vanquished. She didn't know how much time had passed since she'd changed history.since she had changed the future, since she had changed the fate of the Silver Millennium Alliance.
The Silver Millennium, she realized with shock. With Metallia dead.it would never fall. At least not for a long, long time.and certainly not at the hands of Beryl, not anymore.
Suddenly Celenithil's eyes widened as the world around her began to shake uncontrollably. She felt Barad-dur begin to sway and waver.
"We must get out of this place!" Gimli roared.
"No crap, Sherlock!" Uranus growled. Stumbling and scrambling, Celenithil and everyone else made it to each other.
"We don't have enough strength for a teleport!" Mars yelled over the awful noise.
"We don't have a choice!" Saturn shouted back. Celenithil nodded.
"I'll do what I can," she promised, referring to the amount of power she could give; the previous two battles were beginning to catch up with her. In response to the look Mars gave her, she said, "At least with a teleport we have a chance. If we stay here we're sure to die!"
"She is right!" Aragorn skipped out of the way of a falling stalagmite. Without further hesitation, they -the Senshi- joined hands around the Companionship.
One by one, they called out their own respective powers, and each flashed with a color of the cosmos. Celenithil was the last, her wings flared out to try and shield them all from some of the debris that was being flung around as the very walls around them warped and twisted and ran like wet paint.
Celenithil spared the briefest of thoughts of what this, the odd warping of the walls around them, could mean.or was it that their teleport was working after all.? But that hope was dashed when their power-glows around them faded, and Mercury fell to her knees, gasping. Saturn stumbled, but Gimli caught her and steadied her as Frodo helped Mercury up.
"It's no use, we don't have enough power left among us!" Haruka kicked a rock nearby
Aragorn and Legolas exchanged glances, as did Merry and Pippin.
"Then let us stay behind!" The two pairs both cried at once. They regarded each other for a moment, then grinned.
"Absolutely not!" Celenithil said, her voice bordering on a snarling command. "We're all getting out of here! All of us!"
"We don't have enough power, Meatball head!" Mars snapped. "How are we gonna get out of here?"
No one had an answer.
Somewhere in the Fabric of Space and Time
Venus felt the shift of their direction, and she threw Pluto, beside her, whom was holding out her glowing staff before her with a deathly concentrating expression on her face.
"Why are we changing course?" Neptune shouted from behind them; she had sensed it as well.
"A small detour," Pluto managed to grunt out.
"We figured that out!" Jupiter growled.
"I believe my cousin plans to try to make up for all the times her being required to keep silent about the events of time cost lives," the old man with the incredibly white hair and clothing spoke up for the first time. Venus glanced back at him, and their eyes met. She nodded slightly, a tight smile on her lips. He returned the nod, eyes twinkling with acknowledgement for the young leader.
"He is close," Pluto told the girls. "Just hold up."
"But we need to get to Serenity!" Jupiter argued.
"She's right," Venus sided with Jupiter, raising a hand to shield her face as she arched her back over a chunk of debris that they flew by.
Pluto was clearly torn by indescision for a moment.
"We are close enough to our original destination," The old white man told the burgundy eyed woman. She glanced over her shoulder and to her left at him. He smiled gently, even though his face was squinted against the wind. "I will lead them," he promised. "Do what you must, cousin, then follow as speedily as you are able."
Only a bit more hesitation, and Pluto nodded. She twist her body so that her back was to the wind, on leg out straight the other bent, placing her foot near the knee of her other leg, to keep her balance. She reached out her staff, and the man raised his own to meet it. A bit of the purple glow that surrounded Pluto's staff transferred itself to his.
With a glance to the three Senshi and a nod to Venus, Pluto shot off ahead.
"Follow me!" He told them, suddenly knowing instinctively how to find the time and place of his home, his destination. Venus, filled with the hereditary instinct of her people, motioned for Jupiter and Neptune to do so as she shoved herself forward until she and the old man were parallel, hurtling through time itself.
Barad-dur, Mordor, Middle-Earth, the 3rd Age
Legolas was filled with frustration. Never before had he felt himself in so helpless a situation. He glanced at Celenithil. She at least must live. Perhaps there was enough energy left among them to at least get her to safety.
The Elven Prince opened his mouth to say as much-
There was the briefest of faintest abrupt flashes, which they all barely had time to register before a voice, filled with light and laughter, asked in an impish voice, "Perhaps we can help?"
Celenithil whirled.
"V-Venus?" Celenithil gasped, spotting the owner of the voice. The words barely left her mouth in time before she was engulfed by a tall brunette clad in green and soft fawn brown.
"Ju-Jupiter!" Celenithil breathed, shoving away from her captor just long enough to get a good look at the woman's shining face to assure herself it was indeed Sailor Ju- no, not 'Sailor.' Like the other Senshi, as Celenithil looked at Jupiter, Venus, Neptune -whom was embracing Uranus; they all had different fukus that were nothing like the original, traditional getup.
"Who might you all be?" Sam asked, eyes wide.
"Gandalf!" Frodo exclaimed. Then he registered, along with the rest of the Companionship, the Wizard's attire.
"I will explain at a later date," Gandalf told him, ruffling his hair.
"Who are you, anyway?" Venus asked the tall, white haired man.
The rumbling increased, and a huge chunk of the ceiling caved in and crashed down into the lava on the other side of the room, which was more of a crumbling cavern, now.
"Could we please save introductions until we have tea and crumpets to go with?" Uranus snapped sarcastically. The short, slender blonde with a cream, gold-embroidered bow in her hair stuck her tongue out at the fellow blonde before the Senshi slipped into a circle.
Again, the cries of power were shouted out, and this time Celenithil gasped as she felt power flow through her hands and spread to the others in the ring. Their powers overlapping and spilling into one another, a portal was opened, and they were sucked upwards into it, all of them, and with a flash they disappeared just as the ground where they had been standing only moments before crumbled down into the rolling sea of lava.
Limbo
When Pluto materialized, stumbling through the shaky opening, she was relieved to find exactly what she was looking for. She surveyed the thousands of people present, mostly men and elves.
She was in one of the smaller pockets of the plane known as Limbo, and yet it was filled with the souls of those that had perished in the War of the Ring three thousand years ago, from the time where Serenity was.
All eyes turned to her. Everyone knew who she was, without knowing how or why.
"I have a favor to ask of all of you," Pluto said after taking a deep breath, standing tall. "Long ago you all fought and died to prevent the land you called Middle-Earth from being eaten by shadow and death. You succeeded. Middle-Earth was free-"
Cheers arose.
It had been torture, for these people, to be here, not knowing if their sacrifice was in vein.
"What gift do we owe you, lady for bringing us this soothing knowledge?" A being that had once been a dark haired elf stepped forward.
"You owe me nothing," Pluto said. "For my tale is not yet finished." Surprise ran through the masses of humans and elves. Taking advantage of the startled silence, she continued, telling the whole story- right from the beginning, starting with the marriage of Selenity to Sauron, all the way through Bilbo and Gollum, to the Ring's calling Serenity back through time, to the merging of the Fellowship into the Companionship, and at last of how the Senshi had been forced to merge the two alternate timelines.
Many hardly grasped the concept of dimensions and time travel and magic as Pluto spoke of it, but needless to say the Elves had a better idea what she was talking about than most.
"In this alternate timeline," Pluto began up again after taking in a silent, calming breath. This could either go very well or very badly. Thousands of lives rode upon the outcome. "Because things have changed, people from the original future will never even exist. I have come here," she said, swallowing. "To ask a great favor of you all."
"Ask what you will," the elf before her said. She noted he neither promised anything nor did he not promising anything. Pluto nodded her thanks.
"To be brief, I tell you now that on the slopes of Mount Doom, there is a huge, toxic marshland. Your bodies lay, still, in this water, the toxins preserving the corpses as if you were only asleep."
Gasps, cries, expressions of startlement, and mere 'oh, isn't that nice?' filled the room.
"Why do you tell us this?" A human stepped forward. Pluto instantly recognized him as Isildur's father, the one whose sword cut the Ring from the hand of Sauron. Tucking this bit of knowledge aside, Pluto continued.
"Because, within each of your bodies, still, is a bit of life remaining. This is why none of you have been allowed to pass on. The tiniest bit of you all is still alive within your bodies. Not enough to ever bring any of you back to life, mind, but it is still there nonetheless. These pinpricks of life are like beacons, in their abnormality, on the tapestry of fate's design."
"And what are we to do about it?" A voice shouted. Hundreds of voices of disgruntled agreements were cried out after him. Pluto felt a twinge within her. Best explain soon.
"I ask you not to do anything about to the bits of life," Pluto told him. "This goes back to what I told you about there being thousands of lives in that old future that will never even come to exist, now. I want to save those lives."
"How may we help?" The King's voice as kind, but still a king's even after all this time. She smiled at him. She got the feeling she and he would have become very, very good friends had the chance presented itself.
Pluto took a deep breath before answering. "Those thousands of lives I speak of, they still exist. They are fading, but they are fading from the tapestry of life even as I speak. I cannot take them anywhere unless they already have a bit of themselves in the place I want to take them. Normally I would transport their physical bodies, and their spirits would follow-"
"But there are too many of them, and they don't really even have bodies anymore," The elf summed up. Pluto nodded.
"So you want us to let you use the life still left in our bodies in Middle- Earth as anchors for these thousands of 'lost souls.'"
Again, Pluto nodded. "Exactly," she said. "Once it is done, those bits of life will have been used up by the process, and you will all be allowed to fully pass on."
"How do we know that you are not some witch, come to trick us? That you will use this bit of life to eat what is left of our souls?" A man cried. "How do we know that where we are now is the place spirits pass on to, and you are only telling us that we have not yet fully passed on so that we might cooperate?"
Scattered, but many, shouts of agreement and applause echoed this statement.
Pluto drew herself up to her full height, and a wind that was frighteningly obviously of ethereal nature picked up around her, lifting the scarves that hung from her elbows and from around her waist, tinkling the little crystal tassles that hung from the bottom of the bikini like top that, the straps of which, crossed once before wrapping around her neck.
The symbol of Pluto glowed brightly on her forehead.
"I am the embodiment of Pluto, daughter of Chronos, Father of Time. I am the Guardian of the Timelines and Protector of the Tapestry of Life, servant to the Empress of Light, the Queen Selenity, and ward of Her Majesty, the Princess Serenity of the Moonheart, daughter of Sauron and Selenity, and cousin to Gandalf the White, known to many of you as Mithrandir the Wise!
"I am no witch, human." Pluto turned her flashing burgundy orbs to the man that had spoken. There was now a clear space around him; no one dared be near the one whom was the focus of the rage of so great a being. "Least, not any witch you need fear, not unless you cross me! I have seen far more years than even any of you elves here can hope to imagine. Do not anger me! The life within those bodies is your own, and out of respect for that I came here to humbly ask a cosmic favor of you. Do not mock me! I am the one called Mother to the Goddess of Death, Saturn, herself! I say again, do not mock me!"
The man fell to one knee, as a knight might fall before his queen.
No words were needed beyond this, as Pluto's glow faded. Shaky, but sure of herself, she then looked into the eyes of the king.
"Do you accept my request?" She inquired. "If yay, I will need all your help. I will help link you to the soul of one of the fading ones. You alone know the way back to your physical body. You will show them the light I speak of, I will instruct the fading one how to latch onto it, and the rest, leave up to me."
The elf stepped forward.
"Let me go first," he said. Pluto met his eyes. She glanced towards the king, and he nodded.
"You will be doing this one by one?" The king inquired. Pluto nodded.
"But once I have finished with one person, that person will have the knowledge to guide another." She told him.
"Do we have time for so long and lengthly a task?" The man that had challenged Pluto not a moment before spoke up. Pluto felt a smile tug at the corner of his lips. He reminded her Minako. Never knew when to keep quiet.
"Do you not remember the words I so recently spoke to you, human?" Pluto turned coolly amused eyes on him, and he began to sweat anew. He nodded hesitantly.
"Forgive me, Lady of Time," he mumbled, and backed away.
"He spoke true, friends," Pluto told the elf and king. "Time is not an issue here, not with me. But still, I must ask now, do you accept?"
The elf turned to his people.
"Well, you heard the question. Do we accept this honor, to save the lives of thousands and preserve what we fought for so long ago?"
Not a single elf remained silent during the roar of agreement that rose up.
"And what say you, Men of Middle-Earth?" The king turned to his own. The noise of triumph was, if possible, even louder. The two turned back to Pluto, smiling.
"You have your answer," the elf told her. She smiled, relief flooding he body. She stopped herself before she let that relief show; it wasn't over yet.
"Thank you," she told them with feeling. She turned to the elf, and held out her hand. "Shall we?" He took her hand, smiling kindly.
"We shall," he said, his grip on he hand tightening. "But before we do, may I ask your name?"
'I' not 'we.'
Pluto met his eyes, and flushed.
"Setsuna," she told him.
He returned the smile. "Aridwil," he responded. Pluto smiled and nodded.
Then, as they closed their eyes and Pluto guided him into the subconscious state needed, she found herself fleetingly wondering if perhaps it was possible for her to find love after all.
The Black Gate, Mordor, Middle-Earth, the 3rd Age
"All right!" Venus jumped into the air, throwing triumphant air punches before landing back down and displaying an energized 'V is for Victory' sign with her hands, accompanied by an enthusiastic "Heee-Yaaa!!!!"
"Senshi rule, uh-huh, uh-huh, oh yeah, uh-huh. Uh-huh, Senshi rule, oh yeah." Jupiter danced around, slapped Venus a high five, then turned to exchange a second one with a tired looking, but no less exuberant-smile- displaying Mars.
"If they're celebrating now, wait till we tell them what's happened to us these past few weeks." Mars thought with a grin. She looked to Celenithil, whom was apparently thinking the same thing, as they exchanged knowing looks and laughing winks.
"I can't believe we did it," Saturn breathed, staring at the crumbling, burning ruins of Barad-dur. She, along with the Companionship, Celenithil, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto surveyed the land of Mordor from the archers- walk that ran along the top of the gates that were no longer black. No, they were now literally golden. Out before them lay a lush land, with rolling green hills and sparkling lakes. Up from the ashes of the crumbling fortress, there rose a misty, wispy, faint, transparent image of a golden tower. With one final explosion, Barad-dur sank into the melted earth below, and with a flash the Golden Tower solidified in its place.
And, somehow, no one was surprised in the slightest.
"The Golden Kingdom," Pluto murmured. "Some things simply must exist, somehow, some way, for reasons unknown, no matter what reality."
Suddenly, Venus, behind them, froze mid-victory dance and gasped.
"Look!" The blonde cried. Everyone turned and gaped.
Across hundreds of thousands of acres of land, as far as the eye could see, there was no longer a putrid, toxic marshland, but lush meadow fields. And covering those fields were hundreds of thousands of men and elves, looking at themselves as if they had come back from the dead.
Which, the Companionship and Celenithil -the only ones who recognized the armor of the battle fought long ago- realized with utter shock, they had.
But that wasn't even half of the reason for their total surprise.
Standing beside each and every of the previously deceased men and elves was a man, woman, or child dressed in 21st century clothing.
Most forward in the group, was a tall woman with long, flowing emerald hair clad in whispy, almost gypsy-like garment of flowing scarves of emerald and burgundy colors. Standing beside her was a tall, dark haired elf whom was laughing gaily.
Celenithil beamed. "I thought I felt sparks of life within them," she said. "They'd been too small to ever hope to bring them back, but I guess the same power that is restoring the land also restored them."
"I can't believe it," Mercury said, typing away on her data computer, scanning the entire masses.
"What is it?" Gandalf asked. Mercury's eyes flitted to the White Wizard, then back to her data computer.
"Is it what we think it is?" Mars asked. Mercury's eyes filled with tears, and she nodded.
"Guys!" Mercury cried. "Serena, you mentioned bits of life left in those bodies? Pluto used those specs of life as anchors for the souls of those that, in this new future, would never even exist! And at the same time, she somehow brought back all the elves and men that died during the War of the Ring! Those that wanted to, anyways, I'm guessing."
"Are you telling me we now have an army of zombies to beat?" Celenithil squeaked. She shook her head vigorously. "Uh-uh, I'm not doing any more fighting till I get a bath and a nap! A long nap!"
But Mercury was grinning from ear to ear as she said, "No, they're alive as if they were never dead. That is, I suppose, because they were never truly dead in the first place."
"Unbelievable." Neptune breathed, as a grand woman joined them on the wall after climbing a long flight of steps. She glanced to Pluto as she neared, whom was smiling gently.
"Don't worry," The Warrior of Time said. "Only the ones that wanted to come back got dragged back. It was a subconscious thing, I suppose, since I didn't think this was possible so I never asked."
"You didn't have to go to the Underworld to get their permission to use what was left of their lives as anchors, did you?" Saturn asked tentively.
Pluto smiled gently. "No, only to Limbo."
"Isn't that a game?" Celenithil asked distractedly. "Limbo? You know, with the pole? I haven't played that in a while-"
"No more games!" Mars said firmly and with surprising haste. The four more recently arrived Senshi blinked in confusion as everyone laughed.
"Long story, don't ask," Legolas asked, laughing, eyes sparkling.
Venus and Jupiter exchanged looks, and then shrugged.
"Ok, I get that the men and elves from the War of the Ring were brought back because they were never completely dead in the first place," Uranus said. "But where the hell did all these new people come from?" She growled. Pluto smiled.
Venus snapped her fingers. "From the alternate future!" She cried. Pluto's smile widened, and Venus laughed and rushed to hug the woman. "You fox!" The blonde grinned. "I had a feeling it was something like this! Gandalf had hinted as much," she grinned at the elderly man.
The blonde then turned to the group and quickly explained what had happened to the future. Since the future that they knew no longer existed because of Celenithil's choices, and a new future will take its stead, a lot of people that existed in the future they came from would never be born in this new future.
"So rather than let them cease to ever even exist," Venus said, bouncing with excitement, eye shining. "Setsuna -am I right about this?- used the lives of those bodies down in the marshes as beacons, so to speak, ropes that could be used to tie into/onto the souls that were fading from existence here into the future. The magic here forced those souls to form new bodies, just as they had just left them."
"But.doesn't that mean they'll just die again?" Juptier frowned. "Like Serena was going to?"
Mercury intervened. "I suppose that was because Serena's soul could sense that this wasn't their natural body, like one's body may attack a new heart after a heart transplant. Whereas these new bodies," she waved a hand at the millions of people blow. "They are the only bodies in existence, so their souls aren't fighting them."
"New heart?" Gimli cut in. Mercury laughed and briefly explained it. Gimli frowned. 'That is rather disturbing," he said flatly. Light laughter followed the statement.
"I can't believe it." Celenithil breathed, eyes wide. "It.it's incomprehensible."
"Only to you, meatball head," said a voice that was full of affection. Celenithil squeaked and turned about so quickly that her six pigtails whipped out, forcing several Senshi to duck else they'd be whapped in the face by the silver whips.
"Seiya!" The silver haired warrior cried as Legolas moved to see what it was she had seen. She moved to embrace all three of the men that stood at the top of the stairs a ways ahead, then came up short when she saw the form in Seiya's arms.
Herself.
Still clad in that pleated black skirt and pink turtleneck tank top.
"Special delivery," Yaten grinned impishly.
"Princess," Pluto said softly, touching Celenithil's elbow gently. Celenithil looked up at her and smiled. Exchanging glances, the Senshi all nodded. The Middle-Earth natives of the Companionship -except for Legolas- knowing they had no part in what was to come, stepped back as the Senshi stood in a circle around Celenithil and the body of Serena Tsukino, in Legolas's arms.
The process was brief, albeit quite flashy and breathtakingly beautiful, consisting of mini starbursts, swirling ribbons of pure power, heat that was both scorching and embracingly comfortable.
The masses of men and elves below looked up at this bright spectacle in awe. The ones closer to the gates were able to faintly make out the twin slender forms of two women floating up into the air, backs arched, pinpricks of light brighter than the glow surrounding them lancing out to conjoin their hearts.
There was a flash brighter than the creation of a sun, and when it faded, a single woman floated back down into the arms of the Elvin prince.
"Serena?" Legolas asked softly of the woman in his arms whom was standing just fine on her own, her hands on his shoulders, her eyes closed. Her hair was still silver, though it decidedly had more gold in it. She was now in black leggings and a silver blouse, the throwing-blade-tiara that had been a gift from the elves of Lothlorien in her hair once more, the Moon Sword belted at her side, and the Moonheart once more on a chain around her throat.
Slowly, she opened her eyes, a smile on her lips. Bright azure eyes greeted him, eyes that once again held that childish, fun-loving spark of innocence and love that had first captured him. He smiled, and embraced her, and she returned it just as tightly as the Companionship, the four newly arrived Senshi, and the Starlights cheered.
"I kept my promise, Darien," Serena thought as she snuggled into Legolas's embrace. "All of them. Serenity and Endymion have a chance to be together as we never were when we were Serenity and Endymion. I promise, for us, as soon as I can stand on my own two feet I'll go up to the Moon and talk to the woman who was once my mother. I'll make sure that that ban on communication between Earth and Moon is obliterated before we ever even meet.maybe then our former incarnations can find love together like we never did. I'll never forget you, love. Never. Rest in peace, Darien. Rest in peace."
"Serena?" Legolas asked. "Are you all right?" He asked softly. Serena smiled.
"Yeah," she said, as she glanced down at the golden ring on her finger. What a strong will her grandmother must have placed in this ring, in order for it to have summoned her back in time to save.well, everything. The will of the ring on her hand truly was a remarkable thing. She smiled, and looked up into Legolas's slightly concerned, loving face.
They moved towards one another at the same time, their mouths melding together as they held each other tighter. Serena rose up on her toes, her hands tangling in his hair. His hands ran up and down her back, cupping her face, sliding through her tresses. They pulled apart briefly before coming back together again, slanting their mouths against each other to grant fuller access to one another. Lips pulled, suckled, massaged and caressed, hands and arms tightened, holding, embracing as if never to let go as, together, they lost themselves in their love for one another.
It was at that moment that, for the very first time, the sun dawned over the land of Mordor, heralding a new beginning. Serena saw this, as they pulled away for breath, and, with a radiant smile she answered his question and said, "Yeah. I'm great. I'm absolutely great."
Laughing, Legolas kissed her again before they turned along with twenty bright stars in the forms of the Senshi and the former Fellowship. Together, they turned to watch the sun rise over the horizon, a beacon of light for the future, for all to see.
The End.
Of the New Beginning.
Chapter Eighteen by Makura Koneko
"Metallia." Celenithil breathed. The creature recoiled at the sound of her name coming from the lips of so pure a creature. How did this ethereal being know her name, it wondered? It was a young demon, only newly formed by the Dark Lord, his purpose for creating her being the sole purpose of going up the Moon Kingdom to find a child her master had named to her 'Serenity.' That single goal, that single goal to destroy this girl, Serenity, was and would be fixed in her very being for as long as she was in existence.
"Serena!" A voice called. Celenithil turned, and saw Legolas, followed by the rest of the Companionship, burst into the room.
At that moment, it seemed like the world exploded.
Chunks of the floor fell away, giving way to waves of air that seemed to be walls of boiling stones, so hot it was. A flood of demons and monsters poured into the room. The Senshi and mortal warriors were overcome.
Celenithil continued to stare.star at the creature that would destroy her world, stare at the demon that was creating the portal that would take it to where her life would be further destroyed.
Could do nothing but stare at the evil presence within the Palantir that seemed to laugh at her.
"Princess!" Saturn yelled, fending off a four armed demoness. She glanced around; every member of the Companionship was fighting its way towards the comatose warrioress, but at the same time were barely keeping themselves alive.
It was then that Celenithil's entire body, every single one of her senses, honed in on the sound of a single rock shifting.a single rock that happened to be right under Legolas's foot.
The rock slipped, and with a the Elven prince fell, his fingers barely snagging the edge of what remained of the floor, just in time before fell to his doom.
"Legolas!" Celenithil screamed, and at once her entire body moved into action, even as the elf moved to swing itself back up, effortlessly, back onto solid ground- at least, it would have all been effortless and quick, were it not for the two demons that crawled up from the depths of the volcano to grab his ankle and yank him back down.
Celenithil moved towards him, ignoring the fact that there was a gaping rift between them that spewed boiling bits of lava upwards into the air. Without realizing it, Celenithil's Silver Crystal had solidified over her heart, right in front of the Moongold Locket.
All but forgotten by the Princess whose thoughts were now bent on smiting the demons that dare harm the elf she had come to call beloved, Metallia's eyes were drawn to the stone like a bee to sweet nectar. She licked her lips hungrily as she feasted her eyes on all that power locked into so small a gem.
As if the eyes of so evil a creature on something so close to her heart was an alarm bell going off right next to her ear, Celenithil whipped her head to the right and spotted the creature staring at the Silver Crystal. She knew, with one glance at the way the demon was looking at the trinket, that the desire to own the Silver Crystal, as well as the purpose to kill her, would forever be imbedded in Metallia's very existence.
Another cry, and Celenithil's attention snapped back to Legolas.
A whizzing of power, behind her; Celenithil turned to see the three-eyed demon feeding another burst of power into the portal, trying to get it large enough to slip through as war raged around them.
Legolas.slipping.the Senshi unable to help.
Metallia.escaping.
The Portal.and Darien..about to die.
She had no time.not enough time to stop all three.
Not enough time.
Time. Not enough time!
Her heart cried out, in different ways, for each. Agony at the though of loosing Legolas, hatred for Metallia, and breathlessness at the realized that she could save Darien. There had been a time in her life when she had wanted nothing more.
But now.
Legolas.
In her indecision, she had gripped the golden locket over her heart; Moonheart, Celenithil now knew it was called. What else could that legend have meant? What else could that inscription on the Ring had mea-
Celenithil froze, and with her, it seemed like time itself.
The Ring. The inscription.
".restore the peace of your kingdom.before it was ever even lost."
"There will come a time when you will make a choice, Serenity." How many people had told her that throughout her entire life.?
"Serena, listen to me!" .Darien. "Listen to me! There will come a time when you will have to make a choice, love. Promise me, promise me that when that time comes you will make the choice that will make you happy, regardless of what happens to me! Promise me."
Serena knew that if she saved Darien, none of this would ever happen.somehow, she knew. If Darien lived and she married him, and they erected Crystal Tokyo, she would be encased in that quartz tomb at the same time the Ring tried to bring her over. She wouldn't be brought to Middle- Earth, because of that Crystal Tomb. Mankind would start all over, once Sauron had destroyed everything and moved on to another planet.
"Promise me!" Darien's voice echoed in her mind. ".Make the choice that will make you happy, regardless of what happens to me. Promise.!"
"I promised." A tear ran down Celenithil's cheek as she looked through the portal... Through the portal at the smiling face of a raven haired, sapphire eyed man and a shining, beautiful young girl.a young girl.a young girl that was no long her.
She shut her eyes tight and suddenly Celenithil understood everything.
Galadriel, Darien, Setsuna, even Sauron -though he had not known it- they hadn't meant her promise to come kill Sauron when they had told her how important her keeping her promises was. Time seemed to freeze around her as Celenithil realized.
Her eyes snapped open, and with that motion, time resumed.
"I promised," she said. Her eyes flashed silver. Her voice rumbled among the heavens. "And I always keep my promises! I promised!"
Throwing one last look to the demon who slipped through the portal, looking past the demon into the portal, she could have sworn she saw the image of Darien look up.at her.he nodded ever so slightly.and smiled.
With a grim smile on her face and a song of power and hope in her heart, Celenithil flared her wings and shot forward, over the battle. With a shink the Moon Sword flared into existence in her grip. She swooped down, her eyes hard, and with one swift movement, sliced Metallia through the heart. The demon didn't even have a chance to scream as she disintegrated.
That was when Celenithil felt the first shift in the fabric of time.
The second shift came when Celenithil glanced to where the portal that the three-eye demon had slipped through closed, and she lost her final chance to save Darien, and instead flew down to grab Legolas's hand just as his grip faltered. At the same time she pointed the Moon Sword at the two demons that had tried to drag him down and shot twin bursts of power at them. They exploded.
Up she flew, up and over the fight. She set Legolas down, but he gripped her hand before she could fly off once more.
Tears in her eyes and a smile on her face, like a pixie she bent down in mid air and kissed him full on the mouth, cupping his face with one hand.
"I love you," she told him, and they exchanged a brief smile during which Legolas gave her hand a squeeze, then released her to fly off, wings flapping furiously.
Her target was clear. The Seeing Stone was fixed in her mind.
At last she knew what it was she had been missing, what she had been forgetting.
She remembered her thoughts, when she had first thought how familiar this particular Palantir looked.
It was Wiseman's crystal ball.
Her mind made the connection instantly, complete with a comic mental 'click.' Crystal Ball. Wiseman. Wiseman's power; centered on Crystal Ball. Destroy Crystal Ball.
No Wiseman.
That was when Celenithil felt the third, and final, shift in the tapestry that was the fabric of time and history -or in this case, future.
But it was when Celenithil raised her sword, the Moon Sword, high overhead, it was when she cried out with all her heart, it was when her moon sigil, the Silver Crystal over her heart, and the Moonheart all flared with life itself, it was when she brought that sword down.
It was when that Seeing Stone shattered into dust, and the image of Sauron's red eye was banished from Earth forever that the shifts were made solid and permanent.
It was when Celenithil made her Choice that the Universe changed forever.
One by one, the demons around her vanished with various cries of pain and agony, the source of their existence, their Master, Sauron, gone, they had nothing to draw on, and thus ceased to exist.
Sauron was defeated.
Gandalf's question was barely out of his mouth before the misty plane of the Time Gates began to shake violently. Without warning, the Gates burst open. Power, both evil and good, whirled around them. Gandalf was shoved back. He barely regained his balance in time to see Pluto whirl her Staff, and with a cry, force them shut with mere will alone. They closed, but barely, and the effort left Pluto gasping.
"You're naked, old man," Pluto gasped in response to his earlier question. "Because only one robe is now worthy to be worn by you, and you alone can don it, no one else can put it on you." She waved her hand weakly, still trying to regain her breath, and a shimmering white robe with silver etchings, along with his staff appeared before him. As he watched, the staff glowed. When the glow faded, it was now white, the top of which was carved into a hollow cage which housed the Flame of Anor inside.
Gandalf reached out, took the robe, and put it on. He reached out to grip his staff, and the moment he did so, he felt power unlike anything else slip into his veins. The purity seared his blood, his flesh, shining out of the ends of his fingertips, his toes, his mouth, eyes, ears.
When it faded, Gandalf's mass of dirty, tangled gray hair and beard now lay smooth and sleek down his back and down his front, flawlessly white.
Before him, Pluto placed her right fist over her heart and bowed slightly.
"The Guardian of Time salutes you, Gandalf the White." She stood, eyes twinkling. Gandalf stepped forward at the same time she did, and they embraced.
"Five hundred and twenty-two years is too long a time to go between visits to one's only cousin, Setsuna," Gandalf told her, smiling. Pluto sighed.
"When one is the guardian of time and space, my dear Gandalf, the vacation time is.less than satisfactory." She smiled, and Gandalf chuckled.
"I knew you were the Guardian of Time, Setsuna, but you never told me you were one of these Sailor Senshi," he raised an admonishing eyebrow at her, taking in her sailor garb, now sensing the similarities between her power and that of the other girls. "It would have made a few things considerably easier if I had known."
"Some things aren't meant to be easy," she said in her trademark cryptic tone. Gandalf shook his head.
"True, true, true," he said. They had no more time for any more pleasantries, however, when the world around them began to shake and tremor awfully.
Setsuna gasped, and wavered. Gandalf caught her arm, and steadied her. She was unable to convey thanks as a horrifying knowledge so great it terrified her slipped into her mind.
"The Senshi." She gasped. "I have to get to them!"
"What? Why?" Somehow Gandalf knew she didn't mean the Senshi in Middle- Earth. Setsuna fixed him with a gaze.
"Serenity has made her Choice, and now we Senshi must make a choice whether or not to follow her," she told him. She turned, suddenly filled with new strength, and stepped into a swirling portal, Gandalf right behind her.
Tokyo, Japan, the 21st Century
It happened almost immediately after Raye, Haruka, Ami, and Hotaru disappeared in flurries of lights and sound and wind. Setsuna had disappeared along with them, so they had no one to turn to for answers to the question of why the Earth seemed to be tearing itself apart.
Out of the apartment building they ran, the entire structure swaying as if it were made of nothing more than paper and straw. The wind was unbelievable- in fact it was hardly even wind. It was too strong to be mere air. It was almost physically solid, as it tried to sweep the three women up and away. They found trees and poles to cling to. Lita tried to shout something, but the wind shoved the words back down her throat. The other two women couldn't even hear her choking; the sounds around them were deafening.
There was no doubt in Mina's mind that many of the humans around her were deaf, now, those that had found things to hold onto, anyway; those that hadn't were most likely dead. She thanked God Almighty that she wasn't human, and thus retained her hearing.at least she was pretty sure she did. There was no way to be sure if the roaring in her head was the unimaginable noise or the terrifying vibration of the very Earth itself.
She, Lita, and Michiru figured out quickly that verbal communication was no good. Neither were their communicators; they only got static as the earth under their very feet trembled. They reverted to hand signals that they'd worked out a long time ago, to be used in such a case. But even this was perilous; they could only spare one hand from their clinging to whatever they had found to cling to for mere moments. And the wind was so strong they could barely afford to keep their eyes open at all. They all felt their strength begin to fade.
It was no big hassle to figure out what Mina meant when she made the hand- equivalent sign of 'Senshi.' Wordless, they all retrieved their own wands from their own sub-space pockets.
They shouted at the top of their lungs, but no one even heard a whisper of the words. It didn't seem to matter, however; in flurries of breathtaking bursts of light and ribbons and sparkling stars, whirlwinds and roars of the ocean, and explosions of lighting and thunder, three Senshi stood where three collage student girls had been previously. The wind was as strong as ever, but now they could bear it. They still gripped various things that were still in place, but they could stand on their own two feet, heads bent into the wind, standing their ground firmly.
It was Jupiter who noticed first. Their outfits were completely different. No more revealing short skirts and girlish sailor-themed ensembles.
"What the hell.?" Jupiter muttered. Venus and Neptune hadn't seemed to notice yet, and Jupiter, with a mental growl, decided it wasn't important enough to mention, now. They had other things on their mind.
"What's causing this?" Neptune's voice was carried by magic, not air, and thus they could hear her.
"If we knew that we'd be finding the SOB who's doing this, not standing here like lawn gnomes!" Jupiter snapped.
"Stop it, both of you!" Venus ordered. There was no hint of the bubbly blonde; only the Senshi Commander of the Silver Millennium Alliance Silver Moon Military.
"It's the Princess!" A voice shouted. They glanced over their shoulders in surprise.
"Pluto!" Jupiter cried. The woman was bent into the wind, also in a new ensemble, struggling against the wind to reach them, using her Staff -which was still the same- to gain purchase in cracks in the ground. Beside her was a tall old man clad completely in white, also using his staff to creep his way forward, towards them.
When Pluto was close enough, Venus reached back a hand to her. Pluto took it, and pulled herself close enough to the pole Venus was gripping to take ahold of it. Jupiter did likewise with the old man, surprised at the strength which he gripped her hand and pulled himself forward.
"My thanks," he conveyed in a nod.
"What about the Princess?!" Neptune cried; introductions of the newcomer would have to wait.
"She has made her Choice!" Pluto shouted. "And thus the Stars have begun a New Dance! A new Dance for History! A paradox is being created!"
"Would you speak in a language we can understand for once?" Jupiter shouted in annoyance. She didn't notice the slight amusement in the old man's eyes. As he listened to the conversation, his eyes wandered to the exotic and odd things all around him. So this was the world -albeit falling apart world- that Serena had come from.
Pluto's own eyes were dark.
"Time and history has been rewritten." She said flatly. She did not shout. Her voice was oddly calm. Yet they heard every word. "The past has changed, and thus so has the future. As I said, a paradox is being created. This dimension is being pulled in two directions, caught between the two different timelines. We have to choose which timeline this dimension will merge with, else it will be shredded and destroyed."
"Us?" Venus echoed. "How?"
"We have to jump." Pluto said, her eyes deadly serious. "We protect this world, therefore we are tied to it. If we jump to one of the timelines, we'll pull this dimension with us, and the two -this one and the whichever one we jump to- will merge and become one."
"So we'd be like a tugboat pulling a cosmos-sized ocean liner?" Jupiter summed. Pluto's lips quirked, and she nodded.
"Good God," Neptune breathed. "How do we choose?"
Venus's eyes were stormy and hard.
"We follow Serenity," she said. She looked to Pluto. "You lead the jump," she said. "Lead us to the timeline that Serenity chose. That's what happened, isn't it? She had to choose between keeping things the way they were meant to be, and taking a leap of faith to see what would become if something did or didn't happen, right?"
Pluto nodded.
"Then we trust the Princess," Jupiter said, agreeing with Venus without hesitation. "Let's follow Serena's choice." Out of the corner of her eye she saw approval alight in the old man's face.
"Pluto, take us to the timeline Serenity created, please," Neptune's smile was both sad and excited. What alternate world awaited them?
"No, better yet," Venus said suddenly. Her eyes sparkled with tears of both joy and regret- regret at leaving this world forever. "Take us to Serena, Setsuna," she asked softly, her voice heard nonetheless. "Lead us back in time, as well as over to the new timeline, so that we may watch and nurture this alternate world with her."
Pluto bowed her head slightly. The wind was all but forgotten. None of them had eyes that were unmarred by tears as Pluto raised her staff, and shouted words that had not been spoken since the dawn of creation itself. One by one, Venus, Neptune, and Jupiter called out with all their might, linking their power together so that when Pluto leaped out of reality and into the fabric of time and space, they followed. First the old man, then Neptune leaped, then Jupiter following after her.
Venus held back for a brief moment, and glanced over her shoulder to the warping buildings and roads and trees.
She had protected this world, longer than any of the others. Now that it would cease to exist, would it all be for nothing? No, she realized. Ami's words came back to her, words from a long time ago, 'As a doctor, one of the most rewarding things is to heal someone. But it is even more rewarding to keep the sickness from happening all together in the first place.'
So much was wrong with this world. Now, she realized, she had a chance to keep so many things from ever happening at all.
Venus smiled, as tears ran down her face. As she felt her body pulled out of the tapestry of life that made up the very existence of the world she had grown up in, she looked down the street. Tears rolled down her cheek as she spotted Andrew, clinging to a lamppost, tears in his eyes and a smile on his face.
"Go," he mouthed. And tell Serena goodbye for me, his eyes seemed to say. Her heart being torn in two, Venus nodded, her tears clouding her vision as she blew a kiss to him, and to the world.
"Goodbye," she whispered softly, then turned to the portal. She closed her eyes, and made a leap of faith.
Barad-dur, Mordor, Middle-Earth, the 3rd Age
Celenithil didn't know how long she stood there, staring at the top of the pedestal. She didn't know how long ago the final youma had been vanquished. She didn't know how much time had passed since she'd changed history.since she had changed the future, since she had changed the fate of the Silver Millennium Alliance.
The Silver Millennium, she realized with shock. With Metallia dead.it would never fall. At least not for a long, long time.and certainly not at the hands of Beryl, not anymore.
Suddenly Celenithil's eyes widened as the world around her began to shake uncontrollably. She felt Barad-dur begin to sway and waver.
"We must get out of this place!" Gimli roared.
"No crap, Sherlock!" Uranus growled. Stumbling and scrambling, Celenithil and everyone else made it to each other.
"We don't have enough strength for a teleport!" Mars yelled over the awful noise.
"We don't have a choice!" Saturn shouted back. Celenithil nodded.
"I'll do what I can," she promised, referring to the amount of power she could give; the previous two battles were beginning to catch up with her. In response to the look Mars gave her, she said, "At least with a teleport we have a chance. If we stay here we're sure to die!"
"She is right!" Aragorn skipped out of the way of a falling stalagmite. Without further hesitation, they -the Senshi- joined hands around the Companionship.
One by one, they called out their own respective powers, and each flashed with a color of the cosmos. Celenithil was the last, her wings flared out to try and shield them all from some of the debris that was being flung around as the very walls around them warped and twisted and ran like wet paint.
Celenithil spared the briefest of thoughts of what this, the odd warping of the walls around them, could mean.or was it that their teleport was working after all.? But that hope was dashed when their power-glows around them faded, and Mercury fell to her knees, gasping. Saturn stumbled, but Gimli caught her and steadied her as Frodo helped Mercury up.
"It's no use, we don't have enough power left among us!" Haruka kicked a rock nearby
Aragorn and Legolas exchanged glances, as did Merry and Pippin.
"Then let us stay behind!" The two pairs both cried at once. They regarded each other for a moment, then grinned.
"Absolutely not!" Celenithil said, her voice bordering on a snarling command. "We're all getting out of here! All of us!"
"We don't have enough power, Meatball head!" Mars snapped. "How are we gonna get out of here?"
No one had an answer.
Somewhere in the Fabric of Space and Time
Venus felt the shift of their direction, and she threw Pluto, beside her, whom was holding out her glowing staff before her with a deathly concentrating expression on her face.
"Why are we changing course?" Neptune shouted from behind them; she had sensed it as well.
"A small detour," Pluto managed to grunt out.
"We figured that out!" Jupiter growled.
"I believe my cousin plans to try to make up for all the times her being required to keep silent about the events of time cost lives," the old man with the incredibly white hair and clothing spoke up for the first time. Venus glanced back at him, and their eyes met. She nodded slightly, a tight smile on her lips. He returned the nod, eyes twinkling with acknowledgement for the young leader.
"He is close," Pluto told the girls. "Just hold up."
"But we need to get to Serenity!" Jupiter argued.
"She's right," Venus sided with Jupiter, raising a hand to shield her face as she arched her back over a chunk of debris that they flew by.
Pluto was clearly torn by indescision for a moment.
"We are close enough to our original destination," The old white man told the burgundy eyed woman. She glanced over her shoulder and to her left at him. He smiled gently, even though his face was squinted against the wind. "I will lead them," he promised. "Do what you must, cousin, then follow as speedily as you are able."
Only a bit more hesitation, and Pluto nodded. She twist her body so that her back was to the wind, on leg out straight the other bent, placing her foot near the knee of her other leg, to keep her balance. She reached out her staff, and the man raised his own to meet it. A bit of the purple glow that surrounded Pluto's staff transferred itself to his.
With a glance to the three Senshi and a nod to Venus, Pluto shot off ahead.
"Follow me!" He told them, suddenly knowing instinctively how to find the time and place of his home, his destination. Venus, filled with the hereditary instinct of her people, motioned for Jupiter and Neptune to do so as she shoved herself forward until she and the old man were parallel, hurtling through time itself.
Barad-dur, Mordor, Middle-Earth, the 3rd Age
Legolas was filled with frustration. Never before had he felt himself in so helpless a situation. He glanced at Celenithil. She at least must live. Perhaps there was enough energy left among them to at least get her to safety.
The Elven Prince opened his mouth to say as much-
There was the briefest of faintest abrupt flashes, which they all barely had time to register before a voice, filled with light and laughter, asked in an impish voice, "Perhaps we can help?"
Celenithil whirled.
"V-Venus?" Celenithil gasped, spotting the owner of the voice. The words barely left her mouth in time before she was engulfed by a tall brunette clad in green and soft fawn brown.
"Ju-Jupiter!" Celenithil breathed, shoving away from her captor just long enough to get a good look at the woman's shining face to assure herself it was indeed Sailor Ju- no, not 'Sailor.' Like the other Senshi, as Celenithil looked at Jupiter, Venus, Neptune -whom was embracing Uranus; they all had different fukus that were nothing like the original, traditional getup.
"Who might you all be?" Sam asked, eyes wide.
"Gandalf!" Frodo exclaimed. Then he registered, along with the rest of the Companionship, the Wizard's attire.
"I will explain at a later date," Gandalf told him, ruffling his hair.
"Who are you, anyway?" Venus asked the tall, white haired man.
The rumbling increased, and a huge chunk of the ceiling caved in and crashed down into the lava on the other side of the room, which was more of a crumbling cavern, now.
"Could we please save introductions until we have tea and crumpets to go with?" Uranus snapped sarcastically. The short, slender blonde with a cream, gold-embroidered bow in her hair stuck her tongue out at the fellow blonde before the Senshi slipped into a circle.
Again, the cries of power were shouted out, and this time Celenithil gasped as she felt power flow through her hands and spread to the others in the ring. Their powers overlapping and spilling into one another, a portal was opened, and they were sucked upwards into it, all of them, and with a flash they disappeared just as the ground where they had been standing only moments before crumbled down into the rolling sea of lava.
Limbo
When Pluto materialized, stumbling through the shaky opening, she was relieved to find exactly what she was looking for. She surveyed the thousands of people present, mostly men and elves.
She was in one of the smaller pockets of the plane known as Limbo, and yet it was filled with the souls of those that had perished in the War of the Ring three thousand years ago, from the time where Serenity was.
All eyes turned to her. Everyone knew who she was, without knowing how or why.
"I have a favor to ask of all of you," Pluto said after taking a deep breath, standing tall. "Long ago you all fought and died to prevent the land you called Middle-Earth from being eaten by shadow and death. You succeeded. Middle-Earth was free-"
Cheers arose.
It had been torture, for these people, to be here, not knowing if their sacrifice was in vein.
"What gift do we owe you, lady for bringing us this soothing knowledge?" A being that had once been a dark haired elf stepped forward.
"You owe me nothing," Pluto said. "For my tale is not yet finished." Surprise ran through the masses of humans and elves. Taking advantage of the startled silence, she continued, telling the whole story- right from the beginning, starting with the marriage of Selenity to Sauron, all the way through Bilbo and Gollum, to the Ring's calling Serenity back through time, to the merging of the Fellowship into the Companionship, and at last of how the Senshi had been forced to merge the two alternate timelines.
Many hardly grasped the concept of dimensions and time travel and magic as Pluto spoke of it, but needless to say the Elves had a better idea what she was talking about than most.
"In this alternate timeline," Pluto began up again after taking in a silent, calming breath. This could either go very well or very badly. Thousands of lives rode upon the outcome. "Because things have changed, people from the original future will never even exist. I have come here," she said, swallowing. "To ask a great favor of you all."
"Ask what you will," the elf before her said. She noted he neither promised anything nor did he not promising anything. Pluto nodded her thanks.
"To be brief, I tell you now that on the slopes of Mount Doom, there is a huge, toxic marshland. Your bodies lay, still, in this water, the toxins preserving the corpses as if you were only asleep."
Gasps, cries, expressions of startlement, and mere 'oh, isn't that nice?' filled the room.
"Why do you tell us this?" A human stepped forward. Pluto instantly recognized him as Isildur's father, the one whose sword cut the Ring from the hand of Sauron. Tucking this bit of knowledge aside, Pluto continued.
"Because, within each of your bodies, still, is a bit of life remaining. This is why none of you have been allowed to pass on. The tiniest bit of you all is still alive within your bodies. Not enough to ever bring any of you back to life, mind, but it is still there nonetheless. These pinpricks of life are like beacons, in their abnormality, on the tapestry of fate's design."
"And what are we to do about it?" A voice shouted. Hundreds of voices of disgruntled agreements were cried out after him. Pluto felt a twinge within her. Best explain soon.
"I ask you not to do anything about to the bits of life," Pluto told him. "This goes back to what I told you about there being thousands of lives in that old future that will never even come to exist, now. I want to save those lives."
"How may we help?" The King's voice as kind, but still a king's even after all this time. She smiled at him. She got the feeling she and he would have become very, very good friends had the chance presented itself.
Pluto took a deep breath before answering. "Those thousands of lives I speak of, they still exist. They are fading, but they are fading from the tapestry of life even as I speak. I cannot take them anywhere unless they already have a bit of themselves in the place I want to take them. Normally I would transport their physical bodies, and their spirits would follow-"
"But there are too many of them, and they don't really even have bodies anymore," The elf summed up. Pluto nodded.
"So you want us to let you use the life still left in our bodies in Middle- Earth as anchors for these thousands of 'lost souls.'"
Again, Pluto nodded. "Exactly," she said. "Once it is done, those bits of life will have been used up by the process, and you will all be allowed to fully pass on."
"How do we know that you are not some witch, come to trick us? That you will use this bit of life to eat what is left of our souls?" A man cried. "How do we know that where we are now is the place spirits pass on to, and you are only telling us that we have not yet fully passed on so that we might cooperate?"
Scattered, but many, shouts of agreement and applause echoed this statement.
Pluto drew herself up to her full height, and a wind that was frighteningly obviously of ethereal nature picked up around her, lifting the scarves that hung from her elbows and from around her waist, tinkling the little crystal tassles that hung from the bottom of the bikini like top that, the straps of which, crossed once before wrapping around her neck.
The symbol of Pluto glowed brightly on her forehead.
"I am the embodiment of Pluto, daughter of Chronos, Father of Time. I am the Guardian of the Timelines and Protector of the Tapestry of Life, servant to the Empress of Light, the Queen Selenity, and ward of Her Majesty, the Princess Serenity of the Moonheart, daughter of Sauron and Selenity, and cousin to Gandalf the White, known to many of you as Mithrandir the Wise!
"I am no witch, human." Pluto turned her flashing burgundy orbs to the man that had spoken. There was now a clear space around him; no one dared be near the one whom was the focus of the rage of so great a being. "Least, not any witch you need fear, not unless you cross me! I have seen far more years than even any of you elves here can hope to imagine. Do not anger me! The life within those bodies is your own, and out of respect for that I came here to humbly ask a cosmic favor of you. Do not mock me! I am the one called Mother to the Goddess of Death, Saturn, herself! I say again, do not mock me!"
The man fell to one knee, as a knight might fall before his queen.
No words were needed beyond this, as Pluto's glow faded. Shaky, but sure of herself, she then looked into the eyes of the king.
"Do you accept my request?" She inquired. "If yay, I will need all your help. I will help link you to the soul of one of the fading ones. You alone know the way back to your physical body. You will show them the light I speak of, I will instruct the fading one how to latch onto it, and the rest, leave up to me."
The elf stepped forward.
"Let me go first," he said. Pluto met his eyes. She glanced towards the king, and he nodded.
"You will be doing this one by one?" The king inquired. Pluto nodded.
"But once I have finished with one person, that person will have the knowledge to guide another." She told him.
"Do we have time for so long and lengthly a task?" The man that had challenged Pluto not a moment before spoke up. Pluto felt a smile tug at the corner of his lips. He reminded her Minako. Never knew when to keep quiet.
"Do you not remember the words I so recently spoke to you, human?" Pluto turned coolly amused eyes on him, and he began to sweat anew. He nodded hesitantly.
"Forgive me, Lady of Time," he mumbled, and backed away.
"He spoke true, friends," Pluto told the elf and king. "Time is not an issue here, not with me. But still, I must ask now, do you accept?"
The elf turned to his people.
"Well, you heard the question. Do we accept this honor, to save the lives of thousands and preserve what we fought for so long ago?"
Not a single elf remained silent during the roar of agreement that rose up.
"And what say you, Men of Middle-Earth?" The king turned to his own. The noise of triumph was, if possible, even louder. The two turned back to Pluto, smiling.
"You have your answer," the elf told her. She smiled, relief flooding he body. She stopped herself before she let that relief show; it wasn't over yet.
"Thank you," she told them with feeling. She turned to the elf, and held out her hand. "Shall we?" He took her hand, smiling kindly.
"We shall," he said, his grip on he hand tightening. "But before we do, may I ask your name?"
'I' not 'we.'
Pluto met his eyes, and flushed.
"Setsuna," she told him.
He returned the smile. "Aridwil," he responded. Pluto smiled and nodded.
Then, as they closed their eyes and Pluto guided him into the subconscious state needed, she found herself fleetingly wondering if perhaps it was possible for her to find love after all.
The Black Gate, Mordor, Middle-Earth, the 3rd Age
"All right!" Venus jumped into the air, throwing triumphant air punches before landing back down and displaying an energized 'V is for Victory' sign with her hands, accompanied by an enthusiastic "Heee-Yaaa!!!!"
"Senshi rule, uh-huh, uh-huh, oh yeah, uh-huh. Uh-huh, Senshi rule, oh yeah." Jupiter danced around, slapped Venus a high five, then turned to exchange a second one with a tired looking, but no less exuberant-smile- displaying Mars.
"If they're celebrating now, wait till we tell them what's happened to us these past few weeks." Mars thought with a grin. She looked to Celenithil, whom was apparently thinking the same thing, as they exchanged knowing looks and laughing winks.
"I can't believe we did it," Saturn breathed, staring at the crumbling, burning ruins of Barad-dur. She, along with the Companionship, Celenithil, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto surveyed the land of Mordor from the archers- walk that ran along the top of the gates that were no longer black. No, they were now literally golden. Out before them lay a lush land, with rolling green hills and sparkling lakes. Up from the ashes of the crumbling fortress, there rose a misty, wispy, faint, transparent image of a golden tower. With one final explosion, Barad-dur sank into the melted earth below, and with a flash the Golden Tower solidified in its place.
And, somehow, no one was surprised in the slightest.
"The Golden Kingdom," Pluto murmured. "Some things simply must exist, somehow, some way, for reasons unknown, no matter what reality."
Suddenly, Venus, behind them, froze mid-victory dance and gasped.
"Look!" The blonde cried. Everyone turned and gaped.
Across hundreds of thousands of acres of land, as far as the eye could see, there was no longer a putrid, toxic marshland, but lush meadow fields. And covering those fields were hundreds of thousands of men and elves, looking at themselves as if they had come back from the dead.
Which, the Companionship and Celenithil -the only ones who recognized the armor of the battle fought long ago- realized with utter shock, they had.
But that wasn't even half of the reason for their total surprise.
Standing beside each and every of the previously deceased men and elves was a man, woman, or child dressed in 21st century clothing.
Most forward in the group, was a tall woman with long, flowing emerald hair clad in whispy, almost gypsy-like garment of flowing scarves of emerald and burgundy colors. Standing beside her was a tall, dark haired elf whom was laughing gaily.
Celenithil beamed. "I thought I felt sparks of life within them," she said. "They'd been too small to ever hope to bring them back, but I guess the same power that is restoring the land also restored them."
"I can't believe it," Mercury said, typing away on her data computer, scanning the entire masses.
"What is it?" Gandalf asked. Mercury's eyes flitted to the White Wizard, then back to her data computer.
"Is it what we think it is?" Mars asked. Mercury's eyes filled with tears, and she nodded.
"Guys!" Mercury cried. "Serena, you mentioned bits of life left in those bodies? Pluto used those specs of life as anchors for the souls of those that, in this new future, would never even exist! And at the same time, she somehow brought back all the elves and men that died during the War of the Ring! Those that wanted to, anyways, I'm guessing."
"Are you telling me we now have an army of zombies to beat?" Celenithil squeaked. She shook her head vigorously. "Uh-uh, I'm not doing any more fighting till I get a bath and a nap! A long nap!"
But Mercury was grinning from ear to ear as she said, "No, they're alive as if they were never dead. That is, I suppose, because they were never truly dead in the first place."
"Unbelievable." Neptune breathed, as a grand woman joined them on the wall after climbing a long flight of steps. She glanced to Pluto as she neared, whom was smiling gently.
"Don't worry," The Warrior of Time said. "Only the ones that wanted to come back got dragged back. It was a subconscious thing, I suppose, since I didn't think this was possible so I never asked."
"You didn't have to go to the Underworld to get their permission to use what was left of their lives as anchors, did you?" Saturn asked tentively.
Pluto smiled gently. "No, only to Limbo."
"Isn't that a game?" Celenithil asked distractedly. "Limbo? You know, with the pole? I haven't played that in a while-"
"No more games!" Mars said firmly and with surprising haste. The four more recently arrived Senshi blinked in confusion as everyone laughed.
"Long story, don't ask," Legolas asked, laughing, eyes sparkling.
Venus and Jupiter exchanged looks, and then shrugged.
"Ok, I get that the men and elves from the War of the Ring were brought back because they were never completely dead in the first place," Uranus said. "But where the hell did all these new people come from?" She growled. Pluto smiled.
Venus snapped her fingers. "From the alternate future!" She cried. Pluto's smile widened, and Venus laughed and rushed to hug the woman. "You fox!" The blonde grinned. "I had a feeling it was something like this! Gandalf had hinted as much," she grinned at the elderly man.
The blonde then turned to the group and quickly explained what had happened to the future. Since the future that they knew no longer existed because of Celenithil's choices, and a new future will take its stead, a lot of people that existed in the future they came from would never be born in this new future.
"So rather than let them cease to ever even exist," Venus said, bouncing with excitement, eye shining. "Setsuna -am I right about this?- used the lives of those bodies down in the marshes as beacons, so to speak, ropes that could be used to tie into/onto the souls that were fading from existence here into the future. The magic here forced those souls to form new bodies, just as they had just left them."
"But.doesn't that mean they'll just die again?" Juptier frowned. "Like Serena was going to?"
Mercury intervened. "I suppose that was because Serena's soul could sense that this wasn't their natural body, like one's body may attack a new heart after a heart transplant. Whereas these new bodies," she waved a hand at the millions of people blow. "They are the only bodies in existence, so their souls aren't fighting them."
"New heart?" Gimli cut in. Mercury laughed and briefly explained it. Gimli frowned. 'That is rather disturbing," he said flatly. Light laughter followed the statement.
"I can't believe it." Celenithil breathed, eyes wide. "It.it's incomprehensible."
"Only to you, meatball head," said a voice that was full of affection. Celenithil squeaked and turned about so quickly that her six pigtails whipped out, forcing several Senshi to duck else they'd be whapped in the face by the silver whips.
"Seiya!" The silver haired warrior cried as Legolas moved to see what it was she had seen. She moved to embrace all three of the men that stood at the top of the stairs a ways ahead, then came up short when she saw the form in Seiya's arms.
Herself.
Still clad in that pleated black skirt and pink turtleneck tank top.
"Special delivery," Yaten grinned impishly.
"Princess," Pluto said softly, touching Celenithil's elbow gently. Celenithil looked up at her and smiled. Exchanging glances, the Senshi all nodded. The Middle-Earth natives of the Companionship -except for Legolas- knowing they had no part in what was to come, stepped back as the Senshi stood in a circle around Celenithil and the body of Serena Tsukino, in Legolas's arms.
The process was brief, albeit quite flashy and breathtakingly beautiful, consisting of mini starbursts, swirling ribbons of pure power, heat that was both scorching and embracingly comfortable.
The masses of men and elves below looked up at this bright spectacle in awe. The ones closer to the gates were able to faintly make out the twin slender forms of two women floating up into the air, backs arched, pinpricks of light brighter than the glow surrounding them lancing out to conjoin their hearts.
There was a flash brighter than the creation of a sun, and when it faded, a single woman floated back down into the arms of the Elvin prince.
"Serena?" Legolas asked softly of the woman in his arms whom was standing just fine on her own, her hands on his shoulders, her eyes closed. Her hair was still silver, though it decidedly had more gold in it. She was now in black leggings and a silver blouse, the throwing-blade-tiara that had been a gift from the elves of Lothlorien in her hair once more, the Moon Sword belted at her side, and the Moonheart once more on a chain around her throat.
Slowly, she opened her eyes, a smile on her lips. Bright azure eyes greeted him, eyes that once again held that childish, fun-loving spark of innocence and love that had first captured him. He smiled, and embraced her, and she returned it just as tightly as the Companionship, the four newly arrived Senshi, and the Starlights cheered.
"I kept my promise, Darien," Serena thought as she snuggled into Legolas's embrace. "All of them. Serenity and Endymion have a chance to be together as we never were when we were Serenity and Endymion. I promise, for us, as soon as I can stand on my own two feet I'll go up to the Moon and talk to the woman who was once my mother. I'll make sure that that ban on communication between Earth and Moon is obliterated before we ever even meet.maybe then our former incarnations can find love together like we never did. I'll never forget you, love. Never. Rest in peace, Darien. Rest in peace."
"Serena?" Legolas asked. "Are you all right?" He asked softly. Serena smiled.
"Yeah," she said, as she glanced down at the golden ring on her finger. What a strong will her grandmother must have placed in this ring, in order for it to have summoned her back in time to save.well, everything. The will of the ring on her hand truly was a remarkable thing. She smiled, and looked up into Legolas's slightly concerned, loving face.
They moved towards one another at the same time, their mouths melding together as they held each other tighter. Serena rose up on her toes, her hands tangling in his hair. His hands ran up and down her back, cupping her face, sliding through her tresses. They pulled apart briefly before coming back together again, slanting their mouths against each other to grant fuller access to one another. Lips pulled, suckled, massaged and caressed, hands and arms tightened, holding, embracing as if never to let go as, together, they lost themselves in their love for one another.
It was at that moment that, for the very first time, the sun dawned over the land of Mordor, heralding a new beginning. Serena saw this, as they pulled away for breath, and, with a radiant smile she answered his question and said, "Yeah. I'm great. I'm absolutely great."
Laughing, Legolas kissed her again before they turned along with twenty bright stars in the forms of the Senshi and the former Fellowship. Together, they turned to watch the sun rise over the horizon, a beacon of light for the future, for all to see.
The End.
Of the New Beginning.
