RESSURRECTION,
Chapter 11: "Orphans Of The Storm"
By Bill K.
"Is that all of them?" Serenity asked, turning to Princess Kakyuu. Her voice almost seemed like a whimper of despair.
"I have no way of knowing that," Kakyuu offered apologetically. "I am not blessed with foresight into the future, anymore than you are, Usagi."
Serenity seemed to stare at Kakyuu for a moment. Then she turned to Sailor Pluto.
"Is it?" she asked, pleading silently for Pluto to reassure her. "Will there be more? Or are we finally done with Knorr and their stupid challenges?"
Neptune watched Pluto. For a moment the suddenly mysterious and reserved senshi looked like she was about to reply with one of her cryptic responses that told you nothing save that she would tell you nothing. But Neptune noticed Pluto waver. Her eyes narrowed as Pluto's expression softened and looked at Serenity with growing charity.
"Knorr will trouble us no longer, My Queen," Pluto replied and actually smiled at Serenity. "We have passed their challenges. No more will we see either the children of Surt or of Ymir."
"You're sure?" Venus asked. "I don't want to turn around and see the 'arrogant puppy children of Knorr' pour through that time thingy."
"Arrogant puppy children?" Mars asked and looked at Venus askance.
But Serenity ignored them, for though Pluto hid it, she felt the pang in Pluto's heart at the mention of the children of Ymir and the mental association that brought back memories of Janus. Instantly she grasped Pluto's hands.
"Setsuna," Serenity whimpered. "Please don't be sad. I know you're still hurting about Janus. But you'll find someone else! You have to believe that!"
Pluto gently divested Serenity of her hands. "Setsuna no longer exists, My Queen. And you forget I am now privy to all possible futures. Janus was my first and last chance at love."
And tears began to flow. They cascaded down soft cheeks. As Endymion appeared behind her and took hold of her shoulders to comfort her, Pluto reached over and gently wiped the tears from Serenity's eyes with her hand.
"Do not cry for me, My Queen," Pluto said, softly and respectfully and perhaps with a touch of gratitude. "Being in your service is much more gratifying than any feeling Janus was able to generate within me."
"WHY?"
A girl bellowed the word out. Everyone turned to the sound. They saw a teenage girl kneeling over a fallen firefighter - - and learned for the first time that the children of Surt had caused casualties. The girl was staring up at them with unconcealed anger. She rose to her feet and glared directly at Serenity from a distance of forty meters.
"My father's dead!" she wailed, her eyes riveted to Serenity. "Why didn't you save him? You saved everybody else! Why didn't you save my father?"
Serenity stared at her, open-mouthed and wide-eyed. She was struck speechless by the accusations, by the naked fury in the girl's voice and most of all by the fact that someone had died. Unconsciously the girl got up and stalked toward Serenity.
"Why didn't you save him?" she demanded. "Why did you let him die? You can do anything! Why is my father dead? Why?"
Before she could get any closer, Uranus and Jupiter intercepted her and held the teen back. She strained forward hopelessly against the superior strength of the two senshi, still demanding to know why.
Mercury and Venus turned to Serenity to try to comfort her, because they knew from long experience how she was reacting. But they were already too late. Serenity had fled, her hands covering her face, with Endymion in pursuit. Kakyuu looked down, saddened and silently sympathetic to what Serenity was experiencing, while Star Fighter glared at the teen with unconcealed contempt.
Sailor Mars did more than glare.
"HOW DARE YOU!" Mars hissed, striking the girl across the face so viciously that she spun her to the ground. Mars stood over her, quaking with rage. "If it weren't for Serenity, we'd all still be popsicles! How dare you talk to her like that!"
"My father's dead!" the girl angrily spat back at Mars.
"And if it weren't for her, a lot of other people's fathers and mothers and children would be dead! I sympathize with your loss, but put the blame on the people who killed him! Don't you dare for one minute try to blame her for it!"
Venus and Mercury began to pull Mars away. Mars allowed it, her rage cooling ever so slightly. The teen collapsed into mournful sobbing. Kakyuu started for her, but stopped when she saw Jupiter kneel down next to her.
"It's rough," Jupiter whispered, stroking the girl's back. "I know."
"What do I do now?" the girl choked out as her body shuddered with her sobbing. "He was everything to me. What do I do now?"
"Live," Jupiter suggested. "Work as hard as you can to be the type of person he'd have been proud of. That's what I did."
Jupiter gathered the girl in and hugged her. No one could tell if Jupiter's words made any sort of impression. But they could tell that she was grateful for the warmth of another person in her time of loss.
Mars turned to search for Serenity, but she was gently held back by Kakyuu. The senshi turned to the alien princess to argue, but a gentle shake of her head quieted Mars.
"There is no need," Kakyuu told her. "She has a husband for that."
Unerringly Endymion's link to her led him to Serenity. She had stopped in a corner of the park by a tree that had barely survived the ice. His wife crouched down as if she were cowering in the face of the girl's accusations and Endymion fully expected to get wet.
He was in for a surprise.
"Can't you tell me your name?" Serenity asked.
Before her Endymion found a girl. She was about four years old, with black hair styled in a simple bowl cut. Her chubby cheeks were soiled and her modest blouse and pants were scuffed and torn. What struck Endymion most about her were the girl's eyes. They were large, hollow orbs, wide with fright and deprivation and spoke of tragedies no one should be witness to at any age, and certainly not at four. Serenity reached out and touched the girl and she cowered in fear, expecting at any moment for Serenity to destroy her.
"I won't hurt you," Serenity smiled, turning on her innate charm. "It looks like you've been hurt enough as it is. My name's Usagi and I'd like to help if I can. Where are your parents?"
The child's mouth drew thin and taut, like she was struggling with the ultimate horror. She didn't have to answer. Instantly Serenity hugged the child to her.
"Both of them?" Serenity gasped. The child nodded and the dam burst for them both. "Oh you poor thing!" gasped Serenity. "Do you have anyone?"
The child shook her head against Serenity's shoulder. "Oto-san and Oka-san wouldn't wake up," she squeaked, her face buried into Serenity. "Onee-chan said they'd gone to heaven and wouldn't be coming back."
"Where's your brother?" Endymion asked softly, kneeling next to Serenity and placing a hand on her back.
"Onee-chan was bringing back food for me," the child sniffed. "And some men tried to take it away from him - - and they," and the child shivered in Serenity's arms in horror. "I ran away because I was afraid they'd hurt me, too! I ran and I ran until I couldn't run anymore, and I ended up here. I've been hiding here ever since." The child began to shudder with sobs. "I want my mommy!"
Serenity clutched the child to her and looked desperately at Endymion. A silent communication passed between them. Endymion gazed deep into the eyes of his beloved, searching to see if what he thought he sensed she was asking him was in fact that. Then he searched himself to see if he had the strength to make her wish come true. His heart replied and his expression softened. Endymion nodded and filled Serenity's heart with joy.
"Do you have anyplace you can go?" Serenity asked. The child shook her head. "Would you like to live with us?"
The child pulled back and stared up at Serenity to see if she was joking.
"You've lost your parents. I know that hurts very much. I lost my parents in the disaster, too. I know you have a hole in your heart now. A long time ago, I lost my little girl and ever since then I've had a hole in my heart. I know I can't replace your mother, just like you can't replace my little Kousagi - - but maybe we can fill the holes in each other's hearts. Would you like to try? I can be your replacement mother and Endymion here can be your replacement father, and you can be our replacement little girl. And we can try to be happy together. I promise I'll try very hard."
The girl wouldn't look at Serenity. But after a short time she timidly nodded.
"Good," Serenity said, hugging her again. "Now if you're going to be my new little girl, do you think you could tell me your name?"
"Setsuko," the girl said, the clouds shyly passing from her chubby features, "Usagi-mama."
Serenity's face twisted up into a soggy grin and she hugged the child again. "I promise you, Setsuko-chan, you'll never have a reason to cry again." Serenity felt Endymion lean in next to her and she looked to him.
"You see," he smiled. "Don't dwell on the ones you lose - - revel in the ones you save."
Serenity's smile beamed her ascent.
Back by the lake, the other senshi stood around nervously as the emergency personnel cleaned up and left. Mars just stared off into the distance, looking upset, while the others glanced at one another, unsure how to act. Off to one side, Uranus and Neptune gathered near Pluto.
"You think she's going to be all right?" Uranus wondered aloud.
"She may have a rough time of it," Neptune judged, "but the one thing I can say about Usagi is that she's always been remarkably resilient - - or Serenity is, I suppose. I guess I have to get used to calling her that."
"You are quite correct," Pluto agreed. "The Queen may experience doubt from time to time, more so than we might, but it is because her burden is so much greater."
"Honestly, you're such a suck-up anymore," Uranus teased.
"Pluto," Neptune began cautiously, "when Serenity asked you whether the threat from Knorr was finally gone - - you initially didn't want to tell her, didn't you?"
Pluto thought. "I was at first reluctant to divulge the future to her," she admitted. "But then I realized that no harm could come from it and I wished to ease the Queen's mind."
"What made you realize that?"
Pluto thought some more. The longer it took to arrive at an answer, the more puzzled she grew.
"This is most disturbing," Pluto replied. "I am certain I had a reason, and yet I cannot recall it. It merely seemed like the best alternative suddenly. I did suddenly feel quite reluctant to disappoint her."
"What are you getting at?" Uranus asked, eyeing her partner.
"Is it possible Serenity put the thought in your head, or maybe influenced you to think that way?"
"Dumpling? Even if she could, do you really think she would do something like that?"
"With her power, I'd say almost anything is possible. Why not influencing thoughts or emotions? Maybe she'd not even aware she's doing it. But I was watching Pluto and I saw the sudden shift in her facial expression."
"You are perhaps correct," Pluto said. "It would explain what at this moment defies explanation. It is your next, unspoken contention where we are at odds. I am not suspicious of it, for I trust our Queen's benevolence."
"I'm just being cautious," scowled Neptune.
"It is not an unwise action," Pluto counseled her. "My only wish is that it does not overwhelm your judgment."
"Is that a warning based on something you've seen?" Neptune asked. Pluto put her hand on the senshi's shoulder.
"It is advice based upon our many years of fighting and living side by side," Pluto told her.
Jupiter looked at Mars, who was still staring off in the distance, and fidgeted.
"You suppose we should go after her?" Jupiter asked. She turned when she felt Kakyuu and Star Fighter approach.
"You are only concerned for her as loyal friends," Kakyuu advised them. "But this is something she must work out between herself and her mate. This is not the last time Usagi's motives will be questioned. It is not the last time that she will face an angry rebuke because she failed to do more. With great power comes great expectations."
"Do you speak from experience?" Mercury asked.
"I have experienced a few difficulties over my years," she responded cryptically.
"When she first ascended from Sailor Fireball to what she is now," Star Fighter related, "she was greeted with fear and suspicion. There were those who wanted to exploit her power for personal gain. There were those who wanted to exploit her generous nature in order to avoid shouldering their share of the burden. There were some who coveted her power and others who feared her as a threat to their petty provinces and matchstick castles. Serenity'll face the same thing. Her trials have only just begun."
"Ahh, the fickle populace," Venus grinned cynically. "You gotta love 'em."
"The heart is not perfect," Kakyuu said. "All people, whether of Earth or Kinmoku or a billion other worlds, experience weak moments. They make mistakes. They shrink from their better selves. They give in to fear, to doubt, to anger or to greed. I do not judge them, for I am no different. I extend my hand to all. Should my proffered friendship be used, betrayed or rebuked, who has lost more? I have lost a potential friend and ally, it is true, but they have cast away so much more. I am sad for them, rather than acrimonious, for they have shrank from the joy of peace and harmony." Kakyuu's smile dimmed ever so slightly. "Star Fighter is correct, though. Usagi will face similar things. She will bend, but she is too strong to break. This I believe. And she has all of you to ease her burden when she needs it. But she is not in need of you at this moment."
"She's right," Mars said, a joyful smile growing on her mouth. "Serenity's past it. I can sense it."
"I wonder how much Endymion had to do with that?" smirked Jupiter. Mercury glanced at Venus with a knowing grin and Venus winked back. Moments later, Serenity and Endymion could be seen approaching. Everyone's eyes, though, locked on little Setsuko.
"Who's this?" Jupiter cooed. "She's a cutie-pie!"
"Ladies, this is Setsuko," Serenity said. Setsuko looked at them timidly, clinging to Serenity. "Setsuko lost all of her family in the disaster," and Serenity glanced happily at Endymion, "so Endymion and I are going to be her new family."
"You?" Mars gasped. "You can barely take care of yourself!"
"Oh, hush!" growled Serenity.
"It's a fine thing you're doing, Serenity," Mercury smiled. She leaned in to Setsuko. "Hello. My name is Sailor Mercury. I hope we can be friends."
"She is a doll, isn't she?" Mars beamed.
"Yeah," Venus agreed. "You're gonna like your new mom, honey. She's a sweetheart." Then Venus leaned in. "And she's a real pushover."
"It's real nice of you two to do that," Jupiter told them. "And you're going to enjoy motherhood - - most of the time."
"Don't worry, Setsuko-chan," Serenity cooed in the girl's ear. "You've gone through a rough time, but the worst is over. I promise."
"Is the worst finally over?" Venus asked. "Can we all get back to our lives now?"
"Maybe not," Mercury offered. The others turned to her. "Well, there's still the problem of that temporal nexus."
"But it's sealed, isn't it?" Mars asked as the outer senshi joined them.
"It was sealed before," Mercury told her. "That didn't seem to stop those Fire Giants. Obviously something more permanent needs to be done." The others looked at her expectantly. "I don't know. I'd have to know how it was opened to even begin to theorize a way to close it."
"Pluto?" Venus asked, turning to the senshi of time. "You're sort of our resident time expert. Any ideas?"
"This nexus is a natural phenomenon," Pluto stated. "It has existed since the beginning as a pathway to and from points in time. It was born with the birth of this Earth and will exist to its death and perhaps beyond."
"Then there's no way to eliminate it?" Neptune asked.
"None."
Serenity's shoulders sagged. Endymion took Setsuko from her. "So something like this could happen again?"
"It shall happen again," Pluto told her. "Have you forgotten the temporal nexus was used by the minions of Wise Man to attack the twentieth century?"
"And if they could, others could as well," Mars frowned.
"Forgive me if my physics is shaky," Endymion began. "Is it possible to remove the nexus from this dimension?"
Everyone looked at him blankly, except Mercury, Pluto and Kakyuu.
"Shift it out of phase, perhaps?" Mercury asked. When she noticed the others, she sighed. "Our world has three dimensions we can see - - length, width and depth - - and one we can only sense - - time. If the reality of the nexus can be shifted out of phase with our reality so that what occurs in and around it occurs after our reality, it will theoretically cease to be visible and tangible to our reality."
"Anybody have an aspirin?" Venus quipped. Jupiter smacked the back of her head. "OW! I wish you'd stop that!" Setsuko giggled.
"Stop being brainless and I will," Jupiter smirked back. Setsuko giggled louder. It was a sound that seemed to reflexively bring joy to a situation.
"Your thinking is sound," Pluto replied, "so far as it goes. It would prevent people of this time from gaining access to the temporal rift. But nothing prevents the rift from being used to gain access to our time, say from the past, save shifting phase alignment to correspond with ours. A physical barrier of some sort will still be necessary."
Mercury frowned. Endymion also seemed disappointed. The others took their cues from the pair and were also disappointed.
"Then I'll have to make one." They turned to Serenity and saw the resolute expression on her gentle face again. "I'm not going to let everyone go through this again. I'll make a barrier no one can penetrate." Then the resolution drained from her and she peeked at Kakyuu. "I can do that, can't I?"
Kakyuu smiled generously. "If you believe," she replied.
Kakyuu offered her hands and Serenity eagerly took them. Before the wondering eyes of her friends and a few onlookers and most of all Setsuko, Serenity levitated up into the air with Kakyuu until they were on either side of the closed rift. The pair began to glow. Serenity's was her usual silver glow, while Kakyuu took on a fiery red tint. Their brilliance shown down upon those gazing up at them until they became hard to see.
Mercury looked on, absorbing every moment. Mars chewed a knuckle. Venus and Jupiter hoped, not daring to believe. Uranus was awestruck by the sight of the woman who was once a clumsy colt of a girl with a moment's crush on her now evolved into this. Neptune stared, imagining the possibilities this slight thing was capable of. And Pluto kept her own counsel.
When the twin glows seemed to peak, they encompassed the rift, obscuring it from sight. Above them, Serenity's heart seemed to sing. Though still challenging, it was becoming easier to wield the energies of the Silver Crystal.
"Kakyuu, I feel so giddy!" Serenity giggled mentally.
"It is an effect of the energies we use," Kakyuu thought to her. "I confess to the same feelings."
"It almost feels like I'm running naked in a field of wildflowers!" Serenity squealed.
"You are quite the silly one," Kakyuu mentally grinned back. "To your task, silly one."
"OK! What do I do?"
"What do you wish to do?"
"Seal it! But not so we can't get through - - I want to leave a way for Usa to visit me! But I don't want anyone to get through who shouldn't! I guess a door would be best - - but a strong one with a really good lock!"
"Then make it so," Kakyuu gently prodded.
When the glows dissipated, a door seemed to shimmer in the sky for just a moment. Then it faded as it passed out of phase with reality and was engulfed by nothing. Serenity and Kakyuu gently floated back to Earth.
"Was that the Door Of Time I just saw up there?" demanded Venus the moment Serenity's feet touched earth.
"I don't know," Serenity replied, still high from her experience.
"You don't even know what you just created?" Mars huffed.
Serenity thought. "I guess it was." She smiled. "I'm glad I could make it look so pretty."
"Usagi-mama!" little Setsuko gasped. "Are you an angel?"
"No," Serenity replied modestly.
"She just plays one on TV," Venus quipped, hugging Serenity around her neck from behind. Setsuko cackled at the joke. "Hey, this kid's got taste! Setsuko-chan, I think I'm going to like you!"
"So is that going to do the job?" Uranus posed, returning things to the question at hand. "Will that keep out time traveling bad guys?"
"Not by itself," Pluto said. Neptune immediately felt a chill from Pluto's manner. "The door is consigned to its own reality, a dimension of mist separate from our own. But it will need a sentry. I volunteer, My Queen."
"Pluto!" Neptune gasped. Pluto turned and a single glance silenced Neptune.
"But that would mean leaving," Serenity said, pale and stricken. "Setsuna, you can't! You'd be all by yourself! It'd be so cold and lonely for you! I can't ask you to do that!"
"Please, My Queen," Pluto persisted and Serenity noticed tears welling in the woman's eyes. "It would be little different if I stayed here. I am no longer part of this world. I can no longer connect with it. My powers will not allow it - - nor will my heart."
"Janus?" Serenity asked. Pluto nodded.
"I despise his very name for what he did to you, My Queen, and yet - - and yet the sun no longer shines as brightly in this world without his presence." The tears began to trickle down Pluto's face. "Every moment in this world without his touch is as a dagger in my heart, My Queen. I fear madness lies before me should I have to endure it much longer. I must do this. I must, if only for the chance to heal away from the constant reminders of happier times. This world is now like sandpaper on an open wound, My Queen. Can the solitude of the mission I claim be that much worse?"
"But Setsuna . . .?" Serenity protested, crying herself.
"My Queen, we each have a destiny, you and I. Yours is a grand destiny, a destiny that will reach toward the heavens, and the world will reap much fortune as it rides upon the hem of your skirt. But your destiny cannot fully blossom unless I first fulfill mine. Grant me my destiny, My Queen."
Biting her lip, Serenity nodded. "But it's not fair!" she wailed.
"It is more fair than you know, My Queen," Pluto said, resting a hand on Serenity's shoulder. "And should you have need of me in the future, do not hesitate to summon me, for I am ever your loyal servant." She bowed respectfully to Serenity. "My King," she said to Endymion and bowed reverently to him. Setsuko looked on in confusion.
Then Sailor Pluto tapped her staff once on the ground. The Garnet Orb flared brilliantly and Sailor Pluto was gone.
Concluded in Chapter 12
Characters in this story were inspired by the movie "Grave Of The Fireflies", which the author gratefully acknowledges. If you have not seen this film, it is highly recommended as a life-altering experience.
Chapter 11: "Orphans Of The Storm"
By Bill K.
"Is that all of them?" Serenity asked, turning to Princess Kakyuu. Her voice almost seemed like a whimper of despair.
"I have no way of knowing that," Kakyuu offered apologetically. "I am not blessed with foresight into the future, anymore than you are, Usagi."
Serenity seemed to stare at Kakyuu for a moment. Then she turned to Sailor Pluto.
"Is it?" she asked, pleading silently for Pluto to reassure her. "Will there be more? Or are we finally done with Knorr and their stupid challenges?"
Neptune watched Pluto. For a moment the suddenly mysterious and reserved senshi looked like she was about to reply with one of her cryptic responses that told you nothing save that she would tell you nothing. But Neptune noticed Pluto waver. Her eyes narrowed as Pluto's expression softened and looked at Serenity with growing charity.
"Knorr will trouble us no longer, My Queen," Pluto replied and actually smiled at Serenity. "We have passed their challenges. No more will we see either the children of Surt or of Ymir."
"You're sure?" Venus asked. "I don't want to turn around and see the 'arrogant puppy children of Knorr' pour through that time thingy."
"Arrogant puppy children?" Mars asked and looked at Venus askance.
But Serenity ignored them, for though Pluto hid it, she felt the pang in Pluto's heart at the mention of the children of Ymir and the mental association that brought back memories of Janus. Instantly she grasped Pluto's hands.
"Setsuna," Serenity whimpered. "Please don't be sad. I know you're still hurting about Janus. But you'll find someone else! You have to believe that!"
Pluto gently divested Serenity of her hands. "Setsuna no longer exists, My Queen. And you forget I am now privy to all possible futures. Janus was my first and last chance at love."
And tears began to flow. They cascaded down soft cheeks. As Endymion appeared behind her and took hold of her shoulders to comfort her, Pluto reached over and gently wiped the tears from Serenity's eyes with her hand.
"Do not cry for me, My Queen," Pluto said, softly and respectfully and perhaps with a touch of gratitude. "Being in your service is much more gratifying than any feeling Janus was able to generate within me."
"WHY?"
A girl bellowed the word out. Everyone turned to the sound. They saw a teenage girl kneeling over a fallen firefighter - - and learned for the first time that the children of Surt had caused casualties. The girl was staring up at them with unconcealed anger. She rose to her feet and glared directly at Serenity from a distance of forty meters.
"My father's dead!" she wailed, her eyes riveted to Serenity. "Why didn't you save him? You saved everybody else! Why didn't you save my father?"
Serenity stared at her, open-mouthed and wide-eyed. She was struck speechless by the accusations, by the naked fury in the girl's voice and most of all by the fact that someone had died. Unconsciously the girl got up and stalked toward Serenity.
"Why didn't you save him?" she demanded. "Why did you let him die? You can do anything! Why is my father dead? Why?"
Before she could get any closer, Uranus and Jupiter intercepted her and held the teen back. She strained forward hopelessly against the superior strength of the two senshi, still demanding to know why.
Mercury and Venus turned to Serenity to try to comfort her, because they knew from long experience how she was reacting. But they were already too late. Serenity had fled, her hands covering her face, with Endymion in pursuit. Kakyuu looked down, saddened and silently sympathetic to what Serenity was experiencing, while Star Fighter glared at the teen with unconcealed contempt.
Sailor Mars did more than glare.
"HOW DARE YOU!" Mars hissed, striking the girl across the face so viciously that she spun her to the ground. Mars stood over her, quaking with rage. "If it weren't for Serenity, we'd all still be popsicles! How dare you talk to her like that!"
"My father's dead!" the girl angrily spat back at Mars.
"And if it weren't for her, a lot of other people's fathers and mothers and children would be dead! I sympathize with your loss, but put the blame on the people who killed him! Don't you dare for one minute try to blame her for it!"
Venus and Mercury began to pull Mars away. Mars allowed it, her rage cooling ever so slightly. The teen collapsed into mournful sobbing. Kakyuu started for her, but stopped when she saw Jupiter kneel down next to her.
"It's rough," Jupiter whispered, stroking the girl's back. "I know."
"What do I do now?" the girl choked out as her body shuddered with her sobbing. "He was everything to me. What do I do now?"
"Live," Jupiter suggested. "Work as hard as you can to be the type of person he'd have been proud of. That's what I did."
Jupiter gathered the girl in and hugged her. No one could tell if Jupiter's words made any sort of impression. But they could tell that she was grateful for the warmth of another person in her time of loss.
Mars turned to search for Serenity, but she was gently held back by Kakyuu. The senshi turned to the alien princess to argue, but a gentle shake of her head quieted Mars.
"There is no need," Kakyuu told her. "She has a husband for that."
Unerringly Endymion's link to her led him to Serenity. She had stopped in a corner of the park by a tree that had barely survived the ice. His wife crouched down as if she were cowering in the face of the girl's accusations and Endymion fully expected to get wet.
He was in for a surprise.
"Can't you tell me your name?" Serenity asked.
Before her Endymion found a girl. She was about four years old, with black hair styled in a simple bowl cut. Her chubby cheeks were soiled and her modest blouse and pants were scuffed and torn. What struck Endymion most about her were the girl's eyes. They were large, hollow orbs, wide with fright and deprivation and spoke of tragedies no one should be witness to at any age, and certainly not at four. Serenity reached out and touched the girl and she cowered in fear, expecting at any moment for Serenity to destroy her.
"I won't hurt you," Serenity smiled, turning on her innate charm. "It looks like you've been hurt enough as it is. My name's Usagi and I'd like to help if I can. Where are your parents?"
The child's mouth drew thin and taut, like she was struggling with the ultimate horror. She didn't have to answer. Instantly Serenity hugged the child to her.
"Both of them?" Serenity gasped. The child nodded and the dam burst for them both. "Oh you poor thing!" gasped Serenity. "Do you have anyone?"
The child shook her head against Serenity's shoulder. "Oto-san and Oka-san wouldn't wake up," she squeaked, her face buried into Serenity. "Onee-chan said they'd gone to heaven and wouldn't be coming back."
"Where's your brother?" Endymion asked softly, kneeling next to Serenity and placing a hand on her back.
"Onee-chan was bringing back food for me," the child sniffed. "And some men tried to take it away from him - - and they," and the child shivered in Serenity's arms in horror. "I ran away because I was afraid they'd hurt me, too! I ran and I ran until I couldn't run anymore, and I ended up here. I've been hiding here ever since." The child began to shudder with sobs. "I want my mommy!"
Serenity clutched the child to her and looked desperately at Endymion. A silent communication passed between them. Endymion gazed deep into the eyes of his beloved, searching to see if what he thought he sensed she was asking him was in fact that. Then he searched himself to see if he had the strength to make her wish come true. His heart replied and his expression softened. Endymion nodded and filled Serenity's heart with joy.
"Do you have anyplace you can go?" Serenity asked. The child shook her head. "Would you like to live with us?"
The child pulled back and stared up at Serenity to see if she was joking.
"You've lost your parents. I know that hurts very much. I lost my parents in the disaster, too. I know you have a hole in your heart now. A long time ago, I lost my little girl and ever since then I've had a hole in my heart. I know I can't replace your mother, just like you can't replace my little Kousagi - - but maybe we can fill the holes in each other's hearts. Would you like to try? I can be your replacement mother and Endymion here can be your replacement father, and you can be our replacement little girl. And we can try to be happy together. I promise I'll try very hard."
The girl wouldn't look at Serenity. But after a short time she timidly nodded.
"Good," Serenity said, hugging her again. "Now if you're going to be my new little girl, do you think you could tell me your name?"
"Setsuko," the girl said, the clouds shyly passing from her chubby features, "Usagi-mama."
Serenity's face twisted up into a soggy grin and she hugged the child again. "I promise you, Setsuko-chan, you'll never have a reason to cry again." Serenity felt Endymion lean in next to her and she looked to him.
"You see," he smiled. "Don't dwell on the ones you lose - - revel in the ones you save."
Serenity's smile beamed her ascent.
Back by the lake, the other senshi stood around nervously as the emergency personnel cleaned up and left. Mars just stared off into the distance, looking upset, while the others glanced at one another, unsure how to act. Off to one side, Uranus and Neptune gathered near Pluto.
"You think she's going to be all right?" Uranus wondered aloud.
"She may have a rough time of it," Neptune judged, "but the one thing I can say about Usagi is that she's always been remarkably resilient - - or Serenity is, I suppose. I guess I have to get used to calling her that."
"You are quite correct," Pluto agreed. "The Queen may experience doubt from time to time, more so than we might, but it is because her burden is so much greater."
"Honestly, you're such a suck-up anymore," Uranus teased.
"Pluto," Neptune began cautiously, "when Serenity asked you whether the threat from Knorr was finally gone - - you initially didn't want to tell her, didn't you?"
Pluto thought. "I was at first reluctant to divulge the future to her," she admitted. "But then I realized that no harm could come from it and I wished to ease the Queen's mind."
"What made you realize that?"
Pluto thought some more. The longer it took to arrive at an answer, the more puzzled she grew.
"This is most disturbing," Pluto replied. "I am certain I had a reason, and yet I cannot recall it. It merely seemed like the best alternative suddenly. I did suddenly feel quite reluctant to disappoint her."
"What are you getting at?" Uranus asked, eyeing her partner.
"Is it possible Serenity put the thought in your head, or maybe influenced you to think that way?"
"Dumpling? Even if she could, do you really think she would do something like that?"
"With her power, I'd say almost anything is possible. Why not influencing thoughts or emotions? Maybe she'd not even aware she's doing it. But I was watching Pluto and I saw the sudden shift in her facial expression."
"You are perhaps correct," Pluto said. "It would explain what at this moment defies explanation. It is your next, unspoken contention where we are at odds. I am not suspicious of it, for I trust our Queen's benevolence."
"I'm just being cautious," scowled Neptune.
"It is not an unwise action," Pluto counseled her. "My only wish is that it does not overwhelm your judgment."
"Is that a warning based on something you've seen?" Neptune asked. Pluto put her hand on the senshi's shoulder.
"It is advice based upon our many years of fighting and living side by side," Pluto told her.
Jupiter looked at Mars, who was still staring off in the distance, and fidgeted.
"You suppose we should go after her?" Jupiter asked. She turned when she felt Kakyuu and Star Fighter approach.
"You are only concerned for her as loyal friends," Kakyuu advised them. "But this is something she must work out between herself and her mate. This is not the last time Usagi's motives will be questioned. It is not the last time that she will face an angry rebuke because she failed to do more. With great power comes great expectations."
"Do you speak from experience?" Mercury asked.
"I have experienced a few difficulties over my years," she responded cryptically.
"When she first ascended from Sailor Fireball to what she is now," Star Fighter related, "she was greeted with fear and suspicion. There were those who wanted to exploit her power for personal gain. There were those who wanted to exploit her generous nature in order to avoid shouldering their share of the burden. There were some who coveted her power and others who feared her as a threat to their petty provinces and matchstick castles. Serenity'll face the same thing. Her trials have only just begun."
"Ahh, the fickle populace," Venus grinned cynically. "You gotta love 'em."
"The heart is not perfect," Kakyuu said. "All people, whether of Earth or Kinmoku or a billion other worlds, experience weak moments. They make mistakes. They shrink from their better selves. They give in to fear, to doubt, to anger or to greed. I do not judge them, for I am no different. I extend my hand to all. Should my proffered friendship be used, betrayed or rebuked, who has lost more? I have lost a potential friend and ally, it is true, but they have cast away so much more. I am sad for them, rather than acrimonious, for they have shrank from the joy of peace and harmony." Kakyuu's smile dimmed ever so slightly. "Star Fighter is correct, though. Usagi will face similar things. She will bend, but she is too strong to break. This I believe. And she has all of you to ease her burden when she needs it. But she is not in need of you at this moment."
"She's right," Mars said, a joyful smile growing on her mouth. "Serenity's past it. I can sense it."
"I wonder how much Endymion had to do with that?" smirked Jupiter. Mercury glanced at Venus with a knowing grin and Venus winked back. Moments later, Serenity and Endymion could be seen approaching. Everyone's eyes, though, locked on little Setsuko.
"Who's this?" Jupiter cooed. "She's a cutie-pie!"
"Ladies, this is Setsuko," Serenity said. Setsuko looked at them timidly, clinging to Serenity. "Setsuko lost all of her family in the disaster," and Serenity glanced happily at Endymion, "so Endymion and I are going to be her new family."
"You?" Mars gasped. "You can barely take care of yourself!"
"Oh, hush!" growled Serenity.
"It's a fine thing you're doing, Serenity," Mercury smiled. She leaned in to Setsuko. "Hello. My name is Sailor Mercury. I hope we can be friends."
"She is a doll, isn't she?" Mars beamed.
"Yeah," Venus agreed. "You're gonna like your new mom, honey. She's a sweetheart." Then Venus leaned in. "And she's a real pushover."
"It's real nice of you two to do that," Jupiter told them. "And you're going to enjoy motherhood - - most of the time."
"Don't worry, Setsuko-chan," Serenity cooed in the girl's ear. "You've gone through a rough time, but the worst is over. I promise."
"Is the worst finally over?" Venus asked. "Can we all get back to our lives now?"
"Maybe not," Mercury offered. The others turned to her. "Well, there's still the problem of that temporal nexus."
"But it's sealed, isn't it?" Mars asked as the outer senshi joined them.
"It was sealed before," Mercury told her. "That didn't seem to stop those Fire Giants. Obviously something more permanent needs to be done." The others looked at her expectantly. "I don't know. I'd have to know how it was opened to even begin to theorize a way to close it."
"Pluto?" Venus asked, turning to the senshi of time. "You're sort of our resident time expert. Any ideas?"
"This nexus is a natural phenomenon," Pluto stated. "It has existed since the beginning as a pathway to and from points in time. It was born with the birth of this Earth and will exist to its death and perhaps beyond."
"Then there's no way to eliminate it?" Neptune asked.
"None."
Serenity's shoulders sagged. Endymion took Setsuko from her. "So something like this could happen again?"
"It shall happen again," Pluto told her. "Have you forgotten the temporal nexus was used by the minions of Wise Man to attack the twentieth century?"
"And if they could, others could as well," Mars frowned.
"Forgive me if my physics is shaky," Endymion began. "Is it possible to remove the nexus from this dimension?"
Everyone looked at him blankly, except Mercury, Pluto and Kakyuu.
"Shift it out of phase, perhaps?" Mercury asked. When she noticed the others, she sighed. "Our world has three dimensions we can see - - length, width and depth - - and one we can only sense - - time. If the reality of the nexus can be shifted out of phase with our reality so that what occurs in and around it occurs after our reality, it will theoretically cease to be visible and tangible to our reality."
"Anybody have an aspirin?" Venus quipped. Jupiter smacked the back of her head. "OW! I wish you'd stop that!" Setsuko giggled.
"Stop being brainless and I will," Jupiter smirked back. Setsuko giggled louder. It was a sound that seemed to reflexively bring joy to a situation.
"Your thinking is sound," Pluto replied, "so far as it goes. It would prevent people of this time from gaining access to the temporal rift. But nothing prevents the rift from being used to gain access to our time, say from the past, save shifting phase alignment to correspond with ours. A physical barrier of some sort will still be necessary."
Mercury frowned. Endymion also seemed disappointed. The others took their cues from the pair and were also disappointed.
"Then I'll have to make one." They turned to Serenity and saw the resolute expression on her gentle face again. "I'm not going to let everyone go through this again. I'll make a barrier no one can penetrate." Then the resolution drained from her and she peeked at Kakyuu. "I can do that, can't I?"
Kakyuu smiled generously. "If you believe," she replied.
Kakyuu offered her hands and Serenity eagerly took them. Before the wondering eyes of her friends and a few onlookers and most of all Setsuko, Serenity levitated up into the air with Kakyuu until they were on either side of the closed rift. The pair began to glow. Serenity's was her usual silver glow, while Kakyuu took on a fiery red tint. Their brilliance shown down upon those gazing up at them until they became hard to see.
Mercury looked on, absorbing every moment. Mars chewed a knuckle. Venus and Jupiter hoped, not daring to believe. Uranus was awestruck by the sight of the woman who was once a clumsy colt of a girl with a moment's crush on her now evolved into this. Neptune stared, imagining the possibilities this slight thing was capable of. And Pluto kept her own counsel.
When the twin glows seemed to peak, they encompassed the rift, obscuring it from sight. Above them, Serenity's heart seemed to sing. Though still challenging, it was becoming easier to wield the energies of the Silver Crystal.
"Kakyuu, I feel so giddy!" Serenity giggled mentally.
"It is an effect of the energies we use," Kakyuu thought to her. "I confess to the same feelings."
"It almost feels like I'm running naked in a field of wildflowers!" Serenity squealed.
"You are quite the silly one," Kakyuu mentally grinned back. "To your task, silly one."
"OK! What do I do?"
"What do you wish to do?"
"Seal it! But not so we can't get through - - I want to leave a way for Usa to visit me! But I don't want anyone to get through who shouldn't! I guess a door would be best - - but a strong one with a really good lock!"
"Then make it so," Kakyuu gently prodded.
When the glows dissipated, a door seemed to shimmer in the sky for just a moment. Then it faded as it passed out of phase with reality and was engulfed by nothing. Serenity and Kakyuu gently floated back to Earth.
"Was that the Door Of Time I just saw up there?" demanded Venus the moment Serenity's feet touched earth.
"I don't know," Serenity replied, still high from her experience.
"You don't even know what you just created?" Mars huffed.
Serenity thought. "I guess it was." She smiled. "I'm glad I could make it look so pretty."
"Usagi-mama!" little Setsuko gasped. "Are you an angel?"
"No," Serenity replied modestly.
"She just plays one on TV," Venus quipped, hugging Serenity around her neck from behind. Setsuko cackled at the joke. "Hey, this kid's got taste! Setsuko-chan, I think I'm going to like you!"
"So is that going to do the job?" Uranus posed, returning things to the question at hand. "Will that keep out time traveling bad guys?"
"Not by itself," Pluto said. Neptune immediately felt a chill from Pluto's manner. "The door is consigned to its own reality, a dimension of mist separate from our own. But it will need a sentry. I volunteer, My Queen."
"Pluto!" Neptune gasped. Pluto turned and a single glance silenced Neptune.
"But that would mean leaving," Serenity said, pale and stricken. "Setsuna, you can't! You'd be all by yourself! It'd be so cold and lonely for you! I can't ask you to do that!"
"Please, My Queen," Pluto persisted and Serenity noticed tears welling in the woman's eyes. "It would be little different if I stayed here. I am no longer part of this world. I can no longer connect with it. My powers will not allow it - - nor will my heart."
"Janus?" Serenity asked. Pluto nodded.
"I despise his very name for what he did to you, My Queen, and yet - - and yet the sun no longer shines as brightly in this world without his presence." The tears began to trickle down Pluto's face. "Every moment in this world without his touch is as a dagger in my heart, My Queen. I fear madness lies before me should I have to endure it much longer. I must do this. I must, if only for the chance to heal away from the constant reminders of happier times. This world is now like sandpaper on an open wound, My Queen. Can the solitude of the mission I claim be that much worse?"
"But Setsuna . . .?" Serenity protested, crying herself.
"My Queen, we each have a destiny, you and I. Yours is a grand destiny, a destiny that will reach toward the heavens, and the world will reap much fortune as it rides upon the hem of your skirt. But your destiny cannot fully blossom unless I first fulfill mine. Grant me my destiny, My Queen."
Biting her lip, Serenity nodded. "But it's not fair!" she wailed.
"It is more fair than you know, My Queen," Pluto said, resting a hand on Serenity's shoulder. "And should you have need of me in the future, do not hesitate to summon me, for I am ever your loyal servant." She bowed respectfully to Serenity. "My King," she said to Endymion and bowed reverently to him. Setsuko looked on in confusion.
Then Sailor Pluto tapped her staff once on the ground. The Garnet Orb flared brilliantly and Sailor Pluto was gone.
Concluded in Chapter 12
Characters in this story were inspired by the movie "Grave Of The Fireflies", which the author gratefully acknowledges. If you have not seen this film, it is highly recommended as a life-altering experience.