Hello all! Well this is the second last chapter of my greatest epic "Watch Me Shine!" I assure you that the last chapter NO ONE, not even my best friend knows, so it will be a surprise. Congrats to the six people who guessed whodunit last chapter, this chapter that person is revealed! And a memo to Sailor Russ…you scared me with your review, that's why I almost published this early! Hope you're happy now!

            Standard disclaimers, read, review but be kind. Flames will jammed into the first bodily orifice I come across and people just might not like that.

            Make one last guess before you read, and then enter!

            The silence was tangible, tension corded through the room. Time drew out like a blade against the skin as the eager and the impatient waited in Usagi's apartment. Motoki and Unazuki talked in hushed voices, Ami patted Makoto on the shoulder. Makoto looked forlorn and lost, almost as if she had done something she'd regret. Michiru and Haruka paced the room, mirroring each other as they tried to bring the pieces together. Artemis yawned and twitched his tail as he kept vigil by the window. Outside, the world went on, life continued at its unabated pace. It was remarkable how those normal people down there had never known, never once suspected that they were in danger, that they had been saved time and time again by the greatest heart the world had ever known. They about their frivolous ways, in their immature and uncaring concerns – not knowing what true worry and true concern was.

            A knock at the door startled them out of their reverie as Haruka opened it. "What in the hell do YOU want?" she asked poisonously.

            An abashed Mamoru stood on the stoop, wanting to enter the apartment he had deserted in a self-righteous huff no more than six hours ago. "I want in."

            "Over my dead body." Haruka said resolutely.

            "I'm in this as deep as you are." Mamoru said calmly.

            Motoki smirked in the background. "Actually…you might have gone a little deeper than the rest of us."

            "You shut up!" Haruka snapped.

            "I've been here since the start, you can't get rid of me yet. I always come back."

"Like a rash." Ami said helpfully from the background.

"You shut up!" Mamoru glared at her. "You're not helping."

"Oh and I suppose your earlier actions helped endear you to me…how?" Haruka arched an eyebrow.

"Just let me in." Mamoru sighed. "I promise when she returns that I won't touch her."

"Oh I know that Mamoru." Haruka smiled unpleasantly. "And if you do, there will be a new cereal called 'Mangled Mamoru's – Free Fingerbone in every box.'"

Mamoru eyed the overprotective (and in his opinion – insane) Senshi of Uranus. "Fine."

Haruka pointed to the couch. "Just sit down and shut up. Michiru…get a rope."

"You're not going to hang him?" Makoto asked, coming out of her daze.

"What a tempting thought." Haruka tilted her head and looked at him.

"'Ruka." Michiru said sternly. "Stringing him up is not going to help Usagi."

"Sad, but true." Haruka sighed.  She glanced at the clock. "I wish she'd come back."

"I hope she's still alive." Michiru murmured.

"We all do." Artemis sighed.

Rei crept through the jinja, silent as the shadows that lined the wall, lavender eyes burning with all the fires of Mars behind them. Yuuichirou sat innocently, listening to some music and reading a magazine, not once looking like a man who had defiled her. She slid the door open and touched his shoulder, making him jump. "Rei! You startled me!" he gasped, clutching his chest.

Sliding the door shut, she smiled. "Did I? I'm terribly sorry about that."

Yuuichirou was many things, but a fool was not one of them. He eyed the closed door sceptically. "Why are you here?"

Rei chuckled as she began to shed her clothing. "Why to give you willingly what you took from me earlier."

"Sorry?"

Rei shook her head. "Yuuichirou. YUUICHIROU, you silly, silly man. I know it was you that night, I know what you did and why you did it. I could commend you at any other time for your love of me – your worship of the incarnation of a deity. Of course I am worthy of it – however you DID throw a wrench into some rather delicate plans, and now the child I carry within me is yours."

"You're pregnant?" his eyes glowed.

"Yes." Rei said simply. "Tonight I give you what you've always wanted, and in the light of day…well we'll decide that later. Won't we?"

Yuuichirou held out his arms to the only woman he had ever dared let himself love. "Rei."

And she went, sealing the door shut and casting a silencing spell around the room.

Usagi trembled as she faced her greatest fear, the one thing she had always dreaded. Herself. A nightmare version of her walked towards her, evil twisting her features. All of her Trials and all of her Tests has led up to this one final trial, this one moment. "So, here we are." Nightmare Usagi said idly.

"Yes."

Nightmare Usagi smirked at her. "I can feel absolutely everything you do, and hear all your thoughts. You can't beat me and you know it."

"I wouldn't say that." Usagi said calmly.

"Courage…you have it in bucket loads." Nightmare spat. "Even that will not be enough to save you now."

"Is this another physical battle?" Usagi asked wearily.

            "A tempting and desirable thought, but no." Nightmare stretched and paced. "They are gathering in your apartment as we speak, the innocent and the guilty. Rei…well she has another agenda, and your daughter is moving into checkmate right about…now."

            "Let's get it over with then." Usagi said bravely.

            "No, no, no, no, no Usagi." Nightmare said condescendingly. "Haven't you learned anything about yourself yet? You love to draw out the torture, the pain and the tension. This has been a rollicking good ride hasn't it? And now that the climax is here you find you aren't ready for it."

            "I'm ready." Usagi said through gritted teeth.

            "What do you know of ready?" Nightmare turned to her. "For years I have watched you, been a part of you. I am you! You are not ready."

            "Try me."

            Nightmare closed her eyes and sighed. "You have seen what you are capable of, the depths to which you can sink. The question is…what will you do about it? How will you handle it?"

            Usagi pondered. "I will never be the Destroyer…I can't be."

            "You already are." Nightmare paused. "And you have also seen me. This is what power can do to you…intoxicating, isn't it?"

            "Revolting." Usagi sneered.

            "NOW you decide to get self righteous on me?" Nightmare looked sceptical. "You are just a simple creature, you know that?"

            "What the hell is this Trial?" Usagi burst. "I can't stand it!"

            "Yet you will, because you love to torture yourself, and I excel in causing pain." Nightmare walked closer to Usagi and put her hands on her shoulders. "Can you fight yourself…from within?"

            Before Usagi could reply Nightmare entered her, merged with her, became one with her. The battle for who was Tsukino Usagi raged, one will fighting the other, one desire warring against the primal urges of the other, the Destroyer battling the Hope. A soundless scream that shook the cosmos came out of Usagi's mouth as she contorted in pain and collapsed motionless on the ground.

            Hotaru and Minako paused, chills running down their spine. "That was Usagi's scream." Minako whispered, eyes wide.

            "It was." Hotaru agreed. "She's encountered her final Trial."

            "She sounded like she was in pain."

            "These Trials are not about hugs and puppies Minako." Hotaru pointed out. "They are testing her, preparing her."

            "Quick, let's get back to the apartment!"

            As Minako took off in a run, Hotaru sighed and watched her go. "How cliché." She mused.

            "She's not doing well." Setsuna commented, appearing next to Hotaru. "And Chibi Usa is biding her time, like a spider sitting in the centre of her web.

            "Shall we run to the apartment like lemmings and await her return?"

            "Those who are ignorant want to know, those who do know want to know why." Setsuna smiled. "Shall we answer them Hotaru?"

            "I do believe we shall Setsuna."

            "After you." Setsuna made a sweeping motion with her arms.

           "Oh no, after you."

            Darkness surrounded her, interrupted by bursting pulses of light that blinded. Intense heat only to be abandoned to the most horrify of colds, mocking laughter replaced with terrible silence. Usagi wandered though a maze of corridors she had never seen, uncertain as to where she was, only that she was somewhere inside herself. 'What do I do now?' she thought, confused by this Trial, not knowing what was expected of her.

            "What do you think?" Nightmare replied. "Do you kill me?"

            "And kill myself?"

            "Do you punish me?"

            "And punish myself?" Usagi shook her head. "Anything I do to you, I do to myself."

            "Yet you cannot avoid hurting yourself. Usagi, haven't you realized an obvious truth yet?"

            "Apparently not."

            "The entire world is driven by a Will, blind and ruthless."

            "I know that." Usagi snorted. "I learned it years ago."

            "Complete the catechism." Nightmare urged. "Complete it and see the answer. The answer to all of this has lain within you, it always has. Sitting right below the edge of consciousness. You want to defeat me? You know how." Nightmare paused. "But…might as well have some fun while you muddle it out." She smiled evilly and reached for Usagi.

            Pain, pain such as Usagi had never felt coursed through her in waves. It pulsed like the corona of the sun; it burned like the fires of hell. Nightmare's touch made Usagi want death, caused her flesh to wither away from that familiar yet strange touch. "Are we having fun yet?" Nightmare murmured in her ear.

            And Usagi could not break free. She couldn't harm Nightmare at all. She wanted nothing more than to kill her…or did she want to become her. The antithesis of herself held her in an unbreakable grip…what did Usagi want? Who was she? What was she? Nightmare had called her the Destroyer; she had been called the Hope. The question remained: who was Tsukino Usagi…not Sailor Moon, not the Moon Princess…her, Usagi – no titles, no powers, just her. Usagi recognized the battlefield now…it was her deepest essence. The birthplace of self recognition and consciousness, the home to all she had ever dreaded and wanted. Nightmare had chosen well – this place was a paradox.

            It was the second or third time Usagi had been told the answers had lay inside her, as she thought of the words. "The entire world is driven by a Will, blind and ruthless." She recited.

            "I already said that." Nightmare said idly.

            Usagi ignored her and completed the litany. "In order to transcend the limitations of that world, we need to stop willing, stop desiring, stop hating."

            "You remember."

            Usagi's eyes widened as she completed the recitation. "Then you will see that true power does not come from others…it comes from yourself."1

            Nightmare applauded. "Congratulations, you figured it out."

            "The reason I have passed these Trials…"

            "Is because you wanted to."

            "The strength I've drawn on."

            "Came from within."

            "You are…"

            "I am Hope, you are the Destroyer. One cannot exist without the other. How then, will you defeat your other half?"

            Usagi smiled. "I won't."

            "Explain…or fail."

            "I cannot defeat you, nor can I move past you."

            "Correct."

            "There is no point in hating you, so, I will love you. I will accept you and I will always know that you are right below the surface. This isn't a Trial to defeat; this is a Trial to merge. We will merge together and create our own future together."

            Nightmare nodded. "Correct."

            "Then come to me." Usagi held out her arms.

            "You have passed all your Trials." A pause. "Now the final battle awaits, the last confrontation. Chibi Usa is waiting, the Senshi are waiting, and there is a sacrifice tonight that you must stop if you choose to. You have been moulded and forged and tempered in the forge of the Goddess, now you are pliable and ready for the Lady's Hands."

            For the final time Nightmare embraced Usagi and the exquisite pain of the joining made Usagi black out.

            Out of everything that they were expecting, that they had come to expect, that they had learned, not a soul expected an unconscious Usagi to drop out of thin air, bruised, and battered yet wearing a smile. "Don't touch her!" Hotaru said sharply.

            "Why not?" Minako asked, reaching for Usagi's face.

            "Let her come to on her own."

            Usagi's eyes snapped open as she surveyed the crowd in her living room – more people than her apartment had ever been meant to hold. Standing, she cleared her throat. "You are all gathered today to find out who is behind this entire thing."

            "Spare us the cheesy mystery/detective lines Usagi." Michiru groaned.

            Usagi giggled. "I couldn't resist."

            "Who is it? Who is it?" Minako practically screamed, dancing on her toes.

            "Minako, I'm surprised you haven't figured it out yet. All the clues were carefully laid, and only a few picked up on it. I'm tempted not to tell you. In fact, I don't think I will."

(A/N – wouldn't I be a bitch if I ended it right here? But… I promised…or did I…?)

            "Tell us!" Unazuki burst.

            "'Zuki! Ouch! Let go of my arm!" Motoki snapped, attempting to free her nails from his flesh.

            Usagi focused on someone in the room. "I understand why you did it. And I love you all the more for it."

            "I'm glad."

            Jaws dropped and eyes widened as all attention focused on the Outer Senshi who had spoken.

            "So many thought it was Seiya."

            "It was not."

            "Many thought it was Chibi Usa or Rei."

            "It is not."

            "Some even figured on Neo-Queen Serenity."

            "She is trapped in the future."

            "The clues all laid had to do with timing and strength. The one who exists in solitude is the one who set this entire thing in motion. Hotaru, Setsuna, that leaves one of you."

            "It does." Hotaru agreed. "Have you figured it out?"

            "I figured it out six Trials ago." Usagi snorted.

            "Enough is enough Usagi!" Haruka warned. "Spit it out or I'll torture it out of you!"

            Usagi turned to her most enigmatic Senshi. "Shall you tell everyone why?"

            Setsuna nodded, a mysterious grin on her face as she reached out and touched Usagi's hand.

            1 – out of the Chinese philosophy of the Tao by Lao Ma.

            To be concluded….

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