A/N: HEY!!! I FINALLY GOT MY WEBSITE UP!!! You can now go to for Ask Kioko. Eventually you won't have to e-mail me this stuff because I'll have a box there and you'll only have to type stuff and press the submit button…
Hotaru held the silver ring in her palm. It looked like a plain silver band from a distance, but when she held it up and looked at it closely she saw intricate designs delicately etched into the silver, designs that shifted and changed into beautiful things. She held the ring close to her, as if it were the most precious item in the world at that moment.
But then, suddenly, the ring broke apart into pieces, smashed by those around her. How dare they! How could they destroy her precious ring?! Hotaru summoned her glaive and raised it into the air.
Gasping, Hotaru woke suddenly from her dream, jerking upright from her former laying position. She breathed fiercely, as if she had just run several miles without stopping, for a while she sat upright and caught her breath. Then the realization of what had happened suddenly hit her and she seemingly took in everything around her at once, though it didn't quite register for a while. First of all, she was on a very large bed that seemed to be fit for royalty with it's rich hangings, bed covers, and pillows. She was in a room that reminded her of something, but she couldn't figure out what. It had a fireplace to the side with furniture around it, a vanity area, a full-length mirror, a wardrobe, and shelves upon shelves of precious art work and stones lining a few walls.
This wasn't a dungeon, and if Voldemort really had kidnapped her, wouldn't he put her in something less…exquisite? Why was he treating her with such care and courtesy? Even while she had her Glaive pointed at him he reacted with a tone of high respect. It was confusing, didn't he only want her for Mistress 9? Why was he being so gentle!?
Well, she wasn't going to get any answers hanging around here. Hotaru slipped off the bed and looked around the room. She noticed a door to the side, but also noticed something else. While passing the threshold towards the doorway, Hotaru caught her reflection in the mirror and stopped to look. "How—" She breathed, how did she get into her princess dress? Her symbol was blazing on her forehead indicating a rush of immediate power through her veins. Just as with her Senshi Fuku, the white slits in the side of her dress had turned pitch black. Oh well, no time to brood. She had to get out of there.
She was about to leave, but just as she moved the mirror seemed to ripple, as if it were made of water. Curiously, she stepped foreword and tapped it, it rippled again. 'Someone you care about is in danger' whispered a soft, sweet voice in her ear. It was the voice of that kind looking woman with the flowing white hair and lavender eyes she had seen many times before in her dreams.
Hotaru stepped back from the mirror and stumbled to the floor, close to having a nervous break down. Nothing was making sense, everything was happening at once, so many questions and seemingly no answers. Her own power was beginning to scare her, she knew she was the cause of the rippling mirror, and she knew she had made it shift. But she couldn't have guessed what would come next.
It was as if the mirror was forming to look at another scene. Hotaru got up and stared as it came to focus, and then she gasped. No!
Hotaru wanted to look away, she wanted to clutch her ears and pretend she didn't hear the screaming, she wanted to believe that what she was seeing wasn't true. But she couldn't, she could close her eyes, she couldn't ignore the screaming, what she was seeing was real, it was happening. There was no turning away. In the center of the room she was seeing was Draco, wreathing on the floor, screaming in pain. And to the side of him was Lucius Malfoy, wand out and holding the Crucious curse in place.
Draco…DRACO!!! Hotaru screamed inwardly, grabbing the frame of the mirror. How could she get there in time?! Where was that place? She felt so helpless, all she could do was watch now.
But Lucius Malfoy finally lifted the curse, frowning at the crumpled body of his son. "You know what happens to traitors." Hissed the familiar voice of Voldemort from a chair behind Lucius. "But I will give you a chance to tell me why before killing you."
Draco's hands made fists and he looked up, streaks from tears of pain evident on his face. "I," he choked hoarsely, "hate, you! Y-you k-k-killed her!" He got out.
"Ignorant adolescent. You cannot kill the Messiah of Silence. She is alive, which is more than what I can say for you. Kill him Lucius." Voldemort instructed.
Hotaru felt something hit her stomach, hard. Her mind raced, she had to get there! There had to be some way to get there! She had to stop them! But, but how?! 'The mirror, use the mirror' whispered the kind voice again.
Lucius raised his wand once more. "Avada Kedavra!"
"SILENCE WALL!" Hotaru didn't know how she did it, but at the time she didn't care, all she cared about right now was getting Draco and escaping. She could worry about her mirror skill afterwards. The next moment she was in front of Draco and deflecting the killing spell. "L-leave him alone!!!" She screamed, a violet glow surrounded her form and her symbol was burning brighter than ever before.
"Now, now, Miss Tomo, this is none of your business. Stand aside." Lucious said, recovering from the shock of seeing Hotaru suddenly appear and deflect his spell.
"No!" Hotaru shrieked, several items around her shattered and fell to the ground as the waves of her power increased. "Y-you monster! How could you—how could you kill your own son!?" She sent a concentrated beam of dark energy at Lucious. He tried to defend, but his wand shattered into nothing and he was sent back, crashing into Voldemort's desk.
Lucius weakly tried to get up, "Master, she…" He gasped, unable to hardly move.
"She is the soul of silence you idiot." Voldemort hissed as he stood up from his chair.
"D-don't come any closer!" Hotaru ordered, whipping out her Silence Glaive. She spun it above her head and then pointed it at him in an offensive position. "What do you want from me?! Why did you bring me here?!" She demanded when he stopped.
"Merely hear me out." He said, hands spread before him.
"H-Hotaru…" Draco whispered behind her.
The Saturnarian princess swept back, suddenly remembering she needed to heal Draco. She knelt beside him, glaive still in hand, and began to heal the aftereffects of the spell.
"Lucius get up!" Voldemort ordered, "Get your brat and wait outside, but don't kill him." He instructed.
"No!" Hotaru said, standing right back up and pointing her glaive at him.
"Please," Voldemort said with forced politeness. "Hear me out! I promise no harm will come to Draco Malfoy." He hissed forcefully, yet still respectfully.
Hotaru wanted to be defiant, but curiosity was taking over. Why was he being so gentle with her?! And for that matter, why was he suddenly changing his mind on killing Draco? It didn't make sense, and it didn't seem like the smart thing to do, but she nodded her head and decided to at least hear what he had to say.
Lucius grabbed Draco swiftly and fearfully before exiting the room, making a loud sound after shutting the door in his haste.
Hotaru tensed when Voldemort raised his wand, but all he did was conjure up two chairs a good distance from each other. Taking the invitation, Hotaru sat down in her chair, but didn't let go of her glaive and she didn't take her eyes off of Voldemort. The skirt of her dress fell to her sides as the violet light surrounding her calmed down with her emotions. Her symbol resorted to a softer glow, but still stayed. Voldemort sat down in the chair in front of her. "I've known that you've been after me for a while, why?" Hotaru asked.
"I'm sure you've already thought of several reasons, the articles in the Daily Prophet naming you the next greatest witch already, you're obvious power and ability," He began.
"And Mistress 9? What about her?" Hotaru asked.
Voldemort looked a bit confused for a moment, but that left, "Currently she is merely a thorn that's growing a little to big for our tastes. But no, she's not the reason either."
"Then what is the reason?" Hotaru asked, a bit surprised at this.
"Haven't you guessed yet? You're discovery of the Silent language, the few who speak it, those who reside in the restraint Rings, and those behind the veil that bowed to you. You are the Messiah of Silence, the barer of power that can destroy worlds! You are the heir to Saturn's throne!!! You, are, our, Queen!" he told her, leaning foreword in his chair as if it would make his words more clear.
"W-what?!" Hotaru gasped.
"All of this," Voldemort stood up and waved his hand about the room, "All my work, my power, my gain, and my loss, it was all meant to prepare the throne that Selenity once sat upon for Saturn! We were always meant to rule the system, not that wretched Moon Kingdom! Saturn bowed to no one during the wars, we were expected to win with our power, and with the Silence Glaive as our weapon. But the previous Queen foolishly allied with the Moon Kingdom. At first it seemed a good idea, we, in fact, were the first to join the Silver Alliance." He said, his voice now quieting to being dangerously low as he stared at the mirror on the wall distastefully, "But it was a foolish move. The Queen died right after the war, leaving our king to rule because you were too young."
"But, Selenity was a kind ruler! Why do you say such things?" Hotaru asked.
"Because Selenity betrayed us!" Voldemort spun around. "Originally it was Saturn that started the Silver Alliance, and Saturn should have been the ruler, but after the Queen died Selenity seized control. But it is not going to happen again, this time, this time Saturn shall rule." He said, determined.
"And you need me to do it?" Hotaru asked standing up.
"If you joined me then those other Saturnarians in Rings would help us. They've refused me thus far because I'm not of royal blood, but they wouldn't disobey your command. If that happened, Earth and the rest of the solar system would bow before Saturn! Things would be as they should have been all those years ago!" He exclaimed joyfully.
"No." Hotaru said flatly.
"W-what?!" Voldemort demanded, unbelievingly.
Hotaru's hold on her glaive tightened, "Queen Selenity was a kind, just ruler, she deserved the throne of the Silver Alliance, and she used it well. And even if Saturn did have rightful claim to this system, I don't approve of your methods, and I don't approve of you. What makes you think Chaos will allow Saturn hold upon the Silver and Gold crystals?"
Voldemort's lip curled, "Queen Selenity betrayed us!" He hissed slowly, "Chaos doesn't care about the crystals, Silence is more powerful than anything those two objects could ever contain. Chaos, Chaos helped me remember. He gave me power, showed me how to achieve this goal, it was he who gave me this goal in the first place."
"What?!"
"Didn't you know? Did he not tell you? Chaos, Chaos is a Saturnarian himself." Voldemort said.
Hotaru stopped breathing. What?! Chaos was, no, he couldn't be! Chaos couldn't have been from Saturn, could he? …There was nothing she knew of that proved the theory wrong, it merely seemed unlikely that one of the supposed super powers of the universe originated from Saturn. But what about Mistress 9? Where did she fit in all this?
Something was wrong, something was very, very, very wrong. How could all that Voldemort said be true?
"Chaos showed me the supposed future, and I want to change it." Voldemort said, walking towards her slowly.
"No!!! You can't change the future!!!" Hotaru exclaimed, frightened by everything that was going on was enough, being scared for Chibi-Usa wasn't a great help.
"I could, you could. You could sit upon the throne of Crystal Tokyo, your rightful place upon this world." He said. "Don't you see? You deserve the throne in your mother's stead! You are the Messiah of Silence, a force so obscure, so powerful, that all the universe trembles in its presence! Selenity was a fool to think she could take the throne as she did!" He ranted.
"S-Selenity was not a fool!" Hotaru defended, "How-how could Saturn have ruled the Silver Millennium without a proper ruler? She was just trying to help!"
"She betrayed us!" Voldemort repeated, "She turned her back to us in our time of need. She ignored our cries for help and then, when it became too much, she sealed us away with the Silver Crystal. And she was only able to accomplish this because Saturn had been weakened greatly by this tragedy! Our foremost defense was killed, and only then did they decide to step in! The Silver Alliance consisted of fools! All of them! Earth and the rest of the planets are our right!"
Hotaru stepped back, holding her glaive close and shaking her head, "No, I don't agree."
Voldemort gave out an exasperated sigh and looked as though he was speaking through his teeth, "You are my Queen, I cannot refuse you're wishes, but I will not let the Moon take hold of the Silver Alliance again. I can still ask you to reconsider your views upon the matter." He said.
Hotaru shook her head, "The future princess of Crystal Tokyo became my best friend at the worst point of my life, when no one else would even look at me, when I was suffering under Pharaoh 90's influence. I cannot be lead to believe that she, or Serenity, would do such things, or that they do not deserve the throne of Crystal Tokyo. Everyone makes mistakes, it's only human to be afraid and make wrong choices." She said, backing up into the door. "And that's why, I don't agree with you. I don't want anyone to get hurt, I care about my friends, about Harry and Draco! I don't want anyone to be hurt." She told him sadly, finding the door handle with her free hand.
The next moment Voldemort was beside her, his hand holding her free arm firmly. "You don't need them, you have power. What do you need them for?" He asked.
"They're my friends and I love them." Hotaru answered.
Voldemort let go of her arm and stepped back, his lips were in a firm line, but his eyes showed surprise, as if he was unable to figure out what she meant. "Love weakens you, Messiah." He said.
"No, it gives me hope, it gives me purpose. It strengthens me. I'm going home now, and Draco is coming with me." She stated.
"Is that, an order?" Voldemort questioned, raising an eyebrow.
"No, it's a statement. Whether you let us go willingly or not is up to you, but we're leaving, and I will force my way out if I have to." She told him.
There was a pause and hesitation for one moment, but then Voldemort stepped aside and opened the door for her. "I will not fight you, in fact I will escort you as far as the exit. But I am not going to stop either." He said. He looked a bit hesitant for a moment, and then he dug into his pocket and unearthed a small box. "This was yours, and it was very special to you." Was all he said when he took her hand and put the box into it. He shifted a bit, the look on his face was unreadable, but it looked like he was struggling with something on the inside…
Hotaru nodded and put both the box and her Glaive up. She walked out of the door and found Malfoy struggling to keep his son under control, and having to use binding spells to do it. "Let him go." She ordered.
Lucius gave her a distasteful look and refused to let go, but then Voldemort entered the hallway, "Our Queen has just given you an order Lucius!" He hissed dangerously.
Malfoy jumped, startled, and released Draco instantly. "She-she…"
"That is what I have been telling you Lucius Malfoy. Do you not listen to me? I told you she was the Silent Messiah!" Voldemort told him, his voice back to it's unemotional and level state.
Draco was by Hotaru the next instant, "What's going on?" He whispered.
"We're leaving." She answered as Voldemort passed them and took the lead. Hotaru began to follow him with Draco still at her side.
"Leaving?" He asked disbelievingly.
"I'll explain later." She said.
Down the hall they went, Hotaru and Draco behind Voldemort, Lucius behind them. They turned a few corners here and there, wordlessly walking to wherever Voldemort was leading them, hopefully the exit.
"He's not going to just let us go." Draco whispered to her as the neared a particularly plain looking door. "We'll know where he's hiding!"
"Don't think that I will be stupid enough to keep here in this house, Draco Malfoy." Draco shrank in fear at the sound of Voldemort's voice.
Draco didn't say any more.
Voldemort opened the door and stepped aside. "Leave if you wish, but I'll warn you, the Daily Prophet will not leave you alone for the rest of your life."
Hotaru merely nodded and walked out the door, her princess dressed changed back into her regular black attire.
***********
It was night out, no surprise. According to Draco an entire day had passed since Voldemort kidnapped Hotaru. When they left they found themselves in a muggle town in London. They had walked as far as a park and were now sitting on a bench, silently waiting for nothing in particular. Just sitting there in between two street lamps.
Hotaru could not bring herself to accept what Voldemort had told her. It answered some questions, but then gave her even more questions. What was the tragedy that set Saturn off the edge? How come Selenity didn't help them? Again the question going through her mind was, 'why?'
"So…" Draco spoke up, they hadn't said a word since escaping from Voldemort. "How do we get back?" He asked.
"I could try calling Pandora again." Hotaru said, grateful that he didn't ask what had happened. Pandora? Can you hear me? I need your help. Almost instantly the bird appeared at her shoulder, perched on the back of the bench. "Oh Pandora!" Hotaru pet her feathers. "Shall we go now?" She asked Draco.
"Not yet." Draco took her hand and looked her in the eye. "I want to know…I have to know…are you really the Messiah of Silence?" He asked breathlessly.
"W-why?" she breathed, uncertain.
"Hotaru, the one name that the Dark Lord reveres above all others is the Silent Messiah. From what my father told me this was a being who could control a power much greater than any magic, and it was this power the Dark Lord wished to obtain through that being." He said, looking down at the boards of the bench. "He-he called you the Soul of Silence, he referred to you with great honor and called you the Messiah. Hotaru, he fears you, he respects you, if you ordered him to do something he would obey you just as his Death Eaters would obey him." Draco told her. "You know what would happen if word got out?"
"Yes, I know. And eventually it will be known that I am the Messiah of Silence. But when that time comes we will be building Crystal Tokyo and it won't have as much effect upon the world as it would if they knew now. By then they will be use to beings with power surpassing magic," Hotaru sighed.
Draco pulled her into a light embrace with the arm that didn't have her hand, "It's not the same. You…you almost changed back there. You weren't quite yourself, and I've noticed that, when you hold your Glaive, you're different. You prepare yourself to destroy if necessary and you were less willing to talk things out. You change. The difference isn't that pronounced, yet. But I don't like it, it's just not you." He told her.
I change? Hotaru questioned mentally. Well, it made sense. If she was to fight she couldn't be herself as a senshi, she as Hotaru would never hurt a soul if it wasn't a life or death situation. As Sailor Saturn she did what she had to, she would destroy the world if she had to. Therefore she had to be different as Saturn. "I have to be different," She whispered, "I wouldn't fight if I stayed the same."
"I'd rather you didn't fight at all." He said.
Hotaru smiled and kissed his cheek, "I don't have a choice in the matter." She told him, "With great power comes great responsibility." She quoted. "We as the Sailor Senshi are given power for a reason, that is to fight. And I think every one of us, given the choice, would prefer not to be a senshi at all, but a normal girl."
Draco pulled both arms around her and hugged her tightly for a moment, "This is embarrassing." He grumbled under his breath, making Hotaru giggle.
"Shall we go now?" she asked, holding out her hand for Pandora to hop upon.
"Fine."
***********
The place that they suddenly appeared in wasn't where Hotaru had expected Pandora to take them. Instead of her dormitory room, which she had half-expected, they found themselves in Dumbledore's office with Harry and Kioko both yelling things at Dumbledore simultaneously.
"Enough waiting!!!" Harry exclaimed.
"Yeah! You know Voldemort more than anyone, where is Hotaru?!" Kioko demanded. Oh dear, here it comes. Hotaru thought, bracing herself.
"Right there." Dumbledore said, pointing. Both Hotwarts students jerked their heads over and looked, but it seemed to take a few minutes for their minds to register what they were seeing. Hotaru prepared for the worst and plugged her ears, sure enough, it came.
"HOTARU!!!!" Kioko shrieked loudly, the next instant she had Hotaru in a firm hug. "How dare you do that to me!!!" Hotaru gasped for air, Kioko didn't hold back very much.
"Calm down, calm down." Dumbledore said to them all.
"Why are you here?" Harry asked Draco.
"If you didn't notice, I was caught by my father in the confusion." Draco said rolling his eyes.
"Okay, now that Hotaru is well and alive, oh yeah Draco is a plus, I want answers. Where's Glandria?" Kioko said abruptly.
"Take, a, seat." Glandria instructed from the shadows. There seemed to be so much confusion, even though there were only four people causing it. Hotaru felt bombarded, she wanted nothing more than to lay down and sleep for the rest of the week. But she took a seat anyway, Kioko was insistant upon sitting in the chair to the right of her, and Draco practically had to fight Harry for the left spot.
Glandria conjured up a chair for herself and sat down, wand still in hand in case she may need it. "Now! I know that we all want to question Hotaru about what happened, and you'll probably want to know a good deal more about yourself as well Kioko, however! I will require as little interruption as possible." She said. "Is that clear?"
They nodded.
"Good, now. I know that Setsuna has already explained a little of the Sailor Senshi to you, allow me to elaborate just a bit. All the senshi who's named after a planet in the solar system are the princess of that planet, or they were during the Silver Millennium several centuries ago. We have to transform into what we call the Guardians, or into our senshi forms." She said.
"Translation for 'senshi'?" Harry asked.
"It means solder." Kioko replied.
"Anyway, in these forms we can control the power of the specific star/moon/galaxy we guard. Kioko has just discovered that she is also a Sailor Senshi with a Sailor Crystal."
"And a mini skirt." Kioko mumbled.
"She is Sailor Tarterus, the senshi of Saturn's largest moon, the dark moon that does not exist within the human mind. Therefore it will never be found, but it's name is Tarterus." Galaxia told them.
"Would this have anything to do with the Tarterus that is the hangout for bad guy gods?" Kioko asked.
"As a matter of fact, it does. However, you're version of Tarterus is a bit incorrect." Glandria said.
"Waaaaaaaaait, wait, wait, wait, wait! I am the senshi of a moon? That kind of sounds lame." Kioko said.
"Sailor Moon, who is more or less our leader, is the senshi of earth's moon." Galaxia told her, a bit defensively.
"Never mind. So what about this Dark Moon? Something special about it to be named Tarterus?" Kioko asked.
"Yes. It is because a long time ago the gates to Tarterus were secluded to that moon by the gods. They then placed a guardian there, gave her a Sailor Crystal, and the key to the gates in the form of a glaive, which is the weapon you carry within your Senshi form." Galaxia explained.
Almost everyone stared at her, dumbfounded. Including Hotaru. "Okay, Night already has more firepower in her wand now than I imagine many adult wizards will ever know in their entire lives, and you want to lay immortality plus and obviously powerful weapon on her as well?!" Draco demanded. "Were these gods of yours thinking strait when they gave her that?!"
"I don't think they had a choice in the matter. If I recall correctly she was the only one, besides Hotaru, who had enough capacity to handle that power." Galaxia said.
"They why didn't they give it to Hotaru?" Harry asked curiously, Kioko was now giving the two guys dirty looks.
"Weren't you listening to me? Hotaru is the princess of Saturn, she had enough responsibilities on her own." Galaxia replied.
"Yeah! The poor girl has to deal with that woman for crying out loud!" Kioko exclaimed, probably referring to Mistress 9. "Though I see Voldemort, Draco you coward, wasn't able to awaken her before you got away. How'd you do it? Did you fight of a hundred Death Eaters or something?" She asked, her hands posed as if she were holding a glaive and swinging it grinning.
Draco snorted, "No, he showed us the door."
"Hu-wha? Who showed you the door?" Kioko asked, everyone was surprised at this and now starring at both Hotaru and Draco. Hotaru shrank in her seat.
"The Dark Lord, who else would I be talking about?" He returned.
"Voldemort let you leave?" Dumbledore asked, his face was…surprised! In all the stories Hotaru heard about Dumbledore not once had he ever been outwardly surprised or awestricken about anything. And there he was, staring at the two with eyes wide and his mouth partially open in a small 0.
Hotaru looked down at her folded hands, "He didn't want…Mistress 9…" She breathed.
"There's…something you're not telling us, isn't there?" Kioko asked slowly.
Hotaru trembled a bit, "He—he wanted me…to…he wanted…he's…" Hotaru tried, but she just couldn't put words to what had happened, what he had told her. Finally she looked up at Glandria, "He's working for Chaos!" She exclaimed.
Glandria shot up into the air, "WHAT?! Chaos?! So that's it!!!" She exclaimed, as if suddenly something made sense.
"What?!" Kioko demanded.
"You don't know this, in fact hardly anyone but the highest in the Ministry knows this. But the secret to Voldemort's success was something extremely powerful, like a power source. It makes so much sense now!" She exclaimed bitterly.
"How?" Draco asked.
"I was the only one who noticed, of course, but the patterns of Voldemort's dark energy just seemed too radical to be merely magic, of course he had Chaos's help!" Galaxia exclaimed as though it were a mystery she had been fighting with for centuries.
"I don't get it." Harry said shaking his head.
"I do." Hotaru said. She then looked at Galaxia once more, "But…there was something else he told me. Voldemort, Chaos, Draco, Lucious, almost all the Death Eaters, are resurrected Saturnarians."