Author's Note:
This is a sequel to Angelic Embrace. I thought about doing it, but I didn't until someone told me they thought a sequel was possible. You will really want to read the first one to find out what's going on.
As we all know the names of the Senshi, there's no need to go there, except to say that I use the Japanese names.
For a review, I'll list the names of the Shitennou:
Keagan Kris MacNeal (Kunzite)
Nick Michael Canter (Nephrite)
Jace Daniel Taencer (Jadeite)
Zale James Indiano (Zoisite)
You can contact me at Guardian4@cox.net.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Last Journey
Chapter 10: A Tribute to Honor
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Now tell me what you know."
Makoto kept the man under her pinned securely. She didn't know how much time she'd spent away from her city, Crystal Tokyo, and wandering through her street fighting channels to find anything out. At first, she hadn't thought the emergence of a new country would have affected the fighting community, but apparently she had been wrong. And this man may be the only one to know something.
"Look, I don't know much. I just heard that about the time that the terrorists attacked that building in Iraq, there's been heat aplenty in the government world. I heard that the US government put the pressure on Iraq to cover it up."
"Why?" she snapped, keeping her hand on his neck to make sure her threat of injury was kept in mind.
"All I know was that someone saw this man with white, longish hair leaving from a corner of the council room."
"But there wasn't any man with white longish hair in the council when Crystal Tokyo was being represented!" Makoto protested.
"No, this was after that, when Crystal Tokyo was decided to be recognized on the council," he corrected. "He was dressed all in white."
"And why did he draw attention?"
"He had white hair!"
She rolled her eyes. "Please."
"All right, all right! Because whenever he looked at the US president, the man looked afraid."
"Where do you get this information?" she demanded. "I doubt this is public knowledge, and if everyone saw that the US president was afraid of a single man, there'd be chaos and it would make the news."
"My cousin is a reporter and he noticed it. Apparently no one else did."
"Uh huh." Makoto stood and let him up. "Thanks for the info."
"You're welcome," he replied sullenly and stalked away.
~~~~~~~~~~
"Seriously?"
"That gets me worried," Makoto responded to Nephrite's surprised statement over the cellphone. "If a single man can scare the US president into doing what he wants, it bodes badly for the political climate. Warn Serenity and Endymion when they meet with anyone and keep your eye out. Have Rei do a fire reading on him. For some strange reason, I have a bad foreboding in the middle of my stomach."
"Are you sure that couldn't be a child forming?"
She smiled slightly at his teasing when she had used a pregnancy test, but hadn't had the time to see the results.
"I doubt it, but…it's a possibility."
"If you are pregnant, be careful out there."
The warrior took his worried statement in stride. "Don't worry, I will. There's no way that anything can really hurt me. I'm a Senshi remember?"
"Stop that! Do you want to jinx yourself?"
~~~~~~~~~~~
Serenity sat back in her chair in boredom. "Endymion?"
He looked at her when she whispered to him. "What?"
"I'm bored. What is the point of this?"
"You know very well why. We have to know what's going on."
"Are you sure that it isn't what it looks like?"
"Tell me in your gut you don't feel worried."
She paused. "I can't."
"See?"
"I'm worried about Chibiusa. She hardly sees us anymore, or any of the Senshi. She needs a playmate."
"She's got Pyralis." But she could tell from her husband's face that he knew how she felt. How could Chibiusa play all the games that she had played when she was younger when the child was only a baby?
"I hope this is over soon. I miss just being a family, and just being a King."
"I know."
Nephrite put his hand on Endymion's shoulder. "This will be over soon. The Senshi and us will put an end to this and you'll be able to be with Chibiusa for as long as you like without having to worry."
"I hope you're right, Nephrite," Endymion told him quietly.
She slid her hand into her soulmate's. She believed it would be over soon. She believed.
~~~~~~~~~
"What did you say this man looked like again?" Setsuna asked worriedly.
"The man said he had white hair and dressed all in white. That's all he told me," Makoto related.
"If this is who I think it is, we're in trouble. Call everyone, even Serenity and Endymion. We have to talk."
When everyone was assembled, Setsuna sat and gravely told them, "If I'm right, and this is who I think it is, we're in trouble. How do I explain this?" She paused for a moment before going on. "Back in the previous timeline, there was a man called Demando, who was the head of a clan of Dark Moon followers. They didn't believe in Crystal Tokyo, that the lifespan of the country was wrong and it went against God's will for humankind. Serenity and Endymion banished them to a forgotten moon where once another criminal had been sent: the Dark Moon, as they soon began to call themselves. On this moon, they found a power source to aid them in attacking the earth in hopes to reclaim it and set it back on 'God's will'.
"During an attack, Demando caught sight of Neo Queen Serenity and desired her as his queen like nothing else he had ever desired for before. When a frontal assault against Crystal Tokyo and the palace accomplished nothing, they decided that with their newfound power they would go back into the past and change time from there. The past when all the Senshi were only fourteen and had just rid themselves and the earth of Beryl. That was when Chibiusa came back to the past, carrying the crystal of the future which could not be used except by Neo Queen Serenity, who was locked in a coffin of quartz as the only way of protection the Senshi had as one of the attacks at Crystal Tokyo palace would have hit her instead. All except for Endymion, in Crystal Tokyo, were in stasis. The Senshi themselves became nothing more than to exist to power a barrier to protect the palace and keep the Dark Moon from entering. In this way, the war was paused in stalemate until our enemies went back into the past.
"After many trials, the Senshi followed Chibiusa into the future to 'free' her mother and wake her. During this trip, Usagi and Mamoru or more accurately, Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Kamen, found out that Neo Queen Serenity and King Endymion were their future selves. But they had to go back to the past, as two of the same person cannot exist in the same time. When they landed in the past, they found the Chibiusa, who had gone missing, was turned against them, from a 6 year old to an adult, Black Lady.
"Behind Demando, fueling his urge for conquest was the Death Phantom. The Death Phantom was the one who had turned Chibiusa into Black Lady. Eventually Death Phantom revealed that he had a hidden agenda to destroy the earth, rather than just conquer it. Black Lady, who had been wiped of all memory of the good times in her life, was trying to help him succeed in this. Through the perseverance of Sailor Moon, Tuxedo Kamen, and the present/past Senshi, Black Lady was returned to Chibiusa and together they defeated the Death Phantom and the Dark Moon clan."
"So what is the problem here?" asked Haruka.
"The problem is that the man that is able to frighten the US president into doing what he wants," Setsuna answered, "may be Demando."
There was not any immediate concern evident in their faces, but they did exchange glances. Finally, Keagan spoke up. "Okay, so if it is Demando, what would he be planning to accomplish now? Does he still want to destroy the earth?"
The Time Guardian was hesitant in answering. "I do not know if they have the Death Phantom on their side, or if there is anyone else besides Demando helping him to accomplish whatever he wants. In the other timeline, Demando had almost no powers of his own except that of the power source they found on the Dark Moon and from the Death Phantom. I don't know if that holds true here. If it does, then he bodes little problem for us, assuming the Death Phantom has not found him and aided his cause."
"But I never outlawed anyone from the earth," Serenity protested. "How could he want to destroy it because of that?"
"Just because you haven't done one thing to him, doesn't mean he doesn't have another motive for destruction," Hotaru murmured quietly. "It could be that Demando had that as the main reason he wanted to destroy the earth for, but there could be others that are the main reason now."
"How do we find him?" Minako questioned. "Does he have the Death Phantom on his side? Has he been to this Dark Moon? Does this planet exist in this timeline? There are so many questions and we have no answers."
"Here's the main thing we should ask ourselves," Artemis told them from Minako's lap. "We need to ask ourselves if we should alert the other heads of states to this problem. And also, do we ask the president of the United States just what happened between himself and Demando."
"That's all assuming this man is Demando," Endymion cautioned. "Let's not forget that Setsuna is not sure. Tread carefully, is all I'm saying."
"Endymion's right," Nick seconded. "This could just be someone who dyed their hair white, and the man who said that the US president was afraid could have been seeing things."
"But supposing, just supposing," Makoto interrupted, "that everything Setsuna just told us has come true in this timeline. What do we do about it if we're the only ones capable of fighting his magic with our own?"
"That's where the problem lies," Setsuna said gravely.
"Did anybody else find anything else out?" Michiru inquired. "My mirror hasn't shown me a thing, though it does project an unnamed warning to be careful."
"The Fire hasn't been exactly forthcoming either," Rei muttered dejectedly. "I keep trying, but it's almost as if something is blocking it. Or that it just won't tell me anything. I get snapshots of images, but they're gone so quickly that it's impossible to make them out."
"Nick?" prompted Luna.
He sighed. "I'm not getting much more than you all at this point. I almost seemed to have something one time, but then when I could almost see what it was, it was like the stars jerked back from me and refused to let me see it. If you're asking if I have anything new to add the answer would be…no."
"Mama?"
As one, the adults in the room turned to the door to see a crying Chibiusa there, clutching her birthday present from Setsuna, Luna-P.
"What is it, baby?" Serenity asked, kneeling next to her daughter, followed by her husband.
"The kids outside where I was playing called me names and made fun of my hair! They said that I was a weirdo!" The child's voice rose five decibels and her tears fell faster.
Endymion picked up his daughter and hugged her. "Don't worry about those kids. They're just jealous that you're so beautiful and they wish they looked like you."
"Yeah, Chibi-chan," Makoto encouraged. "Don't let them get to you. They don't know anything."
Chibiusa sniffled a bit and looked at her parents. "Really?"
Serenity nodded. "Absolutely. Why don't you go play with Pyralis? I'm sure he's waiting for you."
The crown princess dropped to the ground from her father's arms and with a nod, headed toward the nursery.
There was silence in the room after that, with the questions they didn't know the answers to plaguing the air.
End Chapter 10
See? I got a chapter out. HoE will be up soon, I hope. I'm just fighting with my keyboard so I'm having a hard time typing.