REAWAKENING
Book One of Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon CosmicStars
by Nashie (aka ShadowSamurai)
December 1999 - April 2000
Revised - Summer/Fall 2002
Disclaimer: Sailor Moon and her friends belong to Naoko Takeuchi. The author takes no credit for any of the original storyline. However, all the new characters belong to me and I'd appreciate it if you didn't take any without requesting permission.
Episode 214: Two down two to go? Secrets finally revealed
"So, it's clear they're after the outer soldiers," Mako observed. The six girls had gathered at the Hikawa Jinja to discuss all the happenings that had occurred that week. "They didn't once try to get us. And they're not after other people either." The others nodded in response.
"It's obvious that Michiru-san and Hotaru-chan are their next targets," Ami reminded them. "Setsuna-san and Haruka-san are already gone! We can't allow them to have their way anymore!"
Both Usagi and Chibiusa were quiet. They hadn't really spoken a lot during the conversation. The others had noticed it, but planned not to bring it up. Diana, perched atop her owner's head, spoke up.
"They might want us to help them," she said in her cute voice. "I just think they don't want you to get hurt in the process of protecting them." Artemis and Luna nodded in agreement.
"But whatever the reason," Minako said, "we need to protect them." The other girls nodded in agreement.
"Haruka-san, Setsuna-san," Usagi whispered. Everyone turned to the princess. "I hope...I hope they're all right. I don't know where they are, but..." Her sentence was interrupted by footsteps. Everyone turned to the entrance of the Hikawa Shrine and saw two familiar people standing at the entrance.
"Michiru-san, Hotaru-chan!" Usagi yelled, running up to them. Strangely enough, Usagi wrapped Michiru in a hug. The five other girls watched with sad eyes.
"Usagi-chan," Michiru whispered. Usagi looked up and saw the tears were brimming in her eyes. Chibiusa walked up to Hotaru and the two girls hugged.
"Hotaru-chan," Chibiusa asked. "Why are you here?" Michiru and Hotaru looked at each other.
"We knew we'd have to tell you sooner or later," Michiru said. She sighed. "Haruka had wanted to tell you, but knew she couldn't. So I guess it's left up to me and Hotaru to tell you."
"Hotaru-chan? What's going on?"
"It's about the enemy," Hotaru said, her voice quiet. The four other girls and the cats came walking up to the group.
"The enemy?" Luna asked. "You know something about them? Computer research or something?" The tiny girl and the violinist shook their heads.
"No, it's not that," Michiru replied. Her pretty blue eyes were troubled. "It's that...we knew them from long ago." Artemis and Luna looked at each other, suspicion raising.
"How long?" Artemis asked.
"Another lifetime ago," Hotaru whispered, so low they had to lean forward to hear her. "In the Silver Millennium."
Usagi stared at the two outer senshi, wide-eyed. Silver Millennium!? Everyone looked at each other, shocked.
"But, our memories of the past were erased completely!" Usagi argued. "You couldn't possibly remember them."
"We do, but we don't know why," Hotaru said. "Setsuna wasn't supposed to remember at all either. But somehow, we did. We had to remember this for a reason. I don't know it yet, but the reason we remembered this little part of our past lives has to be important or else we wouldn't have remembered."
"So, I have a feeling you guys are going to tell us what you remember, right?" Mako asked. Michiru nodded and the girls walked slowly into the shrine. Michiru was painfully aware that the last time they were here, both Haruka and Setsuna had been here with them. Fighting tears, she walked into the shrine with the others.
"Grandpa's not here today," Rei informed Michiru and Hotaru quietly. She led them into the backroom that was splashed with sunlight.
"What's the story?" Ami immediately asked, cocking her head to the side. "Exactly who are we up against?"
"Well," Michiru began, "they're called the Sailor Twins. More or less, they're rebel sailor senshi. They were never destined to be sailors, but of course they found a way and became pretty powerful."
"Power that rivals ours," Hotaru added.
Michiru nodded. "We never knew their civilian identities. They just seemed to suddenly show up as sailor senshi. Queen Serenity had informed us that they were not supposed to be senshi, but had actually stolen power from the silver imperial crystal."
"She told you this?" Artemis asked. "I didn't know the Queen ever spoke to the outer soldiers."
"There had been a time, a couple of years before Beryl attacked that we were guardians of the princess also," Hotaru said. "Just like the inner soldiers. We were very different from who we are now. We weren't always separate, but on the...shy side, perhaps. We weren't forbidden to associate with inner soldiers, but just never did. Queen Serenity rarely even spoke to us because she never knew exactly where we were. We just never really associated with the inner senshi due to slightly altered duties." Hotaru laughed. It was a sad laugh. "It's odd how much we changed from back then. Anyway, everything was fine. Then, someone showed up. Two new sailor senshi. They did not want to protect the princess and they did not want to fight on the evil side either."
"So they weren't evil?"
Michiru shook her head. "No. Just stubborn. Of course, Serenity had no idea how they got the silver crystal. They became strong, stronger than all of the soldiers were back then. Their power rivaled Super Sailor Moon's, who had not yet existed. Serenity, even so thoughtful, knew that the twins could easily be persuaded by evil, but gave no thought to that whatsoever. Time passed as it usually did, and the princess grew up. And when any princess grows up, they start to experience love."
"Endymion?" Usagi asked.
"Yes," Hotaru continued. "You fell in love with the prince of Earth, Endymion. Everyone was happy for you since it was a sure thing you two would wed. But DreamStar and MagicStar became very jealous because they had crushes on Endymion. Furious, they sought to kill the princess. Their jealousy blinded them so much. For the safety of the princess, we were forced to fight those two. We confronted them and challenged them to a fight. They were so strong. It seemed nearly impossible. It was a sure thing that we were going to lose."
The six inner girls and the cats listened to the story. It was an interesting story, but what did it have to do with revenge?
"Queen Serenity finally used her silver crystal. It was terrible," Michiru whispered. "It weakened them and we went and...and killed those two. At least we thought we killed them. We were too weak after the battle and the thought of being murderers scared us to death. We told Serenity that we were leaving, that we no longer felt that we could protect the princess. Serenity didn't want us to go and told us that we would stay sailor senshi. But, of course, we'd never see out beautiful princess again."
Usagi's eyes began watering. Trying not to cry, she said, "Go on."
"Serenity made Pluto stay at the time gate forever to watch Time," Hotaru said. "I had used nearly all of my power in trying to get rid of those two, my energy was totally gone. So, I went back to my own planet to regain my energy by sleeping. More or less, I gained a little too much energy and too much power which I never told the other outers about..." Hotaru cleared her throat. "Never mind. Anyway, Uranus and Neptune would protect the Silver Millennium from the outside. Before we left for the final time, we promised, even though we were scared to death, that we would protect the princess from afar even until our deaths."
"It was so long since we ever saw anybody," Michiru said. "Slowly, yet surely we became much more distant than intended. We forgot about our princess and only emptiness filled us. It was so long, we lost track of time. Months past, maybe years. I don't know. But a couple of months before Beryl attacked, a little girl came up to Uranus and me. She was undoubtedly lost. We were cold to her, but she was just so full of energy. Something flashed in our memories. She reminded of us of the princess we had once knew."
"What was her name?" Minako asked. The story was getting intense.
"Her name is Arakino Hogoshi."
"Hogoshi-chan!?" Chibiusa gasped. "She's from the Silver Millennium?"
"Yeah," Michiru whispered. "She started coming everyday. We don't know why. She grew attached to us and we grew attached to her. But, that friendship was forbidden. We didn't know it, but DreamStar and MagicStar had come back. They had made a deal with Beryl. She would destroy the princess, the entire moon kingdom for their revenge. We didn't know that Hogoshi was their sister. All we knew was that Hogoshi was becoming more scared every day, but she wouldn't tell us what was going on. Then it came."
"What came?" Minako asked. She had been trying to remember any of the things Michiru and Hotaru were saying, but nothing clicked.
"The destruction. Pluto came to our aid and told us the Silver Millennium was under attack. We returned to that foreign place. The castle was in ruins. Both the prince and the princess had already been killed along with the four guardians of the palace. We found DreamStar and MagicStar watching with this sick satisfaction on their faces. They were so surprised to see us. We battled them once again, hoping, for God's sake, that this would be out last battle. But they also had Beryl on their side. The last thing I remember was a flash of bright white light coming to us. Anything after that, is totally blank. I think that blast must have killed us. We never knew what happened to Hogoshi until now. It was the final cry of the Silver Millennium."
"I remember Hogoshi," Hotaru whispered. "I never got to see her a lot, but her heart was so big."
"So why do they want revenge if they seemingly had it in the Silver Millennium?" Rei asked.
"They want to make sure we're dead," Michiru replied. "Once and for all."
Author's Note: Alright! A backstory and a reason for revenge! Now, does the story Michiru and Hotaru told seem a little...vapid? Lacking a few details, too convenient in others (ie. The outers were just shy, which is why they never associated the inner senshi...) There is something implausible about this entire story they told. Perhaps it was my poor ability to analyze story plots five years ago. Or perhaps it's a delicate detail interwoven with my later, more complex storyline to CosmicStars. You decide.
Till another day! Bai-bai-bai!