Lita stood looking at the young woman that she had just met but had known
for several lifetimes. She stood there, her hair flying like a banner of
blonde defiance behind her, watching the sky with absolutely no expression
on her face. It was like Serena wasn't there anymore. Lita suddenly saw a
warrior where a very scared and confused woman had been standing mere
moments ago. A warrior whose strength was something that even Lita never
wanted to fight against.
Next to her she could feel Nephrite's reassuring presence. Everything had been happening so quickly that they hadn't had time to continue to work out what was between them and how they were going to deal with it. His presence was like some twisted miracle, unbelievably wonderful and yet so full of pain that she still couldn't decide if it was good or bad. But it was reassuring to know that he was there, at her side once again in the face of this new threat. An old familiarity that she hadn't even known that she had been missing.
* * * * *
Ami stood with her friends and her lover, glaring up at the message in the sky. They never got a break. This was just one more thing, one more pain to add to the ever-growing list. She tried to hang on to her control, the calm that had always been her trademark in the past, but it was so hard when every time she turned around fate was kicking her friends again.
A pair of strong arms wrapped themselves around her waist, pulling her against a firm chest. It was as if Zoicite's warmth was able to seep into her very core and give her the calm that she had been struggling so hard to recapture just a moment before. As if only with him was she able to truly be in control of herself.
* * * * *
Mina watched the sky and scanned the horizon for any threats. This was bad. It meant that they might not have enough time to do what they needed to do. Not if Pluto was correct in them needing the other two missing Generals and their strength in this fight.
Her general was still missing. Malachite. Her white haired lover. She knew where he was now, could see him again, maybe have another chance at happiness. It seemed impossible. There was too much pain and anger and history between them to ever have a chance of making it work. But somehow it had worked for Ami. The girl had worked a miracle as far as Mina was concerned. And now Lita and Nephrite were trying to duplicate Ami's miracle. It was still strained between those two but she had caught the longing glances and the occasion brief touch. And there were moments when it was like they forgot the past and everything between them just clicked.
She wanted that. Was almost willing to risk anything to have it. Almost.
Some prices may be too high to pay.
Even for the goddess of love.
* * * * *
Rei glanced around. They were out of time. And she didn't have time to wallow in self pity. She had something to do. For her princess.
And maybe even for herself.
* * * * *
Serena stood staring into the sky. She could feel the eyes of the others staring at her back but she couldn't bring herself to turn away yet from what the sky held for her.
Written in fire across the darkened sky was the message.
~Sailor Moon. Let us end this. Today. 12:00 pm. Noon. The Stars Tower.~
It appeared that her daughter had decided that it was time to end this once and for all. The Stars Tower was in the center of the city. Serena didn't want to think about why it had been chosen. There were so many people living and working around and in that building that if their fight became out of control innocents could die.
There was no way that she could ignore the challenge either. She had to go. If she didn't there was no telling what her daughter would do. No, she had to go, even if she wasn't ready.
Out of the corner of her eye she could see Darien, staring at the sky. She turned her head to look at him and it was like looking into a mirror. In his eyes she could see all of her emotions, the hurt, the pain, the confusion and the emotions that had no name being reflected back at her. And there was an understanding there of what they needed to do.
They had to split up their strength. Mina, Darien and Zoicite had to go after Malachite in Russia. They had to at least get one of the two missing Generals. Ami could stay behind and continue looking for Jadeite. And Serena would take the rest with her to go fight.
Turning around together, they faced the others together and began to tell them their plan.
"No."
Serena whipped around to stare at Rei in astonishment, "No?"
"Ami has to go with you to the fight. You'll need her." Rei said calmly.
"Rei...We need all of Darien's generals for this fight. Until we find Jadeite we'll be under strength. I know you may not..." Serena began, trying to reason with her friend.
"No." Rei interrupted, "I know where Jadeite is. I'll get him. You take Ami with you."
Serena took a hesitant step forward, "You know where he is?"
"Yes." Rei's tone let Serena know that she didn't want to talk about it, to answer the other girls' questions.
Serena seemed to hesitate for a second before nodding once, "You'll need Darien to reawaken his memories."
"Don't worry about that." Rei said, transforming into Sailor Mars.
"But..." Serena said, confused.
"I don't think he ever forgot." Rei said before teleporting away.
The others stared at the spot where the Priestess had been standing a second ago, trying to understand that last cryptic message.
Serena shook herself back into the present and looked at the others, "Mina, you still need to go get Malachite."
Mina looked at her and nodded, "Let me grab some stuff and then we'll leave."
Mina turned and ran back into the temple and the others followed, thinking of what the coming day would bring and what they would need to get through it.
Serena stood outside and looked at Darien. He held open his arms and she ran into them.
"Shh. It'll all be okay. We'll get through this. I promise." Darien whispered into her hair as he crushed her small frame to him.
Serena finally released the control that she had been holding over body and sobbed quiet tears into Darien's shirt. She felt like she would have shaken apart if his arms hadn't been around her to hold her together.
"I don't want you to go." She admitted quietly.
"I don't want you to go either." Darien admitted, crushing her tighter to him, "I'm scared. Scared that I won't be able to make it back in time and you'll get hurt because I wasn't there. Scared that this will be the last time I ever hold you. All I want to do is grab you and run away from all of this, protect you from everything and let the world deal with this without us for once."
Serena pulled back slightly to stare into Darien's eyes, "But we can't, can we?"
Instead of answering, Darien leaned down and kissed her. The kiss held all the promises that they had ever made to one another, all their declarations of love, all their hope for the future in it. It was rough and desperate as they both tried to ignore the possibility that they may never get to do this again. Serena whimpered, fighting her bodies need for air in order to hold onto that kiss for another precious few seconds.
Finally they pulled apart, gasping for air. The others came out of the temple, and the finally broke apart. Serena blinked back her tears as Darien walked over to Mina and Zoicite.
"We'll be back." Mina promised solemnly, looking at her Princess.
Darien merely stared into her eyes, "I love you."
The three teleported away before anything else could be said or done.
Turning away from the spot where her love had just disappeared from and looked at people standing at her back. Ami looked at her, her eyes full of understanding and Serena felt like kicking herself. She wasn't the only one who was watching a loved one leave.
She walked over and offered Ami a small, comforting smile, "Time to hold up our end of things."
* * * * *
Serena, Ami, Lita, Nephrite transformed and teleported to the roof of the Star Tower. There were already police and news crews beginning to crawl all over the place. Apparently they hadn't been the only one to get the message.
"We need a way to keep people out of here so that we can fight without worrying about them." Serena said, looking at the others.
"What did you have in mind?" Lita asked.
"Some sort of shield around the building." Serena said, looking at Ami, "What do you think?"
"The building is huge. To do something like that will require a lot of energy." Ami said, pulling out her computer and typing in some questions.
"I'm just looking for a simple barrier here. Something to keep the innocents out of the line of fire." Serena said, watching the police erecting their own barriers around the building.
"Maybe we should talk to them, ask them to leave?" Nephrite asked quietly, as if unsure of the merits of his suggestion.
Serena sighed, "We could try. I've never had any real contact with the authorities before. I was kind of hoping to avoid it."
"Maybe it's not that good of an idea anyway. I don't think the new crews will leave such a story and the police won't leave a potential site of violence." Nephrite reasoned, "If we talk to them, they'll want to ask all sorts of questions like what is going on, too."
Serena shuddered at the thought of trying to explain to someone what exactly was going on. They wouldn't be able to understand.
"Hmmm..." Ami muttered, turning to look at Serena, "I think we could work something out. It'll take a lot of energy but I think if you were to tie the shield into the power of the Silver Crystal, we could hold it up. It is the only thing that we have that generates enough energy on its own to hold something of that size up. But it will be a serious drain on the Crystals power. You won't be able to use it for anything else while the shield is up."
"Is there any other way of doing it?" Serena asked, worried at the thought of not being able to use the crystal in the upcoming fight.
"The only other way is for two of us to pull out of the fight and hold the shield up ourselves. Two scouts could, between them, create a shield around something as large as this building. Truthfully, one could probably do it but if their concentration were to slip then it would fail. If there were two, they would be able to catch each others slips and hold it."
"No." Serena shook her head, "That is not an option. There is no way that I am pulling any one out of this fight if we don't have to. We're too weak as it is, split up right now."
"If we are going to do this, we should do it soon." Lita said, watching the people below, "Otherwise we'll be trapping people inside rather than out."
Serena turned to Ami and pulled out the Crystal, "How do I do this?"
Ami explained it as best she could, but in the end it was up to Serena, the only one who could really use the crystal and its power, to figure it out. It was like trying to tell someone how to move their arm. You knew that it could be done and how everything worked but it was almost impossible to tell someone else how to do it. In the end it was all instinct and experience. Instinct and experience that only Serena had.
It took a couple minutes of tense concentration before the shield of blinding white energy flew up around them. The light was pure white and yet, after the initial blinding flash, it was something easy to look at. It was like looking at the glowing full moon, and just as mysterious. No one on the outside could see in anymore and only those that Serena chose to allow through could pass the barrier. The fight would be contained.
Now, all that was left to do was wait and pray. Wait for 12:00 pm to come and pray that they would be able to hold on long enough for the others to come back.
Serena closed her eyes and began to pray in earnest.
* * * * *
AN: Hey all. Umm..well...couple things. First is, I made a mistake in the last chapter. *scuffs her shoe* Pluto never was the leader of the outers like I said. But, I've devided that I'm not going to change it. I re read that section and liked the way it went sooo...think of this as one of those little quirks that make this a AU story. Yea. That sounds almost reasonable. And that is the only mistake I am publicly admitting to today *glances guiltily at Jedi Master Calriel*. I know there are others but I'll leave them for another chapter's confessions. Anyways, hats off to Miko for beating SM info into my thick skull. Second thing is that I went home for the holidays. That means that my writing will be slow to non existant since I don't have my computer at my parent's place and am going to be majorly busy. I will try to get something out but I make no promises.
As always, thanks to Mercurial1 for putting up with me and trying to make this story readable.
And before I forget
HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!! Love ya all!
On to the reviewer responses...
S. L. Butterworth - hey you! Long time no hear. I'm glad to see you came back to read this and are still enjoying it. Hope to hear more from you!
Mercury Guardian - Short? This is one of my longer chapter. Oh, you mean those last chapters...hee hee. Sorry, tired = bad jokes. Anyways, that is really cool to hear. I love the fact that people like the stroy enough to suggest it as a good read to others. At least I hope it was suggested as a good read rather than an avoid at all costs. *wink*
Jedi Master Calriel - Hey, I'm just glad you didn't die. That would bum me out. *grins* Sorry to hear about the computer crashing though. I know how much of a pain in the butt that is to deal with. And thanks for pointing out the mistake. The problem is it has been awhile since I'm read or watched any SM so I am always forgetting little details like that. I think I need to just sit down one day here and watch the entire first season over again. Maybe that will help. In the meantime, at least I have awesome people to help my memory.
Lil-PrincessK - So...know where Jadeite is yet? *evil laughter*
Phoeaix - lol. Work is overratted anyways. I'm glad I can help you avoid it.
kalinda - Thanks! I'll try and get the next chapter out fairly soon.
Niamh. . . Arrr - Thanks! Yea, I'll try to watch the repetative phrases thing. I can't make any promises though. I'll admit to being rather fond of the boss lady comments. *grins*
Sailorhawwienangel - Thanks! I'll try and get that next chapter out in a decent amount of time. Well...for me at least. missaw - Jaedite? Who's Jaedite? *evil laughter* I haven't had this much fun with the mystery in the stroy since the villians. And, truth be told, I am just as scared about people's reactions. Should be interesting though. And hopefully not too much hate mail.
teenie17 - Thanks! I'll work on getting the next chapter out when I can. Promise! Janna Doe - Thanks. I know these parings aren't everyone's favorites but I wanted to write this story with a lot of the traditional characters and such. And as to your other request...AH!!! You had to ask that while I'm in one of my little slash moods. Now I have all these cool ideas for that story. Actually, this fic was suppost to have the characters dealing with that little bit of history too but I'm not sure if they'll get around to it. So...yea, I guess you could say that I'm considering it. BUT NOT TILL I FINISH THIS!!! (that was more directed at my own muses than you)
Kitsune Moonstar - aww. Thanks. Here, you can share my cookies with me. *hands you a large cookie*
serenity - as of right now, I think that there is no way that the other outer scouts are going to make an appearance in this story. I already feel like I have too many characters to deal with. And I do want this monster to end someday.
firelightz - HI!!! Don't ask. Really. You don't want to know. The green bunnies with purple poka dots were really not my fault. They came through the walls all on their own. (Please ignore the author of this story, she is currently slightly delusional and hyped up on caffiene)
Moonkid 2003-12-05 32 Anonymous hey man you need to keep going with this one got it.You are good at this suff keep it up I will make you
MoS - a chad fan? hmm...sorry. Jaedite is not Chad. Though I do love Chad too. He is too cute. Especially with Rei. And kudos for being one of the only people to point out the big glaring hole in my story. Your right, I really haven't explained how the generals were re-born. I actually am hoping to go into that in more detail with Rei and Jaedite. Basically though, they weren't exactly re-born in the tradition sense. The silver crystal, while it was messing with everyones minds, just sorta inserted the generals back into the world with a full set of false memories about living human lives.
lina - Glad you like the mature Serena. I know for a fact that I wouldn't have been able to write the character right the way she is done in the show or manga so I tweaked her into something I could write. Glad it seems to be working.
Mara Roberts - You are right, that sounds wierd. I'll be going back sometime here and fixing it. Thanks for pointing that out. I'm really bad sometimes about editing my own stuff because I have this picture in my head of what is happening in the story and sometimes I don't pay enough attention to the wording while I'm rereading.
happygolucky111 - I'm writing. Sadly, this chapter has actually been done for a couple days but due to the fact that I'm back in good old Minnesota and Christmas is coming up, it took me awhile to go over it one last time and post. Sorry.
Kajino-san/Marie-san - lol! Thanks. Its alway cool to hear from people. Especially when they start their reviews with 'all hail Denial'.
Bluejello - shhh! You should be proud. people haven't been this jumpy and worried about a character since the villians.
anonymous - alright, well I had two anonymous reviews. If you are the same person, cool. If not, sorry! Anyways, glad I got you to laugh out loud. Sanity is overratted anyways.
secrets - hey, no problem. I love getting a chance to respond to people who review. Its really cool to hear what people think about what I am writing and so far, even the critisisms have been really nice and useful.
QueenofMercury - aww. Thanks. Some of the best praise is from other authors. I just hope that I can keep the story going and be as entertaining and interesting with the end as the begining.
Usako4life - lol. Sorry, you actually managed to hit on something that I was worried about, Lita and Mal. Their story kinda got interupted there by the bad guys and everything is starting to move a whole lot faster. But they will still get their moments in there, promise. And the story is by no means done yet.
crystal-cherry - Not exactly soon, but hey, its an update.
angel313 - On chapter, coming up.
BenRG - I'm not really sure yet how the whole final battle(s) are going to play out. I have lots of ideas but until the chapter is actually written, I'm not sure which ones will work or not. Hopefully though, this will work and the characters will cooperate by giving me a happy ending.
Miko633 - hey! Sorry about that Pluto thing. Yes, I should have known better but it has been a long time since I've watched the anime or read the manga. I did consider fixing it but I kinda liked the idea of Pluto as the leader. Forgive me?
chibi-ami - Hope that psych exam went well. And I am always glad to provide an alternative to studying. hee hee.
X5-452Star - Thanks. I always loved the relationship between Rei and Serena. Rei, as a character, is so complex. She always seemed like the last one standing beside Serena in all of the major fights. I always thought that it said a lot about their relationship as friends.
Mercurial1 - Once again, thanks. Sorry this took so long to get out. It was entirely my fault as I was running around like mad trying to do other things in time for christmas.
Chicken Stars - hee hee. Everyone is all worried about Jaedite. I wonder why. Anyways, Hope this works for you and you contiue to enjoy the story.
roswellachick - lol. Hope your finals went well and this chapter is all kinds of good.
Next to her she could feel Nephrite's reassuring presence. Everything had been happening so quickly that they hadn't had time to continue to work out what was between them and how they were going to deal with it. His presence was like some twisted miracle, unbelievably wonderful and yet so full of pain that she still couldn't decide if it was good or bad. But it was reassuring to know that he was there, at her side once again in the face of this new threat. An old familiarity that she hadn't even known that she had been missing.
* * * * *
Ami stood with her friends and her lover, glaring up at the message in the sky. They never got a break. This was just one more thing, one more pain to add to the ever-growing list. She tried to hang on to her control, the calm that had always been her trademark in the past, but it was so hard when every time she turned around fate was kicking her friends again.
A pair of strong arms wrapped themselves around her waist, pulling her against a firm chest. It was as if Zoicite's warmth was able to seep into her very core and give her the calm that she had been struggling so hard to recapture just a moment before. As if only with him was she able to truly be in control of herself.
* * * * *
Mina watched the sky and scanned the horizon for any threats. This was bad. It meant that they might not have enough time to do what they needed to do. Not if Pluto was correct in them needing the other two missing Generals and their strength in this fight.
Her general was still missing. Malachite. Her white haired lover. She knew where he was now, could see him again, maybe have another chance at happiness. It seemed impossible. There was too much pain and anger and history between them to ever have a chance of making it work. But somehow it had worked for Ami. The girl had worked a miracle as far as Mina was concerned. And now Lita and Nephrite were trying to duplicate Ami's miracle. It was still strained between those two but she had caught the longing glances and the occasion brief touch. And there were moments when it was like they forgot the past and everything between them just clicked.
She wanted that. Was almost willing to risk anything to have it. Almost.
Some prices may be too high to pay.
Even for the goddess of love.
* * * * *
Rei glanced around. They were out of time. And she didn't have time to wallow in self pity. She had something to do. For her princess.
And maybe even for herself.
* * * * *
Serena stood staring into the sky. She could feel the eyes of the others staring at her back but she couldn't bring herself to turn away yet from what the sky held for her.
Written in fire across the darkened sky was the message.
~Sailor Moon. Let us end this. Today. 12:00 pm. Noon. The Stars Tower.~
It appeared that her daughter had decided that it was time to end this once and for all. The Stars Tower was in the center of the city. Serena didn't want to think about why it had been chosen. There were so many people living and working around and in that building that if their fight became out of control innocents could die.
There was no way that she could ignore the challenge either. She had to go. If she didn't there was no telling what her daughter would do. No, she had to go, even if she wasn't ready.
Out of the corner of her eye she could see Darien, staring at the sky. She turned her head to look at him and it was like looking into a mirror. In his eyes she could see all of her emotions, the hurt, the pain, the confusion and the emotions that had no name being reflected back at her. And there was an understanding there of what they needed to do.
They had to split up their strength. Mina, Darien and Zoicite had to go after Malachite in Russia. They had to at least get one of the two missing Generals. Ami could stay behind and continue looking for Jadeite. And Serena would take the rest with her to go fight.
Turning around together, they faced the others together and began to tell them their plan.
"No."
Serena whipped around to stare at Rei in astonishment, "No?"
"Ami has to go with you to the fight. You'll need her." Rei said calmly.
"Rei...We need all of Darien's generals for this fight. Until we find Jadeite we'll be under strength. I know you may not..." Serena began, trying to reason with her friend.
"No." Rei interrupted, "I know where Jadeite is. I'll get him. You take Ami with you."
Serena took a hesitant step forward, "You know where he is?"
"Yes." Rei's tone let Serena know that she didn't want to talk about it, to answer the other girls' questions.
Serena seemed to hesitate for a second before nodding once, "You'll need Darien to reawaken his memories."
"Don't worry about that." Rei said, transforming into Sailor Mars.
"But..." Serena said, confused.
"I don't think he ever forgot." Rei said before teleporting away.
The others stared at the spot where the Priestess had been standing a second ago, trying to understand that last cryptic message.
Serena shook herself back into the present and looked at the others, "Mina, you still need to go get Malachite."
Mina looked at her and nodded, "Let me grab some stuff and then we'll leave."
Mina turned and ran back into the temple and the others followed, thinking of what the coming day would bring and what they would need to get through it.
Serena stood outside and looked at Darien. He held open his arms and she ran into them.
"Shh. It'll all be okay. We'll get through this. I promise." Darien whispered into her hair as he crushed her small frame to him.
Serena finally released the control that she had been holding over body and sobbed quiet tears into Darien's shirt. She felt like she would have shaken apart if his arms hadn't been around her to hold her together.
"I don't want you to go." She admitted quietly.
"I don't want you to go either." Darien admitted, crushing her tighter to him, "I'm scared. Scared that I won't be able to make it back in time and you'll get hurt because I wasn't there. Scared that this will be the last time I ever hold you. All I want to do is grab you and run away from all of this, protect you from everything and let the world deal with this without us for once."
Serena pulled back slightly to stare into Darien's eyes, "But we can't, can we?"
Instead of answering, Darien leaned down and kissed her. The kiss held all the promises that they had ever made to one another, all their declarations of love, all their hope for the future in it. It was rough and desperate as they both tried to ignore the possibility that they may never get to do this again. Serena whimpered, fighting her bodies need for air in order to hold onto that kiss for another precious few seconds.
Finally they pulled apart, gasping for air. The others came out of the temple, and the finally broke apart. Serena blinked back her tears as Darien walked over to Mina and Zoicite.
"We'll be back." Mina promised solemnly, looking at her Princess.
Darien merely stared into her eyes, "I love you."
The three teleported away before anything else could be said or done.
Turning away from the spot where her love had just disappeared from and looked at people standing at her back. Ami looked at her, her eyes full of understanding and Serena felt like kicking herself. She wasn't the only one who was watching a loved one leave.
She walked over and offered Ami a small, comforting smile, "Time to hold up our end of things."
* * * * *
Serena, Ami, Lita, Nephrite transformed and teleported to the roof of the Star Tower. There were already police and news crews beginning to crawl all over the place. Apparently they hadn't been the only one to get the message.
"We need a way to keep people out of here so that we can fight without worrying about them." Serena said, looking at the others.
"What did you have in mind?" Lita asked.
"Some sort of shield around the building." Serena said, looking at Ami, "What do you think?"
"The building is huge. To do something like that will require a lot of energy." Ami said, pulling out her computer and typing in some questions.
"I'm just looking for a simple barrier here. Something to keep the innocents out of the line of fire." Serena said, watching the police erecting their own barriers around the building.
"Maybe we should talk to them, ask them to leave?" Nephrite asked quietly, as if unsure of the merits of his suggestion.
Serena sighed, "We could try. I've never had any real contact with the authorities before. I was kind of hoping to avoid it."
"Maybe it's not that good of an idea anyway. I don't think the new crews will leave such a story and the police won't leave a potential site of violence." Nephrite reasoned, "If we talk to them, they'll want to ask all sorts of questions like what is going on, too."
Serena shuddered at the thought of trying to explain to someone what exactly was going on. They wouldn't be able to understand.
"Hmmm..." Ami muttered, turning to look at Serena, "I think we could work something out. It'll take a lot of energy but I think if you were to tie the shield into the power of the Silver Crystal, we could hold it up. It is the only thing that we have that generates enough energy on its own to hold something of that size up. But it will be a serious drain on the Crystals power. You won't be able to use it for anything else while the shield is up."
"Is there any other way of doing it?" Serena asked, worried at the thought of not being able to use the crystal in the upcoming fight.
"The only other way is for two of us to pull out of the fight and hold the shield up ourselves. Two scouts could, between them, create a shield around something as large as this building. Truthfully, one could probably do it but if their concentration were to slip then it would fail. If there were two, they would be able to catch each others slips and hold it."
"No." Serena shook her head, "That is not an option. There is no way that I am pulling any one out of this fight if we don't have to. We're too weak as it is, split up right now."
"If we are going to do this, we should do it soon." Lita said, watching the people below, "Otherwise we'll be trapping people inside rather than out."
Serena turned to Ami and pulled out the Crystal, "How do I do this?"
Ami explained it as best she could, but in the end it was up to Serena, the only one who could really use the crystal and its power, to figure it out. It was like trying to tell someone how to move their arm. You knew that it could be done and how everything worked but it was almost impossible to tell someone else how to do it. In the end it was all instinct and experience. Instinct and experience that only Serena had.
It took a couple minutes of tense concentration before the shield of blinding white energy flew up around them. The light was pure white and yet, after the initial blinding flash, it was something easy to look at. It was like looking at the glowing full moon, and just as mysterious. No one on the outside could see in anymore and only those that Serena chose to allow through could pass the barrier. The fight would be contained.
Now, all that was left to do was wait and pray. Wait for 12:00 pm to come and pray that they would be able to hold on long enough for the others to come back.
Serena closed her eyes and began to pray in earnest.
* * * * *
AN: Hey all. Umm..well...couple things. First is, I made a mistake in the last chapter. *scuffs her shoe* Pluto never was the leader of the outers like I said. But, I've devided that I'm not going to change it. I re read that section and liked the way it went sooo...think of this as one of those little quirks that make this a AU story. Yea. That sounds almost reasonable. And that is the only mistake I am publicly admitting to today *glances guiltily at Jedi Master Calriel*. I know there are others but I'll leave them for another chapter's confessions. Anyways, hats off to Miko for beating SM info into my thick skull. Second thing is that I went home for the holidays. That means that my writing will be slow to non existant since I don't have my computer at my parent's place and am going to be majorly busy. I will try to get something out but I make no promises.
As always, thanks to Mercurial1 for putting up with me and trying to make this story readable.
And before I forget
HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!! Love ya all!
On to the reviewer responses...
S. L. Butterworth - hey you! Long time no hear. I'm glad to see you came back to read this and are still enjoying it. Hope to hear more from you!
Mercury Guardian - Short? This is one of my longer chapter. Oh, you mean those last chapters...hee hee. Sorry, tired = bad jokes. Anyways, that is really cool to hear. I love the fact that people like the stroy enough to suggest it as a good read to others. At least I hope it was suggested as a good read rather than an avoid at all costs. *wink*
Jedi Master Calriel - Hey, I'm just glad you didn't die. That would bum me out. *grins* Sorry to hear about the computer crashing though. I know how much of a pain in the butt that is to deal with. And thanks for pointing out the mistake. The problem is it has been awhile since I'm read or watched any SM so I am always forgetting little details like that. I think I need to just sit down one day here and watch the entire first season over again. Maybe that will help. In the meantime, at least I have awesome people to help my memory.
Lil-PrincessK - So...know where Jadeite is yet? *evil laughter*
Phoeaix - lol. Work is overratted anyways. I'm glad I can help you avoid it.
kalinda - Thanks! I'll try and get the next chapter out fairly soon.
Niamh. . . Arrr - Thanks! Yea, I'll try to watch the repetative phrases thing. I can't make any promises though. I'll admit to being rather fond of the boss lady comments. *grins*
Sailorhawwienangel - Thanks! I'll try and get that next chapter out in a decent amount of time. Well...for me at least. missaw - Jaedite? Who's Jaedite? *evil laughter* I haven't had this much fun with the mystery in the stroy since the villians. And, truth be told, I am just as scared about people's reactions. Should be interesting though. And hopefully not too much hate mail.
teenie17 - Thanks! I'll work on getting the next chapter out when I can. Promise! Janna Doe - Thanks. I know these parings aren't everyone's favorites but I wanted to write this story with a lot of the traditional characters and such. And as to your other request...AH!!! You had to ask that while I'm in one of my little slash moods. Now I have all these cool ideas for that story. Actually, this fic was suppost to have the characters dealing with that little bit of history too but I'm not sure if they'll get around to it. So...yea, I guess you could say that I'm considering it. BUT NOT TILL I FINISH THIS!!! (that was more directed at my own muses than you)
Kitsune Moonstar - aww. Thanks. Here, you can share my cookies with me. *hands you a large cookie*
serenity - as of right now, I think that there is no way that the other outer scouts are going to make an appearance in this story. I already feel like I have too many characters to deal with. And I do want this monster to end someday.
firelightz - HI!!! Don't ask. Really. You don't want to know. The green bunnies with purple poka dots were really not my fault. They came through the walls all on their own. (Please ignore the author of this story, she is currently slightly delusional and hyped up on caffiene)
Moonkid 2003-12-05 32 Anonymous hey man you need to keep going with this one got it.You are good at this suff keep it up I will make you
MoS - a chad fan? hmm...sorry. Jaedite is not Chad. Though I do love Chad too. He is too cute. Especially with Rei. And kudos for being one of the only people to point out the big glaring hole in my story. Your right, I really haven't explained how the generals were re-born. I actually am hoping to go into that in more detail with Rei and Jaedite. Basically though, they weren't exactly re-born in the tradition sense. The silver crystal, while it was messing with everyones minds, just sorta inserted the generals back into the world with a full set of false memories about living human lives.
lina - Glad you like the mature Serena. I know for a fact that I wouldn't have been able to write the character right the way she is done in the show or manga so I tweaked her into something I could write. Glad it seems to be working.
Mara Roberts - You are right, that sounds wierd. I'll be going back sometime here and fixing it. Thanks for pointing that out. I'm really bad sometimes about editing my own stuff because I have this picture in my head of what is happening in the story and sometimes I don't pay enough attention to the wording while I'm rereading.
happygolucky111 - I'm writing. Sadly, this chapter has actually been done for a couple days but due to the fact that I'm back in good old Minnesota and Christmas is coming up, it took me awhile to go over it one last time and post. Sorry.
Kajino-san/Marie-san - lol! Thanks. Its alway cool to hear from people. Especially when they start their reviews with 'all hail Denial'.
Bluejello - shhh! You should be proud. people haven't been this jumpy and worried about a character since the villians.
anonymous - alright, well I had two anonymous reviews. If you are the same person, cool. If not, sorry! Anyways, glad I got you to laugh out loud. Sanity is overratted anyways.
secrets - hey, no problem. I love getting a chance to respond to people who review. Its really cool to hear what people think about what I am writing and so far, even the critisisms have been really nice and useful.
QueenofMercury - aww. Thanks. Some of the best praise is from other authors. I just hope that I can keep the story going and be as entertaining and interesting with the end as the begining.
Usako4life - lol. Sorry, you actually managed to hit on something that I was worried about, Lita and Mal. Their story kinda got interupted there by the bad guys and everything is starting to move a whole lot faster. But they will still get their moments in there, promise. And the story is by no means done yet.
crystal-cherry - Not exactly soon, but hey, its an update.
angel313 - On chapter, coming up.
BenRG - I'm not really sure yet how the whole final battle(s) are going to play out. I have lots of ideas but until the chapter is actually written, I'm not sure which ones will work or not. Hopefully though, this will work and the characters will cooperate by giving me a happy ending.
Miko633 - hey! Sorry about that Pluto thing. Yes, I should have known better but it has been a long time since I've watched the anime or read the manga. I did consider fixing it but I kinda liked the idea of Pluto as the leader. Forgive me?
chibi-ami - Hope that psych exam went well. And I am always glad to provide an alternative to studying. hee hee.
X5-452Star - Thanks. I always loved the relationship between Rei and Serena. Rei, as a character, is so complex. She always seemed like the last one standing beside Serena in all of the major fights. I always thought that it said a lot about their relationship as friends.
Mercurial1 - Once again, thanks. Sorry this took so long to get out. It was entirely my fault as I was running around like mad trying to do other things in time for christmas.
Chicken Stars - hee hee. Everyone is all worried about Jaedite. I wonder why. Anyways, Hope this works for you and you contiue to enjoy the story.
roswellachick - lol. Hope your finals went well and this chapter is all kinds of good.