CHAPTER SIX: THE CURSE OF SATURN!
"Jed. We were beginning to worry." Michelle greeted him on the steps leading up to the Hikawa Shrine. "We gave Serena and the others a call, they said you never called them."
Jed arrived in his vehicle, with Trista in the passenger seat. He didn't even crack a smile. To his mind there was nothing left to smile about. His experience that morning had left him virtually in shock.
"I'm sorry," he apologized. "Something came up."
"It's not like you to be this late, but since Trista's here I'm sure there's a good reason," Michelle turned to the green haired Senshi. "Hello, Trista. It's been a while."
"I'm sorry I don't drop by more often," said Trista, getting out of the car. "Work is tough these days. Especially in the past week or so."
"So you know," Michelle led the two of them up the steps. "Everyone's all here now so we can get right down to business. The news is reporting some kind of nasty storm over Shiba Park that disappeared almost as quickly as it came. Some witnesses saw you-know-who flying out of there at around the same time."
"We know about that, trust me, we know," said Jed.
Michelle gave him a long look. "I understand," she replied, and said no more.
"Hello, Jed. How's the Policing business?" asked Mina Aino. It was she, Lita Kino, Katsie and Birdie Ayakashi, and Serena Tsukino, along with Amara, Darien, and the usual Cat Guardians: Luna and Artemis.
"Pretty rough lately, Mina," Jed greeted her stiffly. "Hey everyone. Sorry to keep you waiting. I had to take a detour on the way over."
"He cracks jokes, but there's no humor in it," Katsie observed somberly. "You look like you've seen something very shattering. There's a dark cloud behind your eyes."
"Katsie, please don't talk like that! It's creepy!" Birdie shivered. "You've been like that ever since you took over the Shrine for Raye!"
"Speaking of which, Grandpa Hino says you're making spectacular progress with your psychic powers," Lita congratulated Katsie. "He says you're one of the best Apprentices he's ever had next to his Granddaughter."
Katsie blushed and looked down at her lap.
"Enough small-talk, girls. Jedite is here finally. We can begin discussing business now." Luna cut them all off curtly.
"Sorry," Lita covered her mouth impishly.
"So are you going to tell us what happened to you?" Darien asked Jed. "Katsie's right. And you don't have to be a psychic to know you just saw something pretty bad."
"I saw Hotaru," said Jed, leaning against the door frame.
All the good humor seemed to fly right out of the room. "You saw Executioner again?" Amara asked.
"You heard me right," Jed looked at everyone. "It was Hotaru. The same Hotaru we all know and love. The same Hotaru we all saw die July 23rd. The same person who's been killing criminals by the dozens over the past four days."
"I don't believe it!" Serena blurted out.
"He's telling the truth, Serena. Please let him finish," Trista chided her.
Jed went on to explain everything that had happened to him from the moment he last parted with Amara and Michelle. He explained all the way up to the point where Trista appeared over the lake. And somehow, during all this, he managed to keep his emotions in check.
Artemis and Luna looked gravely at one another once the story was finished. Trista caught their eye and nodded to them.
Mina caught the silent exchange. "You know… One of these days we're going to have to sit down and have a long talk about the Moon Kingdom and any other unpleasant secrets that might be locked away in our memories. Because I don't think I can take this endless cycle of surprises."
"Minako if you knew half of what any of us know, you wouldn't even be able to sleep at night," Jed said to her.
"What did you just call me?" Mina blinked.
"By your Royal name," Luna explained. "Which proves his memory of past events is almost intact, but not completely. Otherwise he would not have been surprised to see Hotaru in the park this morning."
"I never met Hotaru in my previous life," said Jed. "This is where you come in."
"Where to begin?" Luna became thoughtful. "The story of Saturn's Senshi does not begin or end with Hotaru. In point of fact this is a story that dates back many thousands of years and many Senshi generations."
"Let me, Luna," Trista stood forward. "In the beginning, there were nine of us. Nine Senshi and their allies banished to this Solar System, because of an uprising on our home world, Kinmoku. They were led by Sailor Serenity, a former Archsenshi, who changed her name upon settling on the Moon circling Earth. Her other Senshi each claimed a world for their own, and changed their names. From then on, it was tradition to pass on that title to their offspring.
"Now," Trista continued. "One of the nine worlds of this System is Saturn. Already over the years you have heard many sad and terrible things spoken of this Planet. The Planet of Silence; The Planet of Death, and so on. There is a reason for this. Long before the Senshi settled on that world, the beings who inhabited that world were the dominant force in this region. They were a race of extremely sophisticated culture and technology. They had already inhabited or visited each of the nine worlds. We know this from the relics they left behind when our ancestors came.
"They were called Twilaxu. They were a humanoid race not unlike you Humans. They had blue skin, dark hair, fangs. They liked Saturn because its cloud layer was so thick it completely suffused the Sun's light. Saturn, which they called 'Twilax,' literally was the DARK Planet. The Twilaxu were a nocturnal race who loved the night. One day, long before Sailor Serenity came, there was a terrible conflict, perhaps a Civil War, on Planet Saturn. We don't know much of what happened, but we can surmise that the Twilaxu escalated their conflict to the point where they employed weapons of mass destruction that make those Humans use look like toys in comparison. This conflict… wiped out their entire Race."
"Good God!" Birdie gasped.
"We don't know how, or why, but the evil deeds committed in those final hours by the Twilaxu placed a curse on the world. Forever after nothing would grow or live without support on Saturn. Our Race learned that the hard way when we came along. Serenity the First was determined to lay claim to it, however, and so she ordered her servant, Sailor Star Blaster, to oversee the settlement of Saturn.
"Thus was the Sailor Saturn line of Senshi born. And the curse of Saturn would not become readily evident until many years later," Trista closed her eyes, as if envisioning the memory. "This is the 'Curse of Saturn': Whosoever wields the power of this world for any purpose shall forever be cursed with immortality most foul. Nevermore shall they be allowed into the afterlife for any reason, good or ill. And they will wield a power so great and terrible it will cause death to whatever world it is used on. Sound familiar?"
"It's the power of Sailor Saturn," said Artemis somberly. "The power to destroy worlds. And it also explains how she keeps returning from the dead, even, apparently, from total obliteration."
"That is exactly it. Only when the Senshi of Saturn has a viable, female offspring is the curse lifted from them. However, the curse then passes on to the next generation. Hotaru is the latest recipient of the curse." Trista looked at Amara and Michelle. "It was this power that Pharaoh 90 coveted when he learned of it. He wanted a soldier he could control that was so powerful that he could lay waste to life in the Universe and create the nothingness and death he so desired.
"Shortly after Hotaru was born in the Silver Millenium, Pharaoh 90 saw his opportunity. His servants, the Death Busters, stole Hotaru as a child from her parents. Hotaru, however, was so pure of heart she would not cooperate under any circumstances with the Great Destroyer. Her strength of heart astounded and frustrated him, but he did not give in. Instead he used his dark arts to create a secondary soul within Hotaru. He created another, more sadistic persona, which he dubbed 'Mistress Nine'."
"And so the puzzle comes together," said Amara. "But his plan didn't go off as expected."
"No, before he could act, Queen Beryl made HER move and destroyed the Moon Kingdom and every Senshi in it. Hotaru included. Pharaoh 90 was enraged beyond all measure, but knew that one day he would get another chance once Hotaru was inevitably reborn. Queen Serenity further ensured that would happen when she sent the life essence of all her Guardians and Servants to the future to be reborn.
"Then there's the events of seven years ago which you all remember," Trista went on. "Pharaoh 90 had carefully manipulated events so that Hotaru would be born to Doctor Suichi Tomoe, a Professor who outshone all other people in his genius. The Destroyer infected Tomoe's soul with a Daimon, and used him as his puppet to create him an army of genetically engineered Daimons bent on destruction. Through him, Pharaoh 90's army was reborn.
"At the same time, he engendered the emergence of Mistress Nine's personality in the infant Hotaru. Consequently she grew up forever in conflict with her darker side. The reason she never seemed in good health, always frail, was due to the fact she was constantly fighting Mistress Nine's soul. The key to Mistress Nine's emergence lay in three special Heart Crystal Talismen. At one time I was in possession of all three, but I was afraid Pharaoh 90 would find a way to influence the Time Stream, so I scattered the Talismen so that none of them would be in proximity all at once. I confess that I used you two, Michelle and Amara, as the hiding places for them."
"So it was you all the time?" Amara looked shocked. "You knew the whole time?"
"I guiltily confess that I made up that prophecy of the Messiah of Silence in order to set you on the road to opposition with Pharaoh 90. I sent those dreams and visions of the Talismen and the end of the world to Raye, so that she might warn the Inner Senshi. Above all else I knew that only one being in this Universe could wield the might of the Three Talismen combined: Sailor Moon, the sole heir to the Serenity line, as it was intended. Things came together rather nicely in my opinion, but the danger still remained. For once the Talismen were combined, all Mistress Nine had to do was reach out and take command of it in order to give power to Pharaoh 90 and bring him completely into our Universe so that he could lay waste to it!"
"And the rest, as they say, is History," said Luna. "Even I didn't know about your meddling in things, Sailor Pluto. You really are quite clever. So this is why even though Hotaru keeps dying…"
"Why she continually returns. It had nothing to do with the power of Sailor Moon or Sailor Galaxia. It was the curse at work," explained Trista. "However, Pharaoh 90's curse remains as well, it seems. For the current incarnation of Sailor Saturn is dominated by the familiar old 'Mistress Nine'."
"So it IS her!" Michelle snapped her fingers. "But something is indeed different about her. She doesn't seem as completely dark or evil as she did before. And she seems to honestly believe she is a Senshi."
"That is a phenomenon I really DON'T know the answer to," Trista shrugged. "I can only surmise that the last time Hotaru died and was reborn, some kind of blending of the personalities took place."
"More importantly, Hotaru has come back with her!" Serena began to look excited. "So all we need to do is help her become the dominant personality and we can have her back! We can take back at least one friend that Dark Mercury took away from us!"
"So, like a Phoenix, there's really no way to kill Sailor Saturn, is there?" Lita asked.
"Only when her Senshi power is passed on to a new generation will the Curse of Saturn go away from her. Should Hotaru have no children… She'll simply live forever." said Trista.
"That's mind-boggling!" exclaimed Lita. "Then there was really no reason for us to mourn over her, was there?"
"Unless we can find a way to keep Hotaru on top, however, there will be plenty more mourning in this city, if not by us," Jed finally spoke up. "Back at the park, Hotaru asked me to kill her. But that's no solution. The cycle will just repeat itself over and over and people will continue to die, unless we can completely exorcise Executioner, won't it?"
"I'm afraid so," Trista replied. She gave Jed a painful look, but said nothing more. No one else seemed to catch the exchange.
"Then we know what we have to do!" Serena stood up and looked around at her teammates. She seemed very keen on this subject now. "We have to get through to Hotaru, bring her out again, and then we can try to separate her from Mistress Nine!"
"But how?" asked Darien.
"Simple… We………." Serena sweat dropped and trailed off. "Uh… That is we…" She gave her fiance a murderous look. "Well what would YOU do, Mister Smarty-Pants?!!"
"Hey! Hey!" Darien waved his hands defensively.
"I got through to Hotaru before," Jed answered. "We hunt Executioner down and then we weaken her. We gotta wear her down until she can't fight back, then we can see about coaxing Sailor Saturn out of her. Sailor Moon, if your powers can extract evil from me, don't you realize you can probably do so to HER as well?"
Sailor Moon's eyes became like dots. "Oh, yeah… There is that, isn't there?"
"Idiot…" Katsie muttered.
"KATSIE!!" Serena gasped.
"Sorry, had to fill in for Raye," Katsie stuck her tongue out mischievously.
"Hunting her down will be tricky, but Executioner responds only to criminal activity," said Michelle. "So I suggest we spread out over the city and look for trouble ourselves. One of the ten of us is bound to get lucky and be at the same crime scene as her. Once we locate her, we call the others to help and corner her."
"And hope she doesn't get it into her head to use her ultimate power to destroy us all if we become too much of a nuisance to her," Artemis added. "I don't like this. Even Dark Mercury was more predictable than this villain."
"Let's get started," said Jed. "I'll go with Trista. The rest of you start patrolling. Keep your communicators open and your eyes peeled. Good luck to everyone."
They all left the Shrine shortly thereafter and spread out to look for Executioner.
The hunt was on.
Jed went with Trista on purpose. He knew the two of them had some talking to do. But even after they got back in his car and took off down the street there was a long interval of silence between the two of them.
Jed waited about fifteen minutes and eight or nine traffic lights before he broached the subject at last: "So do you want to talk about it? I can hear your brain storming right now."
Trista shook her head slowly. "Why didn't you say anything?"
"Because she was dead, Trista," Jed held his right hand up in sort of a half-shrug. "And I didn't know she'd be coming back in a month. I'm used to death being sort of a fairly permanent kind of thing, you know?"
"Usually it is," said Trista quietly. "But Hotaru has a tendency to punch holes in the definition of 'Terminal'."
"Thanks for the head's up about that, by the way," Jed replied sarcastically.
"What I don't understand is… Why? Why Hotaru?" asked Trista. "A thousand years ago you seemed so in love with me. And I was in love with you too. When Beryl took you away I almost died! It was the saddest day of my life and still is, Jed. And when you turned evil I vowed that someday I would take you back. You don't know how happy I was that I was able to thaw you out to help us against Dark Mercury."
Jed kept quiet. He only nodded. He was, of course, extremely and eternally grateful for his second chance. "Yeah, about that… I'm sorry for what I said when I came out of that Ice Coffin… I was too moody to appreciate the gift you gave me."
"I understand," said Trista. "And I was so proud of you when you willingly wanted to be healed. I knew that I had you back at last." She smiled briefly before her eyes turned sad again. "But all it took was five minutes… with her…"
"What do you want me to do? Erase my feelings?!" Jed became defensive. "It's not like I cast you aside the moment she saved my life! I love you both! I love both of you so much it drives me crazy! But you're always away, Trista! You say you value what we have, yet you spend 99% of our waking lives an entire Dimension away from me! It's not a habit, Trista! It's a fucking OBSESSION with you!! You CHOOSE to go up to that Time Stream and close yourself off from your friends! You CHOOSE to isolate yourself from everyone you love, including me!! I may be much older than I look, I might have been around the proverbial block a few thousand times, but I'm only a man, Trista! I'm too old to be sleeping by myself! I need someone there beside me to comfort me, to help me feel HUMAN again! And honestly, Trista, you do a piss-poor job of opening up to people, especially your friends! I mean Mina had a point back there… They don't know half as much about their origins as they deserve to… And they know less than half of what they know half as well as they should!"
"Alright… I'll admit I do spend too much time away," Trista admitted, looking away. "But you can't ask me to give up my responsibility. You have no idea how much is riding on my shoulders."
"No, I don't," Jed snapped. "But I sure wish you'd tell me from time to time!" he shook his head and laughed bitterly. "And don't try to ask why Hotaru, okay?… I… Really don't know why I find her so… Beautiful. I don't know… Why I love her the way I do. All I know is… I have to help her. If I can do anything to make up for the sins I've committed in my life I can at least do this. Maybe I'm condemned to Hell no matter what, but I don't want to die with nothing but filth on my conscience. Hotaru was everything I am not and I want to bring some of that back to the world for a change… After a lifetime of taking it away."
Trista nodded, her red eyes swimming with tears. "I know…" she said thickly. "For someone who pretends to be such a tough guy you sure speak from the heart a lot. That's why I fell in love with you."
"Just… Let me sort my feelings out, Trista, okay?" Jed said relenting. "You can trust me to do what's right at least."
Again the car fell into silence. They just cruised around like that for an hour or so. Waiting for something to come up on the radio. And as they drove, Trista couldn't stop thinking about Jed. He seemed to her so far away… so distant. When all this was over… Would she lose him once and for all?!
"You know, I was wondering something," said Sailor Moon, leaping from rooftop to rooftop with Tuxedo Mask.
"What's that?" asked Darien.
"If I were Sailor Saturn and I was possessed by some psychotic evil twin who thought she was a Senshi, where would I go? I mean wouldn't this be so much easier if we found out where she lives? She's gotta go somewhere to recharge, doesn't she?" Serena scratched her head.
"Of course, but we don't know where," Darien chuckled.
"What's so funny?" asked Serena.
"You, honey. You have such a unique way of putting things," he laughed.
"You're not teasing me again, are you?" Serena looked injured.
"Actually, I've noticed a change in you lately," Darien observed. "It started after Dark Mercury came. I see you making a strong effort not to act so flaky anymore, and you've really been buckling down lately, especially in school."
"You really mean it?!" Sailor Moon sounded excited. Her attention was focused entirely on Tuxedo Mask just then, and she didn't time her next jump quite well enough. Darien reacted in time to keep her from slamming face first in the wall, but she still dangled from his arm off the side of the roof about ten stories above the street.
"Of course in a lot of ways you're still a work in progress," Darien grunted, hauling her up with one arm. His other hand was clinging to the masonry with enough pressure to crack it.
"Sorry about that," Serena swung her legs up and over the edge of the roof. Tuxedo Mask hefted her up completely and then straightened himself out.
"Well I'd be lying anyway if I told you the clumsy Meatball Head in you wasn't in some perverse way attractive to me," he reassured her.
"Oh, Darien. You always know the greatest things to say!" Sailor Moon leaned against his chest. "And thanks for always looking out for me. I know it must be a chore at times."
Darien laughed and scooped her up in his arms. "Well I'd charge you, but you're not what I'd call a wealthy girl right now, so I think I'll just collect on something else for now." He leaned downward and kissed her.
"Mmm, now you're talking…" Serena moaned. Suddenly Police Sirens began to waft up from the street below them. The two of them pulled away.
"To be continued…" Tuxedo Mask said, leaping away.
Serena felt giddy inside as she leaped into flight to keep up with him.
TO BE CONTINUED.........
NEXT CHAPTER: THE HUNT FOR EXECUTIONER