Off in the faraway depths of time Super Sailorpluto paced by the gates. Her
rusty keys jingled on her hips with each step she tool, her heeled boots
clanking against the marble floor. With each glimpse of light, her orb that
was crowned on the key staff glimmered slightly, yet still deceived many by
appearing powerless. She stopped in her pacing, suddenly alarmed by the
ring of an ancient bell.
Father Chronos~, Pluto thought, ~great guardian of time. Show me that who wishes to pass through your gates. ~
The orb glowed a bright crimson and as she closed her eyes for vision, her senses heightened. A dark presence alerted her mind. Alarmed yet again, she permanently sealed the gates of time until she returned from her visit to Earth.
* * *
Atop a tall building by the ocean Super SailorNeptune and Uranus gazed upon the night sky. A gust of wind passed by and the two remained still as their hair was caught up in the movement of the breeze.
"I do miss the others," Neptune said softly, "but it's nice to see the brilliance of the ocean again."
Uranus merely nodded her reply. "I wonder how Hotaru is faring on her own."
Neptune smiled. "I'm sure -". She stopped mid-sentence.
Both looked out towards the ocean, which was completely still; not a single wave was upon it. The wind had also stopped, leaving an eerie silence around the building. The two senshi gave each other a purposeful glance and the next moment, the roof was completely deserted.
* * *
A small girl sat by a window as lightning flashed by. Her room was completely dark save for the corners crammed with different kinds of lamps and nearby stacks of old books. Thunder sounded throughout the room, but all the girl did was blink. From under her black dress, she pulled out a small stick with a purple orb crowned on top surrounded by semi-transparent rings that seemed to be moving all on their own. Her mouth moved, but her small voice was silenced by the violent thunder. Lightning flashed again and a tall female stood where once the girl was, a glimmer of metal appeared off to her right. Super Sailorsaturn sighed heavily and looked away from the window.
~I must warn the others, ~ she thought. ~Death is upon us. ~
"Usagi!" yelled Hino Rei, "hurry up! Do you want to be late for your first day back?"
At Rei's last word, Usagi came running out her front door with her briefcase in hand and a piece of toast in her mouth. She murmured a quick good morning to the group, although it sounded completely muffled with her face stuffed with food. The girls replied as was their morning routine, and they were off once more to school.
"Ne, Rei-chan, where's Ami-chan?" Usagi asked with a confused look as she looked around for her old friend.
"She headed off after waiting for ten minutes at your house; she mentioned that she had something important to do," responded Rei.
Usagi merely nodded and skipped ahead to catch up with Minako to chat about their courses this year. Makoto popped up beside Rei and chatted with her until she had to leave for her own school, which was on a different route, and left Makoto to her own thoughts.
~Everything seems so much different now. It's been about a year since any of us have had the need to transform. I guess defeating chaos was the last battle. ~ She glanced back at Usagi. ~She's tried so hard and has suffered more than any of us. She deserves this peace. ~
A few minutes later, they arrived at the school and headed towards their homeroom class. Ami was waiting there for them, reading one of her favourite books. She waved them over as she took her glasses off and smiled.
"Ohayou gozaimasu Usagi-chan. I'm glad to see you made it on time. A good start to the new semester, ne?" Ami greeted the other as well and she mentioned that she had wanted to get here early to save everyone their seats from the semester before.
The small group talked amongst themselves until the bell rang and the door slid open to reveal their teacher.
"Ohayou gozaimasu minna-san," said the teacher. "I hope you all enjoyed your holidays." There was a murmur of conversation, but a strict look from the teacher quickly silenced it. "Now, before we start today's review, I would like to introduce to you all a new student from Canada. Please make her feel welcome."
"Hai," replied the class almost instantaneously.
The door opened and a tall girl stepped through. She had strawberry blonde hair past her shoulders and very dark brown eyes. She appeared very pale, especially in her dark blue school fuku. She bowed down in respect and quickly came up again.
"My name is Ailya. I thank you for allowing me into your class."
Most of the students were astonished that she could speak fluent Japanese almost entirely without flaw and very little presence of an accent so it was no surprise to see a few of them with their mouths gaped open.
"Well, let's see," said the teacher as she looked around the class for an empty desk. "Why don't you sit beside Kino-san?"
The transfer student nodded politely and walked over to her seat at a constant pace, yet odd pace, as if it was intentional. As she passed Usagi, who was sitting directly in front of Makoto, her eyes met Usagi's. Time seemed to freeze as she looked at her, dark brown eyes piercing her own soft, blue ones. The world around Usagi had gone black and there was only the two of them standing there. She could hear her heart beating, faster and faster, as if they were something to be anticipating. The girl's lips were moving, but she could hear nothing.
A calm touch on the shoulder from Ami awoke her from the 'dream' as she decided to call it. Usagi wrote down some brief notes as the teacher continued to write on the board, but remained in a daze for the remainder of the class. By the time the bell had rung, all of her friends were giving her a concerned look as they headed out to the field for lunch.
"Usagi, you seem down. Is something wrong?" asked Minako.
She sat and pondered the thought. Had she imagined that encounter with the new girl? Usagi had sure thought so. She seemed to be the only one in the group who had noticed that Ailya had been staring at her when she first sat down.
"Um. No, not really," she replied. Then Usagi decided it was time to figure out if she had just been daydreaming again. "Ne, Mako-chan, did you notice something weird about the new girl, Ailya?"
Makoto looked up in thought. "No, she seems pretty cool to me. Speaking of Ailya," she said while looking over in another direction, "she looks pretty lonely. Why don't we ask her to join us for lunch?"
Everyone agreed and Makoto went over to where Ailya was sitting and brought her over. She seemed to be very quiet while she ate her lunch and remained out of the majority of the conversations. Whenever she was asked a question, she would answer quickly and return to listening.
Then out of nowhere she got up.
"I'm sorry everyone, I've got to go to the bathroom. Thank you for letting me eat with you though, I appreciate it." She bowed quickly and headed off to the school.
"Well, that was interesting," said Ami. "She seemed to be quite untalkative, I wonder why."
Makoto spoke up. "Well, you have to remember Ami-chan, that she is new to the school. She's probably just a little shy. After a few weeks she'll be just like the rest of us. Remember, I was the new girl once."
"Ya, but you weren't from Canada. At least it was still in the same country."
"Wow Mina-chan, that must be the first intelligent thing you've said in a while," sneered Makoto jokingly. They all had a good laugh at that, but a loud smashing sound coming from the school soon interrupted it.
The girls ran from their eating spot under the sakura blossom trees to where they had heard the screaming. The wind whipped through their hair as they ran at a speed most people could not even imagine. The rush of the need to help was all too familiar to the group of four.
But, suddenly, they stopped. The screaming had stopped long ago, but they could still sense they need of help, until just a moment ago. There was a new presence in its place, one that was familiar, yet unknown to them all. The wind stopped as they listened silently. Then the presence was gone, as quickly as it had appeared. They ran to where the scream had come from to find Naru crouching by a bush and shivering with fear.
"Usagi!" she said. Her face brightened up at the face of her friend. "I'm so glad you're here. It was horrible, absolutely horrible." She got to her feet and hugged Usagi tightly.
"What did you see, Naru-chan?" asked Usagi calmly.
"I don't really remember," she recalled. "It was like a large block of darkness and then a light shot out of somewhere and it was gone. I think it came from there though." Naru pointed over to her right, near the school.
"Here Naru-san, why don't we go to the infirmary to make sure you're alright?" suggested Ami. She nodded and followed along.
Usagi and Makoto were bringing up the rear when Usagi spotted something out of the corner of her eye. She waved Makoto over so she could see too. When they reached what had caught Usagi's attention, they both gasped. There was a pattern on the pavement of a star under another with a circle around the two in black ash. They glanced at each other and decided to catch up with the rest of the group later.
"What do you think this is?" asked Usagi to Makoto. She had a very worried and concerned look on her face as she posed the question.
Makoto sighed heavily. "I don't know. Maybe we can get Ami-chan to analyze some of this stuff," she pointed to the ash, "it might give us some clues." She dug through her pockets and found a plastic bag. "We'll put some of it in here, okay?"
Usagi nodded and gathered up some of the black ash into the small bad and handed it back to Makoto. Then rose from her crouched position and stood straight as she heard footsteps approach.
"Is something wrong?" inquired a slightly familiar voice. Ailya emerged from behind a corner, but her face was impossible to read; it seemed to be completely devoid of any emotion whatsoever.
"Oh, no," recovered Makoto, "someone just fell down. We're just making sure she didn't drop anything." She moved over from her previous position so she was placed directly in front of the ash, where it couldn't be seen by anyone on the opposite side. "Ne, Usagi-chan?"
Usagi quickly caught on. "Oh, yeah, right."
Ailya nodded as acknowledgement. "I shall see you in class then, Kino-san, Tsukino-san." She bowed slightly and was off for the school.
As soon as she was out of hearing distance, Usagi spoke up. "Why did you lie to her?" she asked. "It's not like she's a threat or anything."
"I know that very well Usagi-chan, but we should keep this to ourselves and the others; no need to worry the public about something unconfirmed." She saw Usagi's sad face as she said those words. ~ Here we go again; trouble is on the rise. ~ "Come on, we should get back to class, we don't want to be late, ne?"
The two friends headed off to their classroom for their last half of their first school day. They sat in their seats and remained quiet as the waited for the end of the day to approach. Once it did, they left the classroom in an orderly manner and met up with Minako, Ami, and later on, Rei. After discussing what should be done, the group decided that is was best to keep a look out of anything suspicious and to carry their henshin sticks around with them at all times, just to be careful.
"We'll meet at Rei-chan's house at seven then. That should give me enough time to analyze this sample. Ja ne." Ami waved as she head off.
The others soon followed in their own directions, to their own houses. But, a dark shadow followed close behind Usagi, who was unaware and without her henshin broche.
Usagi continued walking down the street in a frolicking manner as she hummed a familiar tune. Her hair was swishing in the wind as she walked, almost touching the ground as if to be sweeping it. Her mood seemed much more relaxed than earlier that day, apparently talking with her good friends had cheered her up. Yet, there was still something lingering in the back of her mind about the attack earlier today.
She slowed down as thoughts resurfaced and assumed a serious state as she continued walking. She looked up towards the sky, now almost completely dark from the setting of the sun, and gazed at the dim stars.
~ They seem so far, yet so close all at the same time, ~ she thought.
Usagi turned a corner to enter a park, but something wasn't right. Whenever she had walked home, this park was full of people playing with each other, or couples just sitting on a bench by the fountain. Yet, there were no people here now, and the wind had stopped eerily as she had turned the corner. Usagi now stopped and took in the silence. She had closed her eyes, and concentrated on any irregular force she could find.
But, it was too late for the next moment she was on the ground and covered in dirt from the pathway. Usagi quickly looked around to see who, or what, had pushed her down, but there was no one to be seen. Just as she tried to get up, a cold, vibrant wind blew past her and sent shivers down her spine. Then, a voice of cold and utter darkness spoke.
"'Tis no nightmare that thee sees before thine eyes," it spoke as a dark entity arose from the ground, "'Tis as real as you are, Child of the Light."
((Authors Note - words in italicises are meant to be said in English dialogue.))
Usagi scrambled backwards, confused with the curious foreign words, as she restlessly looked through her pockets for her henshin broche. Yet, she remembered that she had left it in a jewellery box since long after the battle with Chaos, as well as her communicator, so there was no chance for help from the other senshi. She was all on her own. Her thoughts were shrouded by darkness. She was all alone, there was no one to help her. After all of her battles, after all of her victories, none of them really mattered anymore – she was going to die, right now, right here.
Just at that instant, she heard a distant voice that seemed to pull her out of her desperate situation. It had the confidence she was lacking and a bravery that very few could put to the test. She felt safe at last.
"Stop!" yelled the voice.
There was a murmur of words that Usagi had missed, but right after there was a brilliant flash of light that seemed to flow over her body and she was now back in the park, no longer in the depths of her mind. Usagi tried to get to her feet, but she remained on the ground, frozen by fear that the creature might still be around and lurking for her. Yet, she was still thinking about the bright light and the voice. Who, or what, was that? Little did she know that her question was soon to be answered.
Usagi caught a glimpse of something out of the corner of her eye and turned to see what was going on. Before, there had been no movement in the park save for herself and the creature of darkness from before. Yet, there was a person here now. She was tall, much taller than herself and had a brilliant shade of strawberry blonde hair that reached down past her shoulders. She had odango, which confused Usagi considerably, not to mention the fact that she was wearing a fuku. It had a white base, much like hers, but the skirt was yellow with orange and red stripes trimming the bottom of it. Her boots were orange and reached up to her knees and there was a long bunch of ribbons hanging all about. But what Usagi noticed most was the staff that this girl seemed to be carrying at her side. It seemed to be all the colours she wore, yet none of them, all at the same time. And fixed about the top surrounded by the same strange material of the staff was a double star.
"Why don't you come back and face me," she said coolly at what appeared to be thin air to Usagi. But, then a dark body seemed to appear before the unknown girl, much like it had done to Usagi.
Yet, the events were not similar to those of Usagi. The girl had muttered some words and had performed some unfamiliar actions with her staff to bring forth a ball of white light that surged towards the dark being, which disappeared and turned to dust at the moment of contact.
~ Who is this girl? ~ Usagi asked herself. ~ Is she one of us, a senshi? Is it actually possible that there are more of us in Tokyo? But how could it be that we have never seen her before? ~
The senshi, as Usagi perceived her to be, was now walking towards her. Now that she was much closer, Usagi almost shivered at the coldness of her deep brown eyes. Her tiara was similar in shape to her own, but it contained an orange gem with many strange mists lurking within it. Usagi was surprised when she offered her gloved hand to her to help her to her feet.
"Thank you," Usagi stammered as she rose back to a standing position.
The expression on the senshi remained unreadable. "Do not bother thanking me, for it shall be the last time I help you." She turned away and began to walk off.
"Wait!" cried Usagi, "What's your name, who are you?"
The senshi stopped mid-step. "My name is SailorStarGazer." She paused. "And you already know who I am, Child of the Light." The next instant, she was gone, and Usagi was left there to ponder her findings.
Father Chronos~, Pluto thought, ~great guardian of time. Show me that who wishes to pass through your gates. ~
The orb glowed a bright crimson and as she closed her eyes for vision, her senses heightened. A dark presence alerted her mind. Alarmed yet again, she permanently sealed the gates of time until she returned from her visit to Earth.
* * *
Atop a tall building by the ocean Super SailorNeptune and Uranus gazed upon the night sky. A gust of wind passed by and the two remained still as their hair was caught up in the movement of the breeze.
"I do miss the others," Neptune said softly, "but it's nice to see the brilliance of the ocean again."
Uranus merely nodded her reply. "I wonder how Hotaru is faring on her own."
Neptune smiled. "I'm sure -". She stopped mid-sentence.
Both looked out towards the ocean, which was completely still; not a single wave was upon it. The wind had also stopped, leaving an eerie silence around the building. The two senshi gave each other a purposeful glance and the next moment, the roof was completely deserted.
* * *
A small girl sat by a window as lightning flashed by. Her room was completely dark save for the corners crammed with different kinds of lamps and nearby stacks of old books. Thunder sounded throughout the room, but all the girl did was blink. From under her black dress, she pulled out a small stick with a purple orb crowned on top surrounded by semi-transparent rings that seemed to be moving all on their own. Her mouth moved, but her small voice was silenced by the violent thunder. Lightning flashed again and a tall female stood where once the girl was, a glimmer of metal appeared off to her right. Super Sailorsaturn sighed heavily and looked away from the window.
~I must warn the others, ~ she thought. ~Death is upon us. ~
"Usagi!" yelled Hino Rei, "hurry up! Do you want to be late for your first day back?"
At Rei's last word, Usagi came running out her front door with her briefcase in hand and a piece of toast in her mouth. She murmured a quick good morning to the group, although it sounded completely muffled with her face stuffed with food. The girls replied as was their morning routine, and they were off once more to school.
"Ne, Rei-chan, where's Ami-chan?" Usagi asked with a confused look as she looked around for her old friend.
"She headed off after waiting for ten minutes at your house; she mentioned that she had something important to do," responded Rei.
Usagi merely nodded and skipped ahead to catch up with Minako to chat about their courses this year. Makoto popped up beside Rei and chatted with her until she had to leave for her own school, which was on a different route, and left Makoto to her own thoughts.
~Everything seems so much different now. It's been about a year since any of us have had the need to transform. I guess defeating chaos was the last battle. ~ She glanced back at Usagi. ~She's tried so hard and has suffered more than any of us. She deserves this peace. ~
A few minutes later, they arrived at the school and headed towards their homeroom class. Ami was waiting there for them, reading one of her favourite books. She waved them over as she took her glasses off and smiled.
"Ohayou gozaimasu Usagi-chan. I'm glad to see you made it on time. A good start to the new semester, ne?" Ami greeted the other as well and she mentioned that she had wanted to get here early to save everyone their seats from the semester before.
The small group talked amongst themselves until the bell rang and the door slid open to reveal their teacher.
"Ohayou gozaimasu minna-san," said the teacher. "I hope you all enjoyed your holidays." There was a murmur of conversation, but a strict look from the teacher quickly silenced it. "Now, before we start today's review, I would like to introduce to you all a new student from Canada. Please make her feel welcome."
"Hai," replied the class almost instantaneously.
The door opened and a tall girl stepped through. She had strawberry blonde hair past her shoulders and very dark brown eyes. She appeared very pale, especially in her dark blue school fuku. She bowed down in respect and quickly came up again.
"My name is Ailya. I thank you for allowing me into your class."
Most of the students were astonished that she could speak fluent Japanese almost entirely without flaw and very little presence of an accent so it was no surprise to see a few of them with their mouths gaped open.
"Well, let's see," said the teacher as she looked around the class for an empty desk. "Why don't you sit beside Kino-san?"
The transfer student nodded politely and walked over to her seat at a constant pace, yet odd pace, as if it was intentional. As she passed Usagi, who was sitting directly in front of Makoto, her eyes met Usagi's. Time seemed to freeze as she looked at her, dark brown eyes piercing her own soft, blue ones. The world around Usagi had gone black and there was only the two of them standing there. She could hear her heart beating, faster and faster, as if they were something to be anticipating. The girl's lips were moving, but she could hear nothing.
A calm touch on the shoulder from Ami awoke her from the 'dream' as she decided to call it. Usagi wrote down some brief notes as the teacher continued to write on the board, but remained in a daze for the remainder of the class. By the time the bell had rung, all of her friends were giving her a concerned look as they headed out to the field for lunch.
"Usagi, you seem down. Is something wrong?" asked Minako.
She sat and pondered the thought. Had she imagined that encounter with the new girl? Usagi had sure thought so. She seemed to be the only one in the group who had noticed that Ailya had been staring at her when she first sat down.
"Um. No, not really," she replied. Then Usagi decided it was time to figure out if she had just been daydreaming again. "Ne, Mako-chan, did you notice something weird about the new girl, Ailya?"
Makoto looked up in thought. "No, she seems pretty cool to me. Speaking of Ailya," she said while looking over in another direction, "she looks pretty lonely. Why don't we ask her to join us for lunch?"
Everyone agreed and Makoto went over to where Ailya was sitting and brought her over. She seemed to be very quiet while she ate her lunch and remained out of the majority of the conversations. Whenever she was asked a question, she would answer quickly and return to listening.
Then out of nowhere she got up.
"I'm sorry everyone, I've got to go to the bathroom. Thank you for letting me eat with you though, I appreciate it." She bowed quickly and headed off to the school.
"Well, that was interesting," said Ami. "She seemed to be quite untalkative, I wonder why."
Makoto spoke up. "Well, you have to remember Ami-chan, that she is new to the school. She's probably just a little shy. After a few weeks she'll be just like the rest of us. Remember, I was the new girl once."
"Ya, but you weren't from Canada. At least it was still in the same country."
"Wow Mina-chan, that must be the first intelligent thing you've said in a while," sneered Makoto jokingly. They all had a good laugh at that, but a loud smashing sound coming from the school soon interrupted it.
The girls ran from their eating spot under the sakura blossom trees to where they had heard the screaming. The wind whipped through their hair as they ran at a speed most people could not even imagine. The rush of the need to help was all too familiar to the group of four.
But, suddenly, they stopped. The screaming had stopped long ago, but they could still sense they need of help, until just a moment ago. There was a new presence in its place, one that was familiar, yet unknown to them all. The wind stopped as they listened silently. Then the presence was gone, as quickly as it had appeared. They ran to where the scream had come from to find Naru crouching by a bush and shivering with fear.
"Usagi!" she said. Her face brightened up at the face of her friend. "I'm so glad you're here. It was horrible, absolutely horrible." She got to her feet and hugged Usagi tightly.
"What did you see, Naru-chan?" asked Usagi calmly.
"I don't really remember," she recalled. "It was like a large block of darkness and then a light shot out of somewhere and it was gone. I think it came from there though." Naru pointed over to her right, near the school.
"Here Naru-san, why don't we go to the infirmary to make sure you're alright?" suggested Ami. She nodded and followed along.
Usagi and Makoto were bringing up the rear when Usagi spotted something out of the corner of her eye. She waved Makoto over so she could see too. When they reached what had caught Usagi's attention, they both gasped. There was a pattern on the pavement of a star under another with a circle around the two in black ash. They glanced at each other and decided to catch up with the rest of the group later.
"What do you think this is?" asked Usagi to Makoto. She had a very worried and concerned look on her face as she posed the question.
Makoto sighed heavily. "I don't know. Maybe we can get Ami-chan to analyze some of this stuff," she pointed to the ash, "it might give us some clues." She dug through her pockets and found a plastic bag. "We'll put some of it in here, okay?"
Usagi nodded and gathered up some of the black ash into the small bad and handed it back to Makoto. Then rose from her crouched position and stood straight as she heard footsteps approach.
"Is something wrong?" inquired a slightly familiar voice. Ailya emerged from behind a corner, but her face was impossible to read; it seemed to be completely devoid of any emotion whatsoever.
"Oh, no," recovered Makoto, "someone just fell down. We're just making sure she didn't drop anything." She moved over from her previous position so she was placed directly in front of the ash, where it couldn't be seen by anyone on the opposite side. "Ne, Usagi-chan?"
Usagi quickly caught on. "Oh, yeah, right."
Ailya nodded as acknowledgement. "I shall see you in class then, Kino-san, Tsukino-san." She bowed slightly and was off for the school.
As soon as she was out of hearing distance, Usagi spoke up. "Why did you lie to her?" she asked. "It's not like she's a threat or anything."
"I know that very well Usagi-chan, but we should keep this to ourselves and the others; no need to worry the public about something unconfirmed." She saw Usagi's sad face as she said those words. ~ Here we go again; trouble is on the rise. ~ "Come on, we should get back to class, we don't want to be late, ne?"
The two friends headed off to their classroom for their last half of their first school day. They sat in their seats and remained quiet as the waited for the end of the day to approach. Once it did, they left the classroom in an orderly manner and met up with Minako, Ami, and later on, Rei. After discussing what should be done, the group decided that is was best to keep a look out of anything suspicious and to carry their henshin sticks around with them at all times, just to be careful.
"We'll meet at Rei-chan's house at seven then. That should give me enough time to analyze this sample. Ja ne." Ami waved as she head off.
The others soon followed in their own directions, to their own houses. But, a dark shadow followed close behind Usagi, who was unaware and without her henshin broche.
Usagi continued walking down the street in a frolicking manner as she hummed a familiar tune. Her hair was swishing in the wind as she walked, almost touching the ground as if to be sweeping it. Her mood seemed much more relaxed than earlier that day, apparently talking with her good friends had cheered her up. Yet, there was still something lingering in the back of her mind about the attack earlier today.
She slowed down as thoughts resurfaced and assumed a serious state as she continued walking. She looked up towards the sky, now almost completely dark from the setting of the sun, and gazed at the dim stars.
~ They seem so far, yet so close all at the same time, ~ she thought.
Usagi turned a corner to enter a park, but something wasn't right. Whenever she had walked home, this park was full of people playing with each other, or couples just sitting on a bench by the fountain. Yet, there were no people here now, and the wind had stopped eerily as she had turned the corner. Usagi now stopped and took in the silence. She had closed her eyes, and concentrated on any irregular force she could find.
But, it was too late for the next moment she was on the ground and covered in dirt from the pathway. Usagi quickly looked around to see who, or what, had pushed her down, but there was no one to be seen. Just as she tried to get up, a cold, vibrant wind blew past her and sent shivers down her spine. Then, a voice of cold and utter darkness spoke.
"'Tis no nightmare that thee sees before thine eyes," it spoke as a dark entity arose from the ground, "'Tis as real as you are, Child of the Light."
((Authors Note - words in italicises are meant to be said in English dialogue.))
Usagi scrambled backwards, confused with the curious foreign words, as she restlessly looked through her pockets for her henshin broche. Yet, she remembered that she had left it in a jewellery box since long after the battle with Chaos, as well as her communicator, so there was no chance for help from the other senshi. She was all on her own. Her thoughts were shrouded by darkness. She was all alone, there was no one to help her. After all of her battles, after all of her victories, none of them really mattered anymore – she was going to die, right now, right here.
Just at that instant, she heard a distant voice that seemed to pull her out of her desperate situation. It had the confidence she was lacking and a bravery that very few could put to the test. She felt safe at last.
"Stop!" yelled the voice.
There was a murmur of words that Usagi had missed, but right after there was a brilliant flash of light that seemed to flow over her body and she was now back in the park, no longer in the depths of her mind. Usagi tried to get to her feet, but she remained on the ground, frozen by fear that the creature might still be around and lurking for her. Yet, she was still thinking about the bright light and the voice. Who, or what, was that? Little did she know that her question was soon to be answered.
Usagi caught a glimpse of something out of the corner of her eye and turned to see what was going on. Before, there had been no movement in the park save for herself and the creature of darkness from before. Yet, there was a person here now. She was tall, much taller than herself and had a brilliant shade of strawberry blonde hair that reached down past her shoulders. She had odango, which confused Usagi considerably, not to mention the fact that she was wearing a fuku. It had a white base, much like hers, but the skirt was yellow with orange and red stripes trimming the bottom of it. Her boots were orange and reached up to her knees and there was a long bunch of ribbons hanging all about. But what Usagi noticed most was the staff that this girl seemed to be carrying at her side. It seemed to be all the colours she wore, yet none of them, all at the same time. And fixed about the top surrounded by the same strange material of the staff was a double star.
"Why don't you come back and face me," she said coolly at what appeared to be thin air to Usagi. But, then a dark body seemed to appear before the unknown girl, much like it had done to Usagi.
Yet, the events were not similar to those of Usagi. The girl had muttered some words and had performed some unfamiliar actions with her staff to bring forth a ball of white light that surged towards the dark being, which disappeared and turned to dust at the moment of contact.
~ Who is this girl? ~ Usagi asked herself. ~ Is she one of us, a senshi? Is it actually possible that there are more of us in Tokyo? But how could it be that we have never seen her before? ~
The senshi, as Usagi perceived her to be, was now walking towards her. Now that she was much closer, Usagi almost shivered at the coldness of her deep brown eyes. Her tiara was similar in shape to her own, but it contained an orange gem with many strange mists lurking within it. Usagi was surprised when she offered her gloved hand to her to help her to her feet.
"Thank you," Usagi stammered as she rose back to a standing position.
The expression on the senshi remained unreadable. "Do not bother thanking me, for it shall be the last time I help you." She turned away and began to walk off.
"Wait!" cried Usagi, "What's your name, who are you?"
The senshi stopped mid-step. "My name is SailorStarGazer." She paused. "And you already know who I am, Child of the Light." The next instant, she was gone, and Usagi was left there to ponder her findings.