7 - Destiny is not Ours.

Serena, Mina, Rei, Amy and Lita were sat around feeling slightly confused. Luna, Artemis and Estrella were talking to Florizel and Nerissa in private and they were waiting rather impatiently for them to come back.

"I wonder who they are?" Amy pondered.

"It's just so weird - one moment Nerissa's the enemy and now this Florizel guy shows up and she's a friend!" Lita exclaimed in disbelief.

"I just wish they'd hurry up," Rei muttered. "I wanna know what they want with us!" as she finished speaking her wish was granted as the group appeared through the door. Luna leapt onto Serena's lap.

"What's going on?" Mina inquired.

"We'll let Florizel explain." Estrella said as she positioned herself next to Rei.

"Yes, what Florizel has to say will tell you a little more about Caliban." Luna added. The man stood in the middle of the floor in front of his audience, Nerissa sat behind him.

"First of all, let me introduce myself and my colleague here properly." he began, "I am Florizel, commander of the army of Reimo and loyal friend and adviser to Emperor Caius, ruler of the planet Reimo and father of Prince Caliban. This is Nerissa, she is General of the army and as you know Reimo Guardian…"

"Yes we know that…so are you gonna tell us why you're here?" Lita asked.

"Yes of course." The man sat down. "The cats have informed me of what you know already, and so if you have any questions then I will try to answer them as best I can."

"I have one," Rei spoke up. "Why did Lucilius try to get Caliban to kill you?"

"And why did he take Caliban anyway?" Mina inquired straight after.

"Lucilius and I do not…get along," Florizel explained. "You see, Lucilius is actually from our planet, and it was I who caused him to be banished forever by Caius after I proved that Lucilius was trying to overthrow him. As for the answer to your question, Venus, the reason he took Caliban was to get back not only at Charon, for he had heard about their forthcoming marriage, but also Caius."

"Oh, I see." Rei nodded understandingly. Luna looked at the Royal Adviser thoughtfully for a moment, and then spoke up.

"Something has been bothering me all these years, Florizel," she remarked. "When Caliban made his re-appearance on the Moon…he called Lucilius 'uncle'…" Florizel's dark eyes flashed as he glared at her.

"That was nothing but foul trickery! Lucilius is in no way related to the Royal Family." he stated rather harshly. Amy was the next with a question:

"So, why are you here now? Have you come to capture them?" Florizel's eyes and tone softened as the subject was changed.

"Well, yes. You see, it was only very recently that we managed to locate Prince Caliban and Lucilius. Nerissa and I immediately devised a plan to return the prince home and informed Caius. He at the time was seriously ill, caused by his worry that he would die without his beloved son there to take his place on the throne, and thought our plan was very risky, but still gave us his blessings. And so myself and Nerissa travelled here to Earth, hoping a tale we had heard was true. The rumour was that a band of warriors called the Sailor Scouts had appeared on Earth, and that they had sworn to defend the Earth and galaxy from anyone who dared to attack; and that these girls had powers like those of the princesses of the Silver Millennium. There is also an old fable that said at the end of the great war between the Dark and Moon Kingdoms Queen Serenity sent the princesses, Prince Darien and her advisers to the future Earth. Thus we decided to find out if there was a link between the Sailor Scouts and this fable. We hunted high and low, until we arrived here in Tokyo and found what we were looking for - you girls. You may remember a series of attacks a few months ago - that was us testing your skills."

"That was you? So that explains it." Luna remarked.

"What we weren't expecting were two things - the first being Sailor Moon, who we now know is none other than the Moon Princess Serena, thanks to Luna; and the second was of course the appearance of Sailor Charon - I can tell you we were as shocked as all of you on that first night she arrived to help. Fortunately the latter was perfect, knowing Charon was alive and well gave us a great chance of winning Caliban back. Although his attack on her was cold-hearted we believed that he'd had his memories blocked somehow and that somewhere deep inside he still loved her. The final piece was when Pluto gave her the Plutonian Sphere - it was the perfect bait to tempt Lucilius."

"Why didn't you just tell him about the Imperium Silver Crystal? Surely he would've been more tempted by that?" Serena inquired.

"What, and put the fate of the universe in total peril?" Nerissa exclaimed.

"Ah, good point." Serena said sheepishly.

"Anyway, the next part of the plan was simple - since Lucilius never would have trusted me Nerissa paid him a visit, pretending to be an admirer of his past 'work' and wanting to help him become as feared as he was before Serenity's punishment."

"I told him of our findings," Nerissa continued. "And, as a token of my 'loyalty' I presented him with a gift. I gave him some Aathean Bottles - special containers which hold some of the Reimoan Army's finest warriors - which I claimed to have stolen from Florizel. These and the mentioning of the Plutonian Sphere were enough to capture his full attention and convince him I was genuine, so I was invited to join him." She fell silent and looked over to her partner, who began to speak again.

"Just as we had hoped Lucilius decided to return to this galaxy again to get his final revenge." he smiled, feeling pleased about how everything was falling into place. "Also, we think that because Caliban is once again spending time with Charon, although he doesn't realise it, his old feelings are slowly being reawakened and Lucilius's control is slowly wearing off. The Aathean Bottles that Nerissa gave to Lucilius only contain the weaker of our warriors, that is why they haven't been too difficult for you to get rid of." he stopped talking.

"Wait a minute!" Estrella exclaimed. "You just said that Caliban doesn't realise he's spending time with Charon, you mean that…?"

"It's a complete coincidence; I guess it just shows it's fate for them to be together." Nerissa commented. "The heart and soul never forget true love, I guess. Where is Alexia, anyway?" Suddenly Lita jumped up from her seat.

"I knew we were forgetting something! We got distracted and she's with Caliban!" the other Scouts also leapt up, Serena knocking Luna flying in her haste.

"Rei, do you still have any bad vibes?" Mina asked.

"No, she seems to be safe, I think she may be at home." the dark-haired psychic replied.

"Well, there's only one way to find out - let's go to Alexia's house." Luna announced.

"Right!"

x x x x x

The sun was setting, and Alexia, who had changed back from her Scout alter-ego, was resting her head on Caliban's shoulder. A radiant smile played on her lips as she snuggled closer to him, never taking her eyes off him. He was looking out at the spectacular view, one arm resting around Alexia's shoulders and the other holding her hand. He turned his head slightly and looked fondly at the girl, who sighed contentedly. I never want this to end, she thought to herself, and the awful thing is that I don't feel a bit guilty about what I'm doing. She ran a finger down his cheek as her mind wandered back to the kiss they had shared just a little while ago. My first kiss…she thought to herself, well my first kiss in this life…and it was wonderful! There was something else on her mind which had been nagging her since Caliban had admitted the truth about his identity. She felt sure she was missing someone important, someone who was close to Matthias…

"Think about it, Alexia. When Matthias appeared so did the monsters."

"But Nerissa…"

"We think they're working together."

It suddenly clicked into place.

"Crystal!" she exclaimed, pulling her head from the prince's shoulder and staring at him, wide-eyed. "She's Nerissa, isn't she?!" Caliban nodded; she sat back, looking out over the park. "So you are working together…" she murmured.

"Yes…well, we were; I have no intention of handing you over to Lucilius now." he told her.

"So, what are your intentions?" she inquired, her face serious.

"I want to sort out the messes I've made over the years; I want people to be able to trust me again, like your fellow Scouts; I want to go home and ask for my father's forgiveness…" he paused, realising something that hadn't even crossed his mind. "That is if he is even still alive…" His heart sank - why hadn't he thought of that before now?

"I'm sure he will be, and I'm sure he's worried sick about you and wants you back." Alexia reassured him, not really sure if she believed herself but hoping that her words would be enough to comfort the forlorn youth. "I have an idea about how you can get the other Scouts to trust you though. I'll arrange for us - that is, me and the others, to have a picnic right here. Then you can come and we'll tell them everything together." she explained. "They'll see straight away that you're not the evil person they think you are - they'll have to believe us."

"And if they don't?" Caliban questioned.

"If they don't then they aren't the friends I thought they were." The Charonian responded simply.

Caliban looked at her, sudden realisation dawning on him - what was he doing?! He was sat here, in an open space, talking about how he wanted to make up with the Sailor Scouts and his father! For all he knew Lucilius could have been spying on them!

He leapt to his feet, startling Alexia as he turned this way and that, looking for anyone who might be hiding in the area.

"What's wrong?" the dark-haired girl asked nervously, also looking around although she didn't know why.

"We can't do this, Alexia!" he exclaimed, his eyes full of panic. "It's too dangerous! Lucilius could be watching us for all we know!"

"Calm down," she took hold of his arm, even though she knew he could be right. "It's okay."

"No, it isn't!" he pulled away from her sharply. "You need to go - now!"

"I don't care about Lucilius!" she told him, her blue eyes bright in the light of the setting sun. "I need to be with you, Caliban, nothing else matters to me!" He sighed and turned his back on her.

"Go, I do not want to see you again." he ordered as he felt Alexia rest her head between his shoulder blades, her arms around his middle.

"Okay," she whispered, feeling his heart pounding. "But please, please promise me you'll think about meeting us tomorrow? We'll be here at one o'clock."

"Very well, I promise." he muttered, once again pulling away from her. "Now, leave."

He couldn't bring himself to look at her, the fact that he was pushing her away was tearing him apart.

"I promise you, everything will turn out right." was the last thing Alexia said to him, before she turned and ran away.

Caliban dropped back down onto the seat and buried his face in his hands.

"It's for the best, for the best." he told himself over and over. But he couldn't convince himself - he knew that it was going to take a great effort to avoid seeing her and he felt awful about the false promise he'd just made to her. There was no way he could show up at the picnic…the Scouts would never trust him.

x x x x x

The Sailor Scouts waited anxiously outside the Risolto house as Estrella went through the kitchen window.

"I hope Alexia's alright…" Mina murmured as she sat on the wall. Their heads suddenly turned as the front door opened and Alexia stepped out.

"Hey guys, what's up? Estrella said you were worried about me." she said as she walked over to them.

"I had a vision - that you went to see Caliban." Rei informed her; Alexia somehow managed to force a realistic laugh.

"Don't be silly, I've been here ever since you guys left!" she replied, placing a reassuring hand on the black-haired Scout's shoulder. "Rei, you really do worry too much sometimes!" Her friends relaxed. "I'd invite you all in only I have to finish some homework and then I'm gonna go to bed cos I have a rehearsal early tomorrow morning. Oh, it's a good job you came round actually, I wanted to ask if you'd like to go for a picnic tomorrow, at about one o'clock? I thought maybe we could meet here at twelve, prepare some food and then walk to the park together."

"That sounds like fun!" Mina beamed. "Right, guys?" the others nodded in agreement.

"Brilliant, I think we need some chilling out time." Alexia grinned, pleased that her plan was now set in motion. Caliban will come, I just know he will! She thought to herself. "Anyway, I'll let you guys get home, not that Mina has far to walk!" They laughed.

"'Bye, Alexia, good luck at rehearsal!" Serena called to her as she walked back up the driveway.

"See you at twelve!" Rei added as Alexia waved from the door before closing it.

"Hey, do you guys wanna come in for some tea?" Mina asked as the group walked to her house.

"Sure, why not?" Amy smiled.

"Yeah, that'd be cool." Lita remarked, and then noticed the rather smug look on the blonde's face. "What's up with you?"

"Mina's got a plan!" The Venusian announced, removing her door key from her pocket with a flourish.

"Is it a good one?" Serena inquired, and Mina winked.

"Aren't they always?"