Tension had dropped, and the sailor scouts had subsided. They now stood apart from the non-humans, talking.

Setsuna had disappeared as soon as Theo had dispelled the anti-Magick field.

Theo and the others were explaining things to the scouts.

"Tell me, these Youma, what do they do?"

"They… come into our world to steal peoples life and soul," Moon said, "But we've always stopped them."

"I see," Theo with his glasses a moment, "Then I'll have you know that the only way to 'fix' this 'problem' would be to purify the people like you did the werecreatures."

"Then we'll do that!" Moon said.

"But tell me, why haven't any of them woken up?" Theo asked.

"Um…" Moon said.

"Usually people are drained after we purify them," Mercury said, "They've been known to sleep for almost two days."

"But there are some that had been asleep for nearly a week," Theo said, "And why do they look like they're in such pain as they sleep?"

"I… I don't know…" Mercury said.

"It is because by purifying them, you're basically taking from them what makes them different than humans," Theo said, "And in all of the cases with Youma, it would be removing the demon from inside the person. What happens when you purify someone who doesn't have a demon in them, but you still take the thing that makes them different?"

Silence.

"Simple," Theo said, "In a possession, a demons soul is what changes a person into a Youma. But in these cases, where no demon soul is present…"

"We're taking the peoples souls," Mercury said with a distant stare.

"No way!" Mars yelled.

"Correct," Theo said, "A soul, a spirit is what makes you who you are, and by taking away that piece of them, you're taking away their souls. They are trapped between life and death, not fully alive, not fully dead."

"We… we were doing the exact same thing that the Youma had been doing…" Mars said, finally sedated, "Oh kami-sama…"

"Things have accelerated beyond your control," Ryoga said, "Beyond any of our control. I doubt Crystal Tokyo will ever come to pass. The Diggers, the Amazons, the Tendos, Mikoto, Rhys and I… would all have to die."

"I can't do it," Moon said, bending forward to put her forehead on the grass. She grabbed two handfuls of the green plants and started to cry, "I can't kill people. I just can't."

"What do we do now?" Mercury asked.

"We get those who can do the Inheritage together," Ryoga said, "And you give us the location of everyone you've purified. We can reverse the damage."

"You can?" Mars asked, "How?"

"It… it's a long story," Ryoga shook his head.

"What's the… Inherited?"

"The Inheritage…" Brittany spoke up, "Is a technique that my brother, Rhys performed. Ryoga can also do it. It turns any human into a werecreature instantly."

"WHAT!" Mars shouted out, "Is that why the people were like how they were!"

"No!" Brittany yelled, "That was all just a stupid mistake!"

"If it hadn't been for Brittany and Rhys," Brianna said, "A lot more people would have turned into werecreatures."

"How… how many?" Mercury asked.

"At the moment, about 5 or so of the entire world population is werecreature," Brittany shook her head, "If I had failed… my brother and I would be dead and everyone, the whole 100 population of earth, would have changed, and not only that, you would all be under the control of a psycho."

Setsuna was crying. The gates of time spun behind her in its eternal dance of time. She, for the first time in ages, paid no attention to it. And she had good reason. One that no one could rightfully argue.

The one thing she has lived for over the ages, waiting alone in the gates of time, was destroyed. Crystal Tokyo, the dream of her Queen and her own dream, was now just another impossibility in the time stream.

Had she lived for nothing?

Having ones meaning of life ripped away from you can indeed turn a courageous warrior into a shell of a man.

She wanted to blame the werecreatures. She wanted to…

But she couldn't.

Setsuna was not blind to the future. She knew this was coming, she knew that Rhys surviving the raid would endanger Crystal Tokyo. And if she had followed through with her previous plan, the danger wouldn't exist.

But as she saw Rhys lying there, staring at the pile of burning tribe members, she stopped. The absolute fear and anguish in the small child's eyes had stilled her.

The original plan was to kill the small boy, and let it be chalked up to just another casualty of the massacre.

But the emotion on Rhys' face, one of total loneliness, had stopped her.

And so, in a way, she had destroyed Crystal Tokyo more than ten years ago when she couldn't kill the small child.

All because he may be the only person she might ever think could understand what she went through.

"Today, we have surprising news," The new anchorwoman said, "After nearly two weeks of their campaign to purify the now transformed members of Tokyo, the famed Sailor Scouts have publicly announced that they were wrong in their belief that the said transformed persons were Youma."

A picture appears beside her head. It shows the Sailor Scouts speaking on a platform. Behind them were five people.

Two cheetah girls, two wolf boys, and a purple and white furred girl. One of the cheetah girls was sitting in a chair, looking rather tired.

Standing with the five animal people was a tall girl with leathery bat wings and horns.

"After speaking to the people about what was happening, and that there was no cure, the scouts continued to speak on how they would ask four of the five attending werecreatures for aid in fixing the damage they have caused by purifying the afflicted people."

The picture became full screen, and started to play back a recording.

"With the discovery that many of the citizens of Tokyo were already werecreatures and other creatures of lore," Moon said, "We have been forced to realize that these people, when awake, shall be no different than any other intelligent being upon this planet. The people we have harmed will be healed as soon as possible."

With that, Moon stepped aside, and the werewolf with the long hair and small glasses came forward.

"My name is Mu Tzu of the Josenkyo region of China," He stated, "I, myself, was not born what I am now. I was forced into it much like the people around the world have been, just at a different time and a different way. I can safely say, that after the shock is over, the world will return to its normal way of life, but maybe a bit wiser and a bit more together than before."

"This is indeed a world wide crisis that will tear down many cultural walls and barriers, we shall all be going through the same thing. But as this tears down walls, it will also raise them. Where cultural differences laid, in the future differences of species will become evident. But until then we can only do so much."

"All we can say is to keep the claws of any newly afflicted werecreature away from the skin of humans. The tales of a werewolf turning a person into a werewolf is possible. Treatment to lock away this power and curse of infection will be administered as soon as possible, as connections to those able to perform it are established."

The screen went back to the anchorwoman.

"Those responsible for this calamity have not yet been found," she said, "But Mr Tzu and the others present have promised to track down a punish them in the near future. More will be reported as this tale unfolds."

A wise man once said…

"It is surprising how often the question is the answer itself in its own entirety."

He then paused…

"Which is basically a really complex way of saying 'I dunno'."

HAHA! SUCK IT DRY!