ALL THAT GLITTERS
Chapter 3: "The Rescue Gone Wrong"
A Neo-Sailor Moon fanfic
By Bill K.
As the helicopter piloted by Sailor Uranus neared the location of Infinity Academy, Sailor Pluto sat in the back and thought. The world was nearing a critical moment in the time line, and one for the future, as well. She knew this, for she was Sailor Pluto, guardian of time, and she had seen it. A single wrong move, a single action by a single person or inaction by another person could change the outcome of this present and forever bar the future that would become the paradise of Crystal Tokyo. And, unlike other times, she was powerless to act in order to shepherd that future into being. For in this instance, to act in any other way beyond what she knew had once happened in this year of the long past, 1995, would be to irrevocably alter events to come. She could only play her part and pray that others played theirs as well.
"Do you think we can get through that hole in the barrier?" Uranus asked. She was willing to try, but only if Sailor Neptune agreed. She knew better than to ask Pluto, because Pluto had suddenly become very guarded and mysterious in recent hours. It bothered Uranus, but she knew Pluto and trusted that Pluto had her reasons.
Before anyone could answer, though, the barrier around Infinity Academy suddenly became a thousand crimson female daimons looking up at them with anger. Neptune gasped audibly in shock. Pluto said nothing, for she knew her history.
"It begins," thought Sailor Pluto as Uranus tried too late to veer the helicopter away from the onrushing daimons.
The elastic daimons seized the helicopter, ensnaring it in their tendrils, wrapping it up so the mechanical bird couldn't fly away and escape. Uranus struggled with the controls, valiantly trying to force the craft free by her own strength. Unseen, Pluto stood up.
Electricity flowed from the daimons, swiftly traveling through the cockpit of the helicopter. Uranus and Neptune were seized by the charge and rendered paralyzed with agony from the current. The electrical systems of the helicopter began to spark and short from the surge and they were helpless to act. Neptune caught a whiff of aviation fuel and realized the fuel tank had been ruptured, either from the electrical assault or from the pressure of the daimons holding the craft. An explosion was imminent and she couldn't move to prevent it or to escape. She knew she was seconds away from death. Neptune steeled herself for it. She had many regrets, for she wanted to experience more of life than she had, but two stood out from the rest: her death would mean the triumph of The Silence and she deeply regretted that, and; the electricity kept her from moving her hand and she desperately wanted to touch Haruka one last time before she died.
The explosion began to rumble in her ears and then stopped. Neptune looked around her, no longer paralyzed by the electricity. She soon saw why: dozens of white hot ions stood frozen in mid-air all around her. Sparks from the control panel were stopped in space. Everything was frozen, everything except her. Neptune didn't understand and that fact annoyed her.
"What's going on?" she heard Uranus grunt. So the effect spared Haruka, too.
"I've stopped time," Pluto said. Her fellow senshi turned and looked. Sailor Pluto was poised in the center of the helicopter's hatch. Her staff was up and glowing. Sailor Uranus gaped in open astonishment. Sailor Neptune attempted to hide hers, but failed.
"You hide such power?" Neptune gasped. Pluto noted she almost sounded betrayed.
"It was necessary," Pluto thought, even as she struggled to hide the strain invoking her power to stop time was having on her heart. "You were not yet meant to know such a thing, my fellow senshi, just as you are not meant to know that I am from your future and am not the Setsuna you have fought beside before and to come."
"No," Pluto said aloud, "the power 'time-protector' that I used is taboo."
"By decree of my Queen," Pluto thought, "because of the toll it takes. My Queen cares for me far more than I do."
"Taboo?" Uranus queried.
"Then what will happen to you?" Neptune asked fearfully. Pluto smiled. She could never get anything past her dear friend Michiru for very long.
"If I can meet the true Messiah . . ." Pluto mused cryptically.
Then she allowed her field to dissipate enough so that the world shifted. Uranus and Neptune were swept away by the Earth's rotation and gravity, landing inside the barrier around Infinity Academy.
No sooner had they disappeared, though, then another presence arrived. Pluto smiled wistfully even as a stabbing pain knifed through her chest.
"My Lady," Sailor Pluto grimaced as The Princess Usagi of the thirtieth century appeared in her raiment of Neo-Sailor Moon and turned to her. "You should not have come."
"Puu!" Sailor Moon cried, her pink tendrils of hair flowing behind her. She reached out with her right hand, suddenly desperate to pull Sailor Pluto back into the craft.
"MY LADY, STOP!" gasped Sailor Pluto. She knew she should not have spoken, but to fail to do so would have meant grave consequences for the future to come.
Sailor Moon stopped, confused. Then she realized that the hand she reflexively reached out to Sailor Pluto with was the one she held the Time Key in. Gulping, the girl switched hands and extended her left to Sailor Pluto.
"Grab my hand, Puu!" Sailor Moon cried out, reaching for her friend and mentor. "Please grab my hand before it's too late! I don't think we have much time!"
Pluto smiled at the irony of her statement. Another sharp pain cut through her chest.
"PUU!" howled Sailor Moon. "I'm risking everything here! You have to come back with me! Please! We all need you! I need you! Please, Puu, don't sacrifice yourself when you don't have to! I'm giving you a way out! Please take my hand!"
"You cannot stop time for much longer," Pluto thought. "A decision must be made."
With that, Sailor Pluto closed her eyes and followed every path of every possible future back to this single moment. Before she acted, she had to know if her living or dying was necessary to the future she wanted for her queen. In an instant she had her answer.
To Sailor Moon's delight and relief, Pluto's hand shot out and grabbed hold of hers. With strength born of desperation, young Sailor Moon pulled Pluto back into the cockpit of the helicopter. Once inside, the girl dived into Pluto's arms.
"Oh, Puu! I'm so relieved I got to you in time!" Sailor Moon cried.
"My Lady," Pluto whispered. "How you've grown since I last saw you." Another knifing pain drew a grunt from the senshi of time.
"PUU?" Sailor Moon screeched. "Are you hurt?"
Pluto offered her a weak smile. "I cannot stop time for very much longer. Concentrate, My Lady. Focus on returning us to our time."
"Oh, yeah! Right!"
Sailor Moon set her concern for Sailor Pluto (and herself) aside and focused on the year 2996. She was an old hand at time travel, but not since she was four had it been in such an emergency situation. As she concentrated, light flashed around them both and for a moment Sailor Moon couldn't tell if it was the time travel effect of the Time Key or the explosion consuming the helicopter. During that moment of indecision, the girl wondered what death would feel like.
She hoped everyone wouldn't be too upset.
The moment the royal family learned of what Usa had done, Luna summoned the senshi. Within five minutes the reception room was filled with inners, outers and asteroids in full battle uniform. Naturally curious, they looked to the royal family. Endymion was troubled, but in conference with Artemis. Serenity sat on her throne, fearful and sick with worry while Diana consoled her. That was enough to alarm anyone. Knowing what they knew, the Asteroids were even more alarmed.
"We've a situation," Luna crisply informed them. "It's possible we may need all of your assistance, so please be prepared."
"What's going on?" Sailor Uranus asked for everyone.
"The Princess has taken a time key and gone back into time," Luna told them. Mercury, recognizing the implications, gasped instantly. Juno got a sick look on her face. "Diana believes she plans to attempt to rescue Sailor Pluto from her demise in 1995."
"She's going to change history?" Jupiter gasped. "What's she thinking?"
"Don't be too hard on her," Juno offered. "She's just trying to save a life. You know, do a good deed."
"Were you aware she was planning this?" Sailor Mars asked sharply.
"She told us," Juno admitted. "We tried to talk her out of it, but she wouldn't listen."
"You should have told someone. Your jobs are to protect her."
"We thought we were. We didn't want to get her into trouble."
"Kids," Jupiter said, "sometimes protecting someone means keeping them from doing something stupid, even if it means they get into trouble."
"But her heart's in the right place," Ceres added. "She's trying to do something good."
"And if she ends up changing history and wiping out our reality just to save Pluto, how much good has she done?" Mars asked them. "Believe me, girls, I sympathize, but you have to consider the big picture. Good intentions don't always make for good results."
"There's no way of knowing what she's done, how or even if she succeeded," Mercury mused aloud. "I don't know that we can do anything now but wait for her to return."
"How about we grab one of those time keys, go back in time and stop her?" Venus proposed. Mercury shook her head.
"No, Venus," Mercury told her, "whatever Usa has done has already happened in our reality. She's in our past. Whatever affect she's had on our reality has already taken place."
"But nothing's different," Vesta piped up. "Maybe she didn't hurt anything."
"How do you know nothing is different?" Mercury asked her. "If an altered past has changed our present, we wouldn't know. Only someone with the cosmic perception Sailor Pluto possessed would realize it. For all we know, we could have all been men or cats or had three heads before Usa meddled. And to send someone else back into time would risk doing even more damage."
"There's no way I could have had three heads," Venus stared in astonishment. "I'd be up all night brushing my hair!"
"Focus, Venus," Artemis replied.
"Still, there's a chance we could set things right again, isn't there?" Sailor Neptune asked. "I prefer being proactive to sitting back and waiting."
"But isn't there just as much of a chance that she didn't change anything," Juno countered, "and that if someone else goes charging back there they'll be the ones who mess things up?"
"Precisely," Mercury nodded.
"So we're damned if we do and damned if we don't?" Uranus asked. "Figures. I'm with Neptune. I say go."
As always, the senshi looked to Queen Serenity for a decision. But all the queen could do was wring her hands.
"I don't know, Endymion," she whispered, clearly fearing for the safety of her child above all else. "You make the decision. I just don't know."
Light flashed around them both and for a moment Sailor Moon couldn't tell if it was the time travel effect of the Time Key or the explosion consuming the helicopter. During that moment of indecision, the girl wondered what death would feel like.
She hoped everyone wouldn't be too upset.
"You may breathe again, My Lady," she heard Sailor Pluto say. "We are at the Door Of Time once again. You have accomplished your mission."
"I did?" Sailor Moon squeaked. "We are?"
Opening her eyes, she looked around and saw the misty, swirling nothingness of the limbo that housed the Door Of Time. Turning, lest she think she was dreaming, Sailor Moon's eyes sought out Sailor Pluto. Though wan from exertion, there she stood, gentle and placid as always, her long fingers holding her time staff, her long green-black hair cascading down her back and her long frame no longer towering so high over the young princess. It was a sight she hadn't seen in over four years.
"I DID IT!" Sailor Moon squealed happily, lunging at Sailor Pluto and catching the woman in a huge hug. "I saved you! I did it, Puu! I did it!"
"That you did, My Lady," Pluto responded, patting the girl on the back. For a moment Sailor Moon noticed the undertone of sadness in the woman's voice. But her elation wouldn't allow her to dwell on such things and she dismissed it.
"Are you all right?" Sailor Moon asked. "You seemed like you were in pain a moment ago."
"I was," Pluto replied with a fatigued voice. "The strain of stopping time is much to endure. Fortunately I am older and can bear it for longer periods than in my younger days. I sense no lasting effects." Sailor Moon beamed happily and Pluto realized it was something she had missed and hadn't realized.
"Come on, Puu!" Sailor Moon cried, grasping Pluto by the hand and pulling her toward the dimensional interface between this limbo and the reality of the palace. "Everyone has missed you so much the last few years! They'll all be so happy to see you!"
Pluto allowed herself to be dragged along by the happy teen. However, she could not share the girl's elation. For she was Sailor Pluto and she knew what was to come.
Plans of action were still being proposed and rejected in the reception room of the palace when a pink tornado burst into the room. All eyes turned to her and several whispered gasps could be heard in the moment of silence.
"Setsuna!" Sailor Neptune said softly, stunned.
"Oh my goodness, she did it," Mercury swallowed in growing horror.
"S-Setsuna-Mama!" Saturn gasped, her happiness outweighing her alarm and fear.
"I did it!" Sailor Moon exclaimed happily to the assembled. "I DID IT!"
Like the wind, Serenity and Endymion were across the room and before her. Endymion, towering over his daughter, grasped her by the upper arms and looked down at her with intense concern. Serenity stayed in the background, but she was no less concerned than her husband.
"Are you all right?" Endymion asked, visibly fearing the worst. Sailor Moon grimaced, wondering how old she would have to be before her parents stopped worrying about her every waking moment.
"Yeah, Pop, I'm fine," Sailor Moon replied. "I cut it pretty close, but I made it in one piece." Then her elation bubbled over again. "And I was right! I saved Puu, Pop!"
"I'm very relieved you both came back safely," Endymion replied. Then his features hardened. "Now from this day forth, you are NOT to time travel unless you receive express permission from me! Do you understand, young lady?"
"But Pop!" howled Sailor Moon. "I saved her! Don't you see?"
"Ever!" Endymion reiterated. "I mean it!"
"Pop!"
"Usagi Chiba, I an not going to tell you again! You are not to use the Door Of Time for any reason! I forbid it!"
Everyone stared in shocked silence. They saw Sailor Moon's face screw up in frustration and rage. The girl ripped herself loose from her father's grip.
"I should have known!" Sailor Moon said bitterly, turning on her heels and retreating from the room and her perceived humiliation. "I SHOULD HAVE KNOWN!"
"Usa!" Endymion snapped, but stopped when he felt Serenity's hands around his elbow.
"I THOUGHT IT'D BE DIFFERENT THIS TIME!" Sailor Moon roared, turning back to them. Her face clearly showed her feelings of betrayal. "I THOUGHT YOU'D FINALLY STOP THINKING OF ME AS THE FOUR-YEAR-OLD WHO MESSED UP AND GOT THE WORLD INVADED!" She turned and ran out. "I should have known!"
continued in Chapter 4
