Hi all. I dont own Sailor Moon, i only play with them nicly. ish. read, enjoy, and respond please.

Meet the Family

I tracked him till he reached his own apartment, and then it was his responsibility to protect himself. Looking into the sky, I saw the dark, swirling clouds, but then I banished my mage vision, and saw what everyone else saw, the bright cloudless sky and the setting sun. Mage vision came back quicker than I desired, but the illusion everyone else saw would fall soon enough. It was time to prepare, while the storm was away, so I could buildmy defenses during meditation. This timing of the final rest and the Armageddon of Tokyo did go hand in hand, but was highly inconvenient. "Tokyo will rest in ashes." I turned away from the window, and went up stairs, then in the attic; I finally built my circle of power.

Mid building, I caught glimpses of the immediate future. I saw that I would not be back for the memorial service, nor would I conscious those following days. That was chilling to know, but I had to prepare. Something big would prevent me, so I had to take preparations to heart now. I reabsorbed the energy I was binding, and went in search of the video camera and a blank tape. I found none, so I took one of the family videos. That was one less memory to feel the pain of. I set it up in the attic, so it could not be any different than any other house.

I called up the shadow spirits to form a solid black shield over my form and took down my hair and started the camera rolling. "Greetings, citizens of Tokyo. I am here for the same reason as you are, "- I spoke in an audible whisper, one that no one would recognize. "To mourn a great loss. Many have said how be we were, or how useless we really were, and some have praised us beyond our own abilities. Since I cannot be here, I send it in another form, one that some will have fun trying to get answers off of. I wish you luck. Most of you have never seen a transformation, or if you did, you are lucky to be living. Tonight, as the evil that destroyed my comrades builds, I give you all a treat."

I stopped talking, to collect my thoughts, to decide if this is the right thing to do. It is. "Dark Moon Prism Power!" Now there is documented proof of our transformation. As the energy settles, I step into the dim light coming from the window. "Observe me and my costume." I gave a dramatic pause. "Yes, we walk among you, or did walk among you. Also, a few may remember our old costume. This is documented proof of what your defense cost us. The dead forms of my senshi are another kind of proof. However, take this as you will, for I have come to speak about them, and their lives."

From here, I speak about each separate senshi, and even show a few pictures and little news visuals. I make points about each senshi, going as far as saying that we all went to school together. I gave no actual names, nor any discernable facts about each senshi besides the obvious.

I end this tape with a warning. "I care nothing for what you think of me or us now, even if we once did care, but I am not going to have your blood on my hands. The evil that took out the senshi who are being remembered here today is growing, and Tokyo will be its victim. My protection will not matter from here, for as history will repeat itself; I would die in the process. Someone needs to live on with a living memory of what you see now. The best protection I can give you is to be true to your heart and soul. As corny as it sounds, the evil will take root all of our souls and with that it will win Tokyo. That is the only way to take on a city of this magnitude, because there is strength in numbers, and large numbers will over whelm it. This is my final statement to the citizens of Tokyo, and possibly, the world." I shut off the camera.

I stay in costume, just standing there, thinking. Now I have yet another thing to do, and with dusk approaching, I jump off to the HQ of the people running the memorial service. I leave it in a bag, a magical one, which will only open to be placed inside the camera, and will protect it from being tampered with.

A few friendly warnings later, I am home again, not thinking about what I just did. The circle is being built again, and I will stay in meditation, building up strength and energy for the next 48 hours, until finally, I can live to deliver the bodies, and Sailor Moon will either die a quick hard death falling from space or be in a coma for a few good days. I am taking my chances so I can pull off my last charade, so many questions aren't left or there will be too many for the average person to compute.

It is seven pm on Christmas Eve. I have been in mediation for two days, and am preparing to make my final journey as the Moon Princess. In my basement-freezer, I am currently trying to figure out how to transport six heavy magical senshi to the moon and not be killed with comets, meteorites or lack of Oxygen. What I need is a protection, and I can make it, but where can I find a person with magic strong enough to last a journey like the one I will be taking. I search through my memory, for someone who would be willing to go, had no Christmas plans, and really wouldn't be missed if died.

The only one who even came close, and that was Darien, but was he the right one? I quickly scan the city and sense no other magical beings. I could begin to feel guilty about what I am going to ask, him, but I don't.

"Darien." I am in senshi costume, and just broke into Darien's apartment. I feel him in the apartment, but he is sleeping or something that involves one being out of his body. Bringing him back roughly, I make sure that the first thing he sees when he opens his eyes is me. "Princess. You are aware Christmas is tomorrow?" I keep staring at him. "I need your help." I hate saying the very sentence. He finds that also a tad shocking. "It depends. For good or for bad?" As he quotes me, I quote back his response. "What do you want me to do?" I decide not to tell him immediately. "Do you have anyone that will miss you not here for Christmas?" Darien looks like he thinks about it. "No, not really."

He gets up in his pjs, and I learn he actually wears clothing to bed, and I have to look up to see him. "Will anyone miss you if you die?" He gives me a look for that question. I put a hand on my hip and look annoyed. "Just answer the question." He stops his look. "You're serious." I nod. "No, no one will truly miss me." From what I know, the only person that would miss him is Andrew, and if he dies, I die, so I really don't count. "Will you help me?" He takes a long time to think. I might have to beg. "Darien, please, I wouldn't be asking you if I didn't need it."

Darien is surprised that I would beg for this help. "Yes, I will. What do I have to do?" I look around just so I'm not staring into his eyes. "Will you trust me?" I look wearily to him. "Do I really have a choice now that I said I would help you?" I shrug. It is all in what he thinks. "No, so what I need you to do is pack several days worth of food that wont go bad, possible healing equipment, and all magical protection or items you own. If you can, try to prioritize. I will meet you in the center of the park, next to that huge pipe. Do you know where it is?" Darien nods. "Good. See you in a half hour." In the second he takes to blink, I am heading home, using flight so not to waste energy. Oh, yeah/wear warm clothing/. I hope he is used to the mental speech.

Teleporting the bodies to only the park are too easy, especially if an evil is beginning to take over the city. I have time left over to draw out the ritual teleportation ring, meant for a center and a protector, and that makes me feel more urgent to get to the moon. I feel Darien come up to the circle with bags in hand. I am waiting for him. "Put your bags next to mine. Be warned that the palace can be a little drafty. Stand there and be still." I point to where he is supposed to stand.

Darien

I stand where she points to on the grid, feeling a tad bit over whelmed. "As I finish the incant, you call up every single defensive circle that you know and brace yourself." I barely get a chance to nod before Sailor Moon takes a kneeling position and begins an incant I have only heard for long distances and during emergencies. Her power is over whelming as I hear: "Mother, I am coming." And with that, I pull up every protective that I know, even down to protecting the house from dust, and the park disappears beneath our feet and knees. I do not know how long it takes, but I keep seeing flashes of what looks like space until they become whiter, and whiter, until…BHAM!

My protectives are all lost as Sailor Moon looses the incant, and we end up a bundle on a strange white floor surrounded by pillars. My vision clears for me to see that Sailor Moon is knocked out, lying on me, with the bodies that we were carrying undisturbed next to us, and my Professor Selene looking at me.

Lying on my chest, Sailor Moon began to stir, but did not sit up. Opening her eyes, it takes her a minute to clear out her eyes. She closes her eyes again, aware of both of us watching her, and she pushes off of me, and is on her own feet. Still, she leans towards the wall behind her for a moment. I am looked at, like I should be in a more respectful position then lying on the floor in front of this woman. Sailor Moon could probably kill without her powers.

Taking the offered hand, I stand up and face my Professor. "Mother, I have brought them to the crypt." The woman called mother looks annoyed. "Serenity, you don't have to be formal in your state, and also, you didn't have to nearly kill yourself getting here." Sailor Moon is ignoring me, and staring at another corner. "Mother, I have charades to keep up." A cynical smile follows that remark.

The woman in front of me is worried at the change in her apparent daughter, but looks at me. "Darien Chiba, how random to see you here." I blink at her. "Hello Professor. Who are you?" This brings much amusement, but it also is mock anger as she looks at her daughter. "Serenity, why have you not told him of me?" Serenity is looking, more, oh, troubled here than I have even seen her after the slaughter. "The less he knows, the less the evil can kill him for." I sensed a hidden meaning behind that statement, and the paling of her mother's face verifies it. "He has risen." Serenity looks away now, and lets her eyes fall on the wrapped senshi corpses. "Let's let the senshi go in peace before I fill you in." Her voice is quiet now, almost sad. Her mother nods. "Yes. I will assist you."

Sailor Moon kneels down to unwrap the nearest body. "Darien, can you lift Mercury?" Her voice is barely auditable. I look at her with confusion, but I get no answers from her impassive face. "She's the smallest one." I start to walk around Sailor Moon, and try to avoid her mother, but I accidentally pass through her. "What?" Sailor Moon is now carrying a brown haired senshi in her arms and standing. "He does not know what a spirit feels like." I give her a look to help explain. "You expect one to have to die if your physical shell dies?" It sounds like it makes so much sense to her, but to me, I'm confused. "I'll explain later. Now follow me."

I find the smallest girl, and she is small, smaller than Sailor Moon, and follows the complicated weave through columns, door ways, and corridors, till we finally hit a sealed door. She motions for me to stay back, and walks up to the door, with Jupiter in her arms. "I am Serenity, the guardian, the princess, and I have come to give rest." She says that and begins to glow.

Her outfit temporarily changes from senshi, to that dress on the moon guardian statue, but has a silver crescent moon on her forehead. "I recognize Princess Serenity of the lunar house. Come in and give what you intend." The doors begin to creep open, as the voice of the woman a few rooms back, wait, next to us, says a warning. Finally, they are open revealing a huge room, with sub rooms off to the sides with no doors, just openings. As I follow Serenity, I encounter a barrier, but I can push past it. From then on, I feel that this place has accepted me, for what ever reason that is important.

"Starting from the left, that is how the senshi caskets are placed. It goes from nearest the sun to the farthest, and to the right." I assume that are my instructions as Sailor Moon starts walking towards the farthest opening on the left, next to the largest one in the direct center in front of us. I go to my immediate left, heading straight into the opening. There is a temperature change from the first step and until I cross the stone floor to the large blue block in the center of this cold room. Looking down into it, I see there is a collection of light blue satin and silk pillows inside. I bend down, and lay the body of this girl inside. Immediately, the top ices over in a dome, and the spirit of the woman from the first room appears. Gone is the soft, human appearance of the greetings and it is replaced with a soldier doing her duty. She motions for me not to say anything as she looks like she prepares for a ritual.

"Ami of Mercury, Princess Mercury, and heir to the throne of Mercury: From doing your duty of protecting the Lunar Princess, you are placed into the royal crypts of the Palace, to live the remainder of your spirit life in peace and solitude for the remainder of time and beyond." She is not finished yet. In her opaque hands appears an ice blue sword, and it is put on top of the dome, where if it were to be on her body, the gloved hands would cover the hilt. Materializing into the casket, it lies like that. "We now leave."

I follow the woman I know as 'Professor' into the center of the room. She stops in the center and watches as the door is covered in a sheet of ice. "Let's wait for Princess Serenity to return." The next remark I felt was inappropriate. "You're the boss." She just nods as if she knows. Yes, these two are related. Small talk doesn't feel welcome, currently. She actually leans against a wall surprisingly, and doesn't fall through. I go lean against the pillar.

"They are alive still." I turn to look at the woman who I have yet to get formally introduced to. "How?" I even checked their pulses and declared them dead myself and felt nothing. "They are in healing mode. You can tell by how they are maintaining their senshi costumes." I stare at this woman, not knowing what to think. "Does Princess Serenity know?" The woman looks away. "I think she does, but is convinced that they are at a better place. She does not want to admit anything so she won't get her hopes up."

'Why?' Apparently, I said that out loud. She looks at me with something that could only be defined as envy. "You have never had to hide anything to the point of you would die before you told." I looked down, ashamed. I had never had to do that. Was that what the senshi did for their entire lives? "Do you still have that slide kit I gave you?" I look up at the sudden change of subject. "Yes." Is she going to give me a clue about the identities of these soldiers? "'A' goes with 'Mu'. Use logic to figure out the rest." I wonder what kind of clue that was. I already figured out the matches, I just needed names behind the symbols. "I am aware you have figured out that much at least. Really, the senshi have always been around you, practically for about four, five years." That is somewhat of a hint.

I watched her watching the floor. Her lavender hair and tight sleevless..gown? are still as regal as the ancient ages she acts now. It would require wisdom to be told such information by her being. "Why are you telling me this?" She looked at me. "Serenity will give up her destiny and life as a senshi to live among the earthlings. She does not want to do this, and feels resentment towards these memories. She will need help, but later, and you will give it. Denial is in her blood, so it is expected." That sounds like there is more behind it than face value.

All other questions are cut off as Serenity enters this room, with a tear stained face. "Darien, you may need to rest after that trip. You will need to gain back your energy." Why the dismissal? "I wish to carry on alone, thanks." Serenity sweeps out of the room and her mother gives me reassurance. "She needs to mourn alone. After she pushes her self to where she blacks out, she will need to be pressured to eat, to live again. I expect that you will do that since a spirit can't."

Clearly, her mother is mourning her own loss, one of that includes not being able to help her own daughter. I nod as I accept a possibly hard mission, but inquire about one more thing. "What is your name?" This brings about a bittersweet smile before she answers. "I was the Queen of the Silver Alliance, with the name of Selenity." That name rings a bell. "Moon goddess. Sister to Hecate, the dark moon goddess." She nods. "They are one and the same."

I go to gather my bags, some of food, and prepare to find a corner to wait for partner in this trip to finally sleep, so I won't have to disappoint the lunar goddess. However, I am shown a better place to sleep, one less drafty. "These rooms we restored, we being the senshi over their summer vacation, as they put it, so when they visited, for one reason or another, or just for memories sake, rooms were there. There is only one room that we could find that was completely protected, meaning it has a ceiling and all walls. It was one that we put in before the invasion for a surprise guest, and our only room was in hyper space. That was the only reason it stayed in tact." I was about to thank her, but when I turned to, she was gone. "Thanks, Selenity."

I open the door with my mind because my hands are full. Inside, I know it belonged to a royal wing since it is huge. With odd accuracy, I can recall where everything was, from where I don't know, every little trinket to tapestry, to the huge bed. Hoping that Serenity won't mind sharing a bed, I move to a corner table, one under at least a years worth of dust, and set down the bags of food, and other survival needs like every single magical item I have.

They must have visited recently. Even the chairs are familiar, or a very good replica. A modern rug lies on the floor, going to the bed, where steps lead up to it. The mattress is goose down, covered by a dark colored cotton sheet. The bedding is new, that is as much I can tell. The dim light doesn't let me see exactly what color it is, but I know the sheet, and the main comforter is the same shade. The pillows are in a variety of colors, each one with a personality.

There is a water designed blue, a green and gold one, a silk red one, a tie-dye orange one, and one with bunnies on it. The senshi must have made this a home away from home, even if it was a long trip. All in all, the room did not need any decorating, other than the portraits, faded tapestries, and antique mirrors that needed dusting. I sat down to think of what to do next, with not really understanding where I was, and now, who I was with. I was not hungry, nor was I tired even though I should be. Still, when I leaned back onto the bed, I was out before I could wonder what time it was.

theres the next chapter. I hope you enjoyed it, and please tell me if you did/didn't. thanks!

This is chapter 8 of SAW1 by Saturnsdarkness