Let us remember! Let us never forget! Let her named be burned into the pages of time! Usagi Chiba! Queen Serenity! May she Rest in Peace forever! May she rest as she never could in life. Long live the Reign of Peace! Long live the kingdom of Crystal Tokyo! Long live the line of Usagi! The Line of my Mother!

Speech by Princess Usa,
Lady of the Moon,
In Crystal Tokyo, Queen's Memorial,
November, 26, 2008 A. M.

Chapter Nine: A Broken Looking Glass

Pluto could not help but be impressed by her princess. She was amazing. Just as she was made to be. Just as she had led the girl to be! Improvising the mixture of the power of the Silver Imperium Crystal and Balefire, to create some sort of reverse balefire spell? Amazing! And so like her queen of old… but, unfortunately, Pluto had no time to care.

She lay her trap well. All the while, whispers in her head told her, her plan was madness. She had snapped. Had she been, or even felt, sane, she would have known that she should have peacefully given up. Hell, in some of the timelines her life turned out Great.

But… she wasn't Sailor Pluto.

That… that just couldn't be… her job had been that of Sailor Pluto for so long! How could she possibly accept just being a normal person? How? It just.. It was so wrong! Putrid! Disgusting! No… life without the power of time would not be worth living.

Normal people who held a job for five years and lost it unexpectedly would be more than a little angry. Pluto's job of over twenty thousand had been watching the gates, and heaven nor hell would stand in her way of keeping it.

The twisted thing about it was that, as she browsed through yet MORE timelines, she found that nine times out of ten there was no Sailor Pluto at all! Which was impossible! The magic was binding, and even if the princess did strip her of her power, the magic would continue and move to another soul. Should she die the magic would stay with her till her re-birth. This was completely impossible… unless… the magic went to someone… where Ranma had been. Pluto did not know, but she had always had suspicions that this world was connected to… to another. That there was… something else. Something, linked… if indirectly, to their universe. Ranma's return had proved it's existence. Almost as if there were… ah, well. It didn't matter now anyway, did it?

"WAAAA!" Keika cried repeatedly, driving the already insane Pluto even further over the edge.

"Yes… cry all you want. It'll just make them come for you more quickly. Bond between parents you know…" Pluto joked at the little brat who lay on the cloudy floor that held the area near the Gates of Time.

Keika only cried louder.

"Hmm, soon this annoyance will be at an end. Damn girl…" She muttered.

Pluto never noticed the faint glimmer of light that flickered around the wailing baby.

"Ranma…" Akane sighed as Ranma held her. Both were re-clothed now and Ranma was jumping towards the Tendo dojo.

Ranma carried Akane, cradled in his arms. On his face he wore a gesture that was more protective and loving towards the girl than any face he had ever worn.

Akane felt chills in her spine, and her stomach whirled with butterflies. Her heart was wrecked with emotions. Emotions that had been pinned down harshly, due to her loss of memories.

"Ranma… I know I've apparently told you before… but… I can't remember saying it… so… I love you." Akane said, quietly.

Ranma's gaze, which lingered on her and only on her, became a smile with happiness written in it that was beyond compare.

"I love you, too, Tomboy… Akane. I love you more than anything or anyone, Ever." Ranma said sternly.

Unfortunately for Akane, the butterflies in her stomach only increased their movements. She'd never felt happier. Inwardly, however, her thoughts were twisting.

"He called you a tomboy! That jerk!" Said one side.

"But he loves you. He said it so kindly… And I… He used to call me it… like a pet name, didn't he?" Said another.

Akane, despite knowledge of the fact that the last meeting with Ranma that she could remember, prior to her memories of killing him, had involved him stubbornly insulting her with the most brash comments a man could give a woman, felt that she could completely trust him.

She may, in her memory, only remember him as a jerk, though her emotions remembered his love. Her skin recalled his touch. The damn scouts had taken her memories but she didn't lose her feeling. She had loved Ranma before, no matter what her memories told her.

The white clouds flew by in an amazing rush as Ranma jumped. Akane noted, as they rose and fell, that upon moving far into the sky, it became very cold, and with descent, friction caused her skin to feel as if it were burning. She was getting used to the uncomfortable sensation, but it was a slow process.

Thinking back to a few minutes before, Akane decided to say something to break the uneasy silence between the two.

"That was… amazing Ranma." Akane said gently.

Ranma blushed with a muttered, "Thank you." and then continued jumping, staring at the girl in his arms the whole time, barely paying any attention whatsoever to where he was jumping.

"Take a left here, Ranma." Akane said softly, now finally getting used to his impossibly high jumps.

After a few minutes of jumping in the new direction, Akane remembered something… rather important.

"Oh my… um… Ranma. There's… there's something I need, t-to tell you." She said, frightened.

"Yes, Akane?" Ranma said, his eyes, having never left his nervous "still" fiancee.

"Ranma… while you were gone… something really important happened." Akane said quickly.

Ranma was unnerved. Hell, Ranma was, and had been, a nervous wreck ever since he saw the his former, and current, love. She'd seen him, she loved him, she wasn't afraid of him as he had feared she would be. She was exactly the girl he recalled dreaming of… at least so far. Amazingly enough, the girl only appeared nervous towards him… as if simply not knowing what to say. Not afraid in the slightest… Well, his jumping scared her.

Something important, though?

"Like what?" Ranma wondered. "What… what is it?" He asked tentatively.

"Ranma… when you were "gulp" kidnapped… I was… pregnant." Akane said slowly.

"Pre…g… nant?" Ranma mouthed, halting in mid-arcing-descent, now plunging straight towards the ground at over a hundred kilometers per second.

"AAAHHHHHH!" Akane screamed as Ranma simply muttered to himself.

"Pre…g…nant?"

"RANMA! Please! Snap out of it… oh … oh god… I don't wanna die here!" She screamed as she struggled in his powerful grasp, vainly.

She looked over her shoulder, and viewed the pleasant sight of seeing a ground rushing towards her at speeds that humans shouldn't be allowed to travel at. Far faster, of course, than she'd ever fallen before!

Sure, Ranma fell fast earlier, but now it was a dead drop. The butterflies in her stomach clung desperately to the top of it, begging the fall to slow down.

"RANMA!" She screamed one last time before collision.

She braced herself for impact, expecting to fall straight through the stunned boy's arms and slam into the concrete below.

TAP!

And Ranma's shoes collided with the ground, making a simple tap of his shoes on concrete, still holding his shocked fiancee, all the while muttering,

"Pre…g…nant"

"Ranma!" Akane screeched.

Suddenly Ranma snapped out of his stupor. "Ak… Akane did you just say that you were…?"

"Pregnant! Yes! Arg! Ranma no Baka! Your still the same idiot I remember you being! NEVER do that AGAIN! Were WALKING the rest of the way! I don't trust you with me miles in the air." She screeched. "Put me DOWN!"

"But… does that mean that…" Ranma said, still perplexed at the "P" word. "Preg… does that mean that I'm a fa"
"YES!" Akane interrupted angrily. "Yes you… you're a father… though.. I don't remember… how." She finished dejectedly.

"I know… The blonde scout erased your memory." Ranma said, now finally returning from his dejected mind-absence.

"She did it? When she… when?" Akane asked. "Was it when she cast that spell that she said was a 'healing' spell?"

Ranma walked up to her and placed his arm around his lover's shoulders. "It was when you first began to believe you killed me. It's been so long… arg… I can barely remember seeing your life in the book. But I remembered important things." Ranma said sadly. "The blonde scout erased your memory, but I honestly don't think she knew she did. She thought you erased your own memory, which you probably remember doing."

"Wait, stop. This is confusing. What book?" Akane asked, trying to comprehend the situation.

Suddenly Ranma turned and reached into his cloak, prompting Akane to finally noticed the clothes which Ranma wore.

He wore an old red tunic. Soft and much like his old silk one but, most definitely odd in the actual fabric. His pants were baggy and brown, not too different from the baggy pants he used to wear to fight in though these were no where near the quality of his blue silk pants. He didn't wear his usual slippers, but rather, he wore boots, that appeared rather heavy. On his back he held a non-modern traveling pack, along with… was that a sword? His pigtail was longer than usual, hanging just below his shoulders. If possible, it was more uncouth than it had been nine months previous when he had first left! To top it all off, beneath the travel bag, but covering the sword, was a brown cloak. It, like everything else on him, appeared worn, with rugged edges and shoddy sewing.

All in all, he could pass as a perfect commoner… about a thousand years ago.

From his cloak he pulled forth a book, about mid-sized as far as books go, and opened it instantly to the exact center.

"This is the book that has kept me alive for so long. This is the book that I watched you in, over two thousand years ago." Ranma said.

"Two… t-thousand?" Akane stuttered.

"Yeah… I'm… I'm a little on the old side… ehheh." He chuckled.

Akane looked at the book, and was instantly entranced. "Oh wow… it's… it's like a movie book! What… what's it showing?" She asked.

"This is life through the eyes of someone named Setuma Ayo." Ranma said. "It changes every twenty years, to show me another random person from the Tokyo area, from the time of my disappearance onward." Ranma said.

"I…"

"When I was alone.. It was the only thing that brought me comfort." Ranma said dejectedly. "I… I'm so glad to finally be home. You have… no idea." Ranma sighed.

"You… you want to tell me… your story I mean? What happened to you when you… disappeared?" Akane asked. She hesitated with the word disappeared because no matter how she remembered speaking with the actor who played Ranma that fateful day, now she knew that it hadn't happened. It had BEEN Ranma, not someone acting as Ranma.

She trusted him. Even over her own memories. It annoyed her and made her feel weak and possibly stupid, yet warm and fuzzy all the same.

"It's… a long story." Ranma replied. "I… I'll tell as long as you listen." He said.

Akane smiled one of her brightest smiles and said simply, "Thank you."

Ranma stuttered, "I… well… but I… that is… first could you.. Um… tell me… a-about my… well… you don't look fat like pregnant ladies so… could you tell me about"
WHAM!

Ranma pried his head firmly out of the wall angrily. "What did you do that for you Un-cute Tomboy! AH!" He cried springing his hand to his mouth… unbelieving of the words that had just come from his mouth. This was the girl he had downright worshipped for millennia! How could he even think of calling her that?

"Gomen Nasai! I didn't mean that Akane. I don't know what came over me! It just sort of… it just came out and… and…!" He stuttered, his head pressed into the pavement, bowing in the most out-of-character pose Akane had ever seen him in.

To Akane, the shocked expression on his faced, when he looked up, did something to her that hadn't been done to her in quite a while. It amused her. Heh… eighteen thousand years and he STILL managed to put his foot in his mouth around her!

"Keika, Ranma." Akane said, abruptly changing the subject. "I named our daughter, Keika"
"Keika…" Ranma twisted the word around on his tongue, muttering it a few times before he said. "I love it."

"I hoped you would, Baka." Akane asked.

For some reason, Ranma didn't seem to mind being called an idiot. Matter of fact, from his Akane, he felt like it was a compliment! He gave her a large, goofy grin.

She smiled. "You really are a baka…" she sighed and continued walking towards the Tendo compound. This time… Ranma was a little offended.

"You've really been doing this for TWO YEARS?" Mrs. Tsukino demanded for the hundredth time.

"YES MOM!" Usagi sighed angrily. "I'm REALLY not lying!"

"Oh my poor little baby has been defending the world from evil monsters and barbarians for two years? I'm so PROUD of you honey!" Ikuko ranted, also for the hundredth time. "Thanks mom! I get the idea!" Usagi replied sardonically. She sat on the ground, a crowd of people around her. For some reason the crowd was staying back, as if hindered by some invisible barrier. "Knowing me, I'm probably making it myself." She thought.

She was still a little sore as little Hotaru couldn't heal her fully. It did hurt for her to heal too much, after all.

"What the…? Where did he go?" Rei asked suddenly, looking around as if she lost something.

"Mercury, I need to know how Ranma is alive?" Usagi asked suddenly serious. She ignored Mars. The girl's love interests could wait for later. It was odd that Ryoga had disappeared so suddenly though.

"I need to know how Ranma got here and killed Venus and Jupiter." Moon said.

"I… um.. What do you…?" Mercury replied surprised and un-ready.

"Well, what are the chances that Ranma has been brought back to life? We have reason, yet again, to believe Pluto lied to us about Ranma!" Usagi said trying desperately to explain why Ranma should not have been able to return.
"Ran…ma?" Mercury thought, trying to come up with a face to match the name.

"Remember that video about Pluto kidnapping Ranma a few months ago? She said it was a fake!" Usagi said angrily.

Mercury was confused. She remembered a Ranma in the video a long while ago that Pluto had said was a fake… however… that Ranma was a GIRL!

"What? What are you talking about? Ranma was the red-headed girl in that video!" Mercury exclaimed.

"Mercury? You didn't look up the public files on him? He has a curse that turns him into a girl. I thought that would be the FIRST thing you would do! I know it's little hard to believe, but we've had encounters of the same type before." Usagi said dejectedly.

"But… but you did? Look up her information, I mean?" Mercury asked, now utterly surprised at her blonde princess.

"I had to find out everything about a possible enemy, so I looked up his name on the internet in the public files. He had a curse that turned him into a girl before he "supposedly" died. I was certain you would have looked into this!" Usagi replied now thoroughly disappointed.

"I… I'm sorry, Princess." Mercury replied in an uncharacteristically formal tone.

Who was this girl? Was this REALLY Usagi? When did she get so… smart? No… that wasn't the word. The difference between this Usagi and the bubbly girl Mercury knew was that this girl knew leadership. How had she become so good at it so fast? How did she come to possess this ability so quickly?

"Nevertheless," Usagi replied, "That man was Ranma and he has returned, when Pluto said that Akane had killed him. Either he has been resurrected or Pluto has betrayed us, yet again."

For some reason Usagi did not understand herself, she found herself acting as formal as she had in her vague memories of her past life, some twenty thousand years previous.

"But then… Akane said she'd had a baby! How do we explain that? Could it be that you really… did erase her memories?" Mars asked suddenly.

"How? My healing spell does nothing to memories!" Usagi asked. "And that's the only time I ever came in contact with her!"

Usage puzzled this for a moment. Pluto… the scout had always been a mystery to her. She despised the woman now.

Ranma's being alive changed everything. "We must talk to Akane." Usagi said as she rose to her feet.

The crowd backed up a little. Anxious of what might happen. Suddenly, a tiny voice from the back of the crowd croaked out, "I can help with that!"

Usagi looked up. Her head zoomed from one end of the crowd to the other, frantically searching for the source of the voice.

The crowd spread smoothly and slowly, the girl, slightly older than Usagi herself, with the boy-cut brown hair and equally brown eyes, named Nabiki stepped forward.

"That bitch betrayed me!" Nabiki muttered angrily.

"N-Nabiki Tendo? Akane's… sister right?" Minako asked curiously. She knew that Pluto had said that Nabiki had helped set up this whole show and had also been the announcer but this was the first time any of them save Pluto had actually MET the girl. Well, save for Mars that was. "You're the one that scared Mars when we first met by telling her, her name while in public!"

"D-damn straight." Nabiki stuttered, also uncharacteristically. The small trails of liquid falling from her eyes slowly made visible the depths of her anger and despair. She tried desperately to hide her tears but failed miserably.

"What's… what's wrong?" Neptune asked.

"Do you know what it's like…" Nabiki began, "To watch someone you know die?" Her breathing was becoming slightly on edge, her eyes, wide with passion akin to that of a madman.

"I watched Ranma die. I remember it," She said pointing to her skull, her respiration speed increasing.

"I remember watching my sister pound him into a bloody pulp. A disheveled carcass of the man I once knew!" She shouted as her breathing became more rapid.

"And there he stands! My memories were also replaced! She comforted me when he died! Pluto comforted me! She held me while I cried over the death that was only a creation of her twisted mind! She is a heartless hell hound! I want her dead!" Nabiki screamed, putting fear into the entire crowd. "I want her dead!"

"Sleep…" Usagi soothed suddenly with a voice, not that of her own. "You need rest."

Nabiki's eyes drooped wearily. Her heart rate slowed quickly. And as she slumped to the ground, her breathing returned to a moderate tempo once again.

All was silent for a moment save for the birds, twittering in the morning sunshine.

"Usagi…er… Princess… Serenity? When… how did you do… that?" Neptune asked tentatively. Usagi wasn't even transformed! And she'd never had powers like that before! Were her Senshi abilities seeping into her normal form?

Ignoring this question Usagi sighed again in her own voice and said plainly, "Pluto must be stopped."

"U-Usagi?" Mercury asked timidly. "What are you going to do?"

"I will strip her of her powers. She is no longer fit for the job as guardian of the gates of time." Usagi said.

Uranus snorted but the reaction of the crowd was much more surprised. Gates of Time? Just how important WERE the Senshi? Photographers and video camera's relayed these events to areas round' the globe via satellite, internet, television and instant photography as the world watched in silence.
"Usagi… dear… I… I really wish I knew what's going on here…" Ikuko asked, speaking as timidly as Mercury had earlier.

"Mom… it's complicated. But… I'll explain it to you some day. For now, I have to go. I have business to deal with on Pluto. Mars, get Nabiki. We're going."

"W-Where?" Saturn piped in, finally fully recovered from healing Usagi.

"To the Tendo Dojo." Usagi replied.

Suddenly she stood and shouted, "Moon Eternal Make-Up!" Displaying her dazzling transformation into Eternal Sailor Moon to the audience yet again.

The other non-transformed scouts transformed as well though most of the crowds eyes were transfixed on Sailor Moon.

Moon glanced at her mother, graced her with a large Usagi-style grin, and bounded to the roof of the school building in one graceful leap. The others followed quickly, Mars carrying Nabiki.

"My… daughter." Ikuko mumbled.

And instantly, the poor mother was bathed in the sea of reporters and fans that had previously been somehow detained from coming closer.

No one noticed the two cats. It was fortunate that they didn't because, had they, they would have seen two cats shouting, in perfect English, at the retreating forms of the Senshi, to wait and desperately trying to keep up, but failing.

As the Senshi fell completely out of sight, they saw a boy, who had stopped running right by where they were, shouting, "WAIT!" At the Senshi, just as they were moving out of sight on the building tops.

"Come on Artemis! We'll hitch a ride on that pack of his!" Luna said.

Artemis nodded, and, while the boy rested momentarily from running, they bounded up onto the large pack on his back, and clung to it for all their nine lives were worth.

Both of them continuously puzzled over why the boy carried an umbrella…

Within the Darkness of thousands of years, the Great Lord lay in his prison peacefully. He was always trying to break out, of course, however, today was not a day for struggle. Today was a great day for the dark! A great day indeed! For today, a being almost a hundredth as old as he was would finally assume her true position. His advocate.

The advocate of the Great lord of the Dark! Nae Blis! It would begin… today.

Shia'tan chuckled. The bore, the prison that held him confined within Shayol Ghul shook furiously. Some of his puppets had been freed now. Great ones. But none were his Nae Blis. Ishamael had come close receiving the position. Even others had done great as well. Lanfear, Daughter of the Night, had decreased the time between the present and the final battle, Tarmon Gai'don, by much before she met her demise. Such a pathetic way for her to die. Others had also served well. Samael had taken over an entire kingdom before Lews Therin Destroyed him again. Who else was there who had even done decent?

Moghedien? A pitiful excuse for the spider she once was. Rahvin? Dead. Balthamel? Dead. He had too few of the Chosen left for his liking. He would perhaps have to revive a few more from the dead again. Hmm, such an annoyance.

But it was no matter. His avatar… his Nae Blis, had finally come.

Today would be the day. It had been SO long since someone strong enough from the other side of the wheel had lived to serve him. But now one was strong enough. And he would have her at his mercy. No matter how long it took for her, it would be nothing to him. The other side of the wheel of time moved so slowly.

Those gates the foolish moon dwellers had made drained the energy of their side of the Wheel of Time, slowing time down in comparison to the other side of the wheel. Of course, the fools couldn't feel it and so they assumed nothing was wrong. Fools. The time gates would sap their life flow of it's energy and in the end, that entire side of the wheel would be destroyed.

Fortunately, his Nae Blis would be rescued from the persecutions and tribulations of that other world. The lord of the Dark, Ba'alzamon, Shia'tan, would protect his Nae Blis.

And with that, across the worlds, he reached out his hand. And the Lord of the Dark again touched the other side of the wheel.

"So what are we going to do?" Uranus asked cautiously.

"We have to be careful. How do we get their attention without making them think we mean them harm?" Chibi-Usa, Usagi's daughter from the future, asked plainly.

She had arrived shortly after the scouts had left the high school, wondering what all the commotion was about. She, of course, had resided within the elementary school, and it had been hell for her to get out. The damn teacher wouldn't let her go to the bathroom!

"Maybe we should watch at the window? Set guards around each window to look in and see what's going on?" Mars asked.

"Or perhaps we should just wait them out? It doesn't actually seem like Ranma or Akane or home. When he showed up at the battlefield… I… it was all could do not to feel his… well his… presence, I suppose would be the only word for it," Usagi piped in.

After much heated debate they began to quietly argue about which way it should be done. After almost ten minutes of pointless bickering, Hotaru, Sailor Saturn, said simply. "Why don't we just knock on the door?"

The other Senshi were silenced rather quickly. After a few blinks and no less than three face faults, Usagi took her position as leader. "Great idea, Saturn." She said.

Hotaru gave the older scouts a look that either said "nice try," or simply "your retarded." Mercury, who had not participated in the argument or idea proposing, nodded profusely.

"Well, lets go then." Usagi said.

She marched up to the front gate of the Tendo Dojo and knocked loudly three times. On the third knock, the fragile wood of the front gate indented leaving an ugly looking, fist imprint in the old wood.

Suddenly after a few moments waiting, the gate slid open.

A man who was barely on the edge of tears stood there looking down at the ground.

"I'm… I'm sorry," the man, who's long black hair fluttered around his waist calmly, said. "But we aren't accepting challenges at this time.

"Oh we aren't here to challenge the dojo!" Hotaru said happily.

"Your…" Soun suddenly looked up… and with that, backed away instantly. "By Kami what have we done to you people? What are you here to take this time! My other daughter as well? NO! No damn you! I'll fight you to the death before I let you take any of them!" He cried, his tears, evaporated.

"Mr. Tendo, you misundersta"
"Shut up! I won't allow you to speak until you give my grandchild back," Soun cried desperately as he backed into a fighting stance.

"Grandchi- sir please we just want to-"

"SILENCE!" Soun screamed, interrupting Sailor Moon's vain attempts to reason with him. "I want my Grandchild back, you kidnapping thieves! I want her back NOW! You were fools to show up on my doorstep!" He cried. And with that, he sprung into action.

Moving forward at a speed, previously unseen from the aged master of the ground side of the Anything Goes style, Soun, struck an excruciatingly painful blow against her, sending her careening back into her fellow comrades.

She, Neptune, Venus, and Mercury, lay on the ground. An awkward mound of bones and flesh.

Usagi noticed that her daughter and a few of the other Senshi were preparing to attack the man.

"STOP!" She cried.

They hesitated, allowing the poor old master to get a similar hit in on Mars, who had flinched at her princess's command, sending her flying backwards and skidding to a halt on smoking sidewalk, her back, burning.

Usagi stood and faced the tall, broad shouldered man.

"We deserved that and more for what has been done to your family in our name." Usagi said plainly. "I believe, it was the actions of Sailor Pluto, and I beg your forgiveness. I need you to listen to us, sir. I need to find Akane Tendo." She said as she bowed her head in a respectful manner. The blue and black eye that she now wore mattered little to her. It was unimportant and therefore pointless.

Soun was unready for her unwillingness to fight. "What have you done with my grand-child! Where is little Keika-chan?" He screamed, trying desperately to hold on to his righteous.

"I… I don't know. Please… please tell me what happened to her! T-tell me who kidnapped her! Was it Sailor Pluto?"

"YES!" Soun screeched and then much more calmly said, "Yes… and I couldn't… I couldn't do a thing… my wife, years ago and now my poor little grand-daughter kidnapped… just like Akane last year…" He slumped to his knees, crying tears that he had shed many times before.

After a few moments, in which the only sound permeating the Tendo front lawn was Soun's sobs, Usagi grunted. "Hmph, that proves it. Sailor Pluto has betrayed us. And this is the last time. Mr. Tendo, I will personally retrieve your grand-daughter. Our purpose is no longer the purpose of the Senshi of Pluto. She will be stripped of her power forever. I… I can't ask you to forgive all that has happened because of us, but… I… we had no knowledge of Pluto's plans."

Usagi suddenly knelt down on one knee and bowed her head.

Without even noticing themselves do it, her Senshi did the same, feeling foolish for not having done so in the first place.

With that she stood. "Come. We've caused this family enough grief. It's time to right the wrongs of Sailor Pluto. Is seems that, at some point, she forgot that she was always one of mine. She is no longer…"

And the Senshi all bounded away again.

Mars, Venus, Neptune, Saturn, Uranus, Mini-Moon, Mercury, and Jupiter, were all beginning to wonder just what had happened to the bubbly, ditzy blond they had once called their leader. This new girl… this new Usagi, was… so… mature. So… good at this "leadership" thing. It was if she was… born for the job, which, ironically, she was. Her Senshi had just never noticed it.

"Yes! She looks just like your girl side! Her red hair is already coming in! She's so… so cute! I… you'll love her… my idiot." Akane said as they walked at a casual pace towards the dojo.

Ranma smiled in eager anticipation. What an… what a… what a surprise! A father! He was an honest to goodness, right forward, straight up, father! And father of the child of the woman of his dreams no less! What a great day it had turned out to be!

At the back of his mind, Ranma idly wondered what had become of Ryoga, but it apparently did not matter too much. He was sure Ryoga could take care of himself.

"There it is!" Ranma exclaimed joyously.

He bounded around like a small child, at the site of his home. It had been so very long since he had seen it. His first home. His TRUE home. He was so glad…

"Daddy!" Akane cried suddenly. She rushed passed the dancing Ranma and zoomed over to the outside of the Tendo wall, where her father resided. He was breathing heavily and obviously making an effort not to cry.

"M-Mr. Tendo!" Ranma stuttered in a way that, to Soun, was completely out of character.

"We-welcome back… my girl. Son. I… huff… Little Akane-chan… I'm… I'm so sorry…" he cried as he fell to his knees before his daughter. "Please, Please forgive me." He said as his head bowed to the ground.

"Daddy w-what's… what's going on?" Akane asked, tentatively.

"She… she came! Pluto! The one who kidnapped Ranma… I.. I'm so sorry but… but"
"But what Dad!" Akane demanded.

Ranma stood behind the two, simply amazed that he was aloud to grace the presence of people whom he had dreamed of knowing… remembering for years. Did they not see the importance of their presence to him? Why were they conversing? Why weren't joyously accepting his return as he was finally back?

"Pluto took Keika!" Soun cried.

And with that, Ranma's brief slip, into a more odd sort of madness was cut short. His daughter kidnapped? But he'd never even seen the girl! Let alone loved her yet! Why! WHY WHY WHY? What the hell did Pluto WANT from him?

While Ranma contemplated the anger burning within him, Akane was a far different matter. Her skin burned with a cold aura the emanated death to any who would dare to cross her path. Her cold fury burned around her in a sickly, twisted blue and orange aura of anger, hatred, and despair.

"Ranma," She said without turning around in a voice that turned not only Soun's, but Ranma's blood as well, to ice. "We are going to find Pluto. We have to find the Senshi."

"They were just here!" Soun burst out sharply. "They… well, they came and begged for our forgiveness! Akane-chan, I don't think they are to blame! Just Pluto. It was all Pluto… T-they went that way!" He finished pointing towards the east.

"Thank you daddy," Akane said again, her cold, furious aura still chilling the air and temperature around her. "Come on Ranma. Were going to show you your daughter."

"Oh dear. This is no good at all…" Cologne thought. "No good at all."

Cologne had been residing in her village with an exceedingly happy granddaughter for the past few months. She had become… happy again as well. She had so longed for her home in the mountains but… But… It simply wasn't enough. Now that she was finally home, again, the old woman felt a nostalgic desperation for the comedy and enjoyment she received from her… ex-son-in-law.

"Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear," She muttered.

Now it appeared that something was happening. She looked at the auras from the land of the Rising Sun. The land was now ripe with activity. More so, even than it had been. Upon Ranma's death, since she was within it, she did not see the change. When she arrived home she saw the great oranges and reds and blues that always appeared in the aura's from the east. Now it was different. It was the same actually. Just, incredibly larger. Some enormous force had come to Japan. And it was a force that would shake the world.

"Ta'veren," She muttered. "There is a Ta'veren, in Japan."

Ta'veren. A mystic person, who made the lives of people around them swirl with impossibilities. Ignite with magic and mischief and amazements that are simply… impossible! A Ta'veren had not existed since the breaking… twenty thousand years ago, or so history said.

It was true that the Amazon's were only three thousand years old, however, their society was based on others that had existed in this time. In the most ancient texts, in impossibly old dialects and scriptures…. There existed remnants of a place called the Silver Millennium.

In this time there existed a Ta'veren. And her name was… unfortunately lost to time. However, it was said that she was the one who, by influence and lordship, through a woman named Beryl, brought down this, Silver Millennium.

And now, as the text said, one was born again… or at least one had become "active" again.

Eastern sky burned… people to Luna… Ta'veren's workings to first earth. Next, come True Power. True Source… . Then, begin merge… Time unwatched… Dark War to Shadow… end... Dragon, Dancer, Luna, Chronos… renew… forever… Wheel to Time destroyed forever.

This was what had been translated and remembered of the Almonryic Scriptures. The Amazon's had debated constantly upon weather specific asterisks meant "to" or "of" due to the fact that the symbols of the two words were so similar that the amazon's could barely tell the difference, considering these scriptures were hacked into a stone tablet with a chisel.

Once they had been a full prophecy in the time of the great Siriquis. The nation that had given the Scriptures to the Amazon's upon their "dying out".

Amazons and Siriquis hadn't known each other at all. However, the sparse translators between the languages, who none of which knew even a fourth of the other language, told the Amazons to keep their most valued scriptures.

The Amazons studied and studied… and this was all that they could come up with, in their three thousand years.

Now it appeared that the eastern sky burned. People to Luna, Cologne did not understand. Dark War of Shadow, Merge, Time unwatched and Ta'veren returns she was all unsure of. However… one thing she was certain of, was this. True Power… True Source…

She felt power encircle her, enflaming her bones with a previously un-heard of sense of joy and passion. Her lungs burned with the glorious fire that was this… True Source. By surrendering to it's prowess she found that she could easily manipulate it to do her bidding. It was truly… amazing, beyond that even of the joys of youth. Letting go of the source, she found herself, unhappy… wanting only to draw in more of that agonizingly beautiful power that enhanced everything about her.

"Something big is happening in Japan. I won't miss it…" She thought.

She hobbled away from the eastern wall of Joketsuzoku to find her great-granddaughter.

Akane stared at the Senshi with a burning hatred in her eyes. Ranma however, regarded them with a rather… sympathetic look. Twenty thousand years of getting to know these women through their subjects in the kingdom of the moon told him that, no, these Senshi were not at fault.

The Senshi, were a different story. They also held a cold fury.

Ranma and Akane had caught up with the Senshi by a stroke of Luck. Akane had relented at the news of her child's kidnap and so she, again, was being held by jumping Ranma. They had bounded down the road for about three kilometers until they happened across a grassy clearing in the middle of a small public park.

They had landed directly in front of the Senshi, confronting them with cold stares.

The cool breeze that had been flowing completely halted and passerbys felt the temperature drop, and froze when one of these cold eyed woman even caught a glance of them. There anger was directed, not at Akane, but at Ranma.

"Come on Akane! We gotta reason with them because it's not their fault! I'm telling you the truth! On my word Akane! They didn't take your child and they may be the only way we can find her!" Ranma exclaimed.

"YOUR CHILD TOO!" Akane screamed at him as her irate state of idle threats turned to hot blooded fury and unleashed on him.

This was in no way the kind, loving Akane he remembered. Yet somehow, Ranma found himself un-disappointed.

Moon was having similar problems. Her fellow Senshi were in the same states of cold fury, directed at Ranma for killing two of their group, forcing the pain of revival onto their queen. Venus and Jupiter felt the odd sensation of wishing to avenge themselves, though unlike Mars and Uranus, were not actively exposing their wish.

Moon returned the sympathetic look with one of her own as she bodily held back both Mars and Uranus from attacking Ranma on the spot.

One, they were allies due to the new-found information on Pluto.

Two, it would be stupid beyond measure to fight one who could kill them with a simple beam of light to the heart in an instant.

"I… apologgh… MARS Cut it out! I… Apologi- DAMNIT Uranus! I apologize! For… for this!" Moon said through her struggling with holding back the Uranus and Mars. Finally she yanked the Black-haired Senshi behind her and she fell to the ground in a heap on her bottom. She was about to rise again when Moon turned to face her throwing Uranus atop her.

"Mars, Uranus! I command you in the Name of the Moon, to settle down and shut up!" Moon said calmly.

Mars was dumbfounded, while Uranus backed off, angrily. She got to her knees and sat there, a pleading look on her face. "Bu… but… but he k-killed Venus and Jupiter! H-how can you just let him…?" she asked, meekly.

They watched as Ranma struggled with Akane in the same way for a few moments.

"Think about it. If the love of your life were in the same position Akane was when you showed up, how would you react? Ranma acted on instinct! It appears he knows this. Otherwise he would destroy us in an instant!" She said plainly.

The group gasped in unison. "Pri-princess? He couldn't p-possibly-" Neptune stuttered but was interrupted by a harsh.

"Oh Yes he could. Didn't you see what he did to Jupiter and Venus? It didn't even make him sweat. He could kill us in seconds so just listen to Moon and don't offend him!" Mercury exclaimed. Whilst they bickered among themselves, Usagi thought. Why oh why did her Senshi have to be soo stupid at times! Once upon a time she was the WORST of them! At least Mercury had some sense though… Looking back now, Usagi felt foolish about her past decisions. Most of them were the actions of a horribly unprepared child. It was necessary but… dumb… so VERY dull-witted to awaken a fourteen-year-old girl to such a demanding task. Now, a year or so since the last climactic battle, at the age of seventeen, she had matured ten-fold. With the aid of her rapidly returning memories, The Bunny of the Moon, Usagi, had become who she was meant to be. Serenity.

"Ranma Saotome correct?" She said upon seeing that he had finally calmed down the ice-blizzard that was Akane Tendo.

"Hai." He replied. "Where is my… d-daughter?" He asked, directly in a firm yet… disbelieving?… tone.

"Straight to the point, as I would expect. Your daughter, will be with Pluto, on Pluto." She replied with a small amount of humor in her voice.

Akane simmered. It was obvious she was angry. Ranma was no longer preventing her from straight out attacking the Senshi but she wanted to destroy these people so much. They had taken HIM and he was keeping her from maiming them! And NOW they had taken the one thing more precious to her than any other! Damn it Damn it Damn it!

"And, this is funny to you?" He demanded harshly.

Moon was taken aback. "N-no of course not! I, I just."

Moon sighed. How could she possibly keep these two groups from killing each other? "Ranma, I'm sorry I just, I-" She sighed again, "I am removing Pluto from her position as Senshi. She no longer deserves the position."

"That's all! She kidnapped my baby!" Shouted Akane, un-understandably due to the fact that at the exact same time, Chibi-Moon, or Usa shouted. "WHAT? Your… your really going to remove.. Remove Pluto? Does… does that mean I'll have to… to go back?"

"I don't know what will happen to you, Carrot-top. But, no matter what, I have to seek right over wrong. Pluto must be stripped of her power." Moon said, placing a hand on her daughter's pink-haired head.

"SHE KIDNAPPED MY BABY!" Akane screamed annoyed at the loss of attention, and even more so annoyed at the actual event.

"Punishment will be given accordingly by federal courts if that's alright with you?" Moon said, hoping to end this particular issue, quickly.

Unfortunately for Pluto, that answer was not to be.

"I plan to kill her." Ranma stated.

Akane gasped slightly but then, after a few moments of thought, nodded. "She deserves it."

"No! You can't! She… s-she's saved our lives so many times now! You can't do that!" Hotaru, or Saturn, exclaimed.

"I dislike Pluto myself but, death? What has she done to deserve such a punishment?" Mercury asked, perplexed.

Ranma stayed silent for a moment, contemplating his answer. Akane looked at him as anxiously as the scouts did until he finally said. "She imprisoned me… left me in a world of everlasting darkness for eighteen thousand years of loneliness and torture. I forgot everything. I didn't remember what it was like to feel clothing! Couldn't remember the touch of anything save the cold hard floor. I couldn't remember my love's name. Do you understand that? I could not remember the reason for my determination to return! I forgot all my ties to this world! Forgot how to taste! How to smell! My insides rotted away, and now beneath this skin I'm brittle rotten bone, older than a hundred, a thousand times your age! She stole my life, hope, sanity, and love… and for this sin, I will kill her."

His speech ended on a somber, mute tone. Until Usagi broke the silence with just a small nod.

"Come. Take my hand. I will take you there. Be prepared… Pluto is older, be your story true or not, than even you I think, Ranma." Moon said in a sorrowful tone. "I don't like this… She has been my guardian for a very long time now… but these crimes cannot go un-punished."

"But Princess Serenity! How can you believe this man? He just killed Venus and Jupiter right in front of you!" Uranus yelled trying desperately to convince her princess that she was mistaken.

This man was evil! Pluto said so! How many times? How MANY times had Pluto been wrong? The times she had been right and truthful FAR outweighed her wrongs!

"Uranus your mistaken! Use your brain! What would you have done if I-" Neptune said trying to convince her lover, Uranus, of Pluto's wrongs.

"He is EVIL! As is the girl, Akane I'll bet! That must be it! If they draw us to fight like this! They are evil I tell you! Look at all Pluto has done for us! How can you trust this man over her?"

"LOOK AT HIS EYES!" Usagi screamed as she snapped around. "Are his eyes the eyes of a liar? Look Uranus! Look Haruka! If someone demands the immediate death of another don't you think there would be a decent reason?"

Surprised yet again at the outburst from the blonde, Uranus did as told. She saw nothing. She saw as Usagi had, albeit inadvertently, said. A liar.

"You are wrong Usagi!" She said with a sneer. "Pluto has been around for almost twenty millennia! She knows what she is doing more so that a little twit like you!"

The rest of the Senshi gasped in mute shock at Uranus's disloyalty to Usagi. Sure she had name called Usagi before, but this outright… contempt, amazed them all.
Moon sighed and then said, "Uranus, you have to learn to see people… I don't know Ranma, but from a moments glance at him, and a few sparse words… along with all the information against her, not to mention Akane's… daughter was it?"

Akane nodded.

"Pluto is wrong. She started this, and now you must decide where your loyalties lie… the crown, or Pluto."

"Damn it you insolent CHILD! Your wrong!" Uranus snarled. "I trust Pluto. If she thinks kidnapping that woman's baby is for the best! It's for the best!" she exclaimed.

Haruka didn't even see the fist that broke her nose and left her unconscious. Akane had sprung upon her so quickly that even Ranma almost missed it and was still unable to do anything about it.

Moon looked down at her unconscious comrade. "I thought better of you, Uranus. Kidnap? Deceit? These aren't ways to peace. The ends don't justify the means…"

Akane stood in a lunging position, breathing hard, fist outstretched, standing over the lifeless body of Haruka, formally known as Sailor Uranus.

Michiru, or Neptune, looked on in horror as Usagi knelt down next to her lover. "No no! You can't princess! Please! Her offence isn't worth this! It will devastate her!" Michiru cried.

"She blindly follows Pluto even after all her wrong doings. She is also unfit to be a Senshi. I'm sorry, Michiru… I know you love her. But she can't be trusted by me any longer after this..." Usagi stated.

Moon knelt down and held a hand over the unconscious girl's head. "I Queen Serenity, here, do by and forthwith, withdraw your status as Senshi of the Planet Uranus. May the power you once possessed go to hands better suited than your own. Goodbye, Haruka."

A small flash of light withdrew from Haruka's body and was held in Usagi's hands for a moment. The light was a golden brown sphere of color, pulsing with power.

"Go…" Usagi whispered. "I need person suited to the job the Senshi of Uranus is to carry out."

The ball of light zoomed away at an alarming pace, moving towards the west. The other Senshi gulped. This definitely was NOT the Usagi they knew.

After a long moment of silence, save for the weeping from Michiru, who now knelt by Haruka, Venus moved forward to Moon. "Uh… Usa-chan. Don't um… don't' you think that was a little… well… harsh? I mean… she just went by what she believed and…"

"And what about next time, Venus? What if next time, Pluto told her to kill me? That THAT was for the best? She would have blindly followed! She trusted Pluto over me! I CAN'T have that! If I'm to accept TRUE responsibility for my future actions… that can not happen! I must have trust in my Senshi. I trust you all… and thought that Uranus was trustworthy as well… I was wrong. I need you to be able to trust me and my judgment also, but foremost I need you to be able to realize truth when you see it… to think for yourselves. Don't be blind."

The scouts, STILL awed by what their leader had become, that being a leader, were frightened by the seriousness of the situation that had befallen them. Usagi, was FINALLY, becoming a TRUE queen. How… odd… yet still it was true.

Usagi moved over to a spot in a clearing, a little ways away from Uranus. "Come on. We're going to Pluto."

"Um… last… time I checked… we couldn't breath on Pluto… eheh." Ranma said.

Akane sighed dejectedly and elbowed him in the shoulder, not because she was angry with him but more, she was angry at the fact that there was yet another barrier between her and what she wanted. She had sighed in relief when Usagi had told her she'd take them to Pluto, but then Ranma had dashed her hopes of getting her baby back with his, abnormally smart for once, comment.

"It is Pluto's castle. Don't worry. You'll be able to breath. Pluto is as human as the rest of us. She breathes as well." Moon said as she twisted around towards them. "Come on, I need a circle. Sailor Teleport."

They formed a circle, the Senshi, feeling odd leaving the unconscious ex-Uranus on the ground, not to mention odd at the newcomers. The newcomers, being Ranma and Akane, felt odd at the idea of forming joined circle for no apparent reason in the middle of a wooded clearing.

Ranma clasped Mercury's hand on his left, and Akane's on his right. Akane, held Ranma and Jupiter.

Ranma didn't miss the glare and sparks erupting between his fiancee and the Senshi of the largest planet. They hated each other, and most likely always would.

Suddenly the Senshi around Ranma and Akane began to glow. Jupiter halted her glare and closed her eyes, as did the rest of the Senshi, save Moon. And with that, they were gone.

"You damn cats! Why do you keep talking to me? I'm just seeing things… your just… just… figments of my imagination! That's right!" Ryoga screamed as he ran. "We can't help it! We need to get back! First off how in the world did you lead us to a jungle?" The white cat, formally known as Artemis asked.

"I don't know! Damn you Ranma! This is all your fault! First you send my life to hell! Then you show me happiness such that I'd never known! And now you abandon me, and sick talking cats on me!" Ryoga screamed at the sky. "This is ALL YOUR FAULT!"

"No one "suck" us on you! We were simply hitching a ride since you were going quickly in the same direction, and then you, you baffoon, brought us to a Jungle! And now we are forced to depend on you for survival!" Luna cried in frustration. The boy had been screaming at this "Ranma" for fifteen minutes!

Suddenly, another growl erupted from behind them and the third leopard they had seen in the last half hour jumped out and attacked the small cats.

Ryoga automatically slammed a fist into the leopard, however, the cats again were curled into balls, huddled together in fear.

"T-this… I-is all y-your fault…. A-Artemis!" Luna stuttered.

"My fault! You're the one who said we should hitch a ride!" Artemis roared back.

Another leopard appeared, jumped and was blocked by the Hibiki boy, silencing both cats.

"And now your making me protect them? What sort of sick joke is this Ranma!" Ryoga screamed at the sky again.

Both cats sighed, chuckling at the dumbness of it all.

"The S-Senshi will have to f-fend for themselves for a w-while." Luna said as she recovered from her fear. "It seems the only way back is to follow this dolt!"

As Ryoga pulled out an worn looking paper fan to ward off the heat, the two cats realized just how stupid they had accidentally been.

Pluto was impressed. Amazingly impressed, yet again! Her princess… er… ex-princess, had shown amazing judgment in her words and executed the situation involving Uranus perfectly! It, had she and the Senshi still been friends, would have hurt Pluto herself due to the loss of Uranus's worthiness and usefulness. However, based on Usagi's situation, it was the right and smart thing to do.

But unfortunately all would be wasted… All her efforts… all the things that she had planned that had brought her to this time. This time, where people she once knew in the Silver Millenium were exactly the same… just wearing different faces. She would have to outlive yet again. Stand alone yet again… and next time, in the next twenty thousand years, she wouldn't fail. She would remember the price for failure. Another eternity…

Now, she was prepared and, as she felt the presence of several persons appear within the area of her castle, she waited.

The Senshi would meet their doom here. Along with Ranma Saotome.

Ranma found himself in a blazing swirl of colored lights. Akane's head lulled as did his own. He clung desperately to the hand of the girl he stood next to. Ignoring the loud "CRACK" he heard from the girl, and the scream that bellowed from her mouth he, he still held down.

Finally, after what seemed like an hour, their feet touched solid ground again.

Glancing at Akane he found that her hair was in an amusing sort of contorted form that he had previously thought impossible. The blue hair dye she usually used had been dissolved, leaving his unadulterated fiancee. Black hair flying everywhere, as nature intended.

Usagi saw all of this. Experiencing the Senshi teleport, without the Senshi's magical defenses was said to be a little dangerous and tiring. But Usagi wasn't worried about Akane. What she was worried about, was the jerking and screaming Mercury on Ranma's left.

Ranma stifled a chuckle at Akane's hair, not caring about the girl on his left, and dropped the hands of the girls on both his sides.

Akane grabbed her hand instantly, and rubbed it profusely. However, the girl on his right slumped to the floor screaming bloody murder.

"HE BROKE MY HAND! HE BROKE MY HAND!" The blue-haired Senshi screamed.

It was true. Her hand was literally crushed. Her palm collapsed in on itself, with her fingers creaking around with ugly sounding cracks and crinkles.

Ranma, now finally noticing the girl's pain, knelt down next to the wailing girl. "I… I… uh.."

"Oh stop whining Mercury!" Saturn exclaimed boldly as she touched the injury.

It healed quickly, as all injuries cured by Saturn did, leaving nothing more than a hard breathing Mercury.

After a short time, Mercury stood, dusted her self off, and gave a very Un-Ami like glare at one Ranma Saotome. "THAT HURT!" She screamed suddenly.

"I'm sorry!" Ranma eeked.

Akane just sighed as she watched the interaction, all the while, only rubbing a slightly sore palm, wondering if Ranma had possibly done that on purpose.

"Ranma. I know you have some reason to hate or dislike us, but I'd appreciate it if you'd NOT break my hands without a good reason!" Mercury said angrily.

"Aneri Aneri!" Ranma cried unconsciously slipping into the language of the world he had recently been on, unconsciously. Mercury looked at him, confused.

"What?" He asked, wondering why they were all giving him blank stares.

After a moment of awkward silence, Akane said suddenly. "So… this is Pluto?"

On hard rock, or ice. None of them could tell which. But before them stood an enormous castle. It spanned probably five to ten stories, with hundreds of towers. Huge doors that appeared to be made of stone stood before them. The castle was made of individual bricks of what appeared to be stone was well looking very much like an abnormally tall and large, medieval castle. The huge doors were probably ten meters tall and four meters wide, arcing up to a pointed tip at the top. The roofs of the towers held an illustrious glow to them, as if they had been painted with gems or glowing lights.

At the top of the tallest tower, there was a massive green light, erupting out from it, and covering the entire area of the intruder's vision. Ranma looked around him, first at the amazing castle, which some how reminded him of a larger Fal Dara, and then to the depths of space. Far, far, far, away in the deep depths of space, he could make out a tiny yellow speck, brighter than the millions of stars laid before him.

"That's the sun, isn't it?" He wondered silently.

He glanced over at Akane and noticed that she looked visibly shaken. They were literally ON the Planet of Pluto. X several million miles away from ANY form of Civilization. It was no wonder Akane was afraid. Even Ranma, who had seen eternal lives involving fear, was a little bit disturbed by the sheer distance, let alone that they were still alive on a Planet as cold as this one, knowing it had no atmosphere. It was all rather… impossible to say the least.

"My god… I knew she had a castle but this is incredible!" Moon muttered, sounding childish again. She wasn't nearly as impressed by the distance… it seemed she had done something like this before as she only barely noted the fact that the Sun still existed down there."Yeah, we've only ever seen the room that has the gates of time but never Pluto itself. Sailor Moon, is something wrong with your teleportation? I figured you would bring us right into the room that holds the gates of time." Mars asked curiously.

Ranma couldn't help his outburst. "What IS Sailor Pluto? What are these gates of time! Why did she kidnap me all those years ago?"

Some of the Sailors, frightened by the sudden outburst, backed away from Ranma.

"I want to know too!" Akane said angrily. "What right does she have to kidnap my fiancee! Especially when.. When um… well…"

"When you were pregnant?" Ranma supplied.

Akane gave Ranma a sharp glare and he winced a little with a mouthed "sorry."

Akane sighed, even more exasperated. "When I was pregnant." She finished. "And NOW She's stolen my DAUGHTER! What does she want from us?"

Usagi, as Ranma and Akane expected, recovered from their outburst the fastest. She appeared, as the leader, to be the strong, dependable Senshi. "Pluto is the Guardian of the Gates of time. She can view possible futures based on what is currently happening. Her goal is to create Crystal Tokyo, which is a reborn Silver Millennium. I'm going to assume that her reason for kidnapping you is somewhere along the lines of you being a threat to her goal. Your… daughter on the other hand… I haven't the slightest clue"
"I might." Ami, a.k.a. Mercury piped in.

All eyes turned to her, save for Chibi Usa, who was still amazed with the castle, and Neptune who was sitting on the rocky ground, crying.

"When Ranma came back, perhaps, Pluto knew, or found out of your intentions to remove her from her position as guardian of time, Sailor Moon. If THAT'S true then she might have kidnapped Keika as a hostage, or worse, as bait." Mercury said, happy to finally be able to put forth some information that her leader didn't have.

Finding motivation, figuring tactics, and strategizing, were usually her area of expertise. She had been beginning to think she was useless as it seemed that Usagi was learning these things so rapidly.

Suddenly an enormous and eerie creaking sound permeated the area on which they stood. "Hey look, hey look!" Usa exclaimed. "The doors are opening!"

Sure enough the doors were opening, creating the ugly and creepy sound.

"Odd that she would simply allow us in if she knows of our plans." Jupiter said, to Venus in particular, but Ranma interpreted it as a general comment to everyone.

"Lets go." Moon said defiantly.

She led the way into the rusty castle, haughtily and angrily.

Upon entering, the Senshi, Ranma, and Akane, were greeted with the sight on an enormous front-room looking area. Set up in the midst of the room were random chairs that looked to be made of either comfortable fleece, or possibly rough nylon. The white marble floor only made it look more extravagant, albeit creepy.

The room was built in a great circle, with a few doors exiting to other chambers and the main door behind them. About a story and a half upward were candle lit chandeliers, and enormous old portraits and statues situated around the upper part of the room. All in all this gave the entire place a gloomy, eerie, haunted house sort-of feeling.

Suddenly, a loud and angry voice erupted from everywhere. "SO! Strip ME of MY Powers eh, Princess? I made you! I MADE YOU! You wouldn't be half of what you are without me! You wouldn't be ANYTHING without me! A simple little ditz of a Blonde, too stupid to even make it to school on time!" The voice echoed.

"Sailor Pluto. I can no longer comply with your actions. It has become obvious that you seek a power that is not and never shall be given to you. Behind the excuse of Crystal Tokyo you have done the unthinkable. Come out quietly, and return the child, and I will attempt to convince Ranma not to end your life." Sailor Moon said calmly.

Moon's scouts were visibly shaken. Old memories, too old and forgotten, stirred within their thoughts. Dreams of previous lives. When they had been small in their past lives, they had feared this haunted place. Here they stood again…

Akane stood straight and defiant. "Show yourself, pathetic coward! I want my daughter back, and I'll rip your spine out to get to her!"

"You won't get the chance." Said, not the voice, but the person who was Sailor Pluto, appearing before them all.

Suddenly, the Book within Ranma's coat grew scalding hot, burning straight through his old fashioned coat. The second degree burn on his chest, however, went unnoticed by the horribly pained Ranma.

"AAAHHHHHHHHHH!" He screamed as he fell to the floor clutching his aching, hunger-ridden stomach.

"I free you from your immortality." She said, angrily.

Ranma squirmed on the floor, crushing his stomach, trying desperately to crush the ever-growing gap within his abdomen that was his stomach.

"Usagi!" Pluto said loudly. "Yes mistress?" Usagi replied humbly as she knelt before the lady. The beautiful green haired lady that she couldn't help but obey. It was all Usagi could do not to kiss the woman's feet.

"I must ask you, little children, why you feel it necessary to remove me from my post?" Pluto asked politely.

All of the scouts, who were similarly on their knees, bowing to the beautiful mistress who was Pluto, answered at the same time, differently, causing a garbled mess of words and confusion.

"SILENCE!" Pluto yelled, as Ranma still squirmed on the floor.

The Senshi fell silent instantly, staring vacantly, yet obediently, at Pluto.

The green-haired lady stood atop a staircase, also made of fine white marble, that led down into the room, directly across from the entrance. It was an elegant stair with a titanium guard rail, that Pluto held as she slowly walked down the steps, wearing her usual Senshi outfit.

"Usagi! Answer!" She ordered.

"I was foolish mistress! I only wish to please you! Only this! Please! Please how can I make up for this perilous grievance I have committed?" Moon begged staring, starry-eyed at the woman whom she came, intending to kill.

"Yes! Please! Allow us to make up for our actions!" Mars bellowed callously.

Through his horrid sense of hunger… mighty un-yielding hunger, Ranma vaguely remembered the feeling from what seemed like a past life. Rejuvenated by the idea and memory of ways to fix it, without food, he instantly redirected his ki flows, bathing himself deep within the Soul of Ice technique. With all this, ability to think, or perhaps a memory of the ability to think, appeared within him.

He glanced around, still whimpering at his aching stomach, to see all of the Scouts, bowing to the Pluto woman.

Somewhere in the back of his mind, behind his un-yielding pain he though, "Damnit!"

"What… ar… you… ah! I… I love my daughter…! I lo-hate… you!" Akane muttered as she fought with her own mind, glaring at the green-haired lady. "I won't fall to some little mind trick! No.. not when my daughter's on the line!" Akane screamed.

She charged Pluto in a mad rage intending to easily send her to the world of unconsciousness as quickly as possible. And just as suddenly, she found herself entangled, as if an iron cord had wrapped around her hands and feet. She was bound by some sort of invisible weave of air.
"What the hell?" She screamed, as she flew forward, face first, slamming down on the hard marble floor.

"Well then. Scouts? To repay the damage you have done to me, I demand the death of this woman." Pluto exclaimed.

"Anything mistress!" The scouts replied in unison.

They all turned to look directly at Akane. And for the first time in a rather long while, a bound Akane, knew fear.

Ranma watched, his hunger, plaguing him. Seeing his, somewhat allies turn on him so abruptly, placed a fear in his heart of Pluto's capabilities. Both of them, that is, he and Akane, subdued so easily... It was pathetic. He screamed once again, begging the desecrating pain to stop, just for a moment… so just for a moment, he could stop writhing on the floor.

Then he saw it. Bathed in his, at the moment, practically worthless soul of ice technique, which was not strong enough to dampen the horrid feeling of hunger, he saw this light. The light… the light was so clear. That light that usually lay behind a veil. The veil was no longer there! The light was free for him to touch! Free! Open!

He grabbed it for the third time in his life. But this time it wasn't the same. More powerful by miles as the veil no longer hindered it's seeping into his sense of being. However, there was a wrongness to it. It felt… sickening. Like glue or tar, steaming through his veins. Yet still the wonderful sensation that had wracked his soul with feeling was there. But most importantly, the power was still there.

Through the muck and sickness of if all, he directed this newfound light to something useful. His stomach. The pain, while it wasn't lessened at all in truth, was dampened due to his lack of feeling, within this light that was called Saidin. With his hunger finally brought down to bearable levels, he looked up to a sight that was, once again, from his worst nightmares.

"MANEK! OEG LOOEN ENE LOVER SEREHENIME!" He screamed helplessly in the language that none present understood.

Rainbow Moon…

Moon Pink Sugar…

Mars Flame…

Jupiter Oak…

Mercury Aqua…

Venus Love and…

Saturn Silence glaive…

Neptune deep…

A smirk appeared on Pluto's face as the Senshi aimed their attacks at the struggling Akane.

And suddenly, Akane screamed. "HELP ME RANMA!"

And he did just that. Wobbling his body so that he faced the Senshi of Time, he lay his palm outstretched along the ground, aimed at her. A green burst of heavily depressive ki erupted in a cylindrical bar, about one foot in diameter and two in length, of energy from Ranma's hand directly at the Senshi of Pluto.

Pluto was too surprised to even have a chance to react. It blasted forward, though not right on center, directly where her arm had once been. The remaining force of the blast flung her backwards into a far wall, while the energy continued going, busting through the castle in an upward direction, leaving a ventilation hole through the walls of the castle. As Pluto slowly rose, it took a moment for her to register what had just happened. And then another moment still for her own set of gut-wrenching pain to set in.

"AaaaaaaAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!" She screamed as she stared in horror at her left arm, or lack thereof.

Where her arm had once been, now rested naught more than a stub, blood leaking from it and falling to the floor, quickly creating an ugly puddle.

The second Pluto was hit, Akane's bonds were destroyed and she jumped to the ceiling, just as all of the Senshi's explosive attacks blew up the center floor of the room.

Pluto now lay in a crumpled heap on the right side of the room, from the entrance, while Akane crouched on one knee breathing hard on the other side.

"A-a-aaaH!" Pluto moaned. "Th-this! This isn't over! Damnitall!" She exclaimed. "How did he do that? How did that bastard do that? He can't! No one has had access to Saidin in a few thousand years! That's not possible!" She thought angrily.

With that she disappeared, leaving nothing more than a puddle of blood, eight unconscious Senshi, one abnormally unscathed, and now unbound, girl, and a man, still wriggling on the floor, clutching his stomach like mad screaming, "Make it stop! Make it stop, oh kami, make it stop!"

"DAMN!" Pluto gasped between breathing. She stumbled about the upper floors of her castle, trying desperately to keep her balance. Living for the plus side of twenty thousand years had given her a few quick remedies to situations like lost arms and the like. Some how she hadn't expected to use it.

Making it to her living quarters, she wobbled into her bathroom and acquired the healing salve for which almost any injury could be healed. She applied it directly to her blood soaked stub of an arm and waited.

Nothing happened.

Looking closely at the label on the bottle of green liquid she read, "Expiration Date: May 3, 1711."

"DAMN!" She shouted again. It didn't work but the pain subsided greatly. And she thought she could see visible skin growing where her arm had once been, so all in all the green potion wasn't a complete waste.
"Ranma Saotome will pay." She thought angrily. It would be far more difficult this time, she knew. There was no way the Senshi would let themselves be tricked by Compulsion again. She had KNOWN she should have left Compulsion as her trump card.

Compulsion. The ability to turn someone into a slave be grabbing and tugging on the mind with spirit flows of Saidar. It had worked perfectly. The girl that her powers were meant to go to after she was stripped of them in, half the timelines, would have been dead if it weren't for that damn loss of concentration she got from being slammed into the wall!
The force of being pulled away from Saidar had created some sort of backlash which had fortunately left the Senshi unconscious. At least for the time being they were, but she was still at a disadvantage, considering the odds.

Now she couldn't attack. She would have to wait them out and let what other traps she had, take them out. Leaving people alone in another dimension wasn't just a punishment. It could kill them too…

"Guerilla Warfare." She said to herself mutely. Suddenly she began a low chuckle. Keika awoke and began crying again.

"Come on Ranma, help me out here! W-what can I.. can I do?" Akane screamed at her louder-screaming fiancee.

Ranma's hands were squeezing his stomach to the point of ripping them in half with the pain. The other scouts were simply unconscious but it appeared that Neptune and Saturn were coming around.

"Ooooh… my… head." Saturn, as the first to regain consciousness, muttered.

Akane went on edge, gulping a little in fear at the Senshi, remembering the arrays of light coming from each one that would have killed her, had Ranma not ended the mind spell.

"Oh what in the hell did we just do?" Mars screamed as her eyes suddenly popped open.

"H-hey! Red scou-um… Mars! I need help! P-Pluto did s-something to Ranma! Y-your… st-still on our side, right!" Akane asked slightly fearfully. She knew she could defeat Mars, but not all of them.

Mars bounded to where Akane was quickly. She crouched down and huddled over Ranma, who appeared to be on the verge of ripping his stomach off of his body. Then, without looking at Akane, she said. "She had us under some sort of spell, Akane. I… I'm really sorry. I don't know what it was but it… I was compelled to do that… I'm sorry."

"Yeah yeah! Accepted! Now can you do anything for my fiancee so he can help me get my daughter back!" Akane said, now angrily, but on the inside, more than relieved.

Mars smiled. Akane was much like herself, she thought.

"Need… fooooood…." Ranma wailed.

"He's obviously suffering from hunger beyond all reason. But, I just don't get…" Mars trailed off.

Suddenly Ranma leaned over to his right, and vomited some white creamy element that could have once been rice.

"Get out of the way!" Saturn yelled, pulling Mars back. As always, she hated to see people in pain. "Um… I…" She muttered and then just went with it. She lifted his old cloak and placed her hand against his stomach, hoping that her healing powers would do something. Unfortunately, nothing happened.

"Oh… Um… I… Does anyone have any food?" Saturn asked.

The Senshi, all of whom were slowly returning to consciousness, all replied the same answer. "No."

Usagi, who was the last to wake, and only did so due to shaking from her daughter, Usa, and Hotaru, walked quickly over to Ranma.

"He's a victim of one of Pluto's oldest tricks. She's done it for centuries. Arg… I just can't remember… She has taken the immortality… there… item… ack! It's so vague! Ranma? Is there some sort of item that gave you your immortality?" Usagi asked crudely.

Ranma's only response was another scream.

"Yes! Yes he has a book!" Akane exclaimed pulling it from his pocket in his tunic.

"This was it?" Moon asked.

"Mmhmm… but… it looked much prettier when he showed it to me a while ago… and at the center page there was like a video that showed through someone else's eyes."

And suddenly, a flood of memories bombarded the Bunny of the Moon.

-Flashback-
"Momma?" The princess asked softly. She had been rather happy that today her lessons had been from her mother. They were always the most interesting. Queen Serenity always had something to say that would peak her interest. Today she had been talking about her Sailors and ways that, if they ever abused their powers, she could punish them.

"…And that is what Neptune's punishment would be for an offence such as over-imposed hierarchy. The last, Neptune did it several thousand years ago and I was forced to remove her and her line." Serenity said calmly.

"Um… mommy… what about… Pluto? What's the worst offence Pluto ever did?" The little girl asked, curiously.

"Pluto's crimes are that of a different sort. She has a castle on her home Planet, however, she has no people who exist there, for they would be a distraction from her job. These years of loneliness really got to the last Sailor Pluto and the woman began to push for her own goals. Fortunately, this was her downfall. Pluto has an irregular ability to make an item, for all normal purposes, indestructible. Then, she can link said item, to a person, making them, immortal."

"So… what did she do?" The princess asked. Serenity smiled and answered quickly.

"Pluto did this to over a hundred thousand people, in the hopes of attaining my position, though it wasn't held by me at the time. It had been my mothers as it will one day be yours"
"But… what's so bad about making people immortal?" The young blonde asked.

"That is not all she did. Having made these people immortal, they had begun to depend on their immortality. That being said, as an immortal they didn't have to eat, nor did they feel pain from malnutrition. What Pluto did, was sever all of these connections in an instant, making hundreds of people feel as if they would starve. It was her most gravest offence. Hundreds of thousands of people she had given these items to, died within the next day, after incredible torture. For a time, Pluto even gained my throne. Fortunately she was quickly overthrown and I was placed here." Serenity said.

"Wow… so… so… what do I do if this ever happens to me? If… if Pluto ever does this… what should I do?" The princess asked, now enticed by this story of her Mother's past.

"Pray that it never does firstly. But however, if it does… to her, she must be stripped of power immediately. But this is what you must do to save the life of one who was under her immortality spell…"

Serenity continued to explain the various methods that had been discovered that would aid in the survival of one inflicted by the interventions of Pluto, but by this time, the six year old girl's attention had turned to something else, leaving her only vaguely aware of what to do should the situation arise.

-End Flashback-

"Well, the only thing I can think of is just a Healing spell of some sort, eh Moon? Moon?" Jupiter asked, as the crouched around Ranma.

Moon snapped back to from her reverie, angry at her past in-attentiveness. Fortunately, she had remembered enough of what to do.

"Eh, wha-what?" She asked.

"A healing spell maybe?" Jupiter asked.

Usagi thought for a moment… her memories told her…

"No." She said aloud.

"Give me that book." She ordered.

Akane handed it over quickly.

She held her outstretched palm over the book for a moment. And suddenly, she felt as if she were falling face forward into a sea of lives, viewed through this book. It was incredible. Thousands… hundreds of thousands of stories told in those blank pages… All she had to do was…

She found it. A line of energy from the book, traced out from it however… severed. Then she looked to Ranma. There it was… the same, red, energy wrought line of power. All she had to do was connect them.

Her silver Imperium crystal glowed white. Her magics flowed from within her and to the two lines of energy connecting the man to the stories of his past. The line shook, became lively and, as her power move into it, changed to a sky-blue color. It danced for a moment, stretching out, each line towards the other.

And they connected.

Suddenly, the brown book erupted in a white and beautiful light. The brown dull cover became encrusted with gold, hard as steel. In the center, on the correct page, the life of Setuma Ayo sprang back into view.

Ranma let loose and enormous sigh, sweat dripping off his brow, he breathed heavily but, happily. His pain was ended.

Usagi smiled. She wasn't such a screw up after all!

Now all this had left them, that is the scouts, at an utter stalemate with Pluto. Neither were ready or capable of attack yet. Surely that chunk of arm Pluto had lost would do some damage.

The candles went out instantly, leaving only the pale green light, drafting in from the staircase and outside the doors to light the room with an eerie green glow.

And suddenly… a great… dark, smoke covered… hand appeared before them. It reeked of putrid death and blood. Smoke wafted off the evil abomination into the room, clouding their sense of sight and smell.

"MY NAI BLISS…" Came an devastatingly evil voice. The voice sent shrill slanders of pain up their bodies causing a painful sensation to their ears and head.

Not one of the people present in the room was left un-touched by the dreadful hand. It's mere presence told all instinct to get up and run. Fear of Death. Or fear of torture. Fear of Darkness. Fear itself told them all to run, however, all of them were locked in place by their own, terrified feeling of dread.

The hand wafted upward and disappeared through the ceiling touching none of them, and leaving them more frightened than any had ever been before...

"What… was… that?" A heavily frightened Usa asked, voicing everyone else's thoughts.

Ranma lay breathing, blissfully unaware of the shadow wrought hand, thinking to himself, "Pluto will die. Pluto, must die…"

All the while, fear clenched his heart but, due to his position on the ground, he couldn't see or understand why.

The words "MY NAI BLISS…" however, would be held within his soul forever.

Shia'tan moved his hand up along the castle of Pluto. Finally… finally he was able to acquire his TRUE Nai Bliss. But those annoying gates, would have to go. They slowed down that entire section and made the gap between the two worlds devastatingly hard to get across, as he was now.

His hand found the Gates of Time… The Looking Glass of Time. And with that, he crushed them. And time mended itself. The wheel was whole again. Both sides of the wheel now turned equally. And now… he could touch both worlds. The Lord of the Dark, would reign once again…

Min Farshaw, was a rather simple girl in general. She stood now though, at the right hand of power. Power beyond reason. The man she loved, Rand Al'thor. Lord of the Morning. He Who Comes With the Dawn. She now stayed by his side, aiding when she could with her unique, future telling ability. It was an interesting ability she had. The ability to see things on people. Symbols that she sometimes could understand, and oftentimes could not. Logain's Halo of glory. Rand, with more symbols than she could shake a stick at. Such as the ones about his two, other loves. One was Elayne, she knew.

And suddenly, a blue bauble of light appeared before her. Suddenly, it popped, and out of it appeared a small object that fell directly into her hand.

It appeared to be an amazingly well crafted, midnight blue pen. It held on it, a small, shape. It wasn't unlike that of a half circle… just refine in some way. She didn't know what to call the shape. Just that it was beautiful.

And with that, she felt the words rise within her. It was late at night but she would have gaurds. None of it mattered though as she held the pen above her head and shouted.

"Uranus Planet Power, Make up!"

The guards rushed in at her shout. It sounded like gibberish to their ears, or at least another language. But the sight they were greeted with upon entering Min's Quarters was akin to that of a fairy tale…

End Chapter
Cliffie Cliffie!

So that's my next chapter. How'd you like? Have I begun this final battle well? If you would, please leave a review! I know it's not exactly what I expected. There were a few things that I didn't get to in this chapter that will be done in the next and final chapter of So Be It. I'd hoped to be able to wrap this all up in this chapter and the epilogue, but if I did that then this chapter would be… eheh. Bout twenty thousand words long? Heh I know you guys like long chaps and stuff by jeez! Give my poor hands a break! Well. I hoped you liked and Hope you leave a review! By the way. THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR ALL YOUR REVIEWS ON CHAPTER EIGHT! They made me sooo happy!

To my Girlfriend: I LOVE YOU MY GORGEOUS! I HOPE YOU ENJOYED IT, AS MUCH AS I ENJOYED WRITING IT!

(Don't worry, what I told you would happen, will in the next chap… heh. Love you!)

Sorry this chapter took so long. It wasn't writers block… just… writers laziness. I don't know why but I couldn't get into the swing of writing like usual, but when I finally did, it felt great! I love publishing new chapters!

So, thank you again to all of you who reviewed and I hope you enjoyed Chapter Nine of So Be It. P.S. On a cool side note. Before I published this chapter, I have posted, EXACTLY Two hundred fifty thousand and one words. Cool? I thought it was. Heh. See you next time and can't wait to hear your responses!

P. P. S. Sorry Silence-Darkness!