Evil Omen

21st Century

The young woman found herself at the top level of Tokyo Tower. It was a lovely summer day, for once not too hot and not too humid, just perfect. She walked around very slowly, taking in the sights. It truly is a wonderful day, she thought as she saw Mount Fuji's peak just past the rows and rows of skyscrapers.

She looked around her and distinguished the silhouettes of her four best friends by the souvenir shop, grabbing and pointing at random items here and there. She couldn't help but smile at seeing them acting so carefree, as any other woman their age. They had finally been relieved of their duty as Sailor Guardians, the final battle with Sailor Galaxia had long been forgotten. Her wish of being a normal girl had finally been granted.

"Usagi!"

She turned around to see her lover running to meet her, two soda cans in his hands. She waved at him and was about to call his name when a deafening sound coming from somewhere behind Mamoru, past her friends, and beyond the tower made her stop. The tower began shaking violently, the ceiling-to-floor crystals all around the floor cracked and shattered with the movement, but no one seemed to notice.

Usagi saw a huge red light approaching quickly from the direction that the sound came from. Anything that the bright light touched was immediately destroyed, not a single building, tree, or person was left standing. Usagi called her friends who didn't seem to realize what was happening. She ran towards Mamoru to stop him, to protect him, to do something, anything that could save him. The red light hit the tower and obliterated everything and everyone in it before continuing its path of destruction.

Usagi jolted out of bed, her pajamas drenched in sweat. "What was that?!" She said, taking deep breaths. She took her hand to her chest, her heart was pounding so furiously against it that she feared for one second that it would just burst out of it.

She looked outside the window, searching for the moon to calm her down, but it was covered by dark clouds. She shook her head from side to side to chase away the nightmare, because it had to be a nightmare. She was trying really hard to convince herself of this because she refused to consider the alternative. Everything is over. We defeated Sailor Galaxia, we saved the galaxy, everything is over, she repeated in her mind as she tried to fall back to sleep.

Except it's not, that thought crossed her mind and brought back all the fears she had been holding ever since that battle had ended. Her mind took her back to the first time she met Sailor Pluto at the Space-Time Door. Crystal Tokyo could only come to be after a great catastrophe struck Earth. Her future as Neo Queen Serenity, as the mother of Chibiusa, as the future ruler of Earth, all depended on that event. She had forced herself to hope that time and space had changed so much throughout her years as a Sailor Guardian, that this event was no longer inevitable but perfectly avoidable. But the fear was always there. Deep down inside, she suspected every nightmare she had and every bad news in the world was an omen of what was yet to come.

She took the brooch containing the Silver Crystal from her nightstand and held it closely to her chest. The familiar warmness coming from it reassured her and helped her go back to sleep.

"Usagi!"

The scream pierced through the silence, ending with what would have otherwise been another peaceful evening at Hikawa Shrine. It had come from one of the back rooms, where five young women were reunited.

"Come on, Rei, I just want another tiny slice!" Usagi cried as she tried to unsuccessfully grab the cake plate from Rei's hands.

"You've already had too many!" Rei replied, pushing Usagi's face away.

"Everyone, you should focus on studying hard. The university exams are right around the corner…" A blue-haired girl said, giving them a disapproving look behind her glasses.

"I know, Ami, but this will help me study better!"

"That's a great idea, Usagi!" The other blonde girl in the room joined her, approaching Rei from the other side. "A teacher said that chocolate cake can stimulate memory, or wait… was it strawberry cake? No, no, I'm sure he said chocolate cake…"

"He was actually talking about coffee, Minako." Makoto corrected with a shake of her head.

"Oh, yeah, that was it!" Minako laughed awkwardly rubbing the back of her head, as if that could make her false claim go away.

"I said No!" Rei yelled again, slapping Usagi's hand away. Her fingers brushed against the engagement ring that Mamoru had given her friend right before his departure for America. She yanked back her hand as a series of visions flooded her head. At first, the images she saw in her mind were pleasant and reassured her of the auspicious future that was in store for them. She saw herself attending Usagi's wedding, followed by her pregnancy, and Chibiusa's birth… but the images became darker and darker soon after.

She saw a wake, her grandfather's. Dozens of images of people suffering from starvation, disease, and war hit her one after the other. These terrible visions increased in violence and death toll until she saw the Ice Age that would befall Earth. The next vision was that of a big palace that seemed familiar somehow, from a window she saw a woman bleeding out on the floor next to a black rose. And then everything stopped.

She found herself standing in a pitch black place, unable to see, to hear, or to feel anything. Her eyes caught a sudden spark in the distance. That spark became a wall of dark and red flames advancing fast towards her, scorching the ground below them. She felt her skin burning, but the fire itself didn't feel warm at all, but ice cold in fact. She covered her face not knowing what else to do and prayed that being burned alive didn't hurt as much as she imagined.

Everything around her swirled as she felt herself transported to another unknown location. When she opened her eyes, she realized she was surrounded by millions of tiny bright lights. Suddenly the lights disappeared one by one in fast succession until only one of them remained. Her sixth sense told her that that light belonged to someone dear to her.

And then she saw it. Someone stood behind that light, completely shrouded in darkness, despite the bright glow coming from said light. That stranger's fingers curled around the light, which flickered under the pressure. The light was completely extinguished. Rei yelled but no sound came out. It was then that laughter pierced through the silence making Rei's blood freeze in her veins. It was more evil, colder, and more hateful than anything she had ever heard before. She cowered instinctively; a primal fear invaded her, as if she had just encountered the thing that monsters had nightmares about.

30th Century

The olive-skinned woman limped painfully as she used her Garnet Rod as a cane. Everything around her was covered in fog making it impossible for anyone to know where they were going, but that was not her case; she knew that place like the back of her hand as she had spent most of her existence there. I need to move faster, she thought as she brought her right hand to her face. Her white glove was covered in blood.

"Damn it!" She cursed as she pressed her left side with her right hand, wondering how much blood she had lost. "I need to hurry up or Kage's troops will get there first…!"

As if on cue, she saw shadows in the distance. They moved much faster than she expected, there was no way she could reach the Space-Time Door before them. She threw herself to the side, biting her lip as her body hit the ground, certain that that had just opened the wound on her side even more. The shadows passed beside her silently, the only sign of their presence was the sudden temperature drop that seemed to happen every time one of them was around.

Sailor Pluto felt a chill down her spine as she dragged herself away from the enemy. She hadn't been able to fight them at full strength; it would be suicide to attempt to fight her in her current state. She mentally cursed herself for her weakness as she waited for the army to pass her by.

21st Century

"Rei?" Usagi called out with chocolate smudged over her lips and all around her mouth.

"Are you OK?" Ami got closer to her with a worried expression.

"You should sit down." Minako looked at her friend whose skin was suddenly paler than usual, but didn't let that stop her from taking a big bite off her cake slice.

"Perhaps drinking something might help." Makoto suggested as she reached for Rei's glass. "Can I get you some tea, water, anything?"

"Maybe she's coming down with a fever!" Usagi snapped her fingers as if she had just had the cleverest thought in the room. "Let me check…"

"No!" Rei yelled, pushing a shocked Usagi off her. Everyone let out a gasp as Usagi stumbled and fell backwards.

Usagi was about to cry but something in Rei's eyes stopped her. She looked frightened, she thought as she slowly brought herself to her feet. She quickly forgot about the pain from the fall as the concern for whatever her friend was experiencing grew.

"I'm… Usagi… I'm sorry, I just-" Rei stuttered an apology. She attempted to reach out to Usagi but immediately changed her mind and pulled her hand away from her. She was terrified of having another vision.

Not knowing what else to do, she ran out of her room and went directly to the Shrine's divination room where the Sacred Fire was kept. She needed answers but secretly, all she wanted was to be wrong. Every fiber in her body wished that whatever she had just seen had been a mistake, a series of visions of something that would never happen.

She knelt in front of the Sacred Fire and took one last look at the room. Everything seemed normal, nothing out of the ordinary. She heard her friends entering the room in silence and the sliding door closing behind her. She gave a quick glance at the Sacred Mirror standing on a shelf, the only other object in the room aside from the Fire, and stared into the flames.

Her breathing slowed down as she pulled out a Shinto talisman. She held the paper in her hands as her fingers moved dexterously, adopting the various positions that accompanied her prayer. Her lips moved fast as she recited the ancient Japanese prayers that her grandfather had taught her when she became a priestess.

As if triggered by this event, the flames started growing taller and wider. The increased heat didn't seem to bother her in the slightest, even if a thin layer of sweat rapidly covered the entirety of her face. God, please let me be mistaken, she wished silently as she prepared herself to look into the flames.

30th Century

Sailor Pluto grew more and more anxious with every passing second. She had dragged herself away from the path of the Phantom Army; however, in spite of the distance between them, she still feared she could be found out at any moment. Only when her chest started aching did she realize she had been holding her breath. She looked in the direction from which the shadows were coming but could not see an end to that procession.

She only had to wait some more minutes before the Phantom Army disappeared from sight. Sailor Pluto got back on her feet only when the temperature rose up once again, a sure sign that the enemy was gone for good; the red stain on her side was now much larger than before. I need to seal the Space-Time Door or else we are doomed...! She thought moving as fast as her injuries allowed it.

Her heart sank when she finally reached the Space-Time Door. The tiny hope that the Phantom Army would be unable to open it, left her body when she saw the sight of the multidimensional rift beyond the door. As she suspected, the enemy had traveled to the 21st century to finish what they had started. The only ones standing between Kage and the object of her obsession lived there. A great danger was about to befall the Princess and her Guardians. She needed to warn them or else they would be no match for Kage's troops.

Sailor Pluto jumped into the time rift and prayed that it wasn't too late.

21st Century

Rei opened her palms towards the Sacred Fire, the flames soared to the ceiling as if she had just poured gasoline on them. The black-haired girl focused on its movements, trying to identify a shape or silhouette that could explain what she had just seen.

Her friends approached the Sacred Fire equally curious, although they didn't actually expect to see anything in its flames. All of a sudden, the Sacred Mirror flew off the shelf and hit the wall closest to the four girls with a loud noise.

Usagi was about to yell but Minako covered her mouth as she nodded towards Rei, who seemed unfazed by this event and continued looking into the flames as they danced wildly in front of her. The four of them approached the mirror and started picking up the crystal shards. Usagi grabbed one and dropped it immediately with a loud gasp. Her friends turned to see what had startled her: The silhouette of a woman with odd-looking wings briefly appeared in it before disappearing.

"Ah!"

They turned around and saw Rei on her back, the flames in front of her had turned dark with a red glint. They moved violently as if they were trying to reach Rei and the others, but the amulet surrounding the Sacred Fire seemed to have created an invisible wall around it. Despite the flames' size, the room got much colder as if somehow this fire was meant for cooling down instead of generating heat. The mirror shards became foggy as the temperature decreased.

"Just what the hell is going on?!"

The Shinto talisman in between Rei's fingers caught fire and burnt down fast enough. As if on cue, the Sacred Fire began receding, until only a tiny and feeble flame was left standing. It didn't take long before it went out completely, leaving the girls in complete darkness, except for the moonlight that filtered through the only window in that room. That didn't last long though, as clouds seemed to have blocked the moon from view.

Makoto ran back to the sliding door, ready to get out of there. A horrible feeling invaded her as she tried to open it. Her body shook involuntarily as a chill ran down her spine. She looked back at her friends and knew that they felt the same way. She searched her pocket for her transformation stick, the touch of it made her feel a bit more confident as she opened the door.

TBC