Ghosts

Usagi found herself once again in that mysterious, cold, and dark place. She spun 180 degrees the second she heard a sound behind her. She saw the silhouette of what she thought was a human within arms reach of her. Her eyes darted up and down, taking in all the details that the blackness wasn't concealing. She noticed the newcomer's short dark hair with silver spikes that cast a soft shimmer around their head. Their facial features were almost impossible to perceive, but Usagi noticed the stranger's skin was as pale as moonlight.

Their body was hidden under a weird fabric, which Usagi thought looked slightly membranous. The stranger hadn't moved or made a noise since Usagi noticed their presence, but that calmness only made her more nervous. She realized her back was drenched in cold sweat, her arms covered in goosebumps, the hair on the back of her neck standing up straight.

Suddenly, the fabric covering the person's body moved and spread behind their back. Usagi tried to yell, but no sound came from within her, so she only gaped at the sight of the woman before her. Are those wings? She thought as she forced her eyes to gather more information. She observed her wings, which resembled more those of a bat than of a bird.

The mysterious woman sniggered, the sound was so chilling that Usagi immediately backed away. The woman took a step toward her and lunged forward, grabbing her by the wrist, her skin burning the second they made contact. Usagi closed her eyes and screamed in horror.

"No, no, no!" Usagi shook her head violently.

"Usagi?!"

Usagi opened her eyes at the sound of Mamoru's voice. He had pushed her away from his embrace as soon as she had started shaking. She looked at her wrist, the burning sensation still lingered on it. Just what the hell is happening?! She cursed inwardly as she recalled everything that she had just seen.

"What's wrong?!"

Usagi snapped back to the present moment and looked at her fiancé. She was at a loss for words, but nothing she could say would make sense, neither to him nor to her. She took a step back, putting some distance between them, and bowed apologetically.

"I'm sorry, Mamoru! It must be all the stress from exams period making me nervous!" She laughed out loud, hoping that Mamoru would believe her lie. She realized she wasn't ready to share anything that had happened that night with him. Saying it out loud would make it real, and she wasn't ready to be anything but a normal woman, not then, not ever again.

"I better go now!" She ran towards the door and put on her shoes in one swift motion.

"Usagi, wait…!"

She heard the concern in his voice, but that didn't stop her. She opened the door, slipped out, and slammed it shut behind her. She ran toward the emergency stairs, otherwise she feared that he would chase her down for an explanation while she waited for the elevator to come.

30th Century

"Let's see what they do now." Kage said with a smirk on her face.

She sat on her throne as the crystal orb cast a blurry image on the wall. She drank from the golden cup she held in one of her hands as the image became sharper. Kage observed the two women in a white room, one of them was lying down surrounded by machines, while the other looked at something hidden from view.

Kage was mildly curious about that, but she realized, much to her amusement, that she didn't really care. Nothing they could do would be enough to stop her. She drank from her cup once again as she savored her victory over the Solar System guardians.

"Your Majesty," a woman covered in a colorful cloak appeared in front of her, "our troops will arrive on Earth soon." She said, kneeling across from Kage. Her features were heavily accentuated by layers of bright-colored makeup, which contrasted nicely with her pale skin.

Kage nodded at her, both as a way to acknowledge the news and to dismiss her. The newcomer bowed and found her way out as quickly as she had arrived. She would never admit it, but she only followed Kage out of sheer fear. She didn't dare disappoint her, not after seeing her at her most cruel and merciless in the battlefield.

"Soon there will be nothing standing between me and the ultimate power." She smiled to herself as she sat back on her throne. She took a long sip out of her golden cup, the jewels embedded around the rim glowed eerily in the dark room. "And now… Showtime!"

21st Century

Haruka glanced at the round clock hanging from the wall in front of her for what seemed like the thousandth time that day. Nearly a full day had passed since Sailor Pluto found her way to their house and collapsed in the middle of their foyer. The Guardian of Space-Time hadn't woken up since, her injuries seemed to be much more severe than they had initially thought, and neither the doctors nor Hotaru's powers had been able to heal her back to normal.

Haruka pinched the bridge of her nose as she struggled against the fatigue that threatened to overcome her. They had been taking turns to look after their friend since their arrival at the hospital, but neither Michiru nor her dared to go too far in case something happened. She counted how much more time she had before Michiru's turn was up.

She nodded to herself as she buttoned up her blouse. She made a mental note of bringing a thick coat next time as the hospital was unreasonably cold. She twisted and turned a few times on her chair until she found the most comfortable position and dozed off.

Hotaru stayed at home while the others went to the hospital. She had offered to come with them, but there was no point as the hospital wouldn't allow a minor to wander unsupervised. She hadn't spoken about the strange dreams she had been having as of late to anyone yet. How can I tell them when I cannot make any sense out of these dreams?

Hotaru sighed in frustration and started putting back the boxes of cereal on the counter. Once she was done, she poured some milk in a bowl and took it with her to the living room. She sat down mindlessly flipping through the channels, not really paying attention to what was being displayed on the TV screen. She took one spoonful of cereal to her mouth and immediately made a disgusted face. She stared at the cereal mix in her bowl and grunted.

She got off the couch and walked back to the kitchen to get rid of it. A sudden pain in her chest made her stop. The air left her lungs as the pain increased more and more. The bowl slipped from her hand and broke in pieces upon impact, milk and cereal splattered all around her. She desperately gasped for air, but that did nothing to ease her agony.

The teenager dropped to her knees, both hands pressed against her chest in an attempt to make the pain disappear. Her ears started ringing as the noise around her became unbearable. Her eyes focused on the TV screen, the source of the only sound in the room aside from her agitated breathing.

The speakers had gone from barely audible to maximum volume by themselves, but while that was odd, the real strange part was that the channels were changing on their own. Tens of images appeared on the flat screen, one after the other, as the TV flipped the channels relentlessly. Finally, the TV settled for a channel with no signal, a snow screen replacing the colorful image from the previous channel. The sound of TV static flooded Hotaru's mind.

All of a sudden, the snow screen started to clear up, the shape of what looked like a human head formed behind the snow. Hotaru gasped as the image became clear enough to recognize the person on TV.

"Michiru?!"

Her face twisted into a horrified expression that matched her adoptive mother's. The volume had dropped down to zero so she couldn't hear anything, but Michiru's gaping mouth told her she was screaming. As if that wasn't shocking enough, her gaze soon focused on her aquamarine eyes. A dark, shapeless silhouette danced in front of her, as reflected on her pupils.

The pain increased, her chest moved up and down rapidly as her breathing became more and more agitated. Her vision was now blurry and began to darken as her body started convulsing uncontrollably. The teenager was about to lose consciousness when she felt a hand vibrating with cosmic energy on her back.

Michiru stood between the shadows and her bed-ridden friend. The shadows have crept inside the hospital room without her noticing them. She eyed the tip of her transformation stick poking out from her purse, which rested on the chair across the room, and cursed inwardly for being so careless. She feared that the shadows would release the energy they had slowly amassed against Setsuna if she made a move to get her purse.

She realized it didn't matter anymore. The mysterious enemies raised, what appeared to be, their arms forward and the dark energy started concentrating in their palms, promptly flying in her direction. Now the only way to protect her friend was with her own body. Michiru threw herself over the unconscious Setsuna and braced herself for what would surely be the end of her.

"Your strength will be needed in this battle." A feminine voice said behind Hotaru's back. The pain she had been feeling up until a couple of seconds ago had vanished as fast as it had appeared. Her breathing was slowly getting back to normal, as was her heart rate. All of her senses were numb by the sheer amount of cosmic power that was flowing from the stranger's hand and through her body in that moment.

"But the power you currently hold is not enough to defeat them." The voice behind her went on, "You need to awaken your true power, Sailor Saturn." Hotaru stared at her hands and limbs as they sparkled with a golden brilliance, struggling to place a face to the extremely familiar voice and energy. She gasped in surprise when she finally realized who was the owner of that power, and who had shockingly come to her rescue.

She experienced something close to exhilaration as Sailor Galaxia's energy ran through her, as if searching for something. This feeling continued for a few seconds until her former enemy's energy tapped into something buried deep down inside of her. The symbol of Saturn took shape on her forehead as her star seed shone brightly in front of her. The crystal glowed with a blinding purple light and she had the sudden urge to wrap her hands around it protectively. Her transformation activated as soon as she did that. She stood up, marveled at her newfound power, and took a good look at her new outfit, which immediately reminded her of Eternal Sailor Moon's.

"I must leave now," Sailor Galaxia said behind her as her eyes scanned the whole room, "And you are needed elsewhere."

She blasted some energy at the Guardian of Silence. When Saturn opened her eyes again, she realized that her surroundings had changed. I'm at the hospital!

Michiru opened her eyes slowly. She had expected the attack to end her, but she had not felt a thing. A scream caught in her throat when she saw the reason behind that. Sailor Uranus was standing between them and the shadows, shielding both Michiru and Setsuna with her own body.

"Haruka!" She yelled, horrified, once she regained her voice.

"I can't leave you alone, huh?" She replied, barely looking at her. Michiru caught a glimpse of a weak smirk on her lover's face. Her cocky expression faltered and only then did she realize how much pain she was in. "What are you waiting for?!"

Michiru shook her head as if waking up from a dream, and threw herself across the room, grabbing her bag in one swift motion.

"Neptune Crystal Power… Make up!"

"Deep Submerge!"

The attack went through the enemy's ranks without damaging them, just like it would go through thin air. However, the shadows halted their ongoing attack against Sailor Uranus.

The fair-haired one dropped to the floor, spitting a mouthful of blood on the white-tiled floor. She coughed a couple of times and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand, her white glove was now crimson red.

"Uranus!" Sailor Neptune ran towards her, completely forgetting about their enemy.

"Run, Michiru!" Uranus choked and spat out more blood.

The shadows amassed dark energy once again and released it against them. Neptune tried to pull Uranus out of the way, but she yanked her arm back and, in an outburst of strength, pushed the Guardian of the Deep Sea out of the attack's path.

Neptune fell backwards and watched horrified as the energy attack approached Uranus, who had closed her eyes accepting her fate.

"Silent Wall!"

Sailor Saturn appeared out of nowhere to block the attack. Both Uranus and Neptune looked at her in awe, partly at her excellent timing, and partly at her new transformation.

"It's time to awaken your true power!" She declared as her planetary symbol appeared on her forehead once again. Setsuna, Haruka, and Michiru found themselves surrounded by Saturn's energy, both astounded and intimidated by it.

Their symbols appeared on their foreheads as well. As was the case with Sailor Saturn, their star seeds revealed themselves in front of them, each of them glowing in its own particular hue. The three women felt their new powers running through them as soon as their fingers made contact with their star seeds. Once the star seeds' brightness had disappeared, four Guardians stood in front of the shadows, determined to send them back to wherever they had come out from.

"I don't know who you are or where you come from, but I will tell you something: We are the Solar System's Outer Guardians and our mission is to defend it from all invaders!" Sailor Saturn growled as her Silence Glaive surrounded itself with energy. The other three Guardians looked at her slightly concerned and, although none of them would admit it, frightened at how menacing she seemed.

"Space Turbulence!"

"Submarine Violon Tide!"

"Chronos Typhoon!"

The three Sailors released their new attacks at once, merging into one. The combined attack swallowed the shadows' own energy attack and hit them, vanquishing them in an instant.

Sailor Neptune took a good look at Uranus and then another good look at Pluto, both seemed completely recovered from their injuries. She sighed in relief, but it was short-lived.

"Sailor Pluto, you owe us an explanation." Sailor Saturn said, her voice commanding authority. Both Uranus and Neptune waited patiently in silence.

"You're right." Sailor Pluto nodded.

30th Century

"Damn it!" Kage screamed at the image on the wall, throwing her golden cup at it. The women in her presence backed away, fearing that their leader would target them next.

The hilt of a sword, bejeweled with different precious stones, formed in the air. A long, dark, and very sharp blade was attached to it. "This is the last time that goddamned Sailor Galaxia interferes with my plans!"

TBC