Disclaimer: I do not own Sailor Moon.

Chapter Twenty-Six

Setsuna P.O.V.

"How could this even happen? The entire palace has a barrier surrounding it preventing anyone from entering the palace without my permission," Serenity said as she hurries through the halls. I didn't even have to tell her what happened, and she started following me. "How is everyone else? No one else hurt?"

"No serious injuries. The inner senshi managed to ascend before anything too serious happened," I reported.

Serenity snapped her head to me. Clearly, she was shocked that the inners ascended, but there was something else there. I just couldn't put my finger on it. She turned back to focusing on the fastest way to Seleine's bed chambers.

Finally, we get to her room. I turn around the corner and hear giggling. I stop as soon as I get through the doorway. There she was, alive and breathing. And hugging Neptune.

"Seleine?" I asked.

Seleine let go of Neptune and turned to me. "Hey Sets," she said waving at me.

I lunged toward the bed and enveloped her in a hug. "I thought I was really going to lose you this time," I sobbed.

Seleine chuckled over my shoulder. Just then, Uranus showed up in the room. She looked at the scene in front of us and wasn't quite sure how to process it.

"Don't tell me you were worried about me too," Seleine said with a sly grin.

"Of course not," Uranus grimaced.

"Seleine," Neptune said quietly. I got up and let Seleine turn back to Neptune. "What did you see in your dream?"

The glow in Seleine's face faded. She looked at her comforter as she remembered her dream. We all watched her intently as we waited for her to explain her dream.

As Seleine was about to tell us what her dream was about, the inners ran into the room. Mars stopped when she saw Seleine. Jupiter and Mercury didn't know she stopped till it was too late. They all toppled on top of each other in Seleine's bedroom.

Seleine chuckled at the normalcy of the situation. "You're okay?" Mars asked.

"Right as rain," Seleine answered. The inner senshi stood up. Seleine inspected their new fukus. She looked back up at them. "You all ascended?"

The inners nodded excitedly. Seleine jumped from the bed and embraced them in a group hug. At first, the inners were shocked at Seleine's display of affection, but then they wrapped their arms around her.

Seleine pulled away from them. "I'm so proud of you. In the past you guys didn't get any higher powers, but you didn't really need them. The outers took care of all threats. You have shown so much initiative to gain your full powers and I know how hard training has been," she said turning to Kunzite. Kunzite grimaced under her stare.

"Seleine, your dream?" Serenity said just inside the doorway.

Seleine turned to her sister. "It doesn't matter. It's all over now. You guys woke me up," she said with a half-hearted smile. Her brow crumpled. "Where's Saturn?"


Seleine P.O.V.

"What do you mean you lost my daughter?" I yelled as I started racing down the halls. I get that the fight with my sister was difficult, but how hard is it to keep track of a child?

"We were so caught up in the fight and then coming to rescue you that we just didn't think about it," Pluto said hurrying after me.

"You are supposed to take care of each other. That is the one thing that I've always demanded from you all," I said walking through the doors to the gardens. "Everyone splits up. No one rests till we find my daughter."

As soon as I get outside, I feel it. That terrifying aura that I felt when I first met Saturn. She was so young. She'd just lost her parents, so she was given the powers of sailor Saturn. She wasn't in control of her powers. She didn't even know what was going on.

Everyone split up in different directions as I stood in the same place. I didn't want to follow that presence. I didn't know what I was going to find at the end of this presence, and I wasn't sure I wanted to find out.

Finally, I went in the direction of the aura. Soon, I got to the maze entrance. This isn't right. The senshi's fight was by my garden, this is too far north from my garden.

I have no choice but to go through the maze. I take several turns before I find Saturn kneeling down in the middle of the maze. Statues of the fallen royals were created here. The center of the maze is the creepiest of places in the kingdom. No one ever comes here. Why would she come here?

As I stride to my daughter, I can't help but look at the statues of the fallen. Now that I've met the queens from the past, I recognize the statues. I even see Queen Diana carrying a child. As I pass each statue, I feel their gazes following me.

"Saturn, my love?" I ask. As I get closer, I hear her sniffling. She looks up at me.

"Momma?" She asks in a delicate voice. I force a smile trying to give her some piece. Immediately, she jumps into my arms. As soon as she gets into my arms, I feel a strange energy entering my body. I feel death and destruction digging at my soul. I'm glad I was the one to find her. No one but I could survive her touch.

I push her back from the embrace, so I could see her face. "Sweetie. I need you to tell me what happened," I say.

She starts sobbing again. "I saw Hikari. He says that I'm the next one to turn dark and that I'll cause irreparable destruction."

I froze. No. My daughter is not going to cause destruction. She's not going to be the next evil we have to face.

"Hotaru," I say using her real name. "Hikari is lying to you-"

"He says I have an uncontrollable darkness!" She cried. "He says I'm going to kill everyone I love."

I try to think of something comforting to say. She starts to cry louder. The air around us starts to get thinner. I look up at the sky and see that the blue sky is now turning a dark blue. It looks like a storm is coming, but I know better.

I look back down at Saturn. Her tiara fades in and out. When the tiara fades, a black star appears. Mistress 9 is trying to resurface. My father is trying to bring the darkness inside her out.

"Hotaru," I say softly. She still cries loudly. Her wails are getting louder and the star on her forehead stays longer.

"Hotaru," I say again just a little more forcefully. She slowly rises her head back up and looks at me. Those big eyes stare up at me as if I'm the first thing she's seen in her entire life. She's still crying, but not as loudly. I lift my hand up and wipe her cold tears away. "Can I ask you a question?" She nods her head.

"Do you think I'm evil?" She blinks at me. She's surprised by the question, but shakes her head. "But I do have darkness inside me, don't I?" She looks at me for a second. She's trying to think of what to say. She nods her head. "So, I have a darkness inside me but I'm not evil, right?" Again, she nods her head.

"So why can't the same be said for you?" I ask her. Her crying stops. "All of us have a little darkness inside of us, even Serenity. It's okay to have that darkness inside of us. What makes people evil is when they give in to that darkness and let it control them.

"The Serenity from our time let the darkness inside her consume her. For too long she was pushed around and told what she should and shouldn't do. Now she's pushing back, but instead of telling us what she wants, she's just taking it and pushing us away.

"Look at the Serenity of this time. She has that darkness in her, but she's not letting it control her. She listens to it and takes actions when necessary. Don't let my father tell you what you are. Don't let your darkness control you. Don't let it consume you. You make your own decisions my love."

Tears continue to roll down her face, but she's much calmer now. I know longer feel death and destruction eating away at my soul. The air is slowly going back to normal. I look up to the sky and see that the sky is shifting from dark blue back to light blue.

The senshi finally make their way to us. Pluto and Serenity make it to us first and make a stance prepared for a fight. When they see Saturn and I still holding on to each other, they lower their weapons.

I look back down and see my daughter has stopped crying. "Are you okay?" I ask her. She looks back up at me and jumps forward to embrace me in a hug.