Sailor Moon Aeons.
Book 2: Rebirth.
Act 1: Dark Kingdom.
Episode 24: The calm before the storm.

By Razor Knight
Last update: February 21, 2013
Last edited: May 26, 2017

The seven didn't waste a second, and they all attacked as a team. Arieru and Raiyuu attacked from a distance, but a thin light bubble surrounded the Princess, stopping their beams. Aruboru tried to use its vines to trap the Princess, but she slashed them apart with her sword. While she was seemingly distracted by the others, Yajinko, the 'yeti,' tried to tackle her, but the Princess simply spun around, using her blade to behead the creature in one swift slice.

"What the hell, she's damn good with that sword!"

Luna could only agree with Dragon Mercury. "She is. It's hard to explain, that is Usagi and at the same time... It's not her."

"Yeah, you've lost me," the Dragon said, and most of the others nodded in agreement.

"As the crystal formed, a part of the spirit of Princess Serenity, the Moon Princess, appeared, and she took over in order to win this fight."

"Wait, what will happen to Usagi, then?"

Artemis smiled at Mars. "Don't worry, the Princess... That's only a small fragment of her spirit. A very small part of her real power. And she's fighting as fiercely as she is because she knows her time's rather limited."

Saturn looked at the battle, and noticed five out of the seven were down. "I now see legends weren't wrong. She's simply amazing."

"Wait, you said a small part of her real power?" Jupiter said. Artemis nodded. "And she's kicking those youma around like they're not even there." Artemis nodded again. "Shit, she must have been damn strong."

"You all were," Shade noted, "and will eventually be, given time and training."

A screech was heard, and everyone noticed Suzaku was gone. Only the dragon, Tiamat, was left. Before Serenity could attack, however, the dragon used its poison breath, and many of the Senshi cringed as they recalled how strong that attack was. But suddenly, the Princess leapt out of the poison cloud, and above the dragon's head. She then used her momentum, and her sword, to cleanly cut the dragon in half as she fell.

Kunzite frowned. Even the Seven had been powerless against this woman. He sent their souls back to the Dark Kingdom, he knew his spawns would still find some use for them. But he was not going back. He was quite sure Beryl would kill him if he retreated, and while staying would possibly have the same end result, at least he would die fighting.

Princess Serenity saw Kunzite summon a crystal sword and rush at her, and sighed. She stopped the first slash, and then tried to counter, but Kunzite was good with a sword himself. They kept fighting for minutes before they both leapt away from each other. Kunzite was panting and barely standing, but the Princess wasn't showing any sign of exhaustion.

"Know what makes it more awesome?" Dragon Venus commented, "she's doing all that while wearing a long gown."

Dragon Mercury chuckled at that. "She could beat me without even trying, and I'm not afraid to admit it."

Kunzite glared at the Princess, but the a smile formed in his face for a second. "You are too strong for me to kill... But your friends aren't!"

The large energy wave shot too fast for the Princess to react, and her eyes widened as it shot by her. However, the three Mooncats closed their eyes, and a wall of energy formed in front of them, absorbing the attack. "Thanks, Luna."

"Just take care of that guy, Princess," Luna said.

Mars stared at Luna. "Hey, since when can you do that?"

"Since always," Luna said, then staggered back. "But it's not something we can use all the time, it eats up a lot of mana."

The Princess stared at Kunzite. "I was willing to let you escape at first, but you attacked my friends. That was your last mistake." Kunzite said nothing, but dashed forwards, rising his sword once more. The Princess just rose one hand, and an energy beam as tall as her shot forwards, washing over Kunzite and blasting him apart before he could as much as scream in pain. "It's done."

The Senshi stared at the Princess as she walked to them. "Usagi?"

"Luna already told you, the answer to that is both yes and no."

Tuxedo Kamen staggered up, and smiled at her. "Serenity... I remember now."

She smiled at him, then looked at the Senshi. "I will now return your memories to you." The Sailor Senshi all fell unconscious. "As for the rest of you..."

"Hey, what did you do to them?" Dragon Mercury asked.

"They are remembering that day, the day Silver Millenium fell. I will tell you what happened that day, and what I know of what happened before that. But I don't have much time left, so don't interrupt until I'm done."

The Dragons looked at each other and at Tuxedo, and they all nodded.

Luna looked around as Serenity started her story, noticing the Hunters were all gone. "This war is not over yet."

Artemis nodded. "But the advantage is ours now."

Dragon Mercury was quite shocked. The story was rather unbelievable, and yet he had seen his good share of the unbelievable lately. "What will happen to you now?"

"Me and Usagi share a soul, but... We're not the same person, in a way. When she wakes up, I'll be gone, most likely for good-" There was a hint of sadness in her voice, but she smiled. "It was good to be able to fight one more time, and to see my friends again. I have no regrets. Farewell."

The Princess fainted, but Tuxedo Kamen caught her. Her suit was back to normal, and she stared at the guy as she opened her eyes. "Uh..."

Tuxedo smiled. "You were right, you were the Princess."

"Yes, I remember now. I also know all the Princess said while I was, uhm, not quite here."

The Sailor Senshi were all awake, and looking at them. "So wait, since Endymion and Serenity were lovers back then..." Mars started.

"Hmph, Endymion might have been a Prince, but this guy?" Moon said as she walked back to her friends.

Tuxedo Kamen was surprised by her reaction. "Huh? What do you mean?"

Moon turned back to normal and stared at him. "You may have saved me several times while I was Sailor Moon, but you were always a jerk to me when you didn't have your mask on."

Tuxedo Kamen sighed and turned to leave, but then looked at her. "You know, if you mature quite a bit, and stop being so lazy, then you may one day be a lady, as Serenity was."

Usagi glared at him as he walked away. "Why you, jerk!" she shouted that last part a bit louder than needed.

"Guess the Princess was right, they're not quite the same person," Mercury commented.

"Anyhow, we won, we got the Ginzuishou," Usagi said, "let's go, I want to go have some fun now."

"Thought you would try to take this more seriously after all that's happened lately," Mars commented.

"Rei..." Usagi shook her head, she didn't want to argue with her friend right now, but how to make her understand what she meant?

Luna walked to them. "I agree with Usagi," she said, and before anyone could ask, she added, "to end this war, we will have to attack youma at their source, and after what you heard and saw, you know there's risks."

"We'll be okay," Jupiter said.

"Are you sure?" Usagi asked. "What if that super youma appears? He'll be weaker than he was, but I only managed to beat those seven minutes ago because I cheated. I don't think even Naru and Saturn had a chance against those guys."

"That's one way to look at it," Dragon Venus commented.

"If there was an alternative, I would not want you to go there," Luna said, "but we still need to find out where their link is, where their main gateway is placed. So you will have a while to rest and recover. Use that time wisely."

Usagi looked at the new Dragon and Sailor. "Nice to meet you, I guess."

"Likewise," Saturn said.

Dragon Sun was about to say something, but then shrugged and turned back to normal. "No use hiding it from you."

Usagi's eyes widened. "So if this is Hiyama, then..."

Saturn turned back to normal. "I wanted to play Mistery Senshi for a while longer, but that's a moot point now."

"How come no civilians were around, though?" Venus asked. "Anyone knows?"

"Given enough Demon Hunters are around, it's possible to relocate a lot of people in a very short time," Kage commented.

Usagi looked at Nemesis, who was not saying a word. "Naru, let's go home."

"It's quite a long walk there, don't you want a ride?" Dragon Mercury asked, but then saw the way Usagi was staring at him. "Uh, nevermind. Just be careful."

"We will," Usagi said.

Naru had already turned back to normal, and gave her a sad smile. "Let's go."

Usagi had guessed right, her friend was only holding back because he didn't want the others to see her like that. But now that they were alone... Usagi looked on as Naru sobbed, and felt quite useless. They had stopped to sit in a bench close to Naru's house, and Naru had started telling her what had happened, but after she told her how Nephrite took a hit for her, she was in too much pain to continue. "Naru... I can't lie to you, I can't tell you it will be fine. I won't tell you that I know how you feel, because that would be my greatest lie ever. But I'll always be here for you if you need someone to talk to, okay?"

Naru nodded, then sighed. "I... When Zoicite killed him, I simply lost it. I wanted to kill that bastard a hundred times for what he did, but I only could do it once. And I enjoyed it. I can't believe I'm saying this, but it felt good to watch him be eaten from within by my attack."

Usagi flinched at that. Nemesis' new attack sounded pretty creepy. "Naru, I don't think any of us would blame you for what you did, or what you felt. It's over, as long as you don't let that anger control you. Just look at Terry."

Naru gave her a wry smile. "So I either become a scornful avenger, or a walking joke? Sounds like a fun choice to make."

Usagi shook her head at that. "I don't think he would have wanted to see you become either." Naru looked away, but Usagi smiled. "and I don't think Umino would like that, either."

"Hmph, what's Umino have to do with anything?"

"I've known you both sice we were toddlers, Naru. You may be able to fool others, to fool yourself, but I know Umino's not fooled by your act. And neither am I."

Naru looked down, then wiped her tears off her face. "Someday, I may just drop the act. Someday..."

Usagi stood up. "Let's go. I'm sure your mother must be worried by now."

"Lead the way, fearless leader," Naru joked.

Usagi frowned. "Leader, I still don't know about that. You and Saturn are-"

"Tell me, who beat the crap out of seven monster who knocked us all around several times before, and then turned Kunzite into ashes, without breaking a sweat?"

Usagi sighed. "Yeah, technically that was me."

"As far as I'm concerned, you are already like that princess, Usagi."

"Thanks."

"Too bad you don't seem to have hit it off at all with your Prince Charming."

"Hmph. That jerk."

"You should give him a chance, Usagi."

"Hah, as if. I'd rather start dating Umino."

"He's taken," Naru said, then blushed. "Oops."

Usagi smiled at her. Just like Terry, it would take Naru a long time to heal, but she was sure she would heal, eventually.

"... And some say this was the final battle. They wrecked quite a lot of public property, but from what I could gather, they eliminated the youma 'bosses.'"

Terry listened to Umino, then smiled. "That sounds too crazy to be true. Which means it may be true."

"I hope they will be done wrecking the city soon," Karin noted.

"I wish I could meet them."

Terry looked at Yukiko. "Haven't you already?"

"Yeah, but... It's like meeting Superman, but not Clark Kent."

"Superman's a hero, Clark Kent is just a lousy reporter," Terry said dismissively.

"It would be cool to date a Senshi," Yukiko said, not really paying attention to Terry.

"... You mean the male ones who appeared recently, right?" Umino asked.

"No, not really," Yukiko said, not minding the looks most of the students in the classroom gave her.

Terry looked at Usagi, and saw she was staring at Yukiko in shock. "Hey, if things don't work out with that Chiba guy, you could date her," he said in a whisper.

"Don't even joke about that," Usagi muttered.

"Is Naru coming to school today?"

"Not sure. She's still rather upset."

"I know how she must be feeling," Terry said, "I wasn't quite sociable for a week after..." He trailed off and smiled sadly.

"You weren't quite sociable when you came to our school," Usagi said with a frown.

"Point."

"So, are you going to tell Ami about..."

"I'm still not sure if I should."

"You know, she knows, everyone else knows... What's stopping you, really?"

"Not trying to use this as an excuse, but... You said it yourself, things may not work out as planned for our group."

Usagi nodded slowly. "I don't think that should stop you, but I understand."

"You two shouldn't be talking about this kind of things in the classroom."

Usagi almost jumped. She hadn't noticed Hotaru at all. "Uh... Nobody's listening to us."

"I heard about what happened with Luminite," Hotaru whispered, "I thought you guys would realize there's always someone listening."

Terry looked at Hotaru. "You're right. Let's talk about this later, Usagi."

Usagi saw Hotaru stand there, her face showing no emotion. "Don't you ever smile?"

"I seldom find a reason to," Hotaru said.

"You must be joking," Terry muttered.

"She's not," Kage said from his seat. "I've managed to make her smile four times in three months, and she laughed only once. And I'm not quite sure about it, but she might have blushed once. I may have imagined that, though."

Terry chuckled. "You sure she's not a robot?"

"Target located. Elimination protocol started." Hotaru said.

Kage blinked at Hotaru as she walked away from an equally surprised Terry. "... And I'm quite sure that's the first time she makes a joke."

"And that's the situation right now. The Generals are gone, the Rainbow Youma may have been weakened greatly after fighting the Princess... All the Senshi have to do now is find their base."

The only other woman in the room smiled. "Not really."

"What do you mean?" Emi asked.

"We knew knowing where the youma were coming from would give us an advantage in this war. But we also knew trying a direct assault on their world would be nearly impossible for the Hunters."

"So you've already located their portal?"

"There's a portal in Tokyo, but it's blocked now. There used to be portals in New York and London too, but those are gone. The only one left is the largest one."

"Where's the main portal?"

"In the north pole."

"How will the Senshi teleport all the way there?"

"Daughter, there's still things you don't know about the Senshi. Even in their current, relatively weak level, they're full of tricks."

Emi nodded at Aries, or rather Junko Hiyama, her mother. "Another thing... Will we go with them?"

"Would you stay if I told you to stay?"

"... No."

"Then if they do ask for your help, you may tag along with them. Just be careful, there could be thousands of youma in there."

Hours later, Emi and her two friends were done telling the Senshi about what they had heard. The Senshi were all staring at them in different states of shock or disbelief.

"The north pole." Naru said.

"The freaking north pole," Mako muttered. "We'll freeze to death there."

"Not really, our suits have a protective layer, we could resist the lowest temperatures there for a couple hours," Ami said.

"Youma are coming from a sort of portal in there, but it leads to a place that's unlike any place in our world."

"They're coming from another dimension, then?" Brad asked.

Luna looked at the Senshi. "You can go there whenever you're ready."

Usagi looked at her friends. "We need to prepare for this."

"The sooner we go, the sooner-"

"We may not come back," Usagi said, interrupting Minako. "Even if I can't tell them about my 'job', I would still like to spend some time with my family before I leave."

"She's right," Terry said.

Luna smiled. "She sure is. I'm not sure how long we have, but if the youma show up, we'll tell you."

"Okay, and... How are we going to get there? With the help of a thousand Hunters?"

"No, with the Sailor Teleport," Shade said.

"We can teleport?" Usagi asked. "Why didn't you tell us?"

Artemis smiled at her. "Because the technique needs more than one Senshi to work, and the larger the distance, the more it will drain you. However, the more Senshi sharing the burden, the less it will affect you, and with two Senshi in Twilight level, then you should be able to get there without even feeling the strain."

"Okay, guys, let's meet here in two days."

"But it's a weekend. I wanted to go shopping this weekend," Minako complained.

"Minako, take this seriously!" Artemis snapped.

Minako sighed. "Yeah, I know. I was joking."

"It's not that I didn't want to spend the weekend just being my usual lazy self," Usagi admitted, "but going to the north pole after going to school? That sounds worse."

"... Yeah, that's Usagi for you," Rei mused.

"I'm sure everyone has things they want to do before we go fight those youma," Usagi said, looking at Terry and Ami, who both stared back at her, their faces unreadable.

"You know, you sound... Awfully pessimistic," Luna noted. "That's not like you."

"I trust everyone, and I want everyone to come back from there in one piece," Usagi said, "but things don't always go as we want them to."

Terry gave her a sad smile. "That's quite true."

And so, two days later, the Senshi were all meeting in the mansion's backyard. The three Huntresses were there, along with Aries, as the Senshi had agreed with Emi's thoughts. Tuxedo Kamen was also there, although not all the Senshi wanted his help.

"Wait, is Aries going to fight too?" Moon asked.

"No, I'm going to be, to use a term I was informed one of you used, a 'human taxi.'"

Luna looked at the Senshi, stopping in Usagi. "Guys, good luck out there. Usagi, you're a warrior when it counts, and I may not show it a lot, but it's been a honor to be your mentor. Make sure you come back."

"Thanks for everything, Luna," Usagi said with a smile.

"Okay, now you must stand in a circle," Artemis instructed. The Senshi did as told. "Close your eyes and concentrate." Artemis himself would be the one 'aiming' the teleport, as any mistake could be potentially deadly, or leave the Senshi miles away from their goal. "Be ready, when I tell you, call upon the Sailor Teleport." He waited and nodded as an aura of light surrounded all the Senshi. "Now!"

"Sailor Teleport!"

"That looked awesome," Circe commented as the Senshi vanished.

Aries looked at the three Huntresses and the black-clad man. "Now it's your turn."

"We're ready," Mira said.

"Good luck out there, Emi. Wisp Portal!"

Shade looked at Aries. "... Wasn't that the technique Dragon Venus used before? He said he had created it."

"He did, but I'm a very good student."

Luna looked up to the sky. "Good luck, everyone."

A/N: And this episode's a reverse from last two. It was meant to be two separate episodes, but I found they would both be too short if I wrote them as planned.

I bet some were expecting me to auto-couple Usagi and Mamoru like I did in the last story (or like mostly every fanfic author out there does.) Back then I was too horrible at writing romance to try what I'm planning this time around.

Not saying I got better at it, just saying I'm going to try it anyways.