Sailor Moon Aeons.
Book 2: Rebirth.
Act 2: Dark Moon Rising.
Episode 39: Future visions.

By Razor Knight
Last update: April 17, 2013
Last edited: May 30, 2017

Haruna walked in and noticed something. Several of her students were not there yet. "Okay, Tsukino, I could almost understand, but Osaka, Chiba, Zephyr, Kino..."

Umino nodded, "Naru's caught the flu, I think she may have passed it on the others, as they're always hanging together after school."

Yukiko looked at Umino. Haruna had apparently bought the lie, but she didn't know why Umino would lie in the first place... And the way he had said it, it was almost as if he knew- No, he was surely just being his usual weird self.

"Welcome to Crystal Tokyo."

The Senshi looked around. The city was built entirely of what seemed to be transluscent crystal. However, most of the buildings were wrecked, in fact the large palace in the distance was the only building which seemed to be in perfect shape. It was, some of them guessed, most likely due to the nearly invisible energy field surrounding it.

"If I were to guess, I would say we live in that place," Venus said, pointing at the palace.

"Yep."

Dragon Sun shrugged. "No wonder everything's wrecked, that's what they get for building things out of glass."

ChibiUsa glared at him for a second, then smiled. "You're right, it's just plain glass. I bet you could break one of those walls just by punching it."

The Dragon walked to one of the half-demolished buildings and snorted. "Looks just like glass."

Mercury had her visor down, and suddenly flinched. "Wait, I don't think you should-"

The Dragon didn't mind her, and punched the wall with all his might. He stood there, with his arm outstretched, for a few seconds before yelping in pain and clutching his hand. "What the hell?"

ChibiUsa giggled. "Magical crystal, reinforced to resist even a Senshi's attacks. At least that's what I heard my era's Mercury say once."

"So this is Tokyo, but made out of crystal," Jupiter said. "What happened to the old Tokyo?"

"We are in the exact same area where Tokyo should be," Mercury explained, "so I guess it somehow transformed into this."

ChibiUsa noticed many of the Senshi were looking at her. "I don't know when or how it happened. I thought the city had always been like this, so I didn't ask."

"You said you needed the Ginzuishou to help your mother," Moon said, "where is she- Am I... Uh..."

Suddenly, a figure appeared in front of them. "If you want to know, you should follow me to the palace."

Moon stared at the figure, then at Dragon Earth. "Wait, what's going on here?"

Dragon Earth could only agree with Moon. The figure looked just like him, but he could also see the city behind him, as if the man was a ghost. "I suppose that's a hologram, and that's how I'll look in a thousand years."

ChibiUsa smiled. "Dad, you're okay!"

The man smiled sadly. "Relatively okay. This is just an image created through magic, my real body's inside the palace. I'm King Endymion of Crystal Tokyo, and if you all follow me, I'll show you things I know you need to see, and tell you what you need to know."

"... Because you heard it from yourself before," Mercury guessed.

"I knew you would guess that. It's something to be expected of the smartest person in Crystal Tokyo," the man said.

Esmeraude walked in and saw Dimando waiting for her, along with someone else. Wiseman. The prince trusted that hooded creep, but Esmeraude wasn't quite sure about him. "What's the matter, Dimando?"

"The Senshi have arrived, they're heading for the palace right now. You must go there and face them."

"Alone?"

Wiseman's eyes flashed red under his hood. "I can give you the power to defeat the Senshi. I imagine the Prince will be very grateful to you after you remove that obstacle from his path to victory."

Esmeraude smiled. "I would be a fool not to accept such a thing."

"Excellent," Wiseman said, then his eyes flashed red once more. Esmeraude's body was surrounded by a dark aura, and she screamed in pain.

"Wiseman, what-"

"Wait!" Esmeraude shouted, interrupting Dimando. "I'll resist. Don't stop."

It took only a minute, and Wiseman finally turned around and walked away. "It is done."

Dimando looked at Esmeraude, who was kneeling on the ground. "Are you okay?"

Esmeraude stood up, smiling, and Dimando noticed her eyes were black instead of their usual green. "Never been better."

Back in the present Tokyo, Yukiko had decided to follow Umino after school, and wasn't surprised when she saw him walk into Crown. As she walked into the building, however, she saw the guy was waiting for her. "Uh... Hi Gurio, fancy meeting you here."

"You've been following me for ten minutes," Umino said.

"No, I was just heading here, just like you."

"Oh, well, I've seen you in here a few times, so I guess that makes sense. Why would you be following me, anyhow?"

"Maybe I thought you were one of the Senshi," Yukiko joked.

"Sure... Because I'm the hero type. Who else do you think could be a Senshi? Usagi?"

Yukiko laughed at that. "Yeah, no way either of you can be..."

"Still, I think I'll go check on Naru later."

Much later, Yukiko thought. She hadn't considered that, she didn't know when they would be back, and if too many civilians started wondering, then that would complicate things. Or not, she corrected as she saw Usagi and Naru walk in. There was something strange about Usagi, though.

"Oh, there you are, Umino."

"Why did you guys miss school?" Umino asked.

"I hired them to be my maids," Terry joked as he also walked in.

"I see... It's fine if you don't want to tell me," Umino said and walked to the door.

"Wait, Umino," Naru said and walked to him. "I'll tell you on the way home, as long as you promise not to tell anyone."

"Okay."

Yukiko watched the two leave and frowned. "Is she going to tell them about..."

Terry smiled. "If anyone asks, we were all captured by those evil aliens the Senshi are currently fighting against."

Yukiko nodded. "Got it. But what really happened, guys? Why is Usagi so... Not herself?"

Usagi sighed. "I'll tell you, but let's go to the base. The others are there already."

The palace was as impressive inside as it looked from the outside. Every corridor they walked through was at least a dozen meters tall, and wide enough to fit a few trucks standing side by side. "This is the second largest buiding I've seen," Dragon Sun commented.

"Unless my visor's not working right, the whole place's made out of crystalized mana," Mercury noted, "the buildings outside, too."

Dragon Venus stared at Mercury for a second before shaking his head. "Damn, that's just too much."

"What do you mean?"

"Mom can create a sword of crystalized mana, but it takes her too long to summon it, and it needs a massive quantity of mana, so she's never actually used it in a battle. And here you're telling me someone, I would guess that's Usagi's future self, somehow crystalized enough mana to build a full-scale city?"

Endymion didn't seem to be paying attention to them, but he suddenly stopped in front of a large door. "Here we are." He then went through the door without waiting for an answer. Moon walked to the door and opened it, then gasped and walked into the room.

"That's... Me."

Earth looked around the room. In one side of the room, there was what seemed like an examination table, with scanners and other artifacts she knew nothing about around it. The man lying on the table was, in a way, her brother. "What exactly happened to you?"

The image stared at his own body, then to the side. "The Nemesians attacked us."

Usagi looked at the large crystal floating in the other side of the room. It was quite incredible, but the woman inside that crystal looked like her. No, it was her, a thousand years into the future. "How did I end up like that?"

"They said they wanted to discuss the terms of a diplomatic treaty, but it was a trap."

"... Nemesians?" Nemesis asked.

Mercury nodded at that. "They all have the same symbol in their foreheads, the inverted, black crescent moon. The symbol of Nemesis."

"I thought there were no humans outside Earth?" Dragon Mercury asked.

Endymion nodded. "Nemesis is too far from the Sun, it had always been a dark, unwelcoming world. Most Nemesians died when the Nemesian wells were capped, and those who survived were thrown back to a stone age level of civilization. They managed to rebuild their civilization through many centuries, and their astronomers always looked at Earth in awe, but their leaders saw it under a different light. Earth was a warm, welcoming world, while Nemesis had been turned into a hostile, dark place."

"So that's what they're trying to do, take over the Earth?" Dragon Mercury asked. "Why not attack the States-" he paused and frowned. "Wait, the political map of the world must have changed in a thousand years."

"It did," Endymion admitted, "and while Crystal Tokyo is a small kingdom, as far as magic power goes, we're the strongest nation on Earth. Nemesians knew that, so they realized they needed to deal with us if they wanted to have an easier campaign."

"... So, they're attacking the rest of the world now? Where are we through all this?"

"During the first attack of the Nemesians, the Ginzuishou vanished due to... Strange circumstances," Endymion said, looking at ChibiUsa for a second. "With the Queen injured and me unable to move, the shield around the city went down. The five strongest Senshi had to use their own magic to form a new shield, but their magic is comparatively weaker than that of Serenity, so the shield- Well, you saw it out there. We were able to move most civilians out of the way before the real attack started, but I know dozens of lives were lost."

A 'screen' appeared in mid-air, showing Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus and Nemesis all sitting around a strange machine. They seemed older, but not older than thirty. Mars looked up. "If we're stuck in there, then I suppose the rest of the group's fighting the Nemesians?"

"Yes." The screen flickered and the image changed, showing a battlefield with dozens of spaceships like Rubeus' one floating over a city. The ships were suddenly hit by assorted magical attacks, and most of them were blown to ashes within seconds. The image zoomed in to show a small group of Senshi shooting at the ships.

Dragon Mercury recognized himself and Earth, but the two or three other Senshi were unknown. "I guess we had time for things other than fighting during the last thousand years, so... Those other Senshi should either be Senshi we haven't found yet back home, or our children."

"Both are correct," Endymion said, "but I can't tell you more than that."

Mercury was staring at Serenity. "It's amazing. From a distace, I couldn't detect it, but her power is- I don't know how to put this into words."

"I suppose she must be a bit stronger, after a thousand years," Earth admitted.

"A bit?" Mercury shook her head. "Going by the numbers I get, she's at least ten thousand times stronger than our Sailor Moon."

Dragon Mercury flinched at that. "How did that saying go, power corrupts, infinite power-"

Endymion stared at him, but there was no hostility in his eyes. "This is Usagi Tsukino you're talking about. Even back then, you should know she wouldn't be a good evil overlord."

"I know," Dragon Mercury said. "What I'm wondering right now is, are those Dark Moon freaks the strongest Nemesians?"

"Yes, but the ones you fought so far are the weakest within their ranks. Prince Dimando, Prince Saffir and the Wiseman are far stronger."

"Why are they wasting time chasing after ChibiUsa?"

"Because Wiseman fears the Ginzuishou. Dimando is the leader, but Wiseman is his strategist, and the prince follows his advice. They knew if the Princess managed to bring you here, then you could be a threat to their plans."

"There's something you're not telling us," Saturn noted. "How exactly did the Ginzuishou vanish?"

Endymion looked at ChibiUsa, who looked down at her own feet. "When she saw us both being carried back to the palace, she tried to help. She wanted to help her mother, and she knew the Ginzuishou would listen to her, as she was the Princess. But for some reason, the crystal vanished as soon as she touched it, and we haven't been able to sense its energy ever since."

"It vanished?" Moon asked. "How-"

"I... I just wanted to help mom... But because of me, everyone-"

Mars saw ChibiUsa run out of the room, and sighed. "Must be hard on her."

"She's been keeping all her grief inside," Endymion said. "Wish I could-"

"I'll bring her back," Moon said, and left without waiting for an answer.

"Huh, her maternal instincts woke up?" Mars mused.

"Not amusing," Mercury noted. She then looked to the side. "Oh shit."

"What's wrong?" Jupiter asking, aware that if Mercury was cursing, it had to be something very bad.

"There's a strong entity heading this way. It's Esmeraude, but her power's much higher than before."

"She can't break through the shield, can she?"

Endymion shook his head. "Not unless she shoots at it for hours."

Earth smiled. "Why wait for hours when we can go kick her rear right now?"

"Great minds think alike, right?" Jupiter mused.

ChibiUsa had been running for a while, but she finally stopped and looked around. She was outside the shield, and for a moment she considered going back in. No, she couldn't go back. The Senshi knew what she had done, they would be mad at her. She couldn't blame them, she was mad at herself for being so naive. "Because of me..."

"... They're still fighting this war."

She froze and turned around. There was a man there, a man in a hooded robe. She couldn't see his face, but she still took a step back.

"I'm not going to hurt you, Princess. You want to fix what you've done, don't you? I can help you with that. Together, we can make your friends see just how special you are, I can give you the power to make things right again."

For some reason, the man's words soothed her, and the girl wasn't staring at him in fear anymore. "I... I want to fix this, I want to end this war."

"ChibiUsa!"

The girl didn't hear the shout, she just reached her hand out to the man. "Please, help me fix what I did wrong."

Wiseman reached forwards, holding her hand, although his robe covered his own hand. "As you wish, Princess."

Moon leapt down from the third floor, but realized she was too late as the figure vanished, taking ChibiUsa with it. She walked to where the two had been standing and knew things had just gone very wrong. "ChibiUsa, no..."

"I don't really know what Wiseman wants with that kid, but I'll worry about it later."

Moon turned around and saw a man with white hair and eyes staring at her. "Who are you?"

"I'm Prince Dimando, leader of the Dark Moon Family. And you're my trophy." Moon didn't have time to realize what that meant before the man zapped her with dark energy, knocking her out. He caught her before she hit the ground and smiled. "Soon, you'll become my Queen," he said before they also vanished.

As they reached their target, the Senshi saw something was quite wrong. "She's got a dark aura," Dragon Sun commented, "that can't be good."

"You kids came to die? Good, that saves me the trouble of shooting through that shield and searching for you."

Dragon Mercury frowned. "Overconfident, aren't you?"

"Just die!" Esmeraude snapped and swung her fan, releasing an energy blast. The Senshi were expecting this, so they all leapt aside, but Esmeraude just kept swinging her fan, unleashing several blasts in a row. The Senshi were all knocked down, but they stood back up fast.

"Seriously, that's all she has?" Mars asked.

"It was just a test, next time I'll shoot to kill."

Dragon Earth glared at the woman, but then looked to the side. "No... Something's happened to Usagi."

"What do you mean?"

"I don't know, I just know she's in trouble."

"Go help her," Earth said, "we'll take care of She-Hulk."

Dragon Mercury chuckled at that, and smiled as Dragon Earth rushed away. "It's a pity having to beat down someone so hot."

"I agree, but don't mind if I do just that," Earth admitted.

Esmeraude laughed. "Foolish kids, you can all attack me at once, and you will still lose."

Yukiko had been listening to the others as they told her what had happened during their trip to Crystal Tokyo, along with the three Huntresses, and the Mooncats. "So, what happened after that?"

Rei sighed. "We fought Esmeraude while Mamoru was rescuing Usagi, but Esmeraude was stronger than we thought."

Emi looked at Usagi. "Hey, is everything okay?" She realized something, and felt like slapping herself for not noticing before. "Wait, did ChibiUsa..."

"Just listen to the story," Usagi said with a frown.

"Rabbit, stop it," Terry said, "blaming yourself or others won't help."

Usagi sighed. "I know, I just..."

"Let us finish our story, and we'll answer any question you may have which isn't answered by it," Hotaru said.

A/N: The Dark Moon Family goons have always been my least favorite SM villains. Potential rapists and child murderers? Takeuchi sure knew how to make her villains 'likeable.'