Sailor Moon Aeons.
Book 2: Rebirth.
Act 4: Death Busters.
Episode 68: The Silence.

By Razor Knight
Last update: November 13, 2013
Last edited: June 9, 2017

It was just another school day, or so did the Senshi thought. But even at school, there could still be surprises for them.

"So, what's next?"

"Next period is history."

Usagi sighed. "Yay."

"But history's fun," Terry said.

"I'm glad to hear that." Everyone turned to see a woman walking to the teacher's desk. She was tall, with long, green hair and red eyes, and seemed to be in her late twenties. "My name's Setsuna Meiou, and I'll be your new history teacher.

"Hey, what happened to Takeda?"

"He had to leave the city for personal reasons," Setsuna said calmly.

Hotaru, Kage, Haruka and Michiru were all staring at her. Was she really going to be teaching them?

Usagi frowned. There was something odd about this woman, but she couldn't quite tell what it was. Still, she wasn't as naive as she used to be, so she knew she'd have to tell the others about it.

Setsuna scanned the room with her eyes. "Zephyr, stop staring."

"Sorry, I'll try to pay attention to your lectures, but I'm not quite sure I'll succeed."

"I see, the rumors about you were right."

Usagi noticed Hotaru was staring at Setsuna. Perhaps she was also sensing something strange about that woman?

Later that day, Hotaru was at the base, which was almost empty.

"Flare!"

Aiko saw the flame way hissing by, and nodded. "There's a noticeable increase in the power of your attacks."

"So that's what you and the Hunters were doing?"

Yukiko nodded. "I won't let myself fall behind, so I wanted to train my magic."

Terry smiled, then did one of his usual 'quick moves,' but was surprised as Yukiko ducked to the side. "As I thought, not the only thing you've improved."

"Hakko taught me a lot while training you, guys, and I've been practicing."

"You don't need to do that on your own," Hotaru noted.

Yukiko nodded, then looked at Aiko. "I must admit I missed some cool things while training."

Aiko smiled. "I'll take that as a compliment."

Usagi had walked in while they were talking, and she went straight to Hotaru. "Hey, I have a question."

ChibiUsa was also there, training, and looked at Usagi. Was she- No, she wouldn't break her promise.

"Go ahead," Hotaru said, though she had a very good guess on what the question would be.

"The new history teacher, Meiou... Did you sense something strange about her?"

Ami had been typing in her computer for the last few minutes, but looked up to them as she heard that. "Setsuna Meiou, I can't find anything there which tells me she's not just a normal human being. Yet you and Hiyama were staring at her in a strange way. I think I know why."

"I don't-"

Ami sighed. "Let me finish. I was trying to find anything about her, anything strange, and then it hit me, it's as simple as just paying attention to her name."

Terry looked at Ami, then at Hotaru, then chuckled. "Setsuna Meiou. Moment of Pluto."

Usagi wasn't good when it came to English, but she caught the last word. "Pluto? As in, Sailor Pluto?"

Hotaru bit her lip. "Well-"

ChibiUsa walked to them, smiling. "Don't bother, Hotaru. Setsuna told me the group would figure out her civilian identity soon after I joined you. I didn't know it would be this soon, though."

"But I did."

Aiko looked at the newcomer. "Eavesdroping isn't nice."

"With my power and my position, sometimes eavesdropping is unavoidable."

Terry stared at Setsuna. "So you're Pluto. Which means you're also the one who trained Hotaru and Hiyama back then... And also those two harpies."

Setsuna flinched at that. "I don't like that nickname. They have no malicious intent, but being on their own for this long has... Changed them. You're also missing some details about the enemy."

"We have to rely on guesses and a computer which only tells us what it wants," Ami noted.

"And that's why I decided to come and tell you what you're really fighting against. The women you've fought call themselves Witches, and they serve a godlike creature from a distant galaxy, one which wants to take over this world for its own unknown motives."

"So, if they get those 'Talismans' they'll be able to bring their god here," Terry guessed.

Setsuna nodded. "There's a being they call the Messiah of Silence, it will appear when the Talismans are found, and if it gets them, then the Earth will be doomed."

"So we have to fight that Messiah."

Setsuna turned to Usagi. "With your current power, that's impossible. You must find the Messiah of Light."

"And I suppose you can't tell us who it is."

"You suppose right," Setsuna said, not turning to look at Yukiko. "Also, be warned that the Senshi aren't the only possible carriers. Any magical being, powerful enough, could be holding one."

"Well, then I'm safe," Yukiko joked.

"But you must already know who the carriers are," Ami noted.

"I do. And you will know, when the time's right."

"So you're telling me this Messiah of Light must also get the Talismans in order to stop our enemies."

"Yes-"

Usagi frowned. "I won't let anyone get them."

"I was expecting that. The Messiah of Light will appear, and the Talismans will be given to them, but I would not expect you to accept this without a fight."

Usagi blinked at that. "What does that mean? Are you saying I'm wrong?"

"No," Setsuna said, "but I can't tell you more than what I already did. I'll see you all at school."

As Setsuna vanished, ChibiUsa noticed everyone had turned to her. "What? No, I don't know a thing about the carriers."

Kage noticed Hotaru was looking at ChibiUsa. He had his guesses, but... "Hey, I need to talk to you about something."

Hotaru was surprised by that. "About what?"

"Not here," Kage said. "I'll walk you home."

ChibiUsa saw Hotaru and Kage leave, and frowned. Perhaps he was the one-

"They're just friends," Usagi whispered.

"Good," ChibiUsa said, then sighed. "I mean-"

"What are you two whispering about?" Yukiko asked.

"Nothing!" the two Usagi exclaimed in unison.

"Yeah, that's going to make you look a lot less suspicious."

"So, what was it you wanted to-"

"You like the Princess."

Hotaru stopped walking and stared at Kage in shock. "Am I that easy to read?"

"No, I don't think anyone else noticed. I just- I know you. I've watched you, the way you stare at her when she's not looking at you. What I don't get is, it's not like you."

"What, liking a girl?"

Kage sighed. "No, being so shy about it."

"It's not that I'm shy, but..."

Kage waited for Hotaru to continue, but after a minute, smiled at her. "I guess now you understand why I didn't tell you a thing before you guessed it yourself."

Hotaru nodded. "She's younger than me, one of my closest friends is her mother, and... She will have to eventually go to the future, and I won't be able to go with her."

"Those are all good points," Kage admitted.

"And she has someone she likes, in the future. It's better if I don't say anything."

"I see. Well, considering my track record, I know I'm not the best at romance, but I can tell you this: I don't regret those months we spent dating. And I'm quite sure I would have regretted not telling you anything."

Hotaru sighed and started walking again. "I'll have to give this a lot of thought."

"I won't tell anyone," Kage said, "but I'm guessing Usagi already knows."

"That wouldn't suprise me at all."

Brad had to admit this place was quite impressive. He had only been there once before, and was surprised to be called there. "So, what exactly did you want me to help you with?"

"I know you're good with swords, so I wanted you to help me train using one."

Rei sighed. "Yuu, why didn't you just ask Terry?"

"I never see him outside the base, and no offense, but that place's usually too noisy for me."

"Can't say that's a lie, most of the time," Rei admitted, "I'll leave you guys to your games, try to not break anything while I'm gone."

Brad sighed as Rei walked down the stairs leading to the street. "Okay, let's get this started. Show me what you can do."

Yuichiro summoned his sword and charged at Brad, who was still unarmed. However, Brad simply side-stepped him, hitting his arm as he passed by, but Yuichiro didn't drop it, just stopped to stare at him. "You're as good as I thought."

Brad smiled. "And you're not a newbie, that hit should have made you drop the sword."

"I took a few kendo lessons when I was a kid."

"I see, so we can skip to the advanced lessons, then."

"Uh, probably."

Rei was walking down the street when she sensed something. She looked around, making sure there were no civilians near her, and produced her communicator. "Another attack?"

Aiko was seemingly surprised. "I expected you to-" She then shook her head. "Rei, they're attacking the shrine."

Rei's eyes widened. "Who's the target?"

"Since both Witches are there, I would say both Dragons are being targeted."

"Damn it. Is anyone else coming?"

"The two Moons and Saturn are close, the others could take a while to arrive."

"Just tell them to hurry up, I'm not sure I can handle two of them on my own."

"Give it up, kid, your girlfriend's not here to save you today."

Dragon Venus glared at the woman. "I'm sorry, hag, but my heart already belongs to her."

Dragon Mars summoned his staff. "If I let you take my heart, Miss Rei would be angry. And I fear her more than I fear you."

Mimette stared at him. "I wonder if you kids know how to use those weapons."

Dragon Mars answered by spinning his staff, which was suddenly set aflame. "Ember Barrage."

Eudial was knocked down by the attack, but stood right up. "That tickled." She noticed the other Dragon was apparently reading a book. "Oookay, that's a new one for me."

"Yeah, I wouldn't expect you to know what a book is," Dragon Venus mused. "But I bet you're curious about it."

Mimette sighed as her hands lit up. "We learn from our mistakes, kid. I'm not going to let you use that!"

Dragon Venus smiled as both witches vanished. "We also learn. Inferno. Blizzard. Luminary. Hades' Grasp. Lightning Wall."

Dragon Mars heard the screams even before he turned around, and could see the two witches knocked down on the ground, near them. "Wait, how-"

"I can 'save' spells in this book and use them whenever I want. That lets me fry idiots on the spot without wasting any of the mana I currently have stored."

"That's cheating," Eudial snapped as the two women staggered up.

"No, just strategy. And speaking of strategy, my other tactic did work."

"What does that-"

"Fire Soul Swarm!"

Dragon Mars could feel the fire as it hissed by, missing both Dragons but hitting the two witches dead on. Countless small fire balls, all spinning in seemingly random patterns, but only a few of them actually missed their target. "When did you learn that one?"

"Just invented it," Mars said. She then frowned. "Damn, I thought they would stay down after that."

Mimette was furious. True, none of those attacks were enough to hurt her individually, but after getting hit by so many of them... She licked the blood off her lips and smiled. "We can't get your heart crystal again, Mars, so we'll just have to kill you the old fashioned way."

Mars sighed. "Do your worst."

Eudial chuckled. "We already did."

Mars realized something, and tried to turn around, but was knocked right through a tree before she could see her attacker. "Damn it, a daimon..."

Dragon Mars glared at the two women. "You're going to pay for hurting her!"

"No, we're not," Eudial said, and the witches, once again, vanished.

The two Dragons turned around, both sweeping out with their weapons in unison, but they only hit the air. By the time they figured out their foe's move, the two witches had already done their usual crystal snatching thing.

Mimette smirked. "Oh, not Talismans, either. I was hoping to get lucky. Oh well, let's kill these two while our Daimon's got Mars distracted." And it was true, Mars was right now too busy dodging the attacks of the large, golem-like stone daimon they had summoned.

"Sounds like fun," Eudial said, "we didn't get a Talisman, but the twins will be happy if we kill these-"

"World Shaking!"

"Deep Submerge!"

The two blasts took the women by surprise, they had assumed the two rogue Senshi weren't around. "Damn it!"

"We can't let you kill them."

Mimette glared at Uranus as she tried to stand up (and failed.) "Huh, I thought you didn't give a damn about the carriers."

Neptune frowned at that. "We... We're ready to sacrifice those who hold the Talismans, but only those. And we're no murderers, either, so you can either die for naught, or do the wise thing."

Uranus sighed as the witches vanished, then returned the crystals. "Good, let's go."

"What about Mars?"

Uranus looked at the other fight still raging. Mars had a few cuts in her arms and didn't look like she was going to last much longer. "We don't need to help her."

"Pink Sugar Heart Crusher!"

Mars blinked in shock for a few seconds as the daimon was crushed, then looked up and smiled. "Like mother, like daught-"

"Rei!"

Saturn rushed to Mars, and smiled. "She lost some blood, but I can still heal her back to normal."

The two Dragons walked to the two Moons and Saturn. "You three are late."

ChibiMoon shrugged. "Sorry, we can't just teleport around the city like you yet."

"Yet?" the others asked.

ChibiMoon flinched. "Oops." She then looked around. "Okay, Pluto's not dragging me back to Crystal Tokyo by my pigtails, so I guess knowing that won't mess the timelines."

Mars looked around. "Those two..."

"You'll kick their rears next time," Saturn said.

Mars shook her head. "No, I wanted to thank them, they stopped the Witches from killing the Dragons while I was busy getting my ass kicked."

Saturn nodded. "I suppose... They're not completely heartless."

"I think we'll leave training for some other day," Dragon Venus said, "i'm exhausted."

Mars smiled. "Yeah, I know how that feels."

Sailor Pluto was quite surprised. Things were going as expected, except for a small deviation, one she hadn't seen. Perhaps teaching the Princess the importance of keeping the timelines stable had not been that good an idea after all. She would have to talk to her, but the problem was... She could see it, by tapping into the different futures, that her intervention could make things worse. She couldn't tell the Princess about this directly, but to be cryptical enough without making it too obvious... No, the Princess was too smart for that.

She would have to hint her in the right direction, and hope for the best.

And if things went as she was seeing them after that, the Princess would be glad to make the wrong choice for a change.

A/N: I know I don't have most Senshi use their special weapons too much, but when they do, it always means pain for the bad guys. Or girls.

And as seen in this chapter, the 'rogues' can do the right thing for the right reason, too. Could it be that Moon's speeches are having an effect on them? Wait and see.