Sailor Moon Aeons.
Book 2: Rebirth.
Act 4: Death Busters.
Episode 70: The soulless.

By Razor Knight
Last update: November 28, 2013
Last edited: June 9, 2017

"Fire Soul Swarm!" Mars smiled as her attack shot straight at her foe. The attack couldn't be avoided, so she was sure it would mean the end of the battle.

"Flame Wheel!"

Mars' smile vanished as Dragon Mars spun his staff horizontally, creating a disc of fire which absorbed all of the fire balls she had shot. "Hmph, I'll have to admit you're actually learning something, Yuu."

"I had an excellent teacher," Dragon Mars said, causing Mars to blush.

Usagi smiled. Yuichiro had improved a lot in a short time. What Hakko had told them was right, some of them were good enough to teach others how to fight, even though they were still learning and improving. She noticed, however, that ChibiUsa wasn't quite paying attention to the fight. "Are you okay?"

The younger girl nodded. "Yeah. I was thinking about what we spoke about yesterday, and I've made up my mind. Wish me luck."

Usagi saw her daughter walk to where Hotaru was, and smiled. "Good luck."

"What's the matter?"

ChibiUsa looked at Hotaru. "I need to talk to you."

"Go ahead."

ChibiUsa looked at Kage, who was, as usual, standing close to Hotaru, then sighed. "In private."

Hotaru nodded. Her mind was already racing, trying to guess what the girl wanted to talk about, but she decided not to pay attention to her own wild guesses. "Right. I suppose the dojo above the base would be good enough."

ChibiUsa sighed. "Sure."

Terry saw the two girls walk into the elevator and frowned. "What are they up to?"

"How should I know?" Usagi lied.

"I know you, Rabbit, and you definitely know something."

"Sometimes it's better to just wait and see what happens."

Usagi looked at Kage, who was walking to them. "Are you-"

"Depends on what the Princess wanted with Hotaru. I have a very good guess, but that would be quite a surprise, right?"

"I'm pretty sure you've guessed right," Usagi said.

"Then... I'm both happy and sad at the same time, I suppose."

Terry was staring at them blankly. "Shit, I think I know how you feel when Ami starts talking about science."

"Here we are."

ChibiUsa knew why Hotaru had said that, as she had been silent for almost two minutes, after telling her she had something she wanted to tell her. And there was no better way to say it than just saying it. "I've been thinking about this ever since I came back, and a part of me still thinks it's wrong, but..."

Hotaru waited for her to continue, but then realized a whole minute had passed without anything else from the other girl. "I think I know what you are going to say."

ChibiUsa sighed. "I'm glad, but still, I should finish what I started. I told you about a person I have a crush on, in the future, a person I miss, a person I respect... But even if that person's much younger in this era, I've seen enough of her to know she's almost the same, and I've grown to like her in this era as well. I'm done hiding my feelings out of fear. I like you, Hotaru, both in this era and the future." She then frowned. "No, it's more than just 'like.'"

Hotaru stood there, taking it all in, for several seconds, then smiled. "That's... I was so focused on thinking it was just me, on finding excuses not to say a thing, on ignoring the hints, but now I see that you..." She paused for a few seconds, looking down. "I'm not sure what I should say."

ChibiUsa wasn't sure what the other girl meant. Had Usagi been wrong? "Hotaru, it's okay if-"

Hotaru realized what her friend was thinking. "No, I- I like you too, and I know it's a different 'like' than how I feel about Usagi or even Kage. But you will have to go back, and I-"

"I'll leave you waiting for a thousand years. That's one of the things that stopped me from telling you anything. But if what I saw in the future is right, then... You'll find someone-"

Hotaru chuckled at that, then sighed as ChibiUsa stared at her in shock. "Sorry, it's just that I just realized something. I don't think I will find someone else. Back then, you told me you had never seen this other person. I'm pretty sure I know the reason now."

And then the obvious yet impossible answer finally hit the younger girl, as hard as a train. "Wait, are you saying that... That person was... Me?"

Hotaru nodded. "Obviously, you won't be with me then, but I will be waiting for you. For the you that will go back home after your training here is over."

"... Time loops, I hate them, but it seems I'm always standing in the center of one."

Hotaru smiled. "This is one time loop I'm not complaining about."

"Should we go back?"

"I'm not sure if we should. We'll never hear the end of it..." Hotaru muttered.

Usagi heard the elevator's doors open, and saw Hotaru and ChibiUsa walk out, but they both walked to a different part of the room. She decided to make sure everything was okay. "So, what happened?"

ChibiUsa chuckled. "Don't worry, you were right."

"Oh, I just thought-"

"Hotaru just wanted talk to Kage about it. Hope he doesn't get angry."

Terry had overheard that, and smiled. "Oh, so that's what you two-"

"Don't start," ChibiUsa warned.

Terry laughed. "I won't. I'm just surprised, I didn't think either of you would... Guess I was wrong."

Hotaru came walking to them. "I said it before, that gender shouldn't matter when, uhm..."

"Still can't say that word, huh?" Terry mused.

"Don't make me glaive you."

ChibiUsa noticed most of their friends were now looking at them. "Hotaru, I think they noticed."

Minako looked at both of them in turns, then smiled. "I'm happy for you, girls."

Usagi was staring at Hotaru, and the pale girl noticed it. "Don't worry, I'm not going to hurt her," she whispered.

Usagi shook her head. "I'm actually worried about you. She'll have to go back to her era someday, right?"

"I know. But we think the reason she never saw my 'spouse' in the future was..."

"... Because it was her, you were waiting for her?" Usagi said. "That idea crossed my mind, but then I figured it was too crazy to be true."

ChibiUsa walked out of the 'crowd' which had formed in the center of the base, and saw Kage standing there, looking at her with an unreadable face. "Uh... Hi?"

"I don't mind Hotaru's choice, but... She's a nice girl. Don't mess up."

"Warning acknowledged, but not required," ChibiUsa said with a smile.

"Good," Kage said, smiling back.

Aiko had been watching her friends' usual antics from the sidelines, but she suddenly looked up and frowned. "The Witches are attacking again. They're close to the Ginga residence."

"The Ginga?" Chie asked.

"Well, Pluto said anyone with magic powers could be a carrier," Usagi said.

"Right, it's just that they rarely use them, so it's easy to forget they're sidekicks too."

"I don't think any of them likes that term," Ami noted.

"Let's just go and beat the Witches," Usagi said.

Mars smiled. "She's right, guys. Let's go."

When the Senshi phased in, they were surprised to see the two aliens had the Witches under control. In fact, the two evil women were right now trying to get rid of a centaur, a giant scorpion and a humanoid goat, but the twins weren't letting them any breathing chance, as they kept raining energy balls on them. "Heh, I guess they're back to their old tricks."

Mimette scowled. "Oh great, the whole bratpack is here."

"A change of plans is in order," Eudial admitted.

Moon saw the two women vanish, and looked around. She wouldn't fall for it again, they had pulled surprise attacks on them before. "What... They're really gone?"

Ail and Ann floated down, and Ann smiled. "I think those two didn't expect us to be ready for them."

"It's weird, why would they just leave without getting their crystals?"

"Crystals?" Ann asked.

"That's what they're looking for, strange crystals which... Well, it's hard to explain. Let's just say all living beings seem to have one, even if it's usually not visible."

"I get it," Ann said, "after all, we can't see the air, but that doesn't mean it's not there."

Ail smiled. "This was fun, we should help the Senshi more often."

"I guess... It's not like we're doing anything else after school."

Venus looked at the twins' creatures. "You still had those?"

Ail nodded. "We have many of them."

"Perhaps you could do what Nova's doing," Jupiter noted.

"Now that's an idea," Ann mused. "After all, aliens aren't the only enemies this city has."

Mercury suddenly summoned her communicator. "Aiko, run a scan of the city. The two Witches run away, but something tells me they're not gone yet."

Yukiko leapt over a blast of lightning, focusing for a split second and summoning a large quantity of ice in her hand. "Ice Spear."

Aki barely dodged the large ice construct. "Impressive, that blast had almost as much power as mine."

"It's thanks to you, girls."

Emi smiled. "You won't be the first, nor the last, free agent we Demon Hunters have helped become stronger."

"Yes, even though it's not something we can do just like that," Maria added, "there's been cases in the past where a free agent used their power for evil and had to be dealt with."

"Hope I never give you any reason to be dealt with, then," Yuki noted. "Anyhow, we-"

Emi flinched. One of those Witches the Senshi had been fighting against had appeared and taken Yukiko's crystal in a blink. "I liked it better when enemies didn't know about stealth."

"Too bad for you, then," Mimette said. "I bet you're thinking that you're going to save your friend, be the heroes, right?"

Emi frowned, realizing exactly what this woman wanted. But where was... There. "Dark Glyph."

Mimette saw Eudial get swallowed by a wave of darkness, and winced. "Oh, that's a nice trick."

Aki was about to say something, but then she felt it, and from her friends' faces, she could tell they had felt it too. "What is that... So much power, where-"

Mimette laughed. "What, you mean me?" She then saw her target staggering up. "What the heck? Another one?"

Emi saw something was very wrong. Yukiko's eyes were lifeless, and she wasn't even looking at her foes. "Yuki?"

"Permafrost."

"What the fuck?"

Emi could only agree with Maria's outburst. The power in the attack which had just frozen Mimette solid was easily ten times stronger than what Yukiko had been using during training. Had she been holding back, or was something else there?

Eudial woke up and saw things were not working as expected. "Shit. We're out of here."

As the two women vanished, Aki sighed in relief. But then she saw it, those lifeless eyes, staring at them. "Hokuge, what the hell's wrong with you?"

"Hell? Have you ever seen it before, Aki?" Yukiko said, but her tone was different. Cold, emotionless... Evil. "Let me show you how it's like."

"Found them."

"Where are they?"

"Hokuge and the Huntresses are training in the outskirts of Tokyo, and the two Witches are just... Oh f-I mean, darn it. Here's the coordinates, mom. You should head there immediately."

Mercury saw Aiko seemed scared. "What's the matter?"

"It's Warwitch. She was the target."

Moon frowned. "What's wrong with her?"

"Somehow, she scared the two Witches off after her crystal was taken. Her power's grown a thousand percent, and she's currently attacking the Huntresses."

"Shit, we have to-"

"Already on it," Dragon Venus said, "Mass Teleport."

As they reached their destination, the Senshi saw things were worse than they thought. Emi was the only one still fighting, and it was clear Yukiko's attacks were too powerful even for her. Moon turned to the side. "Saturn, heal them."

Saturn nodded and rushed to help them, but had to dodge a darkness blast from Yukiko. "Hey, what's the deal?"

Moon looked at her friend. "What's wrong with you, Yuki?"

"That name... I hate it... That girl is too weak for the powers she was given. I will... Show her how to use them."

Moon gasped. Her friend's voice was different, colder. She then noticed Saturn wasn't moving. "Hotaru, go heal them, we'll cover you!"

Saturn shook her head. "Moon, there's something very wrong here. I can see her heart crystal lying close to her, but... I can also sense a soul in her."

"A soul?"

"A different one. That's not Yukiko, but someone... Something else."

Yukiko laughed. "That's right, kids. I am the source of her power, I am the true Warwitch, and I'm going to destroy you."

"No."

Yukiko looked at Moon. "Hmph. Stupid girl, I am a part of her now, you cannot destroy me without killing her."

Moon summoned her crystal. "I've heard the whole 'you can't defeat me' rant one too many times now, and here I am. I don't think it will be different this time. Whoever you are, you don't belong there. Begone."

Yukiko's eyes widened as the crystal lit up. "Wait, what are you-" Whatever she was going to say next was cut off as she screamed in pain, falling to the ground in a heap.

Saturn had decided to heal the Huntresses while Moon did her thing, but suddenly looked at Yukiko. "That other soul, I can't sense it anymore."

Moon looked at her own crystal as its light dimmed, then at Yukiko's heart crystal. "Good." She returned the heart crystal and smiled as her friend staggered up. "Welcome back."

Yukiko looked around. "Huh? What, you got those witches?"

The three Huntresses looked at each other. "Uhm, yeah, we did."

Moon was about to say something, but then shook her head. "I'm just glad you're okay."

Yukiko nodded. "I am-" she looked at her hand. For a second, nothing happened, but then a flame appeared, floating above it. "Weird. I felt like I couldn't call on my powers."

"It could be a consequence of having your soul taken," Mercury lectured, "none of us tried to use our magic shortly after being attacked."

"Uh, yeah, I guess that makes sense."

Eudial saw Mimette walk in, and she was sure she had never seen the other woman so angry before. "Calm down, Mette."

"Hmph. I'm tired of all these failures. And these last few times... Weren't those non-Senshi targets supposed to be weaker than the Senshi?"

Their two bosses appeared close to them. "We take full blame for that..."

"... Since our data gathering never showed any hints of what happened when you attacked those..."

"... Two girls. However, you should realize..."

"... There's only a few more targets to check."

"The less targets we have, the higher the chance for one of them to be a Carrier," Eudial said.

Mimette smiled. "That's true. This hideous, bright planet will soon be ours. It's just a matter of time."

Diana looked at ChibiUsa. "Okay, that's one thing I never saw coming."

"Strange, no sarcastic remarks..."

"Hey, I'm happy for you," Diana said, "and while I should be telling you you're a bit too young to get into a relationship, if what Hotaru guessed is right, then-"

"I hope she's right."

Shingo walked into the living room and smirked at the scene. "I was still getting used to having one talking cat around..."

Diana looked at ChibiUsa, who shook her head. "I don't think that's the weirdest thing you've seen."

The boy laughed. "Of course not. A while back, I looked out the window and saw a pack of zombies walking around. That Game Master guy was weird."

"Wish I had seen that," ChibiUsa admitted. "Anyhow, I'm heading out."

"Don't have too much fun," Diana noted.

Shingo saw ChibiUsa walk out and looked at Diana. "What was that about?"

"My lips are sealed."

"A talking cat who doesn't want to talk. Now that's what I call weird," Shingo mused.

A/N: Who said love triangles need to have three sides?