Sailor Moon Aeons.
Book 2: Rebirth.
Act 5: Labyrinth of Mirrors.
Episode 78: Dream Queen.

By Razor Knight
Last update: March 8, 2014
Last edited: June 10, 2017

ChibiMoon had seen enough now to know this dream was a lot harder to get out of than hers.

Rei wasn't older, like the dream her mother had described, but younger. From what she could tell, the reality within the dream was one where she never met the others, she never became Sailor Mars. Instead, she lived in a mansion, with both her parents.

This was the "perfect" world for Rei. A world where the Senshi never existed, a world without aliens. A world... No, Rei would have seen through this by now. She wouldn't just let this dream blind her like this. And still, she had seen plenty of things which should have made Rei remember, and yet Rei had kept playing along with the script.

She decided it was time to act. As her mother had explained her before they split to wake the others up, their crystals could keep them 'invisible' within someone's mind, a skill Usagi admittedly disliked, but in this case, it was the only way to know when to 'attack' the dream. So, she removed the barrier surrounding her, and saw Rei staring at her. But Rei wasn't confused. No, that face was-

"Damn it, why now?"

"Rei?"

Rei fell to her knees. "I knew it, almost from the start, I knew this was just a dream, that my real life was not like this, but I... I wanted to stay for a while, to see how things could have been- I'm such an idiot. The dream slowly took over, and I... I feared ending it. I let myself go. How could I be so weak..."

"Rei, there's nothing to be ashamed of, I also let the dream fool me. And mom, too."

Rei sighed. "I thought I had forgotten all these stupid dreams a long time ago."

"I... Don't mean to be rude, but we need you in the real world."

Rei smiled at that, then saw the room they had been standing in vanish, replaced by a white emptiness. "A perfect life, huh? What a lie."

"Huh?"

"In this dream, I never met my friends, I never met Yuu. Looking at it now, it's more like a nightmare. But if that's what I think, then... Why does it hurt so much?"

"I can't answer that," ChibiMoon said. "But someone once told me that these happy dreams make us value what we have more, when they're over and we wake up."

"That sounds... Wise."

"It was Queen Serenity," ChibiMoon said with a smirk.

Rei shook her head. "Usagi can be wise when she has to. I just wish she had to more often."

ChibiMoon saw Rei sit up and sighed. "Rei..."

"Don't worry, I'm fine. Just tell me who did this, so I can go and burn them to ashes for it."

ChibiMoon knew Rei was trying to control her temper, and she couldn't blame her. Still- She suddenly summoned her communicator. "Aiko, what's wrong?"

Aiko wasn't hiding her fear. "Mom and Usagi are fighting the enemy - apparently it got tired of waiting."

"What is it?" It had to be something quite strong, if Aiko was this worried.

"It's... I'm not sure exactly what this creature is, but it has the looks, and the supposed power, of Eternal Sailor Moon."

Rei frowned. "Then we should go help them." She knew enough of how their powers worked to know it wouldn't be easy - heck, Eternal was at least one level above Cosmic, and if Cosmic was a hundred times stronger than them, then... "It may have her power, but perhaps its endurance isn't that good."

ChibiMoon nodded. "Hope you're right."

Moon barely managed to dodge the energy beam. It wasn't easy to fight this creature, and while Mercury had tried, she had been dealt with quite quickly. This enemy wasn't intending to kill them, though, as Moon could see Mercury was still alive, just unconscious. "What is it you want, monster?"

"My Queen cannot feed from the dead. I will simply defeat you, and then send you to a dream you cannot wake up from."

"I will wake up a hundred times."

"Are you that foolish? There is no way you can defeat me, human."

"Heard that one too many times," Moon snapped. She wouldn't lie to herself, she was worried about this. She could not see an opening, and her strongest attack hadn't damaged this enemy at all. She had defeated enemies like these before, but that was because she had her friends with her. Right now... No, she wouldn't give up.

"That stare you're giving me, it's a nice one. The stronger your will, the more you struggle. But as I said, you cannot defe-"

"Dead Scream."

The blast knocked the fake Moon right through a tree, and Moon turned to see Pluto, Uranus, Neptune and Saturn standing there. "How..."

Pluto smiled. "The Time Gate is beyond the reach of these monsters. I knew you would need help, so I woke them up."

Saturn seemed to be quite upset, but went to check on Mercury. "I don't mind that small fry, but when I see its boss, I'm going to glaive him, her or it to pieces."

Moon could only guess what their dreams had been like. "We'll need the others to defeat-"

"Flame Sniper!"

Moon saw the fake be hit by a fire arrow, which didn't do much to her, and turned to see Mars glaring at their enemy. "Rei?"

Mars shrugged. "Sorry I'm late."

Pluto sighed. "I would help, but I know my help will not be needed here."

"Even if there's three Cosmic Senshi, to take on an Eternal Senshi..."

Moon nodded. "It's the next level, so she should be a hundred times-"

Neptune shook her head. "No, it's two upgrades above us."

Moon's eyes widened. "No wonder I couldn't even make her flinch."

"There is a way to defeat this foe," Pluto noted, "a dangerous technique, but one you may need in the future. The Planet Attack."

Mercury had been healed by now, and flinched at the mention of that name. "Are we strong enough for that?"

"Only the catalyst's strength matters, if they're too weak, they could die."

"Okay, what are you talking about?" Moon asked, noticing the fake wasn't moving, just staring at Pluto. Was that fear she was seeing in her eyes?

"The Planet Attack was a technique invented by the first Senshi, used to amplify the power of their attacks by using a catalyst."

Moon blinked at that. "Uh... Wait, does that mean they used someone as a booster? How would that work?"

Mercury flinched, but knew even if she didn't answer, Pluto would. "They... Shot their attacks at the catalyst, who would use her own power, and the pain, to fuel the Planet Attack."

ChibiMoon gasped at that. She had never heard of such an attack before. "Wait, do you mean we have to hurt mom to defeat this creature?" She looked at Pluto. "Why don't you just destroy it?"

"I thought you knew about my role."

Mars frowned at her. "But what you're asking us to do-"

"I'll do it," Moon said.

"What?"

"Yes, I don't like being hurt, and yes, Pluto could probably defeat this foe by herself. Even that fake knows it. But I'm supposed to become a queen someday, I'm supposed to be able to defend this world from any enemy that shows up. I will never be able to do that if I start letting those stronger than me babysit me through every hard fight."

Mars blinked at that. "Usagi you... I don't like watching you get hurt, but I know I can't stop you once you get like that. Let's get that bastard."

"So, how do we do this?" Saturn asked. She thought the whole idea was crazy, but if knowing such an attack would help them in the future, then she was going to respect Usagi's decision.

The Nightmare laughed. "You? You stupid girls, there's nothing you can do to sto-"

"Dead Scream." Pluto smiled as the others looked at her, as their foe was knocked down to the ground. "I won't defeat it, but that doesn't mean I'll let it gloat our ears off. In any case, you all need to shoot your best techniques at Moon," she noticed Moon was concentrating, which most likely meant she was 'talking' to her crystal, "the more Senshi doing this, the stronger the result will be, but you will be enough for this one enemy."

"Wait, won't you help?" ChibiMoon asked.

"If I shot Moon right now, she would surely die. Even my weakest attacks are too much for her - and I'm not bluffing."

"Right," ChibiMoon looked at her mother. "Give us the signal, mom."

Moon opened her eyes and smiled, noticing her clone was staggering up. "Now!" The few Senshi around her shot their attacks at her, and Moon cringed as she was hit, but still managed to keep holding her crystal. "Cosmic... Planet... Attack!"

The result was much more impressive than anything most of the Senshi had seen. The crystal shone as bright as the sun for a split second, and then shot a large beam of energy at the enemy - a beam which seemed to rapidly cycle through all the colors of the Senshi who had helped creating it - and it hit its target, who was either too weakened, or too shocked, to move. When the beam died out, everyone could see the enemy was no more - and the beam had fortunately missed every building in its relative path.

ChibiMoon smiled along with the others, but then saw Moon fall to one knee. "Mom?"

Moon was panting heavily. "That hurt a lot more than I expected."

Uranus walked to her. "That was brave, Usagi."

"Let's not do it again," Mars muttered.

"You should know better, Rei," Moon said, standing up.

"So, now what?" Saturn asked.

"Now we wake the others up. Hopefully the enemy won't have more of those things, but-"

"Let's split," Mars said, "only you and ChibiMoon can wake people up, so-"

"I can do it, too," Pluto noted.

Moon nodded. "We'll form three groups, then."

ChibiMoon rose an eyebrow. "Are you sure you can still-"

Moon smiled. "Don't worry, I'll be fine."

ChibiMoon nodded at that, but- Usagi didn't know it, but she had seen enough of Queen Serenity to know when her smile was a forced one. But she also trusted her mother not to be reckless. "Right, let's go."

"These humans... They have defeated the Nightmare."

Vadianne glared at the boy for a second, but then nodded. "So they're as strong as I expected."

"What will we do to-"

Vadianne smiled. "Let them come. I will fight them myself, they may have power, but right now I'm being fed by their whole planet. I will show them a nightmare they will never wake up from."

The boy chuckled. Yes, worrying about those humans would be silly. They had found no enemy out there which could stand to Vadianne's power, and he was sure this world would not be the exception.

Mamoru woke up and smiled. "The real you is more beautiful than any dream version I could ever imagine."

Moon blushed at that. "Thanks." Mamoru was the last one she had to wake up, and the other two groups should be done with everything now. "Let's go back to the base, I'll explain things to you while we-"

Mamoru saw Moon fall forwards, and caught her before she hit the ground. "Usagi?"

Mercury scanned her friend. "Damn it." She summoned her communicator without wasting a second. "Hotaru, we need you here, we're in Mamoru's appartment."

"What happened?" Saturn asked through the comm.

"It's Usagi. That attack we used damaged her more than we thought."

"On my way," Saturn said.

"What attack? What happened?"

Mercury looked at Mamoru. "We had to fight a very strong enemy. It cloned Moon's powers, but it was an Eternal Sailor Moon we were facing."

Mamoru put Moon down on the bed and sighed. "Did that enemy hurt her this much?"

"No, we- We had to use a group attack to defeat it. The Sailor Planet Attack."

Mamoru blinked at that, mist lifting in his mind around some of his past life's memories. "That attack... I remember hearing about it, in my past life. You guys used her as the focus point?"

Mercury met the glare Mamoru was giving her with a neutral stare. "I'm not the one you should blame for that."

Mamoru shook his head. "You're right, sorry. It's just that I don't-"

"She's my best friend," Mercury admitted, "I don't like seeing her get hurt, either."

Saturn appeared near them. "Okay, I'm here."

"Hey, since when can you-"

"I'll explain later," Saturn said, then checked Sailor Moon's condition. "I can heal her, but it will take a few minutes."

Mars and ChibiMoon appeared next to them right then. "Is she going to be okay?"

"Yes, but... I'm not happy about what happened."

"Sorry,dad, but it was the only way to-"

"Ami explained that already," Mamoru admitted. "Anyhow, how the heck did you get here so quickly? Have you girls learnt to teleport on your own while I was asleep?"

ChibiMoon looked at Saturn, then smiled, summoning a small, golden key. "In certain cases, I can use this to move faster."

Saturn was healing Moon, but she had done that enough times - unfortunately - to be able to do it without focusing in it. "It's quite useful," she admitted, raising one hand, a key similar to ChibiMoon's resting on it.

Mercury looked at her. "That key... You never told us you could go to the time gate on your own."

"You never asked," Saturn noted, then turned to her patient. "Welcome back."

Moon sat up and looked around. "Ugh... Guys, sorry about worrying you all, but-"

"We needed to wake everyone up as soon as possible," ChibiMoon said. "I'm done waking those I was told to."

"Pluto is done, too," Saturn noted, "she said we needed to go back to the base once we were ready."

"Let's go, then," ChibiMoon said, taking out her key. "Hope Setsuna doesn't mind me using this twice the same day."

First thing Mercury noticed as they reached the base, was that someone was in an obviously rotten mood. "Terry, what's wrong?"

"From what others told me, this enemy puts us in a dream we don't want to wake up from," he said. "I think you're smart enough to figure it out."

Mercury didn't care about the slight harshness in his tone, because she had figured it out, just as he said. "Your mother was..."

The Dragon nodded. "Mom was alive, Hana never died, I never left the States, there were no youma... Damn it, it felt so good, that I didn't even consider it being a dream at all, until Pinky showed up."

"Terry, I'm sorry..."

He turned to look at Moon. "It's not your fault, it's... I have a request."

"Yes?"

"When we find this enemy, I want to have the first shot at it."

Moon shook her head. "I could ask you not to be reckless, but I've been reckless too. Just don't get hurt, okay?"

"You should know I can't promise that."

"If you get hurt, I'll have to punish you," Mercury said sternly.

"... Is that a promise?" Dragon Mercury asked, causing Mercury to blush a deep red.

"Great, he doesnt' stop being a clown even when he's angry," Mars muttered. "Let's go there- Wait, where exactly is 'there' anyhow?"

Aiko appeared besides her. "There's a castle floating in a low orbit around our planet."

"A flying castle? Think we'll find an eccentric wizard there?"

"You'll find an immortal leech there."

Moon saw Pluto walking to them. "You'll help us get up there?"

"I'll go with you. This foe is a dangerous one."

Vadianne saw a group of humans appear, and smiled mockingly. "Welcome, Senshi. I hope you all enjoyed your dreams."

"Damn it, you look good, girl."

The woman looked at Dragon Mercury. "Thanks, I suppose. My beauty is as eternal as it is perfect."

The Dragon laughed. "You misunderstood what I meant. It's a pity you look so good, because I'll have to chop you to pieces for what you're doing to our world. Saturn Star Power!"

Mercury flinched as her Dragon transformed. "Again?"

"Don't worry, I'll be done here before it can tire me down."

Vadianne laughed at that. "You foolish kid, I am a warrior as well, a warrior who's lived longer than your pathetic world."

"Artificial beauty on the outside, and a rotten ego on the inside," Mars muttered.

The Dragon charged at Vadianne, who dodged to the side and tried to punch him. Her foe, however, was ready for it, and leapt back, tossing a few of his metal spheres at her. "Say cough."

Vadianne was surrounded by the usual gas cloud, but the cloud vanished in a second. "Foolish tricks will do you no good, I am-"

"An idiot."

The evil queen wasn't quite sure how, but the Dragon had covered the distance between them in a split second, not letting her any time to react, and had scored a deep cut in her left cheek. She screamed in pain, then glared at him. "You worthless scum, how dare you defile my beauty?"

"Shut up and die," the Dragon snapped, gathering energy for an attack.

"Likewise," Vadianne snapped back, kicking at the Dragon's chest. Her foe blocked the blow with his arms, but even then, he was sent flying back, and hit a wall hard. "Hmph, useless."

Mercury glared at her. "Frozen Rage!"

Vadianne let the attack hit and laughed. "Foolish child, I cannot be defeated, I am immortal!"

"You monster-" Mercury felt a hand on her shoulder, and turned to see Moon shaking her head at her. "Moon?"

"Calm down. This woman thinks she's invincible, but we'll show her she's not. But to do that, we'll need to know if she has any weaknesses."

Mercury nodded, and scanned the woman. "Fuck, this has to be wrong."

"What-"

"Her power is beyond Eternal, and I can find no weak points in her. We could try melee, as Terry's attack did work, but..."

"I'm no fool, I will not let any of you hit me again."

Mercury noticed something else. A small, black crystal on top of a wall-mounted mirror. She would have dismissed it as furniture, but she was getting a reading from it. "Girls, I got it."

"Keep shooting, idiots, I will just defeat you and feed on your dream energy again!"

Mercury looked at Moon. "You don't need to shoot her. Moon, ever read the story of Snow White?"

Moon frowned. What did that have to do with- Wait, that queen in the story, the mirror was- "Who's the fairest of them all?"

Vadianne looked at her. "What are you muttering, mortal?"

"Cosmic Wave!"

The queen saw the attack sail past her, but then smiled as three 'children' appeared, blocking it with their bodies. "That was useless, my fairies will protect me."

"But who will protect them from me? Chrono Typhoon."

Moon saw the three young-looking enemies vanish. She had almost forgotten Pluto was there. However, she knew that if she attacked again, Vadianne could block her attack. However- yes, that was the only way. "Hmph, if Terry could hit her, I can beat her to a pulp too!"

Mercury was about to tell Moon to stop, but then guessed what she was planned. "She can be quite a genius when she has to..."

Vadianne saw Moon rush at her, and smiled, dodging her first punch easily. She was about to mock her for her stupid attempt at fighting her, when she noticed Moon wasn't pulling her fist back. "What-"

"Cosmic Wave!"

The evil Queen glared at Moon as her attack shattered her mirror to pieces. "You stupid human girl, do you know what you've done?"

Moon saw the woman age rapidly, her hair was soon white, and her face wrinkled. "I'm ending your curse."

"Curse?" The woman tried to laugh, but ended up coughing instead. "Eternal life is no curse, you stupid-"

Moon turned away. "Your existence was a curse for the rest of the universe."

ChibiMoon saw the woman turn into dust, and noticed Moon's mood. "Are you okay?"

"I- Yeah, I'm fine."

"Hmph, you're doing it again, that fake smile."

Moon sighed. "This woman... She was very powerful, and had eternal youth... Isn't that how Queen Serenity was, in the future?"

ChibiMoon shook her head. "Queen Serenity... You never saw eternal life as a blessing, you saw it as a tool which let you keep protecting this world. And at times... I think you saw it as a curse, too."

"Huh?"

"Sorry, I can't tell you any more than I already did."

"Good call," Pluto said, just as the castle around them started shaking. "This place existed only because our foe's magic. Let's go before it falls apart." And before anyone could say anything else, they were gone from the building, which crumbled and turned to dust a minute later.

Hours later, the Senshi were gathering at their base.

"Apparently, everyone woke up after that woman died," Aiko commented.

"Good riddance to her and her stupid dream magic," Terry muttered.

"Hey, cheer up, perhaps that was the last enemy we'll see in a long time."

Terry looked at Minako. "You can't really be thinking that."

"Yeah, with our luck, the Angry Andromedan Apes will crash-land near the Tokyo Tower tomorrow, and declare war on our world."

Rei looked at Kage and shook her head. "I don't know what's worse, your sense of humor, or the fact I can almost see what you described happening."

Usagi smiled. "No matter who shows up next, we won't let it win without a fight."

"I still remember back when you were scared of fighting," Rei noted.

Usagi chuckled. "I still get scared from time to time. I just grew used to facing that fear instead of running from it."

"We all did," Terry said, "I just wish those aliens took the hint and stopped coming to get beaten by us."

"In your case, they come to beat you around," Ami commented.

Terry sighed. "Yeah, sorry about that. I managed to get a shot at this one, at least."

"Give it a couple decades, and you may even kill a final boss," Mako joked.

A/N: Took a while to write this one - and it ended up being longer than I thought, too. I'm still planning out the main part of this, so it may be delayed for a bit.