Sailor Moon Aeons.
Book 2: Rebirth.
Act 6: Queen of Darkness.
Episode 97: New Youma City.

By Razor Knight
Last update: May 27, 2015
Last edited: June 12, 2017

"I'm glad I spent a time without my powers. It taught me how much they meant for me, and they let me learn things I had not really thought would be helpful for me."

"What are you ranting about, girl? Shut up and fight!"

"Okay. Zeus' Might. Titan's Power. Athena's Rage. Haste. Treant Skin."

Beryl blinked as Moon vanished, but then was hit several times in the lapse of a few seconds, and the blows were strong enough that she could feel her bones cracking with each of them. "Damn it, you... Bitch!"

Moon stopped as Beryl shot a wave of energy all around her, and took the hit without flinching. "Ow," she said mockingly.

"You can't be that strong."

Mars and Saturn reached the area right then. "Wow, we almost missed another final fight."

"Almost. But I think it's almost over," Jupiter noted.

Moon summoned her crystal, and closed her hand around it as she looked at Beryl. "It's amusing, you know? If you were in top shape, you could have beaten me, but Yuki was right. She weakened and tired you enough for me to have an easy battle. She was, all things considered, the cause of your defeat."

"You stupid Senshi, I'm going to-"

"Shut up already!" Moon snapped as she charged.

"She learnt that from me," Dragon Mercury mused as Moon rushed past Beryl, and everyone could see the hole in the woman's chest. "Ouch."

Beryl laughed despite the pain. "You fool, I will not give up just with this!"

Moon turned to look at her, and her smile was an amused one. "Blind to your fate to the very end. I really pity you. Moon Cosmic Power!"

And it was only then that Beryl noticed a small detail - Moon had both hands open, and her crystal wasn't in either of them. As she felt heat in her chest, and saw light surround her, she finally knew what Moon's plan had been. "No, this can't be, I can't be defeated!"

Moon turned and walked to her friends as Beryl was engulfed by light, and her crystal appeared in her hand as she walked. "It's done."

"That was cool."

Moon smiled at Warwitch. "I... I'm not proud of what I just did, but-"

"Why? You killed her, she deserved it."

Moon looked at Mars as an aura appeared around her. "I did a bit more than that."

Mercury was scanning Moon. "Shi- Uh, I mean, her power is almost ten times what it normally is."

Moon nodded. "I didn't just kill her. I erased her completely, draining all her mana and her soul into my crystal, absorbing them and turning them into energy. And surprisingly, Beryl wasn't using her full potential - it's possible she didn't even know how strong she could be."

"Sitting in a throne all day long is the opposite of training," Dragon Venus said, "her own laziness was her doom, I guess."

Mars looked down for a second, then shrugged. "Well, you're just giving an evil thing a good use, right?"

"You could say that. And it's not like this boost will last forever. Which reminds me..." She looked at Uranus and Neptune. "You two know where their portal is."

"We'll tell you all-"

"No, just lead me there."

"Usagi, what the heck?" Mars almost shouted.

Moon sighed. "Rei, if all of us show up there, the youma will be more eager to fight than to talk. I want to end this without any more sacrifices..."

"What about the two leaders?"

"If they're still blinded by their old goddess' and their mother's 'mission' then I may have to kill them. I'd rather not, but-"

Dragon Mercury sighed in defeat. "Let's just go back to the base."

"Are you sure-"

"She kicked the two mini-Beryl around without her current boost. They won't stand a chance now."

Mercury nodded. "And she's right about something: A single Senshi will not immediately seem threatening for the youma, so they may be willing to listen."

Moon sighed. "Let's go."

"Are you sure you don't want us to help you once inside?" Neptune asked.

"I don't ever order anyone to do anything, but if I have to order you two to not-"

Uranus smiled at her. "You're our leader, and right now you look like you could give Pluto a run for her money, so we'll trust your judgement."

Mars waited until the three were out of sight before turning to Aiko. "Track them, I want to know where they're going."

"But Moon said-"

"I'm not going to run in burning down youma," Mars said, "I just want to be there if she needs me."

Dragon Earth smiled at that. "I know she may have wanted us to wait, but I agree with Rei. Let's go there, stay on this side of the portal just in case..."

"I hope she's right, too." Nemesis noted, "I mean, Nephrite wasn't blinded by Beryl's vision, perhaps there's other youma there who are not evil."

"I know Usagi, and this time around, I'm sure she has a plan," Dragon Mercury said. "That's why I agreed with her, if I had seen in her eyes that she was just jumping in there with no good plan, I would not have let her go."

"Guess we can only wait," Jupiter noted.

"They've stopped," Aiko said, then cringed. "What the hell?"

"Huh? What's wrong?"

"Moon just smiled in the direction of the camera. It's a damn robotic fly, how does she know?"

"What are you staring at?"

Moon shrugged. "I thought I saw something." She knew it, her friends wouldn't just let her go there alone... They were probably planning on going through, but she had a way to make sure they didn't have to unless she needed them to. "Just in case, if any of the other Senshi shows up-" She closed her eyes and put a hand in the wall besides the portal. "Hunter's Beacon."

Neptune saw a small black circle appear in the wall. "What is that?"

"This mark will shine white if its creator is in danger. So if you see it shine, you'll know I need your help. If the others show up, Dragons Venus and Sun will know about it."

"And to think you wouldn't have learnt that spell if not for..."

Moon smiled. "What doesn't kill us makes us stronger, right?" She looked at the portal. "Time to visit a place I never thought I would see again. Wish me luck."

"You won't need it," Uranus said, "you're Sailor Moon."

"She's here."

The man nodded. "Our fearsome leaders are still recovering, perhaps we should go welcome her ourselves?"

The woman smiled. "Let's hope she's willing to- Darkness, what is she?"

"If she came to exterminate us, then we're already dead. Let's go and talk to her, see what she's planning."

Moon remembered these corridors. Dark, stone corridors as barren as the planet she was in should be. She smiled as she remembered her arrival, a minute earlier. The youma guarding the portal - perhaps they were scientists? - didn't make a move to stop her, either from fear or shock. But she saw one of them talking into a strange device. However, if the two leaders had been informed, why hadn't they come greet her yet?

The answer came in an unexpected form. Two youma were walking to her, and both would have been easy to confuse with humans. The woman had brown hair and green eyes, and the man had blonde hair and blue eyes, and they were looking at her in a way that made it clear they didn't plan on attacking her. "Who are you?"

"My name is Cuprite," the woman said, "and this is Pyrite."

"From the look in your faces, I can see you're able to sense my power."

"You're even stronger than our spies told us."

Moon looked at the two youma. "Were you sent by Goshenite?"

Cuprite frowned. "No. She doesn't even know about our plans. All it takes is to smile and nod at her and her brother, and they think you're blindly following their ways. They think of normal youma, and even us, as mindless tools. Many youma are sick of this."

"I see... So we were right."

Pyrite blinked at that. "What do you-"

"When Nephrite chose to betray Beryl, we knew there had to be more youma like him. Youma who weren't just following orders blindly. Youma who saw that the path your race has walked on will only lead to your doom."

"You haven't blasted us through yet, so I guess you aren't here to fight?"

Moon smiled at Pyrite. "I'm here to try and talk some sense into your leaders, or at least to make youma see there's another way."

"Another way?"

"I'd rather tell what I have to say to as many youma as possible. Is there a central area in your city?"

Cuprite nodded. "Follow us."

Moon looked around in awe. There were easily a thousand youma around her right now, but none of them were preparing to attack. Some were frozen in fear, but others were... Yes, she could see curiosity in some of them, even a feeling close to respect. "Why did you come here, Earthling?" one of the youma in the crowd asked.

"Where are your leaders?"

Goshenite and Morganite appeared right then, glaring at here. "We're here, bitch."

"I'm here to propose a truce."

"A truce?" Goshenite growled at her. "You think that just because you murdered our mother, you have the upper hand?"

"I know you have to keep your cool in front of your troops," Moon said, "but you're not being honest, Goshenite. You're terrified by my power, and trying to understand how I could grow this much stronger in such a short time. There's a legend about us you may have heard, about how we grow stronger when near death or enraged. It's not just a legend. It's thanks to Beryl that I am this much stronger, so if you are willing to fight me, know that you'll have to thank your mother for your defeat."

"Human scum, we youma were meant to rule the Earth!"

"Youma... You started as puppets, monsters created by a twisted alien bent on destroying mankind. But I can see now, from speaking to these two, and from what I've seen while fighting your soldiers, that you've become much more. Even those around you, I know many of them have already seen this. You're ready to stop being puppets now. There is another way."

That caused the crowd to start murmuring. "What other way can there be?" Goshenite asked. "Our two races can't co-exist."

"It's true that normal humans will find you, those who don't naturally look human, terrifying, but- As long as you keep your disguises and don't cause any trouble, and as long as you only drain humans as slowly as you were while you were trying to stay undetected, then we won't have a reason to fight you anymore."

Goshenite noticed the crowd growing louder and frowned. Was this Moon bitch really telling them - No, she would not take pity from any human, youma were meant to rule the Earth. "That sounds nice, but we all know you're lying."

Moon sighed. "You can't defeat me. Don't throw your life away like the old Generals, your sisters and your mother did."

Goshenite rose her hand, and energy started gathering above it, quickly becoming a huge, pink ball of energy. She smiled at Moon in a way that made it clear she was not bluffing. "Fool. I bet you and your friends tried to figure out what we were gathering energy for? Here's your answer. We wanted to destroy all of you, but even if it's just you, it will still be a start."

"Flame Sniper."

Goshenite paled and looked up as a fire arrow hit the energy she was gathering. "No, how in darkness-"

A chuckle could be heard from somewhere in the area. "The thing about energy blasts is that the more energy you gather, the easier they are to throw off balance."

A huge dome of fire surrounded Goshenite and Morganite, just as the energy ball started wobbling. Moon looked around then smiled. "Rei, I thought I said I didn't want anyone to follow me."

Mars flew to Moon and dropped down from her board. "I knew you would need my help." The sound of an explosion came from inside the dome, and Mars flinched before falling to her knees. "Ugh, that was a lot harder than I thought."

Cuprite finally realized what had happened as the dome vanished. Goshenite and Morganite were gone. Dead. And this Senshi, Sailor Mars, had protected everyone else from the explosion. "You... Saved us?"

"We don't want any more sacrifices," Mars said, "those two, your 'leaders', doomed themselves by trying to win against a force they could not defeat. The rest of you, however, should know that you have a choice. You can follow your dead leaders' example, fight us, and die - but we would rather not have to kill any more of you."

Cuprite sighed. "As one of the only two remaining 'Generals,' I'll accept your terms, Sailor Senshi. No longer will we live for the sake of someone else's revenge."

The crowd, mostly, cheered at that. Moon could see it, most of the youma were glad for this change, while some others were confused. "Let me just make something clear. There will be peace as long as you don't break your part of the deal. But any youma who heeds our words won't have to fear - our rage will only be aimed to those who try to return to the old ways."

Cuprite smiled. "I don't think any of us would want to make a mess after seeing just how strong you are."

Mars smiled. "That's good. I think we'll leave now, have to tell the others the good news."

"Good luck out there, Senshi."

"Same to you, Cuprite," Moon said. She turned to Mars and smiled. "Want to see something else I learnt lately?"

Mars sighed. "We should hurry-"

"That's why I wanted to show you that. Teleport."

Cuprite blinked as Moon and Mars vanished. "She could teleport? Then why did she walk-"

"Perhaps she knew we were coming, and was curious," Pyrite noted. "Anyways, should I start calling you Queen Cuprite now?"

"Don't even joke about that."

As Moon and Mars walked out of the portal, they could see there was someone else around. "Pluto?"

"They may still be a threat to our world," Pluto said, not bothering with socials. "I could simply close this portal and any other they could open-"

"That won't be needed."

"You don't know how many of those youma will-"

"Setsuna, please. More than once in the past, you've asked me to trust you, without really explaining why. I can't tell you how I know this, but please trust me. The youma, as a whole, will no longer be a threat to us, and the few who may try something-"

Pluto sighed. "I understand. I'll trust your judgement, but if there's ever any clue that those youma may be trying to go back-"

"If that day comes, I'll destroy that portal myself."

Mercury blinked at that. "Wait, you can-"

"I may have to rest for a couple days after doing it, but yes, I can do that."

Pluto smiled. "In any case, It's good to know this war is over."

"You could tell us what our next war will be against, and when it will start."

Pluto looked at Jupiter for a second before her smile turned sly. "Yes, I could."

Earth saw Pluto vanish and chuckled. "I don't know what's worse, her doing that every time, or that I'm getting used to it."

Moon looked at Warwitch. "Are you okay?"

"Honestly, being pushed aside in my own mind by that demon and nearly dying were quite crappy, but right now... I feel better than ever. I'm glad it's over."

"You seem disappointed."

Warwitch let out a long sigh. "Can't fool you, huh? Truth is, a part of me was hoping I would be the one to kill Beryl."

"She cheated," Moon said, "but thanks for what you did."

"What, jumping in front of an attack that wouldn't have hurt you that much?"

"It's what friends do," Moon said.

A/N: This was a very short arc, but next one may make up for it.