Sailor Moon Aeons.
Book 2: Rebirth.
Act 10: Space Invaders.
Episode 134: The return

By Razor Knight
Last update: March 12, 2017
Last edited: June 17, 2017

Both parties had told the other what had happened since the unscheduled 'journey' and there were surprises in stock for all of them.

"That evil version of me..." ChibiUsa frowned. "If I had stayed in the future, I could have become her."

Terry shrugged. "But you didn't. Those realities we visited made me appreciate what I have here much more."

"I get what you're saying," the pink-haired girl said. "by the way, you'll have to wait to shout at Setsuna."

"Maybe if we shout long enough, it will wake her up," Ami mused.

Terry sighed. "I'm going to the mansion. I want to make sure those aliens didn't wreck it."

"I'll go with you," Ami said.

Aiko looked at them sadly for a few seconds, as if she feared they would vanish again, but then smiled. "Have fun."

"Prime Huntress Mira, the evacuation is complete."

Mira looked at the Demon Hunter bowing to her. She didn't have Usagi's people reading skills, but it was obvious this man was not quite happy to follow orders from someone almost twenty years younger. "Tell the others we are impressed to see how fast we got this done. Impressed, but not surprised."

"Thank you."

"And please, try to glare at me a bit less."

"I- Forgive my lack of respect, Prime-"

"Drop the title, too. You don't have to be so formal, after all, your daughter is also a Prime, and one of my closest friends. Aki would tell you the same."

"I... Sorry, this old man is too used to protocol."

"Most Hunters are, even those of my generation. I may follow my friend's example and try and change that for the better."

Terry could see the mansion was okay, even from a long distance. But he could also see someone standing right outside it. He couldn't see her face since she was giving him her back, but he was sure he knew who she was. It was unlikely for her to appear after so many years, but the unlikely happened quite often in his life.

"Who is-" Ami started, then saw him speed up. "Wait!"

"Mom?"

The woman turned around, and Ami knew who it was. She had seen her picture in Terry's room. "No way..."

"Terry, is that you?"

He run to her and hugged her. "Mom, I've missed you- But... How?"

"Who's your friend?"

"My name is Ami."

"She's my girlfriend, or should I say, fiancee."

"Nice to meet you," the woman said politely.

"Mom, what happened? It's been almost eight years since..." He wasn't surprised she could speak Japanese, as his mother had learnt several languages to make business deals easier.

"First thing I remember after the storm was waking up in a hospital room. I didn't remember who I was, and the doctor told me I had been found lying on the beach, barely alive. I spent a long time searching, but it was only a few weeks ago that I saw your face in the news, and that let me remember everything. Something about Senshi and Tokyo. I knew I had to get here and see you."

"Why not look for dad?"

"I already heard enough to know he hasn't changed. He won't stay in one place for too long."

"Heh, that's true."

"So, you're a Senshi? I heard a lot about them on the news. Is Hana a Senshi too?"

"That's a very long story, mom. But right now we're waiting for those guys up there to come out and play, so... Let's go in, I'll tell you what happened while you were not here."

Ami followed them into the mansion, summoning her glove and visor. No, no signs of magic, and the woman's DNA was a hundred percent human. Her story, while hard to believe, was possible. Then why did she feel so uneasy? Perhaps it was, she realized, jealousy.

The Senshi were back inside their base. "Those two are taking a while," Mako commented.

Aiko sighed. "I'll call mom and-" she blinked in surprise as Usagi took out her comm.

"Ami? what's wrong?"

"Nothing wrong, but we've found someone waiting for us at the mansion."

"Who is-"

"Does the name Rose Zephyr ring a bell?"

Hana gasped at that. "Terry's mother? But-"

"We're going back to the base now."

Aiko saw Ami, Terry and Rose appear near her. "Uh..."

Rose smiled. "Terry told me about you, Aiko."

"... Then I guess I should say 'Hi grandma'?"

"Call me Rose, 'grandma' makes me feel old."

Ami looked at Hana, who nodded. "I must apologize, I've run some scans on you just to be sure, but-"

"Oh, that's what the strange glasses and glove were about."

Hana walked to them. "It's hard to believe but I can't sense anything off about you. Nice to see you again, Rose."

"Terry told me about what happened, you-"

"We're still close friends, and even though it took me a while, I moved on. Sometimes, things happen which you can't change."

"Don't I know that," Rose mused. She looked at Usagi. "I never thought I would meet Sailor Moon."

Usagi noticed Aiko's face, but smiled at Rose. "Nice to meet you. Some of my friends are a bit skeptical but I can see in their faces that they haven't found anything strange about you. Neither can I."

Ami smiled at that, then looked at Terry and Aiko, in turns. "Aiko, we have something we want to show you, it's near the place we appered."

"Something to do with those aliens?"

"That's possible," Ami said.

As the three vanished, Usagi sighed. She knew the face her friend had... Ami was, apparently, not letting the matter drop. But what if she was right?

"So, this is your base? I don't see any giant robots."

Hotaru chuckled. "Been a while since we heard that one."

Terry looked at Ami. They were right outside the dojo, and he knew Ami had something to say. "So..."

"I... I need to ask you something, but you may hate me for asking-"

"Ami, I- Tell me. I think I know what it is."

"Is that really your mother?"

"I've run every scan-" Aiko stopped as she saw her father's sad smile. "Dad?"

"I'm not sure. I want to believe it's her, and if Hana, Usagi and Aiko can't sense anything wrong with her, then... But it's just too much of a coincidence, for her to show up right now."

"Is there any way you could make sure?" Ami asked.

Terry nodded. "I know who to call." He took out his phone and dialed a number in it. "Hi dad. Heh, yeah, you can't hide from me. Listen, jokes aside, there's one thing I want to ask you. About... Mom."

Usagi saw the three appear next to her, and could tell Terry's mood wasn't the best. "Guys?"

Terry ignored the others, walking straight to Rose. "Mom, I need to ask you something. What's your maiden name?"

Rose's eyes widened "I... Why are you asking-"

"Just answer."

Rose flinched. How had he figured it out? She couldn't use her skills, she was sure they would detect her. "I... Don't know."

Terry glared at her. "Of course you don't know, because you're not her. You're not Rose Shaw."

"Terry, I'm sorry, it was the only way to get close to your group, but I-"

"Show me who you really are!"

The woman cringed at the tone of his voice. The others saw Rose's form blur, then change. Standing before them was a humanoid cat-like woman, her fur red and her eyes black. "Terry, listen, I would have never done this if-"

Ami saw Terry summon his swords and flinched. "Terry, no!"

He saw her stand between him and the creature, and growled. "Out of the way!"

"No."

"I said-"

Ami glared back at him. "Look at her, she's too scared to move. Would you kill someone who can't defend herself?"

"Ami... You don't know how it feels-"

"No shit," Ami snapped, surprising everyone. "I don't know what's going on in your mind, but the man I love is no murderer."

Terry frowned and, after a few tense seconds, lowered his sword. He looked at the creature and his glare lessened into a frown. "Why are you here, monster?"

"To spy on you. I was sent by the Kh'Sun to learn all I can about you. I must say I'm impressed, it's the first time someone other than my 'boss' can see through my disguise."

"How did you fool us?"

"I'm a shapeshifter," she said, "name's Ky'ma. I can replicate anything I want, and if it's a living being, I can mimick its very soul. The more powerful the target, the less time I can keep my disguise up. I can read others' minds, too. Hope you can guess where I failed."

Terry smiled humorlessly. "You got all of it from my mind. My mom's voice, looks, her body language... But I suspected that, so I asked dad about the one thing I never bothered finding out about her. Her maiden name."

"If I read your mind again, I knew Hana would detect it."

Usagi walked to her. "I'm finding it harder to stop Terry with every word you speak."

"Good. Let him do it. I haven't sent any info to those assholes up there yet."

"You want to die?"

Ky'ma looked at Aiko. "I don't do this for fun, or for money. Spying on enemies the Kh'Sun can't defeat through raw power is what I do in exchange for my life. If I fail, they'll kill me."

"Why didn't you tell them what you learnt?" Usagi asked.

"Because of him," Ky'ma said nodding at Terry, "because of his memories. There's something different about you. I feel like... You may be my only chance."

"After what you did to me-"

"Do it. Kill me. If that lessens the pain I caused you, then..."

"Don't tempt me, freak!"

"Why not? I'm better off dead than serving those... Better dead than watching another planet fall to them."

Ami feared, for a moment, that Terry would do it. But he suddenly let out a scream and tossed his swords aside, then walked to the elevator. "Terry..."

"Don't follow me."

Usagi saw Ami picking up the swords. "Ami, wait-"

"I wasn't going to do a thing," Ami said. "Ky'ma, was it? You hurt the man I love. I don't think it will be easy for me to forgive you."

"I understand. I'll help you defeat the Kh'Sun, there's things you don't know-"

"We'll talk about that later. I need to go help him cool down." If anyone found the unintended pun amusing, they wisely decided not to comment on it.

"But he said..."

"You might have read his mind, but you don't know him like I do."

Ky'ma saw Ami vanish and sighed. Alone, outnumbered. Helpless. And yet, in a way, she felt better than ever.

Usagi walked to her. "If this is some sort of trap, I will not stop any of my friends if they decide to kill you."

"If I had seen any other way to approach your group..."

"Maybe there wasn't, but you still hurt him. Stop pretending you're helpless, you could have defended yourself."

"I knew you had noticed. Why didn't I try to fight my way out of this? Because I dreaded him finding out. I felt I had no right to fight or defend myself. And I meant what I said. You have no idea how it's like, to see so many civilizations be enslaved or destroyed. I don't want to see that happen again."

"... I see."

ChibiUsa had been silent through it all, like most of her friends, but decided to speak her mind. "You weren't around in Crystal Tokyo."

"So maybe I won't make it out of this war. So be it, as long as you win."

ChibiUsa rushed at her, summoning her sword, but stopped and smiled as Ky'ma leapt back, staring at her in fear. "Good, it's just an act."

"What-"

"You are scared. Hiding it will only make it stronger."

Ky'ma slumped to the ground. "I- Damn it. I keep thinking, what if you fail? I may be captured again and forced to work for them."

"We won't fail," Usagi said. "Trust us, we will free you and all the other slaves from those monsters."

Ky'ma smiled. What she had seen in Terry's memories was right, this girl had a way to make the impossible sound easy.

"Terry..."

He didn't turn to face her. "It hurts, what she did... And yet I can understand why. I pity her."

Ami hugged him from behind. "Then why leave?"

"Because I didn't trust myself. I felt a part of my mind screaming for me to kill her.

"She said she could help us-"

"Why, to make me forgive her?"

"No. I could tell, she hates her 'masters' and she hates what she does to stay alive."

Terry sighed. He wasn't ready to forgive her yet, but... Maybe she could prove him wrong.

He didn't know why, but Ky'ma's communicator had stopped working. Had she been killed, captured, or had she simply betrayed him? The Nh'Prowr didn't care. If she was still alive, she would die along with those Sen'shi.

"Charge up the Former," he said, walking to a wall-mounted comm, "let's teach those humans a lesson by taking out both one of their cities, and their main defense line, in one shot."

A/N: Ky'ma is one of the OCs I have that evolves with each new rewrite. Maybe this time I'll give her a Senshi suit and call her Sailor Polymorph.

Yes, that was just a joke... Or was it?