Sailor Moon Aeons.
Book 2: Rebirth.
Act 11: Tales of another world.
Episode 139: The answer is...

By Razor Knight
Last update: March 20, 2017
Last edited: June 18, 2017

Mercury-beta had not expected that answer. Not from Usagi. "What you mean 'no' you idiot? Ice Storm!"

Moon didn't even bother moving. She needed only think of the spells to use them. Lunar Wall. Mana Targe. Dragon Skin. She smiled as the wave of focused ice was blocked. "Attacking those you want help from will not improve your odds."

Mars-beta couldn't help but agree. She was supposed to be the one with the short fuse. "Ami, calm down."

"Right." The Ice Senshi closed her eyes for a few seconds then let out a long sigh. "Usagi, why are you saying no?"

"You're asking me to lead my friends to some other reality, one where youma have become able to fight Eternal Senshi to a stalemate? Sorry, but I won't do that. I can't leave this reality unprotected to go fix your mess."

"So this is what Usagi would have become? A heartless bitch?"

Moon glared right back at her. "Heartless? I care about my friends, but you two- I barely know you. Ami would never attack me like you did. There was actual killing intent in that attack. I will not risk losing what we all worked so hard to achieve just because some other Usagi screwed up."

Mercury-beta's hands filled with ice magic, but she stopped as ChibiMoon stood between her and her target. "I don't who you are, but you better move if you don't want to die."

"My mother already told you her answer. And yes, you don't know me. She may be too kind and forgiving for her own good at times, but I'm not. I don't care if you're an Eternal Senshi, or even if you're a twisted version of Ami. If you try to hurt anyone I care about, I will stab you through," she summoned both her swords as she said that. "Earth Guardian Power."

The alternate Mercury was too confused to attack. Had this girl called Usagi 'mother?' And was she a dual Senshi... How? "I..." She dismissed her attack and fell to her knees. "I'm just- You guys were our last hope of winning that war. There is no point in going back without you."

ChibiMoon looked to the side. "I think I understand a bit of what it feels like, to think everything is lost."

"You... Do?" Mars-beta flinched at the look the pink-haired girl was giving her and Ami. There was no hatred, no pity, no mockery in those eyes. She realized they really knew little about what these Senshi had gone through.

Mercury-beta looked at the pink Senshi. "You called Usagi 'mother.' How is that possible, you look like you're fifteen."

"Sixteen and a half," ChibiMoon corrected. "I'll give you the short version. My name is Usagi Tsukino, I was born in the thirtieth century, but I came back here when I was six to try and save my mom from a powerful foe. It was only a month after the old Dark Kingdom lost."

"But then-"

"I came back a second time to train, and because I had an important role in two of their wars. I was twelve then, but it was, in this era, only one year after my first time jump."

"I see. I take it you liked it here." Mercury-beta saw the girl glare at her. Perhaps that was-

"I do like it here, but I was actually forced to come back. Some assholes killed everyone in the future, and mom sent me back here to warn my friends and stop their deaths from happening. We defeated these creeps but... History was rewritten. I cannot go back, and I've realized I don't have to go back."

"Not going back..." Mars-beta smiled. "Ami, maybe we don't need to go back. We could stay-"

"Here?" Mercury-beta growled. "Don't be stupid. There's already an Ami and Rei here."

"And you wouldn't be able to get fake identities," Mercury said, "the whole world knows who we are."

Mars-beta sighed. "Maybe we could find a reality with no Senshi-"

"So what, we give up on our world? We run like cowards and let Goshenite win? Fuck that."

"Ami-"

"Shut up. You go look for a new home, I'll go back and face the whole Dark Empire alone. Better to die fighting than to live hiding."

"Fortunately for you, there is a third option."

Moon saw Pluto had decided to show up - and she could bet it was no social visit. "Setsuna, what do you mean?"

"As things are now, you will go back to try and fight Goshenite - and fall. You will give her a new toy, one which Onara can study and duplicate. She will see a chance to expand her 'Empire' and the power youma hold. She will go to other realities and gather more Ginzuishou, ones not polluted by Metallia's energy. By the time she decides to come here, she will have dozens of Ginzuishou, and each youma under her command will have a power which would rival that of a Holy Senshi. Not even Galaxia and Sun will be able to stop her by then."

Moon stood up and walked to one of the walls, a window opening in it. She stared at the city for a few seconds before turning to glare at the two 'beta' Senshi. "You know, I frankly don't like you. You come here and force us into a war we need not fight. I will help you, but only because I don't want that other Usagi's screw-up to affect other realities."

Warwitch had pretty much decided to stay in the background - a trigger-happy, overpowered Ami wasn't something she wanted to piss off. However, she knew the look Moon was giving her, and for once she agreed. "Guess you're going to ask me to stay here and keep this Earth in one piece? Don't worry, we won't let you down."

Mars-beta looked at her. "You are not a Senshi. How did you get that powerful?"

"Training, and helping the Senshi."

Pluto smiled. "I will go with you. I need to bring you there and back."

"But wait, then who will be looking over the gate?"

"I know some of you have wondered about it in the past, if me abandoning my post was a good idea. One of you knows this already," she looked at ChibiMoon as she said that, "but it's time to introduce you to someone I know will keep watch while I'm gone. Saki, come say hello to everyone."

A girl appeared next to Pluto. If not for the lighter shade of green of her hair, her green eyes, and that she looked much younger, they could have confused her with Pluto. She was, also, wearing a Sailor Pluto outfit. "Here I am. Nice to finally meet you all in person."

"Wait, is she your-"

"To make a long story short, I have always been keeping an eye for outside threats. Outside our reality, I mean. So I detected something strange in a certain reality. An energy much like mine, and yet different. There were no Senshi in that reality, and barely any humans left. As I checked the past, I knew why. That world's Pluto was a lot more sociable than me. She fell in love and got married, but that... It distracted her from her duty."

The young Pluto sighed. "An enemy got through while she was pregnant, and... The Senshi weren't ready for it. They fell, and mother... That world's Pluto was too late to save them. She left me in the care of a human couple who had lost their two children to the invaders," she looked at Moon and Dragon Moon as she said that, "and went to try and fix her errors."

"Pluto defeated those invaders, but died from the exhaustion. I found Saki, and told her foster parents a lie. Told them I was that world's Pluto."

"Why not leave her there, defending that Earth?"

"That dimension's Earth was doomed. Saki would have only been three years old when the next enemies showed up. Too young for her powers to awaken. She would have died along with the rest of mankind."

"So mother took me back here, and raised me like... Well, in a way she was my mother. I've been a Senshi for a few years now. I was the one keeping an eye on thing during the Death Busters wars."

ChibiMoon smiled. "Long time no see, Younger Pluto."

"I suppose you knew my future self."

"Yeah."

"Anyhow, I will stay and keep an eye on things, and tell the... Uh..."

Pluto nodded. "Good call not saying it. They don't have an official name yet, and it's not our place to give it to them."

"Wait, what do you mean."

ChibiMoon smirked at Aiko. "You, Hana and Yuki. Your 'team B' had a name... Will have a name, but you will have to find it yourselves."

"Fair enough," Hana said. "Guys, good luck out there, we'll keep an eye on this world."

"We leave it in very good hands," Moon said.

"One question though," Dragon Moon asked. "How do we call you, ChibiPluto?"

"Ugh, no. While I know the young Usagi loves that nickname, I use the actual title given to the 'Second Generation' Senshi. I am Younger Sailor Pluto."

"Okay then, ChibiPluto it is," Dragon Saturn said.

Younger Pluto gave him a smile that was obviously unfriendly. "If you weren't relatively important for this reality, I would-"

"Saki, enough. He can be a jerk, but he's harmless."

Younger Pluto nodded at her mother's words. "I suppose. Permission to rough him up a bit if he ever calls me that again?"

The older Pluto gave the Dragon the same smile her daughter had used before. "Granted."

It had taken him years, but he was finally ready. That Senshi wench had scared that upstart Cuprite, and most other youma, but there were still plenty who shared his views. Living with mankind? What a joke. Humans were pathetic, weak. They were just food for them. He would not kneel before any Senshi. He would destroy them, and those cowards who had become his leaders. He would lead the Dark Kingdom to its destiny.

"Lord Magnesite, we are ready when you are."

He looked at the female, fox-faced youma. "Good. Tonight, we will go to Earth and show our people that Senshi can be defeated."

He was Magnesite, son of Aurite, and soon, the King of the New Dark Kingdom.

"Where are we?"

Pluto looked at the 'Beta' Senshi. "The Time Gate. A place outside time and space, but linked to its particular reality. A place from which you can reach every point of time."

"We could go back then and-"

"No. Changing history could be dangerous. The universe could shift to fit the changes, or it could be destroyed."

ChibiMoon frowned. "I'll be right back."

Mercury-beta saw the pink-haired Senshi vanish and frowned. "What is-"

The girl returned before anyone could make a guess on where she was going. "Well, as expected, there's nothing in the future."

Pluto saw Mars-beta about to protest and nodded. "That's because we haven't entered the timelines yet."

"Why bring us here?"

Mercury snorted at her counterpart's question. "Because we need a plan. We need to figure out any weaknesses our foe has."

"We don't know. We haven't been able to find her. She may be in the Dark Kingdom."

Pluto smiled as a screen appeared, showing Goshenite and Morganite, surrounded by dozens of youma. "I may have a plan."

"Go ahead."

"I know Moon is strong enough to do what needs to be done. I willl go to Earth and attack one of their 'fortresses.' Attract as many youma as possible there. Then Moon can destroy the portal device, so that most youma are trapped on Earth."

"And then we attack the Dark Kingdom. I like that plan."

"I don't!" Moon snapped at Mercury-beta. "Setsuna, I'm not letting you go alone."

"This is no request, or question, Usagi. We have to win this war and-"

"Screw the war!" Moon shouted. "I don't want to watch any more of my friends die."

"I understand that, but-"

"Do I need to order you to stay?"

"You could have done it," Pluto said before vanishing.

"Damn it, Setsuna!"

"Mom, she will be okay."

Moon closed her eyes for a few seconds, then sighed. "You can't be sure of that." She opened her eyes and looked at the others. "Let's go beat those idiots - again - so we can go and help Pluto."

Mercury-beta smiled. This Usagi wasn't heartless at all. And she had seen enough of her to know she was the kind of leader she would follow into battle. "I like that plan."

Back in the other reality, a certain evil scientist was showing his allies his latest invention. "This is the Omega-O."

Lynx looked at the robot. "Doesn't look different to the other Omega I've seen."

"That's because it's not quite finished yet. It still needs it main component," Onara said, pointing at his own head.

"Wait..." Black Lady looked at Onara, then at the cyborg. "... You made yourself a cyborg."

"I should have expected that joke. But yes, I will go out there and test this prototype against the Senshi."

"Don't die too fast."

Onara frowned. "Thanks for your most valuable advice."

A/N: Saki Meiou. Interacted with the Senshi for two minutes, already wants to punch Terry. She'll get along with them.