Sailor Moon Aeons.
Book 2: Rebirth.
Act 12: Eternal night.
Episode 145: Last stand.

By Razor Knight
Last update: April 28, 2017
Last edited: June 20, 2017

"For the first time ever, I'm tempted to go help the Senshi."

Aurite looked at Black Lady. "Why would you? These aliens may win. They already killed one of them for good, something none of us managed to do."

"And you're perfectly fine with not being the one to do it."

"Not quite, Rubeus. And I must admit we've spent almost one decade searching for pieces of an ancient soul in order to defeat the Senshi. I... Guess we could send some help."

Onara nodded. "The Omega are strong enough to take on the weakest 'Darklings.' Problem is, the Senshi may just blast them to dust."

"True. Maybe we should just sit back and enjoy the show."

Black Lady sighed. "I hate to admit it, but the Senshi have a chance to win this. They may be short a few soldiers but they beat goddamn Galaxia so this war should not be impossible to win for them at all. I hope the pink-haired bitch doesn't die, tho. I want to pay her back for the beating she gave me."

Usagi was sitting on top of the tower. The last couple of days had been busy, despite the lack of attacks. The enemy wasn't even sending new cores to areas the youma and Hunters slowly took back. They were getting ready for something, she knew it. Next battle could be the last battle against those aliens, those nameless bastards.

Rei had refused at first, but she had finally convinced her to move to her house, for the time being. Her mood was - understandably - not the best, and she had mostly avoided the others. She was focusing only on Hisako, at least outwards. Usagi knew her friend still had that rage inside, but something was blocking it. Was it fear of losing control again? She couldn't tell.

"I wish I could tell you there's a way to bring him back, but I can't see any."

Usagi didn't turn to look at the person who had just appeared on the roof. "Was it true you didn't foresee what happened, or were you trying to avoid her rage?"

Pluto sat next to Usagi. "I wasn't making excuses. My power isn't infallible."

"I understand." Usagi sighed. "Maybe once I get to the next level..."

"Even if you may one day be able to do it, resurrecting those long gone is dangerous. Not saying you shouldn't try, but... You shouldn't remind Rei of that possibility. If things go wrong, it will hurt her more than she already is."

Aiko appeared near them. "Those morons are back, and you were right, Usagi. I sense at least a hundred cores, they all seem to be homing in on Tokyo."

Pluto stood up. "They want to overwhelm us. I won't let them do that."

"You're going to do something dangerous again, aren't you?"

"Yes. Saki will help, so I don't think it will be that dangerous."

"Mom, will you help them?"

Luna looked at Diana. "Of course. I feel I screwed up, just like Pluto does. We may only be able to fight for a bit, but we can't stay out of their battles anymore."

"I agree."

Luna smiled. "How's Shade? Been a while since I saw her."

"She's okay. Was going to check on Naru, but I'm sure she'll help too."

Luna nodded. She had been right, many years earlier, when she guessed Diana and Shade were more than friends. It was the usual thing, the two hadn't realized what their feelings really meant, but with a bit of prodding from Usagi - who had grown from a nosy teenager into a nosy adult - they did figure it out.

She suddenly looked up to the sky. It wasn't her imagination, all the 'cores' had vanished. "Pluto is showing off again."

Saturn looked up to the sky. "To move that many of them at once..."

"Two Senshi of Pluto working together can pull that kind of stunts."

"I guess so."

ChibiMoon smiled. Hotaru had been in a rotten mood for a bit, after what happened, but she had managed to mostly cheer her out of it. The pink-haired Senshi was also worried. Yuichiro was there in the future, so maybe the timelines were still shifting.

Saturn was about to say something, but then took out her communicator. Aiko's face appeared and she sighed. 'Let me guess, big bad boss incoming?"

"That seems to be the case. A very large core is approaching, and the two Plutos used most of their energy to stop the other cores."

ChibiMoon smiled. "Well, they already helped us. If we had to fight the boss after going through so many aliens, we could have lost."

"Forty percent of the Earth's surface is back to normal."

Cuprite looked at the youma giving her that report. "Good. The enemy seems to be focusing on the Senshi. Let's use that to our advantage and eliminate all the Dark Cores."

Moon looked up, to the large pod falling from the sky. Without Mars - both of them - and Mercury, this battle would be harder for them. But she wasn't going to give up before it started. "Guys, I'm sensing the power of the only creature within that pod. It's beyond Eternal."

"So we should go first and soften them up for you."

Moon looked at Luna. The four mooncats were using their Senshi forms. "No, we attack it as a team."

"This is also teamwork," Artemis said. "If we have to avoid hitting you, we'll need to hold back, and we can't fight for too long anyways."

Moon nodded. "Guess you're right. I just don't want anyone else to get hurt because of this war..."

"We understand."

Just as Luna said that, the pod landed. The area around it was wrapped in darkness quickly, and it kept growing at an alarming rate. "Some kind of super pod, huh?" Diana mused. "Keeping their best for last, so cliché."

The figure that apppeared from inside the pod was different than expected. Not much taller than the normal Darklings, wearing a sleeveless black robe which let them see his (her?) thin arms. He spoke in a calm, emotionless voice. "I am impressed you managed to resist the Nightfall this long. Surrender, and I will make you my Zealots. This world is doomed, but I would not like to see warriors as strong as you die with it."

"You already killed one of us, asshole. We're not going to back down, not going to lose."

The creature looked at Diana. "So be it. Fight me and die. Your world is doomed either way."

Diana and Shade rushed at him, their hands and feet charged with magic, and started punching and kicking him for several seconds with a speed that impressed even Venus. Still, the alien simply stood there, taking all the blows without flinching.

"See, it was foolish of you to even-"

"Golden Claw."

Diana looked back at Luna as a large gold beam knocked the alien down. "Damn it, why is it I can never catch up?"

"You already did, but you're holding back."

Diana frowned. Holding back? "I'm not-"

Shade shook her head. "You are. You're stronger than me. Are you afraid I'll resent that? Don't be."

The creature stood up. "That was surprising. It's the first time in centuries I meet someone who can be a challenge."

Diana glared at him. "I guess I'll have to show off, then." Diana didn't bother calling out her attacks, she simply rushed their foe again, only this time she slashed him with her nails instead of punching. Each swipe was charged with much more mana than before, and the man was being pushed back, but still didn't block or counter at all. Diana stopped her attack and fell to her knees, exhausted, but saw the man was quite bruised. "You're not invincible, after all."

The man looked at her as his many bruises and cuts healed quickly. "Darkness cannot be defeated."

Nemesis frowned. Darkness, he said? "I wonder if darkness can defeat itself," she said before vanishing.

Moon smiled. Naru was in her element, literally. The darkness around the area, while not generated by her, could still be used by her. She twisted it, reshaping it and causing it to become like tendrils, which wrapped around the creature and started crushing him.

However, the darkness took a lot of energy to control, and soon enough Nemesis appeared near Moon, her breath ragged. She smiled as she saw the man was a lot worse off than with Diana's attack, but her smile turned into a frown as his body once again healed itself. "Damn it, this guy is no pushover."

Venus glared at the man. "Let's see how you like this!" A blinding flash shot from Venus' body, and the man screamed in pain as it hit. The darkness seemed to retreat back unto the Core at first, but then resumed its expansion. "Not done yet!"

Dragon Venus saw his wife shooting yet another flash, and frowned. "Here's some help!'" His 'book' shone briefly, opening in a random page as he pointed its pages at the target. It then shot a light beam taller than him, washing over his foe.

The creature looked quite the mess after the two Venus were done. He was missing most of one arm and a bit of his torso. And yet, within seconds, he was back to normal. "It is useless to resist, humans."

Moon looked at ChibiMoon, who nodded, then at the man. "We've heard that before, and yet here we are. Let us show you why. Moon..."

ChibiMoin smiled as her mother's hands lit up. "... Double..." Her two swords lit up as well, and she rushed forwards.

Even though Senshi had not faced any major threat for many years, they had kept on training. And the two who were -not counting Pluto or the Mooncats - the most powerful Senshi of the Earth had trained enough to be able to create a few combined techniques such as the one they were about to unleash.

Moon looked at her daughter, running towards their foe, and smiled. It was time to put that training to good use. She aimed both hands forwards, but angled up, as if to shoot right above ChibiMoon's head. "... Eternal..."

As the beam shot, ChibiMoon leapt up. She knew if her jump was too high or too low, she could either miss or get hit by her mother's beam. If she jumped too early or too late, the result would also be bad. But they had practiced the move enough that she knew when to junp. She rose her swords as she jumped, the beam washing over them and adding its energy to her own, and she looked down at the man. Despite his featureless face, his eyes betrayed how shocked he was at their power. "...Slash!"

The pink-suited Senshi descended on her foe, her swords digging through his flesh and bathing him with light. The darkness around them vanished and the man fell to the ground on a heap, his body neatly sliced in three.

ChibiMoon stood there, looking at the corpse, for a second thinking it over. But then, darkness seeped out of the Core again, and the creature's body fixed itself. "Oh you have to be fucking joking..."

"I told you, nothing you do can stop the Nightfall."

Moon frowned. She was not Ami, but she could still figure things out on her own. "That pod is keeping him alive."

Dragon Saturn frowned. "Then we just have to destroy it."

The creature looked at them dismissively. "I've let you amuse me for too long. Time to end this little charade."

Ami had been watching the fight from inside the tower. She felt useless, she should be out there fighting and not- She stopped her mind from pursuing that line of thought. She had been helping, in her own way. Scanning and planning. The pod was strong enough to resist any attack they could use, except for...

She flinched. Usagi would not agree with what she was planning, but she would let her shout at her for doing it, once these 'Darklings' were gone.

She liked Usagi's optimism and she usually had no reason not to heed her requests, but this time around... Ami knew there was no other way. She would have enough time to feel bad about what she was about to do, later on.

Hopefully, her two best friends would forgive her for it. It was the only way to end this war.

A/N: I've started editing chapters, right now I'm still working on Book 1 but I'll eventually get around to fixing this book as well. No change to the plot though, not in the mood to start another rewrite of this... Until I'm done writing this version, at least.