A/N A thousand and one humble apologies for the long wait! All I can claim is that I've been busy, busy, busy! October is always a busy month in my house because my hubby and I convert our garage into a haunted house every year for the trick-or-treaters to go through and we build all of our displays from scratch. It's very time consuming, but well worth it in the end. Some people think that we're nuts for putting so much effort into something that will only be seen for a few hours on one night, but that's us. I was also dealing with some other things going on that caused my writing to turn really angsty. So instead of ruining any of my existing stories with it, I funneled that angst into other projects that I hope to post in the future. So anyway, once I got my head back on straight I got this finished for you. It's pretty long, so I hope that makes up some for the wait.

All right, so where are my reviewers? I need to give out my hugs for their wonderful words of inspiration. Oh! There you are! BIG HUGS TO:

TanithLipsky

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Atem's Sister Atea

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Chibi Kitt

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Thanks bunches and bunches you guys! Now I'm off to work some more. The next chapter of Rekindled is sitting on my flash drive waiting for me to try to make some sense out of it, so that's my next mission. Bad Boys may be a little longer, but I haven't forgotten it either. I also started a Halloween one shot that sadly didn't get completed before the big day, but I may finish it up and post it as well. Better late than never, right? Anyway, that's enough out of me!

ENJOY!

The Galactic Trinity

Chapter 16

The Cookie Crumbles

"So as you can see, class, the author used several different examples of foreshadowing and symbolism. Can any of you recite the line from the poem that showed that the main character had seen his death and knew that it was drawing near?"

Close to two dozen hands shot up into the air, but the literature teacher focused her attention on the one pupil that had not raised her hand. "Miss Morgan, perhaps you would like to stop daydreaming and join the rest of the class."

Katie sat with her cheek resting on her palm as she stared out the window. She may have appeared calm on the outside, but on the inside she was a hyperactive, jumbled up mess. She had so many thoughts flying through her head that they kept crashing into one another, making it impossible to sort anything out.

'Kat!' she heard two voices hiss in her mind at the same time that someone nudged her in the ribs. She glanced over at Emma beside her who jerked her head toward the front of the room, and she looked up to find her very cross teacher standing there with her arms folded across her chest while she tapped her foot impatiently.

Katie's face turned red as she realized that every eye in the room was on her. Besides all of the other students, Rini and Skye had twisted around in their seats in front of her to look at her curiously and Alex and DJ watched her with concern written on both of their faces.

"I'm sorry Miss Takemaru," she mumbled in embarrassment. "I must have spaced out for a minute."

The stern faced teacher snorted. "For a minute my foot! You've done nothing but stare off into space for this entire class. Now stop fantasizing about boys and pay attention. What we are covering will be on the test next week."

Katie's hazel eyes glittered angrily but she bowed her head and replied softly, "Yes ma'am."

Miss Takemaru seemed pleased by her meekness. "Miss Tsukino, perhaps you may be able to answer my question."

Rini stood up. " Yes ma'am,"

Katie blocked out her voice. She didn't give a damn what the teacher was talking about. For all she knew she may not even be here for that stupid test next week. She might be home reuniting with her family by then, or dead, or possibly aligning herself with Discord.

She shivered at the thought. It had been two days since the DJ from the future had shown her that horrible event from her future and she had badgered him into telling her as much as she could force out of him. Ever since then she had been on edge, watching for any little sign that might possibly signal the impending doom. She was afraid to go to sleep and loathe to let either her brother or her boyfriend out of her sight. She kept tabs on both of them as much as possible, watching them as if they were ticking time bombs that may explode at any moment.

She was well aware of her character flaws and what they were, and lack of patience was definitely one that ranked high up on the list. She wished that whatever was going to happen would just go ahead and happen already. This sitting around waiting for the shoe to drop was driving her mad.

'Are you okay?' a concerned voice whispered through her head.

She cut a quick glance across the aisle where DJ sat, facing toward the front of the room, but she saw his blue irises peeking at her out of the corner of his eyes. 'I'm fine. I was just having a blonde moment.'

'You sure?'

'Yes, I'm sure. Now can we drop it, please?'

She sighed in relief as she felt his mind retreat from hers. She had been trying so hard to keep her fear and anxiety contained so that it wouldn't spill over where the guys could sense it, but lack of sleep and continuously stretching nerves were making it hard to keep up the façade that nothing was wrong.

She put on a pretense of paying attention to what the teacher was lecturing about, but in reality she was watching the clock over the woman's head as it steadily ticked off the minutes until the class was over and she could escape the stifling classroom. When at last the second hand had counted down the last few seconds, the bell mercifully rang.

Katie was the first one out of her seat. She jumped up like she had been stuck with a needle and grabbed her books before almost sprinting out the door. She had beaten the crowds of students leaving their classes, so she had clear sailing as she shot down the hallway toward her destination. She pulled a bill out of the pocket of her skirt and had it ready in her hand as she approached the soda machine at the end of the hall. It slid easily into the money slot and she pounded the button for a cherry coke.

The machine rattled as it dropped her drink into the bin. She snatched it up and popped the top, downing the soda in less than fifteen seconds. She felt the presences coming up behind her as she tossed the can into a nearby trashcan and pasted a smile on her face.

"Are you two stalking me now?" she quipped in a light voice as she turned to face her boyfriend and brother. "Can't a girl get a drink in peace around here?"

"We were worried about you," Alex said quietly as he stared down at the floor where he was shuffling his feet back and forth.

A surge of love for her twin exploded in her chest. She loved DJ irrevocably, but it was different than what she felt for her brother. Other than the three days that she had been held captive by Discord, there was never a time that she couldn't remember Alex's presence lingering in the back of her mind. She had a feeling that even in their mother's womb that they had been connected and looking out for one another.

"You don't have to be worried about me. I'm fine," she said teasingly. "My throat was really dry, so I wanted to get a drink before we go to French. It's no big deal. Now we better get to class before we're late and end up in detention."

She didn't give either one of them a chance to voice the questions that shown clearly on their faces as she looped an arm with each of them and dragged them off toward their waiting class, keeping up a steady stream of chatter the entire time.

It wasn't until she was seated at her desk next to Emma that she allowed the plastic smile to fade from her face and her shoulders to slump. She had always considered herself to be good at keeping secrets. Luckily the Furuhata gossiping gene hadn't been passed down to her and her friends had been coming and confiding in her for years because they knew that she wouldn't go around repeating what they told her in confidence.

But this was so much more than covering for Alex and Emma when they wanted to sneak out for a date, or listening to Rini talk about her relationship with Helios, or hearing about Skye's latest conquests. This was the first time she had been told something that was a matter of life or death and been unable to talk to anyone about it, and it was eating her up inside.

FLASHBACK

She paced back and forth on the roof of the apartment building, her mind reeling with everything that she had just learned. A low growl ripped its way up her throat as she abruptly stopped and spun toward the black haired man that was leaning against the ledge of the roof with his arms crossed over his chest as he watched her warily.

Her hazel eyes flashed furiously at him. "This is total horseshit! If it wasn't for the fact that I can sense that you're exactly who you say you are, I would swear that this was a trick of Discord's."

Those swirling tricolored eyes bored into hers. "In a way it is a trick of that bastard's. His name definitely suits him. He exists for no other purpose than to cause discord and wreck havoc. He is a master of manipulation and enjoys screwing with people's heads, as I'm sure you well know."

She shivered as she thought back to those three days that he had held her captive. He had definitely done a number on her, making her doubt not only herself, but everyone else around her as well. It had been a long, hard battle to try and reclaim her life again, and it was still a daily fight to not give in to the darkness and despair that was always lingering around in the back of her mind.

That alone made it possible for her to believe this DJ from the future when he had told her that she had defected to Discord's side in his time. But the events that led up to her doing something so drastic was impossible for her to wrap her head around.

"I just don't get it!" she moaned, pressing the heels of her hands to her eyes. "I know you and Alex had your share of arguments from time to time. You've even come close to throwing punches on a few occasions. But the two of you have never fought the way you just showed me, that was usually our forte. So why would you two suddenly start trying to stomp the snot out of each other when we have so many other things going on?"

DJ shrugged. "I never said it made sense. Looking back on it now I see exactly how petty and juvenile it actually was. Just keep in mind that we are normal, hot-blooded, teenage boys. I don't think that either of us meant for things to get so far out of control, but words were exchanged and the next thing I knew we were at each other's throats. Believe me, I wish I could take back every hurtful thing I said to him."

Katie felt a rush of sympathy for the man before her. It was hard for her to imagine the hell that he had lived through in his life. The stress and strain were etched into every feature of his still devastatingly handsome face. She couldn't stop herself from reaching out and brushing the long black bangs away from his eyes.

"What happened to us?" she asked softly. "I know now that the woman that attacked me the night of the hospital benefit is really me from the future. But why do our eyes look like this?"

He heaved a sigh. "I don't think anybody really knows. Mercury and Zoicite have run test after test for years now, but there is no logical explanation for it. The most we've ever come with is that it's a punishment from the gods for fighting amongst ourselves when we were supposed to be becoming stronger as a team. That night on the roof all of our energy got mixed up and then the jumbled mess was sucked back into our bodies, giving us the ability to use the power of the sun, moon, and earth. But having all three twisted together like than in the same body makes the energy very unpredictable and hard to use."

"Oh," was all she could mutter as a reply. She had grown up watching her mother and the tight control that she had to maintain at all times because of the fact that she carried both moon and earth power inside of her. And heaven knows she had a hard time keeping her own moon energy from lashing out at times. But to have three powerful energies wrestling inside of you, that had to be overwhelming.

She turned her attention back to the problem at hand. "Well now that I know what's going on, I should be able to do something about it. I'll just have to keep my eyes and ears open. The moment I see the two of you getting ready to take a chunk out of each other I'll just break you up and send you to your rooms like good little boys. If you don't get a chance to argue then the fight will never happen."

DJ smiled sadly at her. "I wish it could be that simple, but unfortunately there's nothing you can do to stop it. The only thing you can do now is make sure that sentinel doesn't get anywhere near Alex. Even though she seems harsh, that's why your future self is here. She plans to stop his death and change the future at the risk of her own life. But I think you're a better candidate for the job."

END FLASHBACK

Katie jumped in her seat as the bell rang and students all around her got up and grabbed their belongings before dashing out of the room to try and beat the crowds to the cafeteria. She closed her French book and carefully returned it, along with her notebook and pen, to her backpack before slowly standing and joining the others.

DJ slung an arm around her shoulders and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek as they walked down the hall. "Are you sure you're okay? You spaced out the entire class again."

She put on her best smile, hoping that it didn't look as fake as it felt. "I'm fine. Really I am. I guess I'm just a little tired. I didn't sleep well last night."

This caught Alex's attention. "You're not having nightmares again, are you?"

"No, no!" she quickly assured him. "It's nothing like that. I just had a hard time getting to sleep. Of course it would help if I didn't have to share a room with someone that snores like a chainsaw," she teased him, trying to make everything seem normal.

He sputtered indignantly. "I do NOT snore!"

"Actually sweetie, you do," Emma told him in a compassionate voice as she patted his shoulder. "But I would never hold it against you. I still love you anyway."

"Sounds like Emma better put earplugs on the gift registry when she's planning the wedding," Rini snickered as she elbowed Skye in the ribs.

Skye high-fived her. "Hell yeah! There's nothing wrong with a man being vocal in bed, but not when it's sleepy-time. If I wanted to curl up with something that rumbles I'd sleep in my car." Then her eyes turned wistful. "I miss my car."

"I'm sure it'll still be sitting at home waiting for you when we go back," Katie choked out, fighting down the blush that was threatening to rise at Skye's casual reference to sharing a bed with the opposite sex. She didn't know how the girl always managed to sound so nonchalant about intimate subjects like that considering she knew from Skye's alcohol induced confession several months ago that she was still as untouched as the day she was born. She may flirt outrageously with every male she came across, but she was biding her time until she found the one guy who would capture her heart forever.

Everyone else's cheeks were tinged pink in embarrassment as well and they fell silent as they continued on outside to claim a shady spot to sit. They settled under a tree as Skye began unpacking various containers from a bag she had grabbed from her locker on the way. That was the good thing about being friends with a locally well-known restaurant owner; Lita made sure none of them went hungry.

The silence that had fallen over them was broken as Jayden and Hannah joined them, bickering with each other as usual. Although they were only fourteen, Sailor Pluto had worked her hocus-pocus and had the two of them enrolled as high school sophomores. Any grade less than that would have left them bored. It also kept the group of young heroes together.

"I don't see what you're getting so bent out of shape about," the golden haired boy was saying. "I still passed the test with a higher grade than most of the other imbeciles in that class."

Hannah's dark sapphire hair swished as she shook her head. "But you still could have done better. Maybe if you paid attention to the teacher more instead of staring at girl's legs all the time you would retain more information."

Bright blue eyes twinkled mischievously. "If I didn't know any better, I'd almost say that you sound jealous."

Hannah ground to an abrupt halt, her green eyes going wide as she gaped at him. "I am NOT jealous! I don't care if you look up the skirts of every girl in the school, you pervert! I was just trying to give you some friendly advice so you can do your best in your classes. But obviously my opinions aren't appreciated. If you'll excuse me."

She stomped around the group to the far side where she sat down next to Rini before pulling out her history book and ducking behind it, but not before everyone saw the red spots burning on her cheeks and the suspicious glimmer in her eyes.

Jayden stared after her for a moment with a confused look on his face before shrugging it off and throwing himself down on the grass. He grinned widely at Emma and Katie. "So ladies, are we ready for another fun filled afternoon?"

A warning growl came from Alex. "Watch yourself, Hotstuff! You can perv over every other girl in the school, but these two are off limits."

Emma bumped her boyfriend's shoulder with hers as she smiled brightly at Jayden. "Of course I'm ready. It's one of the highlights of my school day."

Jayden was quite an accomplished guitar player, so he had joined Katie in attending afternoon classes with Michelle. Emma wasn't much at playing any instruments, but she possessed a clear, angelic singing voice. She really should have been in the chorus, but Michelle had pulled some strings, saying that she needed a vocalist to accompany her students, and had wrangled the blonde girl into her class.

Katie sat aside the soda that DJ had passed her and dug in her bag before pulling out a couple of packets of paper. She handed one to Emma and one to Jayden. "I did some modifications to the song we were working on yesterday and finished the lyrics. I wanted you two to look it over and tell me what you think."

Everyone was quiet for a moment as the two ruffled through the papers. After a moment Jayden looked up with his eyes glowing excitedly. "That's…wow…it's incredible!"

Emma was in a similar state of awe. "This is probably the most heartfelt song I've ever read."

"Let me see!" Alex and DJ said together as they reached for the papers.

Katie deftly snatched them back and slid them into her bag. "Nope! Nobody else gets to know what it says until we work out the kinks."

DJ huffed and folded his arms across his chest. "Meanie! I just wanted a little peek."

She let a teasing smile play around her lips. "You'll just have to wait and see."

"That's not fair!" Alex complained.

"Aww, leave her alone," Skye said as she started passing out food. "It's no different than either one of you not wanting someone to see one of your lame video games or geeky science projects before you're finished."

That comment set off a round of good natured arguing as Alex defended his hobby of designing video games, claiming that one day he was going to make millions with it and DJ grumbled that being good at science didn't automatically make a person a nerd.

Katie sat back, watching all of this with a feeling of sad happiness. She wished with all her heart that she could freeze this perfect moment in time and keep things like this forever. This was the way they should be, everyone laughing and joking. She never wanted it to change.

She felt the presence of an aura watching them and had to bite back a snarl. 'Go away!' she thought venomously. Now that she knew what to look for she was able to pick up when her future self was near, and she was starting to get extremely irritated with the woman's almost constant surveillance.

"Hey," DJ said to her softly. "You're a million miles away again. Aren't you going to eat? Lunch will be over before you know it."

She gave him a small smile and then gave in to the need to have some physical comfort and leaned against him as she reached for a sandwich to nibble on. Unlike some people, like her mother, Serena, and Rini, whose already huge appetites seemed to increase to astronomical proportions when they were stressed, she had to force herself to choke down a few bites. And what little she consumed sat like a lead weight in her stomach.

The time was coming. She could feel it bearing down on her like a suffocating blanket. Would they all still be standing when it was all said and done, or would the ominous future she caught a glimpse of come true? Only time would tell.

For the second time in just a few weeks, Sailor Pluto found herself once again descending into the underground of Mount Olympus to answer a summons from her grandfather. It wasn't really all that surprising. She may be limited to seeing only what bits and pieces her garnet orb could show her, but she had seen several disturbing outcomes in the visions she had been granted.

The double doors to Chronos's chambers opened at her approach, and she was greeted by the sounds of several raised voices. She stepped in and was shocked to see a group of gods and goddesses arguing with each other like a pack of grade schoolers.

"Damn it all!" Apollo thundered, slamming a fist down on the table in front of him as he glared at Gaia and Selene. "I told the two of you that we should have waited until the next generation to choose the ones to wield the Trinity. They are much more likely candidates than this lot. But no, I let you conniving women talk me into this. Now look at the mess we have!"

:Oh, go stuff yourself, Apollo!" Gaia fumed. "We didn't talk you into anything and you know it! So don't try to make us out to be the bad guys here!"

"Let's calm ourselves and try to look at this rationally," Selene spoke up in her quiet, placating voice. "All is not lost yet. There is still a chance that things could turn out in our favor."

"You better hope that it does," a deep voice growled from the other end of the table where Hades, god of the Underworld, sat swirling a glass of wine absently in his fingers. His black hair and eyes glinted with a reddish light in the glow of firelight that filled the chamber. "I have souls disappearing out of my domain, and I don't think I need to tell you how…upsetting that is to me. That bastard is breaching doors that he should have never reached, and I want him stopped."

"We all want him stopped," Chronos said wearily as he turned from the large mirror he had been gazing into. "But I agree with Gaia, Selene, and Apollo. To give those children the power of the Trinity before they are ready could result in cataclysmic failure."

"Failure?…Failure!" Hades boomed as he shoved himself up from his seat and stalked toward the mirror where he stabbed a finger at the image of a black haired man and a blonde woman, both of them with blazing, swirling eyes, locked together in a fierce battle as their swords clashed together repeatedly. "I don't know what you would call this, but it looks like it's already a failure in my book. I say go ahead and give them the power they need. If we're lucky they'll still be able to take Discord down."

Pluto had heard enough. She strode forward determinedly. "You can't do that! If you do all three of them may die!"

Hades raked her with a contemptuous glare. "Then there will be three less pitiful humans to worry about!"

Pluto pulled herself up to her full height. Though she was still several inches shorter than the furious man in front of her, she refused to back down. She returned his jet black glare with snapping garnet eyes.

"You listen to me," she ground out in a tight voice. "I have been working my ass off trying to set things right, but I will not defect from my duties to my future king and queen just because you get bent out of shape. You'll get your precious souls back. I'm confident that the rift in the timeline will change."

"Climb down off of your high horse, little girl! You're no saint," Hades sneered. "We wouldn't be faced with this situation if you had done your job like you were supposed to. Instead you let that bleeding Plutonian heart of yours be swayed by the compassion you feel for that fragile lunarian princess and her offspring."

Pluto's eyes flared with contempt. "Serenity is not fragile, nor are any of the others. But I swore an oath of allegiance that can't be broken no matter how many times they die and come back. So I've broken a few rules over the years to ensure the safety of Serenity's line. I would do it all over again if I was confronted with the same situations."

The lord of the underworld seemed to swell with indignance. "So you admit that you have willingly and on purpose broken the rules on more than one occasion." He spun toward Chronos. "And you've let her get away with this? If it wasn't for Hera's threat I would go to Zeus right this minute. Time is all messed up because of her and you're covering it up!"

"Enough!" Chronos roared. "I wish to speak to my granddaughter alone. Leave us!"

A petulant look crossed Hades' face, but he held his tongue. He shot one last murderous glare at Sailor Pluto before he turned and stomped from the chamber. Apollo, Gaia, and Selene followed, but they paused as Pluto spoke softly to them as they passed.

"Be ready," she told them. "I have every confidence that the future is about to change for the better. DJ, Katie, and Alex will soon be prepared to step into their roles. I have faith in them."

"As do I," Gaia agreed.

Selene smiled and nodded.

Apollo sighed and shook his head, but said nothing as he followed the goddesses out.

"Setsuna," Chronos said in a tired voice as the doors closed behind them. "I thought you would have learned by now to not pick a fight with Hades."

Pluto shrugged. "I couldn't help it. He spoke against my princess and I couldn't stand for that."

"Nevertheless," Chronos admonished. "He is a force to be reckoned with when riled to anger, and he's already upset enough with Persephone being gone."

"Well it's not my fault that his wife has to spend half the year away from him!" she snapped. "That doesn't give him the excuse to start attacking people."

"I would agree with you, but there's more to it than that. Did you hear what he said about the souls that have escaped from Tartarus?" the god of time asked her.

She nodded. "I know that Discord resurrected Metallia and then she revived Beryl, but I'm certain that Serenity, Endymion, and the others will be able to take care of them. The garnet orb has at least shown me that much."

Chronos shook his head. "They're not the only ones that had been stolen away from the hell realm. Discord managed to sneak in and take some others as well. He hasn't brought them back yet, but unless he's stopped soon it could spell certain doom for the Earth."

Pluto felt her blood freeze in her veins. "Who else has he taken?"

Chronos beckoned her over to the time mirror. He waved a hand and several figures shimmered into sight in the glass, wringing a cry from the normally stoic time guardian.

"He's going to try to bring back the Doom Phantom, Pharaoh 90, and Chaos as well?" she gasped.

"He will if he isn't stopped soon," he replied glumly. "I thought we might have more time to work with to try and set time back on its proper path, but this move from Discord was unexpected."

"You can say that again," Pluto grumbled. "Serenity would have no problem taking them on one by one. But if he were to unleash them all at once…it may prove to be overwhelming even with the help of the others. It's too bad that the scouts won't be granted their eternal powers until the formation of Crystal Tokyo. That would help even the odds."

She tapped her staff on the floor in agitation. "Ugh! I've got to get Discord away from the time gate so I can see what's going on. This acting blindly is driving me mad."

Her grandfather gave her a commiserative smile. "It is certainly disconcerting. Luckily the time mirror has allowed me to see a little more than what the garnet orb has shown you. That is why I asked you here today. I know you have been working with the Kathleen from the future. But are you aware that your young prince has been meddling in the past as well?"

Pluto's head snapped up. " What? I told him to go home and stay there when I caught him sneaking around Tokyo."

Chronos chuckled at her disbelief. "And you expected him to comply meekly? That boy is just as stubborn as his parents. You should have known that he would never give up. He has enlisted the help of the younger Sailor Eclipse in an attempt to not only save Alexander's life, but her future self as well."

The vision in the mirror changed to depict a scene that showed the grown, dark haired prince from the future conversing animatedly with the teenaged Katie.

Pluto put a hand to her temple, feeling the beginnings of a headache coming on. "I was foolish to believe that he wouldn't interfere. This could have severe consequences."

"On the contrary, from what I have been able to see several of the timelines changed for the better the moment he became involved," Chronos told her. "His plan to keep the Trinity holders intact seems to be much more effective than the woman's. But there is one fatal flaw that will still need to be overcome."

Apprehension skittered across her nerve endings. "And what is that?"

His sharp garnet eyes locked on hers. "The Fates don't like to be thwarted. They are clearly expecting to sever the thread of someone's life that night. So if they are denied the pleasure of cutting Alexander's, they may very well target one of the others. The future is still in danger."

She sucked in a shuddering breath. "Do you have any idea who?"

He shrugged. "I've seen bits and pieces of different scenarios. There are too many open ends at the moment to give me a clear answer. None of them are certain at this time and they still have the possibility of being changed. I sincerely hope that they are. I would love to see the Fates throw back their heads and howl for a while. It would serve those three bitches right for playing with people's lives like they are nothing more than toys."

The large mirror split into three different scenes. One showed Sailor Eclipse falling from the roof of a tall building as the concrete crumbled away beneath her. Another showed Jess plunging several hundred feet from a bridge into the dangerous waters of Tokyo Bay.

But the third one was the most disturbing. Sailor Moon stood before a woman that she knew very well. The bright smile on her face faded into a look of agony and disbelief as the woman flung a hand toward her and sent a long crystal spear shooting straight into her heart. Blood splattered the front of her fuku and stained her lips as she crumpled to the ground. Tears glistened in her crystal blue eyes as she whispered, "Why?" And then her eyelids closed forever in death.

Pluto's fingers tightened around her staff in a white knuckled grip. "That has to be an illusion! There is no way she could…she would never kill Serenity! That vision can't be true!"

"Sadly enough, it just might be," Chronos said softly. "Beware of those who pretend to be your allies. They may be nothing more than a sheep in wolf's fur."

Serena cracked the door to the oven open just a tiny bit so she could peek inside at the apple pie that was sending its heavenly smell throughout the apartment. "What do you think, Lita? Is it ready to come out?"

Lita hurried across the kitchen to glance inside the oven. "Hmm…maybe just a few more minutes. You want the crust to be an even, golden brown all over."

Serena carefully closed the door and straightened up to beam at her auburn haired friend. "Won't Darien be so proud of me? I made his favorite pie almost completely by myself!"

Jess snorted from where she sat at the breakfast bar with a sketchpad in front of her. "Almost by yourself my ass! Lita did most of it and you know it! Of course, I don't blame her after the mess you made with the flour."

Serena scrunched up her nose that was liberally coated in white, along with the rest of her face and a good portion of her hair as well. "You're just jealous because I'll be able to greet my future husband when he comes home from work with something delicious and home baked. You should have joined our little cooking lesson and made one for Andrew. I bet he would have liked it."

Jess rolled her eyes. "Thanks, but no thanks. I may be an artist, but I'm afraid my capabilities don't extend to cooking anything that requires a lot of effort in the kitchen. The closest I've ever come to baking is cooking a frozen potpie. And Drew's such a food snob that I would just be setting myself up for disappointment anyway. He's picky about whose cooking he eats."

Serena blew a raspberry at her and then dissolved into giggles. "You're right about that. I've seen him snub dishes from some of the finest restaurants in town because they didn't live up to his expectations. I guess we can blame his parents for that since they are both such magnificent cooks. He was raised on nothing but the best."

"How else do you think that the arcade became known for its wonderful food as well as its broad range of video games?" Jess replied with a smirk. "His dad is a grill master. He can whip up a burger like it's nobody's business. And his mom pulls off some sheer magic in the kitchen."

Lita nodded eagerly. "It's true. I begged both of them to come work in my restaurant, but they said that they are enjoying their semi-retirement now that Andrew's pretty much running the business."

"Ha!" Jess barked. "They could retire completely if that airhead Lizzy could ever get her act together. Drew wants to turn the arcade completely over to her so he can concentrate on other things, but she lets her personal life interfere too much. I told you guys about that mess she got into recently. She just better be glad that I was sick at the time or I would have given her a piece of my mind."

"I'm just glad that everything worked out for her and that she wasn't," Serena's voice dropped to a conspiratorial whisper, "pregnant like she thought she was. That would have been a serious complication in her life that she doesn't need right now."

"Amen," Lita growled as she pulled the pie from the oven. "What happened to that loser boyfriend of hers anyway?"

A huge grin broke out on Jess's face. "Poppa Andy," she said, using her pet name for Andrew's father, Andrew Sr., "and Drew went over and physically threw the bum out of Lizzy's apartment. They were both pissed when they heard about how that son of a bitch had been treating her. Drew said he had a hard time keeping from blasting the little prick with his solar power. I wish I had been a fly on the wall to see that."

All three women burst into laughter at the mental images of an enraged Mr. Furuhata and Andrew confronting the slimy little weasel that was now Lizzy's ex-boyfriend.

A key rattled in the lock for a second before the front door swung open and Darien walked in. He smiled as he tossed his keys on the entry hall table and threw his discarded jacket and tie on a chair. "Did I miss out on the joke?"

Serena let out a muted squeal as she ran to him and wrapped him in a huge hug. "It's just girl talk. I'm so glad you're home! Come look and see what Lita helped me make in our cooking lesson today."

Darien dutifully followed her as she grabbed his hand and dragged him into the kitchen. He made all of the appreciative comments as Serena shoved the pie under his nose for his approval. Luckily she didn't see the conspiratorial wink he shared with Lita. Once he was done dishing out the compliments he headed for the coffee pot and poured himself a cup of the steaming brew.

He went to lean up against the breakfast bar. "And what have you been up to?" he asked Jess as he tugged on a strand of hair that had come lose from her braid. He shared an easy camaraderie with the woman who held the soul of his daughter from his past life and counted her as one of his closest friends.

She gave him an impish smile. "Oh a little of this and that. I've been prepping my canvas for my final school project and had to let it set up for a bit, so I decided to wander over here and see what Chef Serena had cooking up. It's been quite entertaining."

Serena stuck her tongue out at her. "Fine! Take joy from my pain. So I may have had a few incidents along the way, but was a labor of love."

Jess just snickered, but she turned her sketchbook around so that Darien could see the manga-style drawing that she had made of Serena sitting in the middle of the kitchen floor and surrounded by poofy clouds of flour. She had perfectly captured the cross little frown that would appear on Serena's face when something frustrated her.

Darien almost choked on the sip of coffee that he had just taken and sat his cup down quickly before he could spill it. "That's great! I have to have a copy that one to go in my office." Since he worked such long hours, Serena had put up a bulletin board in his office and covered it with pictures of everyone that was close to him so that he wouldn't feel lonely when he was stuck there.

"What is it? I want to see!" Serena exclaimed, rushing over to them. She shrieked when she saw the drawing of herself, "I did not look like that!"

"Actually, Jess has it pegged. You looked exactly like that," Lita confirmed as she took a good look at the paper.

Serena glared at Darien as he laughed with the two women. "Just for that you don't get any of this pie. I'll save it for me, Rini, and DJ instead."

Lita fought and failed to hold back a teasing chuckle. "You mean you'll eat the whole thing yourself and not save any for your poor children. I know you better than that, Sere."

She broke off as the blonde leveled a dark, murderous look on her. "You know what, I think I'll just get while the getting's good. I need to go by the restaurant anyway. I'll see you guys later."

"I thought you were off tonight," Serena commented as she watched her friend pick up her purse and keys. "Wasn't that the whole reason why you hired a manager, so you wouldn't have to work all the time?"

Lita nodded. "Yeah, but I still like to check in and see how things are going. I'm supposed to meet up with Neph anyway. We made plans to hook up with Mina and Kunz at Blaze. Raye's playing all American music tonight, so it should make for good dancing."

Jess visibly perked up. "Really? That sounds like a blast. I could relive my high school days."

"You and Andrew should join us," Lita encouraged. "The more the merrier."

"We'll see," Jess hedged. "Drew had a meeting with a guy that's wanting to put a game store in the complex today and he's a real asshole to deal with. My poor baby may not feel like doing anything but coming home and crashing. I'll have to feel out the situation."

"Well, you know where we'll be," Lita said. "What about you two?" she asked Serena and Darien.

Darien groaned. "Let me grab a nap for a couple of hours and then we'll see. I just put in a twelve-hour shift and I'm pretty wiped out. But I may catch a second wind after I rest some."

"I'll call and let you know," Serena promised as she walked Lita to the door and hugged her as they said goodbye. Jess took her leave a few minutes later, claiming that she had some work to do in her studio, leaving Serena and Darien alone.

Darien sat down at the kitchen table with a sigh, rolling his head around in an attempt to loosen his stiff neck muscles. He moaned a few seconds later when he felt soft fingers gently massaging away the tension.

"Hard day?" Serena asked softly as she tried to knead away his stress.

He let his head fall forward. "Just busy. People seemed unusually accident-prone today. You'd think it was a full moon with the number of people I had to stitch back together."

"Oh sure, blame the moon for it," she giggled as she moved from his neck to his shoulders. "My poor moon always gets blamed for people acting like idiots."

Darien tipped his head back to look at her. "Ask Zoicite if you don't believe me. It is a proven fact that the ER is busier during a full moon than at any other time. And somehow the two of us always end up getting stuck working the night shift on those nights." While Zoicite was still business partners with the other generals, he also worked at the hospital as a doctor as well.

"Oh, you poor dear," Serena teased as she smothered a laugh. "But I'm afraid that there's nothing I can do about it. I may be princess of the moon, but I can't control the effect it has on people."

Darien turned in his seat and tugged her down into his lap. "Now you're just being silly. No matter, I'm sure Amy will fill you in when she starts doing her student rotations."

"And I'm sure you and Zoi won't have any influence over her whatsoever," she quipped lightly as she brushed his dark hair out of his eyes. "You do look tired. Why don't you go and take a nap. Lita brought over some stuff that she cooked, so we can warm it up and have a late dinner after you've rested. I've got some work I need to do for school on Monday, so I'll just knock that out while you nap."

Darien grinned mischievously. "Are you seriously going to pass up the opportunity to come curl up with me to do homework? Who are you, and what have you done with my fiancé?"

She burst into peals of laughter as he lightly tickled her ribs. "Stop that! I just thought that maybe if you got a nap in that we might be able to enjoy the rest of our night. And I really don't want to save my homework for the last minute. That way the rest of my weekend will be free to do whatever I want."

"I can respect that," Darien agreed softly. "Give me about two hours of sleep and I'll be back to normal."

"Sounds like a deal to me," she whispered as she leaned forward to kiss his lips.

"I hope everyone's decent in there, because I'm coming in," DJ's voice called out a few seconds before he walked into the kitchen. He smirked when he saw his future mother perched on his future father's lap, but wisely kept his comments to himself.

"Wow! Where are you going?" Serena asked as she took in the dark jeans and black button down shirt he wore. His hair was damp from his attempts to control the unruly locks.

"I've got a date," he beamed as he reached into the refrigerator for a bottle of water. "Can I borrow your motorcycle for the night?" he asked Darien.

Darien shrugged. "Sure, as long as you're careful. I'm assuming that Katie is the lucky young woman."

DJ grinned. "Of course. Who else would it be? Alex and Emma have their own plans for the night, so I'm looking forward to it just being us. I thought we'd go catch a movie, but the problem with coming from the future is that we've seen everything that's playing at least ten times already."

"It's the quality of the time you spend together, not necessarily what you do," Serena said wisely. "Even if it's a movie that you've seen a hundred times, all that's important is that you enjoy yourselves and have fun with each other."

DJ nodded sagely. "You're right. Just spending time with her is enough for me." He quickly drained his bottle of water and tossed it toward the garbage can. "Well I'm out of here. I'll see you guys later!"

"Have fun!" Serena called after him as she heard him snatch the motorcycle keys from the table in the entry hall and leave through the front door. She turned a blinding smile on Darien. "Isn't it sweet? Both of our children have found their soul mates and are enjoying young romances of their own now."

Darien's look darkened. "Yeah, sweet. Where's Rini anyway?"

Serena slapped him playfully on the shoulder. "She left right before you got home. Helios invited her to Elysian for dinner tonight."

"Is that safe?" Darien asked worriedly.

Serena rolled her eyes. "Of course it is! Aurora and Nebula are both there to act as chaperones, so I don't think her virtue is in any danger."

He flushed a dark red. "I didn't mean that. I just meant is it safe for her to be there. Discord already attacked Elysian once."

"I'm sure it will be fine," she assured him as she wrapped her arms around his neck. "It's pretty clear that DJ, Katie, and Alex are Discord's targets. And Helios stepped up the protection around Elysian after the last attack. I'm sure Rini is perfectly safe."

"I hope you're right," Darien grumbled. "The last thing I want is for Discord to try to use them against us like he tried to do with your brother and Hotaru."

"Everything will be fine," she stated surely. "Even if Discord tried to invade Elysian again, I know that Helios would protect Rini with his life. And Elysian is connected to the time plane. If Rini couldn't get back here, I'm sure she would be able to get back home."

"Here's hoping," Darien whispered softly. "Now how about you tuck me in for my nap."

"You're so bad!" Serena giggled as she pressed a kiss against his waiting lips.

"Oh, Helios!" Rini moaned as she collapsed on her lover's chest, basking in the afterglow of what they had just shared.

The white haired priest wound one hand into the long pink tresses that flowed around him as his other hand gently stroked up and down his princess's spine. Slowly his breathing and heartbeat slowed to a normal level. He kissed the top of her head reverently. "Are you okay?"

She raised her head to look at him with adoring eyes. "I'm wonderful. I'm always so happy when I'm with you."

"And I with you," Helios told her as he pulled her down to lay butterfly kisses against her lips. He released her when she sighed against him and began nibbling his bottom lip. "We better get dressed before our guard dogs come looking for us."

She pouted playfully. "Do we have to? I'd much rather lay here and be your blanket."

He chuckled deeply. "As much as I would love to stay here forever, I would hate for your father to find out what we've been up to. He would probably execute me if he found out that I'd been taking advantage of you."

Rini snorted. "Taking advantage my foot! I seem to remember that it was me that took advantage of you the first time. Besides, he needs to realize that I've grown up and that we're going to be married soon."

He smoothed her bangs back. "That may be true, my sultry seductress, but I've already broken my promise to your parents to not deepen our relationship until you were eighteen, and I don't think it's a good idea to tempt fate."

"Fine!" she sighed as she slipped off of him and reached for her discarded clothing. "I can't wait for the next two and a half months to go by. Then I'll be eighteen and can do what I want."

"Within reason," Helios cautioned her as he too began to dress. "Don't forget that you are the crown princess of Crystal Tokyo and there are certain things expected of you."

She turned on him with a heated glare. "I don't care about any of that if I can't be with you. If it came down to a choice between you and being queen, I would choose you every time. It's not like Crystal Tokyo would be without an heir. They could just make DJ king. He is the prince of Earth after all."

"I didn't mean that you should have to choose between me and your birthright," Helios placated her calmly. "I just meant that I know that your parent's opinions mean a lot to you, and I don't want to see any disagreements come up between you."

Suddenly Rini giggled and leaned forward to kiss his cheek. "You're so sweet! It's no wonder I love you so much. I know you think my parents are almost saints, but I guess I should let you know that my mom took me to Amy and got me started on birth control about a year ago. She may be a queen, but she's not naïve you know."

Helios was struck speechless for a moment. "Bu…but, we didn't become intimate together until Christmas!"

Rini just grinned. "I know, but mom told me that she could read the signs between us. She knew that we wouldn't wait until my birthday, so she wanted to make sure I was safe."

His pale face flushed with embarrassment at knowing that his queen was aware of the nature of his relationship with her daughter. Then he blanched white. "His majesty isn't aware of this, is he?"

She pulled her shirt on and shook her head. "No way! Dad would go ballistic if he knew, so mom and I decided to keep things hush hush and just between us."

Helios gathered her close. "All the more reason to not press our luck with your birthday being so close. Soon we will be free to tell the world of our intentions. Just hold on a little bit longer."

Rini smiled at him. "You're right. I guess I'm just getting anxious. I just hope my parents don't insist on some ridiculously long engagement. I can't wait to become your wife."

He sighed. "Rini, sweetheart, you're young and we have plenty of time. Let's not rush things any quicker than they are supposed to happen."

Her maroon eyes began to glitter with unshed tears. "Are you saying that you don't want to marry me? Are you hoping that I'll change my mind?"

"Not at all!" he quickly reassured her. "You know that I love you and want to marry you more than anything." In fact, he knew from working closely with Sailor Pluto on their current problems that Rini would become his wife within the next year, but he couldn't let her know that.

She eyed him skeptically. Although her soon to be official fiancé didn't appear to be a day over twenty, she had to remind herself that he was actually a timeless being that had lived through many centuries. Like Sailor Pluto, he had the ability to move through time and space, so it was only natural that he have some knowledge of what was to come.

"You know something," she said simply.

He looked up, startled. "What do you mean?"

She shook her head. "I know you know something about what's going to happen in the future. I can tell. You've been very quiet and thoughtful lately, more so than usual."

He sighed. He should have known that he couldn't hide anything from her. She knew him better than he knew himself sometimes. "It's nothing to worry about, just a little hiccup in the timeline. But everything's going to work out just fine."

Rini's eyes widened fearfully. She knew firsthand the ramifications of when the timeline was disrupted. "Is my family okay?"

Helios folded her into a hug. "Everyone's fine. Like I said, it was a minor mess up."

"You're lying," she mumbled. "You're just saying that to make me feel better. But if you say everything's going to be alright, then I'll trust you."

He closed his eyes as he rested his cheek against the top of her head, hoping that he wasn't lying to her. He had thought that the timeline was on the mend, but a visit from Sailor Pluto earlier had presented him with a whole other set of problems. He tightened his hold around the girl in his arms, afraid that at any moment she would begin to fade and disappear. And that could very well happen if the new potential threats weren't neutralized.

Rini twisted her head around to look up at him with a tiny frown on her face. "Are you sure you're okay?"

"I'm fine," he replied, forcing his voice to be light. A smile appeared on his face when he heard her stomach rumble. "And now I think it's time that I fed you like I promised. After all, that's supposed to be the whole reason why I asked you here tonight."

She laughed a little and allowed him to take her hand as he led them out of the secluded grove of trees that had served as their trysting spot. As she followed him back toward the gleaming golden palace of Elysian she kept up a constant stream of small talk, but in the back of her mind she couldn't help but think that he was keeping something big from her. She could feel it in his actions and hear an undertone in his voice that had never been there before that made her shiver. Yep, something huge was about to go down.

The Time Gate

Discord regarded the woman kneeling before him scornfully. "Your continued failures are beginning to become a nuisance to me, Eclipse. I was under the impression that my future self sent you here because you would be able to eliminate your past self and those other two bastards with minimal fuss."

Katie kept her head bowed so the evil entity wouldn't be able to see the hatred she held for him burning in her eyes. She fought to keep her voice subservient. "I apologize, my lord, but as I informed you, there are several disrupting factors that were not present when I lived through this the first time."

"So you said," he sneered. "I wouldn't imagine that the arrival of Crystal Tokyo's junior guard could pose such a problem for you though. They are only mere children."

"But they are powerful children," Katie insisted. "Don't forget who their parents are. Even at my level of expertise, I don't have a hope of standing against all of them together. And finding an opportunity when they are alone is almost next to impossible. They are as thick as thieves."

An amused sound entered Discord's voice. "And that's why I've done some researching for you and found a perfect time for you to strike."

He waved a hand over the time stream and a vision appeared showing her past self walking hand in hand with DJ.

"The two of them are alone right now," he drawled softly. "I want you to take out the prince tonight. Just make sure you're careful and don't kill yourself yet. You still have your brother to deal with before your mission is complete."

Katie drew in a steadying breath. She had known this time was coming. The scenario was slightly different from what she had experienced because of the changes that had already taken place in past between her and DJ, but the result would be the same. This would be the beginning of the downward spiral that would lead to the events that she had waited fifteen years for, events that she hoped desperately to change.

"Do you have a problem with your orders?" Discord snapped at her.

Her head shot up. "Not at all. I will leave immediately."

"Just one moment," he stopped her. "I have a new sentinel that I designed, and this would be a good test run for it." He snapped his fingers and guardian appeared, leading what looked to be a wolf sentinel that had been jacked up on steroids. It stood well over six feet tall while on all fours and had spikes protruding all over its body. Venom dripped from its teeth as it pulled its lips back in a snarl.

"Take this sentinel with you," Discord told her. "That puffed up little prince will have no idea what hit him."

Katie fought back the urge to recoil. She remembered this sentinel as well as she remembered the one that had killed Alex, and they weren't pleasant memories. She wanted more than anything to tell Discord to shove his pet where the sun didn't shine, but deep inside she knew that this had to be done. She just didn't want to be the one that initiated things.

For a brief moment she wished that Jack and Sasha were back. They were the ones that had originally launched this attack and she would have willingly turned it over to them if they were still around. But thanks to her bout of sympathy that she had felt for them and her desire to save them from untimely deaths, they had made their break and ran for it. So now it was all up to her.

She swallowed the bile rising in her throat and motioned for the wolf to follow her as she headed off to try to destroy her own life.

Discord rubbed his hands together gleefully as he watched her leave. Things were moving along nicely once again. If all went as planned, in two days time he will have captured Tokyo of the past and the Trinity bearers, along with Serenity, Endymion, and their court, would be dead.

"You look pleased with yourself," a feminine voice spoke up behind him.

He turned and smiled at Metallia. "I am. Hopefully in just a few short hours the earth prince will be history and the Trinity will be fractured. With that threat gone it should be easy to pick the others off."

"Hmm," she mused. "Does that mean that you intend to kill Endymion as well? You know that Beryl was hoping to keep him for herself."

Discord grinned. "She'll get over it. She tried to brainwash him before and it ended in failure. Now that he has the Golden Crystal back in his possession there is no way that she could make him bend to her will. In fact, I've been thinking of disposing of her once the earth is ours. What do you think?"

Metallia tossed her head. "I could care less what you do with the witch. But what of me? Will you dispose of me as well?"

He tried to look affronted. "Of course not. You are family, born of my power. I promised you that you could have the earth and the Silver Crystal, and I stand by that. I have the rest of the universe to concern myself with. I've even been thinking of waking your brothers up to help wreck havoc. The universe is a large place and plenty big enough for us all to share."

Metallia wandered over to the stone basins that held the essences of the Doom Phantom, Pharaoh 90, and Chaos. "That could prove interesting, but don't you think it might be overkill to unleash them all at once? It would probably turn into a pissing contest between them to see who could do the most damage in the shortest amount of time."

Discord looked smug. "And would that necessarily be a bad thing? With all of us together our victory would be guaranteed."

"That is true," Metallia agreed, tapping a finger against her chin. "But I will be the one to go after Serenity. Let the boys deal with the others, but that little moon bitch is mine. I will pry the Silver Crystal from her dying body and pay her back for all that she's done to me."

"She's all yours," he told her with a sweeping gesture of his hand. "But what of Beryl? She covets the Silver Crystal as well."

A wicked smile tilted her lips. "Like you said, it's probably about time to dispose of her. I only required her assistance long enough to gather the energy needed for you to manufacture this body for me. Now that I have a physical form I am more than capable of commanding my youma. She would probably end up becoming a nuisance anyway."

Discord chuckled. "You are heartless, aren't you? So I'm assuming that you are prepared for our strike against our enemies."

Her smile widened. "More than prepared. In two night's time we will unleash the combined forces of our armies on that pitiful planet and wipe them all out. There will be no future Crystal Tokyo, just my world covered in lovely darkness."

Discord nodded. "Serenity is yours to do with as you please, but the other princess is mine. I have an old score to settle with her."

Metallia arched a brow. "You still seek the Celestial Crystal?"

He shrugged. "I figure if I'm going to kill off her and her children, I may as well relieve her of her power as well. I'll be able to put it to much better use than she ever would."

"And you accuse me of being heartless," she crooned slyly.

They were so wrapped up in their evil plans that neither one of them noticed a youma that was just out of sight in the swirling mist that had overheard everything. Nor did they know when that youma teleported away to the Dark Kingdom full of information to deliver to her queen.

Tokyo – Present Day

"So did you want to go catch a movie or something?" DJ asked as he held the door open for Katie as they left the pizza restaurant. "I know we've seen everything that's playing before, but it could be fun."

Katie shook her head listlessly. "Could we maybe do something else? I'm not really in the mood for sitting in a crowded theater for two hours."

He shrugged. "Sure! We can do whatever you want; ice skating, dancing, anything you want."

"I was thinking something a little more private," she said softly. "Like going up to the bluffs and just enjoying some quiet time."

DJ swallowed hard. The gently rolling bluffs that overlooked the bay were a popular make out spot for teens in the future, and he was pretty sure the same was true in this time. His palms were sweating as he nodded. "If that's what you want."

"I just want to get away for a while," she whispered. "So much is going on. I need to try to clear my head."

DJ stopped walking and turned to her, placing both hands on her shoulders as he looked deep into her eyes. "What is wrong? You have been completely wigged out for the last few days. Are you still upset about losing it after the attack on Sammy and Hotaru?"

She shook her head. "No, I'm past all that. Jess and I even had a long talk afterward and she doesn't hold my actions against me. It's probably more than I deserve after lashing out at her the way I did, but she forgave me and I've moved on from it."

She tried to pull away, but he held fast. "Something else happened that night. I know it did. Your entire aura disappeared for a while. Do you know how badly I freaked out?"

She cupped his cheek in her palm. "I know. I didn't mean to worry you. Now can we please go somewhere else? I don't feel like standing in the middle of the sidewalk for the rest of the night."

"Okay," he relented, taking her hand and leading her to where he had parked Darien's motorcycle. He pulled on his helmet and waited until she had done the same and had climbed on the bike behind him before he kick started it. He felt her wrap her arms around his waist and lean her head against his back. She may not have been aware of it, but he could feel the faint trembling of her body as she pressed up against him, and it wasn't from the vibrations of the engine. Something had her worked up, and he wanted to know what.

He gunned the engine and they shot off down the street. He thought for the umpteenth time since he had found himself in this time how glad he was that his mother had insisted on keeping the city as much like the original as possible when she had created Crystal Tokyo. Despite the presence of some unfamiliar buildings and the lack of the crystal towers that served as part of the city's security system, he could almost believe that he was back home again, riding around town like he had done so many other Friday nights.

They soon left the heart of the city behind and entered the waterfront area of the bay. Just as the darkly shimmering water came into sight, he turned off on a side road that was hardly more than a dirt trail. Luckily Darien hadn't skimped on horsepower when he had bought the bike, and it easily climbed up the bluffs. He stopped when he found a secluded spot that overlooked the bay.

He removed his helmet and got off the bike. Before Katie could follow, he swooped her up in his arms and lifted her off the seat. He spun around slowly a couple of times before pressing his lips to hers for a brief moment and letting her body slide down his until her feet touched the ground. Then he led her over to a large boulder where he sat and pulled her down to sit between his legs with her back against his chest.

He leaned down to whisper in her ear. "You were right. This is much nicer than sitting in a theater. The only thing we're missing is sodas and snacks."

She nodded robotically, not even cracking a grin at his attempted teasing. Her eyes were glazed over with the far away look that had appeared on her face quite often the last couple of days.

He felt irritation begin to simmer inside him. "That's it! I want to know what's bothering you. You've been walking around like a zombie ever since the other night and it's really starting to piss me off. You're so lost in your own little world that you don't even pay attention to people unless they force you to."

She blinked hard and looked at him. "That's not true! I've heard everything that you've said tonight."

"But you don't participate in the conversation," he retorted. "Getting a reaction out of you is like pulling teeth."

She sat up straight and pulled away slightly. "I'm sorry! I'm just tired, okay. Please don't give me a hard time about this."

Whoa! That sent his suspicion meter way off the chart! Now he knew something was seriously wrong. The Katie he knew would never cave in so easily after he had delivered a smartass comment like that. She always fought back and gave as good as she got.

She rolled her eyes at him. "Stop looking at me like I'm an alien from another planet. I just don't want to fight tonight."

He took in the dark circles under her eyes that she had tried to hide with make up and felt his heart go out to her. "I guess that's fair enough. But will you answer one question for me, honestly?"

Her look turned wary. "What?"

He pulled her back so that she was reclining against him again. "Why haven't you been sleeping?"

She shrugged. "I don't know. I've just had a lot on my mind. Can I ask you something now?"

He grinned at her. "Fire away!"

She tilted her head back so that she could look at him fully. "Back when we didn't…get along…did you ever hate me?"

"Wh…what?" he stuttered in shock. "Where in the hell did that come from?"

She looked away. "I was just wondering. We spent practically all of our lives fighting with one another and we said some pretty hurtful things to each other over the years. I was just curious whether or not hate ever fueled your actions against me. I can honestly say that I never hated you. You made me mad and kept me confused about my feelings for you, but hate was never a factor."

DJ sighed and rested his chin on top of her head. "No, I didn't hate you. I tried to make myself hate you, but I never could. Looking back on it now, I'm pretty sure that I've loved you since we were little. I was just too stupid to figure it out. I didn't see it until you disappeared two years ago when our parents here were fighting against Discord. And to be honest, it scared the hell out of me."

He felt her begin to shake in his arms and was surprised when he looked down to find tears streaming down her cheeks. "Hey! What are the tears for?"

She sucked in shuddering breaths. "I…I'm just sc…scared that one day you'll ha…hate me!"

Shaken to his core, DJ pulled her fully into his lap and wrapped her into the fiercest hug he could manage without hurting her. "Nothing could ever change the way I feel about you. I love you."

She shook her head adamantly, but buried her face in the crook of his neck and threw her arms around him. She wanted so badly to believe him, but the future DJ's voice echoed in her head.

"I hated her for leaving me, for walking away from what we could have had together. She wasn't the only one that was hurting, and I needed her as much as I thought she needed me. I figured out how wrong I was pretty quick the first time she tried to separate my head from my body. I couldn't believe that the girl that I had loved more than my own life would throw every feeling I'd ever had for her back in my face like it was nothing. It killed something inside of me and fueled a rage like nothing I've ever felt before. I was consumed by anger until I could think of nothing but inflicting the same kind of pain on her that she had on me. And I did, several times. Every time we met on the battlefield and crossed swords, I would scream my hurt out at her and try to cause her as much emotional and physical pain as I could. I eventually reached the point where I just shut down. The scary part was the first time I managed to draw blood from her, I didn't feel a thing I know now that I was in denial and that I never stopped loving her. I have even reached a point where I can understand the reasons why she's done the things that she has, but it can't change the way I felt for fifteen long years."

"Shhh," her DJ's voice breathed softly against her ear. "It's no wonder you're feeling so messed up. The last six months have been hell on you. I wouldn't be surprised if you're not suffering from a little post traumatic stress."

Even through her tears, she couldn't stop a choked laugh from breaking free. "If you start quoting that sciency medical mumbo jumbo, I may have to strangle you."

He chuckled and began wiping the tears off her face with his fingers. "I do love you. I'll always love you, no matter what." And then he swooped down and took her still trembling lips in a thorough kiss.

Up in the branches of a nearby tree, the future Katie watched the scene between her past self and the young prince with a mixture of heartbreak and disgust. Part of her yearned to experience that feeling of love once again, while another part of her couldn't help but agree with the last words her past self had spoken. If her DJ was in front of her right now, she just might have to strangle him.

"What did he do, tell her our entire life story?" she grumbled to herself. It was evident from the way the girl had been carrying on a few minutes ago that he must have told her quite a bit. And he wanted to let her emotionally mixed up, fragile past self try to save the future? Ha! What a laugh!

"God, DJ! You are such a freaking idiot!" she groaned softly. "I swear I think you've traded all of your brain cells to Jack Daniels over the years. I guess I'll take the blame for that one too. Can things get any more screwed up?"

Thankfully below her the two teens had stopped trying to suck one another's faces off and had settled back to watch the faint light that the tiny sliver of moon that was visible sent dancing over the water. She sure didn't need any more reminders of what it felt like to be sixteen years old and what she had had experienced in the arms of the one she loved.

She felt her skin heat up at the memories. "Stop it!" she hissed to herself. She had a job to do and couldn't afford to get sidetracked by thoughts of the one night of passion she had experienced in her entire life.

Not that she hadn't been propositioned several times over the years, she had. But most of the offers came from weak willed men that hoped that if they became the lover of Lady Eclipse that they would be spared from Discord's wrath. She hadn't given any of them a second glance. Her heart and her body had been claimed long ago.

She felt a little pinprick of energy that told her that Discord was looking in to see how she was faring. Knowing that she couldn't put off the inevitable any longer, she sent a mental message to the sentinel that she had hidden well back into the underbrush. But unknown to her so called master; she only gave an order to injure, not to kill.

She sat back and averted her eyes from the scene that was about to unfold below, not wanting to see what was going to happen next.

The Dark Kingdom

Beryl growled as she stared at the youma that was knelt down in front of her throne. "So they said that, did they?"

The buxom, blonde haired creature nodded. "Yes, your majesty. I distinctly heard them say that they were going to terminate your life. Lord Discord mentioned it first, but Queen Metallia voiced her approval quite vehemently."

"That bitch!" Beryl snarled. "Is this the thanks I get after all the years I have faithfully devoted to her service? I gave up my life to help her because she promised to help me become more powerful so that I could rule the Earth."

"My queen," the youma said in a trembling voice, hoping that the enraged woman before her wouldn't take her wrath out on her, the simple messenger. "Perhaps we should leave this place. I fear for your life."

Beryl's reddish brown eyes blazed. "Never! Those two traitors may be all powerful entities, but they have no idea who they are messing with! I am Beryl, Princess and heir of the Surcenian Clan. I was powerful before I joined them, and I don't need them now! If they think they can screw me over then they have another thing coming!"

She teleported away from her speechless servant and rematerialized in the living room of a modest, yet rustic looking house, wringing shouted exclamations from the couple that had been sitting together on the couch at her sudden intrusion.

"What the hell are you doing here!" the petite, dark haired woman shrilled as she jumped to her feet. Her hands automatically flew down to cover her slightly swollen stomach.

Beryl huffed an agitated sigh. "Don't worry your pretty little head, Anya. I'm not here to harm you or your child. I just need to have a little chat with your dear husband."

"Oh, like hell!" Anya screeched. "You're crazy if you think I'm going to let you anywhere near him, you bitch!"

"Calm down, sweetheart," Talon said soothingly as he tugged her gently by the wrist to his side and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. His jet black eyes blazed with mistrust. "What do you want, Beryl?"

The red haired woman didn't even flinch under the weight of his glare. "I've come to strike a deal with you."

Talon growled deep in his throat. "And why would I want to make a deal with you?"

She returned his gaze coolly. "If you want your child to live long enough to see the light of day, I believe you will listen to what I have to say."

He pushed Anya behind him and took a menacing step toward her. "Are you threatening me?"

Beryl barked out a harsh laugh. "Trust me, my sweet, I am the least of your worries right now. But if you're not interested in what I have to say, I guess I'll be going."

"No, wait!" Talon cried as she began to shimmer away. "What's going on? I want to know."

Beryl flashed back into a solid form and smirked as she walked over to a chair to sit primly on the edge. "What's a lady got to do to get a cup of tea around here?"

Talon looked to Anya and tipped his head toward the kitchen, pleading with his eyes to go and make the requested beverage. Once she was out of sight he turned back to his unexpected visitor and folded his arms across his chest as he pinned her with an expectant look."

Beryl was busy looking around the room. "How quaint! I guess we've come a long way from the tents that we used to live in a millennium ago."

"Cut the bullshit, Beryl!" Talon snarled. "You better start talking and talking fast. What did you mean by what you said before? What kind of threat is coming?"

Beryl flicked a piece of her flame red hair over her shoulder and sat back as a feline smile stretched her lips. "You always were straight to the point. You are close to Endymion and Serenity, are you not?"

His stoic expression didn't change. "We are acquaintances, yes."

Her smile grew. "And you are very…friendly…with that mongrel princess?"

This time she saw a flicker of something in his eyes. "What's your point, Beryl?"

She crossed her legs casually. "This is what I propose. I'll tell you everything I know about Discord and Metallia's plans, in return for you helping me with a little problem I have."

His dark eyes narrowed angrily. "And if I don't?"

She met and held his gaze. "If you don't, then perhaps you may have time to grieve over the dead bodies of your wife, unborn child, and your precious princess before you die as well."

The anger drained from his face as dropped down to sit on the sofa. "Okay, I'm listening."

Andrew knocked on the door in front of him and called out softly, "Jess". He frowned when he didn't get an answer and tried again. "Jess, baby, can we talk? Look, I'm sorry for acting the way I did earlier. I didn't mean it." He still heard nothing.

He gritted his teeth and counted slowly to ten. He had always prided himself on being a calm and patient person. He considered it a byproduct of growing up in the same house with his mother and sister, both of whom could try the patience of a saint. He had started studying his father at an early age and had learned to adopt the same carefree, happy go lucky personality that the older man used. But his lovely fiancé seemed to be one of the few people that knew how to push his buttons.

Not that he blamed her for being upset with him. He had been in a really snappy mood when he had come home. His afternoon meeting hadn't gone over so well, and he had let some of his frustrations bubble over and become directed at her.

She had greeted him warmly with a hug and a kiss and then served him a scrumptious dinner straight from Lita's kitchen. After they had eaten she had led him to the couch and made him sit while she had wriggled her way behind him and had put her talented fingers to use to try and sooth away the stress of his day.

Things had been fine until she had mentioned something about wanting to go to Raye's club that night. He had snapped out, way harsher than he meant to, that he was tired and in a bad mood. But if that wasn't enough, he let his irritation take control of his tongue and he told her that he had better things to do than to sit around a nightclub all night acting like a teeny bopper, and if she wanted to go that bad she could just go by herself.

Of course that had gone over about as well as a cat in water. She certainly had been as spitting mad as a kitty that had gotten dunked in a pool. She shoved him away from her until he landed on the floor, and then proceeded to tell him in her own colorful way that he could go straight to hell…among some other choice curses that involved some rather…sensitive…parts of his anatomy. His ears still stung from the string of both Japanese and English cuss words she had heaped on him before storming out of the room and closing herself up in her studio.

That had been a little over an hour ago. Andrew had stomped into his home office and had tried to take out his anger through work. He had given it up as a lost cause when the numbers and letters on the papers refuse to compute in his brain and had opted for a long, hot shower instead. Feeling rejuvenated, he now found himself standing outside Jess's studio, gearing himself up to do some serious groveling.

He tried the knob, thrilled to find that it wasn't locked, and pushed the door open slowly. His heart jumped in his chest and his breath caught at the vision he saw.

Jess stood in the middle of the room in front of an easel with a large canvas on it. Her back was to him, but her head was turned enough for him to see the pink tip of her tongue poking out of the corner of her mouth as it always did when she was lost in concentration. His eyes slid up the tall, slender length of her as he drank her in. She was barefooted and wore a pair of very short cutoff jean shorts partnered with one of his white button down shirts that she had tied at the waist and rolled back the sleeves on.

He grinned as he saw the wire snaking out of her back pocket that led to the earbuds she had in her ears. Her hips swayed gently in time to whatever song she was listening to on her mp3 player. Well that explained why she hadn't answered him.

He walked up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist as he planted a kiss on her neck. He chuckled as she jumped and spun around.

She yanked the earbuds out of her ears and glared at him. "What, is it kiss and make up time now? I swear you have more mood swings than a pregnant woman sometimes!"

She tried to step away, but he grabbed her arm and yanked her back to him. He dipped his head and nuzzled her neck. "Baby, I'm sorry. I know you're mad at me, and you have every right to be."

She pushed against his chest. "You're damn right I'm mad, you ass! I can sympathize with the fact that you had a bad day, but if you think you can just come home and take it out on me, think again buster! I was cool with it if you didn't want to go out, but you didn't have to be so pissy about it!"

He locked his arms tighter around her. "You're absolutely right. I was an insensitive asshole and I deserve to be punished. So what is my punishment going to be this time?"

She let out a sound that was somewhere between a growl and a giggle. "I ought to make you sleep on the couch in your office. And stop kissing my neck like that! I'm trying to be serious here. I'm still mad at you, you moron! Don't think you can waltz in here with a few pretty words and kisses and I'll just melt at your feet. I'm not your booty call for whenever you're in the mood!"

"No you're not," Andrew groaned as he nipped at the tender skin where her neck and shoulder met and then soothed it with his tongue. "You are so much more."

Jess bit back a moan as he hit her sensitive spot and her bones turned to jelly. Damn him! He knew her neck was her weakness. Her hands slid up on their own and her fingers twined into his sandy blonde hair. "I'm still mad at you," she whispered in a breathless voice.

He raised his head to grin at her. "I know," he said before kissing her deeply, bending her back over his arm as he did so. He didn't break it until he felt every last bit of tension drain from her body.

"Are you still mad at me?" he asked softly against her lips.

She shook her head. "No. But you knew I wouldn't be after that."

He laughed and stood them both upright as he hugged her tightly. "I really am sorry, though. I had no right to snap at you the way I did."

"It's okay," she answered. "I shouldn't have said anything about going to the club tonight. I could tell from the moment you walked in that you were worn out. And I'm sorry for the things I said. I never should have told you to stick your contracts up you're a…"

"Let's not go there again," he interrupted her. Then his face brightened. "How about this? The kids are out for the night, so why don't we crack open that bottle of wine that my mother gave us, turn on some music, and just relax."

She smiled. "I think that sounds like a plan to me."

"Mmm, this is nice," Serena sighed as she snuggled back into the warm chest behind her and looked up at the night sky and the millions of twinkling stars that glittered there.

Darien's lips brushed her ear. "Yeah it is. Everything's nice and quiet. Are you sure you'd rather not go meet up with the others at the club? It's still fairly early."

She stifled a yawn. "Nuh uh. This is much better. There's no written law that says I have to spend all of my free time with the scouts. They're big girls. I'm sure they can keep themselves entertained without me."

"That's true," he replied as he reached for the wine glass on the table beside them and offered her a sip. "And with the girls keeping the guys busy, that keeps all of them from calling or knocking on the door. It's a nice change of pace to be able to sit out here on our balcony and just enjoy the evening."

"It makes me feel almost normal," Serena mumbled. "Right now I'm not Sailor Moon, or the moon princess, or even the future Neo Queen Serenity. I'm just plain old Serena Tsukino."

"Soon to be Serena Shields," Darien reminded her as he kissed the top of her head.

"Less than six months now," she chirped, tilting her head back to look at him. "Of course to hear my mother talk you would think that the wedding was only six days away."

"Is she giving you a hard time again?" he asked in concern.

She shook her head. "No, not really. Everything has fallen into place so easily that there's not much left to take care of, mostly minor details like invitations and finalizing the menu. Jess asked if she could design the invitations, so I'm sure they'll be beautiful. Lita has thrown so many dinner and cake suggestions at me that my head's spinning, but I know that anything she makes will be good, so I'm not worried about it. Mina's got the wardrobe taken care of, so that's covered. Now it's just a matter of waiting for the time to come."

Darien grinned. "It'll be here before we know it. Time has flown the past several years. It seems like only yesterday to me that you were a clumsy, wailing, fourteen year old trying her best to be a super heroine."

Serena elbowed him lightly in the stomach. "And you were a tuxedo wearing, rose throwing, wannabe vigilante that ran around chasing dream princesses and hunting crystals."

"And saving damsels in distress. You can't forget that part," he quipped.

She rolled her eyes. "As if I could forget. I would have been dead in that first fight at the jewelry store if you hadn't shown up when you did."

He chuckled. "We've come a long way, haven't we? From royalty, to regular people, then super heroes, and one day back to royalty again; it's like we've turned a full circle."

She sighed. "Yeah it does." Then she thought for a moment. "Darien, do you ever think about the future?"

He smirked at her. "It's kinda hard not to nowadays when we have two living and breathing proofs of it living in the same apartment as us."

She sat up and turned around so that she was facing him. "I mean do you ever really think about it? Sure, we know that we become king and queen and that we have two children, but there's a lot that can happen between now and then. When you think about it, we don't know as much about our future as we thought we did."

Darien shrugged. "That's not necessarily a bad thing. People aren't supposed to know about their futures after all."

Serena jerked her chin up stubbornly. "People aren't supposed to remember their past lives either, but yet I'm sitting here with two lifetimes of memories running through my head."

Darien grabbed her hand and pulled her forward so that she fell onto his chest. "You're thinking too much about it again," he whispered huskily before drowning out her protests with a thorough kiss.

Serena sighed into his mouth as she returned the kiss enthusiastically. Clinging weakly to his shoulders, she thought how she would follow this man through a thousand, no a million lifetimes just to be able to experience the thrill of being in his arms.

She gasped and broke away as she felt his hands slide under the knee length silk dorm shirt she was wearing. "Darien! We're outside!"

He gave her an evil grin. "So what? It's dark out. Besides, all we're doing is making out a little. There's no harm in that. I'd much rather have you behind closed doors before I have my way with you."

"Well if you put it that way…" Serena replied in a teasing tone as she pulled his head down and took control of their next kiss, sweeping her tongue between his parted lips. She reveled in the way he groaned and shuddered slightly in her arms.

Her eyes fluttered open as she pulled back a few minutes later and gazed dazedly into his sparkling midnight orbs. A soft giggle escaped her.

"What's so funny?" Darien asked with a smile.

She shook her head slightly. "Nothing. I'm just so happy right now. I know we have a lot of issues going on, but it's nice to take a break and just be us for a while."

He leaned his forehead against hers as his fingers slowly trailed up and down the length of her back "I know what you mean. No hospital, no scouts, no generals, and no kids, just us."

They both jumped a little when the sliding door on the next balcony over slid open with a bang and a squeal of laughter was heard as Jess ran outside with Andrew right behind her.

Serena moaned and let her head fall to Darien's shoulder. "What was that you just said about no scouts? Or does she technically fall into the kid category?" She looked up and growled at the couple that was too absorbed in each other to realize that they had just intruded on a private moment. Andrew had lifted Jess to sit on the balcony railing and was kissing the tall blonde senseless as she wrapped both her arms and her long bare legs around him.

"Get a room you two!" Serena snapped and then grinned when the two of them leapt like an electrical shock had zapped them.

"What the hell!" Jess shrieked as her sapphire eyes swung to confront the laughing, crystalline blue gaze of her best friend and past mother. "Thanks for ruining the mood, you blonde, airheaded flake!"

Serena lifted a shoulder casually. "I was just trying to keep you from traumatizing the tenants in the next building over with an x-rated show. There could be some pervert over there with a video camera that would love to make you the next internet sensation."

Jess smirked darkly as she took in Serena's own compromising position where she was straddling Darien's hips. "You're one to preach about putting on a show. Besides, it's too dark out for anyone to see anything."

"That's what I said," Darien muttered.

Serena slapped him on the arm. "Hush! Nobody asked you!"

"Anyway," Andrew broke in. His face was flushed a deep red, but he stepped easily into his usual role of playing peacekeeper. "I take it you two are enjoying a peaceful, teenager free evening as well."

"We were until you guys interrupted us," Serena grumbled.

"Thhhbb!" Jess blew a raspberry at her and then began laughing. The tinkling, bell like sound was infectious, and soon they were all chortling with chuckles and giggles.

Conversation struck up between them, and before long Jess and Andrew had jumped over the distance between the two balconies and settled on the chaise that matched the one that Serena and Darien were snuggling on.

Serena looked up at the sky again. "The stars are so bright tonight since the moon's not drowning them out."

Jess shivered. "Yeah, they're pretty, but I like it better when the moon is nice and big and shining instead of just a little sliver. It just seems kinda ominous without it."

Andrew lightly bumped the top of her head with his chin. "Is that a faint thread of homesickness I hear in your voice?"

She shook her head. "No, not really. I think about it sometimes and remember the times we had there, but there's no place else I'd rather be than right here."

"Right on!" Serena agreed. "I cherish my memories of the past, but I wouldn't trade this life for all the chocolate truffles in the world."

Darien rolled his eyes. "Leave it to you to use a food analogy."

She elbowed him. "Look who's talking, Mr. Chocoholic! You know, I've never figured out how you can tell your patients to cut back on sweets and stuff when I know for a fact that you probably have a jumbo size bag of dark chocolate M&M's hidden in your desk."

Darien's face flushed. "Guilty as charged. But in my defense, I am in perfect health while my patients…" he abruptly stopped and swung his eyes out over the city like he was searching for something. "Hey Jess, did you feel that?"

"Feel what?" she grumbled drowsily. "I didn't feel anything."

She almost choked on those words a second later when she and Darien both jumped to their feet as they sensed a huge surge go through the planet beneath them. At almost the same moment, bright gold and silver light shot up into the sky across town from the direction of the bluffs near the bay.

"Here you are, my lady," Alex said with a flourish as he bowed in front of Emma and presented her with the bright yellow teddy bear that the man at the game booth had just given him.

It was cheaply made and its stitched on smile was very visibly lopsided, but Emma took it with a squeal and hugged it to her chest like it was something precious. "Thank you, thank you, thank you! It's sooo cute! I'm going to call it Sunny!"

Alex snorted with laughter. "Sunny, huh?"

She nodded rapidly. "Uh huh! Because it's yellow like the sun. And when I think of the sun, I think of you."

"You're silly," he chuckled as he wrapped an arm around her as they walked down the pier. They had decided to check out the waterfront carnival that he'd overheard some of the guys at school talking about. It wasn't huge, but there were several booths set up with games, food, and merchants selling their goods.

He had considered asking his sister and DJ if they wanted to come, but then had changed his mind. Things had been pretty tense the last couple of days, and he was hoping that maybe his best friend might be able to snap Katie out of the funk she'd been in lately if they spent some time together. And he definitely wasn't opposed to spending some quality alone time with Emma as well.

"So what do you want to do now?" he asked the bubbly blonde next to him.

Her gray eyes lit up. "Let's go get a snow cone! I haven't had one in ages."

"Okay, snow cones it is," he agreed, steering her toward the food vendor with the sign that advertised the icy treats. As they walked along he looked out over the bay toward the bluffs in the distance. What he really wanted to do was throw Emma on the back of his borrowed motorcycle and drive up there until they found a private little hidey-hole where they could really spend some alone time. But they had promised the adults that they would stay in well-populated areas, so that pretty much ruled out the bluffs. That was okay though; there were plenty other places around where they could sneak away to before the night was over.

"What'll it be?" he asked as they reached the end of the line. "Cherry, grape, or…"

He broke off with a gasp and buried his face in his hands as a mind splitting scream tore through his head. For a moment he thought he might pass out from the amount of sheer terror that accompanied it ripping through his body.

Through the daze, he felt Emma grab his arm and her anxious voice asking if he was okay. It wasn't until he felt her fingers tighten and dig into his skin and he heard her let out a strangled screech that he was able to raise his head.

"What is it?" he croaked as he let his eyes follow the path of hers to see why she looked so horrified.

All of the other people on the pier had stopped and were pointing out across the bay where gold and silver light was beginning to fade away.

"Kat…DJ," Alex whispered in shock. Then his adrenaline kicked in. "We've got to go!" he exclaimed, grabbing Emma by the hand and pulling her behind him as they darted their way quickly through the crowd. Once they were away from people, they ducked behind a parked car and transformed quickly.

Calling on their super human speed, they managed to cross the distance from one side of the bay to the other in a matter of minutes. Once they reached the base of the bluffs they took to the trees, leaping and jumping their way up the side of the cliffs. Near the top they finally heard sounds of a fight and dropped down into a nightmare.

DJ lay sprawled on the ground, unconscious with his head resting against a large rock. Blood was smeared across his face and beginning to pool beneath him as it gushed from an almost four inch long gash at his temple.

Standing between his prone form and the figure of a super sized, snarling wolf sentinel was Sailor Eclipse. Every available speck of white on her fuku was stained red from the blood that was pouring out from the multiple slashes and bite marks that covered her body.

She swayed on her feet, clearly battling against the effects of both blood loss and sentinel poisoning, but she showed no signs of backing down as she sent sparkling ropes of silver energy flying from her fingers toward the wolf.

With a howl it snapped its jaws down on the attack and jerked its head, sending the severely injured girl flying through the air and into a tree with a bone-crushing thud. Her transformation vanished in a flurry of silver sparks as she fell to the ground and didn't move.

"Kat!" Phoenix yelled as he unleashed a wave of solar fire at the sentinel and Sailor Ishtar sent one of her golden arrows speeding toward it. Before either attack could hit it, the wolf shimmered and vanished as if it had never been there.

Phoenix and Ishtar ran to Katie, who was the closest to them, and let out startled exclamations at the sight of the amount of blood that had already began to soak the ground under her. The breaths panting out between her pained moans were shallow and raspy in her chest.

Phoenix tore off his long black coat and began to wrap it gently around his sister's badly beaten form. He jerked his head toward his fallen friend. "Em, go check on DJ. I've got to find a way to get Kat back to Darien so he can heal her."

"I'm already here," Tuxedo Mask said gravely as he dropped from a tree branch, closely followed by Sailor Moon, Sailor Shadow, and Andrew. He hurried over to Katie and wasted no time in covering her in the healing power of the Golden Crystal.

Sailor Moon rushed to DJ, who had begun to groan and was trying to push himself into a sitting position.

"Hey, take it easy," she cautioned him as put a steadying arm around him and helped him to sit.

He used his arm to wipe the blood out of his eyes. "Oh man! What the hell happened? My head feels like it's going to explode."

"Sentinel attack," Ishtar told him as she hunkered down in front of him. "Looked like a bad one too. You were already down and Katie was barely standing by the time Alex and I got here."

His eyes flared at the memory of that giant wolf charging out of the trees at them. The last thing he remembered was getting knocked back by the creature's tail as he tried to get it off of Sailor Eclipse when it had bitten her on the arm.

"Kat," he moaned, trying to get to his feet.

Sailor Moon held him down. "Hold on just a minute there, mister! Darien's taking care of her, but you're not in such hot shape either. Can you heal yourself, or do you need to wait for him."

"I've got it," he grumbled, closing his eyes and fighting past the pain to draw on his healing powers. He sighed in relief as all of the pain vanished.

"Okay, I'm fine!" he said testily, shaking off his future mother's arm. "Now can I go see her?"

"All right," she agreed, standing and reaching down a hand to help him up.

He walked slowly over to where Tuxedo Mask was knelt down as he held his golden glowing hands over the body lying in front of him. His back was to him and his cape billowed in the breeze, blocking DJ's sight of Katie until he had walked around past Sailor Shadow, who was sobbing quietly on Andrew's shoulder, to stand by a detransformed Alex.

His heart seized up and then felt like it shattered as he took in the now half healed bite marks and gashes that marred his girlfriend's normally glowing, lightly tanned skin. Her clothes were covered in blood and the red gunk streaked her fair hair.

"Is she going to be okay?" he whispered.

Alex nodded tightly. "Darien said she would. She had a shitload of poison in her system. I don't see how she stayed standing as long as she did. What about you? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," he replied shortly. "Serena made me heal myself before I got up."

"Good," Alex said softly. "Now I won't feel bad about doing this."

"Doing what?" DJ asked as he turned to face his friend.

WHAM!

Alex's fist hit DJ square in the jaw, snapping his head aside and sending him stumbling back several steps before he fell to the ground. He rubbed his jaw and glared up Alex, who was standing over him.

"What the hell was that for!" he yelled.

Alex stood trembling in fury. His deep sea eyes burned like the blue fire at the center of a candle flame. When he spoke his voice came out as a vicious hiss. "I'll tell you what, you worthless bastard! What the hell were you two doing up here in the first place? I trusted you with my sister's life. I thought you would be able to keep her safe. Instead I show up to find her almost dead trying to protect your sorry ass!"

DJ climbed slowly to his feet and reached out a hand toward the boy that had been like a brother to him his whole life. "Lex, man, I'm sor…" He had to duck to avoid another punch.

Alex crossed his arms and leveled a dark, murderous look on him. "If you come near my sister again, you son of a bitch, I will kill you!"

DJ returned his look with a furious glare of his own. "Then I guess you'll just to try to kill me then, because I love Katie. And neither you, nor anyone else is going to keep me from her."

A/N Whew! The testosterone is certainly flying now. The past and future are about to clash in a huge way. Now it's time to see whether time will be changed and if anyone is going to die in the process. We have four potential targets for death now, Alex, Katie, Jess, and Serena. If any of them are killed then the entire future may disappear. But hopefully Chronos's wish will come true and the Fates will get screwed out of severing the threads of any of their lives. I also had fun writing the little after whoopee scene with Rini and Helios. Everybody else has been having their intimate moments and I didn't want to leave them out in the cold. After all, they're on their way to the alter and I didn't want them to seem like a little goody two shoes couple. I am playing a little bit with Beryl's character right now. I can't decide whether or not to have Serena blast her skinny ass into oblivion or possibly have her give the witch a second chance. What do you guys think? I would love to hear your opinions on it. I know I won't be able to make everyone happy with the outcome, but the feedback would still be welcomed. Okay! So coming up, Metallia makes her grand appearance, all hell breaks loose in present day Tokyo as Discord launches an all out strike, and the friction between DJ and Alex reaches devastating proportions with poor Katie stuck in the middle as they battle it out. The rooftop showdown is on the way. Will The Galactic Trinity survive? I guess we'll see! Thank you so much for reading! Please hit the review button and tell me what you think. I'll catch everybody next update. Later! Lots of love!

~Sere~