The Galactic Trinity

by PrincessSerenity1976

Sequel to Lunar Princess of the Earth. Three teens are on the run from an enemy in Crystal Tokyo. They find themselves in present day Tokyo with our favorite heroes. What will happen when their identities are revealed? Read to see. Full summary inside.

21. A Stitch In Time

A/N Hiya guys! You know what this means, it's update time! I don't really have a whole lot to say, but I do want to take a moment and thank all of you wonderful reviewers. I never thought that this story would even come close to surpassing its predecessor, Lunar Princess, as far as reviews go. But it is closing in fast. Thank you so much for all of your inspiring words and for pointing out when I slip up and make careless mistakes. As much as I hate to admit it, I'm only human. So on that note, let me give out my hugs for chapter 18's reviews. BIG HUGS TO:

R.I.P. Jake AmaraMichelle

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Thank you so much everybody! Now I know I left you with a cliffhanger last time, so I'm going to let you get on with it.

ENJOY!

The Galactic Trinity

Chapter 19

A Stitch in Time

Sailor Eclipse screamed as the sharp, gleaming teeth of the rabid looking panther slashed down toward her neck. At the last possible moment her seemingly paralyzed body sprang to life and she shoved both of her hands up under its jaw, stopping its deadly assault only a few inches away from her skin. The large cat snarled and snapped, obviously furious that she had decided to fight back.

A sob welled in her chest as she shoved against it with all her might, hoping to push it off balance enough that she would be able to roll away from it. She knew that she could blast it off of her, but she was afraid that if she diverted her attention, even for just a fraction of a second to concentrate on her powers, that the beast would rip her throat out.

So here she was stuck fighting physically against the creature. And while all the training she had endured in her life had made her stronger than the average sixteen-year-old girl, she was still at a huge disadvantage against an enemy that easily weighed four times as much as she did.

She wondered briefly if Sailor Callisto or Sailor Caloris were aware of the predicament she was in. After all, they had been fighting nearby only a few moments before. But things had been so hectic with them trying to eliminate the horde of evil beings that had suddenly appeared that they probably didn't have a clue. She was sure that her friends would have come to her aid by now if they knew.

Her arms began to shake under the pressure of holding up the beast and its claws dug into her shoulders. She could felt the sting of its venom as it started seeping into her body, but she wasn't concerned about that. If she could just keep the thing from shredding her to ribbons she would be able to find either DJ or Darien and be healed.

Adrenaline spiked through her body as she got angry. There was no way that she was going to lay here on the concrete and die, damn it! She had a mission to accomplish and dreams to fulfill. She was going to fix this problem between her brother and DJ, and then the three of them were going to take care of Discord so that they could move on with their lives. She wanted to expand her musical horizons. She wanted to see the world. And if she was lucky she hoped to one day marry her prince and share her life with him. She didn't want to die, and she sure didn't want to turn into the tortured, bitter creature she had witnessed her future self to be.

Never allow your emotions to override your control of your powers. That was the one lesson that had been pounded into her head over and over as far back as she could remember. It was one that she had struggled with all of her life; one that she had grown up watching her own mother battle against.

Crystals bonded with their carriers at an extremely deep level. It had even been debated in centuries gone by whether crystals that were powerful enough to bestow supernatural powers on their carriers were sentient, but no proof of this was ever found. And while some crystals attached themselves to their bearers psyche, some delved inside the emotions of the ones they resided inside.

Sailor Eclipse, like her mother before her, was one of the ones that had an emotional attachment to her crystal. While she had inherited some of her father's level-headedness, she had also been passed on a good deal of her mother's infamous temper. And right now the rage and anger inside of her was as much of a snarling and snapping beast as the one that was pinning her down.

Fortunately for her and the billions of other people on the planet, her power wasn't connected to the Earth in any way. But unfortunately for the sentinel on top of her, that only meant that if she lost control of her powers that the planet wouldn't go kaput the way it would if her mother went psycho for five minutes.

Desperate and at the end of her rope, she let her anger flow through her. She was sick of this shit! She was tired of feeling like her only purpose in life was to obtain her share of a greater power so the bad guy could be defeated. She wanted her life back damn it!

Tendrils of silver power began snapping around her, crackling like electricity. This way of releasing her power required no thought, so her attention never wavered from the sentinel. With every ounce of strength she possessed she shoved up against the giant cat. Her eyes turned to a blazing silver and her back bowed up from the ground as her power reached its zenith. Then, completely out of her control, her energy arced out from her in a brilliant flash of light.

It was so bright that even she had to close her eyes lest she be blinded by it. She felt a whoosh as the energy rushed from her body, and then the weight disappeared from on top of her body. Her back slammed down into the ground with such force that she could have sworn that she felt the individual vertebrae rattle. There was also a light tickling sensation as small particles rained down on her skin, and she sobbed a relieved breath knowing that her attacker was destroyed.

"Katie!" she heard a voice shriek her name, and a smile appeared on her face as she opened her eyes and rolled to her side to push herself up into a sitting position. Sailor Callisto and Sailor Caloris were sprinting toward her.

"Damn, girlfriend! What the hell did you do?" Callisto asked as she hunkered down next to her.

Eclipse shrugged. "I got mad. That thing was only inches away from trying to finish what it started the other night."

"Nice!" Callisto drawled and gave her a high five.

"No! Not nice!" Caloris interjected. "Katie, you know that you should never give anger free reign over your power. What if you had damaged any nearby buildings? There are people in there!"

"Save it, Hannah!" Eclipse snapped, but not unkindly as she staggered to her feet. "I never said that it was smart. But I was in a sticky situation and it was either kill or be killed. So I really didn't have much of a choice. I just had to hope that I didn't take down a city block in the process."

The blue haired scout sniffed daintily and then grimaced at the spots of blood on the shoulders of her friend's fuku. Her computer was instantly in her hand. "It was still a reckless move! Anyway, you've got some sentinel poisoning in your system that needs to be addressed. I better call DJ and tell him to get over here and patch you up."

"He's already on the way," Eclipse grumbled ruefully. She could feel not only his aura speeding toward her, but that of her brother's as well. Both of their voices were yelling in her head and she took a moment to pop off a mental 'I'm fine' to both of them and send a wave of reassurance flowing through their bond so that they would both chill.

Callisto looked around and tapped her foot impatiently. "Well I think you took out every baddie in a five block radius with your little light show. Hell! You may have even cleared our whole area as well. Thanks a lot for taking all the fun for yourself!"

Caloris looked up from her computer. "They're not all gone. I'm still picking up a few running around. But they're erratic and hard to track. That could indicate that they are high level enemies."

"Sounds like my kind of guys!" Callisto exclaimed as she pounded her fists together. "We should probably go take care of them."

Caloris nodded. "You're right." Then she turned to Eclipse. "Will you be okay here by yourself?"

Eclipse chuckled. "Go on! I won't be alone for long. In fact, in about another minute or so I'll probably have more company than I need."

The other two girls nodded and then jumped away to take to the roofs to look for any more of Discord's disgusting little pets that needed to be eliminated.

Eclipse sagged against a brick wall and then slid down to sit on the sidewalk. She was starting to feel a little woozy from the sentinel venom and knew that the best thing she could do was to sit calmly until help arrived. A slight wave of nausea and dizziness swept through her and she buried her face in her pulled up knees. She counted off the seconds as she prayed for it to pass.

She had just reached sixty when a low growl caught her attention. Her head came up slowly and her eyes widened as she saw a wolf sentinel step out of a nearby alley. It must have somehow slipped past Callisto and Caloris and come to investigate the power surge that had destroyed its comrades.

Its glowing red eyes were fixated intently on her and she forced her sluggish body to stand, though she would have fallen over if it hadn't been for the wall behind her. Her heart pounded despite her efforts to remain calm. She knew that an increased heart rate would only pump the poison through her system that much faster. She gathered her energy together and summoned her silver whip to her hands as the wolf crouched in preparation to attack.

Things suddenly seemed to turn fuzzy and slow down to a crawl to her. She saw the sentinel leap toward her, and it was gliding through the air. She forced her hands up, but they moved so slowly. She knew that there was no way that she would ever be able to launch a counterattack against it before it got to her.

Something gold and shiny flew past her vision and hit the wolf between the eyes. It knocked it back several feet and sent it slamming to the street. But it also moved it out of the line of fire of a second, bright red-orange attack that followed only a second after the first.

Eclipse caught a glimpse of the white rose that crackled with golden energy that was embedded in the wolf's forehead before it shook it's head hard, dislodging the rose, and bounded away down an alley.

Then she felt herself grabbed up and hugged tightly against someone. A low voice growled in her ear, "Holy shit, Kat! Are you trying to give me a heart attack on purpose?"

She pulled back slightly and pushed her brother's light brown hair away from his dark blue eyes with shaky fingers before whispering, "Sorry about that, Lex."

His eyes were hard as they looked her over. They narrowed as he took in the bright spots of blood where the cat's claws had dug into her shoulders. "I really can't turn my back on you for a second, can I? I leave you alone for an hour and come back to find you beat up again. You are an absolute train wreck!"

"Thanks a lot for your words of concern!" she snapped back as sarcastically as she could. She gathered her fledgling strength and used it to pull herself out of his confining grip. She glared at him for a moment before turning to the one that had saved her from the wolf.

Phantom was sheathing his sword as he walked toward them in his long legged stride. He also checked her over visually, but instead of chastising her he only sighed and shook his head before he whispered, "Come here," and pulled her to him.

She couldn't stop the moan of relief that escaped her as she wrapped her arms around his waist and felt his healing golden energy seep into her body. The stinging of her wounds disappeared and a few moments later the dizziness and nausea vanished as well.

She felt his lips against her hair as he said softly. "What were you thinking? You promised Jess that you wouldn't leave the building."

Now that she felt energized and more like herself, she looked up to give him a mischievous grin. "No. I agreed to stay out of things unless the enemy invaded the building. Once they came inside all bets were off. Skye, Hannah, and I pushed them back outside, but there were so many. I couldn't leave them alone to go up against a force that size."

He crushed her close to him in a massive hug. "No. I guess you couldn't," he muttered.

"They could have handled it without you," Phoenix snarled. "Once you cleared the building you should have stayed put. You are not at the top of your game right now. That sentinel could have turned you into filet mignon easily. I'm just glad we got here when we did. I had a bead on the sucker, but somebody," he glowered at Phantom, "beat me to the punch."

Phantom shrugged. "I told you I had it."

"And I told you that I would take care of it!" Phoenix fired back. "But oh no! You had to give into that massive ego of yours and turn into a show off in front of my sister. As if you don't already have her drooling and panting over you as it is!"

Eclipse went ramrod stiff. "Hey! Take that back! I don't drool and pant over anybody!"

Sailor Ishtar, who up until now had remain a passive observer, quickly covered Phoenix's mouth with a hand as he prepared to return with what she was sure would be a scathing comment. "Okay! Down children, before I send you all to time out! Katie, which way did Skye and Hannah go?"

Eclipse pointed toward the east. "That way. They were going to check the rest of the area because Hannah was having a hard time tracking the enemy threats on her computer."

She nodded firmly. "Hey, Jay! I think that perhaps it would be a good idea if we go after Skye and Hannah to make sure they don't need our help. And maybe that will give these three knuckleheads a chance to ah…talk things out."

The blond boy had been watching the whole exchange in wide-eyed disbelief, but he quickly snapped to attention. "Yeah, that sounds like a good idea. How about we do that. I don't want to get stuck in the middle of this domestic dispute if things turn ugly."

Sailor Ishtar pulled her hand away from her boyfriend's mouth and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek before hurrying away with Flame to find their friends.

This left the two teenage boys and the girl standing in the middle of the street, glancing at one another awkwardly as they each cautiously weighed the tension between them. It flowed as thick as hot lava between the two glaring males while the blonde girl felt like a bobbing sailboat between them, quickly going up in flames as she once again found herself stuck in the middle of their combativeness.

After several long, tense moments, Phantom made the first move. He took Eclipse by the arm lightly and murmured, "Come on, Kat. Let's go back to the penthouse so you can kick back. You've seen quite a bit of action tonight."

Immediately Phoenix was by her side and had her by her other arm. "I will take her back to the penthouse and keep an eye on her. You can feel free to go see if anyone needs help."

Phantom pulled lightly against her, making her take a step toward him. "I am perfectly capable of escorting her back myself, without a chaperone. So why don't you go and check in and see how your parents are doing or something?"

Phoenix tugged her back toward him. "Why don't you go and check in with mommy and daddy? You're parents are out there too in case you've forgotten."

Eclipse was yanked back in the other direction again. "I just meant that Kat might like an update on your parent's fight. I'm sure she's worried about them."

She was pulled off balance once again. "My parents can handle themselves. Right now my biggest concern is making sure Kat is safe and okay."

They were both tugging on her at the same time now. And it made her feel like a splinter of wood that had been wedged between them that they were both trying to yank out. She felt helpless between them as they argued, and then her temper bubbled to the surface at them talking about her and treating her like an inanimate object.

She jerked away from both of them with a growl. "Would you two knock it off! I happen to be standing right here! And the last time I checked I was plenty old enough to make my own decisions. If I feel like I need to go and rest, then I am perfectly capable of going back to the penthouse myself. I don't need you guys fussing over me like a couple of mother hens! I am not made out of spun glass, and I can take care of myself! You guys are driving me crazy with this insane power play and I'm sick of it!"

She stomped several feet away from them and then whirled back. "I can't stand having the two of you fighting like this! I feel like you are forcing me to choose between you, and I can't do that!"

Tears were running down her face now and she turned away from them to walk down the street. After about twenty steps, the horror of what her words may have just triggered between her twin brother and her boyfriend hit her hard and she spun around.

But all she saw was an empty stretch of concrete. Both of the guys had disappeared.

Her knees shook, and then gave out as she slumped to the ground. It seemed that the time she had been dreading had finally come. And it was all her fault.

---

Sailor Shadow clutched at the pain in her side as she ran. Discord's eerie laughter echoed in the smoky gloom around her and sent shivers skittering down her spine. She saw the shape of a figure ahead of her and felt like crying in relief when she realized that it was Andrew. She blew past her fiancé without pausing, grabbing his hand to pull him with her.

"Jess! What's going on?" he demanded as he fell into pace beside her. "Did I hear you say something about Discord?"

"He's here!" she gasped. "He tried to ambush me under the cover of the smoke. He's coming after both of us for revenge for what we did to him before. We have to find Serena, Darien, and the others quickly!"

"You're hurt!" Andrew exclaimed as he saw the blood on her fuku and on the gloved hand she had pressed to her side.

"It's just a scratch," she said tightly. "He snuck up behind me like a coward and tried to run me through. I jumped out of the way, but I wasn't quite fast enough."

"That's more than a scratch," he argued. "That cut looks pretty deep and it's still bleeding."

"I'll get over it!" she insisted. "Darien will be able to fix me right up as soon as we get off of this bridge and down to the pier."

"What's left of the pier, you mean," an amused voice said as the smoke before them swirled and Discord appeared. "Metallia and Beryl blew it up at about the same time I set off the explosions up here. And all of your little friends are scattered across the city fighting for their lives as we speak, so there's no one to come to your aid. It's just you and me."

"What do you want?" Sailor Shadow ground out between clenched teeth.

Discord laughed evilly. "Straight to the point, eh? What do you think I want from you, princess? I want the same thing that I've always wanted. I want your power. With it there will be nothing in the universe that will be able to stop me. I will resurrect the rest of my children and we will continue our path of carnage and destruction that we began so long ago."

Sailor Shadow put a hand to her chest where she could feel not only her heart pounding but also the thrumming of power from the Celestial Crystal. She glared at the evil being before her with malice spitting from her eyes. "You can't have it!"

He waved a bony hand arrogantly. "Rest assured, dear Melody, that crystal will be mine. I will take it from you by force if I have to and then kill both you and your solarian lover. It will be like killing two birds with one stone. Not only will I gain the power that I have craved and rid myself of your bothersome presence, but your death will also ensure that two other little nuisances will be removed from my hair. That is if my little pet doesn't take care of your brats first."

Andrew had heard enough. He pulled Sailor Shadow behind him and stood protectively in front of her. Copper colored light surrounded him as he powered up to his true form. The long black duster faded away to reveal the bronze armor of a solarian officer.

"I'm sick and tired of you threatening my family," he hissed as he unsheathed his sword. "You have made multiple attempts on my future wife's life and sent my children running from their home."

Discord tilted his head to the side. "And what are you going to do about it? You don't have the power to take me on and your princess can't unleash her full power without devastating the planet. Your hands are tied."

"No they're not," Shadow spoke up softly. "There was a time that I would have fought against you with as much power as I could without destroying the planet with total disregard for my own life. But now I know that all Andrew and I have to do is survive so that our children can be born. As long as we live and Serena and Darien live, you don't stand a chance."

Discord's eyes were two glowing spots of red inside the darkness of his hood. "That's where you are mistaken, princess. Even if you miraculously managed to somehow escape me, I can assure you that those little bastards will not survive the night. I will not allow the threat of the Galactic Trinity being awakened to continue. No matter which way you look at it, you will lose."

He snapped his fingers and two guardians, a male and a female, appeared by his side with swords drawn. "Take care of them for me. Kill the man, but try not to mess up his body too bad. I have plans for him. And do not kill the princess. That honor belongs to me. Bring her before me."

They both bowed. "Yes sir!" Then they attacked swiftly.

Andrew barely had time to raise his own sword to meet the blade that the male sent slashing at him. As he blocked and prepared a counterattack he sent up a prayer of silent thanks that Darien and Kunzite had been working with him over the last couple of years. He'd already be shish kabob if they hadn't. He heard the sounds of a scuffle behind him as the female attacked Sailor Shadow and he worried about her fighting with her injury. He fought against the urge to turn around and check on her, knowing that it would mean instant death for him if he took his eyes off of his opponent. So he stayed focused on winning his fight instead.

Sailor Shadow ignored the burning pain in her side as she ducked and dodged the sword that the guardian kept lunging at her with. She kept jumping back, trying to put enough distance between them that she would have time to get off an energy blast at her attacker, but the female mirrored her every step and didn't give her an inch.

She saw an area that was dark with shadows and began backing toward it, knowing that this was just the advantage she needed to get the drop on this demon woman. As soon as she entered the darkened area she pulled the shadows around her tightly and seemed to disappear. While the guardian stood there in stunned disbelief, she scurried back several feet in the darkness. She called upon the powers of her crystal and shot a blast of blue energy. The female guardian screamed as the power hit her, and then crumbled to dust.

She spun around just in time to see Andrew slip under his attacker's guard and send his blade into its chest. She breathed a short sigh of relief as her eyes darted around, searching for the one that was the biggest threat. But Discord had disappeared.

Then a breath brushed her ear as a voice spoke next to it. "You're not the only one that likes to play in the dark, princess."

She turned with a shriek that was cut short as a skeletal hand closed around her neck with surprising strength and lifted her several inches off the ground. She choked and gasped for breath as she struggled to try and pull the hand free. She heard Andrew cry her name, but with the force almost crushing her windpipe she couldn't answer.

"Stay back! Or I'll snap her like a twig," Discord warned her would be savior. Her vision was beginning to turn black around the edges as she heard him whisper, "I finally have you." And then he placed his other hand against her chest.

She would have screamed if she could. It felt like the blood in her veins had turned to fire and the ripping and tearing sensation in her chest was so great that she almost lost the battle to stay conscious. War was raging inside her body as Discord tried to force her crystal out of her body with his dark energy and the natural protective powers of the crystal fought back.

She knew he had to be feeling almost as much pain as she was, but he held on tenaciously. Even when ribbons of blue energy began to radiate out from her to crackle around him his hold never lessened.

Then there was one final surge of pain as she felt something tear free from her chest. There was a flash of blue light, and the torture was over. The Celestial Crystal was outside of her body, floating just inches away from her. Her fuku faded away to jeans and a t-shirt as Discord finally let her go and she fell to the ground.

"It's mine at last," the evil entity laughed. "After centuries of plotting and planning the Celestial Crystal is mine. Now I hold the power that will allow me to rule the universe, undisputed!"

He used a foot to roll over the woman at his feet as she lay gasping for air. He chuckled as she glared up at him and her breath rasped in her chest. "You're not so high and mighty now, are you? Without your power you are no more than a pathetic human, and you've definitely outlived your usefulness to me. Goodbye."

He was preparing to blast her with dark energy when he was hit with a wave of swirling solar energy. He grabbed at the blue, star shaped crystal, but his fingers only batted at it as he stumbled back and the crystal flew in a high arc toward the side of the bridge.

"No. No. NO!" Jess screamed and shot unsteadily to her feet to lunge after her crystal as it went over the side and began to fall. She leaned over the railing as far as she could and reached for it, but it was to far away.

Discord had chased after the crystal as well, and his body slammed into hers. She flipped over the rail and began the long freefall toward the dark waters below.

---

Tuxedo Mask heaved a sigh and once again tried to step around the woman that kept blocking his path no matter which direction he turned. But once more her skeletal body was in his way. "Give it a rest, Beryl. I've told you a hundred times that I'm not interested in you. How many more times do I have to say it before it finally sinks into that thick skull of yours? Now get out of my way! I want to go find Serena."

The red haired witch crossed her arms across her surprisingly ample chest and sneered down her long pointed nose at him. "I asked you a question once, centuries ago, and you never gave me an answer."

He threw his hands up in the air in frustration. "Okay, Beryl! I'll bite! What question do you want answered so badly?"

Satisfaction gleamed in her red-brown eyes at his acquiescence. "Do you remember that day that you came into your room at the palace and I was there waiting for you? You had been out training with your generals and you were glistening with sweat."

He rolled his eyes behind his mask. "Yes I remember. I also remember that I tossed you out on your ass."

She hissed at him. "I wasn't going to bring that small misfortunate event up. I just merely remembered the words I said to you after you yelled at me and called me a whore. I told you that I hoped you weren't still pining over your broken engagement to the moon princess. Of course I didn't know at the time that you had eloped with her. But when you told me to mind my own business I asked you what Serenity had that I didn't. And then you threw me out without answering me."

He removed his mask and pinched the bridge of his nose in irritation. "Fine! You want to know what I see when I look at her? I see someone that actually has a heart. I see a woman that's as beautiful on the inside as she is on the outside. Her love and compassion know no boundaries. She would give the shirt off her back to a stranger if they needed it. She has her dreams and ambitions, but she would never step on anyone else in order to achieve them. She is without a doubt the purest person that I have ever met."

"Enough!" Beryl snarled. "All this talk of goodness and light is making me nauseous. So she's a sweet little princess. Who cares? Queens have to be strong and firm or their subjects will walk all over them. She will never be the kind of queen you need to rule at your side. I, on the other hand, am exactly what this planet needs to bring it back to its former glory. Think of the great things you and I could accomplish together, Endymion. We could make the Earth one of the greatest planets in the universe."

He shook his head. "Now I see why Serena always felt a little bit of pity for you. You've thrown away your life for a delusion that will never happen. I think you would have had a happy life if you had left things alone. You were a princess in your own right. Your clan respected and followed you. You were already a powerfully magical being as well. And I truly believe that Talon loved you at one time. You had a lot going in your life, but you threw it away in your insane quest for more power."

"Shut up!" she screamed, shaking with rage. "Don't pretend that you know me, Endymion! I knew from the first moment that I saw you that you were the only one for me. And I will have you no matter what I have to do to get you."

A dark crystal glittered in her hand. "The happiest time in my existence was when I had you all to myself. Sure I had to brainwash you to get you there, but it was worth it. And I'll do it again. I will immobilize you so that you can't fight back and rip that infernal Golden Crystal from your body. Then I will pump so much dark energy into your body that you will know no one but me. And without your precious little Serenity around to break the spell this time, you will be all mine!"

She lunged for him, the paralyzing crystal poised to plunge into whatever part of his body she would be able to reach. Her eyes were wild and crazed and her face was twisted into a grotesque mask of bitterness.

He grabbed her wrist and twisted it, making her drop the crystal, and then bent her arm behind her back. "You know, Beryl, I've never been the type to condone violence against women, but you are seriously beginning to try my patience. This sick obsession you have for me has gone on long enough. I never have been and I never will be yours, so you need to get over it. Now I'm telling you one last time to get the hell out of my way before I drag you off by that Medusa hair of yours and throw you to the sailor scouts. I'm sure you know as well as I do that they would enjoy turning you into confetti."

"Oh, please!" Beryl retorted angrily. "Those little girls do not frighten me! Now let go of me! You're starting to make me mad, and you don't want to see me mad!"

Tuxedo Mask snorted and shoved her away with enough force that she stumbled and fell. "No, Beryl. I'm the one that you don't want to see lose their temper, and you're pushing me dangerously close to my breaking point. You can fall into the deepest pit of hell for all I care. I'm going after my princess."

He stepped around her and walked away; already reaching through the bond he shared with Serena to locate her presence. And then he felt the malicious presence behind him, accompanied by a rush of air, and he spun.

In a flash of golden light he transformed into Prince Endymion, complete in his black and silver armor. In less than a second he had pulled his sword and lunged, and it met with resistance.

"I didn't want it to be like this, Beryl," he said solemnly. "I thought that perhaps there may still be some small spark of humanity left in you that would allow you to let this go. I even foolishly thought that you might be ready to start a new life. Serena would have used the Silver Crystal to purge you of Metallia's evil power. You could have gone back to your people and had a fresh start. Instead you let your greed and obsession rule you."

Beryl looked down in shock at the sword that was buried in her stomach. Black blood flowed around the blade and stained her lips as she lifted her head to meet his gaze. The manic light in her eyes was slowly dying. "Why, Endymion? I would have given you everything. I love you."

His sword made a sickening shlurp sound as he pulled it out. She fell back to the ground where she lay as he stood over her. True pain and sadness shown on his face.

He shook his head. "No, Beryl. What you felt for me was never love. I was nothing more than another rung on the ladder of power that you were so desperate to climb up. I am sorry that things have turned out the way they have, but I have to protect my family."

Her eyes fluttered closed and he turned away from the woman that had caused so much misery for him and every person that he held dear to him. His armor faded back into his tuxedo and he slid his mask back into place over his eyes. He honed in on Serena's presence and began following it down the rocky bank of the bay.

He tried contacting her telepathically, but was unable to get in touch with her. The link between them was full of static like a bad cell phone reception. That did little to ease his mind and he picked up his pace, zooming at super human speed toward where he felt a dim speck of her aura.

By his estimation, he had probably gone close to two miles when he rounded a bend and finally saw her. He skidded to a stop. Her golden hair glinted wetly in the night light and she was locked in a tight embrace with…Queen Serenity?

He was confused for a moment. He'd thought that the only time that the moon queen could take a physical form was during the phase of the new moon. That was when moon magic was at its strongest. He looked up at the half moon and shrugged. Well whatever had brought about her sudden appearance, he was glad for it. Queen Serenity was a very wise soul and she may have some helpful advice for them.

Then the moonlight glittered off of something and caught his attention. He saw Sailor Moon step back from her former mother with a perplexed smile on her face. The queen smiled back at her and moved a hand from behind her back. He saw then that what had sparkled so brightly was a long spear of crystal.

Adrenaline kicked him back into motion. His feet pounded on the rocks and he yelled, "Serena!" as loud as he could. She spun around to face him just as the queen thrust the spear forward.

"Dare…" was all she got out of her mouth before he barreled into her, covering her body with his. A sharp, stabbing pain hit him in his back and exploded through the left side of his chest less than a millisecond later.

They hit the ground hard and rolled several times before coming to a stop. He landed on top of her and raised his heavy head to look at her blearily. She stared up at him with wide, shocked eyes.

"I'm glad you're okay," he mumbled. And then darkness swallowed him.

---

Tears streaked Sailor Pluto's face as she slowly reached toward the time mirror to trace the tears that were streaming down her princess's face as she held her severely injured prince's head on her lap.

"I know it seems like history is repeating itself, Serenity," the scout of time murmured. "But I promise you that this time will be different. You will not lose your prince. You two have too much ahead of you for your lives to end now."

An arm settled around her shoulders and she turned to look at her grandfather. The tall, dark green haired god gave her a small, commiserating smile. "I know this is hard to watch, Junebug. But ensuring that Endymion arrived in time to save her was the only way to keep Serenity from dying."

Pluto swiped at her cheeks. "I know. I just hate seeing either one of them in pain. They've been through so much already and they have more challenges that they will face in their future if they make it through this."

Chronos patted her gently. "They'll be fine. The earth prince will be hale and hearty in no time." He slid a glance toward the three people crowded around the other side of the mirror. "At least he will be once the Three Stooges decide to get their asses in gear."

Gaia looked over her shoulder at him and stuck her tongue out. "I know you're not particularly known for your patience, Chronos. But could you at least try this once to control your impulsive nature? The time is almost right for us to act."

Selene wrung her hands worriedly. "Do we really have to let them fight between themselves? I hate to think of those two sweet boys knocking each other around like punching bags. It's absolutely terrible."

Apollo snorted. "They're not really going to hurt each other all that much. But they need this wake up call to stop taking one another for granted and realize how much they mean to each other. It will make for a strong bond between them. One that even Discord won't be able to shatter. Need I remind you of the uncertainties that that monster was able to implant in Serenity, Jonathan, and Edward when they faced him?"

The silver haired goddess shook her head. "No. I remember clearly. You're right, Apollo."

"I just wish they'd hurry up and get on with it!" Gaia grumbled. "This suspense is killing me."

Chronos nudged Pluto and whispered loudly, "And she is the one who was preaching to me about patience just a few moments ago."

Gaia twirled around in a swirl of long mahogany hair and put her hands on her hips. She opened her mouth to deliver what was sure to be a scathing comeback, but she was interrupted as the large double doors to Chronos's chamber flew open with a bang.

Every person the room fell still and silent as the new arrival walked in. He was tall, standing close to seven feet, with long silvery-white hair that fell to just below his shoulders. His skin was bronzed as if he had been sunbathing on a beach, and it contrasted sharply with his fair hair and extremely light blue eyes. He appeared to be no older than his early thirties and was dressed in a pair of black leather pants with a flowing white tunic.

His almost colorless eyes flicked over every occupant of the room before he spoke. "So, I see my suspicions have been proven correct. There has been something going on behind my back."

Chronos swallowed hard. "Zeus…I…"

The king of the gods raised a silencing hand. "Easy, brother. I didn't come here to condemn you. Despite my hardass reputation you should know by now that I'm not a complete bastard. I'm actually very thankful that you lot have tried to take care of this problem without bothering me with it. I've had to put up with so much whining and crying from the rest of the court lately that I've come severely close to gouging out my own eardrums with a red hot poker just so I don't have to listen to any more of it."

He turned a hard stare on Sailor Pluto. "So, young Setsuna. Discord took over the time gate and the timeline spun out of control, huh?"

She bowed her head meekly. "Yes, your majesty. It's all my fault."

"No, Setsuna," Chronos interjected. "It's not all your fault. Zeus, she was simply trying to preserve the timeline the way it should be. But Discord made some unexpected moves and created an alternate future. We have been trying to fix the glitch and set things back on track."

Zeus nodded slowly. "And are things going the way you had hoped?"

Chronos spared a glance to the mirror where it showed three teens scurrying across the rooftops of Tokyo. "We believe so. We should be finding out in the next few minutes."

Zeus grinned and sat down in a chair before propping his feet up on the table. "Excellent! I could use a little entertainment. Pour me a glass of wine, brother, and we'll watch and see how your little soap opera plays out."

---

Sailor Eclipse jumped blindly from roof to roof. She swiped at her eyes to rid them of the tears that were clouding her vision. Below her in the streets the fight was raging on. She wasn't sure whose area she was in now, but she had seen a flash of light blue light a few moments before and assumed it had come from Sailor Mercury. And considering she was only a few blocks from the hospital it seemed like a safe bet.

She paused for a moment, glancing around anxiously. She knew without a doubt that the angry words that she had tossed out earlier had provoked her brother and boyfriend into the rooftop showdown that she had seen twice now, once in a dream and once when DJ's future self had taken her to see it firsthand. But now that she was up here surrounded by the tall buildings of the city she couldn't figure out which direction to go.

"Where are you guys?" she muttered to herself as she sent out a silent message to them. Just as it had the last twenty times she'd tried in the past few minutes, her plea crashed into what felt like a brick wall and bounced right back at her. It infuriated her that they were both blocking her.

She felt a slight flare of aura off to her left and her head jerked in that direction. Ah ha! It had been very faint, but it definitely been Alex and DJ. She grasped hold of the fading tendrils of aura and quickly wrapped ribbons of her own around it. Light flared to life on the roof of a tall building several blocks away.

She sobbed in relief as fresh tears spilled over. "Gotcha! You two can't hide from me."

She headed in that direction, her heart pounding so hard that it felt like it was about to leap from her chest. She prayed harder than she ever had in her life that she wouldn't be too late.

'Hold on guys! I'm coming! I'm going to save us all. Alex, I won't let you die!'

As she ran and leaped things became more familiar to her. Details of the dream she'd had weeks ago the night of the disastrous hospital benefit came rushing back to her in vivid clarity. She was two roofs away from the fight, and she was ready. She took ten running steps and spun without breaking stride and shot a blast of energy at the wolf sentinel that was waiting to ambush her. It howled and crumbled.

She sensed him fall into step beside her and turned her head to grin at him.

"I was going to take care of that for you," he said in a teasing tone.

"I'm sorry. Did I steal your glory?" she quipped back to the future version of her prince.

He smiled his crooked smile. "Nah! The less I have to do, the better. Are you ready for this?" he asked as they jumped to the next roof.

"Oh yeah! I'm ready! Let's do this!" she stated firmly and pushed off from the edge. She flew up through the night sky to the roof of the taller building and landed silently.

The woman standing twenty feet from her spun with a snarl, her swirling eyes snapping with fury. "You! I told you to stay out of this."

"Too bad!" she growled back at her future self. "I told you that I wasn't giving up."

A black blur shot by her and tackled her future self to the ground. The DJ from the future straddled the now screaming woman and held her pinned down. "Go!" he demanded. "You can stop this!"

Galvanized into action she ran toward the far side of the building where the two teenage boys were facing off. They were both looking slightly disheveled from their scuffle so far. Phantom's lip was split and swollen and blood trailed down Phoenix's chin from his busted nose.

Eclipse noticed these tiny details as she ran toward them. She wanted to cry out to them, but knew that they were beyond hearing in their rage. It would just be a waste of her breath.

Phantom wiped his mouth with the back of his hand with a growl. "I've had enough playing around with you. I'm about to knock you on your ass!" He began glowing gold.

"Bring it on!" Phoenix shot back as his red orange power began to surge around him.

Eclipse saw a flicker of movement in the shadows and knew it was the tiger sentinel, crouched down and prepared to spring. Every instinct in her body screamed for her to ignore the cat and stop her brother and boyfriend from fighting, but she fought against it. She knew that if she gave in to that urge that it would mean nothing but death, pain, and misery.

Time seemed to slow to a crawl for her. She saw Phoenix launch a wave of solar flames at the same time a blast of golden light erupted from Phantom's hands. As hard as it was to do, she turned away from them and faced the sentinel that was already soaring through the air toward them.

She panicked for a millisecond, and then felt a peaceful calm fall over her. She raised her hands and then gasped as the largest surge of power she had ever felt without losing her temper flowed through her. She heard the clash of energies behind her as silver exploded all around her. The tiger let out a roar, and then vaporized.

She lurched as the building rocked beneath her and then settled. She sucked in a breath, realizing that she'd done. She'd stopped the death of her brother! She spun around to face the boys, a triumphant smile on her face. Her satisfaction quickly disappeared though when she remembered the next part of her dream.

Her brother was standing near the edge of the roof and she could she the spiderweb of cracks in the concrete under his feet. Even as she watched, the cracks split and grew wider.

"Alex! Move!" she screamed and dashed to his side. She grabbed him by the sleeve of his coat and flung him several feet away where he fell and rolled across the roof. Then she felt the concrete crumble beneath her and she plunged straight down.

Something grabbed her hand, and her momentum halted for the tiniest fraction of a second before she slipped down a few more feet and jolted to a stop. A scream was stuck in her throat as she looked down at the street many stories below her. Her arm twisted painfully as she dangled like a fish on a line. She looked up to see why she had stopped.

Phantom was hanging off the side of the building, holding on to the edge with only one hand while he held onto her with the other. He had obviously jumped after her when she fell.

"DJ!" she gasped. "What were you thinking?"

His face was strained with the effort of holding both of their weights suspended. But he managed a tight smile. "Well now, I couldn't have you up and dying on me, Tinkerbell. You may be a fairy, but I don't think you can fly."

"Kat! DJ!" a voice called from above, and they both looked up to see Phoenix's anxious face looking over the edge at them. "Thank god!" he groaned when he saw them. "Are you both trying to kill me? I about had a stroke when I saw you guys fall."

"Nah! We just thought we'd hang out for a while," Phantom gritted out. "Do you think you could give us a hand?"

It took a couple of minutes of huffing and puffing, but finally Eclipse and Phantom made it back over the edge where they both collapsed, panting for breath. Phoenix stood next to them, shuffling nervously from one foot to the other.

"Are you two sure you're really okay? That was kinda intense," he said hesitantly.

The backlash of everything that had happened in the last several minutes hit Eclipse hard and she climbed unsteadily to her feet. Tears burned her eyes as she stared at both boys with a look that made them uncertain whether they should comfort her or run for their lives.

She reached down and hauled Phantom up by the collar of his tuxedo jacket to stand next to Phoenix. Then she burst into sobs and threw her arms around both of them as they looked at each other questioningly over her head.

"What's gotten into her?" Phoenix muttered.

Phantom shrugged. "I have no idea. Maybe she took a hit to the head that we don't know about."

She reared back to glare them. "You two are the stupidest…the most idiotic…assholes! You don't have a clue what I've been through! I could kill both of you myself! What were you thinking? All of this fighting…it's driving me crazy!" Then she collapsed back against them.

"Definitely a head injury," Phoenix said with a grin.

Phantom grinned back and then sobered. "Thanks for pulling me back up. I figured as mad as you were at me you would have let me fall."

Dark blue eyes flared wide. "Man I'm…I'm sorry. I know that doesn't begin to make up for the way I've been acting the last couple of days. I've felt so weird and out of control. But the moment I saw the two of you go over the edge of the roof it was like a fog had been lifted off of me. Dude, you're my best friend, my brother. I would never want to see you dead. I can't imagine going through life without my partner in crime."

Phantom looked choked up at his impassioned words. He threw an arm around Phoenix's shoulders. "Friends?"

Phoenix's arm returned the gesture. "Best friends!" he corrected.

Eclipse let out a muffled sound that sounded something like a cross between a laugh and a sob and her arms tightened around both of their waists. A few seconds later her head snapped up and her mouth popped open in shock. Without a word she let them go and ran away.

They both followed her until she came to a stop on the other side of the building where she started pacing around like she was looking for something.

"Kat, what are you doing?" Phoenix asked in confusion.

She muttered to herself like she didn't hear him. "Where are they? I left them right here. Where did they go?"

"Where did who go?" Phantom asked as he took her by they shoulders to stop her frantic movements.

She gave him a quick, wild eyed glance and stammered, "Oh…um…it's kinda hard to explain."

"They're no longer here, little one," a soft voice said as a bright light flashed.

Selene, Apollo, and Gaia appeared before them.

Eclipse stepped toward the moon goddess who had spoken. "What do you mean they're no longer here? What happened to them?"

Selene smiled gently. "When you successfully completed your task time reset itself. So now the two that you are looking for have been sent to their proper place and time."

Eclipse sighed in relief. "So it worked? Everything has been set back on the right path?"

"As much as it can be at this moment," Gaia confirmed. "As your dear Sailor Pluto is so fond of saying, the future is never set in stone. But for now time is flowing as it should again."

"Yeah, yeah, la-ti-da!" Apollo grumbled. "Everything is peachy at the moment, but it could all change again in about two minutes if we don't quit all this jabbering. These kids have got work to do."

"Wait a minute. I'm confused," Phantom said bewilderedly. "Have you been keeping something from us, Kat?"

She chewed on her bottom lip. "It's…complicated. I promise I'll tell both you guys about it later. Right now I think we have more serious things to discuss."

Selene clapped her hands. "That's right! The important thing is that you three have finally advanced enough to reach the first level."

"The first level?" Phoenix grouched. "You mean there are levels to this like a game? I thought the whole point of us coming here was for us to try and advance our power so that you would give us the Trinity."

"Cool your jets," Apollo admonished. "You didn't expect us to just come and drop everything in your lap did you? What kind of deities would we be if we just went around giving our power away to every halfway talented kid we found? You three needed time to grow and mature, both individually and as a group. Your powers are already commendable, even without ours, but we had to make sure that the ties between you are as strong as possible. You have proven tonight that you are ready to stand as a united front."

"Hold up a sec," Phantom growled. His analytical mind was racing to put the pieces of the puzzle together. "Did you guys have something to do with why Alex has been running around like a rabid ferret on crack the last few days?"

"Oooo! That's my boy!" Gaia cheered. "I've always said that my earthlings could give the Mercurians a run for their money when it comes to intelligence. He hardly took a minute to figure it out." She pointed a finger at Apollo. "You can blame him for it. Selene and I had no idea that he was going to put a rage spell on Alex until he'd already done it."

"You put a rage spell on my brother!" Eclipse shrieked as her temper shot sky high. "Why in the hell did you do that? I thought Discord was screwing with his head or something just to drive us all batty. And now I find out that it was you all along!"

"I had my reasons!" Apollo thundered. "We want to get rid of Discord as much as you do. We would take care of it ourselves, but our hands are tied and you are the next best thing. The first time we attempted this didn't end so well, so we want to be absolutely sure that we have picked the best people for the job this go round. I wanted to be sure that there are no doubts or uncertainties between you. Alex proved that the friendship and trust is there when he threw off that spell on his own. And that was not an easy feat to accomplish."

"Well at least now I know that I wasn't going insane," Phoenix drawled. "I was wondering that there for a while."

There was a flash of pink light as Sailor Pluto appeared. "Are you all going to stand around gossiping all night? In case you've forgotten we have a couple of emergencies that need to be taken care of."

"What kind of emergencies?" Phantom demanded.

Pluto didn't mince words. "Your parents are in danger and that puts the future in peril. You must hurry and help them or the world will be lost. Crystal Tokyo and your very existences are on the line."

"What are we waiting for? Let's go!" Sailor Eclipse exclaimed and whirled away.

"Wait!" Selene called after her. "We have something for you first."

Each of the deities stepped forward and gave their chosen one a strip of inch wide black leather that would buckle around their wrists like watches. Phantom's had the symbol of Earth, a white circle with a black dot in the center, on it. Eclipse's bore a silver crescent moon. And phoenix's sported a blazing sun.

"These will allow you to channel our powers," Gaia told them. "The powers of god's can be hard to control. Work with them and learn them. Once you've become comfortable with them you will be ready for the Trinity itself."

"Great! Can we go now? I'm worried about my parents," Phoenix ground out as he, Eclipse, and Phoenix all put on their newest accessory.

Apollo chuckled. "Just close your eyes and think about where you want to go."

All three teens closed their eyes, and a few seconds later they vanished.

---

"Darien!" Sailor Moon screamed as she shook the man that was lying on top of her. "Darien! Answer me!"

Then she heard a cackling voice. "So once again the mighty prince throws himself into the path of danger to protect his precious princess. How disgustingly sweet! You would think that he had learned his lesson the first time."

Sailor Moon became aware of a wet warmth that was starting to spread across her chest and hands. She pulled one of the hands that was wedged between their bodies free and saw that the white glove was soaked in blood.

In a panic she shoved her fiancé off of her so that he rolled to his back and scrambled up to kneel beside him. She gasped when she saw the gaping hole in his chest and the amount of blood that was spilling out of it.

She glared up at the woman that was standing several yards away. "What have you done?"

The vision of Queen Serenity smirked. "With all due respect, princess, I was aiming for you. I can't help it if your one true love decided to interfere. Whatever happens to him is his own fault."

Sailor Moon carefully shifted her prince's head to her lap and held him close. She gasped as his transformation faded and he was left in the jeans and button down shirt of his civilian form. She reached out instinctively through their bond and sensed that he was still alive, but his heartbeat was growing fainter with every pulse. She bowed her head as tears sprang to her eyes.

"Poor little Princess Serenity," the fake queen crooned. "Surely by now you realize that history is destined to repeat itself. Will you do what you did before and take your own life, or will you allow me that honor this time?"

Memories of that horrible last day on the moon filled Sailor Moon's head. But through all of the agony that those memories invoked she could pick out the differences. Her prince was not dead yet. He was still clinging tenaciously to life. And their young daughter was not splayed dead across his chest with her blood running out of her tiny body to mix with his in a pool around her. This was different. It had to be. This time they knew they had a future.

She lifted her head to stare defiantly at the woman. "You're Metallia, aren't you?" she asked flatly.

Lavender eyes appraised her begrudgingly. "Very good, Serenity. I never dreamed that you would figure it out so quickly. I was under the impression that your reincarnation was somewhat…dimmer than your past self. Yes, I wanted a human form instead of existing as mere vapor. And Discord was kind enough to manufacture this body for me. I couldn't think of a better form to take than that of my greatest enemy. It's not quite as good as the original, but as long as I keep my energy intake high it serves its purpose. Once Discord has the Celestial Crystal in his hands he'll be able to resurrect Queen Serenity's real body for me. That will be nice."

Sailor Moon leaned her cheek down to Darien's silky hair. "You're sick!" she grated out in a harsh whisper. "Discord will never get his hands on that crystal and I will never let you defile my mother's body by taking control of it."

Metallia shrugged elegantly. "We shall see. Our plan seems to be working out well so far. You didn't think that this was a random attack, did you? There was a method to our madness. We wanted your forces spread as thin as possible so that we could employ our triple threat."

"Triple threat?" Sailor Moon murmured uncertainly.

Metallia tossed back her head and laughed. The demonic sound seemed very strange coming from such a beautiful person. "Of course, dear Serenity. We are taking out every threat to us at once. Beryl and I are to take care of you and Endymion. Of course it looks like she failed on her end, foolish woman!" She waved a careless hand in the direction of the bridge. "Discord said that he would deal personally with the little mutant half breed and her solarian lover. And he sent his most skilled assassin to eliminate the Trinity bearers. Although her role is minor since one of the little brats will cease to exist the moment the prince dies."

"I wouldn't bet money on that if I were you," a voice said as there was a soft flash of gold and a new figure appeared. The newcomer stared at his hands for a moment and whispered, "I teleported! Cool!"

Sailor Moon felt dizzy in relief. "DJ!"

He turned around at the sound of her voice. "Mom! Dad!" He hurried to their side. "What happened to dad?"

"She happened," she forced out through clenched teeth. "That evil bitch stabbed him while he was trying to protect me."

DJ spared a quick glance up from examining Darien's wound. "Wait a minute! Isn't that…?"

"She's not who she appears to be," Sailor Moon interrupted. "That is merely the form she took in an attempt to deceive me."

Metallia snickered. "And it worked for a little while too."

"Bloodthirsty old bitch!" DJ snarled under his breath. Then he gasped as he felt lightheaded for a moment, almost as if he were going to float away.

Sailor Moon grabbed his hand. "Honey, are you okay? You looked like you were going to disappear on me there for a second." Then she took a closer look at him. "You're not transformed!"

He glanced down at himself. "Hmm…I was before. Maybe it faded when I teleported, or perhaps it happened when I put this on." He held up his wrist.

Sailor Moon stared at the black leather band for a second. "What is that?"

He shrugged. "I'm not sure. Gaia gave it to me. She said that it would help me channel her powers."

She nodded. "It's your powers I need right now, DJ. I need you to heal your dad since he can't do it himself. Can you do that for me?"

He looked down at the injured man. "I sure hope so. I've never tried to heal such a serious injury before. I think his heart has been nicked."

"I have complete faith in you," Sailor Moon told him as she laid Darien gently back on the ground and stood up.

"Where are you going?" DJ demanded.

She gave him a bright smile. "Don't worry about me. I'm just going to take care of a little problem." She cocked her head toward Metallia.

"By yourself?" he asked incredulously.

She giggled. "Well sweetheart, if you would hurry up and get your daddy back on his feet I won't be alone, now will I."

He rolled his eyes, but grinned at her. "Let me see what I can do." He went to work on Darien, his healing golden power flowing from his hands as Sailor Moon turned to face Metallia.

Metallia clucked her tongue. "Honestly, Serenity! You don't seriously mean to face me head on, do you?"

Sailor Moon's firm blue eyes met hers squarely. "I did it once before, and I can do it again. Just remember Metallia; I'm not the same fourteen-year-old girl that defeated you before. My power has grown thanks to the challenges that I have faced over the years."

Metallia smirked. "And I think you will find that I am not exactly as you remember me either, moon princess. Discord not only resurrected my existence, he also granted me a share of his powers as well. So I think I am well prepared to handle you, little girl. You don't even have your scouts here to fall back on for support."

"That's where you are mistaken, Metallia!" a high, clear voice rang out.

DJ's head jerked up and he breathed an audible sigh of relief when he saw Venus and Kunzite coming around an outcropping of rock, both looking a little battered, but otherwise unhurt. He had been torn between healing his father and standing up with his mother. But now that back up had arrived he redoubled his efforts to heal Darien.

Venus went to go join her princess while Kunzite made his way toward his fallen prince. He looked toward the younger prince, who was already sweating and shaking from expending his energy and asked, "How's it going?"

DJ gritted his teeth together to keep them from chattering. "I don't know. The wound was fatal. I've never dealt with anything like this before. He's still breathing, so I guess I'm doing something right."

A large hand reached up and grabbed his and a second later Darien's eyes flew open. "Serena!" he gasped, his eyes darting around.

Kunzite put a hand on his shoulder to hold him down. "She's fine. Now lie still and let DJ finish patching you up."

Darien groaned and closed his eyes for a moment before opening them again and smiling up at his future son. "Take a break. I think I've got the rest of it from here."

DJ sat back, tired but jubilant, and watched as Darien began glowing with his own energy while Kunzite brought him up to speed. "It looks like Serena and Metallia are going to start tearing into each other at any second. Mina's with her and Raye and Jed are on the way. Lita, Neph, Amy, and Zoi are still tied up with the attacks, as are Amara and Michelle. I figured you didn't want any of the kids involved so I didn't try to contact Hotaru since Rini's with her. Of course it does look like one junior member managed to make it here."

"Oh, yeah," DJ chuckled hesitantly as he put his hand behind his back. "It's kind of a funny story actually."

Darien sat up and reached for his arm. "Let me see that." He took DJ's wrist in his hands and trailed his fingers over the band with the earth symbol on it. He sighed, "You teleported, didn't you?"

"Impossible!" Kunzite scoffed. "No one can teleport alone. It usually takes at least four people to have enough energy to do that without the aid of a portal."

"Not as long as he's wearing this," Darien stated. "It means that he has been chosen by the goddess Gaia to wield her powers. I saw a drawing of it in one of my past father's journals once. He wouldn't say much about it, but he did tell me that much. There were also pictures of two others, one with a moon and one with a sun on them. I assume that Katie and Alex have them."

DJ nodded. "Gaia, Selene, and Apollo came and gave them to us. They said that we would have to learn to use these powers so that we would be able to use the Trinity. It was kind of vague if you ask me."

"Then it sounds like you have some more training to do," Darien said, clasping his shoulder fondly before lurching to his feet. There was a bright flash of white light and he shook his head. "I'll help you as much as I can, but first I need to go keep your mother from overdoing things. Try to stay back and out of the way. You've done enough for one night."

DJ grumbled to himself about being treated like a child, but he did as he was told and retreated back some. However he stayed close enough that he would see the action. He had asked his mother once what she had looked like when she was a princess. Neo Queen Serenity had laughed and told him that she had looked a lot like she did when she was dressed in her official royal attire.

Now DJ could see what she meant. Princess Serenity now stood in front of Metallia. Her long golden hair was done up in the traditional style of the lunarian royal family and her crescent moon birthmark glowed softly on her brow. The white gown she wore was similar to Neo Queen Serenity's, except that it had small capped sleeves and the skirt was flowing and billowy instead of slim and fitted. She held the Silver Crystal before her, cupped lightly between her palms.

A flash of gold heralded the arrival of Prince Endymion as Darien and Kunzite walked toward Serenity and Venus. DJ found this transformation much more fascinating. In his lifetime King Endymion never had to transform. Since being crowned the rulers of Crystal Tokyo both of his parents had retained their ultimate forms. He was used to seeing his father in suits and tuxedos when he was dealing with business and jeans and t-shirts when he was in his down time, so seeing him in full-blown armor was kind of mind blowing.

"Wow!" he whispered in awe as he watched Endymion reach Serenity and draw her back against him. He saw the sheen of tears in Serenity's eyes as she tilted her head back to look up at her prince and smile. Endymion smiled back as he leaned down and brushed a quick kiss over her lips.

There was the sound of running footsteps, and then Mars and Jadeite appeared, closely followed by Jupiter, Nephrite, Mercury, and Zoicite. It seemed that they had all finished with their tasks and hurried to aid their prince and princess.

DJ grinned as he saw the first flicker of fear cross Metallia's face. Oh yeah! This was going to be good. He had been raised on stories of how his parents and their friends had banded together in the past in order to defeat powerful enemies. Now he would get to see it firsthand.

However, a minute later he was highly disappointed. Metallia had put up a resistance to the power of the Silver Crystal, but in the end she hadn't stood a chance. Serenity hadn't even needed the help of the scouts to vaporize the demonic entity.

"Aw man! Is that it?" he complained.

Serenity turned to look at him in confusion. "What do you mean, is that it?"

"Come on!" he drawled. "All my life I've heard these stories about how you guys team up and take out the bad guys. I've had to listen to Rini brag about getting to witness some of it for years. And now I finally thought I was going to get to see all of you break badass on someone and it's all over in less than a minute. One little burst and poof, it's done."

Endymion chuckled. "I think you've let our son down by making it look easy."

Serenity rolled her eyes as she powered back down into Sailor Moon. "Easy! There was nothing easy about it! You try holding on to that crystal and feel it sucking the energy right out of you." Then she spun and poked the now powered down Tuxedo Mask in the shoulder. "And you! What were you thinking? You almost died on me again! What if DJ hadn't been here? You jerk!"

Tuxedo Mask held his hands up. "I'm sorry! But in my defense I did it to save you. That bitch was about to run you through."

Sailor Moon jerked. "Speaking of bitches, I wonder where Beryl is. I figured she'd be hanging around here somewhere."

"Beryl won't be a problem anymore," Tuxedo Mask mumbled softly.

Sailor Moon's eyes widened. "Did you…?"

He nodded. "It was either me or her. She didn't leave me a choice."

Jupiter pounded a fist into her palm. "You mean you didn't even save her for us? Man, DJ's right! What a disappointment! I may as well have just stayed at home and painted my toenails tonight since I've been useless."

Nephrite put an arm around her. "Down, Shocker! You seem to forget the fifty-odd other riff raff we've taken care of tonight."

She snorted in a bored way and crossed her arms with a huff. Mercury shook her head at her as she pulled out her computer and muttered, "It's almost over. My scans show that there are only a few scattered monsters left, and the others are all over them. But there is this one reading that I can't understand."

"Let me take a look," Zoicite said as he leaned over her shoulder. Then his expression turned confused. "What is that? It almost reads like Jess and Andrew, but something's muddling it."

"Oh crap!" Sailor Moon moaned. "I can't believe I forgot! Metallia said something about Discord going after Jess's crystal again."

Mars growled low in her throat. "Where are they? Still on the bridge?"

Before anyone could answer, there was a flash of solar fire from the bridge. And then there was a small speck of blue light plummeting toward the water…followed by a dark shape that looked like a body.

"Momma!" the faint scream was carried to them on the wind.

"Katie!" DJ gasped. He screwed his eyes shut, and a second later he vanished.

"Holy shit! Did he just teleport alone?" Jadeite screeched.

---

Two sets of tennis shoes pounded the concrete, one several feet in front of the other.

"Slow down, Kat!" Alex complained. "Not everybody can give a cheetah a run for their money you know!"

She made an irritated sound, but her steps slowed until they were running side by side. "Why do you think we can't transform all of a sudden?"

He shrugged and held his wrist up. "It probably has to do with these. The good thing is that it doesn't seem to be messing with our other powers. We're moving just as fast as we would if we were transformed."

Katie thought about this for a second. "That's true. And the teleporting thing was kind of cool. I just wish that we had landed closer to mom and dad."

Alex snorted on a laugh. "We probably would have if you hadn't been latched onto DJ's aura so tightly."

She rolled her eyes. "It wasn't that. I just thought that Jess and Drew would be with Serena and Darien by now so I followed him. We blew right by them before I realized it. I guess we could try to teleport again."

He chortled again. "It's probably best not to chance it until we learn how to do it better. We could end up further away by accident. And besides, we're almost there."

"I guess so," she agreed as their feet hit the end of the bridge. She shivered at the irony this bridge, while not the same one that existed in her time, was in the exact same spot where she, along with her family and friends, had confronted Discord on that night months ago when Alex and DJ had saved her from a cold, watery death.

They ran in silence for several seconds, following the path of their parent's auras, and then faltered and stumbled to a halt as the presence of another aura hit them like a slap to the face.

"Who is that?" Alex hissed.

Katie's breath hitched in her throat. Memories of three days and nights, concealed in damp darkness while she suffered in physical pain from the multiple cuts on her body that had crusted over with blood and mental pain as that horrible, sneering voice tore through her mind and made her doubt not only herself, but also every person she had ever cared about hit her hard. And then she had been dragged from her prison and been thrown at Discord's feet like a rag doll. To this day she remembered the roiling, pitch-black aura that had spun around him; the same one that she felt now.

"That bastard!" she spat, and took off running again at her top speed.

"What the hell! Kat!" Alex yelled as he followed her in his slightly slower pace. "What's going on?"

"Discord is here!" she snarled back over her shoulder to him. "He's right on top of mom and dad!"

Their feet kept up a steady rhythm as they ran uphill. The bridge was not flat. It curved in a wide arc over the bay, so they couldn't see what was happening on the other end. A sudden flash of blue light almost brought them up short again, but then spurred them on.

They crested the top of the hill, and then they did grind to a halt. The scene before them was almost incomprehensible.

Andrew stood frozen in what appeared to be shock, he was in his pure solarian form, complete with his full bronze armor and long copper cape with it's dark blue lining. His arms were at his side; one hand holding his sword tightly while the other was clenched into a tight fist.

Approximately twenty yards away, Jess lay at the feet of a dark cloaked and hooded form. A blue, star shaped crystal that they had only heard descriptions of, but had never seen, floated above her and in front of the figure. Then the cloaked person held a hand toward her and dark energy began gathering in his palm.

"No!" Andrew yelled, and shot an attack at him.

Things moved quickly. Discord was caught off guard. He stumbled back a few steps, clawing desperately toward the crystal. His fingers hit it, but he was unable to grasp it. It sailed away toward the side of the bridge.

"No! No! NO!" Jess screamed and jumped up unsteadily. She ran after the crystal, leaning far over the railing to try to grab it as it began the long descent down.

Discord had dashed after the crystal as well. He didn't check his speed as he reached the edge. His body crashed into Jess and she was thrown off balance and flew over the railing. There was nothing now between her and the dark, dangerous waters several hundred yards below her.

"Jess!" Andrew croaked out in a cracking voice.

Katie didn't stop to think. "Momma!" she screamed, running so fast that she was barely a blur. In one fluid movement she slung Discord out of the way and flung her hands out, not even thinking about the fact that she was not transformed.

It didn't matter. The tiny moon on her new bracelet flashed for a moment, and then her silver rope flew from her hands just like it had before and sped over the side and straight down. Barely a second later she was jerked hard as the rope wrapped around Jess and stopped her fall.

"Momma!" she shrieked again in a voice so loud that pain tore through her vocal cords. The weight had pulled her far over the railing, and she was in danger of going over herself.

For one, heart stopping second she felt weightless. She saw her hands flicker and turn translucent before turning solid again. She slipped.

A pair of large hands covered hers, helping her bear the burden. She looked over her shoulder and met a pair of eyes that were so much like hers.

"Daddy," she whispered. "Please don't let me drop momma."

Andrew gave her a smile. One that she had seen on his face thousands of times in her life. And it gave her hope. "Don't worry sweetheart," he said softly. "We'll pull her up together."

She felt a flare of heat behind her and knew that Alex was running interference, trying to keep Discord off of them while they rescued Jess. She felt torn. She knew that saving her mother was the most important thing right now, but the thought of her brother facing that monster alone scared her senseless.

Then she felt the flare of another presence and then a voice asked, "Have you guys got this?"

Her knees almost buckled. DJ had come to help

Andrew nodded. "We're fine. Why don't you cover Alex's back while we pull her up."

Katie and Andrew began the process of hauling up the rope, hand over hand. Katie was grateful for Andrew's strength. This would be almost as hard as trying to push that panther off of herself earlier if she were doing it alone.

After a minute of this, she risked a glace over the edge and almost laughed when she saw Jess grinning up at her from only about ten yards below. Another twenty seconds, and they were pulling her over the railing.

Andrew gathered her up in an intense, but careful embrace. He didn't say a word. He just buried his face in her hair. Katie saw a suspicious shimmer in his eyes and realized that her strong, rock solid father had been shaken to tears.

Jess closed her eyes for a moment and leaned in against his chest. Then she looked to her future daughter and teased, "I didn't know you were training for the rodeo. That was some impressive roping skills."

Katie made a choking sound, not sure whether to laugh or cry. She was about to throw her arms around both of her parents when she saw the blood on Jess's shirt. "You're hurt!"

Before Jess could reply there was a burst of power behind them. They turned in time to see Alex and DJ stumble back and fall to the ground.

Discord stood before them, quivering in outrage while his red eyes flashed furiously under his hood. "You little brats are not going to interfere with my plans! You should be dead by now! Why are you still here? Why won't you just disappear?"

"I've heard enough of this bullshit!" Jess growled. She leaned over the side of the bridge and whispered something in a language that Katie vaguely recognized as being ancient lunarian.

A geyser of water shot up out of the bay and a blue streak flew up to land softly in Jess's palm.

This caught Discord's attention. Those glowing, blood red eyes fixated evilly on her. "So you still defy me, Melody? You must realize by now that it is a lost cause. Now why don't you be a good girl and hand the crystal over to me?"

Jess tossed her head back and laughed as she pressed her hand to her chest. "Why don't you go roast in hell, you bastard! The only way you're getting my crystal is when you pry it from my dead, rotting corpse!" There was a small flash of light as the Celestial Crystal shimmered and then faded into her body.

"That can easily be arranged!" Discord roared and shot a burst of dark energy toward her.

Andrew jerked her behind him and threw up a wall of solar energy in front of them. He waited for the crash of the attack to hit his defense, but it never came.

Three teenagers jumped in between them and the oncoming attack. Just when it seemed that they were going to fall victim to Discord, light flared to life around them, bright silver, gold, and red-orange. There was no explosion as the dark energy bore down on them. The black, crackling power simply dissipated.

A feral hiss tore from Discord. "Nooo! I will be damned if I let those meddlesome gods thwart me again! I will end this before it even begins. You will never make it back through the gates of time. I will destroy your home while you are stuck here and unable to do anything. What good will the Galactic Trinity do if it is trapped a thousand years in the past?"

A portal opened behind him and he stepped through it. Cries of anger came from the three teens and bursts of energy shot from them toward him. But he vanished before any of them could impact him.

"Come back and fight, you bastard!" Katie screamed and then fell to her knees.

DJ and Alex were beside her in a flash, both of them putting their arms around her as she began rocking and moaning, "No…mom…dad…everyone…our home…everything gone!"

Jess slipped out from under Andrew's arm and hurried to the huddled teens. She heard shouts and running footsteps and knew that the cavalry had arrived, but her attention was fixed on her suffering daughter.

She sank down in front of her, wincing at the pain in her side, but she ignored it and put her hand on the light blonde head. "Katie, sweetie."

The girl looked up and she gasped. The normally clear, hazel eyes were shining pure silver and a silver crescent moon glowed softly on her forehead. Okay, that was freaky. A quick glance at Alex showed that his blue eyes were now a bright red-orange and a golden sun was on his brow. DJ was in a similar state, with glowing golden eyes and the symbol of Earth prominent above his eyes.

"Momma!" Katie cried, tears spilling from her silver eyes as she shook the boys off and flung herself at Jess, who bit back a groan of pain and held her future daughter close. Others gathered around them, but Jess closed her eyes and combed her fingers through the tangled blonde ponytail hanging down the younger girl's back.

"What in the hell happened to them?" she heard Jadeite yowl. "I didn't know the circus was in town." He broke off with a whoosh of breath. Someone, probably either Mars or Nephrite, must have elbowed him in the stomach.

"DJ!" Sailor Moon shrieked, and Jess opened eyes just as her friend came down beside her and pulled her dark haired future son into her arms.

An arm settled around her shoulders, and she turned her head to see Andrew on her other side with his free arm around Alex.

Then Sailor Pluto appeared with her usual dramatic puff of smoke and flash of dark pink light. She surveyed the three teens with a rare, wide smile. "Well, well, I admit I had my moments of doubt, but you three managed to pull out a small miracle and send Discord packing for now."

Suddenly all three of them were on their feet, surrounding the time guardian and all speaking at the same time.

"You have to send us home right now!"

"Please, Trista! Everyone's in danger!"

"There has to be some way to get us back through the time gate!"

A throaty laugh rumbled in Pluto's throat. "Calm down! Things are not as serious as you imagine they are. We have time, and you need to use this time wisely. Crystal Tokyo is in no immediate danger. Discord lost most of his forces tonight, and he isn't the type to act alone. He likes to have his pawns to stand between him and his enemies until he has a chance to assess the situation. He will take some time to try and pull himself together."

"Well doesn't that make it the perfect time for us to do something?" DJ insisted urgently.

Pluto shook her head. "You three are not ready yet. You're on the right path, but you still have a little farther to go. But be proud of yourselves, you have him running scared right now. He knows that you now pose a real threat to him. He'll be watching his steps carefully from here on out. So rest easy for now."

Their protests died, and then Katie looked up with a frown. "I have a question." She held up her wrist where the tiny crescent moon on the black band was flashing furiously. "How the hell do I turn this damn thing off? If I look anything like the guys do right now then I'm sure I look just like a circus freak like Jed said."

Laughter rippled through the group at her words and Pluto smiled. "You do look a little out of place here; much like Selene herself in fact. But to return your looks to normal you just need to concentrate on it. Then you will stay that way until the next time you invoke the goddess's power."

Alex cocked his head. "It's that simple?"

Pluto nodded. "It's as easy as that. You three now control the powers of deities. If you wish to return to your usual forms then you will."

The three of them glanced at each other, and then shrugged before screwing their eyes closed tightly. A few seconds later they each flashed with their respective colors and the symbols on their foreheads faded away. When they opened their eyes they were back to normal; two sets of blue, one dark as sapphire and one the color of the summer sky, and a pair of soft, mossy hazel.

Alex looked at his sister and best friend and grinned widely. "You know guys, I think these new powers just might be way cool!"

A/N Yay! Another chapter down! Things are starting to come together now. Our treacherous trio is whole again and they are about to embark into a whole new world. Everybody came through the fight alive, although there were a few scares. But seriously, I would never kill off one of my beloved characters. They all have to make it to Crystal Tokyo and they can't do that if they're dead. Discord's running scared, and now he doesn't have Metallia, Beryl, or future Katie to fall back on. But alas, as all evil beings do, he's already plotting his next move. He isn't quite finished yet and he still has a trick or two tucked up his sleeve, or should I say a couple of people. Hmm…I don't dare say any more lest I give away too much for the next chapter. I hope you all enjoyed this. Don't forget to drop me a review and let me know. Gotta run! Lots of love and hugs!

~Sere~