Chapter One
Setsuna Meioh Katarkusha was sitting in a booth near the back of the Crown Arcade with several of her long-time friends and associates one January day, having some hot cocoa and some salad there, when she suddenly stiffened rather unexpectedly. Among those with her at that time were Ami Urawa, Rei Kumada, Makoto Miyake, and Minako Nogutoruchi, to name just four of them. Setsuna suddenly rose, and quietly said, "Everyone, it seems I must leave now. Something major has just happened elsewhere, and I have to check it out."
"What's the matter, Suna-san?" asked Rei, a woman now in her early thirties, as of January 2009.
"I don't know. But whatever it is, it requires my attendance as soon as possible. Please tell my husband that I may not be home for the evening meal tonight, if it's as bad as I'm thinking it might be here and now," said Setsuna, as she dropped enough money to pay for her cocoa and salad on the table before leaving the arcade behind, even though she'd not yet finished her cocoa and salad here.
Rei soon said to her remaining companions, "That was rather unusual here. Even for Setsuna-san. We haven't actually had any real trouble that might possibly make her not finish anything she's ordered for herself since a few years ago, I think, when we dealt with the Black Circle Order and their attempts to take out Earth after some American astronauts stumbled rather unexpectedly on their secret Far-Side Moon base."
"Setsuna has always been rather mysterious, Rei-chan. Don't you remember how she was whenever we asked her about Crystal Tokyo?" asked the still-blue-haired Ami Urawa, the former Ami Mizuno. Ami Urawa was now one of the leading doctors at Tokyo General Hospital after having largely cruised through medical school, even after marrying her husband of several years, Ryo Urawa. "She gave us very little information about the late 30th Century and early 31st Centuries AD, in fact."
"Maybe so, but she hasn't done that since just before we finished with the BCO then, I believe. I hope she knows what she's doing, of course, Ami-chan."
"Setsuna often does know what she's doing. If she ever doesn't, I'm sure that she'll ask one of us for help, if at all possible," said Makoto Kino Miyake, a still-brown-haired and still-strong woman who was also in her early thirties in her life.
"True enough, Mako-chan," said the still-blonde-haired Minako Aino Nogutoruchi, who was now a rather well-known musical singer and actress in a long-running Japanese family drama. Minako had married her own husband in the exact same wedding ceremony that Rei, Makoto, Ami, and several of their various other friends and associates had gotten married to each other in, in fact. Those friends included another blonde by the name of Usagi Tsukino and a dark-haired handsome man named Mamoru Chiba, by the way.
At the current time, the aforementioned Usagi Tsukino Chiba was sipping somewhat lazily from a straw sticking out of a tall double chocolate and strawberry-flavored milkshake, as if she didn't really have a care in the world for anything at all. She had just gotten off work as an increasingly popular fashion designer at one of her various offices in the Tokyo area of Japan, while the others then with her had also gotten off work not too long before as well.
"I agree with Mina-chan, Mako-chan. It shouldn't be too hard at all for her to handle whatever she might have just rushed off to handle here, I think. No need for you all to worry here, I'm reasonably certain."
"But Setsuna doesn't normally do that sort of thing any longer, if I'm not mistaken here, Neko-chan," said still another voice here. That voice came from a short-haired blonde woman sitting in the same booth that Setsuna had just vacated here, and it seemed to be tinged with somewhat considerable concern, for that matter.
"Haruka, that may be so, but I really don't get the impression that things might be as bad as they now seem to be to Setsuna," said Usagi, who still often wore her virtually-trademarked hairstyle. Even after having been married to her husband Mamoru for several years in her life, and even after being tempted to try at least one other hairstyle in it, if not more than one, in fact.
"That's because you still are much the same girl that you were nearly twenty years ago, when we first became Senshi, Odango Atama," teased Rei, as gently as possible.
"And you're still much the same fiery girl that you were then, as well. No wonder Yuuichirou still thinks you're rather hot-looking in your life, Pyro."
"Let's not go there here, please. He and I have had some recent disagreements with each other about certain things, Odango. We're currently trying to work them out, and things aren't necessarily as good as they need to be for us, in fact."
"I see. Very well, then. I'll drop it for now, at least. But you know that we'll most likely want at least some details here, just the same, Rei-chan."
"Obviously, Usagi-chan. Obviously," commented Rei, somewhat dryly.
Just then, several beeps were heard from assorted purses that were near Rei and the rest of her current companions. Usagi retrieved hers from her own purse, and took out a communicator of sorts. A few words later from her, and then Usagi closed the communications channel on it here in very short order. When she finally turned to the rest of her current companions, she said, simply, in a tone of voice that left no room for argument here, "Major trouble, everyone. Minako, summon as many of the Knights and the other Senshi as possible, just as quickly as you possibly can do that well enough. Everyone else, come with me. Setsuna has now seen at least a few things that we all need to be informed of as quickly as possible."
Without any discussion of what to do next, then, everyone then near Usagi did whatever they then needed to do here. Starting with leaving enough money to pay for all their food and drink items and for the appropriate tips related to them here, of course. No more than two or so minutes later, then, all of Usagi's current companions, excepting only Minako, departed the Arcade as quickly and as safely as they then could here. Minako herself moved to a back room in the Arcade and began summoning as many Knights and Senshi as she possibly could in very short order, no matter who and where they might actually be in the Universe, in fact.
As soon as the women now with Usagi were far enough into a sufficiently secluded alley between two buildings near the Arcade, Usagi said, "Let's power up. Super Sailor mode, everyone! They should be sufficient enough here."
Eight rather brief transformations later, all eight women were in their Super Sailor Senshi uniforms, as directed by Usagi prior to them transforming. Then they all leapt to the roofs a bit above their heads just as quickly and as well as they could do so here. Five minutes later, then, they were where Setsuna, AKA Super Sailor Pluto, now was, after Super Sailor Mercury located her well enough with her hand computer here.
When they got there, they soon found Pluto battling against several rather strange-looking space aliens. And she wasn't doing very well at all in fighting against them, as they quickly began emerging through several time portals of yet-unknown sorts near her. Saturn quickly leapt to Pluto's defense, and soon sliced several of the alien's heads off with her Glaive, in the process of doing so here. While Mercury immediately began trying to find out just what kinds of beings they were, and what their weaknesses might be here, as she herself stayed near Sailor Moon. Super Sailor Moon sent off a few of her Rainbow Heart Moon Ache attacks, while Mercury helped shroud everyone she could from the aliens' sight with her Mercury Bubbles Blast defense for a while. Uranus sent off a few World Shaking attacks, while back-to-back with Neptune, who used her Deep Submerge attacks, and both tried not to damage any of Pluto's Time Gates, for the obvious reasons.
Mars and Jupiter attempted to fry and electrocute several others, but weren't having much success in doing so at all until Venus, Tuxedo Kamen, the Moonlight Knight, and Sailor Earth, among various others, joined them at the battle's current location near the Time Gates as well. Venus soon snagged several of them long enough to allow Mars and Jupiter to fry and electrocute them well enough here. While Tuxedo Kamen, the Moonlight Knight, and Sailor Earth barraged others with various projectiles, whether they were plant-related or earth-related, wherever and whenever possible.
Eventually, the attacking aliens were somehow driven back into the same Time Gates that they'd each emerged from by about twenty or so Senshi and Knights here. But not without first inflicting many wounds upon them here, just the same, in many cases. When the last of them were driven back into those Time Gates, and confirmed to be quite sufficiently within them again to make it rather unlikely indeed, if not impossible, that they'd come out of them again like they had just done anytime in the near future, Pluto said, "The aliens we just fought were from a dimension where at least two different solar systems are most likely in grave danger of being either conquered or destroyed totally by them and their societies. There were several distress beacons activated on at least one or two planets in those solar systems, and one of t hose planets is actually another Earth, for that matter."
"Where is this Earth, in particular, Pluto?" asked Pluto Knight, once they were all sufficiently sure that there'd be no more major trouble near the Time Gates for at least a little while longer.
Pluto said, "It is in another dimension on an Earth where there is a woman President of the United States in AD 2025. The people sending the distress calls on the beacons evacuated from that Earth and its solar system to another world and another solar system in the same dimension. They sent us coordinates to that Earth and to the world that they were evacuating to in another solar system."
"Why, if you might be able to actually tell us that here and now, Pluto?" asked the Moonlight Knight, as he and everyone else went to Rei and Yuuichirou's living room on the grounds of the Cherry Hill Temple that they now ran in place of Rei's rather elderly grandfather, with all of them gradually powering down on the way there. Several minutes later, after Rei and Yuuichirou's triplet daughters brought everyone some food and drink items to consume while they had a previously-unplanned Senshi and Knights-type meeting, they all got right down to such business as Pluto had just mentioned to them all here.
"Because it seems they need help to defend their homes on at least two different worlds, if not more, Shingo. They mainly come from a place on their Earth called Dreamrose, if I remember what their distress calls said well enough about them and their home places. If not entirely. It seems their Earth and its solar system, as well as several other inhabited worlds in a second solar system, at least, have come under quite heavy attack from countless space aliens of various kinds in the last fifteen or so Terran years of their applicable timeline. They need at least someone or something to protect their home world or worlds just in case the countless space aliens that periodically have been causing them quite major trouble indeed on them and around them might ever come back and then try to finish them and their worlds off in any way whatsoever, if their messages are sufficiently accurate here, everyone."
"How were you able to understand them well enough? If they're not necessarily from our particular dimension of the known Universe, that is?" asked Shinobu Maehara Tsukino, who was now the current Sailor Earth, as of her still-recent marriage to Usagi's younger brother Shingo in her own life. She worked as a chef at one of Makoto's three restaurants elsewhere in Azabu Juuban, in fact.
"It wasn't very easy at all, mind you, but they still seemed intelligible enough, at least, somehow, and I gathered what I could from their messages, just the same, Shinobu."
"I see. And just how do you suggest we proceed, then, Setsuna-san?" asked Shinobu.
"Let's see what Prince Endymion and Princess Serenity think of the matter, of course, Shinobu," said Setsuna, as she resumed eating the salad and cocoa that Rei had actually stashed away for her to finish later in her own subspace pocket here.
"I was hoping that we wouldn't have to fight again for at least another year," Usagi eventually said. "But I suppose that's too much to hope for in our lives now. Ever since those witches Metallia, Beryl, and Nehellenia started causing trouble for the Moon Kingdom, though, at least, this sort of thing was perhaps unavoidable, though, I think."
"So do you still really hate having to fight, Odango?" asked Mamoru, while also thinking that it wasn't really fair that everyone they knew would perhaps be in quite considerable danger again in their respective lives, if the aliens they'd just encountered ever came to this particular Earth, for that matter.
"Of course I do. I wish we were all still back in the Moon Kingdom, of course, my dear Mamo-chan. But those witches somehow actually saw to it that we wouldn't be, and forced Mother to send us all to this time period in history, by doing so, you know."
"And it took a while for us to realize just what actually had happened back then, at least. And to avenge the losses of the Moon Kingdom's Silver Millennium, of course. If we were still there, would you have grown old with me, perhaps, by any chance at all?"
"Yes, I believe I would have, Mamoru, and I believe your Shitennou and my Senshi would actually have grown old with each other as well, if things had worked out well enough in such a way or in such ways for them all, somehow. But they didn't, of course. And so now we're all no longer there and then, but here and now," said Usagi.
Rei suddenly reached over to Usagi's nearest hand to her at a table in that living room, and asked, "Do you think you'll perhaps be sending your children back to this time to help us all out here, Usagi?"
"Why do you ask this, all of a sudden, Rei?"
"I just got the feeling that the future just changed quite considerably, and if they don't come back in time, we might not ever see them again in the future, Usagi," said Rei.
"Oh, no. Please don't tell me that, Rei." Usagi looked almost ready to unleash one of her rather famous bouts of wailing and crying, in fact.
"I just did, Usagi. If that's true, then we might not see her own Sailor Team's members again either, as well," said Rei, as she then tried to settle her Princess down at least a little bit here.
"No Sailor Hermes, for example?" asked Ami, while sending Ryo a rather concerned look here.
"That's right. And no Sailor Aphrodite, for just one more such member, at least. They'll most likely all be gone as well," said Rei, as she then began tapping her fingers rather restlessly on the table now below her hands here
"So what do we have to do, then?" asked Minako, as she leaned somewhat tiredly against her husband, one Sutarshumi Nogutoruchi, a producer of the show that she was now a cast member of, by the way.
"I have no real idea just yet, for it's too soon for me to be able to tell what might happen now for us all in the future, even in the very near future, for that matter, Minako," answered Rei, as she shot Yuuichirou a frustrated look, given her current mood here.
"Will we be able to do anything else at the moment, most likely, to change things enough for the better, then, Rei?" asked Makoto.
"Not likely, Mako-chan. I suppose we should all try to get some rest here for as long as we possibly can. If the aliens we just faced are any indication, we all will likely need all the rest and preparation time that we can possibly get before we have to face them again somewhere and somewhen. Right, Setsuna?" asked Rei.
"Yes, I believe so, Rei. We have much to do before then, and we may not have much time to do it in. In the meantime, I'd recommend doing whatever we can all possibly do in our lives to prepare sufficiently well for our next major war campaign, of course, everyone. No matter what it might be, obviously enough. If we fail, then Crystal Tokyo will most likely never be created, either."
"Too bad we can't just send the Crystal back to wherever it actually came from in the Moon," said Usagi. "I wonder if they were able to detect it somehow, come to think of it."
"I don't know. But it seems that all our enemies or potential enemies have always sought to possess it, if and whenever possible," said Haruka and Michiru, together, strangely enough.
"I wonder if we'd ever have had normal lives had it never even been found there," asked Hotaru, as she ran her right hand briefly in front of her face to brush a bit of her purplish-looking black hair out of her eyes.
"I think that might have been the case, but I can't be entirely sure about that here and now, Hotaru-chan," said Setsuna. "The fact is that it was found and brought out of wherever it then was. And there's no way to put it back there well enough to keep it there for good, either, it seems to me here."
"Not even if we went back and actually stopped it somehow from being discovered in the first place?" asked Makoto's husband, one Shinozaki Miyake, who was also at least every so often Jupiter Knight in his own life, in fact.
"Its eventual discovery was inevitable on the Moon. If it hadn't been found by at least one of Usagi's Lunar ancestors, there's a really good chance that it might have eventually been discovered by any number of sentient beings elsewhere in the Universe. Once it was, it was quite certain that it would be an item that many sentient beings would seek to possess in their lives, and kill for, if and whenever possible and necessary, I think, in the known Universe," said Setsuna.
"So that means my Crystal is a Crystal of Death, if I get your thoughts' drift here well enough?" asked Usagi.
"Yes, unfortunately it is, in many respects. But it is also, in turn. a Crystal of Life, just the same. If it hadn't actually been for its now-known existence in our currently-known Universe, though, none of us would still be here now, I'm reasonably certain, Princess."
"I could have been with Mother a whole lot longer in my life on the Moon, I think, had that Crystal not existed, perhaps, Setsuna."
"Then again, it could be that the Crystal made it at least a bit more likely that there'd be life on other worlds of our solar system besides Earth, come to think of it," said Ami.
"I don't understand, Ami," said Setsuna's husband Demando, as he rested his hands gently on Setsuna's shoulders from just behind her here.
"There is a lot you do not know about the history of the Imperium Silver Crystal, being from Nemesis as you were, and spending many years in suspended animation after the Moon Kingdom's Fall. Not even Haruka remembers much about you and her periodically dating before during the time of the Silver Millennium while you and several of your kind were visiting us in the Moon Kingdom for some time."
"I don't remember ever dating him, Ami," said Haruka. "Are you serious?"
"As serious as ice, Haruka. You dated him for several weeks, until a little while before the Dark Kingdom broke through our final line of defenses around the Moon. At that time, he and several of his people left for Nemesis, but they were not able to get far enough away before many of them, including Prince Demando, were captured and/or turned against us by Beryl and her Shitennou of that time. Demando eventually fought against us, and you two would have likely killed each other had not Queen Serenity trapped everyone as she did after Beryl's blasting of both Prince Endymion and Princess Serenity."
"I see, Ami-chan. And what about Michiru here? Who was her own boyfriend at that time, if you could tell me that here well enough?"
"It was Sapphire, if my memory serves me well enough here. He and Michiru nearly killed each other as well, after Sapphire got turned against us, Haruka," answered Ami.
"But now Sapphire's with Petz," said Haruka.
"Yes, he is. He hardly remembers ever dating Michiru now. And I'm reasonably certain the exact same thing is quite true for Michiru as well, for that matter," said Ami.
"And what about Setsuna's very last love, if not her very first one or her very last one, in the Silver Millennium?" asked Hotaru.
"Rubeus, believe it or not, Hotaru!"
"Oh, my! And what of me, by any chance, Ami?"
"A boy from Saturn, as far as I can recall, was your first love. The exact name, though, currently escapes me here. You too fell for a certain young Prince from Nemesis, at the exact same time that Haruka was dating Demando, Michiru Sapphire, and Setsuna Rubeus, but he wasn't one of the ones we actually battled during our battle with the Black Moon many years ago. From what I know of him, by the way, he hasn't been seen since just before the Moon Kingdom's Fall. He was somehow turned against us as well, and you two would have also likely killed each other, had certain other things not happened before then. Like him being rendered unconscious at the exact same moment in his own life that he touched the Moon again with his feet just before the last battle on it, for example. You didn't actually meet each other during the final battle on the Moon between the Moon Kingdom and the Dark Kingdom's respective armies, though, most likely for several yet-unknown reasons. You were instead nearly killed by his third cousin twice removed, who was just a lowly Dark Kingdom-captured foot soldier, if what I now know of the final battle on the Moon is accurate enough here, Hotaru."
"I dated Sapphire? For real? You must be joking, Ami," said Michiru, with a rather skeptical and shocked look on her face once what Ami had said about her having previously ever dated Sapphire at least once, if not more than once, finally registered well enough in her own brain here.
"No, I'm not. Each of us had someone in our lives who drew our attentions away from our duties as Senshi, whether it was their intention or not to do so in the first place. In my case, it was mainly Ryo here. And at least one other suitor of mine during that period of time for us all also did that for me at least a little bit, if not a lot. Most of them were from Mercury, in my case, obviously enough, Michiru," said Ami.
"What about me, Ami?" asked Minako, while downing a few small vanilla wafer cookies.
"Other than Princess Serenity, you were the most popular one of us among our group, when it came to suitors, Mina-chan. You were known for having quite a few males from various worlds rather interested in you, even as we were all growing up together on the Moon with each other. Meaning you, me, Rei, Serenity, and Makoto, at least, if not anyone else, for that matter. Even the Dark Kingdom Shitennou Kunzite was rather interested in you, if memory serves me well enough here. You two battled for quite a while with each other during the last battle, but neither of you could kill the other, even though you were trying your very hardest to do just that. Perhaps it had something to do with the fact that you two essentially shared the same realms of influence for your respective powers and items at that time. You instead would have fallen in battle at Nephlyte's hands had the battle not been ended as it was by Queen Serenity, and you would have killed him, I'm quite sure."
"And who was your near-killer, then, Ami?"
"It wasn't Zoisite or her male twin, but Kunzite. I nearly killed him as well, as he was aiming for you and your first, current, and future love, in fact. Yes, the man you're married to is your first, current, and future love, all in one, believe it or not, Minako." Ami took a sip of some tea as she said that here, by the way.
"That leaves Jadeite, then," said Rei. "Who did he nearly kill, Ami?"
"Makoto and Shinozaki, in much the same kind of battle-related circumstances," answered Ami, after a few seconds of silent contemplation here.
"Then who nearly took out me and my love of that time, Ami?"
"Zoisite and her male twin nearly took you and Yuuichirou both out at the exact same time. But when Queen Serenity stopped the battle, that didn't happen, in fact."
"You mean that all this time my belief that it was Jadeite who saw to me nearly falling in battle then and there is incorrect, Ami?" asked Rei.
"Yes, it seems so to me, Rei."
"Why did you not tell me this earlier, then?"
"I just remembered it, while thinking over things that have come to me here during this meeting of ours, Rei. There is still much we all don't remember from those times, in fact. Perhaps Queen Serenity wanted that to be the case for us all here in the future, come to think of it."
"Maybe so. That'd be just like her, Ami," said Usagi. "She was quite a wonderful woman back then, as far as I can currently remember. Not always easy to get along with, but we still had a whole lot of good times with each other in our lives. At least until the evil ones came to our Moon Kingdom, of course."
Yuuichirou asked, "Even during the Moon Kingdom, Rei and I were an item?"
"Yes, as a matter of fact, you were, Yuuichirou. I remember you even singing for her from time to time whenever you could do that in her life. You might not have necessarily been the best singer even then, but whenever you sang for her, you always put your real heart into it. She appreciated it more than you two can currently recall, though, as far as I can tell here in my own life," said Usagi, a few seconds later.
"Were we as passionate about each other then as we both have generally been when dealing with each other in this time period, if you could tell me that here well enough, then, Usagi?" asked Yuuichirou.
"You two have been more passionate about each other than you both were then, I think. And I have no doubt that you will be even more passionate about each other in the future. You just seem to be having some troubles of some yet-unknown kind, if what Rei said earlier is accurate enough here," said Usagi, as she gently reached her hand up to brush a bit of hair out of Mamoru's eyes here, in fact.
"That seems true from my view of things here, as well, Yuuichirou," said Shingo. "Usagi is often a good detector of people's true emotions, from what I've learned about her in both our lives. And it was because of her, at least indirectly, that I came to meet up with my wife Shinobu here. I was waiting for her and Mamoru to get back from a trip they'd been taking with each other elsewhere in Japan, and I happened to find this young lady at a bus stop not far from one of the airports here. One thing led to another, eventually, and now we're married to each other, of course, in our respective lives." Shingo shot Shinobu a grin with a twinkle in his eyes, perhaps promising a special surprise of some sort when they got back to their home with each other elsewhere in Azabu Juuban.
Everyone conversed with each other for at least a little while longer, before it eventually got too late for them all to remain at the Temple with each other at the current time. They soon agreed to meet with each other again the following day after work, if at all possible, in the basement of one of Usagi's fashion design locations elsewhere in Azabu Juuban. And then everyone began to leave the Temple's grounds in very short order, for all of the obvious reasons here.
Usagi and Mamoru were the last of the non-Kumadas and/or Rei's grandfather to remain present on the Temple's grounds after everyone else who needed to here had already left them. Just before she and Mamoru also departed from them by themselves, Usagi said, "Rei, I'm quite sure that you and Yuuichirou will actually work out whatever problems you might be having with each other well enough. Just give him a fair chance to get his opinions out if and whenever he might need to do so, without just jumping on him first. Granted, you might be having problems with each other, but if you do as I advise here, I think you will be quite glad you did so, in fact. Believe me, I've learned from personal experience about such things. You know that Mamoru and I really didn't hit it off too well with each other in this time period, once we first encountered each other. There are still many times that I really want to sock him one for various reasons, but have refrained from doing so, after learning what doing so can possibly do to a relationship between a man and a woman. Give him a fair chance, and all will work out as needed, I think."
"Thank you for your words here, Usagi. I'll try to keep them all in mind here well enough, then. Good night, my dear Princess and my dear sister at heart."
"Likewise, Big Sister."
Then Usagi and Mamoru left for their own residence in the Azabu Juuban area of Tokyo without another word or look towards either Rei or Yuuichirou here, in fact. Rei watched them both go, and then looked at her husband, who had just entered seconds before Usagi's last words to her here.
Rei said, "Yuuichirou, I wonder what the future holds for us all here."
"Unfortunately, my Fire Angel, it seems more fighting for us all. I know you don't really want to fight, at least not right now, but now it seems that we must all fight again here and elsewhere. Will it ever end, most likely?"
"Not in this lifetime, most likely, Yuuichirou. Not in this lifetime. It's like evil is always drawn towards us all, and we're likely always going to be fighting as long as we still have the power to do so. If not us, then perhaps our descendants will be forced to fight until they no longer can, and so on and so forth."
"Do you wish another life for yourself away from all the fighting forever?"
"Yes and no. Yes, in that I wish we didn't have to fight in the first place. No, in that if we hadn't been drawn into the fights that we've previously been drawn into, we might never have even met each other in our respective lives. Whether it's you or any of my other friends or relatives, at least, I don't think we would have been as likely to ever meet each other in our respective lives."
"Could you see a life spent without any of us, then?"
"No, to tell you the truth, Boom-Boom, I can't any longer. You all are part of me now once and forever. Whether in the past, present, or future, you all are part of me now, and I am now part of you all, as well," said Rei.
Rei and Yuuichirou soon retired to their master bedroom with each other, but still decided to sleep in separate beds there, given their current marital problems. Their beds were adjoining each other there, but a divider was still between them both in that bedroom of theirs, just the same. Both were quite soundly asleep in their respective beds there, then, by 11 pm Tokyo time on Monday, January 5, 2009, in fact. And so they slept in them, as they most likely would continue to do at least until 6 am the following morning, when their triplet daughters normally might knock on their master bedroom's door on school days for themselves.
End of Chapter One