It was about a week and a half later, and Hajime and Eliana were working on an especially difficult math problem. The radio was playing softly in the background, strains of "Moonlight Densetsu" coming to the foreground as Hajime and Eliana talked about which things would work to solve it, and which things wouldn't. The afternoon was relaxed, with Apollo sitting on the couch beside the two, purring as he napped. It had been a little while since anything had happened, and so all three had let their guards down a bit. Eliana was quite frustrated as she was unsure of why she wasn't understanding this particular problem. How had math gotten ahead of her understanding? Vaguely aware of the song in the background, she smiled a little bit, knowing that this song had been popular for centuries. Her smile grew saddened though as she thought of the shattered locket that Serenity had given Dymion long ago, the song inside just a mellower version of "Moonlight Densetsu."

"What's wrong?" Hajime asked, reading her shift in mood. Eliana shook her head.

"Just reminiscing," she said, before turning back to the problem. In that moment, a creature streaked into the room, and Hajime shoved her out of the way before being slammed into the wall. His breath exploded from his chest, the creature being heavier than its speed belied. Fumbling, he twisted the ring on his finger, and in an instant, he was in the armor that he had been in when Eliana had given him the ring. The power of the transformation was enough to throw the creature back, but it now focused on Eliana. With a yell, Hajime reached out and grabbed it by the neck.

"By the power that has made me the Moon's Champion, I will smite you!" he hissed. Black power seeped from him, shadowed with power of silver light. Still holding onto the creature, he uttered two fateful words. "Moon's Revenge..." A sizzling sound was heard, along with the creature shrieking in fear and pain. Soon, the creature was a pile of ash, and with a motion of his hand, Hajime made the pile disappear in a silver flame. Running over to Eliana, he helped her up. "Are you okay?" he asked. In his worry, he had forgotten to go back to his normal clothing, and so his cape seemed to flow behind him as he came to a stop and crouch next to her.

Eliana had shifted into Sailor Sun the moment she realized they were under attack, but once again she found her power seized the moment she tried to help. Which turned out to be unnecessary. Hajime had things under control... or not...

She watched in horror as his power was displayed. That was not the power of the moon as it had been since time itself had started. When he helped her up she pulled away from him quickly without even thinking about it. She realized her mistake a moment later. She couldn't let him know something was wrong- not if she didn't know how to fix it yet. "Ah- um... yes I'm fine." she told him. "And you? Where you injured?" she asked, trying to act as if things were normal- though she was still very shaken by his display of power.

Hajime found that it had hurt him when she pulled away. Not physically, but in a different way. Hiding his frown, he looked down to twist his ring, the armor disappearing to reveal his school uniform once again.

"That's good," he said, and rose, going to the door, shutting it and turning back to her. "I wasn't injured at all. I just feel a little bruised." He rubbed his chest and smiled ruefully. "That thing, whatever it was, was heavier than it looked by its movements."

Metallia, sitting in the corridor, was shaken. What power! This descendant of the Moon just might erase her for good...

"Well I can't heal as the decedent of the Earth would be able to, but I can at least ease pain," Eliana told him, and held out her hand, resting it lightly on his chest. Her hand started to glow with soft golden light and equally soft warmth filled his chest, easing the pain he felt.

"I'm going to go check for any other disturbances," Apollo stated getting up and trotting to the door, the mark on his forehead glowed and the door swung up just enough for him to slip out. That had woken him from a very nice nap, and he wasn't about to go back to sleep until he was sure nothing else was going wrong elsewhere.

"You're power seemed to be coming to you with some ease... that's good," Eliana said with an uneasy smile. His power was wrong... and she found she worried about the prophecy much more now than she had before.

Hajime's eyes seemed to darken, as if the power was more than he could handle. Shaking his head, he put a hand on his forehead.

"Yeah..." he said absently. Resting a hand on hers, he smiled. "I think that we should turn in for the night. This math problem has given me a headache I think," he added, motioning to the homework that was still sitting on the table. After looking at her for a few moments longer, he went to the table and started to clean up. At that moment, a black cat with a crescent moon on her forehead ran through the slightly open door.

"Sailor Sun! I've found another Senshi!" she gasped, out of breath.

She flushed slightly when he covered her hand with his own, hers small and thin compared to his. Worry filled Eliana's face as he moved off "Um-! I could-" she started, not wanting to leave him alone with what had just happened. But just then the black cat ran in. "Luna!" Sailor Sun looked at the cat, and then over at Hajime. "Which one, and what was her personality like?" she asked, worried she'd have another Sailor Venus on her hands. Or worse.

Hajime looked up, curious.

"She's sweet and nice," Luna purred, rather happy that she had found her. "I think it's Sailor Earth." She realized that the impact of this revelation would be huge. Hajime stood.

"Should I go with you to meet her?" he asked, feeling that it was rather important.

'Thank the stars! Someone who fits the basic ideas!' she thought, relieved. "Yes, that's fine." she told him, smiling. If she was nice and Sailor Earth- it would be fine for him to meet her right?

Mikoto lounged on the couch in her apartments within the Crystal palace. She was bored out of her mind. Grandma had just finished with her for the day and she had nothing to do. Not only that but she'd been caught sneaking out again and so she was under guard to make sure she stayed put.

Luna walked in and meowed, twining around Mikoto's legs. She'd endeared herself to the girl earlier in the day, and was thus welcome. Hajime looked at the girl, rather surprised that this was the next Senshi, the Princess. She seemed to be bored as she reached down to pet Luna.

"The Princess is Sailor Earth? I highly doubt that her grandmother would be thrilled about this..." Hajime said, looking at Eliana. "Maybe we would be able to do without her?" He realized that Eliana was in the garb of Sailor Sun. "What...?" he asked, trailing off. In the palace, there was a standing rule, this rule having been handed down from when Karin was first instated as the Queen. The rule was that any woman who showed up that looked like Sailor Sun was to be admitted immediately. She did not have to visit with the Queen, nor did she have to specify the reason for her visit. She was merely to be admitted. Seeing the guards letting her in, Hajime followed, only allowed to do so when Eliana motioned at him.

"Oh, Karin's Great Granddaughter knows about me. They all do," she assured him. "About two centuries ago I did a bit more than observe and helped to gather the Senshi for Serenity." Her expression grew sad for a moment as she remember the state of the princess. "I always assumed that if the Crystal reappeared it do so within this family, and so did Karin. So she set things up for me so I'd be allowed in whenever I needed. Plus- as an observer I'm privileged to information that might need to be given to the Queen in a hurry."

They entered the Princess's room and Eliana gave her a bow. "Good evening Princess."

Mikoto was scratching Luna under her chin when the doors to her room opened. "Hey what-" she started, getting to her feet, and then she stopped, taking in Eliana's appearance. She let out a low whistle. "You're Sailor Sun aren't you? You look just like I'd been told you would," she stated, and then she grinned.

Eliana felt her heart sink. That was not a sweet grin. That was the grin she'd expect to see on a child that was full of mischief and an overabundance of self-assurance.

"I'm it aren't I? The new Sailor Earth."

'Universe. Why are you doing this to yourself?' she asked silently somehow holding back a whimpering sigh. "Yes, you are indeed," she answered. "This is Hajime, Guardian of the Moon," she introduced. "Hajime, Princess Mikoto, your Senshi of the Earth."

"His. I don't belong to ANYONE," Mikoto declared, a hand on her hip. She was in her own rooms. She didn't keep to keep up her pretense of the perfect and sweet princess.

Eliana wanted to cry. "I didn't mean that you did. I was just stating-"

"Stating what?"

Eliana sighed, her shoulders drooping a bit. She didn't need this kind of stress.

Hajime noticed Eliana's state and put a hand on her shoulder before turning to Mikoto.

"Princess, I think what Eliana is trying to say is that you are Sailor Earth to my Moon Guardian, and we must work together to help defeat Metallia," he said, holding a hand out to her, trying to smooth things over. "She really didn't mean that you belonged to me. No one does." His eyes darkened for a few seconds and he shook his head, and blinked, frowning a bit. Raising his hand to his head instead of waiting for the handshake he'd offered, his frown deepened. "My headache is getting worse," he muttered to Eliana.

Eliana had gone pale. As his eyes had darkened she'd felt a pull on her power as it fought to contain his own. She needed to get things over with quickly if she was going to do any work with him. In fact, going to Sanctuary with him would be best until she resettled his power. "Princess, I apologize, but I'll come back later to speak with you. Apollo!" she called out.

A spot of light shimmered near her and Apollo appeared. He took one look at Hajime and nodded. "I'll take care of this," he looked to the Princess. "Sailor Earth then. Fine. I'll assist in your awakening."

And that was all Hajime was present for. Eliana put a hand on his shoulder. "Close your eyes." she warned as light surrounded them. When it faded they were in Sanctuary. "Go ahead and sit down. I'll see if I can help with your headache," she told him, taking his hand to strengthen any weakening the ring of constraint she'd given him am had suffered. Once he was seated she put her hand to his head, stroking his hair gently that warm comfort once again soothing the pain. "Is that better?" she asked softly, still holding his hand lightly in the other hand.

Hajime had closed his eyes and a quiet sigh escaped him. The pain was going away, and the pleasant warmth that had helped his chest feel better was now going through his head. The instant that Hajime had first closed his eyes, images of destruction had passed behind his closed lids, and his hand hand tightened around Eliana's for an instant, but it was only for an instant.

"Much better, thank you," he said after a few more moments. His heart seemed at ease for the first time in years, and he felt that Eliana was the reason. "Better than I've felt in a long time..." he added softly, looking up at her.

She blushed ever so slightly and gave him a cutesy smile with a slight giggle. "I'm happy I could help." She could feel his power settling down again so she let her hand drop away from his head and gave his hand a final squeeze- she'd felt his hand tighten on hers as his power had given tug- before releasing his hand too. "Think you're ready to head back to your apartment? Or do you want to rest here a bit longer?"

"No one will miss me," Hajime said. "I'll stay here for a little bit. I feel more at ease here than at my apartment." He felt slightly saddened that she had let go of his hand, but she had appeared scared of him earlier for some reason, so he wasn't going to push anything.

Eliana continued to give him a soft smile. "Of course. Stay as long as you need then," she told him. She couldn't leave sanctuary and leave him her so she settled down beside him, closing her own eyes and leaning her head back against the shadowed wall they were resting against. She was observing what was happening with Sailor Earth, observing Mia- Sailor Venus, observing the Moon, observing the stars- the list of what she was checking on practically all at once was rather long, though she didn't focus on anything that didn't have anything of interest within it. It was only here in sanctuary she could do this. And she'd been away without checking for a while now. Despite whatever troubles she was seeing her expression was serene. She looked like she could simply have fallen asleep.

Up on the moon, all was still, the sad statues of all the dead standing among the burned ruined of the once beautiful palace. Down in the sanctuary, Hajime kept silent company with Eliana, quite liking to have her presence beside him. His headache had abated, and he was feeling well. Sighing, he looked over at her, then gently took her hand before scooting slightly closer and leaning back against the wall, closing his eyes.