Author's Note: I realized way too late that I accidentally deleted a line in my story that was a part of Sailor Myriad's description. When she transforms her skin is gold in color. Anyway, back to the story…this chapter is set while Usagi and Mamoru are still on their honeymoon. Sorry this is so late by the way - I'm in summer school here at my college so I can graduate early, and I'm insanely busy right now. Anyway - the usual disclaimer - I don't own Sailor Moon - but any characters that you're not familiar with are mine, and if you want to use them go ahead and ask me, I guarantee you that I'll probably say yes. I really hope that you guys are enjoying the story so far. Any suggestions please let me know! Sorry about the spacing by the way guys - I always double space before hand, and then it always ends up single spaced whenever I download it onto the site. I'll try to get that fixed so it'll be easier to read. My chapter title also suddenly disappeared this time...argh...anyway...
Chapter 5: Useful Information from a Wise Source
Usagi woke up stretched and then yawned, it was about 1pm, and Mamoru was in the living room quietly watching television so as not to disturb his wife. She decided that it was time to get up and say hello to her husband. So far their three-week honeymoon was going well, the couple had brought Luna and Artemis along, since the island did have the best food in the world - which Luna much appreciated. Usagi had decided that the senshi would be all right without their advisors, especially since nothing had occurred at her reception - at least not to her knowledge. She thought that potentially Faunus was some jealous guy dressed in a goat suit who decided to crash her wedding. Although it didn't explain how he deflected their attacks, for the time being Usagi couldn't care less about what Faunus was up to - she was enjoying her honeymoon. But simultaneously, despite the fact that she was enjoying herself, Usagi wondered what the rest of the girls were up to. Little did she know that an emergency sailor meeting was going on - without her.
At Rei's and Minako's shrine (unfortunately her grandfather had died a few years back - and he said in his will that Rei would get the shrine - Minako started living there with Rei about a year into their relationship) all of the senshi minus the moon princess were gathered around a large round table. Everyone except for Minako sat at the table, eyeing her anxiously, waiting for what she had to say. Ever since the battle with Galaxia ended, the senshi had decided to have an 'order system' created in case they had another crisis to deal with - especially now since Usagi was going to be queen. Minako was re-elected leader and would introduce the problem first, then ask for the opinions of the other senshi. The others would raise their hands, then stand up and talk when called on by Minako - that way the fights and disorder of the past could potentially be avoided. Today was the first trial of this system since Faunus was the first new enemy since Galaxia. The other senshi had already been briefed on the events of Usagi's wedding night. How Minako, Michiru, Hotaru, Makoto, and Rei had all been kidnapped by Faunus and saved by Sailor Myriad. Now, standing at the front of the room, closest to a blackboard that Rei had brought in, Minako looked at each of the senshi, and decided that it was time to start the meeting.
"I called this urgent sailor meeting because we have matters to discuss that cannot wait until Usagi-chan gets back from her honeymoon! Not to mention this is not the time to stress her out concerning sailor business. Eventually we're going to have to get used to the fact that Usagi-chan might not be able to attend these meetings anymore - who knows what might happen to her powers. This will be especially a concern of ours once Chibusa-chan develops her powers in sailor training and steps up as the new Sailor Moon, since she won't always be Chibi-Moon, as we all know." Minako said, smacking her fist down on the table. "As leader I think that I have a right to do so, agreed all?" The rest of the sailors nodded in agreement. "Good. Now ladies, we have a new enemy who is not only a jerk - but also a pervert. So the first topic of this meeting is to talk about how to deal with him, the second is a discussion of the new senshi that I met - Sailor Myriad. Is she friend or foe? Ever since Galaxia it's been really hard to determine the difference between the two. I think that you have all been briefed on Rei-chan, Michiru-san, Haruka-san, Makoto-chan, Hotaru-chan, and my encounters with Faunus and Sailor Myriad. Am I correct?" The senshi nodded, ready to get the meeting underway. "Anyway, questions or comments?" No one said anything, "okay then first I will take your suggestions." Rei raised her hand, Minako nodded at her lover to stand. Rei quickly stood up and gave her partner a little wink.
"First of all, might I mention that our leader is so sexy when she takes control like that." Rei purred at Minako - who blushed, and gave a nervous giggle and smile.
After quickly regaining her composure Minako looked at Rei "remember no distractions Rei-chan." Even though you are incredibly hot in that red dress. Minako thought to herself as she desperately tried to pay attention to Rei's ideas - and not just stare at her hot body.
"Faunus can be dealt with, even though the sailor planet attack did not work - I think that there are plenty other things that may work. For example, we have never tried to catch him by surprise - that's what he always does to us. If we were able to figure out where he was, then maybe the element of surprise would help us take him down. I think that preparation for our attacks is one of the reasons why he is able to deflect them so quickly." Rei stated, and flashed a little bit of leg at Minako through the slit of her dress as she sat down, and then winked at Minako again.
"G-g-good observation Rei-chan" Minako stammered, another light blush creeping on her face. "Another thing though - stop flustering your leader!" Minako exclaimed, while the other girls laughed at how cute and easily distracted Minako was. Geez, if she keeps this up I might not be able to finish the meeting - I'll be way too horny. I'll have to throw everyone out of the room, and then…either that or I'll just have to just take her right now on this table like an animal. Minako thought to herself.
"If I may speak Minako-chan," Setsuna said raising her hand and giving Minako a polite smile.
"Huh?" Minako said, coming out of her sexual daydream and back to reality.
Setsuna smiled and chuckled a little bit, "I said may I speak Minako-chan, I'm sorry that I interrupted your daydream."
Minako turned a bright shade of red, and decided to ignore Setsuna's comment, despite the fact that she was clearly embarrassed. "Setsuna-sempai, as our elder and teacher you know that you are the only one who is able to interrupt or take the lead during meetings without asking for permission." Minako said to the beautiful time keeper. It was well known to everyone that Setsuna rarely spoke at meetings, for fear of altering the future.
"Thank you Minako-chan, and you don't have to call me sempai, although it's so sweet." Setsuna said, chuckling a bit and standing up, "besides why do I have to be the only one who can abstain from the rules even though I am the elder? I think that it would be unjust, would it not?" Minako looked at Setsuna and smiled, nodding a bit uneasily. Then she sat down, looking up at Setsuna thoughtfully as Setsuna gracefully walked up to the front of the room. A neutral look played up Setsuna's gorgeous features, and her crimson eyes seemed to glow darkly as she turned to face her audience.
Setsuna has this presence that everyone described as "mysterious," she is so different from all the other senshi, although she had always been a part of the group - the job of being the time keeper was lonely. Nowadays she really enjoyed the company of the other senshi, but still kept many secrets concerning her personal life and the world to herself. This was relatively easy for her to do since she had spent most of her lifetime alone, and no one was really able to get to know her - not even her housemates Haruka and Michiru. In fact there were only two people who even had an inkling about Setsuna's personal life - Hotaru (who despite her being the second youngest had some of the wisdom and knowledge of Setsuna) and Chibusa (but Chibusa was not around anymore because she had to promise the time keeper not to come back after the battle with Galaxia - that way she would never have the chance to "interrupt" her parents so she could be born).
"I know that normally I do not contribute to these meetings, and when I do - I do not tend to reveal much for fear of altering time, however, concerning this particular topic I am open to answering questions concerning our enemy. It is vital to this fight that everyone knows as much as I do concerning our new enemy and Sailor Myraid of course." Setsuna said, a grim frown playing her features, then she looked over to Minako and gave her a brief nod - a little signal.
"Then the floor is now open for questions," Minako said, turning away from Setsuna and gazing at the table for raised hands. So far Ami was the only one with a question, "Ami-chan, proceed."
"I'm sure that we all have a lot of questions Setsuna-sempai, I mean Setsuna-san," Ami said, blushing as she talked to her elder, "but my first one is really a three-part question, or maybe I should say that it is three questions that I packed into one. Who exactly is Faunus, why is he doing this to us, and is he a part of chaos?"
"Faunus is not a part of chaos, interestingly enough. The chaos that we know manifested within our galaxy, despite that he traveled to many galaxies - he originated here, that is why we had to face so many enemies from within chaos. Faunus is from another galaxy, completely different world, and he has really nothing to do with chaos. He," Setsuna paused, wondering if what she was about to say would critically alter the future of the senshi, "he is from an evil which we would like to call the mythos center. This is another breed of evil born along with chaos, which I unfortunately cannot tell you much about. But that's why Saturn could not destroy him with her powers - since he is not from this galaxy and can survive safely inside and outside of our solar system. I have my suspicions as to why he came here - mostly to bother Sailor Moon, which would in turn bother Sailor Myriad a great deal. He could also be here to try to - well since he is a pervert," Setsuna said, blushing a bit, "impregnate one of the senshi here so he can have a mini-Faunus." The rest of the senshi looked at her in horror, all of them were grossed out, Minako looked like she was about to throw up. "He's one of the loner mythos enemies, so he would like someone else to help cause mischief with - and what other person would want to do that besides a mini-him. Of course he would also like his child to be powerful and having a senshi-mommy would really help to contribute to the baby's powers. I know ladies, it's disgusting, but those are the facts."
That's when the hands flew up into the air, Minako looked at them all in shock, a sweat drop going down her forehead. "Umm let's make this easy and go around the table" she said, dropping out of the leader role temporarily. "Rei-chan, go ahead."
"I'm just going to ignore what you said about Faunus and his desire to impregnate us." Rei said, gagging a little. "Could you expand on what you just said about Sailor Myriad and Sailor Moon? What does Sailor Myriad have to do with Sailor Moon?" Rei asked curiously.
"The answer is simple, Sailor Moon and Sailor Myriad, and I guess you would not be able to tell this by their looks, are cousins." Setsuna said, looking in turn at each of the senshi who stared back at her with wide eyes.
"Then how come we don't remember her! I thought that all of our memories were returned to us!" Makoto exclaimed before being called on, for which Minako glared at her. "Ooops," Makoto laughed nervously as she apologized, "sorry Minako-chan."
"All of your memories were erased when you were being reborn, and some of those were never restored because queen Serenity felt it unnecessary for you to know a few things. She thought that you would never have to deal with Faunus and the mythos center - and since Sailor Myriad currently resides in another galaxy, she thought that you would never meet her at all. The queen knew that you would probably miss her - since she was so close to everyone if she had let you remember Sailor Myriad, so she never intended for you to remember Sailor Myriad. Although I'm sure that once you meet her and all, maybe a few of your memories might be jogged." Setsuna said, a few tears coming to her eyes, which she quickly wiped away, "and as time keeper - I'm required really to remember everything - no matter how painful."
"So was she a protector of princess Serenity as well? How did we know her?" Michiru asked, forgetting about the system as well. As an angry Minako glared at her, she grinned uneasily, "oh my excuse me Minako-chan, you know that it's really not like me to talk out of turn."
"Sailor Myriad was not a protector of Sailor Moon. She and her mother - Serenity's younger sister, Jade, lived in the palace with everyone. Ah the queen and her sister were so close. You might remember Sailor Myriad better if I told you that her name was princess Zoe. From the time that she was old enough to talk, she always expressed the desire to become a senshi. Princess Serenity always looked up to Zoe, like she was an elder sister, and Zoe has always been very fond of princess Serenity, or as we call her now Usagi-chan. Zoe was a huge influence in queen Serenity's decision to let princess Serenity go through senshi training as well, especially since queen Serenity did not want the young princess to go through the hardships that she had faced when she was a senshi. The reason that we all knew princess Zoe so well is that she went through senshi training with us. Zoe excelled in it, she was definitely a superior senshi - that is why queen Serenity deemed it necessary that Zoe only fight in emergency situations only. When we were all reborn, she was sent to another galaxy in order to help the people there, along with her mother Jade, whom, at the time still had all of her sailor powers and was known as Sailor Crystal. Anyway, they were sent off to fight the more dangerous enemies within the mythos center. The enemies within the mythos center were also a part of the original battle with Beryl during the Silver Millennium; they helped to fuel chaos with more power. It was Zoe who made it possible for queen Serenity to defeat Beryl using the power of the silver crystal, because she was able to make mythos follow her back into its original galaxy. She did this in order to protect all of us." Setsuna explained, fondly thinking back on the past with a sweet smile.
"Well here's another question what kind of powers does Sailor Myriad have?" Haruka asked a demanding smile on her face.
Setsuna smiled a somewhat secret smile at her housemate and said "Sailor Myriad has powers that surround the realm of telepathy. That's why she can read all of our thoughts without the blink of an eye. If necessary she can also temporarily absorb the powers of others through touch, she's gotten very good at controlling that aspect of her powers, so don't worry about losing your abilities if you touch her - you will still have them. She can also heal people, as well as teleport and fly. So, she's a very valuable ally to have - especially against Faunus" Setsuna replied, and then awaited another question.
Questions started coming from right and left, and Minako decided to abandon the leader system for today, it's really not worth it, she thought to herself - a bit annoyed at her unorganized senshi. But I would never do such a thing, I'm very much above bursting out in the middle of a meeting, I'm way more professional than that. Less than a second after she thought that, Minako burst out a question, "Sailor Myriad seemed to remember me, why is that?" Minako, after realizing what she had done, looked around to see all of the senshi glaring at her, "ah-heh-heh, okay well the leader says let's abandon the rules for today - okay?" Minako grinned nervously and waited for her question to be answered, as the glares turned to laughs and smiles.
"Unlike the rest of us Zoe was never reborn - she never had to be, since she went away and queen Serenity did not have to protect her from chaos."
"But that would mean that she would be dead by now if she's lived that long - either that or she was reborn later, right Setsuna-san?" Ami asked inquisitively.
Setsuna shook her head no, "Zoe is immortal, Ami-chan. This is part of the reason why her mother named her Sailor Myriad. Unlike the rest of you, Sailor Myriad came from the same homeland as Sailor Moon, and so of course queen Serenity - as the older sister got to choose the name Sailor Moon for her child's senshi name - even though Zoe was born first. So, Jade had to pick another name for her child, and she chose Sailor Myriad, not just because of Zoe's immortality, but when Zoe was a child she seemed to have a lot of power - almost unlimited power. I will take one more question then, Hotaru-chan you have yet to ask me a question, do you have one for me?"
"Well I guess it would be good to know what kind of enemy we're dealing with in terms of his powers since we have been refreshing our memories concerning Sailor Myriad for the majority of this meeting." Hotaru said shyly, her hand lightly resting on Makoto's.
"Faunus - his powers are interesting to talk about, they are also telekinesis related since he is part of the mythos center, which is another reason why Sailor Myriad was sent to his galaxy. As you have probably already noticed, he can also teleport, and Minako told us earlier, he can transform into other senshi - potentially even use their powers, although he might be restricted to just using their likenesses and voices. Of course as we all noticed on the first day, he can also eliminate and reflect attacks. Faunus can create a sort of energy shield - and I really don't know what else he can do. Like I said before, he is quite a mischief maker though, and he loves to cause trouble, so all of you were forewarned." Setsuna said as she traveled back to her seat, happy to finally be allowed to share a lot of information with her fellow senshi.
Minako rose and returned to the front of the room, "thank you for the enlightening information Setsuna-san," she said, giving her elder a little bow before returning to leader mode. "All right then, so when Usagi gets back from her honeymoon, I will inform her of all of this. I'm really glad that we had this meeting, it was very informative." Makoto raised her hand, "yes Mako-chan?"
"I just wanted to say that I brought treats for everyone, so dig into my homemade sweets, I've got cakes and cookies," Makoto said as she pulled out a bag of sweets.
"Ooh! My favorites!" Minako yelled, forgetting about her leader position long enough to salivate over Makoto's treats. Minako decided that as leader, she should have the first slice of cake, so she quickly stuck out her hand to take a piece, but just as quickly retracted it as Rei's hand smacked hers hard. "Aie! Owie!" Minako said unhappily as she glared at her lover.
"I'll go make some tea," Rei grinned at Minako as she left the room to get tea. From the other room she called out, "make sure that Minako-chan doesn't start before any of you. Since Usagi-chan isn't here, I'm going to get my cake and eat it too - we don't need Minako-chan pigging out."
All of a sudden the senshi heard laughter coming from the roof of the building and muffled words that sounded like "how adorable." Setsuna, Makoto, Michiru, and Haruka ran outside to see what it was, and found nothing.
"That better have not been Faunus," Haruka said angrily, "if it was, the next time that he comes here - I'd like to rip him a new one."
"No Haruka, I don't think that it was him, to me it looks like we had a pleasant visitor" Michiru said looking at Setsuna, who smiled knowingly.
Makoto picked up on this and decided to extend an invitation to their visitor. "Hey Sailor Myriad - why don't you come and have some treats with us?" Makoto yelled, "I made them myself."
A melodic female voice echoed inside all of the senshis' heads,
"But we all would love to get to know you again," Makoto said aloud to what seemed to be nothing, "please come out and eat with us."
I cannot, I am so sorry, but perhaps another time Sailor Jupiter, farewell.
Makoto yelled out a few more times, but to no avail - Sailor Myriad had apparently left the area. In reality, she was closer than any of them thought. In one of the tall leafy trees on Rei and Minako's property, Zoe sat on a thick branch, examining the sailor senshi from behind the leaves. I'm glad that Setsuna-chan never told them what I look like in human form, otherwise I would never be able to get any peace, nor would I have the element of surprise on Faunus. They're still like I remember them though, ah, I can't wait to get to know them again, and spend time with them, but it won't be for a while. For now it's too risky if I spend a lot of time with them. Once the senshi had all gone back into the shrine, she leaped out of the tree and safely onto the concrete. But it would be nice if I could chat with them again for a few minutes, and maybe even get a fortune reading while I'm here. She smiled to herself as she walked towards the shrine, completely unaware that a pair of eyes were staring at her from behind a bush.
That's all for now - Chapter Six will be coming soon (started writing it as well, but who knows when I'll finish - hopefully soon but it might not be as soon as I'd like thanks to college), thanks for reading everyone, I really appreciate it.
