Disclaimer: I don't own Sailor Moon, blah, blah, blah


She had always been able to conceal her emotions both easily and successfully, even if she was upset beyond words. The situation that she was currently experiencing was of no exception, although it was harder to do so than most others that she had previously faced; she blamed being a hormonal teenager and their friendship as the main cause, albeit there could've definitely been many more emotional factors involved to cause her most recent distress.

Eri's eyes fell upon Kumiko silently taking notes at her desk which was located in the opposite side of the large cluttered science classroom. Ever since the incident where she had nearly yelled out loud, Sister Watanabe felt the need to it upon herself to separate them to prevent any future conflicts; Eri wasn't exactly happy about it, either; she actually hated it with an intense passion, in fact.

Even if the whole desk situation was nonexistent, she'd still be in a major slump. She had hurt Kumiko and possibly destroyed their friendship, her best friend no less! She knew she had temperament issues, but she never realized that her problems were that extreme; she really needed to get help for it. I need to apologize to Kumiko, tell her that I didn't mean and that I feel horrible about it. Yeah, I really need to start doing that really soon.

Eri sighed inaudibly as Sister Fujiyama—or whatever her name was—continued lecturing them in atoms and molecules—a topic that she despised greatly for the dual factors of its complication and difficulty. The boredom really wasn't helping her keep her mind off the whole Kumiko-Avoidance situation, nor did it help ease her jump nerves either. Ever since that whole incident when Kumiko transformed into a Youma, Eri had been feeling an odd sense of anxiety; it was almost as if Kumiko knew something that she didn't—or possibly did—oddly enough.

That Youma incident has proven to be rather large blow to their friendship after their fight; it was almost as if Kumiko actually remembered being a Youma. Eri scoffed internally at the thought. No one ever remembered the time as a Youma minion, and she was sure that Kumiko was certainly no exception whatsoever. That would've undoubtedly been completely and utterly absurd, if she were to be concerned with its specific details at all.

"Alright class, we have a new transfer student joining us from now on; I hope you all treat her accordingly."

Eri snapped out of her thoughts almost immediately due to Sister Fujiyama's most recent statement; she was terribly confused by its content. She was complete definite that T*A Academy never accepted new students at her age, not even once in all the years they've been educating young girls in their district. Why now of all times? She wondered, luckily for the safety of her hide, not out loud. Why change the policies for one person when they could've easily put the time and effort from doing that into something more beneficial for the betterment school?

Suddenly, the new transfer student swaggered in, and Eri suddenly got the creeps. Other than her green eyes, the strange girl looked exactly like her mother; they were nearly identical, with the eye color difference. She became extremely suspicious about the new girls aura, which was a green color that was very similar to her aunt Makoto, and Makoto was, well, Sailor Jupiter.

"Likewise." The girl bowed both respectively politely. "My name is Kitano Kaede, and it's a pleasure to acquaintances with you all, everyone."

Honestly, she was unnerved by the girl enough already to be creeped out anymore by her. There was just something about her that sent Eri spiraling out of proportions. Maybe it was her uncanny resemblance to Rei or that black that sealed past her green aura that sent Eri that wrong way; she wasn't exactly certain of the main cause of it all.

Kaede smiled slightly and went to her seat, which was right next to Kumiko's own. Eri was sure that there was some hidden information behind that smile; she just didn't exactly know it yet. She scowled internally. What if she's another Youma? And why my school of all places?

~O~O~O~O~

Eri was truly weirded out throughout the entire span of class time. Kaede wouldn't stop staring at her like she a five million yen or something; it was getting extremely creepy for her tastes. Eri groaned internally as Sister Fujiyama left the classroom for some other business as the wretched

class came to a sudden halt.

She scowled internally. Eri had so many things on her mind involving her situation with Kumiko and the new transfer student, Kaede, which was beginning to take a harsh toll on her once recent semi-great mood; she hated it, to be truthful.

"Are you alright?" Kaede asked, breaking her out of her thoughts. "You sensed rather . . . upset, to say the least."

Surprised, Eri jumped, letting out an all-too-loud yelp for anyone's comfort. She was certain that her face was already stained red from embarrassment by then. "W-what?"

"I said that you liked upset, that's all," Kaede said slowly. "There's no need for you to get flustered or anything like that. If you ever met my friend, she'd tease you relentlessly for that, you know."

Eri noted the dreamy expression Kaede took on when she mentioned her friend; she decided to place in the back of her mind for any necessary future reference. This time, the actually scowled visibly. "And, what of it?"

"Oh nothing," Kaede replied quickly, almost too quickly for Eri's tastes. "I was just curious, that's all."

As Kaede redirected her gaze to somewhere else, Eri did the same in the opposite direction. She couldn't help but to acknowledge the overwhelming suspicion that they had met once before; it gave her an extreme sense of déjà vu. Her scowl deepened considerably. I swear she better not be a Youma. I can't deal with another one solo anymore; it's getting far too exhausting.

Then the afternoon bell began to sound—which indicated the ending of the school day—and Eri bolted from the building with vigor.

~O~O~O~O~

Eri was running face-first down the bustling streets of Tokyo, even though she knew she shouldn't be. She had so many thoughts racing through her mind, though, that she couldn't help it the least bit. All she wanted to do was get to the arcade so that she could spend the little time she currently had available in that afternoon with Emi, nothing more, nothing less.

Eri smiled giddily at the thought. She sometimes felt that her mother, Minako, had influenced her in the matters of the heart with teasing; she had to agree though, it was a lot of fun. She loved watching Emi go from acting cool to flustered in a mere few seconds due to her presence; it was adorable. That didn't mean that Emi liked her too, did it? That was where she got all confused by the mixed signals; she hated those as much as she hated pick pocketing.

Mixed signals were horrid. It was a fifty-fifty chance at correct interpretation, and she absolutely despised it with a passion. She frowned. She didn't know what she would do if she was rejected by her plausibly first mature crush; she'd be, ironically, crushed. But, what if—

Unfortunately, Eri's thoughts were brutally cut off as she came into s brute contact with another unlucky human being, causing school briefcases to go flying in the process.

"Oi," the person—obviously female—began irritatingly, "watch where you're going!"

"No, you watch where you're go—" Eri's eyes went wide as she got a glimpse of the strange girls aura; it was pure black. She paled considerably. That couldn't have been good. She was possibly the only one in that colored aura; another person with that aura could prove to be a threat to their safety. What if she's an enemy, or a Sailor Soldier, like me?

"Are you alright?" the girl asked warily, the tone in her voice changing drastically. "Oh, and I'm Kuroki Miyuki by the way; I think I forgot to introduce myself earlier."

"I'm Hino Eri," she introduced quietly. Eri had realized seconds ago that she needed to get away from Miyuki at all cost; her social drive, as little as it was, had to wait. She didn't need to bolt off instantly though, as the boy that she had recognized as the creeper-pedophile from days before headed up to the scene. Eri quickly gathered her things. Is he her boyfriend or something?

He eyed her with curiosity. "Something come up in, uh, family business, and we need to go right now to attend, Miyuki."

Miyuki gave him an intense glare before following him off bitterly. She looked anything but happy about the revelation as she disappeared though, that much was certain.

I need to tell Mama and Mom about this, Eri though as she jogged down the other side of the street, after the arcade with Emi, of course.

~O~O~O~O~

The rustling of ashen-colored grass in the light breeze that lay under the reddened sky, seemed to be an omen of sort, he dually noted, playing with the wine glass grasped in his hands firmly.

Alexandrite's daily routine for the day had normally consisted of gathering energy to aid in the resurrection Chaos, but that had been ruined when his ally, Tanzanite, had been set out for a similar obligation rather than himself. He growled. Out of all of his companions, he hated the traitorous, arrogant and overzealous Tanzanite the most of them all.

Alexandrite could name many things he hated about his forces ally. Tanzanite was arrogant on his abilities, for starters, and even challenged their leader, Kyanite, for leadership once. He was also anything but loyal, making his own agenda a greater priority to him than that of his servitude Lord Sphene evident enough; it disgusted Alexandrite, such disloyalty. Tanzanite also happened to be extremely rude, Alexandrite in specifics, to his fellow warriors. In a nutshell, Alexandrite hated everything about Tanzanite, if he hadn't made that clear beforehand.

"Alexandrite, foolishly, Lord Sphene requests for your rather . . . unnecessary presence."

Speak of the devil, and he shall come, thought Alexandrite bitterly as the wine glass began to crack in his hands. "Then I guess we all positively know now why he sent you on an energy-gathering mission of Earth, now don't we?"

"Ah, I see your pathetic defense level had increased since we had last it; still, it's truly quite pitiful," Tanzanite laughed smugly in the shadows that concealed his physical features. "But we would hate to make our precious master wait on your lazy arse, so get up and go crawling to him."

As Alexandrite stood quickly out of rage, the wine glass finally shattered in her hands. "You take that back now, you bastard!"

"Fighting isn't the smartest idea for reviving Chaos, now is it?" a smooth voice asked all of the sudden.

"Lord Sphene!" they immediately ceased their arguing and slum on their heels to bow like loyal dogs to their owner. "We didn't realize you were there!"

"That it forgiven, my friends." Sphene smiled, although wickedness and deceit were underlying in it. "Alexandrite, you must know that you are being assigned with a very important mission; failure in this will not be tolerated and end in death, understood?"

Alexandrite, now the smug one, grinned in a silently seething Tanzanite's direction. It filled him with a high honor and sense of achievement, on how he bested Tanzanite at something; it was rather satisfying, actually. "I understand, my lord. But, what is the mission exactly?"

Sphene's eyes shine with intense greed and surprising lust. "I want you to locate Sailor Eros and bring her to me."

This mission should be easy for me to solely complete. Alexandrite lowered his head in an admirable respect. "I shall bring her here for your intentions, Lord Sphene."

~O~O~O~O~

If one were to go by her mothers' stories, the Crown Arcade hadn't kept up with the times. They had said that it still looked like it had in 1996, which probably explained its low popularity. Emi loved it anyway, though, as it was close to where she and her family lived and had modernized games, even though its outward and inward appearance remained consistent. Even with that, the gaming systems were extremely difficult, well, in her opinion it was.

"This game is so freaking hard!" Emi almost ran her fist through the arcade game screen. Her race car had just previously swerved to the right and crashed into the stands, according to the race game's screen, all due to her failure. But being competitive by nature, she hated to lose, and this loss was no exception; it could never be, like any other one. Emi felt her eye twitch and she gritted her teeth. "Why do they even bother to create a game that's impossible to win?"

"That intent is for the crane games." Akemi rolled her eyes boredly. Of course, she obviously was, as she had been dragged there by her elder sister after their mothers had told her to do such so they could go on one of their rare dates, and Akira was off somewhere spending time with his friends from school. "And Tenou always seem to win those games with the upmost accuracy and precision, thus always gaining the highest score on racing games."

"Your grammar is way too sophisticated for your age and my comfort," Emi grumbled in discontent, then inserted another token into the game machine's slot to begin a new round. She was certain that eyes were sparkling with pride and determination while she spoke at that same exact moment. "But I, the great Kino Emi, will not and never lose to a mere electronic game!"

"Lose to what?" Eri made her presence known to them. "Kino Emi, losing? That's both rich and priceless at the same time!" she snorted, then added, "and that never happens either!"

"I, uh, didn't lose!" Emi felt her blood pressure skyrocket and she jumped out of shock, causing her race car to crash for the second time that day. In front of Eri, she refused to ever show any of her faults to her; she would never under any circumstances whatsoever. "It was just some technical difficulties!"

Eri smiled in spite of her friend's out-the-blue nervousness. "Yeah, I'm sure it was "some technical difficulties"."

Akemi snickered.

"It was technical difficulties, I swear!" Emi defended valiantly. She held her pride and positive reputation status very dearly, and she would never let anyone—not even her loved ones, that she held so dear to her—tarnish it. "It was rigged; it had to be!"

Eri rolled her laughing eyes. "You lie so bad, you know that?"

Emi noticed that Eri looked worn down. Her eyes were gaunt, as if she were barely getting any restful sleep recently, and she liked paler than usual, giving away tired impression. She peered through Eri's façade for a moment and saw someone unhappy with their life at the moment. Rather than pry in the public's eyes, Emi decided to huff defensively instead. "I so do not!"

Eri went to laugh, but then stiffened as a moving shadow in the distance caught her eyes; its dastardly aura didn't help her jumpy nerves, either. "Something ill is watching us; we aren't safe anymore."

"I didn't notice anything suspicious." Akemi frowned. "Are you sure that you're feeling healthy right now, Eri?"

Eri nodded. "I'm positive; we need to get out of here, now."

Emi's brow furrowed in confusion as Eri began dragging them out of the arcade. She hated to admit it, but she had an odd sense of anxiety too; she found the ghoulish feeling immensely unsettling. The belief that something life-changing in the future was going to occur to her hit her like a ton of bricks once again, and she paled as thunder began to rumble in the overhead; it indicated something was going to take place, if her feeling hadn't already. I know that I can't fight fate . . . I just hope that nothing horrible is going to happen to everyone.

~O~O~O~O~

Later that night, Eri was watching it all unfold from a pink bun-headed girl's big innocent bright blue eyes that gleamed with eagerness and utter joy.

She found herself in a golden palace—which was large in diameter and height—padding down on the crystal-themed floors of a long narrow hallway in an obvious concealed hurry; it was possible that she was to meet someone at that hour or she just had to use to use the restroom; Eri had no educated-clue that could prove to aid her understanding of the whole situation whatsoever.

The shadows that slithered across the golden walls deemed to be both terrifying and eerie at the same time, very much to Eri's distaste. The silence was almost as tangible as her twins fear and excitement, Eri noted, and almost as visibly as the girl's lopsided—no doubt unfortunately love-sick—grin. There were no windows present, or at least visible in the dark, and a chilled air caused all of her hairs on her host's neck and arms to stand up.

Where am I? Is this some sort of dream or something? If Eri were in her own physical body or of a right mind, she would've turned back the other way instantly; she oddly couldn't though. Maybe it was the fact that she wasn't in control of a body or it was the off giddy feeling that course through her veins and ate at her heart that was at blame for the travel; either way, her walk turned to a jog as she continued traveling down the dark palace hallway.

Oh, Eri was well acquainted with a fraction of that feeling all right, she would always feel it whenever she thought of or was around Emi at all. It was a feeling that caused Eri to want to break all the rules Emi, to do anything for her. It was a feeling that made her stomach perform summersaults and her heart pound much faster than it was meant to. It was a feeling that made her want to murder anyone who ever glanced at Emi that way she did, or perhaps insult her directly or indirectly. In simple basic terms, it was a crush. If someone were to increase those feelings a hundredfold, however, it would blossom into love; something that most of her aunts and her mothers displayed every day at any free possible moment they had together with their beloveds.

Eri immediately felt extremely jealous of the girl, who had something she severely wanted. How long had she been fantasizing about having a happy and glorified romance . . . about snuggling into the safety of Emi's arms every night before they fell asleep together peacefully? How long had she desperately waited for that to occur, even though it never had, no matter how much she had prayed every night for it to do so? How long? Had it all begun with her fleeting crush on Emi or did the quest begin when she started to have a brief general idea of what pure true love was? Honestly, Eri reflected, the lines were too blurred for her to uncover the correct answer; it was practically impossible for her to do so without getting a splitting migraine.

"What are you doing out here, Princess Arcane?" a masculine voice hissed, and then pulled her physical body into his waiting arms. "Have you gone mad? What if your mother or guards found you rather than if I had? You know it isn't safe in these times of war."

"Hector, it hurt too much for me to bear to be away from you," Arcane whispered as she leaned into the embrace. She had a content smile on her face, despite Hector's warning of danger and discovery of their assumed secret tryst and her eyes gleaned with happiness. "I love you far too much to be separated for that long span of time."

"I missed you horribly too," Hector murmured as the shadows finally dissipated from his still form. Eri's eyes mentally went wide in a sudden shock. He and that boy that was staring at her earlier that week—she believes his name was Daisuke—were identical, with Hector adorning handsome garbs that were casually worn by Prince Endymion, only with the all of the red being replaced by a beautiful green shade. Hector smiled down at Arcane. "Just try to be more careful, alright? I don't know what I'd do if you had even gotten wounded in any given way."

They sound like they're imitating one of those stupid cheesy romance novels, Eri thought, slightly annoyed by the fact. Unlike her mother, Minako, she greatly despised anything that exploited romance falsely, which was most novels; Eri was more like her other mother, Rei, if she was concerned by any of it. She mentally groaned. If that were the case, then they were lucky that she didn't have a body to release her temper. With her temper and tolerance for horrible cheesy romance novels things would surely catch on fire, to say the least; yes, they were truly fortunate that she didn't have a body to rage in; it probably wouldn't have been exactly thrilling for bystanders or the brunt of the impact and rant to experience at all. I still raged to Kumiko and hurt her; she was my best friend.

Eri fought the urge to sob, even if she couldn't physically do so to begin with. She had been impulsive with her tongue yet again, and that, in all likelihood, had cost her a great price; it had possibly cost her best friend's friendship and acceptance and kindness. She wished that she could take back that moment and do it all over; she would honestly do it in a quick paced heartbeat. Why did I have to do it? Why do I have to be so impulsive and cruel with my damn temperament issues? Why? Why did I have to do it? Why? Luckily for her, she had the conversation between Prince Hector and Princess Arcane to keep her occupied instead of continuing her previous string of negative thoughts.

"My subjects—they're attempting to begin a revolt again your kingdom," Hector said finally after a long awkward silence that clearly made him and Arcane uncomfortable, probably due to their given situation. "Their mistress is becoming more powerful as we speak; I don't think that it's safe for you to frequently visit me here any longer."

Isn't that what happened during the Silver Millennium, with Princess Serenity and Prince Endymion though? But why do they look different from how they're described in Mom and Mama's stories? Eri contemplated. The direction of her strange dream was becoming too familiar to her for some reason, but she couldn't exactly pinpoint it, much to her extreme disdain. Why am I dreaming of this then?

"Princess?" a voice—in which Eri realized sounded almost exactly like hers; it was a little more mature sounded—called strongly, making her reason for lingering there clearly visible for two lovers to see. Her purpose in being there was sort of like the tangibility of the walls; it was slightly hard to see due to the shadows, but there nonetheless, Eri noted. "Where are you? We need to bring you back home; your mother wishes for you to be present there!"

Arcane merely paled visibly as the owner of the said voice spotted then in their hiding area after a few long and silent passing moments. Eri could easily feel the fear and anxiety roll off Arcane's aura in waves, for someone had discovered her trust. Eri could also sense the terror that was caused if she were to think about the consequences of the discovery; or had to be solely based off being banned to ever visiting Prince Hector again as his lover.

Once Eri came to gain sight of Arcane's guardian, she felt another pang of shock invade her whole being for the second time that hour, or however much time passed as she continued to go through with the experience. Arcane's guardian was Sailor Eros; she was Eri! Ironically, Arcane sucked in some air nervously, which was exactly what Eri would've dome at that exact moment of she had a body or any control over the one that she was watching from with, now, extreme interest.

"Princess, what are you doing with him?" Eros demanded with concern, anger, and shockingly disgust, visibly written across her pale features. She scowled deeply, her brows scrunching together as if in extreme deep thought; Eri assume that she was, since she was silent for an excessively delayed minute or two to come to pass. "You know that it's dangerous for you two be together; he's dangerous for you to be even being around, especially in this period of pre-war! Don't you understand that important fact, Princess?"

"I understand that fully!" Arcane shot back with her eyes glistening with unshed tears, but Eri had a feeling that they were defiant ones rather than that of sorrow. "But I love him with every fiber of my being, just as you love with Valorous; you two are having a secret romance too, you know!"

Unrealistically, at the mention of the mysterious Valorous' name, Eros managed to keep up her intense scowl while blushing profusely and smiling giddily at the same time.

"Wait, they're having a—" Hector opened his mouth to make a comment on the topic—it could've possibly been out of perplexity, if his appearance proved Eri's suspicions of his thick skull to be correct—but he was cut off.

"Princess, Prince," she hissed as a large amount of footsteps echoed upon the crystal walls and flooring, indicating that they were nearing the hideout for Hector and Arcane's trust, "get out of here! I'll stall for as long as I have to ability to, just escape!"

Hector took a silently protesting Arcane in his arms and bolted from the area, which was just in time too, as their enemies began to draw closer into their line of vision and Eros turned to face the battle determinedly.

But then things began to become weirder as the scene started to alter its appearance until they were gone, thus interrupting his fortunately failed attempt and saving her from a large amount of tedious explanations.

Eri was shocked to find that she had control of her—no Sailor Eros'—present body at that given moment. She would've whooped too, but the small fact of a long silvered hair man sitting across from her in a throne seemed to cease that thought right in its newly infant tracks. She realized that they were located in a palace's throne room, with shining obsidian walls and a floor of the same style, with a black silk carpet leading up to the dark themed throne. There was no windows that Eros was able to spot, she noticed, and there were shadowed outlines of three young man bowing beside the said throne; their faces were impossible for her to make out; sadly for her, that was most likely due to the darkness that danced across the walls and shrouded nearly everything that was furthest away in an eye's range and beyond even that. All those factors proved to definitely not be her in slim favor; not by a long shot.

"I welcome you to my humble home, Sailor Eros," the strange man greeted smoothly, his hands placed over his lap formally, as if she were a colleague of his or something similar to that matter. Eros finally realized that he was wearing a black blazer, dress pants, pristine dress shoes; a white button down shirt, gloves, and a poppy red tie. He smiled charming at her. "It is such an honor to finally communicate with you, although, it is rather unfortunate that I still can't uncover your civilian persona."

"Who the hell are you?" Eros demanded once more, not bother to bite back her tongue for mannerisms or respect. She felt a pure sudden righteous anger begin to rush through her veins like a flood breaking from a flimsy dam. What did this guy want with her? Did he give her that previous dream sequence? Did he want to harm her loved ones or she herself? Most importantly was he her true enemy; was he the one that it was her duty omit eliminate instantly for the good of Earth? "What do you want from me or this planet? Do you want the Legendary Silver Crystal? Answer me dammit!"

"I want many thing, yes," he replied with a brown raised curiously. "Of course, I'd love for you to realize who you are warring against when you oppose me." He ran a hand through his hair. "I am Lord Sphene, the last leader of Chaos' forces, Sailor Eros, and I hope you do realize that you will not prevail in defeating me; you most certainly will not, no matter how hard you battle and strategize, I assure you that I will always turn out as the victor of the competition, battle, debate, or argument."

"You don't know that!" Eros shot back both angrily and defensively in unison. She didn't understand Sphene's arrogance at all, much less his underlying threat. It may have been her own slight arrogance speaking, but Eros was extremely confused on how he thought that he could beat her as easily as he bluffed he could. Eros' newly firming scowl deepened considerably. "I'm not as weak and helpless as you make me out to be!"

"You are weak in comparison to me," Sphene insisted, his eyes shining as if he were already starting to form an expertly executed master plan right then and there. "You do not seem to understand my advantages over you; I have the immense power of Chaos itself and reinforcements, you however, do not, sadly for your poor soon-to-be-obliterated-sake. But remember this, Eros, never allow confidence to overrule your logical decision; it will surely be your downfall. I'd rather face a logical hard-working opponent, as opposed to an impulsive and rash one that failed to comprehend worthwhile decision-making skills that are essential towards life itself." He held his arm wrist out as if he were about to flick it. "Now it is time for you to awaken to reality. Goodbye for now, Sailor Eros."

Whilst irritated and insulted simultaneously, Eros went to protest valiantly, but was stopped as Sphene flicked his wrist elegantly and coolly, causing the predicament to fade into a black mass of nothingness as much as she clawed to return to her dreamland for more answers, then Eri awoke upright in sweat to the own comfort of her thankfully tranquil bedroom.

She stood shakily and stared at her form in a nearby mirror. Eri noted that she was much paler than usual, excreting more perspiration than she was naturally accustomed to, and looked quite green; the distant glassy look in her eyes seemed to seal the sickly appearance with a sick sense of grace and elegance, too. That only seemed to prove that she was her Rei's daughter; that was certainly evident—no obvious—to the naked eye.

"Eri, you're finally awake!"

Out of nowhere, Aiko came stumbling into the room with a goofy, immature, and happy grin plastered across her face. She pulled Eri into a breath-stealing hug. If the strange man from her dream wasn't going to kill her off, then maybe the hug that she was receiving was, Eri reflected. She wasn't exactly thrilled about the idea of going by a death-by-sisterly-affection, either. I feel sort of bad about one of

Mr. Chiba Mamoru's Four Kings of Heaven. If Mama's story is right, poor Nephrite had a death-by-flowers because of Auntie Mako; it must suck to be him in the afterlife. I mean seriously, all that teasing has to wear someone down after a while! Eri immediately snapped out of her thoughts as she recalled that a concerned Aiko was waiting for her to respond to her presence.

"You were tossing and turning in your sleep and you weren't reacting to Mommy or I when we tried to wake you up!" Aiko exclaimed. "And you looked like you were about to vomit; we were all worried! Mama is meditating right now to see if she could find a probably, but now that you're awake, she can stop and you can tell us what's up!"

I really shouldn't have worried them; they don't deserve to go through any of that stress. Eri though as she stretched, then, being anything but discreet, she yawned loudly. After that dream, she was honestly exhausted. Her stomach rumbled thunderously, demanding to be fed instantly or unwanted consequences would be faced. Apparently, she was rather hungry at that moment too. "We can talk about the dream later; I just want to eat right now."

Aiko smiled brightly as her own stomach grumbled; in comparison to Eri's, its eager sound was quieter "Let's go them; Mommy and Mama are going to be so happy to see you alright, sis!"

Maybe, staying in dreamland may not be as good as reality, at times. Eri now adorned a smile of equal, if not more, intensity. "Alright, let's go."

~O~O~O~O~

The breakfast—or snack, whatever one would like to call a semi-small meal eaten at five o'clock in the morning with one's intermediate family—had an awkward tension that could yet be rivaled by any of Eri's past family experience; it was worse than when Minako had tried to get her into idols and pop culture in front of Kumiko and Emi, and that event had left horrific scarring on both its spectators and participants, which was mainly caused by Minako's sanity probably at that time—at least, Eri had hoped that her mother was insane at the time; if that were her normal sanity, then Eri would've surely been scared top, ironically, to the moon and beyond even that.

She knew that her parents were relieved that she wasn't harmed in any possibly way; they just weren't exactly showing it to her yet. Eri theorized that the awkwardness began after Aiko had mentioned her most lovely dream to their mothers. They had possibly thought that it was a premonition of sorts, as they knew about her heightened psychic abilities, especially Rei, given her current circumstances and abilities.

"Mom, Mama, I think it's time I shared my dream with you guys," Eri finally said, cutting through the thick tension easily, like a knife would slice through a soft stick of butter. "I think it was about the most recent enemy that had just appeared a few weeks ago; he's some arrogant guy that goes by the name, Lord Sphene."

"Great, now we have a male Beryl 2.0," Rei grumbled in discontent. She then straightened her posture and raised her voice as she spoke, "I haven't been getting visions in the fire of late; is it possible that the enemy is intercepting my gift?"

"We need to call the others." Minako stood abruptly, her stony face chiseled with determination. To the others, it would appear as if Sailor Venus had taken Minako's place, since there was such a drastic and quick attitude and personality change. "It's time that the Sailor Soldiers awaken to fight an evil once more."

"Like your stories of Serenity beating the shit out of that red-headed Witch-A-Bitch," Eri muttered under her breath. "And you and Mama destroying the mother-stealing ones too."

"Eri, no cursing!" Rei scolded with a scowl forming. "We have to think rationally about the enemy!"

"Yeah, bad big sis!" Aiko chimed in. "No cussing under your breath, only Mama is allowed to do that when she messes up something!"

Eri would've defiantly rolled her eyes and adverted her gaze to the ground if not for the fear that either of her mothers or younger sister were catch in the act and reprimand her further; it didn't exactly help that they were most likely in the most professional and worst possible mood known to mankind to ever be in. "Alright Mama; I'll stop cussing. You're—you're right about gathering the others though."

"Good," Rei said. She went to her communicator and activated it, connecting with everyone over it was the exception of Minako, respectively. "Guys" she swallowed, much unlike her causal cool-headed self. "Eri had a premonition of sorts; it was about our newest enemy."

"Yeah," Minako added grimly, "It's time for the Sailor Soldiers to finally return to make an appearance in Tokyo once again."

Even through the static that seemed to interfere with the call and the behind-the-times communicator, their facial expressions seemed to agree with her tone, as they seemed to be anything but happy about the prospect of another dangerous threat looming over the horizon. They had faced so much—far too much—already, and Eri knew that; she just wished that she could do something about it to decrease their stress and aid them in any way possible. I will defeat you, Sphene, you'll see. I will win for you, Emi, Kumiko, Mom, Mama, and Aiko; I will win, for everyone.

Eri blinked out of confusion as another though invaded her kind seemingly subconsciously. That single thought gave her an odd sense if déjà vu, as if she were there something extremely and important that she held close to her heart, she just couldn't quite recall it exactly; it was an extremely odd feeling that sent jolts down her spine, to say the least. Eri frowned and propped her elbows up, closing her eyes soundly while trying to make out what they thought—when decoded—truly meant.

And I will always fight and win for you, Princess.


A/N: So, finally, chapter/act three is up! I'm sorry for the unanticipated long wait, but word on my mobile phone mysteriously deleted the file. I was originally having this act to take a completely different turn, but everything happens for a reason.

And I'm sorry if Rei and Minako seemed OOC, but maturity and the the threat of a new enemy can do that to them. Even so, as always, I hope you all enjoyed this recent chapter, and if I hadn't said this previously, I really love reviews!

~NeroJove