Cyber Moon: Crystal.

Act 2: War Games.

Episode 11: A perfect life, a perfect lie.

By Razor Knight

Last update: February 9, 2009

Moon had almost forgotten this feeling. It was something her mind had tried to deny once and again, back when she was actively fighting evil, but she had a lot more experience now than she did back then, and thus she knew exactly what this meant.

Much despite herself, and despite the danger this woman represented, Serenity was enjoying this battle. She had thought about knocking out Sin and capturing her, but Sin... She had resisted her magic.

It had been a long time, a thousand years, since something like this happened. And this woman was threatening to destroy everything she'd fought for. But even then, she still felt it, the call of the fighter in her.

She punched Sin back as the woman tried to hit her, then saw Luna going for melee herself. It was quite fitting that Luna's fighting style was very much cat-like, her reflexes were amazing, and Sin had little chance to hit her.

While fighting, however, Serenity had became aware of something else. She had some memories from the past resurface, of things that hadn't affected them back then, but still, they were clearly important. Mysterious explosions, sightings of battles in the sky, buildings falling apart for no reason, all that kind of things... There was a duality about these memories, somehow she remembered seeing something in the news, but also remembered not seeing it.

Sin saw Serenity was distracted and smiled, blocking Luna's kick with one hand while she aimed at the Queen with the other. "Dark Edge."

Serenity leapt aside, barely dodging the dark blast. It cut through a building before vanishing, and Serenity paled. "There were... There were innocents in that building!"

"If you care so much, then don't dodge," Sin said with a shrug.

But Serenity could see it, the spark of guilt in Sin's eyes as she realized what she had done. "Your fight is with me," she said, "so let's bring it up to the sky."

Luna frowned as Moon floated up. "Wait, the risk is too high!"

Moon sighed. "But letting this woman kill innocents, I just can't... "

"You can't? Like you couldn't let your own people die during the Black Moon attacks?" Sin snapped. "You're a damn liar. You've even watched your own friends die without doing a thing. You don't deserve all the praise you get for your past deeds, Queen."

Moon flinched. "Yes, I know I've made mistakes in the past, I know those mistakes caused pain to others. I'm not perfect, and I'll be the first one to admit it. But if you want your parents back, then I could bring them back."

"That... You could do that?" Sin said, looking at Moon in shock. "You could really..."

'Don't be fooled, Sin. She can't do that, it would change the history she wants to protect so much. The only way for your parents to be back is to kill this woman, and then kill her past self. '

Sin could feel anger building up. "You liar, you can't bring them back, you can't make me forget about all these years of pain and grief I've lived thanks to you! I'm going to kill you!"

Moon frowned as Sin vanished. No, she wasn't around anymore, which meant... She mentally sent a message to all the Senshi. 'There's a woman who looks a lot like me, her name's Sin, and... I think she may be going further back in time to kill me. Everyone, please stay alert.'

"What do we do now?" Luna asked.

"I'm going to search for her. I can't let her get away with what she's trying to do."

"But you can't kill her," Luna guessed.

"Can you? She's right about a lot of things."

"I'm not so sure of that," Luna said, "but don't let the part about us being responsible for evil beings coming here get to you. That's just a lie her boss told her."

Neo Moon heard her mother's message and sighed. It was really annoying, to not know where this enemy was coming from, or when and where they would show up. She had requested for the remaining two Younger Senshi, or Neo Senshi as they were known nowadays, to join her, and it was a good thing, they needed the battle experience, and she needed the backup.

"Not to jinx us or anything," Neo Nemesis said, "but it's quite likely they will end in this era."

Neo Moon had to agree with that... They were guarding a time where the Senshi were their weakest, back when their powers hadn't awakened yet. She was looking at a very young (and cute) Usagi right now, who was on her way to school, in what seemed like an ordinary day. "Girls, I know when they're going to attack."

"Huh? How?"

"Call it instinct, if you like, but I'm not going to risk doing nothing and being right about it."

The three Neo Senshi vanished, and reappeared several meters behind the young Usagi. Just as they did, a figure appeared right in front of the girl. "I hate when you're right, Moon," Neo Lilith noted.

"This is the end, little girl. Dark Edge!" The blast Sin shot, however, curved up and missed its mark completely. "What the fuck is going on?"

"Thousand Suns!"

Sin was knocked down to the ground by the blast, and realized she couldn't stand up. The gravity around her was being raised, if she didn't do a thing soon, then...

"Who... Who are you?"

Neo Moon froze. This wasn't going as planned, Usagi had seen them and Sin, this would change a lot! She had to think of something, and quick but what...

Neo Lilith saw Sin vanish and frowned. "She's gone, but what about... "

"Leave this to me, I'll tag along in a minute," Neo Moon said.

"Right, boss," Neo Nemesis muttered before the two vanished.

Neo Moon looked at the small girl and groaned. "Mom's going to hate me for this..." Her crystal lit up for a few seconds, and she smiled as the young Usagi stood frozen in place. "Or not, since she won't remember," she added before vanishing.

Usagi blinked a few times before looking around in confusion. "Strange, I thought I heard someone." She shrugged it off as her imagination and resumed her walk to school, humming happily.

Serenity smiled. One crisis averted, but they still had to stop these women from attacking any more regions of time. She saw someone appearing and nodded. "I was about to call for you."

"Serenity, I must say I'm partially glad those women decided to attack different eras. Thanks to that, I was able to trace them down to their own lair."

"That's good. We can take the fight to them now."

"Be warned, though, that there's something in there, something with a power like nothing I've ever seen before."

"We can't just sit around and let them continue with their attacks. I have to make Sin see that she's not right about everything she says, that she could still be happy in this reality."

"You have to consider that she's been fed lies for a long time now. Maybe she's past the point where she could be redeemed."

"No, I won't accept that. I can let this be like all those other enemies..."

"I hope you're right, because eliminating someone with that much power would be a waste."

"That was a failure. A complete and pathetic failure."

"It is not, for now we can lure them to us..."

"You lied to us, Apsu. You said our power would be enough to face those Senshi in equal terms."

The figure in the shadows let out a chuckle. "My dear Sin, I would never lie to you. I merely underestimated the Senshi. I fear that is an all too common mistake of those opposing her."

Sin growled, but then looked down. "I underestimated them, too. That gravity bitch, I never thought her powers could be so overwhelming. "

"We will have the strategic advantage here," Nabu noted. "We know this place, while the Senshi have never been here. It will be all too easy to pick them one by one."

"We need not fight them all," the only boy in the room said, "just Serenity, her daughter, and her five strongest lackeys."

"They're the base, the foundation of their team," Nabu agreed, "the boy's right, if we take care of those, the rest will fall."

"We need not kill them," Apsu said, "and once they're here, I will be able to alter their destiny, and in turn, change my own destiny." After she said that, the woman started coughing.

"Lady Apsu, are you all right?"

Apsu looked at Nergal. "My time's running out. As long as the Ginzuishou exists in this era, then my death will be unavoidable."

Anshar nodded. "We know that. We cannot fail again, not if we are to save the one who saved us in the past."

Neo Moon gasped. "There is another gate?"

"It's not like the Time Gate," Pluto noted, "it's a pocket dimension that exists outside time, yes, but it is... Artificial."

"Isn't the limbo also..." Jupiter pondered. "Artificial?"

"That place wasn't made by anyone, as far as I can tell," Pluto said, "but that's a talk for another time. We have two choices right now. We can stay watching over the timelines and try to defeat them whenever they show up, or we can take the fight to their own lair. However, I can sense something there, something evil, but it knows I'm watching, and it somehow blocks me out."

"It blocks you out?" Neo Moon asked. "But how... I thought only mom could do that."

"Which means this enemy is as strong as Serenity, or maybe stronger. "

"That's a bit hard to believe," Dragon Mercury said, "but then again, that's how things always were back when we were young."

"So it's likely we will walk into a trap," Saturn said.

Neo Moon sighed. "We? I thought I said..."

Saturn gave Neo Moon a short glare before answering to that. "Our very reality is threatened and we don't know what we'll find there. You have no way of talking me out of this one, Chibi."

"Damn it, think about..." Neo Moon caught herself before she said the next bit, then groaned. It didn't matter, they would find out sooner or later, there was no use in hiding it right now. "Hotaru, think about the baby."

That got a few assorted mutters from the rest of the group, but the two didn't seem to care. "I'm thinking about that. If they kill you, then I'll be left alone. And if you fail, then that's it, no future for us. I'm not going to sit around and wait for you to return."

"... Damn it, I hate when you're right."

As the two fell silent, Venus finally found a chance to ask what many others were wondering. "What is this about a baby, you two?"

"Hotaru's pregnant," Serenity said.

"Does that mean Chibi's the... Father?" Venus asked, realizing that was likely the only way, no matter how strange that sounded. "Screw it, that's too weird, even for us."

"The moment the Ginzuishou shows up, 'too weird' loses any meaning," Mercury noted with a smile.

"The Ginzuishou, huh..." Earth said. "Can we borrow it later on?" Jupiter looked at her as she said that, then blushed and looked at her own feet.

"Back to the issue at hand," Neo Moon said, "they will be waiting for us. They will attack us. That's why you can't go, Hotaru."

"I will go," Saturn said, giving Neo Moon a meaningful stare. "Even if Serenity ordered me to stay, like last time, I would still go."

Neo Moon knew the way Saturn was looking at her right now, and knew there was no point arguing it. "Fine, do as you like."

"That was my intention from the start, yes," Saturn countered.

"Can we leave before these two replay their fight from a few centuries ago?" Neo Venus asked.

"The sooner we get there, the sooner we'll be back after we kick their asses," Dragon Sun noted.

"Can't argue with that," Pluto said. "Let's go."

"They're here," Anshar said.

Apsu nodded. "Finally, it's time to get rid of the Senshi forever. "

"Thought you weren't going to kill them?"

"There's ways to stop the Senshi from existing besides killing them, Anshar."

Purple, everything around them was purple. The whole place seemed to be made of purple crystal, which gave out an eerie light. "I don't like the look of this at all," Venus said.

"Purple's good," Saturn commented, "but yes, I agree, there's something evil about this very place."

Serenity could feel that evil, she knew the exact location of it, but she could only agree with the others, this place was getting on her nerves. "Just follow my lead, this enemy isn't too far from... " She froze as she sensed something, or rather, couldn't sense something that had always been there. She looked back and her fears came true. Her friends were not there anymore. They weren't dead, because she would have felt something like that, but still... How could they have vanished like this, how... Then she realized something else. That evil she was feeling earlier on, was now all around her. "Who's there?"

"Haven't you ever thought what your life would have been, without that burden you must carry?" It was Sin's voice. "Haven't you ever wished you never became a Senshi in the first place? Let me show you how life would be for you."

Serenity turned around as her surroundings shifted, and realized she had walked right into their trap.

"They were so easy to fool..."

Apsu laughed softly. "It's not surprising at all. Not even Pluto could see the real nature of this place. Serenity saw it, but not in time to stop it. Once any intruder enters here, they're left to my mercy, I can change the layout of this place at will, I can even send someone a thousand miles away from where they originally were. I can even make it so they're all in different places in time. And now, I have isolated the ones I want to attack."

Sin smiled at that. "Good, the show is about to start. But how will you defeat them?"

"I won't. They will defeat themselves. But just in case, Anshar... "

"Yes, Lady Apsu?"

"I need you to go back in time, but this will be the biggest leap so far. But do not attack, wait for us there. If we fail here, we will go back and destroy our problem for good."

Anshar frowned as he saw Apsu's plan in his mind. "But that is..."

"Yes, if we can't get rid of these Senshi, then we should make it so there were never Senshi to begin with."

Anshar smiled. "I see. An excellent strategy, as usual. I will go back now, sis."

Sin nodded. "Go, and don't have too much fun without us."

Naru woke up with a start. Where was she? At her house, of course. She looked at the alarm clock and smiled, there was plenty of time to get Anya ready for school before opening the shop.

She idly noticed Umino was already up, and already checking the internet. She was a bit too addicted to those games, but he always had time for her and her daughter. "Good morning, Umino."

"Hi, Naru, ready for today's special event?"

Naru frowned. Special event? Oh, that was true, Usagi's birthday, how could she have forgotten about that? "Yeah, I sure am. It's also the younger Usagi's birthday, too."

"Yes, it really kills two birds with one stone."

Naru smiled and walked out of the room. There she was, in her thirties, happily married, with a child and a job she loved.

Then why did it all feel so wrong to her?

"Doctor Mizuno, you've got a visitor."

Ami looked up from the computer as the nurse walked out, and smiled. "Terry!"

Terry smiled back and accepted the hug she gave him. "How's my favorite doctor doing?"

"As busy as always, but luckily my shift's over," Ami said. "Did they give you any trouble today?"

"Amazing as it may sound, Aiko and Taka didn't argue at all today. "

"You make it sound like they're always fighting."

"Well, they're siblings, you know how that goes..."

"No, I don't. And you don't, either."

Terry laughed at that. "Got me there. Say, you're not busy right now, right?"

"No, why?"

"There's this new exhibit at the museum, I thought we maybe..."

"It's a date, then," Ami said with a grin. "Just let me change out of these clothes..."

"Can I watch?"

"Pervert."

"Yeah, that's one of my many charms," Terry said.

Ami shook her head at that and walked into the bathroom to change. As she did, though, she realized something was missing. Something she couldn't put a finger on. But what was it?

Another busy day at the restaurant was now over. Mako looked around and noticed something. "Ran out of garlic, I'll have to go buy more of it."

"Leave that to me."

Mako smiled at Karin as she walked into the kitchen area. "You already do a lot around here."

"Yeah, but it's thanks to your cooking that this place's famous. If I don't help you whenever I can, then I'll start feeling useless."

"Then I'll have to cheer you up," Mako said slyly.

"Sounds fun."

Ten minutes later, the two had closed the restaurant, and were walking down the street, heading for the appartment they shared. "How are your parents doing?"

Mako smiled. "They're fine, they were around today while you were still not at the restaurant."

"Hmph. Sometimes I think they avoid me on purpose."

Mako sighed. "Even if that's so, it changes nothing."

"I know that, but I wish they could get over it already."

Mako looked down for a few seconds. She could feel something in her mind, trying to become a conscious thought, something she felt she was lacking. But what could she wish for right now, when things just couldn't get better?

The shrine was quite popular nowadays, and she always had visitors. But today's visitor was quite important, not only for his position as the city's mayor, but because he was her father.

"I can tell Hisako isn't here."

"No, she's at school right now," Rei said.

"Are you okay with living here? I mean, this was your grandfather's..."

"It was my home too," Rei said, "I grew up here, you know, after you and mom..."

The man nodded. "I know. I will not insist, if you feel your place is here, then it's good. But remember my home's doors are open, Rei. "

Rei smiled at that. "I know that, dad."

Something was wrong about this, and she knew it. She had a perfect life, and she had always... No, that wasn't true, this wasn't her real life, she wasn't in her thirties anymore. And most important, she wasn't a normal human girl.

Minako sighed. "Today wasn't an easy day."

"Huh, what's wrong?"

"Not much, it's only the movie I'm filming, something about a heroine who fights demons and protects the Earth..."

"Fights demons, huh?" Brad noted, "does she use big guns?"

"No, just 'magic.'" Minako said.

"Magic?" Brad chuckled. "That's cute."

"Yeah, but I have to go running around in some ridiculously showy suit and strike a pose before attacking... Seems so... Dumb."

"A revealing suit, huh... I want to see that movie already."

"Hmph, like you don't see enough of me already."

Brad chuckled. "True. Say, how about we go out for dinner?"

"Sounds great... As long as we can sneak past the fans."

"We could just run them over, you know..."

"No, I'd rather not do that, no matter how annoying they may be," Minako said. She suddenly felt it, a strange sensation, as if something was out of place. But nothing was, she was a movie star, everyone loved her movies (or so she liked to think,) and she was married to a wonderful (though sometimes silly) man. What could there be missing for her?

Looking back at what had happened today, at the movie she was starring on, she saw what the problem was. This wasn't her life, this was something she had hoped for in her youth, something that she still saw in her dreams, sometimes, but this Minako Aino, this wasn't her. "I'm not like this. I'm a Senshi."

Maybe it was because of their crystals, maybe it was because of them being stronger than the rest, but both the Queen and the Princess had realized something about the illusion they had been thrown in. A normal life, back in the twenty-first century, with them (and everyone else) being just normal humans, living happily in a perfect version of their reality where no monsters or magical creatures ever seemed to appear.

But both also saw that was a flaw on itself. For them, for the Senshi, fighting those enemies had been a part of their lives. Much despite herself, even Serenity had enjoyed that era, in its real version. This perfect reality the enemy was creating for them was, for that very reason, not perfect.

The other Senshi had realized the same thing, too. None of those seemingly perfect lives were their real lives, and none of them would ever dream of abandoning all they had been through, all they had fought for, everything they had lived, for some fabricated life, some lie told to them. Even if that life was 'perfect.'

And thus, as the seven girls looked around, they could see they were all in a somewhat different place. Everything was still purple, yes, but they were now in some sort of throne room. And the woman sitting on the throne was staring at them with what seemed like curiosity.

"Why, Senshi, why is it that you choose your flawed lives over those perfect ones I made for you?"

Serenity glared at her. "Because they're our lives. Everything in them made us what we are now. All the pain and suffering we went through, everyone we lost in the past, all our errors. Our lives are who we are, and not even you can change that."

Mars nodded. "I can see now what you girls are trying to do, trying to build a perfect future for yourselves, blaming us for whatever happened to you... That's sad, it's a pity anyone should live such a life."

"We don't need your pity," Nergal snapped.

"In fact, we don't need anything from you," Sin said, "we just want you all to die."

"Wait, where's everyone else?" Neo Moon asked.

"They were sent out of here, and can't get in anymore," Apsu noted.

"Why target only us?" Jupiter asked. "Every member of our team is important, even if you eliminate us..."

Apsu laughed. "How little you understand, Senshi. I've predicted what each change I want to do will cause, and if even one of you was to vanish from this reality, then everything else would fall apart. "

"Then we'll have to destroy you," Neo Moon said.

"I'm sorry, but to do that, you will have to get through us," Sin said as her group approached them.

Saturn looked around in shock. "What... Where are we?"

"Back in Crystal Tokyo, it seems," Pluto said. "This enemy is a tricky one."

"Damn it... Several of us are missing," Neo Nemesis noted.

Neo Pluto flinched. "Mom, can you feel it?"

Pluto nodded, her calm gone for an instant. "The threat to the timelines is greater than I thought. If they don't beat this enemy, then our reality could be erased completely."

"Then we've got nothing to worry about," Saturn said.

"How can you be so calm?" Neo Lilith asked with a frown.

"Because I've known them for longer than most of you," Saturn said. "They can't be defeated."

"Hope you're right."

"Can't we just go back there?" Neo Venus asked.

"Unfortunately, I'm being blocked out of there," Pluto noted, her daughter nodding at that, "there's no way to get there right now."

"Great, the first time we were going to fight an actually strong foe, and we're blocked out of the battle," Neo Nemesis muttered.

Pluto focused in what she was seeing, something the others, except for her daughter, couldn't see. She trusted her Queen, and knew Serenity would do everything she could to defeat their foe, but there was more than one possible outcome for this war, and most of them were disastrous for them.

A/N: I couldn't use the alternate scenarios the evil ones showed the Senshi in the games, as it wouldn't look natural to this version of them.

What Apsu was planning, and where Anshar is right now, is one of those things I've been planning in advance for a very long time.

X0001: The baby's gender is already decided, but that means you have fifty percent chances of being right.