"Serenity?"
Serena stood in her tattered Sailor Cosmos uniform, "Everyone, let's finish this." Rei moved back to her friends. The scouts stood in a line next to Seiya, who stood next to Serena. Natsume watched with Taiki and Yaten. Ataxia fumbled to remove the arrow in her chest as blood dripped from her lips. Setsuna's eyes glowed as she slowed time for everyone but the scouts, the Starlights, and Natsume.
"Sailor Crystal Mercury, Make Up!"
"Sailor Crystal Venus, Make Up!"
"Sailor Crystal Mars, Make Up!"
"Sailor Crystal Jupiter, Make Up!"
"Sailor Crystal Saturn, Make Up!"
"Sailor Crystal Uranus, Make Up!"
"Sailor Crystal Neptune, Make Up!"
"Sailor Crystal Pluto, Make Up!"
Each scout transformed. They wore a new pure white leotard with a straight mid thigh skirt on top. One thick line of each scouts respective colors ran across their skirt hems. Along the strand was a pattern made of each scout's respective planet symbols. A platinum sheen, that matched the color of the symbols, ran up the uniform. The sheen was thin, so the whole uniform remained white but sparkled in the sun. Another colored strand appeared on the sleeve hems. And the collars changed to the respective colors. A belt fell elegantly on each sailor's hips. In the middle of the belt sat a crystal sphere with respective elements inside: her planet's ice (Mercury), an actual star (Venus), the Great Fire (Mars), a bolt of lightning (Jupiter), a black rose (Saturn), her planet's winds (Uranus), water (Neptune), and a condensed form of the planes of time (Pluto). Their old crystals of power sat at the base of their collars. Each wore a simple colored
choker and on each scouts head sat a platinum tiara from their planet with a colored gem.
"Why are our uniforms different?" Jupiter was curious. She had transformed into her astral scout form before, there was no reason to change uniforms.
"This is what it is like when the system is complete." Serena answered.
Seiya stood tall in his new form having silently transformed. He had on a tuxedo. His style varied significantly from Endymion. His tux was black. The blazer fell open instead of buttoned with a crisp red shirt underneath. His hand was in his pocket and his other hand sat on his ivory staff. A diamond shaped crystal sat on top: the Gold Crystal of the Golden Kingdom. A heavy sword was carefully hidden under the blazer.
"Seiya is king now?!" Jupiter gossiped excitedly.
"Oh gosh. He looks so hot in that tux." Venus gasped. The chatter soon spread to Mercury but Mars remained silent as she envisioned Darien standing before her alive.
"King Seiya?" Yaten barked.
"As if he needed a bigger head." Taiki smiled.
"Rei, we need you to take your form as a queen." Setsuna moved to Rei.
"I don't know how." Rei's eyes widened, clearly starting to panic.
"Relax. Take a deep breath and picture Mars. Then breathe out and open your eyes." Serena put a hand on Rei's shoulder. Rei did as told. A hot aura wrapped around her. It seared the permanent scars on her torso. When she opened her eyes, she felt the weight of her crown on her head. Her hair was tied up in a regal looking messy bun. Her boat neck dress had three quarters sleeves and fell to the ground. The hem was smothered in red crystals.
"Now imagine a combination of your scout and Queen form." Rei did. Soon her dress hem rose to her mid thigh. A necklace appeared around her neck with a crystal sphere and the Great Fire inside. Her hair was down around her shoulders. In one hand was a bow and the other was an arrow.
Serena gave a small nod of approval. "Yosh, The crystal system is complete." She closed her eyes like Rei did. But this time a fragment of each person's element as well as their aura flew to Serena, spinning around her, engulfing her in a rainbow cloak. When the colors dissipated, Serena opened her eyes. Her crown was platinum with a different element imbedded in each tip. Her sleeveless dress touched the ground forming a white puddle at her feet. The top of the dress dipped ever so slightly in the middle. A platinum band wrapped around the top. Instead of a pattern of circles, there was a pattern of half and whole circles to represent the waxing, waning and full moon cycles. Below the band was littered with tiny crystals that shrunk into tinier shards lower on the dress. Around her neck was a crystal sphere holding nothing. Her own crystal of power, the moon crystal sat at the top of her white and platinum staff.
"Rini, thank you for your sacrifice. You knew we were connected and gave me life vitality. With this you will always be remembered and you shall live in me. " The tiny shards of pink crystal on the ground found each other, reshaping to form bigger spheres. They flew into the sphere around Serena's neck. They circled each other slowly, rhythmically. Serena's eyes started to glow. Her hair fell straight, out of its odango hairstyle, behind her wings and touched the ground. She looked up. "Mother…"
Queen Serenity floated, opaque and light. Ataxia finally pulled out the arrow. She was hunched over holding her chest using what power she had left to start to heal her.
"You've disobeyed me, Serenity." The queen looked down with her eyes but her chin never lowered.
"Mother! Ryenia has repented. She was established a new oath. She is deserving of ruling Crystal Mars." Serenity's voice was strong.
"You sacrificed your daughter."
"She sacrificed herself and she lives on within me." Serenity touched the crystal sphere at her neck.
"Endymion died leaving Earth unprotected."
"He chose Seiya as his successor and has given him the Golden Crystal of Earth."
Queen Serenity looked at her daughter quietly. Many beats of silence went by. Then she smiled.
"I am proud to announce Astral Queen Serenity, protector and ruler of The Crystal System. With this I give you the crown of the Moon." A silver band made of moonstone circled Serenity's forehead forming a circlet. Everyone kneeled as Serena was graced with the crown. "Now I can rest." Queen Serenity, who was now just Serenity, started to fade.
"Wait! I want to show you someone!" Serena ran to pick up Natsume and stood next to Seiya. "He might not be born, because the future is never fully known, but I really hope he is. Look! He's your grandson. His name is Natsume. "
"Momma! I can talk for myself." Natsume tired to get down but Serena' s grip only tightened. She looked at Seiya who nodded. Serena took a deep breath.
"Seiya and I talked about this before. In the future we may be too busy to always be there for Natsume-"
"And we don't want him to be lonely like Rini once was-" Seiya continued.
"And we want him to be happy-"
"So if you will consider coming back in the future, you can rest and be at peace wherever we are staying and in return you can be here to be Natsume's grandmother. " Seiya spoke with conviction.
"Momma, I know this was the last time we were supposed to see each other. But I don't want it to be the last time." Serena spoke quietly while her mother grew teary eyed.
"Thank you," Was all her mother could say. Serena carried Natsume to her mother and placed him in her arms. She watched as her son became equally as opaque.
"No! Momma! Dad!" Natsume started to squirm. Serena started to cry as she watched her mother console her son. Slowly both her mother and Natsume flew into Serena and disappeared, like Rini did. A small white crystal joined Rini's on Serena's choker and circled the third planet from the center of the sphere, Earth.
"Was that a yes?" Seiya asked.
"I don't know… Seiya… he cried- Natsume cried…" Seiya hugged Serena.
"It was for the best. He would have gotten hurt. We would've lost him." Serena kissed Seiya on the cheek and wiped her tears.
"Serena I can't hold on much longer." There were beads of sweat rolling down Setsuna's face.
"It's okay. Let's save Ataxia." Setsuna let go of her time hold as everyone faced Ataxia.
Ataxia was healed and charging at Astral Queen Serenity. "Scouts! You know the plan! Give me time!"
Setsuna laughed. "That can be arranged." Ataxia's eyed glowed red. Anger. It was taking all of the scouts' powers to occupy Ataxia's attention. King Seiya and the Starlights were holding off the youkai.
"Argh!" Ryenia flew back. The others were hanging on but their attacks didn't have a strong effect.
"Rei! Everyone! These aren't your new powers! Your elements- release them – use them!"
Rei took off her choker and held the sphere in her hands. "I command thee, Astral Flames!" The sphere shattered and a ball of fire hit Ataxia, knocking her down. The youkai were besting the Starlights.
"I command thee, Astral Planes!" Setsuna's sphere shattered and time slowed the youkai army. Seiya released the Golden Crystal of Earth. Helios, its protector, appeared.
"Earth is in danger!" His frayed white hair shone in the sun.
"We know! Help with the youkai!" Seiya took the sword from his side and plunged it into the nearest youkai.
Setsuna guided the planes of space with her hands, knocking youkai off their feet.
Serenity bowed her head to focus. "I command thee, Astral Galaxy." Her sphere of revolving crystals shattered. "Mina, I need you to hang on just a little more! I will be back soon." Serenity vanished.
"Serena!" Seiya turned to his lover. But a youkai knocked him down dragging him back to the fight.
Ataxia swung her sword, just scrapping Venus's cheek, stunning her. Ataxia moved to swing again. Hurriedly Venus said, " I command thee, Astral Stars!" Her sphere broke and a star flew to Ataxia. The star seeped into the woman's dark skin searing her. "AH!" More stars fell from the sky.
"Solar shield!" A force field surround Ataxia.
"I command thee, Astral Bolts!" Lightning rained down creating spots in the force field till it fell.
"Solar Flares!" Giant bonfires appeared.
"I command thee, Astral Waters!" Neptune created a massive wave. Now there was a thin layer of water all over the ground. Ataxia slammed the butt of her word into Neptune's nose. Neptune fell clutching her bloody nose. Ataxia took a step forward. Uranus flew in front of her friend.
"I command thee, Astral Winds!" Strong winds slammed into Ataxia sending her backward.
The youkai pressed more and more on the Starlights till the vicious monsters surrounded them on all sides.
"We need help!" Yaten screamed.
Most of the scouts moved to the youkai.
" I command thee, Astral Essence!" Saturn released a black purple mist from her palms wrapping around Ataxia's neck, paralyzing her. Ataxia tried to tear away the mist but her fingers slipped right through scratching her own neck as the mist tainted to her skin black.
"I command thee, Astral Ice!" Mercury's icy mist blanketed Ataxia until she was frozen in a block of ice.
Serena looked around. Lava tides rose and fell on the banks. Serena looked up. "Welcome to the Sun, Astral Queen Serenity."
"Welcome back to life, Lasairian."
AN:
Hey everyone. Sorry for the delay. My cat had an infection and she needed to go to the vet and she had to spend a couple of nights there (which was very upsetting for me). But she's back home now, YAY! And I am back to the normal schedule YAY! I will either release the next chapter tomorrow or thursday. However, due to the fact that camp is in 5 days I will probably be releasing the chapter tomorrow. I want to finish this fanfic before I go to camp, which is June 29 (my birthday :) ). I hope everyone enjoys. And yes this one was a bit lengthy and most of the beginning is probably boring because it is just describing the uniforms, but the Crystal System is complete! And will a new system comes now outfits. Also in terms of clarification, this is also the beginning of the Platinum Millennium, hence all the platinum references. Enjoy and please review and tell me what you think. The chapters are all finished but not typed yet :)
-Loverofanime1324