Neo Queen Aretha
Serenity, Endymion, and the three remaining Senshi ran towards the darkened clouded pillar. The energy vortex had gained power since it formed, and she had a feeling her daughter was in the middle of it.
"Mars," she called into her communicator as she began running toward the pillar, "where are you?" There was no answer. I do not have time for this! "Mars!"
"What?!" came a voice from her wrist.
"Where are you?"
"I'm dodging psychic attacks from the big pillar of energy over the water. Care to join me?"
"We're on our way."
"Great! Glad to have you!"
"You know," Venus commented to Jupiter as they fell into stride with their queen, "she's probably the only one of us that would ever get away with talking to her that way."
"Yeah, you're right," Jupiter commented back. "However, she's also been doing that since we were kids over a millennium ago."
A bold of electricity struck the ground near the monarchs and their guards.
"So this thing wants to fight with electricity, does it?" Jupiter positioned herself so she could power her attack. "Jupiter…Electric static shock!"
"Stop!" Mars shouted, but the words fell on deaf ears. Jupiter's electric shock soared into the vortex, but was reflected back onto her. She dove to the ground, the bolt narrowly missing its target.
"Mercury…" came the next call as the blue Senshi of Wisdom rose from the ground over the water. "…tsunami force!" At once, a column of water shot up along the edge of the vortex, but again, was reflected, and soon, Mercury was trying to outrun the wave that had generated.
"Would you knock that off?" Mars barked at the Queen and other Senshi as she physically restrained Venus from trying to attack. "It's not a tangible enemy; it's energy and a soul. Neither one can be killed!"
Sailor Moon turned on her, the anger in her eyes flashing. "Then what do you suggest we do? That's my daughter in there, and I'm not going to just let him have her!"
Parallax moved to stand in front of Mars as he calmly stated, "You can let her do what she knows how to do. She's a Miko by profession; a Senshi by choice. She's the psychic one out of all of you, and you should be aiding her." He turned to Mars. "Your Highness," he continued as he knelt before the Senshi of fire, "it is time."
Mars' eyes became fearful. "How?" she asked.
"Just as the other Senshi send their power into Serenity, they can also do it to you. You are ready, and the only being strong enough to overpower this energy and still control enough to save the children would be your destined being. The queen must awaken."
"Queen?" gasped Mercury. "But we have a queen…"
"You have a queen of Earth and Moon," Parallax answered without standing. "However, as powerful as Serenity is, she is not powerful enough to defeat this."
"How do we do it?" Serenity asked pointedly.
"The same way you've always done it, Your Majesty. The only difference is that your Senshi will not send their power into you, but into Mars. The effect will be the same." He reached into the pouch that hung from his hip and pulled out a medallion made of what appeared to be gold. "I'm ready when you are, Senshi Mars."
"Let's do it, then," the queen ordered. "Cosmic crystal power!"
"Mercury eternal power!"
"Venus eternal power!"
"Jupiter eternal power!"
Their planetary birthmarks glowed on their foreheads as their energies combined into one target – Mars.
As the energies gathered, she felt her own power grow within her. "Rin…pyo…toh…sha…kai…chin…retsu…sai…zen!" She held a charge in front of her.
Parallax held the amulet in front of him as he chanted, "Destinies gone; created pain; send you back from whence you came…"
"Akuryo Taisan!" Mars threw the charge directly onto the forehead of Brad. However, to everyone's dismay, it was not Brad that screamed and began writhing, but the princess. Shortly after, she fell limp beside the teenage boy.
Neo Queen Serenity collapsed from the strain put on her by the amount of power she sent into Mars – as did the rest of the Senshi. No, she thought to herself as she leaned into her husband's embrace and looked into the eyes of the one who still had a hold on her daughter. Beside him, her princess's eyes had closed, and she hung limp.
"What are we fighting?" the neo queen asked as she tried catching her breath.
"Do you really not know?" Parallax asked as he helped Mars to sit.
"If we knew," Jupiter said sarcastically, "don't you think we would've defeated it by now?"
Parallax faced Jupiter, an almost menacing look in his eye. "Think about this a moment," he started before turning to both the king and queen. "Who is the only enemy you have fought – past or present – that has the ability to control her mind?"
Tears welled up in the queen's eyes as the king held her tighter. "Wiseman," he whispered.
"Exactly…the only difference is you're not fighting 'Wiseman' the being, but 'Wiseman' the essence, which is why your attacks to his physical being won't do anything but sever Brad's chances of ever coming back."
"Endymion," the queen's hushed whisper rose above the winds, "he can't have her. I won't let him have her!"
The king looked his wife in the eye. "He won't keep her, Serenity. I promise."
"Give her back," she growled as she slowly pushed herself to her feet. "Give her back now!" She, in a flash of pure light, brandished her staff in her hand. Beside her, Endymion also held his. She and her husband closed their eyes, pulling power from all around them. "Crystal Palace," they began chanting.
"Stop!" Mars interrupted shouted. "Everyone into the cave!" When no one moved, she yelled, "Now!" as flames burst forth from the ground behind them.
The small army of soldiers hurried into the cave along the shoreline while Mars blocked the psychic energy attacks aimed at their heels.
"Mars," Sailor Moon shouted as a flame door was placed over the mouth of the cave, "have you gone mad?"
"No, I didn't want you to get killed, or kill your daughter in the process!"
"We wouldn't have killed our daughter!"
"Intentionally. No one is listening to what I'm saying! You can use your ultimate attack – activating the Crystal Palace – but all you will accomplish is destroying your daughter's body. That's it! Then what is she going to have to go back to?"
The queen turned a confused look onto Mars. "What do you mean, 'go back to'?"
Mars faced her best friend. "Your daughter is possessed, Usagi. She's not brainwashed like before. She has a piece of Wiseman's essence actually controlling her body. She is right over there…" Mars pointed at Parallax as he opened his pouch and a small ball of pink-white light floated out. "The essence that is 'Usa' is guarded…"
"How do we know that's her and not some sort of trick?" the king asked as he put his arm around his wife's shoulders. "He was the one stalking my daughter."
"Touch it," was Parallax's simple answer.
"Excuse me?"
"Touch it," Mars supplied. "As in reach out your finger and stick it into the ball of light…"
"Will it hurt her?"
"No," Parallax answered. "She, in this form, is pure energy. This is her soul; not anything physical that can take form."
The pink ball of light bounced in the air a tiny bit as it made its way over to its mother, settling in her palm. Neo Queen Serenity gently stroked the top of it, and while doing so, flashes of memories flooded her sight. She could sense her daughter again – as though she was standing right in front of her. The queen smiled as tears fell.
She's okay, she thought to herself as the princess' soul bounced up her arm and tickled her mother's neck, making the matriarch giggle as she imagined the pink soul hugging her. "I'll get you back, Darling," the queen declared softly.
I know you will, Mama, came a small voice.
"You want her back so badly?" came Brad's voice from outside the cave as Mars' door faltered and disappeared. "Take her." Brad let go of Usagi's hand as the now-unconscious teenager fell towards the raging waves below.
The queen shot out of the cave as the tiny ball of light returned to Parallax. She jumped onto the back of the wind, rocketing towards her daughter's body, praying she moved fast enough that she caught her. Serenity only relaxed slightly as their bodies made contact, and her daughter was in her arms.
Landing back on Earth, she handed her daughter to her husband, who wrapped her cold body in his cape, trying to warm her deathly cold shell.
"Jupiter…oak evolution!"
The attack soared at Brad, but he only laughed. However, from behind, they heard a surprised scream from the king, and everyone's attention was diverted to the princess – who was writhing in the electricity of Jupiter's attack.
"What are you doing to her?" Serenity demanded as she knelt next to her daughter.
"I'm not doing a thing. Your Guardian did it for me…"
Despite Mars' pleas to stop, Mercury and Venus also sent attacks at Brad, and each time, the princess convulsed in pain.
"He has her in a reversal," Parallax whispered to Mars.
"Partial or full?" Mars asked.
Parallax turned wide eyes onto her. "There is no 'partial or full,' Your Highness. A reversal's a reversal."
"So, to make it effective, I have to…" She stopped, not wanting to take that course of action.
"Sadly, yes, you must attack the Small Lady."
"Mars," came Serenity's voice into their conversation. "Now that Usa's not up with him, and we're a bit more energized, do you think you can defeat him?"
Absorbing what Parallax had said, she looked at her queen and nodded sadly. There was no way she could tell her queen that she had to attack her daughter's body in order to do it.
"Then let's not waste any more time…"
Mars looked to Parallax. "Are you ready?"
He nodded as he reached into his packet and pulled his amulet back out.
Mars closed her eyes and concentrated. "Power of Mars, Guardian of War; send me power like naught before…" Mars rose into the air, her Senshi uniform stripping from her body, leaving behind a red gown wrapped securely around her curves and blowing in the wind. The energy twisted her hair behind her head into an elaborate braid which cascaded down her back, a ruby crown adorning the Martian monarch's raven hair. "Destinies filled, creating pain; send him back from whence he came…"
"Crystal cosmic power!"
"Rin…Pyo…Toh…"
"Jupiter Eternal Power!"
"Sha…Kai…Chin…"
"Mercury eternal power!"
"Retsu…Zai…Zen!"
"Venus eternal power!"
"Akuryo Taisan!" And with that cry, the Martian Queen flung a charge filled with the energies of each of the four Inner Soldiers and the Queen of Earth towards a target behind her.
It landed right on its target – the princess's forehead. She watched as the princess simply lay there, unaffected by the curse. Brad, however, began convulsing and screaming as a ghostly gray energy flew from his being and into the amulet held by Parallax.
Then, there was silence.
The pillar was gone; the energy dispersed, and Brad doubled over into the arms of the Martian Queen.
The clouds had broken up, allowing the sun to shine through as Aretha landed on the beach, gently placing Brad in front of Parallax, who immediately began restoring him, reintroducing his soul to his body. Aretha took a few deep breaths as she approached her friends and collapsed to her knees.
"Mars!" the four women called. Serenity caught her and lowered her slowly.
"Just take deep breaths, Aretha," she said softly. "Slow…deep…breaths…" The earthen queen smiled. "Welcome back, my friend," she whispered.
"So much power," Aretha exclaimed breathlessly.
"Yeah, but in the end, it's worth it."
Aretha laughed slightly as she let her head fall back into the crook of Sailor Moon's arm. "I don't know how you do it," she said as she closed her eyes, and Serenity laid her in the sand.
"One battle at a time," Serenity answered as she left the other Inner Senshi to tend to Aretha and approached her husband.
She knelt in front of the king and brushed a few strands of stray, pink locks away from her daughter's face. She's going to be all right, she had to think to herself.
"How is she?" she asked, uncertainty evident in her voice.
"The same as she after she collapsed onto the porch," the king answered softly.
The queen's face crumpled as her tears fell onto her cape-wrapped princess. She was not losing her daughter. She couldn't lose her daughter!
"Your Majesties," Parallax's soft voice came from behind the queen, "if I may…" He knelt beside the matriarch at the head of the princess. "I need you to activate her moon sigil," he said softly.
Serenity reached her gloved hand up to her daughter's forehead and did as asked. As she pulled it away, her daughter's moon sigil glowed brilliantly.
Parallax opened his pouch, and both monarchs watched the familiar pink-white ball of light bounce out and settle into the crescent birthmark.
Mother and father watched, neither realizing they held their breath, until a soft moan sounded from his lap, and his Usagi – his Small Lady – was shifting into a more comfortable position against his chest. The king shifted his position so he was cradling his teenager in his arms while his wife moved to his side, also basking in the relief that their daughter was out of danger.
Husband and wife looked at each other, tears of fear turning to tears of pure joy salting the kiss they shared. When they broke apart, Serenity leaned down to her daughter's crown and placed a kiss on her moon sigil.
"Welcome back, my darling," she whispered as the family rose – Small Lady sleeping peacefully in her father's arms – and joined the rest of the Senshi.
Parallax had smiled at the family as he also stood and joined the Senshi – now detransformed, and also crying with relief that their princess was alive – and pulled Rei aside.
"I need to complete my second objective, Queen Mars," he said silently. "I must leave now."
"I understand," she said solemnly as she threw him a sad smile. "Will I see you again?"
"I'm sure at some point our paths will cross once again." A sparkle jumped into his eye, "Even if I must make it so." He turned to leave, but then turned back. "Queen Mars, your people have been waiting for your return." He winked. "I suggest you don't keep them waiting for too long."
Rei nodded as she waved good-bye to her new friend.
***
Dinner time found the king in the kitchen of their small bungalow once again, cooking for a small army while the queen sat at the table, surrounded by her friends. She wished her daughter would wake up from her slumber, but considering what she'd gone through, no one could blame her for how tired she was.
She stood and approached the door to her daughter's bedroom, and within moments, was being wrapped in a strong embrace from behind. She smiled at her husband's familiar cologne and watched her daughter sleep.
"We should un-ground her," Usako said silently as she leaned back into her husband's arms. They had reverted back to the vacationing family – only now with friends along – so gone was the formal wear of the king and queen, and back was the t-shirt, jeans, tank-top and shorts. "What do you think?"
"I think," Mamoru said as he smiled and nuzzled her neck – one of her weakest spots, "that's a good idea. The kid's suffered enough over the past couple of days."
"We have a week left of this vacation, Mamo-chan. Considering current events, do you think she's going to want to stay?"
"I say we let her make that decision with us. The Senshi should be able to go home, but as far as we are concerned, I think it has to be a family decision." He turned his wife away from the room and closed his daughter's bedroom door. "Considering she wasn't in her body, she may not even remember anything, so let's see what she wants to do."
Mamoru cupped his wife under her legs and lifted her into his arms.
"Mamo-chan!" she squealed in complete delight. "What are you…?"
"I," he started as he turned a look upon the other Senshi – who happened to be smirking at the two plain-clothed monarchs – and continued, "am taking full advantage of my wife tonight. So much so, her guardians wouldn't even be able to save her!"
"Yeah," came Rei's voice. "Like we'd try!"
With that, the king whisked his queen into their room, closed the door, and the world knew only to disturb them if they feared for their lives…
