Now this is an interesting chapter. I hope you all enjoy it because this is where the plot thickens. We're reaching the climax! Please read and review and look out for next week.

~SXS

Talisman Falls into the Wrong Hands; the Senshi's Date with Death

Mamoru was in front of the gate he was leaving from. What I was about to do was going to hurt the both of us, but it was what I needed at this moment in time.

"Mamo-chan...I have to tell you something..."

"What is it, Usako?" he looked concerned at my expression and I broke down into tears.

"I...I-I..." I stuttered between sobs. "I'm break-breaking up w-with you." His face was shocked and that made me feel worse.

"What? Why?"

"I n-need to do s-some soul searching...and I c-can't do it when I'm a-a-attached to s-someone. I'm s-sorry." If I was really going to figure out who it was that I wanted, I couldn't have anyone that would make me want them more than the other. I had to be completely free to make my decision.

"I don't understand. You have everything you could ever want with me. Why would you ever consider looking elsewhere?" His eyes were very hurt.

"I can have everything I ever want with someone else too, Mamo-chan. Please understand. I need to make a choice but first I have to figure out how I feel." Mamoru looked me up and down, his expression now cold. I knew that he knew who else I was thinking of and he didn't like it. He turned to go.

"Wait! Take this. You're free too, you know." I gave him back the ring he gave me before he left for America the first time. He examined it, pocketed it, and left without a goodbye.

--

The plane was soon to land in the John F. Kennedy airport in New York City, America. Only a half an hour was left in the flight. Mamoru had occupied his time on the way thinking about Usagi and why she would suddenly want to leave him. He always knew that she had feelings for Seiya, but he never thought that she would realize it, unless he was behind it all along.

"I'll make him pay. I'll make him pay for taking my Usako away from me. He will not have her without a fight." Mamoru clutched the ring in his fist.

Just then, a frantic message came over the intercom of the plane. "This is the captain! Some maniacs have just jumped onto the front of the plane and are breaking through the glass of the windshied! Everyone prepare yourselves for an emergency landing! I repeat, every-" The sentence was cut off by the sound of breaking glass and screaming.

A new man's voice came over the speaker. "Passengers, this is your future leader speaking. We want the one who is called Mamoru to come to the cockpit immediately. Come alone, or the rest of these innocent people will be killed."

Everyone looked around with worried expressions. Mamoru rose and walked toward the front of the plane and the people were suddenly silent and watched with fear. Some bowed their heads and removed their hats at his bravery. Others wished him luck. Some tried to stop him, but he just shook them off and continued.

Finally, he made it to the door of the cockpit. "It seems I'll never make it to America unharmed," he whispered. He knocked sharply three times and the door opened.

"Excellent. This one is smart," the evil man said.

"Indeed. Come quietly, Mamoru, and we will not hurt these people," the other half of the evil pair said.

"Who are you and what do you want with me?"

"We are future co-leaders of the galaxies, Tanjouseki and Rekigetsu. Nenkaningen-sama's orders were to take you as a prisoner for his ultimate revenge! Will you cooperate or will you sacrafice innocent lives?" Tanjouseki said.

Mamoru felt the ring in his hand once more. He dropped it to the ground. Why bother trying to fight when she didn't want him around anymore? "I'm all yours." He put his hands in front of him and though he were waiting for them to handcuff him.

"Excellent!" Rekigetsu said and sprinted forward. She tied his hands behind his back and Tanjouseki tied his feet. "You will make a great slave for us in the future."

The two used special powers to mend the plane's windshield and revive the captains. They told them not speak a word of what happened to anyone and they agreed. Then they led Mamoru through the black hole portal.

--

"Shichigatsu, my love, we must find a way to trap the Sailor senshi again," Shinju said to her partner while they were snuggling on the couch in their room.

"Alas, my love, those who we were near before did not have the talisman," Shichigatsu sighed.

"How do you know?" she questioned.

"I can feel the energy. I could feel the energy inside Nenkaningen-sama when we first met him. He has something special inside of him. The seed of a star, if you will," he explained. Then he kissed her lightly. "No, we must find a way to scan through the other Sailor senshi and see which one looks like a possible target. Then we can make our plan."

"But, my dear, how can we possibly tell without you meeting them in person?"

"We will have to find a way to meet them in their civilian forms. This way, I can check without there being a fight as an interference."

"Oh, my love, you are so clever." Shinju nuzzled her lover's neck. "But we do not know the identities of the Sailor senshi. How can we find out?"

"Hmm...I have an idea!" Shichigatsu got up and took Shinju's hand. He led them out of the room and toward the room of their leaders.

"What are you thinking, dear?" Shinju was nervous. Even just the thought of approaching the three in charge of them made her apprehensive.

"The leaders should not be in at this time. Tis the perfect opportunity," he said, half to himself. He opened the door and there was no one inside, save for the two prisoners who were asleep. "Excellent."

"Shichigatsu, what is going on?" Shinju demanded, taking her hand from his.

"We are going to use Nenkaningen-sama's crystal to see the Sailor senshi. We shall watch them for a while and see what they look like when they change back to normal." Shichigatsu was waving his hands over the crystal like a fortune teller.

"And what happens if we get caught?"

"Do not fear, my sweet, for we shall not be caught. The leaders are not expected to be back for quite a while. We have pleanty of time. Now, I need you to do something for me that will help this plan along."

Shinju had a feeling this would involve her in some way. "What do you request of me, my love?"

--

Even with my absolute freedom, I could not figure out who I truly loved. The decision was too difficult. I decided to first go over the facts.

Mamoru and I had a long lasting love from a past life. Our selves of the Moon Kingdom had fallen in love and so when we discovered that we fell in love also. But before that, we couldn't stand each other. We constantly fought and always called each other names. If it hadn't been for that time that Zoicite trapped us both then we may have never fallen in love in the present unless we found each others' identities at some other time.

Seiya and I never had a relationship, past, present, or future. The only thing we ever had was a friendship, one that was actually a regular friendship. Sure, I had made a real friendships with the other senshi but it had been a while that someone was actually my friend based on me, being a regular person. And now it's obvious that Seiya loved Usagi; not Sailor Moon, Princess Serenity, Neo Queen Serenity, or any other extention of myself. That was a rarity.

The problem was that I didn't know who was more important. Mamoru and I already had something and I felt some loyalty to that, but at this point, especially with that recurring dream, I felt like I would never forgive myself if I went with what was set before me. Did that mean, perhaps, that I did love Seiya after all? It was a possibility.

The breaking down of the wall wasn't doing much. I needed to get my mind off of everything. Sometimes when you leave a problem for a while and come back to it, it's easier to fix. I just hoped it applied to this type of thing too.

The phone rang and I let the answering machine pick up. Haruka's voice sounded in the speaker with a touch of worry in it. "Koneko-chan, can you call me? I need to ask you something. Something just isn't right...Please call back soon." Then she hung up. She sounded pretty upset so I called back right away.

"Haruka-san? What's the matter?" I asked when she answered.

"Well, lately something has felt off...Have you noticed anything different?" The only thing I could think of was the fact that I had broken up with Mamoru, but I couldn't tell her that. "Have you seen Setsuna in a while?" she asked suddenly.

Now that I had thought about it, it had been a while since I had seen or heard from Setsuna. "Actually I haven't. Have you?"

"No...None of us have...Do you think she's in any sort of trouble?"

I started to worry about all of my problems all over again. The started to come back but I made them stay away so I could get off the phone. "Is there any way we can check?"

"Only if we go to the Time Gates, and usually we have her with us to lead us there. Do you think we could make it on our own?" There was only a small possibility of that.

"We can always try," I said. "Want me to meet you somewhere?"

"Sure. Come to our place and we'll go from there." And so we hung up and I headed for the Outer senshi's home. On my way, there was an attack. That new girl, Shinju, was using a Koyomi on more innocent people.

"Moon Eternal, Make up!!" I cried the familiar phrase and jumped into the battle. "Shinju! It's not right for you to attack innocent people. I won't forgive you!"

"And you're going to stop me? You who can't stay transformed in the middle of your attack sequence?" That hit a sensitive spot.

"This time I won't fail," I said. "Aito saigino! Sailor bishojou senshi! Sailor Moon! Tsukini kawaite oshokyo!" Shinju merely laughed again.

"My Koyomi thinks differently," she said. It turned to me and started to shoot a beam at me. I prepared my tier to attack.

"Silver Moon-" But I was cut off again by my detransforming problem. I started to wobble a little and fell to my knees again. Great! And with no one around to help me out! But just as I thought this, another energy beam struck Shinju from somewhere beside us.

"Stay away from that girl!" a new voice called out. "I am a shooting star, breaking through the dark evils. Sailor Star Fighter! Stage on!" I turned to see my rescuer, alone.

"Fighter? How did you know I was here?" I asked.

"I just came to stop this freak. I didn't expect to see you here. What are you doing here?" she asked.

"No time to explain now, really. We've got bigger problems." Shinju was preparing her Koyomi for another attack.

"Oh, right." Fighter came over to me and helped me up. As soon as she touched me, I became Sailor Moon again and felt new power coursing through my veins.

"Hey, thanks. Celestial Love Destiny Reshape!" I called out and before Shinju knew what hit her, the Koyomi was destroyed and she was on the ground. But for whatever reason, she was not cursing or screaming in pain.

"You Sailor senshi are in more trouble than a silly Koyomi. You just wait." Then she struggled to her feet and went through a portal to wherever it was that she came from.

"What did she mean by that?" I asked. My transformation faded once again.

"I have no clue," Fighter said, changing back to Seiya. "But we should watch out. Are you ok?" That was when I remembered the turmoil in my mind.

"Uh, yeah, I just...I have to go Haruka-san's house so..."

"I'll come, if you don't mind."

"Uh, ok, sure..." Damn him for being so worried about me. That might just make things harder for me.

We walked the rest of hte way to the Outer senshi's house in silence. I didn't take my eyes off the ground but I could feel Seiya watching me. It was like, now that I knew he loved me, I noticed every little thing that emphasized that point.

But when I thought about it, it seemed like it wasn't him who was really watching me. He was looking at me, most certainly, but someone else was watching. I felt almost like we were being followed, but there was no one behind us.

We reached the Outer senshi's home and I still felt that strange watched feeling. I just couldn't shake it.

"What is he doing here?" Haruka asked when she answered the door.

"Can't a guy hang out with his friend when she visits another friend's house?" Seiya retorted. Haruka grunted and let us pass into the living room. Michiru and Hotaru were there with worried faces.

"Everyone else is coming too," Michiru announced. "We figured we'd have a better chance of finding our way if we were all here."

"Well, should I call Taiki and Yaten?" Seiya asked.

"Yeah, sure!" Haruka called from the kitchen. "Let's have all the gender-benders together at once! What fun!"

"Shut up, Tomboy-kun," Seiya said and dialed his cell.

We waited for everyone to fill the little living room. Then we all transformed and joined hands in a circle. First was me with Fighter on my left. Maker was next, then Mercury, Healer, and Venus. Mars and Jupiter came after her. Finally was Saturn, Neptune, and Uranus, who was on my right.

"Is everyone ready?"

We all nodded. "SAILOR TELEPORT!!" Instantly we were transported to a dark and foggy place. We trudged forward, not speaking a word, in search of the Gates of Time.

--

Shichigatsu watched through the crystal as Shinju traveled through the Earth city in search of victims. It was the simplest way to bring the Sailor senshi to them.

She cornered a group of pedestrians and threatened them with the Koyomi. In no time, Sailor Moon was there. She prepared an attack as Shinju turned to her. Just as Sailor Moon was about to strike, her fuku started to change and she ended up in her civilian form. Shichigatsu zoomed into the picture.

She looked almost completely the same in her civilian form. She was only missing the clothes, wings, crescent moon, and the hair accessories. "This shall be easier than I thought," he whispered.

Just then, Shinju was hit by something from outside the view of the crystal. Another senshi stepped into the picture. She helped the detransformed Sailor Moon to her feet. But as the new senshi touched her, she transformed into Sailor Moon again.

"Incredible!"

Shichigatsu watched as Sailor Moon attacked Shinju with full force. Shinju said a few words and disappeared. Then Sailor Moon changed back once again and so did the new senshi. But what was most shocking was that the other senshi was a boy!

"This is quite interesting."

"Shichigatsu!" Shinju said into the mic she was wearing. "Did you see that? That second senshi gave some kind of power boost to Sailor Moon. What was that?"

"I am not entirely sure, my love, but I have my theories. Perhaps he holds the talisman..." Shichigatsu moved the angle of the crystal's 'eye' so thathe could see Shinju. "The second senshi is actually a boy."

"She's a boy?! Those Earthlings are quite strange. But at least now we know where to look." Shinju peeked around a corner of a building that she was hiding behind.

"We will become supreme in the new order of Nenkaningen-sama. Now let us hurry and get to following those senshi." Shinju tried her best to be inconspicuous and left the cover of the alley to follow the two senshi.

--

We didn't have to walk long before we found the Gates. The only problem was that there was no sign of Pluto anywhere. The only thing we found was a small sign of a struggle nearby. That made me scared.

"Who would kidnap Pluto?" I asked in a shaky voice.

"Someone who wanted her out of the way of the Gates. Someone who wanted to pass through time..." Uranus trailed made sense. Nenkaningen was looking to rule the world and in the future he did. Maybe he was going to go to the future to do the job. He could even go to the past and change history.

I looked at all the other worried faces. It made my confidence fall even more to see them so upset. Was there any way we could beat this enemy?

"Can we go home?" I asked. Everyone looked to me. "This si so hard to bear. I don't want to think about it! If our future is going to be destroyed, then I want to live for what I have in the present. Please, let's just go."

No one said anything. They just continued to look at me sadly. Then finally, Venus came over to me and hugged me, followed by the rest of the Inner senshi. "Usagi-chan," Venus said. "We believe in you. We know that you can defeat this enemy and bring the future in safely.

"Don't give up yet, Usagi," Mars said. "We've still got a ways to go."

"And we'll be with you the entire time," Jupiter continued.

"Always and forever," Mercury finished.

"Thank you so much guys. Thank you." And I started to cry.

"How very touching," a new voice said. "If it were any sweeter I would vomit." We all turned to the source and found Shinju and Shichigatsu standing menacingly a few yards away.

"No way! How did you find us?" Healer asked in shock.

"It was easy. But why should we reveal our plans to you?" Shichigatsu stretched out his hand and a Koyomi appeared. "Koyomi Oujou, our most powerful yet, attack the senshi and find the talisman!"

The figure loomed before us. It was large, dark, and had a scythe in it's hands. I left the protective cover of the Inner senshi's wall they made before me and ran in the direction of Fighter. When the creature saw where I was going, it headed that way too.

Fighter looked from me to the creature and didn't know what to do. "RUN!" I cried and she took off. I curved around and ran side to side with her and the creature was on my tail. "Give me your hand!"

When she took my hand the power coursed through me once again and I stopped and turned toward the terrible creature. It continued in our direction and Fighter continued to run.

"Celestial Love Destiny-" But it wooshed past me and chased Fighter. "Hey! Get back here!" The two continued to go back and forth running. I turned to everyone else and they were mesmerized by the chase. Shinju and Shichigastu were examining their nails as if they were bored.

Suddenly Fghter tripped and my heart stopped. I held my breath as I watched Oujou come closer and closer to her. She scarmbled on her back to get away but it was no use. The Koyomi lifted its scythe into the air and brought it crashing down upon her.

"Fighter!" Maker and Healer cried.

Her screams rang through the whole foggy area and a shining white light came from inside of her. I knew it had to be the talisman. Her transformation faded and she changed back to Seiya. The talisman floated above. It was a staff, a pink rod with a golden ball and the bottom. On top, a red heart lined in gold with a golden crack down the center. Above the heart there was a diamond and trailing down from the heart was a singled gold thread that wrapped around the staff.

"The Kinmotsuai no Tier..." Shichigatsu whispered, "It is beautiful."

"Celestial Love Destiny Reshape!!!" I attacked the Koyomi. It shirveled and shrunk into a knife. Then I ran over to Seiya to see if he was ok. I took him into my lap but there was no response from him. "Seiya wake up!"

"He will never wake up!" Shinju said. "Because I've got his life source right here." She waved the talisman.

"Sailor Moon, you didn't grab the talisman?!" Mars yelled. That was very bad on my part.

"Say goobye to your precious world, Sailor senshi. It will not be around for much longer. A new world order is on it's way." As Shichigatsu said this, the air started to shimmer. A humongous figure loomed before us. Leaves and piles of snow seemed to fall off of it as it moved toward the pair of evil people.

"You have done well, Shinju and Shichigatsu. Hand me the talisman." Shichigatsu bowed and held up the talisman which the giant took in his oversized hand. "Excellent!!! MUAHAHAHAHAHA!!"

"We do our best for you, Nenaningen-sama," Shinju said.

"Nenkaningen!!" all of us cried.

"Now it is time to eliminate you, Sailor senshi." Nenkaningen's hand balsted all of us with a dark beam. I couldn't see anything, and soon I couldn't hear anything either. I slowly lost conciousness, but desperately tried to hang on to Seiya.

Oh no! What will happen next in this epic story? Tune in next week and find out. Here's next week's preview:

Usagi wakes up and finds herself and the still unconcious Seiya in a sort of jail cell. With no hope of escape, things look bleak, until a mysterious light starts to shine. Who can this be and how can they help? Find out next week in Mysterious Senshi Saves Seiya and Usagi; The Final Battle Begins. And as always remember, destiny is not written in stone.