AN: Hey! I'm doing a lot of editing these days so everything will make sense in the end.. so might not update AS frequently (don't worry, I promise this story will be finished)

OH and i totally forgot to mention it before, but I won't be using a senshi name for Miya until she reveals herself.

I know I say this all the time but once again - Thanks for the reviews and I hope you like this new chapter!

"What happened?"

Seiya and Usagi wanted to wait until everyone had arrived before answering any questions, but they were still bombarded with questions by the people who had already arrived. The first ones at Hikawa Shrine were the Guardian Senshi and the Starlights. Seiya and Usagi were thankful that they did not question them as to what they were doing before the attack.

The Outer senshi, with the exception of Pluto, arrived a little later. They wanted to ask why the Starlights were back on Earth but thought that friendly greetings were in order first. Even Haruka had the manners to greet them, although her eyebrow was clearly still twitching with slight discomfort from being friendly with outsiders. Her partner, Michiru, noticed and giggled. Nevertheless, she was proud that Haruka made an effort to be friendly. Hotaru greeted everyone with a big smile and gave everyone a hug. They bore them no grudges as the Starlights did protect their princess during the battle with Galaxia.

Mamoru arrived last. When he got there, he was immediately by Usagi's side to see how she was doing and apologized that he was not there to help her. His face was wrought with worry. When she replied that she was alright, he hugged her tightly. She smiled with his embrace and wrapped her own arms around his waist. Seiya, who had been standing next to her previously, had quietly slipped away when he saw this. It was too painful for him to watch his love in the arms of another. He stood outside the room and looked at the stars, took a deep breath and thought to himself, 'He's the one that would protect her. I said my goodbyes that day on the rooftop. I shouldn't even be here.' With that thought, he went back inside and forced a smile upon his face. Everyone, aside from Mamoru and Usagi, had noticed Seiya's change in attitude. They were all aware of his feelings for her but did not say anything since their Princess was with their Prince. They thought that Usagi was only in love with Mamoru, as she should be. Mina, Goddess of Love and Beauty, had her suspicions about Usagi's feelings though. But she did not say anything this past year. She was torn between her duty as a senshi and her duty as a friend. It hurt her to see that her best friend could not be with the one she loves most but there was nothing she could do since Seiya had already left and they were bound by duty. They were ALL bound by duty.

"Ok now that we're all here, we can start explaining what happened." Usagi started as everyone sat down in Rei's room.

"Wait, where is Setsuna-mama?" Everyone had been wondering but it was Hotaru who spoke up first.

"Setsuna-san could not come. She said she had to guard the Time Gates."

"Oh. It's just been a long time since I've seen her." Hotaru was crestfallen. She hadn't seen Setsuna for almost a year, none of them have. Even though they didn't have senshi meetings anymore, everyone would gather together to catch up but Setsuna never appeared at any of them. She gave Seiya, who was now across the room from her, a look. Seiya caught it and understood that she was concerned. Only the two of them knew that Pluto was hiding something but they made no notion to mention this to the group.

And so Usagi continued, "Well we heard a scream today and it led us to the park. When we got there, we saw…" she breathed and exhaled deeply before continuing, "We saw this THING." She shuddered at remembering it.

"What was it?" Haruka asked abruptly. She started frowning when she saw how disturbed Usagi looked.

"Well I'm not too sure. But it was.. it was..it…" she had to cover her mouth to prevent herself from upchucking when she tried to describe the scene of the wraith creating another wraith. Everyone became concerned as to how Usagi was reacting. They all realized that it must be something so awful to affect her this way. Mamoru wrapped his arm around her shoulder and squeezed gently to encourage her to continue. But Seiya stepped in to answer the question.

"It was producing something from its mouth. It looked like another one of its kind. So I attacked it twice and the second time it froze." He kept his promise and did not mention anything about the other person who had helped them. "Pluto contacted Usagi and told her that these things can only be destroyed by the Silver Crystal. Sailor Moon used the crystal and the thing exploded. We called Pluto again. She said these things are called wraiths and can only be destroyed with the Silver Crystal once they are immobilized."

Everyone went quiet for a moment.

"You Starlights have recently arrived back on Earth too. Were you sent here to help us or did you guys bring them here?" Haruka glared dangerously at the boys; she was having difficulty holding back the sudden anger that arose within her. Being the over protective one, her mind had immediately jumped to the worst assumptions.

"Why the hell do you think we know what that is!? " Yaten pounded his fist on the table in the room. Taiki placed a hand on the other boy's shoulder and calmly continued for him.

"There was no trouble on our planet when we left. Our princess told us to take some time off to travel. We were not sent here on purpose. We could have travelled to another planet, but we just wanted to visit you guys." He turned his head to face Ami and smiled. A pink tint appeared on her cheeks when he smiled at her.

Michiru also placed a hand on Haruka's shoulder and they exchanged a silent understanding. They both knew that the Starlights had nothing to do with this.

"So Pluto knows something. Shouldn't we ask her then?" Mina suggested, trying to break the tension in the room. Everyone expect Seiya and Usagi nodded. Mina pulled out her communicator to contact Pluto. They waited for a moment.

But there was no answer.

Everyone looked distressed, believing that something must have gone wrong if there was no answer. Haruka clenched her fist and cursed under her breath.

"I think we need to think of a way to deal with these wraiths" Ami spoke up. "We need a plan so that if they appear again, we can combat it efficiently. We cannot have Usagi use the Silver Crystal too much since it uses too much of her energy. I don't need to remind you all that she could die from it."

"She could die from using it!?" Seiya practically shouted. Yaten and Taiki had a horrified look on their faces as well. They had seen Usagi use the Silver Crystal, her star seed, during the battle with Galaxia but they never realized the repercussions from overusing it.

"Yes. Even if we all lent her our powers, there is a chance that she would not survive." Rei answered. She remembered the times when they had thought they lost Usagi when she used the crystal.

"She used it during the fight with Galaxia, without your powers. So why did it not affect her then?" Taiki had thought back to the fight and with this new information, he had a lot of questions about it and hoped the others would be able to answer some of them.

This question however, had struck the group. They never even stopped to think about it. Silence had fallen in the group once again as they thought about it. It was an excellent question.

"Well…" Usagi was deep in her thoughts, deciding carefully which words to use, "when I used it before, it always felt like the Crystal was draining my energy. Like the light emanating from it is my energy so when I have no energy left, it would go dark." She hesitated to think about her battle with Galaxia. "But during the battle with Galaxia… it felt like…um… this warmth in my heart that kept fuelling my energy. It felt so powerful yet loving and so full of hope that it kept the light shining."

Everyone sat in awe. She had never told anyone this because she didn't fully understand it herself. Usagi had actually never really thought much about it but every time she did, she always remembered that feeling of warmth that she felt before. She closed her eyes and placed her hands over her heart as she remembered the wonderful sensation again.

She heard someone clear their throat and she opened her eyes. "It is still dangerous for Usako to use the Silver Crystal without knowing more so I think we should focus on finding another way to defeat the wratihs." Mamoru said while eyeing his girlfriend, "If we see any of these creatures again, we need to get Sailor Mercury there to gather as much information as we can. And until we can find another way, we need to have Sailor Moon there to destroy them." Everyone nodded. "If any one comes across these things again, contact all of us. I'm sure we can all lend Sailor Moon our powers even if we're not there." They knew it was possible. The senshi didn't have to be around each other to lend the Princess their powers. They remembered when Sailor Moon was trying to rescue Saturn's body during the fight with Pharaoh 90 that they were scattered throughout the city but still able to lend her their powers.

They all agreed to his plan. After a while, the group started to disperse. The Starlights were heading out the door when Mamoru placed a hand on Seiya's shoulder to stop him. The three boys turned around to face him.

"You were with Usako when it happened?" Mamoru's voice was gentle.

"Yes." Seiya nodded sharply.

"Thank you for protecting her." He smiled and turned back around to head back to his seat.

Seiya gave a weak smile and turned back around. Taiki had noticed the pain on his friend's face but he made no indication that he saw it. He didn't need to ask Seiya why he was upset. The two started to leave when they noticed Yaten still standing in the same spot, frowning.

The silver-haired boy had noticed something that had crossed the older man's face. It was so brief that Yaten thought he had imagined it. 'I'm sure I saw something. But maybe I was just looking for anything since I feel bad for Seiya…' He shook it off and started to head out the door with his friends.

Naomi reached home. Her whole body ached but she ignored it. She didn't care what happened to her as long as she succeeded. She was actually glad the wraith had flung her to the side otherwise she would have been discovered by Sailor Moon and Fighter.

She sat down on her bed and quickly pulled out her minicomputer to contact Pluto. She needed to discuss the appearance of the wraith and revise their plans… time was running out.

"Pluto," once they had made the link, "why are they here? They shouldn't be here. Now that the senshi have seen it, it might change everything."

"I don't know how they got there. Maybe they had crossed the Time Gates during the initial attack on Crystal Tokyo but I can't be sure. But the important thing is that I told Seiya and Usagi not to mention you to anyone else. Knowing the two of them, they will keep that promise."

Miya nodded. She started to tell Pluto all that she had discovered about the wraiths – their weaknesses and how they are created, concluding that if more are to appear that they will no doubt try to repopulate.

"More may be appearing soon. How is our original plan coming along?"

"It's going nowhere," Naomi's voice was bitter. She was already getting frustrated at everything. And now with the wraiths appearance, she was starting to doubt herself.

"Miya," Pluto's voice was kind. Kind but firm, "you must stay strong. We will lose again if you have no faith."

"I know. It's just hard." She sighed, "Actually, I uh… I told Seiya-san that I was trying to get Usagi-san to admit her feelings for him. He agreed to help me."

Pluto chuckled slightly, "Of course he did." Naomi was relieved that Pluto was fine with her idea. There was beeping in the background.

"What's that?"

"The senshi are trying to contact me. They're having a meeting right now and probably want to ask me more about what is happening."

"You're not going to answer them?"

"No. I have told them enough. They only need know that they can destroy them with the crystal's power right now. So that is why you cannot lose faith Miya. The crystal's power can only be increased if Usagi's heart is truly happy. You must not give up." Pluto smiled, "I must go now. Please stay strong." The screen went blank.

Naomi shut of the computer and headed to the bathroom. She filled the tub and stepped in to soak her aching body in the warm waters. Shutting her eyes she thought to herself, 'I have to do something drastic. And I have to do it soon.'

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