A/N:
Thank you for the reviews everybody! Here is the next chapter of One Wrong Step, and it's only a tiny bit late. Anyway, I will give a special no-prize to the reviewer who can figure out exactly where on the moon I've placed the Moon Palace in the SilMil flashbacks, there'll be more hints later, but I want to see if anybody can figure it out. Read and Review please!
Chapter 5/? - Quantity of Ages
Mamoru Chiba was having an off day. He had just finished helping Asanuma, another student at his school, with a paper on the history of gemology, when he started to get a massive headache. Mamoru was familiar with these headaches and he knew that another blackout and memory lapse would soon follow.
Dammit, he swore, why do these things always happen to me.
This time though, the memory lapse was shorter than the rest of them, and he had come to only a short distance from Sendai Hill, as he had started walking back towards Moto-Azabu high, where he had left his stuff, he spotted a familiar head of blond hair walking in the same direction as him. The poor girl was lost in her own little world and speaking to the cat on her shoulder in some weird language he hadn't heard before.
"Talking to your cat dumpling head?" He asked. These blackouts didn't start until she had throw that test onto his head, and so he tended to take his frustration out on her, whether it was fair or not.
"Endymion." She spoke.
"You've been reading too many story books, dumpling head." He retorted. "Unless you think I look like a shepherd?"
"Huh?" Usagi looked positively confused by his retort.
"You know, the ancient Greek story of Selene and Endymion?" He answered. "Selene the titan of the moon falls in love with a human shepherd named Endymion, she asks the gods to make him immortal so he can be with her and they knock him out in a cave and she ends up having 50 kids with him. You know, THAT story of Selene and Endymion."
Usagi's cheeks flushed bright red at the implications of Mamoru's retelling. "That wasn't how it happened!" She screeched. "I can't BELIEVE that you would think that I, that my mothe-, that Selene would do something like that!" Usagi let out an impressive string of curses that quickly shifted into a foreign language that sounded like neither Japanese nor English.
"Whoa, sorry there dumpling head." He replied, trying to calm the irate blonde down. "I didn't realize you'd take it so personally."
"It's alright, it was hardly your fault Mamoru-san." She replied. Mamoru was caught off-guard by her tone, it was soft and yet it had an almost regal edge to it. Almost like she was being nice, and not his usual sparring partner. "Besides, you of all people should know not to believe everything in those stories. Now, as happy as I am to see you again, I must take my leave of you."
She turned back around and started to walk away from him, her head held high, Usagi turned back around one last time and remarked. "Besides, I don't think that you'd want history to have remembered you as a lowly shepherd either."
Mamoru had been hoping to blow off some steam by sparring with the blonde, but after that conversation he had had with Usagi, he was more confused than ever.
—
Minako looked through the door crack at the dark green haired woman on the other side.
"Hello Commander." The woman said. "It's good to see you again."
"Do I know you?" Minako asked.
"My name in this time is Setsuna Meioh. But I believe you knew me as 'Sailor Pluto.'" She replied.
Minako's eyes went wide open. Not only did this person presumably know that she was Sailor V, but she might also be a fellow Sailor Senshi. Still, Minako was suspicious of her.
"May I come in?" She asked.
"Oh! Of course." Minako replied, eyeing the woman carefully. Scooping up Artemis, she leaned down to him and whispered, "You ever heard of a Sailor Pluto?"
Artemis looked back up at his partner. "She was still in training with Saturn when the Silver Millennium fell, she should a few years younger than you are." He explained.
Right, probably a Dark Agency plot to sniff me out after the beating I gave Chuu-Chuu. Minako thought.
"So you're a Sailor Senshi as well, huh?" Minako stated, her voice dripping with suspicion.
"That is correct Commander." The green-haired woman replied. "I am Sailor Pluto, the soldier of revolution and guardian of time."
"Uh huh." Replied Minako, already on-edge about the woman in front of her. "So why are you here?"
"The Princess has awoken, and I saw that if I didn't join you, you would die." Setsuna calmly replied.
"And I'm just supposed to believe you?" Minako questioned, quietly grabbing her transformation pen and compact. "Look, I don't know what kind of game the Dark Agency is playing by sending you, but the Sailor Pluto I remember was younger than me, so let's drop the act, shall we?"
"Very well Commander, I will not bother you." Setsuna replied, gracefully standing up as she walked over to the door to Minako's flat. "However, if my commanding officer ends up in danger, I will not hesitate to assist you." Setsuna walked out the door of the apartment, leaving a very confused and suspicion Minako and Artemis.
—
Commander Venus marched into the command center in the Moon Palace, a marvel of Silver Millennium technology, every wall was covered in maps and communications terminals. Dominating everything else in the room was a map of the moon's surface, overlaid with the positions of important roads, cities and military installations on the Moon. Even more important were the red lines and dots littered all over the map representing the last reported positions of the Dark Kingdom's youma forces.
"Mars! what's your situation?" Venus barked into one of the communications terminals.
"We're holding them off at the Littrow Rimae training grounds for now, Commander." She replied. "Our numbers are starting to thin out and it looks like there's more youma coming, we're prepared to fight to the last warrior if we need to."
Venus clutched her fists pensively at the information. Despite Mars' words, she had no intention of letting her get to that point.
"Commander Venus!" Shouted one of the people in the command center with her. "Urgent message from Sailor Mercury, she says that a group of approximately 30 thousand youma have been spotted descending from the Haemus mountains."
Venus' eyes shot open at the news. If the Dark Kingdom had just been approaching from the East where Mars was holding out that was a battle she was certain could be won, but just barely, now with the second wave of youma approaching from the southeast, and twice as close at that… Venus would just have to change her strategy.
Venus flipped open her senshi communicator, "Mars, Jupiter, Mercury fall back to the palace. Uranus, Neptune, bring Pluto and Saturn to the command center." her voice wavered as she gave the order.
Everybody in the room was staring at her, the all knew the gravity of what she had just ordered. Swallowing the lump in her throat, Venus wearily asked the room, "Does anybody else want my job?"
—
Minako sat down on her couch, lost in another memory of the Silver Millennium. People and images flashed through her mind. Artemis jumped up onto the couch and sat down on top of her lap, hoping to calm her down.
—
Two young girls in Sailor Senshi uniforms walked into the command center, both of them couldn't have been older than twelve years old. The one of the right had black hair that was cut off slightly above her shoulders, and wore a uniform with a purple skirt and dark red bows on the front and back of her uniform, in her hand was a large pole-arm topped with a deadly sharp cutting instrument. The other girl had long dark hair that seemed to shine green in the light, she was wearing a senshi uniform with a black skirt and a deep red bow on the front. In her hands was a long staff that was shaped like a key, topping it was a large, ornate garnet jewel.
Pluto and Saturn, a voice in her mind told her, That's who those two are.
"You called for us commander?" Saturn asked, bowing formally in front of Venus.
Venus opened up a communications link with the throne room and the queen.
"Listen up everybody, these are my final orders as Venus, High Commander of the Silver Millennium armies." Venus spoke.
Everybody stopped what they were doing and listened to her.
"A massive army of Youma is approaching the palace, as long as we draw breath, we will fight, we will not yield to the Dark Kingdom, or to any other power. I know that I can speak for everybody here when I say that I would rather die with honor than live as a slave. So we will fight, we will fight until we can fight no more and then we will keep on fighting. Everybody will fall back to the palace and we will hold them here as long as possible. We will make them bleed for every inch of this palace."
"Pluto," Venus addressed the young girl with dark green hair. "You are to go to the time gates, guard them with your life. If the Dark Kingdom gained access to the gates, then all will be lost." The young girl, with tears forming in her eyes nodded at Venus.
"Saturn," She said to the other young girl with the shorter haircut, kneeling down to be eye-level with her. "Persephone, Guardian of Saturn, I need you to stay with the queen and the princess, okay?" The girl looked up at Venus, frightened, slowly she nodded. Everybody else in the room stopped what they were doing as the implications of Venus' orders sunk in.
Venus stood up to address the room. "You have your orders everybody."
—
Minako finally came out of the flashback, she wasn't in the command and control center of the moon palace, but sitting on the couch of her flat in Brent Cross. Artemis nudged his nose against her arm.
"They were just kids Artemis." She said, looking down at her partner. "Pluto was just a kid, and I sent her to the gates, and Saturn…" Minako trailed off.
"Mina…" He replied. "Mina, you did what you needed to do. If Beryl's forces had gained access to the gates of time…"
"I know that!" She snapped at him. "But knowing that doesn't make it feel any better."
Minako got up off the couch and grabbed her purse and keys, taking one last look at Artemis as she walked towards the door.
"Mina, where are you going?" He asked her.
"I just need to clear my head for a bit." Minako replied, pulling the Crescent Moon Compact out of her purse, she held it up high. "Crescent Power Transform! Make me into an older version of myself!"
Standing there was Minako, but looking like she was 22 years old instead of 14, and looking every bit like the Commander Venus she had been in the Silver Millennium.
Minako made her way out of her flat and headed towards one of her favorite dance clubs.
—
Back in Tokyo, Usagi was looking out her bedroom window, looking back up at the stars, and at her ancestral homeland.
"Do you ever miss it Luna?" Asked Usagi.
"Miss what?" Luna asked.
"Home." Usagi sighed. "I always used to dream of coming here, to Earth, and now I'm here and I just want to go home." Usagi laughed at the bitter irony of her situation.
"I miss it too, you know." Luna said.
"Do you know what Endy said the Moon smelled like?" Usagi mused. "Burnt gunpowder. I never understood what he meant by that at the time."
"But now?" asked Luna.
"Now I remember what it was like, and I think back to the summer festival last year, and Shingo was setting off fireworks." She remembered. "And the smell of the fireworks was making feel nostalgic for some reason, but I couldn't remember why."
Usagi's thoughts were interrupted when the image of Jadeite appeared over Tokyo.
"Sailor Moon, Sailor Mercury, Sailor Mars. Your treachery against the rightful rulers of this planet has lasted long enough. Meet me at Haneda Airport, Runway 23 in one hour. If you fail to do so, Tokyo will burn to the ground."
Just then, a massive fireball erupted from the Shiba Park area, to prove that Jadeite was not joking.
Snapping out of her stupor, Usagi was immediately on the phone with Ami and Rei, and on her way to the Hikawa Shrine to meet up with the rest of the senshi.
—
Minako walked along the streets of Soho, looking for a decent club, figuring she could always flirt with boys to take her mind off of things. Besides, she was visiting London and going clubbing in Soho was on her list of 'things to do in London while I'm here.'
Something was setting her on edge, however. The woman who claimed to be Sailor Pluto had been frustratingly vague, and yet Minako could tell that she could be a serious threat, or a powerful ally. Minako had her guard up, and was walking fast enough to spot somebody following her.
Like the guy with long silvery-white hair and the guy with long blonde hair he was talking to. They were following her, and doing a decent job at it too.
She watched through a car reflection as a group of drunken university students stumbled into the two guys. Taking the opportunity, Minako quietly darted into the nearest nightclub, a small karaoke bar called "Tech Noir."
Walking into the club, Minako paid the five quid cover charge and quickly hid herself among the bar patrons.
As she discretely watched the entrance for signs of trouble, time seemed to slow down as she saw the silver-haired man and the blonde guy from earlier walk into the bar.
Kunzite, something deep inside of her told her that the man with the silver hair's name was "Kunzite."
As the two walked closer and closer towards her, they didn't seem to know where in the bar Minako was, but they could obviously sense her presence. The two men walked closer, grabbing bar patrons seemingly at random to see if they were who they were looking for.
They got closer to her still, and for a second the man with long blonde hair seemed to look right at her, she deliberately dropped a glass on the flood and reached down to pick it up. His gaze moved on, her cover having not been blown.
Taking the opportunity, Minako pulled the red bow out of her hair and wrapped it around her hand, just in case.
As Minako walked through the dance floor towards the restroom, one of the club patrons accidentally bumped into her and spilled her drink onto Minako's blouse, turning around on instinct, she made eye contact with Kunzite.
The entire world seemed to stop for a moment.
Kunzite began marching towards her, shoving the bar patrons and people on the dance floor out of his way and he marched towards his target. Minako looked around, trying to find some kind of exit or place that she could transform into Sailor V. Finding nothing, she swallowed hard and assumed a combat stance, fashioning the bow that she had pulled out of her hair into an improvised garrote.
Kunzite began to build up a ball of dark energy in his hands as we marched closer and closer to his prey.
Minako's legs were tense and loaded like a springboard, ready to strike at any second.
Just a little bit closer you asshole. she thought to herself.
Kunzite raised his hand up to fire the ball of dark energy, he was so focused on his prey, he never heard the woman behind him whisper two simple words.
"Dead Scream."