A/N: Couple of quick things... I made a small but significant change to the first part of this chapter (15 in the menu) to add a scene that I think strengthened the theme of the final conflict. Also because the fandom needs a little more Diana.
This was another tough one to write. Some things had to happen that I wasn't looking forward to. Maybe it veered toward the dark side a bit again. Really, this is not mean to be a morbid story...
Last but not least, thank you, always, to everyone who left reviews!
Usagi woke up long before sunrise, and couldn't get back to sleep no matter how exhausted she felt. She tried to read, then paced the floor for a while, waking Diana in the process. Her ever-faithful feline companion decided to suffer through insomnia with her, and they stayed up whispering for the next few hours. At last Usagi collapsed in a chair by the window and tried to count the stars as they faded. She had almost managed to doze off, when suddenly she lifted her head with a start.
"Something's coming. I can feel it."
Diana, lounging on the princess's cushioned ottoman, looked up in alarm. "You sense an enemy presence?"
"No, I can feel the ground shaking. Don't you?"
Diana set a tentative paw on the ground. "No, not rea—aiee!" Her words turned into a yowl as a shuddering crash shook the palace. She had clawed halfway up the bed curtain before she realized what she was doing. Flustered, she shifted to human form and dropped to the ground, hoping Usagi hadn't noticed.
Usagi was too busy looking out the window, where a huge dark thing was silhouetted against the sunrise.
"Diana," she whispered, slipping a hand into her dresser to grasp her brooch. "Call the others. Tell them to get all the people out of the way, then protect the palace."
"Got it!" Diana opened her bell to project a holographic menu onto the wall. With a quick swipe, she activated all the senshi's communicators. While she waited for them to respond, she started to brainstorm a plan. "I think we should send the quartet in first for crowd control, like you said, and have Mars and Jupiter back them up. Mercury and Venus can take the turrets, and we'll keep Saturn back with you until—Usagi-sama?"
Usagi was already out the door.
"Not again!" Diana wailed, clutching at her ears. Mercury, Saturn, and Beth came online just in time to catch the end of her dismayed cry.
"What's wrong, Diana-chan?" asked Mercury.
"Usagi-sama! She ran off to face them alone!"
"What?" said Beth.
"Where?" asked Saturn.
"I don't know! There's something outside and she—"
Saturn was gone before she could finish her sentence.
"Who did she run off to face?" Mercury pressed, looking worried but not surprised by Saturn's hastiness.
"The enemy!"
"Huh? There's an enemy?" Atena murmured, blinking and rubbing her eyes.
Diana opened her mouth to explain again when Seresu's face appeared, her hair full of suds. "Can this wait?"
"We don't use our communicators for things that can wait," Mars snapped as she flashed into view, looking fresh and bright-eyed. She, for one, had already been up for several hours.
"Ok, let's stay calm," said a groggy Jupiter, who was standing in line with Venus at the twentieth-floor café. (Mars had her sacred morning rituals, and they had theirs—usually a double-shot espresso and a blueberry scone.) "Is it the Moirae?" she asked Diana.
Seresu gasped, plunged her head into the tub, and resurfaced looking deadly serious.
"I don't know. It's some kind of giant. Anyway, we have to catch her!"
"Hello? Is this thing on?" Junko's disembodied voice asked.
"Turn on your video feed, Junko-chan," Atena reminded her.
"How do I do that again?"
"Open the lid."
"…it opens?"
"You guys, the princess is gone!" Beth cut in.
"What?" Seresu, Junko and Atena exclaimed in unison.
"That's what I've been trying to tell you!" cried Diana.
Venus put an end to the discussion. "Everybody. Southwest gate, now."
The plastic chair in Dr. Saeko Mizuno's office creaked as Usagi swung her legs back and forth. Beside her, Chibiusa stared at the clock, picking absently at the ripped seams on her school uniform. They avoided looking at each other, or the mirror on the far wall.
"This can't be happening…" Usagi muttered to herself.
All they knew at this point was that something had gone wrong just after their first fight with the Lemures. One moment they had been worrying over Mamoru, who had suddenly collapsed with chest pains. The next, there was a flash of light, and suddenly Chibiusa was a teenager while Usagi had reverted to the form of a child.
Usagi was, understandably, taking it pretty hard. Puberty was bad enough when you went through it in the right direction, but now her teenage mind was forced to adjust to spindly limbs, missing curves, and the feeling of being mostly invisible to the adult world. Chibiusa, on the other hand, had spent nine centuries dealing with all of Usagi's newly rediscovered frustrations. So part of her was almost glad when Dr. Mizuno returned with the news that all their test results were normal. If the doctors couldn't do anything to reverse her condition, then maybe this was her chance to experience the life she'd been longing for.
Except that she didn't feel any different on the inside.
Afterwards, they met up with the rest of the girls and Mamoru—who was the real reason they were at the hospital in the first place. He assured everyone that he was fine, and quickly changed the subject back to the more interesting case at hand. Usagi and her friends were unanimous in the opinion that they needed to fix this problem as soon as possible. Only Mamoru looked for the silver lining.
"Chibiusa, ever since you grew you've become so pretty," he said with a smile. It wasn't quite the way he looked at Usagi, like she was the most wondrous thing in the whole universe. It was more like… the way Haruka looked at her motorcycle, for lack of a better analogy. Even so, it was enough to turn Chibiusa's face beet red. Mamoru had given her a compliment. A real, grown-up compliment.
If he was going to treat her as a woman, she was going to act like one. Thinking hard, she formed the most rational plan that could be expected in such a situation.
"I—" Her voice broke. She cleared her throat and tried again. "I'm going home to try to fool Ikuko-mama and Kenji-papa! We can't go home looking like this. Usagi, why don't you take Mamo-chan home and I'll meet you guys later tonight."
Usagi and Minako gawked at her. Maybe the new body was having some side effects.
"She's gotten so self-reliant," Minako marveled.
Usagi chewed on her fingernails as she watched her future daughter disappear down the street. "Chibiusa's like an adult."
One round of Luna-P hypnosis later, Chibiusa was getting settled in Usagi's room. She dug through the drawers, looking for a new set of clothes. Usagi wouldn't be able to wear them right now, anyway. In the bottom of the sock drawer she found Usagi's diary, but resisted the urge to read it. Half of it was probably mushy ramblings about Mamoru that she would rather not endure.
You've become so pretty…
Flushing again, she sat down on the bed. Something bounced out of her pocket with a jingle. It was Helios's bell—that adventure had been pushed to the back of her mind in the excitement of the last few hours.
She realized it was glowing. With a gasp, she sprang to her feet again. A tiny ball of light floated up to settle in her palms. In its center, an even tinier image of Pegasus appeared.
"Helios!"
"Maiden." She could feel him staring at her, and blushed all the more.
"Your body…! You're all grown up," he observed in his usual frank manner. "You're beautiful! You really are the maiden I've been searching for."
Her heart sank. "Hey, wait a minute! Not really! This is—!"
Helios tilted his head to the side in puzzlement, as if it were perfectly reasonable to expect that a girl would appear ten years old one day and seventeen the next. "Oh, you just suddenly got bigger?"
"Yeah," Chibiusa sighed, beginning to fret. "At least, that's what Luna said. But what's going to happen if I don't ever go back to normal?"
The reality of that possibility settled on her for the first time. She couldn't pull it off. After so many years of resenting her body for not growing, she felt like a fool for ever believing she was ready to be an adult.
Helios hovered closer, until he was inches from her face, and peered at her with unblinking eyes. After a few seconds, he shook his head in disappointment. "That's too bad. I can sense a darkness come over you. They've definitely cast a spell on you. I can sense their power behind this."
Diana picked up on that immediately. "Who are 'they'?"
"Helios," Chibiusa ventured, "do you know anything about the enemy? Just who are you exactly?"
"My true form is…" He trailed off. Again, that carefully restrained silence. By now she had the sense that concealment wasn't in his nature. Some outside threat was keeping him from being open with her. "No," he decided at length. "It's still too early to tell you. But Maiden, I need your power. Please believe me."
She did, without a second thought.
In the blink of an eye he was the size of a normal horse. A golden glow surrounded him, solidified into… bars? He was in what looked like an enormous, old-fashioned birdcage. This magnificent, intelligent, sensitive creature who had soared over Tokyo and showed her freedom like she'd never known, cooped up like a neglected pet! The sight broke her heart.
"Maiden who holds the key," he called out to her, suddenly sounding far away. "To save me, no, to save everything. The holder of beautiful dreams, protected by the light of the moon, the princess soldier."
In that moment, she wanted to be his maiden more than ever before. Not so that she would be special, but so that she would have the power to rescue him.
His image was starting to flicker and fade. "The chosen maiden who holds the sacred stone that can break the seal on the Golden Crystal…"
"Helios!" she cried out. But he was gone.
They got the call from Ami around one in the morning. Lemures attacking her apartment complex. Neither of them were really sure what would happen if they tried to transform in their current state. But when they arrived to find the ruined living room, the broken mirror, the puddle that had been Ami's mother's beau, and an incredibly creepy guy in a blue jumpsuit leering at them, they decided they were going to have to find out sooner or later.
"Moon Crisis! Make Up!"
As the transformation energy surged through Chibiusa, it was like something snapped and uncoiled around her. She felt her form shifting as her fuku knit itself around her, limbs shrinking, hair springing back to short, fluffy pigtails. When she opened her eyes, she was looking up at a normal, adult-sized Super Sailor Moon.
The first thing she felt was immense relief.
"Let's do this, Chibi Moon!"
Chibi Moon followed her lead as they summoned their kaleidoscopes. "Moon Gorgeous Meditation!"
And just like that, the battle was over. The next thing they knew Mercury came jogging over to them, sporting a brand-new uniform, and expressed her relief that the natural order of things had been restored.
"We did it, Chibi Moon!" Sailor Moon cheered, pumping a fist in exuberant glee. Was she happy because they'd defeated the lemures, or because she had her body back?
She really is strong, Chibi Moon marveled, but there was a hint of bitterness in her admiration. Super Sailor Moon is impressive, she can blow away the enemy in an instant! Needed by everyone, beautiful and strong… Usagi.
She compared the image of Super Sailor Moon against Helios's description of his maiden. Beautiful dreamer. Princess soldier. It was so obvious, she couldn't believe she had dared to think otherwise.
Yeah, we all need Usagi. Even I do. I guess I've always known that.
The kaleidoscope slipped from her fingers, back into her subspace pocket.
Even though we both carry the same items, and have the same silver crystal, without Sailor Moon I can't really make use of my powers. On my own, I'm completely useless!
With shaking hands, she pulled out Helios's bell. "Twinkle Yell!"
Sailor Moon looked up in surprise at her shout. In a moment, Helios appeared again with his usual greeting.
"Maiden."
"Helios, you're wrong!" Chibi Moon said without preamble. "Compared to Sailor Moon, I don't have a strong heart, or good powers, or a beautiful body." She squeezed her eyes shut against the tears that threatened. "The maiden you're looking for, Helios, it isn't me at all!"
"The maiden Helios is searching for? Huh?" Sailor Moon repeated in confusion. This was the first she'd heard of the business.
Helios repeated his explanation, but Chibi Moon barely heard him. She had already memorized every word, repeating it to herself like a mantra. Yes. And the moment I heard you tell me that, Helios, I knew who you meant.
"Then the maiden is Sailor Moon… no, Princess Serenity?" Mercury concluded with perfect logic.
For half a heartbeat, Chibi Moon found herself praying that Helios would contradict them, that he would say he'd already found his chosen maiden. Because wasn't she fool enough to still hope? But he was already turning away from her, looking to Sailor Moon with a thoughtful expression.
"So, Super Sailor Moon. You are Princess Serenity?"
Chibi Moon turned and ran down the street.
"Sailor Moon!"
The call thundered from a loudspeaker mounted to the robot's head, accentuated by its thousand-pound metal foot slamming down on the road. The crystal surface fractured in ugly rings. Inside the cockpit, the two Moirae siblings faced the palace gate with grim smiles. Calomel's whole body was surrounded in a blue glow that flowed in misty tendrils from her to the main reactor. Pyrolusite's finger twitched on the fire-cannon's trigger.
He could see her shadow, striding through the thin fog of morning. Cool and arrogant, he thought. She was taking her time.
Halfway down the road, Sailor Moon paused, looking down at the frantic rainbow of blinking lights on her communicator. She could hear her friends' footsteps in the distance.
"Sailor Moon!" This time, the voice came from behind her. She turned and was confronted with a red-faced Saturn.
"What are you thinking? Everyone's in a panic!" her friend burst out, breathless from her sprint.
"I'm not going to hide behind you guys all the time," said Usagi, frustrated that her own words sounded sullen and childish in her ears.
"It's not hiding behind us! It's called teamwork. But since you decided leave without us, we didn't have time to form a proper strategy."
Usagi hung her head. Every time she tried to do something on her own, she ended up making a mess of it. By now she should know better than to think she could save the day on her own. She wasn't her mother.
"Why?" Saturn asked. "I hope you weren't thinking of showing off!"
I know her kind. She just wants the glory.
"N-no!" Usagi exclaimed.
"Didn't think so." Saturn softened a little. "I care about you, Sailor Moon, but this desperado routine is getting really frustrating."
I bet her own team hates her. I bet they turn on her in the end.
"Your mother was far from the perfect soldier. But you haven't caught up to her yet. Do you know why?"
If she's the Sailor Moon of legend, then the legends are a lie.
"Because she's a better person than me."
"No. Because she didn't doubt her friends."
Moon looked up at her in surprise. "What? I don't…"
Before she could say more, the other senshi caught up to them.
"Princess!" Venus gasped. "Don't scare us like that!"
Moon gave them a watery smile. "I decided to wait for you guys after all. I'm pretty useless without you."
"You're as bad as Juno! We're a team, remember?" Ceres chided her. But there was no time now to give the princess the lecture she deserved. She turned to Mars. "I propose a modified version of Diana's plan. I'll take my group in while the four of you maintain the high ground and defend the palace. Vesta, Juno, make sure all civilians are cleared out of the buildings. Princess, stay back and—"
"I'm going with you. We're a team," Moon insisted, throwing Ceres' own words back at her.
Mars looked at Venus. "It sounds good."
The blonde nodded and uncoiled the chain from her belt. "Let's move."
From their vantage point, Pyrolusite and Calomel glared at the gathering crowd of sailor soldiers.
"I told you she wouldn't face us alone," grumbled Pyrolusite.
"Don't worry about that," said Calomel. "I have a plan."
Pyrolusite did a double take, and she smirked.
"Let's go," he decided, seeing that their enemies had regrouped and were descending the hillside.
Calomel flipped on the loudspeaker again. "We're calling you out, Sailor Moon!" she yelled, enjoying the jangling vibration of her own voice magnified.
They had nearly reached the gates when a thin rectangle of light materialized in the air between them and the senshi. Neo Queen Serenity herself appeared, staring them down.
"I am the queen of Crystal Tokyo. You may address your concerns to me," she told them, with an icy politeness that reminded them that an audience with her was an honor they had not earned, that it was outrage, not respect, which prompted her to acknowledge them.
The robot dipped in a stilted bow. The queen's expression did not change. They must be mocking her; she would not allow them the satisfaction of getting under her skin.
"We have no quarrel with Your Majesty," said Calomel.
"You've been terrorizing my city for months."
"We regret that so many civilians have been hurt," Pyrolusite began.
"Regret," Serenity repeated. "Do you mean to say that if you had a chance to undo your actions, you would?"
"Blame Sailor Moon for your people's suffering. You've placed far too much faith in her," said Pyrolusite.
Serenity gave them one long, hard stare, and then the image winked out of existence. She would hear no more from them.
"Sailor Moon, you spineless weakling!" Calomel bellowed again, realizing with some agitation that she'd lost track of their target. "Get out here, you sorry excuse for a guardian!"
"Right here," answered a plaintive voice from the street below.
Sailor Moon stood with her wand pointed at them. Five others were advancing ahead of her, moving to surround the robot's feet. The four in her inner circle, and Saturn. Seeing her there disappointed Pyrolusite. When she hadn't shown up at the bike show, he'd wondered if she might be some kind of double agent working to uncover the coup. But now, seeing the way she looked at that pink-headed fraud, there could be no doubt of her true loyalty.
The queen's daughter had pink hair too, almost exactly the same shade. Even done up in the same style, now that he stopped to notice it. It was a strange thought to have at a time like this. He brushed it aside, concentrating on tracking the enemy's position. The other four were hanging back, prepared to strike from long range with their more powerful attacks.
"Keep an eye on them, Calomel," he instructed. He turned his attention back to their main target.
Sailor Moon steeled her nerves as she leveled her wand at the robot, trying not to feel like a bug about to be stepped on. The thing was at least three stories high, round-shouldered and neckless, like a metal caricature of a heavyweight fighter. Every inch of it was armored, from domed cockpit to squatting legs and frog-like feet. One arm ended in a menacing claw which curled over a triple-barreled gun. The other was bulky and blunt, and the air around it shimmered with heat. Several rows of metal spikes protruded from its back. At another glance she realized what they were. Control rods.
They couldn't just blow the thing up, then. If they weren't careful, they could end up releasing a cloud of radioactive waste in the heart of the city. She wondered if that was the Moirae's contingency plan.
Not to mention that there were two human beings inside. She was ashamed that it was an afterthought. Regardless, their first priority had to be avoiding a nuclear accident.
"Well? I'm listening," she said, fighting to keep the tremor out of her voice. "What do you want, before we turn your robot into a pile of scrap metal?"
"Brave words," Calomel sneered. She grabbed the controls. "Let me drive for a sec."
Without warning, the robot vaulted into the air. Venus's chain arced toward it, but it propelled itself out of the way with a burst of rocket fire from jets hidden behind its knees. There was no way the behemoth could fly, but it could control its fall. As they descended, Calomel aimed the clawed cannon downward and fired a rapid pulse of icy crystals at Sailor Moon.
Saturn gasped and spun around, realizing they'd been outmaneuvered. Before she could even shout a warning, the crystals dug into the ground in a ring around Sailor Moon and spread rapidly, forming a solid enclosure that cut her off from her friends. The robot landed hard in front of her, sending another shockwave across the ground.
"Take your best shot." Its whisper made the icy walls shudder.
"You two aren't aiming to take over Crystal Tokyo, are you?" Moon said. "You don't care about the queen, or my friends. They're just obstacles in your way. This is about me. It's always been about me."
"Vain, aren't you?" said Pyrolusite. "Come on, then. Let's end this."
A wordless cry wrenched itself from Sailor Moon's throat, and she lashed out with an arc of light. The Moirae didn't even bother to dodge. The attack barely scratched the robot's armor. Pyrolusite answered with a fountain of fire rolling along the ground. Forced to retreat, Sailor Moon ran up the ice wall, kicked off and spun in midair, bounced off the robot's head, and landed behind it.
"Now I see why Venus made me spend so long practicing that move," she muttered.
The robot's torso whirled around, and Calomel's clawed hand grabbed at her. She rolled out of the way easily—its pilot was too focused on keeping the reactor stable to worry much about concealing her intentions. But it was enough of a distraction that Sailor Moon wasn't ready when Pyrolusite launched another fireball. She jumped back, not quite in time. The blast knocked her off her feet and left a blistering burn on her ankle. She scrambled up, limping, her back to the wall, and had to run again as a jet of supercooled water came hurtling at her from Calomel's cannon. It solidified into jagged icicles on impact. Sailor Moon weighed one danger against another and decided to risk darting between the robot's feet to get to the other side of the ring, which by this time had almost closed into a dome overhead.
"Easy with the ice," said Pyrolusite. "You'll trap us if you keep that up."
Calomel smirked and pushed her hands outward. With a puff of steam, the ice ring expanded.
Moments later, a wave of fatigue hit her, deeper than any form of physical exhaustion. For an instant, her soul seemed to contract and peel away from the walls of her body. She was vaguely aware she was falling, her vision blurring…
Pyrolusite caught her by the shoulder. The jolt was enough to bring her back to her senses. She inhaled sharply and tried to regain control.
"Don't do that anymore. You pass out and we both die." Though he had to shout over the guns, his tone was imperturbable, and that shook Calomel far more than his usual jeering. She nodded mutely and focused on the reactor.
Outside, Saturn jabbed her glaive into the ice with a curse. She reached out with negative energy, trying to neutralize Calomel's power, but there was too much at once. Giving up, she moved to pull the blade out, only to find it was frozen over. She had to pry it loose with her foot, and by the time she got it free, a thin film of frost had crept up her boot.
"Watch out! It's growing by the second!" she warned the others.
"Let's go, everyone!" Ceres rallied her team, eager to show off in front of Venus. She thrust her hand out, and a thorny arrow covered in pink flowers formed in her palm. Pallas followed suit with an olive branch bearing a tip of sharpened ice. Juno produced a wild fig bough sharpened to a deadly point, and Vesta, a burning lotus stem tipped with glossy black volcanic rock.
"Amazones Jungle Arrow!" the four shouted together. They launched their weapons, each glowing with its owner's trademark color as it flew. The four shafts of light smashed into the ice… and dissipated in a little puff of sparks and water vapor.
"Gimme a break," Vesta muttered.
Mars stepped forward with a glance that said, let the grownups handle this. She summoned a fireball in each hand and hurled them at the wall. They spiraled around one another, twisting into a sharp point that burrowed into the ice like a drill. Thick steam filled the air. When it cleared, Mars gasped. She had barely made a dent in the ice. Within seconds, it regrew until there was no sign of her attack.
"How…? Is this the same Calomel? She was never this strong before."
Mercury squinted at her numbers on her visor, looking bewildered at what she read. That was never good. "If I had to guess, it's some kind of psionic amplifying matrix."
"That's impossible," said Venus.
"They shouldn't be able to stabilize one at that scale," Mercury agreed. "The technology just doesn't exist yet. But there it is."
"Whatever it is, we need to break through," said Jupiter. "Let's go, Mars."
The soldier of fire clasped her fingers together. A ring of firey orbs flared up around her. At the same time, Jupiter summoned a storm of rose petals. A lightning rod extended from her tiara. Green sparks shot out, mingling with the petals, and braided themselves through Mars's fire.
"Burning Flower Maelstrom!" they shouted together.
The wheel of flame and lightning surged forward, smashing into the ice with an impact that made the ground shake. A crack snaked along the wall. A few bits of ice broke loose and pelted Sailor Moon. She turned to see what had hit her, which was lucky, because just then a massive chunk came loose and tumbled down the wall. She dove to the side, narrowly escaping being crushed, then had to jump up and run for her life as Pyrolusite's secondary gun tore up the ground at her heels.
Crouched on the rooftop of a skyscraper overlooking the plaza, Pegasus Kamen watched the battle unfold. His gloved hands clenched the ledge, fighting the urge to fly to Sailor Moon's aid. Not yet. Not until he was absolutely sure she couldn't win on her own.
If I show myself in this form now, he reminded himself, there won't be any chance to…
A clamor of footsteps from the stairwell made him jump. Who else would be up here at this hour? It didn't matter. Best not to be seen by anyone. He scrambled down a drainpipe, clung for dear life to a decorative cornice, and finally found an open window to climb into.
Unfortunately for Sailor Moon, that thirty-second interval his back was turned was when she needed him the most.
"Stop!" Venus ordered. She led her team down the slope to join the others. "We're doing more harm than good. There has to be another way in."
The robot caught Sailor Moon in a backhand swipe. She cried out in pain as she sailed across the icy arena and slammed into the wall, right in front of her friends. She tumbled to the ground with a groan as they watched helplessly.
"Damn it!" Juno spat, slamming her fist against the ice. "It's no use! She's ten yards from us, and she may as well be on the moon."
"The moon…" Mercury breathed, suddenly realizing the solution that was right in front of them. "That's it!"
The others looked at her, confused.
"How do we get to the moon?" Mercury prompted.
Pallas clapped her hands together. "We teleport!"
The senshi started to join hands when Ceres called out in alarm, "Mercury-sama, wait! We can't teleport over such a short distance! The distortion of space-time would cause a massive shockwave that would… destroy anything in a hundred-foot radius…" She trailed off as the realization dawned on her.
Jupiter grinned. "It's called the Mizuno Maneuver, and it turned the tide at the Battle of Fomalhaut Prime."
"Aim for the top of the dome! " Venus instructed. She gave the younger senshi a smile that was part challenge. The ring of women lit up in a rainbow of auras.
"Oh, I don't think so," Calomel said darkly. With a wave of her hand, the ice wall exploded outward in an avalanche of slush. Before the senshi could react, they were buried.
"Everyone!" Sailor Moon screamed.
The robot's shadow fell over her, blocking out the rising sun. She knew she had to get up, but her body wouldn't comply. Her vision swam with darkness, and a buzz filled her ears. From somewhere under the ice she heard Pallas whimper, and her heart wrenched. Then the Moirae's fire-cannon turned on her, and in the hollow blackness at the end of the barrel she saw death.
Calomel's screeching laughter echoed off the buildings. "Now you understand, Sailor Moon. You fool who thought you could be queen."
They must know she was the princess somehow. She was too broken to even be surprised. In that moment, she believed they were right. She was a failure.
Pyrolusite was a cold and measured counterpoint to Calomel's manic rage. "We'll show you the price of this war of yours."
Sailor Moon caught a glimpse of his face through the cockpit glass. Maybe it was the angle, or the light, but a certain resemblance struck her in that moment. Ripidolite.
Just like Ripidolite, her life was being stolen from her. She would never go to college, never marry or have children, never laugh with her friends as they reminisced about their youth. She would never prove herself as a sailor soldier, and she would certainly never sit on her mother's throne. She would never even finish that painting she'd started, because the rest of her life existed in the space between her and that gun. And what mercy could she ask for? She had killed their sister.
"Worthless disgrace to the Silver Millennium!" Calomel's voice boomed across the square. "Taste despair, and die!"
Churning fire gathered in the cannon.
Maiden!
It was a ghost of an echo, like words from a dream. A second later she wasn't even sure if she'd really heard it. But when she saw the warm golden glow under her collar, from the pocket over her heart, she knew that was real. In uniform or out, the little crystal bell was always with her.
Her hand closed around it, and a burst of light drove the fire back. A thought welled up within her, deeper down than any sort of telepathy. More like a memory, so intimate it might have been her own. But she knew it came from him.
Chibiusa felt deflated as she let her henshin dissolve. The darkening sky, gray and heavy with swollen clouds, suited her perfectly. Of course she'd known all along that the maiden was Usagi. But it still hurts.
Now she wondered if he'd been humoring her the whole time. Maybe he had seen her loneliness and tried to make her feel special. Another adult coddling a child.
Beautiful dream. Princess soldier. Chosen. The words replayed in her mind again, but she shut them out. When he called me that I was so flattered and happy. I thought there was something even I could do. But it's no good after all. For little, powerless me…
A soft ringing sound made her start. She blinked at the tiny, sprite-like Pegasus hovering before her, wondering at first if it was her imagination.
"Helios." She resolved to act mature. That plan lasted for about half a sentence before she found herself pouring her heart out to him instead. "I wonder if there will ever come a day when I'll be needed. If I'll grow up and become an elegant soldier, a magnificent lady…" She swallowed. "If someday… all my dreams will come true…"
She covered her face to hide her tears.
Helios watched her anxiously. He was beginning to understand that the pure beauty of her dreams was attached to a rather complicated person.
His body shimmered, and he slipped into dream-space, the world between worlds. There was her dream, shining clear and bright at the core of her soul with a warm golden aura that seemed… oddly familiar, now that he thought about it. Before he had been content to bask in that light. Now he traced the shadows of her fears and doubts. Stretching out in every direction were sparkling threads of light in myriad hues. Everyone had those; they tied together people who had touched each other's lives. He followed, searching. Before long he found Ami, Rei, Makoto, and Minako scouring the streets and back alleys, sick with worry. Mamoru braving the rain in spite of his recent illness. Usagi, frantic, calling Chibiusa's name.
He fully materialized in front of Chibiusa, a head taller than her when he settled onto the ground. She heard him step closer. His nose nuzzled at her forehead. She felt his warm breath on her face. He paused, hovering uncertainly at her mouth, then leaned in.
Wait, what?
Her eyes flew open. The lips that met hers were surprisingly not horse-like. It was a light little butterfly kiss, all tenderness and curiosity, over before her mind quieted enough to enjoy the feeling. He pulled away from her, and… oh.
A youthful face, halfway to manhood but still clinging to boyish delicacy. Wispy hair, pure white as swan's down. Odd robes adorned with ribbons and tassels that seemed to defy gravity. Those same golden eyes. Though she wasn't one for clichés, Chibiusa went weak at the knees.
He knelt beside her, holding out his hand. "Please don't cry, Small Maiden." It was Helios's voice.
"It's because you helped her that Super Sailor Moon can now fight with her full strength," he went on. His fingertips brushed her shoulders. She could only stare at him in wonder. "Everyone is worried sick and searching for you. You've always been wanted." He rose with a courtly bow, hand clasped to his heart. "You are surrounded by overflowing love."
She felt a deeper, surer kind of joy at those words than she had when he first called her the chosen maiden, or even when Mamoru told her she was pretty. What she thought she was lacking had always been in front of her.
All at once Helios started to flicker. "I'm at my limit in this form. Small Maiden. I'll definitely come to see you again. So don't cry…"
Long after he faded away, Chibiusa stood in the rain, feeling warm all over.
The bell shone brighter as Sailor Moon held it aloft, radiance so intense that it made the Moirae siblings flinch.
"That light!" Pyrolusite groaned. "What is it?"
"Pretty," Calomel murmured in spite of herself.
On her feet once more, Sailor Moon faced them with renewed strength. "You're right. I am vain," she said. "I'm always trying to prove myself, like if I can just deserve everything, no one will ever abandon me. But the people who love me never asked for that. That's why…"
The orb of light expanded, blowing away the remaining ice and snow. Enveloped in a fresh wave of power, Sailor Moon rose into the air until she hovered over the robot's head. She smiled down at her senshi, looking very much like the queen in that moment.
"I won't doubt them anymore."
And I won't die without meeting you again!
Saturn got to her feet, squinting. "Everyone! Sailor Moon is calling for our power!"
Time seemed to slow, the chaos and noise of battle dimmed, and the princess's voice reached them, sounding at once far away and close as a whisper.
"Everyone…"
Another surge of power bleached the world white.
After a second or two, the glare faded to a smooth, soft ambiance, and Sailor Moon's figure came into focus, a graceful shadow outlined by dancing rays. She seemed to be standing on the surface of an endless, glassy ocean. The ground rippled lightly around her feet. She stepped toward her friends, and the light seemed to move with her, illuminating their faces as she clasped each of their hands.
"Ceres. You know what it's like, don't you? To feel like you're always under pressure. But you never wavered in the face of your destiny. In and out of uniform, you're smart, brave, and elegant. That's why I look up to you."
Ceres squeezed her hand back. "We're at our best when we're together."
All at once, the glow seemed to spill over from Sailor Moon's hands to surround Ceres. There was a subtle shift in the light, so that the ripples on the water were laced with gold, and a cloud of petals swirled up around them.
"Hey, Pallas," said Sailor Moon. "Did you know you're the best person to laugh and unwind with? You're true to yourself, without worrying about being a kid or an adult. You remind me that life is worth living for its own sake."
"Uh-huh! Pallas loves you too!" Pallas launched at her and caught her in a hug. Sailor Moon patted her head, and the glow wrapped around her too. Waves of undulating blue spread over the water's surface, and soft, snowy motes joined the petals drifting through the air.
"Bold, strong Juno. With you by my side, I'm not afraid to stand up for what's right. And when I don't know what's right, even when I make mistakes, you've still got my back."
Juno winked at her. "You know it."
Again the light flowed from Sailor Moon's hands to surround her. Now the water glinted green, and static sparks flickered through the atmosphere.
"Vesta. You're always warm and gracious. You weren't afraid to walk away from other people's expectations and stay true to yourself. That's why you're my inspiration. I feel like I can be myself around you."
"And don't ever change," said Vesta, with a smile that could outshine her best pageant-queen glamour shot. As the light washed over her, the air was filled with tiny flecks that rose like floating embers. The water flashed with every color of the rainbow. Flowers, fire, snow and sparks began to circle them in an ever-accelerating current.
"And Saturn… oh, Saturn." Sailor Moon paused as she reached her best friend. There was so much that could never be put into words.
"My friend who always had faith in me and stood by me on my worst days. You taught me that there's always hope, even at the end of the world. They called me the maiden with a beautiful dream, but the reason I had the courage to hang on to it, was because of you." She looked around at her friends. "All of you have beautiful dreams inside you. A limitless energy that keeps you moving toward the future. It's a precious thing I'm asking for, but will you lend me the power of your dreams?"
The sphere around them hummed with their combined energy. Saturn's hands slid up her arms to rest on her shoulders.
"Princess. Sailor Moon. Usagi. Our dreams will always follow you."
The light rushed in around them, then burst out with the brilliance of a newborn star. When it subsided, they were back in Tokyo.
Saturn's tiara gem sparkled, and a beam of purple light shot out. Moments later the Quartet's did the same: aqua, red, green, and yellow. And from somewhere on a nearby rooftop, four more beams of light joined them, adding brown, sky blue, teal, and gray to the confluence of color.
Helios's bell sang out with a pure, crystalline note as the rays struck it and converged into one brilliant silver-white beam that fell on Sailor Moon's brooch. There was an explosion of sparkling light and feathers. The brooch morphed into a heart shape, inscribed with a golden crescent moon and nine precious jewels in rainbow hues. The bell had shrunk to miniature size and dangled from the bottom of the brooch, tied with a white satin bow.
When the new brooch settled into place, another wave of rainbow light flickered over her. Her skirt and collar shifted from solid pink to a pink and yellow gradient. Her bubble sleeves turned transparent, the bow on her skirt became long and gauzy, and a thin gold belt appeared around her waist. A row of tiny rhinestones twinkled along the edge of her chest bow and around the red gems in her hair.
Venus's eyes lit up in surprise—and recognition. "That uniform is…"
"Super Sailor Moon!" Diana confirmed.
The newly powered-up senshi summoned her Pink Moon Stick, and it, too, shimmered and began to change shape. The handle elongated into a fluted, pearl white wand inlaid with gold stars. The crescent moon on top liquefied and reformed into a large pink heart-shaped crystal topped with a cluster of jewels in her guardians' colors. More multi-colored flashes of energy decorated the wand with rings of pearls and a moon sigil flanked by a pair of small pink wings. Sailor Moon grasped her new wand with a flourish as her feet settled back on the ground.
Pyrolusite backed the robot up a few steps, assessing this new threat. Calomel, meanwhile, was all too aware. She could feel the magical energy coming off the young woman in waves, far stronger than before.
A pulse of raw power emanated from the wand. Sailor Moon twirled it in a circle, streams of light following her like ribbons. "Moon Dynamic…"
All at once, the light twisted around itself, condensed into a point at the tip of the wand.
"Heart…"
She stopped, pointing it straight at them with both hands.
"Medley!"
A surge of rainbow light exploded from the wand, so powerful that Sailor Moon slid backwards a few paces. As it flew it split again into nine colors, a breathtaking, deadly spectacle. There was nothing Pyrolusite and Calomel could do. She clutched his arm. He closed his eyes.
Just before impact, a thin disc of midnight-purple energy spread out in front of them. Sailor Moon's attack smashed into it with a force that shattered the Moirae's windshield, but the forcefield held.
Pyrolusite brushed glass from his hair, wondering why he was not dead. He could barely make out a man's shape balancing on the robot's arm. Pale hair, a dark cape and mask.
"Hypnos?"
"I can't keep this up for long," he said, the strain evident in his voice. "Run!"
"No," the pair refused in unison.
He gritted his teeth in a mix of effort and frustration. "I promised your mother."
Surprise and guilt registered on Calomel's face. But Pyrolusite spoke before she had the chance to think. "If we back down from this fight, what then?"
"You live," Hypnos's whisper somehow carried over the roar of light. "Go somewhere far away, where no one will ever find you." He looked at Calomel, who seemed to be wavering. "It's not too late."
"We've made our choice," said Pyrolusite, unconsciously wrapping his fingers around his sister's.
Revenge, thought Calomel. Defeat the enemy. She lifted her voice defiantly. "We'll see this through!"
Sweat beaded on Hypnos's brow. The tense seconds stretched out like a lifetime. Pyrolusite leveled his gaze at their would-be savior. "A man doesn't back down from his decisions."
Hypnos gave them one last pained glance. He couldn't hold the shield anymore. In a flicker of shadow he was gone, and then the spears of light were hurtling toward them.
I want to live I want to live I want to live—
Sailor Moon's attack slammed into them. Glass shattered and metal tore as the robot's legs gave out and it toppled to the ground. Earth and sky inverted. The cabin filled with acrid smoke. Calomel was thrown from her seat and tumbled backwards into the rear compartment. Pyrolusite was not so lucky. His side of the cockpit was almost completely smashed in, and the steering mechanism had pinned him against the seat… From the gurgling sounds he was making, Calomel was almost glad when her eye wouldn't turn back on. The floor was warm and sticky. She couldn't tell if it was her blood or his.
"Are you okay?" she quavered.
"No." Pyrolusite struggled for breath. "I think my legs are gone. I don't know if…"
He broke off as what was left of the control panel lit up with red, and an alarm sounded.
"Meltdown," he croaked, a trickle of red dripping from his mouth. "Calomel, get out! I can't stop it…"
"Nii-kun, wait! I'll help you."
"Go!" he roared, as an ominous rumble began in the reactor core. Numbly, she crawled away from him. Smoke. Heat. Her lungs were parched, her sightless eye burned. There was no way she had the strength to make a portal, even if she could have formed a stable one with all this magical energy flying around. The main door was pinned against the ground, and the frame around the windshield was too smashed in to escape even with the glass gone. The emergency hatch, then. She grabbed onto the ladder and dragged herself up hand over hand. Her limbs were on fire. She wanted to live. Maybe if she could get out, she could convince the senshi to help Pyrolusite. She tried not to think about what that would mean as she found the hatch, turned the handle, pushed hard.
It was stuck.
She shoved with all her might, but it only yielded a tiny crack, just enough to let in a tantalizing whisper of fresh air. Her fingers scrabbled against the crack, but after a few seconds her grip gave out. A shuddering sob broke over her and she tumbled back down the ladder, landing in a defeated heap. It was over.
"Calomel?" her brother croaked.
Every fiber of her being wanted to crawl back to him, to seek comfort in the last minute or two of their existence. Instead, she cupped her hand over her mouth to muffle her voice. "I got it open. I'm out on the roof," she called back.
He sagged into his chair with a relieved sigh. She promised herself that no matter what happened, she would not cry out.
The reactor door cracked and bulged, filling the cabin with scalding steam. Pyrolusite was screaming something. The words were a buzz in her ears. Then all at once, the wall gave way, and liquid fire came rushing in.
The final moment of agony was mercifully brief.
Hypnos dropped onto his hands and knees as he materialized at the fortress. Hot tears snaked down his cheek. Aether rushed to his side. His normally stoic features were animated by desperate hope, which faded into anguish as he realized his friend was alone.
"A wise man might," Hypnos choked out. Chest heaving, he ground a fist into the stone floor.
Aether gripped his shoulder in a gesture of sympathy, though of course he didn't understand.
Sailor Moon sank to the pavement with an exhausted sigh and reverted to her regular form. Behind her, the robot was quivering and smoking. Bolts started to pop loose from its frame, accompanied by flaring light and hissing steam.
Mercury didn't need the stream of warnings on her visor to confirm their worst fears. "It's out of control! Meltdown!"
"Get out of there!" Venus shrieked in a rare moment of near panic.
Pallas and Mars, who happened to be the closest to the princess, hauled her up by the arms and lead her, stumbling, toward the palace. Pallas herself was clearly still woozy from the massive outpouring of power they'd just given Sailor Moon. Ceres and Vesta were half-conscious on the ground. Juno tried to pick up one under each arm. Failing at that, she scooped up Vesta, grimaced, and hit Ceres with a mild shock that jolted her awake. Muttering epithets at Juno, Ceres made sure she was steady, then moved to help Saturn up.
"Juno, are you absolutely sure everyone's evacuated?" Mars called back to them.
"We cleared every house on the block and told them to spread the word, but…"
Venus and Mercury exchanged a glance.
"Better make sure," Venus decided.
"You'll need my scanner," said Mercury.
Venus nodded her agreement. "Jupiter, get the palace shields up. Mars, you have command."
"What about you?" Ceres cried in alarm.
Venus shook her head, and the pair took off in the opposite direction. Biting back their own protests, Mars and Jupiter herded the younger senshi toward the palace.
They would never make it. Saturn turned back, determined to use what strength she had left to create a shield. She wasn't sure she could manage it. In fact, she was pretty sure she couldn't manage it. After everything, were they going to die like this?
"Changing Lace!"
The shout came from a rooftop across the street. The senshi looked up as one to see a tiny, pale girl in a gray and green sailor suit. Her thick, charcoal gray braid looked nearly as heavy as the rest of her. She was holding up a short staff weapon, which was capped with a glass ball that contained some sort of red gem. A net of what looked like glowing spring-green leaves spread out over the fallen robot.
Moments later, it exploded.
The sound was like a firecracker muffled beneath a bell, only a hundred times as loud. Firey carnage raged under the shield, but it didn't waver. The older senshi cringed, expecting the hot prickle of radiation, but felt nothing. Gradually, the leaves took on the vibrant green of midsummer, then erupted with the brilliant hues of autumn. At last, just as the flames died down, they started to dry and shrivel. One by one, they peeled away, crumbling into a fine dust that settled on top of the robot's remains.
A grim hush fell over the group as they stared at the smoking ruin, knowing that they had just witnessed the horrific death of two people.
When they looked again, the girl on the roof was gone.