A/N: For all those who wondered, Crimson Rubeus (known simply as Rubeus in the NA dub) was one of the first enemies that the senshi faced from the Black Moon family. He used the Ayakashi Sisters (a.k.a. the Four Sisters) as pawns. When they were healed by Sailor Moon, he kidnapped Venus, Mercury, Mars and Jupiter as a last ditch effort to get Chibi-Usa and the ginzuishou. Sailor Moon and Chibi-Usa worked together to defeat him and, as far as we knew, Rubeus died on his ship when it exploded. There, a little history lesson. Enjoy!

The first thing that I noticed was that Rubeus looked exactly the same as he had the last time we had fought. His hair rose in wild tufts above his head, flame red and flashing in the bright light. The black crescent moon still adorned his forehead and he was even still wearing the black crystal earrings with the same open leather vest and tight green pants. He had his arms folded and there was a broad smirk on his face as he looked down at us. My body tensed in automatic reaction and I reached for my broach.

"What are you doing here, Rubeus?" I said in a low voice, knowing that he would be able to hear me anyway. "I thought we destroyed you." It had taken me a long time to forget the sound of his screams as the six of us teleported off of his ship and left him behind. Even knowing that he gladly would have killed us if given the chance hadn't completely assuaged my guilt.

"That's the problem with just thinking that you've done something," Rubeus replied, his smirk growing wider. He had always enjoyed taunting us with his power and I could tell that hadn't changed. "Even Esmeraude thought that I was dead, the stupid bitch, but at the last moment I was able to escape the ship. It took me a long time to recover from the damage you and your little brat did. I've been waiting for the opportunity to take my time in destroying you for a while. It's a pity that I won't have the chance to kill the rabbit as well, but I suppose I'll settle for being able to make sure she never exists." He lifted his hands over his head in a familiar maneuver and more of the little black balls began to form, glowing with dark power.

Instinct propelled me. I turned to Yaten and pushed her hard, shoving her out of the way before she could react. The balls struck the ground inches away from us, exactly where I had been sitting seconds before, and the grass exploded, throwing us both into the air. I landed hard on my side, scraping the skin off of my arm, and gave a hollow gasp of pain as I rolled over onto my back. At least this time I didn't have to worry about trying to protect Chibi-Usa. I flinched as Rubeus loomed above me, his eyes wild, and reached out for my throat. Our gazes locked and I could only stare at him, speechless.

"Star Serious Laser!"

For a moment I'd been caught in the past and hearing Sailor Star Fighter's attack was so jarring that I didn't react even as Rubeus was blasted off of his feet. I turned my head, watching as he landed several feet away with a loud grunt. A moment later Sailor Star Fighter and Sailor Star Maker were standing over us. My instinct was to grab my locket and transform as well, but at the last second I remembered where we were. There was no telling who might be watching this; it was bad enough they'd already heard what Rubeus and I had said without giving an actual demonstration.

"Are you alright?" Maker asked, turning her head to look at me.

"Yes, I… I'm fine," I said. I had a new desire to beat Rubeus senseless but other than that I was good. I looked around for Yaten and saw that she was sitting up too, but she looked dazed and there was blood running down her cheek from a gash over her left eye. I scrambled over to her on hands and knees and tore the hem of my skirt, balling the fabric up and pressing it gently to her head.

"You…" Rubeus was dragging himself to his feet. He straightened up and glared past Fighter and Maker. "You think they can protect you, your highness?" He spoke the title mockingly. "Crystal Tokyo won't be happening but I'll make sure that you don't get the opportunity to create anything like it. Your blood will stain my hands and nothing your guardians can do will stop it."

Fighter made a move to attack him again but Rubeus vanished, like a candle flame going out in the wind. "Damn it," she cursed softly, rocking back on her heels. I knew she was frustrated but in all honesty I'd been expecting it. Rubeus had always been like that, running away whenever there was a chance he might be outnumbered. If he hadn't kidnapped the senshi and brought us to him the first time around we might never have pinned him down long enough to beat him. And it looked like we hadn't even done that.

Maker said, "We need to get out of here."

"You guys go," I said under my breath. People would forgive what I'd said and done during the fight because of the circumstances, but they would be much less inclined to forget anything a senshi did. "I'll stay with Yaten and you can find us once you have the chance to… you know."

It seemed like Fighter was going to protest but Maker took her arm and physically yanked her away. The second they were gone it was like a floodgate opened. I suddenly found myself surrounded by teachers, all of them trying to see if we were alright. Above the sound of their voices I heard sirens, and a few minutes later an ambulance arrived, followed by paramedics. They bundled Yaten into the truck and at their insistence I went too, even though I was pretty sure I wasn't wounded seriously. I was more worried about Yaten.

At the hospital they cleaned up my arm, washing out the grit that had been embedded in the scrape and placing a soft bandage over it. They did all sorts of tests - every time I tried to protest that a test wasn't necessary I was told it was 'standard' - and gave me something mild for the pain before I was left alone. I sat on the exam table, frustrated at not being able to see how Yaten was doing. She had to be frightened. I didn't think she'd ever been to the hospital before, much less been a patient in one, and I suspected that the hospitals here were very different from the ones on Kinmoku. I hoped that Taiki and Seiya had been able to follow us.

After a while the painkillers kicked in and I felt better as my muscles and bruises stopped aching so badly. I hopped off of the exam and table and wandered around, looking at the posters that were taped up on the walls. I was still wearing my uniform but it would need to be thrown out; it was ripped in a few different places. I didn't have many changes of clothes with me, either. Taiki had shown up in my room this morning with this uniform and I still didn't know where she'd gotten it from. Up until now, with the exception of the black dress I'd worn for the memorial service, I'd mostly been wearing their clothing. I had to admit that a part of me liked that, but I knew I wouldn't be able to do that forever. It would mean another visit to my house, and while my parents would probably be glad to see I was still alive I dreaded the inevitable questions about whether or not I was ready to come home yet.

Another fifteen minutes went by and I was just about ready to go out of my mind with boredom when my phone rang. I didn't think you were supposed to have them on in the hospital but I hadn't wanted to turn it off in case Seiya or Taiki tried to call me. When I checked the screen, though, it was an unfamiliar number and I frowned as I put it up to my ear. "Hello?"

"Usagi-san?"

The voice was immediately familiar. I straightened up a little. "Koan!"

"Yes, it's me. We were watching the news when we heard about what happened at your school. Usagi-san, I don't think I have to tell you who was behind that."

"No, you don't, because I saw him in person," I said. It made sense now why the sisters had approached me in the first place. I wondered how they had known that Rubeus was alive. I couldn't imagine that he would've gone to them for help after how he'd treated them. "It was not an experience that I would care to repeat any time in the near future, Koan. What is he doing here?"

"He survived the explosion," Koan replied, which I already knew. "We felt his presence in the city a handful of days ago but we weren't sure how to get into contact with you. I went to the shrine but… Well, it was closed and there didn't seem to be anyone around, not even that boy who seemed to like Rei so much. That's why we went to the memorial service. I'm sorry that we weren't able to warn you earlier."

"Yeah, it could've saved you a lot of trouble." The voice ringing in my ear now belonged to Calaveras. I could hear Koan in the background, shouting at her sister for having taken the phone away, but Calaveras ignored her. "Look, you've got to stop him. Rubeus has always hated you and this planet. He wanted to destroy it and he just never told Prince Dimande the truth about it. If you don't do something to stop him, he'll succeed where everyone else has failed."

A cold chill went down my spine and for a moment I didn't say anything just because I couldn't think of how to respond to concern. I knew she was right. I'd always thought to myself that Rubeus had been one of the worst members of the Black Moon Family. He had none of the appreciation for Earth that Dimande and Safir had showed. He really would destroy everything. "I don't suppose you have any tips for how I'm supposed to do that?" I asked weakly. I was a lot stronger than I'd been the last time we fought the Black Moon, true, but I wasn't the only one who had increased significantly in power.

"You're the only one who can do it, we can tell you that much." Now it was Berthier speaking in my ear. "I remember that he used to talk about how much he hated you but really I think it's because you, well, Neo-Queen Serenity frightened him. You have access to power that he doesn't understand and can't touch and it drives him crazy." She actually sounded pretty pleased about that. "He won't target the rest of the city, just you."

"We can't offer you any more help than that." Petz's voice was distinctly cool and now I could hear both Berthier and Koan complaining. "I don't want my sisters getting caught up in this. We don't have any way of protecting ourselves now that we're normal humans. You know that he's here so as far as I'm concerned our job is done." And with that she hung up. I brought the phone away from my ear just as the curtain was pushed back and the doctor walked in. He looked up too quickly for me to hide the phone and his eyes went wide.

"Oi, you can't have those in here!" he said indignantly. "We have sensitive equipment around here. Turn it off!"

"Sorry," I said, my cheeks flushing as I hastily obeyed. I shoved the phone back into my pocket and hoped that Yaten and Seiya wouldn't call until I was out of here. "Can I go now?"

"Well, yes, you don't appear to have any serious injuries and your tests have come back with good results." He glanced down at his clipboard before looking back up at me. "There's just one thing that I have to ask you about based off your answers to the questions that you were asked earlier. Tsukino-san, are you aware that you're pregnant?"

Note: Saphir was called Sapphire in the dub, and Prince Dimande was known as Prince Diamond.

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