A/N: Enjoy!

We went to the park. It seemed like the most logical place to go. Rubeus's spaceship was still visible over the city. I knew from watching the news that the army had been brought in to try to breach its defenses. Of course, they weren't having any luck - no one was. It hadn't stopped them from trying, though. But it meant that people were even more on alert than before, and we would need privacy to be able to do the sailor teleport. Our apartment wasn't big enough. It was times like this that I really, truly missed the Hikawa Shrine. When it was closed to visitors, the shrine had been a beautiful, peaceful sanctuary for all of us. And we probably could have gone there. Yuuichirou and Rei's grandfather wouldn't have sent me away.

But it didn't feel right to be there without Rei. It felt too much like tempting fate. I needed to keep myself in a positive frame of mind, and I didn't want to surround myself with reminders of the senshi. They were already on my mind. I stared blankly out the window as the car drove towards the park, and I kept seeing them and remembering their good nature whenever it came to a battle. Ami and her resourcefulness. Rei and her temper. Mako-chan and her determination. Minako and her cheerfulness. Michiru and her sense of calm. Haruka and her drive. Hotaru and her never ending faith. Setsuna and her knowledge. I wished they were with me so badly that it hurt.

I'd never fought like this before, without them. The knowledge that they would not be coming back afterwards hung heavily on my shoulders. During the fight with Beryl, I'd expected to die so it hadn't mattered so much to me. During Galaxia, I'd been praying for a miracle. But now? There was no point in hoping. Their starseeds had passed into the Cauldron, and they were going to be reborn. Maybe they already had. But they definitely weren't going to be coming back. I bit my lip hard to hold back the tears that pricked my eyes. This was how all of my battles would be from now on, until the senshi grew up enough that they would be able to take their places.

Even then, though, it would never be the same. I didn't know how much thought the Starlights had put into this. But I couldn't help it. I knew what reincarnation was like. Hell, I'd already been through it. My memories of the Silver Millennium might have been a little sketchy, but I knew enough to realize that I was nothing like Princess Serenity. She had been a completely different person from me, raised in different surroundings with different parents. It only made sense to think that the same thing was going to happen this time around. I knew that. I did. But thinking about it didn't bring me very much comfort.

The hand on my shoulder surprised me so much I jumped. As I whipped my head around, I realized that it was Seiya. She was sitting beside me in the back of the car, while Taiki and Yaten and Chibi-Chibi had taken the seats across from us. Taiki was flipping through a poetry book and Yaten was staring out the window. Seiya was watching me. "You looked like you were a million miles away," she said softly. Not accusing, just curious.

"I was," I said, not willing to explain what had been on my mind. But I suspected that I didn't have to; she already knew. It was impossible for her not to be thinking about Princess Kakyuu at a time like this. Once they would have been going to war to protect her. Now it was for my sake.

"I just wanted to make sure that you were okay."

"I'm fine." I reached up and placed my hand over hers, squeezing gently. I was so grateful that they were here I couldn't even talk about it. It terrified me to think about what might have happened if they had left me here alone. Would I have found the strength to fight against Rubeus? I honestly couldn't say. And that bothered me more than I wanted to admit.

Seiya kept looking at me for a minute longer, like she didn't believe that I was telling her the truth. But she didn't get a chance to press me anymore: the car pulled up right outside the entrance of the park. I opened the door without waiting for the driver and got out. Normally at this time of the day, there would have been a lot of mothers with younger children visiting the play area. Today, I noticed that while there were a few people around the park was pretty much empty. It wasn't hard to guess why: no one wanted to be outside with a giant spaceship floating around.

I had already decided that the easiest place would be the highest point. Coincidentally, it was also the place where we had once said good-bye to Helios. I remembered that time so clearly as we walked up the path. Chibi-Usa had been so upset, even though she had done a very good job of hiding it right up until she'd climbed into my bed that night. Normally I pretended that it annoyed me when she snuck into my bed, but that night I'd held her and rubbed her back while she cried herself to sleep.

"Helios," I whispered, looking out over the city. It would have been a beautiful sight if it weren't for the fact that Rubeus's spaceship was visible. It was one hell of an ugly eyesore. "If you can hear me right now, we could really use your help."

I didn't know what I was expecting. Helios to appear in a flash of gold light, maybe, or Pegasus to come swooping in on a pair of white wings. Either way nothing happened, and after a couple of minutes had ticked by I started feeling pretty stupid just standing there. Sighing, I turned around and took out my locket. "It doesn't look like he can hear me," I said, wishing I had the Crystal Clarion.

"Then we'll just have to take care of this ourselves," said Seiya, a wicked glint in her eyes. "Fighter Midnight Power -"

"Healer Dawn Power -"

"Maker Twilight Power -"

"Moon Eternal -"

"Make-Up!" we shouted together.

It was a good thing that no one was around, because the resulting flash of light probably would have blinded them. As it faded away, I stretched my wings out. Right away I noticed that both Maker and Healer had upgrades to their uniforms, just like Fighter did. Only theirs were done in violet and a yellowy green color, respectively. I wanted to take the time to stop and admire them, but I knew that we had to get going. Rubeus might be able to sense the fact that we had just transformed. I did not want him bringing this fight to Earth.

"Alright," I said, and that one word made Fighter, Healer, Maker and Chibi-Chibi snap to attention. All four of them looked at me so intently that it was unsettling. "We're going to teleport onto the ship. Join hands. Chibi-Chibi, you stand in the middle." I reached out and took Fighter's and Healer's hands. It was a little weird: I was conscious of the difference in material, but the strength of the grip was the same.

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. After a couple more, I sensed that the others were breathing in tandem with me. I took that as the sign to drop the walls on my magic. It bubbled up through my veins, rich and strong and burning, and I tipped my head down against my chest as it trickled down my hands. It encountered resistance there, and I knew that it would. The others had never done this before, and it was new territory for them to let someone else's magic in.

I was calm about it, gentle. I remembered the first time that I'd tried to do this with Sailor Mercury, Mars, Jupiter and Venus and how it'd felt foreign to have alien magic that was at the same time familiar sliding through me. It'd got easier every time we did it after, but the first time always stuck out in my mind. I let myself open to their magic, inviting Healer and Fighter in, and through them came Maker because their magic was similar enough that it was easier.

Coolness and light danced across the backs of my eyelids and I gasped softly, because it was like being in the middle of a meteor shower, every bit as fantastic and brilliant and it made me feel like I was floating. Their magic curled around me almost lazily, sliding against and around the ginzuishou, and I could pinpoint the second when things changed: when it started to accept them the way I wanted it to, needed it to, and the resulting wave of warmth was so strong it made me shiver. I heard Healer gasp and then the whole world changed, twisting, like I was being squeezed through a narrow tube before plunging into cold water.

My eyes flew open. We were no longer standing in the park. Instead, we were in a dark room that stank of musk and tasted of rust. I licked my lips and looked around slowly. It wasn't anywhere that I had been before, but that didn't mean I didn't know where we were. "We made it," I said, and my voice sounded rough. "Open your eyes, you guys, we're here."

Fighter obeyed my command, but she didn't seem to be interested in looking around. Her eyes were glued to my face. "Odango," she said, breathless, "that was - what was that?"

"The power of the ginzuishou," I told her. I didn't mean to sound like I was bragging, but I was proud. They'd seen it before, but never experienced it. All of my concentration had been focused on Chaos and Galaxia that day.

"It's very strong," Maker said. Only she didn't say it like she was impressed, she said it like she was already thinking about some tests that she might like to run. She sounded exactly like Ami. I couldn't hide my smile that time. For once, I didn't even care that she might have meant she was comparing me to Kakyuu. I was just happy that our attempt to teleport had actually worked, and no one had been left behind.

"Yeah, it is." I leaned down and picked up Chibi-Chibi. It was times like this that I missed Mercury's computer. She could have scanned the area around us and told us exactly where Rubeus's main power source was coming from. Without it, we had to guess. But at least I could make it an educated one. I was pretty sure that we'd been on the top level of the ship the last time we fought Rubeus. The towering ceilings shaped like spikes, just like the outside of the ship, had given me that clue. I was pretty sure we had to head up.

Healer nodded when I told them that. "It's as good a guess as any," she remarked. "Besides, I can feel a strong power coming from somewhere directly above our heads. It feels very similar to what Rubeus emits, but different."

I looked at her for a minute in surprise. I didn't know Healer could do that. I was curious for more details, but I knew that now wasn't the time. "Different like how?"

She screwed her face up in concentration, then shook her head. "I can't tell. It feels deeper, darker. Definitely stronger."

"I see." I hoped what I was thinking didn't show on my face: that Rubeus had been plenty strong enough already, and that I was praying he hadn't got help from anyone else. Chibi-Usa and I had destroyed the Doom Phantom, hadn't we? I swallowed. Only one way to find out. "Let's go."

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