Note: The chapter has SPOILERS for the later half of My Next Life as a Villainess: All routes lead to DOOM. If you have not finished the anime and want to avoid spoilers, turn back now.

This is also a crossover with my fanfic, 'Sailor Venus and the Quest for Power Ups.'

Ever After

My Next Life as a Villainess: All routes lead to DOOM.

(One of Two)

"Well, that's interesting," Quill Fiat noted as they phased into the new universe. They emerged in a wooded area, though oddly there was a vegatable garden nearby. Looked odd, with the fancy flower gardens too.

Hazuki noted that Quill sounded tired. They HAD been jumping across universes fairly rapidly... maybe they should try to take a break.

"Oh?" Lilith asked.

"Another high magic energy universe. Unlike the last one with the giant lizard, this universe has a lot of available energy," Quill observed.

Hazuki was a bit disappointed that neither woman was impressed they had encountered GODZILLA. Though she supposed that both women came from different backgrounds...

"I certainly feel charged up," Lilith added.

"This won't make my sword act weird, will it?" Hazuki asked. The last time they had been in a 'high magic' universe, her katana had fired off energy bolts...

"It's not as high energy as the alternate Mars we visited," Quill said as she checked her readings on a holographic view screen, "but it's higher that most other universes. So, yes, your katana may react to it in some way."

"Oh joy," Hazuki grumbled.

As they talked, Lilith floated and glowed nearby, shimmering with magic as she called on her powers to search for Eve/Hatsumi. She frowned as the light faded and said, "She's moved on... but there is an anomaly here."

"Oh?" Quill asked her eagerly. As a scientist and researcher, she liked encountering unusual entities and such.

Lilith gave her a look, and sighed. "I sensed an unusually powerful entity, somewhere over there," she pointed ahead of them.

Not too far away from them there was a complex of connected buildings. While Hazuki wasn't an expert, it reminded her of a boarding school of some kind.

"Well, we need to find where Hatsumi...," Hazuki started.

"Eve!" Lilith corrected.

"Whichever, where they left this world. So let's go look around, maybe we'll meet the other one too," Hazuki finished.

The three headed off, taking in the gorgeous scenery. They soon ran into some students, dressed in fancy dresses and suits. The school girl uniform, witch outfit and jumpsuit they were wearing stood out quite a bit.

"MORE people in strange clothes?!" one cranky noblewoman cried.

Hazuki smiled as charmingly as she could. "Well, we're just visiting," she lied. "You haven't seen a pretty, mute blonde around here?"

The woman looked at Hazuki like something she scraped off her boot.

"That sounds like the assistant cook," another boy noted. "I think she knew Miss Campbell, too," he added.

The woman, Sienna, scowled at him for helping them.

Quill just ignored that as she asked, "Could someone direct us to the kitchens?"

A third figure tried offer directions, but realized they didn't know the layout. He looked around, "Oh, here's someone who could help." He called, "Miss Campbell!"

The blonde woman trotted over. As soon as Hazuki saw her, she got the odd feeling this was a 'main character' type. She was pretty. apparently talented, good natured and, Hazuki sensed, possessed of a powerful ability.

"Hello," she smiled, "My name is Maria. How can I help?"

"We were trying to find a lost friend of ours," Hazuki started, then described Hatsumi.

"Yes, she helped out in the kitchens," Maria agreed, then offered to lead them there. "Uhm.. are all of you magicly powered?" she asked mildly as they walked.

"Quill and I are. Not Hazuki," Lilith told her cheerfully.

"Oh, no," Maria shook her head, "I feel powerful magic in Miss Hazuki too. I don't know what kind it is, though."

"What?" Hazuki blinked.

Before they could continue, a red headed boy rushed down the hall at them. "Sirius?" Maria blinked as he shoved by them rudely.

He scowled, "I won't let you help them catch me!"

Before anyone could react to that, the young man gestured dramatically to the crowd of young people. Hazuki blinked as she saw what looked like a wave of blackness wash over the bystanders, their eyes glowing red.

"Oh this can't be good," Quill muttered as she extended her staff.

"GET THE INTRUDERS!" the crowd suddenly roared in eerie synchronization as they charged the group.

Hazuki kept her katana sheathed, both to use it as a club, and because she wasn't sure what it would DO if she drew it here. "What is...?" she started.

"Shield!" Quill ordered, putting a flat barrier in front of her,

"Maria!" an alarmed voice came from behind them.

As Hazuki was clubbing down attacking students, the saw an attractive brown haired woman pull Maria back, trying to protect her from the mob. Maria looked up at her adoringly, but the girl didn't seem to notice.

Beside her another blonde, dressed like a noble, hurried up to where they were fighting. "VENUS!" Lilith growled.

The blonde... shimmered, slightly, and the 'noblewoman look' vanished. Instead she wore a modified sailor fuku and a gold circlet, along with other accessories. "Venus love me CHAIN!" she yelled, firing off a slim golden chain that tied up several of the rioters.

"Sailor Venus?" Hazuki blinked.

"We've met?" Venus asked as she casually clubbed another attacker.

"You crashed into my library!" Lilith said as she also slugged someone.

Hazuki felt Venus looked questioningly at her. "Uhm, long story," Hazuki said. How did you tell someone they were fictional, where you came from..?

"Well, that was a thing," Quill noted as they subdued the last crazed student.

"Is anyone hurt? I can heal them," Maria asked anxiously.

Hazuki returned her sword to her side as she flatly asked, "Who was that guy and why did those people attack us?"

"That's... sort of my fault, actually," Venus admitted, and described running into Sirius and sensing the dark magic surging around him.

"So he panicked, bolted, and assumed you were with us," Katarina Claes, the other woman with Venus, noted. "Then enchanted the students to delay us all."

"We have to catch up with him," Venus added flatly, "you don't get that kind of dark power without killing something... or someone."

"We?" Lilith looked dubious.

"He might know something about the Eve of this universe," Hazuki pointed out. She added, "And I don't feel comfortable leaving him running around."

"She has a point," Quill told Lilith.

"Oh all right," Lilith pouted.

"I'm coming with you!" Katarina said firmly.

Before Hazuki could protest Maria added, "I, as well!"

Venus sort of slided up to Hazuki as she murmured, "You're not going to talk them out of it." She shrugged, "I know the type."

"Ok, he headed that way," Hazuki pointed, "is there anything out towards the woods, there?"

"There's an old storage shed," Katarina replied, and everyone pretty much agreed that was a likely place as any to start...

"Was the anomaly you sensed the boy?" Hazuki asked Lilith quietly.

"No, Venus," Lilith answered. She paused, "I agree, though... the boy is bad news too."

The group reached the shed, which appeared to be full of the usual stuff a shed had. There was no visible sign of the boy.

"Let me scan the area," Quill raised her device and switched it to staff mode.

"Oooh, neat!" Katarina admired.

Quill smiled faintly, then nodded, "There's a concealed door, with at least two chambers under ground. Dead ahead."

"So we just have to find the door," Maria started.

"CRESCENT BEAM SMASH!" Venus yelled as she fired off an energy beam, blowing a hole in the wall and revealing a hidden hallway.

"Or you could do that," Katarina said with a sigh.

"AND WRECK ANY CHANCE OF SURPRISING HIM!" Hazuki growled.

"Oooops," Venus looked sheepish.

"Come on, what's done is done. Let's find him before he can do anything," Maria made peace while urging them on.

To be continued...

Notes: Yes, in between chapters they ran into Godzilla.

I had thought this would be a done-in-one bit, but looks like it'll be two chapters.