Rei was outside sweeping as usual, having woken up early to do cleaning around the shrine. She thought over the warnings she gave the girls a few days ago, as well as the fight with Hermes' snake. What did it all mean? Why did they have new villains again? Would it be a good idea to send Setsuna to the future to find some answers? How would they be able to level up?

"Rei-chan!" A familiar voice reached her, and Rei let the broom clatter to the ground as she got pulled into a tight hug from one of her best friends. "Rei-chan! Oh, I was worried! And I missed you!"

"You came back," Rei couldn't hide her surprise as she pulled away to look at Ami. Her husband, Ryo Urawa, stood close by, but didn't hug her. "What about Russia?" She picked her broom back up.

"It's my duty to come back." Ami said firmly, though Rei sensed the disappointment in her tone. "After I fought and defeated Hermes, I knew I had to come back."

Rei paused and put her broom away, smiling at the couple formally. "Why don't we have some tea to welcome you back home with? You can tell me all about it,"

"Tea would be lovely."

So Rei brewed some tea the classic way she knew how, inviting Ami and Ryo inside and having them kneel at the table in her room. Once she poured everyone's drinks, Ami began to spill about her time in Russia and her fight with Hermes.

"She didn't die, I don't even know how much I weakened her, but she disappeared and I leveled up." She finished, taking a sip of her tea.

"I wish I could've been more helpful to her. At my job, my coworkers were calling in sick left and right. At first I thought it was an autumn bug, but it must be related to this." Ryo added.

Rei said nothing.

"And...there's something else too!" Ami hesitated. "I'm...I'm pregnant."

Rei took the wrong moment to take a drink of her tea, as she spat it out all over the table at that comment in shock. "What?! You're joking!"

"Do you think a medical expert would lie?!"

Rei searched her face, not seeing any hint of jest. Indeed, she looked serious and slightly hurt by the accusation. Ryo just sat there with an awkward smile.

"Please, don't tell the others though. I want it to be a secret. They'll freak out."

"And I wouldn't?! What were you thinking?! You can't fight monsters when you're pregnant! What about the future?! That version you saw had no child-!"

"Do you think I wanted this to happen?!" Ami snapped with such a sudden ferocity that Rei silenced. "Yes, I wanted a child, but I never thought about that version of myself. I never knew I'd have to fight again. I thought for once I could be normal. I came because I had to, because you all need me."

"Ami-chan..." Ryo pulled her close into his arms. Rei sank to her knees, sighing.

"I'm sorry. This is just...a lot," Really, Rei should've been yelling at Makoto too, but knew in her heart she couldn't upset such a perfect family. Ami was just the easiest because of how wishy-washy she was. She just never thought any of this would happen and suddenly it was too much and too fast. She wiped the tea off the table.

"Russia is a very beautiful country! It's like something out of a fantasy," Ryo tried to soften the mood. "I loved visiting,"

"Me too." Ami smiled at him.

"It'd be too cold for me. I like the heat." Rei teased, trying to offer them a smile of her own. "I'd bathe in lava if I could!"

"Excuse me! Anyone here? We'd like to check out!" Some middle-schoolers asked outside, wandering around. Rei set her cup down and excused herself, taking the money the girls had for the charms and wishing them good luck.

"Did you see that woman in the store with the baby the other day? She looked so pretty!" The tallest in the group gushed. "Like a queen!"

Rei smiled a bit.

"No way, what's so interesting about a woman with a baby?" Another asked.

"I saw her, and she looked too young to have children. She couldn't have been a day over sixteen." The third girl said in a vain tone.

"You don't know her!" Rei scolded. "You don't know anything about her or her life. She could've gone through so much more than you. You're still young yourself,"

The two girls scoffed in annoyance at her attitude.

"I wish her good luck and love to both her and whoever her husband is," The tall girl swooned before the trio left, heading on the nearby bus. Rei sighed.

She had no clue what to do, especially with Ami and Ryo still there. She didn't fancy sending them home, but also didn't feel like talking to them again. Maybe she could just do some training with them around.

She headed into the backyard of her shrine where her archery targets were set up and got out her bow and some arrows, a concentrated expression on her face. She told herself she'd only move onto the next target if she made three consecutive bullseyes and began shooting, feeling the wind rush past her when she sent her arrows flying.

Rei didn't take very long at all to move through every target, spending only several minutes at all five of them. When she started back at the first one, she heard someone call her name and her concentration broke. The arrow slipped from her grasp and went long, just barely hitting the target.

"What? You broke my concentration!" She scolded.

"Rei-chan!" Ami and Ryo both managed to shout before the doors of the temple were blasted open, knocking them to the ground.

"I told you, I was getting tired of waiting!" A petite girl shouted in annoyance. She wore her black hair braided in two with white ribbons and was clad in a bronze breastplate and armored skirt with a long red cape. She also had thick black chains running up and down her wrists and ankles, and had a young-looking face, close to a child's. "Nobody knows how to take care of me!"

Rei made sure the two were okay before she focused all her attention on the strange girl. Much like Hermes, she radiated unknown but familiar energy and had glowing eyes. "Whatever your issue is, take it out on me, not them." She clutched her transformation pen.

"I will fight whoever I please! Everyone is stupid anyway and won't let me do what I want! In fact..." She pulled out a marble slab and scribbled furiously on it, throwing it out on the ground. When she stepped back, a cute pink girl was standing there with huge tusks and a pig-themed dress. "Face the wrath of Ares and my Téras!"

"Kápros!" The monster giggled and lunged at Rei, who dodged her easily.

"Pathetic," She quickly transformed and shot an attack at Ares, who got knocked into a tree.

"No! You can't attack me! You have to attack my monster! That's the rules!" Ares cried, stomping her foot.

"You're the problem, therefore I attack you." Sailor Mars looked back and saw Mercury had transformed as well and told her to deal with the monster while she handled Ares.

"This isn't fair! You can't just attack whoever you want! It's breaking the rules!" Ares tugged on her braids.

Mars ignored her and performed her attack again, burning her. She fired several more times before Ares jumped on her, pinning her to the ground and choking her.

"You're not being a very fair player! That's not nice!" She insisted. Mars choked and struggled to get out of her grasp, managing to knee her in the stomach. Ares gasped and doubled-over, while Mars rolled away and coughed heavily.

"Who is this girl?" Ryo wondered from his hiding spot. Mercury managed to defeat the monster, then ran over to help Mars.

"You have to play the game by my rules! And only mine!" Ares cried more.

"Mars! Flame Sniper!" Mars aimed her attack right for Ares' chest, piercing through her armor and making her scream. She collapsed on the ground.

"I hate you adults...you play dirty and don't care who you hurt...you bested me, but you're in for a nasty surprise! You won't beat the rest of us! One of the nine will be your downfall..." She smiled sadistically and vanished. Mars panted as she lowered her bow, wondering what just happened.

She was bathed in a warm glow, revealing her new Eternal form and blazing red lipstick. She just sighed.

"My new form..."

"Yeah!" Eternal Sailor Mercury tried to offer her a reassuring smile. "Now the both of us match!"

"Nine of them...I think that confirms our suspicions." The two of them detransformed. "All of us will have to take on these people at some point, the ones we align with."

"Why not twelve…?"

"What?"

"They're named for the Greek Gods and have that motif, but there were twelve major Olympians who ruled, not nine. I don't know what relevance that has though." Ami said. "I'd do more research on them, but it's hard when I don't know what I'm looking for."

"Same. My divinations can only show me so much," The trio went back inside and tidied up somewhat, Ami leaving in the middle of it to throw up.

"Morning sickness." Ryo explained awkwardly.

"I figured." Rei responded coldly.

"Uh, if it's no trouble, could the two of us spend the night here? I doubt either of us is feeling up to the trip back home after all this...and Ami-chan's morning sickness is more of an evening thing..."

"Sure!" She agreed quickly, making Ryo smile. Even though she was still cross with Ami for her wishy-washy attitude and carelessness, she was still her best friend. The two had been through so much, especially back when it was just the three of them together. At the end of the day, Rei could never turn her back on her closest friend.

That night, the three of them shared an expansive futon on the floor, cuddling close to each other, Rei's natural heat warming the couple up. It was peaceful, and almost perfect. If only it could never be shattered.

/+/

Téras-Greek for monster

Kápros-Greek for boar

As you can see, from here on out, whenever the girls summon monsters they'll have Greek names. Please let me know if the Greek is awkward or wrong as I'm relying on a translator and I know they're not very good!