We do not own "Sailor Moon" nor any of the characters.
"SAILOR MOON ETERNAL"
The 6th Season of the Sailor Moon Saga
Chapter 35
"Double Trouble"
"Pearlellion! Aquamarianna! Where is my young heir?! Have him appear before me!"
"The boy is nowhere to be found, Your Highness." King Pearlrellion's face was almost smiling.
"FIND HIM! MY PATIENCE GROWS WEARY!" Metallia's voice drips with evilness, echoing through the underground halls.
"Young one, where have you been? Queen Metallia has been anxious for you. Haven't you heard her beckoning?" Aquamarianna finds the man in question several hours later, deep within the catacombs of their underground lair, where it seems he had set up a large mirrored screen with a view of the world above.
"I heard." Robin answers simply, profoundly nonplussed. And with a flick of his hand the vision changes from the dark depths of the ocean he was studying so intently to the replay of the past few failed attempts to gain energy from their targets.
"These are the so-called Sailor Soldiers?" Aquamarianna asks curiously, but really her true curiosity was on Robin and his apparent interest in the girls fluttering past the screen.
"Yes." Robin's answers were always short and clipped, though his expression of consideration told a story Aquamarianna was not quite so certain about.
"They are…lovely…in their childlike way, aren't they?" She asks with purpose, putting them down beneath her and her very womanly, wily ways. She slinks her way across the darkened room towards Robin.
"Perhaps." He says, not seeming to notice the advances she was trying on him as he continues to study the pictures flashing before him.
"Queen Metallia has high hopes for you, handsome soldier." Aquamarianna says, running her long fingers along his black leathered arm.
"Does she?" Robin says nonchalantly, more as a statement than a question, as the power of his mind controls the visions cascading in front of him. He was searching the city and beyond for the purest energy, the highest form, where he knew personally each was located…something familiar, yet still distanct were faces of Sailors he once fought alongside. They flash before him as potential targets.
"As do I." Aquamarianna's hands seductively caress his chest. Her voice was low and whispering. But Robin moves not. His eyes were still glued to his work. Aquamarianna, vain as she was, concludes that Metallia's coldness must run deep through his veins—for no normal man could deny her.
What a pity. Was he always like this, I wonder? Was there not a woman with him when I sent my sea creature to capture him? I thought I saw her for a brief moment—through my minion's eyes. She was afraid, of course—no, she should have been afraid. But that lost expression on her face was almost…
Aquamarianna's cold heart almost aches for the poor girl who sat frozen, transfixed on the deck of that ship. She must've believed that Robin was dead—drowned.
If it had been Pearlrellion, I…
The aqua jewel on her forehead then glows suddenly with the evil energies again. And the Queen loses any trace of heart, of compassion, once more. There was only desire now—for power, for energy, for wealth—and most of all, right at this moment, for the gorgeous man so close and yet so far away from her fingertips. And that made her determined even more to have him succumb to her charms. He who was destined to inherit all power, with whom she could rule alongside…
"Robin." Aquamarianna decides to make their relationship of a bit more personal nature. "Is the dark sea not a glorious thing?" Using her own granted powers, she makes the screen shift to the wondrous ocean floor landscape. Its deep dark aqua-blue colors filled her with its power. "I have always felt a calling to the sea. And now I've been bestowed with the control of it. Am I not the Mistress of the Deep Waters now? And all the alluring charms and mystery which come with it? Do you not find me attractive, handsome one?" Aquamarianna asks, bringing her lips close to his as she wonders why, with all of her seductions, his eyes remain transfixed on the ocean screen before him.
"The ocean? Yes, there is something about the ocean I find compelling." Robin's gaze intensifies on the ocean viewscreen as if he were trying to decipher something deep—something strong, inside of him.
"Perhaps it is me, then?" Aquamarianna brings her lips to his again expectantly as his see-through green eyes take a long look into hers at last. And despite the coldness she sees there, she is certain he is about to kiss her. She closes the aqua blue sea of her eyes…
And opens them again, her lips untouched to find the mysterious heir to Metallia's dark power had vanished. She was alone in the still darkness of the underground cavern—alone, save for the display that slows its flickering and stations itself on an image of three soldiers. They were older and more womanly than the others Aquamarianna had yet seen. A woman in purple with long dark green hair, then a tall, imposing woman she has come to know as Sailor Uranus, and the third—a smaller, meeker looking one, with an enchanting, knowing smile. And there was something about her blue eyes and aqua hair which Aquamarianna found familiar…
The same, deep soulful look she had seen in young Robin's eyes when he first came to them…
Lita was fine after some of young Dr. Hansford's caring ministrations—not to mention some tender newly affianced kisses under the emerging moonlight when he and Ken finally were content that all was safe now and they could go home.
"Oh, what a night! Almost worth getting nearly sapped by our wicked doppelgangers for Kenny to be so cool and impressed and Andrew deciding to pop the question to Lita! Whew! All the juicy Andrew data details /wedding plan sleepover downtime, girls! I'll break out all my diet's forbidden snacks I hid from Artemis in celebration!" Mina was almost as excited to be, along with Serena, the first to find out about her best friend's happy engagement news as she was to let Ken in on their Sailor secret. Now I've just got to turn on my Goddess of Love charm on my handsome loverboy…Brown eyes are beautiful and Ken is such a lovely name…
"Ummm…Sorry, Mina, Lita. But I'll have to pass. Darien just called and is on his way to pick me up to go back home already. He and Luna have plotted a strict curfew on me since my attack and they are already totally freaking about me wandering out by myself tonight." As fun as a tempting unlimited snack sleepover with her besties sounded, Serena found herself a little too unusually worried to really enjoy it.
Not that she wasn't truly glad to have been able to defeat the dark foe and save Venus and Jupiter, just as she did Mars, Molly and Lizzie, too, thus far. Serena was grateful for her new 'Sparkling Full Moon Silver Radiance' power that gave her the chance to send the shadows back to where they came from. It was just that something had been bugging her in the back of her mind since this whole mess began.
Like someone dear had cried out to her for help, and she had let them down. Serena's kind heart couldn't, no matter how hard she tried, figure out who that precious person was. And it was killing her inside to not be a better friend.
Whoever you are…Please forgive me…
Lita, Mina and Artemis all exchange anxious glances, just as Darien's car pulls up outside the window to pick up his apprehensive wife.
The Moon Princess' wary mood extended to the Scout meeting the next day, when after college classes for some and after work for others, the gang gathered at the temple to further discuss the matter.
Strategies were hard to configure when one knew not even the face of the enemy, not to mention their obviously evil intent.
"Whoever this new enemy is, they seem determined to gather energy of young girls." Lita muses.
"Not just any kind of energy, either. They said 'love energy,' right Mina?" Artemis asks, hearing the battle tales so many times since last night that he felt like he had been there himself.
"Oooh! It was so scary and uuuugly! But, yeah, that's what the monster said." Mina reaffirms emphatically with a nod. Then a thoughtful look crosses her face. "It did say something about the "Master" being impressed by me, too. Do you think it's an old enemy come back again? Who could it be?" Mina considers, the ditz merging into the responsible leader when she had to.
"Maybe, Mina. I felt something familiar about this the whole time—kind of like we did it all before—a déjà vu kind of thing." Rei says, airing the psychic frustrations gnawing at her.
"There is something familiar about the energy and attack patterns." Amy says, forever making calculations on her mini computer.
"Well, no matter who it is, old or new, we have to be ready." Darien responsibly says, his blue-grey eyes grave and worried when they lay on his strangely quiet wife.
"We've all been so proud of how you handle your new powers, Serena." Luna says as everyone in the room follows Darien's gaze on their anxious looking Princess.
"Thanks, Luna." She says, glancing anxiously at the phone.
"What's wrong, Serena?" Luna inquires cautiously.
"Don't worry about this new threat. We'll kick butt for sure." Lita smiles in determination, trying to cheer up her friend. "Right, Scouts?"
"Yeah!" Mina, Rei and Amy all reaffirm.
"I believe in you guys. It's not that." Serena says, looking up at them with gratitude in her crystal blue eyes. "It's just…I've been trying for days on the phone, and I still can't reach Alex or Sayer." She says, on the verge of panic.
"Do you think something's happened to them?" Amy asks.
"Serena was so worried, we went to their apartment to see this morning." Understanding-husband-to-check-on-an-old-flame Darien says, putting a steadying hand on Serena's. "The place was a mess and they weren't there."
"You mean, a mess worse than usual?" Rei says with a sarcastic smirk. Her last visit to Alex and Sayer's joint flat was not the most spic-and-span experience. They had just had a violent argument that obviously included throwing things, like bottles and plates at one another.
"Way worse than usual." Serena interrupts. "And even though their elderly lady neighbors—who were kind enough to ask the high-rise's custodian to let us in—said that 'the young Starr boy and some woman'—I guess that Sayer neglected to tell them he and Alex were married-were seen wrestling out in the hall—"
"There were obvious signs of a fierce battle inside the apartment." Darien concludes her sentence logically. The destroyed furniture, the animalistic slashed up walls and curtains, plus the rather disconcerting amount of blood trailed along the floor interior which extended out onto the patio, proved that fact to the seasoned warrior. Darien had done his best to disguise the bloody evidence from an already emotionally frayed Serena, more certain than his worried wife that those two soldiers could more than take care of themselves as he had assured her then.
"Did you call Terry and Susan? Maybe they know what happened?" Mina offers.
"I did this morning and I can't get hold of them either. And only the answering machine picks up at Michelle's mansion. They should've been back by now, too!" Serena whines, worry etched on her brow for her older friends.
"Don't worry so much, Serena. I'm sure they're fine." Lita says, unable to hold back a pleased smile at her lovelife that had just taken a positive turn at last, despite her own concerns for their missing friends. "They probably all just went on a trip or something and forgot to tell us."
"They could be racing motorcycles or climbing mountains or on safari in Africa, for all we know! You know how impulsive Alex and Sayer are! And Terry and Michelle generally drag Susan and Robin to traipse after and keep those two from killing one another, right?" Mina offers, trying her best to keep her friend's spirits up, though the absence of the Outers and the Three Lights was perplexing to her leadership mind.
"I sure hope so." Serena says, though her heart still ached. I'll ask Sammy if Tara came to school today. Maybe she'll know what's going on with everyone up there.
"All right, Scouts, back to business. Can't you tell where the energy was emanating from, Amy?" Luna, the house matron, calls for order and method again as the Inner Scouts discuss exactly what to do for the upcoming unknown looming ahead.
But Serena may have been right to be worried, for so was Alex.
The far tougher woman was concerned that the enemy had found her home so easily. And though certain she had destroyed the creature that had attacked, Alex was just as certain that there were more to come. More threatening, more deadly. Even though she herself would prefer to just stand and fight, Alex had something to protect—something very important which that sixth sense inner feeling inside told her that her adversary would come after that someone oh-so-special.
And Alex would move Heaven and Earth for that never to happen.
"How is she?" Alex glances over her shoulder to the back seat of car where her two most treasured possessions were.
"No change." Sayer's usual giddy voice was heavy and thoughtful as he cradles Michelle's aqua curls in his arms.
"We're almost there." Alex's steely voice never changed its tone—the seriousness of her responsibility weighed heavily upon her as her eyes look to the rear view mirror. They rest on a sweet face adrift in a sea of dreams.
Hiding from the nightmares out here…
Alex smiles softly as she stops the Ferrari in front of a familiar place.
"You're sure your brother won't tell anyone?" Alex says to Sayer as she gets out of the car.
"Course not, Ally. Terry's cool." Sayer says indignant that she would question the brother he held so high in regard—the one who would worry if they just suddenly disappeared.
The brother…the only one he had left.
Sayer looks sadly at the sleeping woman in his arms. He never before felt closer to Michelle. She had become every part of the other brother lost to them both.
"All right." Alex almost smiles at the voracity in his belief in his brother. She had seen that their bond was close—almost as close as the bond she and Michelle had. She ruffles his navy-black curls before striding into the house.
The doorbell goes unanswered and Alex was suspicious of the unlocked door. But though empty and still, the house was in its usual pristine form. Susan's caring mark was on every piece of dusted furniture—every spot was clean in this house. It was an exasperating reminder to Alex of the perfect housewife Susan had become for that man.
"Hmph." Alex smirks crookedly at how subservient Sailor Pluto could be. She shakes her head. A quickly scribbled note later and Alex was back out the door, zipping away in her red Ferrari to a secret place only she and Sayer knew of.
She, Sayer and whoever read this note left in Susan's conservatory near the harp, that is…
There is something wonderful about a husband who dotes over you. Susan thinks quietly as she busies herself setting out a picnic on the well-kept lawn and backyard of their rural abode. Terry was an exemplary husband, sweet and gentle to his bride, and a fine caretaker of their home. He was the most wonderful man in the entire universe—Susan was sure as she continued setting out sandwiches and homemade cookies, as well as a tray of those delicious Pirouline cookies that Terry knew she liked.
He showered her with gifts—not to mention flowers every night, every vase in the house was filled—roses and poetry appearing each morning in the music conservatory where she spent many an hour plucking at her lovely harp, dreaming of her love and the future he opened for her.
But the quiet woman was running out of room for the edible 'prizes' her doting Terry Starr brought home to her. Even the closets of the nursery were stuffed full of various goodies. Susan didn't have the heart to tell her worried husband that she felt far too sick to eat anything, and when she did eat, it was very little, despite his prompting. She grew more and more unaccustomed to eating as her stomach was in a more delicate state than ever.
She touches the expanding bulge lightly. "Baby Giselle…" Susan whispers in song, humming the chosen name to a lullaby. Brushing her hair back in the bright sunlight, she smiles softly. It was a beautiful, warm day, nearing the end of October. The chilly winds of late had given way to a final spurt of summer-like weather. It was lovely—the kind of day Terry would enjoy. Susan glances at her golden wedding ring sparkling in the sunlight.
And I want him to be able to enjoy these things again...Susan sorrowfully thinks, reflecting on Terry's sadness of late. It was the sadness she, too, felt for the silver-haired brother who would no longer enjoy their get-togethers.
"I'm so sorry for you, Terry darling." Susan whispers to the wind, a soft teardrop flowing down her emotional cheek at the melancholy thought.
"Why is that, Susan, my love?" Terry's low voice says as his hands cover her eyes from behind, wiping the tear away. "You've made us a picnic. What could be more pleasant?"" He smiles, looking deeply into her eyes as he wraps his arms around her.
His eyes! Susan's mind instantly screams as he kisses her sweetly. Susan shakes her head—this kiss was not the one she longed for and knew so well.
"How beautiful you've set everything up for me. You are a very special wife, my lady." Terry spreads his long legs out onto the blanket, striking a stunning pose under the gorgeous afternoon sun.
"Thank you, my lord." Susan sits next to him, deciding that the bright sunlight and her over emotional state were playing tricks on her. But still, thousands of years of training couldn't shake the odd feeling this timeless sailor soldier felt.
"Delicious." Terry tastes a chocolate chip cookie with a smile. "You look very sumptuous yourself this morning, darling." Terry looks amorously at her in a way he never looked before which made her feel somehow uncomfortable. But when his charming long fingers tug down her shirt straps and so naturally begin to reach to her heaving chest. Susan jumps up, moving away and slapping his startled hand.
"Who are you?! You're not my husband! What have you done with him?!" The deeply intuitive, ageless woman of long forgotten time shouts, somehow managing in her state to move quickly away.
"I've led him back here, I'd hope, proverbially killing two lovebirds with one stone. He is a very difficult target to keep hold of, you know. His energy is of the highest caliber. As is yours, Susan darling."
Evil "Terry" abruptly grabs her two hands and yanks them painfully, as in between his lips, a dark crystal appears. He lunges towards her captured chest with it…
"STAR GENTLE UTERUS CHRONOMETER STRIKE!"
As the hands of time spin through the air, combining his powers together, Maker's livid acid power simultaneously strikes down the "man" who was grasping his Susan's tender body, and sends him screeching backwards. That false Terry Starr covers his face as he releases Susan, who skitters to the ground.
Tic-tok…
"Oh, no! EEEEEEKKKK!" She cries out a terrified, high pitched scream as the man standing over her—the perfect visage of her husband just moments ago, save for his cold eyes which could never hold his soul—uncovers his face.
It reveals a mass of horrible, blistering acid burns that had also stared to decay as time's arrow was ticking down on the evil doppleganger's target struck face.
Tic-tok…
"How dare you?! My flawlessly handsome face! Where did that chronometer power come from?! He didn't mention that!" The fake Terry screams as the painful acid burns were hideously increased by the rotting flesh of the exponentially aging features of this less than gorgeous Terry Starr's decomposing, by thirty seconds, already bony face.
Tic-tok…
"STAY AWAY FROM MY WIFE!" His normally gentle voice raised in fuming anger, the real Terry's eyes blaze with the ferocity of his broiling acid, intelligently mingled with his new time's corrosion effects attack. "How dare you touch my lady in that manner, and when she is most vulnerable? This woman is more precious to me than anything in this universe!" Star Maker rushes to her, falling to his knees as he embraces Susan's emotionally sobbing form.
Tic-tok…
The injured mimic's time was up, and the shriveled, decayed head rots to dust as the headless tall body falls to the ground writhing.
"Oh! Darling!" Susan cries into his neck. One look into his beautiful eyes was enough to tell her that he was truly her beloved.
"Susan, I was out searching for anomalies, and felt something was amiss as I was driving home, on that final lonely stretch of highway near here. I believed I glimpsed this unworthy copy in the backseat, in my rear-view mirror, seconds before the vile man knocked me unconscious—at the wheel he had been vying with me for—with some sort of militaristic neck pinch maneuver. It must've been the hand of God who guided the crashing car into a soft knoll ledge, which didn't immediately kill me, as this malignant duplicate drove me off the road and over the cliff. But never mind all that—are you—are you all right?" Star Maker says fervently, looking her up and down for any injuries, as he then pulls her close into a relieved embrace.
"Yes, I'm fine—Oohhhhhh!" Susan clutches at her stomach. Today's events, her beloved's harrowing experience, and her delicate stomach had finally gotten to her already ill, weak nervous system.
"Susan!" And to further Super Star Maker's fuming rage, in the corner of his incensed violet eyes, Terry sees his apparently invincible, evil twin amazingly begin to stir again, even after Maker's fierce new combo attack had removed his duplicate's foul head.
"Unworthy?! I AM the FINEST, MOST DECORATED SOLDIER in the Dark Army! I knew you would not be killed off so easily, but your indisposed crashed status gave me the window to seize this desirable treat first!" The false Terry Starr's eerily gory, headless body still manages to utilize his neck's vocal chords, with the words just echoing out of nowhere. With unbelievable strength and fortitude, the tall bodied attacker still rises from a pile on the floor to lunge towards Susan, in irate indignity filled with resentment for being that close to having been defeated by this mere mortal.
"GRRRRRRRR…" In a like flash of vengeful anger of his own at how this imposter had dared to harm his wife and continued still to threaten her right in front of him, Star Maker quickly lays Susan down on the blanket. Then he lunges a vengeful fist at his faceless double—who, as a master of adaptation and intellect, had anticipated the attack.
"Finally! My strategic advantage!" The 'headless horseman' welcomed Terry's vengeance, in fact, and uses his target's blinded anger to get one up on him. The assailant grabs Star Maker's punching left fist to his upper torso and moves with it, pulling the long black glove off, revealing Terry's much sought-after, gold wedding band which had eluded him before, at last yanked from his long finger.
Filled with triumphant strength, disembodied "Terry" throws Super Sailor Star Maker down, sliding the ring on his own finger. This transforms his headless body into that of a shining gold gilt statue in a tall, thin, muscularly perfect male physique form—a handsome, slicked head smoothly recreated upon its neck.
The chic gold monster chuckles with a prideful smirk as the dark intent glints behind his golden eyes beneath the stylishly slicked back hair shining on his armored head in the bright sunlight.
"It will be my delight to garner your energy first, Sailor of the Star Maker. Then I shall take pleasure in gleaning your 'precious' spoils." The now shining armored golden man demands, polite as ever, as he removes the dark crystal from his lips. He reaches out to the downed Star Maker's chest with a merciless metallic middle medius…
KICK!
Clang goes the sound of metal being screeched against when banged as hard as Super Sailor Star Maker kicks his arm away with the heel of his boot. The dark gem soars through the air, hiding somewhere in the grass.
"Where did it go?!" For a few seconds, the perfectly formed golden creature, on his hands and knees scans the thick turf grass, but to no avail.
"Oh, bother. Did I leave my golden glasses at the office? You'll pay for this! No! First, she will!" The golden statue man turns his gaze on Susan, who was standing, trying to gain enough energy to transform herself into Sailor Pluto, even though she had promised her Terry she would not again. But this enemy is too wily! My Star Maker needs me! She raises her long, slender arm into the air.
"You will make a lovely statue like that." The cocky golden man sneers with a crooked, approving smile.
"FOURTEEN CARAT GOLD PLATING!" He shouts suddenly, aiming a long finger at Susan's form, standing statuesque in the blazing sunlight.
"SUSAN!" Star Maker shouts a warning as he, without a single thought to his own safety, dives for the creature who was threatening to endanger his beloved one.
His fists burst into a trail of blood as they impact the cold gold metal man, not damaging the hardened creature in the least. But Star Maker knew that and he planned to merely throw the gold statue off balance enough for its aim to be disturbed as it misses Susan by mere centimeters.
CHHHHHHHIIIIIIIKKKKKK!
The birdbath it hits was not as lucky, though, as it immediately sizzles over with electroplated gold energy. The poor, unknowing sparrow drinking from it, found not only the water he was drinking, frozen in gold, but the tiny avian itself turned cruelly into a 14 carat gold statuette upon the golden birdbath's rim.
"Ha ha, Maker! Your purportedly great 'star strength' is no match against my impenetrable body now! I have not only mimicked your strapping muscular form and formidable intellectual aptitude, but I have also erected my own robust shields to block your fiercest of acid attacks! It is precisely why the Heir chose my superior talents especially to face you." The golden creature, whose well-rounded potency seemed to feed off the force of the forever promise gold circlet ring he now embodied, on top of all his other 'attributes,' cackles cruelly.
The overconfident attacker indiscriminately shoots every little squirrel, bird and butterfly in the garden alike—now forever-in-gold—just to demonstrate his adept precision skills. "I am superior to you in every way!" This self-described 'superior' golden monster also possessed a greater boastful arrogance than the original, too, (which was ample, according to Sailor Uranus).
"Move over just one gorgeous dark hair, Susan darling. I will capture you both in a perfect statuesque look. Perhaps one together—lovers locked in an embrace. Yes! That would be a superb work of poetry in still life. Yes, I'm sure our discerning fine art critic heir would look kindly on me if I present that to him." The gold wedding ring monster continues to laugh at its own impenetrable gleaming splendor. He was vainly caught up in himself as he aims his hand at the couple for a final golden blast.
ZAP! ZING! CHIK!
A few seconds of time pass and the die was cast. Standing unmoving in glorious golden beauty, was a victim of shining metal, perfectly still and poised—but not one the creature had intended.
In the split second the gleaming monster shot out his golden wrath, Star Maker, with amazing speed, went down on his knees, grasping up the shining mirrored silver platter—an expensive, high quality wedding gift from his brother, Robin and his girlfriend, Michelle, at the time—that had held the cookies Susan had plated. At just the right angle and height instantly and perfectly calculated, intellectual Sailor Star Maker held it up in front of them, as the beam hits the mirrored surface, reflecting it back on its overly egotistical owner.
The golden statue was the one who stood frozen in place now, his arm still extended out from his vicious attack on them. The look of utter shock on his face proved that there was one thing he could never even come close to matching—the truly intellectual brain gifted by the Lord above and driven by the true, pure love of a young star from a far-off world.
Sailor Star Maker doesn't miss a beat as he knew the impressively adaptable creature would be only stiff for a moment as he could no doubt heal himself. Terry had seen the eyes in the shadowed head concentrate on getting out of the trap he was in.
Boiling over with anger now, Terry's vast knowledge aids him once more in the battle. He knew exactly how hot gold needed to be to melted down to liquid...But those impenetrable shields had to be taken down first…
"STAR THEW PHASE RELAXATION!" Calling upon the vast fount of his deep love for his beloved bride and eternal partner, Super Sailor Star Maker shouts a brand new power call, the pure energy infused with his passion for his wife giving Star Maker this innovative and disabling attack.
With it, Maker brilliantly re-creates and reforms the molecules of his opponent to relax its every muscle reflex, its phased platinum shielding rendered useless, and the monster was utterly defenseless now at the wrath of this Maker.
"STAR RAGING UTERUS!" With far more than his usually controlled amount of acid, Super Star Maker then hits the immobile gold creature viciously, just as it used the last of its inertia to lunge at Susan's ankles—and its unresponsive mouth, unable to form words due to Maker's muscle relaxation attack, was stuck open in a silent scream.
It knew it wouldn't be able to throw a shield up any longer, and the overconfident 'Finest, most decorated soldier of the Dark Army' realized he had been mentally defeated as well as physically thrashed soundly at the truly clever Sailor Star Maker's feet.
ZZZZZZZZZZ!
Melting away, it sizzles into a sparkling gold liquid puddle on the ground, all form lost beyond help as the destroyed golden monster, into a cloud of smoke, blinks from existence. A small, whining shadow sinks into the ground, leaving only one trace of gold behind in the blades of grass where it had fallen—Terry's wedding band.
In the bright sunlight, their golden birdbath blinks back into normal porcelain, and the birdy on it shakes himself and continues bathing as though nothing had happened. Likewise for all the other animals that had been affected by the unearthly attack. They didn't know enough to be grateful to whose power had just saved them, but each creature of nature still sung in praise to the Lord above who orchestrated his instruments below.
"Precious one, are you all right?" One such grateful instrument, Star Maker spins to face his wife, taking her into his arms.
"Yes, yes. You came just in time!" Susan cries on him, wrapping her hands tightly around his neck as she feels something hot and wet on her hands.
Blood?!
"Darling! You're hurt!" She touches his neck gingerly. Susan drops to her knees, trying to attend at once to the many multiple wounds from the car crash he had referred to earlier. She realized now why he had not come sooner—the viciousness of the lacerations across his forehead, at his mahogany disguising hairline and neck, as well as his lower arms surprised her that he could even come at all. He should be unconscious—never mind be able to perform all those heroic and wondrous feats only he could do so gallantly without showing any sign of distress while coming to her rescue.
"Am I?" Terry says as he de-transforms back into himself. He didn't notice the wounds at the time he extricated himself from the damaged vehicle—his drive was so fierce to protect Susan.
"My noble darling…" Susan kisses him fervently, yet gently, with tears coming to her eyes. Terry smiles down on her, assuring his wife that just having her safe and sound was all that he required. Susan insisted, however, that he have his wounds treated at the hospital since they were so profuse and many, though Terry was still resolute that he'd be the one driving the Three Lights' minivan to the hospital.
"Yes, my lord, anything you say." Susan acquiesces, knowing he wouldn't relent, as he ushers her into the van, holding the door open for her, gentleman still, despite his bandaged, wounded neck and forehead and arms. Stoically—I barely feel anything–Terry kisses her in a way only he could in such condition, as they drive off, the immediate danger making them more than glad to just be near each other. (As if they ever needed an excuse!)
"That reminds me…" Terry begins to say as they drive off. "Were you going to transform into Sailor Pluto back there, Susan? After I expressly asked you not to anymore?"
Susan's eyes widen in guilt but she swallows hard, and attempts to defend her actions. "I…suppose I was, but I couldn't just stand there and watch him hurt you! You mean everything to me!" She presses her lips together, hoping he would forgive her breaking her word to him.
"Susan, you are my entire world and more, which is why I exacted that promise from you—to keep you safe. Please, never try that again, not while you are in this condition, I beg you. I can't lose you, too." Terry, grasps her hand, kissing it tenderly, gazing into her eyes, willing her to understand.
She didn't mean to break her promise to him—it was just the heat of battle that she felt she had no other choice. But she knew it would hurt him terribly so she vowed to herself that she would obey his plea to the letter now.
"Yes, my darling prince, I'm so sorry I worried you before. But rest easy now—it won't happen again, truly. Please trust me, as I trust you in everything and wouldn't hurt you for the world." She brings his hand to her cheek, nuzzling it and kissing it tenderly.
"Thank you for understanding, my love. That's all I ask of you." Terry smiles gently, as he brings his mouth to hers, kissing her passionately as Susan carefully wraps her hands around the nape of his tender neck.
As they make a hairpin turn, they were still locked in the deep kiss. However, a policeman saw them, stopping them to give them a ticket. Terry and Susan, though apologetic to the officer, laughed all the way to the hospital at the ticket for reckless driving they had just received.
And why not? It would be a memory—and a good one.
Just as every moment with you will be. You are my one and only, Terry darling. I will never stop being in love with you…
Susan thinks to herself as she sits in the hospital room, watching Terry calmly get the nasty cut to his forehead stitched up, his neck in a brace, and his slashed up arms and hands treated and bandaged. The doctor had stated that any ordinary man would have collapsed by now at the deep incapacitating wounds from the automobile accident.
But Terry Starr was no 'ordinary man.' This exemplary, finest soldier of love would not—could not—fall when his lady was in danger.
He had this day overcome any physical limits in his love for Susan—a sentiment of deep emotion and strength granted this special young star soldier—which was stronger than any mortal boundaries in the galaxy.
Serena was relieved later that afternoon, after constant phoning, to find Susan and Terry back at home—and safe. They actually were the ones who called her, to set up an important Sailor Guardian meeting right away at their home, 'if it was convenient to the Prince and Princess.'
At Darien's nod, Serena broke out her old Sailor Scout communicator to instantly locate the four Inner soldiers, wherever they may be. Amy was at classes of her higher learning academy, of course; Rei had been meditating at the temple; Lita was at work in the café with Andrew, while Mina, racing around town, could not be found until Luna contacted Artemis on their private fe-line, and he realized he had luckily put away V's communicator 'in a safe place.' The blonde ditz practically ripped apart her backpack before finding it in the top pocket where Artemis thought 'it should have been' and she could breathlessly answer the Sailor call at last.
Each Scout all quickly drop what they were doing to meet at Terry and Susan's house on the outskirts of town, immediately as possible.
Once there, the whole afternoon's harrowing battle was retold as well as the events of the past few weeks. An injured Terry, emergency room bandages around his head, arms, hands, along with a brace around his neck, with Susan, told of Michelle's breakdown and collapse over Robin's tragic demise upon their honeymoon return. The mature, married couple both felt that the time for secrets and silence was over.
"WHAT?! NOO!" Mina shrieks, jumping to her feet, fists trembling at the bad news. Tears filled her blue eyes and the seriousness inside their sorrowful pools was frightening.
"It can't be!" Lita says in horror, feeling the tears biting her, too. "We just were at their wedding…" She remembered well on that happy day catching Michelle's bouquet at that unforgettable, impressive cathedral in Paris that now was coming to fruition in her engagement to Andrew.
"He drowned in the ocean weeks ago? I can't believe it. They were going to be so happy." Amy concludes sadly, unable to imagine what her fellow aquatic enthusiast was going through now that the sea she was so a part of had cruelly taken her love. Amy glances down at her mini computer forlornly.
"All this time and none of you told us a thing?!" Rei vents her frustration at Susan and Terry, who look down guiltily.
"Please forgive us, dear friends, Prince, Princess." Terry gentlemanly bows his head to each of the shaken faces. "But Sayer and I…and our three ladies have been in mourning, trying to deal with this. The grief has been…" Trailing off at a loss for words, Terry surprises the entire group with his choking up emotion rarely displayed by this intellectually strong man. His wife dutifully picks up where her grieving husband could not continue.
"Please. The grief in our household has been unbearable for our brother, Robin's untimely passing. We have been watching over poor Michelle, seeing her pain day by day, trying to help her through this tragedy, though she is dying inside. You see, he was so young, and—" Tears of more than simple sympathy for her mate fall from the once believed emotionless Sailor Soldier's eyes as the woman who had seen thousands of years pass in loneliness now understood how ephemerally short and precious one life could mean to so many others.
Like how a single, lonesome drop of water causes so many ripples in the flowing River of Time… As a new partnered caretaker of the endless stream's annals, Terry Starr looks away from the others, tears evident in his poetic purple eyes.
"Oh, Susan, Terry. We're not faulting you, as his immediate family, of course. Grief is different for every person on this journey called life. We only wished to be there to share in your hearts' sorrow, to show our solidarity as friends and, hopefully what you consider, your extended family." Proving his mettle to be worthy of ruling as King someday, Darien responsibly makes the first reply when the younger girls, still absorbing the shock, had no words for their older friends.
"You guys are our family! And this is the time for us to lean on one another for strength." Compassionate Serena, though struggling with the emotions herself, heard this plea for help from these dear friends whom she would not overlook this time. Her deep heart extends her consoling love out to them for their loss of the missing member of the Three Lights as she hugs Terry, then Susan, lovingly wrapping both in her brilliant moonlight's warmth.
"I knew I felt something was up about him every time I tried to mentally contact Michelle and couldn't reach either of them…" The Japanese psychic finally admits her troubles aloud to the others softly, as Darien and Serena comfort Susan and Terry.
"You should've said, Rei!" Biting back tears, Luna, her own girlish heart broken for her favorite idol, reprimands the clairvoyant girl. Although, the cat guardian was blaming herself and this new threat responsibility she was so wrapped up in for not lending a thought to contacting the Outer Scout team members, resulting in unawareness of her favorite idol's absence.
"Luna." Artemis crosses the room to his feline mate, nuzzling the tears falling from her trying-to-fight-them-back eyes that he compassionately pets away, knowing how Star Healer's loss was a blow to her particularly.
"Michelle…Robin…" Sitting back in her seat, Serena whispers quietly to herself as the shock hits her somewhere, deep within. Were you the one calling out to me for help? You and Michelle needed me…I'm so, so sorry for being such a bad friend!
They had all become such dear friends. Their little gang—well, not so little anymore with the Three Lights spicing up the group when they had returned to earth—despite the bickering and arguments that often ensued, could be no closer, no tighter knit than the last year full of blossomed relationships had proven.
After all, they all were Sailor Soldiers. And I've failed to hold us together, as Princess of this galaxy…Feeling inadequate, Serena clutches at the ledge of the window she was staring out.
"Poor Michelle." Amy says compassionately, putting a comforting hand on Terry, whose darkened purple eyes were becoming unfocused and blurred as he too gazed out at the sunset.
"Where is she now?" Rei asks. Even though she and Michelle, as the team's telepaths were sometimes at odds, Rei looked up to and recognized her as her Outer Scout mentor.
"Uranus feared the enemy would come after Neptune next and took her away, someplace safe after Sayer was attacked at their apartment." Susan answers, obviously finding the secreted note Alex had left in the music room.
"Is he all right!?" Serena asks in a squeal, worried about yet another friend very close to her heart, another dearly cherished friend.
"Apparently." Terry is pulled back to the conversation by the mention of his other brother. He gives the princess a small smile in gratitude for her concern. "Uranus specified that he was with her in the missive." Terry looks back out the window. He trusted both Sayer's fighting abilities and Alex's worthy back up, but he silently wished he could be there with his youngest sibling, to protect him as he always had in the past.
This indefinite separation was a painful reminder of the silver haired brother whom Terry feels he had failed in watching over.
"So many of us have been attacked now, I wonder what this enemy wants." Lita, angry at the world, bangs her cup down on the table in frustration.
"Energy." Amy's distant reply comes as she doesn't even look up from the mini computer she had been tinkering with all the while they conversed.
"We know that, Amy, but why—?" Darien starts to pose another question.
"No! I mean there's an energy build up somewhere outside this house, right now!" Amy says distinctly, pointing to the flashing green energy blip on her screen.
"Where!?" Darien and Terry respond simultaneously, jumping to their defensive feet.
Just then, the entire edifice was rocked by some unknown energy force nearby.
It appeared to be a normal school day at Tara's school nearby the home she shared with Susan and Terry. The weather was so unusually beautiful and warm that the girls in class set out their lunches on the grassy school lawn to watch the rambunctious boys enjoy some football and other boyish sports in this fine summer-like weather.
Tara Tomoe was no exception. She had few friends and it was only now that a small number of friendly girls had accepted her into their elite cliques. They had all heard the rumor from a few transfer students of her old school that she had…strange powers, and so most avoided her. But Tara had found one true friend, nevertheless. She was a pretty girl, much like herself, whose raspy voice and long, curled catlike indigo hair had set her apart from the rest.
The cruel children in class had made fun of her foreign ways and style of dress outside of school. She wore a pink striped jumpsuit and tights with a furry tutu that was odd, no doubt. They even had mocked the poor girl's name—Cattana. It was just all too strange for their limited minds.
But Tara was different. She tried to see the good in everyone and slowly found it. Cattana made it difficult at times, as she was rather argumentative and vain. But over the past few weeks since her arrival at this school, she had come to consider sweet Tara as her friend—the only one in the entire academy.
No, that wasn't exactly true. There was a certain boy in a level grade up, that Tara was sure that Cattana had her feminine eye upon. Despite his strangely styled orange hair and unconventional style of dress, Topaz, had become popular with boys and girls alike. His athletic abilities were obvious and his cool attitude made him quite the hot ticket to moon over this school season. Cattana was no exception. Before he had arrived, she had shunned all other boys.
As she waves to her idol playing football, girlish secrets are shared between these two outcasts. Tara got the strange feeling that Cattana knew Topaz before, though she swore she had just met him here at school.
Oh well. Tara smiles, letting the sunlight bask on her pale face.
"Watch out!" A warning yell comes a second too late as Tara was lost in her own thoughts as a pigskin ball spirals towards them…
"HEY! You watch out, you stupid—" Cattana, with amazing agility, jumps up, and catches the ball, to everyone's surprise, with a nasty look, souring her pretty face. "OH! It's you, Topaz." From cold fire to a puddle of sweetness, she smiles, batting her long eyelashes at him, coyly tucking a stray hair behind her ear.
"Cattana." He says, coolly, without so much as a smile or an "I'm sorry" or even a "Thank you" for the football save. He trots back to the game, giving her and Tara both the cold shoulder.
"Isn't he dreamy?" Cattana sinks back to the blanket on the grass with a wistful smile.
"I just wish he was nicer to you." Tara says, concerned for her friend's infatuation with someone so uncaring.
"He cares!" Cattana protests, fooling only herself. "He's probably just…too busy to ask me for a date! That's all! Hey! You have a boyfriend, don't you, Tara?" She asks suddenly, with a brilliant idea.
"Well…yes." Tara blushes, glancing at the football field where a sandy haired young man was waiting for a pass.
"Then maybe he can ask Topaz to go with him somewhere and you and I can maybe just kinda show up. He's your boyfriend so you can just do that! And then, maybe, Topaz and I can be together. Kind of like a double date, huh?" Cattana's solution seemed far fetched, but Tara was kind enough to want to help her friend's misguided troubles.
"All right, then. I'll ask Sammy." Tara smiles at how Cattana's dark eyes could light up.
"You're the best friend a girl could have, Tara!" Cattana explodes with a hug, then suddenly pulls away, as if remembering herself, just as the school bell chimes, calling all to return to their classes. "Thank you." She says, but all emotion was gone from her voice. There was only a trace left of lonely sadness that Tara knew all too well.
I wonder if she has troubles at home. She never speaks of her family. Tara thinks, worried for her new friend as they head back to their classroom.
The final school bell rings and Tara had set Cattana's plan into action with Sammy already through a few notes passed back and forth. Good old Ms. H never noticed as Class 2-1 was abuzz with the "love notes" passing between Tara and Sammy.
Tara and Cattana race out to meet the two boys awaiting them by the front gate.
"So where are we going that's so very exciting?" Topaz asks in his emotionless tone. He did seem a bit annoyed though.
"Oh, uh…the festival fair down on Eighth Street! They blocked off the whole avenue just for the fair!" Sammy says, exchanging a glance with Tara, who nods.
"It's really fun. Sammy and I have been there before, but we wanted to bring you two around, since you're new here and all." She smiles at the taller boy sweetly, but quickly cowers at his unchanging gaze.
His eyes are so cold…
Tara's mind hears bells going off.
"Yeah! It's gonna be fun!" Cattana tries to bubble, but Tara could sense something, too, about her friend. It was almost like the two of them had an aversion to the happy, bustling crowds of smiling people.
Rides, games and cotton candy an hour later, Tara finds Sammy's hand pulling her towards his favorite fair booth—the shooting range.
"When I win a few more tickets, Tara, we'll go to that prize booth over there and you can choose something nice, okay?" Sammy smiles confidently, lifting the shooting pistol on the table.
"Ready?" The booth caretaker signals for Sammy to start. He had to shoot down five in a row of the little ducks flapping up and down and all over everywhere to get enough tickets to claim a prize.
One. First shot, crack shot—Sammy had been practicing.
Two. Easy second, he was trying to impress his cute girl.
Three. He smiles. It was getting easier and easier.
Four. Overconfident, Sammy winks an eye at Tara, whose own eyes were laughing in delight.
Fiv—
Suddenly turning back to his target range, Sammy feels like punching out the guy controlling the ducks, as they went faster and faster, until Sammy's head was spinning.
BANG!
Sammy holds his breath, closing his eyes, screaming at himself, for he knew inside, that he had missed the shot.
"YAY!" But Tara's sweet congratulations cause him to open one eye. He saw, to his amazement, that the final fifth duck was hit, right on the mark!
"Here you go, young man. But I'll be darned if I know how you shot that last one. I was sure you had missed it." Scratching his head, the booth's attendant hands Sammy the rest of his prize winning tickets.
"Yeah, me, too…" Sammy mumbles under his breath. He caught a strange look pass between Topaz and Cattana, who had been watching him from behind. It seemed like they knew something more about it.
"Well, come on! Let's get your prize, Tara!" Cattana says, suddenly, almost too brightly. She grabs Tara's thin arm and drags her to the prize booth.
"Yeah, let's go, Sammy." Topaz's dark eyes flash at Sammy. This was the first time he had showed interest in something all afternoon.
Shaking off the weird feeling, he shrugs and follows Tara and Cattana to the booth to pick a prize before they leave.
"Ooh! Ooh! Look at all the lovely jewels, Tara!" Cattana's eyes sparkle at the faux gemstones displayed in a glass case before them.
"Yes, they're very pretty, but I think I'd like one of those, instead." Tara says, politely. Her heart was set on the big stuffed baby deer on the wall.
I can give it to Susan for the baby's room! It'll be so cute, maybe by the cradle.
Tara's thoughts were always for another. She was excited to be having a little "sister," of sorts.
"No way! Stuffed animals are so childish, Tara! Jewelry's the ticket! Look at how the gemstones shine! Just look at those pearls! Besides, I bet Sammy will think you're a LOT prettier in say, that necklace over there, rather than you holding a big stuffed doll like a baby! You wanna look good for him, right!" Cattana says vainly, not thinking a thing of Tara's crushed feelings.
"Yes, but I don't think Sammy would—" Tara starts to answer calmly when the two boys come up behind them.
"Have you decided on something yet, Tara?" Sammy asks sweetly.
"Yes, she has!" Cattana sings, her eyes dancing as she points to the case. "There! That pretty, pearl necklace! Isn't it nice, Topaz?" Cattana's catlike eyes flash up into Topaz's darker ones.
"Perfect choice." He says enigmatically, folding his arms and nodding at Cattana with an agreement far greater than that of just a compliment.
"Good. I'm glad you found something pretty enough for you, Tara.' Sammy says with a blush as he hands over his tickets to the shopkeeper, who produces the sparkling iridescent beads.
"Thank you, Samuel." Tara blushes back as she accepts it and clasps it on. Their eyes meet in sweet, young love as she is happy to have anything Sammy gives her.
She truly didn't care what it was, nor how simple, but this necklace was very lovely. As the two look into each other's eyes, neither notice Topaz and Cattana quietly slipping away into the crowd.
"Did we really have to do that?" Cattana asks suddenly. Her friendship with Tara wavered her evil convictions.
"What would the others say?" Topaz severely asks his weak willed companion in accusation.
"'It's the mission.'" Cattana's worried eyes turn dark and unfeeling again as she turns her back on her new friends. She and Topaz mysteriously melt into the shadows as the sun begins to set over the festival.
"It looks real pretty on you." Sammy says as he and Tara walk out of the fairgrounds.
"Thank you. But, where have Cattana and Topaz gone?"
"I'm sure they'll turn up soon. Wanna go for one last spin on the ferris wheel?"
"All right. Sounds like fun!" Tara lets Sammy lead her off towards the huge spinning wheel.
Everything's fun when I'm with you, Sammy. Tara smiles as they trot off, gaining entrance to the last cart as the wheel begins turning again.
"Look! I can see the school flag from way up here!" Tara giggles.
"Cool!" Sammy replies, as both look out the window.
"This is a stupid ride. I want to get out!"
Sammy is taken aback by Tara's voice suddenly turning sulky and unpleasant.
"Oh, it'll be over soon, Tar—!" Sammy jumps up to find there is not one, but two of her—and one was attempting to strangle the other with the new pearl necklace.
"Yes! But it will be sooner than you think!" One of the Tara's eyes suddenly flash with wickedness as she yanks the string of pearls from the other's choking neck. They exploded over the floor of the compartment, rattling across the steel housing.
"This is too easy!" She laughs, scooping up a handful of the beads and holding them to her forehead.
To Sammy and the real Tara's horror, they watch this small figure transform into a fat, round creature whose body consisted of large, ivory pearls everywhere.
"Now, give me your energy, little one!" The pearl creature coos as a dark crystal suddenly appears in her pearlescent hand. She reaches for Tara's chest…
"Stop it, Monster!" "Sailor" Sammy suddenly comes to the rescue as he jumps up, intending to rush across the small area to Tara's defense.
But instead, he skitters on the beads still on the floor, rolling and sliding about almost comically as the pearled creature merely rolls her eyes at the non-interference and continues for Tara's heart…
SLAM!
Sammy's sliding back and forth come to a sudden halt as he sends his entire body smacking into the monster. His momentum was added to by a lurch in the Ferris wheel, sending the stout, pearl creature tumbling out the side door. But it lassos itself back up with a string (of pearls, of course!), that Sammy whips out his trusty boyish survival knife to try to cut. But his effort was to no avail as this pearl string consisted of some unknown dark matter material that suddenly zaps him back away from even touching it.
Zzzt!
"Sammy!" Tara and a regained balance Sammy exchange a look, seeing they were trapped. The quickly climbing monster was sure to come back soon, but Tara, unfazed, knew her duty as a Sailor Soldier very well…
"SATURN CRYSTAL POWER!"
She shouts, lifting a power stick high in the sky. Sammy's eyes pop out of his head in excitement. He, "Sailor expert" as he was, never imagined he would actually see a Sailor Soldier transform right before him in such close quarters, like a surreal dream come true...
"…MAKE UP!"
Tara's little voice is filled with determination as she begins to change. Her uniform disappears into a violet indigo haze and the multicolored rings of Saturn spin around her as a deafening silence takes hold, save for the swishing swipe of a deadly sharp gleaming glaive, rising from the underworld, through the ground beneath her. Fully transformed, Super Sailor Saturn's thin pale hands grasp the instrument that held the power over life and death itself.
"Soldier of Death and Destruction! I am Sailor Saturn!" On her small, thin shoulders was such responsibility and Saturn's serious gaze belied the weight of her duty.
"An oyster expends its entire life on creating a pearl! I, too, know of death and destruction! You do not frighten me, weakling child!" Arrogantly, vainly, the pearl creature pulls up. Sammy tried to sever the cord, but it was unbreakable and monster managed to reappear.
"PEALS of PEARL!" She shouts, launching an entire barrage of tiny beads at Saturn and Sammy.
"SILENCE WALL!"
Saturn throws up her shield around herself and Sammy as the "bullets" pelt holes straight through the steel walls of the compartment, shattering the glass windows outward to shower on innocent fairgoers below.
What do I do? To do any of my powers, I'd have to put down this wall. And then, Sammy might be…
Tara's mind reaches for ideas. She didn't care for herself—she was the soldier of sacrifice. But she who held death so easily in her hands, in contrast, treasured life to a high degree.
Seeing his protector's dilemma, Sammy bravely steps out of her Silence shield wall and grabs a loose string trailing out from their attacker's arm. He tugs at it hard. Her string of pearl arm comes loose, spilling all over the ground. For a moment, Sammy smiles, feeling manly triumph, when each fallen piece of her arm suddenly turns into a slew of pearlized bombs. They blow huge holes in the metal flooring beneath him dangerously. He and Saturn both plunge below to the, luckily, not so distant ground as the screeching Ferris wheel grinds to a halt.
Onlookers scream and the crowd stampedes away as the monster appears from the compartment with an angry look on her iridescent pearl face.
"Prepare to be obliterated, little boy! The master didn't say anything about dealing with brats!" She whines, tying up the loose string from her missing arm, so that the rest of her wouldn't just roll off and away.
She points her other good arm at Sammy, shouting "Mother of Pearl!" and in her hand a large, then larger and then largest pearl grows into a monstrous ball aimed at Sammy as she catapults it, flying directly towards him.
"SILENCE GLAIVE SURPRISE!"
Sailor Saturn scurries to him. Her wafts of indigo energy explode the cannonball, going through it and towards the creature, who in turn, puts up a pearlescent shield of her own.
The call was too close. Saturn felt her powers equally matched against this creature as the monster decides, just for fun, to pick off unsuspecting innocents with a well aimed pearl or two.
"Get behind me, Sammy." Saturn orders in a whisper and Sammy obeys, moving behind her as the last stragglers of the fairgrounds scream away to safety, leaving only the people stuck on the halted ride, shrieking in panic.
"Give me your energy, child! Or I will destroy that contraption—and every worthless life on it!" The pearl monster's white ivory gleam turns smoky and black with her wickedness as she points with the one arm she still had, up at the Ferris wheel and all the people and children still trapped within it.
Saturn realizes this was no bluff and that precious lives were at risk.
"No life is worthless. I am the Soldier of Sacrifice." Saturn lowers her head and submissively walks towards the creature.
"Sailor Saturn! Don't!" Sammy screams, knowing the legend of the Sailor Soldier of death, and seeing what she was about to do.
Ignoring his cries, Saturn continues to stride forward until she was face to face with the monster. "You must promise to leave all these people alone and return to wherever you came from." Saturn says. But creatures like this, filled with evil, didn't bargain.
Moreover, they didn't know when to stop.
"I'll promise no such thing, little girl! And I'll start the destruction of this vile world with him—" Arrogantly, vindictively, in her need for vengeance, the creature's glance lands on Sammy. But when it returns to Super Sailor Saturn, the pearl creature finds a sharp glaive pointed at her throat.
"Then the death will start and end with you." Sailor Saturn calmly threatens her opponent with the power she held.
"Don't give me that! I've been briefed about you! The rules of this universe you mere mortals are bound by! Death is a double edged sword! If you release that power, you too, will die! Then you can no longer be with this worthless ragamuffin!" The monster's mouth forms a wry smile, thinking her speech was enough to convince.
"Death is not the end for the just." Comes Sailor Saturn's only profound reply. The steel look in her eyes filled the pearl creature with fear, dread and disbelief that anyone would really sacrifice for another so readily. Sailor Saturn easily lifts her glaive into the still air as a deadly silence ensues.
"DEATH REBORN REVOLU—"
"Over here!" A familiar deep voice cries out, causing Saturn to gasp and pause in her deadliest attack to look up.
Flashes of energized color whiz before Sailor Saturn's astonished eyes as a dozen red roses encircle the pearl monster's form, ensuring her attack pointed at the amusement park ride was halted.
"MERCURY ICE RHAPSODY!"
"JUPITER OAK EVOLUTION!"
"MARS FLAME SNIPER!"
"VENUS LOVE AND BEAUTY SHOCK!"
Freeze, boom, burn, zap!
Saturn's life ending sacrifice had fortunately been aborted in time as the creature was all but decimated from four sides. Surprised by the montage of attacks, the monster plunges backwards to the ground.
With her eyes still dazzled, Saturn hears the Prince's mighty voice echo across the empty, darkening field.
"Now! Sailor Moon!" He shouts down from high atop the Ferris wheel where Tuxedo Mask was getting people down from their frightened entrapment.
In the darkness, Saturn sees a glow—a sparkle, a shine—and she recognizes it, bowing her eyes to her beloved princess.
"SPARKLING FULL MOON SILVER RADIANCE!"
The darkness, the silence, the emptiness is overcome by light and brilliance as feathers and wisps of energy scatter about and around the creature. The moon shines down full upon it.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" It manages to scream once as its blackened form dissolves in the light to nothing but a shadow melting into the ground below.
Silence.
"Tara, are you all right?" Terry's worried voice emerges from the base of the Ferris wheel where he had dashed to successfully halt the machine to a cycle where the car she was held prisoner within was nearest the ground level. The injured man strides haltingly to the scene with his Sailor Yell star in his tensed hand, ready to transform to Star Maker and add his attack, if needed.
"You were told to stay back for your injuries, Star Maker." Prince of the Earth Tuxedo Mask exerts a little of his authority over this stubborn star soldier with good intentions, giving Terry a raised eyebrow as he moves towards the taller man who had already endured a tough battle earlier today.
"Yes, well, I felt compelled to lend my small assistance, as Tara is my responsibility…Your Majesty." Terry answers his 'leader' back, though not without remembering to give the future King some reverence, with a nod.
"She's all our responsibility, and your welfare is every bit as important, Terry! We're all fellow Sailor Soldiers—and dear friends who must take care of each another." Sailor Moon makes the sincere statement, as she wished could bring Star Healer back, too.
"Wow, Serena…that was pretty good." Unaware of her regretful turmoil, Sammy's voice interrupts to tease his dumb sister, who he still couldn't believe had been his heroine all these years, Sailor Moon.
Ignoring him, the Princess' true strains call out to her small friend, rushing to take her little hand that almost took so much upon itself. "Please wait for us next time before acting foolishly!" Eternal Moon begs her youngest sailor soldier, almost in tears, for her close call.
"Tara?" Terry kneels down, asking his young charge in a gentle manner, not wishing to lambaste her again.
"Yes, I'm fine, Terry-papa." Saturn answers with a soft smile to him, concern coming to her eyes seeing his bandages, wondering what had happened. But caring Eternal Sailor Moon was right at his side so she knew it couldn't be too bad. Her friends' warm hands were on her shoulders and Sammy's bright eyes were smiling at her through the falling darkness.
"Saturn's the best of the best. She's only my favorite Sailor Soldier, guys." Sammy proudly states, giving Tara a "V" for victory on his fingers that Venus would have grimaced at her stolen signature gesture, had her heart not been so weighed down by the news of Robin.
I'm fine. Tara's mind repeats as she is hugged and hugged again by her cherished 'family.'
Darien carries her tired little body to the Three Lights' mini van which Terry had driven there. Once there, Tara was drowned in a relieved Susan-mama's hugs and kisses.
After a few happy tears back at her home, she was tucked in bed when Susan notices the pearl necklace and wondered where she got it.
"Sammy won it for me at the fair." Tara answers, sleepily recalling how a sweet young man had given it to her—how life was so delicate and she, more than anyone, appreciated just how special it was to be loved in this ever changing, fragile world.