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"SAILOR MOON ETERNAL"
The 6th Season of the Sailor Moon Saga
Chapter 39
"Time Lord"
"What was that?" Just outside in the dusky open air, Susan asks as the entire temple seems to shake. She, Terry, Tara and Cattana were just at the top of the huge flight of steps that Terry had insisted on carrying his pregnant wife, leading into the temple.
"You three, stay here!" Terry orders as he hurriedly—but still somehow gently—puts Susan down on the top step. Then the determined man rushes straight into the temple entrance, his transformation wings headset flying from pocket to hand. He instinctively sensed danger up ahead.
"MAKER CRYSTAL POWER...MAKE UP!"
He calls out, transforming into Super Sailor Star Maker, racing in just in time to see his battle worn Sailor companions being blasted back by a flurry of feathers, each with sharp deadly spikes at their poison tipped ends...
"STAR THEW PHASE RELAXATION!"
Sailor Star Maker's deep voice cries out. The volley of deadly tipped feathers drop midair, their molecular structure seizing in place, losing all verve, and hence, momentum, mere inches away from making contact with Star Maker's downed companions.
"Maker!" Eternal Sailor Moon smiles gratefully at their rescuer and his impressive new power which she'd not been witness to before today.
"MARS FLAME SNIPER!"
But that smile doesn't last very long when Dracon deftly avoids an incensed Super Sailor Mars' subsequent flaming arrow in the shyster's retreating path by simply sucking its red flaming discharge into a strangely prismatic, reflective black crystal.
He defensively holds up one of Metallia's dark orbs that not only collected power from Mars' flaming arrow, but Uranus, Fighter and Maker's recently expelled energies in addition.
But to top it off, this particular dark crystal had been insidiously modified by the Heir himself personally to not only collect, but electro-magnetically absorb energy now, too. Unleashing this new and fearful element, Dracon flips around the mirror-like orb's dark surface to instead barrage the group of Sailors trapped in the small temple room with their own ensnared energy attacks.
"Take that, Sailor weaklings!" The forest green charmer taunts his victims, invigorated by the surge of raw power now at his wicked fingertips.
They all had to dance between what seemed like a million loudly thundering, burning projectiles, blasting wind, concise laser, and wild lightning strikes simultaneously targeting the temporarily muscle relaxed Sailor Scouts present.
"I must admit, the Heir certainly has panache." With the approving comment to himself at the triumphant dark mirror orb entrusted to him by the chosen dark prince, where so far Pearellion and Opalson had failed, disloyal Dracon laughs at the entertaining scene. It was his first warm-up with the apparently invaluable new, energy-leeching mirror weapon. Metallia's vengeful Heir had secretly provided it for him to test run on the despised Sailor Uranus just before he had disappeared, and the sadistic con man was now the first to enjoy its chaotic benefits.
"SILENCE WALL!"
Super Sailor Saturn's calm little voice calls out into the temple room with her hurried last minute forcefield as she and Super Sailor Pluto rush in. But it was only thinly blocking the first blows from the reflected, dark energy enhanced, multi-power attack.
Saturn sinks to the floor from the great strain, no longer able to withstand the unrelenting energy streams that mimicked her absorbed Sailor comrades,' her wall beginning to collapse over the injured, fellow Scouts she was protecting.
"Ugh!" Super Sailor Jupiter grunts as she dashes in front of Saturn, taking the brunt of the hits for the small girl. Lightning was her bag, and so Jupiter had a high tolerance for its coursing electricity as it overtakes her body. But never before was it in this great an amount.
"Jupiter!" Eternal Sailor Moon calls out to her friend as strong Jupiter also sinks to her knees. Soon rushing to cover for their downed friend, Mercury and Venus, too, falter with Swanette's secondary poison feather attack firing at their backs as they did.
"Mercury! Venus!"
"Susan! Leave here now!" Super Sailor Star Maker commands his pregnant wife as she tries to shield Cattana from the stray feather spray and he deftly pulls her and the girl both out of danger.
"STAR RAGING UTERUS!'
"Susan! I adjure you to GO!" He then lashes out with all the acid energy at his disposal as he catches in the corner of his eye, a drained and wounded Super Sailor Uranus shooting him a nasty glare. The Scouts never before needed all the power of each and every one of them, and she faulted Maker for dictatorially instructing Pluto to abandon her post.
With her incensed mighty sword drawn in anger, Uranus bodily rushes to strike down Dracon physically, damning the sharp pain of the poison feathers pummeling her body from all sides as she does so.
"Susan! It's futile for you to stay! Please! Leave now!" Terry's broken heart at seeing not only his sisters-in-law, but his brother and so many other friends fall one by one, did not dampen his intelligent mind's logic, nor noble husband's priority of his wife's safety, first and foremost.
"That may be good advice, Sailor Star Maker, but I fear your good wife will not have the opportunity to heed it. By the way, thank you for leading us here." The words were sarcastic as Lord Opalson suddenly appears beside Dracon.
"Get behind us, Cattana." Swanette orders her younger sister, who freezes in place at this unwanted betrayal of her growing first friendship with Tara.
As if he had eyes in the back of his head, Lord Opalson stands ready for Uranus' pivoted sneak attack from behind. Effortlessly, he grabs the steel tip of Uranus' blazing space sword, all the while with a smirk etched on his snide face.
Some chaotic sort of powerful, ultraviolet energy emanating from that dark orb mirror which Opalson had seized from Dracon, now in his hands sends Sailor Uranus screaming, flying backwards, as her electrocuted body sizzles in horrible scarring welts.
"Uranus!" From out of nowhere, Super Sailor Neptune races into the battle towards her cousin, sensing her extreme pain. Neptune sweeps into the room like an ocean wave, as her warm waters envelop severely burned Uranus in a tender embrace. Neptune uses her mental prowess and oceanic command to both shield and overtake some of the electrocuting waves away from the convulsing Uranus, directing them to herself instead in an attempt to save her courageous partner's life.
"U!" Beyond devastated at seeing his lover so terribly injured, Fighter cries out desperately, rushing to them both. But as he physically touches first Uranus,' then Neptune's eerily familiar, neon green tinged, uncontrollably shaking, embracing bodies, Fighter instantly falls to the ground writhing as the solenoid electric current transfers to him, too. The massive triangulating EM flux wave causes the Starlight to pass out, but it may have been too late not to have damaged Sayer Starr's brain synapses irrevocably.
"Fighter! Uranus! Neptune! Everyone!" Eternal Sailor Moon cries out in a panic as she watches her Soldiers, her guardians, her friends, fall, one by one, before her. Weeping at their awful hurt conditions, she races to her fallen companions. Sailor Moon begins to call upon her celestial body's healing powers to lend some powerful energy, comfort and light to her dearest companions in such dreadful physical pain she couldn't bear to see.
"MOON PRINCESS HALATION!"
Loving Eternal Moon prays to the God Above who created the moon to grant her wonderful, selfless friends, some on the verge of death, the breath of life renewed. But as Serena focused on sharing all her love energy to heal an unresponsive Fighter, Uranus, and Neptune, someone sinister, full of the opposite hate energy, shadows her love power darkly.
"Hey, there, luv. Let me have a go with that! I think Metallia'll give us a big bonus for gettin' rid of this one!" The red-head was filled with desire to match her triumphant husband's Sailor Scout defeat, her competitive rage wanting to outdo him one better.
Evil intent was clear in her red eyes as Ruby had grabbed hold of that all powerful, Chaos black mirror orb from Opalson's hand and squeezed it tight within hers just before approaching where the blonde winged Moon-girl was attempting to help her electrocuted trio of near-dead comrades.
Eternal Sailor Moon, her guard down, never saw Lady Ruby's stealthy attack creep up from behind as the dark orb surges with the Moonlight's pure energy it was siphoning…
Ruby uses the Heir's dark orb to capture the immense healing power of the Moon's concentrated force, brashly turning its bright Silver Crystal energy to pour into her instead of the others charitably intended. Eternal Moon's generously shared Silver Crystal strength enhances Ruby's every capacity, the willful woman now wielding it to grant herself ultimate might.
And the chaotically wicked gleam in powered-up Lady Ruby's insane eyes. filled to the brim with Chaos warped, intense, Legendary Silver Crystal power, was the last thing Serena sees before the whole world turned red for the white Moon Princess...
RRRRIPPPPP!
Beyond evil, beyond wicked, coarsely, Lady Ruby grabs hold of each of Eternal Sailor Moon's gorgeous white wings. With Silver Moon enhanced strength combined with her own violent savagery, Ruby tears those wings wildly from her back as Serena shrieks in intense pain.
This Moon child's red blood cascades down to the ground as Ruby viciously grabs Sailor Moon's trembling body, smashing the last hope from this Earth—the shining Silver Moon crystal, in her energy crazed fists.
After the red, Serena's world turns black as she catches a glimpse of her Darien's tortured blue eyes reaching for her as she is forced to leave this world behind...
"SERENA!"
Tuxedo Mask calls out his beloved princess' name. Faster than could be believed, he races to her, ignoring the feathered spikes and energy blasts of the enemies he himself was battling. He rushes to Eternal Sailor Moon, gathering her in his arms like he always did, but something was missing.
Something was wrong, Darien could sense it in every fiber of his pulsating being that was so entwined with the pulse of this earth his Moon Princess had come down to embrace as her own.
But her shine had no trace left, her life force was missing from it now. Glowing Serena's brilliant rainbow had faded from every corner of this world that was now left only dull and grey for him.
A red rose, losing all its velvety petals as it descends to the ground, scattered apart.
In this moment all the light in the universe for Darien Shields was forever extinguished as he weeps uncontrollably over Sailor Moon's dead body, now hanging lifeless in his overcome arms.
"PRINCESS!" The few Scouts remaining conscious shout in disbelief and horror at losing she who was so important to them. She who they had sworn to protect was gone.
Shrieking in pure anger and pain, representing the planet of war, Super Sailor Mars explodes a gigantic fireball, frying mercilessly any poor enemy in its path as Swanette, feathers and all detonates in a conflagration of this broken fire soul's passionate intensity. In doing so, inconsolable Mars burns a hole in the far wall of her beloved temple, so crazed was she at losing her best friend, Serena, before she, too, catches ablaze and is engulfed by her own fire, screaming in her devastated torment of flame that lashes out on Ruby, the sinister creature who so maliciously had killed their adored Moon Princess.
"Princess! Sailor Mars! Sailor Soldiers! No!" Star Maker agonizes as he watches the ghastly, tragic scene being played before him. Choking smoke fills the burning room as Lady Ruby, taking cover behind her husband's energy absorbing orb, narrowly escapes blasts of scorching flames and pure vengeful energy.
The wicked female cackles in delight at the suffering, mayhem and furor of battle, that resulted in the already perished or near death Sailor Scouts' bodies about to be burned up, en masse, by their own foolish hands.
Star Maker's gentle, peace-loving heart weeps at the loss of his sweet new princess of the beautiful Moon, and the wonderful, close-knit friends he had accepted now as his own family. Seeing every single Sailor Soldier down, or worse, even Fighter's still body lying on the ground near where a dismembered Eternal Sailor Moon lay in a beyond consolable Prince of the Earth's arms, blood splattered everywhere, Maker's mind spins wildly.
Why couldn't we stop this?! For my friends, for my brother, for my Lady…Why have I failed you all?!
His remorseful mind races, knowing he could've—should've done something to prevent this tragedy beyond tragedies as he feels all hope slipping away.
The bright future he had so longed for here on this serene planet that had given three lost and wandering, shooting stars the Light of Hope before, was now being transfigured by this unleashed darkness of evil that had been unlocked.
And so, here begins the single trickle in the pond of the universe's light fading from all existence into the cascading depths of ebony blackness…
If only...
If only...
If only there was more time for me to right this wrong!
Terry feels tears biting behind his caring eyes as his hands reach out to the woman he wanted to spend this future with.
And the hand was there to squeeze back in her similar desperation at the sheer horror displayed before her age-old eyes that had seen much sadness and turmoil.
But never this disastrously emotional a blow to all she held dear as Pluto's knees felt they were about to buckle under every one of these tremendous strains that went beyond her physical pain now.
Distraught, Super Sailor Pluto's slender fingers wrap around her husband's for his strength.
"There can be, my Time Lord. I hold the key." With a resolve he had never heard in her soft, sedate voice before, calmly the Mistress of Time whispers to her mate, even though she was acutely aware of the consequences of such a taboo action.
"We hold the key, Susan." Maker whispers in Pluto's ear as his long fingers claim charge of her tightly hanging Time keys from upon her enlarged sailor uniform's waist which he smoothly caresses as he does.
Turning to Sailor Pluto and the fascinating new light of hope he glimpsed in her gorgeous, yet self-sacrificially deep eyes, Maker nods at the sudden realization his brilliant mind all at once grasped the intricate significance thereof.
And precisely how he could spare his beautiful angel from any of Time's cruel demands this time—to take them all upon himself instead.
"I will pinpoint the exact moment and place." Already calculating at an incredible pace, Star Maker's astute brain quickly extrapolates the entire plan when he sees the Garnet Rod in Pluto's other hand, her precious heart's talisman extended out to him to share the burden, she believed. Though so terribly sad and weak in body from the battle, inspired by her love's empathy, Susan had somehow picked up Terry's desperate, compassionate thoughts through the link that was now uniquely theirs.
Uniquely timeless.
Hearts as one now, her brilliant mate's keen plan to rescue their fallen comrades was crystal clear to Susan's hopeful heart. The two Guardians of Time simultaneously understood what must be done to set the course of time's river flowing correctly again from the chaos it had just been plunged under.
"Trust me with all your heart, my Timeless Lady." Super Sailor Star Maker firmly takes control of Pluto's heart's true talisman, her Garnet Rod which opened Time's doorway. Susan's magenta eyes widen when she became aware that her life's partner intended to accomplish this valiant, all-encompassing, essential task—alone.
"Terry! No! Not alone! I—I'm all right! I must…help…you…" Were the only words able to escape an already thoroughly drained Super Sailor Pluto's lips as she, truly not physically up to the immense undertaking, collapses to her husband's strong chest, her full with child body showing her time for recuperation from all this stress was near.
But you've never traversed Time's streams before!…It's too overwhelming and frightening, at first…and to do it alone...Just as I spent years teaching Small Lady…without practice, your essence may become scattered across the Time Stream's unrelenting ebb and flow…I won't lose you to it, my darling!
One look in her distraught eyes and Terry understands immediately what this deep-souled woman was trying to impart to him. He instinctively knew, as the perceptive Super Sailor Star Maker grasps the Garnet Rod gleaming in Super Sailor Pluto's hands firmly into his.
"Have no fear. I'm a pretty quick study, my Lady." Self-reliant Terry Starr smiles in her anxious gaze as Pluto tries to whisper back bravely that she was all right. But this Sailor Soldier was also an eight month pregnant woman who faints under all the distressed tension and grisly combat. This horrible encounter's exertion was just too much for her delicate body in this state.
"At the same pace as always." While lifting her hefty form effortlessly, Maker's genius brain churns with immediate imperative plans, as he damns whatever the consequences to himself, as long as his Susan was safe. He accepts the dire responsibilities of Time upon himself, as Star Maker gives his passed-out wife a playful reassurance in a cocky smirk laced with his favorite old phrase's confidence which told of this shooting star's coolness under pressure.
As all shades of purples and lavender, orchids and wisteria mists of Time surge its powers through his Time enhanced body, the new Time Lord begins to glow intensely from within, starting with those invisible bonds Time had forged there at his selfless wrists. Terry feels a massive amount of energy flow through his veins as never before, racing, ebbing, flowing in all directions. His very bloodstream stood still, then slowly reversing in a quickened course as easily as it had moved forward an ephemeral moment ago.
This was the fruition of the pact he had made with Chronos, with Time itself, for his Susan that fateful night which infused within his very soul the unending striking hours of the infinite clock's everlastingly flowing time-stream.
"My love..." Duty to his wife first on his wide-ranging to-do list, Star Maker whispers in her long dark green hair. Without a second thought to his own consequences, this new Lord of Time takes hold of Pluto and her Garnet Rod, and the two of them vanish.
Her job here was now done in his eyes. But his was just beginning.
Or had it already begun? Time was an inscrutable force which Terry was determined to be a true master of, as he has surmounted every other subject his vast intellect had ever endeavored upon.
The vast nothingness that was Time's Doorway greeted Star Maker's arrival. He was no longer a stranger and it welcomed he and Pluto both into this domain, that they now both belonged to. Star Maker knew what he had to do here well. Pluto's safety was his pledged responsibility that went way beyond partnership and marriage vows. He swore that, no matter the cost, the tender soul of his Susan would always be protected.
Terry cradled his wife and caressed her cheek softly, as he laid her down on a billowy cloud that his mind willed to appear with a mere upwards gesture of his hand. He was so much a part of this place now, that his intellectual mind and caring heart had opened up so easily all the possibilities here, that was hers.
"Sleep well, my sweet." Maker kisses her gently. "Farewell, for now. I'll be with you again, in the blink of an eye."
The poet in him promised that no matter what, this would not be their 'goodbye.' He would always find his way back to her.
And now as 'Time Lord', clever Super Sailor Star Maker held every moment, hour, day, year, and century at his command to arrive exactly here again to his love, before another second ticked by.
"You will be safe here. I won't let you stay alone for long. I promise, my Lady." With a soft tender kiss to her unconscious lips, Terry gives his once forlorn in her loneliness beauty one final glance as he runs through the Time Doorway, leading back to the present battle on Earth.
Sailor Pluto's talisman Garnet Rod in his hand and her acquired belt of Time Keys hung from his waist as he leaves, the Time Lord locks all the Doorway's exits with his powerful chronometer's master mind as he disappeared through its endless clouding mists with purpose to reappear back at Rei's temple.
And through their shared passionate love, the devotion to his new Princess, and the promise of a future with his beloved lady, lover and wife comes a new power in Terry Starr to manifest into being.
His full heart was tenderly holding his Susan's 'heart' close for now and forever as, stepping into the despondent temple scene, his deep voice bellows his first command as Lord of Time:
"GUARDIAN TIME REVERSE!"
Together as one in his soul with his beloved Time partner's words mouthed on his heart, Time Lord Star Maker calls out, and the black smoke in the room swirls into pale purplish mists of time before his calm, orchid eyes. Exerting his new authority over this fascinating, invisible element, Star Maker intuitively felt Time reversing, spinning, spinning backwards as the tragic past few minutes rewind before his sharp-eyes, as if in a dream.
Fire dissipates, Mars reappears, the smoke clears in the temple, time moving in reverse as with joy in his heart, Star Maker watches this shining galaxy's precious Princess stand tall once again, whole, with beautiful wings and beautiful Silver Crystal shining upon her proud chest.
In rewinding motion, reinvigorated Fighter, Neptune, Uranus, reverse rise to their feet from the crumpled ground, with Saturn, Venus, Mercury, Jupiter and Tuxedo Mask in the background watching vigilantly, too, each going back to their defensive stances before they were hit by the bowery of evilly collected energies and poison feathers—all back to their original vigor once again.
But the moment Terry's cautious eye was awaiting was yet to unfurl. Just a few precious seconds in reverse time felt like an eternity to the tense man from the stars, as he clutched his darling Pluto's Garnet Rod tightly. Without consulting Pluto, it was unknown to Terry's thought provoked mind if the energies of Time he wielded would give him only one chance to get this right. Every fiber in Maker told him that, if nothing else, Time, though glorious and rewarding, could also be unforgiving and cruel, especially to have held his innocent Susan so captive in solitude for all those lost empty centuries…
Standing apart from reality in time's vague misty veil, the assiduous Time Lord had traveled back to that exact moment just before he—ahem, the past tense Star Maker of minutes ago—had arrived, the second prior to when the evil Dracon, furtively behind Swanette's back, had first produced that wretched Chaos dark orb. The uncanny object was surreptitiously sensitive enough to absorb Uranus' Space Sword and Fighter's Laser blasts, continuing its energy amalgamation with the power attacks of Mercury, Venus, Jupiter and Mars that started the collected chaos maelstrom that unfortunately took place thereafter which fatally wounded the shining Moon Princess.
At the exact correct millisecond calculated and prayed for, as time swiftly rewound prior to when all that had occurred, the Time Lord holds up high his time controlling Garnet Rod.
"GUARDIAN TIME REVERSE SLOW!"
Super Sailor Star Maker, now joint Guardian of Time with Pluto, commands everything, still rewinding its replay, to move at an extremely deliberate and sluggish pace in a time-shivered hush, at his will. In these slothenly speed reverse-play moments, the Time Lord deftly maneuvers his slow-moving Starlight comrade, Super Sailor Star Fighter, into place like a pawn on his chessboard. With an easily drawn gentle typhoon wave of the chronos-infused Time Rod his love had entrusted into his clever hands, Terry moves a slow-motion reverse Star Fighter at the brilliantly gauged, precise trajectory and analytically fluid body movement probability to be in optimal ambush position at Dracon's side now.
This Time Lord Star Maker was trusting the quick reflexes of his battle competent brother for this complex, masterful plan to work. But Maker had relied on Fighter for his life on many occasions, and vice versa, over their years of combat together. Sayer would not let him down.
Mitigating the rules of time travel to bend when it came to interference in an attempt to keep his 'never to separate' promise to Susan, in full awareness of Chronos' stringent terms of banishment, without actually using the taboo of 'stopping time', this clever new Time Lord sets the stage to be restarted to a hopefully less tragic circumstance, this time. With just this insignificant, little shift of character placement in the time stream's emanating waves calculated in slow rewind to fall at the exact time necessary, Star Maker was growing more and more assured that this was the right path he had chosen to halt the first drip that caused the cascade of cataclysmic events to irrevocably fall.
"It was at this point that the negative ripples began." Studious Terry Starr deduces quietly to himself in Time's River terms as the cool under pressure, yet on edge hackles at the back of his neck rise with each slow, reversing millisecond, until he sensed that this was the precise moment. This efficient new Time Lord was profoundly certain in circumspect observance of the chain of events that his logical, shrewd mind could somehow distinguish from his gentle heart's unsettled emotions.
Please Lord, grant the precise strength at the precise placement in the precise millisecond necessary for we star soldiers to help our dear friends, in my precious, innocent Susan's place. I beg Time's mercy to permit she will not suffer any corollary effects, as I take this undertaking upon my shoulders alone…
Bowing his head humbly with the short prayer for success and reflection for his true love's welfare, Terry's thoughts then race with a thousand and one probabilities that were all dependent upon his decision being the right one or else the madness would still unfold the same as before.
No, this time, things will be different.
This time, insightful genius Time Lord Star Maker was more than ready to prevent that first damning ripple before it was set into motion as time continued to creep in suspense backwards...
Concisely zeroing in on the very object that started this entire chaotic maelstrom to unravel, Maker's clever brain had recognized that energy gathering, dark mirrored orb was the beginning of the evil domino pieces falling all around his friends which led to that tragic conclusion.
Once again, the Time Lord holds up high the timeless Garnet Rod at his inspired, confident command, proficiently never missing a beat, as if this composed and capable Sailor Soldier had been training for this all his life as his strong tenor voice calls:
"GUARDIAN TIME CONTINUE FORWARD!"
It was a magnificent mental feat which adept Maker was smart enough to value that none could've accomplished alone, had the Creator above not fashioned it to be so. And only through the power of his great love, self-sacrifice and gentle devotion for his Lady and all she held dear, could this traveler from beyond the stars of the solar system have found the strength to wield the very stream of all encompassing Time itself to flow in the opposite direction forward at the proper speed, for a second chance this fateful day.
As time once again marches forward at regular pace, Dracon was surprised at an only momentarily disoriented Super Sailor Star Fighter's sudden materialization from out of nowhere, at his side. The Dark Kingdom enemy agent was caught off guard for a split second as Sayer Starr's swift reflexes kick in.
To an observing Time Lord's pleasure, it was indeed all the time the strategically placed Star Fighter needed to force Dracon's clandestine hands back, strongly securing the dark green man's twisted wrists together in a powerful, determined grip, knocking from them the ebony mirror crystal orb the Heir had special crafted to unleash chaos on the Sailors.
It clatters uselessly to the floor, with Swanette, Lady Ruby and Lord Opalson, who both had just appeared on the scene, all greedily eyeing its potential ultimate supremacy for their own power-hungry ends…
CR-R-UN-NN-CCH!
The dark orb in question on the temple floor cracks from side to side, ground to dust under the tall black boot of—Super Sailor Star Maker?
When did he get here?!
The group of weirded-out Sailors and Tuxedo Mask simply shake their heads at Maker's abrupt appearance, though grateful for the help of an extra ally as they continue fighting Swanette, Dracon and the others.
But an alert in battle, slit eyed Sailor Uranus was taking more notice of what very interesting talisman item this additional 'Star Maker' held in his hand, as if he owned it.
"Where's Pluto?" Guarded Uranus asks, eyeing Pluto's signature Garnet Rod and Time Key belt that Maker was now donning suspiciously. The observant woman, quick as the wind, suddenly appears at this Maker's side after being amazed at Fighter for his rapidity in apprehending Dracon sheer across the other side of room from where he had been standing beside her a second ago.
He's faster than the wind! I thought I've seen all your moves, Starr. What have you been up to these past weeks during our break-up…?
"I asked you: Where's Pluto?!' Slashing away a few of Swanette's stray poison feathers that the other scouts were taming at bay to ward off her wandering thoughts, Uranus demands a response as leader of the Outer Scouts. She had the definite intuition that this perplexing Starlight was scheming something in his cunning red-head.
"Don't worry, she's safe. As Time Lord, I was able to lock her away in the Doorway of Time before, to spare her from this trouble." Not having time, nor desire, to explain all that had transpired thus far to her, the caring heart within Maker thought that Uranus was also merely worried for her absent friend, nothing more.
"You did what?!" Confrontational Uranus defiantly asks in disbelief, hands on her hips, as she huffs for breath in the midst of battle. Yes, she was concerned for her friend. Yes, she wanted Susan to be safe. But to 'lock her away,' like a pet? That was beyond unacceptable.
"Uranus, I did what I had to do. That's all there is to it. If you have a problem with it—take it up with Time." The officious Time Lord tries to reason with this difficult woman, at first. But his anger at his decisions always being reproached by her was rising, as he finishes his answer with a snidely patronizing, supercilious remark.
"I don't have a beef with Time. I just have problems with jackass TimeLords." Uranus mutters the condescending title he had just called himself, under her livid breath, striking out a quick leg kick at a sneaking up Lady Ruby, who dodges its force when her husband, Opalson, forms a dark dome around them both.
"And that's not all there is to it. We obviously need everyone here! Sailor Pluto is one of the Princess' soldiers. She's not just some mere possession that you can just blatantly—" Heated Uranus starts a tirade in the heat of battle, her kicks and fists punching all the while at the surrounding enemies, as Eternal Moon, Fighter, Neptune and the others were doing their part on the other end of the temple against these fierce foes.
And the time perceptive Time Lord felt that Star Maker, Pluto and Saturn, just outside the temple door, were now about to enter the fray to help the fight.
"—protect. Please be quiet, Uranus. I have more important tasks than to argue with you." Sensing their imminent arrival and unsure if Time truly had any 'paradox' issues as depicted in many a cheesy sci-fi flick of the day, the pressed for Time Lord decides he had had just about enough of Sailor Uranus' rebuke anyway.
The two soldiers angrily glare at each other before this Time Lord Star Maker simply makes a straight up, leapt exit, Time Rod soaring with him.
Uranus was so upset by this...this…domineering alien intruder...that she didn't spy Opalson's dark energy beams shooting at her back from above.
From his vantage point on the roof he had just ascended to, Super Sailor Star Maker, fortunately, caught a glimpse of the attack and returned back into the open temple, just able to knock the spastic golden Sailor Soldier down with him, out of the way.
"GET OFF ME!" Unappreciative Uranus shoves her rescuer away. She for one, didn't need any man's protection, though Fighter gives Maker—Hey! Didn't I just leave you back by the door? Uh-oh?! Are there two of you again, Ter?!—a grateful thumbs up for the save before the Time Lord again leaps up and away to depart.
"SPACE SWORD BLASTER!"
Charged with pure anger, Uranus' energy sword below slices at the barrier Lord Opalson had erected around the evil group, but it doesn't penetrate the thick black, opalescent wall. Soon Neptune was at her side, adding her watery attack, the other Sailor Scouts following suit, figuring their powers from all around the dome may wear it down.
"NEPTUNE SUBMARINE REFLECTION!"
"MERCURY SHINE AQUA ILLUSION!"
"STAR GENTLE UTERUS!"
"SATURN DEATH RIBBON!"
"VENUS WINK CHAIN SWORD!"
"JUPITER OAK EVOLUTION!"
"MARS FIRE SOUL BIRD!"
"STAR FURIOUS PUNCH!"
"TUXEDO LA SMOKING BOMBER!"
Every one of the Sailors present in the decimated temple join Uranus as each try to dent a hole in it somehow, with powers old and new, so Sailor Moon could do her stuff on the enemies, but as yet, to no avail.
The dark opalescent forcefield apparently was ingeniously wicked created to evil specifications to withstand each one of the Sailors' already inputted attacks as it rises from the temple to break its ceiling rafters.
"What do we do, guys!?" Frustrated and fearful, Eternal Sailor Moon cries desperately as she watches her friends, one by one, all throw everything they've got at the shield containing the five nega-villains that continues to block the Guardians' energies. Obviously planning their next deadly move, as the dark energy within the sphere was beginning to expand its outside diameter to a point where it would soon swallow up the entire temple, the untouchable group inside begins cackling at the useless Sailor Soldiers.
All save for poor Cattana, who kneels down, looking at Tara apologetically as her sister flutters in on wings to scoop her into the dark dome deeper and away from Saturn's influence.
Standing above it all, Star Maker was torn between leaving to retrieve his Susan or staying to help finish the fight he had already moved time and space to hold back from manifest disaster. The cool bonds of Time at his suddenly glowing wrists reverberate and pulsate their demands for the Time Lord to leave, his job here done.
But the generous, warm soul that was Star Maker felt inside that he could do something more for his fellow Sailor Soldiers first and resists the pull. Proving his adoration for his tender lady, he felt deeply that he must protect this princess from another star she so loved, whom he pledged to be guarding sentinel, as well.
Terry reaches beyond the boundaries he had already shattered today, digging deeper, and feels his partner Pluto's presence nearby, nestled deep inside of him.
Much to Uranus' incensed resentment at his possession of Pluto's very personal, sacred pure heart talisman, from high above on the temple's blown out roof where none other spotted him, Maker proudly holds up his beloved's silvery Garnet Rod once again. Combining their strengths, utilizing guardian planet Pluto's powers brilliantly fused to his own strong Maker star energy, Time Lord Star Maker calls upon time and space to grant him one more completely created, profoundly perfect union—
"CHRONOS RAGING UTERUS SCREAM STRIKE!"
Susan was so engrained within him, Terry was able to access all her energy power attacks as well as its time properties. Just before he leapt away, Super Star Maker did indeed prove his worth, blasting an intense time infused acid which encircles the forcefield bubble in the sky. His combined power attack counts down the ticking seconds before immersed in time's decaying clinging mists, the acid sinks in and melts the opalescent field, disintegrating layer by layer…
"Now, Sailor Moon!" Tuxedo Mask calls as he sees the miraculously potent acid holes breaking through the sphere, as if raining from some unknown source above.
"Try to heal them, please!" Usually silent Super Sailor Saturn warmheartedly runs to Serena and tugs her arm as the smaller girl cries out for her friend, Cattana, whom she instinctively felt was good inside still.
"Right!" Eternal Sailor Moon agrees with the child of rebirth, standing tall and sure as she whips out her silver and fuchsia Tiere, thrusting pure Moon light into the air as the gratified Time Lord watches.
"STARLIGHT HONEYMOON THERAPY KISS!"
The night sky explodes with the silver Moon's healing white light. Soft curative feathers fly around as they try to break through the rest of the energy bubble and help those misguided people inside the dark dome, however...
However, before its shine reached a single one of the five enemies within, they suddenly were snatched away—disappearing by a dark, clawing red hand into the late night, leaving only the faintest of stars glimmering through the cackling darkness again.
"Oh, no..." Serena whines with a sigh, wanting so badly to heal Tara's friend, and her sister and all the others, too, if she could. She knew now for certain that it was more than a feared fact that Metallia herself was lurking behind this all, using those misguided people for her own wicked ends.
Queen Metallia...
As Tuxedo Mask embraces her weeping, yet whole and alive—thanks to a certain wordlessly uncredited Time Lord—form close, Darien somehow sensed from the sighing earth itself that a close call had just been averted this night.
Through her tears, Eternal Sailor Moon gazes up towards the cloudy moon, knowing it was there, though hidden from view by the darkening mists she was determined to defeat this time.
Not again. I won't let it happen again…
Gaining strength in the pale moonlight, Serena looks around with uplifted fortitude, despite the destruction at Rei's temple caused by the evil queen's emissaries trying to stop the pretty Guardians of this planet from saving it.
"Wh-where am I?" Accustomed to speaking aloud to herself with no one to answer, Super Sailor Pluto's eyes blink open to find herself once again trapped and alone, in the hushed Doorway of Time. In a blurring moment, her whole life with Terry Starr this past wonderful, fulfilling year where she was loved, all seemed to be just a dream—a beautiful dream.
Can that have all only been a dream?
'…If only love would come to me for I need you…I see you inside of all my dreams…'
Yes, indeed, she was back here again, singing the same forlorn song. Back in the Doorway she was forever destined to be chained to since her childhood, eons ago—sentenced to be perpetually alone. She notices her surroundings for the first time.
A bed created from the mists of time? Susan marvels at the soft resting place she was lying upon. How did I never think of that?
Susan's eternal song of love was playing throughout the solitary mists as the invisible bonds that Time forged around her slender wrists begin to glow as if in response.
But his warmth…his sweet kiss, I still feel on my lips…
"No! It can't only be a dream! My Terry is real! Our love is real! I felt his warmth just moments ago. His soft scent, his strong chest…his gentle kiss…I still feel him now, through these bonds of infinity...But then...why am I here alone?" Touching her lips tenderly, Susan stands as the mists swirl around her. The bleak emptiness of Time seemed even moreso now that she was no longer used to being lonely—no longer accustomed to being without him near.
Susan suddenly recalls the fierce battle and remembering how she must have fainted and...
"He brought me here to keep me safe! Oh, I know I promised not to enter battle, but, Terry darling..." Susan strides over to the ever-so-familiar doorway. "I have a princess to protect as well. This struggle is too great for her and the others alone…And more than that...I always want to be by your side." Sailor Pluto moves forward, turning Time's doorway's handle to open to the present era, but...
She found it locked.
"How?!" Susan's mind screams. Never before had Time's innumerable passageways been closed off to her. Never before has this Doorway denied her opening as her befuddled eyes gaze down to find the belt of Time keys that continually hung there invisibly…
…were gone...
"Terry..." She whispers aloud, just noticing that not only was her ever present Garnet Rod missing, but also her belt of Time Keys had been taken, as well.
But what Susan also saw as she searched downwards, was the undeniable large belly bump which proved to her that her dreams were so very real, a beautiful future made possible by her compassionate husband, her gentle lover—beloved brilliant Star Maker of dreams…
She realized the only other person with the protective desire and ability to sanction her off inside the Doorway, the only other being with the power to seal her in, was him. It was all part of the bargain Sailor Star Maker had sworn to, through his love for her.
"My love..." Susan whispers, saddened that she couldn't be with him in this dangerous time of need for the Sailor team and this planet they all shared responsibility for defending.
"I believe in you…Please protect them all..."
Yet somewhere deep inside, she was grateful, too, as tears of understanding well up in her eyes. Her hand reaches for her stomach, thinking of the child within she must protect at all costs...
"Thank you..." She smiles, though a little regretfully, for now all she could do, was hope and pray for his and all the rest of her beloved friends' safety. "Please...Time, be kind…Allow my love to come back to me. I need him so very, very much."
Susan prays with the intensity of their love. This empty life here, alone, was something she knew she could never endure again now that she had known Terry Starr in her life.
Leaving the battle scene his latest power attack combo had assured certain victory thereof, in a hurry the Time Lord had rushed away, as deep night turned into dawn.
Though sure of where and when he'd find her, Super Sailor Star Maker still worried for the wife he would've moved Heaven and Hell to protect...and just about nearly did tonight. He had bravely withstood the full hurricane force gale wind of Uranus' harsh tongue-lashing for his belief to preserve his Lady.
And I'd face her a thousand times over again, too, if time permitted. The smug Time Lord arrogantly thinks to himself, a bit cocksure confident of his performance this night as Time's guardian.
Through his tremendous love for his Susan, Terry Starr had learned how to fully utilize the Doorway of Time, and that meant the powerful knowledge of the ability to lock another within its confines, even a person who had spent a millennium of her own existence there.
Although the others, such as Uranus, may not approve, Terry did, as he always had, what he believed in his heart to be right. Where Susan and their baby's welfare was concerned, he was absolutely certain he was justified.
Alone on a vacant avenue, on this cold and blustery late-November morning, Sailor Star Maker lifts his beloved Sailor Pluto's talisman to the skies with a prayer. The talisman Garnet orb, for a split second, seemed to be considering the new Time Lord's interference and rule bending earlier.
But as a detransforming to male, Terry's pure heart prayed, the like garnet talisman gleams, and seemed to smile at him for protecting and loving its Mistress so deeply.
Star Maker had been judged worthy by impressed Chronos to be a more useful Time Guardian in the outside world rather than be chained to the Doorway for his deft strategy. So with the Garnet Rod he had taken from her, Terry easily teleports as full-fledged Time Lord into the locked Doorway's inner sanctum, as if it were second nature for this soldier from a far off world who had so embraced this one as his own.
In the flash of a moment, Maker finds himself within the misty clouds of the Doorway of Time, but even through the mists, his love-filled eyes could pierce straight through, as he looks longingly for his lady to be well and safe. She, in all her soft, demure wisteria glow was the most beautiful and superbly desired sight for Terry's longing eyes to gaze upon.
Susan, too, recognizes her handsome husband through the same eyes. The depth of their bond, through Time and Space, was all-encompassing to them both. She rushes to him at the very moment he appeared—sensing her Time Lord was near, not by sight, but by the trembling of her heart.
"My love!" Susan flies from her cloudy perch overlooking the threshold of the Doorway that he had locked her behind. She had been anxiously awaiting his return the entire, short, yet endlessly long, time as she flies directly into her husband's warm embrace.
"My own princess, are you well? I was so worried..." Terry stumbles over the words as he lands many kisses in his love's hair.
"Are you all right, darling!? I was so worried!" Two minds that were truly one speak at the same time of their concern for one another. Chuckling in lilting giggles, their eyes lock, and the anxieties soften into smiles as the simultaneous whispers turn into a kiss. Tender lips meet as they feel at ease at last within each other's arms, Susan de-transforming into her normal self once again as he pulls her body closer.
Susan can't help but gaze in adoration at her husband who had so mastered the trappings of time with such ease and in so short a time. "My incredible Time Lord…"
"You think too much of me. I only did what needed to be done." He blushes at her overwhelming praise and look of wonder at him.
"I could never think too much of you! You are so wonderful in every way!" She gushes.
"My precious Time Lady, forgive my boldness to place you here in Time's safe bosom, but I will do everything in my power to keep you from harm." Recalling Alex's words, Terry begins to apologize, though nothing would've altered his decision.
But Susan puts a finger to his lips. "Thank you, my love. For protecting me...for protecting..." She looks to her stomach and then back up at him. He smiles at her understanding of his position on this point, and Terry places his hand on her full tummy.
"But, I was so terribly worried about you going into battle like that alone. When I sensed the danger, I couldn't bear not being by your side. So I sent you all my heart. You saved them all, didn't you?" Susan whispers into his chest, but Terry cuts her off, stopping her trembling lips with another passionate kiss.
"God saved them all. I was merely playing my part He assigned me. 'The moon shines full at His command and all the stars obey.'" Terry melodically sings a phrase from a timeless hymn to echo and affirm his sentiment as Susan smiles proudly at his wisdom and reverence. "But yes, Susan, I felt your presence, your light, your love, always beside me, giving me the drive and inspiration to succeed. Thank you, my beloved. I couldn't have accomplished it without you." Terry's light purple eyes tremble his grateful emotion into Susan's reflective orbs. "But, no more talk of danger. Come, my precious. I have a surprise for you." And with the ease of the flicker of a musically snapped finger, the Time Lord opens the exit of the tucked in safety of Time's Doorway.
As time now flowed back on its true course, the Time Lord leads his Time Lady, his arm around her, from this misty realm to that of the real world, where hardship and danger were still roaming about each corner and all one could do was hold onto one another.
The hymn "I Sing the Mighty Power of God" Terry sings a portion of at the end to Susan was written in 1715 by Isaac Watts.
Dear Sailor Moon friends!
This was such a momentous battle chapter, wasn't it? My inspiration and Sailor sister Setsuna Kou's favorite to date! I'd love to hear your comments on what you thought of our genius Super Star Maker claiming his new title as 'Time Lord', accomplishing an incredible, perfectly calculated, well-timed 'Guardian Time Reverse!' in order to save the lives of many of our Sailor team, including Eternal Sailor Moon herself from this deadly assault the traitorous Heir had orchestrated.
God bless you!
HarukaKou