"This… is a long story," Luna said. "I don't know where to start."

"Then start by the beginning," Minako urged, then turning to Artemis. "I still can't believe you hide this from me for so long. How could you hide the fact you were an alien from me!"

"This… it's more complicated than that," Artemis replied.

"Please, Minako-chan, let them explain," Usagi tried to calm the situation.

After what happened with Nyanko, the group went back inside Usagi's house, discussing the recent revelation regarding their feline allies.

"I mean, they are talking cats from the moon, is it weird that they actually came from another planet?" Makoto said.

"That's beside the point! They kept that fact from us since the beginning!" Minako argued. "And now you're telling me you're from the same planet as this Nyanko cat freak, Maw-"

"Mau," Luna corrected.

"Whatever!"

"As I said, it's a long story. Before we joined the Silver Millenium, we were living on Mau. We are born there."

"So… do you know Tin Nyanko?" Rei asked.

"No. We weren't living at the same time period. This was thousands of years ago, during the time of the Silver Millenium. There was another Sailor Mau, who probably passed away after so many years and a new one was born, eventually one being Nyanko," Luna said.

"Queen Serenity used to be a traveller, a clandestine roaming space," Artemis began to explain. "One day she found her way to our planet, Mau, and we welcomed her. As I already mentioned, the Mautians are peace-loving people, so we have no issue with visitors coming in peace."

Usagi was taken aback. Her past mother, Queen Serenity, once was clandestine in space and visited other planets?

"Our planet guardian of the time, our Sailor Mau, befriended Queen Serenity," Luna explained. "Artemis and I were working with Sailor Mau and agreed to offer our support to Queen Serenity. We knew she would one day play a significant role in the universe, thanks to the shining light she was carrying, her star seed, the Silver Crystal… so Artemis and I decided to leave Mau with the blessing of our senshi and travel with Queen Serenity, joining the Silver Millenium by her side."

Usagi was trying to process everything she learned. Luna and Artemis were from another planet but chose to leave to help Queen Serenity with the Silver Millenium. They have been by their side ever since despite being aliens.

"But why… haven't you told us?" Ami asked.

"Because… we thought you might not like it… knowing that we are aliens," Luna said.

"Not everyone is welcoming of aliens," Artemis added.

Usagi immediately thought about the outers and shivered.

"Of course we don't care that you're aliens!" Minako exclaimed. "We care that you kept that from us for so long!"

"You were by our side all this time and this won't change just because you are from another planet, or even from another solar system," Makoto added.

"You're our comrades no matter what," Rei said.

"Yes!" Ami nodded.

Usagi gently pat Luna before holding her.

"Nothing will change between us," Usagi said.

"Usagi-chan…"

"Still, what about Nyanko?" Minako asked. "She's Sailor Mau, right?"

"Not the one we knew," Artemis said. "And she sold our her star seed to Galaxia."

"And now, apparently Mau is a world of death…" Luna said sadly.

"Why would she do that!?" Artemis exclaimed. "It doesn't make any sense! No Sailor Mau would ever betray her planet!"

"Then there must be an explanation," Usagi said. "I don't think Nyanko-san is a bad person. We have to ask her."

"I don't know, Usagi-chan… she attacked us," Minako said.

"That noise hurt yes but she didn't harm us, she was just trying to leave!" Usagi argued. "Because we weren't giving her any chance to explain herself! She didn't try to actually fight us or hurt us!"

"As much as I want to agree with you," Rei began, "we still need to be careful around her. She wasn't honest with us about everything. But I do agree we need to have a talk with her."

"And preferably, without Haruka-san and the others," Ami said.

Everyone seemed to agree, while Minako showed some doubt but didn't express her concerns.

Without much surprise, Suzu Nyanko was absent from school today. Now that her true identity was known, she had no reason to keep the charade anymore. But still, somehow, Usagi had hoped that she would see her in class.

School ended unceremoniously and Usagi left the classroom. She wandered in the corridors, lost in her thoughts until she heard a scream coming from a club room.

"Kyaa, a monster!"

Immediately Usagi hide behind a border and pulled out her compact.

"Moon Eternal, Make Up!"

In an instant Usagi had turned into Eternal Sailor Moon, rushing towards the scream. She burst inside the room, ready to intervene.

She wasn't surprised to discover the recurring shadowy monster, this time threatening a high school girl.

"Run, quickly!" Sailor Moon yelled.

The girl didn't need to be told twice and ran away, leaving Sailor Moon to face the monster alone.

"How dare you attack a poor innocent girl! In the name of the moon, I shall punish you!"

The beast replied by throwing a powerful sound wave at her.

"Ahhh!"

Ring-a-ling.

"Tinkle Resonance!"

A sudden sound wave hit the monster's attack, neutralizing it.

Sailor Moon wasn't expecting White Cat- Nyanko, to show up. Not after everything that happened.

"Now is your chance, Sailor Moon!" Nyanko declared.

"... ah! Y-Yes…!"

Sailor Moon conjured the Eternal Tiare, aiming at the monster.

"Starlight Honeymoon Therapy Kiss!"

Pink light flared at the top of the Tiare and streamed toward the monster in multiple waves which hit it directly.

"Purify!" the monster screamed.

The dark aura disappeared and the creature returned to its original form; a high school boy.

She then turned to Nyanko, somehow feeling relieved to see her.

"Nyanko-san…"

"Usagi-chan…"

"I thought…you were absent from school today…"

"I didn't want to come to class because of what happened, and put you in an uncomfortable situation, but I still wanted to watch over you. So I came, I just kept my distance."

Sailor Moon stepped closer to her.

"Nyanko-san, please, you have to tell us the truth. Everything that happened, with Mau, Galaxia…"

Nyanko looked tensed when she heard those names.

"I… I'm sorry, I really didn't want to keep things from you, I swear…! But-"

"World Shaking!"

Nyanko quickly jumped out of the way to dodge the attack.

"What…? Uranus!?" Sailor Moon exclaimed.

Uranus stepped inside the room, followed by Neptune.

"Stay away from Sailor Moon!" Uranus ordered.

"Wait, Uranus, Neptune! She came to help me! She's not our enemy!" Sailor Moon tried to explain.

But the outers ignored her.

"What if I don't want to stay away from her?" Nyanko scoffed.

"Then we will have to force you," Uranus spat.

"Deep Submerge!"

"Mau Ring Echo!"

Suddenly, multiple Nyankos appeared. It was as if she duplicated. Neptune's attack hit one of them, who then disappeared like she was never there in the first place.

"What's that!? Why are they multiple of them!?" Uranus exclaimed.

"Afterimages," Neptune explained. "They are not real. Those are illusions."

"Well I guess we will have to hit them all to find the real one!"

"Geez, such pointless violence," all the Nyankos said in unison, with an echo.

Uranus conjured her sword and started slicing into the afterimages one after the other. Neptune rather observed them and suddenly, reached for one.

"W-what…?" Nyanko exclaimed.

"Got you!" Neptune said.

"How…?"

"There will always be small details an afterimage can't replicate from an actual real, breathing person. You just need to be observing."

Neptune then seized Nyanko from behind, restraining both her arms.

"Uranus, now!"

"Stop!" Sailor Moon pleaded.

"World Shaking!"

Nyanko struggled and managed to squeeze out from Neptune's grip, who was now right in the path of Uranus' attack.

"Neptune!" Uranus cried out.

Nyanko, instead of simply running away, pushed Neptune to the floor, getting them both out of the way of the attack.

"Neptune!?"

Seeing that her girlfriend was alright Uranus sighed with relief before staring at Nyanko.

"You…"

Uranus took a step towards Nyanko, ready to jump on her at the speed of the wind.

"Sound Wave Flash!" Nyanko exclaimed.

Before Uranus could seize her Nyanko was already gone, she ran away at incredible speed and was nowhere to be seen.

"No way… she was faster than me," Uranus mumbled. "Faster than the wind…"

"That looked like… the speed of sound," Neptune added.

Both outers nodded at one another and exited the room, clearly showing their intention at chasing after Nyanko.

"Uranus, Neptune, wait!" Sailor Moon cried out.

But once again, they ignored her. As she was about to go after them, Sailor Moon was joined by the inners.

"What happened here?" Rei asked.

"It's Haruka-san and Michiru-san. They tried to attack Nyanko-san and are chasing her down. We have to stop them!"

The inners nodded and followed after Sailor Moon.

"Uranus, Neptune, wait!" Sailor Moon exclaimed.

The inners were running after the outers, catching up to them in an empty yard.

"She's not our enemy!" Sailor Moon argued.

"We can't allow this invader to meddle with us!" Uranus protested. "And we can't trust her!"

"We can't take any risks," Neptune added.

"Please, let's at least discuss it," Mercury pleaded. "She has been helping us with those new threats since the beginning…"

"Who's to say she's not behind them!?" Uranus argued back.

"She would have no reason to fight them if so," Jupiter protested.

"Even so, she hid her true identity," Neptune said.

"Given how we are treating her, I can't blame her," Mars said.

"Why are you siding with her?!" Uranus snapped.

"Please everyone, stop fighting!" Sailor Moon begged. "We are all allies!"

"Agreed. I too, do not wish to see you fight among yourself."

Much to everyone's surprise, the one who said that was none other than Nyanko.

"You…!?" Uranus muttered. "You're still here?!"

"I never really left," Nyanko answered. "I would have gladly stayed hidden, but I just can't stand to see allies turn against one another over me. So I give up."

Nyanko suddenly grabbed the golden bell on her bow and removed it, her senshi transformation coming undone. In her hand was still the bell, now grey. She suddenly threw it at Jupiter who, despite her confusion, effortlessly caught the bell.

"What…?" Jupiter whispered.

"This is my transformation device," Nyanko explained. "Without it, I can't transform."

"... What's the meaning of this? Why are you giving her that?" Neptune asked.

Nyanko promptly raised both hands.

"Isn't it obvious? I'm surrendering," Nyanko replied.

This left everyone speechless for a moment, even the outers.

"But… why?" Jupiter finally broke the silence.

"I already told you. I can't bear to see you fight among yourself, especially not over me. You're supposed to be allies and I do not wish to cause conflict between you… especially not at the detriment of Sailor Moon."

"Nyanko-san…"

"What is it with your infatuation with our princess!?" Uranus exclaimed.

"I… I'm grateful to her. The shining light she carries saved me when I was under the control of Chaos. So that's why, I owe her my life- I would die for her!"

"We are Sailor Moon's protectors!" Uranus let out. "You are nothing but an intruder!"

"Uranus, please!" Sailor Moon pleaded.

Nyanko smiled bitterly.

"This is why I don't want to fight you. Not only do I have no interest in fighting fellow senshi, but fighting Sailor Moon's protectors would only cause her harm. And I'd rather die than hurt her! But I won't stand by while she's in danger! If you're so adamant in refusing my help, you'll have to kill me to stop me!" Nyanko declared.

At those words, Uranus pulled up her sword.

"If you insist, then so be it!" Uranus replied.

As fast as a gust of wind, Uranus rushed towards the unarmed and defenceless Nyanko, ready to slice her.

"Uranus, no!" Sailor Moon desperately screamed.

As she was about to cut down Nyanko, Uranus suddenly stopped when her blade was right about to slash her neck.

"... So you were being serious," Uranus commented. "You didn't even attempt to dodge my attack, even though I know you're fast."

Nyanko's face was awfully pale as if all blood had been drained from it.

"... Did I stutter? I said I was not going to fight you. I can't transform without my bell anyway."

"So, this wasn't a lie either, huh…"

Uranus took a step away from Nyanko, still holding her sword.

"When that masked woman attacked me, you took a hit by getting between us. Why?" Uranus questioned.

"I wanted to stop a pointless fight. I don't think you two were on opposing sides."

"And with Neptune? Why did you push her away from my attack?"

"I didn't want to get hit, obviously."

"But I was attacking you! And she was helping me! So why save her?"

"This is irrelevant. I wasn't going to let someone get hurt."

"Even your own enemy?"

"I already told you. I don't consider you my enemies. We're all fellow senshi."

Uranus suddenly looked conflicted, glancing at Neptune as if she was looking for some sort of support.

"I perfectly understand why you are distrustful of me," Nyanko continued. "Given our… common past. But believe me, the person you met, this awful individual working for Galaxia… wasn't me. This… 'Tin Nyanko', is not who I am, and never was. I was possessed by Chaos. This monster is gone. I am the real Nyanko, and I want the same thing as you."

"... Which is?"

"Protect people of this planet from those Remnants of Chaos turning people into monsters and forcing them to hurt others, as well as bring my support to Sailor Moon."

Uranus seemed thoughtful for a moment before she finally sighed.

"You really care about Sailor Moon, huh."

"O-Of course…!"

For the first time since their encounter, Uranus smiled. She then put a hand on Nyanko's shoulder.

"I believe you. I can see how much you care for her," she said softly.

"Uranus…" Sailor Moon whispered.

But then, Uranus' expression turned darker.

"Unfortunately, we can't accept the help of an invader."

Out of the blue, Uranus punched Nyanko right in the stomach, making her bend over in pain, breathless.

"Nyanko! Uranus?!" Sailor Moon exclaimed.

Everyone seemed shocked, even Neptune. Nyanko gasped in pain before collapsing to the ground, and passing out.

"Uranus…" Neptune whispered.

Uranus glared at all the inners.

"This is a warning. Next time, I won't be as nice," she said coldly, before turning to her partner. "Neptune, let's go."

Neptune seemed to be hesitating for a moment before finally following Uranus, leaving the inners with the unconscious Nyanko.

Ouch! That was a gut punch from Uranus (pun intended). Poor Nyanko :c

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