Chapter 4: Dark Omens
January 20, 8983
Pluto had always been a planet of silence. It was too far from the sun to consider itself truly a part of the Solar System, with an orbit too unstable to allow for recognizable seasons. They used artificial solar energy reactors, like all of the planets beyond the asteroid belt, but not much would grow on the tiny planet. The people tended to be quiet and serious, determined to live their lives in peaceful isolation away from the loud passions of the inner eight planets. Their queen would not have it any other way.
Charon Castle had been built nearly ten thousand years earlier, as a dark retreat for the child of Hades, crafted from obsidian with deep garnet depths. The Pluto Royal family had always lived there, watching the Time Gate and protecting the Solar System from outside threats. Setsuna sat on her high throne, only her garnet eyes moving as readings from the Time Gate scrolled through the air before her. No less than fifty of her servants hovered around the gate at any given time, taking readings and monitoring the stability of the time stream. As mortals, they could never hope to understand what they were seeing, but without them and their machines Setsuna would have to actively guard the Time Gate as Sailor Pluto without time for sleeping, eating, or socializing. At one point, before she started letting herself die and be reborn into her own Pluto Royal Line, she had done just that, reveling in the solitude of the endless Time Streams. After so many lifetimes and so many friends among the royals of the other planets, she could no longer let herself live completely alone.
She leaned forward and touched the air before her, pausing a set of disturbing readings. She watched as the previously smooth time stream rippled, the future unraveling before her very eyes. "Monitor Time Stream A17 and iterations 4S-25 through 4V-12. Give me historical data back ten thousand years and forward ten thousand on those strings."
Her orders were obeyed silently, and she leaned back into the comfort of her throne, wondering how long she would be able to wait before she had to transform into Sailor Pluto and search the Time Stream herself. She hated having to do that, because she always ended up watching her own painful past every time she had to locate and correct a disturbance. She watched as her screen highlighted the selected disturbance, focusing on a single knot in the time stream. The analysis indicated that an important event would happen soon, something she must prevent in order to preserve the future. Reaching out with one gloved hand, the black-robed Queen prepared to summon her Time Key.
"Your Majesty, a missive has arrived from Saturn. The Queen requests your presence."
Setsuna paused as the servant waited patiently at the foot of her throne, his head bowed. The Saturn Royal Family consisted of mortals, one daughter in each generation carrying the ability to become Sailor Saturn if the need were ever to arise. It was impossible to know which princess could be called until that tragic moment arrived. In the strictest sense, they were not the same as the other Senshi, and Sailor Saturn never fought with her peers since her only power was to destroy a world too corrupted by dark power. In Setsuna's lives as Sailor Pluto, she had seen only seen the rise of seven young Sailor Saturns, and each had sacrificed herself to destroy a threat the other Senshi were not able to fight. The people of Saturn rarely communicated with outsiders, and the Queen would never summon Pluto without an urgent reason.
"Prepare my ship."
"Forgive me, Great Queen, but her missive said that you must arrive immediately. A ship would be too slow."
"I see. Everyone, continue to track that knot in the time stream and have full reports ready for me when I return." Setsuna stood and summoned her staff, letting her Sailor Pluto transformation wash over her as she closed her eyes and focused on Titan Castle and Queen Yumemi. An instant later, the Queen of Setsuna was gone.
-hr-
"Thank you for coming on such short notice." Queen Yumemi's black eyes were filled with a worry Setsuna had never seen from the woman before, her hesitation concerning the outermost senshi. "There is a problem."
"What problem?" Setsuna had changed back into her civilian form, her long black dress trailing behind her as she followed the purple-haired queen through Titan Castle. "I was examining a knot in the space-time continuum when you called me."
"This is more important than that. It may even be the cause." They reached the Royal Wing of the palace, Yumemi pausing with one hand resting on the door to her daughter's room. "I feel like I failed as Queen, since Otou noticed her condition first." She pushed the door open and ushered Setsuna inside.
A small girl, probably no older than twelve, slept peacefully in the purple bed, her short hair spread in a halo around her peaceful face. For a moment, Setsuna had no idea what she was looking at, but when she moved closer she understood. "It can't be."
"It can't be anything else," Yumemi countered, her voice barely a whisper. "She's too young, Setsuna. Hotaru is the only child I have, and if she dies my line will end."
"I must find a way to stop this. Yumemi, summon a full Council to convene here within the month. I have prevented the rise of two Sailor Saturns and I believe I can prevent this as long as I understand why she is being called. Are the henshin stick and talisman still locked in the armory?"
"Of course. She has never touched them or seen them."
"Good. It will delay this change. Come, we must prepare."
As the two queens left the sleeping child, the last ray of light from the doorway revealed the purple symbol of Saturn pulsing faintly on Hotaru's forehead.
Silence. Recently, it was all the woman craved. She leaned against the wall of her tiny fortress, short blonde hair teased by the artificial wind, an invisible dome overhead granting her air and allowing her peace. The small building held a bed, a piano, and an array of weapons, but nothing to remind her of her own palace, her tutors, and her overbearing yet distant father. He was everything to her, but she was less than nothing to him. Until she married as he decreed, he would never pass her the Crown, and until he gave her that she would never be allowed to take her rightful place as Sailor Uranus.
Furious, she closed her emerald eyes and slammed her hand into the pillar she had been leaning against, cursing her impulsive move as her knuckles screamed in pain. She ran the fingers of her uninjured hand through her hair before smoothing her suit and turning back to her piano. Alone on Miranda, without her guards and servants following her and her father pestering her, the princess was able to dress in the suits she preferred, play her piano, and practice her swordplay in peace. She was not interested in being a lady, she was not interested in marrying a noble man, and ever since her father had reassigned her ladies in waiting she did not even have an outlet for her sexual frustration. All she had left was this moon, this retreat, and the silence. If she could have spent time with the War Queens or their families, she might better understand her future, but her father did not allow such relationships.
"So this is where you are hiding."
Haruka spun on one booted foot, her hands raised in a defensive stance as her emerald eyes analyzed her enemy. The tall woman with long, dark green hair stared at her with amused garnet eyes until the princess lowered her hands and stepped forward politely, inclining her head in a greeting among equals. "I remember you from Serenity's presentation." Her husky voice, another trait her father considered too masculine for a queen, carried a hint of uncertainty, but she remembered the woman who had befriended her all those years ago.
"Correct. I am Setsuna, Queen of Pluto." The woman was dressed in black and garnet, as she had been all those years earlier, but there was a sense of urgency in her stance that had not been present before.
"Why are you here? How did you find me? My castle is on Oberon and our major cities are spread across Titania, Ariel, and Umbriel. No one would think to look here for a princess of Uranus."
"And that is how I knew that you would choose this moon for your retreat. Your mother once spent time here, as well."
Haruka's eyes widened at the mention of the woman she looked so much like, a woman she desperately missed even though they had never met. "You knew my mother?" She knew the answer, of course. All of the queens had known each other, had grown up together, and had spent years as senshi fighting side-by-side against any threat to the Silver Millennium. Still, it seemed like the right question to ask.
"She was my friend. When she was your age, she was also restless. It is a common trait for the princess of Uranus to emulate the wind that is her power. You want to be free, to explore the solar system and find your true self."
"I do."
Setsuna waved her hand, smiling as the henshin stick of Uranus and the Space Sword appeared in the air before her. "Then I have an offer for you. I made the same offer to your mother, so long ago. Take these and leave. The henshin stick will give you the power to teleport wherever you want, and you can go see the other worlds, meet the other royals, and decide what your place should be in the Silver Millennium."
Haruka had never in her life been offered anything for free, with no strings attached, and she sensed that Setsuna needed something from her. "What do you want in return?"
"In a month's time, there will be a Full Council on Titan. We have an important situation to discuss among the rulers of the planets. Your father will never believe you are ready to be queen, so you must show him that you are. Be at the meeting."
Haruka reached for the Space Sword and henshin stick, pausing with her fingers inches from brushing them. "I will never be the lady he wants. I will never wear dresses, or act like a girl, or happily marry some man to preserve my line."
"No, I imagine that you will not. But you will be strong, and you will fight, and you will protect the princess and this Solar System as you promised on that day so long ago."
"Yes."The word bound her, as the Lunarian she had spoken as a child would bind her for all eternity.
"Then take these, and go. Be on Titan when I need you."
Haruka nodded and grabbed her sword and henshin stick, raising her hand to the sky and calling out her transformation. She glanced at her skin-tight uniform and skirt, at the only armor she would ever wear that made her look like a woman, and grimaced before she vanished. Setsuna stared at the empty fortress, pulling a small computer from the same pocket of time that held her staff, glaring at the screen. Reports from Pluto scrolled across the screen, the knot in time noticeably smaller across seventeen iterations.
Perhaps the future could be saved after all.
Meika had been born to be a warrior. As the Queen of Jupiter, it was the only life she had ever known. Warriors were not known for being sentimental, but the green-haired Jovian found herself sitting at her retreat on Europa, far from the huge, loud cities of Ganymede, Io, and Callisto, staring at images of her beloved from years before. They had taken time away from their planets two times a year since their training days on the Moon, meeting on Europa and spending as much time together as possible. But Amami had stopped visiting years earlier, determined to focus on her daughter's education and to stop "cavorting around like love-sick teenagers". Her callous words still stung, but Meika wanted nothing more than to have her Mercurian princess back again.
"I thought you would be here."
"Amami!"
The shorter woman smiled as she reached out to take Meika's hand, the Jovian pulling her shy lover close enough for a gentle kiss. Amami pulled away reluctantly, a blush staining her cheeks, letting her love for the taller woman shine from her ice blue eyes. Meika was always amazed that she still blushed after all this time. "I came to bring you a message, but I realize now how much I've missed seeing you."
Meika rested her chin on the top of Amami's head, letting the Mercurian's familiar, beloved scent wash over her. "What message?"
"We have been summoned to a Full Council on Titan. Pluto is summoning us."
"That's bad," Meika whispered.
"Yes. I just . . . I wanted to spend a little time with you before the council meeting."
Meika smiled in agreement. "I would like that. I have missed you, Amami."
"I know. I was a little surprised to find you here today instead of attending your court."
"I have had quite a bit of free time recently with all of my children away guarding your daughter. In a month, they will return, and Makoto will finally be ready to challenge me for her henshin stick."
"Yes, and I am planning to hand mine over to Ami. The meeting is just after that. We will pass our powers and go to the meeting. If there is a new, powerful threat that Pluto has discovered, then perhaps new senshi are needed to fight it."
Minako leaned against the balcony railing of her assigned room, staring at Mars floating overhead. The rust-red planet seemed to mock her, refusing to give her a man worth marrying, instead offering only a crimson-haired beauty she could never have. Deimos had not offered any suitable candidates either, and the blonde's month was way past up. She had been on Mars for three times as long as she had planned, and her mother had finally summoned her home. She and Rei had only grown closer over time, regardless of their own increasingly futile efforts to remain distant from each other. Rei had continued to be her champion, defeating hundreds of men who desired Minako's hand, and it had become more and more difficult to pretend to search for her soul mate. As a Venusian, she only desired one thing, and now that she knew that Rei was her destined partner, not having the woman was tearing her apart.
"It's not fair," she whispered in her native tongue, unable to contain her grief as tears leaked from her darkening blue eyes.
"Don't cry, my love." Rei appeared behind the Venusian, wrapping her warm arms around the blonde and holding her until her tears dried. She was only a couple of inches taller than her soul mate, but she had started wearing heels when they spent time together in order to emphasize her height. "I have been doing a little research, Minako. Did you know that your mother goes on a retreat two or three times every year?"
Minako nodded. "Yes. She is usually gone for a couple of weeks. She says that she goes to converse with some of the other queens and to train."
"Did you know that my mother also goes on a retreat multiple times a year, and that the time frame is always the same as Asakaze's?"
Minako's shocked eyes flew up to meet Rei's calm amethyst orbs. "No way. They go together? They spend time together?"
"Every year. Minako, such behavior is common among the queens. These trysts have been happening for thousands of years. If our soul mates are always women and we are not allowed to be with them, perhaps our mothers have the right plan." Her fingers tightened on Minako's shoulders, her hope evident in that action.
"Could you be happy only seeing me three times a year?"
"I can't be happy never seeing you," Rei countered, turning Minako to face her. She wiped the remnants of Minako's tears away with her thumb, smiling as the blonde leaned into the caress. When they were together, touching, she could feel the bond between them. It felt natural, perfect, and she never wanted to lose it. One moment they were standing there, staring into each other's eyes, and the next moment they were kissing like they would never see each other again. Rei had no idea which of them had moved first, but Minako was in her arms and everything felt perfect. The only thing she had wanted since taking the Venusian's hand that first day had been to kiss her, and now with the passion flaring up between them, she wanted more.
"Rei, we can't," Minako whispered, running her fingers through Rei's hair as the Martian began to untie the laces on the back of her dress.
The Martian paused, lust darkening her purple eyes as she raised them to meet Minako's. "Tell me to stop," she growled, knowing what it would cost her to obey, but certain that she could leave if the Venusian told her to.
Minako's fingers tightened in Rei's crimson tresses, but she could never push her soul mate away. She just shook her head, admitting that she wanted this as much as her partner did. She shivered as her dress fell to the floor, Rei's fingers leaving trails of fire across her skin. "Please, don't start something we can't finish. I can barely control myself around you as it is."
Rei pulled back and looked down at the blonde, her sheer shift hiding nothing from the Martian's burning gaze. "Do you know how beautiful you are?" Minako looked away and blushed, Rei's hand under her chin forcing her to look back up. "I never start anything I can't finish," she purred, leaning down to gently bite the blonde's neck. "You claim to be the future avatar of love and beauty; show me what you've got."
The challenge in the Martian's voice dispelled the last of Minako's trepidation, her eyes flashing in the dim light. "Bad idea to challenge a Venusian," she whispered in her native tongue, lowering her hands on Rei's chest and pushing her backwards.
"Maybe it's a great idea," the Martian retorted, her words oddly accented but clearly Venusian, and her emotions washed over Minako with her words.
"When did you learn my language?"
Rei smiled as the back of her legs hit the large bed in Minako's room, the slender blonde releasing the jeweled shoulder clasps holding up the Martian's dress. "It's easier to speak to you this way. I can show you what I feel even when I can't always say it."
"You learn fast." Minako squealed as Rei reversed their positions, pushing the blonde onto the bed and leaning over her, caging the other woman with her arms. The Venusian reached up and ran her fingers over the muscles in the Martian's arms, a predatory gleam in her pale blue eyes. "Good thing you're strong; I haven't heard of many Martians who could keep up with a Venusian."
"Bad idea to challenge a Martian."
One of the perks of being a princess was having the undisputed right to sleep in once in a while. Servants, however, believed in timetables and punctuality, so Rei knew that she would have precious few hours with her new lover. As the timepiece on the wall ticked toward the inevitable Martian dawn, she smiled at the exhausted blonde, proud that she had managed to stay awake when Minako ran out of energy. "I win."
"Barely," Minako whispered, her eyes fluttering open. "I held back in consideration for your . . . inexperience."
"Inexperience? You were as much a virgin as I. Although, some of the things you showed me were . . . incredible."
"I have had instructors since I was young. Venusians learn as much as we can about pleasuring our potential lovers so that we never . . . disappoint."
Rei smiled and ran her fingers through Minako's golden hair. "How could you ever disappoint me? But you seriously have people teach you how to have sex?"
"How to make love," Minako corrected, one finger on Rei's lips. "We are a planet of love, so we are trained in that art. It is no different than you, the planet of war, training your people to fight."
"It is quite a bit more intimate."
"My entire race is a bit more intimate. You can't say that you are displeased at the depth of my training."
"No, I'm not." She glanced at the clock on the wall, leaning down and kissing Minako briefly. "We have a little more time before your servants arrive to begin the day. Did you want to show me anything else?"
Minako grinned as she flipped Rei onto her back, using the silk tie she had worn in her hair the night before to secure the Martian's wrists to the posts of the bed. Rei's eyes filled with desire, and her lover kissed her gently on the cheek. "I may have something."
"Luhaira ri, Minako."
"I love you, too, my Rei."
Rei had never been nervous when entering her own throne room before, but after three months with Minako, she could no longer look at her family's home the same way. She had failed to find the Venusian a suitable husband, as her mother had ordered, and she had become the blonde's lover, something her mother had forbidden. Rikuriko would know what her daughter had done, and the young princess had no idea how to deal with the queen. Lying was never an option for a current or future Sailor Mars, so she planned to appeal to her mother's feelings for Asakaze.
Rikuriko looked up from the report she was reading, confusion coloring her aura a mild orange. Her eyes narrowed as Minako and Rei reached the foot of her throne, pushing herself to her feet as all noise in the huge chamber ceased.
"You disobeyed me."
"Yes." There was no point in prevaricating with Rikuriko.
"Why?"
"I had to." Rei knew that her father and siblings had never learned many languages, and Venusian was an extremely complicated one that they would never have considered useful. The confusion on Kazan's face confirmed her suspicion as Akaneiro looked up at his wife for translation.
Rikuriko, who clearly had been Asakaze's secret lover for decades, knew the language of Venus as well as she knew her own. Her pink eyes widened in shock as she raked Minako with her gaze, shaking her head in disbelief. "You would not have gone so far. You would not cross that line!" Underneath the shock she projected with her words, Rei could sense desperation and fury. Rikuriko would do whatever it took to keep Rei away from her new lover and Rei didn't know if she could stop her.
"Well, I did. I made the decision that you never could. I made the decision that you still struggle with three times a year." Rei had been worried that she could not have said that correctly in Venusian, but her words cut deeper in Martian and forced her mother's fury to the forefront. If they were going to have a fight about her relationship with the blonde princess, it needed to happen as soon as possible.
"You dare compare yourself to me? I know my duty and I obeyed every law laid before me decades ago. As the High Princess of Mars, you should have done the same!"
"I will, eventually. But I won't be like you and abandon her."
"Abandon? I would never abandon Asakaze."
"Three times a year is enough? Are you satisfied with that? Is she? Or does she go home afterwards and cry for weeks after being separated from her soul mate?"
Rikuriko slammed her fist onto the arm of her throne in fury, shocking her husband and children. They had no idea why the two women were fighting, but every emotion they projected was hammering against everyone in the throne room, some of the younger nobles unable to hide their concern. The princess and queen had always been so alike; this was the first time anyone had seen them fight. "You think I do it on purpose? I could never hurt her."
"But you do. Every time."
"You insolent child! Don't you understand? Luhaira re!"
"Luhaira reh'Minako!" Rei screamed back. "I love her as much as you love Asakaze, but I will not send her home with a false soul mate!"
Rikuriko stared at her stubborn child and the beautiful blonde beside her. Asakaze's blue-eyed child. Her fury had faded into determination, and she knew that she had to preserve the Ancient Laws, no matter the cost to her heir. Rei and Minako were both young, but one day they would understand what sacrifice meant, and they would fall into the pattern that she and Asakaze had adopted to protect their love and their sanity. "And you, Minako?"
The Venusian looked up at the queen, her eyes full of love and desperation. "I love Rei with all of my soul, and I will do whatever it takes to be with her."
She had known that a Venusian would always answer that way after finding her soul mate. Asakaze had said the same thing to her, all those decades ago, but Rikuriko had been strong enough to send her blonde away. It was clear that Rei was not as strong, despite all of her mother's warnings three months ago. "That is not an option. Princess of Venus, you will return to your home as requested by Queen Asakaze. Rei, you are hereby confined to your chambers until you see reason and choose a husband."
Rei recoiled in shock, feeling Minako take her hand, desperate not to be separated. "Mother, please reconsider . . ."
"No. I am your queen and my word is final." Rikuriko turned to leave, her fury evident in her stride if not her voice, and Rei realized she only had one option left if she wanted to stay with Minako.
"Then I Challenge you."
Rikuriko froze, utter silence falling on the great hall as even the nobles stared in shock. Rei ladies, having stayed behind during her tour of Phobos and Deimos, covered their mouths almost in unison, unable to believe what their princess and friend had said. They would never have expected something like this from her. Even Kazan, who had never been very close to Rei, stood from his throne with denial in his red eyes, unable to believe what his little sister had said. Minako looked up at Rei in confusion, squeezing the Martian's hand in query. She wasn't a Martian, so there was no way she could know, but Rei had just broken the greatest tradition of the royal line, and she had done it for Minako. "You . . . what?"
"Did I stutter?" the princess retorted, her voice little more than a furious hiss as a faint red light flickered around her slender form. She stood even taller, amethyst eyes boring into her mother's back. "I Challenge you, Mars Rikuriko, for the Mars henshin stick."
Rikuriko turned, taking in her daughter's determined stance and the intimate way she held the blonde Venusian. Perhaps defeating the child in battle was the only way to teach her to obey her mother and sovereign. "Very well."
"Rei, are you sure you're ready for this?"
The Martian tightened her bracers and checked the straps on her boots. The two of them were alone in the preparation room adjacent to the fighting ring where dozens of men had vied for Minako's hand only three months before. "I have to be, Minako. If I can't win, she'll force us apart. Three months ago, I would have welcomed the chance to help you find a fake soul mate in order to obey the Ancient Laws. Three weeks ago, I might have been able to still give you to a man and love you from two planets away. Three days ago, I would have gladly accepted the arrangement that my mother and Asakaze have in order to see you and still obey the Laws." Rei looked up as she finished checking her armor, the fire in her amethyst eyes brighter than Minako had ever seen it. "But since last night, I won't live without you, Minako. In ten thousand years, some princess must have broken the Laws without her line fading into oblivion, and we have quite a bit of time before we have to worry about children."
"And what happens when we must continue our lines? What happens when our mothers die and we are Queens of our planets?"
Rei cupped Minako's chin in one hand, smiling gently. "One day, we will have to do what my mother has ordered, but it can be a long time in the future. We are young now, and I want to spend as much time as possible with you before we must inevitably make our own lives on our own planets."
"I would be with you forever."
"And I, you," Rei whispered, leaning in to kiss Minako one last time before her fight.
"Win for me, my champion."
Rei walked out onto the field, her eyes hard as she examined her opponent. Her mother was taller than her, with a longer reach and more experience, and the Mars powers gave her an obvious edge in the fight. Rei knew that she was faster and much more agile than the older woman, but it would not matter if Rikuriko was able to hit her with one of the many attacks in her arsenal. The gathered nobles, dignitaries, and guards were silent as the princess entered the field, clearly expecting their beloved queen to defeat her errant daughter quickly. Rei had other plans.
As soon as Rei nodded that she was ready, Rikuriko attacked.
The young princess had expected her more aggressive mother to make the first move, one she easily dodged, sparing a brief glance at the scorch mark left on the ground where she had been standing. The power of Sailor Mars was fire, and Rikuriko had been wielding that power for a long time. Rei ducked the queen's next attack, her sword cutting a glancing blow across the woman's hip.
Rikuriko paused and glanced down at her side, watching as the thin trail of blood healed almost instantly, leaving only a ragged cut in the white fabric just above the skirt of her Sailor Mars uniform to indicate that Rei had managed to touch her. The girl was a better warrior than her mother had anticipated. Deciding to switch to more long-ranged attacks, the queen backed off and prepared her weakest fire attack, clasping her hands together as she sent the ball of flame at her child.
"Fire Soul!"
Rei crossed her two swords before her like a shield, catching the fireball and reflecting it back, her amethyst eyes amused as her mother leapt to one side. She ran in to attack again, slipping a tiny knife free from her bracer and throwing it as she feinted left and dodged past her mother.
Rei heard the crowd gasp, and she knew that her aim had been true.
Rikuriko stared at the tiny back knife protruding from her left forearm, blood streaming from the wound and staining her white gloves. Her daughter was not holding anything back, despite the close relationship they had always shared, and the queen would have to treat her like a true enemy if she planned to win.
Rikuriko pulled the bloody knife free from her arm, dropping it to the ground as she summoned her bow. Her senshi healing sealed the wound at once, but that bright stain of blood on her glove proved that her daughter had become quite a fearsome warrior. "If you want to fight," she called to her daughter, "then I will fight you with this." Rei narrowed her eyes and raised her swords again, prepared for her mother's arrows.
Moments later, collapsed on the ground, the princess realized that she had underestimated the current Sailor Mars. Queen Rikuriko had always been a fine archer, and Rei glared at the two flaming arrows protruding from her calf as she remembered that. The arrows vanished moments later, the wounds partially cauterized by the fire, but the pain had been enough to send the princess to her knees. Rei clenched her fists as she struggled to rise, fighting tears as she realized that she could not win.
Two strong hands with long, tanned fingers grabbed her arm, helping the princess to her feet. She stumbled as she was forced to put weight on her injured leg, someone holding her for a moment until she could bear the agony. She looked up at the owner of those hands, her eyes widening at the powerful emerald orbs gazing back at her.
"Surely, you are not ready to give up." The husky, masculine voice spoke Standard with a cultured but clearly Uranian accent, and there was a strange power in the man's voice that indicated he had to be of noble birth. If he was a commoner, he would never have been allowed to interfere in this battle.
"I can't beat her," Rei whispered in despair, pulling back from her strange savior. "What can I do against that kind of power?" She waved vaguely at the scorched wounds on her leg, feeling a faint trickle of blood flowing from them to the ground.
"Win," he replied simply, running his long fingers through his short blonde hair as he considered his next words. "What are you fighting for, Princess Mars Rei?"
"I'm fighting to be Sailor Mars." Across the field, Rikuriko watched their conversation, assuming that the blonde noble was trying to convince her daughter to give up this foolish fight that she was clearly too emotional to win. Patiently, her crimson bow ready at her side, she waited.
"That is why you will lose. You can never win power for its own sake, and anyone who desires power like that is doomed to be overcome by it."
"Then what should I fight for?" Rei demanded, the pain in her leg almost forgotten in her growing rage. She knew that he was right, that as fellow warriors Uranians were just as feared on the battlefield as Martians, but she didn't want someone to tell her that she could never win! The Uranian noble remained perfectly calm, despite the angry red-head glaring at him.
He raised one arm and pointed across the field, to the trembling blonde Venusian princess watching the contest with tears in her eyes. "You should be fighting for her," he replied, as if the answer could be so simple.
"What? How do you know anything about that?!"
"I can see the pain in her eyes. If she loves you that much, if you love her that much, then why aren't you fighting for that love?"
Rei stared at the sandy blonde, her eyes widening as she remembered something Minako had said to her three months earlier. "Fight for love?"
"Sailor Venus is the leader of the Inner Senshi because that is what she fights for. If you want to keep her, then you must find that kind of strength, Mars Rei. You must become the kind of warrior she needs you to be or you will lose her forever."
Rei turned back to the battlefield, putting as much weight on her left leg as she could to avoid the stabbing pain in her right. One sword held before her and the other planted in the ground as a makeshift crutch, the Martian Princess faced her opponent once more, a new determination in her fiery eyes. "I love Minako," she whispered to herself, a faint red aura sparkling around her form as Rikuriko raised her bow once more. "I will be her champion one last time."
There may, at some point, be a version of this chapter with the scene between Minako and Rei fully fleshed out, but this chapter was getting way too long as it was and I have to be in a specific mood to write that kind of scene. If I ever do, I will leave a note here.
Neptune's Lover: I'm sure you guessed that there will be a lot more Haruka now that she is on Mars, and soon HM moments.
ElysianNeptune: I've always thought of Haruka as an orphan, either physically or emotionally bereft of her parents. Her kind of personality, her independence and whatnot, just lends itself to this kind of interpretation. Besides, without her mother she is less likely to be feminine, and she certainly isn't that! As you can see with Rei and Rikuriko, having that mother figure there makes it harder to break the rules and be as independent as Haruka needs to be, and that was my main reason for having her mother die the first time I wrote this.
petiyaka: The Laws they keep referencing have actually been mentioned in "Kazeko" and the prophecy that instituted them will be seen in "A Child of Darkness and Light". Since I have already written more than a dozen fics where senshi always have senshi soul mates, I had to find a way for them to have husbands and children despite that fact. I touched on it in a vague sense the first time I wrote this, but now the Laws are going to be the major conflicting point in the budding romances between the senshi. Also, I always thought that Ami might have ecchi thoughts all the time, since she keeps so much to herself and she thinks about everything. Since Makoto is always the "masculine" one in their pairing, I decided that it would be fun if Ami had the first dirty thoughts and made the first move. I created the Lilia character specifically as a foil to the princess and as someone who could force her feelings where she might be too shy on her own to express them.
Meneldur: The first story was just a single story with a flat plot and a moderately predictable series of events, which is what frustrated me so much. After writing the other senshi for so many years, I was upset that I had ignored them in my first real fanfic. This version, besides paying a lot more attention to the other senshi, will also have a more complicated thread throughout (the "knot in time" that Setsuna was examining) and you really aren't going to know until the end what events are making it better and which events are going to destroy the world. Next chapter: proto-cupids and gods and their involvement in the Fall of the Silver Millennium. For anyone who has read my other fics, you are getting fun scenes like the Presentation where you know who the King of the Moon is, but the princesses won't until "Kazeko".