Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ Crystal Trials ❯ Depth of Shadow ( Chapter 7 )

here we are, on the eve of destruction. This is it, folks, part one of two. The final part. I had originally decided not to post this until part two was done, but as I am now stuck on the final battle, I figured I had better post something before my rabid fans seek me out and strike me down. This is when most everything comes together. Plot twists abound. Are you ready?

Meioh Setsuna - Sailorpluto
Tenoh Haruka - Sailoruranus
Tomoe Hotaru - Sailorsaturn
Kaioh Michiru - Sailorneptune
Tsukino Usagi - Sailormoon / Neo-Queen Serenity
Chiba Mamoru - King Endymion
Mizuno Ami - Sailormercury
Hino Rei - Sailormars
Kino Makoto - Sailorjupiter
Aino Minako - Sailorvenus

Also, the word senshi is the equivelant of soldier in english (if you have seen the dub, think scout *shudder*).

Email me (BlueDolphin) with comments/questions/flames/whatever

Night descended on them with startling suddeness. Blackness such as they had never experienced before settled around them, the only light cast by the occasional red slashes of energy. The gnarled branches of the trees they weaved around seemed to reach out for them from the gloom, twisted arms with even more twisted bodies. The air was cold and clammy and clung to their skin with amazing tenacity. Pools of stagnant water hid beneath fallen leaves and small branches, sending the foot of an unwary senshi plunging into slimy water that chilled to the bone.

Sailormars stumbled for what was perhaps the third time over a partially exposed root. "Can we stop?" she asked breathlessly. "We can't see anything!" She looked at the others for confirmation or some sort of support, but none of them would meet her eyes. They were too busy concentrating on keeping the gruelling pace they were travelling at, too busy not thinking of what they had seen to take notice.

"In a moment," Hoshi's voice floated from ahead. The only way the group knew they were heading in the right direction was that they could just barely glimpse Hoshi's pristine white robes. "There is a clearing ahead. A safe clearing."

They lapsed into silence. This forest unnerved them. This world unnerved them. They moved swiftly, not because Hoshi pushed them, but because they needed something to distract themselves from thinking about what they had seen. It was disbelief that pushed them.

True to her word, Hoshi brought them to an abrupt halt a few minutes later. "We will sleep here," she said. The redhead knelt down then, hunched over a bundle of something at her feet. Within moments, a fire was burning merrily in the center of a clearing barely large enough for all of them.

They all sank to the ground wearily, looking at each other's dark-circled eyes and tired faces. They were drained physically, and emotionally. Sailorneptune lay back on the ground and closed her eyes, attempting to make sense of what she had seen. Of what they all had seen.

They had stepped out of the Gates and into a world of nightmares. The sky was an obsidian black, lit only by the occasional deadly strikes of red energy bolts. Crystal Tokyo was far in the distance, the palace a broken finger of crystal pointing accusingly at the sky. They had followed Hoshi unquestioningly, too daunted by what they saw to raise objections.

Hoshi led them to Crystal Tokyo. Even now, Sailorneptune had difficulty remembering what had followed. She rememberd the heads clearest of all, row upon hideous row of heads lining the path they followed to the gate. Heads of common people, their faces frozen in expressions of horror. Sailorneptune remembered seeing the heads of the senshi placed strategically around the gate, remembered looking for her own and feeling oddly comforted when she couldn't find it. She remembered looking above the gate and seeing the head of a person she had only heard about. Hoshi's father, Helios, the golden horn dull and lifeless. She remembered all of this clearly, remembered Sailorvenus emptying her stomach. She didn't remember emptying her own.

Hoshi ushered them forward somehow. The buildings were broken. The streets were uneven. She remembered a lone cat sitting on one corner, starved to the point of emanciation, and lapping listlessly at a dried pool of blood. And a child's doll, lying face down on one side of the street.

The palace. Sailorneptune had a vague memory of fighting their way in, but vague was all it was. Through the hallways. Sailorpluto took over here, the only one of them with any semblance of real thought remaining. They ran through the one long corridor Sailorneptune remembered from the palace in their own time, until they entered the throne room.

Sailorsaturn was here, standing and awaiting their arrival with a twisted smile on her face. Try as she might, Sailorneptune couldn't recall what she looked like. Vague impressions of long hair and a flowing dress...

Sailorsaturn told them that it was useless and too late. Hoshi demanded to know where her mother was. Sailorneptune thought she had added her own demands to know where Haruka was, but she couldn't be sure. Sailorsaturn had laughed, had said that it would be better to see for themselves.

They were pulled backward by an unseen force. Into a portal. Into unyielding darkness. Just before Sailorneptune had convinced herself that she was dead, Hoshi spoke, saying that they were in the depths of the palace. She created light.

A cell was before them, where a crumpled form was hunched. Sailorneptune knew at once who it was, from the sugar-pink hair, as matted and dull as it was. At the light, the figure looked up, took them all in with wild eyes-and screamed. A horrible scream. The scream of one who has lost their mind and brought face-to-face with their worst nightmare. The Queen of Crystal Tokyo screamed.

Sailorneptune had taken a step forward, but someone-Hoshi maybe-jerked her back roughly into another portal. They were outside again, among the heads.

They ran. As one, they ran.

The heads...the horrible, terrible, awful heads...

"Sailorsaturn has won," Hoshi said brokenly. "She has taken the palace...she has won."

"We haven't tried yet," Sailormars said quietly. "There is always a chance."

There was another silence. No doubt they were all thinking about the heads. How could they win against her? "I've never seen anything like that..." Sailorvenus said in a hushed voice. "Never."

Without opening her eyes, Sailorneptune said, "I have. Once." The others waited for her to elaborate, but she didn't. Instead, she opened her eyes briefly to exchange a look with Sailorpluto. She didn't meet her eyes. Sailorneptune knew she remembered. They had arrived too late to save the last remaining city on Pluto. The demons-or whatever they had been; back then they didn't care about what nature of evil it was they fought-had laid waste to it. The bodies of the women and children were left to rot in the streets. The men they had eaten, and the only reason the three of them knew this was that they had found a campfire with the remains still smoldering above the coals.

The three of them, Sailoruranus, Sailorneptune, and Sailorpluto, tracked down the things that had done this, tracked them all the way to the edge of their solar system. Had the things gone beyond they would have pursued, but as luck would have it they converged on the burned-out remains of some long-forgotten planet. That was where they fought.

They fought in a blind fury, acting with one mind against the hundreds of beings there. When their strength had lagged, they only had to call up the image of the women and children cut down in the streets to find more strength to continue.

It was a flawless victory. Every last one of the murderers were hunted down and eradicated. The battlefield looked like the city had, and the three of them looked at it with grim satisfaction. Sailorpluto especially; her family had been killed in that attack. Sailorneptune closed her eyes again. Yes, Sailorpluto remembered.

"What do we do now?" Sailorjupiter asked then, breaking the silence. "We can't just cower out here in the woods. We're here for a reason." This last was said reluctantly, for she wasn't eager to go back to that palace.

Sailormercury, who had been silent up until this moment, spoke without looking up from her computer. "We sleep. We're exhausted. We'll think better in the morning."

"Wait..." Hoshi burst out all at once. When everyone looked to her, she lapsed into silence, looking ill-at-ease and embarassed. "Nevermind..." she said curtly, laying down with her back to the fire and staring out into the gloom. There was movement as the senshi found their spots, then deathly silence as they all sought sleep. Now wasn't the time to tell them who she was, Hoshi decided. Would it change anything? Probably not. So it didn't matter. But where would they go from here?

She fell asleep replaying the scene in the cells, replaying over and over the vacant, wild look in her mother's eyes.

The cloud dulling her mind began to lift. Where before she floated calmly, serenely, uncaringly, suddenly white flashes of pain began to register. The cloud dulling her mind became a storm of pain. But she would not cry out. Never would she give whoever held her that satisfaction.

She hung in a state of semi-consciousness for an unknown length of time before she began to sense the world around her. It was cold, and the air was dry and stale. It was silent. It reminded her of a tomb.

And then she opened her eyes.

Through the haze of pain, she stared blearily around. She hung from shackles made of black crystal, more shackles around her ankles pinning her to a wall. The room she was in was circular and dim, but not so dark that she couldn't see the far wall. There was a pedastal in the center that drew her eyes and held them. Floating calmly above the smooth surface was the ginzuishou, pulsing red at regular intervals. After a moment's horrified study she realized it was pulsing in time to her own heart, and everytime it pulsed, her own heart felt pained and her chest tightened.

She looked across the room then, and realized she wasn't entirely alone. One other hung against the far wall, head bowed and face shadowed. She knew instinctively who it was. "Michiru?" she rasped, her throat dry and painful. She swallowed a few times, and she tasted a lingering copper taste in her mouth-that of blood. She tried to think, tried to remember what had happened to her...and who she was. Finally it came to her, like a bubble surfacing lazily in her mind. Haruka. She was Haruka. Sailoruranus. Captive. Where was she now? "Michiru, is that you?"

At first the figure didn't stir, and Haruka felt her heart leap into her throat. Surely she couldn't be... "Michiru!"

Finally the figure stirred, groaning painfully. Her head came up gradually, but the dim light still concealed her face in shadow. "Haruka?" she asked in disbelief. She coughed painfully and then continued. "Is it really you? Truly? It's been so long...I've been here so long..."

Haruka was amazed at how close to desperate tears her lover was. Something here wasn't right. "Yes, it's me," she said as soothingly as she could. "But what happened to you? How did Sailorsaturn catch you as well?"

"You were there, Haruka," Michiru said in a troubled voice after she had regained her composure. Her tone sounded like she was frowning. "In the forest? I remember hearing you screaming my name just before I lost consciousness, and I thought they were killing you..." Michiru drew in a shaky breath and stopped.

"Forest?" Haruka asked in confusion. This didn't make sense. The last thing she remembered was looking back at Michiru still asleep on the crystal bed.

"You don't remember? Haruka, are you alright?" Michiru questioned. She sounded concerned. "Did you come after me? We swore that if one was caught, the other wouldn't sacrifice her life." Now she just sounded angry and frustrated, as if Haruka were responsible for ruining everything.

Haruka shook her head, suddenly unsure. It was difficul to think, and the pulsing pain in her chest was speeding her breathing. "I don't know..." She couldn't recall ever feeling so unsure of herself, and certainly couldn't recall ever being at the mercy of her captor.

As if summoned, her captor breezed through the door then. Haruka held her head up through sheer force of will as Sailorsaturn came to stand before her. It was like staring into Mistress 9's face all over again. "You're awake," she said, feigning surprise. "How do you feel?"

"Go to hell," Haruka spat. Sailorsaturn started giggling madly then, sending shivers up Haruka's spine. "Where are we? How did you capture me?" she demanded, raising her voice to be heard above her laughter.

The laughter quit all at once, as if someone had flipped a switch. Sailorsaturn looked confused for a moment, but then she noticed Michiru hanging on the wall as if for the first time. "So you two have been talking!" she crowed gleefully. "And now you're more confused than ever!" Her eyes glittered shrewdly as she drew close to Haruka. "I don't think I'm going to tell you. Figure it out for yourself."

Sailorsaturn turned away then, and stood next to the ginzuishou. "The senshi are all connected to the ginzuishou. Even senshi not from the same Time have ties to the ginzuishou," she said conversationally, but the emphasis on the last part meant to carry some significance. "When the senshi are in dire trouble, a part of them returns to the ginzuishou and empowers it for Sailormoon's use. This is why Sailormoon becomes so much more powerful when the senshi are in danger. Do you understand?" She looked at Haruka eagerly, as if looking for approval.

"You sound like Sailormercury," Haruka muttered instead.

This set Sailorsaturn giggling again, and it was several moments before she could compose herself enough to say, "That's all part of the story. You'll see soon enough."

As Haruka blinked in some confusion, Sailorsaturn turned her attention back to the crystal. "It works both ways, you know. If the ginzuishou is in dire trouble..." She reached her hand out and brushed the surface with a hand, and the ginzuishou flared red.

Haruka's breath caught in her chest and burned, her heart beat painfully against her ribs, and her chest felt as if it were going to explode. She gasped in pain, but then clamped her mouth shut. She would not scream. Would not. Refused. But oh God if it didn't let up soon...

Then it was gone. Haruka could breathe, and she drank in the dry air greedily as her racing heart slowed down. She saw Michiru's chest heave as she drew in breaths of her own. "If the ginzuishou is in dire trouble, the senshi suffer," Sailorsaturn finished softly. "Keep that in mind."

"Why...?" Haruka finally managed. "Why keep us alive when you killed the other senshi?"

A slow smile spread across Sailorsaturn's face. "Because I need something from you before I do."

Haruka laughed weakly. "Kill me first," she said. "Because I'm not giving you anything."

Sailorsaturn smiled indulgently. "You're still defiant because you're ignorant of what I'm capable of. You see..." She leaned in close to Haruka. Her breath smelled like Death. "I have the power of all the senshi I've killed. I have found ways of taking them for my own. This is how I could traverse Time like Sailorpluto can. This was how I could systematically kill off the senshi one by one, because Sailormercury's genius has replaced my own." She paused here and walked to the pedastal again, placing her hands on its smooth surface. "Every one of the senshi that has died has hung in this very room." Glittering points of light formed around Sailorsaturn, the colors of the senshi that had died. "With Sailormercury's brain, I have found the most pure essence of your power..." The points of light elongated, forming bands of glowing light. The bands turned golden, leaving only one circular stone set into the center. "...and have made it my own." Sailorsaturn laughed.

It was their tiaras that hung silently in the air around Sailorsaturn. Sailorsaturn had taken them from all the senshi that had died.

"And now...I want yours."

Haruka refused. Michiru did as well, but in hushed tones.

Sailorsaturn touched the ginzuishou. clenched the ginzuishou. Haruka howled in pain. Michiru screamed until there was no breath left in her to scream with. To them, there was nothing else in the world but pain.

Haruka saw Michiru's hand come up. She knew what she was planning on doing. (...fight it...)
(...don't give in...)
(...isn't worth it...) "Neptune...Planet...Power...Make-Up..." Michiru gasped. Haruka felt the pain stop instantly as Sailorsaturn's attention was drawn to Michiru. She hung weakly in her shackles, tears coursing down her cheeks. "Take it..." she whispered. "I've been here too long...I can't take it anymore...I'm sorry Haruka...please, take it..." she sobbed.

"It'll all be over now," Sailorsaturn said soothingly. She reached up and slid the golden tiara with the aqua stone almost tenderly from her head. It raised from Sailorsaturn's hand and floated over to join the others, still in midair.

Haruka's throat was frozen, and no amount of swallowing would free it.

"You're free, Sailorneptune," Sailorsaturn said softly. She went back to the ginzuishou and touched it again. Haruka braced herself for the pain, but it never came. She almost wished it had.

Michiru's body jerked as if electricity were coursing through her. A sickly red light lit up the wall she hung on as her body continued to thrash and jerk. Haruka watched, horrified beyond all comprehension, as blood began welling out of her nose. The corners of her mouth. The aqua eyes she loved so much.

There was one relieved sigh and last mighty jerk, then once again she hung limp. Michiru's face was turned toward Haruka, the shadows finally chased away by the red light. The blood almost hid her features.

"Kill me," Haruka whispered. "You bastard, KILL ME!"

Sailorsaturn laughed. "Not yet," she said. "Even if you offer me your tiara, I can't kill you yet. Not when there's so many more to be caught yet." She turned to leave. Haruka's shrieks followed her as she vanished through the black doorway.

A very small portion of Haruka's mind remained untouched by grief and rage throughout all this. Before despair sent Haruka spiralling into half-conscious blackness, it had analyzed and noted several things.

When Sailorsaturn was demonstrating the ginzuishou's power, she had clutched her own chest briefly, as if it had pained her.

A tenuous link still existed between Haruka and Michiru, a link that wanted to pull Haruka's mind northward...

Hand-in-hand with this was something else. The still face of Michiru who still hung across from her, like some discarded doll, bore no scar on her forehead.

All of this that analytical part of her mind noted, and never had a chance to relate to the rest of her mind before the blackness swept in.

Sailorneptune jerked awake from deep sleep clutching her chest. It felt peculiarly tight, and her heart felt as if it were beating faster than normal. This wasn't surprising when she thought back to he dreams of a blood-red ginzuishou and a screaming Haruka. She turned over, away from the campfire's coals.

It was hard to determine the time because of the weird darkness, but after Sailorneptune's eyes adjusted, she saw Hoshi still asleep. She froze then, her senses jangling alarmingly. Something about this wasn't right. Someone was watching. Several someones.

She rolled back over deliberately, turning back towards the dim campfire and seeking out Sailorpluto. She found her on her left, eyes open as well and staring at Sailorneptune. The guardian of Time nodded almost imperceptibly, indicating she knew. That was all well and good, but what did they do now?

Charge. What else could they do? Perhaps they would take them by surprise. Sailorneptune closed her eyes deliberately, making a slow count to three, then tensing her legs in anticipation of leaping to her feet. Another slow three-count...

Suddenly, she couldn't move. Any control over her muscles she had drained away. She tried to reopen her eyes and found them frozen shut. She tried to cry out a warning to the rest, but found her jaw clenched.

"That's enough," an unfamiliar male voice declared loud enough for Sailorneptune to know the others were similarly frozen.

"Sir, this one looks like Hoshi," a different voice said quietly.

"And the rest wear the fuku of the senshi," a third said. He sounded doubtful, and a little frightened.

"That's impossible and you know it," the first declared sharply. "The senshi are dead, as are the royal family, peace find their souls. These have to be imposters. They'll be dealt with harshly once we get them back. Now, bind them and let's be off."

Sailorneptune felt hands wrap a length of coarse rope around her wrists hard enough to bite into her flesh. Her ankles received similar treatment, and suddenly her world was turned upside down as she was lifted into the air.

"That's the last of them," the first said. "Keep a close eye on them. I don't know how long they'll be immobile. I've never had to freeze a group this large before, and I don't want to take chances."

Sailorneptune was jerked into motion; no doubt her captors had started walking. She tried opening her eyes again without success. "They're securely bound, sir. Even if they did start moving, they can't move very much."

"He's afraid of them because they might be senshi," someone spoke up teasingly from behind. "Aren't you, sir?"

Sailorneptune heard him snort. "They're dead. These aren't. They aren't the real deal. Now shut up before Her spies hear us." There was no more talking.

Sailorneptune lost all track of time and direction as they walked. She systematically flexed her muscles periodically as they travelled, and noticed it getting easier and easier to move. She bided her time until she regained full muscle control. Quietly, she opened her eyes.

She was hung suspended from a pole carried at either end by scruffy-looking men in tattered clothing. Refugees, she realized at once. Survivors of the massacre. As far as she could tell, the rest of the senshi were being carried in the same fashion, but without turning her head and attracting more attention than she wanted at that moment, she couldn't be sure.

She realized all at once that it was sunny here, but the sunlight felt queer and flat. Almost artificial. They were out of the woods as well, tramping across what looked like a vast grassland.

"Hey!" a man bellowed from ahead, causing Sailorneptune's heart to beat faster. "We've got captives! Suspicious-looking ones!" She relaxed; no doubt he was hailing more refugees.

"Put me down," she said quietly, loud enough only for the two carrying her to hear.

"S - Sir!" one yelped. "This one's awake!" He sounded nervous, and had stopped walking.

There was an immediate stir of activity in the front, and a low murmer of voices. Finally a giant of a man walked into Sailorneptune's line of sight. He was close to seven feet tall if he was an inch, with arms the size of tree trunks and a jagged scar running down the side of his frowning face. Any sort of hair on his head was gone, down to the eyebrows, making the scar stand out that much more. He was a man Sailorneptune would think twice about messing with.

"Who are you?" the man demanded. His voice was the one that had first spoken back at the campsite.

"You already know. I am Sailorneptune. We come from-"

The man's booming laughter interrupted her. Several men surrounding them laughed as well, but their laughter was weak and uncertain. "It doesn't matter where you come from. You are all imposters, and you will be dealt with." He turned away again, still chuckling to himself.

"You hold Princess Hoshi captive!" Sailorneptune called after the man. "You will regret this!"

But he wasn't listening. As Michiru hung helpless from the pole, trying to ignore the dull pain in her wrists and ankles, she, she overheard snatches of conversation.

"...found them in the forest."

"...not long...senshi...wants to speak..."

"...she does? But I thought that..."

"...just do it."

The man returned looking vaguely troubled. He withdrew a curving blade from the folds of his tattered robe as he approached her. He raised the blade and swung twice, dumping Sailorneptune rather ungracefully to the ground at his feet. "On your feet, and don't try nothin' funny," the man said, hefting the weapon threateningly. "Your friends are still helpless, and I could easily run them through."

Sailorneptune got to her feet slowly, rubbing her cut wrists and looking around warily. It was a tattered band of men that had captured them, none without a haunted, desperate look to their eyes. The senshi and Hoshi were all unharmed as far as she could tell, but all were still frozen.

He prodded her with the sword's point. "Get moving. She wants to talk with you," he said. She moved.

They were indeed on a grassland. The long green grass waved in the fresh breeze, and the golden sun shone down from a brilliant blue sky. The sun provided warmth, but it still felt fake, and Sailorneptune said as much. The man grunted, but said nothing.

"Take this one to the tent," the man said to one o fthe others standing around. "Watch her."

The man nodded and wordlessly gestured for her to continue walking. She considered refusing, but the man's threats held her back. The man she had been given to seemed to know what she was thinking, because he bared his crooked, ueneven teeth and smiled in a manner that clearly said, 'just try it.' She saw the man had no tongue. She continued walking.

They left the large group behind nad made for a group of tents and campfires not far away. Sailorneptune saw many men millling about, turning meat over fires, tending to weapons, and playing dice games on the ground with others. The scene was domestic enough, but as soon as Sailorneptune was walked into the camp's perimeter, every last one of them looked up and eyed her with suspicion, fear, hatred, and a myriad of other emotions. When they saw what she wore, conversation was forgotten as they all stared stonily at her. Soon, the camp was nearly silent. She held her head proudly and cooly against all their stares. The man with no tongue prodded her to walk faster. She did.

They passed wagons of supplies and small tents until they came to one that was larger and set apart from the rest. A man was seated on the ground beside it, sharpening his blade. He looked up briefly to take them both in at a glance, then resumed his task. Her guard made several gestures that the man understood, though he didn't seem to be paying attention.

"Out," he grunted disinterestedly.

More quick gestures, more urgent this time.

The man looked up once again, this time studying Sailorneptune close enough to make her skin crawl. He carefully stood then, saying, "I'll take her."

Her guard gestured again, but the man dismissed his hand signals with a wave. "Go back. I know where to take her."

Her guard looked indecisive, then shrugged and began to trot away. Sailorneptune dismissed him from her mind and studied her new guard with interest as he bent down to retrieve his weapon. He moved slowly, but with the fluid grace of a cat. His words were short but concise, and his disinterested glances hid a shrewd, observant intelligence.

"C'mon," he said. "She's out by the perimeter." He sheathed his sword and waited patiently for her to follow. He saw at once her surprise at not being forced and added, "You're not an imposter." He began walking.

Sailorneptune hurried after. "How did you know?" she asked. "Everyone else seems to think I am."

His response wasn't immediate; in fact it wasn't until they were a good distance from the tents and the camp that he answered, "See it in your eyes. Her eyes are the same. Fooled everyone, but she trusted me with the truth."

"Who?" Sailorneptune asked suspiciously. Was she walking unknowingly back into Sailorsaturn's clutches?

Instead of answering her question, he said, "Surprised to see you. Thought you were captured and killed."

Sailorneptune was about to tell her story when he said abruptly, "There she is." She looked, and promptly forgot all about responding.

Her back was to Sailorneptune, but that didn't matter. She knew the blonde, boyish hair, and slim figure instantly. "Haruka!" she cried out, racing past the man and toward her.

The figure wheeled at the cry. "Michiru!" Sailorneptune heard her cry in return and start running toward her across the billowing grass. She had found Haruka without compromising their reason for being in this Time. Everything was going to be alright. Everything was right. Everything was-

-wrong. Sailorneptune jogged to a halt not far from where Haruka was running toward her. Without the slightest sign of a limp. Haruka had had an accident that had left her with a permanent limp, and now she showed no sign of it. Sailorneptune felt her heart sink. She had found the Sailoruranus of Hoshi's time.

Haruka had also drifted to a halt feet from Sailorneptune. She saw the blonde closely studying her face, and knew what she was looking at. Sailorneptune drew her aqua hair away from her forehead, exposing the jagged scar an accident of her own had left. "I'm not from your Time. I'm not your Michiru, and you're not my Haruka," she said quietly.

Haruka seemed to deflate at these words, and lost the light that had been in her eyes. "Oh..." was all she said.

"Hoshi...she brought us here to help," Sailorneptune continued hesitantly. "Right now they're being held prisoner by your people."

Haruka looked past her to the man that had drifted forward to listen. "Will you take care of this? And give them all my apologies, particularly Princess Hoshi. Escort them to my tent. I'll be there presently."

The man said nothing, but bowed slightly and set off at a brisk pace towards the camp. Sailorneptune watched him go with some confusion at the way he had deferred to Haruka.

"Come. I think you need to tell me your story," Haruka said, a queer tremor in he voice. She started walking more slowly towards the camp, and Sailorneptune matched her pace. As best she could, she told their story, beginning at the Trials and ending with their confused flight from the Palace. Haruka said nothing during this telling until the very end.

"What you saw outside were the casualties of the massacre. We couldn't do anything..." She trailed off, a fist clenched at her side. After a moment, she continued. "But you actually got inside? That's more than the rest of us could do. The Queen is alive as well? We thought them all dead. Perhaps this battle isn't over after all."

"Alive...but not coherant. She screamed when she saw us," Sailorneptune said softly. "It was awful."

"She screamed because she saw each of the senshi's remains after they died," Haruka said gently. "It was too great a shock for her."

They walked in silence. "I'm sorry about your Haruka," the blonde said awkwardly after a time. Sailorneptune nodded in acknowledgement but said nothing. More silence.

Sailorneptune finally broke the silence. "And what of you? How are you still alive and out here?" She couldn't entirely keep the disapproval from her voice.

Haruka wheeled on her, her eyes carrying that same rage and fear most of the refugees had as well. "You think we just left everyone to die back there? No. Michiru and I were given orders to take as many people as we could away from the Palace. We were told not to come back, no matter what. The Queen knew what was going to happen. She knew..." Haruka drew in a shaky breath and hten continued. "We weren't out long before Sailorsaturn found us. She attacked us in the forest, and we lost almost half of those we took with us. Michiru...was captured then. We got separated, and she took Michiru and not me..."

Sailorneptune's mind chewed on this thought. So they truly hadn't run from the Palace, which would mean that Hoshi had lied, or didn't know the circumstances. Perhaps their Queen hadn't told anyone about Haruka and Michiru leaving. Without thinking, Michiru reached out and took Haruka's hand out of habit. It felt so odd and uncomfortable that she released it at once. "How is it so nice in this spot and nowhere else?" Michiru asked to break the uncomfortable silence.

Haruka smiled without humor. "An illusion to give some sanity in an insane world. If you go far enough away from the camp, you'll find yourself back in darkness. If you look back, you wouldn't see us at all. The sunlight reminds us what we're fighting for."

"They don't know who you are do they, Haruka?" Sailorneptune asked all at once, thinking back to the men saying all the senshi had been killed.

Haruka shook her head. "Naoto knows. He's the only one. Would it make a difference if they did know?"

Michiru shrugged. "It might give them hope," she said.

"They think I'm dead. Let them think that if it'll keep Sailorsaturn from looking for me. And as for hope, well, sometimes it isn't good to give a man too much hope." She looked shrewdly at Sailorneptune. "It'll hurt that much more when he falls."

They were among the tents now, halting a conversation Sailorneptune would have loved to pursue. They came to Haruka's tent, the man who was Naoto once again seated outside. "They're inside," he said at once. He looked up again, revealing startled eyes. "All of them." Haruka merely nodded and pushed aside the flap leading in, Sailorneptune following.

There were startled exclamations from the senshi as Haruka entered. Hoshi remained silent, stonily studying the blonde. "This isn't our Haruka," Sailorneptune said at once, quieting everyone. "This is the Haruka of Hoshi's time."

They looked crestfallen. Haruka saw Sailorpluto about to ask the obvious question and curtly waved a hand. "It doesn't matter what happened to me. What matters is how you plan to help us. We need your help. And you need ours."

Sailorneptune, who had remained by the tent flapthe entire time, waited for their attention to be diverted before slipping out. With Hoshi, their five senshi, herself, and Haruka, the tent that had been designed to fit four comfortably was beginning to feel stifling. They could strategize without her.

She stood outside for long moments, staring at the sky, a sky the deep purple of twilight. An illusion, isn't that what Haruka had said? It was like living in denial of reality. Sailorneptune wondered if Haruka had ever planned on going back. She realized then that she had needed to get out of that tent, not because there were too many people, but because of one person. This Haruka was alien to her. Though still the same person, there was nothing there that reminded her of her Haruka. This Haruka made her wonder if she'd ever see her Haruka again.

Night came to the illusionary land, a beautiful night sprinkled with stars. Sailorneptune spent time staring at this thoughtfully before retiring to the tent that had been set aside for their group. She wished for her violin, for a blank canvas and paint, for anything that she could somehow use to help her think. Absurdly, she thought back to the half-finished portrait of destruction she had started before the world she had known had ended.

Sailorneptune was asleep that night almost as soon as she lay down. She dreamed of memories... It was raining as she awkwardly arranged the matching teal robes on her parents' unmoving bodies. They had died protecting the Moon Kingdom, succeeding where the others of the outer planets had failed. They were to be honored, revered, remembered. Already, the leading craftsmen from the three outermost planets were hard at work creating a likeness of the couple to be placed on this very beach where they would be given back to the sea. Michiru scrubbed at her eyes. She wouldn't cry. Even here, alone, she wouldn't cry.

The rain painted everything teal as she stood on the shore of the great sea. It fell steadily, a curtain to hide what would happen. Michiru straightened. Her parents lay side by side on a slab of rock, a special rock that had been made especially for this occasion. It was carved into a perfectly-formed shell by the masons she had commissioned, all curves and iridescance. Michiru placed both hands at the flat edge on the bottom. "I will lead and protect, Mother. I will give my life for the Moon's safety, Father. I give you now to the Sea. Peace guide your journey," she intoned. A slight push was all it took to send the stone vessel adrift. Michiru watched as the waves caught it and carried it out and away from sight.

She didn't realize until much later that Haruka had been there, holding her hand and watching with her. Michiru tossed restlessly in her sleep. "We have to go, Michiru!" Setsuna screamed in her ear. "We've lost! We have to warn Queen Selenity before they arrive!"

Michiru looked at her briefly as she hurried along with the samll group of people through the streets. "I have to make sure these people are safe," she said briefly. "Then we can go."

"Michiru..." Haruka said, following the small group. "They know the way. We have to give up Uranus!" Her voice caught as she said this. "We have to go before they find us and kill us!" As if to punctuate her words, a building on their left exploded in inky black power. The small girl in the group wailed.

When Michiru doggedly ushered the group forward, Haruka grabbed her arm. "We're leaving now."

Michiru's eyes blazed as she jerked her arm away. "I must see everyone rescued!" she said fervently. "I won't see Uranus butchered like Pluto was...or utterly devastated like Neptune. Metallia has not won!"

"Follow this road to the end. The evacuation ships are there. Travel fast, and you will make it," Setsuna said quietly to the group of citizens that were watching the pair of royalty fight. They nodded hesitantly, gathered up the younger children, and set off at once, leaving the group of three. Setsuna turned to them. "We've fought too much to use our power to get to the Moon Kingdom," Setsuna said lowly. "The palace has been destroyed, so we cannot get in touch that way. The only way is to use Haruka's ship and pray we can get there in time."

Haruka nodded at once in acknowledgement. "Let's go." She set a brisk pace, not looking back to see if Michiru followed. She did.

Confused images. Fighting. Blood. Her head was banged up badly and she lost consciousness for a time. She woke within curved, metallic walls. Haruka stood away from her, hands on panels and staring intently at an image outside.

"We made it," Setsuna said quietly to her. "Metallia didn't see us. We're safe, for now."

"What about the people?" Michiru asked, sitting up slowly.

"Metallia has every last one of them that we thought had gotten away. They're hers now," Setsuna replied. "I'm sorry."

Michiru said ntohing. She moved over to another viewspace and looked out to see the majestic rings of Saturn sliding by. The senshi of Death and Rebirth was down there, somewhere. Deep inside her mind, past the numbed part of her brain that wouldn't accept what she had just heard, she prayed that Sailorsaturn would forever stay asleep. Michiru turned over again, face troubled even in sleep. The destruction was complete. They were too late. Michiru felt despair creeping over her as she stood where the marbled walk had once lay. She had failed her parents completely. She couldn't protect her people. She couldn't lead them. She couldn't even protect the Moon.

Haruka held her wordlessly. They stood in silence. What would they do now?

"Neptune...Uranus...Pluto...I've been waiting..." a weak voice said. They wheeled, and saw none other than Queen Selenity lying on a crumbled slab of marble. She was clearly injured, but she somehow mustered up a smile for them.

"Your majesty...we tried to get here in time, but..." Michiru burst out, trailing off. There were tears in her eyes.

"It does not matter...I knew you wouldn't make it..." Selenity said. "It was hopeless from the start. But, even now, Metallia...she has not won. I saved my daughter and her court, as well as Prince Endymion from Earth. They are in the future. They will be reborn to a new life." She paused to take in a shaky breath and continued. "You must be sent as well. Metallia and Beryl will not be the only ones my daughter will face, as much as I would like it otherwise."

"But you don't have the strength, Your Majesty," Haruka interjected. "You will die!"

Selenity smiled again. "It does not matter. I have nothing to live for, now that my Kingdom has fallen. I have just enough energy for two. Uranus, Neptune, you will be sent."

Setsuna bowed slightly. "I understand, your majesty," she said solemnly.

Michiru was about to ask what would happen to Setsuna, but the ginzuishou flared and she knew no more. Sailorneptune jerked awake. Her heart was racing, and memories clamored in her head in a confusing jumble of images, conversations, people, and a myriad other things. So many filled her mind that she could no longer separate the memories of her life on Neptune from her life on Earth. She groaned softly, pressing the palms of her hands against the sides of her head. She needed air. And some sanity.

Her mind buzzed with half-coherant memories as she stumbled outside. She focused on the cool air, the moonlight, the stars, anythign that would stem the tide of memories returning. She walked. There were others awake, but they gave her a wide berth. Apparently Haruka had spread their tale around, and the refugees seemed to be awed of them. Awed and suspicious, as if they were afraid to hope. She was walking out by where she had met Haruka when she noticed someone else out with her. Sailorneptune hurried closer and saw that it was Sailorpluto. Setsuna's coronation was solemn. Nobody smiled. The circumstances were too grim. Setsuna stood out on top of the ice plains, their lurid blue glow making her look pale... Michiru clenched her teeth and stopped this thought. When she drew close to where Sailorpluto was standing and staring up at the sky, she said softly, "You couldn't sleep either?"

She slowly shook her head. Without looking away from the stars, Sailorpluto replied, "It's the memories. Crystal Tokyo broke down the barriers between our past and present selves, so now I'm remebering places...conversations..." She trailed off, twirling her Time Staff idly in her hands.

"I know," Sailorneptune said. "I saw your eyes back at the campsite. I knew you remembered. It was wrong of me to bring it up." They remained silent then, absorbing the night around them. "I know its all an illusion, but it seems so real," Sailorneptune said at last.

"Real enough to remain here forever," Sailorpluto replied. "I'm wondering if this world's Haruka ever planned to strike back against Sailorsaturn if we hadn't arrived."

"Of course she would have," Sailorneptune said at once, not realizing until she had finished that her words lacked conviction. Another long silence.

"Haruka is leading us back tomorrow. We should get some sleep," Sailorpluto said at last, but neither of them moved.

"How much of a chance to we have, Setsuna?" Sailorneptune asked.

"There is always a chance."

"But..." Sailorneptune paused to put her thoughts into words. She thought back to the ravaged land, the destroyed city, the handful of surviving refugees, the heads... "But is there anything left to save?" she finished at last.

"Yes," an arctic voice answered from behind them. Sailorneptune wheeled with her heart in her throat, half-expecting to see Sailorsaturn standing there. Hoshi stood there instead, regarding the two of them cooly. "But I wouldn't expect you to know what I'm talking about. You're no different than the Sailorneptune I know."

Sailorneptune glared savagely, and was startled when Sailorpluto put her hand on her arm. "We must get along," the Keeper of Time said quietly.

Sailorneptune swallowed her irritation. "I know now that you had nothing to do with Haruka's capture," she said reluctantly. "But that doesn't mean I trust you. Not after you admitted how you felt about Sailorneptune and Sailoruranus leaving."

Hoshi inclined her head slightly in acknowledgement. "A truce, then."

"One moment," Sailorpluto interjected then. "I'd like some answers."

Hoshi stepped forward, and Sailorneptune saw unease lining her face. "What do you wish to know?" she asked carefully.

"Who you are," Sailorpluto said flatly. "Who you are, why I feel so much power around you, and why I feel like I should know you." Silence. Sailorneptune became aware of the low hum of night insects in the tall grass. More illusions. Hoshi turned away, but didn't walk away.

"You did know me," she said at last. "I was much younger then, but I still remember that time. I was closest to Usagi...and you all knew me by a different name." She turned once more, staring at Sailorpluto with luminous unblinking red eyes.

It hit Sailorneptune then, and she drew her breath in sharply just as Sailorpluto said incredulously, "ChibiChibi?!"

Hoshi nodded once. "Yes. But that was a long time ago. You needed me back then, and just as you needed my help then, I need your help now. There is still a world to save."

They were silent until Sailorneptune said curtly, "I'm going back to sleep." She turned and walked back. She had offered Hoshi a truce, but things were still tense. Some things would never change.

Sailorpluto regarded Hoshi in the dim light. "Why did you come back then, Hoshi? How did you know?" she asked curiously.

"I came back because I had to," she replied simply. "I just...knew."

"How can you travel through Time?" Sailorpluto asked quietly.

Hoshi laughed quietly. "That's what you've wanted to know all along, isn't it?" When Setsuna didn't reply, she continued, "We've had to learn new ways of magic without the ginzuishou," she replied glibely.

"That may be true, but no amount of adaptation would let you travel Time," Sailorpluto said. "Not to mention, you traveled to a Time I couldn't see. You had to have bypassed the Gates somehow. Power over Time is not learned. It's given." She waited for Hoshi to respond, but she was silent. "Who are you, Hoshi?"

"I can't tell you," Hoshi said with a tremor in her voice. She fled, but Sailorpluto didn't pursue her. ChibiChibi. Hoshi. Chibi-Usa's daughter. How did they all relate? And who was Hoshi?

Sailorsaturn breezed through her palace swiftly. Her companion had difficulty keeping up, but Sailorsaturn never slowed. She felt vaguely uneasy, like something was occurring that would jeopardize her plans. It was Hoshi, more than likely. These other senshi would be no great difficulty, but she desperately wanted to have Hoshi's head.

Sailorsaturn never slowed as she entered the room with the ginzuishou. She looked briefly at Haruka hanging limply in her restraints, then dismissed her from mind. Haruka gave no indication that she was still aware of the world around her since she had screamed herself into a stupor watching her Michiru die. Or who she thought was her Michiru. Sailorsaturn congratulated herself at breaking a senshi so effectively.

"Sister...slow down..." her companion panted. "My chest hurts..."

Sailorsaturn smiled as comfortingly as she could manage, though she felt like laughing aloud. This was her greatest victory out of all. "I apologize. My mind was elsewhere."

The girl was almost doubled over from panting, a hand pressed to her chest. "Perhaps I am getting unwell again," she managed at last. She straightened, looking at Sailorsaturn with wide purple eyes. "Do you think?"

Sailorsaturn patted the girl's head. "I think your sickness is almost over, Hotaru," she said. It felt strange calling this girl by her own name, but, in essence, she was her. The Sailorsaturn of the past.

In the beginning they had both been violently ill. The shock of her past self existing in the same Time as her present self threatened to kill them both as the Timestream tried to correct itself. Sailorsaturn had kept Hotaru asleep the entire time, until she corrected the problem. She became part of all the senshi she had killed, and so became less of Sailorsaturn and more of someone else. The Timestream knew no different.

"I know her," the girl said abruptly, jerking Sailorsaturn from her thoughts. Hotaru stood before Haruka, peering up at her blank face intently. "I know her," she repeated, more insistantly.

"Do you?" Sailorsaturn strived to remain calm. Had she not done a good enough job wiping her mind clean?

"Yes..." she replied vaguely. "I feel like I recognize her." She stood there a moment longer, then moved restlessly away. She seemed to shiver. Sailorsaturn busied herself in studying the crystal, but kept a close eye on Hotaru as she neared the dead Michiru. Sailorsaturn kept her body there for when Haruka woke-if she woke.

Hotaru paused, her wandering eyes attracted by the still form. "No...!" a tremulous voice escaped from Hotaru's lips, different from the calm, detached voice from before. "No...No...No...!" She fell to her knees, still groaning and moaning, her hands pressed tightly to her head.

Sailorsaturn watched Hotaru closely, ready to act swiftly in the event that the carefully-constructed personality Hotaru believed was true would shatter. But the old Hotaru and old Sailorsaturn emerged no further than the one word she chanted. Eventually though, even that was forced away. Hotaru regained her feet. "What happened?" she asked curiously, turning back to Sailorsaturn.

Perfect. "You were faint. I'll let you rest before you help me."

Hotaru accepted this and returned her restless eyes to Sailorneptune's body. "Did she die painfully?" Hotaru asked wistfully. "She looks like it."

"It doesn't matter," Sailorsaturn said quickly. "Come over here and help me when you've recovered, sister."

Obediantly the girl moved away from Sailorneptune with one haunted, backwards glance and joined Sailorsaturn next to the pedastal. "What do you need me for, sister?" she asked shyly.

"A little exercize," Sailorsaturn replied absently. "This might be painful, however."

"I'll help," Hotaru replied simply. She sounded eager.

"We have to move the ginzuishou from this room to get it to do what we want. Once we do, it'll be even more painful. This room dampens its power," Sailorsaturn continued warningly. "Do you still want to help? You can stay in here until I am finished. I can manage on my own."

"I want to help, sister," Hotaru said insistantly. "Please let me help."

"Very well." Sailorsaturn almost laughed. She plucked the pulsing ginzuishou from above the pedastal and held it in her hand. She felt her own heart thumping against her ribcage and sending quick flashes of pain through her chest, but it was nowhere near the debilitating, all-consuming pain it had been the first few times she had handled it. Perhaps it was because she had the blood of a royal family member in her veins. The first Usagi had fought hard against her, but in the end she had provided Sailorsaturn with the means to use the ginzuishou. She smiled at the irony of it all.

Still holding the ginzuishou in her palm, she left the room with Hotaru trailing behind. When they left the curving black walls, the pain in her chest increased marginally, enough to speed her breath. Beside her, Hotaru gasped and stumbled, but quickly regained her composure and followed. She had been trained well.

Up they climbed, until they reached the very top. Before the attacks had mangled the palace, beautiful gardens had been here. Now, however, the walls were gone, the plants long-since dead, and the floor sloped crazily. Amid the rubble remaining, Sailorsaturn had cleared a circular area for her use. It was here that Sailorsaturn stopped.

"What are you planning?" Hotaru asked curiously.

"Something I should have done from the beginning," Sailorsaturn replied absently, flicking a stray crystal pebble off the cleared area. "There are survivors. Sailoruranus is one of them. She is guiding the senshi from another Time against me, and its time I did something about it." She released the ginzuishou, and it hovered serenely where it was released. "Touch the ginzuishou, Hotaru. It will be painful, but you are committed now."

Hotaru nodded once, her violet eyes wide and fearful. She reached out for it, but then her hand jerked away as if burned. "Stop...!" a voice croaked from Hotaru's lips. Hotaru's face filled with rage as she tossed her head. "Don't tell me what to do!" she hissed in response. Her hand shot out again and grasped the ginzuishou. Her face drained of color as her other hand pressed itself against her chest. Her breath came in heaving, harsh gasps.

"Very good," Sailorsaturn said approvingly, her eyes glittering with triumph. She had won. Her own hand closed over Hotaru's, and she began adding power. The ginzuishou began to flicker erratically...

"So we agree then?" Haruka asked of everyone present. "The best way in is through the front entrance?"

"Ami?" Sailorjupiter asked. "Is there another way?"

Sailormercury had been silent during most of the debating, studying her minicomputer and visor readings intently. The senshi respected her powers of deduction and strategy, and oftentimes her opinion would change their plans. "There are other ways in," she began, tapping on the keys. "But they all involve the tunnels underneath, and my map isn't clear on the correct path to the palace. We could get ourselves lost."

"We must be quick," Sailorpluto said warningly.

Hoshi nodded her head. "Once Sailorsaturn knows we're there, there'll be trouble."

Sailorneptune swallowed the urge to suggest using an alternate route and nodded. She had to stop letting her personal feelings decide her actions. But, what had Sailorsaturn done with Haruka?

"We leave at once then-" Haruka started, then cocked her head as if listening close to something. Sailorneptune strained her ears, and she caught the distant rumble of thunder outside of the tent. "What was that?" the blonde asked, rising from where she was seated and swiftly leaving the tent. The others followed curiously.

The sun shone in a sky that seemed to be breaking apart. The brilliant blue they had grown accustomed to was mottled and streaked with glimpses of the unnatural black of the world beyond. The green grass around them lost its color and grew ghostly in appearance, revealing dark rock underneath. The phenomenon grew worse by the second.

Naoto was on his feet at once. Others were streaming from tents and staring up uneasily at the fading illusion. "How could this be happening?" Haruka demanded of nobody in particular. "I made sure-" She broke off with a sharp intake of breath, her words ending with a gurgle. Her hand was to her chest, and her breath came fast and harsh. Sailorneptune took a step in her direction before her own chest was siezed by an invisible hand. Pain blossomed from her heart, and her vision dimmed. She fell to her knees, only dimly aware that the other senshi were faring no better.

Seconds stretched on into eternity. Above the roaring of the blood in her ears, she heard booming crashes of what sounded like thunder. The ground shook. She heard the cries of the other refugees somewhere distant. But she could do nothing but grip her chest and fight the darkness that was creeping over her mind. Suddenly, a deafening crash assaulted Sailorneptune's ears as the ground seemed to erupt beneath her. She felt her body being flung into the air. She crashed into something hard and unyielding. She knew no more.

Sailorsaturn let the last bolt die away feeling pleased with herself. She had let those refugees live long enough for them to feel certain that she wasn't aware they existed. It felt good to ruin another illusion. She may have killed the senshi in the attack, but she didn't much care. Here in the ginzuishou was all the power she had dreamed of.

"S...s...sister..." Hotaru's voice said weakly. Sailorsaturn turned abruptly away from the image in her mind of how she imagined thir destruction and faced Hotaru. The girl had collapsed sometime during the attack, but Sailorsaturn couldn't recall when. Her mind had been on making each of those deadly bolts count.

"Are you hurt?" Sailorsaturn asked shortly, offering a hand up.

The girl took the offered hand and stood on shaky legs. She wiped at the blood under her nose unconcernedly and asked, "What happened?"

"Your power is immense, sister. You held out well. Perhaps in the future you can be in charge of the attacks."

Hotaru glowed with this praise, but her eyes were troubled. "But what happened?" she asked urgently.

"The camp of refugees was eliminated, and the senshi with them, with any luck," Sailorsaturn replied after a minute. "Why do you ask, Hotaru?"

The girl shrugged, wiping the last of the blood from her face. "I feel like I should care," was all she said.