Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ Sailormoon Dark ❯ Episode 20: The Battle that Spanned 900 Years. Vengeance Clouds the Mind. ( Chapter 20 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Sailormoon Dark: Episode Twenty
"The Battle that Spanned 900 Years. Vengeance Clouds the Mind."

written by Laurel Wilson ( Sailorhathor@aol.com )
Inspired by the Japanese animated show Pretty Soldier Sailormoon.
The ideas for this fanfic were conceived in 1995, but this actual episode was written in January 2002.


"You have no idea what you've started here. You're in for the fight of your life, imposters!"
"Oh yeah? Who do you think trained me to fight? I'm your ultimate opponent."
"I think I would remember if I had trained someone who looked like you..."
"Nevermind. Hey, what is the kid doing here?! And where did all those students come from?! There are too many possible casualties on the battlefield! Get them out--is that a camera crew?!"
Pretty Soldier Sailormoon Dark Episode 20: The Battle that Spanned 900 Years. Vengeance Clouds the Mind. The moonlight carries the message of love.

        Haruka and Michiru were too stunned to move as they watched these two strangers transform into the senshi they were supposed to be.
        Taru drew a small circle under her outstretched hand with her transformation wand. From it came a column of wind that surrounded her hand, producing the evolved Space Sword. Haruka gasped at the sight of it. First the girl with the Silence Glaive, and now this? Taru mightily stabbed the sword into the ground and slashed to one side, making a rift from which another column of wind blew. It engulfed her body in a quick blast and left behind her complete fuku.
        At the same time, her sister Sash began to transform; Michiru was definitely shocked to see the Sacred Mirror emerge from the column of water that surrounded the girl's hand. It had become a staff... how did it get a long handle? It was like someone had added to the Mirror that Michiru claimed as her own Talisman. An idea sparked in Michiru's head--she was beginning to understand what was going on here. Sash finished her transformation by reflecting light off the Mirror, using the reflected light to trace a circle around her feet. A column of luminescent sea water gracefully shot up around her, leaving behind her total fuku.
        The two sisters posed next to each other. "The future senshi of the heavens and wind, I am Sailormiraiuranus, appearing triumphantly!"
        "And I am Sailormiraineptune, the senshi of the unrelenting sea, appearing gracefully!"
        "We will not forgive you if you continue to protect that monster," they declared in unison, pointing at Sailorcosmos.
        "Sailormiraiuranus?!" cried Haruka in disbelief. "The future Sailoruranus? That's a mighty big claim. Are you sure about that?"
        "I'm quite sure," Miraiuranus smirked.
        "I think I have a theory on what's going on here," Michiru began. "It's sort of like Chibiusa being the future Sailormoon."
        "So they-" Haruka went pale, a bewildered look on her face. "That's not possible."
        "Wouldn't you like to know!" laughed Miraiuranus before pushing by Haruka. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have work to finish. This girl tried to kill our leader, so we must take care of her."
        "That's the way you taught us; sometimes people are too dangerous to be allowed to go on living," Sailormiraineptune added.
        "The way we taught you?" gaped Haruka. This whole thing was crazy! She and Michiru... how?!
        "Don't you know who that girl is?" Michiru asked. "She never would have tried to kill anyone."
        "Oh Shiro!" wailed Sailorhydrogen, cradling her fallen boyfriend.
        "Are you going to stay out of our way or are we going to have to make you?" The snarled challenge oozed from Miraiuranus' mouth as she poked her mother in the gut with the Space Sword.
        Miraijupiter and Miraipluto looked at each other and grinned. "We've never had a fight quite this interesting before..."
        Nearby, the student Aquamarine Black trotted into the plaza with her young cameraman in tow. "Kamera-kun, hurry! We don't want to miss a thing!"@
        "But, we could get hurt if we jump in the middle of a fight between sailor soldiers," Kamera nervously protested. He was shaking so much the tv camera quaked on his shoulders.
        "We could also get a great story. Just keep up." She posed her best newscaster pose before the broken facade of Mirai Mugen and put on a smile. "Are you rolling?"
        "Hai."
&n bsp;       Aquamarine spoke into her microphone. "3, 2, 1. This is Aquamarine Black with an exclusive breaking news story from the steps of Mirai Mugen University, where an all out war has broken out between several sailor soldiers. If you'll look behind me, you can see that the front windows and doors of this place of learning have already been shattered, along with the campus peace. What could have prompted such violence? I'll have more after the weather report." More posing and smiling. "Okay, get some shots of the students through the windows, the ones running away there. Feed it all to the studio. We go live in a few minutes."
        "Excuse me..." said an annoyed Sailormiraipluto. "It's not safe for you to be here."
        Ignoring her warning, Aquamarine asked, "May I have an interview with you? We go live in only a few minutes."
        "I'm in the middle of a battle..."
        "Maybe we should listen to her," Kamera said in a shaky voice.
        As if to demonstrate, one of the now transformed Sailoruranus' World Shaking orbs went flying past Aquamarine and almost struck Miraijupiter, who leapt out of the way.
        "Ahhhh!" yelped Kamera.
        "You wimp, stop whining and film this. What are you all fighting over?"
        "No time to talk." Sailormiraipluto raised the Time Key for an attack.
        "Damnit, who am I supposed to interview? I go live in a couple of minutes! How about you?" Aquamarine quickly helped Sailorcosmos stand up. Cosmos rubbed at her head and nursed the cuts the shattered glass had caused. "Will you tell me what's going on here?"
        Cosmos saw the others fighting. "What? I'm not sure; why are they fighting? They didn't do anything. It was me." With much regret, she noticed Sailorhydrogen weeping over Shiro's still body. "I killed him."
        "You killed somebody?! Kamera, bring the camera over here."
        "I didn't mean to; I didn't know he was so sick." Sailorcosmos' face was stricken.
        "Who are you? They'll want to know your name."
        "Why I'm Sailormoon." She caught herself. "I mean, I'm Sailorcosmos. Now, anyway."
        This stopped Aquamarine cold; she looked over the Cosmos fuku. "You're Sailormoon?"
        "Yes. My uniform was changed by the Cosmos power."
        Staring at her with an unreadable expression, Aquamarine asked, "May I have an interview?"
        "I really should help my friends instead."
        "A.M., we go live in thirty seconds."
        Frustrated, Aquamarine grabbed Kamera by his collar and pulled him right through the center of the battle. The cameraman screeched as attack orbs squeaked right by him, but he kept running until they reached Aquamarine's goal--Sailormiraisaturn. The girl had not joined the battle; she was standing motionless with the Silence Glaive as if she was waiting for something.
        "Hello, I see you aren't fighting. What are you waiting for?"
        "A clear shot," Miraisaturn replied.
        "Really? For who?"
        "Sailordarkcosmos ."
        "I see. Then you intend to hurt her very badly?"
        Sailormiraisatu rn glanced at the newscaster. "No. I intend to kill her."
        Her eyes wide, Aquamarine turned to Kamera. "Did you hear that?! We hit the jackpot! Get the camera ready!"
        Sailorcosmos hesitated before attacking. It was obvious to her now that there was much about the power of the Cosmos that she did not understand. Perhaps it was too strong for her. How could she ever make up for killing that poor sick boy...
        Kamera counted down from five. "I'm Aquamarine Black at the scene of what appears to be a senshi war between Sailorneptune, Sailoruranus, and several unknown soldiers. They've already caused damage to Mirai Mugen University, and yet, the battle continues behind me. I have one of the mysterious new soldiers with me now, and she's declared that they are here to kill Sailorcosmos, identified as that senshi over there, in the cape. Can you explain to me why you want to kill her?"
        Miraisaturn shook her head. "I did not say I wanted to kill Sailorcosmos. I said Sailordarkcosmos. You're misquoting me."
        "Oh, I'm terribly sorry--but you are aware that she claims to be Sailorcosmos? She said she was originally Sailormoon."
        Miraiuranu s popped her head into the camera's view. "Ha! Her, Sailormoon? Sailormoon never killed innocent people. She never attacked children."
        Primping at her blue hair, Miraineptune sidled on camera. "Am I on tv? Hello Japan." She blew a kiss. "What my sister says is true; Sailordarkcosmos is a dangerous killer, and we're going to stop her."
        Sailoruranus angrily butted in. "We keep telling you, that's not Sailordarkcosmos! That's Sailorplainoldcosmos! She didn't hurt anyone intentionally." She hadn't noticed that the two Mirai senshi had snuck off camera. "That boy attacked her first."
        Miraiuranus' voice sounded from behind them. "Globe Splitting!" The ground shook underneath their feet as an energy orb sped at them. Suddenly Sailoruranus was struck in the backside with the orb and her surprised face flew at the camera.
        Inside the Mirai Mugen building, the lobby was full of students who were watching the community television. They were too afraid to go outside but too curious not to watch the battle on the news. On the screen they saw Sailoruranus fly at the camera and then the picture went all over the place as Kamera was knocked over. The students gasped and bounced around on the furniture excitedly.
        "Did you see that?!"
        "Oh my gosh, she hit the camera!"
        The newscaster in the studio filled most of the screen; the shaky picture from Mirai Mugen was shrunk into a corner box. "Aquamarine-san, are you okay? What's going on there?"
        Another voice off-camera cried, "Tsunami Surging!" Within seconds the camera's view was swallowed up by an enormous wave of sea water.
        The students became overwhelmed again, gasping and jumping up and down. "The poor cameraman! Caught in the middle!"
        As quickly as she could, Aquamarine grabbed the viewfinder of the camera and looked into it as Kamera tried to regain his equilibrium. "Akiko, we were just struck by attacks from two of the unknown senshi; I think it has done damage to the camera." Indeed, the picture was going staticy every few seconds. "We're going to try to stay on the air though to bring you this developing story."
        Sailoruranus jumped up with a growl. "How could you use that attack so close to innocent civilians? I never would have taught anyone to do that. That was very dangerous!"
        Like scolded children, Miraiuranus and Miraineptune cowered and looked at their feet. "I'm sorry, Papa-san," they said in unison.
        Miraiuranus continued, "It's just that we're here to avenge the attempted murder of Burrito, and you won't let us get on with it--you keep getting in the way."
        Sailoruranus' mouth worked like she was trying to say something, but the sounds would not come out. "Ah-uh-p-p-Papa-san?!"
         The students gaped at the tv. "Papa-san?!"
        "Burrito?! " Aquamarine exclaimed, limping over.
        "Yeah... you know, those things they serve at Taco Pagoda#. The Mexican restaurant. There aren't a ton of them around Japan. Uh, well, her hair is done up in these balls on her head that are shaped like burritos. So that's what I call her." Being scolded by her papa always made Sailormiraiuranus a little shaky.
        "That sounds like me, nicknaming people after their appearance..." Uranus mused.
        Listening to the description of "Burrito," Sailorcosmos rushed down the stairs toward them. "You're talking about Chibiusa! What's happened to WOAH!" She tripped over a crack in the cement made by Miraiuranus' Globe Splitting attack."
        Sweatdropping, Uranus took the time to comment, "At least she's still pretty much the Dumpling I know."
        Aquamarine didn't seem to be listening anymore; she focused on what the other two had said. "The Rabbit. You described the Rabbit. She has-" She paused, rethinking that topic of conversation. "If it is true that this girl is Sailormoon, and she killed someone, then I will be her rightful judge. If necessary, I will rekindle the power of the Kurozuishou.$"
        The group went silent and stared at Aquamarine as if she had pumpkins growing out of her ears. "You'll do what now?"
        Giggling, the students watched the newscaster try to recover from the weird things she'd said right on camera. "She's a student here, you know. Brushing up on her Journalism skills," one girl commented.
        Nathan walked into the lobby with the purpose of finding out what the heck all the noise was down here; he saw the broken windows and doors. That explained all the breaking glass noises... then he saw the students gathered around the television. Which looked just like the action going on outside. "Hey guys, why don't you just look out the window if you want to see what's going on? You can see it without the satellite delay that way."
        The students loudly rejected his idea, telling him to shush, but Nathan didn't notice, because he had seen the object of his desires standing in a corner with a cell phone to her ear. Beautiful blue hair, angelic face, eyes that promised so much more than angelic behavior, a devious smile, and those sexy pink stockings... it was his Vivian.
        "I don't think I should join the battle. They're all here though. Even Sailormiraisaturn. She's looming over them all, just waiting her turn with that big knife on a stick." Vivian rolled her eyes. "I mean, what is that? A bottle opener for giants?"
        "Oh quit compwaining," Siggy replied on the other end of the phone. "Aww Shawowdawkcoshmosh ashked you to do wash watch to make shuwe Baby Baby Wove'sh pwan wowked out okay. You cowwect the Shouw Shiewdsh when it'sh aww ovew and take them back to hew. Eashy."
        "Yeah yeah. Shut up." Vivian noticed Nathan coming her way. The handsome kindergartener... "Oh Sigmund, stop! You are so bad." She giggled flirtatiously.
        "Huh?" Siggy understandably had no idea that she was using him to make Nathan jealous. Nathan was close enough to hear what she was saying; he smiled hello.
        Vivian gave a small wave and smiled a bit distractedly. "Alright darling, I'll see you tonight for dinner. Of course I'll wear that dress you like so much. Oh, you stop that! Save it for tonight." Giggling again, she said goodbye and hung up.
        The confused seamonster shrugged and hung up too. "Women. Can't wive with 'em, can't feed 'em to my coushin Nesshie."
        "Good afternoon Miss Vivian. That's some spectacle going on outside, isn't it? Does this sort of thing happen often here?"
        "Well, sort of. We've got a large concentration of these sailor soldiers in Japan. Sometimes they fight among themselves. The news seems to like it." She shrugged.
        "We don't really have many of these superhero girls in America, not anywhere near as many as you have. So... you've got a date tonight?"
        "Yes," Vivian replied with a smirky grin. "Sigmund is taking me out to dinner. Siggy's such a big spender; he says nothing is too expensive for me. He spoils me so." She giggled.
        "Ah. Well, I'm busy tonight too, but maybe if you're not occupied later in the week, you would accompany me on a date? That is if Sigmund isn't monopolizing all of your free nights," Nathan asked, confidently grinning.
        Such a smile... you love the way I make you squirm. "Maybe. I'll have to check my schedule, and get back to you." She batted her eyelashes at him. "What is it that you're doing tonight? Spending time with your friends from the tv class?"
        "No, I'm spending it with my very close friends Muffy and Stephanie. They're flying in from America tonight to visit. I just can't wait to see them; I've missed them terribly the short time I've been out here."
        "Oh?" Vivian's cocky demeanor visibly deflated a few notches. "Then these friends are that important to you."
        "Very much so."
        "How nice for you. Um, I'd better go. I'll talk to you later."
        "Later baby." Nathan watched her retreat with the same sort of smirk she'd worn only moments earlier. "Touche'."


     &nb sp;  Ahead there was a public bathroom building, in an empty part of the park. That would be a perfect place to transform! Nozomi ran around one side of the building and Momono the other; they met in the middle with a surprise headbutt.
        "Owwww!" Momono looked up from rubbing her head. "Nozomi! You're okay! How did you escape?"
        "I'm not sure, really. But I came here to... um..."
        "Yeah, me too." There was an uncomfortable, unsure silence.
        "Oh Momono-chan, can I tell you a secret? I'm here because I need an unpied place to transform," Nozomi blabbed. Such secrets were hard for a little girl to keep from a friend.
        "Unpied?"
& nbsp;       "You know, like, there's nobody here."
        Momono giggled at the child's grammatical flub. "Don't you mean unoccupied?"
        Lau ghing, Nozomi replied, "Oh yeah."
        "Wait, you said you came here to transform. Are you a sailor senshi?!"
        Blinking in surprise, Nozomi just nodded. "I'm a pretty sailor-suited soldier in training."
        Momono, smiling, pulled a transformation wand from her pocket. "So am I."
        The pink-haired child was overjoyed that her new best friend could understand something so private as being a soldier of love and justice. Nozomi hugged her. "Then we can transform and fight Sailordarkcosmos together!"
        "There's just one thing. I haven't transformed in a very long time, and to this day I have yet to use my Talisman. I'm unsure about how this will go," Momono confessed, fumbling with her henshin wand.
        "I have faith in you! You'll be a hit!" Nozomi assured. She gave a thumbs up.
        This warmed Momono's heart, that someone had that much confidence in her. Someone who didn't even know her very well. Perhaps that's what best friends were, the people who saw the qualities in oneself that one could not see. "If you believe I can do it, then I believe it too."
        With a smile and a giggle, Nozomi raised her locket over her head. "Moon Twicrystal Power, Make-Up!"
        Momono followed suit. "Silver Elemental Power, Make-Up!"
        Because of her assertation that she was now Sailordeadearth, Nozomi's transformation was simpler than usual. Silver and gold stars spiraled one way and then the other, turning her clothing into the white fuku of Sailordeadearth.
        The power surging through Momono's body while she transformed felt so right and natural again; the silver mists from her wand surrounded her. The mist sparkled about the places on her body where her fuku would lie, leaving behind the Elemental soldier's uniform. Sailorsilver stepped out of the cloud, pushing it to each side like a curtain, before reaching behind her neck to unlatch her special necklace. She palmed the blue and silver ball pendant and squeezed it until it produced a silver light that shined from between her fingers. When she opened her hand, the pendant grew to the size of a basketball, and she tossed it into the air. A staff grew from the bottom as the pendant floated upward; this is what Momono grabbed so she could take her pose with her Talisman as Sailorsilver .
        Unaware of what was going on outside, Kitaeru raised her head from the book she'd been looking at and glanced around the library, letting out a gasp.
        "What is it?" Ban asked. He was helping her put the returned books back on the shelf.
        "The Candy Dish has chosen a soldier," she replied. "It's a little pendant that looks like a blue and silver ball; the necklace transforms into a staff with the Candy Dish on one end. The ball opens up... it has magic candy in it, that's why it's called that." Lost in thought, Kitaeru continued, "I thought it was lost forever when it disappeared, but apparently not. Someone is using it now. For the first time."
        After taking a look at each other, Sailordeadearth and Sailorsilver ran back toward Mirai Mugen. "Explanations later; let's go!"
        As they neared the campus, Deadearth suddenly tripped and fell down. "Ah! I guess there's something else I got from my Grammy."
        Silver helped her up. "You okay?"
        "Yeah." They both looked at what she had tripped over. "Weird! I've seen something like this before."
        Deadearth had fallen over a ring in the sidewalk where the cement had been torn up. Such a perfect circle... where did it come from?


      &n bsp; Kamera yanked on Aquamarine's sleeve. "A.M., we're coming back from commercial in 30 seconds."
        "Okay, I'm ready."
        Ignoring the newscaster, Sailormiraisaturn noticed that the fight had moved off to one side, so she quietly raised the Silence Glaive until it was parallel with her body. Cosmos approached her. "Where did you get that weapon? Did Hotaru-chan lend it to you?"
        Miraisaturn leveled a hard look at her. "You could say that. Sailordarkcosmos, I will not let you hurt anyone else like you hurt Chibiusa-chan. Hand over what you took from her."
        "I didn't do anything to Chibiusa! I haven't seen her for years. What happened to her?! You keep saying I tried to kill her-"
        "That's enough. If you won't cooperate, then I have no choice." Sailormiraisaturn took a few steps back. "Do you have any last words?"
        "Last words?!"
        "Wait!" cried Aquamarine. "Wait until we come back from commercial!"
        If Sailoruranus and Neptune hadn't been so horrified by Miraisaturn's words, they probably would have sweatdropped at the newscaster's glib attitude. "You can't! For the last time, she's not Sailordarkcosmos!"
        Befo re anyone could try to stop her, Sailormiraisaturn growled, "Raveling...!" There was a loud electric pop, and a purple orb of energy shaped like the planet Saturn emanated on the end of the Silence Glaive. The rings came apart and slashed wildly at the air like ribbons caught in a wind gust. Sailorcosmos gasped, her hand to her mouth. "ORBIT!" With the Glaive lowered in a slicing sweep, the orb was sent toward Cosmos.
        The rings of the Saturn orb began to remerge in flight when another Silence Glaive, the original one, cut through the space directly in front of the orb. "Silence... WALL!"
        A blast of purple energy spread from the orb as it evaporated against the Silence Wall. The blast rebounded and knocked everyone off their feet, except for the present and future Saturns. Miraisaturn gritted her teeth as the force of the burst slid her back about a foot. Sailorsaturn unrelentingly stood in front of Cosmos with the Silence Glaive held out before her until the Raveling Orbit attack had completely dissipated.
        Uranus and Neptune sighed with relief.
        This was quite sobering; Miraisaturn was too shocked to move. "Mama? Why? Why did you save a murdering devil like her?"
        Sailorsaturn did not flinch at being called "Mama;" she only replied, "You should not use the powers of destruction without first making sure you have all the facts. There would be much regret if you were wrong."
        Fumbling to get up, Kamera whined, "The camera is badly damaged!"
        The students all groaned as the feed from the battle went snowy. "We seem to have lost the picture; we'll try to get that back for you. In the meantime, let's go to Ito with his exclusive coverage of tonight's Lightning Boys and Noble 6 concert."
        Most of the students ran to the windows to see how the battle would turn out, while a few stayed behind to watch the concert report. Sailormiraisaturn didn't like so many civilians so close to the battleground. She stood with her Silence Glaive in a more defensive position. "Perhaps you are right. We should take the time to be certain."
        "I don't need anymore time!" Sailorelysion cried. She had been quietly backing up the Outer Mirai soldiers all along, but she could stay in the background no longer. "I was there! I saw her attack Chibiusa! She attacked me too. Do you think I don't know who attacked me?!" Elysion angrily jabbed at Sailorsaturn with the horn of the Unicorn Stave. Saturn batted it away with the Glaive's blade. She intended to protect Sailorcosmos from Elysion's rage. "How can you stand there, shielding her from attack? I'm telling you that she tried to kill your best friend! Do you not care?!"
        "You've got the wrong person. I swear to you, Sailorcosmos did not do this thing."
        "I know she did. Get out of the way!"
        Everyone's nerves were on their absolute edge; no one dared attack for fear the civilians would get hurt.
        On the edge of the plaza, Sailorsilver stopped Deadearth so they could assess the situation. "That's the girl who hurt my mommy!" Deadearth pointed at Sailorcosmos.
        "It is? Alright, I can attack from here. I'll weaken everyone so no one will get in the way," Sailorsilver explained. She opened up the stand on the opposite end of the Candy Dish by jerking the staff sharply, then placed it on the ground like a camera on a tripod.
        "You're not going to hurt any of my friends, are you?"
        "No, this attack will just keep anyone from interfering." Truthfully, Silver didn't know who were Sailordeadearth's friends because she could not recognize them in senshi form. No one would be permanently harmed anyway, so better to just cover all of one's bases.
        Waving her hands over the Candy Dish, Sailorsilver cried, "Silver Linings!" The Dish opened up into four sections like some kind of crane.
        "It's full of candy!" exclaimed Sailordeadearth curiously, looking in at the wrapped candies in all the colors of the rainbow.
        Silver dipped her hands into the Dish, taking two handfuls, and then drew them upward. The candies dropped from between her fingers, but they didn't fall back into the Dish; instead, they hovered in midair and formed paths from her fingers to the Dish below. The paths grouped themselves by color like a levitating private rainbow, just for the two of them.
        Sailordeadearth was delighted. "It's so pretty!"
        Suddenly Silver splayed her fingers apart toward the clouds above Mirai Mugen. The candy rainbow flew like a shot up into them. "I wish I could keep it pretty forever," she lamented with an apologetic grin, and closed the Candy Dish. "Let's move closer to the action. Any second now, the rain will start."
        "The rain?"
        Sailorelysion was in tears now. "She's one of my closest friends. I love Chibiusa like a sister. You can't deny me my revenge."
        "Hotaru-chan, get out of the way," Sailorcosmos commanded. "I should face her, not you. I'm the one she thinks hurt Chibiusa."
        Saturn shook her head. "You should never do anything for revenge. Only for justice. I know you're hurting, but this isn't--OW!" She grabbed her arm.
        "Hotaru-chan?!"
        "Hey, that hurt!" Sailormiraipluto growled.
        The others began to experience what Saturn and Miraipluto were--it felt like needles were falling from the sky, hard pile-driving needles in the form of silver raindrops. The droplets fell more frequently until they were pitter-pattering on the ground... and everyone was yelling in pain.
        "Ahhh! Needles, needles, I hate needles!" screamed Kamera, trying to hold the tv camera over his head.
        Sailorsaturn collapsed to her knees, dropping the Silence Glaive with an unnerving CLANG!
        "Hotaru-chan!"         "Papa, no more needles," Saturn begged. The silver rain took her back to the days of her fits, the days her father was a slave to the Death Busters, when he performed so many experiments on her to "cure" her illness that she felt like a human pincushion. "Please Papa, I just want to sit in my chair with my dolls and dream of the day this will all be over. Ahhhh, Papa, stop! It hurts!" Her entire body shook under the strain.
        "Mama!" Sailormiraisaturn wanted to help her mother, but she could hardly move herself. It was easier just to stay still and cover her head. But part of her urged her to go on, so she slashed at the air with her Silence Glaive in an effort to knock the drops away before they could hit her. "Mama!"
        The only person who did not seem to be affected by the rain walked into the plaza with the pink-haired kid behind her. The rain did not hit them, so obviously the older girl was its controller.
        "You're hurting my friends too!" Sailordeadearth noted with shock.
        "I'm sorry, I can't help that right now. I need to do this quickly before the rain stops. Please trust me." Silver stood in front of Sailorcosmos, who was trying to fight off the pain so she could help the others. "I know what you did. I'm going to teach you a lesson for my friend's sake. Rainsoaked Rapture!"
        The Candy Dish opened again before Cosmos. The wrapped candies popped like popcorn, releasing bursts of silver electricity that coursed over Cosmos' body and lifted her into position. She could not struggle against it, so she whimpered helplessly. "Who are you?"
        "I am Sailorsilver, the senshi of the elemental rain. I'll be bringing this battle to an end."
        The electricity drew Sailorcosmos closer to the Candy Dish. Her soaking-wet fuku stuck to her body. "I'm sorry for whatever you think I did. But we're both sailor soldiers, and that means we can understand each other. Please, let's talk this out."
        Each of the senshi who had come from the future, save for the one who already knew, were stopped cold by these words. Those were the words of Neo Queen Serenity. Those were her ideals about sailor soldiers. They had been wrong all along. This girl was not Sailordarkcosmos. She was the future Neo Queen.
        "That is why you called her Dumpling," Miraisaturn commented to herself.
        Running right into the path of the rain, Sailordeadearth jumped in front of Silver, taking a large dose of the electric attack. She grabbed the pole of the Candy Dish and pushed it up sharply just as it closed with a loud CLANK! No one knew what would have happened to Sailorcosmos if she had been in front of that current when the Dish clanked shut, but they were glad it was over. The rain abruptly ceased as Silver looked down at her friend, stunned. "Nozomi?"
        "Stop, Sailorsilver. That's not her. She's not the one who attacked my mommy. She's... Grammy." Deadearth slumped against her.
        "Nozomi! Nozomi-chan!" Dropping her Talisman, Sailorsilver hugged the unconscious child.
        Elysion knelt next to her, taking Deadearth from her. "Who are you? Why did you attack us all?"
        "I was trying to help. Nozomi told me this was the person who hurt her mother," Silver tried to explain, but even she would have to admit that it did look very suspicious for her. "I didn't mean to mess everything up. I'm Nozomi's friend, really I am."
        "You're-" Sailorelysion was about to ask her if she meant she was Momono, but was interrupted by a red rose dart that had been pegged into the ground between herself and Silver.
        Tuxedo Mask stood in the open doorway where glass doors used to be; he was panting as if he'd run all the way there. "Rain is... a beautiful cleanser... of the Earth... pant, pant... It should not... aw skip it. I'm late, aren't I?"
        At least Sailorcosmos still had the decency to stroke his ego by crying, "Tuxedo Kamen-sama!"
        Tears in her eyes, Silver sobbed, "Gomen nasai," scooped up the Candy Dish, and ran away.
        "Wait!"
  ;       "Let her go; we've got more pressing issues to deal with," Sailoruranus said, shaking off the silver rain attack. She looked over her future replacement. "Such as, what you're doing here, and why you two call me Papa."


      & nbsp; "Who did the Candy Dish claim?" Ban asked of his girlfriend.
        Kitaeru listened to the wavelengths very few could hear, where the Talismans talked to her. "A young girl. Black hair. An Elemental fuku, with silver chains hanging from it and a grey-blue skirt. Big copper bow. Sad grey eyes. Her identity is... unfamiliar. Sailorsilver." Her face folded into a confused expression with furrowed brows.
        "I don't think I've ever heard of a Sailorsilver. Who is she?"
        Kitaeru shook her head. "I have no idea."


      & nbsp; Her legs hanging over the side of the headstone she sat on, Sailorcharon stared down at her lap. "So that's it. I have no choice but to descend down into the heart of Hell to get two coins for my parents. I really hoped I wouldn't have to go that far."
        "Don't look so down." Helium took her face in both hands. "You won't be doing it alone. Together we can fight off all the demons of Hell to help your parents."
        "The demons aren't the problem. I can't ask you to go in there with me, Heri. You have no idea..."
        "You're not asking me, baby, I'm insisting." She kissed Charon's lips. "We'll go in tomorrow. Okay?"
        Looking fully into Sailorhelium's eyes, Charon sighed heavily. "Heri-ai..." They shared another longer kiss. "If I can't talk you out of it, then I guess I'm stuck with you. Tomorrow."
        Several minutes later, Sailoranubis watched them make their way to the boat. She waved, then looked toward the viel that separated the Necropolis from the metal doors to Hell. "The deepest pit of Hell, huh?"


      &n bsp; As the light turned purple outside, Nathan and Tara arrived at the airport to pick up his friends from America. They hung around one of the luggage carousels and chatted.
        "So you told her you were spending your evening with Muffy and Stephanie? And that's it? Are you trying to make the girl go insane with jealousy?"
        "You just don't understand how to seduce a girl like Vivian," Nathan declared, rolling his eyes. "Insane with jealousy is just what I need to make her really want me."
        "Okay, I've heard enough. Look, here they come!" Tara pointed to the luggage carousel.
        "There are my girls!" He collected two pet taxis off the rotating rack. One was labeled Muffy, the other Stephanie.
        Each held a rabbit.

"Chibiusa is hurt that badly? I want to see her. Maybe I can help her!"
"Our crystal forest..."
"I've got the power of the Cosmos. It should be used for good."
"Our crystal forest... it is..."
"I know I can heal Chibiusa!"
"Our crystal forest is crying, Otome yo.*"
Sailormoon Dark Episode 21: Through the Gates of Time. Our Crystal Forest is Weeping. The moonlight carries the message of love.

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@ The name of the cameraman is a little joke on my part; his name is Kamera Hito, which means "camera person." (Kamera being the Japanese pronounciation of the English word instead of the actual Japanese word for camera. I think it would be pronounced "Kah-mae-rah.") I couldn't resist. ^_^
# Taco Pagoda does not really exist; I made it up. Just incase you actually thought anyone would be that silly. ;-D
$ Kurozuishou = Dark Crystal, the crystal that gave Nemesis/the Black Moon its power. Author's Note: I am aware that the characters referred to this crystal as something like the "jakokozuishou" in the series, but I have checked every online and printed Japanese dictionary I know of and used every variation on the spelling I can think of--I cannot find the word "jakoko" anywhere. I'm simply not going to use it if I can't even find the word and its correct spelling. So, I have decided to use words I can find and refer to it as the Kurozuishou (kuro clearly means "dark" or "black"). I'll come up with an excuse why Aquamarine calls it this instead of the jakoko thing in the story.
* Otome yo = means, "My Maiden." This was Pegasus'/Elios' pet name for Chibiusa during the SuperS season. In past episodes, I've just translated it outright, but from now on, I'm going to try to use the original Japanese phrase, because it just sounds so cool. ^_^

On to Episode 21: Through the Gates of Time. Our Crystal Forest is Weeping.
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