Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ The Fragility of Time ❯ "Divided Loyalties" ( Chapter 11 )

[ P - Pre-Teen ]

The Fragility of Time
Chapter 11: "Divided Loyalties"
Author: etj4Eagle
Email: etj4Eagle@yahoo.com
http://www.geocities.com/etj4eagle
Lasted Edited: 8/31/00

Disclaimer: A reminder I own none of the characters of this story,
all rights are owned by others.
If you distribute the story, do only
so freely and inform me of where you post it.

_______________________________________

The next morning found Usagi and Rei still laid up in bed. Rei's
grandfather, having only been a Shadow Warrior and not too terribly
injured in the battle had fully recovered from the incident, his only
injury really being exhaustion. Ikuko had come by in the morning with
ChibiUsa, after talking with the old priest they had decided it best
that Usagi spend the day resting beside Rei, as both would probably
be anxious about the other's condition when they awoke.

After checking on the two girls one more time, the old man went
outside to tackle some of the shrine chores. One troubling thought
that had been running through his mind all morning was why were the
two girls so badly injured whereas he was in fine shape. He did not
remember much from the incident, but he could clearly make out the
bruises and burns on the two girls. He only hoped that they would get
better quickly.

He chuckled to himself as he remembered the eager child that Tsukino-
san had brought with her. The first indication that he had about
their arrival was when the little pink haired munchkin blasted into
the room that the two girls were sleeping in and proceeded to
promptly latch herself onto her onee-san. He could clearly see the
love that was radiating from the small child to the elder one, and
surprisingly even as Usagi lay asleep she grasped the little one up
into a hug and radiated the love right back.

He was glad that his grandchild had found a friend like Usagi. Rei
had wrapped herself in a protective shell ever since the death of her
mother. She attempted to keep every one distant from her, to avoid
the pain of loosing another loved one, but the love that Usagi
radiated to everyone penetrated that barrier. He could see Rei
responding to that love almost right away. And, then recently Rei's
barrier had fully collapsed and he could see that she was now coming
to terms with the sisterly love that she held for Usagi.

* * * * * * * *
Juuban Junior High School

Ami and Makoto had been unable to find out the condition of Usagi and
Rei before leaving for school, all they knew was that Usagi was not
in school. Walking out to lunch alone a black shape dropped off the
building and onto Ami's shoulder. Momentarily startled she quickly
recovered as she realized who the black shape was. "How is Usagi?"
she asked her new companion.

"She seems to be okay. Both her and Rei are still out of it, but they
seem to be doing well. Rei's grandfather is now looking over the
two." Replied her visitor.

Ami spotted Makoto ahead at the tree the group normally ate at and
moved over to give her the good news. "Mako-chan, Luna says that
Usagi and Rei are doing okay, though both are still asleep."

Makoto's expression immediately brightened at the news and she hugged
the cat for having brought the news. Breaking out their bento boxes
the two began to eat, giving a piece every now and then to a most
gracious Luna. Feeling a presence behind her, Ami looked up to see
Urawa standing behind her. "Urawa-san!" she exclaimed

"Hi Ami-san, Makoto-san." He said while sitting down next to Ami.
"Ami-san, how is Usagi doing? I hope she is feeling better after last
night."

"She is okay, she and should hopefully be back in school tomorrow,
but needs a lot of rest while she heals." As Ami answered his
question she got a nagging feeling on how he knew about the attack.
She figured the news would get out sooner or later, but not quite
this quick.

"Something happened to Usagi? Is that why she is not in?" asked a
suddenly distraught Naru who had had come to join the group.

Urawa answered her question. "There was an attack at the Hikawa
shrine last night. Both Usagi and Rei were badly injured during the
attack."

Naru sat numbly eating her food puzzling over her and Usagi's
apparent bad luck for attracting those demons.

"Naru why don't you come with us after school when we go to pay her a
visit?" offered Ami.

"Agrito, I would love that Ami-chan."

* * * * * * * *

By the time that school let out both Rei and Usagi were feeling
somewhat better. Usagi's energy had almost fully returned to her, but
Rei's grandfather had forbid either of them from getting out of bed.
However sufficient energy had returned to Rei to give Usagi a serious
scolding and as soon as her grandfather was out of hear shot she
began to give her princess a piece of her mind.

"What did you think you were doing throwing yourself in the way of
that blast? You could have been killed!" she yelled at Usagi

"And, if I didn't then you would have been. Rei, I don't won't any of
you sacrificing your lives for me."

"Princess it is our duty." She continued, not letting Usagi get her
retort in "Even if it was not our duty, we would still do the same.
You mean too much to each of us, for us to lose you. I could never
live with myself if you died and I could have prevented it. Usagi you
are like a sister to me and anyone who tries to harm you will have to
get through me."

Usagi was left speechless by Rei's tirade, she sat looking blankly at
the fiery priestess. She knew how much each of them meant to her, but
she never really realized how much she meant to each of them. She did
the only thing she could; she flung herself across the space between
the two mattresses and wrapped Rei up in a hug. The two sat there
holding each other and crying into each other's arms, letting the
emotions of almost losing someone they loved dearly out. As they
began to regain their composure "Just don't ever scare us like that
again Usagi."

The two remained holding each other, and that is how the other Senshi
and Naru found them when they arrived. To say they were speechless
would be an understatement; they could not believe what they were
seeing. While the Senshi had started to see Rei and Usagi becoming
closer, it was such a complete shock to Naru that she passed out.

The thunk of Naru hitting the ground startled Usagi and Rei, causing
them to realize that they had guests. "Naru-chan" cried Usagi when
she realized that it was her best friend who had made the thunking
noise. Quickly moving, she helped her friend up and began fussing
over her.

"I guess this means that they must be okay, if they are up an about.
Though, maybe not, seeing that they were actually being civil to each
other for once." Announced Makoto. However, with that last comment,
Makoto suddenly found herself being stalked slowly by both Rei and
Usagi.

Ami, who decided to confirm Makoto's suspicions with some quick
medical tests, probably managed to save Makoto from a fate worse than
death. Hence, Usagi and Rei suddenly had thermometers stuffed in
their mouths while Ami grabbed their wrists to take their pulse
(somehow managing to take both pulses at the same time). Shoving them
both back down on the nearest bed, she pulled out a penlight and
began to check their eyes. Satisfied she turned around and addressed
the others: "They appear to be fully healed after last night. It just
took a little longer than Rei's grandfather." The last bit she added
for Naru's benefit. "Their being civil is probably a result of the
two finally getting sense knocked into their heads after being
blasted. Maybe now they won't waste so much time fighting instead of
studying." The final statement causing everyone to drop their heads
and groan.

Usagi remembering what she wanted to do with Naru got up and grabbing
Naru, the two began to leave. She had almost reached the steps when
she realized that she was being trailed by Minako and Makoto, turning
she glared at her two shadows and cleared her throat. The shadows got
the message and turned back to the shrine.

"What was that about asked Usagi?" asked Naru.

"Oh nothing. The others seem to have some crazy notion that if they
let me out of their sight I will be attacked. Just because I have
been present at two of those monster attacks, does not mean that one
is going to pop up out of nowhere and nab me. Heck, at least one of
them was present with me both of those times. Ugh!" replied Usagi
throwing her hands up, disgusted with the over protectiveness of her
guardians at times.

"Usagi, where are we going? You said you had something to show me?"

"Huh? Oh yeah." Replied Usagi while scratching the back of her head,
having until a moment ago completely forgotten about what she wanted
to do with Naru. "There is a person whom I met the other day, who I
think you should talk to about Nephrite. I know how much he meant to
you, but you need to lay his memory to rest. I am worried about you."
During the last part she laid her hands on Naru's shoulders stifling
the pending protests.

Naru wanted to reply that she was okay. But, she knew that she wasn't
and could not bring herself to lie to Usagi. Also, she could see in
Usagi, how much her hurting was hurting Usagi and the last thing she
wanted to do was to hurt Usagi. And so, she accented to Usagi's help.

Within a short period of time they arrived at the chapel. Walking
inside the priest immediately recognized Usagi. Excusing himself from
the assistants he was talking with he made his way over. "Konnichiwa
Usagi-sama, this must be Naru-san." He said indicating towards Naru.

After exchanging pleasantries and a couple of attempts by Usagi to
get him to call him to just call her Usagi-chan, Naru left with the
priest. Usagi herself wandered around the building looking at the
various stained glass windows. Kneeling down at the dais she decided
to say a prayer for her friend and another one for her daughter.

* * * * * * * *

Opening her eyes, having finished the two prayers she found that she
did not know where she was. However, while the space around her did
not resemble anything discernable she did not feel fear, instead she
felt comfort at ease, almost as if those feelings were radiating
through the realm itself. Feeling a presence she turned, and as she
did the realm rippled becoming concrete.

Instead of the haze, she now stood in a marble room. Looking down at
her body she noticed that she was dressed in a fine white gown,
looking up she saw an older women dressed in a similar elegant white
gown. This woman had her silver hair done up in odango as well and a
crescent moon adorned her forehead.

Usagi instinctively knew who this woman was, even though she held no
memories of her. "Mother" she cried as she flung herself across the
room. Even in her eagerness to grab hold of her mother, she
remembered to stop and curtsy before grabbing hold of the lady in a
hug.

"Princess Serenity, my daughter, it is good to see you again."
Replied the women as she pushed Usagi back a moment to get a good
look at her. "I am proud of what you have accomplished. You have
become a fine young daughter."

"Mother, what am I doing here?" asked a confused princess.

"Always the one for questions. I should not have been able to talk
with you yet, but your desire to protect your daughter has been
breaking the spell I put on you to protect you faster than I
expected. Your prayer at the chapel was the last I needed to be able
to reach out to you.

"I just wanted to see you before you faced the hard battles ahead. I
should have followed the advice of others and given you training, but
I was blind to the pending fall of my kingdom. Just remember that
your greatest strength is your heart and when you have reclaimed the
birthright to use your powers through it.

"Our time is growing short my daughter. Take care, do not despair,
you will remember me soon enough. And, you have a lot more power than
you know, even more than I ever had. Remember I will always love
you." With those final words, the scene in front of Usagi began to
fade.

* * * * * * * *

In its place she began to make out the presence of the chapel
instead. Standing with a little creak in her back she was startled to
see Naru and the priest sitting down near where she had been in
prayer.

"You are done already?" asked Usagi

"What do you mean already? We have been done for nearly forty-five
minutes, you have been like that for over two hours." Replied Naru.

"I hope the questions that you sought answers for were answered to
your liking Usagi-sama." said the Priest with a knowing look in his
eyes as he and Naru moved towards Usagi.

The three walked towards the back of the chapel and the exit. "Thanks
for your help father. I think I can now finally let Nephrite go."

As the two left the chapel and walked down the street, the priest
waved to them before returning inside. "Usagi-chan, thanks for taking
me to see that priest. He helped me give Nephrite's soul the final
resting it deserved."

"He was a good man in the end, and did deserve proper rights for his
passing." agreed Usagi. "I am glad that he was able to put your soul
at ease."

As the two continued down the street Naru's mind kept going back to
something that had been bothering her about the trip to the chapel,
Usagi's relation with the priest. She couldn't help but feel that she
was missing something, particularly since the priest refused to use
anything other than the sama honorphic in addressing Usagi. And, then
there was Usagi's meditation. She had never known Usagi to do
something like that, but there she was in a complete trance, and when
she and the priest came upon Usagi he seemed to recognize something.
She wished that she understood English better, so that she could have
understood what he said to himself when he saw her like that. She
wanted to ask Usagi about it, but she had a feeling that this was one
of those things Usagi would not talk about. There once was a time
when Usagi would tell her everything, but during these past few
months Usagi had begun to keep things from her. She did not know why,
but she associated this new Usagi with that black cat. Ever since
that day she and her mom were attacked by a monster, Usagi' demeanor
had begun to change. And, then there was the whole incident involving
Nephrite. Usagi seemed to know things that she shouldn't and lately
there were far too many coincidences where Usagi was somehow
involved.

She knew that Usagi still cared for her deeply, she could clearly see
that in Usagi' eyes this afternoon. So it couldn't be that Usagi
cared for her less and that was why she was hiding something from
her. No, the only reason why Usagi would keep something from her
would be to protect her. She knew how loyal Usagi was to anyone she
loved. She had only heard sketchy reports from Usagi's other friends
about what happened last night, but apparently she had thrown herself
in the way of a demon attack to protect an injured Rei.

As they walked she wished there was someway that she could help Usagi
with whatever was troubling her. She knew her friend had somehow
assumed a large responsibility. She only hoped that Usagi would
remember that there were others who were willing to help her. As much
as Usagi might have disliked it, she did understand the motives
behind Usagi's friends wanting to follow her today. Arriving at her
mom's shop she said goodbye to Usagi who had to return to Rei's
shrine to do some studying.

As Usagi walked away she called out one final thing to her "I won't
ask about it, but remember that I will always be here for you. Do not
forget us when you try to shoulder the responsibility yourself, let
us help carry the weight. Sayonara Usagi-chan."

* * * * * * * *

Walking back to the shrine Usagi tried to sort out the thoughts that
were running through her head. She was elated over finally having a
picture of her mother's face in her mind, even though none of the
memories had returned yet. The others might not know what Queen
Serenity had meant by the spell breaking early do to her efforts to
protect her daughter. But she did, she had clearly felt at times that
spell that protected her identity.

The spell was a complete one that was obvious from Luna not
recognizing who she was and instead assuming that there was a Senshi
of the moon. Since ChibiUsa had arrived she had probed the extent of
the spell. From her probes she knew that she still retained all her
memories of the past, but they were blocked by the spell. Anything
that would give her away as the princess was blocked or altered. The
only things remaining the same were those things that were so tightly
ingrained to her spirit that they could not be hid and her peculiar
hairstyle.

Her kindness and fun heartedness were both innate properties of her
soul. The same was true with her eyes, which were the windows to her
soul. Her body more physically resembled that of princess Venus than
her own, but that was to be expected. Venus, being commander of the
Senshi, was normally her personal bodyguard. The magic that hid her
probably also created the fuku of Sailor V, it too closely resembled
her own for it to be otherwise.

She knew that she held far more power than she was able to bring to
bear on the enemies, but the glamour spell prevents her from
accessing it. Occasionally she would be able to access for a moment a
small piece of it in protecting ChibiUsa. But, with Rubeus's droids
running around she knew that she would soon need full access to that
power. The last battle with them was evidence of that, but that power
was off-limits to her until the spell broke.

But, the spell was nearly broken. She instinctively somehow knew that
the spell would break when she reassembled the Ginzuishou. With her
birthright reassembled the spell would no longer be needed and she
could bring her strength to bear. Unfortunately, that required
finding the last two Nijizuishou crystals and recovering the one held
by Zoisite.

So lost in thought she was, that she did not even notice that she had
arrived at the shrine, nor that she had sat down and pulled out one
of her books. The other girls had tried getting her attention to no
avail. They had even placed various food items in front of her and
were startled when she ignored them. At one point Rei had to convince
Makoto that Usagi was not possessed and Ami, Minako that she was not
dead.

ChibiUsa managed to rouse Usagi from her state after all the other
girls failed. Her solution was simple: she just told Usagi that Mamo-
chan was taking her out for dinner tonight and not Usagi. The
immediate reddening of Usagi's face in anger and her lunge towards
the child brought her out of her thoughts. Thankfully for ChibiUsa
she had the forethought to make her announcement to Usagi behind
Minako and Makoto, so that when Usagi lunged forward she plowed right
into those two.

While Minako was left stunned on the ground, Makoto had enough sense
to grab Usagi and hold the enraged girl down while Ami explained that
ChibiUsa was just doing what none of them had been able to do for the
past ten minutes, get her attention. A calmer Usagi apologized for
spacing off, which was followed by a quick tong war with Rei. The war
was quick only because ChibiUsa decided to taunt Usagi slightly more
on Mamoru and hence was quickly running for her life.

"Should we go after her?" asked Ami

"No those two need some good bonding time when they aren't facing
demons." Replied Rei

"Sure." Replied Makoto, not quite sure if she believed that what was
happening outside could be considered bonding time, unless an irate
Usagi pounding ChibiUsa was considered mother-daughter bonding.

* * * * * * * *
Later

Eventually Usagi and ChibiUsa returned inside to rejoin the other
Senshi. However, it was not long after that the group broke up for
the evening. Usagi left still needing to do lots of work at home; her
two-hour meditation earlier in the day had eaten up time that she
really could not afford to have spent. To the surprise of all but,
Usagi, Ami left the study session to do something other than more
studying: she was meeting Urawa for a date. By this point Minako and
Makoto were wondering if the world really was about to come to an
end. Unfortunately Minako in thinking about the recent changes in her
friends manage to scare herself silly and latched onto to Makoto with
cries of "You will protect me right? You are not going to let them
take poor Minako next."

Ami was still close enough to the others to here Minako's statement
and a glance behind her showed Makoto trying to pry off a terrified
Minako. Walking she chuckled replaying that scene. Meeting Urawa, the
two went into to a small restaurant for dinner. Over the meal the two
talked about various things, including the recent incident at the
shrine. Following their enjoyable meal the two decided to take a walk
in the park. The walk over consisted of some small talk, but for the
most part they were silent, just happy to be in each other's company.

Arriving at the park, Urawa directed Ami over to a bench where they
sat down. Then becoming serious he began: "Ami-chan, one of your
enemies, Zoisite, will come for me shortly and I will become one of
those demons. When that happens you must promise me that you will
kill me."

"Ryo-kun, I can't." replied Ami as she began to breakdown.

"Ami you must, I don't want you hurt, and definitely not by me. The
time is almost here, you should call the others."

As a tear stricken Ami opened her communicator to call the others,
Urawa got up and walked around to greet Zoisite as he appeared. "You
must be Zoisite, and you probably want the Nijizuishou crystal that
is contained within my body."

"How do you know my name?" demanded Zoisite, and then a moment later
having regained his composure he continued. "It does not matter, you
know what your fate is, so now return to the service of our great
leader."

As the spell's energy reached Urawa, his body began to wither with
the full awakening of his soul and his screams echoed through the
park. Hearing the screams Mercury dashed onto the scene. "How dare
you interrupt a happy couple's date. In the name of Mercury I will
punish you."

Seeing his opposition Zoisite laughed. "Only one Senshi, and the
weakest at that. This will actually be amusing."

Without the magic effects of the Nijizuishou Crystal, for the first
time in around a thousand years Urawa's soul began to awake. As it
awoke the energy caressing his body increased in intensity. To the
soul the process seemed to take forever, but for those who watched,
it took only a half-minute or so. At some point the soul began to
become aware of its surroundings and with that awareness its memories
prior to its imprisonment began to return. It remembered its service
to Metalia, her alliance with that greedy fool Beryl, the attack on
the Silver Millennium, and its subsequent death. After being
suppressed by the Nijizuishou Crystal for so long, the awakening
creature was weak. This prevented it from recovering all its
memories: those of what it really was, how it came to serve Metalia,
and then this life.

Being weak, it needed to feed, wanting energy it looked towards its
awakener for the needed energy, knowing full well that it would not
get the amount it truly needed. However, as its senses focused on its
surroundings, it realized that environment was teaming with the dark
energy it needed. At a subconscious level, it knew this to be
abnormal, but for now did not care and instead began to absorb the
energy. The first visible sign of its regain strength was that it was
able to return to its true form. The previously awakened shadow
warriors had taken the form of those pathetic youma, because they
were so starved for energy.

The true form of the Shadow Warrior could only really be described as
a shadow given flesh. Its skin was utterly black; in looking at it,
your eyes would slide right off. Fully awakened it let out a scream,
a scream that did not echo through the air, but through the minds of
everyone nearby, a scream that told of the awakening of a great evil.

The creature had a name, but like the name of its race it was utterly
unpronounceable by any of the younger races. Instead they were often
simply just termed Shadows. He was a specially bred member of his
race, bred to be a fighter. This was unusual, as usually they liked
to stay behind the scenes, remaining invisible and sending others out
front. He did not naturally have magic abilities, his having come
from that being Metalia, as such he normally preferred conventional
attacks that ripped his targets apart.

None, not even Metalia, knew the true nature of his kind. They were
not from this universe. No they were co-guardians of the younger
races in another universe. His kind had long ago discovered the
ability to traverse the megaverse, to look for similarly minded
races. Here they found one, Metalia and he and six others were sent
to provide aid. For him he was glad to leave, as his gift had shown
him the pending downfall of his race. He knew that within his
lifetime that they and their co-guardians would forget their ways and
infighting would commence. In the fighting they would forget their
purpose and instead begin destroying whole worlds of the younger
race, because they choose the wrong side or did not choose at all. He
also knew that those who came here would never leave. But, here he
hoped the balance would not polarize, as it would back home.

The recovering of all those past memories took only moments once he
regained his true form, turning he glanced at his awakener figuring
that he owed at least some allegiance to this creature for the time
being. Zoisite smiled as he saw the Shadow Warrior awaken fully.
"Honorable Shadow Warrior destroy that Senshi.

The warrior turned to face its victim and thought how good it would
be to run its claws through her flesh and feel her blood run down his
arms. He could already feel the pleasure that it would bring as his
gift activated, as it always did when he went into battle. He was
what some might call a profit, with the ability to foresee the
future. However, his premonitions were rare normally. But, in combat
he could see all possible outcomes of a battle. As such he had the
best strategic ability of all the Shadows. When this ability first
began manifesting itself he lost himself in the visions, but now he
had learned to control them. Stalking towards the creature all his
visions showed him ripping her limb from limb, but surprisingly to
him an emotion of sorrow filled his soul with that outcome. Not
knowing why, he knew that this female was precious to him and he had
to protect her at all costs.

Instead he turned to gaze at Zoisite. He suddenly saw how the inept
abilities of this feeble being had destroyed his comrades. He saw the
lust for destruction embodied by Metalia, and knew that the balanced
must be maintained. He was a guardian of the younger races, and as
such his allegiances had now changed.

He looked back at that which was precious to him and saw the Senshi,
the names Mercury and Ami-chan coming to mind, had dropped to her
knees. Her head was bowed low awaiting his execution of her. Needing
to touch her and reassure her, he quickly closed the gap between the
two of them and picked her up and held her against his chest with one
arm. Using his other arm he gathered energy, as Metalia had shown
him, and flung it at his former commander. He would have preferred
using his claws to shred the general, but he could not risk injury to
Ami-chan.

Zoisite for his part was fuming after realizing that the warrior was
not killing the Senshi, but protectively holding her. To his credit,
he did think to raise his shield at the last possible moment in case
the Shadow Warrior had decided to defect. The barely risen shield was
all that kept him alive. The blast sent him through a series of trees
(knocking over the first three and stopping against the fourth).
Unprepared as he was for the blast he dropped the recently extracted
crystal.

The Shadow creature wanted to finish off Zoisite, but the trembling
Mercury held his attention. He needed to sooth her soul and so
content at least that he had hurt Zoisite he left the park. As the
warrior disappeared off into the distance, Zoisite managed to pull
himself up out of the rubble. Only one thing remained on his mind
now, revenge. The Shadow Warrior must die for the humiliation, and so
Zoisite gave chase.

* * * * * * * *
A little bit later

The other Sailor Senshi arrived in the park only a few minutes after
Zoisite had left. They would have been their sooner, but the
telepathic scream of the awakening Shadow Warrior had knocked Mars
down. Not wanting to leave Mercury to fight Zoisite by herself, Usagi
had Jupiter carry Mars until she recovered from the psychic blast.
Arriving at the park they looked around. All participant of the
battle were long gone, but Zoisite's journey through the trees was
evidence that their had been a battle. "Where is Mercury?" wondered a
worried Sailor Moon aloud.

"This has to be the place, and someone obviously did not far well."
Stated Jupiter as she pointed to the downed trees.

Sailor Moon had not yet noticed that damage, but when she did her
mind came up with an unpleasant most likely scenario. Mars noticed
the emotions that began to play across Sailor Moon's face. She knew
that Sailor Moon had to have made the deduction that it was Mercury
who had flown through the trees and was likely now captured. She
moved up next to her princess and wrapped an arm around her to lend
her some of her own strength. "I'm sure that Mercury is okay." she
said to Usagi.

The Senshi continued to look around the park area, each in a slight
daze over the likely result of the battle that they had missed.
ChibiUsa's voice broke their mourning "Minna, Zoisite left the
Nijizuishou Crystal!" announced ChibiMoon as she picked up the
crystal and then brought it to her mother.

"Why would he just leave the crystal here?" asked a confused Venus.

Usagi knew the answer, her earlier run-ins with Mamoru providing the
clue. "He was enraged. Mercury must have pissed him off and then
split to buy us time to get here and retrieve the crystal. However,
she has to be tiring out by now, and she might not be able to make it
back here. We need to go find her, before she tires out to much." Not
waiting for the other to respond she turned and leapt out of the park
in search of Mercury.

* * * * * * * *
The schoolyard

The Shadow Warrior placed that which he was carrying down beside the
school and turned to face the one who had followed him. "You expect
to defeat me? You rely on your magic too much and it will do you no
good. You wish to kill that which is precious to me and for that I
will kill you."

"You are a traitorous creature and like all demons you will learn to
obey or be destroyed." Replied Zoisite while firing off a blast at
the Shadow Warrior.

The blast never hit the warrior. Finishing his declaration of battle
he vanished into the background. The Shadows tended to favor stealth
to strength; as such they normally were invisible to the human (or
near human) eye with their genetically engineered cloaking devices.
Unlike most of his race, he was a warrior, while nowhere near as
strong as any individual of the other first race with their
encounter-suits; he was far stronger than any of the younger races.
Within a blink of an eye he was beside Zoisite and an attack sent the
general flying through the sky. His advance on the downed general to
finish the task was stopped by the arrival of Kunzite.

Taking a look at the downed general, Kunzite released a blast at the
Shadow Warrior, forcing it to take a defensive position for a moment.
This was sufficient time for Kunzite to grab the injured Zoisite and
teleport back to their base. Seeing the threat gone, the Shadow
returned to where he had placed the confused Mercury down on the
ground.

"Ryo-chan is that you?" asked Mercury as the demon returned.

First when he spoke, he spoke in his native tong, but quickly
realized that Mercury could not understand him and switched to
Japanese. As he did so, memories of his recent life began to surface,
including what he had looked like. With the little magic that Metalia
had given him he shifted his body into the glamour of Urawa Ryo. "Yes
Ami-chan it is me. I do not serve Metalia anymore; I could not bring
myself to kill you. I am of a race that is far older than even your
Silver Millennium, but I know that it has lost its way guiding the
younger races. So, I have decided to live here with you as a member
of a younger race."

Urawa pulled Ami into a hug and the two remained that way, content to
know that their troubles for the time were over for the moment. The
two lovers were still embraced when the others arrived, Ami still
being in her Senshi form.

"Mercury what happened? Where's the demon?" questioned Sailor Moon.

"It is okay Usagi-san, or should I say Princess Serenity." Stated
Urawa in response to Usagi's question, and with the last part he
knelt. "Unlike the previous Shadow Warriors I was able to fully awake
and not be lost in a lust for energy. I have forsaken my service to
Metalia and instead wish to give my service to you in guiding the
younger races of this universe."

The other Senshi were initially shocked with what Urawa had said, not
the least his knowing about Usagi. Usagi recovered the quickest and
moved forward to the bowed Urawa. Mentally accepting his pledge of
service, the cloaking spell was temporarily lifted. Walking forward
her tiara faded out revealing a crescent moon on her forehead, while
her Senshi fuku lengthened into a gown. Placing her hand on his
forehead "Urawa-san I accept your pledge of service to the Silver
Millennium."

As she finished those words energy flowed through her hand and into
Urawa. The energy that flowed was partially a healing energy,
reworking the dark energy given to the warrior by Metalia a thousand
years ago. As she pulled back her hand a crescent moon flashed
briefly on his forehead showing his new allegiance before vanishing.
Having finished the act, Usagi returned to her Senshi form and
promptly passed out, her system not yet ready to assume its true
form.

"Don't worry she will be okay, she just needs to rest." Announced Ami
to the relief of the other Senshi.

With the battle apparently over, the Senshi broke up to head home for
the evening. Urawa walked a now unhenshin Ami home. Makoto lifted her
princess up on her back and taking to the roofs took the sleeping
leader home, while ChibiUsa ran ahead to open the window to Usagi's
room.

* * * * * * * *

From the moon, the ghost of Queen Serenity watched her daughter and
her court go their separate ways. She knew the prophecy involving her
daughter, one that predicted the destruction of all that was dear to
allow the birth of a warrior. She tried to avoid the prophecy during
her daughter's previous life, hoping that by not training her
daughter she could prevent the prophecy. But, fate was one thing that
could not be changed. One could play with time, but fate always won
in the end.

However, even as her daughter became a stronger warrior, she still
retained her pure heart, a pureness that only seemed to get brighter
over time. The way that her daughter had handled the latest Shadow
Warrior pleased her greatly. As she began to let her spirit go once
again, she thought that maybe her daughter would be the one to bring
the shunned Soldier of Destruction into the fold of the Senshi
instead of banishing her into a timeless sleep till summoned like she
had.

-End Chapter 11

-For those of you who are B5 fans, with Urawa I was describing
the Shadows, and the other guiding race would therefore be the
Vorlons. Urawa would be of the kind of Shadow that was sent to
execute Kosh. And, I think I am safe in saying that a group of
beings that can rip through and encounter suit and then kill a
very powerful energy being would not have much trouble with
Senshi. As to why the came here in the first place, well those
two races were always trying to outdo each other. If he were
there at the dawning of the Third Age, he would have agreed
with Sheridan's sentiments exactly.

-Yes he still retains the ability to return to his true form.
For the others, the true form was never fully awakened, and so
when Sailor Moon healed them their true form was destroyed.
However, he by being fully awake was able to integrate his two
lives. He now like the Senshi only pretends to be human.

-For Gundam Wing fans you might recognize my description of
Urawa's full ability: it is the zero-system. As a Shadow he
accepted the mission to this Universe knowing from his visions
that his Shadow-self would be destroyed. But, that did not
matter, as he no longer desired to be called a Shadow with his
foreknowledge of what was to come.

-Yippee only one more Shadow Warrior to face. I wonder what
this dark energy that is floating around might be doing to
other things, it probably isn't be good. Too bad the Senshi did
not destroy that Control Droid earlier, though that means Urawa
would never have fully awakened. Plus I think it's getting near
time to pull another time traveler crashing back to reality,
don't you?

-Thanks to Comet Moon for pointing out my many grammatical
errors in the first version of this chapter. I can't believe
that I left so many egregious errors in.

-It may be a while till I post the next chapter, my life is
going to get a bit busy and without classes the motivation to
write is reduced. But, don't worry the story will be finished.
The story is also going to need to get complicated again, so I
will need to plan out how the next set of chapters will go
before I write them.