Chapter 10 - Episode 9: Star Power

Sailor Moon P
Episode 9: Star Power

The football field at Tenth Street Senior High was left quiet. Everyone in the stands and on the field were staring out over the city. The sky was rippling out from a column of power that stretched from ground to sky and moved the clouds. The football game they had come to watch was unofficially canceled. Although none of them knew it, a very powerful prince of darkness had descended on their world, and he was looking for something. His search for the crystal fractures would lead him through each and every one of them, yanking out their essence in hopes of finding the pieces of the Twilight Crystal. He’d be destroying one universe trying to save another, and all they could do was stare, and wonder what was going to happen to them.
But Sailor Quasar was not trying to make a scene. He wanted his presence on Earth to be as hidden as possible. This was a signal. He was trying help someone find him.
There was only one girl moving in the stands. Courtney Dianne ran down to the field to find that the seven Sailor Soldiers had taken off. She stared over the field. An apocalyptic atmosphere had settled on the multitudes. “Where did they go?” She stared off at the column of smoke and lightning that was fading even now on the October breeze. She jumped the crowd barrier and landed on the turf. Then she caught the sight of two cats, unconscious next to her. “What’s this…?”

Quasar stepped into the shadow of a building down in the governmental district of Tenth Street County. The town hall was just ahead and he’d concentrated his sailor powers on a statue mounted over a fountain to create the beacon. “If Garth can’t see that, he’s an idiot.” He said, under his breath. He crossed his deeply tan arms across his burly chest. “Now all I have to do is wait for him to turn up so we can get on with this thing.” He closed his eyes and sighed. “I don’t want to be here…I wish there was an easier way to take over the Negaverse.” He thought about his home, and his departure. The look his wife had given him and the emotionless farewell stung on recollection. He knew in his heart that it was a charade, and that she did it because she couldn’t bear to see him go, but still, that haunted look was printed forever on his mind. He thought back to the day they had first met, their wedding day, and a hundred other times when she had truly smiled, all warm and glowing, but the face he left her with still came to his mind. He found no comfort in it. “I hope she stays true, so that I will still have my wife when I get back.” He shook his head. “I miss her.”
Through the door of his alley he saw the eight protectors of the universe rush up. He frowned. “Its those girls! The ones who ruined every one of Garth’s attempts. I hope they’re not thinking of confronting me. They’re annoying but I’d hate to take them out when I’m not even doing anything.” He studied the group. “Not one of them, I’d guess is over fourteen years old.”
The girls stared up at the column he’d created. The cloud and crackling energy were fading and the natural clouds around it were moving in rings. The sky was slowly turning back to normal. Mercury took out her handheld computer and her visor appeared.
“What is it, Amy?” Jupiter asked, striding over on her laced green boots. “Is it the Negaverse?”
“That’s a stupid question!” Sailor Venus said, flipping aside her bush of blonde hair. “It has to be the Negaverse with all that’s happened already today.”
“It doesn’t feel the same.” Mars announced. “I’m receiving a different kind of vibration. It’s not negative energy.”
“Not on a basic level.” Mercury confirmed. “But there is negativity. My analysis indicates that this energy is star-based energy.”
“What does that mean?” Sailor Moon asked.
“What do you mean by ‘star energy’?” Venus clarified.
Mercury turned her intellectual blue eyes to them. “Sailor Polaris gives off star energy with her attacks.”
“So you mean this is Sailor energy?” Jupiter cried.
Mercury nodded.
“This can’t be good, girls.” Luna observed. “This means that whoever made this has to be a sailor soldier, and the negative traces mean that whoever it is has evil intentions.”
“Power as strong as this used for negative reasons poses a serious risk to the earth.” Artemis pointed out. “We need to find this evil soldier and stop whatever they plan to do.”
“But we’ve been dealing with Evil Soldiers this whole time.” Sailor Venus recalled. “They were never any real threat. I mean, that last one was pretty nasty, but she wasn’t a threat to the whole world!”
“She wasn’t real.” Sailor Earth announced. “I was a victim of one of Garth’s attacks, and my body was turned into a mock soldier like the ones we’ve been fighting. They have barely any power to them at all.”
“When was this?” Sailor Moon asked, accusingly, like she couldn’t believe Earth hadn’t come out with this information sooner.
“Last night.” Tuxedo Mask answered for her.
“Oh, when you became a real sailor soldier.” Sailor Jupiter assumed. “Which one are you again?”
“Sailor Earth, but that’s no the issue.” Earth continued. “When I became Sailor Cygni, my mind was taken over by negative energy. It was a spell, not real.”
“And this one is real?” Sailor Mars asked.
Mercury nodded.
“Well, this attack just happened, so whoever did it couldn’t have gone far, right?” Sailor Polaris asked.
“I don’t know.” Luna answered. “It depends on how powerful the soldier and if they are alone.”
“We also have to consider whether or not they are in league with the Negaverse.” Artemis pointed out. “If they are, then they may have teleportation capabilities.”
“Perhaps we could wait here and see if he comes back.” Mercury offered.
Luna creased her brow. “I don’t know what to do.”
“Maybe this was a distraction to get us away form the stadium.” Tuxedo Mask said, glancing back over his shoulder. “I don’t remember seen what happened to that cat and I don’t think the General ever showed up.”
“Why are you even here?” Sailor Jupiter demanded.
“Yeah?” Sailor Mars agreed. “Suddenly you want to cooperate!? What are you trying to pull?”
Tuxedo Mask stepped back, feeling pressured, but Earth and Polaris stepped in to defend him. “He came with us.”
“What?” The girls asked.
“I like Tuxedo Mask.” Sailor Polaris announced. “I want him to stay.”
“He helped save my life last night.” Sailor Earth added. “I invited him along. I know that he’s good. I want him here too.”
He looked at the two girls, his heart beating again. It reminded him of his obligations. He took a second and regained his composure. His eye caught Sailor Moon among the girls. There was a time when he would show up in the nick of time and rescue her. He didn’t need to be involved. But now he had more than one person to defend and popping in and out wouldn’t cut it. He cleared his throat. “When I’m needed, I’ll be here.” He caught Sailor Moon’s eye. “I have a lot to look out for.”
Earth and Polaris gave him a pair of meek smiles. Mars frowned at the look on Sailor Moon’s face and crossed her arms. Jupiter was still critical. “Oh really?”
“He has a point about the cat and Malachite.” Sailor Mercury pointed out, changing the subject back to the matter at hand. “Perhaps we should head back.” The others gave an unsure look up at the dissipating effects of Quasar’s attack. The statue at the epicenter was blown apart and melted back into an indistinguishable smoking ruin. Something in Polaris’s gut told her that there was someone very dangerous nearby.
Sailor Moon sighed warily, her large blue eyes looking scared. With a second glance at the fountain statue, the team began to move off.
Sailor Quasar watched from the alleyway. He sighed a little. He’d avoided a fight; perhaps he never would have to confront the sailor soldiers. They were only girls protecting their home; there was something chivalrous about that. But then he saw something he was not expecting. Ahead of the retreating soldiers, a black hole opened and through it stepped the heiress to the Negaversian throne. His eyes went wide; his heart hit his throat, his battle plan changed immediately. “Chrysoberyl!?!”
The Sailor Soldiers stared as a woman, radiant and powerful, descended from the portal, her brilliant silver gown flowing and changing to blues in the valleys. She had a plunging neckline and pointed sleeves ending at the shoulder. Her slender neck wore a velvet choker, and her long, straight, auburn hair flowing out behind her from a small, golden, crownish tiara. Her face was blank; her eyes were hard and shallow. Everyone was captivated by the presence she held over them, until they heard Quasar’s cry.
The tan-skinned man rushed out into the street at a fast and powerful run. Chrysoberyl’s eyes deepened for an instant at the sight. The Sailor Soldiers whirled around and saw him coming. He halted on the other side of the group so that they were straddled by the two monarchs. Sailor Mars glanced between them. “Who are they!?”
Quasar was taken up, and ignored her question. “Chry!? What are you doing!?”
“I couldn’t let you go like that! We’ll find the crystal together!” His wife answered, sincerity in her face.
He stared, is heart pounding.
“So you are after the Crystal Fractures!?” Sailor Jupiter accused.
“That’s it! Who are you and what do you want the crystal fractures for?” Mars demanded.
Pulsar looked prepared to fight and communicated her intent to her husband through setting her eyes. He took charge, stretching his hands in front of him and a current like electricity stretched between them. “I’m Sailor Quasar.”
Sailor Venus pointed at him as his attack built up and swelled around his hands. “Are you the one who destroyed that statue?”
“Yes, that was me!” Quasar answered. “I’m the one you want! Fight me!” Pulsar took a start and looked as if she was prepared to argue with him. Quasar cut her short as he stared sternly into her face, the light from his attack reflecting off his features. “Chrysoberyl!” he motioned toward the capitol building. “Get inside!” She still was fit to protest, but he was severe. “NOW!”
A little hurt, she did as she was told and hurried toward the roman facade. Jupiter turned her attention there. “Come on! After her!”
“What’s she gonna do in there!?” Polaris asked.
Mars rushed by. “Maybe take over the government!? Let’s stop her!”
Pulsar made it inside the large, heavy wooden doors as the girls headed up the stairs. When they reached the entrance, they found it barred by the large, muscular form of Quasar, who’d leapt into their path. The doors slammed shut behind him. “Take me! I’m powerful, far more powerful than the dark soldiers you’ve been used to!”
“Who’s that woman who just ran in there!?” Sailor Earth demanded.
“I won’t tell you! You’ll never get to her!” Quasar answered. “You’ll have to go through me first!”
“So be it!” Sailor Jupiter stepped forward, her green eyes set dangerously and a golden lightning rod stretching up from her tiara. “Supreme…” Bolts of lightning gathered and wound their way around her. She stepped back and shouted. “THUNDER!” The electricity shot out toward him and triggered the battle to begin. He darted off, leaving a white streak behind him from his stored energy. A blast of plasma shot from an unexpected angle and knocked Jupiter down. Quasar dashed across to the other side and stretched out his strip of power.
Mercury helped Jupiter back to her feet. “He’s fast!”
“I really hate to kill you girls,” Quasar announced, “but if you threaten our mission, you leave me no choice.”
“You’re the ones behind all the dark sailor soldiers and the essence and crystals and stuff.” Sailor Moon resolved.
“Yes.” The soldier answered.
“So the cat belongs to you.” Sailor Venus assumed.
“Yes, Garth is mine,” Quasar said, a new sneer on his face. “What have you done to him!?!”
“We didn’t do anything to your stupid cat!” Sailor Mars answered. “You’re the one trying to strike down innocent people!”
“Shut your attitude up.” Quasar warned. “You have two strikes against you, now. My initial bout of mercy is getting less and less.”
“Mercy? From a Negaverse scumbucket!?” Sailor Moon asked with a laugh. “Not a chance!”
He smirked a little. “Well, maybe you’re not as smart as I thought you were.” He moved back in front of the door. “I suggest you should all run if you don’t want to get killed.”
“No way!” Mars cried.
Artemis’s head snapped up. “Whoever that woman is that he’s guarding, she must be important! Get through him if you can!”
“You mean – “ Polaris shot the cat a look and made an inquisitive slashing motion across her throat.
He nodded. “If it comes down to that.”
“You heard him, girls!” Venus cried. “ATTACK!!!”
Quasar stretched his hands and thickened the beam into a solid sheet of plasma coursing between his palms. There was no cue, but in an instant, everything began. Mercury and Venus rushed forward while Moon, Mars, and Jupiter jumped into the air. Venus tried to nail him a kick but he blocked it. Mercury tired to punch him in the face but he kicked her away. From the sky came several voices.
“Fire, SOUL!”
“Supreme, THUNDER!”
“Moon Tiara ACTION!”
A jet of flame, a bolt of lightning, and a magic moon Frisbee came down from above. With near inhuman reflexes, he threw off Venus and used the sheet of energy to scatter the flames, absorb the electricity, and deflect the tiara so that it went flying off at a bizarre angle. The rogue tiara bowed around and headed straight for Polaris’s head. Tuxedo Mask shoved her quickly aside and had a rip torn in his sleeve and through his red and black cape. He grabbed the blonde’s shoulder and shot a glance to her sister. It was their turn for an attack. If the conflict beforehand at the arena was any training for teamwork, the efforts paid off. The two Sailor Soldiers rushed out at two different angles Tuxedo Mask moved in for a physical clash, his cane ready.
Next to Quasar, Tuxedo Mask looked like a scarecrow. He was taller than the Negaversian, especially with the hat, but his long legs and arms were twigs compared to the oaken trunks supporting his opponent. Tuxedo Mask whipped out his cane and prepared to snap it over Quasar’s head like a kendo sword. Unfortunately he was met with the plasma shield held stretched across Quasar’s chest. The cane made contact, splintered, and blew apart in Tuxedo Mask’s hands. AT the same time, he was overloaded with an excess of energy that blew him off and left his muscles jittering. From Quasar’s right came the cry. “North Star Power NOW!” He looked over and quickly held up his shield, but Polaris’s icicle worked anyhow, freezing him and the energy inside a block of ice. Predictably, there came another cry from the other side.
“Rushing, WIND!” Earth released a blast of air that shoved the statue over. Quasar’s casing shattered on the ground the he took a deep gasp, the energy between his hands having vanished and his bare shoulders burned form the cold. There were cuts all over his right arm from the shattered ice at impact. There was a stretch of blood seeping from a cut under his blind eye.
“Get him while his guard is down!” Venus cried. She wound up. “Crescent, BEAM!” From her index finger shot a golden laser. Quasar jumped and dodged. She drug it after him, but he dived underneath and raised his hands. Two thin bolds shot and converged before him to shoot out a beam of plasma. The girls in its path moved aside, but it struck Mercury in the shoulder. The plasma was like a super hot, silver, sparkling stream of stellar pudding. It hit Mercury, stinging her skin and scorching the blue edges of her suit. She fell over backward and the substance pooled of and puddle around her, steaming. Sailor Moon scrambled to help her. Sailors Mars and Venus joined her while Jupiter, Earth, Polaris, and Tuxedo Mask held the parameter. Moon kneeled down in the runoff and the plasma burned her knee. She jumped back with a wail and began blowing on the red burn just above her boot.
Venus looked accusingly up at Sailor Quasar. “What is that stuff!?”
He used this time to recharge and explain. “I am Sailor Quasar. Quasar is not the name of a star like Polaris, Porrima, Phekda, Cygni, or Ara, but a type of star. A quasar is a star positioned near a source of extreme gravity such as a black hole. The defining factor of a quasar is that it expels shoots of its stellar matter out toward the gravity source. My power works relatively the same way only I don’t require a source of gravity.” He stretched his newly charged band of energy and condensed it in the center, ready to discharge at any time. Mercury stood up with Moon’s help, shaking and holding her burned shoulder.
“We can’t get his with that, guys.” The blonde observed.
“I don’t intend to.” Sailor Mars answered. “We should fight him short range considering that he has a projectile attack.”
“Let’s go in!” Jupiter resolved. “If we all attack at once, we can nail this sucker!”
“You stay here, Amy.” Sailor Venus instructed, then called over to the others. “Hey! Polaris! Earth! You guys ready!?”
“We’re ready!” They answered.
“Then let’s go!” There was a rush and they all barged in for an attack.
Tuxedo Mask excused himself from the charge. “This is gong to be messy.” He watched as the six girls scrambled to get their arms and legs to Quasar. “Not to mention crowded.”
Sailor Moon backed up and jumped over the top of them all. “Sailor Moon KICK!” A high heel darted toward Quasar’s head. He moved his arm to block, but in doing so, allowed Mars to get in a punch. His stored energy fizzled out as his hands were separated. When he knocked Sailor Moon away, he messed up her flight path and she ran butt first into Mars and Venus, knocking them down. With three attackers out of the way for a bit, he was able to focus on his defense a little easier. Jupiter was by far the best hand-to-hand combatant. She came at him with punch after punch, each well placed and difficult to avoid. He got one in his blind eye and was knocked aside. Sailor Earth went in for his unprotected flank. He got nailed a couple times in the ribs and kidney before he knocked Jupiter into her with a sweep of his powerful arm. Polaris dashed around back and grabbed him around the neck. His thick muscles gave some resistance, but he had to fight to remain standing with her weight hanging down his back. Plus it was hard to breathe.
Sailor Venus shoved herself up. She pointed a finger at him. “Crescent, BEAM!” The laser got him in the arm, burning like his plasma had. The first cry of pain escaped his restricted throat. He turned and the laser scorched a stripe across his upper arm. With a heave, he turned Polaris to it.
“Yeow!!!” The laser got her in the side and she fell off. “Venus!”
The beam stopped. “Oops, sorry.”
Quasar threw the attacking soldiers off himself and backed up toward the door. He charged up some plasma energy in his fists. Mars stepped in. “Fire, SOUL!” The flame came, but he had his guard up. The attack just ended up setting the door on fire. The man shot a bolt of plasma at Sailor Moon where she stood rubbing her backside.
“Serena! Watchout!” Mercury cried. Tuxedo Mask shot a startled look to Sailor Moon. The name had gotten her attention, but she’d failed to react. It was up to her Sailor friends to save her. Just before it hit her, she dropped out of the way, having been tripped by Sailor Mars. She escaped with her pigtail torched.
“Hey!”
“It was for your own good.” Mars replied. She looked over to the two non-participants. “Yo! Tuxedo Mask! Cover me, will you!?”
He was startled by the request, but was more than willing to comply. He and Mars headed in from different angles. From inside his jacket, he pulled a sharpened red rose and threw it dart-like at the foe. Quasar was pierced by its stem in the side of his arm, and as he turned to see what had happened, Mars kicked him in the side of the head. The heir to the Negaversian throne was floored. His head spinning, Kyanite groped at the rose and pulled it sloppily from his skin. There was blood. The soldiers all gathered a few feet away. “Had enough, tough guy?”
Quasar’s right eye was swelling from Jupiter’s punch. He closed his brown one tightly. ‘This is for the mission…’ He told himself. ‘I’ve got to protect Chry. Our future, the future of the entire dimension depends on me.’ He clenched his fist as he shoved himself up, a sphere of power swelling around it. ‘I can do it for Chry, so that we can be together in a peaceful world for the first time…’ New determination awoke in his mind, Quasar shot a penetrating stare at the soldiers. He got to his feet and prepared for another expulsion of plasma. The girls were sure they had won.
“Is he still fighting!?!” Polaris panted. “He must be tough!”
“On your toes, guys, it’s time to pull out all the plugs.” Venus warned. “If any of you were holding anything back, bring it out now. If we defeat him, we can get inside to his girlfriend.”
“I’m ready.” Sailor Mercury offered.
“Yahhhh!” With a cry, Quasar shot another blast. The sailor soldiers quickly dodged.
Mercury skidded to a stop. “Bubble…SPRAY!” A haze fell over Quasar and the air became cold.
Jupiter added her power to the attack. “Supreme, THUNDER!” The lighting broke and stretched all around him in the dampened air. He received a charge.
“Yeahhhh…!”
“Rushing…WIND!” Sailor Earth cried. He was shoved sideways against a column. Quasar grabbed it for support, sparks still flying before his eyes as the haze disappeared.
Sailor Moon reappeared. “Moon Tiara ACTION!” Her tiara became a spinning blade, flying like a frisbee but sharp as a throwing star. Quasar pulled up a shield just strong enough to deflect the weapon before it dissipated. He shoved himself up against the column. “…there are too many! I can’t keep track of who is where…” Mars came from behind and kicked him down. He fell on his face, but bounded back up as fast as he could. He got into battle stance. He hated to punch a middle-school girl, but he had to get rid of them somehow. His arms tense, he rushed forward and delivered a blow to Jupiter who he’d ruled as his most dangerous opponent. She reeled backward and Venus caught her and stood her up right.
“Hey! Hitting a girl is the worst!”
“You leave me no choice!” He replied. “You were hitting me.”
“That’s different.” Sailor Moon explained. “Look at you! You’re like a pro wrestler or something.”
“I feel sorry for whoever makes a living off of doing this.” Quasar said. He got into defense position in front of the doors. “Who’ll be next?”
“Try me!” Sailor Mars rushed in, but was punched away by his fist.
Venus ran in next, but was averted. He was capable of both super and natural power techniques. Each soldier fell in succession to his attacks. Tuxedo Mask was thrown off with a rib-cracking blow. He slid away and Quasar was faced with no more on comers. He sighed. “I’ve won…against incredible odds.”
“Not…quite…” Sailor Moon struggled up. She was bruised and dirty, scratches all over her face from sliding on the stone. Her blonde hair was frayed and sticking out of her buns. She panted. In her hand was her Crescent Wand. “There’s a way to defeat you… and we all have to for the good of the earth.”
The other girls stirred. Luna’s eyes widened. “Sailor…Moon.”
“There has to be a way.”
“Give up.” Quasar panted, disbelieving. “Give UP! I can’t believe you’re coming back!!!”
“I can’t abandon my home so easily.” She insisted.
“I don’t care about your planet.” Quasar responded. “I don’t have any interest in taking it from you.”
“And yet you destroy its people?” She asked. The others began to shove themselves up. Sailors Polaris and Earth listened to the conversation from the ground.
“Sacrifices.” He said, a little wary. The girl had undergone a complete change. There was something threatening about the way she was speaking.
“Who are you to take lives from innocent people to benefit your own good?” She demanded.
“You don’t know what you’re saying.” Quasar shot at her. “It isn’t about that!”
“All of you Negaversians are alike!” Sailor Moon accused. “You see the good people of the universe as a resource that you can use to strengthen yourselves! Well, you don’t have to kill them to get strength! The people of my planet strengthen me by just known that they look to me for protection! The same goes for all of us!” The other six soldiers, Mercury, Mars, Jupiter, Earth, Venus and Polaris, gathered around her. Tuxedo Mask stared. “And that is why we must defeat you! Because those people seek our protection! It’s not about us, it’s about them. That’s what makes positive different from negative, and that’s why we must defeat you.”
Artemis stepped forward and called to them. “Sailors Moon, Mercury, Mars, Venus, Jupter! Use Planet Power to stop him!”
“Join your powers into one!” Luna added. “Use Planet Power to defeat the Negaverse!”
The five required soldiers held hands. Quasar could feel the danger. His thoughts dwelled strongly on Chrysoberyl. “You don’t understand! This is more important than a couple of people’s lives! This is the fate of an entire universe!”
Sailor Moon held her crescent wand out in front of her. Sailors Mercury and Mars placed their free hands on her shoulders. They began to sound off.
“Venus Power!”
“Mercury Power!”
“Jupiter Power!”
“Mars Power!”
Quasar’s heart was pumping very fast, he was mesmerized by the growing aura of the five girls. He backed up toward the wooden doors. “This can’t be…”
“Moon Prism POWER!!!” Sailor Moon’s wand glowed white, an orb swelling inside the curve of the moon. One cry in unison would release it on the enemy. Quasar couldn’t move. Polaris stepped forward, but Tuxedo Mask caught her shoulder. The sailor soldiers pulled the trigger.
“Sailor Planet POWER!!!”
The white light shot out, first a wide spray, then narrowing into an intensely powerful beam. Quasar felt his skin being eaten. His clothes tore and his body was being shoved backward by the force. “I’ve…failed…” he muttered through acing lungs. He felt the treads of his heavy gray boots slipping. Throwing back his head and shoulders, he screamed his last words. “I’m sorry!!! CHRY!!!!!!!!!”
The warrior was blown off his feet with an incredible force. His body broke straight through the thickened wooden doors, splintering them and twisting the decorative metal bars. The force of the attack sent him soaring inside the capitol building., through polished marble arches and a small forest of statues and columns. He broke through the side of one stone column and slid to a stop on the marble floor beneath the caverns of the dome. He was also, then, at the feet of his wife.
Sailor Pulsar had been pacing inside. She’d had no plans to take over the building or hold the officials ransom. She was only waiting for her husband to return so that they might start the hunt. Quasar landed on his back, bits of wood and stone falling around him. His face was battered and bloody, his navy smock torn, his arms cut and burned. He wasn’t moving. She stared in disbelief, her limbs trembling until she finally reacted. “K-KYANITE!?!”
The majestic queen was forgotten and a fragile young woman stumbled and fell to her knees at his head. “Ky? Ky? Oh please…Ky?” She slid her hands under him and cradled his head. He didn’t stir, his face not moving in response to her touch. Emotionless, like she had been the last time they’d spoken. The last time they’d kissed… The seven Sailor Soldiers and Tuxedo Mask ran in and found her there. Tears were falling again from her eyes, this time, tears of grief as well as shame. Her heart was pounding as to break against her ribs. Her stomach twisted as grim reality took a hold of her.
Sailor Moon still had her wand in her hand. She stopped, panted, and pointed it at Chrysoberyl. “Hey, whoever you are! We’re the Sailor Soldiers and we want you to stop whatever it is you’re doing!”
In the middle of a sob, Chrysoberyl leaned forward to press her cheek to Kyanite’s, her tears moistening the drying blood there. She kept running her hands through his brown hair. One teared eye opened and she stared evilly at the girls. She muttered to herself. “I can’t imagine what you did to him. But this is your fault. All of you soldiers are going to pay for taking from me the only thing I ever cared about.” Rage burning in her one deep green eyes. Her teeth were clenching. She hugged Kyanite tightly. “I’ll punish them for you, Ky. I’ll avenge you.” Slowly she slipped on her mask. ‘Anger can be harnessed and used…with the right state of mind.’
Sailor Moon stepped backward as the woman rose. Her eyes glassy, her face lipid and humorless, Sailor Pulsar stared hauntingly at them. Sailor Mars stepped forward. “Who are you and what do you want?”
Pulsar stepped back from the body, her husband’s blood staining her silver gown. A light aura began to grow around her, moving her dress and lifting her hair. Sailor Earth glanced back to Polaris and Tuxedo Mask. “What’s happening?”
“Hey! We asked you a question!” Sailor Jupiter cried. “Tell us who you are! We already killed your boyfriend, we’ll do the same to you!”
Her face twitched, twisting for a moment into a demonic glare. The girls gasped. Pulsar began to rise from the floor, an ice goddess traced in an ever-brightening band of silver. “I am Sailor Pulsar, that noble man you’ve slain was my husband. You will suffer for your crime to me.”
Artemis received enlightenment. “Girls! Watch out! If Quasar had powers like his star type, then Pulsar might have an attack power similar to her star type.”
“And what kind of power does a pulsar have?” Venus asked.
Pulsar let out a forceful cry and light exploded from her with a blinding flash. The girls all threw their hands up to cover their eyes. Polaris squinted and blinked. “Oh, pulse-ar, I get it.”
“Take care,” Luna instructed. “We have to deal with her quickly so that she doesn’t hurt anyone.”
Mercury looked across the floor of the dome and found a couple guys standing in an open doorway on the other side of the room. She called to them. “Hey you! Shut that door!” They looked startled, then did as they were told. She looked back and saw that the entrance they had used had another pair of open doors attached to them. “We need to close those too!”
“We’re on it!” Sailor Polaris volunteered. “C’mon Earth! TM!” The three of them headed off to shove the doors closed. The remaining five soldiers and the two cats approached Pulsar.
Sailor Moon looked over her shoulder. “Why is it that those three always do everything together?”
“Why shouldn’t they?” Mars asked.
“I – I don’t know.” Moon said, sounding confused. “Its just – something.”
“Girls! Don’t get distracted! This is serious work!” Luna cried.
“What can she do that’s too serious?” Sailor Venus asked. “All she does is flash.”
Pulsar’s power was increasing. With another cry, a second blinding flash shot out from her, blinding them. She rose further into the air as her aura gained strength.
“Don’t underestimate her!” Luna insisted. “Sailor Quasar was extremely powerful and he was protecting her.”
“Probably because she can’t defend herself.” Sailor Jupiter said.
“No,” Mercury had her visor and computer back out. “My scanners indicate that she is extremely powerful and that her energy output is increasing.”
“My senses are telling me that she has more up her sleeve than we think.” Artemis announced.
Mars paused. “I sense danger. Her aura is rising from massive anger and the flashes from the extensive star power her energy source expels.”
“We should take her out now, Sailor Moon.” Venus suggested. Moon nodded.
“Assemble for another Planet Attack” Sailor Jupiter commanded. They al got into a line, again, with Moon in the middle, her wand pointed at Sailor Pulsar.
Pulsar looked down at them with shallow, slated eyes and spoke to them in a monotone. “It doesn’t matter if I have the midnight cat to tell me whether or not you girls have the potential to hold a crystal fragment. I will kill you all and move on to find the fractures and bring order to the Negaverse.”
“Not if we get rid of you now.” Moon answered. “Let’s do it.”
The others began the attack by adding their power to sailor Moon’s wand.
“Venus Power!”
“Mercury Power!”
“Jupiter Power!”
“Mars Power!”
The light swelled again in the crescent wand but Pulsar reached out her hand. She stared hollowly at Sailor Moon. The blonde kept her hand steady. “Moon Pris---- “ She paused, her eyes paling. Pulsar still had her hand stretched out. The other four girls looked expectantly at her through the silence. Earth, Polaris, Tuxedo Mask and the cats watched in anxiety. Suddenly, as quick and powerful as a lightning strike, a flash erupted at Pulsar’s hand, then a larger flash shot from Sailor Moon’s throat. The bright light engulfed her whole body and with a scream, she fell. In less than half a second, all color had been sucked from her and her very essence had filtered out. As everyone stared, the essence cloud that was Sailor Moon took off like a rocket up toward the windows at the roof of the dome. Its sight set on the energy of the sun, and once it escaped, there would be no rescue for the young, vibrant girl. Tuxedo Mask stared up. He noticed protective glass panes held back from the window by a latch. There was a pane for every window. It was too far for his rose marksmanship. He called, “Earth! The windows!”
Sailor Earth had just saved her friend that morning from a similar disaster. She stepped up, no questions asked. “Rushing, WIND!” A current of air spun quickly around her and shot up her arm as she directed it to the sky. The current ripped past the essence, stirring it, and hit the panes up near the windows. She threw up her other hand and the wind bent in a circle, undoing all the latches and dropping the glass over the openings just in time to trap the essence inside. Tuxedo Mask breathed a sigh of relief.
The others were fearful. Sailor Moon was the only one who could use Moon Healing to return escaped essence to a victim. With Sailor Moon down, who would return Serena’s essence? And Sailor Pulsar had the power to separate a person form their essence in the tips of her fingers. Sailor Moon was a waxy white husk on the marble floor. Her cloud gathered at the top of the dome, drinking in the sunlight.
Luna hissed and suddenly cried. “Get her girls!!!!”
“For Sailor Moon!” Jupiter cried with determination. “Supreme, THUNDER!” The lighting attack hit Pulsar and sent streaks of pain throughout her body, but her face was like stone and her expression never changed. She pointed her hand to the Sailor Soldier in green and another gunshot of light moved from her hand to her victim. With a scream, Jupiter was enveloped in light and turned into another white corpse while her brown, white, and green essence joined the hues of Sailor Moon’s near the ceiling. Sailor Venus stared furiously at Pulsar. “You can’t kill my friends!”
Pulsar stretched her hand out toward the orange-suited blonde. Mercury noted what was about to occur. “Venus! Move out of the way!” She shoved the blonde, but had stepped in her space and was overtaken by a bright flash of light. Her white cloud mixed with various blue hues raced up to the sky.
“Stoppit!” Sailor Polaris cried.
“Olivia! No!” Sailor Earth yelled.
But Polaris’s attack had started. She raised both hands into the air. “North Star Power…NOW!” A spinning icicle shot out. Pulsar’s had was already outstretched and there was a flash of her silver light. The heiress’s arm froze over and the ice crept up to encompass her whole body. But at the same time, the 11-year-old girl was smitten by her wrath. There was a blinding flash of light, and a scream from the girl, but her essence did not gather and leave. Instead, above her whitened corpse, there floated a jagged, sparkling bit of cut diamond. The whole company stared.
“A Crystal Fracture!” Artemis gasped.
Sailor Earth sank down to the floor. Tuxedo Mask took a second and ran forward. “No! Polaris!” He fell to his knees near her body and scooped her head. Her normally blue-hazel eyes were frozen wide and stared lifelessly through him. This little girl that he care so much about was gone. He looked up at the Crystal Fracture floating there. His throat tightened.
Above them, there was another flash as the power of the variable star destroyed Pulsar’s ice prison. She looked down. “A Crystal Fracture?” Her voice had not changed, but her hand shook as she reached out for it. “At last.” The fracture floated up to her and hung within her reach. Her mind’s eye scanned the remaining people. “Of so many powerful soldiers, the key to give me incredible power resided inside a small girl?”
The entourage stared menacingly up at her. So many of them had fallen, but Olivia was the smallest, and relatively new to her role as a Sailor Soldier. Innocent. Memories flashed back to her first fight with them, to her recital, to the images of her running crazily through Raye’s house being chased by Sailor Dephinus. She never wanted anything to do with the fight. She hadn’t even been able to participate in the Planet Power that had struck the murder’s husband. For all of them…she was the last straw.
“You monster!!!” Sailor Venus cried.
“You can’t attack innocent young girls!” Sailor Mars agreed.
“You killed my SISTER!!!” Sailor Earth cried.
“I can’t take this anymore!” Artemis hissed. “We’re loosing!”
“Girls!” Luna cried. “Don’t attack her! Focus on evading her blasts until we can figure out how to defeat her!”
“Don’t attack!?” Venus cried.
“Forget that! How are we supposed to beat her if we don’t attack her!?” Mars agreed.
Pulsar’s arm came up again and she held it limply out toward Mars. A pair of flashed and the fire soldier’s red and black was spiraling upward to join the ever-thickening cloud of loose essence. Artemis snarled. “Sailor Mars!” He turned to Pulsar and in a fit of fury, he charged. His claws and teeth were ready for an attack. Pulsar raised her hand, carelessly, and struck the cat with her power. A masculine scream, and a flash of light turned the white cat waxen, his essence left his body mostly white with flecks of blue from his eyes.
“ARTEMIS!!!” Sailor Venus cried and rushed forward. With a sweep of Pulsar’s hand, she was struck down as well, and the cloud of free essence blocked out the sun from the windows.
All was dark except for the glowing form of Pulsar floating above them. Luna looked to Sailor Earth and Tuxedo Mask, who’d lined up beside her. “You two are all that are left. Now, don’t do anything rash until we can figure out a weakness.”
Earth had lost hope. “It’s the end of the world. And I only got to be a Sailor Soldier for one day.”
“Don’t think like that.” Tuxedo Mask bade her. “We can make it.”
Pulsar had taken a break to admire her crystal fracture and now spoke. “I have one, two left…” She eyed them slowly. “I wonder if they are here in this room.” Both Earth and Tuxedo Mask took a start. Pulsar raised her hand slowly. “There is only one way to find out.”
Luna snapped her head to them. “RUN!!!” Jennifer and Darien split company and ran. A blinding light shot from where they had stood, and a cloud of purple essence floated upward.
Sailor Earth turned. “Luna!!” Pulsar turned to the brunette and struck her with the powerful discharge. Earth let out a scream. Tuxedo Mask stopped dead. It was too fast to see, but all color was ripped from Sailor Earth in the flash. Above her hung another splintered piece of the crystal reflecting brightly the light of Pulsar’s aura. The soldier welcomed it to her and hung for a moment admiring the two of them in her hand. She looked to Tuxedo Mask. “One left.”
His heart beat fast, sweat broke on his skin, fear for his life rose strongly in his mind. His gut twisted as his thoughts came quickly. He thought of his princess by the sea. The knowledge that he was the last one. These girls weren’t his responsibility, but he had to save them. His heart told him. But his heart was breaking. He looked to the lifeless body of Sailor Moon, then Polaris, then Earth, all of the people he’d sworn to himself to protect. He’d failed, and now he was the only one left. It was up to him to fix everything that had happened. Unfortunately, he had no super powers. Pulsar raised her hand to him. He was determined to find a way to Survive. “You wont get me!”
“Once more piece. You must be it…” She said. “Wouldn’t that be perfect,” she spoke slowly, but her shallow eyes were set on him, the two fractures orbited above her left hand. She meant to attack, but he bolted. He dashed around, jumping over fallen soldiers in a race to get away from the attack. Pulsar’s had followed him, waiting for him to come to a stop. He ran to the doors.
“I need to get out…get help or come up with something.” He pulled one of the double doors open a crack. The essence in the ceiling saw the light pour into the darkened room and made for his door. Seeing this, he slammed it shut. The essence flew back up to the windows in the dome. “I’m trapped.” Pulsar’s hand was directly at him, but he dived away. He ran to hide behind one of the columns. “What am I going to do!?!” Then he felt a strange sensation. Everything began to go white at the edges, he felt a warm and slightly painful lump forming at the base of his neck. The tips of his fingers and toes began to numb and pinpricks raced up his limbs. Pulsar had her hand pointed at eh back of the column.
“Obstacles are nothing for me.”
He didn’t even have time to run. In a second, a feeling like every scrap of tissue inside him was being ripped out forced a scream from his pained throat. A bright flash of light erupted from the knot in his neck. Everything went waxen and his eyes lost their blue. All the black was stripped from his suit. He lost consciousness in a sea of white. Above him hung the final shard of the legendary Twilight Crystal.
Pulsar was enthralled. There were no survivors, just she in a darkened room with eleven bodies and a cloud of free essence churning above her. Even her mask couldn’t hide her pleasure. She beckoned the final fragment to herself. “At last! The Twilight Crystal! I have done in one hour what we have tried to achieve for so long! Kyanite! You did not die in vain! I will become beautiful and powerful and will rule the Negaverse with malice to avenge all that I have lost!” The fractures circled in her hands. “Reassemble, Crystal of the Earth! Obey your new master!” The pieces swirled around each other and rejoined into a cylinder cut gemstone with four faces and pyramidal points on the ends. It glittered with aqua, light blue, and gold. When the crystal was reassembled, it was obvious that it had great power. But as she sank back to the ground, something stirred. On the floor, the color had returned to Olivia’s eyes. Her sailor suit vanished, replaced by a flowy light-blue sleeveless dress. The light blue bow in her hair was gone, and her long hair had regained its golden hue. For Jennifer, similar changes were taking place. She also had on a flowy dress, this one being an aqua-blue color, and her hair was again brown. As for Darien, his hat and mask had disappeared as his hair turned back to black and his eyes turned back to blue. His black tuxedo became the sliver-lined armor of a prince. The three of them got back to their feet and, like three people waking up from a dream, walked calmly into the light of the crystal.
Pulsar was standing near her fallen husband. She was startled and angered at the disturbance, in her pleasure of having found the key to her plan’s completion and the confusion of having the dead come back to life, she forgot to sink back into her frozen state of existence. “What is this!?!”
The three of them stood before her, Darien in the middle with Olivia on his left and Jennifer on his Right. They all were staring passively at the crystal in her hands. “Return to us the crystal of the Children of Earth.”
“What right do you have to it!?” Pulsar demanded. “I am its master now! With the power of the Twilight Crystal, I will become the deity of my universe. Perhaps, with its power, I will become the ruler of this universe as well! Then both dimensions will welcome a beautiful and terrible queen to reign in glorious supremacy!”
“Your mind has been consumed by your newfound power.” Olivia told her. “Give us back our crystal, and your mind will return to what it was.”
“No! Kyanite and I worked hard for this! In honor of him, I have to succeed.” She said.
“This isn’t what he would have wanted.” Jennifer stated.
“How would you know!?” Pulsar cried in outrage. “You KILLED HIM!!!”
“He told us.” Darien said. “He said he wanted nothing to do with our universe. I believed him, he cared only for his own. He also seemed to me to have a sense of compassion…” Darien stared sharply into her eyes. “You have no compassion.”
“And the man you speak of isn’t dead.” Jennifer added.
Pulsar looked shocked and even a little afraid, as if she knew that what she’d been doing had been wrong. She glanced to her husband, who hadn’t moved since she’d left him. The idea was too fantastic to comprehend, and she couldn’t conceive any possibility for what they said to be true. For all she could see, he wasn’t breathing. She sharpened her eyes and looked quickly to them. “Don’t lie like that…”
“It is the truth.” Olivia said, clearly. “He’s barely holding on. This is not the way Planet Power kills. To be smitten by Planet Power would mean disintegration. If Sailor Quasar still exists, he is still alive. It won’t be for much longer, though, he is mortally injured.”
“When he passes away, his body will vanish into nothing.” Darien stated.
“How do you know this?” Pulsar demanded, they had been speaking as if this were common-knowledge.
“When the crystal was rejoined, our memories returned.” Jennifer explained.
Pulsar stared. “Memories?” She noticed that each of them had a symbol beginning to glow on their foreheads. Olivia had the symbol of Polaris’s eight-pointed star traced in light blue, Jennifer had an aquamarine footprint peaking through her brown bangs. Darien had a symbol like a while with four spokes shining in gold and growing brighter. Pulsar gasped. The three lights grew brighter until they had converged and blinded her. She received a look into their minds.

The earth was green and peaceful. The image flew by like on the wings of a bird. Over a rushing forest of trees, a castle appeared. Near the castle was a garden. A ten-year-old boy with short black hair ran out with a kite. It was obvious that this was the young Darien. What wasn’t so obvious was that this was the Silver Millennium, and that the young man was PRINCE Darien Endymion. Young princess Jennifer came trotting after him. She was only four years old.
“Darien! Darien!” She called, tottling through the rose beds.
“Jenn, you’ve already had a turn!” Young Darien cried.
Queen Endymion, a woman with short brown hair, looked up from the gardening. “Darien, give your sister a turn.”
“But Mom!?!” He moaned. “I just got it!”
“Why don’t you play with her, then?” His mother suggested. “She’s only four.”
“Okay,” he agreed, rolling his eyes. He took his little sister’s hand. “C’mon, Jenn, let’s play on the hill!”
There was the cry of another little voice as small, blonde, one-year-old Olivia stumbled in. “Me! Me!” Her father, King Endymion was right behind her as she ran about on her little legs. She already had a blue bow in her mob of blonde hair. The king bent down and picked her up so that she hung on his shoulder next to his dark hair.
“No, you’re a little young for kites.” He laughed and watched his other children play on the hillside, Darien with his hands holding Jennifer’s on the handles of the kite spool as the striped canvas kite danced above them.

There was a flash as time passed. Darien as 18 and the Endymion family was having a reunion in the palace. All the distant relations of the family were there, talking. 12-year-old Jennifer was sitting with her grandmother, who looked very much like the Sailor Earth from Niobe’s memory. Darien had a 9-year-old Olivia’s stuffed orangutan in his hand. She was getting irritated. He leaned his six-foot frame on a cabinet and dangled the plush toy over his youngest sister’s head. Olivia was jumping for it and her brother kept pulling it away. He was laughing at her.
“Give Schweatheart back, Darien!!” Olivia challenged.
His eyebrows shot up in amusement. “What’s wrong? Too high for you, munchkin?” he teased.
“That’s not fair…DARIEN!!!” She huffed. She jumped and he pulled it away, again, laughing even more.
“Jump a little higher, maybe you’ll get it.” She jumped and he snatched it up again, chuckling. “Oops, not that time.”
“You’re mean.” Jennifer said from where she and her grandmother were watching.
Darien ignored them and continued to pester the 9-year-old. “Hah hah hah!” Olivia jumped and he took it away. You want your monkey, Munchkin?”
“he’s an orangutan!” Olivia cried.
Darien pulled it away again. “Say Darien is cool!”
She jumped and had her goal snatched up higher. “No!”
“Say Darien is my Lord and Master.”
“Never!”
“Hah, Hah, Hah!” He kept up the torture. “Too high, Munchkin? Heh! Need a stepstool, Munchkin?”
“Grr!” Olivia leapt again, her face snarling with anger. He gave in and let her grab it.
“Okay, take it.”
Olivia hit him in the gut with it before leaving the room. He bent over and covered his stomach, turning quickly to watch her go. Jennifer laughed.

Time passed again, this time it wasn’t so peaceful. When the story took up again, it was a time of war. The king was standing in front of his children. “The Negaverse has breached the Oort cloud barrier. Your mother and I are headed off to support the army with the golden crystal. You three need to stay here and look after the planet.” He looked specifically at Darien. “Make sure no harm comes to the Earth, and look after everyone.”
The twenty-year old nodded in understanding and determination.

Time whirred a little farther forward. Prince Darien was pacing. Jennifer was yelling at him. “We get a call for help from less than 200 million space miles off and you just sit here!?!”
“Mom and Dad left us in charge of the Earth! Its our responsibility.” Darien said. Olivia sat off to the side, alone in her 11-year-old worries.
“You know, now that they’ve breeched the inner barrier, they’ll bee coming here next!” Jennifer cried.
Darien was under pressure and yelled at her as he paced. “Don’t you think I know that!?!”
“Mom and Dad didn’t know that there’d be a second attack so close!” Jennifer insisted.
“We’ve got to protect the Earth and the Moon.” Darien stated.
“Oh, of course, the moon.” Jennifer crossed her arms. “You and your beloved little princess.”
Darien shot her a furious stare mid-pace, but simply growled and took up again a little faster.
Jennifer offered up a different idea. “Well, Olivia and I are Sailor Soldiers!” Jennifer pointed out. “One of us can go – “
“No! Absolutely not!” He interrupted.
“Then both of us – “
“No!”
“Why not!?!” Jennifer demanded.
“Neither of you are leaving! I’m in charge! I’m the oldest! I’M the adult in this family and you do as I say!” He sounded like a father.
“Ooo…big bad 20-year-old Prince Endymion thinks he can control anyone now!” Jennifer smarted cockily.
“Shut up! I’m responsible for you. I don’t want you getting hurt!” He said.
“It is because you know Mom and Dad’ll kill you if you let us go out and help?” She stared at him, her face equally as impatient as his.
“No it’s – “ He stopped himself, stood still and turned to the side with his hands on his hips and his lips pressed. He approached the question from a different angle. “I don’t want anything to happen to the two of you.”
“Oh sure.” She fumed. “Don’t come at me like that; trying to be all sentimental to make me agree with you. I’m leaving! I don’t want to take you anymore!” She stormed out.
“Jennifer!” He watched her go. “Jenn! Jenn!”

Time ended at the last of the Negaversian war. The Negaverse had attacked the Earth. Olivia and Jennifer had been killed. Darien rushed to the Moon to protect the last scrap of free territory in the Zodiac system. The main force was beating down on Earth’s troops. King and Queen Endymion watched as the Golden Crystal failed in the King’s hands. The Queen stepped up. “The Crystal of My children! Arise to drive back these invaders!” Between her hands, the twilight crystal appeared. She held it forward, her gown flying out behind her as the negative energy of the attacking army swelled about them. The king came around behind her and reached one arm over her shoulder, his hand adding his power to the Twilight Crystal, the Golden Crystal vanishing from sight and returning to its realm in the world of dreams. The vision did not allow the general’s face to be shown, instead, a black outline with shining, evil eyes was seen through the outburst of power gathering in his hands. It was only the two of them, and the power of one crystal stopping the full strength of the Negaforce bearing down on the moon. Tears were in their eyes as the ceremonial power crystal that represented their lost children glowed in front of their faces.
There was an explosion from the officer. The pale light of the negative strength blasted over them, the monarch’s arms shook, trying to maintain their power against the pressure, but two of the Earth Children were dead, and the crystal’s power was wasted. In their hands, it shattered into three jagged pieces, each glittering with one of the three earthen hues; aqua, light blue, and gold.
The two of them collapsed, the pieces lying in the queen’s lap. Her husband put his forehead on her shoulder, his other hand lying limp near his side. Hope was lost. The shadow came to stand over them. “Surrender the power of those crystal fractures to our Negaverse! You’ve lost.”
“We may be defeated.” The king said, his head coming up. “But we will never give you the power of our family.”
“Give me those pieces!!!” The figure demanded.
The queen raised her hands and the lowing fragments rose from her lap. She sent them off into space. “Go, pieces of the Twilight Crystal, find my children. Rest where you belong! Never fall into the hands of the wicked.”
“No!” The looming shadow cried as he watched the crystal fractures disappear into the starry sky. He glared down at them. “You blasted Universe scum!!!” With a swipe and a blast of negative energy, the two were slain.

The flow of time fuzzed and rushed out of the scene to return to the present, and the three siblings looked at Pulsar again. The pale hands of the woman still held the complete Twilight Crystal close to herself. Jennifer stepped forward. “Our mother told us never to let the crystal fall into evil hands.”
“Give it to us before we have to take it back from you.” Darien threatened.
“Take it!? She sounded astounded. “No one will take this from me! It’s mine!”
“It is made of us, we have the power to take it.” Olivia announced. “Don’t think that we don’t. But it will be easier for us if you would hand it over.”
“Because our power will surely be the end of you.” Darien informed her. “If you are truly wicked, then we cannot let you continue to search for the Twilight Crystal.”
“Do what you want!” Pulsar cried. “I’ll never give it up! Not after all I’ve been through!”
“Very well.” Jennifer said. “We warned you.” The three of them had their symbols reappear on their foreheads. A cold wind rose up around them. Darien stepped closer and raised both hands. The wind shot at Pulsar and the crystal began to glow. It glowed bright, and the light was powerful. It forced her hands apart. Unfortunately, it did not continue so slowly. One huge swelling of energy expanded and covered her. Inside her was the most terrible burning and pressure she’d ever felt. With a cry and a stare of disbelief, she fell backward, immobilized. As she fell, she watched the twilight crystal float back over to rest between Darien’s hands.
Pulsar landed alongside her husband. She turned and looked into his dying face, fresh tears on her eyes. Reaching out her trembling hand, Chrysoberyl laid it in his tan palm. “I – I’m dying! I – Kyanite – I’m so sorry.”
Jennifer and Olivia hurried up beside Darien again. The three of them looked down on the two fallen soldiers. “Together in death?”
“Death isn’t justice.” Darien stated.
“I agree.” Jennifer said. “It is more of a punishment to keep them alive but sealed.”
“The Twilight Crystal can seal them up, right?” Olivia asked, looking at them as they slowly escaped the living world.
“Yes it can.” Darien stated. “But where?”
“I know where.” Jennifer said. “The dark soldiers came from a well of their own energy contained where only they could access it. If they were sealed in there, there would be no one left to release them.”
“Prisoners in their own power.” Darien decided.
“Sounds perfect.” Olivia agreed, she tore her eyes from the two on the ground. “Let’s hurry.”
All three of them held out their hands and the Crystal came to life again. The pair before them were separated into their own glass, crystal-shaped coffins. Inside, their color faded to grayness, spared from death by their imprisonment, but at the same time lifeless. The Twilight Crystal twinkled in their three palms and the coffins vanished into an endless well of the two soldier’s conjoined power. The two heirs of the Kingdom of the Negaverse vanished into an unbreakable void of power to remain forever undisturbed. What was left were the three Children of Earth and one crystal glowing faintly between them.
They all looked into each other’s eyes. Jennifer smiled. “We found you, Darien! Why did you stay away for so long?”
“I don’t know, but I was looking for you.” He answered. “Even though I didn’t know what I was looking for, I was still looking.”
“Jennifer and I died on Earth when the Negaforce took over.” Olivia recalled. “But you headed for the moon to protect your princess. That is why we were separated. We weren’t together in the past, so we weren’t reborn together in the present.”
“I understand so much.” He said. “I remember everything…” He glanced back to the deadened eyes of Sailor Moon. “I understand my dream…” His heart was breaking again. “Serenity…”
“We’re going to bring her back.” Jennifer assured. He turned back to her. “We can’t stay like this.”
“What?” he asked.
“She’s right.” Olivia agreed. “We remember the Silver Millennium. No one else does.”
“We can tell them.” Darien said.
“They wouldn’t understand.” Jennifer shook her head. “This isn’t the way it’s supposed to happen. The moon princess needs to find her memory herself.”
“But – “
“You’ve got to find the Imperium Silver Crystal!” Olivia cried. “You were distracted from your mission to find us! We are an imbalance. Your search for the Silver Crystal is what will uncover the identity of Princess Serenity. She can’t find herself without you.”
“She needs you.” Jennifer insisted.
He looked back to Serena and sighed. “So what do we do?”
“Use the Twilight Crystal to put back all the essence, then Olivia and I will use all of our superpower energy to transport everyone back to where they were a week before. We will erase the memories of Sailors Polaris and Earth from every single person in the universe, and selectively destroy all evidence that we ever existed.” Jennifer said. “With our power gone, we will also have our memories clean, and will return to our normal lives as if nothing happened.”
“For everyone else, this week will seem like a distant memory.” Olivia said. “As if they lived it half awake.”
“I’m used to that.” Darien understood. “But you know that that means that we will have no memory of ever meeting.”
“And the fractures of the twilight crystal will be once again broken and hidden safely within each of us.” Jennifer resolved, but she sensed what he felt and looked up at him. “Yes, I know.”
Olivia looked over at him, her innocent face cheerful through sadness.
He sighed. “The two of you are right. Let’s get it over with.”
“Darien…” Jennifer said, her voice trembling. “This is the end.”
“I’ll miss you, big brother.” Olivia said, smiling weakly.
He bowed his head. “You know that I’ll miss the two of you….even if I never knew that I had you.” He closed his eyes. “I was missing you for a long time before all of this.”
The crystal spun around in their hands. The cloud of essence churning in the dome broke apart and trickled down to enter its respective hosts. The color returned to the frozen statues and light shone once again through the windows up above. The three siblings looked to each other, knowing that this was their last moment. Their eyes moistened. Olivia stared at Darien. After the whole meeting with Tuxedo Mask, the relationship she’d had with him, the words they’d exchanged, in a couple seconds, they would remember none of it. She didn’t want to forget, but she had no choice. She reached out and took his hand. He looked at her, his eyes watering too. He’d finally found a cure for his loneliness; his family. He’d found people he could remember growing up with, people he could care for, it was what he’d always wanted. Jennifer held his hand too. She was sad to see it go, just like the other two. She took her sister’s hand as well. The crystal floated in the middle shattered. The whole room became white. Each of them felt their consciousnesses drift apart. Soon their hands were empty and everything was gone.

* * *

When Olivia woke up, she was in her room. It was Sunday afternoon still, with the October sun shining in her window. She got up and headed downstairs to find Jennifer doing her homework on the couch. The brunette rubbed her eyes. “Man, I must have fallen asleep in my history book again.”
“I was napping too.” She said. She sat on the arm of the couch. “What’s on?”
“Uh…I dunno, I think I was asleep for a little while.” She said. “I’m thinking about putting on the MST3K we taped yesterday? You up for it?”
“Nah…I’m going to walk up to Quik Trip and get some candy or something.”
“Exercise for sugar?” Jennifer asked. “Go for it. I’ll be here when you get back, and I’ll probably be doing the same note card.”
“Okay.” Olivia went out the front door. She headed won the street, up the hill to and down several streets to the intersection across from the service station. Unbeknownst to her, this was the same place that a week ago, she had met a turquoise cat balled up against the traffic. But there was no cat there today, and she paused for some reason in the middle of the crosswalk at the spot where she had been. She had this feeling that she’d forgotten something…but shrugged and kept walking, moving on to live her life.

* * *

Niobe was far away from there. She was in the arms of a young girl with a long brown braid. Courtney had brought her home, of course she couldn’t really remember how or why, but she’d always liked cats and her mother had said it was okay. She walked Niobe over to her bed, the large brown eyes of the cat slowly opened, her memory wiped blank and her mind exhausted. She found herself placed on the fluffy white covers. Courtney smiled at her and left. Niobe’s head sank down and her eyes closed again.

* * *

In the Negaverse, nothing had changed. The spell of the Twilight Crystal was limited to the Universe and Queen Beryl was caressing her crystal ball violently as she sat furiously on he throne. “My daughter and her wretched husband have been destroyed!” Beryl announced.
“We are sorry for your loss.” The ignorant masses chorused, not knowing of the plot and all that had gone on in the past day.
“Sorry!?! What Sorry!?! I ‘m sorry I couldn’t knock them off myself.” Beryl looked out over her assembled army. “General Malachite!”
The silver haired general stepped forward, his long cape billowing out behind him, a lump was in his throat. He and Zoicite had returned to the Negaverse hours before. This was the first time Beryl was confronting them. Zoicite tugged on her ponytail in anxiety. Malachite bowed before her throne. “yes, my queen.”
“I have every right to be very angry with you.” She noted. “But I have seen the corruption of my ranks, now that that stupid cat of my ex-son-in-law’s has vanished, I understand how you were used as an…unwilling tool. Don’t think it’s because I like you, because I don’t. And usually, I hold by the opinion that honesty is overrated. But I appreciate you telling me about this plot against me. I’m willing to give you a second chance.” Zoicite fought back a smile. Malachite took a breath and straightened a little higher. Beryl continued. “And since the job is freshly vacant, you are once again the head of the army.” He swelled with pride. She looked into the crowd and snapped Zoicite out of her reverie. “General Zoicite!!!”
The red-headed general stepped out before her and stood by Malachite. Beryl was not pleased with her. “You are not as worthy of a second chance. You deserted and headed to earth to interfere with my instructions. But I’ve learned one thing from this mess, and that is not to send incompetent soldiers to do important jobs. You, Zoicite, will gather the Rainbow Crystals we have yet to get. Forget the crystal my daughter reported, it is phony. Hurry and do your job, we have lost a lot of time. I have lost patience with you, I wouldn’t cross me if I were you.”
Zoicite bowed deeply to her queen. “Thank you, your Majesty. I will not fail you.”
“You had better not.” Beryl warned. Malachite and Zoicite stole a glance to each other. His eyes were proud and satisfied. Hers were grateful and determined. Beryl paused. “What happened to that wretched cat anyway?”
Hecate was watching from the corner.
“I don’t know, your majesty, but think he was killed.” Malachite reported. Hecate slitted her eyes.
Beryl shrugged. “Just as well. He is no longer a concern of ours.”

* * *

In the fluffy white covers, Niobe was stirred by the sounds of Courtney reentering the room. The turquoise cat looked up as a ball of navy fur was laid beside her. Garth had a bandage on his head, but the inverted crescent moon was still visible. He opened his eyes slowly, the golden irises shining in the sunlight. She didn’t remember who he was, and the concussion he couldn’t remember her. All they could do was look at each other… Two cats. One girl. A new chance at a blissful life.

~The End~

You are not authorized to comment here. Your must be registered and logged in to comment