**************
AUTHOR'S NOTES
**************


Ano....'Member when I said that I might have this out for New Years?  
Well, um, I lied.  Gomen, I really rather didn't mean to, and as Jade 
can attest to, I had a good 111KB of this done before Christmas.  There 
were just some scenes at the end that had been giving me a lot of 
trouble.  Hopefully this should be worth it!
Again, gomen for the lateness of this.  I am putting my authors notes at 
the beginning of this chapter rather then at the end for a reason that 
you'll see when, (if) you get down there.  I have around five other 
stories planned at this point, not including any and all that have 
already been started.  One of these should be out fairly soon, and it's 
mainly for those who liked Diamonds.  That one might be out by May.  I 
am sorry that this is taking so long, but school has been taking up a 
seriously larger chunck of time now then it did last trimester!  Between 
that and college and trying to join SCA and looking into scholarships, 
which BTW, if anyone knows of any for female caucasian artists, onegai 
let me know.  I need all the help I can get!  *sigh*  The juinor year of 
high school is a good deal more difficult then the sophmore one was, 
isn't it?  Ah well.  Only 15 more months to go!



*********


I would like to thank speech to be inserted *here*.



Jade-chan, because without her I would never have been able to finish 
this fic, nor have had the ideas for my next ones.  Jade, you've been a 
listening board for when I've wanted to rant and a place where I could 
bounce ideas off of.  If it wasn't for you, then I think that Diamonds, 
like so many other ideas that seem to be wonderful things to write, 
would have been dropped by the way side.  I would have abandoned this 
fic, as well as several more forthcoming if it wasn't for you, and I 
need to thank you for that.  You've been many wonderful things, as well 
as that most miraculis comodity...a friend.  Domo arigatou gozimasu, 
Jade-chan.  But I still get to keep D-chan and Kaladin.  ^_^

Void, for all of his critisms regarding the CBoY scenes, (don't worry, 
you'll find out soon enough and then will want to kill for)  and without 
them you would have had to sit through something akin to torture by 
(cruddy) politics...


Sardonyx and minna-chan for your support on the Mega_DarkFics_SM list, 
and your enthusiastic, (if somewhat unbelieving) email when the damn 
thing was finally completed, and the list found out.

Mako-chan for making me realise just what the hell was wrong with 
Mamoru's character as I portrayed him, and for bringing to my attention 
the difficulties in reading the 'vision' scenes.  Minna, I do apologise 
for those, but it was the best that I could think of.  Don't shoot 
me...Please?

I want to also thank Joe T. Tune Jr. for his encoraging remarks, even 
when I didn't respond as quickly as I should have to his email on 
chapter five to his wonderfulfabulousohsogreat story, that mucks around 
with Time almost as much as *I* do. (and let me tell you, writing in 
different Times is as hard as it gets!  Until you get into other 
dimonsions of course...) Thanks to you, and to Jewels, whom I haven't 
heard from lately, but did thanks to her learn how to spell 'Diamonds' 
and 'japanese' correctly.  Yes, there *will* be a revised edition of 
DRatHotW out soon, (Yes friends, new and improved, *SpellCheck*!)  
though not many changes will be made except for minor plot 
inconsistancies, bad grammer, inventive and unique choices on how to 
spell things, and those little stuff that make me slap my forehead at 
four AM when I look at the post version and go, oh SHIT!  I forgot to 
change out that english word for a japanese one, or Dammit!  I put down 
Chibi Mamoru instead of Chiba!

You know.  Things like that.  Oh and OOC stuff too.  ^_^  For all the 
characters that are out of character already, well...


Ja minna, and I'll see you next fic...
dremdancer@hotmail.com
March 4, 1999

******




Diamonds, Roses, and the Heart of the World
Chapter Six: Truth Reveiled
dremdancer




******


7:02AM
	Tokyo A


	Usagi watched the...*thing* floating not 30 metres away 
apprehensivly.  She was tired, having been up all night and having been 
in not one but *two* battles the preceding day tended to do that to a 
person, and she had nearly died again as Hitowa's house had collaped in 
apon itself.  Things such as those tended to make her lose her cool, 
what little she did have, anyway.  She was tired.  She was cranky.  And 
her brand new dress that she had bought, with her saved up *allowance* 
was now ruined.  Which was more then enough to get her moderatly pissed 
off, but now *Hitowa* was getting into the game, glaring at the new 
being as though he had a personal vendetta to furfil.
	"Wiseman."
	Wiseman?  Nani?  Usagi's eyes widened.  No wonder Hitowa-san was 
so mad!  That was the one who had killed Saphirr and the others of his 
clan, and eventually, she had been told, had killed Hitowa himself.  
'No,' she corrected herself, 'the Wiseman killed Demando.  Kami-sama 
this is confusing!' 
	Not that it mattered just then.  All that really did was that the 
Wiseman was evil and he had been the one who had backed up Rubeus.  And 
Rubeus had taken the senshi and Chibi-usa.  Hitowa could have his own 
plan for revenge.  Usagi had one as well.  She turned her own glare to 
the figure floating above the ruins, and shivered at what she felt 
there.  
	Usagi wasn't telepathic, or precognative, or anything like that.  
That was Rei's department.  However, one didn't need to be psychic to 
feel the waves of Dark Power _pulling_ at her own Energy, seeking to 
drag it back down into the bottomless pit that was this being.  It was 
like a spot of ice against a warm backround, a black hole which swept up 
energy, but never had enough, was never full, and would always keep 
pulling, and sucking, and draining until there was nothing left but an 
empty husk.  His energy pulled inward, leaching the surrounding area of 
it's beauty.  It's Light. 
	Usagi narrowed her eyes and shifted into a more defensive stance.  
She wasn't sure what he was doing here, she wasn't even sure if *he* 
knew what he was doing here, but she wasn't going to let him go with out 
giving her back her friends.  And her charge.
	She felt the Wiseman's gaze settle apon her for a moment before 
moving on to Hitowa.  They paused there, almost confused for a moment.  
"How is it that you know my title, boy?"  He asked, his voice low, but 
lacking the grating quality that Usagi had been expecting.  Hitowa said 
nothing, merely continued to watch him with that unfamilier cool stare.  
It was an expression that Usagi had never seen before, not on Hitowa's 
face, anyway.  It was like he had become another person...
	The thought apparently had struck another as well.  The Wiseman's 
cowl shook slightly and he almost appeared to be laughing silently.  
"Demando?"
	Hitowa smiled grimly.  "Iyee.  Wrong again, Wiseman Karaktha."
	The laughing stopped.  Karaktha looked sharply at Hitowa, and 
Usagi drew uncontiously closer to him.  Hitowa might once have been a 
Dark Lord, but now he was an ordinary human.  He was telepathic, but not 
able to manipulate energy in any way, only to sheild from it.  And if 
this being had been able to destroy him before, even when he had his 
powers...She shuddered away from the thought.
	"Hmph."  It wasn't a laugh, nor a sigh, but something in between, 
bordering on smug self satisfaction.  "Interesting.  Very interesting.  
Pray tell me then your name, as you seem to know mine and yet the favor 
has yet to be returned."
	"You know my name."
	The Wiseman chuckled slightly at that.  "Mayhaps I do," he 
murmured.  "After all," and here his gaze fell again on Usagi.  "The 
strangest things do happen.  Don't you agree Serenity?"
	Usagi started at this.  How had he known?  She vaguely felt 
Hitowa's hand reach out and pulled her back against him.  The ground 
that she had been standing on disapeared in a cloud of black 
crystilienne dust.  
	"Wiseman!"  Hitowa, his eyes having lost their coolness the moment 
the blast had left Karaktha's hands, glared at their adversary.  "Leave 
her out of this!"
	Karaktha looked at him contenpuiously.  "And why should I bother 
with a trifle when the true prize lies before me?  What have I to gain 
by killing you before I destroy her?"
	"Because," Hitowa said, shoulders straightening and assuming a 
pose that Usagi had seen echoed in the look before, but was now given in 
full force.  "You have never killed her before.  But you have killed me.  
And I came back."


******



5:38AM
	Tokyo A

	Saphirr glanced up from his work as the storm hit.  He had not a 
clue as to *where* it had come from.  *Who* it had come from was 
somthing else all together, though how any Lunarian, even the Neo-
Princess could make such a psychic scream he didn't know.  It went on 
though.  He hated it.  Saphirr wasn't a telepath like his onii-san, at 
least not a focused one.  He seriously doubted however, that anyone in 
this *Time* had missed that call.
	It stopped and he nearly went back to what he had been doing 
before.  It was imperitive that Demando learn the truth about the 
Wiseman, before it was too late.  The Wiseman was evil, evil like the 
legends of the gres'mere that he and his brother had told each other as 
children.
	Saphirr only hoped that he would be able to convince Demando of 
that.  And soon.  Saphirr had never trusted the cloaked spectre that had 
haunted his life since birth.  He didn't trust anyone.  Except 'Nii-san.  
And perhaps Petz.  
	No one else.  
	He had to be careful.  If word got out to the Wiseman that he was 
researching him then Saphirr had no doubts that he would be one of the 
next in line to be terminated.  Just as the Wiseman had terminated 
Beruche for telling him about Small Lady's capture.  
	However, with that he had the proof that the Wiseman had actually 
betrayed Demando.  Onii had wanted the child, alive, and brought to him 
in the Future, so that the City of Crystal would fall. Wiseman had 
ignored that.  He had ignored the Prince's warning, and would as a 
result die for his treason.  
	Saphirr had no doubt that the Wiseman would not be able to stand 
up against his Prince.  The Wiseman would fall, and maybe then Demando 
would be *himself* again, and would consentrate on things other then the 
Neo-Queen, or more likely as of late, the Princess.  
	And it wasn't just that, either.  Demando, hell, all of them, had 
been *changing*.  It had been subtle at first, and had been written off 
as nothing more then the slight twinges that occur in Time when one 
mucks around in it.  But it had gotten worse then that lately.  
	Esmurade for example.  He had caught her *helping* one of the 
staff, leaning over to pick up a piece of paper that the Droid had 
dropped.  And Demando hadn't been in sight, so Saphirr knew that she 
hadn't been showing off.
	Not that she would have shown off for him anyway.  And there was 
another thing.  He had loved Esmurade, partially because she had loved 
his older brother, partially for the woman that she had lost somewhere 
in the fight against Crystal Tokyo.  The woman he was beginning to see 
emerge once more.
	And while it would have pulled him not too long back, now, in this 
Time and Place, it didn't.  His thoughts were more likely to find 
themselves on Petz, not Esmurade, and if that wasn't a change then he 
didn't know what was.
	She hadn't even gone into a fit when onii had ignored every single 
word that she had said while he stared at a hologram of the Neo-Queen.  
	She had just shrugged it off.
	It was something to think about.  
	But first things first.  He had to get the Child, had to take her 
and bring her to Demando in the Future, so that he could see the 
Wiseman's decite for himself.  And then onii would take care of it.  He 
always had.  Always would.  Onii would get rid of Wiseman, and then 
things could get back to normal.  'Or, rather', he noted with a 
sacarstic smirk.  'As normal as they get around *here*, at any rate.'
	To find the Child he would have to sneak into the Ship.  Saphirr 
didn't know exactly how to do that either.  He would have to wait until 
both Wiseman and Rubeus were gone though.  No sense in looking for 
trouble.  If Rubeus saw him then he was sure that he could convince the 
other man that he had a legitamite reason for being ten centuries before 
he should have been.  All he had to do was tell him that the Prince had 
sent him to check on the Mission.  Rubeus wouldn't even think about 
checking up on him.
	If he ran into the Wiseman Karaktha on the other hand...
	That would be bad.  Saphirr didn't want to think of that.  He had 
no real reason for being there, and after having discovered that he had 
been using Beruche as a spy, Saphirr was sure that the Wiseman would be 
looking for any reason to get rid of him.  
	It wouldn't even take all that much to even convince onii that 
Saphirr had turned traitor, instead the other way round.  If Demando 
could be convinced that his younger sibling had been trying to set the 
child free, then Demando would be sad of course, but he wouldn't care.  
He would go back to his holos and his wine after a small susgestion from 
the Wiseman.
	Saphirr wasn't sure what kind of power that Karaktha held over his 
brother.  All he knew was that he didn't like it.  Demando would believe 
the Wiseman, even if the evidence was scant and slighty.  But if the 
truth could be told in secret...In secret with no one else there and no 
one to hear and tell the Wiseman that the Lesser Prince was breaking the 
spell that had been so carefully woven around the Greater One...
	Then they could all be free.  Saphirr looked up as he felt a 
twinge of Dark Power.  Rubeus had already teleported away.  He only 
needed to wait for one more now.  The worst one.  He could wait though.  
It wouldn't be too much longer.  
	He could wait.  He had waited years already for this, after all.  
He could wait a few more minutes for his proof that the Wiseman had 
betrayed the cause.   And that he had been using them all for as long as 
could be remembered.
	Saphirr stood from his desk and moved away towards the window, 
watching the pale dawn sky.  'The Ship is there' He noted gazing at the 
spot where the shielded Air Ship floated serenely over the city.  Not 
too much longer...Then the Wiseman would leave for Crystal Tokyo.  He 
never went out past the Ship when he came here.  And when he left...
	Saphirr wasn't certain where the child would be in the Ship, but 
he didn't think it would be too hard to figure out.  A being with that 
much pent-up Light energy should stick out like a beacon again the Dark 
Power that keep the ship afloat.
	And even if she was shielded Saphirr had known how to get around 
the locks and check points on the Nemesis computers since he was twelve.  
He had already cracked all of the codes that Karaktha had put up against 
him.  He was sure that this one would be no different.  After all, he 
had helped to program the Air Ship himself, and no matter what changes  
the Wiseman had made to the ship's schamatics, Saphirr could get around 
it.
	A twinge of DP, emitating from the Ship.
	Wiseman Karaktha had left.
	Saphirr drew in a breath and let it out slowly.  This was it, 
*this* was the time!  He would find the Child and prove once and for all 
to onii that the Wiseman had been deciving them, *him!* since they had 
been born.  And probably had been using their families before even then.
	He watched the dim point in the sky that only those of the Family 
could see.  It was time.  Narrowing his eyes, he teleported.

*****


ETERNITY 



	Rei stood shakely from her position on the mist covered ground.  
She didn't know where she was, nor understand everything that had been 
happening, but that didn't matter.  What she *did* know was that she 
wasn't in her true body, that one had been left sitting  in front of the 
Sacred Flame before the Vision had started.
	And that this Vision was certainly the most pecuilier, and 
certainly the most frightening one that she had had as of yet.  
	Dusting her arms off, Rei noticed that she was clad in her senshi 
fuka.  She looked up to the green haired woman, and was susprised to 
note that she was in a fuka as well.  'Another senshi?  That would make 
two more today!'  She swallowed a sigh.  'The next ones will probably be 
senshi for the astroids with our luck!'  She mused sardonicly. 
	As in answer to her thoughts, the other woman sighed and 
detransformed.  "My name is Setsuna." 
	Rei, after a moments pause, did the same.  "Rei."
	This close, Rei could see the weary look on the other's face.  She 
looked awful, as though she had just been witness to an atrocity far 
worse then she could ever have imagened.  Which, Rei descided, was 
perfectly understandable.  *She* felt terrible, and she didn't have any 
idea of what that was all about.  
	Setsuna looked at her sharply.  "How did you get here?  It should 
have been impossible for any to come with out a Key."
	'Key?' "I don't even know where here _is_, Setsuna-san.  I was 
consulting the Flame and found myself locked in a vision, the one with 
Chibi-usa being crowned queen, of somewhere."
	Setsuna nodded.  "We don't have much time before the Vision picks 
up again.  Once they start they go on to show the whole story.  And 
something tells me that we have only seen one half of it."
	"What do you mean, 'picks up again'?  How much more of this *is* 
there?"
	Before her green haired companion could respond, the Vision began 
anew.




	*rei floated with setsuna, watching as usagi stood once more to 
give her crown, her thrown, over to another.  this time, however, the 
new queen looked different...THAT'S NOT CHIBI-USA rei thought bemused.  
	YOU'RE RIGHT, setsunna thought back, with a touch of susprise 
coloring the sending.  THAT'S GINZAI.
	WHO?
	GINZAI.  WHOM YOU CALL CHIBI-USA'S ONEE.  BUT SHE WASN'T BORN IN 
THIS CONTINUIM...HOW THEN IS SHE HERE?
	rei gave the mental equivilent of a shrug and turned her attention 
back to those before her.  the girl, ginzai, looked at her mother, love 
shining obviously in her eyes, and reached out to touch serenity's hand.  
serenity smiled lightly, and kissed her daughter's forehead, before 
backing slightly so that her husband could say good bye as well.
	THAT'S NOT ENDYMION...THAT'S HITOWA-SAN, USAGI'S FRIEND!
	DEMONDO. setsuna looked at the pale haired figure.  he smiled at 
ginzai as well before placing a hand on her cheek.  he said something, 
but she couldn't make out the words.  they were, blocked, somehow, in a 
langugue that she didn't know.  serenity smiled at him wryly, before 
pulling her daughter to her feet.  'sayonara, mesume.  sayonara, 
serenity X!' 
	with that she placed her hand in hitowa's and the two vanished.  
rei watched as the light from the teleport, or what ever that had been, 
faded and eventually fell away.  
	ginzai turned to the waiting people, the crown of the neo-queen 
suddenly seeming very heavy on her head.  her long silver hair fell from 
it's odangos in slight waves, and her blue eyes were sad as she looked 
at over the room.  SHE LOOKS LIKE THE OLD QUEEN.  rei thought, staring 
at the other amazed.
	YOU'RE RIGHT AGAIN, SHE DOES.  setsuna looked towards where the 
other presence was and sent her a sense of approval.  I WONDER...
	the newly crowned queen ginzai looked up then, to the exact spot 
where they were.  ginzai flashed setsuna a smile, and then winked before 
turning to her people again.  
	rei sent a wry sense of amusment.  SHE KNEW WE WERE THE WHOLE 
TIME, DIDN'T SHE?
	NO DOUBT.  HUSH NOW.  SHE'S TALKING.
	BUT ABOUT WHAT? rei questioned.  I DON'T REMEMBER THE OLD 
LANGUGUE.
	setsuna sent her a brief flash of annoyance.  WAIT A MOMENT.	
	'minna!'  ginzai called, demanding the attention of the people of 
the room, and the two entities that were watching.  'my mother has given 
us a great gift, the gift of peace and of harmony.  she was more then i 
can ever aspire to, and i promise you here and now that i will do all 
that i can to keep her dreams alive.  she has driven the dark back more 
times then can be counted, and for long centuries now we have had peace.  
and while peace will not last forever, i swear to you now that i will do 
all that is possible to keep the flame of love that was hers lit in even 
the darkest times.  we are crystal tokyo, and we shall not fall!'
	SHE'S TELLING THE PEOPLE THAT SHE WON'T GIVE UP ON SERENITY'S 
DREAMS, NO MATTER WHAT IT TAKES.  setsuna sent wryly.  SO *THAT'S* THE 
DIFFERENCE!  PLUTO-SENSEI WAS WRONG AFTER ALL...
	WHO?
	NOT IMPORTANT RIGHT NOW.  I'LL EXPLAIN LATER.
	OH.  WHAT NOW? rei asked, watching as chibi-usa embraced her 
sister and walked with her out the door.
	DON'T WORRY.  I'M SURE THAT THE VISION WILL BE STAR-*

	And then they were elsewhere.

	*rei wished then that the visions weren't so sudden.  it would 
have been nice to have had a chance to catch her breath or talk with 
setsuna-san a moment before the new one, but iyeeee, things had to go so 
damned *fast* all the time...
	she came out of her grudging long enough to notice her 
surroundings again.  as was becoming the norm, they hadn't changed at 
all.  it was just the amount of people in them that had.  this time, the 
thrown room was packed.  the new queen wasn't so young, rei could tell, 
but she wasn't was old looking as chibi-usa had been at this point.  
BERYL?  BUT I THOUGHT THERE WAS ANOTHER PART TO ALL OF THIS!
	INDEED. setsuna returned.  HOWEVER...she added, glancing out over 
the assmebled group of senshi.  it wasn't the pact from before.  this 
time, a full thirteen senshi stood proudly in the thrown room facing the 
woman who had managed to destroy the kingdom in the batton timeline.  
PERHAPS THIS QUEEN DOESN'T DISBAND THE SENSHI AS SMALL LADY DID.
	I HOPE NOT.  rei shuddered slightly at that thought.  no senshi!  
beryl was smirking at something one of the senshi was saying.  it was a 
new one, one that hadn't even been in the vision before.  all of those 
ones were there, rei noted, and a warrior in a pure white fuka that was 
ruffled, unlike all of the others.  this one's light pink, almost 
lavender hair flowed down nearly to the floor in cone shaped odangos and 
a pair of white feathered wings sprang from her back.  she held a large 
staff, easily longer then she was tall, which she weilded with prisicion 
accuratness at the firebrand.  SHE LOOKS SORT OF LIKE SAILORMOON.  rei 
thought shocked.
	SMALL LADY?  setsuna sent amazed.  
	YOU MEAN CHIBI-USA?  BUT SHE LOOKS TO DIFFERENT THEN IN THAT OTHER 
VISION WHEN SHE WAS QUEEN!
	rei watched the pink odangoed woman as she swung her staff, her 
face showing determination, even the slight agelessness that most of the 
lunarians had shared, but none of the weariness.  SHE LOOKS LIKE SHE'S 
ONLY TWENTY-FIVE OR SO, NOT SIXTY LIKE BEFORE.
	TRUE.  THOUGH I SHOULD THINK THAT IT'S BECAUSE OF DIFFERENT 
REASONS THAT SHE APPEARS SO YOUNG NOW.
	YOU MEAN THAT THIS CHIBI-USA AND THE ONE FROM BEFORE WHEN SHE HAD 
FACED BERYL ARE THE SAME AGE?  BUT...rei sent her confusion.  SHE LOOKS 
SO MUCH...*YOUNGER*!
	DIFFERNT CIRCUMSTANCES.  setsuna said before falling silent.  rei 
sighed mentally and returned to the buisness below.  ginzai stood in the 
center of the group, the elder senshi carefully flocked about her, the 
three youngers making up a triangle on one side.  chibi-usa and saturn? 
stood on the other.  rei watched them warily, remembering all too well 
the outcome of that other vision.
	beryl looked at the assembled group and laughed manically.  SHE'S 
INSANE.  rei remarked.  setsuna kept her silence, eyes intent on this 
new threat.  ginzai said something in the musical old tongue, and chibi-
usa backed her up with a sharp comment of her own.  beryl shook her 
head, red hair flying everywhere.  when she spoke it was not in the 
delicate langugue of the silver millenium, but in japanese.
	'i am the mighty queen beryl!  bow down to me and you may live!'  
beryl giggled like a child, hands pressed to her mouth.  
	ginzai looked at her sister, who shrugged sadly.  'do what you 
will.' chibi-usa said quietly.
	frowning sadly, ginzai turned back to the dark queen of the dark 
kingdom, who was, at the moment, busily counting the senshi and 
muttering about the 'five' from before, and didn't they multiply like 
rabbits these days, the senshi, and now you could find one under every 
rock you picked up...
	'queen beryl.'  the room fell silent.  even the red haired 
firebrand looked up from her senshi counting to stare at the queen of 
crystal tokyo.  'you have not once, not twice, but three times 
threatened one of the lives of my family.  my mother killed you after 
you returned from the banishment that my grandmother placed apon you 
before.  as punishment for attacking my mesume, however, i will give you 
something far worse.'  beryl's eyes widened and she clutched at the 
strands of hair that were freefalling about her face.  'i give you back 
your sanity.'  ginzai moved away from the others slightly and cupped her 
hands above her.  the ginzuishou appeared, it's bright light flowing 
over the room.   beryl shrunk back from it, almost hitting the new 
sailormercury in her zeal to be away from it.  'i give you too, back 
your mind.  i give you your mind from before it was taken over by the 
darkness.  i give you a second chance at life beryl.  however,' she 
warned, her face stern.  'i also give you every single moment that 
anyone ever suffered as a result of your actions.  i give you the deaths 
of the three warriors of earth, and the long imprisonment of the forth.  
i give you the deaths of the old queen, as well as my mother, and every 
being that died in those holocasts.  i give you all the pain that you 
have rought.  and,' she continued, a touch more gently.  'i give you 
hope.'  
	with that, the crystal in her hands flashed brightly, and beryl 
fell to her knees.  she screamed once and began sobbing loudly.  
sailorjupiter and sailoruranus moved towards her at their queen's nod, 
and between them, moved the once proud queen of the dark kingdom out of 
the hall.  chibi-usa followed them, after flashing her onee a supporting 
smile.  ginzai shrank back into herself lightly, and sank down 
gratefully on her thrown.  a dark haired man stood beside her and she 
leaned her head against his side as his arm went about her shoulders.  
the remaining senshi smiled at their queen, or saluted, as she dismissed 
them.  
	the man drew his wife to her feet and kissed her softly.  ginzai 
smiled as she leaned against him, the slight buldge of her belly 
pressing against his stomach.  'she alright?' he asked, his voice 
tightened slightly in worry.  he placed a hand on the protrusion before 
pulling his wife's head up for another kiss.  ginzai smiled.  'she's 
fine.'  they stood that way for a long time.*
	

	How long they stood there was something Rei never found out, 
because she was swept away again immediatly after.

	Rei came back to herself with a start.  She blinked as the sudden 
sensations of a *body* came back to her.  The simple ability *to* blink 
seemed like a shock, and as she turned she could see that Setsuna was 
having similer feelings of discomfort.
	"It's always a bit disquieting, coming back," Setsuna murmured 
softly, looking out past Rei into the strange 'nothingness' that roiled 
beyond them.  Rei lifted her head and store out at it.  Only, there was 
nothing to stare at.  Nothing, as far as the eye could see.  It was 
light enough, but there was no sun or moon.  Looking behind her, Rei 
could see that she cast no shadow.
	"Where are we?"  This was by far the most confusing vision Rei had 
yet to experiance.  Even that nightmare one, the one that had only 
rescently started to haunt her was not as strange as this was.  And in 
that one the Senshi were statues and destroyed by a whirl wind.  Rei 
blinked again and forced her eyes to focus on Setsuna.
	The woman didn't return her gaze.  "We are in the Time Fold."  At 
Rei's curious look she continued.  "The Time Fold is a pocket of Space 
outside of the normal temporal stream.  It is from here that we moniter 
Time to make certain that it goes as it should.  Only..."
	Rei narrowed her eyes. 'Places outside time?  How was that 
possible?'  "Only what?"
	Setsuna turned to her, but her eyes were full of an ancient 
sadness, and a distinct precence of betrayal.  "Only my sensei has 
apparently turned to chaos."


*****

Crystal Tokyo A:
	June 2, 2998
	Late Night


	Esmeraude smiled over the huge plateful of cake resting in front 
of her.  Long fingers hovered delicatly over myraid scrumptious 
delights, before finally snagging a thin slice of white confection with 
a yellow frosting on top.  Grinning broadly, she popped the treat into 
her mouth and closed her eyes in pleasure.  There was absolutly 
*nothing* like a good cake after all...
	'Esmeraude, report!' 
	Startled, Esmeraude let the entire plate slip out of her hands and 
fall onto the floor beside the bathtub.  'One of these days,' she 
thought ruefully, 'we are going to have to hook up an intercom!'  These 
'mind-to-mind' things were rather annoying when was was trying to bathe, 
after all.  Stepping carefully out of the high raised tub, Esmeraude 
melded into her tight black dress and pulled out the pins that had been 
holding her long yellow green hair up.  Why the Prince had summoned her 
was beyond her knowledge...A new attack perhaps?  But where?  Or rather, 
when?  'If he wants me to go into the Past...' Esmeraude thought darkly.  
She *hated* the Past, with it's primative structures and fashion.Even 
worse, Demando-sama never went to the Past.  She didn't know what she 
would do if she couldn't see him.
	None the less, Esmeraude paused in front of her mirror, checked 
her hair and and grabbed her fan, before teleporting to the Control Room 
of the Citidel.  Her Prince, as always, was seated in his elaboratly 
carved ivory chair, a glass of deep red wine in hand.  Eyes shadowed, he 
looked up from his musings as she appeared before him.  Esmeraude bowed 
slightly, and watched him expectantly.  
	"Esmeraude.  I want you to go to the Past."
	Esmeraude hid her crestfallen expresion behind her feathered fan 
and laughed nervously.  The Past?  Kuso, she *hated* the twentieth 
century!  She glanced up again as Demando-sama began to speak again.  
	"Rubeus missed his reported several hours ago.  I want you check 
up on him, and make sure that everything has been running smoothly."
	Esmerade stifled a sigh.  It was bad enough to go to the Past, but 
it was even worse to have to go to the Past to check up on someone as 
incompatent as Rubeus.  Vaguely, in the back of her mind, something 
twinged guiltly.  She hadn't used to think that Rubeus was incompatant, 
none of them had.  Before the attack on Crystal Tokyo, they had been the 
Family that was their name.  Before the Wiseman had erged them to 
battle, any way.
	Speaking of the Wiseman...
	"Demo, Prince Demando-sama, doesn't the Wiseman know?"
	Her Prince scowled slightly, the grip on his glass tightening 
almost inpercepitivly.  "There's something about the Wiseman 
lately...Something that I can't put my finger on, but..."  He trailed 
off, and shook his head slightly.  "It doesn't matter.  Find Rubeus, and 
report back." 
	Esmeraude bowed again and ported back to her rooms, grimacing 
openly now.  She plopped down on her bed and groaned loudly.  Why 
couldn't he have sent *Saphirr* back?  Saphirr wouldn't have minded, he 
was more then eager to prove himself to the Prince.  Saphirr would have 
jumped at a chance like this.  Esmeraude got up, and walked over to her 
mirror.  She sighed at her reflection before stepping through it, 
consentrating on the Control Room.  
	She appeared in front of the Dark Crystal, and gently rested a 
hand on it, feeling the DP flowing through it, and into her.  She 
snatched her hand away.  There was something, something *cold* about 
it...Something that she hadn't noticed before, and yet, had always been 
there.  It was as though it had simply been hidden from her up to this 
point, but it's glamour had suddenly fallen away.  Esmerause shivered 
lightly, and let her hand fall.  She didn't like this, she didn't like 
the Past, and she didn't like battling the Light Moon's people.  She saw 
Demando-sama's reason's for it of course.  Everyone in the Family knew 
them, and felt the same way.  But still...There were more important 
things to do then to fight.  Particually when one was fighting in such a 
struggle as this one.
	They were loosing.  It wasn't obvious, after all, they held the 
entire Planet.  The entire Planet, save for the Palace.  And so long as 
that held then they would not win.  And it would have been a stalemate, 
except for the fact that they were running dangerously low on droids to 
waste as cannon fodder.  The Family could only produce a certain amount 
of them, after all.  And they couldn't mature here on this green world.  
Droids needed the blackness of Nemisis to grow.  And it was very rare to 
find someone willing to go back and create new ones.  
	This world was intoxicating.  Esmeraude left the Crystal and went 
to stare out of the window near it.  This world...It was like a fine 
liquor, pulling you in with it's pleasures... Once one had a sip, one 
found themselves longing for more.  And a sip became a swallow, which 
became a gulp, until you spent you're entire life in that sweet 
intoxication, not wishing to return to, nor ever remembering that the 
real world lay back there, behind you.  It was far too easy to put off 
going back, to say that you would return tommorrow maybe, or the day 
after that.  She couldn't even imagine going back to Nemisis now.  
Nemisis, with it's irregular shape and little light.  Nemesis, with it's 
cold airless enviroment.  Nemesis, so close to the Darkness that it 
infected each and every person born there, the dark elf counter part to 
the Light living back in Paradise.  
	There wasn't a single person, being, *entity* from Nemesis, that 
didn't want to go to Earth.  'And now that we are here, we are ruining 
it.'  She watched the moon light shine down on the crystilline city.  
Great quartz splinters rose out from where there had been a thriving 
homeland.  It was dark that night, though the moon was half full.  It 
was dark everywhere.  
	It hadn't always been that way.  Esmeraude could remember her 
first glimpse of the Green World, a seeming eternity ago.  It had been 
so *different* compared to Nemesis...Whereas Nemesis was dark, always 
was, always will be, this planet was full of brightness.  It's startling 
colors had drawn her breath away when she had first laid eyes on it.  
She had seen it before, to be certain.  Esmeraude had dutifully 
memorised the maps of Earth, just like all the others.  She had seen the 
holos, but they had been unclear and dingy in the dim light of the 
crystals.  But *there*!  An earth lit up by the sun, and a sun that was 
larger then the other stars of the sky, a planet that actually had a 
*day* not just a night that lasted for all time...
	To actually stand in that day, the feeling of warmth as the sun 
had kissed her figure...The beautiful sense of belonging that this 
planet seemed to give off...The truth of the legends that this *was* the 
Only Home, the Blue Planet, the heaven that had been whispered of in 
soft, mornful voices for the last eight hundred years...
	That was why she didn't want to leave this planet.  
	And the others agreed with her.   None of them wanted to leave.  
And they hadn't wanted to take the chance that they would be made to.  
So they hadn't asked if they could come.  They did what those on Nemesis 
had done since the day they had left Only Home, so many centuries 
before.  And besides which, didn't every one know that the rular of the 
Only Home was evil?  She had held it in her grasp for millenia, and 
there had been no one to oppose her.  They had thought that they would 
be doing Earth a *favor* by over throwing her.
	'We were so naive...'
	She sighed again and closed her eyes to the sight of destruction 
before her.  By the time that they had learned that the people were 
happy there, and with the Neo-Queen's rule, it was too late.  The attack 
had begun, and the same phobia that had kept them from asking to join 
with Earth kept them from asking forgivness.  They had known what 
Nemesis would have done to any had attacked them without cause or 
provection.  Nemesis was ruthless.  The attackers would have fallen, and 
then have been turned into slaves, or droids, or worse.
	So they had descided to continue with the attack, and hopefully, 
after subdueing the people, to propose peace.  It would be quick and 
decisive, a fast attack on the Palace to prevent any more of the city 
from being destroyed.  
	Except...
	The Palace had it's own defences, four of the Sailor Senshi who 
stood constantly on guard, holding an undefeatable shield in place.  A 
sheild that was steadly growing larger.  Left unchecked, it would likely 
consume all of the city with in it, and move on to the world.  They 
would be forced off of the Blue Planet, back into space, back to the 
hell that they had once called home. 
	For that...For that they would fight.  Even though they would 
lose, they would still fight.  After all, it was better to die on Only 
Home then to return to Nemesis.  At least that way you got to see the 
sun shine again, even though it meant your death.  It was better that 
way.  
	So she would go to the twentith century, and see what was causing 
Rubeus his troubles.  And hopefully she would be able to return and 
await her death in the City of Crystal, and not have to join in the 
fight against the Sailor Senshi of the Past.  Far better to die in the 
city that felt already like a home, then the one that was not.
	Esmeraude turned from the City and back to the Dark power source 
that kept the Citadel running.  She exhaled deeply and stepped into the 
Crystal, the sudden dark coldness knocking her breath away.  The Past 
was waiting.  And the sooner she was finished there then the sooner she 
could return her own Time.  And die in her own way.  This world was 
worth it.


*****

ETERNITY

	She was standing near the Time Gate, that much she could tell.  
Demo...It wasn't *her* Time Gate.  This wasn't even her Time.  Hell, 
this wasn't her Time _Line_ apparently.  She would never have let the 
Time Stream fall into such disrepair.  Queen Ginzai would have flayed 
her alive if she had!
	She shook her head, letting the dark green hair flow away from her 
eyes and over her shoulders, down her back.  Her hands tightened on the 
Garnet Rod as she saw what she was wearing.  The short olive colored 
skirt and long maroon bow gave away her senshi fuka all too easily.  
	'Well,' she berated herslef.  'That makes sense.  I'm supposed to 
be at the Gate after all, though why I'm transformed, I don't know...  
I'm usually not unless there is danger.'
	Her head snapped up as the lunarian scream made it's way to her.  
"Usagi-hime?"  Several choice words that would have even made the old 
Uranus blush made their way through her mind as she contemplated this.  
What ever the hell was going on, it was certainly something that *she* 
had never dealt with before.  The pink haired Princess of Crystal Tokyo 
that she had known had never cried like that before.  Sure she had 
gotten into her scrapes, particually when she had taken the role of 
Sailormoon from her mother, but something like *this*?  Never!
	And, she realised frowning, this Usagi-hime was young, only in her 
first visit to the 20th century, back when she was still known as Chibi-
usa.  *Nothing* had happened to the girl then, Sailormoon and her future 
husband had been in for a ride, but the Neo-Princess had been safe for 
most of it.  That had been the point of sending the girl to the Past.  
Protection pure and simple.
	She rubbed hand over her forehead where a small yet highly 
annoying headache had just made an appearance.  Well, nothing to do but 
find out what had happened.  She called a vision and nearly blanched.  
No wonder the Rabbit had cried out like that, Karaktha could, (and had) 
brought much stronger, not to mention older, warriors to their knees.  
Her eyes narrowed in anger.  She didn't hate any one, she couldn't 
really afford to in her particuler career, but this one had come as 
close as possible to that particualier emotion.  In the entire Time 
Stream she hadn't come up against one that had caused as much damage as 
Karaktha. Not even the Lord of the House of Dark had, and he had been 
the major source of chaos in most of the alternatives.  Then again, he 
didn't have the same Time travelling ablities as Karaktha, and he had 
some understanding of the fact that if you destroy someone when they are 
young and weak, instead of when you are actually fighting them when they 
are secure in their power in your own time, there would be a disruption 
in the Time Line, and that you yourself could cease to exist as a 
result.  Or worse, you could wind up in a paradox, endlessly folding in 
on itself until it explodes, taking the Time Line with it.
	Karaktha had no qualms about that.  So long as his enemy was gone, 
he didn't care *when* he struck.  Though, and here she allowed herself a 
small smirk.  He got what was meant for him.  Because he had mettled so 
much, he thought himself undefeatable.  Until, that is, he tried to go 
up against the future Neo-Queen, and even though she was still a child 
herself, she proved to be too much for him.  
	But this...This was wrong...She cursed slightly and moved the 
vision forward a bit.  Where was Sailormoon?  Chibi-usa might have been 
taken to the Air Ship, but it certainly hadn't been with out her future 
okoa-sama.  How many other things were messed up?
	She moved the vision from the young rabbit then and conscentrated 
on the world at large.  20th century Earth *seemed* to be the same as 
she remembered it... Except for...Nani?  What was Myobishi Jaret still 
doing in Germany in 1983?  He was supposed to have been in Japan by 
then!  It might have caused a global economic disaster if his bank 
hadn't been there and firmly in place to help hold up Japan's own when 
the Soviet Union collapsed.  
	She smirked.  It looked like some rather hasty work had been done 
just before 1989 to make up for it.  She quested outward again, this 
time following the changes made to the Myobishi family.  Strange, in 
this time they had been dogged by almost every castastrophe imaginable.  
Her hands tightened on her rod when she came to the late seventies.  
Kaladin had been stilborn?  Demo that was wrong!  
	The changes to the timeline were relativly minor, at least they 
had been til this point. The Future Neo-Queen had been born on schedule, 
and her husband had been born at the correct time, if not the correct 
place.  It seemed, however, as though this Time's Guardian had been 
delibartly trying to keep the two apart.  But why?  Unless the Queen and 
the King were together, the whole dimonsion would Fall.
	Not that this was the only time that it could Fall, but this was 
the one conserning her the most at the moment.
	The Multiverse was like a spider's web, only instead on just 
branching out on a linear scale, everything was mixed up, like a 
scrunched up ball of yarn.  It was created, not by string, but by 
Universes, differing regions of Space Time that were usually connected 
by several different factors.  In this one, the planet Earth played a 
major role, it's Golden Millenium eventually branching out to hold peace 
with nearly planet within it's self.  
	But if the Earth did *not* extend it's serene accord, then it 
quickly descended into a period of anarchy that caused it's destruction.  
The Golden Millenium didn't last forever, but it did make it through the 
worst of the problems, and eventually paved the way for it to survive 
without any greater supervision.
	But if it Fell..
	This Branch of the Multiverse was one of the more important ones, 
simply due to the fact that it's Falling would considerably weaken the 
others.  The CBoY depended on it's important branches, they were the 
ones that upheld the weak.  And when one of the important ones fell, 
then with it went all the other universes that clung to it for 
substance, and with them went any and all referances to the universe 
that Fell to begin with.  
	Without those referances, the other branches were not complete.  
They weren't whole and thus anarchy was able to breed without much 
difficulty.  It was a Domino effect of the worst possible type.  Instead 
of individual countries falling here, whole worlds could cease to exist.
	With each universe destroyed, the others were left weaker.  'The 
first bullet makes it harder to dodge the second, the second the third, 
and so on.'  She had been given the responsiblity of watching this Time 
Line by the CBoY Union, those sworn to protect the Multiverse, and 
something had apparently happened to send it spirling towards chaos.  
And when it had tried to correct itself, some one had done their best to 
make sure that it would stay dying.
	Though why anyone would want to do that was beyond her.
	She sighed lightly, and pulled her mind out of the Time Stream, 
and back into the here and now.  And stopped susprised.  There were 
three others there, three others where their were supposed to be none.  
Two of them she recognised immediatly.  The third left her confused for 
a moment.  One of those that held the office of Sailormars?  What was 
one of them doing in the Time Stream?  And which one was it?
	And for that matter, why were there not one other, but *two* 
others that were ideantifiable as *herself* also there?  One's 
optimistic nature quickly identified herself as Setsuna-chan, her own 
self of a *much* prior Time.  The other...it was herself as well, 
but...She couldn't put her finger on it.  Suffice to say that this one 
was *darker*, her own equvilent?  The one that was supposed to be 
watching this Time Stream?  Demo...
	A quick glance that that one's mind showed her what she had begun 
to suspect.  *This* Sailorpluto was the one who was trying to break 
apart the Neo-Queen and her King.  She was the one who was destroying 
the Time Line...But why?
	Why would she do this?
	Didn't she _know_?
	Ah.  That was it then.  This Sailorpluto did not know.  She was 
trying to put the Neo-Queen with another, with her love of the Silver 
Millenium.  Which all would have been well and good, save for the fact 
that Ginzai would not be born if she did that.  If Ginzai was not born, 
she would not rule, Usagi-hime would instead.  But Usagi-hime was too 
busy with her senshi duties to truly be a good queen.  She was born to 
be a fighter, not a diplomat.  Usagi wasn't able to be a Queen, she 
wasn't the one that destiny had marked as a leader of the House of 
Light.  She was a defender of said House, but not a Queen.  That was 
Ginzai's job.  
	But this Sailorpluto didn't seem to know that.  How could she not?  
She could remeber when she had recieved the Vision, when she had still 
been in training herself, of what would happen if the Neo-Queen wed 
Endymion.  She had cried for days, it had been terrible.  Her own sensei 
had told her then of when she had recieved the Vision.  But this one... 
she had not had it, had she?  She hadn't seen for herself what would 
happen, nor the chaos that it would bring about.  
	And then it clicked.
	Setsuna-chan was receiving the Vision.  Then.  Now.  
	She had appeared.  Then.  Now.
	It wasn't the first time that she had heard of Temporal 
Abnormailites, those who came from a Time Line that didn't actually 
exist, and yet still had full memories of their home Stream.  It was, 
however, the first time she had been one herself.
	She remembered her own Line.  But that one appearently hadn't 
happened yet.  Which meant that this Stream had been destroyed for the 
privous eternity.  Only, now, for some reason, her past form was 
recieving the Visions, the ones that saved this Time from destruction. 
She had only come to exist then because of that fact.
	It was strange, to know that she had never existed before, and yet 
had a full memory of a life that she had apparently never lived.
	Even stranger was that she was going to have to fix things so that 
she *could* live.
	And with that, Sailorpluto of the Golden Age of Queen Ginzai, 
mesume of the Neo-Queen Serenity and King Hitowa picked up her Rod and   
began to move closer to Sailorpluto of the Crystalnine age of the Neo-
Queen Serenity and King Endmion. 


******

6:46AM
	Tokyo A

	Chiba Mamoru, cloaked in his alter ego, Tuxedo Kamen, raced 
angrily through the streets of Tokyo.  He had hoped to get aid from the 
Sailor Senshi in his battle to win Usagi back, back to him, and back to 
her right mind.  That plan however seemingly perfect, had been foiled as 
he had realised that not only Usagi, but *all* of the senshi were under 
the Dark Prince's spell.  He had to free them, that much was obvious.  
The question however, was *how*?  It was fairly easy to see that he 
would not get any help from any one in this venture.  Not from the 
school girl soldiers or from his one love, nor even, most likely, from 
the mysterious senshi that had showed the truth that he had suspected.  
	Not that any of them might have been all that much by way of 
support.  The eldest among the senshi, discounting Sailorpluto, was 
fifteen.  Not one of them was any good at stratigy anyway.  Not even Ami 
was, and she was a genius.  Ami was good at what she was supposed to be 
good at: finding out what, (though not who) the enemy was and how to 
bring them to their knees.  However, the bright little Merconian was 
poor at what the senshi most needed.  She might be able to point out an 
enemy's weak spot, but she couldn't tell you how to get to where you 
needed to be to attack it.  Not even Venus, the true leader of the 
senshi could do that.  
	He should have known better then even to ask.
	Still, Mamoru reasoned, he had to try.  Any support was good 
support, even that of five bickering teenagers.  There was something 
about having companions that made even the darkest battle seem worthy.  
So long as there were other people who believed what you believed, so 
long as you knew that you were not alone...
	But where had the senshi gone?  He had to keep an eye on them, for 
their own good.  They didn't know how to keep themselves out of trouble.  
And apparently, trouble had found them.  The link between Usagi and 
himself had been worn down to near nothingness lately, between Demondo's 
influence, and the Dreams that had kept him from her side.  Even so, he 
thought that there should have been some sort of connection, some kind 
of shared emotion, such as there had been even before they had 
remembered their pasts together on the Moon.  
	Now though, there was nothing.  There was nothing to point out to 
him where she had gone, and even less to show him where the other senshi 
might be.  Even less to explain to him the strange cry that he had heard 
earlier that morning, or who had made it.  It wasn't like anything else 
he had had experiance with before, even if it *had* felt slightly 
familier...  Mamoru had made it to the docks, where he suspected that 
the call had gone off at, but had found nothing.
	So instead he ran towards the Tsukino's home.  He would go there, 
pick up Chibi-usa and prove to all of the senshi that she was safe.  
With Chibi-usa he would be able to show them what Demando had done, and 
then they would be able to help him cure her.  The senshi could not do 
much by themselves, it was true.  However, with the proper leader they 
could go far...They did have all the characteristics, save that one, of 
a good team.  They were intellegent, usually able to keep their heads in 
a battle, strong,  and above all, willing to die for the Cause.  Or 
rather, for the Princess.
	Mamoru knew what he could guarantee Usagi.  He could give her what 
she most wanted.  He could make it so that she didn't have to fight.  
The sooner Crystal Tokyo was formed, then the sooner it would be that 
she could shed her title as Sailormoon and become the Neo-Queen that the 
people needed in this age.  With the economy faltering, as well as the 
political rivalries starting to show up all over the globe, it was no 
wonder that in the Future people flocked to the Neo-Queen and her 
promise for peace.
	Mamoru could make that happen.  All he had to do was save Usagi 
from herself, and from the bastard Demando and tell her what he had 
learned.  She would love to have peace, he was sure.  Peace was 
something, the only thing sometimes, that she had longed for during the 
times that they had been fighting Beryl and her crew or any of the 
others that had invaded their world.  He would grant her that.
	He would give her peace.  And he would give her the Crown.  After 
that, what more could she want?  They would be happy, as Sailorpluto had 
already proven to him.  All of them would be happy.  Even the senshi 
after they woke up.  
	'Though,' he thought running through the streets of Juuben, 'Mars 
will certainly get a bit a harrasment for her whole 'the Flame says he's 
alright so he must be...' bull shit!'  He smiled tightly, increasing his 
speed as Usagi's house came into sight.  Almost there...
	Mamoru detransformed and came up to the door, breathing a bit 
heavily as he rang the door bell.  A tired and anxious looking Iyuko 
answered it.  
	She stared at him with wide eyes, wring her hands nervously. 
"Ohayo Chiba-san...Can I help you?"  She asked, her voice tight.
	Mamoru looked at her confused slightly.  "Tsukino-san, is 
something wrong?"  Maybe Chibi-usa actually was missing...He hoped not, 
but then...
	"Oh, it's Usagi..."  Iyuko's lower jaw trembled slightly and she 
looked away from him.  
	"Usako?"  Eyes burning he was barely able to stop himself from 
grabbing her.  Not Chibi-usa, then, Usagi!  What had happened?  Was that 
why he was no longer able to sense her?
	She came out of her maternal worries to look at him puzzled.  
"Usako?" she mouthed, and Mamoru cursed his slip of tongue.  Usagi's 
parents didn't know of his relationship with Usagi yet.  As he was well 
aware of her father's attitude towards the fact that his mesume was 
growing up, he didn't push it.  Iyuko shook her head, dismissing it, for 
that moment any way.  Mamoru was certain that _his_ Usako would be 
facing a severe inqusition later as to why a man that had been to her 
house all of three times, (each time passed off as a friend or a tutor) 
would be calling her by such a familier term of endearment.  
	She looked back at him, the questioning look in her eyes to be 
replaced by a sadness.  "She didn't come home last night...We don't know 
where she is..."
	Oh.  No wonder.  She had spent her night out 'looking' for Chibi-
usa after all, and he had spent all of that time watching her.  She was 
safe then.  But...come home?  Where had she been then?  By the time that 
he had caught up with her at the Shrine it was well past her curfew.  He 
had assumed that she had snuck out, like she occasionally did when there 
was a fight.
	Curiousity momentarily replaced the worry.
	"Where was she?"
	Iyuko looked at him again, this time not with sadness or like a 
distraught mother.  Instead she glared at him with a fierce wariness, as 
though he had no right to be asking such things about her daughter, and 
he supposed, that in *her* mind, he hadn't.  "Gomen, if I was being too 
inquistitive," he said quickly, and the anger left her face.  "I'm just 
worried, that's all..."
	Iyuko looked at the ground.  "Well, maybe you could help.  She 
went to that new resturant, the Ryuu in the center of town with a friend 
of hers."
	Mamoru's heart skipped a beat.  "Friend?" he echoed uneasily.
	"Hai, that nice new friend of hers, what was his name again? 
Hitoto?  Iyee, that's not it, Hicaru?"
	'Hitowa.'  Mamoru thought darkly.  'No wonder she was so difficult 
last night.  She had spent the entire evening with *him*.'  But there 
was no time for that now.  He had to get Chibi-usa and then find Usagi.  
She really ought to feel ashamed of herself for making her parents worry 
like this.  He didn't have any of his own to think about, but she did 
and she needed to take care of them. "Tsukino-san," he said then, 
determined to end all of this. "Where is Chibi-usa?  I think that with 
her help I can find Usak-Usagi."
	Iyuko blinked at him.  "Chibi-usa?  Who are you talking about 
Chiba-san?"
	Mamoru looked at her astounded.  "Chibi-usa?  Kawaii kid, pink 
hair, floating Luna-P ball?"  She shook her head slowly at him.  "Any of 
this sounding familier?"
	Her eyes narrowed again, this time in consern for him.  "Gomen, 
Chiba-san.  We haven't had a 'Chibi-usa' in this house since Usagi was 
in primary school.  And certainly not one like you are describing."  
While he gaped at her she went on.  "I think that you should go home, 
Chiba-san.  You're obviously upset over something, and some sleep would 
probably do you good."  With that she stepped back into her house and 
began to shut the door.  "Sayonara, Chiba-san."
	The door closed.
	Mamoru stood on the door mat for a long moment before turning and 
trodding heavily down the sidewalk again.  This had not been what he had 
expected.  He had thought to retrive Chibi-usa and show Usagi and the 
others that the Rabbit-child was fine.  *This* new senario was neither 
thought of nor wanted.  
	Not that it mattered.  Mamoru wasn't sure *how* he was going to 
prove to Usagi Demondo's guilt with out the Child, but he was certain 
that he could think up a way.  Some how...
	He turned a corner into an alley way and pulled a rose out of his 
pocket.  A flurry of petals and bright lights later, Tuxedo Kamen took 
to the roof tops, determined to find his wayward love and bring her, her 
'protectors', and her charge home once more.
	No matter how long it took.
	Nor a lack of support from the senshi.  All the senshi save one.
	Sailorpluto would aid him, Mamoru was certain.  If only he could 
figure out a way to get back to the Time Stream that was..	

*****

7:04AM
	Tokyo A


	I stood in a position that I had not found myself in since, well, 
since I had died.  One did not get too many chances to play the role of 
the Dark Prince in this place and Time.  Human society didn't allow it.  
Democracy had even touched this staple of common day life.  And here I 
was nothing more then an ordinary human, though one who had perhaps 
lived through a great many events that they would not have.
	And if I had my way, they never would.
	But that started here, now, with the Wiseman.  *He* had been the 
one who had begun the legends of the evil Queen who ruled Only Home with 
an iron fist.  *He* had been the one to tell our people to seek revenge.  
*He* had been the one who had caused the Crystal Age of the Future to 
nearly fall to the attack.  *He* had been the one who had caused 
Saphirr's and Esmeraude's deaths.
	The Wiseman Karaktha was the key.  He had to be stopped.  Stopped 
before the the Future that I had come from became *this* Time.  I wasn't 
sure what had happened after Demondo's death, to either the City or to 
the Wiseman, nor to Black Lady nor Serenity herself.  Hopefully my love 
had survived, but then again...I had thought that the Wiseman would pose 
no threat if I ever went against his wishes.  I died as a result of 
under estimating him.  That, and an overwhelming desire to protect 
Sailormoon.  
	I would not let her die then.  And I most certainly would not let 
her die now.  I love her after all.
	Shoulders back, head high, with Usagi, still untransformed and 
watching the senario unfold with wide eyes against my side, I faced the 
Wiseman from across the ruins of my newly completed villa.  He was in a 
position that I am sure that he was not too familier with.  Of all the 
elements in all of his scheming plans he had never once thought that one 
of the people that he had killed would come *back*.  Nor it seemed, have 
anyone, be it some one that he had, or rather in my case, *would* 
suppose dead or otherwise, mess things up.  He didn't have a clue as to 
what to do to get things rolling on his neatly planned little agenda 
again.
	Nor would I let him.  I was a wild card.  He had no idea as to 
what my powers were now, considering that I was not *quite* the Demando 
that he had killed.  He had no way of knowing that I was unable even to 
teleport myself somewhere and I had no intention on letting him discover 
my new state.  Better to let him think that I was as powerful as I had 
ever been.  In some cases it is better to bluff then it is to tell the 
truth.
	Kami-sama only knows where I'd be if it wasn't for lying...


*****

7:06AM
	Tokyo A


	The Wiseman glared at the strange pair before him maleviolently.  
He was confused, a sensation that that he neither wanted nor 
appreiciated.  The girl...her identity was fairly obvious.  Her aura, 
while somewhat cloaked, was almost identical to the Rabbit's, all 
*Light* and *pure* and disgustingly *innocent*...especially from at this 
close range.
	As for the other one...Karaktha wasn't certain.  He had expected 
to come across the Princess alone, not in the compagny of one whom he 
knew not the slightest thing to expect from.  He *looked* like the Black 
Moon Prince that he had left behind in the Citadel not a day ago.  But 
he was younger seeming...and the Dark Power signature that had been 
Demondo's since the first time he had ever weilded magick was gone.  
This Demando, if it was Demando at all, was certainly of a diffrent 
creed then that which he had left.  
	And just *why* was the Future Neo-Queen in his arms, looking for 
all the world as though she belonged there and actually didn't mind her 
location what so ever?!
	In the Time that he was from, the Neo-Queen Serenity had refused 
Demondo's advances.  Failing in that regard, it was certainly true that 
he had taken to watching the Princess and her court, though precisly 
what he was intending to do with her Karaktha didn't know.  The Black 
Moon Prince had not seen fit to share his plans with his most *trusting* 
confendent.  Could he suspect something?  Most likely not, but that 
didn't matter just then.  
	But what in the High Unseliegh Court was Demando doing with the 
Future Neo-Queen?
	Karaktha shook his head slightly, the motion almost imperceptable 
to the outside world.  He had come to kill the Neo-Queen.  She was the 
whole reason that he had pressed Demando to spread the battle to the 
Past, and that had taken all the power that Control had ever given over 
that one.  He had actually resisted the idea of attacking the Sailor 
Senshi of the Past, saying that if they did then there would be no hope 
of peace in their Time.  It had only been because Karaktha had pointed 
out that not only was the Neo-Queen not *married* at that particualier 
Time, but she would also be more suceptable to DP then as well that 
Demando had agreed.  He never told the younger man that he intended to 
kill the girl before she could stir up trouble.
	As he was going to now.  And if he could kill Demando, odd powered 
and strange looking Demando, but the leader of the Nemesis strike team 
none the less, all in the same day, then all would be well.  Better then 
well actually, as he would have been rid of the two things that had most 
annoyed him since he had agreed to take this position from Lord Bain.  
	 All he needed to do was kill her, and he could live forever.  
What was more, was that with out the Leader of the House of Light to 
stop him, Karaktha could release his god.  The Death Phantom would be 
free, and then no one, not Demando, not Bain, not any of them, would be 
able to stop him.  For who ever broke the bonds that held the Phantom 
back would become the one to gain all of his powers...
	In other words, kill the Princess, rule the world.  And beyond 
someday perhaps.  It could be done after all.
	It could be done there, in the field of rubble that was, he 
guessed what remained of Serenity's home.  It would be easy...She was 
cloaked in human form, a seeming mask on her aura that almost obscured 
it.  If Karaktha had been any one but who he was, and if he hadn't just 
spent so much time in the Rabbit's presence, he might have even been 
fooled by it.  They were far enough from the city so that none of the 
strange lights and noises would be heard.  There was no help near by.  
It would be quick, clean, and easy here.  
	However there was something else to consider...
	The Wiseman Karaktha had known how he was going to die from the 
very beginning of his training.  He had known that he would be felled by 
an avator of the Light.  That doom had haunted him since he had learned 
of his abilities to meddle in Time.  He had known by whom he was to be 
killed, though not when nor where.  For that, he wanted her to suffer.  
Karaktha wanted to see the look on her face when she found out what 
would happen to her daughter.  He wanted to see her expression as the 
final blast came, while the senshi looked on helpless.  
	Karaktha paused for a moment.  Should destroy the senshi first?  
Everyone knew how much she cared for her guard.  It was something to 
think about.  The senshi were helpless because of the ring of Dark 
Energy that he had put around them.  It would be interesting...  
Something to think about once he got to the Ship.
	And besides which, there would be a certain amount of *pleasure* 
to it, the slaying.  This, this _child_ had bulked him at every turn, be 
it in the Past or in his own Time.  She, who had not even made it to 
adulthood, and was now staring at him with wide open china blue eyes 
had, or would, cause his downfall.  He wasn't sure what had happened to 
Demando, but Karaktha was certain that the chibi 'tsuki no aaaiiiii' 
bitch had been behind it.  
	One thing or another, his death, or the Turning of the Sisters, it 
didn't matter.  Serenity or Sailormoon had been behind it, had destroyed 
his carefully laid out plans, had changed things so that they fell in 
*her* favor instead of his own.  Karaktha hated the Neo-Queen.  
	And that hate spilled over to the child standing in front of him.  
The naive and shocked expression on her face only made his anger grow 
larger.  She should *know*!  She should know just what she had been 
doing that was so horrible.  She should know just how *lucky* she was, 
to have lasted for so long, when she wasn't supposed to have been in a 
battle at all.  She should *know* how irratating it was to be stopped 
time and time again by a moon-ditz with more power then brains.
	She was standing there, not even in her senshi guise, standing 
there with all the wide-eyed unbelieving stare that an oridnary *human* 
might be wearing if they suddenly found themselves in the presence of a 
Wiseman.
	It disgusted him that she had even made it this far.  The 
situation was further exasperated by the sight of her hands clutching 
the fabric of Demondo's shirt as he held her from the blast that 
Karaktha had sent towards her.  
	She would suffer.
	She would suffer a great, great deal.
	And when he was finished, she would know precisly what she had 
done, and that look of naivity would be long gone.
	Karaktha thought for a moment, judged the Neo-Queen's and the 
other's reactions, and carefully released another beam at the pair.  
This one, however, was wide and tall, a wall of Darkness moving towards 
them.  Serenity had her broach in hand the moment that it was released, 
and there was a brief sparkle of Light against the Darkness, before they 
dissapeared.
	The Wiseman Karaktha smiled tightly beneith his cowl and 
teleported back to the Ship.  He had many, *many*, things to do.  This 
Time was going to be a most enjoyable one after all...


******

ETERNITY


	Rei blinked.  Twice.  "NANI?!?"
	Setsuna looked back at her with eyes that were rapidly loosing 
their sadness to anger.  "My sensei.  She has been trying to cause the 
downfall of this Universe."
	Rei shook her head lightly.  "Sensei?  But I thought..."
	Setuna smiled slightly, before turning and walking in a direction.  
It appeared to be no different to Rei then anywhere else in this 
featureless land, but not wanting to be left behind, she hastened to 
keep up.  Setsuna spoke to her, though she didn't turn her head.  "I am 
in training, so to say, to be one of those that holds Time.  Holds it 
and protects it."
	"Time?  As in the forth dimension?"
	The green haired woman shook her head.  "Iyee.  Time as in the 
entire Contunium.  We, my sensei and I, watch out to make sure that the 
major disasters don't occur.  We have prevented Armegedon, stopped a 
Third World War, though we caused the Second, made countries rise and 
fall.  We make the world progress.  Our job, is to protect this Earth, 
and someday, the other planets of this System, though we must work with 
those who watch over the other worlds.  So long as the Time Line runs 
smoothly, nothing will happen.  However, if the Threads of human life 
that make up the Stream were to get tangled, one person taking another's 
destiny on their shoulders, for example, then a knot occurs at that 
location.  Most are minor, and will work themselves out with in the 
space of a generation.  However," and here she paused to look at Rei 
with hard eyes.  "there are some who are more important then most.  And 
those lives *must* go along a certain path, elsewise the world could be 
tossed into chaos." 
	The senshi of Mars watched the other with wide eyes.  "Who are 
they?"
	"You, for one."
	"Nani?!?  _Me_? Why am I so important?"
	"Because you guard and are close to Serenity, and at present she 
is the one that is the most influental of all."
	"_Odango atama_?" *Usagi* was that important?  Matte, she said 
'Serenity', not Tsukino Usagi or Sailormoon.  Did she mean Queen 
Serenity?  But she had been dead for millenia!  
	"You shouldn't call her that, you know.  She merely respects her 
mother by wearing the traditional hair style of the House of Light."
	"House of Light?"
	An irratated look crossed Setsuna's face and Rei wondered if she 
had heard something that she wasn't supposed to have yet.  
	She continued on, managing to get in front of the Time Trainee and 
forced her to stop for a moment.  "You're telling me that Usagi is the 
most influental person in all of time?  Tsukino Usagi?  The girl who 
can't even make it to a senshi meeting when she is supposed to?  The one 
who used to wail even *before* she saw the youma?  *She's* going to 
decide how the Future goes?"
	Setsuna sighed lightly and ran a hand over her face.  "At this 
moment, yes Serenity is the most important being in the continum.  
Before long, that role will pass to another, and the cycle will begin 
anew.  But,"  She looked out past her younger compagnion into the mist 
roiling beyond.  "the Princess Serenity of the Light Moon, is more 
powerful then you know, Senshi of Mars.  She destroyed the ones that had 
killed her and ripped her kingdom apart.  She reordered Time, and while 
it is doubtful that she would have been able to get away with it had he 
refused, she did it all without Pluto's permission.  She broke down the 
gates of the Underworld, and managed to not only pull herself, but five 
others out of the Sea of Souls.  She does more in your Future then you 
can even imagine, young one.  Princess, Sailormoon, Tsukino Usagi, *Neo-
Queen* holds this Continuim in the palm of her hand...but she doesn't 
know it."  Her eyes focused on Rei, hard and unrelenting.  "And she 
never *will*.  Understand this?  At this point in her life, she couldn't 
handle the responsiblity that the knowledge of this would lay upon her.  
She must be human now, so that she may remember later what it is to be 
mortal."
	Rei walked along side of the Time weilder, abashed slightly. She 
had never really thought about the fight against Beryl.  She had never 
wanted to.  It was like remembering those last few moments on the Moon, 
when she had been someone completly different, and the thoughts running 
through her head had been ones that she would never think now.  All for 
the Princess, all for the Queen.  All for the Moon.  
	Rei didn't like to remember how she had died.  She didn't like to 
think about the face of the Dark Kingdom warrior who had run her through 
with his katana, sandy blond hair falling in blue eyes set perfectly 
over a smirking mouth.  
	She liked even less to remember her second death, as the memory of 
that one was as clear as Minako's heart.  The ice mountain, the cold 
feel of the youma's hands against her skin...The pain mingled in with 
the unswerving need to 'Protect the Princess at all Costs' even as Usagi 
had begged for them to spare her senshi...
	Then blackness lit only by a connection to the now solitary 
warrior pouring her heart out in the cold, cold artic.  And the blinding 
flash of power that sent her spirling downwards, downwards, further and 
further, farther and farther, until she had lost all knowledge of who 
*she* was, of who she had been, of who she would be.  Until she was just 
like all the others that surrounded her, floating in endless unknowing 
bliss and naivaty in a colder then ice sea.
	But...
	Rei closed her eyes as the memory returned.
	Demo...
	A thread...so small...so thin...
	No, not a thread, a rope, which she was a part of, but she had 
forgotten...
	She was the thread and the others were there too, braiding and 
weaving back towards the Light...
	Usagi had been the one to pull her out of death.  She had been the 
one to tie the knots that had bound Rei and the other Senshi.  Usagi had 
forced them out of their slumber, only to forget herself.
	Rei felt like crying.
	She didn't want to remember that.  She didn't want to have died, 
and to remember what the experiance had been like.  She didn't want the 
agony of being reincarnated into a world that thought that she and the 
the others were a myth.  
	She didn't want to think about her best friend, her Princess, her 
*life* being a person capable of defiying Death, and living to tell of 
it.  She didn't want to think of Usagi as some messiah who would decide 
the entire world's Future, and because of her choice, would make the 
Fate of the whole Universe.
	She didn't want any of it!
	And for once, Hino Rei understood Usagi's plea to just be an 
'ordinary girl'.  And for the first time, agreed with her.
	Setsuna glanced at the much subdued younger Senshi by her side out 
of the corner of her eye.  She walked almost as silently as she herself 
did, and talked no more.  Setsuna moved her eyes forward, to the small 
dot of light that was just now appearing at the horizen.
	She would go to the Time Gate and ask Pluto-sensei just what the 
hell was going on, and hopefully get a satisfactory answer.  Setsuna 
rather hoped that her sensei had one.  This chaos could not be what she 
had been taught to uphold.  That could *not* be the Baton Timeline, not 
if Crystal Tokyo rotted away from the inside and eventually *had* to be 
destroyed, if only to prevent Beryl from taking over.  And just how 
*that* particualier event occured, Setsuna wasn't certain.  
	She didn't want to know how time could have become so distortated 
as to allow a supposedly dead woman to suddenly appear again.  Not just 
yet.  Not when she had just gotten *this* bombshell dropped on her.  
	A light flashed out from the Gate.
	"Nani?"  Rei's voice was lost on her as she came to a halt, 
squinting her eyes against the brightness of the speck.  The light was 
emitted again, and Setsuna felt horror run through her.  'Someone's 
trying to take over the Gate!'  Someone, or something was coming through 
the Gate, with enough power to destroy it.  And the only ones that she 
knew of capable of shutting down the Gate was herself and her sensei.  
"What the hell is she doing?"  The words were whispered before she could 
help herself.  "Pluto-sensei..."
	Openly ignoring her companion's cries, Setsuna broke out into a 
run, making for the Gate at top speed.  She could vaguely hear Rei's 
foot falls behind her, the distance increasing as she neared her 
destination.  
	Sailorpluto, her sensei was doing something, had been doing 
something for an apparent eternity.  What it was now, Setsuna wasn't 
sure.  But she had taken a vow when she had agreed to train as a Weilder 
of Time, to make certain that the best possible Future would come out, 
no matter the cost to herself, or those that she loved.  She would not 
let her sensei do this further.  
	The Gate came into sight, it's glory marked by a series of cracks 
running across it's frame.  Bits of it fell of and crumbled as she 
stared in stupified astonishment.  Shaking off her shock, Setsuna 
followed the sounds of fighting and flashes of light to a pair of 
identical battling figures with faces as close to her own as a mirror's 
reflection.  


******


6:57 AM
	Tokyo A


	The Ship, as always, was a collection of mirrors and dark 
hallways.  Saphirr arrived in one of the 'void' sections, one which, he 
noted wincing, had recently belonged to Beruche. He would miss Beruche.  
It was just another thing to explain to onii when he returned to the 
Citadel.  
	He glanced around, but didn't feel *any* one, neither of Light nor 
Dark.  What a member of the Family would have been doing on the 
supposedly deserted Ship he wasn't sure.  However even shielded there 
should have been _some_ residue of the Neo-Princess, no matter how 
miniscule.  
	Unless...
	Could Karaktha have killed the Child?
	No.  He would never do anything that stupid.  The Wiseman was a 
very intelligent being...He would not do something untoward such as that 
to jeopardise his holding with the Prince.  Satisfied that there were no 
other DF users onboard, Saphirr ported to Ship Center.  There, he 
reasoned, he could find all records that the Ship had taken over the 
past 72 hours.  If the Princess had been brought here, and he knew that 
she had, then it would tell him were she was now, and what had been done 
to her to make such a show.
	After making another quick mind scan, Saphirr shut down the 
sensors located all along the pillars of the room.  That completed, he  
called up the scamatics of the past few days and skimmed the holos that 
appeared.  Nothing major there, just the usual arguements between the 
two remaining Sisters as well as Petz's departure for Crystal Tokyo.  
'She should be safe there', Saphirr thought, gazing at her image with a 
slight frown on his face.  At least, he hoped that she would be.  But 
after he told Demando they would all be safe.
	Unless he didn't believe his ototou...
	Saphirr pushed the dark thought away.  Scowling irritably he went 
back to his work.  It would do no good to worry about things like that.  
Onii *had* to believe him.  He had to.  If he didn't...Saphirr wasn't 
sure what he would do.  
	At 11:46PM of the night before the tape went dead.  The only 
readings were those of a Sister teleporting in, with *something*, but 
that something was erased.  Brows furrowed, Saphirr turned from the holo 
towards the computer to his side.  Pulling up a keyboard, he began to 
search through the files manually.  
	Again at 11:46PM they disapeared.  There was no record on Small 
Lady except for the occurances where the odd signal that she made when 
frightened had taken place.  The latest entry had been the afternoon of 
the day before, and it spoke of another failed attempt at capture.   
Frowning now openly, Saphirr went back, and scanned the Ship at large 
for Light Energy.  There was none.  He went back and searched instead 
for shielded areas, of which there were two.
	Two?  Who else then did the Wiseman have stored away in this Ship?
	Stashing the cooridinates for both of them in his mind, Saphirr 
headed towards the one closer to him fully intending to figure this part 
of the mystery out as well.  'Hopefully not getting killed in the 
process!'



*****



Crystal Tokyo A
	June 3, 2998
	Mid-Afternoon


	The hologram of King Endymion of Earth watched at his sleeping 
Queen silently with an expression of agony written plainly apon his 
features.  She was fitful today, lost in nightmares beyond their reach.  
Serenity was trapped in her own mind, and they had nothing to do but 
wait until she found herself again.
	Endymion hated it.
	He hated the waiting and the wondering.  He hated the worrying 
over weither or not she actually *would* wake up again.  Small Lady was 
gone to the Past, searching for the Ginzuishou there.  With luck and 
Sailormoon's help, they would be able to make it here in time.  
	His head jerked up as he felt..._something_.
	Not in the Palace, but close by, in the Gardens?  Endymion 
consentrated on said location and willed his hologram to go there.  He 
walked through the fog that now constantly adorned the City.  He 
mentally cursed it, and the curse made him think.
	It had been a day just as this when he and the other Senshi had 
come to their Future.  The memory of it struck him harder then expected.  
Had they really come this far already?  If Small Lady was back, then 
that meant that the war was almost over!  Just a few more days and 
Nemesis would fade from their City just as the sleeping fog would.  Then 
they could rebuild, and Small Lady could return, until she left for 
training that was, and Serenity...
	Serenity would wake up once more.
	Though, he mused, he wished that there was some way to warn his 
prior incarnation about Nemesis and what would occur.  He wished that he 
could do something about Black Lady.  Even after 'Chibi-usa' had come to 
them the second time in the Past, she still had nightmares about her 
experiances of fighting against her family, her home, her parents, her 
*self*.  He wanted, if possible to spare his mesume that pain.  Endymion 
knew that Time was written as it should be, and that he couldn't 
interfere like he wanted to, demo...
	He could wish.
	He glanced to the horizen where a sudden burst of DP rang throught 
he air, emintating from the black Citadel.  He wished too that he could 
warn the others about those to come yet, Demando, Saphirr, Esmeraude...
	But hadn't they already met her?
	Yes...yes they had...He thought so anyway.
	Or were they still fighting Rubeus at this point?  He frowned at 
that.  Why couldn't he remember?  He could recall the Time Stream with 
crystilline accuracy, how the wind had felt against his face, the neko's 
claws digging into his shoulders, the strange sense of free fall when 
Usako's hand had left his own.
	Chibi-usa's odd power show against the jinn droid.  
	The glimmering pink lights that had lead him to the Senshi in 
time.  The Gate always far ahead, always out of reach.  Falling through, 
the cold, cold air of the Future stinging into his lungs.  The sight of 
the once beautiful city now reduced to such a sad sight.  Chibi-usa 
running off.  The sight of his own Future incarnation in front of him 
with that maddingly familier voice. 
	Endymion had sent the Dreams, he had to.  His future self had sent 
them to him, he had to complete the sequance.  It all worked out in the 
end though, thankfully.  He hadn't liked it either time, and understood 
it's nessisaty even less. 
	He paused as the fog cleared to reveil a Gate standing tall and 
proud in front of him.  Demo...They hadn't come into the garden.  They 
had arrived on the outskirts, and had had to make their way in.  
	It hadn't been like *this*.  Uneasily he watched the Gate.  Pluto-
san had talked much about the fluidcy of  Time, and how the Future that 
they had seen might not be the one that they would have.  Only if the 
right choices were made at the right Times...
	And they had made those choices, or so he thought.  Their Crystal 
Tokyo had been all that they could ever have dreamed it would be.  It 
was beautiful, and serene, and peaceful.  Not to mention powerful.  They 
were the most well endowed necca on this planet, and was busily uniting 
the rest of the world behind them.  As more and more proof came out to 
suggest that the Silver Millenium actually *did* exist, and in more ways 
then just the tales of the Summer Country or Shining Land or Underground 
or Seleigh Peoples, or what ever other legends there were that had made 
it through the centuries.  
	It was everything and more then could have been hoped for.  And he 
had thought that they had been doing things right.  Demo...then why was 
the blasted Gate *here* instead of where it was supposed to be?  And why 
was it not opening immediatly?  The Gate, as he recalled, would only 
there for a few moments, just long enough to spew someone out of the 
Time Stream.  So why was it taking so long?
	Endymion stirred restlessly, moving from one foot to the other, 
waiting.  He didn't like this.  There were too many uncertains.  And 
while in the most likly event everything was fine, and like Pluto had 
said, Time moved as it would; a varitable labyrinth of changing ages and 
eons.  This was probably just another one of those things.
	Then why the hell was he so nervous?
	Something was wrong.
	He was brought out of his thoughts as the Gate slowly opened and a 
strange white light flashed out from it.
	He swore again as it drove over him, blinding him with it's 
intencity.
	The light spread through out the Palace before moving on to the 
City in general.  Within the Citadel, Prince Demando of Nemesis jerked 
his head up in disbelief only to be consumed by it as well.
	Time itself had vanished.

*****


Crystal Tokyo B: 
	June 13, 3002
	Midmorning


	The Neo-Queen waited impatiently, tapping her foot against the 
dark floor of the Palace.  When *was* she going to get here?  The girl 
was always late.  A small smile passed across her features as she store 
at the Gate that had rescently materialized.  'She reminds me of myself 
when I was young.'
	Usagi, or Chibi-usa as she now liked to be called, had left for 
the Past once again to begin her Senshi training.  She had been so 
excited...Finally, she was going to fight *with* Sailormoon, instead of 
just being *saved* by her.  'Although,' Serenity thought ruefully, 'as I 
recall, Chibi-moon got in the way more often then she helped!  But she 
got better.  By the time we fought Galaxia...'  She closed her eyes 
against the sad memories.  They had lost everyone in that battle, all 
the Senshi, save for Chibi-moon, herself, and the Starlights.  Even Hit-
chan had-
	"It's not good to dwell on such sad things, you know."
	Serenity chuckled lightly and turned into her husbands' arms.  
"Always knew that there'd be trouble when I married a telepath..."
	Hitowa grinned lopsidedly at her.  "You knew what you were getting 
into."
	She sighed into his chest.  "I suppose that I did.  Demo...I wish 
that she'd hurry."
	He grimaced.  "I remember the Time Stream *too* well.  It's tough 
to get through, but she'll make it."
	"And have an easier time of it then you did.  *She* has Pluto's 
permission.  Unlike others in this room." 
	"It was only that one time, and it doesn't even occur in this 
Continuim!"
	Serenity laughed lightly. Her own experiances in the Stream had 
been slight.  Pluto had found a way bring the Senshi to Crystal Tokyo 
when Ginzai had been kidnapped, but other then that...But Chibi-usa was 
a smart kid.  And she had experiance in the Stream.  She'd be there 
soon.
	"Okaa-san!"  Ginzai's high voice rang out as she neared the 
couple.  "Is she here yet?  I saw the Gate appear..."  She trailed off 
dejected as no Rabbit was in sight.  Carefully schooling her 
disapointment into a calm tranquility, Ginzai tossed a silver odangoed 
strand of hair over her shoulder and straightened her white dress.  "I 
don't want to have to wear this thing any longer then possible.  When's 
she going to get here?"  Serenity smiled at her elder daughter.  She was 
sixteen now, and coming into her own right with her powers and her 
diplomacy, when she choose to use it, was superb.  She was showing signs 
of being a wonderful Queen.   For once Ginzai had dressed in her formal 
outing dress, much the same as Serenity's own had looked when she had 
been on the Moon.  Ginzai's silverish white hair was swept up as usual 
in the round double buns like her mothers, and her blue eyes sparkled in 
anticipation for her imouto's triumphant return.  "Papa, do you think 
she's gotten a lot older?  Come on, you've *seen* her! You know what 
she's going to return like!"
	Hitowa smiled secretivly at his mesume.  "Now, if I told you 
*that* then-"
	Ginzai rolled her eyes and turned to her mother, openly ignoring 
her father.  She had had more then ennough experiance with him when he 
was feeling dramatic. "Mom?  Could you tell me?"  She crossed her arms 
across her chest.  "It wouldn't be good if I suddenly had an onee like 
*that* time."
	"Circumstances were a good deal different then, Small Lady.  When 
we were young, Chibi-usa would always be just that.  Chibi.  We never 
really asked her how old she was, though we did celebrate her birthday.  
It wasn't important."  Ginzai hmphed and pulled her arms tighter. 
"You'll mess up your dress like that.  It will get all wrinkled."
	It had been three months now, almost to the date that Chibi-usa 
had left for the Past.  Gone back to make new friends and to train as a 
Senshi, never once realising just what Senshi-dom meant.  Chibi-usa saw 
it as new ways to use her 'powers', ways that did not involve going over 
and using Dark Energy as the Wiseman Karaktha had almost tried to make 
her.  She saw it as that she would learn to control herself, and not 
have the spastic Beams that had haunted her childhood.  It actually did 
mean all of that, except that she would not get the easy and immediate 
results that she was expecting.  It would take years before she really 
had what she now wanted.  Serenity knew the feeling all too well.
	Ginzai frowned beside her, and pulled at the dress again.  It 
wasn't that it was not a pretty dress, it was actually quite beautiful.  
In the family tradition, it was pure white, with a line of golden rings 
halved by two silver strands of beads.  It was rather nice, and even the 
Ginzuishou must be reacting, because her cresent moon was showing, 
something that didn't usually occur unless she was consentrating on 
something or using magick, or when something important was going to 
happen.  
	Chibi-usa was finally coming home.  For how long, Ginzai didn't 
know, but her imouto was going to be there.  Usagi was lucky.  She got 
to go visit the Past.  Ginzai's only connections with it were second 
hand, from her parents and the other Senshi.  And that other time...
	But Time itself had been all screwed up when she had been 
kidnapped five years privously.  Coming face to face with her *imotou* 
and having that Usagi be *older* then she was had been odd to say the 
least.  Particually considering that there was a pink haired girl half 
of her own age waiting for her onee's safe return back at the Palace.  
Even worse though was meeting her mother only four years older then she 
herself had been, running around in a miniskirt that okaa would kill her 
for even considering now.
	Life just wasn't fair.
	It was about then that the Gate began to open.  Hitowa's grip on 
Serenity tightened slightly, and she leaned her head on his shoulder, 
one of her arms about Ginzai's waist.  They stood in tence anticipation, 
as the door swung fully open.
	The light emerged, blinding all of them.


*****


11:39PM
	Tokyo C
	1985


	Two boys ran out of the house into the night, chasing each other 
across the lawn.  The older one, ten, with a shock of white hair that 
gleamed in the darkness, ran after the other, seven, with dark hair that 
would have helped him to blend in better into the night, if not for the 
bright blue eyes that watched merrily as his older brother chased after 
him.
	"*Kaladin*!  I'm going to _kill_ you!"
	Kaladin looked over his right shoulder at his pale thundercloud 
onii and tried to run faster.  "Gomen!  I said gomen already, Hitowa!  
Can't you take a joke?!"
	 "Not when it involves *my* room!"
	Kaladin laughed and ran back towards the house, ducking under a 
tree branch as he did and allowing it to slap back in place just in time 
to heed his brother's progress.  "Kaladin!  Come back here you--OW!"
	The branch had worked wonders.  Kaladin watched his onii spit out 
leaves and made it to the door.  He grabbed the handle, fully intending 
on locking his brother out when he noticed something.  His features 
paled considerably and he tried the door again.  'Shimatta...'
	The door was locked.  Of all the times, the door had to be locked 
_now_.  Hearing footsteps behind him, Kaladin turned to see a dirty 
Hitowa standing behind him, moving slowly and steadily closer, the key 
dangling from a chain in his hand.  His onii's face was deceptivly calm, 
and Kaladin gulped nervously.
	"Ano...onii-sama..."
	Hitowa smiled brightly.  "And now otouto...you die!"  He pounced.  
	Kaladin shrieked and the scuffle began.
	Inside the house, up the stairs, across the hall, behind the 
closed door, Myobishi Adia turned to her husband's sleeping form and 
poked him in the side.  "Ne...Je-chan...the boys are at it again..."  
'Je-chan' rolled over and ducked his head under a pillow.  "I got them 
last time," she continued, her German accent a bit stronger as she was 
sleepy.  "You said you'd do it this time..."
	Myobishi Jaret moaned softly and pulled out of their nice warm bed 
and wrapped a bathrobe around him.  He moved his feet into his slippers 
and made his way down the stairs, wondering as he did just *why* they 
had had children, a nice imu-chan would have been just fine by him.  And 
if that failed, maybe a cat...
	And he wondered too just *why* it was that the boys didn't realise 
that they were no longer in the old country and why screaming in a 
mixture of Japanese and German would upset the neighbors.
	The sounds of battle grew louder as he neared the front door, 
which was strangly locked and dead bolted.  Jaret unlocked it and opened 
the door, glaring downward at the two boys locked in susprised fright as 
they looked up to a *very* pissed off otou-san.
	"Hitowa.  Kaladin.  In here.  NOW."
	The boys meekly ran under their father's arm back into the house, 
glaring at each other as they did.  **This is all your fault you 
realise.**  Hitowa sent to his brother, watching the younger boy's face 
fall into a scowl.  
	**No it's not!** Kaladin sent back angerly.  **It's yours!  If you  
hadn't-**
	Jaret interuppted them with a point towards the stairs.
	"Bed.  Now.  No more arguing.  We'll discuss this further in the 
morning."
	Both boys winced and made their way upstairs, flinging insults at 
each other mentally as they did so.
	Jaret sighed and followed them up.  Tommorrow would be a *long* 
day...


*****


OUTSIDE OF ETERNITY
CBoY
Meeting 1258
Cr: Fluctions
All TSC Members *must* attend.  Urgent.  Regarding Branch 12.  Branch 12 
is Falling.  Urgent.  Urgent.  Make haste.  Meeting Scheduled for 
12.45.23.78.  Be there.



	The CBoY had existed since the first Passing.  It had been there 
the first time that anything had ever gone through the motions of life.  
It had not just been there since what human's called the Big Bang, but 
before the privious one, and all of those before that one too.  It had 
been there since the first time that beings had discovered other 
Continuims, and had wondered what they were like.  Since they had first 
crossed over into ones that were not their own.
	The TSC members had spent several eternities devouted to Time-
Space and had up until this point, done a reasonably good job of keeping 
things straight.  There had been other crisis's, other problems, and 
other Branches, or Continiums, had Fallen before.  But this time it was 
a major Branch.  
	Major Branches must not Fall.
	Or at least, they did not Fall *now*.  
	The whole of the CBoY could be harmed if they did.  And it was for 
that reason that a hundred thousand silent faced beings entered into the 
CBoY meeting arena.  Something must be done.
	Something, or *someone* had sparked off an event occcuring in 
Branch 12 that was causing new dependants to fly off at an alarming 
rate.  New universes were splintering off at a pace that was frightening 
even them.  And that any of the members would be frightened about 
something itself was appalling.  
	And Branch 12's CBoY representative wasn't a member yet.  The 
woman intitled Sailorpluto had yet to prove herself worthy.  She wasn't 
yet member material.  But she had been doing a capable job thus far, and 
had been for that reason that she had been allowed to continue her 
vigalence.  However, as she was not a member, she did not know of their 
existance, and thus information coming from that particualier Branch was 
scanty.  No one knew yet what had happened.
	The worried buzzings of myraid langugues slowed, then stopped as 
the Head of the CBoY Division walked out into the centre of the arena, 
stepping up the the platform there, and talking.  She wasn't human, 
'she' wasn't even the proper term to be calling her, however it was as 
close as could be gotten in the human langugue, so that's what she was.
	"I have important news."  She gestured, and a screen fell behind 
her, lighting to reveil another CBoY member, this one looking 
susprisingly close to a male human to help blend in with his world.  
"Chrisor, member 45.26, has been watching this situation for us.  He has 
a report.  Chrisor?"
	His voice was nearly lost in the static.  "Things are out of 
control here.  Apparently the order over events that has been the norm 
since Branch 12's beginning has slipped, creating a potential new line 
that at this point nothing is known about."  Varying murmurs rose up in 
the crowd.  "At this point, Branch 12 is still trying to tranfer to it's 
Enlighted Age.  What seems to be the main difficulty is the girl who 
will be a ruler of signifigant importance in this Branch, one who's 
choice of mates lays out the future of her kingdom.  Her kingdom 
eventually spreads to cover the most influential terratories of Branch 
12, though not during her rule.  
	"This would have all been well and good, except for the fact that 
in this Passing, she is making a different desicion then she has before.  
The result is what we now see."
	A member raised a limb.  The 'woman' in the centre of the arena 
recognised it, and it's gravelly voice spoke out in Basic.  "How do we 
know that this is a problem?"
	Another spoke.  "Branch 12 has Fallen before.  It Falls every 
Passing.  We *know* that.  What is the matter now?"
	"The conscern is that it would Fall at the wrong time.  There is 
still much that Branch 12 must do before it Falls."  Another.
	"That's true.  But what if this can prevent the Falling entirly?  
Think of it!  There would be Branch 12 again, and it could last as long 
as needs be!"
	The debate rose, heated in it's dicussions.  Branch 12 had Fallen 
at it's specific Time since the first Passing. It's Fall caused the 
others to be weaker, and made it easier for them to Fall as well.  
Eventually, the CBoY would collapse, and another Passing result.
	But if it could be *prevented*.
	If somehow Branch 12's Falling could be prevented then the CBoY 
might last longer...A Passing that never ended...
	It would be Paradise.
	Voices spoke out for the change, for letting it occur.  They 
wanted to let happen what was happening.  It could stop the Passings, 
they said.
	Others were not so optimistic.  If the choice made was a bad one, 
then Branch 12 could Fall early, and drag this entire Passing down with 
it.  For eternities to come things would be out of order.  Chaos would 
rein supreme until they could get things together once more.
	If they could.
	If the future Neo-Queen made the wrong choice, then her Time Line 
would go down.  The Time Line's splinters would soon follow.  The 
destruction of this entire Passing would be certain, and the fates of 
those still to come would be, for the first time since the First Passing 
unknown.  
	The debate went on.


*****


6:59 AM
	Tokyo A

	He stood in front of the first of the shielded areas on the Ship, 
one hand running pensivly through his short dark blue hair.  Saphirr 
didn't know what the Wiseman was doing with *two* shielded areas.  He 
had certainly made it difficult to gain access to them.  Saphirr 
couldn't even enter this one.  It was closed to all but Karaktha 
himself.  Nevertheless...
	Saphirr pulled up a keystone and fiddled with it a moment, using 
his authority as a member of the Family, as well as pulling rank as a  
prince of Nemesis to override the security keeping whoever it was back 
there hidden.  
	A mirror appeared out of the Keystone.  Saphirr glanced into it, 
wondering vaguely if he would find the Neo-Princess or another here... 
After all, no one actually knew what the Wiseman did in his spare time.  
Who knew what exotic perversions he had!
	Three figures were suspended from the ceiling on three identical 
Dark crosses.  Three figures, three female figures, Saphirr realised 
eyes widening.  Three female figures in senshi fukas.  Three *young* 
female figures in senshi fukas.
	The Wiseman had taken senshi of the Past.
	But that was a direct violation!  The Prince had ordered that the 
senshi, save for Sailormoon, were to be left completly alone.  They were 
not to be taken, they were not to be killed, they were not to be 
anything!  They were to be left alone so that they could form the city 
of their Future.  
	And even for Sailormoon Demando had originally wanted nothing more 
then to plead his case, before their leader's head had been stuffed with 
Karaktha's ideas.  In a younger form, it had been reasoned, she might be 
more leinant then the elder.  They were fighting a losing battle.  But 
if some how they could find a way to show Serenity, then the war in 
Crystal Tokyo might be over before they even returned.  It was temporal 
manipulation, that was true enough.  But it was minor, something small 
that would not cause all that much of a change, and little if any 
inconsistances.  
	If it hadn't been for the Wiseman filling the Prince's head with 
absurtities then all of this could have been avoided.  Saphirr watched 
the motionless forms of the senshi, brows furrowed, thinking hard. 
	Karaktha was behind all of this.  It was he that had proposed an 
invasion instead of an alliance.  He was the one who had suggested that 
the Neo-Queen, and failing her, the Princess would be a good addition to 
the Family.  Though now, Saphirr had begun to realise, the woman of the 
House of Light had only been a distraction, someone that the Wiseman had 
thrown into the equasion to keep Demando from discovering the truth.  If 
it hadn't been for his infatiation with her then Demando would have seen 
past all of Karaktha's lies.  But with the Neo-Queen and what ever else 
Wiseman had filled his head with, the Greater Prince couldn't see what 
was happening.  Nor had any of them.
	Saphirr stepped back from the mirror and it vanished. If the 
senshi had noticed him or the mirror, there had been no responce.  He 
wasn't here for them, though he would be certain to tell his onii about 
their being here.  He turned regretfully from the young senshi's plight 
and moved towards the second sheilded room.
	It wasn't that he didn't *want* to help them...He truely did.  It 
was just that he didn't know how much time he would have to get the 
Child out and to the Future before the Wiseman returned.  Equally before 
Rubeus got back.  It would be easy enough to have told the man that he 
had been sent back to check on something, but if he had the Neo-Princess 
with him at the time, or if he was trying to break into her cell...
	It would not bode well for him.  It would be the perfect evidence 
that the Wiseman would need of his 'betrayal'.  
	Which was why speed was of the essance.
	He made his way to the other chamber, pausing on the outside to 
pull up another viewing mirror.  He glanced inside of it, eyes focusing 
on a tiny, withdrawn little girl, huddled in the centre of the room, 
curled up on one side.  Her pink hair wasn't done up as it normal double 
bun style, and through the mirror Saphirr could see that her eyes were 
open, but glassy.
	Cursing softly to himself, Saphirr got to work on cracking the 
codes.  The sooner he could get in there, the better.  The sooner he 
could get out, the safer it would be.  For all of them.


*****

OUTSIDE OF ETERNITY
CBoY
Meeting 1258
Cr.  Fluctions



	The debate went on for an eternity, after all, they had all the 
time that they needed before coming to a descion.  As was usually the 
case in such circumstances, the members finally settled for a vote.  
	The leader raised 'her' voice to silence the crowd.  "I ask you 
now to choose:  Should the Princess be allowed to make her make her own 
way or must she continue on the path that has happened for every Passing 
previous?  Akalis:  Yea or Nay?"
	The commander of said group stood.  "Yea."
	"Aklmasti: Yea or Nay?"
	"Yea."
	"Amlzcki: Yea or Nay?"
	"Nay."

And the voting went on.


*****

ETERNITY


	Sailorpluto spun at the advancement of another behind her.  The 
only emotion that struck her was a touch of susprise, which quickly 
faded.  "Who are you?"  She asked, voice even, hands tight on the Garnet 
Rod.
	The newcomer, her doppleganger, held her own Rod in much the same 
fashion, her eyes old, but not as tired as Pluto's own.
	"I am you, of course.  Or rather...I am your replacement."
	Pluto laughed bitterly and knelt in the dust of the now rapidly 
crumbling Gate.  "You wish to take my place?  I'm afraid that I can't 
let you do that, but if you could give me any suggestions on pulling the 
Time Line back on track, be my guest."
	"The question is," the other Pluto replied, "which Time Line you 
want to pull it towards?"
	Pluto narrowed her eyes at her double.  "And which Line did you 
*you* want to push it towards, Setsuna?"
	Setsuna smiled and shrugged. "Oh, I'm not Setsuna-chan...Or at 
least, not the one that you are thinking of.  She's, 'busy' at the 
moment.  She is having a Vision."
	"Vision?  She's already had all the major ones."
	"All but one.  The one that you did not receive."  Setsuna moved 
closer towards her, reached down and picked up a handful of blue green 
dust, letting it trail out of her hand in a silvery waterfall.  She 
watched it, with a small smile on her face.  "Don't you see child?  You 
missed out on one ever so important piece of your education.  The part 
that determines your career.  You don't know what will happen if Usagi-
hime rules after the Neo-Queen do you?"
	"I know that she will have the knowledge that it takes to make her 
way as Queen."
	"Because you tried to teach her."  Setsuna shook her head.  "You 
were right, child.  The girl does have some basic temporal abilities.  
She might even have made it as a canidate for CBoY someday.  But not as 
Queen."
	Pluto frowned.  "CBoY?"
	The other sighed softly and shook the remaining sand from her 
fingers.  "I wasn't aware that things had gotten so out of control.  If 
CBoY hasn't contacted you yet..." She ran a hand through her hair.
	A look of understanding passed over Pluto's face, and she stood, 
holding her Garnet Rod out menancingly.  "You're an Abnormality.  From 
which Line come you hence?"
	Meiou stood as well.  "I suppose that I am an Abnormality to you.  
But then, for me the opposite is true."  She smiled.  "Allow me to 
introduce myself, Sailorpluto of Crystal Tokyo.  I am Meiou Setsuna, 
Sailorpluto of the Golden Reign of Queen Ginzai, member of CBoY, and 
protector of this Stream, as well as the Multiverse at large."
	"*Queen* Ginzai?  Mesume of Serenity and Demando?"
	"Iyee."  Meiou shook her head again negativly. "Daughter of 
Serenity and Hitowa."
	Pluto snorted.  "There's a difference?"
	"Yes, and a very large one."  She moved her Rod to attention.  "I 
charge you, Sailorpluto with neglecting your true charge:  This 
Continuim.  As a member of the CBoY, I releave you of your duties of 
Guardian of this Time Stream."
	Pluto gasped, eyes wide.  "You can't *do* that!"  
	Meiou watched her impassivly.  "I just did."
	Emotion long squenched down surged through the original Pluto 
again.  Anger had returned, at any rate.  Her eyes narrowed into reddish 
slits.  This *being* was trying to throw the Time Line into anarchy!  
But it wouldn't happen.  _She_ would not let it happen.  Garnet Rod in 
place, she whispered the words.
	"dead scream."
	And the battle was on.


*****


ELSEWHERE IN ETERNITY



	Setsuna looked on in shock, between the two battling figures, both 
of them looking like herself, or rather, herself when in senshi guise.  
Powerful temporal blasts were thrown at each other, and shrugged off 
just as easily.  
	One of the combatants was obvious as her Pluto-sensei, the way 
that she held her Rod was unique, as was the tense fighting style that 
she used.  The other, who ever she was, fought in a much looser manner, 
though it was obvious that she planned each and every shot in the half 
second before she sent it off.  The newcomer's grip was different, her 
eyes and face lighter.
	Setsuna didn't know what was going on.  What she cared about 
however was that the newcomer was winning.  She watched with wide red 
eyes as the second Pluto followed a quick dead scream with a fast blow 
to the stomach.  Pluto-sensei crumpled, clutching at her mid-drift.  The 
woman stood over Setsuna's teacher, Rod raised high, about to swing it 
down, when-
	"IYEE!!!"  Setsuna dove between the two twins and grabbed her 
teacher from the ground, rolling away and coming to her feet.  Two sets 
of eyes regarded her with horrified fasination and two identical voices 
rose in susprise.  
	"Setsuna-chan!"
	Setsuna stood, facing the new woman.  "Who *are* you?"
	The woman smiled at her tiredly.  "I do hope that I won't have to 
do this again.  I am *you*.  Your future incarnation, should you choose 
to accept me."
	Setsuna watched her guardedly.  "And if I don't?"
	The other gestured to Pluto-sensei who was still lying on the 
floor, eyes slightly glassy as she watched the two talk.  "You become 
her."
	Setsuna closed her eyes and wished at the moment that she had a 
Garnet Rod of her own to lean on.  "The difference being?"
	"I am from the Golden Age of Queen Ginzai.  She is from the 
Crystiline Age of the Neo-Queen and King Endymion."
	Setsuna sighed.  "Endymion?  But..."
	Her transformed double smiled at her again and laid a hand on her 
shoulder.  "You've seen the Vision, Setsuna-chan.  You know what will 
happen."
	"Hai...I do."  Setsuna whispered.  
	Behind her Pluto stirred at reached up towards her.  "Demo...the 
Baton Time Line..."
	The Pluto-sensei in front of her looked at her counterpart sadly.  
"Sometimes the Baton is not as good as the Alternative.  You don't 
know...but it is best that you don't."
	Setsuna vaguely noticed Rei reaching the site, standing awed by 
the side of the falling Gate.  Tears came unbidden to her eyes, and she 
blinked hard to rid herself of them.
	"What must I do?"
	The green haired senshi in front of her wavered into odd colors 
and shapes, before reforming.  "Take my hand."
	A thousand images welled in Setsuna's mind as she store at what 
was being offered.  If she accepted everything she had been taught to 
believe was true and right would waver and fade, and an entirly new set 
of rules would govern her life.  
	Demo how could she refuse?  Setsuna had already seen what would 
happen if Chiba Usagi were to rule.  The differences between she and 
Myobishi Ginzai were too great to ignore.
	Opening her eyes fully, Setsuna took the pro-offered hand, 
whispering to the fallen woman behind her, "Gomen ne..."
	And Time stopped, shuttered, and restarted.
	Behind her Pluto wailed, a desolate cry that echoed to the ends of 
nothing itself, before falling into hopeless sobs.
	The Gate, began to glow, reforming into it's regular solid shape, 
the cracks dissapearing and the chucks that had fallen off flying back 
to where they were meant to be.
	The new Sailorpluto smiled at her, touched her cheek lightly.  "I 
have to go now."
	"Na-nani?"  Setsuna grasped at the other's wrist.  "Demo, I don't 
know what to do!"
	Her new sensei blinked at her susprised before laughing.  "No, not 
that!  I'm coming back, don't worry.  The Continium hasn't been saved 
yet after all."
	A confused look passed through Setsuna's eyes.  "But I thought..."
	"That you were so important?"  She smiled.  "Gomen Setsuna-chan, 
but you aren't.  There are three that need to make the choice that this 
may take place.  You, the CBoY board, and Serenity herself."  She turned 
to the Gate.  "I'll be back Setsuna-chan, no problems there.  Watch the 
Gate while I'm gone!"
	Setsunna blinked with confused eyes.  "Al-alright, Pluto-sensei.."
	Her new teacher made a face.  "Iyee.  Call me Meiou."
	Before Setsuna could refut the statement, her older double raised 
her Garnet Rod and the Time Gate swung silently open to her command.  
Sailorpluto stepped through, pausing once to wave at her younger 
counterpart.
	 Then the Gate shut, leaving her alone with the crumpled woman 
behind her, and the very confused senshi of Mars in front of her.



*****


7:04AM
	Tokyo A

	Esmeraude appeared in the Air Ship, hair floating wildly about 
her, and her fan half covering her face coyly.  She laughed as she 
appeared, glanced about the room, and sweatdropped for a wasted 
performance.
	Well, one thing was for certain.  Rubeus wasn't here.
	But he would have- She stopped short, the sensation of not one but 
*two* familier senses...One more so then the other.
	Saphirr?
	The other was a touch harder to pick out, but no amount of DP 
could erase that scent...Neo-Princess?  What was going on?
	She consentrated for a moment, and ported to their location.  What 
she saw susprised her greatly...Saphirr?  Holding the Rabbit?  Not to 
mention the fact that the kid looked as though she had been in a fight 
with a meat grinder and lost.
	"Saphirr?"  She asked walking up to them.  Saphirr watched her 
apprehensivly.  
	"I swear Esmeraude, that I did not do *this* to her.  I found her 
here."  His ice blue eyes burned into her own.
	"Then who did?"  She spun away from him confused.  "What's going 
on, Saphirr?" 
	"I wish I knew."  Behind her Saphirr sighed and continued.  "There 
are three of the Past senshi here as well, shielded so that no one would 
know."
	"But the Prince!  He said-"
	"I know."  Saphirr walked up to her, cradling the Neo-Princess in 
his arms.  She didn't even seem to notice who was holding her, nor that 
she was being held at all.  "I wish that I knew what was wrong with 
her."
	Esmeraude looked her over.  "Shock, I'd say.  She has a few burns 
too, but nothing major there.  She just over used her MP."
	"Figures."  Saphirr moved the Rabbit so that she lay against one 
shoulder, freeing an arm.  "Esmeraude, Wiseman has betrayed us.  He set 
all of this up!  There was no way that Rubeus could have captured the 
Rabbit, nor any of the senshi with out his knowing of it.  And you know 
Rubeus, he wouldn't cross the Prince's orders-"
	"But if he thought those orders had been changed-"
	"He'd follow the new one's with glee."  Saphirr finished.  "I have 
to get back to Crystal Tokyo.  With the Child I can prove to the Prince 
that-"  He was cut off by a sudden burst of DP that flooded their 
senses.  "Kuso.  The Wiseman's back."
	Esmeraude nodded, frowning.  "He brought others with him..."
	"Rubeus?"
	The frown deepened into a scowl.  "No.  The Princess.  And 
another..."  Consern replaced the anger and she prepared to teleport.  
She was stopped by a sudden hand on her shoulder.  "Nani?  Saphirr, what 
now?"
	Blue eyes met brown and she looked away.  "We don't know what he's 
doing.  To barge in there now, *without* the knowledge of precaution, 
that's the first mistake that they warn us of!  Esmeraude, you should 
remember that."
	She flushed lightly.  It was true that she was worried, but the 
initial flash of alarm faded somewhat, allowing her training to kick 
back in place.  "Gomen nasia, Saphirr-san.  It won't happen again."  
Saphirr released her, and turned, and began to walk down the darkened 
hallway. She hurried after him.  "Where are we going?"
	"Where else?  Ship Center of course."
	Esmeraude nodded and continued.  She was troubled by this, and she 
certainly wanted to know what was going on.  Wiseman?  Betraying them?  
Betraying the *Prince*?
	It seemed impossible.
	And yet...
	She frowned, brows creasing as they made their way towards the 
Center.  She would get her answers.  Esmeraude knew that much.  She just 
wished she knew the questions that needed to be asked first.
	



*****


	3:45PM
	West Germany, 
	Tokyo A
	1978

	
	A worried man rose from the waiting room chair, hands pressed into 
fists as a doctor came to meet him.  "My wife?  How is she?"
	"Your wife is fine, Mr. Myobishi...Tired, but fine.  It will not 
be possible for her to bear any more children."  The woman sighed.  She 
hated this part of her job.
	"And the baby?"
	The doctor looked away.  Jaret had his answer even before he was 
told that the babe was still born.
	Leaning against his leg, his remaining son pressed his three year 
old face into his father's pantleg, and held on tight.  Jaret reached 
down and picked him up, trying to keep the tears from falling.
	'Kaladin...'
	Neither boy nor father noticed the green haired nurse smirking at 
them as she walked down the hallway.  The wrong medicine at the right 
Time could do wonders...



*****



Crystal Tokyo A
	3762

	The Queen of Crystal Tokyo, Bright-Lady Serenity, formerly Small 
Lady Serenity Usagi, looked up from her remaining senshi's glaive.
	"Sailorsaturn," she began disgusted with these actvities.  "You 
have defied me and caused war that could have been avoided.  If you and 
the others had not fought in the first place I am sure that the Lady 
Beryl and I would have been able to work out an agreement!  Because of 
your stupidity..." She cut herself off, pushing Saturn aside impatiently 
and making her way towards the dias to where Beryl was standing.  "I am 
sure that we can work something out, Lady Beryl.  If you would please 
tell me what you want then I am-"
	She paused confused, looking at the sudden appearance of a Gate 
between herself and the woman standing in front of her.  What was this?  
Saturn moved towards it, now openly ignoring her Queen's commands that 
she stay where she was.  Beryl also watched it curiously, like a cat who 
might have found a better thing to play with the the toy mouse that she 
had before.
	The door opened and the light emerged.



*****



 
7:10AM
	Tokyo A


	That was, looking back, the worst half hour that I had ever had 
the joy of spending.  Usa-chan had transformed apon Karaktha's attack, 
the first time that I had ever seen her do so, though I didn't exactly 
have a lot of time to stare.  At the moment I was too busy heading off 
nausia.
	When one teleports another, one can do so in several ways.  You 
can use energy similar to their own to get them from point A to point B, 
thus causing little if any discomfort.  Or you can use the exact 
opposite spectrum, bringing to that person one of the highest levels of 
pain possible.  Teleportation is a *very* personal act, and if done in 
just a way, can literally tear a person apart by their atoms and send 
them skittering across the universe.
	The Wiseman Karaktha naturally used an assult of Dark Power, which 
didn't bother me nearly as much as it did Usagi, who fainted the moment 
it hit her.  But then again, she was the princess of the White Moon 
Kingdom, and her soul had no traces of DP what so ever.  I, on the other 
hand am now human, and my soul is a mixture of both, and was thus able 
to keep awake when we rematerialized.
	All in all however, those thoughts were of no consilation for me 
when I found myself back in one of the places I had never imagined 
seeing again.  
	The Mirror Chamber of the Ship seemed to be the same as the last 
time I had been there, but that experance hadn't turned out for the best 
as I recall.  Demo things were differnet now, and one change that I 
fully intended on making was that *this* time I was not going to die.
	The area that we had arrived at was apperantly one of the sisters 
old chambers, wide and empty, a veritable pocket dimonsion.  I stood up 
somewhat groggily, rubbing my head.  It had *hurt*, which was one of the 
more susprising things that I noticed coming out of it.  I had never had 
a painful teleport before.  It was somewhat of a shock.
	The next thought that occured to me was Usa.  If I had a moderate 
headache then she must be...
	As it turned out she was lying some twenty feet away, crumpled on 
the ground.  Saphirr was an empath to a slight degree.  He could tell 
you what it is like to feel another's pain...One's own personal hell is 
one thing, experiancing someone elses is quite something else all 
together.
	I didn't see the Wiseman, and thus warily began my way towards 
Usagi.  Before I could get within two metres of her however, the ground 
literatly exploded, sending Usagi's limp form to go hurtling back. 
	Karaktha's voice came from above us.  "Did you think that I would 
let you get to her that easily, *hima-sama*?"  The bastard actually 
sounded amused!  
	I shook my head and began to move towards her again.  "I told you, 
Karaktha," I said, not bothering to look up at him.  "I'm _not_ your 
prince."
	Karaktha seemed to have lost his sense of humor.  "I see."  He 
ported in front of me, heading my progress.  "Is that because the Light 
girl used her glow rock on you?  Really Demando, I expected more from 
you."  He sighed theatrically.  "You think you know a person..."
	I smirked slightly.  "Then you should hgave known that Demando 
would never have been transformed by Serenity's Ginzoushou.  Gomen 
Karaktha.  I did this all on my own."
	The light in his eyes seemed to dim somewhat.  When he next spoke 
he seemed curious more then anything else.  "You say that you are not 
Demando, yet you know who *she* is, and who I am.  If you are not the 
leader of the Nemesis group then who are you?"
	I shrugged.  "Temporal abnormality I guess.  *You* were the one 
who enjoyed mucking around with Time so much.	Now if you don't mind, 
get the hell out of my way."
	"Temper, temper.  You'll get high blood pressure if you keep that 
up."
	"Nice to know you care."
	The words seemed almost drolled out.  "Oh I don't give a damn 
about your health young one.  Only that you don't have a heart attack 
before I can kill you myself."  Then he smiled, his skull's head eeriely 
flashing as the next of his assualt left his hands.


*****



7:18 AM
	Tokyo A

	Luna looked up from her crouched position on the rough wooden 
pike.  "It's no use, Artemis." She blinked before continuing her study 
of the charred surface.
	Her white companion tried to force back a sigh and half succeded.  
"We have to keep looking."  The two felines had left the night before, 
not waiting for the senshi to get their acts together. They had figured 
that they would be able to get there faster and thus be able to pick up 
a hotter trail.  
	What they had got was a whole lot of nothing.
	Luna got up and walked around the circle, being careful not to 
actually step through it.  The sense of magic still lingered slightly, 
as well as the feel of one of Chibi-usa's 'beams'.  Well that was no 
wonder.  Even Artemis had been able to sense *that*.  'Goddess knows, 
perhaps Serenity herself did.'
	Luna didn't like the idea of *any* body being able to make that 
much of a psychic storm, not even such a strange child as Chibi-usa.  
Especially not such a child as Chibi-usa.  She didn't know why the Black 
Moon had been chasing the girl, nor why the kid was able to form Beams 
as only members of the House of Light should be able to.  Luna frowned 
again in conscentration.  *She* certainly couldn't remember anything 
about such a young child from when the Moon fell.  Perhaps she was a 
cousin of some sort, after all both of the Lunar cat's memories were 
swiss cheesed as a result of thousands of years spent in a statis 
capsule.  It could just be something else that she had forgotten.
	Not that any of that mattered now.  Well, she corrected herself, 
it *does*, it's just not worth thinking about at hte moment.  It wasn't 
as though she hadn't gone of the problem before, and in great detail 
too.  All of them had.  None of them had had much success.
	And look where it had led them.  The Rabbit was still missing, the 
senshi had dissapeared, and given the Beam released here and the 
demolished building across the bay it was fairly obvious that *some* 
sort of battle had taken place.  Luna didn't know what had happened.  
She wasn't sure she wanted to.
	She wasn't sure that she wanted to know any of it.  Besides, they 
had been searching the docks for any sign of any*thing* for a good hour 
and a half now with no appearance of something out of the ordinary.
	That was, if you didn't count the varying burn marks and gorges in 
the wood of the pire and the rubble that had once been an office 
building across the waters out of the oridinary.  
	But then again, this *was* Tokyo after all.  Stranger things then 
those had been happening since before Jadeite had shown up almost two 
years ago.  
	The male member of the team nudged her shoulder.  "They aren't 
here Luna," he said softly.  
	She suppressed a sigh herself.  "No they aren't.  But they *were*, 
weren't they?"  She turned to him, eyes pleading.
	He nodded at her with as mordant a grin as he could manage.  "If 
only we were dealing in the past, Luna-chan."
	She resisted the urge to swat him before stretching her forelimbs 
and walking off between a set of boxes, carefully leaping over the 
rather large splinters that lay in her way.  Artemis lost no time in 
catching up to her. "So where to now, Luna?"  He asked, all traces of 
sarcasm gone.
	She shrugged.  "Back to the Shrine I guess.  We can't do anything 
out here, and they might have left a note with a final destination or 
the like."
	"Sounds good.  Let's go.  We need to be there as soon as 
possible."  He said ignoring the snort and side 'I *know* that' from the 
other.
	Even so, neither of them were exactly running as they made their 
way out of the docks and back towards their original local.  Luna didn't 
know if the Shrine would hold the answers they were so desperatly 
seeking, in fact she rahter doubted that it would.  But as long as there 
was uncertainty, as long as she wasn't *certain*, then there could be 
hope.  
	And hope was something that she needed as much as air now.  
	"Nani?!"  
	Luna spun to a stop at the sound of Artemis' voice.  Her mouth 
fell open at the sight of the burning ship in the sky.  Eyes wide 
Artemis turned to her.  "What the hell is *that*?"
	Still staring, Luna answered in an awed tone.  "Black Moon."
	His eyes found hers with an expression of rapt dread.  "You don't 
think that they were on there do you?"
	"I think that we need to get to the Shrine."
	He nodded, shaken.  "Agreed."  The pair turned and loped back into 
Tokyo.  Neither noticed the Gate the shimmered into existance behind 
them.  The mammoth door shuddered open.  Pink light flooded the streets 
as the world faded out of existance.


******


7:13AM
	Tokyo A




	Tired.  
	Tired.
	Tired.
	Pain.
	She didn't want to return to that world, the one that was awaiting 
her just beyond the borders of her mind.
	It hurt out there.
	Hell, it hurt in here too, but out there the pain was greater and 
there was different types of it.
	Besides...she was tired.  And below the pain, she was certain she 
could get benieth it, there was peace.  Peace was a rarity on the 
outside, she remembered that much.
	Just a bit farther, and she was positive that she could sleep and 
get some rest.  And maybe then she would go back to the Outside and 
fight once more.  She didn't really want to though.
	She didn't like to kill.
	She had never liked to, never liked to see the youma's final 
unbelieving stare burning into her soul from eyes that were suddenly and 
unmistakenly human.  
	She claimed that never once had she taken a human's life, and to 
her knowledge that was true.  What haunted her sometimes in battles and 
in nightmares was the fact that while the lives she took might not be 
*human* lives, they were indeed *people's* lives.  Each and every life 
that she took had belonged to someone, something.  
	She didn't want to return to that.
	'Demo...'a voice whispered, something that she had learned to 
recognise and hate.  Reason sauntered up to her, robbing her of her much 
needed rest.  'You have to awaken...the others can't do it without 
you...'
	I don't care about the others.
	'You're lying.  You care about *her* don't you?'
	She turned from Reason, trying to block out the words.  
	She can take care of herself, she has before.
	'She knew that you were there to back her up before.  Are you so 
selfish to not go to a seven year old's rescue?  Just because you are 
tired?'  The voice was harsh and she felt herself relenting.
	'And what of your senshi?  They were taken and you don't even know 
if they are dead or alive anymore.  You'd leave them to die in here?'
	She groaned, not wanting to hear anymore.
	'What of the world?  You would abandon the entire planet just 
because you want to be ordinary?  Gomen ne, Usagi-chan, demo you 
*aren't* ordinary!  Ordinary girls don't come back from the dead!  
Ordinary girls can't take a head band and turn it into a glowing ball of 
energy!  Face it Usagi...you have to do what is needed of you.  That's 
why you were *created*.  To protect, not to be protected, much as you 
might wish otherwise.'
	That was a low blow.
	'You needed it.  But what of him?  You know that he died before, 
by the one who is holding you now.  And then he had power!  What of 
him?'
	You fight dirty.  
	'I am you, of course I fight dirty.'
	I hate you.
	'That's alright.  You are cruel, child, as am I.  We need each 
other's cruelty.'
	Not from where I'm standing.
	'Hush, not now.  Wake up, Usagi-chan.  You have a destiny to 
complete.'
	

*****



7:14AM
	Tokyo A

	I was tired and Usagi was only now beginning to stir.  Karaktha 
had been amusing himself for the past few minutes by seeing just how far 
I could get to Usa before he'd send off the next of his arsinal.  It 
felt like it had been hours instead.
	I cursed myself and the being that I once was, the one that was 
even now siting obvious in the Future to what was happening here and 
around him.  I had said that I was going to change things, so many 
things....Kami-sama I don't want it to end like this!
	At least Karatha hasn't noticed Usagi's return to the realm of the 
living just yet.  He's entertaining himself with me now.  I can't let 
him get to Usa.  Not now.  Not when she is weak.
	Hell, I don't know if she had been able to defeat him in the other 
timeline, and in that one she had been fine.  Well, mostly fine anyway.  
As I recall, I wasn't really consentrating that much on her at the time.  
Too busy being reborn.
	I dodged another explosion and the unthinkable happened.  Usagi 
moaned.  It wasn't very loud, but it was enough to catch my attention, 
and certainly Karaktha's.  The movement of her hand to her forehead as 
she sat up didn't help much either.  
	Karaktha, I must give him, had learned from Rubeus' mistakes.  
Everything he had sent at me had been physical, nothing that I could 
block or manipulate in the manner that I had discovered just a few hours 
before.  Unfortunatly for Usa, he decided to take advantige of this.
	The first of his assult against my love left when I was still 
across the room.  Her scream horrified me, and it was perhaps for that 
reason that I did as I did next.  
	The blow had thrown her into a corner of the room.  I had thought 
that the room had been limitless, but the colomns that randomly floated 
throughout had covenged behind and on two sides of her.  Usagi had no 
where to go, and even clad in her senshi guise I could tell that she was 
still weak.  I felt ill.  Even from the distance that I was at, I could 
tell that if she hadn't been henshined then she might have died already.  
This was nothing to be fooling with.
	There would be no way to get her out of there before the next 
blast came, and each hit leached more energy from her that she could not 
afford to lose.
	Usagi could not be hit again.  
	Karaktha's skull face glowed as the next left his fingertips.  
	I raced the attack.  Usagi had already gone a full day and night 
with out sleep, as well as been in two fights earlier in the day, one 
ths very morning, the other last afternoon.
	She would have no support here, and I _couldn't_ _help_ her_.  Not 
with this.  Much as I wished, I could not give her my own energy.  I am 
only human after all.
	All I could give was all a human _could_ give to someone like 
her...My life.  But then I had already done that before hadn't I?  And I 
had said that I would do all that I could to aid her.  I *promised* her 
that.  I won't break any more promises to her.  I love her after all.  
Isn't that what people do for each other at times like these?  Funny.  
There are so many stories about things like this and somehow none of 
them seem important right now...
	Her eyes met mine for one fragile instant before the light came 
and there was no more.
	Always for you Serenity.  Always for you.


*****


7:11AM

	An explosion rocked the ship.  Saphirr swore under his breath as 
he made it to Ship Centre, cradling the Rabbit's head as he did so.  She 
still had yet to come out of her unseeing state, and he wasn't 
particualairly inclined to hasten it.  Better to let the kid sleep then 
to have her wake up in the ship which had become a war zone.
	He had thought that perhaps the senshi had escaped, and pulled up 
a mirror to see.  But no...They were still there, still locked away in 
room where Karaktha had stowed them.
	Then what...?
	He vaguely felt Esmeraude pop into existance behind him as he 
pulled up another mirror this one displaying the Hold, the area that the 
schmatics had said the excess energy was coming from.
	Emseraude peered over his shoulder, brushing strands of pink hair 
out of her face.  "What is it?"
	He frowned.  "I don't know, the camera's have all been turned off.  
Give me a moment."  He turned to a keyboard and began the process of 
turning them back on.  Saphirr could feel the other's frown even if he 
couldn't see it.
	"We don't _have_ a minute!  I don't know what the hell that was 
the we felt, but-"
	He cut her off with a curt gesture, dumping the kid into her 
startled arms.   Ignoring her sudden exclaimtion, Saphirr darted under 
the consol.  "Wait...Here we go.  Try it now."  He directed coming out 
from underneath.
	"They're on!"  
	"Good." Saphirr turned back to Esmeraude, whose face was quite 
suddenly lost in shock and horror.  "What?"  She pointed to the flat 
mirror screen with a shaking figure.  Saphirr looked in, and understood 
why she was upset.  "'Nii-san?"
	Demando, or atleast, he *thought* it was his older brother, was 
facing off with Karaktha...A small portion of his mind cheered.  At 
least!  Their Prince had seen the truth!  
	Jubilation turned to fear however when he noticed that his brother 
was not returning any of the blows.  And was that Serenity asleep in the 
corner?  
	"Saphirr..."  Esmeraude bit her lip and clutched at his shirt.  He 
wrapped an arm around her shoulders almost uncontiously, eyes rivveted 
to the display before him.  It didn't last long.  Demando swirled to 
race towards Serenity, who was appearnetly awake now, yet unaware of her 
danger.  
	The Wiseman's attention being diverted to the now contious 
Princess and his susequent attack.
	A second one released.  Demando playing a deadly game of chase 
with it.  Why didn't he just port?
	The attack striking his 'nii-san's form and hurtling it across the 
room.
	The display was soundless so Saphirr couldn't hear Serenity's 
scream.  He didn't need to.  He and Esmeraude had their own.



******

OUTSIDE OF ETERNITY
CBoY
Meeting 1258
Cr. Fluctions


	Votings in democracies always take eternity.  The difference with 
this group was that to them, it didn't matter if it did or not, so long 
as the vote was completed.  The CBoY had all the time it needed, after 
all.  
	And *that* was what she was hoping for. Meiou raced down the 
corriders leading to the meeting room.  *She* knew the way, though it 
felt strange to have the knowledge that she never had before.  Hell, 
appearently Meiou hadn't done _anything_ before.  Not something she 
particually cared for.
	Odd.  This was cetainly an odd experiance.  Ah well.  Live for the 
moment as the saying went.  Enjoy new things.  
	Even so, this sudden sprint to the meeting room before the final 
vote was cast wsa worryng her.  Meiou had been in these votes before, 
they had always seemed to take forever.  Demo she wasn't sure just when 
she was going to be coming into it.  The CBoY building was *outside* of 
Time itself, which meant that she couldn't go directly to the moment 
that she needed.  
	Her legs were aching as the door came into sight.  Meiou pushed 
through it, blinking her eyes against the brightness on the other side.  
Her eyes cleared quickly and Meiou could see the CBoY Leader in the 
central forum, calling the meeting again to session.  'Too late!'  Meiou 
took the steps three at a time, trying to make her voice heard over the 
rabble and not break her neck at the same time.
	"Wait!"  The cry felt like it had been torn out her her throat, 
leaving it raw in the process.  The leader turned to her, her visage 
seeming somewhat annoyed.  "Please, wait..."  Meiou took a moment to get 
her breath back as the leader crossed the stage to her.  
	"And you are?"  Meiou fought back an expression of susprise.  
Temporal abnormalities.  Right.
	Either way this sucked.
	The leader narrowed her visual sensories at the senshi.  "I don't 
believe that you are a memeber of the CBoY.  I haven't seen you before."
	Meiou grimaced.  Dammit.  She hated these sorts of things!   "Yeah 
well, I'm sorry I'm late.  My name is Meiou Setsuna, a.k.a. Sailorpluto, 
CBoY represnatative of Branch 12."  Meiou slipped into her seat, 
disregarding some looks of susprise from other members.  'Wonder if the 
seat was here before I showed up...Not that it matters.  What does is 
that it's here now.'  
	A murmur rose up through the crowd.  "Branch 12?"
	Meiou shrugged.  "Branch 12."
	"Then you are well aware of the problems in your universe?"
	The green haired woman smiled.  "More then you might think.  And I 
vote that Serenity be allowed to make her own choice."
	The leader nodded and made the modification.  "Very well.  In 
which case, the majority of votes needed to allow the future Neo-Queen 
her own descision has been reached."  She nodded to the assembled mass 
before her.  "Long live the Queen.  And let us hope that she chooses 
wisely."


*****


7:14AM
	Tokyo A

	
	Usagi had pulled herself awake, rolling into a sitting position 
and placing a hand apon her forehead.  She hadn't wanted to be awake, 
but she hadn't really seemed to be a choice in the matter just then.  
The others needed her.  Everything seemed rather foggy just at the 
moment... Usagi shook her head to clear it.  
	A sudden cry caught her attention.
	Hitowa?  What was the matter?  
	Before she could raise her eyes to his and ask the question the 
pain hit.  She screamed, she couldn't help it.  How could you not?  It 
was terrible, and although it didn't last long, it _leached_ her, taking 
away energy that she didn't have to lose and threatening to pull her 
apart at the seams.  
	Usagi collaped to the floor, one arm thudding next to her head, in 
agony too great to move.  She could hear the unfortunatly now familier 
sound of another assault heading towards her...And footsteps?
	Nani?
	Usagi forced her eyes open in time to see Hitowa throw himself in 
front of her, taking the offence, his violet eyes widening in pain as he 
fell.  His head snapped back and she could hear the cry wrenching up 
from her throat matching the one coming from his.  Hitowa flew across 
the room, sliding to rest several feet away.  
	Get up, get up, come on!  He wasn't moving.  Kami-sama, he wasn't 
moving!  She was on her feet and beside him before the thought even came 
to her.  "Wake up, onegai, Hitowa..."  Her voice nearly broke.  He 
wasn't breathing...and his head was...was....Iyee!  This wasn't 
happening, this couldn't be happening...It was all a bad dream... But it 
wasn't, and Hitowa was still lying there, and she was still kneeling 
here and now he was...Her mind refused to even finish the statement.
	With a sob Usagi wrapped her arms about Hitowa's still body and 
gave in to the torment that was now her soul.  Why?  Why did *everyone* 
that she was close to have to die?  Endymion had been killed by Beryl 
because he was protecting her, stabbed in the back with shards of 
obsinean.  The senshi had been taken and killed in the ice field because 
of her, each one meeting their end in a more gruesome way then the last, 
each time trying to get her, *her* the Princess, the Leader, motivated 
and to do what she should have.  Everyone died because she was such a 
chibi usagi no tuski that couldn't even protect herself and when other 
people tried to do it for her... "Iyee!!!"
	Low laughter behind her.
	Karaktha.
	He had done this.  And now he was *laughing*.  
	And, if that bedamned whistling sound was any indication, then he 
was going to try to finish the job with her.  A low fury was beginning 
to build deep in her soul.  Self-pity and mortification were gradually 
giving way...but not fast enough.  The attack was going to hit her, but 
she wouldn't, she *couldn't* move out of the way and let it destroy 
Hitowa's body.
	Two distinctive pops sounded and there was a sudden explosion.  
Not anywhere near her, but farther away, as though something or someone 
had blocked it.  Usagi didn't even bother to look up.
	If she had, the curious sight of two extremly pissed off 
Nemesisians would have awaited her.  Saphirr strode through the clouds 
of dust that now obscured the Princess and his brother.  Karaktha was at 
the centre of this, in both a literal and figurative sense.  He had been 
behind it from the beginning, and now...
	Demando...
	Esmeraude appeared next to him, her brown eyes wild and her cheeks 
wet.
	Saphirr clenched his right hand into a fist and drew the white hot 
energy into it.  "Care to try that again Wiseman Karaktha?"
	The cloaked figure waved a hand and the fog cleared.  His cowled 
shoulders seemed to shrug.  "Why shouldn't I?  I've already taken care 
of the one that *you* cared about."  
	"Iyee."  Usagi wiped the tears from her face and stood, all 
emotion gone from her voice.  She ignored the sudden gasps from the 
three and nearly crumpled again when she saw the husk that had once been 
Chibi-usa.  
	'Everyone is hurt because of me...'
	Iyee.  Not this time.  The anger that had been slowly growing 
exploded.  No more of this.  No more deaths.  No more protection.  It 
was time to end it.
	Usagi closed her eyes as the Ginzuishou blazed into life, 
surrounding her form with pink light.  She barely noticed as her 
bloodied fuka was torn away to be replaced by her white dress.  The 
power sprang easily to her fingertips, warm and inviting, encouraging 
her to draw out more power from her soul.
	The Ginzuishou floated of it's own accord out of her broach and 
her hand followed it over her head.  It was so simple to gather the 
power to her...Usagi lifted her eyes to the glimmering star above her 
and prayed.	
	It was easy enough to call the power to her, the Light that was 
the name of her House was easy to command, and her crystal seemed to 
sing with it's own personal vendetta against the black hole that was 
Karaktha.
	It was so easy to give into it...To ignore the fact that she 
didn't have aid this time, that the senshi wouldn't be coming to help 
her, and what the price for weilding the power was.  
	The call of the Ginzushou was impossible to ignore, and Usagi gave 
herself to it whole heartedly.  It seemed to coil around her, 
surrounding her in invisable warmth, roiling over her body...
	And was that a second call answering her own?  It seemed that way, 
but Usagi was too lost in her own conscentration to pay attention to it.  
	

*****

7:17AM
	Tokyo A


	Across the room Small Lady Serenity began to glow the same shade 
as her mother.  
	Karaktha's eyes widened and dropping all pretences of amusment 
began his own assualt, his floating globe shining dark as it supplied 
energy.
	The Princess opened her eyes and shot out her own stream of 
energy.  
	Saphirr watched amazed before spinning to the green haired woman 
beside him.  "The senshi!"  It didn't matter, the wind was too loud, it 
was too much...Esmeraude stared blankly up at him before pointing to 
Karaktha.  He had moved in front of them now, continuing his attack, and 
inadvertainly leaving his sides wide open in his attempt to get closer 
to the princess.
	Saphirr smiled slight without humour as her point came across.  He 
nodded to her before porting to Karaktha's other side.
	Without a word the two remaining members of the Black Moon Family 
released their own onslaughts.
	They didn't do much damage.  'Darkness can not fill Darkness.'  
Usagi's mother's voice rang back to her, words the the original Queen 
Serenity had passed down to her daughter and so on down the line.  
'Darkness is weaker then the Light, though it may seem more frightening.  
After all...What is Darkness but an absence of Light?'
	And what is the best way to stop the Dark?  Usagi would have 
smiled, but there was too much to be done, and even the simple movement 
of muscles would have taken too much out of her at the time.  She 
gathered all the remaining energy, stripping the Ship of what ever Light 
it contained, pulling it from her own soul as she prepared for the final 
attack.
	"Onegai Ginzuishou!"
	Karaktha shook off the remaining effects of the Black Moon attack 
like a dog would water.  He turned to continue his own line of offence 
but paused, frozen as the Princess of the House of Light uttered the 
phrase that was his undoing.
	

	MOON CRYSTAL POWER!
	

	His scream echoed through the room.  The resulting explosion flew, 
destroying all that was in it's way.  Saphirr choked and fell to the 
floor, momentarialy protected from the blast as the Ship fell apart.
	Pink light surrounded flooded the area and they all dissapeared.



*******

finis.

TO BE CONTINUED IN 'ROADS LESS TRAVELLED' DUE OUT IN MAY.

Don't you want to kill me?  ^_^  I hate cliffhangers...