Midnight stared up at the stars quietly. It had been almost a week since Silence had left them and no one had come to the house and no one had mentioned Silence. So far none of them seemed to have the energy to attack the Senshi again, all of them harbouring secret doubts on the credibality of their mission. Without Silence the group had suffered a hard blow to the morale, and couldn't seem to gather the will to go on.

A quick glance around the the park showed it was empty. He grinned wryly. It was long past the hour he was named after and most were asleep. Sighing he pulled the scarf down off his face to rest around his neck. He let the soft night breeze trickle lightly over his face closing his eyes quietly. Unwittingly Setsuna quickly crept into his thoughts.

She was never far from the surface of his mind, after all they were twins, off in birth only by a couple seconds. However her strength was much greater then his as a child, he didn't come into his right until she had already taken over as the guardian of the gates of time. All throughout their childhood no one had paid any attention to him, everyone giving her their love, training her, nurturing her powers. But he hung in knowing he was safe in her love, that they were closer than anything and that nothing could pull them apart. But then the accident had happened, everyone had rushed to save her and she got off without harm, while he was scarred. She never even asked if he was alright, never coming to see him while he lay unconcious in the hospital on Mercury, never caring. Her love was false all that time. The sad thing was he still loved her even though his need for revenge burned deep. It would hurt when he had to kill her.

"Midnight-sama?" A soft voice inquired from the darkness.

He sat up with a curse, quickly pulling the scarf over his face to hide it as the moon came out from behind an errant cloud. About ten feet away stood the very person she had been thinking of.

"Setsuna," he murmured as he got to his feet, his eyes quickly hardening to hide his pain.

She frowned sensing his redrawal. "You looked like you were asleep for a minute there,"

"You knew exactly the state I was in." He said sharply not letting her continue. "You and I are both of time don't try and pretend we aren't."

She nodded in acceptance of that fact and sat down on a treestump nearby. "How did you and the other Outer Opposite Senshi escape my notice for a thousand years?"

He smirked behind the scarf. "Funny, but I learned that art from you, when you taught me to hide so I could watch your training. Who knew that you would forget what you taught me enough for me to hide an evil force under your nose for so long?"

Setsuna flinched at that. "We were close then. Well that doesn't matter I will fight you now, I won't let the evil you serve take away our peace."

"Our king will wipe out your peace and flood this world and all the others with pure evilness." He said simply.

Setsuna surged to her feet her eyes flashing at that. "You know the king you serve is evil?" Her voice was hoarse with shock.

Midnight laughed, tossing her braid back over one shoulder. "You do you think modified the memories of the other Planet Knights?" A derisve snort followed that statement. "They were so easy to convince they had suffered as much pain as I had, I am my Kings finest soldier."

she stared at him, her eyes narrowing in determination. "Then you are the one I must defeat. Without your powers the other Knights will turn back to their former goodness, leaving this king weak to attack. You must die brother or not!" Her Pluto pen appeared in her hand and she thrust it up into the air. "Pluto Eternal Make UP!" She yelled out, her voice vibrating with anger instead of her normal calmness. The crown on her pen flickered, a larger version appearing around her body which then turned into a glowing time warp around her. She spun in circles, drawing the energy of Nowhen around her to form her fuku. Like all the other senshi she had a new layer of white over her pleated skirt and wings shone from her back. She tossed her head back, leaning back as the symbol of her planet dissappeared from her pen to reappear on her forehead. She grabbed the twirling pen again and with a flash of red light it changed into her Time Staff complete with Garnet Orb.

Opposite Pluto was already transformed, holding his double bladed staff in front of him. "Well, my twin, let us finish this now! Dark Death Sonic Wave!"

Sailor Pluto jumped up into the air her eyes resolute. "Dead Scream!" She yelled shooting her attack towards him. He also dodged the attack, both energy masses hitting the trees behind them with deafening thunder like cracks and bright flashes of light.

More attacks flew, none of them impacting. After a couple minutes of this they clashed together one on one, time staff hitting double bladed staff. Their punches and kicks flew fast and furious, neither one of them actually scoring a hit on the other.

"Setsuna-san!" "Midnight!" Two voices yelled from either side of the clearning. The combatants broke apart panting and looked around the clearing. Usagi, Michiru and Haruka climbed over a fallen tree while on the other side of the clearing Foam and Breeze ducked under a broken branch.

"Don't interfere." Opposite Pluto growled as he flickered and vanished. Sailor Pluto glanced at her friends then she too vanished, leaving the five alone to stare at each other across the clearing.

The two twins of Pluto reappeared amongst the mists of the Gates of Time. "This is between us." Sailor Pluto stated. Again the two came together, throwing punches and slashing with their weapons faster then the normal human eye could follow. The battle was timeless, neither could get the other hand when suddenly Sailor Pluto jumped back, her aura flaring up to surrond her and lift her long hair eerily. "This must end, time must be made right." She whispered, her firm expression flickering to show a hint of sadness. "Time bomb," she closed her eyes and raised her staff over her head, flickering red light gathering around the Garnet Orb. She spun in a circle and then lifted the staff to twirl it over her head making the energy ball grow bigger and bigger. "Explosion!" She yelled out, thrusting the staff forward to shoot the ball of Nowhen at her twin.

Opposite Pluto stumbled, his eyes widening in surprise as he heard her whisper, "I'm sorry, my twin." He didn't quite manage to dodge the attack and got hit in the chest, falling to the ground as his mask flew off.

Sailor Pluto's eyes widened in horror at what she saw. Long thin white scars crisscrossed his tanned skin, covering the lower half of his face, from just under his eyes down to his chin and down one side of his neck.

Opposite Pluto got to his feet, a snarl twisting lips that still managed to be handsome through all the scaring. "This is what you left me to face alone, this is what you abandoned me too because your training was more important then your own blood!!" He snatched up his scarf and dissappeared, and this time Sailor Pluto knew better then to follow.

"But I didn't," she whispered into the emptiness between times. "I gave up months of training and stayed by your side while you were unconcious. I only left when Beryl attacked the Moon kingdom because I had no choice, if they won staying by your side wouldn't matter, we would all have died. How was I to know that you would wake up when I was gone and hate me for not being there?"

However there was no one to answer her whispered confession.

End of chapter sixtenn.

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